LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy

LimeWire might not have been the downloading program of choice for elite users like those of you reading Download Squad right now, but there's no denying its popularity with the average user. So when the Gnutella-powered LimeWire was shut down once and for all, there was little doubt that the impact on music piracy would be significant.

As TorrentFreak reports, the number of users utilizing P2P applications in the U.S. has nosedived -- to a level 43% lower than this time last year. Based on previous numbers, that works out to about 12 million fewer downloaders. The findings are based on a survey conducted by NPD.

What's particularly interesting is that while there are still plenty of LimeWire alternatives, it looks like most users have simply given up on music downloading -- or at least that's what they're telling survey reps on the telephone...LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game

Years of computer use have taught us that the mouse cursor is "above" the windows. It doesn't push anything around; at least not without you clicking anything.

Balance takes that ingrained bit of knowledge and cancels it out. Suddenly your cursor (a blue dot) is solid - and if it touches the blue block, it pushes it around.

Your job is to use your cursor to nudge the blue block over to the orange block. You will have to push it, lift it and even flip it on its side, and then balance it. It's a very tricky game - one I wouldn't recommend tackling with a laptop trackpad.

Still, if you have a mouse and a hankering for a little physics gameplay, this is a cute little game. I like how the blue block never stops smiling, it makes me feel better about the world.Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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UK's first fuel cell-powered black cab hits the streets of London

It may not look much different than your average black cab on the outside (decals aside), but it's quite a different story under the hood of this taxi, which has just been deemed road legal in the UK. Developed by Intelligent Energy, the cab actually includes both a fuel cell with a 30 kW net output and a 14 kWh lithium polymer battery pack, which combined promise to provide enough juice for a full day of operation -- along with a top speed of 81 MPH and acceleration from zero to sixty in fourteen seconds. Londoners won't be seeing them everywhere just yet, however, as the company only expects the first fleet to be ready sometime next year in time for the 2012 Olympics.Continue reading UK's first fuel cell-powered black cab hits the streets of LondonUK's first fuel cell-powered black cab hits the streets of London originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Electric Cars Report  |   | Email this | Comments

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Asus Claims People Do Genuinely Want Windows 7 on Tablets [Tablets]

Despite Asus offering up a couple of Android tablets, they're still finding that customers want nothing more than Windows 7—because that's what they're used to. While Asus may privately agree that Android—or iOS—provides a better tablet experience than Windows 7, the fact of the matter is they're "making Windows 7 tablets because we still get a lot of enquiries from corporate and end users who are just used to Windows," says an Asus rep. More »

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Climsy shares images on your clipboard via Dropbox and Imageshack

Every now and then, there's screen capture or image you stumble across that you just have to share. Climsy is a nice, simple Windows program which makes the process dead simple. It works the way FluffyApp does: take a screenshot or right-click and copy an image to your clipboard in any application, and Climsy will file it to a folder of your choosing or upload to either your Dropbox account, Imageshack, or to Climsy's own server. There's a configurable setting for automatic uploading, and Climsy will report back with a link to your file once the transfer has completed (which you can see above).

Right now, Climsy only supports full screen (Prt Scrn) or single application window captures (Alt+Prt Scrn). We'd like to see a selectable region capture, a la Screenpresso, added to round things out. We'd also like to see support for short URLs, just in case some of our links get a bit lengthy.

Climsy is available as an installer and as a portable application, and it's totally free for both personal and commercial use. It's incredibly lightweight, too -- barely clocking more than 1MB of memory on our Windows 7 test rig.Climsy shares images on your clipboard via Dropbox and Imageshack originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Daily Crunch: Prep Edition

This OCD Chef Cutting Board Aligns Perfectly With My Neuroses MIT Scientist Claims To Have Created Practical ?Artificial Leaf? Giveaway: Every Impactband Color Videos: Robot Spatula ?SWITL? Picks Up And Replaces Semi-Liquids Without Destroying Their Shape Excelsior! Students Build Fruit Ninja Simulator

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Daily Crunch: Focus Edition

Dalby Announces Lighter, Sexier* 3D Glasses Wenger Titanium Tool Is Titanium Prism-Lens Microscope Captures Nine Images At Once For Multi-Angle Stereoscopic Viewing Lawsuits Allege Netflix Violates Privacy Rights All Over The Place More Patent Trolling, This Time Against Every Major Mobile Manufacturer

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Microsoft's 'updated Xbox 360 disc format' to add an extra gigabyte?

As you'll recall from yesterday, there was one small detail that stood out in Microsoft's announcement of a new preview program for the Xbox 360 -- namely, word that the latest system update would bring with it an "updated Xbox 360 disc format." That naturally prompted plenty of speculation, and Eurogamer now says it has heard from a "highly placed development source" who has confirmed that the new disc format actually adds 1GB of storage space to Xbox 360 discs. As the site notes, the Xbox 360's current disc format tops out at just 6.8GB, which still leaves some room to play around with on a standard dual-layer DVD. That would also explain the free copy of Halo: Reach that Microsoft is giving out to everyone accepted into the preview program -- can't really test a new disc format without some new discs now, can you?Microsoft's 'updated Xbox 360 disc format' to add an extra gigabyte? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Eurogamer  | Email this | Comments

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This iPad 2 Is a Plasticine Dream [Video]

My expected iPad 2 delivery date is sometime in late April. Torture! In the meantime, I might just have to make myself one of these adorable stop-motion Plasticine models. After all, they come with Maps, Cut the Rope, Garage Band—pretty much everything you need for a full iOS experience. More »

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Wolfram Research Acquires Modeling And Simulation Software Developer MathCore

Wolfram Research, the parent company behind computational search engine Wolfram Alpha, is acquiring MathCore Engineering AB, the developer of the MathModelica modeling and simulation software system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MathModelica is a software system for multi-engineering modeling and simulation based on Modelica and Mathematica. MathModelica allows users to develop advanced multi-engineering models in a simple drag and drop interface and includes a large number of built-in base models for engineering domains, including electrical, mechanical, and thermal, as well as for areas like biochemical modeling. The resulting models can be directly simulated and visualized. MathCore's software is used by companies such as Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Scania.

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This iPad 2 Is a Plasticine Dream [Video]

My expected iPad 2 delivery date is sometime in late April. Torture! In the meantime, I might just have to make myself one of these adorable stop-motion Plasticine models. After all, they come with Maps, Cut the Rope, Garage Band—pretty much everything you need for a full iOS experience. More »

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The Crossbow Machete: The Most Badass Way To Accidentally Kill a Family Member [Video]

If you happen across a giant bald man of some vague Eastern European provenance wearing a blue ESPRIT t-shirt, do not provoke him. Because chances are he is carrying on his person the most ridiculous weapon of the modern age: the crossbow machete. Don't try this at home, or outside, or anywhere, ever. [Geekologie] More »

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The World's Largest Wooden Structure Now Open For Business [Design]

The Metropol Parasol, located in Seville, Spain, just opened its doors to the public and is the world's largest wooden structure. Some pragmatically-minded city planners originally wanted to build a parking garage on the site, then they discovered some artifacts of archaeological significance and opted to build a museum/shopping center instead. More »

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This Is the First Image Ever Obtained from Mercury Orbit [Astronomy]

This is the surface of planet Mercury, the first image ever obtained from its orbit. It was taken by Messenger, the first human-made spaceship to orbit this scorching hell. More »

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IE9 is the most energy-efficient modern browser, according to Microsoft's own testing

Of all the battlefields we've witnessed in the browser wars, this one's never really crossed our minds before: energy efficiency. Yes, the power efficiency of a piece of software, not hardware, is being touted by Microsoft as a differentiating feature for its fresh new Internet Explorer 9. It's thrown together the top five most popular browsers and put them through a cycle of benchmarks -- including Microsoft's own FishIE Tank graphics acceleration test, but not the somewhat popular Adobe Flash -- while measuring how much power they use beyond what the underlying Windows 7 system needs to keep itself going. Shockingly, IE9 was the winner each and every time and there's a tenuous conclusion drawn that if you want good battery life, you'll be going with Internet Explorer. Oh well, whether you consider them a good laugh or really valuable buyer's advice, there's plenty more of these power consumption comparisons at the source link below.IE9 is the most energy-efficient modern browser, according to Microsoft's own testing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Mashable  |  IEBlog  | Email this | Comments

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Crackle starts streaming all of its free movies to Roku, PS3, Sony TVs and Blu-ray players

Sony's Crackle has had a more successful life so far than its previous iteration as Grouper, streaming movies, TV shows and shorts to various devices since launching back in '07 and announced today its full library will be streaming to the PS3, Roku boxes, Sony Blu-ray players and Bravia TVs. Expanding full access from just the Google TV (there's also an Android app that currently streams some of the items) it's taking credit as the only provider offering free full length flicks including Ghostbusters, Bad Boys, A Few Good Men and more for free on these platforms. The drawbacks are video that tops out at 480p standard definition and Hulu-style commercial interruptions but if you absolutely must watch Weekend at Bernies II without spending any money it is an option -- at least, as long as the PS3 browser doesn't crash with an out of memory error like it did for us. It did work better on more capable platforms, so check out the full details in the press release after the break.Continue reading Crackle starts streaming all of its free movies to Roku, PS3, Sony TVs and Blu-ray playersCrackle starts streaming all of its free movies to Roku, PS3, Sony TVs and Blu-ray players originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

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Nintendo says 3DS sets day-one handheld sales record, doesn't quantify it

How many Nintendo 3DS handhelds got sold stateside after Triforce Johnson got one? Enough for Nintendo to boast: "U.S. day-one sales numbers for Nintendo 3DS were the highest of any Nintendo hand-held system in our history," the company claimed today, adding that the volume of tech support calls it received was also "well below the rate experienced during past hardware launches," and that there are no widespread issues with the handheld. That may sound a bit premature, considering Nintendo won't provide actual sales figures until April 14th, but we're willing to consider the possibility that the Virtual Boy's legacy is done: perhaps this time, the only major headaches Nintendo's handheld will create are for the likes of Sony and Microsoft.Nintendo says 3DS sets day-one handheld sales record, doesn't quantify it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Joystiq, Shacknews, USA Today  |   | Email this | Comments

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Instagrid is an easy way to create a gallery of your Instagram photos

Looking for a clean, simple way to display and share your Instagram photos as a gallery? Check out Instagrid, a new Web app that makes the process about as painless as it can be. Just create an account, plug in your Instagram account details, and starting choosing photos. Photos can be viewed in a single-column display at full size, or as a neatly laid-out array of thumbnails. Clicking a thumbnail loads the full-size image in a JavaScript lightbox.

Instagrid is developed by the same group who produced Instawar, a fun little site that lets users 'do battle' with a pair of Instagram photos.Instagrid is an easy way to create a gallery of your Instagram photos originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Will iPad 3 Arrive In 2011

It’s incredible how fast new technology becomes outdated and obsolete these days. The iPad 2 hasn’t even gone on sale yet and there’s already rumors about iPad 3 making it’s debut sometime during the fall, around September to be exact. There’s no confirmation on whether or not these rumors are true. However, Apple must be [...]

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Inspiring: Kik Founder Donates $1M To Kickstart University of Waterloo Seed Fund

The founder of messaging app Kik, 23-year-old entrepreneur Ted Livingston, has donated $1 million to The University of Waterloo's VeloCity Residence, a residence-based mobile and digital startups incubator (dormcubator?) where his own startup ambitions were sparked.

The University of Waterloo will now also establish a $1 million seed fund for student startups and intends to provide "at least 30 student ventures" with $25,000 as well as four months of office space, incorporation services and mentoring over the next few years.

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Mozilla details new Chrome-like release schedule and channels, Firefox 5 soon

Engineering Director of Mozilla, Rob Sayre, has detailed the upcoming changes to the Firefox release schedule. The most notable change is a shift away from feature-driven releases to a fixed six-week schedule-driven release pattern.

Instead of major releases every 12 to 18 months, Firefox will shift to a four-channel system, just like Google's Chrome browser. The nightly channel (mozilla-central) will remain in place, but the beta audience will be split into Experimental and Beta channels. The final channel will be a stable build (Firefox 4, Firefox 5, etc.)

Every six weeks, code will be shifted from one channel to the next. At week 6, code will move from mozilla-central to firefox-experimental; firefox-experimental will move to firefox-beta; and firefox-beta will move to Firefox, the stable channel. Around week 12 and 18 the same process will occur, and so on, until the end of time. This means that we could see a major Firefox release every six weeks, once the machine starts turning.Continue reading Mozilla details new Chrome-like release schedule and channels, Firefox 5 soonMozilla details new Chrome-like release schedule and channels, Firefox 5 soon originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Lenovo CEO: LePad's slimmer successor should arrive in September or October

Lenovo may have just launched the much delayed LePad in China, but it's already giddying us with a surprisingly early date for said Android tablet's successor. At last night's opening banquet for the 2011 Chinese IT Leadership Summit, CEO Yang Yuanqing revealed that the second-gen LePad will be slimmer (which is a given these days), and is expected to be launched in September or October -- merely three or four months after le original LePad's upcoming global launch in June. Shedding no light on specifications, Yang added that the next LePad was developed in parallel with its predecessor under a separate team, allowing it to come to fruition in just nine months. Very well, but actually making it to the market is an entirely different story, so we shall sit tight and watch -- hopefully Mr. Blurrycam will deliver the goods beforehand, too.Lenovo CEO: LePad's slimmer successor should arrive in September or October originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Engadget Chinese  |  CCIDnet  | Email this | Comments

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New Nanostructured Snack Packaging Is Most Airtight Ever [Food]

A new coating material for food packaging could keep sodas fizzy, chips crispy and military rations more edible, scientists say. It's made of a thin film of nanoscale bits of clay, the same kind used to make bricks, mixed with polymers. When viewed under an electron microscope, the film looks like bricks and mortar, according to its creator. More »

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Gameloft's Xperia Play launch titles -- a montage [video]

If you're into watching little chubby fingers play mobile video games, this video is for you, folks. Mobile games publisher, Gameloft, has posted a new compilation trailer on their YouTube account. The montage includes ten HD games for the Xperia Play. Now, we're not quite sure if these titles we'll be the more "complex games" the Sony Ericsson exec was talking about, but all we know is that they will be availabe at launch. Not a bad line-up. Chubby fingers aside, it's still pretty cool to see shooters being played with the dual touch pads -- making shooters on the go that much better. [YouTube via Twitter] Here is a list of titles in the montage:  Spider-Man: Total Mayhem Uno HD Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles Real Football 2011 Star Battalion Splinter Cell: Conviction Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus Let's Golf! 2 Brother's In Arms 2: Global Front Asphalt 6: Adrenaline  Gameloft's Xperia Play launch titles -- a montage [video] posted originally by Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

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American Express challenges PayPal with 'Serve' digital payment platform

American Express may have been lagging a bit behind the likes of Visa and Mastercard with digital payments over the years, but it's making a pretty big play in the field today. It's just announced its new "Serve" digital payment platform, which is more or less a straight-on competitor to PayPal. That means you'll be able to transfer funds to your Serve account from your bank account or credit card, send money to others using either the website or mobile app (currently available for iOS and Android), and even link your account to a reloadable Serve card, which you can use at any retailer that accepts American Express credit cards. Nothing fancy like NFC payments just yet, but American Express is promising to "quickly evolve" the platform by adding new features and functionality, and it's hoping to kick start things by waiving most of the consumer fees for the first six months. Head on past the break for the complete press release, and hit up the source link below if you'd like to sign up.Continue reading American Express challenges PayPal with 'Serve' digital payment platformAmerican Express challenges PayPal with 'Serve' digital payment platform originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Serve  | Email this | Comments

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Netflix nabs exclusive subscription pay TV rights to Paramount movies -- in Canada

So far Canadian Netflix users have had to deal with a far more limited streaming library than their US cousins, exacerbated by the lack of a DVD / Blu-ray library to fall back on, but that's about to change. Netflix has struck a deal in Canada with Paramount for premium pay TV window access covering "exclusive subscription television rights to all first-run films." Currently in the US Netflix's deal with Epix gives it access to many of the same movies (Iron Man 2 -- already available since the 25th in Canada, while not currently ready for streaming in the US -- Titanic, Zoolander, The Last Airbender) eventually, but that's clearly not exclusive. While it's previously cut deals with smaller distributors like Relativity Media and Nu Image/Millennium Films for pay TV window access, the combo of exclusive and a major studio like Paramount makes Netflix a pay TV channel competitor in a whole new way. This backs up its earlier move in that direction by signing up for a new original show to debut on the service in 2012 and potentially adds a new edge to rumored negotiations for the Miramax back catalog, press release follows after the break.Continue reading Netflix nabs exclusive subscription pay TV rights to Paramount movies -- in CanadaNetflix nabs exclusive subscription pay TV rights to Paramount movies -- in Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink The Netflix Blog  |   | Email this | Comments

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Samsung offers $100 off on Galaxy Tab, Fascinate to first 500 fans on Facebook

  Samesung has teamed up with online retailer Wirefly to offer 500 of its fans $100 off on either the Fascinate or Galaxy Tab on Verizon. To get in on the deal, you need to have 'liked' Samsung's Facebook page and click on the "$100 promo" link that will appear on the left side of the page once the sale goes live around noon EST today. You can also "like" the page once the sale goes live and you will get the coupon code automatically. The sale drops the price of the Fascinate down to free, while the Galaxy Tab will run you just $99 but both will require two-year contracts. Check out the full press release after the break. [Facebook]
Samsung offers $100 off on Galaxy Tab, Fascinate to first 500 fans on Facebook posted originally by Android CentralSponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

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Verizon's Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot launches March 31st

Though it won't be the first Verizon LTE device to share its white-hot connection over WiFi (that honor goes to the recently-launched Thunderbolt), Samsung's SCH-LC11 -- announced back at CES -- is shaping up to be the network's first dedicated hotspot to hit retail. We've just been dropped the carrier's internal equipment guide showing a launch date in all channels (stores, telesales, and online) this coming Thursday, March 31st; pricing is an open question, but carriers tend to price these modems pretty aggressively on contract since they know they're going to eat you alive with the data plan for the next two years. Of course, in this case, we're more than willing to get eaten alive if it means we've got a 20Mbps WiFi connection in our pocket at all times.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]Verizon's Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot launches March 31st originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

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Daily Crunch: Remote Control Edition

Man Creates Microwave Gun From Small Appliance, Starts Burning Things (Video) iPhly Radio Control For iPhone Artist?s Portraits Of CRTs Turning Off Are Eerily Beautiful Will Germany Become The World?s First Post-Nuclear Nation? World?s Highest Solar Array To Be Built In Tibet

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LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy

LimeWire might not have been the downloading program of choice for elite users like those of you reading Download Squad right now, but there's no denying its popularity with the average user. So when the Gnutella-powered LimeWire was shut down once and for all, there was little doubt that the impact on music piracy would be significant.

As TorrentFreak reports, the number of users utilizing P2P applications in the U.S. has nosedived -- to a level 43% lower than this time last year. Based on previous numbers, that works out to about 12 million fewer downloaders. The findings are based on a survey conducted by NPD.

What's particularly interesting is that while there are still plenty of LimeWire alternatives, it looks like most users have simply given up on music downloading -- or at least that's what they're telling survey reps on the telephone...LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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London Underground to get 120 WiFi hotspots in advance of the 2012 Olympics

A big announcement arrived today if you live in or around London: to prepare to the onslaught of data-hungry visitors for the 2012 Olympic games that the city is hosting, 120 WiFi hotspots are being added to various locations along the Underground subway system's stations and platforms, in addition to other measures being taken to beef up tech. No WiFi will be in the actual tunnels, mind you, but it should definitely come in handy for all those tourists trying to find their way around the city. British Telecom has already tolled out a trial run at the Charing Cross station, with further installations expected in the lead up to the games.London Underground to get 120 WiFi hotspots in advance of the 2012 Olympics originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 09:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink TechDigest  |  Transport for London  | Email this | Comments

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Instagrid is an easy way to create a gallery of your Instagram photos

Looking for a clean, simple way to display and share your Instagram photos as a gallery? Check out Instagrid, a new Web app that makes the process about as painless as it can be. Just create an account, plug in your Instagram account details, and starting choosing photos. Photos can be viewed in a single-column display at full size, or as a neatly laid-out array of thumbnails. Clicking a thumbnail loads the full-size image in a JavaScript lightbox.

Instagrid is developed by the same group who produced Instawar, a fun little site that lets users 'do battle' with a pair of Instagram photos.Instagrid is an easy way to create a gallery of your Instagram photos originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Opera 11.10 beta released, adds plug-in installer, improved standards support

Yesterday we let you know that the Opera 11.10 beta would be available for download today -- and here it is. As we've shown you before, the betacuda Barracuda beta includes a much-improved Speed Dial page. There's also an improved Presto 2.8 rendering engine, support for Google's WebP image file format, improved CSS support, and an enhanced mail client. Opera 11.10 also offers improved feature tips, which you may see appear from time to time -- they're subtle, and easy enough to hide.


One other change you'll notice is that Opera 11.10 will now offer to install the Flash Player plug-in if it's missing from your system and required by a page. Firefox and Internet Explorer have offered this functionality for some time, and it's nice to see Opera finally fold it in.

Opera 11.10 beta is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. If you don't want to overwrite your existing Opera data, just make sure you choose the USB option during installation.Opera 11.10 beta released, adds plug-in installer, improved standards support originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Sources: iOS 5 Not Due Until Later This Fall [Delays]

Sources over at TechCrunch say the iOS upgrade cycle will be shaken up a bit this year, with an iOS 5 unveiling set to occur in the fall—not this spring as is usually the case with Apple upgrades. More »

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Daily Crunch: Ambivalent Landscape X Edition

Want: FirstLook Spy Robot (Video) Solarball Cleans 3 Liters Of Water A Day To Beat The Heat, Qatar Invents Artificial Clouds For World Cup 2022 Video: 360-Degree Observable Fog Display AT&T Broadband Metering Is Shoddy And They Know It

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Disaster Alert for Android Gives You Real-Time Updates on the World's Active Hazards [Apps]

If there's anything the Japan quake has taught us, it's that disaster can strike at any moment. PDC's Disaster Alert app for Android can help you cope with this scary fact by giving you real-time alerts on the world's active hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, storms and more. [Android Market] More »

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Here's A Wireless iPhone Battery Pack That You Can Program [Video]

Most battery-life extending pack tend to be brain dead, they automatically charge when they're the needed. The Wi.U is a bit different. You can set the date, time and percentage you want the charger to activate. More »

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Brown Dwarf Star Is as Cool as They Come

A brown dwarf is A) a tepid spot of tea; B) a tiny cup of java; or C) a star with so little energy its temperature isn't much different from a cup of coffee or tea. The correct answer -- C -- describes a newly discovered, lukewarm star about 75 light years -- 709,539,630,000,000 kilometers or 440,887,486,000,000 miles -- from Earth.

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iPad 2 News ? Apple Calls On More Suppliers

Last April when Apple released the original iPad to the market you had to wait in line in some cases to get your hands on the exciting new tablet device. Many orders were put on hold and some countries even had to wait for the iPad to become available. This April, when the dazzling new [...]

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NSFW: Colo(u)r Me Done ? I?m Going To Vegas, For Starters

"Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard to Las Vegas..." - Hunter S. Thompson
31,000 feet on Delta flight 133 from New York to San Francisco, sandwiched between a rotund bald man and a skinny French kid in a checked shirt. I feel like the cheesy filling in an unsettlingly turbulent quiche.

Still, sub-prime conditions or no, I have a column to write: I pop open my laptop and fire up a clean browser window.

As a technology columnist, my craft can be distilled as follows: identify the week's hot-button topic, Google what other commentators are saying about it, pick a side, argue the opposite, get paid, don't read the comments. Piece of cake, right?

And this week, the first two of those steps has been made particularly easy. For the past few days, my fellow tech writers have been working themselves into a bubbling froth about the Valley's latest app du jour: Color.

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Google Latitude for iOS adds check-in, Places goes multilingual

Android users have been able to post Latitude check-ins via the Google Maps app for some time. Now, Google has brought the same functionality to its Latitude app for iOS. Being able to check-in at specific locations gives the app a much more social feel, and it's nice to be able to do more than track your friends' positions on a map.

Google has also delivered a massive internationalization update for the Google Places app. Version 1.1 now supports a total of 30 languages, and it adds a saved places feature which allows you to quickly access your favorite check-in locations while you're out and about. Your saved places will also sync with Maps and Hotpot.

Head to the App Store and grab the new Google Latitude and Google Places apps for your iOS device!Google Latitude for iOS adds check-in, Places goes multilingual originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Deal of the Day ? Save Up to 10% on Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s Laptop

Today?s LogicBUY deal offers up to 10% savings on the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420s laptop with the 2nd generation ?Sandy Bridge? Intel processor. Other features include a 14? HD ?Infinity? display, Intel HD graphics, DVD burner, and a fingerprint reader. Cheapest Edge E420s Core i3 with 4GB RAM: $1384 – $685 instant savings ? 5% [...]

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The Week's Best iPhone Apps [Video]

Last Night Never Happened: It's an app that deletes all of your drunken social network updates the morning after. We've all done some regrettable things while drunk, this app tries to erase them from our social network memory. Let's see what Kat would do with the app: More »

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Amazon App Store Requires Security Compromise

Amazon’s new app store offers some killer deals and can make it easier for customers to purchase Android software. However, installing it reduces overall security for Android devices, some security experts say.
The root of the issue is the requirement to allow installations from “unknown sources,” in order to put Amazon’s Appstore app on an Android [...]

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O'Reilly helps Japan, offers entire e-book catalog for 50% off, today only

O'reilly make some of the best computer books in the world. They also sell them as DRM-free e-books in a bunch of formats, including PDFs and Mobi for Kindle.

They usually offer one "Deal of the Day", which is a 50% discount code for a book chosen for that one day. But just for for today, they've created a discount code -- DDJPN -- that gives you a 50% discount on their entire catalog, and they give a part of the proceeds to aid Japan relief efforts.

So far they've raised over $60,000, and the day is still young. So if you've been recently hankering after some nerdy book (or three), now would be a great time to grab one.O'Reilly helps Japan, offers entire e-book catalog for 50% off, today only originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Apple looking to 'radically improve' iOS Maps experience, may look to you for help

It's tough to read too much into this, but when Apple publishes a couple of job applications hoping to bring on folks who can "radically improve how people interact with maps and location-based services," we can't help but take note. The outfit's currently seeking a pair of full-timers to be labeled as iOS Maps Application Developers, and it's honing in on applicants with "excellent skills in object-oriented software design and programming." We've felt for awhile that Apple's built-in Maps application wasn't even comparable to Google Maps Navigation, but it could be time for that to change. Even now, iOS users need to fork out cash on a legitimate turn-by-turn app if they're hoping to navigate with the iPod touch or iPhone, but we can only hope that these applications are hinting at a more full-fledged internal program for the software's next major iteration.'Course, we're sure TomTom would beg to disagree...Apple looking to 'radically improve' iOS Maps experience, may look to you for help originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink Apple Insider  |  Apple (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

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Why Capping a Blown Oil Well at the Bottom of the Ocean is so Insanely Difficult [Gulf Oil Spill]

Last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill dumped an estimated 2.6 million gallons of oil A DAY into the Gulf of Mexico - you'd think someone would have gotten on that faster. Oh, they did? Fire on the Horizon explains what took so damn long. More »

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VIZ Manga Comic Reader [Lightning Review]

The VIZ Manga app for the iPad has been out since November, but they're currently having an introductory sale on all Vol. 1s (first issue in all their series) for $1. More »

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Make a DIY Infrared Trigger to Control Your DSLR with Your iPhone [Video]

We've looked at a few ways to take wireless photos with your iPhone and DSLR camera, but Matthew over at The iPhone Guru put together a different method that uses an infrared transmitter instead of Wi-Fi, removing a lot of the annoyances that come with the other options. More »

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Kindle Can Now Buy, Download Audio Books Over Wi-Fi

Kindle users can now browse, buy and download Audible audio books, direct from their device. You’ll need to be connected to Wi-Fi to actually download anything thanks to the large chunks of data involved, but this simple addition makes the Kindle a whole lot more useful.
To try it, just head to the Kindle Store from [...]

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Keep Your Data and Gadgets Safe With These Tips From McAfee

Everybody knows that there are lots of things we can do to keep our data safe.� We have lots of things to consider: protecting our credit card information when we shop online, protecting our data from virus attacks, keeping our kids safe online.� We all know that there are steps we should take to protect [...]

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Now You Can Shop For Shoes From Anywhere With The Zappos Android App

There is no doubt that mobile commerce is heating up. The market is expected to be a multi-billion dollar sector in 2011 and eBay, Amazon and many other online retailers are launching designated apps for smartphone platforms. Zappos has furthered its footprint in m-commerce with the launch of an Android app.

Similar to the online retailer's iPhone and iPad apps, you can search, browse, read reviews, share, and buy shoes, handbags, clothing, jewelry and more via the app. Purchasers get the same benefits of shopping on Zappos.com, including a 365-day return policy and 24-7 customer support. Of course, Zappos is known for its customer service and has a dedicated team covering support for mobile sales.

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Speckie, a real-time spell checker for Internet Explorer

Ladies and gentlemen, today we bring you tidings of one of the most important developments in Web browser history: Internet Explorer finally has a decent spell checker that works on 32- and 64-bit Windows XP, Vista and 7. It's called Speckie, which, if you're completely devoid of higher brain function and need a helping hand, is a concatenation of spell check IE.

Speckie is a free download, and you'll have to restart IE9 before it can take effect. You'll also be asked to approve Speckie when you start IE9 (this seems to be a new security feature in IE9). Once it's up and running, however, Speckie uses almost zero resources, causes no discernible slowdown, and has almost zero configuration. You can turn it on and off and change the current dictionary by right clicking a text box; that's it. There's quite a large variety of dictionaries available on the Speckie site.

In terms of actual spell checking, Speckie is good, but not perfect. Simple text boxes work well, with red squigglies appearing in real time. We had less luck with WordPress and Blogger post editors: sometimes red squigglies appeared, and sometimes they didn't. Moving your cursor to a word always triggered a spell check, though. The right-click menu seems to offer good and sensible suggestions, too.Continue reading Speckie, a real-time spell checker for Internet ExplorerSpeckie, a real-time spell checker for Internet Explorer originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Boomshine is a soothing-yet-frustrating time waster

One click; just one single well-aimed click. That's all you get in Boomshine.

That single click triggers a chain reaction; circles start exploding, and other circles colliding with the shockwaves explode as well, creating their own shockwaves, which then catch other circles.

It's been done before, yes, but this one is a great iteration. The soundtrack is mellow, with lots of piano and some nice percussion (not electronic - it sounds like drums).

At each level you need to make a certain number of circles explode to go on to the next level. I got up to level 12, where you get 60 circles and need to make 55 of them explode. And then I kept trying and trying, but simply couldn't get it. I did get to 54 circles a couple of times, but as they say, you don't get points for trying.

There's no time limit, so you can carefully study the pattern of motion and place your click at the exact right place to create the best chain reaction. I've found that clicking near the middle of the screen works quite well, especially if the balls are slowly moving in that direction. By the time the first shockwave dies off, the oncoming balls usually hit it and the chain reaction continues.

What level did you reach? Screenshots please!Boomshine is a soothing-yet-frustrating time waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Win A New iPad From the Staff At Klick.com

The creative staff at Klick.com is giving away a brand new Apple iPad absolutely free to one lucky winner this holiday season! For your chance to win a new iPad simply pay close attention to the video below, watch it a few times if you have to. While viewing try to spot as many Internet [...]

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Bing for Mobile portal gets updated, brings HTML5-based fanciness

Whatever Google (and Yahoo!) can do, Bing can do better? It doesn't exactly have that so-called ring to it, but Bing has proven to be a legitimate contender in the search wars -- particularly on the mobile side. This week, Microsoft launched a number of updates to the Bing for Mobile browse portal, giving users access to better and faster image search, real-time transit and directions, app search for the iPhone, and more. The new version relies on HTML5, and the company assures us that Windows Phone 7 support for the updates (and HTML5) will be available later in the year. On-the-go users will also see transit directions (real-time in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and Los Angeles), a reorganized shopping experience, automated weather suggestions and app / movie searches. Head on down to the source link (on your phone, of course) to see if any of the new features have you sold.Bing for Mobile portal gets updated, brings HTML5-based fanciness originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink The Register  |  Bing Blog, Bing for Mobile  | Email this | Comments

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Avaak Vue Gen 2 wire-free video monitoring hands-on

Peeping Toms and would-be spies, rejoice! The Vue wire-free video cameras have reached the second generation and now add motion detection and a more rugged outdoor version to the mix. Pricing is a mixed bag: kits start at $199 and include a motion detection camera, the base station, and the mounting base. Extra cams can be had for $159 for an individual outdoor camera with motion detection, indoor camera with motion detection is $129, and a run of the mill indoor camera is $99. The brilliant bit here is this is pretty much a zero setup affair: attach the cameras to the included magnetic mounts (with adhesive, no less), fire up the base station, and off you go. As with many devices launched recently, mobile apps are key, and the Vue's apps are a decent bunch. We had a peek at both the BlackBerry and iPhone flavors -- Android is also supported -- and either will allow video from the remote cameras to be recorded, some small amount of zoom and pan, grab screen shots, and have a peek at all your cameras at once. The required online service to manage it all is free for the first year and $19.95 per year after; you can keep opting for the free version after the first year, but lose the mobile app support, pan / zoom, and all recording features. What's the fun in that? More pics in the gallery below!
Gallery: Avaak Vue Gen 2 wire-free video monitoring hands-onAvaak Vue Gen 2 wire-free video monitoring hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

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Much Ado About Android Licensing and Headers

Those of us who have spent more than, say, five minutes in the Linux blogosphere know that there's pretty much never a dull moment around here. In case any further proof was needed, however, the past week or so has surely afforded it, courtesy of the never-ending quagmire of legal licensing. "Does Android have a copyright problem?" was the question that got posed on Slashdot last week.

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HTC locks down Incredible S against custom ROMs too, starts a fight with its best friends

The Thunderbolt, you might have noticed, marked an unpleasant change for HTC by making it a tiny bit difficult to replace the company's own Android software with your favored community-sourced alternative. Well, turns out it's not alone and could in fact be just be the tip of an unhappy iceberg heading our way. The AndIRC guys responsible for cracking it open have also noted with some distress that the Incredible S -- likely to become the Droid Incredible 2 in the States -- features a similar signature check when flashing recovery images. In short, that means any ROMs that don't know HTC's "open sesame" password, won't be allowed to ride on your device. Bogus? Totally, dude.HTC locks down Incredible S against custom ROMs too, starts a fight with its best friends originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Android Police  | Email this | Comments

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Final Fantasy III for iPhone hits App Store? at $16

Final Fantasy III, which debuted in 1990, has just hit the App Store and is now available for iPhone and iPod touch (or pixel doubled on iPad if you really have to) for… $15.99. It features:



New and improved 3D visuals and story sequences exclusive to the iPhone/iPod touch
Smooth, intuitive [...]Final Fantasy III for iPhone hits App Store… at $16 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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Condom USB Stick Reminds You to Eject Safely [Usb Sticks]

You can keep your novelty sushi USB stick—all the cool kids are protecting themselves by backing-up. [Eugene Filatov via LikeCool] More »

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InsideView Raises $12M To Give Businesses Social Sales Intelligence

InsideView, a service that mashes up social data for enterprises to increase sales productivity, has raised $12 million in Series C funding led by Foundation Capital with Emergence Capital Partners, Rembrandt Venture Partners and Greenhouse Capital Partners participating in the investment round. This brings InsideView's total funding up to $37 million.

The company?s flagship product, SalesView, crawls through more than 20,000 web sites, social networks and databases including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Hoovers, Reuters, and SEC filings, to give businesses sales intelligence and information that will aid sales operations with helping develop and maintain leads and clients.

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Flickr adds lightbox viewer for iPad surfers

Flickr has announced that visitors who browse the site using an iPad can now view photos using a lightbox-style viewer. On any photo page, simply tap the picture you'd like to view and the background will darken and the higher-resolution image will load in the foreground.

It's a subtle change, but one which definitely makes browsing Flickr on an iPad a more enjoyable (and efficient) experience. As our editor in chief put it, "This is pretty sick."Flickr adds lightbox viewer for iPad surfers originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game

Years of computer use have taught us that the mouse cursor is "above" the windows. It doesn't push anything around; at least not without you clicking anything.

Balance takes that ingrained bit of knowledge and cancels it out. Suddenly your cursor (a blue dot) is solid - and if it touches the blue block, it pushes it around.

Your job is to use your cursor to nudge the blue block over to the orange block. You will have to push it, lift it and even flip it on its side, and then balance it. It's a very tricky game - one I wouldn't recommend tackling with a laptop trackpad.

Still, if you have a mouse and a hankering for a little physics gameplay, this is a cute little game. I like how the blue block never stops smiling, it makes me feel better about the world.Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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ASUS' K53E laptop gets reviewed, 2.53GHz Core i5-2520M CPU gets praised

Never mind the fact that Intel's outing a mid-range laptop CPU long after the highest of high-end -- the 2.53GHz Core i5-2520M is shaping up to be a lovely option for those who'd prefer a budget choice with plenty of horsepower for churning through HD video. The benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware recently grabbed hold of the new silicon, and they noticed an "unmatched performance-per-watt profile for mobile CPUs," not to mention a robust graphics core, "ridiculously low idle power consumption," a respectable price point and plenty of power for any software title not named Crysis 2. ASUS' 15.6-inch K53E was the test machine, and with a starting tag of just $899, it's definitely a compelling package. Based on their testing, this particular CPU was around 15 to 25 percent faster across the board compared to its previous generation 2.5GHz Arrandale counterpart, and that's with around the same power draw, too. Hit the source link for more charts than you'd care to see on an average workday, and be on the lookout for this chip to hit a whole slew of new rigs in the coming weeks.ASUS' K53E laptop gets reviewed, 2.53GHz Core i5-2520M CPU gets praised originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Hot Hardware  | Email this | Comments

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Google Chrome slated for bloat removal

Over the course of its rapid progression from version 1.0 to 10.0, Google Chrome has packed on the pounds, so to speak. The introduction of features like the internal Flash player, PDF reader, sync engine, and extension and app support have all been contributing factors in the growth of Chrome's footprint.

Now, however, Google is starting to take a look at where Chrome can be slimmed down. A special group of Chromium developers has been assembled and tasked with reducing the size of the Chrome binaries. While Windows is the primary target, it's likely that Mac and Linux versions will be looked at as well.

Various reasons for the "diet" are put forward by developers. Ian Fette notes that Chrome is delivered as part of several app bundles (like Avast) and larger binaries can cause difficulties. He also points out that Google sees an increased number of failed download attempts as the file size grows. Another developer, Lei Zhang, reminds that not everyone in the world has broadband -- and even a few megs here and there can make a big difference to those users.

A monitoring system has been put in place, and developers will now made made aware of increases in size as the Chromium buildbot churns out new snapshots.Google Chrome slated for bloat removal originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Apple could be licensing AirPlay for video streaming, HDTV integration seems imminent

There's nothing concrete to sink your teeth into just yet, but a couple of people "familiar with the matter" have informed Bloomberg that Apple could be taking AirPlay to the next level. Up until now, companies have been shelling out $4 per device to add AirPlay audio streaming into their products, but there's a very real demand for video to be included in that as well. According to sources, the video streaming protocol is already baked in, but not enabled / allowed under the current licensing agreement. It's bruited that the folks in Cupertino could soon expand the AirPlay license program to include video streaming from iPhones and iPads, with integration into HDTVs being the most obvious application. Specifically, the new plan would enable electronics makers to "use [AirPlay] in devices for streaming movies, TV shows and other video content," but there's no clear time table as to when any of this would go down. Will CEDIA 2011 be the launchpad for AirPlay-enabled televisions? If so, don't ever say we didn't see it coming.

[Thanks, Nilay]Apple could be licensing AirPlay for video streaming, HDTV integration seems imminent originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Bloomberg  | Email this | Comments

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Get a Grip on Your iPad with the HandStand

If you’re still using the original iPad, take a look at the HandStand.� This durable, semi-rigid silicone cover protects your iPad, but the real story is how it helps you hold your iPad.� There’s a strap on the back that you slide your hand under to improve your grip and make it easier to hold [...]

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Amazon Appstore for Android hands-on review: Android Market is in trouble

Earlier today Amazon released its long-awaited Appstore for Android. Fundamentally it's very similar to Google's first-party Android Market or the third-party AppBrain, but it has a few Amazonian differences that could set it apart from the competition very quickly.

First and foremost, Amazon is promising to give away one paid app for free every day. Today it's Angry Birds Rio, and it only retails for 99 cents, but that doesn't really matter: people love free stuff. People will download stuff simply because it's free, even if they don't want it! The best bit (or worst bit) is that developers still get 20% of the usual retail price, which will be paid out of Amazon's pockets.

The next defining feature is Amazon Appstore exclusives. Angry Birds Rio, CoD:MW:Force Recon and other apps will be available only from Amazon. As we know from the console wars, exclusive titles aren't always a good thing, but who cares? Amazon simply wants unique selling points, and exclusive titles are definitely that.

It's not all good, though. We ran in to some rather serious bugs while playing around with the Amazon Appstore for Android app, and then there's the matter of having to enable installation from Unknown Sources before it will even install...Gallery: Amazon Appstore for AndroidContinue reading Amazon Appstore for Android hands-on review: Android Market is in troubleAmazon Appstore for Android hands-on review: Android Market is in trouble originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Flash and Reader zero-day vulnerability going unfixed for a week

Don't get us wrong -- Adobe has gotten better about responding to security risks over the past year or so -- but news of a new, critical Flash zero-day exploit going unfixed for a week has us hearing the sad trombone noise all over again.

The flaw lies in both the Flash Player and authplay.dll, which ships with Windows versions of Reader. Flash is affected on all operating systems, however.

Adobe has already received reports of attackers utilizing the exploit via an Excel sheet with a specially crafted .SWF embed. There have been no reports of Reader being attacked as of yet. It's also worth noting that Reader X would not be vulnerable, thanks to its sandboxing kung fu.

As always, the key with attacks like this is vigilance. Cast a skeptical eye on attachments you receive, especially those from untrusted sources. Since this particular attack appears to only be targeting Flash via an Excel sheet at the moment, it might not be a bad idea to use a Web-based viewer to open any .XLS or .XLSX attachments you receive. The Google Docs Viewer and Zoho Viewer are both good options.

Once Adobe's got the fix ready next week, you should receive an update notification. Make sure you update, rather than hiding the alert and going about your business... Not that you (or we) would ever do that.Flash and Reader zero-day vulnerability going unfixed for a week originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 07:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Qik Video Connect for iPhone offers video calling, messaging, and sharing

Fresh off its acquisition by Skype, Qik has shown that it's business (and development) as usual for the popular video app. At SXSW, Qik unveiled its new Video Connect app for iPhone which allows users to participate in video chats as well as record and share videos.

In addition the free version, there will be a $2.99 Qik Video Connect Plus app. Paid users will have access to a number of slick additional features, like realtime filters and effects, HD uploads, and pre-upload editing capabilities. Not a bad set of functionality for just under three bucks.

The app should be available for download later today, so hit the App Store to download -- iOS 4.0 is required, as is an iPhone or 4th-gen iPod touch.

Qik Video Connect for iPhone [App Store]Qik Video Connect for iPhone offers video calling, messaging, and sharing originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Lens Turns iPhone Into Six-Inch Tablet

Nulogia’s Tarsier 2.0 screen is — at first glance — a rather inelegant hack for the iPhone. But on closer inspection (pun intended) it could be a very useful accessory, especially for those with poor eyesight.
The Tarsier is descibed by its maker, Stergios Stergiou, as “yet another bumper for the iPhone 4 but with an [...]

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TV Networks Hate the New Time Warner iPad App [Apps]

According to BusinessInsider, TV networks are heated about the new Time Warner iPad app, which theoretically streams 32 channels of live television to the Apple tablet. More »

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Would You Date Online If It Wasn't Anonymous? [Love]

One writer says online dating sites are limiting their own growth by letting people pick usernames, rather than tapping into their real-life social networks. But would people really date online if they had to use their real names? More »

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How AT&T-Mo Will Ease NY and SF Network Suffering [Datapoint]

According to AT&T exec John Stankey, the long-suffering cities of San Francisco, New York, and Chicago will see the number of available cell sites increase up to 45% when AT&T and T-Mobile get together. Sure, the companies will be cutting some "redundant" cell sites, but one of the first steps in the proposed merger would be to dual-band sites in major urban areas so that customers from both carriers can benefit. Sweet relief! But how long will it take? More »

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Useful keyboard shortcuts for Twitter.com

When Twitter.com unveiled its recent overhaul at the end of 2010, one of the least-discussed features was the addition of some excellent keyboard shortcuts.

Some keyboard shortcuts only work from some pages, but we'll mark those where appropriate.


n -- post a new status update (works from any page)

r -- reply to your selected tweet

t -- retweet (only works on Twitter profiles other than your own)

m -- direct message (but it doesn't auto-fill the recipient)

/ -- move the cursor to the search box

. -- move back to the top of the page, and check feed for updates

g then h -- go to your home page (twitter.com)

g then r -- see your @ mentions

g then m -- see your direct messages

g then p -- go to your profile page (twitter.com/username)

g then u -- go to a specific user's profile page (it pops up a dialog box)

For a complete list of keyboard shortcuts, type ?.

Now, if you don't use Twitter.com (which is about 65% of Twitter's users), these keyboard shortcuts probably won't work. Every installed Twitter client has different keyboard shortcuts (and some don't have any at all). If you want to lessen your mouse hand dependency, your best bet is to simply head to Google and type the name of your client + "keyboard shortcuts".

For more tech tips, check our tips index.Useful keyboard shortcuts for Twitter.com originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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T-Mobile's Android-Powered G2x Is Their First 42 Mbps 4G Phone [Smartphones]

Well isn't this awkward! A day after AT&T declared it was swallowing T-Mobile, T-Mobile is announcing the G2x, a Tegra 2, Android smartphone that holds the distinction of being the first to support T-Mobiles 42 Mbps 4G network. More »

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WinZip System Utilities Suite giveaway

WinZip has just released WinZip System Utilities Suite! Earlier today we published a quick hands-on with the app, but why should we have all the fun?

While you can always download the trial version, WinZip has also provided us with 10 full System Utilities licenses to give away! To enter our random draw, you just have to leave a comment. Full terms and conditions are after the break.Continue reading WinZip System Utilities Suite giveawayWinZip System Utilities Suite giveaway originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Google patches Flash vulnerability in Chrome, leaves other browsers hanging

Remember that massive security vulnerability that Adobe identified in its Flash Player, Acrobat and Reader software? Well, shockingly enough, it hasn't yet taken over the internet and ground productivity to a halt, but Google's been proactive about it and patched the flaw by itself. Of course, the fix applies only to its own Chrome web browser, Firefoxes and Internet Explorer types will have to wait for Adobe's fix, which is expected any minute now. Still, it's good to know someone's looking out for the security of our data, even if that someone already has access to most of it anyway.Google patches Flash vulnerability in Chrome, leaves other browsers hanging originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Guardian  | Email this | Comments

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