Filed under: Games, Linux
If we're to believe this new job posting over at Valve, reports of Steam for Linux's death may have been greatly exaggerated. As you can see, Valve is on the hunt for a senior engineer who can port Windows games to Linux.
If you recall VP Doug Lombardi's actual words, he never said Steam for Linux was dead -- only that they weren't currently working on it. Maybe that's because they just hadn't found the right man or woman for the job yet. As Sebastian pointed out to me, this doesn't necessarily mean "Steam for desktop Linux" -- it could just as easily have to do with embedded gaming.
Whatever the case may be, the news is certainly a bit more encouraging than Lombardi's interview.
[via Tech Drive-In]
update: as Kaushik points out (as do a few of our friends at Reddit) this one's a tad on the old-and-moldy side. Linux gamers, return to your pining...
Share TweetRenewed hope for Steam on Linux: Valve job boards looking for engineer to port Windows games originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Internet Explorer 9 Image May Have Leaked
Microsoft's big plan is to launch the public beta of Internet Explorer 9 on Sept. 15, at a high-profile event in San Francisco. While the browser's features--including speedier browser performance, greater compatibility and compliance with standards, and enhanced HTML5 support--are well-known among the developer community by this point, there's been precious little info about how IE 9 will actually look.
Until now, perhaps. That's because a Microsoft Russia site might have accidentally posted a screenshot of IE 9's interface. Mary Jo Foley over at All About Microsoft seems to have spotted the image first, before a site administrator yanked it down, and posted it on her blog along with a machine translation of the accompanying text:
If the image is authentic, and that text a reflection of the final product, then IE 9 will include a streamlined navigation panel with a merged search/address bar, as well as Firefox-style tabs that can "rip away" to become new windows. To me, at least, the interface feels quite a bit like Google Chrome.
What do you think?
Until now, perhaps. That's because a Microsoft Russia site might have accidentally posted a screenshot of IE 9's interface. Mary Jo Foley over at All About Microsoft seems to have spotted the image first, before a site administrator yanked it down, and posted it on her blog along with a machine translation of the accompanying text:
If the image is authentic, and that text a reflection of the final product, then IE 9 will include a streamlined navigation panel with a merged search/address bar, as well as Firefox-style tabs that can "rip away" to become new windows. To me, at least, the interface feels quite a bit like Google Chrome.
What do you think?
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Google buys mobile game dev SocialDeck
SocialDeck has become the latest addition to Google's Hall of Acquisitions. The creators of the popular iPhone game Shake and Spell have also produced Spark, which allows mobile gamers to challenge or chat with friends, recommend games, save games in the cloud, and more.
In their own words, SocialDeck are "super excited to announce that someone found our social games as fun as you have - in this case, that "someone" is Google." They'll even have a nice group of friends with common interests to play with now that they're part of the Google collective.
Earlier this month, Google acquired Jambool -- who created the Social Gold virtual currency platform. Back in April they picked up Lab Pixies, who specialize in social and casual gaming widgets. And let's not forget Google is also a major investor in casual game maker Zynga -- the demons behind the game you love to hate, Farmville.
What does it all mean? Clearly Google sees gaming (and social gaming in particular) to be an area worth getting involved in. With Android picking up momentum and Google TV and Chrome OS both on the way, there are going to be a whole lot more Google hardware users looking to kill some time destroying pixelated zombies or spelling their way to a high score.
That means money spent on games, on virtual goods, and, of course, delicious, delicious ad impressions.
[via Inside Social Games]Google buys mobile game dev SocialDeck originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
In their own words, SocialDeck are "super excited to announce that someone found our social games as fun as you have - in this case, that "someone" is Google." They'll even have a nice group of friends with common interests to play with now that they're part of the Google collective.
Earlier this month, Google acquired Jambool -- who created the Social Gold virtual currency platform. Back in April they picked up Lab Pixies, who specialize in social and casual gaming widgets. And let's not forget Google is also a major investor in casual game maker Zynga -- the demons behind the game you love to hate, Farmville.
What does it all mean? Clearly Google sees gaming (and social gaming in particular) to be an area worth getting involved in. With Android picking up momentum and Google TV and Chrome OS both on the way, there are going to be a whole lot more Google hardware users looking to kill some time destroying pixelated zombies or spelling their way to a high score.
That means money spent on games, on virtual goods, and, of course, delicious, delicious ad impressions.
[via Inside Social Games]Google buys mobile game dev SocialDeck originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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iHome teases first AirPlay-compatible portable speaker dock
No surprise that iHome is first out of the gate with a speaker dock that's compatible with Apple's newly-open AirPlay music streaming system, but unfortunately the teaser page is maddeningly light on details -- all we know is that it'll have a rechargeable battery and be available for the holidays. We're actually pretty stoked for AirPlay gear -- the idea of setting up a quick mix-and-match whole-home audio system that can stream lossless audio straight from iTunes seems awfully hard to resist -- so we're eager to hear more about this thing, as well as the other third-party AirPlay devices like receivers and stereos that have been promised. We'll keep digging for more, so stay tuned.
[Thanks, Fred]iHome teases first AirPlay-compatible portable speaker dock originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | iHome | Email this | Comments
[Thanks, Fred]iHome teases first AirPlay-compatible portable speaker dock originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | iHome | Email this | Comments
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Tablet Wars at IFA in Berlin, 3D Cameras, and More
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R2-D2 Droid 2 dock pictures revealed
Verizon's R2-D2 version of the Motorola Droid 2 will be released September 30th, news w broke a few weeks back. Pictures have now begun to creep up showing off some of the R2-D2-specific accessories. The phone dock, pictured above, is one such item. It's style and color fits in with what the phone will look like and it even has a couple Star Wars references on the device in case you forgot where the phone got its inspiration. How many of you will be springing for the R2-D2 version coming to Verizon at the end of the month? [Engadget]Posted originally at Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Toshiba Folio 100 Hands-On
We took a gander at Toshiba's Folio 100 today and here's the main takeaway: sucker be huge. It has a 10.1" screen and a fairly reasonable bezel around it - though the resolution on that screen is still only 1024x600, same as the 7" Galaxy Tab. The whole thing is hard plastic with a small texture to the back and felt fine despite being what we suspect is still pre-production hardware. It weighs in at 1.7 pounds and is carry-able, sure, but it's such a large, wide screen that this is pretty much a sit-down device only. The battery died on us pretty quickly - at 1020mAh it's probably difficult to get through an entire day of IFA fondling. Toshiba claims 7 hours of battery life. The HDMI-out and USB-host (yay!) ports are hidden underneath a port cover. There's 16gigs on board and it's expandable via a standard, large SD card slot. Combine that full-sized SD card slot, the USB Host port, and the HDMI-out and we're thinking this is a business-focused device that has aspirations of being a professional photographer's bestest friend ever. We were looking at at build of Android 2.2 that didn't look quite optimized for the big screen and definitely isn't final build ("TOSHIBA_FOLIO_AND_A 2.2 3.0004 for IFA test-keys" is a pretty good hint there), but we did find it to be responsive and quick - for the most part. There was the occasional lag and jaggy transition, due to that early build moreso than the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, which should be the definition of fast. We would definitely like to see the final build on this - we bet that the included Opera Mobile browser will simply fly. $540 in "late October" for the WiFi only version is what they quoted us in the booth, with the 3G version coming next year. Catch more photos after the break!
Posted originally at Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Posted originally at Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Google Chrome 6 goes stable, 2nd birthday celebration brings extension and autofill sync
Filed under: Google, BrowsersIt's Chrome's second birthday today, and in addition to posting some fancy-schmancy images to celebrate Google Chrome's stable channel has been bumped to version 6. For those of you still keeping tabs on version changes, it's only been four months since Chrome 5 went stable.
The update means that all Chrome users can now take advantage of extension and autofill sync -- both important parts of Google's desire to keep your 'browsing platform' uniform across all the computers you use.
Version 6 also brings the new consolidated menu, richer content settings (JavaScript, plug-ins, notifications, and the like), and the first-run search engine selection screen. There's also a faster V8 JavaScript engine under the hood.
No announcement yet from the Chrome Blog, but we'll add a link once their official post has gone live. In the meantime, the Chromium blog has a breakdown of some of the more important security updates and feature additions.
Share TweetGoogle Chrome 6 goes stable, 2nd birthday celebration brings extension and autofill sync originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
The update means that all Chrome users can now take advantage of extension and autofill sync -- both important parts of Google's desire to keep your 'browsing platform' uniform across all the computers you use.
Version 6 also brings the new consolidated menu, richer content settings (JavaScript, plug-ins, notifications, and the like), and the first-run search engine selection screen. There's also a faster V8 JavaScript engine under the hood.
No announcement yet from the Chrome Blog, but we'll add a link once their official post has gone live. In the meantime, the Chromium blog has a breakdown of some of the more important security updates and feature additions.
Share TweetGoogle Chrome 6 goes stable, 2nd birthday celebration brings extension and autofill sync originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Friday, September 3, 2010
Microsoft Plans Slow and Steady Retail Store Pace
Apple's retail stores won't have a challenger from Microsoft, at least in the short term.
That was one of the nuggets pulled from an Aug. 10 talk at the Oppenheimer Annual Technology, Media & Telecommunications Conference by Bill Koefoed, Microsoft's general manager of investor relations. Near the end of that event, an analyst in the audience asked a question about Microsoft's retail stores, which have been opening over the past year in cities such as Denver and San Diego.
"I think we have six open today, or we've announced six," Koefoed told the audience, according to a transcript released by Microsoft. "We think stores are important. We think they're important to give the end customer the experience of our products in an environment that we think we can optimize."
That being said, Koefoed added, "We've got to get the model right, and I think [Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's] been pretty clear that the stores need to make money." To that end, "We're continuing to grow at a prudent pace, one that we're learning from, and one that we're going to continue to learn from [to] make sure that we're making the right investments in the right places."
After months of Microsoft executives trumpeting that they were preparing to challenge Apple's retail experience head-on (and hiring George Blankenship, the former Gap executive who helped launch Apple's retail arm in 2001, to assist in the effort), the company opened stores in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Mission Viejo, Calif., in late 2009.
Since then, Microsoft has seemed content to dip its toes in the water: a store opening here, another one there. The company could be reluctant to challenge big-box stores such as Best Buy that already sell Microsoft products and would doubtlessly be irritated if Redmond tried to seize a major chunk of their electronics revenue. But this could also be a more generalized feeling-out of the retail space; no sense in spending hundreds of millions on invading strip malls across the country if your company lacks the institutional knowledge to make such a strategy work.
In any case, Microsoft likely won't be challenging Apple store-for-store any time soon--but based on Koefoed's comments, the company obviously sees value in continuing the retail effort.
That was one of the nuggets pulled from an Aug. 10 talk at the Oppenheimer Annual Technology, Media & Telecommunications Conference by Bill Koefoed, Microsoft's general manager of investor relations. Near the end of that event, an analyst in the audience asked a question about Microsoft's retail stores, which have been opening over the past year in cities such as Denver and San Diego.
"I think we have six open today, or we've announced six," Koefoed told the audience, according to a transcript released by Microsoft. "We think stores are important. We think they're important to give the end customer the experience of our products in an environment that we think we can optimize."
That being said, Koefoed added, "We've got to get the model right, and I think [Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's] been pretty clear that the stores need to make money." To that end, "We're continuing to grow at a prudent pace, one that we're learning from, and one that we're going to continue to learn from [to] make sure that we're making the right investments in the right places."
After months of Microsoft executives trumpeting that they were preparing to challenge Apple's retail experience head-on (and hiring George Blankenship, the former Gap executive who helped launch Apple's retail arm in 2001, to assist in the effort), the company opened stores in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Mission Viejo, Calif., in late 2009.
Since then, Microsoft has seemed content to dip its toes in the water: a store opening here, another one there. The company could be reluctant to challenge big-box stores such as Best Buy that already sell Microsoft products and would doubtlessly be irritated if Redmond tried to seize a major chunk of their electronics revenue. But this could also be a more generalized feeling-out of the retail space; no sense in spending hundreds of millions on invading strip malls across the country if your company lacks the institutional knowledge to make such a strategy work.
In any case, Microsoft likely won't be challenging Apple store-for-store any time soon--but based on Koefoed's comments, the company obviously sees value in continuing the retail effort.
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iTunes 10 now available to download
Filed under: Audio, AppleJust a quick note to say that the wait is over: iTunes 10 is now available to download. If the iTunes page shows the old logo, hit Ctrl+F5 to refresh the page.
For more details, check Jay's post -- or indeed, just peruse the Apple site!
There seems to be a lot of fallout over the 99-cent TV episodes, and the complete lack of Facebook integration in iTunes Ping -- we'll try to cover it in more detail later today.iTunes 10 now available to download originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
For more details, check Jay's post -- or indeed, just peruse the Apple site!
There seems to be a lot of fallout over the 99-cent TV episodes, and the complete lack of Facebook integration in iTunes Ping -- we'll try to cover it in more detail later today.iTunes 10 now available to download originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Nagoya Institute's folding X-Frame car lacks S-foils, hyperdrive, rolls on a big orange ball
Welcome to the future, dear readers, where boring black tires are replaced with bright orange and yellow ones and where your car can dynamically expand or contract. This is the X-Frame Folding Vehicle, a concept from the Nagoya Institute of Technology that was first shown at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, but rolled out of hiding again for the city's recent Good Design Expo. The car changes shape to offer seating for either one or two and can raise or lower itself dynamically based on terrain, speed, and proximity of Clown Gang members when you're cruising in Neo-Tokyo. No word on when or if it will see production, but don't let a complete lack of crash-worthiness get you down on this vision of tomorrow.Nagoya Institute's folding X-Frame car lacks S-foils, hyperdrive, rolls on a big orange ball originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink DVICE | Pink Tentacle | Email this | Comments
5 great content discovery sites which aren't Digg
Filed under: Features, Social Software, web 2.0, ListsDespite what you may have heard in the last two weeks, Digg is not dead. It is, however, a very different service than when it started. What used to be a great place to find interesting links and hilarious commentary has become, for almost all intents and purposes, a Twitter clone.
Digg isn't about to shut its doors, but I do get the feeling that regular, loyal Diggers are looking to take their custom elsewhere. Judging by the 'Reddit incident' on Monday, where Digg users revolted in favor of Reddit, it looks like a mass exodus might already have begun.
So, if you're a disenfranchised Digger, or if you're just looking for the best of the rest when it comes to social news aggregators and content discovery, take a look at this list of alternatives!
StumbleUpon
In my opinion, StumbleUpon is actually the most similar service to Digg -- at least if you're an end-user, rather than a 'Power Digger'. StumbleUpon is, without a doubt, the best way to discover the Web's hidden gems. In any given 'stumbling' session you can (and will) discover innumerable sites and pictures that make you go 'ooooh'.
The other great thing about StumbleUpon is that it learns from your browsing habits. By simply filling in your interests, and by processing which sites you thumbs-up or thumbs-down, SU tailors what kind of sites you'll be shown while stumbling.
There's also commenting, though they take the form of 'reviews', and there's no meta moderation -- just a raw stream of how much users love or hate a given website.
I've heard tales of people losing whole days to stumbling sessions. It's a little too easy to pop open a new tab and hit the 'stumble' button on the toolbar.
Reddit
Ah, Reddit. It's almost like a rags-to-riches story, with Reddit playing the role of Cinderella and Digg the ugly step-sister. Both services launched around 2005, but Digg has always received all of the riches and glory. Digg's new overhaul could mark the end of its supremacy, but I don't think Reddit is the natural 'next stop' for Diggers.
Reddit is completely different from Digg, but in a good way. You will still find a lot of fun and cool links on its home page, but it's actually more of a forum than anything else. You can post pictures, links or simply begin a discussion thread. Just like Digg, meta moderation is a key aspect of Reddit posts and comments, so funny and insightful commentary always bubbles to the top.
What sets Reddit apart is its huge list of boards (or categories). Check the right-hand list -- and also note how you can tailor your front page to show only the categories you're interested in. I love how each category, no matter how esoteric, has an even mix of text-only discussion and fantastic website links. It's a bit like a meta moderated 4chan...
As a crowning cherry, Reddit is also incredibly lightweight in terms of layout and interface. Page load times are, as a result, very fast.
Slashdot
Many, many years ago I used to read Slashdot. I actually stopped because I couldn't keep up with the sheer volume of news, and the huge thread of comments that each item generated.
Slashdot is, in many ways, the father of all modern news aggregators, and is actually a blog. News is submitted by users, and then Slashdot's authors pick and choose which items make it onto the site itself, sometimes adding their own commentary. The comments are where things really kick off, though, with some stories seeing more than 10,000 comments -- and of course, there is meta moderation, so you can choose what kind of comments you want to see; funny, insightful, informative or interesting.
If you like a more 'curated' news source, Slashdot is definitely the one for you. It's often not as 'bleeding edge' as Digg or Reddit, but in many cases, who cares if you hear about a technology breakthrough a day or two later?
Twitter
Don't hurt me! Yes, really, Twitter is a fantastic alternative to Digg.
I think we can all agree that Twitter is by far the best option when it comes to timeliness, but how do you sort the cream from the cruft? Twitter lacks meta moderation, so your best bet is follow twitterers that have already done the filtering for you.
It's pretty damn hard to sort tweeters by quality, but with directories like WeFollow and the lists at Listorious you can hit the ground running. It will be a bit hit and miss, but having the ability to curate your own news stream made from excellent, insightful and timely tweets is unbeatable. Be brutal with your unfollowing -- and follow lots of new people too! -- and you should have a veritable Ganges of cool content to sift through.
And of course, with millions of potential commenters, Twitter can be a goldmine for contemporary commentary too.
Yahoo! Buzz
To finish, I'm including a service that is, basically, old Digg. Yahoo Buzz, launched in 2008 (well before Google Buzz!), is almost completely derived from Digg. From what I can tell, the only real difference is slight editorial control over what appears on the front page.
As you'd suspect from Yahoo, Buzz is slightly more mature than both Digg and Reddit. A lot of the story submitters are just random Yahoo users (and thus, many of the popular stories are written by Yahoo!), but there's plenty of content from across the World Wide Web. You won't find any funny cat pictures or infographics, however!
Yahoo Buzz also has an editor-maintained site called The Buzz Log, which provides a great overview of the world's most important and interesting news.
Finally, there are localized versions of Buzz, with the top stories from UK & Ireland, Brazil, Mexico and so on.
Share Tweet
Share Tweet5 great content discovery sites which aren't Digg originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Digg isn't about to shut its doors, but I do get the feeling that regular, loyal Diggers are looking to take their custom elsewhere. Judging by the 'Reddit incident' on Monday, where Digg users revolted in favor of Reddit, it looks like a mass exodus might already have begun.
So, if you're a disenfranchised Digger, or if you're just looking for the best of the rest when it comes to social news aggregators and content discovery, take a look at this list of alternatives!
StumbleUpon
In my opinion, StumbleUpon is actually the most similar service to Digg -- at least if you're an end-user, rather than a 'Power Digger'. StumbleUpon is, without a doubt, the best way to discover the Web's hidden gems. In any given 'stumbling' session you can (and will) discover innumerable sites and pictures that make you go 'ooooh'.
The other great thing about StumbleUpon is that it learns from your browsing habits. By simply filling in your interests, and by processing which sites you thumbs-up or thumbs-down, SU tailors what kind of sites you'll be shown while stumbling.
There's also commenting, though they take the form of 'reviews', and there's no meta moderation -- just a raw stream of how much users love or hate a given website.
I've heard tales of people losing whole days to stumbling sessions. It's a little too easy to pop open a new tab and hit the 'stumble' button on the toolbar.
Ah, Reddit. It's almost like a rags-to-riches story, with Reddit playing the role of Cinderella and Digg the ugly step-sister. Both services launched around 2005, but Digg has always received all of the riches and glory. Digg's new overhaul could mark the end of its supremacy, but I don't think Reddit is the natural 'next stop' for Diggers.
Reddit is completely different from Digg, but in a good way. You will still find a lot of fun and cool links on its home page, but it's actually more of a forum than anything else. You can post pictures, links or simply begin a discussion thread. Just like Digg, meta moderation is a key aspect of Reddit posts and comments, so funny and insightful commentary always bubbles to the top.
What sets Reddit apart is its huge list of boards (or categories). Check the right-hand list -- and also note how you can tailor your front page to show only the categories you're interested in. I love how each category, no matter how esoteric, has an even mix of text-only discussion and fantastic website links. It's a bit like a meta moderated 4chan...
As a crowning cherry, Reddit is also incredibly lightweight in terms of layout and interface. Page load times are, as a result, very fast.
Slashdot
Many, many years ago I used to read Slashdot. I actually stopped because I couldn't keep up with the sheer volume of news, and the huge thread of comments that each item generated.
Slashdot is, in many ways, the father of all modern news aggregators, and is actually a blog. News is submitted by users, and then Slashdot's authors pick and choose which items make it onto the site itself, sometimes adding their own commentary. The comments are where things really kick off, though, with some stories seeing more than 10,000 comments -- and of course, there is meta moderation, so you can choose what kind of comments you want to see; funny, insightful, informative or interesting.
If you like a more 'curated' news source, Slashdot is definitely the one for you. It's often not as 'bleeding edge' as Digg or Reddit, but in many cases, who cares if you hear about a technology breakthrough a day or two later?
Don't hurt me! Yes, really, Twitter is a fantastic alternative to Digg.
I think we can all agree that Twitter is by far the best option when it comes to timeliness, but how do you sort the cream from the cruft? Twitter lacks meta moderation, so your best bet is follow twitterers that have already done the filtering for you.
It's pretty damn hard to sort tweeters by quality, but with directories like WeFollow and the lists at Listorious you can hit the ground running. It will be a bit hit and miss, but having the ability to curate your own news stream made from excellent, insightful and timely tweets is unbeatable. Be brutal with your unfollowing -- and follow lots of new people too! -- and you should have a veritable Ganges of cool content to sift through.
And of course, with millions of potential commenters, Twitter can be a goldmine for contemporary commentary too.
Yahoo! Buzz
To finish, I'm including a service that is, basically, old Digg. Yahoo Buzz, launched in 2008 (well before Google Buzz!), is almost completely derived from Digg. From what I can tell, the only real difference is slight editorial control over what appears on the front page.
As you'd suspect from Yahoo, Buzz is slightly more mature than both Digg and Reddit. A lot of the story submitters are just random Yahoo users (and thus, many of the popular stories are written by Yahoo!), but there's plenty of content from across the World Wide Web. You won't find any funny cat pictures or infographics, however!
Yahoo Buzz also has an editor-maintained site called The Buzz Log, which provides a great overview of the world's most important and interesting news.
Finally, there are localized versions of Buzz, with the top stories from UK & Ireland, Brazil, Mexico and so on.
Share Tweet
Share Tweet5 great content discovery sites which aren't Digg originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Verizon Fascinate: $199 on contract, plus buy-one-get-one!
We just got some pricing info on the Verizon Samsung Fascinate, and it's about as you'd expect, with a bit of a twist. The fourth U.S. version of the Samsung Galaxy S will go for $199.99 on contract with Big Red. Plus, it'll be offered as buy-one-get-one/buy-one-get-any, which makes it fun for the whole family. And note that this is even more confirmation of the Sept. 9 launch date that we broke last week.Posted originally at Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Rounds provides fun and intimate video chat via Facebook
Filed under: Fun, Social Software
This morning, I had the pleasure of chatting to a charming British expatriate currently living in Israel. We started with Skype but quickly moved to Rounds' new Facebook video chat app. It took all of 60 seconds to be won over by Rounds and the cute, intimate conversations that it catalyses. In a single sentence, Rounds is video chat with a bunch of buttons that you can push to make things more friendly.
With that said, I don't much care for the interface -- it really feels quite cramped inside Facebook's mega-narrow center column -- but it's easy enough to use with a bit of trial and error. Almost the entire UI changes as you mouse-over things, which is probably quite handy after you get used to it, but it's confusing at first.
Back to the topic of friendliness: I have to admit, I was pretty dubious at first. Rounds is a Flash app, and my only prior experience with Flash-based video chat was a brief stint as an anonymous phallus on Chatroulette. But I needn't have worried; the entire service seems to be about bringing people closer together, but without the massive spam of dribbly man bits.
But how does Rounds bring people together? How does it make standard video chat more friendly? By simply providing interactive buttons. Push one button and your video stream will become all fiery, or on the other hand, smattered in snowflakes. Another button turns your face into a Warholesque piece of art. There are masks and overlays, too, like the halo, cloud, and sunbeams that you can see above. The image in the background is a 'skin,' which either chat participant can change at any time.
And that's the key to Rounds: you're encouraged to mess around. You can mess with your own face, or you can mess with your friend's -- either way, you'll both see each other's reactions in real time. In the photo above, Natasha had no idea that I was about to beatify her with a halo -- and the glowing grin that I received positively filled my heart with joy!
I've only touched on the video chat aspect of Rounds, but there's a lot more. Like MSN Live Messenger, there are games like Checkers and Backgammon -- or even Spin the Bottle (with built-in questions and dares!). One of the coolest features is the ability to 'share' a website; you can open up Facebook or Flickr and share the mouse, navigating this way and that. (What a great way to share a photo album with friends and family online!) There are also some FarmVille/Facebook'ish aspects like Coins and Gifts, but I haven't played with them yet.
In conclusion, Rounds converted me from mature-and-serious into a wobbly pile of giggles. That's not bad for a Flash app and a five minute conversation.
Share TweetRounds provides fun and intimate video chat via Facebook originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
This morning, I had the pleasure of chatting to a charming British expatriate currently living in Israel. We started with Skype but quickly moved to Rounds' new Facebook video chat app. It took all of 60 seconds to be won over by Rounds and the cute, intimate conversations that it catalyses. In a single sentence, Rounds is video chat with a bunch of buttons that you can push to make things more friendly.
With that said, I don't much care for the interface -- it really feels quite cramped inside Facebook's mega-narrow center column -- but it's easy enough to use with a bit of trial and error. Almost the entire UI changes as you mouse-over things, which is probably quite handy after you get used to it, but it's confusing at first.
Back to the topic of friendliness: I have to admit, I was pretty dubious at first. Rounds is a Flash app, and my only prior experience with Flash-based video chat was a brief stint as an anonymous phallus on Chatroulette. But I needn't have worried; the entire service seems to be about bringing people closer together, but without the massive spam of dribbly man bits.
But how does Rounds bring people together? How does it make standard video chat more friendly? By simply providing interactive buttons. Push one button and your video stream will become all fiery, or on the other hand, smattered in snowflakes. Another button turns your face into a Warholesque piece of art. There are masks and overlays, too, like the halo, cloud, and sunbeams that you can see above. The image in the background is a 'skin,' which either chat participant can change at any time.
And that's the key to Rounds: you're encouraged to mess around. You can mess with your own face, or you can mess with your friend's -- either way, you'll both see each other's reactions in real time. In the photo above, Natasha had no idea that I was about to beatify her with a halo -- and the glowing grin that I received positively filled my heart with joy!
I've only touched on the video chat aspect of Rounds, but there's a lot more. Like MSN Live Messenger, there are games like Checkers and Backgammon -- or even Spin the Bottle (with built-in questions and dares!). One of the coolest features is the ability to 'share' a website; you can open up Facebook or Flickr and share the mouse, navigating this way and that. (What a great way to share a photo album with friends and family online!) There are also some FarmVille/Facebook'ish aspects like Coins and Gifts, but I haven't played with them yet.
In conclusion, Rounds converted me from mature-and-serious into a wobbly pile of giggles. That's not bad for a Flash app and a five minute conversation.
Share TweetRounds provides fun and intimate video chat via Facebook originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Adobe Photoshop Express for Android taken for a spin, leaves me a little unsatisfied
Filed under: Photo, Utilities, Adobe, AndroidFrom the outset, a smartphone photo manipulation app is a fantastic idea. Thanks to the turtleneck mafia, awful-and-noisy-built-in-camera photography has become something far bigger than most of us expected -- who could've predicted that the iPhone would become the most popular camera on Flickr in under two years? But now, ladies and gentlemen, it 's the turn of the Android. With dozens of new Android handsets emerging every month, and with the Android market share creeping ahead of the iPhone, it's now time to talk about Android photography.
There's a bit of a problem, though: most photo manipulation software for Android phones smells worse than a Titan's loincloth. Mashable has a list of them, but they're all plagued with inadequacies and bugs; some are slow and some simply don't work on newer phones!
Enter Photoshop Express for Android. From Adobe you'd expect nothing short of a photo editing miracle app, but alas that isn't the case. Photoshop Express is certainly useful -- and it is a very polished, professional app that's free of bugs -- but I just wish it did a bit more. I wish it wasn't so annoyingly devoid of obvious, easy-to-implement features.From the outset, Photoshop Express is very smart. You're welcomed with a pretty, blue Adobe splash screen, and then you're shown all of the photos currently on your phone. You can start editing right away, or choose a photo to upload.
You also have the option of viewing your online photos (those stored at Photoshop.com), but here's my first gripe: you can't download photos to your phone! I wanted to edit one of my Photoshop.com photos, but the app simply won't let me. I have no idea why Adobe has locked it down in this way -- perhaps to provide a 'new feature!!1' for the next release? (Also, look at the Phone/Online tabs in the image above -- notice how the 'depressed' look indicates which tab you're on. I don't like it!)
Back to editing, then. Either select a photo already on your phone, or push the hardware camera button to take a new photo. This is the screen you'll see:
Beneath those four headings there are a variety of functions. Here's a complete list (don't worry, there aren't many): crop, straighten, rotate, flip, exposure, saturation, tint, black & white, contrast, brightness, soft focus, effects, and borders. Most of these are self-explanatory, and they all do the same thing as their desktop software equivalent. The 'effects' are nice, providing you with a bunch of pre-programmed filters that'll make your mundane on-the-way-to-work photos less boring.
There's a couple of handy undo/redo buttons at the bottom -- and no, you can't make those two annoying bars disappear while you edit the photo. The only way to see the final result is to save the image (thus losing your undo/redo history... awesome!)
Finally, the app has the ability to upload your edited photos to Photoshop.com, Facebook and TwitPic. You can also set it to 'auto upload' your photos, which is a rather cool way of keeping your phone synchronized with your Interwebs. [If you're interested, you can see my awesome full-size photo on Photoshop.com!]
Photoshop Express for Android Tech Specs
Installed Size -- 2MB, but it has a cache that will grow as your library of images expands!
Speed/Responsiveness -- Snappy and smooth (Android 1.6 @ 600 MHz, LG GT540 Swift)
User Interface -- Pretty and very intuitive, except for the complete lack of buttons on the 'Online photos' tab, grrr
Configurability & Extensibility -- Nope, nothing like that (but being able to upload to other non-Photoshop.com services is cool)
License -- Free, closed-source
Share TweetAdobe Photoshop Express for Android taken for a spin, leaves me a little unsatisfied originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
There's a bit of a problem, though: most photo manipulation software for Android phones smells worse than a Titan's loincloth. Mashable has a list of them, but they're all plagued with inadequacies and bugs; some are slow and some simply don't work on newer phones!
Enter Photoshop Express for Android. From Adobe you'd expect nothing short of a photo editing miracle app, but alas that isn't the case. Photoshop Express is certainly useful -- and it is a very polished, professional app that's free of bugs -- but I just wish it did a bit more. I wish it wasn't so annoyingly devoid of obvious, easy-to-implement features.From the outset, Photoshop Express is very smart. You're welcomed with a pretty, blue Adobe splash screen, and then you're shown all of the photos currently on your phone. You can start editing right away, or choose a photo to upload.
You also have the option of viewing your online photos (those stored at Photoshop.com), but here's my first gripe: you can't download photos to your phone! I wanted to edit one of my Photoshop.com photos, but the app simply won't let me. I have no idea why Adobe has locked it down in this way -- perhaps to provide a 'new feature!!1' for the next release? (Also, look at the Phone/Online tabs in the image above -- notice how the 'depressed' look indicates which tab you're on. I don't like it!)
Back to editing, then. Either select a photo already on your phone, or push the hardware camera button to take a new photo. This is the screen you'll see:
Beneath those four headings there are a variety of functions. Here's a complete list (don't worry, there aren't many): crop, straighten, rotate, flip, exposure, saturation, tint, black & white, contrast, brightness, soft focus, effects, and borders. Most of these are self-explanatory, and they all do the same thing as their desktop software equivalent. The 'effects' are nice, providing you with a bunch of pre-programmed filters that'll make your mundane on-the-way-to-work photos less boring.
There's a couple of handy undo/redo buttons at the bottom -- and no, you can't make those two annoying bars disappear while you edit the photo. The only way to see the final result is to save the image (thus losing your undo/redo history... awesome!)
Finally, the app has the ability to upload your edited photos to Photoshop.com, Facebook and TwitPic. You can also set it to 'auto upload' your photos, which is a rather cool way of keeping your phone synchronized with your Interwebs. [If you're interested, you can see my awesome full-size photo on Photoshop.com!]
Photoshop Express for Android Tech Specs
Installed Size -- 2MB, but it has a cache that will grow as your library of images expands!
Speed/Responsiveness -- Snappy and smooth (Android 1.6 @ 600 MHz, LG GT540 Swift)
User Interface -- Pretty and very intuitive, except for the complete lack of buttons on the 'Online photos' tab, grrr
Configurability & Extensibility -- Nope, nothing like that (but being able to upload to other non-Photoshop.com services is cool)
License -- Free, closed-source
Share TweetAdobe Photoshop Express for Android taken for a spin, leaves me a little unsatisfied originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Thursday, September 2, 2010
iPhone live 115: Whoosh! Another 200!
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We’re all up in Apple’s 2010 Special Music event – new iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch with Retina Display and FaceTime, Apple TV with iOS… but no apps! Along with iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2. We’re streaming [...]iPhone live 115: Whoosh! Another 200! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store. TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
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We’re all up in Apple’s 2010 Special Music event – new iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch with Retina Display and FaceTime, Apple TV with iOS… but no apps! Along with iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2. We’re streaming [...]iPhone live 115: Whoosh! Another 200! is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store. TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
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PerformanceTest by PassMark lets you benchmark and compare your system
Filed under: Shareware
"I need a new computer!" is a cry often heard by parents and system administrators alike. But often, the problem isn't in the hardware - if the user isn't an avid gamer or using a really ancient system, more often than not the problem is a crudded-up Windows installation (yes, I know, "this doesn't happen on Linux").
Proving to your user/kid that the hardware isn't the problem is often easier said than done. What they see is just a slow computer, but PassMark's PerformanceTest may be able to help you prove that the hardware isn't all that wimpy.
First of all, you should know this is a Shareware product. You get it for a 30-day free eval period, after which you should buy it. But for most home users, 30 days should be plenty - you just want to see if you should buy a new computer, and if so, how much would that computer really be better than what you have now.
PerformanceTest runs a fairly comprehensive battery of tests, including CPU, graphics (2D and 3D), memory, hard-drive and CD performance. It then lets you upload the results onto its online database, and you can also pull information from the database to compare your system to right within the program.
For some reason, I was unable to find other systems listed as running Windows 7 x64, and so I had to compare my system with rigs running Vista x64.
Even if you don't want to benchmark your own system, the database provides some very illuminating statistics. If you're on the market for a new system, you should definitely take a stroll through some of the charts.PerformanceTest by PassMark lets you benchmark and compare your system originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
"I need a new computer!" is a cry often heard by parents and system administrators alike. But often, the problem isn't in the hardware - if the user isn't an avid gamer or using a really ancient system, more often than not the problem is a crudded-up Windows installation (yes, I know, "this doesn't happen on Linux").
Proving to your user/kid that the hardware isn't the problem is often easier said than done. What they see is just a slow computer, but PassMark's PerformanceTest may be able to help you prove that the hardware isn't all that wimpy.
First of all, you should know this is a Shareware product. You get it for a 30-day free eval period, after which you should buy it. But for most home users, 30 days should be plenty - you just want to see if you should buy a new computer, and if so, how much would that computer really be better than what you have now.
PerformanceTest runs a fairly comprehensive battery of tests, including CPU, graphics (2D and 3D), memory, hard-drive and CD performance. It then lets you upload the results onto its online database, and you can also pull information from the database to compare your system to right within the program.
For some reason, I was unable to find other systems listed as running Windows 7 x64, and so I had to compare my system with rigs running Vista x64.
Even if you don't want to benchmark your own system, the database provides some very illuminating statistics. If you're on the market for a new system, you should definitely take a stroll through some of the charts.PerformanceTest by PassMark lets you benchmark and compare your system originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Shocker! Google's Android logo boosted from Atari Lynx title 'Gauntlet: The Third Encounter'
Back in the early 90's whilst playing our Atari Lynx -- friendless and alone, of course -- we couldn't have imagined that a second-rate spinoff of the popular Gauntlet franchise would unlock the secrets behind the birth of Google's Android OS. But, lo and behold, what has one of our faithful tipsters found down here, amongst the ruins of Gauntlet: The Third Encounter? That's right, nearly irrefutable proof that the Android team (or at least its graphic designers) have plumbed the depths of Epyx's not-quite-masterpiece for the iconic droid logo we've come to know and love. Sure, the top-down scroller provided all kinds of new character classes like the "Nerd," "Punkrocker," and "Pirate," but only one of these fresh faces would provide the blueprint for Android's public face. It's hard to argue that there isn't some level of appropriation here, given the multiple similarities between the two pieces of art, right down to the antennae, dotted eyes, general size and shape, and even the strip which cuts across the midsection of the bot. Oh yeah, and the character is named Android. We personally would like to hear what Google has to say for themselves in regards to this blatant theft of intellectual property, and as for the Epyx artists who slaved over a hot Amiga to bring this image to life -- the taste of sweet justice is yours.
Gallery: Android / Android transformation
[Thanks, Davey]Continue reading Shocker! Google's Android logo boosted from Atari Lynx title 'Gauntlet: The Third Encounter'Shocker! Google's Android logo boosted from Atari Lynx title 'Gauntlet: The Third Encounter' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Gallery: Android / Android transformation
[Thanks, Davey]Continue reading Shocker! Google's Android logo boosted from Atari Lynx title 'Gauntlet: The Third Encounter'Shocker! Google's Android logo boosted from Atari Lynx title 'Gauntlet: The Third Encounter' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Two more tablet-friendly features on their way to Google Chrome
Filed under: Google, Browsers
Google had originally pegged December 2010 for the first release of Chrome OS, but it's been looking like a fall release is now a safe bet. It's certainly netbook-ready at this point, though some missing features (like an on-screen keyboard) may mean that tablet devices arrive slightly later.
Developers keep plugging ahead, however, and continue to work on tablet-friendly features. Two code revisions have landed in the past couple days which will definitely make Chrome more at home on tablets. The first is device orientation support (think auto-rotating content on your Chrome OS tablet and accelerometer-enabled games) and the other is speech input (hello, voice commands!).
Both features have been part of the Chromium code for a while now, but they're now enabled by default and it's typically a very short amount of time between a new Chromium feature being defaulted and its arrival in the official Google Chrome builds. It's also worth noting that voice input support is only on by default for Chromium's Windows users -- Mac and Linux users would need to add the ?--enable-speech-input switch to their shortcut for the time being.
Developer Jeremy Selier has posted a simple-yet-cool demo video of device orientation using his Macbook Pro -- check it out after the break!
Device orientation demo from Jeremy Selier on Vimeo.Two more tablet-friendly features on their way to Google Chrome originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Google had originally pegged December 2010 for the first release of Chrome OS, but it's been looking like a fall release is now a safe bet. It's certainly netbook-ready at this point, though some missing features (like an on-screen keyboard) may mean that tablet devices arrive slightly later.
Developers keep plugging ahead, however, and continue to work on tablet-friendly features. Two code revisions have landed in the past couple days which will definitely make Chrome more at home on tablets. The first is device orientation support (think auto-rotating content on your Chrome OS tablet and accelerometer-enabled games) and the other is speech input (hello, voice commands!).
Both features have been part of the Chromium code for a while now, but they're now enabled by default and it's typically a very short amount of time between a new Chromium feature being defaulted and its arrival in the official Google Chrome builds. It's also worth noting that voice input support is only on by default for Chromium's Windows users -- Mac and Linux users would need to add the ?--enable-speech-input switch to their shortcut for the time being.
Developer Jeremy Selier has posted a simple-yet-cool demo video of device orientation using his Macbook Pro -- check it out after the break!
Device orientation demo from Jeremy Selier on Vimeo.Two more tablet-friendly features on their way to Google Chrome originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Microsoft had a 'priority email inbox' way before Google, and has patents to prove it
Filed under: Internet, E-mailMuch has been said about Gmail's new priority inbox -- all of it good! -- but it turns out that Microsoft Research has been working on similar technology since the 1990s.
Not only is there a slew of research papers detailing how the technology works (it sounds very similar to Gmail's priority inbox), but Microsoft also has a bunch of well-targeted patents filed as far back as 1999!
Is this just another case of Microsoft being beaten to the market? Back in 2007 Microsoft Research released the Outlook Mobile Manager which seems to forward prioritized email to your mobile device. TechFlash also points out that some of the announced updates for Hotmail sound like they use the same Microsoft Research technology. I think this is more a case of Gmail simply being more nimble than Hotmail; a case of Google being less bogged down by bureaucracy and conservatism. I fully expect Hotmail will receive the same (or better) priority inbox technology in the next few months.
And once Hotmail has a priority inbox, I can't imagine Microsoft will continue to let Gmail use the same technology -- especially if Google offers the priority inbox to its business and enterprise Google Apps customers. But at the same time, I can't believe Google would spend time developing and implementing a service only to have it quashed by Microsoft. I wonder how this one will play out...
Share TweetMicrosoft had a 'priority email inbox' way before Google, and has patents to prove it originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Not only is there a slew of research papers detailing how the technology works (it sounds very similar to Gmail's priority inbox), but Microsoft also has a bunch of well-targeted patents filed as far back as 1999!
Is this just another case of Microsoft being beaten to the market? Back in 2007 Microsoft Research released the Outlook Mobile Manager which seems to forward prioritized email to your mobile device. TechFlash also points out that some of the announced updates for Hotmail sound like they use the same Microsoft Research technology. I think this is more a case of Gmail simply being more nimble than Hotmail; a case of Google being less bogged down by bureaucracy and conservatism. I fully expect Hotmail will receive the same (or better) priority inbox technology in the next few months.
And once Hotmail has a priority inbox, I can't imagine Microsoft will continue to let Gmail use the same technology -- especially if Google offers the priority inbox to its business and enterprise Google Apps customers. But at the same time, I can't believe Google would spend time developing and implementing a service only to have it quashed by Microsoft. I wonder how this one will play out...
Share TweetMicrosoft had a 'priority email inbox' way before Google, and has patents to prove it originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Choosing Between a laptop and an iPad: A guide
One of the big questions many consumers are faced with today is whether to purchase a laptop or an iPad. We hope to take some of the pressure off and help make that decision easier for you in this guide. Since many of you are already more than well aware of what laptops can be [...]
Toshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wilds
That Folio 100 (alias Smart Pad) from Toshiba we'd been hearing about? Yep, totally real, and totally Tegra 2-powered -- a theme that we think is going to be pretty popular among tablet makers this season. We caught a handful of Folio 100s firmly affixed to a wall at IFA today, showing a remixed version of Android 2.2, a handful of capacitive buttons, a front-facing camera, and not much else -- there's really nothing visually stunning about the setup as far as we can tell, and it's not particularly thin. After bouncing out that crazy Libretto W100, Toshiba's going to have to turn up the style dial to 11 if it wants to rise above the forthcoming onslaught of Google tablets, we suspect.
Gallery: Toshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wildsToshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wilds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Gallery: Toshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wildsToshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wilds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Apple claims 50 percent of portable gaming market, iPod touch 'outsells Nintendo and Sony combined'
Nintendo famously called Apple the enemy of the future in the video gaming space, and by golly, it looks like the Japanese giant was right; Steve Jobs just told an audience that the iPod touch alone outsells Nintendo's DS and Sony's PlayStation Portable combined, worldwide. How many games iPod touch users actually play and for how long wasn't discussed, but Jobs said 1.5 billion "games and entertainment" apps have been downloaded -- again, on the iPod touch alone, never mind all those iPhones.
Update: As many fine readers have suggested in comments, this particular statistic seems a little hard to swallow, given that the Nintendo DS alone sold roughly 132 million units -- a good bit less than the 120 million iOS devices Apple claims, and only some of which are iPod touch -- as of the Japanese company's July earnings report. We've contacted Apple for clarification and hope to be able to explain the discrepancy soon.
Check out our liveblog of the keynote event right here!Apple claims 50 percent of portable gaming market, iPod touch 'outsells Nintendo and Sony combined' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Update: As many fine readers have suggested in comments, this particular statistic seems a little hard to swallow, given that the Nintendo DS alone sold roughly 132 million units -- a good bit less than the 120 million iOS devices Apple claims, and only some of which are iPod touch -- as of the Japanese company's July earnings report. We've contacted Apple for clarification and hope to be able to explain the discrepancy soon.
Check out our liveblog of the keynote event right here!Apple claims 50 percent of portable gaming market, iPod touch 'outsells Nintendo and Sony combined' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
CSS3 Playground lets you experiment with new CSS features and generates code
Filed under: Design Tips, web 2.0
I have recently been experimenting with CSS3 box properties for my own personal site. I was thrilled with how easy it was to create a box with rounded corners, some shading and a border - it was really trivial.
That was even before I found CSS3 Playground. Had I found this neat little tool before, I would not have had to hand-code a single line of text.
Like so many other showcases and playgrounds, it's basically a canvas with a bunch of sliders. The sliders let you visually control a CSS div. You can set a ton of CSS3 properties, and watch how they affect the div in real time. Skew it, rotate, zoom in, play with borders and shadow, rounded corners - it's all there, and it's very accessible and fun to play with.
The bottom pane of the window has all of the style declarations you've visually set, both in JavaScript syntax and as CSS. You can just play with the sliders to get it to look just right and then copy/paste it into your own site. Neat!
[Thanks, Yaara!]CSS3 Playground lets you experiment with new CSS features and generates code originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
I have recently been experimenting with CSS3 box properties for my own personal site. I was thrilled with how easy it was to create a box with rounded corners, some shading and a border - it was really trivial.
That was even before I found CSS3 Playground. Had I found this neat little tool before, I would not have had to hand-code a single line of text.
Like so many other showcases and playgrounds, it's basically a canvas with a bunch of sliders. The sliders let you visually control a CSS div. You can set a ton of CSS3 properties, and watch how they affect the div in real time. Skew it, rotate, zoom in, play with borders and shadow, rounded corners - it's all there, and it's very accessible and fun to play with.
The bottom pane of the window has all of the style declarations you've visually set, both in JavaScript syntax and as CSS. You can just play with the sliders to get it to look just right and then copy/paste it into your own site. Neat!
[Thanks, Yaara!]CSS3 Playground lets you experiment with new CSS features and generates code originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Angry Birds beta flying to Android Market this Friday
Rumors around the web had been pointing to a release of Angry Birds for Android by the end of the summer. In checking our calendars, we've realized that it's now the September, so where is our Angry Birds!? The guys over at Talk Android contacted Rovio, the game's developer, to see what's going on. Rovio's response (truncated by us):This week, we were planning to run a closed beta test of Angry Birds Lite for Android. Due to the massive response and demand from the Android community, we have decided to make Angry Birds Lite Beta available for everybody through the Android Market this Friday.Please note that this will be the beta version of the application which is still undergoing final testing before official release. Angry Birds Lite Beta is presented on an “as is” basis, and we cannot guarantee its functionality on every Android device.Angry Birds Lite Beta will run on second generation Android devices and upwards.So there you have it people. Let's hope we can get our bird on starting Friday, so our webOS and iOS pals can quit lording it over us. [via Talk Android]Posted originally at Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
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3-way hardware-accelerated browser shoot-out: Chrome on top, IE9 just behind and Firefox brings up the rear (video)
Filed under: Browsers
After yesterday's announcement that Chrome 7 is now hardware accelerated, I instantly wanted to get the major browsers back into the ring for another screencasted deathmatch. Back when I did the 4-way speed test, only Firefox and Internet Explorer 9 featured hardware acceleration, and as a result Opera and Chrome were many orders of magnitude slower. If you watch the video, however, you'll see that's definitely no longer the case: Chrome is now the fastest of the three major browsers.
That speed comes at a price! As I discuss in the video, Chrome might be faster, but it uses significantly more resources than either IE9 or Firefox 4. Firefox is some 30% slower, but at the same time seems to use less CPU and GPU time. IE9 seems to utilize the same amount of CPU time as Chrome, but a little less of the GPU -- and it's marginally slower as a result.
What I don't know is whether this is by design or not. You'll notice that the GPU never went far above 50% -- why, with three browsers open, does it not get closer to 100%? The resources are there to be used -- why not use them?! Likewise, my CPU is still only half-used even when all three browsers are drawing 1000 frantic fishes at the same time. If you're curious, the other IE9 test drive samples all provided similar results. I wanted to try Google's 'HTML5 rocks' sample gallery, but they intentionally used elements of CSS and HTML5 that aren't yet supported in Internet Explorer 9 or Firefox 4.
In the name of science, here's some more information about my process: the screen capture does slow down each browser by a few frames per second, but relatively the figures are still accurate. I saw a small deviation in FPS when I was only running one browser at a time (probably because my CPU has multiple cores). There are a few unknown variables too, like whether the CPU core usage is defined by the app, or by the operating system (but with Chrome using more resources than IE9, you can only assume that Windows isn't unfairly biasing its own-brand browser).
If you'd like to recreate my test, you'll need to enable hardware acceleration in Firefox 4 and Chrome -- IE9 has it turned on by default:
Firefox 4 -- grab a nightly build, navigate to about:config and add gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled -- set it to 'true'
Chrome 7 -- grab a nightly build and add the following flags to the shortcut before opening it: --enable-accelerated-compositing --enable-gpu-plugin --enable-gpu-rendering --enable-accelerated-2d-canvas
Share Tweet3-way hardware-accelerated browser shoot-out: Chrome on top, IE9 just behind and Firefox brings up the rear (video) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
After yesterday's announcement that Chrome 7 is now hardware accelerated, I instantly wanted to get the major browsers back into the ring for another screencasted deathmatch. Back when I did the 4-way speed test, only Firefox and Internet Explorer 9 featured hardware acceleration, and as a result Opera and Chrome were many orders of magnitude slower. If you watch the video, however, you'll see that's definitely no longer the case: Chrome is now the fastest of the three major browsers.
That speed comes at a price! As I discuss in the video, Chrome might be faster, but it uses significantly more resources than either IE9 or Firefox 4. Firefox is some 30% slower, but at the same time seems to use less CPU and GPU time. IE9 seems to utilize the same amount of CPU time as Chrome, but a little less of the GPU -- and it's marginally slower as a result.
What I don't know is whether this is by design or not. You'll notice that the GPU never went far above 50% -- why, with three browsers open, does it not get closer to 100%? The resources are there to be used -- why not use them?! Likewise, my CPU is still only half-used even when all three browsers are drawing 1000 frantic fishes at the same time. If you're curious, the other IE9 test drive samples all provided similar results. I wanted to try Google's 'HTML5 rocks' sample gallery, but they intentionally used elements of CSS and HTML5 that aren't yet supported in Internet Explorer 9 or Firefox 4.
In the name of science, here's some more information about my process: the screen capture does slow down each browser by a few frames per second, but relatively the figures are still accurate. I saw a small deviation in FPS when I was only running one browser at a time (probably because my CPU has multiple cores). There are a few unknown variables too, like whether the CPU core usage is defined by the app, or by the operating system (but with Chrome using more resources than IE9, you can only assume that Windows isn't unfairly biasing its own-brand browser).
If you'd like to recreate my test, you'll need to enable hardware acceleration in Firefox 4 and Chrome -- IE9 has it turned on by default:
Firefox 4 -- grab a nightly build, navigate to about:config and add gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled -- set it to 'true'
Chrome 7 -- grab a nightly build and add the following flags to the shortcut before opening it: --enable-accelerated-compositing --enable-gpu-plugin --enable-gpu-rendering --enable-accelerated-2d-canvas
Share Tweet3-way hardware-accelerated browser shoot-out: Chrome on top, IE9 just behind and Firefox brings up the rear (video) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Multitask With The New Compass iPad Stand
Twelve South is well known for their exclusive and stylish accessory designs for Apple products and most recently they have introduced the all new Compass stand for the iPad. You may recall back in April Twelve South was one of the first companies to release a quality iPad stand, also known as the Bookarc Stand. [...]
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3D Sony Vaio landing next year, we preview the prototype
See this computer here? Yeah, well Sony's going to launch a laptop next year that will most likely look nothing like this. Intrigued? We thought you would be. Sony announced today that it will be launching at least one laptop next year (probably a mini-series of 'em) with a 3D-capable 240Hz LCD. The laptop will be using a built-in IR blaster to sync with your regular Bravia shutter glasses, but it's unclear whether the price of a laptop will get you a free pair of the precious specs. The prototype we got to look at here has a 16-inch 16:9 display, housed in a current F series chassis, but all that is of course subject to change when the final model lands. We do have to say, in comparison to some of the other 3D laptops we've seen, Sony's tech comes off looking pretty good, but there's nothing here to convince us this is anything beyond a niche luxury for now -- although an ability to use this screen as a 3D display for our PS3 might help us change our mind (we asked, the answer is no). Expect to hear more about this mysterious beast at next year's CES. Gallery: 3D Sony Vaio landing next year, we preview the prototype3D Sony Vaio landing next year, we preview the prototype originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Google Chrome to get Gmail Labs-like experimental features
Filed under: Google, Browsers
Many of our readers have been frustrated by having to add command line switches to Google Chrome in order to try out a new feature. In truth, it's really not a difficult procedure (though Windows and Linux users have it far easier than those on Mac) -- but wouldn't it be cool if you could just click something to turn them on?
Starting soon, you just might be able to do that. Google OS spotted a new addition to the Chromium browser: an about:labs page. Load it up, and you'll see experimental browser features which you can enable -- like side tabs on Windows and tab expose on Mac.
At least, very soon you'll be able to turn the features on via this page. Right now, it's not functional. Clicking enable on tabs on the left didn't actually activate the feature for me -- I still had to add the --enable-vertical-tabs switch to my shortcut.
The addition of about:labs is a nice touch, and will allow more users to kick the tires on cutting-edge features. That, of course, is a good thing for Google. A larger group of testers should allow them to tackle bugs more quickly and push features from the dev and canary builds to the beta and stable channels even more quickly.Google Chrome to get Gmail Labs-like experimental features originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Many of our readers have been frustrated by having to add command line switches to Google Chrome in order to try out a new feature. In truth, it's really not a difficult procedure (though Windows and Linux users have it far easier than those on Mac) -- but wouldn't it be cool if you could just click something to turn them on?
Starting soon, you just might be able to do that. Google OS spotted a new addition to the Chromium browser: an about:labs page. Load it up, and you'll see experimental browser features which you can enable -- like side tabs on Windows and tab expose on Mac.
At least, very soon you'll be able to turn the features on via this page. Right now, it's not functional. Clicking enable on tabs on the left didn't actually activate the feature for me -- I still had to add the --enable-vertical-tabs switch to my shortcut.
The addition of about:labs is a nice touch, and will allow more users to kick the tires on cutting-edge features. That, of course, is a good thing for Google. A larger group of testers should allow them to tackle bugs more quickly and push features from the dev and canary builds to the beta and stable channels even more quickly.Google Chrome to get Gmail Labs-like experimental features originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments
Chrome extensions with right-click context menus coming soon! And your chance to win a Chrome hoodie...
Filed under: Developer, Google, BrowsersIn a move that is surely an effort to keep pace with Firefox's helter-skelter development of Jetpack, Chrome Beta now has a context menu API!
There's also a bunch of other new APIs, the most exciting being the Omnibox API. Imagine Chrome's built-in search engines (type 'Amazon', then a space, and then a book name -- it searches Amazon!), but with extension access. Type the name of an extension into the Omnibox, and then any further input is redirected to the extension. Actually, having said this is an exciting addition, I'm really not sure what an extension would do with it... Perhaps something Ubiquity-esque?
The new Infobar API might be of interest, too. You know that blue bar that appears when Chrome asks you whether you want a page to be translated? Well, extensions can now pop those up for you. I can see security and privacy extensions like LastPass making use of them, or an extension that alerts you when a page you're visiting has an 'official Chrome extension' (you know, instead of that awful JavaScript hack...).
Oh, and if you make an extension (featuring the new APIs? It's not clear), let Google know and they might send you a free Chrome hoodie! Hooray.Chrome extensions with right-click context menus coming soon! And your chance to win a Chrome hoodie... originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
There's also a bunch of other new APIs, the most exciting being the Omnibox API. Imagine Chrome's built-in search engines (type 'Amazon', then a space, and then a book name -- it searches Amazon!), but with extension access. Type the name of an extension into the Omnibox, and then any further input is redirected to the extension. Actually, having said this is an exciting addition, I'm really not sure what an extension would do with it... Perhaps something Ubiquity-esque?
The new Infobar API might be of interest, too. You know that blue bar that appears when Chrome asks you whether you want a page to be translated? Well, extensions can now pop those up for you. I can see security and privacy extensions like LastPass making use of them, or an extension that alerts you when a page you're visiting has an 'official Chrome extension' (you know, instead of that awful JavaScript hack...).
Oh, and if you make an extension (featuring the new APIs? It's not clear), let Google know and they might send you a free Chrome hoodie! Hooray.Chrome extensions with right-click context menus coming soon! And your chance to win a Chrome hoodie... originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Vision of Humanity offers beautiful infographics on the state of the planet
Filed under: Design, Education
Vision of Humanity is one of the most beautiful and thorough visualizations that I have recently seen.
It's a zoomable Flash world map, which lets you browse and compare a vast number of "peace indicators," such as level of violent crime, access to weapons, jailed population, relations with neighboring countries, and more.
You view a world heat map, which shows where that index is most prevalent. You can zoom in on a specific country and browse through all of its indicators, and you can compare two or more countries.
The site takes all of these indicators and derives a single number, which it calls the "peace index." At a glance, you can basically see which countries are the most peaceful and which ones rank worst on the list.
As per usual with these tools, the tool itself is very impressive, but I cannot say that I fully trust the data. The data comes from an entity that calls itself the Institute for Economics & Peace, which is an incredibly nebulous name. Even reading their About page didn't improve my level of trust in this "institute." There's a Wikipedia entry about them, so they seem to be real. I cannot, however, vouch for the quality of the data.
Still, from a technology/design viewpoint, this is an impressive visualization that I could easily spend a great deal of time with, discovering new (if troubling) facts.
Share TweetVision of Humanity offers beautiful infographics on the state of the planet originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Vision of Humanity is one of the most beautiful and thorough visualizations that I have recently seen.
It's a zoomable Flash world map, which lets you browse and compare a vast number of "peace indicators," such as level of violent crime, access to weapons, jailed population, relations with neighboring countries, and more.
You view a world heat map, which shows where that index is most prevalent. You can zoom in on a specific country and browse through all of its indicators, and you can compare two or more countries.
The site takes all of these indicators and derives a single number, which it calls the "peace index." At a glance, you can basically see which countries are the most peaceful and which ones rank worst on the list.
As per usual with these tools, the tool itself is very impressive, but I cannot say that I fully trust the data. The data comes from an entity that calls itself the Institute for Economics & Peace, which is an incredibly nebulous name. Even reading their About page didn't improve my level of trust in this "institute." There's a Wikipedia entry about them, so they seem to be real. I cannot, however, vouch for the quality of the data.
Still, from a technology/design viewpoint, this is an impressive visualization that I could easily spend a great deal of time with, discovering new (if troubling) facts.
Share TweetVision of Humanity offers beautiful infographics on the state of the planet originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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