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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes

Microsoft might be late to the cameraphone-able barcode game, but it appears to be making up for lost time. Its multi-colored (and, frankly, rather attractive) Tag barcodes added a few important innovations on top of the general QR code concept, and apparently to good effect: 2 billion Tags have been printed since the January 2009 launch, and 1 billion of those Tags were printed in the past four months. Sounds like Microsoft has found some momentum, and they claim to have gained a lead in the publishing industry already. Obviously, the analytics, customization, and anti-fragmentation nature appeals to Big Barcode, but we'll have to wait and see if Tag is the ultimate choice of the everyman. Plus, won't ads be able to hack our brains and implant URLs at-will soon enough? We're holding out for that.

Continue reading Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes

Microsoft 'Tags' 2 billion real-world objects with its phone-friendly barcodes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities

Verizon's FiOS footprint may be on an expansion hiatus, but that's not to say the company's abandoning existing users. Nearly 3.5 years after boosting FiOS internet speeds with G-PON, the company is now out testing XG-PON2 -- a newfangled iteration that somehow enables 10Gbps upstream and downstream from its existing fiber network. If you'll recall, we heard just a few weeks back that the outfit was close to being able to serve GigE on its existing platform, and now that this field trial has been successful, we'd say the boundaries are stretched even further. In the test, technicians were able to suck down a 2.3GB movie in four ticks of the second hand, and if you're hoping to see the nerdiest video of the day, a highlight reel of the trial awaits you just past the break.

[Thanks, David]

Continue reading Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities

Verizon FiOS field trial introduces XG-PON2 to the lexicon, shows 10Gbps capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oakley's 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy

Think run-of-the-mill 3D specs just aren't cutting it? Need the sort of eyewear that ENCOM International would approve or? Here's perhaps a better question: got a infinitesimally-deep hole burning in your pocket? Oakley's recently-announced "optically-correct" 3D glasses are getting a special Tron: Legacy edition in honor of the upcoming internet documentary. Expect graphic art on the frames that, in some of the most amusing and illustrative words we've read in a press release for some time, "salute the cinematic story." Asking price is a steep $150, but fashion doesn't run cheap -- besides, how else are you going to stand out in a dark room filled with bespectacled people all facing the same direction?

Oakley's 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

We've receive a number of reports that a 2.3.20 software update for Verizon's Droid 2 is slowly making the rounds this morning. The OTA push promises a number of improvements and enhancements with the promise of better battery life, faster transitions between WiFi and 3G data connection, and quicker location tracking when using GPS being perhaps the most notable. Other enhancements include:

New ability to add pictures from your Gallery to a contact.
Export all your contacts to the SD card.
View details of Social Networking contacts.
VZ Navigator is now preloaded on device.

Click through the break for the full list of improvements.

[Thanks, Mark L.]

Continue reading Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid Life | source

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Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal

Eye-Fi gets social, launches View online portal and instant e-mailing of pictures

Yeah, we know. E-mail is like so 1999. Kids today are all about their tweets and their texts, but if grandma can decode a digital picture at all pretty much the only way she's going to get it is via e-mail, and Eye-Fi is making that easier. It's launched Eye-Fi View, an online sharing site not unlike your Picasas or your Flickrs, except that pictures are (nearly) instantly and automatically uploaded straight from the camera, where they can be shared (or not shared) with others. Users can also set up e-mail alerts so that grandma can get a private link to Gerard's graduation photos. Eye-Fi View is free if you don't mind your pictures disappearing after seven days, but if you want unlimited storage for an unlimited time you'll need to step up to the $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annual plans. The disembodied hand? We're pretty sure that's not included.

Continue reading Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal

Eye-Fi gets social with the Eye-Fi View online picture portal originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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dpreview.com | source

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