Reality Bites
If you gave up on TNT’s Falling Skies after the first few episodes, now’s a great time to give it another chance. The just-concluded “Sanctuary” two-parter was genuinely intense and awesome. And this Sunday’s new episode has answers, action and weirdness. More »
It’s been a hell of a summer for JJ Abrams and company with the success of Super 8 and Cowboys & Aliens, which was co-written by frequent Abrams collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
Last year, on July 29th, we asked you to show a little love to your sysadmin because, without them, our world would probably come to a screeching halt. We suggested a card, or at least a polite nod in the hallway. Instead, you went all out and actually gave them a bit of raise. That doesn’t mean you can let System Administrator Appreciation Day slip by this year without acknowledgment, however. We’re not saying you’ve got to outdo yourselves and get them some sort of super yacht — a simple thanks will do. But, they probably wouldn’t mind a repeat of last year’s gift either.
System Administrator Appreciation Day is here, show them some love (or suffer the consequences) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lenovo had a bit of an issue saving the date for its summer tablet launch, but no longer. Confirmed via a product page on the company’s site, its Honeycomb-flavored ThinkPad Tablet will finally hit retailers’ shelves on August 23rd. If you’re not into waiting that long, you can always snag the IdeaPad K1 — we hear Lisa Stansfield recommends it.
[Thanks, Jeff]
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet gets an August 23rd release originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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As part of our effort to evolve the Google design and experience, we’ve improved the www.google.com search experience on tablets. We’ve simplified the layout of search results pages and increased the size of page contents like text, buttons and other touch targets to make it faster and easier to browse and interact with search results in portrait or landscape view.
The search button located below the search box provides quick access to specific types of results like Images, Videos, Places, Shopping and more. Just tap to open the search menu and select an option to see results in one category.
For image results, we focused on improvements that enhance the viewing experience such as enlarged image previews, continuous scroll, and faster loading of image thumbnails.
This improved search experience is rolling out in the coming days to iPad and Android 3.1+ tablets across 36 languages. Give it a try by going to www.google.com in your tablet’s browser.
Posted by Xiaorui Gan, Software Engineer
ASUS first showed off its Eee Pad Slider what seems forever ago. That was way, way back at CES, amongst the deluge of tablety announcements. The keyboard-hiding Honeycomb device is finally on its way, having been given an August release date in the UK and recently hitting the FCC in the States. The 10.1-inch tablet just popped up in the August catalog for the Phone House (the Carphone Warehouse's brand outside the UK) catalog in Portugal, priced at €349 ($497) under contract with ZON — that's down from €479 ($684) without contract. The forthcoming tablet also hammed it up for the camera recently — video of that after the break.
[Thanks, Zack and Pedro]
Continue reading ASUS Eee Pad Slider priced in Portuguese catalog, manhandled on camera (video)
ASUS Eee Pad Slider priced in Portuguese catalog, manhandled on camera (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 10:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sure seems that the magical price tag for tablets is around $499.99. The iPad2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, HP TouchPad, Motorola XOOM, LG Optimus Pad and the BlackBerry PlayBook are priced around this mark. Soon you’ll be adding another one to the mix. The recently announced Lenovo Ideapad is coming to Canada. This is now listed on the Future Shop website for $499.99 and will come with Android Honeycomb (Future Shop says it’s running OS 3.0). The 32GB Wi-Fi only Ideapad has a 10.1-inch display, NVIDIA Tegra 2.0 1GHz processor, a 5 megapixel camera in the back along with a 2 megapixel camera in the front for video calling.
No news yet on a release date.
More here at Future Shop
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Olivia Wilde, beautiful actress, has a nude scene in the upcoming movie The Change-Up. Which is funny because she wasn't actually naked in the scene—she wore pasties to cover up her bitties. Turns out, they CGI'd her nipples in post-production. More »
If you love Gmail and need to access it on the go, you probably already know that Google’s Android platform is the best way to do so, and with the new v2.3.5 it’s getting even better. The top two new features this time around include the ability to sync only priority messages (saving battery life and keeping unimportant messages at bay) and the ability to individually set notifications and ringtones for any of the labels in your inbox. The Android Market website is still showing version 2.3.4.1, but we successfully upgraded via the Market on our devices. Also new are features like remembering “Show Pictures” for specific senders, a toggle for sticky message actions in all orientations as well as improved overall performance and TalkBack screen reader support.
Update: The website is now showing all the details for 2.3.5, hit the source link to update or just check the official list after the break.
Gmail v2.3.5 for Android adds label-specific ringtones and sync priority mail only options originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Today, Google Music has opened up invites so current users can invite their friends. Currently you get two invites and they’ll appear in an orange bar (see above) when you log into your account. Clicking on the bar will bring up a panel that’ll let you enter the email address of the person you’d like to invite. Just click “Send invite” and your friends can join in. More »
For her series “Shake“, pet photographer Carli Davidson photographed curious portraits of dogs shaking off water. Use a fast shutter speed and you can capture all kinds of strange expressions on your dog’s face.
You can find the rest of the photographs in the series here.
Image credits: Photographs by Carli Davidson and used with permission
Android: Lockscreen Calendar puts your upcoming appointments and meetings on your lockscreen, saving you from having to unlock your phone, open your calendar, and scroll through your meetings to find out where your next appointment is. More »
An Engadget app? On your Honeycomb tablet? It’s more likely than you think. We’ve heard your e-mails and your tweets and your various requests for an app that will truly make the most of your pixels, and now you’ve got it. Version 1.1.12.1 of our offering has been released to the Android Market and with that comes support for your Transformers, your Galaxy Tab 10.1‘s, and your Iconia Tab A500‘s — even your hacked Nooks. You can of course get all the latest news and updates, browse by category, watch the latest episodes of The Engadget Show, and do it all while the podcast is playing in the background. Give it a try, we think you’ll like it.
Engadget Android app updated, now with Honeycomb support! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Here’s a little feature that Microsoft quietly sneaked into Mango — you can stream music straight from your SkyDrive account. With the latest WP7 update comes some nice integration with Redmond’s cloud storage service, but it’s not just for pulling up spreadsheets. You can navigate to any folder and, if you tap on an compatible sound file, it’ll start playing the tune in the music app. It’s not a full fledged streaming and syncing service like Google Music or a tightly integrated ecosystem such as iTunes and iCloud, but it is a pretty neat trick. And, lets be honest, no matter how cumbersome, sometimes those unofficial solutions are much more gratifying. Check out the video of it in action after the break.
Mango quietly enables music streaming from SkyDrive, hides amongst your spreadsheets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Google Reader is great for funneling news into a digestible, easy-to-read format, but it’s not very attractive. Readefine Desktop is a desktop reader that connects to Google Reader or any RSS feed you provide and displays your articles in a beautiful magazine-style layout. More »
For the first time, an asteroid sharing Earth’s orbit around the sun has been detected.
It’s been quite awhile since RIM’s mobile chat service got a facelift, but back in April we got a sneak peek of the next BBM build. Since then, millions upon millions have waited with bated breath for its release, and now they must wait no more: BBM 6 has finally been unleashed upon the world. This new bit of code brings support for BBM-connected applications — so you can chat within apps and both view and download your friends’ favorite apps from lists on their BBM profiles. The new functionality means programs for real-time project collaboration are possible, as are new types of social gameplay. Nifty features, all, but are they enough to reverse RIM’s less-than-rosy recent fortunes?
RIM releases BBM 6, makes your mobile messaging dreams come true originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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No leaks this time around, but Eee Pad Transformer users don’t have to wait much longer to get their Android 3.2 fix. ASUS has now confirmed that the update will be rolling out tomorrow, July 28th. Unlike Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners, Transformer users shouldn’t expect too many surprises in store here considering ASUS is sticking with stock Honeycomb, although there will hopefully be a few fixes included in addition to the more general Android updates.
ASUS confirms Eee Pad Transformer will get Android 3.2 update tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Today, Google Maps 5.8 for Android improves Places and Latitude with:
Photo upload for a Place
When deciding on a place to go, people often want to know what a place looks like in addition to seeing ratings and reviews. You can now contribute photos to help others get a sense of places. You can now attach your photos to Places, and yours may even become the profile picture for that page. If you want to view or delete any photos you’ve contributed to Places, you can manage uploaded photos in the “Photos for Google Maps” album on your Picasa account.
In June we announced descriptive terms and ‘My Places’ for the desktop. Both these features are now in Google Maps for mobile. Descriptive terms appear in search results for Places to inform you what businesses are ‘known for,’ such as their ‘eggs benedict’ or being ‘worth the wait.’
Also, My Places for mobile provides quick access to starred and recent Place pages you’ve looked at. You can access My Places by pressing your phone’s menu button while in Google Maps.
If you’re out and about and want to check in, we want to make sure you can quickly add a new Place to check into if one isn’t available. This might happen for new businesses or those that haven’t set up a Place page yet. For example, let’s say you’re at Xoogle Xtreme Sports, a new sports shop in your neighborhood. You go to check in but don’t see Xoogle in the list of places to check into and when you do a search still nothing comes up.
We’ve also added ‘Bigger text’ to our experimental Labs features and ‘Download map area’ has been renamed ‘Pre-cache map area.’
To start using Google Maps 5.8 for Android, download the update here. This update requires an Android OS 2.1+ device and can be used anywhere Google Maps is currently available. Learn more in our help center.
Posted by Benjamin Grol, Product Manager
We’re not sure how Don Draper would have sold a 60 percent price increase on your most popular service package but maybe Netflix executives can make a guess after they start watching the first four seasons of Mad Men today on Watch Instantly. Netflix’s Lionsgate deal will keep reruns flowing for years to come, while a new agreement with CBS International is bringing its programming — including Showtime shows like Dexter that were recently yanked from the US Netflix service — to viewers in Canada (who already had Mad Men) and Latin America (where it locked up a cache of telenovelas yesterday). This CBS agreement is separate from their (also non-exclusive) US deal that brought Star Trek back, but international viewers will still get to both TOS and TNG, as well as shows like Twin Peaks and 90210. Check the press release after the break for more details on the international deal, the source link for a time warp back to 1960s NYC or hit the comments below to explain how canceling your $7.99 per month service is a stand against greedy corporations.
Continue reading Netflix adds Mad Men in the US today, CBS content in Canada and Latin America later
Netflix adds Mad Men in the US today, CBS content in Canada and Latin America later originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.