Are you longing to chat in private — not just "off the record," but off the grid? BitTorrent today released an internal alpha of its server-less chat app, making your dreams for truly private chats a near reality. BitTorrent realized the word "privacy" means different things to different people a...
http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/11/bittorrent-experiments-with-decentralized-private-chat-service/
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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/chrome-tool-shows-what-apps-are-doing/
Ever get the nagging feeling that a Chrome web app or add-on isn't entirely above board? You now have an easy way to prove it. Google has posted a new version of a Chrome developer tool that lets you see just what your apps and extensions are up to. While it's meant for programmers, it should be helpful if you're simply concerned about privacy or security; if a weather app is inexplicably changing pages or sifting through your history, that may be your cue to uninstall it. The tool isn't all that vital now that Google is starting to cut off extensions that don't come from the Chrome Web Store, but one additional safety net won't hurt.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Chromium Blog
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/12/sigma-dp2-quattro/
The dp2 Quattro is a strange looking camera. Its extra-wide design is quite unusual, but if Sigma's CEO is to believed, the 29-megapixel shooter will deliver superior image quality thanks to its unique sensor design. The Quattro layers pixels in order to capture red, green and blue colors vertically -- there's no need for interpolation, resulting in shaper, more vibrant photos. The company claims that the dp2 can output an equivalent of 39 megapixels, based on tests that pit the chip against traditional sensors. The dp2 is expected to ship in early August for $999, including a fixed 30mm (45mm equivalent) f/2.8 lens. Pricing info for the dp1 and dp3, which come with permanently attached 19mm and 50mm lenses, respectively, is not yet available.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/12/amazon-launches-free-streaming-music-service-for-prime-members/
It looks like the rumors were true: Amazon has just launched Amazon Prime Music with a million-plus songs and unlimited streaming with no ads or restrictions. As we noted earlier, the service is free to Prime members (only in the US for now) who've paid $79 to $119 for a subscription, and Amazon clearly hopes that it'll be yet another carrot to lure new subscribers. You'll also be able to download music to listen offline, which will be available on Kindle Fire, iOS, Android and Mac/PC devices anywhere, thanks to Amazon's Cloud Player -- now known as Amazon Music. The site has already been stocked with hundreds of "expertly programmed" playlists like "Powerful Women of Pop" and we were able to successfully sign up and start listening ourselves. Note that while a million songs sounds like a lot, Spotify currently has 20 million songs and Deezer has 30 million. In addition, the site doesn't seem to carry much! new mus ic yet, with quite a few songs in the Billboard Top 100 missing. Still, given other Prime perks like free shipping, streaming and the lending library, it might be enough.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/11/uc-berkeley-eth-zurich-robots/
Big robots like Cheetah and Big Dog cost a lot to make, so it would be such a shame if they get put out of commission after slipping on, say, a patch of ice. To prevent that from happening, UC Berkeley and ETH Zurich researchers propose sending a team of small, expendable robots ahead of the big, expensive one to scout terrain conditions -- in the event that they do get used for real missions, that is. The researchers demonstrated their idea at the IEEE robotics conference in Hong Kong, where they used UC Berkeley's tiny cardboard robot called VelociRoACH to do recon work for ETH Zurich's StarlETH.
They loaded the smaller machine with the ability to send back terrain data to the bigger quadruped, which, in turn, is equipped with a camera to monitor its minion's location. Thanks to this kind of setup, the scout robot can tell the main unit if an area's too unstable to step on, and the bigger machine can avoid that exact spot. During real missions, that'll probably mean losing scouts along the way, but that's the idea anyway: sacrifice cheap robots for the sake of the multi-million creation.
Filed under: Robots
Via: IEEE
Source: US Berkeley
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