.::REALITYRECALL::.

Finding apps can be tough, especially when your Store or Marketplace is overwhelmed with a daily flood of debutantes. That’s not exactly a problem for HP, whose App Catalog for the webOS 3.0 TouchPad officially launches on July 1st and will be, the company admits, a little spartan at first. But HP has a plan for a future flood of apps: Pivot. It’s basically a curated digital magazine that will present a selection of apps someone at HP found interesting for whatever reason — a way for users to discover new downloads and, more importantly, for niche developers to not get lost in the shuffle. HP hopes this will attract developers, taking a different approach from the competition, which often resorts to outright promises of cash to pique their interest — but a few free TouchPads never hurts .

Continue reading HP announces Pivot for TouchPad, the curated, magazine-like way to find some apps

HP announces Pivot for TouchPad, the curated, magazine-like way to find some apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is Eguchi Aimi. She’s the latest member of Japanese pop band AKB48 and a very lovely girl. But Eguchi Aimi is not what she seems. This Sunday, she shocked all her fans revealing her dark secret. You must watch this. More »

For the first time in five years, more people left Saskatchewan for other provinces than came here from the rest of Canada, according to Statistics Canada’s latest figures.

Fringe doesn’t come back for another couple months, but we haven’t stopped obsessing about that baffling cliffhanger, and all the questions that the show has left us struggling with. More »

This cartoon is the latest to take aim at the BlackBerry maker… it’s funny, but in an unfortunate way.

Source: Joy of Tech
Via: CrackBerry

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Avid watchers of tech know that Apple is almost as good at requesting patents (though, its record of defending them is somewhat less impressive) as it is at actually creating compelling products. Three years after initially filing for the design of a “portable multifunction device” with a multitouch interface, the USPTO has awarded the Cupertino crew a patent that’s sure to raise few eyebrows amongst its competitors. At a glance, the language seems to cover practically any device that allows touch input to control content in a frame on a webpage independent of controlling the rest of the page — which we’re sure Jobs and co. are excited to add to their growing stockpile of claims to gestures and capacitive displays. Of course, a rival would have to infringe on all elements of a patent’s independent claims before it’d need to fear the courtroom, so it’s probably best not to get too hot and bothered here. For those looking to pore over the specifics, that source link is a good place to head.

Apple granted patent for ‘portable multifunction devices’ with multitouch screens originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I was in the audience for a reality show once. It was for some pilot that never aired, a drink-mixing competition between bartenders that was similar to “Chopped,” but with a component where the bar patrons had a say in the winner. Obviously, I was there for the free drinks. But the free drinks weren’t worth seeing behind the curtain of reality TV: the long milieu between filming scenes, the false excitement we were asked to drum up, the “bartender” who knew nothing about scotch because he was just an actor looking for a break. All in all, I learned first-hand what I already knew: there isn’t much that’s real about reality TV.

That experience came to mind when I saw this image that a Redditor captured from a recent episode of Fox’s “MasterChef.” Those poor, desperate people who wanted to get on TV for a split second, cheering wildly at the urging of a production assistant. And yet that wasn’t enough, so Fox digitally doubled them to make it look like an actual crowd of people gave a sh*t about “MasterChef.” Why bother with extras at all? Just hire a tech geek to digitally create a crowd from scratch. And keep calling it “reality” while you’re at it.

Fun fact: I altered the original image in Photoshop to get rid of the Hulu video player button. WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS! NOTHING IS REAL! THEY’RE COMING FOR US ALL!

Have you ever missed an extremely important phone call or text because you were too busy finishing those TPS reports on your personal computing machine? There’s a Chrome add-on for that. We went hands-on with a new extension (and accompanying Android app) called MightyText, a free notification service launched today that syncs your phone’s texts and calls to your computer in real-time. The idea is crazy simple, yet adds unyielding convenience: incoming SMS messages appear on your screen as a pop-up, giving you the option to read and reply to them without touching or even looking at the phone. The full extension will show each conversation thread in its entirety, as well as call logs.

When sent from the computer, texts are still patched through from your phone number, so your colleagues will still see your messages coming through with your name on them. To make the service even more appealing, pop-ups alert you to incoming calls, so you can either hurry to find your phone or just send the caller a canned auto-text reply. It sounds like a great concept, but does it do the job? Head on past the break to learn our first impressions of the program.

Continue reading MightyText pushes messages and incoming call alerts to your computer (hands-on)

MightyText pushes messages and incoming call alerts to your computer (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This brings a whole new meaning to Right,Right,A,A,Left,UP,B,UP,UP. I can safely say that the average nerd guy out there still needs a cheat book to unlock the secret codes to these special levels. As much as I have enjoyed this and the Pokemon bra from a month or so ago, I’m nervous that some enterprising nerd girl is gonna want the guys to up the ante with some riske male controler speedos. Trust me, we don’t want to go there.

Via: That Girl’s Site

Canada may be moving to polymer-based currency, but mobile payment services like Square — which cater to classic plastic — haven’t yet taken time to trek to the Great White North. NetSecure is looking to offer similar convenience to the region with its new Kudos Payments service, which just so happens to ship with a shockingly curvy swiping dongle. Similar to Square, it creates a secure ‘point of sale‘ without a hard-wired transaction terminal, and charges a slightly higher 2.9-percent fee to users’ accounts for each exchange. Kudos has iOS, Android, and Blackberry apps to tap into the functionality and, even a version for Mac and PC — in other words, you and yours should be suitably covered. Any roving entrepreneurs who are interested in the service will be able to snag the $49.99 kit free of charge from the company’s website for a “limited time,” which may or may not expire before Google decides to open its own Wallet a few miles kilometers north.

Continue reading NetSecure Kudos Payments announced for Canada, is the half-circle to Square

NetSecure Kudos Payments announced for Canada, is the half-circle to Square originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most people are familiar with the general concept of fiber optic cables–light as a method of data transmission–but how do they really work? Find out in this informative video.

Bill Hammack, of Engineer Guy Videos, shows us how fiber optic cables work using–of all things–a bucket and a laser. Check out the above video for a glimpse inside how fiber optic cables work and how your analog voice can go to from your phone’s handset to a digital stream and then back to analog sound for the benefit of your friend on the end of the fiber optic transmission cable.

Fiber Optic Cables: How They Work and How Engineers Use Them to Send Messages [YouTube]

What is a Histogram, and How Can I Use it to Improve My Photos?	How To Easily Access Your Home Network From Anywhere With DDNS	How To Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised

Q: What do national parks, female governors and Google Apps have in common?

A: Wyoming was the first state in the country to have each of them.

This morning, Governor Matt Mead announced that the state of Wyoming has completed its transition to Google Apps for Government. Since the state first declared its intention to go Google eight months ago, Wyoming has worked quickly to move all 10,000 state employees onto Google Apps.

For the first time ever, Wyoming’s entire state government now shares a common email, calendar and document system, making it easier for employees to find and collaborate with one another. By going Google, the state is also saving taxpaying Wyomingites approximately $1 million annually. Who knows which next great “first” they’ll put these savings towards?

You can view the live stream of the Governor’s announcement starting at 8:00am MT.

Posted by Scott McIntyre, Google Enterprise Team

Archos unveils bare-bones Arnova 7 Android tablet, priced at $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 08:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know that microSD card slot that’s been laying dormant in your Motorola Xoom? Provided you don’t reside in the US, that’ll be getting activated soon as part of the tablet’s Android 3.1 update, which is starting to roll out now and should have all of Europe covered within the next few weeks. Motorola explicitly identifies this as a firmware update for “non-US” Xooms, so Canadians would be well advised to check their software update utility, though the big question is why didn’t the American 3.1 update include microSD support as well? What tangled web of intrigue lies behind this selective activation?

[Thanks, Alan]

Motorola Xoom gets Android 3.1 update that activates microSD card support outside the US originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 06:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software

Google working on video chat for Chrome, Skype cowers in fear originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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