Maxthon browser for Android now available -- and it's good

Android users already have a number of capable mobile browsers to choose from: Dolphin HD and Mini, Opera Mobile, Firefox, Skyfire, and even the stock browser are all quite good. Now there's a new challenger: Maxthon. The Chinese makers of the popular-even-though-most-of-the-west-has-never-heard-of-it desktop browser has released a version for Android, and it's a very nice app.

Out of the box, be prepared for Maxthon's geographical lean. The default speed dial pages and start page are in Chinese, and the default search engine is set to Baidu (Google and Bing are available -- and familiar to Western users). You'll also want to jump in to the browser options and go through the default settings: Maxthon's default browser box is checked by default, and you'll likely want to untick that until you've had some time to play with it.

Maxthon packs an array of handy features, including a tabbed interface, cloud sync, orientation lock, speed dial, gesture support, and a download manager. Tapping the overlapping windows icon will display a thumbnail strip which allows you to flick through your open tabs -- just tap one to switch to it. Maxthon also detects RSS feeds, which you can add to the app's built-in reader. While the feed reader displays titles and snippets, tapping an entry will load their URL in a new browser tab (rather than displaying in the reader itself). Tapping the back button on your phone eventually causes the reader window to disappear altogether -- forcing you to tap your Maxthon icon again to re-open the browser. The reader is also pre-populated with feeds: tap and hold to display the context menu to remove them.

Apart from the back button annoyance with Maxthon's reader, I did experience some other glitches while browsing. Some elements -- like Flash embeds -- had a tendency to bleed over the browser toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Locking screen orientation to landscape sometimes caused the page to rotate 180° before actually locking. At times, scrolling could be a bit choppy. The biggest miss with Maxthon is its lack of pinch-to-zoom support. Tapping works, but it's not nearly as flexible as multitouch control.

Overall, however, Maxthon performed quite nicely on my HTC Incredible and the browser itself is very solid -- the RSS reader just isn't for me. Check out the gallery after the break for a closer look, and scan the QR Code to try Maxthon out on your Android device.

Continue reading Maxthon browser for Android now available -- and it's good

Maxthon browser for Android now available -- and it's good originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/16/maxthon-browser-for-android-now-available-and-its-good/

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Aequilibrium 3 challenges your mousing agility and sense of balance -- Time Waster

aequilibrium3
Back in June, I covered the original Aequilibrium; if you liked that game, then you're going to love the new version, Aequilibrium 3.

It's a game that's ostensibly about balance, but it's really about agility. Each level starts off with several pieces resting in perfect balance on a fulcrum. You have to remove all of the red blocks by clicking them, while keeping the whole thing from toppling down and off the screen.

For example, in the level shown above you should probably click the two middle triangles one after the other (the chunky ones, in the middle). Then click the two top ones one after the other, each in rapid succession. And then you're left with the two bottom ones (hopefully, unless everything fell off the fulcrum by now). That's the trickiest part, and you need quite a bit of speed to keep it all from falling.

It's not entirely about speed, though; there is some strategy involved, but a deft mouse-hand will certainly come in handy for this one.

Aequilibrium 3 challenges your mousing agility and sense of balance -- Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Sun, 26 Dec 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/26/aequilibrium-3-challenges-your-mousing-agility-and-sense-of-bala/

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iPad Web App Converts Flash Video On The Fly

Transmedia has introduced the new Glide OS 4.0, a cloud-based operating system that is ad-free, full of great productivity apps and best of all is compatible with the Apple iPad. It has great syncing capabilities and runs right from your iPad’s browser. It operates like an online mobile desktop. With Glide OS you can share [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ipadbuzzblog/~3/_yznnO-ViGY/

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Google's next Android Music app leaks out, gives hints of a 3.0 UI overhaul

Remember at Google I/O this year when Google showed off "something beyond Froyo" in the music realm? The demo included an all-new music player (boy, wouldn't that be nice!), along with magical features that let you push web-purchased songs to your device, and allowed you to browse your PC's music library from your phone as if it was on the device itself. Well, none of that showed up in Gingerbread, unfortunately, but the new music player itself has just leaked out. It's super buggy, and of course doesn't have any of those fancy wireless features we're waiting on, but it could offer a bit of a glimpse into 3.0, at least as far as UI tweaks go.

The differences seem minimal but aesthetically pleasing, with blurred background images behind frosted glass widgets as far as the eye can see. One important thing to note is that there is a menu button on the top right, at least in some views, and we went back and watched Andy Rubin's tablet time at D: there's clearly the same menu button on each app. [Suspenseful strings begin to play]. It seems Google might be getting rid of its hardware buttons entirely, or at least making menu functionality a more obvious part of its relevant applications, instead of the "surprise!" button it currently represents. There are also points in the video where tapping the application's icon in the top left takes you to the "home" of the app, and we also found similar icons on the top left of each application Andy demoed at D -- and we're guessing they have the same functionality. Check out a video after the break, or hit up the source link to grab the APK... if you dare.

[Thanks, Andre]

Continue reading Google's next Android Music app leaks out, gives hints of a 3.0 UI overhaul

Google's next Android Music app leaks out, gives hints of a 3.0 UI overhaul originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/27/googles-next-android-music-app-leaks-out-gives-hints-of-a-3-0/

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VirtualBox 4 available for download, adds extension support, disk resizing

VirtualBox 4 has finally exited beta, and it comes bearing tons of updates, improvements, and new features. Among them are truly welcome additions like the ability to re-size both VHD and VDI virtual hard disks, a smoother and more thorough VM deletion process, and support for more than 2GB of memory on 32-bit hosts. There's also an updated set of virtual hardware including the Intel ICH9 chipset and Intel HD audio, and the new scaled display mode makes VMs play nice with your physical displays regardless of their respective resolutions.

The new option to create .vbox shortcuts is a real convenience, as it allows you double-click (or single, depending on your preferences) launching of your favorite VMs. Windows, Linux, and Solaris guests can also now auto-mount shared folders, which makes it easier to access files on your host system.

Oracle has also polished up the VirtualBox UI with improvements such as a sortable VM list. Hit up the changelog for full details about the new release.

Download VirtualBox 4

VirtualBox 4 available for download, adds extension support, disk resizing originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/23/virtualbox-4-available-for-download-adds-extension-support-dis/

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Google Places blocked by TripAdvisor, but no one knows why

Google blockedIn an interesting and slightly inexplicable move, TripAdvisor has blocked Google Places from using its massive wealth of hotel and resort reviews. Now, when you search for hotels on Google, and browse around Google Maps, you will no longer see snippets from TripAdvisor.

Given Google's recent spate of Places updates, this is either a very bold or very brash move from TripAdvisor. Hotel owners will no doubt be upset at the loss of traffic -- and I'm still not quite sure what TripAdvisor gains from blocking Google. We'll update you with more information, if any emerges.

Google Places blocked by TripAdvisor, but no one knows why originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/12/09/google-places-blocked-by-tripadvisor-but-no-one-knows-why/

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This Is the Smallest Season's Greetings Card In the World [Imagecache]

This Season's Greetings card is only 200-micro-meters wide by 290-micro-meters tall, the smallest in the world. Created by a team at the University of Glasgow, this nano-fabrication technology could be used in bio-technology sensing, optical filtering and light control components. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/2_Y0Ul56-iw/this-is-the-smallest-seasons-greetings-card-in-the-world

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