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 Facebook's facial recognition feature probably won't find too many smiles in Germany, where federal regulators are challenging the social network to change its ways, or face the consequences. On Tuesday, Hamburg's Data Protection Authority (DPA) sent a letter to the company, advising it to obtain user permission before harvesting biometric data, as outlined by EU privacy laws that require consumer consent. As it stands right now, users can opt-out of the photo-tagging function by tinkering with their privacy settings, but the DPA claims that's still too invasive, and has "repeatedly" asked Facebook to shut down the feature altogether. Zuckerberg & Co. now have two weeks to respond to the letter, and could face a fine of up to €300,000 (about $427,000) if a compromise isn't reached. In a statement, company spokeswoman Tina Kulow said, "We will consider the points the Hamburg Data Protection Authority have made... but firmly reject any claim that we are not meeting our obligations under European Union data protection law." Germany challenges Facebook on facial recognition, citing EU privacy laws originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  The Register | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/04/germany-challenges-facebook-on-facial-recognition-citing-eu-pri/ AMAZONCOM LAM RESEARCH ROCKWELL AUTOMATION RACKABLE SYSTEMS GOOGLE Let's do a roll call, shall we? Who doesn't have a Honeycomb tablet to shill in the states? Acer, ASUS, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba all have something to their names, with Dell possibly bringing its China-only Dell Streak 10 Pro here too. Until now, Lenovo was one glaring exception. The company already had a head start selling the LePad tablet in China, but it was only last month that it announced not one, but two Honeycomb slates for the US market: the IdeaPad K1 for mainstream consumers, and the ThinkPad Tablet for business users (and a fair share of geeks, too). Now, we could easily roll our eyes at how saturated the market for Android tablets is becoming, but Lenovo isn't just any old OEM. The brand has won such an avid following that we bet the company could have essentially slapped its name on a plain-Jane black slab and waited for loyal fans to line up. In fact, though, you're in for a bit more than name recognition. The K1 goes after mainstream consumers with a winsome design, sure, but also a software package designed to make Honeycomb easier to use, and to help ensure that flummoxed, low-tech users don't have to spend too much time downloading apps out of the box. What's more, it ships with Android 3.1 and has a two-cell battery that promises up to ten hours of battery life. Oh, and the 32GB model rings in $499, undercutting the 32GB iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 by $100. But is that enough for it to stand out? Let's see. Continue reading Lenovo IdeaPad K1 review Lenovo IdeaPad K1 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments 
 Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/TLnChvwmr4U/ SYKES ENTERPRISES INORATED DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES MCAFEE THQ Have $1,929 Canadian dollars to spare? You can swap those loonies for 2,000 all-American greenbacks, or the current bid on a Nintendo 3DS Panda development model, rounding out its final 24 hours on eBay's Canadian auction site. This "like new" device won't be playing retail 3DS or DS cartridges, but it will grant you access to a variety of development functions. The $2,000 current bid is more than a hair higher than the dev hardware's unconfirmed original price of $324, but if you're desperate to rank among the few gamers that rock 3DS dev hardware, logic probably won't reign supreme when it comes time to hit that bid now button. [Thanks, Julien] Nintendo 3DS Panda dev model hits Canadian eBay, reminds US how little the dollar is worth originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | eBay | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/04/nintendo-3ds-panda-dev-model-hits-canadian-ebay-reminds-us-how/ ACER TIBCO SOFTWARE COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS COMCAST  Microsoft, citing Google's tyrannical 95% share of the European search market, has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission. It's not like Microsoft is breaking any ground here -- the European Commission has been investigating Google's alleged violation of European competition law since November 2010 -- but there's no doubt that the addition of Microsoft's gravitas will affect the proceedings. Microsoft's complaint reads like a sincere and plaintive cry for help against the Google Overlord. Microsoft lists no less than six damning reasons why Google's behavior is anti-competitive -- from Windows Phone 7's incompatibility with YouTube, to its nefarious handling of Google Books -- and finishes with a wide-eyed plea to the European Commission to please find Google guilty. For those of you that have been following Microsoft's own antitrust troubles over the last decade, don't worry: MS is quick to point out the irony in the situation. "There of course will be some who will point out the irony in today's filing. Having spent more than a decade wearing the shoe on the other foot with the European Commission, the filing of a formal antitrust complaint is not something we take lightly. This is the first time Microsoft Corporation has ever taken this step. More so than most, we recognize the importance of ensuring that competition laws remain balanced and that technology innovation moves forward." It sounds like Microsoft, having well and truly gone through the wringer, wants Google to be held similarly accountable. That's fair enough, right? Microsoft files antitrust complaint against Google in Europe, showdown imminent originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/microsoft-files-antitrust-complaint-against-google-in-europe-sh/ ELPIDA MEMORY CDW QLOGIC DLINK UNITED ONLINE Over on the Internet Explorer Blog, Microsoft has posted results from an extensive comparison of the top five Web browsers. The goal: to determine whether Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 4, Chrome 10, Safari 5, or Opera 11 is able to squeeze the most life out of your laptop's battery. A baseline was determined with test systems sitting idle, and then browsers were pointed at about:blank, a news site, the HTML5 Galactic demo, and the IE9 fish tank demo. Perhaps unsurprisingly, IE9 came out on top -- though Firefox 4 was a very close second on nearly every test. As you can see, the other browsers didn't necessarily fare quite as well, with Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera all posting significantly worse scores. In Opera 11's case, a laptop battery would last over one hour more with Internet Explorer 9 installed.
But what we'd really like to know is where did Microsoft find the dilithium crystals required to run a Galactic Total Power Consumption test... IE9 and Firefox 4 post top marks in Web browser power use comparison originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/ie9-and-firefox-4-post-top-marks-in-pc-power-use-comparison/ UNITED ONLINE SYNTAXBRILLIAN MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR MOBILE TELESYSTEMS AMPHENOL 
When last we left the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (in the U.S., anyway), we'd been told it had a "late summer" launch window. That, really, could mean just about anything. And seeing as how most people relate summer with heat, we might not see this thing here until November, the way things are going. Anyhoo, Amazon UK's apparently got the thing slated for being in stock -- from a third-party retailer, anyway -- in about a week and a half. Aug. 12, to be exact. That doesn't really do us much good stateside, and we're really not putting too much faith into this, seeing as how it's already moved back a day since it was first spotted. But we did just see the Galaxy Tab P8 mentioned in a possible Verizon roadmap -- in November. Might we be in line for a Galaxy Tab 8.9 in the coming months, finally? News at 11. Source: Amazon UK via Engadget 
 Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/4ItSr-RZDL0/samsung-galaxy-tab-hitting-uk-aug-12 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES NANYA TECHNOLOGY TIBCO SOFTWARE EMULEX SONIC AUTOMOTIVE Once upon a time, there used to be a DOS game with a caveman and a human powered helicopter. The caveman would shuttle around the screen, madly trying to get customers to where they wanted to go. Jetbus is not that game, but it's obviously inspired by it. You're driving a yellow school bus which has jets. I guess the jet engine takes quite a bit of space inside the bus, because you can only pick up one person at a time. There are several doors on the screen, each with its own number. As you pick up a person, the status bar at the bottom of the screen shows you which number door you have to take them to. You must fly your bus carefully, because if it gets bumped around too much, you lose. You earn money on each level, and can visit the garage to buy better jets and damping, power-ups, or even a whole new vehicle. So while this game isn't made as well as the original that inspired it, it does provide a few minutes of fun. And now, which one of you guys remembers the original and feels like pointing to it in the comments? Jetbus is a retro-tastic physics game, with a bus originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/15/jetbus-is-a-retro-tastic-physics-game-with-a-bus/ ADOBE SYSTEMS VIRGIN MEDIA LAND SOFTWARE SPANSION PRICELINECOM I'm getting fat; that's what you see on the screenshot to the right -- my gradual move from chubby to portly. But never mind the numbers, look at the pretty graph! If you've ever read The Hacker's Diet, this graph should be instantly recognizable. Each point shows the weight for a given day, while the trend line lets you see if you're gaining or losing weight. When I use my "main" PC, I have a homebrew solution for creating and maintaining this graph. But I've had to find a temporary solution for Android, and Libra is it. It's a beautifully simple app, very true to the spirit of The Hacker's Diet. You can create a shortcut on your homescreen that brings you right into the data entry screen, so you just tap the shortcut every morning, feed in your weight for the day and hit OK, and then you get to see your progress (or lack thereof) on the graph. The app remembers the previous day's weigh-in, which makes it easy to enter today's weight (as they're usually not too different). The graph is zoomable and scrollable, and most importantly, you can export the data to CSV so you're not locked into the app. If you ever need to track your weight using an Android device for any period of time, Libra is one excellent solution. Libra for Android helps you track your weight using The Hacker's Diet system originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/31/libra-for-android-helps-you-track-your-weight-using-the-hackers/ AMERICA MOVIL QUALCOMM EMC DELL AUTODESK |
Some of you who own 
