Most every phone, tablet, MP3 player, and computer these days have built-in speakers so you can hear audio without having to use headphones.  Most of those built-in speakers are woefully inadequate for anything but listening while you’re within a couple of feet of your device.  There are a plethora of external speakers available to boost [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/05/17/g-project-g-go-portable-wireless-speaker/

SES SHAW COMMUNICATIONS MCAFEE MAXIMUS MANTECH INTERNATIONAL MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES LSI

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget inquiry is from is from Warren, who wants to find an electrical moped within his budget. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“What’s the cheapest two-wheeled electric vehicle that goes over 45mph available in the US? I looked at the Gas-powered $2,500 Sym Symba, but as far as I can tell, I’d have to spend four times that much for an electric equivalent. Am I missing something? Thank you!”

Unfortunately, you are. The biggest barrier to joining the EV parade is the price of batteries, which are often more expensive than the vehicles they’re situated inside. For example, even a motorized bicycle like the Grace One is $6,000 — but that’s as far as our knowledge goes on the subject. Perhaps there is a solution out there, all it needs is for one of our friendly commenters to tell all in the river of text below.

Ask Engadget: Electric commuting on the cheap? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 22:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/19/ask-engadget-electric-commuting-on-the-cheap/

CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR ACCENTURE ACER ADOBE SYSTEMS ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS ALLTEL

Facebook’s march toward its IPO has put a harsh spotlight on the social network’s shortcomings, and one of the primary worries among prospective investors is that Facebook doesn’t have very sharp mobile chops. There are a million things it could be doing in mobile to draw in more revenue, they say, but it’s still an area in which the network moves painfully slowly.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1f5f8d5a/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C7510A90Bhtml/story01.htm

SHAW COMMUNICATIONS MCAFEE MAXIMUS MANTECH INTERNATIONAL

Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Or would it, perhaps, end up sweeter? That, essentially, is the question at the heart of the forking process, which in turn is at the heart of a key situation today. Namely: Now that we have LibreOffice, do we still need OpenOffice as well? In the wake of Apache OpenOffice’s new update, that’s been the question du jour down at the Linux blogosphere’s Punchy Penguin Cafe.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1f719151/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C751380Bhtml/story01.htm

ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS ALLTEL AMAZONCOM AMERICA MOVIL AMKOR TECHNOLOGY AMPHENOL ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL

The ITC decided on Friday that Motorola’s phones and tablets should be banned from sale in 60 days due to a violation of a Microsoft patent. President Obama could possibly overturn the sale ban.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/itc-motorola-android-ban-microsof/

EMC ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS ELECTRONIC ARTS ECLIPSYS EASTMAN KODAK CO EARTHLINK

Yes, that’s right, I said adorable. Because Cueboy Quest really is!

You play an 8-bit cowboy whose goal on each level is to get to the door (and thus to the next level), but the door is often locked. To get it to open, you must shoot at one or more targets, and those targets aren’t always in your line of sight. For example, on one level the the target is a balloon which is stuck all the way at the other end of the screen. You must first nudge it free, and then watch it float up and try to shoot it before it floats clear off the screen. Your bullets are chunky pixels that have some weight – the have arcing trajectories, so you don’t always hit exactly where you aim.

There’s another level where you must jump on the balloon as it floats up, use it as a platform to get to the other end of the screen, and then turn to shoot it very quickly before it flies away. Each level is very short, and most of them are quite easy. And not only are the graphics 8-bit blocky, but they’re large too. Simply beautiful!

Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/cueboy-quest-is-an-adorable-8-bit-style-physics-game/

INTERSECTIONS INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES (IBM) INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS INTEL INSIGHT ENTERPRISES

Right on cue, Google has launched in-app payment support for Android applications. Developer testing began last week, and now many popular apps — like the ones pictured above — can begin charging users for add-on functionality, content, or whatever the heck else they feel is worthy of additional bits of your pocket change. If you were wondering, Google will take the same 30% cut that Apple takes from in-app purchases.

At last we can buy individual issues in Comics with minimal fuss!

In-app payment support arrives on Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/in-app-payment-support-arrives-on-android/

BHARTI AIRTEL BT GROUP CANON MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS MICROSOFT MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR MOBILE TELESYSTEMS

Thing 1: EVO 4G LTE delayed

• HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE imports stalled by U.S. customs
• Sprint finally acknowledges EVO 4G LTE delay on its community forums
• Sprint EVO 4G LTE reportedly will miss Friday's launch date
• Best Buy sending e-mails saying EVO 4G LTE preorders ship May 23

Thing 2: Sense 4 and multitasking

• Multitasking on the HTC One X isn't broken, it's customized
• HTC: Sense 4 multitasking and memory management working as designed

Thing 3: Google Music drama

• Google Music limits device de-authorizations to 4 a year
• Google addressing Music device de-authorization issues, back to 'normal' for now
• It might be your music, but it's still not your cloud

Thing 4: More than one Nexus?

• Google bringing multiple manufacturers to the Nexus line, WSJ reports
• Multiple Nexus devices could be a game-changer for Google and Android

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/710Zlu9J8Yo/story01.htm

LAWSON SOFTWARE LAND SOFTWARE LAM RESEARCH L1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY COMPANY KEY JDS UNIPHASE

Later today, Firefox will undergo its biggest developmental upheaval ever. Mozilla-central, the source of nightly builds, will be renumbered to version 5 — and at long last, after years of wallowing around version 1, Mozilla’s rendering and layout engine, Gecko, will also have its version number updated to match Firefox.

Shortly thereafter, Firefox’s new channel system will be implemented. Firefox 5a2 will be introduced as the first Aurora build, and we should also see a Firefox 6 Nightly build. While we we’re not sure where they came from, one Sören Hentzschel seems to have unearthed the new Nightly and Aurora logos (see above), along with new About Firefox dialogs (after the break).

In other news, if you want to take a sneak peek at the new ‘channel changing’ technology that will be introduced in upcoming Firefox builds, head to about:config and create a new string called app.update.desiredChannel — the value doesn’t matter. Then open Help > About Firefox and you’ll be able to switch channel, but it doesn’t do anything just yet (image after the break). Here’s hoping that Firefox channel switching is smoother than Chrome.

Continue reading New Firefox Nightly and Aurora logos unearthed, and how to enable channel switching

New Firefox Nightly and Aurora logos unearthed, and how to enable channel switching originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/new-firefox-nightly-and-aurora-logos-unearthed-and-how-to-enabl/

NOVELLUS SYSTEMS NOVELL NETWORK APPLIANCE NETGEAR NCR NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

It looks like we’ll be getting Retina display MacBook Pros sooner than later — this based on supply chain indicators and a recently published Apple patent application.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/retina-display-macbook-reports/

ATandT AUTODESK AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING AVNET BHARTI AIRTEL BT GROUP CANON

Happy first birthday, Windows Phone 7! One year on, and the fledgling mobile operating system has 36,000 active developers in its AppHub community, 1.5 million downloads of its Developer Tools, and 11,500 apps in its Marketplace.

Microsoft is quick to take a couple shots at competitors’ app stores, beating its chest about not re-counting tanslations of an app or “lite” apps, “increasing tonnage” by supporting apps from other mobile platforms, and not listing wallpapers as a category.

That’s all fine and dandy, but we spend a lot of time sifting through WP7 app feeds — and we’re still not seeing a lot of awesome apps on the platform. We think a few marquee apps would’ve made a pretty nice first birthday present — along with a much smoother update process for WP7 users.

Microsoft trumpets Windows Phone 7 numbers on first birthday originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/microsoft-trumpets-windows-phone-7-numbers-on-first-birthday/

MAXIMUS MANTECH INTERNATIONAL MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES LSI LINEAR TECHNOLOGY LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS

I have been trying out another stylus with my iPad. This one is the BoxWave EverTouch Capacitive stylus with a new type of tip that I’ve not seen before called FiberMesh. Is the BoxWave EverTouch stylus just another clone of the Targus stylus or is it a step up? Let’s take a look. Note: Click [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/05/17/boxwave-evertouch-capacitive-stylus-review/

NVIDIA ORACLE POWERCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR PRICELINECOM QIMONDA QUALCOMM QUANTA COMPUTER

The Sprint EVO 4G LTE missed today's in-store launch, and pre-orders aren't shipping, thanks to a pesky International Trade Commission review. Bollocks. 

While you're waiting, here are some more EVO 4G LTE forum threads you should be sure to check out:

• Lack of Information
• I'm so bored that …
• What case are you going to wrap around your Evo 4gLTE?
• Does multitasking work correctly?
• Questioning getting the LTEVO
• Should HTC/Sprint give good will gesture?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/8EmPzzucrkU/story01.htm

THQ TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TERADATA TELETECH HOLDINGS TECHNITROL TAKETWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE SYNTEL

At the end of last year, an Administrative Law Judge issued an initial ruling that Motorola’s mobile devices infringe a bit of Microsoft’s IP. Now, the Commission has affirmed that decision and issued an exclusion order to ban Moto’s offending devices from importation into the US. In case you weren’t aware, the four patent claims at issue generally cover technology for scheduling meetings over email using a mobile device. So, unless Motorola removes the feature, pays for a license or whips up a workaround Microsoft’s patent in short order, its inbound RAZRs, Droid 4s, Bionics and other offending handsets will be stuck in customs alongside HTC’s One X and EVO 4G LTE — that is, unless Obama steps in to save the day during the prescribed presidential review period. Microsoft, naturally, is quite pleased with this development and has issued a statement:

Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year. We’re pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents.

– David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Microsoft

We’ve reached out to Motorola for comment on the matter as well, so stay tuned to see what it has to say.

Update: Motorola has issued an understandably somber statement on the ruling:

Microsoft started its ITC investigation asserting 9 patents against Motorola Mobility. Although we are disappointed by the Commission’s ruling that certain Motorola Mobility products violated one patent, we look forward to reading the full opinion to understand its reasoning. Motorola Mobility will not experience any impact in the near term, as the Commission’s ruling is subject to a $0.33/per unit bond during the 60 day Presidential review period. We will explore all options including appeal.

ITC bans Motorola mobile devices for infringing Microsoft patent (updated: MMI responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/AGz_ni-ykGQ/

ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS SAIC SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES SES SHAW COMMUNICATIONS MCAFEE MAXIMUS

With the expected unveiling of new MacBook Pros just weeks away, rumor mongers have begun to solidify their predictions about the new notebooks. Most Apple prognosticators seem to agree that the MacBook Pros will be thinner, run Intel’s new Ivy Bridge chip, and sport an eye-popping Retina Display.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1f6b6703/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C751270Bhtml/story01.htm

HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS GOOGLE GOOGLE FORMFACTOR FISERV FIRST SOLAR FINISAR

What does one do after generating billions from an initial public stock offering? Go shopping, of course. After falling short of expectations following its somewhat helter-skelter IPO debut, Facebook simply shook off the whole thing and acquired itself some good Karma. No, we’re not talking about that Karma. Instead, Facebook purchased the startup responsible for the Karma social gifting app. The move was apparently made to bolster Facebook’s mobile chops — an area the company considers ripe for opportunity. Just recently, Facebook also acquired mobile stalwart Instagram and the Lightbox team, for example. As for its newest purchase, Karma will be allowed to “continue to operate in full force” despite its recent status change, according to a blog post by co-founders Lee Linden and Ben Lewis. Details weren’t disclosed about how much the deal was worth but judging from celebratory nature of their post, it doesn’t look like Linden and Lewis will “Unlike” the agreement any time soon.

Facebook likes Karma app, buys the whole darn thing originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 16:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/nv62VB1MNQE/

SYNOPSYS SYNNEX SYMANTEC SYKES ENTERPRISES INORATED

Borders. Here at the Engadget Mobile Podcast, we’re so over them. That’s why we let former Engadget Mobile CEO-in-chief Chris Ziegler come back and hang out on our side of the fence for a few hours, no matter where he comes from. You know who’s NOT over border? The United States Border Patrol, Division of Potential Patent Infringements on Apple Intellectual Property. Be a fence-sitter with us for a little while: it’s not so bad up here (and we get great reception).

Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen
Guest: Chris Ziegler
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Tycho – Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

00:01:06 – Best Buy expects EVO 4G LTE to land May 23rd, HTC remains cautious
00:03:00 – Apple, HTC ordered by judge to sit down, try and make nice on August 28th
00:07:00 – HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE delayed at customs due to ITC exclusion order (updated)
00:13:15 – HTC EVO 4G LTE for Sprint review (updated)
00:30:00 – T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm issues memo discussing restructuring plans, more jobs affected
00:48:06 – HTC confirms One X multitasking tweaks in Sense 4
00:51:30 – NTT DoCoMo’s Galaxy S III to ship with 2GB RAM?
00:59:27 – LG shows off UI 3.0 for Ice Cream Sandwich devices, says it’s ‘unobtrusive and simple’
01:06:22 – Google reportedly planning stable of Nexus devices with Android 5.0, will sell ‘em direct
01:15:48 – Verizon CFO says grandfathered unlimited plans on the way out
01:18:07 – WSJ: Apple moving towards larger iPhone screens
01:30:05 – Report: Apple dumping Google for own Maps app in iOS 6 (update)

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Engadget Mobile Podcast 138 – 05.19.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/lFHqay1vtyY/

JDS UNIPHASE JDA SOFTWARE GROUP JACK HENRY and ASSOCIATES IXYS ITRON IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED IOMEGA

Let’s face it: right now, the head nods and other rudimentary controls of Google’s Project Glass are mostly useful for looking good, sharing photos and not much else. A US patent application submitted last September and just now published, however, raises the possibility of more sophisticated control coming from your hands. A ring, a bracelet or a even a fake fingernail with an infrared-reflective layer would serve as a gesture control marker for a receiver on heads-up display glasses. Having this extra control would give the glasses-mounted computing room to grow by learning gestures, and it could even depend on multiple ornaments for more sophisticated commands — at least, if you don’t mind looking like a very nerdy Liberace. We can imagine the headaches a hand-based method might cause for very enthusiastic talkers, among other possible hiccups, so don’t be surprised if Project Glass goes without any kind of ring input. That said, we suspect that Sauron would approve.

Google patent application could give Project Glass one true ring controller to rule them all originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 12:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DVICE  |  USPTO  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/18/google-patent-application-could-give-project-glass-a-ring-controller/

SYNNEX SYMANTEC SYKES ENTERPRISES INORATED SYBASE SUN MICROSYSTEMS STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS SRA INTERNATIONAL

Sand Trap is one of those games that at first seem too hard to bother with, but when you try to stop playing it you discover you’re hooked.

The goal is to get as much sand as you possibly can out of the maze and into the bucket at the bottom of the screen. You need to rotate your maze every which way to get the sand rolling around it. You then try to direct the sand to one of the exits of the maze, and hopefully into the bucket. It took me several tries to actually get sand into the bucket, but that might be due to the fact that I didn’t even realize the bucket was there at first. Things improved significantly after that.

As you level up, the mazes get more complicated, with moving parts and other things making your life more difficult. Once you manage to get through all these obstacles and get enough sand into your bucket, you can move on.

As I mentioned, this is not an easy game, but it’s highly addictive. The graphics remind me of some long lost game from the 80s, but this just proves that you don’t need super graphics and crazy sound to make a game work. There’s a soothing guitar track playing in the background and that’s it, as far as I could hear, and you can enjoy it just as much with no sound at all.

If you like a fun physics challenge, don’t miss out on this one!

Sand Trap is a fun and difficult physics maze game originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/sand-trap-is-a-fun-physics-maze-game/

LAND SOFTWARE LAM RESEARCH L1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY COMPANY KEY JDS UNIPHASE JDA SOFTWARE GROUP

Can't say we're overly surprised to see this one, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing. Best Buy early today sent ?another? e-mail to customers who preordered the HTC EVO 4G LTE, saying that, whoopsie, it doesn't actually know when the Customs hold will lift and the EVO will be allowed to ship. This comes less than a day after Best Buy got hopes up by saying May 23 was the new target date, which was quickly followed by HTC telling us it had nothing new to announce. So, yeah.

And yes, there are plenty of "insider" sources feeding possible dates, too. But this thing's going to get out of hand right quick. Hopefully we'll hear something official from Sprint of HTC soon.

More in the EVO 4G LTE forums; Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/w48Oxqrw4sY/story01.htm

ARROW ELECTRONICS ASML HOLDING ASUSTEK COMPUTER ATandT AUTODESK AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING AVNET

With so many apps running around the Windows playground, Microsoft wants the grown-ups to be in charge of Metro. Programs for the new interface will be available only through the Windows Store, which will allow one-click installs, user feedback and crash monitoring. Developers shouldn’t worry too much, as the heavy lifting for those features will all be handled by the OS. Redmond’s demanding some tit-for-tat, however, asking programmers to resist the temptation to invoke APIs not included in the development kit. All the software will be vetted, App-Store style, while access to devices like GPS and cameras must be granted by users before the apps can grab them. We’ve already seen that the old BSOD is gone, so hopefully this new course plotted by Metro will keep those frowny faces away.

Microsoft sets sandbox boundaries for Metro developers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Microsoft Developers Network  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/18/microsoft-windows-8-apps-developer-sandbox/

TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS TOTAL SYSTEM SERVICES TNS TIBCO SOFTWARE

Thing 1: EVO 4G LTE delayed

• HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE imports stalled by U.S. customs
• Sprint finally acknowledges EVO 4G LTE delay on its community forums
• Sprint EVO 4G LTE reportedly will miss Friday's launch date
• Best Buy sending e-mails saying EVO 4G LTE preorders ship May 23

Thing 2: Sense 4 and multitasking

• Multitasking on the HTC One X isn't broken, it's customized
• HTC: Sense 4 multitasking and memory management working as designed

Thing 3: Google Music drama

• Google Music limits device de-authorizations to 4 a year
• Google addressing Music device de-authorization issues, back to 'normal' for now
• It might be your music, but it's still not your cloud

Thing 4: More than one Nexus?

• Google bringing multiple manufacturers to the Nexus line, WSJ reports
• Multiple Nexus devices could be a game-changer for Google and Android

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/710Zlu9J8Yo/story01.htm

FEI COMPANY FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL FAIR ISAAC FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS F5 NETWORKS EPICOR SOFTWARE EMULEX

With the webOS 3.0 SDK available for almost two months, HP has now given developers access to a beta download of webOS 3.0 — which powers the upcoming TouchPad and will likely ride along on HP desktops and laptops in the form of an emulator.

Right now, the webOS 3.0 beta is only available to Early Access developers. The crew at PreCentral states that HP appears to have eased up on access restrictions, however, so hopefully more devs will get on board and those of you who are planning to buy a TouchPad in the next couple months will have plenty of slick webOS 3.0 apps to install on your new tablet.

webOS 3.0 beta now available to developers originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/webos-3-0-beta-now-available-to-developers/

TELETECH HOLDINGS TECHNITROL TAKETWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE SYNTEL SYNTAXBRILLIAN SYNOPSYS SYNNEX

The anticipation is palpable. Hundreds of hackers have congregated outside Manhattan’s Pier 94, planning, strategizing, and praying to baby Jesus that their fates will be similar to those of Group.me and Docracy. We’ve seen plenty of Hackathon winners go on to do incredible things, make millions of dollars, and rise to startup stardom levels, but the journey isn’t a simple one. Let me paint a little word picture of what this is sure to look like:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Jl9htRyBVFo/

ALLTEL AMAZONCOM AMERICA MOVIL AMKOR TECHNOLOGY AMPHENOL ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL APPLE COMPUTER

Google, in an interesting but not entirely unexpected twist, will not be open-sourcing Android 3.0 Honeycomb for the foreseeable future.

Historically, Android is usually open-sourced via the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) a few days or weeks after the code is finalized. While this departure from the norm won’t affect OEMs like HTC and Motorola that have access to internal builds of Android, small-time developers will likely have to wait months before rolling their own distributions.

As to why Google is holding back Honeycomb, its reasons are actually rather rational. Honeycomb, while originally intended to run on all mobile form factors, is only ready for deployment on tablets. “To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs,” says Andy Rubin, the head of Google’s Android group. “We didn’t want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut.”

In other words, Google wants to prevent OEMs and homebrew developers like Cyanogen from rolling their own smartphone versions of Honeycomb — it doesn’t want to see the same bitter-tasting tabletified bastardization that occurred with Android 2.1 and 2.2 last year.

Continue reading Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android

Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/25/google-holds-back-on-open-sourcing-honeycomb-heralds-shift-android/

NCR NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS MOTOROLA MOODYS MISCROSOFT OFFICE MICROSOFT

Microsoft has shared some news about the state of its most and least loved Web browsers — Internet Explorer 9 and 6, respectively. Even with IE9 only recently exiting beta, Microsoft reports that 3.6% of Windows 7 users are now running the new browser (no mention of Vista… what’s with that?). The post also reveals that the adoption rate is almost five times what IE8 garnered in the early going.

It’s also interesting to note that there are now more than 1,000 sites utilizing Internet Explorer 9′s Windows 7 integration features — like the new desktop notification support we showed you in Hotmail.

But perhaps the best news of all is that Microsoft’s IE6countdown.com now has more than 400 partners and is generating nearly two million pageviews per month, helping to lure users away from the woefully out-of-date browser. Can the end come soon enough, DS readers?

Internet Explorer 9 nears 4% share on Windows 7, IE6 extinction countdown picks up steam originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/internet-explorer-9-nears-4-share-on-windows-7-ie6-extinction/

WESTERN DIGITAL VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY VIRGIN MEDIA VIEWSONIC VERISIGN VERIFONE HOLDINGS

A while back, I told you about some beautiful embossed smart covers for iPad from an Etsy store called Handiwork by punkassjim.  Inspired by the cover of an old electrical handbook, Jim Thorpe set about creating a cover for his iPad that incorporated the cover design of the handbook.  Luckily for us, he realized his [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/05/19/electric-library-embossed-ipad-2-and-new-ipad-smart-cover-review/

INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS INTEL INSIGHT ENTERPRISES INGRAM MICRO INFORMATICA INFOCUS ZORAN

SpaceX, the private space exploration company founded by PalPal and Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk, is ready to boldly go where no private company has legitimately attempted to go before: The International Space Station. (Live video of the rocket at Cape Canaveral in Florida is embedded above.)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SBelPSJgGy8/

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If you play Scrabble (or a scrabble-like game) from time to time, you may want to check out Scrabble Helper. This simple website is a godsend when you’re at a loss for words. Simply enter whatever letters you have, and the word you’d like to connect with. Scrabble helper comes up with a whole bunch of suggestions sorted by score.

The site lets you select one of five dictionaries – Scrabble International/US, Lexulous International/US, and Words With Friends. Some people might say this constitutes cheating — I think if the other side knows you’re doing it, it’s definitely not cheating. And it doesn’t take the challenge out of the game, because implementing Scrabble Helper’s suggestions and deciding which words you’d like to connect with still takes a fair bit of thought.

Very handy, though perhaps not one for the Scrabble puritans in the crowd.

Scrabble Helper helps you improve your Words With Friends gameplay originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/14/scrabble-helper-helps-you-improve-your-words-with-friends-gamepl/

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Motorola device owners have been pretty vocal about their want for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on their devices. Motorola in response to that, has kept an ICS rollout schedule updated and recently they made some changes to it that will either excite you or upset you, depending on which device you own.

Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR MAXX and XOOM 3G/4G owners have the most to be excited about as ICS updates for those devices should be rolling out at just about any moment right now. Atrix, Atrix 2, Droid Bionic, Droid 4 and XYBOARD owners will be waiting until the next quarter for their updates.

Own a Droid 3 or Droid X2 though? Looks as though you better start looking towards some ICS compatible ROM's as those devicse will be stuck on Android 2.3 Gingerbread for the remainder of their lifecycle, minus some bug fix and maintenance releases.

Source: Motorola, Android Central Forums

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/PEz_Xvqrcc0/story01.htm

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At the end of last year, an Administrative Law Judge issued an initial ruling that Motorola’s mobile devices infringe a bit of Microsoft’s IP. Now, the Commission has affirmed that decision and issued an exclusion order to ban Moto’s offending devices from importation into the US. In case you weren’t aware, the four patent claims at issue generally cover technology for scheduling meetings over email using a mobile device. So, unless Motorola removes the feature, pays for a license or whips up a workaround Microsoft’s patent in short order, its inbound RAZRs, Droid 4s, Bionics and other offending handsets will be stuck in customs alongside HTC’s One X and EVO 4G LTE — that is, unless Obama steps in to save the day during the prescribed presidential review period. Microsoft, naturally, is quite pleased with this development and has issued a statement:

Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year. We’re pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents.

– David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Microsoft

We’ve reached out to Motorola for comment on the matter as well, so stay tuned to see what it has to say.

Update: Motorola has issued an understandably somber statement on the ruling:

Microsoft started its ITC investigation asserting 9 patents against Motorola Mobility. Although we are disappointed by the Commission’s ruling that certain Motorola Mobility products violated one patent, we look forward to reading the full opinion to understand its reasoning. Motorola Mobility will not experience any impact in the near term, as the Commission’s ruling is subject to a $0.33/per unit bond during the 60 day Presidential review period. We will explore all options including appeal.

ITC bans Motorola mobile devices for infringing Microsoft patent (updated: MMI responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/AGz_ni-ykGQ/

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In case there was any confusion after Facebook’s eight years in business and its recent geographic expansions, it was cleared up today: Facebook’s home and heart lies in Silicon Valley. TechCrunch TV saw that first-hand this morning at NASDAQ’s Marketsite in New York City’s Times Square. We were on hand there for the ringing of the NASDAQ opening bell, but as expected, Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg took advantage of the option to ring it remotely from his company’s Menlo Park, California headquarters.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/5qAEpr_CtNs/

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Space-shooters are usually a fairly fiery affair, with many types of guns, weapon upgrades, power-ups and more. Dodge does away with all of that, while keeping the very essence of a space shooter: Dark background, fast action, and stuff blowing up all over the place.

Your vector-looking spacecraft is the fastest thing on the screen, most of the time. And as the header implies, you have absolutely no weapons; you can’t get any, either. All you have is agility and maneuverability.

Your opponents shoot heat-seeking missiles at you; the missiles lock on and start tracking you. The trick is to dodge the missiles while putting them in the path of one of your enemies, thus letting them have a taste of their own medicine.

There are three types of enemies, at least in the first few levels: “simple” spaceships which fire slow projectiles, “tanks” which seem to be more serious and take more hits to destroy, and “circles.” The circles simply explode, spewing twenty or thirty very fast projectiles. This sounds dangerous, but is actually great once you learn to use them; they are very destructive for tanks, and can even blow up other circles.

The soundtrack is very techno, but it meshes very well with this type of game. Intense fun!

Dodge is a space-shooter in which you have no weapons originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/01/dodge-is-a-space-shooter-in-which-you-have-no-weapons/

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