Saturday, December 21, 2013

Google tightens Chrome Web Store rules to prevent toolbar overload

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/20/google-tightens-chrome-web-store-extension-rules/

Internet Explorer toolbar overload

Many web veterans can share horror stories of friends and family who installed a few too many browser toolbars, some of them by accident. Google is clearly eager to avoid those disasters in Chrome -- it's instituting a new Chrome Web Store policy that will limit extensions to a single purpose. From now on, new extensions can't sneak in toolbars, secondary extensions or other features that aren't part of the core functionality. The move will create problems for honest developers who simply want to make rich add-ons, but Google is giving these code writers until June to either slim down or split up their current extensions. Although we doubt that everyone will like the stricter measures, they may be worthwhile if Chrome stays largely clutter-free.

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Via: The Verge

Source: Chromium Blog

Friday, December 20, 2013

YotaPhone review: LCD on the front, E Ink on the back, unique all over

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/20/yotaphone-dual-display-review/

We've long pondered the possibility of an e-ink phone. One that offers enough battery life to get us to the end of the day, or maybe even the End of Days, simply by being less reliant on the power-draining frivolity of an LCD or AMOLED panel. What we didn't envision, though, was that the first mass-produced attempt at such an idea would come from a Russian company we'd never heard of, or that it would take the particularly unusual form of the YotaPhone -- a device that does many things differently, not least in having a curved E Ink panel on its rear side. As you're about to see, a lot of these two-faced ideas have potential, but some of them need some work -- a lot of work, in fact -- before they're ready for prime time.

And then there's the price tag, which may come as something of a surprise in its own right given the YotaPhone's mid-range specs. It costs €499 in Europe, which equates to around $675 in the US (although the handset isn't currently available there). That means you could actually buy the Yota's two halves separately for a more affordable sum; for example, by getting a Nexus 5 and a Kindle. Nevertheless, the ability to buy the two-in-one YotaPhone is something we didn't have a year ago, and something that isn't offered by any other company, and so it's worth bearing that in mind as we proceed to lay out its many flaws.

Hardware

Design and build quality

You can probably tell from the gallery above that this is a fat cuboid of a phone. It stands out for its blockiness and wide bezels, which contribute to a maximum thickness of 9.9mm (0.39 inch) and a weight of 146 grams. In terms of volume and weight, the YotaPhone is only around 15 percent bigger than the HTC One mini, which has the same 4.3-inch screen size, but it feels slightly bigger in the hand because the thickness barely tapers at the edges.

The one exception to all this rectangular-ity is to be found at the top-rear edge, which is thinner than the rest of the phone thanks to Yota Device's most visible design flourish: a slight inward curve on the Gorilla Glass of its E Ink panel. This little detail is subtle, but people do seem to notice it -- usually around the same time that they realize they're looking at a dual-display phone. As a result, the YotaPhone's appearance is a great conversation-starter.

Now, chatting with strangers is nice and all, but it's not really a reason to buy a piece of technology. Personally, we'd be a lot more ready to forgive the YotaPhone's utilitarian appearance if its hardware lived up to that promise, but it doesn't -- at least not in the sample we were sent for review. The wraparound plastic band that holds the two panels together has the potential to be durable, especially since it doesn't need to make any allowance for a microSD or swappable battery, but there are visible gaps between this band and the E Ink display. The issue is worst at the top of the phone, perhaps as a knock-on effect from the curvature, to the point where you can actually see the SIM tray mechanism lurking behind the seam. Yota Devices tells us that it has fixed this issue, but we can only judge what we have in front of us. We'll update this section when we receive an absolutely final handset, hopefully in the next few days.

Sony Xperia Z1
Dimensions 133.6 x 67 x 9.99 mm
Weight 146g
Screen size 4.3 inches
Screen resolution 1,280 x 720 LCD, 640 x 360 e-paper
Screen type LCD on the front, E Ink on the rear
Battery 1,800mAh Li-ion (non-removable)
Internal storage 32GB
External storage Not supported
Rear camera 13MP
Front-facing cam 1MP
Video capture 1080p
NFC No
Radios

HSPA+ (900 / 1800 / 2100); GSM GPRS / EDGE (900/ 1800 / 1900); LTE (800, 1800, 2600)

Bluetooth v4.0
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (MSM8960)
CPU and GPU 1.7GHz dual-core Krait and Adreno 320
RAM 2GB
WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n
Wireless Charging No
Operating system Android 4.2.2 (with some tailored apps and settings for the rear display)

Displays

For a phone that puts such a big emphasis on reading, we'd expect both displays to live up to the highest standards, but they don't quite meet that mark. The 4.3-inch 720p LCD panel, made by Japan Display, is a lot better than some we've seen and it certainly feels like current technology, but its viewing angles and black levels are a touch worse than what you'd get from a bigger manufacturer like Samsung, HTC or Apple.

Things deteriorate slightly when you get to the E Ink panel on the rear. Although the contrast and 640 x 360 resolution are up to snuff, the panel occasionally suffers from severe ghosting from the previous image, such that it can look messy -- although this is more of an issue with wallpapers and other images, rather than clean text.

It's also worth pointing out that there's no technology here that couldn't have been found on e-readers many years ago: no color, no video-friendly refresh rates and no glow-lighting. Neither is there touch sensitivity on this panel. This omission may have been inevitable from a manufacturing point of view, but it may determine the entire fate of this product, as it leads to all kinds of software limitations, which we'll get to in a moment.

As a way of dealing with the lack of touch, the folks of Yota have added a capacitive area beneath the panel, which can respond to swipes, taps and holds -- gestures that mostly work OK, but which can sometimes by unresponsive. The same gestures work on an equivalent touch-sensitive area on the front face of the phone, beneath the LCD, but we eventually decided to turn on the stock Android on-screen navigation buttons instead, because, again, these swipe gestures weren't always easy to get right.

Camera

Don't be alarmed if you boot up the camera app only to be confronted by a black screen. It's just your hand blocking the lens -- a lens that is placed at the bottom of the phone instead of where you'd normally find it, at the top. This may have been an inevitable consequence of the E Ink panel, which is too tall to leave space for the camera module above it, but the end result is awkward. The camera lens gets smeared more often because it's so close to where all the swiping happens, and the border around the lens makes it hard to clean without a proper lens brush.

The camera's position also means you have to turn the phone upside down every time you want to take a photo, and wait for the gyroscope and OS to catch up with the new orientation before you press the shutter button. Alternatively, you have to grip the phone by the edges, using just your fingertips, which doesn't always feel quite right either.

YotaPhone camera sample

If you can get past this early awkwardness, however, you'll quickly come to like the stock Android camera app, which -- like the rest of YotaPhone's operating system -- has been left largely unaltered. It's full of speedy little shortcuts, like switching between the camera and the gallery by swiping to the left or right; and tapping and holding anywhere on the screen not only to set focus and exposure but also to bring up a radial menu for quick access to settings. The only onscreen camera buttons you need to worry about are the shutter release and a mode button to quickly switch between still photography, video and panorama. It all takes a bit of getting used to, if you're new to stock Android, but it's uncluttered and intelligent.

The YotaPhone's 13-megapixel image output is of decent quality for an off-the-shelf camera module, which is a polite way of saying there's little to report in terms of either flaws or bonuses. JPEG compression isn't too harsh, leaving around 3.8MB of data in an average still, and the multi-exposure HDR mode usually provides images with minimal blur from handshake. Video quality is equally competent, with fast and sensible automatic adjustments, and with gentle enough compression to cope with detail and motion. The only weakness there is with the audio, which occasionally pops and also has excessive noise reduction that can make voices sound tinny. Lastly, the front-facing camera is passable, but too low-res and too highly compressed to use for anything but video chat -- output images are 1,280 x 720 and tend to be less than 200KB in size.

Software

It's in the software department that the YotaPhone comes alive. This is also where it dies on its feet. The predicament is simple: There's enough pre-installed software on this phone to demonstrate that the second E Ink screen has real potential, but there's not nearly enough support for this display to make it useful right now.

Back when the YotaPhone was still in the prototype stage, we pressed its creators over the need to somehow support Kindle and other e-reading apps. We were told that this support would come, by means of a workaround that would allow the user to trigger page-turns using swipe gestures, regardless of whether Amazon's Kindle app ever officially supported the YotaPhone's E Ink panel. This idea hasn't made it through to this build, and that's a huge limitation.

As it stands, the only way to read e-books on the YotaPhone's E Ink screen is by means of Yota's pre-installed app, Bookmate, which seems to only offer a handful of out-of-copyright items in English. There's a subscription model that might help users in Russia to access a wider and more recent range of content, but it's not available in the UK. As a result, the phone is currently useless for e-book reading -- at least until someone can find a workaround to trigger those page-turns as Yota Devices originally envisaged.

In any case, let's take a step back and look at how you actually get information onto the rear screen.

The first method is by mirroring the LCD to the E Ink, by means of a two-finger swipe downwards on the LCD side. This is mirroring of the dumbest sort -- you're effectively just creating a screen grab and then displaying the JPEG on the rear panel. This might have a few uses -- if you need to keep a boarding pass or some detailed info up on the screen for a while -- but those situations are rare.

The second method of sharing displays is much smarter. Apps that have been built or customized for the YotaPhone have a button in the top-right corner of the screen that triggers some function on the rear panel -- and instead of just a static image, this function can be dynamic and interactive. Equally, the YotaPhone's customized version of Android 4.2 is able to send some notifications across automatically. The best way to illustrate this is by going through the three main pre-installed apps and functions that will be of use to an English-speaking audience.

Notifications

When you get an email, text, weather alert or any other notification, the YotaPhone gives the usual audio alert and displays a summary of the notification on the rear panel. You then swipe to remove these notifications one by one.

Depending on your chosen privacy settings, you can decide how detailed a notification summary is. It can just be the number of alerts of a certain type that are awaiting your attention, or it can include sender details and the first line of content. You can also choose to treat notifications differently depending on who the sender is, by adding certain contacts to a list of people whose notifications are treated as private and kept off the permanent rear display.

Calendar and Notes

You need to think carefully about the issue of privacy, because people do notice what's written on the back of your phone -- and because the phone is so different, they often can't help but stare. This applies to notifications, but it's perhaps even more important with the "Organizer" app, especially if you have colleague's appointments shown in your Google calendar.

If you can get around the privacy issue, either by keeping the phone in your pocket or just not caring about what people see on the back, then you might find it incredibly important to have an always-on agenda displayed on your phone. And this agenda is up-to-date, too: If someone adds an appointment to your calendar, it'll show up on the E Ink panel automatically after a short delay.

The Organizer app is okay, and it offers basic control over which calendars to follow, but it can't compete with calendar apps favored by power users. For example, there's little ability to display to-do lists or notes alongside appointments -- they can only be shown separately, by means of a Notes app, which should really have been integrated into Organizer. This is the problem with Yota's reliance on customized apps -- they'll just never be up to the level of what's available in the Google Play Store.

Maps

The YotaPhone comes with a pre-installed mapping app called MapsWithMe, which offers country-specific map downloads and seems to be relatively reliable -- at least for the small part of London geography that we tested it with. You can set pins, and home in on your position, and then hit the "Flip" button to send the map to the always-on display. From there, you can use swipe gestures to zoom in or out of the map. Unfortunately, the rate at which your position refreshes is way too slow for driving, but it's handy enough at a walking speed.

Social networks and RSS

This app can be configured to send tweets, Facebook updates and RSS feeds to your rear display. Strangely, these notifications don't auto-update; you have to swipe to unlock the screen and then swipe again or hit the volume rocker to see the latest messages. Another limitation is that you can't show different types of messages at the same time. This is no match for HTC's BlinkFeed, for example, which displays tweets alongside Facebook updates and everything else. In fact, it's hard to see how this could be called a "hub" at all.

Performance and battery life

We encountered a few bugs with our review unit. It crashed on occasion, for no obvious reason, and had to be restarted. Sometimes the lock screen was unresponsive until the display was switched off and then on again. But on the other hand, the phone's cellular functions, WiFi, GPS and compass all seem to be reliable. The phone's bands aren't suited to the US, but there's healthy support for 3G and LTE in the UK and Europe, including the key 800MHz, 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz LTE bands. On Vodafone's LTE network in London, we had no trouble getting beyond 10 Mbps down and up with a couple bars of reception, and the phone was good at holding onto a weak LTE signal.

YotaPhone

HTC One mini

Sony Xperia Z1
Quadrant 2.0 6,704 5,663 22,125
Vellamo 2.0 1,897 2,118 2,891
AnTuTu 3.2 17,935 10,048 29,377
SunSpider 1.0 (ms) 1,220 1,442 804
GFXBenchmark T-Rex 2.7 HD Offscreen (fps) 16 15 N/A
CF-Bench 9,800 6,543 31,702
Battery run-down test 7:05 6:00 12:34
SunSpider: lower scores are better

In terms of the main processor, we're looking at the Snapdragon S4 Pro of yesteryear. Yota Devices originally said that the YotaPhone would come with a current-gen SoC, so we're slightly disappointed not to get a Snapdragon 600 or even 800 in the final build. The S4 Pro's performance isn't bad by any stretch, with app load times and general navigation fluidity that is noticeably better than Snapdragion 400 phones like the HTC One mini, and not too far off Snapdragon 600 handsets like the Galaxy S 4 and HTC One. In fact, in terms of gaming performance as measured by 3D Mark, the YotaPhone was able to marginally beat the more recent HTC One Max, with 6987 points. Then again, a true flagship like the Sony Xperia Z1 trounces the whole lot, while also revealing that other big issue with the YotaPhone's older processor: poor power efficiency.

With the latest chips, we're used to seeing more than nine hours in our standard battery rundown test, rising to 12 or more hours on some flagship phones. The YotaPhone barely survived seven hours in the same test, on HSPA+ rather than LTE, and its real-world stamina was even worse. On a day with extremely light use, we'd barely make it to 11PM with any battery left. Notching up the usage slightly, by throwing in music playback over headphones, Netflix and other activities, and we struggled to make it until 8PM. It's hard to forgive this when we're reviewing a handset that is being sold on the basis of longer battery life.

Wrap-up

This is an unhappy conclusion to reach, given all the technical challenges that Yota Devices has overcome in the past couple of years. But it's unavoidable: The YotaPhone isn't yet ready to deliver on its dual-screen promise due to various issues ranging from poor build quality to short battery life and, most importantly, an inability to make use of its rear E Ink panel except in a very limited selection of pre-installed apps. Without support for our favorite e-book and magazine platforms, or for Spotify and other streaming apps, or transport updates and Google Now (which we're told is coming soon), there just isn't much reason for us to flip the phone over.

What's needed is a big push on the software front. Not just in terms of stimulating third-party app developers to take the YotaPhone seriously, but also by reducing the phone's reliance on those developers in the first place. This might happen through better mirroring of the LCD onto the E Ink side, rather than the stagnant screengrab-mirroring we have now, alongside some kind of mapping from swipe gestures to standard navigation functions (forwards, backwards, play, pause, et cetera).

This lack of support could potentially be solved within this generation of the product, through some major software updates, but we wouldn't rush out to buy the YotaPhone unless and until that happens. The other option is to wait for a complete hardware revision, in the hope that it'll bring a full touch-sensitive E Ink panel or some other solution. Either way, with all the expertise Yota Devices has gained in putting this type of display into a phone, there's a much better chance that this type of hybrid handset will one day be successful.

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Deltaprintr: a quick, tall 3D printer for under $700 (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/20/deltaprintr/

The trio behind the Deltaprintr launched their project with a noble enough goal: creating a 3D printer that was cheap enough so as to actually be affordable for college students like themselves. The result comes in $685, preassembled. Not too shabby, so far as these things go. And with the project currently about halfway through its Kickstarter campaign, the online 3D printing community has clearly taken a bit of a shine to what the team is attempting to do -- in fact, it took roughly a week for them to top $100,000 out of a $195,000 goal. They haven't been able to maintaining that clip, but with around $130,000 and 15 days left, things are looking pretty solid for the Brooklyn-based crew.

So, aside from price, what makes this thing different? For starters, there's a easy calibration process for the print heads -- which, as any one who's spent any time with a consumer device can tell you, isn't always the case. In fact, you can set the machine to auto-calibrate. The printer's also quicker than many of the units we've seen and is capable of some high resolution prints, with the default set at 100 microns (you can get even higher res, but that'll take longer, naturally). The platform is also reasonably modular. Thanks to the fact that the peripheral uses fishing line instead of belts, you can actually double the height for around $15 in additional parts, if you don't mind tinkering. And the printer works with PLA plastic, so there's no need for a heated bed (though, if you're doing a quick print, you might want to stick some tape down for traction).

Having sold out of the more inexpensive kits, the base price for an unassembled version on Kickstarter is currently $600. You can find that link below. The above, it should be noted, is still a prototype, so you can expect, you know, fewer exposed wires in the final.

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Source: Kickstarter

Article: Oxford professor develops mobile payment technology with defence-grade security

Imagine a piece of software that would allow the soldiers, aid workers and government officials thrown together after a disaster to quickly and securely communicate with each other whatever device they hold in their hands. Imagine too the same approach used to allow you to pay easily for your cof...

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-12/19/spontaneous-security

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Article: BitTorrent takes step toward secure serverless chat

In the wake of contractor Edward Snowden's NSA revelations, the drive to create more secure communications tools has taken on an extra urgency. Although BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer filesharing outfit, has been working end-runs on vulnerable server-dependent processes for years, its announcement ...

http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/19/bittorrent-takes-step-toward-secure-serverless-chat/

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Article: Veedeo for iPhone allows you to create and share custom video clips with animated text, music, and effects

A new app called Veedeo launched on the iOS App Store today that allows you to create video clips with custom text and a blur effect similar to what you see throughout iOS 7′s new design. The short video clips are designed to be shared via social networks like Twitter and Instagram. The app doesn...

http://9to5mac.com/2013/12/19/veedeo-for-iphone-allows-you-to-create-and-share-custom-video-clips-with-animated-text-music-and-effects/

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The Most Bizarre Google Autocomplete Suggestions (GOOG)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/bizarre-google-autocomplete-suggestions-2013-12

Google has some pretty strange autocomplete suggestions.

As you type into the Google search box, autocomplete tries to guess what you're searching for in order to save you time. The search queries you see in autocomplete are a reflection of the search activity of all Google users and the content of Web pages indexed by Google. You may also see suggestions based on your previous searches. 

Let's take a look at 11 bizarre autocomplete suggestions. 

1. Who knew octopuses were loud! 

google search 4

2. I prefer a more respectable brownie.

google search 3

3. Don't worry, we won't tell anyone!

google search 2

4. How does that even happen?

google search mold

5. They cry their eyes out.

instagram

6. Good lord.

google autocomplete

7. Every oyster needs her walk!

your_dad_hipster_ _Google_Search

8. #RUDE.kill

9. News to me!walrus

10. I wonder what that reason was.van

11. Hit return and find out! mermaid

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Thursday, December 19, 2013

drag2share: Atheer Labs wants to make its augmented reality glasses a reality on Indiegogo

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/19/atheer-labs-smart-glasses/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

SONY DSC

Atheer Labs isn't the only company chasing Tony Stark, but it is the very latest to offer a set of smart glasses to developers -- enabling them to build out 3D touchless gesture controlled apps. Like its competitor, Meta, Atheer wants to do away with restrictive conventional computing and replace it with augmented reality. The idea is to, eventually, combine your real and digital worlds seamlessly through the power of smart glasses and wearable computers. Unlike Meta, however, Atheer's using Android underpinnings, and will let users run regular Android applications on their faces while they wait for the 3D apps to arrive.

As have many others, Atheer's chosen Indiegogo as the means to connect w! ith code monkeys and get them building applications for its platform. And, with the launch of the funding campaign comes the revelation of both a dev kit and the company's first set of consumer specs, dubbed Atheer One. Folks willing to spend $850 for a developer kit now will get their hardware in March 2014. Early adopters wanting the One headset need only pay $350, but won't receive it until the end of next year. What you see above (dev kit on the right, Atheer One on the left) is close to what will make its way into backers' hands, but the hardware's not yet final.

Microsoft's Project Siena lets you create Windows apps with ease

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/19/microsoft-project-siena/

If you think creating an app is something only whizkid developers and those with programming skills can do, think again. Microsoft has recently unveiled Project Siena, a Metro-style app that lets anyone create their own Windows 8.1 program with regular PowerPoint and Excel knowhow. As it's a Metro app, you can even craft it directly from a touch-enabled tablet, no keyboard or mouse required. Microsoft has done this before with Windows Phone App Studio, which lets you build apps for the phone, and Siena is very much like that. Microsoft says using Siena is as easy as editing a document; simply cobble together the right design, connect it to your data and away you go. As for what you can do with it, the program is compatible with a variety of content like SharePoint lists, Excel and Azure tables, RSS feeds and an assortment of RESTful services, which should give creative minds a few ideas. Underneath the hood, the Siena-built apps are just HTML5 and JavaScript and can be deployed like other Windows 8.1 programs, so even tried-and-true developers can give it a go. If you're keen on learning how Siena works, hit the link below to watch a couple of tutorials, download it from the Windows Store and get started on creating the next big hit.

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Via: Surface Geeks

Source: Windows Store, MSDN Blog, Microsoft Project Siena

Early Valve Steam Machine easily torn down by team iFixit

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/19/early-valve-steam-machine-easily-torn-down-by-team-ifixit/

It looks like tearing apart a Steam Machine apart is infinitely easier than getting your hands on one. Luckily iFixit had one of few fortunate beta testers on its crew, so they naturally proceeded to dismember his box and controller. Unlike other gaming consoles, this one is designed to be opened and modded by its owners, since it's essentially a small form factor PC with removable components. After removing the single Philips screw (yay!), the team found a punchy Zotac NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB graphics card, 1TB Seagate hybrid SSHD drive, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, an Intel Core i5-4570 CPU clocked to 3.6GHz and a 450W power supply. As for the controller, the team easily cracked it open and were fans of its configurable nature and wealth of buttons. Overall, the only snafus iFixit noted were hard-to-remove RAM and a tricky cable routing system, and gave it a top-notch 9 out of 10 repairability score. This is the part where we normally say to avoid such exploits if you're lucky enough to get one of the 300 boxes -- but given these results, we'd say go for it.

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Source: iFixit

drag2share: Touchless music game lets you create jittery drum and bass with your face

source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/touchless-music-game/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

Touchless music game lets you create jittery drum and bass with your face

If there was one ubiquitous item at NYU's ITP Winter Show, it was the Kinect. Countless projects were built around the Microsoft-made sensor. Max Ma's Touchless, which he built with a ton of help from Tony Lim, originally featured one, but the version that made it to the floor went with an OEM equivalent instead. But the effect is the same: a set of cameras and sensors track various parts of your face, turning your muscle twitches and eyebrow raises into raw data. While Max says this data can be used for a host of different applications, such as unlocking your door with a series of blinks and winks, he focused on bringing joy to people's lives through music creation. The sensor tracks between 16 and 64 points (under ideal conditions) on your face, and uses your movements to trigger and manipulate samples. Truth is, it's hard not t! o smile while making ridiculous faces, though, I was a little disappointed to find out that the tracker did not play well with my winter beard.

The main method of interacting is by tilting your head, opening your mouth and raising your eyebrows, but Max added some depth by turning a Leap Motion sensor into a controller for a software synthesizer. So samples and beats are all above the neck, but you can wave your hands through the air to play a lovely lead melody. Really, the whole thing is pretty self-explanatory and quite fun, as you can see in the video after the break.

LG's 105-inch, 21:9 curved UHD TV is wide enough to be a tanning bed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/lg-105-inch-curved-uhd-tv-105UB9/

LG already has a big 77-inch curved Ultra HD OLED TV, but why stop there? The Korean company has just announced that it will be unveiling a 105-inch version at CES next month, but with a twist: this one uses LCD instead of the more expensive OLED, courtesy of improved TFT technology for an even backlighting across the curved surface. Furthermore, this 105UB9 model has a wider-than-usual 21:9 "CinemaScope" aspect ratio, thus providing a 5,120 x 2,160 UHD resolution (but technically not 5K). While we likely won't find out about the pricing of this monstrosity until CES, this milestone for LG Display's LCD technology could signify a wave of more affordable curved TVs next year -- much like what Sony's attempting with its S990A. Stay tuned for our eyes-on report once we hit the show floor.

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Netflix teases 4K streaming straight to UHD TVs, expect details at CES next month

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/netflix-teases-4k-streaming-ces/

Netflix has been talking up its ability to stream Ultra HD resolution video (demonstrated at the last CES with a local video feed, as seen above), and CPO Neil Hunt reiterated those "next year" promises to Stuff.tv. Specifically, he indicated the streamer has deals to offer 4K video via embedded players on UHD TVs from several manufacturers that will be announcing them at CES. What you won't hear about -- at least immediately -- is any 4K support from set-top boxes, including the two next-generation consoles, as Netflix is apparently waiting for standards (read: DRM) and HDMI 2.0 to mature first. Gigaom spotted a few test 4K videos on Netflix early in November, however they won't play in that resolution on current hardware either. Content-wise, early adopters can expect House of Cards season two and... probably not a lot else, but that should keep everyone busy for one Kevin Spacey-filled week or so.

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Source: Stuff.tv

Samsung has its own 105-inch, ultrawidescreen UHD TV to show at CES

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/19/samsung-105-inch-ultra-hd-ultrawide-lcd-ces/

Samsung couldn't possibly let its Korean rival LG jump ahead in the race to produce astoundingly large super high res televisions we can't afford, and as such has unveiled its own 105-inch, ultrawide, ultra high definition TV. It will be at CES, just like the model LG announced earlier tonight, and while it's unlikely to fit in our living rooms -- or budgets -- we're planning on taking a closer look as soon as possible. After apparently fading out late last year, it appears the ultrawidescreen 21:9 format is also suddenly hot again, at least for these demo models, matching the IMAX-style curvature of these screens. The pixel count is a stunning 5,120 x 2,160, and Samsung is already claiming this one is "the world's most curved." While LG and Samsung have gone head to head in recent years with Ultra HD, OLED and curved OLED TVs, the extreme sizes seen here remind us mostly of CES 2007's battle between a Sharp 108-inch LCD and Samsung's 102-inch plasma.

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

This Chromium experiment takes the URL out of the address bar, because why not?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/chromium-experiment-takes-the-url-out-of-the-omnibox/

This Chromium experiment takes the URL out of the address bar, because why not?

Chromium, Google's open-source Chrome project, isn't for the average Joe (or Jane); it's for open-source fanatics. So today's two Chromium experiments, announced by Product Evangelist François Beaufort, should give that subset of users something curious and something useful to play with, in that order.

First up is a Chrome OS experiment that mixes up the traditional URL-in-omnibox setup by removing the host URL altogether and placing it within the toolbar, just off to the right side (as pictured above). You can still click on that "origin chip" to display the full URL, as well as permissions data, if you'd like, but the the omnibox will remain empty for -- we're not sure -- a cleaner search experience, perhaps? Again, the reasoning behind this odd switch up is unclear, but knowing Google, it likely has to do with reducing clutter in the user interface as much as possible.

The other, much more sensible experiment involves a bit of code that allows you to make any site of your choosing (presumably a favorite) into a Chrome App. The option, once enabled, will appear under Tools in Chrome's dropdown menu. All it requires is one click and you're done. And no, you wouldn't be wrong for thinking of this as a new way to bookmark sites... it is and it's simple to do.

Just hit up the source below to get cracking on this Chrome customization and that other, weird one if you're so inclined.

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Source: Francois Beaufort (G+), (2)

A Tiny Night Vision Camera That Lets Your Smartphone See In the Dark

Source: http://gizmodo.com/a-tiny-night-vision-camera-that-lets-your-smartphone-se-1485632462

A Tiny Night Vision Camera That Lets Your Smartphone See In the Dark

If you've tried any of the countless smartphone apps that promise to turn your phone's camera into night vision goggles, you already know they're all snake oil. If you really want your device to see in the dark, you need a more sensitive sensor and a healthy blast of invisible infrared light, which the Snooperscope delivers.

Glyph is a high-res wearable display headed to Kickstarter for $499

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/avegant-glyph/

We were sold on Avegant's retinal head-mounted display even when it looked like this, but the company's latest reveal has us throwing balls of cash at the screen. The consumer version will be branded as Glyph, and it's set to debut January 22nd on Kickstarter with a pre-order price of $499. Avegant had its previous-gen prototype on hand last month at Engadget Expand, and the refreshed version (pictured above) will be on display at CES -- it looks quite nice in the render, but this is a product you'll really need to see to believe.

The device will sport integrated noise-canceling headphones with a flip-down display, enabling the unit to double as a standard set of cans when you're not in the mood to consume super-sharp video content projected from the built-in virtual retinal display. We spent a few minutes with the final headphone design this week, and audio sounded great, but you'll have to hang tight until CES for a full hands-on with the refreshed version. For now, click through for our hands-on demo with the previous prototype, narrated by Avegant CEO Ed Tang.

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Vivo Xplay 3S unveiled with a 6-inch 2K display, powerful audio amp and fingerprint reader

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/vivo-xplay-3s-2k-display/

We came away rather impressed with the Vivo Xplay from China, so today's launch of its successor, the Xplay 3S (which is a bit odd as there was never an "Xplay 2"), is something that we've been looking forward to since the teaser way back in October. As mentioned before, this new Android phone is still the first to pack a 2K (2,560 x 1,440) display, which works out to be a ridiculously high 490ppi density on the 6-inch panel.

Like other recent Vivo phones, you'll find a pair of dedicated audio chips on the Xplay 3S -- here you have ESS Technology's ES9018 DAC and Texas Instruments' OPA2604 amplifier, both of which are said to be the crème de la crème in their respective categories. This should go nicely with the built-in DTS Headphone:X feature that brings 7.1 or even 11.1 surround sound effect to your stereo headphones; plus Vivo's video streaming service already hosts about 200 Headphone:X-capable movies (along with over 400 movies in 1080p and over 1,000 movies in 720p), with more to be added each month.

Other specs include a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 3,200mAh battery plus support for both TD-LTE and FDD-LTE. This is all inside a 172g body with a 4.5mm-thick metallic bezel, though the phone is just a tad thicker towards the middle due to its curvature. The actual new bit this time round is the fingerprint reader on the back, which lets you unlock the device and sensitive documents.

Our only worry is that the f/1.8 13-megapixel camera -- which should be of decent quality -- is positioned rather close to the fingerprint scanner, meaning it's prone to smudges. On a related note, like many Chinese phones these days, the 5-megapixel front imager should keep the girls busy with its various beautification features. What's more, these settings can also be toggled by voice command now, but only if you don't mind shouting "make my face thinner" or "make my eyes bigger" in front of other people.

There are some nice goodies in the latest version of Vivo's Android ROM, which is now awkwardly dubbed Funtouch OS. The most notable one is Photo+, a video sharing app that takes advantage of augmented reality (as demonstrated in the above clip). Once your video is uploaded to the cloud, you can pick a video frame for printing or sharing digitally; and then using the same app, point the camera at the still to "animate" it with its assigned video clip.

In addition to the OS' gentle facelift, other cool new features include gesture assignment for contacts, mood-based music playlist, "air wake" gesture input to toggle apps, location-based reminders, City Show AR app (like Layar) to browse nearby offers, and a "timeline desktop" app that lists your photos and interaction with friends chronologically. One unfortunate thing here is that Vivo's new camera app looks all too similar to Nokia's offering, but it'll be interesting to see if the latter company can do anything about this in China.

Sadly, there's no info on when the Xplay 3S will be available for purchase. All we know is Chinese online store Tmall will be taking pre-orders soon, and there's no doubt that Vivo is pushing for a full launch before Chinese New Year (January 31st for 2014). The price is CN¥3,498 or about $580, and the company told us that it has big plans for the overseas market next year, so we shall keep an eye out for the Xplay 3S' next move.

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Source: Vivo (Chinese)

Article: Famo.us shows the prettiest of 3D user interfaces for web-based mobile devices

Steve Newcomb, the chief executive of Famo.us, wants touchscreen user interfaces for mobile web apps to be beautiful with enhanced 3D graphics. He is releasing what he calls "jaw-dropping demos" today of what he has in mind for his platform technology, which takes advantage of the WebGL protocol....

http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/17/famo-us-shows-the-prettiest-of-3d-user-interfaces-for-web-based-mobile-devices/

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Article: LG G Pad 8.3 review

Google's just another carrier, or at least that's what it'll tell you. Just as Verizon and AT&T customize every device they sell, with apps and services and robotic ringtones, Google's selling its own flavor of some of the most popular devices on the market. It just so happens that Google Play Ed...

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/17/5217498/lg-g-pad-8-3-review-google-play-edition

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Article: Monitors are so 2013: Apple scores patent for a ‘desk-free’ computer with smart laser projector

Imagine a Mac Mini that's completely wireless and can intelligently project a large image on a wall, instead of relying on an external monitor. It may sound like science fiction, but it actually may not be that far off. Apple today has received U.S. Patent No. 8,610,726, "Computer systems and met...

http://venturebeat.com/2013/12/17/monitors-are-so-2013-apple-scores-patent-for-a-desk-free-computer-with-smart-laser-projector/

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Article: How feds use one “seed” and 3 “hops” to spy on nearly everyone

The U.S. government has tried to reassure critics of its massive phone surveillance program by pointing to "minimization" procedures that are supposed to restrict spying to a handful of bad guys. Those reassurances now carry little credibility after a federal judge explained how the process actua...

http://gigaom.com/2013/12/17/how-feds-use-one-seed-and-3-hops-to-spy-on-nearly-everyone/

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Article: Stupeflix Launches Replay, An App To Quickly Stitch Your Photos Together Into Videos

Stupeflix, a startup that offers video tools to app developers, has launched a mobile app of its own called Replay. In many cases, when a developer-focused company launches an app, it's done as a proof-of-concept: "Hey, look what you could do with our technology!" In this case, however, co-founde...

http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/17/stupeflix-launches-replay-an-app-to-quickly-stitch-your-photos-together-into-videos/

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This Algorithm Can Make Pictures of Your Face More Memorable

Source: http://gizmodo.com/this-algorithm-can-make-pictures-of-your-face-more-memo-1485244465

This Algorithm Can Make Pictures of Your Face More Memorable

We all know somebody with one of those faces. You know, the friend who always gets mistaken for someone else. They say, "I know I remember you from somewhere!" But they don't. Turns out there's a science to this sort of thing—and it could make your face more memorable.

Relightable Dome creates interactive images where you control the light source

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/17/relightable-dome/

Relightable Dome

Stitching together a bunch of images to create a single picture is hardly a new concept. Panoramas are old hat, and Google is even using 360-degree photos to help guide your shopping decisions. But a team of students at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program, with the help of a few others, are taking a slightly different approach. The Relightable Dome, or Relightable Photobooth, uses Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology which captures an object or person under a variety of lighting conditions then combine it into a single, interactive photo. Inside the box is a concave surface studded with 81 LED flashes. A custom microcontroller inside triggers each flash in sequence and a camera mounted at the rear captures an image at each stop. And, while the enclosure is custom, the camera doesn't need to be. At the back is simply a bracket that practically any shooter can be mounted on, though in this case it was a Canon DSLR. The pictures are then stitched together on a laptop using a piece of open source software and a special algorithm to create an interactive image where you control the light source. The whole process, from triggering the first flash to final file takes less than five minutes.

The effect is quite different than a 3D model where you manipulate the object. In fact, we can only describe it as dramatic. Museums were among the first to make use of the tech for capturing detailed imagery of stone inscriptions, textiles and manuscripts. Shifting the light source exposes subtle nuances in the texture and illuminates even the deepest crevices, without creating a sterile flat image. While the uses for retailers and museums are obvious, something even more stunning happens when you stick your face inside. By simply shifting the angle of the light source you can bring emotion to an otherwise expressionless face. A flash from a high corner may cast menacing shadows and create the illusion of a frown or scowl, while one closer to face and slightly beneath the mouth may make it appear as if you're smiling.

The project was partially inspired by Yang Jiang's background in photography, and her obsession with lighting and the way shadows can play with the perception of the human face. Along with Peiqi Su, Liu Jing and Liao Wei, she worked to create this project for ITP's Winter show, where it drew a lot of attention -- almost every time we walked by someone was crouched with their head inside. The next step is potential commercialization. Right now, the only way to view the files is either with a desktop RTI viewer, or through the web view on the Relightable website. Eventually the group plans to build an embedable widget for viewing the images, but for now you'll have to go to their site and upload images of your favorite Engadget editors directly.

Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.

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LG's 21.5-inch Chromebase all-in-one puts ChromeOS on the desktop

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/17/lg-chromebase-aio/

Besides Samsung's Chromebox series ChromeOS has appeared mostly on laptops, but now LG will put its new Chromebase up against Apple's iMac and Windows-based all-in-one desktop PCs. According to the spec sheet, that 21.5-inch 1080p IPS LCD hides an Intel Celeron CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD inside, along with an assortment of ports (including HDMI-in so you can use it as a monitor) in the back and on the sides. It won't compete with high-end PCs on horsepower or internal storage, but it's ready to play a part in Google's vision of network computers that run mostly web-based apps, are hassle free and require no real maintenance. We're not expecting to get Steam loaded on here, but when we're playing IT for relatives over the holiday something like this may seem like a better option. Without a pricetag it's hard to judge properly, so we'll look for that and more information -- including other devices that might use some of the Chrome-related trademarks that leaked in October --next month at CES.

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Source: LG

Opera Max beta compresses most of the data going through your Android device

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/17/opera-max-beta/

Opera's mobile browsers are quite popular because of their ability to compress data, but it's unfortunately been limited to just that -- the browser itself. This becomes less and less useful as smartphones continue to evolve, since our data usage patterns encompass so much more than just the simple browser: many of us are constantly streaming music, uploading and downloading images and apps, and so on. To lighten the hefty load we inflict on our monthly data allotments, Opera has launched a beta of its new Android app called Opera Max, which compresses most of the information that goes through your device -- websites, images, videos and many of your usual apps (Instagram and Vine immediately come to mind, but the possibilities are wide open).

Opera makes this happen by setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that measures all of the data coming through your device. Data requests are then sent through Opera's servers, though the company tells us that it only measures how much data you use and how much you save -- in other words, it says your information is safe. There's no guarantee on how much data you'll save, but if you're a gulper like us, we suspect it'll be a significant amount. While the company hasn't specified how many beta testers are allowed, it does say that room is limited; if you're into the idea, you'll need to join its Google Plus Community, opt in to the beta and then download the app from the Play Store.

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Source: Opera