It never fails. Now that Fringe has become the best television show in two universes, it’s getting moved to the Friday-night slot that claimed Firefly and Terminator. How can we save Fringe from Fox’s Friday-night curse? A few ideas below. More »
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5 things you can do to save Fringe right now [Save This Show]
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Mark Embedded YouTube Videos to Watch Later [YouTube]
YouTube’s introduced a new feature into their embed code, allowing viewers to save embedded videos to watch later on youtube.com. More »
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Microsoft axes Office Genuine Advantage, says program has ‘served its purpose’
It’s not offering any indication that Windows Genuine Advantage will follow suit, but Microsoft has just made the rather surprising move of shutting down its longstanding Office Genuine Advantage program. As with Windows Genuine Advantage, that program was designed to combat piracy and, as any Office user can no doubt attest, it wasn’t shy to make its presence known — warnings like the one above popped up when downloading templates from Office.com, for instance. Why the change? Microsoft isn’t exactly offering too many details, with a spokesperson only going as far to say that the program has “served its purpose,” and that Microsoft is “making several new investments that will allow us to engage with customers and help victims of fraud.” In the meantime, however, it looks like you can now simply go about your business without a warning to be found.
Microsoft axes Office Genuine Advantage, says program has ‘served its purpose’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Toyota to pay U.S. $32.4M fine
Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay the U.S. government a record $32.4 million US in additional fines to settle an investigation into its handling of two recalls at the heart of its safety crisis.
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Echinacea no help for colds: study
The herbal remedy echinacea is no better than a placebo at stifling the sneezes, sore throat and fever of common cold sufferers, a study suggests.
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Free calling in Gmail extended through 2011
(Cross posted from the Gmail blog)
When we launched calling in Gmail back in August, we wanted it to be easy and affordable, so we made calls to the U.S. and Canada free for the rest of 2010. In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year, we’re extending free calling for all of 2011.
In case you haven’t tried it yet, dialing a phone number works just like a regular phone. Look for “Call phone” at the top of your Gmail chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.
To learn more, visit gmail.com/call. Calling in Gmail is currently only available to U.S. based Gmail users.Happy New Year and happy calling!
Posted by Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer
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A Helicopter Blows a Trapped Deer to Safety [Video]
When a deer is trapped on an icy river and a helicopter is dispatched to rescue it, you’d think it would pick up the deer and fly it to safety. No, it just blows it across the slick surface. More »
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N. Korea says no retaliation over S. Korea drills
North Korea has called South Korean artillery drills on a front-line island a ‘reckless military provocation’ but said it would not retaliate, backing away from earlier threats to strike back.
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Get the Gingerbread Keyboard on Any Android Phone, No Root Required [Downloads]
Android: We recently showed you how to get the fantastic Gingerbread keyboard on your rooted 2.2 Android phone, but some kindly folks over at XDA-Developers have made their own package for rooted or unrooted phones running 2.1 and above. More »
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Microsoft seeking to quadruple Kinect accuracy?
Hacked your Kinect recently? Then you probably know something most regular Xbox 360 gamers don’t — namely, that the Kinect’s infrared camera is actually capable of higher resolution than the game console itself supports. Though Microsoft originally told us it ran at 320 x 240, you’ll find both color and depth cameras display 640 x 480 images if you hook the peripheral up to a PC, and now an anonymous source tells Eurogamer that Microsoft wants to do the very same in the video game space. Reportedly, Redmond artificially limited the Kinect on console in order to leave room for other USB peripherals to run at the same time, but if the company can find a way around the limitation, it could issue a firmware update that could make the Kinect sensitive enough to detect individual finger motions and inevitably lead to gesture control. One of multiple ways Microsoft intends to make the world of Minority Report a reality, we’re sure.
Microsoft seeking to quadruple Kinect accuracy? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google hacked site notification notifies you if your site is hacked (repeat this five times fast)
Those crazy cats at Google have been tinkerin’ with the search results quite a bit lately: in addition to the old standbys (malware notifications, updated image search), the company has recently rolled out Instant Search, Instant Preview… and now? That’s right: hacked site notifications in the search results. According to the Webmaster Central blog, the company uses “a variety of automated tools to detect common signs of a hacked site,” and if you have a Webmaster Tools account you’ll even be notified of the breach. Hit the source link for more info.Google hacked site notification notifies you if your site is hacked (repeat this five times fast) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NASA Engineers Propose Combining a Rail Gun and a Scramjet to Fire Spacecraft Into Orbit [Nasa]
NASA has been working on creating a new, cheaper method to launch spacecrafts. Their latest proposal involves train tracks, a rail gun and a scramjet. Here’s what they’re trying to do: More »
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H.R. Giger reportedly onboard for the Alien prequel [Alien Prequel]
In an interview with Swiss television, Carmen Scheifele, H.R. Giger’s wife, reported that the famed designer will be onboard for Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, which will be in 3-D and may consist of two films. More »
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FOX to Retarget Fringe to Teenagers? Friday Looks Good Through Rose Colored Glasses
FOX is 100% committed to Fringe, just not the Fringe you’ve been watching. In comments made to EW’s Jeff Jensen, FOX execs described their game-plan to save the show – which doesn’t need saving, according to them (confusing!) – by reinventing the image of Fringe from dense character driven adult SciFi to rebellious-teen targeted horror.
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Microsoft releases H.264 video plug-in for Windows 7 Firefox users
We’re assuming it would still prefer you use Internet Explorer for all your web browsing needs, but Microsoft is now lending something of a helping hand to Windows 7 users that insist on using Firefox for one reason or another. It’s just released a plug-in that gets around Firefox’s current limitations in handling H.264-encoded videos on HTML5 pages by taking advantage of the H.264 support built into Windows 7. On a more technical level, that means the plug-in parses HTML5 pages and replaces the Video tags with a call to the Windows Media Player plug-in, which then allows the content to be played right in the browser. Sound like just what you’ve been waiting for? Hit up the link below to download the add-on and try it yourself.Microsoft releases H.264 video plug-in for Windows 7 Firefox users originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Harrowing Tale of an Amtrak Train Stuck on the Rails for 10 Hours [Scary]
A train from Baltimore to Philadelphia stalled on the tracks for ten hours last night. With doors locked and electricity waning, passengers cried and fought for emergency rations. A local news reporter happened to be on board, and tweeted it. More »
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How to pronounce ASUS (video)
A-suh-ss? Ah-sue-ss? As-ses? Nope, all wrong. We’ve been informed by ASUS that its head honcho has recently set a new rule in an attempt to rid our frustration, so what used to be “Ah-seuss” is now “A-seuss” (or “Eh-SUS” according to Taiwanese phonetics, as pictured). The logic behind this? Apparently it’s a direct chop from the pronunciation of “pegasus” — the origin of the company’s name — which ironically seems to favor the former diction. Anyhow, let’s not confuse ourselves any further and just study this lovely lady’s video demo after the break.
Continue reading How to pronounce ASUS (video)
How to pronounce ASUS (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video)
In gaming, 3D graphics get more powerful, environments get more expansive, enemies get more intelligent, but still facial animations haven’t progressed much since Pac-Man chomped his first power pellet in 1980. Finally, a major breakthrough courtesy of Australian company Depth Analysis. It has developed technology called MotionScan, which enables a high-res 3D recreation of a person’s face — not just capturing bits and pieces of facial animation but their entire head, right down to the hairstyle. It’s getting its first use in next year’s L.A. Noire, a 1940s PS3 and Xbox 360 murder mystery game from Rockstar, and while we don’t know enough about the title to be able to say whether it’s worth plunking down a pre-order now, after watching the video embedded below it’s clear that the bar has been raised.
Continue reading L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video)
L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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N. Korea urges S. Korea to cancel firing drills
North Korea warns South Korea to stop planned artillery drills on an island the North bombed last month, saying its retaliation would be even more intense than its original attack.
