Monday, July 30, 2012

Put a Wang in Your Ear Hole [Audio]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5930255/put-a-wang-in-your-ear-hole

Put a Wang in Your Ear HoleDo you remember five years ago, when you could spot an iPod/iPhone owner from a mile away by their standard issue white Apple earbuds? There's much more headphone diversity these days, but buds are still immensely popular and Apple sells bunches of them. Fanny Wang wants to stick it to Apple hard with Wang Buds.

Unlike in-ear headphones that actually go inside your ear canal, Wang Buds rest just outside. From the point of view of sound quality and ergonomics, in-ear monitors are better headphones, but some people find them uncomfortable, and hey, some people just like buds. For $80, Fanny Wang gives you a colorful alternative to Apple's stock offering. They've got soft-gel silicon tips that are comfortable and should stay put better than most other buds. If this is your style, Wang Buds are probably worth a shot because Apple buds are garbage. [Fanny Wang]
Put a Wang in Your Ear Hole

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AT&T's Eco-rating makes in-store debut alongside Pantech Renue

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/30/atandts-eco-rating-makes-in-store-debut-alongside-pantech-renue/

AT&T's Eco-rating makes in-store debut alongside Pantech Renue

In February, at Mobile World Congress, AT&T announced a new program that would rate its various devices on their environmental-friendliness. Now that system is finally getting its in-store debut alongside the impressively green Pantech Renue. The Eco-ratings, which grade devices based on their use of recycled materials and toxic metals such as mercury and lead will give those more concerned with protecting the Earth than having the latest and greatest tech an easy way to determine the device that's right for them. Pantech for its part hopes the Renue, with its 67-percent recycled components and Energy Star-compliant charger will draw at least a few interested parties who wander in to AT&Ts shops. The rugged messaging device doesn't rock Jelly Bean, or any other smartphone OS for that matter, but it does have a slide out QWERTY keyboard for SMS addicts. Check out the video and PR after the break for more details.

Continue reading AT&T's Eco-rating makes in-store debut alongside Pantech Renue

AT&T's Eco-rating makes in-store debut alongside Pantech Renue originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook improves photo viewing with larger images, takes cues from Google+

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/30/facebook-improves-photo-viewing/

Facebook improves photo viewing with larger images, takes cues from Google

Facebook has offered photo sharing in one form another since shortly after the site's launch, but while certain features have been added over the years, such as tagging and downloads, image formatting has remained mostly unchanged. Until today. Facebook has announced that it will roll out a new tool for thumbing through galleries across the site, presenting photos in a new square format with the option to "highlight" certain shots to increase their footprint on the page. Google+ users may recognize the format, which bears some resemblance to the tool on that site. We haven't seen the feature go live on Facebook just yet, but eager social networkers can preview it today at the source link below.

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Facebook improves photo viewing with larger images, takes cues from Google+ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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US Census Bureau posts its first API, allows smartphone apps for the stat-obsessed

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/30/us-census-bureau-posts-its-first-api/

US Census Bureau posts its first API, allows smartphone apps for the statobsessed

As much as the US Census Bureau has worked to embrace the digital space, its sea of data has been largely locked away from developers not keen on doing much of the heavy lifting. As of late last week, however, there's now a public app programming interface (API) for quickly putting all of that knowledge to work. Both mobile and web apps can hook into either the complete 2010 census or the 2006-2010 American Community Survey, bringing in basic demographics as well as more complicated subjects such as commuting habits and education. The Bureau sees the API leading to not just a more informed public, but to smarter government as well -- imagine a state government that knows the income levels by county through a custom smartphone app. Budding statistics hounds can request a key for API use right away, but if you'd rather just see what public access will mean in practice, you can check out an app gallery at the second source link below.

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US Census Bureau posts its first API, allows smartphone apps for the stat-obsessed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Visualized: the iDevice influence on Apple's bottom line

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/29/visualized-the-idevice-influence-on-apples-bottom-line/

Visualized the iDevice influence over Apple's bottom line

Apple's Q3 earnings last week rang loud and clear: iDevices are paying Cupertino's bills. The customary numerics laid down the bare facts, citing an 84 percent increase in iPad sales since 2011 and a similar 28 percent jump for the iPhone. Of course, well-organized tables of sales data aren't for everyone, but who doesn't love a good chart? Stuart Carlton took it upon himself to graph the percentages of Apple's revenue that each of its product categories fill out, producing the above criss-cross of colored statistics. The graph compares Apple's Q3 sales data going back several years, and a second chart (after the break) compares the iPhone, iPad and iPod's share of the revenue directly with the rest of Apple's fare. Read on to take in the data for yourself, or hit the source link below for Carlton's own commentary.

Continue reading Visualized: the iDevice influence on Apple's bottom line

Visualized: the iDevice influence on Apple's bottom line originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see! our terms for use of feeds.

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