Reality Bites
Not only does Lightbox for Android fill in the Instagram-sized hole in the Android Market with slick sharing of filterized pictures, it also does what iCloud does: beam the photos you take on your phone to your tablet and web browser instantly. More »
Waterloo, Ont.-based Research In Motion Thursday announced it was planning job cuts as it reported first-quarter revenue of $4.9 billion U.S. and earnings per share of $1.33.
Update: On the earnings call, co-CEO Mike Lazaridis painted a bright future for his company’s tablet, but then said, “We’re soon to release native email and BBM and our Android player later in the summer, to be followed in the fall with 4G PlayBooks for WiMax, LTE, and HSPA+.” Did you catch that? In the fall. We hope this doesn’t put a damper on anybody’s summer plans.
RIM announces Q1 earnings, says it’s shipped 500,000 PlayBooks (update: 4G PlayBooks delayed) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Alaska’s largest city was rocked by a powerful earthquake on Thursday, but there are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Continue reading Panasonic unveils Android Toughbook slate for Q4, sledgehammer sold seperately
Panasonic unveils Android Toughbook slate for Q4, sledgehammer sold seperately originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well, Linux users, say goodbye to Air. Adobe has announced that version 2.7 will be your last official release and, going forward, you’ll have to rely on kind-hearted souls willing to fire up the Linux porting kit the company will be providing. Development teams will instead be focusing on the growing realm of mobile and improving Air support on iOS and Android, and likely bringing the browser-plus-flash app environment to webOS. With the world’s favorite open-source operating system holding steady at roughly one-percent of the desktop market it’s hard to take issue with the choice. Of course, it probably doesn’t help that Adobe has had trouble getting it to play nice with *nix — especially the 64-bit flavors. Besides, with Tweetdeck prepping a proper web-app, what do you need Air for anyway?
Adobe Air bids adieu to Linux, shifts focus to mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Hello, friends. This is an Android Public Service Announcement regarding the overuse of “task killer” apps in the Android community. Almost everyone has experimented or used one of these apps at one point in their Android life. I wont judge you. In some cases, these apps might have been installed even without your knowledge. I know for a fact that reps at carrier retail stores will download and install these upon buying any of their Android phones. But why? It’s largely in part because of this HUGE misconception that Android needs these apps in order to run properly. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Lets start at the beginning. Everyone knows one of the main benefits with Android is the fact that it — unlike certain other OS’s, can run apps in the background. The more RAM you have installed on your phone, the more apps you can have open at one time for true multitasking and switching between apps. Its quite beautiful actually. This is one of the reasons RAM is such a highly sought after spec when comparing the many Android devices on the market.
I think you can ask any Android user what they hate most about their phone and they will almost always tell you, battery life. Most people know Android is definitely lacking in this department. Well, in an attempt to “think outside the box” a lot of people have come to the conclusion that the reason for the horrible battery life must be because of all those apps that are “running” around in the background. This the reason these misinformed reps install these Task Killer apps onto phones thinking they’re helping customers, when in fact, they’re not. First, Android doesn’t necessarily keep apps “running” in the background like a car for instance. Using gas/CPU even when they’re not being used. They way it works is Android will pause those apps until you return to them. If you don’t come back to the app for awhile, Android will eventually close the app altogether. This requires no intervention from the user what-so-ever.
The other misconception people have with Android and another reason for using a task killer is that they feel like it will some how make their phone perform faster. This has something to do with the thought that “freeing up RAM” is going to somehow make your phone speedier and quicker when doing everyday tasks (I used to believe this as well). But not so. First off, the purpose of RAM is to be used. If you’re not using the RAM, why do you even have it? Second, even when you close out those 20 apps in the background, 20 more will open up in their place. Like Bebe’s Kids. They don’t die, they multiply. Your resistance is futile. I mean, it’s not like Android will keep opening apps in the background until you’re completely out of RAM. That would cause your phone to completely freeze and lock up and wouldn’t make any sense. Android is smarter than that. Instead, it will begin closing the oldest apps still open in the background to make space for new ones. I mean think about it, do you have to manage the RAM on your home computer? No. It just works, right? Same with Android.
Is there a time and place for task killers? Sure. Even I use one from time to time. Just like your computer, there are those times when things go wrong. Sometimes an app can misbehave and become unresponsive. Or perhaps you changed some options in an app and it needs to be closed/killed/stopped so that it can be opened and refreshed. Or maybe you have a game that has gone rogue and really is, in fact, running in the background sucking CPU and RAM and causing your phone to run to a crawl. It’s only in these occasions that using a task manager is acceptable. Even then, for your average noob user, a simple reboot will solve these problems.
For the Android power users that like to monitor and micro-manage everything that goes on in their phone, yes, using a task manager is acceptable. Sometimes I use it to kill off a game that I know I wont be returning to and there’s no reason for it to be open in my background. But I’m anal like that. For your average soccer mom/girl-friend/grandma/Joe Schmo who is just blindly closing every app they can because they were told to, there really is no good reason for them to have these apps installed on their phone. More often than not, they’re going to do more harm than good and ruin their user experience with the phone. This will cause them to run to the iPhone where they don’t (and shouldn’t) have to worry about this sorta stuff. That was the point of this video. So with that. I am done here, folks. I hope this Public Service Announcement helped shed some light on a murky subject going on in the Android world. Now you know and knowing is half the battle. Now, go uninstall that task killer off your mom’s phone.
You know that Google Alert you set up to ping you every time someone mentions your name on the internet? Don’t worry, that wasn’t self-centered or anything, you were just protecting your online identity. Google today is encouraging the growth of vanity Alerts with its “Me on the Web” feature, a new segment of Google Dashboard dedicated to managing your online identity and finding out what people are saying about you on the global bathroom wall that is the world wide web. The feature makes it easy to set up alerts with your personal information and includes links to tools for identity management and content removal, because the seven billion other people on this planet don’t need to know exactly what happened at your office’s last Christmas party.
Google helps you manage your online identity, justify those vanity Alerts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Finally, an Attack The Block trailer that demonstrates exactly how brutally hilarious Joe Cornish’s alien action flick is. After watching this red-band spot, I think we all know now who would win in a fight between the block kids and J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 teen movie crew. More »
Despite its general lack of, um, surface area, a new "photovoltaic bikini" designed by Andrew Schneider apparently provides enough power to run your MP3 player.
![Click here to read Song "Covers" Uploaded to YouTube Could Land You in Jail For Five Years](http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2011/06/small_82vtbxejh3i.jpg "Click here to read Song "Covers" Uploaded to YouTube Could Land You in Jail For Five Years")
Beyonce lip-synching videos are in danger, people! Along with CathyMay15’s Boom Boom Boom and any other YouTube videos that could be contravening the law. If passed, US Senate bill 978 will make the internet a lot less fun. More »
Canadian BitTorrent User Fined $60,000 By U.S. Court
Inside Rogers Arena on Wednesday night, there was champagne in the Boston Bruins‘ dressing room and sullen faces for everyone wearing a Vancouver Canucks sweater after the home team’s Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final.
In downtown Vancouver, it was anarchy.
Seventeen years after another Game 7 riot in the city, what began as a few random fires and incidents of vandalism by spectators became utter chaos, with looters stealing from local stores and police trying to clear the streets. From QMI:
Between 130 and 140 people were sent to hospital, including three people with stab wounds and two suffering trauma, while a number of others were treated in the courtyard of a downtown hospital for the effects of tear gas.
Most people were treated for tear gas and pepper spray effects, lacerations, facial trauma, substance abuse and head injuries, Alyssa Polinsky, spokeswoman for B.C. Ambulance, told QMI Agency Thursday morning.
There were no fatalities, but one person was in critical condition Thursday at St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver. Polinsky could not confirm if it was the same person witnesses reported seeing jump off a viaduct.
Here are the scenes from the Vancouver riots:
The turning over of police vehicles was an early part of the unrest.
Police began to mobilize to begin clearing the streets and were met with resistance.
A man throws a chemical riot control agent back at police.
Smoke could be seen rising from the city into the night.
Gradually, the rioters turned their attention to breaking into local stores, including Hudson Bay and this Sears store.
Just after 11 p.m., in the aftermath of violence, the street was a deserted war zone. Very few businesses were left unscathed and sidewalks were littered with shattered glass.
One shoe store had virtually no merchandise left, while the London Drugs on Georgia and Granville, where alarms still blared, had its doors smashed in, and coat hangers and shoes strewn outside.
Unruly, booze-fuelled mobs also broke into Sears at Robson and Howe. One looter managed to break into Chapters bookstore, but apparently no one bothered entering.
Ugly brawls tinged with a racial element were seen breaking out on Granville Street as late as 11 p.m. and a police chopper circled the crowd overhead as police attempted to take control of the melee.
At a hastily-called press conference, Mayor Gregor Robertson said he was disappointed at tonight's "embarrassing" turn of events.
A hockey stick is used outside of the ice.
Fires spread to some buildings as well.
The streets were covered in debris and small fires, from cars to trash cans.
People lingered in the riot area well into the night.
Again, this was not all Vancouver Canucks fans, and the looting appeared to be the work of anarchists based on the local news reports. Many fans got caught up in the chaos and simply couldn’t find a safe passage home, due to street closures and interruptions in mass transit service.
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If you have a large number of home screens on your phone, swiping through them can get a little ridiculous. This simple multitouch gesture will get you from one screen to another in no time. More »
Microsoft grabbed a lot of attention when it showed off its upcoming Windows 8 tablet UI. The new look for Microsoft will keep them relevant in the highly competitive tablet market and will also provide a solid foundation for future growth. But what if Microsoft had beat Apple to the…
The Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup and they did it in grand fashion – a 4-0 Game 7 win in Vancouver over the Canucks on Wednesday.
Mini Maps on Facebook
Mini Maps is a great driving game for Facebook that lets you race anywhere in the world on Google Maps. You can race on tracks created by other players, competing against the best track times or even race against others by inviting your Facebook friends to play. Alternatively you can create your own tracks, set the best time and challenge others to try and beat you.The game has some great features. Visibility is affected by the local time, so, for example, if you log into San Francisco at night, you are going to be driving with the assistance of your headlamps. Unlike most Google Maps based driving games this one actually features collision detection. There’s no off road driving here – you will have to stick to those roads. The game also lets you select from a number of Mini models and even lets you customise the look of your car. ________________
IBM is quite possibly the only tech company around that might have genuine difficulty whittling a list of its industry defining contributions down to a mere 100. And it’s an impressively diverse collection at that, including the floppy disk, the social security system, the Apollo space missions, and the UPC barcode. All of this self-congratulation is not without cause, of course. IBM was born 100 years ago today in Endicott, New York, as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, a merger between three companies, all peddling different technologies. That diversity has helped define IBM from its inception, and has offered a sense of flexibility, making it possible to keep in step with technology’s ever-quickening pace for a century.
In 1944, the company helped usher in modern computing with the room-sized Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, and 37 years later, it played an important role in defining the era of home computing with the much more manageable IBM Personal Computer. In 1997, IBM introduced a machine that beat the world’s reigning chess champion, and earlier this year, it created one that trounced two of the greatest players in Jeopardy history. These days, when the company is not building machines dedicated to outsmarting mankind, it’s looking to promote sustainable development through its Smarter Planet program. So, happy centennial, Big Blue, and here’s to 100 more, assuming your super-smart machines don’t enslave us all in the meantime.
IBM turns 100, brags about bench pressing more than companies half its age originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Riot police fired tear gas, pepper spray and flash bombs in Vancouver Wednesday night to try to disperse rioters who set cars on fire, looted and taunted police officers after the Canucks’ 4-0 Stanley Cup final loss to the Boston Bruins.
