Category: GReader

Like Google’s web search, Twitter started off life doing one single thing and doing it very well. And, just like Google, it’s kept adding subtle little enhancements along its way to becoming a mature internet tool. Today, its own famously simplistic search functionality has take a turn through the makeover booth and has emerged shinier, happier, and much smarter on the other side. No longer do you need to have, for example, the specific names of your favorite smartphone jailbreak artists, you just search for the general term and Twitter will do some actual searching for you instead of merely matching your query to usernames. You can even step up to an advanced search, where adding the “:)” and “:(” operators determines whether you’ll get happy or downbeat tweets on the topic. Come to think of it, that is pretty advanced. Yo Google, where are your emoticon operators?

Twitter finally gets a legitimate search function, lets you filter tweets using smiley faces originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today, we’re happy to announce Google Maps 5.3 for Android, which lets you see your Google Location History dashboard, check in at “home,” and add your own aspects for places when rating them.

Location History dashboard
If you’ve enabled Location History for Google Latitude, you’ve been able to visualize interesting trends in your location history with a personal dashboard at google.com/latitude on your computer. Now, you can also see your dashboard on your phone by tapping View location history from your Latitude profile. You’ll be able to see right on your phone how far you’ve travelled as well as an estimate of how much time you’ve spent at home, at work, or out.

If you haven’t yet, you can enable Location History from your computer or from Latitude’s Settings menu on your phone. Location History is 100% opt-in and is private to you and nobody else. You can always delete any of your location history from the Manage History tab or correct the estimated work and home locations from the dashboard on your computer.

Check in at home
Now that you can see how much time you spend at “home”, you might want to let friends know when you’re there. Checking in at places using Latitude is another way to keep a history of places you’ve been and also lets you share when you’re there. I love letting friends and family know when I’m at a cafe or park, but sometimes I want them to know that I’m relaxing at home or made it back safely from a road trip. So now, I can start checking in at “home” in Latitude:

1. Check in from Latitude and tap “Home – Tap to set your location” at the bottom of the nearby places list if you don’t have one yet.
2. Use the estimated current address or enter in your home address yourself.
3. Once you’ve checked in at home once, “Home” will appear at the top of the list when you’re checking in near there.

Like Latitude and other check-ins, checking in at home is entirely opt-in. Your set “home” location is not searchable and only you can check in there. Just like any other check-in, you can choose with whom to share your home check-ins (along with your name and address info).

Add your own aspects for places
When you’re rating places on the go in Maps using Google Places with Hotpot, you could always quickly leave feedback on a specific aspect or characteristic of a place, such as the food or ambiance. Before, we’d automatically include aspects about places that were commonly mentioned in reviews. Now, you can add your own aspects for each place. So if you think a place has a beautiful view or great music, you can add it yourself and quickly share it with the world.

To get started, update Google Maps from Android Market on devices with Android OS 1.6+ anywhere Google Maps and Latitude are already available.

Posted by Kenneth Leftin, Software Engineer, Google Maps for mobile team

Toshiba’s 3D monocle may have been a joke, but what you’re looking at above is not. It’s one of the latest additions to its 3D Satellite lineup, now growing to include the P770 and P775 3D. Both include massive 18.4-inch displays that clock in at 120Hz, enabling use of NVIDIA active-shutter glasses — which you’ll have to find a spot for in your laptop bag. Dual webcams in the bezel let you add a little depth to your video calls, while the HDMI output can manage depth-enabled content too. There’s a re-writeable Blu-ray drive and what’s sure to be a massive price tag to match, though that part has yet to be confirmed by Toshiba. We don’t have a release date just yet either.

Toshiba’s P770 and P775 3D Satellite laptops do 120Hz on the go originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Search giant Google Inc. has been selected to make the first bid for the entire portfolio of patents held by Nortel Networks Corp., administrators for the bankrupt Canadian high tech company announce.

Thousands of Saskatchewan teachers are preparing to vote on whether they should take strike action if contract talks don’t soon produce an agreement with the provincial school boards association.

Never mind the cringe-inducing advertising, ASUS has given us a much better reason to care about its Tegra 2-toting Eee Pad Transformer: a $400 price

ASUS, you naughty tablet maker, you. Not content with giving your Eee Pad Transformer its own sitcom, you’re now coming at the US with an aggressive price and some rather eye-catching promo material to boot. Reminding the world that most tablets come without a keyboard and highlighting your tailor-made solution is all well and good, but did you have to make your “generic” slate look so iPad-ish?

[Thanks, Rob]

ASUS claims Transformer is better than a generic tablet, is probably right originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uh, is that Bumblebee hiding in the corner?

I put functional in quotations because the boot-jets don’t work, it won’t stop a single bullet (or rock), and the arc reactor is just a bunch of LEDs. Oh, and the briefcase looks like a homemade bomb. Besides that though, totally legit. The suit consists of 384 individual pieces of armor, over 4,000 LEGO Technix pieces and took more than 1,200 man-hours (that’s like 2,000+ woman-hours) to design and construct. 1,200 hours — good lord, that’s 50 days. I haven’t spent 50 days making anything! Unless ‘my friends and family disappointed’ counts, in which case I’ve been at that shit for years.

Hit the jump for a video of the briefcase to Iron Man suit transformation in action (complete with dryer-vent pipe arms!)

Iron Man Mark V Briefcase Armour [cosplay] (with a ton more pics and info about the build)
via
Fully Functioning DIY Iron Man Mark V Transforming Briefcase Suit [obviouswinner]

Thanks to Mark, who always handcuffs his briefcase to himself so people think he’s carrying around some important shit. Smart thinking — if you want your arm chopped off!

“While love is common, true love is rare, and I believe that few people are fortunate enough…

Android: While Android allows you to run multiple apps in the background, it doesn’t have the best method of switching between apps quickly. Dock4Droid brings a swipable dock, not unlike iOS’ fast app switching, to your Android phone. More »

When Motorola announced that the XOOM was coming to Canada they didn’t actually give a release date, they only stated sometime “mid-year”. It was Future Shop and Best Buy that revealed on their websites that the Android 3.0 tablet had an estimated date of first on April 8th, then got pushed back April 15th. With […]

Related posts:

1. Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi to cost $599.99, estimated release date of April 8th
2. Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi now has an “Estimated release date: 04/15/2011″
3. TELUS to release the Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM

For those stuck between the flexibility of HDD storage and the archiving ease of BDXLs Panasonic is finally ready to bridge the gap with its new triple layer BD-RE XL discs, set to arrive April 15th in Japan. Being the first rewriteable BDXL is the LM-BE100J’s claim to fame, which works out since the 10,000 yen ($118 US) asking price means buying two is probably out of the question. The latest burners from Pioneer and Buffalo already support the new discs, owners of other hardware may want to double check their spec sheets before ordering.

Panasonic’s first rewriteable 100GB BD-RE XL discs launch later this month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready to taste a sweet Honeycomb tablet with a Sony twist? You’d better be — Japan’s Nikkei is quoting Sony chief executive, Sir Howard Stringer, saying that the company’s first Android 3.0 tablet will be on sale by the end of summer. Better yet, it’ll pop for retail in the US first, according to the report. This lines up nicely with the reported September launch of a PlayStation Certified Tegra 2 “S1” tablet featuring a 9.4-inch display and unique “wrap” design that we first told you about back in February. Or will it be the S2 clamshell? Who knows, Howard isn’t saying. The new tablet tattle was apparently uttered at the same event where Howard spilled the beans about Apple’s plan to use Sony sensors. Come on Howie, quit the teasing and just come out with it you saucy Welsh minx.

Update: Sony told Japanese site AV Watch that it will release the tablet before the end of this year. It’s unclear if the comment relates to the domestic Japanese model or if it’s meant to temper expectations after the company’s rogue CEO spoke out of turn. Regardless, it’s coming.

Sony’s Howard Stringer confirms Honeycomb tablet in US by summer (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After being heckled and booed in Detroit, Charlie Sheen made some changes to his road show before hitting the stage Sunday night – and this time, it ended with a standing ovation.