bump

Best new Windows software of 2009

This past year was not the best for new software developments. There were no surprising game-changers like Google Chrome in 2008, and no watershed moments. However, that doesn't mean there weren't some cool releases. I suspect that much of the best software of 2009 winds up becoming the foundation for innovations in 2010.

Obviously, the continuing development of Google Chrome was a major story, especially since it skyrocketed in market share based on its zippy engine and smooth JavaScript handling. If you're not using Chrome, you owe it to yourself to try it out. But it's … Read more

Fist bump your info

Bump is a free and fairly ingenious app that makes exchanging contact information (and now photos, too) as easy as sharing a fist-bump with a fellow iPhone or iPod Touch user. Bump's streamlined interface is simple: you just open Bump and indicate whether you'd like to share a photo (any image on your device) or your contact information (whether your entire contact card, or any combination of your phone number, e-mail, photo, and address). You then "bump" hands together with another Bump user, and the app uses your device's location information and accelerometer to match … Read more

Purdue researchers create a speed bump that detects damage

A team of researchers from Purdue University's Center for Systems Integrity created a high-tech "speed bump" that can detect damage to Army vehicles.

Unlike the speed-deterring cement humps in the road that drivers typically encounter, Purdue's invention is a rubber-jacketed "diagnostic cleat" that contains sensors. The sensors measure vibrations created by a vehicle as it moves over the cleat, and signal-processing software interprets the data to check for damage to the tires, wheel bearings, and suspension components.

Researchers conducted tests with high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, or HMMWVs, commonly known as Humvees and found the … Read more

Software toy or useful desktop alternative?

BumpTop replaces your desktop with a visual environment unlike any you've used. It's a bit like a futuristic gesture-based interface, but it's tied to your mouse. Were it capable of simultaneous Web browsing, its utility would be much more apparent.

BumpTop makes the items on your computer's desktop more like their real-world counterparts. Icons and folders are assigned a virtual weight based on the amount of memory they take up and their importance to you. You can move them by click-and-drag, or fling them across the BumpTop space. The program determines their importance based on how … Read more

Apple bumps specs of $999 MacBook

Sometime earlier this week, Apple updated its least expensive notebook.

Engadget noticed Wednesday that the white $999 MacBook was slightly--and quietly--upgraded. It now has a newer Intel processor (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo), 2GB of memory, integrated graphics (Nvidia GeForce 9400M), and a faster frontside bus, now 1,066 MHz.

Besides that, almost everything else remains the same. But at $999, it's now much closer to its more expensive, unibody-constructed MacBook cousins.

3D desktops

While we all wait for Windows Vista to bring the "Wow" and Apple Inc. to drop its Leopard, it's a good time to examine what might make a next-generation computer desktops really cool. One thing is certain; your next desktop will be more 3D and have task-juggling capabilities to satisfy even the most ADD among us.

BumpTop is a physics-based desktop prototype meant to behave as much as possible like an actual desk. It debuted last June but is getting renewed attention from the developer's presentation at Demo Camp in Montreal. With BumpTop, files can be … Read more