Google pointer activity monitoring could influence search engine results, probably won’t

For the latest development in Google’s mad quest for search engine efficacy, the company was granted a patent titled, in the necessarily wordy way that these things are, “System and method for modulating search relevancy using pointer activity monitoring.” Essentially, the idea here is that mouse pointer movements can be interpreted to gauge someone’s interest, so Google would track the mouse as it moves in and out of predefined regions of a web page, or hovers over certain regions for a predefined period of time. Apparently, the pointer is sort of seen as a surrogate for the eye, telling the search engine provider where your eye is wandering. Of course, there is plenty of math on the back end, where the relevancy of those actions has to be determined. Or something. This baby was filed in 2005, and as far as we know this technology hasn’t been implemented, so who knows if it ever will? Check it out for yourself by hitting the source link.

Google pointer activity monitoring could influence search engine results, probably won’t originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FaceTime video call works beautifully on airplane’s in-flight WiFi (video)

Yeah, seriously. While Aircell’s Gogo in-flight WiFi service has been blocking VoIP calling services (Skype being the most obvious example) from day one, it’s apparently not throwing the same brick wall in the face of Apple’s new standard. Our good pals over at TUAW managed to record a (relatively) solid two minute FaceTime conversation with an iPhone 4 owner, and only after you realize that said owner is a few thousand feet above the Earth’s surface does this all become a lot more interesting. We know for a fact that certain iPhone 4 owners have had difficulty with FaceTime conversations when using highly firewalled access points (like those found in hotels and corporate offices), but it seems as if seat 16A is cleared for transmission. For now, anyway. Head on past the break to peek the FaceTime ad that Apple forgot to make.

Continue reading FaceTime video call works beautifully on airplane’s in-flight WiFi (video)

FaceTime video call works beautifully on airplane’s in-flight WiFi (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile webConnect Rocket 2.0 leaks out, brings along Mac support and microSDHC slot

T-Mobile’s webConnect Rocket has only been delivering “4G speeds” to users in search of mobile internet for a handful of months now, but already the company looks to have a successor on deck. If a pair of leaked slides are to be believed, the webConnect Rocket 2.0 is mildly overhauled version of the original USB WWAN modem, capable of delivering HSPA+ speeds on both PC and Mac platforms. There’s also a nifty microSDHC slot for loading up to 16GB of storage, but outside of that, little else is known. We’re still waiting patiently for a price and release date to come our way, but in the meantime, feel free to slam the brakes on that impending Rocket 1.0 purchase.

T-Mobile webConnect Rocket 2.0 leaks out, brings along Mac support and microSDHC slot originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Senators grill FCC Chairman over ‘modest’ National Broadband Plan goals

Bringing broadband to everybody is certainly an admirable goal, but at least some US Senators are apparently starting to question if the new National Broadband Plan is ambitious enough. In written questions submitted to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recently, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) pointed out that other nations already have 100Mbps fiber-based services and are beginning to roll out 1Gbps residential services, which would only be required for a “single anchor institution in each community by 2020″ under the National Broadband Plan” — something Inouye says “appears to suggest that the US should accept a 10- to 12-year lag behind the leading nations.” That’s a sentiment echoed by Senator Mark Begich (D-AK), who asked Genachowski why the plan settled for the minimum download speed of 4Mbps by 2020, and added that “it seems a bit modest for a goal.” For his part, Genachowski insists that the 4Mbps targets are “aggressive,” and he notes that the plan recommends reevaluating that target every year, so it’s possible it could increase over time. Hit up the PDF link below for the complete Q&A.

Senators grill FCC Chairman over ‘modest’ National Broadband Plan goals originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DIY Internet Chess Table makes online matches suddenly awesome (video)

Computerized chess has been around for at least a few centuries now (okay, so maybe “score” is more accurate), but if you thought an IBM supercomputer dominating one of the planet’s brightest humans was gnarly, have a gander at this. One determined modder has whipped up what may very well be the most impressive way to engage in online chess ever, as the DIY Internet Chess Table turns an on-screen opponent into an on-table opponent. Put simply (or as simply as possible), the multitouch table uses a projector to beam a chessboard onto an opaque surface, and moves are captured via webcam and sent back to an internet server. The human’s moves are recognized and countered, and then that same human is told where to move the computer’s piece via on-screen arrows. Trust us — it’s worth your while to hop on past the break and mash play for a video demonstration.

Update: To clarify, the table syncs up to play matches over freechess.org, but as far as your Feng Shui is concerned, it’s still a single player in your room.

Continue reading DIY Internet Chess Table makes online matches suddenly awesome (video)

DIY Internet Chess Table makes online matches suddenly awesome (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom

Myriam Joire (tnkgrl) was born wearing combat boots and holding a keyboard; moments later she picked up a soldering iron. She’s been stomping, typing and hacking ever since. In her regular series, she’ll share her tips, tricks, and mods on everything from phones to netbooks — and be sure to catch her weekly on the Engadget Mobile podcast.

Things used to be simple: you either had a CDMA device with no SIM, or a GSM device with a SIM. If your GSM device was unlocked you could swap SIMs between carriers, and if was locked, you could swap SIMs between accounts on the same carrier. Basically, an unlocked phone meant mobile freedom. At first, the only complication was the different frequencies used for GSM in different parts of the world, which was remedied with quadband radios. Then 3G was introduced, with different frequencies used by different carriers in the same geographic area, like North America. Today, this proliferation of bands makes it difficult to build universal radios, and makes it less appealing to switch carriers. In fact, the only phone that currently supports all 3G frequencies used in North America is the upcoming pentaband Nokia N8.

The second obstacle was the introduction of special data plans, either requiring additional service layers (such as BlackBerry or Sidekick plans) or restricting the types of devices permitted as the iPhone and iPad plans do. What used to be as simple as changing APNs is now a Kafkaesque nightmare, complete with nasty “you are using the wrong data plan and we are going to send you a bill” text messages from carriers. Strike three was the micro SIM (also known as the 3FF SIM), popularized by Apple’s iPad and the iPhone 4. This smaller form-factor SIM is electrically compatible with the standard SIM we all know and love — and as such, it’s easy to convert a standard SIM into a micro SIM and vice-versa (but still, it’s one more hurdle standing in the way of happiness).

Let’s dive in and take a look at how it’s done.

Continue reading How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom

How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1 in 10 fliers using in-flight WiFi, Aircell ‘thrilled’ with repeat usage rate

US airlines are still struggling to keep pace with their Asian contemporaries, and while we won’t be satisfied until each and every plane that soars over this great land has an integrated router, there’s no question that carriers seem to be racing to equip their fleets with in-flight WiFi. According to recent analyst reports, fewer than 10 percent of fliers are using the service, but on the other hand, one in ten fliers are. There’s obviously two ways of looking at this — in-flight WiFi is still a fledgling technology, and it’s only available on around a third of domestic flights. From that perspective, a 10 percent overall usage rate looks pretty impressive. But there’s no question that cost is a concern here, as is time; many fliers are using their moments in the air to actually disconnect for a change, and few corporations actually have policies in place to reimburse employees for WiFi charges accumulated in the air. Furthermore, fliers can’t even use their laptops for the first and last half-hour of flights, so unless you’re flying coast-to-coast, you may assume that only having an hour or so to surf just isn’t worth the hassle.

We pinged Aircell (the makers of Gogo, which is by far the dominant in-flight WiFi provider in America) for comment on the linked report, and while they wouldn’t comment specifically, they did confirm that they have been “thrilled” with repeat usage rates. The company’s own research has found that “61 percent of Gogo customers have used it again within 3 months,” which is a pretty fantastic attach rate. Now, if only it could get more people to try the service once, it may just be on its way to taking over the world. Or something. Full comment is after the break.

Continue reading 1 in 10 fliers using in-flight WiFi, Aircell ‘thrilled’ with repeat usage rate

1 in 10 fliers using in-flight WiFi, Aircell ‘thrilled’ with repeat usage rate originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Burning Brighter: The Future of Firefox, Browsers and the Web [Interview]

Remember the Browser Wars of the Aughts? Internet Exploder gripped the web. Firefox 1.0 challenged the king. Six years later, IE is waning. (But still strong.) WebKit rules smartphones. Where does Mozilla, and the web, go from here? More »

Perfect Citizen: secret NSA surveillance program revealed by WSJ

Do you trust your government? Do you just support it like an obedient Britney Spears, steadfast to your faith that it will do the right thing? Your answer to those questions will almost certainly predict your response to a Wall Street Journal exposé of a classified US government program provocatively dubbed, “Perfect Citizen.” Why not just call it “Big Brother,” for crissake! Oh wait, according to an internal Raytheon email seen by the WSJ, “Perfect Citizen is Big Brother,” adding, “The overall purpose of the [program] is our Government…feel[s] that they need to insure the Public Sector is doing all they can to secure Infrastructure critical to our National Security.”

Histrionics aside, according to the WSJ, the “expansive” program is meant to detect assaults on private companies and government agencies deemed critical to the national infrastructure. In other words, utilities like the electricity grid, air-traffic control networks, subway systems, nuclear power plants, and presumably MTV. A set of sensors deployed in computer networks will alert the NSA of a possible cyber attack, with Raytheon winning a classified, $100 million early stage contract for the surveillance effort. Now, before you start getting overly political, keep in mind that the program is being expanded under Obama with funding from the Bush-era Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. The WSJ also notes that companies won’t be forced to install the sensors. Instead, companies might choose to opt-in because they find the additional monitoring helpful in the event of cyber attack — think of Google’s recent run-in with Chinese hackers as a potent example.

Like most citizens, we have mixed emotions about this. On one hand, we cherish our civil liberties and prefer to keep the government out of our personal affairs. On the other, we can barely function when Twitter goes down, let alone the national power grid.

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Perfect Citizen: secret NSA surveillance program revealed by WSJ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cathay Pacific bringing 50Mbps WiFi, live TV and in-flight calling to fleet

Mmm… we like where this is headed. While legacy airlines in America are struggling to outfit their fleets with in-flight WiFi alone, Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways is showing ’em how it’s done. The airline has just inked a memorandum of understanding with Panasonic Avionics for the “provision of full broadband connectivity on all Cathay Pacific and Dragonair passenger aircraft.” Yeah, you read that correctly — by early 2012, Cathay will make 50Mbps internet service, in-flight GSM cellphone service (voice, SMS and data) as well as live and pay-per-view television available to every last passenger. The finer details are still being hammered out, and we aren’t told whether every single bird in its fleet will be online from Day 1, but we’re still as giddy as ever for this to become a reality. Here’s hoping this pushes those other airlines into getting with the program, and at the very least, it ought to give you plenty of reason to take that Asian vacation you’ve been putting off.

Continue reading Cathay Pacific bringing 50Mbps WiFi, live TV and in-flight calling to fleet

Cathay Pacific bringing 50Mbps WiFi, live TV and in-flight calling to fleet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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