May 21
Anonymous apps are so scary, they might just put us in touch with who we really are.
May 20
Oculus has found a way to make a headset that does more than just hang a big screen in front of your face. By combining stereoscopic 3-D, 360-degree visuals, and a wide field of view—along with a supersize dose of engineering and software magic—it hacks your visual cortex. As far as your brain is concerned, there’s no difference between experiencing something on the Rift and experiencing it in the real world.
Sep 17
Apple’s new iOS 7 represents the most substantial change to the iPhone since it started supporting third-party apps. But as dramatic as the update may look, it doesn’t go far enough functionally.
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Sep 06
The last days of Distro
Posted in: Today's Chili
On Friday, September 27th, Engadget will publish the last issue of our weekly tablet magazine, Distro.
However, Distro (unlike disco) isn’t dead. When Distro launched in October 2011, we were entering a relatively new space. At the time, we were one of the first online-only publications to produce a companion magazine app. We launched the same day as Apple’s Newsstand and landed there (and on the Android Market) less than two weeks later, while some of the biggest names in publishing stood by to see if the tablet was worth the investment. Over the course of two years, Distro has served as a jumping-off point for award-winning design, in-depth analysis and a focus on long-form storytelling, and we plan to bring everything we’ve learned to Engadget at large. Along with a commitment to thoughtful design and feature content, you’ll start to see some of our favorite recurring features popping up here on Engadget’s homepage. So, while Distro will no longer live in the Newsstand, or Google Play or Windows Store, it’s not quite time to pull out the bagpipes. So instead of saying goodbye, let’s leave it at we’ll see you tomorrow.
Distro will continue to be available in the Newsstand, Play Store and Windows 8 marketplace until early October. After that, you’ll be able to download archived PDFs from Engadget.
Filed under: Announcements
Aug 27
Kobo’s not quite done with the news tonight. In addition to an e-reader, three tablets and Pocket integration, the Canadian-turned-Japanese company has also got some announcements on the content side of things. First up is the addition of magazines to its store, bringing titles from Conde Nast, Hearst and a number of other publishers to its proprietary tablets and iOS / Android apps. Also on the docket is a brand new kids store that features safe-searching and nearly 100,000 offerings, including the likes of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Hunger Games titles. Magazines are coming to Kobo’s mobile app in September and will be available for its new tablets when they launch the following month.
Jul 23
By now you’re probably familiar with user-created magazines on Flipboard, a feature that was introduced for iOS back in March and added to Android in May. Starting today, you’ll be able to enjoy Flipboard magazines on the web, including access to the By Our Readers section. This web edition even lets users with Flipboard accounts subscribe to magazines and “flip” stories right from within the browser. While the mobile app is still the best way to fully experience Flipboard, the web edition supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE9+ in 11 languages. Moreover, the company is introducing “Big Ideas”, a new category in the Flipboard Content Guide which “celebrates innovative ideas, great speeches, industry thought leaders and inspirational organizations.” Take a look the gallery below and find the PR after the break.
Gallery: Flipboard magazines on the web
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile
Source: Flipboard Community
Jul 03
Next time you fire up the Nook app on your Android tablet, you’ll be able to browse HD magazines — assuming your device has a 1280 x 720 screen. Introduced three months ago on Retina iPads, the feature now jumps to the latest version of the Android app, along with a number of other updates. New magazine titles aside, version 3.4 lets you enlarge book illustrations and adds support for the system’s assistive technology for blind and low-vision users. So, you can go wild with screen magnification on Android 4.2 or higher, or listen to the app speak via TalkBack on 4.1. Meanwhile, the Nook app for iOS comes equipped with bug fixes and a better way to organize books in a series. Sure, these updates don’t bring a bunch of new major features, but they show that Barnes & Noble isn’t likely to axe its mobile apps in the near future like it did the ones for Macs and PCs.
Filed under: Misc
Source: Nook (Android), (iOS)
Jun 11
There’s typically more than one person involved in building a traditional magazine, at last check. It only makes sense, then, that Flipboard just opened up its internet-based magazine curation to groups. Those who’ve built a magazine can now invite friends to add content at will, whether it’s through one of the mobile apps or a web bookmarklet. We doubt that the resulting collaborations will give big league publishers a reason to panic, but Android and iOS users alike can test that theory by downloading the updated Flipboard today.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet
Via: Inside Flipboard, The Next Web
Source: App Store, Google Play
Apr 23
Magazine slips in a free T-Mobile WiFi hotspot, courtesy of Microsoft (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Microsoft has tried more than a few publicity stunts to get us using Office 365, including WiFi hotspots in UK park benches. A magazine with a hotspot, however, is fresh — and might just get us to notice the ads we normally skip. Americans who’ve received a special issue of Forbes have flipped past the articles to discover a fully functional (if stripped down) T-Mobile router tucked into a cardboard insert. Once activated, it dishes out 15 days of free WiFi for up to five devices at once, at up to three hours per charge. Microsoft is naturally hoping that we’ll see the value of always being in the cloud and pony up for an Office 365 subscription, but we’re sure that many will just relish having an access point while they’re reading on the train home — it sure beats settling for a Twitter feed.
[Thanks, Britton]
Filed under: Wireless, Networking, Microsoft
Source: Slickdeals
Apr 01
We know when you hear Playboy releasing a dedicated app onto the iPhone, we’re sure one of the first things you thought was it possibly being an April Fools’ Day joke. But after seeing it for ourselves, we can tell you today’s release, as ironic as it is, is no joke.
The Playboy for iPhone application takes out all of those silly nude images that nobody picks up their magazines for, and instead delivers all of the content that made it a famous men’s magazine: its articles. Playboy’s editors had to take a different route as we would originally expect in its app as Apple has always had a strong stand against any pornographic material entering its App Store. “It forces us to use our imagination to be a little bit more creative,” said Playboy’s director of digital content Josh Schollmeyer. “I tell all my photographers every picture has to be one of three things. It has to be romantic, whimsical, or sexy.” (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Android Market Share Dominates iOS Once Again In U.S., DDoS Attackers Using iMessage With No Relief In Sight, 
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