Let it Slide is an engaging, difficult puzzle game

letitslide
I have a thing for physics games, and I've been known to post the occasional platformer or action game here and there. But Let it Slide is one of the brainiest games I've posted to date.

The idea is very simple, and far from original: You get a board with pieces arranged in a particular pattern; you have to slide those around until you get the special piece into its target location.

It's not even about finding out where the target location is - you can just hover over "dim tiles" and instantly see where you're supposed to bring the special piece. But getting it there is a whole different story.

There are five tutorial levels, which I strongly recommend you do. Then there are twenty "beginner" levels, but that's really a misnomer. If those are the beginner levels, I don't want to know what the intermediate and advanced levels look like!

Every time you finish a level you get a score based on how many clicks it took you - each level has a "par" (the minimum number of clicks it could be completed in), and your performance is compared to that gold standard. Because it's such a brainy game, getting it right is quite satisfying. I was downright proud of myself when I managed to finish a few levels. All in all, quite recommended, especially if you've got a few minutes of quiet. It might actually help you focus better later on.

Let it Slide is an engaging, difficult puzzle game originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/23/let-it-slide-is-an-engaging-difficult-puzzle-game/

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The Future of TV Is Beautiful and Simple and Good [TV]

The televisions that are going to be invading our living rooms in 2012, the ones that Samsung and LG and the rest have been trotting out this week at CES? They're the most exciting gadgets of the year, and not because of any apps or gimmicks or third dimensions being shoved down our throats. In fact, they're wonderful in spite of all that. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/tefWohOnH-4/the-future-of-tv-is-beautiful-and-simple-and-good

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Tablets Streamline Medical Practice

Tablets Streamline Medical Practice The use of tablet computers in medicine is increasing rapidly with millions of doctors, hospitals and clinics worldwide turning to technology to meet their needs. Medical informatics is the new trend in information-sharing, with instant access to data making medicine more efficient. Interacting With Patients Clinicians use tablets when performing consultations with patients in a variety of ways. Tablets allow doctors to communicate treatment recommendations, sketch blueprints of intended surgical procedures and explain complex diagnoses. Most [...]

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/tablets-streamline-medical-practice/

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Verizon says (almost) 'all' future phones and tablets will be LTE

Verizon
In case you hadn't noticed, Verizon is going all in on LTE. And that doesn't just mean investing heavily in its network and snatching up spectrum left and right -- it also means making the 4G tech a "hard requirement" for all future devices. Outside of a few exceptions, primarily limited to its push-to-talk offerings, all upcoming phones, tablets and mobile hotspots will boast an LTE radio. Verizon's associate director of device marketing, Keith Lampron, assured CNET that the company isn't going to turn into an iPhone and Android only outlet -- Windows Phone and BlackBerry offerings are welcome to join Big Red, so long as they hop on the 700MHz train.

Verizon says (almost) 'all' future phones and tablets will be LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTML5 MP3 player lets you listen to your music library inside your browser

html5 browser mp3 audio player
While this slick little HTML5 audio player might not pack all of the features of your favorite desktop media application, it's still a very cool demonstration of what a Web app can do with access to local resources -- like MP3 and OGG files.

Just fire up http://antimatter15.github.com/player/player.html in your HTML5-compatible browser and browse to the topmost folder in your music library. The app will quickly build an index of all your tunes and let you start listening right inside your Web browser. Click on the filter library text, and you can enter a search string -- results load as you type.

There's a volume control, shuffle mode, play/pause control, and you can click and drag to skip forward or rewind during playback. As OMG! Ubuntu points out, you can even save the app to your hard drive and run it offline, which is pretty darn cool.

Not all browsers are equal when it comes to HTML5 implementation, of course. We found that Chrome worked the best, and Firefox was OK. It's also worth noting that this music player comes from the same developer that created one of our favorite restartless Firefox 4 add-ons, drag2up.

HTML5 MP3 player lets you listen to your music library inside your browser originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/html5-mp3-player-lets-you-listen-to-your-music-library-inside-yo/

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Some Dude Wants $60m For a Patent Protecting The Distribution of URLs via SMS [Patents]

There are a lot of sad sites at CES. But Robert Sanchez telling an empty room about his plans to sell a patent, that details delivery of URLs via text message, for $60m has to be one of the most desperate. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/8qzShm9sBmw/some-dude-wants-60m-for-a-patent-protecting-the-distribution-of-urls-via-sms

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The New Technology In Eyewear: EmPower!

EmPower! is the largest optical advance in the last 50 years.  It is the first electronic-focusing eyewear.  A tilt of the head or touch to the temple activates a layer of liquid crystals in each lens that focus as fast as you can blink an eye.  The mastermind behind EmPower! is PixelOptics, a Virginia-based company. [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/08/the-new-technology-in-eyewear-empower/

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Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android

Android Honeycomb
Google, in an interesting but not entirely unexpected twist, will not be open-sourcing Android 3.0 Honeycomb for the foreseeable future.

Historically, Android is usually open-sourced via the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) a few days or weeks after the code is finalized. While this departure from the norm won't affect OEMs like HTC and Motorola that have access to internal builds of Android, small-time developers will likely have to wait months before rolling their own distributions.

As to why Google is holding back Honeycomb, its reasons are actually rather rational. Honeycomb, while originally intended to run on all mobile form factors, is only ready for deployment on tablets. "To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs," says Andy Rubin, the head of Google's Android group. "We didn't want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut."

In other words, Google wants to prevent OEMs and homebrew developers like Cyanogen from rolling their own smartphone versions of Honeycomb -- it doesn't want to see the same bitter-tasting tabletified bastardization that occurred with Android 2.1 and 2.2 last year.

Continue reading Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android

Google holds back on open-sourcing Honeycomb, heralds massive shift for Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/25/google-holds-back-on-open-sourcing-honeycomb-heralds-shift-android/

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Cirque shows off its Glidepoint NFC trackpad built into a laptop, we go hands-on (video)

Each year, CES always seems to circle around a few common themes, and NFC -- Near-Field Communication -- is getting a large chunk of the spotlight this week, and it's not all completely about mobile payments. In fact, we're just scratching the surface of what NFC is truly capable of. We stopped by the NXP booth and found a treasure chest full of the latest innovations in the world of NFC, the first of which is the Cirque Glidepoint NFC trackpad. The company had a fully working trackpad that's actually built into a laptop, as well as an external model that can be plugged into any USB port (tablets, for instance).

We navigated to Engadget's home page on our Galaxy Nexus and placed it on the pad, and just as expected, Android Beam activated and our touch initiated the data transfer. Within two seconds, the browser pulled up and loaded the site. We also used a business card with a NFC tag built-in and accomplished the same task. But it doesn't stop there -- the concept can be applied to other NFC applications, such as YouTube videos, maps and even the Activision critter seen above. The unit we demoed was a prototype that's still a long ways from final hardware, so don't expect to see them embedded into a laptop until mid-2013. External trackpads, according to Cirque, should be seeing the market in four months.

Continue reading Cirque shows off its Glidepoint NFC trackpad built into a laptop, we go hands-on (video)

Cirque shows off its Glidepoint NFC trackpad built into a laptop, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ZnYp8sI9Ij0/

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Aha Radio in the Subaru BRZ hands-on (video)

Aha Radio announced this week that it'll be an optional extra in 2013 Subaru and Honda autos. Vehicles so equipped will have the ability to listen to thousands of web radio stations and apps -- like Slacker and MOG -- alongside the regular AM / FM and satellite radio rotation. A short jaunt from our trailer at CES, we grabbed a quick demo with a Subaru representative aboard the 2013 BRZ.


Just like using Aha without the car, you'll need an iOS or Android device outfitted with the app, which uses that device's data connection to stream those audial bits. Once connected over USB or Bluetooth, however, the updated app now allows all of that content -- including stations you've previously pre-selected as favorites -- to be accessible via vehicle's built-in infotainment system. Setup was a breeze, but the only caveat is that data connection, which par for the course for CES, wouldn't play ball. Still, for the brief time we were able to connect, we streamed NPR and found the UI certainly workable. And before you ponder the ramifications of futzing with a touchscreen while driving, know that it's accessible via controls mounted on the steering wheel. This makes for a somewhat safer media selection-option as you cruise up and down the Vegas strip. A couple shots of it in action await below, followed by a video after the break.

Continue reading Aha Radio in the Subaru BRZ hands-on (video)

Aha Radio in the Subaru BRZ hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/aha-radio-in-the-subaru-brz-hands-on-video/

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