|  |  |  | | | | | Engadget | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Evidently tired of smooth running graphics, lightning fast processing and bags and bags of available memory, programmer Dmitry Grinberg decided to go back to computing basics. And then some. As Linux was developed on a 32-bit machine with 1MB of RAM, this has always been considered the minimum system requirements to run the open source OS. Dmitry, however, put this theory to test, building a barebones set-up with just an 8-bit RISC microcontroller at its heart. Running at a somewhat sedentary 6.5KHz, with only 16KB of SRAM and 128KB of flash storage, these are specs that make most phones look like supercomputers. To get things working, Dmitry had to write an ARM emulator so that the system appeared as having a 32-bit processor with an MMU, and it looks like a 30-pin 16MB SIMM was added, plus as SD card to house the Ubuntu image. Despite all this, he was able to load Ubuntu successfully. Sure, it took four hours, and that's after two hours waiting for the bash command prompt, but hey. Grinberg claims that the system is still useable, with the command line typically responding "within a minute." So Dmitri, if you're reading this on the machine, happy new year! Check the time-lapse video after the break to see it in full, patience testing, action. Continue reading World's slowest Linux computer, says 'Hello Wor...' (video) World's slowest Linux computer, says 'Hello Wor...' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Apr 2012 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Extremetech |  Dmitry Grinberg | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from is from Keith, who needs our help to become the next internet comedy sensation. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "Hey Engadget! I'm a fledgling stand-up, performing at my local open mic, but I'm thinking of branching out. I'd like to record some of my performances on something better than my QuickCam Pro 9000. Anyone know the best HD video camera for live performances? I'm looking for something reasonably priced and audio quality is paramount. Thanks for your help!" The comedy clubs we've been in are rarely well lit, so we'll add that this camera has to have fantastic low light performance, which is going to increase the price by a hefty amount. Still, if you can think of a HD camcorder that can do the job -- and let's be honest, carving things out of stone would be better than a QuickCam Pro 9000 -- and is within the budget of a struggling artist then lob your suggestions into the river of comments below. Ask Engadget: Best HD Camcorder for live shows? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | For a country who doesn't really do April Fools' Day, you know China means business when it lays the smackdown on its weibo services. Here's the background story: about a week ago there was a rumor on the Chinese web about a military coup on one of the main streets in Beijing, and coincidentally I was in town around the time (for the Windows Phone launch). Funnily enough, I wasn't aware of this at all until my taxi driver in Hong Kong asked me about my visit, as he claimed that the passenger he picked up beforehand was actually a Chinese military officer who had several intense phone calls about said coup.
But of course, nothing actually happened. In fact, the guards at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were pretty relaxed when I visited on that very day. As for the rumormongers, the Chinese government announced through Xinhua that 16 websites have been shut down and six people have been detained, while local microblogging platforms Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo have been "criticized and punished accordingly," though it didn't elaborate on the details. All we know is that comments under each weibo post are now disabled until local time 8pm on April 3rd, during which these two companies can, in their own words, clean up the mess. Well, at least we now know where to draw the line for China's April Fools'. Weibo services 'punished' for Beijing coup rumors, comments temporarily disabled originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Tech In Asia | Xinhua | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | It was a relatively slow news week. So what? We'll make those lemons into podcast lemonade any day, and you, friend, are invited to our lemonade stand. We take credit cards.
Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen, Joseph Volpe
Guest: Andrew Munchbach
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)
00:01:48 - RIM announces Q4 2012 earnings, Jim Balsillie resigns from board, company plans to refocus on enterprise
00:04:30 - RIM CEO Thorsten Heins reportedly 'clearing house,' laying off numerous executives
00:10:00 - RIM sticking with consumer goods, just 'refocusing' on enterprise
00:18:55 - Android 4.0.4 rolls out to HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus and GSM Nexus S
00:40:47 - Samsung ships five million Galaxy Notes in just five months
00:54:04 - Conversion kit lets you push your RAZR to the Maxx for $110
00:55:30 - LG Lucid becomes official on Verizon, can be yours March 29th for $80
01:02:05 - Nano-SIM standard vote postponed while RIM accuses Apple of cheating
01:05:55 - T-Mobile's next MyTouch: Huawei Ascend G312 QWERTY hands-on
01:17:05 - Nokia Lumia 900 to hit AT&T on April 8th with $100 price tag in tow (video)
01:18:55 - AT&T confirms HTC Titan II to join Lumia 900 on April 8th for $200 (video)
01:33:37 - Samsung Galaxy S ICS-like 'value pack' upgrade officially released in Korea
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@tnkgrl @phonewisdom @engadgetmobile @jrvolpe @amunchbach Engadget Mobile Podcast 132 - 03.31.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  We've swooned over BMW's i3 and i8 plug-in gasoline electric hybrids for some time now, so naturally our hearts raced today when the company announced its latest addition to the series, the i8 Concept Spyder. What you're looking at is essentially a sportier version of the i8 Coupe, with the appropriate accents and design tweaks to match. So, what's different in this variant of the nearly gull-winged wonder with a 96 kW / 131hp electric motor up front and 164 kW / 223hp gasoline engine on back? BMW notes that the vehicle features a shorter wheelbase and overall length (all while maintaining its 50-50 weight distribution), a slighter darker interior and refreshed paint job on its exterior, topless roof and even a pair of matching folded kickboards(!) that stow in the back. BMW hasn't mentioned when they'll be showing this Spyder in flesh, but as Autoblog notes, the New York Auto show is only a week way -- and we'll be sure to let you know if we spot it ourselves. In the meantime, you can zip over to Autoblog and the press release after the break for the details. Continue reading BMW adds extra sportiness to its i-series lineup, unveils i8 Concept Spyder BMW adds extra sportiness to its i-series lineup, unveils i8 Concept Spyder originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Autoblog | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Well, it appears that April Fools is in full effect -- at least if you ask Google. Today the company introduced its "latest" build of Google Maps, dubbed Google Maps 8-bit version, tailored specifically for the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Google, this Dragon Quest spoof version of Maps will come in the form of a special NES cartridge that can connect to the internet via dial-up. This apparently allows most of the heavy lifting to get done on Google's servers, where the maps are rendered to 8-bit form "in real-time." Better yet, it even supports voice search. Naturally, there's no word on a release date, but you can currently check out the "beta" by visiting Google Maps in your browser and selecting "Start Your Quest." That said, that company warns that "your system may not meet the minimum requirements for 8-bit computations" -- something tells us it'll still be less resource-intensive than Crysis, though. We've checked it out and found some goodies, including an alien at Area 51, so let us know what you come across during your journey in the comments. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Continue reading Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Google Maps | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Well, it appears that April Fools in full effect -- at least if you ask Google. Today the company introduced its "latest" build of Google Maps, dubbed Google Maps 8-bit version, tailored specifically for the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Google, this Dragonquest spoof version of Maps will come in the form of a special NES cartridge that can connect to the internet via dial-up. This apparently allows most of the heavy lifting to get done on Google's servers, where the maps are rendered to 8-bit form "in real-time" Better yet, it even supports voice search. Naturally, there's no word on a release date, but you can currently check out the "beta" by visiting Google Maps in your browser and selecting "Start Your Quest." That said, that company warns that "your system may not meet the minimum requirements for 8-bit computations" -- something tells us it'll still be less resource-intensive than Crysis, though. We've checked it out and found some goodies, including an alien at Area 51, so let us know what you come across during your journey in the comments. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Continue reading Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Google Maps | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Google's position as the dominant search engine doesn't come without a price. Smaller search sites have already tapped on the EU Commission's door to register their complaints about how they are ranked, and Microsoft has also let its feelings on the matter be known. Now, we can add the Redmond spin-off, Expedia, to that list of sore losers disgruntled firms. The travel search site claims it has specific details outlining how the search giant has violated European anti-competitive laws. A Google spokesperson issued a statement saying "We haven't seen the complaint yet, but we've been working to explain how our business works, cooperating with the European Commission since this investigation began." The EU Competition Commissioner says a decision will be made after Easter, at which point Mountain View will either be charged, or the investigation will be dropped. If only that were the end of its EU troubles. Expedia adds to Google's EU antitrust woes, decision expected after Easter originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Reuters | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not like we haven't seen this dog-and-pony show before, but Flurry's latest round of analytics -- which measured revenue of 11 million daily active users from mid-January through the end of February 2012 -- shows Amazon's Appstore pulling in a shocking amount of revenue given the short life that it has lived. Apple's strength in sales has been well documented, but the latest report shows that for every $1 generated in the iTunes App Store, $0.89 is being spent in the Amazon Appstore. Looking more broadly, the numbers show that just $0.23 are generated in the Google Play halls for every $1 spent in the App Store, but that's hardly a new phenomenon; the ease of sideloading (amongst other factors) has raised complaints from Android developers for years now. Flurry's conclusion is that Google's core strength simply isn't in running a store -- something it's about to do once more with Android slates -- while both Apple and Amazon excel in doing just that. Curiously, Windows Phone and BlackBerry were left off of this report, but we're hoping to see those cats thrown in the next 'go round. After all, RIM sure seems certain that its developers are making out just fine. Flurry's analytics: Apple's App Store revenue still leading, but Amazon Appstore close behind originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Electronista | Flurry | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Not content with speeding up web browsing and hosting federal data, Amazon Web Services are now helping in the fight against disease. Bezos' crew is donating a chunk of free cloud storage to the 1000 Genomes project, which aims to make it easier for scientists to search for genetic variations linked to diseases. These gene-hunters can also use Amazon's Elastic Cloud Compute service to analyze data and discover patterns, although those functions won't come gratis. The DNA sequences of 1,700 mostly anonymous Homo sapiens from around the world have already been logged, but the project needs another 1,000 samples before it meets statistical requirements. Perhaps a free USB gene sequencer and a Prime subscription might entice fresh volunteers? Amazon stores 1,700 human genomes in the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Care to take a walk down memory lane by way of the information superhighway? Good, because 21st century digital natives and Luddites alike could stand to benefit from some virtual navel-gazing. In what's essentially a 'look at how far we've come' exhibit, My Life Scoop, Intel's "connected lifestyle" site, has a collection of the more notable experiments that've sprung from our surprising interactions with the internet. Starting from the dial-up days of the mid-90's and working up to the near present, curious users can peep the wacky ways we've used the web as a tool, ranging from a remote community gardening project (The Telegarden) to a stock index that auto-adjusts dress hemlines (Stock Market Skirt) to an interactive, Arcade Fire-soundtracked film made to showcase Google Chrome (The Wilderness Downtown). But don't let us just tell you about these visual delights. Strap on those culture hats and meander through the finer artistic points of our shared online evolution at the source below. Gallery of high internet art curates for class, forgets to trololol originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 05:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink BoingBoing | My Life Scoop | Email this | Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
