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Showing posts from February 24, 2011

Audi reveals A3 saloon concept rendering

Its that time of the year again when we see lots of concept renderings in time for the Geneva Motor Show 2011, but we weren’t expecting this, an A3 saloon concept? Audi A3s here on the road in the UK are a well recognised hatchback face but to take it into saloon territory? As always though, the teaser sketch does make the concept extremely attractive to behold. The four-seater ‘notchback’ saloon is said to “offer a glimpse of the future expansion of the A3 family”, and the show car will come fitted with an upgraded RS3 powertrain complete with a five-cylinder turbocharged engine developing 408bhp. This power gets squirreled away to all four wheels via a seven-speed S tronic auto ‘box, and while performance figures haven’t been released for the concept, expect a 0-62mph time of around four seconds. The concept measures 4,440mm long – 300mm shorter than the A4 saloon – and 1

Volvo V60 Plug-in diesel hybrid is possible

Packaged into the V60 wagon, the diesel hybrid packs a combination of two distinct drivetrains that so far no automaker in the industry has dared to attempt. Volvo (the caravan’s best friend) however, thinks that they’ve come up with a design that can allow the two to work separately or in conjunction with one another. Combine the torque and eco-friendliness from a diesel engine with the instant power of an electric motor and you’ll have one ultimate driving machine. Up front is a 2.4-liter five-cylinder turbo diesel with 215 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque, while a 70-horsepower electric motor with a 12-kWh lithium-ion battery pack twists the Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD). At the touch of a button, the V60 hybrid can operate in Pure mode as an EV with a 32-mile range on electric power alone. In Hybrid mode, it emits less than 50 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer with a 746-mile range, and in Power mode, the powerplant acts as a boosted torque monster with a c

Latest technology: Interactive mirror from Lit Studios

If you like spending time in front of your mirror, you’ll have one extra reason to spend even more time there because folks from Lit Studios have invented a new type of interactive mirror. As you know, we have seen mirrors that come with LCD panels but those kinds of mirrors don’t allow any kind of digital interaction. Well, if you’re looking for interaction when you’re standing in front of a mirror Lit studios has the right thing for you. This latest technology mirror works like a giant touchscreen and it allows it users to draw and paint with their fingers. In addition, they can read text, watch videos, and browse and arrange photographs. This interactive mirror looks amazing, and it definitely works like one of those displays from science fiction movies. This mirror has a lot to offer, but so far, we don’t know when we will see it on the market, and how much it will cost – my prediction is its not going to be cheap.

DART robotic hand can type 20 words per minute

Robotics is developing and over the years we have seen all sorts of robotic hands. Today we have another robotic hand that can type and use the keyboard so let’s have a closer look at it. This is the first robotic hand that can type and it comes from Virginia Tech. This robotic hand is named the Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robotic Typing (DART), and its creators have put a lot of effort into it, allowing it to act like a real hand. The DART even has 110 degrees of wrist rotation and it’s as big as a real human arm. As for the mechanics behind this hand, we should mention that it uses 19 servo motors and high tensile strength wires as its tendons. As you know, this hand is designed for typing and for now, it can type at a rate of 20 words per minute. The creators plan to cover it with silicone skin and add piezoelectric sensors for tactical feedback. Who knows, maybe this hand will be able to compare to the real hand someday.

USB gadgets: World’s smallest HD media player

Check this out, Chinavasion is claiming this to be the world’s smallest HD media player, probably the cheapest too. The GO Media HD player measures at just 82mm x 15mm, and offers a simple and convenient way to enjoy all your HD media while on-the-go. What’s more is that it also boasts an internal memory of 2GB which is then expandable if you have your own Micro SD. The GO Media HD supports most of famous multimedia files such as MP3, WMA, ACC, FLAC, MID, OGG, WAV, RMVB, 3GP, DAT, AVI, DIVX, FLV, MKV, MPEG4, RM, and VOB. Though we’re skeptical that quality is not going to be a definite guarantee, $34.97 or £21 is all you’re going to need to bring home this portable HD media player.

Hackers have found a way to ‘unban’ themselves from PSN

You’ve probably heard or read that Sony is threatening to ban hackers from PlayStation Network, but this doesn’t mean that Sony has won the battle. It seems that hackers have already found a way to ‘unban’ themselves and gain access to PlayStation Network once again. After Sony announced that it will ban players that use jailbreak tools or run pirated games, it didn’t take long for hackers to find a solution to avoid getting banned or even unban themselves. It seems that the hacking community has a new tool that can allow hackers to remove ban from their consoles or even ban other consoles, and in order to that, only thing that hackers need are console ID’s. As you can see, with this tool hackers will be able to unban themselves, and this means that Sony will continue to play hide and seek with hackers again. This new tool isn’t a perfect solution, but it works, so we’ll have to wait and see what will Sony do about it.

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 released

As you probably know by now, Microsoft is working hard on its software and trying to keep it updated with constant updates, and speaking of updates, we’re glad to inform you that Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is now released and available for download. As you know, Microsoft released an updates via Automatic Update, but in case you’re installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you might not want to download and install all the updates because that process might take a lot of your time. In order to avoid this tedious task, Microsoft’s new Service Pack will include all of its previous mini updates, so you don’t have to download and install all of them one by one. We should also mention that besides all previous updates, Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 comes with RemoteFX that provides better 3D experience for remote computing, so if you don’t have all the previous updates for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 we suggest you conside

Google updates Social Search

Google is constantly trying to improve their search engine, and recently, Google has added several social search engine changes, so let’s have a look at them. Now when you perform a search on Google while you’re logged into your Google account, you’ll see social search results along with your standard search results. This improved search will show you links related to your search terms posted by the people you know on other social sites such as Twitter and Flickr. Below the social search results you’ll also see the name and the picture of the person that posted it, so you can get more information directly from that person. This is a great way to get information from the people that you know and trust, so it’s definitely worth checking out. This new improvement looks promising, and we have to notice that you cannot search Facebook in order to find relative information, but despite that, I reckon its still worth checking out.

New Bing toolbar comes with Facebook support

Although we’re seeing less toolbars in newer browsers these days to keep things simple, Microsoft is still trying its best to keep them, and in fact, Microsoft has released a newer version of its Bing toolbar for IE with some new features. The latest Bing toolbar will make certain tasks a lot simpler and faster, and we should also notice that Bing toolbar now comes with a Facebook button. With this button, you can check your Facebook page without the need to leave the page that you’re currently visiting or open a new tab. That way, you can share content with your friends a lot faster than before, but that’s not all. Besides Facebook support, the new toolbar comes with email support so you can read emails from multiple services such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail right from the toolbar. As you can see, this toolbar has a lot to offer if you’re an existing Internet Explorer user, and it’s compatible with IE 7 and newer, so feel free to check it out.

SwimBrowser hack for Kinect lets you ‘swim through the internet’

We see all sorts of Kinect hacks almost every week, but we don’t recall one that allows you to use Kinect for ‘swimming through’ the internet. I also don’t think that’s something on everyone’s mind, but there you go. David Stolarsky created this hack as a part of the OpenNI Developer Challenge, and it’s called the SwimBrowser. The name is quite self-explanatory, so it’s quite obvious that you’ll use all sorts of swimming moves in order to navigate through web pages. This concept sounds great, but how does it work? You just need to make swimming movements, in order to zoom in and zoom out, and if you zoom in onto a hyperlink, you’ll automatically visit it. Besides moving back and forth, you can also open new tabs and switch between them with a single move. Only thing that is missing is the text input, but we might see that in the next upcoming versions. Check it out in action below… (Kinect/OpenNI) SwimBrowser v 0.0.0.0 from David Stolarsky on Vimeo .

New Jaguar XKR-S – simply stunning

Jag XKR-S coupe in French racing blue, yes please! The new Jaguar XKR-S is powered by a higher-output supercharged V8 good for 550 hp, a top speed of 186 mph, and a 0-60 time of just 4.2 seconds. Other features include a racier revised suspension, new badging, and a new aerodynamically-friendly design that will have passerby stopping in their tracks. It will be the quickest-ever production Jaguar and shown at a Geneva Motor Show likely to feature the British company’s sublime E-type, a world-beating sports car launched 50 years ago at this very event.

‘American Idol’ Enabling Facebook Voting

http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2Famerican-idol-enabling-facebook-voting-2011-02 %27American+Idol%27+Enabling+Facebook+Voting 2011-02-24+00%3A28%3A48 Jackie+Cohen http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F%3Fp%3D33520   “American Idol,” one of the most-watched television shows in the U.S., will make it possible for fans to vote via Facebook for the best performers starting March 1. The move, first reported by an Entertainment Weekly blog , seems brilliantly beneficial to all parties involved. The current voting by toll-free numbers costs a fortune to offer — no matter which party foots the bill — plus it requires the studio to work with a telecommunications provider that can rapidly scale up apace with the whims of eight-digits worth of cell-phone equipped viewers. Adding Facebook voting would likely foster more participation in the voting — it certainly makes sense for “American Idol” to limit each viewer to a maximum of 50 votes per show, but that cou

Is Facebook Damaging Teens’ Social Skills?

    Social networking has taken over the world in a way that nobody could have possibly predicted, but if the majority of teenagers resort to talking about talking, even if it is online communication, something’s gone seriously wrong. Is this really what the world has come to? Click here to read the full article on Social Times.

Watch Out For Facebook Fakery, Air Force Warns

    From Facebook to Twitter, from check-ins to followers and those who poke you, it’s increasingly hard for social media users to distinguish who their online friends really are. Now add this to your list of concerns: The U.S. Air Force has warned its personnel to beware of those who might operate with aliases online. Click here to read the full article on Social Times .

7 Reasons To Spend Every Waking Hour On Facebook

33287 http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F7-reasons-to-spend-every-waking-hour-on-facebook-2011-02 7+Reasons+To+Spend+Every+Waking+Hour+On+Facebook 2011-02-22+17%3A30%3A27 Nick+O%27Neill http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F%3Fp%3D33287   We all know someone who has become a Facebook addict — and that person might just be you. Here are seven reasons to give in to the addiction and spend your whole life on the site. 1. Who Needs To Socialize When You Have A Phone You stare at your phone when you’re at a bar or restaurant with friends. Look, there’s nothing wrong with taking a break to see why your lover just texted you, but it has become a little bit excessive. Your Facebook contacts can probably deal without you commenting on every post they write. Social media is also used for curing boredom, but wasn’t your evening outing supposed to handle that? 2. You’re Preparing For The “Like Olympics” If there was a gold medal to be won i

Google Blocks Facebook Contact Imports On Android

33409 http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2Fgoogle-blocks-facebook-contact-imports-on-android-2011-02 Google+Blocks+Facebook+Contact+Imports+On+Android 2011-02-23+16%3A45%3A55 Jackie+Cohen http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allfacebook.com%2F%3Fp%3D33409   Google’s latest updates to the Android mobile phone platform block Facebook contact imports. Today’s so-called Gingerbread updates to the Nexus S version of Android eliminate the option to merge contacts from Facebook within the address book of the smartphone software, according to TechCrunch . This continues something Gmail users have already noticed when attempting to migrate contacts onto the social network: the block comes from Google’s side of things, not Facebook’s. Without the latest Gingerbread updates installed, a first-time launch of the Facebook application on Android asks the user whether to synchronize contact information from the social network with data in the cell phone’s address book. I