Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Dell portrays itself as a feisty startup in its first ad after going private (video)




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Dell portrays itself as a feisty startup in its first ad after going private (video)



Now that Dell is once again a private company, it's trying to shake off its reputation as a member of the status quo. Appropriately, the PC builder just unveiled a new TV ad that suggests it has all the energy and vision of a technology startup. The ...






Snapchat user info database leaks, claims to hold most numbers and usernames




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Snapchat user info database leaks, claims to hold most numbers and usernames



Last week security researchers published a way to skim Snapchat's full database, and it appears someone did it before the vulnerability was addressed. A website called SnapchatDB! has appeared posting SQL/CSV files that it claims contain the username ...






Samsung's new TV remote for 2014 is 80 percent smaller, has touch, voice and gesture control




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Samsung's new TV remote for 2014 is 80 percent smaller, has touch, voice and gesture control



Samsung couldn't wait for CES to start leaking information about its new HDTVs, starting with the remote. After rolling out larger and larger contraptions over the years with more buttons (on both sides, even), this year's "Smart Control" model is 80 ...






Netflix is testing multiple new subscription plans, like 3 streams for $9.99




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Netflix is testing multiple new subscription plans, like 3 streams for $9.99



Netflix likes to run small tests of features and packages before it offers them widely (like its new unified UI), and that includes the "1 SD stream for $6.99" some have started seeing recently. Another offer currently in testing covers the hole ...






Sony's first PlayStation 4 ad for Japan teases the Japanese with everyone's joy




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Sony's first PlayStation 4 ad for Japan teases the Japanese with everyone's joy



Japan, you'll get the PlayStation 4 soon. Promise. For now, look at everyone else enjoying it. Don't they look happy? That could be you on February 22nd! ...






Microsoft reportedly talking to Sony about Windows Phone launch in 2014




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Microsoft reportedly talking to Sony about Windows Phone launch in 2014



Microsoft only has a few key Windows Phone partners under its belt, but it may be expanding the ecosystem very shortly -- The Information hears from sources that Redmond is once again in talks to launch a Sony-made Windows Phone. While there's no ...






Apple claims it 'has never worked with the NSA' to create backdoors in any of its products




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Apple claims it 'has never worked with the NSA' to create backdoors in any of its products



While it may feel we're more at the stage where we're counting the parts of our digital lives that the NSA can't access, the revelation yesterday that the agency had relatively deep access to iPhones was still a shock to many. Apple included, it ...






10 tech non-profits worth donating to before 2014




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10 tech non-profits worth donating to before 2014



Granted, the holidays didn't exactly leave us flush with cash, but as every charity we've ever contributed to has reminded us via e-mail over the past couple of days, the year is drawing to an end, which means we're running out of time to rack up ...






Google wants to make your mundane conversations into quirky online comics




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Google wants to make your mundane conversations into quirky online comics



Deep down, we'd all like to believe our text-based interactions are worthy of Calvin & Hobbes-style witticisms. They're not and you know it, but does Google? No matter, because the tech giant was just awarded a patent to format your virtual ...






Want to stream ABC shows the day after they air? Better get cable




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Want to stream ABC shows the day after they air? Better get cable



As the legions of cord cutters continue to grow, companies are looking for any way to keep customers tied to their increasingly archaic (and offensively priced) pay TV subscriptions. ABC is just the latest network to get in on the frustrating ...






Leak hints Google may shut down its Schemer goal sharing service




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Leak hints Google may shut down its Schemer goal sharing service



We can't blame you if you haven't heard of Google's Schemer; the goal sharing service launched at the end of 2011, but it hasn't received much publicity (or traffic) since. Accordingly, the crew in Mountain View may be close to shutting Schemer down. ...






Sony launches dedicated Xperia Z Ultra cases for QX lens cameras




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Sony launches dedicated Xperia Z Ultra cases for QX lens cameras



Though Sony's crazy QX10 and QX100 lens cameras can attach to most smartphones, the company naturally favored its own Xperia Z and Z1 handsets by creating custom cases for those devices. Now it's doing the same for its crazy-large 6.4-inch Xperia Z ...






Snapdragon 805's desktop-class mobile graphics chops in action (video)




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Snapdragon 805's desktop-class mobile graphics chops in action (video)



Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 chip is still pretty dang new, but the company's already churned out a follow-up: the Snapdragon 805, a so-called Ultra HD processor. Like the 800, this version is a Krait-based, quad-core chip, and its biggest selling point ...






Google Play Music All Access customers are next in line for Glass




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Google Play Music All Access customers are next in line for Glass



Google is expanding its pool of Explorers, slowly but surely. First it was people attending I/O, then friends of existing Explorers, now its subscribers to Play Music All Access. To celebrate the release of Play Music on Glass (albeit a little ...






Insert Coin: 2013's top 10 crowdfunding projects




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Insert Coin: 2013's top 10 crowdfunding projects



An underwater drone that you can control with your tablet or smartphone from up to 300 feet away. Reckon that's worth a pledge of around $200? Plenty of you did, because Ziphius is now a very real thing, thanks to its passionate everyman backers. ...






The year in reviews: 2013's best and worst gadgets scored and scrutinized




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The year in reviews: 2013's best and worst gadgets scored and scrutinized



Fun fact: Engadget reviewed 176 products in 2013, and that's not even counting the umpteen times we got hands-on with stuff at tradeshows and press events.

In general, we try to review just the top-tier gadgets, but even then, some of it ends up ...






Mac Pro teardown reveals simple repair process and upgradeable CPU




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Mac Pro teardown reveals simple repair process and upgradeable CPU



The new Mac Pro's highly customized design may look like it's a pain to fix, but don't be fooled -- it's friendlier than you think. An iFixit teardown of the workstation has revealed that it's easy to take apart, and that several components can be ...






HP woes continue as 5,000 more employees face the axe




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HP woes continue as 5,000 more employees face the axe



It certainly won't be a happy new year for thousands of HP employees -- not when the company has increased its layoff numbers yet again. Hewlett-Packard already adjusted the number of people it needed to let go from 27,000 to 29,000 a year ago, but ...






TiVo co-founders joining forces for yet another set-top box




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TiVo co-founders joining forces for yet another set-top box



How on earth are you supposed to fill your days after leaving the successful set-top box company you created? Well, if you're TiVo co-founders Mike Ramsay and Jim Barton, the answer is to start all over again. You see, after Barton resigned from TiVo ...






Mars One expedition whittles down its applicant pool to just over 1,000




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Mars One expedition whittles down its applicant pool to just over 1,000



Apparently, over 200,000 people applied for Mars One's mission to permanently leave Earth -- and while there's room to spare on the Martian plains, moving that many humans off-planet simply isn't feasible. The outfit culled that initial pool to 1,058 ...






LG Lifeband Touch leak suggests fitness wearable could be imminent




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LG Lifeband Touch leak suggests fitness wearable could be imminent



We love it when a leak and a rumor come together. LG's Lifeband Touch (as claimed by @evleaks), pictured above, is most likely the wearable that was hinted at just last week. The fitness band is likely an evolution of that which we saw back at CES, ...






Microsoft's OneNote Android app updated with native sharing and widgets




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Microsoft's OneNote Android app updated with native sharing and widgets



Since its major overhaul back in July, Microsoft's OneNote Android app has languished while the company built out the Windows version of its note-taking tool. That changed today after Microsoft pushed live a new update to the Play Store, which ...






Eric Schmidt: my biggest mistake at Google was not anticipating social




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Eric Schmidt: my biggest mistake at Google was not anticipating social



Even billionaires can get a bit wistful when a new year rolls around. In an interview with Bloomberg about 2014 predictions, Google's CEO-turned-executive-chairman Eric Schmidt took a moment to reflect on past mistakes. Well, mistake, really. "At ...






Leaked documents detail 2008 NSA program to hack and remote control iPhones (video)




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Leaked documents detail 2008 NSA program to hack and remote control iPhones (video)



Part of security expert Jacob Appelbaum's Chaos Communications Congress presentation exposed NSA methods to hack systems via WiFi from long range, but we'll also point out another segment focusing on the Apple iPhone (embedded after the break, ...






Monday, December 30, 2013

Nintendo put limits on 3DS StreetPass sharing so it can add features later




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Nintendo put limits on 3DS StreetPass sharing so it can add features later



StreetPass data swaps are handy for 3DS owners who want to expand their games with other players' content, but they limit the number of new people you can accept at any one time. Ever wonder why that is? As it turns out, Nintendo has been ...






Just 24 hours left to win a Sony Xperia Tablet Z, QX10 camera and other great prizes in our holiday giveaway!




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Just 24 hours left to win a Sony Xperia Tablet Z, QX10 camera and other great prizes in our holiday giveaway!



It's almost 2014! Round out the year by doing yourself a favor: enter our 11 holiday giveaways by visiting each of our guides here. We're giving away some of Sony's best gear, including the Xperia Tablet Z and the QX10 attachable lens camera. You ...






LG's new Windows 8 PCs include Tab-Book 2 sliders, 'ultra' laptop and an all-in-one




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LG's new Windows 8 PCs include Tab-Book 2 sliders, 'ultra' laptop and an all-in-one



Next week at CES LG will show off a few new devices running Windows 8, like the Tab-Book 2 line (above) that hides a QWERTY keyboard underneath its 11.6-inch screen, 13Z940 "ultra PC" laptop (pictured after the break) and a new 27-inch all-in-one. ...






Fitbit app lets you track activity with just your iPhone 5s, no Fitbit device required




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Fitbit app lets you track activity with just your iPhone 5s, no Fitbit device required



Fitbit updated its iOS app today, bringing, perhaps most significantly, the ability to track "basic" activity on an iPhone 5s, without the company's proprietary wearable. Using Apple's motion-sensing M7 chip, the app'll track your steps, distance and ...






Daily Roundup: Tech's biggest misfires, Samsung's 110-inch UHDTV, 2013 in review and more!




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Daily Roundup: Tech's biggest misfires, Samsung's 110-inch UHDTV, 2013 in review and more!



You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all ...






Nokia wins German injunction banning HTC Android devices




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Nokia wins German injunction banning HTC Android devices



Nokia is clearly on a roll in the courtroom as of late -- following lawsuit wins in the Netherlands, the US and the UK, the company has landed a German injunction banning all of HTC's Android-based devices. The ruling lets Nokia provisionally block ...






Must See HDTV for the week of December 30th: Community, Dragonball Z and Downton Abbey




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Must See HDTV for the week of December 30th: Community, Dragonball Z and Downton Abbey



As we say goodbye to 2013 the week is filled with New Year's Eve celebrations (Ryan Seacrest vs. Carson Daly) and a different kind of competition with college bowl games and the opening round of the NFL playoffs. Looking for more than sportsball and ...






Netflix intros cheaper standard definition streaming plan for new subscribers




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Netflix intros cheaper standard definition streaming plan for new subscribers



If you consider yourself both extremely frugal and averse to the luxuries of seeing Hollywood eye candy actors in Super HD, Netflix's new SD tier could be right up your alley. The streaming service has begun offering a low-end plan for new ...






The biggest stories of 2013: Console wars, Bitcoin's boom and the NSA's very bad year




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The biggest stories of 2013: Console wars, Bitcoin's boom and the NSA's very bad year



2013 was a bust! Or so we've been told. Whether you follow that line of thinking or reflect on the last 363 days in a more optimistic light, it's clear the year wasn't all big breakthroughs and great triumphs. This was the year of government ...






Archos previews connected home, health monitoring devices ahead of CES




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Archos previews connected home, health monitoring devices ahead of CES



Archos looks to be getting in on the New Year's resolutions a bit early. The company clearly couldn't wait for CES to spill the beans on its 2014 lineup -- at least so far as connected devices are concerned. The device maker wants to make you a part ...






NSA can hack WiFi devices from eight miles away (video)




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NSA can hack WiFi devices from eight miles away (video)



The NSA may have the ability to intercept data from around the world, but we now know that it has some impressive (and intimidating) equipment for snooping on nearby targets. Security guru Jacob Appelbaum told those at the Chaos Communications ...






Chromebooks overtake Android tablets and Macs in US business sales




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Chromebooks overtake Android tablets and Macs in US business sales



Chrome OS is at last gaining some momentum -- among US businesses and schools, anyway. The NPD Group reports that Chromebooks represented 9.6 percent of all computing devices sold through American commercial channels in 2013, or enough to surpass the ...






Hackers reverse engineer Wii U GamePad to stream from PC (video)




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Hackers reverse engineer Wii U GamePad to stream from PC (video)



Thought using the Wii U GamePad as a simple PC controller was a neat trick? Try this on for size: a small team of hackers has figured out how to stream PC games to the tablet-esque controller natively, circumventing its host console. The hack was ...






Archos will debut multiple 'Pebble-like' smartwatches at CES, starting at less than $50




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Archos will debut multiple 'Pebble-like' smartwatches at CES, starting at less than $50



There's one more interesting nugget in today's jam-packed Archos press release. Alongside the home tablet, scale, weather system, activity monitor, et al. is a very brief mention of a smartwatch -- a "selection of" smartwatches, actually. There's not ...






FAA selects six sites for drone testing because flying robots are our future




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FAA selects six sites for drone testing because flying robots are our future



One day, drones will be flying overhead... and it will be normal. But, right now, concern over the safety of allowing unmanned aircraft to roam freely in our airspace outweighs their groovy future potential. Which is why the FAA today, following a ...






Tech's biggest misfires of 2013




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Tech's biggest misfires of 2013



You can't win 'em all. The adage certainly holds in the fast-paced world of technology, where one small slip can put a damper on your entire year. Every year, among all of the celebrations of top gadgets and big news stories, we like to take a moment ...






The man behind NYT Magazine's gorgeous covers is headed to Apple




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The man behind NYT Magazine's gorgeous covers is headed to Apple



You may not know the name Arem Duplessis, but you've no doubt seen his work on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in the past 10 years. As design director at NYT Mag, he crafted some of the most stunning work in the publication's history -- ...






Huawei Ascend Mate 2 snapped with its predecessor, said to keep 720p panel




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Huawei Ascend Mate 2 snapped with its predecessor, said to keep 720p panel



While there's been no reason to doubt whispers of a follow-up to Huawei's Ascend Mate, pictures of the super-sized device have so far been unflattering. Today, however, a Mate 2-toting source has sent some snaps to our friends at Engadget Chinese, ...






French Uber users face 15-minute delay starting next year




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French Uber users face 15-minute delay starting next year



To the surprise of virtually everyone in France, the government has just passed a law requiring car services like Uber to wait 15 minutes before picking up passengers. The bill is designed to help regular taxi drivers, who feel threatened by ...






LG makes Knock a standard feature, update coming for L Series II models




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LG makes Knock a standard feature, update coming for L Series II models



LG first rolled out its Knock feature on the G2 earlier this year, but now that item will become a standard feature on future handsets. If you'll recall, the power button on that smartphone is situated around back, so Knock allows users to turn the ...






Sunday, December 29, 2013

Google, Audi to announce in-car Android plans next week, says WSJ




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Google, Audi to announce in-car Android plans next week, says WSJ



Google has big plans to put Android in cars, and will start by announcing a tie-up with Audi at CES 2014 next week, according to the WSJ. Its sources said that Android will power an in-car entertainment system for that automaker, which will run on ...






Samsung's new chip could put 4GB of memory in your next smartphone




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Samsung's new chip could put 4GB of memory in your next smartphone



Think the 3GB of RAM in the Galaxy Note 3 was a lot? Samsung was only getting started. The company has just unveiled the first 8-gigabit (1GB) low-power DDR4 memory chip, which could lead to 4GB of RAM in a multi-layered, mobile-sized package. Moving ...






How would you change Canon's EOS-1D X?




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How would you change Canon's EOS-1D X?



A $7,000 camera may only share a border with the mainstream gadgets we normally discuss on How Would You Change, but it's one that's worth bending a rule to discuss here. In the hands of our reviewer, we learned that Canon's EOS-1D X wasn't ...






Hackers reverse engineer Wii U GamePad to stream from PC




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Hackers reverse engineer Wii U GamePad to stream from PC



Thought using the Wii U GamePad as a simple PC controller was a neat trick? Try this on for size: a small team of hackers has figured out how to stream PC games to the tablet-esque controller natively, circumventing its host console. The hack was ...






Samsung's 110-inch Ultra HDTV is the world's largest, and it goes on sale Monday




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Samsung's 110-inch Ultra HDTV is the world's largest, and it goes on sale Monday



Samsung promised at CES in January that it would deliver a 110-inch UHDTV this year to dwarf its already-gargantuan 85-inch model, and with just a couple of days left to spare it's done it. Apparently rolling out in China, the Middle East and a few ...






Weekly Roundup: 2013 Mac Pro review, judge okays NSA spying and more!




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Weekly Roundup: 2013 Mac Pro review, judge okays NSA spying and more!



You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all ...