Ask Engadget: best 'money is no object' laptop?

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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 coming to us from Chris, who simply has too much money to blow on a super-laptop. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"I sold my business and I want to replace my laptop [HP Pavilion G6] with a completely unreasonably expensive top of the line machine. I want it to do everything I do (gaming, coding, web design) all at the same time. Apart from the fact I need two hard drive bays, I'm completely open-minded, so what should I be buying? Thank you!"

Quell your gnashing teeth, members of the 99 percent, he's done well for himself and now he needs our help. We were able to trick out an Alienware M18x to full capacity for $6,700 -- with an over-clocked 4GHz Intel Core i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM, two 2GB NVIDIA GTX 675M GPUs in SLI mode and 1.2TB of SSD RAID storage. That's the benchmark, folks: who out there can find something more powerful?

Ask Engadget: best 'money is no object' laptop? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/28/ask-engadget-best-money-no-object-laptop/

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Leaked Rayman Legends for Wii U trailer showcases NFC feature (video)

Leaked Rayman Legends for Wii U trailer showcases NFC feature (video)

If you're counting down the days till the Wii U is released, you might recall that back in January Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata said the console will ship with an NFC chip inside. Well, you can now get a taste of how games will incorporate that feature, thanks to this just-leaked trailer for Rayman Legends. According to the video, Rayman Rabbid action figures can jump into the game when a player taps them to the Wii U's screen. (It looks like that trick will work with an Assassin's Creed Ezio Auditore da Firenze figurine too.) Check out the trailer, courtesy of Gamekult, while you can -- after all, Ubisoft didn't want you to glimpse the U's magical powers just yet.

Continue reading Leaked Rayman Legends for Wii U trailer showcases NFC feature (video)

Leaked Rayman Legends for Wii U trailer showcases NFC feature (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/27/leaked-rayman-legends-for-wii-u-trailer-showcases-nfc-feature-v/

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Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

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Corel seems to be on a roll lately; after releasing WinZip System Utilities just last week, this morning the company announced VideoStudio Pro X4.

VideoStudio Pro is aimed at home users and small business professionals who want to create professional-looking videos, but without the hassle, steep learning curve and price of Adobe Premiere Pro and the likes.

This new version introduces several features:

  • Stop motion animation: You can now capture still frames using a webcam, camcorder or DSLR and use them to produce an animation. Tools such as "onion skin view" let you compare the previous image in the sequence with the current one and make the animation as smooth as possible.
  • Processor optimization: Corel says the app is optimized for Intel's new Sandy Bridge systems, and have shown us some graphs with very impressive numbers. We've been unable to test this particular point, but if you have a recent-generation Intel or AMD Fusion system, VideoStudio performance should be blazing. Even on our older test system performance was quite impressive.
  • Customizable workspace: You can drag the video preview window to your secondary monitor (if you have one) and tweak just about any other element in the window layout. Once done, you can save your ideal workspace in one of three slots.
  • Share-to-Web: VideoStudio Pro X4 hooks directly into YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Flickr, so you don't even have to launch a browser to upload your final product. Edit, produce and share from within the app itself.
  • Smart Package: Video projects typically consist of many files; Smart Package lets you bundle all video assets for a given project into one ZIP file which you can password-protect and keep in a safe place once you're done editing.
I've had a chance to play around with a pre-release version for a few days, and have put it through its paces editing a short video for my day job. Overall, I've been impressed with how easy it was to create pro-looking results. If you do any sort of video editing but are leery of the investment other apps require (both in dollars and effort), VideoStudio Pro is well worth checking out. To see a bit of the interface itself and what the app can do, watch the video after the jump.

Note: We'll be running a give-away of ten VideoStudio Pro X4 licenses later today, each worth $100 USD. Keep your eyes peeled for the giveaway post!

Continue reading Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/corel-releases-videostudio-pro-x4-we-go-hands-on/

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Space travel coming to an airport near you? Maybe, if Skylon keeps its cool

reaction-engines-spaceplane-skylon-critical-cooling-tests

Want to get from New York to Perth in under 4 hours, or maybe just head to outer space on a lark? Reaction Engines' "Skylon" mach 5 spaceplane might be your chariot -- or not. Its scheme of ingesting oxygen from the atmosphere instead of stowing it like a 50-year old modern multi-stage rocket sounds good, but the project's fate may hang on critical new tests. Failure is still a possibility, but if the high-speed, superhot gases can be cooled enough for the hybrid Sabre engines to work, and if Reaction Engines Limited can secure another round of funding, punching your space-ticket could soon be a very real possibility.

Space travel coming to an airport near you? Maybe, if Skylon keeps its cool originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/27/reaction-engines-spaceplane-skylon-critical-cooling-tests/

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SkyDrive Builds Up Syncing, Downsizes Free Space

Microsoft is giving its SkyDrive cloud storage service a makeover that will include new apps and greater synchronization abilities across mobile and PC devices. The new service includes SkyDrive for the Windows desktop, so it can be managed right from Windows Explorer or from SkyDrive.com.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1eb2d9d0/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C749410Bhtml/story01.htm

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London Olympics Will Have World's Largest McDonald's [Olympics]

The London 2012 Olympics, athletic event to top all athletic events, will be honored with the installment of the largest McDonald's fast-food restaurant on Earth. Seems a little ironic, no? [Eater via FoodBeast - Images via McDonald's / Flickr]

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MyeMOJDNaUg/

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Firefox 4 rockets to 5% global usage share, IE9 wallows at 1.5%

Firefox 4 usage share graph
Using some early numbers from both StatCounter and Net Applications, Mozilla's noisiest hominid, Asa Dotzler, has illustrated Firefox 4's meteoric rise to around 5% of Web browser global usage share. Internet Explorer 9, which launched two weeks ago, seems to be enjoying a much more casual stroll in the park with just 1.5% of the global Web usage share.

Interestingly, we can see IE9 dipping between March 20 and 21, just before the 'Important' Windows Update rolled out. It's hard to say whether IE9 is only growing because of the installed-by-default Windows Update, but that small dip definitely sticks out -- did excitement peter out? Did people download IE9, try it out, and summarily uninstall it? Perhaps, given their close proximity, the stats show an attention shift from Microsoft to Mozilla?

Numbers-wise, if the bottom left corner of the graph shows 2.3 million downloads for IE9, we can guesstimate that that it has now been downloaded 5 million times. Firefox is clocking in at 37 million downloads after five days of public availability.

We wonder whether Microsoft knew its release schedule would coincide so closely with Firefox 4. Internet Explorer 9 -- a great browser by almost every metric -- was never going to do well against anything emanating from the maws of Mozilla. The main thing, though, is that Microsoft has now shown that it's serious when it comes to the Open Web. If Internet Explorer 10 is good, and 11 and 12, then we might finally see it compete with the zealous Mozillan horde.

Firefox 4 rockets to 5% global usage share, IE9 wallows at 1.5% originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/firefox-4-rockets-to-5-global-usage-share-ie9-wallows-at-1-5/

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Auslogics Disk Defrag 3.2 gets smarter, faster

auslogics defrag
Auslogics Disk Defrag has been part of my system maintenance toolkit for quite some time. With the release of version 3.2, it's now even better at tidying up and optimizing your system's hard disk drives. In addition to a cleaner, easier-to-use interface, Disk Defrag 3.2 offers improved single file and folder defragging, better processing of multiple disks, a simplified scheduling screen, and more informative tool tips. Auslogics has also fine-tuned the program's defragmentation and file consolidation algorithms.

For laptop users, there's a new option to lock the program if your system is running on battery power -- so scheduled operations don't kick in and drain your power source at an inopportune moment. If you happen to have an SSD installed in your PC, you can head to the Disk Defrag options and exclude it from scanning (many think that defragmenting an SSD is a very bad idea).

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a free download and works with most versions of Windows.

Auslogics Disk Defrag 3.2 gets smarter, faster originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/auslogics-disk-defrag-3-2-gets-smarter-faster/

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Leaked T-Mobile roadmap outlines Ice Cream Sandwich updates, new myTouch devices

Leaked T-Mobile roadmap outlines Ice Cream Sandwich updates, new myTouch devices

Looks like our friends over at TMoNews have unearthed a roadmap with some tasty morsels of info about what's coming down the pipe from T-Mobile USA in the next few months. Of course, none of this is set in stone or even confirmed, so take it with a grain of salt.

Most interesting is a pair of dates for Ice Cream sandwich updates, with Magenta's Galaxy S II slated to receive Android 4.0 on May 14th, followed by the Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G getting ICS (with Sense 3.6, presumably) on June 16th.

A bunch of device launches from Samsung and Huawei round up the list of dates, with no sign of HTC's One X, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S III, or T-Mobile's rumored Galaxy Note variant. Sadness. Check out the entire bounty below.

  • May 9th: Huawei Astor (low-end phone for 7-Eleven)
  • July 11th: Huawei Buddy and Phoenix (myTouch QWERTY and slate, respectively)
  • July 11th: Samsung Gravity TXT (new color)
  • Aug 1st: Samsung T159 Cacao (low-end handset)
  • Aug 15th: Samsung Apex Q (mystery device)

Leaked T-Mobile roadmap outlines Ice Cream Sandwich updates, new myTouch devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/27/leaked-t-mobile-roadmap-outlines-ice-cream-sandwich-updates-new/

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