Amazon Cloud Player upsets Sony Music over streaming license, Amazon shrugs
March 30, 2011 No Comment
In case you missed the news, last night Amazon gave us a little surprise by launching its free Cloud Player service, which lets you stream your music collection from the cloud to your computer or Android device. While this has no doubt put a smile on many faces (American ones only, for now), Sony Music isn’t too happy about Amazon jumping the gun over licensing for streaming rights. The record label told Reuters that it’s hoping Amazon “will reach a new license deal, but we’re keeping all of our legal options open.” Yikes. In retaliation, Amazon responded with the following statement to Ars Tehcnica : “Cloud Player is an application that lets customers manage and play their own music. It’s like any number of existing media management applications. We do not need a license to make Cloud Player available. The functionality of saving MP3s to Cloud Drive is the same as if a customer were to save their music to an external hard drive or even iTunes.” Of course, the bigger story here is that Amazon’s free Cloud Player is going head-to-head with Sony’s Music Unlimited streaming subscription service, which was pushed out last month after plenty of money talk with various record labels. Understandably, Sony isn’t willing to let Amazon cut through the red tape here without a fight, and this may also affect similar music locker services like mSpot and MP3Tunes , albeit at a much smaller scale. In fact, Sony’s already expressed its discomfort with those particular companies’ mode of operation, so you can probably expect to see this tension boiling over to some form of legal action before long. Now that a big shot like Amazon’s involved, it’s almost inevitable. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Amazon Cloud Player upsets Sony Music over streaming license, Amazon shrugs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It already has one of the cutest names in cloud computing, and now it has Google Docs, too. Following up on its integration of Dropbox , Jolicloud just added support for the online office suite, which means you can access and edit all of your important missives and memos via the Jolicloud Desktop or Joli OS . Setting it up is as simple as clicking a button to link the two accounts — after that, you can browse, edit, and do whatever you do in Google Docs, and because it’s all stored in the cloud, you can pick up on one device where you left off on another. Sound familiar ? For complete instructions, follow the source link below. Google Docs now on Jolicloud Desktop, Joli OS originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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By now you’ve probably watched iFixit’s recent iPad 2 teardown video several times while drooling profusely, but we just know you’re itching to find out what’s different with the innards of the WiFi-only, GSM, and CDMA versions. Well once again, iFixit’s got you covered — via an “exceptionally cool” user-contributed post, this time. A grand total of three iPad 2s were sacrificed in this round, revealing variations in case design, antenna count, WWAN board layout, radio chipset choices, and headphone jack assemblies. Besides clearly visible changes like the black antenna window on the 3G models and the microSIM slot on the GSM version, it’s interesting to note that Apple made the same design choices with the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4. The CDMA model features an additional antenna over its GSM sibling, and uses a Qualcomm Gobi dual-mode radio which supports both CDMA and GSM — the latter being unused — along with an integrated GPS receiver, just like the iPhone 4 for Verizon. The GSM version, meanwhile, uses an Infineon chipset for GSM and a separate Broadcom module for GPS, just like the global iPhone 4. Follow the source link below for more sordid details plus high-resolution pictures. iPad 2 sliced up again, this time in the name of radio science originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Virginia Tech will have to pay the maximum $55000 fine for violating federal law by waiting too long to notify students during the 2007 shooting rampage, the US Department of Education announced Tuesday. (March 29)
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Virginia Tech will have to pay the maximum $55000 fine for violating federal law by waiting too long to notify students during the 2007 shooting rampage, the US Department of Education announced Tuesday. (March 29)
Continue reading …First ‘Skype booth’ opens at Estonian airport as company reaches 30 million simultaneous users
March 30, 2011 No Comment
Phone booths are old hat , we know that much for sure. But Skype booths? Tallinn Airport in Estonia’s capital has become the first site to host a dedicated Skype station, which allows you to video chat with your friends or call them on their phones using Skype credit, exactly as you might do on your computer at home. There’s a 22-inch touchscreen up front and a headset nearby, only thing you’ll need are some actual friends you want to communicate with. The idea’s being put into action by three Estonian companies, all of whom are quite happy to remind us Skype originated in their fine Eastern European nation, and the plan is to roll the futuristic-looking booths out to other airports, hotels, shopping malls, hospitals, and the like. In the meantime, Skype usage keeps growing and the company recently recorded 30 million simultaneous users online, breaking its previous record by a trivial three million extra souls. First ‘Skype booth’ opens at Estonian airport as company reaches 30 million simultaneous users originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It may look like a spotty, monochromatic water melon, but we’re taking NASA’s word on this one — the image above is the very first taken from an orbiting spacecraft of our solar system’s innermost planet. Mercury has been snapped by NASA’s MESSENGER probe, which is currently preparing itself to start on its elliptical trajectory around the planet and commence collecting data about it in earnest. Hit the links below to learn more about this bold exploration project. Visualized: Mercury originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …America’s ‘panic button’ to wipe phones of democracy activists, perturb repressive governments
March 29, 2011 No Comment
So, here’s the scene. You’re out at [insert city center here], completely neglecting any and all work duties, throwing Molotov cocktails at the building of the State you’ve grown to hate. It’s a protest in every sense of the word, and you’re rallying the troops via Twitter and Facebook. It’s actually not an uncommon painting these days, and while America’s not into promoting violence, it is into keeping the personal information of democracy activists secure. According to a fresh Reuters report, the US State Department is currently developing a software-based “panic button” that would wipe a phone’s address book and beam out emergency alerts to fellow protesters if they were apprehended. The goal here is to protect the privacy of those captured while promoting their best interests, and to let others know that trouble is brewing. There’s no clear indication of the status here, but something tells us that it’d be useful yesterday for a certain region of the globe. America’s ‘panic button’ to wipe phones of democracy activists, perturb repressive governments originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Just because the flow of Crapgadgets has apparently slowed from an outpouring to a mere flood doesn’t mean we haven’t been dutifully collecting the worst of the bad over the past few months. Without further adieu, we present to you the latest edition, complete with a handful of this quarter’s most atrocious / splendiferous gadgets. Frankly, it’s a chore just deciding where to start — should we extol the portable speaker kit with an utterly unnecessary Core i5 label on the outside, or give priority to Thanko’s heated mousepad / hand-engulfing cat face? On second thought, maybe it’s the real wood stick-on that enables every smartphone owner to literally knock on wood whenever the mood strikes. Unfortunately for us, there’s also an iPhone 4 steering wheel to consider, not to mention a stick figure speaker with a questionable audio jack and a retrofied telephone with an integrated reading light. Have a peek at each below, and let us know in the poll below which is most abhorrent. And remember, honesty really is the best policy. Read – Portable speaker kit, Core i5-powered! Read – Audiobot, who could use a zippered fly Read – Thanko’s cat face / mousepad / warmer Read – Knock On Wood iPhone stick-on Read – iPhone 4 steering wheel (with speakers!) Read – USB retro telephone (with alarm clock!) View Poll Crapgadget: ‘blurring the line between comical and offensive’ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve seen some pretty ambitious hand warmers in our day, but we’re pretty sure this one takes the cake. Keyglove is an Open Source Hardware (OSHW) project that’s intended to eliminate those clunky keyboards and unmanageable mice from the computing process altogether, instead engaging a series of conductive sensors that, when touched together, mimic a keystroke. The mitt’s creator says the traditional mobile keyboard is “either too big to be portable, or too small to be easy to use,” adding that his solution would eventually become second nature just like touch typing. Keyglove is an Arduino and AVR-powered device that also incorporates an accelerometer to control mouse movements. It’s apparently fully customizable and allows for a total of 60 unique touch combinations — impressive, sure, but it took us long enough to figure out the home keys on the real thing. If you dream of a world full of one-handed typists, check out the video after the break, or follow the source link to find out how you can donate to the project. Continue reading Keyglove ditches QWERTY for one-handed computer control (video) Keyglove ditches QWERTY for one-handed computer control (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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