Gadgets
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NASA WISE Deputy Project Scientist Amy Mainzer on the Apple //e and Kinect-powered laptops24 May 2013, 5:00 pm
Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire.
In our latest round of gadget-related queries, astrophysicist and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory principle scientist Amy Mainzer discusses the fully-body typing experience and planetary preservation. Join us after the jump for her responses to our full barrage of questions.
Filed under: Misc
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Source: Distro Issue 92...
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Foursquare agrees to share check-in data with Gnip, promises it's anonymous24 May 2013, 4:36 pm
Foursquare is putting your check-in data to use through its new partnership with Gnip, a service that aggregates social media APIs. Gnip has similar deals with companies like Tumblr and Disqus, and it plans to provide Foursquare-sourced information to market and academic researchers. Blake Shaw, Foursquare's resident data scientist told Gnip, "I think this data can act almost like a microscope for cities." It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Foursquare's set out to share check-in ...
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Android 4.3 reportedly spotted on a Nexus 4 with new camera software24 May 2013, 4:10 pm
We've already seen evidence confirming the existence of Android 4.3, and we now have our first shots that appear to show the OS running on an actual device. According to a member of the xda-developers forum, the phone above was spotted at the Thailand Mobile Expo currently taking place, with the about section of the OS and its familiar easter egg clearly indicating that it's Android 4.3 -- and still going by the Jelly Bean moniker. Of the three shots provided, the only one revealing any signif...
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Adidas labs unveils 99-gram adizero soccer boot and smart ball to help raise your game24 May 2013, 4:01 pm
Adidas isn't shy about embracing technology. In fact, sometimes it takes that a little further than you might expect. Today, however, it's very much about genuine performance enhancement as we were invited down to a not-so-secret location in central London to look at its latest innovations in (to use the local parlance) football. Think you've got Premier League potential? Even if you don't, Adidas thinks its got a few tricks that might help you at least get a few steps nearer, so to speak. Jog...
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GRID 2 Mono Edition: buy a £125,000 racing game, get a supercar for free24 May 2013, 3:32 pm
While we like our collector's edition games, there's no question that even the better bundles are full of knick-knacks we'll use just once or twice. No one will say the same for Codemaster's GRID 2: Mono Edition, though. The UK-only bundle includes the GRID 2 racing game, a PS3 to play it on... and a very real BAC Mono supercar. Whoever buys the £125,000 ($188,700) kit will get to both pick up the 280HP single-seater as well as customize it at the BAC factory, including the racing suit f...
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Gmail redesign leaks during I/O, shows new navigation drawer and updated inbox24 May 2013, 3:04 pm
During an I/O session called "Structure in Android App Design," Google leaked a new design for Gmail ahead of any official announcement. The slide shows a revamped navigation drawer and a conspicuous lack of the action bar on the bottom. Functions currently located at the bottom of the screen (like compose and search) have moved up, streamlining the inbox's vertical structure. Meanwhile, the new navigation drawer makes it easier to access features like the priority inbox and individual labels ...
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Chrome OS updated with new panel window and launcher options, other minor improvements24 May 2013, 2:52 pm
It's fairly minor as far as operating system upgrades go, but Chrome OS users can expect to receive a new update in the stable release channel sometime in the next few days (if they haven't already). It brings with it some added panel windows for things like chat, along with a new positioning mode for the launcher, autocomplete in Drive search, a new three-finger gesture to move between tabs, and expanded support for wireless mice and touchpads, among other minor fixes and additions (including...
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JBL Spark Bluetooth speaker uncovered at the FCC with wall mounting, retro looks24 May 2013, 2:23 pm
JBL is known for its love of exotic speaker designs, but a new FCC approval suggests it's about to turn back the clock for its next look. An unannounced Spark Bluetooth speaker appearing at the US agency wouldn't look out of place at the top of a gramophone -- albeit one draped in red plastic. It could also be part of the decor, as a manual in the filing suggests there's support for mounting brackets. While the FCC filing doesn't give away any launch details for the Spark, the 13W of total pow...
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Sony brings 4K RAW to NEX-FS700 camcorder courtesy of IFR5 add-on24 May 2013, 1:58 pm
Sony's FS700 has plenty going for it regardless of its 4K potential, not least in terms of its super slow motion shooting up to 240fps at 1080p. Nevertheless, if 4K it has to be, then a new NEX-IFR5 interface unit will be out in June to make full use of the camera's big sensor and 3G-SDI output. A couple of things to bear in mind: in addition to this $2,500 interface, you'll need a recorder like the AXS-R5 (around $6,300 plus extra for cards) to store your weighty 4K rushes on, plus you'll fin...
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Distro Issue 92: Building the Xbox One24 May 2013, 1:30 pm
In case you hadn't heard, Microsoft pulled the wraps off of its next-gen gaming console earlier this week at an event on its Redmond campus. A brand new issue of our slate magazine steps inside the lab where the Xbox One was built for a behind the scenes look at how the new "all-in-one" box came to be. We also offer up our initial impressions of the unit and both its gamepad and Kinect 2.0 peripherals in an extended hands-on. Forum examines Nintendo's next-gen problem, Eyes-On gazes at Numark'...
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Retailers reportedly briefed on how the Xbox One used-games market will work24 May 2013, 1:12 pm
The stage lights had barely dimmed at the Xbox One event before the internet started tripping over itself with questions about how the second-hand market was expected to operate -- or if there was going to be one at all. Microsoft assured us there would be, but aside from whispers of a used game "activation fee" the finer details were kept under wraps. We may know a little more now, however, as MCV claims to have heard specifics from retailers who have been briefed by Redmond on the trade-in p...
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Bing news search now shows related topics and personalities24 May 2013, 12:41 pm
Microsoft's Bing may be a boy among men in the search-engine wars, but that's not stopping it from piling on new features. The latest are in its news search, where it just added a "trending topics" carousel that shows timely info in the same category as your query (see the above image), along with a sidebar that displays personalities "you might also like." Clicking on either will bring up further news results, and Bing also said it's now extended the article index several years back in time c...
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No Longer Dominating Its Market, TiVo Plots a Software Comeback23 May 2013, 8:46 pm
TiVo has become the Kleenex of the TV world -- a once dominant brand that's become a generic commodity. Yes, we still call recording a TV show "TiVoing." But as cable and satellite companies started offering their own DVRs and ......
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Twitter Finally Adds Two-Factor Authentication to Secure Your Account22 May 2013, 7:36 pm
Twitter just announced that it’s launched two-factor authentication for accounts....
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Review: Phorus Play-Fi Wireless Speaker System22 May 2013, 6:56 pm
This new system provides multi-room wireless audio streaming over Wi-Fi. It uses the new Android-based Play-Fi lossless streaming protocol....
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Zite Strives to Fill the Hole Left by Google Reader22 May 2013, 4:00 pm
For those of you bemoaning the demise of Google Reader, fear not. Zite, the personalized news app, has stepped up to fill its place. At least partially....
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What’s Inside: Golf Balls22 May 2013, 10:30 am
Cis-1,4-Polybutadiene It’s rubber with a memory. This polymer’s chain of repeating units are cis-linked—connected on the same side of a carbon-carbon double bond. Once molded into a shape (like a ball), the material returns to that shape whenever it gets ......
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Pump Up the Jams With NuForce’s Mobile Music Pump21 May 2013, 9:17 pm
If you're looking to maximize the volume of the tunes streaming from your mobile device, regular earbuds or over-ear headphones just won't cut it. What you need is a headphone amplifier like, say, NuForce's new Mobile Music Pump....
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Close Up With Xbox One: Every Photo You Could Ever Want21 May 2013, 5:30 pm
As part of WIRED's exclusive look at the development and capabilities of the Xbox One, we present a detailed look at the hardware. (Well, the exterior of it, at least. We've got another gallery for the insides.) Can you spot ......
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Exclusive First Look at Xbox One21 May 2013, 5:30 pm
Wired's exclusive look at Microsoft's next-gen console, Xbox One....
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From Green Light to Boot-Up: Behind the Scenes of Xbox One’s Development21 May 2013, 5:30 pm
All photos: Ariel Zambelich/Wired...
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tit for tat | Microsoft: ‘Google Refused to Work With Us on Our YouTube App’21 May 2013, 4:48 pm
A week after Google sent Microsoft a cease and desist letter to remove its YouTube Windows Phone app, Microsoft makes a public response....
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The most dangerous WiFi device: $22,000 sniper rifle that aims itself20 May 2013, 9:26 pm
If there’s one thing that is comforting about the existence of sniper rifles that can pick off a target from a great distance away, it’s that a human has to operate it. A…...
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Check out the finalists for the 2013 Red Bull Creation event18 May 2013, 3:03 pm
The third annual Red Bull Creation event has boiled down to six finalists, and each of them is just as great as the next....
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Google I/O 2013: The complete walkthrough17 May 2013, 5:26 pm
It was really, really hard to get into Google I/O this year, so a lot of people that wanted to attend the show just couldn’t make it out to San Francisco’s Moscone Center…...
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How to use the HTC One and Media Link HD to stream to your TV9 May 2013, 8:56 pm
HTC’s Media Link HD has been around for a little while now, but the new HTC One gives you extra power and makes the whole experience a lot better. For the most part,…...
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Don’t have an outlet? Charge your smartphone with a candle2 May 2013, 9:02 pm
Battery life hasn’t caught up with the power and sophistication of our mobile devices — something our sister site ExtremeTech regularly laments. This often leads to people purchasing a secondary charger to carry…...
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Robot hands, atom videos, and Google Glass on Geekout Episode 82 May 2013, 7:58 pm
Every week, at some random point of the week, a few of us here at Geek.com try to get together and talk about whatever we find interesting in the world that week. These…...
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Light Fair 2013: A tour of the show and a look at the future of lighting25 April 2013, 1:30 pm
In case you’re not familiar with it Light Fair is exactly what you’d guess it is — a giant tradeshow featuring all manner of lighting products. It’s like CES but smaller, and you’ve…...
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Google Earth’s Leap Motion support: Control the world with your fingertips, literally23 April 2013, 11:28 am
In what will no doubt cause bloggers to mention Minority Report (with that mention filling this blogger’s quota), Google has announced that its globe-browsing app Google Earth now has Leap Motion support. This means…...
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The 8 most awesome deals on Monoprice19 April 2013, 1:30 pm
When looking for deals, it's a good idea to swing by Monoprice first. More often than not, there is a real bargain to be found on the site....
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Fundawear aims to make long distance relationships more pleasurable18 April 2013, 9:31 pm
Long distance relationships can be quite difficult. Aside from not being able to share a special dinner, or watch terrible TV on the couch until you fall asleep on your partner, there are…...
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Sony takes us on a hexacopter drone tour of Battleship Island13 April 2013, 2:01 pm
After the latest Bond film, Skyfall, came out the internet became briefly obsessed with Hashima Island. The tiny land mass off the coast of Japan was featured prominently in the film, serving as…...
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Use an Arduino to send emails and write novels by rocking out on a guitar11 April 2013, 11:32 am
Remember when you first got Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and you realized that the plastic guitar is actually just a normal video game controller stretched out into the shape of a guitar, and the…...
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Nokia looks to ban HTC One sales with new patent suit24 May 2013, 2:30 pm
Nokia on Thursday filed a second patent infringement complaint against HTC with the International Trade Commission. The company has alleged that HTC’s products, including its flagship HTC One smartphone, infringe upon its protected technologies. In a statement to ZDNet, Nokia accused HTC of not taking action to prevent infringement and said the company has instead “tried to shift responsibility to its suppliers.” Nokia had previously filed a suit against HTC in the U.S. District Court for...
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HTC One with stock Android will reportedly be announced within two weeks24 May 2013, 1:30 pm
Recent rumors suggested that HTC will follow Samsung and release a “Google Edition” of its flagship smartphone. According to a report from Russel Holly of Geek.com, the same person who scooped the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, an HTC One running stock Android will be announced “within the next two weeks” for a summer launch. The news is perhaps the most reliable yet, however HTC has repeatedly denied plans for a Google Edition of its popular smartphone. The HTC One has been praised for its m...
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Amazon brings the Kindle Fire HD to more than 170 countries, expands Appstore to nearly 200 countries24 May 2013, 2:00 am
Amazon on Thursday announced expanded availability of its Kindle Fire HD tablet lineup. Both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models are now available for preorder in more than 170 countries worldwide. The Kindle Fire HD is equipped with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution display and a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4460 processor, while the 8.9-inch model features a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution display and a 1.5GHz dual-core OMAP4470 processor. The Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 are available for $199 and $269, r...
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ITC says Microsoft did not violate Google patent23 May 2013, 10:48 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp won a round in a complex patent war on Thursday when the International Trade Commission said the company's popular Xbox entertainment system did not violate a patent owned by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility. If the ITC had found that Microsoft infringed, it could have barred the Xbox from being imported into the United States. The fight over the Xbox is related to a larger smartphone patent war between Apple, Microsoft and the mobile phone makers wh...
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BlackBerry, Nokia, Apple could be hurt by flood of ‘good enough’ Android phones23 May 2013, 7:15 pm
While strong early sales for the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One have been making news lately, the real story for Android may be how well it does with lower-cost handsets in emerging markets. Barron’s points us to a new note from Nomura Equity Research analyst Stuart Jeffrey, who thinks that many consumers in emerging markets will start upgrading to smartphones primarily because of “the increasing affordability and improved distribution of ‘good enough’ Android phones.” But Jeffrey thinks t...
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HTC One is no flop: Shipments of HTC’s potential savior approach 5 million23 May 2013, 5:30 pm
Many industry watchers believed the delayed launch of HTC’s flagship HTC One smartphone would be its undoing. The notion wasn’t exactly a stretch with Samsung’s Galaxy S4 looming on the horizon, but comments made to The Wall Street Journal by an unnamed HTC executive suggest shipments of HTC’s new flagship phone have been impressive thus far. According to the paper’s report, an anonymous executive confirmed that HTC One sales into channels have reached about 5 million units in the mont...
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Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10 still don’t offer apps people want23 May 2013, 3:55 pm
If you purchase a Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10 smartphone, don’t expect to download the same applications your friends are using on their iPhones and Android devices. A new report from research firm Canalys has found that a majority of the top Android and iOS applications still aren’t available on Windows Phone or BlackBerry 10. When combined, the two operating systems were found to only support 34% of the top 50 free and top 50 paid applications in the App Store and Google Play in the U...
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The New Shazam Is an Advertising Bug for Your House23 May 2013, 3:26 pm
Shazam, the song-identifying app whose logo keeps making its way onto TVs for second-screen expansion, has expanded its smart-listening deeper into your life with a new automatic tagging feature that basically turns your iPhone or iPad into a personal little wiretap. (The new feature isn't available for Android yet.) To save users time, Shazam no longer requires users to tag songs, shows, or advertisements to get a fuller experience about said ditty, program, or marketing campaign. ......
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More signs of imminent doom for ‘Facebook phone’: U.K. launch canceled23 May 2013, 1:35 pm
BGR exclusively reported last week that HTC’s First, also known as the “Facebook phone,” will soon be discontinued at AT&T. Sales during the phone’s first month of availability totaled less than 15,000 units according to our source, and AT&T has given up hope that things might turn around. According to a new report, AT&T isn’t alone. Mobile News on Thursday reported that the HTC First’s launch has been canceled in the United Kingdom. Facebook, which is footing the bill fo...
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It’s official: Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is the fastest-selling Android phone ever23 May 2013, 12:50 pm
We all expected Samsung to reach its goal of selling 10 million Galaxy S4 smartphones into distribution channels within the phone’s first month of availability. An unnamed Samsung executive confirmed last week that shipments had reached 6 million units in two weeks following the phone’s launch, and now Samsung is on record confirming that global channel sales of the Galaxy S4 have reached 10 million units. “On behalf of Samsung, I would like to thank the millions of customers around the wo...
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Gimme shelter22 May 2013, 9:16 pm
Apple's latest tax dodge is yet another chink in its once-shining armor, Virginia Heffernan says...
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Lazaridis: iPhone, Android users will abandon iMessage and WhatsApp for BBM22 May 2013, 7:20 pm
BlackBerry announced earlier this month that its BlackBerry Messenger service will be coming to Android smartphones and the iPhone in the coming months. The company was initially criticized for once again being late to the game, with services like iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp having taken over the mobile messaging market. BlackBerry cofounder and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is optimistic about BBM’s future, however. The former executive told Bloomberg that he believes iPhone and ...
