Category: Software

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From Engadget: Samsung demos its take on LTE Broadcast, edges closer to TV over 4G

Samsung demos its take on LTE Broadcast, edges closer to 4G TV

There must be a resurgence of mobile TV in the works at Samsung. Just hours after it brought out the TV-equipped Galaxy S Lightray 4G, the company has confirmed (through partner Anritsu) that it’s successfully testing LTE Broadcast technology. As the name implies, the standard and its evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) pipe software-independent services like TV over a 4G network’s ample bandwidth rather than requiring dedicated networks and the costs that come with them — we all know how that last strategy panned out in the US. Unsurprisingly, Samsung isn’t saying what its long-term plans might be at this early stage, although we’d note that it isn’t alone. Qualcomm was showing LTE Broadcast back at Mobile World Congress, for example. While it’s far too soon to tell if there will be any American revival, Samsung’s help puts the writing on the wall for conventional mobile TV formats like T-DMB.

 

from Engadget

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From Engadget: Google takes one giant leap: now lets you Street View the Kennedy Space Center

Google takes one giant leap: now lets you Street View the Kennedy Space Center

Today’s a stupendous day for lovers of the one and only National Aeronautics Space Administration — nearly half as great as when we took you inside Kennedy Space Center shortly after it had opened its fascinating doors to the public. At any rate, Google announced earlier that its captivating (and sometimes troubling) Street View technology had made its way into NASA’s KSC, allowing people to check out what the compound is all about and what sort of sensational machinery lies inside. With Mountain View’s doings, you can now find your way around different spots within the Space Center, including the Launch Firing Room, Vehicle Assembly Building and, as seen above, the Space Shuttle Launch Pad. There’s a video past the break if you’re interested in a quick preview, otherwise you can give it a go yourself by clicking the more coverage link below.

 

from Engadget

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From Ars Technica: Bad financial algorithm leads to severe stock market disarray

A stock-trading algorithm gone awry appears to have thrown American stock markets into chaos on Wednesday, following a surge of volatile trading after the opening bell. Many of the country’s biggest companies were affected, including Bank of America, Alcoa, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, and American Airlines.

Financial news sites have pinpointed the problem to Knight Capital Group. The brokerage firm’s algorithm appears to have triggered purchases and sales of millions of shares for 30 minutes.

Algorithmic trading, where stock transactions are mediated by high-speed data connections and software rather than humans, is something that’s been rapidly overtaking the industry in recent years. The infamous “flash crash” of 2010 led to a loss of 573 points on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in five minutes.

from Ars Technica

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From Engadget: Kinect Toolbox update turns hand gestures into mouse input, physical contact into distant memory

Kinect Toolbox update turns our frantic gestures into mouse input

Using Microsoft’s Kinect to replace a mouse is often considered the Holy Grail of developers; there have been hacks and other tricks to get it working well before Kinect for Windows was even an option. A lead Technical Evangelist for Microsoft in France, David Catuhe, has just provided a less makeshift approach. The 1.2 update to his Kinect Toolbox side project introduces hooks to control the mouse outright, including ‘magnetic’ control to draw the mouse from its original position. To help keep the newly fashioned input (among other gestures) under control, Catuhe has also taken advantage of the SDK 1.5 release to check that the would-be hand-waver is sitting and staring at the Kinect before accepting any input. The open-source Windows software is available to grab for experimentation today, so if you think hands-free belongs as much on the PC desktop as in a car, you now have a ready-made way to make the dream a reality… at least, until you have to type.

 

from Engadget

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From Droid Life: Amazon Cloud Player and MP3 App Receive Updates, Audiophiles in For a Treat

Today, Amazon has pushed an update to both their online Cloud Player and MP3 mobile applications. To say the updates are major is almost an understatement. For starters, you can now use Amazon’s scan and match feature that will make uploading your library to the cloud much faster, as well as the ability to add past MP3 purchases to the Cloud for free. The new feature that most music lovers will be happy about is that Amazon now offers to turn your library of music (as long as they have it) into high quality 256 Kbps audio files. Yes please.

New features include:

  • Import your music to Cloud Player faster with scan and match technology
  • Upgrade your music to high-quality 256 Kbps audio
  • Add your past Amazon MP3 purchases to Cloud Player automatically…for free
  • Edit song and album information
  • Import more types of music files

The updates are live now, so for anyone that has their music stored on the Cloud Player, go get your free high quality files!

Via: Amazon

from Droid Life