A new feature being tested out by Youtube could add infinitely many new uses to the video-hosting service. TechCrunch reports that a user-customized quiz feature called “Video Questions Editor Beta” (first spotted by a Dutch tech site). More »
Plenty of Foursquare fans use the app primarily as a means to share their own location and see the locations of others around them, but Foursquare isn’t only about socially-acceptable stalking. At the GigaOm Mobilize conference today, company co-founder Dennis Crowley informed those of us in the room that thinking of Foursquare as merely a check-in app is misguided. According to him, the plan for Foursquare has always been for it to be a customized discovery and recommendation engine first, and a social tool second. You see, all your check-ins provide Foursquare with valuable information about you and your friend’s habits. Those check-ins, as far as Foursquare’s concerned, are merely an efficient means to get the data needed to build the individualized, location-aware search and recommendation engine that powers the explore tab in the app. Crowley said that he’s been hearing plenty of positive feedback from users about the accuracy and usefulness of Foursquare-powered search, and some folks have even begun using it instead of Google. Foursquare isn’t on Mountain View’s level just yet, but it seems that Crowley and his cohort have the reigning king of search squarely in their sights.
Dennis Crowley: Foursquare’s a discovery and recommendation engine first, social service second originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In PBS’ latest Off Book video, they examine the art of web design. We spend so much of our time on websites these days that when they’re good, we don’t even think about them anymore. But, of course, it wasn’t always like that. People had to build them bare before they could add some pizazz to it. More »
Thermaltake has once again expended its line of mid-tower PC cases by unveiling the New Soprano. Available in both black and white color options, the case is equipped with a front-placed I/O panel with 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0 and 2x audio ports, an aluminum front panel door, a top-mounted HDD hot swap docking station, four 5.25-inch external drive bays, one 3.5-inch external drive bay, five 2.5-/3.5-inch internal drive bays, seven expansion slots and has two fans (1x 200mm Blue LED fan – front, 1x 120mm Turbo fan – rear). Pricing and release date are still unknown at the moment. [Thermaltake]
Since it’s already Friday, September 21st in Australia, the guys over at iFixit decided to take a trip down under, and already have their hands on a shiny new iPhone 5. As is their tradition, they’ve started the process of ripping it apart to show us what’s inside. With so many early leaks of the iPhone 5′s parts, I’m guessing there won’t be too many surprises, but it’s still always fun to get a bit of geek porn whenever a new gadget comes out anyhow.
Image Credit: iFixit
What we know so far is that the new phone looks as nice as it does in Apple’s beauty shots, and that it’s still sealed tight by their annoying pentalobe screws. On the plus side, it looks like the screen module will be much, much easier to replace than the one on the iPhone 4/4S. As already suspected, the battery is only a tiny bit more powerful than the one in the iPhone 4S, so we can only hope that the phone performs as well as Apple claims on the power-sucking 4G network. Hopefully, the new CPU and display sip less power than the prior models.
Image Credit: iFixit
Thusfar, iFixit hasn’t finished identifying all the chips inside the iPhone 5, but they have posted some images in case you’d like to start your own detective work right now. Every time I see one of these tiny motherboards, I’m blown away by the incredible advances in miniaturization over the last few years. Just think, this thing is more powerful than any PowerBook Apple ever released.
Image Credit: iFixit
You can check out the iPhone 5 teardown in progress over at iFixit right now. Be sure to refresh often as they finish up their disassembly if you want to find out all the other gory details of the internals of the latest iPhone.
MyDigitalSSD hits back by launching their latest SSD, the SuperSSpeed. Coming in 128GB of capacity, this 2.5-inch SSD is packed with SLC NAND Flash memory chips, a SATA 6.0 Gbps interface, a SandForce SF-2281 controller, TRIM support and capable of delivering read and write speeds of up to 550MB/s and 520MB/s, respectively. The 128GB SuperSSpeed is available now for $275. [Product Page]
It’s HiFi, over WiFi. Got that? Now cross your fingers and repeat that three times, lest you forget exactly what the Phorus PS1 speaker and PR1 receiver allow you to do. So it’s a WiFi speaker and receiver combo? Well, almost. There’s also an Android app that ties it all together. Load it up on your phone, or whatever Android you choose, and it’ll sniff out all the (90dB) Phorus speakers you have. You can use multiple with one device, or separate speakers with separate phones — and stream your music wirelessly around your pad. Just in case, there is also Bluetooth and USB connectivity, if you want to keep your options open. The receiver essentially lets you convert any old HiFi into a wireless player, meaning you can bypass the conical speakers completely should you wish to do so. You can get ’em now, with the PS1s weighing in at $199 a pop, and $149 for the PR1s. Forgotten that rhyming mantra from the top? Cue the video after the break to remind you.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Mobile
Phorus PS1 speakers and PR1 receiver add some Android-powered WiFi audio to your home (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I try not to spend a bunch of time dwelling on the negative, but if I do try and think of the downside of some of my newer technology I keep coming up with this… I hate to wear headphones. Yes, I can appreciate the big sound that a great pair of phones can give me, but sometimes I just want to lay my device down and have some awesome background music without having to have anything stuck in my ears. There, I said it… I hate headphones.
Well check out Zooka, another nifty Kickstarter project that hit the ground running and is now available. Zooka is a portable Bluetooth speaker for your iPad, iPhone, laptop or smartphone, and this speaker sets itself apart from the crowd in that it both magnifies and enhances the quality of the sound and unlike most speakers, this baby “hugs” your device making it one seriously ergonomic external speaker option especially for those on the go, and it looks great too!
Zooka simply slides onto the edge of your device and it even comes with a handy little kickstand that will let you and a friend sit back and enjoy a movie without having to split headphones (ever do that?) with Bluetooth capabilities from up to 30 feet away, and a built in microphone that will let you Skype to your hearts content, whats not to like about these jelly bean colored super speakers available from carbonaudioinc.com for only around 99 bucks. I know what I want for Christmas!
[ Zooka – Let’s Get Loud! copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
I-O Data is set to drop their newest dual-band WiFi USB adapter, the WN-AG450U. The device comes with a USB 2.0 connection interface, dual-band WiFi access point (2.4GHz – 300Mbps and 5GHz – 450Mbps) and provides security through encryption using WEP (64/128bit), WPA-PSK (TKIP / AES), WPA2-PSK (AES). The WN-AG450U will become available from early October for 5,300 Yen (about $67). [I-O Data]
Though we’ve already seen the iPhone 5 in all its naked guts and glory, we didn’t get any of the typical iFixit analysis and context of what’s going on in there. Well, until now. iFixit is currently tearing down the iPhone 5 and reporting their findings. What will they discover? More »
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