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Android

John Romero's Doomy View On Android and Ouya 375

Posted by Soulskill from the but-that's-not-hypey-enough dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Romero is willing to give Ouya the benefit of the doubt, but he sees it filling a niche for neither gamers nor developers. 'I think it's cool that they're making a platform, but it's not really the answer that's coming from Apple about the next generation of consoles. Developers really want to invoke the spirit of the Apple II, Android isn't the operating system with which to do it,' Romero said. 'There are two platforms: [iOS] makes money [and] is still very programmable, like the Apple II, and then the other is Android, which is a piracy platform, and you're not doing anything new with it.'"
Medicine

Brain Scan Can Detect Autism In Infants 166

Posted by samzenpus from the early-check dept.
kkleiner writes "A new study shows that brain scans can detect autism in children as young as 6 months old. Researchers at University of North Carolina's Institute for Developmental Disabilities imaged the brains of 92 children who were at high risk for autism. Scans were performed when the children were 6 months, 1-year, and 2-years old. At 2 years, the age when children are typically diagnosed, 30 percent of the children were found to have autism. The researchers then compared the brain images of the autistic children with the others. They saw differences in the brain's white matter, the axon-laden pathways that transmit electrical signals to distant parts of the brain. Of the 15 pathways analyzed, 12 were significantly different between autistic and non-autistic children."
Businesses

CEOs of RIM Step Down 164

Posted by samzenpus from the so-long-farewell-aufwiedersehn-goodbye dept.
An anonymous reader writes "After two decades of leading the BlackBerry maker, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balisillie are stepping down from their roles as Co-CEOs at Canada's Research In Motion Limited. Thorsten Heins will now lead RIM as it attempts to beat the likes of Apple and Google."
Android

Apple Delays Release of LGPL WebKit Code 209

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-now-wait-a-minute dept.
jfruhlinger writes "Ever since Apple forked the KHTML project to create WebKit, the rendering engine at the core of Safari, the company has been a good open source citizen, releasing the code back to the community after updates. But that suddenly stopped in March, with no code releases for the last two updates to the iOS version of the browser, for reasons unknown. This might remind you of Google's failure to release the Honeycomb source code. But at least Google announced that it was holding the code back, and Android is under a license that allows for a delay; the LGPL'd WebKit isn't." Update: 05/09 21:21 GMT by S : Reader Shin-LaC points out that Apple has now released the relevant source code.
Blackberry

RIM Collapse Beginning? 305

Posted by Soulskill from the friction-catching-up-with-inertia dept.
jfruhlinger writes "After the announcement of disappointing BlackBerry sales last quarter, RIM shares started to plummet. Blogger Chris Nerney wonders if this isn't the beginning of the company's death spiral, with the exodus away from RIM's BlackBerry platform too far along to stop and the company too small to compete with huge rivals like Apple and Google."

Comment Re:What the FUCK, Apple? (Score 0) 591

by astrosmash (#35885340) Attached to: Apple Logging Locations of All iPhone Users

It's a location cache.

When Maps (or any other app) requests your current location, the iPhone is able to provide it almost immediately because of this cache, without hitting the network or GPS. It's very convenient.

If your privacy is a concern, encrypt your backups (it's just a checkmark in iTunes) and turn off location services (it's just a switch in the iPhone settings).

And if you're *really* concerned about your privacy, don't use a cell phone, because your carrier also keeps a log of where you've been and will turn that information to authorities.

Comment Re:ahh, the good ole days (Score 1) 153

by astrosmash (#35779658) Attached to: Remembering the Apple I
Good old days? There is far, far more technical information and tools available to developers today then there ever was for the Apple II, and today's machines are far more expandable using widely available cross-platform industry standard interfaces, from the smallest MacBook Air to the Mac Pro.
Apple

Remembering the Apple I 153

Posted by samzenpus from the back-in-the-day dept.
harrymcc writes "This month marks the 35th anniversary of Apple--and the 35th anniversary of the Apple I, its first computer. It was a single-board computer that was unimaginably more rudimentary than any modern Mac — it didn't even come with a case and keyboard standard — but in its design, sales and marketing, we can see the beginnings of the Apple approach that continues to this day. I'm celebrating with a look at this significant machine."

Comment PDP-8, Not Apple II (Score 2) 81

by astrosmash (#35026420) Attached to: Kinect's Grandaddy Running On an Apple IIe In 1978

The mini-computer they talk about in this video is the PDP-8/L, not an Apple II, although the system was later ported to Apple II in the early 80s.

It's worth noting that the original Apple II (and most other microcomputers from the early 70s) would have been much more powerful, cheaper, and easier to program than the PDP-8, and the Apple II would have been an excellent choice for a project like this, due to its expandable and well-documented hardware architecture. However, I'm sure they started development of this system well before the original Apple II would have been well known or even available.

Comment You don't need a Caps Lock key to get Caps Lock (Score 1) 968

by astrosmash (#34496852) Attached to: Google Wants To Take Away Your Capslock Key

The Chrome keyboard does support Caps Lock, in a design inspired by Steve Jobs' old company. Here's a little history:

The original NeXTcube keyboard (circa 1989) also did not have a Caps Lock key. Instead, Caps Lock was engaged by pressing Command+Shift, which would light up matching green LEDs on both Shift keys. Caps Lock was disengaged by pressing the Shift key a second time. This freed up valuable keyboard real estate, eliminated the possibility of hitting Caps by accident, and allowed the Control key to be placed next to the "A" key, where it has always belonged. It's an excellent design.

Fast forward 20 years and Google is doing the same thing with the Chrome keyboard. Its Shift key also has a green LED to indicate Caps Lock. Presumbaly, Caps Lock is engaged in a similar way as the NeXT keyboard.

Unfortunately, they're putting a "Search" button there in its place, which is just stupid.
Earth

Global Warming 'Undeniable,' Report Says 1657

Posted by CmdrTaco from the they-can't-fool-pudge dept.
BergZ writes "Scientists from around the world are providing even more evidence of global warming. 'A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest on record,' the annual State of the Climate report declares. Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, including Canada, the report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its analysis of 10 indicators that are 'clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable.'"
Cellphones

Android Data Stealing App Downloaded By Millions 335

Posted by CmdrTaco from the nobody-is-safe dept.
wisebabo writes "A wallpaper utility (that presents purloined copyrighted material) 'quietly collects personal information such as SIM card numbers, text messages, subscriber identification, and voicemail passwords. The data is then sent to www.imnet.us, a site that hails from Shenzen, China.'"

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