Facebook’s Unreleased Mobile Photos App: How We Think It Works

A large set of documents and images of an as yet unreleased Facebook mobile photos app was leaked yesterday. Many details remain unclear, including whether the app will be part of the traditional mobile apps, a standalone app, or both.

The app cherry picks some of the best design and functionality from existing photo apps Instagram, PicPlz, Path, With, and Color, and combines them with new features and a low-friction sharing process.

Google Sync adds mail server search, appointment confirmation to native iOS apps


Google Sync has pushed Gmail messages, calendar updates, and contacts to iOS since its launch in 2009, but this half-baked solution previously lacked some key functionality. Beginning today, users can finally perform mail server searches and confirm appointment requests from their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. This means that you’ll be able to search for messages in your entire mailbox, not just for emails stored on your device — a feature that first appeared with iPhone OS 3, but without Google Sync support. You can also respond to calendar invites from within the Calendar app. Fancy that! A third update brings support for sending messages from other addresses listed in your Gmail account, though only the first two features worked when we took Sync for a spin this afternoon. (Curiously, Google omitted a “Send Mail as” screenshot on its blog, so this last update may not actually be available yet.) This latest trio of updates is available for both gratis and Google Apps accounts, so head to the source link for set up instructions and the full feature rundown.

Google Sync adds mail server search, appointment confirmation to native iOS apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battle for the electromagnetic spectrum: “The Secret History of Iraq’s Invisible War”

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Noah Shachtman writes,

In the early years of the Iraq war, the U.S. military developed a
technology so secret that reporters mentioning the gear were promptly
escorted out of the country. That equipment – a radio-frequency jammer
– eventually robbed the Iraq insurgency of its most potent weapon, the
remote-controlled bomb. But the dark veil surrounding the jammers
remained largely intact, even after the
Pentagon bought more than 50,000 units at a cost of over $17 billion.

Recently, however, I got a chance to go inside this invisible battle
for the airwaves. I went inside the lab where they’re building what
could amount to the ultimate weapon of this electromagnetic war. And I
saw how the high-tech tools developed to win that fight have been
largely neutered by Afghanistan.

And here’s the resulting story: The Secret History of Iraq’s Invisible War (Wired.com)


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Battle for the electromagnetic spectrum: “The Secret History of Iraq’s Invisible War”

Turd Burgers, Anyone?

Last week it was human breast milk from genetically-altered cows. Now I’m hearing about something even more squicky: a scientist in Japan who’s figured out how to make apparently-edible faux meat out of human feces. Professor Poo (I mean Ikeda) extracts lipids and protein from “sewage mud,” does a little lab magic, then adds soy protein and umami to taste. (Oh, and a little food coloring, too.) According to its creator, the stuff isn’t bad — though I’m not sure I know anyone who’d be willing to take a taste test.

On the plus side, it’s very green: no animals are harmed and no carbon produced (cows, on the other hand, make lots of methane). Maybe it’s a solution to the global food crisis. I hope we can come up with something a bit less humiliating for people to eat, though.

Read the article:
Turd Burgers, Anyone?