Qualcomm, Microsoft giving Snapdragon S4 PCs to Windows-on-ARM developers (update: NVIDIA handing out Tegra 3 PCs, too)

Microsoft spent a big chunk of MWC today telling everyone about Windows 8 and if you're the coding type, the news gets even better. If invited, you'll be expecting something nice in the mail to arrive from Redmond very shortly. It's sending out test PCs powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 that includes the beefy LTE, camera and sensor gear we played with in our hands-on. It's intended to give developers a head-start in building and refining Metro-style apps ahead of the operating system's big debut. You can check out the consumer preview of what was shown today here and if you'd like to know more, head on past the break for a sprinkling of PR.

Update: It's not just Qualcomm giving away ARM silicon for free, looks like NVIDIA will be distributing Windows 8 machines powered by its Tegra 3 SoC too. PR's after the break.

Continue reading Qualcomm, Microsoft giving Snapdragon S4 PCs to Windows-on-ARM developers (update: NVIDIA handing out Tegra 3 PCs, too)

Qualcomm, Microsoft giving Snapdragon S4 PCs to Windows-on-ARM developers (update: NVIDIA handing out Tegra 3 PCs, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/qualcomm-windows-8/

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Pastebin updated to V3, releases Windows app

Pastebin is a very popular website aimed at coders and other nerdy types, which allows them (or should I say, us) to paste and share snippets of code with lovely syntax highlighting.

It has recently undergone a major overhaul which includes the release of a brand new Windows client. The new client lets you create new "pastes" and manage your existing ones. It joins a host of other tools from Pastebin, such as the Google and Chrome extensions, OS X widget and the mobile apps.

If you're currently using Pastebin, the new client is a great addition. And if you haven't tried it before, next time you have a piece of code you want to share or get some feedback on, you could do worse than try out Pastebin.

[Thanks, Jeroen!]

Pastebin updated to V3, releases Windows app originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/04/pastebin-updated-to-v3-releases-windows-app/

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Apple rumored to be working on a new audio format to enhance streaming and music quality

Apple is reportedly working on a new audio format that's supposedly all about enabling a better streaming and downloading for users of Apple's iTunes Match service. The new format should hopefully enable Apple to increase the quality of audio being delivered without increasing its file size. The same format could also be an adaptive streaming format so a lower quality audio stream could also be delivered in times of low bandwidth availability.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/X0Fu9Wc6w_A/story01.htm

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Clementine's No Peach, but It Is a Pretty Sweet Music Player

The Clementine Music Player is an up and coming application that could replace your default music app. It is a close cousin to Amarok with just enough of its own personality to make it stand apart from the crowd. On any computing platform today, users have ample choices of music players.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/74523.html

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Police Locked Down a School Because Autocorrect Is So Terrible [Autocorrect]

Autocorrect has been behind more than its share of misunderstandings, but today it stirred up a whole heap of trouble, even by its sketchy standards. Some poor college student's phone corrected "gunna" to "gunman" and got a school put into lockdown by the police. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ntGr30BGHfY/police-locked-down-a-school-because-autocorrect-is-so-terrible

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Line Grapefruit is a tricky Flash "path" game

Okay, see that snaking line coming in from the right on the screenshot? That's you. And see those large round circles? Those are supposedly grapefruits, only they won't sit still - they keep moving up and down and cutting across your path. And if you touch one, you die!

That's what you have to deal with in Line Grapefruit. But that's not all - you're also on a time limit. In fact, you have a very limited amount of time to make it through the "path" (for lack of a better word). You need to snake your way through the winding trail without touching anything. The good news is that a grapefruit only kills you if it touches the end of the line - once you've made it past the grapefruit, nothing happens if it crosses the path you've made.

This is not an easy game, but it's quite unique - I can't recall seeing another game quite like it.

Line Grapefruit is a tricky Flash "path" game originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/line-grapefruit-is-a-tricky-flash-path-game/

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HTC Touts the Power of One

HTC revealed a new line of smartphones at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress Sunday, showcasing handsets designed to emphasize audio and sleek, efficient displays. The line will include three handsets under the collective HTC One series: the One X, One V and One S. All will run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich and will come with 25 GB of cloud storage space courtesy of Dropbox.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/74513.html

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Redirect the Sun's Rays With This Solar-Powered Self-Controlled Mirror [Solar]

Instead of an electricity generating solar panel, a motorized sun-bouncing mirror known as a heliostat is another approach to solar-powered lighting. And for just $400 the SunFlower will redirect up to 50,000 lumens of sunlight directly into your home. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bs3IHlgVfIc/redirect-the-suns-rays-with-this-solar+powered-self+controlled-mirror

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Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features

Speedtest.net is pretty much the go-to site for quickly figuring out how fast (or slow) your connection really is and comparing the numbers your ISP boasts with what it actually delivers. And now it's got a new coat of paint and a couple of neat features. In brief:

• New UI: The map widget is much improved; it actually looks like a map now, and it's easy to see where you are.
• Smart server selection: If there are several test servers nearby, Speedtest will now ping each to see which has the least latency and use that for the test. You can still specify servers manually, too.
• User accounts: You can sign up for a free account and aggregate results from several computers/connections.
• Speed Wave: This new feature lets you add your test results to the results of many other users, and get a nice composite view.

All in all, you get some nice, new functionality and a snazzier interface to boot. Nice!

Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/07/speedtest-net-overhauled-with-new-look-new-features/

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Toyota pulls Cydia theme and ads to appease Apple

In news that will no doubt shake the very bedrock of your belief system, Apple has asked Toyota to remove its Scion theme and its advertising from ModMyi, a Cydia repository. The Scion theme has been available for weeks, but after it received a ton of press in the last couple of days, Apple finally lashed out.

It's not like we should be surprised, considering Apple has claimed in the past that jailbreaking is illegal -- but at the same time, did the Cupertino cronies hear about the ruling that made circumventing DRM, and thus jailbreaking, legal? Anyway, whether Toyota was supporting illegal, legal, or deliciously gray and ambiguous, activity, it doesn't matter: Apple asked Toyota to remove the theme, and Toyota graciously bent over and capitulated.

This story raises a much more interesting topic, though: this is the first time a multinational company has publicly acknowledged and embraced the jailbreak community. Considering jailbreaking is technically legal, and Cydia's creator, Jay Freeman, estimates that up to 9% of OS devices are jailbroken, it simply makes good, commercial sense to target jailbreakers with ads. Toyota was simply trying to make some money, for shame!

As long as Apple continues to throw around its increasingly-expansive mass, the legality of jailbreaking will continue to be inconsequential. It will be interesting to see if another big company dares embrace the jailbreak community after this, too.

Toyota pulls Cydia theme and ads to appease Apple originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/toyota-pulls-ios-jailbreak-theme-and-ads-to-appease-apple/

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Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads

Google Chrome already sports a number of security-minded features, from Incognito mode to a software sandbox which makes exploiting the browser a Herculean task. Now, Google has announced additional protection for Chromium and Chrome users.

Built upon the Safe Browsing API, the new feature introduces protection against malicious downloads. If a download link appears in the Safe Browsing blacklist, Chrome and Chromium will warn users against downloading -- a save button is still presented, of course, in case you're convinced a file is perfectly safe to download.

We'd like to see something a bit more eye-catching than the red warning icon -- like perhaps painting the entire bar red. Many of the people a feature like this aims to protect probably won't notice the icon or change in wording as they'll be focused on clicking the save button.

Google is initially making download protection available to Chrome dev channel users, and you'll likely see it in Canary and Chromium snapshot builds as well. After thorough testing, beta and stable users will be next in line.

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/google-chrome-and-chromium-add-protection-against-malicious-down/

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Hands-on with FXI's Cotton Candy, now available for pre-order (video)

By now, we hope you're mighty familiar with FXI's Cotton Candy -- the much anticipated pocketable computer that just became available for pre-order. We've previously shown photos of the device running both Ice Cream Sandwich and Ubuntu, but now we're able to bring you a video demonstration that may help you better understand what this tiny beast is all about. At the core of the Cotton Candy system is the Exynos 4210 SoC, which capably pushes 1080p video without batting an eye. As such, FXI hopes the miniature computer will gain traction with consumers who want an unobtrusive (and silent) media center or gaming setup in their home. To this end, the company will include the Polkast app for easy access to content and will also bundle games with the system -- though it's not yet able to share specific titles. Those with a sweet tooth may taste the delights of Cotton Candy in March, which will sell for $199.

Continue reading Hands-on with FXI's Cotton Candy, now available for pre-order (video)

Hands-on with FXI's Cotton Candy, now available for pre-order (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/HW96HnyZ54c/

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Google Once Considered Launching Its Own Currency, Google Bucks [Google]

Google is fond of reworking existing concepts in modern ways; you only need to look at HUD glasses and autonomous cars to know that. But at one point in time, it was also mulling the idea of revolutionizing the economy by creating its own currency. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-71vyWXcRDI/google-once-considered-launching-its-own-currency-google-bucks

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Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices

Moments ago, Mozilla stripped the release candidate moniker from Firefox 4 Mobile and pronounced it fit for public release. If you have a Nokia N900 phone, or a fairly-modern Android 2.0-or-later device, go ahead and install it from the Market, by using scanning the QR code after the break, or by visiting Firefox.com/m.

Accompanying the release is the launch of Spark, a cute social game that's designed to fuel the adoption of Firefox 4 Mobile, much like last week's use of Glow and Twitter Party during Firefox 4 PC's release.

While the browser still feels a little rough around the edges, it's definitely worth trying out if you're still using Android's stock browser. Its JavaScript performance is significantly better than any other Android browser, and if you use Firefox on your PC, its built-in Sync functionality is awesome.

Over the next few days we'll have plenty of tips and tricks for Firefox 4 Mobile, and a list of the best add-ons available for the new browser.

Continue reading Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices

Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/firefox-4-mobile-officially-released-for-android-and-maemo-devic/

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Sony's 2012 Xperia series gets together for awkward family portrait

While Sony's newly-christened Xperia phones are a bit difficult to tell apart, there's nothing quite like getting the whole clan together to tell these statement slabs apart. It's largely about the size and build differences here -- while the 4.3-inch Xperia S readies itself for retail stores very soon, the middleweight Xperia P is showing off its aluminum unibody frame. The Xperia U then shyly rounds out the series with the smallest footprint of the bunch. Hopefully our gallery will help you decide exactly which Sony phone is the one for you.

Gallery: Sony Xperia family portrait at MWC 2012

Sony's 2012 Xperia series gets together for awkward family portrait originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/sonys-2012-xperia-series-gets-together-for-awkward-family-portr/

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