A Lithuanian developer, LemonLabs, has recently published an interesting infographic detailing a few simple ways in which designers can prepare their assets for developers in a useful and sensible way. The advice ranges from simple standard resolutions for icons, to highlighting particular Apple style guidelines, and how to package your final bundle of assets. A lot of it seems like common sense, but I’m sure there are at least a few iOS developers out there who would like to make sure their designers have at least glanced over something like this.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/_5tgbM9n3a0/story01.htm

OSI SYSTEMS YAHOO COMCAST UNITED ONLINE DIEBOLD

Speedtest.net is pretty much the go-to site for quickly figuring out how fast (or slow) your connection really is and comparing the numbers your ISP boasts with what it actually delivers. And now it’s got a new coat of paint and a couple of neat features. In brief:

• New UI: The map widget is much improved; it actually looks like a map now, and it’s easy to see where you are.
• Smart server selection: If there are several test servers nearby, Speedtest will now ping each to see which has the least latency and use that for the test. You can still specify servers manually, too.
• User accounts: You can sign up for a free account and aggregate results from several computers/connections.
• Speed Wave: This new feature lets you add your test results to the results of many other users, and get a nice composite view.

All in all, you get some nice, new functionality and a snazzier interface to boot. Nice!

Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/07/speedtest-net-overhauled-with-new-look-new-features/

ASUSTEK COMPUTER ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS ARROW ELECTRONICS MICROSOFT

Back when I was a kid, I used to love crafting ornate puzzle boxes out of Lego. There would be just one way to open the box, by carefully shifting and rotating a bunch of pieces. Well, either that, or breaking the box in frustration.

Interlocked takes that spirit and turns it into a beautiful Flash game. It’s a good thing the soundtrack is soothing, because the game itself can get pretty frustrating.

At the start of each level, you’re presented with a box built out of blocks in different colors. You can click and drag the mouse to rotate the box any which way. Once you decide you want to shift a part of the box, hit SPACE to switch into “move” mode. You can then click any part of the box and drag it. Of course, you can only move a part as long as nothing is in its way. So it becomes a matter of understanding how the box is built, and what parts you need to move around so you could eventually take the box apart.

It’s a tricky, difficult game, but it’s a great brain teaser — and definitely a keeper.

Interlocked is a three-dimensional brain teaser originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/interlocked-is-a-three-dimensional-brain-teaser/

INSIGHT ENTERPRISES ELECTRONICS FOR IMAGING HYPERCOM CISCO SYSTEMS

Before spending the cash on expensive, full-size aircraft prototypes, US Air Force engineers needed a way to ensure that their experimental designs actually, well, worked. Their solution—an airborne flight simulator mounted on the front of a transport plane. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/BOBTCTmIbFw/

KONINKLIJKE KPN ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL ORACLE NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS

While not a game per se, I found Mitoza intriguing enough to spend quite some time with it. You start off with a seed, and are then presented with two choices: you can either click a flower pot, or click a cute little birdie.

If you click the flower pot, a flower pot appears and the seed is planted inside. You’re then presented with two further choices — a water can or a bottle of fertilizer. Each choice you make causes your creation to morph, and presents you with two other choices.

There’s no winning or losing, really. Each “game” usually lasts around four or five choices, at which point the plant/animal dies in some creative (but not too gruesome) way. At this point you instantly start over with a new seed.

The graphics are captivating; the whole thing has a cinematic feel to it, with a bit of artificial camera shake added for style.

All in all, it’s a fun, peaceful way to spend a few minutes, and it might even make you think a little bit while you’re at it.

Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/mitoza-is-a-fun-freaky-web-toy-with-an-artistic-look/

MICRON TECHNOLOGY VERIFONE HOLDINGS SILICON LABORATORIES PLANAR SYSTEMS

We reported on Amazon’s Send to Kindle for PC utility when it was released, and now Amazon has released their Send to Kindle for Mac client. Send personal documents to your Kindle from your Mac. Drag and drop one or more documents on to the Send to Kindle icon in your Dock or launch the application and [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/04/27/amazon-send-to-kindle-now-for-mac/

QIMONDA GOOGLE TELETECH HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER

A couple weeks ago, The Gadgeteer had a news post about Brick Brites, clear plastic LEGO-like building blocks.  They’re different from regular LEGO blocks because they have motion-activated blinking lights built-in to add some excitement to your LEGO constructions.  How do you improve upon the LEGO brick?  I had to see what this was all about. [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/04/27/brick-brites-blinking-led-plastic-building-brick-review/

PROGRESS SOFTWARE NOKIA ASML HOLDING STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS

While not a game per se, I found Mitoza intriguing enough to spend quite some time with it. You start off with a seed, and are then presented with two choices: you can either click a flower pot, or click a cute little birdie.

If you click the flower pot, a flower pot appears and the seed is planted inside. You’re then presented with two further choices — a water can or a bottle of fertilizer. Each choice you make causes your creation to morph, and presents you with two other choices.

There’s no winning or losing, really. Each “game” usually lasts around four or five choices, at which point the plant/animal dies in some creative (but not too gruesome) way. At this point you instantly start over with a new seed.

The graphics are captivating; the whole thing has a cinematic feel to it, with a bit of artificial camera shake added for style.

All in all, it’s a fun, peaceful way to spend a few minutes, and it might even make you think a little bit while you’re at it.

Mitoza is a fun, freaky Web toy with an artistic look originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/mitoza-is-a-fun-freaky-web-toy-with-an-artistic-look/

RED HAT HEWLETT PACKARD CO SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY ITRON

I'm not sure why nobody showed me this Metroid-style battery widget before, but I'm holding each and every single one of you personally responsible for this oversight.

Download: Super Android Battery; via Dovahkiin in the Android Forums

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/V-Gfz8xahoA/story01.htm

CDW KEY LINEAR TECHNOLOGY INGRAM MICRO

A while back, we told you about AVG’s new LiveKive service, a new cloud synchronization and backup tool which appears to have been named after a vat in which mash is made during the brewing process. But enough about AVG’s odd choice of monikers — LiveKive has launched and is now ready to accept your files into the AVG cloud.

LiveKive takes aim at services like Dropbox and SugarSync, though at the moment it’s lagging behind in terms of features. As it stands, LiveKive is only compatible with Windows and OS X. There are no mobile clients yet, though with AVG’s strong presence on Android we wouldn’t be surprised to see an app arrive in the near future.

The company is offering a heck of a deal right now, however. If you sign up for a paid account during the launch phase, you can score unlimited storage for $80 for a whole year. You can’t even score 50GB per year at that price from Dropbox, so if cost and space are more important to you than cross-platform availability, LiveKive might be worth checking out.

If you’re not interested in ponying up any cash at the moment, you can still get a 5GB account free of charge. Just head on over, and create a LiveKive account.

AVG launches LiveKive cloud sync and backup tool originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/avg-launches-livekive-cloud-sync-and-backup-tool/

LAND SOFTWARE TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR SAIC MOBILE TELESYSTEMS

TripAdvisor, the popular travel planning tool, has just launched an app for Windows Phone 7. Just like the mobile website, the app allows you to search for anything travel-related — from hotels and flights to restaurants and points-of-interest to visit once you reach your destination.

Geolocation is supported, which allows TripAdvisor to quickly locate places nearby. But while that’s a neat feature, it’s also a bit of a downer — because, really, it’s about the only feature TripAdvisor for WP7 brings to the table that its mobile Web app doesn’t already offer (its browser-based geolocation doesn’t work with WP7 at the moment).

While it’s nice to see Windows Phone 7 users getting some big-name apps, it’d be even nicer if we saw some packing a bit more swagger.

Still, TripAdvisor for WP7 might just be worth installing on your device if you’re frequently on the go — at least until a better browser arrives with the Mango update.

TripAdvisor app for Windows Phone 7 now available originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/tripadvisor-app-for-windows-phone-7-now-available/

MENTOR GRAPHICS HARRIS MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR VIRGIN MEDIA

Before high-tech engineering upped the ante on amusement park rides, coaster enthusiasts got their thrills riding wooden behemoths that felt like they were going to shake themselves apart. And now you can enjoy those same thrills from the comfort of your office chair. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fQf1HXwzvFY/forget-magnets-this-working-148+scale-wooden-roller-coaster-is-the-ultimate-desk-toy

MENTOR GRAPHICS HARRIS MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR VIRGIN MEDIA

Apps for iOS, Android, and the web grab a lot of attention these days, and with good reason. They’re changing the world. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/YMKBiQ-Br_A/five-super-helpful-mac-apps-for-music-fans

NOVELLUS SYSTEMS AMPHENOL PEROT SYSTEMS NOVELL

Besides providing a safe place for kids to tire themselves out so they sleep through the night, playgrounds are one of the best places for young ones to foster their imaginations. And Denmark-based Monstrum builds playgrounds that are veritable wonderlands for make-believe. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/FPCuC6J0nCA/

DLINK NVIDIA IXYS IRON MOUNTAIN INORATED

Microsoft is giving its SkyDrive cloud storage service a makeover that will include new apps and greater synchronization abilities across mobile and PC devices. The new service includes SkyDrive for the Windows desktop, so it can be managed right from Windows Explorer or from SkyDrive.com.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1eb2d9d0/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C749410Bhtml/story01.htm

LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL QUANTUM CANON COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS

The Higgs Boson is kind of a big deal. If it does exist, it could provide a key to unifying the standard and quantum models of physics. But what is a Higgs Boson, what does it do, and how does it work? With the help of this animated short, UCI physics professor Daniel Whiteson breaks down the basics of this mysterious particle (or is it a field?) in a way even your parents can understand. [Vimeo via Open Culture] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/59JluHWHOA4/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-higgs-boson-in-under-eight-minutes

HARRIS MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR VIRGIN MEDIA SYNOPSYS

It’s always the same. Just when I’m thinking that I couldn’t be surprised by the Hubble Space Telescope anymore, it captures another image that leaves me in awe. Like this searchlight-like beams in space. It’s what I’d imagine the doors to heaven would look like if I believed in such things. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0Zxnm5tQIpA/the-entrance-to-heaven-seems-3000-light-years-from-earth

SYNTAXBRILLIAN NVIDIA HEWLETTPACKARD INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY

A lingering cloud of Google vaporware finally condensed recently into an actual product. Google Drive has been a subject of speculation for years, but now the company’s own cloud storage service is here for real. Google Drive lets anyone store a few gigabytes worth of data on Google’s servers.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1ed36cbf/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C749750Bhtml/story01.htm

EMS TECHNOLOGIES AMERICA MOVIL ADOBE SYSTEMS XILINX

I don’t know about you but, as a Photoshop nerd, I love this Adobe color picker drawn with a multi-colored pen. [9gag] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9fc3wKBdupg/if-you-are-a-photoshop-nerd-you-will-love-this-drawing

ASUSTEK COMPUTER ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS ARROW ELECTRONICS MICROSOFT

If you’ve been looking for a reason to replace your aging device with something a tad more contemporary, your local pawnshop GameStop is happy to oblige. According to Gadget Experts, the games retailer is looking to bolster its Android offerings with Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Nexus S and Samsung Infuse 4G trade-ins at select GameStops this summer, expanding to all locations by the end of the year. Have a device that’s not on this short list? Don’t worry, Gadget Experts says the firm plans to fill out its touchable trade-in inventory with more devices in the future. So, what’s a Galaxy Tab worth to gaming’s favorite pawn star? We’ll let you know when GameStop drops the official details.

GameStop to offer Android tablet and smartphone trade-ins, give you another excuse to upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 04:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/29/gamestop-to-buy-android-tablets-and-smartphones/

NVIDIA HEWLETTPACKARD INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS

The London 2012 Olympics, athletic event to top all athletic events, will be honored with the installment of the largest McDonald’s fast-food restaurant on Earth. Seems a little ironic, no? [Eater via FoodBeast - Images via McDonald's / Flickr]

More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/MyeMOJDNaUg/

MANTECH INTERNATIONAL VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES LIBERTY GLOBAL QUALCOMM

It has emerged that the underlying cause of RSA’s SecurID gaffe was the recently-reported zero-day vulnerability found in Adobe’s Flash Player.

The exploit, which used specially-crafted Flash embedding in Excel spreadsheets, was first reported on March 15 and has since been fixed. RSA was hacked sometime in the first half of March when an employee was successfully spear phished and opened an infected spreadsheet. As soon as the spreadsheet was opened, an advanced persistent threat (APT) — a backdoor Trojan — called Poison Ivy was installed. From there, the attackers basically had free reign of RSA’s internal network, which led to the eventual dissemination of data pertaining to RSA’s two-factor authenticators.

The attack is reminiscent of the APTs used in the China vs. Google attacks from last year — and indeed, Uri Rivner, the head of new technologies at RSA is quick to point out that that other big companies are being attacked, too: “The number of enterprises hit by APTs grows by the month; and the range of APT targets includes just about every industry. Unofficial tallies number dozens of mega corporations attacked [...] These companies deploy any imaginable combination of state-of-the-art perimeter and end-point security controls, and use all imaginable combinations of security operations and security controls. Yet still the determined attackers find their way in.”

What we’d like to know, though, is whether the attack on RSA was caused by Adobe’s lackadaisical approach to patching Flash — or was it the other way around? Was it the RSA attack that first brought the zero-day vulnerability to Adobe’s attention?

Security firm RSA attacked using Excel-Flash one-two sucker punch originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/security-firm-rsa-attacked-using-excel-flash-one-two-sucker-punc/

NOVELLUS SYSTEMS AMPHENOL PEROT SYSTEMS NOVELL

Solar cells are becoming more viable sources of energy — and as they become more efficient, they’re only getting smaller and cheaper to produce. Liquid nanocrystal cells are traditionally inefficient at converting sunlight into electricity, but by adding a synthetic ligand to help transmit currents, researchers at USC have improved their effectiveness. The advantage of these liquid solar cells? They’re cheaper than single-crystal silicon wafer solutions, and they’re also a shockingly minuscule four nanometers in size, meaning more than 250 billion could fit on the head of a pin. Moreover, they can be printed onto surfaces — even plastic — without melting. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to pave the way for ultra-flexible solar panels. However, the scientists are still experimenting with materials for constructing the nanocrystals, since the semiconductor cadmium selenide they’ve used thus far is too toxic for commercial use.

USC develops printable liquid solar cells for flexible, low-cost panels originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/27/usc-develops-printable-liquid-solar-cells-for-flexible-low-cost/

KLATENCOR KONINKLIJKE KPN ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL ORACLE

The Next Web, a network of online technology outlets, kicked off its annual conference Thursday morning in Amsterdam. One of the morning’s headline speakers was Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of the social news site Reddit, whose 25-minute talk discussed the ongoing — and increasingly litigious — battle over Internet rights.

Source: http://ectnews.com.feedsportal.com/c/34520/f/632000/s/1ec5fe4b/l/0L0Stechnewsworld0N0Crsstory0C749630Bhtml/story01.htm

ARROW ELECTRONICS MICROSOFT VEECO INSTRUMENTS ON SEMICONDUCTOR

I don’t know about you but, as a Photoshop nerd, I love this Adobe color picker drawn with a multi-colored pen. [9gag] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9fc3wKBdupg/if-you-are-a-photoshop-nerd-you-will-love-this-drawing

APPLE COMPUTER SES ACER UNISYS