Microsoft nerd reverse engineers Christmas lights, uses them as IM indicators

Apparently, even domestic Christmas lights are controlled by computers nowadays, and hopefully, as you all know, that means they're hackable. Andrej Kyselica, a Microsoft employee, took some GE-35 Christmas lights, hooked them into a .NET Micro Framework embedded controller, took another developer's work, developed a driver -- and voila! PC-controlled Christmas lights (video after the break).

In the demo, Andrej uses Microsoft Lync (Office Communications Server) to connect his instant messenger contacts (presumably Live Messenger) to the Christmas lights. The lights then show each contact's current status -- green, yellow and red -- or he can manually set them as 'out of the office', which is a rather pretty purple color. If the light is off, nobody is home.

While this is a cool hack, it pales in comparison to another computer-controlled Christmas lights experiment, which has been going since 2002: Alek's Controllable Christmas Lights. Alek lets you control over 21,000 lights, and inflate or deflate Elmo, Santa and Homer Simpson.

Continue reading Microsoft nerd reverse engineers Christmas lights, uses them as IM indicators

Microsoft nerd reverse engineers Christmas lights, uses them as IM indicators originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/15/microsoft-nerd-reverse-engineers-christmas-lights-uses-them-as-im-indicators/

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Hands-on: Tubeify mashes YouTube, Billboard, and Last.fm

While YouTube offers its own solution for music-lovers, it is not ideal if you're more of a listener. After all, YouTube leans towards watching videos, and its interface is geared toward that task. Still, YouTube does carry an awful lot of musical content, and there must be a better way to harness this wealth of content and make it into a personalized radio of sorts. Indeed, this is what Tubeify attempts to do.

The service is invite-only at this point, but I got my invite immediately upon asking for it. I then took it for an extensive spin, and produced the gallery which you can see at the end of this post.

Selection

While YouTube does carry a ton of music, it doesn't have everything. For example, a simple search for King Crimson completely stumped the system. It came up with the Last.fm record for the album, but since YouTube did not contain even a single track, it wasn't very useful.

Continue reading Hands-on: Tubeify mashes YouTube, Billboard, and Last.fm

Hands-on: Tubeify mashes YouTube, Billboard, and Last.fm originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/08/hands-on-tubeify-mashes-youtube-billboard-and-last-fm/

PALM OSI SYSTEMS ORACLE OPENWAVE SYSTEMS

Mini iPad Caught in the Wild?

There’s certainly no shortage of rumors regarding the next generation iPad. Especially not when it comes to the possibility that Apple may be working on a smaller version of their ridiculously popular tablet device. And while Apple is silent on the matter (not surprisingly), there’s a pretty big divide as to whether or not the [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/h3q8-Cfziyg/

ECLIPSYS EASTMAN KODAK CO EARTHLINK DST SYSTEMS

Google declares Chrome ready for enterprise duty

IT administrators tend to be a fickle bunch, and with good reason. When you're supporting a vital service that can determine whether or not your entire business can operate properly, you tend to be very cautious when it comes to changing out a key component. A key component like a Web browser, for example -- say, Internet Explorer 6, which is still a force to be reckoned with in the enterprise.

Google has been doing its best to get Chrome in the front door, of course. First there was Chrome Frame, which seamlessly integrates into Internet Explorer to provide a hybridized, modern Frankenbrowser. Next came Chrome's remoting feature -- which is still not ready for prime time but is positioning itself as an alternative to Terminal Services setups.

Two more recent additions -- the arrival of an MSI installer and added support for Windows policies -- have added even more enterprise cred to the browser. Chrome now offers an enticing package to the IT admin. It's secure, it's fast, and -- most importantly -- it's now easy to manage and deploy across an entire Windows network.

Over at the official Chrome Blog, Google took a moment to trumpet these features and they're no doubt hoping administrators take notice. "We're excited by the features built so far, and we're working hard on polishing the next set of policies that will make Google Chrome even more customizable and useful to users in the future," concludes the post. Successful test deployments with Proctor and Gamble, Boise State University, and Vanguard are also mentioned.

2010 has certainly been a phenomenal year for Chrome in the consumer market. Will Google see similar enterprise gains in 2011? We'll revisit this one next December.

Google declares Chrome ready for enterprise duty originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/google-declares-chrome-ready-for-enterprise-duty/

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iPad aids 25 percent increase in online computer sales

In a report released by comScore, a digital reporting firm, online computer hardware sales have increased by 25 percent this holiday season. Handheld computing devices like the iPad drove much of that growth, according the report.

This means computer hardware is the faster growing segment of holiday purchases, just ahead of consumer electronics. (Consumer electronics have grown 22 percent this season.) The reporting company called out the iPad by name, saying "handheld devices (such as Apple iPads and e-readers) and laptop computers drove much of the growth."

It's an interesting choice to group the iPad, which is a tablet computer, with dissimilar devices like the Kindle or Nook. Unfortunately, comScore didn't release any numbers about how the iPad did against those e-readers. It will be interesting to see Apple's reports about the iPad after this quarter, since we know they sold nearly 4.2 million iPads in the previous quarter.

[via AppleInsider]

iPad aids 25 percent increase in online computer sales originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/20/ipad-aids-25-increase-in-online-computer-sales/

FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS F5 NETWORKS EPICOR SOFTWARE EMULEX

Windows Live Writer, Movie Maker, and Photo Gallery get a new, no-frills plug-in site

At long last, Microsoft has given plug-ins for Windows Live apps their own home. You'll now find enhancements for Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Live Writer at plugins.live.com -- rather than at gallery.live.com, where they were nestled in amongst the sidebar and sideshow gadgets.

The new site makes it easier to search for and browser plug-ins, though it's only helpful in the Live Writer section which has nearly 200 offerings. Movie Maker and Photo Gallery muster just over a baker's dozen combined, so you likely won't need to browse by tag to find what you're looking for. Tags are now displayed as well -- but again, they really only come in handy if you're looking for Writer enhancements.

This baby's as spartan as they come, offering only text listings, download totals, last update datestamps, and a single bold, red featured label on Inkubook's Photo Uploader -- though even that disappears when you click in to its detail page. There are no screenshtos, no user comments, and no ratings to help you decide whether or not a particular plug-in is worth an install.

Windows Live Writer, Movie Maker, and Photo Gallery get a new, no-frills plug-in site originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/windows-live-writer-movie-maker-and-photo-gallery-get-a-sparta/

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Blow Things Up is a fun, easy physics Time Waster

Time-wasters can sometimes be frustrating; after all, when I just want to distract myself for a few minutes, I'm not really looking for something that's going to make me feel like I'm not good enough. That's what work is for, right?

Blow Things Up is a nice game, because you will be good at it. You get a number of bombs which you can plant anywhere on the screen, even midair. Once you put a bomb in place, it doesn't shift, roll, move, or do anything suspicious until you hit Space - at which point it does what a bomb should, which is explode.

When the bomb explodes, it shifts things around; ideally, it shifts the "bad guys" off the screen. By "bad guys" I mean those cute red cyclops you can see at the top and the middle of the screenshot. The yellow cyclops are the "good guys", and if you push them off the screen, you lose.

It took me about 3-4 minutes to reach level 22; it was virtually effortless, which is just what I needed right now. Quite a fun little game.

Blow Things Up is a fun, easy physics Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/21/blow-things-up-is-a-fun-easy-physics-time-waster/

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TUAW's Daily App: Hook Worlds

Hook Worlds is the latest from Rocketcat Games, makers of Super Quick Hook and Hook Champ. If you've played either one of those games, you'll know what to find here: running gameplay that uses a one-button hookshot to keep your character moving as quickly as possible across various levels. Hook Worlds, as I understand it, is more of an arcade version than the other two games (though you can try Hook Champ Lite to see what the gameplay is like), featuring four heroes hookshotting along four different worlds, each racing to get as far as they can. This is an app almost meant for those familiar with the "Quickhook" genre, but if you want to just give the game a shot without a lot of story or obstacles in your way, Hook Worlds will serve you pretty well anyway.

The game is just US$0.99 cents right now, and for a limited time, Rocketcat is giving away the fourth world for free. There's no Game Center, unfortunately, but Hook Worlds wraps up the quickhook gameplay in a nice tidy package, ready for anyone to try out and see what they think. It's an interesting title that's worth a try even in these busy App Store days.

TUAW's Daily App: Hook Worlds originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/21/tuaws-daily-app-hook-worlds/

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Daily Deals for December 19, 2010

Best Buy has a $50 iTunes gift card for $40 with free shipping... who doesn't like free money? Catch 'em while you can! These deals from dealnews.com are only available for a limited time.

• iTunes Store: Star Wars games for iPhone / iPod touch for $1
• Best Buy: Apple iTunes $50 Gift Card for $40 + free shipping
• Staples: $30 off Acer LCD Displays at Staples: Deals from $70 + free shipping
• TigerDirect: Netgear Entertainer Elite Network Media Player for $100 + $9 s&h
• eBay: Toshiba 500 GB Portable USB External Hard Drive for $48 + free shipping
• Pennywise: Powergenix 3-5-Hour Fast Charger w/ 4 NiZn AA Batteries for $8 + 1-cent s&h
• Dell Home: Sharp AQUOS 55" 120Hz 1080p LED LCD HDTV for $1,200 + free shipping
• mwave: Hitachi Deskstar 500 GB SATA 3 Gbps Internal HD, more for $40 + free shipping
• mwave: Refurb Iogear RJ-45 Retractable Crossover Cable for $2 + free shipping

Daily Deals for December 19, 2010 originally appeared on TUAW on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/19/daily-deals-for-december-19-2010/

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Download & Rip Myspace audio, musics from Myspace

Summary: Leemsoft music downloader is also a Myspace radio downloader and ripper, which helps you download and rip Myspace musics, news, radios to mp3, wma, ogg, m4a etc audio formats with high speed.

---

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As an excellent music Downloader software, [http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/ Total Music Downloader p]erforms as a powerful [http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/download-music-from-myspace.html Myspace Music downloader] for Myspace users which can help users legally download Myspace musics, and any audios from Myspace website for personal use and convert downloaded Myspace music files to other common audio formats like wma, mp3, wav, aac, m4a, ape, ac3, ogg and so on.

Use Leemsoft Music Downloader software, you can get any audios or musics from Myspace with a few clicks. Just open the Myspace musics or any music videos, play it online, then the Total Music Downloader will detect the URL for you automatically and extract audio track for you with lossless quality.

Now listenning Myspace on your local PC or iPod, iPhone is no longer boring thing because you can download and extract MP3 audios from online Myspace music videos or any videos with Total Music Downloader, which can convert download music and audios from Myspace very easily and with high quality.
'''
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'''Download Myspace news for listenning on local PC, iPod, iPhone or other players
'''
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'''Download MP3 musics from Myspace website'''

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[Image:http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/images/main.jpg]

'''Rip Myspace audios to MP3, WMA, WAV, M4A, AC3, Ogg formats'''

Total Music Downloader is not only a Myspace Music downloader but also a Myspace music Ripper software for all Myspace users, which can help you rip Myspace news, musics or other audio files to MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, M4A, OGG formats.

[Image:http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/images/converter-window.jpg]

'''Edit Myspace musics, audios by clipping musics, editting music ID3 tg'''
[Image:http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/images/clip-window.jpg]

[Image:http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/images/id3editor.jpg]

Learn [http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com/download-music-from-myspace.html how to download myspace musics, edit myspace musics] from http://www.youtube-mp3-download.com

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/howtowiki/~3/wOVkKOH5__0/Download_%26_Rip_Myspace_audio%2C_musics_from_Myspace

AMKOR TECHNOLOGY AMPHENOL ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL APPLE COMPUTER

Opera Mobile will support Flash and HTML5 video... soon

Speaking frankly and quite technically, Pavel Studený of the Opera Mobile team has posted some info about its Android development experience. The post itself is pretty thin on details, except for two gems: both Flash and HTML5 video are coming to Opera Mobile.

The interesting thing is, Pavel doesn't say that Flash and HTML5 support are only coming to Android; in fact, he says "if you have Flash player installed on your phone, Opera will support it." Now, it's not like Flash actually runs on many mobile phones, but it still leaves some interesting possibilities open -- will it support Flash Lite for Symbian, for example? For now, though, only Android 2.1 and newer has access to an official Flash player. HTML5 video support, on the other hand, is far less exciting -- in fact, most mobile browsers, including the upcoming Firefox for Mobile, already support it. Opera Mobile is actually playing catch-up in that regard.

Beyond the Flash and HTML5 news, Pavel talks about the trials and tribulations of writing apps for Android. Unlike Symbian, the operating system behind Nokia phones, Android is very young, very fresh, and prone to rapid changes that developers sometimes struggle to stay on top of. The trade-off, of course, is that Android is accruing exciting features, and thus apps and users, at break-neck speeds.

Opera Mobile will support Flash and HTML5 video... soon originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/06/opera-mobile-will-support-flash-and-html5-video-soon/

TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE SYNTEL SYNTAX-BRILLIAN SYNOPSYS

How to use SBSettings for iPhone [Jailbreak]

For a quick tutorial on how to use SBSettings, watch the video above. SBSettings is a free utility for Jailbroken iPhones and iPod touchs that allows you to quickly toggle things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, brightness, and airplane mode. It’ll also allow you to hide icons you don’t want or use. (This is especially [...]

How to use SBSettings for iPhone [Jailbreak] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/ZfpoKcoPjUw/

TELETECH HOLDINGS TECHNITROL TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE SYNTEL

IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to compete against humans in $1,000,000 Jeopardy! showdown

Watson, an artificial intelligence powered by IBM's latest, disgustingly-powerful POWER7 processors and the DeepQA natural language parser, will play Jeopardy against flesh-and-blood humans in February, for a $1,000,000 grand prize.

Accurate, computerized natural language processing is a killer technology, and perhaps the last cornerstone in the creation of a Skynet-like entity. Search engines such as Google have made great strides, but their emphasis has always been on finding the right results, rather than understanding your query perfectly. DeepQA's sole purpose is to create a system that understands spoken natural language perfectly; from your literal, spoken or written words, down to the exact meaning of those words. To do this, it needs to understand sarcasm, irony, and a world of other linguistic constructs and inflections. Check the IBM FAQ for tons more information about Watson and DeepQA.

Needless to say, once a computer understands the meaning of our utterances, a wealth of possibilities are opened up. We will finally see Star Trekesque computers! Computer, plot a course to the office. We will be able to dim the lights, or turn the music up, just by talking.

The human vs. computer Jeopardy showdown will air in 2011, February 14-16, with the two all-time most successful contestants being pitted against IBM Watson to win $1,000,000. Watson has already beat former Jeopardy winners in internal testing, so it could be a very close battle indeed. Also worth noting is that PBS will air a documentary about the creation of Watson on February 9, just a few days before the game show.

I for one welcome our new computer overlords...

IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to compete against humans in $1,000,000 Jeopardy! showdown originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/ibm-supercomputer-watson-to-compete-against-humans-in-jeopardy/

SI INTERNATIONAL SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY SCIENTIFIC GAMES SANDISK

Chrome Web Store needs to list geo-restrictions

Now that it has finally launched, it's been a lot of fun playing with the apps available in the Chrome Web Store. There is, however, one pretty big annoyance that I'd like to see rectified. Right now, there's no way to tell whether or not certain apps will work in your country -- like MOG.

There's nothing in the Web Store description for MOG that it's U.S. only, and there's no note in the sidebar where Google displays the version number, language, and payment details. If I see the MOG app and the install button on my screen, I'm going to assume that I can install -- and use it -- in Google Chrome. I gave it a go just to see what would happen, and I wasn't really surprised when MOG didn't work.

Still, for the less-savvy Chrome user who winds up in the Web Store after seeing the shiny icon on his or her new tab page, it's going to be quite frustrating. There will likely be a lot more comments posted like the ones you see on MOG: "A warning would be nice." "You should tell us it's only available in a few areas."

So how about it, Google? Let's start making sure that Chrome Web App developers list any geo-restrictions.

Chrome Web Store needs to list geo-restrictions originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/10/chrome-web-store-needs-to-get-local/

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Rage v1.11 update adds Game Center, gyroscope controls and TV support

A big update for id games' Rage: Mutant Bash TV (available in SD and HD versions for $0.99 and $1.99; the latter being for iPhone 4 and iPad) has appeared on iTunes overnight. As John Carmack noted in our recent interview with him, it adds a number of new features that arguably should have been there from day one -- namely Game Center achievements and scoreboards. As the game is fundamentally an on-rails shooter with a strong score attack aesthetic, social leaderboards will certainly make for a more compelling experience.

That's not all the update contains, however. The previously unofficial TV out support has been upgraded to a supported feature, allowing you to cable your iOS device to a bigger screen. A new "museum mode" removes the monsters and lets you play through the levels at your own pace, presumably so you can show your friends the graphics whilst exclaiming "it's on a phone!!" A mirror mode flips the game left-to-right so you can eek out a little more fresh gameplay out of the three rather short levels.

Most intriguing, however, is the addition of gyroscope controls if you have an iPhone 4. As with the recent Star Wars: Falcon Gunner, this adds an aiming mode based on moving your iPhone around as if it were a window onto the game space. This offers a new and potentially compelling way to control iOS shooters, not to mention a definitely compelling way to look stupid if you play it in public.

With Rage vying with Epic's Infinity Blade in the iTunes charts, it's just like the late 90s Quake-versus-Unreal competition all over again... except this time they are both getting crushed by Electronic Arts.

Rage v1.11 update adds Game Center, gyroscope controls and TV support originally appeared on TUAW on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/18/rage-v1-11-update-adds-game-center-gyroscope-controls-and-tv-su/

HYPERCOM HEWLETT PACKARD CO HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS GOOGLE

ISP Porn block proposals as UK government start smut smackdown

The UK government is apparently considering plans that could see pornographic content blocked by default to home internet connections, with households required to opt-in to XXX-rated entertainment. According to The Sunday Times [subscription required], key UK ISPs will be meeting in January 2011 to discuss the proposals, which some government ministers are describing as tackling [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/DS1a4JnUuYU/

YAHOO XILINX WESTERN DIGITAL VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES

10 last-minute gift ideas for geeks

You've gone and waited until the last minute to buy the gang at the office their annual holiday gifts. Trouble is, it's too late to order something online -- and who wants to fight with holiday crowds at the mall?

Wouldn't you rather just do some nice, relaxing shopping from the comfort of your cubicle? There's plenty of great stuff you can give digitally via email, Facebook, or even printed off on the fancy color printer at the office you've got at home.

We've tried to cover all the basics, from downloadable games, music, and video on demand -- to truly utilitarian gifts like backup services and Web hosting. Take the jump to see our list of "pay for it now, get it now" gifts -- and share your suggestions in the comments!

Continue reading 10 last-minute gift ideas for geeks

10 last-minute gift ideas for geeks originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/19/10-last-minute-gift-ideas-for-geeks/

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Opera 11 RC 2 now available for download

Opera's developers have been pushing hard to finalize version 11 of the do-it-all browser. After just releasing the first Opera 11 RC only yesterday, they've already shoved the build aside to make way for RC2.

While you won't find any new functionality in the RC, the RC builds are more stable and usable than previous snapshot releases. Extension support has been improved as well, and there are are now around 200 you can add to your Opera 11 install. Opera's mail client has also been greatly improved, with drag-and-drop ordering of accounts and folders and a navigation panel which hides itself automatically when you're using a non-mail tab in browser.

You'll also find Opera 11's tab stacking more solid now, with RC2 landing several crash fixes for the clutter-busting feature. Like comepting browsers, there have also been tweaks made to the address bar -- which now shows more detailed security information about the site you're browsing. Search suggestions are now supported as well, using Google's prediction API.

If you were waiting for hardware acceleration, it looks as though you're going to have to wait for a future version. There's no sign of HWA in Opera 11 RC2 and ECMAsciprt 5 support is still somewhat lacking. Hopefully both those shortcomings will be addressed in the near future.

Check out the screenshots after the break, or go grab Opera 11 RC2 and take it for a spin yourself!

Download Opera 11 RC2 for Windows, Mac, or Linux

Get Opera addons

Continue reading Opera 11 RC 2 now available for download

Opera 11 RC 2 now available for download originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/15/opera-11-rc-2-now-available-for-download/

ITRON IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED IOMEGA INTUIT

Samsung Galaxy S receives Gingerbread port right from the Nexus S source (video)

Hold on to your hats, people, there's a wind of awesomeness coming through. The Nexus S is no longer the only Gingerbread game in town, courtesy of supercurio over on the xda-developers forum, who has ported the hot new phone's Android 2.3 install over to its Samsung forefather, the Galaxy S. The port is described as being unmodified from the Nexus S original, although quite a few basic functions like voice, WiFi, and GPS (insert joke about Galaxy S GPS woes) aren't yet operational. All the same, we agree with supercurio that it's looking "super smooth" and look forward to seeing him and the rest of the xda crew polish this stock Android baby off in short order.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S receives Gingerbread port right from the Nexus S source (video)

Samsung Galaxy S receives Gingerbread port right from the Nexus S source (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Nz4l_LnYgNI/

VERISIGN VERIFONE HOLDINGS VEECO INSTRUMENTS UNITED ONLINE

Opera 11 final brings add-on support, tab stacks, and big-time performance gains

Less than two days ago, the first Opera 11 release candidate appeared. After a frenzy of developer activity to patch any remaining bugs -- and two more RC builds in the next 20 hours -- Opera has released version 11.

Perhaps the single biggest addition to Opera 11 is extension support. With Download Squad favorites like LastPass now starting to appear, and with the process to port extensions from Chrome and Safari a trivial task, Opera 11 users will have plenty of additional customizations to choose from. Opera also announced a holiday extension contest to get the ball rolling. The closing date is December 31st, so if you've got an idea for a slick add-on get it in fast an you could a nice little prize pack and $200 to spend at the online shop of your choice.

So what else is new in Opera 11? It's faster than ever, with updates to Presto (the layout engine), Carakan (the JavaScript engine), and Vega (its graphics library), resulting in a big performance bump over Opera 10.6x. Opera 11 also features a number of privacy and security enhancements, improved gesture support, and a better integrated email app. For control freaks, Opera 11 adds on-demand loading for plug-ins like Flash and Silverlight, and more flexible rules for accepting and rejecting cookies.

Support for the latest Web code is built-in, too -- including HTML5 features like geolocation, Websockets, and push notifications. It's also easier than ever to run Opera from your USB flash drive, thanks to the new portable install option. All in all, Opera 11 is an alternative browser which is well worth your consideration.

Download Opera 11 for Windows, Mac, or Linux

Opera 11 final brings add-on support, tab stacks, and big-time performance gains originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/opera-11-final-brings-add-on-support-tab-stacks-and-performance-gains/

SUN MICROSYSTEMS STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS SRA INTERNATIONAL SPSS

Android Central Editors' app picks for Dec. 18, 2010

For all you who have been waiting for the Nexus S to come out for you to pick one up, the wait is over and now you probably want to load it up with some great applications. The market can be a bit difficult to navigate depending how much time you have to spare, so let us give you some ideas of what to load up on that new shiny device.

Android Central Editors' app picks for Dec. 18, 2010 posted originally by Android Central

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/AuH3wcpiDcE/android-central-editors-app-picks-dec-17-2010

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Microsoft releases details of the upcoming Silverlight 5

Speaking at the Silverlight Firestarter conference yesterday, Scott Guthrie, the vice president of Microsoft's Developer Division, reassured the masses of Silverlight's future by detailing the exciting new features in Silverlight in 2011.

On the application-development front, there's a ton of exciting new features. Font rendering has been improved (which is no surprise, given Silverlight's new home on the Windows Phone 7), lower-latency networking has been added, immediate mode graphics are now possible (cue some very sexy games and visualizations), and also some improved sandboxing features have been thrown in. Scott mentions better integration with IE9's hardware acceleration, too, but no real details are given.

Top of the bill, media-wise, is GPU-accelerated video decoding (I thought Silverlight 4 already did that?). There's a cool new feature called Trickplay that lets you alter the playback speed of Silverlight videos -- with pitch correction! (I've wanted this feature for so long -- why has Silverlight beaten you to it, Flash?) Finally, there's improved "power awareness," which will stop the screensaver kicking in while a Silverlight video is playing.

Exciting stuff, but we'll have to wait until "the first half of 2011" for the first beta!

Microsoft releases details of the upcoming Silverlight 5 originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/03/microsoft-releases-details-of-the-upcoming-silverlight-5/

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USB 3.0 for Mac review and benchmarks (with a LaCie 2big USB 3.0)

It took LaCie nearly a full year to ship the 2big USB 3.0 RAID drive -- a device that was announced in the fall of 2009 -- but now that it's here, it's being accompanied by a concept that actually far outshines the unit itself: USB 3.0 on a Mac. For whatever reason, Apple has refused to offer SuperSpeed USB on any of its machines, even a fully specced-out Mac Pro costing well north of $10,000. We've seen purported emails from Steve Jobs noting that USB 3.0 just isn't mainstream enough to sweat just yet, but coming from the guy who's still bearish on Blu-ray, we get the feeling that it'll be quite some time far too long before Apple finally caves and upgrades from USB 2.0. We're obviously no fans of the holdout -- after all, even a few sub-$500 netbooks are enjoying the SuperSpeed spoils already -- so we couldn't have possibly been more excited to hear that a longstanding storage vendor was about to fill the void that Cupertino continues to ignore. We were able to pick up a LaCie USB 3.0 PCIe expansion card as well as a 4TB (2 x 2TB) 2big USB 3.0 drive and put the whole setup through its paces on our in-house Mac Pro. Care to see how it stacked up against USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800? Head on past the break for the grisly details.

Gallery: LaCie USB 3.0 PCIe expansion card and 2big HDD

Continue reading USB 3.0 for Mac review and benchmarks (with a LaCie 2big USB 3.0)

USB 3.0 for Mac review and benchmarks (with a LaCie 2big USB 3.0) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Il7t42rBRcU/

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