Must See HDTV (February 18th – 24th)

After its run on the internet and then cable TV, Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is coming to Blu-ray, along with the second season of Game of Thrones and Monsters Inc. Sports fans have NASCAR racing to (try to) replace football, while movie buffs can keep an eye out for the Academy Awards on Sunday. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

Top Gun 3D
After a short run in theaters, Top Gun 3D is coming home on Blu-ray. We’ve had the chance to watch it already and came away with (mostly) good things to say about the conversion. The 3D conversion is well done and particularly in the action scenes, as one watches F-14s zooming through the air it enhanced the feeling of speed and depth. Now, it’s not all good news as we did notice a slightly different color tint on the 3D version, not necessarily bad, but different. Overall we liked it, so if you’re looking for another 3D viewing option and are a fan of the original, it’s worthwhile, but probably not required viewing. If you’re not a 3D fan, this probably won’t change your opinion.
($19.96 on Amazon)

Daytona 500
NASCAR is back and in full effect. If you like to see cars turning left then this is the series for you, and in a fresh twist, Danica Patrick will debut as the first female polesitter in race history. This race will also see the new Gen6 cars that are designed to not only be safer and faster, but also more closely resemble production automobiles. Whether you’re watching the race end to end
(February 24th, Fox, 12PM)

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Samsung rolls out Jelly Bean to original Galaxy Note via Kies and OTA

It’s been a long time coming, but Android 4.1.2 has finally arrived for the phone that began the whole “is it a phone, or is it a tablet?” quandary: the original international Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000. The Jelly Bean update brings a number of improvements to the OG Note, with a brand new Nature UX that brings it a little closer to the Note sequel in terms of look and feel. It’ll also get features like Multi-Window, Page Buddy, Smart Rotation and of course, Google Now. As usual, the update will roll out in phases depending on your country or carrier and is available via Kies or over the air.

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Source: Sammobile

Weather Channel for Android gets tablet optimization, precise weather warnings

Weather Channel for Android gets tablet optimization, precise weather warnings

The Weather Channel has dwelt mostly on its iOS apps as of late, but don’t worry — it’s lavishing attention on forecast-minded Android users today. As of version 4.0, the Android app is optimized for tablets and gives a better heads-up for the conditions ahead from your Nexus 7. Other tweaks are more for feature parity, including precisely-timed warnings for significant weather changes, faster radar maps and higher-detail forecasts. Favorites also help with Android-specific widgets. Should you need to know more about the rain or snow than a Google Now card can deliver, the Weather Channel revamp is ready at the source.

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Source: Google Play

Google Takeout now liberating Blogger and Google+ Pages

Google Takeout now liberating Blogger, Google Pages

Google Takeout’s export functions have slowly extended their reach from profiles and personal contacts to heftier material, such as all our videos. However much we’ve been using that data portability, Google is eliminating what few gaps are left in its coverage: the company’s Data Liberation Front has expanded Takeout to preserve both Blogger content as well as Google+ Pages. Web denizens can cherry-pick just the blogs or Pages they want if a whole-enchilada backup is too much. Regardless of how large a safety net we need, the new options are ready and waiting at the source links.

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Via: Android Central

Source: Data Liberation Front, Google Takeout

T-Mobile Sonic 2.0 LTE hotspot reportedly poses for a press image

TMobile's Sonic 20 LTE hotspot poses for a press image

We’ve previously had just a smattering of text to hint that T-Mobile might kick off its formal LTE launch with a Sonic 2.0 Mobile Hotspot. Things just got more tangible this weekend through an apparent TmoNews leak. The really-truly-4G pocket router has surfaced in a supposed press render that’s fairly plain looking, but suggests a little sophistication through a color screen. We’re still missing the rather important details of the Sonic 2.0’s performance and price; if prior tips are on the mark, though, we’ll have our answers (and more devices) in about six weeks.

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Source: TmoNews

Large Hadron Collider stops for two years of tune-ups, goes out on a high note (video)

Large Hadron Collider goes silent for two years of repairs and retrofits

We’ve long known that the Large Hadron Collider would need to take a break, but that doesn’t take the edge off of the moment itself: as of Valentine’s Day, the particle accelerator has conducted its last test for the next two years. The giant research ring will undergo sweeping repairs and upgrades that should should give it the superconducting connectors needed to hit the originally planned 14TeV of combined collision energy, versus the 8TeV it’s been limited to almost since the beginning. CERN’s machine arguably earned the downtime. After a rough start, it went on to produce rafts of collision data and healthy evidence of the elusive Higgs boson. If you’re still down, think of the hiatus as doing us a favor — it postpones any world-ending disasters until around 2015.

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: CERN

Fleksy predictive keyboard is free for iOS now and forever

DNP Fleksy predictive keyboard is free for iOS now and forever

We’ve long been fans of Syntellia’s Fleksy for its astonishingly accurate predictive touch keyboard, and were excited to see an Android version finally come out to play at CES 2013. Well now there’s news that’ll please fans on the iOS side: the company has announced the full version of the app, formerly $4.99, is now available for the unbeatable price of free. This isn’t just a special weekend offer either; CEO Kostas Eleftheriou told us in an email that it’ll be free forever. Eleftheriou said that this is in the interest of a “more open keyboard space, so that more innovations can happen in the area,” but also as a service to the blind community, which was Fleksy’s original target audience.

Interestingly, the updated app even includes a direct button to email Apple’s CEO Tim Cook so that users can advocate for a more native OS-level integration of Fleksy. It’s an audacious goal, but as Eleftheriou stated in the blog post, it’s also one that many users have demanded. While we’re not sure if such a grass roots campaign will work with Cook and co., you can certainly download the new fully gratis version of Fleksy at the App Store source to give it a go yourself.

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Source: Fleksy Blog, Fleksy (App Store)

Vizio Co-Star update brings new Google TV UI, native Amazon and Vudu

Vizio CoStar update brings Google TV's voice search and YouTube pairing

Vizio’s Co-Star hub is still one of the cheapest points of entry into the Google TV world, so it’s comforting to see the set-top box getting an update — albeit somewhat behind Google’s own pace. The previously promised release mostly focuses on giving it the third-generation Google TV interface, including the mini-guide, YouTube pairing and (through a future Android app update) voice-guided search. Viewers on the prowl for more content get a few additional perks through new apps for M-Go and Vudu video streaming, as well as a truly native Amazon Instant Video app. Should Vizio’s tiny media center inhabit your living room, you can expect the upgrade to arrive over the air within the next few weeks.

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Source: Vizio

NOVA’s Earth From Space documentary shows a super-connected planet (video)

NOVA's Earth From Space documentary shows us our connected planet from above video

We’ve already had a meteorite shower to remind us that Earth is just a small part of a much, much larger universe. If that wasn’t enough perspective for you, PBS is offering a follow-up through NOVA‘s newly streaming “Earth From Space” documentary. The two-hour show illustrates how our planet’s individual climates and ecosystems are really part of one larger unit, with ripple effects that we didn’t always anticipate until an abundance of earth observation satellites made them clear. You’ll have to be an American to watch before the documentary, at least before it arrives in disc form on April 2nd. Every Earth citizen can still watch the trailer after the break.

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Via: Boing Boing

Source: PBS

Verizon wraps up 700MHz spectrum sales to three rural telecom firms

Verizon wraps up 700MHz spectrum sales to three rural telecom firms

While Verizon wasn’t quick to start selling 700MHz blocks to live up to the terms of its AWS purchase, it’s clearly willing to up the tempo. The carrier says it just finished deals this week to sell lower B-block 700MHz airwaves in Texas to already announced customer Nortex Communications as well as Oklahoma’s Panhandle Telecommunication Systems. We’re also learning that Verizon quietly signed off on a deal in mid-January that transfers A-block spectrum in Houston to Colorado Valley Communications. The agreements might not provide the interoperability with Verizon’s C-block that some crave, but they could still help level the playing field for smaller telecom outlets.

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