Android 4.0, meet your granddad x86

Isn’t it nice when different generations get together without bickering? Google’s x86 version of Ice Cream Sandwich is finally ready for developers and it promises to do exactly that, by playing happily with Intel and AMD’s 33-year-old architecture rather than just those young upstarts from ARM. The union isn’t entirely harmonious just yet: Ethernet and camera support won’t function, while Wi-Fi, sound and hardware acceleration are currently AMD-only. Devs who remain unfazed by such trifles, however, can download the source code via the links below.

[Family photo via Shutterstock]

Android 4.0, meet your granddad x86 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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StatCounter: Chrome leapfrogs Firefox for the first time, still trails Internet Explorer

StatCounter has just released its latest global report on web browser usage, and it’s something of a doozy. According to the analytics firm, Google Chrome overtook Mozilla Firefox for the first time this month, becoming the world’s second most widely used browser. During November, Chrome accounted for about 25.7 percent of the global market, up from a measly 4.66 percent in 2009, and slightly higher than the 25.2 percent that Firefox pulled down this month. It still trails Internet Explorer, however, which still enjoys a healthy 40.6 percent market share globally, and a 50.7 percent share in the US. As the above graph clearly demonstrates, however, both IE and Firefox have seen notable declines in recent months, though the latter still has a slim lead over Chrome in the US market, with a 20.9 percent share, compared with Google’s 17.3 percent cut. For more country-specific stats and crunchy numbers, check out the source link, below.

Continue reading StatCounter: Chrome leapfrogs Firefox for the first time, still trails Internet Explorer

StatCounter: Chrome leapfrogs Firefox for the first time, still trails Internet Explorer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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StatCounter: Chrome leapfrogs Firefox for the first time, still trails Internet Explorer

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime review

Is there any tablet that’s hotter than the Transformer Prime right now? (Please, don’t say the Kindle Fire.) For weeks we geeks, early adopters and people who love their tech toys have been awaiting this, and none too patiently. Make no mistake: this will be one of the slickest products we test this year and it isn’t just because the original Transformer had such an inventive design. The Prime is the first device packing NVIDIA’s hot-off-the-presses Tegra 3 SoC, making it the world’s first quad-core tablet. This comes with promises of longer-than-ever runtime and blazing performance (five times faster than Tegra 2, to be exact), all wrapped in a package measuring just 8.3mm (0.33 inches) thick — even skinnier than the iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab 10.1. Throw in specs like a Super IPS+ Gorilla Glass display, eight megapixel rear camera and a confirmed ICS update in the pipe and even we seen-it-all Engadget editors were drooling.

All of which means we dropped just everything when a 32GB Prime showed up on our doorstep earlier this week, and soon enough, you’ll have your chance to nab one too. ASUS announced today that the WiFi-only models will be available through online sellers the week of December 19th, and in retail the week after. (No word yet on 3G versions for the US just yet.) It’ll start at $499 for the 32GB model — not bad considering five hundred bucks is the going rate for a high-end tablet with 16GB of storage. From there you can get a 64GB number for $599, while that signature keyboard dock will set you back a further $149. Worth it? Read on to find out.

Gallery: Transformer Prime review (hardware)

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ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China to Eliminate College Majors That Produce Unemployable Grads

Got
a college degree but couldn’t find a job? Not going to be a problem in
China!

The ever practical China’s Ministry of Education has the perfect solution
to college graduates that can’t find jobs: eliminate the college majors
producing unemployable people. Problem solved!

Much like the U.S., China is aiming to address a problematic demographic
that has recently emerged: a generation of jobless graduates. China’s
solution to that problem, however, has some in the country scratching
their heads.

China’s Ministry of Education announced this week plans to
phase out majors producing unemployable graduates, according to state-run
media Xinhua. The government will soon start evaluating college majors
by their employment rates, downsizing or cutting those studies in which
the employment rate for graduates falls below 60% for two consecutive
years.

Link
(Photo: Zhu Difeng/Shutterstock)

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China to Eliminate College Majors That Produce Unemployable Grads

TL;DR: Facebook Increases Status Update Character Limit From 5K to 60K+

Facebook said today that it has increased the maximum character count in status updates to over 60,000. This is 12 times the original character count of 5,000. The change was originally spotted by All Facebook on a post on the Facebook+Journalists Page.

The longer status updates appear in the Live Ticker the same as any other status update truncated after a certain character limit is reached (which looks to be about 80), but it truncates in News Feed after 400 characters. As TechCrunch’s Josh Constine points out in our own experimentation with the new character limit, Facebook prompts users to create a Note if the character limit exceeds 63,206:

Longer status updates help differentiate the feature from Tweets and potentially create space for new content types from users. For example, in the announcement post Facebook suggests that a user could share a novel on Facebook in nine status update posts using the new character limit. Users that practice collaborative writing, say for a college essay writing course or something, could now use Facebook as writing workshop space.

A more interesting questions is whether or not post length will factor into the GraphRank algorithm that determines post placement in the News Feed. While the character cut off in News Feed will prevent long form posts from pushing other News Feed stories farther down the page, it could be that users are attracted to longer posts that seem to have something important to say.

How did Facebook arrive at the 63,206 character limit? According to Facebook engineer Bob Baldwin, “I set the exact limit to something nerdy. Facebook … Face Boo K … hex(FACE) – K … 64206 – 1000 = 63206 :-)”.

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TL;DR: Facebook Increases Status Update Character Limit From 5K to 60K+

Acer’s 27-inch HR274H monitor promises to do 2D-to-3D conversion on the fly

It likely won’t win over anyone who isn’t too fond of 3D to begin with, but those looking for some additional quasi-3D content beyond the standard fare now have a new option to consider in the form of Acer’s 27-inch HR274H monitor. It not only includes a set of passive, polarized 3D glasses, but what Acer describes as its own “chip-based solution” that promises to convert all 2D content to 3D in real time (it can be switched on and off on the monitor itself). Unfortunately, there’s no word yet as to how well the effect works, and the monitor’s specs are otherwise decidedly ordinary for the rather high $599 price tag — you’ll just get a TN panel with a standard 1920 x 1080 resolution. Additional details can be found in the press release after the break.

Continue reading Acer’s 27-inch HR274H monitor promises to do 2D-to-3D conversion on the fly

Acer’s 27-inch HR274H monitor promises to do 2D-to-3D conversion on the fly originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keyless Ride’s K2 poses as an OEM-compatible car remote, saves you time and money

If your keyless entry fob stops working, finding a replacement can be harrowing, which is why automotive locksmith Keyless Ride developed the K2 universal remote. Rather than stocking hundreds of individual OEM units, dealerships just have to dock a K2, tell it what make, model and year your car is (it’s compatible with 70 percent of the North American market) and it’ll pair up with your ride’s on-board wireless hardware within five minutes. Better still, you can lighten the load in your pocket by adding a second car to the same remote (if you have a weekend whip, that is). The company will be demonstrating at next year’s CES, throwing James Bond-style gun poses as they open two cars at once — we hope.

Continue reading Keyless Ride’s K2 poses as an OEM-compatible car remote, saves you time and money

Keyless Ride’s K2 poses as an OEM-compatible car remote, saves you time and money originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keyless Ride’s K2 poses as an OEM-compatible car remote, saves you time and money