1. Remains of the Day: The iPhone 4S Gets Dropped for Science
Experts on broken gadgets compare 2 high-end smartphones, U.S. wireless carriers agree on customer notification guidelines to minimize bill-shock, and Amazon expands their in-store delivery system to Manhattan. More »
2. A fresh start for Google presentations
A year and a half ago, we released completely new document, spreadsheet and drawing editors. Google Docs has been picking up speed ever since with more than 60 new features and millions of new users. Today we’re rounding out the suite by previewing a new version of presentations with faster collaboration and more features.
A collaborative approach
Presentations are made to be shared—whether it’s presenting your thesis to your professors or inspiring colleagues at a conference. And the best presentations are made together, collaborating with others to build a compelling story that captivates your audience. Creating presentations together is easy because you can:
More than 50 new features
In the new presentations, we’ve added many of your most requested features, including:
What’s next
We’re gradually rolling out the new presentations. To get an early start, click on the gear icon in your document list, and select Document settings. Then, from the editing tab, check the box to “Create new presentations using the latest version of the presentation editor.”
Many of the new features were built using technologies that are only available in modern browsers. If you’re using an older browser you’ll be able to view, but not edit, the new presentations.
With today’s launch, the Google Docs suite is now built on a single, solid foundation. Now that the groundwork is in place, you can expect more useful and collaborative features, delivered faster than ever before.
3. Google Defaults to Encrypted HTTPS Searches for Logged In Users [Security]
Google will start redirecting searches through a secured, encrypted HTTPS connection for logged in users, starting today. (If it's not happening to you right away, it likely will in the next week or so.) You've been able to manually point your browser toward https://google.com for quite some time now, but the move is intended to keep your browsing behavior more secure by default. (Looks like https://google.com just redirects now, so you have to go tohttps://encrypted.google.com/.) For more foundation, check out our explainer on why you should care about HTTPS on the web. More »
4. Motorola's New Razr: Cutting-Edge or Just Another Droid?
Motorola Mobility on Tuesday announced its latest smartphone, confirming many of the rumors and spec leaks that had already begun to surround the handset. It's called the "Droid Razr," its body is partially made of Kevlar, it has a 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass display, it's a 4G LTE device and it's headed to the Verizon Wireless Network. Motorola touts the Droid Razr's ultra-thin, lightweight design, in keeping with the Razr line's penchant for slimline devices. However, slimness alone is becoming less and less of a truly standout attribute among phones.
5. And Now for Something Completely Different: Nanostuff Lets Computers Remake Themselves
Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new nanomaterial that can reconfigure itself by directing the flow of current. This could lead to computers that can reconfigure their internal circuitry as needed. The hybrid material, created by a team led by Bartos Grzybowski, professor of chemical and biological engineering and chemistry at NWU, combines different aspects of silicon- and polymer-based electronics to create nanoparticle-based electronics. It can handle streams of electrons flowing in multiple, or even opposing, directions at the same time.
6. How Linuxy Is Android?
The Kindle Fire, the Android-based tablet Amazon revealed in late September, could well be the next step in the ongoing metamorphosis of Google's Linux derivative into a proprietary operating system. Even if Amazon does not lock down its altered Android platform, it clearly has created a major fork in the Linux road. Modifying Android is nothing new. HTC, Motorola and other phone makers have already established that practice. Android is an open source product within the Linux family. In some cases, it may not look much like Linux. But make no mistake about Android's lineage.
7. iOS 5: Excellent, Awesome and Somewhat Confusing
After learning that it would cost me $449 to upgrade from my iPhone 4 to an iPhone 4S, I pushed the pause button on those plans and decided to see how iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 shakes out first. After all, it's not as if I don't appreciate my iPhone 4. It's a great phone, quite serviceable, and now, with iOS 5, it's better than it was just a few days ago. Where do I start? Apple boasts 200 new features in iOS 5, and for sure, I haven't found or noticed more than a fraction of them.
Experts on broken gadgets compare 2 high-end smartphones, U.S. wireless carriers agree on customer notification guidelines to minimize bill-shock, and Amazon expands their in-store delivery system to Manhattan. More »
2. A fresh start for Google presentations
A year and a half ago, we released completely new document, spreadsheet and drawing editors. Google Docs has been picking up speed ever since with more than 60 new features and millions of new users. Today we’re rounding out the suite by previewing a new version of presentations with faster collaboration and more features.
A collaborative approach
Presentations are made to be shared—whether it’s presenting your thesis to your professors or inspiring colleagues at a conference. And the best presentations are made together, collaborating with others to build a compelling story that captivates your audience. Creating presentations together is easy because you can:
- See exactly what others are working on with colorful presence markers
- Edit with your team members simultaneously from different locations
- Use revision history to see who made changes or to revert to earlier versions
- Say hello, start a conversation or share new ideas using built-in chat
In the new presentations, we’ve added many of your most requested features, including:
- Transitions to move between slides with simple fades or spicier 3D effects
- Animations to add emphasis or to make your slides more playful
- New themes to create beautiful presentations with distinct visual styles
- Drawings to build new designs, layouts, and flowcharts within a presentation
- Rich tables with merged cells and more options for adding style to your data
What’s next
We’re gradually rolling out the new presentations. To get an early start, click on the gear icon in your document list, and select Document settings. Then, from the editing tab, check the box to “Create new presentations using the latest version of the presentation editor.”
Many of the new features were built using technologies that are only available in modern browsers. If you’re using an older browser you’ll be able to view, but not edit, the new presentations.
With today’s launch, the Google Docs suite is now built on a single, solid foundation. Now that the groundwork is in place, you can expect more useful and collaborative features, delivered faster than ever before.
3. Google Defaults to Encrypted HTTPS Searches for Logged In Users [Security]
Google will start redirecting searches through a secured, encrypted HTTPS connection for logged in users, starting today. (If it's not happening to you right away, it likely will in the next week or so.) You've been able to manually point your browser toward https://google.com for quite some time now, but the move is intended to keep your browsing behavior more secure by default. (Looks like https://google.com just redirects now, so you have to go tohttps://encrypted.google.com/.) For more foundation, check out our explainer on why you should care about HTTPS on the web. More »
4. Motorola's New Razr: Cutting-Edge or Just Another Droid?
Motorola Mobility on Tuesday announced its latest smartphone, confirming many of the rumors and spec leaks that had already begun to surround the handset. It's called the "Droid Razr," its body is partially made of Kevlar, it has a 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass display, it's a 4G LTE device and it's headed to the Verizon Wireless Network. Motorola touts the Droid Razr's ultra-thin, lightweight design, in keeping with the Razr line's penchant for slimline devices. However, slimness alone is becoming less and less of a truly standout attribute among phones.
5. And Now for Something Completely Different: Nanostuff Lets Computers Remake Themselves
Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new nanomaterial that can reconfigure itself by directing the flow of current. This could lead to computers that can reconfigure their internal circuitry as needed. The hybrid material, created by a team led by Bartos Grzybowski, professor of chemical and biological engineering and chemistry at NWU, combines different aspects of silicon- and polymer-based electronics to create nanoparticle-based electronics. It can handle streams of electrons flowing in multiple, or even opposing, directions at the same time.
6. How Linuxy Is Android?
The Kindle Fire, the Android-based tablet Amazon revealed in late September, could well be the next step in the ongoing metamorphosis of Google's Linux derivative into a proprietary operating system. Even if Amazon does not lock down its altered Android platform, it clearly has created a major fork in the Linux road. Modifying Android is nothing new. HTC, Motorola and other phone makers have already established that practice. Android is an open source product within the Linux family. In some cases, it may not look much like Linux. But make no mistake about Android's lineage.
7. iOS 5: Excellent, Awesome and Somewhat Confusing
After learning that it would cost me $449 to upgrade from my iPhone 4 to an iPhone 4S, I pushed the pause button on those plans and decided to see how iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 shakes out first. After all, it's not as if I don't appreciate my iPhone 4. It's a great phone, quite serviceable, and now, with iOS 5, it's better than it was just a few days ago. Where do I start? Apple boasts 200 new features in iOS 5, and for sure, I haven't found or noticed more than a fraction of them.
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