Author Archives: Stefan Etienne

Founded tech site LaptopMemo. 16-years-old, loves tea, tennis, reading, tech, gaming, + more.

Google Chrome Canary Hits The Mac OS X Platform

May 2, 2011 9:40 PM ⋅

Previously, there was only three “channels” for the browser we know and love, Google Chrome — Stable, Beta, and Dev. Starting today, Mac OS X users will now have access to Canary (as Windows users have for quite a while), which is a different version of the regular Chrome browser, so that when updated you don’t have to remove preference files, and so forth. Think of Canary as a “pre-Dev” version of Chrome.

As the Google Chromium blog states:

Because we expect it to be unstable and, at times, unusable, you can run it concurrently with a Dev, Beta, or Stable version of Google Chrome. Your Canary data remains separate, but if you set up Sync in each version of Chrome that you use, you can automatically continue using the same set of bookmarks, extensions, themes, and more.

Oh, and the yellow icon looks awesome. Using it now, I might add.

Via: Chrome Canary Build For OS X, Chromium

Posted in: Apps, Google, Internet ⋅ Tagged: ,

Twitter Has Bought Tweetdeck For A Solid $40-$50 Million

May 2, 2011 9:06 PM ⋅

First of all, congratulations to the team of Tweetdeck. Secondly, this is surprising, in a way, as according to Arrington over at TechCrunch. With Twitter’s app-buying barrage, ranging from the Tweetie app for iOS and Mac, to Echofon, UberTwitter, and now the almighty Tweetdeck, Twitter has control over most of the Twitter popular app developers unders its wings, and will see much less competition (or will they?). Now it is time to see what they do with their outdated and crashy iPad app, and whether or not changes will be served to the Android and iPhone versions.

Posted in: Apps, Did You Know?, Social Media ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

BlackBerry PlayBook Users Will Soon Have Access To Facebook App And Video Chat

May 2, 2011 9:50 AM ⋅

Starting tomorrow, BlackBerry PlayBook users (I guarantee you, there are some) will have access to an app via the BlackBerry App World (or via an over-the-air update) that adds video chat to their PlayBooks, which works only over WiFI, then sometimes this week an official Facebook app will be available, which also lets you chat with friends, and do the usual Facebooky things that you may or may not already do. Via: RIM

Posted in: BlackBerry, Did You Know?, Tablets

RIM Brings The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 To The Fight, With BB7

May 2, 2011 9:43 AM ⋅


This BlackBerry may have been ages in the making, but it’s finally here, and is the first BlackBerry to actually have some sort of competitive feel to it, to try and take a slice out of iOS, Android, or even Windows Phone 7. Specs of the Bold 9900/9930 include a blazing 1.2GHz processor, 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen with 640×480 resolution, full QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, 8GB of onboard storage, NFC technology, and the new BlackBerry 7 operating system, which has no backwards support for previous handsets, meaning that if you have a Bold 9780 (for example), there will be no BB7 for you. This is also the only BlackBerry I’d ever suggest getting, albeit that statement probably would have had a hard time showing up here.

RIM states that the new Bold 9900/9930 will debut with “carriers around the world” starting this summer. Press release, after the break.

Read More →

Posted in: BlackBerry, Breaking, Mobile

Twitter Has Reached 200 Million Users, Officially 70% Are Overseas

April 30, 2011 2:52 PM ⋅


Now, that’s quite a number: 200 million. That’s the number of registered Twitter users according to Twitter’s vice president of international strategy, Katie Stanton. About 70% of that number are overseas accounts, meaning that 30% of Twitter users are American (not that many, eh?), while 25% of the aforementioned 100% comes from Japan alone. Via: RWW

Posted in: Did You Know?, FTW, Internet, Social Media ⋅ Tagged:

Geohot On The L33t PSN Security Breach

April 29, 2011 11:02 AM ⋅

Guess who is commenting the PlayStation Network breach that has sent PSN into more than a week’s downtime? Geohot, Sony’s most hated hacker. In a recent blog post, 3l33t hacker Geohot says that first and foremost, he had nothing to do with it. See here:

“And to anyone who thinks I was involved in any way with this, I’m not crazy, and would prefer to not have the FBI knocking on my door. Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool, hacking into someone else’s server and stealing databases of user info is not cool. You make the hacking community look bad, even if it is aimed at douches like Sony.”

But wait, there’s more from Geohot:

“The fault lies with the executives who declared a war on hackers, laughed at the idea of people penetrating the fortress that once was Sony, whined incessantly about piracy, and kept hiring more lawyers when they really needed to hire good security experts. Alienating the hacker community is not a good idea.”

All in all, is makes plenty of sense. Via: Geohot

Posted in: Did You Know?, Gaming, Sony ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Google Brings Video Chat To GTalk In Android As Part Of Android 2.3.4

April 28, 2011 5:14 PM ⋅

An official combatant to FaceTime for iOS has arrived for the Android ecosystem: video chat in GTalk, as part of Android 2.3.4 which is rolling out to Nexus S owners. In the future, other Gingerbread handsets will have access to this feature, along with bug fixes. Another great bit of news is that video chat doesn’t only work over WiFi, but 3G/4G as well (as long as your carrier allows it), which may be the only pitfall of this great addition by the geeks at Google. Via: Google Mobile Blog

Posted in: Android, Apps, Did You Know?, FTW ⋅ Tagged: , ,

Sidekick 4G Review: Meet Your New Texting Sidekick

April 28, 2011 1:48 PM ⋅

It’s the start of something new — the Sidekick 4G. While T-Mobile has been rather busy with touchscreens — from tablets like the G-Slate to high-performance smartphones like the G2X and Nexus S — as well as the T-Mobile G2 which has been a recent addition to the slide-out QWERTY keyboard set, the Sidekick line has come to life again, with the Sidekick 4G. A 1GHz processor, best keyboard out there, and with “4G” HSPA+ data speeds, the Sidekick 4G has a great future ahead of it. Read the full review past the break for my take on it.

Read More →

Posted in: Android, Mobile, Reviews, T-Mobile ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

Notch Plans On Adding Maps To Minecraft 1.6

April 28, 2011 10:07 AM ⋅

It’s a rather complicated explanation because his design is rather innovative, but let’s just say it will leave you very excited. Also in Minecraft 1.6: much needed bug fixes. Via: The Word Of Notch

Posted in: Did You Know?, Gaming ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Mario With A Portal Gun: Epicness Starts Here

April 28, 2011 9:58 AM ⋅

Mario meets Portal. Now give Captain Price and MacTavish one. Actually, please don’t.

Posted in: Did You Know?, FTW, Gaming ⋅ Tagged: , , ,