US Army wants thermally adaptive shirts, less of that nasty B-O

War-making apparel is about functionality just as much as fashion. That's why the US Army is offering a cool $1million in research funds to anyone who can help realize its dream of "thermally responsive textiles." The ultimate goal is clothing that automatically tailors itself to rapid changes in ambient and body temperature, thereby removing the need for alternative garments and reducing the weight and 'cube' of a soldier's payload. So-called smart fabrics have already been demonstrated by army scientists, based on comfy-sounding metallic fibers that curl up when it's cold and straighten out when it's warm. That sort of technology just needs to be reworked to make it practical and laundry-safe. We don't want those strong colors bleeding out in the wash, because as the line goes: if you're going to fight, you might as well clash.

US Army wants thermally adaptive shirts, less of that nasty B-O originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/BkXoz6FGrLc/

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Adblock Plus developer pokes holes in Mozilla's new add-on performance tests

Wladimir Palant, developer of the most popular add-on in the world, Adblock Plus, is also an active contributor to the Planet Mozilla blog community. Over the last few days, in response to Mozilla's new name and shame list of slow add-ons, Palant has been investigating whether Mozilla's testing methods are actually accurate.

Rather surprisingly, it turns out that Mozilla's numbers could be significantly wrong -- and if they're not wrong, the factors that Mozilla uses to tabulate an add-ons final score should definitely be made more transparent.

In the first set of tests, Palant shows that FlashGot's position in the top 10 is probably due to a fault in Mozilla's testing setup, and that add-ons can perform very differently depending on which operating system they're being tested on. In the second analysis, Palant uncovers an irregularity that doesn't seem to have an obvious cause -- but it could be due to an I/O bottleneck on Mozilla's test machines. Basically, even though performance testing of Read It Later is disabled because of a bug, it still (somehow!) manages to record a 14% slow-down on Windows 7.

Palant concludes both analyses by scolding Mozilla for going public with the performance data before its testing methods had been confirmed accurate. It definitely looks like Mozilla has been more than a little reckless, considering the importance of Firefox's add-on ecosystem.

Adblock Plus developer pokes holes in Mozilla's new add-on performance tests originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/adblock-plus-developer-pokes-holes-in-mozillas-new-add-on-perfo/

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GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X

GNOME 3, after more than two years of development, has been released into the wild. GNOME 3 is not merely the logical successor of GNOME 2: it is an entirely new project, started from scratch, to create a "completely new, modern desktop designed for today's users and technologies."

The best way to check out GNOME 3's new features -- and it has lots of new features -- is to run a live version of openSUSE or Fedora, or simply head over to the GNOME 3 website and watch the (rather pretty) introductory videos. If you want a synopsis, though, here it is: GNOME 3 looks a lot like Mac OS X, with a healthy dollop of iOSesqueness for good measure, but yet it still somehow retains an underlying feel of Linux.

The overall aesthetic is very simple, very elegant, and despite being slightly out of fashion, there are plenty of rounded corners, too. The main addition, workflow-wise, is the addition of an app-launcher-cum-alt-tab screen, where you can launch apps, or flip through your open windows. For a complete list of the new features and changes, check the GNOME 3 release notes.

Despite GNOME 3 being officially launched, there aren't actually any releases for existing, stable Linux distros -- it's the live CD/USB images, or Ubuntu users will have to wait for the launch of 11.04 for a GNOME 3 PPA, but it will break Unity in the process. Fedora users will have to wait for for the May 24 release of Fedora 15. Of course, if you're feeling crazy, you can always build GNOME 3 from source.

GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/gnome-3-released-ushers-in-an-interesting-amalgam-of-ios-and-os/

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Photographing Fireflies Is Hard. [Shooting Challenge]

For this week's Shooting Challenge, I asked you to photograph fireflies. But, in what I suspect was an issue with regional differences and a generally difficult challenge, we only received five submissions! All the same, our winner is suburban-surreal. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/R8S7f0QuGFk/photographing-fireflies-is-hard

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T-Mobile To Make Carrier Billing An Option For Online Purchases

Every phone geek loves to debate how long it'll be before we've trashed our wallets in favor of paying for stuff with our phones in the real world ? but what about online? Tailing a similar announcement by Verizon a few months back, T-Mobile has just announced that they're opening up their carrier billing system to online retailers, allowing T-Mobile customers to charge things purchased on the web (whether it's purchased on a smartphone, a tablet, or a good ol' fashion computer) right to their monthly bill.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/zOuY1t1GMns/

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Daily Crunch: Power Supply Edition

Behind The Scenes At The Impossible Project?s Resurrected Polaroid Facility ?The Best Chance To Beat Gasoline:? An Excerpt From Seth Fletcher?s Bottled Lightning The ZEHST Is The 3,000 MPH, Zero Emissions Airplane Of 2050 Japan Takes Top Spot From China: Fujitsu?s ?K? Is The World?s Most Powerful Supercomputer Finally, A Solar Powered Netbook Comes To [...]

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/06/21/daily-crunch-power-supply/

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Windows Phone changes logo, officially hip to be square

What's in a logo? These days, it's everything -- it's one of the most recognizable symbols a company can have, and it appears Microsoft isn't taking its emblems lightly. Over the course of the past week we've noticed an interesting trend: the Windows Phone branding has shed the circle-based icon in exchange for a square-shaped variant, appropriately reflecting the platform's "tile" look and minimalist theme. We first thought this was a fluke when we peered at the new logo at Fujitsu's IS12T event last week, as though it were a localized version made for Japan; as it turns out, however, this is indeed an official change across the board. If you need more proof than the source link below, yesterday's press invite for Nokia's Gamescom party features the new squared variant as well. We're still holding out for a green robot-shaped logo, but this will have to do for now.

Windows Phone changes logo, officially hip to be square originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/02/windows-phone-changes-logo-officially-hip-to-be-square/

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Internet Archive founder wants to collect every book ever published

Not depressed enough yet about the impending death of print? This might help: Brewster Kahle, the fellow behind the Internet Archive, is in the process of gathering together every book ever published for safe storage against a future where the prevalence of digital media has utterly devalued physical texts -- it's a perhaps unreachable goal, he admits, but Kahle's warehouse is currently at 500,000 books and growing fast. The Associated Press describes the undertaking as something more akin to The Svalbard Global Seed Vault than the Library of Congress -- these books aren't being saved for lending, they're being stored for the future. If you're reading this Brewster, we recommend signing up for an Amazon Prime account. Those shipping fees can really add up fast.

Internet Archive founder wants to collect every book ever published originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/01/internet-archive-founder-wants-to-collect-every-book-ever-publis/

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Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight

So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by "eating" the dirt; or so he thinks. That's how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you're not really a toilet cleaner after all -- you're a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that's smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow -- and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it's a really cute game, and there's no gore or anything like that.

Supposedly you keep growing and growing until you're able to eat whole planets (hence the name). The challenge factor comes when you realize you can't touch any critter larger than yourself - you'll get "bitten" and become smaller. In the beginning you're so small, that a single touch can kill you. Later on, you're big enough that touching larger animals doesn't kill you on the spot, but it does reduce your size. Each level is timed, so if you're not large enough by the time your clock runs out, you need to start again. As long as you don't touch the larger animals, you should be fine.

All in all, a fun, addictive little game. It's available for iOS, too.

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/08/tasty-planet-is-a-fun-flash-game-where-you-eat-everything-in-sight/

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Tarzan Ball is a tricky hook-and-pull physics game

So, you're a ball. A Tarzan Ball, to be precise. You've earned the nickname thanks to your astonishing ability to shoot out a lengthy 'vine' (I hope it's a vine) at objects, and then pull yourself towards those objects.

That's a handy ability to have, especially since you've got no legs, no arms, and no other means of transportation. In Tarzan Ball, the rope is everything. But you don't just swing around the screen aimlessly - that wouldn't be much of a game now, would it?

Instead, your goal in life is to collect "targets". Each level has one of these "targets" hidden away somewhere on the screen, usually behind some kind of barrier. Once you navigate close enough to the target, you can shoot your rope at it and just reel it in. That's when you pass the level.

You can't die in this game, but it can still be very frustrating. It's actually one of the tougher games I've posted recently. Still, if you enjoy physics games, this one is quite nicely made.

[This is actually the sequel to IQ Ball, which we covered last year! -Ed]

Tarzan Ball is a tricky hook-and-pull physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/21/tarzan-ball-is-a-tricky-hook-and-pull-physics-game/

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Getting to know you: Comex, the boy behind iOS' JailbreakMe

See that kid above? That's Nicholas Allegra. He's the hackdom Harry Potter to Apple's Ye-Who-Shall-Not-Jailbreak-Our-Wares, and Forbes managed to sniff him out for a little bold-faced exposé. The 19-year old hero of the iOS community, better known as Comex, got his self-taught start with Visual Basic when he was still in single digits. After graduating through a venerable online forum education, the precocious coding lad set his smarts to homebrew Wii development, and the rest is JailbreakMe history. The self-described Apple fanboy admits his background is atyipcal of the cybersecurity industry, but with a former National Security Agency analyst praising his work as years ahead of his time, we don't think he should worry. For all the trouble his code has caused Cupertino, Allegra's not trying to be the embedded thorn in Jobs' side. Rather, the iPhone hacker claims "it's just about the challenge" and plans to keep on keeping ol' Steve on his billion dollar toes.

Getting to know you: Comex, the boy behind iOS' JailbreakMe originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/soks61pL6Yo/

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Sony Ericsson's tiny Xperia Mini and Mini Pro on sale now in Taiwan and Hong Kong

They've been announced, manhandled (by us and the FCC), and now they're finally on sale... in Taiwan and Hong Kong. That's right, some of the first folks to put Sony Ericsson's latest Android phones in their pockets will be the citizens around HTC's very own turf. According to VR-Zone and our brethren over at Engadget Chinese, both the Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro are on shelves now for NT$7990 / HK$2,098 (about US$270) and NT$8990 (US$310) / HK$2,198 (US$280) respectively. It probably won't be much longer now till these pair of itty-bitty, 3-inch Gingerbread phones hit the states but, if you're impatient, those two cities are only about a 13-hour flight away.

Sony Ericsson's tiny Xperia Mini and Mini Pro on sale now in Taiwan and Hong Kong originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qBImTFy0e8A/

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Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game

Yes, that's right, I said adorable. Because Cueboy Quest really is!

You play an 8-bit cowboy whose goal on each level is to get to the door (and thus to the next level), but the door is often locked. To get it to open, you must shoot at one or more targets, and those targets aren't always in your line of sight. For example, on one level the the target is a balloon which is stuck all the way at the other end of the screen. You must first nudge it free, and then watch it float up and try to shoot it before it floats clear off the screen. Your bullets are chunky pixels that have some weight - the have arcing trajectories, so you don't always hit exactly where you aim.

There's another level where you must jump on the balloon as it floats up, use it as a platform to get to the other end of the screen, and then turn to shoot it very quickly before it flies away. Each level is very short, and most of them are quite easy. And not only are the graphics 8-bit blocky, but they're large too. Simply beautiful!

Cueboy Quest is an adorable 8-bit style physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/cueboy-quest-is-an-adorable-8-bit-style-physics-game/

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Banshee music player now works in Windows, supports Amazon MP3 downloads

A few moments ago, version 2 of the Banshee music player for Linux was released, bringing with it a whole slew of new features, and the addition of an official -- but alpha-quality -- Windows build. The Mac OS X build of version 2 is due later today.

The most notable new feature is support for the Amazon MP3 store -- you can buy and download music from within Banshee -- but unfortunately it's only available in the Linux build at the moment (OS X and Windows support are planned, however). There have also been some significant improvements to artist, album, and queue interactions -- and yes, you can finally right click a track, album or artist and select 'play after' to insert it into the queue.

Beyond actual playback, the user interface has been tidied up -- it now looks a whole lot smarter -- and the Ubuntu One Music Store and SoundMenu extensions have been made official. For a complete list of changes, additions and bug fixes, check the change log.

When Windows support initially appeared in February, we found it rough around the edges and fraught with stability issues. With version 2, Banshee for Windows is still a bit unstable, but it's shaping up to be a good alternative to Winamp, iTunes, or whatever other music library manager you use. It's almost as attractive as its GNOMEish brother, too!

Download Banshee 2 for Linux and Windows (Mac OS X coming soon)

Banshee music player now works in Windows, supports Amazon MP3 downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/banshee-music-player-now-works-in-windows-supports-amazon-mp3-d/

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