We’ve been sitting on the same kind of crapper for centuries. Sure, the plumbing has gotten more tucked away and seats are now fashioned out of all sorts of materials and styles (including plush vinyl embroidered with cats), but as far as the toilets themselves go, hundreds of years after they were invented, they’re still largely porcelain. More »
If you happen to be a Star Wars fan and also have a great love for music, then you will be able to meet in the middle with the Guitar2-D2 – a particular piece of music instrument that falls under the purview of the DIY category. Doug is the mastermind behind this homemade Guitar2-D2, and it will have a guitar body that is shaped after everyone’s favorite astromech droid. After all, since R2-D2 has had plenty of time in space faring adventures in its rather colorful past, don’t you think that it is time for the venerable old droid to take a back seat and retire from the adrenaline pumping, Imperial Stormtroopers evading lifestyle? You should learn how to unwind, kick back those legs onto a sofa and start strumming some tunes that would make even Jabba the Hutt smile.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Star Wars Remote Control R2-D2 Whizz Watch, Home Star R2-D2 available now,
Pandora’s music-sharing channel on Roku has been spruced up with a new station screen design and a few minor (but welcome) new features. Version 3.0 adds genre station functionality within a new grid interface, while the whole family (or at least up to five of them) can now connect their Pandora accounts to the same Roku hardware. For extended play, a new screen saver will display track details alongside album art and the renovated search will also display those album covers in results. Roku owners can expect their channel to auto-update in the next 48 hours, but anyone who hasn’t yet sampled the delights of Pandora can pick up the free download from the streaming box’s channel store.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software
Pandora channel gets refresh, version 3.0 arrives on Roku originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you aren’t all about grabbing a new account for Microsoft’s Outlook email today and do indeed have a Gmail account you use with your iOS device, today is looking up. The iPhone and iPad version of Gmail has been updated to version 1.3 today for the masses, made for not just bug fixes, but a selection of worthwhile upgrades as well. Have a peek at your updates drawer right this minute to make the change, and meanwhile bask in the warming glow of free software boosts.
The first think you will be noticing in Gmail 1.3 for your iPad and/or iPhone is the overall smoothness of the user interface. This version of Gmail for iOS has been updated for smoother animations as well as smoother scrolling for all devices. Next, you’ll find that your ability to download attachments to your photo library now exists. You’ll still be limited to photos for your photo library of course, but all is well!
The bugs that Google has fixed for this release of Gmail have not been listed, but we’re sure they weren’t that wild in the first place – so just chill. Google has let the world know that, “Buttons respond to presses a little more quickly, scrolling is smoother and new views transition faster” as well. These updates come directly after some announced updates that came down just a few weeks ago directly following Google I/O 2012.
You’ll find that using Gmail with your iPhone or iPad is just as easy – or easier – than using it on your PC or Mac at home at the desk. These apps are made to make perfect use of your touch interface and make it beyond-entertaining to do everyday tasks as well. Stay tuned as Google continues to push their own apps on all software, especially in the wake of the competition ramping up!
Gmail iOS app updated to stay smooth is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apple was granted yet another armament in their massive arsenal of U.S. patents, where the graphical user interface that currently sees action in iOS will have its “hit region” which is roughly the size of a virtual keyboard’s buttons, and is based on predictive text data. After all, this particular patent is more or less an elegant solution to the issue of entering text on a mobile device’s relatively small display. Apple’s U.S. Patent No. 8,232,973 for a “Method, device, and graphical user interface providing word recommendations for text input” will effectively enlarge the virtual keyboard’s buttons area based on a predictive input system without the need to resize the visual keyboard asset.
The patent does read as follows, “However, the size of these portable communication devices also restricts the size of the text input device, such as a physical or virtual keyboard, in the portable device. With a size-restricted keyboard, designers are often forced to make the keys smaller or overload the keys. Both may lead to typing mistakes and thus more backtracking to correct the mistakes. This makes the process of communication by text on the devices inefficient and reduces user satisfaction with such portable communication devices.”
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple picks up patents for Wild 3D Gesturing, iPhone to end up as a game controller?,
Anticipation for the Oculus Rift has been building ever since we were first introduced to it back at E3, and today we got a look at a very early prototype. Creator Palmer Luckey shared the image you see below, and even though it isn’t the prettiest of devices, it will do a lot to get followers of the project excited. Road to VR points out that the headset in the image won’t be meant for ordinary consumers – that will be the Oculus Rift 2.0, which is scheduled to launch in 2013. Instead, this first device is aimed at die-hard VR fans and developers. Have a look:
Of course, it’s important to remember that isn’t necessarily the finished product. Its design could change greatly by the time everything is said and done, and Luckey is expected to share some new renders of the headset when the Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift gets underway. That Kickstarter campaign should be launching soon, but at the moment we don’t have a solid kick-off date.
Luckey also announced that there will be an Oculus Rift SDK available to interested developers. Developing for Oculus Rift isn’t going to be a cake walk, however, as developers will have to overcome challenges that are unique to the world of virtual reality. There can be all sorts of issues with head tracking, for instance, and there’s also the fact that the output needs to warped in order to provide users with a wider field of view. The Rift SDK will hopefully make the obstacles a bit easier for developers to deal with, as Luckey says that the goal is making the development process hard on the device itself, not the developers.
In other news, the Oculus Rift will have a booth at QuakeCon later this week, where the unit will be displayed and presumably demoed. The write-up on Road to VR suggests that the Kickstarter campaign may be launching before QuakeCon kicks off on Thusday, August 2, so keep an eye out for that one. We’re definitely excited to see where this goes, so keep it tuned to SlashGear for more information on the Oculus Rift!
Early Oculus Rift prototype revealed is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It’s been awhile since its last update but it looks like Google has pushed out some new improvements to its iOS app. According to reports online, the updated Gmail features smoother animation and scrolling on the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the ability to save picture attachments to your photo library (yay!). As usual, we get some bug fixes though it wasn’t mentioned what they were and unfortunately there’s still no support for multiple accounts.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of the current iOS app since I’ve been spoiled by Gmail on Android, but there’s not much to complain about since Apple isn’t going to be letting an ICS-optimized app (in terms of aesthetics and functionality) on its iOS devices anytime soon. However for those of you with iOS devices, be sure to grab the latest update from the Apple App Store and let us know if you’ve found anything new that’s not mentioned here.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Code School launches Kickstarter project to teach iOS programming, Facebook for iOS gains a new Save feature,
And you thought that Nintendo World Championships gold cartridge would make a nice start to the retirement fund. An eBay auction from tjcurtin1 is offering a prototype NES cartridge for the US release of The Legend of Zelda at a Buy It Now price of $150,000, or roughly ten times more than the typical final bid that Price Charting quotes for a typical NWC cart. While it looks like an unassuming yellow chunk of plastic, it’s actually a Nintendo of America copy from February 23, 1987 — half a year before the definitive action adventure reached the US market. The game still plays and can even save its game on the still functional, industry-first battery backup. Just remember that it’s not necessarily going to reveal any design secrets from Shigeru Miyamoto or Takashi Tezuka: the seller warns that he can’t see any practical differences between the early copy and the (also included) shipping version. Anyone well-heeled enough to buy the prototype is therefore going solely for the collector’s value. But for those determined to be the coolest kid on any block about 25 years late, there’s only one way to go.
Filed under: Gaming
Legend of Zelda prototype cartridge goes to auction: $150,000 proves your loyalty to Hyrule (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Amazon’s Cloud Player has always been able to take your crappy old MP3s and stream them to any device with access to the S3 cloud, but now Amazon has an added perk for users: they’ll upgrade any low bitrate files you upload to 256kbps quality. More »
Pwnie Express first made waves in the hacking and cybersecurity community when they released the Pwn Plug, a device that looks like an electric air freshener but is actually a computer used for penetration testing, i.e. assessing a computer network’s security by attacking it. Their latest product is much bigger, but still covert.
The Power Pwn is a fully functioning power strip, with eight 120/240V AC outlets. But it’s also a “fully-integrated, enterprise-class penetration testing platform.” It runs Debian 6 and is loaded with tunneling and snooping software. It has internal Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas, as well as a 3G external antenna for long distance pwning.
If you understood the previous paragraph – I certainly didn’t – you might want to head to Pwnie Express for more information or to pre-order the Power Pwn. It costs $1,295 (USD) and should be available by September 30. Meanwhile I’m going to check my power strips for Ethernet ports.
[Thanks, Sir Mason!]
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.
