Lumus' OE-31 optical engine turns motorcycle helmets, other eyewear into wearable displays Feb 23rd 2012, 16:57 After showing off a duo of wearable, see-through displays at CES, Lumus is back with a second optical engine -- one that could be used in any style of frames, from prescription glasses to ski goggles. Available in binocular and monocular configurations, the tiny OE-31 sensor weighs just 10 grams (.35 ounces), allowing it to accommodate a variety of form factors besides your run-of-the mill (and quite dorky-looking) 3D glasses. As always, Lumus' hook is its ability to combine head up displays, augmented reality and see-through displays, though this time around the sensor allows for a 19-degree field of view and a full-color, 640 x 360 picture. Though that's not as impressive as the 720p, 3D-capable frames on offer at CES, the company argues it should be adequate for reading text, particularly since the viewing experience will be comparable to starting at a 40-inch screen from 10 feet away. No word, of course, on what products might incorporate these discreet head up displays, though maybe, just maybe, we'll catch a demo in Barcelona. For now, we've got photos below along with a handful of demo videos after the break. Continue reading Lumus' OE-31 optical engine turns motorcycle helmets, other eyewear into wearable displays Lumus' OE-31 optical engine turns motorcycle helmets, other eyewear into wearable displays originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | The winners of the 2011 Engadget Awards -- Readers' Choice Feb 23rd 2012, 16:00 The results for the 2011 Engadget Awards are in! With more than 250,000 total votes, the response this year has been tremendous -- and no, that's not just another name for the Galaxy Note, which garnered just 3.5 percent of tallies in the Smartphone category. Instead, the iPhone 4S took top prize for Smartphones, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S II as the runner up. The ASUS Zenbook was the first pick among this year's Laptops, with the Apple iMac besting the rest of 2011's Desktops. Canon and Nikon battled it out till the end, but the former eventually came out ahead, earning 17.9 percent of the Digital Camera vote for its T3i, while the Nikon D5100 represented a very respectable 17.6 percent. That's just a small sample of this year's top gadgets -- there are 15 categories in all, and we're crowning both Readers' and Editors' Choice winners for each. Jump past the break for an unabridged look at your selections for the 2011 Engadget Awards, and check back tomorrow for the Editors' Choice. And if you're wondering who came in almost-first place, you can find the runners up for each category in this week's issue of Engadget Distro. Continue reading The winners of the 2011 Engadget Awards -- Readers' Choice The winners of the 2011 Engadget Awards -- Readers' Choice originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | NPD: Apple grabs over a quarter of the mobile PC business in Q4 2011 (including iPads), HP tops with laptops Feb 23rd 2012, 15:45 Just what is a "mobile PC" these days? According to market research firm NPD, that category now includes both tablets and laptops -- and by that definition, Apple is unsurprisingly way ahead of its competitors. Based on its preliminary numbers, Apple shipped 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011 (nearly 80 percent of which were iPads), which was enough to snag a market share of 26.6 percent (and keep it in the top spot for the year). In contrast, the four companies rounding out the top five relied almost entirely on laptops to fill their numbers, with HP coming in at just under a 10 percent market share, followed by Dell, Acer and Lenovo. Looking just at laptops, however, HP comes in first with a 15.5 percent market share, while Apple falls to fifth with just over eight percent. As for tablets, Apple is estimated to have a 59 percent market share for Q4, followed by Amazon at 16.7 percent (based on shipments of 5.3 million), and Samsung, ASUS and Barnes & Noble each in single digits. Additional numbers can be found in the press release after the break and at the source link below. Continue reading NPD: Apple grabs over a quarter of the mobile PC business in Q4 2011 (including iPads), HP tops with laptops NPD: Apple grabs over a quarter of the mobile PC business in Q4 2011 (including iPads), HP tops with laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | NPD DisplaySearch | Email this | Comments | |