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How To Take Apart a Kindle (3rd Gen)
Added by Ana Hurka-Robles on Sept. 2, 2010
Video posted by AHR on Sept. 2, 2010
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How To Take Apart a Kindle (3rd Gen)

Will disassembles the new Kindle Wi-Fi and shows you its guts. Does it bleed E-ink?

Duder, it's over...
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Google Celebrates 2 Years of Chrome with Chrome 6.0
Added by Wesley Fenlon on Sept. 2, 2010
Put on your party hats, everybody--Chrome officially hit the two year-old mark today, and Google has ushered version 6.0 up to the lofty perch of stable release. The Chrome developers also took some time to get all misty-eyed in a look back at Chrome’s history. Chrome has tripled the speed of its Javascript engine since 2008, helped drive HTML5 support, and taken a page out of Firefox’s book by adding an extension library.

Version 6 of Chrome combines its two menu buttons into one, moves the Favorite star to the right side of the URL bar, and tints the entire browser an impressively dull new shade of gray. Never fear, though--there are still plenty of themes to spice it up. If you’re a Chrome user and like to wait around for the stable releases, you can grab Chrome 6 right now. Or you could get ahead of the curve with Chrome 7 and check out some new features like GPU-acceleration.

We’re antsy to see Chrome’s web store launch, and then there’s Chrome OS to look forward to. Basically, we’re just super excited about HTML5 games. Version 7 and beyond can’t come soon enough.
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Philips Adds 3D to 21:9 TV, But Who's Going to Buy It?
Added by Wesley Fenlon on Sept. 2, 2010
Nothing says extravagant like a 56” 21:9 cinema display--except, maybe, a 58” 21:9 cinema display with 3D. Philips has unveiled the 2010 rendition of its ridiculously wide cinema display with a few aesthetic improvements and a whole lot of new stuff going on behind the LCD. All of the internal enhancements are designed to make the TV handle 3D images without sacrificing picture quality.

Because 3D tends to darken images, Philips installed its Bright Pro technology, which uses 1500 LEDs to selectively brighten portions of the screen without washing out the blacks. The Active 3D technology (which requires a special pair of glasses, naturally) supposedly synchronizes the lenses with what’s on screen to maximize the 3D effect and minimize crosstalk. Theoretically, reducing crosstalk means stopping the image bleedthrough from one channel to the other.

Finally, the icing on the cake is Philips’ Ambilight technology, which projects light onto the walls around the device to make it look better and brighter. The Platinum 21:9 Cinema display is obviously an awesome TV, but with a UK price tag of about £3,500, or more than $5000, we have to wonder: who is the market for 21:9 displays?

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Researchers Develop More Efficient Color Filter for LCDs
Added by Bobby Schweizer on Sept. 2, 2010
We've recently written about new OLED TVs, Nano Lighting LED screens, and other improvements in display technology. One of the advantages the Nano Lighting LED screens poses over OLED is that it's theoretically easier to integrate into existing manufacturing processes. A new innovation in color filters for LCD displays is hoping to capitalize on this same advantage.  
 
Researchers at the University of Michigan, lead by L. Jay Guo, have designed an optical film that transmits more light, improving the display's power consumption. Here's how it works.  
 
 
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Everything You Need to Know About the Samsung Galaxy Tab
Added by Wesley Fenlon on Sept. 2, 2010
Finally, after rumors, leaks and teases directly from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab can officially join the ranks of other hotly-anticipated Android tablets. All the specs point towards this being a competitive device: it boasts a 7” TFT LCD with a resolution of 1024x600, a 1GHz Cortex A8 Samsung Hummingbird processor, front and rear cameras, and Android 2.2 Froyo with Samsung’s Touch Wiz 3.0 skin.

Samsung’s clearly doing its best to offer an attractive alternative to the iPad: the slim Galaxy Tab weighs only 380 grams, or 13.4 ounces, and the 4,000mAh promises 7 hours of movie play. And considering the Tab will support Flash, DivX, H.264 and more video formats out of the box, that claim will be quickly put to the test.
Unlike most of the products we cover, the Galaxy Tab will be launching in the UK before the US, and quite a few of its features (such as 3G data plans and a video conference service) will naturally differ between the US and Europe. Let’s dive into the rest of the system’s specs and see what we can expect from the US launch.

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A Guide to HDR Photography, and How It Works on iPhone
Added by Will Greenwald on Sept. 2, 2010
If you've ever photographed a subject against a backlight, you know how difficult it is. If you underexpose, the background will look clear but the subject will be a dark silhouette. If you overexpose, the subject will show up but the background will be completely blown out by the lighting. It's exactly that sort of problem for which HDR photography is suited. HDR, or high dynamic range, photography merges multiple exposures of a subject together, combining the best details from overexposures and underexposures to produce a composite picture that shows off everything without shadows or blow-out.  

HDR isn't a catch-all solution to bad lighting, though. In fact, it's often more suited as an artistic photography method than a serious go-to tool. 
 
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Apple TV vs Roku XR vs Google TV vs Boxee Box
Added by Wesley Fenlon on Sept. 2, 2010
The new Apple TV is finally revealed, and it’s not quite the iOS 4 device we were expecting. It is, however, $99--a fairly average price for media players--and trying to re-focus the brand into a device solely intended for streaming content rather than storing it. But are there already devices on the market that do what Apple’s intending? Roku lowered their prices in anticipation of the new Apple TV, and Boxee had some interesting comments to make about Apple’s announcement.

Read on to see Apple TV, Google TV, Roku and Boxee duke it out in handy chart form.
 
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Why the Obama Administration's Stance on Piracy Sidesteps Complicated Issues
Added by Bobby Schweizer on Sept. 2, 2010
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was in Nashville, TN on Monday to speak to an audience of people mostly in the country music industry. He was there to reinforce the Obama administration's commitment to cracking down on music piracy on the Internet.  

Locke's trip can be seen more as a political move than a policy move, though it is useful to examine the different sides of this tough issue.   
 
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Never Give Up: Microsoft May Be Working on One More Zune
Added by Will Greenwald on Sept. 2, 2010
Microsoft has successfully become the unstoppable juggernaut of the desktop OS world and a giant among very few giants in the gaming world, but it's never picked up much traction in the portable media player world. Every since it released the Zune in 2006 it's been seen as Apple's unsuccessful tagalong, trying and failing to make a dent in the iPod's market share. 

Just in time for Apple's new iPod Touch announcement, a rumor is brewing indicating that Microsoft is going to give the Zune another go. According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, a Microsoft-linked source has told her that the company "is still considering rolling out at least one more Zune HD media player." 
 
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How To Spot Scams and Malware Apps on Android
Added by Ryan Whitwam on Sept. 2, 2010
Android offers developers a lot of freedom in using a phone's hardware in their apps. While this leads to some really amazing functionality, it can also be a security concern. Google has chosen to run a more open marketplace for apps, and does not hold content up so they can review it first. There is no gatekeeper for the Android Market. All a developer needs to do is pay the $25 developer fee and upload their app to the Android Market. Naturally, this has invited some riffraff to join the party. By looking at an app with a skeptical eye, and checking the permissions, you can avoid apps that are shady, or just plain scams. 
 
Head past the jump to find out. 
 
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Forums
Apple TV vs Roku XR vs Google TV vs Boxee Box (Article) »
Home Theater 		WesleyFenlon Sept. 1, 2010 cspiffo 4 minutes ago
44
19
Philips Adds 3D to 21:9 TV, But Who's Going to Buy It? (Article) »
Home Theater 		WesleyFenlon yesterday RonaldBryan 6 minutes ago
12
9
Input Lag... »
Home Theater 		PS3RG today MAGZine 17 minutes ago
19
4
Google Celebrates 2 Years of Chrome with Chrome 6.0 (Article) »
General Discussion 		WesleyFenlon yesterday MAGZine 19 minutes ago
25
19
I like Ana on the podcast »
This is Only a Test 		TheAdmin Sept. 1, 2010 Fripplebubby 23 minutes ago
159
22
Why the Obama Administration's Stance on Piracy Sidesteps Complicated Issues (Article) »
General Discussion 		Bobby Sept. 1, 2010 MAGZine 24 minutes ago
81
31
Microsoft hires Double Rainbow guy to do ads »
General Discussion 		thabigred yesterday Jadeskye 28 minutes ago
170
10
TF2 Game Night. »
Games 		GTFShadow yesterday GTFShadow 46 minutes ago
125
21
A Guide to HDR Photography, and How It Works on iPhone (Article) »
Cameras 		willgreenwald Sept. 1, 2010 simian 1 hour, 28 minutes ago
25
9
Never Give Up: Microsoft May Be Working on One More Zune (Article) »
General Discussion 		willgreenwald Sept. 1, 2010 cspiffo 2 hours, 1 minute ago
52
33
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