Apple Patents A Better Glasses-Free 3D Projection System [Apple]

Based on a recently granted patent, Apple's not too impressed by the current approaches to 3D content and has a better technology in mind: A system which allows multiple people to view 3D images from any angle—without glasses. More »

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SiteLauncher for Chrome lets you jump to sites using a single keystroke

Back in 2008, Lee covered SiteLauncher for Firefox. It's a simple add-on that provides you with a customizable "shortcut panel" for your favorite websites. SiteLauncher for Chrome provides basically the same service, but for Google's browser. I've been using it for a few days now, and while it's not perfect, it's still very handy.

Pros: When it works, it really does provide single-keystroke access to the sites I need. Ctrl+Space and then d can take me to Download Squad. I like it. It's very customizable. You can create and delete groups, move sites from group to group, etc. The hotkey assignment GUI is well thought-out. You can see at a glance what hotkeys are already used.

Cons: It doesn't always work. Sometimes I hit Ctrl+Space and nothing happens. That's mainly when the address bar ("Omnibar") is in focus, and I suspect it's due to Chrome's limitations. Still, it's annoying. It's one of those add-ons that takes some getting used to, but once you're addicted, you want to use it all the time. Having it work intermittently just keeps the habit from forming.

Okay, that was just one con -- but it's a big one!

Bottom line: Awesome add-on, if only it worked all the time.

Filed under: Browsers

SiteLauncher for Chrome lets you jump to sites using a single keystroke originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 27 Nov 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kinect theremin is just too late for the 'Day the Earth Stood Still' remake soundtrack (video)

The sound of the original theremin frightened audiences of spooky and science fictiony movies in the '50s and '60s, and while this digital replication is perhaps a little less chilling it's also a lot less physical. It's the so-called Therenect from Martin Kaltenbrunner, created using the Open Frameworks and OpenKinect libraries. To play just hold your hands up, allow the software to detect them, and then let the digital falsetto flow, as Martin kindly demonstrates for you below.

Continue reading Kinect theremin is just too late for the 'Day the Earth Stood Still' remake soundtrack (video)

Kinect theremin is just too late for the 'Day the Earth Stood Still' remake soundtrack (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ChevronWP7 unlocking tool pulled in hopes Microsoft decides to play along

Could Microsoft actually embrace Windows Phone 7 hacking much like it's sort of done with Kinect hacking? Not very likely, but it seems like the folks behind the ChevronWP7 unlocking tool are at least holding out some hope for that possibility. They've apparently had some "good faith" discussions with Microsoft's Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone 7, Brandon Watson, and have decided to take the rather drastic step of pulling and ceasing all development on the tool in order to "fast-track" discussions about Microsoft officially embracing homebrew development. Obviously, that may just be wishful thinking, but one thing is clear at least for the moment: it just got a bit harder to hack a Windows Phone 7 device.

ChevronWP7 unlocking tool pulled in hopes Microsoft decides to play along originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fat32Formatter easily prepares external hard drives for use with your PS3

Setting up a new external hard drive for use with your PlayStation 3 should be a simple task. Maybe, however, when you plugged the drive into your Windows system and attempted to right-click and format it you only had two options: NTFS and exFAT, neither of which plays nice with your PlayStation.

While you could use diskpart to take care of things, not everyone enjoys command-line tinkering. And when there's an easy-to-use alternative like Fat32Formatter -- why bother? Download the sub-200Kb Zip file, extract Fat32Formatter, and fire it up. Select a physical drive from the dropdown menu, click a partition to format, and click the start button when ready. You may also want to check the quick format box -- unless you enjoy watching grass grow or paint dry.

Just in case our less-technical readers didn't see anything out of place in the screenshot, a reminder: C: is not really a drive you want to format.

Fat32Formatter easily prepares external hard drives for use with your PS3 originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NC State and CMU develop velocity-sensing shoe radar, aim to improve indoor GPS routing

The world at large owes a good bit to Maxwell Smart, you know. Granted, it's hard to directly link the faux shoe phone to the GPS-equipped kicks that are around today, but the lineage is certainly apparent. The only issue with GPS in your feet is how they react when you waltz indoors, which is to say, not at all. In the past, most routing apparatuses have used inertial measurement units (IMUs) to track motion, movement and distance once GPS reception is lost indoors, but those have proven poor at spotting the difference between a slow gait and an outright halt. Enter NC State and Carnegie Mellon University, who have worked in tandem in order to develop a prototype shoe radar that's specifically designed to sense velocity. Within the shoe, a radar is attached to a diminutive navigational computer that "tracks the distance between your heel and the ground; if that distance doesn't change within a given period of time, the navigation computer knows that your foot is stationary." Hard to say when Nike will start testing these out in the cleats worn by football players, but after last week's abomination of a spot (and subsequent botching of a review by one Ron Cherry) during the NC State - Maryland matchup, we're hoping it's sooner rather than later.

NC State and CMU develop velocity-sensing shoe radar, aim to improve indoor GPS routing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review

We've been eagerly waiting for iPhone cases with built-in keyboards to hit ever since iOS 4 added Bluetooth keyboard support, but they simply haven't materialized like we'd hoped -- in fact, ThinkGeek's TK-421 case is the first to hit the market, nearly eight months after iOS 4 was first announced. Now that it's finally here, we've got to ask -- is this thing the ultimate iPhone accessory? Does the iPhone actually need a keyboard? Does flipping open automatically make something awesome? Read on to find out.

Gallery: ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review

Continue reading ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review

ThinkGeek TK-421 iPhone keyboard case review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WidgetBlock for Chrome blocks annoying social widgets, makes Web faster

The Web is all about being social these days. When you take this "social" buzzword and reduce it down to brass tacks, you often end up with a bunch of widgets, buttons and other annoyances crowded around the content you're actually interested in reading.

WidgetBlock is a Chrome add-on that makes short work of a whole bunch of common widgets and buttons for social services. In one fell swoop it eradicates the presence of Facebook, Twitter, Meebo, Digg, Buzz, and a ton of other omnipresent Web 2.0 services. Of course, if you happen to like some of these you can switch them on selectively.

When I tested WidgetBlock, it made the site I was trying to load noticeably faster (about two or three times as fast, in fact). It also makes the Web feel a tad "cleaner", at least for me. Definitely recommended.

Filed under: Google

WidgetBlock for Chrome blocks annoying social widgets, makes Web faster originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Caltech sues Nokia, LG, others over camera patents

Sure, your N8 might take a great picture -- but is it about to become a hotbed of legal wrangling between Espoo and one of the more prolific research universities in the States? We love us some heady courtroom drama, and Pasadena's Caltech is now officially attempting to bring the smack down on Nokia, LG, Pantech, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, and others over a total of nine patents related to sensor technology (as far as we can tell, lens optics aren't involved). For its troubles, the university wants unspecified damages for infringing on the intellectual property... which, if it wins, we're hoping we'll be poured into its Jet Propulsion Laboratory. You know, because rockets are awesome.

Caltech sues Nokia, LG, others over camera patents originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opera 11 beta brings "tab stacking," on-demand plug-ins, more

So far with the Opera 11 snapshots, the focus has been on speed, extension support, and some pretty major UI work on the email client. There's been plenty of additional activity behind the scenes, however, and with the arrival of the Opera 11 beta today you can now play with one more feature: tab stacking.

What is it? It's a way to keep your browser tabs organized, and it's going to be very handy for those of you who tend to accumulate tabs like 8-year-olds accumulate Pokemon cards. Maybe you have 8 tabs open which are all related to a new motherboard you're buying -- just drag and drop them onto a single tab, and Opera automatically creates a stack for you. You can see the tiny arrow pointing to the right on my screenshot. Click the arrow, and your tabs slide out. Hover over a stack and Opera 11 shows you thumbnails for each tab inside it. [Firefox Panorama, eat your heart out -Ed]

Opera's shared a demonstration video which shows you tab stacking in action -- check it out after the break!

There's more to like about the new beta, of course. There's now an option to load plug-ins on demand, the address bar has been re-touched to make security information more visible, and Opera's mouse gestures have been improved. It's got extensions, too -- and we recently ran down 10 particularly handy ones.

Download Opera 11 Beta

Continue reading Opera 11 beta brings "tab stacking," on-demand plug-ins, more

Opera 11 beta brings "tab stacking," on-demand plug-ins, more originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Malwarebytes 1.5 detects and cleans more malware faster than ever

Malwarebytes is one of the most trusted and effective tools for removing all kinds of malicious software. Over at the Malwarebytes forums, there's big news today: MBAM 1.5 has been released, and it's faster, smarter, and better than ever. Startup time has been trimmed to just a few seconds and scanning speed improved by as much as 500%. There's also a host of new detection algorithms which allow MBAM to better detect all the frustrating, shifty malware floating around cyberspace.

Users can now manually add files and folders to the Malwarebytes ignore list, too. If you own the pro version, you'll get enhanced command line tools, a smarter, faster "Flash scan" which takes as little as 10 seconds to complete, and one-touch automatic updating.

Download Malwarebytes 1.5

Malwarebytes 1.5 detects and cleans more malware faster than ever originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Olympus shows up in the wild, demonstrates unyielding commitment to Motoblur

Witness our last review of an Android smartphone from Motorola and you'll know what we think of Motoblur. Then again, we reckon we could get over our qualms when Moto's skin is stretched out over this delectable-looking, supposedly Tegra 2-boasting smartphone. The Olympus has been snapped again, this time by someone claiming to have bought it at a flea market, and it now shows off an HDMI output alongside the standard microUSB connector, both of which are planted on the side of what's looking like a very thin device indeed. The Olympus is carrying over the Defy's penchant for minimal bezel up front, though now that we have something to judge its size against, it does look to be equipped with at least a 4-inch screen. Pretty good competition for LG's Star, we're sure you'll agree. If only we knew when it might launch...

Continue reading Motorola Olympus shows up in the wild, demonstrates unyielding commitment to Motoblur

Motorola Olympus shows up in the wild, demonstrates unyielding commitment to Motoblur originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Get Student Discounts Forever [Saving Money]

Holiday discounts be damned, nothing saves you money like an old fashioned student discount. Here's how to continue making use of those discounts long after your time as a student has passed. More »

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Hands-on video review of Office for Windows Phone 7

If you weren't aware, it's impossible to take screenshots with Windows Phone 7. Perhaps once it's rooted we'll be able to -- but until then, screenshotting apps for reviews is laborious -- you have to take a photo of the screen -- and the quality is inevitably low.

So, looking for an alternative, I decided to do a video review of Office for Windows Phone 7. It's about 10 minutes long, and the video quality is excellent. You should be able to clearly see the text on the screen, and the audio commentary should be informative (and perhaps even funny).

In the video I step through the three key features of Office for WP7: OneNote (and its integration with SkyDrive); Word and Excel (viewing and editing); and SharePoint integration (though I sadly couldn't get it to work). OneNote definitely stands out as one of WP7's killer features, especially when combined with SkyDrive synchronization. Word and Excel, which lack the ability to sync, seem rather useless in comparison -- but still, being able to view Word and Excel documents on the move is surely a good thing.

The video review is after the break.

Continue reading Hands-on video review of Office for Windows Phone 7

Filed under: Windows Mobile, Microsoft

Hands-on video review of Office for Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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