Anodizing (Or the beauty of corrosion - in Apple products)

Published on May 29, 2012 by engineerguyvideo : Bill describes how metals like aluminum and titanium are made resistant to corrosion by growing an oxide layer into the metals. These is the same process used on many Apple products.

LG unveils 5-inch HD LCD screen

Designed for "smart devices," the new panel will feature a 440ppi pixel density, beating out the 330ppi Retina display found on Apple's iPhone.

LG's new 5-inch HD LCD screen. (Credit: LG)

LG has announced it will release a new 5-inch LCD screen later this year that boasts a 1080p resolution.

Designed for "smart devices," the new panel also features a 440ppi pixel density -- handily beating the 330ppi Retina display found on Apple's iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. "The naked eye is unable to distinguish between individual pixels," LG said in a statement announcing the new screen.

The 5-inch display will have a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920x1080 resolution, a combination more associated with HDTVs and high-definition monitors. The display is built on AH-IPS (Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching) technology, which provides wider viewing angles, improved color palette, and faster touch-response times, LG said.

News of LG's new screen emerges as Apple is reportedly gearing up to outfit the next-generation iPhone with screens that are at least 4 inches wide, a marked increase over the 3.5-inch 960x640-pixel Retina display the iPhone currently sports.

The new LG screen, which will be released in the second half of 2012, will be on display in June at the SID 2012 Display Week trade show in Boston.

Original article :

Thinnest (and lightest) 10-inch tablets

How thin can tablets get? CNET looks at the thinnest 10-inch tablets so far.

You don't get much thinner than this. No, seriously, the Toshiba Excite 10 LE is currently the thinnest tablet there is.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Even if your tablet appreciation never deviates from pragmatic, functionality concerns, you'll at least have to admit that a thin tablet has its advantages. Thin tablets are usually sleeker, sexier, and easier to handle. And lately, they've begun to include more features like microSD, Micro-HDMI, and even ridiculously crazy high-resolution screens.

By their nature of being so thin, all tablets on this list are the lightest 10-inch tablets you've even seen. However, today we'll be focusing only on the girth of the tablets.

Since it's no longer Apple's flagship tablet, I decided not to include the iPad 2 in the official list, but it's included in this handy chart for comparison's sake.

	Thickness (in inches)	Weight (in pounds)
Toshiba Excite 10 LE	0.30	1.12
Asus Transformer Prime TF201	0.32	1.32
iPad 2	0.34	1.34
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	0.34	1.24
iPad (2012)	0.37	1.44
Asus Transformer Pad TF300	0.38	1.40

full report :

ASUS PadFone Demo Video

Published on May 11, 2012 by asus - The award-winning ASUS PadFone™ is a fully featured Android ICS smartphone with a 4.3" Super AMOLED screen that transforms into a 10.1" tablet when connected to the PadFone™ Station. ASUS' unique DynamicDisplay technology expands your view by optimizing apps to take advantage of the different screen sizes, while data is instantly available without the need to synchronize. The PadFone™ boasts up to 63 hours of extended talk time with the PadFone™ Station, and up to 102 hours with the Station Dock keyboard attachment. Better still, the PadFone™ shares a single data plan between three devices to maximize your savings.

Microsoft playing active role in ultrabook development?

The software company is reportedly spending time with ultrabook vendors to ensure that the designs of those devices will work well with touch-enabled Windows 8 environments.

Mooly Eden, head of Intel's PC unit, shows off an ultrabook with 

a transparent touchscreen last year.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Microsoft might only be a software vendor, but the company is playing an active role in hardware, according to a new report.

Digitimes is reporting today, citing sources, that Microsoft is "actively involved" in ultrabook product designs. The reason the company is so involved revolves around Windows 8's touch-enabled features. When displays are touched in traditional clamshell notebooks, the screens will shake and move a bit, making it difficult to handle tasks. Microsoft has now placed more stringent specifications on vendors, according to Digitimes' sources, to ensure that the touch screens will deliver a more reliable experience.

The combination of ultrabooks and touch screens is something many vendors believe could be a key ingredient in the form factor's success. Last November, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, whose company developed the ultrabook specification, said that touch-based options will become increasingly important as the devices try to compete against traditional notebooks and Apple's own iPad.

Full report 

'Google goggles' offer vision of future

Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Apr 6, 2012 : Google has unveiled a new pair of glasses that puts its virtual services, literally, in your face. It's still a work in progress, but as Stefanie Dekker reports, it's already causing controversy.

WD 2TB My Passport review:

The WD My Passport, the first-ever 2TB portable drive WD introduced last week, turned out to be pretty impressive.

Despite the top capacity, the new My Passport drive remains very compact and portable.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

Despite the fact that it offers the top capacity for 2.5-inch-based drives that use the current perpendicular recording technology, the drive is also compact and light. In fact, it's more compact than the My Passport Studio that offers just half of its storage space.

Originally, it was predicted that for 2.5-inch internal drives -- those housed inside portable drives like the new My Passport -- to reach 2TB, a new recording technology would be required. WD's My Passport is proof that that wasn't the case.

The new WD drive supports USB 3.0 (USB 2.0-compatible) and comes with just one standard USB cable that works for both data and power connections. In my testing, though it was not the fastest, the drive offered very fast performance.

The new WD My Passport also comes with useful software utilities for users to take advantage of its security features and use it as a backup drive.

For more on how the drive is totally worth its $250 price tag, check out the full review of the new WD My Passport Portable drive.

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Big-screen ultrabooks: The first wave

Larger, thinner...better? Check out the first 14- and 15-inch ultrabook-type laptops we've seen at CNET and decide for yourself.

What's an ultrabook, exactly? Is it a slim, portable 13-incher, or any laptop that's thinnish and cool-looking? The latest confounding trend in Intel's "ultrabook" brand creep has been the rise of 14- and 15-inch laptops boasting thinner designs and those same low-voltage CPUs that smaller ultrabooks have. Call them the return of the thin-and-light laptop, if you will, but ultrabooks have finally gotten supersized.

We've seen several of these already here at CNET Reviews: the HP Envy 14 Spectre, the15-inch Samsung Series 9, the Samsung Series 5 Ultra, and the Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3. The confusing thing about these larger ultrabooks is that some are heavier than others. Some have optical drives (the Acer Timeline Ultra, Samsung Series 5), others don't (the Spectre and the Series 9). One even has dedicated Nvidia graphics.

Some aren't even formally called ultrabooks at all, like Samsung's laptops -- which is confusing, because they certainly look the part in terms of size and processor. For all intents and purposes, I'm calling all of them ultrabooks here. Does bigger equal better for a class of laptop that prides itself, paradoxically, on being thin and compact? So far, two winners seem to have emerged: the HP Envy 14 Spectre and the Samsung Series

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Samsung Series 9 NP900X4B-A02 (15-inch)

Well, first, the price: the 15-inch Series 9 NP900X4B-A02 will cost $1,499 when it debuts in late April. That's less than the $1,600-plus for last year's Series 9 13-incher, but it's still way up in the stratosphere. It's not unreasonable for a larger laptop, provided it also has better specs and performance than a tiny ultraportable computer.

That's problem No. 2: under the hood, the 15-inch Series 9 is really just the same as its soon-to-arrive 13-inch sibling. It has a Core i5 processor and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), and even that big screen has the same 1,600x900-pixel resolution. An included 8GB of RAM is the only notably lofty spec. There's no optical drive (of course), and there aren't even any extra full-size ports like Ethernet and HDMI; you'll need dongles or special cables, and only the Ethernet dongle comes in the box.

Still, there's no denying that the larger Series 9 is a beautiful computer. However, is it worth the $1,499 price, especially when even a MacBook Air costs less, and perfectly capable if slightly less sexy full-size laptops can be had for half of that? That's up to you. After all, Samsung makes a less thin but equally powerful Series 5 Ultra that's still reasonably slim but costs over $500 less. Also consider that, for $100 less, the next-generation 13-inch Samsung Series 9 will offer much of the same functionality, in a smaller size with half the RAM. I certainly would love a 15-inch Series 9 if it fell in my lap, but it's a lot of money for what you get. In this instance, you're truly getting a super-size ultrabook. You're paying for thin.

Larger-screen ultrabooks will be a trend throughout 2012, but I'm still not sure I get the motivation for larger, thinner laptops...even though this Series 9 is probably one of the best of them, if you're judging purely on style and feel.

read more  

Best 5 printers

(Updated March 9, 2012 8:45 AM PST)

Justin Yu
Associate Editor

More often than anything else, we get the question, "What's the best printer for me?" It's a tough question to answer, because it all depends on what you want to do with your printer. Whether you want a high-quality printer, an all-in-one workhorse, a compact photo printer, or a simple single-function inkjet, we've got you covered. We've picked the five printers, across all categories, with the highest CNET rating from the past calendar year to satisfy your curiosity. If you're interested in specific categories, check out our top products lists on the left.

HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus e-All-in-One Printer

If you can find a desk to accommodate its large size, the HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus all-in-one printer serves up top-shelf output quality at rapid print speeds, suitable for offices, home users, and photo enthusiasts hunting for an upgrade.

Price: $199.99 - $299.99 (check prices)

4 stars

Excellent

FULL REPORT 

Secrets of the iPad Camera Connection Kit.

After some testing, it's clear that Apple's Camera Connection Kit is equipped to do a lot more than it advertises.

Credit: Sharon Vaknin/CNET)

With the third-generation iPad's super-high-resolution Retina Display and the newly available iPhoto for iOS, editing photos and videos on the go is becoming more practical.

Specifically tailored for the iPad, Apple's proprietary Camera Connection Kit allows you to transfer full-resolution photos and videos from your digital camera to your iPad without the need for a computer.

The $29 kit comes with two components: a USB adapter, and an SD card adapter. Like its name implies, the intended use of these adapters is to transfer media from your camera to your iPad. But after a little tinkering, it's clear that these dongles can be used for much more.

Full report 

WD debuts 2TB My Passport portable external hard drive

WD debuts 2TB My Passport portable external hard drive

The new My Passport portable drives from Western Digital comes in 

white, black, silver, blue, and red, with capacities ranging from 500GB 

to, for the first time, 2TB. (Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

Western Digital announced late yesterday the first single-volume portable external hard drive on the market that offers 2TB of storage, 500GB more than the second-highest-capacity portable drive of its type, the GoFlex Ultraportable of Seagate.

The new drive belongs to the My Passport family that, prior to this, offered up to 1TB of storage space. Despite the doubling of the capacity, the new 2.5-inch drive remains compact, bus-powered, and portable. WD says it supports USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, and is reformatted using NTFS but can be easily reformatted for Mac OS.

full report 

Asus N53SV LAPTOP

The N53SV is the laptop to get if you want power, but you're on a budget. We'd love a higher-quality keyboard, but this only a small bugbear in an otherwise excellent laptop.

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It's surprising the sort of quality that you can get on a budget these days. Take Asus' AU$1299 N53S — while the grey wrist rest with wood-grain pattern may be a matter of taste, the laptop is well constructed and of higher quality than you'd expect for the price bracket.

It still falls into the extremely common trap of providing a 1366x768 screen, though, something that with a screen size of 15.6 inches always seems a little too low. Still, the screen is reasonably bright, and the colour is just fine.

full report :