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Thursday, September 29, 2011

drag2share: HTC Explorer now official, we go hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/29/htc-explorer-now-official-we-go-hands-on/

This little soldier carries the big responsibility of extending HTC's dominance to the budget end of the Android spectrum, and it must achieve this mission with only a bare minimum of weaponry: a 3.2-inch HVGA (480 x 320) capacitive display, 600MHz processor, 3MP camera and 512MB of expandable memory. You'll just have to believe us when we say we had a play with a pre-release device at an HTC event recently, even though the manufacturer's reps refused to let us take any photos or video to prove it. You'll find publicity shots in the gallery below plus a full press release, some educated guesswork about price and availability and our initial impressions of the handset right after the break.

Gallery: HTC Explorer publicity shots

Continue reading HTC Explorer now official, we go hands-on

HTC Explorer now official, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

drag2share: What Is Amazon Silk? [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5844663/what-is-amazon-silk/gallery/1

As part of the Kindle Fire, Amazon introduced a new web browser called Silk that uses some of Amazon's best technologies to help make mobile browsing even better. What is Amazon Silk? Well, from the looks of things, it's awesome.

Amazon Silk is the Kindle Fire's new web browser...

Amazon Silk is a web browser optimized for the Amazon Kindle Fire hardware, which runs Android Gingerbread. The main focus of Silk is to take the processing load off of the Kindle Fire CPU/GPU.

...that taps into Amazon's EC2 cloud to handle heavy processing...

Silk is referred to as a Split browser. It knows what web processing tasks the tablet can handle well, and which ones it cant. The lighter processing will be handled by the tablet hardware, while the heavier code crunching (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.) will be sent to Amazon's cloud servers which have more muscle in the areas of RAM and CPU power.

...speed up page load times...

Loading a single website requires initiating multiple connections to multiple servers. For less powerful devices, this process takes more time than it would for a more powerful machine. Better equipped to handle this process with its powerful optical network, the EC2 backend will take websites and optimize them for the Kindle Fire's screensize/resolution so that the device has an easier time digesting those pages.

...minimize the amount of storage used on your Kindle Fire...

Optimized pages means smaller file sizes. But Silk will also cache sites you've visted on the EC2 servers, thus keeping more of your storage free for cooler shit.

...and pre-load the all the pages you visit the most.

Visit Gizmodo multiple times a day? Or maybe you prefer the more intellectual musings of Hipster Runoff? Either way, Silk will learn your browsing behavior and pre-load the pages you visit the most when an internet connection is present. I don't know about you, but this sounds like the future of mobile browsing.

P.S. Check out all the cool stuff Amazon announced today right here.

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

drag2share: Daily Desired: The Toughest Backyard Grill In the World [Desired]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5844729/daily-desired-the-toughest-backyard-grill-in-the-world

A Weber grill is just a glorified hunk of cheap metal. Don't believe me? Heat the grates up to 1000 degrees and watch the thing fall apart. This grill is for people who want to cook for real.

The Engelbrecht 1000 Series Braten Grill is a tank from top to bottom. Other grills look hardcore, but how many have cast iron wheels? A thousand degrees is nothing for the welded, heavy-gauge steel body. The designers paid meticulous attention to every detail down to the stainless steel caster mounts. This thing will survive a bomb blast. Oh yeah, and the grill is a serious cook's dream. That huge steel body? Also great for heat absorption and transfer. Maybe a $1900 weapons-grade grill isn't for you, but there's a six-week waiting list of people who want one real bad. [Engelbrecht Grills and Cookers]

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

drag2share: Flickr's New App Might Be Android's Instagram [Android Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5844898/flickrs-android-app-lets-you-take-filtered-pictures

Flickr, who should have jumped on the Instagram filter train earlier, has finally put out an Android app and along with letting you scan photostreams, upload pictures, share photos to other social networks, you can also take filterized pictures. Woot!

The app looks like a better version of the iPhone app (it's Flickr on your phone but with the added dimension of using an in-app camera) but might be too little too late for Android users. I've been waiting for a Flickr app on Android for so long that I eventually made the move to Picasa, er Google Photos. I'd imagine some Android user have faced the same dilemma?

I hope not though, Flickr has always been the apple of my eye and I'd definitely like it to regain some traction. With a filtered camera option that automatically uploads to Flickr and gives you options for other social networks, maybe it can find new life. [Android Market]

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

drag2share: Skype update for iOS adds anti-shake, Bluetooth connectivity and ads for freeloaders

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/skype-update-for-ios-adds-anti-shake-bluetooth-connectivity-and/

Skype's latest app upgrade brings a few substantial features, some good, one not so. Alongside a new anti-shake video call function (limited to the iPhone's back-facing camera), you can now pair Bluetooth headsets with the VoIP calling service, something apparently "long requested" from Skype fans. However, users have to fork out for credit to avoid seeing advertising that's also baked into the new version. The update's now up for grabs on both the iPhone and iPad, though there are reports of a few teething troubles, including missing credit and account details. We've also been experiencing issues, with the app unwilling to play nice with our Bluetooth headsets, though oddly, we can still hear the Skype call ring through. Hopefully we'll see another update that sorts this out soon -- till then, tap the link below for more details, or ogle a bit of smoothed out anti-shake action after the break.

Continue reading Skype update for iOS adds anti-shake, Bluetooth connectivity and ads for freeloaders

Skype update for iOS adds anti-shake, Bluetooth connectivity and ads for freeloaders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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