What a pleasant surprise on this Tuesday afternoon. Facebook just updated to version 1.5 and with it comes real, live Facebook chat to the Android app. Still plenty that could be better with the Android implementation of the world’s biggest social network, but we’ll take what they give us. Now, time to dig in and see what the FB team has given us…

[thanks kgeissler!]

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One of the more popular shirts for adults at ThinkGeek, their Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt, is now available for kids! The shirts are short sleeved, but don’t let that stop you from rocking out this winter. (You can always wear a long sleeved shirt underneath, preferably white, black, red, yellow, or orange, to match the shirt.)

A guitar in a shirt? you ask, quizzically. Why yes. It’s all very ingenious. Your first thought may be, as mine was, how do you wash the thing? No worries there. The guitar neck is attached to the shirt with hook and loop closures. The amp is connected by a cable, which is also removable. Then hand wash or machine wash cold on gentle cycle. Hang dry or tumble dry low. Then reconnect everything, and rock out some more!

The itty bitty amp runs on four AAA batteries (not included). It has an on/off switch, an output jack, and tone and volume dials. It can fit into a sewn-in pocket inside the shirt, or there is also a clip on the amp for clipping to your belt or pocket.

[Read the rest of this rockin' review over at GeekMom!]

View full post on GeekDad

In addition to our BlackBerry PlayBook video from earlier today, BGR got to check it out as well and delved a bit more into some unanswered questions. Here we get a near ten-minute look at the PlayBook in action and I have to say it keeps getting sweeter. Everything as of now looks so smooth and we can only hope it will be even better come launch. Some highlights include:

• The entire bezel is used for navigating. Swipe the sides to get around system-wide. The top is available for specific actions within applications
• Media playback is amazing. Start music in the media app (or Pandora/Slacker?) and drop it to the background as it continues to play. Same goes for videos as they will continue to play in the background when minimized
• There are "views" much like BlackBerry 6 for navigating that can be swiped through
• Swipe to move between views and apps, flick up to exit an app
• Looks like you can open the keyboard by swiping up from the bottom left on the bezel

Overall some very cool stuff in what is probably the best look we’ve had at the device so far. No look at the web browser yet, but surely much more to come on this so don’t go too far. We’ll have plenty more in the coming weeks!

Source: BGR

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. BGR goes hands on with the BlackBerry PlayBook

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Prash just released a very nice 2×2 clock widget called “Mau5 Clock Widget“. If you are like many running the Mau5 theme or even if this clock just plain looks good then head into the market and pick it up.

Click or Scan the QRCode below to find out more information about Mau5 Clock Widget.
Summary and Downloads:

Application: Mau5 Clock Widget
Developer: Prash
Cost: FREE

View full post on AndroidSPIN

Adobe has released the first beta of Flash Player 10.2, an update that focuses primarily on speed and performance improvements. New in Flash 10.2 is something Adobe calls “Stage Video hardware acceleration,” which the company claims will “decrease processor usage and enable higher frame rates, reduced memory usage, and greater pixel fidelity and quality.” And the hardware acceleration technology does do all of these things, though your mileage will vary depending on what kind of hardware you’re using.

To try out the new Flash Player 10.2 beta, head over the Adobe download page. Be aware that, while 10.2 appears to be relatively stable, it is a beta release and there may be bugs.

The Stage Video hardware acceleration means that Flash Player 10.2 can leverage your graphics card for not just H.264 hardware decoding (which works in Flash Player 10.1) but also color conversion, scaling, and blitting.

Adobe’s press release makes a rather bold claim: “using Stage Video, we’ve seen laptops play smooth 1080p HD video with just over 0% CPU usage.”

Sadly, we have not seen such results. While we won’t argue with the smoothness of the playback in this new release, Flash is still going to use quite a bit of your PC’s CPU. Based on my testing (done on a Macbook Pro laptop using both Firefox 4b7 and Safari 5), while CPU usage is down in Flash 10.2, it’s still a long way from zero.

We tested several 1080p videos on YouTube in Flash Player 10.1 and found that on average the 10.1 plugin used between 44-48 percent cpu. Watching the same movie in Flash 10.2 did drop the cpu usage down to the 18-22 percent range, but definitely not zero.

Worse, running the same tests on Adobe’s Stage Video optimized demos, Flash 10.2 actually performed worse than than it did on normal 1080p movies with the cpu usage varying widely between 5 and 60 percent (the 18-20 percent range appears to be the norm).

The short story is that, while Flash 10.2 does offer decreased processor usage, it doesn’t quite live up to Adobe’s claims. While Flash Player 10.2’s performance falls short of the hype, there’s no question that it’s a huge leap forward in terms of performance. The smaller CPU footprint alone is well worth the upgrade, provided you don’t mind running beta software. So far Adobe has not set a final release data for Flash 10.2.

One other thing to keep in mind: to take advantage of the new Stage Video tools, sites like YouTube and Vimeo will need to alter their video players. So, it may be some time before the full benefit of Stage Video’s improvements makes it to your day-to-day web browsing.

As for other new features in this release, there’s Internet Explorer 9 GPU support and support for fullscreen mode with dual monitors — meaning that you can have a movie on one screen and keep working on another.

Custom cursors get some love in this release, too, with Flash Player 10.2 handing off the job to the operating system rather than using resources to manually draw custom cursors. The beta also improves text rendering, adding sub-pixel rendering enhancements that should make your typography look a bit nicer and more readable.

It’s worth noting that the Flash Player 10.2 beta does not replace the Flash Player “Square” preview release — in other words, Flash Player 10.2 still isn’t 64-bit native. If 64-bit support is important to you, stick with the Flash Player “Square” preview.

See Also:

• Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Arrives
• Adobe Revamps Flash Player for Netbooks, P2P, Private Browsing
• Adobe Fights Off HTML5 Threat With New Flash Player 10.1

View full post on Webmonkey

Sure, we’re an all Android blog, but that doesn’t mean we don’t catch the other news out there. Like earlier this year, when Gray Powell inadvertently left the then-unreleased iPhone 4 at a bar, and Gizmodo got their hands on it, causing a huge stink in the tech world. Well, wouldn’t you know it, Gizmodo has gotten their hands on some more tech leakage, and they’ve got a high-resolution photo shoot to prove it – again.

It seems that one of Gizmodo’s tipsters purchased a Motorola Olympus (which, as of late, has been infamous for leaking photos) at a flea market. The unit, when initially purchased, would not turn on. However, the tipster said he was able to hold down the volume down and power keys to access a developers menu, which included an option to bypass activation. Convenient? You bet.

The biggest thing here is that Gizmodo has confirmed that the device they have in their hands is using a Tegra 2 processor, which is the biggest selling point thus far on the Motorola Olympus. They also tell us that they found HDMI and microUSB connections, along with a front-facing camera, and is running Android 2.2 Froyo. Gizmodo is also quoted as saying:

It does look larger than the Defy, as we said before, so that means the screen size is going to be larger than 3.7-inches.

Sounds like our oft-leaked Olympus for sure. Gizmodo is now asking those with access to the Olympus to see if they can confirm that it really does run a Tegra 2 chipset. This information would almost 100% verify if the device they have is truly a Motorola Olympus.

Do you think we’re going to see any backlash from Motorola over this device? Will it be iPhone-4-gate all over again? Be sure to hit the break for a full photo gallery, and let us know all your thoughts on this in the comments below!

Read More…

Motorola Olympus goes iPhone 4 route – found at a flea market, poses for photos

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

WinAmp for Android is leaving beta and going 1.0. Checking the market, it still looks beta, so perhaps the update has just been “announced” and being rolled out but not completely ready to go yet. Those of you using the WinAmp beta will likely be happy for the update, and if you haven’t tried it yet and are still using the default media player — you should really check it out, it’s a fine, free music player. And it allows syncing with WinAmp on your computer via wifi, which is quite handy. Full list of features includes:

• Wireless Desktop Sync – In addition to the standard USB sync, Winamp for Android offers Wi-Fi sync with the Winamp desktop client.
• iTunes Library – A stand-out feature of the WAFA app is the ability it affords users to import all music and playlists from iTunes.
• Mobile Media Library – WAFA is a complete Android media management solution that seamlessly updates a user’s music library when changes are made either on the device or the desktop
• SHOUTcast Radio – Users can access one of the world’s largest radio directories; browse by genre; bookmark favorite directory listings, and view recent listening history
• Persistent Player Controls – Always available controls allow users to quickly pause, change tracks, manage play queue and gracefully navigate through the application.
• Widget Players & Shortcuts – Users can add playlist shortcuts along with a functional widget player to the Android home screen and also directly control playback from the lock-screen.
• Now Playing – This feature displays song info, album art, artist bios, photos and discography. Users can press and hold on the track info to interact with other related apps installed on their phone like Pandora, YouTube and the Amazon MP3 store.
• Scrobbling – WAFA supports scrobbling with the Last.fm app when both are installed, capturing users’ mobile listening history in real time.
• Ongoing innovation of WAFA will include the addition of new features and upgrades over time, including Podcast support, tablet support and more.

Presser after the break. Be sure to check out WinAmp for Android here.

Read More…

WinAmp for Android Leaves Beta, Goes Official

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

In celebration of the much publicized 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. and in anticipation of his forthcoming Retro EP (scheduled to drop this year on Black Friday), Brooklyn-based hip-hopper Never Yet Contested has just released a brand new video single with a distinctly old school twist. His track “Retro” celebrates not only classic systems like the NES, but the whole evolution of the home videogame console. Check it out below, and I challenge you not to sing along with the chorus.

View full post on GeekDad

Samsung’s finally confirmed the Samsung Continuum themselves. It’s been out in the wild for a long time, but neither them or Verizon had acknowledged its existence. (That never threw us off, of course.) They’ve just tweeted that the Samsung Continuum will be launching on Verizon November 11th as the first phone with a secondary dedicated ticker display. It looks like that’ll be the big announcement tonight, as well, as Rob and Kevin will be on hand at Samsung’s unveiling to get some face time with the device. (Please don’t sue me, Apple.)

[via Samsung Twitter]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Computerworld’s Ryan Faas looks at Tango Video Calls, a mobile video chat app for both iOS and Android devices that differs quite a bit from Apple’s own FaceTime offering.

View full post on Macworld

Compared to their first ad this one just doesn’t pack quite the same punch. But it’s still good for a chortle…and drooling, plenty of that.

[via TmoNews]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Happy Halloween!!! October 31st is here, and in addition to all the trick of treating that will be taking place today it also means that the BlackBerry Style from Sprint is now on sale! We called around to a few Sprint stores yesterday and it looks like most have it in stock and ready to buy TODAY. If you’re getting one, drop us a comment and be sure to let us know how it goes and what your first impressions are.

You can check out my video first impressions and overview video of the Style above. My full review will be coming this week. I’ve actually been rocking the Style all weekend in Las Vegas (been getting a few weird glances though – maybe I should have grabbed the Steel Grey one instead of Royal Purple) but all in all have been really liking the phone. BlackBerry 6 is snappy on it, the camera has been taking good photos and the battery has been getting me through the day ok. If you’re a flip phone fan the Style is a no brainer — especially at Sprint’s attractive $99/2year contract pricing — and I could even see some non-flip phone fans getting won over by it too. It’s a nice little addition to the BlackBerry lineup. 

If you’re looking for more info on the Style, check out the press release here and head to your local Sprint store!

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Sprint BlackBerry Style goes on sale today. You getting one?

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Image: Len Peralta

The geeks are speaking about “Geek A Week.”

Cleveland artist Len Peralta’s quest to create a year-long trading-card style tribute to geekdom, which began last winter with a Jonathan Coulton card, is not only going strong 33 weeks in, but has landed a big CNN.com profile today with quotes from Adam Savage, Felicia Day and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Peralta’s also kept busy with his W00tstock poster work and illustrating Trace Beaulieu’s Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children.

Catch up on the whole set here, and listen to Peralta’s interviews with many of his subjects at GeekAWeek.net. (Where he’s also announced the next card in the set.)

View full post on GeekDad

Foilow @crackberryworld on twitter for International BlackBerry News!

Regular readers of CrackBerry.com know that when it comes to our BlackBerry news coverage we tend to focus on North America first, occassionally blogging the news happening internationally when big stuff happens. But the truth is, CrackBerry.com gets a lot of traffic from all over the world, so we’re making a pledge to do a better job of covering the BlackBerry news that happens outside of the United States and Canada.

To that end, we’ve started up a new blog post category called International News (you can find it on the drop down menu under Articles ) and we’re bringing onboard more writers to help handle the load. You may have already noticed two of our international bloggers at work… both Yousif Abdullah and DJ Reyes, who participated in our CrackBerry Idol competition, have already been hard at work blogging in the new news section. For the forseeable future we’ll still be writing all international news posts in english, but we’ll see how things go… with time we may work to expand into more langagues.

Follow CrackBerry World News via RSS and Twitter: By default, our International News posts will not appear on the CrackBerry homepage or in our default CrackBerry RSS/Twitter feed, though from time to time we will promote international stories of mass appeal to the main site. In addition to clicking into our International News blog post category, you can also follow via RSS and on twitter at @crackberryworld. 

Submit Your Stories: If you ever have or come across stories you think should appear in our International News section, you can email them in to us at editorial@crackberry.com. 

That’s it! We hope you enjoy this new improvement to CrackBerry.com. We’re working hard on a lot of exciting things right now, so as always, keep it locked to CrackBerry.com!! 

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. CrackBerry coverage goes worldwide with our new International News section!

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

In honor of the Halloween Season upon us, GeekMom is going Spooky (not Spocky, though I wouldn’t be surprised if some of us did). You’ll notice a few changes, including a rather batty new banner, as well as posts with a frightening twist. Some tasty tidbits we’ve posted so far:

• Get a free Halloween-themed coloring page courtesy of Brigid Ashwood
• Learn how to make a spooky wreath with Kathy Ceceri
• Corrina Lawson gives the rundown on an easy Don Draper costume
• Throw a Star Wars Halloween party with Jennifer Day
• Kris Bordessa talks about the Countdown to the Great Pumpkin

We’ve got lots more Halloween geekery in the works, so we’ll keep you posted!

View full post on GeekDad

The Samsung Transform thought it’d steal all of the show today, but the Samsung Galaxy 551 isn’t having it. Word is that it’s just gone official for 389 euros and is set to launch across Europe this November. It features a 667 megahertz processor, a 3.2-inch LCD display with a resolution of 240X400, TouchWiz UI, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, DLNA support, a 3-megapixel camera, and more.

What’s more is that it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and will be running Android 2.2. No word on which carriers will be picking this one up, but we imagine that it won’t be too bad of a deal to just pick this one up without a contract.

[via Samsung Hub]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Apple vs Nokia Patent Battle Goes International
Apple has moved to begin a lawsuit against Nokia in Britain in what seems to be the next stage in a patent battle between the two companies. The two technology firms have been locking horns since October 2009 when Nokia sued Apple in the United States over patent infringement. From an update article on the corporate [...] Apple vs Nokia Patent Battle Goes International is a post from …

Read more on SiliconANGLE

We already know that the Galaxy Tab is landing in the UK on November 1, but those of us residing in the US and Canada are still eagerly awaiting information regarding pricing and release dates.

We’re still in the dark in this area, but T-Mobile is at least now taking pre-registration for their first Android tablet.

The juicy details will likely find their way online before T-Mobile can send it out, but if you’d like to sign up to be notified about the Galaxy Tab, you can do so here.

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

Google pulled out its wallet and went on an acquisition spree this year, according to research firm CB Insights.

View full post on Macworld

Over at Dell’s official open source file directory, the Dell Streak has joined the ranks of the Aero by moving into open source space. Want to build a custom ROM? No problem. See the inner workings of the Streak’s OS? Sure. So, if you’re the Android-device-developer type, be sure to hit up the source link below and download the source code, and be sure to let us know what you think of your findings in the comments below.

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

The latest big buzz on Android tablets has been the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but there’s another tablet looking to grab some of that 7 inch marketspace:   the Viewsonic ViewPad 7, which was recently shown off at IFA 2010 Berlin.  It may not have specs as impressive as the Galaxy Tab (slower processor and lower resolution), but the fact that it’s already running Froyo 2.2, and stock at that, is a comfort.  It even has Marketplace access.  Maybe manufactures are starting to listen to the consumer plea for vanilla Android.

What exactly does this mean?  Instead of waiting for a software update from the manufacturer, you will get your updates directly from Google as they are released.  Keep in mind, that although the ViewPad 7 has lower specs, it also means it will most likely be priced better then the competition.  Which is good for public consumption.  If you want something with more power, there is also the Viewsonic ViewPad 100 coming out, which is a 10-incher with beefier specs, although it has only been seen running Android 1.6 so far.

Check out the hands on video of the ViewSonic ViewPad 7 below:

Read More…

The man’s keeping the Apple TV down, and this case that man isn’t Steve Jobs. Nothing can defeat the iPod touch, and the Macalope’s not breaking a sweat over reports of the Mac’s lost market share.

View full post on Macworld

Remember the Milk is one of the most useful note taking, list making, and productivity tools out there. It’s been around since before Android landed on its first device, and while they took quite a while to make their way into the Android market, the app was (and still is) only usable for anyone with a premium account.

Yesterday, however, the company announced plans to give their free users access to the iPhone app, albeit with some limitations. Push notifications and unlimited server synchronizations are taken away, but that’s a small price to pay if you don’t believe Remember the Milk is worth paying for anyway (most people will agree that every penny spent on RTM has been absolutely worth it).

They’re not yet sure on any plans to give Android users the same freemium offering, however, as they’ve stated on Twitter they want to see how the change sits with the iOS crowd first. Perhaps this will entice some of you guys to try out the service over competitors such as Astrid, Evernote, and 3Banana if they ever do decide to bring a similar model to market. Would you guys bite?

[RTM via Androinica]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

The Samsung Galaxy U has been made official, confirming the specs we posted up yesterday. As far as Galaxy phones are concerned, this is Samsung’s closest release to the Galaxy S that isn’t the Galaxy S, and the same can be said for the price tag. Called the Galaxy U for a “Unique” grip, “Ultimate” display, “Utilitarian” apps, and “Ubiquitous” features, the phone is retailing for 800,000 won ($682) and will be available in both black and white.

[via SamsungHub]

View full post on Android Phone Fans