Archive for October, 2011

CNET Microsoft Readies Kinect for Hands-Free Business NewsFactor Network … and by in-the-air gestural interaction, and there is a general expectation that Microsoft, eager to counter Apple’s new Siri voice control for smartphones and potentially other devices, might release Kinect controllers for Windows 8 or beyond. … Leaked Microsoft Roadmap Reveals Windows 8 , Windows 9 Release Dates Ghacks Technology News Using Windows 7′s roadmap, Windows 8 devices in Q3, 2012 are completely feasible The Next Web (blog) Microsoft Cheat Sheet: Kinect and Nokia Wall St. Cheat Sheet Windows 8 News  - InformationWeek  - IBTimes all 147 news articles »

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Microsoft Readies Kinect for Hands-Free Business – NewsFactor Network

Our guest co-host is John Hodgman, actor, “resident expert” on The Daily Show, celebrity judge, and book author. The third and final installment in his trilogy of Complete World Knowledge — That Is All — comes out on November 1. John spoke with Rob Beschizza, Ruben Bolling, and me about his book and many other

Link:
Gweek podcast episode 024: John Hodgman

Sure, we may have had our official Halloween costume contest on October’s Engadget Show , but who are we to deprive you the reader of taking part in the spooky holiday fun? We’ve asked everyone to send in their geeky costumes and got some great responses, from the above playable Game Boy, to Barf from Spaceballs , to the requisite Vulcan, to a handful of Steve Jobses. Check out some of our favorites after the break, and continue to send them along to tips [at] engadget [dot] com. Gallery: Engadget readers’ Halloween costumes Continue reading Your geekiest Halloween costumes Your geekiest Halloween costumes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:03:00 EDT.

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Your geekiest Halloween costumes

The publication process for a research paper about physics works a little differently than other subjects. That’s because of arXiv. Funded by Cornell University, this site posts research papers, before they’re formally published in a scientific journal. Unlike most scientific journals, which charge big fees for subscriptions or even to view a single paper, arXiv

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Faster-than-light neutrino update: What’s going on behind the scenes?

Here’s a beautiful gallery of vintage Hallowe’en postcards from the New York Public Library Picture Collection on Flickr. Haunted Postcards (via How to Be a Retronaut)

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Vintage Hallowe’en postcards

If the sight of Boston Dynamics’ unstoppable Alpha Dog didn’t convince you of the coming robot apocalypse , then perhaps a glimpse of its bipedal relative, PETMAN, will. Last time we saw the two-legged bot , It was walking well enough, but it lacked the humanoid visage needed to infiltrate and overthrow. In the time since, however, PETMAN has gotten a more anatomically-correct body and some arms — giving it some push-up prowess to go with its jaunty gait. As the video below demonstrates, this robot isn’t a T1000 just yet, but is seems certain PETMAN and its progeny will be running and leaping over us meatbags on the way to the top of the evolutionary food chain soon enough

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Boston Dynamics PETMAN portends the pending robot apocalypse

How to Put Windows 8 on a Flash Drive PCWorld See, when you download something like the Windows 8 Developer Preview (which anybody can check out, not just developers), you’re left with an ISO file that must be burned to a DVD before you can actually … and more »

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How to Put Windows 8 on a Flash Drive – PCWorld

There’s nothing worse (seriously, it’s scientifically proven) than catching some serious glare on your smartphone, unless you’re checking for spinach in your teeth — but thanks to Nippon Electric Glass’ new “invisible glass,” an overly reflective surface may be a problem of the past. According to our friends at Tech-On , the company has developed a new type of vitrine that reduces glare by using a special film on each side of the substrate, which allows more light to pass through the layers rather than bounce off the surface. Normal glass reflects around eight percent of light, while the new variety only rebounds 0.5 percent, dramatically reducing the luminous reflectance to around 0.1 percent or lower. Looks like your yearning to purchase this thing is finally justified. Filed under: Displays ‘Invisible glass’ could reduce display glare, fails as food-in-teeth mirror originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:02:00 EDT.

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‘Invisible glass’ could reduce display glare, fails as food-in-teeth mirror

Don’t get too excited about the RTS,S malaria vaccine, the development of which is being funded by the Gates Foundation. At present, the vaccine doesn’t seem to work well enough to make a difference and nobody knows what it’s going to cost (a big deal when you’re talking about a disease like malaria, which goes

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The problems with the Gates Foundation malaria vaccine

Scientists don’t actually know how the bacteria in yogurt and other fermented foods help humans digest food easier. But a recent study hit on a possible explanation. Turns out, some probiotics seem to be capable of altering gene expression in our native gut flora. Jeffrey Gordon, a microbiologist at Washington University in St.

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How yogurt can alter gene expression

Via Incidental Comics Thanks to Kristina Killgrove for the link.

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Happy Halloween

The above image isn’t a leak — it’s a dye-in-the-wool, true-blue LTE poster that a few Verizon stores have preemptively hung up. We’re pretty sure these adverts aren’t supposed to be displayed for our eyes to see since they feature the HTC Rezound , a forthcoming 4G device that hasn’t even been announced yet. Oops.

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HTC Rezound ad pays Verizon stores an early visit, soonish launch likely

Video Link: “Copwatch@Occupy Oakland: Beware of Police Infiltrators and Provocateurs.”

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Occupy Oakland protesters claim presence of police infiltrators and provocateurs

Boing Boing reader Peter Brauer says, I went down to OWS to see how folks were fairing during the nor-easter. The weather was bleak, but spirits were high. I don’t think these folks are going any where any time soon.

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Occupy the Nor-easter: NYC OWS protesters braved a snowstorm this weekend

Penelope Lattey of Wellington, New Zealand headed down to her local Occupy with a whiteboard, a marker, her camera, and asked people to explain why they were there. The result: Occupy Wellington: a project.(thanks, Susannah Breslin!)

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Occupy Wellington: whiteboard, camera, outrage, action!

Happy Halloween! Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s “Romance (N.) From Ambrose Bierce #3″ from Portfolio 3, negative 1964/1974. More Meatyard at the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Thanks, Sarah Ruxin!)

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Meatyard’s masks

I am thrilled to share that BB pal Jim Woodring has launched a new Web site showcasing his “visionary art for adventurous spirits.” I profiled Jim in 1995 for the Happy Mutant Handbook and he remains one of my favorite comix artists and instigators of waking dreams. Jim Woodring was born in Los Angeles in

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Jim Woodring’s new Web site

Graeme Knowles, the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, has resigned his position over St Paul’s plan to evict the OccupyLondon protesters. He joins Giles Fraser, the former canon of St Paul’s, who resigned last week, along with Fraser Dyer, the cathedral chaplain. The Rt Rev Graeme Knowles, the dean of St Paul’s, announced he was

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Dean of St Paul’s resigns over plan to evict OccupyLondon

ADVERTISEMENT This Post is Sponsored by HP: Ever heard a song and felt as though the artist wrote it for you? To explore that question, HP partnered with Arjan Timmermans from ArjanWrites.com. Part tweet up, part cocktail party, part “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” Artist #Talk is an interview series hosted by Arjan where artists tell

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ARTIST #TALK from HP and ArjanWrites explore the personalities behind your favorite music

We’ve already seen Ubuntu running on tablets and smartphones , but not in any official capacity. Rumors had it that Canonical would be making a serious push into the tablet space in early 2011 , but that effort never materialized , or at least was never acknowledged. Still, Unity has some finger-friendly streaks and Oneiric added ARM support — so it’s not much of a stretch to see the popular Linux distro on your mobile devices.

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Ubuntu coming to tablets, phones, cars and smart TVs by 2014

Ghacks Technology News Windows 8 Desktop Gets a Taste of Metro PCWorld Microsoft is bringing more of the Metro user interface to Windows 8′s desktop, swapping frosted glass for sharp edges and minimalist icons. The aesthetic change, spotted by Engadget, was quietly revealed on … Windows 8 desktop interface swaps classic theme for Metro, gets with the times Engadget Latest Windows 8 Screenshots Show Metro Kicking Aero To The Curb. Gadgetsteria MetroIE Lets You Bring Metro Internet Explorer to Windows 7 Windows 7 News Ghacks Technology News all 9 news articles »

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Windows 8 Desktop Gets a Taste of Metro – PCWorld

ZDNet (blog) HP already testing Windows 8 on TouchPads ZDNet (blog) Now that HP’s new CEO Meg Whitman has committed to keeping its PC division, FoxNews.com’s report from early last week that the company is currently testing Windows 8 on the TouchPad makes a lot more sense. … HP: Do Windows 8 Tablets Spell Certain Death for webOS? The VAR Guy Whitman Puts HP Back on Track, Talks Windows 8 , Avoids WebOS Commitment CMSWire webOS revival: why HP must license its ailing OS immediately if it wants it to ..

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HP already testing Windows 8 on TouchPads – ZDNet (blog)

What’s the scariest thing about presentations? Getting the perfect angle. You know, the point on stage where you can wave at your slides without blocking the projector bulb or your audience’s view. Thankfully, Haruki Maeda from Meiji University is gonna show your text and graphics who’s the boss. He’s knocked up presentation software that can sense where you stand and orders the text into the visible space around you

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Kinect hack makes presentation slides work around you (video)

Well hello gorgeous — both of you! AT&T’s starting to catch the LTE fever , as the carrier’s announced that its first two devices with the true 4G will be ready to grab as of this upcoming Sunday. First we have the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket : the long-rumored device can be yours for $250 with a two-year commitment and will offer a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, Android 2.3.5, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 8MP rear camera with a 2MP front-facing cam and 16GB of internal storage space. Next up is the HTC Vivid ( Holiday ), which will be offered in both black and white for $200 and appears to match the specs leaked to us a couple months ago: it uses a 4.5-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, 1.2GHz CPU, 8MP rear camera with f/2.2 28mm wide angle lens and 1080p HD video recording. What about the “4G” branding?

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AT&T to expand 4G coverage and launch first LTE smartphones November 6th: HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Well, we already knew the original Transformer would be getting an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade sometime in the near future, and now ASUS Germany has confirmed that the quad-cored Prime and the Eee Pad Slider will also get a taste of Android’s latest OS. No semblance of a datum for release just yet, but the triumvirate of Transformers will join the upgrade queue behind ASUS’ other Android offering, the Padfone . ASUS says Transformer Prime will arrive on Honeycomb, ICS coming later originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

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ASUS says Transformer Prime will arrive on Honeycomb, ICS coming later