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German Gov't Endorses Chrome as Most Secure Browser

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:02:00 -0600

The German Federal Office for Information security (BSI) has endorsed Google Chrome as the safest and most secure browser. BSI recommended Chrome based on its sandbox protection feature and automatic silent updating. "This [sandbox] protection is implemented most consistently in Chrome...[and] similar mechanisms in other browsers are currently either weaker or non-existent," explained BSI. Comments

LibreOffice Developer Community Increasingly Robust

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:09:00 -0600

| Slashdot

New submitter someWebGeek writes "LibreOffice, the community-driven fork of OpenOffice, appears to have a very healthy and growing group of code contributors. The Document Foundation has published new stats that portray the climbing rates of developer involvement both in terms of numbers of people and numbers of code commits. One of the most encouraging aspects, as noted by Ryan Paul in an article at Ars, is that non-corporate code contributions by independent volunteers constitute the largest slice of the latest commit-pie."

TED: Mike deGruy: Hooked by an octopus - Mike deGruy (2010)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:14:00 -0600

| TEDTalks (video)

Underwater filmmaker Mike deGruy has spent decades looking intimately at the ocean. A consummate storyteller, he takes the stage at Mission Blue to share his awe and excitement -- and his fears -- about the blue heart of our planet.

Amazon's Latest Hire Could Mean More Apps For Kindle [Kindle]

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0600

| Gizmodo

A platform is useless without dedicated developers. Brandon Watson, former head of the Windows Phone Developer Experience, knows this better than anyone. Knowledge he will surely carry over to his new gig as director of Amazon's Kindle Cross Platform team. More »

Mount Dora Arts Festival has judges on the run | Photos

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:19:00 -0600

| OrlandoSentinel.com - Home

A casual art lover could easily spend both days of the 37th annual Mount Dora Arts Festival wandering the booths to savor the dazzling array of paintings, ceramics, handcrafted jewelry and graphic prints.

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This Photo Perfectly Sums Up Everyone's Feelings On the Yellow Pages [Humor]

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0600

| Gizmodo

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Kate who perfectly sums up how I, and probably a good chunk of the population, feel about those giant stacks of unclaimed phone books showing up at apartment buildings every year. More »

Apple No Longer Claims to Own Your Content on iBooks

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:02:00 -0600

| [H]ardOCP News/Article Feed

Apple has revised and updated the EULA for iBooks Author to indicate no claim to ownership of individual author's work and further refined the language to clarify where books could be sold. The update is in response to the confusion generated by the initial EULA, which was not well received. Apple further clarifies that "you retain all your rights in the content of your works." Comments

CEO Appleton reflected Micron's risky existence

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:25:20 -0600

| CNET News.com

The death of Micron Technology's CEO during a solo flight in a hard-to-handle aircraft symbolizes the high-risk memory chip business that is the company's bread and butter.

Cassidy: Stanford study of tween girl's technology habits is a lesson to us all

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:43:16 -0600

| Tech News

OK, you’re not surprised that tween girls can be heavy users of Facebook, YouTube, Google, iTunes — sometimes all at the same time. Clifford Nass and Roy Pea at Stanford took a look at how that kind of use might affect social and emotional development of pre-teens. Their conclusions are important, but maybe not as important as the larger questions their answers raise.

Jupiter-Bound NASA Probe Adjusts Course Toward Giant Planet (SPACE.com)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:45:00 -0600

| Yahoo! News: Science News

SPACE.com - A NASA probe on a five-year mission to Jupiter fired up its rocket thrusters this week to better aim itself at the largest planet in our solar system.

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Sony's New CEO Sees a Tough Road Ahead

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:10:00 -0600

| Tom

Kazuo Hirai, who takes over as President and CEO of Sony Corp. in April, believes the company needs to set aside previous tradition and focus on the new "user experience" in order to succeed.

Mitt Romney favored in Nevada caucuses: Three big reasons why (The Christian Science Monitor)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:48:54 -0600

| Yahoo! News: Top Stories

The Christian Science Monitor - Mitt Romney has three big things going for him in today's Republican caucuses in Nevada: Momentum (and fund-raising chops) from his big win in Florida's primary election Tuesday. A fractured and therefore ineffectual tea party movement. And a lot of Mormon coreligionists.

Super Bowl Scene: Tim Tebow, Drew Brees in Madden NFL Contest

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:01:53 -0600

| BusinessWeek.com --

Watching six real football players compete in a video game of the sport had its moments. It’s fun to know Tim Tebow springs to his feet when he plays Madden NFL, and that he feels comfortable playing in a purple tie and UGG shoes.

Who Else Wants to Go Mobile, While at Work or Play? Bellco Ventures...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:40:03 -0600

| Orlando News

Orlando, Florida: Bellco knows that sitting at the desk stressing the hand and wrist develops a bad experience.

How Does Facebook Make Money? (Dan Frommer/SplatF)

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:05:09 -0600

| Techmeme

Dan Frommer / SplatF:
How Does Facebook Make Money? — Facebook's IPO filing this week confirmed what we already knew: Facebook makes the vast majority of its money by selling ads on its site. — But now we know just how much of its revenue comes from advertising: 85% in 2011, with the remaining 15% coming from payments and other fees.

Micron appoints Durcan CEO after Appleton's death

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:16:25 -0600

| Reuters: Top News

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Memory chipmaker Micron Technology's board appointed company veteran Mark Durcan as chief executive a day after longtime Chairman and CEO Steve Appleton was killed in a plane crash.

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King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame Suffers from Framerate Curse

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:54:44 -0600

| Digg

I'm still playing through -- and largely enjoying -- King Arthur II's main campaign, but it's clear that it'll be impossible to recommend without major caveats.

This Dividend Stock Will Bankrupt You

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:34:37 -0600

| Yahoo! Finance: BAC News

Android 4.0.4 for Verizon Galaxy Nexus leaks with bugfixes and speed improvements

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:02:04 -0600

| The Verge - All Posts

An unexpected over-the-air update for one lucky Verizon Galaxy Nexus at Android Central has turned into a downloadable ROM for Android hackers. The version is 4.0.4, which matches the Ice Cream Sandwich leak for the Sprint Nexus S 4G from a few days ago. For the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, the changes are predictably minor for a point-update, but should ease some of the pain users have been experiencing. Users at xda-developers have been putting together an unofficial change log which reveals that switching between 4G and 3G is much more efficient now, perhaps thanks to new radio firmware. There's also a new power menu (which has been available to those on a 4.0.3 ROM), speed enhancements throughout, and multitouch also seems to work better.

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Roland's iModela 3D milling machine: it's a crafty tool

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:24:00 -0600

| Engadget - www.engadget.com

3D printing. Sure, that's pretty neat, but there are other ways to make three dimensional objects at home. Roland's new iModela, for example, is an "affordable" ($899) digital hobby mill that can carve 3D shapes, jewelry, textures and prototypes out of balsa wood, foam, modelling wax and plastics. Projects definitely need to be more on the petite side, but the 3.39inch x 2.17inch x 1.02inch milling area should be good for a wide range of small craft creations. The iModela comes with all the cutting tools, software and materials you need to get started, but if you've already been tinkering with ideas, there's also compatibility with other "popular" CAD software. Want to get making right away? Tap the source, or hit the PR after the break for more info.

Continue reading Roland's iModela 3D milling machine: it's a crafty tool

Roland's iModela 3D milling machine: it's a crafty tool originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tory MPs rebel against wind farms

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:15:32 -0600

| Alternative Energy News

A group of cross-party MPs have expressed concerns about the amount of taxpayers' money going to onshore wind farms More than 100 Tory MPs have written to David Cameron calling for a dramatic cut in subsidies to onshore wind farms and more influence for local people to stop them being built.

Dropbox Offering An Extra 5 GB of Free Storage Space to Beta Testers

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:32:05 -0600

| PC Perspective

I recently needed some video files from the PC Perspective office, and we decided to use the Dropbox file sharing service to get them to me. i hit a bit of a snag; however, when I realized that I had nowhere near the amount of storage needed. Fortunately, I was able to download the individual files from the shared folder on the Dropbox website. It was sort of a nod at the idea that one can never have too much storage space, however.

That got me searching around the Internet for ideas on how to increase my available storage space for free, and fortunately came across a forum post on the Dropbox website for a beta version of the program wherein they were offering 5 GB of extra (and free!) storage space to those adventurous enough to test out the program. Further, I found the process easy enough that it was worth sharing with our readers who may use the file sharing and backup service themselves.

According to their latest forum post, the new Dropbox beta application is version 1.3.13 (though the beta started at version 1.3.12) which fixes a few bugs, but more importantly, adds a new feature that automatically uploads photos and videos from SD cards (and other storage devices) and other storage devices on the PC application and your Android smart phone using a beta of the Dropbox Android app. For every 500 MB of photos and videos that you allow Dropbox to import, they will give you 500 MB of free additional storage space, up to a total of 5 GB. Let's get into exactly how you go about auto-importing photos.

On the Windows PC side of things, you will need to download the latest Dropbox beta build which is currently version 1.3.13. Once download from the link in the previous sentence, install it (if you already have the program installed, just install over the previous install), and then log into your account (or create a new one*). Next, make sure that you have AutoPlay enabled via Windows Control Panel (it should be by default). You should be all set to import as many photos and videos as your internet connection can handle to get all your free space. Pop in an SD card or other USB storage device into your computer via USB. Windows should open up an AutoPlay dialog box in response. There should further be a new option in the AutoPlay window titled "Import pictures and videos using Dropbox." Select that and Dropbox will begin uploading them to their cloud storage servers in a new folder called "Camera Uploads." Once the batch of photos are uploaded, Dropbox pops up a notification in notification area (lower right of the window) as seen in the photo above.

You can also use a beta of the Dropbox client on your Android powered smartphone to upload photos and videos to the service, and to apply towards your free Dropbox space. While not yet on the Android Market, you can download the beta application as a .apk file to your phone, and then install it from that downloaded file. The apk package in question is the Dropbox Experimental Android Forum Build 2.0.9 and can be downloaded via a link at the bottom of this article. All that's needed on the Android side of things (at least on my Samsung Infuse 4G), is to start up the application and log in. After that, any photos or videos I take with my phone's camera are automatically uploaded to the dropbox service. Although Google already has a similar automatic uploading service to its Google+ website, the Dropbox application is even a bit more useful because they are not only "in the cloud" but sitting on my desktop at home.

The Android Dropbox beta application

Unfortunately, Linux and Macintosh users are out of luck on the extra free space; however, I'm sure they will get a chance at it when the beta Dropbox application is closer to completion. Now that you know how to get your hands on some free space, go forth and beef up those Dropbox accounts! Some other methods for free space include adding a .edu email account to your account (to make it a Student Account) for an extra 500 MB of storage space an an increase referral bonus of 500 MB per referral, completing the various tutorials and quests on the Dropbox website, and getting referral sign ups. Do you use Dropbox, and if so what do you like (or hate) about it? Community discussion engage!

*Speaking of referrals, this is a referral link that costs you nothing and will give me and you an extra 250 MB of storage space. If; however, you're not into that sort of thing (for some odd reason), you can create a new account by heading over their main website at dropbox.com

New SSX producer video talks about online experience

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:51:00 -0600

| Gaming Nexus

by: Russell Archey
NEWS - EA has released a new producer video for their upcoming game SSX that goes into some detail on two online features: Global Events and Geo Tags. The way Global Events works is that instead of going through lobbies and matching making like other games, each drop point will have an event going on. You don't have to be there when it starts or ends, just drop in, put up your best score or time, and move on. You can win in-game credits that you can use to compete at better drop points and other stuff, and the more people that compete at a drop point, the bigger the haul for the one who wins.

As for Geo Tags, these are items you can earn or buy, and you can place them somewhere within the game for your friends to find. However, the long it takes for your friends to find them, the more credits you earn. Sounds like an interesting way to compete with friends, as you can either place it in the most annoying hiding spots, or right out in plain sight high up in the air.

Broadcom RFIC shrinks microwave backhaul nets

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:34:21 -0600

| EETimes

Broadcom integrated as many as ten discrete devices into a SiGe component to shrink the electronics needed for cellular microwave aggregation networks.

View the full article HERE.

Appleton's death could delay DRAM consolidation

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:34:18 -0600

| EETimes

The death of longtime Micron Technology Chairman and CEO Steve Appleton could throw a kink in rumored collaboration talks between Micron and Japan's Elpida Memory and delay needed industry consolidation, with significant consequences, according to market research firm Trendforce.

View the full article HERE.