Monday, January 31, 2011

Dating Website Leak Results in Call to Hacker's Mom [Hackers]

After information on his 30 million members was compromised, Plenty of Fish CEO Markus Frind did what any sensible tech executive who cares about his reputation would do: Complain to the mom of the youngster who hacked him. More »


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Microsoft readying official Kinect SDK for Windows

Microsoft, according to (you guessed it!) sources familiar with its plans, is preparing to release the official Kinect SDK for Windows. This follows the release of the official Windows drivers last month from Microsoft Kinect's manufacturer, PrimeSense.

The release of an official SDK doesn't have immediate repercussions, but it does strongly hint at a gesture-controlled future for Windows 8. With over 8 million Kinects sold in just 60 days, and with Windows' almost complete penetration of the consumer market, there's a big potential market for Windows software that can utilize Kinect -- and, who knows, by the time Windows 8 rolls around in 2012 or 2013, maybe every household will already have a Kinect just waiting to be plugged in.

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the Kinect-powered Minority Reportesque user interface. With this SDK, it could be just a matter of weeks before similar software appears for Windows, in the form of an easy-to-install MSI.

Microsoft readying official Kinect SDK for Windows originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid Bionic appears on Amazon with $150 price tag, quickly disappears again

Something's seriously going on over at Amazon's Wireless store where the Droid Bionic, a Verizon sibling to AT&T's Atrix 4G, has today been spotted listed for sale with a $149.99 price. That matches the levy Amazon asked for the Atrix last week (before promptly yanking the page) and seems to confirm that the $150 price point is receiving some sincere consideration for these 4G-equipped handsets. The Bionic's page has now also disappeared into the ether, but the memory of its delectable promise remains.

[Thanks, techcruncher]

Droid Bionic appears on Amazon with $150 price tag, quickly disappears again originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What If You Put Jupiter Where the Moon Is? [Video]

We're lucky, all things considered, to have as gorgeous and unobtrusive a dance partner as the moon. But what if the other planets in the solar system were in its place, orbiting a mere 380,000km from Earth? Terrifying beauty. More »


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Skype 5 for Mac intentionally blocks Flash and other programs from using your webcam

It seems that Skype 5 for Mac, by design, blocks any other application from using your webcam while it's installed. A commenter on the bug report suggests that it also affects Windows machines, but we were unable to replicate the bug with Windows 7.

The crazy thing is that you have to uninstall Skype 5 before using your webcam with other programs, including Flash applets on websites. It almost makes sense that Skype would reserve your webcam when it's running -- but even when it isn't? As the commenters on Hacker News note, the Skype for Mac support forum isn't the happiest place on the interwebs at the moment.

To top things off, Skype has known about the issue since the Skype 5 for Mac beta in November. Skype developer Beom Soo Park even admits that it's a feature, not a bug. There's no explanation for the very, very odd functionality, and no ETA for a fix.

[Just as this post published, the Skype bug tracker has gone offline. Hopefully it's just temporary.]

Skype 5 for Mac intentionally blocks Flash and other programs from using your webcam originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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German researchers prototype 6mm thick pico projector

Pico projectors just keep shrinking, and a new prototype developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Engineering is helping said shrinking along pretty strikingly. The team has developed a prototype pico which is just 6mm thick, making it the world's slimmest ever. Better yet, the projected image is 10 times brighter than a pico projector of its size would have previously been -- had it existed. The new lens on the projector is so small that it could potentially be integrated into smart phones without boosting size or weight. The new prototype is made of 45 red, green or blue microlenses, each with a 200 x 200 pixel LCD, inspired by a microlens array called a fly's eye condenser. The resulting resolution is nearly, but not quite, WVGA with 11 lumens of brightness. The prototype will be shown off at Nano Tech 2011 in Tokyo.

[Image credit: Fraunhofer Institute]

German researchers prototype 6mm thick pico projector originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best of Smartphone Experts, 30 Jan 2011

Best of Smartphone Experts, 30 Jan 2011 posted originally by Android Central

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