| Intel posts x86-friendly Android 4.0 image, lets you feel the need for speed May 24th 2012, 21:08  Android developers are all too familiar with not-so-hot emulator performance, so it's a relief that there's now an system image in a native x86 for testing. While you'll still likely want to test on ARM, the x86 image will both help ferret out bugs specific to Intel's architecture as well as provide a much faster experience debugging apps now that the ARM-to-Intel translation isn't needed on top of running a whole second operating system. It's not perfectly up to date, running on Android 4.0.3, but it's close enough that the environment will mimic much of what users see -- and a big help if you're jumping into writing specifically for Intel devices. If speed is of the essence, or you're not keen on importing a Lava Xolo X900, you just need to update the SDK Manager to start testing with an Intel-flavored green robot. Intel posts x86-friendly Android 4.0 image, lets you feel the need for speed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Android Central |  Romain Guy (Twitter) | Email this | Comments | | Bump app for Android and iOS adds desktop photo sharing May 24th 2012, 20:47  Bump has managed to garner quite a following among iPhone and Android users, but they've so far only been able to transfer files between two mobile devices, not between their phone and their home computer. The company's managed to find a workaround of sorts to that limitation though, and has today rolled out a new feature that will let you send photos (and only photos) from your phone to your desktop. To do so, you'll first have to update the Bump app on your phone and then head to the Bump website, at which point you can simply tap the spacebar to transfer your photos (with your phone if you want to keep the whole "bump" motif going). As you can probably surmise, that means photos are transferred to Bump's website and not directly to your computer, but that does have the added benefit of making the photos a bit easier to share on your social network of choice. Bump app for Android and iOS adds desktop photo sharing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Yahoo! News / Mashabale | Bump | Email this | Comments | | Visualized: ThreadWatch tracks daily workflow on a Mac, turns the data into eye candy May 24th 2012, 20:16  Sure, time tracking comes in handy when trying to make your workflow as efficient as possible. Perhaps you're looking for a more visual indication of how your time is spent on that MacBook Pro. That's where ThreadWatch comes in handy. Thanks to developer Alex Milde, you can visually analyze your daily task habits on a Mac. After a rather quick and painless app download, the tech monitors software being used on the desktop, taking notes on their individual memory and CPU consumption. The collected info is placed in a text file that you'll then upload to ThreadWatch to create the graphical splendor you see above. Each color indicates a different application and you won't have to worry about having your tracked data catalogued. To take the kit for a spin, hit the source link below to start monitoring your procrastination... er, work sessions. Visualized: ThreadWatch tracks daily workflow on a Mac, turns the data into eye candy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Information Aesthetics | ThreadWatch | Email this | Comments | | Sharp reportedly getting cozy with Hon Hai Precision, helping to make phone and tablet LCDs in Chengdu May 24th 2012, 19:48  If we believe Japan's Nikkei, the decision by Hon Hai Precision Industry (that is, Foxconn's daddy) to buy a stake in Sharp was really just the start of a long, torrid love affair in LCD production. While Hon Hai is getting the rosy side of the deal for Sharp's TV-oriented Sakai plant, it's now thought to be paying Sharp for display technology that would go into a new factory in Chengdu for small- and medium-sized LCDs used for smartphones and tablets. If all dovetails as nicely as the two would like, the joint venture would see advanced mobile displays manufactured on the cheap -- the best of both worlds. Suffice it to say that there's a few companies that might be interested, as clients like Apple are no strangers to Chengdu. Before you let visions of IGZO-based LCDs on every iPad and iPhone dance through your head, though, remember that neither Hon Hai nor Sharp has confirmed anything -- and that the plant wouldn't be up and running until 2013 at the earliest, even if everything's in sync. Sharp reportedly getting cozy with Hon Hai Precision, helping to make phone and tablet LCDs in Chengdu originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 15:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Nikkei (subscription required) | Email this | Comments | | Playsurface touchscreen computing table hands-on (video) May 24th 2012, 19:24  Let's be honest -- the first time we saw the Microsoft Surface in action, we all dreamt of getting our grubby fingers on our very own unit. Five years later, we're no closer to the dream of a touchscreen coffee tablet in every living room. Templeman Automation, thankfully, shares that dream. Earlier this month, we caught word of the company's Playsurface, a Kickstarter project aimed at bringing low cost touchscreen computing to the tabletops of eager early adopters who just can't quite justify the $8,000 price tag on Microsoft's similarly named product. We were excited at the prospect of finally getting to play with the product when TechCrunch opened up the gates to the hardware portion of its Disrupt conference. Unfortunately, as we quickly found out, things wouldn't be quite so easy -- the show was held at Pier 94, a space with overabundant natural light courtesy of rows and rows of skylights. As it turns out, the sun doesn't play too well with the infrared light that helps power Playsurface's touchscreen functionality. The table's creators were nice enough to pop by our offices to let us take the living room gadget for a test drive. Continue reading Playsurface touchscreen computing table hands-on (video) Playsurface touchscreen computing table hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Kickstarter | Email this | Comments | |
