CrunchGear |  |
- Japan To Get Android-Based “Yahoo Phone” Next Month
- Daily Crunch: Liftoff
- Apple, It’s Time To Block iOS 5 Beta Users From Reviewing Apps
- GM Announces The Next Volt, The Cadillac ELR
- Razer’s Tiamat Headset Uses 10 Drivers To Produce 7.1 Sound
- Red Hat CEO At LinuxCon: I Have No Idea What’s Next
- Stephen Colbert’s Head Goes Into Space
- Griffin Releases iPhone-Controlled Toy Helicopter
- Ooma VOIP Service Is Down Nationwide
- Infographic: Linux Then and Now
- Korean Lawsuit Seeks $25 Million From Apple For Location Tracking
- Redesigned Wii To Launch Before Christmas, Loses Gamecube Backwards Compatibility
- Panasonic Pocket Server Streams Video And Music To Your iPhone/iPod touch
| Japan To Get Android-Based “Yahoo Phone” Next Month Posted: 18 Aug 2011 02:24 AM PDT  Japan gets an Android-based “Yahoo Phone” [JP]: what may sound weird at first is actually not that surprising a news item, given that Yahoo is the country’s biggest website. Add to the fact that the country’s third biggest mobile carrier SoftBank, the provider of the phone, is Yahoo Japan’s biggest shareholder, and the emergence of such a handset makes even more sense. The phone is manufactured by Sharp and is the rebranded version of the so-called “AQUOS PHONE THE PREMIUM SoftBank 009SH” [JP] the company showed a few weeks back. It features Android 2.3 as the OS, a 4-inch LCD with QHD resolution, an 8MP CMOS camera, Bluetooth 3.0, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, a microSDHC slot, a digital TV tuner, an e-wallet function, infrared communication, etc. Buyers can expect to find selected Android apps and services from Yahoo Japan pre-installed on the device, for example Yahoo Japan Home, Yahoo Japan Auctions, a calendar, dictionary, Yahoo Loco (the company’s LBS), etc. SoftBank subscribers choosing the phone become Yahoo Japan premium members for free for two years (instead of having to pay $4.50 monthly) and can also get additional points for every purchase made on Yahoo Shopping for the next two years. SoftBank will start distributing the Yahoo Phone in Japan late next month. Sorry for the small picture – we’ll add more when we get them.
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| Posted: 18 Aug 2011 01:00 AM PDT  Here are some of yesterday’s Gadgets stories:
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| Apple, It’s Time To Block iOS 5 Beta Users From Reviewing Apps Posted: 17 Aug 2011 05:42 PM PDT  “Yeah, each new iOS announcement is very… bittersweet. We love it because it means new APIs for us to build on, bug fixes for things we’ve had to work around, and, ideally, more people buying the platform we build for. But then we spend months getting slammed by bad reviews, all written by people who just don’t understand: until the release goes gold, beta-specific bugs are not our fault.” — A developer who asked to not be named. Last night, our sister site TUAW (it’s still sort of weird to write that) wrote a PSA of sorts. The message was simple: if you’re not a developer, but you’ve ignored the warning signs and finagled your way into the pre-release iOS 5 betas, you need to stop. Why? Because people are crushing developers with horribly unfair reviews, sinking their oh-so-important ratings because of bugs they couldn’t possibly have prepared for. The overall message was fair enough, but their proposed solution — telling non-developers to stop downloading iOS 5 — could never work. But there is a solution (a rather simple one, in fact) that would: just don’t let people running iOS betas review things. You see, telling people not to download the iOS 5 beta is like putting the world’s tastiest cookies in a jar labeled “FOR AWESOME PEOPLE ONLY”, then telling a kid they can’t have one unless they totally promise that they are, in fact, an awesome person. Everyone would put on their awesome shirt and their awesome hat, then walk on over to that cookie jar with hand extended. And why not? No one’s really checking just how awesome the self-proclaimed awesome people are — plus, the definition of “awesome” (read: the definition of “developer”) is somewhat loose. It’s just the way it works: we are, as a population, rather self-entitled. If something new is made available to one small group and others outside of that group are made aware of it, they’re going to try to find a way to get it (in this case, that usually means buying a developer seat from someone selling their extra spots for profit.) Apple could theoretically kill off this grey market entirely by opening iOS Beta access to anyone willing to jump through some hoops and void some rights — but that’s a post for another day. It seems there are at least two ways to fix this, one a bit easier than the other:
They’d have to account for applications that were installed from sync’d backups — but that, while not trivial, seems feasible. Apple already detects installed apps for other reasons (for example, changing the “download” button to be grayed out and read “Installed”)
This route is a bit clunkier — but it’s also a bit simpler to implement and easier on Apples servers, as it doesn’t require an additional database call for each and every user for each and every app. This is also somewhat less complicated from a privacy standpoint, as there’s less communication back to the mothership. Sound harsh? It is, perhaps. But it comes with the territory: pre-release Betas are not meant for day-to-day use (even for developers, Apple recommends only putting Betas on devices dedicated to testing.) If you’re a non-developer and you want to tinker, hell, I wouldn’t try to stop you: you’d just have to hold your rants until it’s reasonable to do otherwise. There would probably be some maligned outcries that Apple is somehow blocking freedom of speech — which, of course, doesn’t really apply here. These Beta-hungry reviewers are hopping on their soap boxes without any understanding of why things aren’t working, and are maliciously affecting the livelihoods of developers — many of whom, like most of us, are just some dudes looking to ditch the cubicle and do something cool for a living. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer,... The iTunes App Store allows iPhone users to download apps that take advantage of all the iPhone/iPod touch features. Users can either download the app through iTunes or...
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| GM Announces The Next Volt, The Cadillac ELR Posted: 17 Aug 2011 02:42 PM PDT  GM makes money from platforms, not just cars. With that thought, Cadillac just announced the ELR Coupe, a sleek sportster built on the Voltec platform that also powers the Volt. The dual-powertrain Caddy has been rumored ever since a concept (pictured here) was shown off at the 2009 North American International Auto Show. Well, friends, it’s on. The ELR will use the same version of the Voltec that powers the Volt including the same four-cylinder 1.4L generator. This makes the ELR sound nothing more than a reskinned Volt instead of the tuned electric roadster worth of that sexy sheet metal. Nothing says American sports coupe like a 0-to-60 time in eight and half seconds. Cadillac has yet to announce any real details about the upcoming coupe. “Development of the ELR is just underway, so details on performance, price and timing will be announced later,” says the press release. The extended coupe design actually makes a lot of sense for the Volt’s 2+2 configuration. The rear seats are not all that usable anyway. This modified design likely allows it to slip through the air with even less resistance. The photos shown here are of the 2009 Converj concept. The brand is pretty loyal to its sharp lines and massive grill design so the production version will probably follow the same styling cues if not be exactly the same thing. The Chevy Volt hasn’t exactly been a huge hit for GM. The auto maker reportedly sold just 125 last month and less than 3,000 so far this year. The model will soon be available nationwide, which might help move a few more off dealer lots. This Cadillac model will be the second production car, outside of the Volt’s European and Australian cousins, to utilize the series and hybrid powertrain. Since it wears the crest and wreath logo, it might even have a well-appointed cabin rather than the plastic toy that is the Chevy Volt.
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| Razer’s Tiamat Headset Uses 10 Drivers To Produce 7.1 Sound Posted: 17 Aug 2011 12:54 PM PDT  Very few headsets out there are “true” surround sound. Most are traditional stereo headphones with “virtual surround sound” — a process that adds depth and directionality, but delivers it through two speakers. Headphones like Tritton’s and Psyko’s actually use multiple drivers to simulate being in a room with, say, five speaker channels and a subwoofer. They’ve had mixed success, but maybe Razer will have more luck. Their upcoming Tiamat headset uses no less than 10 individual drivers (5 in each earpiece) to produce what they are saying is a world-first 7.1 sound experience. I’ll believe it when I hear it, though: the Megalodon sounded great with the right inputs, but failed to “upscale” plain stereo well. Hopefully the Tiamat handles that better. The new headset has a front, rear, side, and center channel in each earpiece along with a subwoofer. You can adjust each channel separately on the handsome puck. There’s a retractable microphone, of course. The Tiamat 7.1 has a little sister, the Tiamat 2.2, a virtual-surround headset with a similar design. Looks like an updated version of the Chimaera. They should be shipping later this year; the 7.1 costs $180 and the 2.2 will cost $100. More details can be found at the Tiamat microsite.
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| Red Hat CEO At LinuxCon: I Have No Idea What’s Next Posted: 17 Aug 2011 11:36 AM PDT  Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, just delivered a terrific opening keynote presentation for LinuxCon. Whitehurst isn’t just a businessman, he’s also a geek. He used Linux and open source before joining Red Hat, and the opportunity to be CEO of the world’s most successful open source company was a dream come true for him. After a quick summary of some of the major milestones Linux has seen over the last twenty years, he jumped into the heart of his keynote: what’s next? Whitehurst wasted no time in answering this question: “I have no idea.” This is a somewhat uncommon response from a CEO, but it makes perfect sense for anyone even moderately familiar with Linux. Linux has seen so much growth in so many markets that it is almost a foolish exercise to try to make predictions about what’s next for Linux. (Indeed, the Linux Foundation’s Jim Zemlin has been saying “This is the year of the Linux desktop” for the last four years!) Nevertheless, he had some thoughts about what the OS and ecosystem might soon be enabling. Here’s a quick summary of some of the more salient points from Whitehurst’s presentation: Linux is a transformational technology. “The technology of Linux empowers advancements and innovations that have nothing to do with the technology of Linux.” That is to say, Linux supports the development of new business models, as well as new technologies. The freedom to use Linux for any purpose, for free, has spawned many of the things we now take for granted: Amazon, Facebook, Google. Could any of these have succeeded to the extent that they have if they were required to purchase expensive proprietary software before they rolled out their products? Moreover, Linux allows rapid and low-cost prototyping, making it easier to innovate and evaluate what works and what doesn’t. According to Whitehurst, “when you’re looking for innovation, you’re looking for what’s happening in open source.” Linux has gone from catching up to commoditizing existing innovation in flexible, open ways, and now is moving on to leading innovation. The leading innovations today are happening in open source first and then big companies are working to productize that innovation for themselves. Hadoop, Cassandra, etc. are all examples of open source innovations that are now being warmly embraced by big companies. Another leading example of this sort of innovation is everyone’s favorite term, ‘The Cloud’. Why is it that there is no single, solid definition of the cloud? It’s because no single company or vendor pitched it, so they didn’t get to contextualize it. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and other big, complex technologies didn’t have a small group of drivers. Rather, they emerged from a larger collection of technical experts working together. The open source development model used by Linux has seen some remarkable, and in some cases ironic, collaboration. The US Navy, for example, was in need of a real-time kernel with deterministic performance characteristics in order to develop anti-missile technologies for their fleet. Linux didn’t have such a kernel, so the Navy contributed it. This directly benefited Wall Street, where now 80% of all stock exchanges rely on Linux and the real-time kernel for trading. The National Security Agency wrote the Security Enhanced Linux extensions which are now a fundamental part of Red Hat and a few other distributions. The work the NSA did made it so secure that Linux is now the most secure operating system certified by the Russian government. The open source ethos runs deep. Whitehurst shared a recent conversation he had with Facebook’s CTO, in which he was asked “Why do you guys release so much of your infrastructure work for free, when you know your competitors are going to use it, too?” The answer: it’s a moral issue. They feel that that have a responsibility to make the world a better place for everyone — contributors and competitors alike. If they can make someone else’s data center more efficient, or more reliable, then it’s incumbent upon them to do so. Whitehurst wrapped up with the observation that the principles of mass collaboration are changing the world.
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| Stephen Colbert’s Head Goes Into Space Posted: 17 Aug 2011 09:48 AM PDT  The folks at Makerbot made a bust of Stephen Colbert and gave him a copy when they appeared on his show a month or so ago. Not content to let it just moulder in the shop, they decided to attach it to a weather balloon and send it up over Long Island. The resulting video and images are striking: the Great Eagle himself in flight high over the salty waves of the Atlantic, overtopping the great spires of American Democracy, and soaring unfettered like a plastic bag in American Beauty. Watch the video to see the eagle soar. Thor bless small plastic busts of comedic actors playing conservative pundits and Thor bless the US of A.
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| Griffin Releases iPhone-Controlled Toy Helicopter Posted: 17 Aug 2011 08:22 AM PDT  For a mere $50 you, too, can own a small, iPhone-controlled helicopter made by a company that has been traditionally known for selling phone cases. Like Parrot before them, Griffin is branching out from its traditional product line and offering this small dual-rotor helicopter that is, in general, controlled via IR commands sent using a special dongle attached to the iPhone. There is full tilt-to-steer control as well as on-screen power buttons. The kit allows you to create three pre-recorded flight plans (“Go north, enter bedroom while wife is sleeping, drop peeled grape on her head” would be one of my favorites) and it charges via USB. I’ve had horrible luck with IR-controlled helicopters lately – the last one I tried flew off onto a roof because it apparently mistook sunlight as a command to, well, fly away – but hopefully this inexpensive little flyer will work a bit better. Available now.
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| Ooma VOIP Service Is Down Nationwide Posted: 17 Aug 2011 07:50 AM PDT  Reports are trickling into to our tipline that Ooma, a popular VOIP service, is currently experiencing major network issues. Currently, Ooma’s phone service seems offline nationwide, and their website and support forums are working sporadically if at all. Some users (mostly in California) are reporting that their service is returning, but right now, it would appear that a majority of subscribers are unable to make or receive phone calls. Another outage similar in scale to this one occurred in 2009, with service remaining offline for nearly 6 hours. Concerned customers who attempted to reach out to Ooma’s main office were treated to a canned message stating that the office was closed, and the voice mailbox was soon filled. Rumors have begun to swirl among affected customers on the DSL Reports forums that Ooma is in the process of shutting down, but we can confirm that this is not that case. A few calls to the Ooma customer service line yielded a brief conversation with a rep, who states that they are aware of the problem, and that service would we be restored within two hours. Apparently, once service is restored, the Ooma hub in customers’ homes will begin to work again without any input from the user. Affected customers should keep their eyes peeled for the tell-tale blue light on their hubs. This timetable will likely be little comfort to those affected, some of whom use Ooma as their business phone service. Updates are coming at a blistering pace, so all you Ooma users should stay tuned. UPDATE #1: The Ooma Status Twitter account is acknowledging the issue, no update on ETA. Ooma website is still down. Follow @ooma_status@ooma_status ooma support Sporadic failures on our Internet connectivity is affecting many customers. We are working to resolve the issue ASAP. UPDATE #2: Word on Ooma’s Facebook page and on DSLReports is that service is slowly coming back online. Keep looking for that blue light on the hub.
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| Infographic: Linux Then and Now Posted: 17 Aug 2011 07:30 AM PDT  Following up on yesterday’s 20 Years of Linux, the Linux Foundation is releasing today an infographic highlighting some of the remarkable changes in Linux and the larger computer industry over the last twenty years. The Linux kernel had 250,000 lines of code in 1995, but had 14 million lines of code in 2010. Linux users are using it increasingly at home and at work today, rather than just at home for personal purposes. LinuxCon is officially kicking off today, and I’ll be meeting with a number of folks from all around the Linux ecosystem, from Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst to Canonical’s Allison Randal to Nithya Ruff of Wind River Linux. If you’ve got any questions you’d like to see put to these folks, feel free to leave ‘em in the comments and I’ll see what I can do.
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| Korean Lawsuit Seeks $25 Million From Apple For Location Tracking Posted: 17 Aug 2011 07:21 AM PDT  Kim Hyung-Suk has been busy these past few months. An attorney based out of Seoul, he gained a bit of notoriety for being the first person to receive a cash settlement from Apple for the iPhone’s location-tracking tendencies. He also announced that he and his law firm, Mirae Law, would be looking into the possibility of filing a class-action suit against Apple. According to a report from Bloomberg, with 27,000 Korean complainants on board, that suit was filed today. Credit where credit is due, Kim Hyung-Suk certainly has a sense of humor. The website set up by his firm last July to reach out to potential plaintiffs greets visitors with an ironic spin on Apple’s language: “Finally. The real action against Apple. Now available here.“ Mr. Hyung-Suk’s original payout was 1 million won (roughly $930), and the firm is seeking that same reward for each of the 27,000 affected customers. This news comes hot on the heels of news that Apple was being fined 3 million ($2,808) won by the Korea Communications Commission for collecting location data even when users disabled all the pertinent features. If this keeps up, Apple may soon be looking at paying out some serious money in compensation. Should Apple settle in this suit, the rough total in compensation paid out would be the Korean equivalent of over $25 million. Given that Kim Hyung-Suk successfully got his piece of the pie, Apple may be looking at some serious legal maneuvers to try and get the suit dismissed. In fairness, with over $76 billion in their domestic coffers, the settlement costs would be a proverbial drop in the bucket. Still, expect to see Apple put up a concerted defense against the suit in coming weeks.
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| Redesigned Wii To Launch Before Christmas, Loses Gamecube Backwards Compatibility Posted: 17 Aug 2011 05:51 AM PDT  Nintendo is prepping a slightly retooled Wii for a pre-holiday release. This streamlined model sits horizontally (as a game console should) instead of vertically like the original. It’s also slightly smaller, lacks the ability to play Gamecube games, and will likely hit at a lower price. This move has standard procedure for game makers ever since the original NES. In an effort to revive sales and take advantage of new, lower-priced hardware, game makers will release an “updated” version of a particular console. This of course is the last act for that particular system as most of the time its replacement has already been announced. In this case, Nintendo announced the Wii U at E3 2011. The Wii has had a stellar run. In a sense it relit excitement around gaming and taught older generations to loosen up and have fun. The Wii was released in November of 2006 and has since sold over 87 million units, which puts it on top for the best-selling game console of all time. The Xbox 360 is still making a run at that record with solid sales even six years into its life. This is thanks in part to the revival caused by the Kinect. The updated Wii is only official for the UK right now. But Nintendo doesn’t traditionally out new hardware for just one region. Chances are this smaller, more petite Wii will hit worldwide rather shortly. In a strange twist the front of the redesigned Wii looks rather similar to the front fascia running the Wii U. It’s not be a stretch to assume the redesigned Wii will help usher in the next generation. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but the system will come bundled with Wii Party, Wii Sports, a Wii Remote Plus and a Nunchuk. This system is reportedly not able to play classic Gamecube games. If you don’t mind a taller Wii, you may want to scoop up one of the $150 Wii Mario Kart bundles before the supply is exhausted. (or pulled) Company: NINTENDO Website: http://nintendo.com Nintendo, a technology company widely known for its line of game consoles, was actually founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi. It began as a Card Game company and evolved...
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| Panasonic Pocket Server Streams Video And Music To Your iPhone/iPod touch Posted: 17 Aug 2011 05:23 AM PDT  If you like consuming media on your iPhone or iPod touch that’s stored elsewhere, you might want to take a look at what Panasonic has announced [JP] for the Japanese market recently. The so-called DY-PS10 is a “pocket server” that wirelessly streams videos, music and pictures from an SD/SDHC/SDXC card to these devices. The mini server uses IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-FI, comes with a USB port and is sized at just 66.8×117×13mm (weight: 82g). It supports video in MP4 format, MP3 files and JPEGs. Panasonic specifically targets users of DIGA hardware, for example TVs (who can take the SD card out of those devices to use it in the DY-PS10). The company says a 64GB SDXC card stores around 88 hours of video in standard resolution, with the pocket server itself offering 10 hours of battery life. Panasonic plans to start selling the device in their Japanese online store only on September 15 (price: $195). No international sales plans have been announced so far (but the Airstash look like a good alternative).
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