Kindle version 2.5 update gets Facebooked and Twitterized

Amazon just announced a 2.5 software update for its Kindle and Kindle DX readers. At the moment, it’s rolling out the update to a “limited group” of Kindle users with a general release coming at the end of May. Enhancements include the ability to organize books and documents into “collections,” pan and zoom within PDFs, Kindle password protection, larger and sharper fonts, and just what you’ve always wanted: the ability to “share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter.” Somebody pinch us.

Kindle version 2.5 update gets Facebooked and Twitterized originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC expects 36 percent increase in Q2 sales thanks to Android

If Apple created the first round of disruption to the business-as-usual lethargy infecting the cellphone industry then Google appears poised to bring round two. When looking around at choices, it’s the Android OS backed by Google’s cloud-based services and the 50k app-strong Android Market we usually find underpinning the sexiest and most powerful hardware on the market. And guess who’s making the hardware? Right, HTC. Now HTC — thanks to its recently introduced Desire, Legend, HD Mini, Smart, EVO 4G and Droid Incredible — says it expects record revenues of $1.6 billion in Q2 on sales of 4.5 million handsets, up from 3.3 million handsets sold in Q1 and ahead of analyst expectations. Cheng Hui-ming, HTC chief financial officer, credits the bump to the “growing popularity of the Android platform in Europe and the US”. One can only imagine what HTC sales will do when its long-standing Microsoft partner releases Windows Phone 7 OS later this year.

HTC expects 36 percent increase in Q2 sales thanks to Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maingear, iBuyPower and CyberPower reveal Phenom II X6 1090T-based bargain desktops

It’s akin to clockwork, as they say — Maingear, iBuyPower and CyberPower have all decided to pump out new and / or revised gaming desktops based on AMD’s latest and greatest (and cheapest, some would argue) six-core processor, barely waiting 24 hours to do the honors. The Phenom II X6 1090T certainly has the whole low-price thing going for it, enabling this trio of PC builders to offer up complete systems starting at under $1,000. Maingear’s new Limited Edition Vybe packs a $999 price tag, USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps support, ATI’s Radeon 5000 series graphics, a DVD burner, 640GB WD Caviar Black SATA 6G hard drive and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Over in CyperPower land, users can select a variety of 1090T-based rigs starting at just $699, while iBuyPower is revamping the Chimera 2-Q, Gamer Fire and Gamer HAF systems to include the new silicon and an all-too-tempting sub-$1k starting point. The whole lot is available to be customized right this moment, but we’re in no position to help you choose between options A, B, C, D, E or F. And G is looking mighty promising, too.

Maingear, iBuyPower and CyberPower reveal Phenom II X6 1090T-based bargain desktops originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WebOS 1.4.1.1 now available for Verizon subscribers

Hardly the most exciting Palm news you’re gonna hear this week, but the company that still owns itself for the time being has just updated its WebOS software on Verizon to the extremely granular version 1.4.1.1. The helpful changelog informs us there are no new apps, but pinch-zoom now works correctly in Doc and PDF views, a lag in the camera shutter sound has been rectified, and forwarding videos uploaded to YouTube on to your friends via email has also been made to work as it should. The most important fix of all, though, is to a keyboard input issue whereby a single key press would generate a letter twice — both Pre Central and one of our readers report that this problem appears to have been consigned to the past. Good stuff, now let’s see it go global, shall we?

[Thanks, subzero and Sam F.]

WebOS 1.4.1.1 now available for Verizon subscribers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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February 2008 Browser Stats: IE Plunging

This article was written on March 04, 2008 by CyberNet.

February was a good month for almost all of the browsers out there except for Internet Explorer, according to Net Applications. From December 2006 to August 2007 Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser was able to maintain a substantial 79% marketshare. In the last 6 or 7 months, however, they’ve been dropping just under 1% each month. Yep, they’ve lost nearly 5% of their marketshare in the last half of a year.

Of course if IE is losing there has to be other browsers gaining, right? Firefox is the one swooping up most of IE’s marketshare loss having increased over 3% in the last year. Last month it hit its all-time high at 17.27%, which is the same time IE hit its all-time low.

Safari took a small dip in February, but Opera has been steadily increasing rolling in a marketshare of 0.69% last month. Opera just announced that last year was a big year for them having increased their number of monthly users to 20 million, which is 55% more than the previous year.

Browser Marketshare for February 2008
browser marketshare feb08

And then there’s the comparison of the operating systems. Naturally Microsoft is going to lead the way with their sheer market domination, but you might be surprised to hear that Windows usage has dropped about 4% in the last 2 years. Apple is the primary cause of the drop in marketshare having gained over 3% themselves in the last two years. And as you can see from this chart the iPhone is even on the board:

Operating System Marketshare for February 2008
os marketshare feb08

In January 2007 the Linux marketshare sat at just 0.35%, and so there has been some significant growth there as well.

It’s becoming apparent from both the browser and operating system stats that users don’t mind turning to other alternatives to get the job done. The vast amounts of content available on the Internet definitely helps ease the transition for users from one browser to another, or from one operating system to another. Microsoft still controls a majority of the market, but given another several more years the tides could really start turning.

Copyright © 2010 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox

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Viliv’s S10 Blade starts shipping out, gets its first customer unboxing

Aw, Suki Suki now! Nearly a fortnight after heard that Viliv’s S10 Blade had been delayed by the factory, in flies this. Tipster Anthony seems to be on Lady Luck’s good side, as his unit not only shipped, but fell into his lap today. He ordered up the 1.6GHz version with a 64GB SSD and integrated 3G, and just to prove that he wasn’t yanking our chain, he offered up a gallery’s worth of unboxing shots. We can’t say for sure that the backlog has cleared, but it’s pretty evident that the earliest of pre-orderers are seeing their units trickle out. With that said, we’d encourage you to refresh that inbox once more and make sure a package isn’t headed your way — and when it does, let us know how you like it in comments below.

[Thanks, Anthony]

Viliv’s S10 Blade starts shipping out, gets its first customer unboxing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T’s micro SIM card is the matryoshka doll of micro SIM cards

Alright, well played, AT&T: you’ve sort of managed to undo Apple’s unfortunate move of eschewing nearly two decades’ worth of deeply-entrenched SIM card standards in favor of a new one that literally nobody in the consumer cellphone world is using — and for that, we thank you. We’re being told that these new SIMs are now being sold in AT&T stores for $15 and will work both with the iPad 3G and… well, literally every other GSM device you’ve ever owned, thanks to a couple of well-placed perforations that can turn the standard SIM into a micro SIM. This is presumably a preemptive strike to support the next-gen iPhone, too, but otherwise, you can go ahead and use the big card without busting out the little one. Trust us.

Update: Our tipster wrote back in to say that they’re actually not being sold in stores yet, so if you’ve formed a line outside your local brick-and-mortar, go ahead and turn in for the evening. Sorry, folks!

AT&T’s micro SIM card is the matryoshka doll of micro SIM cards originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 01:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cyanogen ports Android 2.1 to G1 and MyTouch 3G (update)

Droid, Milestone, Eris, Moment, Spica, even the Hero, all have had their Eclair, one way or another. G1 and myTouch 3G? Not so much. But don’t worry, Android early adopters, because Cyanogen‘s got your back. Most all the bells, whistles and hardware-accelerated graphics of Android 2.1 are coming to the HTC Dream, Magic and Sapphire in CyanogenMod 5.0.7, and you can see a video of a T-Mobile G1 running the new build after the break. Twitter buzz indicates the ROM will be out any minute now is nearly ready; the dev himself tweeted that it’s good to go and just needs G1-friendly bite size packaging.

Update: Don’t stay up all night waiting — Cyanogen says he’s got “two more bugs to kill” and is “hoping for a test1 public beta tomorrow night.”

[Thanks, Philosophics]

Continue reading Cyanogen ports Android 2.1 to G1 and MyTouch 3G (update)

Cyanogen ports Android 2.1 to G1 and MyTouch 3G (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe’s Flash Player ‘Gala’ OS X preview tested: results may vary

Gala1Flash 101

2.40GHz Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 256MB2
Safari 4.0.595.4 – 152.874.2 – 123.5
Firefox 3.6.483.5 – 148.489.4 – 130.5
2.66GHz Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512MB2
Safari 4.0.559 – 6496 – 132
Firefox 3.6.469 – 79111 – 140


So we just put a few minutes aside to put Adobe’s new “Gala” build of Flash 10.1 through its paces on our latest-generation Core i5 and i7 15-inch MacBook Pros here, and the results are a little confusing to say the least. On our i7 equipped with the high-res display and 512MB GeForce GT 330M, processor utilization playing a 1080p sample video on YouTube dropped by a third to a half on average — not bad — with Safari 4.0.5 besting Firefox 3.6.4 by a smidge. Our i5 saw strangely different numbers, though, with Gala actually increasing the load on the CPU by as much as about 20 percent. Adobe is quick to note that this is nothing more than a rough preview release; Apple just unlocked access to the necessary hardware a few days ago, after all, and we’re sure the company still has plenty of optimization to do. Ultimately, if our i7 figures are realistic, it should make high-def Hulu a decidedly less drama-packed experience down the road.

Notes:
1 Performance measured by processor utilization (note that numbers greater than 100 are possible on multi-core machines).
2 15.4-inch high resolution display, 256GB SSD, 4GB RAM

Adobe’s Flash Player ‘Gala’ OS X preview tested: results may vary originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven

The hand built, 8-bit “arcade guitar” that you see above is the result of a DIY senior project, and it’s a pretty cool accomplishment. There’s not a ton of detail about how it was constructed, but we know that it’s got an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) for logic and function, strings and a joystick for adjusting the pitch, and it also boasts selectable waves and save banks. Most importantly, however, the final product sounds really, really good — and we’d advise you to check the video below.

Continue reading 8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven

8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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