Sebastian Rodriguez waited in line 90 minutes to be the first person at Google I/O to get the Google Chromebook Pixel, the premium laptop given to all conference attendees today. Rodriguez is a a software engineer with Thales, a data security company. He humored us and did an “unboxing” of his new Pixel. He was hoping to get Google Glass as were most of the people we talked to at the event but he said the Pixel will be fine around the house. We caught up with a few other people today at the Moscone Center who were happily walking out with their new machines. One woman plans to give the Pixel to her six-year-old daughter. A man from the Philippines said he was hoping for an Android. Another attendee said he wants to use the Pixel to develop apps. Nonetheless, these attendees are pretty lucky to get such a sleek machine. Here’s Frederic Lardinois’ review from earlier this year.
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Unboxing The First Chromebook Pixel Given Away At Google I/O
Run away from bulls on Zynga’s latest “With Friends” game
The social-gaming company releases “Running With Friends,” a combination of its mobile franchise and the popular genre of running games. The title’s set at the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. [Read more]
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Fitbit Flex less than three weeks away from UK
German Ministry of Education Throws Away PCs For 190,000 € Due To Infection
An anonymous reader writes “German IT magazine Heise reports (original in German) that the Ministry of Education in Schwerin had a Conficker virus infection on 170 machines, that was dealt with by simply throwing them on the trash. Other German authorities have now decided that ‘the approach taken is not up to the principle of efficiency and economy’ and that the 187,300 Euro invested in this radical form of virus removal were inappropriate. The ministry had earlier estimated the cost of cleaning their desktops and servers by more conventional means to 130,000 Euro.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Budweiser’s Buddy Cup makes Facebook friending a toast away
Making new friends over cold brew isn’t particularly difficult, but making those friendships Facebook-official requires a bit more effort — unless you have Buddy Cup, that is. Developed by ad outfit Agencia Africa and creative studio Bolha for Budweiser Brazil, the drinking vessel makes folks who toast with each other friends on Zuckerberg and Co.’s social network as soon as their beverages collide, with an LED lighting up to confirm the new acquaintance. Partygoers link their Facebook profile with the LilyPad-based grail by scanning a QR code underneath the glass with an app from the brewer, and they’ll be on their way to making new pals. The Drum reports that the Buddy Cup will be used at concerts, festivals and parties sponsored by The King of Beers, but we’re sure intrepid imbibers can hack some together for use at their own soirees. Hit the jump to for a video of the contraption.
Via: The Verge
Source: Budweiser Brazil (YouTube)
Put Away The Eulogy, The PC Is Alive And Well
Editor’s note: Chester Ng is co-founder and CMO of SweetLabs, makers of Pokki, a modern app platform for the PC. Follow him on Twitter @chest.
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been blessed by the prescient researchers at Gartner and IDC with fresh data and predictions about the shipment trends for smart devices, especially the PC. This has sparked the typical “PC is dead,” “PC is really dead,” and “PC is really, really dead” mass burial blog posts around the world.
TechCrunch
Blackstone steps away from possible Dell buyout
The Blackstone Group LP has announced that it has officially backed away from any attempts to purchase Dell Inc. Blackstone had stepped up with an attempt to top a leveraged buyout attempt by Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell and a consortium of other companies that were attempting to take Dell Inc. private. Previously, Michael Dell
Starbucks mobilizes Pick of the Week, gives away Angry Birds Star Wars
Skip those printed iTunes cards and pick up the Starbucks app instead, as the coffee company is finally serving up app and book downloads in a less old-fashioned way, CNET has learned. [Read more]
CNET News
CERN Gives Away Higgs Boson Particles To 10 Lucky Winners
erqyrggreqnir jevgrf “Va na hacerprqragrq zbir fher gb funxr hc gur jbeyq bs cnegvpyr culfvpf, PREA naabhaprq ba Zbaqnl gung vg jvyy tvir njnl vgf arjyl-qvfpbirerq Uvttf obfba cnegvpyrf va n ybggrel. Ohg tvira gur enevgl bs Uvttf obfba cnegvpyrf bayl bar cnegvpyr vf perngrq bhg bs bar zvyyvba zvyyvba pbyyvfvbaf PREA jvyy bayl or noyr gb erjneq 10 yhpxl jvaaref. ‘Ng PREA, jr unir nyjnlf oryvrirq va funevat gur erfhygf bs bhe erfrnepu, naq gur gvzr unf pbzr gb znxr gung gnatvoyr,’ fnvq PREA qverpgbe bs erfrnepu Fretvb Oregbyhppv. ‘Guvf vf bhe jnl bs fnlvat gunaxf sbe gur vaperqvoyr yriry bs raguhfvnfz gung unf terrgrq guvf qvfpbirel.’” Read below for your FREE logged-in-user’s-eye view of the unencrypted version!
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Low Latency No. 57: Well, that’s one way to wipe away the debt
In Irrational Games’ BioShock Infinite, the floating city of Columbia can sure be a lonely place. [Read more]
CNET News
Action Launcher Pro version 1.5 puts Android widgets just a swipe away (video)
Android launchers cross our desks every so often but only a handful catch our eye. Action Launcher Pro is the latest to strike our fancy thanks to its quick and compact widget solution dubbed Shutters. With the freshly added feature, users can open up widgets by simply giving app icons a vertical swipe. Version 1.5 also packs a number of improvements, including support for 10-inch tablets and increased stability. Devices running Android 4.0.3 or newer will be able to take the launcher for a spin, but Shutters is a Jelly Bean-only affair thanks to API limitations. Head past the break to catch the software in action, or click the second source link to pick it up for $ 3.99.
Source: Action Launcher Pro (1, Google+), (2, Google Play), Action Launcher Release Notes, Chris Lacy (YouTube)
Thanks To Poor Holiday Sales, B&N Will Give Away A Free Nook Simple Touch With Every Purchase Of A Nook HD+
There’s been nothing but bad news coming from Barnes & Noble lately, and it seems as though the company has decided to resort to the desperate measure of giving away Nooks for free. Reuters is reporting that customers who purchase the $ 269 Nook HD+ will receive a $ 79 Simple Touch free of charge as a limited offer. It’s a great deal if you’ve been looking for both a tablet and an ebook reader, but I can’t help but feel a little sad that this is what it’s come down to. Nooks have always been solidly designed products, it’s just that they were never able to catch on with consumers after being doubly sucker punched by the iPad and the Kindle. In January, Barnes & Noble revealed its plans to close nearly 20 of its retail locations over the next decade, which was followed by news last month that Nook revenue had dropped 26 percent YOY.
TechCrunch
Barnes and Noble giving away Nook Simple Touch with every Nook HD+ purchase in limited promo
Americans love a good bargain — especially, when it’s a twofer. Barnes and Noble, arguably the only real competitor to Amazon’s Kindle juggernaut, has just announced a promotion to get as many of its Nook readers into consumers’ hands as possible. Starting March 24th and running until the end of the month, consumers that purchase the Nook HD+ online, in-store or at select big box retailers will also be given a free Nook Simple Touch. The limited promotion comes hot on the heels of rumors that B&N would start to de-emphasize hardware production for the Nook line in favor of its content services; a rumor the company publicly shot down. Still, there’s no denying e-reader market share’s been an uphill battle for B&N, even if the segment is seeing marginal year-over-year increases. Numbers aside, if you’ve been holding out on joining the digital reading fray because of cost, now’s the time to make the switch.
Filed under: Tablets
Via: The Next Web
StudentFreelance Pulls Students Away From Boring Studying And Drinking, Sticks Them Into The Real World
It’s been a long time since I’ve been a student – we still carried “books” to school and would often enter computer “clusters” where we would do “homework” on “PCs” running “Windows NT” – but I do remember the rush of being trusted with real-world projects by folks who looked at me as a cheap way to get a little work done. That’s what StudentFreelance.com is all about: it lets companies hire students to do work without the rigamarole of Craigslist or a traditional HR route.
How Samsung broke away from the Android pack
The fourth version of the hit Galaxy S smartphone will debut this week at Radio City Music Hall with fanfare usually reserved for the iPhone. What a difference two years make. [Read more]
CNET News
Nokia Lumia 520 tries to arrive at FCC incognito, given away by codename
Nokia just tried to hustle a certain RM-914 model through the FCC, but thanks to an earlier glance at the Fed’s Indonesian counterpart POSTEL, we know we’re actually looking at the Lumia 520. As the Finnish outfit just announced, that model represents the new low-end of its Windows Phone 8 line, though it’s decently spec’d with a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 4-inch 800 x 480 IPS display and 1,430mAh battery. While eschewing LTE, the device will pack various WCDMA and HSPA+ frequencies for 3G, though in this case, we’re not looking at WCDMA 900 / 2100 bands, meaning it’s indeed a US model. Its next stop ought to be store shelves later this quarter — followed by your pocket, if the $ 183 or so WP8 handset rings your bell.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia
Source: FCC
You May Take Away My Freedom, But I’ll Always Have My Crunchie!
On June 14th, 2010, Michael Arrington awarded a Crunchie to two members of Goatse Security via a blog post for discovering, publishing and trying to fix a pretty egregious security flaw that they discovered on AT&T’s public website. Before going to jail, Andrew Auernheimer’s (aka “weev”) bucket list of what he wanted was the Crunchie that TechCrunch awarded to him.
TechCrunch
Nearest Earth-like planet only 13 light-years away
Finding planets that are similar to Earth is a task that scientists and researchers have been working on for a while now, but it seems like they’re making great strides in their findings. Astronomers have reported that the nearest Earth-like planet is possibly just 13 light-years away (77 trillion miles). However, said planet hasn’t been
Thanks To GitHub, The Enterprise Just Walked Away With The Crunchies
It’s the Crunchies’ after party and GitHub Co-Founder and CEO Tom Preston-Werner is sitting at a table by the front door at Absinthe in San Francisco with the Crunchies statue he had just accepted for best overall startup.
TechCrunch
Free Wi-Fi: the Movement To Give Away Your Internet For the Good of Humanity
pigrabbitbear writes “We are strangely territorial when it comes to our wireless networks. The idea of someone siphoning off our precious bandwidth without paying for it is, for most people, completely unacceptable. But the Open Wireless Movement wants to change all that. ‘We are trying to create a movement where people are willing to share their network for the common good,’ says Adi Kamdar, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. ‘It’s a neighborly thing to do.’ That’s right, upstanding citizen of the Internet, you can be a good neighbor just by opening your wireless network to strangers — or so the line goes. The ultimate vision is one of neighborhoods completely void of passwords, where any passerby can quickly jump on your network and use Google Maps to find directions or check their email or do whatever they want to do (or, whatever you decide they can do).”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple blows away iPhone and iPad records, but Mac sales down 16 percent
Apple shipped a whopping 47 million iPhones in its first quarter of 2013 and 22.
FOX News
On Second Thought, Polaris Really Does Seem 434 Light Years Away
sciencehabit writes with this excerpt from Science Magazine “Last November, astronomer David Turner made headlines by claiming that one of the sky’s best known objects—the North Star, Polaris—was actually 111 light-years closer than thought. If true, the finding might have forced researchers to rethink how they calculate distances in the cosmos as well as what they know about some aspects of stellar physics. But a new study argues that distance measurements of the familiar star made some 2 decades ago by the European Space Agency’s venerable Hipparcos satellite are still spot on.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LG ‘Hecto’ laser TV projector to debut at CES 2013, promises a 100-inch screen from 22-inches away
As LG continues its slew of CES 2013 pre-announcements, the latest is a new display technology it’s bringing to the projection arena, an ultra short throw laser projector. Capable of creating a 100-inch screen from just 22 inches (56cm) away, the “Hecto” Laser TV a 1080p shooter that can change the way owners design their home theater. If you’d like to use it as an all-in-one home theater to go, it also has a digital tuner and 10w speakers built-in, with three HDMI inputs, an RS-232 port and Smart TV capabilities controlled by LG’s Magic Remote. We don’t have a picture of it yet, but the press release claims it will follow LG’s “Dynamic Arc Design.” It carries a 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio with WiDi and Miracast compatibility and LG claims the laser system will run for up to 25,000 hours without replacement. There’s no word on pricing or release date, although it likely won’t be value priced. We expect to get a few more details when we see it in Las Vegas, check the press release after the break for all the information currently available.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Possible Habitable Planet Just 12 Light Years Away
sciencehabit writes “Astronomers have discovered what may be five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, the closest single star beyond our solar system whose temperature and luminosity nearly match the sun’s. If the planets are there, one of them is about the right distance from the star to sport mild temperatures, oceans of liquid water, and even life (paper).”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Birth of a star: Astronomers spot new solar system 450 light years away
A vast protostar, spewing a torrent of matter formed from huge dust clouds, could give astronomers the best insight to-date into how our solar system was created. The star-in-waiting, just 300,000 years old and found 450 light years away in the Taurus constellation, is early in its lifecycle: L1527 (aka Roberta J. L1527) has consumed roughly
Toyota Plugs Away at the Next-Gen Electric-Car Battery
Magnesium-ion batteries promise to be cheaper and more energy dense than lithium-ion ones.
Light and powerful lithium-ion batteries have allowed automakers to make electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles with ample acceleration and reasonable range and life. But lithium is expensive—the battery pack of the Nissan Leaf costs about $ 12,000—and the range of battery electric vehicles is still limited—about 138 miles per charge in ideal conditions for the Leaf—making the technology a tough sell for many drivers.
Hack gives HTC Droid DNA the bootloader unlock that Verizon took away
Custom ROM fans were briefly teased with the prospect of Verizon loosening its anti-modding stance when the HTC Droid DNA first arrived: in the pre-release days, the official HTCDev portal allowed unlocking the DNA’s bootloader. While the carrier unfortunately clamped down and denied the option by the time the giant smartphone was in stores, that hasn’t stopped Android Police and Sean Beaupre from keeping the dream alive through very unofficial means. A special backup file, a carrier ID generator app, a shell script and judicious use of ADB tweak the carrier information to trick HTCDev and let the unlock work once again. To call this a risky procedure would be an understatement, however — venturing past a certain point raises the real possibility of bricking the device, and HTC’s bootloader tool already puts limits on post-unlock support even when it’s blessed by carriers. Should the urge to liberate the Droid DNA overwhelm a sense of caution (or a wait for the Deluxe), you’ll find both the hack and unofficial help through the source links.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Verizon
Source: Android Police
Microsoft outlines Play To for Windows 8 developers, shows media sharing just a heartbeat away
Play To is often an unsung advantage of Windows 8; it’s the key to spreading media throughout the home without jumping through hoops, much like Apple’s AirPlay or the more universal Miracast. Microsoft wants those quieter Windows advocates to pipe up a bit. It just posted a sweeping developer overview of Play To support that addresses the basics and dives into the nitty-gritty details. The biggest takeaway may be that programmers sometimes don’t have to do anything — unprotected music and video in common formats are usually shareable as a matter of course, and it’s only with photos or complicated conditions like playlists that a “contract” is needed to reach another screen or speaker. The document does have some warnings for developers, however, both official and otherwise. There’s a (fairly evasive) explanation as to why copy-protected media won’t work, while commenters remind us that hardware compatibility isn’t as surefire as we’d always like. Any developers who want their media apps to shine on an XPS 12, however, could still find the guide to be just what they need.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Microsoft outlines Play To for Windows 8 developers, shows media sharing just a heartbeat away originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 06:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows 8 App Developer Blog | Email this | Comments
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Putting Away Childish Things: The Wii U Redefines Nintendo
Six years ago, almost to the day, I remember sitting on the couch with my then one-year-old son playing Elebits on the recently launched Wii. I thought he’d understand the simple point and shoot game. It was sort of a shooter. You walked around a house and aimed at the little characters. He was enthralled.
I was a new parent and I was showing him the magic of the Wii – Nintendo’s standard-definition console effort that appeared after years of relative stagnation and, more important, the launch of new consoles from Sony and Microsoft. This oddly underpowered console somehow survived to sell 97 million units, 20 million more than its competitors.
TechCrunch
Rogue planet without sun spotted 100 light-years away
It wasn’t too long ago when astronomers thought that solar systems outside our own would be more or less similar to our’s — there would be a central sun, with various planets of both rocky and gassy varieties. However, that’s definitely not the case all the time. Today, astronomers have discovered a rogue planet that’s
RIM plans 36-hour event giving away cash, PlayBooks to game developers porting to BlackBerry 10
While RIM has already taken to directly rewarding developers who write for BlackBerry 10 in order to stock up its app catalog, it’s about to offer a slightly stronger incentive for the gaming crowd. An upcoming Got Game Port-a-Thon starting November 16th will give producers $ 100 for every game successfully ported to the upcoming platform, with the perks climbing the more titles make the leap. Three or more ports net a BlackBerry PlayBook, and the first handful who port five or more get a Dev Alpha device to test their creations in a truly native environment; particularly avid developers porting 10 or more games will even score a trip to the Game Developers Conference this March. The catch, as you’d imagine from the telethon-inspired label, comes from the fixed timeframe. There’s just 36 hours open for submissions once the event starts, which will have most developers scrambling to get their code ready in advance. If RIM gets all its developer ducks in a row, however, we’ll have no shortage of fun (or distractions from work) when the first BlackBerry 10 devices hit the shelves.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets, Mobile, RIM
RIM plans 36-hour event giving away cash, PlayBooks to game developers porting to BlackBerry 10 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Nov 2012 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Stanford Ovshinsky, inventor of the NiMH battery, passes away at 89
On Wednesday night, Stanford Ovshinsky, inventor of the nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery, passed away at the age of 89 due to complications from cancer. The Akron, Ohio native may not be a household name, but there’s a good chance that many of your electronics have been powered by his work, as NiMH batteries are used in everything from mice to hybrid cars. A self-taught inventor who didn’t attend college, Ovshinsky held hundreds of patents, received a number of honorary degrees and is even the namesake of a branch of electronics dubbed Ovonics. Flat-panel displays, solar cells and even phase change memory are just a handful of other technologies that his work helped to develop. Next time you pick up a modern gadget, just remember that Ovshinsky is partly responsible for its existence.
[Image credit: Joi Ito, Flickr]
Filed under: Science
Stanford Ovshinsky, inventor of the NiMH battery, passes away at 89 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple pulls William Stasior away from Amazon to head up Siri
Apple reportedly moving chip production away from Samsung
Apple and Samsung, as many of you already know, have not had the most civil of professional relationships. Samsung has long been a provider of hardware for Apple products, but with the recent high-profile patent suit between the two, it seems that relationship has soured a bit. New reports from CNET and Taiwan Economic News
Cox TV Connect for iPad gets remote DVR scheduling, access to the guide at home or away
The Cox TV Connect for iPad app that brings live TV streaming to the tablet while customers are at home has received another update that gives it some capabilities outside the house. While that doesn’t include the aforementioned TV viewing, version 1.1.2 integrates remote DVR scheduling (previously left to the company’s Mobile Connect phone apps) and allows access to the app and recently updated grid guide when the user is away from home. You’ll still need to have the proper TV and internet packages from Cox to make it all go, but there’s no additional charge for the app that’s available at the source link below.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Tablets, HD
Cox TV Connect for iPad gets remote DVR scheduling, access to the guide at home or away originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
HGST develops helium-filled, high-capacity hard drives: no, they won’t float away
With certain exceptions, talk of advanced hard drive technology regularly has a tough time escaping research labs. Western Digital’s HGST is promising a much more tangible project that could boost data capacities by a wide margin. By filling the gaps between drive platters with less buffeting-prone helium instead of air, HGST can safely fit as many as seven platters in a typical, 3.5-inch desktop hard drive instead of the current five. Going with the lower density gas creates a raft of side benefits, such as fitting more data on a single platter along with reducing the drag that both slows down and heats up the disk. We’ll have to wait until 2013 to see shipping helium-filled drives in our PCs; given the slightly exotic nature of the technique, though, we wouldn’t count on HGST or Western Digital handing out drives for free like balloons at a birthday party.
Continue reading HGST develops helium-filled, high-capacity hard drives: no, they won’t float away
Filed under: Storage
HGST develops helium-filled, high-capacity hard drives: no, they won’t float away originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Engadget
Astronaut And Innovation Icon Neil Armstrong Passes Away At 82
NBC News reports that astronaut and icon Neil Armstrong passed away earlier today due to complications from a heart-bypass operation he underwent a few weeks ago. He was 82.
Though his merits were many, Armstrong was best known for one thing. On that fateful day back in July 1969, with the eyes of history watching, he clambered down the ladder on the front leg of the Lunar Module “Eagle” to become the first man to set foot on the Moon.
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” he said.
TechCrunch
Samsung, Apple Both Come Away Losers In South Korean Patent Trial
While nine jurors in California attempt to turn days worth of allegations and testimony into a binding legal verdict, the Apple/Samsung patent fiasco finally came to a head in Samsung’s native South Korea. According to the Wall Street Journal, both companies took a licking when it came to a verdict passed down by a South Korean court earlier today.
Here’s how the sordid situation breaks down.
TechCrunch
Samsung is moments away from a true iPad alternative
The next game-changer in tablets could come from Samsung, not Apple, as a perfect storm of processor, screen and platform coalesces to make the Korean firm an innovator not a copycat. Samsung has already demonstrated its abilities in processors – even Apple would have to agree with that, having co-developed the A4 chipset powering the original iPad
NASA upgrades Mars Curiosity software … from 350M miles away
Picture doing a remote software upgrade. Now picture doing it when the machine you’re upgrading is a robotic rover sitting 350 million miles away, on the surface of Mars
Computerworld News
Apple Is Giving Away Its Secrets By Litigating
An anonymous reader writes “Apple, by going to a jury trial to defend the patents of its most prized products, is allowing competitors and the public to see inside one of the most secretive companies in the world. From the article: ‘While in court on Friday, Philip W. Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for worldwide product marketing, pulled the curtain further back when he divulged the company’s advertising budgets — often more than $ 100 million a year for the iPhone alone. Also at the hearing, Scott Forstall, senior vice president for iPhone software, explained that the early iPhone was called “Project Purple.” Mr. Forstall said it was built in a highly secure building on Apple’s campus. A sign on the back of the building read “Fight Club.” Behind the security cameras and locked doors, most employees on the project did not even know what they were working on.’”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Mountain Lion hits the Mac App Store, is one $20 credit card deduction away
You’ve read (or closely skimmed) the review, you’ve watched the video — now it’s time to fire up your downloading finger and see for yourself. The latest version of Apple OS X just hit the Mac App Store, carrying a a modest $ 20 price tag. Of course, this round is download-only, so if you want to get your grubby paws on the desktop version of AirPlay Monitoring, Messages, Share Sheets and the rest of those 200+ features, this is the only way to do it.
Mountain Lion hits the Mac App Store, is one $ 20 credit card deduction away originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Star Wars-themed GPS steers Japanese geeks away from the dark side
As if George Lucas wasn’t already milking his money-printing franchise for all it’s worth, comes this GPS gem out of Japan. To the (presumed) delight of fanboys everywhere, navigation maker Dinos has inked a licensing deal with Lucasfilm that conjures up an all-out, Star Wars-themed car nav system. From the orchestral theme music at startup to the voice guidance performed by the original Japanese VO actors (Darth Vader and C-3P0 only), the 5-inch LCD mount is pretty much the memorabilia stuff of a grown-up, scifi geek’s wet dream. There’s even a mode selection option to let users pledge their allegiance to either the “Empire” or the “Rebels,” in addition to 20 different custom vehicle indicator icons. Sounds fluffy enough, but the unit also does double duty as a OneSeg TV tuner and can even be used as a standalone set. It’s on sale now for 39,800Yen (US$ 507), but unless you’re living in the Land of the Rising Sun, this import’s just kitsch for kitsch’s sake.
Filed under: GPS, Transportation
Star Wars-themed GPS steers Japanese geeks away from the dark side originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jul 2012 00:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AMC Giveth, While Viacom Taketh Away: Breaking Bad Season Premiere To Be Streamed Live Online
So yesterday Viacom showed us one way of dealing with a carriage dispute, by taking down online versions of its programming when DirecTV pointed disgruntled viewers to the web as a way to get their Daily Show fix. But AMC Networks, which is in the midst of its own dispute with satellite provider Dish, has taken just the opposite approach: This Sunday, it will be streaming the season premiere of Breaking Bad for free online.
At www.amctv.com/breakingbad4dish/, the cable network has set up a page that will let users register starting Friday, to watch a live stream of the Season Five season premiere at the same time that the show is broadcast on cable and satellite service. While there will be free registration involved to tune in, an AMC spokesperson confirmed that there’s no real way for the network to verify that viewers are actually Dish subscribers. But the assumption is that if they don’t pay for Dish, they’ll probably be watching through a competing cable or satellite service.
TechCrunch
SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home
Samsung and SugarSync are already cozy with each other, having struck a deal to put SugarSync’s cloud file sharing on Samsung’s AllShare Play-equipped TVs. That relationship just got a lot closer: SugarSync will now be a mainstay for Samsung’s rather successful mobile devices. Starting with the Galaxy S III, any Samsung phone or tablet that supports AllShare Play will have SugarSync built-in, whether it’s for looking at files and media from back home or just to upload the phone’s own photos and videos for sharing later on. The service still offers a free 5GB of storage as a baseline and will scale up to 500GB if you’re willing to fork over up to $ 40 a month. Between this and a Dropbox deal for most carriers, Samsung has the cloud largely sewn up on its handhelds — if you can’t access it, it probably doesn’t exist.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Internet
SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Engadget
Wiping Away Your Siri “Fingerprint”
Your voice can be a biometric identifier, like your fingerprint. Does Apple really have to store it on its own servers?
Even in an age of vanishing privacy, people using Apple’s digital assistant Siri share a distinct concern. Recordings of their actual voices, asking questions that might be personal, travel over the Internet to a remote Apple server for processing. Then they remain stored there; Apple won’t say for how long.
Stellar Blast Boils Away Some of a Planet’s Atmosphere
The Bad Astronomer writes “Using a combination of Hubble and Swift observations, astronomers have apparently witnessed some of a planet’s atmosphere being peeled away by a powerful stellar blast. HD 189733b orbits its star just 4 million km from the surface, and a few hours after Swift detected a big X-ray flare from the star, Hubble data revealed a big jump in hydrogen absorption as the planet transited the star. This indicates the planet’s atmosphere was blasted off by the flare to the tune of a thousand tons of hydrogen per second. The planet is so hot it probably already loses a substantial amount of air to space all the time, but this spike is the first time a change in an exoplanet’s atmosphere has been detected.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An App Keeps Spies Away from Your iPhone
A cryptography pioneer offers a simple way to fight electronic surveillance.
Anytime you use your phone to make a call or send an e-mail or text message, there’s a chance it will be intercepted by someone who has access—legal or otherwise—to your providers’ servers. A new app called Silent Circle tries to change that by encrypting calls, e-mails, and texts. It’s aimed at activists, companies, and individuals who fear they’re being spied on.
What Los Angeles Accelerators Want: Startups That Make Money Right Away
When asked what is the biggest difference between Los Angeles and Silicon Valley accelerators, five from LA told me they’re more focused on startups that don’t take years to start monetizing. Leaders from Amplify, Launchpad LA, MuckerLab, Start Engine, and Originate Labs convened at this weekend’s Silicon Beach Festival in Venice, California. They explained that since there’s less capital down South, they’re less concentrated on long-term plays, even ones that could return bigger multiples down the line.
So Bay Area startups in ecommerce, media, advertising, and fashion looking to raise money or enter an accelerator might consider a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway.
TechCrunch
Have Your Fingerprints Read From 6 Meters Away
First time accepted submitter Burdell writes “A new startup has technology to read fingerprints from up to 6 meters away. IDair currently sells to the military, but they are beta testing it with a chain of 24-hour fitness centers that want to restrict sharing of access cards. IDair also wants to sell this to retail stores and credit card companies as a replacement for physical cards. Lee Tien from the EFF notes that the security of such fingerprint databases is a privacy concern.”
Since the last time this technology was mentioned more than a year ago, it seems that the claimed range for reading has tripled, and the fingerprint reader business has been spun off from the company at which development started.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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