UNIQLO WAKE UP -
A new social alarm app by UNIQLO that customizes the alarm song to the current weather, time and day of the week. Also included, is a feature that allows a voice to sing you the weather conditions and time. Music by Keigo Oyamada (Cornelius) and Yoko Kanno.
(Source: Gizmodo, via kevinbuitrago)
Google in 2007: ‘a touchscreen cannot completely replace physical buttons’
Touchscreens will be supported. However, the Product was designed with the presence of discrete physical buttons as an assumption, therefore a touchscreen cannot completely replace physical buttons.
Yeah, looking back on stuff like this is fun. Like when we look back in 2014 at the iPad5, which will run on OSX instead of iOS, we’ll chuckle at how Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
…the problem is that products are about trade-offs, and you begin to make trade-offs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn’t please anyone.
Cell phone timeline. From 1997 to 2012.
Mobile technology addiction. I has it.
It is so bad that I could fill in the gaps in the above evolutionary chain with phones I’ve actually owned. I’ve had a bag phone, brick phone, StarTacs, Rzrs, Slider phones, Sidekicks, an N-Gage, iPhones, and now an android. I’ve paid a bill to pretty much every carrier with service in the US.
NOT to mention my pager and PDA phase. One line display, alphanumeric, 2-ways, Newtons, Sharp, Casio, you name it!
I believe I’ve given enough to this industry. I’ve slowed down quite a bit over the past 5 years. I used to get a new phone every year, while over the past 5 years, I’ve had two units. So the hybrid units are definitely better. I used to carry a PDA, a phone and a pager. Now that we all have everything in one, I definitely appreciate the lighter load. But looking back, I have spent a LOT of money on mobile tech. Wow.
NewerTech Power2U Dual Socket Wall Outlet with Two USB Ports $28 (Buy) at tekserve.com
No but wait. Think about it.
Hidden Radio
Mobile music. That’s the name of the game–at least for two industrial designers and friends who came together to create the Hidden Radio. Powered by bluetooth technology, this tiny speaker packs a powerful punch when connected to any compatible device. Music, movies, games - no problem. With over 30 years of combined Fortune 500 experience these two designers approach their work by creating designs that are both useful and aesthetically appealing. The project was funded by the some 5,000 people on kickstarter who pitched-in to make this happen. – Thanks Phillip H.
Bottom Line: $99+
Give them some time
ARM’s CEO Warren East:
…when Android phones were introduced, there was a lot of hype. And then, actually, they didn’t take off in the sort of way that reflected that hype. Then a few years later – two years later – half a million units a day, 700,000 units a day. Android phones now are really… a very successful product. I think we should give Android tablets a little bit more time.
It’s easy to forget that Android phones also came off to a rough start. Personally, I don’t want to be the end-consumer taking chances on somewhat rough products, but I believe there are enough early adopters out there in order to get that Android snowball rolling a second time.
Source: Cnet
Dave Veloz’s Mac Mini Mod, Monitor, & Keyboard | The Steampunk Workshop
…what more can I say. If they looked like this out of the box, I’d own two already.
This super slick Phone Size tool that compares the hottest smartphones against one another in as close to “meatspace” size as possible. You just plug in a few phones that you would like to compare, set the size and ratio of your screen and you’re off. (via A Slick Web Tool to Compare Real-Life Sizes of Smartphones)
"There’s no getting around the fact that in the long term most of the good new ideas will be thought up where most of the people are or that there will be an advantage to locating production where most of the customers are. You can buck these trends with better public policy, but “better” public policy is a relative concept and you can’t guarantee that other countries will implement terrible policies simply because it’s convenient for you. Now this can be fine. New Zealand is, by all accounts, an extremely pleasant place to live. You don’t exactly “win the future” with an economy oriented around the export of dairy products, meat, wood, and fish but New Zealand’s population is really rich. Much richer than China’s. And as long as New Zealand stays well-governed, New Zealand will stay pleasant and prosperous. But over the whole long arc of the past 100 years it’s never been possible for New Zealand to “out-compete” the United States as a center of innovation for the simple reason that nobody lives in New Zealand."
You Don’t Want To Make iPhones, But You Might Want Your Neighbor To
Amid this “stating the patently obvious” piece on Slate is yet another positive mention of New Zealand.
(via shorterexcerpts)
(via shorterexcerpts)
I put this up before my lunch, there were already 4 tags gone in an hour 😊 (Taken with Instagram at Apple - Caffe Macs)
great idea!
Phones and tablets to identify users by sight and touch
Trawling through possible password combinations could become a distant memory in the future as new smartphones and tablets will allow access to users at the sight of their owners face or a single touch.
Google and Apple are introducing phones that identify users through sight and touch recognition.
Last week, Apple applied to the US patent office to register facial recognition software, so instead of sliding to unlock the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, one could simply point it at one’s face.
The patent entitled ‘Low Threshold Face Recognition’, was picked up by Apple Insider blog, who said that “using a forward-facing camera to recognise an individual user, future iPhones and iPads from Apple could automatically customise applications, settings and features to a user”s personal preferences once they pick up the device.”
The website explained that Apple’s application stated rather than analysing a user’s entire face which can drain the battery, Apple’s concept would rely on a “high information portion’ of a human face.
It is understood that their system will scale the distance between a users eyes and mouth and once it has measured that against the image originally captured, it will be able to confirm that it is the same person and unlock.
The patent also details that each user could customize their personal profile with unique wallpaper, applications and settings, and that profile would be immediately accessed once the iPad recognizes a user’s face.
New phones using Google’s Android platform already have a face recognition tool that uses the inbuilt camera.
However, this new technology may not yet be effective to completely eradicate passwords in favour of facial recognition.
Within days of the Google Android facial recognition tool being launched, there were reports online claiming that it could be fooled by holding a photograph of the owners face up to the device.
Photography’s renaissance rests on a few unbeatable advantages. Compared to other kinds of content—songs and movies—photos are, technically and legally, much easier to share and mash up. If you come up with a great, unexpected new site centered on TV shows, you need to get huge servers and pay for expensive bandwidth and licensing deals. If you’ve got a fantastic new take on photos, often all you need is an app. That app lives on a smartphone, which is the world’s most popular point-and-shoot camera. For the first time, cameras are connected to the Internet, they know who your friends are, they know where you are, and they can be constantly updated with new powers. The camera is powerful (Apple’s iPhone 4S is 8 megapixels) and intelligent, and the pictures keep getting more interesting.
Why photography is every tech product’s most valuable feature.
‘Angry Birds’ playgrounds set to debut in Finland
The world’s most popular computer game will become live attractions for children next year when the first “Angry Birds” playgrounds appear in Finland.
The developer of the Angry Birds app, found on mobile devices such as iPhones and tablet computers, said on Monday that two Finnish towns will get the first playgrounds kitted out with equipment inspired by the game’s characters as it signed a global deal with playground equipment manufacturer Lappset. (Photo: China Daily/Reuters)
iPad 3 with retina display ‘coming in February 2012’?
Just when it was getting a little too quiet…Apple is reportedly planning to launch a next-generation iPad, called an iPad 3, as early as February 2012.
According to a report by Business Insider and PCMag, analyst Richard Gardner revealed that the device would be similar to the iPad 2, but includes Apple”s high-resolution retina display technology found on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S by doubling the iPad 3”s screen resolution.
Gardner reportedly said that “several sources” told him that Apple could launch the iPad 3 in February.
The first iPad hit stores in April 2010 after being unveiled the month before, and the iPad 2 was unveiled and released in March 2011, so it stands to reason that the #3 would come out in March of next year after a reveal in February.
