We've waxed lyrical about iBooks Author at the technological level, but a good self-publishing platform counts for nothing if authors are put off by its terms and conditions. A particular source of antagonism so far has been the notion that, if an author decides to charge a fee for their iBook, then Apple will claim exclusive distribution rights and prevent them from publishing their work anywhere else. Check out the More Coverage links below and you'll see that a number of writers tore up Apple's licensing agreement and flung it into the proverbial overflowing trash can. Now though, Cupertino has done some re-writing of its own and come up with a new EULA. It clarifies that Apple will only demand exclusive distribution rights over .ibooks files that are created with iBooks Author, rather than the book's content itself. It states that "this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in [another] form." So, there it is -- writers everywhere can happily go back to tearing up their own work again.

iBooks Author gets new EULA, aims to clear writer's block originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Cloud is great place right? It's all puppy dogs and ice cream, until it isn't. We'd suspect that's what Harmony Link users who ditched their old school remotes for an iOS device are thinking right about now. You see while typical Harmony remote are only programmed via MyHarmony.com, the Harmony Link apparently requires a quick phone home to work at all. That's according to a number of users at Logitech's forums starting yesterday morning claiming their Harmony Link is now a "very nice and sleek paperweight," only showing an error when they try to turn on the TV for their not-so-super Super Bowl party tonight. While we're sure this is a temporary problem and the servers will be restored before too long, it does make you wonder why Logitech would design a solution that wouldn't work at all when a server can't be contacted.

[Thanks, Kevin]

Server outage turns Harmony Link into a paperweight originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Phones, phones, phones: the burden of autumnal launches for a raft of handsets is that it makes our post-mortem strand a little repetitive. This week's cellular telephone du-jour is Motorola's Droid RAZR, a "7.1mm thick" slab that hopes you neither notice nor mention that 10.6mm hump on the top end. Ludicrous claims about its waistline aside, it oozes materials quality, built from Gorilla Glass, Kevlar and diamond-cut aluminum. It wasn't the most comfortable to hold in our fleshy palm, but it compensated for that with great performance and LTE. Of course, that battery could have been bigger, but where would you stick it? What would you sacrifice (and you do have to sacrifice something) in order to improve this handset? Ladies and gentlemen, it's over to you.

How would you change the Motorola Droid RAZR? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
This week Inhabitat saw the light as we reported on several spellbinding new projects around the world -- including an incredible cathedral made from 55,000 LEDs and a glowing prefab pod building modeled after the genetic structure of plankton. We also showcased a luminous forest of thousands of "Frozen Trees" and a high-flying F-Light made from a recycled airplane, and also reported on Toshiba expanding its line of LEDs. Meanwhile, as the lights fire up Lucas Oil Stadium we shared seven ways Super Bowl 46 is going green, took a look at the first organic concessions ever to offered at a Super Bowl, and got things cooking with six delicious recipes for game time snacks

Eco transportation also blasted off from the starting line as London's first zero-emission electric taxis hit the streets, and Stanford unveiled plans for electrified roads that automatically charge EVs. We also saw Scotland launch the world's first hybrid sea-going ferries, while Agence 360 did cyclists a favor by designing a nifty ultra-compact foldable bike helmet. Meanwhile, Chevrolet announced plans to put environmental impact stickers on all of their cars by 2013, the sun-powered solarGT car set off on a race across the United States, and we brought you a gorgeous set of long-exposure photos that make speeding trains look like laser beams.

In other news, renewable energy was a hot topic this week as researchers at MIT found a way to make solar panels from grass clippings, another team of scientists developed a hip-hop powered biomedical sensor and Britain mulled plans to install a new breed of radioactive waste-recycling nuclear reactors that could power the UK for 500 years. We also brought you several fun designs for aspiring little builders - a set of awesome paper robots and an industrial workbench for tots. Finally, since Valentine's day is around the corner we shared 10 red-hot gifts, along with 14 sexy sustainable skivvies.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: electric taxis, paper robots and a cathedral of 55,000 LEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've all been there: fire up a clip from YouTube or a movie on Netflix and things start out great. But, then, after just a few moments, that LTE connection starts to give up the ghost and suddenly you're faced with unbearable stutturing or a video that just dies mid stream. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications are looking to solve that conundrum with DASH, or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. The idea is actually surprisingly simple -- files of different sizes and qualities will be available depending on signal strength and network load, and the stream will be able to seamlessly switch between them as these variables change. While this sounds like a win for both consumer and carriers, we're sure there are a few of you out there who just want the highest quality possible, even if that means waiting forever for that HD clip of the all accordion cover of Take On Me to buffer. Full PR is after the break.

Continue reading DASH promises stutter free streaming video over LTE, hopes you don't care about quality

DASH promises stutter free streaming video over LTE, hopes you don't care about quality originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.


When it comes to time-shifting television viewing, the conversation these days usually involves premium streaming services -- namely, Netflix and Hulu Plus. But consumers routinely shell out more than they do for either of these services -- in fact, sometimes more than for both of them combined -- simply to have more convenient access to the television from their existing cable or satellite subscriptions. Not only that, they're often willing to put up with a large, relatively noisy (and failure-prone!) box for this privilege. That box is the digital video recorder.

Continue reading Switched On: New World Recorder

Switched On: New World Recorder originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Would you look at that? According to PhotoRumors, that chunk of retro beauty is purportedly a full-on snap of Olympus' new OM-D Micro Four Thirds shooter (from an Amazon Japan listing that's since been pulled) affixed with its optional battery grip (adding what appears to be a secondary shutter button). That, or someone knows exactly what makes us go "Oooh." The chunky '70s stylings make us fear we'd abandon our career to go become a war photographer if one of those was placed in our hands. 43Rumors believes the unit will hold a 16.1 megapixel EDR CMOS, beefier than the 12.3 sensor inside the PEN E-PL3, but we hope this new body (however beautiful it is) doesn't spell the end for the dinky PEN series. If that wasn't enough, a that Amazon listing we mentioned also pointed out a 1.44-megapixel electronic viewfinder, a tiltable OLED display on back and a total weight of 454 grams with its kit lens attached. We've got a few more shots in the gallery below, with others rocking some serious cropping, but each is more deliciously teasing than the last.

Gallery: Olympus OM-D E-M5 leak gallery

Joe Pollicino contributed to this report.

Continue reading Olympus OM-D E-M5 shots orchestrally maneuvers out of the darkness

Olympus OM-D E-M5 shots orchestrally maneuvers out of the darkness originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the wake of last week's fatal plane crash that took the life of its CEO, Micron Technology has appointed a successor, Mark Durcan. The former CTO has been with the company since 1984, and has -- per company bylaws -- been serving as interim chief since February 3rd. Robert Switz, the company's previous Board Director, will assume the duties of Board Chairman and Mark Adams, formerly the VP of Worldwide Sales, has been named as the company's President. In a press release announcing the appointments, the new CEO wrote that the company was "deeply saddened" to learn of the death of its top executive, and that the management team would work relentlessly to "continue to move the company forward."

Continue reading Micron appoints Mark Durcan as new CEO

Micron appoints Mark Durcan as new CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Need to take the edge off those winter blues? Perhaps Corning's, somewhat saccharine, vision of our technological future will be just the soporific tonic. Unsurprisingly, the Gorilla Glass maker sees a future where pretty much everything is a transparent touchscreen. While many of these ideas clearly appeal to our tech sensibilities, others are still very much high, high, up in the cloudy mists of concept land. Sure, a few of these ideas are starting to materialize back here in the present day, like large multi-touch panels, smart windows and of course communication displays, but for much of the rest, we'll just have to sit and wait. Or not.

Corning looks to the future, mainly right through it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of January 30, 2012

Refresh Roundup: week of January 30, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Feb 2012 11:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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