Friday, January 28, 2011

Geolocation app appeals to your inner good samaritan, makes you an amateur EMT

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/geolocation-app-appeals-to-your-inner-good-samaritan-makes-you/

When you go into cardiac arrest, you've got about ten minutes to live if you don't receive medical attention, and the average emergency response time is seven minutes after you dial 911. In an effort to get folks help more quickly and leverage the iPhone's life saving abilities, the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District in California has created the FireDepartment app to enlist the help of the citizenry in fighting the (unfortunate) results of a lifetime of eating tacos. The iPhone app -- Android and BlackBerry versions are currently in the works -- allows emergency dispatchers to notify users via text of a nearby crisis. For those feeling heroic, the app displays a map with the victim's location and any nearby automatic electronic defibrillators, and provides "resuscitation reminders" in case you're the CPR teddy-toting type. For now, the service only works in San Ramon but there are plans to port it for use elsewhere. That means we can look forward to a nation of amateur EMTs, which makes us thankful that mouth-to-mouth is no longer a part of CPR. Check the video after the break to see the app in action.

Continue reading Geolocation app appeals to your inner good samaritan, makes you an amateur EMT

Geolocation app appeals to your inner good samaritan, makes you an amateur EMT originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 08:59:00 EDT! . Pleas e see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink O'Reilly Radar  |  sourceSan Ramon Valley Fire Protection District  | Email this | Comments

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New research suggests our brains delete information at an 'extraordinarily high' rate

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/new-research-suggests-our-brains-delete-information-at-an-extra/

The mysteries of the brain may be virtually endless, but a team of researchers from two institutes in Göttingen, Germany now claim to have an answer for at least one question that has remained a puzzle: just how fast does the brain forget information? According to the new model of brain activity that the researchers have devised, the answer to that is one bit per active neuron per second. As Fred Wolf of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization further explains, that "extraordinarily high deletion rate came as a huge surprise," and it effectively means that information is lost in the brain as quickly as it can be delivered -- something the researchers say has "fundamental consequences for our understanding of the neural code of the cerebral cortex."

Continue reading New research suggests our brains delete information at an 'extraordinarily high' rate

New research suggests our brains delete information at an 'extraordinarily high' rate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IDC: ZTE takes fourth in global cellphone rankings, leapfrogs Apple and knocks RIM out of top 5

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/idc-zte-takes-fourth-in-global-cellphone-rankings-leapfrogs-ap/

IDC: ZTE takes fourth in global cellphone rankings, leapfrogs Apple and knocks RIM out of top 5
You like numbers? Good, because it's the season and amid all these lovely financial reports we've been hitting there are some broader trends to look at. IDC has released its mobile phone report for 2010 and has concluded that, worldwide, the industry grew 18.5 percent over 2009, shipping a massive 1.39 billion units. That's nice and all, but check out this bit about ZTE. The manufacturer boosted its annual shipments by 94 percent, stealing Apple's recently-won fourth place position globally and, in doing so, knocking RIM straight into the dreaded "others" category. Can RIM make it back? Will Apple recover? Will Siobhan and Lucky ever reconcile their differences? Tune in next quarter to find out.

IDC: ZTE takes fourth in global cellphone rankings, leapfrogs Apple and knocks RIM out of top 5 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Atrix 4G apparently priced at $150 by Costco, too

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/motorola-atrix-4g-apparently-priced-at-150-by-costco-too/

Never would we have guessed that third-party wireless retailers would be aiming to launch AT&T's powerhouse Atrix 4G for just $150 on contract -- $200 or $250, sure, but not $150. Alas, just a few hours after AmazonWireless' peep show, we're seeing an alleged leaked screen shot of Costco's inventory system showing the same blockbuster price. Now, bear in mind that AT&T itself will probably sell the phone for at least $50 more -- third parties usually have a second ETF on top of the carrier's that allows them to subsidize a little more heavily -- but it's a good sign regardless.

Motorola Atrix 4G apparently priced at $150 by Costco, too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAndroidCentral  | Email this | Comments

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Motorola lifts our spirits with new Atrix 4G video

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/motorola-lifts-our-spirits-with-new-atrix-4g-video/

Been feeling down this cold and dreary January? Well, let Motorola "introduce" you to its new smartphone! The CES conqueror we already know as the Atrix 4G has received its first promo video from the mothership, highlighting its laptop and HD multimedia docks (giving us a decent peek at the docked UI for both), dual-core processor and related gaming credentials, and, of course, that gorgeous qHD screen resolution on the handset itself. It's all set to a very uplifting soundtrack, connoting all the beautiful opportunity and potential that our collective smartphone future holds.

[Thanks, engadgeteer]

Continue reading Motorola lifts our spirits with new Atrix 4G video

Motorola lifts our spirits with new Atrix 4G video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sync Your Desktop Between Computers Using Dropbox [Syncing]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5744929/sync-your-desktop-between-computers-using-dropbox

Sync Your Desktop Between Computers Using DropboxWe've detailed how to use Dropbox to sync your home folder across platforms, but for people whose entire workflow revolves around their desktop, that's not necessarily enough. The Mac blogger at Not Very Correct describes how he syncs his desktop, as well.

On Macs
His method is something we've seen before. Essentially he's created a symlink to sync files and folders outside the My Dropbox folder. On a Mac, the command looks like:

open up terminal and run the following commands

mv desktop desktop.bak
ln -s /Users/username/Dropbox/ ./Desktop

(change username for your Mac username)
Things may go screwy for a bit, but don't worry. Your next step is to reboot your Mac and login again.
You may then want to go to your Desktop.bak directory and copy the files you want back to Desktop.

On Windows
Not Very Correct's post only covers syncing your Mac desktop, but I think we can get to the bottom of this on Windows.

Windows users looking for a similar solution could try the JUNCTION utility, as described here; the handy utility Dropbox Folder Sync makes syncing folders outside of Dropbox easier, adding a Sync with Dropbox option to your right-click context menu. I haven't tested it on Windows, though, and I don't want to send anyone down the wrong path untested. It seems like you might need to use a relative path to your desktop in order to get desktop syncing working correctly—say something like %USERPROFILE%\Desktop—which you'd probably need to do from the command line using something like JUNCTION or mklink. I could be mistaken (maybe something as simple as using Dropbox Folder Sync would work), so if anyone's syncing desktops across Windows computers via Dropbox, we'd love to hear how you did it, and will update the post with your suggestions.

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Ford's intelligent vehicles communicate wirelessly, shoot hula hoops out of tailpipes (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/fords-intelligent-vehicles-communicate-wirelessly-shoot-hula-h/

Ford's intelligent vehicles communicate wirelessly, shoot hula hoops out of tailpipes (video)
Imagine how many accidents could be avoided if we all had perfect X-Ray vision -- assuming, of course, that everyone could refrain from being distracted by all the naked pedestrians. Drivers would never be surprised by rapidly slowing traffic, cars broken down around blind curves, or autos zooming into blind spots. No matter how many ads we respond to in the back of Mad Magazine we'll never have that, but Ford has an alternative with its Intelligent Vehicle Research: cars that simply rely on GPS and a wireless data connection to beam their location and speed to each other.

Autos alert their drivers when a car at the front of a convoy is rapidly decelerating or when there's a broken down rig right around the next bend. Interestingly the tech is using WiFi, not cellular data, so range is somewhat limited, but still far enough to warn drivers with blinking lights or trigger an automatic-braking system. It's all demonstrated in the video after the break and, while there are no crazy platooning stunts like Volvo recently showed off, we have to figure that's coming in version 2.0.

Continue reading Ford's intelligent vehicles communicate wirelessly, shoot hula hoops out of tailpipes (video)

Ford's intelligent vehicles communicate wirelessly, shoot hula hoops out of tailpipes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sanjay Jha says multiple Motorola tablet sizes coming, hints at Atrix on other carriers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/sanjay-jha-says-multiple-motorola-tablet-sizes-coming-hints-at/

Can't say this is any surprise, but Sanjay Jha just confirmed on Motorola's earnings call that he "sees good reason" to eventually release an entire family of tablets at "different multiple different display sizes and price points." Specifically, Jha mentioned 7-inch tablets, and later said that consumer demographics like kids, teenagers, and "women" want different things from a tablet than enterprise and professional customers -- which sounds suspiciously like Jha doesn't think women want a single device for work and home, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, since he's not always the smoothest speaker.

As for the Atrix, Jha simply said that "you will see our diversity in the retail channel as well with other carriers in the US," which certainly sounds like it'll hit other carriers once the AT&T exclusivity runs out. How long that exclusivity is, we don't know -- but keep in mind that the Droid Bionic is very nearly the same phone, so there's a chance a software update will bring that sweet docking action to the red side of the market in the future. And if not, we're sure the hacking community will have it covered.

Sanjay Jha says multiple Motorola tablet sizes coming, hints at Atrix on other carriers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google adds HTML5 Gmail and Gtalk notifications for the desktop, makes you envy Chrome users

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/google-adds-html5-gmail-and-gtalk-notifications-for-the-desktop/

Oh, come on, Google! If you're going to give us desktop notifiers for our favorite email and chat clients, you've got to play nice and let us have them on more than your own browser, right? To be fair to the Chrome maker, it's standardizing the code it's used in its new HTML5 alerts so that other browsers can soon use it too, but as of today, you'll need to use the Google-sanctioned webscape navigator if you want its sweet new pop-ups on your desktop. We gave them a quick try and they're delightfully quick, with Gtalk message alerts updating themselves to the latest one received instead of stacking up and threatening your sanity. Hit the source link to learn how to enable the new notifications.

Google adds HTML5 Gmail and Gtalk notifications for the desktop, makes you envy Chrome users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThe Official Gmail Blog  | Email this | Comments

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HTC's newest Android flagship phone revealed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/htcs-newest-android-flagship-phone-revealed/

Why bother waiting for its official Mobile World Congress reveal in February when you can view the newest HTC flagship today? The touchscreen slate prototype (notice the serial number stamped along the bottom of the handset's face) you're looking at above matches the leaked Pocketnow render exactly including the arcing earpiece and isolated front-facing camera with chrome ring. It was just spotted by an eagle-eyed tipster while waiting for a Taipei metro system. Sorry Windows Phone 7 fans, this baby is Android through and through. And seeing it in the wild lends credence to all of the HTC devices pictured in that leak. A couple more snaps after the break.

Update: Seems our tipster might have taken these images (without attribution) from the same Mobile01 forum as the other leaked HTC.

[Thanks, LIMIX]

Continue reading HTC's newest Android flagship phone revealed

HTC's newest Android flagship phone revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 05:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CHART OF THE DAY: The Number One Thing Android Tablets Need To Beat The iPad (GOOG, AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-android-tablet-2011-1

What will it take for Android tablets to beat the iPad? A really good price.

That's the opinion of 1,529 developers polled by IDC. They think the price is more important than Google's forthcoming Android 3.0 operating system.

The lower the price, the more people likely to buy the tablet. The more people with a tablet, the more people to download apps. So, from a developer perspective, it makes sense.

Don't Miss: Big Screenshots Of Android 3.0, Google's Tablet OS

chart of the day, android tablet, jan 2011

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday

Join the conversation about this story »

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Capture Impressive Screenshots with Shotty

Source: http://www.labnol.org/software/impressive-windows-screenshot/18506/

Shotty is an excellent screen capture program for Windows that can help you take screenshot images of the entire desktop, one of the open windows or a rectangular region of your screen.

transparent screenshots

The program is light-weight, it sports a very minimal interface and above all, there are a couple of unique features that make this screenshot tool quite a worthwhile download.

Shotty preserves all the drop shadows and translucent glass borders that are found in certain editions of Windows 7 and Vista (also known Windows Aero). These screenshots are then saved as transparent PNGs.

The program has a unique "delayed capture" mode that is useful for capturing screenshots of program menus and other objects that otherwise disappear when a windows is highlighted.

Shotty is completely free and supports portable installation so you may even carry is on a USB stick. There's a built-in image editor that you may use to annotate screenshots or for blurring certain areas of your capture.

If you have been using the Print Screen key or the Windows Snipping tool for screen captures, it's time to replace them with Shotty. See more on screen capture.

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This article, titled Capture Impressive Screenshots with Shotty, was originally published at Digital Inspiration under Downloads, Portable, Screen Capture, Software.


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How to Attach Files When Using Mail Merge in Gmail

Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/mail-merge-with-attachments/18561/

Mail Merge helps you send personalized letters or email messages to a large group of people with little effort. The basic content of all these messages is similar but each will have information that is specific to the recipient (like their first name and salutation).

Most web email programs don't offer mail merge but you can take the help of Google Docs to create Mail Merge in Gmail. This is a simple Google Docs spreadsheet that reads email addresses from Google Contacts and sends them personalized emails using your own Gmail account.

Mail Merge in Gmail with Attachments

The previous method didn't however support file attachments. That was limiting because if you are sending a marketing related email, you may often want to attach images or even a product brochure, say a PDF or a Word document, with your message.

Well there's a new sheet to overcome that limitation. This is courtesy Kumar Veetrag who enhanced the original Google Docs script and added support for attachments.

Attaching Files to your Email Message

To get started, upload any document or image, that you wish to include with mail merge, to your Google Docs account. Once the upload is complete, make a note of the Document ID (the string highlighted in yellow).

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9EOfg1w7YqGYjUxM1&hl=en

Now create a copy of the Mail Merge sheet in your Google Docs account. Select the cell F13, press F2 to enter edit mode and paste the Google Docs ID in this cell.

Then simply follow the steps listed in the original tutorial or watch the screencast below to complete your mail merge. This is how your final product will look like.

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This article, titled How to Attach Files When Using Mail Merge in Gmail, was originally published at Digital Inspiration under Gmail, Internet.


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McGraw Hill Gets In On the Mobile Education Market

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/26/mcgraw-hill-gets-in-on-the-mobile-education-market/

A couple of timely education items hit my inbox this morning. First, a report suggests that U.S. students suck at science. From the report,”less than one-half of students are demonstrating solid academic performance and competency over challenging subject matter.” Granted, ‘science’ is an extremely broad term and encompasses many different disciplines, but the gist of that report is pretty troubling. This might be a good time to remind readers of Scitable, Nature Publishing Group’s free online science library. Although limited in scope to genetics, cell biology and ecology, they’ve been growing since last we covered them, with many new articles as well as a new guide to life science careers and English Communication for Scientists. The latter, alone, should be worth your time today.

Also word comes today that McGraw Hill is jumping into the mobile education market with their upcoming mConnect platform: “an open-standard mobile learning platform designed to bridge the skills gap in emerging markets.” mConnect will initially roll out in India, and will, much like Scitable, have a strong focus on cellphone-as-learning-device. Specific details are lacking right now, but mConnect looks to be a more general education initiative.

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Find a Less Evil Bank with Fewer Fees and Better Returns [Saving Money]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5743879/find-a-less-evil-bank-with-fewer-fees-and-better-returns

Find a Less Evil Bank with Fewer Fees and Better ReturnsCNN Money rounds up what they call the eight least-evil banks on the block, helping steer those of us with high-fee, low-interest bank accounts to greener pastures.

Find a Less Evil Bank with Fewer Fees and Better Returns Photo remixed from an original by Elliot Brown

The reasons most banks made the list included a combination of free checking, no ATM fees (and reimbursements for ATMs that do charge fees), and relatively high interest rates on checking accounts. The eight least-evil banks, according to their list (which is unfortunately a rather annoying gallery), include:

  • Ally Bank (ATM fee reimbursement and a 1.05% checking APY)
  • ING Direct (1.2% on balances over $50,000)
  • USAA (10 ATM reimbursements a month, free checking, no minimum balance)
  • Capital One (no monthly fees or minimum balance)
  • Alliant Credit Union (1.1% APY on checking, no monthly fees)
  • PNC (no minimum balance or monthly fees, ATM reimbursements)
  • The Incredible Bank (1.35% APY, free checking, ATM reimbursement)
  • Charles Schwab (no fees, no minimum balance, ATM reimbursements)

Hit up their full post for more details on each bank. The post also offers more general advice when it seems like your current bank has introduced new fees or dropped interest rates:

...when shopping around, remember that a great yield and zero fees don't always come hand in hand, so you first have to figure out what is more important to you.

If you have a large amount of money to deposit — say, over $10,000 — you should typically look for a bank with a high interest rate rather than focus on the monthly fees, Barrington recommended.

That's because the interest you make would likely offset the fees.

If you're anything like us, you're probably also keeping an eye on the up-and-coming (as in, still not available, but looks very promising) BankSimple.

Got a bank you'd nominate for sainthood? Let's hear about what makes it so great in the comments.

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