Reality Bites
Firefox/Chrome/Safari/Mailplane: Rapportive, a plugin which we’ve previously mentioned for its Gmail-enhancing powers, has recently added Twitter capabilities. So now you can follow, reply to, and retweet your contacts—all without leaving Gmail. More »
At Apple WWDC dropped a bomb on RIM and came out with their own messaging system called “iMessage”. This has similar features as to their BlackBerry Messenger. According to the Wall Street Journal it seems that Google is developed or working on offering Android users a similar feature. The report states that “Google Inc., whose Android software is the most popular operating system on smartphones, has also recently worked on a messaging application, a person familiar with the matter said.”
No other details were given but Google currently relies on third party apps like Whatsapp, Liveprofile and Kik. The objective is to keep users on a specific mobile OS and keep them loyal to the brand. RIM currently has over 55 million BBM users and Apple, when iOS 5 is officially released in the fall, will have millions of users too. It’ll be interesting to see how this all impacts text messaging.
Source: WSJ
Via: Electronista
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American ISPs have convinced us that Internet access is expensive—getting speeds of 100Mbps will set most people back by more than $100 a month, assuming the service is even available. Where I live in Chicago, Comcast's 105Mbps service goes for a whopping $199.95 ("premium installation" and cable modem not included). Which is why it was so refreshing to see the scrappy California ISP Sonic.net this week roll out its new 1Gbps, fiber-to-the-home service for $69.99 a month.
Sonic.net has been around since 1994, selling DSL service in California, but it has recently expanded into fiber; the company has even secured the contract to manage Google’s own 1Gbps fiber network that will connect 800+ faculty homes at Stanford University.
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Microsoft’s already brought Xbox Live integration to Windows Phone 7, and it looks like you can count on some similar, if not deeper, integration in Windows 8 as well. Speaking to The Seattle Times, Microsoft VP Mike Delman said that “Live has been successful on the Windows Phone,” and that “Live will be built into the PC. It will be the service where you get your entertainment.” Delman went on to add that “Xbox Live will the pervasive media service across devices,” and that “whether it’s us or Apple or anybody else, people want to be able to navigate through multiple devices in a certain ecosystem very seamlessly so we’re committed to that.” As you might expect, however, he was still fairly light on any further specifics, but he did say that assets like Live and SkyDrive will be unified, and he promised that Microsoft will have plenty more to show at next year’s E3 — according to Delman, “you will not just see consoles and handhelds at this show next year, this show’s going to morph into other devices.”
Microsoft talks Xbox Live integration in Windows 8, says service will be ‘pervasive’ across devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
There are 2,500 more people working in Saskatchewan than a year ago, but not all areas of the province have improved, according to new job statistics.
![Click here to read Where Did the Word "Sexting" Come From?](http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2011/06/small_sexysexting.jpg "Click here to read Where Did the Word "Sexting" Come From?")
Sexting starting off like one of those stupid terms nobody actually uses, like netiquette. But now it’s on CNN nigh daily. So where’d this strange neologism come from? The internet has an answer! More »
Android: If you take a lot of pictures on your phone and don’t want to manually drag them onto your computer, DropSnap will automatically upload any photo you take to Dropbox, so they’re ready for you when you get home. More »
Dear Lifehacker,
I hear a lot of arguing about “lossless” and “lossy” music these days, but I’m having a hard time getting straight answers. Does bitrate really matter? Can most people tell the difference between high and low bitrate music files? More »
The one thing you can’t call director Terrence Malick is unambitious. In The Tree of Life, out now in select theaters, he tries to do for 1950s Texas what Stanley Kubrick did for prehistoric man; that is, tie a few ordinary lives to the immensity and wonder of universe and, ultimately, to us. More »
Like Comanderino Jobs said, Apple’s new toroid mothership may become the best office building in the planet. But it’s not the only spaceship that has landed on planet Earth. Gizmodo reader Felix Pharand D. has sent this high resolution comparison. More »
The arrests include one man in the city of Gijón who allegedly had a computer in his house that was used to attack PSN. The same computer was reportedly involved in attacks on Spanish banks and other entities. The other two arrests took place in Valencia and Barcelona, but no further information was provided.
Spain’s National Police, according to NYT, claim that the three suspects were part of the “local leadership” of the hacking group Anonymous, and that the police found its suspects by analyzing chat logs and web pages. The arrests were made as part of an investigation that began in October of last year following a hack on the Spanish Ministry of Culture website. Anonymous has previously denied official involvement with the PSN hack, though some members have speculated that the attackers were likely connected to the group.
[Thanks, David!]
Three arrests made in connection with PSN hack originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
In a post about the science of sleep twitching, a reader brought up an unknown (to me) phenomenon: Pee shivers. Apparently these are experienced by a relatively large portion of the male population, and today we shall take a look at why. More »
Earlier this week the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report showing that Canadians pay the most in the world for data roaming rates. For 1MB of usage we dish out $24.61 (U.S.), about twice as the OECD average of $13.52 (U.S.). Kinda upsetting… but good news has come out of this from TELUS. They are “within days” of dropping their roaming rates. Brent Johnston, TELUS VP of Mobility Marketing, says he “absolutely agrees” with the OECD report but puts the high cost blame on Rogers monopoly of international roaming deals. Johnson stated that a cut of “more than 50 per cent on data” will be coming soon, and this “still allows us to be profitable”. They must be making crazy money of roaming.
Source: Globe
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Its Friday (yippee!) – time for another Steal this Idea* feature – a tiny show of appreciation for a well executed tutorial.
Today’s idea is such a great way to reuse something found in the trash AND clever in its own right for maximizing small urban gardens. Despite having a black thumb, I was still drawn to Life on the Balcony, a blog packed with gardening ideas for those short on space.
Pop over to Life on the Balcony for all the details.
postscript: *When I say steal, I really mean borrow nicely and give proper credit!
**If you have an idea/tutorial you would like me to consider for a feature, email me. I’d love to see!
Here in the US and Canada, we’re already worrying about things like recalls, while the rest of world is still waiting for its crack at the original BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM today announced that its enterprise-friendly tablet will be hitting 16 more markets over the next 30 days — though some of the locations, like the UK, have already been announced (you guys will be getting the thing in a mere six days). Recipients include Hong Kong, India, and Australia — check out the full list in the form of a press release after the break. And when you’re done let’s start talking next-generation specs.
Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook rolling out internationally over the next month
BlackBerry PlayBook rolling out internationally over the next month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lots of ink has been spilled on the high cost of the average American wedding ($26,984, according to theKnot.com’s 2010 survey), but it’s not just the father of bride who is feeling the pinch. As weddings become more elaborate, weekend-long affairs, often taking place in getaway locales (24 percent of nuptials are “destination weddings” according to the Knot), bridesmaids are shouldering larger costs as well.
In the past, bridesmaids were just expected to buy a dress and help throw a shower. Now, as women marry later in life, they often choose wedding attendants from different stages in their life, such as a younger sister, the high school BFF, college roommate and their closest colleague. Chances are the wedding will not take place locally for all of them, so a flight or hotel stay may be required for some. It’s no surprise that travel expenses make up one of the biggest components in the bridesmaid budget.
Pre-wedding festivities can also take a big bite. As seen in the movie Bridesmaids, showers can spiral out of control if one maid with expensive tastes decides to make it a catered affair. Bachelorette parties can snowball from a simple girls’ night out to an indulgent spa weekend or a jaunt to Vegas. For some die-hard wedding fans, it’s all worth it, but for the more budget-minded maids in the wedding party, it can bring a lot of stress to what’s supposed to be a happy occasion.
Here’s a look at where the cost come from, according to WeddingChannel.com, and some tips on how both brides and their attendants can keep money agony from souring their relationship, and the wedding day.
Google has already made some tough moves to tackle fragmentation, but it’s clearly still wary of the problem. It’s just tweaked the Android Market web store to show users which apps are compatible with which of their gadgets. Of course, compatibility screening was already in place for users who accessed the Market from within their device, but this update should still be of use to those who surf the web store, especially if they’re rocking multiple handsets or a phone-plus-tablet combo.
Android Market web store now checks which apps are compatible with your devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 06:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Microsoft’s App Guy has quite a job on his baby-soft hands: to boost Windows Phone 7’s numerically-challenged Marketplace by encouraging developers to port apps across from other platforms. The little fellow helped iPhone devs out a couple of months ago with an API mapping tool to make it easier to translate iPhone APIs to WP7 code. Now he’s extended the mapping tool to work with Android APIs too, and backed it up with a 90-page white paper and a promise to get more involved in developer forums. Will the App Guy’s efforts unleash a flood of new apps for Windows Phone? We don’t know, but we dig his shorts.
Microsoft releases Android developer poaching package for Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 04:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
More strike action appears likely in the days ahead in the contract dispute involving 3,000 Saskatchewan health care workers.
