Forget typing out searches or searching by voice. Devices running Android 2.0 can now use Google Gesture Search to find contacts, music, and more. All you have to do is "draw" letters on the screen.

This is how Google says the whole thing works:

Say you want to call your friend Anne. Just open Gesture Search and draw letter "A", and Gesture Search returns a list of items that have words starting with "A". If your handwriting isn't all that neat, that's okay. If the "A" you draw looks a bit like an "H", as seen in the bottom left corner of the screenshot, "H" results will be brought up as well. If needed, you can also erase a query by crossing it horizontally: left to right erases the entire query, and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query. Now you can either scroll down the list to find Anne or write more letters to refine the search.

Google Gesture Search is now available on the Android Market. I'd try it, but as good as it sounds, I doubt it can handle my handwriting. [Google Mobile Blog]

Thought all multitouch-capable displays were created equal? Think again -- Android and Me has posted a rather fascinating (if not somewhat depressing) video showing a demo multitouch app created by a game developer who'd grown suspicious after running into all sorts of trouble getting the feature to work the way he wanted on the Nexus One. First up, the Droid handles the demo with aplomb -- two thumbs are recognized smoothly and consistently. Next, though, the Nexus One gets confused after a while and starts registering presses at the wrong corners of the on-screen box formed by the placement of the thumbs. There's always hope that this could be fixed with a firmware bump, but that hope looks to be in jeopardy from language posted by a Google engineer in the official Android dev forums: "...this is how the touch screen hardware on the Nexus One works (which is essentially the same screen as on the G1 and myTouch). The Droid has a sensor from a different manufacturer, with different behavior. Other phones will likewise have different sensors." In other words, Google seems to think that HTC's just using a lower-quality sensor than Motorola is. That's good news for Droid owners, we suppose -- but with game development on Android still something of a non-starter, hardware issues like this keep fragmenting the user base and preventing big-name developers from jumping in and betting on the platform. Follow the break for video proof of the wackiness.

Continue reading Nexus One's multitouch confused more easily than Droid's?

Nexus One's multitouch confused more easily than Droid's? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is a map showing which fast food chain rules a particular area of the United States, except it's barely legible so click THIS PINK BUTTON RIGHT HERE to see the full-size version. Basically, McDonald's rules the entire US except for Texas, which is owned by Sonic and looks like a spilled milkshake. DAMN YEAH MINE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE RANCH! Infographic: The Burger Wars [gizmodo] Thanks to Closet Nerd and Flintstone Vitamins, only one of which helped me grow up strong. I owe you, Closet Nerd.

The more I look at Thomas Prescher's Mysterious Double Axis Tourbillon watch, the more I think it's impossible this thing exists. The watch is completely empty of everything except the tourbillon, apparently floating in the middle of space.

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Only one single metal wire holds it there, rotating onto itself and improving the accuracy of the time mechanism. The watch's movement is inside the bezel, and it is powered by the horizontal swinging oscillating weight you can see on the top. [Watchprosite via Watchismo]

I've successfully removed my Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220 earphones thousands of times in the few months I've had them. Today, however, I botched the operation.

The whole thing transpired at the Gizmodo office in New York City this afternoon. Right when I removed my earphones I knew something was wrong. I quickly looked down at the cords in my fist and saw one earbud's driver, naked, without its protective rubber sleeve. My fear tightened into a knot in my stomach.

Without thinking I tried to pinch the plastic cup out with my nails, but this only pushed it deeper into my ear canal. At this point I started to panic a little—I could feel the piece of plastic deep in my ear and was experiencing that unique discomfort that comes with having a foreign object in your body when you don't want it there.

Determined, I kept pinching at it with my fingers, but that only drove it deeper and deeper. My imagination turned against me. "What if I can't get this thing out," I wondered. "What if this ruins my hearing," I thought. I tried pushing on the back of my ear, where it connects to the skull, hoping to get up behind the earbud and push it out from the inside. That didn't work either.

At this point I could hardly even reach the plastic piece with my finger. As you can see in the photograph above, only a sliver could be seen peeking out of my ear canal, like a crescent moon.

Through all of this, I tried to keep the problem discreet, but eventually I had to admit to myself that I wasn't going to get this fucker out by myself. Reluctantly, I let the two Gizmodo interns in on my shameful secret.

I proposed the idea that we fish it out with a ballpoint pen, but they quickly dismissed that (apparently the earbud was pressing against the problem solving part of my brain, because this was clearly a terrible idea). Intern Kevin leaped into action and after some rooting around in the office returned with a pair of plastic tweezers.

As he bent my head to the side, he said something about having shaky hands, but at that point I was hardly lucid. I felt the plastic push deeper for a moment, and then felt it wiggle side to side for a little longer. Then, finally, I felt my ear canal breath for the first time in minutes that had seemed like hours. The earbud was removed!

So let this be a lesson to you all: treat your earphones gently. Most of the time it's great that they fit so snugly in your ear. But some of the time that perfect fit can be a nightmare.

Readers offer their best tips for playing just the audio of video files on the iPhone, cushioned sleeves for external hard drives, and making sure your alarm clock wakes you up in the morning.

Don't like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.

Play Just the Audio of iPhone Video Files

Photo by Dan Taylor.

Rick Betita shows us how to stop the video from playing and draining battery on iPhones:

One of the most annoying things about the iPhone is that you can't listen to the audio of a video file unless the video is playing. Let's say I'm watching a TEDTalk video podcast where the visuals don't add much to the content: if I lock my phone or press the home button, playback will stop (rather than continue underneath like an audio file).

To get around it, I lock my phone while I'm watching the video (stopping the playback) and double-tap the home button to bring up playback controls on the locked screen. From there, I can press play and lock the phone again, allowing me to listen to my video file with the screen locked.

If I want to do something else on my iPhone while the audio of the video plays in the background, I press the home button during video playback and lock the screen immediately afterwards. Then I double-tap the home screen as before, hit play, and unlock the phone. It brings me to my home screen while the audio continues to play.

Use Drink Insulators as Hard Drive Sleeves

kamosaurus gives us a nice clever use for our portable external hard drives:

I have found that the collapsible koozies are perfect cheap sleeves for portable external hard drives. They fit snug and they give you a little "bump" protection without you having to go buy an expensive portable hard drive case. I've never had a case where the hard drive got too hot from being in the koozie but it's more about the transport anyways.

The best part of all is that they are cheap and customizable!

Move Alarm Clocks Around to Ensure Waking in the Morning

Photo by Bernt Rostad.

virtourist shares his tips for waking up in the morning:

The problem with my alarm clock is that I've gotten so used to the 'off' button that I can turn off the first alarm and cancel the second in my sleep. I have a roommate, so I can't do something ridiculous like put the alarm clock on the other side of the room.
My solution: Wrap the alarm clock in a t shirt and always place the clock in a different orientation/location on the nightstand. That way, I have to be awake and coherent enough to do some searching for the off button without just using muscle memory.

grewal12 adds his solution to the mix:

I have the same thing going on...kind of. I have two alarm clocks. One is the regular kind, right next to my night stand. The other one is my phone which is on the other side of the room. They both go off at the same time. BUT, I have another alarm on my phone that goes off 15 minutes later. So I have to go through the menus and stuff to turn it off. Because if I don't, it goes off while I'm in the shower and wakes everyone else up.

Take Bathroom Breaks on Different Floors to Get Heart Rate Up

Photo by Russell J. Smith.

fisher.seth lets us know how he keeps from feeling lethargic at work:

To get my heart rate up multiple times during my otherwise very sedentary working day, I only take restroom breaks on the ground floor of a five-story building (of which I'm located on the 5th floor). I take five flights of stairs down, use the restroom, then back up the stairs, two-at-a-time, as quick as possible. After a quick stop at the top to catch my breath, I'm back at my desk within 3 minutes.

Hey BlackBerry friends -- we've got some news for you. The Engadget application (which is also available for the iPhone / iPod touch and webOS devices) has gone and gotten itself a little update on RIM's platform. It's nothing crazy, but we've made some bug fixes, and more importantly, added support for 5.0 devices (Bold, Curve, and Tour)! The devs also thoughtfully included keyboard shortcuts (T, B, N, P, and the spacebar) in this version for your convenience. All you have to do to get your hands on this baby is point your phone's browser to our download page, or if you've already got the app installed, it should prompt you for an update automatically next time you open it. Storm users -- we are working on a version for you as well, and everyone who is curious about the Android app: you should see it released this month!

The Engadget app for BlackBerry gets updated to 1.0.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On February 17th, an air traffic controller let his little boy take the reigns for at least five transmissions to commercial jets at JFK International. This was terribly dangerous breach of protocol! And so totally awesome for the kid.

So many questions here: why'd the pilots go along with it? How could the air traffic controllers have possibly thought this was a good idea? And has there ever been a better Take Your Child to Work Day?

The involved parties have been suspended (and/or sent to bed without dessert) while the FAA investigates. In the meantime, let's all breathe a sigh of relief that no one was hurt, and wave a fist of anger that we didn't get to play. [CBS News]

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/jdExukJVUGI&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} ); This is what digital books from Penguin—one the mega-publishers—will be like on the iPad. Children's books that are games, interactive anatomy books, and an augmented reality intergalactic GPS system. This is the future we've been waiting to see.

The excitement over the iPad? It's this precisely kind of stuff that people are wetting themselves over, little slices of our tablet dreams. What is a book anymore, in this format?

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/rw5wLaBqdV0&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} ); The ePub format that'll be the vessel of choice for ebooks sold in the iBooks store is designed to translate traditional books to a digital format. Which is why, Penguin Books CEO John Makinson says that "for the time being at least we'll be creating a lot of our digital content as applications for sales in app stores in HTML, rather than as ebooks. The definition of a book itself, as you can see, is up for grabs."

It's been expected that the preferred form of newspapers and magazines on the iPad will be apps, given their dynamic content—both in terms of being constantly refreshed, and their desire for video and interactive elements—that's not particularly suited to the ePub format being sold through iBooks. But Penguin's decision to pursue books as applications possibly foreshadows a really interesting split for book publishers as well: Sell a book or sell an app? Which could have some interesting implications for Amazon and their contracts with book publishers as well.

Somehow, things just managed to get even more complicated. But Penguin thinking beyond the book is exciting enough that I don't really care. [PaidContent]

Ever wonder about the man behind the insane amount of ASUS products we cover? We do too, which is why we jumped at the chance to sit down with ASUS CEO Jerry Shen here at CeBIT. Our lengthy discussion covered just about everything you can imagine, but we've clipped some of the highlights together for you in the video below. We're particularly taken with his excitement over Windows Phone 7 and his disinterest in the smartbook category. As for that EeePad or future tablet? You'll have to watch to find out...

Continue reading ASUS CEO talks tablets, smartbooks and Windows Phone 7 Series phones

ASUS CEO talks tablets, smartbooks and Windows Phone 7 Series phones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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