Author: Terren

YouTube is currently negotiating with the NBA and the NHL to show live games, something that’s a bit harder to find for free online. They’re talking with “most pro sports leagues,” which means not all. Sorry billiards fans. [Businessweek] More »

We found out yesterday that Motorola’s Xoom would be shipping sans Flash support on Verizon Wireless, and while Big Red claimed that an update would be doled out this spring, the folks at Adobe are pointing to a far more specific time frame. In a new post over at the Flash Platform Blog, Adobe has confirmed that “Flash Player 10.2 [will be] pre-installed on some tablets and as an OTA download on others within a few weeks of Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) devices becoming available, the first of which is expected to be the Motorola Xoom.” We’re guessing that the company’s going public with a statement like this to fend off fears that the Xoom may be waiting an eternity for Flash, in essence removing a bit of fear from hesitant early adopters. Either way, it’s excellent news for those eying a Honeycomb tablet of any flavor, and we’re going to take the liberty of taking “a few weeks” to mean “a fortnight.” Cool, Adobe?

Adobe promises Flash Player 10.2 for Honeycomb tablets ‘in a few weeks,’ Xoom gets namechecked originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A college student has used an app on his Android phone to beat a ticket in traffic court. Sahas Katta was pulled over by local police and given a speeding ticket for going 15 miles over the speed limit. Trouble is, Sahas, wasn’t speeding. But could he prove it? Then he remembered an app he had on this Motorola Droid that could provide the evidence.

Fortunately at the time, Sahas was running a great app from the Android Marketplace called GOOGLE TRACKS. This app uses the GPS and accelerometer in the Droid to measure distance traveled, average speed, average moving speed, and max speed. When he accessed the history tab, the Droid was able to show that Sahas was indeed traveling one mile under the speed limit, and not 15 over. He knew he had the officer dead to rights and decided to fight the ticket. In court, he produced his evidence and got the officer to admit that he hadn’t refreshed his radar gun training, nor when was the last time he had the radar gun properly calibrated. That was all the judge needed to pronounce Sahas “not guilty.”

I gotta get this app!

[via SkatterTech]

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Microsoft told us to clear our pipes for a hefty download on the 22nd of February, and sure enough, the software giant is delivering. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is now available for public consumption, with the company also confirming that 7601.17514.101119-1850 is the final RTM. We’d bother telling you more, but we know you’ve already dug into the source link in order to get your download a-hoppin’. Just make sure you uninstall any pre-releases of SP1 before doing the deed with this one, and if you’re updating just a single PC, you’re probably better off waiting for everything to flow through Windows Update. Your call, though.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Windows 7 SP1 (and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1) now available for public download originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Elegance meets functional design with the 1?imit faucet. The glass holds exactly one liter of water, sufficient for any hand wash. The elegant design hopes to conserve water, as we almost use six liters when one is sufficient. Once the liter has been used, the waiting game begins and you must wait until the liter fills again. This rationing process hopes to help with water conservation. Designed by Dohyung Kim & Sewon Oh.

Read and see more entertaining articles here.

You don’t need us to tell you what you already know in your gut to be true: Redmond is working hard on its tablet strategy. How embarrassing is it for Microsoft, the company that pioneered tablets and the 7-inch UMPC, to be completely absent from the conversation in 2010 and 2011? That could change in September. Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley recently shared the slide above which she believes to be 99.99 percent genuine. The timeline shows the major milestone dates for a Windows 8 (aka, “Windows Next“) release — an OS that M. JoFo believes to be focused on tablets (aka, “Lap PCs” in Microsoft parlance) with its purpose-built touch-centric design. According to the slide, we’re looking at an M2 milestone this month followed by M3 in July or August. Foley says that would put Microsoft on track for a Windows 8 beta release right around Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) event in September followed by a second beta in 2012 before being released to manufacturing around the summer of 2012 — just like we heard early last year and just in time for Dell’s Hancock tablet. There are still many open questions including Microsoft’s ARM vs. Intel priorities and how the company plans to scale across the enterprise and the “workhorse PC” and “Family Hub PC” in the home. Hit the ZDNet link below for a deeper read or better yet, head on over to TechRepublic where Mary Jo Foley put together an excellent webcast outlining Microsoft’s tablet strategy in much more detail.

Windows 8 beta for tablets at September PDC? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 07:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The official TouchPad launch date isn’t even a date per se, but a season: summer. So we’re surprised to see DigiTimes reporting that HP will take delivery of shipments in March with the TouchPad going on sale in April with plans to ship 4 – 5 million units from the TouchPad “series” in 2011. Based on what we know, both from using the software-incomplete pre-production tablet and from our detailed discussions with Jon Rubinstein, an April retail date would be extremely aggressive to say the least. And DigiTimes‘ accuracy with regard to rumors for companies located outside of its home country of Taiwan is spotty at best. Nevertheless, HP’s new CEO Leo Apotheker did say originally, that products announced at the February 9th event would be on sale just a few weeks later. Unfortunately, only the wee Veer handset got an early spring promise with the Pre 3 joining the TouchPad for a summer launch. Perhaps this will be a case of HP under promising and over delivering? We can’t say for sure. But with any luck, HP could bring some clarity to the matter on March 14th — a day Apotheker had promised a big reveal regarding a “secret answer” and “vision of what HP is capable of in the future… the starting point.” Why so mysterious, Leo?

HP TouchPad on sale in April? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There is something to be said about a design of your webpage, a great design will encourage traffic and help maintain loyal followers, but a poor design can have devastating results. Gizmodo recently unveiled a new design which was immediately met with a lot of criticism.

When Digg upgraded their…

Microsoft to release Kinect for Windows SDK this spring originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Programmer Dan Loewenherz has created a new app that could stimulate several Facebook groups, particularly lotharios, lovesick stalkers and appreciators of schadenfreude. According to Gawker, Loewenherz’s ‘Breakup Notifier‘ allows users to compile lists of their “taken” friends, so that “whenever those friends change their relationship statuses, the app will e-mail” the snooping stalker. Unfortunately, the app’s release is a little too late for the Valentine’s Day scavengers, but prime breakup season is right around the corner — so get stalking, Spring Breakers.

‘Breakup Notifier’ Facebook App Feeds the Obsession and Infatuation originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twenty-five years ago today, an ambitious title was released in Japan that would, in time, become one of the biggest and most important franchises in video game history. More »

Chrome designers are looking at four models for the browser’s future interface, though only two are intended for “active” development. One of them is a “Compact” look, which drops Chrome’s distinct Omnibox address/search bar entirely in favor of drop-down URL entry fields when new tabs are hovered over or clicked. Pretty soon, your browser may look like it’s running in full-screen mode all the time. [Conceivably Tech] More »

We’re almost there, almost to the release of the Native Client we first got wind of last May. It is, basically, a way to run native code within a browser — low-end stuff capable of delivering performance good enough for 3D games and the like. Christian Stefansen, a Google Product Manager, said that the stuff is getting closer to delivery, that the team behind it has reached an “important milestone,” that code will be “as portable and secure as JavaScript.” It was of course security, or the lack thereof, that derailed Microsoft‘s plans for this sort of functionality in Internet Explorer via ActiveX, a stigma that technology has still yet to escape from. Will Native Client do better? Will Crysis ever be available in the Chrome Web Store? Could a Cr-48 run it anyway? Questions questions…

Google’s Native Client almost ‘ready for takeoff,’ ready to make ActiveX look visionary originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cellphone cameras are everywhere. Kids, adults—all armed to the teeth with capable cameras. With so many in so many hands, it's no surprise that a kayaker just captured the best photo ever of an infamous English sea monster using—you see where I'm going with this, yes?—his cellphone. More »