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Posts Tagged ‘Hud’

ATI’s six-screen Eyefinity madness reviewed, fatal flaw found

Along with its introduction of the HD 5830, ATI announced the HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 card yesterday, which predictably comes with six DisplayPort outputs and enables that hallowed six-screen gaming overload that the Eyefinity branding has been about since the beginning. Some lucky scribes over at PC Pro have been treated to a live demonstration of what gaming at 5,760 x 2,160 feels like, and their understated response was to describe it as “far more immersive.” No kidding. They did raise the spectral figure of those monitor bezels, however, pointing out that bezel correction — where the image “behind the bezel” is rendered but hidden making the overall display look like a window unto the game world — habitually obscured text and game HUD elements. In their view, the sweet spot remains a triple-screen setup, and we’re inclined to agree (particularly if they look like this). For those interested in getting their multi-monitor gaming up and running, we’ve linked an invaluable guide from HardOCP below, which breaks down how much you can expect from ATI’s current HD 5000 series of cards, and also provides a video guide to setting your rig up.

ATI’s six-screen Eyefinity madness reviewed, fatal flaw found originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oki shows off prototype LED-based HUD, coming soon to a jalopy near you

Currently, the only way you’re getting a heads-up display in your whip is if you pay two arms and a leg for it. By and large, mid-range and low-end vehicles have been completely removed from the HUD fun, but all that could be changing thanks to a new effort from the crew at Oki Digital Imaging. Said outfit recently demonstrated a LED-based alternative that measures 1.1-inches in size and is constructed using the company’s own EFB (Epi Film Bonding) process. Without getting too deep in the technobabble, the newfound process consumes less power, requires a simpler heat sink and boasts an all-around simpler structure. The end result? A far less expensive heads-up display, which — if all goes well — will begin sampling by the end of next year and could hit low-end cars, mobile phones and other handhelds shortly thereafter. Oh future, how we love thee.

Oki shows off prototype LED-based HUD, coming soon to a jalopy near you originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday Favorite: Dropzone

Filed under: Software, Cool tools, Productivity

One of my favorite new tools is Dropzone from Aptonic Software. Cory mentioned it back in early beta, but it’s come a long way since then. Dropzone lets you set up “destinations,” and when you click its icon in the dock it pops up a HUD-style window with icons for each destination. You can drop files and text onto each icon, or have them launch apps and run scripts with a click. It comes with ready-made destinations for everything from Flickr uploading of dropped images to zipping and emailing a collection of dropped files. The beauty of Dropzone is that the average user can set up all of the destinations they would normally launch other apps for, but users in more advanced stages of geekery can construct their own destinations using the Ruby-based Dropzone API.

My personal Dropzone setup includes destinations for creating projects or opening files in TextMate, opening a folder in GitX, sending files to my Amazon S3 account (puts a publicly-accessible url in my clipboard), filing based on OpenMeta tags, mounting and unmounting FireWire drives, making quick Backpack reminders, and the list goes on. I’ve even got one that scans dropped text for “http://” links and creates a linkbun.ch for me. Some of these scripts I’ve written, some were just a matter of customizing the existing destinations. Either way, I’ve got all of these capabilities no more than a click or drag away.

Creating your own destinations just requires a little Ruby-fu. “But I’m the farthest thing from a level 12 Ruby Mage,” you say. Don’t sweat it, let the community do it for you. Several scripts from my personal setup, along with a great selection of others, are available in the user-contributed actions section of the Aptonic Software website. Additionally, included actions like the application launcher allow full customization just by selecting the application to trigger.

Dropzone is available for a free trial, and can be had for $10US. Give it a try and see if it doesn’t speed up your workflow. If you create any scripts you’d like to share, be sure to let the author know!

TUAWFriday Favorite: Dropzone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AmazonS3 – Flickr – Ruby – Application programming interface – Backpack
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