Trakdot – Lost your luggage? No you haven’t…

trakdot

Although it’s never (yet) happened to me personally, million of bags go missing each year from airports around the world. The Trakdot luggage tracker will not prevent your bag from being lost, but it will provide city-specific information on the whereabouts of your checked baggage. The small device fits into your checked bag and reports city location in real time to any mobile, Apple, Android, or SMS capable device. Another cool feature of the Trakdot smartphone app is that it will alert you as your bag approaches the baggage carousel. Just the fact that I would no longer have to stand with the rest of the cattle watching the carousel go round and round and round for 20 minutes until my bag finally comes out makes this gadget appealing to me. The price isn’t too bad either. Trakdot will be available March 2013 for $49.95 MSRP with an activation fee of $8.99 and an annual service fee of $12.99.

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Trakdot – Lost your luggage? No you haven’t… originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 8, 2013 at 10:00 am.

Netflix previews family profiles, shows off Super HD and 3D streaming at CES 2013

Netflix previews family profiles, shows off Super HD and 3D streaming at CES 2013

The current leader in subscription video streaming is Netflix, and today at its Las Vegas hotel suite we saw some of the technology it's planning to stay a step ahead of the competition this year. First up was one of the most widely requested features -- the ability to set up individual profiles for different family members, complete with their own queues and recommendations. The profiles can be set up on device or on the Netflix site, with toggles for a preference to its Just for Kids menu UI, as well as asking a bit about your preferred movies to seed initial recommendations.

We also got an eyeful of the new "Super HD" 1080p streaming, and although network issues kept us from getting a true gauge of the quality, we did confirm that the new max bitrates are well above the old "X-High" standards. Another thing we confirmed? That Cablevision and Google Fiber aren't the only US ISPs on its Open Connect list -- check the site to see if yours is.There was also a screen in the Samsung booth showing "early results" of their combined work on 4K video, but since it wasn't actually streaming there's not much to see.

Netflix was even showing off 3D streaming, and although we weren't able to confirm the type of compression being used (top/bottom, side by side or something else) we did watch it and it was mostly clear with only a few hints of ghosting. There are apparently several dozen 3D titles available to start, although customer reaction may dictate when/if more are added. The second screen experience we've seen on the PS3 was also shown working with Samsung TVs, in much the same manner. One thing that could make it better however, is the DIAL multiscreen initiative it's pushing with YouTube. If picked up as a standard, it would let you automatically launch these streaming services on a mobile device, and make them start playing on compatible TVs without having to launch the app on the TV first.

Not enough good news? Netflix also announced a launch date for another original series, Hemlock Grove, which hits April 19th (trailer after the break), and dropped the news that we'll be getting 14 new eps of Arrested Development in May. We expect to hear a bit more about all of that later in 2013, but if you want a preview of the features we saw then just check out the gallery.

Continue reading Netflix previews family profiles, shows off Super HD and 3D streaming at CES 2013

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Source: Netflix (Twitter)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/-bIOggmbUKM/

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Google Voice Search learns Latin American Spanish, Indonesian, and Malaysian

google voice search
Google Voice Search has just introduced localizations for Latin America, Indonesia and Malaysia, enabling native language search for hundreds of millions of users.

Google's official blog post offers some interesting insights into the process of collecting and analyzing the speech data needed to expand support. Thousands of hours were spent gathering voice samples and choosing key regional accents to analyze, and International Program Manager Linne Ha is clearly very appreciative of the Google users who helped the company complete the expansion. Without an enthusiastic base of users to lend a hand, Google Voice Search's polyglot powers would have been nearly impossible to deliver.

Google Voice Search learns Latin American Spanish, Indonesian, and Malaysian originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/google-voice-search-learns-latin-american-spanish-indonesian-a/

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Mobile Nations 2013 CES Experience Day 3: CES BlackBerry CEO = 1 Amazing Day!

The Mobile Nations 2013 CES Experience

After a night of good times, good friends and a few (maybe more) good drinks, today was the BIG day… CES baby! Our crew was raring to get down to the Las Vegas Convention Center, and even though a few had later starts than others… all made it down to the LVCC to check out the goodness (and craziness) that is CES.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/JB_bk6uM0Lg/story01.htm

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Gargantuan SQL injection infects 3.8 million URLs, installs rogue antivirus

LizaMoon SQL injection rogue AV
Over the last few days, a mass SQL injection attack has been quickly gathering speed. Just three days ago only 28,000 URLs were affected, but at the time of writing, there could be up to 3.8 million infected URLs.

Websense
has a complete write up the attack, dubbed 'LizaMoon,' but here's the basic gist: it looks like someone is exploiting a vulnerabilty (or vulnerabilities) in hundreds of thousands of websites running on Microsoft SQL Server 2003 and 2005. It's not yet known whether this is a vulnerability in SQL Server, or simply a case of outdated, unmaintained, and easily-exploitable CMSes.

The attack takes the form of an SQL injection, which then inserts a link to a JavaScript file hosted on the attacker's server. This is repeated over and over until every Web page in the SQL database has been infected -- and considering 3.8 million URLs have been infected, you can see that this is a very easy, and automated, attack.

Fortunately, the JavaScript isn't particularly malicious: it pops up a rogue AV program called Windows Stability Center, but that's it. Better yet, the rogue antivirus is already recognized by a bunch of real antivirus suites, including Avast, Panda and Microsoft Security Essentials.

The real problem with SQL injection attacks is that there's nothing we surfers can do about them. There will always be old and unmaintained websites, and thus SQL injections will remain one of the easiest and most lucrative tools of hackers and spammers alike. All you can do is keep your antivirus and anti-malware software up to date, and pray.

Gargantuan SQL injection infects 3.8 million URLs, installs rogue antivirus originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/massive-sql-injection-infects-3-8-million-urls-installs-rogue-a/

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Steve Ballmer's Buying the Sacramento Kings and Bringing Basketball Back to Seattle

Steve Ballmer rules and now he rules even more because he's supposedly about to buy the Sacramento Kings and move them back to Seattle. We'll now open the floor to team name ideas. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/FKeaTfTtvSk/ballmers-buying-a-basketball-team

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iHome iW3 AirPlay Wireless Stereo Speaker System with Rechargeable Battery review

ihome-iw3-1

iHome makes a lot of nice accessories for Apple products, and I’ve gotten to review quite a few things.  I’ve reviewed docking speakers and Bluetooth speakers, but the iW3 AirPlay Wireless Stereo Speaker System is the first AirPlay speaker from iHome that I’ve gotten to try.  As you know by now, I have a lot of Apple products in my house.  I now have a mixture of iOS devices with the old 30-pin connectors and the new Lightning connectors, so docking speakers aren’t very convenient anymore.  AirPlay speakers that don’t rely on any connector are the way to go in the Cloninger household these days.  So, let’s give the iW3 a closer look and listen.

ihome-iw3-2The iW3 is a black monolith with a silver band at the base.  The front and sides of the speaker are covered with a stretchy knit fabric.  Unfortunately, this fabric is a pet-hair magnet.  My shiba inu’s orange hair shows up nicely against the black.  The iW3 also seems to be available in gray and red.

As usual with iHome speakers, I don’t find a lot of technical specifications. The speaker is 9.4 inches tall and about 4.6″ square.  It weighs 3 pounds, 10.4 ounces on my digital kitchen scale.  iHome says this is a stereo speaker with four active speakers with “custom Reson8 speaker chambers and SRS TruBass digital sound processing for dynamic audio performance.”  There are no specifications for frequency range.

The iW3 is an AirPlay speaker, meaning it connects to your WiFi network and is available to any Apple products on your network.  AirPlay speakers are available to iOS devices, such as iPhones, iPod touch, and iPads, or computers running iTunes that are connected to the same network.  AirPlay, unlike Bluetooth, allows you to connect your music source to multiple AirPlay speakers at once, so you could have several of these iW3 speakers scattered around your house and send music to all of them simultaneously for a house full of sound.  You don’t have the 30-ft connection limit with AirPlay.  Your speaker can be anywhere that your WiFi signal reaches.

ihome-iw3-3The back of the speaker has the master power switch (button with the orange/red halo on the left) and a WiFi network setup button (far right).  Between them is a network status light that indicates connection setup mode, connection established, and no connection status.  On the bottom row, you’ll see an Aux-in connector where you can connect non-AirPlay audio sources with a 3.5mm audio cable (not included).  The middle USB port allows you to connect an Apple device with either a 30-pin or Lightning connector (you’ll have to supply your own Lightning cable) to charge the device as you play music in “local mode”.  Local mode doesn’t use the AirPlay connection, so you can connect non-iOS iPods and use them as the audio source for  the speaker.  The rightmost button is used for firmware updates.

The indentation at the top is a handle for carrying the iW3 speaker.

ihome-iw3-4The iW3 comes with a collection of booklets, a power adapter, a charging base (middle of bottom row), and a 30-pin USB cable.  This cable can be used to connect an iPod without AirPlay capabilities, as mentioned before, or for charging an iOS device.  It is also used setting up the speaker using your iOS device and WiFi sharing mode.  I simply turned on the master power switch on the back of the speaker, connected my iPad mini to the USB port on the back of the iW3, and then pressed the network setup button.  (I had to use my own Lightning cable, as the iW3 didn’t come with one.)  After a couple of seconds, a pop-up message asked if I wanted to share my iPad’s WiFi settings with the iW3.  I said yes, and the iW3 was connected to my network and ready for use.

You can also manually setup the network connection using the iHome Setup app that’s been installed on an iOS device you’ve connected to the USB port on the back of the speaker, or you can use a WiFi-connected computer for establishing the iW3′s connection to your network.

ihome-iw3-5The bottom of the iW3 has a depression with a couple of metal connectors.  This is for the charging base.

ihome-iw3-6The speaker sits on the charging base.  The base not only provides power to the speaker, it charges the internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery.  When the battery is fully charged (takes about 10 hours), you’ll be able to carry the speaker from room to room with you – anywhere your WiFi signal reaches – without having to worry about finding an electrical outlet where you’re going.  You aren’t restricted to the 30-ft limit of a Bluetooth connection with this speaker.

ihome-iw3-7There’s a status light at the top of the front.  Solid green shows the unit is on; blinking green shows the volume is muted.  Solid red shows the battery is charging; blinking red shows the battery needs charging.

ihome-iw3-8When you are streaming music to the speaker through AirPlay, you can control playback on your iOS device or computer.  You can also control playback and volume using the buttons on the top of the iW3.  Which of these buttons light up and are functional depends on the speaker’s mode.  This image shows the AirPlay mode, as indicated by the lighted AirPlay mode button (2nd from right, bottom row).  Other connection modes might disable the playback buttons but leave the volume control buttons active.  The iW3 doesn’t come with a remote control.

I connected my iPad mini to the iW3 speaker via AirPlay and gave it a try.  I listened to several genres and various artists.  The speaker has an impressive amount of bass, but it of course doesn’t rattle the windows.  You hear the bass, but you don’t feel it.  The sound is clean and clear, with no distortion even when I cranked the volume up to an uncomfortable level.  The iW3 can certainly fill the room with sound.  It sounded good at lower sound levels, too.

I listened to vocal music, rock, pop, orchestral, and dance music.  I thought it sounded best with songs that didn’t have an over-emphasized bottom end.  Vocals from Josh Groban and Israel Kamakawiwoʻole sounded rich and warm, and the speaker seemed designed for acoustic guitars.  Music never seemed overly bright or harsh.  I listened to Powerman 5000; the song sounded good, but it was missing some of the bottom end – the thumping part that makes you want to get up and throw yourself around the room because you just can’t sit still.  If dance/club/hip-hop/rap is your life, this speaker won’t be your best choice.  If you prefer pop/vocal/Bluegrass, even orchestral or rock, you’ll be pleased with the sound from this small speaker.

Speaking of small, I didn’t expect a lot of stereo separation from a speaker this small (although iHome says it’s stereo), and I didn’t get any separation.  Even though I didn’t get dizzy listening to the panning in the intro of Art Garfunkel’s I Only Have Eyes for You, the song still sounded good.

I think the iW3 would be a great speaker for your office, dorm room, or anywhere you want good sound from a small package.  With AirPlay, you won’t have to worry about keeping your device within 30 feet of the speaker, as you would with Bluetooth.  It has a rechargeable battery, so you could even take it with you on a picnic if you bring along the USB cable (or an audio cable).  You could fill your house with music for a party if you place several of these speakers in a few rooms.  It’s a bit more expensive than other iHome speakers I’ve tried, but not much more.  It seems like a good deal for people like me with a lot of iOS devices, and you won’t have to worry about a dock connector making your expensive speaker obsolete.

Product Information

Price:$199.99
Manufacturer:iHome
Retailer:iHome
Pros:
  • Great sound in a small package
  • No distortion even at very loud volumes
  • Sounds good at low volumes, too
  • Decent bass from a small speaker
  • AirPlay means you can use it anywhere your WiFi connection reaches
Cons:
  • Not ideal for bass-heavy music

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Reviews

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iHome iW3 AirPlay Wireless Stereo Speaker System with Rechargeable Battery review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 8, 2013 at 11:00 am.

Catching up on Nintendo TVii: an interview with i.TV co-founder Justin Whittaker

Catching up on Nintendo TVii an interview with iTV cofounder Justin Whittaker

Nintendo TVii's road to reality was relatively pain-free until its platform, Wii U, launched in November ... without the promised TVii functionality ready for primetime. A month and many ambiguous company statements later, Nintendo TVii went live. But even then, the service went without two of its promised features: TiVo and Netflix integration, promised to launch later this month. Nintendo isn't saying much about TVii post-Wii U launch, but we did manage to catch up with the company that created (and continues to support) Nintendo TVii, i.TV, during this week's madness. I.TV co-founder Justin Whittaker stopped by the Engadget doublewide at CES 2013 to chat about his company, what happened (or rather, what didn't happen) at launch, and what the future holds for Nintendo TVii. Head past the break and find out!

Continue reading Catching up on Nintendo TVii: an interview with i.TV co-founder Justin Whittaker

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/09/catching-up-on-nintendo-tvii-an-interview-with-i-tv-co-founder/

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NVIDIA announces Project Shield, how does it compare to iOS and AirPlay?

Last night, during their CES 2013 press conference, graphics powerhouse NVIDIA announced their Project Shield gaming platform. It's running a close-to-stock version of Android, and will run Android apps. It's play Steam games (!!!). And you can play PC games using project shield as the controller.

Phil Nickinson from Android Central has already gone hands-on with Project Shield. The video is up top, and here's what he had to say:

It's hard not to get excited about NVIDIA's "Project Shield," the Android-based hand-held gaming system it unveiled this week at CES in Los Vegas. For one, it's really the biggest piece of news thus far. And for another -- it's just friggin' cool. NVIDIA has taken the traditional gaming-style controller, packed its brand-new Tegra 4 system inside of it, added a 5-inch, clamshell 720p display (NVIDIA's calling it "retinal") and added some truly astonishing gameplay.

Apple has the beaming stuff covered already with AirPlay, which lets anything on your iPhone and iPad stream video and apps to an Apple TV connected to a big-screen HDTV. Not everyone is thrilled with a flat piece of multitouch glass, even one with a gyro and accelerometer in it, as a controller.

We probably haven't heard the last of Apple's AirPlay and gaming plans, now that iOS 6 and Mountain Lion have begun converging their feature sets, but have we head enough yet to know where that future lies? What do you think of Project Shield as an alternative? Is it just a gimmick, a controller with a screen bolted on, that probably won't find appeal beyond a niche. Or will physical controls and the popularity of Steam and PC gaming be enough to make Project Shield a success?

Source: Android Central

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/WAUgcktT30Q/story01.htm

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