Google TV v3 demo video teases better search, mini-guide overlay and tablet control (Update: pulled)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/12/google-tv-v3-demo-video/

During Google I/O this summer the Google TV team promised more features were on the way -- the upgraded Google Play app just arrived -- and now it's posted a "sneak peek" video (embedded after the break) that shows us a few. As promised, there's second screen integration allowing users to browse live TV and streaming content on the app, then choose it so it starts playing on the TV. Much of the demo is focused on the big improvements it says it's made to search, with voice search that works across TV and the internet to quickly pull up specific content, content by genre or perform specific tasks like tuning in a particular channel or website like Google Maps. There's also a new mini-guide overlay based on its personalized TV & Movies app so you can get an idea of what else is on without jumping completely away from what you were watching. Getting cheaper hardware available from more manufacturers is just one part of the puzzle, we'll see if these improvements make Google TV a desired intermediary between broadcast television and internet streaming.

Update: Someone may have goofed and released the vid accidentally, because it's been marked as private now. We did manage to grab a couple of snapshots though, check them out after the break.

Continue reading Goo! gle TV v 3 demo video teases better search, mini-guide overlay and tablet control (Update: pulled)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

Google TV v3 demo video teases better search, mini-guide overlay and tablet control (Update: pulled) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google TV (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Researchers turn to 19th century math for wireless data center breakthrough

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/12/researchers-turn-to-19th-century-math/

Researchers from Microsoft and Cornell University want to remove the tangles of cables from data centers. It's no small feat. With thousands of machines that need every bit of bandwidth available WiFi certainly isn't an option. To solve the issue, scientists are turning to two sources: the cutting edge of 60GHz networking and the 19th century mathematical theories of Arthur Cayley. Cayley's 1889 paper, On the Theory of Groups, was used to guide their method for connecting servers in the most efficient and fault tolerant way possible. The findings will be presented in a paper later this month, but it won't be clear how effectively this research can be applied to an actual data center until someone funds a prototype. The proposed Cayley data centers would rely on cylindrical server racks that have transceivers both inside and outside the tubes of machines, allowing them to pass data both among and between racks with (hopefully) minimal interference. Since the new design would do away with traditional network switches and cables, researchers believe they may eventually cost less than current designs and will draw less power. And will do so while still streaming data at 10 gigabits per second -- far faster than WiGig, which also makes use of 60GHz spectrum. To read the paper in its entirety check out the source.

Filed under: Wireless, Networ! king , Science, Alt, Microsoft

Researchers turn to 19th century math for wireless data center breakthrough originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wired  |  On the Feasibility of Completely Wireless Datacenters (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Best Buy reveals Insignia Flex Tablet, 9.7-inches of Android 4.0

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/12/best-buy-reveals-insignia-flex-tablet/

It's been a little while since we visited anything from Best Buy's Insignia brand, but this new tablet from the retailer just caught our (or rather a tipster's) eye. Called the Insignia Flex, it's a 9.7-inch, dual-core 1GHz, Android 4.0 slate that promises up to ten hours of battery life. As you can see, the design is unique enough to stand out from the crowd, with a squared off look, and an almost Xperia T-esque curve to the bezel. That's about all we know about it at the minute, other than it being penciled in for release a month from now. We're hoping that this could land with a smile-friendly price tag, but if you want to know for sure, hit up the source link to follow along on Facebook.

[Thanks, Matt]

Filed under: Tablets

Best Buy reveals Insignia Flex Tablet, 9.7-inches of Android 4.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Insignia (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments

Read More...

Summary only...

Cream Is a Beautiful News Reader for Mac that Brings the Best Stories to the Top Automatically [Mac Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/I0uqNMNAVmw/cream-is-a-beautiful-news-reader-for-mac-that-brings-the-best-stories-to-the-top-automatically

OS X: Cream is an RSS News Reader for the Mac that's a feature-rich feed reader in its own right, but what makes it really special is that the app knows which stories are the best and most worth your time reading and floats them to the top so you can go through them first. As they say, "the cream rises."

Cream offers one-click import from Google Reader, and its method for determining which articles and feeds are "creamier" than others is impressive: the app watches as you scan, read, ignore stories, even within a particular feed. That means that Cream not only can float the feeds you like to the top, but the specific types of stories from those feeds to the top—so if you like Android posts over iOS posts in your Lifehacker feed, for example, Cream learns this and shows you what you want read first.

At any time, you can switch between a list of the "creamiest" stories, all feeds organized alphabetically, or all feeds organized by date. Like any good feed reader, you can see everything, just unread feeds, and unseen feeds that have come in since the last update. Click any story to open it in a pop-up panel on the right or open it in your default browser. If you see a long article and want to save it to Pocket, Instapaper, or Readability, Cream supports all of these things.

When testing Cream, the only downside I noted is that while importing feeds from Google Reader is easy, Cream doesn't sync with Reader, so as you read stories they're not marked as read upstream. I asked Cream's developer about this, and he noted that Cream was designed to be a supplementary tool to your main news reader so you can quickly see the newest and best stories you don't want to miss—with the assumption that you'll use another app to clear them out later, and if you use Cream exclusively, you may not notice anyway.

In any event, Cream is $5 in the Mac App Store, and worth a look if you're looking for an alternative to our favorite news reader for Mac, NetNewsWire, or my personal favorite, Reeder.

Cream ($5) | iTunes App Store

Read More...

Summary only...

This Grand Canyon Time Lapse Is So Jaw Dropping That You Don't Even Need to See It in Real Life [Video]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/mbu-d6xt3xU/this-grand-canyon-time-lapse-is-so-jaw-dropping-that-you-dont-even-need-to-see-it-in-real-life

The Grand Canyon is one of those natural wonders you have to see in real life to truly appreciate. It's jaw droppingly gorgeous and looks like another world. Well, that's what I thought until I saw this time lapse of the Grand Canyon. Using over 80,000 photos, the video is better than an ordinary visit to Grand Canyon. After you watch this, you'd have seen it all.

Called Grand Canyon : Blink of Time and made by GOTM Films, the time lapse captures pretty much everything there is to see of the Grand Canyon (they even got a solar eclipse in there) and throws in a few shots of the Colorado River as well. The photos were taken over the course of 7 weeks from April until June. The only way to get a better view of the Grand Canyon is to embed yourself inside for an entire year. Otherwise, just watch this five minute video to see how amazing it really is. [Vimeo via The Awesomer]

Read More...

Summary only...