Valve Chief Opens Floodgates of Criticism Against Windows 8

Speaking at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle this week, Gabe Newell, chief executive and cofounder of Valve, had some harsh words about Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system. The award-winning game publisher is also the creator of the Steam digital distribution service for games, and Newell seemed rather "steamed" himself about what Microsoft's new OS could mean for the PC market. During an interview conducted by Ed Fries, the former head of Microsoft Games Studio, Newell suggested that Windows 8 would be "a catastrophe" for PC users.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/21bff207/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C757480Bhtml/story01.htm

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Twitter Kills Unfollowing App (But Not Before I Dropped Half My Followers)

Has Twitter become overwhelming? It may be time to take drastic action. Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

Do I follow you on Twitter? Not anymore. In fact, I’m unfollowing everyone. It’s exhilarating.

I joined Twitter in 2006, and for the past six years it has consistently been my favorite internet communications medium. I’m constantly overwhelmed by a data deluge, mostly via my email inbox, and Twitter’s short-form messaging has been the best way for me to communicate with others, gather information, and broadcast to all in quick bursts.

But over the years I’ve let my following count get completely out of hand. I followed too many, and unfollowed too few. And despite recent, concerted efforts at cutting back, I was still following 1,625 people as of this morning. Enter a new software tool called Unfollowing.net that would unfollow everyone on Twitter for you. I ran it earlier today, and it managed to cut back my follower count by about half — until Twitter nuked it for violating its terms of service. (Despite being an automated tool, it was still going to take seven hours to completely unfollow everyone.)

And although it’s gone, the tool’s principle purpose remains really valuable. It’s hard to start over. This was a tool that made it easy. My intent, and presumably this is true of most other people who were using it, wasn’t to live a life following no one. Rather, it was to clean up a list that had grown overly cluttered by beginning anew. And that’s actually quite hard to do. There should be a way to completely reset social media services. Twitter and Facebook should offer these tools natively. From a business perspective, I can understand why they don’t. But from a user’s perspective, it would make a lot of sense.

‬Going broke, declaring Twitter bankruptcy, takes all the thought and work out of deciding who to cut. There’s no relationship calculus, because everyone is treated as an equal.‪

‬My decision to unfollow wasn’t rash — and apparently I’m not the only one to dig into the deeper motivations of why we follow, and why don’t. A great post by Andre Torrez and another by (Wired contributor) Anil Dash made a strong case for abandoning our fear of missing out. A recent New York Times story on device addiction (and its subsequent rebuttals in Wired and The Atlantic) also made me consider the inordinate amount of time I spend “catching up” on Twitter. Have I been prioritizing the constant river of information above time I should be spending with my family? Would I be more productive without Twitter?

Mostly, though, it’s just about data glut. Even in short bursts, 1,600 chattering Twitter accounts had become too much information for me to keep up with. I’ve never been able to do anything other than dip in and out of constant churn and flow.

But shedding all those followers is harder than it sounds. Once your follow count swells above 1,000, the simple act of clicking through each person and manually unfollowing him or her is time-consuming and tedious. It’s far easier to unfollow everyone all at once, and then re-follow selectively. But there’s also a social cost built into the act of unfollowing.

Over the years, I haven’t just followed people on Twitter, I’ve built relationships with them, and vice versa. I’ve made friends, great ones. I’ve launched several issues of a magazine. I’ve found solace in hard times, and celebrated in good. Whether or not you buy into Malcolm Gladwell’s “weak ties” argument (and I do not), other people on Twitter are always to some extent ties. Strong, weak, or rattily tangled by years of interaction, all are ties. And deciding which of those ties to sever is mentally taxing. It involves undergoing a relationship calculus, again and again. It necessarily means that you have to weigh some people as more important than others if you want to really reduce your numbers. That’s exhausting.

And so, for the most part, I found myself unfollowing news accounts, and restaurants, and robots and linkblogs. But there were only so many of those to shed. Before long, I was down to unfollowing people. Closing those doors is difficult.

Then there’s the question of what number to get down to. When I mentioned on Twitter how many people I followed, others immediately began chiming in with the right number. And that right number is always different. 100, 200, 500, 1,000. Even Dunbar’s Number feels like an arbitrary and artificial hard stop. (And were it not, why would it be so delightfully round? That Robin Dunbar rounded up his number to 150 proves its inexactitude.) When you decide to trim your Twitter, it’s hard to know what you should trim it to.

And so, why not go for zero? Going broke, declaring Twitter bankruptcy, takes all the thought and work out of deciding who makes the cut. There’s no relationship calculus, because everyone is treated as an equal. There’s no target number to test, because you’re racing to the absolute bottom. It’s a new, fresh, equitable start.

But until recently, there was no easy way to do it. Then, on Tuesday, Matthew Crist automated the process with Unfollowing. He explained it on his blog like this:

I have long felt that Twitter was becoming too much to try to manage on a day to day basis. Too many interesting things were being posted. So many, that I often found myself relying on Twitter for the discovery of new things rather than seeking out new knowledge on my own.

After reading this post from Andre Torrez, I decided to unfollow everyone on Twitter and start fresh. I still view Twitter as a great place to discover new things, but I don’t need to follow and keep up with over a hundred people that I don’t really know.

I soon found that to unfollow everyone would be a monumental undertaking as each unfollow would take three clicks via most clients, so I built Unfollowing to speed up / automate the process.

Now that tool’s gone. But I’m still trying to get down to zero, one click at a time, before I build up again. I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing. Mass unfollowing could be a colossal mistake. I’m afraid I’ll forget to re-add that one wonderful person whom I love, but rarely interact with.

Maybe you’re that person. And if so, please know, it’s nothing personal.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/gadgetlab_072512_whyunfollow/

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iHome iP76 LED Color Changing Tower Stereo Speaker System with Bluetooth

The iP76 LED Color-Changing Tower Stereo Speaker System from iHome has a dock for connecting/charging your iPhone or iPod.  Don’t worry if you don’t have one of these Apple devices, though, because you can connect tablets, MP3 players, or phones via the 3.5mm audio-in connector or via Bluetooth.  The iP76 measures 10.13″ W x 36.09″ H x 10.12″ D, and the cabinet is clear to allow the color-changing LEDs to shine through.  The light display has five modes:  slow fade (through indigo, blue, green, white, orange, red, violet and yellow), pulse to the music, favorite color, strobe effect, or dimmable amber mood lighting.  The iP76 has Reson8® speaker chambers – “specially designed sealed speaker enclosures to deliver astounding clarity, depth and power.”   It’s also app-friendly, meaning it has “audio detection circuits to ensure iHome’s and other third party apps can automatically wake up your iHome so important app sounds can be heard to ensure app experiences are delivered as intended.”  The iP76 is $199.99 at iHome.  (Click the photo to see more details.)

Filed in categories: Bluetooth Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

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iHome iP76 LED Color Changing Tower Stereo Speaker System with Bluetooth originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

How To Keep Beer from Going Bad [Happy Hour]

You crack that frosty brew. It's a hot day. You're salivating. You take a deep swig and... what the hell is that? Pepé Le Pew? A flatulent egg farmer? No. It's your precious beer, and it's gone bad—skunked beyond recognition. How could this happen? More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/unL10xsmjek/how-to-keep-beer-from-going-bad

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Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game

balance
Years of computer use have taught us that the mouse cursor is "above" the windows. It doesn't push anything around; at least not without you clicking anything.

Balance takes that ingrained bit of knowledge and cancels it out. Suddenly your cursor (a blue dot) is solid - and if it touches the blue block, it pushes it around.

Your job is to use your cursor to nudge the blue block over to the orange block. You will have to push it, lift it and even flip it on its side, and then balance it. It's a very tricky game - one I wouldn't recommend tackling with a laptop trackpad.

Still, if you have a mouse and a hankering for a little physics gameplay, this is a cute little game. I like how the blue block never stops smiling, it makes me feel better about the world.

Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/10/balance-is-a-challenging-mouse-based-physics-game/

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Insanely Detailed 1/6th Scale Figure Is the Closest You'll Get To Owning an Iron Man Suit [Toys]

You might not have the genius-level IQ and billions of dollars needed to build yourself a flying suit of armor like Tony Stark did. But with around $200 and a healthy imagination, Hot Toys' insanely detailed Iron Man Mark VII figure could fill that void in your heart. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GGkXmdqMAJg/insanely-detailed-16th-scale-figure-is-the-closest-youll-get-to-owning-an-iron-man-suit

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Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

videostudioprox4
Corel seems to be on a roll lately; after releasing WinZip System Utilities just last week, this morning the company announced VideoStudio Pro X4.

VideoStudio Pro is aimed at home users and small business professionals who want to create professional-looking videos, but without the hassle, steep learning curve and price of Adobe Premiere Pro and the likes.

This new version introduces several features:

  • Stop motion animation: You can now capture still frames using a webcam, camcorder or DSLR and use them to produce an animation. Tools such as "onion skin view" let you compare the previous image in the sequence with the current one and make the animation as smooth as possible.
  • Processor optimization: Corel says the app is optimized for Intel's new Sandy Bridge systems, and have shown us some graphs with very impressive numbers. We've been unable to test this particular point, but if you have a recent-generation Intel or AMD Fusion system, VideoStudio performance should be blazing. Even on our older test system performance was quite impressive.
  • Customizable workspace: You can drag the video preview window to your secondary monitor (if you have one) and tweak just about any other element in the window layout. Once done, you can save your ideal workspace in one of three slots.
  • Share-to-Web: VideoStudio Pro X4 hooks directly into YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Flickr, so you don't even have to launch a browser to upload your final product. Edit, produce and share from within the app itself.
  • Smart Package: Video projects typically consist of many files; Smart Package lets you bundle all video assets for a given project into one ZIP file which you can password-protect and keep in a safe place once you're done editing.
I've had a chance to play around with a pre-release version for a few days, and have put it through its paces editing a short video for my day job. Overall, I've been impressed with how easy it was to create pro-looking results. If you do any sort of video editing but are leery of the investment other apps require (both in dollars and effort), VideoStudio Pro is well worth checking out. To see a bit of the interface itself and what the app can do, watch the video after the jump.

Note: We'll be running a give-away of ten VideoStudio Pro X4 licenses later today, each worth $100 USD. Keep your eyes peeled for the giveaway post!

Continue reading Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/corel-releases-videostudio-pro-x4-we-go-hands-on/

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Insert Coin: Botiful telepresence robot for Android (video)

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.

Insert Coin Botiful telepresence robot for Android video

Remote-controlled cameras are nothing new -- heck, some even ride atop robotic vacuums -- but this Android smartphone-powered device delivers quite a bit of versatility in a petite package with a reasonable price tag to boot. Botiful, a "social telepresence robot," serves as a roving platform for your Android smartphone. You can move the handset (and its front-facing camera) up and down as it speeds along any flat surface, responding to commands from someone on the other end of a Skype video chat. Once you connect the device to your Android phone through Bluetooth or USB, you can control its direction from a pop-up window within Skype, letting you position Botiful however you see fit. If your Android phone doesn't have a front-facing camera, you can flip it around to use the rear shooter -- of course, you won't be able to see the display in this configuration, so it won't be ideal for two-way chats. Naturally, this makes the duo a natural choice for surveillance and baby monitoring, but it can also be used to provide a more immersive experience during conference calls or for sending back video from locations that aren't easily accessible, such as the undercarriage of a car.

Designed in a garage in California (no, really), Botiful is already functional, with working software as well. The current configuration requires Skype for control, though an SDK will allow developers to create other control apps for the device -- and who knows, the seemingly capable inventor could release another tool of her own before it's set to hit production later this year. With much of the design already completed, the project sponsor is turning to Kickstarter to raise the funds necessary to launch Botiful to production -- the device could ship as soon as November if it reaches a $90,000 goal before August 22nd. Available in white, blue or red, the remote-controlled rig is currently only compatible with Android, though iOS support may come if funding exceeds a $100k threshold. There's still more than three weeks to go to make your pledge, with a limited number of pre-order slots available for $199 (retail pricing is expected to come in at $299). Hit up the source link below to show your support.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Botiful telepresence robot for Android (video)

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Insert Coin: Botiful telepresence robot for Android (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/XeYOKDB5H2c/

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Opera 11.10 gets HTML5 File API support, IMAP improvements

opera 11.10
The crew in Oslo keeps plugging away at Opera 11.10, and the latest snapshot build includes a number of improvements to Opera's built-in email client -- as well as HTML5-related additions.

On the IMAP front, Opera now supports special folders like sent items, spam, and trash. It also better handles duplicate items in Gmail -- such as those which appear in all mail and under your custom labels.

Opera 11.10 now partially supports the HTML5 File API as well, which means your favorite Web apps (like Gmail) may soon begin adding Opera to the list of supported browsers.

You can download the latest Opera 11.10 snapshot for Windows, Mac, or Linux from the official release post.

Update: The Opera 11.10 RC is now available, as pointed out by SlashZaku in the comments. Thanks!

Opera 11.10 gets HTML5 File API support, IMAP improvements originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/opera-11-10-gets-html5-file-api-support-imap-improvements/

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Defcon 20 badges meld hieroglyphs, circuitry and cryptography for hacker scavenger hunt

The Hacker Olympics Defcon 20 badges meld ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, circuitry and cryptography for nerd scavenger hunt

Every year, the world's hacker population descends upon Las Vegas to trade notes, sit in on informational talks and compete in friendly contests -- all in the name of Defcon. But this time out, it's the conference's ever-evolving smart badges that've caught our eye, owing mostly to what lurks beneath. Designed by Ryan Clarke -- the mastermind behind the gathering's Mystery Box challenge -- these hackable IDs, issued according to status (Press, Human, Goons, vendors, etc), come embedded with an LED, a multi-core processor, IR transmitter and accompanying hieroglyphic graphic. But that's not all that makes these high-tech tags so special. Turns out, each one contains a game, buried within its open source software, that's encoded with several cryptographic, linguistic and mathematical layers.

Shying away from hardware-focused hacks of the past, Clarke built this year's scavenger hunt-like game to be more inclusive of attendee skills, as it'll force conference-goers interested in cracking its code to break down social barriers and collaborate with other highly-specialized nerds. What's the end game, you ask? Well, according to Clarke, the puzzle is a continuation of last year's secret agent story (played out by a real-life actor) involving "a [mysterious] society of computer elites." It's not the sort of payoff we'd be after -- something greener and covered with a certain Ben Franklin's face would suffice -- but it sounds intriguing enough. Click on the source below to read more about the makings of this geek sport. And may the pastiest neckbeard win!

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Defcon 20 badges meld hieroglyphs, circuitry and cryptography for hacker scavenger hunt originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/27/defcon-20-badges-meld-hieroglyphs-circuitry-and-cryptography-fo/

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