What's that? You had dreams of being the first person in the world with an iPad Mini installed in your 2012 Toyota's dashboard? Well consider those dreams dashed, as Tampa, Florida's Soundwaves is way ahead of you. Like, "they already did it" ahead of you. That regular old iPad you've got in your car? Boooring.
The folks at Soundwaves had a dashboard setup fabricated ahead of the Mini's launch this morning, and filmed themselves performing the installation.
What kind of movement does a theft entail? Apple's in the process of figuring that out, today filing a patent application for a, "acceleration-based theft detection system for portable electronic devices." Apple pickers: you've just been put on watch. According to the patent filing, said device would activate an alarm of some form after determining, "whether a theft condition is present." It'll apparently figure that out based on the accelerometer built into many of Apple's mobile devices -- the same thing that figures out which way you're holding your phone. Beyond just the hardware, said theft protection system would work in concert with software to determine if the movement matches a pre-determined "profile characteristic of theft."
Of course, Apple's not the only one worried about mobile device theft, as Google already patented just such a device pertaining to its Project Glass concept. But the you'd have to be pretty brazen to steal the glasses off of someone's face without "accidentally" socking them in the eye. More here.
Apple just launched iOS 6.0.1 to consumers, but it also began seeding the latest beta, iOS 6.1, to developers on Thursday.
The update is available for anyone with a developer account and who owns an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and 9to5Mac said Xcode 4.6 beta is also included in the package. iOS 6.1 includes a new MapKit that allows developers to “programmatically search for map-based addresses and points of interest” and return relevant information. “For example, searching the string “coffee’ would return the location of local coffee bars along with information about each one,” Apple explained.
It’s unclear what else is in the beta build, but it appears that Apple’s default Maps application is still included in its existing form. More here.
Samsung just revealed that the half-pint Galaxy S III mini that debuted in Germany will arrive in the UK on November 8th. The 4-inch, WVGA super-amoled, dual-core smartphone will alight toting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and all that entails, like Google Now and the whole butter thing. You'll also get Samsung's video and games hub plus a 50GB Dropbox for two years if you nab the device, along with all the TouchWiz-y doodads like S-Voice and Direct Call. Phones4U announced it was taking preorders for the device earlier, which will be free on contract for £25 and up. More here.
The sequel to Frictional Games’ stupendously terrifying Amnesia: The Dark Descent, subtitled A Machine for Pigs, is due sometime in 2013. What with today being the spookiest day of the year, the collaborating (as Frictional is teaming up with the chinese room) indie developers decided it was a great time to release a trailer.
A trailer that provided a nice morning scare for me.
If you watched the onset of the trailer and find yourself wondering when, exactly, the horrifying stuff starts, make sure you wait until around the one minute mark. The next bits that follow are exactly why I can’t handle games like Amnesia and its upcoming sequel.
Apple recently said that there are 700,000 iOS applications in its iTunes App Store. Google’s Android platform, which has typically trailed Apple’s iOS in terms of the number of applications available to its users, is now all caught up.
AllThingsD today said that a Google source has confirmed that it now also has more than 700,000 applications. That’s impressive growth for Android, which hasn’t had an app store as long as Apple has. Meanwhile, Microsoft said yesterday that the Windows Phone Store has 120,000 applications, but that it’s also growing quickly. More here.
Google just released an updated version of its Search app for Android devices yesterday, and it's now (aspromised) also delivered a fairly big update to iOS users. That brings with it iPhone 5 compatibility, but the bigger news is the expanded voice search functionality, which promises "faster and significantly improved voice recognition," with spoken responses à la Google Now provided alongside the search results. Those additions also extend to iPad users in addition to the iPhone and iPod touch -- get it here.
What happens when you gut a pumpkin and replace its insides with heat-shrink tubing, solder, 128 LEDs, eight AA batteries, an Arduino board and clever programming? You get what self-proclaimed tinkerer Nathan Pryor calls "Pumpktris." Over the years we've seen the classic puzzle game Tetris ported to some amazing things, but a piece of fruit? Just in time for Halloween, this high-tech spin on the jack-o'-lantern features a fully playable Tetris game controlled from the pumpkin's joystick stem.
Whether you're a hardcore do-it-yourselfer, or a diehard Tetris fan hoping to top the system's high score (9,800 points), you can build your very own Pumpktris. Of course, its creator estimates it'll take around 12 hours or longer to build the custom LED matrix and joystem and carve up the gourd of your choice.
Out of a pool of 1,200 adults, 52 percent said they’d never heard of Windows 8 leading up to last week’s release. For all of Microsoft’s wining and dining of the tech-savvy crowd — it seems the revamped software isn’t in the average consumer conscious. The company was always going to fight an uphill battle when marketing its new OS vision.
According to The Associated Press and GfK, of those who had heard of Windows 8, 61 percent said they had little to no interest in buying a computer running Microsoft’s newest OS. About 35 percent of people who were somewhat familiar with the new system felt it would not be an improvement over Windows 7.
One 43-year-old engineer, Chris Dionne, who knew Windows 8 was coming, said he isn’t “thrilled [Microsoft is] changing things around” when Windows 7 already does what he wants it to.
Additionally, the poll highlights the lack of interest surrounding Microsoft’s Surface, which launched in conjunction with Windows 8. Of those surveyed, 69 percent admitted they had little to no interest in the device, which is a product Microsoft is hoping will fit into a tablet/laptop niche.
Microsoft’s approach to the changing market is admirable and something that strays pretty significantly from iOS and Android. The company’s task of marketing Windows 8 (and Windows Phone 8, and its two Surface tablets) was always going to be difficult. It’ll be interesting to see how consumers receive Microsoft’s new direction now that all its cards are on the table, especially since it does offer compelling features, such as a new modern user interface and full touchscreen support in laptops and PCs. More here.
Google just took the lid off a 32GB Nexus 7 tablet, and dropped the price of the 16GB model from $250 to $200. The bigger version is $249.
This confirmed earlier suspicions from price leaks to third-party retailers that Google would make its flagship tablet cheaper. In spite of the cancellation of Google's event because of Hurricane Sandy, the news is still moving along—Google also revealed the 10-inch Nexus 10 to rival the iPad. The 32GB Nexus 7 also comes in an HSPA+ version for $300. The tablet goes on sale on November 13. More here.
Scientists have developed a way to manufacture a new breed of computer chips that use carbon nanotubes in the place of silicon.
Nanotubes have plenty of superior electronic properties over silicon, but until now it's been impossible to manufacture a chip with a high enough density of nanotubes to make an effective processing unit. Now, the researchers, from IBM, have cracked it.
Writing in Nature Nanomaterials, the researchers explain a new manufacturing technique that makes it possible to squeeze enough tubes on to the chip. It involves two solutions which work like a two-part epoxy: when they double-dip their chip substrate in the two, it enables them to create neatly aligned nanotube devices, with a density of a billion nanotubes per square centimeter.
While that sounds like a lot, though, it's not quite enough for the ambitious team of scientists. James Hannon, one of the researchers, explained to the BBC:
"That's one nanotube every 150 or 200 (billionths of a meter) or so. That's not good enough to make a microprocessor yet - it's a factor of 10 away... But it's a factor of 100 better than has been done previously."
So, while they've managed a step change in their production technique, there's still some tweaking to be done. The team, however, predicts that if it can bump up its density, then it could produce processors three times faster than the current state-of-the-art, that consume a third of the power. Fingers crossed. More here.
Sharp may look like it's in trouble, but that's not stopping it bringing new displays to the market, the AQUOS Quattron 3D XL TV line. Behind the mouthful of acronyms, these LED-backlit LCD panels are the first to feature Sharp's Moth-Eye technology, designed to reduce glare and pump out bright colors, as well as a deep black. The company's 'four primary color'tech is partly responsible for the rich output, which squeezes a yellow sub-pixel in with the standard R, G and B.
All the panels run at 1,920 x 1,080, as you'd expect, sport a 10 million to 1 contrast ratio and use five speakers to deliver audio. Prices aren't fixed, but the 46-, 52- and 80-inch models will be released in Japan on December 15th, while the 60- and 70-inch variants will come slightly earlier, on November 30th. You're going to have to be quick on launch day, though -- only 10,000 units are expected to be available in the first month.More here.
We’ve seen the Nexus 4 show up for pre-order, support pages in Australia, a charging pad and even a quick-start guide, but if you want at least one more spoiler before then, take a look above. The folks over on the @evleaks account shared one more render that gives you a good look at the front, back and sides. Christmas is definitely coming early for those who can’t wait for the Nexus 4. More here.
If getting long-range WiFi is a perpetual battle, ASUS just started a nuclear war. Its fresh RT-N12HP router carries a pair of (thankfully removable) high-gain, 9dBi antennas and a separate signal amplifier that can jointly boost the range of the router's 802.11n wireless up to 300 percent versus challengers that reach the same 300Mbps peak speed. Beyond that, the hotspot mostly claims sheer flexibility as its virtue with support for as many as four separate WiFi networks and a fast toggle between pure router, access point and repeater modes. More here.
The heart of the costume is a Nikon D800 with an Eye-Fi SD card inside transferring photos to an iPad serving as the display on the back. But since the D800 isn't fully compatible with the Eye-Fi's direct transfer mode, a portable wireless router was also added to the mix to facilitiate the exchange. Oddly enough it doesn't seem as if the costume uploads photos to an Instagram account, which leaves the door wide open for someone to come along and one-up this one too. More here.
A puffy down feather jacket is one of the lightest and warmest things you can wear. But the tradeoff is that if you get it even the slightest bit wet, you'll be wearing a cold soggy mess. Not the Brooks-Range Mojave, though; thanks to a special coating on the feathers, it doesn't skimp on the warm when it's wet.
The feathers it's stuffed with are treated with a hydrophobic polymer known as perfluoroalkyl acrylate, developed by a company called Down Decor. So instead of absorbing water, the down inside the $300 Mojave repels it. And while it doesn't guarantee you'll stay completely dry, the company claims the treated feathers will only absorb about a quarter of the moisture that regular down filling would. Which means your jacket will dry five times faster and be ready to warm you again in no time. More here.
A Korean gadget site has posted images of a user manual for a device called a Samsung Nexus 10 that looks much like an oversized Nexus 7. Could this—along with that new Nexus phone—be what Google is announcing on Monday?
The pictures don't offer much in the way of hard intel beyond that in terms of features, and the sketch of the phantom gadget looks like what you'd expect from a 10-inch tablet. At the very least, it supports persistent rumors that Google will reveal its flagship slate's bigger brother at some point. This tablet is said to have a 2560×1600 pixel display, more pixels per inch than the iPad, and run on Android 4.2, a.k.a. Key Lime Pie. We'll know if the so-called Nexus 10 is actually real next week. More here.
If you're having a crappy day, go grab yourself an emergency compliment at this thoughtful website which serves up, you guessed it, emergency compliments.
There should be a special Nobel Prize set aside for geniuses who find ways to improve the simplest things in life. And this year's award would go to Shapeways user OliveBird, whose Button 2.0 turns any shirt into a convenient headphone wrangler.
It's not to say that the traditional button design isn't useful. It's just that with the addition of a subtle clamp on one edge for holding headphone cables no thicker than two millimeters, the Button 2.0 is approximately a thousand times more useful. And this isn't some design student's thesis on how to make the world better. It's an actual product you can order from Shapeways in different colors ranging in price from $3 to $4. Expensive for a button? Yes. But this is the bleeding edge of shirt fastening/cable wrangling technology. More here.
