?Know Your Meme? On What It?s Like To Be An Internet Folklorist

The website and show "Know Your Meme" were swallowed up this week by ICanHasCheezburger networks in a seven figure deal, proving once again that Internet memes are serious business. In light of this news, the Know Your Meme crew, Internet folklorists Elspeth Rountree, Kenyatta Cheese, Jamie Wilkinson, Patrick Davison and Mike Rugnetta actually performed an episode of their heralded show live on stage today at Web 2.0 Expo.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9Rni7fzfzQA/

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Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by 'non-fragmentation clauses'?

A storm seems to be brewing over the realm of Android development. Bloomberg's Businessweek spies have received word from "a dozen executives working at key companies in the Android ecosystem" that Google is actively working to gain control and final say over customizations of its popular mobile OS. That might not sound unreasonable, and indeed Google's public position on the matter is that it's seeking to stabilize the platform and ensure quality control, but it does mark a major shift from where Android started -- an open source OS that was also open to manufacturers and carriers to customize as they wish. Not so anymore, we're told, as apparently Mountain View is now demanding that content partnerships and OS tweaks get the blessing of Andy Rubin before proceeding. The alternative, of course, is to not be inside Google's warm and fuzzy early access program, but then, as evidenced by the company recently withholding the Honeycomb source code, you end up far behind those among your competitors who do dance to Google's pipe.

Things have gotten so heated, in fact, that complaints have apparently been made to the US Department of Justice. They may have something to do with allegations of Google holding back Verizon handsets with Microsoft's Bing on board, ostensibly in an effort to trip up its biggest search competitor. Another major dissatisfaction expressed by those working with Android code is that Google needs an advance preview of what is being done in order to give it the green light -- which, as noted by a pair of sources familiar with Facebook's Android customization efforts, isn't sitting well with people at all. Google and Facebook are direct competitors in the online space and it's easily apparent how much one stands to gain from knowing the other's plans early. As to the non-fragmentation clauses in licenses, Andy Rubin has pointed out those have been there from the start, but it's only now that Google is really seeking to use them to establish control. The future of Android, therefore, looks to be a little less open and a little more Googlish -- for better or worse. As Nokia's Stephen Elop puts it:

"The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it's not where Android is going."

Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by 'non-fragmentation clauses'? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/xcIBN34lEXU/

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Gadget Lab Notes: 8-Bit Camera App Snaps Game Boy Camera-Style Photos

8-Bit Pocket Camera App Wastes Your Smartphone?s Megapixels for Fun Photos
5-megapixel cameras, 8-megapixel cameras? Totally unnecessary?at least that?s what the makers of the 8-Bit Pocket Camera app want you to think. This $1 iOS app lets you take 200 x 200 tiffs reminiscent of the pictures (and quality) that the Game Boy Camera used to [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/03/notes-8-bit-camera-app/

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Will iPad 3 Arrive In 2011

It’s incredible how fast new technology becomes outdated and obsolete these days. The iPad 2 hasn’t even gone on sale yet and there’s already rumors about iPad 3 making it’s debut sometime during the fall, around September to be exact. There’s no confirmation on whether or not these rumors are true. However, Apple must be [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ipadbuzzblog/~3/PyEB7Vmqv2c/

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Google?s Music Search Engine Quietly Vanishes From The Web

At the end of October 2009, my colleague Jason Kincaid traveled all the way to Hollywood, Los Angeles, for the official unveiling of Google's new music search initiative by the Internet giant and its partners, Lala, Rhapsody, imeem and MySpace Music / iLike. He interviewed just about everyone involved about the news, and Mike Arrington followed up with a post basically calling out Facebook and Ticketmaster for not acquiring iLike instead of MySpace. In a blog post, Google said that, going forward, a simple Google web search would enable users to "search and more easily discover millions of songs". Queries for songs, artists or albums would return search results including links to an audio preview of those songs provided by its music search partners, at least in the United States - for starters.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/7Qe3vUeDIbw/

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HP EliteBook 2560p and 2760p specs leak out, show Core i7, USB 3.0 and DisplayPort additions

Let's get the hard facts out of the way first: HP has a pair of as-yet-unannounced laptops in the pipeline, to be dubbed the EliteBook 2560p and 2760p. That info comes straight from a PDF document hosted on HP's servers, and barring a spectacular change in the company's model numbering scheme, the new machines will be replacing the 12.1-inch 2540p and 2740p introduced around this time last year. In less concrete but still likely accurate news, the specs for these machines are expected to include low- and standard-voltage Intel Core i7 processors (of the 2011 variety), USB 3.0 and DisplayPort connectivity, and options for 1440 x 900 resolution on matte displays. The difference between the two EliteBooks is that the 27xx series has typically been a convertible tablet PC while its lesser-numbered sibling is usually a straight ultraportable. Can't be long to go until these ThinkPad X220 competitors get official.

[Thanks, D]

HP EliteBook 2560p and 2760p specs leak out, show Core i7, USB 3.0 and DisplayPort additions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 06:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/66roU_xBf50/

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Pastebin updated to V3, releases Windows app

Pastebin is a very popular website aimed at coders and other nerdy types, which allows them (or should I say, us) to paste and share snippets of code with lovely syntax highlighting.

It has recently undergone a major overhaul which includes the release of a brand new Windows client. The new client lets you create new "pastes" and manage your existing ones. It joins a host of other tools from Pastebin, such as the Google and Chrome extensions, OS X widget and the mobile apps.

If you're currently using Pastebin, the new client is a great addition. And if you haven't tried it before, next time you have a piece of code you want to share or get some feedback on, you could do worse than try out Pastebin.

[Thanks, Jeroen!]

Pastebin updated to V3, releases Windows app originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/04/pastebin-updated-to-v3-releases-windows-app/

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Watch-controlled robo-tot grasps small objects, the meaning of life (video)

It may seem like there's an abundance of robot news lately, but we're just trying to please our mechanical overlords deliver the latest in gadget and technology news. What we've got here is an Arduino-based robo-gripper that serves only to move around and use its 3D printed claws to grab tiny objects that we'd otherwise be too lazy to pick up ourselves. The robot, infused with a Texas Instruments CC1110 dev kit, is controlled using an accelerometer-based Chronos watch and can move in all directions by simply tilting the timepiece. If you want to take a gander at this little guy in action, check out the video past the break -- it's always warming to see humans having the upper hand against the machine.

Continue reading Watch-controlled robo-tot grasps small objects, the meaning of life (video)

Watch-controlled robo-tot grasps small objects, the meaning of life (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/watch-controlled-robo-tot-grasps-small-objects-the-meaning-of-l/

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Microsoft job posting teases Windows Phone Mobile Studio, requires thinking cap to grok

A conclusion for Captain Obvious to draw, this is not. As with most mega-corp job postings, the wording in Microsoft's latest is just obfuscated enough to keep us guessing, but a few key phrases have us (as well as ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley) on edge waiting for the next big thing in cloud storage. Judging by the rousing reception seen by Amazon's Cloud Drive, we're guessing that the folks in Redmond haven't forgotten completely about Kin's one positive feature: Kin Studio. Based on a new job request, there's a Windows Phone Mobile Studio brewing, and the leading thought is that this is really Kin Studio... but for WP7 devices. Granted, this may be nothing at all like it sounds -- we could be looking at a future home for apps, or simply another aspect of Zune that'll make music management a wee bit easier. That said, we'd love to see Microsoft bust out a world-class streaming / storage service for its mobile platform, and you can bet we'll be prying for details at MIX next month.

Microsoft job posting teases Windows Phone Mobile Studio, requires thinking cap to grok originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/microsoft-job-posting-teases-windows-phone-mobile-studio-requir/

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With +1, Google Search Goes Truly Social ? As Do Google Ads

Back in early December of last year, we first reported that Google was toying around with the name "+1" for an upcoming social product. At the time, we were told it was sort of like Google's version of the "like" or "retweet" button. Today it officially launches as a way to share Google Search results that you like with your friends and the broader web in general. Oh, and also a way to inject social into Google Ads. To be clear, the version of +1 which is beginning to roll out today is not the toolbar version that we first got a glimpse of in December, that's apparently a different version that was being tested. This version of +1 actually launching is a small button that will reside next to each and every Google Search result. If you like the result, you click the +1 button and it gets shared with your social circle ? and the public (more on that in a bit).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/mMVdxxY1T5g/

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Roku XD player comes directly to Best Buy shelves with no Netgear intervention

After receiving a boost from Netgear it appears Roku's plans for 2011 include hitting retail under its own name, as it's officially announced the Roku XD (no NTV250 branding) is available at Best Buy, as well as Fry's and Radio Shack. Previously Roku only sold its own player through online but after breaking through 1 million units it's apparently ready for bigger things. We've been informed the Netgear-branded boxes will sell out their inventory and be replaced by these going forward, so those interested in grabbing one for the archives may want to do so quickly. 2011 should see a big charge into retail from Roku as it seeks to stay one step ahead of the media streaming competition and this is just the first step; for now one can only wonder exactly what the next move will be.

Continue reading Roku XD player comes directly to Best Buy shelves with no Netgear intervention

Roku XD player comes directly to Best Buy shelves with no Netgear intervention originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/roku-xd-player-comes-directly-to-best-buy-shelves-with-no-netgea/

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FUD-Bombing Intel and HP: What's Next From the Crazy Guys at Oracle?

Last week, Oracle FUD-bombed the Itanium processor. Like Oracle's own SPARC chip and PowerPC at one time, Itanium was supposed to be the future for most everything -- but all of these chips ended up on the largest and most fault-tolerant systems each company supports. Announcing the death of any one of them puts question marks on the class -- and Oracle's SPARC is the most exposed.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/72140.html

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Visualized: Mercury

It may look like a spotty, monochromatic water melon, but we're taking NASA's word on this one -- the image above is the very first taken from an orbiting spacecraft of our solar system's innermost planet. Mercury has been snapped by NASA's MESSENGER probe, which is currently preparing itself to start on its elliptical trajectory around the planet and commence collecting data about it in earnest. Hit the links below to learn more about this bold exploration project.

Visualized: Mercury originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/KoB9dkkxQqA/

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How Secure is My Password lets you know just that

We've all heard it before; you need to select a lengthy password, one that's hard to guess. Not a dictionary word. And it has to have some capital letters in it too, and some digits, and a symbol or two won't hurt either.

That's a handy set of rules to keep in mind, but How Secure is My Password helps us understand why they're important.

It's basically like a full-screen version of one of those password-strength meters websites sometimes use. But instead of showing you a bar going from "weak" to "strong", it shows you an estimation of how long your password would take to crack. That's a much more visceral way to understand why your password is strong.

For example, when I entered "rabbit", it came back with "your password is one of the 500 most common passwords. It could be cracked almost instantly". "rabbit5" would take two hours, "$rabbit5" would take 38 days, and "$rabbitZ5" would take 237 years. It's quite enlightening to see what a difference three simple characters can make.

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/05/how-secure-is-my-password-lets-you-know-just-that/

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iPad 2 sliced up again, this time in the name of radio science

By now you've probably watched iFixit's recent iPad 2 teardown video several times while drooling profusely, but we just know you're itching to find out what's different with the innards of the WiFi-only, GSM, and CDMA versions. Well once again, iFixit's got you covered -- via an "exceptionally cool" user-contributed post, this time. A grand total of three iPad 2s were sacrificed in this round, revealing variations in case design, antenna count, WWAN board layout, radio chipset choices, and headphone jack assemblies. Besides clearly visible changes like the black antenna window on the 3G models and the microSIM slot on the GSM version, it's interesting to note that Apple made the same design choices with the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4. The CDMA model features an additional antenna over its GSM sibling, and uses a Qualcomm Gobi dual-mode radio which supports both CDMA and GSM -- the latter being unused -- along with an integrated GPS receiver, just like the iPhone 4 for Verizon. The GSM version, meanwhile, uses an Infineon chipset for GSM and a separate Broadcom module for GPS, just like the global iPhone 4. Follow the source link below for more sordid details plus high-resolution pictures.

iPad 2 sliced up again, this time in the name of radio science originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 03:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/ipad-2-sliced-up-again-this-time-in-the-name-of-radio-science/

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Android Market?s In-App Billing Now Live

One of the biggest gripes Android developers have about the ecosystem has been Android Market ? it was slow to add support for paid apps internationally, and it's taken ages for it to support in-app payments. Today, it's finally fixing the latter issue: Android Market now supports in-app billing. The news doesn't come as a big surprise, as Google pre-announced the feature's impending launch last week so that developers could prepare for it. But it's still a big deal. In-app purchases have proven to be very lucrative for developers on Apple's iOS (which launched in-app payments back in 2009).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rIc1jWRa9TU/

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BlackBerry OS 6.1 due this spring, will bring massive upgrades

When the BlackBerry Torch debuted, public reaction was cooler than RIM anticipated -- and that didn't sit well with the Canadian company. During its annual year-end call, however, RIM revealed that it had been working away at a major update to BlackBerry OS 6 in order to deliver an experience that end-users (and the company itself) could get excited about.

BlackBerry OS 6.1 is now expected sometime this spring, and Engadget reports that the .1 appears to be a bit misleading. RIM is approaching the update as an overhaul, not merely a minor tweaking. You can probably expect to see BlackBerry OS 6.1 in action this May at BlackBerry World 2011. We'll keep you posted when a beta or final release hits.

[header image via Crackberry]

BlackBerry OS 6.1 due this spring, will bring massive upgrades originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/25/blackberry-os-6-1-due-this-spring-will-bring-massive-upgrades/

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LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy

LimeWire might not have been the downloading program of choice for elite users like those of you reading Download Squad right now, but there's no denying its popularity with the average user. So when the Gnutella-powered LimeWire was shut down once and for all, there was little doubt that the impact on music piracy would be significant.

As TorrentFreak reports, the number of users utilizing P2P applications in the U.S. has nosedived -- to a level 43% lower than this time last year. Based on previous numbers, that works out to about 12 million fewer downloaders. The findings are based on a survey conducted by NPD.

What's particularly interesting is that while there are still plenty of LimeWire alternatives, it looks like most users have simply given up on music downloading -- or at least that's what they're telling survey reps on the telephone...

LimeWire shutdown leads to massive drop in music piracy originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/24/limewire-shutdown-leads-to-massive-drop-in-music-piracy/

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