Editorial: A less tactile future, and how to avoid it

For the past few weeks, I've been doing most of my typing on a Matias Tactile Pro 3 -- a mechanical keyboard that's much like the original Apple Extended or IBM Model M keyboards, in function, if not appearance. If you're not old enough to remember those, that means it relies on mechanical key switches instead of the rubber membrane used by most keyboards these days. You feel, and hear every key press -- and, after you've used one for a while, you'll be much more aware of the mushy alternative hiding under other keyboards, and likely find them quite unsatisfying.

Mechanical keyboards have seen a slight resurgence as of late among gamers, who value their accuracy, but they mostly remain a niche product for folks like me -- writers who might also happen to collect manual typewriters, or coders who honed their skills to their familiar clickety-clack sound in the 80s and 90s. I bring this up because it's not just keyboards that have gotten less "tactile" in recent years, but computing and consumer electronics in general -- and that includes cellphones.

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Editorial: A less tactile future, and how to avoid it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jacqueline Kiesel Michel Rohr Hilde Baaden Hartmut Theobald

Google Calls Out Rivals? Web Benchmark Tools, Rebuilds Them To Better Gauge Chrome

When it comes to Chrome, Google has long been addicted to speed. And for many tasks on the web today, that speed is related to how fast your JavaScript engine is. Google has long held that their's is the fastest. But it's hard to know for sure because there are a few different benchmark suites to test such speeds ? and the most popular ones are made by companies with stakes in the game: Apple, Mozilla, and yes, Google. In a post yesterday on their Chromium, it's pretty clear that Google feels their V8 benchmark suite is the best. In fact, they directly call our their rivals' suites, noting bugs and saying that they must evolve. And then they go one step further: providing links to versions of the rivals' suites supposedly perfected by Google!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/i9ZdtPe6afI/

Fiona Henschel Joshua Heinlein Markus Wigger

Blocklets' Arduino-powered trebuchet could be your cat's worst nightmare (video)


We don't do a whole lot of reporting on ancient weaponry here, because, well, it's a little dated -- but throw in an Arduino and a servo, and you've got our attention. Take, for example, this miniaturized trebuchet. Constructed from a series of click-in-place pieces known as Blocklets, the little launcher is basically a standalone slingshot. With the addition of the aforementioned components, however, it becomes a motorized annoyance for anyone and anything that stands in its way. The folks behind the tiny trebuchet tested its capabilities against a sculpture similarly built from Blocklets, but we prefer the challenge of a moving target. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait to get all medieval with this thing, as Blockets haven't quite made it out of the funding stage yet.

Blocklets' Arduino-powered trebuchet could be your cat's worst nightmare (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/VhGj5rwfYOg/

Ingrid Schur Emily Trautmann Charlotte Kadelbach Hugo Ruß

Google Cloud Print comes to HP ePrint printers

hp google cloud print
HP has become the first major OEM to deliver support for Google Cloud Print in retail-boxed printers. In an official release, HP announced that its ePrint-enabled printers are now fully Cloud Print compatible. Just sign in to your Google account, pick your HP ePrint device, and you're ready to fire off a print job from anywhere you've got Internet access. Well, as long as your app supports Cloud Print as well -- like Gmail and Google Docs, for example.

We're curious, though -- how many of you are still printing? Like our pals at Engadget, our printers have been mostly gathering dust for the last few years.

Google Cloud Print comes to HP ePrint printers originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/google-cloud-print-comes-to-hp-eprint-printers/

Janna Löhnig Gabriela Schnee Rita Imhof Angelika Frey

Photo: Yellowing White iPhone Shows Cause for Delay

The reason for the white iPhone’s long delay turns out to be exactly what we guessed: the original version turns yellow after time. Nick Bilton of the New York Times’ Bits blog got his hands on a “first-gen” white iPhone and compared it side-by-side with a shiny new one. Bilton got the phone from Rex Sorgatz [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/photo-yellowing-white-iphone-shows-cause-for-delay/

Margarethe Lachner Lutz Yalcin Birte Höß Kerstin Klos

FCC gives the RED EPIC-M its teardown treatment, so you don't have to

Ever wondered what it feels like to tear down a $58,000 professional video camera? Well, unless you're as minted as Peter Jackson or James Cameron, chances are you'll never get close to a RED EPIC-M (without breaking the law) to find out. That said, you may get some insight from this fresh batch of disassembly shots, courtesy of the FCC. Sure, there aren't any jewels or unicorns hidden inside this powerful 5K imager, but you'll get plenty of close-up shots of its delicate circuitry -- it's actually pretty impressive how much the hand-machined chassis holds. Head over to Wireless Goodness to admire the full glory, but make sure you don't dribble over your keyboard.

FCC gives the RED EPIC-M its teardown treatment, so you don't have to originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/wk2CXf5nTRU/

Luca Liebe Finja Kerkhoff Sascha Dörr Kristin Gehrmann

Samsung Galaxy Player 50 Android Media Player Review

You know how you have a choice of 3 different iOS device sizes/types? There’s the iPad, the iPhone and the iPod touch. Now you have that same choice when it comes to Android devices. Samsung has the Galaxy Tab tablet, a huge selection of Galaxy smartphones and now they have the Galaxy Player 50 for [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/05/04/samsung-galaxy-player-50-android-media-player-review/

Alexander Berner Oliver Büdenbender Christa Eymann Ingrid Schur

Surface SDK gets input simulator, opens doors to indie devs

Microsoft Surface Input Simulator
There's one big, table-shaped obstacle to developing apps for Microsoft's Surface: you kind of have to own one. A new Surface 2 SDK, landing this summer, will sidestep that problem with an input simulator so devs can test their code on any Windows 7 PC. You can tap fingers, place tags, or paint "blobs" for your virtual SUR 40 to interact with, and even fake multitouch gestures by "stamping" a finger in one spot then moving a second one. If the Surface you're programming for happens to be movable (though we're not sure who would put a $7,600 computer on hinges) you can also alter the tilt of the display to trigger UI changes. You'll still need access to one of these behemoths to make sure your wares work in the really real world, but at least the preliminary work can be done on any old laptop or desktop. Frankly, this is something we'd have thought would be included from day one -- as they say, better late than never.

Surface SDK gets input simulator, opens doors to indie devs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 22:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1dHjRdTgwCU/

Luca Liebe Finja Kerkhoff Sascha Dörr Kristin Gehrmann

Defend Your Desktop Against the Forces of Evil with These Superhero Wallpapers [Video]

In a world of computer viruses and spyware, a mere human doesn't stand a chance. That's why this week we're providing your desktop with some superpowers—or at least the illusion of them, thanks to these wallpapers. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/rj3j3aZ2ytE/

Rosemarie Ramsauer Jörn Domenighini Marion Dallmeyer Hanna Wohlrab