Switched On: The 2012 Switchies, Part 2

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

DNP Switched On The 2012 Switchies, Part 2

The last Switched On covered some of the major Switchie awards for the year, but there are many other products to recognize:

The "Category's Meow" Award for Best New Category Creation goes to Supermechanical's TWINE, a small blue box that can relay information about its environment via WiFi to a website. Its fellow Kickstarter project Ninja Blocks followed suit with a more proactive two-way link to pick up an Honorable Mention.

The "Mulligans Do" Award for Best Product Revamp goes to the Apple iPod family. After a bit of staidness in the venerable iPod nano, Apple came back with larger screens and slender profiles on both the iPod nano and iPod touch. Honorable mentions go to the Kindle family of e- readers, particularly the Kindle Paperwhite, and the Samsung Galaxy S line of smartphones from Samsung, which took a huge leap forward with the Galaxy S III.

Continue reading Switched On: The 2012 Switchies, Part 2

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/-TJ80_CQhf8/

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Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game

cueboyquest
Yes, that's right, I said adorable. Because Cueboy Quest really is!

You play an 8-bit cowboy whose goal on each level is to get to the door (and thus to the next level), but the door is often locked. To get it to open, you must shoot at one or more targets, and those targets aren't always in your line of sight. For example, on one level the the target is a balloon which is stuck all the way at the other end of the screen. You must first nudge it free, and then watch it float up and try to shoot it before it floats clear off the screen. Your bullets are chunky pixels that have some weight - the have arcing trajectories, so you don't always hit exactly where you aim.

There's another level where you must jump on the balloon as it floats up, use it as a platform to get to the other end of the screen, and then turn to shoot it very quickly before it flies away. Each level is very short, and most of them are quite easy. And not only are the graphics 8-bit blocky, but they're large too. Simply beautiful!

Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/cueboy-quest-is-an-adorable-8-bit-style-physics-game/

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Lenovo ThinkPad Helix swings through the FCC with AT&T-native LTE

Lenovo ThinkPad Helix swings through the FCC with AT&T native LTE

There have been doubts that Lenovo's ThinkPad Helix would ever arrive in the US, with even the past FCC appearance of a WiFi-only version offering no guarantees. An American launch now seems considerably more likely in the wake of a follow-up FCC approval. The dockable, 11.6-inch Windows 8 tablet has popped up carrying LTE both on an AT&T-specific 700MHz band and AT&T-friendly AWS (1,700MHz and 2,100MHz) bands -- with such explicit network support, we'll be surprised if it doesn't reach US shores. Little else is available in the filing that we don't already know, although it's clear that there's no real cellular access for Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon. We'd just like to know if and when Lenovo is ready to make the ThinkPad Helix official for this side of the world and give the upcoming IdeaTab Lynx some company.

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Source: FCC

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Uo7I7LMWyDg/

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ESPN ScoreCenter for iPhone updated with iPad UI in time for bowl season

 

ESPN ScoreCenter for iPhone updated with iPad UI in time for bowl season

It's been a long time coming, but ESPN ScoreCenter for iPhone has finally been updated with a refreshed interface that mirrors that of its larger iPad-fitted version - just in time for college football bowl season, the NFL playoffs, and more not-hockey. The new interface ditches the swiping five-panel layout of the old ScoreCenter, opting instead for a simplified layout with navigation accomplish by merely tapping (how quaint) one of four large buttons at the bottom of the screen.

The ScoreCenter update also makes looking beyond your favorite teams (you can now log in with an ESPN account to sync your favorites from the website and/or the iPad app) and the latest scores in everything - "Top Events" - by tapping the three-bar menu button on the top left to drill down into other sports, leagues, teams. The app maintains the old two-wide grid system for displaying scores en masse, but opts for a larger font that's easier to read at a glance.

New in the update is a button labeled Video present in the nav bar on most screens, offering relevant video segments on whatever scores/news/team you're looking at. The video clips are pulled from both ESPN's television coverage and dedicated web content.

Overall, the update to version 3.0.0 has been good for ScoreCenter, bringing the featureset and performance up to ESPN standards and wrapping the app in a new skin that matche's ESPN's edgy corporate look. Everything you liked about ScoreCenter is still there, while a lot of what you disliked has been excised or improved. And it's still free - can't beat that.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/6XMbBNuu6rA/story01.htm

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Create the Rainbow with your own Skittles holiday commerical (Sponsored Video)

When I think about the holidays, Skittles colorful fruit flavored candies are not something that normally comes to mind… at least they never did in the past. But now that I’ve just made my own Create the Rainbow Skittle’s holiday commercial, I don’t think my thoughts of Christmas will ever be the same again. I don’t want to be the only one stuck in the land of weird and crazy, so go make your own Skittles commercial. Using the web based tool you’ll be able to customize your masterpiece by picking the characters, the location and even some of the quirky dialog snippets. Then after you are finished making your choices, you can watch and share your commercial with your followers on Facebook, Twitter or through regular old email. Here’s mine. What do you think? ;) Now it’s your turn to check it out and then make your own. You might even win a year’s supply of free Skittles.

This post is sponsored by Skittles.

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Create the Rainbow with your own Skittles holiday commerical (Sponsored Video) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 20, 2012 at 7:30 am.

Rom Manager updated, now you can download flashable zip backups to your computer

Rom Manager

If you use Rom Manager to manage your flashing habit and curate all your CWM backups, you're going to want to take a look at the latest update. Beside the theme fixes for older devices, there is a new feature that plenty of folks are going to find useful -- a backup server built right into the app.

It's not just any backup server though. There are plenty of options out there to browse the files on your phone or tablet via Wifi. What Rom Manager is doing provides an extra handy service -- it transforms the backup files into a flashable zip file that you can flash back to your device (or any device) from ClockWorkMod Recovery.

Granted, it's always been possible to pull and share CWM backups, but the new Rom Manager update takes the confusion away and makes it easy for everyone to pull a backup file that's ready to flash, without worrying about the right folder structure or location. As Koush says, this is the first version so there may be a few quirks in it. Be sure to report any of these you may run into back to him. I just tried it, and what I'm seeing works exceptionally well. Give it a go yourself with today's update. 

Via: +ClockWorkMod

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

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The Decades That Invented the Future, Part 9: 1981-1990

The Decades That Invented the Future, Part 9: 1981-1990
Since 2007, Wired.com’s This Day In Tech blog has reflected on important and entertaining events in the history of science and innovation, pursuing them chronologically for each day of the year. Hundreds of these essays have now been collected into ...

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/the-decades-that-invented-the-future-part-8-1981-1990/

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Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules

The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.

Presumably it's not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that's causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab's JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.

Alexander Clauss, iCab's developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. "Maybe if I would have called the modules 'smart bookmarks' and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code."

In conclusion, to circumvent Apple's draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however -- but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.

Download iCab Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ($1.99)

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/apple-orders-icab-ios-browser-to-cripple-javascript-modules/

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Editorial: All I want for Christmas is a new HTC Nexus

Editorial All I want for Christmas is a new HTC Nexus

To this day, I remain in love with my HTC One X, but its fate has already been sealed. Soon enough, this fast and beautiful smartphone is going to find a new life in a drawer that holds my spare change, sunglasses, checkbook and various receipts. Is it wrong to relegate one of the best phones on the planet to my stash of odds and ends? Perhaps, but the past few months have taught me that excellent hardware alone doesn't make a device that's sufficient for enthusiasts.

Like many, I've been waiting for an upgrade to Jelly Bean ever since HTC first promised it back in July. I have no doubt that the company is working hard to prepare the Android 4.1 update for its customers, but the software is already past its expiration date. Google has moved onto something better. Quite frankly, I'm no longer willing to perpetually live behind the curve. I want to play with new toys as they come out, and that's wholly impossible outside of the Nexus ecosystem.

Why should HTC care about my personal revelation, or the desire of anyone else who wants to stay on the cutting edge? Well, I'd like to offer the simple suggestion that enthusiasts matter. Take any introductory marketing class and you'll learn the early adopters -- in other words, the nerds who like playing with the very latest stuff -- set trends and influence others. Companies should be falling over themselves to cater to this influential segment, and yet within the Android ecosystem, that's the exception to the rule. There's only one device for sale today that's suitable for enthusiasts, and it's high time for that to change.

Continue reading Editorial: All I want for Christmas is a new HTC Nexus

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/24/editorial-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-a-new-htc-nexus/

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