Cool toys and Gadgets

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Who would have predicted this: 16 months after its introduction the iPhone is #1 in sales in the US displacing the RAZR, beating Windows Mobile in smartphone sales and still going strong.  Now, we learn there is no bubble of interest in the iPhone applications that can run on the phone, demand continues to grow.

“It’s unbelievable,“ says Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. “It’s a differentiator. We think in ‘09, it’s going to be a $1 billion market place and Apple will probably take about 30 percent of that. There’s virtually no operating expense for them. They just approve the apps. It increases our confidence that” Apple can make these numbers.

For those slow at math like me, that is $300 million Apple will make off the app store by doing nothing than keeping the electricity on for the servers to hum.  If I were Steve Jobs, Apple’s #1 man, I’d sit next to the servers and laugh demonically.  Maybe he does that, I won’t judge.

But what intrigues me is the community Apple is building around the phone.  Lately, big businesses are creating iPhone apps to reach customers.  Obama had his iPhone app (I’ll refrain from suggesting it is what won him the election).  If everyone and everything is on the iPhone, why get any other phone?

And this could lead to my very favorite thing: car integration.  Yes, the BMW has iPod integration, but I want to dock my iPod on the dash, charge/play/talk/navigate etc. all on the iPod all at the same time.  All these users and infrastructure could give folks the inclination to help integrate the iPhone into our car.  I am tired of the wires, hokey docks, too few cigarette lighters, blah blah blah.

This stone is rolling and continues to pick up steam.  It is only going to go faster if Wal-Mart really does have a $99 iPhone up its sleeves.

Read [CNBC]

Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Reviews, Web, Downloads

We all know how important it is to back up your data, and what can happen if you don’t.  Twice this year, I’ve had computer failures, first a dead hard drive, and then a fried motherboard.  Fortunately, since I back up my data regularly, the damage was minimal.  So yes, backing up your data is crucial, but it can also be a hassle. 

Microsoft Vista has a built in back up tool, but it doesn’t always do the job well.  It doesn’t allow you to really pick and choose what you want to back up, and it backs up a lot of junk you really don’t need, like all the built in software that came with your system, which no one needs a back up of! 

Fortunately Siber Systems has come to the rescue with GoodSync.  This marvelous program automatically backs up your data and syncs it between laptops, servers, desktops, and portable drives, all with just a few clicks!  Continued after the break.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the program, open it, and choose the drives you want to sync, like your C: drive and a flash drive.  Click the Analyze button and Goodsync will show you the directories and files on both drives.  Simply choose the files you want to sync, click Sync and GoodSync does the work for you.  Your data is now backed up. Goodsync also offers an auto setting that allows you to schedule regular synchronization jobs so that your data back ups are always current.  And since GoodSync is bidirectional, it’s easy to restore the data you’ve backed up should you ever need to.

Goodsync is also great for syncing data between your laptop and desktop, so when you travel you’ll always have your data at your fingertips.  Goodsync is fast and doesn’t take up much memory.  In addition to PCs, servers, and portable drives, it also syncs to Windows Mobile and Pocket PC devices, making it a snap to move files between your cell or PDA and your desktop.  Click here for a full list of Goodsyncs key features.

Goodsync is available here. You can download a free trial or Goodsync Pro for just $29.95.  It runs on Windows 2000, XP, and Vista and is also available for XP and Vista 64bit systems.  I’ve been using it for about 2 weeks now and it’s been flawless.  No slowdowns, hangs, or stability issues. It is truly a useful and quality product!

Read [Goodsync]

Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Web

New domains are always exciting, and if you can remember the most recent major one (.me) you will remember the vast amounts of money are usually spent as people bid for the best of the selection.  However .tel will not involve vast amounts of money or even much media coverage, because it is something different and a new way of looking at domain names.

These domains will not be about websites, but more of a way of sharing the information of the domain owner, and will not involve any building, hosting or managing.  They are effectively domains that tell you all about the domain owner, such as their business, their address and their phone number: a bit like an online contact card.

The company in charge of operating this is Telnic, the communications director of which is Jusitn Hayward who’s .tel domain is “www.justin.tel“.  This is a good example of how this will be used, people will be able to give other people their .tel domain and they can easily find their contact details in one easy to remember place.

Currently (i.e as of 3pm GMT) it is only open to trademark owners, but at some point it will be open to the public although Telnic is cautious of spamming.  However this will have many advantages for the public, as it will be capable of combining many applications—meaning you can start a chat or phone call with the person in question at the click of a button.

There will also be a search feature allowing you to find people by a whole number of criteria and Telnic also plan to release a directory called telpages.com in next year, which will make finding people even easier.  Of course, there will be a cost (which will help alleviate the problem of spammers) when it does go public and it all depends on how desperate for your own name domain.

The “sunrise” period of trademark owners (around $350 for 3 years) only will end on the 2nd February after which anyone can pay a premium price (around $150) to get their domain before the price falls on March 24th (to around $20).  This is an incredibly clever scheme by Telnic: getting as much money as they can from the people who really want their own name domain, but also opening up to the wider audience.  I wonder if there will be an extra charge for popular names?  I think that would be a bit too far!

All in all this is a great idea, making it possible to easily give people your contact details and making communications easier.  The only problem really is if you have a very popular name as you may end up having a horrifically complicated domain, but I will be laughing come March 24th because I doubt there are any other people called Christian Milsom out there!

Source [Infoworld]

Full Story » | Written by Christian Milsom for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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The winning project from American Maker is now available as a kit -

AIRHEADS - AIRDRUMS - Winner of the 2008 MAKE FAIRE Chicago " The best instrument they have seen since the Theremin"

Airheads MINI 4 kit are sensors to be used with midi drum brains and synthesizers or midi I/O devices allowing one to play instrument in the air just by waving your hands over the Airheads seniors in mid air. These sensors not only trigger your sounds but also sense velocity, they also make great proximity switching for many projects and applications, music, hobby robotics, home electronics, control lights with just a wave of a hand. use these with your VDRUMS or hook them up to your Arduino drum machine. Limited Time! Get a free GIG bag with your order!

Hmmm, definitely a lot of potential even beyond musical use! MINI 4 Airheads Kit

Catch the kit in action @ Maker Faire Austin -

More:


American Maker: The Winner "Airheads Air Drums"

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FROM APPLETELL - Apple’s iTunes Store has released several lists containing the top 10 applications, both paid and free, in terms of download statistics.  Guess how many were game?. MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Apple, Communications, Cellphones, Mobile, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0

Vlingo Corporation has introduced a free voice-based iPhone application called vlingo, that interacts with other iPhone applications.  It is not your run-of-the-mill voice-activated dialing app.

In addition to voice-dialing, you can also voice activate a Yahoo! or Google search, a Google Map search, and even update your status on Twitter and Facebook.  You simply open the vlingo application, press and hold the “press and speak” button on your screen, and then say whatever it is you want to search for or update.  Vlingo claims that users can speak normally—that is, no special commands are necessary for vlingo to work.  It will be interesting to see how well this works in everyday use.

Read [vlingo]

Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Is Nokia N97 the real iPhone killer? Well, we have been seeing a lot of “iPhone Killers” lately, but none so far has actually lived up to the expectations. The latest news in the air is that the new Nokia N97 is the real iPhone rival and it’s the fight people have been waiting for. First, let’s have a quick recall of the tech specs for the Nokia N97. The touchscreen QWERTY smartphone touts a large 3.5-inch touch screen, 32GB of built in memory, QWERTY sliding keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera. Now, let’s see if the N97 is a real threat to the iPhone.

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FROM APPLETELL - 10,000 applications. 10,000.  Wow.  Now, if I only see a need for 1% of those, I am still downloading 100 applications from the App Store. MORE »

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, Miscellaneous

BMW has recently become the first car manufacturer to begin using the Microsoft Surface to allow potential customers to configure their car with the fun of multi-touch.  The BMW Product Navigator will let customers change and configure the exterior and interior colors, rims, and more through the use of color tiles that are placed on top of the Surface table.  The Product Navigator even allows for optional accessories to be added. 

Additionally, it has a secondary monitor that lets the customer see, and also share what they have configured with others.  Once the customer has their car ready and complete they can then choose to print or e-mail the details, and even save them to a USB flash drive to take with them.  I am not sure this would make be buy a BMW, well maybe if I had the money, but if nothing else it would sure make car shopping a little more enjoyable.  Now, they just need to find a way to deal with the annoying salesperson.  Keep reading to check out a video showing off the process…

Read [BMW Blog]

 

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Here's the newest news from F.A.T.; a Tokyo division has been established!

We F.A.T. freaks in Tokyo got together to hack Japan with "Free Art & Technology!" At tokyo.fffff.at, we will be showing Japanese translation of F.A.T. posts, reporting of F.A.T. related applications, and our own reports of free-art development. Check out the members of Toko F.A.T. here. The people section of fffff.at has been translated into Japanese, too!

In the image above, from the left, Genpei Akasegawa, Taishu Kase, Minakata Kumagusu, Vivienne Sato and Japanese Yokai.

More:

Make Tokyo Meeting 02

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