The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket came to an abrupt halt early Saturday. The rocket’s computer detected too-high levels of pressure in engine number five, causing the launch to stop a half-second before liftoff.
The Falcon 9 rocket …
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If the cloud is to become a viable platform for the enterprise, security is critical.
Firewalls need to go away. I’m just saying what we all already know. Firewalls have always been problematic, and today there is almost no reason to have one.
Computer firewalls have been with us since the 1980s. Even early on it was pretty clear that they didn’t really work; if they did, we would have defeated malicious hackers and malware a long time ago. But at least back in the day there was a decent reason to need them.
Going for a consistent look for your Apple setup? With a small footprint, aluminum body and matching detachable stands, the uCube speakers from UltraLink have a style that looks like they should have been included in the box with an iMac or MacBook. Plug ‘n’ Play USB powered, they claim to utilize a “smart” Digital [...]
When it comes to the sophisticated world of typography, some people are purists, while others have a laid-back, do-whatever-looks-good mentality. No matter what side you’re on, it’s important to learn…
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The final significant roadblock to Google’s buyout of Motorola has been cleared, as Chinese regulators have just given their rubber stamp. Their approval follows a few months after the simultaneous American and European clearances, and virtually all that’s left now is to formally close the deal and start integrating the two mobile giants. It might still come too late for the combined entity to present a united front at Google I/O, but at least they won’t have any awkward glances at each other across the room. We’re just trying to decide on whether or not Googorola is the best pet name for the loving, $12.5 billion-dollar Android union.
Update: Google has since told the AP that the deal will likely wrap up early next week, so Motorola should be part of the family well in advance of Google I/O. Also, Google has to keep Android freely usable by anyone for at least five years, although no one was expecting that to change anytime soon.
China clears Google acquisition of Motorola, eliminates last barrier to Googorola bliss (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Celebrity kids as young as four are expected to maintain social media presences, well before they can read, write, or spell. But are there long-term consequences?
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons — the child actor known for playing Lily, the adoptive daughter of Cam and Mitchell on ABC's Modern Family — has nearly 16,000 followers on Twitter. But when I call her mom Amy Anderson to talk about Aubrey's account, it quickly becomes clear that the four-year-old has no idea it even exists. “Do you know what Twitter is?” I hear Anderson ask her daughter. “You know sometimes we answer questions for people on the computer.”
For now, Aubrey seems far more concerned with the location of her Hello Kitty backpack within the house than with answering her mom's questions. “Okay, if you can't be quiet you need to go upstairs,” Anderson warns. “As soon as I'm done, we'll go outside and ride our bikes.”
A photo of mother and daughter bike riding outside their Los Angeles house, or on the set of Modern Family, are the kinds of things Anderson tweets from her daughter's account, @AubreyLily. She'll also frequently field questions about Aubrey's favorite colors and foods. Though the account's description makes clear that the tweets are typed out by Aubrey's Mom, they're all written in first person.
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons as Lily on Modern Family.
Child stars have long dealt with excess pressure and overexposure, which can end up being a burden on both the child and the family. Today, they have another thing to worry about – maintaining a coherent social media presence, often before the kids can even spell.
Aubrey's Twitter seems like the project of a highly ambitious Stage Mom, eager to share anything and everything and grow her daughter's fame. But Anderson says it grew out of necessity, not out of self-promotion. Anderson herself is a stand-up comedian, and she found fans tweeting at her with questions for Aubrey. “My Twitter started getting flooded with inquiries for her. And I'm a comedian, so I sometimes tweet some dicey things or make snarky comments. They're just not appropriate for her fans. She's four.”
For Anderson, keeping up with the feed and responding to fan questions has become a tempting addition. “I'm addicted to my iPhone so it's hard not to look at it sometimes,” she says.
While Anderson created Aubrey's Twitter to have a feed distinct from her own, other moms of celebrity kids have the opposite problem.
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While the iPhone ‘sans cover’ feels much better in your hand, it’s not worth getting a few scratches on the back of your sleek phone. Rather than buy a standard…
Like millions of others, I made a point of staying home a few nights in February 2011 to watch a computer challenge the world’s best “Jeopardy” players. IBM’s Watson won, of course. End of story? Just a stunt? Not at all. After about five years of development and millions in R&D spending, IBM is taking its first steps to bring Watson out of the lab (and TV studio) and make money from it.
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Google is extensively updating its search function with the rollout of a new Knowledge Graph. The heart of the Knowledge Graph is a database Google has compiled, via its own research and through its acquisition of MetaWeb Technologies, of 500 million people, places, things and points of history.
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My Twitter colleague Brian Katz (@bmkatz) relayed to me and his other Twitter followers a question asked in various forms at this week’s Interop conference: Who owns the phone number for a BYOD item? Who owns the Twitter handle when an employee tweets? My first reaction was, “Why is this even a question? The employee owns the number or handle if it’s his or her account.” Upon reflection, I’m sticking with that answer.
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HTC gave us a quick session to play around with its latest handset, the Desire C. No, it’s not part of the consolidated One series, nor is the company revealing precisely what that “C” stands for — heaven forfend it’s “cheap.” While a humble 320 x 480 touchscreen and 600MHz processor might not set many smartphone obsessives’ hearts a’ racing, it still manages to eke out a HTC Sense-skinned Android 4.0 UI — no mere feat, in our opinion. A 5-megapixel camera and expandable microSD slot are some other welcome specifications and it’s all wrapped up in an attractive matte finish — you can take your pick form black and white in the UK. Catch our quick video run-through of the sub-$300 handset right after the break.
Gallery: HTC Desire C hands-on
Continue reading HTC Desire C hands-on (video)
HTC Desire C hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Leading memory upgrade company Crucial.com is holding a contest where one lucky person will win a trip to California to have dinner with lovable geek hero Steve Wozniak at one of his favorite restaurants. To enter, go to http://www.crucial.com/mac2012 between now and June 15, 2012 and answer a few simple questions about your Mac computer usage. In [...]
Mark Zuckerberg and his current employees aren’t the only ones making it big in Silicon Valley today. Former Facebook employees who have struck out on their own and started companies — referred to as the Facebook Mafia — have collectively …
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The lure of big data has many people in enterprise IT moving quickly to consolidate and mash up their data assets with other relevant information. The tools are here right now, including big data engines based on Hadoop, public clouds that provide rental access to a huge number of servers, and external cloud-delivered data resources to make better sense of your info.
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Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you’re like us and really want to know what’s going on, then you’ve come to the right place. This past week, Verizon Wireless brought its LTE service to 28 new markets and expanded its reach in 11 additional areas. We also saw Straight Talk introduce the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, and it appears that Rogers will soon offer the HTC One S. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the “best of the rest” for this week of May 14th, 2012.
Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of May 14th, 2012
Mobile Miscellany: week of May 14th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 21:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While the main thing that would make Raspberry Pi’s diminutive $25 / $35 Linux setups better would be if we could get our hands on them faster, the team behind it is already working on improvements like this prototype camera seen above. The add-on is slated to ship later this year and plugs into the CSI pins left exposed right in the middle of each unit. According to the accompanying blog post, the specs may be downgraded from the prototype’s 14MP sensor to keep things affordable, although there’s no word on an exact price yet. Possible applications include robotics and home automation, but until the hackers get their hands on them you’ll have to settle for one pic from the Pi’s POV after the break and a few more at the source linked below.
Continue reading Raspberry Pi team shows off pics of (and taken with) prototype camera add-on
Raspberry Pi team shows off pics of (and taken with) prototype camera add-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Ready for your latest tour through the dense and meandering wording of patent applications? Well, dig in, because it’s Microsoft’s turn to confuse lawyers the world over with this latest USPTO doc, submitted in November of 2010. The filing describes a computer-based program that would, essentially, analyze a primary device’s installed applications, cross-reference it with a different device and then either migrate that software batch or suggest similar apps to download on a secondary unit. Sounds a lot like a potential Windows Phone Marketplace recommendation / app transfer engine to us, but what exactly Redmond intends to use this pending patent for is anyone’s guess. As always, if you care to sacrifice a few minutes of your life to mind-numbing legal jargon, then by all means hit up the source link below.
Microsoft patent application outlines system to recommend and transfer apps across devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 22:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There are many ways to burn bridges with coworkers. But one CEO’s shenanigans stand out in my mind.
A few jobs and some years ago, I worked as the IT director at a company where I reported to the CEO, who had hired me a few years prior and thought of IT as a very important component for the business. I enjoyed a very good working relationship with him. He valued input from his managers and treated us with respect. However, he moved on one day and the board began looking for a replacement.
Going for a consistent look for your Apple setup? With a small footprint, aluminum body and matching detachable stands, the uCube speakers from UltraLink have a style that looks like they should have been included in the box with an iMac or MacBook. Plug ‘n’ Play USB powered, they claim to utilize a “smart” Digital [...]
A new site that can graph the sentiment of news stories based on data analysis. How much can we learn from the numbers behind the words?
Inarticle.org is an analysis tool for news stories or any other online writing designed by Jeremy Scott Diamond, a grad student at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Using his own custom programming and APIs, InArticle parses through text and highlights key words, proper names, places, phrases, and quotations and creates visually pleasing graphs based on the data.
Each article is rated for positive or negative keywords and phrases to determine the overall tone.
This graphs the frequency of phrases that appear in quotations in each article.
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Customers often approach “the cloud” as if it were some big-box store where IaaS (infrastructure as a service) can be purchased as a commodity. That may be marginally true for simple backup or for dev and test, where the risk of failure is not a big deal. But companies that wish to stand up mission-critical production applications on, say, Amazon Web Services, rapidly discover they need to become experts in the intricacies of the platform.
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Bellroy, a company that specializes in Better Ways to Carry, have developed a Travel Wallet that’s small enough to fit in your pocket. The Travel Wallet is made of midnight or cocoa leather, and it has multiple pockets to organize your tickets, cards, and passport. (Doesn’t hold the double-thickness passports, only standard ones.) It holds [...]
Cisco Systems has surveyed more than 1,300 IT professionals to determine the top priorities and challenges they face when migrating applications and information to the cloud. Guess what? It’s harder, and it takes longer than many thought.
Duh.
Note: This story has been updated. Please see clarification below.
While the main thing that would make Raspberry Pi’s diminutive $25 / $35 Linux setups better would be if we could get our hands on them faster, the team behind it is already working on improvements like this prototype camera seen above. The add-on is slated to ship later this year and plugs into the CSI pins left exposed right in the middle of each unit. According to the accompanying blog post, the specs may be downgraded from the prototype’s 14MP sensor to keep things affordable, although there’s no word on an exact price yet. Possible applications include robotics and home automation, but until the hackers get their hands on them you’ll have to settle for one pic from the Pi’s POV after the break and a few more at the source linked below.
Continue reading Raspberry Pi team shows off pics of (and taken with) prototype camera add-on
Raspberry Pi team shows off pics of (and taken with) prototype camera add-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 May 2012 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While Callaway has been helping you navigate the golf course for awhile, all its imagery has been abstract; that’s not much help if it turns out a patch marked “rough” on one hole is really shorthand for “crocodile-infested swamp.” To that end, Callaway is launching the upro mx+, an upgraded version of its GPS tracker that uses real overhead photography to give a more realistic impression of the green, as well as to hint whether or not there’s any chance you’ll get your ball back if you mess up. Along with the static images, there’s video flyovers to get a feel for the land at a perspective closer to your own. The updated touchscreen device also touts yardage calculation and an upgraded uexplore service for checking out scores and golf courses. The mx+ will carry a $249 price tag when it hits shops on May 30th, though the true-to-life graphics will freely emphasize just how much you’re over par.
Callaway upro mx+ will show you a real view of the golf course, won’t give you a mulligan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 02:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
It was fun while it lasted. In a move that frankly surprised no one, Yahoo has replaced its resume-padding CEO Scott Thompson with interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, whom one presumes has a squeaky-clean CV, some four months after hiring the former.
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Billed as “the first mobile mixer for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, for DJ-ing anytime, everywhere” the iRig MIX is fixing to make music mixing more mobile than ever.
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Windows RT, aka Windows on ARM-based devices, is too limited to succeed, say many people who’ve tried out the Windows 8 consumer preview. However, you don’t need an ARM tablet to simulate the Windows RT experience; just stick with the Metro part of Windows 8 on whatever touch device you have.
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Firewalls need to go away. I’m just saying what we all already know. Firewalls have always been problematic, and today there is almost no reason to have one.
Computer firewalls have been with us since the 1980s. Even early on it was pretty clear that they didn’t really work; if they did, we would have defeated malicious hackers and malware a long time ago. But at least back in the day there was a decent reason to need them.
Editor’s Pick
What were you doing at 9:30 a.m. Eastern? You certainly weren’t ringing the NASDAQ’s opening bell as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was doing. But what Zuck did simultaneously is perhaps even cooler.
To celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime, historic moment, Zuckerberg posted …
Ah, Yahoo — it gives and it gives and it gives, and what does it ask for in return? Only snickering mixed with incredulity. Just when it looked like things couldn’t get worse for the Web 1.0 giant that cannot seem to make it in a 2.0 world, the bottom fell further.
There are many ways to burn bridges with coworkers. But one CEO’s shenanigans stand out in my mind.
A few jobs and some years ago, I worked as the IT director at a company where I reported to the CEO, who had hired me a few years prior and thought of IT as a very important component for the business. I enjoyed a very good working relationship with him. He valued input from his managers and treated us with respect. However, he moved on one day and the board began looking for a replacement.
Wondering how the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S III is going? According to the Korea Economic Daily, an unnamed Samsung executive revealed that the followup to its previous fastest selling phone has already racked up nine million pre-orders around the world. That would put it nearly halfway to the 20 million Galaxy S II’s Samsung reported shipped back in February, and all without even officially moving a unit in the US yet. It’s not that we’re jealous of the rest of the world’s abilities to lay their cash down for some quad-core Exynos action while we wait to hear about the likely (still awesome) dual-core LTE-equipped US carrier variants due this summer, but yes — we’re jealous the rest of the world already has the option of choosing Samsung’s latest flagship phone. Once they do start shipping (assuming there’s no delays in customs) there should be plenty to go around however, as Reuters’ translation also indicates the company’s factory is already cranking out five million units every month.
Samsung’s Galaxy S III reportedly notches nine million pre-orders worldwide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 23:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Toshiba is announcing a slate of new machines that all sport Intel’s Ivy Bridge internals. The more austere Dynabook Qosmio T752 sheds the color-changing shell of its predecessor in favor of brushed aluminum. The AV-centric machine sports a TV Tuner and Blu-Ray drive in addition to its 15.6-inch LED-backlit 1366 x 768 display, a 1TB HDD and 8GB of RAM — all playing second fiddle to that 2.3GHz Core i7 CPU. You can also pick up the glasses-free 3D Qosmio T852 with an autostereoscopic display and a Dynabook T552, with all of those fun features stripped out, but promising a slightly (five hour) more longevous battery life.
At the same time, the company is outing a Regaza home-entertainment PC that comes hitched to a 23-inch 1920 x 1080 display, the same 2.3GHz Ivy Bridge chip and a pair of TV tuners, one analog and one digital. We’ll see these arrive in stores in Japan starting May 25th, with pricing and availability over here currently in the wind.
Toshiba strains metaphors, carries its laptop range over the Ivy Bridge originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 06:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The ColorTouch from Venstar looks like the ultimate gadgeteer’s thermostat. First of all, it is compatible with Apple iPhone, iTouch, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Mac and PC devices, which allows you to easily change settings remotely. Who knew that the ability to customize your home thermostat was important to people. It must be because the ColorTouch has interchangeable [...]
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Facebook’s march toward its IPO has put a harsh spotlight on the social network’s shortcomings, and one of the primary worries among prospective investors is that Facebook doesn’t have very sharp mobile chops. There are a million things it could be doing in mobile to draw in more revenue, they say, but it’s still an area in which the network moves painfully slowly.
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It’s likely overkill for those interested only in some basic tablet modding, but the folks from Liquidware (no strangers to the DIY scene) have a new bit of kit that should please those looking to take on a more ambitious project. Dubbed simply Amber, the kit is described as “80 percent of the way to a tablet” — you’ll get a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, a 7-inch capacitive display and a customized version of Android 2.3, but no pesky casing to get in the way of any other additions you see fit to add. That convenience comes at a bit of a cost, though. The Amber will set you back anywhere from $983 to $1,674 depending on the kit you choose. Head on past the break for a quick look at it on video.
Continue reading Liquidware debuts Amber, a customizable Android development tablet
Liquidware debuts Amber, a customizable Android development tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Instacast, Downcast, and Pocket Casts all bring podcasts directly to your iPhone and iPod touch, which is one of the best ways to enjoy them when you’re in the car, working out, sitting in the office, or simply lounging around the house. While all three allow you to browse and search for podcasts, which one has the best features geared towards the most users? Let’s listen and find out!
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Cable TV and Internet service provider Comcast is revising its policy on data caps, the company announced in a very thorough blog post today.
Previously, Comcast limited its residential Internet service subscribers to a 250GB data cap per month, meaning …
ScreenDIY is an iPhone app that lets you create unique Lock screens and Home screens with designer wallpapers, shelves, frames, icon skins and more.
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This year’s E3 is looking more notable for what we won’t be seeing.
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We’ve heard reports that Samsung has shifted focus at some of its camera manufacturing facilities away from point-and-shoot cameras with the objective of ramping up production of its compact mirrorless models. And while this move implies that the company’s pocketable compacts could be doomed, that’s simply not the case. We spoke with Reid Sullivan, Samsung’s Senior Vice President of Mobile Entertainment, who reinforced the company’s continuing commitment to developing and manufacturing point-and-shoot models — in short, pocketable cameras remain a focus for the company, which simply made manufacturing adjustments to accommodate an anticipated increase in demand for recently-launched NX20, NX210 and NX1000. Point-and-shoots, for better or worse, are here to stay, and Sullivan explained that while we’re unlikely to see new sub-$100 cameras make their debut, there’s plenty in the works on the SMART front, with new launches in store for upcoming events like Photokina and CES. Whether there will continue to be demand for point-and-shoots remains to be seen, and while consumers are clearly turning to smartphones for casual shooting, Samsung appears to be in no hurry to abandon the point-and-shoot form-factor.
Samsung clarifies camera production shift, confirms commitment to point-and-shoot models originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 13:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sitting at the intersection of group messaging and social networking is Everyme, a startup so zeroed in on private communication that it prevents sharing beyond its walls. Today the company, which allows users to post updates and photos to groups, …
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