Adblock Plus developer pokes holes in Mozilla's new add-on performance tests

Wladimir Palant, developer of the most popular add-on in the world, Adblock Plus, is also an active contributor to the Planet Mozilla blog community. Over the last few days, in response to Mozilla's new name and shame list of slow add-ons, Palant has been investigating whether Mozilla's testing methods are actually accurate.

Rather surprisingly, it turns out that Mozilla's numbers could be significantly wrong -- and if they're not wrong, the factors that Mozilla uses to tabulate an add-ons final score should definitely be made more transparent.

In the first set of tests, Palant shows that FlashGot's position in the top 10 is probably due to a fault in Mozilla's testing setup, and that add-ons can perform very differently depending on which operating system they're being tested on. In the second analysis, Palant uncovers an irregularity that doesn't seem to have an obvious cause -- but it could be due to an I/O bottleneck on Mozilla's test machines. Basically, even though performance testing of Read It Later is disabled because of a bug, it still (somehow!) manages to record a 14% slow-down on Windows 7.

Palant concludes both analyses by scolding Mozilla for going public with the performance data before its testing methods had been confirmed accurate. It definitely looks like Mozilla has been more than a little reckless, considering the importance of Firefox's add-on ecosystem.

Adblock Plus developer pokes holes in Mozilla's new add-on performance tests originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/adblock-plus-developer-pokes-holes-in-mozillas-new-add-on-perfo/

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Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight

tastyplanet
So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by "eating" the dirt; or so he thinks. That's how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you're not really a toilet cleaner after all -- you're a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that's smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow -- and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it's a really cute game, and there's no gore or anything like that.

Supposedly you keep growing and growing until you're able to eat whole planets (hence the name). The challenge factor comes when you realize you can't touch any critter larger than yourself - you'll get "bitten" and become smaller. In the beginning you're so small, that a single touch can kill you. Later on, you're big enough that touching larger animals doesn't kill you on the spot, but it does reduce your size. Each level is timed, so if you're not large enough by the time your clock runs out, you need to start again. As long as you don't touch the larger animals, you should be fine.

All in all, a fun, addictive little game. It's available for iOS, too.

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/08/tasty-planet-is-a-fun-flash-game-where-you-eat-everything-in-sight/

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A Surround-Sound MacBook Pro Would Benefit More Than Just Audiophiles

While everyone's been ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the iPad, another major Apple product category could be undergoing some serious renovations: the MacBook Pro. According to a recently unearthed patent filing, Apple could be working on amping up the audio experiences on future MacBooks by adding surround sound to its notebooks.

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/apple-macbook-speaker-patent/

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Friendcaster for Facebook updated with refreshed UI, themes and realtime notifications

Friendcaster for Facebook

For all you Facebook fans out there not overly pleased with Facebook for Android, Friendcaster for Facebook has always been a great alternative. The latest update pushes the release to v5.0 and brings some pretty nice changes along for the ride. Real-time notifications, new themes to choose from, a new check-in interface along with some Android 4.0 enhancements and memory improvements make it all a worthwhile update from OneLouder Apps. The update is available now in the Google Play Store where you'll also find the full change log. Jump on past the break for the download link.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/YdcO99yvdQI/story01.htm

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Get free MLB.tv access during April with MLB.com At Bat app

If you're a baseball fanatic, the MLB At Bat app is a must-have. It's packed with live updates, scores, stats, news, and videos -- and right now there's another great reason to pick up At Bat. Pony up for At Bat and you'll get to enjoy MLB.tv free for the entire month of April.

The service streams games in HD to just about any connected device you can imagine, from iPhone to PS3, and even Roku boxes and LG Internet-ready televisions. The basic subscription will set you back $99 for the season, and a Premium sub is an extra $20 (and adds DVR functionality, multi-game PIP, and more).

MLB At Bat is available for Android and iOS and both apps run to $14.99 US.

Get free MLB.tv access during April with MLB.com At Bat app originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/get-free-mlb-tv-access-during-april-with-mlb-com-at-bat-app/

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This Reinforced Wallpaper Can Keep Brick Walls Standing During an Earthquake [Video]

After the earthquakes in Japan last year there's been a strong focus on designing structures and systems that will survive a natural disaster. So German researchers have created super strong wallpaper and glue that will prevent brick structures from collapsing during a quake. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bxU0pQ6Pa3I/this-reinforced-wallpaper-can-keep-brick-walls-standing-during-an-earthquake

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Toyota pulls Cydia theme and ads to appease Apple

Apple asks Toyota to remove jailbreak Cydia theme
In news that will no doubt shake the very bedrock of your belief system, Apple has asked Toyota to remove its Scion theme and its advertising from ModMyi, a Cydia repository. The Scion theme has been available for weeks, but after it received a ton of press in the last couple of days, Apple finally lashed out.

It's not like we should be surprised, considering Apple has claimed in the past that jailbreaking is illegal -- but at the same time, did the Cupertino cronies hear about the ruling that made circumventing DRM, and thus jailbreaking, legal? Anyway, whether Toyota was supporting illegal, legal, or deliciously gray and ambiguous, activity, it doesn't matter: Apple asked Toyota to remove the theme, and Toyota graciously bent over and capitulated.

This story raises a much more interesting topic, though: this is the first time a multinational company has publicly acknowledged and embraced the jailbreak community. Considering jailbreaking is technically legal, and Cydia's creator, Jay Freeman, estimates that up to 9% of OS devices are jailbroken, it simply makes good, commercial sense to target jailbreakers with ads. Toyota was simply trying to make some money, for shame!

As long as Apple continues to throw around its increasingly-expansive mass, the legality of jailbreaking will continue to be inconsequential. It will be interesting to see if another big company dares embrace the jailbreak community after this, too.

Toyota pulls Cydia theme and ads to appease Apple originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/toyota-pulls-ios-jailbreak-theme-and-ads-to-appease-apple/

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Deal of the Day – 22″ Dell G2210 1680 x 1050 LED-backlit 5ms LCD Monitor for $129

Thursday’s LogicBUY Deal is the 22″ Dell G2210 LED-backlit flat panel monitor for $129.  Features:  22″ LCD monitor, LED-backlit display, DVI HDCP, 1000:1 contrast ratio, environment-friendly: huge power savings, recyclable packaging.  This monitor has a 3-year warranty. $249 – $120 coupon code = $129 with free shipping.  That’s $82 less than their previous mention of [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/04/05/deal-of-the-day-22-dell-g2210-1680-x-1050-led-backlit-5ms-lcd-monitor-for-129/

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I for one welcome our new Android Instagrammers

Instagram for Android finally hit the Market Play Store yesterday -- check out our Instagram on Android vs. Instagram on iPhone shootout -- and the reaction by some in the iOS community was... decidedly negative. It was almost like a TV sitcom when the pristine private pool is suddenly, forcibly opened to the marauding masses. You know, like when AOL users finally got unrestricted internet access. (No doubt Android users would have felt them same way when Google+ opened up, had there been a flood...)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/NAvhAtLuz5k/story01.htm

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PSX games now available in the Android Market, if you own an Xperia Play

PlayStation One games on the Android Market
If you're lucky enough to own an Xperia Play -- Sony Ericsson's new Gingerbread-powered smartphone-cum-gamepad -- you can now buy PlayStation (PSX) titles from the Android Market.

There are five titles currently available, all priced at £3.99: Syphon Filter, MediEvil, Cool Boarders 2, Destruction Derby, and Jumping Flash. They don't have an American price yet, but that will surely change once the Xperia Play launches in the States.

Two important questions remain unanswered: How big are these games? The Market descriptions say the games are only 5MB, but that sounds incredibly unlikely -- and more importantly, will it be possible to 'spoof' the Xperia Play and download PSX games onto other Gingerbread-powered phones, like the Nexus S?

In other news, the PlayStation emulator PSX4droid was recently removed from the Android Market. This obviously has nothing to do with today's release of first-party PlayStation games.

PSX games now available in the Android Market, if you own an Xperia Play originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/01/psx-games-now-available-in-the-android-market/

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