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Apr 26

WrapUp: Running iPhone Apps on iPad Without Pixel Doubling, Google Redesign, and More

Posted in: ipad, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili, WrapUp

This article was written on May 10, 2010 by CyberNet.

Welcome to the WrapUp by CyberNet. This is a collection of news stories, downloads, and tips that we have collected over the last few days, but never got around to writing about. Don’t forget to send in your own tips, or just leave a comment on this page if you think you’ve got something we should include.

–News–

Google Redesign Goes Live
Last week Google pushed out a rather large visual makeover to their search site, which included a revamped logo. The new logo has a much more modern feel to it, and even though it will take some getting used to I’d say it is a refreshing change. The search results page also has a sidebar that is always visible, and presents additional search/filtering options.

New Google Goggles Translates Text
I always liked where Google was heading with the Google Goggles application for the Android mobile OS, but was disappointed that they weren’t offering it on other platforms (namely the iPhone). That disappointment grew with the latest update that lets you snap a picture of some text in a foreign language, and it will OCR that image so that the text can be translated. It apparently needs a little work, but they are on to something great.

–News in Brief–

The iPad is Not Killing Netbook Sales
Paul Thurrott points out why reports of the iPad killing netbook sales are incorrect.

Guy Wins $1 Million for Pitching a Perfect (Video) Game
An Alabama resident pitches a perfect game in the Major League Baseball 2K10 video game, and earns himself a cool $1 million for doing so.

IE9 Platform Preview 2 Released
The newest preview of IE9 boasts performance improvements and better support for standards.

Google Acquires BumpTop
The makers of the 3D desktop software called BumpTop have been acquired by Google. This has left people wondering whether the software will be ported over to Android or Chrome OS.

iPhone/iPad Jailbreak Available
Spirit, the newest jailbreak, works with iPhone OS 3.1.2, 3.1.3, and 3.2 (iPad) without the devices needing to be tethered when rebooting.

Apple Patents Invisible Buttons
One of the patents recently awarded to Apple applies to “invisible” buttons that can be placed on the MacBook’s casing.

Adobe CS5 Shipping, Trials Available
Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 is now shipping, and trial versions can be downloaded from their site.

–Tips, Tutorials, and Reviews–

VirtualBox 3.2 Beta Supports OS X VMs (on OS X Hosts)
I’ve always liked using virtual machines to test out software, but due to some licensing restrictions imposed by Apple this has never been an easy chore. The free VirtualBox software now supports using Mac OS X in a virtual machine, but only if the host operating system (the one running the virtual machine) is also Mac OS X. I’m skeptical as to whether this is a real limitation of the software, or whether we’ll see some “hacks” that will allow Windows users to also install Mac OS X in a VM. Maybe we’ll also see Windows 7 Aero support soon? Pretty please.

Running iPhone Apps on the iPad Without Pixel Doubling
I haven’t jailbroken my iPad yet, but this is one of the reasons I want to. A simple hack will let iPhone apps running on the iPad use the native resolution instead of doubling the pixel size, which when doubled makes the text look blurry. The example Gizmodo shows with Tweetie makes the hack even more tempting… especially because I have several apps that I think this would work great with.

–Tips in Brief–

Power User’s Guide to the Windows 7
Lifehacker has a great guide that outlines all kinds of tips, keyboard shortcuts, and apps that help you get the most out of the Windows 7 Taskbar.

What is a THX Certified Display?
HDGuru walks through what it takes for a display to become THX certified.

Strip Down Google Calendar with Greasemonkey
This Greasemonkey script drastically simplifies the Google Calendar interface.

10 Things to Try in Google Chrome 5 Beta
The latest Google Chrome Beta has features like native geolocation, reordering extension buttons, and more.

Enable Concurrent Remote Desktop Connections
This script will let multiple users remotely connect to a Windows 7 machine at the same time.

CaptureFox Firefox Extensions Lets You Create Screencasts
I can’t say that I’ve seen a Firefox extension before that gives you the ability to make screencasts, but this one does.

How to Configure Your HP Photosmart to Scan to Evernote
Configure your HP Photosmart scanner so that it directly sends the docs to your Evernote account.

Enable DreamScene in Windows 7
You can finally get one of the only worthwhile Windows Vista Ultimate tools in Windows 7.

Create & Manage Backups with Comodo Time Machine
MakeUseOf explains how you can use the free Comodo Time Machine to make regular snapshots of your system.