.::REALITYRECALL::.

That Toshiba Thrive tablet that surfaced on J&R's site last month? Turns out, someone got a little excited — the company just confirmed the listing went up prematurely and that the price was wrong. But, we just got word that the Thrive will indeed debut as Toshiba’s first tablet for the US market, with pre-orders beginning June 13th at Best Buy, along with the usual “office superstores” and “e-commerce players,” and a mid-July ship date (we’re hearing the 10th). The 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) tablet runs Android 3.1, and comes in three sizes: 8GB ($429), 16GB ($479), and 32GB ($579). Not bad, when you consider the 16GB model undercuts the Galaxy Tab 10.1 by $20.

If you’ve been following along, you already know it’s powered by Tegra 2 and has WiFi, Bluetooth, full-sized USB and HDMI ports, an SD slot, a 2 MP front-facing camera, and a 5MP rear one. But the company also just unleashed a slew of other details. Head on past the break for a run-down, won’t you?

Continue reading Toshiba Thrive tablet with Android 3.1 ships in July, starts at $429

Toshiba Thrive tablet with Android 3.1 ships in July, starts at $429 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The RISUG injection lasts for ten years, is completely reversible and has no side effects.

Chrome: If you’ve been looking for ways to put Google’s new +1 service to use, or just trying to get more into it, then this Chrome extension could be your ticket. The very unofficial “+1 Plus One” extension adds a button to your browser’s toolbar that, when clicked, will show you the number of +1’s that a site’s received. It also allows you to add your own +1 on the fly, which is actually the more useful feature, since the only way to do it at the moment is through search results or buttons added to sites by their owners. More »

Creating and stitching together panoramic photos can be really tricky business. Photosynth makes the process so simple you don’t even need a tripod (or even a steady hand).

Photosynth stands a part from most other panoramic tools thanks to a super simple interface and a set of algorithms that seamlessly match up your photos even if you didn’t put the camera on a smooth panning tripod head. Photosynth does all the hard work of lining up, layering, and smoothing your images to create as big or as little of a panoramic as you want (some users create a basic 180 degree bank but you can do a complete 360 panorama if you have enough photos).

Photosynth is available as a Windows-based application or as an iOS application for on-the-go panorama creation. Hit up the link below to explore panoramas created by existing users and to grab a copy of the software. If you’re interested in using the iOS version, check out the MakeUseOf via link for an in depth look at it.

Photosynth [via MakeUseOf]

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Wondering when you can get your own Galaxy Tab 10.1, one that exchanges the cute field of robots on the back for an upgrade to Android 3.1? It appears that day is next week, with the NYC Best Buy in Union Square becoming the first to offer this tablet on Wednesday, June 8th. Those outside of the boroughs will be able to purchase theirs on the 17th, when this hunk of Honeycomb hits other retailers. The price? 16GB for $499, 32GB for $599, all in WiFi-only, though Sprint is said to start selling a similarly non-3G version sometime this summer. The press release below also confirms that the UI has been tweaked, adding in TouchWiz UX customizations, so it won’t be an entirely pure experience, but just how unclean it will be remains to be seen.

Update: We’ve confirmed with Samsung that the TouchWiz customization will actually come as a later, OTA update to the device, which we presume means it’ll be optional — at least initially.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits NYC Best Buy June 8, nationwide on June 17

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits NYC Best Buy June 8, nationwide on June 17 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On Tuesday, Gilbert Brule of the Edmonton Oilers and his girlfriend went out to walk their German shepherd. They ended up taking in an Irish singer.

As strange and surreal as it seems, this is the story about how one NHL player picked up Bono on the side of the road, and ended up backstage at a U2 show.

According to writer Ben Gelinas of the Edmonton Journal, Brule and Kelsey Nichols were driving in West Vancouver when Brule was convinced he had seen Bono hitchhiking. Nichols had her doubts, but Brule persuaded her to turn the car around and … well, it was Bono and his assistant, looking to hitch a ride because they had gone for a walk on a Beautiful Day, had been caught in the rain and were stuck in a moment they couldn't get out of. (We promise those are the only U2 song puns here.)

From the Edmonton Journal:

On the drive to Horseshoe Bay, Bono and his assistant sat in the back with the couple’s dog. The four chatted about Brule’s hockey career, about Dublin and Bono’s apparent love for Vancouver.  Bono mentioned that his band was playing a show in Edmonton on Wednesday and asked if they’d like to go.

So Brule and Nichols sold their tickets for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, bought plane tickets (three, so Brule’s mom could come too) and flew back to Edmonton, where Brule is a forward for the Oilers.

Bono got them backstage passes to say thanks for the ride. On Nichols's pass, he wrote: "Thanks for the ride." On Brule's pass, he wrote: "My hero Gilbert."

Oh, it doesn’t stop there, as Bono included the random act of kindness in his stage banter on Wednesday night. David Staples of the Journal said that Bono told the crowd: "I like ice hockey because people who like ice hockey pick up hitchhikers." He also said he wanted to be Gilbert Brule, while Adam Clayton is Grant Fuhr, Larry Mullen Jr. is Mark Messier and The Edge is Wayne Gretzky.

Watch it here as Bono tells the tale (starts at the 52-second mark):

As Bono discovered, hockey players move in Mysterious Brules. (OK, now we’re done.)

Go and read Ben Gelinas’ fantastic tale of Brule and Bono, the greatest rock-and-roll-meets-hockey story ever told. Or at least the greatest one until Taylor Hall gives Chris Martin a piggyback ride to a Coldplay show.

Continue reading Qualcomm announces dual- and quad-core Snapdragon processor support for Windows 8

Qualcomm announces dual- and quad-core Snapdragon processor support for Windows 8 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 01:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been excited about the upcoming Windows 8 for a long time, and today Microsoft demonstrated some of the very Windows Phone-like interface overhauls coming to both tablet and desktop computers. More »

Ideally, we’d do our smartphone software shopping free from the specter of malicious apps masquerading as useful ones. This past weekend, however, 26 apps in the Android Market were discovered to be packing pernicious code called Droid Dream Light. Apparently, the dastardly devs who made the malware took existing apps and modified them to send details (including IMEI and IMSI info) about the infected handset to a remote server upon receiving a call. The code can also download and cue new package installations, but it needs user approval to do so. Google promptly pulled the offending apps, but their appearance serves as another reminder to be careful when downloading software on your smartphone — prudence demands minding your app permissions, lest your little green bot start stealing your personal info.

More malware in the Android Market: Google removes 26 deleterious app doppelgangers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s here! We’ve received word that owners of ASUS’ shape-shifting Eee Pad Transformer woke up this morning to find a nice big hunk of an over-the-air Honeycomb 3.1 update awaiting them. We first caught wind of the Android upgrade at Google IO less than a month ago, and just one week later ASUS was boasting of a June rollout on its Italian Facebook page. If you need a quick reminder, 3.1 brings resizable widgets, support for a slew of USB devices, and new Movie and Books apps. Now isn’t that refreshing?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer gets Android 3.1 update right on schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toronto Blue Jays’ slugger Jose Bautista is the leading vote-getter among all American League players for baseball’s
annual all-star game July 12 at Chase Field in Phoenix. He leads the majors with 20 home runs and 45 runs scored.

Higher-that-expected oil and gas drilling activity in western Canada led the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors Wednesday to increase its forecast for total number of wells to be drilled in 2011.

Finally a company has stepped up with a some up-to-date Canadian mobile stats. We’ve seen various reports over the past few months and years that were somewhat outdated with the growth that Canadian wireless is experiencing, but comScore has released a mobile measurement service called “MobiLens” (this is mainly for advertisers to get a peak into targeting their consumers).

Recently Quorus Consulting and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) put out the “2011 Cell Phone Consumer Attitudes Study” that showed 33% of Canadians had a smartphone (it was based on 2,400 people surveyed), the comScore number echoed the results with 32.8% but in March 2011 they report that 6.6 million Canadians own a smarthone. A much bigger scale that solidifies the number. In regards to mobile OS, comScore says that the “Top Smartphone Platforms” for March 2011 is RIM’s BlackBerry with 42% of smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 31%, Google’s Android OS with 12.2%, Nokia’s Symbian with 6.4% and Microsoft with 5.1%.

As to what us Canadians do on our mobile device: texting came out on top (64.5%), followed by photos (48.9%), using apps (40.6%), surfing the web (32.7%) and checking work or personal email (29.7%).

Source: comScore

Related posts:

1. Report: Smartphone shipments increased 67% in 2010
2. Report: 33% of mobile phone users have a smartphone
3. Report: 50% of global smartphone shipments in 2011 will be from Apple, HTC and RIM

The president of Canada Post is meeting with his counterpart at the union representing postal workers in a bid to avert a possible strike.

Canadians may face restricted access to video services like Netflix and Stanley Cup games streamed to their mobile phones unless new regulations are put in place, smaller telecommunications companies warn.