Asustek is apparently the largest, non-iOS tablet vendor – with shipments totaling a fairly healthy 400,000 units during the first half of 2011.
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NASA lander prototype ditches the manpower for an autonomous flight (video)
Hear that? Those were the giddy giggles of some very happy scientists down at NASA’s Alabama-based Marshall Space Flight Center. Besting its previous June record for autonomous flight, this prototype robotic lander hovered for nearly half a minute at a height of seven feet before parking itself safely on the ground. Conceived as a joint project between NASA, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, the intelligent bot is slated to go where its parachuting, aero-braking cousins can’t — like the Moon, or an asteroid. Future tests are on deck for the self-propelled lander to hover up to one hundred feet over the short span of a minute — no doubt its current feat is pretty neat, but we wouldn’t want to be the unsuspecting dolt who walked under it without his infrared goggles on.
NASA lander prototype ditches the manpower for an autonomous flight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Woman Dies At Her Own Funeral [Scary]
Like something out of a Sam Raimi movie or a really dark version of Tom Sawyer, a Russian woman who was declared dead after collapsing with chest pains awoke at her own funeral and promptly died of a heart attack caused by the shock of waking up at her own funeral. Comically tragic or tragically comical? [Daily Mail] More »
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Microsoft updates Hotmail with more signature options, Gmail and Yahoo Mail keyboard shortcuts
Okay, it’s not as titillating as the time Microsoft added conversation view to Hotmail, but the outfit did just freshen up its email service with a handful of helpful tweaks. Topping the list is an assortment of shortcuts, including the ability to right click a message to reply, reply all, or forward (you could already do this for other things, like marking something as unread). Hotmail also now responds to some additional Gmail- and Yahoo Mail-specific keyboard shortcuts, such as “#” for deleting messages — a Gmail trick. And the company is none too subtle about admitting it wants the service to be user-friendly for folks if — or when — they switch from Google or Yahoo. Rounding out the batch of improvements, you get an easy way to recover deleted emails, an improved back button, HTML5-fueled speed improvements, and the option of changing your default font signature — something we can’t believe Hotmail has been missing until now. Hit the source link for the full spill, and find a short demo video after the break.
Microsoft updates Hotmail with more signature options, Gmail and Yahoo Mail keyboard shortcuts originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Rock Smuggles Guns Onto Splash Mountain
Filed under: Dwayne Johnson, Hot Bodies, The Facts Behind The Funny!
The Rock is afraid of no drop … even one that leads into a briar patch.
Dwayne Johnson posted this pic on his Facebook page after a recent trip to Disneyland.
Apparently, the guy riding in the back of the log wasn’t feeling quite as tough that day.
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Cut the Rope debuts on Android, free for one week
ZeptoLab has a candy-filled treat for owners of Android devices: its hit puzzler, Cut the Rope, has launched for the mobile platform and will be available free of charge for one week. The game is debuting exclusively on the GetJar app store but, according to its developer, will be made available through the Android Market and other branded e-storefronts eventually.
Cut the Rope for Android will be ad supported during this initial period, so those who eventually pay for it will be getting something extra — or, rather, something less, in terms of advertising.
Continue reading Cut the Rope debuts on Android, free for one week
Cut the Rope debuts on Android, free for one week originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. -
Zinio brings Tegra hardware acceleration to Honeycomb tablets
Zinio’s smartphone and tablet apps make it easy to bring a lifetime’s worth of magazine content with you on the go, but performance has been inconsistent, especially when navigating through pages or zooming into photos and text. The company’s latest app improves upon both critical elements, however, taking advantage of the Nvidia Tegra chip in your Mototola Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to smooth out page transitions and pinch-to-zoom. Nvidia posted a side-by-side comparison video demonstrating the improvements on a pair of Xooms, and there’s clearly a noticeable difference. You can try it out for yourself by downloading Zinio version 1.10.3641 from the Android Market, or jump past the break for the demo.Continue reading Zinio brings Tegra hardware acceleration to Honeycomb tablets
Zinio brings Tegra hardware acceleration to Honeycomb tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Volkswagen Temporary Auto Pilot brings hands-free driving to the highway
Would you feel comfortable driving down the highway with a Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) behind the wheel of your next Volkswagen? A new technology proposed by the German automaker won’t take you from A to B automatically, but it will help out with more simple driving, so you can take your hands off the wheel while cruising down the highway at up to 130km/h (about 80 mph), for example. The system pairs Lane Assist with cruise control, and can be overridden by the driver at any time. The TAP system’s Pilot Mode uses radar, laser, camera, and ultrasonic sensors to maintain a safe distance between vehicles, start and stop in traffic, and slow down before a bend. Speed is set by the driver, who you’ll need to remain aware of your surroundings in case you need to take over control — so don’t get too comfortable poking around the menus on that AppRadio just yet.Continue reading Volkswagen Temporary Auto Pilot brings hands-free driving to the highway
Volkswagen Temporary Auto Pilot brings hands-free driving to the highway originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Facebook testing new homepage design
It has been revealed that Facebook are once again testing a new homepage design which makes many of the page’s elements stationary, while making the news feed scrollable. This in turns allows the user to scroll through a long news feed while still having navigation easily available.
As mentioned on…
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Valve relaunching Team Fortress 2 as free-to-play title
Develop has posted an interview with Team Fortress 2 developer Robin Walker in which he says that the company has decided to make the popular class-based shooter completely free-to-play, supported only by microtransactions. Walker says the game has experimented with multiple price points over its long history (including allowing players to play for free during temporary periods) and that making this transition now “feels like a fairly straightforward next step along the ‘Games as Services’ path we’ve been walking down for a while now.”
Walker also says that this is a model that specifically fits the multiplayer game at this moment in the product’s life, when Valve is trying to reach as many players as it possibly can. The permanent price drop won’t affect development on the game at all, but monetization will only go through the game’s item shop. You can read more in the interview, live now over at Develop.
There’s no official word on any of this from Valve yet, on either the Steam blog or the official Team Fortress 2 site. We are scheduled to hear about the next update today (and even see a “Meet the Medic” video) and the game was set to go free for just a week, but this is obviously a more permanent direction. We’ve contacted Valve and will post more here when we get it.
Update: Valve’s Doug Lombardi has responded to us with a simple confirmation: “Yep.” Enjoy your free TF2, kids!
Update: The site has been updated as well. The game’s completely free to play, forever!
Valve relaunching Team Fortress 2 as free-to-play title originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 20:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. -
Your spit can reveal how old you are [Genetics]
Your spit can pinpoint your age to within five years, making it by far the most accurate age test yet found. This discovery could help identify how old crime scene suspects are, as well as reveal people’s true biological ages. More »
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Forbes: If RIM co-CEOs didn’t give millions to charity they’d still be billionaires
In March RIM co-CEOs were ranked by Forbes as two of the “World’s Billionaire’s”, in total there were 1,210 billionaire’s. Mike Lazaridis came in at #651 with $1.9 billion and Jim Balsillie took spot number 692 with $1.8 billion. However, the RIM stock has dropped from $60 in March to below $30 today and according to Forbes this, along with huge charitable donations, knocked them out of the billionaire club.Forbes notes on their blog that “The net worths of the Ontario firm’s high profile cofounders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, both of whom get almost entirely all of their wealth from RIM stock, have sunk… These days they appear to be worth in the neighborhood of $800 million or so… Even with all the company’s recent woes, they would still likely be billionaires today if not for their notable generosity.”
Even though it must be hard to loose millions of dollars in a matter of days and months, I’m pretty sure both Lazaridis and Balsillie are thrilled with their charitable donations to help fund Canadian innovation.
Related posts:
- Lazaridis & Balsillie among Canada’s billionaires in Forbes billionaire list
- What does your cellphone say about you? Even though this is a US based article the same truths are valid for us Canadians. Read the Forbes article here
- Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame
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NHL salary cap goes up by $4.9M US
The NHL salary cap is going up again, marking the fifth consecutive year it is has risen since it was established for the 2005-06 season.
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Union, SaskTel reach tentative agreement
Provincially owned SaskTel and the union representing 3,200 of its employees have reached a tentative agreement.
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Microsoft details the new Games Hub for Windows Phone Mango
Still not clear on what your gaming options will be like with Windows Phone Mango? Then Microsoft’s now got you covered with a fairly extensive overview of its new Games Hub, which has actually been tweaked a bit further from earlier previews it’s offered. One of the biggest changes is that the Hub now includes features previously relegated to the separate Xbox Live Extras app, including improved Xbox Live messaging, integrated achievements (complete with comparison views with your friends), and the ability to edit your Xbox Live profile — not to mention fully animated 3D avatars. The Hub also boasts a new Collection view that promises to let you more easily manage your installed Windows Phone games, and it’s literally been brightened up a bit across the board. Check out the gallery below for a closer look, and hit the source link for some more details.
Gallery: Windows Phone ‘Mango’ Games Hub
Microsoft details the new Games Hub for Windows Phone Mango originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Daily App Deals: Get Splashtop Remote Desktop for iPhone and Android for $1.99, Normally $9.99 [Deals]
New to Lifehacker, Daily App Deals is a not-quite-quotidian compendium of noteworthy app price drops and discounts. More »
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Japan creates frankenstein pop idol, sells candy
Sure, Japan’s had its fair share of holographic and robotic pop idols, but they always seem to wander a bit too far into the uncanny valley. Might an amalgam composite pop-star fare better? Nope, still creepy — but at least its a new kind of creepy. Eguchi Aimi, a fictional idol girl created for a Glico candy ad, is comprised of the eyes, ears, nose, and other facial elements of girls from AKB48, a massive (over 50 members) all-female pop group from Tokyo. Aimi herself looks pretty convincing, but the way she never looks away from the camera makes our skin crawl ever so slightly. Check out the Telegraph link below to see her pitch Japanese sweets while staring through your soul.Japan creates frankenstein pop idol, sells candy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Potato chips worst culprit for slow weight gain
Small lifestyle changes like eating fewer potatoes, drinking less pop and not staying up too late could help prevent long-term weight gain, researchers say.
Jethro Nededog