.::REALITYRECALL::.

Android: Unless you know the title of an app, the Android Market’s search engine isn’t great. Chomp is a new Market search engine that blows Google’s default out of the water, letting you search by category and filter by price. More »

It’s a short and sweet disclosure from BGR this morning as multiple sources have apparently informed the news outlet that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook will make its debut on store shelves on April 10th. The BlackBerry Tablet OS will reach Gold Master status on March 31st, according to the same soothsayers, which is late enough in proceedings to necessitate it being delivered as an update upon first booting up your device. We too have heard of a late March / early April launch for the PlayBook, which RIM itself promised for the first quarter of 2011, though the intrigue of what carriers will be providing you with connectivity on this 7-incher remains. You’ll know more as soon as we do.

BlackBerry PlayBook to be released on April 10th? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows only: A bit of Gmail drama made us look for easy and cheap Gmail backup solutions. What we missed was MailStore, a single-purpose app that connects to your email, backs it up, and doesn’t bother you otherwise. That’s just about perfect. More »

We’re sure that the debate of a carefully controlled and curated environment like Apple’s App Store versus a free-for-all like the Android Market will rage on for years to come, but here’s something to chew on: Google just removed some 21 apps from the Market in the last day from a publisher going by Myournet for doing all sorts of naughty things to your device. Offenses include attempting to root your phone, uploading phone information (including IMEI) to who-knows-where, and — most egregiously — adding a backdoor that allows additional code to be pulled down and executed.

At least some of the apps are pirated versions of existing apps that have been re-uploaded at zero cost to the user, which makes them appealing… and the trick apparently works quite well, because the 21 managed to clock over 50,000 downloads before getting taken down. This isn’t the first time malicious apps have shown up on smartphones — far from it — but it’s probably the highest-profile case of a first-party app store being infiltrated by really bad stuff. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Google was extraordinarily quick to respond once Android Police reported the situation — the site says it took less than five minutes from the time they reached out to the time the apps actually went offline. Still, that’s little consolation if you’ve already installed your “free” copy of Super History Eraser. Hit the source links for the full list of pulled apps.

Update: Android Central points out that the type of root exploit used in these apps was patched in Android 2.2.2 and up, so Nexus One and Nexus S owners should be fine; everyone else is left out in the cold, though, thanks to the vexing third-party update lag. Thanks, Z!

Google spikes 21 malicious apps with big download counts from the Market (update: Android 2.2.2 and up are immune) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 06:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android/iOS: Somewhere between unwieldy chat rooms and focused-but-limited SMS must lie a way to tell a group—co-workers, friends, roommates—that you're stopping at India Gate, if anyone wants takeout. Beluga is that middle ground. You might also call it BlackBerry Messenger for the iOS/Android crowd. More »

It’s not rare to hear talk of other operating systems employing webOS-like elements — we’ve been asking to see its elegant notification system in iOS for years — but RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook borrows so heavily from the UI concepts of the software built by Palm and now owned by HP that it could easily be confused for a webOS tablet. It handles multiple concurrent applications using a card view and allows you to shut down unwanted apps by swiping them off the screen, a multitasking implementation that exhibits “uncanny similarities” in HP’s eyes to its own TouchPad tablet. Still, the Hewlett Packard team insist that they’re focused on their own products and will “keep innovating, we’ll keep honing and those guys hopefully will continue to see the value in it and keep following us by about a year.” Ouch.

RIM’s response, as espoused by Jeff McDowell, has been to say that “when you’re trying to optimize user experience that juggles multitasking, multiple apps open at once and on a small screen, you’re going to get people landing on similar kinds of designs.” This essentially sidesteps the issue by throwing a subtle compliment HP’s way, but it brings up an interesting question — shouldn’t companies aim to make the best software possible, in spite of it potentially looking like a ripoff of someone else’s work?

HP derides BlackBerry PlayBook OS as a ‘fast imitation’ of webOS, RIM says it’s just good UI design originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s notoriously generous at developer events, tossing out free devices like candy on Halloween, but here at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco it’s letting them flow like wine. Each attendee at Google’s Web Developer Day yesterday got a free Cr-48 laptop, and today the company dished out even greater prizes — either a free Motorola Xoom tablet or a Nexus S smartphone to every soul listening to some exceedingly well-attended technical sessions on Android. That’s certainly one way to attract game developers to your platform.

Google gifts Xoom tablets to game devs at GDC 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With no federal money in hand for a proposed $400-million domed stadium for Regina, the deal is dead for now, the Saskatchewan government says.

Bell recently discounted the Samsung Galaxy Tab to #349.95 on a 3-year contract and today Rogers has come out with a better price. From March 1st until march 31st Rogers is offering the Tab for $299.99 on a 3-year (either the White or the Black version). Just remember if you are thinking about getting the […]

Related posts:

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab now available in White at Rogers
2. Samsung Galaxy Tab now available on a 3-year at Bell
3. Rumour: Rogers to launch Samsung Galaxy Spica?

A meteorite offers new clues into how essential biomolecules laid the foundation for life on Earth.

We’re seeing more and more NFC-enabled devices—but it's hard to get excited by anything that goes by three dull letters (notable exceptions: BFF, STD, UFO). NFC, however, is (potentially) quite awesome. Here's how we hope it'll shine. More »

As a loyal iPod user, you’d have thought that Queen Elizabeth II would have seen fit to bestow an honorary knighthood on a certain Steven Paul Jobs by now. After all, Sir Bill received his back in 2005 even though his company couldn’t quite get its cellphone or tablet strategies to stick with consumers. According to an anonymous senior Labour MP who left Parliament in the last election, Jobs had reached the final stages of approval for “services to technology” only to be rejected in 2009 by the then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Why? Well, according to The Telegraph, Jobs had the audacity to turn down an offer to speak at Labour’s annual conference. In retaliation we hear that Apple is holding Jony Ive — himself, an honorary Commander of the British Empire — hostage in an infinitely looping orange grove somewhere in northern California.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Steve Jobs’ knighthood rejected by Gordon Brown? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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