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Mobile Technology
zoomIt gives access to SD card content on an iPhone
By Darren Quick
22:37 February 8, 2010 PST
The zoomIt is an SD card reader for an iPhone or iPod Touch that, in conjunction with the zoomIt app, lets users access all iPhone OS 3.0 file types contained on an SD card including photos, music, video and miscellaneous files such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word and PDF files. It also lets users copy files stored on the iPhone or iPod Touch to an SD card without needing to connect to a camera, Mac or PC. Read More
iPhone app 'Pollen Radar' gives you the pollen forecast
By Rick Martin
19:03 February 8, 2010 PST
Japanese company Up-Frontier has developed an iPhone application that will provide a pollen forecast for individuals prone to allergies and hay fever. Through working with the Japan Weather Association and their Weather API, the application can access the latest pollen count on their iPhone. Read More
Symbian, the world’s most widely used smartphone platform, is now open source
By Darren Quick
18:48 February 4, 2010 PST
When Nokia acquired the former Symbian Software Limited in 2008 a new independent non-profit organization called the Symbian Foundation was established. One of its main goals was to create the Symbian platform used on more than 330 million mobile phones worldwide as a royalty-free, open source software. Now, less than two full years later and four months ahead of schedule that goal has become a reality with the foundation announcing the completed open source release of the Symbian platform source code. Read More
Pressure sensitive technology set to bring 3D capability to touchscreens
By Darren Quick
18:55 January 31, 2010 PST
Touchscreens found in most mobile devices today use capacitance or resistance technology - fine for detecting input from a finger, but not so great when it comes to detecting how much pressure that finger is applying. However, this limitation could be about to change with news that Japanese touch screen manufacturer, Nissha, has licensed new technology that allows a touchscreen to detect pressure, even from a finger. This adds a third dimension to touchscreen interaction and opens up a raft of potential applications. Read More
Comprehensive E-reader comparison chart
By Gizmag Team
19:20 January 30, 2010 PST
If you’re looking to purchase an e-reader and just can’t fathom the minefield of differences, check out this chart that comprehensively compares Amazon’s Kindle 2 and Kindle DX, Sony’s Daily Edition, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Plastic Logic’s Que proReader, and Apple’s iPad in 20 categories including hardware spec, software and content. Read More
Autograph for iPhone app lets you sign on the dotted screen
By Jeff Salton
23:06 January 27, 2010 PST
From Ten One Design - the creators of the Pogo Stylus (the first capacitive touch-screen stylus for the iPhone and iPod touch) comes Autograph for iPhone – a new iPhone/iPod touch app that lets you sign off documents by creating a digital signature directly on your device’s capacitive touch screen. Read More
Apple creates special information site for iPad
By Gizmag Team
12:13 January 27, 2010 PST
In all likelihood, a new era of computing began today as Apple’s long-awaited iPad finally stepped from scifi into reality and filled the massive gap between Apple’s iPhone/ iPod handhelds and its richer computing experience of the MacBook laptop range. It begins life with a headstart never enjoyed by any prior new device. As Steve Jobs emphasised when launching the device, more than 75 million people already know how to use the iPad (because it’s essentially identical to the iPhone and iPod, just bigger) and there more than 125 million customers with one-click shopping on iTunes, the App Store and hence, the new iBook store. The iPad adds books and newspapers to the convergence mix and must seriously threaten the business models of all those eReaders announced earlier this month. Apple has created a special web site to disseminate information on the iPad. Read More
Apple's US$500 iPad - concise details of the announcement
By Gizmag Team
11:40 January 27, 2010 PST
The Apple iPad was announced today. In a nutshell, it’s a bigger iPhone that runs all the same apps on a 9.7 inch touch screen and has a 10 hour battery life and 30 day stand-by. It’s half an inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds, and is powered by Apple’s own custom 1GHz ARM A4chip and can run up to 64 GB of storage. It has all the wireless connectivity of the iphone (802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1), a built-in speaker and microphone, accelerometer and uses the same 30-pin Dock connector as the iPod and iPhone. The first iPads will ship in 60 days, with 3G models taking another month. Pricing starts at US$499 and runs to US$829. Read More
Last minute betting plunge on Apple’s tablet name: iPad shortens from 7/4 to 1/3
By Gizmag Team
16:34 January 25, 2010 PST
Apple’s announcement of its tablet computer this Wednesday will without doubt be the most eagerly anticipated tech news of 2010. We were all so “over” the speculation at Gizmag.com that we’d agreed we would not run any “puff” stories guessing the outcome, functionality or whatever, because no-one really knows. Until now, that is. Odds on what the name of the device will be have been on offer at Irish bookmaker Paddy Power this week and when the Economist ran a story effectively promoting the odds to the wider community, the flow of money on the name iPad quickly became a torrent, seeing it shorten from 7/4 to 1/3 in a few hours. Accordingly, … Read More
Intelius Date Check - only minutes to find out if your date is hiding something
By Jeff Salton
00:32 January 22, 2010 PST
Information-gathering company, Intelius, has released an app called Date Check that in minutes scans billions of publicly available documents stored on numerous databases and hidden in countless files to ascertain if the guy (or girl) you just met is worthy of a second date. Does he/she have a criminal record, hold the job they say, live with mum and dad or a spouse and kids or earn enough to keep you happy? The company says it’s like having a private investigator in your phone but we’re guessing privacy advocates have other ideas. Read More
Free turn-by-turn navigation coming to all Nokia smartphones
By Tim Hanlon
03:04 January 21, 2010 PST
Nokia has announced the upcoming release of a new, free version of Ovi Maps for all its smartphones, which includes turn-by-turn voice navigation for 74 countries in 46 languages, real-time traffic updates for 10 countries, and maps for over 180 countries. Read More
Insite Programmable Global Alert and Monitoring System (PGAMS) - monitoring for the masses
By Ben Coxworth
17:39 January 19, 2010 PST
What do a fish farmer, a transport company owner and an oil-well foreman all have in common? Two things. For one, they all constantly need to know about certain data, be it water quality, truck locations or pump pressure. For two, they all will love the new Insite Programmable Global Alert and Monitoring System. The system can be set up to monitor pretty much anything, then send text updates and alerts to the users’ cell phone. Read More
Blancpain's passion for watches takes new shape for Valentine's day 2010
21:44 January 18, 2010 PST
Swiss luxury watchmaker Blancpain has continued its annual tradition of celebrating the most romantic day of the year with a new design set for release on February 14th 2010. This speciality timepiece combines an sinuously-contoured silhouette created by a glittering border of over 500 precious stones. A heart is set into the dial fashioned in white and pink mother-of-pearl and echoed in pink sapphires and diamonds encircling the dial. A heart-shaped diamond appears at 12 o'clock, while the pin buckle is set with a pear-shaped pink sapphire. The straps are satin, and only 14 of these extraordinary limited edition ensembles will be created - the price is unknown, but rest assured, it will represent a whole lotta love! Read More
The rise and rise of Mobile Application Stores
By Gizmag Team
21:34 January 18, 2010 PST
The appstore model pioneered by Apple will unquestionably become the predominant model for mobile phone users, with remarkable growth prospects in the next few years. Mobile application downloads will exceed 4.5 billion this year, growing to 21.6 billion downloads by 2013. Consumers will spend US$6.2 billion this year in mobile application stores, growing to US$29 billion three years from now. Free applications will continue to account for an ever greater share, growing from 82 per cent of all downloads in 2010, to 87 per cent of downloads by 2013. This year alone, advertising revenue is expected to generate US$600 million worldwide. Read More
Lockheed Martin IronClad PC-on-a-Stick secures Desktop and Data for Telecommuters
By Gizmag Team
19:06 January 18, 2010 PST
For most people the name Lockheed Martin relates to missiles, rockets, simulators, robotics, satellites, aircraft and advanced military systems but look up the company’s “about us” page on the global web site, and you’ll see that the 140,000 LM employees who bring in around US$43 billion in revenues each year, see themselves as working for a security company. Which might serve as some degree of confidence that the company’s new IronClad “PC on a stick” USB drive offers military-strength security for their out-of-office computing. The IronClad shrinks a laptop’s hard drive, including the entire operating system, software applications, and files, onto a fully encrypted flash drive - a “PC on a stick” that delivers hardware-level protection against today’s most insidious malware threats, and it costs way less than a Longbow helicopter, a Cassini satellite, Titan rocket or SR-71 Blackbird. Read More
Personal navigation devices heading for ubiquity
By Gizmag Team
21:50 January 17, 2010 PST
With the continued proliferation of auto satnav, handheld Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and mobile phone navigational functionality, consumers are being offered ever more choice in the way they experience navigation and location-based information. Hence it was interesting to see the penetration of navigation technologies into the population when digital map provider Navteq released excerpts from its global research recently. In 2009, roughly half of all people in mature markets such as US, UK, France and Germany had used navigation devices - roughly double the number from 2006. The research also concluded that mobile consumers are very interested in pedestrian navigation too. The time is unquestionably near when we’ll all be reliant on our handheld devices for finding our way around. Read More
Nokia's N900: Potential Unrealized
21:20 January 17, 2010 PST
From the first time we saw Nokia's N900 handheld computer we thought that it would be the ultimate communications device. With a large screen, fast processor, open OS and Firefox based browser, it seemed destined to become one of Nokia's major success stories. This was early September 2009, Nokia was showing off the device at their NokiaWorld conference, along with a new version of their N97 Symbian smartphone, and it looked like the N900 was the flagship product the the N97 SHOULD have been when it came out a few months earlier. We jumped on the bandwagon and were early supporters of the device. Read More
Stelton now selling world's smallest electric espresso machine
By Ben Coxworth
17:52 January 17, 2010 PST
If you frequently travel to a lot of different places, then you are doubtless familiar with one of the biggest challenges facing today’s jet-setter - finding a decent cup of coffee. Well, help is on the way. In fact, scratch that, it’s here. Danish fancy-gadget-seller Stelton is now offering the world’s smallest battery-powered espresso machine. Read More
The rise and fall (in weight) of the handbag
By Gizmag Team
15:10 January 16, 2010 PST
The rapid development of personal entertainment and communication technologies is causing quite seismic changes in the weight the average UK female carries in her handbag. Research conducted for UK Department Store chain Debenhams each year for the last two decades shows that the doubling of weight of the handbag between 2002 and 2006, due to the adoption of laptops, has been completely reversed in just three years by the adoption of smartphones, replacing laptops and filofaxes. Read More
Dexim iPod Nano 5G Power Case
By Paul Ridden
14:23 January 16, 2010 PST
China's consumer electronics manufacturer Dexim has announced the release of a multi-functional power case to complement the new iPod Nano 5G. Coming with a powerful flashlight to help shoot video in low light conditions, a built-in speaker for desktop listening and an antenna for improved FM radio reception, the DVA004 will also gives extended play courtesy of its lithium battery pack. Read More
Video: Voice Band iPhone app - stunning multitrack rock band recordings using only your voice
By Loz Blain
22:55 January 14, 2010 PST
The iPhone's application capabilities continue to astound us. We've seen on-the-fly multitrack recording already in our a cappella review of Sonoma's 4Track app, but this one takes it to a whole new level. Voice band is a multitrack recording app that lets you build up the sound of a full band, including guitars, bass, drums, sax, synths and vocals, using only your voice as an input. The demo video after the jump shows just how simple this process is, and how astoundingly good the results are. Amazing stuff. Read More
Textecution app stops kids from texting while they drive
By Loz Blain
21:55 January 13, 2010 PST
Motor vehicle accidents are the single highest cause of death for young people - and the dangerous practice of texting while driving is on the rise among teens and young adults. Textecution is an Android app that parents can install on their kids' phones. It's designed to shut down all texting functions - sending and receiving - if the phone handset is moving at more than 10mph. It's a flawed solution, but a first step towards combatting a very serious issue that's only going to become worse as smartphones proliferate. Read More
Tunebug Shake turns your helmet into a speaker
By Gizmag Team
18:21 January 13, 2010 PST
If you haven’t previously heard of TuneBug, that’s because it is a new company and although its portable speaker solutions were shown at CES 2009, they are only just now making their way to market. The products are all based on patented NXT speaker technology which generate sound waves that pass through the surfaces the speakers (aka “sound generators”) rest on, effectively turning those surfaces into speakers. Predictably, there’s a desktop solution which sits on your desk. Now there’s also a helmet-top solution which sits on your helmet, giving you a kind of ambient bone dome surround sound like you’ve never had before – ideal for skateboarding, bicycling, skiing and motorcycling. Read More
USD160,000 Diamond-encrusted Nokia Supreme (mobile phone)
By Mick Webb
11:18 January 13, 2010 PST
The folks at Goldstriker International – courtesy of designer Stuart Hughes – have unveiled their latest precious metal-laden creation. Not content to rest on his laurels after crafting the limited edition gold plated Wii Supreme, the English engineer of excess has turned his attention back to mobile phones and bought us the Nokia Supreme. Featuring 12.5 carats of pink diamonds and a 3-carat diamond as the phone’s navigation button, the sparkling unit also incorporates 83 grams of platinum. The price? A cool US$160,000. Read More
Liquavista collaborates with Texas Instruments on next-generation eReaders
By Ben Coxworth
15:03 January 12, 2010 PST
Dutch electronics company Liquavista has announced that it will be working with Texas Instruments to integrate its unique electrowetting display into TI’s new eBook platform. It’s part of a bigger plan to incorporate the technology into a variety of products. “Liquavista’s aim is to make its electrowetting display technology available as broadly as possible to end-consumers via a wide range of products” says Liquavista CEO Guy Demuynck. So, just what is electrowetting? If Liquavista is to be believed, it’s a technology with all the benefits of LCD, but with up to four times the optical performance. Read More
windykites1
- February 9, 2010 @ 19:22 UTC
