Firefox for Honeycomb nightly builds now available for the brave beta testing few

“Boot to Gecko” this is not, but it’s still a tasty morsel for the beta testing hordes. Mozilla’s mobile group, which has been hard at working translating its popular browser to Android slates, appears ready to dole out the first downloads of its UI-in-progress. The team’s begun reaching out to its user community, offering up nightly builds of the tablet-based Fennec and soliciting feedback testing. If you’re the type to get your hands dirty coding, you can even sign-up to help the crew debug the early stage browser and speed up its official release. Feel like taking a crack at Firefox for Honeycomb? Then hit up the source below to preview the in-development goods.

Firefox for Honeycomb nightly builds now available for the brave beta testing few originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceLucasr.org, Mozilla Wiki  | Email this | Comments

Google launches Flight Search service, Kayak shrugs it off (video)

Google’s DOJ-approved acquisition of ITA has finally borne fruit, in the form of Flight Search — a new tool that aims to streamline the chaos that is online travel booking. The Mountain View contingent unveiled the interface yesterday, with an “early look” at what appears to be a fairly straightforward service. Once you enter your starting point, destination, price range and duration, a list of results will appear in ascending order of fare and duration, below a map displaying each flight’s trajectory. From there, you can filter your results by airline, number of layovers or specific departure times, before booking your itinerary on the carrier’s site (Google was careful to point out that flight selection and results will not be “influenced by any paid relationships”). At the moment, the service is restricted to a select group of US cities and only features round-trip economy class flights, but Google says future updates and expansions are on the way. We’re eager to see how the company dresses up this relatively bare bones platform and, perhaps more importantly, how competing travel sites react to it. Kayak, for one, responded with confident nonchalance to Flight Search, explicitly describing it as an inferior product. “We’re confident in our ability to compete, and we believe our flight search technology is superior,” the company said, in a statement. “We recognize Google is a formidable competitor but they haven’t been successful in every vertical they’ve entered.” Let the games begin. Demo video after the break.

Continue reading Google launches Flight Search service, Kayak shrugs it off (video)

Google launches Flight Search service, Kayak shrugs it off (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Search Engine Land, TechCrunch  |  sourceGoogle Flight Search, Google Search Blog  | Email this | Comments

Sony shows off PlayStation Vita’s initial setup process and user interface (video)

While we’re still months away from seeing the PlayStation Vita show up in the stores, Sony continues to tease us with more live demonstrations here at the SCEJ press conference — what we saw just now was a quick walkthrough of the initial setup procedure, and our first look at the interface in action. Setup is simple and predictable: select your region, create or log into your PSN account, enter your birthday — pretty standard for today’s handheld gaming devices. The UI itself looks primed to make smartphone users feel right at home, spreading a cloud of large, friendly app icons across the Vita’s five-inch touchscreen.

Our hosts skipped through a few media applications, showing off a pair of movie trailers and concurrently running the device’s music player and photo viewer. We didn’t see it live today, but Sony suggested that cross-app multitasking is compatible with games as well, stating that a player could hop out of a game session, pop-into a Twitter app, and then jump right back into the game. We’ll give you a more detailed account once we’ve hit the TGS show-floor. Can’t wait? Peek our gallery below, or see Sony’s live demo above.

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Sony shows off PlayStation Vita’s initial setup process and user interface (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DirecTV’s new HD UI revealed to testers, is prettier and faster than the current one

While DirecTV may tossing an old standard def look on the new DirecTiVo, beta testers got a treat tonight (even better than news AMC HD is on the way) when their boxes downloaded a brand new user interface. It’s the HD UI that was mentioned during the last earnings call, and brings not only fully 16×9 formatted graphics but also, according to testers, a serious performance boost to satellite receivers. If you’re in the test group restart your box and punch 0,2,4,6,8 to snag the new software and have a look for yourself, but if you’re on the outside looking in hit the source link for one of DBSTalk’s typical thorough walkthrough PDFs.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

DirecTV’s new HD UI revealed to testers, is prettier and faster than the current one originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox for Honeycomb UI shown off, inching closer to a tablet near you

Firefox on Honeycomb

The Mozilla team has been quietly toiling to bring Firefox to a mid-sized screen near you. It’s already a perpetual favorite on the desktop and has made a bit of a splash on Android phones, now the group has Honeycomb tablets squarely in its crosshairs. It’s still very much in the early stages of development but a few UI decisions have been made, including the choice to adhere pretty strictly to Android 3.0’s minimalist appearance. In landscape mode tabs will be represented as a persistent thumbnail bar on the left, but in portrait they’ll revert to the top with a more familiar appearance. The tabbed Awesome from the mobile version also returns. Check out the gallery below, as well as the source for more detail and more mockups.

Firefox for Honeycomb UI shown off, inching closer to a tablet near you originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceIan Barlow  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft patent application details pico projected shared workspace, sounds vaguely familiar

“Combined Surface User Interface” is a cool little patent application filed by Microsoft back in 2010, detailing the creation of a shared workspace stitched together by pico projectors attached to mobile devices. Users can interface with the projected area through motion captured on a camera. If the whole thing sounds a bit familiar, don’t worry, you’re not crazy. Earlier in the month, a patent application from Apple surfaced carrying the “Projected Display Shared Workspaces” title, detailed a fairly similar scenario. Interestingly, the two applications were filed a week apart, Microsoft’s on February 3rd, 2010, and Apple’s on February 11th of that year. It’s important to note, before jumping to any conclusions, of course, that the granting of patents in a case like this doesn’t hinge on the filing date.

Microsoft patent application details pico projected shared workspace, sounds vaguely familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink About Projectors  |  sourceUSPTO  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft showcases new copy, move, rename functions in Windows 8 (video)

Windows 8 has yet to see the light of day, but new details on the forthcoming OS continue to emerge. The most recent preview once again comes courtesy of Microsoft’s Building Windows 8 blog, where the company has posted new information on the software’s copy, move, rename and delete functions. With the new system, all pending copy operations will appear in one dialog, where users can pause, stop and resume any job, while monitoring data transfer rates on a real-time throughput graph (pictured above). Redmond’s developers have also made it easier to resolve file name collisions, with a new dialog that displays thumbnail images of source files directly alongside preexisting documents of the same name. This allows users to decide which files they’d like to copy or replace by simply hovering their mouse over the image to see its file path, or double clicking it to open in full view. For more information, check out the demo video that’s waiting for you after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft showcases new copy, move, rename functions in Windows 8 (video)

Microsoft showcases new copy, move, rename functions in Windows 8 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mod Gadget  |  sourceMSDN  | Email this | Comments

Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video)

We’ve seen robots capable of entering hazardous nuclear plants and dangerous buildings, but engineers at Sandia Labs have now unveiled a new rescue bot that’s explicitly designed to enter and investigate collapsed mines, as well. Measuring just two feet tall and less than four feet in length, the Gemini-Scout Mine Rescue Robot packs a set of gas sensors, a thermal camera and a two-way radio, allowing it to detect dangerous underground materials and relay critical information to above-ground rescue workers. Its can also navigate across rocky terrain, tight quarters, or flooded tunnels, and is sturdy enough to carry food and other supplies to trapped miners. Operators, meanwhile, can manipulate the Gemini-Scout using only an Xbox 360 controller, which was incorporated into the system on the strength of its intuitive design and UI. Sandia’s engineers demoed their bot last week in DC and are hoping to begin licensing it to rescue agencies by the end of next year. Crawl past the break for a video of their creation, along with a full press release.

Continue reading Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video)

Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Symbian Anna now available for download on Nokia N8, E7, C7 and C6-01

Just a day after popping up on NaviFirm, Nokia’s Symbian Anna has finally arrived for download, right on schedule. Available for N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 users, the new OS brings a fresh new UI and a virtual portrait QWERTY keypad to Symbian smartphones, along with split-screen messaging, richer maps and speedier browsing. The update also brings NFC capabilities to the C7, in particular, allowing users to share contacts, photos and other goodies by simply tapping their handsets together. If you’re interested in upgrading, you can download Anna using the latest version of Ovi Suite (3.1.1), or with an OTA update, though availability and method of delivery vary from market to market. Find more information in the full PR, after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Symbian Anna now available for download on Nokia N8, E7, C7 and C6-01

Symbian Anna now available for download on Nokia N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Bliss spotted frolicking in the blurry wild?

We haven’t heard much about the HTC Bliss since it popped up on a Verizon roadmap earlier this month, but the folks over at PocketNow have obtained photos of what could be the handset’s first public appearance. The so-called “women only” smartphone, which recently passed through the FCC, is rumored to run on a 800MHz single-core processor and will reportedly sport a new version of HTC’s Sense UI. It’s also expected to run Android 2.3 and to rock a GSM 900MHz radio, though, as you can tell, it’s a little difficult to glean any of that from the above blurry images. No word yet on whether it’ll launch in September, as expected, or whether it’ll look a bit more feminine when it does, but we’ll keep you posted.

HTC Bliss spotted frolicking in the blurry wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Community  |  sourcePocketNow  | Email this | Comments