.::REALITYRECALL::.

Official word from Samsung’s Finnish site informs us that local owners of its Galaxy S smartphone will be receiving their Gingerbread fix around the middle of this month. Less direct, but still pretty reliable, confirmation of this comes from UK carrier Three, who promises the same OS version will be arriving to its users of the handset “in a couple of weeks.” Considering an Android 2.3.2 build for the Galaxy S already leaked out way back in February, few should be surprised at the timing of this release, but prior experience still urges us to be wary when it comes to Samsung and its software update schedules.

[Thanks, Juho]

Gingerbread update for Samsung Galaxy S to start rolling out in mid-April originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The internet is a mighty big place that’s only growing larger each day. That makes it a perfectly unwieldy thing to measure, but the traffic it generates has nonetheless been subjected to a rigorous estimation project by a group of UC San Diego academics. Their findings, published online this month, reveal that in 2008 some 9.57 zettabytes made their way in and out of servers across the globe. Some data bits, such as an email passing through multiple servers, might be counted more than once in their accounting, but the overall result is still considered an under-estimation because it doesn’t address privately built servers, such as those Google, Microsoft and others run in their backyards. On a per-worker basis (using a 3.18 billion human workforce number), all this data consumption amounts to 12GB daily or around 3TB per year. So it seems that while we might not have yet reached the bliss of the paperless office, we’re guzzling down data as if we were. Check out the report below for fuller details on the study and its methodology.

Our annual data consumption estimated at 9.57 zettabytes or 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google got a lot of flak for withholding the Android 3.0 source code, and plenty more when Businessweek sources claimed the company had set aside its open stance to dictate from a throne, but today the man who would allegedly sit atop the royal seat says it isn’t so. Andy Rubin, the man in charge of Android, says that “there are no lock-downs or restrictions against customizing UIs” nor “any efforts to standardize the platform on any single chipset architecture” as have often been rumored before, and that when Honeycomb is finally ready for phones, Google will indeed release its source code. Overall, he claims that Android’s position when it comes to open source hasn’t changed since day one — which is nice for those who would like to believe that Google’s still sticking to its motto — but that’s not likely to appease companies cut out of the loop simply because they weren’t part of the early adopter club. If Google’s methods will reduce fragmentation, though, who are we to judge?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Android chief Andy Rubin tackles open source qualms, says Honeycomb isn’t ‘one size fits all’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Sara Goetz, Consumer Experience Specialist

Ever since I joined the Gmail team, my friends have been eager to tell me, “I love Gmail! Except for this one thing…” And every day, Gmail users share their “one thing” that would make Gmail better for them through our suggestions page. While we enjoy creating new solutions to old problems with features like Priority Inbox, those little annoyances and missing pieces are important, too. Recently, we’ve rolled out several small tweaks to Gmail to show it a little extra love.

Here’s a rundown:

• Auto-save contacts setting: Most people like that Gmail automatically saves every email address you send messages to; it can help recover forgotten addresses of former teachers, bosses, and people you contacted once but never thought you’d need to contact again. For some people, though, this feature can cause too much contacts clutter. Today, we’re rolling out a new setting to let you turn off the auto-save option. You’ll see it on the General tab of Gmail Settings.
• Better warnings for typos in email addresses: We all make typos, even when addressing email. In the old days, when you accidentally left out the “.” in your “.com”, Gmail would tell you there was an error but not point it out. Now, it’ll let you know which address has the problem — much easier when sorting through a long “To:” list.
• Fewer annoying error pop-ups: Gmail’s filters are really useful for organizing your messages automatically, but sometimes those filters can have unintended consequences, like sending mail you’d like to keep to the trash. When you replied to a message in the Trash, Gmail would show an error message you’d have to click through to continue working. Now, you’ll still see the error, but it’s no longer a pop up and it gives you an easy way to move the conversation out of Trash right from there.
• Easier transitions between certain actions: You can create filters quickly from the “Filter messages like this” option that shows up on some messages. Now, after you’ve saved your filter, Gmail will send you right back to the message you were reading so you can go right back to what you were doing before.
• Keyboard shortcut guide for everyone: Keyboard shortcuts can be a huge productivity boosters. If you’ve never tried them, try hitting Shift+? — that’s one keyboard shortcut that’s now automatically turned on and gives you a peek into the rest of them and a quick link to enable from there.
• Refresh button: For a long time, people have pointed out the inconsistency of having “Refresh” as a link in the menu bar, next to all of the buttons. We changed it to a button to match.

If any of these small fixes were your “one thing,” we hope you’ve noticed the changes as they rolled out. When you find the next little tweak that would make you love Gmail even more, let us know.

Dell’s Windows 7 Rosemount tablet may not make it to the beach with you this summer, but that doesn’t mean the company won’t have an Android alternative when it’s time to start applying sunblock. According to Forbes, the 10-inch Android-powered slate we got an oh-so-quick glimpse of at CES should be ready to hit the market somewhere around mid-June, just a little bit later than we’d previously heard. The publication also hints that the tablet heretofore referred to as the Streak 10 may not retain that moniker when it’s time to launch, but it will most definitely be running Honeycomb, though we’re not sure if it’ll keep the Stage UI. Either way, summer 2011 is shaping up to be the season of Honeycomb, and we’re excited to see just what each manufacturer will do to differentiate themselves in the increasingly-crowded space.

Dell Streak 10 to launch mid-June with Honeycomb, possible name change in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen it turn up on a few retail sites, but Samsung has now finally officially confirmed the launch details for its WiFi-only Galaxy Tab. It will be available online and at retail stores across the US on April 10th for $349.99. Specs otherwise remain the same as the 3G version, including a 7-inch 1024 x 600 display, 32GB of internal storage (with a microSD card slot for up to an additional 32GB), rear and front-facing cameras, and Android 2.2 with support for Flash 10.1 — from the looks of things, it’s also only available with a white back. Full press release is after the break.

Continue reading Samsung confirms WiFi-only Galaxy Tab availability: April 10th, $350

Samsung confirms WiFi-only Galaxy Tab availability: April 10th, $350 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A 75-year old lady from Georgia (the country, not the state) has perpetrated an impressive feat of international sabotage in what seems to have been an accident of extremely bad luck. While foraging for copper wire near her home in the village of Ksani, the unnamed septuagenarian managed to come across a critical fiber optic cable, one responsible for serving internet connectivity to “90 percent of private and corporate internet users in Armenia” and some in her own country as well. Her swift strike at the heart of said bit-transferring pipeline resulted in all those folks being thrown offline for a solid 12 hours, while the Georgian Railway Telecom worked to find and correct the fault. In spite of her relatively benign motivations, the lady now faces three years in prison for the damage she caused. We’d say all’s well that ends well, but this doesn’t actually seem like a very happy ending at all.

Elderly Georgian lady disconnects Armenian internet for half a day… by accident originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Royal Canadian Mint unveils its latest collector coins commemorating the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

If you’re a heavy user of Google Docs but don’t like constantly checking the site or email for new docs that are shared with you, Google Docs Notifier puts that recent activity handily in your Windows system tray. More »

Sneaky leaked screengrabs of BBM 6.0 have arisen, showing a questionable user’s photo and “personal message,” but more importantly what we can expect in the next OS 6.1 update. More »

With all the different devices out there running different versions of Android, the rooting process can be a little different for every phone. Here’s a one-stop guide that should get you up and running with root access, no matter what device you have. More »

Cameras that look back at us are becoming commonplace—and that's a good thing! FaceTime is a lot of fun! Except if it's glitchily taking secret pictures of us without us knowing, as some iPhone users are claiming. More »

Windows only: If you’ve managed to delete important photos, crush a partition, or otherwise go wiping out data where you weren’t supposed to, add MiniTool’s free data recovery app to your list of last resorts. It’s a powerful tool for finding data on Windows systems, working or otherwise. More »

We know how Mozilla must feel. It spends every waking hour tweaking and perfecting Firefox to eke out as much performance as possible, only to see it all ruined by lousy add-ons that weigh the browser down like a block of cement. It’s apparently now had enough, however, and has gone as far as to publish a list that exposes the worst offenders. As of this writing, the two biggest drags on the browser by far are the FoxLingo translator / dictionary and Firebug developer tool add-on which, according to Mozilla, each make the browser 74 percent slower to start up. That list is just part of a broader crackdown on poor performing add-ons. Mozilla says it’s also instituting automated performance testing of the top 100 add-ons in its gallery, and that it will begin reaching out to developers directly to get them to improve performance (and even provide them with some new tools to help out). Hit up the link below to see how some of your favorite add-ons stack up.

Mozilla shames developers with list of slow performing Firefox add-ons originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tim Hortons says it will raise the prices of some items on its menu next Monday.