Just recently, the Opera 11.10 release candidate was made available for download. It brought a handful of important feature additions -- like HTML5 File API support and IMAP enhancements -- and loads of bugfixes. Nestled in amongst the other details in the Opera team's announcement is one more interesting tidbit: Opera 11.10 offers improved battery optimizations.
The timing here is certainly interesting, what with Microsoft's recent report on how much power the top five Web browsers consume. In its findings, Opera 11 was fairly low in the standings. While we've not seen any new benchmarks yet, we're curious to know whether the Opera 11.10 RC offers any significant gains.
If you're running Opera 11.10 on a laptop, let us know if you're seeing an improvement in your battery life while browsing!
It's no secret that Samsung plans to bring the Galaxy Note II to many US carriers by mid-fall. Even so, getting there requires the FCC's blessing -- which makes us glad to see the regulator approve what might be three carriers' variants of the giant Android phone. The SGH-i317 looks to be the model for AT&T and Canadian carriers, having been greenlit for their key 3G and 4G bands while lining up with a briefly available benchmark of the device sharing the Note II's HD screen and use of Jelly Bean. The SCH-i605? Based on its inclusions of both CDMA and GSM, a lone 700MHz LTE band and a past screen capture leak, it's a dual-mode Note II destined for Verizon. As for the SGH-T889, it's even more conspicuous beyond what we've already seen: the T889's HSPA includes the 1,700MHz AWS frequency that T-Mobile will still call home for a long while. LTE likewise exists on the 1,700MHz and roaming-friendly 700MHz bands in possible instances of futureproofing. While we rarely want to say a mobile device is confirmed until we see it first-hand, the convenient timing and natures of the three FCC approvals only help to fuel suspicions that Samsung's pen-focused event on October 24th is all about the Note II's American launch.
In another face of the ever turning world of patent battles, Reuters reports Microsoft has snagged a victory over Motorola as the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in its favor today. Motorola had obtained an injunction in Germany against Microsoft products -- including the Xbox 360 and Windows 7 -- based on its h.264 patents back in May, but today the court upheld a previous decision putting enforcement on hold because of Microsoft's existing lawsuit against Moto for breach of contract. Microsoft's push to leverage its patents into licensing payouts from manufacturers of Android devices have seen the two at each other's throats since at least 2010, when the folks from Redmond lodged an ITC complaint over nine patents and followed up with another suit accusing Motorola of charging unfair license fees for its patents. Motorola fired back with its own pair of lawsuits -- all of this a year before we heard it would be acquired by Google -- and the battle was on. Whether or not this moves us any closer to any resolution remains to be seen, but at least Bavarian gaming consoles are safe, for now.
We're back again with a smorgasbord of lovely things for you to enjoy. From a sleek leaning lamp to a book shelf that doubles as a chair, these are the most beautiful items of the week. More »
Microsoft has shared some news about the state of its most and least loved Web browsers -- Internet Explorer 9 and 6, respectively. Even with IE9 only recently exiting beta, Microsoft reports that 3.6% of Windows 7 users are now running the new browser (no mention of Vista... what's with that?). The post also reveals that the adoption rate is almost five times what IE8 garnered in the early going.
It's also interesting to note that there are now more than 1,000 sites utilizing Internet Explorer 9's Windows 7 integration features -- like the new desktop notification support we showed you in Hotmail.
But perhaps the best news of all is that Microsoft's IE6countdown.com now has more than 400 partners and is generating nearly two million pageviews per month, helping to lure users away from the woefully out-of-date browser. Can the end come soon enough, DS readers?
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission took the first step Friday toward groundbreaking auctions of television spectrum to mobile carriers faced with skyrocketing bandwidth demands from their customers.
The FCC approved a notice of proposed rulemaking (PDF) (NPRM) that lays out proposed rules and asks for public comment on so-called incentive auctions, in which U.S. television stations would voluntarily give up their spectrum in exchange for proceeds from auctions of that spectrum. The NPRM is the first step in a long process at the FCC, with the agency projecting that auctions to mobile carriers would happen in 2014.
With the FCC moving forward on the world's first incentive auctions, "this is a big deal," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. "The world is watching."
The auctions will involve a complicated three-step process, with television stations offering their spectrum in a reverse auction, the FCC reconfiguring the remaining TV spectrum to gain efficiency, and finally, the FCC auctioning the available spectrum to mobile carriers.
The incentive auctions will address a coming spectrum crunch and will help carriers provide better mobile service, with fewer dropped calls and fewer spinning pinwheels on mobile browsers, Genachowski said.
The auctions would also give the U.S. a "strategic bandwidth advantage," in a global race, he added. "Success will unleash waves of innovation that will go a long way toward determining who leads our global economy in the 21st century."
Concerns raised
The commission's two Republican members raised a number of questions about the proposal, including whether it would leave too much spectrum unsold for unlicensed uses. The proposal would create a nationwide swath of unlicensed spectrum.
In addition, the proposal's cap on the amount of spectrum that one carrier can buy could result in the auction not raising the US$7 billion the U.S. Congress has targeted for a nationwide public safety network, said Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell.
McDowell urged the commission to be open to alternative ideas. "This being literally, as I've said before, the most complex spectrum auction in world history, I think we should keep all our options open," he said.
Julius Genachowski
Genachowski and other commission Democrats defended the unlicensed spectrum plans. WiFi, television remote control devices and garage door openers all use unlicensed spectrum, said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. "Good spectrum policy" has room both licensed and unlicensed spectrum, she said.
"This is a time to be embracing and extending WiFi-like uses of spectrum," Genachowski said. "Unlicensed spectrum has a powerful record of driving innovation, driving investment and economic growth."
Several companies and trade groups praised the FCC for its vote.
The vote is "a big step in the right direction," Mary Brown, director of government affairs for Cisco Systems, said in a statement. "The FCC invented the spectrum auction and perfected it. We have every confidence that the commission will do the same for incentive auctions."
The auction, along with an FCC proposal approved Friday to look at spectrum holding limit policy, will help carries meet "soaring consumer demand for mobile Internet services," Joan Marsh, AT&T's vice president for federal regulatory affairs, wrote in a blog post.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.
More gloomy news from Kodak: the company just announced that it will stop selling consumer inkjet printers in 2013 and instead focus its efforts on commercial printing products. This decision hardly comes as a surprise: Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year and attempted to auction off a stockpile of patents valued at up to $2.6 billion. The company stated on Friday that it expects to take a $90 million hit due to its floundering inkjet business. Kodak's garage sale attracted interest from unlikely alliances in the form of Apple and Microsoft versus Google and Samsung, but reportedly only reeled in disappointing offers under the $500 million mark. Hoping to rebound next year as a "lean," mean, successful machine, we'll just have to wait and see what develops for this fallen photography frontrunner.
One click; just one single well-aimed click. That's all you get in Boomshine.
That single click triggers a chain reaction; circles start exploding, and other circles colliding with the shockwaves explode as well, creating their own shockwaves, which then catch other circles.
It's been done before, yes, but this one is a great iteration. The soundtrack is mellow, with lots of piano and some nice percussion (not electronic - it sounds like drums).
At each level you need to make a certain number of circles explode to go on to the next level. I got up to level 12, where you get 60 circles and need to make 55 of them explode. And then I kept trying and trying, but simply couldn't get it. I did get to 54 circles a couple of times, but as they say, you don't get points for trying.
There's no time limit, so you can carefully study the pattern of motion and place your click at the exact right place to create the best chain reaction. I've found that clicking near the middle of the screen works quite well, especially if the balls are slowly moving in that direction. By the time the first shockwave dies off, the oncoming balls usually hit it and the chain reaction continues.
We've been vocal before about how the coffee shop is not your office. But if you do happen to set up camp in one, you may absolutely never ever under any circumstances complain about the freaking music. More »
So there you are, walking around on the world's most advanced aircraft carrier. Everything around you is a multi-million dollar machine packed with advanced technology. Then something propped in the corner catches your eye. Is that an old wooden ladder? What the hell is that doing here? More »
