Reality Bites
Called the Flashbang Bra Holster, it’s a gun holster tucked into a woman’s bra. The video shows a pretty girl (who supposedly doesn’t have any experience totin’ guns) pulling out her weapon in less than a second and a half. More »
Perhaps you had your fill of WebGL yesterday after playing Angry Birds from dawn till dusk, but there was an even more graphically intensive Chrome browser experience unveiled at Google I/O this week: “3 Dreams of Black” by Rome. Simply put, it’s an music video that runs in your browser window, starring the talents of Danger Mouse, Daniele Luppi and Norah Jones, but instead of watching Norah serenade you from a stage or set, you’re thrust into dreamlike, interactive 3D worlds. It’s a fantastic tech demo for WebGL and the games it might inspire… and it’s also something you’ll want to experience for yourself. Find it (and the copy of Chrome Canary you may need for it to run well) at the source link below.
‘3 Dreams of Black’ is the trippiest WebGL interactive music video you’ve seen all day originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 23:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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File-sharing software company LimeWire has reached a $105-million US out-of-court settlement with major record labels.
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
Chromebook’s debut couldn’t have been more timely, for its irony — one day before today’s expiration of Microsoft antitrust oversight that allowed Google to do what Netscape wanted: To build a browser-based platform rivaling Windows.
The rise of tablets and smartphones has made the touchscreen a rather ubiquitous interface, but they aren’t everywhere quite yet. A group of students from Texas A&M intend to change that, however, with the invention of ZeroTouch: a seemingly empty picture frame that lets you turn any surface into an interactive touchscreen. It might not look like much, but ZeroTouch is packing a series of pulsing LEDs and infrared sensors that turn that blank space into a highly sensitive surface. Basically, the strategically placed LEDs cover the open area in a sheet of invisible light. When a hand or stylus enters the picture (or lack there of), those beams are interrupted, providing cues to a piece of software that tracks the object's movement — and boom! You've got a touchscreen. Of course, this isn't the sort of thing that's going to make it to market anytime soon, but you can check out ZeroTouch rocking the rippling water effect in the video below.
ZeroTouch ‘optical multi-touch force field’ makes a touchscreen out of just about anything originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s been saying that it was coming “soon” since March, and Adobe has now finally delivered Flash Player 10.3 to compatible Android devices. As expected, it brings mostly bug fixes and optimizations, the biggest of which appears to be NEON optimizations for OMAP4 (or Cortex A-9) processors, which should be good news for BlackBerry PlayBook owners (and those that eventually get their hands on an Optimus 3D). Otherwise, you can expect to find the usual batch of security improvements, and a few fixes for specific problems on Galaxy S phones, the HTC Evo, and various Motorola devices.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Update: Adobe’s also now brought the desktop version of Flash Player 10.3 out of beta for Windows, Mac and Linux, and it’s confirmed that the Android update does indeed include support for Android 3.1. Hit up the links below for the complete details.
Flash Player 10.3 hits Android with optimizations, bug fixes aplenty (update: desktops too) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 16:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: TV News
UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter has just confirmed that Ashton Kutcher will replace Charlie Sheen on ‘Two and a Half Men.’ The Hollywood trade reported that “two sources close to the deal-making (said) that the actor is putting the final touches on a deal to replace Charlie Sheen … The exact dollar figure he will be paid is not known but a source says Kutcher is getting a ‘huge payday’.”
Earlier: The soap opera known as ‘Two and a Half Men’ keeps getting better and better. No, we don’t mean the TV show, we mean the behind-the-scenes casting show.
TV Squad previously reported that Brit Hugh Grant had been in negotiations to replace errant Charlie Sheen in the blockbuster series that has been gilding Warner Bros.’ and CBS’ coffers for years. The latest news, however, is that Grant is out and — ready for this? — Ashton Kutcher is next in line for the role.
Grant’s name reportedly came up about a month ago and CBS boss Les Moonves and CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler thought it was a good idea. Talks began and, allegedly, Grant was offered $1 million per episode (though later, insiders at WB downplayed that figure). Grant was close to sealing a deal when the thought of the grind of TV series work made him reconsider and he backed away.
The world’s largest HDTV is 200 feet wide and 80 feet tall. The 16,000-square-foot screen is made up of 158 panels, weighing 165,000 pounds. It’s lit up by 9 million LED lamps. But it’s only 720p. More »
It’s no secret that negotiations between Google and the recording industry haven’t been going very well. Perhaps even less surprising are the reasons behind the stalemate. According to the Hollywood Reporter, discussions between the two parties have sputtered thanks to three usual suspects: money, file-sharing and concerns over competition. During licensing talks, Google agreed to pay upfront advances to all participating labels, but the major players wanted bigger guarantees. That prompted the indie contingent to ask for similar money, unleashing a snowball of stakes-raising. The two sides also failed to agree on how to handle pirated music, with the industry demanding that Google not only ban illegally downloaded files from users’ lockers, but that it erase P2P sites from its search results, as well.
Hovering above all this bargaining was a thick cloud of destabilizing uncertainty. Some execs welcomed the idea of a new iTunes competitor, while others were less enthusiastic, amid concerns that Google Music wouldn’t deliver new revenue streams. The ultimate question, of course, is how negotiations will proceed now that Google’s already launched the service. The labels were warned that Tuesday’s I/O announcement was coming, but the search giant didn’t do much to mend fences when it effectively blamed the record execs for holding up negotiations. It’s hard to say whether Google’s bravado will help or hurt matters, but according to a source from a major label, “People are pissed.”
What stalled negotiations between Google and the music industry? (Hint: money) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Google announced yesterday that they’ll be releasing their Chrome OS-equipped netbooks this summer, dubbed Chromebooks. If you aren’t a fan of their hardware (or you don’t want to pay $500 for one), you can easily make your own. More »
Well, it looks like the LG Revolution won’t be the first Android phone to get Netflix after all. The app has just hit the Android Market and is currently available for the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, Evo 4G, and G2, plus the Samsung Nexus S. As you might expect, there’s not a lot of surprises in terms of functionality — you can resume watching where you left off on your TV or computer, and the app will allow you to manage your instant queue in addition to letting you simply browse movies. On its official blog, Netflix explains that while the app is currently limited to phones with “requisite playback support,” it anticipates that many of the “technical challenges will be resolved in the coming months,” and that it will be able to “provide a Netflix application that will work on a large majority of Android phones.” That’s some curious wording, to be sure, and a notable change from earlier talk that suggested only certain Qualcomm processors would support the necessary DRM for Netflix. Also not supported at the moment: Canada. If none of that precludes you, however, you can hit up the Android Market link below to try it out for yourself.
In other Netflix news, the company has also rolled out a little gift for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users — the iOS app now finally boasts support for subtitles.
Gallery: Netflix app for Android
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Netflix releases Android app for select HTC phones, Samsung Nexus S originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A woman testifies at Kim Walker’s murder trial that days before a fatal shooting, Walker told her he’d like to blow James Hayward’s head off.
Last week, we were treated to an earful about Intel’s plans for its future chips — most notably, that it’s committing to 3D transistors across the board. Well, that trickle of information hasn’t run dry just yet — today’s tidbit gives us a peek not into the next-generation of Atom, but the one already in the works to come after that. The new processor, codenamed “Silvermont,” will be a system-on-a-chip and is reportedly slated to ship sometime in 2013. CNET also cites unnamed sources who claim that it will be designed specifically to take advantage of Intel’s 22nm technology and 3D transistors. As it stands, though, they boost the cost of wafers by two to three percent, so here’s hoping that premium comes down before the netbooks of the future hit the market — if we have netbooks in the future.
Next-next-gen Atom will be a system on a chip called ‘Silvermont,’ pack 3D transistors? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Kinect was an innovation in motion interface technology, but it begs the question: what does the future have in store for motion control?
During our interview with Victor Zordan, expert in video game technology, we raised the issue.
GameFront: Regarding interfaces like the Kinect, where do you think we’ll be 5 years from now? 10?
Victor Zordan:
I think we’ve just seen the beginning. In 5 years, we’ll be doing many other interesting things with motion interfaces — not even just playing games. They will be the natural way to do a lot of different activities. More and more people of diverse backgrounds and ages will be able to interact because it’s a very natural way to do so. We’re going to see more people interacting who haven’t traditionally been labeled as “gamers.” This is already happening with the Wii, and it will continue.
In 10 years, we may have moved beyond motion interfaces. I have a prototype headset that is a direct brain interface; it’s in its infancy, but it’s being used for games. We’re developing our own first applications on these direct brain tools. They are essentially headsets with sensors on them that directly measure the brain activity, which is transformed into commands for the game.
As this technology matures, we may no longer use our body as an interface; we may just use the brain and directly control the game with our thoughts.
Follow this link for the full interview with Victor Zordan.
They are coming. They are angry. Protect your pigs.
Angry Birds, the most popular game for mobile devices, has arrived in the Chrome Web Store. Built using the latest technologies, Angry Birds is as much fun on the web as on your phone. In addition, you can try beating the new web-only, Chrome-inspired levels.
While firing up that slingshot, you may also want to try out some of the other apps that were recently added to the store. To keep up with the world of finance, you can install the Reuters and Fortune 500 apps. ESPN Cricinfo brings the latest cricket news straight to your new tab page. For the photo enthusiasts among you, LiveShare helps aggregate your friends’ photos from events you attended together.
In addition to the new apps added today, popular apps such as Springpad and Graphicly have been updated to work offline. This makes them even more useful, especially to those of you who snap up one of our new Chromebooks.
Finally, for those of you who prefer to surf the web in a different language, we’ve made the Chrome Web Store available in 41 languages. This is just a first step towards launching the store in 15 more countries with locally relevant applications. Some, like SKY for the UK and EXAME for Brazil, have already appeared in the store.
To play with all of these goodies and the more than 19,000 other items in the Chrome Web Store, you can start by downloading Google Chrome at google.com/chrome.
Posted by Rahul Roy-chowdhury, Product Manager
Staples wouldn’t be my first choice to pick up any sort of tablet but ever since they went bonkers on promoting the BlackBerry PlayBook I’ve become more aware of their offerings. Seems they are going to be selling more tablets too and expanding past the BlackBerry PlayBook. Up next are a couple Android 3.0 Honeycomb […]
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It seems like the ongoing rivalry between Facebook and Google has taken a turn for the subversive. Last night, a spokesman for the social network confirmed to the Daily Beast that Facebook paid a top PR firm to spread anti-Google stories across the media and to encourage various outlets to examine allegations that the Mountain View company was violating user privacy. The PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, even offered to help blogger Chris Soghoian write a critical op-ed piece about Social Circle — a service that allows Gmail users to access information on so-called “secondary connections,” or friends of their friends. Social Circle, in fact, seems to have been at the epicenter of Facebook’s smear campaign. In a pitch to journalists, Burson described the tool in borderline apocalyptic terms:
“The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloging and broadcasting every minute of every day-without their permission.”
Soghoian thought that Burson’s representatives were “making a mountain out of a molehill,” so he decided to prod them about which company they might be working for. When Burson refused to spill the beans, Soghoian went public and published all of the e-mails sent between him and the firm. USA Today picked up on the story, before concluding that any claims of a smear campaign were unfounded. The Daily Beast‘s Dan Lyons, however, apparently forced Facebook’s hand after confronting the company with “evidence” of its involvement. A Facebook spokesman said the social network hired Burson to do its Nixonian dirty work for two primary reasons: it genuinely believes that Google is violating consumer privacy and it also suspects that its rival “may be improperly using data they have scraped about Facebook users.” In other words, their actions were motivated by both “altruistic” and self-serving agendas, though we’d be willing to bet that the latter slightly outweighed the former. Google, meanwhile, has yet to comment on the story, saying that it still needs more time to wrap its head around everything — which might just be the most appropriate “no comment” we’ve ever heard.
Facebook admits hiring PR firm to smear Google originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 07:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well, it looks like ViewSonic is finally digging its Android tablets out of the Froyo doldrums and, what’s more, it may be first to market with a Honeycomb slate of the seven-inch variety. According to Pocket-lint, the company will debut the Tegra 2-powered ViewPad 7x at Computex later this month. The 7x will supposedly pack WiFi, HSPA+, and an HDMI port while weighing in at a svelte 0.84 pounds. Oh, and it’s got a design on the back that is supposed to make it look “funky”… or something. There’s no word on price but, it’s rumored to hit shelves in June.
ViewSonic 7x shrinks Honeycomb to 7 inches for the tiny handed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 01:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
A Yorkton, Sask., woman has told a murder trial that she saw her father shoot and kill her boyfriend – and then draw a bloody cross on his forehead.
We never had much doubt about what Samsung would be showcasing at tonight’s finale event at Google I/O 2011, but now it’s official — the outfit’s first-ever Chrome OS ultraportable is making its debut in San Francisco, and we’ve been fortunate enough to grab a bit of hands-on time. Slated to ship to consumers, businesses and educational institutions on June 15th, the 12.1-inch Series 5 is a strikingly svelte machine, and there’s no doubt that holding a 0.79-inch rig gives us all kinds of chills. The company took a bit of time to play up its “Power Plus” battery technology, lasting up to 8.5 hours with “active use,” or 5 hours of straight video. There’s also a new hitch in the Verizon Wireless data deal — 100MB will be tossed in each month on the 3G model, but contrary to what we’d heard earlier, that ends after two years (rather than lasting for the life of the product).
The hardware feels tremendous — stiff, solid and well appointed, much like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition. It outclasses the other sub-$450 netbooks we’ve seen in both style and rigidity, and while we’ll always have a special place in our heart for the CR-48, it’s pretty clear that this particular unit was in the oven for some while. We’ve hoping to spend some serious time with this guy in the middle of next month, but for now, here’s what we can tell you — the 1280 x 800 display is both crisp and sharp, with shockingly great viewing angles for a machine of this price. The keyboard’s far from cramped, and if you’ve had your doubts on the 12.1-inch form factor, we’re guessing one touch of this would have those running for cover. Oh, and the trackpad? One of the best we’ve felt in the PC universe, and one that we hope crops up elsewhere in the near future. It’s right about on par with the one found on the CR-48 (post update), which is also stellar compared to most netbooks.
Obviously, we aren’t here long enough to test the ultra-longevous battery (said to be good for over 1,000 cycles — perfect for education and business users who are apt to adopt it), but we’ll be sure to do our best once we settle down with a production unit. We’re told that it’ll be available in Titan Silver or Arctic White, provide a chiclet style keyboard, a multi-gesture trackpad (which supports two-finger scrolling) and “instant” wake from sleep.
Update: More impressions and video are after the break, and a head-to-head with a current-gen 11-inch MacBook Air is below!
Continue reading Samsung Series 5 Chrome OS laptop hands-on at Google I/O (update: video!)
Samsung Series 5 Chrome OS laptop hands-on at Google I/O (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 21:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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