Items tagged with AP
Does Google track your location? A study by the Associated Press and Princeton University discovered that some Google services store your location regardless of your privacy settings. It is believed that over 2 million Android users are affected by this issue. Google claims that if users turn off their “Location History”, it will no longer store the places the users have been. The AP and Princeton University insist that some Google apps store time-stamped locations, even if the user has disabled “Location History”. Some of these exceptions make sense, but others seem illogical. On one hand, Google will look up your location to provide an accurate weather update. On the...
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Massive Open Online Courses, better known as MOOCs, are getting some traction in the education community - and we’re not just saying that because Oxford Dictionaries online added the term last week. The challenge to creating true MOOCs has been in the Open part of Massive Open Online Course: making all aspects of the course are freely available to students. Rupert Murdoch’s new Amplify MOOC is launching this year, providing schools and students with a credible AP computer science MOOC. The AP CS MOOC is a two-semester course in which your assignments are graded individually and you receive an overall grade at the end of the class. The AP CS MOOC, which is geared at high school students...
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S3 Graphics recently announced its next generation Chrome 500 graphics processors and new Chrome 530 GT card. This new line comes with all of the A/V goodies you're after, including an on-board Dolby 7.1 digital surround sound processor and support for Blu-ray and streaming HD playback. These new cards also support DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0 applications. What’s more, the cards have GPGPU (general-purpose computing on graphics processing units) and ChromotionHD.To speed-up 3D and non-gaming functions, DirectX, OpenGL, and GPGPU applications can be processed with programmable shader cores. Because the cards support Microsoft DirectX 10.1+ / OpenGL 3.0, you’ll be able to experience the next level...
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While Google's new version of its Mobile App for the iPhone has been warmly received, it appears, according to a report, that it uses an undocumented API, which would be a no-no in Apple's book. However, the use of the API results in a great user experience, so one has to wonder: did Apple let the app into the App Store because it was great, because Google is so powerful, because the NY Times pimped the app, or because Apple just missed it? As you probably know, the new version of the app uses voice recognition: no more typing in search queries unless you speak with a British accent, and the app is smart enough to realize when you are raising the phone to your ear to speak, and prompt you. But...
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Ever since Apple developed its multi-touch controls for the popular iPhone, many manufacturers have been taking notes. HP is one of them. Today, HP unveiled its first touchscreen convertible laptop that targets consumers. The new HP TouchSmart tx2 Notebook PC incorporates multi-touch technology, which lets you manipulate applications, videos, music, and photos using a stylus or multiple fingers. Because the laptop recognizes input from more than one finger at a time, users can flick, pinch, or rotate objects using finger controls. Like other convertible tablets, the TouchSmart tx2 has a twisting hinge that lets you rotate the display to use the notebook as a tablet, or can be left alone...
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Searching for useful information on a mobile phone isn't always easy or convenient. To help, Google's Mobile team released the Google Mobile App for the iPhone, complete with Voice Search and My Location features. With the app's voice search capabilities, you can perform a Google Web search using--you guessed it--your voice. To use this feature, you simply hold the phone to your ear, wait for a beep to tell you the app is listening, and then say what you are looking for. The application senses when you want to start speaking based on the phone's motion.In combination with the application's My Location feature, you can also search for information relative to your...
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NETGEAR’s Award-Winning Powerline Adapters for HD and Multimedia Streaming Now Available Innovative Powerline Devices Offer Consumers 200 Mbps Speeds with Broad Options in Technical Design SAN JOSE, Calif. – November 17, 2008 –NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically innovative, branded networking solutions, today announced the general availability of its latest powerline adapters for turning electrical power outlets into high-speed Internet and home network connections. Fast enough to stream high-definition video, the award-winning Powerline HD Plus Ethernet Adapter Kit (HDXB111) and Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit (XAVB101) provide reliable, high-speed...
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Callpod Introduces the Hi-Power Drone USB Bluetooth AdapterThe Drone is a Plug-n-Play Bluetooth Adapter Ideal for Skype, VoIP Calls and Stereo Music via Bluetooth, Stereo Headphones, and High-Speed Data Transfer at a Range of up to 100 meters.Callpod, Inc., an emerging leader in the mobile electronics industry introduces the Drone, a plug and play VoIP and Bluetooth stereo USB adapter for PC's and Mac computers. The Drone, which was created from die-cast zinc and high impact polycarbonate for strength and durability, seamlessly switches between Bluetooth headsets and headphones, and can connect to any PC or Mac computer via a USB port. It has an operating range of up to 100 meters.Skype and VoIP...
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We all know Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) as the company that has historically made high-end workstations for creating and rendering 3D animations for games and movies. But there is a whole other side to the company that many are probably less aware of. This very lucrative part of SGI feeds high-performance computing (HPC) solutions to the government and military. (Interesting tidbit: Silicon Graphics once owned the supercomputing company Cray.) And now it looks like some of SGI's recent implementations are helping to keep the U.S.'s nuclear weapon stockpile in check. SGI announced that has installed a storage environment made up of 17 InfiniteStorage 4600 systems at the Department of Energy's...
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We haven't played with this yet but it looks pretty promising. Those of you that struggle with Apple's rather restrictive practices when it comes to taking your music that is on your iPod to another machine, might want to check out the freeware package, SharePod. An intuitive utility for the iPod, iTouch and iPhone, SharePod gives you a myriad of file management capabilities that enable you to backup, share and change the presentation of your media. In other words, where there's a will, there's a way... SharePod's "Copy to PC" interface, courtesy: SharePod And from SharePod's creators SharePod is easy to use and works! Here’s some of the main features: Add & remove...
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Every sign we've seen thus far leads us to believe that netbooks are going to be very popular this holiday shopping season. With good reason, too – they fill a void which has existed since the dawn of mobile computing. Truly cost efficient, rugged, little notebook computers with enough processing power and screen resolution to get basic tasks done – nothing more, nothing less.Many of the large-scale PC vendors have already developed, or are developing, a netbook product for the end of the year. Dell’s Inspirion Mini 9, along with the Asus Eee PC and MSI’s new Wind netbooks appear to be some of the more popular models. One of the more exciting netbook models which has just begun shipping, however,...
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Every sign we've seen thus far leads us to believe that netbooks are going to be very popular this holiday shopping season. With good reason, too – they fill a void which has existed since the dawn of mobile computing. Truly cost efficient, rugged, little notebook computers with enough processing power and screen resolution to get basic tasks done – nothing more, nothing less. Given that pocketbooks are hurting in the current economic climate, these new low-cost mobile systems become that much more attractive, besides being a downright exciting product category. Many of the large-scale PC vendors have already developed, or are developing a netbook product for the end of the year....
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Toshiba Introduces The World’s First Laptops With Three NVIDIA GPUs GeForce 9400M GPU + Two GeForce 9800 GTS GPUs = No Compromises SANTA CLARA, CA—NOVEMBER 6, 2008—When Toshiba set out to reset the bar for high performance gaming laptops and revamp its flagship gaming line, the company turned to NVIDIA for its expertise in visual computing. The combined efforts of both companies resulted in Toshiba's most powerful gaming laptop to date featuring the new highly integrated GeForce® 9400M graphics processing unit (GPU) along with a pair of NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTS enthusiast-class GPUs. The Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708 and X305-Q706, the first pair of laptops to incorporate three powerful NVIDIA...
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S3 Graphics Ultra Low Power GPUs Chosen by Fujitsu Asia and Pacific Give Users True Mobility and Application FlexibilityS3 Graphics Chrome ULP GPUs Redefine Notebook Graphics Market for 14" and Smaller Mobile Computing Platforms FREMONT, California, November 3, 2008 - S3 Graphics, a leading provider of graphics and multimedia technologies for energy efficient computing devices, today announced multiple Fujitsu product lines featuring the visual computing power of S3 Graphics discrete Chrome 430 ULP (Ultra Low Power) graphics processor.Today's users can now enjoy the latest HD media content online or on disks, in addition to mainstream features like DirectX 10.1 game play and business graphics...
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The Department of Justice approved Verizon Wireless’ $28 billion purchase of Alltel, but the deal is subject to a few stipulations. More specifically, Verizon Wireless will be required to divest wireless assets in 100 markets encompassing 22 states. The sale of assets doesn’t mean Verizon Wireless will lose service in the areas affected by the order. Instead, it means Verizon Wireless will sell licenses where the merger with Alltel would give the company duplicate licenses. The entire states of North Dakota and South Dakota; major portions of Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming; and sections of Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska,...
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Since launching the MobileMe syncing service in July, Apple has been working on various fixes. Earlier this week, Apple revealed that 27 changes were made late last month. MobileMe is a hosted service, so you don’t have to do anything to get the updates—Apple made all of the changes on the servers. All components of the service were affected by the update, with MobileMe Mail receiving the most updates. Keyboard shortcuts that didn’t behave as expected were fixed, along with a bug that didn’t remove messages from the Drafts folder once they were sent. MobileMe Mail users should also see improved performance when first logging in to MobileMe Mail and also when Junk Mail Filtering is enabled. The...
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AMD Appoints Former HP Exec Alberto Bozzo to Head EMEA Region- Industry veteran brings more than 20 years of commercial and consumer PC experience - SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Oct. 30, 2008 - AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced the appointment of Alberto Bozzo as corporate vice president and general manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Reporting to Emilio Ghilardi, AMD chief sales officer, Bozzo will have responsibility for all sales and marketing operations within EMEA. Bozzo starts his new role in January 2009. Bozzo, 44, brings more than 20 years of experience with HP, where he was most recently the vice president of HP’s multi-billion dollar go-to-market consumer business unit...
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Although an application store on a mobile phone isn’t exactly new, the idea of having this functionality on a BlackBerry is. At the BlackBerry Developer Conference, RIM announced a new online application storefront and a new on-device application center for BlackBerry smartphones. RIM plans to launch the application storefront in March 2009. Developers can start submitting applications and content for inclusion in the storefront starting in December. This storefront will allow developers to set their own prices for applications and retain 80% of the revenue generated from sales of their applications. PayPal will provide payment services within the application storefront. Under the plan, organizations...
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At initial glance, you’re probably wondering why an SD to CF adapter is cool. Well, until recently, cameras and other devices that accepted SD had this cool little card called the Eye-Fi that brought Wi-Fi capabilities to the device. Now, thanks to Synchrotech’s new adapter, CF users can get in on the fun too. Best of all, it’ll only cost you $28 (before taxes, shipping, and any other random fees). This adapter accepts the following media types: Eye-Fi Wi-Fi SD Cards SD SDHC MultiMediaCard MMC +Plus With this adapter, you’ll get the best of both worlds: You can have Wi-Fi, yet still use high performance UDMA CF cards when Wi-Fi isn’t needed. Given that many high end D-SLRs and some...
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S3 Graphics Showcases GPGPU Functionality with S3FotoPro Image Enhancement ApplicationFremont, California, October 17, 2008 - S3 Graphics, a leading provider of graphics and HD Multimedia technologies, today announced the availability of S3FotoPro™, a GPGPU application using the latest programmable architecture powered by the Chrome 400 Series GPUs. Utilizing an array of S3 stream processors, the GPUs can accelerate parallel data workloads and perform work on thousands of concurrent threads to achieve Gigaflops (GFLOPS) of high-throughput computations. S3FotoPro™ is an example of a computationally expensive process for image quality improvements that is best achieved on a GPU instead...
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A company on the brink? That's what Apple was before it made its dramatic comeback. Now, in the latest Gartner report, on Q3 PC shipments (note, these are preliminary numbers), Apple's market share in the U.S. has grown to 9.5%, up from 7.7% last year, a growth of 29.4%. Nearly double-digits.IDC's numbers were similar to Garter's, pegging Apple's U.S. share at 9.1%, up from 7.3%, a growth of 32.0% year-over-year. But (there's always a but), both Gartner and IDC noticed that a major part of the global overall upswing (15%) in PC sales was a burgeoning netbook component. Gartner said:"The mini-notebook segment experienced strong growth in the global PC, led by robust growth...
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Lenovo's IdeaPad S10 is a 10" Netbook that sports low power consumption, ultra-portability, respectable performance and a well rounded feature set. It's built on Intel's new low-power Atom processor. Taking on such challengers as Asus' Eee PC and the MSI Wind, Lenovo offers this svelte machine for a modest $399 entry price point. While the S10's keyboard is a little cramped for a 10" netbook, we liked the machine's, build quality, fit and finish, and super-crisp LCD. Click the link below and check it out... Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Netbook Video Spotlight...
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