Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has reportedly acquired Cue, a social search engine which indexed email and other user details to construct a dynamic, personalized calendar, in a move that’s seen as taking on Google Now. Cue, which launched as Greplin back in early 2011 and then rebranded last year, is widely expected to be integrated into Siri as […]

This article was written on October 08, 2007 by CyberNet.

Avant Window Navigator (Awn) 0.2 was just released, and there is no doubt that it is one of the best looking docks I’ve seen on any operating system. There is a video below that shows all of the cool icon effects, including the sweet reflection. Before we get into that let’s take a look at what’s new:

• Icon effects – choose whether your icons bounce like cartoon characters, spin like a coin, or have a spotlight cast on them.
• Awn Manager – a unified interface for managing all of the settings Awn has to offer.
• Applets – you’ll soon be able to get things like weather, system information, and more all from the comfort of your own dock. Things like Stacks and a clock are also in the works.

Below is a video that demonstrates the various icon effects, and you better sit down if you haven’t seen it before. The 3D turning with the spotlight is my favorite.

Source: The Dude Abides [via Digg]

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

Already wildly popular amongst younger users, picture sharing app Snapchat is launching the next phase of its app today, and for the first time it’s bringing a feature to its iOS and Android apps at the same time. Snapchat’s claim to fame has always been that it shares images or short videos from one person to another, that disappear after viewing instead of living on in infamy (our early Tweets are a constant source of embarrassment). Now, the new Stories feature gives each user a feed similar to those on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr that all of their friends (instead of just one) can check out, but with a familiar hook — the Snaps disappear after 24 hours. Another interesting element is that, like Path, it also displays a list of who viewed each Snap.

In a blog post, the company touts the ephemeral nature of the feature, noting that “The end of your Story today is the beginning of your Story tomorrow.” To some, the service’s reputation is only for how it helps the Anthony Weiners of the world, but the introduction of Stories may change that — and introduce more competition for other social networks where users are wary of how long even casual posts could live to haunt them. The feature hasn’t popped up on either app store yet, for now you can check after the break for a few videos showing the stories users might tell — if they were in one of those bands the young folks are listening to.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Apple

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Source: Snapchat Blog

Another day, another tech startup gets acquired. This time around it’s Google snatching up Y Combinator-hatched Flutter, the developer of a gesture control app for Windows and Mac PCs. There’s no word on what it’s planning for the team and its technology — we’d suggest 2011 April Fool’s joke Gmail Motion, but someone beat them to that — but the company’s current product uses existing webcams to enable gesture control of software like Spotify, VLC or iTunes. According to CEO Navneet Dalal, users will continue to be able to use the app and should “stay tuned for future updates.” Even after Kinect and all of the other gesture control entries we’re not sure if it’s the future, although creating a solution that has decent precision without requiring extra hardware is interesting. The company’s founders told TechCrunch last year that they want Flutter to be the eyes of our computers the way apps like Siri or Google Now are the ears of our device, we’ll see if teaming up with Google pushes that movement forward.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Google

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Via: Hacker News

Source: Flutter

The long-running distinction between dedicated game consoles and gaming PCs is disappearing with Valve’s announcement of its own operating system, SteamOS. The hardware is changing too, with next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony offering much more than the ability to play disc-based games, not to mention both being built on PC architecture (x86). And PC gaming has never been more friendly in the living room, between Steam’s Big Picture Mode and solid gamepad support for many games.

With one of Valve’s other announcements last week, Steam Machines finally put a name to the living room PC gaming initiative we’ve long heard about (what the press dubbed “Steambox“). Though we heard about Xi3’s Piston back at CES, and we knew about the company’s financial ties to Valve, it was unclear how tied its little modular gaming PC was to the initiative. Now, however, it’s more clear than ever: Xi3’s release date press release repeatedly describes the Piston as “the Piston Console,” meant to push up against the big three game console manufacturers. Sure, it costs $1,000 (and up), but it promises to handle modern PC games with aplomb. And it’s a tiny little box!

We caught up with Xi3 this week for a second look at the Piston game “console” — a custom version, for the game Loadout — and its first-party wireless controller. We also got a chance to actually play some games on the little box: the first time anyone outside of the company did as much, we’re told. Head past the break for our impressions.%Gallery-slideshow99844%

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals, Software, HD

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