| Engadget's back to school guide 2012 Aug 6th 2012, 18:00 Welcome to Engadget's back to school hub for 2012! With the payment plan locked in for tuition and fees, you're now free to spend on the fun stuff, and we're here to help! Throughout August, we'll be posting three guides each week, covering all of the categories you see represented below. Whether you're dropping a few grand or pinching pennies when it comes to tech, we've got the gear for you. Each guide includes three sections, organized by price, letting you make the best picks while staying within budget. Then, after after you see the very last guide go live at the end of the month, we'll be drawing the names of 15 lucky readers -- each will head back to campus this fall with a bag of gadgets stuffed to the brim! For now, click on over to our available category pages, and stay tuned for those to come -- identified by a faded graphic for now.  |  |  |  | Accessories | Bags and Cases | Cameras | Docks | | . | . | . | . |  |  |  |  | E-readers | Fun Stuff! | Gaming | Headphones | | . | . | . | . |  |  |  |  | Laptops | Printers | | Ultrabooks | | . | . | . | . | | |  |  | | | Tablets | TVs / Displays | | Continue reading Engadget's back to school guide 2012 Filed under: Announcements Engadget's back to school guide 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Google Chrome claims one-third of global browser share, according to StatCounter Aug 6th 2012, 17:50  Google's Senior Vice President of Chrome & Apps Sundar Pichai confirmed to the crowd back at D10 that Chrome browser use was soaring -- particularly in the consumer space -- and StatCounter's latest data most definitely backs that up. The newest report, ending July 2012, shows the Chrome creeping up to 33.8 percent worldwide from 32.8 percent in June. Internet Explorer is sitting at 32 percent, while Firefox is seen slipping a bit to 23.7 percent; meanwhile, Apple's Safari picks up the Participation Award with 7.1 percent. As The Next Web points out, it's also worth nothing that Chrome is doing particularly well in Europe, South America and Asia, while IE is still charging in the UK, US and Down Under. Granted, StatCounter is hardly the end-all when it comes to browser usage; that said, it's definitely useful to get a general idea of which browsers are moving in which direction, and it's certainly astonishing to see a piece of software that didn't exist four years ago already claiming such a significant piece of the pie. Google Chrome claims one-third of global browser share, according to StatCounter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  The Next Web |  StatCounter | Email this | Comments | | Amazon begins renting paper textbooks Aug 6th 2012, 17:42  Amazon has been renting out Kindle editions of textbooks for sometime now, but not all the educational tomes you need may be available in electronic form. And, believe it or not, some people just plain prefer paper to E-ink -- especially since its much easier to take notes in the margins. Now many of the more expensive texts on the site also feature a rent option. Most are in the $30 to $60 range and are rented by the semester, which Amazon counts as 130 days. Should you need it for a bit longer, you can extend your rental period by 15 days, but only once. On the plus side, Amazon will pay for the shipping on the return of the books. For more info, check out the FAQ at the source. Filed under: Misc. Gadgets Amazon begins renting paper textbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Verge, The Digital Reader, eCommerce Bytes | Amazon | Email this | Comments | | Engadget's back to school guide 2012: smartphones Aug 6th 2012, 17:00 Welcome to Engadget's back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn't nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we're tapping away on our brand-new smartphones -- and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back -- at the end of August we'll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides -- you can hit up the hub page right here!  It's a good time to be a student. Last year, there were some solid picks, but it was still very clear that those willing to scrimp and save a little longer had a much better experience. This year, it's a people's revolution. Thanks to cutthroat competition, there are some exceptional phones out there, even for those of you hoping to avoid eating ramen noodles for a month. Software has taken a leap forward too, with many phones now offering a vital way to remember when that term paper is due... or to procrastinate at the pub. We have nine choices of phones in our shortlist, spread out across three categories to serve everyone from the I-just-need-a-phone freshman to the overloaded doctoral candidate. While you're eying the selection, don't forget to enter our giveaway and potentially ease the burden -- who knows, you may get a phone you want rather than the one dictated by your student loan. Continue reading Engadget's back to school guide 2012: smartphones Filed under: Cellphones Engadget's back to school guide 2012: smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | FiOS TV app for Samsung HDTVs and Blu-ray players available with 26 live channels (video) Aug 6th 2012, 16:44  While we saw cable and IPTV providers promising pay-TV channels without a box (at least in that room) at CES 2012 we were skeptical, since we've been burned before, but now Verizon FiOS TV has followed up the launch of its app on Xbox 360 by quietly releasing the version for Samsung's Smart TVs and Blu-ray players. Like the Xbox 360 app of course, you will need to already be a Verizon FiOS TV customer, so if it's not in your area you're still out of luck. One of our readers noticed the app pop up on his 2011 model Samsung HDTV, and Verizon just posted a quick video trailer (embedded after the break) previewing the app's ability to tune into 26 live channels, as well as FlexView video on-demand content. Tipster ProphetBeal noted the channel changes seemed quicker than on the Xbox 360 app, although they were otherwise very similar. There's a few more screens awaiting you at the source link, as well as a list of compatible devices.
[Thanks, ProphetBeal] Continue reading FiOS TV app for Samsung HDTVs and Blu-ray players available with 26 live channels (video) Filed under: Home Entertainment FiOS TV app for Samsung HDTVs and Blu-ray players available with 26 live channels (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Samsung Appstore | Email this | Comments | |
