Netflix snags DVD.com domain, invests in the future of optical media

Looking for a shortcut to Netflix's home on the web? Try hitting up DVD.com -- it'll take you there, for now. The latest address to join the family of Netflix redirects actually brings you to a subdomain -- dvd.netflix.com -- suggesting that the company could once again be planning to split its streaming and physical media services, at least from an access perspective. A shareholder letter lists the company's U.S. DVD subscriptions at 11.17 million at the end of Q4, bringing in a total of $370 million in revenue, with a profit of $194 million. Compare this to domestic streaming, which represents $476 million in revenue with a mere $52 million profit, and it's clear that the DVD rental market is still quite strong. So what could this latest domain acquisition mean for snail mail subscribers? DVD-only customers may soon have a new site to call home, with focused content and perhaps an upsell opportunity or two. At the very least, it certainly can't hurt when it comes to SEO.

Netflix snags DVD.com domain, invests in the future of optical media originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Strangest and Most Wonderful Photobomb You've Ever Seen [Image Cache]

This is a story. The story of a young woman, brown of hair and unsure of heart, and her new dress. This is also the story of another woman in the dressing room, heart full of cocaine and smartphone love. More »

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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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Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video)

While not quite the fastest commercially available e-bike in the world as some have suggested (as far as we can tell, that claim belongs to a DIY kit out of Taiwan by a company called Cyclone), the Specialized Turbo is still a speedy little beast. In fact, it's fast enough to find itself on the wrong side of the law both here in the US and across most of Europe. The 250 W rear hub motor is powerful enough to get this guy up to about 28 MPH, or 8 MPH over the legal limit here in America. It's the other features, though, that make this guy particularly interesting. The frame has integrated LED head and tail lights, regenerative breaking and the 342 Wh battery can be juiced in just two hours from an outlet. There's even a backlit display that lets you monitor charge and assistance level, as well as standard bike computer stats like speed, distance and time. Oh, and it even supports ANT+ for wirelessly connecting with your existing accessories. The Specialized Turbo is expected to land in some European nations in May for €5,499. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

Continue reading Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video)

Specialized Turbo e-bike is too fast and furious for the western world (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Week's Top Web Comedy Video: Downton Arby's [Video]

Downton Abbey has many charms: deliberate pacing, gorgeous backdrops, top-rate acting. In fact, just about the only thing it's been missing these first two phenomenal seasons? Roast beef. And maybe curly fries. Fixed! More »

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A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app

Update: Tech From 10 seems to be offline -- but we have lots of images and a hands-on review if you want to see what the new Music app is like.

In what is probably a bit of a big-G whoopsie, the folks at Tech From 10 woke up to find a new, test version of Android Market installed on their Galaxy S.

Visually, the new version is almost identical. The carousel of featured apps has been updated slightly, and apps now have a 'Content rating,' but that's it (image after the break). The interesting bit, however, is the inclusion of alpha and beta apps -- most notably, there's a new version of the Music app, which looks like a scaled-down version of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb Music app (see right).

Also available from the test Android Market is 'Google Gallery 3D New 10.2', 'Google - Camera v12' and 'Google Desk Clock 10' -- but, curiously, all of the apps refused to launch on Tech From 10's Galaxy S (Vibrant) smartphone. Are they Honeycomb apps? Or, more likely, are they destined for the next Android smartphone OS, Ice Cream?

If you want to try out the new Honeycombish Music app, Tech From 10 has made the APK available for download. You can also download the three Google apps, if you want to have a poke around.

Continue reading A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app

A sneak peek at the next version of Android Market and Music app originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spotify takes Facebook's Timeline feature to insane extremes

Worried that Facebook's new Timeline feature is going to offer up too much information? Don't worry, whatever roller coaster ride your relationship status updates might be, you've got nothing on Spotify. The music streamer is offering up 1,000-odd years of music history on its Facebook page, reaching back to 1,000AD, which was apparently a big year for organum lovers.

Spotify takes Facebook's Timeline feature to insane extremes originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New malware appearing in dodgy apps you shouldn't be downloading anyway

The next time you're cruising one of the various Android app piracy forums looking for the free crack for ROM Manager or Root Explorer, be warned that you may get more than you're looking for. A new bit of malware named DKFBootkit has been found attached to pirated apps that require root. It hooks itself into the boot sequence by altering files in the system, and can cause all sorts of problems without the user being aware. Since you think it's a legit application, you say OK when it asks for root privileges, and you are owned. It's bad news all around.

The good news is that it's easy as hell to avoid. That's the part of these types of stories that never seems to get mentioned. Use a bit of common sense -- you download a file from someone who is able to crack a legit app and defeat any license checks, and you don't think they can drop a bot or keylogger in there as well? Idiocy like this is what keeps malware alive on Windows desktops, and Android devices. Stop stealing apps, and don't be stupid enough to trust someone who steals and redistributes them. Period. Full stop.

If you didn't pay for it, chances are you'll wish you did. And you deserve it. 

More: NQ Mobile

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Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game

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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Nokia's Windows Phones: The Games Begin

Last week Nokia unveiled a pair of Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 710 and 800. They'll arrive in the United States sometime in early 2012, according to the Finnish manufacturer.

"Lumia is the first real Windows Phone," Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told the audience during a London keynote Oct. 26. "We are signaling our intent right now to be today's leaders in smartphone design and craftsmanship, no question about it."

Let the games begin.

The Lumia 800 represents the high end of Nokia's smartphone plans, and features a 1.4GHz processor, hardware acceleration and graphics processor, and an 8-megapixel camera that uses Carl Zeiss optics. Design-wise, there's a 3.7-inch active-matrix organic LED (AMOLED) ClearBlack curved display integrated into a body rendered from a single piece of polycarbonate. I played with it during a Nokia presentation last week in New York City; it's pretty.

In a play toward the midmarket, Nokia is also offering the cheaper Lumia 710, also with a 1.4GHz processor, and a 5-megapixel camera. It's pretty, too.

To say that Nokia needs both these devices to succeed is something of an understatement, considering how it's abandoned its other operating systems in favor of Windows Phone. In order to sweeten the deal for consumers, Nokia has installed some exclusive apps with its phones, including Nokia Drive (with turn-by-turn navigation and voice-activated control) and Nokia Maps, which offers up points of interest around the user's location.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, Microsoft wants to push Windows Phone more toward the midmarket, and the Lumia 710 seems a big step in that direction. "We are dramatically broadening the set of price points in Mango-related phones that we can reach," Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Windows Phone division, told the audience during the Asia D conference Oct. 19. "That's particularly important because going lower down in price point opens up more addressable market."

But it'll still be some months until we know whether Nokia's succeeding in its all-or-nothing effort.

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How Secure is My Password lets you know just that

We've all heard it before; you need to select a lengthy password, one that's hard to guess. Not a dictionary word. And it has to have some capital letters in it too, and some digits, and a symbol or two won't hurt either.

That's a handy set of rules to keep in mind, but How Secure is My Password helps us understand why they're important.

It's basically like a full-screen version of one of those password-strength meters websites sometimes use. But instead of showing you a bar going from "weak" to "strong", it shows you an estimation of how long your password would take to crack. That's a much more visceral way to understand why your password is strong.

For example, when I entered "rabbit", it came back with "your password is one of the 500 most common passwords. It could be cracked almost instantly". "rabbit5" would take two hours, "$rabbit5" would take 38 days, and "$rabbitZ5" would take 237 years. It's quite enlightening to see what a difference three simple characters can make.

How Secure is My Password lets you know just that originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Exiting U.S. Smartphone Market: Report

Dell reportedly will no longer sell Venue and Venue Pro smartphones in the United States, refocusing its mobile device business on emerging markets and higher-margin products. - Dell
reportedly is pulling out of the smartphone market in the United States, ending
sales of its Venue and Venue Pro smartphones with hopes of focusing on higher-margin
mobile devices.
The move
essentially ends the PC makers two-year dalliance with the highly competitive
smartphone market at ...

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