Canada churns out 93,000 new jobs

Canada’s economy added an astounding 93,000 jobs in June, pushing the unemployment rate below eight per cent and taking overall employment to within 14,000 jobs of pre-recession levels.

YouTube moves solidly into the future by supporting 4K content

It’s funny — we remember the day that YouTube began supporting plain ole HD like it was yesterday, and we’re guessing today will hang in our memory banks for quite awhile, too. Over at the VidCon 2010 conference, YouTube officially announced support for videos shot in 4K (a reference resolution of 4096 x 3072), which means that the famed online clip portal now supports “resolutions from 360p to 4,096p” (their words, not ours). Granted, only a handful of humans even have access to a 4K camcorder, and 4K projectors aren’t exactly simple to find (or afford), but we couldn’t be happier to see YT staying way ahead of the curve here. If you’re up for putting a severe strain on your broadband connection (and just pretend that your monitor can actually support a legit 4K feed), feel free to hit that first source link and attempt to watch any of those videos at their “Original” resolution. Godspeed.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

YouTube moves solidly into the future by supporting 4K content originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceYouTube, YouTube Blog  | Email this | Comments

Olympics cost B.C. $925M

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games cost the B.C. government $925 million to stage and host, according to the latest figures released on Friday, but the tally does not include billions in additional costs associated with the Games.

PlayStation Blu-ray 3D update arrives in September; 3D photo, PlayTV and YouTube support to follow

Just in case you weren’t really sure how deep into this 3DTV thing Sony is, senior director of Sony Europe Mick Hocking announced the PS3’s update for Blu-ray 3D movie playback will be released in September — but it won’t stop there. Expect future firmware upgrades that give the PS3 3D rendering for photos (.mpo files), any broadcasts it can pick up on PlayTV, and even YouTube videos. Not running out the door to buy one yet? CVG reports the rest of the presentation was devoted to extolling the virtues of 3D to hardcore gamers in racing games, God of War, or LittleBigPlanet. Demos so far haven’t completely convinced us the PS3 is capable of rendering games in high enough resolution to satisfy, but if Fat Princess 2 features a good 3D implementation, someone hide our credit cards, please.

Filed under: ,

PlayStation Blu-ray 3D update arrives in September; 3D photo, PlayTV and YouTube support to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCVG  | Email this | Comments

After five years, 64-bit editions of Windows make up nearly half of install base

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

64-bit editions of Windows have been available to OEMs and consumers for five years, and they have finally begun to exhibit command over the PC market, Microsoft reported today.

64-bit Windows install base June 2010

By June 2010, 46% of all PCs running Windows 7 were running the 64-bit edition. Three and a half years after Windows Vista launched, only 11% of users have installed the 64-bit version, considerably fewer than Microsoft claimed in 2008 when product manager Chris Flores told us “20% of new Windows Vista PCs in the U.S. connecting to the Windows Update were 64-bit…”

Irrespective of Vista’s performance, Microsoft evangelist Chris LeBlanc says there are certain factors contributing to the growth of 64-bit editions right now.

First, the cost of memory has dropped significantly in the last five years, a majority of processors are 64-bit enabled, and more compatible hardware and software is available today. Secondly, companies such as Intel are upgrading their internal systems to the 64-bit architecture.

Gartner predicted last year that as much as 75% of all enterprise PCs will be running 64-bit editions of Windows by 2014.

“On the surface, it would appear that the most obvious time to perform a move from 32-bit to 64-bit would be during an operating system migration (such as from Windows XP to Windows 7). Many companies feel that, if they don’t make the move now, they may have to wait until Windows 8 or potentially Windows 9 before another opportunity arises,” Gartner’s research said.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010



Add to digg
Add to Google
Add to Slashdot
Add to Twitter
Add to del.icio.us
Add to Facebook
Add to Technorati





Windows VistaMicrosoftOperating systemMicrosoft WindowsWindows XP

aCircuit Board live wallpaper is aMazing (video)

Like teardowns? Ever worn a loose resistor in your pierced 80s earhole just to show the world how geek-punk you really are? Man, have we got the Android Live Wallpaper for you. aCircuit Board is a ¥99 (a bit more than a US buck) animated wallpaper available on the Android Market. Moving fan; binary clock; GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth status lights; a pulsating Android bot; and active circuit paths depending upon where you touch the PCB. Of course, it's all configurable too, via the options menu. Buy hey, don't take our word for it, see it in action after the break.

Continue reading aCircuit Board live wallpaper is aMazing (video)

aCircuit Board live wallpaper is aMazing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePocketNow  | Email this | Comments

ComScore: Android grows US smartphone market share as all others decline

Slip on your fine silk smoking jacket and light up a victory cigar US Android fans, the latest comScore numbers are out for the three-month period ending in May 2010. The most notable trend spotted was a 4 point (up from 9.0% to 13.0%) quarterly increase in Google’s Android market share as all other smartphone OS subscribers declined. ComScore also saw Motorola’s slide continue, slipping behind LG now for a third place US finish as Samsung continued to bolster its dominant position. Expect the numbers to be jostled a bit next quarter when Apple’s iPhone 4 numbers are factored in. Just don’t expect to see the Android numbers suffer, especially with the Samsung Galaxy S launching on all the major US carriers before the quarter is done.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

ComScore: Android grows US smartphone market share as all others decline originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePRNewswire  | Email this | Comments

Rich text signatures

Posted by Mark Knichel, Software Engineer

Rich text signatures have long been one of our most widely requested features. Some of you have tried your own solutions, including Greasemonkey scripts, browser plugins, and even using canned responses from Gmail Labs. Others have simply lived with frustration of not being able to change the colors or font size of your signature, or insert images and links. Either way, you’ll be happy to know that today we’re launching the ability to write your own rich text signatures right in Gmail.


The next time you log in and visit the Settings page, you'll see a rich text editor in the signature section. Here, you can customize your signature by adding pretty formatting, links, and images — or decide to leave things nice and simple.

Gmail also now supports a unique signature for each email address associated with your account. So, if you send mail using a custom “From:” address, you can use a different signature for that address. From the Settings page, you can edit the signature for each account by changing the email address that appears in the dropdown menu.


Currently, only the latest desktop version of Gmail supports rich text signatures and multiple signatures. The older version and HTML version of Gmail, along with the mobile versions, use a plain text version of your primary account’s signature.

Telescopic eye implant approved by the FDA

We love eye implants, and we’ve seen our share of them, and this one is pretty sweet (although it isn’t the creepiest by a long shot — that prize would go to the one that uses a human tooth to hold its lens). In the works for well over a year, and approved by the FDA a couple days ago, VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies’ implantable miniature telescope is intended for patients over 75 years of age who are suffering from end-stage macular degeneration. As with any tricky new surgery, this one is not without risks, including the need for a corneal transplant due to the device’s size. According to CBC News, in clinical testing seventy-five percent of over 200 patients “had their vision improve from severe or profound impairment to moderate impairment,” and there are two more studies on the way: one will follow up with existing patients, while the other will outfit 770 new patients with the device. The cost? $15,000.

Telescopic eye implant approved by the FDA originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCBC News  | Email this | Comments