Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 9:00 PM for everyone
Another contender has entered the fray in the great tablet wars of 2010. It's the $500 Olive Telecom OlivePad, a seven-inch, 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreened device. Announced back in July, Indian television show TechGuru snagged one for review a few weeks back where they, predictably, squared it off against an iPad. The Android 2.1 device looks nice enough, but, according to the translation recently provided by Netbooknews, doesn't compare to Apple's device in terms of visual appeal. It is, at least, a licensed version of Android, with access to the Market and the standard Google apps, all of which look to run very well on its 600MHz ARM CPU. 512MB of internal memory is paired with 512MB of ROM, naturally with microSD expansion. There is also a three megapixel camera on the back and a SIM slot not only providing wireless data but also enabling phone calls -- though we'd advise taking advantage of the device's Bluetooth capabilities to avoid holding this chubby slate to your head. The full video is available for you after the break, but don't blame us if you only understand every third or fourth word.
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 7:00 PM for everyone
South Korean researchers have created a software-based router that leaves similar devices in the dust. The virtual box can transmit data at 40 gigabytes per second—compared to the typical 2 or 3—and runs on cheap, store-bought components. More »
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 5:00 PM for everyone
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have laptop bags in our sights -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month.
By now you should have had enough time to decide what on our laptop buying guide takes your fancy, but, as Apple will tell you, the protective case is sometimes as important as the precious hardware itself. You'll notice that this year we have a good number of bags that include padded camera sections as well -- to the point of perhaps being described as camera bags with laptop compartments -- but we feel that's justified by the massive proliferation of DSLRs into the mainstream market. Entry-level interchangeable lens shooters have grown cheap enough even for non-photography students to consider owning one, but we can think of no good reason why they should require a separate bag of their own. So, on with the recommendations.
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 3:00 PM for everyone
The Case-Mate Barely There Chrome Case for iPhone 4 is just stunningly beautiful. If you’ve been following me on Twitter you know it’s my new favorite iPhone 4 case and considering how long I used the Case-Mate Barely There Chrome Case for my iPhone 3G it’s likely to remain so for a long time to [...]
Stylebot is a Chrome add-on that provides a point-and-click interface for customizing the CSS on any page, and then it saves your customizations for next time -- and if you have bookmark sync turned on, it even syncs them for you!
The way that it works is very simple. In Selection mode, each element on the page gets a highlighted frame when you hover over it. As soon as you get the element that you want, just click it. Any CSS declarations that you then specify are applied to that element.
"Specifying CSS declarations" sounds pretty technical, but it's basically clicking a bunch of buttons. You need to know a bit of CSS to make good use of the add-on, but it's also a very good way to learn. Of course, if you do know your CSS, you can just switch to Advanced mode and hand code it instead.
A few missing features:
Up/down keys do not work for incrementing/decrementing values. That's a must-have Greasemonkey feature!
Existing font sizes (and other properties) are not displayed. This means that, if I want to increase the font size of an existing element, I need to start by guessing what the current size is. Then, I need to nudge it up by entering (say) 12, deleting, entering 13, deleting, entering 17, deleting, entering 15, etc. It rapidly gets annoying. Up/down keystroke support + showing the currently selected font size would go a long way towards alleviating this.
There's no simple way to undo a single change. You can either reset everything you've done, or you can manually edit the CSS in order to remove the change (if your CSS chops are up to the task).
Other than those few things, it's certainly a handy add-on for customizing the Web. I like that it saves your settings automatically and syncs them. I've embedded the add-on's "intro video" after the break.
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 11:00 AM for everyone
digg_url = 'http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/21/apple-attempts-to-patent-kill-switch-that-roots-out-unauthorized/'; Just about every mobile operating system manufacturer can remotely delete apps from the smartphones they help provide, but if a recent patent application is any indication, Apple's looking to lock down the whole enchilada on future devices. The basic concept is as simple as the diagram above -- certain activities trigger the phone to think it's in the wrong hands -- but the particular activities and particular remedies Apple suggests extend to audiovisual spying (to detect if a user has a different face or voice than the owner), and complete remote shutdown. While the patent mostly sounds targeted at opt-in security software and would simply send you an alert or perform a remote wipe if your phone were stolen or hacked, jailbreaking and unlocking are also explicitly mentioned as the marks of an unauthorized user, and one line mentions that cellular carriers could shut down or cripple a device when such a user is detected. Sounds great for securing phones at retail, sure, but personally we'd rather devices don't determine our authority by monitoring our heartbeat (seriously, that's an option) and we're plenty happy with the existing Find My iPhone app.
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 9:00 AM for everyone
I like my Android phones plain and vanilla, stock with no custom layers. Some XDA folks think the same because they've rigged a Samsung Galaxy S to ditch Touchwiz for the stock (read: better) Android 2.1 experience. More »
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 7:00 AM for everyone
In February 2009, Arron La's $0.99 Advanced Task Manager was one of the first paid apps on Android, allowing T-Mobile G1 users to do what was then a novel thing -- close applications. (We immediately bought a copy.) Today, the app is all but obsolete, its functionality baked right into Android's core, but Arron's still making thousands of dollars a month. Why do we bring this up? Because nine months after Arron released the pay-first version, he unleashed an ad-supported variant as well... and since that day, each has contributed about the same amount ($30,000) of money. It's not exactly an object lesson in what's possible on the 70,000-application-strong Android Market, as this gentleman obviously had quite the head start, but it does show that when it comes time to monetize your best-thing-since-sliced-bread app, there's more than one option -- ads can be an equally good revenue source. Find rays of hope for indie development (and several stormy clouds for comparison) at the links below.
Update: Did we say 50,000 apps? We meant more like 70K and counting as of July. Thanks to the astute commenters who pointed this out.
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 5:00 AM for everyone
Got long nails or chubby fingers? Are you struggling to type on a regular keyboard? No worries, some clever Japanese folks have acknowledged your troubles and designed keyboards with extra spacing between the keys. More »
Rotate and Roll is a game about balls. However, it can rapidly turn into a game about balls plummeting towards inevitable doom, unless you play it wisely.
The balls in question are on a plank. Sometimes it's just one lonely ball per level, and sometimes there are as many as four. When you press the arrow keys, the entire level rotates. Obviously, the board tilts, and the ball starts rolling.
If it rolls off the screen, you're out. You're trying to get it to roll into that large ball that you see at the bottom of the screenshot. When it gets there, you win, and you get to go on to the next level.
Sometimes your ball needs to collect something before it can go on to the next level. For instance, you may need to pick up that coin-like thing, which you can see toward the upper right corner of the screenshot (on the right plank). So, you'd have to rotate the level to the right, collect the coin, gently tilt back to the left until your ball falls onto the lower plank, and go from there to the big ball.
Of course, this being a physics game, velocity matters. You don't want to rotate too quickly, but you can do some neat tricks by rotating very fast and "bouncing" the balls off of level elements.
The atmosphere is pretty soothing; there's nice acoustic guitar in the background, and the whole thing is pretty serene. It's quite a fun little game!
Posted by Earl on Aug 23, '10 1:00 AM for everyone
The Chewdriver (Tiny Hard Hat Not Included) R2D2 Edition Droid 2 Is The Star Wars Tie-In You?re Looking For Video: Creepily Realistic Robot Hand Just A Turtle Mouse, That?s All DIY: Build Your Own Sound Activated FlashMOODYâS MISCROSOFT OFFICEMICROSOFT MICROSEMI
Posted by Earl on Aug 22, '10 11:00 PM for everyone
A writer for Futurama created a brand new math theorem based on group theory to explain a plot twist in the show. That is like, going way beyond the call of duty, dude. More »
Posted by Earl on Aug 22, '10 7:00 PM for everyone
When it comes to trash can technology, there's little doubt the United Kingdom is on top, what with the bomb-proof and RFID-laden bins denizens have been subjected to for years. Still, the US has trialed traceable cans for some time now, and the city of Cleveland, Ohio's just decided to make them stick, shelling out $2.5 million last week for 150,000 households worth of electronically-accountable recycling. Unlike prior garbage tracing schemes, however, citizens won't be charged according to the raw weight of undesirables in their can, but rather tested to make sure at least 10 percent of the recycling bin's contents are actually recyclable -- else face a $100 fine. That may sound a little pricey, but let's face facts: if 91 percent of what you toss in your recycling bin is garbage, you're not exactly helping the planet. they aren't throwing recycling in the trash bin instead. If over 10% of a resident's trash is actually recyclable, they're slapped with a $100 fine, a costly reminder to take better care of the planet next time.
Update: We read it wrong; it's actually your trash can that's measured for recyclables. That makes much more sense! [Thanks, Adam Z.]
While Google Chrome has seen plenty of uptake from enthusiasts, developers, and end users at home, enterprise environments have always been a bit tougher to penetrate. Internet Explorer is still king of the hill when it comes to enterprise browsing -- and even Firefox has only recently begun to make serious inroads.
One thing which might help is the addition of policy support to Chrome. With administrators able to control things like access to Wrench > Options, extension installs, and content settings, they might just be a little more willing to deploy Chrome on their corporate machines -- where manageability is a primary concern. There's still the tech support hurdle to overcome: many large businesses outsource their IT help desks and Chrome support skills could be in short supply. It's still a very young browser, after all.
Google also recently introduced an .MSI package for Chrome, and that too could help further adoption. The .MSI allows for machine-wide installs into the Program Files directory rather than into your Application Data folder and should make deployment a painless procedure (at least the install portion).
Posted by Earl on Aug 22, '10 3:00 PM for everyone
The OttLite company is known for producing lamps and bulbs that provide natural lighting. Their POD Desk Lamp has a 13W OttLite HD bulb that will provide 10,000 hours of task lighting. It also has a charging stand for your phone, MP3 player, or other small device built in to the base. There’s even a wire management system [...]
Posted by Earl on Aug 22, '10 1:01 PM for everyone
Manufacturing upstart PocketBook is clearly still gung ho about e-readers, judging by the five new models it has announced will be released at IFA in September, which include a pair of entry-level ProBook 602 and 902 units, as well as the ProBook 603 and 903 premium units. The 60x designated models sport 6-inch screens, while the 90x models have a bigger 9.7-inch. All models will feature 2GB of internal storage, a Linux-based OS, and include WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. However, the higher-end versions also gain 3G connectivity and a Wacom touchscreen. More interesting and genre-bending though is the so-called "entertainment model" PocketBook IQ that will be available in three case color options, feature a 7-inch TFT color touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth, and will run Android 2.0. Access to PocketBook's own Bookland.net e-book store unfortunately rounds out all the details we know so far, but we'll be sure to find out more once IFA gets going. Check out shots of the individual readers and get the full translated PR below.
Using Outlook 2010 and wish you had an easy way to keep it in sync with your Google Calendar? Good news! Google has just released an updated version of Google Calendar Sync which works with the latest version of Microsoft's enterprise workhorse... well, mostly anyways.
Sync only works with 32-bit installs of Outlook 2010, though to be fair even Microsoft recommended that users roll with that version to prevent plug-in compatibility issues. 64-bit support will likely come later on -- when 64-bit Office installs are a bit more commonplace.
The updated app supports both two-way and one-way syncing, meaning you can push items from your Google Calendar to Outlook or vice versa, or keep them running in unison. Check out the official blog post for more details and the download link!
Posted by Earl on Aug 22, '10 9:00 AM for everyone
Black-and-white e-readers are limiting while full color LCD displays such as those in tablets like the iPad can be power hungry and tough on the eyes. That’s why Qualcomm is betting that a new hybrid device that bridge the two worlds could be in the hands of consumers early next year. Qualcomm is on track to [...]PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS PALM OSI SYSTEMS
