It might be a stretch to suggest that there’d be no AI without John McCarthy, but at the very least, we’d likely be discussing the concept much differently. The computer scientist, who died on Sunday at 84, is credited with coining the term “Artificial Intelligence” as part of a proposal for a Dartmouth conference on the subject. The event, held in 1956, is regarded as a watershed moment for the subject. Early the following decade, McCarthy pioneered LISP, a highly popular programming language amongst the AI development community. In 1971, he won a Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery and 20 years later was awarded National Medal of Science. A more complete obituary for McCarthy can be found in the source link below.

[Thanks, Jason]

John McCarthy, AI pioneer, dies at 84 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Ever wanted to soar majestically through the clouds? Good news, freedom from your earthly ties is a 5.3-inch display and S Pen away. All that and more in the Galaxy Note ad after the break — though as we can attest, the whole creating beautiful landscapes thing isn’t quite as easy as Samsung’s simulated images make it out to be. No one ever said freedom was simple.

Continue reading New Samsung Galaxy Note ad: freedom’s just a stylus away (video)

New Samsung Galaxy Note ad: freedom’s just a stylus away (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

What will the future hold for a post-MeeGo Nokia? Sure, we have a fairly good idea, but you have mere hours to wait until the rumors are confirmed. We’ll be coming to you live from the company’s keynote at Nokia World in London, where we’re expecting not one, but multiple Windows Phones to make an on-stage debut. The show kicks off at 9AM local time, and we’ve included a handy list of round-the-world start times below. Bookmark this page right here and find out as it happens.

Psst… and toss your own time zone / day in comments below!

10:00PM – Hawaii (October 25th)
01:00AM – Pacific (October 26th)
02:00AM – Mountain (October 26th)
03:00AM – Central (October 26th)
04:00AM – Eastern (October 26th)
09:00AM – London (October 26th)
10:00AM – Paris (October 26th)
12:00PM – Moscow (October 26th)
05:00PM – Tokyo (October 26th)

The Nokia World keynote is tomorrow — get your liveblog here at 4AM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Nokia 800 gets pictured, ready for its close-up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Professional photographers know the drill: every few years, Canon or Nikon announces a game-changing DSLR, often prompting top photogs to unload their complete kits and switch to another system in a never-ending attempt to shoot with the best. This time, Canon is first out of the gate, with its flagship EOS-1D X — the latest in a series that dates back to 2001 with the EOS-1D. As you’ve probably noticed, the company’s new top model looks virtually identical to its decade-old ancestor, but is otherwise a far cry from that four megapixel CCD sensor-sporting dinosaur. We’ve been anxiously awaiting an opportunity to check out Canon’s new $6,800 18.1 megapixel full-frame model since first getting word of the beastly camera last week, and just had a chance to go hands-on during the company’s Pro Solutions event in London. Jump past the break for our impressions and a video walkthrough.

Continue reading Canon EOS-1D X first hands-on (video)

Canon EOS-1D X first hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

In July we got our first taste of Aliyun OS, running on the W700. Now, with the Gregorian calendar year coming to a close, Alibaba is prepping its second wave “cloud-powered” hardware. First up is the W800, the successor to the original Aliyun handset. As far as specs go, the two look more or less the same — with the latest version still rocking a 1GHz Tegra 2. The one obvious difference is the slightly larger 4.3-inch display gracing the front of the W800. Perhaps more interesting though, is the still unnamed tablet which also clearly bares NVIDIA branding. Speed and exact model of the CPU inside is anyone’s guess, but we’re assuming this isn’t a Kal-el device. Price and release date for both are a mystery, but the W800 is expected to land sometime before November is out. Of course, you probably shouldn’t expect these to show up in your local Best Buy, but you’ve got a friend in Hong Kong who can send you one, right?

Alibaba unveils W800, second-gen Aliyun phone, and unnamed ‘cloud-powered’ tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Lucasfilm’s former chief technology officer just became HP’s former VP of worldwide developer relations — Richard Kerris is calling it quits. HP confirmed Kerris’ departure, stating that he “has decided to leave HP to pursue an opportunity outside of the company, effective immediately.” Kerris joined HP in February 2011 as the outfit’s webOS frontman for the development community, vowing to work hard to win its favor before the firm discontinued operations for the platform’s devices earlier this year. Kerris isn’t the first employee to go since the webOS cut, and sadly, he probably won’t be the last either.

Richard Kerris leaves HP, ventures off into the land of outside opportunity originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Remember those impressive Westone 4 in-ear monitors that came out late last year, priced at a whopping $450? Well, the company’s ready to best itself again — and have audiophiles open their wallets a bit wider — with its new 4 Reference Series. This latest set is relatively similar to the 4, still packing Westone’s detachable EPIC cable and four balanced armature drivers, but will set you back an extra fifty bucks in the name of Acoustic Symmetry. Westone claims the ‘phones achieve an “extremely tight tolerance of +/- 2dB between earpieces,“ meaning your sound should be extra consistent from both buds. The 4 R-Series buds are expected to arrive before the year’s out, so in the meantime we’ll just direct you to the PR past the break.

Continue reading Westone’s 4 R-Series quad-driver IEMs pack Acoustic Symmetry, cost $500

Westone’s 4 R-Series quad-driver IEMs pack Acoustic Symmetry, cost $500 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

This week baseball’s World Series continues, after splitting the first four games evenly it all comes down to a best of three between the Rangers and Cardinals. Of course, that’s not all coming to our TVs this week, as several new series premiere, along with some Halloween-themed programming. The biggest surprise however is the 90s-throwback feel of this week’s roundup, find out why in the highlights below, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames

Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy
When the first flick debuted in 1993, it brought Michael Crichton’s book to life with an unprecedented new level of special effects. Of course, that meant the Jurassic Park trilogy’s strength was never its story, which regressed further in subsequent films. Still, you can celebrate some of the best in ’90s cinema this week with the new triple pack that includes the movies and all new behind the scenes information. You can also get your dinosaur fix every week with Terra Nova, but we wouldn’t recommend it.
(October 26th, $48.99 on Amazon)

Beavis & Butt-head
Mike Judge’s animated duo make their return to the small screen after a 14 year layoff Thursday night, and for better or worse, it doesn’t appear that much has changed. Of course, the internet has opened up a whole new source of bad music videos for the pair to display and dissect, but since they’re on the internet, its much more likely that you’ve already seen them. We’d rather have Daria or Aeon Flux back instead, but we’ll check this out for nostalgia’s sake.
(October 27th, MTV, 10PM)

Grimm
The other new fairytale based TV show makes its debut on NBC this week, with a very Supernatural / Fringe type of take on the old stories. This time around the Grimm brothers are homicide detectives that chase down all those supposedly mythical creatures in the very real world of Portland, Oregon. We’ll see if it’s worth watching as it takes on Fringe in the same time slot Friday night — check after the break for a preview.
(October 28th, NBC, 9PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (October 24th – 30th)

Must See HDTV (October 24th – 30th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Continue reading Amped Wireless gives your WiFi 1.5-mile range: never lose signal in the garden again

Amped Wireless gives your WiFi 1.5-mile range: never lose signal in the garden again originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink