This Is the Modem World: Do You Smell That?

Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

DNP This Is the Modem World Do You Smell That

There are two gadget scents: one triggers happiness and anticipation, the other conjures up sadness and fear.

The first arrives like an emotional bullet as we open the box. That plasticky odor wafts in with promised adventures, teases an initial power-up and floods us with curiosity and excitement.

The second shows its ugly head when electronics give up the ghost. That smell -- you know that smell -- of melting circuits and digital death sends us into a spiral of data-loss panic, guilt and fear for our safety.

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This Is the Modem World: Do You Smell That? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

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Tips And Tricks For Your iPad

Apple have designed the iPad to be easy to use, in fact even a two year old can use this device without any problems whatsoever. This makes it a very attractive option for people who are used to using an iPhone or for those who are not. However, there are still a few things about the device that do need a little bit of explaining.

Soft Reset Explained:

Although the iPad is pretty robust in so far as there are not actual moving parts in it, there are still a few things that can go wrong. With this in mind Apple have incorporated a ‘soft reset’ function into the device. This is particularly useful if the system ever freezes. By just holding the top or the power button at the same time as the Home button for a few seconds, allows users to reset the device.

Cut and Copy Pasting Explained:

Copying long texts on an iPad is a long and tiresome process. With this in mind Apple created an easy solution to the problem. Users can copy a whole paragraph without having to stretch the blue knobs on their screens. All they need to do is tap any of the text four times and this automatically highlights the whole paragraph. However, this only works on text that can be edited.

Importing Free eBooks Explained:

Users can benefit from free e-books on their iPads and this includes books that are no longer copyrighted.

Easy Mute Explained:

This is an easy to use function on an iPad that allows you to automatically turn off the volume on your device. Just by pressing the volume down button for a couple of seconds, users can turn off the volume on their devices.

Supersized Screenshots Explained:

Users can increase the size of a screenshot by simply holding the power and home buttons down simultaneously for half a second.

Bringing the Virtual Keyboard Back

Many people thought this would be difficult to achieve on their iPads but in fact it is easily done. All users have to do is touch the eject key on the real physical keyboard to get the virtual one back up.

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/tips-and-tricks-for-your-ipad/

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O'Reilly helps Japan, offers entire e-book catalog for 50% off, today only

O'reilly make some of the best computer books in the world. They also sell them as DRM-free e-books in a bunch of formats, including PDFs and Mobi for Kindle.

They usually offer one "Deal of the Day", which is a 50% discount code for a book chosen for that one day. But just for for today, they've created a discount code -- DDJPN -- that gives you a 50% discount on their entire catalog, and they give a part of the proceeds to aid Japan relief efforts.

So far they've raised over $60,000, and the day is still young. So if you've been recently hankering after some nerdy book (or three), now would be a great time to grab one.

O'Reilly helps Japan, offers entire e-book catalog for 50% off, today only originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/22/oreilly-helps-japan-offers-entire-e-book-catalog-for-50-off/

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New iPad Quad Core Graphics

new ipad quad core graphicsPrior to the unveiling of the new iPad 3, there was a lot of speculation and rumors about what processor would be on board and what features the new tablet. The older iPad 2 came with an A5 processor which included a dual core graphics processor and 512mb of RAM. The graphics processor takes care of all the display functions whilst the main processor handles all of the other functions. A lot of the rumors prior to the new iPad coming out centered around what processor it would have and an “A6″ processor was mooted a lot, with suggestions that it would feature both a quad core CPU and a quad core graphics processor as well, in addition to more memory.

Now that the new iPad has been unveiled, it became apparent that Apple had not quite lived up to the dreams of the A6. The new iPad features a processor called the A5X – an update on the A5, but still a dual core processor. However, the onboard graphics processor is now a quad core. This is a great performance boost if not quite as dramatic as the rumors originally suggested!

The new graphics processor is probably driven by the new retina display which has pushed the iPad’s screen resolution from 1024×769 to a massive 2048×1536. This resolution improvement gives 4 times the number of pixels the previous iPad had, which is a taxing task for any unit. The new quad core graphics processor makes this a lot more manageable.

The new A5 chip carries an increased cache and a slightly increased clock speed to boost the iPad 3′s performance and enable the new hardware to run smoothly. One interesting fact is that although the RAM has been increased from 512mb to 1gb, it’s no longer on board the processor chip but is over the other side of the unit. It’s been speculated that this could be in order to avoid issued with overheating.

So is the new Retina display and improved quad core graphics worth upgrading from the iPad 1 or 2 to the new model? Yes, definitely! The new iPad’s high resolution will allow HD movies and videos to be played. Photos will be crisp and clear. Ebooks are also likely to be much clearer to read and a great many apps are being upgraded to take advantage of the new processor and new display.

The new graphics processor brings benefits beyond just the screen display. The new iPad’s rear camera can now shoot video in 1080P High definition, and allows on board editing in iMovie rather than having to transfer it back and forth to your Pc or Mac. Also if you buy the newest version of Apple TV you can get AirPlay streaming at 1080P.

The new iPad 3 has some very big improvements over the previous models, and the quad core processor is a big part of those enhancements.

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/new-ipad-quad-core-graphics/

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Tiny Hotel Hypercubus Is a Modular Dwelling for the Modern Traveler [Design]

Just because there isn't a four-star hotel located in every lushly landscaped region of the world doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to visit and vacation anywhere other than Paris and Hong Kong or Kauai. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/zPbbnV4AK90/tiny-hotel-hypercubus-is-a-modular-dwelling-for-the-modern-traveler

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Chrome 11 beta adds new experimental APIs for proxies, Web navigation

google chrome 11 proxy
Google Chrome 11 -- which just recently made the move to the browser's beta channel -- has received a minor update that gives developers access to two new APIs.

The first is a full-featured proxy API, which will, for example, allow users to set different proxy servers for normal browsing and Incognito mode. Proxy auto-config scripts are also supported by the API.

The second -- Web Navigation Extension -- is a bit more expansive. This API will allow devs to build everything from more powerful safe browsing extensions -- like Traffic Light -- to data analysis and reporting extensions.

Both APIs are currently experimental, so you'll need to enable them on the about:flags page to try out any relevant extensions. Apart from a proxy example built by Google and shipped with the Chromium source, we're not aware of any examples just yet, however. We'll let you know when we spot any slick, new extensions which do surface.

Chrome 11 beta adds new experimental APIs for proxies, Web navigation originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/chrome-11-beta-adds-new-experimental-apis-for-proxies-web-navig/

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Google Wallet update takes things to the cloud, lets you add any credit card

Android Central

Google PlayThis is big, folks. Google Wallet finally has been opened up to more payment methods. Mainly, it now works with any credit card and lists credit cards previously tied to your Google account. It's taking a new approach to mobile payments, moving everything into the cloud and off your device. That means a couple things. For one, you'll still need a PIN to use Google Wallet, and Google (and us as well) recommends you have a lock on the entire phone. But should things go awry, you can lock and remotely disable Google wallet on a lost phone. As Google points out, that's not something you can do with your leather wallet.

After that, alls you need is a Google Wallet-compatible device (here's the list of 'em), and you're off and running. No more exclusives. No more errors.  So head to the Play Store and smash that update button, and be sure to let us know in the comments how it goes adding cards to the app.

Source: Google Commerce Blog

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/u1mMF8tISPA/story01.htm

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Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features

speedtest
Speedtest.net is pretty much the go-to site for quickly figuring out how fast (or slow) your connection really is and comparing the numbers your ISP boasts with what it actually delivers. And now it's got a new coat of paint and a couple of neat features. In brief:
  • New UI: The map widget is much improved; it actually looks like a map now, and it's easy to see where you are.
  • Smart server selection: If there are several test servers nearby, Speedtest will now ping each to see which has the least latency and use that for the test. You can still specify servers manually, too.
  • User accounts: You can sign up for a free account and aggregate results from several computers/connections.
  • Speed Wave: This new feature lets you add your test results to the results of many other users, and get a nice composite view.
All in all, you get some nice, new functionality and a snazzier interface to boot. Nice!

Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/07/speedtest-net-overhauled-with-new-look-new-features/

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Apple’s iBook App is Brilliant

By far one of the best features of Apple’s iPad is it’s ability to access thousands of apps. It does have a great multi-orientation interface too but the fact that these apps have been designed for the iPad only means there is very little chance of finding them on any other device other than the iPhone and iPod Touch.

 

The applications cover a wide range of categories from entertainment to business with games, education and sports in between. Apple have thought of just about everything imaginable to be run on the iPad which means whatever a user needs, Apple’s engineers have developed an app for it.

 

One of the nice features is it’s iBook app which is an e-book reader. The screen size is perfect making it easy to read wherever the user happens to be at the time. Readers can adjust the background light to suit them. They can also change text size and fonts which is great because people do have their own personal preferences when it comes to fonts and text size when they are reading.

One of the best features of the iBook app is it’s graphics, the crisp clear screen with it’s high speed memory means that images appear instantly as text is being read. Reading illustrated books and graphic novels on the device is a very nice experience.

 

Marvel Comics even has its own e-book reader app on the device so these are easily accessible by a downloading them when you want to. Users can enlarge or minimize images by just pinching the multi-touch screen and it is very easy to navigate through the pages of Marvel comic books by simply tapping the thumbnails.

 

There are so many apps available on the device that users are spoilt for choice and this includes things like the Wall Street Journal as well as the New York Times, both of which created an app that is exclusive to the iPad.

 

Users can get apps from Apple’s App Store and again there is a special app on the iPad for users to do this easily and quickly. The iBook app comes pre-installed in the device whereas other apps like the Marvel Comic’s app have to be purchased from the App Store. Users can go to Amazon to buy the apps they need too and a. Amazon holds the record for offering the best titles around and have a greater selection than anyone else, this is one place where you’ll find everything you’ll ever need. Users have the option of previewing any books or comics before they commit to buying them which is a great advantage. Ipad owners also have one other advantage and this is to order Marvel Comics in print if they want to.

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/apples-ibook-app-is-brilliant/

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