Calculator Unboxing Adds Up the Funnies

Selecting a new calculator can be a difficult decision, but worry no more.

While unboxing videos are traditionally left to high-tech devices like smartphones, Brady Haran ofNumberphile decided to tackle the equally important basic calculator.

The clip includes all the features you've come to expect from an unboxing video — from the accuracy test to the crucial portability question.

So before you purchase your next calculator, remember to think about display capability. You don't want to be stuck with a pathetic eight-digit display when you could be making all sorts of more meaningful calculations with a 12-digit model.

Source: Mashable.com

Samsung Curved Smartphone Leak Hints at Oct. 10 Launch

The curved smartphone from Samsung, rumored last month for an October release, has beenleaked on Twitter.

Based on this photo, the Samsung phone has a Salvador Dali-esque melting effect. The screen of the device displays a number of apps identified with Korean text.

Interestingly, the home screen of the device displays Oct. 10, a strong indication that Samsung may be prepping an official announcement for Thursday.

Samsung first featured its flexible screen concept devices in a commercial this January.

Source: Mashable.com

AT&T Fiber Network Coming: 'GigaPower' Beats Google Fiber In Ultra-Fast Internet Battle In Austin

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) finally revealed on Monday the details of its long-rumored fiber network for ultra high-speed Internet connections. AT&T will launch "GigaPower" in Austin, on Dec. 1, beating Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) planned Google Fiber network to the punch in the Texas capital.

AT&T and Google are both promising that their services will offer users Internet connection speeds of 1 gigabit per second. At first, GigaPower will only run at 300 megabits per second before AT&T upgrades next year, but that is still about 40 times faster than the average home connection in the U.S.

Google Fiber is already available in Kansas City, and Google is now running adsfor the service in Provo, Utah, where it will launch in mid-October. The service has generated a lot of buzz, and AT&T is hoping that it can overcome some of this in Austin by coming out first.

AT&T said GigaPower will be included in its U-Verse bundle of services but did not disclose how much a GigaPower connection will cost.

Google Fiber costs $70 per month for Internet service and $120 per month with a TV bundle. For comparison, Verizon’s 500 megabit-per-second service is only available for homes in a phone and TV package for $309.99 per month.    

Google may have an advantage with Fiber by starting from scratch and installing a brand new fiber optic network. This allows all Fiber customers to experience the same speeds. AT&T will instead by tapping into an existing network of fiber optics and copper lines, meaning that not everyone will get the same speed.

AT&T said this is just the start of its super high-speed services, but did not state where it plans to go next.  

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Facebook Home Opens Up to Instagram, Pinterest Content

As promised, Facebook is adding new content to its Facebook Home lock screen. This news, announced Thursday, means that Facebook Home for Android beta testers can now access Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr and Tumblr content without having to unlock their phones.

Users will be able to Like and view posts from these other services, but it isn't clear what other apps (like Twitter) may be available to Home users in the future.

The news comes just a few weeks after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg openly discussed the soon-to-be released update at TechCrunch's Disrupt event in San Francisco. Facebook Home, the software that lets Android users bring Facebook updates and content directly to their lock screen, was released in April and has since been deemed a relative misstep in Facebook'srevitalized mobile strategy.

Thursday's announcement is Facebook's attempt to put Home back on the map for Android users. Those utilizing Facebook Home on their smartphones can go to the settings and select which other apps they'd like to integrate with the software. Users who download Facebook Home for the first time will be prompted upon login to select which other content streams they'd like to see on their lock screen.

As of now, the update is only available to Android users who opt-in to Facebook's beta tester program (you can do that here if you would like to participate). There is no set timetable for when the update will be available to all of Facebook Home's Android users.

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Instagram to Start Rolling Out Ads in 'Next Couple Months'

The ad-free Instagram days are about to come to an end.

Instagram announced Thursday that it will start rolling out ads in the "next couple months." Instagram framed the move as part of an effort to turn itself into a "sustainable business."

"In the next couple months, you may begin seeing an occasional ad in your Instagram feed if you’re in the United States," the company wrote in a blog post. "Seeing photos and videos from brands you don’t follow will be new, so we’ll start slow. We’ll focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community."

Instagram also tried to put users at ease by noting they would have control over what ads they see. "If you see an ad you don’t like, you’ll be able to hide it and provide feedback about what didn’t feel right," the company wrote. "We’re relying on your input to help us continually improve the Instagram experience."

Facebook, which owns Instagram, had previously teased the idea of introducing ads on the social network and an Instagram exec revealed last month that ads would come within the next year.

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Control-Alt-Delete: Bill Gates Admits Windows’ ‘Three-Finger Salute’ Was A Mistake

The unique combination of three keys on the traditional QWERTY keyboard -- control, alt and delete -- is one of the most memorized gestures in the history of computing. But Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates said the all-important function was not supposed to exist.

“It was a mistake,” Gates said at a recent Harvard fundraising campaign, which evoked several laughs from the audience. “We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t wanna give us our single button.”

You can thank David Bradley for “control-alt-delete.” One of the key designers on the first IBM PC, Bradley initially created the mechanism to trigger a “soft reboot” of the computer, choosing those particular keys since it would be impossible to press all three with one hand (on the original IBM PC keyboard). Since then, the “control-alt-delete” combination has been designed for different purposes relating to interrupting or facilitating certain functions on the computer. In DOS and the early years of Windows, “control-alt-delete” would trigger a reboot of the computer. After Windows 3.1, the command would invoke a task manager that would allow users to end Windows sessions, and in most Windows versions since then (including Windows XP and Windows 7), it will let a user log in or log out of their account.’

Source: IBTimes

Apple Will Pay Some iPad Owners Cash in Legal Settlement

Some iPad owners will soon be cashing checks from Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company andAT&T settled a long-standing, class-action lawsuit on Friday, in which consumers sued them for ending unlimited data plans for iPads in 2010.

Those affected are set to collect settlements worth $40 in cash, plus data discounts. Any consumers who purchased an iPad 3G on or before June 7, 2010, can benefit from the settlement, according to court documents. Those who submit a claim will receive $40 cash from Apple. What's more, any iPad 3G owner who did not opt in to AT&T's data plan can now get a 5GB plan for the iPad 3G with a $20 monthly discount for up to one year.

The ruling was announced Friday in a district court in San Jose, Calif. Apple and AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agreement comes years after the original lawsuit was filed back in 2010. At the time, Apple and AT&T had promoted unlimited 3G data plans to iPad 3G owners, only to take that option away after a number of iPads had already been sold. (AT&T instead sold users 2 GB of data for a $25 monthly fee.)

Plaintiffs in the case argued that this bait-and-switch move caused them to overpay for their iPads, and also "[deprived] them of promised access to an unlimited data plan," according to court documents.

Once the settlement receives final approval in early 2014, Apple will begin contacting those who are eligible to file a claim.

Sorce: Mashable