Calling this Rachael UI an Android "skin" is like calling Windows 95 a "DOS skin," but that's not to say there's nothing to love about it. In fact, we're rather relieved that Sony Ericsson seems to be addressing Android's incredibly lackluster media playback interface, the SE "mediascape" version of which dominates this particular video -- a sequel to the first Rachael UI tease we got back in July. You know what else is great? The video title name drops the same lucious screen resolution as the DROID, 480 x 854, which spells all sorts of good things for SE's first Android entry. Video is after the break, and if that doesn't do the trick for you, the Rachael hardware is being teased over on this end of the internet.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading New Sony Ericsson Rachael UI video hits, still looks nothing like Android

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

New Sony Ericsson Rachael UI video hits, still looks nothing like Android originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I completely forgot that I get an extra hour of that precious, precious thing called sleep tonight. Since I'm probably not the only forgetful Lucy around, here's a reminder to set your clocks back and snooze a bit longer.

Technically, the moment to hop back in time is whenever 2 a.m. strikes in your time zone (or 1:00 a.m. GMT if you're in Europe), but if you're getting ready to snuggle up in bed then you might want to take care of the clocks first.

Now let's be open and honest with each other. What are you doing with your extra hour? Will it be spent spooning, snuggled up with a loved one? Getting a head start on the next month? Recovering from chocolate overdose? Reading through Gizmodo comments? [Thanks for the DST reminder, Jrsy Devil's Advocate®!]

Photo by Robbert van der Steeg

And now... fighting out of the red corner, weighing in with two Evergreen GPUs, and wearing black trunks and red trim, it's the Radeon HD 5970. ATI's latest challenger for the title of undisputed graphics champion has been snared in the wild, and its photo shoot reveals a suitably oversized beast. Measuring in at 13.5 inches and requiring both an eight- and six-pin power connector, the pre-production sample can fit inside only the roomiest and best-powered rigs around. It's named somewhat confusingly, with AMD dropping its X2 nomenclature for dual GPU setups, but it features two HD 5870 chips running in onboard Crossfire on the same PCB, and foreshadows a HD 5950, which will combine a pair of the more affordable HD 5850s. Performance figures available earlier have been pulled, at the behest of AMD, but we've got plenty of eye candy to admire, and there's also no price tag in sight to spoil our daydreaming pleasure.

[Via PC Perspective]

Filed under: Desktops

ATI's dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970 pictured in the wilderness originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I like Android and all, but one thing the iPhone absolutely kicks every other smartphone's ass at is media playback—until now. This video of Sony Ericsson's "Rachael" Android UI shows its media capabilities, and it looks un-freaking-believable.

Looks like Sony Ericsson borrowed heavily from the Zune HD playbook for this one, but we're not complaining—the Zune HD has the only media UI that's capable of competing with the iPhone's. Let's count the influences: First is the homescreen, which has a layout very similar to the Zune HD's QuickPlay menu. Instead of just giving you a boring list of Artists, Albums, and Snoooore, it shows Favorites (like the Zune HD's Pins), Recently Added and Recently Played, not-so-coincidentally the exact same options in the Zune HD menu. Below that you get two options from PlayNow, a kind of Pandora-like Sony store, including Top 30 and Recommendations. This stuff is super useful for anyone with a large, frequently-updated media collection.

At the bottom of every screen is a crossbar much like the Zune HD's, but that one's legitimate Sony—they pioneered that UI with XMB on PS3 and PSP. It's a great idea, so we're glad it shows up here as well. Other Zune HD influences? How about the art on the artist and album pages? When selecting Kanye West from the artist list, a photo of his smug little chipmunk face shows up on the top of the list of albums, and when selecting his album The College Dropout, the album art pops up above the tracklist—just like on the Zune HD.

Of course, a warning before the video says that this is for conceptual and internal use only (whoops!) so for all we know, Rachael's media playback won't look anything like this. But we hope it does—Android's music playback software is embarrassingly dated and this video shows a level of gloss that frankly blows me away. We could be seeing the first smartphone featuring Rachael very soon, too: Like, four days from now soon.

In case that was all too long for you? I want this thing. Right now. [SE-Blog via SE-Nse, thanks Scotsboyuk!]

Since I'm feeling festive evening, I thought I would leave you with some of our Halloween posts. OK, really I just can't pass up a chance to put up these masks of Chen and Blam again. Happy Halloween everyone!

• This Is Why You Shouldn't Put Drunk Ewoks On Live TV
• Next Year, I'm Time Travel Trick or Treating
• Scientifically Haunted Room Shows That Ghosts Are Only In Your Head
• Twelve Beautiful Jack-o'-Lanterns
• Ghostbuster Proton Pack Uses Real Lasers, Can Probably Hunt Real Ghosts
• 10 Of Your Geekiest Halloween Costumes
• A Spider-Bot Pumpkin Is the Scariest Way To Dispense Candy On Halloween
• Build The Spirit Radio That Creeped Out Tesla Himself
• The iMac Cylon Mask Is Both Trick and Treat
• "Working" Apple iPhone Costumes Just Plain Win
• Craigslist Ad By A Horrid Excuse for a Human Being
• Sword Illuminates a Pumpkin by Impaling It
• Ideas for Tech-Themed Halloween Pumpkins
• 10 Robot Halloween Pumpkins Provide Artistic Inspiration
• Scare the Crap Out of Trick-or-Treaters With a Rovin' Pumpkin
• Ruin Halloween For Everyone by Going as Brian Lam or Jason Chen

And please, be safe!

October, you were one happening month. You brought us Windows 7, some serious Google Wave insights, and tasty media center upgrades. Here's a quick look back at the most popular posts of October, 2009.

• Top 10 Windows 7 Booster Apps
  Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista, and a pretty convenient OS in general-but it's by no means perfect. These 10 downloads improve Windows 7's looks, functions, and make it easier, safer, and more convenient to upgrade to.
• Lifehacker's Complete Guide to Windows 7
  Windows 7 officially launches today, but we've been testing, tweaking, customizing, fixing, and writing about this OS for a year now. We present here a guide to everything we've learned about the OS, from first install to final settings change.
• Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required
  Two weeks ago I detailed how to build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, with a little Terminal work. If you're not comfortable with command-line hacking, you can now install Snow Leopard on your Hackintosh with just a few point-and-clicks.
• Google Wave First Look
  If you're not one of the 100,000 lucky users who gets an invitation to Google Wave today, don't fret. You can check out Google Wave right here.But first, ground rules.
• Wallpaper Roundup: Color Splashes and Cooler Days
  Fall is a colorful time of year and the vibrant hues of fall foliage and holidays lend well to livening up your desktop. Take a stroll through our collection of fall-themed wallpaper to find a new look for your workstation.
• Google Wave's Best Use Cases
  Last week we asked a simple question: How will you use Google Wave? Over 600 responses later, we're sending Wave nominations to the people who had the best use cases.
• The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts
  Windows 7 adds loads of great shortcuts for switching between apps, moving windows around your screen, moving them to another monitor altogether, and much more.
• First Look at Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Beta
  The beta release of Karmic Koala, the next version of Ubuntu Linux, just arrived on the net. Wondering what's new inside the open-source operating system?
• Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap
  You won't find a better media center than the open-source XBMC, but most people don't have the space or desire to plug a noisy PC into their TV. Instead, I converted a cheap nettop into a standalone XBMC set-top box. Here's how.

Why confine your nerdy sloth to your living room, where large robots mime fake guitar and serve you sloppy mixed drinks? Take that zest for the sedentary life with you on the road by having one of your robot ninjas steal this iPhone Rock Band robot from its ingenious creator, Joe Bowers. The Arduino-based device uses ambient light sensors to detect the falling notes and then taps out the music with some conductive foam attached to some squeaky fake fingers. Joe did a fairly detailed write-up, and even uploaded his code, so there's presumably nothing stopping you from actually doing something with your life and building one of these with all that free time you've saved up by hacking your way through all the console-based guitar games. Video is after the break.

[Via Daily Mobile]

Continue reading Laziness on the move: robot plays Rock Band on the iPhone

Filed under: Cellphones, Robots

Laziness on the move: robot plays Rock Band on the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why confine your nerdy sloth to your living room, where large robots mime fake guitar and serve you sloppy mixed drinks? Take that zest for the sedentary life with you on the road by having one of your robot ninjas steal this iPhone Rock Band robot from its ingenious creator, Joe Bowers. The Arduino-based device uses ambient light sensors to detect the falling notes and then taps out the music with some conductive foam attached to some squeaky fake fingers. Joe did a fairly detailed write-up, and even uploaded his code, so there's presumably nothing stopping you from actually doing something with your life and building one of these with all that free time you've saved up by hacking your way through all the console-based guitar games. Video is after the break.

[Via Daily Mobile]

Continue reading Laziness on the move: robot plays Rock Band on the iPhone

Filed under: Cellphones, Robots

Laziness on the move: robot plays Rock Band on the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

• Top 10 Windows 7 Booster Apps (Windows 7)
  Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista, and a pretty convenient OS in general-but it's by no means perfect. These 10 downloads improve Windows 7's looks, functions, and make it easier, safer, and more convenient to upgrade to.
• Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Out Now (Linux)
  The final version of Ubuntu 9.10 has hit Ubuntu's servers a little bit ahead of its front page. Grab a torrent or ISO of the free Linux operating system while the servers aren't slammed.
• Aerofoil Keeps Your Laptop's Battery Alive (Windows)
  Open-source system tray utility Aerofoil helps keep your Windows notebook running longer by automatically turning off Aero Glass and other battery-sucking preferences when you disconnect from a wall outlet.
• Livebrush Makes Design Creation Simple (Adobe Air)
  If you're looking to put a flourish or two on an invitation, business card, or web page, Livebrush makes it super simple to create your own designs without purchasing advanced vector-based software.
• LongBar is a Slick, Open-Source Sidebar for Windows (Windows)
  Desktop sidebar LongBar hosts mini-applications as "tiles", giving you application launchers, system stats, Facebook updates, sticky notes, and more on the side of your screen.
• Google Voice AIR App Keeps Voicemail and SMS on Your Desktop (Adobe Air)
  If you'd like to keep quick access to your Google Voice voicemail and SMS messages handily in place on your dock or taskbar, a cross-platform app gives you exactly that by packaging up Google Voice's mobile site.
• PicTranslator Turns Your iPhone's Camera into a Language Translator (iPhone)
  Whether you've found yourself in a foreign land or you just need a little help with a foreign-language menu, snap a pic with PicTranslator and let it translate for you on the fly.
• VMware Fusion Updates with Excellent Windows 7 Support (Mac OS X)
  If you're looking to run Windows on your Mac, you've got a few options. If you want to run Windows 7 on your Mac, complete with Aero, Flip 3D, and 64-bit support, try the new VMware Fusion.
• Taskbar Meters Monitor Your Windows 7 Hardware in the Taskbar (Windows 7)
  If you're not into Windows desktop gadgets, there is another way to easily monitor your computer's CPU and RAM: Taskbar Meters puts simple, attractive resource monitors right on your Windows 7 Taskbar.
• Minimalist Gmail Pares Gmail Down to the Basics (Firefox)
  If you liked the look of Zen Habits' Minimalist Gmail adaptation, but don't usually roll with Greasemonkey scripts, a coder has put together a single Firefox extension that can hide header, footer, and sidebar elements for an elegant look.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! This is me in my get-up last year just before losing the costume contest and sai-ing all the judges in the face. Everybody have fun out there tonight and remember to be safe (but not too safe). Also, if you see a David after the Dentist stumbling around, that's me (I scored a nitrous tank!). HAPPY HALLOWEEN!