EcoModo - The Best of TreeHugger [Roundups]

This week, Apple screwing over DIYers, hacking a pedal-powered snow plow, 12 ways bacteria can take over the world, a sofa made from 8,000 chopsticks, how to get involved with open-source design, and more. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/glZBEICqo2Y/ecomodo-+-the-best-of-treehugger

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Google defends its dropping of H.264, announces WebM plug-ins for IE and Safari

After Google's announcement last week that it would be dropping H.264 HTML5 video support, the tech world exploded. As the dust settled -- as the fragments of brainless bile drifted slowly back to the tech blog morass -- it became clear that there were two evenly-split sides. Half of the tech world, spearheaded by TechCrunch's slavering Siegler, felt that Google had figuratively defecated on its own so-called open "standards". The other half, led by a vanguard of slightly more intelligent and beardy bloggers, fully supported Google's decision.

Anyway, that aside, if you were worried about not being able to watch YouTube in your IE or Safari browsers, don't worry: Google will release WebM plug-ins for browsers that don't natively support it. The same blog post goes into more detail about why Google decided to drop H.264 support, and how this isn't a power-grabbing move by the big G.

The truth is Google is only ever going to look out for Google; it's utter lunacy that Google would ever do something that scuppered its own chances of survival. Google needs an open Web to thrive, and that's exactly what WebM provides over H.264. Imagine standing in Google's shoes for a moment: you run YouTube, the third biggest site on the Internet. One day, out of the blue, the H.264 consortium decides to increase its licensing fees, instantly making the operation of YouTube untenable. What do you do now? Switching to an open and free codec simply makes sense.

Google's entire lifeblood is indexing content created by you and me -- and while open standards empower the end-user to produce almost limitless amounts of delicious content, closed, proprietary standards put power in the hands of publishers. Don't ever forget that the democratization of information brought to us by the Web has only been possible due to the open standards like TCP/IP and HTML.

At the end of the day, you have to choose whether you want Google to index your entire life story, or whether you want to be spoon fed vertically-integrated media from just a handful of multinational mega publishers. On the one hand, you retain a few important freedoms -- like the ability to speak your mind on an open forum -- and on the other, corporations decide everything for you. It's not a tough choice.

Google defends its dropping of H.264, announces WebM plug-ins for IE and Safari originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 06:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/17/google-defends-its-dropping-of-h-264-announces-webm-plug-ins-for-ie-safari/

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Apple posts Verizon upgrade eligibility, plans? then removes them

Apple today posted a Verizon Wireless upgrade eligibility checker on their site along with voice/data/messaging plans — only to pull them down a short time later. While up the information seemed to confirm what we have been hearing about the data plans where there will be unlimited for $29.99 a month and the option to [...]

Apple posts Verizon upgrade eligibility, plans… then removes them is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/d7MPlV-C-fA/

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Samsung Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Gio and Galaxy mini fill out our Android universe

Samsung's decided that 10 million Galaxy S devices just aren't enough for us, so it's trickling down the brand name, Android OS and TouchWiz UI into some more affordable form factors. In order from left to right, the Galaxy Ace is a 3.5-incher that most closely resembles the S patriarch, though it makes do with an 800MHz processor and HVGA screen resolution. It's said to be available immediately in Russia, to be followed by Europe, India and China soon. The Fit takes us into lower spec territory, with a 3.3-inch QVGA screen and 600MHz speed, while the Gio packs an even smaller display but raises resolution back up to HVGA. The Galaxy mini has to go down as a blatant LG Optimus T KIRF, which might be its sole notable feature, given the 3.1-inch QVGA display and 600MHz capabilities. All three are targeting the same territories as the Ace, meaning the US will likely be spared from this affordable Android whimsy.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Gio and Galaxy mini fill out our Android universe

Samsung Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Gio and Galaxy mini fill out our Android universe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/samsung-galaxy-ace-galaxy-fit-galaxy-gio-and-galaxy-mini-fill/

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Bored of Your Kindle Already? This Publisher Will Swap It For Books and Magazines [Ebooks]

This is a great deal for those already rueing the day they ever bought into the ebook craze. Over in Portland, Oregon, Microcosm Publishing trades magazines and books with you to the value of your Kindle. [Microcosm via RegHardware] More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/P_mlknP0AYo/bored-of-your-kindle-already-this-publisher-will-swap-it-for-books-and-magazines

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20-line Firefox fix will half start-up time, hopefully coming to nightly builds tonight

A 20-line patch looks set to cut Firefox's start-up time in half. The fix, which works by preloading Firefox's XUL library, could land in nightly builds as early as tonight. Unfortunately, the speed-up will only affect Windows users.

To be honest, it's a little odd that preloading DLLs hadn't been tried before. Prior to this fix, the XUL DLL was slowly loaded in 32KB bits, which really ground on slower-seeking hard drives. With a little trickery, the patch submitter managed to get Windows to load the DLL in juicier, faster 2MB chunks. The fix should improve load times on every computer, but it will definitely benefit slower computers more.

As far as we can tell, the fix hasn't landed in nightly builds yet. It should be soon, though: Mozilla's VP of Engineering, Mike Shaver, wants to "land this bad boy for Monday's nightlies" -- so keep an eye on Mozilla's public FTP dump tonight.

Incidentally, if you're not using the beta 10 nightly build yet, you should give it a go!

20-line Firefox fix will half start-up time, hopefully coming to nightly builds tonight originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/24/20-line-firefox-fix-will-half-start-up-time-hopefully-coming-to/

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