Jason at TC writes about NetShare, a tethering app that has been pulled from the App store this evening. Looks like someone didn’t like the idea using up lots of mobile bandwidth on an all-you-can eat machine. More as we get it.
Macrumors reports that Apple’s App Store was selling a tethering app compatible with the iPhone (both 3G and EDGE) for a brief period earlier this evening. The $10 application, called NetShare, was developed by Nullriver software, and would be a godsend for many iPhone owners. After going up around 8PM EST to the elation of a lucky few, the application was pulled down around 20 minutes later.
Phone tethering allows users to access the internet from their laptop computers wherever they get service on their cellphone carrier’s data network. The feature is common on many phones with high speed (namely 3G) data access, and has been noticeably absent from iPhones. While 3G is typically slower than most Wi-Fi access points, having internet connectivity on the go is a huge plus for many people – enough so that many carrier charge on the order of $30 a month to enable it.
As much as I want to give a knee-jerk snarky treatment to something called the iShoe, I just can’t. The iShoe is designed to help determine how well the wearer is balancing by sensing pressure variations over time. The sensor and corresponding software is being developed to help the elderly catch early warning signs of failing balance. The information is recorded and then that data should be able to help a doctor determine their patient’s needs.
As funny as people falling down can be, old people falling down isn’t as much fun. The numbers ain’t good, with an estimated 300,000 annual hip fractures. No fun for anybody.
The iShoe (grrr) is being developed by Erez Lieberman who got the idea while interning at NASA. When astronauts return from zero gravity, they need time to readjust their balance. Lo and behold, the iShoe (Grrr) was born.
Lieberman and his research partner, Katharine Forth, are still conducting tests to determine if the iShoe (GRRR) will be able to withstand the constant pounding that it would surely take. I sincerely wish them good luck as they try to help an age-old problem for the elderly. But, just as much so, please, please do not call that thing an iShoe if it ever comes to market. (Ahhh).
“We think that the timing of a new product introduction will depend upon the sales profile for the DS, and believe that lower than expected DS hardware sales could trigger an earlier launch for the new device,” Pachter said in an investor note.
“DS sales are solid worldwide, but are weak in Japan, leading us to expect an introduction of a new device in Japan before the end of the calendar year.”
He said that Japanese DS demand will likely continue to decline. He adds, “We think that Nintendo has a new handheld device ready for launch in [Japan] before the end of the calendar year.”
What new wonders might this handheld from Nintendo hold?
Here’s a five-minute look at the DSM-330 from D-Link. It’s a DivX Connected player, which basically uses your home PC for most of the menu rendering and downloading horsepower. We’ll have a full review up in the not-too-distant future.
So far, I see promise in the plug-ins feature, which allows developers to create their own stuff – I installed a Digg.com thing, an HD movie preview function, and a Google Maps application. Streaming HD content over my 802.11G wireless connection has been so-so. If the files are already on my PC, everything works great. Files that need to be downloaded and streamed on the fly tend to stutter from time to time.
All in all the device looks pretty good, though. I’ll run it through some more tests over the next week or so and report back.
Expanding on the popular SR-16 drum machine, Alesis has incorporated eight velocity sensitive pads and released the Performance Pad. The kit-mountable Performance Pad comes with 2 inputs for external kick and hi-hat pedals along with a line-level input for attaching your iPod of CD player. A MIDI output (but not input?) is also incorporated.
The Alesis is an apparent attempt to compete with the Roland SPD-20, which sports some more robust features. The Performance Pad should be available this upcoming holiday season as a possible budget alternative.
Love them or hate them, convergence devices are here to stay and thankfully they’re getting better and better. Case in point, the Samsung i8 digital point-and-shoot camera. This tiny little 8.2-megapixel touting digi not only takes clean and sharp pictures, but it also plays back music and video like its predecessor the i85. Oh, and you can catch up on your latest novel too on the text viewer. It manages to do all four tasks surprisingly well and you’re really only limited to the size of your SD card.
Donning a 3x optical zoom, I was able to snap some images that were relatively sharp. You obviously won’t be getting anything close to what a DSLR can do with a faster prime lens, but for only $300 it’s not a bad deal. The AWB isn’t the best I’ve used, but it does pretty well on an all-around basis. All the kids these days love and I mean LOVE taking pictures of themselves with friends without someone else taking the photo and most of them come out blurry or someone’s face gets chopped off. The i8’s face detection does a good job of detecting your mug and up to two others and beeps when everything is in focus. My flaring nostrils never looked so good. Read More
Today Activision announced that they plan to collaborate with Logitech to develop “premium” instruments for the new Guitar Hero game. Supposedly the new instruments will be compatible with all the new features found in “World Tour”. Charles Huang, VP of business development for RedOctane said:
“With Logitech, we know we have found the right partner who can deliver top-quality premium hardware that consumers have come to expect from Guitar Hero.”
I think someone (cough — Charles) likes to toot their own horn. Top-quality hardware is not what I expect from Guitar Hero. What I expect is a cheap plastic guitar to rock out on and then break after a few months of playing.
I couldn’t find any pictures of the designs Logitech plans to create, but as soon as I do, expect to find them here. I imagine the guitar will be silver and black, like everything else Logitech makes.
If this product from China can really do what they say it can, it could make working from in the pool a reality. Not that I would want to work while I was relaxing in the pool but I still would be nice to be able to check if I got an impotent email from the boss man.
So far the only information about this product is written in Chinese so I was not able to get any real details on it. By looking at the pictures it looks like any other Internet device with a small keyboard and screen. It also attaches to a floating tube so you don’t have to tread water furiously to use it.
If this product ever makes it to the United States and I have a pool by that time, I will cover this again. From my pool.
We know Apple recently warned their resellers to stock up on certain items, in expectation of an inventory and manufacturing crunch. As the supply chain stabilizes itself, rumors abound about what it all means.
Most tend to believe that the upcoming iPods will feature larger storage and at cheaper prices. Considering the success of the iPhone 3G, that should be a given. The iPod touch, features a similar styling to the iPhone, but at a higher price point. With the 8GB iPod touch currently shipping for $299, (rumors say) expect to see at least a $50 price cut.
It’s not outside the realm of expectation to think that a new 64 GB iPod touch model might be hitting the shelves. Increased capacity certainly would be a selling point. As for feature upgrades? MacRumors speculates that the iPod touch also could be getting GPS capability.
Look for the iPod nano to also get an upgrade with larger capacity, said to double from their current 8 GB to 16 GB. Rumors about a new form-factor have been flying about regarding a change from the current 1.33:1 aspect ratio to the iPhone’s 1.5:1 ratio. Also, multi-colored bodies are said to be in the mix.
Same story goes with the iPod shuffle. Cheaper and larger. We could be seeing a new 4 GB model, with entry point prices hovering around $49.
This “physical ambient display” is beautiful and useless — in other words, it’s art. It senses the position of your finger in the water based on electric gradients and adjusts the display based on that. It uses a lot of horsepower to do it; I bet analog equipment with real bubbles could get much the same effect. Not that I’m ragging on this thing — it’s very cool, and part of its appeal is that it’s a digital/analog crossover.
You can learn more about the project here at the creator’s page. [via Gizmodo]
Ladies and gentlemen, I present my iPhone 3G crack. This appeared after a day of fairly heavy usage with lots of pulling in and out of the pocket and briefcase. I didn’t sit on it or smash it but I saw this coming when I pulled it out and noticed some other scuffing. It almost looks as if a thin layer of plastic has rubbed off. I haven’t seen it happening on any other part of the iPhone and I was putting on an InvisiShield, which is a sort of plastic shield, when I noticed it.
People currently believe that the back is some sort of ceramic but I believe it’s laminated metal with a thin layer of protection over the white or black. While I wasn’t expecting the white 16GB to stay white forever, I definitely didn’t expect this one week in. We’ll get to the bottom of this.
Aiming for style, FujiFilm today unveiled the FinePix Z200fd. The new “glam cam” has a range of features that digital camera owners have come to expect, and added a couple of new ones.
The camera looks cool, no doubt about it, but Fuji hopes to attract buyers with more than just style. The 10 MP camera sports a 5X optical lens, a 2.7” LCD screen and sensitivity settings up to ISO 1600. Read More
The Nokia E66 will be hitting the U.S. in the third quarter with an unsubsidized price of $500. While that price may sound like it’s a bit (or a lot) on the high side, the phone actually has a fair number of tricks up its sleeve and will likely appeal mostly to corporate users who may never see the price tag to begin with.
Lest you think this device is all business, there’s a unique (and perhaps a bit gimmicky) “switch mode” that allows you to basically keep all of your work-related stuff in one profile on the phone throughout the day and then switch to a more lifestyle-centric profile at night, complete with a darker theme, friendlier icons, and that kind of stuff. Picture an employee for a large company getting in the elevator at the end of the day, loosening the tie and switching phone modes before getting into a cab to go wait in line for some new overpriced, dark, loud, small-portions restaurant.
A Nanorobotics professor at Carnegie Mellon has created a little pill-sized robot that he says can travel safely through the gut and snap good pictures along the way. The problem in the past has been that the adhesive required to stick a camera to an intestinal wall (or whatever) has been permanent. Meaning you’d have to rip out a piece if you wanted to remove the camera. So if you need extended observation of, say, a polyp up there, you had to agree to either supergluing something to your intestines or having a camera on a wire snaking its way through you. Not the easiest choice.
So this new adhesive can be easily detached from tissue, and so the bot’s position can be controlled by extending or retracting its sticky little arms. Good news for anyone with tract issues. The researcher, Martin Sitti, says he was inspired by gecko feet; that’s a nice thought, a robot gecko climbing through your innermost tubes.
This UnMouse pad being shown at the Microsoft Research Summit looks pretty freaking awesome. It’s a super-thin, pressure-sensitive little pad that can take just about as many inputs as you care to give it — and each input contains analog pressure info. Microsoft is working with NYU to put it out there; it’s apparently cheap to make and is almost certainly able to be made in many sizes.
Trouble is it probably can’t be transparent, so it can’t be used in touchscreens. But something like this could be great for putting in cheaper devices that can’t include tech like that. I’m thinking tiny laptops!
Oh, Yahoo. Why do you make it so hard to like you?
Take this story. Yahoo is shutting down its music download store at the end of September, including the DRM validation servers. Without DRM validation servers, people who purchased tracks outright won’t be able to play them.
In other words, people will be left with useless files on their hard drives. Nice.
To be fair, it’s not like Yahoo is completely screwing its [former] customers. The company will provide coupons to download the previously downloaded (but now useless) songs again from Rhapsody, which will be DRM-free MP3s. That, or you can get your money back. Your choice.
Meh, to be honest, Yahoo is doing right by it customers, and this is more of an illustatrion of how silly DRM is more than anything else.
Sprint is expanding its femtocell offering nationwide, including cheaper unlimited voice plans.
The Airave by Samsung hooks up to your home broadband connection to improve indoor wireless coverage for any Sprint phone (Nextel handsets are not compatible yet). Customers can also opt in for an unlimited in-home calling plan starting at just $10 per month. Sprint says the Airave improves coverage up to 5,000 square feet.
This delightful little concept that’ll never actually be manufactured, called Sweet Honey, combines aroma therapy with lossy MP3s, which just has to be a match made in Heaven. The little bulb thing on the other end of the headphone wire contains a scented tablet. Depending on the type of music being played, different scents are released.
Fact: when you play emo, the stench of failure emanates from the device.
The Nokia E66 will be hitting the U.S. in the third quarter with an unsubsidized price of $500. While that price may sound like it’s a bit (or a lot) on the high side, the phone actually has a fair number of tricks up its sleeve and will likely appeal mostly to corporate users who may never see the price tag to begin with.
