Uncategorized Robert Nelson | 04 Jul 2008
Firefox claims a 19% market share in the browser wars
Section: Web, Downloads, Web Browsers
Mozilla is growing, and it seems that in addition to the recent world record, which was set for the software downloads in a 24 hour time period, they have also risen to 19.03% of the market share. Mozilla saw an increase from 18.41% up to 19.03% from the end of May to the end of June.
Of course, Firefox may be seeing an increase, which is at least partially due to the recent release of Firefox 3, but Internet Explorer still remains on top with a whopping 73.01%.
On the other hand, some are saying that because of the auto-update features within Firefox, that those users are amongst the most users with up to date versions of their browser installed. Firefox was noted as having 83% of their users with an up to date software version, as compared to just 63.3% of Safari users, 56.1% of Opera users and IE having just 47.6% of users with the latest and most stable version.
Read [Yahoo! News]
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Uncategorized NEWS | 04 Jul 2008
So Hot Right Now: Top 10 Gadgetell posts for the week of June 29, 2008
Section:
Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week? Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!
- Slimbus: The future of public transportation
“ With the absurd increase in gasoline prices almost every week, more and more people will be forced to use buses and other modes of public transportation. Now, here is a very interesting futuristic concept – the Slimbus. Intended for…” MORE » - The touchscreen Motorola Blaze for Verizon shows its face
“ The touchscreen based devices just keep coming, and seem to be getting more and more interesting. The latest to hit the open, or at least leaked status is the Motorola Blaze, which seems to be a mix-match…” MORE » - Asus to introduce the Eee PC 904, 905?
“ Asus has yet to even get the Eee PC 901 or the 1000H into the US market, however the latest rumor has them working on getting an Eee PC 904 and 905 ready. The new 904 and…” MORE » - BlackBerry Bold for Rogers gets a release date
“ The BlackBerry Bold is having it’s trouble with a US release date, AT&T has been rumored to have pushed it’s launch into August, but it is right on track with…” MORE » - Creative’s Wi-Fi enabled Zen X-Fi PMP revealed?
“ Still missing is the official announcement from Creative, however epiZENter is claiming the above picture of the Creative ZEN X-Fi is the real deal. Based on the image, all we can do is hope that it really is true,…” MORE » - Leaked training documents for Sprint’s Treo 800w
“ Yet another leak surrounding the upcoming Treo 800w for Sprint. This time thankfully its not some more blurry camera phone style images, but instead something much more useful, what appears to be the official training…” MORE » - Blackberry Thunder now officially called Blackberry 9500
“ The Blackberry Thunder which we reported before as RIM’s newest Blackberry device now has an official name, the Blackberry 9500. And like we told you, it shall be officially carried with Verizon as a lifetime exclusive offering…” MORE » - Verizon’s leaked release schedule for 2008
“ Earlier today we saw what AT&T has in store for use device-wise for the remainder of 2008 and now it is Verizon’s turn, and it looks just as exciting as the AT&T lineup. Beginning in August, it looks like we can expect…” MORE » - Princeton will soon offer Kindle edition textbooks
“ Princeton University has become the latest to announce that they have plans to begin offering Kindle editions of their textbooks. Joining other universities such as Yale, Oxford, and UC Berkeley the Princeton textbooks will be available beginning in the fall semester. While…” MORE » - Nikon D3, D300 see firmware fixes
“ Good news for those not quite ready to take the plunge to purchase the new Nikon D700, but tiring of some of the problems they may have been experiencing with their D3 or D300; Nikon has made some more adjustments.…” MORE »
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Uncategorized Robert Nelson | 04 Jul 2008
YouTube plus stupid or criminal acts is not a good combination, or is it?
Section: News, Web, Websites, Online Music/Video
Keeping in mind that there are just some things that you should not do. Take “throwing a baby” for example, but assuming you felt the need to do such a crazy thing, then why would you feel the need to not only record it, but also post the video to a popular site as YouTube. Its almost like asking to get in trouble, isn’t it?
The latest teen did just that, he had his friend film himself throwing a baby, well not actually throwing, but sort of launching it. The 16-year old placed the baby on a large inflatable pillow and then jumped on it to send the baby flying across the room. The teens then posted the video online and it was later found by one of the students teachers, who promptly called the police. The 16-year old has since been charged with felony cruelty to a child, and according to Sheriff Harold Breeden;
“It’s not going to be funny when the judge gets through with him.”
Could not have said it any better myself, lets just hope the judge does not go easy, because it was also noted that this particular teen “has never been in trouble before.”
While some people feel that YouTube is a least partially responsible for these acts, personally I am glad YouTube and similar site are around. Its hard to imagine that someone who is dumb enough to do something like this would have not done it in the first place, at least with sites like YouTube and the Internet in general it makes it a little easier on law enforcements ability to catch these stupid criminals.
As expected this video has since been removed from YouTube, but if you click the read link below, you can see the original news clip that covered this story. I will however caution you, its not pleasant to watch.
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Uncategorized Jodie Andrefski | 04 Jul 2008
Cloaking - It’s not just for Harry Potter anymore
Section: Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous, Imaging
Those that have seen the Harry Potter movies may remember his magic cloak that enabled him to be invisible from those around him. Sounds a bit fantastical and far-fetched doesn’t it? Well, the future may be closer than you think.
The ability to hide something from sight, is usually accomplished by using what is known as a superlens. This type of lens contains a negative refraction index, the “refraction” part obviously meaning bending. In this case it allows it to bend electromagnetic waves back upon themselves. So, as a result, the object appears “invisible.” Voila! No bulky cloak even needed.
Although superlensing isn’t exactly yet feasible for making something huge like a military warship invisible, there is still promise for more standard large objects. This is being done using copper-based meta-materials to create a type of cloaking cylinder. Work is also being done on the lenses by Graeme Millton, of the University of Utah, who is currently working in mathematical models for the superlenses.
“We’ve seen it numerically—not in practice, but we’ve got a theoretical proof that collections of particles become invisible,” said Milton of their superlens work.
The meta-material cylinder which is being worked on at Duke University is different from the lens at Utah in that it causes microwaves to be bent around itself rather than reflected. Its cylinder has patterns invisible to the naked eye on its surface, which act to redirect the waves striking it, instead of allowing them to bounce off.
The Duke cylinder still needs work because there is still distortion which is visible in microwave images, however there are clearly implications for some real applications. Initiate...Stealth Mode.
Via [DailyTech]
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Uncategorized Robert Nelson | 04 Jul 2008
Ask.com finalizes Dictionary.com purchase
With the deal closed on the Dictionary.com purchase, Ask.com has now become, at least according to comScore, the ninth-largest web property. The all-cash deal originally began back in mid-May and had Ask.com purchasing Lexico Publishing Group LLC. The web properties that were included were Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.
Ask.com is reporting that this will give them an increase of around 15 million additional users on a month basis, which would put them up to a monthly audience of around 145 million. Terms of the acquisition, such as how much was paid were not disclosed.
Read [Reuters]
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Uncategorized NEWS | 04 Jul 2008
Maverick Software has your iPhone and iPod Touch games
FROM APPLETELL - Maverick Software has announced its line of iPhone and iPod Touch games that will be available through Apple’s App Store. All these games are built from the ground up and are fully native to the iPod Touch and iPhone. With four new games, this company really wants to make an… MORE »
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Uncategorized Robert Nelson | 04 Jul 2008
Rumor: BlackBerry Kickstart to land with T-Mobile for $49.99?
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile
Some more information has been leaking about in regards to the upcoming BlackBerry Kickstart and thankfully this time it was not another set of blurry images. Instead its some speculation based on just how much RIM is planning to charge for this little clamshell BlackBerry.
We have already heard that it was headed to T-Mobile and it looks like it will land there in September, but the latest information is calling for this to be a very affordable handset. Coming in at just $49.99 with a two-year agreement. Which assuming this is accurate would have it even less expensive than the popular and low-cost Palm Centro. At that price I think that RIM could have a winner on their hands.
Via [CrackBerry] Image [http://blog.berryshack.com/blog/content/new-leaked-blackberry-kickstart-pictures]
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Uncategorized Phone Obsession | 04 Jul 2008