Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Android Market launches movie rentals, thousands of titles available to your PC, phone or tablet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/10/android-market-launches-movie-rentals-thousands-of-titles-avail/

Google just announced movie rentals in the Android Market at its I/O conference. Chris from the Android services team just hit the stage at Moscone and demonstrated renting movies on the Android Market from your phone, tablet or PC with a single click. "Pinning" mirrors the experience with apps and books, you can select it on your PC and download to the device in the background for offline viewing. Movies are live in the market right now, support on all Android 2.2 or higher devices is expected "in a couple of weeks" and tablets will get support bundled with their upgrade to Android 3.1. On the PC, it ties back to the recently expanded YouTube rental service with the same restrictions (30 days to watch, 24 hour window once you start watching) and pricing, making that per-movie VOD price a bit easier to swallow with its cross-platform support and we even spied a few HD selections for $4.99. Keep an eye on the liveblog for more information.

Gallery: Android Market movie rentals

Android Market launches movie rentals, thousands of titles available to your PC, phone or tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google gives away 5,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets to devs at I/O

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/10/samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1-launching-in-about-a-month-google-giv/

Hey, who said we'd only get software news at Google I/O? The Android maker just reminded us that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet (the thin version) will be launching in a month's time, and to whet appetites, a white-backed version of the device was shown off on stage. It's described as a limited edition, potentially because it looks to be running stock Android without the TouchWiz UI layer on top, and will be given away to the gathered crowd of 5,000 conference attendees. They'll get it with Honeycomb 3.0 on board, but an update to 3.1 will be forthcoming over the next couple of weeks as well.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition

Google gives away 5,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets to devs at I/O originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Music Beta versus the titans of the streaming music space: a chart

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/10/google-music-beta-versus-the-titans-of-the-streaming-music-space/

It feels like just yesterday we charted the streaming music landscape, but it's already changed in a big way -- Google is muscling in on the likes of Rhapsody, Pandora and particularly Amazon with its Google Music Beta. Being able to take 20,000 of your personal tunes, stream them over the web and cache them locally on your device isn't functionality to sneeze at, so it's time we updated our charts. After the break, see how the big streaming services stack up.

Continue reading Google Music Beta versus the titans of the streaming music space: a chart

Google Music Beta versus the titans of the streaming music space: a chart originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eyes on with the VT30, Panasonic's flagship 3D plasma

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/10/eyes-on-with-the-vt30-panasonics-flagship-3d-plasma/

The latest and greatest (and largest) 3D plasmas from Panasonic are finally shipping, including the flagship, THX-certified Viera VT30 sets with their single sheet of glass panels and Infinite Black Pro2 filters. We first caught a glimpse of these bad boys back at CES and we've been impatiently waiting for a chance to blast our retinas with their PDP goodness in all three dimensions. The company was nice enough to invite us over recently to have a little TV powwow that featured an uncomfortable amount of Avatar on Bluray. Keep reading after the break for all the not-so-gory details.

Gallery: Panasonic 2011 3D TVs

Continue reading Eyes on with the VT30, Panasonic's flagship 3D plasma

Eyes on with the VT30, Panasonic's flagship 3D plasma originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google's Prediction API lets Fords learn all about you, tell you where to go

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/10/googles-prediction-api-lets-fords-learn-all-about-you-tell-you/

Earlier today, Google revealed plans to make our abodes more efficient and user friendly through Android automation, and it turns out they're helping Ford to do the same for our automobiles. You see, our driving habits affect the gas mileage we get, and if our cars could predict our preferred travel patterns they could optimize powertrain performance to max out our MPGs. That's why the Blue Oval Boys plan to use Google's Prediction API to learn our driving habits and combine that data with real time traffic info to make its cars increasingly efficient. The system isn't yet ready for showrooms, as there is work to be done securing the personal data and location awareness information it collects, but hopefully it won't be long before every new Ford can help us get from here to there with minimal fuel consumption. Here's hoping William Daniels is the one doling out the directions.

Gallery: Google and Ford Prediction API