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- Apple's iPhone 4 (legitimately) on sale for the first time: $50 off at Radio Shack
- Android Market update brings long-awaited 'Related' tab, similar app suggestions
- Nexus S shows off its camera, video recording abilities
- Clear launches new at-home WiMAX router with integrated WiFi
- Chrome to Windows Phone 7 now available
- Google acquires speech synthesis outfit Phonetic Arts, plans to use Jack Donaghy's voice for everything
- Visualized: Tron Armchair redefines furniture art
- Mad Catz ships Rock Band 3 MIDI Pro adapter, gives your keyboard and drum set new life
- Corsair Force series gets 90GB and 180GB brothers, middle child syndrome inevitable
- How would you change Roku's XDS media streamer?
- The Pope desires a solar-powered Popemobile, might just get one
- Sony Ericsson's Zeus Z1 PlayStation phone contributes sample shots to Picasa
- Motorola planning 4G devices for Verizon, 7- and 10-inch tablets early next year
- This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard
- PlayStation Phone 'Zeus Z1' caught on video again, this time you can actually see it (update)
- Altec Lansing Octiv Stage (450) review
- Viacom files appeal in YouTube copyright case, continues to 'drag it out'
- Chrome event confirmed by Google for December 7th
- Rogers adds 'data sharing' plans, will carry both WiFi and cellular versions of BlackBerry PlayBook
- Nook Color gets an SDK, documentation aplenty
- App Review: Djay for iPad
- Sources: Google-branded Chrome OS netbook to launch on December 7th
| Apple's iPhone 4 (legitimately) on sale for the first time: $50 off at Radio Shack Posted: 04 Dec 2010 10:01 AM PST  [Thanks, Anonymous] |
| Android Market update brings long-awaited 'Related' tab, similar app suggestions Posted: 04 Dec 2010 09:43 AM PST  [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] |
| Nexus S shows off its camera, video recording abilities Posted: 04 Dec 2010 08:44 AM PST  [Thanks, Anonymous] |
| Clear launches new at-home WiMAX router with integrated WiFi Posted: 04 Dec 2010 07:11 AM PST 
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| Chrome to Windows Phone 7 now available Posted: 04 Dec 2010 05:48 AM PST  Update: Looks like Site to Phone can handle just about any smartphone. Thanks, Ed! |
| Posted: 04 Dec 2010 04:08 AM PST  Don't ever knock Google for not reinvesting a little of that cheddar it's stacking in Mountain View. Barely two months after pulling the trigger on BlindType, El Goog has now sunk an undisclosed amount of money into Phonetic Arts, described as a speech synthesis company based in Cambridge, England. Naturally, Google's been toiling around the clock in an effort to better its speech technologies, and it looks as if it could be cutting out quite a few months (or years) of work with this one purchase. Phonetic Arts was known for being on the "cutting edge of speech synthesis, delivering technology that generates natural computer speech from small samples of recorded voice," and we get the impression that the team will be given clearance badges to enter Google's London-based engineering facility shortly. The company's own Mike Cohen is hoping that this will help us "move a little faster towards that Star Trek future" -- frankly, we're hoping to have Jack Donaghy's voice become the de facto standard in under a year. We hear some dudes at 30 Rock are already toying with a prototype... |
| Visualized: Tron Armchair redefines furniture art Posted: 04 Dec 2010 02:26 AM PST  |
| Mad Catz ships Rock Band 3 MIDI Pro adapter, gives your keyboard and drum set new life Posted: 03 Dec 2010 11:47 PM PST  Talk about just in time. With merely weeks to go before Mr. Claus makes his wintry journey 'round the globe, Mad Catz has decided to finally ship a peripheral that was introduced way back in June. Without a doubt, the MIDI Pro adapter is one of the more intriguing music game accessories to hit the open market, enabling Rock Band 3 owners to use most MIDI keyboards and drum sets with the title. The box is shipping as we speak for Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii, and the Xbox 360 variant should be headed to Best Buy in the coming hours. If you'll recall, this guy's also designed to work with the forthcoming Rock Band 3 Squier guitar / controller, and it even features a velocity sensitive adjustment for MIDI drums designed to reduce cross-talk during play. At $39.99, it's a no-brainer for those who already own a MIDI instrument or two, but we just might be more excited about the hacking possibilities than anything else. DIYers, get at it!
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| Corsair Force series gets 90GB and 180GB brothers, middle child syndrome inevitable Posted: 03 Dec 2010 09:33 PM PST  Corsair has added new 90GB and 180GB sizes to its blazin' fast Force Series of SSDs, growing the happy family which already included 60, 120, and 240GB versions in addition to the original 100GB and 200GB options released back in the spring. Unlike its previous siblings, both the F90 and F180 are also available immediately from Corsair dealers for suggested MSRPs of $255 and $430, respectively. Built around the lauded SandForce SF-1200 controller and capable of beastly 285MB/sec read speeds and 275MB/sec write rates, these latest releases are not too small and not too big, making them the perfect Goldie Locks drives of the SSD world. To hear the news straight from Corsair's mouth, check out the press release after the break.
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| How would you change Roku's XDS media streamer? Posted: 03 Dec 2010 07:02 PM PST  |
| The Pope desires a solar-powered Popemobile, might just get one Posted: 03 Dec 2010 06:09 PM PST  Remember how W said Americans were addicted to fossil fuels? Well, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (better known by his crew as '265-Cal') is addicted to renewable energy. First he had photovoltaic arrays installed on the roof of an auditorium in the Vatican. Then he had a solar cooling system built into the Vatican cafeteria. Now, the Pope wants his mobile bulletproof shell to be solar-powered. While we'd love to see some PV cells rocking out on the roof of the custom Benz, they probably wouldn't power a whole lot more than his DC Papal reading lights -- to that end, we're hoping he goes the practical route and installs a PV array on top of the Popegarage and simply juices the batteries between sessions of humbly waving to the teeming masses. Whatever he and his crack team of energy specialists figure out, we're sure you'll be able to read all about it in the next volume of The Energy of the Sun in the Vatican, a book that actually exists. [Photo remixed from Catholic Westminster's flickr] |
| Sony Ericsson's Zeus Z1 PlayStation phone contributes sample shots to Picasa Posted: 03 Dec 2010 05:16 PM PST  |
| Motorola planning 4G devices for Verizon, 7- and 10-inch tablets early next year Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:32 PM PST  |
| This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard Posted: 03 Dec 2010 03:46 PM PST  Wait, but couldn't this be any old netbook keyboard? Sure it could, we've got an exclusive photo of Acer's Chrome netbook (that "ZGA" model) which happens to have the same exact keyboard layout. You can check out the picture of that one after the break, and you'll see it looks extremely similar to this shot. We should also mention that the tipster that sent the above photo in claims the Google-branded Chrome OS netbook will be announced next Tuesday, but won't be on sale until December 14. Looks like it's going to be a very interesting Tuesday morning!  |
| PlayStation Phone 'Zeus Z1' caught on video again, this time you can actually see it (update) Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:56 PM PST Wow guys, we just spotted a new video of the PlayStation Phone, codenamed Zeus Z1, and this time we get a long, loving look at the entire device -- a refreshing contrast to last time's blurry tease. In addition to appreciating just how fat this phone is, and just how real it is, you can clearly see a "PlayStation" icon, which should hopefully put to rest any doubts that this phone will actually play PlayStation games. Check out a close-up of the icon after the break. Oh, and by the way, there's no audio on the video, your computer is not broken. [Thanks, Sha] Update: There's another video! Check out a brief look at the PlayStation app after the break...  |
| Altec Lansing Octiv Stage (450) review Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:17 PM PST  It really doesn't take long to do a full tour around the Octiv Stage. The hard polycarbonate body consists of a pair of front-facing two-inch neodymium drivers hidden behind a piece of black cloth, and below that you have an LED along with click buttons for power and volume. On the back you'll find nothing more than an AUX-in port and a power adapter socket; and it's odd that there's no USB charging port as featured on the cheaper, dual docking Octiv Duo. We also noticed that the SMK-Link PadDock 10 has a mini-USB port that lets you sync the iPad while it's docked, so it would've been cool if the Octiv Stage sported the same feature, especially given that it costs $50 more than the PadDock. On the bright side, the Stage comes with a slim IR remote control, although the dock doesn't have a compartment for storing it away. We've been told the reason the Stage isn't as feature-complete as the Duo is mainly because Altec wanted to push the former out in time for the holidays, so it had to give up certain refinements. Since Altec put it that way, we find it even harder to justify the Stage's higher price compared to the Duo's.  To dock the iPad, you simply slide it from the open end of the cradle down to the dock connector. And yes, this means you will have to remove the iPad's case, if any. We did wonder whether the cradle will leave marks on our tablet, but after days of usage, it looks like the felt-covered tips of the two arms are keeping our iPad scratch free, plus there's also a piece of rubber to cushion the iPad's hump on the back. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the cradle just about fits our iPhone 4 and iPod nano as well -- both sans cases, of course.  Wrap-upWe had high hopes for the Octiv Stage, but the price tag just doesn't seem to match what it offers (or the lack thereof). Sure, the iPad market is nowhere as big as the iPod's or the iPhone's, and that cradle would've no doubt incurred extra manufacturing costs, but we're still not convinced that the Stage deserves a full $50 jump from the Duo or the PadDock. If Altec wants to make up to us, it'd have to throw in the aforementioned missing features and enhance the audio quality. Other than that, the Stage is a solid piece of iPad accessory with a fair set of features. |
| Viacom files appeal in YouTube copyright case, continues to 'drag it out' Posted: 03 Dec 2010 01:33 PM PST  All Things D highlights a killer quote from Viacom in the report -- apparently it thinks that if the ruling stands, it'll "radically transform the functioning of the copyright system and severely impair, if not completely destroy, the value of many copyrighted creations." As for Google's response? "We regret that Viacom continues to drag out this case. The court here, like every other court to have considered the issue, correctly ruled that the law protects online services like YouTube, which remove content when notified by the copyright holder that it is unauthorized. We will strongly defend the court's decision on appeal." We doubt anything will turn out differently the next go 'round, but obviously we'll be watching with great interest. Now, back to that clip of 30 Rock we were enjoying quite legally on Hulu... |
| Chrome event confirmed by Google for December 7th Posted: 03 Dec 2010 01:00 PM PST  |
| Rogers adds 'data sharing' plans, will carry both WiFi and cellular versions of BlackBerry PlayBook Posted: 03 Dec 2010 12:25 PM PST  How's that going to work from a data perspective? Well, a concurrent announcement out of Rogers seems to hold the answer. A pair of new so-called "data sharing plans" can be tacked onto your existing smartphone plan, effectively opening up your data bucket to other devices -- so it's basically like the tethering plans we've started to see sprout up on American networks under a different name. One oddity, though, is the CAD $20 (roughly $20) data sharing plan that allows unlimited social networking on "popular sites" above and beyond your normal bucket of gigabytes -- sounds silly, but when we think about what percentage of our mobile time is spent on Twitter and Facebook, it might just be crazy enough to work. Follow the break for Rogers' press release and a quick clip of Rogers exec John Boynton with the PlayBook mention. Rogers Declares Tablets "Dashboards of Tomorrow" at Rogers TabLife TO Company announces data sharing plans, Rogers On Demand Online for tablets and remote PVR at Rogers TabLife TO TORONTO, Dec. 3 /CNW/ - Rogers Communications Inc. today unveiled the company's vision for tablet and mini tablet devices. Anchored by growing customer demand to be connected on multiple devices any time, any place, Rogers announced three new initiatives including new data sharing plans, the upcoming launch of Rogers On Demand Online for tablets and plans to introduce remote PVR capabilities on tablets and smartphones for its Rogers Digital Cable customers. "The tablet is the command centre - a mobile hub through which our customers will be able to access everything in their world - from reading email for work to looking at photos, programming their televisions to turning on lights at home, checking on friends on Facebook and even updating their personal finances," says John Boynton, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Communications. "Our role is to enable these experiences seamlessly and reliably across all devices. Our announcement today reflects our commitment to ensuring we continue to meet the evolving needs of our customers." Rogers also unveiled the results of a recent poll of tablet and non-tablet owners, conducted by the Strategic Counsel. Close to 60 per cent of those surveyed who currently do not own a tablet agree that tablets will transform the way we live, work and play, and 42 per cent say they plan to purchase a tablet within the next year. Of those surveyed who have already purchased a tablet, the vast majority (69 per cent) claim they take their tablet everywhere they go and 58 per cent state their tablet is typically the first device they turn on in the morning. "What we are seeing is a shift from one device to many devices connected together, anytime, anyplace," Boynton continues. "The tablet is the dashboard for the highways of tomorrow, where people can easily access the same personalized experiences at work, in the home or on the go. We will provide the best tablet selection, integrate Rogers content on devices and build new pricing structures to make it easy for customers to make tablets part of their work, home and personal lives." Boynton made the remarks in a keynote speech at Rogers TabLife TO, an event Rogers organized to showcase the way tablets are changing the way we live work and play. The event brought industry leaders, manufacturers and experts to share experiences with tablets in communications, healthcare, business, media and entertainment. More information on Rogers TabLife TO conference can be found at www.tablife.ca. A tablet-optimized version of Rogers On Demand Online will feature hours of primetime TV, movies, sports, music and will adapt perfectly to a variety of tablet screen sizes and operating systems. In 2011, customers will be able to go online on any tablet free of charge¹ to access Rogers On Demand as well as Rogers' new Remote PVR service to set and manage recordings from any tablet, and smartphone anywhere, anytime. Rogers also announced new data sharing plans that enable customers to seamlessly and easily share data from one plan across multiple devices. With these new plans, customers can take their existing plans and apply a data sharing add-on for as low as an additional $15 per month.² Tablets are also transforming the way businesses access and share information. In fact, survey data from Strategic Counsel shows that six in 10 Canadian tablet owners are using their tablets for occasional or regular work. According to forecasts from Deloitte, in 2011, 25% of all tablets sold will be bought by enterprises or bought by employees and paid for by enterprises. "Tablets present new and unique possibilities that can deliver real value for businesses," Boynton adds. "We expect to see a fast acceleration in the number of businesses looking to tablets as critical mobile productivity drivers. We will work with our business customers to provide them with the service, plans and reliability they expect from us." Rogers On Demand Online and Remote PVR for tablets will be available in early 2011. More information on Rogers data sharing plans can be found at www.rogers.com/datasharing. |
| Nook Color gets an SDK, documentation aplenty Posted: 03 Dec 2010 11:53 AM PST  Barnes & Noble may still be calling it an e-reader first and foremost, but the Nook Color has now taken one more step into full-fledged tablet territory with the release of an official SDK add-on for the Android SDK. That comes complete with an Android Virtual Device emulator, Android Debug Bridge (or ADB) configuration settings, sample code and, of course, plenty of documentation to get you started. Of particular note, that finally includes a complete specifications list, which confirms once more that the device runs on an 800MHz TI OMAP 3621 processor, and is backed up by a POWERVR SGX530 GPU. Hit up the source link below for all the details. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] |
| Posted: 03 Dec 2010 11:32 AM PST  Now, we learned about the 1's and 2's primarily using Serato's Scratch Live and so Djay seems a little elementary to us -- but that's really by design. If you're at all familiar with Djay for Mac, then you'll feel right at home with Djay for iPad. Djay doesn't strive to be a replacement for your CDJ-2000s or Numark NS7s, it fills a different role altogether. Professional DJs will surely be let down by the functionality, but that's not who this app is for. If all you really want to do is blend songs into each other and start with some elementary beatmatching, Djay has you covered. Still, no matter your level of experience, everyone can enjoy the novelty of using it. Interface  Thanks to the fact that Apple enabled access to the full music library in a recent edition of the SDK, you can access all of your playlists and songs directly within the app. Our pre-release version featured a large song selector that was actually a bit more convenient than the smaller, HUD-style popup that ships with 1.0. It's a small change, but we still hope the guys at Algoriddim can make it an option in the future. If you're anything like us, you've got a lot of music and the iPad has the real estate to display more than just eight or so at a time. Use and functionalityWe've established that Djay's nice to look at, but how does it perform? Well, we've been testing the app since late last week, and have to say it's pretty awesome. The first few minutes you spend with it, you learn the controls and where everything is. (It took us a solid twenty seconds to figure out how to load a track the first time we opened it.) Once you've got one chosen, it slides it onto the deck, starts playing, and automatically begins analyzing it. It takes about 45 seconds to fully analyze a six to seven minute track, but after the first time, you shouldn't have to do it again. When you hold down a deck to scrub, it zooms in on the waveform so you can see it in more detail -- a welcomed addition for setting cues and finding that sweet spot. Still, we wish there was a way to manually zoom in, or perhaps get some color coding like in Serato -- but these are features probably planned for updates. One of the biggest drawbacks of using Djay in a real-world setting is not even its fault, but rather the iPad's paltry 256MB of RAM. After about six or seven full length tracks, we were seeing the dreaded "Low Memory" notification where our beautiful waveforms had been populating not a moment earlier. This will clearly vary for everyone, depending on how many apps are open and what songs you're playing, but it's an annoyance nonetheless. Either way, Apple is likely to up the RAM in the iPad 2, so this likely won't be a problem forever. There's also the fact that no matter how much the UI resembles real turntables, the iPad's 9.7-inch surface is still devoid of any knobs or sliders. Using the touch controls takes some getting used to initially, especially with sensitive maneuvers like adjusting BPMs or finding an exact cue point. On the flipside, however, is the added advantage of multitouch: you can literally do 4 things at once. Whereas with a full rig you're confined to two hands, with the smaller surface area and ten fingers on the multitouch display, it's possible to be doing so much more. Other features, nice touches The app features built-in "beat and tempo detection" (it analyzes waveforms), mixers, EQ controls, and the ability to Automix. We found the Automix functionality to not be much more than a transition with an old-school vinyl scratching sound, but maybe we were expecting too much from it. This reminds us that Apple has still not added a crossfading option for playback on its iDevices, but we digress.  What's MissingDjay sure does bring a lot to the table, but it has some shortcomings that will undoubtedly bother more experienced DJs. At this point there's no way to set or manipulate loops, and the same goes for multiple cues. Algoriddim assures us that these are features they're well aware of, and we're likely to see them appear in future versions down the line. We also raised the question of possible effects, even suggesting the option of In-App Purchases, and they said they were open to the idea as well. Finally, don't be surprised if eventually you could use the Djay remote app on an iPhone or iPod touch to control the iPad software. This app is still in its very early stages, and there's tons more functionality we expect to see added in the future. Wrap-upHonestly, Djay is one of the most impressive music apps we've seen for the iPad to date. With a killer interface that's not too cluttered, it's sure to catch anyone's attention and make them want to play. However, the iPad's 256MB of RAM make it difficult to use for extended periods of time. Still, with tons of features in the pipeline and a rock solid user experience, we'd recommend this one to anyone who's got the $20 to spare and a desire to get the party started. |
| Sources: Google-branded Chrome OS netbook to launch on December 7th Posted: 03 Dec 2010 11:07 AM PST  Of course, this all lines up with TechCrunch's report that Google will be launching its Chrome Web / App Store very soon, as well as yesterday's launch of Chrome 8, which supports those aforementioned Chrome apps. (Companies like TweetDeck have already started demoing their browser apps.) Don't forget that those apps are going to be a large part of the OS, so it would make sense for Google to talk about 'em in tandem. The pieces sure do seem to be fitting together quite well, and while we still have lots of unanswered questions, we're feeling confident that we'll be getting some official answers on all this Chrome-ness very soon. Update: AllThingsD has also heard a similar December 7th launch date of the Chrome Web Store. The evidence seems to be mounting here... Update 2: Well, there you have it, Google just sent out invites for its December 7th Chrome event! We will be there! Image note: As we said last time, that picture above is just our own mockup of what a Chromebook may look like. We even added a Chrome key! |
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