Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View

Well, it appears that April Fools is in full effect -- at least if you ask Google. Today the company introduced its "latest" build of Google Maps, dubbed Google Maps 8-bit version, tailored specifically for the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Google, this Dragon Quest spoof version of Maps will come in the form of a special NES cartridge that can connect to the internet via dial-up. This apparently allows most of the heavy lifting to get done on Google's servers, where the maps are rendered to 8-bit form "in real-time." Better yet, it even supports voice search. Naturally, there's no word on a release date, but you can currently check out the "beta" by visiting Google Maps in your browser and selecting "Start Your Quest." That said, that company warns that "your system may not meet the minimum requirements for 8-bit computations" -- something tells us it'll still be less resource-intensive than Crysis, though. We've checked it out and found some goodies, including an alien at Area 51, so let us know what you come across during your journey in the comments.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View

Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/31/google-maps-8-bit-version-for-nes-april-fools/

MOODYS MISCROSOFT OFFICE MICROSOFT

Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share

We've all thought it, but never dared think it could be true: what if Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL actively monitor our instant messenger chats? What if mentions of 'bomb' and 'underage' are tracked and sent to law enforcement agencies? What if chat providers don't agree with the things we say, or the links we share, and filter or censor the content of our transmitted messages?

Well, it looks like our fears may actually have some basis in reality: Yahoo Messenger strips FilesTube links from instant messages. It doesn't tell either party that a URL has been removed from chat -- it just deletes it. Poof. FilesTube, in case you were wondering, is one of the largest file hosting meta search engines on the Web -- it indexes RapidShare, Megaupload, Mediafire, and many other 'cyberlocker' services.

It's fairly obvious why FilesTube links are being removed -- the Censor General at Yahoo is probably one of those perplexed primates who think all uses of BitTorrent are illegal -- but this situation poses a far more important question: is Yahoo censoring messages on the client side, or the server side. Does the messenger client itself maintain a list of 'blacklisted' words -- and if so, why are we not told that FilesTube links are banned? What other words and terms does Yahoo protect us from?

Continue reading Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share

Yahoo! Messenger now censors the links you share originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/yahoo-messenger-now-censors-links-raises-serious-privacy-issue/

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LG Optimus Elite gets photographed, decked out in Sprint and Virgin livery

Not a fan of that 5-inch, IPS display on the Optimus Vu? Perhaps, you'd be more interested in a smaller, lesser-specced member of the family. According to PocketNow, the Optimus Elite is sprinting its way toward The Now Network and Virgin Mobile, with an expected launch on the former "rather soon" and the latter as early as May. The Elite is allegedly packing some run-of-the-mill features, including a 3.5-inch, HVGA screen alongside a five-megapixel rear shooter and an 800Mhz CPU. Both flavors look identical, save for Virgin's prepaid flavor going with a darker look, which you can gander at by jumping past the break.

Continue reading LG Optimus Elite gets photographed, decked out in Sprint and Virgin livery

LG Optimus Elite gets photographed, decked out in Sprint and Virgin livery originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/lg-optimus-elite-sprint-virgin-mobile/

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Tricorder designs go open source: can detect magnetic fields, reveal Trekkies (video)

We're still working on our own plans to grab that $10 million Tricorder X-Prize from Qualcomm and our progress has just been given a shot in the arm from Dr. Peter Jansen, who's released the designs for his tricorders. Making all the specifics open source, his Mark 2 model runs on Linux, while the hardware includes an ARM Atmel microcontroller squeezed into a clam-shell with two OLED touchscreens. Schematics, board layouts, and the firmware is all available at the source below and also includes the initial proof-of-concept device. The tricorders need six AAA to run and include sensors for temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, ambient light, distance and even magnetic fields. Dr. Jansen's hope is to make scientists out of everyone -- including your kids. That is, right after they ask you what Star Trek is.

Continue reading Tricorder designs go open source: can detect magnetic fields, reveal Trekkies (video)

Tricorder designs go open source: can detect magnetic fields, reveal Trekkies (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/29/tricorder-designs-go-open-source/

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Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs

Mozilla, continuing its year-long crusade to speed up Firefox startup and shutdown times, has published a name and shame list of the Firefox's slowest add-ons.

The list is just one part of Mozilla's new efforts to highlight slow add-ons, and to help developers make their add-ons more efficient. Over the next two weeks, 'slow performance warnings' will be introduced in the add-on gallery so that users can see, before installation, which add-ons will slow down their browser. If that isn't enough to spur developers into cleaning up their add-ons, Mozilla has also begun reaching out to developers of slow add-ons with tips on how to improve add-on performance. Finally, add-on developers will soon have the ability to perform 'on-demand performance testing,' so that they can test their add-on before it's deployed publicly.

Mozilla reports that the average Firefox add-on slows down Firefox's start-up time by 10% -- which means, if you install 10 add-ons, you will double your start-up time. On fast desktop PCs that kind of slowdown might be negligible, but on older computers, laptops and smartphones, it could be the difference between a 5 and 10 second startup. Mozilla has obviously realized that while massive performance gains might've been made with Firefox 4, the addition of third-party add-ons can destroy any user-perceived improvements.

In other news, Mozilla says that a future build of Firefox will block the installation of add-ons (such as toolbars) by third-party software. Add-ons and toolbars that are bundled in this way will require explicit approval when you next open up Firefox. Hooray!

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/mozilla-publishes-name-and-shame-list-of-slow-firefox-add-ons/

FORMFACTOR FISERV FIRST SOLAR

Why Do Android Tablet Apps Suck So Much Compared to iPad Apps? [Tablets]

Right now, Android tablet apps don't belong in the same conversation as the iPad. As much hardware versatility as Android tablets offer (and there are a lot of great things!), the app situation in droidland is piss poor pitiful. Sascha Segan at PC Mag took a closer look at the app situation and compared the same app on Android and iPad next to each other. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/_ERlUGIHFD8/why-do-android-tablet-apps-suck-so-much-compared-to-ipad-apps

SRA INTERNATIONAL SPSS SPANSION

Microsoft Bing's Most-Searched Terms Include Bieber, Xbox

Microsoft has unveiled Bing's top-searched terms for 2011, a list that harbors absolutely no surprises.

Topping the list of most-searched people is Justin Bieber, which suggests a lot of tweens are using Microsoft's search engine for their teen-idol needs. No. 1 in the category of consumer electronics was Xbox/Kinect, followed by the Kindle, then PlayStation.

Top news stories searched out on Bing include the Casey Anthony trial, Osama bin Laden's death, and Hurricane Irene. Top finance queries included real estate agents, "cheap" and "coupons." Vegas ended up the most-searched world destination, and the upcoming "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" the most-hunted movie.

The complete list is available here, for anyone with a burning desire to find out, say, which reality star or morning show topped Bing's search list.

Microsoft accounted for 14.8 percent of the U.S. search engine market in October, according to research firm comScore, compared with Google at 65.6 percent. Although Yahoo racked up 15.2 percent of that market, its back-end search is powered by Bing, which for all purposes folds its share into that of Microsoft.

In essence, Microsoft holds a third of the domestic search market. From its inception, the company has tried to differentiate itself from Google in a number of ways, most notably its subdivision of search into a series of subject-specific verticals, including "Shopping" and "Travel." In contrast to the Google search page's famous blank background, Bing also refreshes daily with a new image.

In addition, Microsoft's partnership with Facebook has allowed Bing to take things a step deeper, layering search with social data such as the ability to see which friends "Liked" a particular Website.

Despite the steady stream of new features, though, Microsoft's gains against Google have come in a decidedly gradual game, and the company's online division costs it millions of dollars per quarter in losses. Nonetheless, as Microsoft moves increasingly toward the cloud and mobility, Bing plays an ever-greater role as both a collector of aggregate user data and as a branding tool.

That's more than enough reason (aside from giving Bieber-ites their all-important fix) for the company to continue pouring money into the effort.

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Source: http://feeds.ziffdavisenterprise.com/~r/RSS/MicrosoftWatch/~3/WD5_nsRejVo/microsoft_bings_most-searched_terms_include_bieber_xbox.html

NVIDIA ORACLE POWERCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR

CyanogenMod 9 nightlies now available for LG Optimus LTE, AT&T Nitro HD

Good news for anyone looking to get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich on some of LG's latest hardware -- CyanogenMod 9 nightlies are now rolling out for the (GSM) LG Optimus LTE and its AT&T-branded counterpart, the Nitro HD. With its 720p display and 1.5GHz dual-core OMAP chip, vanilla Android 4.0 should feel right at home on the Nitro HD and Optimus LTE. We're sure owners of rooted devices will be eager to try out the latest builds of the popular custom firmware as they appear.

A word of warning, though -- CM9 nightly builds are early, experimental builds which may contain bugs, missing features or other undesirables. That's the price you pay for running a bleeding edge custom ROM based on the latest version of Android. If you understand what you're getting into, then you'll find download info over at the source link.

Source: CyanogenMod; via: +Ricardo Cerquiera

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/zUc6FzmcAw8/story01.htm

DIODES INORATED DIEBOLD DELL

Report: Google is Working on a Streaming Music System

Could Google's first push into branded hardware be in the works? Photo courtesy of Google

As the battle for the living room rages with a proliferation of smart TVs and streaming media devices, Google may be entering the fray with a contender of its own. No, it’s not a third version of Google TV. A new rumor says Google is building a living room device that focuses on music.

The Wall Street Journal reports Google is working on a home entertainment system that would stream music wirelessly through users’ homes.

If true, the effort would mark the first time that Google would delve into hardware, a dramatic development for an outfit that has never produced hardware in any capacity. Unlike Android Nexus products — de facto Google reference designs, but branded as Samsung gear — Google will market the streaming music product under its own brand name, the Journal reports.

Details are scant, but it sounds incredibly similar to Google’s Android @Home initiative, first announced last May at Google’s I/O developer conference. At the time, Google engineering director Joe Britt demoed Android @Home using a Motorola Xoom tablet to control lighting on-stage, in cooperation with a partner company, Lighting Science, which provided the peripheral hardware.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/02/report-google-is-working-on-a-streaming-music-system/

CANON MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS MICROSOFT

Draw Something review: The best way to show bad art

Draw Something has been a whirlwind success over the last month, culminating in the purchase of its developer, OMGPOP, by Zynga earlier this week. Draw Something's popularity is really pretty astonishing, considering how simple the game is. If you haven't had a chance to try it out, here's the premise: you draw something, and your friend tries to guess what it is.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/E2aFw3ElhLk/story01.htm

INTUIT INTERSECTIONS INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER

Digital Storm launches Aventum range with Cryo-TEC cooling system

The last thing you want when things are getting hot in the battlefield, is for things to start heating-up under your desk too. Digital Storm's been back in the lab, looking for ways to prevent just that, and thinks it's cracked it with the new Aventum system. It's the first to be kitted out with the PC-maker's Cryo-TEC liquid cooling mechanism, and boasts a thermal exhaust, five software-regulated "zones" and no less than 13 configurable fans. The range starts with an Intel i7 2700K core, 16GB RAM, 120GB SSD (1TB HDD) and a GeForce GTX680 for $3,859. If your pockets are even deeper, then you might fancy the 2x dual Xeon E5-2630 hexacore-totin' system with 32GB DDR RAM, and three-way SLI (with the same GeForce GTX680) for a jaw dropping $7,856. With a price like that, however, it's probably your credit card that'll need cooling down. Digital Storm is taking orders as of today, and full details of the range in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Digital Storm launches Aventum range with Cryo-TEC cooling system

Digital Storm launches Aventum range with Cryo-TEC cooling system originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/26/digital-storm-launches-aventum-range/

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TERADATA TELETECH HOLDINGS

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that

We've all heard it before; you need to select a lengthy password, one that's hard to guess. Not a dictionary word. And it has to have some capital letters in it too, and some digits, and a symbol or two won't hurt either.

That's a handy set of rules to keep in mind, but How Secure is My Password helps us understand why they're important.

It's basically like a full-screen version of one of those password-strength meters websites sometimes use. But instead of showing you a bar going from "weak" to "strong", it shows you an estimation of how long your password would take to crack. That's a much more visceral way to understand why your password is strong.

For example, when I entered "rabbit", it came back with "your password is one of the 500 most common passwords. It could be cracked almost instantly". "rabbit5" would take two hours, "$rabbit5" would take 38 days, and "$rabbitZ5" would take 237 years. It's quite enlightening to see what a difference three simple characters can make.

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/05/how-secure-is-my-password-lets-you-know-just-that/

PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS

A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app

Update: Tech From 10 seems to be offline -- but we have lots of images and a hands-on review if you want to see what the new Music app is like.

In what is probably a bit of a big-G whoopsie, the folks at Tech From 10 woke up to find a new, test version of Android Market installed on their Galaxy S.

Visually, the new version is almost identical. The carousel of featured apps has been updated slightly, and apps now have a 'Content rating,' but that's it (image after the break). The interesting bit, however, is the inclusion of alpha and beta apps -- most notably, there's a new version of the Music app, which looks like a scaled-down version of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb Music app (see right).

Also available from the test Android Market is 'Google Gallery 3D New 10.2', 'Google - Camera v12' and 'Google Desk Clock 10' -- but, curiously, all of the apps refused to launch on Tech From 10's Galaxy S (Vibrant) smartphone. Are they Honeycomb apps? Or, more likely, are they destined for the next Android smartphone OS, Ice Cream?

If you want to try out the new Honeycombish Music app, Tech From 10 has made the APK available for download. You can also download the three Google apps, if you want to have a poke around.

Continue reading A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app

A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/a-sneak-peek-at-the-next-version-of-android-market-and-music-app/

SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY SCIENTIFIC GAMES SANDISK

Interlocked is a three-dimensional brain teaser

Back when I was a kid, I used to love crafting ornate puzzle boxes out of Lego. There would be just one way to open the box, by carefully shifting and rotating a bunch of pieces. Well, either that, or breaking the box in frustration.

Interlocked takes that spirit and turns it into a beautiful Flash game. It's a good thing the soundtrack is soothing, because the game itself can get pretty frustrating.

At the start of each level, you're presented with a box built out of blocks in different colors. You can click and drag the mouse to rotate the box any which way. Once you decide you want to shift a part of the box, hit SPACE to switch into "move" mode. You can then click any part of the box and drag it. Of course, you can only move a part as long as nothing is in its way. So it becomes a matter of understanding how the box is built, and what parts you need to move around so you could eventually take the box apart.

It's a tricky, difficult game, but it's a great brain teaser -- and definitely a keeper.

Interlocked is a three-dimensional brain teaser originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/interlocked-is-a-three-dimensional-brain-teaser/

QUEST SOFTWARE QUANTUM QLOGIC

LED Lenser X21: A Whole Bunch of Badass In Brilliant, Blinding Light

The LED Lenser X21 flashlight is Gadget Lab's badass gadget of the day. Stunning brightness and gold-plated circuits light up the night with more than 1,000 lumens.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/03/led-lenser-x21-a-whole-bunch-of-badass-in-brilliant-blinding-light/

TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS

The Many Monuments to Russia's Beloved MiG [Planes]

The MiG-15 dominated the skies when made its debut in the Korean war. One of the USSR's first successful swept-wing aircraft it has since become the most-built jet of all time. Our friends at Oobject have assembled the most soaring monuments to the Soviet's favorite fighter. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/79PKuMtsUI8/

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