With unemployment at 40 per cent, jobs will be a key issue when Jacob Zuma, the country’s president, delivers his ‘State of the Nation’ address to parliament. The government has promised to create five million jobs by 2020. Crime, corruption and education are also likely to be addressed in Thursday’s speech. Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull reports from Bloemfontein.
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We can’t accuse Inq of having the best timing in the world — the company announced its new Facebook-centric Cloud Touch and Cloud Q phones at about the same time that HP was busy blowing minds with its new webOS range in San Francisco — but at least that gave us an excuse to get out of the Engadget bunker this morning and go check out some new gear. We’ve gotten to grips with the 3.5-inch touchscreen-equipped Cloud Touch and have broken down our first impressions of the device for you after the break. Aside from Facebook, Inq has chosen to integrate Spotify Premium into this phone along with Fluency, the typing prediction engine that powers SwiftKey . The two serve as significant upgrades on the default media player and keyboard software, respectively, and add a nice sprinkling of value to a phone that’s already expected to go easy on the wallet. The gallery below will illustrate anything else you may need or want to know, although you’ll have to check out the video to see the multifunctional unlock screen and Facebook widgetry in action. Gallery: Inq Cloud Touch preview Continue reading Inq Cloud Touch preview Inq Cloud Touch preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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[1] CelticPredator has improved the Super Bowl commercial for Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger, by replacing the soundtrack with the song “America, Fuck Yeah” from Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Team America: World Police. The result is better than you might imagine. Hit the jump to watch it now. via: High Def [2] [1] http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/captainAmericaSuit-CROP.jpg… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : /Film Discovery Date : 10/02/2011 14:00 Number of articles : 4
Continue reading …Sonos Controller for Android with voice search will blow you away (video)
February 10, 2011 No Comment
You can exhale Sonos fans, it’s finally happening. The Sonos Controller for Android is official. After almost a year in development, the free WiFi music remote finally gives Sonos owners control over their whole-home audio system from any Android 2.1 and above device with a screen size of HVGA 320 x 480, WVGA 480 x 800 or WVGA 480 x 854. At least it will when it hits the Market at the end of March. Better yet, it trumps the Sonos iOS controller with music controls mapped directly to the buttons on your Android hardware. As such, you can control the volume of your Sonos system with the physical volume rocker on your Desire Z or use the search button on your Droid X to forage for that certain artist, track, or album. Oh, and the Sonos Controller for Android also supports voice search — take that iOS app. Sorry, Sonos isn’t announcing anything related to an Android tablet-equivalent of the Sonos controller for iPad today as the company is waiting to see how that market develops and which screen sizes and resolutions gain the most traction. Nevertheless, we’ll be getting our first hands-on opportunity of the handset controller at Mobile World Congress next week. So, until then, why not wipe the tears from your $349 Sonos CR200 controller and watch the video preview after the break. Continue reading Sonos Controller for Android with voice search will blow you away (video) Sonos Controller for Android with voice search will blow you away (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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This is what happens when you connect a few floppy drives to a PIC18f14k50 microcontroller operated by a MIDI-wielding madman. Be sure to watch until at least the 2 minute 30 second mark for a 5 1/4 inch surprise. Look closely, and you might just notice that Box 5 was left empty. [Thanks, Jussi J.] Phantom of the Floppera (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 07:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Al Jazeera English’s correspondent in Cairo, Ayman Mohyeldin, lets the American audience know that the network appreciates enthusiastic support for ongoing Egypt coverage.
Continue reading …WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video)
February 10, 2011 No Comment
We heard some weird reports over the weekend that the 3G Motorola Xoom tablet couldn’t be sold unless you bought at least one month of wireless data. That, plus the groan-inducing $800 MSRP, is surely giving some potential buyers a wee bit of pause. This might help. Crossing the wires at the FCC is what appears to be a WiFi-only version of the Xoom, called a “wireless tablet with embedded WLAN.” It’s lacking a 3G radio so, unless Moto has another trick up its sleeves, this is probably that. Obviously any speculation on price would be highly… speculative, but here’s to hoping ditching that modem brings this thing down a Benjamin or so. Also spotted, this time in Dubai but also embedded below, was a silver version of the Xoom, sporting a two-tone back that will nicely complement your Casio Data Bank calculator watch. No word on whether we’ll get that on these shores, but we hope so. Variety is, dear readers, the spice of life. Continue reading WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video) WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Brain-controlled robot arm kicks off new FDA program to speed up approval of medical devices
February 10, 2011 No Comment
As we’ve seen, the FDA approval process for medical devices and other gadgets can be a long one, but it looks like things could soon be speeding up considerably. The agency has just announced a new “Innovation Pathway” program that promises to allow for priority reviews of “truly pioneering technologies,” which could potentially cut the approval process time in half. Somewhat ironically, however, that program itself will first need some further review before it’s broadly deployed, but the FDA has already kicked things off on a limited basis with its first submission: a brain-controlled robotic arm from DARPA. It’s not clear which arm that is, but it sounds a lot like the now-famous ” Luke ” arm developed by Dean Kamen’s Deka organization, which just so happens to be funded by DARPA. Head on past the break for the official press release, and a video of the FDA’s webcast announcing the program. Update: A tipster has pointed out that the robotic arm seen briefly in the video after the break is actually the Modular Prosthetic Limb developed by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (now pictured above), not Deka’s Luke arm. Continue reading Brain-controlled robot arm kicks off new FDA program to speed up approval of medical devices Brain-controlled robot arm kicks off new FDA program to speed up approval of medical devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 06:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Losing your smarpthone is bad enough. But if you lose your iPhone and don’t issue a remote wipe command (available for free with the Find My iPhone app ) then you could find yourself in a world of hurt. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute Secure Information Technology (Fraunhofer SIT) can jailbreak and decrypt passwords from the iPhone’s keychain — for say, your Gmail account, corporate VPN, home WiFi, and MS Exchange — in about six minutes using existing, known exploits. Sorry kids, your flimsy lockscreen passcode won’t help. Video proof, after the break. Continue reading Researchers steal iPhone passwords in six minutes (video) Researchers steal iPhone passwords in six minutes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 06:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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BEIJING (Reuters) – A blind Chinese activist who campaigned against forced abortions and land grabs has spoken out for the first time since his release from prison, saying that he remains effectively jailed due to constant surveillance. The video testimony from Chen Guangcheng, one of China’s most prominent “rights defenders,” underscores the enormous efforts that the ruling Communist Party makes to monitor and restrict dissidents even after their formal release from jail. Chen emerged from a village in eastern Shandong province, where he overcame blindness from early childhood…
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