Cloud Girlfriend will use a swarm of females to satisfy men

The social network Cloud Girlfriend
Cloud Girlfriend, despite what it sounds like, doesn't really have anything to do with cloud computing. Rather, it uses a cloud of women to pose as your girlfriend on Facebook, or your favorite social network of choice. The service is scheduled to launch 'soon,' and there's no indication of how much it will cost.

With the tagline 'The easiest way to get a girlfriend is to already have one,' Cloud Girlfriend promises to be a very interesting startup indeed. The brains of the operation, David Fuhriman, speaking to CNET, says it's all about fulfilling Maslow's hierarchy of needs. "CloudGirlfriend.com can fulfill Maslow's higher needs, even though the users know that the interaction is virtual. They will interact with a real person and see real profile images of the girl with whom they interact. This interaction can build confidence and esteem as well as provide real training experiences in navigating a friendship and a relationship."

Our concern, of course, is that it's very nearly April 1. We're also worried by the fact that Fuhriman has a name that sounds ominously like a social subculture that we've grown strangely attracted to here in the Download Squad bunker.

Finally, just stop and think about it for a second. Because your cloud girlfriend will be entirely virtual, she could be based anywhere. She could be underage -- or overage -- or she might be someone who you know in real life. She could even be a relative of yours, and you'd never know.

Let's not forget this is the Internet we're talking about, folks. Worst case scenario, she could turn out to be a hairy, male truck driver from Texas. Such as... your dad, perhaps?

Cloud Girlfriend will use a swarm of females to satisfy men originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/cloud-girlfriend-will-use-an-army-of-females-to-please-lonely-me/

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16GB, 32GB, or 64GB: Which iPhone 5 storage size should you get?

Decided to get a brand new iPhone 5 but not sure which storage capacity to get? 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB all have their pros and cons, so it's important to weigh all the options carefully and get the very best price/performance ration for you.

Price for storage

The current US prices for iPhone 5, with full carrier subsidies are:

  • 16GB: $199 or $12.44 a GB
  • 32GB: $299 or $9.34 a GB
  • 64GB: $399 or $6.23 a GB

At first glance it may look like 64GB is twice the price for four times the storage, in other words a really sweet deal. But nothing is ever really that simple, is it? Basically, 16GB for $199 is Apple's lowest margin device. After that, Apple is getting you to pay a pretty premium for every additional doubling of storage. Think of it this way, going from 16GB to 32GB costs you $100. Go look at the cost of a 16GB SD card and you'll see how much more you're paying for that bump. Now the $200 premium for an additional 48GB of storage is more interesting, because it's for more expensive, double density NAND Flash. But it's still not $200 more expensive.

Hey, that's why Apple has over $100 billion in the bank.

If your goal is to pay Apple absolutely the least amount of money as possible, the 16GB might tempt you. But hold on, there's a lot more to consider than just the cost of storage...

iCloud

iCloud gives you free, unlimited storage for all your iTunes stuff. That includes iBooks, music, movies, TV shows, and apps, as well as 30 days or 1000 Photo Stream photos. You also get 5GB of additional storage for backups, data, etc. In many countries, you can use iTunes in the Cloud to download your media only when, and as needed. You can even purchase more iCloud storage for the following yearly fees:

10GB: $20/year 20GB: $40/year 50GB: $100/year

All of this might make that 16GB iPhone all the more tempting, since you could keep most of your media nearline in iCloud, and maybe even by a little extra iCloud space if you need to.

It's not a crazy idea but it's important to remember that online storage isn't always as available, fast, or convenient as onboard storage. For starters, you can't really play a movie from iCloud, you have to download it at the same time you watch it, which means you have to have enough space available on your iPhone 5 to handle the download. If you want to watch a lot of movies, you may have to watch, delete, watch, delete, over and over again. Annoying.

iCloud also isn't as open as things like Dropbox (which is also an option to consider), so you can only really store what Apple lets you. If your movies and videos don't come from iTunes, that's an important consideration. Also, in our tests, iCloud's free 5GB could get filled up pretty quickly by photos and especially videos.

Bottom line, iCloud means you can get away with managing more content on your device, but you still want to have enough local storage for what you need, when you need it.

Photos and video

The iPhone 5 can take 8 megapixel photos, 28 megapixel panoramas (?!), and shoot 1080p video at 30fps, and those can be some big files. About an hour of video can take up roughly 10GB of storage. 16GB doesn't seem so roomy now, does it?

I take a ton of photos and videos on my iPhone and back when I had a 16GB iPhone 4, I ran out all the time. And that was just at 720p. And it's a huge pain in the butt to have to go through and figure out what to delete if I'm not near my computer and can't sync stuff of. So if you're really into the camera, 16GB might not work.

Apps, games, and media

The other thing that can fill up our iPhone quickly is apps, especially games. It's not uncommon for some console-quality games to be well over 1GB in size these days. Even basic apps might include interface assets for the new iPad, which are huge, and which all add up.

iTunes movies can be 1-3GB in size for SD depending on the length. If you prefer watching HD, they can be 3-5GB. iTunes TV shows can be a quarter to half the size of movies, but more than make up for it by the number of episodes typically available. If you get your movies and TV shows from somewhere other than iTunes, you're still looking at about 400MB an hour for SD and over 1GB (sometimes way over) an hour for HD. Music files are generally quite small but can add up as well, especially if you have lots and lots of albums you want to keep with you everywhere. Even with something like iTunes Match or a similar music locker service, or a streaming service like Slacker you need local storage for offline playback. Again, it all adds up.

Who should get 16GB

If you don't use a lot of apps, if you don't want to have a lot of movies and TV shows, or a huge amount of music, if you don't intend to shoot and keep very much 8mp photos or 1080p video on your iPhone, you'll probably be okay with 16GB.

Some people like to keep their iPhones light and do all their gaming and media on their iPad, and some people just don't shoot a lot of pictures or video. If that's you, you can save yourself some cash and get a 16GB iPhone 5.

Who should get 32GB

If the iPhone is your primary device, if you play games on it and watch movies and TV shows on it, if you have a decent-sized music collection you want to keep with you, and if you shoot an average amount of photos and videos, 32GB is your sweet spot.

Some people like to have one device that, while it doesn't do everything all the time, it's capable enough to do most things most of the time. If you do a fair but not overwhelming amount of stuff on your iPhone, your probably better off going for 32GB.

Who should get 64GB

If you're a power user who wants to keep as much as possible for as long as possible, if you have a large amount of apps and games, TV and movies, and a huge music collection you simply have to have with you all the time, or you shoot photos and video almost non stop and don't want to have to bother transferring it all the time... we'll, you've probably already decided on 64GB, haven't you?

Some people really do want their iPhone to do everything, all of the time, and never (or rarely) have to worry about running out of space. They probably want 128GB -- or even 256GB if they could get it! -- but they'll use the most they can, whenever they can. That's 64GB.

What if you choose the wrong size?

Remember, in most places you have time to try out your new iPhone 5 and return it if you don't like it. Make sure, as soon as possible, you put your iPhone 5 to realistic use. Load up all the apps and games you want with you, load up your movies and TV shows, go out and take some photos and shoot some video. Give it a complete and thorough workout and see.

If it feels like you got too much storage, say 64GB and you haven't even gone past 2GB, or if you got too little, say you're already at 15GB of 16GB, then take your iPhone 5 back and exchange it for one that better suits your needs.

If you come to this realization too late, after the exchange period is over, remember you can buy additional iCloud storage, or look at other options like Dropbox which will let you keep your stuff available online and potentially free up some much needed space on your iPhone.

How to get more help with the iPhone 5

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bXUeOoX1N6Y/story01.htm

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Google Wallet usage has doubled in usage since opening up to all credit cards

Android Central

The last big update to Google Wallet allowed users to add whatever credit card they wanted to the NFC payment app for Android. Google proudly proclaimed today that usage of the app has more than doubled since then. Though users can add any card, Google has been gently prodding credit card companies to optimize their own section for the Google Wallet app, like Discover had recently done

As a Canadian, my biggest interest in Google Wallet's increased adoption is geographic spread. Sure, the U.S. is the biggest market for this sort of thing and will be for the foreseeable future, but it's a big world out there, and Google has enough of a head start on mobile payments that they can get a foothold in new markets well before other smartphone platforms. 

Quick show of hands, how many of y'all are using Google Wallet now that you can drop in any credit card? Is your phone going to be replacing your real wallet any time soon, or do there still need to be more NFC terminals out there for that to be practical? 

Source: Google Commerce Blog

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/kWlD-Hqg7dw/story01.htm

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Could this be Apple's solution to the iPhone letterboxing issue?

Is this Apple's solution to the iPhone's letterboxing issue

As things stand, empty voids at the top and bottom of an iPhone or iPad display come as standard with every widescreen video you might care to watch -- a problem that almost persists with the iPhone 5, since that phone's elongated panel is still a few pixels off 16:9. However, judging from paperwork recently filed with the USPTO, which mentions both mobile and TV displays, Cupertino thinks it has a general workaround: using a Photoshop-style technique to copy colors from each frame of video and use them to sympathetically fill in the letterbox bars, mimicking the appearance of full-screen footage.

The latest application -- filed in January of this year -- actually builds on an earlier one that Apple first submitted in 2006, when the original iPhone was in development. Since then, various other companies have had success with similar display-extending ideas, such as Ambilight on Philips TVs and the illuminated strip on an Xperia U smartphone, but nothing exactly like this smart-fill concept has so far taken off. Ultimately, the question is whether messing with the borders of a video clip in this manner would look better or just plain awkward. As yet, thorough testing in our mind's eye remains inconclusive, but it's almost easier to imagine this curing letterboxed apps (of which we'll soon see plenty on iOS) rather than video.

Filed under: , , ,

Could this be Apple's solution to the iPhone letterboxing issue? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/apple-aspect-ratio-patent/

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You can now rent Adobe Photoshop for $35 per month, CS 5.5 available soon

Rejoice! No longer will you have to fork over $700 for a Photoshop CS5 license! Adobe has unveiled a new subscription scheme where you can rent the entire Creative Suite, or individual packages, by the month, or for an entire year.

Adobe Photoshop can be yours for $35 per month if you agree to rent it for 12 months, or $49 per month if you require its services for a shorter period. Dreamweaver can be had for even cheaper, at just $19 per month. The entire Master Collection is still rather expensive, though, at $125 per month.

Today, Adobe also ushered in the release of Creative Suite 5.5, and simultaneously upped its release cycle from 18 months to 24 months. This means, if you rent Photoshop for two years, it's actually the same cost as buying it outright. There's no rent-to-own option, though -- so you wouldn't have access to the cheaper upgrade price once Creative Suite 6 rolls around next year. Still, if you need access to Photoshop, After Effects or Premiere for a one-time project, the new rental scheme could be exactly what you're looking for.

In other news, Adobe has announced that it will be launching three rather exciting iPad apps that work in conjunction with Photoshop: Eazel, Nav, and Color Lava. Eazel lets you five-finger paint on your iPad, and export the result into Photoshop; Nav acts as some kind of workspace, brush and menu extension, and the hopefully named Color Lava is a paint mixing palette. The apps are expected to appear in the App Store in the next 30 days.

You can now rent Adobe Photoshop for $35 per month, CS 5.5 available soon originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/you-can-now-rent-adobe-photoshop-for-29-per-month/

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Rogers announces LTE expansion across Canada

Android Central

Rogers has announced a few new LTE markets opening up across Canada on October 1. Kingston, Edmonton, Quebec City, Oakville, Burlington, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Barrie are all included, which puts Rogers well on track for their goal of offering LTE to 60% of the Canadian population before the end of the year. Typical speeds are 12 - 40 Mbps.

I'm sure the timing of the announcement has nothing to do with a certain LTE phone that was announced today. Any Canadians in these markets excited to get some LTE love? Got eyes on any new LTE handsets to take advantage of the new network? 

Source: RedBoard

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/HSfuaBcRRwA/story01.htm

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YouTube Live now streaming select partners in real time

Not content with limiting its dominance in streaming uploaded videos, YouTube is now ready to take on competitors like Justin.TV and Ustream. The new YouTube Live service is being rolled out to select YouTube partners and will enable real-time broadcasting. In its official announcement, Google states that "The goal is to provide thousands of partners with the capability to live stream from their channels in the months ahead."

You can check out live broadcasts at http://www.youtube.com/live, where you'll also find a schedule of upcoming episodes from beta partners like Revision3 and Destructoid. You're also able to subscribe to YouTube Live broadcasts -- which will ensure you're notified when a new episode is coming up.

YouTube Live now streaming select partners in real time originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 08:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/11/youtube-live-now-streaming-select-partners-in-realtime/

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Mac OS X Lion Preview 2 released, introduces mega exciting leather bound iCal skin

This is one of those posts that could probably be condensed into a tweet: Apple has released the second Preview of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. If you're running Preview 1, it looks like you'll first receive a small update via Software Update, and then you can download Preview 2 from the Mac App Store.

There has been some speculation that Apple is getting close to a release or Golden Master build, but judging by 9to5 Mac's initial findings there's definitely some way to go. The Golden Master will probably appear at, or just before, the Apple WWDC in June.

So far, it's looking like the only changes in Preview 2 are the leather bound iCal skin that you can see above, and the main iChat window now combines your AIM, Bonjour and Jabber contacts, like Adium. We're sure that more details will emerge throughout the day, though, and there's bound to be lots of invisible changes, too. We'll update this post when we find out more.

Mac OS X Lion Preview 2 released, introduces mega exciting leather bound iCal skin originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/mac-os-x-lion-preview-2-released-introduces-mega-exciting-leath/

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Could this be Apple's solution to the iPhone letterboxing issue?

Is this Apple's solution to the iPhone's letterboxing issue

As things stand, empty voids at the top and bottom of an iPhone or iPad display come as standard with every widescreen video you might care to watch -- a problem that almost persists with the iPhone 5, since that phone's elongated panel is still a few pixels off 16:9. However, judging from paperwork recently filed with the USPTO, which mentions both mobile and TV displays, Cupertino thinks it has a general workaround: using a Photoshop-style technique to copy colors from each frame of video and use them to sympathetically fill in the letterbox bars, mimicking the appearance of full-screen footage.

The latest application -- filed in January of this year -- actually builds on an earlier one that Apple first submitted in 2006, when the original iPhone was in development. Since then, various other companies have had success with similar display-extending ideas, such as Ambilight on Philips TVs and the illuminated strip on an Xperia U smartphone, but nothing exactly like this smart-fill concept has so far taken off. Ultimately, the question is whether messing with the borders of a video clip in this manner would look better or just plain awkward. As yet, thorough testing in our mind's eye remains inconclusive, but it's almost easier to imagine this curing letterboxed apps (of which we'll soon see plenty on iOS) rather than video.

Filed under: , , ,

Could this be Apple's solution to the iPhone letterboxing issue? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceUSPTO  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/apple-aspect-ratio-patent/

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How to Buy an iPhone 5 Without Losing Your Unlimited Data Plan [IPhone]

So the iPhone 5 is coming out. Its LTE data speeds mean you'll stand a much better chance of blowing past your data caps, which in turn means those grandfathered Verizon and AT&T unlimited data plans are more precious than ever. Here's how to make sure you don't lose yours. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Ut1Seo_PI48/how-to-buy-an-iphone-5-without-losing-your-unlimited-data-plan

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