What?s Facebook Releasing Next Week? Not Project Spartan.

Apparently, Facebook is gearing up to show off something "awesome" next week. At least, that's what CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters while he was visting the Seattle Facebook offices yesterday. Reuters reports that whatever it is, it has been developed by the 40-person team based in Seattle. And they think it might be in the mobile or tablet space. All we know for sure is that it won't be Project Spartan, the HTML5-based app platform that Facebook has been working on with a small group of outside developers in secret for months. Spartan will not be ready to go before the middle of July at the�earliest, we're told ? nor is it based in Seattle.

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Make Your Own Holograms with the Litiholo Hologram Kit

With this kit from Litiholo, you’ll get everything you need to make your own holograms. �You’ll get a hologram-quality laser diode, Litiholo RRT20 holographic film that requires no chemicals and no development process, laser-cut laser mount and laser plate mount, batteries, LED darkroom light, and an object for photographing. �The kit is so easy to [...]

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Clash of the Tablets: From iPad to TouchPad, 6 Slates Compared

In today's crowded market, looking for a tablet is like buying a new car. Everything looks great when it's slick, polished and sitting on the lot. The hard part is keeping track of what's under the hood. Wired.com took some of the front-runners from the current tablet field ? the brand-new HP TouchPad, Apple's iPad, Samsung's Galaxy Tab and others ? and stacked up their features side-by-side in a chart.

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March 31 is World Backup Day 2011

Those benevolent armchair philanthropist Redditors are at it again! Four days ago a 'self' post extolling the potential virtues of a Backup Day exploded with 2500 upvotes and 1000 comments -- and now World Backup Day 2011 is actually happening.

On March 31, as part of the global data-saving initiative, you are encouraged to back up all of your cherished photos and videos, and important documents. If you've ever had a hard disk fail, and not had a backup to fall back on, you'll know that it's a bit like losing a sizable fragment of your soul. If you've never backed up your important files -- or if you only back up sporadically -- do it on World Backup Day!

It's not hard to back up your data, either. A 2TB drive costs only a fistful of dollars, and it takes just a few minutes to set SyncToy for Windows, or Time Machine for Mac, to mirror your data every night. If you prefer a cloud-based solution, there's always SugarSync and Dropbox. Finally, don't forget that Bundlelytic has a charity giveaway for three excellent data-backup-and-recovery tools -- $160 of software for only $25, and 100% of the proceeds to go the Japanese Red Cross.

For even more backup options, for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, check our list of 13 great backup programs.

March 31 is World Backup Day 2011 originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hands-On With The New Olympus PEN E-P3

Calling all closet Henri Cartier-Bressons: buy you a PEN E-P3, a packet of Gauloises and start shooting people kissing in the street. This new camera, part of Olympus' extended PEN line, is probably one of the most solid and capable micro 4/3s cameras I've used and with a solid alloy 12mm lens and a Gallic sensibility you can grab some excellent shots.

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As Spotify Nears U.S. Launch, Rdio Launches A Native Windows App

As a non-ashamed Windows user and straight up Rdio fan, this makes me happy. Rdio has expanded its product suite with a native app for Windows XP, Vista, and 7. To be fair, I'm likely not going to use the desktop app much, as I'm mostly using Rdio on my mobile phone and iPod touch, as well as via my Sonos system. But it's great to have options - I have always lamented Spotify for not having a browser-based application.

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Bridging the Great Dev/Ops Divide

Under the legacy approach to software development, developers write code, which is then frozen, tested by another group, released and ultimately supported by yet another team again. Under this highly structured approach, large enterprise software applications are typically updated every 6 to 12 months, and up to several years can pass between major operating system releases.

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US Army testing haptic belt that nudges soldiers in the right direction

Haptic belts and other wearable devices that can guide you may not exactly be a new idea -- we've even seen some DIY attempts -- but the US Army testing them? Well, that's something worth noting. As New Scientist reports, the Army Research Office in North Carolina is now working on just such a device (likely more advanced than the one pictured here), and hopes that the belts could eventually be used to remotely guide soldiers on the battlefield. That's done with a combination of GPS, an accelerometer and a compass -- and, of course, the haptic part of the equation, which vibrates or pulses to point the soldier in the right direction, or indicate when they're nearing their target. The idea there being to reduce the need for any handheld devices (at least until thought helmets become a reality), which can both take the soldiers' eyes off the battlefield and potentially reveal their position at night. There's still no indication as to when the belts might actually see use in the field, but early tests show that they're at least as accurate as a handheld GPS, and the soldiers say they actually prefer it.

[Image credit: Sreekar Krishna]

US Army testing haptic belt that nudges soldiers in the right direction originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kinetic Theater Chairs: Immersion or Distraction?

Imagine if, every time there was an explosion up on the cinema screen and a crashing thunder of sound from the theater’s THX speakers, your seat shook, spilling your beer/coke/popcorn into your lap. Well, imagine no more. The Kinetic Movie Theater chair could make this messy, pants-wetting fantasy into a moist reality.
The D-Box, already in [...]

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Teardown Shows Apple?s Thunderbolt Cables Aren?t Just Wires Wrapped In Rubber

There are plenty of cables out there that are essentially just long pieces of metal protected by a rubber sheath. Their job is to carry a voltage, and they do. Thunderbolt (and presumably other, non-branded versions like Sony’s) is a little different. It seems that not all the horsepower is in the port; some has [...]

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Windows 8 getting a built-in PDF reader, Metro-style

For what seems like an eternity, Download Squad readers have reacted to news of security exploits targeting Adobe Reader with a common sentiment: why doesn't Microsoft build its own secure PDF reader into Windows? Apparently the Windows 8 team agrees, and they're working away at an application called Modern Reader which is exactly that.

From the handful of screenshots Paul Thurrott has shared, it's clear that Modern Reader has been built with Metro in mind. You can see the Reader back button in the top-left corner of the yellow image and the minimal page navigation bar on the right. We've posted some larger images we managed to scrape from Google's cache after the break.

Thurrott also mentions that Modern Reader is the first program spotted which is built using AppX -- a packaging technology that may allow developers to roll a single build to both Windows 8 desktops and Windows Phone 8 mobile devices.

Continue reading Windows 8 getting a built-in PDF reader, Metro-style

Windows 8 getting a built-in PDF reader, Metro-style originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another unannounced Motorola device spotted?

Although you can't really tell from the blurry image above -- there is a phone in there and quite frankly we have no idea what, exactly, it is. It's been suggested that it could be an unannounced Motorola device, but it's also been suggested that it could quite possibly be the refreshed Motorola Droid Bionic running a newer version of Motoblur.

And then there are some of us who believe it's a Motorola Droid 3 that was either snapped with a really bad camera or was intentionally blurred out with Photoshop just to make people wonder. If that is in fact the case, then I guess it worked -- because we're wondering.

Source: Popherald

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Roku 2 line passes through the FCC with modest hardware updates and a reset button

It hasn't even been a year since Roku last updated its line of streaming media players -- but nine months is a long time in the gadget world. So it was pleasant, though not entirely surprising, to spot a trio of new devices from the IPTV pioneer sauntering through the FCC bearing the model numbers 3000X, 3050X, and 3100X. Eventually the three boxes will likely be sold as the Roku 2 HD, XD, and XS respectively. We'll have to wait to see if there's anything new on the software side, but we can tell you there have been a host of hardware changes, even if they don't amount to a major upgrade.

First off, the new models are more rounded and much smaller than their predecessors. Judging by the label affixed to the underside -- which we know is 44.65mm x 44.65mm (about 1.7 inches) -- the latest Rokus are about the size of an Apple TV, and perhaps a bit smaller. Inside that tiny case is a new Broadcom 2835 SOC, an 802.11n radio, a MicroSD slot, Bluetooth, and (most exciting) a reset button -- no more unplugging when Hulu freezes up. Oddly, only the XS retains the Ethernet jack, though the top of the line model ditches support for dual-band WiFi. The primary difference between the HD and XD models still appears to be the latter's ability to push out 1080p video, while the XS adds a USB port and gets a spiffy new RF remote, which we're hoping takes a cue from the Boxee clicker. While you impatiently await important information, like pricing and release date, check out the comparison chart after the break.

Continue reading Roku 2 line passes through the FCC with modest hardware updates and a reset button

Roku 2 line passes through the FCC with modest hardware updates and a reset button originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boomshine is a soothing-yet-frustrating time waster

One click; just one single well-aimed click. That's all you get in Boomshine.

That single click triggers a chain reaction; circles start exploding, and other circles colliding with the shockwaves explode as well, creating their own shockwaves, which then catch other circles.

It's been done before, yes, but this one is a great iteration. The soundtrack is mellow, with lots of piano and some nice percussion (not electronic - it sounds like drums).

At each level you need to make a certain number of circles explode to go on to the next level. I got up to level 12, where you get 60 circles and need to make 55 of them explode. And then I kept trying and trying, but simply couldn't get it. I did get to 54 circles a couple of times, but as they say, you don't get points for trying.

There's no time limit, so you can carefully study the pattern of motion and place your click at the exact right place to create the best chain reaction. I've found that clicking near the middle of the screen works quite well, especially if the balls are slowly moving in that direction. By the time the first shockwave dies off, the oncoming balls usually hit it and the chain reaction continues.

What level did you reach? Screenshots please!

Boomshine is a soothing-yet-frustrating time waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype gets Congressional approval, will help Representatives stay in touch with the common people

Look, Capitol Hill is a nice place to be, okay? There are interns eager to please, lobbyists keen to buy you dinner, why would you ever want to leave? Unfortunately for US Congressmen and women, the schleps who elected them insist on getting face time with their supposed representatives, which means a regular schedule of commuting getting in the way of some critically important foot massages and aromatherapy treatments. Never fear, though, Skype has come to the rescue. Microsoft's latest acquisition has scored a stamp of approval from the House of Representatives, permitting Congresspersons to use it to interact with constituents, attend virtual town hall meetings, and collaborate with other members of the House. All fun-making of lawmakers aside, this strikes us as a step in the right direction and Skype promises that it's done its homework on keeping communications secure. Let's hope so.

Skype gets Congressional approval, will help Representatives stay in touch with the common people originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square Closes That $100 Million Round, Mary Meeker Joins Board

It's official. Jack Dorsey's Square has joined the billion dollar valuation club. The mobile payments startup closed a $100 million series C led by Kleiner Perkins, a story we broke a few weeks ago. The new round values Square above $1 billion. Tiger Management is also an investor. And Mary Meeker, the former Morgan Stanley Internet analyst who is now a partner at Kleiner, will get a board seat.

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Wakemate Wristband Monitors Your Sleep, Wakes You Refreshed

Wakemate promises to bring you around from the land of dreams into an alert, awakened state every single morning, without a klaxon or bacon cooker in sight.
It’s wristband that monitors your movements throughout the night and, when you get close to your pre-set optimum waking time, it waits for the shallowest part of your sleep [...]

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Good First Sign: I Have A Strong Desire To Keep Using Google+

I've spent the last several hours using Google+. That's a good sign. While I first got a glimpse of the project when meeting with Google last week ahead of today's story, such meetings are usually little more than fast-paced tutorials or worse, sales pitches. I definitely prefer to sit down and use things myself in a somewhat regular setting and see how I react. And seeing as the roll-out for Google+ is very limited right now, I thought I'd share some of those thoughts. First of all, Google+ is easily already the most compelling social project Google has ever done. Yes, I know that's not saying much, but it is saying something. That statement includes Wave, which was more ambitious, but was not nearly as polished at any point in its brief life as Google+ is right now.

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Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs

Mozilla, continuing its year-long crusade to speed up Firefox startup and shutdown times, has published a name and shame list of the Firefox's slowest add-ons.

The list is just one part of Mozilla's new efforts to highlight slow add-ons, and to help developers make their add-ons more efficient. Over the next two weeks, 'slow performance warnings' will be introduced in the add-on gallery so that users can see, before installation, which add-ons will slow down their browser. If that isn't enough to spur developers into cleaning up their add-ons, Mozilla has also begun reaching out to developers of slow add-ons with tips on how to improve add-on performance. Finally, add-on developers will soon have the ability to perform 'on-demand performance testing,' so that they can test their add-on before it's deployed publicly.

Mozilla reports that the average Firefox add-on slows down Firefox's start-up time by 10% -- which means, if you install 10 add-ons, you will double your start-up time. On fast desktop PCs that kind of slowdown might be negligible, but on older computers, laptops and smartphones, it could be the difference between a 5 and 10 second startup. Mozilla has obviously realized that while massive performance gains might've been made with Firefox 4, the addition of third-party add-ons can destroy any user-perceived improvements.

In other news, Mozilla says that a future build of Firefox will block the installation of add-ons (such as toolbars) by third-party software. Add-ons and toolbars that are bundled in this way will require explicit approval when you next open up Firefox. Hooray!

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Danish Trolls Are Playing All Sorts of Twinkly Music On This Pan Pipes Bridge [Architecture]

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?!" roared the troll. "It is I, the creator of elevator and massage room muzak, and I've come to have a tinkle on your bridge's underbelly-pipes!" More »

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