Netflix.com’s new look is focused on streaming, cribs UI elements from connected TV apps

Do not be alarmed, your Netflix.com experience has been updated today “with a new look and feel to make it easier for you to find something to watch instantly.” While the header introduced late last year remains and sticks on screen as you scroll vertically, box art of queued movies fills the screen horizontally. The redesign takes significant cues from the HTML5 UIs recently rolled out to most streaming devices, but it’s not clear if this related to some of the queue shuffling we’ve been seeing recently. Responses on the Netflix blog have been mostly negative, although just like Facebook and Twitter revamps some complaints about any change are normal.

That said, we’re not fans either because it still requires an additional click to find out if a movie is in HD or has subtitles, a misdirected click starts playing the wrong movie too easily and selecting “your queue” still takes us to our discs first instead of Watch Instantly. If the new front page isn’t working there’s always alternatives in Netflix queue managers like InstantWatcher.com and FeedFliks, or any number of mobile apps. Let us know if you’ll be riding with the redesign or hitting the back button in the comments here.

Netflix.com’s new look is focused on streaming, cribs UI elements from connected TV apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s prototype 7-inch tablet touts slide-out split QWERTY keyboard (update: just a concept)

Whoa. Every so often, a giant in Round Rock pokes it head up above water long enough to put forth a truly mesmerizing design, and while it’s no Adamo, this is most definitely the freshest take we’ve seen on tablets in a very, very long time. The gallery below showcases a prototype that’s lounging around within Dell’s top secret labs, a 7-inch slate that’s adorned with a slide-out keyboard. Said keyboard, however, is hardly typical — it’s rocking a split-key design that’s not at all dissimilar to the virtual layouts recently showcased within iOS 5 and Windows 8. So far as we can tell, the entire alphabet’s present and accounted for, and there’s a rear camera that’ll be more than happy to make your child’s next birthday party a bit more awkward. Outside of that, we’ve no other details to pore over, but it’s safe to say that we’ll be doing our darnedest to change that. Oh, and if you’re doubting that this thing has a future as a real-deal product, there’s a shot just south of these very words showcasing what looks to be a commercial / press render. Delicious.

Update: So it turns out that these photos were actually taken by Tweakers, who met up with the crew from Dell’s Austin Design Center to gaze upon this prototype tablet earlier this week. Tweakers says that the concept is about three to four years old, and it eventually led to the development of the eccentric Inspiron Duo. Unsurprisingly, Dell also confirmed to us that this device will never make it to the market; but of course, there’s still the Streak 10 Pro Android tablet to look forward to.

Dell’s prototype 7-inch tablet touts slide-out split QWERTY keyboard (update: just a concept) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Canada officially says the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is “coming soon”


We had a sneak peak earlier today but Samsung Canada has officially put “coming soon” on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16GB version). They note the addition of Touchwiz along with Social, Music and Reader Hubs and its blazing speed 1Ghz Dual-Core processor. The Wi-Fi version is scheduled to arrive sometime in July, while Rogers, Bell and TELUS have this on deck for an August release.

“It’s time to Tab”.
More here at Samsung

Related posts:

  1. Wi-Fi only Samsung Galaxy Tab coming to Canada “late Q1 early Q2″
  2. Samsung Galaxy S II coming to Canada by early Q3
  3. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 officially announced

HP TouchPad to be available June 22nd, starting at $500 for 16GB?

We’ve learned to take possible TouchPad release dates with a grain of salt at this point, but enterprise vendor Synnex has now provided yet another possible one, as well some additional confirmation of earlier leaks. According to a pair of listings on its website, the HP TouchPad (curiously also sporting the Pavilion moniker here) is estimated to be available on June 22nd in both 16GB and 32GB capacities for $499.99 and $599.99, respectively (the latter of which matches the price already spotted at Walmart). For those looking to accessorize, an HP-branded TouchPad case is also listed. Of course, an ETA doesn’t necessarily indicate an actual release date, but this particular one is at least closer to the last official word out of HP than recent rumors have suggested. Head on past the break for a shot of the listing for the 32GB model.

Continue reading HP TouchPad to be available June 22nd, starting at $500 for 16GB?

HP TouchPad to be available June 22nd, starting at $500 for 16GB? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canadian Federal Court of Appeal rules in favour of Globalive: WIND can officially stay in business


Even before WIND Mobile launched their wireless service other competing carriers had concerns about the amount of foreign ownership they have. Globalive, WIND’s parent company, is heavily backed by Egyptian-based Orascom and was given the green light in December 2009 to operate. They first launched in Toronto, but quickly expanded to Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa and now have a subscriber base of 300,000.

In February, Public Mobile and TELUS asked the Federal Court to look deeper into their structure, which once again questioned WIND’s future. WIND appealed the decision and good news has come today as the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in their favour and can stay in business for good.

I’m just reading over the court documents here’s the official wording:

Conclusion
[59] The appeals will therefore be allowed, and the Order in Council will be restored. Globalive and the Attorney General are entitled to their costs throughout. No costs will be assessed for or against the interveners.

In addition, a press release just went out from WIND that states that “the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Government of Canada and Globalive by allowing their appeals and restoring the Order in Council that permitted Globalive to launch in December 2009. In overturning the decision, the Federal Court of Appeal recognized that Cabinet acted properly both in varying an earlier CRTC decision and in finding that Globalive meets the Canadian ownership and control test in the Telecommunications Act. The decision was unanimous.”

Anthony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive said “We and our 300,000 customers are thrilled with this decision. Now we can continue delivering value and choice to Canadian consumers without the distraction and expense of challenges by our competitors to our right to operate. We have always maintained our compliance and with the restoration of this Order-in-Council we look forward to getting back to competition in the marketplace- where it belongs”.

Related posts:

  1. Clement to appeal Federal Court Ruling on Globalive “we will vigorously defend it”
  2. Globalive appeals Federal Court ruling: “We disagree with several aspects”
  3. Globalive stay of judgment extended, court date now set for May 18th

Google Maps Navigation to get offline mode? Garmin and TomTom on notice

Google Maps

Dutch tech site All About Phones claims that Google Maps Navigation will get a true offline mode later this summer. In December the Android app received an update that cached routes and the surrounding areas, but without a data connection you still couldn’t enter a new destination. A source inside the Dutch telco industry said that Goog would removing the requirement for coverage — an obvious next step for the nav tool, especially with Ovi Maps bringing its turn-by-turn prowess to WP7. The move is also bound to be another thorn in the side of standalone GPS makers like Garmin and TomTom. After all, it’s tough to compete with free.

Google Maps Navigation to get offline mode? Garmin and TomTom on notice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Computer Hard Drive Teardown [Video]

Curious how your hard drive actually works? Check out this teardown video by Engineer Guy, Bill Hammack.

In the above video Bill Hammack, the guy behind the Engineer Guy videos, tears down a hard drive. Not only do you get to see what’s going on inside the hard drive but the accompanying graphics and narration give a great introduction to the concept of magnetic hard drives.

Computer Hard Drive Teardown [Engineer Guy via Make]

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Nintendo stock down 5 percent after Wii U reveal

While our feelings were … oh, let’s be nice and say “mixed” on Nintendo’s just-announced Wii U traders on the Tokyo Stock Exchange were pretty much clear about their distaste. Nintendo stock closed down five percent yesterday after the company’s E3 keynote, settling at 16,970 yen ($212.44) — a low the company hasn’t seen since before the launch of the original Wii.

It’s not good news for Big N, but we’re talking about a company that’s made its fortunes on seeing opportunities where others don’t. And hey, look at it this way, Nintendo: History has proven we’ll eventually drop our defenses, conquer our trepidation and buy one anyway. So you’ve got us.

JoystiqNintendo stock down 5 percent after Wii U reveal originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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True North set to name Winnipeg GM

A league source requesting anonymity said Tuesday the yet unnamed Winnipeg club has hired Kevin Cheveldayoff as its GM. Cheveldayoff will join the Winnipeg squad after serving as the assistant GM of the Chicago Blackhawks.

A few improvements to discussions in Google Docs

(Cross-posted to the Enterprise blog)

In March, we launched discussions in Google Docs, replacing comments with discussion threads, @mentions, email notifications, and much more. This week, we’re launching a handful of improvements based on your feedback.

Improvements to the discussion pane


The discussion pane now shows the selected text for each comment thread, making it easy to figure out which part of the document each discussion pertained to. We’ve also given the pane a visual tuneup.

Document statistics
Ever wonder if people are actually looking at the document you’ve shared? Wonder no longer. By clicking the Discussions button and then the Document stats link, you can now see the 7-day activity of your doc.


Collapse discussions

Sometimes, discussions can get a little long and start to clutter your workspace, particularly if guy-who-always-replies takes the discussion on a tangent. Now, long discussions are automatically collapsed and expanded on click.

Email notifications

Email notifications have also undergone a facelift. Instead of sending the entire discussion in reverse chronological order, we now show you the selected text and most recent comment, with the full thread in chronological order below.


We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback about these improvements. Let us know what else you’d like to see in discussions on our Product Ideas page.

Posted by: Joseph Scarr, Software Engineering Intern

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review

When we met with Samsung in late May, company representatives didn’t seem entirely sure that the company would meet the rumored June 8th ship date here in the US, but lo and behold, it’s done just that. The tablet’s launching at noon today at the Best Buy in New York City’s Union Square, and if you can’t make it up to the Big Apple, it’ll hit the rest of the nation on June 17th. But here’s the real question: is it worth making an effort to snag it on either date? The Galaxy Tab 10.1, much like its Limited Edition sibling that we reviewed last month, is ever-so-slightly thinner than the iPad 2, a slate that most sane individuals (and competitors, for that matter) would confess is the market leader today.

Naturally, everyone and their sister is gunning for Apple in this space, and Honeycomb’s the first mobile OS we’ve seen that has the potential to put any sort of damper on Cupertino’s ongoing rave. By and large, the consumer version of the Tab 10.1 is the same as the device launched at Google I/O, but there’s two key differences that we’ll focus on here: the tamed design, and the thoroughly different OS version (v3.1 here versus v3.0 before). Head on past the break for an in-depth look into both of those, but be sure to first take a gander at our Limited Edition review to wrap your noodle around the basics.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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