Even More Evidence That Google Stole Code For Android From Oracle Appears [Google]

Google endorses open-source activity around Android, but it looks like their developers "borrowed" a little too much from Sun's Java code. Oracle, Sun's owner, is already suing Google for seven infringed patents, but this adds further weight to their claim. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/M40t2eBJGU0/even-more-evidence-that-google-stole-code-for-android-from-oracle-appears

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Balance is a challenging physics Time Waster

balance
Balance is a very simple game that manages to be surprisingly engaging.

All you have to do is just balance the stick on your virtual finger. I call it a "stick" for lack of a better name, but it seems to be a rudimentary 2D representation of a rotating plate, or a platform with a weight on it. You use your mouse to move your hand and you just have to keep moving it in the right direction so the stick doesn't lose its balance.

There are no real levels in this game - by that I mean that you never get to rest when a level is over and then start again all fresh and alert. When you manage to balance the stick for around 10 seconds (I tried counting, there's no indicator I could see), you simply level up. Every time you level up, the stick gets a tad shorter, and your task gets a bit harder. It seems like a really simple game at first, but when the stick gets really short, it starts to get pretty challenging. I managed to get up to level 10, so I'm not sure what happens when the stick runs out. Maybe you win, or maybe you just get a new stick, far superior to the one you started out with (tell me in the comments).

Another thing I liked about this game is the fact you can easily play it with your trackpad. Up until recently I was using the trackpad on my laptop exclusively, and it's nice to have a game that doesn't give an advantage to people who have a real mouse. It was even a bit easier with the trackpad!

All in all, a lovely way to distract yourself for a few minutes. You can fantasize about being a juggler in the circus while you play (not that I did, of course).

Balance is a challenging physics Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/05/balance-is-a-challenging-physics-time-waster/

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Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Win Grammy Album Of The Year

Raising Sand, from Led Zeppelin vet and bluegrass superstar, wins five Grammys on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery with MTV News staff


Alison Krauss and Robert Plant accept the award for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

"I'm bewildered," Robert Plant said onstage as he accepted the Grammy Album of the Year award with Alison Krauss on Sunday night. "In the old days we would have called this selling out, but it's a good way to spend a Sunday."

He was probably one of the few who were surprised, because Raising Sand, which won five trophies at Sunday night's show, is in many ways the perfect Grammy album. It features two respected veterans, a critically lauded producer, some sandpaper-and-velvet vocals and a baker's dozen of time-tested standards.

You're probably familiar with Robert Plant from his Led Zeppelin days, and you might be aware of producer T-Bone Burnett's work on the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack (it won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002). And if you don't know who Alison Krauss is, she possesses a haunting set of pipes and is one of the meanest fiddle players in the world. Oh, and she's won 21 Grammys, more than any other female artist and the seventh-most in history.

Really, she's the key to Sand's success, and not just because of her voice (or her fiddle playing). She and Plant first met in 2004, at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tribute to legendary bluesman Leadbelly, and the former Zeppelin man was amazed by her knowledge of American Roots music — so much so that they began kicking around the idea of recording an album together. Three years later, Sand was released.

And while Plant possesses the more famous voice, the album's finest moments radiate from Krauss. Whether she's getting bluesy on Little Milton's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" or entwining with Plant's husky voice on songs like "Please Read the Letter" and Roly Salley's winsome "Killing the Blues," she more than carries her end of the bargain.

And perhaps that's also due to producer Burnett, who handpicked the 13 songs the duo cover on Sand. His arrangements are sparse — giving the two voices ample room to breathe — yet dense, warm and crackling at the same time. It's a testament to his work that he's often given just as much billing as Plant and Krauss on the project ... and it's certainly justified.

To date, Sand has sold more than 1 million copies, heaped tons of acclaim and actually earned a Grammy last year — "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" took home the award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals.

One expert was surprised not by the album's success, but by the fact that it's actually quite a good album.

"At first, the album seemed like a vanity project. ... Two names, clearly a one-off record, didn't have to be any good, you know?" New York Times music critic Jon Caramanica said. "Led Zeppelin fans would buy it because of Robert Plant, Alison Krauss would get a check. But it actually turned out to be a really thoughtful, really good record. So when you combine all that with the fact that the Grammys love to lionize one of their own, I could really see it taking home some awards."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1604582/plantkrauss-win-album-year-grammy.jhtml

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Google Replaces ?Reader? Link With ?Photos? In Gmail, Users In A Tizzy

More proof that RSS is on its way out, and the apocalypse is nigh: Google has seemingly replaced the top link to its RSS reader product, Google Reader, with a link to 'Photos' (Picasa) at the top of the Gmail web interface. To be clear, the link is still there, it's just hidden behind the 'More ?' link now. Boy, that place has really started falling apart since Larry Page took over as CEO.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rVtfiQLqwWI/

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Lacie Teams Up with French Jeweler for Valentine?s Day Cash-In

Welcome to the inevitable yearly cash-in of Saint Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated to making single people miserable and couples guilty. This year, the romantically-themed object of “desire” is the Galet, a silver pebble which splits open to reveal a 4GB USB stick. The Galet, which translates variously to pebble, stone, rock and ? most curiously [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/01/lacie-teams-up-with-french-jeweler-for-valentines-day-cash-in/

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XBMC comes to the iPad

We were politely asked to keep quiet about this until today, but here's the truth: XBMC now runs on the Apple A4, period. As in, there's no reason why you can't install that shiny new Apple TV 2 version of the media center software on your jailbroken iPad or iPhone 4 too. Find instructions at our more coverage link... then give the hackers and developers a cheer.

XBMC comes to the iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/FmIo5llam1o/

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