Reality Bites
Acclaimed chef Thomas Keller shares how to use salt to intensify flavor by using wet and dry brining techniques, and also how to get that beautiful, crisp brown crust on a piece of fish or meat. More »
Android: PCAutoWaker is an app that instantly wakes your computer as soon as (or even before) you walk in the door, once it connects to your wi-fi network. The app’s Wake-on-LAN feature can actually wake up to 5 PCs on your network. More »
Microsoft is on fire with Windows 8, and the leaks are pouring out all over the place. We’ve seen new features surface, and even found registry keys referencing Windows 8 cloud features, as well as a “roaming profile” interface, but are yet to see them in action.
Now, for the…
Sometimes rocket science is actually, you know, rocket science. Getting to the moon was tough enough, but deep space exploration poses all manner of additional concerns — like getting back home alive, for one thing. And then there’s the issue of fuel, something long distance trips require a lot of — but stocking up on here on Earth means potential weight problems at launch. One proposal offered up in the past is space-based fueling stations conveniently located in key spots on the way to a distant destinations like the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. NASA is collecting proposals that can demonstrate the validity of such a plan, including the ability to store liquid oxygen and hydrogen, transfer it, and have a ship approach for fueling. If you think you’ve got your bases covered — and can keep it under $200 million — you’ve got until May 31st at 11:59 PM EST to hand over a proposal.
NASA collects proposals for space fueling stations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple has a tablet. So does RIM. HP Palm too, soon enough. And Android tablets, particularly those running Honeycomb… they’re everywhere — hell, even Sony has a few on the way. That leaves Nokia as the glaring anomaly conspicuously absent from the tablet wars. Understandable, we guess, given the company’s urgent need to transition its smartphone strategy to Windows Phone. That doesn’t mean the company is standing still though. According to an interview with YLE television in Finland, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is taking a very calculated approach to tablets, saying, “We could take advantage of Microsoft technology and software, and build a Windows-oriented tablet, or we could do things with some of the other software assets that we have. Our team right now is assessing what’s the right tablet strategy for Nokia.” In other words, Nokia is investigating tablets running Windows 7 (doubtful), MeeGo (doubtful), and Windows Next, aka that tablet-friendly Windows 8 OS (likely). But here’s the most illuminating exchange from the well-mannered Canadian:
There are now over 200 different tablets on the marketplace, only one of them is doing really well. And, my challenge to the team is I don’t wanna be the 201st tablet on the market that you can’t tell from all of the others. We have to take a uniquely Nokia prospective and so the teams are working very hard on something that would be differentiating relative to everything else that’s going on in the market.Q. So you’re not in a hurry?
We’re always in a hurry to do the right things, but we’re mostly in a hurry to do the right thing.
Makes sense to us and echoes what we’ve heard about Sony’s relatively delayed entry into consumer tablets. Why should Nokia build another me-too tablet when it can tap into the combined Microsoft / Nokia ecosystem and make a grab at some real market share and profit? The entire 20 minute interview is interesting as Elop discusses layoffs, the first Nokia Windows Phone, Symbian, and competing against Apple and Google. Hit the source link for the full deal — the tablet discussion begins at 10 minutes and 32 seconds.
[Thanks, Pauli N.]
Stephen Elop: Nokia won’t build just another tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
No matter how you slice it, 17,000 is a big number, especially when its seventeen thousand humans looking for jobs. The layoffs represent a four-percent reduction of Panasonic’s 380,000 global workforce due to restructuring efforts, according to Nikkei. They are expected to begin this year and will mainly impact employees outside of Japan.
Update: Post updated to reflect the actual number of job cuts, not the 40,000 originally quoted by Nikkei or the 35,000 quoted by the AFP. The cuts will come over two years. The news comes as Panasonic reported a ¥40.7 billion ($499 million) loss for quarter, largely on account of a ¥61 billion ($748 million) restructuring cost. Panny says that its bottom line was also affected by a strong Yen, stiff competition in television sales, and the recent earthquake and tsunami.
Panasonic will layoff 17,000 workers globally (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 03:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Before Portal 2 there was Portal, and before Portal there was Super Mario Bros. Bring these together and you get a mushroom-chomping Italian plumber ruling the 2D world — outside the cold confines of Aperture Science — with the infamous Portal gun. The next logical step? Turn this into a first-person game. Go on, Reggie, make it happen.
Super Mario gets a Portal gun, you monster (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Staring at spreadsheets crushed down to unreadable sizes on a 4-inch phone screen is far from pleasurable but, clearly there is a demand. In fact, we’ve been clamoring for a proper Google Docs app for ages, even though sometimes we’re not entirely sure why. It was only a matter of time before Google finally got around to appeasing us mobile workaholics and put an official app in the Android Market. Well, our masochistic prayers were answered — the Mighty Goog unleashed the new, native Google Docs for Android app and we rushed on over to the Market, clicked the install button, and gave it a whirl.
Gallery: Google Docs for Android hands-on
Continue reading Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video)
Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Oh Sony, if only you had chosen to deal with the growing user data breach swiftly and forthrightly. Then you could have spared yourselves a gallon of Fail-juice and the enmity of citizens and senators alike. Lucky for us, they decided to play the David Caruso card instead, and now we all get to giggle at this pitch perfect parody of PlayStation’s “it only does everything” campaign.
Enjoy:
CrackBerry has just dropped word via “numerous sources” that RIM will be revealing the next iteration of its mobile OS at the fast approaching BlackBerry World conference — and no, it’s still not QNX. Despite consistent rumblings that upcoming devices like the Bold Touch, and Monaco would be launching with OS 6.1, it seems that RIM has decided to re-brand the update completely as BlackBerry 7, perhaps to increase the value proposition and differentiate new devices being announced along with it. However, the site also speculates that current phones running BB6 may not get any BB7 action right off the bat — which could make sense, given that new features like NFC are only present in upcoming devices. All this is naturally unconfirmed, but if this is indeed yet another version of the BlackBerry OS, well, that certainly won’t help the platform get any more developer love.
RIM to launch 6.1 update as BlackBerry 7 OS at BlackBerry World next week? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
“What did it feel like, I wondered, to love someone that much? So much that you couldn’t even…
Rogers has announced it’s lighting up 150Mbps LTE in four Canadian cities this year. Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver are setting the stage for an additional 21 market rollout in 2012. Sure, that theoretical 150Mbps — with an announced upstream of 70Mbps — may shift a whole lot when this all gets real, but seriously, compared to HSPA+ those speeds are astounding. Canadians eager to get a bit more info can take a peek at Roger’s new LTE site (link below) and cast a vote for your hometown to be part of the 2012 expansion. Rogers hasn’t mentioned a date just yet — or if they plan on all four areas going live at once — but you can be sure that we’ll be keeping close tabs on all the details and grabbing some hands-on experiences with launch devices as soon as we can.
Rogers announces 150Mbps LTE launch in four Canadian cities this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apple fans like to tout just how many apps there in the Appstore–OK, OK, there’s quite a few–but Android completely dominates when it comes to the percentage of free applications.
By what margin does it dominate? Over half the applications in the Android Marketplace are free compared to less than a third of the iOS applications. What’s interesting about the numbers is how close the raw number of free applications is. Both the Appstore and the Market have roughly 130,000 free applications available for download with Android in the lead; the Appstore has 121,845 apps and the Marketplace has 134,342. What is significant is how Android has pulled ahead and how the large portion of the total available apps are free on the Android Market and how that reflects the greater Android culture.
Interested in more stats about the two? Hit up the link below for more infographics covering the changes in iPad app development and popularity as well as the overall shift in the mobile app ecosystem.
There Are Now More Free Apps for the Android Than For the iOS Platform [TechCrunch]
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Firefox 4? Too furry. Internet Explorer 9? Too blue. Google’s Chrome? Just the right amount of shine — or is it? The company introduced a flat new logo for the browser and now that logo is gracing the software’s latest stable release. Chrome 11 is now available, the biggest changes being a number of security and bug fixes, some of which “may be kept private until a majority of our users are up to date with the fix.” The new version also delivers speech-to-text and, perhaps more importantly, text-to-speech. There are other enhancements too, but really you’ve probably already left us to update. Are you still there? Hello?
[Thanks, noob]
Google launches Chrome 11, flat icon is here to stay originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
(Cross posted on the Google Docs Blog, and Google Enterprise Blog)
Increasingly, people are using mobile phones to access information — from email to web browsing to editing documents. Part of getting work done on the go is being able to easily access, edit and share content, which is why we’re happy to announce the new Google Docs app for Android.
With this new app it’s easy to filter and search for your content across any Google account, then jump straight into editing docs using the online mobile editors. The app also allows you to easily share items with contacts on your phone, right from within the app.
And my favorite feature: Using the app and your phone’s camera, you can turn photos with text into editable Google documents with the power of optical character recognition (OCR). Just create a new ‘Document from Photo’ or select the camera icon from the widget, and your converted document will appear in your documents list shortly after you snap the picture. You can also convert photos already stored on your phone by sharing them with the Google Docs app. OCR does a pretty good job capturing unformatted text in English but won’t recognize handwriting or some fonts – stay tuned, it will get better over time!
The Google Docs app is currently available in English and works on Android 2.1+ phones. Try it out by scanning the QR code below or by visiting Android Market.
Let us know what you think of the new Google Docs Android app in our forum.
Posted by Reuben Kan, Software Engineer
If you missed the opportunity to get your hands on Fring’s limited Group Video beta, fret not, because the free service has just gone live for everyone on this planet. What this means is that all Fringsters on compatible iOS 4.x and Android 1.5+ devices (1GHz and above recommended) can now have up to three friends on one video call, and as before, you can do so over either WiFi, 3G, or 4G. Hit your nearest app market for the software update to join the fun, and head past the break to see how Group Video works.
Continue reading Fring Group Video goes live, enables four-way mobile video calls for free
Fring Group Video goes live, enables four-way mobile video calls for free originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The BlackBerry PlayBook may be noticeably lacking a calendar app of its own (at least for now), but it looks like RIM could soon have more scheduling options than ever — it’s just acquired fellow Canadian company Tungle, which specializes in syncing your calendar across platforms. At the moment, that’s done with either the company’s web application, or its iOS or BlackBerry app (an Android version has also been promised), which also let you share your calendar with folks inside or outside your company and, of course, tie it into your various social networks — so you can learn about the person you’re having a meeting with, for instance. As you might expect, however, RIM is staying mum on exactly what it has in mind for the company, and it also isn’t divulging any specific terms of the acquisition. Head on past the break for a video demonstrating how the current service works.
Continue reading RIM acquires Tungle, might soon bridge your calendar across platforms
RIM acquires Tungle, might soon bridge your calendar across platforms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
More proof that a real Terminator is hard to kill! Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed on to be in the fifth Terminator flick being directed by Fast Five’s Justin Lin. Can this new film wipe Terminator Salvation from our memories forever? More »
1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
The big hubbub that arose last week around location tracking within the iPhone has now received its due response from Apple itself. Firstly, the Cupertino company claims it does not, and has no plans to, track users’ iPhones. What it’s actually doing is “maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,” which are then used to provide speedier calculation of your position when you want to use the device’s maps or other location-based services. The data collection that was recently brought to the public attention represents, according to Apple, the location of WiFi hotspots and cell towers around you, not your actual iPhone. Still, the fact iPhones have been shown to store as much as a year's worth of data is considered a bug by Apple, who plans to limit that period to a week in a future software update. The additional issue of data being collected after users turned off Location Services is also a bug, also to be fixed by Apple in that upcoming update. Left unanswered, however, are the questions of when Apple "uncovered" these bugs, as it claims, and why the fix for them is only coming now. Specialists have known about this behavior since at least September of last year. Either way, the software remedy is promised over the next few weeks, while the next major iteration of iOS should encrypt the cache file that's been the subject of all the scrutiny. You'll find the full Q&A after the break.
P.S. — One of Apple’s answers seems to disclose an extra bit of new information: “Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.”
Continue reading Apple officially answers questions on location tracking, says it doesn’t do it
Apple officially answers questions on location tracking, says it doesn’t do it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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China’s been making its mark on the world for years, but there’s still one massive piece of real estate where the country’s citizens haven’t hung their ubiquitous red flag: space. The China Manned Space Engineering Office hopes to change that within the next decade, however, unveiling a model of its first space station on Monday. The station’s current moniker is Tiangong (Chinese for “heavenly palace”) but the space agency is asking the public to suggest alternatives at kongjianzhan@vip.qq.com through July 25th. At 60 tons, the complete facility is significantly smaller than the 419-ton International Space Station, so residents should probably keep the man cave tidy in case Chinese astronauts need some room to stretch out while not connecting to the PlayStation Network. We’re working on our own list of names for little Tiangong here, but feel free to share your submissions after the break.
China unveils space station, launching by 2020 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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