transformer

The Asus Transformer separates

A short battery life is bad news for any consumer electronics device, and tablets are no different. Unless we've been recently burned, battery life is that one thing we usually take for granted when looking at device specs, but it's always there, waiting to bite us in the rear when we least expect it.

Now a 16-hour battery life isn't ideal, but it would get most of us through our day with room to spare. For its Transformer tablet, Asus claims up to 16 hours of battery life; however, this figure is based on beta hardware and … Read more

IBM to create cloud-computing system for NATO

IBM has been tapped by NATO to build a new cloud-based computing system designed to help the 28 member nations better use and share data.

Selected for the project by NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT), Big Blue will be called upon to design and demonstrate a cloud-computing environment that would help the North Atlantic Treaty Organization plan and implement critical tasks, such as intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

The goal is to see if NATO members can use a collaborative cloud to access data faster and make decisions more quickly.

Though NATO's 28 countries share common goals, they … Read more

Get extra cool with the hot Camaro computer

"Transformers" fans, I've just run into something at Chevy Mall that probably won't get you Megan Fox but will likely make your nerdy friends envious, nonetheless. It's a personal computer that's a replica of the hot Chevy Camaro.

The computer starts at around $1,240 and comes in a variety of colors, including the same color as the car used in the movie: bright yellow. The machine is relatively loaded, with two USB ports on the grille of the car, a slot-load DVD drive at the front bumper, and two more USB ports on … Read more

A tour of the Samsung Transform

SAN FRANCISCO--The Samsung Transform is one of three new smartphones that Sprint announced at the fall CTIA show here. And shortly after the carrier's official show press conference, we stopped by the Samsung booth to give the Transform a test run.

With a 3.5-inch touch screen, a slider design, and a full alphabetic keyboard, the Transform's design is nothing we haven't seen before. Yet, that's not to say it's unattractive. The device has a comfortable feeling in the hand, and the keyboard is spacious and comfortable even if the keys are rather flush. We … Read more

Samsung Transform comes to Sprint October 10

SAN FRANCISCO--Sprint today unveiled the Samsung Transform, an Android smartphone running Android 2.1. It has a 3.5 inch HVGA touch screen with 480x320-pixel resolution. We haven't had much time to play with the Transform, having just received a test unit, but can say already that the screen, while bright, feels resistive. It was a tad tacky in our hands.

On the hardware side, there's a front-facing VGA camera and a rear-facing 3.2 megapixel camera. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard is silver. What's unique about the Transform is that it's one of three Android smartphones … Read more

Two new Android phones expected for Sprint

SAN FRANCISCO--We know that Sprint is planning a CTIA press conference at 2 p.m. today, but so far the carrier has kept the exact news under wraps. According to AndoidGuys, however, we should see two new Android handsets that will launch next Sunday, October 10.

Though it will be new to Sprint, the first phone is something we've seen before. The Sanyo Zio, which first arrived at Cricket in late September, will carry a $99 price tag with service.

The Samsung Transform should have an 800MHz processor with Android 2.1 (Eclair). The design looks to be a … Read more

Transformers crash land on Android OS

Glu Mobile has released a port of its Transformers G1: Awakening iPhone game to the Android Market this week. Awakening is a turn-based strategy game starring 23 of our favorite robots in disguise from the 1980s cartoon, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream. The story loosely follows the animated plot with players taking control of the heroic Autobots as they wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons shortly after crash landing on Earth.

After the initial download and installation, the game prompts you to download an additional 7MB of data to either the SD card … Read more

The 404 631: Where we touch our magic trackpad (podcast)

Apple refreshed its lineup of iMac desktop computers this morning to include faster CPUs and an improved graphics chip for games and video editing. The new computers also support larger hard drives (and even solid-state drives) with a higher capacity SDXC card slot for your media and start at $1,199.

Apple also announced a new line of Mac pro machines that offer up to 12 cores and Turbo Boost, a technology that can deliver even higher processor speeds. And the company unveiled a gorgeous 27-inch LED display to complement the new system.

Finally, Apple showed off the Magic Trackpad, … Read more

Will giant Optimus Prime battle giant Gundam?

Robot one-upmanship is happening at an alarming pace in East Asia as the Chinese have unveiled a giant Optimus Prime in Beijing, no doubt to counter giant robots recently built by the Japanese. Is a clash of the robo-titans imminent?

The Transformers icon stands nearly 40 feet tall and weighs 6 tons. Fittingly, the head Autobot was fashioned out of recycled car parts such as engines and tires. It took five truckloads of parts to put Prime together.

The colossus dwarfs puny humans at the new Green Dream Park, located northwest of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" National … Read more

Easy edits

We tend to put off editing our digital photos because we find it be such a tedious, time-consuming task. BatchPhoto Pro seeks to solve this problem, making photo editing a simple, three-step process. Although it's obviously not going to give you the same results you'd get after hours spent in Photoshop, we found it to be an easy, intuitive way to take care of basic editing.

The program's interface is well-designed, making it easy for even novice users to edit their images. There are three steps: Add Photos, Add Filters, and Setup. In the first step, users … Read more