While we’ve still yet to see anything truly Earth-shattering, the tandem of Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott continues to churn out insight about interesting new features they’ve discovered in Windows 8 milestone 3. The latest discovery is that Aero in Windows 8 will be able to automatically adapt itself to match your current wallpaper image. It’s a bit like what Windows 7 already does with your taskbar icons: if a program alert needs your attention, the icon will glow using the predominant color (e.g. Firefox should glow orange).

And yes, you can already make Windows 7 behave this way if you like. Over at CodePlex, there’s a little program called Aura that parks itself in your system tray and automatically adjusts your window borders to compliment your wallpaper images. The effect is quite nice, and you can try it out by minimizing your windows and cycling through your theme’s wallpapers (right click on your desktop and choose next desktop background).

Windows 8 to feature adaptive Aero colorization, get it now on Windows 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/windows-8-to-feature-adaptive-aero-colorization-get-it-now-on-w/

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When Amazon Appstore for Android launched last week, one of its primary features — Test Drive — was disabled just a few minutes after it opened. With no try-before-you-buy, no refund process, and 1-Click purchasing ready to strike at any moment, this caused some problems. Anyway, don’t despair: Test Drive is now enabled.

Before you get your hopes up, Test Drive doesn’t work with every app. The IMDb app works fine — you can even watch movie trailers on it! — but the Angry Birds games are sadly not enabled. Some games work surprisingly well, though, like Bubble Buster. There’s very little latency, and the framerate is really rather good. The Test Drive experience is so true to life that you even get ads; how cool is that?

Continue reading Amazon Appstore for Android Test Drive hands on: surprisingly cool, but still US-only

Amazon Appstore for Android Test Drive hands on: surprisingly cool, but still US-only originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/amazon-appstore-for-android-test-drive-hands-on-surprisingly-co/

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Small businesses on the West Coast of the U.S. are far more social-media savvy than those on the East Coast — with companies in San Franci…

Source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/wRAw9iO1jTo/

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Steve Jobs had dreamed of one day taking Apple onto our public roadways with a sleek, well-designed car — so said J.Crew CEO and Apple board member Mickey Drexler at a recent business conference.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/steve-jobs-dreamed-of-icar/

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Not all of us want to be locked into a long term contract with a wireless carrier. Especially when it comes to data-only devices that might not get used on a regular basis. For those that want to grab a 4G dongle or a mobile hotspot and go, without the need sign their life over, T-Mobile is launching four new pre-paid data options. The 4G passes start at $15 for 300MB over the course of a week, all the way up to 5GB for $50 over the course of a month. The plans are available on the Sonic 4G and plain ol’ T-Mobile 4G mobile hotspots as well as the Rocket 3.0 laptop stick, but tablet users can also hop on the bandwagon. The Galaxy Tab 10.1, 7,0 Plus and SpringBoard are all eligible for the No Annual Contract mobile broadband passes. You can start topping off your megabytes instead of your minutes on May 20th. For more details check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading T-Mobile launches new contract-free, data-only plans

T-Mobile launches new contract-free, data-only plans originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/wc9UP7nBPEk/

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Gladinet maps Amazon Cloud Drive to your Windows desktop originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/map-amazon-cloud-drive-to-windows-local/

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Flipboard is a graphically stunning social media aggregator that organizes your friends? tweets, posts and links into a magazine-like spread. But now that experience isn’t just visual: In an update yesterday evening, Flipboard added sound to the mix, so you can enjoy your favorite podcasts and music through the app.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/flipboard-app-adds-audio/

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The confusion over the Sense 4 multitasking methods is about to come to an end, albeit in a way that many of you aren't going to like. While we were pretty confident that our investigation into the matter gave us the answers, we reached out to HTC about the issue, and it has responded with the following.

"HTC is aware of some questions in the enthusiast community about how the HTC One X handles multitasking and memory management for background apps. We value the community's input and are always looking for ways to enhance customers' experience with our devices. That said, right now multitasking is operating normally according to our custom memory management specifications which balance core ICS features with a consistent HTC Sense experience."

So there you have it. HTC has taken open-source Android, and customized it to its liking. We're not surprised, nor should you be. HTC places more emphasis on the front-end user experience, at the expense of background tasks, and has modified the source code to better suit its software. This is how open-source operates, and HTC should deliver what it  feels is best for their customers.

I think the real issue here is users' expectations. Sense 4 is as far from stock Android as iOS is from BSD. The core code was made available, and HTC has spent three years refining it, adding to it, and making it its own. From the user standpoint, only the very nerdly few are going to be up-in-arms about HTC's changes, and all of us knew ahead of time that HTC's phones would be running HTC's software. Our option is to purchase what suits us the best.

I've been using Sense 4 on the HTC One S for a bit now, and I think HTC has done a bang-up job with it. It's certainly not stock Android, and there are a few things I miss from vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich, but as mentioned, I knew that going in.

We often say Android gives everyone a choice — let's not get out our pitchforks and write those petitions to try to take one away.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/leD7zcLK6CQ/story01.htm

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Sprint's community forums this morning have acknowledged that the EVO 4G LTE has been delayed, stuck in customs. It hasn't gone out and said that it won't be available for Friday morning's launch, but pre-ordered phones are "on hold," writes dshoem01. Pre-ordered phones should still arrive first. Here's the full statement:

• HTC EVO 4G LTE availability
  The U.S. availability of the HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed.  HTC is working to resolve this issue and appreciates your patience as they work to get products into Sprint channels. We can’t provide specific timing for product availability at this time and we appreciate your patience as HTC works to get products on store shelves as soon as possible.
• Pre-order status/availability
  Delivery of products for pre-order are on hold and Sprint will provide a ship date as soon as possible. Sprint will maintain the promise for the preorder customers that they will be among the first to receive their HTC EVO 4G LTE units.

Update: The author of the post has since removed pre-order cancellation info, saying it was inaccurate. To cancel a preorder, you'll need to either refuse delivery or call for a return authorization kit.

Sprint PR continues to refer questions to HTC. Check back for any updates.

Source: Sprint community forums; via EVO 4G LTE forums

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/e6Sl4fK0C48/story01.htm

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The mad rush to get hold of an iPad certainly led a lot of people to believe that this nifty little gadget would put a smart phone to shame. The fact that users would be able to get thousands of apps on their iPad might have had something to do with craze and Apple did make it one of the selling points about the device. Apple marketed the iPad as having specifically designed apps and that these ranged from leisure [...]

Source: http://tabletbuzzblog.com/thousands-of-ipad-apps-is-that-all-it-has-to-offer/

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