For some, it’s a source of limitless information about nearly every topic imaginable. For others, it’s a focal point for poor research and liable. For most of us, however, Wikipedia serves one important function–it is, quite probably, the greatest time waster that the Internet has to offer.
Who among us hasn’t spent hours on end journeying down the Wikipedia rabbit hole, jumping from one page to the next, genuinely baffled by how exactly we ended up where we did.
In light of its 10th birthday this Saturday, we’ve decided to pay tribute to Wikipedia by featuring some of the staff’s favorite articles that are amongst the 3.5 million currently available in the English version of the site.
The following 10 articles are fascinating, goofy, mind boggling, hilarious–or all of the above.
A leaked preview of upcoming Android 3.0 release (aka Honeycomb) dropped last week on the Android developers’ YouTube channel. We certainly noticed, and of course the scrutiny of the drastically different UI began shortly thereafter.
Google’s official preview video (above) provides us with the most in-depth look we’ve seen of the OS since Google’s VP of engineering Andy Rubin gave us a sneak peek of it in December. It’s too preliminary to make any absolute judgments, but from what little we’ve gleaned from the video, there are a number of pretty big changes. It’s a complete interface makeover.
After Apple’s runaway success with its 2010 debut of the iPad, expectations on tablet offerings from competing companies in 2011 have been high. And at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, there was certainly no dearth of new tablet debuts. Estimates of the number of new tablets showcased at CES ranged in the 50s to the 80s. From what we understand, the Honeycomb operating system has been designed to take advantage of the tablet shape in particular.
What hasn’t been made clear yet, however, is whether or not Honeycomb will be a tablet-exclusive version, or whether it will also be available for phones.
Android UI director Matias Duarte speaks to the issue, however effusively, in an interview with Engadget: “What you see in Honeycomb is absolutely the direction for Android,” Duarte says when directly asked about portability.
From what we can see in the new video, Duarte’s influence on the new UI is palpable. He came to Google in May from HP-owned Palm, where he developed the webOS interface for Palm devices, seen below:
Duarte’s scrollable page widgets from the webOS interface above are reminiscent of those seen on Honeycomb in the recent video from Google:
The Rubin demo screen shot and the screen above grab from Google’s leaked video share the same minimalist aesthetic, even more so than “Froyo” version 2.2 seen on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab (an OS which Duarte had no part in creating).
Surface area is obviously greater when moving from a 4-inch smartphone screen to that of a 10-inch tablet, and the scrollable Gmail, calendar and browser bookmark widgets sitting side-by-side simultaneously make good use of the increase in screen size.
Another stark difference: the complete lack of physical buttons on the device itself. “With Honeycomb,” says Duarte in the Engadget interview, “you don’t need to have physical buttons.” Note their complete absence in the wide shot of the Xoom:
Instead, physical navigational buttons have been replaced with on-screen versions of themselves, as seen in the arrows in the Xoom’s bottom left-hand corner, while the full app menu is still accessible in the upper right-hand corner:
But manufacturers aren’t beholden to buttonless devices. “Our partners can take that and do what they want with it,” Duarte says in the Engadget interview. “If somebody feels that, for their application, physical buttons are absolutely the right thing to do? Great. They can do that.”
Other app demos in the video seemed relatively straightforward, with heavier emphasis on their tablet application. Google Books leverages the tablet’s shape for page-turning and reading purposes, much like opening an iBook on the iPad. Gmail interactivity remains similar to its “Gingerbread” application — scrollable inbox, no-frills white-and-gray color scheme — but is now separated into two columns for navigability’s sake.
The NAMM trade show — also known as the musician’s candy store — is kicking off today out in Anaheim, which means that audio-focused press releases are starting to pour in. Headset and mic manufacturer Shure is beefing up its line with the introduction of three new models — a set of buds plus two cans. On the bud side, the SE 215 slots in predictably beneath the SE315, offering a budget-friendly single driver in your choice of black or fancy translucent casing; it comes in at a retail price of $99, some $100 less than the SE315. Moving to cans, the SRH550DJ (pictured center) is — as the name implies — targeted at DJs with a “super-aural design” for full isolation and a 90-degree swiveling headband for flexible wearing positions; this one will set you back $99 on the store shelf. On the upscale side, the SRH940 is billed as a reference set with a premium padded headband, and you’ll pay for it: it’s $299 at retail. All three models will be available this spring; follow the break for the press releases.
Hot on the heels of Verizon’s iPhone announcement, it has also ended its “New Every Two” program that provides incentives for existing customers to upgrade.
The egg-shaped chair was one of the coolest innovations to come out of the late 60s and early 70s — right up there with the Camaro, hot pants and the first five Black Sabbath albums.
Now that same “room within a room” stoner vibe has been updated for the Blu-ray set. The Sound Egg is a retro-cool egg chair fitted with a full surround sound system — complete with a subwoofer behind the seat — and coated on the inside with sound-isolating foam. Climb in, crank it up, and you’ve got your own personal capsule for watching movies, playing games or just plain spacing-out.
These chairs start at around $1,500, and you’ll pay extra for custom colors and for the optional mechanical arm mount for an LCD screen.
We first got a peek at these things about a year ago, but we had a chance to actually try one out at CES in Las Vegas. The sound inside is fantastic: clear, immediate and loud. Best of all, the foam does a great job of isolating the noise. When you’re inside, the outside world is effectively silenced. And since the sound system is considerably quieter on the outside than it is inside, it’s well-suited for any Dave Matthews fans or Call of Duty devotees you’re forced to share a living space with.
The Vitality GlowCap concept’s been floating about for years now, but it still slightly blows our minds — you stick a tiny, battery-powered wireless computer on top of your pill bottle, which reminds you to take your medicine on time. Well, it turns out they aren’t exactly a concept these days, as you can buy one for $10 with a $15 monthly plan, and we’ve actually spent the past month living with the chirping, glowing, AT&T-connected device, keeping a journal all the while. After the break, find out what a life-saving nag feels like.
Note: Amazon’s actually out of stock at the time of this writing, but Vitality says a new shipment should arrive tomorrow.
In the tech world, a few questions are usually enough. Does the product work? Is the idea good? How much does it cost? But as Peep Telephony reminds us, there’s a fourth, all-important qualification: Is it real? More »
You might recall that VMware has teamed up with LG to separate the “work” and “life” environments on your Android phone into two distinct, secure platforms, which has some pretty obvious benefits — as more people want smartphones in their personal lives, IT departments can still manage the content on their work phones without necessitating two separate devices. Seriously, who wants to carry around two phones? (Don’t answer that.) Anyhow, RIM’s getting into the game with today’s announcement of BlackBerry Balance at an enterprise-focused event in Boston, a tool that’ll allow the computer nerds in your office to manage, wipe, and encrypt the work-related content on your BlackBerry while leaving your personal content unscathed. Of course, not everyone wants a BlackBerry as their personal smartphone — but for those that do, this should make you feel a little more confident that the IT dude isn’t going to spontaneously delete your mom’s contact record. No word on availability just yet.
Slated for a late February launch in Japan, the company’s new Esprimo FH99/CM all-in-one desktop PC will offer a 3D display without making people wear those uncomfortable glasses.
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