Author Archive This $50 electric burner by Deni doesn’t use fancy magnetic induction tech. But covered in knobs and stainless steel, it looks like a piece of high end stereo equipment that will totally rock your Campbell’s chicken and stars soup. [Deni] More Popularity: 1% [?]
Mar
15
2010
 
Windows Marketplace Will Be the Only Source For Windows Phone 7 Apps [Windows PhPosted by: admin in Tech News TodayWhat many feared (or briefly thought about without much emotion either way) has turned out to be true: Microsoft PR has confirmed that Windows Marketplace for Mobile will be the only source for Windows Phone 7 apps, meaning that you can’t sideload apps, and that Microsoft will be the sole gatekeeper for all apps on the platform. This is how the iPhone App Store works, and more importantly, not how Windows Mobile, even with the 6.x Marketplace, has ever worked. More Popularity: 1% [?] New Phones Still Sold With Old Versions of Android
Two weeks ago when Buddy Roark bought a brand-new HTC Eris smartphone from Verizon, his first Android device, it was a large step up from his feature phone. But it wasn’t until a few days later that he realized part of his new phone wasn’t so new after all. The Eris was running a version of Android that came out nearly a year ago, which means many of the newer apps available in the Android Market won’t work on Roark’s phone. “I didn’t know that I had an older operating system until I compared it with my friends,” Roark says. “They said my Android Market looks very different from theirs.” At the store, Roark had never been told that his HTC Eris has Android 1.5, nicknamed “Cupcake.” Until told by a reporter, he had no idea what features he’s missing as a result. For instance, free turn-by-turn navigation is available in the latest version, Android 2.1 (”Eclair”), but is only available to Cupcake users for $10 a month from Verizon. “I didn’t know that,” he states. “I think I’ll be pretty disappointed if I can’t upgrade to a higher version.” Like Roark, many Android customers are discovering that their new smartphones don’t have the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. Despite state-of-the art hardware and design, many new Android phones are shipped with older versions of the firmware, slicing off consumers’ access to newer features and apps that require the most current versions. For instance, Motorola’s Backflip, released last week on AT&T, runs Android 1.5, while the just-launched Devour on Verizon runs Android 1.6, aka “Donut.” A slew of new Sony Ericsson phones, set to hit the market in the next few months, will ship with Android 1.6. Of the phones that are available today, only Google’s Nexus One has the very latest version, Android 2.1. Motorola’s own Droid phone, launched in October, has Android 2.0. The profusion of versions is bad enough. But adding to the confusion is the fact that carriers and handset manufacturers rarely explain which version of the OS their phones have, or what that means. “I can’t figure out why the handset makers are doing this,” says Chris Fagan, an Android developer who owns an app development company called Froogloid. “I find it very peculiar that they release new phones on older firmware.” Motorola declined to comment. Syncing With Google
Source: Wikipedia Smartphone manufacturers have simply not been not able to keep up with Google’s pace. In the 16 months since the first Android phone hit the market, Google has upgraded the operating system four times. Meanwhile, it can take more than a year to develop a new smartphone. Even though the core Android operating system itself is free, handset makers need to create the middleware that interfaces between the hardware and the OS.
Handset makers can write the code themselves or outsource it, but development time remains about the same. Add additional months for integration and testing, and handset makers are inevitably far behind Google’s Android release schedule, says Al Sutton, who runs a company called FunkyAndroid that offers app stores for Android devices. The exception is when Google handpicks a company to work with it closely on a device — as in the case of the Motorola Droid or HTC Nexus One — in which case, the chosen handset maker gets an early heads-up about the next upcoming version of Android. For consumers who unwittingly purchase new phones with older versions of the operating system, these out-of-sync development schedules can translate into real differences in the user interface. “When the firmware went from 1.5 to 1.6, it changed the way the Android Market looks and works,” says Fagan. For instance, users of Android phones that run versions 1.5 or earlier, such as the HTC Eris, can’t see screenshots of apps in the Android Market. They also don’t have access to some apps that only support the latest version of the operating system. Take Google’s own app called Gesture Search that was released last week. Gesture Search, available only on the Android Market, lets users search their phones by just drawing letters on their touch screens. Gesture Search, though, is only available on Android phones that run OS version 2.0 or 2.1. So what happens if you search for the Gesture Search app on the Motorola Backflip, a phone that’s barely a week old but runs Android 1.5? Instead of a notification that the app is not compatible with the OS, the app simply doesn’t appear in the search results. Customer ConfusionA Google spokesperson told Wired.com that the idea is make sure only apps compatible with the OS are shown to the user. But that also makes it difficult for apps to truly go viral. If you hear your friends speaking about Gesture Search, your next step is probably going to be searching for it in the Android Market on your phone. Unless you know what version of Android you’re running, you’ll have no idea why the app you want doesn’t show up. “From the customer-support perspective, this happens almost each single day,” says Froogloid’s Fagan. “I receive an email from an older Android OS user saying, ‘I am having trouble downloading your app and I don’t see it anywhere in the marketplace.’” Froogloid’s popular Key Ring app only supports Android versions 1.5 and higher. Sometimes, putting an older version of the Android OS on the phone is a shrewd marketing decision, states Sutton. Older versions of the Android operating system grant telecom carriers to charge for features that would be otherwise available for free, like navigation. Though Motorola and HTC say they’ll upgrade some of the phones to the latest version of Android, Sutton says consumers shouldn’t assume it will be the case with each phone. Upgrading the OS consumes resources and many companies don’t want to take that on, he states. “The more massive the company is and larger the installed base of phones, the more time it takes to get out those updates,” states Sutton. “And nine of out 10 times, when the company has to make a decision on whether they’re going to update the firmware or not, they’ll say they won’t do it because people already have their product.” See Also:
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com 
Popularity: 1% [?] The trickle of new iPad information continues with these details of the contract-free 3G data plan. It looks about as painless as it could possibly be: you don’t even have to deal with AT&T. Once you’ve your iPad with 3G, you can sign up from within the iPad settings: fill out your credit card details, […]
The trickle of new iPad information continues with these details of the contract-free 3G data plan. It looks about as painless as it could possibly be: you don’t even have to deal with AT&T. Once you’ve your iPad with 3G, you can sign up from within the iPad settings: fill out your credit card details, pick your plan and you’re off. If you select the limited, 250GB-per-month plan, you’ll get handy warnings as you approach your data cap: “You’ll get three alerts — at 20 percent, 10 percent, and zero. With each alert, you can select to add more data or wait and do it later.” And that’s it. No talking to call-center staff, no waiting on line in AT&T stores and better yet, no having to beg a customer service representative to change your plan. You can swap, stop and begin whenever you like. This is a very nice way to deal with cellular data, and I hope it crosses the Atlantic intact with the launch of the iPad in Europe. What we’ll probably see, though (at least in Spain, where the telcos are still old dinosaurs), is some annoying and confusing contract-based lock-in. Sign up, monitor, and manage your 3G service — all from your iPad [Apple via ★] See Also:
Popularity: 1% [?]
Mar
15
2010
AT&T’s Latest Dumbphones Come With New Smartphone Services [At&t]Posted by: admin in Tech News TodayiPad Gets New Button: Screen Rotation Lock
And thank God. One of the most annoying things about the auto-rotating iPhone screen is the way it flips into landscape mode if you lie down whilst reading. Some apps have a preference setting to switch this off, but we’d much rather have a hardware switch. Hopefully this will come to this year’s new iPhones and iPod Touches, too. We’ll keep looking for any other new tidbits. If you have spotted anything else, let us know in the comments. iPad Technical Specifications [Apple via the Giz and Loop Insight] 
Popularity: 1% [?]
Mar
14
2010
Apple’s iPad Will Read Books Out Loud, Support Free E-BooksPosted by: admin in UncategorizedWhen it began taking pre-orders for the iPad this morning, Apple also published some new details about how the tablet device will function as an e-book reader. It turns out the iPad will read books out loud to you with audio dictation, a controversial feature that caused some trouble for Amazon’s Kindle last year. Also, Apple […]
When it began taking pre-orders for the iPad this morning, Apple also published some new details about how the tablet device will function as an e-book reader. It turns out the iPad will read books out loud to you with audio dictation, a controversial feature that caused some trouble for Amazon’s Kindle last year. Also, Apple indicated that you’ll be able to use the iPad to read EPUB titles from sources outside of the iBooks store. The new features are described in the iBooks overview page on Apple’s website. In the section titled “Change your reading habits,” Apple states its VoiceOver functionality — an accessibility tool that works in other parts of the iPad’s interface to help visually impaired users — will also work to dictate e-books. “IBooks works with VoiceOver, the screen reader in iPad, so it can read you the contents of any page,” Apple’s description reads. And for EPUB titles that are not offered through the iBooks store, you can manually add them to iTunes and then sync them to the iPad: “The iBooks app uses the EPUB format — the most popular open book format in the world,” Apple’s site reads. “That makes it simple for publishers to create iBooks versions of your favorite reads. And you can add free EPUB titles to iTunes and sync them to the iBooks app on your iPad. That’s good news for iPad customers, because that means bookworms won’t be limited to the offerings in the iBooks store, which are based on partnerships that Apple inked with publishers. The new detail about audio dictation should raise more questions. Amazon’s Kindle 2 reader shipped with a function to read e-books out loud, and the Authors Guild made a fuss alleging copyright violations that would cut into sales of audiobooks. “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.” The guild contended that authors should be awarded audio-licensing fees for e-books. Responding to the criticism, Amazon stated “no copy is made, no derivative work is created and no performance is being given.” Nonetheless, Amazon in late February 2009 gave rights-owners the choice to enable or disable the audio function title by title. There’s no word on whether the Author’s Guild will pursue a similar complaint against Apple. The National Federation of the Blind has already applauded Apple for including VoiceOver in the iPad. iBooks description [Apple] Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com 
Popularity: 1% [?] Solar-Powered iPhone Battery Case: Apple Approves
Solar power combined with fancy-looking cases? The perfect storm for getting an end-of-the-week mention on the Gadget Lab. Today its the turn of the Novothink Solar Surge, an iPhone and iPad Touch case with a solar panel and a lithium-ion polymer battery. Instead of just gluing some photo-sensitive panels to the back of a case, Novothink has, well, actually thought about the design. In sunlight, the case can grab enough juice in For once, the iPod Touch gets some extra love: The Touch version of the case, due to the extra space afforded by the iPod’s slim body, has a 1500mAH battery (the iPhone’s is 1320mAH). Both cases, when fully charged, will double the life of the devices. There’s even a free iPhone app to help you calculate how much sunbathing your case has to do to get you through a day. Other neat touches are the row of LEDs to tell you how much power is left and, on the inevitable cloudy days, the regular USB socket in the case means you can charge (and sync) without Apple’s custom cord. The Apple-certified cases aren’t cheap, but for such utilitarian devices they certainly look good. The iPod Touch case is $70 (on offer right now at $53) and the iPhone version costs $80. Surge for iPod Touch [Novothink. Thanks, Matt!] Surge for iPhone [Novothink] See Also:
Popularity: 1% [?]
Mar
14
2010
Netflix’s Million Dollar Contest Shut Down Amidst Privacy Concerns [NetFliPosted by: admin in Tech News TodayNetflix’s Million Dollar Contest Shut Down Amidst Privacy Concerns [NetFlix]  Yesterday, Netflix announced that they’re pulling the plug on the sequel to their supercool Netflix Prize in which teams competed to improve the company’s suggestion algorithm for a million dollar reward. Privacy: can’t live with it, can’t live without it. More Popularity: 1% [?] |
As we comb through the updated Apple website for more iPad-related clues, up pops this new picture detailing the physical buttons on the iPad. Now, in addition to the sleep/wake, home and volume buttons familiar to iPhone users, there’s a new button named screen rotation lock.
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