iPad now on sale from Verizon Wireless and AT&T

You didn’t forget did you? Today’s the day that the WiFi-only iPad makes its inaugural appearance at Verizon. Whether it’s the beginning of better days between the two US giants remains to be seen. As a reminder, Verizon’s offer bundles a MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot with your choice of 16GB ($629), 32GB ($729), or 64GB ($829) iPads and 1GB ($20), 3GB ($35), or 5GB ($50) of data per month without contractual commitment.

Of lesser interest is the fact that AT&T will also begin selling the WiFi + 3G version of the iPad today in 16GB ($629), 32GB ($729), and 64GB ($829) with contract-free data plans for 250MB of data ($14.99) or 2GB of data ($25) per month with free access to AT&T’s 23,000+ domestic WiFi hotspots. AT&T’s also offering international plans ranging from 20MB for $24.99 per month on up to 200MB for a staggering $199.99 per month. Hit the appropriate source link below if either of these offers tickles your kraken.

[Thanks, Michael R. and Tyler P.]

iPad now on sale from Verizon Wireless and AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

We’ve receive a number of reports that a 2.3.20 software update for Verizon’s Droid 2 is slowly making the rounds this morning. The OTA push promises a number of improvements and enhancements with the promise of better battery life, faster transitions between WiFi and 3G data connection, and quicker location tracking when using GPS being perhaps the most notable. Other enhancements include:

  • New ability to add pictures from your Gallery to a contact.
  • Export all your contacts to the SD card.
  • View details of Social Networking contacts.
  • VZ Navigator is now preloaded on device.

Click through the break for the full list of improvements.

[Thanks, Mark L.]

Continue reading Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more

Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CyberNotes: Pie Menu Extension for Firefox (Review)

This article was written on August 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Web Browser Wednesday

easyGesturesWe talked quite a bit yesterday about how pie menus work, and even gave a short video demonstration of them in action. Today I thought that I would walk you through the most productive and usable pie menu system that I have come across. It is in the form of an extension for Firefox, and it’s received many upgrades from the last time that I mentioned it.

The Firefox extension is called easyGestures and it is constantly being updated. If you’ve ever used mouse gestures before, using this will almost come naturally, but it’s something that you can’t give up on right away. You have to get used to the way it works and familiarize yourself with the positioning of the commands before you’ll really start to see a rise in your productivity.

Here are some benefits of using easyGestures:

  • Less attention needed
    Pie menus are based on direction: you don’t have to stare at the screen to know reliably which spot you move and click the mouse. You can mouse ahead through a pie menu, fast and accurate, because it’s the direction, not the distance that matters.
  • No need to reach the Toolbar
    Clicking on a toolbar’s icons requires nearly as much attention as clicking on drop-down menus. It also requires wide up and down mouse movements that can get you cramps to the hand and eye strain in the case of a long or intensive use.
  • More space devoted to web pages display
    Because a pie menu is a popup menu that is not part of the user interface and that can replace the navigation toolbar, you would gain about 5% more space for displaying web pages by hiding your browser’s toolbar and using instead the pie menu.
  • No memorizing effort
    The main problem with regular mouse gestures (without UI) is that people can hardly remember all the gestures. Besides the trivial gestures like back or forward and a few others, they require a mental effort that is not worth doing. That’s not the case with pie menus.
  • Shorter gestures
    Any other gesture than a straight gesture is definitively a longer gesture and thus slower. Pie menus only require straight moves.

–Using easyGestures–

As soon as easyGestures is installed in Firefox it will be ready to use. By default the easyGestures pie menu will be brought up when you middle click in the browser. After the menu is brought up, just drag your mouse in the direction of one of the commands, and then let go of the middle mouse button. The command will then be activated.

You probably won’t know all of the commands right off the bat, and that is something the easyGesture developer thought of. So if you have the pie menu open long enough you should see some text that appears next to each button:

easyGestures

The first thing that I noticed was that middle-clicking and dragging your mouse to the left or to the right always activates the back/forward commands. That matches up to every mouse gesture application that I’ve ever used for browsers, and makes it easy to adopt this extension into your routine.

You might have also noticed the little up arrow at the top of the pie menu. If you drag your mouse towards it, there will be yet another expanding menu (dragging your mouse back down will collapse the menu):

easyGestures

And there’s still more! If you press the Alt key on the keyboard, an Alternate pie menu will appear with even more options:

easyGestures

–Contextual Pie Menus–

The odds are probably pretty good that the commands in the pie menus pictured above won’t apply if you’re clicking on a link or an image. Don’t worry, easyGestures thought of that as well by offering several different contextual pie menus. These can be activated by holding down the Control key on the keyboard and middle-clicking on a link, image, text box, or something you’ve selected.

Note: This can be configured in the Options to not require the Control key to activate the contextual pie menus.

easyGestures

–Options–

Oh man…there are a lot of options! I didn’t even know where to begin listing the things that you can customize, so I just took a bunch of screenshots to show you what can be done. To get to the options just double-click on the icon located in the Status Bar of Firefox.

Note: Click on any of the following screenshots for a fullsize version
easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings easyGestures Settings

–Stats–

I’m sure you will want to know how productive you are with easyGestures, and so it tells you that as well. If you visit the stats section, you’ll find out which commands you are using the most, and which paths your mouse frequently travels. You’ll also find out how addicted you are to the extension with its three-star rating in the upper-right corner. :)

easyGestures Stats easyGestures Stats

–Overview–

I would say that this is one of the only true productive uses of a pie menu currently available. It’s extremely customizable, and if you so wish it can even be setup to replace the right-click menu in Firefox. And before you know it, you won’t even be looking at the icons because you’ll have the corresponding gestures memorized! :)

I think this demonstrates very well how pie menus would make an operating system more usable…especially with a customized menu system for different types of files and different applications. If you didn’t catch the article from yesterday regarding how pie menus work make sure you check it out because I offer a lot of pointers on why they are so great.

easyGestures Homepage

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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MeeGo v1.1 for handsets is out, let the N900 dual-booting begin (video)

Following hot on the heels of the PR 1.3 update for the N900 comes the official MeeGo v1.1 build for handsets with U-Boot support. For developers, or anyone who simply likes to hack around, that means that the Nokia N900 is now ready to dual-boot into your choice of Maemo or MeeGo environments. If that sounds like fun then boy do we have the image repository for you (Hint: it’s in the source link below). We’ll let everyone else know when the community has made the process idiot-proof. Until then, why not play an unmodified webOS game or catch a glimpse of the dual-boot process in action in the video after the break.

Continue reading MeeGo v1.1 for handsets is out, let the N900 dual-booting begin (video)

MeeGo v1.1 for handsets is out, let the N900 dual-booting begin (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo posts half-year net loss, a first in seven years

After three years of record earnings, the mighty house that Mario built is reporting a net loss of ¥2.01 billion ($25 million) in the fiscal first half ending 30 September versus a profit of ¥69.49 billion a year earlier. In addition to the adverse affects suffered under a strong yen, Nintendo’s sales for the first half of its fiscal year were down 35 percent to ¥363.16 billion due to lower demand for its Wii console. According to the Wall Street Journal, this represents Nintendo’s first net loss in the fiscal first half in the last seven years. The future outlook is pretty grim too with Nintendo forecasting an annual profit drop to the lowest level in six years as Wii console sales decline for the second year in a row. Ouch.

Nintendo posts half-year net loss, a first in seven years originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iBuyPower revamps Gamer Mage / Paladin desktops with Radeon HD 6800 GPUs

You’re already sold on ATI’s new Radeon HD 6800 series, but your existing motherboard and CPU just feel too aged to become home to such a shiny, fresh piece of silicon. We hear you. So does iBuyPower. Rather than forking out and upgrading just your GPU, these guys are hoping you’ll ogle the newly revised Gamer Mage D295, Gamer Mage D355, and Gamer Paladin F820, all three of which are available with the HD 6870 and HD 6850. The Gamer Mage D295 gets housed in a Thermaltake V9 enclosure and ships with a liquid cooled Athlon II X4 640 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 6850 (1GB), LG Blu-ray reader / DVD combo drive, 1TB of HDD space and a 700 watt power supply — all for the low, low price of $899. The D335 (starts at $1,239) steps up to a liquid cool Phenom II X6 1055T, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a Radeon HD 6870 GPU, 64GB SSD and an 800 watt PSU, while the F280 (starts at $1,369) goes all-out with a liquid cooled Core i7 950, 6GB of DDR3 memory, an HD 6870 GPU and NZXT’s Guardian 921 R case. Hit the links below to get your customization on.

Continue reading iBuyPower revamps Gamer Mage / Paladin desktops with Radeon HD 6800 GPUs

iBuyPower revamps Gamer Mage / Paladin desktops with Radeon HD 6800 GPUs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hot Hardware  |  sourceiBuyPower (1), (2), (3)  | Email this | Comments

HTC Mecha leaked on HTC Sense

We’ve been hearing the hushed whispers of an HTC Mecha handset for a few months. Now we’ve got solid evidence of its existence thanks to the HTC’s own HTC Sense web site that lists the Mecha along side the Desire HD and Desire Z when signing up for an account. Unfortunately, the image used for the Mecha (found after the break) appears to be the old Hero handset unless HTC is planning to resurrect that particular industrial design (which we doubt). Now get out of here and hit the source link to try it for yourselves.

Update: And it’s gone.

[Thanks, Anthony P.]

Continue reading HTC Mecha leaked on HTC Sense

HTC Mecha leaked on HTC Sense originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iMovie 11 knows you’re not ready for the video jelly

You may not know what it’s called but you’ve definitely seen it. The wobble or “jelly” effect seen in video captured by cameras with CMOS sensors relying upon rolling shutters instead of the global shutters found in cameras with CCDs. The issue stems from the way a CMOS acquires the image by recording each frame in horizontal bands, working from the top to the bottom. Since all parts of the image are not recorded at the same time, moving the camera, even slightly at telephoto settings, causes the image to skew and go all rubbery. Well, iMovie 11 can fix that, or at least smooth it out with options for Low, Medium, High, and Extra High distortion reduction. It’s just one of many new additions including the often discussed Movie Trailers, support for 24p footage, vastly improved audio editing, and a People Finder feature that lets you search for family members in raw footage… but it might be our favorite. See a video demonstration after the break before hitting up the source for the full review over at MacWorld.

Continue reading iMovie 11 knows you’re not ready for the video jelly

iMovie 11 knows you’re not ready for the video jelly originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China Just Kicked Our Asses In Supercomputing [Supercomputers]

China’s stolen the US’ chip-laden crown for building the world’s fastest supercomputer. The National University of Defense Technology’s Tianhe-1A PC uses “American” chips from Intel and Nvidia, and supposedly it solves math problems 29million times faster than 1976’s supercomputer. More »

Oakley’s 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy

Think run-of-the-mill 3D specs just aren’t cutting it? Need the sort of eyewear that ENCOM International would approve or? Here’s perhaps a better question: got a infinitesimally-deep hole burning in your pocket? Oakley’s recently-announced “optically-correct” 3D glasses are getting a special Tron: Legacy edition in honor of the upcoming internet documentary. Expect graphic art on the frames that, in some of the most amusing and illustrative words we’ve read in a press release for some time, “salute the cinematic story.” Asking price is a steep $150, but fashion doesn’t run cheap — besides, how else are you going to stand out in a dark room filled with bespectacled people all facing the same direction?

Oakley’s 3D specs are a perfect blend of gaudiness and Tron: Legacy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 02:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceOakley  | Email this | Comments