Day: April 1, 2013

Funny Google Microsoft

Google and Microsoft trade insults for April Fools

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As reported on The Verge. By Matt Brian April Fools’ Day provides the springboard for companies to make some unbelievable announcements, but for Google and Microsoft, it serves as the perfect time to poke fun at eachothers’ shortcomings. With Gmail Blue, Google is teasing Redmond over a product that doesn’t officially exist yet, while Microsoft goes back to basics to poke fun at its rival’s “vanilla” search engine. “HOW DO YOU COMPLETELY REDESIGN AND RECREATE SOMETHING, WHILE…

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Android Apple Mobile

Facebook’s Android Homescreen Could Expose Apple’s Inflexibility

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As reported on TechCrunch. by JOSH CONSTINE The mainstream has had little reason to care that Android gives developers much more customization freedom than iOS. But if Facebook’s fabled Android homescreen is a hit, the stubbornness of Apple’s closed mobile platform could be framed as a drawback after years of its cohesive design and ease being seen as assets. Cheapness and handset/carrier choice are two of the biggest factors convincing people to pick up Android phones today. There’s…

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Application Business

Twitter Announces “Twttr” — Will Start Charging $5 A Month If You Want To Tweet Using Vowels

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As reported on TechCrunch. by DREW OLANOFF Vowels aren’t really necessary in today’s digital age, are they? Twitter doesn’t think so, as it announced a new “two-tiered” serviceincluding its free model called “Twttr.” You can only tweet without vowels though. Want the vowels back? Pony up $5 a month. Seems like a pretty sweet deal to me. Luckily, Twitter really cares about its users and will offer up the “sometimes Y” free of charge…forever. Also free are…

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Culture Entertainment Funny

YouTube Announces That It Has Been An 8-Year Contest, Will Shut Down On April 1 To Determine The Winner

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As reported on TechCrunch. by JORDAN CROOK Bad news, guys. YouTube is shutting down. The platform launched eight years ago, and some of us have gotten so distracted by YouTube videos that we’ve forgotten that the whole thing is actually a competition. Or, YouTube never actually mentioned that it was a competition. Either way, that competition, called YouTube, is coming to a close. To decide who has made the best YouTube video of all time, the…

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Funny Google

Google Introduces “Gmail Blue” — It’s Completely Blue, Because Brown Was a “Disaster”

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As reported on TechCrunch. by DREW OLANOFF The Google April Fool’s train continues with the announcement of “Gmail Blue.” Yes, it’s a version of Google’s email service where everything is the color blue. The YouTube one from earlier was OK, and the Nose one was just so-so, but I’d actually use this product if it existed, especially since it took six years to “develop the technology.” Can you imagine something like this actually happening? Some people flipped out…

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Cloud Hardware Dev Story Tech

IBM Roadrunner retires from the supercomputer race

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As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas For all the money and effort poured into supercomputers, their lifespans can be brutally short. See IBM’s Roadrunner as a textbook example: the 116,640-core cluster was smashing records just five years ago, and yet it’s already considered so behind the times that Los Alamos National Laboratory is taking it out of action today. Don’t mourn too much for the one-time legend, however. The blend of Opteron andCell processors proved instrumental to understanding energy flow in weapons while…

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Application Entertainment

Tunable app shows musicians what pitch-perfect means as they play (video)

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As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas Musicians who’ve had some degree of practice will know the lack of sophistication involved in getting an instrument in tune and on time: a light-up tuning box and a swinging metronome may be their only real resources. Affinity Blue knows that mobile apps allow better, and recently unveiled Tunable as a one-stop shop for more exacting performers. The Android and iOS release provides a live graph that shows where the sweet…

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Automotive

Tesla Model S axes 40 kWh battery option, surpasses sales goals

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As reported on Engadget. By Sean Buckley Thinking of picking up the budget Tesla Model S? Think again: the electric automaker just announced that it won’t be sending its 40 kWh battery pack option into production, citing a lack of customer demand. Customers who opted for the lower range configuration will still get a car, of course, but it will be a 60 kWh machine with software restrictions on range. It sounds like a raw deal, but Tesla promises…

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