Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/24/opera-mini-lands-on-the-ipad-in-version-6-0/
Continue reading Opera Mini lands on the iPad in version 6.0
Opera Mini lands on the iPad in version 6.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/24/npg-csu-partner-for-49-dynamic-digital-textbooks/
Continue reading NPG, CSU partner for $49 dynamic digital textbooks
NPG, CSU partner for $49 dynamic digital textbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/sony-shows-off-folds-up-super-flexible-organic-tft-display/
Sony shows off, folds up super flexible organic TFT display originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 22:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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E-Ink-Info | Tech-On | Email this | Comments
There are some great search applications out there for Windows (including the new built-in version of Windows Search), but InSight takes a slightly different approach to desktop search. On the surface, it has most of what you'd expect from a more advanced search program: It can search multiple drives on your computer, which is great if you're dual or triple-booting your computer. It also indexes them really quickly, usually in only one or two minutes, and can search through them super fast. You can search files' metadata, use simple filters like a minus sign ("-") to exclude words, and keywords like AND or OR to further refine your search.
What's really cool about InSight, though, is that it provides quick previews for files like images and music. If you're unsure of a file's contents by just its filename, you can hover your mouse over the search results to get a small thumbnail of an image or to have it start playing a song (without opening a separate application). It also has built-in Outlook search, Wikipedia search, and a "Quick Launch" tab that lets you add notes, weblinks, or links to files on your PC for quick access.
It isn't perfect, of course—it doesn't search the contents of your documents, which is a pretty standard feature in modern desktop search (it is, however, in the roadmap). It's still definitely worth a look, though, if only for those in-search previews. Hit the link below to check it out, and if you don't end up liking it, be sure to check out our Hive Five on desktop search applications for alternatives.
InSight Desktop Search is a free download for Windows only.
Source: http://lifehacker.com/5804585/know-exactly-how-many-pieces-of-fruit-and-veggies-you-should-be-eating
Fruits like oranges, peaches, and pears are no surprise, since they're roughly the "fist-sized" portion that the serving generally sticks to, but other fruits aren't so easy to pin down, and it's usually the ones that are the most fun to eat. So, just how many grapes make up a "serving" of fruit? Turns out it's 32.
Vegetables can be even harder than fruit, but the guide makes it easy (now, if only eating certain vegetables were as easy). Asparagus lovers will be happy to know that it only takes an average of four spears to make a serving—but broccoli haters will be displeased to know that it takes 16 baby trees to get the same result.
The guide is available as a handy, two-page PDF, so you can post it right up on the fridge. CHOW also recommends you go straight to the CDC's website and use their calculator to find out exactly how many servings of each that you need on a daily basis, and to use the guide as a reference point until you get the hang of it.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Previously mentioned Miro has been around for awhile, but for many it was little more than yet another alternative video player. Today, though, Miro has overhauled its app into a full-featured media library designed to sync with Android.
Android users may see an immediate resemblance to previously mentioned DoubleTwist, and Miro's Android syncing puts it in a position as a great alternative. While it doesn't have wireless sync like DoubleTwist, it does have a few advantages over its competitors, like full podcast support and a built-in video converter that will convert your videos to a compatible format for your mobile device.
It also has a few other cool features that aim to make it worthy of a desktop media player, and not just a syncing program: For example, you can share media across your network and buy music directly from the Amazon MP3 store. It even has its own BitTorrent client and custom search engine built-in, so you can download those videos direct to your media library. Check out the video above for more info on the app's overhaul, and hit the link below to try it out.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5804751/metamaterial-lenses-could-allow-easy-wireless-power-transmission
The material would be situated between a power source and a device to be charged, and it would serve as a sort of a bridge so that there appeared to be no space between the transmitter and the recipient.
Tiny amounts of energy can already be transmitted across small distances, such as radio frequency identification devices or even near-field communications. But it would be dangerous to scale up power transmission to the levels needed for, say, charging a cell phone - high-powered microwave or laser devices would likely fry the device you are trying to charge.
A metamaterial could facilitate a simpler, safer energy transfer, according to Yaroslav Urzhumov, assistant research professor in electrical and computer engineering at Duke. It would act as a lens to keep the energy focused, allowing it to travel more readily through open space without scattering.
This hypothetical metamaterial would consist of an array of thin conducting loops made of the same copper-fiberglass material used in printed circuit boards, and it would look like a set of Venetian blinds, according to a linktextDuke news release.
Metamaterials have already been used to focus imaging sound waves to sharpen sonar and ultrasound; to block out noise and to bend light in various wavelengths, making objects invisible.
This research was an offshoot of superlens research at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, the first group to demonstrate that metamaterials can act as cloaking devices.
The metamaterial lens would need to be tailored to each device, so the source and recipient would be tuned to each other, Urzhumov said. But this would be less annoying than having dozens of device-specific wires hanging around the house.
Image credit: Xiang Zhang research group
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/dell-xps-15z-review/
Continue reading Dell XPS 15z review
Dell XPS 15z review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 21:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsTotal Convergence (1998) - converging technologies and media create new opportunities and revenue models - http://bit.ly/lZylme
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5804589/square-introduces-iphone+based-mobile-payment-system
The system, called the Square Card Case, lets you see everything the merchant has on offer, and works with Square card readers and payment systems. It's basically an account that you can debit on the go without pulling out your credit card, Square CEO (and Twitter founder) Jack Dorsey calls it an iTunes Store for real-world purchases. It launched at 50 merchants around the country today.
Honestly, the demo was a little confusing, but the bottom line is once you have an account, when you go into a merchant if you open your Square app you can use your phone to make payments instead of swiping a card.
When a customer makes a purchase at a Square merchant, they get emailed or text messaged a receipt that lets them set up a tab. The tab stays in a "card case" on the customer's phone, and from then on you can use it at the store to make a purchase. After you have an account, you can also open the card case to see all the merchants in the area that accept payments.
It's very cool, but setting up a customer account took several steps, and it seems like the kind of thing that's going to take a real push to get over the initial inertia. Square will need to sign up thousands of its merchants before this is practical and people start using it.
Square card readers jack into an iPad or iPhone, and after a simple signup allow anyone to accept credit cards without having to get an expensive merchant account. It basically brought credit card processing to anyone. It's been a hit. Bands, DIY crafters, food trucks, coffee shops, drug dealers, everyone loves Square. They've shipped more than 500,000 card readers, done more than a million purchases just in May, and done more than $1 billion in transactions.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5804592/samsung-infuse-review-its-huge
A list of people who might need a phone that sprawls as far and wide as the Infuse: Godzilla, Shaq, the Nathan's hot dog contest winner who isn't the Japanese guy, people who'd giggle every time they say, "My phone is bigger than yours."
WHY IT MATTERS
The funny thing about choices—at least when it comes to computers, smartphones and politicians—is their tendency to melt together into amorphous, indistinct blobs. In the case of phones, they congeal into hulking black slabs, a lot of them running Android. It's hard to stand out. (How many formerly epic 4.3-inch phones are there now?) Unless you're genuinely outstanding. The Infuse, at 4.5 inches, is the next logical step. The fundamental questions: Does the human race need a phone this big? How long before other phones are just as gigantic? Can a phone possibly get any bigger?
USING IT
A refrain: Size matters. Samsung has accomplished a genuine feat of engineering here, divining the absolute limits of how large a phone can be before it ruptures the boundaries spacetime and the English language. You'll feel a surge of dork shame shimmy down your spine every time you pull it out in public, or press it against your face (unless you are a huge dork, live in Asgard or have a deep, unironic appreciation for things sized according to the same design principles as clown shoes). But it is usable, for a single reason: It's very, very thin. Meaning even your tiny human hand can wrap around it, if not entirely comfortably. But is 4.5 inches better than 4.3 or 4 or 3.5 inches? No, maybe, yes—in that order.
LIKEY
Super AMOLED Plus is perhaps better than any phone screen technology out there except the retina display, even with its 800x480 pixels stretched across the wider canvass. Colors are super rich, blacks are inky, and it's usable enough in sunlight. It's fairly quick. And this is one of the better phone cameras I've seen in a while, with solid 8MP stills and pretty okay 720p video. (Also Samsung's custom software, which echoes its point-and-shoot cameras is a plus—the sole nice thing I have to say about TouchWiz).
NO LIKEY
Sorry, but there's not a single carrier or phone maker on the planet who currently makes an interface that's better than Google's for Android. They're all worse, more confusing, uglier. (The ability to install custom UIs after rooting doesn't negate this. Normal people don't root their phones, they just complain about them sucking.) Non-removable bloatware, while minimal here, is increasingly agitating on Android phones. The tradeoff Samsung made to offset the juggernautiness with lightweight plastic makes it feel cheap. More pixels would be more better, since it'd make text sharper in lots o' cases. AT&T's 4G branding, at least in NY and SF.
Because the Infuse would be borderline generic if it weren't so massive, like a washed-up action movie star, this is one of those easy yes/no questions: Do you want a humongous phone?
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/droid-3-details-leaked-dual-core-processor-4-inch-qhd-screen/
Droid 3 details leaked: dual-core processor, 4-inch qHD screen, no LTE? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/smarter-elevators-sort-riders-stand-ready-to-enforce-social-hie/
While we're still awaiting pneumatic tubes that can whisk us to our destinations, elevators have been gaining a few IQ points. For example, they can be voice-activated or recognize an ID badge and route riders to their floors, meaning fewer seconds staring uncomfortably until the doors open. But they can also track workers' comings and goings, and bosses at Philadelphia's Curtis Center can program elevators to deliver specific employees directly to them. Not coincidentally, intelligent lifts can also ensure executives rarely have to ride alongside the hoi polloi -- a feature Bank of America, for one, paid for but says it doesn't use. The Wall Street Journal seems to worry this is the end of elevator democracy, but we support anything that reduces our time trapped in small metal boxes.Smarter elevators sort riders, stand ready to enforce social hierarchies originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/xi3-modular-pc-reborn-as-chrome-desktop-promises-independence-f/
Xi3 modular PC reborn as Chrome OS desktop, promises independence from local storage originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 12:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/23/kogeto-dot-brings-bite-size-panoramic-video-recording-to-iphone/
Continue reading Kogeto Dot brings bite-size panoramic video recording to iPhone 4 (hands-on)
Kogeto Dot brings bite-size panoramic video recording to iPhone 4 (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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