So this is something: according to one of Business Insider’s sources, Barack Obama watched the entire raid of Osama Bin Laden’s compound live via a helmet cam feed. Badass. More
President Obama Reportedly Watched the Bin Laden Raid Live [Video]
Month: May 2011
EnOcean’s home automation sensors communicate over TCP/IP, play nice with smartphone apps
EnOcean has long been on our radar thanks to its inexpensive light switches and thermostats, which harvest energy from solar cells and thermal differentials and boast peel-and-stick backs for easy installation. Now, they’re getting hooked up for TCP/IP communication, which means in addition to talking to each other, homeowners will be able to control them using any garden-variety web-connected device. The setup will require a small gateway, at which point you can monitor rooms using desktop widgets and mobile apps such as Can2Go that are compatible with EnOcean’s radio protocol (ERP). So far, the company’s mostly made headway in retail stores and office buildings, but if it has its way, it could be coming to hospitals, college dorms, and (duh) your home.
EnOcean’s home automation sensors communicate over TCP/IP, play nice with smartphone apps originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
This Was Osama’s Hideout on Google Maps [Terrorism]
Osama bin Laden’s dead. But before we offed him, he was camped out in a Pakistani mansion—and in typical internet fashion, it's already pinpointed on Google. The mapper's anonymous, but they reveal strange things—police station neighbors? More
The Features That Make Each Web Browser Unique
snydeq writes “InfoWorld’s Peter Wayner offers a look at 13 promising features unique to one browser. From Chrome’s support for SPDY, to IE9’s emphasis on energy efficiency, to Firefox Sync, browser vendors are working hard to establish any edge that might attract more users to their stack of code. And while speed and HTML5 compatibility remain key in the battle of the Web browsers, unique features often point the way forward. ‘Given the pace of browser updates these days, don’t be surprised to find the best of the bunch being copied by competitors soon,’ Wayner writes. ‘After all, yesterday’s browser bells and whistles are today’s must-have features.'”
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The Features That Make Each Web Browser Unique
BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on (update: video)
So we finally got our dirty little hands on RIM’s new BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone here at BlackBerry World 2011. It’s basically the old Bold but with a capacitive touchscreen and updated innards including a 1.2 GHz CPU, 768 MB of RAM, a GPU , HSPA+, and NFC support. From a design perspective it mixes BlackBerry’s traditional formula with iPhone 4-like materials (that familiar stainless steel rim). It certainly looks premium and feels lovely in the hand, and the keyboard is typical BlackBerry — which is to say fantastic. The screen is beautiful too, perfect to showcase that new BlackBerry 7 OS. Still, we can’t help but think that we’re looking at the device RIM should have shipped last summer instead of the Torch. We’ll have a hands on video up soon but for now take a peek at our gallery below.
Gallery: BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on
Continue reading BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on (update: video)
BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 11:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
MIT Blackjack King Takes SMTP Public
An anonymous reader writes “Semyon Dukach is at it again. Thumbing his nose at the establishment, that is. Dukach, a former leader of the MIT blackjack team, has taken his small company, SMTP, public today in the hopes of overturning the field of e-mail delivery and management. SMTP might sound boring, but it’s the latest vehicle in Dukach’s quest to ‘make a couple billion and then try to help the world’ (without the aid of venture capitalists or investment bankers). Given his track record, people might not want to bet against him.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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MIT Blackjack King Takes SMTP Public
BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on
So we finally got our dirty little hands on RIM’s new BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone here at BlackBerry World 2011. It’s basically the old Bold but with a capacitive touchscreen and updated innards including a 1.2 GHz CPU, 768 MB of RAM, a GPU , HSPA+, and NFC support. From a design perspective it mixes BlackBerry’s traditional formula with iPhone 4-like materials (that familiar stainless steel rim). It certainly looks premium and feels lovely in the hand, and the keyboard is typical BlackBerry — which is to say fantastic. The screen is beautiful too, perfect to showcase that new BlackBerry 7 OS. Still, we can’t help but think that we’re looking at the device RIM should have shipped last summer instead of the Torch. We’ll have a hands on video up soon but for now take a peek at our gallery below.
Gallery: BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on
BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 11:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Could this Sumerian statue depict an ancient extinct giraffe? [Monsters Among Us]
For decades, paleontologists have agonized over a strange Sumerian statue found in central Iraq. The figurine depicts a mammal that some researchers suspect could be a suriving specimen of the ancient giraffe, Sivatherium. More
RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with better browser and BlackBerry Balance, but no legacy support
The BB OS 6.1 update that grew too big for its name has just been made official by RIM as BlackBerry 7. Its ambassador into the wide world of smartphones will be the newly minted BlackBerry Bold Touch, which is expected to arrive “this summer.” What can you look forward to? The user experience is promised to be both easier and faster, voice-activated searches are available for content both on your phone and the web, and the browser has been “significantly enhanced” with new features like a JIT (just-in-time) JavaScript compiler and HTML5 Video support. BlackBerry Balance is also part of the new OS, allowing you to compartmentalize your personal and professional lives into neat and separate piles of content. Full PR can be found after the break.
Update: RIM has just noted that there will be “no legacy support” with BB 7, meaning that older devices, even those running version 6 of the OS, won’t be getting any (official) updates to the latest stuff. This has been justified by how tightly integrated the software build is with the underlying graphics hardware in the touch-capable Bold handsets. Basically, the old phones won’t be able to run the new OS. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there’s no trace of QNX in BB 7.
RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with better browser and BlackBerry Balance, but no legacy support originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with overhauled browser and BlackBerry Balance on board
The BB OS 6.1 update that grew too big for its name has just been made official by RIM as BlackBerry 7. Its ambassador into the wide world of smartphones will be the newly minted BlackBerry Bold Touch, which is expected to arrive “this summer.” What can you look forward to? The user experience is promised to be both easier and faster, voice-activated searches are available for content both on your phone and the web, and the browser has been “significantly enhanced” with new features like a JIT (just-in-time) JavaScript compiler and HTML5 Video support. BlackBerry Balance is also part of the new OS, allowing you to compartmentalize your personal and professional lives into neat and separate piles of content. Full PR can be found after the break.
Update: RIM has just noted that there will be “no legacy support” with BB 7, meaning that older devices, even those running version 6 of the OS, won’t be getting any (official) updates to the latest stuff. This has been justified by how tightly integrated the software build is with the underlying graphics hardware in the touch-capable Bold handsets. Basically, the old stuff won’t be able to run the new OS. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there’s no trace of QNX in BB 7.
RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with overhauled browser and BlackBerry Balance on board originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.