Signs Of Twimg, Twitter?s Photo Hosting, In The Wild

More details have emerged since we originally reported on Twitter's photo-sharing service, namely that Apple?s new iOS 5 will probably come with a baked in Twitter image sharing feature. A tipster informs us that one trigger happy Apple iOS designer has already released a test link into the wild (which we've seen but are not replicating here). The tipster clued us into a http://a0.twimg.com/status_photos/ URL that appeared in his timeline, and then quickly disappeared.

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Motorola Droid Pro getting its Gingerbread update

The rumors are true, folks. While your phone likely is still languishing with Froyo (hey, could be worse), the Motorola Droid Pro (read our full review) is getting its Gingerbread update. And why shouldn't it? We found the Droid Pro to be a more-than capable (if a little small) 3.1-inch Android smartphone, with the front-facing QWERTY keyboard that so many of us had been wanting.

Anyhoo, back to the update. Looks like it's Android 2.3.3 (Build number 4.5.1-110-VNS-11, if you're into that sort of thing). You'll have the updated version of Motorola's Blur skin (which isn't the worst thing in the world), as well as all the tweaks that Gingerbread can muster.

Thanks, Eric!

Droid Pro Review | Droid Pro Forums | Droid Pro Accessories

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Minno Rebrands As BuySimple, Partners With SoundCloud, Raises $700K For Micropayments

Online payment methods are old and in the way. Sure, whether or not the world will have a generally-agreed-upon payment system is up for debate, but it seems that a new era of micropayments is here -- hopefully to stay. With the political and regulatory inertia around bank and credit card-related payment tools, there is room for a third party without these hangups to bring a new perspective to micropayments. Minno, a startup that offers a simple, embeddable payment solution, is today announcing that it has changed its name to "BuySimple". Its new name is appropriate given its objective, and gets rid of the small-fish-big-pond connotations that came with the name "Minno". What's more, BuySimple has partnered with SoundCloud and raised $700K. Not bad for a day's work.

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Firefox 4 rockets to 5% global usage share, IE9 wallows at 1.5%

Using some early numbers from both StatCounter and Net Applications, Mozilla's noisiest hominid, Asa Dotzler, has illustrated Firefox 4's meteoric rise to around 5% of Web browser global usage share. Internet Explorer 9, which launched two weeks ago, seems to be enjoying a much more casual stroll in the park with just 1.5% of the global Web usage share.

Interestingly, we can see IE9 dipping between March 20 and 21, just before the 'Important' Windows Update rolled out. It's hard to say whether IE9 is only growing because of the installed-by-default Windows Update, but that small dip definitely sticks out -- did excitement peter out? Did people download IE9, try it out, and summarily uninstall it? Perhaps, given their close proximity, the stats show an attention shift from Microsoft to Mozilla?

Numbers-wise, if the bottom left corner of the graph shows 2.3 million downloads for IE9, we can guesstimate that that it has now been downloaded 5 million times. Firefox is clocking in at 37 million downloads after five days of public availability.

We wonder whether Microsoft knew its release schedule would coincide so closely with Firefox 4. Internet Explorer 9 -- a great browser by almost every metric -- was never going to do well against anything emanating from the maws of Mozilla. The main thing, though, is that Microsoft has now shown that it's serious when it comes to the Open Web. If Internet Explorer 10 is good, and 11 and 12, then we might finally see it compete with the zealous Mozillan horde.

Firefox 4 rockets to 5% global usage share, IE9 wallows at 1.5% originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Deal of the Day ? Dell Vostro 3450 14? Core i5 Sandy Bridge Laptop for $599

Today?s LogicBUY deal is the customizable Dell Vostro 3450 14? laptop with the Intel 2011 Core i5 (Sandy Bridge) for $599.� Features: weighs 5.02 pounds, 1.2-1.31 inches thick, up to 6GB DDR3 memory, 1GB Radeon HD 6630 discrete graphics, 2 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, eSATA, 8-in-1 card reader, DVD+/-RW drive or optional Blu-ray, LED-backlit anti-glare [...]

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The Craziest Sky I've Ever Seen [Imagecache]

A night of fireworks, lightning, and a comet hanging on the sky separating them. It's like a painting of Heaven, Earth and Hell by Hieronymus Bosch. But it's not a painting. It's a real sky. It happened in Perth, Australia. More »

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Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

Corel seems to be on a roll lately; after releasing WinZip System Utilities just last week, this morning the company announced VideoStudio Pro X4.

VideoStudio Pro is aimed at home users and small business professionals who want to create professional-looking videos, but without the hassle, steep learning curve and price of Adobe Premiere Pro and the likes.

This new version introduces several features:

• Stop motion animation: You can now capture still frames using a webcam, camcorder or DSLR and use them to produce an animation. Tools such as "onion skin view" let you compare the previous image in the sequence with the current one and make the animation as smooth as possible.
• Processor optimization: Corel says the app is optimized for Intel's new Sandy Bridge systems, and have shown us some graphs with very impressive numbers. We've been unable to test this particular point, but if you have a recent-generation Intel or AMD Fusion system, VideoStudio performance should be blazing. Even on our older test system performance was quite impressive.
• Customizable workspace: You can drag the video preview window to your secondary monitor (if you have one) and tweak just about any other element in the window layout. Once done, you can save your ideal workspace in one of three slots.
• Share-to-Web: VideoStudio Pro X4 hooks directly into YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and Flickr, so you don't even have to launch a browser to upload your final product. Edit, produce and share from within the app itself.
• Smart Package: Video projects typically consist of many files; Smart Package lets you bundle all video assets for a given project into one ZIP file which you can password-protect and keep in a safe place once you're done editing.

I've had a chance to play around with a pre-release version for a few days, and have put it through its paces editing a short video for my day job. Overall, I've been impressed with how easy it was to create pro-looking results. If you do any sort of video editing but are leery of the investment other apps require (both in dollars and effort), VideoStudio Pro is well worth checking out. To see a bit of the interface itself and what the app can do, watch the video after the jump.

Note: We'll be running a give-away of ten VideoStudio Pro X4 licenses later today, each worth $100 USD. Keep your eyes peeled for the giveaway post!

Continue reading Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video)

Corel releases VideoStudio Pro X4, we go hands on (video) originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Huawei Ascend X brings 4G to Cincinnati Bell

The Huawei Ascend X is now available from Cincinnati Bell and is the carrier's first 4G device, as it is HSPA+ capable.

The Ascend X is a decent option for Cincinnati Bell customers. It features:

• 4.1-inch touchscreen
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• Android 2.2 (Froyo)
• 5 MP camera with 720p recording
• 2GB of storage
• 512MB RAM
• 2GB ROM
• MicroSD up to 32GB

The device can be had for $99.99 with a 2-year service agreement. It provides great value for customers looking for a capable and fast phone for their next purchase. Thanks Josh!

Source: Cincinnati Bell; Thanks, Josh!

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Samsung's new AMOLED production line should help ease smartphone display shortages

AMOLED displays may be in relatively short supply nowadays, but Samsung is doing its best to bridge the gap. Today, the company's Mobile Display unit announced that its 5.5th-generation AMOLED production line is now open, some two months ahead of schedule. The line uses glass substrates that are substantially larger than those found in its existing factories, allowing Samsung to increase output, while lowering costs. This increase in production comes in response to growing demand for the Galaxy S II and an AMOLED market that, according to DisplaySearch, should triple in value this year to $4.26 billion. For now, the production line is focusing on smartphone displays, since that's where demand is growing fastest, but will eventually turn its attention to tablet PC displays, as well. The new factory assembling the displays can currently churn out about three million screens per month, but is capable of ramping that up to 30 million, at full capacity. No word yet on when it will achieve this rate, but if SMD continues to boost its output, we may even see that market surplus we've been hearing about.

Samsung's new AMOLED production line should help ease smartphone display shortages originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Optimus Black review

New display technology in a ultra-slim form factor, the LG Optimus Black brings a high level of style to Android.  But is it the phone for you?

The LG Optimus Black is the latest offering from LG Electronics, bringing a stylish form factor, the new "Nova" display technology, and some unique features on top of Android 2.2.  If you're looking for the latest dual-core megabyte of RAM monster phone, you're looking in the wrong place, but not all of us are looking for that.  One quick inspection of the phone will tell you -- LG wasn't trying to win a specifications race here, they have other models to fill that hole.  Instead, it feels as is they were focused on design, and try to bring a new level of elegance to the Android platform. 

The real question -- did they succeed?  That's a loaded question, as we all have differences of opinion when it comes to what looks and feels high-end.  Hit the break, and see what I think of the Optimus Black, and decide if it's something you will need a little alone time with and form your own opinion.

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Asus Padfone Puts a Phone Inside a Tablet

This is the Asus Padfone, a truly ridiculous device that seems to have been inspired by the Wizard of Oz, with a little dash of Transformers.
Although the actual design isn’t finalized, the mockup shows the concept clearly enough. You get an Android phone which slides into a dumb tablet. The phone then drives the tablet’s [...]

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Your Move, Patent Trolls

What is Lodsys? It's a patent troll company. And by all accounts, when it comes time to check in at Hell, patent trolls are said to have a spot right near the front of the line, right next to the people that put kittens in burlap sacks and throw them into rivers. But Lodsys is not just any patent troll -- it's the type of patent troll that makes other patent trolls squirm.

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Acer TravelMate 8481 series laptop shown off with super thin bezel, or so you think

Remember the rumor about an upcoming Acer laptop housing a super thin LG Shuriken display? Well, here it is at Computex. Thanks to the crazy thin bezel, we noticed this TravelMate 8481 series laptop quietly chilling out in a corner at Acer's booth, though upon closer inspection it turned out that the bezel is slightly deceptive. What's really happening here is that it's the screen module (which includes the 1.3 megapixel webcam) that's eating away the bezel, but the actual LCD (14.1 inches at 1,366 x 768) is further inside, thus leaving a much bigger space between. Still, it's one helluva slim display thanks to LG's display technology and Acer's carbon fiber chassis.

Other highlights include Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 3000, up to 320GB of hard drive space, up to 13 hours of battery life, USB 3.0 with power-off charging, fingerprint reader, HDMI, and Bluetooth 3.0. Oh, and like some of the ThinkPads, the mouse buttons use the same mechanism as the keyboard keys for better clicking experience, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea. No prices announced just yet, but keep an eye out for a global launch around mid-June. Video after the break.

Gallery: Acer TravelMate 8481 series laptop shown off with super thin bezel, or so you think

Continue reading Acer TravelMate 8481 series laptop shown off with super thin bezel, or so you think

Acer TravelMate 8481 series laptop shown off with super thin bezel, or so you think originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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