Author: admin

Security SmartPhone

Back off, NSA: Blackphone promises to be the first privacy-focused smartphone

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As reported on Engadget. BY SHARIF SAKR You may never have heard of Geeksphone, unless you take a particular interest inFirefox OS, but the Spanish manufacturer could be about to garner some global attention. It says it’ll launch a new handset at Mobile World Congress next month that will prioritize privacy and security instead of all the intrusions that smartphone users usually have to put up with from carriers, advertisers and the occasional government agency. We’re looking at an Android-based…

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PC

The PC’s Death Might Also Mean the Web’s Demise

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As reported on Wired. BY MARCUS WOHLSEN Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED   The long, torturous death throes of the PC grew more excruciating than ever last year. Several research firms say PC shipments plunged a record 10 percent last year, the steepest drop ever. But, as smartphones and tablets take over our world, it’s not just laptops and desktops that could wind up on the pile of dead tech. They may drag the web down with them. Keith Rabois thinks…

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Automotive

Street legal: how ‘Gran Turismo’ helped Toyota design its new concept car

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As reported on The Verge. By Andrew Webster The FT-1 is “a design study for a sports car” Some of Toyota’s most iconic vehicles were designed in a small building hidden behind a Baptist church in California. Nestled amongst the beaches and boardwalks of Newport Beach, you’ll find Calty Design Research. First opened in 1973 as the first West Coast facility of its kind from a major automotive manufacturer, it represents one-fifth of the Toyota Design…

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Application Automotive Hardware Dev

Bringrr Is A Car Charger That Shouts When You Forget Your Stuff

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Greg Kumparak I’m a pretty patient person, but there’s one thing that instantly makes me go all ragey: driving away from home only to realize I forgot to put something important in my car. That U-turn? It feels like defeat. If I’m already running late when I notice my mistake, prepare to learn some new swear words. Bringrr is a gadget for people like me. It sits in your car’s cigarette lighter port,…

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Entertainment

YouTube gets a daily highlight reel courtesy of DreamWorks

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS YouTube can already recommend related videos, but it doesn’t necessarily show thebest videos; you have to rely on outside help to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, that search for quality clips is about to get a lot easier. The streaming giant is teaming up with DreamWorks to launch YouTube Nation, a five-minute daily show that will highlight its more interesting content, and promises Ultra HD quality for properly-equipped viewers. The…

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Business Space

Virgin Galactic tests new thrusters, further disregards gravity (video)

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As reported on Engadget. BY TIMOTHY J. SEPPALA Last year, Sir Richard Branson promised Virgin Galactic’s first commercial mission would rip through the atmosphere in 2014. That goal has edged ever closer with SpaceShipTwo’s latest trip beyond the sound barrier, where it shot past previous records and hit an altitude of 71,000 feet. This recent dry-run was the maiden voyage for a set of newly designed thrusters (used to keep the vessel on-course in space), and a new coating for the…

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Film Internet

Why Her Will Dominate UI Design Even More Than Minority Report

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As reported on Wired. BY KYLE VANHEMERT The future we see in Her is one where technology has dissolved into everyday life.   A few weeks into the making of Her, Spike Jonze’s new flick about romance in the age of artificial intelligence, the director had something of a breakthrough. After poring over the work of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists trying to figure out how, exactly, his artificially intelligent female lead should operate, Jonze arrived at a critical…

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Article

Why can’t CES quit booth babes?

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As reported on The Verge. By Adrianne Jeffries At this year’s CES, women in tight skirts are back on the floor — but the booth bro and booth bot are catching up It’s pretty common to see scantily clad women at trade shows for industries dominated by men, and CES, the electronics trade show that lures around 150,000 people every January, is typically no different.     But last year, for whatever reason — maybe it…

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Entertainment TV

First trailer for new ‘Game of Thrones’ season promises more bloodshed

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As reported on The Verge. By Kwame Opam Last season of HBO’s Game of Thrones ended with a bang, but, as Jaime Lannister says, the war isn’t won yet. In the first trailer for the fourth season, the fighting continues and Westeros is plunged further into darkness. We’ll be watching when the season starts on April 6th.  

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Microsoft

Rumored Windows ‘Threshold’ Update Could Recast Microsoft’s Key Platform

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Alex Wilhelm Microsoft mostly kept its head down during CES, but with its Build developer conference on the horizon and several platforms to unify, the company has a busy few months ahead of it. Recently, both Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley wrote on Microsoft’s future ‘Threshold’ Windows update. Threshold is not what Microsoft will release in 2014. That code, an update to Windows 8.1, will likely land in the first half of this year,…

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