Years of computer use have taught us that the mouse cursor is “above” the windows. It doesn’t push anything around; at least not without you clicking anything.

Balance takes that ingrained bit of knowledge and cancels it out. Suddenly your cursor (a blue dot) is solid – and if it touches the blue block, it pushes it around.

Your job is to use your cursor to nudge the blue block over to the orange block. You will have to push it, lift it and even flip it on its side, and then balance it. It’s a very tricky game – one I wouldn’t recommend tackling with a laptop trackpad.

Still, if you have a mouse and a hankering for a little physics gameplay, this is a cute little game. I like how the blue block never stops smiling, it makes me feel better about the world.

Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Korea’s ETNews is betting its reputation upon this raft of rumored details concerning Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Since the only thing we know for certain is that it’ll be announced “After MWC,” lets take all of these tidbits with a strong pot of “We’ll believe it when we see it,” okay? According to the report, the handset’s going to be 7mm thick, helped by the company shrinking down its PCB, connector and chip sizes by between 10 and 20 percent. The only thing that hasn’t lost any weight is the camera, which may sit on a “protrusion” (like the Droid RAZR’s hump). It’ll be running a custom quad-core processor with HDMI and LTE baked-in, and rather obviously it’ll be running Ice Cream Sandwich. Here’s where things get a little confusing, either this is the first of a raft of models that will highlight different features (so we’ll see subsequent GS3s with an S-Pen, 3D display or souped-up camera) or the above perks will come with the flagship as standard. Parts are reportedly gearing up to be shipped, but the only time we’ll get confirmation is when that special event kicks off closer to the summer.

[Thanks, Erich]

Rumor Mill: 7mm-thick Galaxy S III coming in May? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iMore isn’t just a website, it’s a community fueled by millions of people who comment on the stories, give and get help on the forums, and join us each and every month in discovering great new ways to enjoy our iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads. With almost 4,000 forum posts to his credit, Steve (aka BLiNK is exactly that kind of super engaged, incredibly helpful, truly awesome iMore community member. He’s also our very first reader of the month!

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The Super bowl is over, the ads have aired, and now we’re trying to fill a football-sized hole in our TV schedules. Luckily there’s a few new shows airing that may help us get through the winter, unless of course we get more Glee clones that push us outdoors into the harsh, unforgiving elements. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

The Walking Dead
AMC’s hit show is back for the second half of its second season Sunday night, and we’re… actually anticipating it? Stranger things have happened, and now that the little girl we never really got to know or care about is gone maybe they can leave the farm to go places where things happen. There’s a quick preview trailer embedded after the break.
(February 12th, AMC, 10PM

Smash
It’s another show that’s a lot like Glee. These words have either filled you with dread or uncontrollable excitement. Schedule your DVR and plans for this evening accordingly.
(February 6th, NBC, 10PM)

Doomsday Preppers
We know, we said we were against the quirky reality TV shows (on a slightly related note, the second jousting reality show of the season also premieres this week — how has jousting become a thing?) but this one is crazy enough to pique our interest. Doomsday Preppers goes inside your neighbor’s underground vault to see just what he’s got stocked in there should the worst happen. Don’t wait for the air-raid sirens to go off to find out, just tune into National Geographic tomorrow night, or check out the trailer embedded after the break.
(February 7th, National Geographic, 9 & 10PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (February 6th – 12th)

Must See HDTV (February 6th – 12th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Having the right programs and hardware to keep the information on your display safe from prying eyes is never a bad idea, and new software from Oculis Labs offers a very interesting take on how to do just that. It’s called PrivateEye, and it utilizes facial recognition to automatically pixelate the contents of your display when you look away.

If you step away from your system and someone else decides to sit down and poke around, PrivateEye will present a confusing jumble of garbled text. It’ll even notify you if someone tries to peek over your shoulder — and display a picture of your peeping Tom, throw up an alert, or sound an alarm.

Check out the video embed after the break, and share your thoughts in the comments!

Continue reading New software uses facial recognition to defend against prying eyes

New software uses facial recognition to defend against prying eyes originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GNOME 3, after more than two years of development, has been released into the wild. GNOME 3 is not merely the logical successor of GNOME 2: it is an entirely new project, started from scratch, to create a “completely new, modern desktop designed for today’s users and technologies.”

The best way to check out GNOME 3′s new features — and it has lots of new features — is to run a live version of openSUSE or Fedora, or simply head over to the GNOME 3 website and watch the (rather pretty) introductory videos. If you want a synopsis, though, here it is: GNOME 3 looks a lot like Mac OS X, with a healthy dollop of iOSesqueness for good measure, but yet it still somehow retains an underlying feel of Linux.

The overall aesthetic is very simple, very elegant, and despite being slightly out of fashion, there are plenty of rounded corners, too. The main addition, workflow-wise, is the addition of an app-launcher-cum-alt-tab screen, where you can launch apps, or flip through your open windows. For a complete list of the new features and changes, check the GNOME 3 release notes.

Despite GNOME 3 being officially launched, there aren’t actually any releases for existing, stable Linux distros — it’s the live CD/USB images, or Ubuntu users will have to wait for the launch of 11.04 for a GNOME 3 PPA, but it will break Unity in the process. Fedora users will have to wait for for the May 24 release of Fedora 15. Of course, if you’re feeling crazy, you can always build GNOME 3 from source.

GNOME 3 released, ushers in an interesting amalgam of iOS and OS X originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every week a few of us from team iMore will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web

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Evernote, the popular multi-platform ‘digital memory’ app, has done some serious re-tooling of its Web interface. In addition to a more polished UI that more closely mirrors the look of Evernote on the desktop, the update brings features like notebook stacks and snippet view to the Web.

Auto-saving is now enabled as well, and you can select multiple items by holding down the Cmd or Ctrl key on your Mac or Windows keyboard. If you’ve got items stored in your notebooks that you want to share with friends or co-workers, Evernote has improved that process, too. You can quickly post an item to Facebook, share it via email, or generate a Web sharing link to paste into an IM conversation or status update.

Head over to the Evernote Web login page to try out the new interface.

Evernote Web gets a new interface, Facebook sharing, and more originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PALM OSI SYSTEMS ORACLE OPENWAVE SYSTEMS ON SEMICONDUCTOR

We live a much more sedentary life these day with hours spent in front of the television or your PC.  Get some exercise while charging your favourite smartphone, tablet or handheld games console with K-Tor’s pedal powered Power Box. Measuring 4.5×4.5×8.75 in. and weighing less than two pounds (28 oz), the Power Box can be used to generate power for devices [...]

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Pastebin is a very popular website aimed at coders and other nerdy types, which allows them (or should I say, us) to paste and share snippets of code with lovely syntax highlighting.

It has recently undergone a major overhaul which includes the release of a brand new Windows client. The new client lets you create new “pastes” and manage your existing ones. It joins a host of other tools from Pastebin, such as the Google and Chrome extensions, OS X widget and the mobile apps.

If you’re currently using Pastebin, the new client is a great addition. And if you haven’t tried it before, next time you have a piece of code you want to share or get some feedback on, you could do worse than try out Pastebin.

[Thanks, Jeroen!]

Pastebin updated to V3, releases Windows app originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve covered Classic Shell before, but here’s the crib note: Classic Shell restores almost every Windows XP-era Explorer feature. The best change, in our opinion, is the reemergence of the ‘up’ arrow, meaning you now navigate without using the Windows Vista/7 ‘breadcrumbs’ address bar. The status bar yet again shows the total size of your selection, and — praise be! — the diabolical Windows 7 Copy File ‘copy and replace?’ dialog has been replaced with a Windows XP lookalike (image after the break).

New to the most recent version of Classic Shell is the ability to make IE9 look like IE8. With Classic Shell the title bar yet again has a caption, so you can see the full title of Web pages. The current security zone and loading progress indicator have been put back into the status bar, too. If you enable ‘Show tabs on a separate row,’ it’s almost like using IE8.

Finally, Classic Shell replaces the omnipotent Windows 7 Start Menu with the age-old ‘classic’ Windows 2000/XP-style Start Menu. Classic Shell makes the Start Menu skinable, too, if you’re into the kind of thing.

As awesome as it sounds, we’ve only touched on a small section of Classic Shell’s feature set. Check the Classic Shell site for a complete list. There’s a few more images of Classic Shell in action after the break.

Download Classic Shell for Windows

Continue reading Classic Shell now makes Internet Explorer 9 look like IE8

Classic Shell now makes Internet Explorer 9 look like IE8 originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, see that snaking line coming in from the right on the screenshot? That’s you. And see those large round circles? Those are supposedly grapefruits, only they won’t sit still – they keep moving up and down and cutting across your path. And if you touch one, you die!

That’s what you have to deal with in Line Grapefruit. But that’s not all – you’re also on a time limit. In fact, you have a very limited amount of time to make it through the “path” (for lack of a better word). You need to snake your way through the winding trail without touching anything. The good news is that a grapefruit only kills you if it touches the end of the line – once you’ve made it past the grapefruit, nothing happens if it crosses the path you’ve made.

This is not an easy game, but it’s quite unique – I can’t recall seeing another game quite like it.

Line Grapefruit is a tricky Flash “path” game originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever wanted to order a tea and coffee, but found language to be a barrier? Then say bonjour, to Nokia Hello. Making creative use of NFC, Nokia Hello users can touch phones to exchange greetings, pleasantries, as well as the aforementioned beverage order. Mild joking aside, the project has been developed to ease those awkward international business interactions, which the team behind it somewhat ambitiously claim could be eliminated as soon as 2015. We’re not sure how loud Nokia employees are but Dr Marcus Redströmm PhD, who led the project, thinks it can also cut their noise pollution by up to 85 percent. It’s still awaiting final testing, but it’ll be free once released — just be sure to touch back to say kiitos.

Nokia Hello: breaks down borders, gets the drinks in originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Considering that Hugo was a flick capable of earning 4 out of 4 stars from noted 3D hater Roger Ebert, it will be interesting to see how it’s received upon its home release February 28th. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards and currently rocking a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the fantasy tale of a boy who crosses paths with legendary filmmaker Georges Méliès in 1930s Paris may be the best example yet of how an artist can make use of the effect. The two hour six minute flick will be available in Blu-ray 3D combo pack, and 2D Blu-ray editions, with a 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack and special featurettes on the making of the film and the real magician/director who inspired the story.

The release date is two days after the Academy Awards, and if this flick can snag Best Picture or Best Director it could become a turning point for 3D. New 3D movies are already on deck from other high-profile directors like Ridley Scott (Alien prequel Prometheus) and Baz Luhrmann (The Great Gatsby), while big budget conversions like Star Wars — coming to theaters next week — and already-sold-out-for-Valentines Day Titanic test the waters for older movies. Add in sports broadcasts planned including UFC 143 tonight and the London Olympics in the summer, and 2012 is shaping up to be an especially rough year for 3D haters — you have our deepest sympathies. Those on the other side of the fence can check after the break for a press release with more details and (2D) theatrical trailer, it’s currently available on Amazon for preorders at $27.99, 2D only is $21.99.

Continue reading Martin Scorsese’s ‘Hugo’ Blu-ray 3D set for release February 28th — 3D haters beware

Martin Scorsese’s ‘Hugo’ Blu-ray 3D set for release February 28th — 3D haters beware originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just released on the Google Store, the Android Watch Set has been designed with Modify Watch so the watches are mixable and matchable.  Each set comes with two custom straps and a you get a choice of large watch face or small watch face.  Made of stainless steel with a polycarbonate casing they’re also water-resistant [...]

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Verizon’s ZTE Jetpack flies through FCC, arrival time still unknown originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Using some early numbers from both StatCounter and Net Applications, Mozilla’s noisiest hominid, Asa Dotzler, has illustrated Firefox 4′s meteoric rise to around 5% of Web browser global usage share. Internet Explorer 9, which launched two weeks ago, seems to be enjoying a much more casual stroll in the park with just 1.5% of the global Web usage share.

Interestingly, we can see IE9 dipping between March 20 and 21, just before the ‘Important’ Windows Update rolled out. It’s hard to say whether IE9 is only growing because of the installed-by-default Windows Update, but that small dip definitely sticks out — did excitement peter out? Did people download IE9, try it out, and summarily uninstall it? Perhaps, given their close proximity, the stats show an attention shift from Microsoft to Mozilla?

Numbers-wise, if the bottom left corner of the graph shows 2.3 million downloads for IE9, we can guesstimate that that it has now been downloaded 5 million times. Firefox is clocking in at 37 million downloads after five days of public availability.

We wonder whether Microsoft knew its release schedule would coincide so closely with Firefox 4. Internet Explorer 9 — a great browser by almost every metric — was never going to do well against anything emanating from the maws of Mozilla. The main thing, though, is that Microsoft has now shown that it’s serious when it comes to the Open Web. If Internet Explorer 10 is good, and 11 and 12, then we might finally see it compete with the zealous Mozillan horde.

Firefox 4 rockets to 5% global usage share, IE9 wallows at 1.5% originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another entry in the electric scooter market is the Boxx scooter.  In its “upgrade” model , the scooter charges in 1 hour via a standard domestic plug and gives you up to 80 miles (129kms) travel.  Weighing 120 lbs (55 kg) with all aluminium construction the unit comes standard with ABS, traction control, drive by wire, [...]

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