Monday, August 09, 2010

Augen's Kmart tablet and smartbook won't have Google-branded apps from now on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/07/augens-kmart-tablet-and-smartbook-wont-have-google-branded-app/

The future for Augen's $150 tablet and $100 smartbook isn't looking good -- not only do the blue-light specials have slow processors and resistive touchscreens, but their official Google app privileges have just been revoked. To be fair, Android Market actually wasn't working on either device from the get-go, but Augen just sent us a statement confirming that the entire proprietary suite (including Market, Gmail and more) was preloaded on the devices without Google's permission, and won't appear on new batches that make it to store shelves. Augen says it's working with Google to secure rights to these apps for new products further down the road, but if you want a dirt-cheap mass market Android device with these apps preinstalled, you'd best head on down to Kmart... assuming they're finally in stock, of course. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Augen's Kmart tablet and smartbook won't have Google-branded apps from now on

Augen's Kmart tablet and smartbook won't have Google-branded apps from now on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Aug 2010 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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QNAP's QMobile app enables multimedia NAS streaming to Android and iOS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/08/qnaps-qmobile-app-enables-multimedia-nas-streaming-to-android-a/

Got yourself a QNAP NAS, do you? If you're also in legal possession of an Android or iOS-based device, you could soon be streaming your dusty Boyz II Men and / or Our Lady Peace jams straight from your network. Over the past month, the outfit has released QMobile apps for both Android and iOS, enabling everything from Google's Nexus One to Apple's iPod touch, iPad and iPhone to remotely stream images, tunes and videos so long as their NAS is online (and connected to a halfway decent broadband line). The app is said to work just fine over 3G or WiFi, and there's even a My Jukebox feature that essentially acts as a shuffle system for those who aren't too picky about what comes through. Both apps are available now in the Android Market and App Store for no charge, but you'll probably want to tap those source links and update your NAS management software to v3.3.0 before trying any fancy business. Video promo is past the break, if you need some encouragement.

Continue reading QNAP's QMobile app enables multimedia NAS streaming to Android and iOS

QNAP's QMobile app enables multimedia NAS streaming to Android and iOS originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hot Hardware  |  sourceQNAP 1, 2  | Email this | Comments

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Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/08/flash-ported-to-iphone-4-available-for-download-video/

Cydia is a great place to hang out, and we're sure unlocking is pretty swell, but it's quite possible you and your freshly-rooted iPhone 4 have already run out of fun things to do. In that case, might we suggest giving Frash a try? That's right, Comex's Strong Bad-inspired port of Adobe Flash 10.1 has been compiled once again, and though it's still an alpha build there's nothing keeping you from experiencing the joys of animated advertising on your iOS 4 device. Instructions are exactly the same as in our Flash how-to for iPad -- jailbreak, download the .deb, upload it to a folder deep inside your phone via SSH, restart and you're done -- but if that sounds like too much work or you're worried about your phone asploding prematurely, you can watch from a safe distance as Homestar Runner struts his stuff. You'll find that and more in a video after the break, and a pre-compiled alpha build is available at our source link.

Continue reading Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video)

Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGrant Pannell, Frash (Github)  | Email this | Comments

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Best Buy pegs Droid 2 at $199 with 2-year activation, $599 without (updated)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/08/best-buy-pegs-droid-2-at-199-with-2-year-activation-599-witho/

It's rather astounding to believe we've come this far without Verizon or Motorola so much as recognizing the Droid 2's existence, but with leaks like this on a weekly basis who needs traditional marketing? Astute reader Greg from North Carolina tells us his local Best Buy has those leaked dummy units out on shelves, and lo and behold, there's a set of price tags right next to them. As originally rumored, the phone will launch at $199 with carrier subsidy and $599 should you choose to cart it home without a plan in tow. Still no solid confirmation of that August 12 release date, but at this rate we expect the handset may sell out before Verizon's PR team breathes a word. Spot the full image after the break.

Update: On a related note, the original Droid is now "out of stock" on Verizon's website.

Update 2: Oh what the hell, dropped in an official "coming soon" Droid 2 advertising supplement making its way into newspapers.

[Thanks, Greg and Jeremy C.]

Continue reading Best Buy pegs Droid 2 at $199 with 2-year activation, $599 without (updated)

Best Buy pegs Droid 2 at $199 with 2-year activation, $599 without (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Schubert: Windows Phone 7 gets an aluminum unibody handset to call home? (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/09/htc-schubert-windows-phone-7-gets-an-aluminum-unibody-handset-t/

And the Windows Phone 7 leaks just keep on flowing. After that mysterious ASUS pre-prodution unit we saw late last week, today we're being treated to the first sighting of the HTC Schubert. Purportedly a device planned for "day one" of the WP7 revolution, the Schubert is said to have been built using a single piece of aluminum (just like the Legend) with plastic cutouts in the back allowing for that all-important wireless connectivity. Not much else is known for now -- hell, there's no way to even confirm this phone is who it says it is -- but the video's right after the break.

[Thanks, Peter]

Continue reading HTC Schubert: Windows Phone 7 gets an aluminum unibody handset to call home? (video)

HTC Schubert: Windows Phone 7 gets an aluminum unibody handset to call home? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Solo Palmari  |  source247 Windows phone  | Email this | Comments

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HTC's 4.3-inch Desire HD shows up on video

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/09/htcs-4-3-inch-desire-hd-shows-up-on-video/

We saw our first images of the Desire HD over the weekend, and just as day follows night, video leaks typically follow pictorial ones. You'll already be familiar with the mooted specs -- including 720p HD video recording, WVGA screen resolution, and an 8 megapixel imager -- so what else does this handset tour reveal? Well, the family resemblance to HTC's other 4.3-inchers is inevitably apparent to see, with the Desire HD sticking its headphone port at the bottom just like the HD2, and employing a dual LED flash à la the EVO 4G. Beyond that, it looks like yet another well rounded device from the prolific Taiwanese phone maker -- hurry past the break to see it for yourself.

[Thanks, Cj]

Continue reading HTC's 4.3-inch Desire HD shows up on video

HTC's 4.3-inch Desire HD shows up on video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  source247 Android  | Email this | Comments

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12-core Apple Mac Pro orders are go

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/09/mac-pro-orders-are-go/

After a brief outage the Apple Store is back with the previously announced 12-core Mac Pro (and revamped quad- and 6-core models) ready to order. Prices start at $4,999 for a pair of 6-core Xeon Westmere procesors humming along at 2.66GHz, 6GB of memory, a 1TB hard drive, SuperDrive, and ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics. We configured ours with a pair of 2.93GHz CPUs, 2x HD 5770 graphics cards, 32GB of memory, 4x 512GB SSDs, and pair of optical drives for $16,249 just 'cause we could. Ships in 7 to 10 business days... bankruptcy in 365.

[Thanks, Nathan]

12-core Apple Mac Pro orders are go originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM BlackPad tablet priced at $499 when it ships in November?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/09/rim-blackpad-tablet-priced-at-499-when-it-ships-in-november/

Come on, admit it, you want to believe that RIM is working on a tablet called the BlackPad don't you? You'd better, because Apple Daily is piling on with more unsubstantiated rumor this morning. So, in addition to the 9.7-inch display, Bluetooth, WiFi, and front- and rear-facing cameras already mentioned by Bloomberg's sources, Apple Daily claims that Quanta won the bid to manufacture the tablet with plans to ramp up for 2 million units starting in September (for a November retail launch) with another 8 million planned for 2011. The price? $499 is the target, naturally.

RIM BlackPad tablet priced at $499 when it ships in November? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DigiTimes  |  sourceApple Daily  | Email this | Comments

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BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300) is officially BlackBerry 6 ready

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/09/blackberry-curve-3g-9300-gets-official-is-blackberry-6-ready/


The cart left the gate on Thursday and here comes the horse: the official BlackBery Curve 3G (model 9300) announcement just landed in our inbox. So in addition to sporting (800/850)/1900/2100MHz or 900/1700/2100MHz HSDPA data, quad-band GSM, WiFi, and GPS, we now know that if you buy this BlackBerry 5 device today you can upgrade to BlackBerry 6 "in the coming months." Assuming your carrier can get its act together, of course.

Continue reading BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300) is officially BlackBerry 6 ready

BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300) is officially BlackBerry 6 ready originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reach and Frequency should be kicked to the curb in favor of Search and Efficiency - http://bit.ly/cC5sRY

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Friday, August 06, 2010

Browser Comparison: What's the Most Pixel-Friendly Browser? [Web Browsers]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5605440/browser-comparison-whats-the-most-pixel+friendly-browser

Browser Comparison: What's the Most Pixel-Friendly Browser?Firefox 4 Beta is out with a revamped UI, Google Chrome continues to gain popularity, and Opera has a slick new version. Let's take a look at which browser uses your screen the best without wasting space.

Note: You can do all kinds of tweaking in browsers like Firefox to maximize its viewing area. If you just want slim browser out of the box, this is what you've got to choose from.

For this comparison, we used the latest version of each browser: Firefox 4.0 Beta 2, Safari 5, Chrome 6.0 dev, Opera 10.60, and IE 8. (Even though the platform preview for IE9 is out, it doesn't have usable window chrome yet, so it wouldn't be fair to include it.)

To keep everything consistent, we made sure that the bookmarks bar was hidden, and left the rest of the settings as default. The only major difference otherwise is that Internet Explorer, Opera, and Firefox have status bars by default, but Chrome and Safari do not—though it's worth noting that Google Chrome shows a status bar at the bottom when you move your mouse over a link. We could have disabled the status bar in Internet Explorer, but then you lose the ability to highlight a link to see the source.

Firefox users will be quick to point out that you can maximize your viewing space with a few quick tweaks, and there's no question that the customization abilities built into Firefox can yield a browser configuration that's tweaked for a small screen, but for the purposes of this comparison we used the default configuration—not to mention that many add-ons aren't working for Firefox 4 yet.

Regular Browser Winner: Chrome

When it comes to maximizing the pixels on the screen, Google Chrome's simple interface has the edge over everybody else in the default configuration, and even if you hide the status bars on IE, Firefox, or Opera, there's still a big difference in pixels.
Browser Comparison: What's the Most Pixel-Friendly Browser?

Maximized Browser Winner: Chrome

Once you maximize the browsers, the gap between browsers becomes even more clear, with Google Chrome using just a little more than half of the pixels that Internet Explorer does.
Browser Comparison: What's the Most Pixel-Friendly Browser?

Full-Screen Browser Winner: Firefox

In full-screen mode all the browsers maximize to fill 100% of the height of the screen, but the clear winners are Firefox and Internet Explorer—since you can move your mouse to the top of the screen and the toolbars drop down to make browsing easier. Opera and Google Chrome don't do this, and it's worth noting that Safari doesn't even have a full-screen mode that we could find.
Browser Comparison: What's the Most Pixel-Friendly Browser?

Browsers with Side Tabs Winner: Chrome

Opera and Google Chrome both come with built-in options to move the tabs over to the sidebar. Opera's is enabled by default, and on Chrome you'll have to use a command-line switch to enable it, but vertical tabs are a useful feature that can help maximize your screen space. If you're a Firefox user, you can use the Tree Style Tab extension to move your tabs to the side, though we had some issues in Firefox 4.0—and it's not built in—so we didn't include it here.
Browser Comparison: What's the Most Pixel-Friendly Browser?

It's pretty clear from the numbers that Google Chrome's interface is the best choice out of the box if you're using a smaller display, though if you wanted to spend the time to configure Firefox, you could probably come up with a setup that used even less pixels.


What about you? What browser do you use when you want to make the most of your netbook or smaller laptop screen?


The How-To Geek uses Google Chrome because it never slows down. His geeky articles can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and Twitter.

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Pocket Filters Splash Some Color Onto Your Photos [Photography]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5605677/pocket-filters-splash-some-color-onto-your-photos

Pocket Filters Splash Some Color Onto Your PhotosAre your Facebook photos of the same boring friends standing around drinking beer getting a bit drab? Photojojo's pocket-sized lens and flash color filters should jazz things up, letting you saturate your scenes with one of eight sturdy acrylic chips.

Pocket Filters Splash Some Color Onto Your Photos

The filters can either be placed over either your camera's lens or flash, providing a fully or partially colorized picture, respectively. The flash-only effect is particularly interesting, casting colored light over objects in the foreground only, giving your pictures an otherworldly look.

Pocket Filters Splash Some Color Onto Your Photos

The filters also open up all sorts of color experimentation—want to tint half your shot? Cover half the lens. Or use multiple filters to create beautiful gradients. At only $15 and small enough to fit in your pocket (or on your keychain), Photojojo's filters are an easy way to play with the images you create. [Photojojo via Wired]

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Android Users Can Now Bump Phones to Send Money Via PayPal [Android Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5605866/android-users-can-now-bump-phones-to-send-money-via-paypal

Android Users Can Now Bump Phones to Send Money Via PayPalThe PayPal Mobile app for Android has received an update that features bump technology just like its iPhone counterpart. This means that Android users can now simply bump their devices together to send money.

There's also a new feature "which lets you automatically calculate the total cost of a bill and then collect money directly from friends when out to dinner."

The app is free and available on the Android Market now. [PayPal Blog]

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A Secret TV Panel To Hide Your A/V Skeletons [Secrets]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5606277/a-secret-tv-panel-to-hide-your-av-skeletons

A Secret TV Panel To Hide Your A/V SkeletonsSome people put safes behind paintings. Me, I just want to put my home entertainment accessories behind a secret wall panel. How hidden is it? Here's what it looks like closed:

A Secret TV Panel To Hide Your A/V SkeletonsForget the Blu-ray player and cables, I'm stashing my valuables slightly less crappy possessions there as well.

Architect Dan Herchenroether put together this sweet set-up to save space in his cottage home:

Dan mounted the TV on a board that he hinged with gas springs so it would be easy to open and close when necessary. Additional space in the compartment is accessible from a panel on the other side of the wall that's totally inconspicuous when closed.

Dan, you're welcome over to my apartment any time. Just please bring a set of tools and some gas springs with you.

UPDATE: Reader Matthew (and several commenters) point out that this would be a major code violation in many areas. So know that before you start knocking down walls. [Apartment Therapy via Lifehacker]

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Google Says There Are 129,864,880 Different Books In Existence [Books]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5606342/google-says-there-are-129864880-books-in-existence

Google Says There Are 129,864,880 Different Books In ExistenceGoogle, who's been determinedly digitizing the world's books, thought it might be prudent to figure out just how many books are actually out there to begin with. They made a special algorithm, natch, and came up with 129,864,880.

This post on Inside Google Books blog explains the whole process. First, you have to decide what exactly counts as a book—Google's notion is pretty similar to the set of texts that ISBNs—International Standard Book Numbers—are attributed to.

But ISBN is a relatively new standard, having come around in the 1960s, and a relatively Western one, too, so there's a huge selection of books—old books and foreign books, largely—that don't have ISBNs.

So Google leapfrogged ISBN and pulled down metadata from some 150 sources, including "libraries, WorldCat, national union catalogs and commercial providers," and then eliminated the duplicates. That got them to 600 million records. After eliminating more duplicate holdings, microforms, maps, audio recordings and other assorted non-books, and after adjusting the number to account for serial publications, the number is 129,864,880. Hey, I've read a few of those! [Inside Google Books via CrunchGear]

Image credit Patrick Gage

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