Photo of laptops in zero gravity

Over on the front page, Xeni posted this fabulous photo of astronauts from the STS-128 NASA mission to the International Space Station. It's actually a screenshot from a silent YouTube HD video taken on their seventh day in orbit.

I wonder what the optimal ergonomic position for laptop usage is in zero gravity.

Spacemen are transmitting silent little floaty vlogs at planet Earth [Boing Boing]

AT&T pulls the visual voicemail update for the BlackBerry Bold

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Are you a BlackBerry Bold user?  Still have not performed the last update that would have given you visual voicemail?

Well, it is a little late to worry now because AT&T has gone ahead and pulled that update.  Of course, due to the reasoning behind the removal you may not be all that upset that you missed out.

It turns out that there was “an issue” with that update.  Given that it must have been big enough to warrant a removal, however AT&T’s official statement mentioned that it “affected a small number of customers in a handful of markets.”  Thankfully it did not affect, fingers crossed, the BlackBerry Bold that I have on my AT&T Family Plan.

That issue “may create call performance problems.”  The good news is that those performance problems can be fixed, but it will require a call to customer service to find out the fix.

In the meantime, unless you are experiencing an issue, as AT&T stated, you can “continue to enjoy” the benefits of visual voicemail.  Otherwise if you were not able to upgrade when the update was originally available you will have to wait until AT&T makes it available once again, which at this time has no time estimate.

Via [BGR]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Organic Apple Orchard Floor Maintenance Techniques

Spacemen are transmitting silent little floaty vlogs at planet Earth (also: laptops in orbit!)

This is not the first web video of daily highlights from a NASA mission, but it just struck me now, watching today's silent vlog from STS-128, that this video really is amazing. It is amazing because it is equal parts banal and mindblowing.

Just as our grandparents were wowed by silent black and white film, our grandchildren will one day find these little YouTubes from space quaint. May I suggest watching these while listening to Boards of Canada? Good, because I just did.

Below, a still from this video which shows a neat laptop array. What an awesome workstation. I think I'll rearrange my desk like this after Labor Day. OH WAIT. Gravity, right.

The NASA videos are provided in YouTube HD, meaning you'll see a nice, crisp 1280x720 video embed instead of the puny 480x295 embed above if you click through to this link: STS 128 HD Flight Day 7 Highlights (Periods With No Sound) (YouTube/NASA).

Can AT&T handle iPhone MMS?

FROM APPLETELL - Following the news of AT&T activating the MMS service on September 25th, we look at whether AT&T can handle the increased traffic from the multimedia messaging service.
MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

A guide to Japan’s 32 best iPhone apps (all available in English)

Hi, LG: This is not a borderless TV

This is pretty much the silliest thing I’ve seen ever. LG is touting borderless TVs. What does that mean? They’re making the border around he TV black and the front of the TV flat.

LG: This doesn’t mean the TVs are borderless. It means they have a flat border. Borderless would mean you can’t see an edge. Borderless would be cool. This, however, is just crazy.

The LG marketing on this literally showed TVs with no border - the TVs looked like they went from edge to edge. However, that marketing has been swallowed up thus far and it looks like LG is backing away from the borderless concept, at least when it comes to talking about the TV. A quick search of the LG website shows that the borderless model aren’t being marketed that way anymore.

LG’s theme for this year, LIVE BORDERLESS™, will instantly make sense to anyone who sees the company’s BORDERLESS™ TVs, which appear to be a single, uninterrupted sheet of glass. These are the first TVs to completely eliminate the seam between the screen and the surrounding bezel.

So it’s obviously a philosophical “borderless” than a physical “borderless.” However, I suspect the average consumer will think “borderless” borderless, meaning without a border. Come on, LG. What’s up with this?

A guide to Japan’s 32 best iPhone apps (all available in English)

Why Are Native Ladybugs Disappearing?

Japan’s 32 Best iPhone Apps (All Available In English)

It’s not really a secret that Japan is absolutely crazy about cell phones. And even though domestic makers churn out more than 100 different handsets every year (some of which are simply amazing), the iPhone is selling over here. SoftBank Mobile, the country’s exclusive iPhone provider, doesn’t release official data, but estimates put sales in Japan at well over one million units so far – not bad at all in this hopelessly over-saturated market. In other words, Japan doesn’t hate the iPhone, as some blogs suggested in the past. It never did.

The local developer community has noticed and produced a slew of apps aimed at a global audience. What follows is my subjective selection of the “best” of these made-in-Japan apps, all of which are at least available in English. (I left out iPhone games released by big companies such as Capcom, Konami, Sega or Namco to focus on apps created by startups or individuals based in Japan instead.)

My personal favorite is a free (and fantastic) GPS-based photo sharing app called Memory Tree (just like all the apps in the following list, it works worldwide). But here’s a round-up of all the 32 apps I chose, grouped in six categories (games, productivity, tools, photography and art, music, and everything else).

Category: Games

1. Gang Street Wars by DigiDock (iTunes links: $1.99 for a limited time / free version)
Addictive mix between real-time strategy and (side-scrolling) tower defense game with cartoon graphics and random gore effects. You play a gang leader whose mission is to conquer bases of rivals by sending out gang members with different combat skills.

2. Broadway Cafe by Artscape and Istpika ($4.99)
Pretty deep and professionally designed restaurant simulation game that lets you assume the roles of a waiter, manager and owner. Dash around taking customer orders, serving meals in time or doing the dishes. But you also take care of the interior design of the restaurant, its personnel, finances etc. (the app contains more action elements than it sounds). Broadway Cafe also connects to its Facebook counterpart from where you can recruit Facebook friends to join the game (demo video).

3. Glandarius Wing Strike by IZUMOGASIN ($4.99 / free version)
Great-looking 2D shoot ‘em up aimed at hardcore gamers. This vertical scroller features six long stages, boss fights, chain attacks and a cool soundtrack. The initial version of the game was so hard that the maker later decided to add an “easy” mode. Definitely the best 2D shooter for the iPhone.

4. Samurai Chess by Conit ($2.99 / free version)
As the name of the app says, it’s a Samurai-themed chess game (in 3D). Players can challenge both the CPU or Samurai Chess players anywhere in the world (provided they’re online via 3G or Wi-Fi).

5. iYamato by Geppetto ($0.99 / free version)
2D shooting game in which you defend legendary battleship Yamato against aerial attacks. Not really a deep game, but it’s action-packed and ideal to kill 10 minutes from time to time (demo video).

6. LightBike by Pankaku ($2.99 / free version)
LightBike, which made it to the No. 1 in Apple USA’s app sales ranking a few months ago, is a 3D motorcycle racing/action game whose design resembles the setting of the Sci-Fi movie Tron. Up to 4 people can battle it out by using just two iPhones and Wi-Fi (demo video).

7. Vay by SoMoGa ($4.99)
Originally released in 1994 for the Sega CD system, Vay is one of the best 2D RPGs ever made. Cute anime-style graphics, retro-Sci-Fi setting, voice output in English, animated cutscenes and most importantly, dozens of hours of old-school gameplay. SoMoGa (based out of Florida) puts the complete original game in your pocket.

8. newtonica by Field System ($ 4.99)
Strange, but beautifully designed action game in which you rotate a sphere so that incoming meteors hit the cores with the matching colors. A bestseller in the Japanese App Store with a great soundtrack (demo videos).

9. newtonica2 by Field System ($ 0.99/ free version)
The sequel to newtonica is a mix between action and puzzle game, cheaper than the first one and better gameplay-wise. The game’s 36 stages will keep you busy for a while (demo video). There’s also newtonica2 resort, an add-on or remake of sorts (available for $0.99).

10. iNinja by Geppetto ($1.99 / free version)
One of the few Ninja-themed action games actually made by a Japanese company. Deflect oncoming Ninja attacks with shuriken (throwing stars), eliminate enemies with knives, land combo kills or set booby traps in 28 levels. There’s also a two-player Wi-Fi mode.

11. ExZeus by Hyper Devbox ($0.99)
3D rail-shooting game with fantastic sound and graphics in Space Harrier style. You control one of three giant robots to fight off an alien invasion. It’s not the longest game out there, but a total steal for this price (demo video).

Category: Productivity
12. Zeptoliner by Ubiquitous Entertainment ($6.99 / free version)
This “outliner” app helps you to arrange your ideas in a systematic way. You can jot down thoughts and then use a number of functions to structure them hierarchically. It’s also possible to import OMPL files to edit documents you created on your computer (demo video).

13. ZeptoPad 3.0 by Ubiquitous Entertainment ($19.99)
This note and whiteboard app isn’t cheap, but it’s an extremely versatile, vector-based illustration program. It lets you stream what you do on your iPhone to a computer screen or projector in real-time and has simply too many functions to mention here (click here for details and make sure to check out the video below).

14. gottaDo2 by Istpika ($2.99)
A social task manager that lets you knock off tasks from your to-do list to feed the cute little monsters living inside the app. You can watch them grow or punish you if you’re too lazy. It’s also possible to sync tasks with the gottaDo Facebook app.

15. PokéDia by s21g ($2.99)
A daily diary/planner app that’s available in 16 different languages. Each page of the virtual diary represents one day, and you can turn pages (move to certain days) by flicking to the right or left. The app lets you jot down notes anywhere on the screen and move the entries around on the page itself and between days. It can be used as a task manager, too (demo video).

Category: Tools
16. TapNext by Conit ($3.99 / free version)
This app turns your iPhone into a remote control for presentations. Maker Conit says it’s the only software of its kind that’s compatible to Powerpoint, Keynote and OpenOffice Impress and can be used via Wi-Fi or 3G. You can theoretically use a PC located in Europe to deliver a presentation in the USA with TapNext through Skype (details and demo video).

17. ServersMan by FreeBit (free)
Launched in February, this app, which turns your iPhone into a personal web server, is still one of the most popular apps in the Japanese App Store. And it has become even more useful with OS 3.0b, adding a number of functions to the already impressive list of features (read more here). And the best app of its kind is free, too.

Category: Photography and Art
18. PlayPix 3 snaps by LivingImage ($2.99 for a limited time)
PlayPix is like a lighter version of Animoto’s iPhone app. Select three pictures from your photo album, choose a graphical theme and the app will create a slide show with background music for you. You can save the slide show on your iPhone, upload it to YouTube or Facebook and share it via Twitter or Email. During my test, PlayPix actually worked faster than Animoto’s iPhone app (demo video).

19. Memory Tree by XeNN (free)
A GPS-based photo sharing app with a fantastic big idea: Take a picture anywhere in the world, “drop” it on the spot you took it at (simply by shaking your iPhone) and add a text to it. This geo-tagged picture can later be “caught” by other Memory Tree users who are in the same area by swinging the iPhone “like a butterfly net” (”Same Place” function).

If you click the “Same Time” button, you can catch and view countless photos the users of the app took around the globe in the last hours (regardless of your location), thereby creating common photographic memories worldwide. This is just very cool.

20. Koredoko (free)
This app lets you shuffle through geo-tagged photos in the camera roll and shows a Google map of where (and when) you took them (demo video).

21. TiltShift Generator by Takayuki Fukatsu ($0.99 for a limited time)
Takayuki Fukatsu is offering seven different photo apps that proved to be so popular that some of the pictures created with them were used in a real-world exhibition [JP]. TiltShift Generator is Fukatsu’s newest app, and it lets you shoot miniature pictures in retro style (samples). But you should check out his other apps, too.

22. Art Remix by Appliya Studio (free)
This app is based on a pretty cool idea: Tokyo-based iPhone app publisher Appliya is providing a platform called Appliya Studio [JP] that turns the creative work of artists and photographers into iPhone apps that are then distributed worldwide through the App Store. One of the many apps already available is called Art Remix. It lets you modify a total of 23 artworks with a set of customizable icons and then save and share the remixes with friends.

23. Ukiyo-e Beauties by Appliya ($3.99)
A historic Japanese art app that offers a total of five different paintings and 20 woodblock prints from the traditional Ukiyo-e art form (in 1,150 x 800 resolution and 4xzoom). It took maker Appliya several months to create the app in collaboration with two professors of art history (demo video).

Category: Music
24. NESynth by New Forestar ($1.99)
For game geeks who happen to like music: This virtual synthesizer simulates 8-bit sounds from games people played in the glorious 80s. In P2P mode, you can hear what the other person plays on your own iPhone (demo video).

25. Rekords by Delaware ($1.99)
Rekords is a Japanese music label that distributes songs solely within the iPhone/iPod touch ecosystem. I bought their first record (iTunes link). The music is weird, but you get two English songs and can switch the virtual vinyl record you see on the screen from side A to B by flipping your iPhone. It’s also possible to jump to a certain part of the song by moving the record player’s arm.

26. PocketGuitar by Shinya Kasatani ($0.99)
Already a major global success, this app displays a set of virtual guitar strings that you can strum and press with your fingers. Users can choose between six virtual guitars (even a Ukulele is available) and modify the sound with a number of different parameters (demo videos).

27. iShakuhachi by GClue ($0.99)
The Shakuhachi is a traditional bamboo flute that’s unknown even to many Japanese people. Users can play it by blowing into the iPhone mic, tilting it and covering the five holes with their fingers. GClue offers an iKoto (Japanese Harp) app, too.

Category: Everything else
28. Quick Pigeon by Ubiquitous Entertainment (free)
Cute push notification messenger app that uses a “virtual carrier pigeon” to send a quick “yes or no” question to people in your contact list. The recipient(s) view the email on their computer or iPhone, press “yes” or “no” and the message reaches you via push notification (along with a twitter sound).

29. Bijin Tokei by PHIRIA ($2.99)
This clock app brings 1,440 pictures of Japanese girls to your iPhone (Bijin Tokei means Hot Girl Clock in Japanese). The pictures fade in and out every minute, and each of them is showing a different girl who holds up a sign displaying the current time (to be exact, the models themselves change just every few minutes).

30. Wikiamo by Satoshi Nakagawa (free)
Wikiamo is better than the official app for Wikipedia (iTunes link) that launched just a few days ago simply because it makes Wikipedia pages much easier to read. The app also appears to be faster, lets you browse through certain articles when you’re offline (via page-caching) and has some other functions the official app doesn’t offer.

31. NatsuLion by Takuma Mori (free)
This app might be a good alternative for people who are still looking for a simple iPhone Twitter client that’s very quick and easy to use. It’s completely ad-free, too.

32. Amamiya Momo by Xtone ($2.99)
Amamiya Momo is a virtual anime girlfriend who lives in your iPhone, interacts with you and gets moody quickly. For example, she’s nicer when your’re home than when you’re out on the streets. Her mood also depends on which time of the day it is. There are 200 different pre-programmed patterns of behavior and Japanese voice samples (subbed in English). More info on this GPS-based app can be found here.

Nota Bene:
I sifted through countless app descriptions and sites from Japanese companies in the last weeks and have to say the vast majority of the English texts I stumbled upon are of horrific quality. Some were even so bad I couldn’t understand what the app is about. This is absolutely embarrassing, especially when you expect users to pay.

And why some of the apps have been available in the US App Store for months but never made their way to other countries (i.e the German store where I mostly buy from) is totally beyond me, too.

Special thanks to Nobuyuki Hayashi for his contribution to this article.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Library in Boston prep school replaced by ebook readers

Section: Gadgets / Other, Green, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous

It seems like a far off dream that one day libraries will be replaced by ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader.  However, in some cases it’s looking more and more like the the current state.  Amazon is looking into the textbook sales with the Kindle DX and now it looks like perhaps at least one prep school is going even further.

Cushing Academy, a prep school not far from Boston, MA, has recently decided to do away with its library, save for a few books.  The library now consists of a collection children’s books, and 18 ebook readers from both Amazon and Sony.  There’s also three flat-panel TVs that will display “data from the Internet,” an expensive coffee shop (it has a $12,000 cappuccino machine), and numerous laptop-ready study carrels.  For the prep school, the future is all digital, so there’s no reason to have 20,000 old books lying about the place when each ebook reader can handle the same amount in less space.  The teachers are even encouraged to make curriculums based on textbooks that can be used on such devices.  For a school of only about 450 students, the transition shouldn’t be too jarring, considering last semester the school library only saw 48 checkouts, 30 of which were children’s books.

Cushing will definitely be an interesting testing ground.  It’s small scale so 18 readers should be enough, though come finals time it will be interesting to see how busy things get.  Although, chances are with tuition starting at $31,000, it might be safe to assume most students can afford their own.  Perhaps if it does well, a small college might try the same, though the adoption rate among colleges will be rather slow.  Even if it does spread quickly and each student can get one, it might be hard to convert some teachers and professors, some of which (in my experience) still don’t know how to use the Internet all that well.  Plus, there’s something to be said about walking into an English class with an old, beat-up copy of “On The Road,” though that book could just be my own personal exception to ebook goodness.

Read [Boston.com]

Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Environmental Effects Of Cold-Climate Strawberry Farming

Alternative Growing Media Shows Potential

Watermelon's Hidden Killer

BOOM! Top Apple news for the week of 8-30-2009

Section:

We may not cover Apple 24x7… but we know someone who does!  Here’s a few of this week’s hottest from Appletell to get you started…

• iPhone OS 3.1 to ship this month, says AT&T
• Appletell Review: Facebook 3.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch
• Apple’s music-themed event confirmed for September 9th
• Could Apple TV be the “wildcard” on September 9th?
• Current iPod SKUs are discontinued, new iPods around the corner

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Is This The Real Answer To Google’s ‘Unexplained Phenomenon’ Puzzle?

Google’s ‘unexplained phenomenon’ is generating lots of buzz this weekend. The company had done nothing but change its logo to a variant where one of the two O’s in its name was seemingly being abducted by an alien spaceship and tweet out a cryptic message that was translated “All Your O are belong to us,” a play on the good old “All your base are belong to us” meme. But it sure got people talking.

The Telegraph thought it had solved the mystery, but Andrew Healey begged to differ and offered multiple alternative answers and why they were all wrong. Search Engine Land editor Danny Sullivan got a vague statement from Google about the whole ordeal which mentioned an update would be coming in the following weeks.

This statement and the translated version of the Google Korea blog post about it (thanks GoogleUnexplainedPhenomenon.com) led us and many others to believe this is likely the first of a series of hints that Google will be using to provide clues to a puzzle.

And TechCrunch reader x pete offered a really good lead in the comments of our earlier post that could well have solved the mystery early.

Check out the website for the O Campaign, which is a “non-profit campaign forging alliances between the public, academia, corporations, and institutions in effort to efficiently channel resources for high-paced development of cutting-edge research in cancer prevention”. Looks like something Google would be involved with, right?

Now check out who is co-directing this admirable campaign: Thalas’ Joseph James Jung, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philantropist who currently spends his time collaborating with chief executives and boards of selected companies, universities and organizations. The first company that gets mentioned in his bio? You guessed it: Google.

Is this the explanation for the unexplained phenomenon and will Google be symbolically donating one of the letters of its company name to the campaign? Or just another wild stab in the dark?

The truth is out there, and we’re clearly not the only ones looking for it.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Microsoft’s ‘Ten Grand’ Competition Ends, Was Actually Pretty Clever

Remember that online competition Microsoft Australia set up where they’d give away $10,000 to someone who found the cash, that was buried somewhere on the Internet? The aim was to promote Internet Explorer 8, and visitors of the campaign website as it was launched initially told users of other browsers to ‘get lost’ in rather rude way, which led to a Mozilla developer setting up a parodying website in response (and MS being forced to change the wording).

Anyway, the treasure hunt apparently ended quietly a while back, when the campaign’s Twitter account announced that on August 18 someone had successfully retrieved both a website address and the password needed to access it. The winner, Gavin Ballard, was announced 11 days ago and I just stumbled across this blog post on i.techreport who revealed that the website was FastSafePrivateBetter.com and the password was ‘Courval’.

When you go to that website and enter the password, you can download a document with all the answers to the clues that were provided by Microsoft in order to find where the $10,000 was ‘buried’. Or you can just download the doc here or view the answers in the embedded file below.

Reading the document, I have to admit the campaign was more elaborate than I’d have thought and actually quite clever. The clues that were transmitted through the campaign’s Twitter account (which currently only has about 3550 followers left) were apparently quite mind-challenging at times and often required the treasure hunter to use Microsoft’s and many other – some even competing – online products to solve the puzzles.

It took Ballard 67 clues and 65 days to get to the correct answer.

And now I’m wishing I had participated in the online treasure hunt too.

Ten Grand

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors