Appearing on ‘Red Eye’ rocker and auteur Rob Zombie spilled the beans on directing David Caruso in an episode of ‘CSI: Miami,’ which Zombie called “the longest three weeks of my life.”
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BPA declared toxic by Canada
Bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical used to make some hard plastic containers and toys, has formally been declared a toxic substance by Canadian authorities.
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Add an Extra Layer of Security to Chrome Syncing with a Passphrase [Security]
If you like the idea of keeping your bookmarks, passwords, apps, and other data synced between Chrome browsers, but you’re wary of Google (or others) getting access to your web life, the latest Chrome dev release syncs data with a passphrase. More »
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Webcam-spying school district settles out of court, FBI declines to press charges
Looks like the Lower Merion School District will be paying off kids who got zinged by its laptop tracking program — to the tune of some $610,000. As you might recall, there was quite a bit of hubbub earlier this year when students discovered that their school issued computers tended to activate their webcams and shoot the photos back to administrators. Apparently the FBI has decided not to bring any charges in the case after all, and the various families of the students settled with the school district out of court. And yes, the schools have discontinued the tracking program.Webcam-spying school district settles out of court, FBI declines to press charges originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chrome 8 Hits Dev Channel with GPU Acceleration, More Labs Offerings [Updates]
Windows/Mac/Linux: Chrome has hit version 8 in its Dev builds, adding more solid graphics acceleration to the web using your video hardware, along with a few new Labs features that herald the coming of Chrome OS. More »
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Apple’s New Anti-Sexting Technology [Patents]
Apple is continuing its war on sexxy content on your iPhone! The next victim: Text messages. A patent (filed in 2008) was just approved for “systems, devices, and methods” of filtering “text-based messages” based on “objectionable content.” You know: Sexting. More »
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Violent high school teacher becomes a YouTube star
A high school algebra teacher who suffered a violent nervous breakdown in a Nashville classroom has become a YouTube star nearly overnight.
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Ten Ways to Share Big Files With Little Hassle
E-mail and IM suffice for small file transfers like Office documents or photos, but for anything more substantial (e.g., high def videos of your cat jumping into boxes) you’re going to need to look somewhere else. Even our beloved Gmail chokes on anything over 25 MB, and refuses to transfer certain files like executables (.exe). Geekier types might set up an FTP server or create a torrent, but those methods can be a hassle for quick deliveries. There are, however, various P2P (peer-to-peer) and Web-based solutions that allow you to quickly and easily share files, often with just a few clicks. Read on for our favorite ways to pass around bulky bits that e-mail just can’t handle.
Continue reading Ten Ways to Share Big Files With Little Hassle
Ten Ways to Share Big Files With Little Hassle originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Test Driving Google’s Driverless Car [Cars]
That driverless car Google’s been working on? Good Morning America spent some time behind the wheel. They even played chicken with it. More »
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Google Testing Chrome OS Release Candidates. Official Release 1 Month Away?
It was last July that Google dropped a nuclear bomb in announcing Chrome OS, their operating system based around their Chrome web browser. The world was different back then — namely, Google’s Android mobile operating system wasn’t nearly as powerful as it is now. But its rise has led some to wonder why exactly Google is pushing ahead with Chrome OS — or if they might abandon it? (Remember, they did lose their key Chrome OS engineer to Facebook.) Well, they’re not. All indications are that it is coming very soon now. In fact, it may even launch a month from today.
At their official unveiling event 11 months ago, Google promised that Chrome OS would be ready to by the end of this year — before the holiday season. It looks like they will be able to keep that promise, as bug comments on their Google Code site for the project indicate that the OS has already hit
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NASA caught Photoshopping an image of Saturn's moons. What were they trying to hide?
A conspiracy theorist noticed that an image in NASA’s Astronomy Picture Of The Day had noticeable Photoshop brushstrokes in it, when you turned up the contrast. Is there a mysterious object hiding near Saturn’s moons?
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Google Cars Drive Themselves in Traffic
Google has been secretly building and testing autonomous vehicles that have successfully driven over 1,000 miles without any human intervention. The fleet of robot Priuses has logged 140,000 miles across California with only minimal input from a driver. The vehicles use cameras, radar and lasers to detect other cars, obstacles and pedestrians, and the vast databases of images in Google Maps and Street View to navigate. During the testing, the autonomous cars were involved in only one accident. And, in that case, the Google Carbot was rear-ended by a human driver while stopped at a red light. (Somehow, California law enforcement was aware of the tests, yet managed to keep them secret; consider us impressed.)
The project is the passion of Sebastian Thrun, the director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and creator of Google’s Street View. He has been working on building a self-piloted car since at least 2005, when he led a team of Stanford students and faculty to victory in a DARPA-funded contest for building autonomous vehicles. Proponents of these cars, like Thrun and Larry Page, argue that self-driving cars could make streets safer, reduce fuel consumption, and move more passengers more efficiently. Such technology is years away from being commercially viable, and laws will have to catch up to the technology, but it’s clear that Google wants to be intimately involved in this potentially revolutionary change to how we drive. Or, more accurately, how we don’t.
Continue reading Google Cars Drive Themselves in Traffic
Google Cars Drive Themselves in Traffic originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!)
It may have “Windows” in the branding, but Windows Phone 7 is not the desktop PC experience shoehorned into a cellphone. Microsoft tried that with Windows Mobile… and we all know how that turned out. Today, eight months after the Windows Phone 7 OS unveiling in Barcelona, we're finally seeing the official launch of the retail hardware: nine new WP7 handsets, some available October 21 in select European and Asian markets and others from early November in the US. The phones will find their way to over 60 cellphone operators in more than 30 countries this year. Microsoft tapped Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung to deliver the Snapdragon-based handsets with a carrier list that includes AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Vodafone, TELUS, América Móvil, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, and Telstra. And that's just for the first wave — Microsoft has even more handsets coming in 2011 including the first for Sprint and Verizon in the US. Here's the lineup of 480 x 800 pixel (WVGA) phones announced today:- HTC 7 Surround — The 3.8-inch T8788 with slideout speaker for AT&T and Telus
- HTC HD7 — Schubert comes of age as a 4.3-inch HD2 cousin for T-Mobile and beyond
- HTC 7 Trophy — the 3.8-inch Spark headed to international carriers
- HTC 7 Mozart — another heavily leaked int’l player with 3.7-inch display
- Dell Venue Pro — 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider for T-Mobile we broke as Lightning
- Samsung Focus — AT&T's 4-inch Super AMOLED slate we broke as Cetus
- Samsung Omnia 7 — the i8700 is a 4-inch Super AMOLED jobbie for Europe
- LG Optimus 7/7Q — the E900 is the official 3.8-inch global workhorse
- LG Quantum — AT&T's 3.5-inch landscape slider first seen as the C900
- HTC 7 Pro — a 3.6-inch QWERTY slider for Sprint (2011)
“Glance and Go,” is the slogan Microsoft is using to differentiate itself from an already crowded smartphone market. Something we’ve already seen alluded to in that leaked AT&T ad. As Ballmer notes, “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience – one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.” He’s referring to WP7’s customizable Live Tiles, of course. Xbox Live integration is another biggie with EA Games just announcing its first Xbox Live-enabled wares coming to Windows Phone 7 in the fall including “Need for Speed Undercover,” “Tetris,” “Monopoly,” and “The Sims 3.” The other big differentiators are the slick Metro UI, integrated support for Zune media and Zune Pass subscriptions, Bing search and maps, Windows Live including the free Find My Phone service, and Microsoft Office Mobile.
Now quit stalling and jump past the break for the full list of handsets per carrier and country.
Update: Added the official WP7 overview videos after the break.
Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TDK develops 1TB optical disc, leaves other optical storage feeling emasculated
We’ve heard about 1TB-sized optical discs in the past, but TDK has now revealed a 1TB monster of its own at CEATEC. Unlike existing Blu-rays which use four recording layers at most, TDK’s creation features 16 layers on both sides of the disc, each capable of storing up to 32GB apiece. If you’re keeping track of the optical storage arms race, that’s seven more gigabytes per layer than Pioneer’s 400GB and 500GB disc achievements made back in 2008. TDK's prototype also has the potential to leverage existing Blu-ray technologies, since it's made from a material already found in BDs and shares the same beam aperture. On the down side, the current version's recording layers measure 260μm — that's more than twice as thick as its Blu-ray counterpart — and causes aberrations in today's fat-layer-hating optical lenses. Outside of its Biggest Loser qualifications, though, TDK says “its commercialization depends on disc manufacturers.” Considering the company has yet to sell the 10-layer 320GB discs revealed at CEATEC 2009, however, we’re doubtful this 1TB improvement will hit stores anytime soon.
Filed under: Storage
TDK develops 1TB optical disc, leaves other optical storage feeling emasculated originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Simpsons’ Title Scene Secretly Created By Banksy [Video]
Just when I thought The Simpsons couldn’t surprise me anymore, yesterday’s 10/10/10 episode had the most acidic, in-your-face title scene I’ve ever seen on TV. Not surprisingly, it was storyboarded and directed by legendary graffiti artist Banksy. More »
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Ford Redesigns Car Dashboards To Be More Like Cellphones [Cars]
Ford recently overhauled their car dashboards to make car interfaces less sucky and more like cellphones. They focused on better usability and teamed up with design firm Ideo to create a consistent UI for all their cars. More »
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T-Mobile To Sell Galaxy Tab For $399 With 2-Year Contract [Galaxytab]
According to this leaked slide, the Samsung Galaxy Tab will cost $399 with new 2-year contract on T-Mobile. As Sprint was rumored to charge that much too, 400 buckaroos will probably be the Galaxy Tab’s price on all the carriers. More »