Fashionable Frequencies
You are normally fairly safe from the world of high fashion on this web site but we just couldn’t resist bringing you news of a new fabric, called Intimacy, developed by Studio Roosegaarde’s V2 Lab. Intimacy is used in a range of garments, made from something called Smart Foil, which becomes transparent when fed with a small current. Various ways of using the fabric have been touted, including sensing the wearer’s emotions to control the degree of transparency, or remotely, via a wireless interface, with the wearer able to vary the transparency by moving closer or further away from a transmitter. Scary stuff but we can see a good opportunity for joke shops with Smart Foil trousers and Y-Fronts…
Google To Challenge Windows and Mac
Rumours that Google are working on a desktop operating system, to rival Windows and the Mac OS have been floating around the web for a while and they’ve generally been dismissed but now it’s official. Google Chrome OS is due to hit the streets some time in the second half of 2010. Whether or not the good folk at Microsoft and Apple will be quaking in their boots remains to be seen but on past experience Google certainly has the clout to make it happen and the Android OS for smart phones is already starting to have an impact.
Chrome OS is designed to run on standard x86 PC hardware, as well as ARM chips and the ever popular Intel Atom used in the majority of netbooks. It’s going to be based on a Linux kernel and according to Sundar Picha, the Google Engineering director who broke the news on his blog, key user-inspired features will include near-instant startup and email download Read more
Download Firefox 3.6 Nightly Builds
With Firefox 3.5 release coming near, Mozilla has already started working on Firefox’s next version codenamed Namoroka that is scheduled to launch in mid 2010. The pre-alpha builds are already out for Windows, Mac, and Linux. To keep day-to-day tab on the nightly builds, follow the link given at the bottom.
The release is being called Firefox 3.6, but should not be considered as a final name since it might later be called as Firefox.Next due to vast improvements and new features. To learn what’s new in Firefox 3.6, visit the Mozilla Links blog.
Download Firefox Nightly Builds
Firefox 3.5 RC Just Around the Corner
The first Release Candidate of Firefox 3.5, codenamed Shiretoko, is just around the corner. The RC development milestone means that Mozilla is extremely close to wrapping up the successor of Firefox 3.0, released back in mid-June 2008, almost a year ago. While there are voices claiming that Firefox 3.5 RC1 will be made available for download as early as tomorrow, fact is that Mozilla has a test day planned for the upcoming build of its open-source browser this Friday, May 29.
“MozQA is holding a Testday for the rollout of Firefox 3.5 RC 1 which is as close to a release as possible! I don’t need to remind everyone of how important this phase is, so we’re going to need your awesome testing skills to make sure it’s as polished as possible,” revealed a member of the Mozilla Q&A team. Read more
How to Rebuild the iPhoto Library
Apple has posted / updated a Support document online outlining the particularities of rebuilding your iPhoto library. Last modified this weekend, the knowledge base article contains (rebuilding) instructions for users of iPhoto 6 or later.
According to Apple, “iPhoto includes a feature that allows you to rebuild the currently selected iPhoto library. Sometimes rebuilding the library may resolve issues such as the library appearing to be unreadable, missing photos, or other issues related to reading the iPhoto library structure,” the company explains. Read more
Italian job Macbook Air
Italian computer manufacturer, 13.3-inch ultra-thin notebook Olidata introduced. “Conte ultraportable” The device name appears in two different versions: The first version of 16:10 in the form of a screen with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution offers support. The other is the screen in 16:9 format and 1366 x 768 pixel resolution offers. Core 2 Duo processors will be equipped with two model.
Optional integrated UMTS or WiMAX as provided. 16:10 ‘hood models other than their Intel Turbo Memory, fingerprint reader, illuminated from behind the keyboard and offers 3 GB of RAM. Read more
Fruity PC Comeback
apricot
Those of you who have been around computers for a few years may well remember the Fruit Wars of the early 1980s, indeed one of the very first home computers I wrote about was the Tangerine, back in the late 1970’s. In fact it was little more than a very large printed circuit board, smothered in logic chips, and you had to add your own keyboard and light bulbs, but it was a start… Anyway, soon afterwards we had more useable machines from the likes of Apple, and Apricot, not to mention quite a few lemons, though to be fair I don’t remember anyone actually using that name. But the rest, as they say is history, with only one fruity PC maker managing to survive.
Anyway, this preamble is by way of reintroducing the Apricot brand, last owned by Mitsubishi though by the late 1990s it had all but disappeared. Read more
Dream Pinball 3D Ships for Mac
Runesoft is now shipping the Mac version of Dream Pinball 3D, featuring acoustics, state of the art particle technology, HDRI and multilayer 3D sound, as the makers say. Adding realistic tilt function and motion blur effects, Dream Pinball 3D requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher and costs around US$44, according to InsideMacGames.
“A great pinball game should not only be amazing from the start, but should continue to be entertaining every time you play it,” says Runesoft. “This was the thinking behind the development of the newest pinball sensation Dream Pinball 3D with its six cutting edge tables that are beckoning you to try your luck.” Read more
Apple to Seed OS X 10.5.5
Sources are reporting that Apple is close to issuing the first pre-release build of the next maintenance update to Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Mac OS X 10.5.5 is said to include support for new Mac notebooks due out later this year (autumn).
“People familiar with the matter say Apple Developer Connection members and other high-profile software makers could receive the first test builds of the software prior to the start of the weekend,” AppleInsider reveals. “The first seedings will almost certainly arrive by the middle of next week,” the site notes, citing the same sources.
Apple’s latest maintenance update for Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5.4 was released on June 30, just a month after the first beta build had been seeded to the Apple developer community. Read more
The Dell Studio Hybrid’s been released!
This is so cool it’s sick:
Introducing the Dell Studio Hybrid.
* IT’S SMALL
Same footprint as a Mac Mini Combo.
* IT’S MORE AFFORDABLE
Cheaper than a Mac Mini Combo. ($499)
* IT’S MORE POWERFUL
1.86Ghz Dual Core Pentium, 2GB memory (twice that of Mac Mini Combo), 250GB hard drive. (3x that of Mac Mini Combo) And it comes with Windows Vista Home Premium. Read more
