by Matthew on March 12, 2010
Earlier today, Apple updated their online store to add the Apple iPad ready for pre-order on to the virtual shelves.
Along with the pre-order update that came a few features also slipped through that were just noticed now. The main one I will mention here is a screen rotation lock button that allows you to lock the screen from rotating automatically.
You might wonder why this is important, but if you have used a phone that features auto rotation and tried reading while in bed for example, the screen automatically rotates and it’s basically annoying unless you whip through the menus and turn the feature off. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
The Opera Mini 5 browser (in beta) has launched for Google Android based handsets. The Android OS version of the browser aims to run quicker than the regular Android OS browser built in. To achieve this the Opera Mini 5 browser uses Opera’s servers that are used to cache files ready to be downloaded. I guess you could say it acts as a proxy in between and each time a page is requested the server makes the image smaller and compresses the HTML making the data needed to be downloaded a lot less, thus a faster transfer.
The only downside is that images do download at a lower quality although you can change settings to balance speed over quality. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
The iChime Programmable Doorbell lets you get rid of the traditional “ding dong” sound and replace it with whatever you want.
The iChime comes supplied with several pre-programmed noises, but also allows you to upload six of your own noises that could come from a CD, MP3 file or even recorded audio in another format.
The programmable doorbell costs $89.99 for the main doorbell and speaker and you can pay another $19.99 if you wish to pick up a second speaker for the system to move the sound to other parts of your home. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
Although it’s almost a given that the Apple iPad will sell well, there are still many complaints about the lack of various features such as multitasking (which might appear later this year), and the lack of flash support, pen input amongst other things. There are a number of alternatives out now or soon to be out though. CrunchGear put together a list of seven alternatives that are either available, or arriving this year sometime. There’s actually eight although Crunch Gear for legal reasons cannot specifically mention the JooJoo due to the Crunchpad/Fusion Garage break up late last year.
Rather than rehash the complete list here, I’ll just mention a few of my favourites which can be found below. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
Another Apple iPad case has been created in preparation for the launch of the Apple iPad. The Sleek Skin iPad case is built from a shock-absorbing TPU rubber that doesn’t stretch or surrender according to the HardCandyCases site that sells the product. The casing comes in two sections with a back casing where the iPad sits in and a front cover that can be snapped on when needed.
The Sleek Skin is getting ready to launch this month and the company are taking pre-orders now with a price of $39.95 which won’t be charged to your card until the product ships. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
The FCC has taken a look at the JooJoo tablet and as well as giving it a thorough check over to make sure it complies with certain standards, they also have a picture of the inside as well as the details of what powers the device.
Just yesterday we heard about the JooJoo tablet getting a user interface makeover making it look a little bit more attractive to use. This new user interface mixed with the revealed hardware specs make it appear to be quite an impressive machine.
The JooJoo runs an NVIDIA Ion along with an Intel Atom N270 CPU. We also hear there is integrated 3G built in which was contrary to reports heard before. The worrying thing is that the JooJoo appears to run standard hardware and if not optimised just right, we could see that NVIDIA Ion chip suck a lot of power out of the battery making it a lot lower than it’s main competitor the Apple iPad (which just became available for pre-order in the last hour). [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
The pre-order day has finally arrived and Apple [AAPL]have now put the Apple iPad available in store ready for you to purchase although you’ll need to wait till April 3 to receive the product. April 3 is a Saturday, so Apple also point out that if you order online and your are doesn’t have Saturday deliveries then it will be delivered on Monday 5th April.
Both versions of the Apple iPad are available for pre-order in the US only although only the Wi-Fi model is shipping April 3 with the Wi-Fi+3G model shipping sometime late April.
As previously announced, prices start at $499 for the cheapest Wi-Fi model which has 16GB of flash memory. Each wi-fi model jumps up $100 a time making the 32GB model $599 and the 64GB model $699. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
We are hearing rumours that the Google Nexus One is heading to India, but rather than being a traditional Nexus One, it will have some features cut down. The Indian Nexus One is supposed to be slimmer and have less memory and a lower res camera installed according to TechTree.
It is unclear at the moment if the hardware will actually be a Nexus One, or if HTC are producing a new Google phone for the Indian market. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
Mid February, Sony unveiled a concept camera that is set to be a Micro Four Thirds DSLR using a mirrorless interchangeable lens system with an APS-C sensor.
Apart from showing off the concept camera casing and lens last month, Sony haven’t really said much about it. We received some pictures yesterday showing us the new LCD display menu system that the camera will use. The menus appear to be touchscreen.
A few hints at what the Ultra Compact DSLR will offer indicate that a background defocus control can be used to adjust the aperture automatically to get the background to focus/defocus as required in the shot. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
Today is March 12 and according to Apple [AAPL] it’s the day they start taking pre-orders for the Apple iPad in the US. After visiting the Apple site today the regular “We’ll be back soon.” was presented in the Apple Store indicating that Apple are in the process of updating to allow for Apple iPad preorders.
As well as the US store being down, other stores around the world are down. It isn’t known if just the iPad is going to be available for pre-order in the US, or perhaps if the other countries who are getting ready to sell the iPad are also able to pre-order. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 11, 2010
We are hearing today that Apple [AAPL] are working on their latest iPhone OS numbered 4.0. The new OS still has a way to go before being launched, but it seems like multitasking is going to be included for 3rd party apps. Currently there are a few apps built by Apple that can multi task such as email and iPod to name a couple.
The current OS 3.x does multitask, but 3rd party apps are prevented artificially for various reasons such as security. If they open it up there could be problems with applications accessing other applications etc…
Other problems caused with multitasking are to do with memory assignment and battery life. When applications are loaded up there has to be some communication between apps on what memory allocations can be used. Also battery life suffers having to handle the extra CPU load. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 11, 2010
Yesterday, Apple launched the latest version of the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK (beta 4). As it was just a beta update from 3 to 4 it wasn’t expected that there will be many difference, and so far this holds true. However, a couple of things noticed in the gesture support show that a couple of new commands are included allowing for longer presses on the screen.
The actual list comprises of 3Tap, LongPress, Pan-Mix, Pinch-In, Pinch-Mix, Pinch-Out, Rotate-Anticlockwise, Rotate-Clockwise, Rotate-Mix and Swipe-Left in which the 3Tap and LongPress are new. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 11, 2010
In Toy Story we see a number of Green moulded plastic Army Men that are called in to Andy’s room to solve problems and get things moving in the right direction. The actual army men have been around for many years before (back to the 1950’s).
Lego have now got hold of the idea and created Lego Green Army Men that resemble the originals. The complete set comprises of 6 pieces with the cost being $11 for 4 Army Men, a Jeep and Stretcher. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 11, 2010
Sony have announced their PS3 motion controller that has now officially been named as Playstation Move. Playstation Move was previously called the wand, arc to name a few names.
The announcement came yesterday where it was shown to deliver true 1:1 motion control which Sony claim to be more responsive than the Nintendo Wii Plus. It will be interesting to see how each of them compare when tested with each other.
Games already announced include Little Big Planet as well as SOCOM 4. A few large companies are also looking at building games for the Playstation Move. This includes names like Capcom, EA, Sqaure Enix as well as 33 others which is quite an impressive start. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 11, 2010
Google [GOOG] have now updated the UK maps with 96% coverage of the UK in Street View. There’s just a few streets missing as of now, but generally the whole UK is covered.
This allows Google Streetview users to view almost any street in the UK from the eyes of cameras that have been mounted on cars for the last 18 months or so and immerse themselves in to the streets around them (or anywhere else).
Google came under fire though due to Streetview with some people believing it was too obtrusive. However, most people feel it’s quite a cool feature to have and I have to admit it’s an impressive undertaking to get the whole of the UK covered. [click to continue…]
