Category: News

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Skyfire, the third party mobile browser famous for its ability to handle nearly every major browser plug-in and web technology has finally arrived in the Android Market today.

At the beginning of April, the browser was released in a very limited alpha program which received overwhelming interest from users. The Skyfire team said it had to stop taking email requests for the software almost immediately because of the sheer volume of messages. Well, those masses now have something they can sink their teeth into.

Skyfire 2.0 has an actionable address bar across the top of the browser with buttons for favorites, bookmarks (both of which are imported from the default Android browser), browser tabs, options, and the interesting “load pages as” button, which lets you select “Android, Desktop, or iPhone.”

Across the bottom of the screen is where the hideable “SkyBar” resides.
Down there, is a link for compressing and playing Flash videos, an “explore” tab which can call up related information about your current page (videos, tweets, pictures, news stories, etc.) or lets you search, and a social sharing tab which links to all your social media and media sharing apps.

Skyfire can handle up to eight browser tabs at a time, and devices running Android 2.0 and up are treated to pinch-to-zoom functionality. In the browser’s settings menu, the toolbars, screen settings, browser startup behavior, and privacy functions can be tweaked.

The browser’s banner feature is, of course, its ability to play Web media that most mobile browsers cannot.

Skyfire’s Jeff Glueck today said, “You may hear Skyfire described as ‘making Flash run’ on mobile phones. Yet with Skyfire 2.0, we’re actually doing something distinct. We’re translating Flash videos (and soon others like Silverlight and WindowsMedia and Quicktime) into a format easier on your phone: html5 video. And beyond video, we believe that mobile has been missing features popular on desktop browsers, in toolbars, add-ons, and extensions. Before, these might have strained the device and network, but by using the power of a cloud platform, we can enable new features and do the hard processing work on our side.”

Glueck actually repeated the sentiment expressed by Steve Jobs in his dismissal of mobile Flash this morning, saying “This browser will not enable Flash games or applications, because we think there’s a quite healthy ecosystem of native games and applications on mobile, and the response times for a game that users expect don’t work well with the latency of cellular networks.”

“But video is all about the latest content, and that means streaming,” Glueck continued. “And the big problem has been two-fold: How do you make videos play that today error out, but also do that without straining the overtaxed 2G and 3G networks? This is Skyfire’s wheelhouse. We compress video by an average of 70%, varying and adapting the stream to your network conditions. That means video that starts faster, plays smoothly without all that buffering, and more efficient use of the network and your battery.”

While video is the focus of Skyfire, it was a shame to find out in our tests this morning that Hulu does not work.

Even so, Skyfire is very fast, and immediately integrated into your Android environment (all settings are carried over, and when you click links embedded in messages, Android now presents you with the option to launch it in the default browser or in Skyfire, something none of the other third party browsers do.)

With four or more browsers that aren’t available on the iPhone (including Fennec, Mozilla’s mobile browser) and a reported 46% share of mobile Web consumption, Android is proving to be the choice for both consumers and developers interested in browsing.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Let’s do some back-of-the-envelope math

• There was just a huge mining disaster in West Virginia.
• Today there was another (much smaller) mining disaster in Kentucky.
• In the Gulf there’s an oil spill that some are calling the next Exxon-Valdez.

Add it all up: We’re going to get the big T. Boone Pickens endorsed “Climate” bill, which has nothing to do with climate, and everything to do with subsidizing natural gas.

It’s status in the Senate has been in limbo, but now we think it’s a done deal.

Disagree? Not convinced?

Well consider that natural gas is getting absolutely bludgeoned today — down over 8% — and yet many names leveraged to natural gas are doing great.

A few of the companies that would benefit from the passage of the bill are doing nicely.

• T. Boone’s own Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) is up .75%.
• Westport Innovations (WPRT), which would be involved in natural gas engines, is up over 4%.
• Cummins (CMI) which is a partner of Westport is up nearly 3%.

The oil services companies and folks like BP (BP) are getting slammed today, and natural gas (UNG) is a horror show, but those companies that stand to benefit from a big taxpayer gift are doing quite fine. That’s why T. Boone Pickens is smiling.

Don’t miss: Why natural gas investors perpetually miss their big payoff >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Taxpayer’s Big Gift To T. Boone Pickens Has A "Real Chance" Of Coming By May
• MAP OF THE DAY: BP’s $12 Billion Nightmare
• Wait, Is American Offshore Drilling About To Go Bye-Bye?

Now that you’ve got your shiny new Verizon HTC Droid Incredible, it’s time to start stocking up on accessories. And we’ve got you covered in the Android Central Store.

Just mosey on over to the phone selector on the left-hand side and choose the Droid Incredible. Cases, chargers, Bluetooth headsets, storage cards — we’ve got ’em all in the Android Central Store. (Sponsored post)

While we’re not sure (and we don’t think Daimler is either) whether or not Maybach will stick around, Mercedes-Benz’s luxury brand did unveil a new facelift at the 2010 Beijing Motor Show last week.

The much needed facelift comes as Maybach desperately needs to boost sales. According to Autodata, Maybach sold only seven cars in the U.S. last month, down from 15 units the same month a year ago.

But what is Maybach doing to attract new customers? Offering things like 19-inch video screen, an overview camera for rear passengers and on board WI-FI.

However, one feature that really sticks out is a built-in perfume spritzer. So if you want your car to smell like roses every time you step in – you can get it. Maybach says that the perfume smell is of “an extremely high-quality flacon perfume atomizer available on request.”

2011 Maybach 57/62:

– By: Kap Shah

Source: DriveOn

One of the two miners reported missing following last night’s deep-mine collapse in Western Kentucky was killed in the accident, according to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Senate Minority Leader made the announcement on the chamber floor this afternoon.

“Many Kentuckians awoke this morning to the sad news that one miner was killed and another is missing after a ceiling collapse in an underground coal mine in Webster County, which is in the western part of Kentucky,” McConnell said. “Right now, it is my understanding that MSHA officials are on the site, and rescue teams are working to locate the missing miner. For now, we can only hope that their efforts are successful. I ask my colleagues and the American people to keep the miners, their families, and the rescue workers in their prayers.”

If there is one automaker that has been keeping busy in order to revamp its whole lineup, it has to be Hyundai. After the Genesis, Genesis Coupe, Sonata and the new Accent – Hyundai today unveiled the new Elantra at the 2010 Busan Motor Show in Korea.

“The new Avante encompasses Hyundai’s latest ambitions, featuring the best styling and performance in its class,” Steve S. Yang, President & CEO of Hyundai’s Global Business Division, said at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) today. “We’re confident that it will once again redefine the compact segment worldwide.”

Besides a sleek new look (courtesy of Audi’s ex head of design), the new 2011 Elantra will get Hyundai’s new 1.6L Gamma GDI engine that makes 160-hp and features fuel-saving technologies like Dual Continuously Variable Valve Timing and Variable Induction System. The engine will be mated to a new 6-speed automatic.

Our opinion? It seems Hyundai may finally have a winner to compete strong against the Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze and Toyota Corolla.

Click through for the press release and high-res image gallery.

2011 Hyundai Elantra (Avante):

Press Release:

HYUNDAI UNVEILS ALL-NEW AVANTE AT BUSAN MOTOR SHOW 2010-04-29 24

* World-premier of new Avante compact, Hyundai’s global best-seller

* Featuring 1.6L Gamma GDI engine, 6-speed automatic

Hyundai Motor Co. had its world-premier of the all-new Avante compact sedan, the company’s best-selling model worldwide, at the Busan International Motor Show 2010 today.

“The new Avante encompasses Hyundai’s latest ambitions, featuring the best styling and performance in its class,” Steve S. Yang, President & CEO of Hyundai’s Global Business Division, said at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) today. “We’re confident that it will once again redefine the compact segment worldwide.”

With sportier and even more elegant lines than its predecessor, the new Avante ? badged as Elantra in markets outside Korea – continues Hyundai’s ‘fluidic sculpture’ design philosophy.

Hyundai has applied its latest 1.6L Gamma Gasoline Direct Injection engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission to the front-wheel drive compact, the first time GDI and six-speed automatic have been featured on a compact sedan in Korea. The new Avante delivers a peak output of 140ps and maximum torque of 17.0kg·m. It is also about 10 percent more fuel efficient than its closest competitors, thanks to GDI, the six speed automatic and other fuel economy enhancements.

The new Avante will delight and surprise with a raft of other advanced features not found on other compacts, including HID (High Intensity Discharge) headlamps, LED combination lamps in the rear, heated rear seats, puddle lamps and a color TFT LCD information display nestled in the gauge cluster.

Under the Avante/Elantra badge, Hyundai has sold over 6 million units worldwide since the car’s launch in 1990. Hyundai will begin sales of the all-new Avante in the second half of 2010 in Korea.

At a separate commercial vehicle booth, Hyundai displayed a hydrogen fuel-cell electric bus and a Universe Limousine luxury coach, among other displays.

– By: Kap Shah

This new Naughty Bear video lets us in on one of the weapons in the titular ursine maniac’s arsenal: a frickin’ bear trap. Get a bear caught in one of these and you’re free to deliver whatever

Here’s an exciting thought: now that HP will be the driving force behind webOS, the world’s largest technology company will soon become one of the biggest and most innovative drivers in the Web space.  Palm, as you know, has been no slouch when it comes to driving the adoption of next-gen web technology, with the company pushing the edge of what’s possible with web technology by making it a keystone technology in the "prized possession" that is webOS.  Sure, the details of the buyout are still up in the air, but if HP brings Palm in as a semi-autonomous business unit and allows the existing engineering corps to do what they do best, then the future of mobile computing just got a whole lot brighter.

As @bgalbs wisely pointed out, HP’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm isn’t just an investment in the company’s smartphone efforts going forward; it’s a huge bet on the web itself.

[JURIST] Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, filed suit Thursday in Myanmar’s Supreme Court to stop the dissolution of her opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) under a controversial election law. Suu Kyi is asking the court to annul the part of the election law that bars political prisoners from participating in elections, and also to establish a parliament of lawmakers who won in the 1990 elections. The NLD also filed a similar suit. If the NLD does not re-register by May 6, it may face dissolution.
Last month, the NLD announced that it would not take part in the nation’s first elections in 20 years after the Myanmar Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit brought by the NLD to repeal the election laws preventing Suu Kyi from participating. Myanmar also faced a bevy of criticism during the month of March, with the UN Human Rights Council adopting a resolution condemning the country for rights violations and urging the ruling junta to conduct fair and free elections. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Myanmar’s election laws do not meet international standards, and Human Rights Watch has said ” continues the sham political process that is aimed at creating the appearance of civilian rule with a military spine.”

Whoever is in charge of marketing Verizon’s Droid phones needs to get a raise. They’ve done it again. This commercial like the first commercial for the Droid doesn’t even have the Incredible in it and yet it makes you want it.

Sticking with the dark theme of the original, this commercial feels like it’s a preview to a horror movie. The Matrix like string of words is also eye catching. Given the fact that they are already sold out, this new commercial will surely aid another sell out of the new batch.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[via droidog]

GUANTANAMO BAY — We’ve just been informed that the recess ordered by Col. Patrick Parrish, the military judge, to ensure Omar Khadr will be advised of his fundamental rights in his military commission, has been extended to 2 p.m. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be out of the procedural thicket in another hour.

Uncomfortable with moving forward until Khadr knows his rights, Parrish told Khadr’s lawyers that either they can administer those rights by proxy at Camp Delta or he’ll order what’s called a “forced cell extraction” — having guards force Khadr into court. Khadr did not attend a pre-trial hearing this morning, and prosecutors and defense counsel sparred over whether that decision was actually voluntary.

But even if Parrish opts for the “forced cell extraction” (or FCE in military acronym-ese) that doesn’t necessarily mean Rear Adm. Thomas Copeman, the commander of the detention facility housing Khadr, will comply. “In the past Admiral Copeman has refused to do a FCE without a court order,” Navy Commander Brad Fagan, a spokesman for Copeman’s command, emailed reporters here. “As per Khadr and today’s events, we’d have to wait and see what the judge/court decides to do (i.e., if they decide to issue a court order or not).” Parrish, in other words, may have to issue a formal court order for the FCE — and see if Copeman complies.

On E2, Nike, eBay and others are asking Senators to “get stalled climate and energy legislation back on track.”

Reuters reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will start analyzing the comprehensive climate and clean energy bill. “The EPA analysis is an important step in the legislative process.” “We are sending the bill to be modeled now with Lindsey Graham’s consent,” Senator Kerry told reporters.

Green Inc. focuses on a new EPA report released yesterday called “Climate Change Indicators in the United States.” The report is full of interesting data points and graphics including:

• “The portion of North America covered by snow has generally decreased since 1972, although there has been much year-to-year variability. Snow covered an average of 3.18 million square miles of North America during the years 2000 to 2008, compared with 3.43 million square miles during the 1970s.”
• “In the United States, greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities increased by 14 percent from 1990 to 2008.”

Gernot Wagner, EDF economist notes:

“The EPA report is a terrific reminder of the fact that climate change is not some distant phenomenon our grand kids may or may not experience. We can already see some of the direct effects all around us. It's also good reminder of the certainties among the sea of uncertainties surrounding climate change. We don't know all the details, but the general direction has become increasingly clear. And the parts we don't know are even scarier."

Graph from EPA report Climate Change Indicators in the United States

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., Europe, Videos, Porsche

Germany must be a magical place. Typically, if we were to tell you about a story that involved a 10 year-old boy, his 14 year-old brother and their father’s Porsches, it would end with some totaled sheetmetal at best. But that’s not the case in Der Vaterland. Instead, we give you the heartwarming tale of the Wörle family. Mr. Wörle owns a prominent Porsche dealership, and as such, his sons Steppi and Schorschi lend a hand around the family business. How does the guy reward them? By letting them compete at local auto club events with two 911 GT3 RS testers.

If you’ve never been jealous of a ten year-old, we highly suggest hopping the jump to see the full 11-minute video for yourself. The sight of the Steppi flinging that green monster through the cones is enough to make any Zen master start coveting the kid’s lot in life. Even more surprising, despite the apparent silver spoon, Schorschi even manages to do fairly well at the event.

Remember when 911s were known as widowmakers? We’ve come a long way, baby.

[Source: YouTube via Inside Line]

Continue reading Video: Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS is so easy a 10-year old kid can drive it

Video: Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS is so easy a 10-year old kid can drive it originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chess game for Android. Features: Fischer Random chess, 50 puzzles, 2000 practice positions, Set up the board, Use as a chess board, Save and edit games, Navigate through history, Uses opening database, Import and export via e-mail or clipboard, Touch-screen interface, No ads! Pro version supports: Four extra levels, 500 puzzles, Larger opening database, Unlimited saving of games, Import and export with PGN tool, Go to the developer website for support and questions.

Price: Free, €0.70

AndroidTapp.com Android Game Review:

Pros

• Play Chess on phone
• Many puzzle types and difficulty levels

Features:

Chess by jwtc Android Game allows you to enjoy the classic board game of Chess on your Android phone. There are various difficulty levels (like Bobby Fischer Random Chess) and play types involved in the game, you can even import and export games. Another cool feature allows you to step through (or play) the game movements back and forth.

Fun Factor & Addictive:

The same challenge and excitement of table top Chess, just ported to the small screen.

Lisa Hogarty, a seasoned administrator with experience in academia and the health care industry, has been named Vice President for Campus Services at Harvard University.

“This position demands an executive who can manage the daily operations of a large institution while pursuing a strategic vision that bolsters the University’s teaching and research mission,” said Executive Vice President Katherine N. Lapp, who announced Hogarty’s hiring today (April 29). “Lisa has the perfect mix of leadership skills for the job.”

Hogarty comes to Harvard after nearly eight years at Columbia University, where she served most recently as chief operating officer of the Columbia University Medical Center.

She assumes responsibility of a newly configured department with 1,600 employees and oversight of essential operations at the University’s Schools and central units, as well as its emergency management program.

“I am thrilled to join Katie Lapp’s team,” said Hogarty, who added that advancing efforts to integrate procurement and increasing coordination among the Campus Services units would be among her early priorities.

“The most impressive thing to me is that many of these departments really perform at the best-practices standard, if not the gold standard,” she said. “How do we leverage that exceptional service and take advantage of the real leadership talent in place so that we can take it to the next level?”

The Vice President for Campus Services reports to the Executive Vice President and oversees Harvard University Hospitality and Dining Services, Harvard Real Estate, and the University Operations Center. Hogarty also will have responsibility for the administrative and financial operations of Harvard Magazine.

As part of her duties, she will manage Environmental Health and Safety and lead the University’s Incident Support Team, a cross-departmental group of senior managers charged with coordinating activities in response to any campus crisis.

Hogarty joined Columbia in 2002 as executive vice president for student and administrative services, a role in which she oversaw the construction of a new campus teaching and learning center, redesigned many of the university’s business processes, and led the implementation of an electronic health record system.

She was named chief operating officer of the Medical Center in 2007 and played a key role in restructuring critical areas of university operations. During her tenure, she oversaw the creation of a combined help line for information technology, human resources, and facility support, and the inauguration of an online application process for student housing.

Prior to joining Columbia, Hogarty oversaw hospital operations, capital projects, procurement, and emergency preparedness for the Continuum Healthcare system in New York City and worked at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She holds a master of science degree from New York University and a bachelor of fine arts from Colby-Sawyer College.

Clench your left hand into a fist. What happened to your right hand when you did it?

If you’re like most people, the answer is nothing. But, surprisingly, not everyone can do this. Some people make “mirror movements”, where moving one side of the body, particularly the hands, causes the other to move unintentionally. Clench the left fist, and the right one closes too. Doing things like playing the piano or typing are very difficult. In 2002, a Chinese man with the disorder failed to get into the military because he couldn’t use the monkey bars.

Young children sometimes make mirror movements but they almost always grow out of it by the age of 10. The only exceptions tend to be people with rare genetic disorders of the nervous system, like Klippel-Feil and Kallmann syndromes. Now, Myriam Srour from the University of Montreal has found that a single faulty gene can cause the condition.

She studied a large French Canadian family with four generations of members who had been making mirror movements from birth. Not everyone was affected, and the pattern of the disorder strongly suggested that a single dominant genetic fault was responsible. Srour tracked it down by comparing the genomes of affected and normal family members, and her search led her to a short area on the 18^th chromosome, which contained three genes.

One of these genes is called DCC and it turned out to be the true culprit behind the disorder. In the Canadia family, those who make mirror movements have a version of DCC with a single altered DNA ‘letter’. This tiny fault means that the protein encoded by DCC is manufactured with a missing chunk. That chunk happens to include many of the most important segments of the DCC protein, which, in its abridged form, is completely useless.

Srour found this mutation in every case of mirror movements, and never in 760 unrelated people whose left and right sides are typically independent. To confirm DCC’s role, she turned to an Iranian family, many of who also demonstrated the quirk from birth. She sequenced their DCC genes and again, she found that those who make mirror movements had broken copies. In this case, the mutation was different but the result was the same – a shortened and ineffectual protein.

It’s not just humans who are affected in this way. If mice have mutated and shortened copies of DCC, they too show mirror movements and they move with a distinctive hopping gait. These strains are affectionately known as Kanga mice. If they lack any copies of the gene entirely, their problems are more severe. The gap between the brain’s hemispheres doesn’t develop properly and the fibres that connect the two halves– the corpus callosum – are fewer in number and misrouted.

These mutant mice hint at DCC’s role. The DCC protein is a docking bay (a receptor) for another protein called netrin-1, whose role is to guide the neurons of the developing nervous system across the midline of the body. Its name even comes from the Sanskrit word “netr”, meaning “one who guides”. But this neural shepherd can’t stick to broken DCC proteins and without its good work, the neuronal connections between the body’s two halves don’t form properly.

Reference: Science http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1186463

More on genetic disorders:

• Brain damage pops woman’s personal bubble
• How inbreeding killed off a line of kings
• Genome sequencing reverses a faulty diagnosis for a genetic disorder
• Pocket Science – geneticist hunts down the cause of his own genetic disorder
• Williams syndrome children show no racial stereotypes or social fear

Kevin bought some Breyers cookies and cream ice cream, and he writes that he was disappointed to find an almost total lack of cookies in the container. Noooo!

I don’t know what’s going on with this Ice Cream but we bought two tubs of it about a week ago and were severely disappointed with the quality. For example my family bought cookies and cream but what we got was vanilla ice cream with some black specks of cookie. I’ve attached pictures of the two tubs we bought both the pictures on the outside and then how the inside looks absolutely nothing like the exterior. Now I realize they will never match exactly but seriously my 7 year old was even disappointed since it literally had ZERO cookies. They have a “guarantee” on quality but you must mail it into an address with a UPC – and I’m not wasting my forever stamps for something like that…so I figured I’d get some satisfaction out of you guys busting them on their quality.

Now, it could be that this was mislabeled French vanilla…but unlikely. Aww, come on, Kevin, what’s 44 cents compared to the cost of two containers of ice cream?

It used to be a golden ticket to a high paying job, but nowadays you have to wonder if earning an MBA or law degree could be a liability that could leave you saddled with mountains of debt. 2009 was a tough year for graduate students, even ones from top schools, to land that perfect job.

For example the Graduate Management Council which tracks these matters says their research shows companies that hired 12 MBAs on average in 2008 only hired half that many in 2009. And the picture doesn’t look much better for law school graduates. Big firms aren’t hiring nearly as many students as they did in 2008 and for those they do hire, they are often delaying the start date… leaving grads hanging for months.

Still career counselors say, fear not for these educated young adults because the job market will improve. In the meantime, says Kip Harrell of MBA Career Services Council, offers this advice to those looking for work, “Hope is not a strategy, and you should always be on your A game.”

Harrell adds that graduating students should have their plan A, B and C… and be prepared to take action on plan C if they have to.

Hello, new readers! Many of you are probably here because of the lost Apple iPhone 4 saga. But Gizmodo is much more than the iPhone. Here’s a list of stories, big and small, that show who we are: More »

Get excited, Verizon Pixi Plus or Pre Plus owners! But not too excited. Just a little bit excited. Less “Holy crap, I’m getting a petting zoo for my birthday!” excited, more “Neat, it’s probably not going to rain on my birthday!” excited.

Verizon just pushed out a minor update for webOS, bumping things up to version 1.4.1.1. While there’s nothing in terms of new features, it’s jam-packed full of bug fixes. Check out the full list after the jump.

The full list:

• x Easier to use Bluetooth.® − Improved battery life when turning off Bluetooth without
  unpairing a device. x Displayed time feature is more accurate.
• Automatic updates for Daylight Saving Time. x Easier connection management.
• More consistent EV-DO connections when switching from Wi-Fi to CDMA.
• Better TouchstoneTM charger integration. − The screen will now turn off and display the lock icon and time after the Pre Plus is docked with the Touchstone charger.
• Newly taken photos and videos do not overwrite existing ones.
• Improved picture display when cropping a picture for a contact.

Improvements:

• Pinch to zoom now works in more applications.
• The onscreen volume slider now appears correctly.
• More accurate keyboard input.
• The forward gesture now works in the browser.
• The back gesture now returns to the file list screen in
  certain applications.
• The shutter sound is more responsive when taking a picture
• The LCD reset issue has been resolved.

Ready for the new tweaks? Go pound the update button a few times — failing that, look for it to be automagically rolled to your kit within the next 48 hours.