Vizualized: Bay Area bids adieu to Space Shuttle Endeavour (update: video)

Vizualized Bay Area bids adieu to Space Shuttle Endeavour

NASA and the US government may have moved on from the shuttle program, but it's clear that the American people are still in love with our nation's cosmic cargo planes. An estimated 20,000 people showed up at the Ames Research Center/Moffet Air Force Base in Mountain View, California this morning to see Endeavour buzz the tower. With so many folks itchin' to see Endeavour's farewell tour firsthand, the line to get in was lengthy, but we braved the crowds to bring you some shots of the action. Enjoy.

[Thanks to Chris Williams for helping with some of the crowd shots]

Update: Canon/RED guru and LA-based DP Vincent Laforet caught the shuttle's final approach and landing at LAX. You'll find the slow-motion clip, shot at 5K resolution on a RED Epic at 96 frames-per-second with an 800mm Canon f/5.6 lens, just past the break.

Continue reading Vizualized: Bay Area bids adieu to Space Shuttle Endeavour (update: video)

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Vizualized: Bay Area bids adieu to Space Shuttle Endeavour (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Google set to acquire Frommer’s from Wiley, add trusted travel reviews

WSJ Google set to acquire Frommer's from Wiley, add trusted travel reviewsJust one year after its Zagat acquisition, Google has made a move on another trusted lifestyle brand. John Wiley & Sons Inc., the current owner of the Frommer's network of travel sites and guide books, confirmed the Mountain View acquisition, with a closing expected shortly. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google hasn't made a call concerning Frommer's printed guidebooks, which don't necessarily fall in line with the company's otherwise online-only model. It's also unclear whether or not the new content arm will fall under Zagat's leadership, though a department executive did comment on the acquisition in an interview, saying that Google planned to keep Frommer's on its current path for the time being. Neither company was able to confirm pricing for the buyout, which could help Google boost its reviews portfolio, backing user-submitted travel content with professional credibility. Full details are at the source link below.

Update: As it turns out, Google will reportedly be keeping the print staff on board, moving the team to its NYC offices. Online editors are less fortunate, however, with layoffs having already begun.

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WSJ: Google set to acquire Frommer's from Wiley, add trusted travel reviews originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint LTE makes early appearance in Bay Area

Sprint LTE makes early appearance in Bay Area

Sprint's LTE signal is well and truly out there, but it looks like roll-out is going smoother than the Now Network had predicted, appearing (though, not "officially launched") ahead of schedule in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tipsters have told Android Police that they've already managed to connect to the 4G network around both Palo Alto and Mountain View, reaching speeds of over 13MBps down and 8MBps up. Coverage doesn't yet extend across the whole of San Francisco, but bodes well for a swift roll-out -- and for Sprint fulfilling its promise of voice over LTE by the end of next year.

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Sprint LTE makes early appearance in Bay Area originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google posts video highlights of I/O 2012, for those craving one last sugary fix

Weren't able to fill up on all the Jelly Bean-flavored geekery that was Google I/O 2012? It's no matter, because you can catch all the highlights from Project Glass to the Nexus 7 in Google Developer's latest video -- provided you've got about four minutes spare to reminisce. You'll find the clip after the break, and naturally, we'd suggest landing at our hub for the event if you're hungry for another fixin' of our extensive coverage -- no parachute required.

P.S. Don't forget to see if you can spot any Engadget editors in the clip while you're at it!

Continue reading Google posts video highlights of I/O 2012, for those craving one last sugary fix

Google posts video highlights of I/O 2012, for those craving one last sugary fix originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google improves maps for several countries, helps you follow the path well trodden

Google improves maps for several european countries, helps you follow the path well trodden

So it seems the team at Mountain View won't rest until the whole world is mapped to within an inch of its cartographic life. Good for us though, and especially folk in Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lesotho, Macau, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore and Vatican City. Those nations have had their maps improved to be more detailed and precise. For example, when planning your saunter around Venice's St. Mark's Square, you'll now see the canals better aligned, along with 3D buildings and more detailed labels for places of interest. There's some more general housekeeping too, with multilingual names available, and clearer distinction between local and major roads. Planning a trip? Just curious? Drop a pin in the source link to discover more.

Google improves maps for several countries, helps you follow the path well trodden originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Street View’s WiFi snooping triggers renewed scrutiny in the UK

Google's Street View cars WiFi snooping triggers renewed scrutiny in UK

You remember that little Street View privacy problem that Google had back in 2010? Authorities in the UK sure do and Mountain View's gonna have some serious splainin' to do if the Information Commissioner's Office has anything to say about it. Big G initially denied that its cars were used to willfully snatch up personal info from open WiFi networks, but a recent investigation by the FCC, coupled with earlier accusations, has prompted renewed scrutiny. The report from the US even suggests that "investigators in France, Canada and The Netherlands found that Google intercepted complete email messages, instant message conversations, video, audio, medical and legal information," which could lead to a big headache for the company. We really don't want to imagine the possible consequences of a nationwide Street View ban.

Google Street View's WiFi snooping triggers renewed scrutiny in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google offers unified profiles, begins merging Orkut with Google+

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Orkut has announced that users of Google's other social network can now use both from a unified profile. Those who plump for the change will find their details merged (using your Google+ credentials) and will now be subject to the same privacy and sharing settings. While popular in Brazil and India, Orkut hasn't been a high priority project for Mountain View for a long time, so it's easy to see this as a move to push big swathes of people to make a move onto the company's newest favorite son.

Google offers unified profiles, begins merging Orkut with Google+ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 10:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceOrkut Blog  | Email this | Comments

Google’s latest Gmail tweaks bring contact info to search results, enhanced Circle integration

Google's latest Gmail tweaks bring contact's info to search results, enhanced Circle integration

By any means, this is certainly far from being one of the biggest changes Gmail's ever seen -- still, it's one that's likely to make a few tasks a wee bit easier for you. Inside the recent tweaks, Google added a new quick access trait that makes contact details -- such as phone numbers -- show up automatically in search results within your cherished G inbox. Additionally, the Android-maker has improved the Google+ integration (again), now allowing folks to narrow down conversations from specific Circles in the search box (you know, something like Circle: Awesome Engadget editors). Google says the changes will be rolling out over the course of the day, but in the meantime, you could always check out what exactly happens behind Gmail's closed doors.

Google's latest Gmail tweaks bring contact info to search results, enhanced Circle integration originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 18:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s gunning for web spammers, bans us from mentioning Bieber

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Google's changing its search algorithm to punish sites that emphasize search-engine optimization over quality. Mountain View's data centers will exclude sites that offer no useful content, have articles written in keyword-sprinkled gibberish or only link to sites within a cluster. If the computers find it, the site's pagerank will be demoted, with the company expecting to affect around three percent of all English language queries when it goes live later this week. The company isn't providing more details (lest it help those trying to game the system), so just get all of those gratuitous Justin Bieber references out of your system before Friday, okay?

Google's gunning for web spammers, bans us from mentioning Bieber originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YouTube lets you watch 1080p 2D videos in ‘3D’ with your anaglyph specs

Another day, another bit of news out of Mountain View. Stereoscopic 3D videos have been on YouTube for nearly three years, and since last year, the site has given viewers the option to transform "short-form" 2D content to 3D -- with a single click on the settings bar, that is. Today, the beta feature comes to 1080p videos, meaning you'll now be able to watch your favorite Phillip DeFranco and Shay Carl vlogs with extra chromatic impact in full HD. YouTube notes that it's "constantly improving the underlying conversion technology," which figures out how to simulate the effect based on characteristics of the video itself and true 3D videos uploaded to the site. We'd say there's still something slightly amiss about using folding blue and red glasses to watch two-dimensional HD video in faux anaglyph 3D, but you can make the call for yourself by reading up about the magic at the source link below.

YouTube lets you watch 1080p 2D videos in '3D' with your anaglyph specs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThe Official YouTube Blog  | Email this | Comments