Updated. Apple iPad owners have the $10 AirDisplay app to use their tablet as a second monitor for their Mac, but Android owners aren’t left out in the cold. Mobile app developer Shape offers a similar program for $5 that turns allows Android devices to be a second monitor for Macs or Windows PCs. The software is called iDisplay and it recently gained some updates in version 2.1. I’ve been using it on a 10-inch Android tablet with my iMac and it works as advertised although it’s not quite as responsive as AirDisplay for iOS.

You can see in the above photo that I’m using iDisplay to run Echofon, a Python IDLE shell and Rdio on the Android tablet as I’ve dragged those apps from my iMac. And see the USB wire connected to the tablet? The iDisplay app supports both a wired and wireless connection to the tablet. I didn’t notice any difference when using iDisplay over Wi-Fi vs over the USB connection, but I like the flexibility. Plus, my Mac can charge the tablet while I use it as a secondary monitor.

This new version of iDisplay contains a few fixes and additions. Namely:

• Significant increase in speed of the desktop image mirroring on Android display
• Optimization for 4.0 Android OS
• Zoom option: choose your own ratio of Android virtual display to speed up the image reflection of your desktop
• More precise cursor pointing on the touchscreen

The cursor pointing on the tablet is pretty precise, but I’m not sure how much faster the mirroring speed is compared to prior versions. You can configure the frame rate of iDisplay on the host computer — there’s a small bit of software to install on the Mac or PC — but I’ve left it to be auto-optimized. There’s still room for improvement then, but for those looking to get some extra use out of a larger Android tablet, iDisplay is surely worth the look at $5. The software also works with Android smartphones, but I’m not sure there’s much benefit on the smaller screen.

Update: Shame on me: I didn’t realize that AirDisplay — which I use on my iPad — is also available for Android devices. Thanks to Mario on Google+ who told me about it. I’ll have to try that one as well!

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Filed under: Concept Cars, Performance, Europe, Hatchback, Volkswagen, Misc. Auto Shows

Slammed Skodas, Seats, Audis and Polos are all well and nice, but at the end of the day, the annual gathering of Volkswagen performance enthusiasts at Lake Wörthersee in Austria is about the GTI. That much isn’t lost on Volkswagen, so in addition to bringing the new GTI Cabrio along with all the aforementioned corporate cousins, the German automaker has rolled into the lakeside expo with the tricked-out concept car you see here.

Called the GTI Black Dynamic, the show car is the work of nine lucky (and apparently talented) student interns at Volkswagen. The team dropped the suspension 35 mm lower than stock, bumped the output up by 150 horsepower to a prodigious 360, upgraded the gearbox and brakes to cope with the extra power and fitted an 1,800-watt sound system.

Of course all that kit couldn’t go unnoticed, so the Black Dynamic GTI was also treated to a deep black paint job with matte anthracite trim and red detailing. The team even went so far as to hand-craft the GTI letters on the lift-gate and gave the car a custom interior, too. You can read more about it in the pair of press releases below, or better yet see it from all the angles in the high-res image gallery above.

Continue reading Volkswagen interns roll into Worthersee with GTI Black Dynamic show car

Volkswagen interns roll into Worthersee with GTI Black Dynamic show car originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ESPN is reporting that it sounds like the investigation into a March incident involving Bears WR Brandon Marshall is about to come to a close.

Marshall is alleged to have punched a woman in the face outside of a nightclub, and it sounds like police have been unable to find evidence against Marshall and the case will likely be closed without charges being filed.

Word is the WR was at the club that night, but denies involvement in any scuffle and claims that his wife, who was hit with a bottle and taken to a hospital, was the victim.

“The situation in New York, it’s unfortunate,” Marshall told “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000 in Chicago last week. “You never want to see anyone get hurt, but just the allegation of me balling my fist up and hitting a woman is just a lie. When the judicial system takes its course I’m very confident I will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

“My wife was the victim in this situation.”

It could have been the last straw for the Dolphins, as two days after the “incident”, the team moved Marshall to Chicago. Reports of the incident did not surface until the day after the deal, both teams reportedly knew of the incident at the time of the trade.

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It's not often you witness a value commodity become even more valuable, live on television.

But that's what happened on Sunday afternoon when the English Premier League title was decided in the 94th minute of extra time in Manchester.

The league itself was also the big winner when the title went to Manchester's blue side.

It's come a long way since 22 teams formed the Premier League in the summer of 1992, with the backing of the fledgling satellite channel, BSkyB, controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

The first TV contracts were modest, but now the league gets more then $3bn over three years, just in the UK for both live and taped rights.

It's not an exaggeration to say many people, and pubs, pay for the Sky satellite package in order to watch top-flight football (I personally pay just over $100 a month when you add in ESPN to get the remaining Premier League matches, and baseball of course). Equally, if Sky were to lose the rights to the football league it helped make the most watched in the world, many people would drop Sky. And Sky knows it.

But it did take a decade for the world to wake up to the value of the Premier League. That all changed with a certain Russian billionaire.

Critics and disgruntled fans were up in arms when Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and pumped it full of stars (and reportedly spent more than $100 million JUST on numerous managers). And they won the league. Needless to say few Chelsea supporters could stay angry for long, if they ever were, with silverware coming in the door.

Then there was the take-over of Manchester United from the American Glazer family in 2005. Many United fans still haven't gotten over that, even though the growing debt has not stopped the side from competing more years for the title, and in Europe.

Not long after Manchester City was taken over in 2007 by controversial former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. His troubles opened the door to a new bid from the Gulf.

Since its purchase in 2008, the Abu Dhabi group has pumped more than $1 billion into Manchester City, so its not a surprise they were battling for the top. City has surpassed the Russian-fueled Chelsea side, already showing its age, and the American-debt ladened Manchester United side who continue to impress, whomsoever they buy or sell. Its other rival, Liverpool, has had a number of American owners in the past five years and only continues to slide down the table. Liverpool spent more money on a failed stadium plan than it did on quality players.

But you can't underestimate where City has come from in the past decade and you can't dismiss this win as a one-off title, like Blackburn Rovers.

In 1999, Manchester City was playing the mighty Gillingham in the play-offs for promotion from England's old third division (now called League One).

City was an also-ran club that slowly climbed back up the table, but it had one thing that could be nearly priceless: the name Manchester. When the Abu Dhabi group was looking to buy a club, and City became embroiled in the scandal surrounding its then owner, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the name Manchester was surely a draw. It would be recognized around the world, thanks to its Red neighbors (the less noisy neighbors).

Manchester sounds better then say, Scunthorpe or Hull or Blackpool or even Port Vale, a team named for a non-existent place.

Now, the Premier League is ready to tender a new contract to air live matches in the UK from 2013-2016. The current deal for live rights in the UK is worth about $2.8bn to the league and the 20 teams that now make up the top tier. Sky is not allowed to gobble up all the rights, thanks to a European Commission competition ruling. While Sky and ESPN will certainly bid for the rights, but so could the likes of Qatari-based Al Jazeera, if you believe the rumors. I'm not sure Sky is going to be outbid, but it could mean the world's most valuable football league will only get more valuable. Manchester City has seen to that.

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Lenovo will pump around $800m into a new mobile-focused facility tasked with investigating and producing innovative smartphones, tablets and other devices, the Chinese company has confirmed. The new plant, located in Wuhan in China, will concentrate “on the R&D, production and sales of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices that will cover the Chinese and global markets” Lenovo says, targeting $1.59bn in sales revenue by 2014 and five times that within the next five years.

“As an industry leader, we are aggressively moving forward into the PC Plus era, and with our Mobile Internet Digital Home group actively engaged, we are accelerating development in smart phones, tablets, and other mobile Internet terminal markets,” Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Group chairman and CEO said of the investment. “We’re determined to firmly seize the tremendous opportunities for innovation in this market, so that Lenovo’s customers have even more opportunities to own our award-winning products, from PCs to mobile Internet devices.”

Those  products will likely riff off of Lenovo’s existing mobility designs, including the flipping/folding Yoga Windows 8 tablet/notebook, its ThinkPad and IdeaPad tablet models, and the S2 Android smartphone. Lenovo has also inked a deal with Intel to use the company’s new Atom Medfield chips in upcoming smartphones.

Nonetheless, Lenovo’s plans are ambitious. The company currently holds a solid mobile market share in China, but its handsets are all but unknown in North America and Europe, and its tablets have yet to challenge the dominance of the iPad.

Lenovo pumps $800m into ambitious mobile scheme is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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It’s been two years since we last heard of the 98-foot-long solar-powered boat, which at the time was gearing up for its big journey around the world. Well, some 19 months and 37,286 miles after setting sail from Monaco, the MS Turanor PlanetSolar has finally made it home. The PlanetSolar broke four Guinness world records along the way, including the all-important “first circumnavigation by solar-powered boat,” and it made stops on six continents to promote solar energy. Oh, and the team fended off Somalian pirates in the process, too. Now that it has a moment to catch its breath and soak up some rays at leisure, the MS Turanor could become any number of things — from the world’s largest solar battery to a “green luxury yacht.” The latter option would certainly befit its chichi home port.

First solar-powered boat to circle the world pulls into home port, contemplates next move originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 May 2012 20:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digital Storm has announced that its premium-priced (and not so premium-priced) gaming PCs will soon be touting Ivy Bridge processors. This means, going forward, all machines will come with the Intel’s third generation Core architecture, with the PC maker already claiming it’s managed overclocks at 4.8GHz. Like its machines, Digital Storm is keeping cool on when the systems will find their way from workshop to LAN, or what effect (if any) there’ll be on pricing. Keep the cross hairs focused on the source link for more info.

Continue reading Digital Storm locks and loads Ivy Bridge into its new recruits

Digital Storm locks and loads Ivy Bridge into its new recruits originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ESPN is reporting that the Browns will meet this weekend to determine whether or not to attempt to trade Colt McCoy, after nabbing record-breaking Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden in the 1st round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

If the Broncos factored in Tim Tebow’s feelings when they traded him and a 7th-round pick for a 4th-round pick and a 6th-round pick, then resolute, nice-guy leader Colt McCoy may get the same courtesy.

The Chiefs and probably Bills are looking for a guy to compete for the starting job. I don’t know if they view McCoy as any better than ex-Cleveland QB Brady Quinn, Ricky Stanzi, or Tyler Thigpen.

The Raiders, Broncos, Steelers (Leftwich, past-his-prime Batch, and Troy Smith?), Chargers, Cowboys, Titans, and probably even the Packers, Eagles, Texans, Lions and Ravens are looking for a long-term #2 (Hasselbeck will retire most likely after this season, after Locker takes the starting job).

I think the Cardinals will sooner cut Kolb after this season if he has issues, rather than have him back-up Skelton. These days, the back-up needs to be good enough to play. If Skelton’s good enough, I see him as the starter. If not, he should be gone, too. It’s obviously not always easy to designate quarterbacks with such empiricism.

It seems maybe the best place for McCoy could be Tebow’s former team: the Denver Broncos. McCoy was the 2010 Manning Award winner for his final season in college, and he has taught at the Manning Passing Camp in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. The Broncos’ current back-ups are Caleb Hanie and Adam Weber, who have zero combined career wins.

Browns fans may not want to see Colt McCoy leave, but they should be excited to get one of the top 3 QB’s in college football from last year (who defeated Luck, RGIII, Tannehill and Foles head-to-head) from the highest-scoring offense among AQ BCS schools, and the running back widely-considered to be the best since Adrian Peterson: Brandon Weeden and Trent Richardson.

There is LOTS of reaction and analysis on draft day over at Browns Gab. If you are a fan on this historic draft weekend, scope it there.

Hit “Like” or the Facebook share button if you think Colt McCoy can still be a starter in the NFL.

Follow me at: http://twitter.com/Chris_M_Bach

More recent posts:
Weeden to the Steelers (wrong), Foles to the Bills, Wilson to the Cowboys, Tannehill to the Dolphins
Night Winners: Vikings, Dolphins, Giants, Cardinals, Rams
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Chris Berman, David Shaw, Les Miles, Bill Polian, Rapper Nas Making Televised Appearances During 2012 NFL Draft
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J.T. O’Sullivan Signed To Push Colt Brennan For Roughriders Back-Up Job

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Sincerely is adding a charitable twist to the holiday and special occasion cards users generate with their mobile phones. Starting Thursday, customers can choose from a selection of Sincerely Giving cards on their iPhones, iPads and Android devices that are linked to specific non-profits. By paying a premium for the card, the giver places a donation to that charity in the receiver’s name.

CEO and co-founder Matt Brezina said Sincerely is starting with three non-profits, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, buildOn, and Thirst Relief International, but plans to expand the program to more. According to Brezina, Sincerely’s mission has always been to make the act of card giving more thoughtful. So far that thoughtfulness has taken the form of customization – allowing customers to insert their own photos, images and sentiments into the cards they send. Attaching a charitable donation to those cards is the next logical step, Brezina said.

Each non-profit has multiple card templates within the Sincerely Ink store, each of which can be customized with a giver’s own photos and messages. The cards run either $10 or $20, but 70 percent of that cost is giving directly to the non-profit selected. As with Sincerely’s regular cards, which start at $1.69 $1.99 for U.S. addresses, the San Francisco startup prints out each card and mails it to its intended recipient.

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There are no lack of Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad, but the newest Kickstarter project is most impressive. Called Brydge, the wireless keyboard makes the iPad look more like a MacBook Air than anything I’ve seen yet. Backing starts at $150 and the project will fund if it tops $90,000 by June 4.

Unlike other keyboard cases, Brydge appears more secure: It uses a patent-pending hinge to secure an iPad and allows the entire setup to open up a full 180-degrees. This also allows the iPad to tilt in a myriad of positions instead of being fixed to a few. A nice addition is the option for stereo speakers. You’ll pay at least $30 more for that luxury, but’s a small cost to upgrade from the iPad’s single internal speaker.

The team behind Brydge says the product will work with both the iPad 2 and the newest iPad. Battery life is going to vary greatly due to speaker use, but the Brydge will easily recharge over a microUSB connection. Apple-specific keys are also part of the QWERTY setup, which should come in handy.

I was recently enamored by the $99 Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad, but I may hold off and back the Brydge instead. The addition of speakers is a big draw, for starters. But on the flipside, the Brydge will add 1.28 pounds to an iPad. As a result, the iPad will not only look like a MacBook Air, but weigh nearly as much as one too!

While the Brydge looks Apple-like, I wouldn’t count on Apple bringing a similar product. Earlier this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said (in reference to convertible tablets), “You can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user,” so I don’t expect an iPad to officially converge with an Air.

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