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Monday, November 07, 2011

drag2share: Remains of the Day: Siri Gets Some Competition From Zypr [For What It's Worth]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5857273/remains-of-the-day-siri-gets-some-competition-from-zypr

Remains of the Day: Siri Gets Some Competition From Zypr A new web API allows developers to add cloud-powered voice commands to their apps, maple syrup's history in America influences our taste for the sweet stuff, and Wordpress brings Google-like notifications to your blog.

Pioneer's Zypr Wants to Take on Siri: A new API from Pioneer called Zypr will be offered for free to developers so they can add voice-powered features to their applications that can tie them into other Zyper-powered services. [Zypr.net]
History Holds the Key to Why Cheaper Maple Syrup Tastes the Best: Early American's searching for a sugar substitute and turn-of-the-century marketing led to the most mild-tasting syrup commanding the highest prices. [The Atlantic]
Wordpress Adds Notifications to Blog Admin Bar: You can now see who has followed you or left a comment your Wordpress blog from a very Google Plus-like notification icon in your toolbar. [Blog - Wordpress]
Google Helps Veterans Find Jobs: Google has teamed up with the National Resource Directory to provide a custom search engine that will help Veterans find employment opportunities. [The Official Google Blog]
More Brands and Categories Added to the Google Catalogs iPad App: The iPad app is easier to browse thanks to the additions of product categories, and the collection of catalogs available on the app has doubled. [Google Mobile Blog]
Game Consoles Are the Most Popular Way to Watch Online Content on Televisions: A report confirms that 12% of American households are using their game consoles to watch online videos, and viewers under the age of 25 watch more content on their consoles than they do on their computers. [GamesBeat]

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drag2share: HTC Edge may be the first quad-core smartphone to market

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/htc-edge-may-be-the-first-quad-core-smartphone-to-market/

Color us skeptical on this one, but rumors are coming down the pipeline about an HTC phone called the Edge. It's supposedly going to be the first Tegra 3-powered smartphone. According to Pocketnow, the device will supposedly offer a quad-core 1.5GHz CPU, 4.7-inch 720p HD display, 1GB of RAM, an 8MP rear camera with f/2.2 lens and Beats Audio. Curiously, no LTE capability was mentioned specifically, though 21Mbps HSPA+ appears to be good to go, and there's a slight possibility of Sense 4.0 being included -- which given its proposed launch window of late Q1 / early Q2 2012, wouldn't be a huge surprise. We'd love to start seeing more quad-core goodness headed our way, so we're definitely keeping our fingers crossed to see a lot more of the above show up at CES and MWC.

HTC Edge may be the first quad-core smartphone to market originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: This Image Shows How Camera Lenses Beautify or Uglify Your Pretty Face [Photography]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5857279/this-is-how-lenses-beautify-or-uglify-your-pretty-face

Ever wonder why you may look prettier in some photos and uglier in others, even with the same smile and the same lighting? It's all about the camera lens. These portraits—taken by Stephen Eastwood—show how this works.

If you have ever used a dating site and thought——"damn, he/she looked so hot in those pictures! What happened?" or "wow! He/she looks a lot better in person!"—you know exactly what I'm talking about.

It's all about the lens distortion (which is also affected by the subject's distance to the camera). Lenses make the world look different than it does through your eyes. They bend light rays, capturing the scene within a certain field of view into a limited bi-dimensional frame: the photograph. Depending on the lens' focal length, the image will deform more or less, affecting how faces and objects look in photos.

You can see how the deformation works in this Eastwood's series, who took the same photo with a wide range of optics, going from a 350mm to 19mm. Eastwood moved the camera to frame the subject in exactly the same position so you could clearly see the effect.

The shorter the focal length, the more field of you view you can capture. With something like a 15mm fish eye lens or the 19mm that Eastwood used, the effect is really obvious. Your face would be extremely deformed, like the rest of the environment. But as you go up, the distortion gets more subtle. Sometimes this distortion can make a face prettier than it actually is. Sometimes the effect makes a face uglier. Since this subtler distortion is not obvious, your mind just buys the image thinking that this is what the person looks like.

The same happens with larger focal lengths. At 350mm there's also a distortion of reality: the face of the model becomes flatter and wider.

In theory, shooting with something like a 135mm would produce the best, most accurate results, but there's no right or wrong here. It depends on your subject's anatomy. That's why some people are "photogenic" with certain cameras and at certain angles, and look horrible with others.

If you pay attention, you can really observe this effect in everyday photos taken with cellphones and compact cameras. You can even see it without even changing the lens focal length. While taking photos with my iPhone on a recent trip, placing some people on the center of the frame made them look better, especially from a distance. Then, as I moved them to the sides of the frame, they looked sightly different. The distortion is more obvious near the sides, and it was enough to make them less attractive. The funny thing is that the contrary happened with me: I looked better on the sides than on the center. Or maybe it was just that I had a horrible hangover the whole trip.

Images by Stephen Eastwood via Petapixel

You can keep up with Jesus Diaz the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

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drag2share: Swann releases Freestyle HD, begs you to capture 1080p underwater via LCD viewer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/swann-releases-freestyle-hd-begs-you-to-capture-1080p-underwate/

Looking to step your game up when capturing surfing footage from atop your longboard? Swann is aiming to lend a helping hand with its newfangled Freestyle HD wearable video camera. This offering is the company's first that sports a detachable 1.5-inch LCD viewer for taking a peek at your 1080p video capture in real-time -- which you can capture at up to 30 fps. You'll also be able to snap eight megapixel JPEGs should you so choose with 3x digital zoom at your disposal. Waterproof at depths up to 65 feet, the Freestyle HD can be helmet-mounted, attached to your favorite fixed-gear or the roof of your rally car via the three included mounting brackets. The camera will connect directly to an HDTV for viewing, or you can hop over to a PC via a microSD card or USB transfer. You can expect 2.5-hour battery life and a $279 price tag to boot -- too bad that flight to the southern hemisphere isn't nearly as affordable.

Gallery: Swann Freestyle HD press photos

Continue reading Swann releases Freestyle HD, begs you to capture 1080p underwater via LCD viewer

Swann releases Freestyle HD, begs you to capture 1080p underwater via LCD viewer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Massive Time Warner Outage Hits the US [Internet]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5857010/massive-time-warner-outage-hits-the-us

Massive Time Warner Outage Hits the US Time Warner internet services are taking a dump all over the country today, with users in New York, LA, San Francisco, Kansas City, Dallas, Ohio, and other cities and regions without internet. Many areas are reporting that service is back to normal, but we've put in a call to Time Warner to see exactly what happened.

Were any of you guys affected this morning? I thought our fearless leader Joe Brown was going to start decapitating people if he didn't get his morning FPSRussia fix. For now, this seems like it was a minor outage, but it certainly puts the fear of god in us of something nationwide and longer lasting. [Twitter]

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drag2share: Fingertip Sized Camera Does HD Video On the Cheap [Camera]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5857002/fingertip-sized-camera-does-hd-video-on-the-cheap

Fingertip Sized Camera Does HD Video On the Cheap It's not quite as adorable as its predecessor, but the new Chobi Cam Pro manages to gain 720P video recording while making a convincing case for it being the world's smallest HD camcorder.

The miniscule camera is barely larger than the tip of you finger, but JTT is trying to dispel the idea that it's just a toy, adding a matte metal housing they hope will make it feel more like an SLR. But they're not going to fool anyone with that tactic. What might actually make the Chobo Cam Pro rise above being just a novelty, though, is its ability to snap 4032×3024 still images and record videos at 720P. Combine that with a 64GB microSD card and you're ready for a covert overnight stakeout.

A built-in mini USB port allows photos and videos to be dumped to a computer if you're lacking a microSD reader, but it also facilitates an included AV cable letting the Chobi Cam Pro be connected directly to a TV. Although you'll be limited to just navigating menus and browsing photos, since a 720P video signal can't be sent over a single composite video cable. And even though JTT is trying to position this camera as a serious alternative to toting a P&S, the $76 price point speaks volumes about how "pro" they think it really is. [JTT via Fareastgizmos]

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drag2share: Zypr: Voice Control for Every Device and Application [Voice Control]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5856998/zypr-voice-control-for-every-device-and-application

One day, we'll all expect our gadgets to respond intelligently to voice commands. But right now, with the exception of Siri, nothing really works very well.

Sure, there is software that takes pretty good dictation— Google's voice search for example—and the infotainment systems in cars have incorporated clunky voice control systems to make phone calls and play music. But when it comes to imaginary, techno-utopian futures in which voice control is really seamlessly integrated into the apps we use everyday, well, it just doesn't exist. Zypr, a new upstart built by Pioneer, could help change that.

The idea behind Zypr is to allow any device-maker or application-developer to incorporate intelligent voice control without having to build it from scratch. It lives in the cloud, and is accessible via API. It's also open, which means anybody can access it. Zypr was announced earlier this year, and was opened up to developers today.

So what does that mean for you, the user of gadgets?

It means better voice control across devices—regardless of who makes it or what OS it runs. The idea is that Zypr will work just as well in your car as on your TV.

Like Siri, Zypr's engine is designed to understand conversational language, and it's not designed for use with specific applications or services. It does this by breaking down what you want to do with services into a series of categories like social, weather, map, point of interest, etc. When you want to tweet, or change your status on Facebook, what you really want to do is post an update. Similarly, emailing and texting are just two versions of sending a message. By breaking your activity down into a series of tasks, Zypr can cover a lot of services—Facebook at Twitter both use the social part of the API. It also means that it will be easy to add services that don't exist yet—so when the next social network comes barreling down the line, Zypr can adapt quickly.

Zypr's engine is conversational—meaning that it can interpret and make pretty good guesses about what task you are trying to accomplish. But even Pioneer warned us that it won't reach Siri's Darpa-funded, artificially intelligent glory. Zypr's API supports a number of the services we all use everyday, but so far there's no real applications to back it up. In other words, we still don't know how well the voice control works. Zypr might be great, but to a certain extent its success will rely on developers and device makers cooperating with Pioneer's revenue sharing plans, which are still somewhat opaque. [Zypr]

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drag2share: DuPont's AMOLED HDTV tech licensed by... someone, will likely be used to build HDTVs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/06/duponts-amoled-hdtv-tech-licensed-by-someone-will-likely-be/

DuPont has wanted to bring AMOLED HDTVs to market since at least 2006, and now it appears they've found a partner to help make that happen. There's no name given, but a "leading Asian manufacturer" (Samsung's shown off the tech before and we figure it has some R&D cash to reallocate after dumping ZScreen) has apparently licensed the tech and, we assume, plans to put it to use. DuPont claims AMOLED HDTVs will be better than current LCDs in pretty much every way (color, contrast, response speed, viewing angle, power efficiency), as long they actually ever go on sale. Given the timing, we're hoping there will be something to see come CES time so we can find out if 2012 will finally be OLED's year. The press release is after the break, along with a quick video showing where AMOLED's come from: First, a slot coat HIL and primer layers have to love each other very, very much...

Continue reading DuPont's AMOLED HDTV tech licensed by... someone, will likely be used to build HDTVs

DuPont's AMOLED HDTV tech licensed by... someone, will likely be used to build HDTVs ori! ginally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket go on sale, lead AT&T's march on LTE

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/06/htc-vivid-and-samsung-galaxy-s-ii-skyrocket-go-on-sale-lead-atand/

You didn't expect Ma Bell to open its first LTE markets without tossing in a few 4G friendly toys, did you? Of course not, we told you as much last week -- but today things get official: The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and HTC Vivid (formerly known as the Holiday) are ready to take Ma Bell's new LTE nodes for a spin. Not much has changed since the last time we saw these phones -- the Skyrocket still knocks the Galaxy S II's screen size and processor speed up a notch (a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus Display and 1.5GHz CPU, for those of you keeping track), and the Vivid still has a 4.5-inch qHD display, 1080p HD video recording via an 8MP rear camera and a 1.2GHz CPU. What's new? AT&T is currently selling both handsets with an online discount, offering the Galaxy S II Skyrocket for $150 with a two-year commitment, and the Vivid for a paltry $99. If you're lucky enough to live in one of AT&T's emerging LTE markets, skip on over to the outfit's webstore and have a look.

[Thanks, Reggie]

HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket go on sale, lead AT&T's march on LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Panasonic announces Lumix DMC-3D1: dual lenses, 12 megapixel sensors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/panasonic-announces-lumix-dmc-3d1-dual-lenses-12-megapixel-sen/

Do you shoot 3D photos? Nope, neither do we, but Panasonic certainly seems to hope that'll change -- perhaps even as soon as next month, when its Lumix 3D1 hits store shelves... for $500. And how much camera does half a grand buy you? Well, for starters you get not one, but a pair of 25-100mm optical zoom lenses (30-120mm in 3D mode), pumping images to dual 12.1 megapixel 1/2.3-inch sensors. Two lenses and two sensors make this pocket wonder a natural at stereoscopic 3D video, but it can also pull some pretty clever tricks with still photos. Sure, you can shoot full-res stills and 1080i video simultaneously, but those dual zoom lenses can operate independently as well, letting you snap pics and/or video at multiple focal lengths -- capture a wide-angle shot with one lens and a close-up with the other, for example. Panasonic wasn't able to demo this functionality during our briefing, so we can't speak to the interface, but it certainly sounds like a nifty concept. Beyond that, expect up to 8 fps burst at full resolution, a 3.5-inch touchscreen and "dramatically clear" low-light images, even at high-ISOs (according to Panasonic). Ready to hear more from the camera maker? Jump past the break for the full PR.

Gallery: Panasonic Lumix 3D1

Continue reading Panasonic announces Lumix DMC-3D1: dual lenses, 12 megapixel sensors

Panasonic announces Lumix DMC-3D1: dual lenses, 12 megapixel sensors originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: LG's thin and mighty P330 laptop surfaces at Korean retailer

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/lgs-thin-and-mighty-p330-laptop-surfaces-at-korean-retailer/

Remember that LG 13.3-incher we covered back when it was warm? The one that had everything going for it except precise release info? Well, it's finally dragged itself out of the factory and onto the shelves of a Korean retailer. Unfortunately, the Core i7 processor has been replaced by an i5-2435M running at 2.4GHz, but that's hardly a deal breaker -- and it's possible a higher specced variant will eventually see daylight too. The other key credentials are all intact: an NVIDIA GeForce GT555M taking care of the visuals, a 40GB / 640GB SSD and HDD combo for snappier performance, and an IPS display built into an all-metal 1.7kg (3.6-pound) chassis. The price is listed as ₩1,364,000, which converts to a hefty $1,220 -- but we wouldn't be surprised if LG takes that down to below the MBP threshold when the product comes stateside.

LG's thin and mighty P330 laptop surfaces at Korean retailer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 05:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Siri may pose 'competitive threat' to Google, Eric Schmidt tells Senate subcommittee

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/07/siri-may-pose-competitive-threat-to-google-eric-schmidt-tells/

Back in September, Google chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt sat down before a Senate antitrust subcommittee to discuss his company's competitive practices. As you would expect from anyone in his situation, Schmidt spent much of his time defending Mountain View's position atop the search industry, and cited several competitors as evidence of its fair play. The exec's list of "threats" featured some of the usual suspects, including Bing, Yahoo and Amazon, as well as Siri. "Even in the few weeks since the hearing, Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S," he wrote, pointing to a handful of publications that characterized Apple's voice assistant as a "Google Killer" and Cupertino's "entry point" into the search market. "Apple's Siri is a significant development -- a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search," Schmidt explained. "Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information." Granted, it's not terribly surprising to hear Google talk up its competition -- especially before a panel of politicians devoted to rooting out anti-competitive practices. Yet Schmidt's comments do mark a noticeable shift from the stance he assumed last year, when he denied that Apple and Facebook posed a "competitive threat" to Google's search operations. As he admitted, "My statement was clearly wrong." Check out the full hearing at the source link below.

Siri may pose 'competitive threat' to Google, Eric Schmidt tells Senate subcommittee originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:23:00 EDT. Plea! se see o ur terms for use of feeds.

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Sunday, November 06, 2011

drag2share: 7 Hotels With Million-Dollar Views Of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hotels-with-views-of-macys-thanskgiving-day-parade-11-11

thanksgiving day parade turkey float

The famous Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a sight worth seeing -- if you can manage to shove your way through the crowds to get a peek, that is. If you book one of these hotels along the parade route, you could watch the giant balloons and floats from the comfort of your hotel room.

Be warned, though -- many rooms will cost more than three times the normal rates.

This post originally appeared on Oyster.com.

Mandarin Oriental, New York

Average Price: $1,026/avg. per night
Pearls: Rating: 5.0 Pearls
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan

The Mandarin Oriental is the best choice in the city for luxury travelers who want to celebrate Thanksgiving in style. Premier Central Park View rooms and suites on the 43rd to 54th floors have superb parade views through floor-to-ceiling windows, and guests who book the "Thanksgiving Extra Fun Day" package can watch from the 6,000-square-foot ballroom. (The package also includes a gift of pumpkin taffy, spiced pumpkin seed candy, heirloom apples, sparkling cider, and a third night free).

Park Central Hotel

Average Price: $239/avg. per night
Pearls: Rating: 3.0 Pearls
Location: Midtown West, Manhattan

The massive 935-room Park Central Hotel has parade view rooms at a number of different price points, ranging from the Partial View Select rooms to the Full Parade View rooms. (The partial view rooms are usually corner units, while the more expensive options face 7th avenue.) Guests who book parade-view rooms receive a $100 credit towards the hotel's restaurant, City House.

Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers

Average Price: $325/avg. per night
Pearls: Rating: 3.0 Pearls
Location: Midtown West, Manhattan

The Sheraton's whopping 1,750 rooms have shabby interiors, but those facing 7th Avenue on the 5-20th floors will have great views of the parade. Standard rooms cost a steep $750 for the night of the 24th, but will drop off to $500 for additional nights.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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drag2share: Motorola Corvair 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet outed, destined for the home automation set?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/05/motorola-corvair-6-inch-android-2-3-tablet-outed-destined-for-t/

There are plenty of WiFi-connected remote control apps for tablets, dongles for IR control and even an IR blaster built into Vizio's tablet, but here's a Motorola slab purpose-built for the coffee table. The Verge has received several pics of the Motorola Corvair (and its packaging), a "dedicated controller for the connected" ...something, which is apparently in testing with unnamed cable companies right now. It's a 6-inch tablet running Android 2.3, that the box shows working as a remote control and apparently mirroring its display on the TV screen. Other notes indicate it's optimized for low cost, packs a healthy 4,000mAh battery, and can communicate with other devices via IR or Zigbee's RF4CE spec (where's Android@Home?). That would line it up perfectly to tie in with home automation systems like the one Motorola and Verizon just launched, as well as potentially provide a sweet platform for content discovery. The only downside? Unless Moto goes against type, this will probably never see retail and we'll have to wait on our cable company to figure out a way to charge extra for one and slap their own ugly software on it -- here's hoping that's not the case.

Motorola Corvair 6-inch Android 2.3 tablet outed, destined for the home automation set? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Dell Latitude S tablet available for pre-order, might just arrive before Christmas

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/05/dell-latitude-s-tablet-available-for-pre-order-might-just-arriv/

Serving as further evidence that the stylus really is back, Dell's coy enterprise slate, the Latitude S is now available for pre-order with an estimated delivery date of November 29th and an $859 price tag. If your too impatient to wait for Windows 8, this one's sporting Microsoft's seventh generation, weighs a hefty 816g -- nearly twice as much as the BlackBerry PlayBook -- and contains a 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 processor. If you like your tablets with a little extra heft and something extra to poke around with, hit the source link below.

[Thanks, Jon]

Dell Latitude S tablet available for pre-order, might just arrive before Christmas originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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