Posts Tagged ‘carbon’

Carbon, a long-awaited third-party Twitter app for Android, is finally here. App developer Dots & Lines has been working on getting Carbon out for a while now; it originally estimated that the app would be out for Android as a free download last July, but that didn’t happen. The company was held back last year when it discovered that it couldn’t submit Carbon as a paid app to Google Play from the United Arab Emirates, but it’s still taken much longer than expected to release after the original delay.

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Carbon Twitter client released for Android smartphones

Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Each week, we’ll bring you important articles from the previous weeks’ original reports , features and reviews on The Verge . Think of it as a collection of a few of our favorite pieces from the week gone by, which you may have missed, or which you might want to read again. Continue reading…

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The Weekender: Cypherpunks, arcades, and a fridge that does Twitter

Pulse is one of the better-known RSS readers out there, with apps for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire as well as browser integration. Now, a new update to Pulse (for iOS and Android) lets users add social profiles from sites like YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram in addition to the standard Google Reader news feeds that Pulse has long supported. This update puts the app squarely in competition with social news aggregator Flipboard, which had a pretty big year as it blew past the 20 million user threshold last summer. To go along with the new social sources, Pulse has also redesigned the app to improve photo- and video-viewing — all the distractions are stripped away so that the image or video can be the focus.

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Pulse news reader app takes on Flipboard with social feeds from Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube

After winning a political battle in Washington, DC last month, controversial taxi startup Uber has announced it will be adding taxi service to its existing livery cars in the city. In a blog post , Uber praised the DC City Council’s decision, saying that it would begin offering a pilot program for taxis starting today. For now, black car service will remain the default, and Uber says few taxis will be available at first as the company “curates” existing cabs. Otherwise, it’ll operate like other Uber taxis, though pickups will only be available in the District of Columbia itself, not nearby suburbs in Virginia or Maryland — that’s something Uber says will be coming in the future. Uber’s convenient but pricey app-based cab service has..

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Uber bringing taxi service to Washington, DC after winning City Council fight

Samsung and LG dominate the consumer electronics industry in Korea, and to call the relationship between the two a “rivalry” would be a monumental understatement. That makes it all the juicier that on the same day, within only a couple of hours, both LG and Samsung have released “the world’s first curved OLED TV.” LG’s new EA9800 TV is 55 inches, just like Samsung, and promises the same immersive, panoramic experience that Samsung touts in its own display. It’s a 2D and 3D TV, designed to be easily mounted on a wall. As with Samsung’s curved OLED set (and most other things at CES), we don’t know when the EA9800 will be on sale or how much it’ll cost, but we’re guessing it’ll be right around the time and price of Samsung’s TV.

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Battle of the curved OLED TVs: LG matches Samsung with its own ‘world’s first’

It’s thin. And light. The successor to the LaVie Z with the incredibly airy magnesium-lithium alloy frame we pined for at Computex last year , this LaVie X is just 12.8mm thick and weighs about 3.5 pounds, yet still supports a Core i7 ultra-low voltage processor and has a 15.6-inch, full HD 1080p IPS display. We could easily pick it up with one hand, and though the keyboard feels incredibly shallow, they respond quickly to action. While it’s not quite as light as the amazing LaVie Z, which barely budged the scale at 2.2 pounds, it sure is light for a 15-incher

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Hands on NEC’s incredibly light, incredibly thin 12.8mm ultrabook

In the wake of heavy online scrutiny and attacks by Anonymous, the city of Steubenville has launched a website to release what it calls “accurate information” about a pending sexual assault case. Earlier this year, two local teens were arrested after allegedly assaulting a girl while she was incapacitated during a party. As the investigation unfolded, blogger Alexandria Goddard captured and publicized what appear to be tweets describing the attack and pictures of the girl being carried by her alleged attackers.

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Steubenville fights online criticism of sexual assault case with its own website

For those who’ve never helped run a booth at a trade show, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the temporary city — an endless sea of lights, sounds, and humans pressing past one another in search of the next great gadget — takes weeks to assemble before the first attendee even hits the floor. It’s a choreographed symphony of thousands of laborers, installing everything from flooring to televisions to washing machines. The Consumer Electronics Association, which runs CES, accompanied us on a tour of the show floor today to see exactly how the sausage is made. To put it mildly, it looks different than it will less than three days from now when the doors open. In fact, it’s practically unrecognizable.

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Organized chaos: here’s what it takes to build CES

Samsung has just let loose a press release this evening before CES starts in earnest, revealing its very own wireless Bluetooth speaker and a few new home theater audio systems. The wireless speaker goes by the moniker DA-F60, and it follows a pattern that we think will be re-tread many times during CES. The DA-F60 thankfully uses the apt-X codec for wireless streaming over Bluetooth (rather than some lower-quality codecs), and it features NFC so you can sync your phone to the speaker painlessly. In addition, Samsung says the speaker can connect to Bluetooth-enabled TVs using a feature called “SoundShare.” The speaker is an attempt to offer something similar to Airplay, Apple’s successful and dead-simple syncing technology, and by coming… Continue reading…

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Samsung opens the wireless speaker floodgates with CES audio lineup

Social media was an important element of President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign this past year, and it was driven in several cases by some extremely popular photographs. Now the White House has posted a photo album of some of the most memorable images taken of the President in 2012. Highlighting stunning work from the likes of White House photographer Pete Souza, the collection is not just a look at the highest office in the land — it’s a testament to the stirring power of exceptional photography as well. We’ve included some standouts below, but be sure to check out the entire gallery for yourself

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The best photos of President Obama in 2012

It appears the rumors were true : Sprint will be launching its own prepaid service with unlimited data on January 25th. Fierce Wireless has confirmed the launch of the new service, dubbed “Sprint As You Go.” As suspected, the service will come in two price tiers: $70 a month for smartphones, or $50 a month for feature phones. Both plans will feature unlimited data, texting, and voice, though premium options like Sprint Navigation and tethering won’t be included. The real catch, however, comes with the device selection.

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Sprint launching prepaid service January 25th, T-Mobile may add unlimited data to Monthly4G

After months of investigation, the FTC closed an antitrust investigation of Google with a relatively lenient settlement , requiring the company to change some advertising and search practices and limit injunctions based on its Motorola patents. It was a decision that didn’t sit well with FTC Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch , nor with Microsoft , which has itself previously faced tough antitrust charges from the FTC.

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Google’s years-long effort to defuse the FTC’s antitrust accusations

If it wasn’t clear already , robots are well on their way to making us humans obsolete — witness the latest evidence in the form of all-robot band Compressorhead. The band just released a video of it performing seminal heavy metal band Motörhead’s “Ace of Spades,” and it’s among one of the more vulgar displays of robotic power we’ve seen in some time. The band may have been together for a few years now, but that doesn’t make the spectacle any less entertaining. The sound quality may not be great, but it’s pretty clear Compressorhead are a group of virtuosos, though we have yet to hear what any of the three-piece band sounds like when they step behind the mic. Unfortunately, the band’s site is currently down — but if you’re interested…

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Watch this: robot band riffs on Motörhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’

The Roku Streaming Stick is getting more support thanks to TV manufacturer Westinghouse, who today announced a new lineup of LED TVs that will come with the Roku Stick included. These new sets will be introduced at CES next week, and add more support to Roku’s tiny, USB flash drive-esque Streaming Stick, which promises to bring the full Roku experience to compatible TVs. Thus far, Hitatchi and Insignia are the only TV brands that the company lists as “Roku ready,” but the new partnership with Westinghouse makes three. According to CNET , Westinghouse’s flagship Roku set will be a 60-inch, edge-lit LED TV that comes bundled with the Roku Stick, with smaller 46-, 50-, and 55-inch options available as well. Westinghouse may also sell other…

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Westinghouse will introduce new LED TVs with Roku’s tiny ‘streaming stick’ at CES next week

On February 16th, 2010, Dylan Yount stood on a ledge outside his San Francisco apartment and jumped to his death. Bystanders covered the tragedy in real time across a variety of social media networks, and SF Weekly News has taken a look back at that very unique depiction of the event. While it can never be known what drove Yount to suicide — or if the callous taunts rising from the onlookers below played a part — his death will forever be remembered online . Continue reading…

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How bystanders documented a suicide with a flood of tweets and images

What’s in your bag? is a recurring feature where we ask people to tell us a bit more about their everyday gadgets by opening their bags and hearts to us. Show us your bag in this forum post . This week, we’re featuring Dieter Bohn.

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What’s in your bag, Dieter Bohn?

Before Apple’s browser was released as Safari, it was known as “Freedom” — and it masqueraded as both Internet Explorer and a Mozilla browser. Don Melton, who started the original Safari project, describes the secrecy under which his team operated, both physically on Apple’s campus and virtually as he devised ways to hide Safari’s user agent information out of fear it would be connected to Apple’s block of IP addresses, then to release it a few days before the announcement. “I spent the days before [Safari's] debut nervous and losing sleep,” he writes, “as I combed the Internet for server logs.” Continue reading…

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Creating the code that hid Safari from prying eyes before release

Dish Network was voted the worst company to work for in America in 2012 by 24/7 Wall St. based on reports from disgruntled employees venting their spleen on a site called Glass Door . However, Bloomberg Businessweek has taken a deeper look at the company’s inner workings, and attempted to pinpoint the source of the stifling environment — like a fingerprint scanning system implemented to ensure employees clock in exactly on time — that has reportedly driven miserable workers out in droves. Speaking to a number of former and current employees, Bloomberg determined that Dish’s founder and chairman, Charlie Ergen, is responsible for the high-pressure, strict work environment and the company’s storied history of litigation — but also for..

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What makes Dish Network the worst company to work for in America?

Dissenting FTC commissioners aren’t the only ones that disagree with the settlement deal the Federal Trade Commission brokered with Google: now Microsoft has chimed in, expressing concerns with the “weak” and “unusual” result. In a blog post , Microsoft vice president and deputy general counsel Dave Heiner writes that the FTC didn’t acquire any type of binding agreement that would keep Google from resuming the accused behavior if it wanted to. It’s the same criticism levied by the FTC’s own J. Thomas Rosch

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Microsoft criticizes FTC settlement with Google, calls outcome ‘a missed opportunity’

Google and Volvo aren’t the only companies interested in autonomous, self-driving cars. Toyota is promising to show off the Lexus AASRV (Advanced Active Safety Research Vehicle) at the show. The car is part of a larger program, based in North America, which doesn’t look to be as far along as Google’s efforts . Toyota has retrofitted a Lexus LS 600h with radar, cameras, and possibly a laser system to help it recognize its surroundings, the Wall Street Journal points out, and Toyota has posted a tiny, five-second preview of the car driving along a track at speed.

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Toyota to show off self-driving car at CES

Last month Samsung confirmed that all of its phones running the Exynos 4210 or 4412 processors — including some models of the Galaxy S III — were vulnerable to a nasty security exploit, but that a fix was forthcoming. It appears that process has started. SamMobile reports that an update has been rolling out to Galaxy S III users in the United Kingdom, and the site has confirmed that it does solve the vulnerability in question. Those able to access the fix can update their phones over the air or via Samsung’s Kies software. There’s no word yet on when the update will be rolling out elsewhere, though that won’t be much of a concern for most US owners; the domestic versions of the Galaxy S III use a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor,..

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Samsung Galaxy S III security fix reportedly rolling out to UK users

As the gradual adoption of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich continues, its successor Jelly Bean is also picking up steam. The latest numbers from Google show that 29.1 percent of Android devices that recently accessed Google Play were running Ice Cream Sandwich, compared to 15.9 percent last August and a mere .6 percent this time last year. Jelly Bean 4.1 and 4.2 combined, meanwhile, are now on 10.2 percent of devices, up dramatically from the .8 percent we saw in August. Jelly Bean passed the 10 percent mark a couple of months earlier than Ice Cream Sandwich, which officially did so around the launch of the Nexus 7 in July.

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Jelly Bean is on 10 percent of Android devices after six months

The FTC announced its settlement with Google today, and while its commissioners may have agreed unanimously to close the investigation into Mountain View’s alleged “search bias,” they didn’t provide such a united front when it came to some of the other measures announced. In a lengthy written statement , J. Thomas Rosch writes that he has issues with some of the decisions made — both because they give the impression powerful companies receive special treatment, and because they address issues that he doesn’t feel were violations in the first place. According to Rosch, Google didn’t need to agree to stop scraping websites for repurposing on its own services as was alleged. “Google does not have monopoly or near-monopoly power in any…

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FTC Commissioner warns Google settlement may look like ‘preferential treatment’

The Gamestick, a tiny portable console designed to run Android games on a TV, has reached its Kickstarter funding goal after only two days. The device’s developers, who say they’ve identified 200 games that will run well on the $79 console, asked for $100,000 to ship a first run by April 2013. The premise behind Gamestick is similar to that of Ouya, a breakout Kickstarter success that’s currently shipping to developers . The Gamestick is cheaper and less powerful than Ouya, running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with an Amlogic 8726-MX processor, 1GB of RAM, and a cloud storage system for the games themselves. The biggest difference, though, is the form factor: while Ouya is a roughly palm-sized box, the Gamestick is an oversized stick that plugs…

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Gamestick, a tiny $79 Android gaming console, reaches Kickstarter goal after two days

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have created a map showing how and where the brain categorizes the actions and objects we see every day. The study began by taking five human subjects and placing them in an MRI machine while they each watched two hours of movie trailers. Each of the trailers had been analyzed to track the different objects and types of motion present — a leaf holding still, or a butterfly flying, for example. The MRI then allowed the researchers to track the blood flow in the brain to see what areas were being stimulated during the screenings

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Berkeley researchers map out how our brains categorize the things we see