Google Co-Founders Wanted Steve Jobs To Be CEO of Google [Blockquote]

When Sergey Brin and Larry Page were first looking for a CEO to run Google, they met with Steve Jobs. The Google co-founders left that meeting wanting the CEO of Apple to become the CEO of Google. More »

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Microsoft buys Canesta, continues camera-based domination of our interfaces

It seems that Microsoft's taken the camera to heart following its dismissal of the pen -- the company bought 3DV, collaborated with PrimeSense on Kinect, and today it's apparently finalized a deal to acquire 3D CMOS camera chipmaker Canesta as well. In case you've already forgotten, the latter company is the one that made an paid actor look particularly smug last year, by allowing the gent to control his television with a flick of the wrist. Things have progressed a good bit further than that, however, as you'll see in a demo video after the break, and Canesta president and CEO Jim Spare says he expects the company's stuffs to "see wide adoption across many applications that embody the full potential of the technology" under Microsoft's reign. Press release after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft buys Canesta, continues camera-based domination of our interfaces

Microsoft buys Canesta, continues camera-based domination of our interfaces originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hundred Year Starship Initiative plans to put people on Mars by 2030, bring them back by... well, never (video)

For a while now, there has been a conversation going on in certain circles (you know, space circles): namely, if the most prohibitive part of a manned flight to Mars would be the return trip, why bother returning at all? And besides the whole "dying alone on a hostile planet 55-million-plus kilometers from your family, friends, and loved ones" thing, we think it's a pretty solid consideration. This is just one of the topics of discussion at a recent Long Now Foundation event in San Francisco, where NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden discussed the Hundred Year Starship Initiative, a project NASA Ames and DARPA are undertaking to fund a mission to the red planet by 2030. Indeed if the space program "is now really aimed at settling other worlds," as Worden said, what better way to encourage a permanent settlement than the promise that there will be no coming back -- unless, of course, they figure out how to return on their own. Of course, it's not like they're being left to die: the astronauts can expect supplies from home while they figure out how to get things up and running. As Arizona State University's Dr. Paul Davies, author of a recent paper in Journal of Cosmology, writes, "It would really be little different from the first white settlers of the North American continent, who left Europe with little expectation of return." Except with much less gravity. See Worden spout off in the video after the break.

Continue reading Hundred Year Starship Initiative plans to put people on Mars by 2030, bring them back by... well, never (video)

Hundred Year Starship Initiative plans to put people on Mars by 2030, bring them back by... well, never (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year

My, how a year changes things. Q3 2009 was a nightmare for mega-corps in terms of earnings, but things have definitely been on the up and up just 12 months later. After Sony pushed out a glowing quarterly report this morning, rival Samsung has done likewise. The company saw record breaking revenues of ?40.23 trillion ($35.8 billion) as well as profits (?4.46 trillion; $3.96 billion) in this most recent quarter, with Sammy crediting strong semiconductor performance for the bulk of its newfound fortune. A tip of the hat was also given to its mobile communications business, with the outfit moving a staggering 71.4 million phones during Q3 2010 (a 19 percent boost year-over-year). Reports are noting that between five and seven million of those were of the Galaxy S variety, and it's hoping to sell ten million of 'em before the close of this year. All that said, the firm isn't expecting an equally rosy Q4, noting that a strengthening won and heightened price pressures around LCD panels and DRAM could put a damper on skyrocketing profits. So much for taking a day to celebrate, eh?

[Thanks, Rajendra]

Continue reading Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year

Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Make Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 6 look like IE9 Beta

Filed under: Microsoft, Beta, Browsers

As with earlier previews of Internet Explorer 9, the latest release is totally chromeless (there's no shiny user interface, just a floating window). That can make it a little tricky to test things, but fortunately Ars Technica has posted a simple guide on how to turn on the IE9 GUI in Platform Preview 6.

First, you'll need to download and install both the Internet Explorer 9 Beta and Platform Preview 6 if you haven't already. Once that's done, follow these remaining steps:

32-bit Windows 7

1. Create a new folder on your desktop (call it whatever you like)
2. Open My Computer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer
3. Copy iexplore.exe and paste it into the new folder you just created
4. Go back to your My Computer window and navigate to C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer Platform Preview
5. Copy the iepreview.exe.local folder and paste it into the new folder you created in step 1
6. Rename the folder you just pasted iexplore.exe.local

64-bit Windows 7

1. Create a new folder on your desktop (call it whatever you like)
2. Open My Computer and navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer
3. Copy iexplore.exe and paste it into the new folder you just created
4. Go back to your My Computer window and navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer Platform Preview
5. Copy the iepreview.exe.local folder and paste it into the new folder you created in step 1

6. Rename the folder you just pasted iexplore.exe.local

Once that's done, just double-click the iexplore.exe in your new desktop folder, and Platform Preview 6 will load with the full Internet Explorer 9 interface.

Make Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview 6 look like IE9 Beta originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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10 Reasons You Need An iPad For College

So you’ve heard about the Apple iPad and you’re heading back to school soon. Chances are you’re probably wondering if it’s a smart choice to invest your money towards purchasing an iPad for college. In this article we’ll help explain a few of the many benefits there are for college students who own, or will [...]

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Canon PowerShot G12 scores predictably glowing review

If it's a pocketable PowerShot and its name begins with 'G' you can be pretty sure it'll be a good performer, and Canon's latest is no exception. The $499 G12 is the sequential successor to the G11 and, as is typical for the range, it isn't a revolutionary leap forward. The G12 makes use of its predecessor's 10 megapixel sensor situated behind the same 5x zoom lens and offering the same suite of full manual controls. New this year is a 720p24 video recording mode with stereo mics, finally bringing this camera into the HD age -- but sadly doing so without use of that zoom. Also new is an HDR mode, stitching together three photos to make those vampires hiding in the shadows really pop. According to Photography Blog those improvements plus a few other niceties make this a particularly solid compact, even if its chunky dimensions as ever push the definition of that term.

Canon PowerShot G12 scores predictably glowing review originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 03:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quirky Contort, An Ingenious USB-Hub and Cable Manager

Contort is another crazy-useful looking gadget from the seemingly bottomless idea-pit at Quirky. Like all Quirky gear, it combines simplicity with a re-think of existing solutions. This particular widget is a four-port USB-hub and cable-manager.
At Quirky, they actually are working with a bottomless pit of ideas. A community of internet denizens coughs out an idea [...]

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Redbox announces plans to enter streaming business next year

It may not be quite the same obvious transition that Netflix made, but it looks like DVD kiosk company Redbox will soon be making a push of its own into the streaming business. That word comes straight from the CEO of parent company Coinstar, Paul Davis, who told listeners to the company's recent earnings call that it is in "detailed negotiations with a number of highly interested parties" to launch a "Redbox-branded" streaming service sometime next year. That would seem to suggest that Redbox will be relying on a partner already established in the field rather than rolling its own service, but Davis was otherwise light on details, adding only that streaming represents a "significant opportunity" for the company. That doesn't mean Redbox will be getting out of the kiosk business anytime soon, though -- according to Davis, there's still a "long, profitable life ahead" there.

Redbox announces plans to enter streaming business next year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Theta Music Trainer helps you develop musical hearing

Filed under: Audio, Games, Education

I've always wanted to do something musical. But having received no musical education and not coming from a musically-inclined family, I find myself dreading the subject and feeling that it's all a bit too much for me. I'm speaking mainly of the theoretical side of it, which has to do with figuring out all of those scales and then telling them apart.

Theta Music Trainer has shown me that I might have a chance to grasp this music thing after all. It's composed of several Flash-based games, each of which is focused on an aspect of "educated listening." Here are three examples:

• Paddle Pitch trains your ear to recognize "scale tones." It's basically Pong, but you use the number keys to move the paddle, and you need to move the paddle to whatever sound was played.
• Melodic Drops plays two-note sequences, and you have to figure out the musical interval between the two notes (an octave, two identical notes, etc.).
• Parrot Phrases is by far the hardest one. The game plays sequences of notes, and you have to play them back by ear on a virtual piano, keyboard, or guitar.

In its free form, Theta Music Trainer is a very limited demo; it lets you play only the first level of every game. But if you pay $7.95/mo, you get full access to all levels. That's what it says on the contact page, anyway, but I wasn't able to find out how to subscribe.

The idea is very, very good, and the execution feels solid. So, even if Theta Music Trainer isn't quite ready for prime time, this is definitely one to keep an eye on for your musical training.

Theta Music Trainer helps you develop musical hearing originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Daily Crunch: Night Experiment Edition

Astrophotography: A Primer Video: Turkish Iron Man SURALP Review: Potato Chip Science Capcom?s Okamiden: The Friendly Game That Has Nothing To Do With Fragging Each Other Researchers Looking Into How Hard Robots Should Be Punching You

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How would you change Motorola's Droid 2?

You've already told us (and the world, we might add) how you'd change just about every other Droid phone out there, so why not? Motorola's Droid 2 has been in the hands of loyal can-doers for a few months now, giving the user base plenty of time to nitpick and stew about things that aren't... quite... right. We had a few bones to pick with the handset during our August review, but as the regulars know, this space isn't about rekindling old flames. It's about you telling us how you'd change things if given the lead design position on this here phone. Would you have upgraded the camera? Changed the slide? Tweaked the Android build? Offered it on another carrier? Hit us with your best shot in comments below.

How would you change Motorola's Droid 2? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 01:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gucci's 3D glasses up the ante with $225 fashion tag

Perhaps we were being unfair with Oakley's $150 3D shades -- that company, in fact, just didn't go far enough. Cut to Gucci with "optically correct" Real D frames of its own. No wraparounds, it's all glass forward, and like we said last time, you'll be the absolute most fashionable person in a crowded room full of people decidedly not looking in your direction for the entire duration of the glasses' applicable use. Look for these to hit your local US Gucci boutique -- if you have to ask where, it probably wasn't on your purchase list anyway -- for $225. Your move, Louis Vuitton.

Gucci's 3D glasses up the ante with $225 fashion tag originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP Envy 14 Beats Edition no longer available with Dr. Dre endorsed headphones, results in price drop

The differences between the HP Envy 14 Beats Edition and the plain ol' Envy 14 have been primarily aesthetic -- it's got a black Beats branded lid and red backlit keyboard -- but HP's also included that set of Monster Beats Solo headphones you see up there. Sadly, that last differentiator is no longer. We'd heard from a few readers that their Envy 14 Beats Edition laptops arrived sans headphones, and HP has confirmed for us that due to "supply constraints" the Dr. Dre Solo from Monster headphones are no longer included with the snazzy black and red laptop. Hopefully those customers that paid full price for the laptop and didn't receive the Solos will get a refund, but we're told by HP that the price has been lowered by $100 since the cans went out of stock -- the starting price was originally $1,249.99 and is now $1,149.99. We're not entirely sure why you'd pay $150 more for the Beats version now, considering you get the same audio experience with the standard $999.99 Envy, but what do we know? There may be tons of diehard Beats Audio fans living amongst us.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HP Envy 14 Beats Edition no longer available with Dr. Dre endorsed headphones, results in price drop originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TiPb Picks of the Week: Halloween Edition

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, funnest, most useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they?re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they?re fair game. To see what we picked [...]

TiPb Picks of the Week: Halloween Edition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

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HTC Trophy review

Why yes, yes it is another Windows Phone 7 device review. Not that we're complaining. It's not everyday that a new mobile operating system this polished arrives at our doorstep. Having already gone in depth with Microsoft's entirely new OS and half dozen or so other WP7 devices, it's now time to dive deep into the life and times of the HTC Trophy (codenamed, Spark). And it's about time. We first saw the words "HTC" and "Trophy" on the same page in a roadmap leak all the way back in 2009. Several of the leaked handsets eventually launched -- but not the 3-inch portrait QWERTY Trophy running Windows Mobile 6.5. Perhaps that original design was scrapped along with WinMo's relevancy to the consumer smartphone market. We don't know and we may never know. What we can tell you is what it's like to live with a production HTC Trophy for a week -- an average speced touchscreen slate offering anything but a middle-of-the-road experience.

This review is primarily of the HTC Trophy hardware. Check out our full review of Windows Phone 7 for our thoughts on the OS.

Gallery: HTC Trophy review

Continue reading HTC Trophy review

HTC Trophy review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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