Filed under: Displays

Does it strike anyone else as strange that Apple is hiring a “reliability engineer” to work on “supporting multi-touch panel development with Mac… hardware groups”? Then again, it might just be a typo or a fudged up listing — these kinds of speculative positions tend to pop up on Apple’s job site rather frequently. See it for yourself after the break (just in case Cupertino HR wises up).

Continue reading Apple hiring multi-touch engineer for Mac hardware group

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Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Dell’s Direct2Dell blog has made some PR wins in the past, but this isn’t one of them. The company posted a long-winded explanation of the Latitude XT‘s supposed charms and advantages over existing tablets, but didn’t do itself any favors by underplaying the vast price and power disparity with the likes of HP and Lenovo. Sure, we love the capacitive touch, and the build and size are great, but the machine is way underpowered in its $2,500 base configuration, and prices get astronomical — nearly twice that of Lenovo’s — when you try to spec the XT up to the X61t’s level. Still, we’re a sucker for charts, so we guess Dell wins round one. We’ll be back, and we won’t leave our copy of PowerPoint at home, Micheal!

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video

It’s just a little element in the ongoing fight against DRM, but every part helps, and we’re kind of digging the idea. Neuros has developed a name and logo for DRM-free media to allow companies to brand their products in such a way that consumers know they’re getting a fully portable file. “Unlocked Media” might not be super catchy as far as names go, but we like the idea of a positive move that consumers and companies can latch onto; promote the benefits of DRM-free, rather than just decry the evils of copy protection. The branding is available to “any entity that uses media using open standard technology which is available to all on a non-discriminatory basis.” Neuros hopes some independent third party will step in to manage the trademark. Oh, and if all this is too optimistic for you, there are some grating explanatory videos after the break that will have you running back to the open arms of “Big Media” in a heart beat.

Continue reading Neuros develops “Unlocked Media” brand for DRM-free stuff

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Toshiba just announced its membership in an alliance to develop system chips using 32-nm circuitry. That’s well below the existing 45-nm processes used in manufacturing Intel’s Penryn, for example. The alliance includes IBM, AMD, Samsung, Infineon, Freescale, and Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. No surprise really, what with Tosh already in bed with IBM to develop chips using 32-nm processes. The agreement is good until 2010 and covers design, development, and the production of the itty bitty circuitry. A move which should reduce manufacturing costs for the alliance with the savings passed along to us consumers.

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