Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/gadget-lab-show-2/
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Gadget Lab Show: The Flagship Phones of BlackBerry and Samsung
British royal family announces iOS and Android wedding app
To celebrate the imminent marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Royal Collection will release an Android an iOS app that chronicles the last seven royal marriages, including Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert in 1840.Ironically, the app won't actually feature anything to do with William and Kate's marriage -- rather, it will focus on the "tradition, splendor and romance" that are intrinsic to British royal marriages. "[The app] will share the stories of past royal weddings and offer a wealth of historical context for the ceremony on April 29."
Unfortunately, the app, which has been lumbered with the fantastically creative name of 'Royal App,' won't be available until April 18 -- just 11 days before Kate's big day. It won't be free, either: it'll cost the rather princely sum of £1.79, or three of your Tea Party-loving dollars. The money will go to the Royal Collection, though, which is a good cause!
British royal family announces iOS and Android wedding app originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Here’s the Kid Mode for iOS devices that I mentioned earlier
In my recent How to prevent your child from making in-app purchases on your iPad article, I mentioned that Apple should make it possible to restrict access to only certain apps for kids. Little did I know that there was already a way to lock a user into only a single app. Combine this feature with blocking in-app purchases, and you won’t have to worry that your young child will run up a large bill or access (or delete) apps he shouldn’t be using. Back in September 2012, OS X Daily told us how to Enable “Kid Mode” on iPad, iPhone or iPod touch with Guided Access in iOS. I’m not going to copy their information here; you can read it for yourself at the link. Then combine their information with the info about restricting in-app purchases at the Gadgeteer link above, and you’ll feel much more secure about letting your kids play on your iOS device.
Source: OS X Daily
Filed in categories: Articles, iPhone, iPad, iPod, News
Tagged: App spotlight, iOS devices, Settings app
Here’s the Kid Mode for iOS devices that I mentioned earlier originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 26, 2013 at 12:00 pm.
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/04/26/heres-the-kid-mode-for-ios-devices-that-i-mentioned-earlier/
Eyes-on: MIT Media Lab's Smarter Objects can map a user interface onto... anything (video)
While patrolling the halls of the CHI 2013 Human Factors in Computing conference in Paris, we spied a research project from MIT's Media Lab called "Smarter Objects" that turns Minority Report tech on its head. The researchers figured out a way to map software functionality onto tangible objects like a radio, light switch or door lock through an iPad interface and a simple processor / WiFi transceiver in the object. Researcher Valentin Huen explains that "graphical user interfaces are perfect for modifying systems," but operating them on a day-to-day basis is much easier using tangible objects.
To that end, the team developed an iPad app that uses motion tracking technology to "map" a user interface onto different parts of an object. The example we saw was a simple radio with a a pair of dials and a speaker, and when the iPad's camera was pointed at it, a circular interface along with a menu system popped up that cannily tracked the radio. From there, Huen mapped various songs onto different positions of the knob, allowing him to control his playlist by moving it -- a simple, manual interface for selecting music. He was even able to activate a second speaker by drawing a line to it, then "cutting" the line to shut it off. We're not sure when, or if, this kind of tech will ever make it into your house, but the demo we saw (see the pair of videos after the break) seemed impressively ready to go.
Monday, April 29, 2013
How to Silence Telephone Spammers
We've been seeing a gradual reduction of spam in our email in-boxes due to efforts by ISPs and email providers, new laws and education. However, the same isn't true for junk phone calls and text messages. Laws provide some protection from marketing intrusions, and it's possible to thwart much of the legally sanctioned bombardment with a few simple steps. However, it's the illegal variety that's been steadily increasing, and keeping it at bay is a bit more complicated.
LG WCP-300 Wireless Charger: Simple, small, effective
Wireless charging one day will take over the world. Someday. Maybe next week. Maybe not. Eventually, perhaps.
OK, nobody's getting rid of microUSB chargers anytime soon. So to that end we'll keep plowing our way through wireless Qi chargers. When we first saw the LG WCP-300 Wireless Charger (we picked ours up for $39 at Verizon) at Mobile World Congress, it was a pretty unassuming puck. It's smallish (about 2.7 inches in diameter) and is just a bit thicker than the phone you're going to charge it with. The included travel charger is rated at 1.8A, and the puck itself takes that down to 1A. So if you want a faster charge, you'll need to plug in. But wireless charging has always been more about convenience than speed. (The party line is that the WCP-300 will charge a 1500 mAh battery in less than 4 hours.)
So, one puck, one phone. Plug in the microUSB cable, plop a phone on top of it, and you're charging. There's an LED indicator light that doesn't do a whole lot of good unless you place your phone on the puck sideways -- it's hidden, otherwise -- but doing so just looks odd. The face of the puck is matte black. It's ringed in glossy plastic, and the bottom's got four rubber feet that keeps things nicely in place.
If you're going to delve into the world of wireless charging, you need to know up front that you'll be paying a little bit of a premium. Paying $39 to charge your phone isn't small potatoes. But the LG WCP-300 is a slim and stylish charging puck. In fact, it's probably going to end up in my travel bag, just because.
We've got more pics after the break.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/G2NadQSaTAo/story01.htm
HTML5 MP3 player lets you listen to your music library inside your browser
While this slick little HTML5 audio player might not pack all of the features of your favorite desktop media application, it's still a very cool demonstration of what a Web app can do with access to local resources -- like MP3 and OGG files.
Just fire up http://antimatter15.github.com/player/player.html in your HTML5-compatible browser and browse to the topmost folder in your music library. The app will quickly build an index of all your tunes and let you start listening right inside your Web browser. Click on the filter library text, and you can enter a search string -- results load as you type.
There's a volume control, shuffle mode, play/pause control, and you can click and drag to skip forward or rewind during playback. As OMG! Ubuntu points out, you can even save the app to your hard drive and run it offline, which is pretty darn cool.
Not all browsers are equal when it comes to HTML5 implementation, of course. We found that Chrome worked the best, and Firefox was OK. It's also worth noting that this music player comes from the same developer that created one of our favorite restartless Firefox 4 add-ons, drag2up.
Just fire up http://antimatter15.github.com/player/player.html in your HTML5-compatible browser and browse to the topmost folder in your music library. The app will quickly build an index of all your tunes and let you start listening right inside your Web browser. Click on the filter library text, and you can enter a search string -- results load as you type.
There's a volume control, shuffle mode, play/pause control, and you can click and drag to skip forward or rewind during playback. As OMG! Ubuntu points out, you can even save the app to your hard drive and run it offline, which is pretty darn cool.
Not all browsers are equal when it comes to HTML5 implementation, of course. We found that Chrome worked the best, and Firefox was OK. It's also worth noting that this music player comes from the same developer that created one of our favorite restartless Firefox 4 add-ons, drag2up.
HTML5 MP3 player lets you listen to your music library inside your browser originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes
iSites -- a zero-code cloud-based 'app creator' -- can now generate HTML5 apps that work on iOS devices. With this new feature, dubbed 'InstantApp', you can now design a single app in your browser and publish it natively on Android and iOS, and as an HTML5 iPhone app.We haven't looked at iSites before, but it shot to fame last year when it launched with native iOS and Android support. Self-publishing Android apps wasn't a problem because Google does very little moderation of the Market, but iSites ran into trouble with its iOS apps. Thousands of people signed up for the service after it was featured on Mashable and TechCrunch, and you can imagine Apple's chagrin as thousands of cookie cutter apps flooded its approval queue.
Genwi, the developer behind iSites, realized something had to be done -- it had to circumvent the App Store approval process. Genwi, of course, turned to HTML5 Web apps -- which can be pinned to the iPhone home screen and which can be shoehorned into almost behaving like native apps.
Read on for our experiences with iSites' new InstantApp HTML5 iOS app creator.
Continue reading iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes
iSites overhauled, now lets you publish cloud-based HTML5 iPhone apps in minutes originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Report: Galaxy S4 Matches iPhone5 in Display Dazzle
The Samsung Galaxy S4, scheduled to launch worldwide Saturday, has a display that's on par with the trendsetting Retina Display of Apple's iPhone 5, according to display experts DisplayMate Technologies. The company conducted tests on screen reflections, brightness and contrast, colors and intensities, viewing angles, display power consumption and running time on battery. The Galaxy S4 offers a full high-definition display at 1920 x 1080 pixels and has 441 pixels per inch resolution.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Switched On: Microsoft's small tablet trap
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
More Info
For example, if x86 chips were more competitive with ARM processors from a performance-per-watt perspective, then Microsoft wouldn't be as reliant on Metro-style apps for functionality. And if more developers were creating Metro-style apps, then consumers wouldn't have to go to the legacy desktop mode as much to get things done. (Until the company releases a Metro-style Office, Microsoft really can't wag its finger too much at third parties.)
Filed under: Tablets, Apple, Microsoft, HP
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/R-0wI76Ao9I/
Opera 11.10 gets HTML5 File API support, IMAP improvements
On the IMAP front, Opera now supports special folders like sent items, spam, and trash. It also better handles duplicate items in Gmail -- such as those which appear in all mail and under your custom labels.
Opera 11.10 now partially supports the HTML5 File API as well, which means your favorite Web apps (like Gmail) may soon begin adding Opera to the list of supported browsers.
You can download the latest Opera 11.10 snapshot for Windows, Mac, or Linux from the official release post.
Update: The Opera 11.10 RC is now available, as pointed out by SlashZaku in the comments. Thanks!
Opera 11.10 gets HTML5 File API support, IMAP improvements originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Tim Cook auctions off coffee with himself for charity
Tim Cook is holding an auction for coffee and conversation with himself on Apple's campus for charity. The terms of the deal state that the meeting will last between thirty minutes and an hour, and will cover two people. The auction is being run through Charitybuzz.
Bid now on this unique opportunity to have coffee with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple headquarters.
The bidding at this time stands at $190,000, well above the $50,000 estimated by the auction site. It’s a rare opportunity to sit down with CEO of the world’s most valuable technology company. Tim Cook often donates to charitable causes, and encourages others at Apple to do the same. The proceeds of the auction will go to benefit the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
Source: Charitybuzz
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/zKblKm01w7I/story01.htm
HTC First review
Is it just reference hardware for Facebook Home, or a true candidate for your next smartphone purchase?
There are few things in the mobile industry that have been constant over the last few years, but one that has is the rumor of a mythical "Facebook Phone." The idea of a phone that could only interact with people and services around Facebook didn't make a whole lot of sense to most people -- and apparently it didn't make much sense to Facebook itself either. Because rather than a proper Facebook Phone, at a press conference on April 4th we were given this, the HTC First.
In many ways the First itself isn't supposed to be the big story. You wouldn't be alone for thinking it is simply a hardware platform to show off what seems to be Facebook's true end-game -- the Facebook Home software. There are far more users in the world that own one of the recent flagships from HTC or Samsung that will install Home from the Play Store than there are who will buy (or even be aware of) the First. This realization certainly calls into question why Facebook even bothered to have its own phone made in the first place.
So does Facebook actually care about the success of the First, or did it ask HTC to throw together a cheap device from the parts bin to show off Home at the press conference? After spending some time with the device, we think it may be a bit more substantial than that. There are a whole lot of intriguing aspects of the First that may just have you considering it as your next device.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/fpo542nMOnI/story01.htm
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