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- Stitcher adds Smart Station to its redesigned iOS and Android apps, makes finding Radiolab even easier
- Tesla Model S rolls by the EPA, keeps on going, and going
- Twitter confirms 'on-going' site issues, millions resort to verbal communication
- 24 wireless operators agree on data roaming alert mechanisms, do nothing about actual roaming rates
- TiVo releases Android app, countless tablets to be lost under couch cushions
- Google Play lets top devs reply to user reviews, smack down trolls
- Microsoft: Surface was developed in an 'underground bunker' at first, we can play the secrecy game too
- Google entices Android developers to 'build beautiful, powerful, successful apps' with site refresh
- Pentax K-30 weather-sealed DSLR hands-on with sample photos and video
- Editorial: Windows Phone 8 looks good, but can it uproot those entrenched in other ecosystems?
- AT&T says Galaxy S III pre-orders won't land until June 25th, Samsung decides to celebrate anyways
- Google files for a patent on peer-to-peer location finding, says cell tower triangulation is for chumps
- Fitter, Happier: an eight week exercise in using technology to help lose weight
- Google launches Endangered Languages website to save 3,000 at-risk tongues
- Minority Report at 10: a look at technology from today to 2054
- Datel wireless controllers borked by Xbox 360 update, patch coming soon
- Facebook adding 'Like' to Open Graph, will connect the internet in approval
- Researchers take nanowire transistors vertical, double up on density
- Google+ adds profile updates, learns from the competition
- Lantronix announces xPrintServer Home Edition: print your iPhone photos, high scores wire-free
- Sony, Sumitomo push laser projectors forward with a new, more powerful green laser diode
- Sony Xperia S (finally) gets its own Android 4.0 update (video)
- Calxeda benchmarks claim that its server chips are 15 times more power efficient than Intel's
- Sony suspends PlayStation Store for PS3 in Korea, blames new law about selling to minors
- Screen Grabs: Continuum scrubs the Acer off an Iconia W500
- BBQ Guru releases the CyberQ remote temperature control, lets you fry those steaks from a distance
- ESA team builds self-piloting rover in six months, tests it in Chilean desert
- Apple fined $2.29 million over '4G iPad' claims in Australia
- Amron Experimental 'Rinser Toothbrush' is back, now with more fountain (video)
- UK pins the slow move to LTE on carriers, Australia targets auctions for April 2013
- Drobo debuts a duo of Thunderbolt drives: the 5D for desktops and the Mini for road warriors
- SwiftKey 3 for Android out of beta: smarter auto spacing, $1.99 today (video)
- SNES-001 Advance gives two retro gamers a screen to play, guarantees no fights for TV time (video)
- Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast fireside chat, live at 2:15AM!
- Samsung's SmartStay replicated by ISeeYou Android app, keeps screens on while you're watching
- United Nations launches My Life as a Refugee Android app (video)
- Verizon 4G LTE service arrives in 46 new cities, expands coverage in 22 others
- Google to pay $0 in damages to Oracle, wait for appeal
- Huawei brings out Ascend P1 2600 mAh XL for battery junkies, throws in E5151 hotspot
- Sprint Guardian now available, allows parents to limit texting and keep tabs on a kid's location
| Posted: 21 Jun 2012 11:52 AM PDT Stitcher Unveils Redesigned App with Stitcher Smart Station to Help Listeners Discover the Most Relevant Content New Stitcher for iPhone and Android Complete with Smart Station Recommendations Now Available for Download SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Stitcher Smart Radio, the leader in on‐demand news, entertainment, sports and talk radio for mobile devices, today announced the launch of several new app capabilities including the Stitcher Smart Station. Listeners now have a new way discover the best of over 10,000 shows on Stitcher with personalized recommendations. Since launching the 'Listeners Also Like' feature last year, over 50% of new users have been using the feature to discover new shows. On average listeners discover 5 new shows within their first month. Stitcher currently generates over 10 million recommendations a day to help listeners discover the best of Internet radio. "Stitcher Smart Station is designed to give our listeners more tools for discovery and personalization," said Noah Shanok, CEO of Stitcher. "Our goal is to make talk radio more accessible than ever, and listeners are responding. Since our launch of the Stitcher Election Center in May, we've seen an increase in listening by an average of an hour per month. We're hoping Stitcher Smart Station gives listeners just as much, if not more, access to new, relevant content within the app." The updated mobile app includes several new features including: Smart Station – Never be in the dark about which shows and programs you should be listening to. An industry first for talk radio, the Stitcher Smart Station makes recommendations based on your listening activity. By culling your listening history, favorite shows and thumbs up, the Smart Station recommends shows you're most likely to enjoy. Lock Screen Album Art – Make your listening experience more visual. See the currently playing show on your phone's lock screen while you're listening to Stitcher. Sleep Timer – Set Stitcher to automatically stop playing after you nod off. With Stitcher's most requested feature, you can set specific sleep settings to have your shows automatically stop. Whether you're setting it for sleep or for your regular morning commute, your Stitcher app is more in-tune with your listening habits. Easier Sharing on Twitter – Keep the sharing alive. With pre-populated show descriptions and sources, Stitcher is now making it easier and ever to share your favorite shows. The Stitcher Smart Radio app is available to all iOS and Android users and can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store and Google Play. |
| Tesla Model S rolls by the EPA, keeps on going, and going Posted: 21 Jun 2012 11:31 AM PDT Sometimes all you want are just the cold hard numbers. With electric vehicles, this means EPA rating. The Tesla Model S just got officially measured up, and scored a reasonable MPGe of 89 (combined), 88 (city) and 90 (highway), plus an impressive single charge range of 265 miles. This isn't all that far off the manufacturer's own (albeit optimistic) early estimates. To get that range, you'll have to trump up $69,900 for the fully loaded, 85-kWh battery totin' version, but if you're planning that once-in-a-lifetime journey, it's probably money well spent. |
| Twitter confirms 'on-going' site issues, millions resort to verbal communication Posted: 21 Jun 2012 11:09 AM PDT Sorry microbloggers -- looks like we're not fully out of the woods yet. After confirming that its users "may be experiencing issues" via its Status Blog roughly an hour ago, Twitter has added that the concerns are "on-going." Don't worry, though, engineers are on the case, so your #followfriday plans should be largely unaffected. |
| 24 wireless operators agree on data roaming alert mechanisms, do nothing about actual roaming rates Posted: 21 Jun 2012 11:08 AM PDT GSMA, also known as the entity that produces Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo each year, seems to be onto something. And by "something," we mean "getting 24 carriers around the globe to agree on a single point." That's no easy feat, mind you, and the latest release from Shanghai asserts that 24 operator groups have agreed to implement new measures in order to better inform jetsetters about data roaming rates when they land. America Movil, AT&T, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom-Orange, Hutchison 3 Group, SoftBank Mobile Corp., Verizon Communications, VimpelCom and Vodafone Group (among others) are all onboard, with the following measures to go into effect by the end of 2012. For one, texts will be sent to remind customers of their data roaming tariffs when they arrive in another country, and there will also be a monthly data roaming spending limit paired with the ability to "temporarily suspend" one's data when usage exceeds said threshold. Of course, alerting users to how they're about to be hosed only seems like part of the issue. Till that's addressed, we'll keep carrying an Xcom Global MiFi or hunting for a local SIM upon arrival. GSMA Launches Data Roaming Transparency Initiative SHANGHAI, June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Mobile Asia Expo, the GSMA announced that it has launched an initiative that will provide consumers greater visibility of their roaming charges and usage of mobile data services when travelling abroad. At a meeting held this week in Shanghai, 24 operator groups, including America Movil, AT&T, Axiata Group Berhad, Bharti Airtel, Ltd., China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom-Orange, Hutchison 3 Group, KT Corporation, MTS, Qtel, SK Telecom, Smart Communications, Inc., SoftBank Mobile Corp., Tata Teleservices Limited, Telecom Italia Group, Telefonica, Telekom Austria Group, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Verizon Communications, VimpelCom and Vodafone Group agreed to undertake a number of measures which will help mobile subscribers better understand their data roaming charges and more effectively manage their use of data services. "A number of our operator members are already implementing sound transparency practices, benefitting more than a billion subscribers worldwide," said Franco Bernabe, Chairman of the GSMA and Chairman and CEO of Telecom Italia Group. "The initiative announced today will help to promote an even broader adoption of principles that will offer a more transparent and uniform experience for billions of consumers, wherever they travel." The GSMA is committed to working with mobile operators worldwide to adopt the following measures: Sending text messages to remind customers of their data roaming tariffs when they arrive in another country and turn on their mobile device; In the first phase of this initiative, these operators and their group subsidiaries have agreed to implement these data roaming transparency measures by the end of 2012, covering more than 4 billion mobile connections worldwide. The GSMA will also work to promote the adoption of these guidelines across its full membership base of nearly 800 mobile operators globally. Further, the GSMA will develop a trust mark that will identify to consumers that their mobile operator is implementing these measures. About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com or Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com. |
| TiVo releases Android app, countless tablets to be lost under couch cushions Posted: 21 Jun 2012 10:48 AM PDT It's been a bit of a waiting game for TiVo users with Android tablets, ever since the company released an app for iOS. As of today, however, that wait is over. The TiVo app is now is arriving in the Google Play today store for tablets, bringing with it remote control functionality, a show guide, search and programming / actor info. The the app also helps you monitor your recording storage and organize your Season Pass recordings with drag-and-drop functionality. You can check out a complete breakdown of the features in the source link below. |
| Google Play lets top devs reply to user reviews, smack down trolls Posted: 21 Jun 2012 10:45 AM PDT Are you an Android developer with an app in Google Play? Do you have a Top Developer badge? Well rejoice, because starting right now Google will let select developers reply to user reviews right from the safety, warmth and comfort of the Android Developer Console -- perfect for when you need to Replying to User Reviews on Google Play Posted by Ellie Powers, Product Manager on the Google Play team User reviews on Google Play are great for helping people discover quality apps and give feedback to developers and other potential app users. But what about when developers want to give feedback to their users? Sometimes a user just needs a helping hand, or perhaps a new feature has been added and the developer wants to share the good news. That's why we're adding the ability for Google Play developers to respond to reviews from the Google Play Android Developer Console. Developers can gather additional information, provide guidance, and - perhaps most importantly - let users know when their feature requests have been implemented. Responses will be posted publicly inside app listings, alongside existing reviews. We'll also notify the user who wrote the review via email that the developer has responded. Users can then contact the developer directly if additional followup is needed or update their review. We're releasing this feature today to those with a Top Developer badge. And based on feedback from users and developers, we will offer it to additional Google Play developers in the future. Conversations are meant to be two-sided, and facilitating discussion between developers and users will ultimately yield better apps, to the benefit of everyone. |
| Posted: 21 Jun 2012 10:17 AM PDT We commonly associate extreme secrecy around a product design with Apple, but it now looks to be in vogue with all the major technology companies: just days after Samsung revealed the Galaxy S III's secret sauce, Microsoft has explained to TechRadar that it developed its surprise new Surface tablets under a similarly tight watch. A special wing of Microsoft's hardware unit initially worked in an "underground bunker," according to the division's Stevie Bathiche, before moving to a more conventional building with an 'airlock' door -- the company was just that concerned that Bob from Accounts Receivable might spoil the whole thing. As we all know by now, that level of secrecy proved effective almost until the last minute and let Microsoft design to its heart's content; we still don't know if other PC builders were aware. The practice is a sharp break from Microsoft's tendency to telegraph its strategy well in advance, and it emphasizes just how much importance Redmond places on its self-developed Windows 8 hardware. |
| Google entices Android developers to 'build beautiful, powerful, successful apps' with site refresh Posted: 21 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT You know what's happening next week in Android land? Yes, it's Google I/O, and we'll be there to give you the all the details, of course. Leading up to the event, Google's just given its Android developer site a fresh new "streamlined, simplified, and refocused" look. The redesign touches on three aspects of the app development lifecycle -- design, development and distribution -- in the hopes to entice developers to "build beautiful, powerful, successful apps". Want to find out more? Check out the gallery below and hit the break for the PR. Helping you build beautiful, powerful, successful apps. Just in time for Google I/O next week, the Android Developers site is stepping into a new look that is streamlined, simplified, and refocused. A developer's tasks fall into three baskets: Designing, developing, and distributing. We're trying to make developer.android.com's organization reflect this reality, shepherding you through the app development life cycle, from start to finish. -Design- -Develop- -Distribute- This is just a small sample of the Android sessions at Google I/O, many of which will be live-streamed so you can follow along even if you can't make it out to San Francisco. In the meantime, we hope you find the new Android Developer site much more useful as you build great apps. |
| Pentax K-30 weather-sealed DSLR hands-on with sample photos and video Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:44 AM PDT We can count on one hand the number of times a waterproof camera was the only suitable option for any given photo shoot, but drizzle and even flash monsoons can strike at any moment, especially in some locales. Most clothing and other analog gear can survive such attacks of mother nature nearly unscathed, but smartphones and cameras are another story altogether -- unless they're coated in head-to-toe weather sealing, of course. Pentax may not be a top player in any digital imaging category, but the company does have a few serious DSLR contenders, and should be taken seriously for anyone in the market for a new ILC. The manufacturer's latest swappable-lens model, the K-30, is quite a respectable beast, and a fairly solid value at $900 with an 18-55mm kit lens. Beneath that steel and polycarbonate black housing there's a 16.3-megapixel APS-C sensor with shift-based stabilization, a 100-percent FOV optical viewfinder, a color-adjustable 921k-dot 3-inch LCD and a bevy of manual control options, for stills and video alike. We put the K-30 through its paces during a half-day shoot around NYC. There was no rain, sand or snow in sight, but the brutal heat and humidity didn't take any toll, with the camera offering consistent performance and excellent battery life for hours on end (we captured nearly 700 stills with live view and a few minutes of video with plenty to spare, and you can also swap in four AA lithiums for up to 1600 shots). We spend much of our time shooting with mirrorless cameras these days, but when absolute portability is less critical, there are obvious benefits to lugging around a full-size DSLR like the K-30. The camera was able to shoot with perfect exposure and white balance in almost every situation and images captured with the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens were sharp and vibrant. Video performance was sufficient as well -- most of our clips were captured at 720/30p, but 720/60p and 1080/30p are also on offer. Focus wasn't the fastest we've seen (the Olympus E-M5 still holds the title), but the lens adjusted accurately even in low light, especially when aided by the green illuminator. High-ISO performance didn't blow us away with noise reduction deactivated -- noise was visible at a 25-percent view at ISO 12,800 and a 12.5-percent view at the ISO 25,600 extended setting, but the sensor-shift stabilization mode enabled us to capture sharp handheld shots at 1/40 second, so it's not terribly difficult to avoid venturing into that high-sensitivity zone. Pentax also added a unique Astrotracer mode, which moves the sensor precisely for long night-sky exposures, using an optional GPS module to provide location and direction information (there was no way to test this feature in NYC, where the city lights never sleep). We did have a chance to test out that weather sealing, however -- the camera functioned just as well while under a running water fountain as it did on dry land. Overall, we were quite impressed with the K-30 -- it's one of the best sub-$1,000 DSLRs we've used to date, and if you've made an investment in Pentax KAF2 glass (or you're ready to load up now), you can expect to be pleased. Click past the break for a sample gallery and video.
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| Editorial: Windows Phone 8 looks good, but can it uproot those entrenched in other ecosystems? Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:15 AM PDT At the tail end of Microsoft's marathon Windows Phone Summit keynote, the company's own Kevin Gallo said the following: "Everyone in the Windows ecosystem benefits." He was waxing poetic about the myriad new features coming to the outfit's latest and greatest mobile operating system, and nothing about his quote was incorrect. Developers will adore the shared codebase. Users will adore the new additions to the software framework. Carriers probably won't shun the opportunity to push yet another platform this holiday season. But the one word in there that sticks out most to me is this: "Windows." I've been wrestling with the ecosystem issue for some time, but the gravity of it has never been so evident. Starting in 2008, one could argue that it stopped being purely about hardware. Purely about design. Purely about software. Purely about partnerships. Particularly when it came to smartphones. Slate-style handsets were en vogue years ago, with design changing extremely little and software becoming ever more of a factor. But it wasn't just software in the simplest sense -- it was how the software was interconnected to every other piece of the digital ecosystem. Phones were no longer standalone devices; they were simply the most convenient entry into a rabbit hole that Microsoft's going to have a tough time digging people out of. Allow me to explain. As of this month, Apple has moved over 345 million iOS devices. That includes iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. In truth, there are far more iOS devices being used in conjunction with non-Macs than there are with Macs. The halo effect is working, it seems, but it's certainly not putting OS X on the fast track to 51 percent market share in the desktop space. During Apple's Q2 earnings, it revealed a 7 percent uptick in Mac sales compared to Q2 a year ago -- that's four million computers in three months, which is obviously far, far fewer than the Wintel world collectively delivered. But honestly, most of that is somewhat beside the point. Regardless of what desktop platform an iPhone user relies on, the revitalization of the cloud in the consumer space has made switching out of an ecosystem doubly painful. You see, those who bought in early with iOS soon began spending time and money in the App Store. They developed habits. Workflows were born. Accessories were purchased. Heck, perhaps the inclusion of iPod support swayed them from one vehicle to another. (You laugh, but I've seen it first-hand.) And then, there's iPad. I'm still not fully convinced Apple's lone tablet is indeed the ideal 'third device' for me personally, but sales figures indicate that it's precisely that for many. And increasingly, tablets (meaning mostly iPads, based on the overwhelming market share numbers) are standing in as computers in the home. Turns out, Apple was onto something when it believed that a mere slate could perhaps replace one's next laptop purchase, and Microsoft is doing its best to politely agree with the recent introduction of Surface.
Even for those who couldn't find reason to splurge on a $999+ Apple laptop, a $399 iPad 2 is proving to be the perfect compromise. Yet again, owning both an iPhone and iPad digs one even deeper into the iTunes ecosystem -- everything from apps to games to movies to music. There's genuine value in being able to purchase an app in one place and use it in another, and the same is true for pretty much any digital application or piece of media. In fact, I'd argue that each additional day spent intertwined in the iTunes ecosystem makes it that much more difficult for any other company to yank that person out. The issue is compounded when you toss iCloud into the mix. Suddenly, the majority of things you care about on your iPhone and / or iPad is now available anywhere that there's an internet connection. It makes the inclusion of a Mac in the equation even more seamless, and the thought of owning multiple iOS devices even more reasonable. I'll be the first to admit that iCloud is far from feature-complete; enabling support for a litany of third-party apps should be high on Apple's list of priorities, but the reality is that most sane individuals understand the premise. They grok the promise. And if you've already got one foot in the iTunes river, it's impossible not to appreciate it all... if only a little bit. In the effort of fairness, the vast majority of what I've said rings true for Android, too. Google's suite of products has been so well received, that many users are tapping into Google Docs, Google Drive and Gmail despite similar offerings being available from Apple, Microsoft, etc. (Let's just say there's a reason behind the very real sentiment that the Gmail iOS app isn't 'good enough.') Folks who have wandered over to the Android side, devoted their browsing to Chrome and have cast an eye in the direction of [insert Android tablet here] fully recognize that they too are part of an ecosystem. Sharing tabs between Chrome instances provides real value. Syncing Google Play purchases between phone and tablet -- with practically no involvement on the end user's part -- provides real value. And for the small contingent of Chromebook users, there's yet another layer of tightness that makes the usage of the entire family feel more involved. Here's where Microsoft enters the picture. The company has an absurd slice of the desktop OS marketshare, but a lot of that has to do with enterprise roots. People are ushered into Windows at work and school, and it becomes familiar. If and when the time comes to buy a PC at home, familiar typically wins. This is most certainly not a hard-and-fast rule, in general I've found it to be accurate. But having the lion's share of the PC market clearly doesn't do one much good when it doesn't also offer a highly compelling smartphone and tablet platform. Five years ago, Apple somehow managed to coerce a world full of Wintel users to give its smartphone platform a chance. It somehow managed to convince a world of Wintel users to get out of whatever ecosystem they were in, and into iTunes. How, exactly, did it accomplish such a feat? By offering a platform that was so much more compelling, it actually dulled the pain of switching. A year later, Google did the same thing. And where, might I ask, was Microsoft? A month after the T-Mobile G1 was unleashed upon the world, Microsoft was unveiling Windows Mobile 6.5. It was quite possibly the world's weakest attempt to combat the rising tides of Android and iOS from any company with as much money, resources and clout as Microsoft. In fact, the introduction of iOS and Android caught Microsoft so off guard, that it wasn't until February of 2010 that we saw even the first tangible evidence that the company had a product in the same league. On the tablet side, Microsoft attempted to make itself believe that Windows 7 was its "tablet answer." Or, maybe it was that short-lived Embedded Compact 7. Either way, neither worked. No one bought into it, and the introduction of Surface makes blatantly clear that the "shove Windows 7 on a tablet and call it ideal" wasn't a real strategy. Surface is a strategy, and a thoroughly beautiful one at that. But, here's the rub: it's 2012, and Microsoft is only now getting its modern ecosystem play together.
In theory, one could dive headfirst into SkyDrive, snap up a Surface Pro slate, invest in a Windows 8 Ultrabook and pony up for a forthcoming WP8 handset, and they'd be just as cozy as folks are today with iOS or Android devices surrounding them. But how many consumers even remotely interested in digital ecosystems are still waiting around to choose a side? Have those in Microsoft's target market truly sat around since the middle of 2008 without investing themselves in an ecosystem already? The point is this: by waiting until the tail end of 2012 to assemble an ecosystem that works, end-to-end and in impressive fashion, Microsoft has put itself at a massive disadvantage. The most recent Comscore figures show Android and iOS accounting for over 80 percent of the US smartphone share, with Microsoft at 3.9 percent. That's just marginally higher than Symbian, an OS that hasn't been actively marketed here in the better part of a millennium. Globally, the latest IDC research figures paint a nearly-identical picture; iOS and Android represent 82 percent of the pie, with Windows Phone claiming 2.2 percent. It's not lost on me that both iOS and Android started at zero, too. Much of their ground has been gained at the expense of Nokia and RIM, and there's a very real possibility that Microsoft gains at the expense of Apple and Google. But just how realistic is it?
The switching costs in the smartphone market today are monumentally more significant than they were in 2007. It's more than a phone you're switching -- it's a lifestyle. It's an ecosystem. Somehow, Microsoft has to convince people not only that Windows Phone 8 is truly as awe-inspiring as it looks, but that its Surface tablets really will be a Windows tablet worth owning, and that Windows 8 really is a fantastical step ahead of Windows 7. In my estimation, it'll need to deliver a magical SkyDrive marketing message that not only rivals that of iCloud, but surpasses it, if it truly wants a significant amount of the smartphone marketshare. Microsoft has 100,000 apps in the Marketplace as of June 2012, but Apple has 550,000 more reasons to invest your time in a far deeper app library. And, if you're already invested in that library, Microsoft needs an overwhelmingly convincing pitch to get you out of where you're comfortable. Windows Phone 8 is unquestionably the most exciting thing Microsoft has done on the mobile front in years. But is it exciting enough to get me to cut loose from 3+ years of app purchases, information input and workflow patterns? Tempt me this holiday, Microsoft. I'll be waiting. |
| Posted: 21 Jun 2012 08:59 AM PDT Samsung's US Galaxy S III launch is turning out to be quite the muted affair. Along with news of staggered Sprint and T-Mobile releases, AT&T is now adding that its Galaxy S III version likely won't make June 21st at all. Pre-order customers who were promised the phone this week are instead being told to wait until June 25th; they might get it early, should the smartphone stars align properly. If you're having pangs of regret for not pulling the trigger earlier, you'll have to wait up to 10 business days before before that Marble White or Pebble Blue beauty shows at your door. AT&T is pinning the delay on short supply, much like its fellow American launch carriers. Not that the lack of handsets is stopping Samsung from kicking off an elaborate launch campaign of its own. Along with the usual celebrity and Times Square stunts, the Korean corporation is starting up a curated media hub, Beacon, and placing NFC-equipped Share-to-Go Stations: those in the happy position of carrying a Galaxy S III in their hands can download free content just through swinging by a kiosk. You can catch the full details of Samsung's escapades after the break. Samsung Galaxy S® III Available Starting Today Samsung celebrates launch of "The Next Big Thing" in smartphones with expansive marketing campaign, consumer experiential event, and $1.5 million donation to World Wildlife Fund NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Samsung Galaxy S® III has officially launched in the U.S. The premium content sharing smartphone is available online starting today on T-Mobile's Web site and in select retail stores. AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular will have the Galaxy S III in-store and online within the next several weeks. The Galaxy S III celebration kicked off in New York City last night with a star-studded event hosted by actress Ashley Greene. Five hundred Samsung fans were granted access to an experiential event held at Skylight Studios in the trendy SoHo district to test drive the sharing capabilities of the Galaxy S III, get their picture taken with NBA stars Steve Nash, Kevin Love and Stephen Curry and share those once-in-a-lifetime experiences thanks to the Galaxy S III. Capping the night off was a special surprise performance by Skrillex. Taking its inspiration from nature, Samsung Mobile designed the Galaxy S III features to respond intuitively and naturally to human use and interaction. It balances ergonomics with intuitive use so that the device becomes an extension of the user. To celebrate the launch of the Galaxy S III, Samsung Telecommunications America will donate $1.5 million to benefit the World Wildlife Fund (www.wwf.org), which strives to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. Samsung fans can share with the world which animal species they love by voting at www.facebook.com/samsungmobileusa and at the various launch events being hosted June 20-22. Samsung will announce the donation on its Facebook page and tap into its community of nearly 7 million fans on Facebook.com/samsungmobileusa to help raise awareness of the WWF initiatives with posts throughout the week. The launch of the Galaxy S III is being supported by the largest and most innovative marketing and advertising campaign ever conducted in the U.S. by Samsung Mobile. The campaign leverages technology to engage consumers in new and interactive ways and reward Galaxy S III owners. * With sharing as a key feature of the Galaxy S III, Samsung is rewarding new owners with premium content via Samsung Share-to-Go Stations across the nation at no cost. Leveraging the NFC technology incorporated into the Galaxy S III, Samsung customers are able to download content directly to their device with a simple tap of their phone to the smart board or kiosk. Content is stored on the device so it can be viewed at any time. "Once again, we are putting the 'Next Big Thing' in consumers' hands. The Galaxy S III introduces a completely new way of sharing and socializing that no other mobile phone can," said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications. |
| Posted: 21 Jun 2012 08:42 AM PDT Crowdsourcing map data itself isn't a surprise; it's been the cornerstone of OpenStreetMap and is about to get a big boost through iOS 6. Crowdsourcing actual positions is still a relatively untapped resource, however, and Google thinks that it might just be the ticket to getting a device's location when GPS alone doesn't cut it. Much as your current phone uses triangulation between cell sites to help speed up a position lock, a technique in a new Google patent application uses the physical distances between nearby devices to get a complete picture, even if GPS is completely on the fritz. The peer-to-peer technique still needs an internet connection to reach the central service piecing information together -- there isn't much help if you're in areas where reliable internet access isn't always guaranteed. Likewise, there's no certainty that Google will use the patent in a future build of Android or Chrome OS. If it does, though, at least some of us may say goodbye to the days of our map positioning going haywire the moment we drive through a tunnel or step into an office without WiFi. |
| Fitter, Happier: an eight week exercise in using technology to help lose weight Posted: 21 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT For 27 years he ate what he wanted and avoided exercise like the plague. Can an arsenal of fitness gadgets make this human healthier in just eight weeks? From the snake oil salesman to the Thighmaster(TM), science and technology have promised the end of obesity, ill health and lethargy for centuries. Today, weight loss gadgetry is all around us, with affordable commercial systems available from Nintendo, Nike, Adidas and countless other manufacturers, all promising their technology will turn us into paragons of healthy virtue. How is it then, that for all of this, we live in an age where a quarter of the American population is obese? Do any of these seemingly endless health aids actually work? Will a $200 wristband or a $100 pedometer cause you to banish microwave dinners and saturated fats, take up regular exercise at the gym at least three days a week and sleep well with no bad dreams? Or has the health industry made technology another ineffective distraction that only provides you with a vague sense that you're doing something positive? Is the real answer what it's always been: go for a walk in the trees and eat your greens? The Challenge I'm 27 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and I weigh 239 pounds (108.4 kg). A typical day on the job for me is spent sitting at a desk, eating junk food and chugging caffeine like it's going out of fashion. Unsurprisingly, I'm tremendously obese, but then I always have been. Perpetually vacillating adipose tissue hangs from my every limb and has done so since I was a child -- it's been the source of poor self-esteem, bullying and depression. I don't go out in the summer, I wear a wardrobe of predominantly black clothes and I wake up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations. It's also entirely my own fault: when I was young, I condemned exercise as the pastime of those too stupid to read -- my regular sick-note forgeries got me out of gym class so I could spend more time with my head in a book. Unfortunately, it's become apparent that I've got the body of a middle-aged man on an express train towards type 2 diabetes and other weight-related maladies. Next month, I'm getting married, and I want to arrive on the big day having made a change to my life, and so my poor spouse-to-be doesn't wind up living with an oleaginous troll for the next few decades. I've tried everything under the sun to make the change beforehand, and now it's time to see if technology can succeed where every faddy diet and pill couldn't. I've got the eight weeks before the suit fitting to try, and I'll give one device or program a go each week. So, can an arsenal of fitness gadgets really make me fitter, happier and more productive? Week One: Nintendo Wii Fit(108.4kg / 239 pounds) I begin where I'm sure many others have too. In fact, since nearly 23 million editions of Nintendo's Wii Fit have been sold since 2008, I'd be willing to bet plenty of people bought it specifically to help them lose weight. So, can a $250 console bundle supplant the need to attend an $80-a-month gymnasium? It's certainly notorious for inspiring countless academic studies and websites, and the thrust of the company's advertising budget has been devoted to selling the idea that this is all you need to transform you from dumpy drone into Charles Atlas. After firing up the console, I undergo the Body Test, measuring my height and weight to give me my Body Mass Index (BMI). Once discovered, my slender, anonymous avatar balloons into a bow-legged, morbidly obese Mr. Creosote before the game offers me pseudo-scientific advice about my balance and posture, saying that ensuring you stand with perfect balance is both healthier and more attractive than leaning to one side. Each day, I try to cover a good variety of the mini games on offer, alternating between the cardiovascular, rhythm, balance and yoga / muscle plans before capping them off with a 10-minute free jog. Yes, that does involve jogging on the spot, and no, I don't do it with the curtains open. Sadly there's a problem: the pace is so slow that I'm not benefiting much, because my pulse isn't increasing. If I want to go a little faster and get more out of it, the quickened pace causes my avatar to fall over and the game exhorts me to take it easy. Suffice to say, I'm not actually doing much exercise.
The frustrations don't stop there. The mini games all take time to begin, with a repetitive intro and outro bookending each one. In isolation, it's like a sampling platter so the introduction is handy to get you reacquainted with the rules. Using it as a fitness tool, however, is nearly impossible, as the tedious series of stops and starts saps your motivation in minutes. More annoying is that the balance board re-calibrates before Every. Single. Game. It assumes you're standing perfectly in place between games, rather than idly shifting from side to side or attaching or removing the nunchuk peripheral. Because of this, you're rarely in the place you're meant to be, meaning the game that follows is too compromised to play properly (if you rested your weight on your left foot for a nanosecond, you'll find it impossible to stand straight in the game) or worse -- you'll injure yourself as you overcompensate for its failure. During the week, I find myself coming up against this same brick wall of engagement: very few of the three-minute games were of sufficient intensity to get my heart going (necessary for optimal weight loss and exercise) and it doesn't even provide a sense that I've making a good choice. Instead, it felt like a passing attraction that lacked the necessary depth that it promised and left me unmotivated. I was glad to box it away, even if I was ruing the purchase. Week Two: Zeo Sleep Manager(108kg / 238 pounds) Sleep isn't something I'm very disciplined about, and spending most nights with a throbbing chest isn't helping. Waking up's never been a strong point either. It's a fight, often requiring two or three alarm clocks if I need to be up early to cover an event or catch a train. However, sleep is as important to health as good exercise, and many fitness gadgets offer sleep monitoring as part of their feature set. This one's slightly different, because rather than using motion sensing, it actually monitors electrical activity in the brain. Imagine a sleep cycle as an inverted bell-curve, you start light, fall down deeper and gently come back up to being nearly awake. It's a process that people go through several times a night. With the Zeo Sleep Manager, you set an alarm "window" of, say, 20 minutes (so if you'd get up at 7:00, you'd set it between 6:45 and 7:05) and the device will see when you're at the peak of a cycle within that window and wake you up then, rather than at a defined time. If you're still deeply asleep at the end of the allotted time, the Zeo will helpfully wake you up anyway. I strap the Zeo Sleep Manager onto my head and I feel self-conscious as I realize I'm wearing an obsidian tiara to bed. It pairs to your phone for control, but you can only use one in the house, as it's essentially a "dumb" device. Most importantly, you must leave your phone on without pressing a single button for it to work -- I miss that fact the first two days I use it, instinctively pressing the "screen off" button as soon as I put it down.
Wearing a device like this can, at times, be unforgiving if you're an awkward sleeper. If you sleep with your head on your arms, you'll sometimes find yourself awake for hours just relentlessly aware of its unwelcome presence. What alarms me the most is that the Zeo actually seems to work. After a few days of adjustment, I find that it wakes me without the horrendous fighting that I've normally experienced over the last two decades. There is one important caveat to add, because beautiful sleep does come at a price. If you are cohabiting, you may wake up every morning free from fatigue and full of joy, but you'll also discover your significant other will be irritable for most of the day. Your alarm clock will be supplanted by a sharp elbow to the ribs. Week Three: Just Dance 3 (Wii)(107kg / 235 pounds) Acting upon the advice of several svelte, active people, I pick up a copy of Ubisoft's Just Dance 3. They promised me that it would remove my jaded feelings toward the Wii and reinvigorate my campaign for healthiness. In the interests of science, I give it a go. The song selection isn't to my taste (most of the titles are bowdlerized top ten hits, instrumentals or Euro-pop singles) but I find something inoffensive and begin. It's at this point I realize that I shouldn't have tried doing this in jeans and a T-shirt. Copying the movements of a trained French dancer with decades of experience is not something that comes naturally, and halfway into that first song, I'm already a gibbering wreck.
As tempted as I am to give up, I'm forced to admit that it's both fun and funny. Once you close the curtains, change into something a little looser and leave any pretension you might be carrying at the door, it's fantastic fun. Ubisoft found the same thing, that the game encourages people to get moving without realizing that's what they 're doing (paging Carmen Sandiego). One woman in Florida was so motivated to get a high score, she shed 50 pounds playing the game, so the company added a "Just Sweat" mode. It won't disclose the ratio of "Sweat Points" to calories, but with a little research, it's in the (very subjective) ballpark of 2.5 points = one calorie (some think that ratio is lower, some think it could be as high as five, so let's play it safe). You can choose one of three fitness programs, "Fresh Start," where you can burn off 1,400 calories in seven days, "Healthy Choice" to tackle 2,800 or "Sweat Explosion" for 8,400 in the same period of time. Undeterred, I select the latter and hope for the best. It is enormous fun doing it because, while yes, it is a dancing game, and yes, it is heavily skewed towards a female demographic, I really enjoy being able to move better, learning how to move properly by copying a professional and taking a moment to not be so deathly serious in a world that demands it. Some men will find it an affront to their masculinity to even consider playing it, and those people are missing out on a fantastic way of increasing their fitness levels that's both high-impact, and means you don't have to embarrass yourself outdoors. By the end of the week, I'm mildly proficient with the game, but better than that, my heart palpitations have reduced considerably, I stop looking so sallow and start sleeping through the whole night without the customary heart-beating disturbances. For those reasons alone, I'll keep the game around for those moments when I'm feeling whimsical. Week Four: Striiv(105.5kg / 233 pounds) Described as the "personal trainer in your pocket," Striiv is a $99 touchscreen pedometer that looks like a tiny Android phone. Once you learn how to prod that resistive touchscreen (very, very hard), you clip it to your waistband and watch as it keeps track of how many steps you take, how much you run and how many stairs you climb. Pedometers are easily gamed, so I give it a good hard shake to determine my margin of error, but it isn't biting. If you're fixated upon sabotaging your own progress, you can learn how to replicate a stepping motion in your hand, but it really isn't worth it. How can a lowly pedometer motivate me? On day one, it tells me that I took around 1,000 steps and only scaled my stairs three times, which is a bit of a shock. However, it isn't enough to make me remember to take it with me on the second day. Unfortunately, a graph can't grab you by the lapels and explain how rapidly you're rushing toward your own demise. Instead, it's got a three-pronged attack that attempts to coerce you into becoming more active. Walkathon is a program in partnership with Global Giving, whereby every time you hit 18,000 steps (around eight miles), the company donates cash to protect a parking-spot sized square of Tanzanian rainforest for a year, or supply a day of clean water to a Bolivian child. If you fancy a loftier challenge, you can save up 60,000 steps and donate a dose of polio vaccine for a child in India. I choose the water option and I'm immediately presented with an empty water jug -- the more I walk, the more it fills up. When it's full, I simply plug it into the desktop and send my donation off.
Then there's Myland, a fantasy-themed game on the device where you help a Zelda-esque centaur to plant a garden. The more you walk, the more plants you can buy, enabling the garden to grow even bigger. I won't lie: the only reason I spend longer than 20 seconds with this is that I had to write about it. But everyone's different, and I'm sure plenty of people will enjoy playing Zelda: The Greenhouse Years. I certainly won't judge. Finally, there are challenges, which crop up and offer you a "step bonus" (which won't affect your count, but will contribute to your Walkathon or Myland tallies). Having just climbed the stairs, it eggs me on to climb a further 25 (or walk up and down them again twice more) for a big bonus, and since I had nothing else to do, I fall in line. Watching that water jug fill up with clean blue water provides a moderate kick because I'm not going out of my way to make a greater effort. That's how it gets you: it's insidious. It isn't long before you start accepting the challenges as a matter of course and eagerly select them when you're out and about. The moderate exercise offered here is a step backwards compared to the high-impact efforts of Just Dance, but once it gets its hooks in me, it changes my daily routine -- offering enough incitements to improve my exercise at such a gentle level that I don't resent it. Moreover, I know I'm not doing it just for myself; as I lose weight and became more active, I am paying it forward to those in even greater need. Week Five: Motorola MOTOACTV(104.1kg / 229 pounds) On those rare occasions when I go for a run, it's an open invitation for members of the public to give a toss about what I'm doing. That means they'll usually offer up an insulting opinion or two to the risible character they presume me to be. I've experienced it frequently enough for me to take as a certainty. Fortunately, England is beset with a period of torrential rain during my test drive, meaning that I'm able to jog around knowing that everyone else is confined indoors. It's surprisingly fast to find the satellite as I get going, and for the first 500 yards, decades of agonizing running experiences disappear and I start to feel that running might be something I could take to. I then hit what I've been told is "the wall." Hot sparks of electricity shoot up my shins, my chest compresses to the size of an ice cube and my face balloons to the size of a small country. It's at this point that I begin to resent the MOTOCACTV for trusting me with the intelligence to choose my own course. Windows and OS X will nanny you incessantly if you want to run a program it doesn't trust, but as I go through the stages of a heart attack, I wonder where the "Are you sure you want to set a three-mile run? Shouldn't you set your sights a little lower?" popup has gone to. Half a mile later, I walk back to the house and lay down in the hallway. It advises me that I'd burned 86 calories in the seven minutes of exercise I'd done, and I am heartened a little. However, I don't (and can't) stop there, much as I would love to. I have an experiment to carry out, and I'd be damned if I was going to let something as simple as my own mortality get in the way. Each time, I trot out with a short and blissful run, followed by an agonizing retreat home (with one eye on looking for a liposuction clinic in the nearby regions). Worst of all, I'm in love with using the unit. I managed to marshal all of those features with ease and I never had to worry about its allegedly short battery life. If I had 12 weeks to go on one of its tailored plans, I suspect I'd be stumping up the cash to buy one right away -- my only gripe being that it doesn't have a pedometer to fall back on when you're monitoring data indoors. Week Six: Couch to 5K(103.5kg / 228 pounds) So what can an iPhone app do? It offers up a staggered, managed program of walking and jogging in order to build a base level of fitness. If you've never jogged before, it's hard to demarcate it from running, but eventually you find a pace that feels comfortable. After two or three bursts of activity I find myself succumbing to stitches, but every time I'm on the cusp of giving up and sulking off the app switches to walking. It's ridiculously easy to use (it's hard not to, as you just do what you're told) and it's fantastic that you have an encouraging voice talking you through things -- I clearly respond well to nannying. I do have one niggle with the app itself: if your phone is locked, it won't maintain audio coaching. However, the app's own screen lock works inconsistently which can knock you off your pace. If you time your screen locks right, you can force the countdown timer to stutter before it tells you to run again, great if you need to delay the next burst of jogging by an extra second.
At the end of week six, I notice that I'm starting to move around involuntarily, just shifting from foot to foot while cooking and generally being more active. I even start looking up exercises that would help to reduce my considerable thighs and, best of all, I go to purchase a running top and I can now wear a large. A large. It's an achievement purely because since records began, I've always worn XL or XXL at a bare minimum. My jeans aren't forced by my physical geography to linger around my hips -- I can now wear them around my waist (something I'll have to get used to, admittedly) and I'm generally feeling very, very good. I wonder if this fitness bug is somehow catching. In fact, this app is something I'm going to have to go back to when not trapped by the confines of an eight-week experiment, even if that does mean my future fitness will have to wait until after my nuptials. Week Seven: Fitbit Ultra(101.1kg / 223 pounds) I'm entering the final straight now and my suit fitting is coming ever closer, so it's time to make one last big push. I'm so close to weighing less than 220 pounds (100 kg) for the first time as an adult. I've even looked up what my ideal weight should be: roughly 165 pounds (75 kg). I couldn't dream of making that in the few short weeks before the nuptials, but suddenly that goal doesn't seem like an insurmountable challenge. I'm determined to get down below that golden 100-kg number before the wedding, with the Fitbit Ultra as my next companion. It's the oddest-looking product I've seen in a while, built like a clothes peg you can't open clad in a blue, plastic body. It's designed to be clipped onto your waistband during the day and on a supplied wrist cuff in the night -- offering both activity and sleep-tracking functionality in one device. A handy charging dock doubles as a wireless access point, meaning it'll sync automatically with the Fitbit website and keep you updated on your progress via email. Its versatility is a weakness too, since none of the sensors are as reliable or accurate as those on a dedicated device -- for example, after the first night it told me that I burned nearly 1,000 calories while I'd been asleep. When I go for a run, it's utterly unobtrusive, but there's no GPS integration, just that pedometer and altimeter that tells you how many steps you've made and it works out the rest of the data from your height and weight. You'll do most of your interaction over the Fitbit website, which will tell you how far you've gone each day (including an amusing list of equivalent landmarks you'll have climbed) and offer pre-selected food- and weight-tracking plans. It expects you to make a lot of effort on its behalf, so only people who enjoy entering a lot of data onto a website will get the benefit. The site offers food- and calorie-tracking options, but the math could get tricky if you're trying to follow a controlled diet. Food tracking would be better if the database was exhaustive -- despite my rather un-exotic diet, I still have to manually enter all of the foods I eat. To get good data, I have to weigh my meals and hunt around in the bin for any calorie information I've omitted -- which makes me wonder if the database is aggregated for all of the device's users. I've learned that obsessively journaling your food intake isn't healthy, so the fact that this isn't easy is a big turn-off for me -- and after a few days, I give up trying. I like the Fitbit because of its unobtrusive nature. I'd be happy to keep it on me forever, but it doesn't offer me any encouragement to do well. It's a reasonable sleep tracker and great if all you're looking for is an all-in-one device to keep yourself in check. If you're looking for something to wrestle you away from the sofa, I don't think this is for you. Week Eight: Nike + SportWatch GPS(100.4kg / 221 pounds) It's the final roll of the dice. At the end of this week, I'm off for the all-important suit fitting and the end of this project. I finish with Nike and TomTom's Nike+ SportWatch GPS, a bulky black and neon timepiece that also serves as a fitness coach, GPS tracker, stopwatch and timer. As soon as I strap it on, I instantly feel more athletic. I'm reminded of the joke, "How do you know if someone has an iPhone? They tell you." The watch has an unspoken cachet of exercise that speaks of weekends spent climbing mountains rather than chugging biscuits in front of the TV. Now I get why so many people wear heart-rate monitor watches to the office: to show off. Fashion aside, I'm pleased at how comfortable it is on the wrist and how easy it is to operate. You may lament the absence of a touchscreen, but it would add an uncomfortable level of complexity to this unit. Instead, there are three sturdy rubber buttons (up, down and enter) along the left-hand side and a touch- (okay, slap-) sensitive bezel for activating the backlight and marking laps on the go. The USB port is built into the strap itself, which makes me paranoid about breaking it, but it is clad in sturdy black plastic and I'm unable to do it any damage during testing. Once I'm set up on Nike+ online and the management software is in, I'm ready to go. I set up a fitness program and lay down a challenge on the Nike + website for anyone to join me. Within the day, I have four challengers all vying to hit the target of running 14 miles in the week-long period I've allocated. When you start a run, it takes several seconds for Nike+ to hook up with the local GPS satellite, only annoying if you're standing still in torrential rain as you wait. It even comes with its own interval training program. Be warned, however, as soon as it's activated, it puts you straight into a two-minute run without a warm-up. When it switches from "run" to "rest" phases, it beeps, but between the noise of busy roads and the sound of my own heavy breathing, it's impossible to hear. This means I have to keep looking at the watch to make sure I don't miss a transition or two. Upon finishing, it tells me that I've had a good "first run" and offers an aloof, yet motivating message, storing my personal bests for my edification (or boasting) after the fact. Because I'm able to wear it as a watch, it becomes a permanent reminder to run, and motivates me to stay active. With its help (and the experience gained over the last eight weeks) I am able to maintain my own exercise much more effectively. Now all I have to do is try and beat that community challenge... The Results Many of the ailments that have aggravated me over the last two decades disappeared during the course of this experiment. I now get a comfortable eight or nine hours of sleep and my concentration has improved markedly. Physically, plenty of the less attractive landmarks on my body have reduced in size and I'm able to wear clothes a decent few sizes smaller than when I started. In my mind, it wasn't until the weekend between weeks seven and eight that I had my epiphany. After eight hours, 23 minutes of sleep, I got up on Saturday morning and felt compelled to go for an extra run. I've previously only ever tried to achieve an early-morning run in those misguided attempts at post-New Year's Presbyterianism. But there I was, jogging around in a hailstorm in the hope of shaving a few more inches from my frame and minutes from my time. For me, there are three broad categories of exercise gadget: those which didn't work, those which relied upon self-motivation and those which did the hard work of coaxing me out of my chair. Of course, no talking watch can force you to get up, and if it could, you'd soon "forget" to charge it, but as soon as you find that spark of inspiration, you'll find things much easier with one of these at your side. The Zeo did it by giving me the tangible and welcome benefit of painless morning routines. Just Dance made a workout silly, ridiculous fun that helped me sweat off plenty of calories in the privacy of my own home. Striiv appealed to my social conscience, and I wanted to do better to help those less fortunate. Couch-to-5K made it impossible for someone as exercise-averse as me to come up with a decent reason not to go for a run. The Fitbit was a fantastic all-round companion and, while I doubt its accuracy, I adore its ease of use and its power as a true all-rounder. The MOTOACTV is a technical achievement that I love and would readily buy tomorrow if there was a watch-based version that was also iOS-compatible. The Nike + Sportwatch made me feel like I'd achieved things and I respected and liked plenty of its features -- you never know, it might become my next timepiece. Wii Fit? Without a doubt, a significant waste of my time, money and motivation. I suggest no one attempt it if they're pondering a weight loss program. It's simply not challenging enough to coax people into exercising. I'm sure some have managed great success using the device, but I'm not one of 'em. A plastic-surgeon called Maxwell Maltz is credited to have said that if you do something for 21 days, it becomes a habit. I'm coming to the conclusion that, as difficult as it appears when you're on the sofa, when you find a gadget that you can respond to, it doesn't take too long at all before it becomes second nature to use it. Of course, you want to know the results, so here goes: Eight weeks ago I weighed 239 pounds (108.4 kg) and now I weigh 219 pounds (99.6 kg). I've lost around four inches from my hipline, having swapped a pair of size 42 jeans for a pair of size 38s that I'm wearing as I write this. I've gone from having a shirt size of 17.5 inches to 16.5 inches and when worn, they no longer bulge at the midriff (or worse, pop open when I'm eating) . I've also started to think more seriously about my eating -- after all, I've still got nearly 25 kg to lose before I'm a healthy weight, but that no longer seems like an impossible goal. So, to answer the question then. Did technology make me fitter? Happier? Yes. Yes it did. I'm as shocked as anyone. This piece originally appeared in Distro #44. |
| Google launches Endangered Languages website to save 3,000 at-risk tongues Posted: 21 Jun 2012 07:33 AM PDT Google lets users surf the web in 40-plus languages, and its Translate service accounts for 57 different tongues, but those numbers are dwarfed by the grand total of 7,000 currently existing languages. On its official blog today, the company announced the Endangered Languages Project, a website dedicated to preserving at-risk dialects by providing information via audio, video and text samples. Google collaborated with the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and Eastern Michigan University to compile research on the 3,000 languages at risk of dying out, and each language's profile includes results drawn from Google Books. Click through to the source link to check out a global visualization of these tongues -- it's mind-boggling that there are 52 endangered languages in Brazil alone. |
| Minority Report at 10: a look at technology from today to 2054 Posted: 21 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, based on the Philip K. Dick short story, opened in North American theaters 10 years ago today. It was preceded by the director's A.I. a year earlier, which was famously a pet project of Stanley Kubrick's for decades prior, and was followed up by Spielberg's version of War of the Worlds a couple of years later. Together, they formed an unofficial trilogy of sorts that represented a turn to darker science fiction for a director noted for his more optimistic excursions into the genre. Of the three, Minority Report was the best-received out of the gate, both as a film and as a detailed vision of the near-future unlike any since Blade Runner.
Well before filming got underway, Spielberg gathered together a team of experts from a variety of fields for a three-day think tank. That included people like virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier, Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly, Whole Earth Catalog and WELL founder Stewart Brand, writer Douglas Coupland, and a number of other scientists and researchers. They were tasked not only with making sure the filmmakers got things straight, but with dreaming up and thinking through much of the technology that fills the film's universe. He's also been working to bring the technology closer to reality in the years since the film's release with his company, Oblong Industries, but he's hardly alone in developing human-computer interfaces that have drawn comparisons to the movie. The biggest of those, by far, is Microsoft's Kinect. Released less than two years ago, it may not have quite redefined video games, but it has arguably been one of the biggest boons to human-computer interaction research in decades. To be sure, Minority Report wasn't the first movie to portray gesture interfaces as the future of human-computer interaction, but most prior examples were deeply entrenched in the traditional mindset of virtual reality and cyberspace common in the 1990s -- think Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic. The interface of Minority Report was, in many ways, just as futuristic, but also more accessible -- something that we could see as an extension of existing technology rather than a shift to something completely different. Indeed, such a system wouldn't be out of place in the world of Minority Report, where iris scanners are everywhere and used not just for security, but to identify individuals in public places and deliver advertisements or messages tailored specifically for them. Privacy is apparently very much a thing of the past by the year 2054, which is yet another possibility that's less remote today than it was even 10 years ago. Such a system does have some obvious limitations when it comes to reaching areas not served by the Maglev, but the filmmakers thought of that too, and developed so-called off-grid cars exemplified by a red Lexus sports coupe in the movie. While not dwelled on much in the film itself, it was explained by Toyota / Lexus at the time to be an all-electric vehicle replete with plenty of bells and whistles. Features included a heads-up display with night vision, a DNA-based entry and ignition system, body panels that changed color on the driver's command and an "auto valet" feature that let the car drop off its owner then park itself for recharging. If anything, it may be one of the more conservative predictions made for 2054. Of course, it remains to be seen how well the rest of film's technology will hold up when we actually roll around to 2054, but great science fiction movies don't always have the best track record in pinpointing dates for their prognostications. The space travel and artificial intelligence of 2001 didn't exactly measure up to Stanley Kubrick's and Arthur C. Clarke's vision, and it doesn't look like we're going to have life-like replicants to contend with when we reach 2019 in just a few short years. But, like the best science fiction, Minority Report didn't shy away from tackling big ideas, and it had as much to say about our present condition as it did about the future. |
| Datel wireless controllers borked by Xbox 360 update, patch coming soon Posted: 21 Jun 2012 06:37 AM PDT Woke up to a buggy Datel wireless controller? Don't worry, you didn't overdo that Street Fighter session last night. A June 20th Xbox update has caused issues with some of the company's controllers including the TurboFire 2 and Wildfire 2. Microsoft's support site claimed the controller maker had posted a fix, although currently there's only a note saying that a patch is "still being tested." It also advises to check regularly, so feel free to click the source links below as often as you want for more info. |
| Facebook adding 'Like' to Open Graph, will connect the internet in approval Posted: 21 Jun 2012 06:19 AM PDT Facebook is bringing its "like" functionality to Open Graph that'll enable developers to add the action to their applications. Press the heart-shaped button and it'll trigger an alert on the site, voicing your approval for your friend's most awesome Instagram snap, amongst other things. As with the desktop version, likes will be collated in your news feed, but only once you've authorized the third-party app to access it. |
| Researchers take nanowire transistors vertical, double up on density Posted: 21 Jun 2012 05:49 AM PDT 3D silicon is all the rage, and now nanowire transistors have further potential to keep Moore's Law on life support. Researchers at A*STAR have found a way to double the the number of transistors on a chip by placing the atomic-scale wires vertically, rather than in the run-of-the-mill planar mode, creating two "wrap-around gates" that put a pair of transistors on a single nanowire. In the future, the tech could be merged with tunnel field effect transistors -- which use dissimilar semiconductor materials -- to create a markedly denser design. That combo would also burn a miniscule percentage of the power required conventionally, according to the scientists, making it useful for low-powered processors, logic boards and non-volatile memory, for starters. So, a certain Intel founder might keep being right after all, at least for a few years more. |
| Google+ adds profile updates, learns from the competition Posted: 21 Jun 2012 05:27 AM PDT Your Google+ profile has just been given some convenient upgrades, in a bid to make it a little friendlier to anyone used to another social network. You're now able to post to your feed directly from your profile page, which now packs the same share box as the Google+ hub. You'll also be able to refresh the look of your profile with some new stock cover photos and galleries, while any new photos added will be automatically resized and (vertically) adjustable in their new home. Any new cover photos will also be stored in their own gallery at full size. The updates, a result of feedback from its users, have now rolled out across the whole network. Presumably, automated facial tagging is still on Google's shopping list. |
| Lantronix announces xPrintServer Home Edition: print your iPhone photos, high scores wire-free Posted: 21 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT Sick and tired of all those suits hogging the iDevice wireless printing fun? Or your original alternative finally conked out? Then Lantronix's new "Home Edition" of its iPhone / iPad friendly xPrintServer is for you. If you already have a USB printer, simply plug the little guy into it, and hey presto, you can print from you iOS device. Lantronix says you don't even need the host computer to be switched on. While there's support for up to two networked printers, the added bonus is that it'll make your old USB beast appear like one too (handy for the laptop). What does the office-like experience cost? Just 99 expensable dollars. Print off a pre-order via the source. Lantronix Launches Consumer Wireless Printing Solution for iPad and Apple iOS Devices New xPrintServer Home Edition -- Easy Plug-and-Print Solution for Families and Home Offices NEW YORK – June 21, 2012 – Lantronix (Nasdaq: LTRX), a leading global provider of smart M2M connectivity solutions, today announced the launch of its new patent-pending xPrintServer™ Home Edition, designed specifically for home use by consumers requiring USB printer or network connectivity. About the size of an iPhone®, the new xPrintServer Home Edition is premiering at today's Digital Experience, a leading consumer electronics media event in New York. A follow-on product to the hugely popular network version of the xPrintServer, the new Home Edition provides easy, hassle-free printing from iPads®, iPhones or any other Apple® iOS® device. Designed specifically for home use, the xPrintServer Home Edition works with printers that are connected directly to a computer via a USB port and can support up to two network printers. Now iOS users can wirelessly print emails, web pages, photos, and more to their existing printer without needing to install any software or device drivers. The xPrintServer Home Edition is simple; no need to connect to your PC or Mac. Plug it in and begin printing. In addition, multiple PCs or MACs will now be able to share the USB printers over the network. The product will begin shipping in July 2012 and is available for pre-ordering now at store.Lantronix.com. "With the proliferation of mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone, more and more consumers are using them as mainstream, computing devices," said J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., principal analyst, MobileTrax LLC. "Until recently, the problem with using these devices as PC replacements has been the inability to easily print. The xPrintServer offers a simple solution to fill this market need." The xPrintServer - Home Edition: Key Differentiators Ease of use. No IT experience required. Simply open the box, plug it in, print. "We are incredibly excited to launch the newest member in the award-winning xPrintServer family," said Mak Manesh, vice president of product management for Lantronix. "With more than 55 million U.S. households alone owning on average three Apple devices and two printers, the market is ripe for a consumer-friendly, printing solution for iPads and iPhones that is easy to install and easy to use." The xPrintServer: Open it. Plug it in. Print! How to Buy |
| Sony, Sumitomo push laser projectors forward with a new, more powerful green laser diode Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:47 AM PDT As cool as lasers are, so far there are precious few commercially available display devices available that use them. That may change with this new green semiconductor laser diode announced by Sony and Sumitomo, capable of the brightness necessary to replace the more expensive light sources used to fill in the middle of the RGB setup. According to the two companies, it's the world's first one capable of over 100mW power at 530nm, which they think will make it a fit for both advanced projectors and compact light projectors. Check after the break for more details on how the technology came to be -- drawing heavily on Sumitomo's production techniques and Sony's GaN laser technology developed with Blu-ray -- we'll let you know when there's a LaserVue or REDray setup priced for general consumption. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. ("Sumitomo Electric") and Sony Corporation ("Sony") have successfully developed the world's first*1 semiconductor laser diode with an optical output power of over 100 mW in the true green region at a wavelength of 530 nm. This laser diode can be mounted on laser projectors and many other display devices. The new laser diode features twice the luminosity*2 compared with conventional gallium nitride (GaN) green laser diodes, and a color gamut broadened by 182% based on the NTSC standard (CIE 1976 color gamut)*3. As a result, these significantly improve the performance of laser projectors and other display devices to reproduce vibrant video and images. Red and blue laser diodes have been commercially available among the primary red-green-blue (RGB) colors, but there has been greater need for high output green laser diodes towards the development of high performance laser projectors and display devices. Currently, green lasers are generated by converting the wavelength of infrared laser light from a light source using optical materials, but the light source is large and expensive. In addition, conventional GaN-based green lasers have difficulties achieving sufficient luminosity as their performance is limited to an output power of several tens of milliwatt at a wavelength of 520 nm or less. To overcome these challenges, Sumitomo Electric and Sony collaborated in the development of a true green semiconductor laser for practical use, drawing on Sumitomo Electric's semi-polar GaN substrate, crystal growth, and wafer processing technologies, as well as Sony's GaN-based laser technology, acquired through the Blu-ray development. By introducing new techniques and improving the entire semiconductor laser production process, including structural design, crystal growth, wafer processing, and electrode configuration, Sumitomo Electric and Sony were able to successfully develop true green semiconductor laser with an optical output power of more than 100 mW at a wavelength of 530 nm. This true green semiconductor laser diode is highly reliable as it realizes wall-plug efficiency of over 8%. The development of true green semiconductor laser diode completes the three basic colors of the RGB laser light sources. Sumitomo Electric and Sony anticipate a wide variety of applications for this technology such as incorporation into advanced laser projectors with high luminosity and broad color gamut, as well as compact, light, energy-efficient laser projectors. Sumitomo Electric and Sony will continue to jointly develop true green semiconductor laser diode to achieve even higher output power, efficiency, and laser quality. *1: As of this announcement on June 21st, 2012 Main features of the development High quality active layer Wall-plug efficiency of more than 8% |
| Sony Xperia S (finally) gets its own Android 4.0 update (video) Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:19 AM PDT Sony's new flagship smartphone has finally caught up with its predecessors. Android Ice Cream Sandwich is now available on the Xperia S starting today. New features include the ability to display visuals during music playback, an updated calendar overview and notifications drop-down menu from the lock screen. The settings screen has been redesigned for a stronger stock Android feel, alongside Face Unlock and the camera lock screen shortcut we saw on the Galaxy Nexus. A new streaming movies app is also thrown into the update to make the most of that high-definition screen, while a new album app will offer an Ice Cream Sandwich-tinged interface for all your photos, videos and Facebook albums. Take a tour of the refresh after the break and check the source link more details -- Sony says the 200MB update will start rolling out today, but it will differ depending on carriers.
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| Calxeda benchmarks claim that its server chips are 15 times more power efficient than Intel's Posted: 21 Jun 2012 03:57 AM PDT Calxeda may have been given the bum's rush by HP's Project Moonshot, but the company isn't taking it lying down. It's released benchmarks for its ARM-based server technology that claims it's 15 times more power-efficient than the comparable Intel Xeon. Rigging up a 1.1GHz Energycore ECX-1000 with 4GB RAM against a 3.3GHz Xeon E3-1240, the former consumed only 5.26 W compared to the 102 W of Intel's high-spec chip. While it certainly wasn't faster, power efficiency is a key concern for data centers looking to keep costs down, and if the trend continues, Santa Clara will come to regret AMD's recently announced love-in. |
| Sony suspends PlayStation Store for PS3 in Korea, blames new law about selling to minors Posted: 21 Jun 2012 03:34 AM PDT Sony has been caught unawares by a legal change in South Korea, which prevents under-18s from being asked for their names or ages for the purpose of account authentication. No sooner had the company announced a half-price sale at its PS Store and then it was forced to pull the whole thing down in order re-work the interface and make it compliant. It's expecting to reopen it sometime "this year," but in the meantime the Store is strangely still accessible to PSP and Vita users of any age, while multiplayer and other PSN functions will continue to run on PS3. There must be a lawyer somewhere for whom this all makes complete sense, and hopefully they work for Facebook. |
| Screen Grabs: Continuum scrubs the Acer off an Iconia W500 Posted: 21 Jun 2012 03:09 AM PDT Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. TV producers always think they can sneak a fast one by us and our eagle-eyed readers. Little do they realize that together we are a near unstoppable force, capable of spotting, identifying and mocking nearly every use (and misuse) of tech on TV. A tipster caught this un-branded tablet on a recent episode of Continuum and, after a little bit of sleuthing, we were able to identify it as the Iconia Tab W500. Without the company's branding it was a little tough to pick out exactly what this slate was, but the off-center placement of the Windows logo and unique looking webcam gave its identity away. Sorry Canadian television, you'll have to try harder to sneak a device by us. [Thanks, Reece] |
| BBQ Guru releases the CyberQ remote temperature control, lets you fry those steaks from a distance Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:37 AM PDT Fire. Meat. Beer. The recipe for a barbecue has barely changed since the start of recorded time, but that doesn't mean technology can't get in on the party. BBQ Guru has released the CyberQ WiFi, a wirelessly enabled temperature control that lets you fiddle with your griddle using a mobile device. You can relinquish your spot in charge of the fire but still control how rare your steak will come out (when someone else goes and gets it). Even better, if you nod off during the Superbowl, it'll send you an email alert thanks to its built-in web server. It'll install onto most standard grill / smoker types and will set you back $295 with an additional fan and grill adapter and is available from today. The BBQ Guru Announces Release of the CyberQ Wi-Fi Experts Deliver the World's First and Only BBQ Temperature Control that Connects Directly to Wi-Fi Enabled Devices WARMINSTER, Pa., June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The BBQ Guru, maker of the world's most accurate temperature controls for charcoal BBQs, today announced the release of the newest and most technologically sophisticated product in their line of temperature control devices, The CyberQ Wi-Fi. Like the other temperature control devices that BBQ Guru offers, the CyberQ Wi-Fi regulates the temperature of charcoal grills and smokers with incredible accuracy but can be controlled directly from any Wi-Fi enabled device or through any internet browser via a home router. "BBQers around the world will be able to set, change, and monitor the temperature of their charcoal cookers from their smartphones or computers," said Director of Marketing, Bob Trudnak. "We pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge of BBQ technology. We are changing the way people barbeque and our controls make it easy for anyone to cook using a charcoal grill or smoker." The CyberQ Wi-Fi was created with Serious BBQ enthusiasts and professionals in mind. The product was inspired by technology savvy cooks who implement user-friendly gadgets when cooking. As with all BBQ Guru products, the CyberQ Wi-Fi was also created for backyard BBQers who want to spend more time perfecting recipes and enjoying company than hovering over their grill to make sure the cook temperature remains consistent. "BBQ Guru draft controllers have always been an outstanding way to provide the predictability needed when competing against the best in the world," said Chris Hart, BBQ World Champion and author of Wicked Good BBQ. "The Guru Guys have raised the bar to a whole new level with the CyberQ Wi-Fi model." In addition to coming with a built in Wi-Fi web server, the new CyberQ offers email alert capabilities. The full-time adaptive control algorithm learns the cooker to control with better stability and accuracy. The CyberQ Wi-Fi controls in the temperature range of 32 degrees F to 475 degrees F and displays cooking temperature on a digital read-out in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius. The open lid detection system senses when the pit's lid is open to minimize the temperature disturbance and recover quickly. The CyberQ Wi-Fi fits most standard charcoal grill/smoker types and is currently on sale on the company's website, www.TheBBQGuru.com, for $295.00 plus fan and grill adaptor. Other features of The CyberQ Wi-Fi include: Calibrated, programmed, and ready to use immediately The BBQ Guru has become a trusted name in BBQ since its founding in 2003. The company's owner, Shotgun Fred, invented the first temperature control technology of its kind for charcoal and wood burning cookers. Its most popular DigiQ temperature controls and Onyx Charcoal Oven have become mainstays at BBQ competitions around the world. The company has their full line of BBQ equipment for sale on its website, including the DigiQ DX2, PartyQ, Onyx Oven, and single- or three-bay catering systems. |
| ESA team builds self-piloting rover in six months, tests it in Chilean desert Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:09 AM PDT Chile's Atacama Desert might not be true Martian territory, but it's close enough for the European Space Agency's new rover. Built by a crack engineering team in just six months, the Seeker rover was created to autonomously roam 6 km of Mars-like terrain and trace its way back. The Seeker just wrapped up a two week gauntlet in the Chilean wasteland using ol' fashioned dead reckoning and stereoscopic vision to find its way, compiling a 3D map of its surroundings as it puttered along. The full-scale rover wandered the arid terrain on its lonesome until temperatures forced it to stop after trekking 5.1 km. The red planet won't welcome an ESA rover until 2018, but those jonesin' for news from Martian soil should keep their eyes peeled for Curiosity's August touchdown. |
| Apple fined $2.29 million over '4G iPad' claims in Australia Posted: 21 Jun 2012 01:40 AM PDT Australia's federal court has fined Apple for "deliberately" misleading customers on local 4G capabilities of its latest iPad. The Cupertino-based company recently agreed to the terms, which included AU$2.29 million fine and a cool AU$300,000 in costs. Despite its 4G claims, Apple's new iPad can't connect with existing Antipodean next-generation phone networks, although it can hook up to US-based networks. Apple offered refunds for any customers that felt deceived and even adjusted its advertising to reflect its cellular capabilities, but the judge still deemed that the company had contravened Australia's consumer law in the ensuing confusion. Fortunately, Apple still has plenty left in the bank. |
| Amron Experimental 'Rinser Toothbrush' is back, now with more fountain (video) Posted: 21 Jun 2012 01:32 AM PDT The original Rinser Toothbrush was a dental delight. Now, Amron Experimental has updated its classic "Brush & Rinse" for the modern mouth. So, what's new in 2012 for the revolutionary chomper-washer? First of all: Power Fountain. No more lowly trickle of water to chase, this time a proud stream of H2O leaps upwards from its center. Secondly, the heads are now replaceable, meaning you can keep your Brush & Rinse in service much longer. Still have the taste of "unconvinced" in your mouth? Watch the tap of awesome flow in the video after the break. Think this is what your morning routine has been missing? Then head to the source where you can pre-order now for a minty-fresh $22.
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| UK pins the slow move to LTE on carriers, Australia targets auctions for April 2013 Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:59 AM PDT Aussies and Brits have been waiting awhile for either a truly broad LTE launch or to get any LTE at all. That wait is coming to an end, but not without some grousing. UK Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey has alleged that any slow movement stemmed from carriers that have "threatened to sue" regulator Ofcom if it's too hasty and does something they frown upon. Needless to say, that remark has ruffled a few feathers: one of the earliest expected British LTE providers, Everything Everywhere, tells Pocket-lint it has "no appetite" to take Ofcom to court and drag 4G deployments through the mud. Things are going a little more smoothly in Australia, if on a later timetable. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, now expects Australia to auction off 700MHz and 2.5GHz wireless frequencies in April 2013. That could lead to a very long wait for wider 4G service in the country, but at least the 700MHz support will be good news for device makers that don't want to be mired in disputes over LTE devices they've brought over from the US. |
| Drobo debuts a duo of Thunderbolt drives: the 5D for desktops and the Mini for road warriors Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:32 AM PDT Drobo's been delivering quality desktop storage for businesses and prosumers for awhile now, but previously, the company hadn't dipped its toe into Thunderbolt waters. But that's about to change with its two new units. The 5D is a BYOD desktop offering with two Thunderbolt ports and one USB 3.0 socket for connecting up to five hot-swappable, 3.5-inch drives to your Mac or PC. It also has an mSATA SSD for data-caching quickness and a variable-speed fan to keep things cool and quiet. We don't know exactly when the 5D will go on sale -- Drobo's not telling until July -- but it'll cost under $850 when it does, and that price includes a Thunderbolt cable. Meanwhile, the Mini is the first Drobo meant to be taken on the road. It packs up to four 2.5-inch drives in its front bays, plus, like the 5D, there's an mSATA SSD nestled in its underside that serves as a caching tier to speed up your main storage -- all in a 7.3 x 1.8 x 7.1-inch package weighing three pounds when fully loaded. All the drives are hot-swappable, a process made simple and easy with a trick, spring-loaded mechanism (patent pending) that lets users swap drives as they would SD cards. As for connecting the thing to your computer, dual Thunderbolt ports (for daisy chaining) and one USB 3.0 port reside round back along with the power plug and two vents for the Mini's variable-speed fans. Ringing the front face of the Mini are five LED strips that serve as drive indicators and capacity meter to let you know when a drive has failed or you're running out of space. Intrigued? Well, we got a sneak peek at the Mini and a little history lesson about its origins at Drobo HQ, so join us past the break for more. The Mini's shell is crafted from metallic carbon fiber coated in a grippy soft touch material with the Drobo logo embossed on top, and a magnetic front plate covers up those unsightly HDDs -- it's a very clean, appealing design. We got our hands on a prototype unit that was almost production spec (the Firewire ports didn't make it into the final design due to cost concerns), and we can certainly see the appeal of such a portable, robust storage solution. But, because it's such a departure from Drobo's previous products, we were curious as to how the Mini came to be. Turns out, its genesis was borne of company co-founder Julian Terry's desire for a Drobo that could fit in his office workstation, so Terry hacked together a bit of kit you see in the picture below. Terry's work was subsequently discovered by CEO Tom Buiocchi, who saw its potential as a portable solution for travel-weary videographers and photogs. After that, Terry designed and built the spring-loaded drive housing to complete the main Mini innards, and then it was a matter of designing the exterior and adding some elbow grease in the prototyping stage to get it ready for mass consumption. The result? A handsome, onyx number that'll sate most any mobile professional's storage needs for under $650 (drives not included). Best part is, Drobo addressed a common pain point with other Thunderbolt drives: the Thunderbolt cable's included. Unfortunately, as with the 5D, we won't know the Mini's exact pricing or availability until next month, but until then you can peruse our spate of pictures to feed your Drobo dreams. NEXT-GENERATION DROBOS ONCE AGAIN REDEFINE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DATA STORAGE New Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini to Deliver Industry Firsts with Automated SSD Acceleration, Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 Interfaces, and World's Smallest Full-Featured Storage Array SAN JOSE, Calif. – June 21, 2012 – Drobo, maker of award-winning data storage products for businesses and professionals, today announced a wide range of industry-firsts with innovations in a new generation of storage devices for personal and professional users. The Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini – the world's smallest and most portable full-featured storage array - are designed to accelerate workflows for creative professionals managing data-intensive files; home media enthusiasts looking to consolidate and accelerate video, photo, and music files; and small businesses that need fast, portable backup to protect large amounts of data. Drobo, widely recognized as the maker of the easiest-to-use storage device, has added advanced performance to the new systems with Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, automated SSD acceleration and greatly enhanced hardware and software architectures. "In my 30 years covering the technology industry, I have not seen something as portable, scalable and powerful as the Drobo Mini," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for The Enderle Group. "The SMB and prosumer market is clamoring for a plug-and-play storage product because it lacks the technical expertise and resources to manage complex storage systems. With the new Drobo products, there is no question that this enigma is solved." New Era of Performance and Flexibility Both the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini include industry-first SSD acceleration – utilizing the performance benefits of solid state drives (SSDs) and the capacity benefits of hard disk drives (HDDs) to deliver an automated, no-compromise system. In addition to supporting SSDs in any of their drive bays, both units include an additional bay that will accommodate a small-form-factor SSD to achieve significant performance boosts while making all drive bays available for high-capacity HDDs. The products also support both lightning-fast Thunderbolt (2 ports) and USB 3.0 connectivity, an industry first for storage arrays, that will provide flexibility to both Mac and Windows users. The two Thunderbolt ports allow customers to easily daisy-chain devices to accommodate massive growth, and the USB 3.0 port ensures compatibility to millions of USB systems. Along with SSD acceleration and Thunderbolt / USB 3.0 interfaces, the new Drobo products have been completely redesigned from the ground up with new hardware and software architectures. These enhancements provide a significant increase in processing capability and several optimizations to BeyondRAID™ that will increase baseline performance by at least five times – prior to the addition of SSDs – easily making the new Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini the fastest storage arrays in their class. Save and Protect All Drobos are based on patented BeyondRAID technology, which automates sophisticated data-protection algorithms so users can enjoy the peace-of-mind of safe data protection without having to be a storage expert. The new Drobo arrays add an advanced safety feature that also protects user data during and after power outages, another industry-first for professional storage and a feature that has traditionally been reserved for more expensive, enterprise-grade storage. "Our customers love Drobo's ease of use, but they want it all – the easiest, the fastest, the safest for their data, plus the smallest and quietest," said Tom Buiocchi, Drobo CEO. "That's why we're here – our new Drobos will deliver on our promise of the best storage experience ever." Drobo 5D: Capacity and Speed with No Compromise The Drobo 5D is the most modern and complete storage system for creative professionals including photographers, videographers, graphic designers and individuals creating and working with large amounts of rich media. In particular, professionals who are power users of Adobe and Apple applications including After Effects, Aperture, Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, Photoshop and Premier Pro are a great fit for the new product, which is ideal for editing, storing catalogs and backing up files of all types. With up to five drives with an additional SSD bay, the 5D can support up to 16 terabytes of protected, SSD-accelerated data. This is the equivalent of 32 million photographs, 4 million songs, 1 million HD movies, or 48 hours of uncompressed HD video – all accessible through lightning-fast Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 interfaces. Drobo Mini: The Smallest, Most Powerful Storage Array Drobo Mini is a technical marvel that redefines personal, professional, and portable digital storage. It combines a unique blend of the most advanced storage technologies with unrivaled ease-of-use, all in a sleek, world's-smallest package, measuring seven inches square by less than two inches tall and weighing less than three pounds. Drobo invented a patent-pending "carrierless" design, which allows up to four 2.5" drives to be easily inserted into a Drobo Mini without the need for any additional drive carriers or screws. The benefit to the customer is not only the ease of drive insertion and removal, but also flexibility; because the design accommodates a common industry drive size, customers are free to choose the drive vendor, type (HDD or SSD), capacity, speed and price that best meets their needs. Since the Drobo Mini is portable, it features a ruggedized design that allows users to transport it with drives inside. In addition to being the first Drobo to offer this capability, the Drobo Mini features a custom miniature power supply and an optional carrying case, making it the ideal storage for professionals who travel extensively. "I will shoot thousands of images per day at the Olympics, and having fast, protected storage is critical to my workflow," said Jeff Cable, one of the few photographers representing Team USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. "The new Drobo Mini provides Thunderbolt performance and RAID protection in a compact package that is not much larger than a single external drive. I can't wait to get my hands on one." Additional Resources Visit www.drobo.com/5D or www.drobo.com/mini to learn more about the new products. Ordering and availability information will be announced in July. Pricing – including a Thunderbolt cable – is expected to start at under $650. |
| SwiftKey 3 for Android out of beta: smarter auto spacing, $1.99 today (video) Posted: 21 Jun 2012 12:01 AM PDT "Lleasexqllme." SwiftKey 3 won't see that as gibberish, but as "Please call me," thanks to its new spacing prediction that has been repeatedly tweaked since the beta first came out in April. The final version is now available at the Google Play link below with a temporary half-price offer. It also promises a bigger space bar, a dedicated comma key, new themes, smarter punctuation and special character prediction, support for Android backup so you'll never lose the database of learned phrases, and overall less teeth-clenching while you're typing.
SwiftKey 3 launches half price on Google Play today for $1.99 SwiftKey 3, the next generation of the award winning keyboard app for Android devices, comes out of beta and is available to download on Google Play half price today for $1.99 / £1.49. SwiftKey 3 now offers the most accurate and complete auto-correction and prediction available on any smartphone or tablet. The new version introduces a major leap forwards in auto-correction in addition to a wealth of other industry leading features, including: Smart Space – adding to SwiftKey's already cutting edge correction, Smart Space detects mistyped or omitted spaces across strings of poorly typed words in real-time. Two new themes – a new theme, 'Cobalt', to match SwiftKey's new look and feel, and an Ice Cream Sandwich-styled 'Holo' theme, as voted for by SwiftKey's VIP community. An enhanced UI – a much larger space bar and smart punctuation key help improve accuracy and make it quick and easy to access common punctuation. Additional languages – SwiftKey 3 now offers support for an additional seven languages, bringing the total up to 42. The new languages are Korean, Estonian, Farsi, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian and Serbian. "This new version of SwiftKey really provides the easiest, quickest and most accurate way to type on a touchscreen," said SwiftKey CEO Jon Reynolds. "Now you can focus on what you actually want to say when typing on a touchscreen, rather than struggling with typos and bad auto-corrections." The app has been continuously refined since its initial beta launch in April, thanks to the feedback of SwiftKey's VIP community of over 65,000 testers. The improvements include: - A dedicated comma key, and the <123> key in the bottom-left corner. SwiftKey's next word prediction is now so powerful that the company is also putting the app's underlying technology into the hands of doctors and nurses. In addition to SwiftKey 3, SwiftKey Healthcare launches today to help health professionals take faster and more accurate notes on tablet computers. In early trials of the product, its language models designed specifically for healthcare helped clinicians save an average of half the time they usually spent typing. SwiftKey's first entry into the enterprise market illustrates the wide range of contexts that can benefit from this groundbreaking technology. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| SNES-001 Advance gives two retro gamers a screen to play, guarantees no fights for TV time (video) Posted: 20 Jun 2012 11:37 PM PDT There's been no shortage of SNES mods with built-in screens. They almost always tend to overlook one fundamental problem, however: with only one screen, gamers have to either share one tiny LCD or play solo, and neither option will make that Street Fighter II nostalgia trip a pleasant one. Frequent console modder Downing has offered a fix with a key trade-off. Although his Super Famicom-like SNES-001 Advance is decidedly non-portable, each gamepad has its own LCD to show what would normally go to one screen, even with audio. Both controllers are custom-molded creations that still plug in the old-fashioned, wired way. Downing certainly isn't hoarding his creation, despite it being one of a kind. An auction for the console (with a $500 buy-now price) is still well underway as of this writing, making sure that at least two Double Dragon fans will be happy without cutting into their less sentimental roommate's Netflix marathon. |
| Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast fireside chat, live at 2:15AM! Posted: 20 Jun 2012 11:09 PM PDT Today was a big day for the wireless world, and we definitely want to discuss it as soon as humanly possible while it's fresh on our minds. Myriam and Brad are going to chat it up about Windows Phone 8 and the other crazy happenstances from this week, so we hope you can join the Engadget Mobile crew for this late-night edition of the weekly podcast! |
| Samsung's SmartStay replicated by ISeeYou Android app, keeps screens on while you're watching Posted: 20 Jun 2012 10:23 PM PDT If you're not joining the Galaxy S III bandwagon and aren't keen on feeling completely left out, the ISeeYou app can give you a hand. Mimicking Sammy's SmartStay feature, the app prevents your ICS device from slipping into sleep mode when you're staring at its display. Springing $0.99 for the app nets you control over the frequency and length of the peeks taken by your phone's front-facing camera -- helpful for coordinating with a handset's sleep settings and presumably for optimizing battery life. A free version can be taken for a spin, though it doesn't allow for such fine tuning. Yearning to simulate part of the Galaxy S III experience? Mosey over to Google Play for the downloads. |
| United Nations launches My Life as a Refugee Android app (video) Posted: 20 Jun 2012 09:42 PM PDT As the great Tom Petty once said, you don't have to live like a refugee, but one UN agency is hoping you'll at least download its new app to see what it could be like. My Life as a Refugee is designed to raise awareness about the plight of millions of people living in conflict-ridden places around the globe, and it's available right now for free on Android (coming soon to iOS). We found the app to be only marginally interactive, with users simply encouraged to click through a litany of facts. However, you do get to choose one of two possible options before time runs out as each situation unfolds. You can only "play" a certain amount each day, which means you get some cliffhangers, and of course you can "share your experience" on Facebook right from the app. You can learn more there in the source link.
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| Verizon 4G LTE service arrives in 46 new cities, expands coverage in 22 others Posted: 20 Jun 2012 08:56 PM PDT Unlike many of our friends in Europe, loads more Verizon Wireless customers are about to get turbocharged in time for their new Galaxy S III smartphones to arrive. Big Red is deploying its latest 4G LTE network tech in 46 new cities and expanding coverage in 22 others -- and it's all going down tomorrow. That'll bring VZW's total up to 304 cities across the land of the free two full weeks ahead of the July 4th holiday, giving many people one more reason to celebrate a Hump Day without work. And really, couldn't the world use more reasons to celebrate? Full PR after the break. Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Network Available in More Than 300 Markets Across the United States Company Adds 46 New Markets, Expands in 22 Other Markets on June 21 BASKING RIDGE, N.J., June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, owner of the nation's largest 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, today announced that its 4G LTE network will be available in 46 new markets and expand in 22 additional markets across the United States on June 21. Just in time for the summer travel season, the company will bring its 4G LTE network to a total of 304 markets, enabling 4G LTE speeds in vacation destinations throughout the country. "Time and time again, third-party surveys affirm that the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network keeps its promise to provide customers with consistently reliable responsiveness, download and upload speeds, and greater availability in more places throughout the country than any competing network," said Nicola Palmer, chief technical officer of Verizon Wireless. "Our aggressive 4G LTE network build-out is on track, providing our customers with the largest 4G LTE network in the United States – and the world – today. We are committed to cover more than 400 markets by the end of 2012. We will continue to expand and strengthen our 4G LTE network and plan to offer full nationwide coverage everywhere we have 3G coverage today, by the end of 2013." On Thursday, June 21, the company will introduce its 4G LTE network in 46 new markets: Florence, Ala.; Harrison, Ark.; Yuba City/Marysville, Calif.; Panama City, Fla.; Carrolton, Gainesville and Newnan, Ga.; Blackfoot, Idaho; Decatur/Effingham, Kankakee/Bradley-Bourbonnais and La Salle/Peru/Ottawa, Ill.; Columbus and Michigan City/La Porte, Ind.; Greater Portland, Maine; Greenville/Greenwood, Jackson and Tunica, Miss.; Houghton and Traverse City, Mich.; Jefferson City, Lake of the Ozarks and West Plains, Mo.; Binghamton, Elmira/Corning/Hornell and Oneonta, N.Y.; Burlington, Hickory/Lenoir, Jacksonville and New Bern, N.C.; Bedford and Sharon/Farrell/Hermitage, Pa.; Anderson, Florence and Greenwood, S.C.; Lufkin/Nacogdoches, Midland, San Angelo and Waco, Texas; Danville, Va.; Ashland, Ky./Huntington, W.Va. and Logan, W.Va.; Fond du Lac, Janesville/Beloit and Sheboygan, Wis.; and Gillette, Wyo. The Lihue, Hawaii market launched June 11. The company will also expand its 4G LTE network in 22 markets where Verizon Wireless 4G LTE was already available: Denver and Fort Collins/Loveland, Colo.; Philadelphia., Pa./Wilmington, Del.; Daytona Beach, Gainesville and West Palm Beach, Fla.; Hilo, Hawaii; Boise/Nampa, Idaho; Chicagoland, Ill.; Lafayette, Ind.; Hammond, La.; Springfield, Mo.; Glens Falls and New York, N.Y.; Charlotte/Gastonia and Greenville/Washington, N.C.; Indiana, Pa. and Hagerstown, Md./Chambersburg, Pa.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va.; Seattle, Wash.; Appleton/Oshkosh, Wis. 4G LTE Devices, Plans and Speed Verizon Wireless offers 24 4G LTE devices, the largest selection of 4G LTE devices offered by any carrier. Devices range from tablets and mobile hotspots to the latest smartphones and more, including the Samsung Galaxy S® III, currently available online for pre-order, and the soon-to-be available DROID INCREDIBLE 4G LTE by HTC. Details on available devices can be found at www.verizonwireless.com/4GLTE and information on plans and pricing is available at www.verizonwireless.com/plans. Verizon Wireless also offers a variety of smart accessories, including the FitBit Ultra Wireless Activity Tracker and the Withings WiFi Scale, for customers to use with their 4G LTE devices. A full list of smart accessories can be found at www.verizonwireless.com/smartaccessories. On June 21, the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network will be available in 304 markets across the United States. Visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte for a full list of 4G LTE markets and additional information on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. For street-level detail of coverage and more, please visit www.verizonwireless.com/4GLTE. About Verizon Wireless Verizon Wireless operates the nation's largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 93.0 million retail customers, including 88.0 million retail postpaid customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 80,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia. |
| Google to pay $0 in damages to Oracle, wait for appeal Posted: 20 Jun 2012 07:48 PM PDT After watching Judge Alsup strike down its patent and Java API infringement claims, Oracle seems to be cutting its losses, agreeing to accept $0 in damages from Google. Confused? So was the Judge, who reportedly responded to the proposal by asking, "is there a catch I need to be aware of?" No catch, but Oracle isn't giving up, stating that it's taking its case to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. If successful, the appeal could put the two firms back in Alsup's courtroom, perhaps asking for somewhere between the previously proposed $32.3 million and today's sum total of zilch. We'll let you know when the drama comes around again. |
| Huawei brings out Ascend P1 2600 mAh XL for battery junkies, throws in E5151 hotspot Posted: 20 Jun 2012 07:13 PM PDT Huawei's presence at Mobile Asia Expo this year has a distinct flavor of RAZR Maxx about it. The Ascend P1 is getting a fresh 2600 mAh XL variant that does exactly what it says on the tin: throw almost 56 percent more battery power at the previously skinny Android 4.0 device. Along with this and a TD-SCDMA variant of the P1 for China Mobile fans, the other standout is the (not yet pictured) Mobile WiFi E5151, which brings a rare Ethernet jack to the 3G hotspot world for hoping onto the Internet in a more traditional form. It's radio silence on the E5151's release, but those in Huawei's native China can look forward to buying the lengthily-titled Ascend P1 2600 mAh XL in the summer -- just don't assume it will cross the ocean anytime soon. Huawei Device showcases its portfolio of star products at the Mobile Asia Expo 2012 Launch of the Ascend P1 TD- SCDMA and 2600mAh XL smartphones highlight Huawei's commitment to expanding its product portfolio Shanghai, China, 20 June 2012: Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, launched the Ascend P1 TD-SCDMA and the 2600 mAh XL versions at the GSMA Mobile Asia Expo 2012 in Shanghai today. The Ascend P1 TD-SCDMA will be available for sale through e-commerce channels in China at the end of June, while the Ascend P1 XL will be available for sale in China in Q3. At the Expo, Huawei is also showcasing its star products including quad-core smartphone Ascend D quad, the dual-core smartphone Ascend D1, the quad-core HD tablet MediaPad 10 FHD, the compact dual-core smartphone Ascend P1, and Mobile WiFi E5331 and E5151. |
| Sprint Guardian now available, allows parents to limit texting and keep tabs on a kid's location Posted: 20 Jun 2012 06:27 PM PDT |
Motorola's long-gestating 
Let's begin with an apology, because I was clearly out of my depth with the MOTOACTV. While having a reach that extends beyond your grasp is often considered noble, it was nothing of the sort in this case. It is a painful reminder that being five weeks into a health and fitness program doesn't mean that I can leave the minor leagues of pedometers and make the leap to professional running gear. In short, I just wouldn't be worthy of the MOTOACTV until I'd learnt the intermediate stages of exercise, and since I can't afford (or justify) a personal trainer, I have to find an electronic equivalent. A couple of co-workers suggest I stump up £1.49 ($2.30) for Active.com's Couch-to-5K app for the iPhone, designed to transform sofa-bound fatties into runners capable of completing a five-kilometer (three-mile) race.
Those were eight very long, sometimes very painful weeks. So, did technology improve my life? Without question.
Much like the often-relevant William Gibson line, the street found its own use for it, with hackers and DIYers taking the technology 
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