.::REALITYRECALL::.

Microsoft has just released the next major version of the Windows Live Essentials 2011 beta suite. The package comes with a number of improvements, bug fixes and added features.

Microsoft originally released a Windows Live Essentials beta on June 24. Essentials includes the popular programs Windows Live Movie Maker, Mail, Writer,…

Now every man and his donkey has a Snapdragon chip in their smartphones, it’s time for Qualcomm to look past the 1.2GHz speeds and bring us a 1.5GHz dual-core. It’s on its way, from late this year/early next year. More »

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Parents in the town of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, want their school district to disable its Wi-Fi network because, they claim, it’s making their kids sick. According to a report by The Canadian Press, parents say that, after the district went wireless, kids from 14 different schools …

Continue reading Ontario Parents Say School Wi-Fi Networks Make Kids Sick

Filed under: Web, Back to School

Ontario Parents Say School Wi-Fi Networks Make Kids Sick originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A school board in central Ontario is defending its decision to keep wireless internet access in classrooms despite fears from some parents that radiation from Wi-Fi transmissions is making kids sick.

Can technology make wrong calls a thing of the past? The NFL is hoping so.

A football field is 100 yards long, but games often come down to small battles over inches of gridiron real estate. The outcomes of these small battles often hinge on observations which, as all fans eventually learn, are prone to mistakes. Reuters is reporting that the NFL is investigating at least one technology that would remove some elements of human judgment from the game. According to the report, the league is in discussions with German location-mapping firm Cairos Technologies to implement their “chip-in-ball” technology to take the guesswork out of accurate ball placement.

Cairos has been pushing for the go-ahead to use their Goal Line Technology (GLT) in professional soccer (“fútbol” in European-speak) matches. The technology has been in development for over a decade and been utilized in several test runs. Around the soccer blogosphere, GLT has been the subject of vigorous debate among technophile soccer hooligans, but still has not given the official go-ahead from the soccer higher-ups. Now Cairos is setting their sites on other sporty avenues.

If the NFL deal works out, Cairos’ reported next deal is with Professional Figure Skating to develop a technology that will use digital cameras that have the ability to measure both sparkle and spunk (that last part’s not true!)

After the jump, find a video describing the tech.

We don’t know about you guys, but here at Switched, we get a boatload of e-mails and that’s not going to change any time soon. We send almost as many as we receive, too. Truth be told, it can be a little overwhelming sometimes, so we’re a little intrigued by Boomerang for Gmail, which promises to …

Continue reading Boomerang Gmail Plugin Lets You Send and Receive Whenever You Want

Filed under: Google, Web

Boomerang Gmail Plugin Lets You Send and Receive Whenever You Want originally appeared on Switched on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Windows Update installs certain types of updates, a reboot is required so that certain software components can be updated while they’re not running. Unfortunately, this means that many people will leave their PCs running, with open applications and unsaved data, and in many cases, they’ll wake up the next day to discover the PC was automatically rebooted by Windows Update. Here’s how to stay secure, but prevent the computer from rebooting automatically.

Roadside electronics that emit high-pitched whines and strobe lights could save deer from becoming roadkill.

ASUS just dumped Windows Embedded Compact 7 for Android for its lower-end tablet devices, and CEO Jerry Shen is passing along the savings. He’s pledging that the 10-inch Eee Pad EP101TC, due to ship in March, will cost under $399 — and if the Notion Ink Adam is any indication that means it’ll be $398. Then there’s the EP121, a 12-inch tablet running Windows 7 that’s positioned rather higher up in the market, as indicated by its $1,000 price tag. Shen says this high cost is due to that docking station able to intriguingly transform it into a laptop when it ships around December or January. Next is yet another Eee Pad due around January, one that will run Windows Embedded Compact 7 on a 10-inch screen and at a price somewhere south of $499. Finally, there’s the grayscale Eee Tablet e-reader thing, formerly rumored to be under $599 but now priced at a solid $300 and, supposedly, shipping in October. Surely we’re mere months away from tablet saturation at this point.

ASUS prices 10-inch Android Eee Pad under $399, 8-inch Eee Tablet at $300, other tablets too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Docs is a great solution for saving and sharing documents online, but browsing to the site every time is time consuming. Here we look at a Desktop Gadget that lets you upload files with a simple drag & drop.

Install and Upload Docs with the Cloud Drive Gadget

Head to the Cloud Drive gadget download site (link below), and click Download to get started.

This is a 3rd party gadget, so you’ll be asked to verify you want to download it.  Click Install to go ahead and download it.

Once the Gadget is downloaded, run and install it as normal.

The gadget should appear on your desktop as soon as you install it and you can add it from the gadget gallery as well.

You’ll need to add your Google account info before you can upload files.  Click the gear button to open the Options pane.

Now enter your Google account info, and click Ok.  You can also enter an Advanced Key for more features such as previewing your recently uploaded files and one-click access to the document you just uploaded; to get one, you’ll need to make a donation at the developer’s site.

You’re now ready to add files to Google Docs.  Simply drag any document you want to upload and drop it on the gadget.

The gadget will now change to show that it’s uploading your file.

The Gadget will let you know when the upload is finished.  Uploading most documents only took a few seconds in our tests.  Since you can just drag and drop the documents into the gadget, it’s almost as easy as saving a file on your computer or putting it in your Dropbox.

You’ll be able to see your document in Google Docs ready for you to edit online or share with others.  As usual, Google docs will lose some formatting from Word, but this is the same regardless of how you upload documents.

Conclusion

This little desktop gadget makes it very simple to add your documents to Google Docs.  It’s much quicker and easier than logging in to the Google Docs dashboard to upload files, so it should make it easier to keep your files online if you prefer Google’s web apps.  Since it’s just a desktop gadget, it’s also less resource intensive than many other desktop Google Docs solutions.

If you’re a command line geek, you might also be interested in our article about Using Google Services Via Command Prompt; you can even upload documents to Google Docs this way.  Or you could try Mounting Google Docs in Explorer so you can save files directly to Google Docs just like any other folder.

Links

Download the Cloud Drive gadget

Get More Info From the Developer’s Site

Continue reading Microsoft Adaptive Keyboard prototype debuts at center of UIST Student Innovation Contest

Microsoft Adaptive Keyboard prototype debuts at center of UIST Student Innovation Contest originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.2: Google’s taken its voice-to-text obsession even further with Voice Actions for Android. Rather than just searching or calling, you can send texts, pull up music or web pages and maps, or even set an alarm—all with your voice. More »

General Motors Co. has announced CEO Ed Whitacre will resign effective Sept. 1.