Apple tipped its hat early, but now we have the details from the man himself. “iCloud stores your content in the cloud and wirelessly pushes it to all your device. It automatically uploads it, stores it, and pushes it to all your devices.” And by “automatically,” he means it: in addition to every day content, such as purchased music, books, photos and videos, device settings, and app data that will be automatically backed up over WiFi, Documents in the Cloud will effortlessly sync Pages, Numbers, and Keynote data between all of your iOS devices. There will be no advertising (contrary to previous rumors), and calendar, mail, and contact sync is free (for up to five gigs). Also in store is the new Photo Stream cloud feature, which is essentially a gallery in Photos that exists on all of your iOS devices, Apple TV, your OS X and even your Windows PCs, and syncs through the cloud. Take a picture on your iPhone and it appears on your laptop and your iPad, and it’s stored in the cloud for thirty days. And no, your Photo Stream pics do not count towards your 5GB total. iCloud will be released concurrent with iOS 5 this fall. If that isn’t enough, Apple has announced iTunes Match, a $25 per year service that scans your iTunes library library and populates your iTunes in the Cloud account with any of your previously bought and ripped music — in handy 256Kbps AAC, DRM-free files (as long as the titles already appear in the iTunes store). Last but not least, MobileMe is no more. If you’re a current member, you can still access everything as usual through June 30, 2012 (according to Apple), but there will be no new enrollments. And if your subscription has auto-renewed recently? Well, we’ve received plenty of tips from readers who have received refunds this morning. So at the very least you have that to look forward too! Gallery: Apple reveals iCloud at WWDC Continue reading iCloud unveiled at WWDC, free for all 9 cloud apps, MobileMe RIP iCloud unveiled at WWDC, free for all 9 cloud apps, MobileMe RIP originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Apple has just announced its long-awaited cloud-based music service: iTunes in the Cloud. While not a streaming music service as some had speculated, it will let you download any music you’ve purchased to all of your devices at no additional charge — something Steve Jobs notes is a first for the music industry. It can also automatically download all new purchases made on other devices, with music able to be pushed to up to ten different devices — like the other nine apps that make up iCloud, it’s completely free, and a beta version will be available today. What’s more, Apple has also announced its new iTunes Match service that will let you put your existing collection of ripped CDs in the cloud. That’s done by scanning your library and matching songs to the versions Apple already has (a DRM-free 256kbps AAC file) rather than uploading everything — a process Apple notes takes “minutes,” not “weeks” — although songs will be uploaded in cases where there is no match. It will run you $24.99 a year (regardless of how many songs you have), and promises to give you all of the “same benefits as music purchased from iTunes” when it launches sometime “this fall.” Apple announces iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You’re in the right place! Bookmark this page and return on Monday at the times listed below to see Steve Jobs take the stage at Moscone West. WWDC 2011 promises a peek at iOS 5, OS X Lion, the iCloud music storage offering and who knows what else. The iPhone 5? Don’t count on it, but also, don’t count it out. Your town not listed? Shout your time in comments below! 07:00AM – Hawaii 10:00AM – Pacific 11:00AM – Mountain 12:00PM – Central 01:00PM – Eastern 06:00PM – London 07:00PM – Paris 09:00PM – Moscow 02:00AM – Tokyo (June 7th) Continue reading WWDC 2011 liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS 5, OS X Lion, iCloud and more! WWDC 2011 liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS 5, OS X Lion, iCloud and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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With a Guinness World Record-selling peripheral in its pocket and a pretty popular console, too, we’re not sure what to expect from Microsoft at E3 2011. That doesn’t mean the company won’t have some killer surprises, however, and that’s why we’re reporting live from the show. Will we see IPTV integration ? Kinect finger-tracking ? Support for Windows Phone 7 games ? The handheld Xbox 360 you’ve been longing for? There’s only one way to find out — follow our live coverage right here at the times below. 06:30AM – Hawaii 09:30AM – Pacific 10:30AM – Mountain 11:30AM – Central 12:30PM – Eastern 05:30PM – London 06:30PM – Paris 08:30PM – Moscow 01:30AM – Tokyo (June 7th) Continue reading Live from Microsoft’s E3 2011 keynote! Live from Microsoft’s E3 2011 keynote! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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That’s right, for the first time we’re bringing you a live video feed straight from San Francisco, the heart of Apple’s big summer event. What will Apple unveil, when will it ship, and what does it all mean? Tim and Darren will help you figure it all out. Just make sure you click “Play” to start the video. Update: And we’re done. Sorry for breaking UStream — we’ll have a saved version of the video up shortly. Continue reading Engadget, broadcasting live from WWDC! Engadget, broadcasting live from WWDC! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Xbox.com leaks E3 secrets early: Voice Search, ‘new look’ for XBL, Halo 4, and Halo: CE remake
June 6, 2011 No Comment
Quick refreshing of Microsoft’s E3 landing page has apparently revealed some of the things it will be announcing within the hour at its E3 press conference, including new features for Xbox Live like Voice Search and new look for the service. With the explosive popularity of the Kinect add-on, it looks like the system is being refashioned with support built in from the ground up as opposed to the current menu system that’s more of an afterthought. Also mentioned on the page are Dance Central 2 , Kinect Sports Season 2 and most importantly, two new Halo games. One is Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary which appears to be the remake leaked by Joystiq previously , and of course, Halo 4 . The press conference is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 a.m. Eastern and of course we’ll be covering all of the news live right here . [Thanks, q & Pradeep ] Xbox.com leaks E3 secrets early: Voice Search, ‘new look’ for XBL, Halo 4, and Halo: CE remake originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Xbox.com leaks E3 secrets early: Voice Search, ‘new look’ for XBL, Halo 4, and Halo: CE remake
June 6, 2011 No CommentQuick refreshing of Microsoft’s E3 landing page has apparently revealed some of the things it will be announcing within the hour at its E3 press conference, including new features for Xbox Live like Voice Search and new look for the service. With the explosive popularity of the Kinect add-on, it looks like the system is being refashioned with support built in from the ground up as opposed to the current menu system that’s more of an afterthought. Also mentioned on the page are Dance Central 2 , Kinect Sports Season 2 and most importantly, two new Halo games. One is Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary which appears to be the remake leaked by Joystiq previously , and of course, Halo 4 . The press conference is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 a.m. Eastern and of course we’ll be covering all of the news live right here . [Thanks, q & Pradeep ] Xbox.com leaks E3 secrets early: Voice Search, ‘new look’ for XBL, Halo 4, and Halo: CE remake originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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These humble-looking contraptions were revealed in a Google patent application for a “heliostat control system” that automatically adjusts solar thermal mirrors to their optimal energy-harvesting angle. A camera and computer are housed in the central tower that receives heat from the mirrors, and together they detect when a heliostat is misaligned and then correct it using actuators. Sound like a strange distraction for an Internet company? Google thinks not . It’s already invested $168 million in the world’s largest solar tower in the Mojave Desert as part of its effort to both reduce its own massive electricity bill and diversify its business. It’s also currently hiring three new technical staff to make this happen. Interested? Google’s search for future profit targets the Sun, not just the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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In the midst of fiddling with tablets and laptops at Computex , we haven’t been thinking much of eye-tracking technologies until we saw Utechzone’s booth. What we have here is the Spring, a TW$240,000 (US$8,380) eye-tracking rig that was launched in March 2010 and is aimed at users with limited mobility. The package consists of an LCD monitor, a computer, and an external sensor that utilizes infrared to track our pupils. Also included is an eye-friendly software suite that lets users play games, browse the web and media files, send emails, communicate with caretakers, and read PDF or TXT files. We had a go on the Spring and quickly learned how to control it with our eyes: much like the Xbox Kinect , in order to make a click we had to hover the cursor over (or fix our eyes on) a desired button until the former completes a spin. The tracking was surprisingly accurate, except we had to take off our glasses for it to work; that said, the other glasses didn’t exhibit the same issue, so the culprit could be just some coating on our lenses. Another problem we found was that it only took a quick jiggle with our eyes to cancel the spinning countdown, so full concentration is required to use the Spring. This shouldn’t be a problem outside a noisy event like Computex, anyway, and if you need more convincing, we were told that a disabled Taiwanese professor managed to hit 100,000 Chinese characters within three months using phonetic input on the the same rig — he’s planning on releasing a new book soon. Have a look at our eyes-on video after the break for a better idea on how the Spring works. Gallery: Utechzone Spring eye-tracking system hands-on Continue reading Utechzone Spring eye-tracking system hands-on (video) Utechzone Spring eye-tracking system hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 08:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You can stop worrying about the robot apocalypse now. Steve Wozniak has weighed in on the matter, and it turns out we’ve pretty much lost. The Apple co-founder / dancing star discussed the subject with an Australian business crowd, mapping out a future in which artificial intelligence equals our own, and mankind’s own input is meaningless. In other words, “We’re going to become the pets, the dogs of the house.” Woz added that his take on the whole war thing was, in part, a joke — it’s the part that wasn’t that we’re worried about. Though if our own dogs’ existences are any indication, things could be a lot worse. [Thanks, Shaun] Steve Wozniak calls us all dogs, in a nice way originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 07:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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