Truckin?, Got My iPad Tucked In. Truckin??

Grateful Dead fans now have an iPad case all their very own.  The Skeleton and Roses Leather iPad case is a black leather sleeve case, and it is embossed with the famous Grateful Dead imagery.  The case is hand-sewn with contrast stitching, and it will fit either the iPad or iPad 2.  It’s available exclusively [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/05/02/truckin-got-my-ipad-tucked-in-truckin/

Lea Linden Kevin Fickenscher Amelie Schweizer Elfriede Oltmanns

Apple's 2011 iMac undergoes teardown, shows off fancy new upgrades

Yesterday, you saw the new 21.5-inch iMac fully specced out and up for sale on Apple's online store, and you were even treated to the sight of its 27-inch sibling pushing three displays and 11 megapixels of resolution. Today, you get to witness Apple's latest all-in-one computer fully disassembled. iFixit is doing the honors, as usual, and the investigation starts with the detachment of that familiar LG-produced IPS display and a Sony Optiarc optical drive, followed by the discovery of an Intel controller for the solitary Thunderbolt port on board (there are two on the larger model). Other notables include an AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics chip and a 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, but you'll have to punch the source link to see them up close and personal.

Apple's 2011 iMac undergoes teardown, shows off fancy new upgrades originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/dY5v9AdU6c0/

Emma Sauter Rosemarie Ramsauer Jörn Domenighini Marion Dallmeyer

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules

The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.

Presumably it's not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that's causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab's JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.

Alexander Clauss, iCab's developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. "Maybe if I would have called the modules 'smart bookmarks' and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code."

In conclusion, to circumvent Apple's draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however -- but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.

Download iCab Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ($1.99)

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/apple-orders-icab-ios-browser-to-cripple-javascript-modules/

Tobias Leinenbach Olga Kreibich Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel

Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android

Android Honeycomb
Google, in an interesting but not entirely unexpected twist, will not be open-sourcing Android 3.0 Honeycomb for the foreseeable future.

Historically, Android is usually open-sourced via the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) a few days or weeks after the code is finalized. While this departure from the norm won't affect OEMs like HTC and Motorola that have access to internal builds of Android, small-time developers will likely have to wait months before rolling their own distributions.

As to why Google is holding back Honeycomb, its reasons are actually rather rational. Honeycomb, while originally intended to run on all mobile form factors, is only ready for deployment on tablets. "To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs," says Andy Rubin, the head of Google's Android group. "We didn't want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut."

In other words, Google wants to prevent OEMs and homebrew developers like Cyanogen from rolling their own smartphone versions of Honeycomb -- it doesn't want to see the same bitter-tasting tabletified bastardization that occurred with Android 2.1 and 2.2 last year.

Continue reading Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android

Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/25/google-holds-back-on-open-sourcing-honeycomb-heralds-shift-android/

Sascha Dörr Kristin Gehrmann Annette Lechner Margarethe Lachner

Mac OS X Lion Preview 2 released, introduces mega exciting leather bound iCal skin

This is one of those posts that could probably be condensed into a tweet: Apple has released the second Preview of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. If you're running Preview 1, it looks like you'll first receive a small update via Software Update, and then you can download Preview 2 from the Mac App Store.

There has been some speculation that Apple is getting close to a release or Golden Master build, but judging by 9to5 Mac's initial findings there's definitely some way to go. The Golden Master will probably appear at, or just before, the Apple WWDC in June.

So far, it's looking like the only changes in Preview 2 are the leather bound iCal skin that you can see above, and the main iChat window now combines your AIM, Bonjour and Jabber contacts, like Adium. We're sure that more details will emerge throughout the day, though, and there's bound to be lots of invisible changes, too. We'll update this post when we find out more.

Mac OS X Lion Preview 2 released, introduces mega exciting leather bound iCal skin originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/mac-os-x-lion-preview-2-released-introduces-mega-exciting-leath/

Annika Schäffer Edgar Betz Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl

Sony responds to Congress: all 77 million PSN accounts compromised, finger pointed at Anonymous

We've heard Sony explain itself at length regarding the gigantic PlayStation Network breach, but this might be the most useful version of the story yet -- it's the one that Sony's Kaz Hirai is forwarding to US Congress members concerned about your personal information. The official PlayStation.Blog has the full English document up on Flickr for your perusal, and we'll warn you it's much the same tale -- Sony says all 77 million PSN and Qriocity accounts have had information stolen, but the company's still not sure exactly which pieces have gone missing, whether credit card numbers are compromised or no, or who could be behind the hack. Sony does say, however, that it had 12.3 million credit card numbers on file, and 5.6 million of them from the US, and that investigators found a file on one of the servers named "Anonymous" with the words "We are Legion" inside it. Hard to draw many conclusions from that.

Sony responds to Congress: all 77 million PSN accounts compromised, finger pointed at Anonymous originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 12:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PlayStation.Blog, Joystiq  |  sourcePlayStation.Blog (Flickr)  | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/BWBqc0qfMAU/

Janine Harrer Emilia Münchow Claus Rehberg Tobias Leinenbach

Caption Contest: Samsung hires David Beckham as a global brand ambassador

David Beckham is a man that needs no introduction. Indeed, Samsung hopes he'll be the one making the introductions, as it's just signed up the English footballer to act as its global brand ambassador. Mr. Becks will be responsible for disseminating the news that Samsung is one of the major sponsors of the London 2012 Olympics, and we can see he's already received the first tranche of his remuneration in the form of a Galaxy S II. Lucky him.

Thomas: "I'm sorry, I got the Spanish version, this one says 'Sii' on it."
Vlad: "At 8.49mm, this phone's almost as thin as my wife!"
Tim: "I don't know who you are or what this is, but I'm sure Victoria will love it."
Amar: "Finally, a Galaxy that won't bench me!"
Darren: "Man, this thing crushes my Aura."
Richard Lai: "As part of the deal, Samsung will also be announcing the Galaxy S Beckham. OK, it's just a golden dual-core."
Myriam: "So you want me to drop-kick this in front of the cameras, right?"
Zach Honig: "Maybe in this Galaxy I can win a World Cup."

Continue reading Caption Contest: Samsung hires David Beckham as a global brand ambassador

Caption Contest: Samsung hires David Beckham as a global brand ambassador originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/rrLfVz3di0M/

Amelie Schweizer Elfriede Oltmanns Janine Hillenbrand Vivien Strupp

Sand Trap is a fun and difficult physics maze game

Sand Trap
Sand Trap is one of those games that at first seem too hard to bother with, but when you try to stop playing it you discover you're hooked.

The goal is to get as much sand as you possibly can out of the maze and into the bucket at the bottom of the screen. You need to rotate your maze every which way to get the sand rolling around it. You then try to direct the sand to one of the exits of the maze, and hopefully into the bucket. It took me several tries to actually get sand into the bucket, but that might be due to the fact that I didn't even realize the bucket was there at first. Things improved significantly after that.

As you level up, the mazes get more complicated, with moving parts and other things making your life more difficult. Once you manage to get through all these obstacles and get enough sand into your bucket, you can move on.

As I mentioned, this is not an easy game, but it's highly addictive. The graphics remind me of some long lost game from the 80s, but this just proves that you don't need super graphics and crazy sound to make a game work. There's a soothing guitar track playing in the background and that's it, as far as I could hear, and you can enjoy it just as much with no sound at all.

If you like a fun physics challenge, don't miss out on this one!

Sand Trap is a fun and difficult physics maze game originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/sand-trap-is-a-fun-physics-maze-game/

Heidemarie Stegmann Annika Schäffer Edgar Betz Antonia Koppe

Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations

Pandora is letting its hair loose, expanding beyond the realm of music-based radio stations into the world of comedy. The streaming music service will offer more than 10,000 clips from over 700 comedians, and will be loaded and ready to go sometime today. If you're already familiar with the service, this brand-new genre will work the same exact way as any other Pandora station: create new radio stations based on your favorite comedians and you can still give the thumb up or down for those tracks you feel strongly enough about. The press release is no laughing matter, but it's available for your reading pleasure after the break.

Continue reading Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations

Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/04/pandora-gets-a-case-of-the-giggles-now-offers-comedy-stations/

Ulrike Kellner Nicola Kohnen Laura Ungricht Edith Berner

Can You Believe This "Entry Level" Turntable Costs $28,400? [Audio]

Personally, I think this turntable looks like a really poor attempt at making a cake look like a tree trunk candle, but apparently it's $28,400 worth of audiophilic record-playing quality. It's only Audio Consulting's entry-level model mind you—the mind boggles at the thought of what they'd price their high-end model at. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/SNcuhVGYihU/can-you-believe-this-entry-level-turntable-costs-28400

Tobias Leinenbach Olga Kreibich Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel