Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features

Speedtest.net is pretty much the go-to site for quickly figuring out how fast (or slow) your connection really is and comparing the numbers your ISP boasts with what it actually delivers. And now it's got a new coat of paint and a couple of neat features. In brief:

• New UI: The map widget is much improved; it actually looks like a map now, and it's easy to see where you are.
• Smart server selection: If there are several test servers nearby, Speedtest will now ping each to see which has the least latency and use that for the test. You can still specify servers manually, too.
• User accounts: You can sign up for a free account and aggregate results from several computers/connections.
• Speed Wave: This new feature lets you add your test results to the results of many other users, and get a nice composite view.

All in all, you get some nice, new functionality and a snazzier interface to boot. Nice!

Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/07/speedtest-net-overhauled-with-new-look-new-features/

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NuForce HP-800 headphone review

Can a headphone ever be too comfortable? Or too smooth sounding? These are unusual questions to consider when reviewing headphones, but that’s how I felt listening to the NuForce HP-800. Maybe NuForce has achieved a near perfect balance between comfort, price, and sound. Or have they? NuForce has created some unique products that fill specific [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/06/27/nuforce-hp-800-headphone-review/

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Acer updates its $199 C7 Chromebook, adds SSD

Acer has announced that a new version of its C7 Chromebook will be available at Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com for $199. The refreshed model includes a 16GB SSD.

The model C710-2856 Chromebook has an 11.6-inch LED-backlit LCD panel with native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. It's powered by a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor and 2GB of DDR3 memory. Apart from swapping a 320GB mechanical hard drive for an SSD, this computer's specifications are the same as the earlier $199 Chromebook that Acer announced in November 2012.

Acer

Acer's new C7 Chromebook comes with a 16GB SSD.

“The expansion of our Acer C7 Chromebook line to Walmart is a clear indication of its growing popularity for anyone who wants a new or second mobile PC for web-based computing,” said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president of product marketing, Acer America. “The new configuration with a speedy and responsive SSD at only $199 is an especially notable value.”

Acer is positioning the Chromebook as an inexpensive secondary laptop for families and professionals who want to use cloud-based services and social networks and shop online, and for students preparing to go back to school in the fall.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2042324/acer-updates-its-199-c7-chromebook-adds-ssd.html#tk.rss_laptopcomputers

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Microsoft's Windows Phone 7: Wrong name, some of the right ideas

Windows Phone 7 may be Microsoft's most-misnamed product ever. That moniker suggests a sequel to its Windows Mobile line of operating-system releases; fortunately, Windows Phone 7 is nothing of the kind.

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=99de25ea51b412354639d7b03096b9c4

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Songza introduces paid ad-free service that costs $0.99 a week

Songza joined the ad-free music streaming club today with a club of its own: Club Songza. Like the premium services on Spotify and Slacker, you'll have to cough up a few pennies to belong -- about 99 of them a week, to be exact. Listening to music without commercial interruption isn't the only benefit however; apparently paid subscribers will get additional goodies like twice as many skips and access to more premium content as well. Songza diehards can go ahead and sign up for the service at the source or simply live with that pesky advertising in the free version.

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Club Songza, Songza

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/B_ncSXwQ3G4/

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Germany None Too Pleased With UK's Digital Surveillance

The UK's NSA-ish surveillance program, "Project Tempora," has drawn the ire of the German government. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the Germany justice minister, sent a pair of letters Tuesday to the British justice secretary detailing the angst and anger that Britain's snooping has caused. Germans were already in a tizzy over U.S. surveillance practices.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/78372.html

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Obama touts plan to get wireless Internet to 98 percent of U.S.

President Obama unveiled an ambitious blueprint to use $18 billion in federal funds to get 98 percent of the nation connected to the Internet on smartphones and tablet computers in five years.

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=3d6229545fa1b4d538413912c9731c92

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How To Take Care of Your Smartphone Battery the Right Way

Your smartphone is a minor miracle, a pocket-sized computer that can fulfill almost every whim. But none of its superpowers matter a bit if it runs out of juice. With removable batteries becoming more and more rare, you've got to take good care of the one you got. Fortunately, it's not to hard keep the lithium-ion powering your everything machine happy if you follow a few simple rules.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/7bPk6FRccss/how-to-take-care-of-your-smartphone-battery-the-right-w-513217256

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Ask DLS: What's your primary Web browser?

Competition is a good thing, and the browser arena has been a fierce arena for years now. There are at least four "major" browsers each vying for your attention, along with lots of smaller spin-offs (SRWare Iron or Flock, anyone?).

While the browser usage charts we share from time to time show overall browser usage amongst the Web at large, Download Squad readers are not exactly the average bunch in terms of browser use. So today we have one simple question for you:

What's your primary Web browser?

View Poll

Ask DLS: What's your primary Web browser? originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/16/ask-dls-whats-your-primary-browser/

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Elephant Quest is an addictive, deep platformer

When someone tells me about a "platformer", my first thought is that it's probably a simple game that mainly revolves around running and jumping around, with a minimal plot. [Play a Zelda game! -Ed]

Elephant Quest is one platformer that managed to prove me completely wrong. Yes, you do run and jump around, and you also shoot at stuff. But the game has much, much more going for it.

Basically, as you run, jump and shoot, you gain experience points and level up. Hitting Space brings you into an interface where you can convert your experience points into Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Dexterity points. Once you've "specialized" your points, you then get to pick what exact skills you'd like to enhance in each field. For example, you could use your dexterity to enhance your weapons or increase your swiftness.

The game is played in a huge maze; you go through rooms using doors, and there's a large map. As the name implies, there are quests you can take, too. For example, one quest had me searching all over the place for ten balloons.

The bottom line is that this is a surprisingly deep game that just might ensnare you for a good bit longer than you intended to play. Beware!

Elephant Quest is an addictive, deep platformer originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/25/elephant-quest-is-an-addictive-deep-platformer/

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Burrito Bison is a simple game for gummy bear lovers

Burrito Bison is a pretty simple game, but if you're into gummy bears you might find it addictive.

As you may have guessed from the name, you're a bison (not a burrito, though). In the course of your day-to-day grocery shopping, you're abducted into a bag of gummy bears, and must now fend for yourself.

At the beginning of each round you launch yourself onto the marching gummy (gummi?) bears, while you're being watched by a huge crowd of even more gummy bears. Your goal is to keep bouncing on the bears and earn more and more money while you do it. Every time you hit a gummy bear, you lose some momentum. If you hit the floor, you basically lose all of it.

But don't give up just yet! You have an emergency thrust which you can use to gain some momentum and keep bouncing on those bears. This extra thrust gets refilled as you hit more bears.

There are also special gummy bears that give you extra thrust or extra money. The money comes in handy at the end of each round, when you can shop for cool stuff to make your bison even more effective against those gummy bears.

It's a fun and colorful game that kept my interest for quite some time, and almost sent me running to the closest store to get some gummy bears!

Burrito Bison is a simple game for gummy bear lovers originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/26/burrito-bison-is-a-simple-game-for-gummy-bear-lovers/

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Exabytes: Documenting the 'digital age' and huge growth in computing capacity

Megabytes are dead. Gigabytes are passe. So much digital data now moves around the globe that those who endeavor to measure it employ a new - or new to non-nerds - term. Meet the exabyte. How much data is an exabyte? It's a billion gigabytes - and it signifies just how digital and data-intensive ...

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=f5ff5351328f307f5ad7cff4d20736c7

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Labster Gamifies Bio-Tech Teaching So Students Can Use Their iPads To Blow Stuff Up

Educational games to make learning more engaging for students are nothing new, but Labster, a bio-tech education startup founded back in 2011 and just now coming out of stealth, has gone further than most by creating an entire virtualised laboratory for teaching bio-tech students without the need to purchase expensive lab equipment or conduct potentially hazardous experiments for real.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/TP9JG-tfjuE/

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It's Almost Worth Breaking Your Arm for this Crazy 3D-Printed Cast

Plaster casts are bulky, obnoxious, heavy, inevitably sweaty, occasionally pink. In short, they are no fun. But this 3D-printed "Cortex" cast could change all that. Sure, it looks a little like a fishnet stocking, but have you seen a old-fashioned cast lately?

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/YRsj46Hgudg/its-almost-worth-breaking-your-arm-for-this-crazy-3d-618059549

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What to consider before buying technology this holiday season

Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=5eda2edc18ddfd12072b91ed1e8b5942

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Dodge is a space-shooter in which you have no weapons

Space-shooters are usually a fairly fiery affair, with many types of guns, weapon upgrades, power-ups and more. Dodge does away with all of that, while keeping the very essence of a space shooter: Dark background, fast action, and stuff blowing up all over the place.

Your vector-looking spacecraft is the fastest thing on the screen, most of the time. And as the header implies, you have absolutely no weapons; you can't get any, either. All you have is agility and maneuverability.

Your opponents shoot heat-seeking missiles at you; the missiles lock on and start tracking you. The trick is to dodge the missiles while putting them in the path of one of your enemies, thus letting them have a taste of their own medicine.

There are three types of enemies, at least in the first few levels: "simple" spaceships which fire slow projectiles, "tanks" which seem to be more serious and take more hits to destroy, and "circles." The circles simply explode, spewing twenty or thirty very fast projectiles. This sounds dangerous, but is actually great once you learn to use them; they are very destructive for tanks, and can even blow up other circles.

The soundtrack is very techno, but it meshes very well with this type of game. Intense fun!

Dodge is a space-shooter in which you have no weapons originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/01/dodge-is-a-space-shooter-in-which-you-have-no-weapons/

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