STM Asks ?Does This Case Make My iPad 2 Look skinny??

The skinny case from STM is a for the person who wants full coverage for their iPad 2 without adding a lot of thickness and bulk.  The skinny has a hard-shell back cover that snaps over the corners of the iPad 2 and leaves all ports and controls accessible.  The front cover has the magnet [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/04/06/stm-asks-does-this-case-make-my-ipad-2-look-skinny/

Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer Maurice Giese Frederik Faulhaber

Words With Friends for Android updated, promises "smoother game experience"

wordswithfriends
As several of you noted in the comments to our post asking for cross-platform iOS/Android games, Words With Friends for Android does not provide the smoothest gaming experience... and that's being rather charitable.

You might be happy to hear that a couple of days ago Zynga released an update which promises to solve many of the Android-specific issues, such as notifications not popping up.

Sadly, installing the update is not a smooth experience; you have to manually uninstall the previous version, and then go to the Android Market and install it. What's nice is that it doesn't lose your saved games - this screenshot shows a game I've started before the update and continued after updating.

How's the new update working out for you? Let us know in the comments!

Words With Friends for Android updated, promises "smoother game experience" originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/04/words-with-friends-for-android-updated-promises-smoother-game/

Ingeburg Liebermann Elsa Alexander Furtmann Siegrid Holstein Michael Vollmar

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads

google chrome malicious download
Google Chrome already sports a number of security-minded features, from Incognito mode to a software sandbox which makes exploiting the browser a Herculean task. Now, Google has announced additional protection for Chromium and Chrome users.

Built upon the Safe Browsing API, the new feature introduces protection against malicious downloads. If a download link appears in the Safe Browsing blacklist, Chrome and Chromium will warn users against downloading -- a save button is still presented, of course, in case you're convinced a file is perfectly safe to download.

We'd like to see something a bit more eye-catching than the red warning icon -- like perhaps painting the entire bar red. Many of the people a feature like this aims to protect probably won't notice the icon or change in wording as they'll be focused on clicking the save button.

Google is initially making download protection available to Chrome dev channel users, and you'll likely see it in Canary and Chromium snapshot builds as well. After thorough testing, beta and stable users will be next in line.

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/google-chrome-and-chromium-add-protection-against-malicious-down/

Edgar Betz Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl Ulrike Kellner

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs

Firefox slow-addons list
Mozilla, continuing its year-long crusade to speed up Firefox startup and shutdown times, has published a name and shame list of the Firefox's slowest add-ons.

The list is just one part of Mozilla's new efforts to highlight slow add-ons, and to help developers make their add-ons more efficient. Over the next two weeks, 'slow performance warnings' will be introduced in the add-on gallery so that users can see, before installation, which add-ons will slow down their browser. If that isn't enough to spur developers into cleaning up their add-ons, Mozilla has also begun reaching out to developers of slow add-ons with tips on how to improve add-on performance. Finally, add-on developers will soon have the ability to perform 'on-demand performance testing,' so that they can test their add-on before it's deployed publicly.

Mozilla reports that the average Firefox add-on slows down Firefox's start-up time by 10% -- which means, if you install 10 add-ons, you will double your start-up time. On fast desktop PCs that kind of slowdown might be negligible, but on older computers, laptops and smartphones, it could be the difference between a 5 and 10 second startup. Mozilla has obviously realized that while massive performance gains might've been made with Firefox 4, the addition of third-party add-ons can destroy any user-perceived improvements.

In other news, Mozilla says that a future build of Firefox will block the installation of add-ons (such as toolbars) by third-party software. Add-ons and toolbars that are bundled in this way will require explicit approval when you next open up Firefox. Hooray!

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/mozilla-publishes-name-and-shame-list-of-slow-firefox-add-ons/

Edith Hupertz Heinrich Peller Viktoria Barz Emma Sauter

Industry in Kazakhstan Looks Like Armageddon [Image Cache]

In the city of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, hellfire begets progress. What you're looking at is metallurgical grade silicon, or raw molten silicon ready to be used in the auto industry for things like electrical steel. Or, you know, Terminators. [English Russia] More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bj7_IgpiT98/industry-in-kazakhstan-looks-like-armageddon

Finja Kerkhoff Sascha Dörr Kristin Gehrmann Annette Lechner

First Firefox 6 build next week, Firefox 7 by May, and aurora channel introduced

Firefox 5, 6, 7 and release channels
Mozilla's Engineering Project Manager, Christian Legnitto, has detailed the release schedule for Firefox 5, 6 and 7. If all goes to plan, Firefox 6.0a1 will be released next week, April 12, and Firefox 7.0a1 in the middle of May. The final build of Firefox 5 should be released on June 21, exactly three months after the release of Firefox 4.

Along with the faster 6-week release cadence, Firefox's new Chrome-like release channels have also been given names and anticipated update frequencies. The most notable change is the introduction of a new alpha channel -- which is analogous to Chrome Canary -- that will be called 'aurora' and will update nightly. Aurora will be where fixes and features are tested, and either approved for Beta, or backed out to Central. Aurora will have a new icon, too.

The Nightly (mozilla-central) channel will remain unchanged in name and frequency, but it will gain a new 'nightly icon.' The Beta (mozilla-beta) channel will remain as-is, with new builds rolling out weekly. The Release (mozilla-release) channel will also remain as-is, with security and stability updates coming every 6 to 12 weeks.

It should be noted that the names (including 'aurora') are not necessarily final, but it's unlikely that they'll change. We're also awaiting the arrival of the new 'channel switching' technology, which should arrive in the next few days -- in time for the release of Firefox 6 aurora!

First Firefox 6 build next week, Firefox 7 by May, and aurora channel introduced originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/first-firefox-6-build-next-week-firefox-7-by-may-and-aurora-ch/

Annette Lechner Margarethe Lachner Lutz Yalcin Birte Höß

Roxie?s a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure iPad App

Introducing Roxie’s a-MAZE-ing Vacation Aventure app for the iPad. This new iPad app from OCG Studios is fun, interactive and educational for children of all ages. Find your way through 16 different screens via car, foot, plane, ski’s and even a raft. While finding your way through the maze your mission also includes locating hidden [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ipadbuzzblog/~3/06mgd6Zg_8k/

Rosemarie Ramsauer Jörn Domenighini Marion Dallmeyer Hanna Wohlrab

Windows 8 welcome screen revealed, looks very Metro

windows 8 welcome screen
It's not really a secret the Microsoft had planned on bringing bits of Windows Phone 7's Metro UI to Windows 8, but we haven't seen a lot of really telling evidence. However, with the Windows 8 milestone 3 build now available to Microsoft Connect partners, it was really just a matter of time before we started to get a peek.

Thanks to Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott, we've now had a glimpse at what the Windows 8 welcome screen will look like. As you can see, the typography is very Metro indeed. Within Windows also mentions that the background image is customizable, and we're wondering if it might not pull from your current Windows 8 theme. This particular shot shows the CTRL + ALT + DELETE login option, but we imagine you'll still be able to log in by clicking your account picture tile as well.

Rivera and Thurrott also mention that the tablet version of the welcome screen will allow you to log in by swiping a pattern on the screen -- as you can on current Android devices.

Windows 8 welcome screen revealed, looks very Metro originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/windows-8-welcome-screen-revealed-looks-very-metro/

Monika Kley Heidemarie Frick Maike Beetz Fiona Henschel

Demand For iPad 2 Units Exceed Availability

Last Friday, March 25 Apple’s iPad 2 went on sale in 25 additional countries and it’s being claimed that most outlets were sold out before the weekend ended. Can you say Déjà Vu? It comes as no surprise that several customers were lining up on the streets, in some cases more than 24 hours in [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ipadbuzzblog/~3/yCYVIbW6jJo/

Lea Linden Kevin Fickenscher