Reality Bites
A new form of “shape memory polymers” have the ability to return to their previous form once damaged, thanks to embedded fiber optics that let them warm themselves back to health with light. More »
YouTube has announced that it is in the process of removing the 15-minute time length restriction imposed on videos. While the limit has, so far, only been lifted with a few special content partners like National Geographic and Lonelygirl15 (a channel which apparently still has viewers), it should pave the way for longer videos for all moving forward. So, why the change now after years of limits? Joshua Siegel, a product manager at YouTube told The New York Times that the company now has copyright issues under control via ContentID, which scans roughly 100 years worth of uploaded video per day in an attempt to fend off violations. There’s no word on when the time limit will be further lifted, but for now, you can at least finally check out epic, full length National Geographic videos on YouTube (one of which we’ve linked below).
YouTube lifting 15-minute time limit for some videos originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Is Japanese band Sour’s “Mirror” music video the single best HTML5 thing we’ve ever seen? It probably is. Load it up in Safari or Chrome and make sure you connect your Facebook, Twitter, and webcam — we tried it out and it’s totally fine. In fact, it’s more than fine. It’s stunning.
Sour’s ‘Mirror’ HTML5 music video is absolutely wild originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted by Paul Westbrook, Gmail for Android team
(Cross posted from the Mobile blog)
When we first released Gmail in Android Market back in September, we said that you’d be getting new stuff faster, and we meant it. After getting thousands of comments on that release, we made a bunch of updates based on your feedback and today we’re launching Gmail for Android 2.3.2.
Priority Inbox
First of all, you told us that you love Priority Inbox and expect much better support for it on your phone. Now you can see important messages in a new Priority Inbox view.
This view includes all important messages in your inbox, regardless of whether you’ve read them or not. You can archive and delete conversations or mark them unimportant from there. You’ll notice the importance markers 
you’re used to seeing in the desktop version of Gmail, and you can also change a conversation’s importance using the menu. To switch between inboxes or labels, try tapping on the current label.
Ever wanted to know that you got an important message without taking your phone out of your pocket? Now you can set up your phone to notify, vibrate, or ring on just your new important mail (check out Menu > Settings > Priority Inbox).
While Priority Inbox on your Android phone doesn’t have all the features offered in the desktop version of Gmail, we think this is a good start and plan to add even more functionality moving forward.
Improved Compose
Since our last Market update, we adopted a few features related to composing messages from the desktop version of Gmail. Many of you asked for a better way to switch between replying to the sender to replying to all. Now, you can easily switch between reply, reply all, and forward while composing your response.
If you moved to Gmail from another webmail provider and want to continue to send email from that address, now you can send from any address you’ve configured in the desktop version of Gmail.
In addition, you can now respond to messages in-line.
You won’t need to wait for Gingerbread to get these updates. This version of the Gmail app works for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and newer releases in most countries. (Not sure if your device is running the right version? Check here.) Get the update from Android Market (just scan the QR code below, or click here if you're on a phone) and check out the new Gmail. And don’t forget to send us your feedback from within the new version of the app (from your Inbox: Menu > More > About > Feedback).
"Whatever you think of WikiLeaks, they have not been charged with a crime, let alone indicted or convicted. Yet look what has happened to them. They have been removed from Internet … their funds have been frozen … media figures and politicians have called for their assassination and to be labeled a terrorist organization. What is really going on here is a war over control of the Internet, and whether or not the Internet can actually serve its ultimate purpose—which is to allow citizens to band together and democratize the checks on the world’s most powerful factions," – Glenn Greenwald.
The odd thing about Wikileaks is that their success has been assured, not by what they leaked, though there is some important information there, but by their enemies.
The massive and indiscriminate overreaction by both government and powerful corporate actors has ensured this, and includes but is not nearly limited to:
Wikileaks and Assange have now been made in to cause celebres. If corporations and governments can destroy someone’s access to the modern economy as they have Wikileaks, without even pretending due process of the law (Paypal, VISA, Mastercard, Amazon, etc… were not ordered by any court to cut Wikileaks) then we simply do not live in a free society of law, let alone a society of justice.
Ironically the Wikileaks files reveal that the British fixed their inquiry into the war, and that the US pressured the Spanish government to stop a war crimes court case against ex-members of the Bush administration. Assange and Wikileaks are subject to extreme judicial and extrajudicial sanctions, but people who engaged in aggressive war based on lies, tortured people and are responsible for deaths well into the six figures, walk free.
To be just, law must be applied to both the big and the small. Thousands of executives at banks who engaged in systematic fraud were never charged, out and out war criminals are actively protected, and Wikileaks and Assange are hunted like animals?
This has enraged, in particular, the Hacktivist community, with Anonymous forming Operation Payback and shutting down both Mastercard servers and the Swiss Bank PostFinance’s website. As they themselves say, what enraged them was multiple companies attempting to shut Wikileaks down, both on the web, and financially.
While there is no comparison between what Assange has done and what happened on 9/11 (his actions are those of a free press), the rabid and indiscriminate overreaction of the the US in particular and the West in general is similar. And what it has done is make Assange into a martyr, an icon for freedom of speech and a symbol of politically motivated repression. It has done the same for Wikileaks and made Wikileaks a cause celebre.
It has proved that the West is run by authoritarian thugs with completely twisted priorities. Kill hundreds of thousands of people and engage in aggressive war? No big deal. Cause the greatest economic collapse of the post-war period sending millions into poverty? We couldn’t possibly prosecute the people who did that, but we will give them trillions! Reveal our petty secrets and lies, and that we know the war in Afghanistan is lost, have known for years and continue to kill both Afghanis and our own soldiers pointlessly? We WILL destroy you, no matter what we have to do.
Which leads us to the rape charges against Assange. Given what we know right now about the case against him, it appears that is going to come down to he said/she said. Unless the Swedish prosecutors have a smoking gun, even if Assange is convicted, most of his supporters will never believe the case wasn’t at the least heavily tainted by political pressure, and at worst, a set up. And if he is extradited from Sweden to the US to face some sort of charges, the howling will reach the high heavens. He will be a martyr for the cause. The more he is persecuted, the more many will rally around both him, and his child, Wikileaks.
Because of the massive overreaction to Wikileaks, the case against him is completely tainted. He might be guilty as sin, but justice can no longer be seen to be done, because it is far too evident that too many powerful people, corporations and governments want him taken out.
And so he has won. Whether he winds up free, in prison in Sweden or the US, or winds up dead, he has won this round. He will be a martyr and an icon, and his child, Wikileaks, whether it lives or dies, will become a rallying point and a symbol of how corrupt and unjust western society is.
The odd thing about Wikileaks is that their success has been assured, not by what they leaked, though there is some important information there, but by their enemies.
The massive and indiscriminate overreaction by both government and powerful corporate actors has ensured this, and includes but is not nearly limited to:
Wikileaks and Assange have now been made in to cause celebres. If corporations and governments can destroy someone’s access to the modern economy as they have Wikileaks, without even pretending due process of the law (Paypal, VISA, Mastercard, Amazon, etc… were not ordered by any court to cut Wikileaks) then we simply do not live in a free society of law, let alone a society of justice.
Ironically the Wikileaks files reveal that the British fixed their inquiry into the war, and that the US pressured the Spanish government to stop a war crimes court case against ex-members of the Bush administration. Assange and Wikileaks are subject to extreme judicial and extrajudicial sanctions, but people who engaged in aggressive war based on lies, tortured people and are responsible for deaths well into the six figures, walk free.
To be just, law must be applied to both the big and the small. Thousands of executives at banks who engaged in systematic fraud were never charged, out and out war criminals are actively protected, and Wikileaks and Assange are hunted like animals?
This has enraged, in particular, the Hacktivist community, with Anonymous forming Operation Payback and shutting down both Mastercard servers and the Swiss Bank PostFinance’s website. As they themselves say, what enraged them was multiple companies attempting to shut Wikileaks down, both on the web, and financially.
While there is no comparison between what Assange has done and what happened on 9/11 (his actions are those of a free press), the rabid and indiscriminate overreaction of the the US in particular and the West in general is similar. And what it has done is make Assange into a martyr, an icon for freedom of speech and a symbol of politically motivated repression. It has done the same for Wikileaks and made Wikileaks a cause celebre.
It has proved that the West is run by authoritarian thugs with completely twisted priorities. Kill hundreds of thousands of people and engage in aggressive war? No big deal. Cause the greatest economic collapse of the post-war period sending millions into poverty? We couldn’t possibly prosecute the people who did that, but we will give them trillions! Reveal our petty secrets and lies, and that we know the war in Afghanistan is lost, have known for years and continue to kill both Afghanis and our own soldiers pointlessly? We WILL destroy you, no matter what we have to do.
Which leads us to the rape charges against Assange. Given what we know right now about the case against him, it appears that is going to come down to he said/she said. Unless the Swedish prosecutors have a smoking gun, even if Assange is convicted, most of his supporters will never believe the case wasn’t at the least heavily tainted by political pressure, and at worst, a set up. And if he is extradited from Sweden to the US to face some sort of charges, the howling will reach the high heavens. He will be a martyr for the cause. The more he is persecuted, the more many will rally around both him, and his child, Wikileaks.
Because of the massive overreaction to Wikileaks, the case against him is completely tainted. He might be guilty as sin, but justice can no longer be seen to be done, because it is far too evident that too many powerful people, corporations and governments want him taken out.
And so he has won. Whether he winds up free, in prison in Sweden or the US, or winds up dead, he has won this round. He will be a martyr and an icon, and his child, Wikileaks, whether it lives or dies, will become a rallying point and a symbol of how corrupt and unjust western society is.
North Korea’s leader met in his capital with China’s top foreign policy official as a U.S. governor announced a trip to the North.
Earlier this month a rumor was floating around that Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel was getting pushed back to 2013 — not any more! A new report busts this rumor, reveals the official movie title, and spills new character details. More »
We’ve shown you what some of the new Chrome web apps can do, but even if some of the apps are just links to existing web pages, installing from the web store allows for a few extra customizations. More »
You’ve already seen it on the Jolibook, but now anyone with a netbook or suitable computer can get their hands on the Jolicloud 1.1 operating system, which promises a number of improvements over version 1.0. Chief among those is the brand new HTML5 desktop, along with a simplified login process using Facebook Connect, a generally spiffed up UI, and a slew of other tweaks that promise better performance and battery life compared to the previous version. Hit up the link below to try it out for yourself, or revisit our Jolibook review for an in-depth look at the upstart OS.
Jolicloud 1.1 now available to download originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Whether you’re resisting the temptation to upgrade to newer, faster hardware, or a year’s worth of use has made your Android phone feel slow and laggy, here are some ways to make your older phone run a bit smoother. More »
It took me 3 passes to realize she was talking about snow……its going to be a long Wednesday. 🙂
Serious Google Docs users might remember the heartache of seeing offline access disappear for what was “temporarily” a switch to HTML5-based storage. That “temporary” switch has been a long time coming, but in early 2011, Docs will once again offer offline access, Google says. By installing Docs as a Chrome webapp—or, theoretically, as a shortcut in any other modern, HTML5-friendly browser—you'll be able to get at your documents wherever you are. [Official Google Blog via ReadWriteWeb] More »
I’m a great fan of sliding keyboards, refusing all else in my smartphone choices. But a 10-inch tablet? Surely there’s enough touchscreen real estate to type accurately there, already? Nonetheless, this is what Samsung’s proposing, with the Gloria. More »
When Chrome launched their web store earlier today, the main question on a lot of minds was: “How are these apps any different from bookmarks?” Here’s a look at five of our favorite exclusive apps for Chrome that stand out. More »
Just barely after noon (Pacific time), the Google Chrome Web Store has launched! There are quite a few apps available, both free and paid, ready for you to install in your Chrome browser. The slick New York Times app that Google demoed earlier today is now available, as well as many other popular apps. In addition to apps, the web store features Chrome extensions and themes. Go check it out now! More »
