Isn’t it just the worst when you want to play with light switches, but then you get a headache because the room is going all strobe light on you? No? That’s not a problem for you? Oh.

Well, anyway, if you want the unbridled of joy of hitting a light switch without the dizziness and headaches, there’s always the Pachi Pachi Light Switch Case, for the iPhone 5. It has two light switches of the style commonly found around Asia, and you can play with them. They don’t do anything, besides giving your idle hands something to do. Is this the stress ball of the modern day? I don’t know, maybe. But I can see it landing in the bubble wrap category of things.

Whether totally by happy accident or not, you can also use the case as a kind of phone stand. You can get the Pachi Pachi case in white, black, blue, or pink. It’s being sold on Japan Trend Shop for $34, plus $12 to have it lugged all the way over to the United States from Japan.

The post Like to Play with Light Switches? Pachi Pachi Light Switch Case Should Do the Trick appeared first on Chip Chick.

RootMetrics has revealed whose data network is the fairest of them all in New York, and it looks like someone’s reign will be continuing for a fourth straight year.

This time, RootMetrics is looking at LTE networks, now that each member of the big four have their LTE networks up and running, at least in New York City. Out of those, Verizon still has the highest upload and download speeds of all carriers. They have a pretty robust lead, too – 13.1 Mbps down and 7.3 Mbps up, compared to 10.9 down and 4.8 up for AT&T, which took second place. As you might expect, the smaller carriers take the bottom two spots, with T-Mobile coming in at a competitive 8.4 down, but a less impressive 1.7 up. Sprint has fallen far behind in the speed wars, with just 2.1 down and 0.7 up.

This is coming after the completion earlier this year of Verizon’s $267 million project to upgrade its New York City wireless network, so that might explain the huge lead Verizon has. Anyway, take note, because I’m sure this is going to be the source of more than a few Verizon ads in the near future, if it isn’t already.

The post Verizon Wins Highest Upload and Download Speeds in New York appeared first on Chip Chick.

It will indeed by an all-in-one media machine, hence the name – Xbox One. Xbox One is a sleek, two-tone box (black and grey) and, given the presentation, the new Kinect and the new controller will be every bit as integral to the system as the box itself. In fact, it’s more or less clear from the presentation that the new Kinect will be a must for the new console. The controller has received modest functional upgrades, like programmable feedback on the trigger buttons and a repositioned Xbox button (now at the top center of the controller). Known specs are as follows – 8 GB of RAM, USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi support, Blu-ray support, and 64-bit architecture.

Everything media will be accessible directly through Xbox One. So, you’ll be able to watch live TV, play games, play music, or browse the Internet all through that hub. Switching between those is very snappy, and takes you right back to whatever you were playing or watching before you changed. All of that switching will be done using voice commands, initiated by saying “Xbox.” So, “Xbox, On,” “Xbox, watch TV,” “Xbox, go to game,” and I think you get the idea. The demo at the press conference showed response time and switching time as remarkably fast, and worked with live TV. There are gesture controls, too – you can grab and squeeze to go to the home screen, or grab and put your hands farther apart to go back. These seem more tacked on and not as well integrated as the voice commands.

There are some other minor features, like the console remembering what you were doing last, and a new trending pane showing what’s popular among your friends and the community at large. One big feature is multitasking, which works a bit like it does in Windows 8. Just as you’re able to snap an app to the side of the screen in Windows 8, you can snap things to the side of the screen on your TV. The best illustration of this was Skype – watching live TV or gaming while having Skype running off to the side, and chatting with a friend. The same goes for browsing the Internet using Internet Explorer. This probably won’t be attractive for people with small televisions, but if you have a big screen, it sounds pretty fun to have, especially for gaming. Snapping can also be handled with voice commands – “Xbox, snap Skype,” for example.

The Xbox One Guide will have your local TV listings, which can also be navigated using voice commands. You can use voice commands to go to any channel or television show. It seemed responsive during the demo – there were no on-stage hiccups during the presentation.

Kinect will now have a 1080p camera and a wider field of view. It sounds like it’ll also be more tightly integrated into games, although that will ultimately be up to game developers to implement. An example cited was raising your controller to raise up a shield. There will be some functionality outside of games, though – it sounds like Kinect will be a receptor for Smartglass, the Xbox Live companion app, and the Kinect will load your last save in a game once it sees you pick up the controller.

Xbox also has deals with ESPN and the NFL for exclusive content. They really pushed fantasy sports here – while watching sports (this was demonstrated with both the NBA and the NFL), you can see the game along with fantasy information snapped on the right side of the screen. And, if you’re in an ESPN or NFL.com fantasy league, that information will actually be specific to the players on your team. That kind of a feature isn’t for everyone, but it’s going to be an extremely strong pull for a lot of sports fans out there.

Lest we forget, Xbox One is still a gaming console. Only about a third of the announcement was dedicated to gaming, but there’s a little thing called E3 coming up, and the presenters made it clear they will have plenty more to say there. What they said today was that when Xbox One hits, Xbox Live will be powered by a ridiculous 300,000 servers. That’s a lot of cloud power and storage, and will be used for game saves, game storage, and storage of other purchased media. You’ll also be able to start matchmaking in a multiplayer game, then go off and watch some TV while Xbox Live is searching for a game to put you in. This is also supposed to lead to bigger online matches involving more people, but this must also be up to game developers, to some extent.

Like the PlayStation 4, you’ll be able to save clips or stills from games, and use them to taunt others as proof of your superiority. Those will be saved on the cloud servers, too. But, with all this talk of the cloud, there’s one rumor that needs to be addressed – always online. After the announcement, it was confirmed that playing a single-player game will not require you to be online to play. That comes with an asterisk – Xbox One won’t mandate it, but individual game developers or publishers might. As for another rumor, used games as you know them now (so, from Gamestop) will not be playable – each disc will be linked to an account.

The Games

A few new games were also revealed. EA showed off a little bit from FIFA ’14, Madden, UFC, and NBA Live ’14. These games are running on a new engine designed for the Xbox One, called EA Ignite. There will be greater detail, better AI, and a wider field of vision. There were some close-up shots of in-game footage that showed impressive amounts of detail, in both player models and environments. All of this next-gen power will enable more stuff to be showing up on screen at once, to put it roughly. Near the end of the EA segment, it was stated that at least some of these games or features will be Xbox One exclusives. Again, not everyone likes sports, but if you’re a sports fan first and foremost, the Xbox One looks like it almost has to be your console of choice.

The term “special relationship” was used to describe what EA and Microsoft have, going into the Xbox One release. There are plenty of people who do not like EA, and do not care about who EA aligns themselves with. That said, EA games sell boatloads, and it seems like a “special relationship” here is not a good thing for the Wii U or PlayStation 4. In fact, EA has already stated that they have no games in development for the Wii U at this time, and the Xbox One announcement did a lot to explain why. EA games are going to increasingly thrive on online features (like it or not). It’s no wonder, then, that the Wii U doesn’t feature strongly into those plans.

Other games shown off included Forza Motorsports Live, a launch title which showcased a couple of cars tearing through what looked like Prague. The buildings had enough detail to make them instantly recognizable, and other effects like dynamic smoke after burning rubber and reflections on the cars looked pretty great. That said, it was a pre-recorded trailer, so what you see might not be what you get – we’ll see more at E3. Remedy is creating a new IP called Quantum Break, which will be story driven, somehow. The trailer was heavy on cinematics (which again, looked terrific), but light on details. All told, 15 exclusive titles are in development for the Xbox One. And, here’s a welcome number – eight. Eight of those are new IPs, which should hopefully help cure the sequelitis going around these days.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first next-generation Call of Duty, which will introduce a new storyline, wherein the United States has been decimated by someone (please not North Korea again). The ghosts are an elite group of soldiers still soldiering on, haunting whoever it is that did the United States in. The character models look incredible, compared to the previous generation – discrete arm hairs, dirt underneath fingernails, bruises, cuts – and all of this stuff looked good. Of course, it’s all going to look good in a hype-fest, but if this what the Xbox One is capable of, it’s worth taking note.

Ghosts is also going to be more dynamic – fish will swim out of the way when you approach them, smoke will rise if fires are created, and moves like vaulting over obstacles while retaining momentum will be possible. In an intriguing multiplayer addition, maps will also be dynamic – an earthquake or a flood will totally change the playing field while the match is going on, in real-time. Seems like a neat twist to keep standard first-person shooter multiplayer fresh.

The single-player game will be story-driven. On a related note, Steven Gaghan, who wrote the film Traffic, is penning the story – a further indication that games just aren’t a niche market anymore. So, there should be strong characters. And a dog! The dog will be part of your team, and can sniff out bombs. The development team actually did motion-capture with a real dog, and the model for the dog in-game looks far, far more realistic than an in-game dog from Modern Warfare 3. The details, again, are pretty impressive. I’m not sure how much that’s really going to matter once you actually start playing the game and get into the action, but it’s certainly not a bad thing.

And, as a final note, for what it’s worth – Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC will hit Xbox One first, before any other consoles.

There was an extra television announcement in there, too, along with some cryptic messages about the future. Supposedly, television executives around the globe are plotting new ways to integrate some of these new Xbox One multitasking features into new television shows, including dramas, reality shows, and game shows, with the goal of increasing user interaction. One such show was announced – a live-action Halo television series, which will be helmed by none other than Steven Spielberg. I don’t know what else to think about that, because that’s pretty much the only detail that was provided.

There’s no word on how much the Xbox One will cost, but it is slated for release “later this year.” It’s also unclear whether or not Xbox Live pricing will be affected by the release of the Xbox One. What is clear is that it’s going to be a home entertainment machine, first and foremost. The Kinect will be firmly integrated into the system, so much so that the previous iteration of the Kinect probably won’t shed much light on what version two can or can’t do. You will not need to be online to play single-player games, but there are tons of online features that Microsoft will very much want you to use. Used games as they are sold from Gamestop and friends will be a no-go.

The Final Word

Talking about just all-around features, the Xbox One seems much more well-equipped than the PlayStation 4 or the Wii U, although the PS4 still has a lot left to be revealed. The games definitely look next-gen, at least from the early going, and those dissatisfied with the small amount of attention paid to games at this announcement should look forward to E3 for more information. “Gamers,” if that term still has meaning, might chafe at greater Kinect integration, the used games lock, and the extra bits that might end up actually getting in the way of them and gaming. But, gaming isn’t just for gamers anymore. There are no gamers, because everyone’s a gamer. And, for those who are more concerned about having the best way to be entertained, regardless of media, it seems like Xbox One has an early leg up on the competition.

The post Microsoft Reveals Xbox One and the World Salivates appeared first on Chip Chick.

It just wouldn’t be a proper furniture fair without IKEA, which had its own new line of furniture to show off at ICFF this week. The Stockholm Collection is aiming to be a more cozy, softer feel than the standard, sharp-edged IKEA fare.

It’s also a little more green and more mod in style than what you might normally associate IKEA with. Greens and earthy tones in particular show up in many different pieces, including chairs, pillows, and vases. The softer, more comfortable chairs in the collection sport round edges, with many of them using high-quality leather. There are also a few design quirks that help make some of the new pieces fit better into the design scheme you already have. One dresser has a transparent back, so you can see whatever paint job or wallpaper you already have, instead of the normal plain backing of a dresser.

There’s lots more you can check out over on IKEA’s Stockholm Collection site. You can do some pre-shopping there while you wait for the collection to land in U.S. stores sometime this August.

The post IKEA Debuts Très Chic Stockholm Collection at ICFF 2013 appeared first on Chip Chick.

The Fire Escape Wall Shelf provides three shelves for you to store anything that can fit under a sit of mini stairs. That includes small plants, but maybe not so much pictures, unless you put those on the top shelf. And, I know you can get creative with decorations for the stairs and ladders. If nothing else, those look made for showing off LEGO minifigures. Wouldn’t be a bad earring rack, either.

The Fire Escape Wall Shelf is being sold by Urban Outfitters now for $129, but only online. You won’t be finding this one in stores.

The post Your Plants Will Want to Hang Out on This Fire Escape appeared first on Chip Chick.

Problem is, those hot selfies aren’t exactly getting deleted. The files still exist on the phones in question, although they are renamed and undetectable unless you have software up to the task of finding it. How easy it is for the average person to find those photos is still very debatable, but it’s safe to say that it is still possible to find the files somehow. And, if it’s still expensive to do so now, you can imagine that someday, there’s a chance it won’t be so expensive. So, how important this Snapchat snafu is all depends on how paranoid you are, or how much reason you have to be paranoid.

But, when a free app swoops in and says it can delete those files for good, I guess you might as well cover all your bases. Clean Master in an Android app that can clear the app cache and delete unused files, residual files, and search history. You can also use it to end running tasks, but make sure you do that in the right situation – as a good Lifehacker post suggests, that’s not always the best idea if you want to get the most out of your Android phone.

It’s not clear whether or not the app will actually rewrite the memory space where those pictures were stored, which is really the only way you can get rid of those pictures for good (it’s notoriously difficult to, strictly speaking, delete any digital file). But, Clean Master is worth a try, and will probably be enough to set a few adventurous boys and girls’ hearts at ease. Just, a quick note to our power-having friends – don’t forget the person on the other end can just take a screenshot of your Snapchat photo. You’re still totally in line to get blackmailed.

The post How to Make Sure Snapchat Photos Get Deleted on Android appeared first on Chip Chick.

The HP ENVY h8-1360t Core i7 Desktop PC is on sale today for just $679. This deal is available after $250 off plus a $20 off coupon code. Shipping costs just $9.99. Under the hood you get a Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB Hard Drive, a 1GB Radeon HD 7570 graphics card, a 460W Power Supply, Beats Audio, and Wireless-N. A Wireless keyboard and mouse are also included, and the system comes running Windows 7. Overall, this is a great deal for a powerful desktop.

Get the HP ENVY h8 Core i7 Desktop PC with monitor for $679

Or for more great Daily Deals, check out LogicBuy

The post Hot Deal: HP ENVY h8-1360t Core i7 Windows 7 Desktop PC for $679 appeared first on Chip Chick.

The 2013 Kia Rio SX is going to shake up the subcompact world of automobiles. The vehicle is available in both a 4 door sedan and a 5 door version, with the 5th door being the hatchback. In any case, this isn’t our first time behind the wheel of a Kia Rio – last year we gave the 5 door Rio a spin and we loved it for its pep and spacious interiors, and overall feel-good car sensation. The Kia Rio trims are LX, EX, and SX. For the purposes of this review, we had a test run in the Kia Rio SX, which is a much more souped-up version in comparison to last years Rio. And with its delicate refinements, this is one little car that can!

The 2013 Kia Rio SX delivers a solid ride with a 6-speed automatic transmission and a 1.6L GDI – 4 cylinder engine with sport tuned suspension. When you get inside the Rio SX, it’s hard to believe that isn’t a full size sedan. While the exterior of the car sports a compact look, the interiors give an entirely different impression.

Front and rear passenger seating is spacious. The backseats are a bit on the tighter side but still very doable and comfortable for passengers. The front is also very generous on overhead and leg room space. There is also very lovely interior detailing when it comes to the seats, dashboard, and center console. The Kia Rio SX has everything you could want, especially within this price range, which can start as low as $13,600 and go upwards of $21,000, depending on the trim or premium packages that are chosen.

The car comes with keyless ignition, just make sure to have the key fob somewhere in the vicinity or you won’t be able to turn the car on. Another nice touch is a cradle that you can use to lay your Smartphone into. Most of the time, drivers end up putting their phones in cup holders or someplace under the center console – leaving you fumbling around trying to find it. This nice inclusion of a cradle for easy accessibility for the driver is a very nice and needed touch.

Trunk space could be a little bigger on the Rio SX, but again, considering the price and trim of the Rio SX, it is still quite generous. It is also nice to see that the suspension throughout the entire Kia 2013 has been addressed and it no longer feels like the car is going to fall apart in pieces if you hit a bump or pothole.

Verdict

The 2013 Kia Rio SX might be small in size, but it is big in performance and good looks. This is one car that has come a long way. It has everything that a new driver or even a young family would enjoy. It also handles very well on the road. You can squeeze out of it almost 400 miles of highway driving on a single gas tank, which is pretty impressive too. And the interiors along with the in-car tech aren’t half bad either. All in all, the 2013 Kia Rio SX is one compact car that will give you plenty of bang for your buck.

The Good: Looks great on the inside and out. Good handling on the road. Trim selection is wide. Spacious seating and in-car tech should make this a serious contender amongst other compact cars.

The Bad: iPhone 5 connectivity is an issue via the built-in USB. Street driving gas mileage isn’t as impressive as the highway miles per gallon.

The post 2013 Kia Rio SX is Small in Size, Big in Performance [Review] appeared first on Chip Chick.

Didn’t know you needed a luxury foosball table? Well you are in luck and if you happen to need a present for David Beckham’s retirement party…well we just found it for you! Because quite honestly, what else would you get a guy who happens to be the king of Soccer, excuse me football.

The Cristallino foosball table, from Teckell, is $18,000 worth of crystal glass and aluminum. Naturally, each unit is handmade “as a unique piece of art,” which is maybe the only time you’ll see foosball in the same paragraph as art. Good on them for remembering the raised corners on the playing field, though.

In practice, this might make for the worst game of foosball ever. Going fast and furious on this thing might result in some sad consequences. But, hey, if this doesn’t suit you, you can hold out for the crystal beer pong table that I’m sure will be in the works any year now.

The post $18,000 Crystal Foosball Table is Fit For a King appeared first on Chip Chick.

That might be true if Colin Selig gets his hands on it, anyway. Being a firm believer in waste not, want not, Selig took an empty propane tank out on his property, brought it into his workshop, got the last bit of gas out, and got to welding. The result was some seriously cool looking furniture, which is now on display at the International Contemporary Furniture Festival going on right now in New York.

With his first tank, Selig cut away the ends of the tank to create the two ends of a bench. The rest of the bench was cut right from the tank as well, using templates that Selig carefully measured out and used for cutting the right amount of metal from the tank. In all, Selig was able to get four seats’ worth of furniture from the tank – a bench, a couple of love seats, and a chair. With a nice white paint job over the previously rusted, well-worn tank metal, the finished products end up with a surprisingly sleek and modern look to them. They even have a bit of a Jetsons-like feel to them. Not bad for a propane tank.

Since then, he’s gotten access to more and more tanks, which has led to more and more furniture and his ICFF exhibition. Selig’s actually had several exhibits lately, showing off his outdoor seating. He’s even been commissioned to make some quirky display racks for Neiman Marcus, which is probably one of the last places you would ever think to find pieces of an outdoor, five-gallon propane tank.

The post Your Next Propane Tank May Become Your Next Chair appeared first on Chip Chick.

TecTiles 2 were made necessary because the original TecTiles don’t work with the Samsung Galaxy S4. The new TecTiles will, while still working with older NFC-equipped devices. You still use the TecTiles app for programming, which allows you to assign either individual functions or chains of functions to one sticker. You can also make different profiles, so the same sticker will activate different features on different people’s devices.

In addition to tweaking settings, sending calls or texts, and launching apps, TecTiles also have integrated support for Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Foursquare, which is probably handy for businesses that want to provide an easy way for customers to check in or like them on Facebook.

You can buy a pack of five TecTiles 2 for about $15 online now, and they will show up in stores sometime in June. TecTiles 2 still only work with NFC-equipped Android phones.

The post Samsung TecTiles 2 Will Have You Jonesing For NFC Tags appeared first on Chip Chick.

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair probably isn’t where you’d expect to find a Lenovo booth, but so it goes this year, as Lenovo is pushing its relevant IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC.

Lenovo isn’t just showing off the 27” Horizon, the table PC that Lenovo hopes families will build quality time around. They worked with a few other furniture designers to create new tables with the Horizon built in, each with a different take on what the table PC is capable of.

The collaboration with an outfit called Straight Line Designs resulted in the Treehouse, a table built for kids’ playtime. The table itself is a Keebler Elf-looking tree, surrounded by four stools made to look like logs. Given the amount of digital board games Lenovo is going to have on the Horizon, it could make for a good gathering point for the younger members of the family, or for other neighborhood kids to come over.

Input Creative Studio put together something more for the living room – a lighter-colored coffee table that comes with chairs and storage compartments for the accessories that come with the Horizon, like game pieces and joysticks. The Nest can be used for family game night, but you can also prop the Horizon up and use it to watch movies or do other computer things. It’s more of something that tries to be everything to everyone in the family.

The AT-UM, from UM Project, is not an Imperial walker, but a concept table for the Horizon designed more for artists. It can be used as a flat, horizontal table for artistic collaboration, or it can be stood up like an easel on three legs. Like the Nest, this table also has extra storage space, and looks to be something for at least casual digital artists.

These tables won’t exactly be for sale, but Lenovo is saying you can directly contact any one of those designers directly for estimates on a custom table with the Horizon built in.

The post 3 Unique Tables Bring the Lenovo Horizon Table PC to Life at ICFF 2013 appeared first on Chip Chick.

A music festival in a parking lot seems like an odd idea, but when you consider the hordes of neon dressed dance fans that crowded onto the Queens Citifelds lots it starts to make more sense. The two day Insomniac Electric Daisy Carnival was home to some enormous names in electronic music, from La Roux to Afrojack and the six stage arena, gave the chance for smaller DJ’s to gain a new following as well.

Standout sets from Day One included masterful remixes from Adam F, and a live set from LaRoux, with a friendly crowd mixing between trancing out and dubstep pounding. Glowsticks were thrown to the crowds, and costumes varied from creative DIY jobs wit LED light kits to full on fanciful three man productions which needed a crew to hoist their glowing electric worms into the air.

La Roux

There was plenty of eye candy for those needing some downtime, from the twelve foot high boom box to play with, to the Wide Awake Art Car and it’s interesting shenanigans. Fairground attractions included a Big Wheel and swings that sent scream ricocheting through the grounds. Every step you took, you’d spot ethereal girls in tutus dancing to their own beat, neon hula hoops swinging round their snakelike hips.

DJ Adam F

Fireworks lit up the Citifield stadium, with the Insomniac logo highlighted in crests of pink and blue. Outfits varied from Wonder Women to Victoria Secret’s finest, and men enjoyed letting their inner Hulk roam free with face masks, tube tops and slogan T-shirts.

Long live the Electric Daisy Carnival New York- we need this kind of merriment all year round, and it’s a great way to herald in the advent of summer.

Photo Credit: Zara Stone

The post Electric Daisy Carnival 2013 Rocks Out with AfroJack, La Roux & More appeared first on Chip Chick.

Album Share for iPhone

Album Share for iPhone

Album Share is a useful little app when used in just the right situations. It’s not an overly complicated one, either – you take a bunch of photos, stuff them in an album, and share it. As the name probably already told you, the app specializes in that last part. Once you’ve made your album, you can add people on your contact list, and the app will share the album by sending out a Web link via SMS.

If you want to share photos with friends in the absolute fastest way possible, it’s hard to beat Album Share. You can get it for free now from the iTunes App Store.

Wallpaper*HTC Global Design Tours app for Android

Wallpaper*HTC Global Design Tours app for Android

The Wallpaper*HTC Global Design Tours app takes a look at all the best exhibits and installations of modern design across the world, and it just so happens that the newest location is in New York City.

The International Contemporary Furniture Festival is dropping by New York next week, bringing with it furniture to get excited about – no, really. The app will feature some of the highlights from the show, along with some lesser known exemplars of design around New York City, like Pilgrim Surf Supply in Brooklyn and the view from Four Freedom Park.

The selections are curated by a trio of designers and editors, who also supplied matching music for the locales and designs featured. You can get a taste of the New York that you maybe don’t always see with Wallpaper*HTC Global Design Tours, which you can get now for free from Google Play. The app also features Salone del Mobile in Milan and Art Basel in Hong Kong.

Style Network for Windows 8

Style Network for Windows 8

Just in time for summer, the Style Network is dropping in with its fashion and style advice app, called Style QuickTips. The advice is more elegant than the name, I’m sure.

Video tips and articles abound for all ways to make you look good – fashion, jewelry, cosmetics, and accessories. There are even hairstyle tips for which you may or may not need a professional’s assistance. Most of these tips will come courtesy of television personalities from the Style Network itself, so you know they’re coming from a place of experience.

Style QuickTips is available now for free on the Windows Store.

Star Trek Into Darkness for Windows Phone

Star Trek Into Darkness for Windows Phone

Star Trek Into Darkness is already out in the wild, but that doesn’t mean it can’t live long and prosper (for a kind of a little while) in app form.

Like any good summer blockbuster these days, Star Trek Into Darkness has its own companion app, simply called Star Trek App. In addition to the standard articles, videos, and trailers pertaining to the movie, there are Star Trek trivia questions that reach way back into the history of the series, as well as polls about the new movie. Last but definitely not least, there are monthly sweepstakes held, with sweet Star Trek swag and memorabilia headed off to deserving shelves everywhere.

The Star Trek App is available now for free on the Windows Phone Store.

The post Apps of the Week: Star Trek Into Darkness, Album Share and More appeared first on Chip Chick.

Get the 14″ Dell Inspiron 14z Core i5 Ultrabook for $549

Or for more great daily Dell deals, check out LogicBuy

The post Hot Deal: 14″ Dell Inspiron 14z Core i5 Ultrabook for $549 appeared first on Chip Chick.

Intel is taking their latest Ultrabooks on a tour around the world. Yesterday in New York, the company launched “Experience Intel. Look Inside” which gives consumers in 8 cities, access to their latest smartphones, tablets and laptops. Inside you’ll find the hottest and newest Intel powered devices, including Intel’s newest Ultrabook convertibles. We visited the experience in New York’s Gansevoort Plaza and noticed several hot Ultrabook Convertibles that aren’t even out yet.

But aside from showing off their latest toys, the “Experience Intel” tour is also playing host to unique presentations by well known artists, designers and thought leaders, which have been brought in to create customized, cutting-edge digital interactions. These installations range from being art inspired, to focused on data visualization and gaming. For example, one neat installation, created by Designer Matt Pyke of Universal, takes guests’ drawings and transforms them into a digital flock of “wings” projected on the interior walls of the installation. Of course, these digital interactions are all powered by an Ultrabook.

In addition, each city on the tour will host a Spotlight Series, which features live performances and demonstrations by local, personalities and experts from film, art, fashion, design, music, and more. So you never know who might show up in your city. Of-course, these personalities are somehow integrating Ultrabook technology into their work.

“Experience Intel” tour runs through May 19th in New York City, and is open to the public, so there is still plenty of time to check it out for yourself. But if you do miss it in New York, over the next 6 months, there will be 7 other cities where you can catch up with it.

New York – May 17-19
Chicago – June 6-9
Tokyo – June 20-23
Beijing – July 11-14
London – July 11-14
Sao Paulo – Aug. 29-Sept. 1
Moscow – Sept. 6-8
Sydney – Oct. 10-13

The post Experience Intel Brings the Latest Ultrabooks to Your City appeared first on Chip Chick.

Search

There’s nothing more central to Google’s core concept than its search engine. Last year, Knowledge Graph was unveiled, which now provides answers to your queries, in addition to search results. The first tweak here is that those Knowledge Graph answers will be coming along with answers to questions you haven’t even asked yet. Google will try its best to anticipate any follow-up search queries you might have, and provide those answers before you ask. The example provided was a search for the population of India, which was generated along with data comparing that population with other countries from around the world.

Contextual, natural language voice search is also on its way, to mobile devices and the Web. This includes your own personal information – if you use Google Calendar, or have information (or photos) stashed away on your Google+ profile or any other Google app, Google search will be able to retrieve that information. So, asking “When does my flight leave?” will generate that information, provided Google has access to it somewhere. The contextual part was impressive in the demo – after a couple queries about a certain location, the presenter was able to ask “How far is it from here?” – based on context, Google was able to supply the distance between her present location and the destination in question, despite the lack of specifics in the spoken search query. Reminders can also be set using voice commands.

Maps

Google Maps is already pretty hard to top, given Google’s enormous edge in data. The new version of maps has a stronger focus on personalization – each account will have its own unique map. As you visit and review places around where you live, Google will add them as landmarks to your map, then use those landmarks to recommend new places. Also, instead of throwing up a limited number of pins after a query, Google will show all results on the map, marked with smaller red circles. Clicking on a location will display an information card about that location. Clicking on that location will light up new locations on the map that are somehow related, and you can go on exploring from there.

Directions from those locations will be automatically provided, using your location or whatever you have marked as home as the starting point. All roads between points A and B will then be highlighted and clearly labelled, along with a comparison between public transportation and driving directions. Public transportation directions will now be far more robust, with specific weekly schedule information made immediately available. If you choose to drive, you’ll be happy to know that Google Maps will have real-time incident coverage – if there’s an accident on your route, Google Maps will set up the next best detour for you to take.

There are some other small tweaks – the maps will be vector-based, and will feature more images. You can now get a 3D Google Earth view of locations around the world, along with an interior tour of famous places using images that the community at large has uploaded to Google Maps. You’ll even be able to take a peek inside a new restaurant you’re thinking about going to, all within Google Maps.

Finally, as maybe a nod to Google’s ever-expanding ambition, Google Maps zoomed out to view the whole Earth, complete with cloud formations in real-time. Going even further reveals all the stars in their proper places, and the Earth’s current position in orbit, with the correct side of the Earth doused in sunlight, in real-time. I guess now we know where the star maps of the future will be coming from.

Chrome

With some updates to its browser, Google introduced its most subtle improvements – WebP and VP9. Those are two new file formats, which offer more compression and smaller file sizes without a drop in quality. For mobile users, this means less data will be consumed against wireless plans, for watching the same videos and looking at the same images. For websites that aren’t using Google’s new file types, the Chrome browser will automatically convert those other files to ensure low data consumption. WebGL is a developer tool that will allow for some serious gaming (in terms of graphical output) right from a Web browser. And, for shopping, Chrome will now be able to remember your full payment details. When you want to buy something, you’ll be able to do it with one click, and no forms. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that’s a good thing.

Google+

Google is continuing to make their services even more integrated with each other and with the Google data tank that powers everything. Google+ is still very much a part of that. And so, Google has announced a couple changes to make the service more useful and more attractive.

One change is the layout – posts will now appear in a multi-column format, with some major stories stretching out across all columns. If you prefer the single column look, you can still revert to that, too. Regardless, posts will now be a little bit like flashcards – you can flip them over for more information and related stories. This is going to work best with pictures, which are getting boosted by related hashtags. Google will be able to analyze your photos and tag relevant keywords. It’ll even be able to identify famous landmarks in pictures, without needing any text clues. Google+ will then link to related stories and images from other Google+ users – which you can opt out of, if you don’t want your stuff popping up anywhere besides your private circles.

Next up is Hangouts, an app based on the Google+ chat feature of the same name. It’s a chat app, except that doesn’t do it justice – it might be the most robust chat app available. Conversations can be one-on-one or between groups, and are persistent – people can drop in and out of conversations and share pictures at their leisure. And, the conversation can shift over to video chat at any time, including group video chat, for free. And, on top of that, there are rumors of SMS integration to come in the future. Free group video chat alone makes this one a must-try.

Google+ is also adding a bunch of new picture functionality. Auto-enhance will add touch-ups to photos automatically (you can turn this on and off), but in practice it doesn’t seem like a huge departure from the I’m Feeling Lucky button in Picasa – at least for now, in the early going. Auto-awesome will do all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff, like creating an animated gif (actually, probably using the new WebP format) out of a series of photos taken in succession, or automatically stitching together photos for a panoramic shot. The most impressive new feature might be that Google can take a series of photos of people, and create a brand new photo where everyone is smiling. Highlights will save you from the trouble of having to find and tag your best vacation photos – Google will parse through your hundreds of photos and pick out the very best, based on image quality, landmarks present, and contacts pictured. Powerful doesn’t begin to describe it.

All Access

All Access is Google’s answer to streaming music services like Spotify and Rdio. You’ll be able to access your own tracks that you’ve uploaded, in addition to millions of others available via subscription. With the All Access library, you can add tracks to your personal library, and turn each track into a radio station on the fly. But, Google does one better by letting you view all of the upcoming tracks in that radio station, and allowing you to rearrange or remove songs if you so choose. You’ll also be able to set up radio stations by genre.

Listen Now will be the personalized hub of All Access. Here, you’ll see recently played and recently added tracks, in addition to new music from artists already in your library. All of those are used to create personalized recommendations and radio stations for you to listen to. Expert curated playlists and radio stations can be found, too.

The big question mark is library – a lot of people make their choices based on which exclusives or hard-to-find band libraries a particular service has – but in terms of functionality, All Access looks solid. And, if you want a good recommendation engine suited to your tastes, Google is probably the best-equipped company to put something like that together. The subscription will be $9.99 per month, but everyone gets a 30-day free trial, and if you start your free trial before June 30, the monthly cost will be just $7.99.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Nexus Edition

And yes, finally, there was one piece of hardware shown off briefly at Google I/O. It’s not totally new, though – it’s the Samsung Galaxy S4, but with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI stripped off. Stock Android fans will be able to get the new Galaxy S4 unlocked on Google Play for $649 on June 26. It’ll only be available as a GSM phone, so only AT&T and T-Mobile users need be concerned. One final note – being a stock Android device, there will be no waiting for the upgrade to become available when a new version of Android sees release.

Google made a lot of ambitious moves at Google I/O. More than that, they showed off the immense muscle they have thanks to all of that data they’ve collected over the years. It’s a strong advantage for Google – with all of these images and data at Google’s fingertips, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could top services like Google Search and Google Maps anytime soon, a point they drove home with some convincing demonstrations.

A lot of the features introduced – particularly conversational search and the photo enhancements – are probably going to be very hit or miss in the early going, as is the nature of both services. But, with the technological know-how, immense cash flow, and data capital Google has, it’s easy to imagine that they’re poised to have much more success in those areas than a lot of their competitors.

The main gist of the keynote was that Google was trying its best to make its services as convenient as possible, so that you need to spend less time actually using them, and more time doing fun human things that maybe don’t involve technology so much. With what Google showed off, it seems like that’s definitely going to be more possible than ever, especially where Maps are concerned. That said, there are also a lot of new toys to lose yourself in, too. The sentiment might change come the next time a major company holds a press conference, but at least for now, it seems an awful lot like it’s Google’s world, and we’re just living in it.

The post Google I/O 2013 Highlights – In Case You Missed It appeared first on Chip Chick.

John Velasco of Phone Arena

Due to the controversial popularity of our How to Date a Geek Girl and How to Date a Geek Guy guides, we have decided to introduce a special column featuring real life single geeks. This week, we have interviewed our colleague John Velasco of Phone Arena.

Tell us a bit about yourself (Age, hometown, what you do for a living):

Hey, I’m John Veeee, who some of you might know as one of the senior writers over at PhoneArena that writes reviews and shoots videos on all things mobile related. Currently, I’m residing across the Hudson River from the island of Manhattan over in Jersey City, but hometown to me is good old Jefferson Township in northern New Jersey. You might be shocked by this revelation, but I’m actually 31.

What makes you a geek?

Growing up, I was always fascinated by tech, and in fact, my earliest memories included calling up tech support to help me get this game running on our first computer, a Compaq 50MHz IntelDX2 tower. Basically, I was given instructions on how to use the MS-DOS editor application to create a boot disk to allocate enough resources to run the game – and would you believe it worked?!

Aside from that, I grew up collecting comic books during the 90s, which consists mostly of titles from Image Comics. On top of that, I actually worked as a “double agent” for the Geek Squad driving the “Geekmobile” for some time, making house calls related to computer repair. Very recently, though, I became engulfed with the entire LOST TV experience, which I personally think is the best TV series of all time. Nowadays, I find myself swimming in a sea of tech on a consistent basis, as I’m constantly reviewing all the latest smartphones and tablets.

Android, iOS, or other?

Ah, this is the question I get from a lot of people! To tell you the truth, it really depends on the day, but deep down inside of me, I’m still a huge Windows Mobile fan. Call me crazy, but that’s the case. Sure, Android is diverse and constantly innovating in the space, while iOS is so simple and boasts an extensive apps ecosystem, but my first love will always be Windows Mobile.

Come to think about it, Windows Mobile might look and feel antiquated in this day and age, but to me, it’s where my roots first started. Like seriously, it established many of the features and functions that we find so commonplace with today’s modern platforms. However, I really loved how I was able to customize the experience with various ROMs – and enable locked features, like tethering, by simply applying a quick registry edit.

And when we look back at all the devices that ran Windows Mobile, it’s quite obvious that the selection was diverse – from QWERTY based ones, to others that brought the craze of solid industrial designs to smartphones. The more I reminisce about it, I can fondly remember some of my early devices; like the HTC Apache, Motorola Q, and HTC Touch.

Do they necessarily have to be geek-like? Not necessarily, but then again, it’d be pretty sweet if they’d be cool in going full cosplay as characters from TRON

Your favorite comic book hero and why?

Growing up during the time when Marvel and DC Comics were in decline with talent, I actually collected a lot of stuff from Image Comics. Out of all of them, I remember liking Sam Keith’s “The Maxx,” primarily because of his different writing and illustration style. It was just raw and real, in the way that it showed the power of imagination. I wouldn’t say that The Maxx is the most heroic looking superhero at first glance, but the more you got to understand the struggles that surround him, you see how we relate in some way. In the real world, most people wouldn’t think that a homeless person would be extremely complex, but in The Maxx, we see how the protagonist relies on imagination to channel his actions in the real world.

Another favorite of mine is Malibu Comics’ Prime, who is a young boy who has the power to transform into this Superman-like adult. Quite frankly, Prime was an interesting hero, since he had the personality and consciousness of a kid, but stuck inside of this muscle filled adult superhero. Of course, we all know how experience helps to mold us into solid individuals, but when you’re reading about a kid who is put into adult situations, you’re bound to get some interesting and questionable decisions. So yeah, I have this thing for mid-90s superheroes that most people probably forgotten in the wake of this resurgence with characters from the Marvel and DC Universe.

What gadget can’t you live without?

Well, that’s certainly a no-brainer. My smartphones! In fact, I pay for three lines – one being iPhone 5, another for a Samsung Galaxy S III, and a third line that’s in constant rotation (currently a BlackBerry, but previously an HTC 7 Pro). When it comes down to getting work done, I’d have to say my Asus Zenbook Prime Touch, which combines a killer design with an equally dreamy looking 1080p touchscreen display. Lastly, I can’t start my day without putting on my Seiko 6309-7040 Automatic Diver watch, which was handed down to me from my father.

What is the last book or ebook that you read?

When I write and read constantly about stuff all things mobile related, I rarely get the time to read any books. However, the last one I recall reading from beginning to end, was the Steve Jobs autobiography.

If you could meet anyone (living or dead) for lunch who would it be and why?

I’d have to say the writers of LOST, whether it’s J.J. Abrams or Damon Lindelof. Why you ask? Well, just to iron out some stuff that was left unanswered when I recently finished watching the series finale episode. Seriously, if Richard met and knew Jacob, then how is it that Ben kept on telling everyone that he met him in the middle of the woods in a decrepit house? On another note, I realized after the show that I had my own LOST connection – writer Damon Lindelof grew up and continues to live in one of my old hometowns.

What do you look for in a girl (or a guy). And does he/she need to be a geek too?

Someone perfect is obviously out of the equation, seeing that I believe that imperfective qualities in a person help to foster improved and long-lasting growth in a relationship. Still, I’d like to find someone who is sincere, true, and just a genuinely nice person. Do they necessarily have to be geek-like? Not necessarily, but then again, it’d be pretty sweet if they’d be cool in going full cosplay as characters from TRON – like a real working light suit to a Halloween party or something.

The post Date a Geek: John Velasco of Phone Arena appeared first on Chip Chick.

Get 50% off McAfee Antivirus Plus 2013

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Logitech is coming out with its own answer to Microsoft’s Artist Series of mobile mice with their Eye Candy collection. Logitech hasn’t named which artists and designers are behind these mice, but the neat artistry is still there. The Logitech Wireless Mouse M325 will get four different designs that are in the same vein as what Microsoft does, with their own unique aesthetic touches. Our favorite of the bunch is the “Tweet Tweet” design, which seems to be Twitter inspired.

The Logitech Zone Touch Mouse T400, on the other hand, will get treated to three new bright colors – red velvet, midnight berry, and wild plum. The T400 series will also get one of the designs found on the M325 series. Logitech’s T400 mouse is one of its newest – it’s made specifically for Windows 8, and features a wide touch strip in the center, rather than a scroll wheel.

The M325 Eye Candy collection are selling for $30 each from Logitech’s online store, while the mice in the T400 collection are going for $50 each.

The post Logitech Eye Candy Color Collection Includes Tweet Tweet Mouse appeared first on Chip Chick.