Apple's lossless ALAC goes open source, it's like FLAC for iPods

iTunes LogoWell, it's not nearly as exciting as a new iPhone, but Apple recently announced a bit of news that will set people in certain circles abuzz. The company's lossless audio codec, ALAC, is going open source. Similar to FLAC, the Apple Lossless Audio Codec offers some file compression while still delivering a bit-for-bit recreation of the original source material. The primary difference being that Apple devices and software do not support FLAC (at least without some tinkering) but can handle the Cupertino developed ALAC. The decision to release the code under the Apache license won't have much of an immediate impact on your digital audio routine, but expect support for ALAC to start popping up in more media players (both hardware and software) soon.

Apple's lossless ALAC goes open source, it's like FLAC for iPods originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/28/apples-lossless-alac-goes-open-source-its-like-flac-for-ipods/

Olga Kreibich Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel Sabine Kinzler

Facebook launches unified mobile site, announces 250 million mobile users

Facebook has announced that its two mobile sites -- m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com -- have been unified, bringing a simpler mobile experience to Facebook users. And there are a lot of those -- a quarter billion, according to Facebook.

Smartphone users won't be losing any functionality because of the consolidation. If your phone supported the enhacned features offered by touch.facebook.com, the new site will automatically flip the switch when you visit.

Rolling the sites together helps simplify things for Facebook's developer team. Now changes can be pushed to a single site instead of two separate sites, which makes it easier to ensure that all mobile users receive a nearly identical experience regardless of the device they're using.

The new Facebook mobile can also check to see if your phone supports geolocation. If it doesn't, you won't be seeing much of Facebook Places -- which obviously relies heavily on geolocation. Images can also be optimized on the fly to keep page performance from suffering on less powerful devices. You can see the three different versions of the share button below, courtesy our friends at TechCrunch.

Facebook launches unified mobile site, announces 250 million mobile users originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/facebook-launches-unified-mobile-site-announces-250-million-mob/

Gabriela Prell Sylvia Lösche Steven Walnsch Lennart Tonn

This Week's Top Web Comedy Video: How to Talk Dirty [Video]

Pillow talk: mostly awkward in real life, terrifically funny in a faux-80s instructional video that takes place on a park bench that compares man parts to salamanders. Not safe for work sexy talk awaits. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/dqfXLqK95Kg/this-weeks-top-web-comedy-video-how-to-talk-dirty

Maike Beetz Fiona Henschel Joshua Heinlein Markus Wigger

Samsung bringing S-Pen SDK to developers in December

Android Central

During Thursday's presentation at the Samsung Galaxy Note World Tour event in London, the S-Pen stylus was extensively shown off including a local artist creating the image seen here. Further enhancing their commitment to the device, and that it isn't a mere gimmick they also announced that an SDK for it will be available from December. 

Samsung are obviously keen to push the technology, and to engage the third-party developers in taking advantage of the device. They also unveiled the first batch of third-party applications designed specifically for the Note -- Omnisketch, Comic Book and Sooner Workplace.

The first two are the creative, arty type of app that we're bound to see plenty of appearing for the Note. Sooner Workplace however is the first application to take advantage of the obvious enterprise use case for the Note, including collaboration on documents among it's features. 

If you haven't already, check out our hands on with the Galaxy Note during last nights European launch event.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/OwOXVMFVoGA/samsung-bringing-s-pen-sdk-developers-december

Edgar Betz Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl Ulrike Kellner

Samsung Focus S, Focus Flash geared up for a November 6th release

If you've been concentrating on which Windows Phones are coming out this fall, here's two more to add to your meditating mind: the Samsung Focus S and its little brother, the Focus Flash, are heading to AT&T on November 6th, according to AT&T's Facebook page. The Focus S, brandishing its 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 1.4GHz single-core CPU, front-facing cam and 8MP shooter, will be up for grabs at $200; the Flash, meanwhile, can be yours for $50 and still offers the same processor with a smaller 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display, front-facing cam and a 5MP rear camera. Get ready, get set...

[Thanks, Neil]

Samsung Focus S, Focus Flash geared up for a November 6th release originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/wmPI6nC_LQc/

Edith Berner Lea Linden Kevin Fickenscher Amelie Schweizer

Google Starts Breathing Down LinkedIn's Neck

With a slew of new features and integration with Google Apps, Google+ is now available to businesses, universities, and schools that use Google Apps. The point behind the upgrades is to continue to drive traffic to the fledgling network and fight the feature wars with other social networks, said Gabe Donnini, lead analyst at Chitika.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/73620.html

Hartmut Theobald Nicholas Graul Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer

Not so ultimate Ultrabook: MacBook Air KIRF features mini-HDMI port, 3.5 hour battery life

Hey, who wiped the MacBook Air logo off? Nah, we're kidding -- it's a KIRF. Sure, Apple's svelte 13-incher may have a duo of USB ports and an SD card slot, but this rig adds in a 3-in-1 card reader and and an odd, combo RJ45 / VGA jack (which we assume needs an adapter). For good measure, you'll also find a mini-HDMI output, although, with 3.5 hours of battery life it may prove problematic for getting through a 1080p movie marathon without nearby power. The alloy-encased lappy has a 1.86GHz Intel Atom N2800 CPU with a GMA3600 integrated GPU, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD and a 13.3-inch LED display sporting a ho-hum resolution (for a 13-incher) of 1366 x 768, just like the 11-inch MacBook Air. Amazingly, this knock-off weighs merely .01 kilograms more than its real counterpart at 1.36 kgs (about three pounds), while being only 0.1 cm thicker. Giz-China expects this Ultrabook-wannabe by Shenzen Technology Ltd to land on Chinese shelves sometime in November for about $471. Cue Apple's lawyers in 3... 2...

Not so ultimate Ultrabook: MacBook Air KIRF features mini-HDMI port, 3.5 hour battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

Hartmut Theobald Nicholas Graul Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer

myPlex makes streaming your media simple, gives you one queue to rule them all

myPlex
Plex is one of the more popular solutions to the problem of how to get all that (legally downloaded, of course) media sitting on your home PC to your various devices for consumption. But, like many of its competitors, getting the whole shebang set up isn't always the easiest task. The company's new myPlex platform aims to solve this conundrum, and adds a few welcome features along the way. Now, setting up a server or a client is as simple as logging in to your Plex account -- no matter how many of either part of the media-streaming equation you may have. As an added bonus, your account is also now home to a queue that is shared across all devices. Stopped watching a movie half way through on your commute home? You can pick up right where you left off on your Roku. You can even add web clips from sources like YouTube to the list. Check out the source link for a few more details.

myPlex makes streaming your media simple, gives you one queue to rule them all originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5DSOPb0YRNw/

Gabriela Prell Sylvia Lösche Steven Walnsch Lennart Tonn

VMware adds Mozy to its cloud and virtualization empire

mozy vmware
Mozy is one of the most popular cloud backup services around, with more than one million users storing around 70 petabytes of data. Its popularity apparently put it on the acquisition radar of VMware -- which has now made Mozy part of its virtualization empire.

VMware's official blog post makes it clear that the company wasn't so much interested in Mozy as a consumer offering. Rather, it's the inner workings of Mozy which piqued VMware's curiosity. CTO Steve Herrod says, "Over the past 5 years, Mozy has built one of the best examples of a globally distributed, large-scale cloud offering." He adds that the move will allow VMware to "further ramp our own cloud-related learning and accelerate new IP, scale, and capabilities" of its existing offerings.

Existing Mozy customers don't need to worry, of course. VMware has pledged to continue running Mozy's service without interruption.

VMware adds Mozy to its cloud and virtualization empire originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/vmware-takes-over-operation-of-mozy/

Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller Gabriela Prell Sylvia Lösche

Ask DLS: What's your primary Web browser?

Competition is a good thing, and the browser arena has been a fierce arena for years now. There are at least four "major" browsers each vying for your attention, along with lots of smaller spin-offs (SRWare Iron or Flock, anyone?).

While the browser usage charts we share from time to time show overall browser usage amongst the Web at large, Download Squad readers are not exactly the average bunch in terms of browser use. So today we have one simple question for you:

What's your primary Web browser?

View Poll

Ask DLS: What's your primary Web browser? originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/16/ask-dls-whats-your-primary-browser/

Laura Pauli Janna Löhnig Gabriela Schnee Rita Imhof