With the iPhone and Android, and the entire mobile market, as hot as it is right now, it's no surprise that, everyone from Amazon to Facebook to -- dunno, McDonald's? -- is rumored to be hard at work on their own smartphone. Even Mozilla, the folks whose Gecko rendering engine power Firefox, have their Boot to Gecko project. And this weekend, Android Central's own Phil Nickinson decided to give himself a project of his own and get B2G compiled and working on the Samsung Nexus S.
Not a bad little project, actually. It took a couple hours, a working Nexus S and some hard drive space, but it wasn't too taxing on the brain. Once you have it flashed onto the phone, you can back it up using custom Android recoveries, then come and go as you please.
I'd give this a 6 out of 10 on the difficulty scale, only because I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to compiling code. But I follow directions pretty well, and Mozilla made things nice and easy. This is one you can attempt yourself.
You can watch the video above to see how the very-alpha alpha runs on the aging Nexus S hardware, but the most interesting part is the do-it-yourself angle. We're huge DIY fans here at iMore, and huge geeks, and we love seeing alternate takes on smartphone interfaces.
My only complaint? The interface looks a little conventional. I understand that familiarity is a feature, but we have iPhone and we have Android already, and if Mozilla is going to invest in yet-another-platform, it'd be nice to see a novel take. webOS, which tried a similar HTML5-centric approach, mixed the conventional with some forward-thinking ideas like pervasive cards, synergy, just type, and more. BlackBerry10 is going a lot with gestures and maintaining one-handed ease of use on large screen devices. Windows Phone 8 went with tiles and panoramas.
In future alphas and betas, it'd be nice to see Mozilla stretch the same kind of design muscles. Be a little daring. And show us paradigms better than what have come before. And maybe that's already on future roadmaps? We'll see.
In the meantime, if B2G looks like something you'd like to try and you have the time, tenacity, and materials you need, hit the link below and try it out yourself. Then let us know what you think.
Katy, TX, September 02, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Texas flood insurance specialist says Hurricane Isaac should be a warning for homeowners and businesses to purchase flood insurance.
Frank Hursh, owner of Katy, Texas based Insurance Agency Texas (http://insuranceagencytexas.com) said home and business owners in Texas and the Gulf Coast should not wait until there is hurricane heading towards the region to look for flood insurance.
?Now is the best time to buy flood insurance. If home and business owners wait until there is hurricane in the gulf, it is too late. Not only will it be very expensive to buy flood insurance then, you may not be able to find an agent willing to sell them flood insurance then,? he said in his office earlier today.
Reacting to the flooding in New Orleans, Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states, Hursh said damages from flood can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for individual homeowners and businesses.
?Look at what is happening with Hurricane Isaac in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. So many homes and businesses are flooded. Texas residents and businesses need to learn from that and purchase flood insurance today,? Hursh said in Katy Texas.
?This is not the time to procrastinate. Not having flood insurance can be very costly,? he added.
Hursh also reminded Texans that flooding can occur even when the home or business is not in the flood zone.
?Flooding can happen to you whether you are in the designated Federal Flood Zone or not. Flood insurance covers flooding no matter the cause. Besides the building, flood insurance also covers the contents and replacement cost,? Hursh added.
Regular homeowner insurance does not cover flooding and individuals and businesses without flood coverage have to bear the cost of repairs and replacement.
?Many people mistakenly believe that the U.S. government will take care of their financial needs if they suffer damage due to flooding. The truth is that Federal disaster assistance is only available if the President formally declares a disaster. Even if you do get disaster assistance, it's often a loan you have to repay, with interest, in addition to your mortgage loan that you still owe on the damaged property,? Hursh said.
Katy, TX based Insurance Agency Texas has offices in Katy, The Woodlands, Houston, Fulshear and Round Rock, Texas.
The company has been helping customers purchase the best flood insurance coverage for their homes and businesses for decades. They are available at (281) 398-1010, toll-free (877) 952-1010 or on the web at http://www.insuranceagencytexas.com.
Kellen Winslow called the trade that sent him to Seattle a ?perfect fit.?? The Seahawks ultimately disagreed with that proposition.
PFT has confirmed multiple reports that Winslow has been released by the Seahawks.
Sent from Tampa after Greg Schiano?s Bucs decided they wanted to move on, Winslow will now become a free agent (a soldier for hire, if you will), for the first time in his career.
Drafted by the Browns, Winslow was traded to Tampa in 2009.? The Bucs sent him to Seattle for a seventh-round pick in 2013, which could have upgraded to a sixth-round pick.? (In theory, it?s possible that the pick did upgrade, if the condition was Winslow making it onto the final 53-man roster.? He accomplished that feat.? For less than a day.)
The sixth overall pick in 2004, Winslow wrecked his knee while performing stunts on a motorcycle in May 2005.? Despite appearing in only two combined games over the first two years of his career, Winslow went on to have a solid career.
Whether that career will continue now depends on whether another team wants to bring him in.
Winslow was due to earn a base salary of $3.3 million in 2012.? If he had been on the team?s Week One roster, that amount would have been fully guaranteed, via the CBA?s termination pay provision.? For that reason, teams may not be interested in signing Winslow until after the first slate of games.
In the end, the Seahawks may have had the same concerns that the Buccaneers reportedly had.? A tight end who has a history of demanding the ball may not be the ideal target for a rookie quarterback.
LOS ANGELES ? Could your dog or cat be a southpaw?
In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 photo, Gacey Meza, Animal Care Attendant at Los Angeles County Animal Care Control Carson Shelter performs a right-handed-left-handed test with "Ni Hao," in Gardena, Calif. When a cat really wants something, tests show it uses its dominant paw, but when it's just fooling around, it may use either or both. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 photo, a cat lifts his left leg during a right-handed-left-handed test performed at the Los Angeles County Animal Care Control Carson Shelter in Gardena, Calif. A 1991 study at Ataturk University in Turkey showed 50 percent of cats were right-pawed, 40 percent were left-pawed and 10 percent were ambidextrous. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 photo, Gil Moreno, manager at Los Angeles County Animal Care Control Carson Shelter, puts a protein gel on the dog's nose to perform a right-handed-left-handed test with unnamed Chihuahua dogs in Gardena, Calif. The dogs seemed baffled by the test. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 photo, Christina Thompson, a Registered Veterinarian Technician at Los Angeles County Animal Care Control Carson Shelter, performs a right-handed-left-handed test with a Chihuahua dog who kept using his dominant right paw to play with a toy despite his broken leg in Gardena, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 photo, Gil Moreno, manager, left, and Christina Thompson, a Registered Veterinarian Technician at the Los Angeles County Animal Care Control Carson Shelter, perform a right-handed-left-handed test with a Chihuahua in Gardena, Calif. This Chihuahua defies the odds by using his broken leg to bat a ball. Experts say that pets with injured limbs use the other uninjured leg to compensate. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Christina Thompson, a Registered Veterinarian Technician at Los Angeles County Animal Care Control Carson Shelter, performs a right-handed-left-handed test with a Chihuahua who kept using his right paw despite his broken leg in Gardena, Calif.
Paw preference won?t make a dog or cat walk, talk or wink like a human. You won?t even get a high-five or a fist pump out of it, said Dr. Nick Dodman, director of the Animal Behavior Clinic in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
There?s the curiosity factor though, he said. ?Wow, I thought that was something unique to people, and how weird to think the dog could be? left- or right-pawed.
Vets and owners agree that pets, including horses, have right and left preferences.
Researchers are studying things like right brain-left brain connections, genetics and sexual orientation that may one day change the way dogs and cats are bred, raised, trained and used, said Dr. Stefanie Schwartz of the Veterinary Neurology Center in Tustin, Calif., and a member of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.
Some horses have to be ambidextrous, said Dr. Sharon Crowell-Davis, a behavior and anatomy professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia.
A 1991 study at Ataturk University in Turkey showed 50 percent of cats were right-pawed, 40 percent were left-pawed and 10 percent were ambidextrous. That study might be out-of-date, Schwartz said, but it does provide percentages.
A 2006 study from the University of Manchester in England showed dogs were split half-and-half.
About 90 percent of humans are right-handed and 10 percent are left-handed.
Laterality ? the textbook term meaning one side of the brain is dominant over the other ? may someday help breeders predict which puppies will make the best military, service and therapy dogs, Schwartz said, and that could be lifesaving.
But for now, here are a few simple tests you can do to determine your pet?s preference, she said. Doing it 100 times (over several days) should give you an answer, she said.
? If you teach a dog to shake, which paw does it offer you first and most often?
? Fill a toy with something delicious and put it in the center of the dog?s visual field. Which paw does it use to touch the toy first? Which paw does the dog use to hold the toy?
? Put something sticky on a dog or cat?s nose. Which paw does the animal use to remove it?
? Place a treat or a piece of cheese under a sofa, just beyond a dog or cat?s reach. Which paw does it use to try and get it out?
? Dangle a toy over a cat?s head. Which paw does it lift to bat it?
? Put a treat under a bowl. Which paw does the cat or dog use to move it?
? When a dog wants in the backdoor, which paw does it ?knock? with?
Schwartz said there are a few things that might alter test results:
? If a dog has arthritis or an injury in a shoulder or leg, it could use the other to compensate.
? When a cat really wants something, tests show it uses its dominant paw, but when it?s just fooling around, it may use either or both.
? It?s possible that handedness in dogs, and maybe cats, will change over time as the animal?s motivation changes.
Luckily, the well-being of dogs and cats doesn?t depend on preference. The same cannot be said for horses, Crowell-Davis said.
In U.S. racing, horses only have to lean left because all races are run counterclockwise on tracks, but in some competitions and in some other countries, horses have to race and canter both ways. ?They have to be able to circle right and left. If not, they can trip,? Crowell-Davis said.
?You have to work to get them to take the lead they prefer less,? she said.
Crowell-Davis has never seen an advertisement promoting right- or left-pawed dogs or cats. ?The only time you see it used in advertising is with horses. If a horse if being offered for sale, because of issues on the lead, it may say ?Works well on both leads? to emphasize the horse has had training.?
Robin A.F. Olson of Newtown, Conn., founder and president of Kitten Associates Inc., a rescue organization, said her cats are always reaching for toys or treats with one paw or another.
Olson said she was born left-handed, but her mother didn?t want her growing up left-handed in a world of right-handed people. ?She always handed things to me close to my right hand. She always put the crayons in my right hand.?
There won?t be any such lessons for her cats, she said. ?I try not to be judgmental of my cats? abilities or lack thereof. We will never worry about the anti-paw.?
It appears that Nora, an internationally acclaimed 8-year-old piano-playing tabby from Philadelphia, owned by piano teacher Betsy Alexander and her artist-photographer husband, Burnell Yow, is right-pawed. Yow studied her videos and ?determined that she appears to lead with her right paw, then follow with her left,? Alexander said.
But she has her ambidextrous, headstrong moments.
?She uses both paws to reach for specific notes, even black notes ... and she uses her head to roll a series of multiple notes.?
Download free ET iPad add for easier viewing of latest and financial News !
Minister for Communications and IT Kapil Sibal told media on Friday that Twitter Inc was ready to cooperate with India.
NEW DELHI: After a gridlock with the world's largest microblogging website Twitter in getting accounts of some 'miscreants' blocked, the government has managed to finally get some breakthrough.
Minister for Communications and IT Kapil Sibal told media on Friday that Twitter Inc was ready to cooperate with India. "Twitter is ready to cooperate. It will set up a special team to take up requests from the India to block accounts," Sibal said on the sidelines on a press briefing.
The government has requested Twitter to block some accounts which carry 'communal overtones' in the wake of recent violence in Assam.
Telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar who was also present at the briefing explained to ET that a fast track method would be set up by Twitter to address issues raised by India.
"An arrangement has been made to have a fast track method of dealing with issues which are brought to the notice by India. I don't think any exact timeline has been fixed. But a regular correspondence channel has been set up by the Department of IT. It will bring things to their notice faster to redress them," Chandreshekhar told ET.
Things had come to standstill, when government's requests to block some accounts which were impersonating Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Office were not heeded by Twitter Inc.
Last week, Sibal had admitted to difficulties in working with Twitter. "The difficulty is that Twitter is a site, which operates from outside India and the servers of all such sites are outside the jurisdiction of India. The solution to this problem should be a permanent one," Sibal had said.
Besides, accounts impersonating PMO's official Twitter feed @PMOIndia, government had also requested Twitter to block 28 other accounts, some of which belonged to journalists and rightwing ideologues. These included @i_panchajanya, @barbarindian, @scamsutra, @ekakizunj and @redditindia. The main opposition party BJP slammed the government for curbing freedom of speech.
"Out of 16 accounts blocked, almost all are critics of Congress. This is a Stalinist approach," said Tarun Vijay, national spokesperson for BJP.
The requests for block of content by Indian government is rising every year. The number of content removal requests on Google's platforms ( YouTube, Orkut) by India increased by 49% in 2011 over 2010. Only 29% of India's requests however were complied with, according to a Google Transparency report. Twitter.com has about 16 million members in India, out of the total 500 million users across the world.
What's this we have here? An international Samsung Galaxy S3 with 4G LTE support? In glossy black? With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean? We spotted this desirable device at the Vodafone Germany booth at IFA 2012 in Berlin today, and took it for a quick spin. It's a tad thicker than the standard international Galaxy S3, and a little heavier too. The glossy black chassis makes this S3 a bit less flashy than the other models, though if you prefer the original pebble white design, you'll be able to get the LTE S3 in that color too.
On the software side, it's running the latest version of Android, 4.1.1 Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean on the S3 works just like it does on the leaked builds we've seen for the 3G/HSPA model. You've got a redesigned notification bar, Google Now and other Jelly Bean features, along with new TouchWiz features like Dormant mode and Easy mode.
We've got more photos, and a full video walkthrough after the break.
Crude futures traded higher in Europe following the UN nuclear watchdog report on Iran which indicated the country is increasing their holdings of enriched uranium, and with notable weakness in the USD-Index (-0.4%) as markets keenly await Fed chairman Bernanke at today's Jackson Hole symposium.
Oil & Gas News
US dependence on imported petroleum climbed in June, with net imports of crude and refined products averaging 8.184MBPD according to Energy Information Administration (EIA).?
The White House reiterated that a release of the strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) was still an option.
Geopolitical News
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report says Iran has doubled uranium-enrichment centrifuges to 2,000 since May. It also said that its ability to inspect the Parchin military base where it suspects nuclear weapons research has taken place had been 'significantly hampered' by a suspected clean-up.
In reaction to the IAEA report Iran said they reject the UN nuclear watchdog's accusations over their Parchin military base.
The IAEA said that North Korea has made significant progress in the construction of a new light-water reactor which would be used for cooling processes.
Corporate News
China National Petroleum said it started production planning for oil facilities in Sudan and South Sudan amid indications the two Africa nations will sign an agreement that may boost crude exports from the south.
US regulators are allowing Shell to proceed with certain work in advance of potential drilling in Alaska's Chukchi Sea, authorities said in a statement Thursday.?
Shell and Motiva are assessing the impact of hurricane Isaac on its manufacturing and distribution facilities. According to Shell, Convent and Collins terminal have re-opened, while Kenner terminal remains shut down; refiner at Norco, LA still shut while the chemical plant is still operating at reduced rates; the pipeline in Nigeria to Nembe creek flow station is also shut.?
reported flaring at its 238,600BPD refinery in Joliet, Illinois today according to a filing.?
Weather news
According to weather derivatives accurate as of August 30th, temperatures are set to 0.9% warmer in the next 6-10 days, with particularly warm weather seen in the South-central, & North-west regions.
Tropical Depression Isaac is bringing heavy rainfall and the threat of flash flooding to the lower Mississippi river valley according to the U.S. national Hurricane Centre.?
