ChromeLite: experience the ASCII Web of yesteryear

Have you ever wondered what the Web was like before the Mosaic Web browser? If you were born in the last 20-odd years, or you only discovered your inner geek recently, did you miss out on monochrome monitors and the dial-up BBS era? Well, here's your chance to get a sneak peek at history: grab the ChromeLite extension and marvel as the entire Web is transformed into ASCII characters.

Now, ChromeLite isn't really all that functional. For the most part, it simply strips images and converts text into a monospaced terminal font. There are a few Easter eggs inserted -- such as a fun message at the bottom of YouTube (image after the break) -- and some fun ASCII art, but that's about it. Rather oddly, most JavaScript continues to work -- so you can still enjoy Google Instant Search!

ChromeLite was actually made by Google as an April Fools' joke -- and indeed, an annoying 'you can uninstall this!' message appears at the top of every page -- but we're kind of hoping that Google, or another developer, takes ChromeLite and turns it into a real ASCII browsing extension with configurable settings. If anything, it will provide an easy way to save bandwidth and CPU time.

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ChromeLite: experience the ASCII Web of yesteryear originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cracking the Nexus Q, Google's 25-watt amplified obsession

"We're missing a nut," says a bemused Matt Hershenson, former Danger founder and now Google's director of hardware for Android, pointing at a vacant spot on an exploded photo of the Nexus Q. Its parts are strewn out across a white background, perfectly arranged in a linear pattern that starkly contrasts with the spherical nature of the thing. "Wow, you're right," agrees Joe Britt, engineering director at Google and another former Danger founder. "It's like the illuminators, you know, the monks who used to draw up the codexes." Hershenson picks up the reference without missing a beat: "Everybody needs to make at least one mistake. Nothing can be perfect."

That goes against everything else we've been learning from the pair, who spend 45 minutes walking us through every detail of what went into the development of the new Nexus Q. They worked hand-in-hand with engineers and designers and materials experts, ensuring everything from the bearings to the LEDs were, well, perfect. But there is one thing, something larger, that many have said is a crucial flaw in this illuminated device: pricing. Will people pay $299 for a high-concept, low-functionality social media streamer? Join us after the break for how the Q came to be, and why Britt and Hershenson think it will be a success.

Gallery: Nexus Q hands-on

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Cracking the Nexus Q, Google's 25-watt amplified obsession originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Burrito Bison is a simple game for gummy bear lovers

Burrito Bison is a pretty simple game, but if you're into gummy bears you might find it addictive.

As you may have guessed from the name, you're a bison (not a burrito, though). In the course of your day-to-day grocery shopping, you're abducted into a bag of gummy bears, and must now fend for yourself.

At the beginning of each round you launch yourself onto the marching gummy (gummi?) bears, while you're being watched by a huge crowd of even more gummy bears. Your goal is to keep bouncing on the bears and earn more and more money while you do it. Every time you hit a gummy bear, you lose some momentum. If you hit the floor, you basically lose all of it.

But don't give up just yet! You have an emergency thrust which you can use to gain some momentum and keep bouncing on those bears. This extra thrust gets refilled as you hit more bears.

There are also special gummy bears that give you extra thrust or extra money. The money comes in handy at the end of each round, when you can shop for cool stuff to make your bison even more effective against those gummy bears.

It's a fun and colorful game that kept my interest for quite some time, and almost sent me running to the closest store to get some gummy bears!

Burrito Bison is a simple game for gummy bear lovers originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM: Kill Yourself So Others Might Live [Rim]

RIM is toast. RIM, in the very near future, will no longer exist. BB10 will probably never be released. The ship is sinking, on fire, and covered in ants. If it keeps bleeding out, there maybe nothing left worth saving. But if RIM chops itself up for salvage now? We all win. More »

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Project Glass Session shows a day in the life of a mother and daughter

We know you kids out there love you some Project Glass. So, we thought it worth sharing the latest  Google video that has emerged in the shadow of Google I/O. 

This one, titled Glass Session, shows a day in the life of Madame and Bebe Gayno, with Madame of course wearing a set/pair of the 'glasses.' It's not quite as impressive as Sergey Brin's skydiving extravaganza, but it does further emphasize one key point. Google Hangouts are going to feature quite prominently. That, and we're likely to see a lot more before the first developers get their hands on these things next year. 

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WiFi issues on your Verizon Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean? Here's your fix

If you're among the many who have flashed a Jelly Bean ROM onto your Verizon Galaxy Nexus you no doubt realized there appears to an issue with the WiFi suffering from weak connections. No matter though, XDA member mwalt2 has taken things into his own hands and checked out the situation. Conclusion being, there is a singular file difference causing all the hassle and now that it's been figured out, it can indeed be corrected with a simple flashing of said file in CWM. Head on over to the source link to grab the file, read the instructions -- just remember, back up your device first.

Source: XDA

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Survival Lab is a fun pixelated game where dying doesn't matter

In most games, dying is a bad thing. You have to start all over again, or at least revert to the last save point and lose some progress. Not so in Survival Lab: in this pixelated gem you play as a lone individual pitted against ruthless weapons in a sealed chamber. You have to run, jump and duck, collecting little yellow things (I have no idea what they're called).

For each donut-like yellow thing you pick up, you gain a bit of experience. If you manage to collect several in a row without getting hit, this counts as a combo. You can see my mad combo skills in the screenshot, of course. Collecting combos is a good thing, because a ten-point combo gives you for more experience than just collecting ten dounts one by one (getting hit in-between).

Having experience is useful, because once you die, you get to a screen where you can upgrade your skills. You can learn to run faster, double-jump (and then double-jump higher), and duck. You can also gain more armour so that getting hit won't kill you so quickly.

What makes this simple game so addictive is that when you die, your experience doesn't reset. You just go back to the same level, or another level of your choosing, and keep accumulating more and more experience. Lots of fun, especially if you're into the whole retro-gaming thing.

Survival Lab is a fun pixelated game where dying doesn't matter originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In-app payment support arrives on Android

Right on cue, Google has launched in-app payment support for Android applications. Developer testing began last week, and now many popular apps -- like the ones pictured above -- can begin charging users for add-on functionality, content, or whatever the heck else they feel is worthy of additional bits of your pocket change. If you were wondering, Google will take the same 30% cut that Apple takes from in-app purchases.

At last we can buy individual issues in Comics with minimal fuss!

In-app payment support arrives on Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Currents to be part of Jelly Bean OTA for Nexus devices

As you'll know if you've been following our Google I/O coverage, Google Currents will ship on the Nexus 7 tablet when it launches next month. But now it's been revealed that Google's digital magazine app will also be part of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OTA that'll be sent to ICS-running Nexus devices around the same time. An email sent to currents partners today indicate that Currents' user base is set to increase significantly as it goes from an optional app on the Play Store to a part of the core collection of Google apps. As such, we'd also expect to see Currents shipping out on future Google-certified Jelly Bean devices, as it becomes a more established member of the Google apps family.

If you're using Currents, be sure to add Android Central to your library today.

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Windows 8 wallpaper available to download, Jupiter and Twin UI spotted

With Windows 8 milestone 3 now up for grabs for select Microsoft Connect partners, it's inevitable that leaked bits and pieces will start popping up around the Web. In fact, the first "official" wallpaper image from the still-brewing OS is already making the rounds.

As you can see, it's got a similar feel to the good ol' Windows 7 default background, but features a more subdued smattering of cerulean hues. Those of you who want to use the Windows 8 wallpaper on your current desktop can download it from our file dump.

A few other details have been revealed, too. According to ZDNet's source, the Windows 8 Jupiter libraries and Twin UI are starting to take shape -- though all that's been located thus far are "[various files] scattered throughout the OS" and the aptly-named twinui.dll.

Windows 8 wallpaper available to download, Jupiter and Twin UI spotted originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Opera 11.10 includes improved power saving features

Just recently, the Opera 11.10 release candidate was made available for download. It brought a handful of important feature additions -- like HTML5 File API support and IMAP enhancements -- and loads of bugfixes. Nestled in amongst the other details in the Opera team's announcement is one more interesting tidbit: Opera 11.10 offers improved battery optimizations.

The timing here is certainly interesting, what with Microsoft's recent report on how much power the top five Web browsers consume. In its findings, Opera 11 was fairly low in the standings. While we've not seen any new benchmarks yet, we're curious to know whether the Opera 11.10 RC offers any significant gains.

If you're running Opera 11.10 on a laptop, let us know if you're seeing an improvement in your battery life while browsing!

Opera 11.10 includes improved power saving features originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Former T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm Headed to Vodafone

Philipp Humm, who abruptly resigned from his T-Mobile CEO position, will join Vodafone Oct. 1 to oversee portions of Europe. The head of Vodafone Italy will take over the more problematic Southern areas. - Philipp Humm, who resigned from his
position as CEO of T-Mobile, the carrier announced June 27, is
joining Vodafone, a European rival of T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom.

Vodafone has split its chief executive
position for the overseeing of Europe, and Humm will become chief executiv...

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