Luke, I am your smartphone (video)

NTT DoCoMo recently launched the Samsung Galaxy S in the Japanese market and now we've come to discover that it's chosen a very forceful personality to represent the product to its discerning audience. Darth "roundabound" Vader has been starring in the carrier's latest round of "always with you" ads, wherein he serves as a (sort of) human representation of the phone, thus lending some anthropomorphic qualities to the cold slab of technology awaiting you in the shops. This whole outlandish idea really shouldn't work, but somehow it does -- we want a little Vader in our lives too now. Video after the break.

Continue reading Luke, I am your smartphone (video)

Luke, I am your smartphone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 07:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wall Street Journal  |  ikasama117CMzero (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/SduXAmWTrxE/

ON SEMICONDUCTOR NVIDIA NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS NOVELLUS SYSTEMS

Web Seer lets you visually compare Google Autocomplete results

Filed under: Google, web 2.0

I find Google's Autocomplete (or "suggest") feature very interesting because it seems to have spawned a quite a few by-products. Web Seer is a nice example. You feed it with a couple of prefixes, and it polls Google for all of the suggestions for them and then spews out a simple visual representation.

The screenshot above shows a snippet of the output for "should they" versus "will my cat." Perhaps that's not the best example because these two searches aren't fully comparable; when I tried "can he be" versus "can she be," I got some more comparable results, such as "be so cold" for the guys and "be so heartless" for the girls (ouch!).

It's a Flash app, so if you happen to be taking part in the crusade against Flash, it won't work. But on the bright side, where it does work, it's very fast. There's no Submit button or anything like that - it's completely live and on-the-fly, with the graphic updating right as you type.

Web Seer lets you visually compare Google Autocomplete results originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/11/18/web-seer-lets-you-visually-compare-google-autocomplete-results/

NANYA TECHNOLOGY NII HOLDINGS NIKON NINTENDO

Slacker Radio for Windows Phone 7

Filed under: Audio, Windows Mobile

On my desktop, I'm a Grooveshark user -- but there's no Grooveshark app for Windows Phone 7 yet... so where does one turn for custom-tailored streaming tunes? Why, Slacker Radio, of course!

Search for a band, tap their name (Volbeat, for example), and Slacker begins buffering your first track and looking for other songs it thinks you'll like -- which you can like or ban while they play. Tap the album cover and Slacker loads band information, including a bio, album review, and lyrics from LyricFind. The free version allows you to favorite stations Slacker creates from your searches, while subscribers can also access their custom channels.

One big downside right now is that Slacker Radio doesn't run in the background. Tap the Windows button, and your track quits playing. To add salt to the wound, if you press back to return to the app it actually starts playing the next track in your queue -- even though it says 'resuming,' which I typically assume means a music app is going to pick up where it left off. Even if you tap to share with a friend, Slacker cuts out as soon as Windows Phone 7 loads up the email screen.

Still, Slacker is a solid app -- and you can use it without creating an account unlike the Last.fm app. The music library is massive, and the $3.99 a month price tag is hard to argue with. Bonus points for sending me on a detour through Bat Country, Slacker.

The good:

• Unobtrusive ads on the free version, easy in-app account upgrades
• Don't have to create an account to use the app
• Good audio quality, even when my Wi-Fi network was "sluggish"
• Does a very good job of selecting similar artists and songs

The bad:

• Screen rotation is haphazard at best. To be fair, I have that problem with apps on my iPod touch from time to time, so it may not be the Slacker app to blame -- but WP7 or the phone's sensor.
• No background streaming. If you share a song or press the Windows button, your music cuts out.
• Sharing is limited to email -- Twitter and Facebook would be nice additions.

Slacker Radio for Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/11/16/slacker-radio-for-windows-phone-7/

ZIONS BAN YAHOO! YAHOO XILINX

iOS 4.2.1 jailbroken, compatible Cydia store ready

Redmond Pie reports today that iOS 4.2.1 has been successfully jailbroken, and that a compatible version of Cydia will be available as soon as 4.2.1 reaches the public. This build of iOS can be jailbroken with Redsn0w version 0.9.6b2, the same used with iOS 4.1.

The current version of Cydia is incompatible with iOS 4.2.1 and crashes upon launch. However, a working build is ready to go and will hit your jailbroken phones by the time you've got 4.2.1 installed. Until you get it, Redmond Pie suggests installing jailbreak apps via SSH.

Jailbreaking is not for me, but if you're interested, know that you should be all set as soon as iOS 4.2.1 arrives.

[Via iTWire]

iOS 4.2.1 jailbroken, compatible Cydia store ready originally appeared on TUAW on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/11/19/ios-4-2-1-jailbroken-compatible-cydia-store-ready/

APPLIED MATERIALS ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ARROW ELECTRONICS ASML HOLDING

Twitter for Windows Phone 7 reviewed, thoroughly unexciting

Filed under: Windows Mobile, Social Software

Perhaps my expectations were too high as I eagerly unwrapped my HTC Trophy, plugged it into my computer and booted up Zune. Installing apps is so easy! Search, click, blam. In moments I was booting up Twitter, its comforting, peaceful blue emanating from the phone's bright screen.

You're greeted with a 'top tweets' (lower-case is obviously still in), 'trends,' 'suggested,' and 'nearby' panorama. You don't have to log in to use this section, which is nice, as a lot of people use Twitter for the newsy aspect, rather than actually tweeting.

That's where the good news ends.

Twitter for WP7 is slow. Sliding between pages is spluttery and nowhere near as smooth as the main WP7 menus. Scrolling down through tweets is worse; the frame rate drops just enough to create a bit of a 'blinking' effect that will probably cause epileptic seizures amongst sensitive users.

Unfortunately... it gets worse.

Browsing

I think the main problem is that it parades as a real Windows Phone 7 application. From the outset it looks like it belongs on the phone, but the more you play with it, the more blatantly obvious it becomes that this is one heck of an ugly duckling. It's hard to explain, as the WP7 experience is both subjective and tactile, but I can only describe it as sticky.

When you slide between panes, you're greeted with a blank white void while the next page loads -- which takes quite a while, I might add. Compare this to the Facebook app, which beautifully adheres to the Metro UI paradigm, where each pane seamlessly melds into the next. I'm left wondering why Twitter -- an incredibly simple service -- feels harder to use and several orders of magnitude less useful than Facebook.

Tweeting

Still, Twitter for WP7 does do one thing well: composing new tweets is simple and intuitive. You can easily include your location or attach a photo. Every hashtag that you use is saved, so it just takes two clicks to add them to future tweets. It's worth mentioning that the Windows Phone 7 on-screen keyboard is good, too, and comparable to Android's SwiftKey.

In conclusion

If I was the type to make analogies, I would liken Twitter for WP7 to a bowl of weak chicken soup. Ostensibly, it ticks all the boxes -- it's warm, it's wet, it looks like chicken soup -- but ultimately but it lacks flavor. Yes, you can send and surf tweets, but the experience could be so much better.

Therein lies the crux of the matter: it's very easy to make WP7 apps that look nice, but taste like ass. That's the problem with exciting new UI paradigms: developers that 'get it' will create beautiful, functional masterpieces -- while the unwashed masses will churn out mediocre apps that wholly fail to capitalize on the possibilities of Windows Phone 7 and the Metro UI.

[Thanks to HTC for providing the phone used in this review!]

Twitter for Windows Phone 7 reviewed, thoroughly unexciting originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/11/15/twitter-for-windows-phone-7-reviewed-thoroughly-unexciting/

AMPHENOL ANIXTER INTERNATIONAL APPLE COMPUTER APPLIED MATERIALS

Facebook -- with or without Google -- will destroy the world as we know it

Filed under: Social Software, Op-Ed

On Monday, Facebook announced the launch of a platform that will set in motion a process that will catastrophically terminate the world as we know it. Known by the end-user as the rather demure 'Messages', and internally as Project Titan, it is only those that look toward the future that know its true name: Skynet.

The future can be defined as a flow of time that has the potential to become anything. With an almost-infinite number of possibilities, it's no surprise that we occasionally get dizzily lost in our thoughts of the future. It's also no surprise that most of our life is about making choices, for it is the only way we can control our future. Should I get out of bed? What should I make for lunch? Who will I meet today? Should I ask her out? These are all choices, all decisions that irrevocably alter the future.

Unless we choose for something to happen -- unless we cause an event to occur -- everything else happens to us. When you lose the power of choice, you lose the power to affect your future. You are no longer you -- instead, you are the punching bag of the universe.

Which brings us back to Facebook. We are rapidly approaching a point in time -- a technological singularity -- where Facebook knows enough about you, me and all of mankind that it can make better choices than us.

Choices, choices

One day soon, you will log into Facebook and a 'choice feed' will tell you what to do with your day. You won't have to push a button or type in some kind of query -- you will simply load up Facebook.com and there, in bold type, your choice feed will tell you what choices to make for the next 24 hours. Wear these clothes; take this route to work; don't say Hi to Richard, he's a dick; buy your boss a birthday present -- and so on. You won't hesitate in following Facebook's choices because they'll feel completely right; they'll feel just like your own choices, only they're not -- they're a computer's.

But it gets more terrifying. When every one of us uses Facebook -- and given a few years, this will be the case -- choice feeds will be tailored so that they match up with other people. My feed will say "pick up flowers at 4pm", while the florist's choice feed will say "have a bouquet of pink lilies ready at 4pm for Sebastian."

The social, cultural and financial implications of a system that can match-make with such incredible accuracy are staggering. You will never have to look for a girlfriend or boyfriend -- Facebook will find you one. You will never look for a job -- Facebook will assign the perfect match for your skill set. Want to see a new film but don't have someone to see it with? Don't worry: Facebook will choose the perfect cinema buddy.

With Facebook calling the shots, you won't ever want for anything.

Messages, Titan, Skynet

As far as you and I are concerned, there is only one fundamental difference between Facebook and Google. They are both in the business of accruing monstrous amounts of data about its users -- but they both have very different sets of data. Facebook only knows what we explicitly say about ourselves -- our age, our hometown, our favorite TV show. Our Facebook profile represents who we aspire to be; Schindler's List might not actually be your favorite film, and you might have only read the first page of that Nietzsche book, but who's to know?

Google, on the other hand, can only implicitly deduce facts by our browsing habits. Google might not know our exact age, but it knows a lot of things that we would never tell other people, such as our late-night browsing habits. Google knows that we like to spend hours looking at stupid pictures of cats and videos of pandas sneezing. Google knows that our favorite film is actually American Pie.

In other words, Facebook knows who we want to be, while Google knows who we actually are.

It's when you join those two halves that everything slots into place. That's when the singularity is reached; that's when superhuman intelligence will indelibly alter the landscape of humanity.

With Messages, Facebook will be privy to both your explicit and implicit profile. It will know that, publicly, your favorite book is Lord of the Rings, but that you secretly spend hours writing Harry Potter fan fiction. It will know your exact age, but it will also know your actual mental age and reading level. It will know if you long to live in other countries, or whether you are unhappy in your current relationship. Facebook Messages will know you better than you know yourself.

When the Facebook consciousness awakens, everything will change. You will still make choices, but you won't know if they originate from within or without.

You will be given the choice of opting out, of course. But think about it: can you see yourself leaving Facebook today? Now fast forward a few months, a year. Imagine what it will be like once all of your communication goes through Facebook; quitting won't be an option.

Facebook -- with or without Google -- will destroy the world as we know it originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/11/17/facebook-with-or-without-google-will-destroy-the-world-as/

QUALCOMM QUANTA COMPUTER RESEARCH IN MOTION ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS

Line2 users shouldn't update to iOS 4.2 [but 4.2.1 may be OK]

Update: Several commenters who have installed the 4.2.1 release candidate build of iOS report that it fixes the sustained-ring issue for Line2 and other VoIP apps.

Toktumi is warning all all iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users with the handy VoIP app Line2 installed to avoid upgrading to the coming-any-day-now iOS 4.2.

According to an email sent to registered users today, users who run Line2 in the background after upgrading to iOS 4.2 may have trouble with the ringer. Specifically, it will continue to ring even after an incoming call is answered.

Line2 adds a second line to your iPhone that works over 3G and Wi-Fi. It also allows for unlimited texting in the U.S. and Canada. International text messages cost US$0.10 each. Tokutumi notes that Apple Developer Support has been made aware of this issue with the 4.2 release candidates. However, as of the most recent iOS gold master build, it's still a problem.

Of course, Line2 will continue to work as normal under older versions of the iOS. If you're using this solution, just sit tight and wait for Toktumi to announce an official fix.

Thanks Jon & e hewitt!

Line2 users shouldn't update to iOS 4.2 [but 4.2.1 may be OK] originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/11/18/line2-users-shouldnt-update-to-ios-4-2/

NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS NOVELLUS SYSTEMS NOVELL NETWORK APPLIANCE