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US Army testing solar powered tents for troops, gadget addicted campers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEavdZU1jt8WiyO0KCgu3yoRxqfazR_xvvftUgmRtrCZiHyukAz7Mz6dWyMu0VhqY3EqVfOsi5SzrOf1wEamqixhgJjYAC0_BunwdviIsOvhKAu4TybeaHiL4UWFpAPXSue70TZVsRvPw/s1600/101217-wargadget-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEavdZU1jt8WiyO0KCgu3yoRxqfazR_xvvftUgmRtrCZiHyukAz7Mz6dWyMu0VhqY3EqVfOsi5SzrOf1wEamqixhgJjYAC0_BunwdviIsOvhKAu4TybeaHiL4UWFpAPXSue70TZVsRvPw/s1600/101217-wargadget-02.jpg" /></a></div>While the military is still hashing out plans to outfit soldiers with their own smartphones, gadgets are already a part of daily life of troops in the field. Of course, more technology means more demand for power, and the Army has been evaluating technologies for flexible, lightweight photovoltaic tents and shades. "They are ideal for charging up batteries, making sure your (communications), night vision goggles and computers are powered up. You don't want a generator on top of a mountain, and you don't want to have to bring fuel to a generator or haul batteries," said assistant secretary of the Army Katherine Hammack. Among the various items being tested are the TEMPER Fly, a roughly 16-by-20-foot tent able to generate 800 watts of electricity; QUADrant, a smaller version of the TEMPER Fly that generates roughly 200 watts of power; and Power Shades capable of generating up to 3 kilowatts of exportable electrical power. Sounds like a kick-ass tent for next year's festival season!

US Army testing solar powered tents for troops, gadget addicted campers

While the military is still hashing out plans to outfit soldiers with their own smartphones, gadgets are already a part of daily life of tro...

Virgin Media officially unveils new TiVo powered box

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/home-entertainment/tv/images/TivoBox-200-200.jpg"> Virgin Media has formally unveiled its latest set top box, with a TiVo powered UI, a built-in modem and three tuners all bringing the cable giant's television service bang up to date for the modern market. The company believes that a partnership with US PVR specialist TiVo has brought a 'game-changing' user interface as it looks to modernise its offering and compete with Sky, BT Vision and the forthcoming slew of IPTV services. "The new service will lead a much-anticipated revolution in the way people find and enjoy their favourite content," said Virgin Media. Graphical interface "An easy-to-use graphical interface will combine the live TV schedule with catch-up TV, a huge library of on-demand programming and popular web-based applications alongside a market-leading personal video recorder," it added. "As a result, Virgin Media customers will never miss out on great programmes and will find it easier than ever to discover new types of entertainment to match their tastes and preferences." The new platform will offer instant (and potentially HD or 3D) content on demand – still a huge selling point over its rivals, and the new box offers 1TB of storage and three tuners, allowing two things to be recorded while a third is watched live. However, the box will initially only launch with two tuners, with the third being added to new boxes early in 2011. <img alt="Virgin media powered by tivo" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/classifications/home-entertainment/tv/VirginUI_non4x3/HomeScreen-420-90.jpg" title="Virgin media powered by tivo" width="420"></IMG> "This also means that – unlike other internet enabled TV services – customers will be able to watch what they want at the click of a button, rather than waiting for time-consuming downloads," adds Virgin Media. "As Virgin Media TV powered by TiVo utilises dedicated channels of bandwidth, the user's viewing choice will not come at the expense of their broadband connection, so households can watch and surf simultaneously without interruption." Recommended The TiVo recommendation engine will be a major new addition – but it will be the way in which content is grouped and surfaced which will be the major pluses in a revamped UI. Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, said, "This is a landmark moment in the UK's digital revolution and vividly illustrates why Virgin Media is the only company who can provide the ultimate digital lifestyle. "For the first time, viewers will have a truly personalised viewing experience so they can get the most out of the wonderful worlds of the internet and TV all in one place. "We're really excited to bring our customers what is just the first of successive generations of transformational services based on this unique TiVo-powered platform." Get connected Connected television is a massive part of home entertainment's future, and Virgin is hoping that the inclusion of a separate modem in the box will help push its offering ahead of its rivals. "Through its dedicated 10Mb cable broadband modem, which is built into the personal video recorder, the new platform will also bring the ever-growing popularity of the app store to the living room for the first time, doing for TV what the iPhone and Android have done for the mobile phone," the company stated. "Built on an Adobe Flash-based platform, the latest videos, social networking and information apps will be updated regularly. "The service launches initially with apps from major web brands including catch-up TV from BBC iPlayer, videos from YouTube, shopping from the online marketplace eBay, Tweets from Twitter and photos from sites such as Facebook, and the app line up will expand over the next several months."

Virgin Media officially unveils new TiVo powered box

Virgin Media has formally unveiled its latest set top box, with a TiVo powered UI, a built-in modem and three tuners all bringing the cable...

New search engine powered by human touch

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/computing/internet-and-broadband/images/google-crop-200-200.jpg"/>A new social network that relies far more on human input than traditional search engines such as Google has landed $24 million in funding this week.The search engine is called Blekko, with the company's founders clearly hoping that the human touch will offer users something that they cannot get from the likes of Google or Microsoft Bing.Blekko's founders claims that the web is too over-run with marketing spam, which means that many results that pop up in Google searches are not really giving the user the fastest access to the necessary information or data they require. Humans versus SEO ninjasBlekko Chief Executive Rich Skrenta hopes that narrowing down your search to groups of websites pre-approved by other users as being the best source of information (instead of the most popular) is the way forward.Blekko has recently raised $24 million in funding, following three years of initial development of the new online search product.Blekko will initially offer a directory of useful, spam-free websites in the categories of health, recipes, song lyrics, hotels, automobiles, colleges and personal finance.The site will also allow users to create their own favoured personal directories of websites for particular topics.While it is unlikely that such an upstart will pose any kind of significant threat to Google's hegemony in the search industry, Blekko may well prove to be a useful secondary search tool.Google issued the following statement on hearing the news about Blekko's latest round of investment: "Having great competitors is a huge benefit to us and everyone in the search space - it makes us all work harder, and at the end of the day everyone benefits from that."<img border="0" height="1" src="http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/669/f/9809/s/f3c1a0c/mf.gif" width="1"/><div class='mf-related'>

New search engine powered by human touch

A new social network that relies far more on human input than traditional search engines such as Google has landed $24 million in funding t...