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 Christmas is coming, and you're about to have a ton of time off. Some of that time will be spent energetically tearing apart beautifully-wrapped gifts, and eating food is certainly next on the list of priorities. Obviously you have to play with your new gifts (or put on your new socks), but after that... after the postprandial sofa-surfing grunts and burps and farts... well, there isn't a whole lot you can do. The other big thing about Christmas is the amount of waste it produces. Wrapping paper, cards, ribbons, the plastic packaging of the presents themselves... there's an awful lot of trash on Christmas Day. Then, of course, you need to throw out all of the things that have been replaced by new gifts: old kitchen appliances, clothes, televisions, printers and, most importantly, computers. A new laptop or desktop is incredibly cheap nowadays, which makes them very popular gifts. But shouldn't we do something with the old stuff, rather than just throwing it out? Of course, you could Freecycle, or give your clothes to charity -- but hold onto those old computers! You'd be surprised with how many cool things you can do with an old desktop or laptop computer. You could finally learn how to use Linux, or set up a media center PC so that you can watch downloaded movies on your TV. You could create a locked-down box for your kids to surf the Web on, or a network-attached storage server for your backups. There's almost no end to the list of neat things you can do with an old PC! Continue reading 5 ways to recycle or revitalize your old computer 5 ways to recycle or revitalize your old computer originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/24/5-ways-to-recycle-or-revitalize-your-old-computer/ RACKABLE SYSTEMS QUEST SOFTWARE QUANTUM QLOGIC . PROGRESS SOFTWARE We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Dhruv, who needs to live about 20 years in the future, where all PMPs start at 160GB. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "So I'm a music lover of sorts and my (already compressed) iTunes library is nearing 150GB. I used to have an iPod Classic 160GB, but that doesn't allow for much growing room. Seeing as Apple has pretty much given up on the Classic's future, I was hoping there was another player out there that would have higher capacity drives in it. I know Toshiba makes a 240GB and 320GB 1.8" drive, but I see nothing using it.
Also, I would love for it to have physical buttons. And like the Classic, it should be portable. I saw the Archos 5 online and it's a mammoth. Basically, my ideal player is an iPod Classic with at least a 250GB HDD inside. Thanks!" It's a shame that Cowon's gorgeous X7 tops out at 160GB, else that'd be a solid solution. Outside of the Archos 5, does anyone have any solid, high-capacity solutions? Looks like your best bet may be to snag a lower-end PMP that'll hold a 1.8-inch drive, and then hack a larger one in yourself. Ask Engadget: best high-capacity (250GB or more) portable media player? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/23/ask-engadget-best-high-capacity-250gb-or-more-portable-media/ SYBASE SUN MICROSYSTEMS STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS SRA INTERNATIONAL SPSS Those cheeky, purse-squeezing capitalists over at Rovio have released yet another Angry Birds update. Not only does the latest version include some new levels ("Ham 'em High"), but you can now buy the Mighty Eagle. It's an in-app purchase, and it'll cost you either $1, a few British pennies, or a handful of Euro cents. The Mighty Eagle is a new item that lets you skip the current level, and unlock the next. Despite paying $1 for the luxury, you can only use the level-skip once per hour. There will undoubtedly be a $5 Mightier Eagle in 2011 that removes the 1-hour limitation. The Mighty Eagle also introduces a new Eagle Feather achievement, which you can get by filling up a "destruction gauge." Chrikee. In other news, if you haven't been following the Angry Birds industry, 50 million copies of the game have now been sold. Rovio promise that 2011 will be exciting, too: Angry Birds will be released on even more platforms, including every major video game console. Buy Angry Birds 1.5 for $0.99 [iTunes] Angry Birds 'level skip' Mighty Eagle in-app purchase now available -- costs $1! originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/23/angry-birds-level-skip-mighty-eagle-in-app-purchase-now-availa/ SRA INTERNATIONAL SPSS SPANSION SONUS NETWORKS SONIC AUTOMOTIVE As commonplace as smartphones have become, it's about time that carriers and manufacturers start getting serious about mobile security (and no, we don't mean iPhone tethers). According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Verizon is currently working with Lookout, a San Francisco-based company known for remote backup and geolocation apps for BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile devices, while RIM has recently announced a little something called BlackBerry Protect, which promises to lock or even wipe a misplaced phone, pinpoint the thing on a map, and make regularly-scheduled wireless backups. By far the most ambitious plans in the article, however, belong to AT&T, which -- aside from recent deals with MobileIron and McAfee -- is currently opening a new mobile security lab in New York City. From here, the company will research malware, worms, viruses, and other threats as they develop in the mobile sphere. "Everyone is realizing that this is an uncontrolled environment," said AT&T chief security officer Edward G. Amoroso. "We don't want to have the same problems that we had with PCs." AT&T, Verizon, RIM get serious about security for mobile devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Wall Street Journal | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/23/atandt-verizon-rim-get-serious-about-security-for-mobile-devices/ SHAW COMMUNICATIONS SIEMENS ZORAN ZIONS BAN YAHOO! As the second Humble Indie Bundle flourishes, having taken in over $1.5 million in pay-what-you-want sales, the Opposable Thumbs blog has taken a look at indie game pricing in general, trying to determine how low price points and frequent sales affect their popularity in an ocean of $60 blockbusters. Quoting: "... in the short term these sales are a good thing. They bring in more sales, more revenue, and expand the reach of games that frequently have very little marketing support behind them, if any. For those games, getting on the front page of Steam is a huge boost, putting it in front of a huge audience of gamers. But what are the long-term effects? If most players are buying these games at a severely reduced price, how does that influence the perception of indie games at large? It's not an easy question to answer, especially considering how relatively new these sales are, making it difficult to judge their long-term effects. But it's clear they're somewhat of a double-edged sword. Exposure is good, but price erosion isn't. 'When it comes to perception, a deep discount gets people playing the game that [they] wouldn't play otherwise, and I think that has both positive and negative effects,' [2D Boy co-founder Ron Carmel] told Ars. 'The negative is that if I'm willing to pay $5 but not $20, I probably don't want to play that game very much, so maybe I'm not as excited about it after I play it and maybe I drive down the average appreciation of the game.'"  
Read more of this story at Slashdot.   
 Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/7FrA72gj88Y/story01.htm EMULEX EMS TECHNOLOGIES EMC ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING ELECTRONIC DATA SYSTEMS FlorianMueller writes "There seems to be no end to those smartphone patent suits. This week's special: audio and video patents that its owners claim are key to formats like MP3 and MPEG 2. The targets: Apple and Android. On Monday, Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary Multimedia Patent Trust filed a patent infringement suit in Southern California against Apple, LG (over 64 different phones including some Android-based ones), Canon and TiVo over four video patents. Fortunately for Apple and LG, none of the patents asserted against those two companies are likely to be in force by the time the judge decides, so there's no risk of an injunction. They may nevertheless have to pay for past damages. The same company once obtained a record $1.5 billion jury verdict against Microsoft but saw it slashed by a judge. And on Tuesday, Hybrid Audio LLC filed a suit in Eastern Texas, asserting a patent against various Apple products and certain Android-based products from HTC and Dell." Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
 Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotApple/~3/RV2a_WjBU1M/Audio-and-Video-Patents-Haunt-Apple-and-Android QLOGIC . PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS PALM We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Dhruv, who needs to live about 20 years in the future, where all PMPs start at 160GB. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "So I'm a music lover of sorts and my (already compressed) iTunes library is nearing 150GB. I used to have an iPod Classic 160GB, but that doesn't allow for much growing room. Seeing as Apple has pretty much given up on the Classic's future, I was hoping there was another player out there that would have higher capacity drives in it. I know Toshiba makes a 240GB and 320GB 1.8" drive, but I see nothing using it.
Also, I would love for it to have physical buttons. And like the Classic, it should be portable. I saw the Archos 5 online and it's a mammoth. Basically, my ideal player is an iPod Classic with at least a 250GB HDD inside. Thanks!" It's a shame that Cowon's gorgeous X7 tops out at 160GB, else that'd be a solid solution. Outside of the Archos 5, does anyone have any solid, high-capacity solutions? Looks like your best bet may be to snag a lower-end PMP that'll hold a 1.8-inch drive, and then hack a larger one in yourself. Ask Engadget: best high-capacity (250GB or more) portable media player? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/23/ask-engadget-best-high-capacity-250gb-or-more-portable-media/ EPICOR SOFTWARE EMULEX EMS TECHNOLOGIES EMC ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING I feel strongly about net neutrality -- and you may have some solid opinions about it, too. But what about your mother or your grandfather? Do they care enough about net neutrality to make a stand, or even understand what the fuss is all about? The Open Internet is a nice little website that strives to explain the topic with very little text, and lovely vector graphics. It flows from top to bottom, with two main illustrations. The first illustration shows how things are today, with the ISP providing access to a raw "stream" of Internet goodness. The second one shows what things might be like if net neutrality is not guaranteed, with "special packages" offering "premium access" to email, Facebook, YouTube or other services many of us spend significant amounts of time browsing. The site goes on to explain that ISPs would even be able to block access to certain services entirely so they could offer their own competing services -- a frightening scenario. All in all, it's a very quick and enlightening read and it sure beats having to explain the subject over and over again... The Open Internet teaches net neutrality to everyone originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/23/the-open-internet-teaches-net-neutrality-to-everyone/ COMCAST COMMSCOPE COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS COMPAL ELECTRONICS COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOM. The DSLR market just seems to keep on speeding up, and it looks like Olympus might be lagging back toward the caboose a bit with its latest full-body DSLR, the E-5. It's the successor to the E-3, jumping to 12.3 megapixels and adding 720p recording with full exposure controls, plus a handy swiveling LCD. But, according to reviews, it just doesn't quite compare to something like a much cheaper Nikon D7000. PhotographyBlog liked the improved image quality and the rugged build, but not the ugly rolling shutter effect in video recording and the poor high ISO performance. Similarly DigitalCameraReview says this $1,699 beast "feels like a modest update to the E-3," a sentiment shared by Pocket-Lint as well. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Olympus E-5 DSLR reviewed: solid upgrade for E-3 owners, not much appeal for anyone else originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | DigitalCameraReview, Pocket-Lint, PhotographyBlog | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/23/olympus-e-5-dslr-reviewed-solid-upgrade-for-e-3-owners-not-muc/ COMCAST COMMSCOPE COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS COMPAL ELECTRONICS COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOM. |
