Gadgets Control

Purists will probably call this a travesty, but the TouchFLO 3D user interface found on the HTC Touch Diamond is pretty bangin’, and this time the tables have been turned - this Windows Mobile user interface is now available on the iPhone, instead of having countless iphone-lookalike interfaces on Windows-based devices. You will, of course, need a jailbroken device followed by a quick search for the iPhoneFLO in Installer.app before you’re good to go. Any takers? Tags: CD, home theater, tests, hdtv (Read the full post about ‘TouchFLO 3D UI On iPhone’…)

Share This

Anyone who uses Windows knows that the longer the operating system is kept without a fresh re-install (or deep clean-up), the longer it takes to boot up. Hopefully this will change with news that Microsoft is currently working on a solution to make Windows 7 boot much faster. In fact, the main objective would be to see Windows 7 hit a cold boot time of 15 seconds or below, which will be more than welcome considering data from the Customer Experience Improvement Program depicting 35% of Windows Vista SP1 systems booting in less than half a minute, while 75% boots in under 50 seconds. These numbers are better than what I would expect. (Read the full post about ‘Windows 7 Boot Time’…)

Share This

Japanese researchers have developed a technology to produce invisible objects that you can touch and control.  The system, invented by University of Tokyo researchers, involves manipulating ultrasound waves that create a focal point, which your hands would perceive as an object. The system also uses a camera to track hand positions, communicating their movements to interact with the "object." The researchers say the technology could be applied to video gaming, sparing gamers the need to buy controllers, joysticks and so on. Sweet! Now, if only we could get rid of that TV and plug our consoles into our brains…Whoa! I know Kung-fu. Ultrasound to give feel to games [BBC News] Tags: lcd, robots, lcd, wi-fi (Read the full post about ‘Japanese Get a Feel for ‘Invisible Object’ Technology’…)

Share This

Sanyo has updated its line of tiny, waterproof videocameras, and the latest model is the Xacti E8. The Sanyo Xacti E8 is not as suave-looking as a tuxedoed Sean Connory, but in the adventuresome department, it’ll do: The company claims you can submerge it under five feet of water for up to an hour at a time (and it still won’t confess). It sports the pistol-grip/raygun design that Sanyo pioneered more than four years ago with its first handheld SD-card camcorder. And it’s tiny enough to conceal in an evening suit, should you decide that your own adventures require some visual proof. While Sanyo was one of the first companies to shrink a video camera down to a truly pocketable size, the company’s mini cameras haven’t exactly had a reputation for quality. (Read the full post about ‘Bond-Like Sanyo Xacti Shoots Video, Stills, and Supervillains’…)

Share This

COMA, an original seven-episode web series which premiered last week on Crackle Crackle has made a number of well-publicized webisodes, namely “Dating Brad Garrett” and “GayTown,” but this is their most ambitious to date. The COMA series, an organized crime drama, was developed for digital distribution with the intent that viewers would watch it on a laptop or cell phone. (I watched it on my desktop.) While impressed with the production values, the direction, the acting and even the music, the film noir gangster story didn’t catch my fancy, but it certainly demonstrates that we’re ready for high-end content on our laptops and phones. (Read the full post about ‘Won’t put you in a COMA - original web series’…)

Share This

O2 has finally announced details of its Pay & Go tariff for the iphone 3G, and the news is both good and bad.

The Bad: The handsets will cost £350 ($620) and £400 ($710), which gives us some idea of what the carriers are paying Apple.

The Good: Free Wi-Fi and 3G for a year, and just £10 per month thereafter. If I lived in Blighty, this is the one I’d go for — who uses a phone to make calls these days? Call costs are similarly reasonable, and depend on how much credit you buy each month:

.

So, for unlimited everything (except text messages), the first year will cost just $53 per month.

(Read the full post about ‘UK iPhone Gets Pay and Go Tariff’…)

Share This

You are looking at my first problem with Google Chrome: I downloaded Google’s new browser to see if it was worth all the hype and within seconds, I had my first problem. The download was “kind” enough to import the bookmarks from my Internet Explorer browser for me. Unfortunately, I hadn’t used IE since I first found FireFox years ago. The only bookmark on that old list that I still use is Bloglines, but when I tried to go to Bloglines, it asked me to log in. I haven’t logged into Bloglines for YEARS. The cookies have just transferred over from one version of FireFox to the new one for so long that I don’t even remember which email address or password I used for Bloglines. (Read the full post about ‘Google Chrome - First Look’…)

Share This

IFA 2008 is certainly an event to participate if you’re in Europe with a penchant for the latest and greatest in consumer electronics. Penandfree has taken that opportunity to release a new next-generation wireless electronic input pen known as ‘Duo’, enabling users to write both letters and figure on a display of a non-tablet monitor (up to 22″ in size, although I’m not too sure why the size limitation is there). Penandfree claims that their solution is 10 times more affordable than a standard tablet monitor, so it will be interesting to see which organizations will pick up such technology when it is available in Korea at the end of this month. (Read the full post about ‘Duo wireless electronic input pen’…)

Share This

Man, I really want to watch television while I’m taking a bath, but I really don’t like that whole “what if it falls in the tub” shock thing.  Fortunately for me, Sony has made the water-resistant XDV-W600.  It isn’t necessarily water-proof, as it can only safely go under water for about 30 minutes.  I don’t know what happens after your half-hour is up, but if you have the habit of sleeping in the tub, perhaps the XDV-W600 is not for you.  The screen is four inches, and it has 2GB of internal memory.  It can record for about 10 hours of 1-Seg television broadcasts, which might not be useful unless you’re in places that support that format.  I don’t have any information on how else to get video to play on curvaceous wonder that is part of the BRAVIA collection.  It can run for 23 hours of viewing on two AA batteries.  You should be able to get the XDV-W600 in Japan around October 30. (Read the full post about ‘Take the Sony XDV-W600 into the bathtub, please!’…)

Share This

While I was attending the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) last week, a certain salesman came in the Press Room with a most unusual product called the BaliYo. The best description that I can give of the BaliYo is that it is a pen that thinks it’s a butterfly knife. Perhaps you never had a guy like this in your high school, but I remember this one tough guy who would carry a butterfly knife just so he could do fancy tricks of flicking the blade open and close. I guess he wanted to do something cool to pass the time, and a yo-yo was just way too geeky. The BaliYo is meant to be a similar toy rather than a pen, because it really isn’t the best thing to write with. (Read the full post about ‘BaliYo: The Butterfly Pen’…)

Share This