Ask DLS: What's your favorite mobile app at the moment?

askdls
The mobile app marketplace is exploding; there are now hundreds of thousands of apps on the iOS, Android and BlackBerry app markets. Heck, even Windows Phone 7 just crossed the 10,000 mark!

But alas, not all apps are created equal; some are way, way better than others. Which leads me to today's Ask DLS question: What is your favorite mobile app at the moment?

We don't necessarily mean the latest craze; we'd like to hear about apps that have stood the test of time on your device, apps that are among the first you install on a new smartphones, apps that have earned their place on your home screen and in your heart.

So, what are some of these apps? Bonus points for links to screenshots in the comments!

Ask DLS: What's your favorite mobile app at the moment? originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/17/ask-dls-whats-your-favorite-mobile-app-at-the-moment/

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Internet Archive Offers Up Hundreds of Free Movies as Torrents [Torrents]

The Internet Archive is somewhat of a goldmine: it provides a huge library of books, music and film, all of which are available for free. Now, though, you can download any of its hundreds of feature films for free as torrents. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Jn0AsdvoX20/internet-archive-offers-up-hundreds-of-free-movies-as-torrents

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Nikon said to have an Android-based camera in the works, too

Nikon-Android

Well, how about that. Nikon apparently has an Android-based camera in the works, according to some Indonesian Communication Agency docs uncovered by Nikon Rumors. The pointer-and-shooter in question, which is said to possibly go by the Coolpix S800 name, apparently has a a 25-250mm lens and a 3.5-inch OLED display (nice!). It'll be running Android 2.3 (which might seem lame, but it really shouldn't be a big deal) and have access to the Google Play store. Wifi and GPS are on board, which makes sense.

If you stop and think about it, here's one Android fork we should all get behind. It's exactly what Android is made for. Suddenly, cameras become extensible. Never mind games -- it's the sharing features that really open up an entirely new world for casual shooters. No more of that ridiculous Kodak EasyShare software. (Which should be on its way out anyway, we suppose.) Just shoot and upload. Done.

Oh, contrary to popular belief, this is not the first Android-based camera we've seen. We took at look at the Polaroid SC1630 back at CES in January.

Source: Nikon Rumors

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/b6CsEKMBg3Q/story01.htm

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Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video)

Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves

We had a fun time trying Sony's SOEmote expression capture tech at E3; now everyone can try it. As of today, most EverQuest II players with a webcam can map their facial behavior to their virtual personas while they play, whether it's to catch the nuances of conversation or drive home an exaggerated game face. Voice masking also lets RPG fans stay as much in (or out of) character as they'd like. About the only question left for those willing to brave the uncanny valley is when other games will get the SOEmote treatment. Catch our video look after the break if you need a refresher.

Continue reading Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video)

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Sony takes SOEmote live for EverQuest II, lets gamers show their true CG selves (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/07/sony-takes-soemote-live-for-everquest-ii/

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Adblock Plus developer pokes holes in Mozilla's new add-on performance tests

Wladimir Palant, developer of the most popular add-on in the world, Adblock Plus, is also an active contributor to the Planet Mozilla blog community. Over the last few days, in response to Mozilla's new name and shame list of slow add-ons, Palant has been investigating whether Mozilla's testing methods are actually accurate.

Rather surprisingly, it turns out that Mozilla's numbers could be significantly wrong -- and if they're not wrong, the factors that Mozilla uses to tabulate an add-ons final score should definitely be made more transparent.

In the first set of tests, Palant shows that FlashGot's position in the top 10 is probably due to a fault in Mozilla's testing setup, and that add-ons can perform very differently depending on which operating system they're being tested on. In the second analysis, Palant uncovers an irregularity that doesn't seem to have an obvious cause -- but it could be due to an I/O bottleneck on Mozilla's test machines. Basically, even though performance testing of Read It Later is disabled because of a bug, it still (somehow!) manages to record a 14% slow-down on Windows 7.

Palant concludes both analyses by scolding Mozilla for going public with the performance data before its testing methods had been confirmed accurate. It definitely looks like Mozilla has been more than a little reckless, considering the importance of Firefox's add-on ecosystem.

Adblock Plus developer pokes holes in Mozilla's new add-on performance tests originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/adblock-plus-developer-pokes-holes-in-mozillas-new-add-on-perfo/

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Words With Friends for Android updated, promises "smoother game experience"

wordswithfriends
As several of you noted in the comments to our post asking for cross-platform iOS/Android games, Words With Friends for Android does not provide the smoothest gaming experience... and that's being rather charitable.

You might be happy to hear that a couple of days ago Zynga released an update which promises to solve many of the Android-specific issues, such as notifications not popping up.

Sadly, installing the update is not a smooth experience; you have to manually uninstall the previous version, and then go to the Android Market and install it. What's nice is that it doesn't lose your saved games - this screenshot shows a game I've started before the update and continued after updating.

How's the new update working out for you? Let us know in the comments!

Words With Friends for Android updated, promises "smoother game experience" originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/04/words-with-friends-for-android-updated-promises-smoother-game/

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The Downsides to Apple’s iPad

When Apple’s iPad was launched, there were queues of people waiting to get their hands on one. The revolutionary tablet iPad was going to offer people a new device that was going to change their lives. However, a lot of people shrugged at the idea with clear indifference. Many people announced their disappointment at the fact the iPad could not deliver on it’s promises. The two opposing views show just how divided opinions are about the device.

First we need to take a look at the things that make the iPad a device that really is not worth buying.

 Apple are constantly releasing new versions of the iPad in the very near future, so is it the device we all need to rush out and buy?

 A lot of people have expressed their pure disappointment in the iPad so when it comes to a new tablet PC, the big question on everyone’s lips is ‘will the device be any better’? The fact that questions are being asked is enough to hurt Apple’s sales because it is mostly ‘techies’ who don’t like the iPad. Bad press always puts a large number of people off buying a product.

 With a new upgraded version soon to be released, a lot of people would rather wait for the it to be launced because the device might have a few of the features that Apple did not incorporate into the iPad in the first place and this includes a built-in camera. If it means waiting a few months for a better version of the device, then people would prefer to do this than fork out $500 on a device that lacks some fundamental features that will be outdated very soon by an upgraded version.

On factor that many people find annoying about the iPad is the fact is does not support Flash which is a standard on the web. Flash runs videos, audios as well as games but for one reason or another Apple does not like this application which some people find understandable. Apple prefers a less vulnerable application that’s more stable and harder to hack into. As such the company uses it’s own HTML5.

However, as the majority of websites use Adobe Flash, this can be a little annoying. Users have to visit sites using the iPad’s Safari browser and although this is great, this causes a few problems that can be very annoying.

As mentioned above, there’s no in-built camera either and there’s no guarantee that a newer version will have one either. This is a huge downside of the iPad as people can’t communicate over skype or any other way they might want to.

Multitasking can only be done when running Apple’s native applications, it does run on third party applications. So if users want to multitask the simple answer is they won’t be able to if they are running any application that are not native to Apple.

The conclusion is the iPad is great if you want a sophisticated gadget that has multi-function applications like a multimedia player, a laptop hybrid or that represents a really great toy. However, if you like to be online then you might find you reach a dead end pretty quickly without Flash support and you won’t be able to make a video call on Skype while listening to iTunes.

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/the-downsides-to-apples-ipad/

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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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Scientists generate 281-gigapixel cell map using electron microscope

Scientists generate 281gigapixel cell map using electron microscope

Electron microscopes can produce incredibly detailed and even 3D views of sub-cellular structures, but often at the cost of losing the bigger picture. Researchers at Liedel University in the Netherlands, however, have leveraged a technique called virtual nanoscopy that enables researchers to observe the whole of a cell and its intricate details in a single image. With the method, the team stitches together nanometer resolution photographs of what's gone under the scope to create a map with adjustable zoom a la Google Maps. Their study created a 281-gigapixel image (packed with 16 million pixels per inch) of a 1.5-millimeter-long zebrafish embryo. If you'd like to take a gander at the ultra-high resolution fish or read up on the group's findings for yourself, check out the source links below.

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Scientists generate 281-gigapixel cell map using electron microscope originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 04:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/08/electron-microscope-cell-map/

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