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- Panasonic to release VIERA-compatible HD web camera for Skype
- The Leica V-Lux 20 gets official
- Steve Jobs Reiterates: “Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone”
- Pioneer lets you control its new Blu-ray players with your iPhone
- Daily Crunch: This Is Amiga Speaking Edition
- Ford’s Sync AppLink is the missing link between driver and smartphone
- DirecTV would like to remind you that they will have Avatar on time, unlike Netflix
- Don’t let Tron guy have all the fun – get this glowing Tron shirt
- Are video games art?
- Celebrate Ooma Purevoice with a free Ooma Telo handset and 1 year of service
- JOBO announces updated two new photoGPS models
- Microsoft Fix It comes to Windows Vista, XP
- LEGO Prince of Persia – wait, it’s actual LEGOs?
- Microsoft supports niche F# language in Visual Studio 2010
- Concept USB drive glows different colors for different file types
- The New Yorker on how the iPad saved publishing – for now
- Apple offers to replace iPod shuffle broken headphones
- Volcano causes Iron Man 2 premiere to be moved from London to Los Angeles
- The Amiga is coming back!
- A look at the next iPhone, as it leaks across the Internet
| Panasonic to release VIERA-compatible HD web camera for Skype Posted: 20 Apr 2010 05:41 AM PDT
Back in January, LG and Panasonic were the first companies to announce that they would build a Skype function into their future TVs, making it possible to video chat in HD quality without a computer. And today Panasonic in Japan unveiled the TY-CC10W [JP], a web camera that can be used to skype on some of the company’s VIERA TVs. Panasonic says users just need to plug the camera into the USB 2.0 port of their web-enabled VIERA (which must have the latest firmware installed) and are then able to video chat in 1,280×720 (at 22fps) with their usual Skype account. The camera features a 1/4 CMOS sensor and four microphones. It’s sized at 210×43×76mm and weighs 200g.
Panasonic will start selling the TY-CC10W in Japan on June 11 (price: $190). The company hasn’t said anything yet regarding international sales plans.
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| The Leica V-Lux 20 gets official Posted: 20 Apr 2010 05:33 AM PDT There isn’t much to say here. We already knew that the Leica V-Lux 20 was going to be a DMC-ZS7 clone with the same 12.1 MP 25-300mm lens arrangement, GPS, and 3-inch LCD. And we were really close on the price, too, stating that it would retail for €549 where in fact it’s coming with a €499 MSRP. So yeah, there isn’t much to say here but you may wanna click through to view a gallery of the sexy matte black shooter.
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| Steve Jobs Reiterates: “Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone” Posted: 20 Apr 2010 05:16 AM PDT  Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on a roll. While he's probably had better days than today, he's lately been shooting off emails left and right in response to customers' concerns. We just were sent what appears to be one such Jobs response, sent last week surrounding the whole Mark Fiore situation. And it's a good one. When questioned about Apple's role as moral police in the App Store, Jobs responds that "we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone." Better, is what he said next: "Folks who want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone."
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| Pioneer lets you control its new Blu-ray players with your iPhone Posted: 20 Apr 2010 05:02 AM PDT
Pioneer may have shut down its display business to focus on producing more car-related equipment instead, but that doesn’t mean they have given up on the home entertainment segment altogether. In Japan, the company today unveiled a number of new devices actually, including Blu-ray players [JP] that can be controlled with the iPhone/iPod touch. To be more exact, Pioneer showed two new Blu-ray devices today, the BDP-330 (pictured above) and the BDP-LX53 (pictured below). Both can output Blu-Ray movies in 1080/24p and feature PQLS (Precision Quartz Lock System) for high-quality sound playback, BD Live, DeepColor 36bit, TrueHD/DTS-HD, an HDMI interface and two USB ports (the only notable difference is that the BDP-LX53 performs better sound-wise).
All you need to do is to download Pioneer’s free app “iControlAV”, which can be used for certain future products Pioneer has in the pipeline, too (that app hit the AppStore last month).
In Japan, Pioneer plans to start selling the BDP-330 for $230 and the BDP-LX53 for $800 (from May). The company hasn’t said anything yet about its international sales plans for the players.
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| Daily Crunch: This Is Amiga Speaking Edition Posted: 20 Apr 2010 12:00 AM PDT |
| Ford’s Sync AppLink is the missing link between driver and smartphone Posted: 19 Apr 2010 09:01 PM PDT
At launch Pandora, Sticher, and Orangatame’s OpenBreak App for Twitter will work with the service. More apps are sure to come but they need to incorporate a special Sync API in order to work. Drivers will then be able to control the apps via the apps through Sync’s voice commands and steering wheel buttons. This will of course free up the driver’s attention to do other things like, say, driving. On a related note, I’ll be testing driving a 2011 Fiesta this week. Watch out for a full report and hopefully we’ll get to see this new feature in action.
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| DirecTV would like to remind you that they will have Avatar on time, unlike Netflix Posted: 19 Apr 2010 05:00 PM PDT
In a press release issued today, DirecTV took the rather predatory approach of pointing out that while Netflix and RedBox won’t have movies like Avatar on the release date, you will be able to rent them using DirecTV. Of course, that’ll cost you between $4.99 and $5.99 per title, which ironically is nearly the same cost of a month of Netflix. DirecTV also stated that they were really really sorry, but due to their deal with the movie studios, they can’t offer a subscription model like Netflix does. So there.
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| Don’t let Tron guy have all the fun – get this glowing Tron shirt Posted: 19 Apr 2010 04:30 PM PDT
The sweet glow-in-the-dark piping looks to be very nicely adapted from the movie, and the shoulder pads are a nice touch. Of course, wearing this is perhaps even nerdier than wearing a Wi-Fi detecting shirt. Girl not included. [via The Daily What and Dvice]
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| Posted: 19 Apr 2010 04:00 PM PDT
I’m hesitant to write this because, really, who cares? And I don’t mean that in a negative, cynical way at all, but rather in a practical way. Clearly there are people who enjoy playing video games, just as there are people who enjoy creating video games. Why should these people concern themselves with whether or not Roger Ebert, a 67-year-old man who wouldn’t know the difference between World of Warcraft and The Legend of Zelda if you smashed his face in with the blunt end of the Master Sword, "approves" of their pastime or vocation? Let’s not forget, Mr. Ebert, that movies weren’t always considered art. How could a movie tell a story as well as a novel? And surely a movie is nothing but a poor imitation of a play—who would sit in front of a screen to watch a lousy recording when they could sit mere feet away from the actor himself, live and in the moment? Later, once movie forced their way into mainstream culture, wasn’t there a debate as to whether serious movies would ever have sound, or would ever be in color? (The same debate is happening right now with 3D movies.) So let’s not pretend that movies were always beatified—or that they were considered works of art. And what does "art" even mean? It comes to English by way of Latin (eventually), and it means "arm." That is, it’s merely something you do (with your arms). "Nice painting, that must be art. Nice poem, that must be art. Nice chair you carved, must be art. Nice code you’ve written, must be art." Aren’t the truly great athletes considered artists? Isn’t what someone like Leo Messi does, or what LeBron James does, considered "art"? More importantly, why should gamers (and the people who make them, who presumably are also gamers) worry about whether or not today’s generation of critics consider what they do to be art? Again, Mr. Ebert is an older gentleman who doesn’t really have a horse in this race, so to speak. You show him Heavy Rain and all he sees is Galaga. There’s no point in trying to convince him the world is round when he knows the world is flat. I just mixed about 800 metaphors in there and I don’t care. "Are games art?" Well yes, obviously, but we shouldn’t feel as though we have to impress anybody by affixing a handy label—art—to doing what we like to do. Do your own thing, that’s all. Stop worrying about whether or not The Man places his stamp of approval on you. But I suspect Ebert was just trolling. Well done, then.
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| Celebrate Ooma Purevoice with a free Ooma Telo handset and 1 year of service Posted: 19 Apr 2010 03:12 PM PDT
How do you win? The press release follows, but you know what to do.
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| JOBO announces updated two new photoGPS models Posted: 19 Apr 2010 03:00 PM PDT
Both of the new GPS units feature improved memory storage, additional coverage, and more points of interest. The new versions will be available at the end of this month, and are expected to retail at $99 for the photoGPS 2, and $129 for the photoGPS 4. From the press release:
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| Microsoft Fix It comes to Windows Vista, XP Posted: 19 Apr 2010 02:30 PM PDT
Good news for those of you who are still plugging along on Windows XP and Vista. Microsoftis bringing Fix It to said operating systems; it’s already available on Windows 7. Fix It tries to—wait for it—fix your PC problems before they require your to break out a sledgehammer and teach your hard drive a lesson. It’s in beta right now, so feel free to give it a shot. “Feel free,” as if I’m the arbiter of your free time! Fix It seems pretty handy. It scans your PC (and any devices you have connected to it, like external hard drives and the like) for some 300 glitches and problems, and offers to fix ‘em for you then and there. Thank you, Microsoft, though it’s a shame there are so many issues to begin with. Or, as John’s unhelpful suggestion goes, “Fit It? Get a Mac.” Yes, let me spend an arm and a leg to buy an underpowered, overpriced laptop. A nice laptop, certainly, but it’s not exactly cost-efficient. I’ve been using Windows 7 pretty much full steam ahead since December (though I still old Macs laying about), and I’ve had zero issues to speak of. Viruses, trojans, inexplicable glitches, etc. Knock on wood, of course.
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| LEGO Prince of Persia – wait, it’s actual LEGOs? Posted: 19 Apr 2010 02:00 PM PDT I suppose it’s mixed blessing for LEGO that when I saw the headline “LEGO Prince of Persia” I immediately thought of their successful video game line. I played with LEGOs when I was young, but I wonder how long they’ll remain relevant when even fans like myself cease to think of LEGO as the actual blocks, and think of them more as a brand of toys and games. Ah well. At any rate I would have played the hell out of this set when I was a kid, though I would probably lose that dagger pretty quickly.
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| Microsoft supports niche F# language in Visual Studio 2010 Posted: 19 Apr 2010 01:30 PM PDT
F# was developed by Don Syme at Microsoft Research, and is a variant of ML. F#, like ML, is a functional language. According to an article at The Register, F# is well-suited for the financial industry, as well as a good choice for parallel processing on multi-core systems. Just how F# is better than ML, or OCaml, or other functional languages is not particularly clear. My layman’s guess is that it’s the strength of the underlying .NET framework available to F# that makes it a strong contender in an already crowded space. The Register article cites major savings in terms of lines of code, and I can’t imagine that the new language itself offers that much savings, so much as the list of supporting libraries that are part of the .NET framework help programmers reduce duplication and write more svelte code. I’m not a programmer by trade so I asked a full-time developer friend of mine. While not specifically familiar with F#, he observed that F#’s support for Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and lambda expressions is a big deal. “Transformative” was his word, actually. It’ll take quite a bit of effort to get programmers to see that F# may be a good choice for anything, given the saturation of available alternatives. Most interesting to me was this bit:
So in addition to “traditional” .NET languages, and all of PHP, and Java, and good ol’ fashioned Perl, Microsoft is hoping to bring F# to the web development party… “It’s clearly a niche thing,” is how my programmer friend concluded his remarks. Since Microsoft has made no real effort to advertise F# as part of Visual Studio 2010, I’m inclined to agree. And I guess Microsoft does, too.
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| Concept USB drive glows different colors for different file types Posted: 19 Apr 2010 01:30 PM PDT
First of all, look at the picture above. Where’s the memory exactly? It’s just a bunch of glass. And where are the display elements? How are they powered? I know, it’s just a for-fun render of an idea. But like so many other concepts we see around here, there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of thought put into it. I like this one though.
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| The New Yorker on how the iPad saved publishing – for now Posted: 19 Apr 2010 01:28 PM PDT
Before the iPad, Amazon was about to destroy publishing. That was the gist of a story by Ken Auletta for the New Yorker. Up until the announcement of the iPad, writes Auletta, Amazon was going to begin their own imprint, essentially making hardcover books obsolete and then cutting out the publishers and going right for the authors. Jobs, instead, stepped in and increase the price of ebooks, giving publishers, at best, a “reprieve.”
As a writer, the question of whether we need publishers to “curate” books is always fascinating. Being a blogger I’m forced, out of deference to the form, to be a first-thought-best-thought author. Being a book writer backed by a big house, on the other hand, is the antithesis of that. My concern, then, is that when publishers are out of the picture the commons will have to pick a new set of giants. That messy interim period will mirror the world of big-time blogging detail for detail, with established businesses going boobs-up, upstarts grabbing an inordinate amount of market share, and weirdos and conspiracy theorists cleaning up on the long tale. My only regret will be that books, physical, beautiful, paper books, will no longer be a cultural artifact.
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| Apple offers to replace iPod shuffle broken headphones Posted: 19 Apr 2010 01:00 PM PDT
A quick heads-up for those of you who bought an iPod shuffle in recent months. Apple has admitted that the included headphones can fail in certain circumstances, and has offered to replace them if that’s the case. You can either visit an Apple Store to replace ‘em or send away for ‘em in the post. Search, search, hurry up and search.
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| Volcano causes Iron Man 2 premiere to be moved from London to Los Angeles Posted: 19 Apr 2010 12:27 PM PDT
Terribly important news! The Iron Man 2 premier has been moved from London to Los Angeles due to the travel complications created by the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. If Iron Men were real, he would have placed a giant filter on top of the volcano, preventing all of this chaos from the get-go. This volcano is now officially the worst thing to happen in the whole history of humanity.
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| Posted: 19 Apr 2010 12:00 PM PDT
The Amiga lives! Yes, a company by the name of A-EON will resurrect the famous computer this summer, but not before pumping it full of growth hormone. One stat to whet your appetite: while the Amiga A100 had a maximum of 8MB of memory, the new guy will have 2GB. That’s 250 times as much memory. The new Amiga, called the AmigaOne X100, hasn’t been unveiled just yet, but will at this June’s Vintage Computing Festival at Bletchley Park. History Channel viewers will remember than name as being the site of the Allied effort to crack the German Enigma machine. Other stats: • 1.8GHz PPC RISC processor • ATI Radeon R700 GPU &bull 2GB of memory • Many ports, including 10 USB 2.0, Gigabit ethernet, SATA 2, 7.1-channel audio, and something called Xorro Pretty sure I wasn’t alive when the original A1000 came out, so I really can’t add flavor to this. You know, “I once stayed up 24 hours straight doing something or other on my Amiga.” Still, the idea of a vintage computing festival excites me greatly. I’d rather have a conversation with an old tech enthusiast than listen to some CEO whinge about how the next whatchamacallit will change everything forever.
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| A look at the next iPhone, as it leaks across the Internet Posted: 19 Apr 2010 11:46 AM PDT
Today, Gizmodo won at the Internet, and all it took was $10,000. That’s the current price being whispered amongst the blogging circles as what was paid for a prototype of the next iPhone — yep, next, as in the one that isn’t announced yet — purportedly found on the floor of a bar in San Jose. So what does all this mean? Is it real? Read on for the details. Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>
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