HTC Droid Incredible Teardown Cost = $163.35

The Droid Incredible from HTC Corp. carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $163.35, based on a dissection conducted by the iSuppli Corp. Teardown Analysis Service (see the figure).

In fact, the research company noted that the smart phone is very similar to the HTC Nexus One in terms of costs and features. The main difference is the Incredible's support for the CDMA air standard used by Verizon in the United States.

Both phones use an advanced active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display. They also share a common electronic design based on Qualcomm's 1-GHz Snapdragon baseband processor. And, they integrate a class-leading density of 4 Gbits of mobile double-data-rate (DDR) DRAM to support the processor. The Nexus One's BOM is just a little higher at $174.15, based on iSuppli's January pricing estimate.

Beyond the use of CDMA in the Incredible, only a few other differences distinguish the devices. For example, the Incredible employs HTC's Sense user interface (UI) overlay, while the Nexus uses the generic Android UI. Add the Incredible's $8.90 manufacturing cost, its combined BOM and production expense totals $172.25.

The most expensive section of the Incredible is the baseband/applications processor, which costs $31.40 and accounts for 19.2% of the phone's total BOM. Qualcomm'

s baseband IC, which includes the Snapdragon processor, dominates this section. The display and touchscreen second comes in second at $31.20 or 19.1% of the BOM. Samsung Mobile Display supplies the AMOLED display portion of this subsystem.

The memory section ranks third at $29.80 and 18.2%. In the unit that iSuppli dissected, the section comprised NAND flash memory and mobile DDR DRAM from Samsung Electronics as well as more from Hynix Semiconductor. Yet iSuppli believes that HTC is likely using additional sources of supply for these commodity memory parts.

At $8.45 or 5.2%, the Bluetooth/wireless local-area networking (WLAN) section features a Broadcom chip that combines Bluetooth, FM, and WLAN support. The power-management section, at $7.25 and 4.4%, includes semiconductors from Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

At $5.55 and 3.4%, the user interface functions feature an Atmel touchscreen controller, an Asahi Kasei Microdevices electronic compass, and a Bosch Sensortec GMBH accelerometer. With $5 and 3.1%, the RF transceiver section centers on a single-chip RF device from Qualcomm. The power amplifier section, at $2.60 and 1.6%, features two transmit modules from Avago Technologies and TriQuint Semiconductor.

Story

http://mobiledevdesign.com/hardware_news/htc-droid-incredible-carriers-bom-073010/

Image

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703578104575397661897693940.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEADTop

$5 Million, 300 Foot Long Set Built for HBO "Boardwalk Empire"

For its new gangster series "Boardwalk Empire," HBO built a $5 million, 300-foot-long boardwalk on the Brooklyn waterfront to recreate Atlantic City circa 1920.

The set required 150 tons of steel and includes historical elements like the Baby Incubator, an actual nursery where tourists could gawk at tiny, premature infants.

The 12 episodes produced for Season 1 employed more than 300 crew members, 225 actors in speaking roles and 1,000 extras. It took about 200 days to shoot, twice what a standard network drama would take.

Trailers here:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/07/26/martin-scorseses-hbo-series-boardwalk-empire-trailer-4-countdown-to-prohibition/

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/tv-news/trailer-hbos-boardwalk-empire.php

Details here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704684604575381030727161888.html?KEYWORDS=HBO+Boardwalk

Digital Camera Shopping Guide

Late summer is a good time to shop for digital camera bargains.

Prices drop after June graduation and Father's Day.

Clearance sales run until November holidays start.

Here's a helpful features guide:

http://www.notesonphotography.com/guides/point-and-shoot-camera-shopping-guide

Digital Camera - Shutter Speed

Here's a handy comparison of shutter speeds for various digital cameras and types, see link below.

Shutter speed for digital cameras is often overlooked as a key specification.

Shutter speed can also get buried in camera specs.

http://www.cameras.co.uk/html/shutter-lag-comparisons.cfm?sort=Category

Note: some of these are Euro models, look for U.S. equivalents.

Move XP installation into Windows 7

Here's a software program called Zinstall XP7 that's designed to move your Win XP into Win 7



http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=2770

Antenna Gate

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Friday "we are not perfect" during a presentation at the company's Cupertino, Calif. headquarters.

He announced customers that buy an iPhone 4 through Sept. 30 will get a free protective cover, or bumper. Anyone who has already purchased a bumper will get a refund. AT&T Inc. subscribers who want to return the device can get a full refund and get out of their contracts without penalties.

Apple "screwed up" with the signal algorithm of the phone, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said during a press conference on Friday, which he kicked off by saying "we're not perfect." But he stuck to the company line regarding the antenna problems being common with all smartphones, adding the issue was blown out of proportion, and that there was no "antennagate."

"To customers that are having problems, I apologize to them," Mr. Jobs said. Mr. Jobs said the company has sold more than 3 million iPhones since it went on sale in June 24, and defended it as the "perhaps the best product made by Apple."

He acknowledged that the iPhone 4 loses signal strength when touched in the lower left corner, but argued the problem is not unique to his company's device. He went on to show videos of other smartphones, including the BlackBerry Bold and HTC Droid Eris, that appeared to lose reception when gripped in certain ways.

"This is life in the smartphone world," he said. He said 1.7% of customers have returned their iPhone 4 to AT&T, a lower rate than the predecessor, the iPhone 3GS.

The iPhone 4, which has an unusual antenna design, was immediately dogged by complaints about its reception, particularly when owners held the device in a particular way. The problems cascaded into a full-blown public relations challenge for Apple, which initially told owners to hold the phone differently and then blamed the reception difficulties on software.

The company's problems worsened when influential product review publication Consumer Reports said Monday it could not recommend the phone. "We were stunned and embarassed" by the Consumer Reports conclusion, Mr. Jobs said.

Consumer Reports determined that touching the iPhone's antenna, which wraps around the sides of the device, degrades the device's signal. It later recommended sheathing the iPhone in a case that covers the sensitive lower left section remedies the situation.

The bumpers currently sell for $29 on its website. The product is sold out; the website says it will ship in five to seven business days.

Many industry observers have called the bumper giveaway as the most likely--and least costly--solution to Apple's problems. UBS analyst Maynard Um estimated that the bumpers cost $3 each, and freely distributing them would cut into its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings by 2 cents a share.

Despite the issues, Mr. Jobs called the antenna design the "most advanced" ever on a smartphone. He said the rate of dropped calls for the iPhone 4 is only slightly more than on the previous version, the iPhone 3GS.

from WSJ.com

Clues About What Foods Help Us

God left us great clues about what foods help what part of our body!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocados, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs.

Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

thanks Rabea !

Ringo Turns 70

‘I’m not hiding from it", Ringo Starr says about turning 70 on Wednesday, July 7th.

Ever since Ringo Starr sang a well-known cover of Buck Owens’s hit “Act Naturally,” that he’d become “the biggest fool to ever hit the big time,” the renowned rock ’n’ roll drummer has done all right for himself.

As a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist, Mr. Starr has sold more than a few records, won some Grammy Awards and even had a minor planet named for him. As you’d expect, he plans to mark the occasion with a little help from his friends, and anyone else he can round up.

Finding himself in New York on the big day, he is celebrating with a private event in the morning at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square; Hard Rock International is honoring the day at locations around the world. Details are at ringostarr.com.

In the evening he will perform a concert at Radio City Music Hall with his All Starr Band, which includes Edgar Winter, Gary Wright and Rick Derringer.

Mr. Starr spoke recently with Dave Itzkoff about hitting the big seven-O and some other recent accomplishments. Here are excerpts from the conversation.

Q. Can I wish you a happy birthday ahead of schedule?
A. You can. And you can put the gift in the post or you can leave it at the concierge.

Q. What would you like to get this year?
A. You know what I’m asking for: peace and love.

Q. How are you feeling about the number 70?
A. As far as I’m concerned, in my head, I’m 24. That’s just how it is. The number, yeah, it’s high. But I just felt I’ve got to celebrate it. I’m on my feet and I’m doing what I love to do, and I’m in a profession, as a musician, where we can go on for as long as we can go on. I’m not hiding from it, you know.

Q. When you were 24 what did you think you’d be doing at age 70?
A. I don’t know, but when I was 22, actually, I remember this so well, and I was playing, and there was another band, and these people in that other band were 40, and I was saying, “My God, you’re still doing it?” [laughs] Which doesn’t look funny in black and white, but it was incredible, and now I’m waaaaay past 40. My new hero is B. B. King. I have a great line: B. B. is still playing, even though he is sitting down now. But hey, I’m sitting down already. You’ve just got to get on with it. I’d like to be out there pretending I’m only 55, but I’m not.

Q. What seems like an advanced age to you now?
A. I think 90. But we’ll see. It’s a birthday at a time.

Q. You’ve had a few interesting things happen to you over the last year. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is taking one of your drums.
A. They’re taking a whole snare drum. I’m lending it to them because, it’s well-documented, in 1964 that old Bill Ludwig, he presented it to me. I bought these Ludwig drums, and in the shop in England, the guy wanted to take the sign out, but I love everything American, the music and the instruments. So I made him leave the sign on. So I was a running commercial — on Sullivan, and all that touring of America, it said Ludwig drums. And so to thank me for that, they gave me this gold drum, and that’s the one that’s going into the Metropolitan for a year.

Q. How does that make you feel, to have one of your possessions on display at the Met?
A. Well, yeah, cool.

Q. That’s it?
A. I mean it. I’ve had a couple of pieces of clothing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Q. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn’t too shabby, but come on, this is the Met. A. It’s cool. That’s all I can say. It’s very cool. I did a show there in January with Ben Harper, that’s how we got friendly with them, and they have an instrument room with a lot of very crazed African drums, old pianos, and so they thought this would be good.

Q. Are they letting you borrow anything from their collection in exchange?
A. Yeah, they’re giving me Tutankhamen’s tomb. No, they’re not giving me anything. I’m being kind to them.

Q. A few weeks ago the Vatican finally gave its approval to the Beatles. How did you feel about that?
A. It didn’t affect me in any way, but I do believe that the Vatican have better things to deal with than forgiving the Beatles. I don’t remember what it actually said — it had some weird piece in it, too. That they’ve forgiven us for being, what, satanic? Whoever wrote it was thinking about the Stones.

Q. Are you ever surprised by the unpredictable ways in which the Beatles continue to resonate in the popular culture? There’s a novel out now called “Paul Is Undead,” which imagines that you’re a ninja and your band mates are zombies.
A. I only ever see the covers and the titles. I don’t read it all. But it’s always on. There’s nothing we can do about that. What’s more interesting to me is that our records are still coming out. And they’re the same records and the new generation gets to hear them, and as far as that’s concerned, that’s the most important thing to me. The music we make, it’s still going on.

Q. Do you get much chance to listen to all the Beatles covers that continue be produced?
A. You have to talk to Sony about that. They have the publishing and they’ll give it to anyone.

Q. You’re using the occasion of your birthday to give a message back to your fans. A. Yes, I want to spread the word that at noon, wherever you are — in New York, in L.A., in Paris, in London — I just pray that you’ll put your fingers up and say, “Peace and love.” I did it two years ago, it was the first time, and I did it out of Chicago because I was on tour. This year, we’re playing Radio City, so we’re doing it in New York. In Japan there were little get-togethers and it went worldwide, so that was great.

Q. Do you think we’ve got a good chance at getting peace and love this year?
A. I think the more we promote it, the more chance we have of getting it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/arts/music/06ringo.html?_r=1&th&emc=th