Written by NEWS on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 in News.
FROM APPLETELL - The MPTVOutWindow class in the iPhone 2.2 software allows developers to output the iPhone’s screen to a larger screen, such as a TV, thereby taking advantage of its speakers and size. MORE »
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Written by JG Mason on Saturday, December 6th, 2008 in News.
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]
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Written by Christian Milsom on Friday, December 5th, 2008 in News.
Section: Peripherals, Storage
With the advances in technology meaning things are smaller and more valuable people are always looking for new ways to stop things from getting lost, and stop them from getting nicked. Memory sticks certainly fall into this category: it is now far too easy to lose your new tiny memory stick, and if you are that sort of slimy person, it is also very easy to take them off your desk and copy all your valuable documents. Bring in the CurrentKey: the height of USB stick disguise and poor puns.
The main idea behind these USB sticks is “acts” like coins, sitting nice and safe in the coin section of your wallet out of harms way and unlikely to get lost (as you always know where it is). But if you were to twist it the snazzy rotation system brings out a USB stick capable of holding up to 8GB of work, music or whatever else you keep on your memory stick.
Originally a European company LaCie are now one of the world market leaders for computer peripherals who specialize in practical solutions for both the general public and professionals. This is obviously aimed more at the public market (no where near geeky enough for a computer technician) along with many of their brightly colored not-easily-lost USB “solutions”.
This really is a neat product: designed to look like Euro coins (as the image suggests) they will fit in very well in any purse with the bronze (4GB) and silver (8GB) versions. T he only problem? If you are in a rush you may end up giving someone one of these instead of a coin, which will be a fairly expensive mistake (admittedly not one your are likely to make in America) but the nice little USB logo and number indicating capacity is a bit of a give-away.
It is also not the sort of thing that a passing opportunist is going to take; I know that USB thefts are not very common, but I have heard of them and if you store valuable data (such as credit card details) there is definitely a motive for people to steal them. However I doubt that anyone will steal a small foreign coin that is on your desk, so perhaps this is an advantage.
The only problem is the price, in a day where you can get 4Gb for around $8 the $20 and $30 price tags seem a little high, but I suppose that is the price for style and practicality, something that this little number has in buckets. The pun (CurrentKey - Currency) isn’t that bad either so overall this is a solid piece of consumer orientated design, something we all want to see.
Source [UberGizmo]
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Written by JG Mason on Friday, December 5th, 2008 in News.
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Email / IM, Smartphones, Mobile, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack, Features
This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack. This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.
Here’s what I am calling out this week as whack:
Sure, supporting all these OSes isn’t easy. Your tech’s knowledge has to be limited by all the myriad of OSes they’re supposed to know. News came today that you blue-sky-guy says Symbian would be good choice for a company-wide one OS to offer and support. But consolidating down to one OS? And you think Symbian is that OS? Really?
Whispering sweet nothings into Symbian’s ear isn’t going to get you anywhere. Stop worrying about a Nokia take over of the US market, that train isn’t leaving the station. A much better idea, at least in my mind, is to convince Apple to license its software onto other devices. Hitch your train to that engine, crackheads.
Sometimes, all that is needed is an email to customers. Something quiet in the night that says, “hey boys, go here and download this and you get Outlook Calendar support, sweet huh?“. But no, you had to go and issue a press release telling everyone our out-of-the-box expectation of calendar syncing was off. Thanks for pointing this out, as I’ve not made fun of the Instinct in a while. I feel better now. iPhone killer? LOL.
I watch the stock market. I watch the price of light sweet crude. And now, I am watching the daily price of Verizon’s Samsung Omnia. This thing is more volatile than a barrel full of gasoline next to a Sony laptop.
Jump beside me in the way back machine, we travel back to 2008, a cloudy November day, the 25th if you are taking notes. The shiny Omnia is introduced at $249.99 after a lame $70 mail in rebate. Now, as we are chased by the bizarre inhabitants of November 25, we land on Dec 2nd of the same year. Here we find the same Omnia, now priced at $199 after the same lame mail in rebate. Nervous much?
Did you wake up, presumably strung out, in December and say to yourself, “Holy cow! Have you heard about this economy stuff? And this Apple phone, who knew about that? Quick, slash the price before these phones end up at Odd Lot!“ Lay off the dope.
I believe we all keep expecting someone else to “get it” with phone software and it clouds are judgment and/or enjoyment of an otherwise snazzy phone. The new Nokia entry is beautiful, well-built with lovely screen resolution. But. And then things start flowing. The biggest “but” is Nokia refuses to update its OS for the touchscreen times.
HTC gets it. Their Windows Mobile skins walk the line of needed Active Sync support mated with something actually functional and close to fun to use. But not Nokia. And the N97 is a bit brickish. Keep at though, your getting warmer. Appletell’s Josh Holat, while espousing his love for Apple’s device sums up his look at the N97 with:
“Although companies like RIM and Nokia can try to beat out Apple, I don’t see it happening anytime soon, that’s for sure.“
That’s my list for this week. Let me know in the comments what crazy things I missed and stay off the crack kids.
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Written by NEWS on Friday, December 5th, 2008 in News.
FROM APPLETELL - The Joost streaming video app for iPhone/iPod touch crashes a lot and features a terrible user interface, but it also has porn. MORE »
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Written by Mike on Friday, December 5th, 2008 in News.
Written by Sue Walsh on Friday, December 5th, 2008 in News.
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 »
Written by NEWS on Friday, December 5th, 2008 in News.
FROM GAMERTELL - Here’s another nifty two-controller charge station, this time by TeknoCreations for Xbox 360 controllers. It’s relatively easy to use and the battery rechargeable packs even lighter than a pair of standard AA batteries… MORE »
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