Hasta La Gadget!

In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

It seems like ages since Sergey Brin staged one of the most dramatic product launches of all time at last year’s Google I/O, guiding a bemused audience through a cavalcade of extreme antics that saw a prototype Google Glass headset delivered to the Moscone Center courtesy of skydivers, BMX riders and mountain climbers. This week, the very first Explorer Editions of Google Glass shipped to lucky recipients through rather more pedestrian means: UPS. Still, those deliveries were received with no less excitement.

These early units are shipping out in waves, with many of the I/O pre-orderers (including this eager editor) left waiting and watching unboxing videos with envy. The first videos of the early editions in action started hitting YouTube en masse, something we’re sure will become increasingly commonplace through the spring. We also finally got the full specs for the thing, including 802.11b/g and Bluetooth connectivity, 16GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p video recording.

Filed under: Misc, Microsoft, HTC, Google, Facebook

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Talk of a Facebook phone had been making the rounds for some time when the social network pulled the wraps off of a Home-draped Android handset. While it’s not solely dedicated to those shades of blue, the HTC First does put friends in focus and we judge its merits in a fresh issue of our slate magazine. Two of Sony’s latest offerings — the Xperia ZL and the NEX-3N — also hit the review gauntlet in this installment. Eyes-On hits the trail with Pentax shooters, Weekly Stat tallies PS shipments and Visualized seeks Clarity. Those trusty download links lie below for quick access to new issue of your very own.

Distro Issue 87 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro in the Windows Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
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Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile

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Source: iTunes, Google Play, Windows Store

It was earlier today when we brought you word that the Facebook Windows Phone 8 app certainly has issues of its own that it is currently struggling with, where it affected users who ran version 4.2.0.0 of the app, while those who were using the Windows Phone 7.x version 2.7.0.0 of the app were exempt from such headaches. Well, we are pleased to say that the turnaround time taken to “fix” this particular issue has been rather quick, where a latest updated release has enabled it to fix a bug that users have been complaining about.

When you install the latest update, you should not suffer from any crashes to your device when it runs the Facebook app, and with this particular fix, hopefully there will be more positive comments left on the app’s page and also, subsequently, an increase in the app’s ratings. Perhaps comments such as “It is horrible. Please make a better app!”, “Crashes a lot more often since last update”, “I can’t like any pictures without it closing? Can’t unfriend or share anything”, “Not working for me anymore. When I click on a post it takes me back to my phone screen. I enjoyed it til now. Please fix problem”, and “Needs an update” will be a thing of the past.

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Facebook has launched public dashboards for its Forest City, North Carolina and Prineville, Oregon data centers, providing easily accessible access to near-real-time Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) information. The dashboards provide continues information that is updated to the minute, also providing a 24-hour set of data and historial view containing the year’s numbers.

The reason for the change is a matter of pride, according to the announcement, with a desire to show the efficiency of the data centers. In addition, by providing the information, Facebook says that the centers are demystified, and that such a move follows naturally in line with its sharing of the hardware and building designs. The public now gets a peek at what the data centers’ technicians see daily.

The public dashboards won’t change the annualized averages, which are accessible via the dashboards beneath the near-real-time information. Facebook first made PUE information for Prineville available the second quarter of 2011, eventually rolling out WUE at the same center in mid-2012. Those who follow the dashboards are advised that some “weird” numbers might pop up occasionally because the data centers are still under construction and the variables frequently shifting.

In addition, the dashboards are available for others to use, with Facebook saying that the front-end code will be made open source and available “in the coming weeks”. Those who take advantage of the code once it is made available are encouraged to make changes to it, improving what is already there and providing an overall better experience for everyone.

[via Open Compute]

Facebook rolls out near-real-time public PUE and WUE dashboards for data centers is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
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It looks like Google is wandering in to Facebook territory, the latter has a comments system that websites owners can add, now the internet search giant has brought over Google+ comments for Blogger based websites. It seems as if Google is just testing the waters, perhaps in the near future they might allow platforms other than Blogger or WordPress to integrate Google+ comments as well. This new comments feature can be activated from the Blogger Dashboard, its purely opt-in and won’t be enforced on all websites based on Blogger.

People commenting on the blog will have the option to comment publicly or privately for their various Google+ circles. While reading comments, users can choose to view all comments, just the top ones or only those comments made by people in their circles. Website owners will be able to engage more of their readers, if someone’s talking about their blog entries publicly on Google+ those comments and replies will also appear on the blog. Older comments on any blog will continue to be displayed in the new widget. Who’s going to try this on their website?

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