Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only

Amazon Android Cloud Player appIt's hard to believe: our world-spanning network, our Internet, which is the cornerstone of free speech and free society -- which, on a good day, is capable of causing populist revolutions -- is still crippled by banal geolocation restrictions. We are, of course, talking about Amazon's two latest offerings, both of which are only available in the United States. Last week it was the excellent Android Appstore for Android, and today it's the Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Android.

Along with Cloud Player, Amazon also launched Cloud Drive, which is basically just like any other cloud storage digital locker. It's not particularly feature rich, and there's no real reason to use it over something like SugarSync or SkyDrive -- it does work outside the US, however.

Its primary purpose, as far as we're concerned, is that it stores your your Cloud Player music in a subdirectory. You get 5GB of Cloud Drive storage for free, and then it's $1 per gigabyte per year if you need more space.

The Amazon Cloud Player itself will not, to put it bluntly, blow your mind. It works, but it's very much an early, and possibly rushed, release. Let's dive in to the Web and Android players for a closer look.

Continue reading Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only

Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/amazon-cloud-player-hands-on-review-functional-not-mind-blowin/

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Google's Blogger platform adds five new HTML5 Dynamic Views

Google Blogger Mosaic Dynamic View
Google, as part of its ongoing and much-needed overhaul of its popular Blogger platform, has just enabled five dynamic, HTML5ish, AJAXy 'Dynamic Views'. There's a video introducing the new layouts after the break.

The five new views provide fresh and interesting ways to explore your favorite Blogger blogs. The Mosaic view, for example, creates a wall of thumbnails -- click one, and it zooms to fill the screen; click it again and it minimizes. Flipcard is similar to Mosaic, but not quite as eclectic. Sidebar, Timeslide and Snapshot round off the new views, with each one obviously targeted at different types of content, from photo blogs, to text-only philosophy blogs, and everything in between.

For now, you have to visit a Blogger blog and add /view to the URL to enable the new Dynamic Views. If you own a Blogger blog, you can disable the new views -- and really, why weren't they disabled by default?

If feedback is positive -- which we're sure it will be -- these Dynamic Views will soon be enabled by default. You'll also be able to edit the views in much the same way as current Blogger templates.

Continue reading Google's Blogger platform adds five new HTML5 Dynamic Views

Google's Blogger platform adds five new HTML5 Dynamic Views originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/google-blogger-platform-introduces-five-new-html5-dynamic-views/

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Bing begins roll out of HTML5-enhanced search interface

Bing transitions
Bing's new HTML5-and-CSS3-enhanced search interface, which was first demonstrated back in September 2010 to showcase the power of IE9, has started to roll out.

The most notable addition to the new interface is is smooth page transitions -- the fade in and out -- and navigation tabs (maps, images, videos, etc.) now persistently float at the top of the page. WinRumors is also reporting that a feature reminiscent of Google Instant search is being added to Bing, with page elements smoothly transitioning in and out as you type in your search query.

If you want to try out the new Bing UI, your best bet is to set your locale to United States - English and pray that you're part of the initial roll out. Alternatively, just wait a few days until MIX 2011, Microsoft's Web developer conference, which is when the new Bing UI should be officially launched.

Bing begins roll out of HTML5-enhanced search interface originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/bing-begins-roll-out-of-html5-enhanced-search-interface/

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Intel Insists MacBook Air-Thin Ultrabooks Will be Under $1,000 [Laptops]

Intel and its Ultrabooks manufacturers have been finding it tough sticking to that sub-$1,000 promise, but what's this? Intel's mandated the minimum components cost will be between $493 - $710 for the 0.7-inch thick, 11 - 13-inch wide laptops? More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/VH9jNGVNJ98/intel-insists-macbook-air+thin-ultrabooks-will-be-under-1000

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Create Realistic Corpses In 30 Minutes or Less Without Actually Killing Someone [Video]

Let's go "corpsing," shall we? You know, corpsing? As in let's create a prop corpse for movie, Halloween or maybe even for nefarious pranking purposes? Usually this is expensive, but Propnomicon shows us how to make one on the cheap. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/h2yaXWiBu9c/create-realistic-corpses-in-30-minutes-or-less-without-actually-killing-someone

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Acer Founder Says Ultrabooks and Tablets are Short-Term Fads [Tablets]

It seems like Acer founder Stan Shih has gone gaga. Or perhaps he forgot to read the bloody memo, because he claims that ultrabooks and tablets are both short-term fads that apparently are going nowhere. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-cl6E-3QY8A/acer-founder-says-ultrabooks-and-tablets-are-short+term-fads

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Acer Founder Says Ultrabooks and Tablets are Short-Term Fads [Tablets]

It seems like Acer founder Stan Shih has gone gaga. Or perhaps he forgot to read the bloody memo, because he claims that ultrabooks and tablets are both short-term fads that apparently are going nowhere. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-cl6E-3QY8A/acer-founder-says-ultrabooks-and-tablets-are-short+term-fads

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Military lightning gun parts sold on eBay, probably built in someone's garage

Lightning gun parts
We're not sure where to start with this one. It's, in a word, unbelievable. Technologist Cody Oliver was digging through eBay for parts to build a robot car that Elon Musk could drive around Burning Man, when he came across surplus equipment from defense contractors Omnitech Robotics and Ionatron. The components were originally from the military's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Neutralizers, or JINs -- remote-controlled lightning guns designed to disable IEDs. But, the story quickly goes from interesting to terrifying. Oliver soon discovered the weapons were cobbled together largely from off-the-shelf parts, including a Linksys router with the serial numbers scraped off, and lacked even basic security. The now retired JINs were controlled over a standard 802.11 WiFi signal, with the encryption turned off -- leaving the multimillion dollar devices vulnerable to insurgents. Ultimately the parts were deemed unfit for even Musk's RC art car. You can read all of the horrifying details at the source link.

[Thanks, Chris]

[Image credit: Cody Oliver]

Military lightning gun parts sold on eBay, probably built in someone's garage originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/05/military-lightning-gun-parts-sold-on-ebay-probably-built-in-som/

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HoodCap Flower concept gives you one less piece of camera gear to lose

We've seen our fair share of camera-related concepts that are decidedly out there, but there's also thankfully some that are considerably more practical -- and sometimes even eventually become actual products. Hopefully that ends up being the case with this so-called HoodCap Flower which, as you can probably surmise, combines a lens hood and a lens cap in one flower-inspired contraption. Just twist the dial to open it up and take some pictures, and close it when you want to protect your lens. Not quite as protective as a proper lens cap, to be sure, but we're guessing plenty of folks would take that trade-off.

HoodCap Flower concept gives you one less piece of camera gear to lose originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/05/hoodcap-flower-concept-gives-you-one-less-piece-of-camera-gear-t/

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