Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

drag2share: VMware Fusion 4 brings full Lion support, wants to make Windows act less like Windows

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/14/vmware-fusion-4-brings-full-lion-support-wants-to-make-windows/

Leave it to VMware to put the spotlight back on Lion when this is, without a doubt, Windows 8's week. The company just announced Fusion 4, the latest version of its virtualization software, and, as you'd expect, it pledges to play nice with Apple's newly minted OS. In addition to fully supporting Lion features like Spotlight, though, it makes Windows look more like, well, a Mac. The software includes improved support for Expose and Spaces on the Windows side, and adds the ability to use Mission Control and launch Windows apps from Launchpad. Additionally, you can run Lion as a virtual machine within Snow Leopard and VMware makes vague claims about improved performance, 3D graphics and resource-hogging. It'll cost $50 through the end of the year, with the price jumping up to $80 in January. Fittingly enough, VMware picked up on the fact that Apple's moving away from optical drives, and instead chose to ship the software with a USB drive (you can also download it and do the whole drag-and-drop installation thing). Oh, and if you bought the last-gen version of the software on July 20th or later, you'll get the new version gratis. Lots of screen shots below, and full PR after the break.

Gallery: VMWare Fusion 4

Continue reading VMware Fusion 4 brings full Lion support, wants to make Windows act less like Windows

VMware Fusion 4 brings full Lion support, wants to make Windows act less like Windows originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: SanDisk outs Extreme Pro SDXC, Mobile Ultra microSDXC, new Cruzer USB sticks

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/14/sandisk-outs-extreme-pro-64gb-sdxc-mobile-ultra-microsdxc-new/

Okay, they're not depicted to scale -- but don't they look sweet? In addition to the Memory Vault, SanDisk also chose today to freshen up its SDXC and USB flash products, which should start appearing in candy stores from October. Top billing goes to the Extreme Pro SDXC with 95MB/s reads and purportedly world-beating 90MB/s writes, starting at $110 for 8GB and topping out at 64GB for untold dollars. The Mobile Ultra range for microSDXC-equipped phones and tablets also goes up to 64GB, with 30MB/s transfer rates and a starting price of $25 for 4GB. Then there's the tiny Cruzer Fit and pocket-friendly Cruzer Switch USB sticks starting at the $20 mark, plus a dime for good luck. Click the PR after the break for more sugary details.

Continue reading SanDisk outs Extreme Pro SDXC, Mobile Ultra microSDXC, new Cruzer USB sticks

SanDisk outs Extreme Pro SDXC, Mobile Ultra microSDXC, new Cruzer USB sticks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

drag2share: Google Flights Search Is a Powerful, Intuitive, Lightning-Fast Tool for Finding Cheap Tickets [Video]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5839848/google-flights-search-is-a-powerful-lightning-fast-tool-for-finding-cheap-tickets

Google just launched Google Flights Search, an attractive, intuitive, lightning fast airline search tool; it may well be your new default destination when you're looking for a flight.

We're big fans of previously mentioned Hipmunk (and we'll always have a soft spot for Kayak,) but Google Flights has come out swinging. The search results are nearly instantaneous (most travel sites make you slog through the "searching airlines" intermediary screen); results display on a Google Map in a way that's actually useful; it's got an impressive, easy-to-use interface; and it also includes powerful filtering tools to help you find tickets matching preferences like non-stop, duration, price, and especially handy, a tool to help you find the cheapest flight by duration when you've got flexible travel dates. After a few initial comparisons, Google Flights Search also looks like it's returning the same "lowest fare" as sites like Hipmunk.

Update: Contrary to my experience, I've seen a lot of people saying Hipmunk is still returning lower fares. Several readers have also noted that Google Flights Search isn't showing a lot of cities (sometimes they're cities that I'm seeing, so it could possibly be launch hiccups). It seems likely that these issues will improve in time, but it certainly bodes will for Hipmunk.

The upshot: It's impressively intuitive, extremely fast, and though I hate to say it, I can see Google's new flight search becoming a lot of people's first destination for finding airline tickets online.

Google Flights | via Search Engine Land

You can contact Adam Pash, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

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drag2share: Daily App Deals: Customize Your Android Phone's Lock Screen for a Buck [Deals]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5839904/daily-app-deals-customize-your-android-phones-lock-screen-for-a-buck

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale.

The Best

Daily App Deals: Customize Your Android Phone's Lock Screen for a Buck WidgetLocker Lockscreen is an Android app that replaces the standard "slide to unlock" screen with a fully customizable alternative that lets you change how you unlock your phone. There are dozens of options for launching apps and setting up widgets right from your phone's lock screen, and even more options are available if you have rooted your phone. Previously $1.99, now $0.99 from the Amazon Appstore.

Free

iOS

Chronograph (iTunes) Previously $1.99. [Dealmac]
Nocs Text Editor (iTunes) Previously $1.99. [Dealmac]
goPark (iTunes) Previously $17.99. [148Apps]

Android

SwitfKey X (GetJar) Previously $4.06.
App Protector Pro (GetJar) Previously $1.99.
Imperio (GetJar) Previously $3.99.
Advanced Task Manager (GetJat) Previously $1.99.

The Rest

iOS

MeetOMeeter Pro (iTunes) Previously $2.99, now $1.99. [148Apps]
CamScanner Pro (iTunes) Previously $6.99, now $4.99. [iOSnoops]
NOAA Weather Radio (iOSnoops)
Download with Dropbox (iTunes) Previously $1.99, now $0.99. [iOSnoops]
EgxiteApp (iTunes) Previously $1.99, now $0.99. [LogicBuy]
SuperShare (iTunes) Previously $1.99, now $0.99. [LogicBuy]

Android

Root Explorer(Amazon Appstore) Previously $3.99, now $0.99.
Wave Launcher (Amazon Appstore) Previously $1.99, now $0.99.
SetCPU for Root Users (Amazon Appstore) Previously $2.00, now $0.99.
RepliGo Reader (Amazon Appstore) Previously $4.99, now $1.99.
BackupEverything (Amazon Appstore) Previously $1.99, now $0.99.
Easy Tether (Amazon Appstore) Previously $9.99, now $4.99.

PC

Microsoft AutoRoute 2010 (Amazon.com) Previously $39.95, now $9.99.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Trello Makes Project Collaboration Simple and Kind of Enjoyable [Collaboration]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5839942/trello-makes-project-collaboration-simple-and-kind-of-fun

Just-launched webapp Trello is a simple yet powerful project management tool. We know, "project management" sounds kind of boring, but if you've ever tried using project management apps, Trello stands out as a tool that augments your collaboration without overwhelming you.

As the developers behind Trello put it, it's simply "a web page where you make a bunch of lists." Making those lists is incredibly easy; you create a project (Trello calls them boards), add lists to it, and add list items (called cards) to those lists. If that's all you want from the site (and that aspect is solid enough that you might be satisfied with it for simple list making), you'll be happy. But Trello starts to shine when you dip your toe into collaboration.

To collaborate, you invite people to join your board. Once they join, members can add and edit items and lists, and you can drag people to items within your project to keep track of who's working on what (that's one of the main problems with collaboration Trello aims to solve). Click on any individual card and you can add comments, add a checklist for tracking progress on that task, attach files, and more.

The whole site's very user friendly, and that combined with the depth of functionality make it a strong solution for people looking for anything ranging from simple list-making to full-on team management and project collaboration.

You can contact Adam Pash, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Intel Claims Next Chip Will Run Your Laptop For 24 Hours On One Battery Charge [PCs]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5839806/intels-next-chip-will-run-your-laptop-for-24-hours-on-one-battery-charge

I can't wait for 2013. That's the year where Intel's Haswell architecture arrives, bringing three very important things. One, the ability to run your laptop for 24 hours on one charge. Heaven. Two, 10 days on "connected standby."

And three: This 22-nanometer 3D-transistor architecture consumes so little power—20 times less than their current gear—that it can run on a solar cell. That's exactly what they demonstrated at the Intel's Developer Forum today: a Haswell-based Windows computer running entirely off a solar cell that was being exposed to a light bulb. Imagine that. Basically, your computer would be able to run indefinitely without ever having to power off, even if you run out of battery power to run the machine's display. I'm impressed.

That's why you can also have ten days of connected standby with your computer connected to a wireless network. That means putting the display to sleep but have the machine continuously connected to the Internet for ten days, grabbing email, tweets, or synchronizing files down from the cloud. I don't know about you, but this low power peace of mind is one of the things that I like most about these new chips.

Before 2013's Haswell comes Ivy Bridge in 2012, which will also reduce power and support DirectX 11.1 and OpenGL 3.2 directly on the chip, as well as 4K high definition video playback. [Anandtech, Marketwatch, Forbes, Ventura Beat, Cnet, Sweclockers]

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drag2share: Firefox for Android Tablets Is Open for Testing [Blip]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5839918/firefox-for-android-tablets-is-open-for-testing

Mozilla has made the latest nightly builds for Firefox for Honeycomb ready for download. It's already optimized for the tablet real estate and Android's quirks, and will let you use Firefox Sync to share data with your desktop. [Mobiputing]

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drag2share: Dolphin Browser HD for iPad: The Best iPad Browser Not Named Safari [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5839954/dolphin-browser-hd-for-ipad-the-best-ipad-browser-not-named-safari

Why do we like it?

Here's where I explain why I really like the sidebars that hide "beneath" the browser. I usually hold my iPad in portrait mode where I have my two hands on the two bottom corners. When I want to go to one of my favorite pages in Safari, I have to move my hand, run it all the way to the top of the iPad's 9.7 inch screen and hope my fat fingers can tap 'giz' to load Gizmodo. It usually doesn't and I try again. To put it bluntly, it's a freaking pain in the ass. It's not the magic the iPad promised! And though the Dolphin browser ain't Copperfield, it's close. I just side swipe to reveal the side bar favorites, tap the favorite site I want to go to and watch it load. No hand movement necessary. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Also, I like "privacy mode".

Dolphin Browser HD

Download this app for:

iPad, Free

The Best

Webzines!

The Worst

Gestures are sort of silly

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drag2share: Channel Master TV Will Let You Cut The Cord And Keep The Sports [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5839979/channel-master-tv-will-let-you-cut-the-cord-and-keep-the-sports

Channel Master's newest DVR is a cord cutters dream. It lets users record over-the-air programming so they can ditch cable and still follow their local news and sports. And there's no monthly fee, just the cost of the device.

Besides OTA television, the Channel Master TV also streams VUDU content. VUDU is a nice add-on, but it does have a limited video catalog. It's too bad the device doesn't include some of the larger services like Netflix or Amazon Video.

On the hardware side, the OTA DVR includes WiFi, a 320 GB hard drive to store 35 hours of HD video, and variety of audio and video outputs to connect to your TV. The Channel Master TV is on the pricey side. It'll cost you $400 when it ships this November. [Channel Master and Crave]

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drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Medfield-based Android phone shown at IDF 2011, future Android builds to be 'optimized' for Atom

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/andy-rubin-shows-off-medfield-based-android-phone-at-idf-2011-r/

Google's Andy Rubin just came up on stage here at the IDF keynote, joining Intel CEO Paul Otellini who was holding a bona fide Medfield-powered smartphone running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)! Hard to be sure, but the device looks eerily like the Aava Mobile handset we've seen before. The cameo was part of a much larger initiative, which will see Intel working concurrently with Google in order to optimize future processors for use with Android. We were actually tipped off on this a few days back, but at the time, it was difficult to tell how much of a consumer impact it'd have. Given Andy's showing, though, it's looking better and better in that regard. The most impressive tidbit, however, is the promise that all future Android builds will be "optimized" for Intel's low-power Atom clan. We've compiled a gallery for you below, and hopefully we'll have a hands-on later today.

Gallery: Intel's Medfield based Android smartphone

Dante Cesa contributed to this report.

Continue reading Medfield-based Android phone shown at IDF 2011, future Android builds to be 'optimized' for Atom

Medfield-based Android phone shown at IDF 2011, future Android builds to be 'optimized' for Atom originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Intel hypes Ivy Bridge, leaves poor old Sandy in its wake

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/intel-hypes-ivy-bridge-leaves-poor-old-sandy-in-its-wake/

Intel reps just can't resist whispering about their 2012 Core i-series. AnandTech is reporting a claimed 60 percent boost in 3DMark Vantage scores from the next-gen integrated graphics compared to Sandy Bridge, which could well put an end to Intel's frame-rate humiliation at the hands of AMD's A-series APUs. The bragging also extended to Quick Sync, which is "privately" said to deliver video encoding at twice the current speed. However, these claims only relate to the top tier of the Ivy Bridge range and they skirt around the key battlegrounds of raw CPU power and pricing -- which is precisely where we suspect AMD's FX series will bring the ruckus.

Intel hypes Ivy Bridge, leaves poor old Sandy in its wake originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TGDaily | source

< a href="http://www.anandtech.com/show/4763/ivy-bridge-gpu-performance-up-to-60-faster-than-snb-better-quicksync">AnandTech | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: Intel demos Haswell-enabled, solar-powered computing at IDF 2011

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/intel-demos-haswell-enabled-solar-powered-computing-at-idf-2011/

During the IDF keynote today in San Francisco, Intel demoed a solar-powered PC running Windows based on its long-teased Haswell microarchitecture -- complete with labcoats and LOLcats. As a refresher, Haswell is based on the same 22nm technology as Ivy Bridge, reduces power by 20x compared to current designs, and will help Ultrabooks achieve ten days of connected standby by 2013. Intel's CEO Paul Otellini mentioned that Haswell will further accelerate Ultrabook innovation with the help of the company's revolutionary 3D tri-gate transistors. Check out the solar-powered future in our gallery below.

Gallery: Intel's Haswell solar-powered computer at IDF

Dante Cesa contributed to this report.

Continue reading Intel demos Haswell-enabled, solar-powered computing at IDF 2011

Intel demos Haswell-enabled, solar-powered computing at IDF 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: NVIDIA opens Windows 8 developer program with support for Kal-El tablets

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/nvidia-opens-windows-8-developer-program-with-support-for-kal-el/

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know Microsoft's Build developer conference is going on right now in Anaheim, California, and Windows 8 is the belle of the ball. Earlier today, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky spilled more details about the OS, touting the minimum requirements and NFC support, while we fessed up to having had some quality hands-on time ourselves. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the company's hardware partners are also ready to start talking. NVIDIA just opened its Windows 8 developer program, and says it'll embrace not just x86-based PCs, but Tegra-powered tablets as well. Specifically, that means support for its forthcoming quad-core Tegra platform, codenamed Kal-El, along with PCs packing GeForce, Quadro and Tesla cards. Any developers who happen to be hanging around the Anaheim Convention Center can sign up at NVIDIA's booth, though there's also an online registration page for everyone else. Find that at the source link, along with the full PR after the break.

Continue reading NVIDIA opens Windows 8 developer program with support for Kal-El tablets

NVIDIA opens Windows 8 developer program with support for Kal-El tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: Intel shows off Medfield-based Android tablet at IDF 2011, we (briefly) go eyes-on (updated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/intel-shows-off-medfield-based-android-tablet-at-idf-2011-we-b/

Much in the same vein as the smartphone showed off this morning, Intel also teased a Medfield-based Android tablet. But unlike the prototype Andy Rubin whisked with him off stage, we were able to at least get up close and personal with its Intel inside sibling. Unfortunately we weren't able to actually touch it, but here's to hoping we can track one down and do a proper hands-on at some point today.

Update: Our eagle-eyed friends at CarryPad have spotted an NFC marking on the tablet's back.

Gallery: Intel's Medfield based Android tablet eyes-on

Intel shows off Medfield-based Android tablet at IDF 2011, we (briefly) go eyes-on (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: SanDisk working to push SSD power consumption lower, squeeze more juice out of your battery

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/sandisk-working-to-push-ssd-power-consumption-lower-squeeze-mor/

SanDisk SSD

First things first: we really need to sit down with the tech industry and have a conversation about effectively naming things. Which brings us to our next order of business: SATA DEVSLP. SanDisk is working with other companies, like Intel, Microsoft and Samsung, to develop this new standard which will drive SSD power consumption much lower than current levels. Some drives already support the cornerstone of the standard -- a new super low-power mode that draws only 50mW of juice. SATA DEVSLP would keep the storage in that energy-sipping state the majority of the time, extending battery life for Ultabooks, tablets, or whatever other gadgets may come along. Guess we know one trick Intel plans to use to reach that promised 10-days of connected standby time. Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading SanDisk working to push SSD power consumption lower, squeeze more juice out of your battery

SanDisk working to push SSD power consumption lower, squeeze more juice out of your battery originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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