Archives for December 2010

Google Adds ‘Restore your Contacts’ Feature to Gmail

Gmail has a few handy features such as the ability to add a short delay to sending your email after you hit send. By doing this, you can quickly click on Undo link and the email will not be sent out. Handy for when you address an email to the wrong person which happens time to time.

With the next feature, Google [GOOG] gives you a second chance to restore your contacts that you have purposely or accidentally deleted. Perhaps you deleted a person from your contact list by accident, or perhaps you want to forgive someone. Gmail now lets you roll back your contact list to re-include the deleted contacts. [Read more…]

Photo Print Cost Calculation Tool Created

Printing photos can be an expensive game if you’re not careful. The ever so helpful How To Geek, has created a spreadsheet that lets you calculate if printing photos in store is cheaper than printing in your home.

The spreadsheet requires you enter some details such as the cost of ink, how many prints per cartridge you get (from each color as well as black) and how much it costs to print in-store the amount you want to print. [Read more…]

How Star Wars Sounds Were Created

The image you see above is of a radio mast. This particular mast was responsible for creating the laser blast noises in Star Wars. By hitting the metal wires with a wrench, it created almost the exact sound you hear from the blasters.

The video below goes through a number of techniques used to create sounds for the Star Wars universe and is well worth watching if you’re in to that sort of thing. [Read more…]

iOS Infinity Blade Update Landing Next Week

Infinity Blade for the iPhone and IPad (and iPod touch) launched last week. We now hear that a new update is incoming as early as next week.

The new update will bring five new weapons to the game as well as five new shields, five new helmets and new armor. As well as the new weapons and defense features, the game will have a new level cap of 45 added to it. [Read more…]

Gran Turismo 5 Installed to SSD Speeds Up Load Times

One way that you can increase the load speed of Gran Turismo 5 is by installing it to an SSD drive on your PlayStation 3. Some tests were performed with various configurations that revealed load times could be cut in half (from about 40 seconds) right down to about 20 seconds in some cases.

The problem here is for people with a slim Playstation 3. Unfortunately, this isn’t for you. However, if you still own an older fat Playstation 3, then switching out the hard drive for an SSD will help things move along more swiftly. [Read more…]

Facebook for Android Update Brings Integrated Chat and Push

The Facebook app for Android has received an update. What the update brings to Android smartphones is the ability to chat with friends with the integrated chat service. Also, push notifications have been added to the app.

Prior to the release of the latest Facebook app, users had to rely on 3rd party apps to use Facebook chat. LifeHacker is reporting that the integrated chat is working quite well. [Read more…]

Google Buys Zetawire Mobile Payment Company

Google [GOOG] has acquired a company called Zetawire. This particular company focuses on mobile payments although little is known about the company.

An analyst revealed one probable reason why Google acquired Zetawire was actually related to a patent they owned which is titled… “mobile banking, advertising, identity management, credit card and mobile coupon transaction processing”. [Read more…]

SimCity for iPad Now Available

SimCity for the iPad has finally launched. The game has been expected for a while now and has finally gone on sale.

The game was created by Electronic Arts and allows you to take control and build your own virtual city. This particular game has been available for the iPhone for a while now, but finally has been optimised to work better on the larger screen. [Read more…]

Verizon iPhone 4 to Add Just 14% Sales

AppleInsider has posted an interesting report created by Piper Jaffray…

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster expects Apple to sell just 2.5 million additional iPhones in the US by adding Verizon as a carrier early next year, bringing 2011’s US iPhone sales to 20 million, with Verizon’s sales largely coming at the expense of AT&T.

[Read more…]

Microsoft Windows Update Record Set – 17 Bulletins, 40 Vulnerabilities

Microsoft [MSFT] has set a new record this patch Tuesday when it sent out 17 security bulletins that tackled 40 vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system and related software (such as Office).

This is the third time this year that a record has been set. The Windows Update patches in October 2010 had 16 bulletins accompanying them althoughthere were 49 actual vulnerabilities addressed at that time. [Read more…]

O2 Android 2.2 Update for Dell Streak Coming This Week

The Dell Streak Android 2.2 update has been appearing across various networks over the last few weeks. We now hear that for those with a Dell Streak on the O2 network, you’ll be getting the update by the end of this week. No specific day has been provided though.

The new update brings a number of new features to Android based devices and when it eventually lands, we expect it to quickly be installed by a number of users. [Read more…]

Kinect Hacked to Create Virtual Piano

Another Kinect Hack has been created. This time it’s called the Keyboard Anywhere and basically allows a keyboard to be virtually created on any surface.

The system uses the OpenKinect library as well as Python code and with all that, it can create a virtual piano on a desk, floor, wall or any other surface.

To get it to work you first need to create a space and point the Kinect at that space. Once done, you define the area where the piano is, move a virtual piano on to that space and once done, you get a virtual piano. When used on a floor, it can stretch the width of a room. [Read more…]