How would you change Motorola's Atrix 4G?

Motorola's Atrix 4G may have some serious competition from a performance standpoint, but it's still got one thing going for it over all of the other Android superphones hitting the streets these days: an optional laptop dock. 'Course, it's debatable whether or not said accessory is truly worth paying for, but the phone itself has certainly done its fair share of impressing. You've read our take on Motorola's latest Android whizkid, and now it's your turn to vent. If you had the power necessary to overhaul the Atrix 4G, how would you go about doing so? Would you nix Motoblur altogether? Toss the latest build of Android onboard? Make it available on more carriers? Handle the laptop dock differently? All (sane) opinions are welcome, and comments are open below.

How would you change Motorola's Atrix 4G? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/30/how-would-you-change-motorolas-atrix-4g/

Jörn Domenighini Marion Dallmeyer Hanna Wohlrab Henrik Brenner

Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look

mitoza
While not a game per se, I found Mitoza intriguing enough to spend quite some time with it. You start off with a seed, and are then presented with two choices: you can either click a flower pot, or click a cute little birdie.

If you click the flower pot, a flower pot appears and the seed is planted inside. You're then presented with two further choices -- a water can or a bottle of fertilizer. Each choice you make causes your creation to morph, and presents you with two other choices.

There's no winning or losing, really. Each "game" usually lasts around four or five choices, at which point the plant/animal dies in some creative (but not too gruesome) way. At this point you instantly start over with a new seed.

The graphics are captivating; the whole thing has a cinematic feel to it, with a bit of artificial camera shake added for style.

All in all, it's a fun, peaceful way to spend a few minutes, and it might even make you think a little bit while you're at it.

Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/mitoza-is-a-fun-freaky-web-toy-with-an-artistic-look/

Michael Vollmar Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller

Jetbus is a retro-tastic physics game, with a bus

jetbus
Once upon a time, there used to be a DOS game with a caveman and a human powered helicopter. The caveman would shuttle around the screen, madly trying to get customers to where they wanted to go.

Jetbus is not that game, but it's obviously inspired by it. You're driving a yellow school bus which has jets. I guess the jet engine takes quite a bit of space inside the bus, because you can only pick up one person at a time.

There are several doors on the screen, each with its own number. As you pick up a person, the status bar at the bottom of the screen shows you which number door you have to take them to.

You must fly your bus carefully, because if it gets bumped around too much, you lose. You earn money on each level, and can visit the garage to buy better jets and damping, power-ups, or even a whole new vehicle.

So while this game isn't made as well as the original that inspired it, it does provide a few minutes of fun. And now, which one of you guys remembers the original and feels like pointing to it in the comments?

Jetbus is a retro-tastic physics game, with a bus originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/15/jetbus-is-a-retro-tastic-physics-game-with-a-bus/

Fiona Brandenburg Franziska Spanier Erna Van den Hout Laura Pauli

Libra for Android helps you track your weight using The Hacker's Diet system

libra
I'm getting fat; that's what you see on the screenshot to the right -- my gradual move from chubby to portly. But never mind the numbers, look at the pretty graph!

If you've ever read The Hacker's Diet, this graph should be instantly recognizable. Each point shows the weight for a given day, while the trend line lets you see if you're gaining or losing weight.

When I use my "main" PC, I have a homebrew solution for creating and maintaining this graph. But I've had to find a temporary solution for Android, and Libra is it.

It's a beautifully simple app, very true to the spirit of The Hacker's Diet. You can create a shortcut on your homescreen that brings you right into the data entry screen, so you just tap the shortcut every morning, feed in your weight for the day and hit OK, and then you get to see your progress (or lack thereof) on the graph.

The app remembers the previous day's weigh-in, which makes it easy to enter today's weight (as they're usually not too different). The graph is zoomable and scrollable, and most importantly, you can export the data to CSV so you're not locked into the app.

If you ever need to track your weight using an Android device for any period of time, Libra is one excellent solution.

Libra for Android helps you track your weight using The Hacker's Diet system originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/libra-for-android-helps-you-track-your-weight-using-the-hackers/

Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller Gabriela Prell

HomeBank: A Fine Financial App Once You Clear the Setup Hurdle

Keeping track of personal and business finances is one of the most essential tasks I do daily on my computer besides researching and writing about the Linux platform. Lately I am assigning much more of that task to HomeBank to keep my banking transactions in order. Do not confuse this personal accounting system with a banking institution of the same name, based in Martinsville, Ind.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/72338.html

Simone Temme Heidemarie Stegmann Annika Schäffer Edgar Betz

TripAdvisor app for Windows Phone 7 now available

tripadvisor windows phone 7TripAdvisor, the popular travel planning tool, has just launched an app for Windows Phone 7. Just like the mobile website, the app allows you to search for anything travel-related -- from hotels and flights to restaurants and points-of-interest to visit once you reach your destination.

Geolocation is supported, which allows TripAdvisor to quickly locate places nearby. But while that's a neat feature, it's also a bit of a downer -- because, really, it's about the only feature TripAdvisor for WP7 brings to the table that its mobile Web app doesn't already offer (its browser-based geolocation doesn't work with WP7 at the moment).

While it's nice to see Windows Phone 7 users getting some big-name apps, it'd be even nicer if we saw some packing a bit more swagger.

Still, TripAdvisor for WP7 might just be worth installing on your device if you're frequently on the go -- at least until a better browser arrives with the Mango update.

TripAdvisor app for Windows Phone 7 now available originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/tripadvisor-app-for-windows-phone-7-now-available/

Christa Eymann Ingrid Schur Emily Trautmann Charlotte Kadelbach

Daily Crunch: Sorted Edition

Frame Wars Weekend Giveaway: A Blackberry Playbook Video: The Evolution Of Mobile, As Told Through A Fancy 3D Projection Setup LEGO Mindstorms Project Sorts And Cleans Up Your Legos Man Buys Samsung 500GB Drive, Gets Screwed (Or Bolted, Rather) Technicolor Teams Up With Canon For New Digital Cinema Tools Mega Man Keychains, Part Deux

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/04/09/daily-crunch-sorted-edition/

Charlotte Kadelbach Hugo Ruß Edith Hupertz Heinrich Peller

Nanocones make solar cells more efficient, sinister looking

Going green is de rigeur, so the sun is becoming a much-preferred source of power. However, solar cells' inefficient harvesting of helical energies is a major reason they haven't usurped the power of petroleum. Good thing the big brains at Oak Ridge National Labratory are looking to change that with nanocone-based solar technology. The teeny-tiny cones are made of zinc oxide and create "an intrinsic electric field distribution" to improve electrical charge transport within solar cells. We aren't sure what that means, but we do know the prickly-looking design provides a 3.2 percent light-to-power conversion efficiency that's a substantial improvement over the meager 1.8 percent offered by today's flat photovoltaics made of similar materials. That's 80 percent more efficient, and 100 percent more awesome.

Nanocones make solar cells more efficient, sinister looking originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 May 2011 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Physorg  |  sourceORNL  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/01/nanocones-make-solar-cells-more-efficient-sinister-looking/

Nicholas Graul Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer Maurice Giese

IdeaPad S205 hits Lenovo webstore, starts at $499

The first of Lenovo's CES-announced S Series, the S205, sauntered into the computer manufacturer's online store this week, albeit lacking the 8GB DDR3 SDRAM option mentioned at its announcement. The base model sells for $499, sporting a 1.60Ghz dual-core AMD Fusion E-350 CPU, an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768 resolution) 16:9 widescreen panel, 3GB of DDR3 SDRAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 6310 graphics, and a 350GB HDD. Two higher cost configurations score an extra gig of RAM, an optional Bluetooth radio, and a 500GB or 750GB HDD. The lesser of the higher end models can be had for a $429 at LogicBuy until Wednesday, if you can live without Bluetooth (which man did for thousands of years, but you know what we mean).

[Thanks, Tim!]

IdeaPad S205 hits Lenovo webstore, starts at $499 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink LogicBuy  |  sourceLenovo  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/30/ideapad-s205-hits-lenovo-webstore-starts-at-499/

Hans-Joachim Kammann Antonio Fellberg Emma Knebel Jason Randow