TeckSnippets-Technology news

Sony to launch fastest XQD cards

2012-01-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

Sony will start selling memory cards capable of write speeds of 125 Mbps from February. This will be the first cards launched under the new XQD card format.

This XQD card format utilizes PCI Express as its data transfer interface rather than SATA or PATA and can achieve extremely high read speeds and storage capacities.

These new cards address the issue of bottlenecking in high-end cameras caused by low write speeds. The amount of data processed by raw images and high-definition videos is often too much for current memory units to handle quickly, resulting in lagging video and pauses between taking a picture and the actual image obtained.

Sony has announced that the new cards will launch with 16 GB (the QD-H16) and 32 GB (QD-H32) versions along with readers compatible with USB 3.0 (MRW-E80) and PCI slots (QDA-EX1) for computers. The costs of these cards are quite high at $129.99 for the H16 and $229.99 for the H32. The readers themselves are far cheaper, at only $44.99 for the E80 and $44.99 for the EX1.

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus

2012-01-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

A researcher shooting video in Indonesian waters captures a jawfish mimicking an octopus that itself mimics other fish.

As you saw in the above two videos, the mimic octopus is a brazen and audacious creature that got that way after it evolved a complex set of characters.

During a diving trip in Indonesia in July 2011, Godehard Kopp of the University of Göttingen in Germany, filmed a never-before-seen interaction between these two animals. In his video, we see the small and shy black marble jawfish closely following a brazen and audacious mimic octopus whilst it moves across the sandy bottom. The jawfish's markings are very similar to those of the octopus and as you'll see, it is quite difficult to see the fish as swims amongst the octopus's many arms.

Firefox for Android on tablets

2011-12-23T05:09:00.000-08:00

Firefox announced a new version of Firefox for Android, optimized for tablets.
The new Firefox for Android also comes with some bells and whistles for dvelopers to enable them to create interactive mobile web experiences.

Mozilla says it aims to be very visual and “magazine-like” with this version. It integrates Firefox sync so you always have access to your browsing history, open tabs, bookmarks, saved passwords, etc.
Tabs appear as thumbnails, and the browser is optimized for portrait and widescreen modes.
“With the new Action Bar menu (next to the Awesome Bar), you can access Firefox Preferences, Add-ons, downloads and more. The Action Bar adds the back, forward and bookmark buttons for easy access,” Mozilla says. “One-touch bookmarks enable you to add an icon to your Android home screen for your favorite websites and Web apps, making Web apps as easy to use as native apps.”
“Developers will enjoy new HTML5 tools in Firefox that make it easier to create fun and interactive mobile Web experiences for phones and tablets,” says Mozilla. “The HTML5 Input Tag for Camera Access enables developers to make websites and Web apps more powerful and interactive. Developers can build mobile websites and Web apps that allow you to use the camera on an Android phone or tablet to take pictures, scan bar codes and more without leaving Firefox.

Google to release branded tablet

2011-12-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

Google has announced that it will begin marketing a tablet to rival Apple and all others. The tablet could be ready within the next six months, although any specific details regarding the device were left to the imagination.
In an interview with Italian newspaper,Schmidt pointing out that he realized the revolutionary potential of the tablet beyond vertical and enterprise markets by bringing it to the consumer level. He even called the iPad an amazing product but of course was quick to remind readers that the two companies are competitors and that Google plans to market a tablet in the next six months “of the highest quality.”

How to embed a Tweet

2011-12-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

With new twitter users now can place embeddable tweets on their websites by simply using one line of code. A single-click action also lets visitors follow the creator of a tweet.
Your website visitors will see a Tweet that focuses on the content by surfacing the conversation and media. Visitors can follow the author with a single-click, and reply, retweet, or favorite the Tweet without leaving the page:

Try it on your website by clicking “Embed this Tweet” from any permalink page in the newly launched Twitter. If you use WordPress or Posterous Spaces, it's easier than ever to embed Tweets.

Microsoft Releases Xbox Live app for iPhone, iPad

2011-12-08T05:24:00.001-08:00

Microsoft released an Xbox Live app for iOS devices on Wednesday.

My Xbox Live lets users edit their 3-D avatars, chat with Xbox Live friends and revel in their achievements.

The iPhone app features the horizontal bar across the bottom of the screen that houses the same sort of circular icons you'd find in a Windows Phone 7 app. Also included: a clever browser-based demo that lets you virtually explore the UI of a Windows Phone from your Android or iPhone handset.

While you may already be on a phone of a different OS, it has potential to lure potential defectors over to Microsoft's mobile platform.

My Xbox Live is available free for download on the iPhone and iPad in the App Store.

How To Delete your Facebook account

2011-12-06T23:22:00.001-08:00

1. Prepare a list of any sites that you log into using the Facebook connect feature. You'll need to go each of those sites and close your accounts there. If you log into any of them over the 14 day period it counts and you'll have to start over. You can always recreate the accounts later.

2. Go to Facebook Account Deletion page. If the site asks you to log in, do so. You'll be taken to a page titled "Delete My Account". There are two buttons click the button labeled "Submit".

3. You will now be asked, "You are about to permanently delete your account. Are you sure?" If you are sure, then you need to enter your password. There's also one of those security boxes where you enter the random text. Then click the button labeled "OK".

4. If you don't login during those 14 days afterwards your account will be gone.

5. You will receive a note to your e-mail from Facebook that you've initiated the deletion process. If you don't receive this e-mail it's possible that the process may not have begun and you'll need to try again.

Note: It takes 14 days for Facebook to officially delete your account. If you log into your account before those 14 days are up you'll need to restart the deletion process. This is the most complicated part of the process.

top searched term on the Web in 2011

2011-12-05T02:15:00.001-08:00

Apple's iPhone is the top searched term on the Web in 2011, according to Yahoo! The company said the smartphone proved more popular than reality television celebrity Kim Kardashian, pop star Katy Perry and singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who placed in the top five.

American Casey Anthony, the woman acquitted of the murder of her young daughter after a highly publicised trial, was No 2. "This is the first time since 2002 that we have had a gadget at No 1, which is an iPhone." Vera Chan, a Web trend analyst at Yahoo!, said in a conference call announcing the results of the review now in its 10th year. "Even though the product has been around for four years it just became such a major news story," she added. PlayStation2 topped the list in 2002.

Chan credited the iPhone with helping to facilitate political movements around the world and said the device embodied the vision of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who died in October. Women dominated the list, capturing six out of the top 10 spots.

Troubled actress Lindsay Lohan made headlines for a brief stay in jail and court appearances for violating probation on drunken driving and theft charges captured the No 6 spot. Actress Jennifer Aniston, a first timer on the top 10 list along with Lopez, came in eighth. In addition to the Casey Anthony trial, the Japan earthquake and Osama bin Laden who was killed in a US assault in Pakistan earlier this year, were the only news stories to make the top 10.

"People don't have to search for details they get in the news, and it is rare that a news story end up on the overall list," said Chan. Pop princess Britney Spears, who dominated the list in the top spot for four consecutive years, failed to make the list his year. "American Idol," which was the most search item in 2004, placed seventh. The Yahoo! list is based on aggregated visitor activity on the network and billions of consumer searches.

Google unveils revamped version of Google TV

2011-10-28T23:39:00.000-07:00

Google unveiled a revamped version of its Google TV service on Friday, bringing new features aimed at making the product easier-to-use and more appealing to consumers.

The new 2.0 version of Google TV provides new tools for recommending movies, TV programs and online videos to TV viewers, and makes it easier for software developers to create new apps for the television screen.

Google TV -- which currently comes built-in on certainSony Corp television models and on Logitech International set-top boxes -- allows consumers to access online videos and websites on their TVs, as well as to play with specialized apps such as video games.

Google does not disclose how many users it has for Google TV, which was launched with great fanfare last year. But some analysts say that version 1.0 of the product has been a flop.

"The fire they were trying to start never even got a spark," said Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey.

The $299 price for the least-expensive Google TV device was too high, said McQuivey (Logitech has since reduced the price of its device to $100). And the fact that many of the television networks, perhaps sensing a threat from Google, blocked the Web-based versions of their shows from being accessible on Google TV devices created confusion among consumers, he said.

For Google, which generated 96 percent of its revenue from advertising last year, television represents a significant opportunity for expansion. According to industry research firm IDC, television advertising in the U.S. this year is expected to be a nearly $70 billion market.

Having a foothold in the living room could also be important for Google as the lines between traditional media and the Internet blur and as Google moves to bolster the rich trove of amateur videos on its YouTube website with professionally-produced content.

Google+ opens to Google Apps users

2011-10-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Google+ is now open to users of Google Apps, the tech giant's suite of cloud-based business application.

Google's new social network will work a bit differently for those using Google+ with a Google Apps account versus a personal Google account.

For one, Google Apps users will be using email addresses that are tied to their workplace whether abusiness or an educational institution -- to get onto Google+. As such, Google is allowing businesses to have administrative control over all Google+ accounts integrated with Google App accounts.

"Because you're signing up for Google+ with your corporate email address, your Google Apps administrator retains the right to access your Google+ data and modify or delete it at any time,"Google said in a suggestion of text to send out via email that Google Apps users who want to use Google+ for work too. Google does advise that businesses "edit based on your organization's policies," so it's up to a business as to how they handle this ability.

Google also said that it would soon roll out a migration tool that will allow users with a personal Google+ account to move them over to a Google Apps integrated Google+ account.

"With this tool, you won't have to rebuild your circles, and people who've already added you to their circles will automatically be connected to your new profile," Ho said. "We expect this migration option to be ready in a few weeks, so if you'd like, you can go ahead and get started with your Apps account today and merge your connections once the tool is available."

Google To Shut Down Buzz Service

2011-10-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

Google on Friday said it plans to shut down Buzz. "In a few weeks we’ll shut down Google Buzz and the Buzz API, and focus instead on Google+," said Google product vice president Bradley Horowitz in a blog posting. "While people obviously won't be able to create new posts after that, they will be able to view their existing content on their Google Profile, and download it using Google Takeout."

Google announced the closure of a few other services as well. In January, it will shut down Code Search, a service that let people search for open-source code. Google will also close Jaiku, a Twitter-like service it acquired in 2007.

Google is also shutting down the University Research Program for Google Search, which offered API (application programming interface) access to Google's search results for researchers.

The announcement follows another in early September about a number of other services that Google would shut down, including Aardvark, Fast Flip, Sidewiki, Image Labeler and others.

Steve Jobs profile in comic book

2011-10-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

A comic book on the life of Apple's former chief executive Steve Jobs is being released.

Bluewater Productions are releasing a special edition e-book of the 32-page comic titled "Steve Jobs: Founder of Apple".

It will be available to buy on the NOOK and Kindle from Thursday next week, with the print edition due for release at the end of October.

Bluewater has said a portion of the profits from both issues to the American Cancer Society

No web browsing from Kindle Touch 3G

2011-10-03T06:23:00.000-07:00

Amazon has officially confirmed that the next-generation Kindle Touch 3G won't include full web access.

Flickr unveiled Photo Session and the Flickr Android app

2011-09-29T01:09:00.001-07:00

Yahoo's Photo-sharing service Flickr unveiled Photo Session and the Flickr Android app on Thursday.

Photo Session is a feature designed to encourage friends and family to share photos at the same time, no matter where they are in the world.

For example you've taken a thousand photos on your recent trip and you want to share them with relatives and friends at the same time. Well, the first thing to do is edit them down to the best 50, because you can bet your bottom dollar not one of them will want to sit through a slideshow that goes well into the night, no matter how good the pics are.

Once you ve picked out the best, set up a Photo Session and then invite whoever you like to browse the photos at exactly the same time.

"When you move to the next photo it moves for everyone else too according a post on the website's blog.

The fun part is that while you're viewing the photos, you can all chat with each other and even draw on the pictures using the built-in tools. Up to 10 others can join in the communal global slideshow, and it can be viewed on a PC, iPhone and iPad.

Flickr also launched its official Android app on Thursday. It's been a while coming, considering that the iPhone version has been around for over two years. The app enables users to take pics, jazz them up with filters, and easily post them to sites like Facebook and Twitter.

"Browsing and navigating has been custom designed for Flickr to make use of maps, tags, and activity around your photos. "You can stay up to date with the latest comments and activity on your photos and take advantage of gorgeous full screen browsing and slideshows."

Amazon Unveils Kindle Fire

2011-09-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Amazon on Wednesday officially introduced the Kindle Fire, the device has a 7-inch touchscreen, weighs 14.6 ounces and is outfitted with a dual-core processor. But the most important feature may be the price. At $199 the Fire is less than half the price of the Apple iPad, which starts at $499. It is the first tablet from a major company to seriously undercut the iPad in price.

Online storage for movies, books, and music will be free for Kindle Fire owners, extending storage beyond the device's built-in 8GB of memory.

Amazon makes several devices that include 3G cellular connections, but the initial version of the Fire will be Wi-Fi only.

While the Fire is smaller than the iPad with its 10-inch screen and it doesn't have a camera, the tablet is much lighter so that it can be comfortably held in one hand. And it supports all the popular video formats, including Adobe's Flash—something Apple refuses to do. Taking another jab at Apple, Bezos showed one slide of an Apple USB cable, promising that the Kindle Fire would do away with the cords and would update wirelessly

The Fire uses a dual-core processor and the latest version of Google Android software and looked zippy in hands-on demonstrations. Apps will also be available for the device, but Amazon is clearly focused on tying its own services into the tablet.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/28/amazon-to-take-on-apple-ipad-with-kindle-fire-tablet/#ixzz1ZGxLX800

Microsoft releases Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update

2011-09-28T02:03:00.001-07:00

Microsoft has started to roll-out the latest version of its Windows Phone operating system.Codenamed ‘Mango’, version 7.5 includes enhanced social network contact and calendar integration, as well as improved multitasking.

The new software is available for free to customers who have already bought Windows Phone 7 handsets, such as the HTC Trophy. Nokia is set to launch its first Windows devices at the end of October.

The new software was also accompanied by the launch of a new web marketplace for apps, allowing users to buy from their PCs as well as their phones.

ango also adds long-awaited multitasking, which lets users move freely between applications and pick up and resume where they left off. 4G wireless support is embedded, and for security-conscious enterprise customers, Mango adds support for Exchange-based rights-management rule.

Web browsing is enhanced with native support for Internet Explorer 9, which on Windows Phone 7 will drive hardware-accelerated graphics rendering as it does on the PC.

Firefox 7 Released

2011-09-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Firefox 7.0 has just been made available for Windows, OS X, and Linux users to download.

Firefox 7.0 is the first stable release to benefit from Mozilla's "MemShrink" initiative, which aims to improve the browser's speed and resource usage by reducing memory requirements and addressing memory leaks that can bog down the browser over long sessions, or for users with many tabs open simultaneously.

Other new additions include a new version of "Canvas," a Direct2D acceleration feature for HTML5 games and animations; support for the W3C navigation timing API, which can help developers measure page load time under a variety of different circumstances; and Telemetry, which can send anonymous information about your browsing sessions to Mozilla to aid in the identification of performance issues. Upon installing Firefox 7.0, you'll be given the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of Telemetry.

The update should be available to current FIrefox users now, and you can always get the latest version manually at getfirefox.com.

iPhone 5 with 1GB RAM and voice control?

2011-09-27T07:16:00.001-07:00

Apple's iPhone 5 will include a whopping 1GB of RAM and a voice control
system known as the Assistant, according to the latest reports

Based on details revealed by the source or sources, the new iPhone will
come equipped with the A5 chip, 1GB of internal memory, and an 8-megapixel
camera. The phone will also include a Qualcomm Gobi Baseband chipset that
will allow it to run on both CDMA and GSM networks, claims 9to5Mac's source.

Beyond the boost in memory, the most compelling feature to reportedly pop up
on the new phone will be a voice control system called the Assistant.
Described by 9to5Mac as "the biggest game changer" of the next iPhone,
the Assistant will allow users to navigate the device and issue commands
via voice.

Beyond requiring iOS 5, the new voice feature apparently needs some beefy
hardware to support it, specificially the A5 chip and the 1GB of memory.
If true, that means owners of older iPhone models won't be able to join in on
the conversations with their phones.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20112107-37/iphone-5-to-offer-1gb-ram-and-voice-control/#ixzz1ZA7nipf7

Amazon Kindle Fire

2011-09-27T00:44:00.001-07:00

Amazon's Android tablet will be called the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The Amazon Kindle Fire will be announced on Wednesday, and the suggestion is that it has a US launch date of the second week in November.

The Amazon Kindle Fire specs are looking increasingly likely to be set at a 7-inch Android tablet with a UI that has been heavily adapted by Amazon.

The Kindle Fire is likely to be subsidised by Amazon, with a lower price point likely to give it a fighting chance against not only the raft of Android tablet in the market but also Apple's dominant iPad 2.

Amazon already has its own Android app market, which will be a cornerstone of its strategy, but it will be sales of media such as films and TV shows, as well as books, which will recoup the investment of the internet shopping giant.

key features missing from Facebook Music

2011-09-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

1. True music sharing
2. Real-time group listening
3. Music tab in the ticker
4. Apple
5. Independent developers

Read more at : cnn

New Facebook Overview

2011-09-23T01:01:00.001-07:00

New Facebook Overview

First is the "lists" on the left-hand side of your homepage. You can make groups of people (like family or coworkers) so when you click on that tab, you see news only from those people.

You'll also notice something different on your news feed. You now have the option to mark each post as a "top story." To do that, click the top left corner of the post. This tells Facebook that you want to see more posts from that user.

The section that's been under the most scrutiny is the "ticker" on the right-hand side of your homepage. This is basically a real-time news feed and allows you to join in conversations without leaving your homepage.

To download something called "Better Facebook, go to betterfacebook.net . You can download the free browser extension, which essentially acts like an app. It lets you control exactly how you want your page to look. You can change background colors, and even remove the new "ticker" if it's really bothering you. According to their website, "Better Facebook" is a personal project of Matt Kruse, the sole programmer, designer, tester, documentation-writer, and marketer.

Yahoo News has been linked with Facebook

2011-09-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

The U.S. edition of Yahoo News has been linked with Facebook to make it possible for users of the two sites to share with their Facebook friends the articles they have read on the Yahoo site.

For the integration features to work, Yahoo News visitors need to be logged into their Facebook accounts. If they are, they'll see a Facebook "facebar" placed horizontally near the top of Yahoo News with the profile photos of friends.

Then, they'll be able to see which Yahoo News stories those friends have clicked on, as well as make available their own Yahoo News reading activities to their friends. People's Yahoo News activities will also be reflected back on their Facebook profiles.

The link between Yahoo News and Facebook is an opt-in feature. If they have it on, users can choose at any time to turn it off completely. They can also have it on and delete specific entries from their list of articles viewed that they don't want their friends to see.

Source:pcworld

How to sign up for Facebook Timeline

2011-09-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Facebook has announced new feature called Timeline. While it's not currently available to most Facebook users, you can sign up, making your account eligible to receive the new feature earlier than most.

Timeline shows off your Facebook content in a brand-new way, and,it looks really interesting. Once available, users will interact with content in a completely new way on Facebook.

To get early access to the new feature, you will need to visit the Timeline page on Facebook, log in to your Facebook account, and click on the Sign Me Up button on the bottom right of the screen.

After you have clicked on the Sign Me Up button, your account is eligible for the Timeline feature once it begins rolling out. Facebook usually announces a new feature and slowly rolls it out over the coming days and weeks, giving priority access to those who have taken the time to indicate they want to use the new feature.

Nikon launches compact camera system

2011-09-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Nikon launches the Nikon 1 system with the super-fast J1, and the pro-friendly V1.

The J1 ($649.95 with 10-30mm kit lens) is the flagship of the line, while the V1 is its amped-up brother, with high-resolution electronic viewfinder, mic jack and accessory port ($899.95 with same lens).

Besides the new form factor, Nikon's key boasts center around shooting. "The new advanced hybrid AF system is the world’s fastest autofocus," says the press release. The hybrid system uses two different types of detection that ought to maximize autofocus in different light conditions.

Nikon J1 with 30-110mm zoom lens (sold separately)

The cameras can do all kinds of things while shooting, not gimmicks but genuinely useful tricks: "Motion Snapshot" takes a frozen still image and a slow-motion shot of the same thing, merging them together with an audio soundtrack for "a portrayal of an occurrence with maximum impact." Think flowing hair, crashing waves, etc. Sounds haunting, and a little bit Harry Potter, but I want to check it out.

The other exceptional shooting feature has been seen on other cameras before, but is welcome on a model like this: If you're shooting a fast-moving object, say a honeybee, cat or kid at bat, you set the camera to "Smart Photo Selector," and it begins shooting before you press the shutter. The camera analyzes the images and delivers the best photo, or a selection of the top five for your choice.

The sensor inside the cameras sounds like a real champion. It's not as big as the ones in DSLRs — or the ones inside the competing Panasonic/Olympus Micro Four Thirds format — but it is substantially larger than the sensor found in point-and-shoots. A 10.1-megapixel CMOS, it's capable of super fast shooting: 1080p video at 30 frames per second, 1080i at 60fps, and can reach speeds of up to 1200 fps for super slow-mo effects.

As I mentioned, while the J1 is the smaller, more wide-audience version of the camera system, complete with a selection of colors (and even matching lenses!), the V1 is aimed more at pros, or at least enthusiasts who value adding their own microphone, a speedlight mountable flash and even GPS. The most distinctive feature on the V1 is its 1.4-million pixel electronic viewfinder, which activates when you stick the camera up to your face. The $250 premium for the step up from J1 to V1 is steep, but some people won't settle for less.

Tips to hide the Facebook ticker

2011-09-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Facebook has been added sidebar ticke to the right-hand column of the newly redesigned News Feed, along with complaints and snarky comments about the new News Feed and this ticker.

Here are quick and easy ways in both Firefox and Chrome to get rid of the ticker.

In Chrome, simply install the Hide Facebook SideBar Ticker extension and the ticker will vanish.

In Firefox, you will need to install a user script. To do so, first install the Greasemonkey add-on and then install this user script. When prompted, restart Firefox and the ticker will be gone. Do note that this user script removes the entire right column of Facebook, including the ticker, event invitations, ads, sponsored stories, friends' photos, and so on.

Apple iPhone 5 to debut Oct. 5

2011-09-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

Apple will introduce its iPhone 5 on October 4, with new Chief Executive Tim Cook leading the show, All Things Digital reported.

The iPhone 5 carries tremendous significance for Apple. The company faces mounting pressure from the Android realm, with a confusing array of budget-minded and high-end models, but Apple chooses to put many its eggs in many fewer baskets.

The iPhone 4 has held up well under the competitive pressure. But with the breakneck pace of the smartphone market bringing higher-speed LTE networks, larger displays, NFC payments, and other features, Apple's flagship phone is starting to look a bit long in the tooth.

Google+ Opened to All

2011-09-21T00:40:00.001-07:00

Google Inc. on Tuesday opened its Google+ online social network to the public.

The company also introduced new features to Google+, including the ability to search for information about topics such as cooking and photography, and along with the ability to see relevant Google+ users and their posts on such topics, as well as relevant content from around the Web.

Google+ lets as many as 10 people communicate simultaneously in a video "hangout." On Tuesday, Google said people can broadcast a "hangout" to the public, similar to how Google's YouTube video site lets some partners broadcast a live event.

Google also added a key feature to the version of Google+ that works on mobile devices powered by Google's Android software. Google+ users who own devices with front-facing cameras participate in a multiperson "hangout" using those devices, a potential advantage over the feature on Apple Inc.'s iPhone that lets people do video chats face-to-face, also known as "face time."

Google+ lets people share comments, articles, photos and videos with various "circles" of friends or contacts, or they can share content publicly with any user who wants to view their posts. Eventually, Google plans to incorporate features of Google+ in its other services, such as its YouTube video site.

Facebook redesigns its News Feed, adds real-time updates

2011-09-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Facebook is rolling out an updated version of News Feed that gives priority to important posts. If you haven't visited Facebook for a while, you'll see the top photos and status updates since you last logged in; if you log in several times a day, you'll see more recent news. The idea is to surface the information that matters most to you.

Facebook is also introducing a real-time "ticker" that streams your friends' most recent activity and encourages you to chat with them about it.

"Ticker shows you the same stuff you were already seeing on Facebook, but it brings your conversations to life by displaying updates instantaneously,"

Quickly delivering the most important updates from friends is the goal. But comments to the blog post about these latest efforts were mixed, ranging from users complaining that the social network doesn't have the ability to judge what's important to them to users welcoming the changes.

Sony Z1000, a new Android 2.3 Walkman

2011-09-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Sony Z1000 Series, available in 16, 32 and 64GB, comes with a 4.3” 480×800 screen, Android 2.3 and a nice Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU at 1Ghz and 512MB of RAM! Schedule for a Japanese launch around October, the NW-Z1000 Series will be sold at around 28,000 up to 43,000 Yen and comes with the usual support of Google’s Services, DLNA, as well as Bluetooth and WiFi BGN.

Google reveals total power use

2011-09-08T20:48:00.003-07:00

Google on Thursday revealed what had been one of its most closely guarded secrets: how much power it uses to fulfil its mission of organising the entire world’s information.

In a blog posting, Urz Hoelzle, the company’s senior vice-president of technical infrastructure, said that the company used 2.26 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2010 — the equivalent of some 200,000 U.S. homes. The company also emitted 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the yearly emissions of 70,000 Americans.

While this may seem like a lot, Google notes that its data centres actually use only about half as much energy as the industry average and that the total figure includes all the energy used by the company’s facilities and its 29,000 employees. The figure also encompasses the energy used for all Google services, including such relative energy hogs as YouTube.

“At Google, we’ve worked hard to minimise the environmental impact of our services,” the company said in a new website tracking its energy consumption. “In fact, to provide you with Google products for a month, our servers use less energy per user than leaving a light on for 3 hours. If you add in our renewable energy and offsets, our footprint is zero.”

Introducing the Samsung GALAXY Note [VIDEO]

2011-09-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Samsung GALAXY Note is a new type of smartphone.It is the ultimate on-the-go device which consolidates core benefits of diverse mobile devices while maintaining smartphone portability, creating a whole new experience.

The GALAXY Note has a 5.3” display which is the largest screen size with smartphone portability. It features the world’s first and the largest 5.3” HD Super AMOLED display, an expansive high-resolution screen that provides an immersive viewing experience. Taking full advantage of the large display, users will be able to do more tasks to create and consume more, with minimum scrolling and screen transitions, while on the go. An advanced pen-input technology, called the S Pen, is combined with the GALAXY Note’s full touch screen to introduce a new type of user-experience. Through this, consumers are able to freely capture and create ideas while on the go.

“The GALAXY Note is a device borne of our insight and innovation. We examined the fundamental elements of mobile culture, entertainment and communication in order to bring together the best experiences in a single, elegant device,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business. “The huge, 5.3” HD Super AMOLED screen is the largest, highest quality display available in any phone; the touch screen and S Pen combine to produce a uniquely accurate level of control and finesse, along with rich expressions across the GALAXY Note experience, enabling the introduction of new smartphone experiences.”

myTouch 4G

2011-08-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

The myTouch 4G Slide is a well designed phone offering a spacious keyboard, a terrific camera, a fast processor and a Wi-Fi calling app that charges you voice minutes.
First, the good stuff. The phone’s showpiece is its 8-megapixel camera. It is still not a replacement for a quality point-and-shoot camera, but it is better than most phone cameras.
Part of the camera’s usefulness comes from its photo software controls. It has basic portrait, night and action modes, but also has a manual mode that allows you alter the exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpness. It also has an antishake setting to decrease the blur you might see in low-light photos.
Some of the camera features still need work, though. One is an H.D.R. setting for unevenly lighted subjects, like a room with sunlight pouring in the windows. It did not work very well in my tests. The camera also claims to have no shutter lag, so that it snaps the instant you touch the shutter button. It was quicker than most, but hardly at zero.
Also in the plus column, it has an expansive sliding keyboard with nicely raised keys in a case that is not absurdly thick. There is a snappy 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, and an Android operating system that can play both HTML and Flash animations.
Other standard features include the Genius button, which activates the voice controls, a group text feature and access to Netflix.
But then there is built-in Wi-Fi calling, possibly the least favorite feature I have seen on a mobile phone.
Anyone familiar with Wi-Fi calling apps like Skype and Fring knows that the VoIP programs allow calls to be made using your own Wi-Fi connection, so calls do not go across the voice or data channels of your carrier. That means no voice or data charges. In some cases, VoIP calls are completely free (apart from the cost of your Wi-Fi, of course).

This is a very good phone with a superior camera, but for Wi-Fi calling, stick to Skype or Fring instead.

Bootstrap, an online toolkit for twitter developers

2011-08-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Twitter released Bootstrap, an online toolkit for developers looking to build new web apps, or even clean up some of the code they already have.

Bootstrap is an open source set of files written in CSS (or Cascading Style Sheets, a programming language used to dictate how a website or web app looks and works) that covers some of the building blocks of most web apps, such as buttons, tables and forms, page templates, app navigation and even stylistic matters such as typography and color gradients.

The simple and small tools (at about only six kilobytes in size) released by Twitter, on the popular code sharing site GitHub, are the same basic tools used by Twitter developers for the social network's own webpages and apps, Mark Otto, a designer at Twitter, said in a blog post.

Google adds weather layer on Google Maps

2011-08-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Google adds weather layer onGoogle Maps that displays current temps and conditions around the globe, and will hopefully make travel and activity planning easier.
To add the weather layer, hover over the widget in the upper right corner of Google Maps and select the weather layer from the list of options. When zoomed out, you’ll see a map with current weather conditions from weather.com for various locations, with icons to denote sun, clouds, rain and so on.

Facebook Feature Shows You Your Old Status Updates From 2010 & 2009

2011-08-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Facebook has quietly rolled out a new feature that displays status updates you posted exactly one or two years ago.
The feature appears as a small box in the right-hand column above the advertising, either titled “On This Day in 2010″ or “On This Day in 2009.” We’ve typically found that the “On This Day” box appears while you’re browsing a photo album.
You can also click the “Show More” button to see more status updates from exactly one or two years ago, if you posted multiple status updates on those days. The feature only seems to go back to 2009. That makes sense — Facebook just didn’t have a lot of users in 2008 or 2007.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has tried to help uses discover their past activity on Facebook. It also has a feature for surfacing photos from your past.

Facebook Chat reverses changes made to online friends list

2011-08-12T20:58:00.001-07:00

Facebook announced the change in a "status message" on its company profile page, citing "a lot of feedback that people missed seeing all of their online friends" as the reason.

"Today, we made a change so that Chat now shows the friends who you message the most, as well as the rest of your friends who are currently online," the status message read.

While many of the people who commented welcomed the change, just as many called for the chat system to be taken further back.

"If it aint broke, dont fix it," said one user in a comment.

The change comes two days after the social-networking giant announced the release of a new app for Apple's iOS (which runs on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) and Google's Android called Facebook Messenger. The app lets users send Facebook chat messages to Facebook friends, as well as to people in their smartphone's contact books as text messages.

Over the last couple of months, Facebook has been making changes to its messaging system that seek to blur the lines between text messaging, instant messaging and Facebook messaging