Droid X2 press shots leaked

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 11:13:42 PM. © Ubergizmo

Motorola Droid X2

Motorola’s successor to the Droid X, the Droid X2 has finally been revealed in some press shots. The folks over at Pocketnow managed to get their hands on product shots for the device and posted them online. Not that it’s anything we haven’t seen before ? but official shots of the phone should mean that an announcement is imminent and we won’t have to wait too long in order to find out. The Motorola Droid X2 looks just like the original Droid X except for the missing physical camera button, and the addition of the Droid X2 logo (when read aloud it should be, “Droid X squared”).

But don’t let the similar appearance on the outside fool you. The Droid X2 is a completely different beast on the inside. It packs an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 768MB of RAM, a 4.3? display, an 8 megapixel rear camera and an HDMI port. Hopefully Verizon/Motorola get around to announcing the phone soon.

Droid X2 press shots leaked, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Nintendo 3DS Review, iPad 2 Review,

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http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/droid-x2-press-shots-leaked/

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Camera Boost enhances your iPad 2 camera

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 11:02:07 PM. © Ubergizmo

Camera Boost

If you own an iPad 2 or you’ve read our review about it, one of the main issues we pointed out about the device was the tablet’s cameras. For a device that does so well in every other aspect, the abysmal quality of its onboard camera left a lot of people puzzled to why Apple even included them in the first place. Nevertheless, there’s an app for everything and in this case, it’s Camera Boost.

Camera Boost enhances your iPad 2 camera, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

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http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/camera-boost-ipad-2/

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Husqvarna Automower controlled by iPhone app

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 10:34:58 PM. © Ubergizmo

Husqvarna Automower Life is getting easier nowadays. Remember back in the days when you had to walk around pushing the lawnmower under the hot sun just to keep your front yard neat? Boy, times sure have changed. Husqvarna, the creators of the Automower robotic lawnmower have made it even easier to mow your lawn (as if it needed to be any easier). The company has just announced that their robotic lawnmower can now be easily controlled through the use of an iOS app.

Called My Automower, this app works with all Husqvarna Automower robotic lawnmowers equipped with a GPS communication unit. Through the app, users can start, stop and even track their robotic lawnmowers from halfway across the world. You can now be away on holiday on a beach somewhere in another country and still be able to keep your lawn trim when you get back. The app can also be used to track your Automower just in case someone comes along to snatch up your $5000.00 robot and you want to get it back. Head over to the App Store to download it now for free (robotic lawnmower not included).

Husqvarna Automower controlled by iPhone app, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

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http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/husqvarna-automower-controlled-by-iphone-app/

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SoC: The Force That Rules All Smartphones and
Tablets

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 09:56:20 PM. © Ubergizmo

android-devices

They all have one thing in common: an SoC

Smartphones and tablet don’t just use “processors”, they use Systems-on-a-Chip (or SoC). But what the heck is an SoC? The one-liner would be that it is the equivalent of a computer motherboard, including main processor, graphics processor and memory — on a single chip. I’m writing this partly because I want to refer to it later on, but also because most of us read plenty of generic comments such as “the smartphone X is powered by the ARM Y”. This is supposed to give us a clue as for how fast a smartphone/tablet is, but it really does not. Here’s why.

SoC: The Force That Rules All Smartphones and Tablets, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

Read The Full Article:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/system-on-a-chip/

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Super Mario-themed proposal is surprisingly
romantic

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 09:21:24 PM. © Ubergizmo

Super Mario proposal

For this week’s installment of uber-geeky news, we have a video clip of a guy proposing to his girlfriend (who happens to be a hardcore fan of the plumber extraordinaire, Super Mario). He decorated the walls of the living room where the proposal was going to happen with paintings of the Mushroom Kingdom, and its inhabitants. Upon his girlfriend entering the room, the guy asks her to hit the question block with her head. It ejects a ring in a box instead of a mushroom (or flower) that the guy catches. With the ring in his hands, he proposes to his girlfriend. How could anyone say no to a proposal like that? Even though the guy seemed a bit awkward, he didn’t ruin the magic of the moment. Watch the video of the proposal after the break:

Super Mario-themed proposal is surprisingly romantic, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Nintendo 3DS Review, Atrix Review,

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http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/super-mario-themed-proposal-is-surprisingly-roma
ntic/

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Microsoft counting down the days until Windows XP
dies

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 08:40:53 PM. © Ubergizmo

Windows 7 Microsoft seems to be in the habit of wanting to kill off their old products these days. Last month the Redmond giants started a countdown page for Internet Explorer 6 ? showing the percentage of IE6 usage all around the world and letting the world know about their mission of reducing those numbers to zero.

Now, Microsoft has just launched a new countdown ? this time in the form of a gadget, it counts down the number of days left before they finally end their support for Windows XP. As of today, the aging operating system has 1081 days left ? 2014 will be the year they stop supporting it.

Microsoft counting down the days until Windows XP dies, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

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http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/microsoft-counting-down-the-days-until-windows-x
p-dies/

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Samsung to build Amazons Android tablet

post from Ubergizmo on 22 April 2011 08:15:26 PM. © Ubergizmo

Amazon Android As we all know, of late, Amazon has been slowly making its way into Google’s territory, by offering all sorts of services on the Android operating system. The company launched the Amazon Appstore for Android not too long ago, giving Android users an alternative way to purchase and sell apps, and most recently, the cloud music storage service for Android users to store and stream their music from. They’ve already got an e-bookstore going on with their Kindle for Android app, and video from their Video on Demand service. The next logical step in this progression? An Android device of course.

Samsung to build Amazon’s Android tablet?, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Nintendo 3DS Review, iPad 2 Review,

Read The Full Article:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/samsung-amazons-android-tablet/

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Google I/O 2011: Google wants your unlocked
Android phones instead

Android recycle Eschewing the tradition of giving developers free phones at their annual Google I/O conference this year, Google has announced that this year, they’ll be doing the opposite instead. In an announcement on the official Google code blog, the company has mentioned that at the upcoming Google I/O event, they will be accepting donations of any unlocked Google phones that you aren’t using anymore. The phones will then be donated to various projects all around the world. In the past, donated phones have been given to Grameem?s AppLab Community Knowledge Worker Initiative in Uganda, Save the Elephants in Kenya, V-Day in the Democratic Republic of Congo, VillageReach in Mozambique, VetAid in Tanzania & Kenya, and UNHCR in Central Africa.

So if you have some T-Mobile G1, Nexus One or Nexus S phones lying around the house, why not give them up for the greater good instead? Like in the words of Google’s Product Marketing Manager, “Although it might seem old to you, that device could mean a new beginning when placed in the right hands.” The Google I/O event will be held next month, May 10-11, at the Moscone Center, San Francisco.

Google I/O 2011: Google wants your unlocked Android phones instead, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

Read The Full Article:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/google-io-2011-google-unlocked-android-phones/

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DNA Stamper Concept

DNA-stamper The DNA Stamper is a concept created by Jamie Thoms to make us think about how much we value our identity. He ask s: ” Who should have access to this information. Your partner? Family? The police?”. Here’s how the DNA Stamper works in Jamie Thoms’s own words:

“The D.N.A. Stamper simulates extracting a sample of the users D.N.A. and uses this to stamp a consent form, to verify the user’s identity and offer tissue for hypothetical testing. The owner of the sample will have to fill in the consent form expressing how much of the information in the D.N.A. the holder will be privy to.”

Although DNA-related technologies have vastly evolved over the past 30 years, we’re nowhere near what the movie Gattaca describes (the movie is one of the inspiration for this DNA Stamper, btw). However, at the pace at which things are moving, will we wrap our collective minds around this before we get there, or will we merely react to possible future abuse and discrimination? If you want to know more about this concept and its author, head to jamiethoms.co.uk. (one more photo in the full post)

DNA Stamper Concept, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,

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http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/04/dna-stamper/

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RIM in talks with Hulu to bring Hulu Plus to
PlayBook

Hulu PlayBook It looks like RIM listens to their customers. After reports went live about the PlayBook being blocked from accessing Hulu, the Wall Street Journal has reported that RIM is in talks with Hulu about enabling Hulu Plus on their QNX tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook. Hulu has been blocked on most tablets and smartphones due to the fact that they have a premium service, Hulu Plus, which is used to serve content to such mobile devices.

Devices such as the iPhone or iPad can access Hulu Plus, need an app to do so. Even though the BlackBerry PlayBook is completely capable of playing Flash video on its browser, registered Hulu Plus users still aren’t able to access the service on the tablet, which is quite a bummer. It is uncertain how the talks will end, but even if they go well, folks will probably have to wait for a Hulu Plus app to be developed for the PlayBook before they can use the service.

With folks already complaining about the lack of a native email client or calendar app, RIM is doing all it can to keep their customers happy. If you are one of the early PlayBook adopters, what other features do you feel are missing from the tablet?

RIM in talks with Hulu to bring Hulu Plus to PlayBook, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Atrix Review,