3D-printed Mario Kart turtle shells race to rescue American economy

As soon as you see these little RC Koopa shells, you know that life can't be that bad. In fact, they've already had a hallelujah-inducing impact on the world of the 3D-printing genius who created them. Ten days ago, Michael Curry (aka Skimbal) was among America's 13.9 million unemployed, having been unceremoniously booted out of his ailing architect's firm. All he had was a $700 MakerBot printer to stop his hands from idling, but he made the most of it. MakerBot saw his stuff and were as bowled over as we are, so they just gave the guy a job. We're dusting off our Wii controllers and even those little plastic steering wheels in celebration.

3D-printed Mario Kart turtle shells race to rescue American economy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 08:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/08/3d-printed-mario-kart-turtle-shells-race-to-rescue-american-econ/

Michael Vollmar Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller

Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and XpanD finally team up for an active 3D glasses standard

The lack of a universal standard for active shutter 3D glasses became painfully clear during our 3D TV shootout last year, and gave plenty of reasons for buyers to skip the pricey specs altogether. Nine months later we see that LG has jumped onto passive 3D and CEA is playing catch up on the IR glasses problem, but many of the new HDTVs for 2011 are using Bluetooth technology to keep their glasses in sync -- again without any promise of cross-manufacturer compatibility. A day late and a few dollars short, Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and universal glasses maker XpanD are announcing the "Full HD Glasses Initiative" which should lay down a standard for consumer active shutter glasses to communicate over Bluetooth or IR. The new glasses should be backwards compatible with this year's TVs, although early adopters from 2010 have no such guarantee. The press release (included after the break) indicates we can expect the new models to arrive in 2012, assuming they haven't lost more ground to the FPR army and can still convince buyers to even look at 3D by then.

Continue reading Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and XpanD finally team up for an active 3D glasses standard

Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and XpanD finally team up for an active 3D glasses standard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/08/panasonic-sony-samsung-and-xpand-finally-team-up-for-an-active/

Edith Hupertz Heinrich Peller Viktoria Barz Emma Sauter

Unfinished Symphony: iSheetMusic for iPad Shows Promise, Needs Work

ISheetMusic is yet another sheet music app for the iPad, and while it lacks polish, it has a few features that make it stand out from the morass of musical manuscript apps in the App Store. The application is simple. You pick a song from your library and hit play. After counting you in, the app [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/unfinished-symphony-isheetmusic-for-ipad-shows-promise-needs-work/

Hanna Wohlrab Henrik Brenner Karla Reusch Wilhelm Klassen

FBI's Child ID app helps iPhone users find their missing children

The FBI has just released its very first mobile app, aimed at helping parents deal with their worst nightmare -- a missing child. Known as Child ID, the application allows users to store their kid's photos and identifying information directly on their handsets, making it easier to provide authorities with vital data whenever the little one disappears. Parents can also use the tool to dial 911 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with the tap of a button, and can instantly e-mail their child's details to law enforcement officials, thanks to a dedicated tab. Of course, some may feel uncomfortable with keeping such personal information stored on a smartphone, but the Bureau insists that none of the data will be collected or shared without authorization -- and they're pretty good at keeping secrets. For now, Child ID is available only for iPhone, though the FBI plans to expand it to other mobile devices in the near future. Interested iOS users can download it for themselves, at the iTunes link below.

FBI's Child ID app helps iPhone users find their missing children originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Aug 2011 05:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/H-QS1Xbm8OQ/

Christa Eymann Ingrid Schur Emily Trautmann Charlotte Kadelbach

Twitter Officially Switches: R.I.P. Old Twitter, Long Live #NewTwitter

Twitter -1Twitter's redesigned and feature-rich web interface (a.k.a. #newTwitter), which was announced last fall, has been completely rolled out, according to a company Tweet. That means that Twitter users can no longer use the old version of the site, which has been the case for nearly a year. You can access more information about #NewTwitter here. Of course, this means that all Twitter.com users will be using the same application, which is sure to make things a bit easier for Twitter when it comes to feature and design rollouts.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fXKa79pjLBA/

Finja Kerkhoff Sascha Dörr Kristin Gehrmann Annette Lechner

iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes

iSites -- a zero-code cloud-based 'app creator' -- can now generate HTML5 apps that work on iOS devices. With this new feature, dubbed 'InstantApp', you can now design a single app in your browser and publish it natively on Android and iOS, and as an HTML5 iPhone app.

We haven't looked at iSites before, but it shot to fame last year when it launched with native iOS and Android support. Self-publishing Android apps wasn't a problem because Google does very little moderation of the Market, but iSites ran into trouble with its iOS apps. Thousands of people signed up for the service after it was featured on Mashable and TechCrunch, and you can imagine Apple's chagrin as thousands of cookie cutter apps flooded its approval queue.

Genwi, the developer behind iSites, realized something had to be done -- it had to circumvent the App Store approval process. Genwi, of course, turned to HTML5 Web apps -- which can be pinned to the iPhone home screen and which can be shoehorned into almost behaving like native apps.

Read on for our experiences with iSites' new InstantApp HTML5 iOS app creator.

Continue reading iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes

iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/isites-overhauled-now-lets-you-publish-cloud-based-html5-iphone/

Arne Koller Fiona Brandenburg Franziska Spanier Erna Van den Hout

HEX?s New Bag Line Houses iPads and Laptops

HEX has announced two new Fall collections of their bag lines – Recon and Varsity. Both lines includes a messenger bag that has an easy-access iPad bay that allows users to interact with their iPad (gen 1 or 2) without having to remove it. The Recon and Varsity collections are each comprised of eight bag [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/08/07/hexs-new-bag-line-houses-ipads-and-laptops/

Antonio Fellberg Emma Knebel Jason Randow Benjamin Schötz

Skype 5.3 for Windows released, improves mobile video call quality

Version 5.3 of Skype for Windows has just been released, with the main emphasis of the new release being improved call quality, and the quality of video received by mobile Skype users. Presumably one party of the video call must be using Skype for Windows 5.3, though.

Beyond improved call quality, not much has changed. You can now see your friends' presence icons when contact cards are collapsed, and the topic editing button is now always visible on the conversation header. For a complete list of changes, hit up the Skype Garage blog.

Download Skype 5.3 for Windows

Skype 5.3 for Windows released, improves mobile video call quality originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/skype-5-3-for-windows-released-improves-mobile-video-call-quali/

Karla Reusch Wilhelm Klassen Nathalie Füllgraf Janine Harrer

Boeing's CST-100 to shoot non-NASA astronauts into space by 2015

Day job just too darn terrestrial? Maybe you should score a gig at Boeing, which'll apparently sling two of its very own into space come 2015. What'll be their chariot? The company's CST-100 -- you know that spiffy capsule that can hurtle a lucky seven humans 100km into the dark abyss. Strapped to ULA's Atlas V, the crew will follow two unmanned missions, eventually reaching the International Space Station. If that all goes to plan, commercial service will start in 2016. Now about those extra five seats...

Continue reading Boeing's CST-100 to shoot non-NASA astronauts into space by 2015

Boeing's CST-100 to shoot non-NASA astronauts into space by 2015 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/07/boeings-cst-100-to-shoot-non-nasa-astronauts-into-space-by-2015/

Viktoria Barz Emma Sauter Rosemarie Ramsauer Jörn Domenighini

Six Yo-Yo Masters Performing Mind-Bending String Feats [Video]

The 2011 World Yo-Yo Championships wrapped up in Orlando, Florida last Saturday. Here are the winning performers from each of division—all with their own hardware and stunt styles—pulling off tricks you can't even fathom.

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

Tobias Leinenbach Olga Kreibich Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel