If you’re holding out for an x86-based tablet from Intel, good news! They’re working with the Android team on a version of Honeycomb that will run on their devices (most likely Atom-based chipsets). [The Register via Liliputing via Slashdot] More »
Did Apple Really “Steal” Their iPhone Design From Samsung? [Pot, Meet Kettle]
Take a look at this picture. Take a good look at it. On the right? an iPhone. (I’m not sure which revision, really.They all look the same to me.) On the left? Well that’s a little fellow from Samsung known as the Samsung F700. The image alleges that the phone was announced in 2006 and released in February 2007, but only the latter is fact. The iPhone was announced and released in 2007.
So that begs the question: who’s really stealing from who? (If you didn’t know, Samsung is being sued by Apple for the Galaxy S’ resemblance to the iPhone.) Samsung clearly had something going with this design way before they thought up the Samsung Galaxy S and before we even knew of the iPhone’s existence. And the user interface isn’t looking too much different form iOS, either. (If we’re just talking about grid-based layouts.)
The answer: no one is stealing from anyone. Apple didn’t invent icons, nor did they invent the grid in which they sit. They didn’t invent the rectangle. They didn’t invent the touchscreen. They surely didn’t invent the nice looking button sitting at the bottom. And last, but not least, they didn’t invent phones.
And all of the same applies to Samsung and any other OEM. This image should serve as a good reminder that with innovation comes imitation. A standard is always set and manufacturers will always look to meet or surpass that standard. Apple can’t go around suing everybody because their phone was the first one that looks like it to be successful. Fall back, Apple – you really have no case here. [Thanks, Suriv!]
PS: Feel free to use this as ammunition in your court battles, Samsung – we’re on your side.
[Note]: Yes, we’ve seen the debunk article at Apple Insider. Even if Samsung did release the F700 a month after Apple showed the iPhone, it takes months for a design of any product to be finalized. Unless Samsung had some insiders at Apple leaking design information and documents, then it’s not right to say that the F700 copied the iPhone.
Beer still king among Canadians
Beer is still the drink of choice for many Canadians who consume alcoholic beverages, in volume and dollar value.
First day BlackBerry PlayBook sales estimated to be 50,000
Waterloo-based Research In Motion launched the BlackBerry PlayBook yesterday in Canada and the United States. This tablet was practically available in every retailer possibly plus also available for the past couple weeks on pre-order. So how did first day sales go? RIM hasn’t announced official results but RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky says “the […]
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Researchers display evidence that iOS 4 records all your travels, again (updated)
If you didn’t already think your smartphone knows too much about you, here’s a handy reminder. A duo of UK researchers have uncovered a potentially worrying (and oddly enough, undocumented) feature in iOS 4: it asks your iPhone to record your location constantly, then timestamps that data and records it for posterity. The trouble with this unsolicited location tracking is that the hidden file that holds the data — consolidated.db — is relatively easy to uncover and read, making any desktops you’ve backed your phone up to and the phone itself even bigger privacy dangers than they would usually be. Some extra digging revealed this behavior has been known about for a good while (see Courbis and Alex Levinson links below), though mostly by people involved in computer forensics. Additionally, restoring a backup or migrating to a new device keeps the data logging going, which the researchers point to as evidence that what’s happening isn’t accidental. See a couple of visualizations of the extracted results on video after the break.
[Thanks, Tom]
Update: The original text of this article was updated to reflect that this was already a known issue, albeit in limited circles. The ability to easily visualize the data is new.
Continue reading Researchers display evidence that iOS 4 records all your travels, again (updated)
Researchers display evidence that iOS 4 records all your travels, again (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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iPhone Tracker, O’Reilly Radar | Email this | Comments
Exclusive: Chrome notebooks confirmed to be released June/July
To be sold as a subscription.
You may or may not have seen the news about the Google Chrome production notebooks floating around the web today. Ariotech reports that “Google product manager Sundar Pichai said, Google were still fixing some bugs and improving compatibility with devices such as digital cameras…
YouTube starts transcoding all new uploads to WebM, already has a third of its library ready
Google’s resolve to bring WebM video streaming to the masses doesn’t seem to have been weakened by a general lack of interest from the rest of the tech world, and the company’s announced that each and every new YouTube upload will now be automatically transcoded into a WebM version. Nearly a third of YouTube’s archives have already made the transition to the open source format, though if you think that’s a small proportion, you should probably know that those 30 percent account for 99 percent of all views on the site. Apparently, we all have a narrower set of interests than we like to believe. So, with all popular vids encoded and every incoming one getting the transcoding treatment, all you really need now is a compatible browser — Chrome (naturally), Firefox 4, Opera, or IE9 with a plug-in — and to enroll in YouTube's HTML5 trial linked below to get rolling with WebM playback. Appending "&webm=1" to a search string or a video's URL will also help you ensure you're getting the good stuff.
YouTube starts transcoding all new uploads to WebM, already has a third of its library ready originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | YouTube Blog, YouTube.com/HTML5 | Email this | Comments
Toshiba’s 10.1-inch Regza AT300 Honeycomb tablet hits Japan in June
Toshiba’s first Honeycomb tablet, which we first laid hands upon back in January, has finally been priced with an honest to goodness ship date. Unfortunately, this 10.1-incher with 1,280 x 800 pixel display, USB, HDMI, and 5 megapixel rear-facing cam is Japan-only for now, where the Tegra-2 powered Android 3.0 tablet has just made its official debut as the Regza AT300 with a ¥60,000 price (about $723). Look for it to hit the hard streets of Nippon in late June. Now if we could just get a name, date, and price for locations a bit closer to home we’d be all set.
Toshiba’s 10.1-inch Regza AT300 Honeycomb tablet hits Japan in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Vince Vaughn sums up Roberto Luongo’s Game 4 effort
(As heard through the glass as Roberto Luongo skated to the bench, having given up six goals on 28 shots in the Vancouver Canucks‘ 7-2 Game 4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.)
"I'm gonna ask you a simple question and I want you to listen to me: Who's the big loser here tonight at the casino? Huh? Roberto, that's who. Roberto's the big loser. Roberto loses! Make me a bicycle, clown! Dorothy Mantooth was a saint!
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna make Gretzky's head bleed for super fan 99 over here. …"
Thanks, Vince. For the record: Fantastic, prideful win for the Blackhawks in Game 4. But we doubt any of the Chicago dailies will publish an accurate headline about it, which would be "Delaying The Inevitable." This is still Vancouver's series, no matter how putrid the effort was Tuesday night.
Photo by Brian Cassella, Chicago Tribune. Stick-tap to Frankie Monahan for the image.
Secret memo shows JFK demanded UFO files 10 days before assassination
The secret memo is one of two letters written by JFK asking for information about the paranormal on November 12 1963, which have been released by the CIA for the first time.
The official map of an NHL rink
NHL fans learned something new this week when Colin Campbell revealed the existence of a “hitting zone” behind the net where, apparently, headshots are legal.
This got me to wondering: what else don’t we know about the NHL rink? So I dug into my old cartography library, and came up with this original map that lays it all out:
It all makes sense now…
Make Your Gloves Touchscreen-Friendly with a Bit of CPU Thermal Compound [MacGyver Tip]
Touchscreen devices are great, until you’re wearing gloves and have no way to control your phone. By dabbing just a bit of thermal compound on your gloves, though, your phone’s touchscreen will recognize your fingers again. More »
NHL signs $2 billion-deal to stay with NBC, Versus
The NHL is staying on NBC and Versus for the next 10 years with a deal Commissioner Gary Bettman calls the most significant in league history. In a joint announcement Tuesday, the NHL and the NBC Sports Group said the new deal will run through the 2020-21 season.
BlackBerry PlayBook pried open, gyroscope and other goodies discovered
What’s in a PlayBook? No, literally, what is in that thing? Well, most of the specs were known ahead of today’s release, but there was a bit of confusion about whether RIM’s 7-inch tablet did or didn’t have a gyroscope, which has now been set straight (it does!) by the crew at iFixit. They did their usual study of what it’ll take to repair your own PlayBook should the need ever arise, and gave it a repairability score of 7 out of 10. Replacing the front glass would be a bit of a pain to do, but then that’s the case with most portable devices. The motherboard also got a thorough examination, with all the power management, wireless connectivity, and memory chips getting identified and recorded for posterity. If you want to check iFixit‘s work, feel free to visit UBM Tech Insights as well, who have their own component list and closeup photography of that dual-core TI OMAP4430 system-on-chip. Yes, closeup photography.
BlackBerry PlayBook pried open, gyroscope and other goodies discovered originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Enable Two-Factor Authentication to Add Extra Security to Your Facebook Account [Security]
For many of us, Facebook is home to a lot of our online communications—including our most private. Keep other people from getting into your account with these new Facebook features. More »
Oracle drops OpenOffice.org
Oracle announced its intentions to discontinue the OpenOffice.org (OOo) suite of software on Friday 15th. The move does not come as a major surprise, following a ‘fork’ of the OpenOffice developers several months ago. The group who left OpenOffice.org development founded a ‘vendor-neutral’ group, known as The Document Foundation. The…
Most Canadian millionaires self-made
Most of Canada’s rich got that way by earning their money, rather than inheriting it, according to a study released Tuesday by BMO Harris Private Banking.
Watch the secret J.J. Abrams video hidden inside Portal 2 [Video]
We’ve seen J.J. Abrams’ mysterious midnight monster train explode from multiple angles. But what about from inside the train? Hidden in Portal 2’s video game extras is some CG footage from inside the monster’s train ride. Watch it now. More »
Samsung Promises Legal Revenge Against Apple [Blip]
Apple: “You ripped off our shit! Intellectual property robbery! You owe us a bunch of money!” More »
How Do You Avoid Sitting Down All Day? [Ask The Readers]
Most of us have desk jobs that involve sitting down for at least six hours of the day, and it isn’t news that sitting down for that long is bad for you, even if you exercise. Standing desks are a great option for some, but aren’t necessarily an option for everyone. What else can you do to regularly get off your butt during the day? More »