Crowded Scribbles

Complaints by Netflix’s Reed Hastings and a handful of politicians must have rankled Comcast CTO Tony Werner, as he just posted a particularly detailed explanation of why Comcast believes the Xfinity TV app on the Xbox 360 isn’t violating net neutrality. We’d previously heard the argument that the Xfinity app’s traffic is simply being routed through Comcast’s internal network and isn’t the same as the Internet data of Netflix, but Werner now contends that the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) tags that some think are breaking FCC rules by favoring Xfinity video are really just necessary switches. They’re not prioritizing traffic, they’re setting it aside, the claim goes. Of course, Hastings and others believe that setting Xfinity video aside is prioritizing, and Comcast’s point of view sidesteps the practical reality that watching Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or iTunes will lead you closer to that ever-present 250GB cap while Xfinity doesn’t. The FCC during its rulemaking warned against special private services being used as end-runs around neutrality concerns; it’s up to the agency to decide whether or not that’s true here, or whether Comcast is just offering its usual service in a new way.

Comcast fires back over Xfinity TV on Xbox 360, says no way, no how it’s violating net neutrality originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 May 2012 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has shared some news about the state of its most and least loved Web browsers — Internet Explorer 9 and 6, respectively. Even with IE9 only recently exiting beta, Microsoft reports that 3.6% of Windows 7 users are now running the new browser (no mention of Vista… what’s with that?). The post also reveals that the adoption rate is almost five times what IE8 garnered in the early going.

It’s also interesting to note that there are now more than 1,000 sites utilizing Internet Explorer 9′s Windows 7 integration features — like the new desktop notification support we showed you in Hotmail.

But perhaps the best news of all is that Microsoft’s IE6countdown.com now has more than 400 partners and is generating nearly two million pageviews per month, helping to lure users away from the woefully out-of-date browser. Can the end come soon enough, DS readers?

Internet Explorer 9 nears 4% share on Windows 7, IE6 extinction countdown picks up steam originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another batch of 4G LTE areas have been announced by Verizon and this time, it's a pretty huge list. In total, 28 new markets will be enabled while 11 more will be getting expansions to further improve their already existing coverage. Have a look at the list below and see if your city is listed. If it is, then on May 17th you should be fully enabled for 4G LTE provided you have a compatible device:

Additions:

• Thibodaux and Lake Charles, La.
• Hyannis/Mid-Cape, Mass
• Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Mich
• Biloxi/Gulfport/Pascagoula and Oxford, Miss
• Atlantic City/Toms River, N.J.
• Dickinson and Williston, N.D.
• Ashtabula, Bucyrus and Defiance, Ohio
• Eugene/Springfield, Ore.
• Lancaster, New Castle, Northern Cambria County, Oil City/Franklin, Somerset and York, Pa.
• Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• Mitchell, S.D.
• Paris, Texas
• Burlington/Northern, Vt.
• Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Martinsville and Staunton/Waynesboro, Va.
• Sheridan, Wyo.

Expansions:

• Denver, Colo
• Dover, Del.
• Fort Myers and Lakeland, Fla.
• Hagerstown, Md.
• Canton, Lima, Mansfield, Toledo and Youngstown/Warren, Ohio
• Erie, Pa.

The full press release is below should you need more info. Find your city on the list? Enjoy your new 4G LTE when it gos live on May 17th.

Source: Verizon Wireless

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Years of computer use have taught us that the mouse cursor is “above” the windows. It doesn’t push anything around; at least not without you clicking anything.

Balance takes that ingrained bit of knowledge and cancels it out. Suddenly your cursor (a blue dot) is solid – and if it touches the blue block, it pushes it around.

Your job is to use your cursor to nudge the blue block over to the orange block. You will have to push it, lift it and even flip it on its side, and then balance it. It’s a very tricky game – one I wouldn’t recommend tackling with a laptop trackpad.

Still, if you have a mouse and a hankering for a little physics gameplay, this is a cute little game. I like how the blue block never stops smiling, it makes me feel better about the world.

Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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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We know smartphone and tablet owners like to buy games. But if you go by a new ABI exploration of user habits, most of us aren’t buying much of anything. More than 70 percent of the crowd spends little to nothing on mobile apps, dragging down the average of $14 spent per month among paying customers to a median of $7.50 when you include the skinflints. As you might imagine, that leaves the remaining 30 percent making up for a lot of slack: three percent of downloaders represent a fifth of all the spending in the mobile app world. Researchers suggest that developers focus on a long-term strategy of freemium pricing or utility apps to get more customers buying, but we imagine that writing more games about catapulting frustrated birds might just work out on its own.

Continue reading More than 70 percent of mobile users pay little for apps, big spenders make up for us cheapskates

More than 70 percent of mobile users pay little for apps, big spenders make up for us cheapskates originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 May 2012 02:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mozilla and Google are challenging Microsoft’s decision to shut out all browsers other than Internet Explorer from Windows 8 devices that use ARM processors. This restricts user choice, reduces competition, chills innovation, and might have antitrust implications, among other bad things, Mozilla general counsel Harvey Anderson asserted.

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While we’ve still yet to see anything truly Earth-shattering, the tandem of Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott continues to churn out insight about interesting new features they’ve discovered in Windows 8 milestone 3. The latest discovery is that Aero in Windows 8 will be able to automatically adapt itself to match your current wallpaper image. It’s a bit like what Windows 7 already does with your taskbar icons: if a program alert needs your attention, the icon will glow using the predominant color (e.g. Firefox should glow orange).

And yes, you can already make Windows 7 behave this way if you like. Over at CodePlex, there’s a little program called Aura that parks itself in your system tray and automatically adjusts your window borders to compliment your wallpaper images. The effect is quite nice, and you can try it out by minimizing your windows and cycling through your theme’s wallpapers (right click on your desktop and choose next desktop background).

Windows 8 to feature adaptive Aero colorization, get it now on Windows 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest Apple operating system, iOS 5.1, to hit devices is pre-supplied with the new iPad. the new Os has been designed to fix a few bugs that were previously identified with iPads and iPhones, and also beings better battery life and WiFi connectivity. There are also a host of brand new features which are available on the new iPad 3. The Camera App The new camera is a massive upgrade on the iPad 2 and is something that many [...]

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Yet more fallout in the case of Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn’s sudden resignation last month. Some more light has been shed on those aforementioned “certain issues” we heard about, and now an internal investigation has led to the exit of the big box retailer’s founder Richard Schulze as chairman of the board. Schulze will be replaced by Hatim Tyabji, who has served as the CEO of Bytemobile and as chairman of the Best Buy’s audit committee. The transfer will occur after the company’s annual meeting on June 21, 2012. Tyabji had the following to say about Schulze’s tenure with the company,

Dick’s leadership and vision changed the landscape of American retail, and he will forever be remembered as an iconic entrepreneur. We join Best Buy’s 167,000 employees in thanking him.

More details on Schulze’s exit can be found in an official Best Buy statement after the break.

Continue reading Best Buy founder / chairman steps down after investigation

Best Buy founder / chairman steps down after investigation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 12:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ten One Design Pogo Sketch Pro, part of the Pogo Sketch line up of stylus pens, one of the best we’ve had the pleasure use with the iPad. It’s not as cheap as some of the competition, however, and not as specific as some others. So is it worth it?

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Acer’s Liquid series phones only occasionally reach the FCC, so it’s with some surprise that we’ve just spotted the still-fresh Liquid Glow getting the US agency’s approval under its E330 model name. Details are scarce as to whether or not there’s been any changes made to the Android 4.0 phone on its way out of Taiwan, however: there’s no telltale signs like cellular frequencies or carrier badging. If anything, Acer is hoping to keep information hush-hush by stamping a 180-day confidentiality seal on the manual and photos. It’s entirely possible that this is the international GSM model with no 3G support for North American carriers, so we wouldn’t get worked up about local release plans. Even so, knowing Canadian carrier Rogers’ tendency to offer Acer phones, there’s still a possibility that a version of the Liquid Glow might go on sale this side of the Pacific.

Acer Liquid Glow hits the FCC, keeps its secrets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 May 2012 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft unveiled an update to Bing on Thursday that strongly leverages social networks, including a redesigned interface to provide a three-column look. Responses to queries keyed into Bing will list experts and the user’s friends, who can comment on the topic in the right panel. A new feature called “Snapshot” will display useful information about a specific place or topic in the middle column.

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HTC is pretty confident in the new camera they introduced in the One series. I have to be honest, they have good reason to be. The camera in the One S is downright spectacular, and really can replace a typical point-and-shoot digicam. It's a wonderful mix of hardware, software, and magic that truly delivers. In fact, HTC is pretty sure you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between pictures taken with the One X and those taken with a stand-alone camera. Hit the link below, run through and see what all the fuss is about.

Source: HTC

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Facebook has announced that its two mobile sites — m.facebook.com and touch.facebook.com — have been unified, bringing a simpler mobile experience to Facebook users. And there are a lot of those — a quarter billion, according to Facebook.

Smartphone users won’t be losing any functionality because of the consolidation. If your phone supported the enhacned features offered by touch.facebook.com, the new site will automatically flip the switch when you visit.

Rolling the sites together helps simplify things for Facebook’s developer team. Now changes can be pushed to a single site instead of two separate sites, which makes it easier to ensure that all mobile users receive a nearly identical experience regardless of the device they’re using.

The new Facebook mobile can also check to see if your phone supports geolocation. If it doesn’t, you won’t be seeing much of Facebook Places — which obviously relies heavily on geolocation. Images can also be optimized on the fly to keep page performance from suffering on less powerful devices. You can see the three different versions of the share button below, courtesy our friends at TechCrunch.

Facebook launches unified mobile site, announces 250 million mobile users originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Competition is a good thing, and the browser arena has been a fierce arena for years now. There are at least four “major” browsers each vying for your attention, along with lots of smaller spin-offs (SRWare Iron or Flock, anyone?).

While the browser usage charts we share from time to time show overall browser usage amongst the Web at large, Download Squad readers are not exactly the average bunch in terms of browser use. So today we have one simple question for you:

What’s your primary Web browser?

View Poll

Ask DLS: What’s your primary Web browser? originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by “eating” the dirt; or so he thinks. That’s how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you’re not really a toilet cleaner after all — you’re a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that’s smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow — and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it’s a really cute game, and there’s no gore or anything like that.

Supposedly you keep growing and growing until you’re able to eat whole planets (hence the name). The challenge factor comes when you realize you can’t touch any critter larger than yourself – you’ll get “bitten” and become smaller. In the beginning you’re so small, that a single touch can kill you. Later on, you’re big enough that touching larger animals doesn’t kill you on the spot, but it does reduce your size. Each level is timed, so if you’re not large enough by the time your clock runs out, you need to start again. As long as you don’t touch the larger animals, you should be fine.

All in all, a fun, addictive little game. It’s available for iOS, too.

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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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Moments ago, Mozilla stripped the release candidate moniker from Firefox 4 Mobile and pronounced it fit for public release. If you have a Nokia N900 phone, or a fairly-modern Android 2.0-or-later device, go ahead and install it from the Market, by using scanning the QR code after the break, or by visiting Firefox.com/m.

Accompanying the release is the launch of Spark, a cute social game that’s designed to fuel the adoption of Firefox 4 Mobile, much like last week’s use of Glow and Twitter Party during Firefox 4 PC’s release.

While the browser still feels a little rough around the edges, it’s definitely worth trying out if you’re still using Android’s stock browser. Its JavaScript performance is significantly better than any other Android browser, and if you use Firefox on your PC, its built-in Sync functionality is awesome.

Over the next few days we’ll have plenty of tips and tricks for Firefox 4 Mobile, and a list of the best add-ons available for the new browser.

Continue reading Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices

Firefox 4 Mobile officially released for Android and Maemo devices originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With e-books and digital subscription of magazines and newspapers becoming the new hot, many are sending off the message that print is gradually losing or has even already lost to its digital counterpart, while others argue that print is far from dead. Needless to say, being one of the leading manufacturers of printers, HP took the “print is dead” claim quite personally — and perhaps too literally. How so? Well, the company commissioned a project that got participants in the US, India and Singapore to live without printed materials — including newspapers, books, labels, packaging, ID cards and even some clothes — for two days. Needless to say, those folks struggled really badly, but HP certainly proved that “the role of print is vastly underestimated” and that “true print deprivation was impossible.”

If you think that’s an overkill, just you wait: HP and renowned photographer Chase Jarvis even went as far as getting a Wisconsin town called Spring Green to undergo a similar experiment, but for a duration of seven days. The entire project will be presented in a video documentary called 7 Days Without Print, and ahead of its premiere at Guggenheim Museum in New York on June 14, we were shown an exclusive trailer for said movie at HP’s Global Influencer Summit in Shanghai. For the sake of those poor participants, do check out the clip right after the break.

Update: Sorry folks, but we’ve been asked to remove the trailer as it’s not ready for public viewing yet, but we’ll put up the official version once it’s out.

HP takes print away from town for seven days, laughs at ‘print is dead’ claim (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 May 2012 17:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking for some new applications to install on your Android device? Each week we share some of our favorites with you, and we look forward to you sharing your favorites with us in the comments. Let's hit the break and check out some of this weeks favorites.

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