Day: April 12, 2010

Sharp’s 3D 10.6″ Display For Netbooks, Tablets and E-Readers

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

It looks like the 3D fad that has made it’s way to TVs and some notebooks might be making its way to netbooks, too thanks to Sharp, who introduced a new 10.6” widescreen 3D display last week that does not require special glasses and can work with a touchscreen. In addition to netbooks it is also suitable for e-book readers and tablets.

Whether we actually see such products with 3D displays remains to be seen. Browse the web in 3D? Sounds headache inducing….

Source: IT Media, Akihabara News via Netbook Choice

The Ultimate Hi-Tech and Interactive Mirrors

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – furniturestoreblog.com/

“Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” Apologies for breaking into the fairytale cliché but lets admit it, we all have narcissistic tendencies! A little self-obsession is healthy and only makes you more confident. So why this sudden interest in vanity, you may ask? Well because we decided to do a round up of the most cutting edge mirrors out there that range from the surreal to the sublime! So without further ado, here are 17 mirrors which can help you can admire yourself.

The Interactive Mirror at the DIESEL GINZA Store (Japan) is what every girl dreams off! It is able to take high-resolution shots of you and then you can decide whether your butt looks fat in a dress or not! Check out the super cool video below. Philips is all about designing for the future and that is why we simply love them. Check out their Interactive Mirror, which even makes chores like brushing fun. You can also check the weather and traffic updates.

Interactive Mirror from Phillips

You don’t need to only see your own mug in a mirror. Thanks to the technology developed by DND Casa, a Korean design company, you can equip your room with television-equipped mirrors. Imagine watching your favorite TV show anywhere you can fancy.

Get use to the horror of aging! The Persuasive Mirror gives you a glimpse into the future ,so not exactly for the faint-hearted. The Persuasive Mirror aims at helping people by “using one’s reflection to improve lifestyle.”

The Carole Mirror is quite the wise ass as it gives you advice on anything and everything. The mirror also has the tendency of spouting random proverbs, which may just perk you up after a hard day.

Drawing smileys is so passé when the bathroom mirror steams up! Check out Mirror Games, which lets you,play games like Noughts and Crosses, crossword, pipe etc on its surface.

The Wooden Mirror is a stunning piece of work and visually is quite striking. Designed by Daniel Rozin , the mirror uses 830 square pieces of wood, 830 servo motors, control electronics, video camera, computer, wood frame. This one is more of a piece of art rather than a utility object.

BlogLitStudios Interactive Mirror provides quite a psychedelic experience. Is actually has a touchscreen interface that will be loved by iPhone fans! You can doodle on it, enjoy the graphics and do everything, which is fun. Check out the video below to catch all the action.

Not all mirrors are frivolous. The Earth Mirror aims at making you a better citizen of this Earth as it will be able to record your daily, monthly and annual usage of water.

Another Daniel Rozi original. After featuring the Wood Mirror we now focus on the Weave Mirror, which has been made of 768 individual strips that have been woven together.

Candy and Candy the Intelligent Mirror was designed for a Mayfair home and boy do I want this bad. Equipped with a 50inch plasma screen with a hidden camera and a control panel, you can check out all your angles by hitting record, play and pause.

The LED Mirror by Suck UK is not just a concept and can be bought by us mere mortals too. The mirror acts like a scrolling LED board and you can access time, date, program and save personalized messages.

Fans of Goth will appreciate the Scary Interactive Mirror that has been designed by William Gurley. Use the magic wand and become a wannabe Harry Potter.

The Stocco Maitre Touch Screen Mirror will let you groove to your favorite tunes while you maintain personal hygiene. . The Maitre mirror is available in sizes from 90cm to over 2m and party from supporting a MP3 player also provides an interface for radio, date and time, a barometer and more.

When you get tired of preening into the Philips MiraVision, use it to catch your favorite movies and show. This LCD monitor mirror sure makes for a great conversational piece.

The Infiniti Interactive Mirror is something right out of Minority Report. The installation features three 8′ high by 3.5 ‘ wide panes of mirrored glass placed side by side where the projected image with the users image meshes and makes for a surreal experience.

We all know how important texting is to mankind! Hence we approve of the +336+, designed by Robert Stadler. The mirror is able to receive SMS messages sent from a mobile phone.

Make a Cheap Stylus for iPad and Other Touchscreen Devices

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – lifehacker.com/

DIY Soft iPhone and iPad Stylus from adam kumpf on Vimeo.

Whether you’ve got an an iPad, a different snazzy tablet, an Android phone, or some other touchscreen device, sometimes your fingertip isn’t the ideal input device. With a few common materials, you can make an effective and inexpensive stylus for your touchscreen.

User adamkumpf at DIY site Instructables explains that if you’ve got a regular old pencil, a sock, and a pair of scissors, you can make a really simple but useful touchscreen stylus for next to nothing. The key is in the socks. You’ll need socks with anti-static material (socks with this material in the foot contain conductive silver thread that conducts well enough to work with touchscreens)—basically you’re wrapping the pencil in this anti-static, conductive material to make it touchscreen friendly.

I happen to be wearing anti-static socks at the moment, and sure enough, the material works nicely when pressed against my phone. We’ve featured other homemade styli in the past, but this soft stylus seems like the best version we’ve seen.

The guide also suggests you’ll need some remedial stitching skills, but if you’re really against pulling out the needle and thread, some tape would probably do just as well.

Make Your Own Multi-Touch Surface

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – lifehacker.com/ By Whitson Gordon

Make Your Own Multi-Touch Surface Like the rest of the world, we’ve been drooling over multi-touch here at Lifehacker, but now DIY web site Instructables has a guide to combining that with our other favorite hobby: building stuff.

This isn’t your typical Lifehacker weekend project; you’ll have to shell out quite a bit for the materials (about $2500, or $1500 if you already have a computer lying around). However, if you have need (or want) of a multi-touch surface in your home, making it yourself will still cost you quite a bit less than buying it. You’ll need quite a bit of tech, such as a projector, computer (any recent one will do), a PS3 Eye Camera, as well as some acrylic sheets for the surface itself. You’ll also need some software for this project, but it’s our favorite kind of software—free. The project is pretty involved, but you can’t argue with the final product—it’ll certainly be the coolest piece of furniture in your house. Hit the link for the full how to, and if you’ve ever pulled something like this off, tell us about it (and show it off) in the comments!

Samsung i8910 HD runs 62 apps at once talk about multitasking

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Sean Hollister

While iPhone 3G owners and would-be Windows Phone 7 buyers sit in the corner, quietly weeping over their lack of true multitasking, webOS and Symbian continue to point and laugh. In mid-January, a Palm Pre Plus was seen cackling with joy over its rivals’ misfortune even as the device staggered under the weight of 50 simultaneous applications, and less than a week later, a Samsung Omnia HD performed the very same feat, despite having only half the Pre Plus’ RAM (i.e. 256MB) to work with. Now, in what we can only interpret as a large middle finger and “come here” gesture to all who aspire to the cell phone multitasking heavyweight title, we have a video of the i8910 running no less than sixty-two applications thanks to a custom ROM by HyperX. Watch in stunned silence as a finger scrolls through them, right after the break.

Entelligence: What can Courier teach the market?

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Michael Gartenberg

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

A few months ago, some videos leaked from Microsoft showed a book-like device with two touch screens and a stylus. The user is seen researching, creating and designing content in a manner that looks both intuitive and innovative. Called Courier, the product doesn’t (yet) exist beyond the conceptual videos, but it shows Microsoft is thinking in some new ways. Ross Rubin discussed Courier’s role for creative professionals last week but I think there’s even more at stake here — I think the concept shows computing models are evolving. Here’s what Courier represents to the market:

The pen isn’t dead. The pen’s been searching for a place in computing for more than a decade. We’ve seen experiments in all different types of pen computing from the PC to the PDA and the phone. They’ve all pretty much failed, and today’s hot commodity is capacitive touch. Microsoft’s Courier video shows how the pen can play a prominent role in the evolution of computing interfaces. While fingers are great for many things, there are tasks better served by the ability to manipulate at the pixel level. Handwriting and the ability to take written notes is one of them. Content creation and painting is another. It’s clear Microsoft knows all this — in addition to Courier, there’s the Deskterity project that melds pen and touch on Surface.

Microsoft can move beyond Windows. It wasn’t that long ago that Microsoft thought the UI for other devices and platforms needed to mimic Windows. Windows CE devices all had tiny start menus and task bars which were totally unusable in a small form factor. The result were clunky devices trying to replicate a desktop experience designed for a large screen with input from a mouse and keyboard. One of the reasons that Windows 7 slate PCs look so un-interesting is that Windows 7 just wasn’t designed with those devices in mind. The net result is that Microsoft appears to be designing and optimizing for the form factor. We’ve seen this before with Surface and the beginnings of a new design with Windows Phone 7. If Microsoft can make the Courier experience familiar enough that consumers can embrace it while optimizing for the dual displays and pen we could see a nice breakthrough in next generation UI.

As appliance computing becomes more common, users will need both the ability to consume as well as create and interact.

Tablets aren’t just about content consumption. The Courier UI shows a lot of interaction between the user and the device for content creation. While designers are the example shown, Courier appears optimized for researching, note taking, journaling and other tasks that might require a combination of different media types interacting. As appliance computing becomes more common, users will need both the ability to consume as well as create and interact. Courier shows some new thought and how we might evolve beyond mouse and keyboard while still able to create and design.

The Courier video is impressive not only for technology it showcases but the thinking behind it. UI enhancements such as the “book spine” that holds content placed on the clipboard and the integration of connected content show some out-of-the-box thinking that’s refreshing to see from Redmond — it’s cool that Microsoft is thinking about life beyond Windows and what it might look like. I’m personally hoping that there’s more than just some conceptual animation and Microsoft is able to turn this set of ideas into a real product offering.

Michael Gartenberg is a partner at Altimeter Group. His weblog can be found at gartenblog.net. Contact him at gartenberg AT gmail DOT com. Views expressed here are his own.

HTC EVO 4G accessories Sprint stores

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Chris Ziegler

So we just got handed some sort of Sprint “overview deck” going over some of the HTC EVO 4G’s finer points — and rest assured, there are many fine points — but all told, there’s not a lot new here; there’s no release date that we can see, and we’re already well acquainted with its 4G hotspot capability and the major features of Android 2.1 integrated with Sense. That said, our attention was drawn to the last couple slides, which reveal a bunch of accessories that’ll be available just in case the phone itself isn’t enough to max out the plastic. Specifically, there’s a dock with HDMI out (“likely” available after launch), a car mount, screen protectors, several kind of cases and gels in every color of the rainbow, and a couple different kinds of replacement shells — one multi-color kit with a handful of snazzy shades, and a custom design option that sounds similar to what T-Mobile has done in the past with some of its devices. Oh, and there’s another gem in here: a battery charging holster — something along the lines of a Case-Mate Fuel, from what we can tell — that’ll come after the initial launch.

That’s about it as accessories go, but we’d like to call your attention to the second slide in the deck, which calls out a mysterious “Segment 1” as Sprint’s primary target market for the EVO 4G, with “Segment 6” gaining importance after the phone drops in price — possibly around the holidays this year. From what it sounds, Sprint actually has all of its target demographics grouped into numbered buckets; we’d love to know what they all are, but needless to say, you can count us (and probably most of you) in this fun-loving, awesome Segment 1. You know, the cool kids.

HTC EVO 4G to get boatload of accessories in Sprint stores

[Thanks, Crimmage]

Kobo’s $149 eReader

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Paul Miller

So, how much e-book reader can $149 get you? Well, Kobo’s eReader might not be heavy on the feature set, but based on the general impressions from Electronista’s review, we’d say quite a bit. In exchange for dropping the 3G, WiFi, color screen and audio playback frills of the Kindle and Nook, Kobo’s barebones device puts a pretty and intuitive face on simple book reading for a pretty lovable price. The biggest complaint hinges around some slow performance when closing and opening books, but with 100 pre-loaded titles and a fairly budget friendly online library, it seems like the device has you covered when it comes to actually reading things. We also covered Kobo in our iPad book and comics roundup, if more hardware isn’t your thing.

Dashboard iPad app rejected by Apple, made open source instead

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Donald Melanson

So you spend hours and hours toiling away on an app that adds some much-needed Dashboard-like functionality to the iPad (sort of, more on that later) only to have it rejected by Apple — what do you do? If you’re Hongrich, developer of the slightly problematically-named “Dashboard” app, you make it open source. Of course, you’ll have to be a developer yourself to actually try out the app, and it’s not exactly the full-fledged Dashboard that many have been hoping for, but rather a standalone app that simply lets you run and arrange widgets however you like. Still, it’s definitely a start. Head on past the break for a demo video, and hit up the source link to download it yourself.

ALV Showroom at Milan Design Week

Posted by ts On 12.04.2010

source – freshome.com/ author – Lavinia

Milan Design Week is gathering more and more interesting showroom designs. Today we would like to present the ALV Showroom, which we find to have an inviting and unusual look.From Italian architect Fabio Novembre, the unit has a circular shape with sinuous lines. The material used was concrete which was given a white and inviting finish. Its shelves will house the company’s products- clothing collections for men, women and kids- which will be showcased for the whole world to see. An impressive ceiling lamp was integrated right in the center of the showroom for a dramatic touch. We will bring you more fresh news from the Milan Furniture Fair soon.

alv showroom milan