• ToneCheck Stops You from Sending Passive Aggressive (or Plain Aggressive) Emails (Windows)
  ToneCheck is an email plug-in that checks the content of your emails for tone and alerts you to language that may be misunderstood or interpreted as particularly negative.
• Jolicloud Netbook OS Hits 1.0 with a New Interface and Automatic App Updates
  Jolicloud, the netbook OS that mixes web connectivity with desktop apps, is rolling out its 1.0 release, and there's a lot to like. Chief among the new stuff is a new, HTML5-based dashboard and synchronized, auto-updating, add-from-anywhere apps.
• Firefox Tab Candy Organizes Your Tabs in Groups, Looks Excellent (Windows/Mac/Linux)
  Firefox Tab Candy is a new tab management feature for Firefox that organizes tabs into groups to help you keep your tabs grouped by task. Not only does it offer incredibly handy features, but it looks beautiful.
• TrueCrypt 7.0 Gets Intel Hardware Acceleration and Better Automatic Mounting (Windows/Mac/Linux)
  TrueCrypt, the smart and secure way to encrypt your data, has shipped a seventh version that can encrypt faster on select Intel hardware, as well as configure your encrypted volumes or drives to automatically mount with specific preferences.
• iPhone 4 Case Program Lets You Pick and Ship Your Free Case from Apple (iPhone 4)
  Last Friday Apple announced they'd be handing out free cases to iPhone 4 owners in response to reception problems. Today, you can download the official iPhone 4 Case Program application, which will verify your iPhone 4 and allow you to choose a bumper or other case.
• ScummVM Brings Classic Point-and-Click DOS Games to Modern Systems (Cross Platform)
  If you long for the DOS-based games of your youth, free app ScummVM easily runs classic games like Maniac Mansion, Sam and Max, and Secret of Monkey Island on any platform you can imagine, from Windows to Amiga.
• Microsoft Security Essentials' New Beta Increases Protection on a First-Come, First-Serve Basis (Windows)
  Microsoft today released a new, limited beta for their increasingly popular anti-malware application, Microsoft Security Essentials.
• PhpVirtualBox Manages Your Virtual Machines Remotely (Cross-Platform)
  Open-source, web-based administration panel phpVirtualBox helps you more easily manage your VirtualBox virtual machines-starting, stopping, and performing almost any task through any web browser.
• Gmote Turns Your Android Phone Into a Remote Control for Your PC ( Gmote Turns Your Android Phone Into a Remote Control for Your PC (Android)
  Gmote controls your desktop PC directly from your mobile phone, letting you control playback of music and movies, browse your file system, or even use your phone as a keyboard and mouse.
• Window Manager Sizes and Moves Windows into Grid Formation (Windows)
  Windows' built-in Aero Snap is pretty neat, but limited to simple left-right-full window-sizing options. Window Manager provides a customizable grid that lets you pick where and how large your desktop windows get resized.

More »

I'd have learned the alphabet so much faster this way. The Console Font is now in excellent t-shirt form for $9. [Tee Fury] More »

We're hearing that HSUPA-fast upload speeds are returning to normal in places where a software defect in Alcatel-Lucent equipment caused them to tank. AT&T's not officially confirming it, though. [Uneasy Silence] More »

We've featured a fully automated media center set-up before, but Lifehacker reader Andre has improved on these methods, allowing you to download torrents to your media center while still seeding them to others. More »

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Beyond an opportunity for a lucky few to visit the surreal and sophisticated wireless testing labs buried deep within the Apple campus, the Steve Jobs "Antennagate" press conference had few surprises in terms of using a tool at Apple's disposal -- its own Bumpers (augmented by those of third parties) -- to address a vulnerability of the iPhone 4 antenna design. The difference between the iPhone 4 and other devices is the clear marking of the spot at which physical contact causes the signal to degrade. Optimists could consider this a visual reminder to avoid contact while pessimists could see a constant reminder of imperfection. Regardless, at its press conference, Apple added - and continues to add -- visual verification of its assertion that multiple handsets (or at least smartphones) can fall victim to a strategic grasp.

Beyond that, the only muted revelation of the day was that AT&T is reporting that the iPhone 4 is monitoring dropped calls on the iPhone 4 at a rate ever so slightly above that of the 3GS. However, the 3GS did not have a reputation for being particularly tenacious at holding on to a call. Indeed, were it not for all the heat the previous iPhone took at AT&T, perhaps Apple would not have had to push for so radical an antenna redesign. Therefore, it would have been interesting to know how the iPhone 4 compared to the AT&T smartphone average (skewed as it is to iPhones anyway), especially given the earlier Apple demonstration of how other smartphones can suffer from attenuation.

Continue reading Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways

Switched On: Of guiltlessness and giveaways originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

In the perfect life, I'd have an open bar everyday. In this life, I'd take having TabbedOut work in every bar. It's an app that let's you pay for your bar tab straight from your iPhone. More »

If you're shooting professional video, you probably already have a pretty nice camera, but if you're just messng around with the iPhone 4, you can make up for shaky video with an easy, cheap DIY stabilizer. More »

It's certainly not the first time we've seen this here BlackBerry (with "this here" meaning "Curve 9300"), but it's the first time we've seen it outfitted in carrier clothing. Notice that T-Mobile logo at the bottom? That's the clearest indication yet that this particular 'Berry will soon be headed to T-Mob, but given that it's unlikely to support an upgrade to BlackBerry OS 6, your off-the-chart excitement level may indeed be unwarranted. At any rate, we're also hearing that Rogers in Canada will be snagging this at launch, but we'll be passing along official details just as soon as we get them.

RIM's BlackBerry Curve 9300 spotted in T-Mobile branding originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BB Geeks  | Email this | Comments

BP knew about the Deepwater Horizon oil rig's safety risks a year while ago. So, naturally, the "critical alarm system" that would've warned workers bad things are happening was intentionally disabled before the explosion that took down the rig. More »

Hundreds of pounds of feathers, rising, swirling and settling in a 50-feet installation—Tokujin Yoshioka's "snow" aims to evoke the snowscapes of our memories. I hope it's really cold inside. More »