Google TV shows off new Honeycomb UI, plans for Market, SDK; opens up remote app source code (video)

Google I/O is still ongoing and at the session for teaching developers how to build Android apps for Google TV the team has just shown off a quick peek of the new Honeycomb-based UI that will be released later this year. Shown above you can quickly compare it to the original UI to see how different, and hopefully improved it is. The new icon layout should make getting back to live TV a simpler process, while there’s also that large space above for widgets and support for notifications. Developers will be able to run their ADBs on devices later this summer, but prior to that it will have a “Fishtank” program for some devs to take home their internal test units to run apps on now — no hardware modification necessary.

The team also just announced that the source code to the existing Google TV remote app for Android is being open sourced, so anyone who thinks they can do better (it wouldn’t be difficult) can have a crack at building their own. Also available is code for the Anymote Protocol it runs on so developers can make tablet or phone apps that integrate with and control the Google TV — both are linked below. Other features mentioned included support for 3D, and game controllers using Android 3.1’s expanded USB compatibility. There were no product announcements before the session ended, and no word on the rumored and expected ARM base for new products, but the project manager confirmed new product announcements “later this year.” Google TV will need new product announcements if it’s going to receive a boost over other smart TV technology, but the potential of the market and availability of open source code is still providing a tantalizing vision of the promise it’s failed to capitalize on so far.

Update: The entire presentation is now available on YouTube, check it out after the break as well as an earlier Bootcamp presentation on the same subject.

Continue reading Google TV shows off new Honeycomb UI, plans for Market, SDK; opens up remote app source code (video)

Google TV shows off new Honeycomb UI, plans for Market, SDK; opens up remote app source code (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorist impaled by pole through head survives [Video]

After Andrew Linn fell asleep at the wheel during a Thanksgiving visit to Las Vegas last year, he drove into a yard and through a chain-link fence, forcing a pole through the windshield of his car. Emergency responders said Linn was conscious when they arrived, and was even trying to use his cell phone to call for help — which was surprising, considering he had a pole through his head. That’s his X-ray. More »







New ways to discover great apps on Android Market

We’ve seen tremendous growth in Android Market lately. With over 200,000 apps supporting over 300 Android devices, we’ve had 4.5 billion applications installed to date. But with so many apps available, how do you find the ones you really want? Whether you’re looking for the most popular apps, hot new apps, or just the very best apps available, we want to help make sure that you find what you’re looking for.

Today, we’re excited to announce 5 new features for Android Market focused on helping you find apps you’ll love.

  • New top app charts – We’ve revamped our top app charts to be fresher and country-specific, so you get the most current, relevant results. We’ve also added top new free, top new paid, and top grossing lists, all right on the Android Market home page.   
  • Editors’ Choice – These are some of the very best apps available for Android, as chosen by the Android Market staff. They span everything from games to productivity and beyond.   
  • Top Developers – We’re also recognizing those developers creating the highest quality, most popular, and most notable apps available on Android Market. They’ll get a special icon on our Android Market website, appearing wherever the developer name is shown, starting today for an initial set of over 150 developers.
  • Better related apps – On the left side of an app page, you’ll now see two groups of related apps: apps frequently browsed by people who viewed this app, and apps that people tend to install alongside this app. For example, people who view ScoreMobile, my favorite sports score app, often also view other sports score apps, while those who install ScoreMobile tend to also install apps for specific sports leagues or teams. We’ll also show you related apps once you decide to install an app.
  • Trending apps – Finally, we’ve added a new section to the Android Market homepage showing trending apps – those apps that are quickly growing in daily installs. Look here to stay ahead of the curve and find new apps as they get hot.

We hope you find these features helpful as you explore the many greats apps available on Android Market. These new features are available now on http://market.android.com, and will be coming soon to Android Market on phones and tablets.

Posted by Fernando Delgado, Product Manager, Android Market

Google teases Samsung-built Chromebox, desktop version of Chrome OS

In among all the hard news of today’s second Google I/O keynote, we were treated to a tease of a Google Chrome OS nettop, which to our ears sounded like it was called a Chromebox. What we’ve no doubt about is that Google is planning a desktop version of its web-centric OS, which — together with that Samsung-branded computer above — is going to be showing up at some point in our collective future. Light on details, but rich on intrigue, just the way we like it.

Google teases Samsung-built Chromebox, desktop version of Chrome OS originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coming This Summer: Fully Offline Gmail, Google Calendar, And Google Docs

While it hasn’t always been clear just how big of a bet Google was going to make on Chrome OS, after Google I/O today, it seems very clear that they’re very serious. With the launch of Chromebooks, Google is aiming to strike right at the heart of Microsoft and the Windows stronghold. But they know that one big hold up remains before a browser-based OS can be everywhere: offline access.

With that in mind, on stage today, Google’s Sundar Pichai revealed that Google has internally been using offline versions of their three most popular apps for months now: Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. And this summer, all users will be able to use these apps offline too.

All of this is a long time coming for Google. They’ve had options for going offline in the past with things like Gears, but it wasn’t perfect. And actually, Gears is no longer being supported by Google as Chrome gains many of the same features via HTML5.

Pichai also noted that there are already hundreds of apps in the Chrome Web Store with offline access. And that includes almost every game in the store. This, on top of the built-in 3G connectivity is all vital to ensure the vitality of Chromebooks, Pichai noted.

Information provided by CrunchBase

Official: Samsung reveals Chrome OS laptop — the Series 5

Rumors told us what, when and even how much to expect, but Google just made it official on stage — Chrome OS netbooks are finally here, and Samsung is leading the way with a ultra-slim 0.79-inch thin machine. This is the Samsung Series 5 ChromeBook, which plays to Google’s new standard “Chromebook” spec –in short means they’ll each come with a dual-core Intel Atom processor and an “all-day” battery, which Google says will provide 8.5 hours of continuous usage here. Samsung’s particular clamshell will have a 12.1-inch, 1280 x 800, 300 nit screen, weigh 3.26 pounds and come with dual-band 802.11 WiFi, optional global 3G, two USB 2.0 ports, an HD webcam and a clickable trackpad that Google tells us has thankfully been revamped since the CR-48. You’ll be able to order one from Amazon or Best Buy beginning June 15th. It’ll cost $429 for the WiFi version and $499 for worldwide 3G — which includes 100MB of free Verizon data per month, just like the CR-48. PR after the break.

Update: Amazon’s Series 5 listing details some additional specs — we’re looking at a dual-core 1.66GHz Intel Atom N570 chip, a 1 megapixel webcam, and a 16GB mSATA solid state drive here, as well as an SDXC card reader, and VGA-out via an “optional” dongle. The press release also mentions a Li-ion battery good for 1,000 recharge cycles, though it doesn’t mention what efficiency will be like after that.

Continue reading Official: Samsung reveals Chrome OS laptop — the Series 5

Official: Samsung reveals Chrome OS laptop — the Series 5 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery

Google just showed off a new 11.6-inch Chromebook from Acer at Google I/O promising an eight second boot time with an Intel Atom N570 CPU, 16GB SDD, instant-on, two USB ports, webcam, HDMI and 6.5 hour battery life. It’s cheaper than the Samsung Series 5 also announced, starting at $349 with optional world-mode 3G available for more cash and will be available for preorder on the same day — June 15th from Amazon and Best Buy. Check more details at the source link below, with pics in the gallery and specs are after the break.

Continue reading Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery

Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Angry Birds gets a web version, coming to Chrome Web Store

Yet another platform has been conquered by the affronted fowl: the web! Angry Birds‘ web client is built in WebGL, so presumably browsers other than Google’s Chrome should be able to run it as well, and even if you can’t handle WebGL, there’s Canvas support too. 60fps are promised on most modern PCs, and we’ve spotted SD and HD labels, suggesting there’ll be a choice of quality to match your computer’s performance. Offline gaming will also be available.

Chrome will get some exclusive content, such as “Chrome bombs” and other cutesy bits. Rovio just noted it’s “really, really happy about the 5 percent,” referring to Google’s pricing model of charging a flat fee of 5 percent to developers on in-app purchases in the Chrome Web Store. Yes, the Mighty Eagle will be a purchasable option for the impatient among you. The game will be available in the Store immediately after Google’s I/O 2011 keynote, so look out for it shortly.

Update: And the Angry Birds have landed. Hit up the source link below to obtain the free app.

Angry Birds gets a web version, coming to Chrome Web Store originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shell opens America’s first pipelined hydrogen-fueling station in Southern California

Residents of SoCal’s Torrance should consider themselves lucky, as they’re now living in America’s first-ever city to have a pipelined hydrogen-fueling station. You can thank Shell and Toyota for picking up this government-funded green project. Sure, while the few other hydrogen stations still rely on delivery by supply truck (presumably running on diesel, ironically), this nevertheless marks a new milestone for our squeaky clean fuel, and it’s only a matter of time before more stations get piped up to Air Products’ hydrogen plants. If there’s any indication of a time frame, Wired reminds us that 2015 should see the arrival of many new mass-market hydrogen cars from Toyota, Honda, and Mercedes-Benz. Not long to go now, fellow tree huggers.

Shell opens America’s first pipelined hydrogen-fueling station in Southern California originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video)

Man, Lenovo isn’t even trying to keep the ThinkPad X1 under wraps anymore. The slinky new MacBook Air competitor has just slipped out in a video commercial on the company’s own YouTube channel, where it shows off a keyboard that’s both backlit and spill-resistant, and a Gorilla Glass screen that is apparently girlfriend-proof. See the video after the break and circle May 17th as your acquisition date if you’re after one — that’s when Lenovo promises the X1 will be arriving.

[Thanks, Jon]

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How To Repair Scratched and Damaged Photographs or Scans

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Old photographs seem to collect dirt, scratches, and bad textures as they collect dust in shoeboxes and photo albums. If you’ve taken the task of scanning them, but have found damage and scratches, here’s how to fix them.

While only a miracle (or a talented artist) can repair extremely bad photographs, dust, scratches, dirt, and other damage can be taken care of quickly, and not just in Photoshop. Popular Freeware GIMP and Paint.NET both offer tools that can be used to make bad scans look like brand new photographs in no time at all. Keep reading to see how it’s done.

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Fox Cancels ‘Human Target,’ ‘Lie to Me,’ ‘The Chicago Code’ and More

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Fox logoIt’s that time of year again, the upfronts, when TV networks decide which shows live and which shows die. This year Fox has become the first network to announce which shows are being culled, and it’s bad news for Christian Slater. Again…

Fox announced that it’s cancelling five of its live action shows: 'Human Target,' Lie to Me,' 'The Chicago Code,' 'Traffic Light' and 'Breaking In.' It also dropped the ax on some of its drama pilots, including the much talked-about 'Locke & Key' and 'Exit Strategy.'

Angry fans turned to Twitter to vent as the news broke late Tuesday, with ‘Human Target’ fans being among the most vocal. In fact, according to THR, they tweeted so vociferously that the show became a Top 10 trending topic.

 

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Android 0-click NFC sharing demonstrated in Ice Cream Sandwich (video)

Ready to get your bump on? You’d better be because Google’s planning to bring peer-to-peer NFC sharing to the Ice Cream Sandwich release of Android. Imagine it: 0-click contact, web page, and YouTube video sharing between your NFC-equipped Android smartphones and tablets. Just bring the devices together and voila, data shared without launching an application or navigating through the UI. Google plans to build this functionality into as many systems apps as it can while providing the API to developers to 0-click enable their third-party applications. Watch it go down phone-to-phone and phone-to-tablet (prototype) after the break. It’s the future, get used to it.

Continue reading Android 0-click NFC sharing demonstrated in Ice Cream Sandwich (video)

Android 0-click NFC sharing demonstrated in Ice Cream Sandwich (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 01:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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