Earlier this week, we wrote about a Microsoft Store deal offering to buy your smartphone or tablet for up to $250, and speculated that “device-specific deals” would come later. The first one is already here: you can now get a new Windows Phone (Lumia 1020 or Lumia 1520) in exchange for your iPhon...
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Pinterest is today launching a new version of its mobile website, which the company says is “complete rewrite and redesign” aimed at better integrating the features found in Pinterest’s native mobile applications, like its more useful pins (those embedded with additional information) and related ...
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OpenTable is taking its restaurant reservations service into a new vertical today, the company says: mobile payments. According to a post on the OpenTable blog, a pilot program is currently underway in San Francisco which allows diners to not just book a table, but also pay for their meal right i...
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A new bit of malware, Linkup, is a clever girl. First it takes control of the DNS servers your computer pings to connect to the Internet and, while you’re wondering how to delete it, begins mining bitcoins on the sly. Anti-virus purveyors Emisoft identified the ransomware in the wild. The program...
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Microsoft’s $15 million investment in Foursquare will soon result in product changes in the coming months. Bloomberg News reports that the deal will be used for location data and services that are part of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update. The software maker is currently beta testing ...
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/06/firefox-beta-brings-touch-friendly-web-browsing-to-windows-8/
After roughly a year of development, Mozilla has at last released a beta of Firefox for Windows 8. The not-quite-finished browser gives early adopters a full touchscreen interface with finger-friendly elements and gesture support. It also supports Windows 8's window snapping and sharing features. And don't worry if you're running another OS -- there are still a few useful upgrades in the beta for everyone, including newly enabled gamepad support and VP9 video playback. No matter what platform you're running, you'll find both a download and release notes at the source link.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Mozilla
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/06/panasonic-gh4/
Long gone are the days when digital cameras were just for still photographers. In fact, with its GH4, it's easy to argue that Panasonic is putting an even greater emphasis on video capture -- of the 4K variety, in this case. The Lumix GH4, teased as the "next GH" just last month at CES, offers tremendous advantages over its predecessor, the GH3. Perhaps most notable are the camera's 4K capabilities. This year's model can shoot both 3,840 x 2,160 and a 4,096 x 2,160 "cinema 4K" format at 30 frames per second with a 100 Mbps bit rate. If you're willing to settle for 1080p (at 60, 30 or 24 fps), Panasonic's also added a 200 Mbps option, with 100 and 50 Mbps offerings available, too. You can capture clean HDMI video with an external recorder at 4:2:2 8/10-bit output, while a (relatively gigantic) interface unit mounts on the bottom and adds four SDI outputs with support for 4K (4:2:2/10-bit), time code, two XLR microphone inputs and a 13.8-volt Canon terminal for external power. That accessory also includes phantom power controls and LED audio level readouts.
There are significant improvements on the stills front, too. There's a new 16-megapixel CMOS Micro Four Thirds sensor, which should benefit video captures as well. The camera supports a sensitivity range of ISO 200-25,600 (compared to a 12,800 max with the GH3), while the viewfinder has been boosted with a very sharp 2.36M-dot OLED panel and the 3-inch main tilt-and-swivel display now has a higher-res 1.04M-dot OLED screen. Panasonic is also emphasizing performance improvements, including a new 0.07-second focus speed, 12 fps burst mode or 7 fps with AF tracking and a shutter rated for 200,000 total clicks. The body is still constructed of magnesium alloy, and it's splash- and dust-proof. Expect to snap more than 500 stills with a full charge. There's also SDXC UHS Class 3 compatibility -- you'll need a latest-gen card to capture 200 Mbps video internally.
What we don't have at this point is pricing or a ship date. At CES, Panasonic quoted a price below $2,000, and considering the improvements over the GH3, which currently retails for about $1,000 (and will remain on the market), we wouldn't be surprised to see a final MSRP near the $2k mark. Reps promised more information on the availability front next month, and while the info rollout has been anything but speedy, we're inclined to think the GH4 will be worth the wait.
Filed under: Cameras
The S9700 also includes integrated WiFi and GPS, but so did the S9500, so there's not much to speak of there. It has a 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, an upgraded f/3.7-6.4, 25-750mm (30x) optical zoom lens, a 3-inch VGA OLED display and 1080/30p and 60i video. It retains its predecessor's manual control offerings, including a dedicated mode dial. Like last year's model, this camera's strength is in its size. It's small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, despite its "superzoom" status. It also includes a hybrid VR image stabilization mode that helps keep things steady during video capture. Expect to find a black or red S9700 in stores for $350 later this month, while the (black-only) P340 will ship in March for $380.
HP has revealed more about the Chromebox that it's making to support Google's video conferencing system, and we have good news: it won't be confined to meeting rooms. The company's inaugural Chrome OS desktop will be available to both home and business customers when it ships sometime in the spring. It should also be more powerful than the North American version of ASUS' Chromebox, since at least one US variant will arrive with a Haswell-based Core i7 processor inside. DisplayPort, HDMI and four USB 3.0 ports will come standard. There isn't any mention of pricing at this point, although it's safe to presume that the Core i7 C! hromebox will cost more than ASUS' $179 entry-level model.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-q4-earnings-2014-2
LinkedIn announced its Q4 earnings. The stock is tanking in after-hours trading, and has been down as much as 10%.
Here's what the company delivered:
LinkedIn now has 277 million members.
The revenue is up 47% compared to $303.6 million in for the same quarter in 2012.
LinkedIn also announced that it has signed an agreement to buy a company called Bright, which helps connect job seekers with employers. The transaction is valued at approximately $120 million.
Here's a chart of LinkedIn's revenues:
Business Insider Intelligence made this chart of LinkedIn's revenue sources:
Here's a look at LinkedIn's member and unique visitor growth:
Here's a chart of LinkedIn's engagement:
Join the conversation about this story »
Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-football-sized-device-could-replace-your-huge-wate-1517420468
That 60 gallon tank of hot water in your basement eats up a lot of energy. But tankless on-demand water heaters leave you running water down the drain while you wait for warmth. This tiny Kickstarter water heater promises to change all that, and save you money, thanks to some fascinating technology.
In contrast, HTML5, the newest cross-platform version of the Web's publishing language, allows developers to create mobile Web apps that exist online and can be accessed and used from any kind of phone or tablet. And, despite getting scant attention, HTML5 has become the third-most widely used mobile development platform, after iOS and Android.
source: http://www.dslrfilmnoob.com/2013/12/11/tp-link-tl-mr3040-wireless-field-monitor-dslr-controller/
If everything works out correctly you should see Firmware Upgrade in your browser with a loading indicator bar. The firmware upload automatically and the router will reboot on its own.
Once the new firmware has been uploaded, use your tablet or phone to connect to DSLR controller network, your login password will be “dslrcontroller”. When your device is connected, you can use a usb cable to connect the TP-Link TL-MR3040 wireless router directly to your camera. After connecting your camera, power it on and place the camera in live view mode, then select the dslr controller app on your tablet or phone. If all goes well the app will fire up, see the wireless device and start working as though your tablet was connected directly to your camera.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/06/firefox-launcher-for-android/
We hope you haven't had your fill of adaptive Android home screens, because Mozilla is throwing its hat into the increasingly crowded ring. The company has just offered a sneak peek at Firefox Launcher for Android, a front end that revolves around its mobile browser. The upcoming software mates Firefox with EverythingMe's context-sensitive app search, personalizing both your web surfing and your software in one shot. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a while to know exactly how this combination works; Mozilla doesn't plan to reveal more details about Firefox Launcher until it's ready to start beta testing at an unspecified point in the future.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Source: Mozilla
You probably don't spend much time thinking about the computer in your car, but a pair of Spanish security researchers sure do. In preparation for next month's Black Hat Asia security conference in Singapore, Javier Vazquez-Vidal and Alberto Garcia Illera have assembled a small electronic device that can leave a vehicle's computer system open to attack. "It can take five minutes or less to hook up and then walk away," Vidal says. It can also be built from off-the-shelf components for less than $20.
What the gizmo can actually do depends on the car. The team says that they've wired the CAN Hacking Tool (named for the Controller Area Network bus it exploits) into four vehicles, and have used it to wirelessly manipulate lights, set off alarms, control power windows and even activate the vehicle's brakes. By the time the conference starts, they hope to outfit the prototype with a GSM radio, making it possible to control vehicle's systems from virtually anywhere. Still, Vidal says they don't want to aid any nefarious activities, so the hacking tool's source code is going to re! main private for now -- but they do hope their demonstration at Black Hat Asia will get the attention of automakers. "A car is a mini network," Illera said. "And right now there's no security
Not to be outdone by literally everyone around it, HTC told Bloomberg today that it, too, will jump aboard the wearable tech train with a release of a wearable device later this year.
HTC Chairman Cher Wang told Bloomberg that the company has been looking at wearables for many years, but only now is it almost ready to ship. She confirmed that it will be ready to go by the Christmas shopping season:
Many years ago we started looking at smartwatches and wearables, but we believe that we really have to solve the battery problems and the LCD light problems. These are customer-centric problems.
Poor battery life is a problem plaguing the other wearable devices that are out there, like the Samsung Galaxy Gear. If HTC can figure out how to improve battery life, while offering a slick design like its HTC One, then it could have a chance at cracking the nut that is wearable devices.
source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/6gAGZWs6jRE/farmers-fridge-vending-machine-2014-2
A Chicago-based entrepreneur is looking to change that with a healthy twist on the vending machine, an experiment he calls the Farmer's Fridge.
Luke Saunders opened his first kiosk back in October at Chicago's Garvey Food Court, an eating center that's already host to McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, among other fast-food options.
At the Farmer's Fridge, on the other hand, you can use a touchscreen to order from a menu packed with super-nutritious items, like a fresh kale salad with quinoa, fennel, pineapple, and blueberries, or a Napa salad with avocado, grapes, and pistachios. They even sell sliced veggies with hummus and Greek yogurt mixed with berries.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/why-a-single-molecule-led-could-be-a-big-deal-1516488795
Technologically speaking, smaller is virtually always better. So it's perhaps no surprise that scientists have developed the first ever single-molecule LED. But why is it potentially such a big deal?
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/05/panasonic-reverses-its-fortunes-amid-electric-vehicle-boom/
Not every struggling company story has to have a depressing ending. Though its troubles are far from over yet, Panasonic has just announced 73.7 billion yen ($730 million) in net earnings for Q3. That's up 20 percent over last year, a disastrous period that saw nearly $10 billion in full-year losses and painful company-wide layoffs. While those cuts are finally helping the bottom line, Panasonic also said it's no longer relying on its consumer electronics division for profits. Instead, it saw the most growth in the automotive sector, highlighted by booming battery sales to EV makers like Toyota and Tesla -- a key part of new president Kazuhiro Tsuga's strategy. Unfortunately, another part of the plan is to keep eliminating unprofitable divisions until March 2016. That means the recent death of its much-loved plasma TV unit isn't the end of the slashing.
Filed under: Transportation
Meet Premier, Newegg’s $49 answer to Amazon Prime. With free three-day shipping, discounted expedited shipping, and free returns, it’s a legitimate competitor to Amazon’s proven customer loyalty program. Premier of course lacks the video streaming library found on Prime. Newegg is the second larg...
http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/05/newegg-launches-premier-50-amazon-prime-competitor/
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If you're going to go on a cruise, you'll likely be tempted to opt for a sea-view cabin. Unfortunately modern ships are so huge that not every room can have access to a window. Now Royal Caribbean has a solution - a terrifying, horrible solution. The cruise-line has just unveiled a new "virtual b...
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In the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA revelations, finding ways to browse the internet more securely has become of paramount importance. In its mission to help netizens feel that little bit safer, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has long offered its HTTPS Everywhere add-on for desktop brow...
http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/05/firefox-for-android-https-everywhere/
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It's an astounding sight: Buddha carved into a tall rock formation at the Ngyen Khag Taktsang Monastery in China. People talked breathlessly about how they visited the place, saw it with their own eyes. Except that they didn't. Because it's a fake
Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-simple-invention-seals-gunshot-wounds-in-15-second-1515835861
To stop bleeding, apply pressure—with tiny sponges. A group of veterans, scientists, and engineers in Oregon have a developed a device that uses small medical sponges to stop bleeding from gunshot wounds in just 15 seconds.
It hasn't been all that easy to make your own touchscreen-friendly gloves short of grabbing a needle and some conductive thread. With Tony Yu's upcoming Nanotips, however, it could be as simple as applying touch-up paint. The conductive liquid gives any pair of gloves (and many other surfaces) the same capacitive effect as your own fingers, letting you use your phone no matter what style of handwear you prefer -- you can check email while you're still dressed for a motorcycle ride. If you're intrigued by the idea, you can pledge $22 Canadian ($20 US) to get a bottle of Nanotips Black, which is intended for rubber and other thicker materials. Outside of early bird specials, it costs $30 CAD ($27 US) to get the fabric-oriented Nanotips Blue. Both formulas should reach backers between February and March.
Globalstar's Sat-Fi won't be the only game in town for satellite hotspots. Iridium has unveiled the Iridium Go, a hotspot that lets up to five WiFi-equipped devices hop on the internet, send texts and make phone calls from just about anywhere on the planet. It's built for outdoor adventurers with both a rugged design and an SOS mode that gets in touch with emergency services. However, software may be the Go's real ace in the hole; while it will ship with official Android and iOS apps, there's already a developer kit that lets third-party software take advantage of the satellite link on any platform. Iridium plans to ship the hotspot in the first half of the year. The firm isn't discussing exact pricing at this point, but it promises that Go will represent its "lowest cost" offering to date at below $800 -- for some people, it will be cheap enough to come along on that big summer hiking trip.
The White House won't be going it alone as it brings US classrooms into the internet era through its ConnectED initiative -- it just revealed that a host of technology firms will also lend a hand. Apple plans to donate $100 million in iPads, MacBooks and software to underprivileged schools, while Autodesk and O'Reilly Media will give away free software and content. Microsoft, in turn, will heavily discount Windows to lower educational PC prices. Carriers are getting in on the action, too. AT&T and Sprint have both pledged to offer free wireless broadband to schools for multiple years; Verizon ! isn't giving away service, but it will donate up to $100 million in cash and other commitments. The combined efforts aren't going to fix the American education system by themselves, but they could create a level playing field for schools across the country.
Source: http://lifehacker.com/the-best-temperatures-and-uses-for-common-cooking-oils-1513582291
We've talked about why you should have more than one cooking oil in your kitchen
One of the biggest reasons you'd want multiple oils in your kitchen, especially more than just olive oil, is because different oils smoke at different temperatures, which means they lend themselves—and their flavor—best to different cooking methods. For example, ghee (clarified butter) or avocado oil both have high smoke points (well over 500 degrees F) so they're great for high-heat cooking, frying, and broiling in ways that sesame or pumpkin oil, which have lower smoke points (closer to 300 or 400 degrees F, respectively,) are not. Similarly, the chart shows you which types of oil are best applied in which types of cooking, regardless of their smoke points. For example, it notes that coconut oil is great for baking, sauteing, and frying, while your extra virgin olive oil and sesame oil may be better off used in dressings and to add extra flavor.
The graphic, made by the folks over at Chasing Delicious (who are responsible for a few
Kitchen 101: Cooking Fats and Oils | Chasing Delicious
The announcement last year that Los Angeles would be replacing its high-pressure sodium streetlights—known for their distinctive yellow hue—with new, blue-tinted LEDs might have a profound effect on at least one local industry. All of those LEDs, with their new urban color scheme, will dramatically change how the city appears on camera, thus giving Los Angeles a brand new look in the age of digital filmmaking. As Dave Kendricken writes for No Film School, "Hollywood will never look the same."
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/03/google-opens-chromecast-sdk/
The Chromecast is already a pretty easy sell: It's $35 and brings most of the biggest names in streaming media to your TV with minimal hassle. So, now that Google has opened the SDK to developers, it's pretty much a no-brainer. While there are no specific apps to announce at the moment, it's safe to assume the Play store will be flooded with updates soon enough. The SDK will allow coders to add a cast button to their app or site, be it on Android, iOS or in Chrome. The obvious use is for video apps, but there are plenty of other potential options here as well. If a developer decides to create a "custom receiver application" (rather than use the pre-built one provided by Google), they can put any standard web technologies on the big screen. So expect at least a few games and productivity apps to make the jump to Chromecast as well. Imagine firing up a presentation from Google Drive, displaying it on your 4K TV and controlling it with your phone. Or maybe Sony will build a version of Jeopardy where the board and clues are shown on the TV and your handset acts as the buzzer. Obviously, we're just speculating right now, but if we see those ! ideas co me to fruition, we'll be expecting a nice royalty check. If you're more technically inclined, check out the video overview of the Chromecast SDK after the break.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, Google
Source: Google Blog, Chromium Blog
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/03/google-now-desktop/
Rumblings of Google Now on the desktop first started surfacing back in December of 2012, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that it actually broke cover. If you were a user of the Canary build of the Chrome browser, you could enable the card alerts by ticking an option buried deep within the recesses of chrome://flags. This week though, Google will bring the desktop version of its virtual assistant to the betas of Chrome on Windows and OS X, as well as Chrome OS. You won't need to dig through any advanced options; you'll just need to sign in with the same account you use on your handset -- so long as you have Now enabled on your phone. Unfortunately, it sounds like Linux users are left out in the cold for now. Presumably that has something to do with how Now ties into existing notification systems on those other platforms (we've asked Google to clarify). With Now hitting the beta channel, enabled by default, it's only a matter of time before Mountain View brings the feature to the masses. But if you're anything like us, you're already using the beta build and are maniacally hitting the update button hoping to be among the first customers it rolls out to.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google Chrome Blog
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