Tag: HARDWARE

It's full speed ahead for Google's VP8 video codec. Now that the bulk of YouTube's video library has been converted, it's on to the next task -- which looks to be hardware decoding. To that end, Google has unveiled Anthill, a hardware VP8 decoding solution that is substantially faster and more efficient than current software solutions. Google's Aki Kuusela said, "The H1 (Anthill) hardware ...

Before today, if you wanted to develop an app for RIM's upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet you were stuck with an Adobe Air SDK for the device. Now, however, RIM has released the WebWorks SDK -- first announced in September of 2010 -- which gives developers the ability to create apps using standard Web code like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS. That should make it a relatively painless procedure to ...

Our pal Hexxeh is at it again, only this time it's not Google's Chromium OS that he's hacking -- it's the Google Chrome OS Cr-48 laptop. We've previously shared posts about installing Ubuntu, Windows 7, and OS X on the CR-48, but the process has been a little on the complex side until now. Hexxeh's new tool -- Luigi -- simplifies the process greatly. As long as you can follow his 12-step ...

We already shared Google's instructions for installing Ubuntu on a CR-48 Chrome OS netbook with you, but one enthusiast has decided to take things a step further. After all, if you can get two x86 operating systems running on the CR-48 why not try for three or four? YouTube user Damis648 has managed to get both Windows 7 and OS X Snow Leopard running on Google's plain black machine. It's a ...

The Microsoft Kinect hacks just keep on coming, and we'll probably be seeing even more cool apps released now that first-party drivers are available for download. Today, we've got a glimpse at a new open source project called KinEmote in action. It's designed to take advantage of your Kinect in its natural habitat: the living room. KinEmote is a -- you guessed it -- remote control app which ...

Christmas is coming, and you're about to have a ton of time off. Some of that time will be spent energetically tearing apart beautifully-wrapped gifts, and eating food is certainly next on the list of priorities. Obviously you have to play with your new gifts (or put on your new socks), but after that... after the postprandial sofa-surfing grunts and burps and farts... well, there isn't a whole ...

For people trying to decide between an iPhone and Android smartphone, the choice can be a little tricky. Unlike the iPhone -- where you're basically picking how much you want to spend on extra storage capacity -- there are dozens upon dozens of different Android handsets. Figuring out which one is best suited to your needs can be a daunting task, so Google has put together the Google Phone ...

"I need a new computer!" is a cry often heard by parents and system administrators alike. But often, the problem isn't in the hardware – if the user isn't an avid gamer or using a really ancient system, more often than not the problem is a crudded-up Windows installation (yes, I know, "this doesn't happen on Linux"). Proving to your user/kid that the hardware isn't the problem is often ...

After yesterday's announcement that Chrome 7 is now hardware accelerated, I instantly wanted to get the major browsers back into the ring for another screencasted deathmatch. Back when I did the 4-way speed test, only Firefox and Internet Explorer 9 featured hardware acceleration, and as a result Opera and Chrome were many orders of magnitude slower. If you watch the video, however, you'll see ...

I bring you news that won't shock but will surely delight! Just over 40% of Steam users have a BitTorrent client installed -- and 75% of those are using uTorrent. Mainline is second with about 10%, with Vuze and BitComet coming in third and fourth place respectively. These delicious statistics have emerged thanks to Steam's hardware and software survey which now includes a breakdown of ...

digg_url = 'http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/18/google-verizon-chrome-os-tablet-on-sale-november-26-2010/'; The title pretty much says it all on this one, folks. Yes, our source tells us that Google is building a Chrome OS tablet. It's real, and it's being built by HTC. No surprise there, since HTC churned out the Nexus One for Google. Yes, they plan to offer it in conjunction ...

Back in July of 2008, Truecrypt v6 introduced the ability to encrypt your system partition. It also brought support for multiple processors and an overall performance bump. Now, version 7 is out and it's the fastest TrueCrypt ever -- thanks to hardware accelerated encryption. If you're running a compatible CPU which sports the AES-NI instructions (most Intel Core i5 and i7 processors), you ...

Our sister site, Engadget, has done some laudable reporting on the Droid X "self-destruct" controversy I covered yesterday. The Droid X was rumored to brick itself if a user modified the bootloader, but Engadget asked Motorola about those rumors and found out they're only half-true. Yes, the eFuse chip in the Droid X will "protect users" by forcing the phone into recovery mode, but it won't brick ...

Android fans love that their OS is much more freely modified than a relatively closed system like Apple's iOS, but the new Droid X is reportedly far from mod-friendly. Droid X has a self-destruct sequence built on a technology called eFuse, which disables the bootloader and bricks the phone if you try to tinker with it. The only way to get your Droid X working again after eFuse has been triggered ...

When I first glanced at System Nucleus, I thought it might wind up being just another system reporting tool, spilling details about my system to a text file for posterity. In fact, that's barely the tip of the iceberg -- System Nucleus features a number of useful tools for Windows troubleshooting, tweaking, and maintenance. One of my favorite components is the backup & recovery tool, which ...