Monday, June 27, 2011
New-Fangled Computer Chips Could Mimic Brain Synapses
iPhone 5 rumor roundup
Originally posted at iPhone Atlas
Altaro Hyper-V Backup beta launched, only 250 places available
The beta run is limited - Altaro are looking for just 250 testers. All participants will get a free license key to the final, production version. So if you're interested in helping test Hyper-V Backup, get yourself over to Altaro now and join the beta.
Altaro Hyper-V Backup beta launched, only 250 places available originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Red Hat Arquillian app testing technology coming next month
Windows 8 and Hyper-V 3.0: Revolutionary benefits await admins
Earlier this week, news leaked that Windows 8 has Hyper-V 3.0 built in. Leaked build 7989 shows it in the Windows Features section, and apparently it comes with enhancements to Hyper-V that will be exciting to see for both the client and server worlds. It seems there's also a new virtual hard drive format (.vhdx) that allows for up to 16TB of data, as opposed to the 2TB limit of .vhd.
How Should RIM Right Its Ship?
Source: http://feeds.informationweek.com/click.phdo?i=f9f527017f6ab08c5138ff65488a3bca
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Jetbus is a retro-tastic physics game, with a bus
Jetbus is not that game, but it's obviously inspired by it. You're driving a yellow school bus which has jets. I guess the jet engine takes quite a bit of space inside the bus, because you can only pick up one person at a time.
There are several doors on the screen, each with its own number. As you pick up a person, the status bar at the bottom of the screen shows you which number door you have to take them to.
You must fly your bus carefully, because if it gets bumped around too much, you lose. You earn money on each level, and can visit the garage to buy better jets and damping, power-ups, or even a whole new vehicle.
So while this game isn't made as well as the original that inspired it, it does provide a few minutes of fun. And now, which one of you guys remembers the original and feels like pointing to it in the comments?
Jetbus is a retro-tastic physics game, with a bus originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/15/jetbus-is-a-retro-tastic-physics-game-with-a-bus/
Dodge is a space-shooter in which you have no weapons
Your vector-looking spacecraft is the fastest thing on the screen, most of the time. And as the header implies, you have absolutely no weapons; you can't get any, either. All you have is agility and maneuverability.
Your opponents shoot heat-seeking missiles at you; the missiles lock on and start tracking you. The trick is to dodge the missiles while putting them in the path of one of your enemies, thus letting them have a taste of their own medicine.
There are three types of enemies, at least in the first few levels: "simple" spaceships which fire slow projectiles, "tanks" which seem to be more serious and take more hits to destroy, and "circles." The circles simply explode, spewing twenty or thirty very fast projectiles. This sounds dangerous, but is actually great once you learn to use them; they are very destructive for tanks, and can even blow up other circles.
The soundtrack is very techno, but it meshes very well with this type of game. Intense fun!
Dodge is a space-shooter in which you have no weapons originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/01/dodge-is-a-space-shooter-in-which-you-have-no-weapons/
Captain America Trailer
Source: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1813626064/bctid1020753540001?src=mrss
LaCie Reveals 100GB CloudBox HDD / Cloud Storage Solution
Cloud this, cloud that. These days, it's either about tablets or clouds, or both! LaCie has a new external hard drive on offer, but the 100GB box isn't your average drive. It's actually fairly small in size, but what it lacks locally it makes up for on the cloud. Basically, it keeps one copy of your computer back-up on the drive. And then...Source: http://hothardware.com/News/LaCie-Reveals-100GB-CloudBox-HDD--Cloud-Storage-Solution/
Friday, June 24, 2011
Mozilla and Firefox 5: Upgrade or Die!
Lytro's New Camera: Shoot First, Focus Later
iOS Is The Most Secure Mobile OS
Source: http://feeds.informationweek.com/click.phdo?i=6b4bccb0f6bab7149a1bba89fc8c6011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Daily Crunch: Start Again Edition
Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/06/02/daily-crunch-start-again/
Why Johnny can't program -- and how that can change
When I was a kid, the first stop on the road to becoming a computer programmer was the local arcade. In the 1980s, as now, video games were a booming business. As a preteen enthralled by these glowing, interactive marvels, to be told that I could actually learn how to make video games was like being handed a scholarship to Hogwarts. The arrival of the home computer made it possible.
Apple awarded patent for iPhone interface
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/apple-awarded-patent-iphone-interface-042
Chocomize personalized chocolate: giveaway and discount code
We've covered Chocomize before in our holiday gift guide, so when they reached out to us offering to do a giveaway, we really couldn't resist.
Chocomize is giving away ten gift certificates, each worth $50, for you to create your own customized chocolate. They sent us some pictures of their recent creations, which you can find in the gallery below.
Regardless of the giveaway, you can use the discount code switched to get 10% off any Chocomize order. The code is valid through April 20th - just in time for Easter!
To participate, simply leave a comment. Fine print is after the jump.
Continue reading Chocomize personalized chocolate: giveaway and discount code
Chocomize personalized chocolate: giveaway and discount code originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Daily Crunch: Space Bird Edition
Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/06/14/daily-crunch-space-bird/
RIM, You?re Done Here
Research In Motion is done. They'll be bought in the next year or so, their products will roll into whoever buys them - Microsoft, most probably - and they'll go the way of Nokia, Danger, and countless other mobile platforms. They'll exist independently for a while and then be subsumed. It's over. Here's why.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/kS_y0VRhjbA/
Glympse Raises $7.5 Million To Help You Share Your Location, A Few Hours At A Time
Location, location, location. Between Foursquare, myriad deals apps, Google's Latitude, and all the rest, you've got plenty of ways to tell your friends (or anyone following you on Twitter) where you're going. Of course, oftentimes you don't really want to tell all of your friends where you are, and even then you may only want them to be able to see your whereabouts for a short while. That's where Glympse comes in. The service, which is based entirely around 'sharing your where' with select friends a few hours at a time, has just raised a $7.5 million Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures and Ignition Partners. So far, the service offers applications for iPhone and Android that let you create 'Glympses', which include a map of your location in real-time. You then share these Glympses with friends via SMS, email, Facebook, or Twitter ?�clicking on the link will take them to a webpage that shows a map with your location updating in real-time (the Facebook widget actually updates directly in the News Feed).
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/s8CK8ZG8ODk/
How Steve Ballmer could exit Microsoft gracefully
Particularly after the "Hell no, Steve must go!" chants from big-time investors, insiders, and http://www.infoworld.com/t/technology-business/how-steve-ballmer-could-exit-microsoft-gracefully-133?source=rss_microsoft_windows
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Will Facebook Finally Play the Tablet Game?
Throwback Mustang Muscle Car Is One Boss Ride
Monday, June 20, 2011
Boomshine is a soothing-yet-frustrating time waster
That single click triggers a chain reaction; circles start exploding, and other circles colliding with the shockwaves explode as well, creating their own shockwaves, which then catch other circles.
It's been done before, yes, but this one is a great iteration. The soundtrack is mellow, with lots of piano and some nice percussion (not electronic - it sounds like drums).
At each level you need to make a certain number of circles explode to go on to the next level. I got up to level 12, where you get 60 circles and need to make 55 of them explode. And then I kept trying and trying, but simply couldn't get it. I did get to 54 circles a couple of times, but as they say, you don't get points for trying.
There's no time limit, so you can carefully study the pattern of motion and place your click at the exact right place to create the best chain reaction. I've found that clicking near the middle of the screen works quite well, especially if the balls are slowly moving in that direction. By the time the first shockwave dies off, the oncoming balls usually hit it and the chain reaction continues.
What level did you reach? Screenshots please!
Boomshine is a soothing-yet-frustrating time waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/16/boomshine-is-a-soothing-yet-frustrating-time-waster/
Google Pleased With Chromebook Sales
Source: http://feeds.informationweek.com/click.phdo?i=0c73ff3f87ac64bc9885bacbd2b204da
Beware of Spam Titles in Kindle Store
Amazon's Kindle e-reader store has a spam problem, and that isn't good news for legitimate authors and consumers trying to find their books.
The reason spammers have had such success is partly because self-publishing an e-book to Amazon.com is so easy anyone can do it.
One solution could be to start charging authors to publish an e-book. Changing the economics should drastically reduce the number of spam titles. Currently, any sales of spam e-books are pure profit for spammers, encouraging them to publish dozens of titles in the hopes of just selling a few copies of each to make their time more than worthwhile.
Charging authors $50, $20, or even just $10 to publish to Amazon would drastically cut back potential profits for spammers, and any author that spent months or years crafting a quality work should have no problem shelling out a small amount to access a global market and ensure that there's fewer titles to weed through.
The spammers have been utilizing two tactics.
The first is to use available software that advertises the ability to easily publish 10 to 20 Kindle books per day by basically grabbing public domain content from elsewhere and slapping it up on Amazon with a new cover. Ironically, if you don't want to use the software, there's plenty of e-books available on Amazon that will teach you how to flood Amazon with spam e-books.
The second spam-publishing method involves copying an already successful e-book and republishing it with a new author, title and cover aimed at a slightly different audience. A number of authors have been surprised to find their Kindle-published works available under different titles and bylines elsewhere on Amazon.
There is some sort of internal approval process within Amazon that it takes most titles less than 48 hours to pass. With such quick turnover and the multitude of new titles being electronically published to the site every day, it's easy for spammers to mix in with legitimate authors.
For its part, Amazon is trying to fight back against the spam when it comes to short titles. The Kindle Singles store features hand-picked and curated selections that are shorter than the average book-length title. Unlike the 48 hours it takes a self-published title to go live in the main Amazon store, it can take up to two weeks to receive approval for a spot in the Kindle Singles store.
Source: http://feeds.pcworld.com/click.phdo?i=968c90abcd95122fa7622fc6a9134c72
Sunday, June 19, 2011
No DVD or Blu-ray in Wii U: Nintendo
If you either hoped or assumed that since Nintendo's Wii U is going to finally match, or perhaps (hopefully) even surpass the specs of the Xbox 360 and PS3, it would also support Blu-ray or DVD optical discs, don't hold your breath. Buried in the 2011 E3 Analyst Q&A Session, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the next-generation...Source: http://hothardware.com/News/No-DVD-or-Bluray-in-Wii-U-Nintendo/
Thunderbolt iMac: The perfect compromise
Pundits have predicted the death of the desktop for years. I wish it could be so. No technology is more deserving of retirement than the sheet-metal black box and tangle of cables that is the standard PC.
BattlePaint is an addictive geometric shooter game
The "baddies" are swarms of other squares, in all sorts of pretty colors. They track you all over the screen, and you run around very quickly and just shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. If that doesn't sound very emotionally deep, it's because it isn't. But it's fun!
After you shoot a baddy, it splashes paint as it disappears. You need to skate across this blob of paint and "eat it up" to get points. This game is fast. It clocked in at around 60-70 FPS on my system, and was loads of fun to play. It does tend to insult you when you die, though, but don't be offended -- I don't think it's personal.
BattlePaint is an addictive geometric shooter game originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/09/battlepaint-is-an-addictive-geometric-shooter-game/
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Talking The Talk: Verbally Lets The Speech Disabled Communicate Using The iPad (For Free)
Intuary, a mobile app startup, recently launched its first app, called Verbally, which is designed to bring speech to those without. Verbally is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) solution built for the more than six million people in the U.S. suffering from speech disabilities -- caused by Lou Gherig's Disease, stroke, brain injury, Parkinson's, cerebral palsy, autism, and more. The app allows users to tap the words they wish to communicate onto the app's keyboard, or choose from pre-prepared words or phrases, which are then in turn transmitted into audio phrases. 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/CtlO3hSQCA8/
Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look
If you click the flower pot, a flower pot appears and the seed is planted inside. You're then presented with two further choices -- a water can or a bottle of fertilizer. Each choice you make causes your creation to morph, and presents you with two other choices.
There's no winning or losing, really. Each "game" usually lasts around four or five choices, at which point the plant/animal dies in some creative (but not too gruesome) way. At this point you instantly start over with a new seed.
The graphics are captivating; the whole thing has a cinematic feel to it, with a bit of artificial camera shake added for style.
All in all, it's a fun, peaceful way to spend a few minutes, and it might even make you think a little bit while you're at it.
Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/mitoza-is-a-fun-freaky-web-toy-with-an-artistic-look/
Hackers move fast to exploit just-patched IE bug
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/security/hackers-move-fast-exploit-just-patched-ie-bug-586
LinkedIn Compliance Enforcement Gets Easier For Financial Services
Source: http://feeds.informationweek.com/click.phdo?i=843a29fa73bc11870c067cc33dad7c73
Friday, June 17, 2011
You don't know tech: InfoWorld news quiz
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/misadventures/you-dont-know-tech-infoworld-news-quiz-509
Spear Phishing Attacks On The Rise
Source: http://feeds.informationweek.com/click.phdo?i=e8d452a4dc0cc3b57c28b8ba06a19b5a
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