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Contributing To a Project With a Reclusive Maintainer?zerointeger writes "I am still fairly new to programming in C, but I was asked to extend an open source authentication module by my employer. The project is complete, testing has been done and it works as designed. The extension/patch I have created is fairly robust, as it includes configuration options, help files, and several additional files. The problem is that I have been unable to make contact with the current maintainer about having this feature added. I think the only reason I'd like to see this included is to prevent any patching of later revisions. A few others I have spoken with agree that the patch would benefit administrators attempting to push Linux onto the desktop, as we have done at the University that employs me. Has anyone else submitted patches/extensions to what seems to be a black hole?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 Aug 2009 | 3:13 am Sex Offender Locator App Pulled from App StoreThe iPhone application Offender Locator, designed to locate sexual offenders, has been deleted from the App Store and the reasons for its disappearance are uncertain, reports The San Francisco Chronicle...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 8 Aug 2009 | 2:31 am Attacks on lone blogger reverberate across Web (AP)
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 8 Aug 2009 | 12:24 am $10 billion collider produces subpar results - San Francisco Chronicle
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 8 Aug 2009 | 12:13 am Finding New and Unintended Ways of Playing GamesRonald Diemicke writes "World of Warcraft players sometimes hang out in front of Ironforge and dance. Fallout 3 players seek out new and elaborate ways of destroying their avatar. Brawlers in Smash Brothers have an itchy pause finger, ready to catch any humiliatingly hilarious screengrabs. The thugs running rampant in Grand Theft Auto are putting Evil Knievel to shame by using a full assortment of vehicles to pull off some incredible stunt work. Personally, I like to collect and move things. My favorite is making piles of bodies in any game that lets me move them around. Ever catch yourself doing something in-game that isn't exactly part of the game, or just something really dumb?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 8 Aug 2009 | 12:13 am New Facebook iphone App "Pretty Much Done" - Washington Post
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Aug 2009 | 11:20 pm New Facebook iPhone App “Pretty Much Done”
“The app is pretty much done - we’re just working on translating it into a bunch of languages,” Facebook developer Joe Hewitt wrote tonight on Twitter. That means that shortly, we’ll have access to the much-improved app which is scheduled to have features such as a News Feed that is more like the one on Facebook’s site, the ability to “like” items and a new customizable home screen. More importantly, it will also have video support for the iPhone 3GS, something which Hewitt threw-in at the last second, unexpectedly. And perhaps best of all, the app will have the ability to manage events, finally. But don’t get too worked up just yet. We asked Hewitt if “pretty much done” meant next week perhaps. His response: “Can’t be sure - translating could take a while. I’ve been avoiding predicting an actual release date“. And of course even when the app is done, Facebook still has to submit it for approval in the App Store, and as we all know, that can be a crapshoot. We could see it next week, we could see it 6 months from now. Though, Apple does seem to do a pretty good job pushing important apps like this one through quickly. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Facebook is also finally working on an Android app. That should drop any day now.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Source: TechCrunch | 7 Aug 2009 | 10:42 pm New Facebook iPhone App "Pretty Much Done"As one of the most popular applications on Apple's popular iPhone platform, a lot of users are eagerly awaiting the next version of the app. And that wait is almost over. "The app is pretty much done...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Aug 2009 | 10:42 pm Bartz: Yahoo Was "Never a Search Company". Me: Bullsh*t.Sorry, it's late, and I just saw this piece in the NYT. But for Bartz to say that Yahoo was never a search company is simply not true. Yahoo was the original search destination, and a place folks first...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Aug 2009 | 10:11 pm Malaysian Government Wants Internet Filteringadewolf tips news that the government of Malaysia is looking into the development of an internet filtering program. According to a Reuters report, "A vibrant Internet culture has contributed to political challenges facing the government, which tightly controls mainstream media and has used sedition laws and imprisonment without trial to prosecute a blogger." The Malaysian government insists that such a filter would only be used to block pornography, though critics of the plan expect it would be wielded as a political tool, censoring websites that are critical of the current administration. "An industry source says the government could impose the filters late this year or in 2010, coinciding with the rollout of a high-speed broadband network run by Telekom Malaysia. Malaysia aims to increase broadband penetration to half of all homes by 2010 as part of its drive to boost economic efficiency."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot | 7 Aug 2009 | 10:07 pm Reminder: Win a Mogo Talk folding Bluetooth headset for your BlackBerry Curve Newton Peripherals has developed a flat-folding Bluetooth headset that’s just five millimeters thick and rests in a tiny charging slot integrated into an included replacement BlackBerry battery cover. We're giving 50 of them away!
Source: CrunchGear | 7 Aug 2009 | 9:59 pm Glaciers a canary in the coal mine of global warming - CNN International
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Aug 2009 | 9:44 pm Professor Main Target of Assault on Twitter - New York Times
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Aug 2009 | 9:33 pm Analysts say wireless charging is pointless without super capacitors
Yeah, those analysts, always eager to put out their opinion, say that Palm’s technology is falling way short of where it could be. The real market, they say, is in high speed charging using so-called “super capacitors,” allowing users to quickly charge their devices. In their not so humble opinion, the current technology came at a high price (despite only costing a few dollars to make), and offers “little benefit to users on its own.” Sure, the concept of a fast 10 minute charge amping up your device for the day like an electronic version of an energy drink sounds good, but didn’t this big analyst (who wants $899 for the full report by the way) think that Palm considered that? I mean, if the technology was there to make it happen, wouldn’t Palm have used it? I love the concept of a technology analyst. They’re like a movie critic, can’t act, but they sure can complain. [via Slashgear]
Source: CrunchGear | 7 Aug 2009 | 9:11 pm 15 Neon Hair Color Features - From Technicolor Hair Dye to Highlighter Pink Wigs (CLUSTER)(TrendHunter.com) You might think that neon hair color is only for punks, but with the 80s revival in full swing, there's never been a better time to give your tresses the Technicolor treatment. From...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Aug 2009 | 9:00 pm David Fischer, Editor of Highsnobiety (INTERVIEW)(TrendHunter.com) As the founder of Highsnobiety, David Fischer is on the cutting edge. Based in Switzerland, Highsnobiety started small but quickly grew to become the Titel Media group, which includes...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Aug 2009 | 8:49 pm Dave Balter, CEO & Author of "The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II" (INTERVIEW)(TrendHunter.com) Dave Balter is not only the CEO of BzzAgent, a company that measures the honest word of mouth and lets consumers try new products, but he is also an author on the subject of word-of-mouth...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Aug 2009 | 8:39 pm Source: Apple And Google Agreed Not To Poach WorkersWhile Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board of directors, the two companies had an agreement not to hire away each other's workers, a former Google employee with knowledge of such matters has told...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Aug 2009 | 8:34 pm Source: Apple And Google Agreed Not To Poach Workers
This news follows a report by The Washington Post in early June that the Justice Department was looking into this very issue. That report cited sources close to the investigation stating that the government was looking for possible antitrust violations among several tech companies, including Google and Apple, with regard to their hiring policies. But that report didn’t say whether or not it was actually taking place. According to our sources, it is. Or at least, it was. Another interesting element to this is that the main component of this understood agreement between the two companies was Schmidt’s position with each, one source tells us. Now that Schmidt has stepped down from Apple’s board of directors, that agreement may be off, they went on to say. It’s hard to know that for sure until actual hiring starts taking place, but one source says that both Google and Apple have been ramping up their staffing departments recently, presumably to make a bunch of hires. To be clear, this unwritten agreement was that Google would not go after Apple employees, and vice versa. However, employees of both companies were free to apply to the other company on their own, we’re told. That’s a small, but important difference as the practice of going after other company’s talent, also known as “poaching”, is considered to be an important component of healthy competition in the market. That’s why the Justice Department is looking into it.
This news comes amid much controversy between the two companies. The stated reason for Schmidt stepping down was the growing overlap the two companies have on the product side. But the FTC was (and still is) also looking into the overlap between Google and Apple on its board of directors. And more recently the FCC launched an inquiry into the relationship between Google and Apple (and AT&T) on Apple’s App Store. That followed Apple’s rejection of Google’s Google Voice app. And it goes even deeper. A few months ago, there was a report (written by me, for another publication) that the reason Google didn’t put multi-touch support into its Android mobile operating system was because Apple asked it not to. More recently, Google admitted that it scrapped plans for a Latitude native iPhone app in favor of a web app because, yes, Apple asked it to. We’ve reached out to both Google and Apple for comment on this latest matter, but have yet to hear back from either. We will update if we do. Update: We’ve just received an email from a source that would seem to very directly confirm the agreement between Apple and Google in print. We’ve removed the names, a few details that could identify our source, and exact date, but the email was sent in the summer of last year.
“Google has an agreement with Apple that we will not cold call their staff.” That would seem to once again confirm that Google was not allowed to poach Apple staff, but implies that they could have talked if it was the Apple employee who initially reached out (which wasn’t the case here). [photo: flickr/mackz] Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
Source: Gizmodo | 7 Aug 2009 | 8:20 pm Garbage Collection Algorithms Coming For SSDsMojoKid writes "A common concern with the current crop of Solid State Drives is the performance penalty associated with block-rewriting. Flash memory is comprised of cells that usually contain 4KB pages that are arranged in blocks of 512KB. When a cell is unused, data can be written to it relatively quickly. But if a cell already contains some data, even if it fills only a single page in the block, the entire block must be re-written. This means that whatever data is already present in the block must be read, then it must be combined or replaced, and the entire block is then re-written. This process takes much longer than simply writing data straight to an empty block. This isn't a concern on fresh, new SSDs, but over time, as files are written, moved, deleted, or replaced, many blocks are a left holding what is essentially orphaned or garbage data, and their long-term performance degrades because of it. To mitigate this problem, virtually all SSD manufacturers have incorporated, or soon will incorporate, garbage collection schemes into their SSD firmware which actively seek out and remove the garbage data. OCZ, in combination with Indilinx, is poised to release new firmware for their entire line-up of Vertex Series SSDs that performs active garbage collection while the drives are idle, in order to restore performance to like-new condition, even on a severely 'dirtied' drive."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Gizmodo | 7 Aug 2009 | 8:00 pm Pro-Georgian blogger target of Internet attacks
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 Boston Globe | Samsung Reclaim Review PC World Samsung's Reclaim proves that a cell phone can be ecology-conscious and sophisticated at the same time. The compact Samsung Reclaim is an ecologically conscious smartphone smartphone that successfully balances style, ... Samsung Reclaim SPH-M560 (Sprint) Sprint to sell high-end AM-OLED phones from Samsung Sprint Offers 'Green' Samsung Phone |
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This guest post on the struggles of online music services to reach profitability is written by Michael Robertson, the founder of music sites MP3.com and MP3Tunes, as well as a number of non-music related startups like Gizmo and Dealipedia. As one of the first entrepreneurs to battle the music labels over an online service, he has a unique perspective on the scene.
A new music service called Spotify has attracted millions of users in a short time with the enticing lure of listening to any common song on your computer free. Meanwhile, the digital music grandpa Napster has quietly launched a $5 service that offers unlimited streaming plus free MP3 files.
A closer examination reveals that Spotify has raised tens of millions of dollars, given equity to the record labels, is under constant attack by hackers, uses clever P2P technology, is accruing enormous per song royalty obligations and has the seemingly impossible task of figuring out how to generate enough money from a free ad model to satisfy the music companies.
Here’s my admittedly biased look at both companies:
Spotify:
Spotify is a music service to browse and play songs from a library of 3.5 million songs. Users can create custom playlists, culling out their favorite songs and the service generally gets high marks for an intuitive user interface and peppy performance. It is a free ad supported service in which users get banner ads and audio ads. There’s also a $13/month premium level which gives you an advertising free experience. The service is available in U.K., Sweden, Norway, Finland, France and Spain and the premium service is available in other EU territories. U.S. access is not available although company representatives are saying it is coming.
Technology:
Unlike other web based services like imeem and Last.fm, Spotify requires a downloadable client available for Mac or Win computers. When songs are requested they are delivered from either the Spotify central servers or other users computers using P2P (peer to peer). This means Spotify will use your bandwidth even when you’re not listening music to service their other customers. They have filed a patent for this technology. Music is delivered using the Ogg Vorbis q5 codec at around 160Kbps which sounds nice and is also speedy to load.
Background:
Spotify was founded in 2006 by serial entrepreneurs Daniel Ek (previous CTO at Stardoll, founder of Advertigo and Evertigo among others) and Martin Lorentzon (one of two co-founders of Tradedoubler, the largest European online affiliate advertising company). Spotify is based in Luxembourg to avoid taxes although most of its employees are in Sweden, the UK and Romania.
Finances:
While Spotify has been tight lipped about financing amounts and sources details have leaked out and they reveal that Spotify has raised millions from its wealthy founders and tens of millions from venture capitalists. Similar to imeem, Myspace Music and Lala, the major labels own part of Spotify.
| Financing for Webcasting/On-demand Digitial Music Companies | |
| Amount |
|
| Myspace Music |
$45,000,000 |
| Pandora |
|
| Spotify | $28,000,000 |
| Slacker | $65,000,000 |
Security:
Since Spotify has 3.5 million songs it is an obvious target for hackers. There’s a battle pitting Spotify programmers against net hackers trying to decipher how the technology works. Code within the Windows version attempts to block debuggers so the Mac version is a more easy target. Several software programs have been released which download tracks from Spotify such as spotifysave and despotify. Spotify has is available in a limited number of countries, but its been well documented that the only check is on the initial signup page and its trivial to bypass. Users can easily bypass this by going to http://www.defilter.co.uk/ and entering the signup URL: https://www.spotify.com/en/get-started/ A UK mailing code like W1T 3EF is required but users simply look those up athttp://www.postcodesearch.org.uk/
Economics:
The Spotify CEO boasted they have spent just £5,000 ($10,000) in total marketing the Spotify service in the UK and attracted 1 million users doing 10 million streams making it the cheapest and most effective service launch since Google. Missing from the calculation is the royalty obligation. Like all webcasters, Spotify must pay a per song fee for every song they play. These range from 1 cent per play (for interactive playback) to 0.2 cents (radio experience). While the rates seem modest they add up quickly. 10 million streams per day translates to $100,000 per day, $30mm/month and $360 million annually in royalties - just for the UK operation. Royalty rates are similar in other countries and its Spotify claims 1mm users from Sweden as well. Advertising from audio and banner ads cannot generate even a sizable fraction of these royalty obligation.
Spotify is a on quest to get paid monthly subscribers and has launched a $13/month service. They join a crowded field of competitors including Napster who recently relaunched their subscription service moving from $12.95 down to $5/month. The Napster service includes unlimited streaming like Spotify but also 5 free MP3s to add to your permanent collection each month.
Napster:
Literally weeks before the economic meltdown Napster was sold to electronics retailing giant Napster. Bestbuy’s plan is to cost effectively market Napster service to their large customer base. To achieve this, Napster had to move away from their limited Microsoft orphaned DRM service to a MP3 service. This would allow the service to work with all devices sold by the big box retailer. Recently, they announced a $5/month service where you can stream any song - much like Spotify - but you also get 5 free MP3s per month to add to your personal collection. Since most newer MP3s are $1.29 this is a cost savings in itself and the unlimited free streaming is a bonus. Users paying for an annual service can immediately download 60 tracks plus a bonus 10 making the cost of tracks 85 cents.
Like AmazonMP3 and itunes, Napster has a rich uncle to lean on to not only promote their service, but add other business segments to rationalize a low or no-margin digital music business. Apple sells ipods, Amazon sells other stuff while you’re shopping for MP3s and Bestbuy can send you home with electronic gear they profit from selling. Using this financial flexibility Napster is able to offer an industry leading price point for a full streaming and MP3 service. This renders other services seem overly expensive and uncompetitive.
| Premium Music Services (Ad Free) | ||||||
| Monthly |
Streaming |
Devices |
Mobile |
Region |
Other |
|
| Napster |
$5.00 |
Interactive |
Net radios |
- |
US, expected in UK, Germany shortly |
Includes 5 MP3s/month |
| Pandora |
$3.00 |
Radio |
- |
iphone, Blackberry, J2ME version for other phones |
US |
Huge userbase, but struggling to get per stream royalty rates changed in Congress. |
| Rhapsody |
$12.95 |
Interactive |
Net radios |
- |
US |
Windows Only |
| Sirius |
$12.95 |
Radio |
Car radios |
- |
US, Canada |
iphone app promised Price raising $1.95/month end of July |
| Spotify | $13.00 |
Interactive |
- |
- |
EU, Scandinavia, US promised |
Android app previewed, but not released |
| Slacker | $3.99 |
Radio |
Net radios |
iphone, Blackberry |
US |
#1 music app on Blackberry. Rumored to be considering a MP3 store. |
Future
Users have largely rejected paying a monthly fee for music subscriptions. The masses have ignored subscription services like Napster and Rhapsody which offer similar catalogs, some music portability and limited device support. Cheaper radio services like early paid Pandora have also been failures (although desperate Pandora is bringing it back to try again). There’s little reason to believe that customers are willing to pay $13/month to stream music mostly to their PC. (Even Pandora estimates only 3% will pay a monthly fee.) This leaves Spotify with strictly an advertising based business. Ad rates cannot generate revenues sufficient to pay even the mandated royalty rates much less all the costs of running a high tech business. Publicly Spotify is promising a US launch and mobile clients (iphone andAndroid) however this completely ignores the incongruity of the underlying economics. Current royalty rates are too expensive by 10-100x for an advertising business to work. This is why Youtube dropped music videos in the UK. Getting more users will not improve the upside down economics.
Napster new service has lowered the bar dramatically to a modest $5/month for unlimited streaming and personal MP3 collecting. It’s not clear that Napster can generate a profit from this service, but as a tiny division of BestBuy it’s not clear they are required to. What is clear is the $5 price point means financial pressure on standalone digital music companies. The music selling and radio business is increasingly commoditized squeezing out profits to that of unsustainability. This spells pending doom for imeem, Pandora, Myspace Music, Slacker and the newest entrant Spotify unless there is industry upheaving royalty rate change.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
"It would be an absolute crime if it left San Francisco," said Dede Wilsey, president of the board that oversees the De Young and Legion of Honor, two of the city's major art museums. "No one could amass that collection now. They couldn't afford it, even in a recession.""S.F. art community fears loss of Gap founder's massive collection"
The collection, housed in a warehouse and at Gap headquarters in San Francisco, is open to scholars, and Fisher routinely loans pieces to museums. But until an agreement is reached, most of it will stay behind closed doors.
"You could very easily teach the history of art over the past 50 years with this collection," said Hilarie Faberman, a curator at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Faberman said nearly every piece deserves to be displayed.
Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Features, Interviews
1. Who are you?
I am Rylan Barnes, co-founder of Big in Japan. We make fun and exciting applications for your phone like ShopSavvy. ShopSavvy lets you use your phone’s camera to scan a product’s barcode. It then gives you all the best prices on the internet and at nearby, local stores.
2. Facebook, Twitter, or something else and why?
I must admit. I’m old fashioned when it comes to communication. Nothing beats a face-to-face conversation. I still love me some Facebook, Twitter, Skype, rotary phone, etc. They’re useful and even necessary. But I do find myself favoring the personal touch if I have the option. It’s just a much richer medium. For me half the conversation is in the inflection and facial clues.
3. Gadget you couldn’t live without (and why)?
I can’t live without a good laptop. For the past 20 years, the best-fit option for me has almost always been a Mac. My smartphone (of the day) would be a close second but that’s just my breathing tank that sustains me while I’m away from my computer. My life has always been about creating and building fun and exciting things and I need an actual computer for that. To me, my laptop is home. It’s a part of me.
4. Most regrettable piece of tech you own?
My TV remotes. I’m sorry folks, these need fewer buttons, not more. 40, 50, 60 buttons? It is a crime against humanity that companies still make them like this. And then I have to have 4 different remotes? That’s 200 buttons, many of which are duplicated. I have a Samsung TV and Samsung DVD player and, yes, I have to keep both remotes around. That is a shame. Universal remotes are not the solution either. They’re usually just the lowest common denominator across all your equipment and typically have MORE buttons.
5. If you could wish a gadget into existence, what would it be?
I want a remote control with one button. I want my large TV screen to display my options to me but only the options that apply to the context in which I’m operating. If I’m currently playing a DVD, all I need is stop, pause, reverse, and forward. I want to aim my remote at the appropriate menu on the TV and my TV should tell my peripheral equipment what to do. Obviously my equipment will have to be able to tell my TV what it CAN do first too but this is necessary so that it all requires ZERO configuration. My grandparents can barely watch TV anymore. I’m serious. And if something gets misconfigured, it costs them $60 to get it fixed. FAIL.
Company Site [Big in Japan]
Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Hacking your iPhone to run unofficial, third-party apps may seem unnecessary since Apple hosts its own App Store. But the corporation’s recently enforced prohibitions on some apps, such as the banning of Google Voice, are reviving the incentive for customers to jailbreak their iPhones once again.
Thanks to Cydia, an unauthorized app store open to jailbroken iPhones, consumers can still access some software that Apple won’t allow. Think free text-messaging and cheap international calls thanks to a Google Voice app that Apple banned. Or features that we can’t have yet, such as multimedia messaging and tethering. Here, we round up a list of the most compelling reasons to jailbreak your iPhone.
1. Google Voice
Apple recently rejected and banned Google Voice apps from its App Store. The apps would have augmented the search giant’s new voice service, which enables users to rely on a single phone number to ring all their phones, while also delivering the gift of free text messages, voicemail service and cheap international calls. The move stirred so much controversy that even the Federal Communications Commission is inquiring about the prohibition.
Thankfully in the Cydia store there’s GV Mobile, an unofficial Google Voice app. In light of Apple’s blanket ban of Google Voice apps, GV Mobile is the no. 1 reason to jailbreak your iPhone (if you weren’t one of the lucky few to grab a copy before Apple banned it). Overall the app is really sweet, despite having room to improve in terms of performance (connecting to Google’s server each time you launch the app can be a drag). Your contacts list is nicely integrated into the phone dialer and SMS sender; the overall UI is slick and cool. After a few minutes you’ll be sending free text messages, and maybe even dialing your relatives in Taiwan for once with cheap international VOIP calls. The best part? The app’s free.
2. Unrestricted 3G Privileges
AT&T iPhone owners pay $30 per month for “unlimited” 3G data access. But your access isn’t truly unlimited, thanks to restrictions that Apple imposed on some apps. SlingPlayer, an app that streams television from a Slingbox device, was crippled to work only on a Wi-Fi connection at the request of Apple and AT&T. And the Skype VOIP app only works on Wi-Fi, too, rendering it impractical.
This is where 3G Unrestrictor comes in handy. The $2 app enables jailbroken iPhone users to select any app that they wish to use over 3G, including Skype and SlingPlayer. Also, by default the App Store won’t let you download files larger than 10MB on the 3G network, and 3G Unrestrictor will remove that regulation, too. Free your apps and download away!
3. Tethering
Apple promised the new iPhone 3.0 OS would deliver tethering, but AT&T customers have yet to see that promise fulfilled. AT&T promised tethering would arrive “late summer.” Well, we’re waiting, and it’s not here yet. Some iPhone 3.0 users have figured out a roundabout way to turn on tethering without hacking, but that solution is only temporary.
Guess what? There’s a tethering app in Cydia, too. It’s a $5 app called Tether. The steps on setting up tethering aren’t as simple as Apple’s, but hey, you don’t even have to pay a monthly fee to use the service. The app even includes a feature to set a data cap in case you’re worried about extra charges incurred on your account if AT&T catches you tethering. It’s a little rough around the edges thanks to the network setup taking a few minutes, but we still love it.
4. Overseas Travel
Need to travel? Your iPhone can only go so far thanks to its carrier-tied SIM card, unless you wish to receive bills up the nostril thanks to international roaming costs. Jailbreaking will actually enable you to follow a process to unlock your iPhone to work with other carriers’ SIM cards overseas.
5. Pissing off Apple
Whether you’re a developer who has a beef with Apple, or if you’re a consumer who’s pissed at Apple, or if you’re a kid whose puppy was run over by an employee of Apple, then you may want to exact revenge by jailbreaking your iPhone. That’s because Apple clearly doesn’t like it when users jailbreak their iPhones. The company claims the process is illegal, and goes as far as to say jailbreaking will crash cellphone towers. So far these are empty threats, although buyer beware: Future court decisions, laws or FCC regulations may put teeth into Apple’s claims.
6. Pissing off AT&T
Frustrated with AT&T’s brainless customer service, spotty network reception and passive-aggressive totalitarian rule over the App Store? Jailbreaking for any of the reasons above will piss off AT&T, mostly by enabling your applications to use its 3G network without restriction. Or, if you like, you can take your protest a step further and unlock your jailbroken phone, enabling it to work with with T-Mobile or any other GSM-based carrier. It’s not a tea party, it’s an AT&T party!
So what are you waiting for? We won’t tell you how to jailbreak your phone, but you can find the necessary tools and instructions on iPhone Dev-Team’s blog. We also found YouTube user Rizzo893’s video really helpful, too.
Photo: William Hook/Flickr, Jason-Morrison/Flickr, jorgeq/Flickr
Anyone who has ever used Google’s automated translation service knows that it’s not exactly perfect — generally you’ll wind up with words that are close approximations of what you started with, but Google inevitably decides to change the meaning of at least a few sentences, just for kicks. Today, there’s a new site that taps into Google Translate’s under-appreciated creativity and magnifies it to the point of greatness : Translation Party!.
The site is incredibly simple: you enter any English phrase you can think of, and it uses Google’s automated translator to convert it into Japanese. And then it translates it back into English. And back into Japanese. At each step along the way, the words you began with gradually take shape to form something entirely different and (hopefully) awesome. The retranslations continue until you reach what the site calls ‘equilibrium’, when the English and Japanese words translate back and forth into exactly the same thing. Fortunately, it usually takes at least a few steps for your words to reach equilibrium, and the resulting sentences are often hilarious.
There really isn’t much else to do on the site, but it’s definitely a great way to kill some time. Movie quotes and song lyrics seems to work best. You can also check out a list of some of the results other people are generating by clicking the “crash other parties” at the bottom of the page.
Enjoy it. And October 5 power, to please.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
 Mobile Marketing News | Eric Schmidt on Where Google Is Headed BusinessWeek By Maria Bartiromo The news on Aug. 3 that Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt was resigning from the board of Apple (AAPL) took many by surprise. For others in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street, the question wasn't why—but why it took so long. ... Google ups director compensation awards TECH CHRONICLES Google CEO earned little from Apple Google's chief accepted gear but no pay as Apple board member |
Okay, this is definitely the last Mario AI video I’m posting, it should probably just go on my own blog anyway, but since we’ve already broken the seal here I thought I’d share it with you guys. This Mario AI, for the IEEE competition I mentioned before, has now been adjusted to seek the cursor instead of simply the end of the level. It’s not quite as graceful as the straightforward version, but damn is it effective. It’s calculating new routes every frame, and will eliminate anything in its way. It actually looks like an interesting way to play the game — kind of like the Mario Herder webcam version.
Okay, I’m done. Maybe one more update when someone actually wins. I know, this is a gadget blog, but we can always do with a freakily awesome Mario AI video here and there, right?
[via Reddit, again]
From James A. Haught's piece in the Council for Secular Humanism:
A French Revelation, or The Burning BushIt’s awkward to say openly, but now-departed President Bush is a religious crackpot, an ex-drunk of small intellect who “got saved.” He never should have been entrusted with the power to start wars.
For six years, Americans really haven’t known why he launched the unnecessary Iraq attack. Official pretexts turned out to be baseless. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction after all, and wasn’t in league with terrorists, as the White House alleged. Collapse of his asserted reasons led to speculation about hidden motives: Was the invasion loosed to gain control of Iraq’s oil—or to protect Israel—or to complete Bush’s father’s vendetta against the late dictator Saddam Hussein? Nobody ever found an answer.
Now, added to the other suspicions, comes the goofy possibility that abstruse, supernatural, idiotic, laughable Bible prophecies were a factor. This casts an ominous pall over the needless war that has killed more than four thousand young Americans and cost U.S. taxpayers perhaps $1 trillion.
 Techtree.com | Windows 7: The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown PC World Microsoft's new OS isn't perfect, but it is what Windows Vista should have been. Here's a hands-on look at the version that's beginning to hit PCs. For most people who are considering moving to Windows 7, October 22 is D-Day. On that date Microsoft's ... Windows 7 upgrade path looks rocky Windows 7 RTM arrives for Software Assurance customers Windows 7 Now Available For Business |
While John Hughes has almost nothing to do with the Internet, BoomTown–who is of a certain age–was saddened to hear about the premature passing of this director supreme of suburban teen angst movies of the 1980s.
He died yesterday of a heart attack at 59 years old.
His hit films included “The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” He wrote “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles,” as well as “Pretty in Pink,” “Home Alone,” “Some Kind of Wonderful” (I heart Watts) and tons of others.
In other words, the creator of the infamous “Brat Pack.”
Here are two movie clips to enjoy on this slooooow Friday in August, from Hulu, and a terrific montage video from YouTube, which make me feel–almost–young again.
And here is a link to a fascinating blog post about someone who, oddly enough, was Hughes’s pen pal.
The Breakfast Club:
Sixteen Candles:
Hughes Montage:
Target’s (TGT) decision today to build out its e-commerce infrastructure won’t likely hurt Amazon.com (AMZN), writes J.P. Morgan (JPM) analyst Imran Khan in a note to clients. In fact, it could help.
Target announced today it would construct its own order-fulfillment services for its online sales, which totaled $1.8 billion last year, according to Khan’s estimate, signalling the end of its use of Amazon’s back-office fulfillment services, for which Amazon receives a fee.
“To deliver a customized multi-channel experience for Target’s guests, we believe it is in Target’s best interest going forward to assume full control over the design and management of Target’s e-commerce technology platform, fulfillment and guest services operations,” said Target president Steve Eastman in a prepared statement.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
 Soft Sailor | Apple Tablet PC Could Take In $1.2 Billion InformationWeek Sales of 2 million tablets priced between $500 and $700 could add 3% to Apple revenue in 2010, analyst says. By Antone Gonsalves Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster estimates that Apple could sell $1.2 billion worth of tablet PCs the first year ... Apple Touchscreen 'iPad' ... Another Day, Another Apple Tablet Rumor Analyst predicts Apple mini-computer in '10 |
60,020 people submitted doomsday picks in Slate's "Choose Your Own Apocalypse" interactive feature (Here's my post about it). "Loose Nukes" was the top pick, with 10.5 percent of readers choosing it.
While "Israel-Arab War" (picked by 7.6 percent of users) represents another worry that's generations old, the "Peak Oil" (9.3 percent) and "China Unloads U.S. Treasurys" (8.2 percent) scenarios are new apocalyptic visions. Peak Oil—"Petroleum production reaches terminal decline. Oil becomes too expensive to extract, and alternative energies can't maintain our fossil-fuel-dependent lifestyle"—is the hobbyhorse of widely read collapsists James Howard Kunstler and Dmitry Orlov. It's the scenario of choice for the modern doomsayer who thinks Western civilization has industrialized its way to destruction. Fears of an economic collapse triggered by China pulling out from the American economy are a symptom of both our worries over the current economic crisis and anxiety over America's place in the world.How Is America Going To End? The apocalypse you chose.
The Microsoft Store approacheth! We heard the announcement, we saw the theoretical floor plan, and now the store itself is there, enclosed in a hermetic seal/candy shell. It’s advertising Windows 7, Xbox 360, Zune, and Office on the outside of the shell, which was to be expected, but there’s also Bing on there, which seems a weird thing to advertise in a physical space. Google don’t have a store, do it? The logo for the store has also been confirmed, and I’m happy to say it’s actually very tasteful.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that the candy shell is going to open up to reveal my personal interpretation of the Microsoft Store:
Alas. Chez Bill could have revealed Microsoft’s sensitive, baguette-loving side.
But the logo — I forgot to mention the logo! Here it is, sir.
Rather 8-bit, isn’t it! I like it. Powerful and recognizable, yet distinct from the actual OSes.
There are also some job listings, but there isn’t much to say about them. Floor manager and such. That doesn’t stop ifo AppleStore from comparing them to the Apple Store’s job offerings which are described as “Less of a job, more of a calling,” and providing a “license to change the world.” Bravo, Apple, I had no idea “Obsequious Greeter” could be embellished to the point of not being recognizable.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
It may be early August but we at Wired are already hitting the books. This week we kicked off our two month long Back to School product review extravaganza where we’ll be wrangling gizmos geared for students, teachers, or just the academically minded. Here’s a taste of what debuted this week:
We started off by pointing out the merits of the Kindle DX — a device Jeff Bezos aimed squarely at college students overloaded with insanely heavy, expensive textbooks. (Where was this thing when I was lugging a lumbar shattering org-chem text across campus?)
Wired.com senior editor Dylan Tweney got in touch with his inner art student by reviewing the Olympus Pen EP-1. The first micro four thirds camera from Olympus, the shooter features a dead sexy retro design we hope will carry over into future camera creations.
Our new intern Kelsey Hazlewood found three high tech green backpacks and crammed them full of essential student gear ranging from MacBooks to six packs. Her findings? Let’s just say it was a tight race with the Timbuk2 Swig coming out on top.
And Bryan Gardiner became the Anthony Bourdain of dorm room nuclear cooking with a review of Panasonic’s new induction microwave.
Next week we’ll be hitting core electronics hard. Expect reviews on netbooks, notebooks, transportation, and media players.
Images: Wired.com/ Chud.com
Nancy creator Ernie Bushmiller sure looks happy!
Heidi MacDonald says:
I have a post you may enjoy, from the ever wonderful Life Mag/Google Archives. It's from 1950 and it shows the artists of Nancy, Smokey Stover and so on drawing on scantily clad young models. It's kinda creepy but sort of endearing in that old time girdle fetish way, too.It reminds me of an event Craig Yoe would produce.
A bunch of old school strip cartoonists draw on the bathing suits of comely young models
Source: Boing Boing | 7 Aug 2009 | 3:14 pm
Florida law enforcement agents have charged 48-year-old Keith R. Griffin (shown at left) with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after a detective found over a thousand such images on his computer.In his defense, Mr. Griffin told detectives "he would leave his computer on and his cat would jump on the keyboard. And when he returned there will be strange material downloaded."
He is jail, with bail set at a quarter million dollars. His cat roams free.
(tcpalm.com and nbcmiami.com via Danny Sullivan)
Source: Boing Boing | 7 Aug 2009 | 3:12 pm
The first few times I picked up Resident Evil 4: Mobile Edition (iTunes link), I wanted to throw my iPhone out the window and watch it slowly sail 8 stories below into the Potomac river. Now, after five days of playing through the game’s 12 levels, I am ready to take my iPhone into bed with me and make sweet love to it. The controls take a lifetime to get used to, but once you’ve got them down, the game is extremely addictive. It took me a full three levels to get used to the game mechanic, but it was well worth it. The much-anticipated iPhone port of the console classic, Resident Evil 4, is only for those who are willing to put in the time I did. So be warned, short attention-span iPhone gamers: RE4 is not for you. For those who have come to appreciate the iPhone as a full-fledged portable gaming device, proceed, but please be patient.
For those of you experiencing your first few days in civilization, Resident Evil is a first/third-person zombie shooter franchise from Capcom that has infiltrated every form of media on the planet. It started as a kick-ass video game, back in 1996. Since then, Resident Evil has appeared in 20 games on 12 platforms (including “PC” and “Mobile Phone”). It has also spawned a variety of movies, comic books, and, yes, someone took the time to write novels about Resident Evil. The story has varied and evolved over time, but there is one running theme: humans killing zombies. OK, history class over. Now onto the review:
The mobile version’s storyline is fairly simple: you are Leon S. Kennedy, a new hire Secret Service agent, and your job is to save Ashley Graham, the President’s daughter, from evil monsters. You save her, and then she gets caught again. Then you save her. She gets caught. That repeats a few more times. Then, finally, you save her for good. There are 12 levels in all, and they are each extremely challenging (more on why later, but it took me upwards of four times to beat each level - sometimes as many as 15). As you go through the game you amass currency, and use that currency to buy weapons, ammunition, healing herbs, grenades and other upgrades. Each level involves killing a shit ton of enemy creatures, each of which is ferociously attempting to bite your head off. In essence, it’s a simple RPG-style shooting game.
The first thing you’ll notice are the controls. As is becoming popular, on-screen buttons for the iPhone appear and disappear as needed. A joystick appears on the left-hand side and allows you to move around (there is no strafing). When you draw your weapon, you freeze and cannot move, and a red laser appears. You aim the laser with the joystick and shoot at will. Here’s the problem: aiming perfectly is damn near impossible; you simply don’t have the precision on the touch-screen to move the laser exactly where you want. When the enemy is more than 2 feet away (so, always), it is maddeningly difficult to aim. I eventually got used to it, but it took a really long time - and I have yet to perfect it. Given that head shots are far more valuable than body blows, you will surely miss the precision of better controls.
Conversely, the graphics are rock-solid. They are on par with those of Doom: Resurrection; the enemies are well-detailed, the lighting is perfect, and the characters’ movements are surprisingly smooth. Furthermore, the bad guys vary quite nicely: I never got sick of blowing the heads off the same baddies time after time. They also had different weaknesses and “personalities.” For example, one type of enemy is blind and simply identifies your location based on sounds you make (so, you can shoot a giant bell across the room and the enemy will charge at the bell instead of you). Others attack in such a manner that you have to dodge their blows; this is all about timing: you hit the “dodge” button as soon as it pops up on the screen and you’re scot free.
Again, it takes forever to get used to the controls, and this is the game’s Achilles’ heel. It is the reason why the levels can be so frustrating. Time and time again, especially early on, I would complete 50-75% of a level and then be unable to aim my laser at an enemy before he tore me to shreds. To top it off, there’s no auto-save, so I would have to start from scratch all over again. That said, the diversity and depth of the levels made me smile. Each is different, and has a unique setting. Your tasks change from level to level; sometimes you have to just walk towards the exit and stick a bullet in everyone on the way. Other times, you act as a sniper and try to take out the enemies as they attempt to grab your dear Ashley and take her into their lair. You’ll barely get through each level, even if you’ve got plenty of health and ammo. The strategy for each level also changes depending on the variety of guns you’ve got to choose from. You can only carry/buy so many, and your choices are integral to your success.
I’m honestly torn on whether I’d recommend Resident Evil 4: Mobile Edition. I played through the first few levels largely because I had to and not because I wanted to. After pulling teeth with the controls for a bit, it was smooth sailing: I immersed myself in the game’s diverse levels and jaw-dropping graphics. If you were as excited to see this title pop into the App Store as we were, I’d say its a no-brainer: forgo the lunch money and spend the $7.99. However, if you haven’t any allegiance to or experience with the Resident Evil franchise, you should probably pass on this one.
What we like:
What we don’t like:
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Above, Bling Teeth, which sell for 75 cents a pop in vending machines. This image has nothing to do with what follows in this blog post, other than humor and a tangential association to the cultural trappings of hip-hop.
Alrighty then. "Snacks and Shit" is a blog dedicated to the appreciation of "rap and hip-hop lyrics that are absolutely absurd, ludicrous, nonsensical, ridiculous, basic, basically stupid, basically bad, basically basic, or preposterous." The authors "take some lines and examine them literally." Critics call them "willfully obtuse," I call them "funny."
"No room service just snacks and shit." - Jay-Z, Hey PapiSnacks and Shit (via John Moe)This is the line that started our whole obsession with rap and hip-hop lyrics. Honestly, this sounds more like something my dad would say. "Remember, no ordering room service. It's too expensive. Plus, I brought snacks."
I’m going to be kind here and say that EVGA Interview is an interesting product. It is a dual monitor system with two 17-inch screens attached to a base. It’s a good idea, it really is. I’m just concerned that $600 is a bit much to pay for two screens in this configuration.
The trick here is that the screens turn over when you twist them into position. Want to show someone across the desk from you something? Flip over the monitor. It bears to note, however, that you need two graphics cards - DVI or VGA capable - to use both monitors at the same time.
There is also a built-in 3 port USB hub, microphone, and webcam.
There are four places this monitor would be great:
* In a lab. You and another technician could share the same monitor.
* In a conference hall. Two monitors seem to be all the rage at conferences.
* In a cheap office, library, or school. You and a cubicle-mate can share a screen.
Display Features:
Dual 17” wide screen displays
Display automatically rotates image when the monitor is flipped
Built in 1.3MP webcam
Built in microphone
Built in USB 2.0 hub (3 ports)
Specifications:
Resolution: WXGA+ (1440×900) x 2
Pixel Pitch: 0.255mm x 0.255mm
Contrast Ratio: 500:1
Viewing Angle: 45° (H) / 20° (V - Upper) 35° (V - Lower)
Brightness: 220 CD/m
Response Time: 8ms
Now here’s the problem: two 17-inch monitors cost about $99 on a good day and $200 on a bad day. But $649.99? You could use this for any number of things - LAN parties, dual workspaces for your video editing - but why wouldn’t you just buy two big monitors for the same price as two smaller ones?
Bottom Line
Sure there are some great tricks in this bit of kit. If you need something like this, viola. We found it for you. However, if you’re in the market for dual monitors, you can probably do better.
Rest easy, friends, since the World of Warcraft-in-China saga has come to an end. Yes, the game is now up and running once again. Unfortunately, I guess, there’s a bit of censorship to contend with.
Just take a look at these two pictures. The circled bits are the censored parts.
Things to look out for: less dead-looking undead characters (check out that guy’s jaw); sandbags instead of bone piles; black blood instead of red blood, etc.
Nothing really insane, and certainly nothing to complain about. I just find it interesting that this is how, not to mention why, the Chinese authorities deal with so-called, uh, badness.
via Kotaku
affluence both causes and prevents cancerKill or cure? (Thanks, Alice!)
* Wealthy background can raise the risk of cancer for teenagers
* Middle classes 'face twice the risk of skin cancer'
* Is your lifestyle giving you breast cancer?
* Well-off children 'more at risk of cancer'
* Why affluent women in the South are more likely to die from breast cancer
* Gap between rich and poor women who survive breast cancer grows as disease progresses
Like grandmother, like grandson.
Yesterday, I told my No. 1 son, Louie, that Twitter was down, after a denial-of-service attack.
He was–shall we say–not very sympathetic, as you can see in the video below.
Interestingly, Louie’s response was similar to my mother’s, Lucretia Carney, who mocked the San Francisco-based microblogging service at a gas station on the way to my interview with its founders at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference (see her video below too, as I continue to use my poor family as props in interviews).
It’s just anecdotal, of course, but it turns out their opinions actually track on several recent reports, the latest coming from Nielsen.
It showed that the 25-and-under crowd is definitely not the group adding to the site’s tremendous growth.
Using a panel of 250,000 U.S. Internet users, the data (which you can see above–click on the image to make it larger) said that there are fewer young people on Twitter than on the Web itself–16 percent versus 25 percent.
Older people, like my mother, are also a smaller group, at 20 percent of Twitter. The biggest and fastest-growing group on Twitter is 25 to 54, just like me, an obvious fan of the service.
An earlier anecdotal report from Morgan Stanley (MS) posited similar findings.
Facebook, of course, is hugely popular with young people. And, with Louie, who–even at the tender age of seven years old–wants me to set up an account now on the Silicon Valley-based social networking site, to be able to upload video, photos and more.
Check out his and my mother’s thoughts on the subject:
There's been much media attention this month around Manson family: August 10, 2009 marked 40 years since the Tate/La Bianca murders. One former Manson Family member, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, is scheduled to soon be released on parole from a federal prison in Texas. She has served 34 years for attempting to kill President Gerald Ford in 1975, and did not participate in the murders for which Manson and others were imprisoned in 1971.
Paul Krassner was investigating the story of those murders back in 1971. Over at the Huffington Post today, he retells the tale of how he came to drop acid with Ms. Fromme at a house in Los Angeles before she tried to bump off the president, and before she went to jail for that act. It's a fascinating read. Snip:
Manson had stepped on Sandy's eyeglasses, thrown away her birth control pills, and inculcated her with racist insensibility. Although she had once been a civil rights activist, she was now asking me to tell John Lennon that he should get rid of Yoko Ono and stay with "his own kind."My Acid Trip with Squeaky Fromme (HuffPo)"But," I said, "they really love each other."
"If Yoko really loved the Japanese people," Sandy replied, "she would not want to mix their blood."
The four of us ingested those little white tablets containing 300 micrograms of LSD, then took a walk to the office of Laurence Merrick, who had been associated with schlock biker exploitation movies as the prerequisite to directing a sensationalist documentary, Manson.
Squeaky's basic vulnerability emerged as she kept pacing around and telling Merrick that she was afraid of him. He didn't know we were tripping, but he must have sensed the vibes. He may even have gotten a touch of contact high. I engaged him in conversation about movies. We discussed the fascistic implications of The French Connection.
Image: Dick Schmidt, Sacramento Bee. "Sacramento Police and Secret Service men handcuff Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme under a Capitol Park tree after she tried to shoot President Gerald Ford Sept. 5, 1975."
Free Parking Isn't Free (via Kottke)The free parking that Americans love isn't really 'free' at all. A recent parking garage project in New Haven, Conn., for example, cost more than $30 million for almost 1,200 spaces - that's more than $25,000 per space. If you were to finance it using a mortgage, the actual cost would be over $40,000 per space. This breaks down to roughly $135 a month, or $1,600 a year per space - not including externalities like the air pollution and congestion created by increased trips drawn by cheap parking. Even when garages and meters charge for parking, they rarely charge the real value of the parking space. (In Vauban, by contrast, drivers must purchase a parking space in the garages at $40,000 each.) All this amounts to a massive subsidy. Shoup calculates that in 2002 the total subsidy just for off-street parking was between $127 and $374 billion (for comparison, the budget for national defense that year was $349 billion).
Who pays for this? Everyone. The cost of building all that parking is reflected in higher rents, more expensive shopping and dining, and higher costs of home-ownership. Those who don't drive or own cars thus subsidize those who do.
Free parking can become a drain on city coffers. According to a study (PDF) by Bruce Schaller, deputy commissioner of planning and sustainability at the NYC Department of Transportation, the city was losing more than $45 million in parking meter revenue annually as a result of the free parking privileges commonly offered to city employees. But the costs are more than economic: free parking also changes behavior, encouraging us to take more trips and drive alone more often. According to the same study, without that free parking, 19,200 fewer vehicles would enter Manhattan every day, easing congestion.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
As we noted early this morning, Twitter is still having some major issues getting its service stabilized following the DDoS attacks. Co-founder Biz Stone has posted a new update on the situation on Twitter’s blog today. Apparently, the attacks are still ongoing, and while Stone refuses to speculate on the motivation behind them, he does note that they appear to be “geopolitical” in their nature.
Says Stone:
The ongoing, massively coordinated attacks on Twitter this week appear to have been geopolitical in motivation. However, we don’t feel it’s appropriate to engage in speculative discussion about these motivations. The open exchange of information can have a positive impact globally and our job is to keep Twitter services running reliably to the best of our ability.
This is in line with various reports around the web suggesting that a group of Russian hackers are targeting Georgian users, and possibly just one user. Similar attacks also targeted Facebook, LiveJournal, Blogger and YouTube. While certainly this would fall into the realm of cyber terrorism, what’s crazy is how this is echoing elements of actual terrorism as well. We’ve gotten multiple tips from parties either claiming or denying responsibility for the attacks, much like terrorist factions claim or deny responsibility when a bomb goes off somewhere.
Sadly, given the success the responsible parties have seen in taking down these sites, it seems likely that it will only embolden others to carry out more attacks of this nature in the future. Twitter notes that it is doing all it can to prevent that and to resolve this situation, but as Stone writes, “Denial of Service attacks are a known quantity on the web and they are not going away any time soon.”
Twitter has been posting updates on its status blog to let users and third party developers know what is going on. On top of taking out Twitter’s main service, these attacks forced it to shut down many of its API services, which obviously crippled many of the services built on top of Twitter’s platform. Twitter is still working on restoring those. The API team is encouraging developers to post questions on their mailing list found here.
One recent update in that list is pretty telling for how serious these attacks are:
As you know all too well Twitter, among other services, has been getting hit pretty hard with a DDoS attack over the past 24+ hours. Yesterday we saw the attack come in a number of waves and from a number of different vectors increasing in intensity along the way. We were able to stabilize our own service for a bit, hence Biz’s post saying all was well, but that didn’t mean the attacks had ceased. In fact, at around 3am PST today the attacks intensified to almost 10x of what it was yesterday. In order for us to defend from the attack we have had to put a number of services in place and we know that some of you have gotten caught in the crossfire. Please know we are as frustrated as you are and wish there was more we could have communicated along the way.
The key point there is obviously that the attacks intensified almost tenfold from what they were seeing yesterday. That’s not good.
[photo: flickr/lucianvenutian]
Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.
The sound of a fingernail raking across a table or a board may be enough to drive most people crazy. But get past that annoyance and it could become a way to answer your phone, silence a call or turn up the volume.
Scratch Input, a computer input technique developed by researchers at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, uses the sound produced when a fingernail is dragged over the surface of any textured material such as wood, fabric or wall paint. The technology was demonstrated at the Siggraph graphics conference this year.
“It’s kind of a crazy idea but a simple one,” says Chris Harrison, one of the researchers on the project. “If you have a cellphone in your pocket and want to silence an incoming call, you don’t have to pull it out of your pocket. You could just drag your fingernail on your jeans.”
As researchers study how people can interact in simpler and more innovative ways with computers and gadgets, going beyond the traditional keyboard, mouse and keypad has become important. Earlier this year, Harrison and his team demonstrated a touchscreen where pop-up buttons and keypads can dynamically appear and disappear. That allows the user to experience the physical feel of buttons on a touchscreen.
Scratch Input is another way to explore how we can interact with devices, says Harrison. Harrison, along with a colleague Julia Schwarz, and his professor Scott Hudson started working on the idea a year ago. Scratch Input works with almost any kind of surface except glass and a few other materials that are extremely smooth.
“With this we can start to think of every flat surface as an potential input area,” says Daniel Wigdor, user experience architect at Microsoft and curator of the emerging technology demos at Siggraph. “Imagine a cellphone with a mini projector. You can now turn an entire surface into a screen for the projector and use the surface to control it.”
Scratch Input works by isolating and identifying the sound of a fingernail dragging on an area.
“All the sound happening in the environment like people putting coffee cups on the table, cars going by or children screaming, we know what frequencies they are in,” says Harrison.
A fingernail on a surface produces a frequency between 6000 Hz and 13,000 Hz. Compare that to voice, which is typically in the range of 90 Hz to 300 Hz, or noise from a refrigerator compressor or air conditioning hum, which is in the range of 50 Hz or 60 Hz.
“It makes it easy for us to throw away all the other acoustic information and just listen to what your nail sounds like,” says Harrison.
Harrison and his team used that principle to rig up a system for Scratch Input. They attached a modified stethoscope to a microphone that converts the sound into an electrical signal. The signal is amplified and connected to a computer through the audio-input jack.
“If mass produced, this sensor could cost less than a dollar,” says Harrison.
Scratch Input also supports simple gesture recognition. Tracing the letter ‘S,’ for instance produces an acoustic imprint that the system can be trained to identify. The idea has its limitations. For instance, many letters that are written differently, sound very similar such as M, W, V, L, X or T. Scratch Input cannot accurately distinguish between these gestures. But still Harrison says the system can respond with about 90 percent accuracy.
Another problem is that the system cannot determine the spatial location of the input, says Wigdor. “For instance, with volume control, it can hear your finger spin in the appropriate gesture but the system can’t see it so sometimes it does not have enough information to react.”
Despite the limitations, the technology holds enough promise to make it into the hands of consumers, says Wigdor. “It is exciting because it is so low cost,” he says. “This idea has the potential to go beyond just a research project.”
Check out this video demo of Scratch Input:
Photo: Chris Harrison
Let's do this one last time, friends. TO VOTE COMMENT ON THIS POST WITH THE EXACT NAME OF THE DEVICE YOU’RE VOTING FOR. THAT IS THE ONLY TEXT THAT SHOULD APPEAR. I WILL DO AN SQL QUERY ON THE COMMENTS DB TO FIND THE WINNER. LITERALLY COPY AND PASTE THE NAME OF THE DEVICE INTO THE COMMENT FIELD AND POST IT. VOTE ONCE. VOTE ONLY ONCE. DON’T USE AMAZON’S MECHANICAL TURK. DON’T ASK THE WEIRD GUY FROM IT WHO YOU NEVER INVITE TO PARTIES BUT TALK TO AT WORK TO MAKE YOU A VOTING SCRIPT! IF YOU ARE THE WEIRD GUY IN IT, I’M SORRY. THEY JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND YOU. IF I HELD A PARTY YOU COULD COME. IF YOU CHEAT I WILL BE SAD. I WILL CLOSE VOTING ON MONDAY AT NOON EASTERN!
The Microsoft PR team tweeted out the first image to Twitpic of the Microsoft Retail Store opening in Scottsdale and Mission Viejo. The stores are slated to open sometime in the fall, with more locations opening after. In July, Microsoft’s master plan for the retail stores were leaked in a presentation. Image below.
Thanks for the tip, @Loic
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Command and Conquer has been around for ages, but the story is coming to an end with C&C4 according to everything the Internet is saying. You really should go back play last C&C 3 before the new one comes out, but this trailer really does a good job to set the C&C4 stage - or you could read Wikipedia. I can’t wait.
Thanko, the Japanese gadget company best known for its quirky USB products, has these earphones connected to a fuzzy cat ear hairband. This is great for Akiba types and other cat ear fetishists who need an excuse to wear cat ears in public, or for those who want to wear both cat ears and earphones but only carry one accessory at a time.
Product page (Japanese)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In what appears to be a beauty pageant held at a prison in Russia, scores of women gather around a makeshift runway in the courtyard as their fellow inmates strut their stuff. I don't read Russian, but the photographs alone tell a great story.
More photos here [via Zaeega (Japanese)]
Source: Boing Boing | 7 Aug 2009 | 1:33 pm
While the occasional wedding-dance entrance, skateboarding bulldog or Novocained kid makes a YouTube splash, most Internet users are still watching standard television when they go online, a new survey says.
In a Sanford Bernstein survey, conducted in April, more than half (58 percent) of the 384 respondents said that they watched professionally produced regular TV programs when asked what they viewed online. A quarter (24 percent) said they sought out amateur or user-generated clips, and 18 percent watched professionally produced movies.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
Everybody's making noise about the upcoming Apple tablet, and who can blame them? It'll certainly be an interesting device, but the thing is that nobody really knows what it's going to be. Flat, to be sure, and tablet-shaped in all likelihood, but beyond that it's pretty much anybody's guess. Analyst-at-large Gene Munster has made a list of predictions anyway, since his job is to turn ignorance into money.
So what does he think you can expect? Sales, for one thing. Via a house-of-cards sort of logic peculiar to analysts like himself, he determines the features, then the price, then the sales, then the revenue. Here are his nested prognostications, as summarized by Fortune's Brainstorm Tech.
Section: Computers, Software / Applications
Perhaps in an effort to make it easier for users to upgrade to Windows 7 from XP or Vista, Microsoft has released an official upgrade chart—and to put it simply, the chart seems a little overwhelming at first glance.
Diving in, to try and make some sense so you can make sure you are going in the proper direction here’s what you need to know: The chart has your current operating system going down the left hand side. You will have to first choose your OS, whether it be XP or one of the many flavors of Vista, then pick either 32- or 64-bit.
Once you have that down, you will then choose (from the top) which version of Windows 7 you are upgrading to—either Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate. And again pick either 32- or 64-bit.
Now that you have those both chosen, you will be able to find out if there is a “Custom Install” required or an “In-Place Upgrade.” Just to try and clarify those options a little, Custom Install is really referring to a clean (or new) installation meaning you will need to start over. Then In-Place Upgrade is referring to what many people would like to do, just upgrade their current installation.
Wow, all that just to explain which route you will need to go, sadly if this looks confusing for the geeks out there, I can already hear the phone ringing and the emails being sent from family member and friends needing help choosing the correct option. With that, I will end with a nice (read: sarcastic) Thanks, Microsoft.
Read [Mossblog]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
You know, sometimes you’ve just gotta call 911. But all that talking; it’s such a damned pain. Sure, there’s a guy beating another guy to a pulp in the movie theater. But come on, people are trying to watch a movie! They don’t want to hear you blabbering away on your phone!
Fortunately for the folks of Black Hawk County, Iowa, their local 911 center is now taking reports via SMS. On first thought, it’s a great idea. With even a moment of consideration, however, the idea falls apart. Sorry, Black Hawk, folk: this is a bad, bad idea. While there are a handful of great reasons for 911 centers to accept text messages (alerting 911 without alerting criminals, for example. It might also help deaf/mute callers, though 911 has accepted TTD andTTY calls for quite a while now), there are so many glaring flaws with this plan that it’s absurd.
Here’s just a few:
For this plan to work, it needs to be rolled out nation-wide (or state-wide, at least). Additionally, the SMS protocol needs to be modified to prioritize 911 texts, and to automatically confirm the receipt of the alert. In other words, it’s no small task.
If this were for non-emergency calls, that’s fine. Mr. Mittens can stay up in the tree for a few more minutes while its reported via SMS. But this is 911, land of gunshot wounds and 8 car pileups. If it’s worth contacting 911, it’s worth a phone call.
[Via PhoneArena]
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Assetize, the startup known for selling Facebook vanity URL’s, has launched a new service targeted at Twitter users with unused, unwanted accounts. The same concept from Facebook vanity URL’s carries over to the Twittersphere. Assetize will let you park Twitter accounts, like domain names, for future use and in the meantime put ads on the account while you sit back and make money. To park your Twitter account, simply register with Assetize for an invite, then put in all of your account information, give keywords related to the parked account, and Assetize will then place ads on the account that are supposedly relevant to keywords you specify. In order to apply for the private beta, your Twitter account must have at least 200 followers.
Assetize currently has support for parked accounts at Blogger/Blogspot, Friendfeed, Gmail, Google Groups, Google Voice, Ning, Twitter, Wordpress, and Yahoo!.
While there is nothing in Twitter’s terms of service that explicitly states you cannot squat on names, you can be sure it won’t like the idea of using these accounts as placeholders with ads. Also, Twitter’s TOS is full of talk about copyrights and how it can “reclaim” Twitter names if there is some kind of dispute over the name.
So park at your own risk.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Have we forgotten how to forget? Viktor Mayer-Schönberger worries about this. The associate professor of public policy, who is affiliated with Harvard, has written a fascinating book called Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age, due out in September. In it, he argues that technology has inverted our millennia-old relationship with memory.
For most of human history, almost everything people did was forgotten, simply because it was so hard to record and retrieve things. But there was a benefit: "Social forgetting" allowed everyone to move on from embarrassing or ill-conceived moments in their lives.
Digital tools have eliminated that amnesty. Google caches copies of our blog postings; social-networking sites thrive by archiving our daily dish. Society now defaults to a relentless Proustian remembrance of all things past.
The downsides are obvious. We live with a nagging fear that something we say or do online will come back to haunt us years later. (Just ask anyone who's been Google-vetted at the start of a relationship.) "We become enormously more cautious with what we say or do," says Mayer-Schönberger. And society suffers when people stop taking risks.
So what's the solution? Mayer-Schönberger argues that we need to stop creating tools that automatically remember everything. Instead, we need to design them to forget.
As it turns out, software developers are beginning to do just that: They're becoming architects of oblivion. A good example is Drop.io. It's one of many new "private sharing" services that let you upload a file—a picture, a video, whatever—and get a special URL you can give to select friends or workmates. Photographers, for instance, use it to send photos to clients when they want to keep the images under wraps.
But here's what makes Drop.io unique: When you upload a file, the service asks you to put an expiration date on it. It could be a month, a few hours, even "after five people have seen it." If you don't set a date, the default is one year. And when that time arrives, the file is deleted.
The result? Of the tens of millions of files uploaded to Drop.io in the past year and a half, two-thirds no longer exist. As company founder and CEO Sam Lessin says, Drop.io files are "like little wormholes that pop into and out of existence for a specific purpose."
Another case of intentional forgetting is the Guest Pass feature on Flickr. Like Drop.io, it lets you share a specified photo stream by creating dedicated URLs that you can email to friends. And with one click you can "expire" those links. According to senior engineer Kellan Elliott-McCrea, about 11 percent of all Flickr members use Guest Pass, mostly for snapshots of kids, homes, weddings, and parties. That's precisely the kind stuff you want to show off, while retaining the ability to make it go poof.
Of course, there are no guarantees. Someone could take a private file they've been granted temporary access to and re-post it for all to see, forever. But because these systems have been engineered for forgetting, users tend to respect this. Our behavior is shaped by the code.
Mayer-Schönberger thinks all social software should be designed like Drop.io—to at least ask when we want our posts and uploads to be deleted. That way, we'd be more inclined to meditate for a second about whether something ought to live forever. Because in a world of cheap data storage, if we're not prompted to delete, we won't. (By Mayer-Schönberger's calculation, the amount of flash RAM needed to store a photo costs less than the few seconds spent deleting it.)
Being required to think about whether to retain or discard a digital memory will have another side benefit: It will make us pay closer attention—in real time!—to our experiences. If you decide a sunset or a conversation is going to live only in your mind instead of on your hard drive, you'll probably savor it more richly. Just ask Marcel Proust.
Email clive@clivethompson.net.
After nearly five years in draft, the next-generation Wi-Fi standard is set to be finalized in September. Officially known as 802.11n and often referred to as “Wireless N,” the new standard paves the way for blazing fast high definition video and data at home.
Products based on the final 802.11 n standard could offer up to 600 Mbps connectivity speeds, plus the ability to have up to four simultaneous streams of high-definition video, voice and data through the house. The standard also promises easy backward compatibility, which means new devices will work smoothly with older products.
For consumers, the difference in speed and range will be palpable, says Will Strauss, an analyst with Forward Concepts. “Speed is everything and videos are the main driver for this technology,” he says. “When you are home you want to get to YouTube fast and watch video and have a phone connection and surf.”
The 802.11n standard is the successor to the 802.11g Wi-Fi protocol, which offers speeds of up to 54 Mbps. The 802.11n standard’s most important addition has been the multiple-input multiple-output capability, also known as MIMO. MIMO allows for multiple antennas to resolve more information quickly.
Although 802.11n won’t be final until next month, manufacturers have been making products based on a draft version of the standard for several years. These typically offer two or three channels to send and receive data or voice respectively. They also limit the overall speed to much less than the 600 Mbps that newer standard offers.
“So far we have had products based on the version of 802.11n that is fairly basic,” says Kelly Davis-Felner, marketing director for the W-Fi alliance. “Now we are likely to see more devices that have all the bells and whistles in place.”
Chip makers are racing to deliver on that promise. At the Computex show last month, Qualcomm introduced a chip that could make 802.11n a dream standard for users. Qualcomm’s chip offers 4×4 transmit and receive capability, meaning that it uses four separate streams to distribute concurrent voice, video and data in either the 5GHz or 2.4 GHz radio bands.
“At the least we can get six times the speed of the current 802.11g standard,” says Mike Concannon, senior vice president of connectivity and wireless modules for Qualcomm. “That means we can transmit high definition video across multiple rooms in a pretty large house with just one access point.”
The chip, WCN 1320, is expected to be available in consumer devices, such as routers and set-top boxes, early next year.
Qualcomm competitors such as Broadcom and Atheros are fighting to catch up. The latter have chips based on the 802.11n draft standard but only with 2×2 or 3×3 MIMO capability, for either two or three simultaneous data channels.
Qualcomm’s latest chip also promises coverage of a 4,000 square feet with a single access point, compared to the two or more repeaters or boosters that would be required to cover the same area with 802.11g products.
“The challenge with today’s Wi-Fi is rate vs. range,” says Concannon. “In your house if you are right next to the access point you can get really good data rate but if you go around the corner not so much.” So if you have a McMansion or just a weird layout, that means adding repeaters or multiple access points to boost the range.
There is some fine print. The high speeds and MIMO capability work best only when devices such as notebooks and routers support it. Though the standard is be backward compatible, supporting older devices will cramp its style.
“To have true 4×4 MIMO capability, both ends of the connection need to support that feature,” says Strauss. “The notebooks and desktops that we have today won’t help.”
Qualcomm says it is working with device makers to help bring the chips to upcoming products.
See Also:
Photo: (Florian/Flickr)
BoomTown is certainly going to be one of the many-so-many who immediately fork over whatever it takes to get my mitts on the upcoming tablet device from Apple.
And that’s why, according to a new report from Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Gene Munster–who is monk-like in his devotion to writing down every scrap of information he can scrape up about whatever Apple HQ in Cupertino, Calif., deigns to release–it’s going to be raining money down on the company, just like manna from heaven.
That would be $1.2 billion in revenue in calendar year 2010, after he estimated that Apple (AAPL) will sell two million units at a price of $600.
“While at first glance this may appear to address a niche market, we believe the addressable market is larger than that of the Apple TV, of which Apple sold about 1.2m in its first year,” wrote Munster.
He apparently spoke to some leaky Asian component suppliers, who have received orders from Apple, to be “fulfilled by late CY09.”
Munster, who also provided the mock-up image of the Jesus Tablet seen above (it will take its place next to the Jesus Phone and Jesus Pod), wrote that the device was pretty much a larger iPod touch.
It will run all the usual apps and have some extra ones, specially designed for the big screen, he predicted.
It will also be Web-connected and, of course, is a touchscreen and play all kinds of media, like music, games and video.
But don’t call it a netbook!
“We believe an Apple tablet would be priced 30%-50% below the $999 MacBook, and would offer best in class web, email, and media software,” wrote Munster. “In other words, we believe Apple’s tablet would compete well in the netbook category even though it would not be a netbook.”
Also, there will be a 3G modem–personally, we all pray Apple picks Verizon (VZ) and not AT&T (T) to be the mobile provider–with a possible subsidy on the sale of the device.
The hype around the new and doubtlessly innovative Apple product–my vote for a name is that it will be called iTablet–is likely to grow into the fall, especially if it is introduced by the miraculously on-the-mend CEO Steve Jobs.
Apple fanboys: Can you say Hallelujah?
Sanyo just announced this new product a couple days ago &mdash it's a battery-heated rechargeable neck warmer that zips up into a turtleneck. This would be awesome for ski season.
[Press release (Japanese)]
This piece of furniture designed by Jamie Hayon is called The Rockin' Hot Dog.
[Hayon Studio via Dezeen]
Music should live in the cloud. That's obvious. Even a vinyl-loving audiophile with super-powered, magical eardrums would likely agree that most semi-casual listeners — which is most of us — shouldn't have to manage jewel cases or migrate tracks from disc to computer to thumb or hard drive ad nauseam.
I never bought into Rhapsody. I think Lala is a joke (especially with all the pricing flip-flops). I tried imeem and like the interface/functionality, but don't have time to invest in another social network. Pandora is overrated (every time I listen, I skip more tracks than I listen to). Napster's had so many incarnations, I've lost count and interest. I've never given Last.fm a go, because frankly, I've grown tired of all of these services which get close to what I want, but not quite.
My CD collection — which is in the 1,500-2,000 range — is somewhat organized. It lives in a series of alphabetical bins stacked in a hall closet. Once a month, or less, I'll go searching for a disc. Maybe I'll find it. Maybe not. Thus, I'll re-buy. A bummer, but worthwhile if I want to hear the Beach Boys "Let the Wind Blow" and put it on my iPhone, instead of streaming an inferior file on YouTube. $0.99 isn't all that bad. But it adds up. Besides, what else can I do, without illegally downloading?
Spotify is a desktop app that lets you stream 3.8 million songs — for free. While it isn't perfect, it sure does blow away the above-noted competition.
For two weeks, I've been listening and, better yet, collecting hundreds of songs that I've structured into a variety of playlists so that I can listen, on repeat.
In a word, the service is: AWESOME.
Here's the jist:
The Rad
The selection is pretty solid: I've searched and found dozens of albums and artists I haven't listened to in, literally, years. That's my favorite part: no more diving into the closet and flipping through jewel cases; no more re-buying just to hear a song on-demand; no risk of getting sued just cause I want to hear Joy Division's "Digital" 137 times yesterday and today. Plus, new releases from the kinds of bands you'll hear on KCRW and some college radio stations.
The UI is logical and smooth, as is the streaming itself. Tracks play, more or less, instantaneously. No disheartening buffering. The free account features tracks at 160kbps. You can, of course, pay up for better sound. I doubt I ever would or will.
It's legal, thanks to licensing. Supposedly there are ads that get inserted into your playlists. In the two weeks I've been listening, I haven't seen or heard one ad. That's great for me. That's not so good for the advertisers. Go figure.
There are a bevy of fun, useful features which you can dive into — drag-and-drop playlist creation, artist/song search, artist radio (not great, imho, but comparable to other streaming radio stations), collaborative playlists, sharing to Facebook — OR NOT. If you have no interest in exploring these, no problem. The UI isn't gunked up with tons of buttons or links to confuse a casual listener. As such, it's unbelievably easy to get started and just listen to music.
You can also choose genres, years, and mix and match: 80s goth, 90s dance, or even something like 70s country/reggae:
The Not-So-Rad
Spotify sports a list of similar artists and artist radio, but I'm not finding this to be all that much of a mind-blowing music discovery tool. At least, not to the point that I've gone ahead and purchased or saved many "new" artists I've never heard of or lesser-known tracks from artists I do know.
The Meh
1) No Beatles. No LedZep. Even mid-level bands are noticeably absent or incomplete: Wolf Parade's second album but not it's first (and best).
2) Oh, and because of legal issues, it's currently available only in the UK, France, Spain, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
3) I can't imagine Apple will ever allow the iPhone app to pass go and collect $200m [via Lifehacker]:
photo by RodBegbie
: The most immediately noticeable thing about the myTouch 3G is its new styling. Gone is the clumsy, Sidekick-like chassis of the G1, replaced with a classic, scalloped shell and — more importantly — a much smaller size. At just 4.1 ounces it's tiny in comparison to the G1 (though the screen is almost the same size, at 3.2 inches diagonally), easily fitting in a pocket and comfortable to hold.
A capable 3.2-megapixel camera/camcorder rounds out the package. In all, the myTouch has smoothed out nearly all of the G1's numerous rough edges. We may not be dumping our iPhones for it just yet, but at least the open source crowd no longer has to be embarrassed about its top-of-the-line handset.
WIRED Top-to-bottom hardware redesign is a big win, with thoughtful new features. Outstanding battery life. Generally crystalline call quality. Solid selection of downloadable applications.
TIRED Screen gets smudged easily and is harder to wipe clean than competitors. 4-GB base memory is still on the weak side. No standard headphone jack (mini-USB adapter required). T-Mobile 3-G network still comparatively small.
$200 (with 2-year contract), t-mobile.com
Read our full HTC T-Mobile myTouch 3G review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: The Kirov is waterproof so any of your hydrophobic electronics are completely safe in the event of an unexpected downpour, spilled soda or water landing. It's also got a great assortment of pockets; bicycle enthusiasts will love the zippered front pouch that can hold a tire pump and a side slot that is built to hold a U-lock. Inexplicably, Chrome omitted a laptop sleeve. But that almost doesn't matter — the Kirov's slim shoulder straps and ergonomic back pad made this the most comfortable pack we tested.
There's a price to pay for that comfort though — the pack's ample mass makes it awkward on crowded city buses and trains.
WIRED Fully waterproof means no headaches about your pricey gadgets getting fried by H2O. Extremely comfortable. Adjusting straps is a cinch thanks to metal buckles.
TIRED Bag is bigger than Kanye West's ego. Lack of laptop sleeve is confusing and adds a bit of tarnish to Chrome's otherwise sterling rep.
$190, chromebags.com
Read our full Chrome Kirov review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Olympus Pen is a lot of fun to use. It looks like a camera your dad might have had, and that's no coincidence: Olympus had a hit in the '60s and '70s with a line of film-based Pen F cameras that served as a bridge between Instamatics and 35mm SLRs. It's attractive and flashy while the shiny metal body feels dense, solid and more real than a plastic compact camera.
The three-inch LCD is clear and bright, and that's good, because with no viewfinder you're relying on it to compose your shots. That can make manual focusing an exercise in Heisenbergian ambiguity: You can either be in focus or have a well-framed shot, but not both. When you turn the focus ring, the viewfinder zooms in to a tiny detail of the frame, letting you easily judge the clarity, but also robbing you of the ability to see the whole picture. It's like composing shots by looking through a long cardboard tube.
WIRED Mighty Four Thirds sensor dwarfs the imagers used in all other compact cameras. Interchangeable lenses give flexibility, arty possibilities. Shoots fast. Image stabilization + wide ISO range = ability to shoot in low light. Shoots excellent HD video (AVI format, 1,280 x 720 pixels, 30 frames per second.) Retro looks will trigger salivating in photo geeks and design fans.
TIRED Manual focusing is confusing and difficult without an optical viewfinder. No included flash. Maximum aperture of f3.5 in the kit lens is disappointing. Kit lens requires a manual "press and twist" maneuver to extend it into shooting position. Recorded sound is so-so; internal microphone will also pick up whirring from the lens if you zoom in and out.
$800, olympusamerica.com
Read our full Olympus Pen E-P1 review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Originally designed for dentists who wanted to shoot pictures of bicuspids, ring flashes spread light evenly and softly over small surfaces. What do we love 'em for? Portrait photography in a pinch. There’s really nothing better than these rings of fire when you’re shooting in the field and don’t have access to a studio.
One of the cheapest we tested was the Lomography ring flash. The donut-size device fits perfectly into any (surprise!) Lomo branded camera but we also wiggled it into the hotshoe of a Canon 5D Mark II and Nikon D300 fairly easily. The flash comes with four different color filters, making it easy to add some trippy effects on the fly. But the thing is cheap — both in price and build quality. We were constantly in fear it would shatter like a Faberge egg.
WIRED Fits perfectly with Lomo-branded cameras, but can be snuggled into almost any hotshoe. Multicolored filters yield some psychedelic effects. The most affordable of the flashes tested. Yeah, it was designed with shutterbug hipsters in mind; doesn't mean photo geeks can't love it too.
TIRED Color filters broke after a week of use. Super cheap plastic construction means this flash will likely shatter after prolonged use, but it's not really meant to do heavy lifting anyway.
$65, lomography.com
Read our full Lomography Ring Flash review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: The Pro supports RAW images, and it's the major selling point of this model. Previous Eye-Fi cards only supported compressed images like jpegs — essentially a deal-killer for pros and serious photobugs. Another fantastic new feature is the ability to use the card with an ad hoc Wi-Fi network, aka a computer-to-computer wireless network. This option is fantastic for photographers working remotely, as it allows you to get your images onto a computer instantly and wirelessly, even if there is no available network.
WIRED Handles RAW like your favorite sushi chef. Auto-geotagging puts your photos on the map without any effort from you. Ad-hoc network connection means you can go cable-less on remote shoots. Connects to open hotspots, so you can hog your neighbor's bandwidth for those massive RAW image uploads.
TIRED No options for automatically piping photos to apps other than iPhoto. Double-image uploading makes our Delete button feel sad and used.
$150, eye.fi
Read our full Eye-Fi Pro review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: The acceleration is so immediate you can feel your eyeballs deform under the G-forces. It's a sensation of isolationist joy, an out-of-body awareness that you're moving faster than the world can react. Bystanders vaguely remember seeing a flash of expensive paint a few seconds after you disappear over the horizon; entire generations of insects die on your prow. Passing other motorists becomes a dangerous entitlement that has you resenting oncoming traffic for hogging your "VIP lane" — especially when you realize that you can outrun not only the 5-0's cruisers, but their helicopters, too. If they wanna catch you, they're gonna have to dust off Airwolf and drag Jan Michael Vincent out of rehab.
But even if its nav system shouted insults at you, it would be hard to complain about this machine. It is not perfect — no car will ever be. But it's close. And it will likely remain as close as a car with a gasoline-burning engine will ever get. We're at the end of the petroleum era, the end of a golden age of supercars where speed can be sought regardless of consequence. Maybe Tesla will have its day on a Trapper Keeper with a juice box that tops 250. But whatever we're drooling over next year, whatever makes its way onto the dorm-room walls and man-children's screen-savers, it won't run on petrol. Unless it's still a Veyron: the last king of the gas-guzzlers, forever the greatest. All hail.
WIRED Best car in the world.
TIRED No cupholder.
$2,100,000 (as tested), bugatti.com
Read our full Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: At the annual Wired summer cook-off, we've got the BTUs covered with the Solaire Portable Infrared Grill. The biggest kicker with the Solaire is not just how much heat the toolbox-size barbecue can muster (a respectable 14,000 BTUs), but how quickly it reaches that max output.
After firing up the propane, we found the 155-square-inch grill raring to go in about two and a half minutes. Simply put, the grill handles and outputs better than any portable propane grill we've put our wieners on. The propane heats a ceramic tile at the base of the grill, sending infrared heat direct to the meat, which helps lock in flavors by vaporizing much of the drippings. Unlike a lot of propane stoves, we found the heat to be much more evenly distributed, allowing for some thoroughly cooked steak.
WIRED Stainless steel body looks cooler than a cucumber, hotter than a 1973 Porsche. Grill heats up fast (>3 minutes). Relatively lightweight and easy to pack, maintain. No briquettes, coal or ashes to stash. No harsh lighter fuels.
TIRED Is it OK to use non-Kobe beef on a grill this expensive? Eats up gas faster than a stretch Hummer limo: We cooked for 45 minutes total and were left with less than half of a 1-pound tank of gas (note: we grilled on high).
$400, Solaire
Read our full Solaire Portable Infrared Grill review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Asus also has its finger on the internet's pulse — it knows that fanboys are clamoring for a touch-enabled, ultra-cheap laptop. Its newest effort gives the people what they want in the form of the PC T91, a netbook with a (resistive) touchscreen.
To be sure, corners have to be aggressively trimmed in order to create a $500 tablet. The Asus PC T91 offers an impossibly murky 8.9-inch screen, a woefully tiny 16-GB SSD drive, 1 gig of RAM, and a slower (1.33 GHz) version of the Intel Atom CPU. The results shouldn't surprise you: The T91 is incredibly sluggish — it turned in the second-lowest score on PC Mark05 we've ever seen. Really, performing any operation with the T91 makes its gears grind.
This isn't to say the T91 has no redeeming features. It's got an impressive battery life of about four hours and an impressive weight of just 2.1 pounds — about the same as the original Asus Eee PC, which had just a 7-inch screen. Very thin, portable and classically designed, the machine also looks a lot better than its performance would suggest -- and at just $500, it's the cheapest tablet PC on the market.
WIRED To mitigate the 16-GB SSD, Asus throws in a 16-GB SD card and 20 GB of free online storage. Includes Bluetooth and Draft-N Wi-Fi. Super good looks. Superfly price.
TIRED To mitigate the 16-GB SSD, Asus is forced to throw in a 16-GB SD card and 20 GB of free online storage. Extremely slow, with very limited expandability. Only two USB ports. Difficult touchpad button design.
$500, as tested asus.com
Read our full Asus Eee PC T91 "Touch" review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: The Knog Nerd is a well-designed, easy-to-use bike computer that's basically a speedometer, an odometer and little more. The display is easy to read with nice, big numbers. It has a great scrolling animation that indicates speed changes visually. The numbers scroll up when you're going faster, down when decelerating, a nice design touch.
Operation is a single button affair. Actually, there's no button — at least, no button in sight. You press the bottom of the screen to trigger a button hidden within the Nerd's silicone exterior. Each press of the screen cycles through a different mode: current speed, trip distance, ride time, odometer and so on.
The Nerd comes in a 9-function model for $70, which includes the above functions plus average speed, maximum speed, relative speed (a graph showing current versus average speed), battery level. There's also a "scanning" mode that loops through all the functions. A $90, 12-function model adds support for two bikes, plus distance per day and a backlight.
WIRED Simple wireless setup. Dead-easy, one-button operation. Slick animated display. Available in six colors, including black and white.
TIRED Slightly confusing manual. No backlight on the nine-function model. The white model soon looks grimy.
$70, as tested knog.com.au
Read our full Knog Nerd bike computer review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Ever wonder what it feels like to hit a small, white sphere with a lit piece of dynamite? That's pretty much the sensation you get when teeing off with the R9, the newest driver to come from the link masters at Taylor Made.
The R9 offers several options for customizing the club face and loft and lie angles. Since our shots were careening into the left-hand portion of the driving range, we took the included torque wrench and cocked the club head a degree to the right. Bam, problem solved and shots straightened.
The club also embeds a 16-gram weight that can be installed in the heel, toe or back of the club head to affect the ball's trajectory. We tinkered with moving this stud around and were able to perfect a wicked fade and a slick draw. But for the most part, we preferred a neutral trajectory and just left the weight in the rear position of the club head.
WIRED Club head + solid contact with ball = a sound like an F-18 breaking the sound barrier. Customization options let golfers with different swing styles fire blasts like the pros. Comfy grip won't lead to blistered thumbs.
TIRED Learning curve almost as steep as the R9's premium price. You'll spend a lot of time at the driving range figuring out exactly which configuration works best for you. Club head adjustments can only be made with proprietary R9 torque wrench.
$400, taylormadegolf.com
Read our full Taylor Made R9 Driver.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Costing a mere 700 bucks, including a 14-42mm, f3.5-5.6 zoom lens, the E-620 combines a decent sensor, a fast shutter, reasonable optics and the aforementioned pint-sized price tag. It's a good starter camera for someone who just graduated from point-and-click school and wants to get into DSLR University.
The camera's heart is a 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor measuring 17.3mm x 13mm. That's about half the size of a 35mm film frame, but is many times larger than the sensors in most point-and-shoots, which translates into greater low-light sensitivity and less noise in the resulting images.
Unfortunately, while the E-620 delivers great images in most circumstances, it falls flat in low light compared with other SLRs. It struggles to focus and to capture images when the lighting is dim, and dialing the ISO above 1,000 introduces a lot of grainy noise into the photos.
WIRED Easy to use. Lithe and compact size for a DSLR. Spiffy swiveling LCD screen. Excellent shots in photon-rich environments. Body-based image stabilization. Easy to configure in both automatic and manual modes.
TIRED Poor low-light performance. Noisy images above ISO 1000. Doesn't shoot video. Plastic body and lens construction feels like it could break if squeezed too hard.
$700 (as tested), olympusamerica.com
Read our full Olympus E-620 DSLR.
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: The T400s has performance that is simply outstanding: While graphics are a tad weak due to the lack of a video card, the high-end CPU (the newest Core 2 Duo SP9600, running at 2.53 GHz), 2 GB of RAM and 128-GB solid-state drive give the T400s plenty of juice to power through general apps, running rings around nearly all other notebooks we've benchmarked this year. The screen, now backlit by LEDs, is also dazzlingly bright — one of the brightest on the market, especially in this size class. Netbook and MacBook Air users, take a back seat: There's also a DVD burner.
ThinkPad geeks will most enjoy the little tweaks that Lenovo has given the T400s: The Esc and Delete keys are now double-sized for easier access, and though the speakers still suck, at least the unit features better volume controls, including a dedicated microphone On/Off button. A 2-megapixel webcam with dual microphones rests atop the LCD, and then there's the textured, multitouch touchpad — now flush with the palm rest — that is possibly the most comfortable touchpad we've ever used.
WIRED Unparalleled performance from a 14-inch laptop. Nearly as thin as a MacBook Air — including an optical drive. Killer touchpad (plus TrackPoint for old-schoolers). Plus: Caps Lock LED!
TIRED Only three USB ports. Fn key where the Ctrl key goes. Unbelievably tinny, distant audio. So-so battery life (2 hours, 11 minutes). No ExpressCard slot.
$2,000, lenovo.com
Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad T400s review.
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: The act of boiling water hasn't changed much since your cave-dwelling ancestor Og heated fetid H2O in a mammoth skull.
That's why the Chef's Choice SmartKettle is an enormous evolutionary leap forward for teakettles — and for tea nerds. The device adds a geeky element to the mundane task of stoking liquids by letting you punch in the exact temperature you want.
Operation is dead simple: Just enter a temperature on the unit's recessed front panel. We set ours to 185 degrees Fahrenheit for green tea, filled it to its max capacity of 1.5 quarts, and in five minutes the solid stainless steel kettle produced agua caliente at exactly the desired temp. (We checked.)
WIRED First electric kettle to quickly heat water to the exact temperature you specify. Handsome and sturdy stainless steel pitcher. Alarm sounds just like a teakettle's whistle.
TIRED Safety/power-saving features over-complicate the act of boiling water.
$100, edgecraft.com
Read our full Chef's Choice SmartKettle Model 688 review.
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: The awkwardly-named w995a is a solid-feeling slider. At 4 ounces it sits comfortably in the hand, and the mechanism for sliding up the screen and exposing the keypad felt solid even after repeated use. Since Sony conceived of the w995 as a media player, its button layout is relatively stripped down and geared towards multimedia playback. In addition to the typical "call" and "end" buttons, the face of the handset sports four somewhat flimsy multi-purpose softkeys and a decent four-directional D-pad.
It's clear that Sony wanted to craft a fun, functional phone, and they've largely succeeded in that endeavor. We can think of a few other devices that do a better job of nailing specific features. But Sony at least is on the right path when it comes to producing a very capable, versatile phone.
WIRED Standard headphone jack FTW. Slick animated menus and overall presentation. Sports a mini-kickstand for propping the phone up to watch video. Brilliant and colorful 2.6-inch 320x240 display. Decent audio clarity when using headphones. Decent data speeds with both 3-G and Wi-fi connections. Supports MPEG4, WMV, RealVideo, 3GPP, and H.264 video playback.
TIRED Low volume for music and calls. Music or voice, it doesn't matter — the speakerphone just sucks. E-mail client is both chintzy, web-based. Mediocre call quality. Buttons so recessed they need a government bailout.
$600, sonystyle.com
Read our full Sony Ericsson W995a review.
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: The iPhone 3GS combines two sets of advances. The first group is available only to purchasers of the new hardware. The rest of the features are part of Apple's iPhone 3.0 software upgrade, which is offered free to those with earlier iPhones. (iPod Touch users can get the new software for $10.)
I'll talk about the hardware-based features first. As promised, Apple has indeed ramped up the speed with which the new phone performs tasks like launching apps, loading web pages, and displaying graphics. Apple claims speed boosts of up to two times of what the 3G delivers, and in some benchmarks cites even better performance. I haven't done scientific measurements, but you don't need a stopwatch to notice the new phone is zippier than its predecessor. I appreciated getting box scores faster and videos playing sooner in the MLB.com At Bat application, and it was clear that web pages loaded faster. In the case of a game like Tiger Woods Golf, the boost is significant enough to make me more likely to play when I don't have much time.
Photos were a weak spot in previous iPhones — they weighed in at a measly 2 megapixels — but the iPhone 3GS has a 3-megapixel, autofocusing camera that's more sensitive and allows you to choose an object to focus on by tapping on it. (No zoom, though. Bummer.) Better yet, the camera also records quite creditable video. After you shoot your clip, there's a dead-simple function for instant editing, after which you can send your masterpiece to YouTube or Mobile Me with a single tap.
WIRED Faster. More storage. Better camera, with video recording capability. Search encompasses more data, not just one app at a time. Voice navigation. Feature-rich iPhone 3.0 software is free to current iPhone users.
TIRED Multitasking still limited. No tethering or MMS support yet for AT&T users. Recent iPhone 3G customers must pay a fortune to upgrade.
$300 (32-GB version, with 2-year contract), apple.com
Read our full iPhone 3GS review.
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:
TomTom's Go Live 740 is a new breed of web-ready GPS in which web access seems like a well-integrated enhancement, not a useless afterthought.
At almost half a pound it sits comfortably in hand, and its colorful 4.3-inch 320 × 240 touch screen is both bright and responsive to repeated pokes. And with its 2GB of memory, microSD port, and integrated Bluetooth we were able to smoothly navigate between a number of tasks, such as listening to music and using the integrated speaker for hands-free calls while paired with a cell phone.
WIRED Svelte, smooth-to-touch design and construction. Decent signal acquisition times (average of four minutes on a cold start). Sports both Bluetooth audio and file exchange capabilities. Intuitive, touch-based interface and menu tree. Allows instant messaging with other TomTom users. Comes with car charger, dash mount, USB cradle charger. It feels ... sexy.
TIRED Navigational interface displays waaay too much information at one time (speed, distance, current time, arrival time, current street, next turn, distance to turn, etc.). Sketchy voice recognition doesn't cut it. Web-enabled services are only free for the first 90 days ($10/mo. afterwards). Speaker would occasionally sound garbled, mispronounce common street names.
$370, TomTom.com
Read our full TomTom Go Live 740 review
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:
The coolest trick the Alias 2 can pull off is changing from a number pad to a text keyboard as you flip it open. It's a cool trick and makes the Alias 2 somewhat like the Optimus Maximus of phones. This keyboard beats a touchscreen any day of the week; the little mounds offer tactile feedback not found in any iDevice.
In stark contrast to the phone's E Ink deftness other parts of the Alias 2 are decidedly girlish and silly. An included theme for the phone evokes a she-teen boudoir that counts colorful Trapper-Keepers, potted plants and a rainbow peeking in the window among its touches. Access the menu, and the room comes alive, with menu items as knick-knacks, recent calls as a dorm message board and utilities in a toolbox on the floor. Fortunately, you can change this, if you dig around in settings long enough. The preinstalled ringtones are laughable, ranging from cheesy period pieces, to earsplitting high-range electronica, to faux hip-hop distilled somewhere in Seoul's equivalent of 8 Mile. Anyone with a shred of self-respect would be wise to immediately hop on the internet and download a decent Black Sabbath riff for a ringtone.
WIRED E Ink keyboard morphs button layouts when switching from phone to messaging device. Voice quality is high. Battery life is nearly six hours. Reasonably priced.
TIRED The Dear Diary feel of the interface is at odds with anyone over 13. My Room Menu theme is embarrassing. Lack of dedicated buttons leave you hunting and pecking for even the most common tasks.
$130 (with a two year contract), samsung.com
Read our full Samsung Alias 2 review.
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:
Size seems to matter to the folks at Amazon. While the Kindle 2 has a 6-inch (measured diagonally) e-ink screen — roughly the area of a mass-market paperback book — the DX's 9.7-inch screen resembles a page from a typical hardback. Put another way, the DX flaunts 2.5 times more display space. More text on a page means more lines and, if you prefer, a bigger font, without having to turn the page as often. What does that mean for you? It's easier to read using the DX.
By elegantly super-sizing the Kindle — and ramping up its ability to read files — Amazon has improved the best all-around e-reader available. But the hefty price tag doesn't fit Jeff Bezo's stated philosophy of getting the best value for his customers.
WIRED Big-screen device that's even more readable than the original Kindle. PDF support is a welcome addition.
TIRED High cost of admission. Pivot mode has hair trigger. Southpaws will find the reader cumbersome.
$490, amazon.com
Read our full Amazon.com Kindle DX review.
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: Shaped like a small bar of shower soap, the dense, ebony Pre matches many (if not all) of the features of its chief competitor, the iPhone. But in one key aspect, the Pre does the iPhone one better. While a lot of the Pre's features — a bright 3.1-inch touchscreen manipulated by taps, swipes and pinches; apps sold by third parties in an open online bazaar; integration of e-mail, contacts and calendar — are now standard in 3G smartphones, Palm also lets users keep multiple applications running simultaneously.
Its long-term prospects, though, hinge on whether or not all those third-party apps will show up, whether Sprint can satisfy users, and whether Apple has something up its sleeve that counters the Palm's gambits. Also, of course, the Pre has to prove stable and reliable. (Our test unit occasionally suffered opening-day jitters, including a crash that was fixed only by taking out the removable battery.)
WIRED Great look and superb feel. Well-conceived OS with multitasking and instant notification. Physical keyboard. Utilizes iTunes to load and refresh content.
TIRED Multitasking puts a big suck on the battery. Sprint exclusivity will be annoying to Palm-philes on a contract with AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile. Keyboard is puny. If Apple blocks the handset's access to iTunes, Pre users are hosed.
$200 (with two year contract), palm.com
Read our full Palm Pre review.
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: Demonstrating that it's serious about making a run at the top-end offerings from Canon and Nikon, the K-7 bows with a spankin' new 14.6 megapixel, 28.1mm (diagonal) CMOS image sensor and an updated Prime II processor. This enables HD-video capture, built-in high dynamic range shooting, a 77-segment metering system, pre- and post-production filtering and distortion correction, all in a form factor more than 10 percent smaller (and actually easier to handle) than its predecessor, the K20D.
By and large, it's a super quick focusing compact image-maker — once you learn how the menu system works. But it's just a step or two behind Nikon and Canon in ease of use. In spite of that, Pentax has nearly hit a home run with the K-7. It's svelte, sturdy, fairly easy to operate, has a great range of available lenses and a feature set that's unmatched at this price. Think of it as a solid double off the wall, with an RBI.
WIRED Speedy 5.2 frames per second. Super-sturdy construction. Lots of pro features at a prosumer price. Improved battery life and 100 percent field-of-view viewfinder. Faster, more robust processor. Live View with contrast focus and face detection. Shoots 5.2 frames-per-second with shutter speed up to 1/8000. The 77-segment metering system and 11-point AF system are quick and spot on. Internal mechanical shake reduction.
TIRED User interface needs to be simpler and more unified.
$1,300 (body only), pentax.com
Read our full Pentax K-7 DSLR review.
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: The A600's 21.5-inch screen (1920 x 1080 pixels) is big and dazzlingly bright — so much so that Lenovo includes an automatic screen-dimming system designed to prevent eyestrain. Inside its bowels, this 25-pounder offers substantial specs: 2.13-GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 GB of RAM, and a terabyte hard drive. The ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics card may be getting a little long in the tooth, but it's powerful enough to make the A600 more than acceptable to play all but the very latest gaming titles.
That's a lot of stuff for the price — $1,150 — and stripped-down versions of the IdeaCentre run considerably less. If you don't need the power but dig the design and screen size, the budget rendition might be an even better bet.
WIRED Very small footprint. Single-cable design is a blessing for technophobes. Swivel base makes adjustments to viewing angle easy. Six USB ports and 802.11n Wi-Fi, plus FireWire, SD and coaxial connectors.
TIRED Keyboard and mouse frequently fall asleep; difficult to awaken. Remote control overly complex and rather homely. Included games feel like an engineer on Quaaludes designed them.
$1,150 (as tested), lenovo.com
Read our full Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 review.
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: Its glossy black finish and polished Darth Vader design makes Samsung's newest Blu-ray box, the BD-P4600, stand out from every other player on the market. Well, it actually doesn't stand anywhere at all -- it comes with the metal brackets to mount it on a wall or plant it on a desktop pedestal. And like Lord Vader, this model packs some serious force with its built-in streaming for Pandora music and Netflix.
For $100 less, you could pick up Samsung's BD-P3600 a player that has all the same features as this model but comes in a non-wall-mountable chassis. But really, would you want to watch The Empire Strikes Back on a Blu-ray player that didn't look like it was made in a dark corner of Coruscant?
WIRED High-end, spacey designed Blu-ray player is loaded with features include ability to wall mount, loads Blu-ray discs exceptional fast and offers exceptional playback.
TIRED Complicated initial setup for its feature set. Cramped underside port-connection compartment. Competitively over priced for what it delivers.
$500, samsung.com
Read our full Samsung BD-P4600 review.
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: Let's cut to the chase and hit you with the sell: The MSI X340 is a MacBook Air at half the price. Interested? Read on.
For starters, the X340 (aka the X Slim) is considerably better muscled than your typical netbook, featuring a glossy 13.4-inch (1366 x 768 pixels) screen, 320-GB hard drive and 2 GB of RAM. Like Apple's ultralight, it's incredibly thin — about 0.8 inches at its thickest — and it actually weighs slightly less than the Air, just 2.9 pounds.
Before you start salivating over the prospects of a half-price Air, note that Apple's laptop does trump the X340 in a few significant ways. The Air includes Nvidia graphics, while the X340 is stuck with Intel's integrated chipset.
The screens are night and day: The Air is renowned for having one of the brightest LCDs available, while the X340 is merely average in this department.
WIRED Gorgeous design; slap an Apple sticker over the MSI logo and no one will ever know. Performance bests most netbooks, though it's hardly top-notch. Surprisingly good graphics and responsiveness. Includes the usual goodies: 1.3-MP webcam, Bluetooth, 802.11n.
TIRED Flaky touchpad. Disappointing battery life.
$900 (as tested), us.msi.com
Read our full MSI X340 review.
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: The first day we took the car for a spin we kept the front-mounted 5.9-liter 470 BHP vehicle on a strict diet of city driving: no freeways, no tightly coiled back roads. Trudging through heavy traffic almost felt sadistic — kind of like taking a thoroughbred racehorse and giving it polio. But after exiting the city limits and tearing down a stretch of asphalt connecting San Francisco with Napa Valley, the DB9 snapped up, greedily devouring 90-degree curves with just a hint of oversteer.
WIRED Fast like a sports car, more refined than a quart of 40-weight. Gorgeous; induces whiplash in head-turning bystanders. Zippy acceleration for a GT — you can't front on a 4.6-second zero-to-60 time ... unless you're armed with a Ferrari or a Bentley.
TIRED Hood-release switch located in impossibly hard to find/reach nook (as if an Aston owner would ever do that). iPod access tres difficult to set up. Chugs gas like an ASU freshman rips beer-bong hits. Back seat harder to get into than MIT.
$209,000 as tested, astonmartin.com
Read our full Aston Martin DB9 review.
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: If you don't mind looking like an extra in a 1-800-Dentist commercial and have no reservations about looking like a crazy person yammering to yourself, the Plantronics Voyager Pro may be the perfect Bluetooth headset for you.
This headset is big, bulky and (surprise, surprise) silly looking. The 3-inch boom extending out toward your mouth is the main culprit of these crimes against style. But despite being tacky, the Voyager Pro delivers strong performance. It's easy to use, withstands drops, bumps and haphazardly tossed laptops, has decent battery life and pairs effortlessly with a range of smartphones, including the iPhone.
WIRED Easy to use. Super sound quality. Stays attached to your ear. You will look like a telephone operator from the '50s.
TIRED You will look like a telephone operator from the '50s.
$100, plantronics.com
Read our full Plantronics Voyager Pro Bluetooth Headset review.
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: After a few grim years ceded to the iMac, PC-based all-in-one desktops are making an LL Cool J-esque comeback. Their next move: Make the switch from semi-luxe gear designed for highly aesthetic environments to the megacheap world that the netbook has built.
Specs look exceedingly promising at first: 250 GB of hard drive space, 2 GB of RAM, integrated Wi-Fi, DVD burner, an SD card slot and a very bright 19-inch touchscreen display. If nothing else, it's one of the best-looking touchscreens (non-capacitive; a stylus works better than your finger) we've seen at this screen size.
But the Achilles' heel of the Wind Top is its baffling choice of an Atom 330 processor to power these guts. Although the dual-core 330 is known as the "fast" version of the Atom (it draws 8 watts instead of the 2.5 watts used by the netbook standard Atom N270 and has double the L2 cache), it's still woefully inadequate for a computer this ambitious.
WIRED Amazingly affordable and loaded to the gills. Touchscreen makes this a perfect kiddie computer. Slim profile lets it fit just about anywhere. Cuter than a box of puppies.
TIRED Performance problems dog the user at every turn. Flashing blue hard-drive activity light is front and center, terribly distracting and impossible to cover up. Bundled keyboard and mouse are beyond cheap. Webcam aim can't be adjusted.
$590 (as tested), us.msi.com
Read our full MSI Wind Top AE1900 review.
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: The new Chrome Soyuz is an ambitious (if slightly crazed) reimagining of the urban commuter backpack. It's a weird hybrid of a river-rafting drybag and laptop case, all contained within a stylish wedge of black and red nylon.
It sits comfortably behind your back, letting you weave through traffic on your fixie without fear of snagging on the projecting mirrors of double-parked delivery trucks. It can ride between your knees on a crowded train. And it tucks neatly below an airplane seat, leaving just enough space on either side to squeeze in your feet so you can stretch your legs.
WIRED Wedge design keeps load balanced, trim and compact. Expandable waterproof compartment shrinks down to nothing when empty. Heavy-duty 1,000-denier cordura nylon withstands abuse. Main compartments are completely waterproof. Heavy-duty metal strap locks make adjustment easy. Glorious enameled metal "Chrome" logo.
TIRED Narrow openings + deep compartments = where the hell did my keys go? Not quite big enough to contain a six-pack (unless you put the bottles in one by one). Padding traps heat, steaming your back on long rides. No hip belt. Pricier than a metric ton of pig iron.
$180, chromebags.com
Read our full Chrome Soyuz Backpack review.
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: The pristine fidelity these headphones deliver is the result of a dual-armature layout, which bathes your tympanic membranes in accurate audio reproduction. The earpiece's dual drivers have the added benefit of propping up the typically flaccid base that seems to plague many other in-ear monitors.
The only major downside is that great sound comes at a considerable price — $230 to be precise. For most people, that's likely to be as much (or more) than you spent on your MP3 player. But as my neglected Audio Technicas can attest, in this case, you undoubtedly get what you pay for.
WIRED Exquisite sound reproduction in an insanely small package. Handy in-flight attenuator saves you from Captain Blowhard's eardrum-exploding announcements. Fuller, richer base and wider frequency response than previous UEs.
TIRED Spendiferous. Cable noise will distract joggers or anyone planning to use the headphones while exercising. Despite its redesign, the pocket case is still too small to fit all the accouterments.
$230, ultimateears.com
Read our full Ultimate Ears 700 Noise-Isolating Earphones review.
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: Digeo's Moxi HD DVR sports a slick, Emmy-winning (seriously) user interface and all the commercial-skipping accouterments of competitors like TiVo. It even ditches a monthly bill in favor of flat pricing and grants access to online video and music.
The Moxi's stunning high-def UI is full of slick transitions and responsive performance. Unfortunately, sleek visuals don't conquer all. Basics like surfing through the program guide (or accessing a previously recorded show) took a lot of hunting and pecking through a menu tree. Finding pre-recorded shows and getting them to play took searching, highlighting, selecting Play, confirming that you selected Play, and then finally watching.
WIRED No monthly bills. Sleek high-def interface has nifty animations and transitions. Hard drive expandable to 1 TB for power recorders. Dual tuners let you watch one show while recording another. Offers a whopping 1.5-hour buffer time per HD channel.
TIRED Hefty entry fee. Online video chops not quite up to snuff. No dedicated Guide button on the remote?! Unnecessarily complicated menus. Programming schedules are displayed in cramped vertical list instead of friendly grid.
$800, moxi.com
Read our full Digeo Moxi HD DVR review.
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: We're a little dismayed by the E71x. The device is almost identical to the E71: same 3.2-megapixel camera, same .04-inch profile, same vibrant 320 x 240 QVGA display, same business apps and multimedia functionality. The operating system is slightly tweaked so there are some differences in transmissions and page loading. But as a whole, the phone is relatively unchanged.
These are the key differences: a new $100 price tag (good), a black paint job (badass) and the omission of our favorite feature from the original E71 (ugly). We're talking about the two separate, customizable home screens, something we absolutely loved about the O.G. E71. One screen was designed for business, the other for personal use. It was a great function: You could literally edit spreadsheets from 9 to 5 on one screen, then toggle over to the other and watch a couple of episodes of 30 Rock on the media player.
WIRED Windows interface means you don't have to learn a new menu convention to browse your old files. Dumping the data of only one (or all) of your multiple PCs takes less than five mouse clicks. You can set up a password in the toolbar.
TIRED Dock and multi-PC backup capability only provided with 500-GB version. Full hard-drive recovery requires booting from a CD. Windows-only means it fails to bridge the gap in inter-OSial households.
$100 with 2-year contract, att.com
Read our full Nokia E71x Smartphone review.
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: The Replica comes with bare-bones software and strikes a good balance between peace of mind and individual-user control.
After the hard drive is plugged in, the Replica starts mirroring your computer's content. The startup process is short, taking only a couple of minutes, though the actual backup is a time-gobbling endeavor. (It took us about four hours to transfer 130 GB of data). A blue light on the top of the Replica's case blinks continuously while data is being transferred. It's also stealthy for a hard drive, emitting only a quiet whir when working at full speed.
WIRED Windows interface means you don't have to learn a new menu convention to browse your old files. Dumping the data of only one (or all) of your multiple PCs takes less than five mouse clicks. You can set up a password in the toolbar.
TIRED Dock and multi-PC backup capability only provided with 500-GB version. Full hard-drive recovery requires booting from a CD. Windows-only means it fails to bridge the gap in inter-OSial households.
$200, seagate.com
Read our full Seagate Replica 500GB review.
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: Panasonic's new HDC-TM300 shoots in "Full HD," marketing speak for 1080p — aka 1080 x 1920 resolution with progressive-scan video. Translation? Stunning Blu-ray-level video that should more than lives up to the most critical expectations of prosumers and video enthusiasts.
The highlight of this shooter is the high-def footage. Not only does the phenomenal zoom reel in distant objects, but thanks to the triple sensors and quality lens, it nails far-off details perfectly. The architectural features of distant buildings we shot in downtown San Francisco showed up like we were standing on the window ledge -- not in a park three blocks away.
WIREDReproduces colors like a Crayola factory. Closeups pop with sharp, clear details. Nice performance in low light. Einstein-smart automatic shooting features are like having your own DP built into the camera. 32-GB onboard memory is expandable via SDHC slot. Great zoom tackles action better than Jason Statham.
TIRED Fast pans in bright daylight turns up more artifacts than a Mayan ruin. May require second mortgage.
$1,300, Panasonic.com
Read our full Panasonic HDC-TM300 HD Camcorder review.
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: In the aftermath (heh heh) of the bass-heavy Beats by Dre Studio headphones, Monster decided to pack the Doctor's finicky sound quality specs into two tiny earbuds. Naturally, audiophiles (including myself) were skeptical. Sure the Beats suffered from shoddy construction and fell apart after a few months of ownership, but they also provided some of the best bass we've ever heard in a set of cans.
Sure enough, the bass response from these things is rich and full. The lowest frequencies rumble with a force akin to the thud of a decent subwoofer. Keep in mind these are not miniaturized 12-inch Kickers designed to blow your eardrums out. But for a device that is essentially a tiny speaker with no auxiliary power, they're superb — especially when compared to the white earcruds doled out by Apple with every iDevice.
WIRED Excellent all-around frequency definition and particularly impressive bass response. Monster’s durable, ingenious anti-tangle cable means jumbled cords are a distant unpleasant memory.
TIRED The bright red cable is slightly ostentatious. Peak bass only hits at earwax shattering volumes.
$150, beatsbydre.com
Read our full Monster Beats By Dre Tour High-Resolution In-Ear Headphones review.
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: The UE-11 Pros are packed with four, count 'em, four drivers: There's a double dose of bass, one for the midrange and one chiming the highs. If you're looking for the most precise, separated sound possible, then this is the earphone for you. Throughout the play list I heard clarity and detail in the music I'd never heard before. This rang especially true with classical tunes — it literally feels like sitting in a symphony hall and having every instrument speak directly to you. To get that kind of superior fidelity you'll certainly have to pay the piper. But you'll really love the music while Rome — or your bank account — burns.
WIRED Most clear, separated and detailed sound.
TIRED Try convincing your spouse you need a $1,150 set of headphones.
$1,150, ultimateears.com
Read our full UE-11 Pro review.
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: The slate-gray, high-impact polymer body houses three LEDs capable of blasting out a peak 270 lumens for 15 minutes, or a more useful and long-lasting 90 lumens for 60 minutes. Both settings have an emergency low-power 25-lumen mode (equivalent in brightness to most common household D-cell flashlights) for an additional 60 minutes.
WIRED High-power pro flashlight pumps out awesome illumination and recharges ridiculously fast. Flashlight will outlive you. Seriously brilliant, blinding — a boon for flashlight junkies.
TIRED Pricy front-end investment. Comes with a 12-volt car charger.
$170, 511tactical.com
Read our full 5.11 Tactical Light review.
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: In our tests, we threw all things digital at this 68-pound slab. And while it does not perform as superbly as its higher-price brethren from Sony, Samsung and Sharp, it still shows off a completely acceptable high-def image and above-average sound.
So where has Westinghouse cut corners? Oh, let's see. How about the borderline embarrassing 1000:1 contrast ratio? In a well-lit room, the screen looks more washed out than a warehouse full of Maytags. And even though the set offers the 120-Hz spec, fast motion still looks a bit blurred.
WIRED High resolution and decent sound at incredible rock-bottom price. Convenience features integrated into menu. Quality remote not found in higher-priced TVs.
TIRED Displays some pixelated speckled noise in darker and mid-hue images. Analog-station reproduction is downright blurry. No worries though — analog TV has flatlined.
$700, Westinghouse.com
Read our full Westinghouse TX-42F450S review.
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: It's not quite a netbook, not quite an ultralight PC. Whatever it is, Samsung's NC20 is a dazzling feat of engineering: an extremely usable 12-inch laptop with epic battery life, impressive specs and a downright mystifyingly affordable price tag.
But the NC20 doesn't make depressing tradeoffs to achieve those scores. Battery life is three hours, 40 minutes (22 percent longer than the S10) and weight is just 3.3 pounds, comparable to the Asus Eee PC 1000H. All that and you get a 12.1-inch LCD, too, instead of the usual 10.2-inch netbook display.
WIRED Everything a netbook should be: Offers the best performance available from a computer this portable and inexpensive. Very usable keyboard. Good quality audio. Includes three USB ports, 1.3-megapixel webcam, and SD card slot.
TIRED LCD could be a touch brighter and quality sharper. Chassis design is a bit boring.
$550, samsung.com
Read our full Samsung NC 20 review.
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: Pure Digital's Flip has proven that it's possible to build a super-small flash memory camcorder and offer it up for fewer than two hundred bucks. But there are tradeoffs with going small and cheap, like optics and battery life. Canon takes a completely different tack with its newest solid-state cam, the Vixia HF S10, which delivers some fantastically brilliant moving pictures, but at a stiff cost.
Out in the field, auto focus and auto exposure were both very impressive in a wide range of situations, from the intense brightness of the beach to shady and contrasty venues. Every camera suffers indoors, thanks to low light, and everyone complains about it, but the S10 did a credible job with low-light shots and it's clearly better than previous cams of this ilk.
WIRED Improved audio quality. Big, bright lens. Speedy processor. Lots of creative control options. More intuitive menus than previous generation Canon camcorders.
TIRED Loose lens cover noisier than cutlery caught in a garbage disposal. Still images come off looking a bit overexposed.
$1,300, canon.com
Read our full Canon Vixia HF S10 review.
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: Dry your eyes, plasma junkies. The untimely demise of Pioneer's Kuro line doesn't mean you'll have to forgo those deliciously deep blacks and theater-perfect colors for long. In fact, even as the last of the Pioneer Kuro Elites make its way into a few lucky U.S. homes, a new lineup of HDTV sets are already poised to seize the plasma king's vacant throne.
Key to this plasma's visual appeal is its integrated THX mode. In addition to blessing various audio components, the home-theater ninjas at THX began bestowing plasma and LCD certification a few years back. Each set is subjected to approximately 400 individual tests, ranging from evaluations in signal processing to luminosity. Basically, the idea behind G10's THX mode is to recreate the precise color gamut filmmakers use during the in-studio post-production process.
WIRED Mind-boggling blacks with tons of detail. THX mode is a godsend for movie buffs. Integrated SD card slots transform your plasma into a giant digital photo frame. Amazing color saturation.
TIRED THX mode is bit dim for brightly lit rooms. Ethernet connectivity is nice for VieraCast, but Wi-Fi would've been better. Three HDMI ports (two in the back, one on the side) don't cut it. More power-hungry than LCD TVs. Where's the PiP?
$1,300, panasonic.com
Read our full Panasonic TC-P42G10 Viera G10 Series Plasma review.
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: The PogoPlug is a device, which looks like a supersized AC adapter, plugs into almost any external hard drive (even a USB stick) and then pumps that content onto the web, giving you access anywhere in the world you can get an internet signal — including your iPhone.
But the PogoPlug isn't without the occasional snafu and annoyances. Only image files are available for preview. PDF, Word documents or even HTML files have to be downloaded before viewing. Worse yet, when we unhooked the device, it caused our PC to crash twice in a row. We're still not entirely sure if this was due to a glitch in the PogoPlug or in Windows.
WIRED Easy to use. Simple setup. Great utility: I must be able to access my collection of LOLcat photos from anywhere. The iPhone app is solid software.
TIRED No wireless mode ... yet. Poor security — it's a wise idea to keep those tax returns or bank documents off the PogoPlug. Computer crashes are deeply flummoxing. The iPhone is currently the only mobile device that supports remote access.
$100, pogoplug.com
Read our full Cloud Engines PogoPlug review.
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: NatureMill's Pro edition is an indoor composter we can pretty much dig. Using minimal electricity, a small motor turns a heavy-duty mixing bar, heats the mixing chamber (no sunlight needed) and powers an air pump that works with a carbon air filter to help reduce smell (each filter lasts four to five years).
Just add starter dirt, drop in some sawdust pellets to combat odors and dump your food scraps in. NatureMill recommends that you cut organic material into 4-inch bits before plopping it in. We didn't, but aside from the motor making some gnarly noises, it didn't seem to affect compost production. NatureMill's Pro version also features some automatic activation. We were able to leave ours sitting for weeks without pushing the button even once; it mixed and heated itself just fine.
WIRED Stainless steel mixing bar made short work of uncut banana peels. Relatively small and exceptionally lightweight = easy to stash and transport. Foot pedal eliminates lid touching. Mighty Morphin' Power Saver: only draws 5 kwh a month (roughly 50 cents on an average electric bill). Not as much of an eyesore as it could be and it's available in a range of colors (including, you guess it, green).
TIRED Little to no stench — until top opens (that's hard to remedy, and burger/fish/salad remnants smell worse than a dead wildebeest doused in Eau D'Bile). Polypropylene housing is light, but may not last forever. Disposable carbon filters reduce smell, but also cut down on the green factor. Regular maintenance (scraping the mix chamber walls) isn't fun.
$400, naturemill.com
Read our full Nature Mill Indoor Composter — Pro Edition review.
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: You can get away with a lot if you're beautiful. Such is the case with the new Porsche Design P'9522 phone. In some ways, it's a wonderful and capable cellphone, but in most others, it's dumber than the gorgeous block of aluminum it was machined from.
Someone forgot to include e-mail — an absence that had us trying to mar the Porsche phone's scratchproof screen with claws of rage. Unfortunately, that screen is tough, so the P'9522 will be lauded and drooled over — despite our many gripes with it.
WIRED Gorgeous. Touchscreen interface is easy to understand, if limited and frustrating. Preloaded ringtones include the roaring engines of the 911 GT3 and Turbo. Its 5-megapixel camera has autofocus and captures clean, vivid images. LED flash doubles as a flashlight. Unlocking the phone with its fingerprint scanner is very MI5.
TIRED Fingerprint scanner is also very POS: Who thought it would be a good idea to use fingerprints to access a device you're likely holding in one hand while juggling multiple other tasks? Preloaded ringtones include bad German techno. Touchscreen is deeply frustrating. Seriously — no e-mail?
$800, porschedesign.com
Read our full Porsche Design P'9522 Phone review.
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: Weighing just 140 grams, the handset offers some of the best optics we've ever found crammed into a cell phone: sharp, noiseless pics (3,264 × 2,448 pixels) and decent image stabilizer punctuate video capture that puts full-figured handicams from 2008 to shame. You can even shoot VGA at 30 fps or QVGA at a whopping 120 fps (yes, 120!), including slow motion footage in 1/4 and 1/8 speeds.
Amazing, sure, but not a picture perfect phone. The i8510 functions almost exactly like a standard point-and-shoot, except for the zoom button, which is placed inexplicably, and awkwardly at the bottom of the device.
WIRED Beaucoup codecs, including — wait for it — DivX! 2.8-inch screen excellent for playback. Intuitive photo/video editing suite. Equally intuitive navigation. Automatic lens cover. MicroSD slot good for 16 GB (enough for aspiring Scorseses to go epic). All the usual smartphone suspects: 3G, Wi-Fi, USB, Bluetooth, accelerometer, GPS. Decent earbuds with ample cord. 3.5mm audio jack. Most excellent: TV-out capability.
TIRED Side-mounted headphone jack makes phone harder to pocket. Optical control pad is a tad sensitive (between us and you — we don't want to hurt its feelings). Most bogus: Metal shell retains enough scratches to fill a DJ Shadow album. A little on the clunky side. Most bogus: Flash needs to be brighter.
$500, samsung.com
Read our full Samsung i8510 INNOV8 review.
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: As the successor to Logitech's G11 and G15, this huge hunk of plastic comes with gaming hardwired in its DNA. Like its relatives, it has a blocky aesthetic that harkens to the days of the Model M. There are, however, a handful of very modern flourishes that make this latest G-board a distinctly modern marvel.
In the end, the G19's main drawback is the same one that has plagued fancy keyboards since the days of yore: It's freaking huge. That swiveling LCD? It actually requires a tiny onboard Linux computer to run, which in turn requires its own power source. Should you choose to make use of the two self-powered USB ports, you'll potentially have more wires shooting out of this thing than your computer.
WIRED More customizable than a box of Legos. Two self-powered USB ports. Dedicated D-pad and menu keys let you control LCD directly from the keyboard. Convenient cable management lanes carved into bottom of unit lessens clutter … slightly. Choose-your-own-color adventure with adjustable backlighting. Keys are pleasantly clicky and responsive.
TIRED Limited desktop space? This is not your keyboard. Price tag to match gargantuan footprint. Requires power brick to run. After its novelty wears off, built-in LCD becomes more of a distraction than a useful tool.
$200, Logitech.com
Read our full Logitech G19 Keyboard review.
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: Want to catch the last episode of Battlestar Galactica while hanging out in the local java joint? Going to download a season of The Simpsons for viewing on the plane? Giving an impromptu screening of your vacation photos at a friend's house? The Mini 10 is your machine.
But there are infuriating shortcomings to the Mini 10. The trackpad is one of the worst we've seen. Dell's decision to integrate the buttons underneath the pad itself makes using it both unpredictable and challenging. When you click on a button, the cursor may hit the target, wiggle off a centimeter or two, or teleport off into a remote corner of your screen. While it got easier to use after a week of practice, our advice is to invest in a cheap travel mouse.
WIRED Bright, responsive screen. Integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam. Not gunked up with crapware. HDMI-out port shows charming, if unwarranted, optimism about the netbook's video capabilities. Light weight: Just 2.6 pounds.
TIRED Infuriating trackpad with integrated buttons hidden underneath. Excessively glossy screen produces distracting glare. Windows XP is starting to look pretty tired. What, no solid-state option? Despite the HDMI port, the netbook can't deliver HD video without fits and starts.
$470 (as tested), dell.com
Read our full Dell Mini 10 Netbook review.
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: The new 370Z upgrades come in the form of a sexy body with a hood, hatch and doors of lightweight aluminum and a chassis significantly stiffer to reduce performance-robbing flex. To make up for the beefier chassis, Nissan's engineers pared more than 225 pounds from the rest of the car — even the audio system lost 3.5 pounds — and the result is a car that weighs 88 pounds less than the previous 350Z.
Every model gets the same 332-horsepower V6, an engine that makes this Z the quickest yet with a zero-to-60 time of 4.6 seconds. That kind of performance, however, is contingent on your skills as a driver. If you don't posses Lewis Hamilton levels of talent don't fret. The Z's abundant power and excellent handling will let you think you do.
WIRED Insanely easy to drive, insanely quickly. You'll run out of nerve before you run out of grip. Rev-matching transmission makes heel-toe shifting more obsolete than a gramophone.
TIRED Rev-matching transmission makes heel-toe shifting more obsolete than a vinyl record. Tympani-like tire roar, piccolo-like exhaust note. Hummer-sized blind spots make lane changes a gun-it-and-go-for-it leap of faith. Fake brushed-aluminum interior bits don't fool anyone.
$33,970 (as tested), nissanusa.com
Read our full Nissan 2009 370Z review.
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: Using the BookReader is simple: Just plunk a novel on the platen, punch a button and you're relaxing to the dulcet sounds of Jill, a computerized voice with a voracious appetite for literature. All the menus read themselves off when you mouse over them, and they have keyboard shortcuts, which is useful if you have reduced vision. Jill is pretty good at recognizing words. We tried out several books, including one heavy with medical jargon, and she held her own with just a few exceptions.
Useful as it is, we could not help noticing that the BookReader seems to be slightly undercooked. A few of the buttons don't really do anything, and you can't customize the dictionary to alter Jill's interpretation of commonly used, but horribly flubbed words, acronyms or numbers. The unit seems to be terribly overpriced as well. Plustek wants $600 for the BookReader, despite the fact that the OpticBook only costs $250 — and has its own text-to-speech function.
WIRED Reads books to you at the push of a button. Platen glass goes right to the edge to accommodate books without strain. Turns text into MP3s for portability. Includes several accessibility features to help the visually impaired.
TIRED The included software lacks polish and seems rushed. Squat, ugly looks make it seem at home in a cubicle farm. The reader voice may not screw up often, but when it does, it's a doozy. High price nears gouging territory.
$600, plustek.com
Read our full Plustek BookReader V100 review.
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: Photo: Dylan Tweeny/Wired.comApple's newest Shuffle (almost 50 percent smaller than previous Shuffles) could easily be mistaken for a stick of Trident, features no buttons, and pimps voice-identification technology. But even given its apparent readily consumable stature, there are a few features on the Shuffle that are a bit tough to swallow.
The biggest gripe on the 4-GB Shuffle we tested is definitely the control set. First off, it's completely counterintuitive; Apple says you can easily use it without looking. We still don't have the hang of it after a few days of testing. What's worse, if you have a decent set of earbuds (say, a pair of Shures or Ultimate Ears) you're totally hosed — you'll have to endure the 'buds that come with the Shuffle or pick up specially made third-party headphones. Our recommendation? Pick up a new Shuffle only if you're prepared to deal with proprietary headphones and ambiguous controls.
WIRED Thumb-drive size. Can double as a tie clip. Battery life lasts for 12 freaking hours. Short USB sync cord is sexy. Yes, we'll admit, it's another beautifully designed piece of hardware from Apple. Battery bonked out after 11 constant hours of blasting Thunderstruck on loop.
TIRED Proprietary headphones required. Control set awkward to use, hard to get used to. So small, it nearly gets lost in the packaging it comes in.
$80, apple.com
Read our full Apple iPod Shuffle 3rd Gen review.
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: Rather than foam, gel or compressed-air cushioning, the soles on Newtons have a series of "actuator lugs" just below the ball of the foot. The lugs are designed to help encourage you to land on your forefoot, to protect that part of the foot, and (best yet) to propel you forward. When you land, the lugs push into hollow chambers in the midsole. This cushions your landing, and helps make it comfy to land midsole or forefoot rather than on the heel as you might be accustomed. As your foot moves forward, these lugs then essentially lever out, and as you lift your foot, they return the energy by pushing up and out in the same direction as your stride. Newton claims this makes them more efficient than traditional foam or gel soles that simply absorb energy but don't return it.
WIRED So cozy they're like a Snuggie for your feet. Actuator lugs get you off your heels better than a La-Z-Boy. Lightweight at 10.2 ounces. Designed for all stride types. Stomps cold weather like global warming, and keeps out the drizzle for shizzle.
TIRED Not waterproof. Worse on single-track trails than a skateboard. $175??? OMG, for that much money I could just pay somebody to run for me.
$175, newtonrunning.com
Read our full Newton All Weather Trainer review.
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: The Firebird features a hybrid design — using 2.5-inch hard drives (two 320-GB models) and dual graphics cards originally designed for laptops — but powers it all with a desktop CPU and desktop-sized DIMMs. As with a laptop, wireless is built in, but the power supply is not: To save on wattage, HP breaks out the (enormous) power adapter instead of integrating it into the box.
As cool as the Firebird is on the whole, it isn't without some foibles. The inclusion of an ExpressCard slot is on the baffling-to-useless side, and the external power supply (it's huge) is more annoying to deal with than it sounds. But our biggest gripe is that the Firebird's streamlined shell means it includes no front-mounted ports at all, not even a single USB slot for your thumb drive. Seriously HP, even the Mac Pro finds room for that.
WIRED Amazingly quiet and conscientious in its power consumption. Outstanding design; belongs on top of the desk, not beneath it. Solid all-around performance at a fair price.
TIRED No front USB port. Curvy design means you can't put anything on top of the case. Functionally locked down, with no real upgrade path.
$2,100 (as tested), hp.com
Read our full HP Firebird 803 review.
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: I shouldn't love this truck. I should hate it. I purposely do not own a car, and this all-black behemoth represents everything I hate about SUV culture: conspicuous consumption, insensitivity to our rapidly shrinking world and crowded cities, middle finger raised at global warming.
You could slap a cold fusion generator under Big Poppa Cadillac's hood and the first two issues would still apply, but I was kind of wrong about that last one. Have you ever seen Godzilla vs. Megalon? Where Godzilla fights on behalf of the people of Japan against a giant rhinoceros/cockroach? Sure, Tokyo's favorite monster still smashes a bunch of buildings and steps on some people, but he's trying to be good. Same goes for this Hybrid Chromedaddy.
WIRED Decent pickup for a motorized bomb shelter. Combined ABS and regenerative braking system do a terrific job of hauling the beast down from speed. Trick motorized step makes it easy for shorties to climb into your rolling condo.
TIRED Thing has a car phone. No, not Bluetooth, but an actual phone built into infotainment system. (It's actually just Onstar, but there was no other option for hands-free calling.) What is this, 1989? Cadillac — God love 'em — uses the fact that this is a hybrid as an excuse to bling up the truck even more: Hybrid badges are plastered on every hard surface, on the sides of the door, even the windshield. —Joe Brown
$74,085 (as tested), Cadillac.com
Read our full Cadillac Escalade Hybrid review.
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: The Kindle 2 is zippier, with pages turning 20 percent faster (yes, you can tell the difference). It has more memory (2 gigabytes, enough for storing more than 1,500 books onboard). And it flaunts a more powerful built-in battery: Amazon claims that the Kindle lasts four to five days with the wireless on (we got 4.5 days in our first test) and up to two weeks with it off. After a week of limited wireless, my meter is around 50 percent. Amazon also says that after 500 charges, it will hold 80 percent of its original juice. That means that most users won't have to replace the battery (a $60 procedure) for about a decade or so.
Looking over the horizon, it's clear that Amazon's biggest competitor in selling digital books will be Google, whose recent agreement with publishers and authors will make it the virtually exclusive seller for millions of books in copyright but not in print. But right now at least, the Google and Amazon formats aren't compatible: I was unsuccessful in getting a PDF of a public-domain book downloaded from Google to appear in readable form on my Kindle.
WIRED The best e-reading system on the market. Welcome improvements to aesthetics, more functional industrial design, better graphics and longer battery life. Sleeker than the original: One-third of an inch thick and 10 ounces.
TIRED Quite expensive. Book content shackled with DRM. Interface is improved, sure, but it could be even better.
$360, amazon.com
Read our full Amazon.com Kindle 2 review.
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: The iWOW adapter from SRS Labs promises to coax more "immersive" sound from your iPod, and it actually delivers — provided you're listening to the right kind of music. Setup is easy: Snap on the slick little 1-inch extension, plug in some spendy headphones, press a button, and you do indeed get a fuller sound with more depth — especially if you enjoy songs like Sting's "Fragile," a track hand-picked by SRS to highlight the effect.
But when iWOW was applied to songs that were heavy on low-end thump or had multilayered sound (Exhibit A: Beck's "Cold Brains") the iWOW performed more like iMeh. At top volume, bass beats splintered, while at lower volumes tracks sounded muddled and crowded. SRS claims the device "dynamically locates and restores audio detail" and creates a more natural sound. We're not buying it — most of the audio we threw at the iWOW was punctuated with a subtle hiss and fuzzy bass.
WIRED Relatively small adapter. Snaps easily onto your iPod and lends some oomph to certain tunes.
TIRED The effect is nearly lost when using ear buds, the device won't work with older generation iPods, and music that already has a fair share of bass sounds muffled.
$70, srslabs.com
Read our full SRS Labs iWOW Adapter for iPod review.
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:
Leaps ahead of other cam phones, the Memoir's not limited to the 8 megapixels it captures. In shooting mode, the touchscreen has shutterbug controls — zoom, brightness, timer and flash — that float around the image. And just hitting the shutter will take you into camera mode. The Memoir includes a 1-GB microSD to augment the phone's 100 MB of storage (and it's an easy-access slot, rather than hidden under the battery).
But for all its convenience, the Memoir simply isn't a competitor for even the lowliest of dedicated cameras. First off, it's pokey: slow to focus, slow to snap and very touchy when it comes to movement. And though it touts a 16x digital zoom, it has no optical-zooming option.
WIRED Cool touchscreen and accelerometer helps you shoot or view pictures. Compact, pocket-friendly shape, even for hipsters in painted-on jeans.
TIRED Vampiric light sensitivity makes for washed-out shots. Slow to focus, shoot and recover. E-mail functions are even slower. The screen is hard to see in sunlight. Lens cover doesn't close all the time, so the lens can get dusty.
$300 (with 2-year contract), t-mobile.com
Read our full Samsung Memoir.
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: From the outside, the 1000HE doesn't look much different from other netbooks. But it's the machine's heart — the brand new 1.66-GHz Atom N280 processor — that makes it faster, stronger, smarter than its opponents.
Intel claims the silicon slab boosts computing power across the board, especially HD video playback — something that has been woefully horrid in past machines using Atom processors. It's not lying. This is the fastest netbook we've tested (by about 7 percent) in our benchmarks. And HD video playback was noticeably smoother and devoid of chop.
WIRED The first netbook to feature the new Atom N280 chip. MMC and SD media reader slots. Attractive, pearly finish. Decent 1.3-megapixel webcam.
TIRED At 3.1 pounds, it's one of the heaviest puppies in the netbook litter. Lame keyboard.
$400 as tested, asus.com
Read our full Asus Eee PC 1000HE review.
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: The R50 is remarkably easy to set up and use. As you program each component into the remote using the setup wizard, you test a few controls to make sure it has the right code. The remote instantly recognized all our components, and it took us about 10 minutes to get the AV rig up and running. As part of the setup, you name each component, which then appears as an icon on the screen: in my case, a Sony HDTV, Yamaha amp/receiver, Squeezebox, Oppo DVD player and Soundmatters speaker.
WIRED Cool, reddish backlight perfect for nighttime navigation. No computer or web connection needed for operation. No charging cradle required.
TIRED No user manual means gizmo novices might get lost in setup. $150 price point isn't super pricey, but then it's not the cheapest universal remote out there.
$150, universalremote.com
Read our full Universal Remote Digital R50 review.
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: Like other watches in the 25-year-old G-Shock line, the MTG-1500 is forged with Mr. T levels of toughness: It can easily survive being banged clumsily against tabletops or whacked against a surfboard in a wipeout. And it's water-resistant to 200 meters. But unlike most other G-Shock watches, which are primarily plastic, the MTG-1500's body and band are stainless steel, with a few tasteful black plastic accents.
We half expected to find the MTG-1500 lacking in minor features. Surprisingly, it didn't. It's got a stopwatch mode, dual time-zone support, five different alarms and a countdown timer. Free abundant sunlight or bright artificial light recharges the battery as you wear the watch. Once fully charged, the battery should be able to power the watch for 6 months without additional light.
WIRED Handsome, two-toned steel-and-black styling doesn't blare "nerd," "Swatch-wearing poser" or "too lazy to take off my gym watch." Self-syncs with superaccurate official time stations. Gives you an excuse to say "solar" and "atomic" in the same sentence.
TIRED Digital display too small and can be obscured by watch hands. LED provides uneven illumination in the dark. $500 can buy a timepiece that's much fancier, albeit not atomic.
$500, casio.com
Read our full Casio G-Shock MTG-1500 review.
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: The skinny on this countertop unit is pretty straightforward: It's the touch-based kitchen computer that won't put you out of house and home. Don't go rushing out to cash in that 401(k), though — despite a recession-friendly price, the Eee Top still feels a little light in the loafers.
The glossy white, semi-opaque keyboard and mouse look stylish out of the box, but after extended handling their light, plastic-y build became annoying. The slim chassis sat solid on our countertop, while the bright, 15.6-inch screen and the integrated speaker bar make up the majority of the Top's sleek profile. Rounding out the device are six USB ports, memory card reader, 1.3-MP web cam and integrated Wi-Fi. We were pretty bummed at the lack of an optical drive, though.
WIRED An all-in-one for the Top Ramen set. Quick, responsive touch interface. Compact design has integrated storage for both keyboard and stylus. Integrated 802.11n and gigabit ethernet ensure throughput thrashings. One-touch shutoff button for hiding porn er, convenience. Runs whisper-quiet.
TIRED Underpowered for heavy web video. A wired keyboard and mouse — on an all-in-one?!? Heats up after extended poke/prod sessions. Anemic 160-GB hard drive. Even a cheapy, noisy optical drive would've been nice. No battery means no mobile computing.
$600 (as tested), asus.com
Read our full Asus ET1602 Eee Top review.
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: This camera is about the size and shape of a pack of chewing gum, and weighs just 0.68 ounces. It records videos at 352 x 288 pixels, encoding them in the 3-GP format used by many cellphones (the videos can be played on your computer using most media-player software, including QuickTime and RealPlayer).
But the MovieStick is oozing with design flaws. The pinhole-sized lens is located on the long side of the device, rather than the short end, limiting your ability to go truly undercover. Add to that a confusing series of lights that supposedly indicate when the cam is charging, turned on or recording, and you end up with more than one inadvertent video of the floor.
WIRED The smallest video camera we've seen yet. Simple to set up and use. Makes you look like a double agent.
TIRED Location of camera lens makes it hard to go covert. No internal storage or memory card included. Recorded video is shakier and blurrier than outtakes from The Blair Witch Project.
$120, swannsecurity.com
Read our full Swann Micro-VideoCam Recorder review.
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: Kodak’s Theatre HD's raison d'être is straightforward: to shuttle the contents of your PC directly to your television using ethernet or Wi-Fi. Pictures, videos, podcasts, music or any other digital content that may be living on your hard drive (as long as it's not squelched by some DRM straightjacket) can be whisked away by this tiny little box to your television with little to no fuss.
What really sets the Theatre HD Player apart from the rest of the field is how immaculately it performs its tasks. Once you've downloaded Kodak's EasyShare display software, everything is pretty much taken care of. Have a hard drive filled with extra content? No problem. Simply hook it up to one of the player's USB ports and you're ready to go.
WIRED Intuitive UI coupled with a handy RF remote makes setup and playback of multimedia a Zen-like experience. Wealth of connectivity options: component, HDMI, optical or RCA audio, dual USB ports. Transforms crappy YouTube video into semi-watchable content.
TIRED Requires Kodak EasyShare software to get the streaming party started. No Mac compatibility (for now). Pricey, especially for a device without a hard drive. Needs more internet content.
$300, Kodak
Read our full Kodak Theatre HD Player review.
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: Skidding in at 53 pounds (on the lighter side for this category), Ohm's mountain bike-inspired geometry and its nine-level power-assist and regeneration system make it a smart, nimble and efficient two-wheeler.
On pavement and trail the BionX power plant, mounted on the rear hub, employs a unique sensor technology that is constantly adjusting the level of assistance it gives you based on the terrain. Encountering some mushy road? More power is delivered to the gears. Gliding down paved asphalt? The juice is dialed back. And if your thighs are flushed with lactic acid on a sheer hill, a flick of the trusty thumb throttle cracks the whip and the motor totally takes over, no pedaling required. But for all this innovation and comfort, you will, however, have to part with a spouse-enraging $3,450. Is it worth it? Well, it is a ton of fun.
WIRED Excellent Shimano parts mix with disc brakes and RockShox suspension fork. Lockable battery compartment hides space for mobile phone, wallet, media player and your other little stuff. Regeneration mode gives extra on-bike battery life. Comfortable suspension seat post. Four- to six-hour charge time.
TIRED Throttle position needs to be improved for optimal bike handling. Price steeper than any hill the bike can handle.
$3450, Ohm Cycles
Read our full Ohm Cycles XS700 review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: For about $300 more than the average netbook, the UC7807u offers a scintillating array of grownup specs. Intel 2.0-GHz Core 2 Duo CPU? Check. 250-GB hard drive? Yep. 3 GB of memory, a glossy 13.3-inch display, a slot-loading optical drive and ports galore (three USB and an HDMI)? You betcha! Best of all, with its fetching brushed aluminum chassis, no one will mistake this for a budget notebook.
Unfortunately, the UC7807u also has all the telltale signs of some obvious corner cutting. Forget about gaming. Due to Intel's torpid integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics card, even moderately intensive titles won't run properly. But our main beef with the UC7807u is the feeble 6-cell battery which clocked in at a disappointing 3 hours, 25 minutes — a full hour shorter than most other notebooks in this category.
WIRED Recession-worthy price. Built like a tank. Slick, touch-sensitive volume and multimedia controls.
TIRED Tips the scales for a notebook in this category. Battery drains faster than an ATM at a strip club. Epic fail on the tiny circular touchpad. It's cramped and serves no discernable purpose. Onboard speakers spit out tinny, distorted sound. HDMI, but no Blu-ray?
$800 as tested, Gateway
Read our full Gateway UC7807u review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: It's no wonder this watch ran away with my heart; for the competitive runner or multisport athlete seeking a personal best in 2009, the Polar RS800CX is the required training device. Because of incredibly robust desktop software, tracking of obscure performance metrics, and a wide variety of add-on sensors, the RS800CX can help you measure, analyze and improve nearly every aspect of your training program.
WIRED Offers better heart-rate monitoring than your average hospital. Incredibly customizable from in-watch display, to software interface, to training programs. GPS and barometric altimeter combined with location tracking mean you'll never wonder where you wandered. Extensible pods make watch more sport-versatile than Lance Armstrong.
TIRED Even beer goggles won't pretty up this ugly watch face. May need to hire a coach anyway — just to teach you how to use the PC-only desktop software.
$500, Polar
Read our full Polar RS800CX MULTI review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: The pocket rocket we've been packing in our pants recently (full name: Optoma DLP EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector) is one of the first mini projectors to hit the market. It's also one of the best, even though a number of flaws spill from the tiny device.
Styled like a '40s-era Zippo, the piano-black portable feels more natural in the hand than a lot of cellphones. But it's not size that matters to us, it's the video components! The projector is comprised of a combo-rig LED lamp and a DLP chip (courtesy of Texas Instruments) that sets the resolution at 480 x 320 pixels with a range output of 9 lumens. Yes, we know this is low compared to full-bodied projectors like Benq's gargantuan MP512 ST 2500-lumen projector but for something this small, it's remarkable.
WIRED Perfect projector for parties. Rectangular lens creates wide image that keeps the image from stretching. Fine picture quality, 8-96 inches. Startup time > 4 seconds. Dead-sexy hardware.
TIRED Lithium-ion batteries die after 2 hours' use; how are we supposed to watch our Battlestar marathon? Battery recharge time 4 frakkin' hours. Suck-tastic speaker. Unless you have a video-out adapter, you can't project Office docs from your PC. Projector gets hot enough to fry bacon after running 30 minutes.
$400, Optoma
Read our full Optoma EP-PK-101 Pico Pocket Projector review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Are you the schlemiel who's always dropping his cellphone or camera at parties? Or maybe you're the schlemazel who always gets the drink spilled on him? Either way, if you're looking for a camera to fit a clumsy or accident-prone lifestyle, the shockproof, waterproof, and cold-resistant Stylus 1050 SW can take the beating from fumbles, faceplants or full-speed crashes, and still keep clicking.
About the size and shape as a pack of smokes, the 1050 is equipped with an accelerometer letting you tinker with settings by tapping on the top and the sides. This lets you do useful stuff like turn the flash on and off with a gloved mitt or preview pictures with one hand while you fend off a tiger shark with the other.
WIRED Shockproof to 5 feet and waterproof 10 means you can bang it on the edge of the pool as you fall in with no harm done. Tap feature lets you change settings without futzing with buttons, and the camera can handle alpine frigidity with aplomb. Comes with a microSD adapter for greater media versatility.
TIRED Lens cover slides more easily than Ricky Henderson. The battery is easily inserted backwards, making you think it's dead or the camera is malfunctioning. Weak zoom and poor macro ability; this camera could use a bifocal upgrade.
$300, Olympus
Read our full Olympus Stylus 1050 SW review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Touted as the thinnest and lightest BlackBerry yet, the Curve 8900 has some much-needed upgrades over its predecessor, but also some disappointments.
Wi-Fi is hot and easy to set up, the camera got a bump to 3.2 megapixels, the 16 GB MicroSD storage can hold up to 20 hours of video, and the high-res screen is fantastic in any light. On the other hand, callers were hard to hear, documents were difficult to create, and RIM's revamped proprietary browser is good for surfing the Internet but isn't as smart about automatically resizing webpages as the browsers on competing smartphones.
WIRED Slick, sexy design mashes the best of the Bold and Curve 8830. Brilliant, high-resolution screen is one of the best we've seen on a RIM device. Full HTML-rendering on websites. 3.2-megapixel camera is even better when paired with video-recording capabilities; 3.5mm headphone jack means no clumsy adapters. Near 5-hour battery life is most impressive.
TIRED 3G is MIA. Despite the powerful 512-Mhz processor, the software still lags. New website and software don't perform as well as they should. Phone quality was mixed and loud speakers fail to compensate for somewhat distorted music playback.
$200 with a two year contract, RIM
Read our full RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: This handset (which arrives in some of the most gorgeous packaging I've ever seen a consumer electronic encased in) is almost laughably banal in its actual construction. A silver slider with wide-spaced keys, it posses a passing resemblance to the Nokia 5200, albeit with a larger (2.2-inch) screen. But, once you switch it on and start using it, things begin to get interesting.
The operating system orbits around Facebook synchronization. Basically you take the phone online, pair it with your Facebook account, and all of your various Facebook applications become active on the mobile. Your Facebook address book syncs up with the phone's address book. Events from your Facebook calendar become part of the phone's calendar. Take a picture with the 3.2-megapixel camera, and you can automatically upload those shots to a Facebook album.
WIRED Brightly hued, easy to use, easy-to-sync OS pairs perfectly with your Facebook account. Skype integration is thoughtful. Thoughtfully spaced keys make texting, entering URLs rather pleasant. Camera takes photos that are sharp enough to be a profile picture. Extremely cheap for an unlocked device.
TIRED Humdrum hardware punctuates novel OS. Not offered in the United States ... yet. Battery life is clinically depressing when surfing the web, using Skype.
$112 (estimated), Three
Read our full INQ1 Facebook Phone review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: HP has been tinkering with touch tech for a couple of years. But they have yet to nail the bull's eye with a machine that mixes mature hardware with a haptic interface that feels like more than just a half-assed effort. So, we were cautiously optimistic with the TouchSmart tx2z. The good news? As HP's first multitouch convertible tablet, it's got a lot of potential.
Converting from notebook to tablet proved painless, thanks to a solid hinge and the included pen. After swinging the 1280 x 800 screen around (and folding it back), we found two goodies. First, using the pen automatically disables the touchscreen (to prevent palm-related havoc), and second, HP included an active digitizer for handwritten input. This made reckless activities like e-mailing while strolling around the block surprisingly easy. Even jotting down quick notes using a finger (instead of the pen) gave us minimal hassle.
WIRED Fully baked as both a touch and tablet device. Travels well with its compact and stylish chassis. Includes quick keys for rotating screen orientation. Mini media remote and pen conveniently hide away in chassis. Altec Lansing speakers strike decent balance between volume and clarity. Extra goodies aplenty: biometric security, webcam, dual headphone jacks, 802.11n compatibility and 5-in-1 card reader.
TIRED Bloated OS hinders performance of otherwise decent specs. Occasionally laggy switches between notebook and tablet mode. No multitouch love for the trackpad. Terrible viewing angles and weak visibility in direct sunlight. Fan sounds like a leaf-blower at a My Bloody Valentine show.
$1550 (as tested), HP
Read our full HP TouchSmart tx2z review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
: Nero's LiquidTV TiVo PC looks like a TiVo and acts like a TiVo, but, brother, it ain't no TiVo.
Actually, the package makes your PC act like a TiVo by adding a USB TV tuner and the same TiVo software that drives the set-tops. You also get a for-reals TiVo remote and an IR receiver so you can command content from the couch.
Ironically, that's where you're gonna get pissed. The remote can't launch the software, so you'll have to physically walk over and mouse it open. The remote can be programmed to turn your TV on and off, but it can't put your PC in standby mode or wake it up again. If you do that manually, the IR receiver fails to wake up with the rest of the system.
WIRED Includes a one-year TiVo subscription, and after that it's a cheaper-than-set-top $99 per year. The software can auto-convert recordings to iPod or Sony PSP format. Integrates with any TiVo boxes you already have. Extra storage is just an external hard drive away.
TIRED The remote lacks necessary PC controls. Not measurably better than Windows Media Center — which, incidentally, is free. The tuner supports ClearQAM, but the software doesn't, so forget digital channels unless you hook up the antenna.
$125, Tivo
Read our full Nero LiquidTV TiVo PC review.
Check Wired.com's latest Product Reviews, updated daily.
An analyst claims he has learned additional information suggesting a 2010 launch of Apple’s rumored tablet device.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he has been in correspondence with an Asian component supplier working with Apple on its tablet.
“Last week we spoke with an Asian component supplier that has received orders from Apple for a touch-screen device to be fulfilled by late [calendar year] 09,” Munster wrote in a report. “This data point underscores our thesis that a tablet will likely launch in early [2010].”
Munster in May issued a detailed report summarizing his theories about Apple’s fabled tablet, about which little next to nothing is known beyond vague tips from anonymous sources. Today’s new report reinforces those theories and adds more speculation about the rumored device’s features:
Piper Jaffray produced a mock-up illustration (above) of what Munster believes the device will look like. Munster even proceeds to make an estimate of the number of tablets could ship: 2 million units at $600 each to generate $1.2 billion and add about 3 percent to Apple’s revenue stream in the calendar year of 2010. (A little early to be making such intricate projections about an unconfirmed product, isn’t it?)
Several rumor reports have recently surfaced citing anonymous sources who have come forward with purported details on Apple’s tablet. Some publications claim they’ve heard the tablet will hit stores as soon as this fall, while AppleInsider reported receiving a tip that the device will launch 2010.
Wired.com earlier speculated on what exactly an Apple tablet would do. We believe the device would have potential to be a major competitor against Amazon.com in the e-book market.
Wired.com also received a tip that other tech manufacturers, including Dell, Intel, HTC and Nokia are working on tablet devices as well. On top of that, TechCrunch is already working to rush out its Crunchpad touchscreen tablet. We believe 2010 is shaping up to be the year of the tablet.
Apple’s $1.2 billion tablet computer [Apple 2.0]
See Also:
Image: Piper Jaffray
Section: Communications, Computers, Gadgets / Other, Web, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack
Summer is in full swing as are the companies making moves that make Katherine Heigl movies look good. This week: the world went nuts without twitter, the spammers are back, Google goes offline, and the future of television.
I see a future where just like Microsoft patch Tuesdays, we’ll have No Twitter Thursdays. Would anyone care? Don’t you love the smug media reports of how so many people were not able to tweet about their mundane lives?
In the WSJ this morning, the column picked on a woman unable to tweet about her pants decision. “Poor loser women” was the gist of the jab. Now, in my world, a tweet about pants would be followed shortly by an “unfollow” but still, who are they to judge? The media loves to point out how silly some tweets are, but can’t you say the same thing about what folks write on Facebook? Check out Lamebook to catch my drift.
One of the great things about the last redesign here at Gadgetell is the ability to get notified when someone responds to your comments. We, as writers, also get notified when someone comments on our pieces so we can continue the dialogue. It is a fun tool that helps communication. Except when the spam shows up.
It has been a bit since my posts have been hit with “buy gold” or crap like that. But this week, the spammers are back hard. I’ve got a lot of “nice words” and a link to some merchant. It is almost comforting to know these folks are again being paid to get their spam in front of folks again. Makes me have hope that we’ll get this bad economic mojo behind us someday.
MS Office is everywhere. Ensconced in big business, Google’s got an uphill battle to unseat the king. So how to get the word out? Banner ads, email blasts, twitter campaigns, YouTube viral? Nope. Good ole’ billboards.
Sweet. Nothing like a little offline commentary on how much Office costs, is complex and isn’t all Google-y fun. Reminds me of the days when Google was a band of rebels. Ah, the good Google years.
While some companies are doing crazy things like mounting a Blu-ray player in an HDTV to help gain some traction in the US market, other companies like TiVo are going a bit beyond. This week the company added RSS feed capability. This will allow podcasts and the like to be streamed to the TiVo. Hot.
Sharp is showing off a the Blu-ray HDTV and surely others will follow. Wrong move. The whole HD-DVD versus Blu-ray war produced only consumer boredom with the subject. Coupled with limited free spending, access and instant is beating super high-high def.
In my humble opinion, we’ll bypass Blu-ray for instant streaming. So far, I’ve been totally happy with my Netflix streaming over TiVo. It works great, costs me nothing (assuming I’d get the DVD by mail anyway) and feels high techy. Now just add in a way to search through the instant play movies from the TiVo and not a computer and you’ve got me for life. TiVo, once thought to be just an evolutionary step that would be consumed by providers smarter DVRs manages to stay ahead. Nicely done.
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Remember that 1350mAh extended Palm Pre battery that Seido released back in July? Childs play. Accessory manufacturer Amzer has gone and made an absolute beast of a battery; one that pats the Seido battery on the head, gives it a juice box, and tells it to go take a nap.
Coming in at roughly 3x the thickness of the original battery, Amzer’s electric enormity checks in at an outright absurd 3800mAh, or a little over 3 times the juice provided by the Pre’s default 1150mAh pack. Even if you’re a GPSin’, Data-gobbling fiend, you probably wont be able to kill this thing in less than 2 or 3 days of (really, really) heavy use. So go ahead - go on that Safari, hike that mountain, whatever; you can leave the charger at home.
Of course, packing the dimensional equivalent of 3 batteries into the back of the Pre means you’re going to need a new back case to wrap it all in. And yes, it is ugly as all hell. Sure, they’ve gone ahead and curved the edges and matched the plastic - but it still looks like a door stop. But come on - it’s a $130 dollar battery for people who are away from outlets for days on end. With stuff like this, it’s function over form.
Amzer is also now offering a slightly less ridiculous (in both size and price) 2800mAh battery for $90 bucks a pop.
[Via PreThinking]
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Sales of the Palm (PALM) Pre smartphone may be creeping up to 30,000 a week this week versus a prior trend of 25,000, writes Pali Capital analyst Walter Piecyk in a blog post this morning. (Free registration required to view the post.) Piecyk observes the Pre was available for $99 briefly this week through online orders, but that Sprint (S), which has the exclusive on the Pre, also stepped up a print campaign targeting AT&T (T) customers who may be interested in moving from the Apple (AAPL) iPhone at the end of their contract.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
Total and utter b*llshit or so I’m lead to believe according to our friends at HTC. Cole Brodman vehemently said during the myTouch 3G event last month that T-Mobile has no plans to carry the Hero in the US. A Sprint Hero is still more likely for the US.
via TmoNews
Update: It’s been confirmed to us by HTC that the image you see above was a photoshop job.
Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Motorola appears to be investing in Android pretty heavily, but we haven’t seen anything definitive yet. But BGR has been tipped off that Moto is hard at work on skinning Android like HTC has done with Sense on the Hero. The question, however, is whether or not “Blur” is merely a skin on top of Android or if Blur is as deeply integrated as Sense. The rest is a bit jumbled since I haven’t had enough coffee this morning so I’ll leave it up to you to decipher.
The skin/OS is named “Blur” by Motorola and will be heavily web-connected. All Android devices will be able to upgrade different sections of the OS and interface all over the air. There’s been something mentioned about a device key that’s attached to your email and passwords for your social networking accounts. What this presumably does is let all the content be pushed right to the device from the web which includes updates and actual upgrades.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Let’s say you drop your phone in the sink or pool for whatever reason. You are, in fact, S.O.L., but there’s a couple things you can do to minimize the damage. The first, obviously, is to remove the battery from the device… unless you have an iPhone, at which point you can thank Apple for choosing form over function.
Step two—and sit down for this because it’s a doozy—is to submerge your battery-less phone into a bowl of dry rice indicates that water was there, sorry!
Oh! And if you own an iPhone (or iPod Touch), you can slip it inside the Sanwa Waterproof Bag. That way, you can take awesome iPhone photos and video of your poolside shenanigans and zip ‘em off to Facebook post-haste.
via Dvice
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
John Paczkowski is on vacation. He will resume posting on August 17th.
Gene Munster, in a report to clients, describes Apple's forthcoming tablet and offers a rendering of a bigger iPhone to show how it might look. Brainstorm Tech summarizes:
• Be similar to an iPod touch, only larger, capable of running most of the 70,000 applications on the iPhone App Store plus a new category of apps designed for the bigger screen.• Will be used primarily for Web surfing, e-mail, and digital media, competing with netbooks without being a netbook.
• Will be priced between an iPhone and a MacBook -- between $500 and $700.
• Is likely to include a 3G cellular modem and could be subsidized by a carrier -- either AT&T (T) or Verizon (VZ).
• Will sell better than Apple TV did its first year (1.2 million units).
• Could in fact sell 2 million units at $600 each to generate $1.2 billion and add about 3% to Apple's revenue stream in calendar 2010.
Convincing stuff. That said, Munster's got a long history of failed iTablet predictions, and this particular set is eye-rollingly conservative. It'll be used for web surfing and include 3G? Well stap my vitals!
Apple's $1.2 billion tablet computer [Fortune]
Didja hear that RadioShack is rebranding? The hoopla will of course include some sales to drive traffic. Apparently the Pre will be part of this upcoming sale and will be only $150 for new customers. Nice.
We’ve seen it lower thanks to a Best Buy snafu and one website offering a one day rebate, but this might be the first legitimate price cut on the Pre. Now just to be clear, this is for new Sprint customers. Current subscibers eligable for equipment upgrades will still have to pay $219 for the handset, which is $20 more than what you’ll pay at a Sprint store, natch.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Section: Video, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray, HDTV
It’s no big news that Blu-ray adoption, at least in the US, is far from ubiquitous. Not everyone has an HDTV and the players can be expensive. While DVD adoption was partially attributed to the PS2, the PS3 hasn’t sold nearly as well as its predecessor with the HD standard. However, as DVDs grew more commonplace TVs with DVD players built in became common as well, putting DVD players into the rooms of even more people. Perhaps Sharp’s new HDTVs can do the same for Blu-ray.
Sharp Japan has introduced five new HDTVs in its AQUOS DX2 line, each equipped with a Blu-ray recorder. While the recorders can obviously play Blu-ray discs, they’re even more impressive with their ability to record up to 30 hours of HD video onto one dual-layer Blu-ray disc. It does this by recording the video in the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format. The recorder can be set to automatically record anything from the program guide for each of the two digital tuners and single terrestrial one.
In terms of other features, the HDTVs support Internet via the ethernet port, and can connect to BD-Live, Yahoo Japan, and IPTV. There’s also an included ambient light sensor which will adjust brightness according to the brightness of the surrounding light, which is a pretty cool idea.
At the moment there’s no word on when, or even if these particular HDTVs will make it to the US market. With the cheapest model, the 26-inch, costing the equivalent of $1,787 whether they would sell well in the US is debatable. However, considering that price includes an HDTV and Blu-ray player, it might be a great idea for those many who still haven’t adopted either standard. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, and just hope they came here fairly soon.
Read [Electronista]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Can’t get enough of the Motorola Morrison? We can’t say we blame you. While we’re not the biggest fans of the black and blue hue scheme it keeps popping up in, we’re still pretty excited to see Motorola’s massive Android move finally coming to a hardware head.
While the Morrison has had its fair share of camera time, everything we’ve seen has been rather unflattering angles with even more unflattering levels of blur. Luckily for us, it seems Motorola is pretty proud of this design; Czech mobile site Mobil.cz just unearthed a handful of Morrison industrial sketches tucked away in the European Bureau for Industrial Design, showing the handset from just about every angle. It looks a bit meaty around the edges, but — at least from what we can tell right now — we can honestly say that this is looking like the first Moto handset in a long while that we’d carry without a fuss.
[Via EngadgetMobile]
Crunch Network: TechCrunch obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies
Kryptonite’s Evolution Mini is the U-lock of choice amongst bike messengers and bike messenger wannabees. That it is easily recognizable by the bright orange suppository of plastic which sheathes the cylinder may have something to do with this.
I’m no messenger, but I do like to lock up my bike, and as my old U-lock was making some rather disturbing clicking noises as I turned the key, I picked one up last week. Obviously it works, because I still have my bike.
The Evolution Mini is popular because it is tiny but strong. At 3.25” x 5.5” it can easily be tucked into a belt, is barely big enough to wrap a wheel, frame and thin post (a good thing) and is still heavy enough to make you confident it’ll do its job. On Kryptonite’s own scale of one to 12, it measures a nine. This is meaningless in the real world, but for in-range comparisons it means you’re nearing the top end. .
After strength, the most important feature is ease of use. The Mini is very easy to use, although the size causes a few problems. The key slides in smoothly, and as it is in the middle of the straight section you aren’t constantly guessing which end has the hole. A plastic, rotating cuff keeps the rain out. The U-part itself has a kicked out “Bent Foot” at one end which hooks into the straight section, and then the other end is secured by the lock mechanism. It all goes together and comes apart easily and smoothly, with no forcing or rattling.
A small U-lock is desirable because it means you can fill the interior gap with bike, making it a lot harder to cram a jack or lever inside. The downside it that it limits your locking options, and you’ll often end up jamming the bike up against a post and jiggling it to fit the puzzle together, which is bad for both blood-pressure and paintwork. The Mini has this trouble, but with a standard sized bike parking hoops you can squeeze things in.
Still, small also makes it easy to carry, and if you’re not getting all hipster and sticking it in your belt you can use the included frame-mounting bracket. Once clamped in place, you slide in the lock using this rather mean-looking metal cleat. It’s a pushbutton release so you won’t have the lock hopping out when you hit a pothole.
One other fun feature is the key itself, or at least one of them. Two are normal, but the third looks like a car-key and has a push-button LED inside to light your way. It’s a little chunky, and you shouldn’t really be locking your bike in such dark corners anyway, but still, it looks cool.
The keys can also be registered at Kryptonite, so a replacement can be sent should you lose all three. You can also use the number to order more locks that use the same “keyway” to keep your fob from getting overloaded.
In conclusion, the Kryptonite Evolution Mini deserves its rep, and looks very nice, too, as bike locks go. Don’t buy it if you have fat wheels, fat tubes or usually tie-up to a fat post. Do buy if you value strength and ease of use in a small package. $60.
Product page [Kryptonite]
See Also:
GearJunkie has the goods on the StoveTec, a small wood-burning cook top that costs $35 and would make a caveman proud:
Aprovecho has created a simple wood-burning stove with a clay elbow that focuses the heat and fire in the combustion chamber directly toward a cooking pot. According to the organization, this setup dramatically reduces fuel consumption compared to open fires used for cooking by millions around the planet...With its success in the humanitarian realm, StoveTec has made an unlikely expansion into the consumer camping market...
I tested the StoveTec GreenFire One Door stove. It has the same type of efficient combustion chamber as on the humanitarian stoves though with a handle, metal case walls, and a painted exterior finish. It comes with a pot skirt to focus flame heat and a stick support shelf where the wood sits.
It is heavy and not very portable. It does not have the jet-like flame output of a canister stove. But in my test, the GreenFire proved to be easy to use and efficient, requiring just a few small pieces of wood to boil water or cook a meal in a pot.
Here's a thorough demo of the two-door model:
Adesso's rugged, silicone keyboard is mega-bendable, and totally water- and dust-proof.
*Connectivity: IBM AT, USB & PS/2 compatible
*Compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2000, ME, 98SE
*LED lights for Num-Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock
*Key Layout: 109 Keys
*Dimensions: 17.5" x 5" x 0.5" (LxWxH)
*Weight: 0.6 lb
*Temperature Range: 32°F to 175°F
*Easy connection to USB and PS/2 ports.
Only $23.
UPDATE: BBG readers have spoken. According to you, this keyboard is a piece of junk.
[via Toolmonger]
Apparently this phone is getting ready for a big Muay Thai match. It’s a Vertu—“vertu” is “virture” in French!—designed by one Norihiko Inoue. No, you cannot buy it, I just thought it looked neat.
If you look closely, you’ll notice that the phone is mostly air, like a building. Says the designer:
Thanks to the advances in technology mobile phones are getting smaller and thinner each year, however phones have to be a certain size for us to hold them and look at the screen properly. In my concept most of the electronic components are incorporated into the phone’s outer shell, but the size of the vertu phone remains the same size as it is now with empty space inside.
I think it’s safe to say that I’d much rather use this than a now-boring iPhone.
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Top Gear's James May is to build the world's largest Scalextric track, modeled on Brooklands. From the BBC:
May will use 20,000 separate sections of track to match the original 2.75 mile (4.42km) circuit and beat the current record of 1.59 miles (2.56km). Brooklands, in Weybridge, closed in 1939 and the track will have to cross a river and roads to complete a circuit.
Brooklands was the world's first custom-built racing track, with enormous banked corners. It was closed during WWII and never re-opened.
May to attempt Scalextric record [BBC]
Photo: John Chapman
Put your Sony camera onto the Party Shot and it will, Sony says, “act as your personal photographer.” The little mount is controlled by the camera and will tilt and zoom, seeking out any people in the room using the face detection in the camera.
Once it has locked on to its target, a deadly laser shoots out and, wait, no. Once on target it waits until it sees a big grin before tripping the shutter. It only works with the Cybershots TX1 and WX1, two otherwise humdrum but capable cameras announced yesterday by Sony.
This is a rather nice idea. Usually, party photos suck. They are blurred, the flash turns everybody into a chalk-faced ghost and everyone feels like they need to fix a rictus gash of teeth across their squint-eyed faces. This little gizmo would sit quietly on a table and, forgotten by the guests, silently pick out shots like some kind of robotic Cartier Bresson sniper.
I’m interested to see how well it does. Sony says that the robot even composes pictures using the rule-of-thirds, which won’t make for exciting photos but it’ll still be a lot better than what most people manage when they stick their gurning subject smack in the middle. $150.
Product page [Sony Style]
Former Apple director Eric Schmidt was paid solely in Apple schwag. [Business Week]
Photo: -nathan.
Section: Audio, Accessories, Home Audio, Video, Accessories, HDTV, Gadgets / Other, Household
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Atlona Technologies has recently come out with a pretty interesting, although I am not sure how practical it is. Atlona Technologies is known for their products pertaining to audio and video, and the AT-HD530 is no different.
Basically, it receives the HDMI signal or DVI signal from computers, GPS, Apple TV, etc., and will then down-convert the quality to fit analog S-Video or composite video to display down-converted video on TVs or computer monitors that do not support HD video. NTSC or PAL formatted video can be converted to the other format instantly. It sounds like an interesting concept due to the fact not every computer monitor and TV can support HD. And since HD videos are gradually gaining popularity, it could be of use. Atlona Technologies cites that their product would be of use for broadcasters, video production engineers, and end users.
The AT-HD530 is set to be available in August for $299. A copy of the press release is below.
Atlona Technologies soon to Release their new HDMI/DVI to Composite and S-Video Down-Converter, the AT-HD530
Atlona Technologies, solutions based manufacturer of Audio Video connectivity accessories, is soon to releases new HDMI/DVI to Composite and S-Video Down-Converter, the AT-HD530
Atlona Technologies, leading manufacturer of Audio Video Connectivity accessories, has announced its plan to release a new down-converter, the AT-HD530. This unit is designed to send HDMI or DVI digital signal from desired sources such as PCs, Macs, GPS Systems, Apple TVs, Camcorder or Video Game, and down-convert the signal to Analog S-Video or Composite Video with Audio. This device will covert high-definition television video signals to standard-definition video that can be viewed on conventional television receivers or computer monitors for all users.
Along with a featured HDMI/DVI loop-out, this converter has the ability to support resolutions of up to 1080p for HDTVs and up to UXGA (1600x1200@60Hz) with PC or Mac Computers. In addition, this unit is able to automatically detect and down convert resolutions to those of to PAL or NTSC formats. Atlona’s new down-converter will be perfect for nearly all computer applications, as well as those used by Broadcasters, Video Production Engineers, and end users alike.
Atlona’s AT-HD530 Down-Converter will be in stock late August with an MSRP of $299.00.
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Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Getting kids on bikes early is a great way to keep them cycling for life. I got my first big-boy’s bike when I was around five. It had stabilizers (training wheels), solid rubber tires and was a copy of a Raleigh Chopper cruiser. I loved it, I often crashed it, and I painted it a hideous 1970s shade of dark blue. In between than and now I have hardly been without a bicycle.
And the QuadraByke would have let me start even younger. It begins as a four-wheeled transport, suitable for any toddler to take for a spin around the yard. As they grow older and more confident, the kids can remove wheels one at a time, running through a trike and up to a bike. Best of all, they can do it themselves, and without tools, meaning that they not only learn to ride, they learn to tinker, too.
An enclosed chain keeps tiny fingers safe, and the axle design is the key. It allows you to put a wheel on each side of the frame, or inside the forks. Better, its inexpensive (ish). At £110 ($185), it’s not the cheapest kids bike, but then, it is three kids bikes.
Product page [Q-Byke via Bike Radar]
Sony's WX1 and TX1 CyberShots will be unusually expensive for point-and-shoot cameras, thanks to new sensor technology. This pic explains what you'll get for your $400. Spot the small sprint!
 BBC News | NASA's Kepler Spots Atmosphere On Distant Planet InformationWeek The Kepler space telescope provides the closest look yet at the HAT-P-7 exoplanet as it searches for Earth-like planets in other solar systems. By Paul McDougall NASA's orbiting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere on a previously ... NASA: Hunt for Earth-like planets is on NASA says Kepler spacecraft proves it can find Earth-sized planets Nasa telescope passes planet test |
Shapaeways, the 3D printing shop, has added stainless steel to its lineup of materials, meaning you can now design spare parts for machines and have them made up and sent to you in the mail. Here’s how it works:
Stainless Steel printing is a completely new technology – stainless steel powder is deposited in thin layers, combined with a binding material, and built one layer at a time to the specifications of its designer. The final product is infused with bronze and oven-cured, and a variety of finish and color options are available.
Essentially, it’s like an inkjet printer, only instead of making a 2D image by laying down ink line-by-line, it makes a 3D object by laying down powdered metal one layer at a time. What could you use this for? Almost anything. The video shows a couple of ants on a Möbius Strip, but you could just as easily make low-stress parts for bikes and cars, or — well, come on, you can make anything. Have some imagination here. And add this to a 3D scanner and you can duplicate just about anything, except, sadly, tea, Earl Grey, hot.
Product page [Shapeways. Thanks, John!]
This lovely pair of jugs updates the measuring cup, although they’ll end up being a rather useless investment. Why? Batteries. The SmartMeasure Cup weighs whatever is inside and gives the readout on an angled LCD screen on the handle. This makes it essentially a usefully-shaped weighing scale.
But when the battery runs out, it’ll be just the same as every other jug in the cupboard, and you probably won’t ever get around to buying a replacement button-cell. The evidence: I have an excellent glass and metal digital scale from Salter. I have owned it for many years, and yet I almost never use it, despite its convenience, accuracy and good looks. The batteries died long ago and the only time I ever remember this is when I need to weigh something. I will never, ever remember to buy new ones when am out shopping, so I may as well toss the thing.
At least the jug will still work manually, but why go to the expense for a few months worth of digital action? Available this fall.
Really Really Smart [Yanko]
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Mobile
Sprint and Samsung have recently introduced a new eco-friendly mobile phone, dubbed with a catchy name—the Reclaim. This is a fitting name considering the Reclaim is made from 80 percent recyclable materials. To break that down a little more, the box and packaging are made from 70 percent recycled materials with the text and images on the box as well as the warranty information being printed with soy-based ink. Also, taking that one step further, the traditional user manual has been left out of the packing giving users the option to view a virtual manual online. Additionally, the phones outer casing is made from bio-plastic material, which is made from corn and accounts for 40 percent of the phones outer casing.
Of course, Samsung wants us all to know that the Reclaim is more than just eco-friendly;
“Samsung Reclaim is more than just an eco-friendly device, it’s also a powerful and stylish phone that’s easy-to-use,” said Omar Khan, senior vice president of Strategy and Product Management for Samsung Mobile.”
In terms of features the Samsung Reclaim is offering;
The Samsung Reclaim will be available beginning August 16 and will retail for $50, and as you would expect that $50 comes (after a $50 mail-in-rebate and a $30 instant rebate) and along with a two-year agreement.
Read [Business Wire]
Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
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