Daily Crunch: Spring Forth Edition

?Air Conditioned? 2022 World Cup In Jeopardy As Players? Union Calls For Winter Tournament FCC Reveals The JBL On Air Wireless AirPlay Speaker System This Super Mario Bros 3 Furniture Set Will Really Impress The Princesses PrimeSense, Co-Creator Of Kinect, To Lead Open Gesture Tech Organization Dear Tech Early Adopters: Manufacturers Don?t Care About You

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/12/22/daily-crunch-spring-forth/

Melania Trump Melissa George Melissa Howard Melissa Joan Hart

The Engadget Podcast, live at 4:45PM EST!

It's the end of the year, so it's time for the boys to look back and reflect on the... oh, who are we kidding, we'll probably just do more skits. Join us below!

P.S. And don't forget that Ustream has Android and iPhone clients as well, if you're out and about and you can't join in on the Flash-based fun below.

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 4:45PM EST!

The Engadget Podcast, live at 4:45PM EST! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4NtcqZ5r6oM/

Trista Rehn Tyra Banks Uma Thurman Vanessa Hudgens

Google teams up with Coca-Cola for a festive Android treat

Adding to the magical wonder of Coke's 'Snow Globe Santa' Christmas commercial, Google's AdMob team has collaborated with the One True Soda Master to create a truly festive Android experience: a snow globe live wallpaper (QR code after the break).

The live wallpaper -- which basically turns your Android phone into a very cute snow globe -- will be promoted via the AdMob network, which many free apps use to create revenue. When users see the ad, they'll be able to click straight through to the Android Market and install the live wallpaper. Google's even produced a video showing you how to install the wallpaper, which feels a bit like overkill, but it's included after the break anyway.

It's at this juncture that I like to remind people that Santa Claus's red-and-white garb was not created by Coca-Cola. It may be true that Coke popularized the color scheme, however. Before Coke's legendary commercialization of Santa, he usually wore whatever the local custom dictated. The original Santa, however, Saint Nicolas, was a monk; and monks at that time wore red and white.

Continue reading Google teams up with Coca-Cola for a festive Android treat

Google teams up with Coca-Cola for a festive Android treat originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/21/google-teams-up-with-coca-cola-for-a-festive-android-treat/

Michelle Branch Michelle Malkin Michelle Obama Michelle Rodriguez

IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to compete against humans in $1,000,000 Jeopardy! showdown

Watson, an artificial intelligence powered by IBM's latest, disgustingly-powerful POWER7 processors and the DeepQA natural language parser, will play Jeopardy against flesh-and-blood humans in February, for a $1,000,000 grand prize.

Accurate, computerized natural language processing is a killer technology, and perhaps the last cornerstone in the creation of a Skynet-like entity. Search engines such as Google have made great strides, but their emphasis has always been on finding the right results, rather than understanding your query perfectly. DeepQA's sole purpose is to create a system that understands spoken natural language perfectly; from your literal, spoken or written words, down to the exact meaning of those words. To do this, it needs to understand sarcasm, irony, and a world of other linguistic constructs and inflections. Check the IBM FAQ for tons more information about Watson and DeepQA.

Needless to say, once a computer understands the meaning of our utterances, a wealth of possibilities are opened up. We will finally see Star Trekesque computers! Computer, plot a course to the office. We will be able to dim the lights, or turn the music up, just by talking.

The human vs. computer Jeopardy showdown will air in 2011, February 14-16, with the two all-time most successful contestants being pitted against IBM Watson to win $1,000,000. Watson has already beat former Jeopardy winners in internal testing, so it could be a very close battle indeed. Also worth noting is that PBS will air a documentary about the creation of Watson on February 9, just a few days before the game show.

I for one welcome our new computer overlords...

IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to compete against humans in $1,000,000 Jeopardy! showdown originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/ibm-supercomputer-watson-to-compete-against-humans-in-jeopardy/

Rose Byrne Rose McGowan Roselyn Sanchez Rozonda Thomas

mPlayer -- the cross-platform, open source media player -- ported to webOS

Sure, the webOS App Catalog lags behind the markets of other mobile OSes -- but the homebrew community continues porting apps to HP/Palm's platform. One of the more recent additions is mPlayer, the cross-platform open source media app.

Ported to webOS by Treo8 forum member Woshíthb123, mPlayer for webOS is far from perfect -- but it's only a first release after all. Playback of Big Buck Bunny on my Pre was jittery throughout, so hopefully development will forge ahead and deliver a more polished app. It's worth noting that other PreCentral users have reported better performance, so it's certainly worth a try on your Palm smartphone if you've been looking for an app that can play a variety of video formats.

mPlayer -- the cross-platform, open source media player -- ported to webOS originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/30/mplayer-the-cross-platform-open-source-media-player-ported-webos/

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Gareis Jennifer Garner Jennifer Gimenez

Archos 7 Home Tablet sees revision 2, with Android 2.1 and faster 800MHz CPU

The Archos 7 Home Tablet was something of a disappointment, and Archos has shipped bigger and better things since, but the firm isn't done with the original affordable Android slate quite yet. We've confirmed with Archos that a "v2" revision is now shipping in Europe with three things the original lacked -- an accelerometer, a relatively recent version of Android (2.1) and an 800MHz Rockchip CPU. Make no mistake, those are still budget specs, and you'll almost certainly still have to hack your own Android Market on to get a full quota of apps, but it's not like you're paying any more for the extra oomph. The updated version has been spotted at Expansys for the same $200, which might actually might make it one of the best bang-for-the-buck tablets out there. Look how far we've come.

[Thanks, Marien]

Archos 7 Home Tablet sees revision 2, with Android 2.1 and faster 800MHz CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 19:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/30/archos-7-home-tablet-sees-revision-2-with-android-2-1-and-faste/

Genelle Frenoy Georgianna Robertson Georgina Grenville Gina Carano

Sony files ITC complaint about LG, adds another patent infringement lawsuit to the stack

Did the world's tech giants just discover they have lawyers on retainer? That's certainly how it seems, as company after company has decided 'tis the season to target the competition with patent infringement allegations. Sony, the latest, is aiming squarely at LG, claiming that the Korean manufacturer's violating eight patents with its mobile devices -- including the LG Fathom, Xenon, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2, Lotus Elite and VL600 LTE modem -- claiming that these devices transmit variable-bandwidth audio streams, live-preview camera snapshots, hand off cellular calls and more in ways that infringe Sony's intellectual property. Sony's now filed both an ITC complaint in an attempt to ban new product shipments from the US, and a lawsuit in federal court that will no doubt seek monetary damages. Now, if recent history is any indication, LG will turn around and smack Sony with a patent stack of its own, and we'll all go back to dreaming about LG devices we'd actually care to purchase.

Sony files ITC complaint about LG, adds another patent infringement lawsuit to the stack originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 22:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/s6hzEP6r_rM/

Georgianna Robertson Georgina Grenville Gina Carano Gina Gershon

Former Employee: Nokia-Windows Phone 7 Rumor Is ?Loony?

Don’t believe the recent gossip that Nokia and Microsoft are hooking up to make a Windows phone. A former employee of Nokia claims it isn’t happening.
On his personal blog, Watts Martin explained that a partnership between Microsoft and Nokia isn’t even close to happening, because it’s unlikely Nokia would cede control of an OS to [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/12/nokia-windows-phone-7/

Natasha Bedingfield Natassia Malthe Nelly Furtado Nichole Robinson

Updated Android Music app leaks out

Thanks to an eager (and extremely active) developer community, early access to upcoming Android bits has become somewhat of a regular occurrence. Recently we've seen the Gingerbread launcher and updated Market app, and now a user at xda-developers has released an early version of what will become the next Music app for Android.

It's still a bit rough around the edges, but it looks like it's going to be a very nice upgrade to the built-in player. Check out the gallery, or the video after the break, or grab the .APK installer over at the xda-developers forums. As always, caveat emptor!

Gallery: Next Android Music Player app

Continue reading Updated Android Music app leaks out

Updated Android Music app leaks out originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/28/updated-android-music-app-leaks-out/

Elisha Cuthbert Eliza Dushku Emilie de Ravin Emma Heming

iPhone Live 132 + iPad Live 36: Year in Review

Our podcast feed Download Directly Subscribe via iTunes Rene, Chad, Georgia, and The Keith Newman talk the top ten iPhone and iPad stories of 2010, top apps, top accessories, and top things we want from Apple in 2011. This is a double dose of iPhone AND [...]

iPhone Live 132 + iPad Live 36: Year in Review is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Dy6yLEwLqDQ/

Olivia Wilde Padma Lakshmi Paige Butcher Pamela Anderson

RunKeeper Pro—Our Favorite Mobile Running App—Is Free Through January, Normally $10 [Downloads]

iOS/Android: Our favorite run-tracking app (and yours) RunKeeper, available for both iOS and Android, is offering a free download of their pro version through January (normally $10). More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/WMahbHweWbY/runkeeper-proour-favorite-mobile-running-appis-free-through-january-normally-10

Amanda Peet Amanda Righetti Amanda Swisten Amber Arbucci

Daily Crunch: Between Machines Edition

The Large Pocket Shirt, For The Tablet Enthusiast Echochrome II Hits PSN On December 21st Review: Dyson DC26 City Vacuum HAMDAS-R De-Boning Robot Makes Short Work Of Ham (And You) Does Wikileaks Represent The End Of Internet History?

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/12/07/daily-crunch-between-machines/

Tricia Helfer Tricia Vessey Trista Rehn Tyra Banks

How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need

Whether you're taking the wraps off of your first HDTV or your fifth there's a few easily avoidable hurdles that can prevent you from enjoying that brand new display at its best. Now, with new internet connected TVs and 3DTVs in the mix, there's even more to consider, but we'll walk you through the minefield of figuring out how to hook that new TV up, what to connect it to and even throw in a few suggestions on where to find the stuff you like to watch most.

Continue reading How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need

How to connect and set up your new HDTV: all the cables, content, and calibration you need originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/E7qZiwcCORA/

Jennifer Gareis Jennifer Garner Jennifer Gimenez Jennifer Love Hewitt

Welcome To The Hostel Microsoft. Such A Lovely Place.

It was almost exactly a year ago that we wrote about the�Googlle Institute of Software Studies, a cleverly-named online university based out of India. After our post on the institution offering students such degrees as a "GCPA" ? Googlle Certified Professional in Advanced Computing ? it didn't take long for the website of the school to be shut down. But the person who originally tipped us off to those shenanigans is now back with another fun one. And apparently, it's based out of the same city in India. Say hello to the "Hostel Microsoft".

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SOCDfK8UHW0/

Rachel Weisz Radha Mitchell Raquel Alessi Rebecca Mader

This Video Cheered Me Up Today—In a Depressing Kind of Way [Video]

I've seen other kinetic typography animations in the past, but none of them were as good as this one and none of them were set to such a nice poppy happy tune: Jonathan Coulton's Shop Vac. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/1kn7yOD-q7o/this-video-cheered-me-up-today++in-a-depressing-kind-of-way

Halle Berry Hayden Panettiere Haylie Duff Heidi Klum