Microsoft Research: Buttons Beat Multitouch Mouse [Microsoft]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5626908/microsoft-research-buttons-beat-multitouch-mouse

Microsoft carried out some exhaustive research into the benefits of multitouch-enabled desktop mice over traditional desktop mice. And discovered there aren't really any benefits at all for most users, who prefer the speed offered by mechanical buttons and wheels.

The end result of the survey found that the traditional three button mouse was the quickest and easiest way for its 12 participants to navigate around and manipulate images on a screen, even when the test subjects could see their individual finger touches represented above their selections.

Here are the researchers in action:

Using the right button to rotate and the scroll wheel to scale pics won in terms of speed, and even when using the multitouch features users reverted to the old-fashioned "click and hold" technique for throwing pictures around the screen—because it's simply easier to move one finger at a time than two. [Microsoft via I Started Something]

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SweetSearch Finds Credible, Primary Sources for Students [Research]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5627296/sweetsearch-finds-credible-primary-sources-for-students

Google's a really big sandbox to be digging through if you're looking for only the most legitimate material for a research paper. SweetSearch ranks up primary sources and credible sites, like universities and public repositories, for students looking to narrow their search.

SweetSearch came about as the byproduct of making findingDulcinea, an aggregator that terms itself the "Librarian of the Internet." It's a database of about 35,000 web sites vetted by researchers, librarians, and teachers, with priority given to spots like the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and other public and academic sources. It sweeps away the pseudo-science, forums, and sites that read like paraphrased summaries.

SweetSearch offers their best pitch in a blog post for how their engine beats Google for scholarly stuff.

Aside from Google Scholar, where else should students look when they're looking to do some deep digging on the web?

Sweet Search [via About.com: Web Search]

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Palm WebOS 2.0: Now This Is Multitasking [Palm]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5626228/palm-web-os-20-now-this-is-multitasking

WebOS 2.0. It's really happening, and it's coming soon. Amidst the turmoil and the headlines and the doom-dropping, Palm's been busy: WebOS 2.0 looks like it'll be better than the original in basically every way.

Right now, Palm's only talking about the new developer features, but you definitely can start to get a sense of what the new user features are. It's clear they've thought deeply about how to extend the OS and make it more powerful, which is the main focus of the new developer tools and features. So, here's what's new, in a nutshell.

• Stacks
Take Palm's fantastic card metaphor—which might be the best multitasking UI on any phone—and bump it to the next logical level. Stacks automatically sorts cards into groups, so it's easier to manage a dozen open apps. For instance, if you click a link in an email, it'll open the browser in a card in that same stack. And you can arrange and re-arrange cards into stacks however you want. The net effect seems like it'll be an even more elegant and usable way to multitask, if stacks is implemented right.

• Just Type
Palm's renamed universal search, so now it's called "Just Type." Which is dandy and all, but what's really new is that developers can plug into it—so it can search within apps, locally or online (think searching for music in Spotify, that's either cached locally or on the interwebs). And there's something new called Quick Actions, which lets you do things without even launching an app, like update your status on Twitter or Facebook; search through a favorite website; or start writing an email or text. Plus, you can "define your own Quick Actions," which Palm says will let you do stuff like create shopping lists or set reminders. We'll see how powerful the feature really is, but the potential seems pretty fantastic.

• Developers can tap Synergy
Developers will be able to connect to Synergy, Palm's cloud-y service that stored all of your contacts and calendars and made the whole integrated social networking stuff work. What that means that they'll be able to tap your Synergy-stored contacts, calendars and messages, and later on, be able to use Synergy to connect to an app's services, like an IM network or online contact list.

• Exhibition
Basically, apps will be able to display stuff on the phone when it's connected to a Touchstone charger, like stocks or news or whatever, turning it into a little widget machine, like a Chumby. Clever, and logical.

• HTML5, Javascript Services and PDK Plug-ins
All of this stuff is really for developers, but if you wanna bottom line it, it means way more powerful apps.

The new PDK architecture means devs will be able to use Palm's PDK like a true plug-in, so apps can mix web technologies and C/C++, which'll let an app be written with mostly lightweight web stuff but still run heavy duty graphics (also, Palm says, it'll be easier for devs to port apps, like from iOS).

HTML5 support is a big deal for WebOS, since most apps are written with web technologies. What Palm's bringing to the table is enhanced Canvas support (including image data and gradients), web storage support (local and session storage) and geolocation support and application cache, so websites can cache stuff on the phone for offline use.

Finally, Node.js is built into webOS 2.0, so devs can develop services in JavaScript, which makes the web technologies side of webOS 2.0 stronger. As part of the new webOS 2.0 APIs, it adds more background processing and other capabilities, like low-level networking and filesystem access, so even sticking with web languages to develop a webOS app, developers will have more firepower at their fingertips.

Palm isn't getting into the consumer side of webOS 2.0 yet, but based on the developer stuff, which looks pretty good, it could be interesting, to say the least. It's coming out by the end of the year for current devices—now Palm just needs a pair of ass-beating new phones to ship this on. [Palm]

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Send Videos Off Your iPhone Over 3G With Transfer Big Files [IPhone Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5626764/send-videos-off-your-iphone-over-3g-with-transfer-big-files

It's ridiculous that it takes a third-party app to be able to send a full-resolution video that you recorded on your iPhone without having it be automatically resized to an ugly, low-quality version, but TransferBigFiles does the job.

TBF is a free app, and you get 5GB of storage by default to do what you want. You can send images or video to anyone with an email—which means yourself—at "HD", medium, low and VGA sizes. And, people can send you files to your phone as well, to your "Dropbox", which doesn't mean the Dropbox service.

What's super annoying, and kind of a product killer, is that for some reason, TBF won't let you send files without agreeing to location services. Why does a file transfer app need to know where you are? I have no idea. But if I turn off the location for this—which I did—it refuses to let me pick photos or videos from my library. Please fix this.

In all, the app is not a horrible solution, but it's a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place. You should have the ability to email files, full size, no matter how big they are. I don't need to be patronized on my own device, please. [iTunes]

Update: A-ha! There's a reason why TransferBigFiles won't work unless you give them permission: It's a rule. iOS doesn't give you access to photos or videos that have location information on them unless you explicitly grant the application location permission. It's a roundabout safety feature, and TBF says they don't use any location info on the user, so it should be safe to switch it on.

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Netgear Debuts First Powerline Wireless N Extender [Networking]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5626680/netgear-debuts-first-powerline-wireless-n-extender

Home networking is almost always a bitch. But Netgear's new (and first of its kind) wireless N and powerline networking combo might simplify the process, adding a high-throughput Wi-Fi bubble, riding along your home wiring, to any free electrical outlet.

Netgear says the AV 200 will extend your existing WiFi network—taking the wireless signal in one room, routing it through copper, and then rebroadcasting where needed—at speeds of up to 200 Mbps. Though, as with any powerline-dependent network, electrical interference might bring down speeds—so mind your torrents when you power on that vacuum cleaner, for instance. [Netgear]

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