CrunchGear |  |
- Hey, Ladies, Would You Like To Look At My VR-Controlled RC Car?
- AiRScouter: Brother Ready To Commercialize Its See-Through Head-Mounted Display (Video)
- Watch Out, UK. Google TV Is Coming Your Way
- An Awesome First Look At Counter Strike: Global Offensive
- Japanese Company Develops World’s Smallest And Lightest Chargers For Electric Vehicles
- Photographer Spends Hundreds Of Thousands To Create 8×10 Digital Sensor
- Microsoft Patenting Multi-Screen, Multi-Touch Gestures
- “Nanopower” Shoes Could Generate 20W Of Electricity During Walking
- Create A Twisted Dreamscape Of Screaming Skulls With These DIY Animatronics
- Netflix Hits The Asus Transformer, More To Come?
- The Next Steps In Robotics And Computer Vision: Behavior Analysis, Situational Awareness
- RIM To Finally Fix The PlayBook Tablet, BBM and Native Email Coming In September
- Fujifilm X10/X50 Leaked In Old-Fashioned Catalog Style
- Samsung’s Galaxy S II To Hit T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, But Not Verizon?
- Leaked Borderlands 2 Video Shows A Familiar Interface, Gun Grenades
- Samsung’s IFA App Reveals New Galaxy Tab, Wave Handset
- Motorola Xoom LTE “Pilot” Program Underway
- Steve Jobs Begins Godfather Duties
- The 7 Iconic Patents That Define Steve Jobs
- Scandy: Yet Another Pointless Smartphone Stand
| Hey, Ladies, Would You Like To Look At My VR-Controlled RC Car? Posted: 26 Aug 2011 05:58 AM PDT  When a man is proud of his hobbies, women notice. Nowhere is that more apparent than in this thread on RCGroups where a dapper young gent, from the comfort of his lounge chair and protected by VR goggles, approached a comely young lass with his RC Tonka truck and, we can only assume, married that same lady in a ceremony held under a sylvan glade alongside her beaming parents. Or maybe not. Anyway, this dude drove this:
On the beach and tried to pick up the ladies. In a way it sort of worked and in another way it didn’t. Watch on. Potentially NSFW for bikinis, but it’s Friday.
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| AiRScouter: Brother Ready To Commercialize Its See-Through Head-Mounted Display (Video) Posted: 26 Aug 2011 05:57 AM PDT  Sometimes futuristic-looking prototypes of gadgets do get commercialized: Brother has announced it is ready to bring to market the so-called AiRScouter, a head-mounted and transparent transmissive liquid crystal display that was first showcased back in 2008. When worn, the device creates the impression of a 16-inch screen that's about one meter away from user’s eyes. Brother says they inked a deal with NEC, which will use the technology for their wearable computer Tele Scouter starting in the fall. The company expects the Air Scouter to be used in device assembly, parts picking and selection, and remote operations in factories. The display features 800×600 resolution, 600cd/m2 brightness, and weighs 106g. Read more about the device here and here.
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| Watch Out, UK. Google TV Is Coming Your Way Posted: 26 Aug 2011 05:57 AM PDT  Google TV soft launched in the US last September with the Logitech Revue and Sony Internet TV products. Google however is reportedly working on bringing the system to the UK and per a Telegraph report sourcing Eric Schmidt, the fun starts within the next six months. Thankfully, UK buyers don’t exactly have to start saving their quids since both product lines recently got major price cuts. Google TV hasn’t been a major hit here in the States. It hasn’t, as it was predicted, disrupted big media. Instead, big media shut off access to its online streaming services such as Hulu.com and others, essentially leaving the Google TV as an expensive Netflix streamer. Google has long said that a major update would hit before the end of summer, which will hopefully put the platform back on track. The Telegraph reports that Eric Schmidt will outline the release plans during his MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festive. Google TV might have more luck in a different region. The search giant likely learned hard lessons about launching such a product without the graces of big media. If Google makes the right friends, markets the product properly, Google TV might find a cozy home in the UK since its clearly not wanted in the US. Google TV is a new experience made for television that combines the TV you know and love with the freedom and power of the Internet. Watch an overview video...
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| An Awesome First Look At Counter Strike: Global Offensive Posted: 26 Aug 2011 05:35 AM PDT  Clear your morning, friend. If you have any respect at all for computer gaming, you’re going to watch these these two Counter Strike: Global Offensive videos over and over and over again. I did. What we have here, or rather, what the videos display, is an updated version of Counter Strike that won’t sit well with those looking for a Call of Duty competitor. This is updated version is clearly meant just for Counter Strike players by offering nothing more than updated graphics, physics and game UI. The sounds and gameplay seem untouched. This is a welcomed change in a world where games are seemingly designed just for Xbox Live 12-year olds. Click through for both videos.
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| Japanese Company Develops World’s Smallest And Lightest Chargers For Electric Vehicles Posted: 26 Aug 2011 03:16 AM PDT  One key element for the success of electric vehicles going forward is charging technology, but we’re getting there. Kyoto-based Nichicon has now developed what they say are the world’s smallest and chargers for these vehicles, the NQC-A202 and the NQC-A302. Both chargers are sized at just 150x35x60cm, about 50% smaller than existing devices. The NQC-A202 with 20kW output capacity weighs 150kg, while the NQC-A302 (30kW) weighs 20kg more. Nichicon says the new models are 66% lighter than existing ones, “dramatically decreasing installation effort” for their customers. The devices take between 35 and 60 minutes to charge, are compatible to the CHAdeMO standard for electric vehicles (Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, the Leaf, etc.) and will cost between $24,600 and $27,200 when they become available in October.One key element for the success of electric vehicles going forward is charging technology, but we’re getting there. Kyoto-based Nichicon has now developed what they say are the world’s smallest and chargers for these vehicles, the NQC-A202 and the NQC-A302. Both chargers are sized at just 150x35x60cm, about 50% smaller than existing devices. The NQC-A202 with 20kW output capacity weighs 150kg, while the NQC-A302 (30kW) weighs 20kg more. Nichicon says the new models are 66% lighter than existing ones, “dramatically decreasing installation effort” for their customers.
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| Photographer Spends Hundreds Of Thousands To Create 8×10 Digital Sensor Posted: 25 Aug 2011 05:53 PM PDT  Mitchell Feinberg is a photographer who specializes in taking beautiful photographs of very expensive things. Cars, luxury goods, wristwatches, that sort of thing. He shoots on 8×10 film, which is expensive enough that you generally want to get it right the first time. So he shoots test shots on instant 8×10 Polaroid film to make sure the exposure and focus are right. At $15 a pop, 7 or 8 test shots per photo, and dwindling supplies of the Polaroid film itself (though the Impossible Project is looking to remake it), it became evident to Feinberg that he couldn’t continue doing things that way. So what did he do? No, he didn’t buy a Leaf or Hasselblad. He decided he’d commission the world’s biggest color digital back. After some haggling and assurances that yes, he was serious, a prototype was put together in Februrary of 2010 and the production unit delivered in early 2011. He calls it the Maxback. It’s fully 8×10″; for comparison, Hasselblad’s best digital back, the CFV-50, is 36.7×49.1mm. Feinberg says the largest available backs are about 4.5x6cm. Here’s a comparison to show you how that compares with the Maxback: Yes, quite a difference. The interesting bit, though, is that the Maxback isn’t designed to produce many pixels. In fact, this whole enormous sensor only puts out a 16-bit 10-megapixel image. It’s a 10-megapixel image of the highest quality, of course, because of the quality of the lens and the size of the pixel wells, but still not big enough for high-fidelity printing on posters, magazines, and so on. He takes a few shots with the digital back (which he had engineered to fit his large format setup exactly), then simply switches it out for the 8×10 film when he’s satisfied. The cost was… well, I’ll let Feinberg explain: “The development and production of two backs (I wanted to have a spare) was equal to the cost of a good size house – before the housing crash.” So we’re probably talking half a million dollars. The thing is, he was spending $50,000 on Polaroids every year. He hopes it’ll pay for itself, and now that the design and testing is done, the cost for making more should be “in the low six figures.” So he might be able to fast track breaking even by selling a couple to other large-format photographers with money to throw around. An interesting, if expensive, solution to the problem, and the result is impressive to say the least. If you have a minute, check out some of Feinberg’s shots — you might recognize a few, but there were some beauties in there I hadn’t seen, especially in the Esquire wristwatch spread. I love that floor, too. [via PetaPixel]
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| Microsoft Patenting Multi-Screen, Multi-Touch Gestures Posted: 25 Aug 2011 04:52 PM PDT  (Update: The patents listed have not been granted, just recently made public.) Back in February of 2010, Microsoft applied for a number of patents related to touchscreen gestures on a tablet. Many of them concern a dual-screen device, conjuring images of the once highly-anticipated Courier slate. The others focus mainly on bezel gestures. Those patents have gone public now, though they have not in fact been granted yet. With IP wars raging across the globe, it’s certainly worth taking a look at the technology that Microsoft is attempting to lay claim to. So off we go: Off-Screen Gestures to Create On-Screen Input: This one’s pretty interesting. It basically brings the bezel into the equation as far as gestures go. The patent provides for single-touch gestures, multi-finger same-hand gestures, and multi-finger different-hand gestures, all of which can operate along the bezel moving from the inside-out, or the outside-in. Now all Microsoft needs is to multi-toe different-foot gestures and the bezel is theirs. There’s also mention of bezel gestures inciting a drop-down menu. We’ve seen something similar to this on the BlackBerry PlayBook. To wake the device up you slide your finger from the bottom bezel up into the screen. Multi-tasking requires the same gesture but from the sides of the slate into the screen. Radial Menus with Bezel Gestures: So here we have another bezel-related patent, this time concerned with Radial menus. It basically describes a way to access, navigate, and use a radial menu on the screen through use of bezel gestures. We haven’t seen a whole lot of radial/pie menus except on the Microsoft Surface and a little taste of one in Honeycomb’s browser. The Honeycomb pie menu works by placing half a finger on the screen, half on the bezel, although the screen is the only part of the device receiving the input. Yet another bezel patent. But the last of the bunch, I promise. This one is indeed very similar to the first up there, but covers exactly what the name implies: multi-finger gestures. This one also covers the use of multi-finger gestures associated with one or many exposable (and apparently customizable) drawers. It also extends the gestures to use on a device with multiple screens. And with that we can head on over to the other batch of patents, all focused on multi-screen gestures. Multi-screen Dual Tap Gesture: This next patent focuses mostly on the classic double-tap and how it’s used on dual- (or multi-) screen devices. From what I gather, it looks like this treats the double-tap as a way of going into full-screen mode, and what Microsoft is calling “pocketing” the tapped object. That is when the device is using a cross-screen combination display. However, if the device is in split-screen mode, the double-tap displays the tapped image in full-screen on one display, and “condensed” on the other. Multi-screen Pinch and Expand Gestures: Another classic touchscreen gesture, but with the added awesomeness of a multi-screen system: pinch-to-zoom. Unlike the double-tap patent, this one doesn’t seem to have any mention of funky pinch-to-zoom split-screen commands. There’s really nothing super new about it except the introduction of multiple screens. Multi-screen Bookmark Hold Gesture This is pretty interesting. This particular patent describes a way to bookmark a certain “journal page” on the device by holding the corner of the “journal page” on the first screen, and performing a sliding motion on the second screen to indicate that it should be bookmarked. We assume that the use of the term “journal page” refers to all types of content. The bookmark is then a selectable link on the first screen, and is identifiable by a portion of the journal page displaying as the bookmark’s icon. Multi-screen Hold and Page Flip Gesture: The Hold and Page Flip patent has to do with split-screen viewing. By holding one finger on the screen whose content you’d like to continue viewing, and performing some type of unspecified “input motion” on the other screen, the content on the first screen will “hold,” while the content on the other screen will change, or “flip.” Multi-screen Hold and Tap Gesture: Last, but certainly not least, we have the hold and tap patent. This one is geared toward communication between the two screens. In one instance, holding a displayed object on the first screen and tapping the second will move said object from the first screen to the second screen, right where you tapped. In another example, the hold and tap gesture can be used to copy a held object onto the second screen. If the displayed object on the first screen happens to be a function, holding that function and tapping the second screen will apply that function to a displayed object on the second screen. Who knows when, if ever, these patents will come to fruition? But with Microsoft attempting to control the technology, other tablet designers should take note of these patents. Especially if multi-screen devices are in the works (read: Sony). [via Microsoft News] Company: MICROSOFT Website: http://www.microsoft.com Launch Date: 4/4/1974 IPO: 13/3/1986, NASDAQ:MSFT Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of...
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| “Nanopower” Shoes Could Generate 20W Of Electricity During Walking Posted: 25 Aug 2011 02:53 PM PDT  This is different from those other electric shoes that were making the rounds yesterday. Piezoelectrics are interesting, but simply don’t produce a lot of power for their size. Enough to make a low-power transmitter squirt a few bytes, or light an LED. They’re great for collecting ambient forces like sound and vibration, if you know the direction and type of force you want to harvest, there are better ways to go about it. In the case of harvesting energy from footsteps, you have a pretty good idea of how the forces will work. And some researchers from the University of Wisconsin Madison are working on a system that might be able to pull as much as 20W from your strut. Why are you strutting, anyway? You think you’re so cool. Yes, theoretically, you could charge your iPad or power a whole low-power computer of some kind just by walking around. Of course, you could never stop walking, which might end up being a good thing. The researchers, who have privatized to research and sell the technology under the name Instep Nanopower, say that somewhere around 300W of power dissipates as heat alone, and they think they can siphon off a bit without messing with your gait. What they’ve done is introduce a fluid made up of tiny metal microdroplets into a special substrate. When your foot presses down on it, the droplets are forced through the substrate, which generates electricity by a means known as reverse electrowetting (that’s probably patent pending, but you can read the paper in Nature). Once the energy has been grabbed, it can be held for drawing off later or used immediately to power a device. They suggest a sort of relay that would do a mobile phone’s high-power transmitting for it, while using a lower-power signal to send stuff to the phone, saving battery life. Kind of an over-specific application, but you get the idea. They address several potential issues in the FAQ (squishiness, leaks, cost, etc) but don’t mention weight. I’m concerned that the battery and liquid metal would increase the weight of the sure significantly. I like light shoes myself, and I’m not sure I’d want to add another four or five ounces to each foot for a questionably accessible power source. [via UW Madison and Dvice]
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| Create A Twisted Dreamscape Of Screaming Skulls With These DIY Animatronics Posted: 25 Aug 2011 02:03 PM PDT  Are you the kind of person who would love to have an animatronic Gary Coleman on your shelf, his pudgy face cursing like a sailor at your guests while you roller skate around your basement wearing a skin-tight rubber suit and sing reggae-infused Coldplay covers? If you said “Absolutely!” then read on. This DIY shows you how to make googley eyes that move, a real, working mouth, and eyebrows. A microcontroller handles the servo controls and ensures that your creation reacts more like a robot and less like something out of the Hall of Presidents. You can see the plans on Pyrolectro so you, too, can make a strangely staring POTUS out of motors, cardboard, and wire. The full tutorial includes sections on all of the pertinent parts. Here are two examples of working faces below.
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| Netflix Hits The Asus Transformer, More To Come? Posted: 25 Aug 2011 12:57 PM PDT  Quick! Asus Transformer owners! Check your system updates. The Internet is awash with claims that build 8.6.5.9 enables sideloading of the Netflix app. Right now, only the Lenovo IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad Tablet are Netflix certified, forcing owners of other Honeycomb tablets to side load the app, something that previously wasn’t possible on the Transformer. It’s rather surprising that this official update adds the ability. If it was intentional or not, owners should probably install the app without haste. The next build could remove the ability. But if it was intentional, the move is further proof that manufacturers are not afraid to go around Honeycomb’s limitations. OEMs had to employ back-door hacks and 3rd party software to include a working SD card slot. Now if only Motorola would do something similar for the non-functioning SD card slots in the GED Xooms. With more than 23.3 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. is the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows. For $7.99...
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| The Next Steps In Robotics And Computer Vision: Behavior Analysis, Situational Awareness Posted: 25 Aug 2011 12:33 PM PDT  We’ve seen some interesting developments lately in the fields of robotics and computer vision. They’re not as academic as you’d expect: enormous tech successes like the Roomba and Kinect have relied as much on clever algorithms and software development as they have on marketing and retail placement. So what’s next for our increasingly intelligent cameras, webcams, TVs, and phones? I spoke with Dr. Anthony Hoogs, head of computer vision research at Kitware, a company that’s a frequent partner of DARPA, NIH, and other acronyms you’d probably recognize.We discussed what one might reasonably expect from the next few years of advances in this growing field. Kitware is a member of what we might reasonably call the third party in tech, one not often in the spotlight. Hoogs’s research division relies on government contracts and DARPA grants. We tend to cover privately-funded companies and products, with venture backing or corporate R&D budgets, which are often more high-profile. We’ve written before about the necessity of making sense of all the data being produced on the battlefield, what with cameras in every platoon, on every vehicle, and looking down from every aircraft. And then there’s the enormous amount of footage produced by domestic surveillance: security cameras private and public, traffic cameras, and the like. The amount of media produced by all these devices and networks is far too great to be effectively monitored by humans. That’s where Kitware comes in. The next step in computer vision, Dr. Hoogs says, is what they’re working on: behavior analysis. Just as something like the Kinect needs to distinguish between a reach for the chip bag and any number of gestures, in surveillance footage it needs to be determined whether something is interesting or not. “Interesting” is an incredibly complex notion, however, not nearly as simple as setting thresholds on movement and object shape. What Kitware is working on for military and surveillance purposes, however, would be equally at home in our own devices. Reducing thousands of hours of security footage to a few minutes of relevant footage is only one way to apply the algorithms and software they’re making. Allowing the analysis to happen in real time is the breakthrough that needs to happen in order to bring it to the living room. I asked whether better and more prevalent image sensors had made this easier, but he feels that the main catalyst has actually been better processors. I should have known: more sensors means more data, but not necessarily useful data. In the meantime, algorithms already effective at lower fidelity can be run faster and more frequently. This has already hit things like point and shoot cameras, which are struggling to apply it to useful features and end up just adding more and more face-detection numbers. But the potential is huge. The end result is that every camera will effectively become a robot with situational awareness, capable of tracking and classifying every object in its vicinity, from a waving hand or smiling face to stress on a beam or an improperly parked vehicle. On that subject, privacy becomes an issue. Until now, Kitware has largely relied on public databases for its research: images and video where legality is established. But as I wrote in Surveillant Society, the law and public dogma are things that consistently lag behind technology, and this is no exception. Should home security cameras maintain an off-site database of “trusted” faces? Should neighborhood cameras record frequent comers and goers, but flag strange people and vehicles? And will people act differently when they know their TV is “watching” them? It’s a complicated issue, and luckily one Dr. Hoogs gets to steer clear of. Their job is enabling the technology, not applying it prudently. Kitware also releases much of its work publicly and it is widely used; other companies like PrimeSense are also hoping to become the de facto standard for emerging interfaces like depth control and object recognition. I asked what we could realistically expect in real products over the next year or two. Dr. Hoogs feels that virtualized and augmented reality will be the next wave of consumer products to use it. Your phone already knows where it is, which direction it’s facing, what businesses are nearby, and so on. Early entries like Google Goggles and Layar show potential, but the processing and infrastructure both need upgrading before it hits the big time. The big push comes when companies need to close the gap between the academic findings and a product. That means putting an end to development and features, something pure researchers can have trouble with (“it’s not finished!”). But as Microsoft showed with the Kinect, and many other companies are showing with intelligent image manipulation tech, the possibilities for product are as great as the possibilities of simply advancing the field.
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| RIM To Finally Fix The PlayBook Tablet, BBM and Native Email Coming In September Posted: 25 Aug 2011 12:06 PM PDT  The BlackBerry PlayBook is impressive upon first look. You pick it up, quickly scroll through the apps, and jump online. It all works like it’s supposed to. But then you find out it can’t hook up to your email; a BlackBerry needs to be connected through the BlackBerry Bridge. This connection also enables BBM, calendar and an address book, but an update due next month will finally bake several key features into the PlayBook. Per most reviews and assessments, RIM launched the BlackBerry PlayBook a bit too early. Email is a basic function of every other tablet on this green earth but is somewhat difficult on the PlayBook even though its target audience of businesses rely heavily on that particular form of communication. The good news is that the fix is on its way, but it might be too late. The PlayBook has struggled to find a footing in the iPad-dominated tablet market partly because of the early negative reviews but RIM should have seen this coming. Launching a product before its fully developed and then relying on updates, which the PlayBook got initially on a weekly basis, does not breed confidence. The email and BBM updates are supposed to launch next month. Per a Bloomberg source, RIM might also launch a so-called Android player still this year that would allow the PlayBook to run Android apps. Will these features revive the PlayBook and spur a sudden demand? Probably not, but at least RIM is sticking to improving its platform and taking care of owners. That’s something HP wouldn’t know anything about.
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| Fujifilm X10/X50 Leaked In Old-Fashioned Catalog Style Posted: 25 Aug 2011 11:58 AM PDT  I love printed materials. Not just because they’re great in their own right, but because sometimes, due to the restrictions of printing and mailing delays, they break news a little early. We see it in promos and posters all the time. In this case, Fujifilm’s rumored X10/X50, little brother to the much-loved X100, has shown up in the Promaster catalog, complete with specs and pic, courtesy of Something Awful forum member Moonduck. Here are the specs listed on the page, so you don’t have to squint like I did:
That mostly jives with what we heard earlier. It’s definitely being called the X50 here, and as the X100 only has one name, I’m guessing they’re going to stick with that. Or there could be a third camera called the X10 with different specs, but I don’t think there’s much else they can remove that wouldn’t compromise the X-series integrity. The main difference would be the lack of the hybrid viewfinder. I’ve got an X100 here next to me, and I certainly like the hybrid view, but I think I could be convinced to part with it for the amount the X50 loses off the price. The flash has moved as well, and there appears to be no exposure bias dial. That’s too bad, it’s a nice thing to have. But it’s gained a knob there on the right side (our right) to make up for it. Flash options, perhaps? The catalog doesn’t mention a shipping date, unfortunately, but since it’s in there, we can probably expect an announcement from Fujifilm soon. [via Photo Rumors]
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| Samsung’s Galaxy S II To Hit T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, But Not Verizon? Posted: 25 Aug 2011 11:49 AM PDT  After what has felt like forever for many an Android fan, the Samsung Galaxy S II is finally set to touch down stateside. Come next Monday, Samsung will be spilling the details surrounding the Galaxy S II’s US launch. Between the launch timeframe and its positioning as a flagship Android handset, it’s pretty much unavoidable that the Galaxy S II will be spun as the iPhone 5′s greatest rival — and in that battle, Samsung will need as much carrier support as it can get. Alas, it looks like they’ll have to go on without the support of the biggest carrier of all: Verizon.
According to a report coming out of the Wall Street Journal, Verizon will be the odd man out in the Galaxy S II game. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint will all be a part of the big launch event, while Verizon plans to continue pushing the devices already in their portfolio. Of course, this goes against prior rumors (though ones we left unreported, as they seemed a bit too shaky) that Verizon would be the first in the US to get the Galaxy S II, launching it under the name “Function”. That’s just how things go when you live life around the rumor mill. It’s not as if Samsung couldn’t build a Verizon-friendly Galaxy S II; they’re already supporting CDMA if they plan to launch a Sprint variant, and they’ve been building phones that work with Verizon’s LTE network since April — so why might Verizon pass up such a long-awaited device? Blame it on the timing: Verizon knows a new iPhone is coming, and all signs are pointing to a September 8th launch of Verizon’s other big Android handset, the long, long delayed Droid Bionic. A carrier can only split their marketing love so many ways. Update: We have confirmed with Verizon that, at least for the time being, they do not plan to carry the Galaxy S II.
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| Leaked Borderlands 2 Video Shows A Familiar Interface, Gun Grenades Posted: 25 Aug 2011 10:49 AM PDT  Borderlands 2, you know, the follow up to Borderlands, is on its way. Like most games the Internet will be blessed with leaks, teasers and full trailers prior to its official release. Well, here’s the first one. It’s a tad hard to watch — is it shot under some dude’s arm pit? — but if you can suffer through it, you’ll get an early glimpse at Borderlands 2. The game itself looks familiar. Clearly the cell shader-styling was carried over from the original as was the user interaction with guns. What’s clearly new, however, is this exploding, auto-reloading gun. Kotaku has more on that. Click through for the video. This is a must watch for Borderland fans.
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| Samsung’s IFA App Reveals New Galaxy Tab, Wave Handset Posted: 25 Aug 2011 09:29 AM PDT  Samsung’s pre-IFA Unpacked app is usually pretty dry as far as contents are concerned: there are event schedules and press releases aplenty, but some curious Android fans have discovered some juicy new tidbits deep within the app’s innards. This is my next reports that after a bit of poking around in the app’s contents, logos for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, Samsung Galaxy Note, and the Samsung Wave 3 have all been spotted. The Galaxy Tab is probably the most straightforward of the bunch: it’s the closest that Samsung has come to revisiting the original GalTab’s pocketable dimensions, but it hopefully runs Honeycomb like its bigger brothers. The Wave 3 is presumably a Bada-powered handset, and may well be the one spotted in a leaked roadmap from a few weeks back. The Wave series have been Samsung’s flagship devices for the Bada OS, so the leaked specifications (4″ Super AMOLED display, Bada 2.0, 5 MP camera, 3 GB of onboard storage) may hold true come September. Most intriguing is the new Galaxy Note; the name would seem to imply (at least to me) a pen-driven tablet a la the HTC Flyer/View 4G, but it may well be another smartphone Samsung will be adding to its inventory. Samsung has recommended for Unpacked users to update the app come September 1st, most likely to flesh out these and other upcoming devices with some official details. Here’s hoping that another update comes even sooner than that — who knows what surprises may lay hidden inside?
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| Motorola Xoom LTE “Pilot” Program Underway Posted: 25 Aug 2011 09:21 AM PDT  Quite a while ago, Verizon promised that its Motorola Xoom tablet would get an update allowing the slate to run on the carrier’s 4G LTE network by the Spring. If you’re somehow surviving under a rock and don’t know what that means, it’s a big deal. The increase in speed adds incalculable value to the tablet since, ya’ know, time is money. The only thing is that Spring came and went, and then Summer did the same. Still no update. But alas, a letter has been sent out to… business and government Xoom owners? Um. Ok. So apparently employees of the government and other business types will be “piloting” the LTE Xoom before everyone else, according to Droid-Life. Definitely odd, but we don’t really care as long as the update is coming for real this time. Our pilot testers will get the update next week, so we common folk will have a bit longer to go. You’ll know it’s time when you get an email from Motorola with instructions on how to get the ball rolling. Motorola suggests a quick back-up before getting started as this is a pretty major update and could wipe the device. Motorola also says to be prepared to go without the Xoom for at least three days after you ship it in for the upgrade. Here’s a copy of the letter from Motorola: Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) is a data communications and telecommunications equipment provider that succeeded Motorola Inc. following the spin-off of the mobile phones division into Motorola Mobility Holdings,... Verizon Communications Inc. delivers broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America’s largest wireless network that...
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| Steve Jobs Begins Godfather Duties Posted: 25 Aug 2011 09:00 AM PDT  Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple. This, of course, means that the company has had its spirit broken, its intellect blunted, its worth gutted. Except it doesn’t, quite. The Steve didn’t nurture this company from near-collapse to global powerhouse with snap decisions and daily briefings. No, he and his immensely capable team did it with design, forethought, and consistently staying a step or two ahead of the other guy. That’s not something that changes overnight. He may be leaving the office, but he’s not leaving the company. Apple still belongs to Jobs — and we’ll know it when that’s no longer the case. And while he may be turning over the operational reins to his protégé, I have the feeling he’ll be making it clear who the Don is. Realistically speaking, this is a fairly standard step-down, of course, and many former CEOs take up a leadership position on boards and advisory committees after they’ve taken their turn at the helm. Jobs is stepping down because he is no longer capable of meeting his “duties and expectations.” It turns out that being CEO of one of the world’s largest and most influential companies is a difficult job, and may not mix well with his other, more personal responsibilities. What those responsibilities are, whether it’s sickness as rumored, or simply a desire to spend more time with his family, isn’t exactly material. He’s no longer able to be the CEO, so he’s leaving. We can safely leave it at that. What duties, then, can he be expected to fulfill? To be honest, it’s likely he’ll be able to fulfill all his important ones, while leaving the day-to-day stresses and management decisions to the capable Tim Cook. Steve can’t make it in to briefings, but he can still advise on designs. He can’t travel for business, but he can still drop by the Mothership to see the latest prototype. He can’t fiddle with the PCB design, but he can hold the device and tell them what’s right and what’s wrong. He can’t jockey with OEMs for manufacturing share, but he can still tell his team to fold or draw. He can’t write a month-by-month prospectus, but he can still tell them where they should be a year from now. He can’t fire up the audience on stage, but he can still galvanize his closest colleagues with his vision. It sounds to me like the man has reduced his job the parts he loves the most, and was always the best at, and outsourced all the stressful stuff to an eager successor. Don Corleone, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Kwisatz Haderach all rolled into one. Not only this, but consider how companies as large as Apple work when it comes to product — especially when you’re leading the sector. Sony and Microsoft have been girding themselves for years for a console battle unlikely to occur until at least 2013. Intel has R&D projects reaching out to 2018, if not farther. Companies working on major real-life items like nuclear power research have decades mapped out. And while certainly the future is fluid, companies thrive when their leaders demonstrate both vision and flexibility. Jobs has both, and he leaves behind him for execution a roadmap stretching out five years or more. Whether he’s around for those five years may or may not be up to him, but you better believe he wouldn’t leave the ship without setting a course and making damn sure everyone on board knew it. So while we can and should mourn the symbolic passing of the Jobs era of Apple, it’s going to be a while before his presence ceases to be felt there. He has shaped the thing and set it in motion; now he retires to enjoy his family and his fortune, while retaining the ability to sweep in strike down bad design like an avenging angel of good taste. It’s a good deal for him, a good deal for us, and still a good time for Apple.
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| The 7 Iconic Patents That Define Steve Jobs Posted: 25 Aug 2011 08:24 AM PDT  Steve Jobs is a man who lives in the minutiae of details. He, with his loyal staff, perfects what others would pass off as perfect. He has 313 patents to his name, which range from the Apple III to the iPod’s acrylic packaging. Almost all of them are notable but only a few are iconic. The original all-in-one, the Mac 128K
A blue iMac for everyone Steve Jobs found himself back at the helm of Apple after the purchase of his start-up NeXT in 1996. Jobs subsequently killed many projects including the Newton tablet. Then, in 1998, the translucent Bondi Blue iMac (patent D413,105) hit sans standard equipment like SCSI, ADB and a floppy drive. In their place were two (relatively new) USB ports and a CD-ROM drive. It was widely different from anything in the PC space. But it also sold 800,000 units in 139 days and showed the Apple faithful and a whole new generation of fanboys the true soul of Apple. The iMac Puck Not every Steve Jobs patent prints a steady stream of cash for Apple. Patent D418,125 is for a cursor control device. But not just any mouse. Nope: this one bears Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive’s name and it is for the notorious iMac puck that should, if it’s not already, be considered the worst mouse in the history of personal computing. But it shows the growing pains of a company trying to rebuild by making a name for itself through innovative design. Although it looked great next to the curvy iMac, it just wasn’t fit for human hands. iPod, a thousand songs in your pocket The iMac revived the Mac; the iPod was something entirely different. Apple’s MP3 player technically launched late in the game as there were already major players in the MP3 player scene. However, the iPod, with its “this is how it works” commercials, showed the public that all they needed to do is plug the device into a Mac’s Firewire port and iTunes did the rest. Many of Steve’s patents involve the original iPod design and the follow-ups. These wide-ranging patents protected the classic click wheel design and provided Apple with an entirely new revenue stream during it’s pre-iPhone build-up. Even power adapters can be perfect
The many iPhone patents The iPhone’s success cannot be better demonstrated then by the number of imitators that popped up following its 2007 launch. Sure, Apple has since sold millions on millions of units, but the iPhone’s success spawned literally a countless number of clones trying to replicate the breakaway success through similar hardware and software. Patents D558,756, D558,757, and D580,387 filed on January 5, 2007, just four days before the original iPhone announcement, laid the foundation for dozens more protecting the iPhone’s style and appearance. Glass staircase
Top image credit goes to tsevis who also has a dozen more fantastic Steve Jobs portraits. 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,...
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| Scandy: Yet Another Pointless Smartphone Stand Posted: 25 Aug 2011 07:11 AM PDT  We’re big fans of Kickstarter around here, but for every good project that gets its much deserved funding, there are innumerable lesser ideas trapped in financial limbo. Today’s case in point: the Scandy, a telescoping clamp that promises to turn your smartphone into a scanner. The idea behind the Scandy is that since your smartphone has a fairly decent camera mounted on its rear end, it would make a half-decent scanner if you managed to hold it just right. Rather than leave that onus on the user, the Scandy clamps onto the nearest table and allows you to adjust its height to get the entire document in view. This, in short, is completely ridiculous. The time necessary to whip out a Scandy, bolt it onto a desk and adjust the height would completely eclipse the time it would take to snap a few pictures and pick out the best one. Maybe there’s some untapped market out there that really wants to lug around a $40 set of plastic tubes in order to take pictures of paperwork, but with only 13 backers at time of writing, to call it a niche market would be an understatement. John says it could be useful for library researchers who don’t want to spend 10 cents a copy at the old biblioteca, but seriously? Plus, wouldn’t this ruin the reading table’s finish? Alas, I could be completely wrong (note: I’m not), and this could be the next must-have accessory for the road warrior in your life. The Scandy is compatible with all smartphones, mostly because you’re expected to just rest your phone on top of it and get snapping. If the $40 base model doesn’t strike your fancy, the limited edition model (plus capacitive stylus!) can be yours if you pledge $100, and a $500 donation nabs you the laser-engraved Signature Edition.
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