Real Racing 3 hits the Play Store with new freemium model

The much-awaited release of Real Racing 3 from EA has finally come, and it's sticking with the freemium model that has received much attention leading up to the release. The game certainly looks fantastic from a graphical standpoint, and the gameplay seems to be top notch like previous editions in the series as well. What's keeping people cautious is the new freemium model, which lets anyone play for free but will require in-app purchases to get in-game actions like car repairs finished faster. There's a store to buy in-game currency at different rates, or you can buy "Packs" at a discount that have different unlocks bundled together. It's certainly interesting, but probably won't appeal to those who would prefer to have a single purchase up-front to unlock everything.

The game is just a small download from the Play Store, but you should have some battery and a stable network connection available when you launch it to download all of the additional content. Even with no game saves, the entire package is weighing in at about 1.2GB.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/31c1yhB-Usw/story01.htm

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UK appellate judge that ruled for Samsung now consults for them

Sir Robin Jacob, one of three appeals judges that upheld the ruling forcing Apple to publicly apologize to Samsung in UK newspapers, is now being paid as an expert by Samsung. Only four months after the ruling, Jacobs is named as one of nine experts on a submission of protective order subscriptions, which are steps Samsung will take to ensure that it complies with the ITC?s confidentiality rules in a case brought against Samsung by Ericsson. Florian M�ller of Foss Patents says:

I'm sure that Samsung and Sir Robin Jacob wouldn't be doing this if there was any risk of this conduct violating the law. Apparently an ex-judge who is invited to rule on a case involving a given party is not barred by existing UK rules (though this case here may spark a debate whether some reform is needed) from being hired by the same party in another litigation outside the UK less than four months later.

So while it might be ethically dubious, there?s nothing technically wrong with it. Still, it certainly doesn?t sit right.This sort of practice is certainly not uncommon for a retired public official. Jacobs would not be a paid expert for Samsung unless everything was completely legal. However, rightly or wrongly, it could be seen as sending a message that corporate paydays await. Imagine the judge who awarded Apple $1 billion in damages from Samsung later got hired as a consultant by Apple. While not exactly parallel, the media outcry would no doubt be enormous.

What do you think, should judges that rule on a case be allowed to consult for the winning party after only a few months? Should the length of time be longer to avoid even the appearance of impropriety?

Source: Foss Patents

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Db3lm_R3tug/story01.htm

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Tips And Tricks For Your iPad

Apple have designed the iPad to be easy to use, in fact even a two year old can use this device without any problems whatsoever. This makes it a very attractive option for people who are used to using an iPhone or for those who are not. However, there are still a few things about the device that do need a little bit of explaining. Soft Reset Explained: Although the iPad is pretty robust in so far as there are [...]

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/tips-and-tricks-for-your-ipad/

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Stitch Fix Gets $4.75M Series A To Scale Out Its Tech-Enabled Personal Shopping Service

Stitch Fix, the San Francisco-based startup that provides a subscription-based personal shopping and delivery service for women's clothing, has closed on $4.75 million in new funding, the company tells TechCrunch. The round, which serves as Stitch Fix's Series A, was co-led by Baseline Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners with the participation of Western Technology Investment.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Iaj3c6RqQgM/

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Facebook Gifts Sales And Revenue Off To A Slow Start

A billion-dollar business? Maybe not. Despite lofty projections for Facebook Gifts from analysts, reporters and myself, a new report picks apart public statements from the company to suggest it sold a maximum of 667,000 gifts in Q4 2012, and maybe a lot less. Sure, it's early days, but it may take Facebook a while to build Gifts into a game changer.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-dOvQrY0bLA/

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Leaked Android Music app images and hands-on review

This morning, an updated version of the stock Android Music app was leaked along with a new version of Android Market. The new Music app, which is labeled 'version 3', is similar to the leaked build from December, but it has received a ton of polish -- and indeed, it looks almost ready for prime time.

If you don't have Android 2.3 -- or don't want to root your phone to install the leaked Music app -- take a look through our gallery, and then read on for our initial hands-on impressions.

Gallery: Leaked Honeycombish Android Music app

Continue reading Leaked Android Music app images and hands-on review

Leaked Android Music app images and hands-on review originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/leaked-android-music-app-hands-on/

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Google Cloud Print comes to HP ePrint printers

HP has become the first major OEM to deliver support for Google Cloud Print in retail-boxed printers. In an official release, HP announced that its ePrint-enabled printers are now fully Cloud Print compatible. Just sign in to your Google account, pick your HP ePrint device, and you're ready to fire off a print job from anywhere you've got Internet access. Well, as long as your app supports Cloud Print as well -- like Gmail and Google Docs, for example.

We're curious, though -- how many of you are still printing? Like our pals at Engadget, our printers have been mostly gathering dust for the last few years.

Google Cloud Print comes to HP ePrint printers originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/google-cloud-print-comes-to-hp-eprint-printers/

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HTC confirms some current devices will get Sense 5, or at least parts of it

Don't get too excited yet, however; details still loom

HTC overnight on its Facebook page publicly confirmed what it first told us some weeks ago (and that we've largely expected anyway) -- that some current phones will receive updates that contain some features of Sense 5, which will make its debut in the coming weeks on the new HTC One.

Devices specifically mentioned were the HTC One X, One X+ and One S -- from the original "HTC One" line of 2012 -- as well as the HTC Butterfly, which was the first 1080p display phone that emerged late in the year.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/olsy4Uduzms/story01.htm

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Review: Sony Action Cam

With the explosion of wearable POV cameras, it's about time Sony trotted its own horse into the race.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/02/review-sony-action-cam/

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Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 found to have OpenCL drivers

The researchers and ubergeeks over at Anandtech have discovered undocumented OpenCL drivers on both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10. I know a few folks out there just got a little bit excited, but for the rest of us OpenCL needs a little explanation.

The chip in your modern Android smartphone has both a CPU and a GPU (there's other stuff, but we're going to ignore it for now) on board. The CPU handles all the heavy lifting and number crunching, while the GPU sits mostly idle, with all it's high-speed cores doing a whole lot of nothing unless you're running a graphically intensive app. 

OpenCL is a standard that puts all that untapped GPU power to use, allowing it to also crunch numbers and help the CPU along. Of course this is a simplified explanation, but it gets the general point across -- you can use the GPU to help do things faster, and use less battery to do it. It's a form of parallel computing that you find on new processors in modern desktop and laptop chips.

There's a few caveats here (isn't there always?) to keep in mind though. To start with, Renderscript is the parallel computing API officially supported in Android. OpenCL is likely there only because Qualcomm and ARM now officially support the API, not because anyone at Google requested it. Because of this, the drivers aren't likely to stay up to date or improved in any way. In fact, they could disappear in a future firmware update. 

Of course, that's not likely to stop tinkerers and hackers from trying to use them. If that sounds like you, you'll want to head to the source link where you can read a little more about exactly what was found, and some source code to check it out yourself.

Source: Anandrech

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/aeGabcYVH2I/story01.htm

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What I See In Your Future, Vine (Voiceover, Android, And Front-Facing Camera)

Dear Vine, We've grown close over the last month. We've had so many great times together. You've helped me break news, have some LOLs, get creative, and even crowdsource information thanks to your awesome integration with Twitter.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bTdlEN5UgEQ/

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Apple?s iBook App is Brilliant

By far one of the best features of Apple’s iPad is it’s ability to access thousands of apps. It does have a great multi-orientation interface too but the fact that these apps have been designed for the iPad only means there is very little chance of finding them on any other device other than the iPhone and iPod Touch.   The applications cover a wide range of categories from entertainment to business with games, education and sports in between. Apple [...]

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/apples-ibook-app-is-brilliant/

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Spotify for iPhone and iPad updated with new interface

Spotify, the popular music streaming service, has updated its iPhone and iPad with a brand new interface. Now you can navigate around the app with a new sidebar, always see what you're listening to from the Now Playing bar along the bottom of every screen, and a new Track menu.

This update to Spotify also fixed a few issues including the "track only available online" bug, the lock screen no longer displays the incorrect track, and shuffle now turns off after you've used "Shuffle Play" on an album or playlist.

A basic ad-supported account with Spotify is completely free and an ad-free subscription is $4.99/month. A premium account with Spotify allows you to download and listen to music offline and will run you $9.99/month.

Spotify users, what do you think of the new update?

• Free - Download now

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/XNIU_mj8l4Y/story01.htm

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When alien hardware invades: 4 keys to BYOD success

We all love our gadgets, but some of our favorite devices, however innocent they may appear, are poised to overwhelm IT departments worldwide.

Like it or not, the ?bring your own device,? or BYOD, trend is now a permanent fixture among businesses big and small. Sure, some companies still prohibit employees from integrating personal laptops, tablets, and smartphones into their IT infrastructures, but their numbers are quickly dwindling. BYOD is a matter of ?when? not ?if,? so businesses and IT admins must understand the risks involved and determine the most effective and secure ways to embrace all these alien gadgets.

When Paul Proctor, vice president and security analyst for Gartner, moderated a panel discussion on BYOD at the RSA Security conference in San Francisco this week, he classified four different approaches to BYOD: containerization, embrace, block, and ignore.

?Containerization? allows for BYOD but carves out a separate space for business-related data and communications. Meanwhile, companies that ?embrace? BYOD have a no-holds-barred, bring-it-on ethos when it comes to hardware and security management. ?Block? characterizes companies that actively ban BYOD, while ?ignore? describes organizations that pretend the issue doesn?t exist.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029540/when-alien-hardware-invades-4-keys-to-byod-success.html

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Payments Company Plastiq Raises $6 Million Series A, Makes It Easier For Merchants To Accept Credit Cards Online

Plastiq, an online payments startup aimed at bringing credit card payments to industries which tend to shy away from supporting them, has raised a $6 million Series A. The round was jointly led by Atlas Venture and Flybridge Capital Partners, and included previous investors NextView Ventures and Greenoaks Capital, along with notable angel investor Harvey Golub, former Chairman and CEO of American Express.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zJNM3RNVhkg/

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Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs

Mozilla, continuing its year-long crusade to speed up Firefox startup and shutdown times, has published a name and shame list of the Firefox's slowest add-ons.

The list is just one part of Mozilla's new efforts to highlight slow add-ons, and to help developers make their add-ons more efficient. Over the next two weeks, 'slow performance warnings' will be introduced in the add-on gallery so that users can see, before installation, which add-ons will slow down their browser. If that isn't enough to spur developers into cleaning up their add-ons, Mozilla has also begun reaching out to developers of slow add-ons with tips on how to improve add-on performance. Finally, add-on developers will soon have the ability to perform 'on-demand performance testing,' so that they can test their add-on before it's deployed publicly.

Mozilla reports that the average Firefox add-on slows down Firefox's start-up time by 10% -- which means, if you install 10 add-ons, you will double your start-up time. On fast desktop PCs that kind of slowdown might be negligible, but on older computers, laptops and smartphones, it could be the difference between a 5 and 10 second startup. Mozilla has obviously realized that while massive performance gains might've been made with Firefox 4, the addition of third-party add-ons can destroy any user-perceived improvements.

In other news, Mozilla says that a future build of Firefox will block the installation of add-ons (such as toolbars) by third-party software. Add-ons and toolbars that are bundled in this way will require explicit approval when you next open up Firefox. Hooray!

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/mozilla-publishes-name-and-shame-list-of-slow-firefox-add-ons/

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Add a Windows 8 user tile to your Windows 7 taskbar

Now that Windows 8 images have begun leaking out, it's only a matter of time until developers start releasing mods for Windows 7 which mimic upcoming features. Over at Into Windows, they've spotted one such mod already.

In the earliest Windows 8 images, we saw Windows Live integration on the taskbar. In the far right corner, there's a user tile displayed. If you'd like to do the same on Windows 7, download Taskbar User Tile from DeviantArt user AngelWZR.

Once installed, your current picture will appear on the taskbar. Click it, and a menu appears which allows you to log off, switch users, and access the control panel. Right now, the mod only works if your taskbar is displayed on the bottom of your Windows desktop.

Add a Windows 8 user tile to your Windows 7 taskbar originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/add-a-windows-8-user-tile-to-your-windows-7-taskbar/

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Altaro Hyper-V Backup beta launched, only 250 places available

This one's for the sysadmins in the audience: Altaro, makers of our favorite "time machine for Windows" back solution, OopsBackup, have just announced a new product entering beta called Hyper-V Backup.

It's a backup solution for virtual machines running on Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization solution. If that sentence just seemed like a bunch of buzzwords crammed together, Hyper-V backup is not for you. But, if you actually use Hyper-V and are hankering for a good backup solution, Altaro might be worth checking out.

The beta run is limited - Altaro are looking for just 250 testers. All participants will get a free license key to the final, production version. So if you're interested in helping test Hyper-V Backup, get yourself over to Altaro now and join the beta.

Altaro Hyper-V Backup beta launched, only 250 places available originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/02/altaro-hyper-v-backup-beta-launched-only-250-places-available/

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Facebook launches unified mobile site, announces 250 million mobile users

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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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/facebook-launches-unified-mobile-site-announces-250-million-mob/

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