Gerber Steady multi-tool includes tripod, puts Bear Grylls and Ken Rockwell on common ground
July 23, 2011 No Comment
Ever been on a six-mile hike and needed a miniature tripod to snap a picture of you and your fellow explorers? Yeah, we’ve been there too. As luck would have it, Gerber is throwing the much needed, but usually too cumbersome, camera accessory into one of its next multitools. Behold the Steady, a new member of the company’s jack of all trades tool family. However, this one, with its pair of legs on one side and a folding tripod screw on the other, will make that all-important group shot in the middle of nowhere much less of a challenge. Of course, the usual 12 tool arsenal is included along with a knife… perhaps for opening all those frustration- included memory cards and dehydrated meal packages that you’ll carry along. You’ll be able to snatch the pocket tool up sometime next year for $65, moving your Joby one step closer to unemployment. Gerber Steady multi-tool includes tripod, puts Bear Grylls and Ken Rockwell on common ground originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Android Market embraces fragmentation, allows multiple APKs for a single app
July 23, 2011 No Comment
Google wants to keep its third-party app developers ‘appy by letting them upload multiple APKs to the Android Market under a single product title. This means developers can subtly offer different versions of their app to suit different devices and OS versions without having to worry about mixed-up download stats, user reviews or billing data. They can also tailor their software to exploit the capabilities of a new handset or tablet without having to mess with their existing customers. What will the App Guy have to say about this? Android Market embraces fragmentation, allows multiple APKs for a single app originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Google’s quietly pitter-pattering its acquisitive ways back into the controversial realm of facial recognition technology . To do that, the company busted out its oversized wallet to fold Pittsburgh-based PittPatt into the Mountain View borg. Founded by a trio of PhD’s from Carnegie Mellon University, this three-man strong outfit specializes in the sort of object recognition software you’ve come to know as “tagging.” Is this a reversal of the Do No Evil tech giant’s prior waffling on the dubious visioning tech , or just another massive weapon in its social networking crusade against Facebook ? We’d err on the side of both, although the company’s new employees aren’t exactly playing their cards for us to see. A brief statement on the triumvirate’s site makes vague mention of “computer vision technology” being core to Google’s products and points to the tech’s planned integration in photo, video and mobile applications. So, basically, expect to see Picasa, Goggles, YouTube and Google+ watch you as you flaunt your internet celebrity ways to that front-facing camera. Google acquires PittPatt, wants to know you on a face-to-face basis originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Funny — we (almost) asked this same exact question in August of 2009, just after Snow Leopard had been loosed on the un suspecting public. But as fate seems to have it, each and every OS overhaul brings gobs of issues, and regardless of how hard the problem finders in Cupertino work, there’s simply too many unchecked variables to squash each and every bug prior to release. And with that, we present to you just a handful of the biggest quirks that have cropped up since a cool million of you downloaded Lion. For one, you can kiss Rosetta support goodbye, and secondly, it seems as if 10.7 is seriously cramping third-party NAS support for Time Machine. We’ve also had numerous reports from folks that are having issues dragging application installs to their Applications folder, not to mention an uptick in Guest account crashes. Of course, there’s also the whole “I can’t get my free update to Lion!” thing, busted Windows partitions and a veritable plethora of dilemmas when looking at Pro Tools and Cubase. Hit the links below to join the misery party, or feel free to start your own in comments below. Oh, and if you’re furious that Lion and its incompatibilities have ruined your livelihood… well, welcome to the downside of early adoption. Here’s hoping a raft of updates cures whatever’s ailing you in the days and weeks to come. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] View Poll Mac OS X Lion: what’s broken (or working) for you? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Giant body of water found in space, black hole claims it was just hydrating
July 23, 2011 No Comment
Is that an intergalactic wave pool, or just a hungry, hungry quasar? Turns out it’s a bit of both — well, not the wave pool bit, but it’s watery. A NASA -funded peep into the farthest reaches of the cosmos has uncovered this “feeding black hole” 12 billion light years away. APM 08279+5255, as this compacted mass of inescapable doom is affectionately known, has been gorging on water vapor and spewing out energy. How much H2O exactly? It’s only the “largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe,” and it weighs in at 140 trillion times the amount in our oceans. Located via the cooperation of two teams of astronomers and their star-gazing equipment — the Z-Space instrument at California Institute of Technology’s Submillimeter Observatory in Hawaii and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps — this aqueous discovery proves the wet stuff is more universally omnipresent than we once thought. Also, surfing aliens, right ? Giant body of water found in space, black hole claims it was just hydrating originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Back in April, when we put the PlayBook through its paces , we were disappointed to find it lacked the previously promised , and eventually teased , Android Player. Well, the time has finally come — at least for those of you, who don’t mind getting your hands, and tablet, dirty with leaked software. The folks over at n4bb snatched up a beta version of the program, which brings nearly 250,000 little-green-monster apps to the BB slab, but point out that it’s got its drawbacks. Aside from altogether lacking a back button, this build apparently has some lagging issues. If you’re the adventurous type, however, you can download and sideload the appropriate file by clicking on the source link below. But if your PlayBook gets covered in all sorts of leaky beta goo, don’t come running to us — it is unofficial after all. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Android App Player leaks out on to BlackBerry PlayBook originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Odds seem pretty good that, if you’re a Linux user who’s been aching to give Google Music a spin, you haven’t been sitting idly by, waiting to upload your content through official channels. If you have, in fact, been waiting Google’s blessing, however, the time is now. The software giant has released the official Linux version of its Music Manager application for your cloud-listening pleasure. You’ll still need an invite, of course, but once that’s squared away, the sky (and upload cap) is the limit. Google Music Manager dusts off tuxedo, makes Linux debut originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We spied a mystery FCC listing just the other day, filed under a no-name company but bearing some unmistakable Lenovo markings. Now we have another unidentified device bearing the same branding and, according to our friendly neighborhood tipster, this is the company’s 7-inch IdeaPad, which might be (internally) dubbed the A1-07. It’s said to be powered by a TI OMAP3621 processor (which also drives the Nook Color ), features a 7-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a Broadcom GPS unit, 3G wireless with a SIM slot, and room for a microSD card as well. A 3,700mAh battery supposedly keeps things juiced, both front- and rear-facing cameras are on offer, and it’s all wrapped in a glossy plastic styling that makes it look a little like a TouchPad with some bare metal highlights. It also features three buttons up front that we’re hoping don’t mean it’s been relegated to Android 2.x. Now, the image above (and the second one, below) have obviously been crudely modified to hide something , and we can’t be sure of what we’re looking at here, but it’s interesting enough for us to pass these along. Have a gander and let us know what you think in comments. [Thanks, Anonymous] Continue reading Lenovo’s 7-inch IdeaPad caught by Mr. Blurrycam? Lenovo’s 7-inch IdeaPad caught by Mr. Blurrycam? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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If it’s going to try and compete in the tablet world, whether or not it wants to be known as the enterprise-friendly slate, RIM will have to step up its multimedia game . The company clearly understands this, that’s why it’s snatched up the online video-editing service JayCut. It’s obvious the startup’s expertise will be used to create a video editing app for the BlackBerry platform, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of sharing and cloud storage service built on top of it as well. Obviously we’re just speculating for now. Check out the brief announcement posts at the two source links. RIM brings video editing service JayCut into the BlackBerry fold originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Are you ready to meet your next regift? This is the Pix-Star FotoConnect HD, a 10.4-inch, 800 x 600 digital photo frame with a WiFi radio inside. This little display can pull in pics from Picasa, Facebook, Smugmug, Shutterfly, Flickr, and MobileMe amongst others, and show off images sent straight to a special e-mail address. It may seem like every other digiframe, but it does have one unique feature — support for UPnP and DLNA . That means any pictures stored on your home network can easily be beamed to it as well. If you want to be the original gifter, instead of the regifter, you can pick one up now for $189 at Pix-Star.com and Amazon. You’ll find the full PR and an additional pic after the break. Continue reading Pix-Star FotoConnect HD is a 10-inch digiframe ripe for regifting Pix-Star FotoConnect HD is a 10-inch digiframe ripe for regifting originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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