14May

First Galaxy S III Battery Tests Show Impressive Talk Time, Video Playback

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The boys at GSMArena have posted their first set of battery life test results for the Galaxy S III. With a huge 2100mAh battery and powered by a 4.8″ Super AMOLED display, there have been plenty of questions about how well the Galaxy S III will stand up in the real world. With 3G talk time, the Galaxy S III put up some pretty amazing scores, surviving for a whopping 10 hours and … [read full article] View full post on TmoNews

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21Apr

SkyFire For Android’s Flash Video Playback Goes Premium

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Hey friends! You know what time it is? IT’S GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS TIME!

The Good News: SkyFire has just released an update for the Android port of their web browser, jam-packed with brand new social features (in other words, more of the social features that I previously said — and continue to say — are silly). If you’re one of the three million people who have already been using SkyFire for Android, you can continue to use all of its features for free. You can find it in the Android Market right here.

The Bad News: If you’re just hopping on the SkyFire train, the browser’s biggest feature (its ability to convert Flash video content into something playable on non-Flash-friendly devices) is going to cost you. The Android browser itself will continue to be free — only the optional Flash feature is going premium. Fortunately, the burn on your wallet shouldn’t be too bad: it’s just a one time fee of $2.99.



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21Dec

Motz Tiny Wooden Speakers Gain MP3 Playback Capabilities

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Motz Tiny Wooden Power Speaker (Images courtesy Pyramid Distribution)
By Andrew Liszewski

The last time we saw the Motz tiny wooden speakers their technological prowess left something to be desired. It’s hard to knock their lovely apricot wood finish and aesthetics, but $50 for a minuscule speaker isn’t exactly the deal of the century. Its latest incarnation however ups the ante with a built-in MP3 player that can load tracks from a USB flash drive or an SD card. For just $10 more!

It probably gains a little bloat from the added electronicy bits inside, but the Motz is still adorably smaller than even the included wireless remote, so there’s not much to complain about. Its rechargeable lithium-polymer battery is still good for about 10 hours of playback with headphones, or 5 hours when using the speaker, and it’s available now from Pyramid Distribution for just $59.99.

[ Motz Tiny Wooden Power Speaker ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]



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29Nov

Video: KDDI Technology Improves HD Video Playback On Mobile Screens

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Japan’s second biggest telecommunications company KDDI is working on optimizing HD video streaming quality on smaller screens. Specifically, KDDI’s R&D Labs are working on making it easier to view HD content originally intended for larger screens on mobile displays.

The idea here is to boost the quality of HD streams when the user chooses to zoom in on a specific part of the screen, something KDDI expects viewers to do especially on mobile devices in the future. The way it works is that the company’s method doesn’t rely on video processing hardware in the handset to do the heavy lifting.

Instead, the video stream is on the server side, cropped and then pushed to the mobile device – without affecting the quality of the stream on the small screen. What KDDI wants to achieve is a sound “three-screen” experience, meaning giving users the same picture quality across TV, PC monitor and mobile screens.

Watch how the tech works in the video embedded below (they are using a Sharp IS01 Android Smartbook for the demo):



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09Nov

Google releases Android YouTube Remote app, to control YouTube playback on your PC/TV

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If you have a Home Theatre PC, a Google TV, or just a big monitor and a nearby couch, you may be interested to hear that watching YouTube on a big-screen device just got a little easier, with Google releasing their “YouTube Remote” app to the US Android Market today.

So, what does it do? Well, like the name implies, it allows you to control the playback of any YouTube videos your watching in the LeanBack interface with your Android (2.1+) device.

How does it do this magic? Easy! It’s all linked to your Google account, so make sure you’re logged into your Google account on both the big-screen device (eg your TV + HTPC), and your little-screen (ie Android) device.

Then — on your big-screen — navigate to www.youtube.com/leanback, open up the YouTube Remote app on your phone/tablet, and let the controlling begin.

You can use the app to search, enqueue, skip forward and back, and adjust the volume.

You can even preview the videos before moving them to the big-screen, so you can be sure that you won’t accidentally Rick Roll your audience.

Over the coming months, Google plan to integrate this functionality into the standard YouTube app, but it’ll remain as a separate app while it makes its way through beta status.

Not on Android? The functionality will also roll out to other platforms in the future, but for the moment, you’re out of luck.

Now, I really wish I could give you my feedback on how the app works, but — sadly for us Australians — it’s only available in the US at the moment. I’ve read some other people’s experience, and they’re largely positive, but I’m really curious about your experience with the app. Why not let me know how it works for you in the comments below, mmmkay?

If you’re in the US, and have an Android 2.1+ device, scan the QR code below to get your remote on!



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