One small checkbox for your mouse pointer, one giant leap for your Twitter account’s security. The microblogging site that every techie knows, loves , and occasionally loathes , has added a new option to allow users to go HTTPS full-time. For the unenlightened among you, that means all your communications with Twitter can now be done over an SSL-encrypted channel, which massively boosts their resilience to external attacks. That won’t protect you if you’re careless with your password or leave your account logged in on computers other than your own, but at least you can sleep a little more restfully knowing that nobody other than yourself will be embarrassing you on the Twittersphere. Twitter adds ‘Always use HTTPS’ option, makes cyberterrorists FOF originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Sanjay Jha and various leaks already told us as much, but here’s the official word: the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom is launching on March 27th for $599. Retail availability will be truly widespread, with Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Staples and Walmart all offering up the Honeycomb tablet. Other than the omission of the 3G and 4G radios of the original Xoom, you’re basically looking at an identical hardware package. That includes a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, and a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution. Continue reading Motorola makes WiFi-only Xoom official: $599 on March 27th Motorola makes WiFi-only Xoom official: $599 on March 27th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 09:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Place your bets, folks, because this one’s gonna get ugly . On your left: a thunderous triad of AMD Radeon HD 6950 cards running in CrossFire . On your right: the terrorizing threat of triple NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 in SLI. In the middle: a Tom’s Hardware tester just trying to stay alive. The winner? Well, as usual in these benchmark articles that sort of depends on what you’re doing, but in general it’s the AMD solution and its CrossFire barrage that comes out on top in terms of performance, cost, and even efficiency. But, that’s certainly far from the whole story. You’ll want to click on through to read about every agonizing blow. NVIDIA SLI faces AMD CrossFire in a triple-GPU shootout originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google Search app for iPhone introduces new side-swipe toolbar and other UI tweaks
March 16, 2011 No Comment
What you once knew as the Google Mobile App has been rechristened the Google Search app, signifying a renewed focus for Google’s primary iOS application. Having formerly served as a multifunctional access point to all of Google’s varied web apps, the new software is now geared to serve search needs first, with its other offerings relegated to a secondary “Apps” menu. There’s also the addition of a new toolbar, accessible by swiping left to right, and improved fast-app switching support. The ever-present bug fixes and a few more user interface tweaks complete the list of changes. To get your download on, you may exploit either the source link below or the QR code above. Continue reading Google Search app for iPhone introduces new side-swipe toolbar and other UI tweaks Google Search app for iPhone introduces new side-swipe toolbar and other UI tweaks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google Search app for iPhone introduces new side-swipe toolbar and other UI tweaks
March 16, 2011 No CommentWhat you once knew as the Google Mobile App has been rechristened the Google Search app, signifying a renewed focus for Google’s primary iOS application. Having formerly served as a multifunctional access point to all of Google’s varied web apps, the new software is now geared to serve search needs first, with its other offerings relegated to a secondary “Apps” menu. There’s also the addition of a new toolbar, accessible by swiping left to right, and improved fast-app switching support. The ever-present bug fixes and a few more user interface tweaks complete the list of changes. To get your download on, you may exploit either the source link below or the QR code above. Continue reading Google Search app for iPhone introduces new side-swipe toolbar and other UI tweaks Google Search app for iPhone introduces new side-swipe toolbar and other UI tweaks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google buys Green Parrot Pictures, looking to make YouTube vids easier on the eye
March 16, 2011 No Comment
If you can’t fix it, buy someone who can. That must be Google’s rationale behind this latest acquisition, as the proprietor of YouTube has just bought Green Parrot Pictures, a company concerned solely with enhancing and improving the quality of video content. Through the use of some fancy motion prediction algorithms, the Irish startup has been able to build a name for itself over the past few years, and now it’s been snapped up by the biggest fish in the online video ocean. The removal of flicker, noise and blotches from poorly executed recordings sounds nice, but we’re most excited by Green Parrot’s video stabilization feature. With all the cameraphone video being uploaded nowadays, there’s plenty of camera shake populating YouTube’s archives, and the addition of such a potent post-production technique seems like a veritable boon to us. Check out video demos of the stabilization algorithm and Green Parrot’s other technologies below. Continue reading Google buys Green Parrot Pictures, looking to make YouTube vids easier on the eye Google buys Green Parrot Pictures, looking to make YouTube vids easier on the eye originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Besides the constant worry, the worst part of being a parent to small children is the noise — oh the noise, noise, noise, noise. Dozens of cheap disposable toys squabble over the attention of your toddler by piercing the memory of your formerly carefree existence with sound. Enter the EaTheremin, with its goal of making blanched kale a fun to eat game for even the most finicky of kids. Here’s how it works: touching the EaTheremin fork to the moist mastication factory of a human completes the electrical circuit to emit “music.” The sound varies based upon the quality of the connection (the wetter the better) and resistance of the food. For example, foodstuffs with a different outer and inner consistency will create richer and more complicated sounds as you bite into them, whereas chicken skins will create a vibrato effect as the dermis stretches against your carnivorous ways. Boy, that does sound fun! See a rather overzealous demonstration on video after the break. Continue reading EaTheremin utensils add an eerie soundtrack to dinner (video) EaTheremin utensils add an eerie soundtrack to dinner (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Hylas 1 completes testing, Europe’s first broadband satellite to start serving customers next week
March 16, 2011 No Comment
It hasn’t exactly been all that long since Avanti Communications’ Hylas 1 satellite blasted off at the end of November, but it’s now almost ready to start spreading some wireless broadband across 16 countries in Europe. Avanti just announced today that the satellite’s in-orbit testing phase has been a “complete success,” and that it will go into service sometime next week with an initial test group of customers, before beginning a broader transition on April 4th. All told, over 60 operators have signed up to offer the satellite broadband service to customers, which promises to offer connections of up to 10Mbps to folks in even the most rural areas. It’s also only just the beginning — Avanti plans to launch Hylas 2 sometime in the second quarter of 2012, which will extend its coverage to Africa and the Middle East. [Thanks, Brett] Continue reading Hylas 1 completes testing, Europe’s first broadband satellite to start serving customers next week Hylas 1 completes testing, Europe’s first broadband satellite to start serving customers next week originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Two rumors do not make a USB dongle, but things certainly seem to add up — one leaked document told us T-Mobile would get its first 21Mbps HSPA+ WWAN modem in March, and now a second one (once again courtesy of TmoNews ) pegs the T-Mobile Jet’s “value-conscious” successor for the 23rd of this month. Of course, if that first document was correct, there are faster 42Mbps modems just around the corner. Your call. T-Mobile Jet 2.0 HSPA+ modem lifts off March 23rd? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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This prototype LG Revolution may be the only Android phone actually capable of streaming Netflix at the moment, but there’s nothing keeping you from giving it a go — some enterprising hacker extracted a full system dump from the Revolution this week, tossed it to AndroidSPIN , and @al3xsmith subsequently pulled out the juicy Netflix innards. The app’s APK is now freely available on the web, though we’ll warn you that it isn’t good for much — you can browse and add items to your queue, but should you try to play a video the app will inform you that it “could not reach the Netflix service.” The question is, will Netflix simply flip a switch, or is it waiting for DRM authentication from a Qualcomm MSM8655 processor ? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Netflix for Android leaks out, doesn’t seem to stream video right now originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 01:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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