Asus PadFone

Asus has proved it has lots of good ideas (do we need a reminder regarding who started the netbook revolution?) And even now surprises us with great looking inovative devices like the Eee Pad Transformer; even if sometimes those experiments don't turn out so well, as the ill-fated Eee Keyboard.

But it doesn't stop here, ASUS has just announced the PadFone!

Just like the Eee Pad transformer is capable os transforming a Tablet into a netbook, this PadFone can turn a Smartphone into a tablet.

When we consider a high-end smartphone carries an hefty cost, and most of its hardware is shared with tablet devices, this would be a great way to offer an affordable tablet option to a smartphone carrying crowd. After all, the "dumb-tablet" is little more than a LCD screen and battery - with the smartphone carrying all the smarts (CPU, GPU, Ram, Flash, etc).

The only thing needed to turn this concept into a big success is: a really competitive price that will make people want the tablet dock.
Even better, if Asus goes the extra mile and allows this PadFone tablet to use the Eee Pad Transformer keyboard dock, we could then have a 3-in-1 device: a smartphone that could be used as a tablet or netbook at will!

Looks like a winner! Now they just need to come up with a Kal-El smartphone to really show off what this combo can do.

Corsair Force Series 3 SSD

If you're after a speedy - but still affordable - SSD, looks like Corsair's new Force Series 3 SSDs might be just what you're looking for.

These Corsair SSDs use brand new SandForce controllers (SandForce SF-2281) and SATA III 6Gbps connections for maximum performance. What does all that mean? It means you can get up to 550 and 520 MBps read and write speeds, and handle 85,000 IOPs.

Not bad at all considering you can get these Force Series 3 SSDs starting at just $139 for the 60GB model. ($219 for the 120GB, and $499 for the 240GB model)

What's the Best Way to Tie Your Shoes?

There's nothing worse than thinking you "know it all", and that's why I'm so eager to keep learning - no matter how well I think I know something. And, when it comes to something we do almost every day: like tying up your shoes; it just proves my point.

In this 2005 TED Talk video (the first 3-minute audience talk given from the TED stage, in fact), Terry Moore shows us a better way to tie up our shoes.

Watch it, and be amazed by how a subtle changes can end up making such a big difference!

Panoramic Video Recording for the iPhone

Ever wished you could use your iPhone to record 360º panoramic videos? Now you can thanks to this Dot lens adapter.

This is one of those community funded Kickstarter projects - and at the time of this writing, it had already more than enough pledges to ensure it's first production run.

The video recorded with this dot adapter will look messy when seen in your iPhone, but as soon as you put it through the software deconvolution process, you'll end up with a 360º panoramic video you can navigate around.

Google Wallet

Google is finally pushing forward into mobile payments using the NFC (Near Field Communications) technology introduced with the Nexus S: with the now announced Google Wallet.

This wireless system will allow you to use your smartphone as a payment method, and although it sounds "high-tech", it is actually quite common in several different countries around the world: particularly in Japan, where it is already being used for several years. (Here in Portugal we have several "wireless" payment cards for transports, but nothing for regular commerce... yet.)

Using such a system comes with several advantages, allowing for loyalty programs and discounts to be automatically processed without requiring the extra "loyalty cards" that quickly fill up our wallets.

Google says there will be NFC stickers that will allow non-NFC Androids to use the system, and I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about the Google Wallet in the upcoming weeks and months.

Bendable eInk Screen by Sony

Digital paper has been around for a while, but it keeps evolving, as Sony just proved with their  13.3" bendable eInk paper.

This 13.3" screen/paper has a resolution of 1200x1600 (150ppi) and is capable of showing 16 gray levels with a constrat ratio of 10:1. You can bend it up to a 5mm radius, and the main question is: when will this sort of technology be available for commercial use?

Until then, we'll have to keep waiting, seeing these prototypes being shown in exhibitions... and imagining all the equipments such technology would allow.

TMS RamSan - a 2GB/s SSD

If you're a regular reader, you've heard me talk about the SSD advantages over traditional rotating hard drives many times before. But, proving that even when talking about lightning fast SSDs there are "fast" and "faster", how about a SSD PCIe card capable of 2GB/s throughput?

That's exactly what you get with this TMS RamSan-70: 2 Gigabytes per second data transfers which would allow you to read its entire 900GB content in under 8 minutes. (For comparison, keep in mind that even a fast hard drive, doing 100MB/s, would take over 2 hours to do the same!)

Sure, I won't even dare asking the price of such a thing, but let's hope evolution does its thing and - within a couple of years - this type of performance may very well be within our grasp.

Windows Phone News Coming Soon

Steve Ballmer says the Windows Phone "Mango" update will bring over 500 new features and enhancements.

Also, looks like the current Windows Phone devices will soon be joined by a new and updated batch of devices (I'm counting on new dual-core powered Windows Phones, to keep it in line with the Android offerings - not to mention the upcoming dual-core iPhone 5 in September/October.)

I still believe no one should dismiss the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft can't afford not to be present in the mobile space - and with the late, but sure, arrival of the Nokia/MS devices, I'm guessing 2012 might prove to be a turning point into "flooding" the market with affordable and attractive Windows Phone devices.

iida INFOBAR A1

If you still haven't found a mobile touch interface that suits you, take a look at this iida Infobar A1, which offers a launcher that mixes elements from Windows Phone, iOS, and Android.

Like it or not, it's one more example to show how customizable interfaces/launchers are on Android, allowing each user to select the look and feel they're most comfortable with.

Linux PC Emulator in Javascript

As a programmer, I've always said that (almost) everything is doable in any computer language - although there are computer languages better suited to each and every problem.

However, there's no denying javascript has come a long way since it's first inception. And if any more examples are needed to prove its worth, how about this Linux PC emulator in javascript!

Yep, albeit it's a simple computer comparable to a plain 486 CPU, we're talking about a PC emulator done entirely in Javascript - which is, at the very least, awesome!

It was created by Fabrice Bellard, creator of QEMU and FFmpeg, and also winner of several IOCCC competitions).



You can find more details about this javascript PC emulator here.

SpinTrack Rotary Control with USB

For true hardcore fans, games like the mythic Arkanoid only makes sense when played with a rotary control like the one in the arcade machine. That's really the only these kind of games "were meant to be played!"

(Just like Missile Command only makes sense when played with a giant trackball! :)

If you're building or assembling your own arcade cabinet or classic game emulator, you can easily keep the original feeling by using one of these SpinTrack with USB.

Better yet, these kind of controllers will be quite useful not only for gaming, but for lots of other applications as well. Audio and video editing really can benefit from a rotary control as well.

So... if you ever come across a project where a "spinner" would come in handy, now you know how/where to get one.

How to Remove Duplicate Rows in Google Docs

If you're an avid fan of Google Docs and use its spreadsheet regularly here's a tip that might come in handy.

Ever wished you'd be able to remove duplicate rows of info? For instance, imagine you have a long list of emails, but there might be duplicate entries and you need to get a list without any duplicates.

Instead of trying to do it manually and waste a lot of time, you can simply use the UNIQUE function.
Just place your cursor in an empty cell and enter:

=UNIQUE(...) 

and select the area with the duplicate rows to process. And that's it!

Hope you'll find it useful.

Onavo Traffic Reducer for iPhone and iPad

Ever wished your mobile data plan would allow you to download just a little bit more than it does? Tired of paying a small - or not so small - fortune whenever you access the Internet on your iPhone or iPad while abroad?

This Onavo for iPhone and iPad allows you to reduce your roaming charges and maximize your data plan by compressing all data sent to your device.

It works just like Opera Mini and several other mobile browsers work, by routing the traffic through Onavo servers (Amazon Cloud Service) which is then compressed as much as possible - but in this case compressing all the data arriving at your iPhone and not just web pages.

Other than that, Onavo offers a very intersting insight into how much traffic was saved and which Apps used the data. It's something you'll soon be wishing it could come as standard on the iPhone!

Sure, some won't appreciate having all their data routed through some strangers servers - but encrypted content will be just as safe as it will ever be (for logins, passwords, etc) - and, in the end, it's up to you to decide if the benefits outweigh the risks. I'm sure for lots of iPhone roaming users out there, they won't have to think twice about it!

Better get Onavo while it's free at the App Store. :)

Google Docs gets Pivot Tables

Month after month, Google Docs is becoming more and more useful and learning things that will certainly appeal the more advanced users. Now, Google Spreadsheets can create pivot tables.

As Google puts it:

A pivot table report is a dynamic table that lets you interpret data in different ways without ever having to enter a formula. Pivot table reports are particularly useful when you want to narrow down a large data set or analyze relationships between data points.

In just a few clicks, you can summarize and analyze a large set of data through different categorizations and calculations. For example, from a list of students in a college class, you can get a quick understanding of the the age distribution of and number of science majors in the class.

So... what are you waiting for? Are you still using an installable spreadsheet that you can use only in your own PC, when you could be using Google Docs which is accessible via any (decent) web browser?

Android Impersonation Attacks

If you use an Android device, you better take some precautions as 99% of the devices are vulnerable to impersonation attacks.

What does this mean? Well, it means that your device will try to connect to any known network - even if its one cloned by an attacker, which is then able to sniff out your authtorization tokens, and with that information, pretend to be you in a number of different services, like Google Calendar, Facebook and Twitter.

Google has already patched this flaw in the upcoming Android 2.3.4 (although they seem to have forgotten Picasa, which still suffers from it) - but considering 99% of the Androids out there are running older (and much older) versions... It becomes quite risky to use any WiFi connection outdoors.

HP WiFi Mouse

For the most part, computer mouses have remained unchanged since their invention. Sure, we let go of the dust gathering rubber balls and started using LED and Laser optical sensors. And we even ditched it's "tail", by evolving to wireless mouses.
But, for the most part, wireless mouses also came with some annoying drawbacks: you still had to use a receptor dongle on a USB port, and you'd have to start worrying about battery life and charging/recharging.

That's two things that HP might have taken care of with their WiFi Computer Mouse.

By using WiFi, it requires no special USB receiver dongle and can be used by any computer with WiFi connection; and as for the battery, HP claims up to 9 months battery life, which should be enough to make you forget about that as well.

The HP WiFi Mouse should be available from June onwards with a price of $49.99.

Motion Color Blindness

It has been a while since I posted an optical illusion, but this deserves special credit, as it won the best optical illusion of the year, and offers insight to how our brain perceives and "sees" things.

Just focus on the white point in the center of the video.



So, you certainly saw the color changing dots. But, once the dots start rotating the color changing stops, right?... Actually... WRONG!

The color changing continues even while the dots are moving, but out brain can't handle everything, and so it discards the color information is moving objects outside our focus point.

Just a reminder of how much we really don't see when we look at something!

iSense for iPad

If it's true that touch interfaces allow us to find infinite ways to improve user interfaces, the truth is, it also makes life harder for everyone not able to see.

This iSense for iPad is a concept that would allow anyone to turn a flat tablet touchscreen into a dynamic sensable surface allowing blind people - and everyone else, for the matter - to have a physical feedback to the underlying interface.

Unfortunately it's nothing but an imagination concetp for now, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone somewhere had already found a suitable photo-reactive material that would make this iSense possible in the not so distant future.


iSense from Kikki Tham Sterner on Vimeo.

Blogger Nightmare

It was supposed to be a simple maintenance update, but Google's Blogger soon proved why you shouldn't try this kind of stuff just before a Friday 13th.

The maintenance update went terribly wrong, forcing the Blogger team to revert to a earlier backup.

Though they're trying to recover posts and comments, some people say they're still still missing stuff.

Just the other day, when Wordpress had problems, I told to a friend that we shouldn't mock that - as someday it could be happening to us "blogger users". Seems like I was proven right sooner than I expected.

Sorry for any issues you might have experienced when visiting here. Let's hope Blogger has finally sorted everything out.

Murdebox - Computers with Style

If your idea of a computer is a work of art that should be seen and appreciated without an encumbering boring case, you'll certainly appreciate the quality and detail put into each one of these Murderbox computers.

These are computers that will impress anyone even when they're powered off. Heck, I wouldn't mind having one on display just like any other art piece.

However, just like any great work of art, it comes with an hefty price tag. Prices start at $6000 USD(!), and will easily climb all the way up to... whatever.

Even so, one can dream and feel inspired by it! :)

[via Kotaku]

100 Terabit/s Optic Fiber Speed Record

I still remember when I was dreaming about one daybeing able to access the internet via a blazingly fast ISDN/RDIS 64Kbits, instead of the lowly 9,600 baud modem I had - and now I have a 20Mbits plus connection at home, and I could even have a 100Mbit one, should I be willing to pay for it.

With the optic fiber networks arriving at home (FTTH - Fiber to the Home), even greater speeds become possible... But at the same time, researchers are also pushing network speeds to the limit for the next generation of data travel, achieving speeds of over 100 Terabits/sec!

And don't think they were just pushing photons from one side of the room to the other. This test used over 100 miles of fiber, and show us a glimpse of the future, where every household and every device is connected via these ultra-fast networks.

Who will need to have DVDs/Bluerays or even Terabytes of local storage at home, when you can instantly transfer them from "wherever"? The possibilities are endless...

Colorize Events in Google Calendar

It took them a while (a lot, actually) but Google Calendar now allows custom color events to help us better track and manage our events.

For anyone heavily using Google Calendar and having lots of events, the chance to make any event stand out from the rest by simply making it look different can really be a life saver.

You need only click on any event, and next to the tile you'll find a new small dropdown arrow giving you access to several unique colors.

The new feature is being deployed as we speak, and if it still doesn't show up in your calendar, you'll need only wait a little longer till it gets there. :)

How to Save Memory in Firefox

Though Firefox is an excellent browser, the truth is... it still gobbles up quite an amount of memory, particularly if you happen to haven several dozen of tabs open at the same time.

That's why you'll probably want to give this add-on a try: BarTab.

With this add-on, you can customize the way Firefox handles multiple tabs. You can specify you don'w want it to load all tabs when restoring a session - delaying it until you actually click on each individual tab.
You can even specify you want to unload a tab from memory after a preset time of inactivty.

It's the perfect add-on for every power user with dozens of tabs open every day!

[How to save Memory in Firefox]

NASA Air Traffic Simulation (FACET)

Thanks to a new NASA simulation tool: Future ATM (Air Traffic Management) Concepts Evaluation Tool, or FACET; researchers are now able to create realistic simulations of air traffic around  the world, based on historical flight plan info, weather conditions, etc.

With over 5000 airplanes in the air over the USA in any single day, the following simulations are mesmerizing... More so when they simulate the air traffic on Sept. 11, 2001.



[via FlyingMag]

How to Transfer Angry Birds Scores Between iPhones and iPads

So you've just bought your new iPad 2, and sooner or later you'll be wanting to play Angry Birds on it. But... how do you feel about doing it all again?

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just simply transfer your iPhone's Angry Birds score to your new device?

Well... you can.

1. Download the free iPhone Explorer which also works for iPod touch and iPad and lets you use an iOS device as if it’s a flash drive
2. Plug your source Angry Birds device into your Mac and use iPhone Explorer to navigate to Apps > Angry Birds > Documents
3. Create a folder on your Mac called “Angry Birds Data” or similar and drag and drop the following five files from Apps > Angry Birds > Documents into it:
   - DataStore
   - FetchManager
   - highscores.lua
   - PostManager
   - settings.lua
4. Remove your source iOS device and plug in the iOS device to which you want to transfer your Angry Birds scores
5. Drag and drop all five files above from your Mac to the new iOS device (with Angry Birds already installed on it) in Apps > Angry Birds > Documents

[via MacDaily News]

Facts about Portugal

Portugal is facing some hard times ahead, due to some "mismanagement" (to put it mildy), and although most European countries are willing to help us, some - as in: Finland - are trying to forget history and what we've done for them when those roles were reversed.

So, here's a video for Finland to watch and remember, and... it's a nice video for anyone else wanting to learn a bit more about Portugal, my country. (Which is not a perfect country, but isn't as bad as some rating agencies and economic "manouvers" try to make it look!)

Intel Announces 3D Transistors

Looks like Moore's Law just got another extension. This "law", that states that the number of transistors on a chip can double every couple of years and that has serve as a guideline, allowing us to experience the amazing evolution in electronics we've had in the past decades seems to always find a way to be fulfilled.

Once again, when it seemed there wasn't much else that could be done, Intel announced a revolutionary new fabrication method that allows them to create 3D transistors. The very building blocks of most electronic "stuff".

Why should you care? This means that their new Ivy Bridge 22nm CPUS, arriving later this year, will be a lot faster while using much less power. They say it can save up to 50% power in comparison to current chips.

Panasonic Augmented Reality TV Setup

If you can't quite figure out how a new large-screen LCD will look when you bring it home, Panasonic can now offer an helping hand to see how one of their Viera models will look like in your own home - provided you have an iPhone.

Using this free AR Setup Simulator App, you'll be able to actually see how each Panasonic Viera model will look like in your own home thanks to the "magic" of Augmented Reality.

You just need to print out a AR marker and place it where you would place the actual LCD screen, and when you look at it through your iPhone screen, running Panasonic's App... you'll see it just like it's actually there.

Just keep in mind that even in real TV sets, dimensions are truly deceiving. A large 50" or 60" set might look huge the first couple of days; but give it a couple of weeks and you'll soon begin thinking: "Maybe that bigger model wouldn't have been so bad after all..." ;)

iPad 2 with Matte Screen

The IPS iPad 2 LCD screen might be a joy to use indoors, but... add a few bright lights or try to use it outdoors in the sun, and its glossy surface finish will make it look like a mirror.

Wouldn't it be nice if Apple offered a matte screen option for the iPad?

While we wait for it, our only option is to rely on something like this ShieldView Matte Screen for the iPad 2.

Not only it will serve to protect your precious iPad 2 screen from scratches, it will also turn it into a non-reflective matte screen perfect for outdoors use.

Gmail with Background Send

There's a new Gmail Labs feature that will certainly appeal to anyone sending countless emails in Gmail every day: the Background Send.

Although Gmail is quite fast, we all know just how valuable time is, and every second counts. When you enable this Labs feature, your Gmail won't delay you whenever you send an email. Your Gmail will be immediately ready to do whatever you want, while your email is being sent in the background.

If anything goes wrong, you'll receive an alert notification:

The only thing you'll have to keep in mind is to make sure every email was sent before you close your Gmail window or shutdown your computer.
I think it's a reasonable compromise in order to shave all those precious seconds every time your hit the send button.

iOS 4.3.3 Fixes iPhone History Log

Looks like Apple wants to put an end to the troublesome iPhone location log as soon as possible. In the upcoming iOS 4.3.3 which is expected anytime now; we'll find the following fixes:

• The update will no longer back up the location database to iTunes.
• The size of the location database will be reduced.
• The location database will be deleted entirely when Location Services are turned off.
• Battery life improvements.
• iPod bug fixes.

... I knew I should have waited just a little longer before updating my iPhone to 4.3.2, yesterday...

Bin Laden is Dead

President Barack Obama has announced the death of Osama Bin Laden. After nearly a decade, the most wanted man on the planet was finally found and killed.

President Obama: "I can report to the American people and to the world, that the US has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden".

Hopefully this will serve to give some closure to all those directly or indirectly affected by the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers...

Turn Frosted Glass Visible with Scotch Tape

Ever wished you could see through frosted glass? It's easier than you might think, and all it takes is a bit of scotch tape.

Just place a bit of transparent scotch tape to the frosted side of the glass pane, and you'll be able to see the other side in much clearer detail.

(I have to confess I found this by accident when I was 8 or 9 years old, when playing with scoth tapes at my dad's office... and I too was amazed by that finding. :)

Why does this happen? Frosted glass is made by making on side of the glass pane "rough" and uneven in order to scatter light; with the scotch tape you even out the irregularities, allowing light to pass in a more direct way, and providing a clearer view.

That's the secret that allows using scotch tape to make frosted glass visible again.