Stamp and Coin Mart is a buy – sell title aimed at collectors of stamps, coins, telecards and banknotes. It offers the latest news and developments as well as in-depth and informative articles for readers to enjoy. It has a unique classifieds section, which encourages readers to buy, sell and exchange for free.
As much as we like to put new software on old machines, sometimes they just can’t take it – you wouldn’t try to play Crysis on your grandmother’s 98 HP, after all. That’s why we’re so glad that the CyanogenMod team is continuing to support its Gingerbread build, CyanogenMod 7, with an updated release. Version 7.2 has hit Release Candidate 2 for dozens of devices, and given the team’s previous work that means we’re not far from a “Final” version.
In addition to adding a healthy dose of Android phones to the list of officially supported devices, most of which come from Samsung, LG and Sony, there’s a ton of new changes added in from community developers. A few of them are even backported from Ice Cream Sandwich and CyanogenMod 9, like an ICS dialer, various animations and telephony fixes. You can see all the new goodies in the oficial changelog – my personal favorite is ADB over network.
As with any custom ROM, consider your warranty kaput the moment you flash it. CyanogenMod 7 has been under near constant work for a year, so it’s incredibly solid (much more solid, in fact, than many of the official device ROMs it replaces) but you’re still taking a risk. If your phone can’t run Ice Cream Sandwich effectively, and that should include anything made before the Nexus One or with lower specs, give CyanogenMod 7.2 a try.
Tags: completion, CyanogenMod, Gingerbread, nears
Watson has put out a record that gathers with it, an inner peace as well as an answer to those who struggle with their inner demons. Beautiful and sparse at times, Adventures… is ghostly. Poppy, Folkish, and uplifting, this record is a 52 minute journey unlike anything i’ve ever witnessed.
DOA
Tags: adventures, Backyard, Patrick, Watson
Available starting today is the all new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10-inch tablet. Thanks to Samsung we’ve got it right here to put through the paces and check out the newly refined design and speaker grill placements. It appears Samsung is taking two approaches on tablets. One being a more budget-friendly Tab like the Galaxy Tab 2 7-inch and the 10 we have today, and then their top end will be the quad-core Galaxy Note 10.1 coming this summer. This new slate is clearly a media consumption device, and it works great. Read on for our full review.
The Tab 2 10-inch was rumored to be delayed in favor of a quad-core processor but that wasn’t the case. Instead Samsung has opted for a cheaper 1.0 GHz dual-core processor (not a Tegra 2 like the original Tab 10) but instead a Texas Instruments dual-core chip. Don’t worry though folks, it performs great and is being offered at a friendly price starting at 9 for the 16GB model. We’ll start with the hands-on and tour video below then dig into the details.
Hardware
With the new Tab 2 the hardware has seen a few design and internal changes but for the most part is very similar to the original Galaxy Tab 10 from Samsung last year. What you’ll get here is a different processor, an all aluminum design, better speaker placements and a lower price point. Like mentioned above, under the hood is a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and it comes with 16GB of internal storage. However Samsung did provide a micro-sd slot for additional storage. Then we have the usual 3 megapixel camera on the rear, and a 1.3 front for video chatting and self portraits.
Samsung has taken what they learned from the first 10-inch model, their recently released Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE, and the smaller Tab 7 and added everything into one. Gone is the cheap feeling plastic back and just like the 7.7 we have a brushed aluminum design. Then they’ve added the SD slot, and the Infrared port from the older 7-inch model for controlling your home theater or TV.
All of the controls are actually up top with nothing on either side of the slate. We have from left to right the power and wake button, volume up/down, micro-SD slot, Infrared eye, and the 3.5mm headphone jack. The front half has a dark grey shiny aluminum while the back keeps that brushed rugged and durable look. I’m actually a total fan of this latest model and it might be my favorite Galaxy Tab to date.
I’ve always hated the rear or bottom facing speakers on tablets, especially if there’s only one like the Transformer Prime. The new Galaxy Tab’s have been improved and offer a pair of front facing stereo speakers. The new Galaxy Tab 2 10-inch model we have here today by far has the best audio of any tablet I’ve tested to date. They are clear, crisp, and get extremely loud. Not only that but you don’t have to worry about your hand covering them up during use. This makes the tablet much easier to hold, gaming is loud and exciting, and streaming Netflix (which comes pre-installed) is better than ever.
The 10-inch screen is still only 1280 x 800 like most tablets available, and isn’t AMOLED but sure is bright, vivid, and seems to have similar viewing angles to most Samsung tablets. Their displays are never much of an issue anyways and always are good quality with Sammy. The lightweight aluminum also doesn’t add any weight over the first Tab 10, and it’s much lighter than the heavy quad-core ASUS Transformer Prime.
Software
Samsung has released these tablets with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the OS. With their own tablet-optimized version of TouchWiz over the top that offers impressive widgets, screenshot features with edit mode, and a new keyboard that is actually really nice to type on compared to the stock ICS tablet keyboard. The changes are lightweight and performance remains strong and usage is swift.
Like mentioned above, Samsung appears to be going for a cheaper consumption device here and will be targeting the high range with the 10-inch note. The Galaxy Tab 2 comes pre-loaded with tons of media apps such as Samsung Music Hub, Music Player, a custom video player, Netflix, a photo and video editor, as well as Peel smart remote to use the Infrared. Clearly this is all about consuming media with this WiFi tablet and so far I’ve done plenty of that. Playing games and watching movies is awesome with the improved speakers up front.
Performance
Being only a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor this is actually one of the lower spec’d devices released in the past 6 months in the dual-core category. With everything lately coming with 1.2 or 1.5 GHz dual-cores or higher at first we questioned Samsung’s choice. After using this for the past week I can safely say so far I don’t miss the speeds. Usage is solid, performance is great for movies, games like Grand Theft Auto III and more. Sadly we can’t access those TegraZone THD games because they’ve moved from NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 to a Texas Instruments processor, but most games are still available in the Google Play Store.
Obviously you can see where she lies in regards to benchmark tests such as AnTuTu. With many devices including the quad-core ASUS Transformer Prime blowing past its results, but that was sort of expected. Only scoring 3000 in Quadrant this is hardly an improvement over the original, more of an additional option for those in the market. Needless to say, from my video above you can clearly see performance is still stellar even though benchmark results are low. For 9 this tablet rocks.
Camera and Battery life
With the new Tab 2 the camera isn’t anything great, just like all of Samsung’s tablets. I guess they don’t see a need to offer a better camera and the Tab 2 comes with the same 3.2 megapixel camera all the others have. Their smartphones have excellent cameras but tablets are another story. I’d hardly consider this a con though, as I rarely if ever take pictures with my tablet. Below is a few pictures for those curious on the performance. As long as you have enough light it will take a few pictures with ease that are worthy of Facebook and the likes.
Battery life however is pretty awesome. Samsung’s equipped this slate with a 7,100 mAh battery and I’ve manged to get nearly 3 days of casual usage from a single charge. While usage will vary from user to user this is on par if not better than most tablets on the market — as long as you don’t watch Netflix for 6 hours a day.
Wrap-Up
From the media apps and widgets, Netflix, Peel Smart Remote and more it’s clear that this tablet is made to play and enjoy media. Offering hardly any difference over the original other than mainly the speakers and Ice Cream Sandwich coming stock — this tablet is about the same. I’d say I was disappointed with how similar they are but I’m not. For the price they’ll be asking (9) this is an great tablet experience. The hardware is excellent, build quality is top notch and creak free, and it comes with the latest Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
If you were wanting or expecting a powerhouse Ice Cream Sandwich tablet or gaming machine the Galaxy Note 10.1 will be their flagship quad-core tablet once it’s made available later this summer. If you don’t want to wait, for the price point your options are this tablet or the Transformer Pad TF300. It does offer a quad-core processor but it’s not as premium feeling, has a plastic design, and isn’t as thin and beautiful. If you want the work horse the TF300 is for you, if you’d like a thin and awesome overall experience the new Galaxy Tab 2 10-inch from Samsung is worth a look.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below and check out all of the pictures from the gallery, as well as previous coverage or comparisons from the links below.
Cathay Life won another Taiwan women’s league title yesterday, and it would not surprise anyone.
Cathay Life routed Chunghwa Telecom 65-45 to win the best-of-three 2012 WSBL title 2-0, taking home its 19th league title (A-League and WSBL combined) in team history.
Huang Fan-shan led Cathay Life with 13 points. Chiang Feng-chun had 12 and 11 and Huang Pin-cheng added 11.
Chunghwa Telecom was paced by Hsu Chien-hui’s 19 points.
In Game 1 of the WSBL Finals, Cathay Life also pounded its rival with the score of 77-54, with Chian Feng-chun leading the team with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Lan Hao-yu added 16.
Hsu Chien-hui was the only weapon Chunghwa Telecom had to counter Cathay. She scored 26.
Veteran Ma Yi-hung had 52 points and 24 rebounds in two games as Taiyaun Textile beat Taipower 2-0 in the third place series.
Ma had 30 and 12 in Game 1 in Taiyuan’s 65-62 escape and tallied 22 points, 12 boards and 6 assists in the 68-57 win in Game 2.
Center Lin Chih-wen had 19 and 8 in Game 1 and 11 and 10 in Game 2 for Taipower.
The way Cathay Life was able to dominate Taiwan’s women’s basketball has reflected two facts – that the team investing the most would get its return; and that Taiwanese women’s basketball has been so pathetic that a team would be almost guaranteed with a title year after year.
2012 WSBL regular season standing:
1. Cathay Life 16-2
2. Chunghwa Telecom 8-10
3. Taipower 6-12
4. Taiyuan Textile 6-12
Filed under: wsbl 
Taiwan Hoops
A brief, restrained, and emotionally shattering dream pop masterpiece.
DOA
The Cincinnati Bengals brought in the best haul of the division for the second straight year. But not far off are the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Princeton, New Jersey – ALK Technologies Inc., one of the world’s leading developers of mobile navigation software, today announced that it’s FREE CoPilot GPS route planning and on-board mapping app is available to download immediately for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.
CoPilot GPS makes it easy to find places you need and provides the best route door-to-door. Search millions of pre-installed Points of Interest for nearby restaurants, hotels and gas stations. Find local businesses and attractions using Bing Search and Wikipedia. With CoPilot GPS, there’s no need to rely on a mobile connection – detailed street maps of an entire country or region are stored on your smartphone or tablet, so the app still works even when offline.
Once you’ve selected your destination, CoPilot GPS calculates a choice of routes with turn directions, distance, and travel time for each. Advanced multi-stop trip planning and optimization features, usually reserved for premium paid navigation apps, allow you to enter up to 50 stops and calculate the most efficient way to go.
Key Features:
* Maps stored on-board your smartphone or tablet for offline use
* Millions of pre-installed Points of Interest (POIs) with in-app dialing
* Dynamic local content: Become your own tour guide with Wikipedia and Bing Search*
* Powerful route planning with multi-stop trip optimizer
* Alternate Routes: CoPilot provides up to 3 ways to your destination.
* Drag and drop the route to adjust
* Driving directions: Manually cycle through the turns to your destination
* Walking mode: Explore unfamiliar cities on foot with confidence
* Social sharing: Let your friends know where you are with Twitter & Facebook status updates*
CoPilot GPS users can also upgrade to full voice-guided, turn-by-turn 3D navigation via in-app purchase.
“Consumers are often left disappointed with free GPS apps because they usually rely on constant mobile data connectivity,” said David Quin, Head of Consumer Applications, ALK Technologies. “CoPilot GPS offers smartphone and tablet owners a free navigation app that won’t burn through their data plan, will never leave them stranded without maps if they lose cell coverage, and connects them to their surroundings with integrated POIs and local search.”
Notes to editors:
* Voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation is available via in-app purchase for .99 for lifetime use
* ActiveTraffic real-time traffic service that scans your route for delays and automatically provides a faster route if available is available via in-app purchase for .99 for a 12 month subscription
* Route planning, maps and Points of Interest are available for offline use. Social networking status updates, Bing Search and Wikipedia require a mobile data connection
Device Requirements:
* iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
* Requires iOS 3.0 or later
* 30.4 MB
Pricing and Availability:
CoPilot GPS – Plan & explore with on-board maps & directions 9.1.5.37 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Navigation category.
ALK Technologies
CoPilot GPS 9.1.5.37
Download from iTunes
Download from Google Play
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ALK Technologies, a global leader in GeoLogistics and navigation software, is focused on developing innovative solutions for transportation, logistics, mobile workforces and consumers. For 30 years, ALK has led the transportation industry with high-quality routing, mileage and mapping solutions. Product lines include award-winning CoPilot Live, the GPS navigation software of choice for fleets, mobile operators, hardware OEMs, systems integrators, professional drivers and consumers. ALK’s PC*MILER is widely recognized as the industry standard and is depended on by transportation, logistics and manufacturing companies worldwide. Copyright (C) 2012 ALK Technologies. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.