Losing or breaking your phone doesn’t mean you have to lose all your data, too–as long as you back it up first. Find out how to back up your valuable apps, contacts, messages, and more with just a few easy steps.
Update: Microsoft thinks it has a fix, offering our BlackBerry-in-chief his choice of WP7 handsets. Might we suggest the Arrive?
President Obama complains White House technology is ’30 years behind’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
@markknoller (Twitter), Fox News | Email this | Comments
Rail guns are still halfway between sci-fi and battlefield, but the armscrafters at General Atomics are still working to improve the futuristic weapon. Instead of launching clunky “bricks,” a new, aerodynamic round is being tested. Git ready fer military porn! More »
In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney and Mike Isaac discuss the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. We got one, and we tested it. Bottom line? It looks great, but it’s missing a few big things — like an e-mail client. Its support for Adobe Flash is causing us concern too, because Flash doesn’t run stably yet.
After that, Mike Calore comes on to talk about the Eye-Fi Mobile X2, a kind of amped-up SD card for your camera that also doubles as a Wi-Fi adapter. The newest version can transmit photos directly to your smartphone: no computer or Wi-Fi network required. Instagram fans, rejoice!
——
Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast on iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our stylish eyewear, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.
Or listen to the audio here:
Gadget Lab audio podcast #112
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0112.mp3
Reports have been going around for the past couple weeks stating that the 3DS has fallen just short of the original DS sales. This appears to be confirmed now that the sale numbers have been released; the Nintendo 3DS sold 400,000 consoles in its first week in the U.S. The original Nintendo DS sold a 100,000 more than the 3DS in its first week of sales.
Despite the lower sales record, Nintendo still has hopes for the first month of sales. Nintendo originally expected a record breaking amount of sales during its first month. We’ll have to wait and see if the sales improve. Until then, Nintendo still seems pleased with the first week of sales.
One fact has been cleared, the quake did not affect Nintendo, so that cannot be blamed for the lower sales. Nintendo made sure to make that clear during the release of the US first week sales numbers.
Via Xbit Labs
We’ve peered back in time to the early days of the universe, just following the Big Bang, and unraveled the mysteries of the human genome — yet we don’t really know how a moving bicycle manages to stay upright without a meatbag manning the handlebars. Scientists have long thought that it had something to do with the gyroscopic effect created by the spinning wheels and the caster effect of having the front wheel trail the steering axis (don’t worry, it’s all explained in a video at the source link). Researchers at Cornell, however, have created a tiny bike that generates neither of those effects yet, thanks to carefully calibrated mass distribution, still stays vertical when moving over 5MPH. The insights learned here could lead to self-stabilizing rides for us and cooler wheels for our pedal-happy automatons to inherit. PR after the break.
Continue reading Scientists unlock the secrets of bike stability, make riders optional
Scientists unlock the secrets of bike stability, make riders optional originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Physorg | Cornell Chronicle, Cornell University | Email this | Comments
WP7-installed mobile devices are subjected to automated testing cycles. Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com
Microsoft’s new Windows phone platform hasn’t gained much momentum in the market, but the company is rapidly revising the operating system in an effort to catch up with rivals.
The company on Wednesday at its MIX developer conference detailed the upcoming software update for Windows Phone 7, dubbed “Mango,” due for release this fall.
The software update will be compatible with all smartphones running Windows Phone 7. Microsoft’s new OS is available on some smartphones from hardware partners including LG, Samsung, HTC and Dell.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is the software giant’s complete do-over on a mobile OS, after its predecessor, Windows Mobile, took a big hit in market share in the wake of Apple’s iPhone and Android-powered smartphones.
Notably, the Mango update will introduce multitasking for background processing, file transfers and fast app switching, similar to Apple’s iOS multitasking.
Also, third-party apps will be able to take advantage of some of the sensors inside Windows Phone 7-powered hardware, including the camera and motion sensors, for programmers to create augmented-reality applications. Some other core features of Windows Phone 7 include copy and paste and multimedia messaging.
“The next release of Windows Phone represents the evolution of our strategy for ensuring that developers are at the forefront of ‘what’s next’ by investing in even richer customer experiences, a powerful application platform and a thriving ecosystem,” said Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Windows Phone, in a statement.
Indubitably, Apple and Google will continue issuing software updates for their mobile operating systems too. But it’s worth noting that copy and paste didn’t appear on Apple’s iPhone until version 3.0, and multitasking and fast-app switching came in version 4.0. Windows Phone 7 has only been on the market since November 2010, and it’s going to be delivering all those features after less than a year.
The nimble pace of Windows phone upgrades shows how seriously Microsoft is investing in the new Windows Phone 7 platform, despite its paltry sales estimates. That intensity may be partly spurred by anticipation of its impending partnership with Nokia.
Microsoft and Nokia recently announced their plans to sell Windows Phone 7-powered Nokia phones together. Given Nokia’s position as the world’s largest cellphone manufacturer, this partnership should provide a significant springboard for Windows Phone 7 to gain presence worldwide.
The first Nokia Windows phones won’t ship until 2012, and at the pace Microsoft is moving with Windows Phone updates, it will be interesting to see how much the mobile space changes once that partnership comes into fruition. Research firm IDC predicts that Windows Phone 7 will be the No. 2 player in the smartphone market by 2015.
See Also:
The G Tablet hasn’t been getting much attention of late, slowly fading into obscurity as newer and fancier slates come floating on down the river. Now, thanks to XDA member pershoot, Viewsonic’s Tegra 2 tab has a little extra spring in its step. He’s managed to get it running at 1.4GHz (a 40 percent boost over stock) and, with the ability to run CyanogenMod 7, this 10.1-incher is definitely earning a reputation as something of a hacker’s delight. Now it’s even easier to afford, too, with Amazon knocking the price down to $280. Cheap and tweakable? Really, it doesn’t get any better than that.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
ViewSonic G Tablet overclocked to 1.4GHz, goes on sale to celebrate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink xda-developers | xda-developers forum, Amazon | Email this | Comments
Wizards hurl spells, knights heft their swords and orcs cling to the ramparts at the Dungeons & Dragon-themed Boo Rochman Memorial Park in Carbondale, Ill.
The Flip may be dead, but it spawned an entire device category: the shoot-and-share mini-camcorder. Here are some of its followers worth checking out now and down the road.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
