Google’s spat with Chinese government causes ‘postponement’ of Android phones

You have to love a good clash of legitimate titans, and they don’t get much bigger than Google and China. After deciding to stop censoring its Google.cn results, the Mountain View company of evil-non-doers has stepped up its offensive with the announcement that two Android phones — one from Samsung and one from Motorola — which were slated to make their arrival on China Unicom on Wednesday have now been postponed. We’ll read between the lines and guess that the phones will be “postponed” if China plays nice, or “never gonna happen” if it doesn’t. Google seems intent on demonstrating the full impact of its potential withdrawal from China, and this show of its sway with mobile manufacturers will hardly go unnoticed.

[Thanks, David Casteneta]

Google’s spat with Chinese government causes ‘postponement’ of Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBBC  | Email this | Comments

Silicon Power crams 128GB into 400x Compact Flash card: a world’s first

Whoa, we just hit yet another major performance milestone in removable storage. Silicon Power is touting the world’s first 128GB 400x Compact Flash card with write speeds of 90MBps and support for PIO Mode-6 (as defined by CompactFlash spec 2.0) and Multi-Word DMA 4 (as defined by CompactFlash spec 2.1) transfer mode in quad-channel configurations. In other words, it’ll play nice with new HD video capable DSLR shooters. Unfortunately, the card is only being announced today — no price or ship date in the press release. Sigh.

Silicon Power crams 128GB into 400x Compact Flash card: a world’s first originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcedpreview  | Email this | Comments

CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part LXVI: Acer founder predicts extinction of US PC makers within 20 years

Oh, this is as tasty as it is salacious. Acer founder and former chairman (now retired) Stan Shih has come out with the bold prediction that US computer brands are on the way out — if they do not adjust to the new reality of a PC market focused on low cost. When asked how he foresees Acer and ASUS establishing their brand credentials in the USA when they’re engaged in constant price wars, Shih resolutely stated that lowering costs and prices is the way to do it. Drawing an analogy to the fate of US television brands (pow!), Shih pointed out his belief that American vendors aren’t capable (slap!) of delivering the sort of affordability that the market is set to permanently demand. As harsh as his words may be, let’s not forget Acer recently jumped Dell for the number two spot in volume of global sales, so let’s not ignore what may in fact be prophecy rather than mere prattle.

CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part LXVI: Acer founder predicts extinction of US PC makers within 20 years originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Inquirer  |  sourceAFP  | Email this | Comments

Sony VAIO Z brings Quad SSD drive and dynamic graphics switching to Europe in March

Announced at CES with a “late Spring” availability, we just got word that the Core i7-620M pumpin’ VAIO Z series from Sony will be hitting Europe in late March. The Z’s biggest claim to fame is its ultra-fast Quad SSD, a rather unique Sony innovation that writes data in parallel to four SSDs (up to 256GB total capacity in RAID 0) at speeds up to 6.2x faster than typical 5400 rpm laptop hard disks. Sony also fits the Z with a hybrid graphics solution that combines 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with Intel HD graphics allowing you to automatically (or manually) switch between “speed” and “stamina” modes… presumably without requiring a logout if we’re reading “dynamic” correctly. Rounding out the specs are 6GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 802.11n WiFi, integrated optical drive, and optional VAIO Everywair 3G mobile broadband module all stuffed into this 13.1-inch laptop with 1920 x 1080 pixel LED backlit display with 210 x 23.8-32.7 x 314mm and 1.43kg footprint. Power AND portability? Come give us a hug Sony.

Sony VAIO Z brings Quad SSD drive and dynamic graphics switching to Europe in March originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSony Europe  | Email this | Comments

ReCellular will recycle your phone and donate all proceeds to Haiti disaster relief

It might’ve been hard to watch pictures of the latest natural disaster striking the island of Haiti recently, but lending a hand in the relief effort shouldn’t be. If you’ve got an older cellphone — functioning or otherwise — batteries, chargers, or other accessories, ReCellular wants to hear from you. The cellphone recycling company has launched a Phones for Haiti program, whereby you can donate your unwanted handsets and rest assured that 100 percent of the revenue raised from them will go to helping Haiti survivors rebuild. Partnering with the American Red Cross, ReCellular will even pay for the shipping of your castoff electronics, so really, how much easier do you want it?

ReCellular will recycle your phone and donate all proceeds to Haiti disaster relief originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Inhabitat  |  sourceReCellular  | Email this | Comments

Online Photoshop Express Image Editor

This article was written on September 07, 2007 by CyberNet.

online photoshop express screenshot
Click to Enlarge

Adobe announced back in March that they intended to create an online Photoshop that is geared towards home and casual computer users. The solution that they came up with, called Photoshop Express, will offer a simplistic interface that is free for everyone to use. However, it will be ad supported (I’m guessing that’s what the box in the bottom-right corner of the screenshot is for).

The online Photoshop Express is not yet available, and all we have to go on at this point is the screenshot that has been provided by John Nack, the Senior Product Manager of Adobe Photoshop. Aside from the screenshot the only feature he mentioned was being able to  "adjust an image just by rolling over the different versions shown at the top, previewing the results & then clicking the desired degree of modification."

I think I’ve been able to draw some fairly accurate conclusions by analyzing the screenshot of Photoshop Express:

  • Options available in the sidebar:
    • Crop and rotate photos
    • Auto correct is available (hopefully this is as good as Photoshop’s)
    • White balance adjustments
    • Tuning – probably adjusting hue, saturation, exposure, etc…
    • Details – might be some basic filters from Photoshop, such as blurring
    • Touchup – probably things like removing red eye and fixing small imperfections in the photo
    • Fun – probably for adding shapes, callouts, etc…
    • Recent – things you’ve recently applied to the image?
  • Zoom in and out
  • Undo/redo or reset the photo back to the original
  • A history of your edited photos is kept in the sidebar
  • A history of changes to the current photo is in the top bar
  • You can save an image, or export it (probably to Photoshop)

So that’s my best guess of what the online Photoshop Express will have at launch, and all of that is based solely on the screenshot. One of the more interesting things that I’ve noticed is missing from it is a lacking of layer management. One of Photoshop’s strongest features is being able to manage insane amounts of layers, but I see no section dedicated to that type of feature in the online version.

I would say that the best online Photoshop clone has got to be Fauxto. The interface is extremely close to that of Photoshop, and it has an extensive list of features available (including layer management). I would say that Adobe should have just acquired this site instead of making their own version of Photoshop online, but I have a feeling that Adobe wouldn’t have been comfortable with Fauxto since it is a bit too close to the real deal.

Source: Adobe Blog [via CrunchGear]

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

Related Posts:


Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth gets the hands-on treatment (video)

We see so many great concepts disappear from view before becoming reality that you could excuse us if by now we’re a little jaded. That said, we’ve been holding on to hope that Teenage Engineering’s pocket sequencer / synth / sampler / controller was the real deal. And what is this? According to the gang at Create Digital Music, who got hold of one of these things at NAMM 2010, the thing is real — and it’s coming soon. Even for a prototype, the OP-1 appears to be an impressive creature: aside from sporting the aforementioned synth, this bad boy sports a four-track virtual tape recorder (with “virtual splicing” for editing your audio), a sampling feature that allows you to change the record speed in real time (for analog-like editing effects), and a dazzling display screen (at least when compared to the displays on current hardware). But that ain’t all! Get a closer look in the video below, and with any luck we might be seeing it become available this year, for a price below $1,000.

Continue reading Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth gets the hands-on treatment (video)

Teenage Engineering OP-1 synth gets the hands-on treatment (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCreate Digial Music  | Email this | Comments

CScout Interview with Pokya.jp

I recently did an interview with the always-energetic Joseph Tame of Pokya.jp. When he’s not running marathons with an iPhone strapped to his head, he’s getting into the local business scene and/or going wild.

michael-keferl-pokya-interview

In the interview we talk about business in Japan in general, with a focus on our upcoming ECO Japan report which will be available through our company homepage once it’s relaunched. Lots going on!

Check out the full interview or subscribe by iTunes if you want more.

Pink and blue Wii Remotes ready for Valentine’s Day pre-order

Nintendo may be a lot of things, but stupid it ain’t. Cashing in on yet another gift-giving holiday, the console sales leader is bringing Americans a pair of freshly paint-licked Wii Remotes that should appeal to the his-and-hers demographic that seems to grow in number at this time of year. As you can see above, grabbing one will set you back $54.99, which is about the same price as the regular MotionPlus bundle. So, even if you weren’t thinking about wooing your loved one with yet another Wii peripheral, at least the US now gets a 200 percent improvement in MotionPlus color choices. How is that not progress?

[Thanks, Brandon]

Pink and blue Wii Remotes ready for Valentine’s Day pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGameStop  | Email this | Comments

Apple’s App Store said to have 99.4 percent of all mobile app sales, more like 97.5

The latest research from Gartner indicates that, for the year 2009, only 16 million app sales were executed on mobile devices not bearing the infamous bitten apple logo. In reporting this data, Ars Technica inadvertently conflates Apple’s latest announcement of three billion apps downloaded with the notion of three billion apps sold and pegs the App Store’s market share at a whopping 99.4 percent — but more realistic calculations still show it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 97.5 percent. Going off estimates (obtained by GigaOM) that a quarter of App Store downloads are paid-for apps, and taking a rough figure of 2.5 billion downloads in 2009, leaves us with around 625 million app sales performed by Apple, which comfortably dwarfs all its competition. Considering the fact 18 months ago there wasn’t even an App Store to speak of — whereas today Cupertino is gobbling up the best part of $4.2 billion in annual mobile apps revenue — maybe you can now understand why we’re covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet.

Apple’s App Store said to have 99.4 percent of all mobile app sales, more like 97.5 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceArs Technica, Gartner  | Email this | Comments