I predict UFOs sightings in Japan are about to go crazy, with the arrival of these odd-looking spherical aerial drones developed by their Ministry of Defense.
The concept is quite ingenious and rather simple: take the parts that allow a plane to fly, and reassemble it in a spherical way: making it possible to fly vertically... as well as horizontally; and with the added advantage of making it possible to land "wherever" you like - and even move around in the ground.
Humm... looks like we'll soon be having air battles between these and AR Drones? :)
In the constant iPhone vs Android (and vice-versa) arguments, some people really take it very seriously to promote their preferred platform over the other - completely ignoring both have lots of good things, as well as some bad thing that should/could be improved.
I hope the following video reminds everyone that iPhone and Androids can indeed live in peaceful harmony, and learn from one another... :)
The new iPhone 4S may be the best iPhone ever, with twice the CPU power and 7x faster GPU, but lots of users are finding a very annoying drawback: the iPhone 4S battery life took a severe hit, and can't even last a single day.
That's something I unfortunately found out as well. With the iPhone 4 I could go on from 7AM to the end of my day without worrying about it; even with more than moderate use I usually ended up the day having well over 20% battery left.
With the iPhone 4S, things are quite different: and not long after lunch my battery is already entering the dreaded "red zone" - forcing me to recharge my iPhone 4S whether I want it or not. And while that's no "biggie" for most of my days, things will be a lot harder whenever I'm away, far from a power supply.
That's something I was used to face with big powerful Android devices, which sometimes can "drain" all the battery due to misbehaving rogue Apps and background services - but that Apple proudly "solved" by limiting the amount of backgrounding Apps can do.
Even though there's a new notification center; the number of notifications popping up is exactly the same as before - so it shouldn't be attributed to that either.
My guess is that it has something to do with the new iCloud syncing stuff... and I hope Apple can find it and fix it soon. Fortunately, it looks like Apple is actively looking into it, and I hope we can soon have a fix, delivered via the new Over-the-air update method.
Also, we desperatly need a way to set the timing for those automatic iCloud backups - it makes no sense for my iPhone 4S to start backing up in the middle of the day while I forcefully have to recharge it at work - and using up amost of the available bandwidth(!) - or at some public place or friend's home. I want to be able to set it so it syncs only during a preset alloted time (say, from 2AM to 6AM)... and also the chance to limit it to just a list of allowed hotspots (so I can safely charge it at a Hotel, for example, without incurring in extra costs paid for WiFi use!)
There are also major bugs in the contacts section and Siri. For instance, after setting my "home" address, Siri works fine, setting reminders for when I get home... But then, a few days later it says it can't do it anymore because I have no "home address" set - and, without doing anything at all, it then starts working again the next day... So... what's up with that?
One friend of mine couldn't make it work at all, and had to resort to creating a different contact, called "master", with the exact same address it uses in his own contact info: and while Siri can't find his home address, it works fine when using the "master's home" address... Weird.
And while we're at it: it's also strange that Apple's own App store App works so badly! Besides not being actively notified of updates (why doesn't Apple use push notifications for it?), the badge count is often off: showing updates that were already installed, showing up blank pages, and lots other glitches that users shouldn't have to endure - particularly in one of the most "visible" and important App in the entire iOS ecosystem.
It really was an excellent idea... to be guided to your destination by Jeremy Clarkson - one of the most iconic petrol-heads in the world, courtesy of the hugely popular Top Gear, (or would it be that Top Gear is popular. because it has Jeremy Clakson?... Guess we'll never know! :) in the latest TomTom Top Gear edition navigation system.
Sure enough, each instruction would be "enhanced" by Clarkson's unmistakable remarks, like: "after 700 yards, assuming this car can make it that far, you have reached your destination, with the aid of 32 satellites an me – well done!"
Unfortunately... with over 50k units already built - some of which already in the stores - BBC stepped back from the deal, only then remembering its own editorial guidelines:
“Those working on consumer programs must take particular care not to endorse any product or service which could be covered in the programs on which they work and they should have no commercial or other links which could appear to influence their BBC work”.
It's really a shame... But I suspect these - now rare - TomTom Top Gear edition GPS units will soon pop up in ebay and other online stores for Top Gear die hard fans to bid their hearts out to get it - though I would assume that voice pack will eventually make its way into the internet "underground" and be available to anyone really wanting to get it.
Driving around with no license in his car created a lot of internet myths surrounding Steve Jobs' Mercedes. Some said he simply paid all fines the police threw at him; other said he had a special license that enabled him to drive around with no license plates; but now... we finally found the truth.
In California, a new car has 6 months to get a license... And Steve Jobs simply made a deal with the leasing company to get a brand new Mercedes SL 55 AMG every 6 months!
(No one said it would be cheap... :)
Makes me wonder: how many ex-Steve Jobs Mercedes are there driving around as we speak?
Timeslide - A horizontal view of your posts by time period
Now you can customize it to better suit your blog: modify your background, fonts, or colors, and add a custom header image (65px high) - or simply choose from one of the “suggested themes” that we provide.
To begin personalizing your blog, log in to the Blogger dashboard, select “Template”, choose from one of the seven Dynamic Views, and then click “Customize” to access the Template Designer.
While people can now argue about "pixel details" regarding their latest smartphones, comparing the latest iPhone 4S and Galaxy S2 to exhaustion and back again; it wouldn't hurt to take a step back and look at how much things have evolved over the past 4 years.
That's exactly what Lisa Bettany did in Camera+, taking shots with every iPhone model: the original iPhone, 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S, and also throwing a compact Canon S95 and a professional 5D MkII into the mix.
Sure, no one would expect a smartphone camera to compete with a professional dSLR, but the most interesting point is that current high-end smartphones can indeed compete and even surpass compact cameras - and let's not forget a smartphone is something we carry along with us most of the time (unlike a camera, even a compact one.)
The iPhone camera has improved a lot since its original model, but the real deal was actually made in the 3GS generation, when it went from a fixed focus camera to a auto-focus one.
From now on, every new improvement is likely to be less noticeable than the previous one - simply because we're getting to a point where the current photos are already "more than good" enough for most people.
Though computer generated images can now be created with such realism that we can't really say if they're real or not, there's still a lot to be done when you want to insert a CGI object into a real-life photograph. Though you can put a lot of effort into it, it isn't easy to make something artificial look like it belongs there... until now.
Check these amazing examples that show not only how you can insert digital objects into still pictures... but even create realistic animations that interact with its surroundings.
Touchscreen devices are all around us these days, but no matter how convenient and versatile they are... there's also some things you can no longer do: like using or operating your cellphone through a thick layer of clothing...
But now Microsoft is working on a system they call PocketTouch. A multitouch detection system that can work even though thick fabric and will ultimately allow you to operate your smartphone even when place in your pockets - or inside a protective cloth bag.
You don't even have to worry about remembering which position its in, as the unlock gesture will automatically "align" it in order to properly recognize the following gestures.
Who doesn't remember playing around with magnets - and inevitably trying to make one levitate over the other by carefully aligning them (without much success I'm afraid)?
Well, if you thought those magnetic experiments were cool, just wait and see what you can get when you throw superconductors into it.
Welcome to the world of quantum super-levitation. A world where you can "freeze" a object in place - in mid air - and... well, it really must be seen to be believed.
(I guess physic classes would attract a lot more interested students if teachers showed them this experiment in class rooms around the world... :)
If you want to know more about how that's possible check out the following video and the quantum levitation website.
Yesterday, the world was surprised to find you can use Siri even with a locked iPhone (though you can easily disable it in the settings). Today, we find another bug - this time an actual security flaw - that allows anyone with a smartcover to bypass your locked iPad 2.
If you have a locked iPad 2 in front of you, here's what you need to do:
Hold down power button until iPad 2 reaches turn off slider
Close Smart Cover
Open Smart Cover
Click cancel on the bottom of the screen
The "attacker" will only be able to access what you had on screen when you locked your iPad (if you left it on your home screen, he can't run any of the Apps), but it might be troublesome in case you left it in your email, browser, etc.
For now, if you want to prevent it, the best option it to disable smartcover unlock in the settings... and report it to Apple so they fix it ASAP. (With the new iOS5, they can push small partial updates, so... it's a good time to make use of it!)
Asus is already teasing us regarding the upcoming Eee Pad Transformer 2 which, according to the way the previous model was received by the public, is bound to be a huge success.
There are still no details, but we can see a much cleaner and nice design - similar to the also upcoming Zenbooks - and also a new and improved CPU that will make everything go even faster: the Nvidia Tegra 3 "Kal-El" Quad-Core (+1).
Also expected is for this transformer Android tablet to show up with the latest Android Ice Cream, making this tablet one of the highly anticipated ones for this Christmas season! :)
I believe this will be one of the most important "steps" Google and Android are giving, and will become a major milestone in the evolution of the Android platform.
Galaxy Nexus
If your're looking for a high-end Android smartphone, look no further, as the new Galaxy Nexus will offer you everything you might be looking for... and more.
The only "downside" is that it might be too large for anyone wanting a compact Android phone; but once you see that 4.65" Super AMOLED in action, with its HD 1280x720 resolution, you might want to reconsider it. Besides, that large screen is partially compensated by the fact that we no longer have the traditional physical Android buttons, just like the Honeycomb tablets.
Inside, we can find TI OMAP4 dual-core CPU (1.2Ghz), 1GB RAM and dual cameras (5MP and 1.3MP... now without shutter lag). Also present are the usual assortment of extras, like: Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, NFC, giroscope, barometer... etc.
There will be different models depending on the region: HSPA+ (3G) or LTE (4G)...
But more than the hardware itself, the jewel of the crown is the new and improved Android 4.0.
Android Ice Cream Sandwich
There's a lot of new stuff in Android ICS. Some (most) will be instantly recognized by anyone with a Honeycomb tablet - which Google admitted being an emergency stopgap version made in a hurry (that's why they never launched it as open-source) - but that will now be done properly with this 4.0 Android version.
From what I can figure out, this really does seem to be the first Android version made with the required amount of attention to details that will make users want to have an Android - as opposed to have "anything" that allowed them to access the web and their email - and that will at last "unify" tablet and smartphone Apps under a common interface.
Besides the hardware buttons giving way to software buttons, there are also:
resizable widgets - and accessible in their own tab alongside the Apps
You can easily move around Apps to the dock bar
Easily create folder by dragging Apps into one another (like iOS)
Easy multitasking App access, with screenshots - and that can be dismissed with a single swipe (like on WebOS)
realtime voice transcription
unlock by facial recognition
"zero lag" camera photos- continuous auto-focus, realtime effects, photo editing, panoramic photos, time-lapse, zoom while recording video, etc.
Screenshots (press power button and volume down)
enhanced Gmail client - easier to access options (instead of hiding them)
Android Beam - content transfer between Android via NFC
Improved People contacts App with social integration
Data usage controls - you can set a limit as well as see which Apps are using data
Improved keyboard - also better copy-paste
Pinch-to-zoom in calendar
Direct app access in lock screen as well as see notifiations
Improved browser (16 tabs, desktop mode)
Able to disable "operator-installed Apps"
Lots and lots of nice features and improvements that make Android more attractive than ever (and also make iOS look old in the process... like the zero lag photos, and realtime voice transcription - as well as the "WebOS style" swipe to dismiss notifications and background apps)!
If you ever tried to take photos of gadgets or other small things, you've probably wondered why your photos look so bad compared to the shots you see in professional magazines and catalogs. More than the actual camera, the trick is to get the perfect lighting, and for that you may need to use a light tent allowing you to have soft diffuse light bathing your "subject".
The real kicker is: you don't even have to spend a fortune to get one: as you can find cheap light tents in sites like Deal Extreme for just $20! That makes even DIY solutions like using translucent IKEA trashcans a lot less interesting. :)
Besides, it comes with colored background cloths to suit the object you're photographing.
The only complaint so far is that it seems rather hard to fold the tent back into its compact carrying bag... But considering this light tent low cost... I guess that's something we can all live with.
Considering most of the users that opt to jailbreak their iPhones do so in order to have complete controlo over their devices, this OmniStat should appeal to everyone with access to the Cydia App Store.
With this OmniStat you can add a new pane to the new iOS5 notification center - which you can access dragging down the top bar, just like on any Android - which will offer a wide array on information and stats about your device.
And besides presenting useful information for everyone wanting to keep a close eye on their iPhone's inner workings, it does so in a way that wouldn't feel out of place in an official Apple widget, as you'll be able to see in the following video.
Definitely a must have for jailbreakers out there.
With the arrival of the new iPhone 4S and its virtual assistant Siri, it didn't took long for people to start pushing it to the limite and see just how "intelligent" Siri really is..
And, in many cases, Siri can indeed answer graciously even to the most strange and awkward questions, as well as some of the most famous movie lines ever, as you can see by this small selection of examples compiled by the site "Shit that Siri Says".
Ever wondered about the origin of Steve Jobs iconic (but simple) dressing style? Never have jeans and a turtleneck been so famous... and now we get to glimpse how it all came to happen in Steve Jobs upcoming biography by Walter Isaacson:
On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, Jobs asked Sony's chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company's factories wore uniforms. He told Jobs that after the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day. Over the years, the uniforms developed their own signatures styles, especially at companies such as Sony, and it became a way of bonding workers to the company. "I decided that I wanted that type of bonding for Apple," Jobs recalled.
Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, "I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea."
In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake and would visit him regularly. He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style. "So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them." Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. "That's what I wear," he said. "I have enough to last for the rest of my life."
With the new iOS5, you'll find there's a new icon/app in your home screen: the Newsstand. A app where you'll be able to manage all your magazine and newspaper subscriptions.
Maybe you'll never intend to use it, and archive it somewhere out of sight. But unfortunaly, unlike other Apps, this one can't be placed inside a folder.
... Unless you now how!
Thanks to this tip, there is a way to place the newsstand inside a folder, and here's how:
Take two apps and go to create a folder
The second the apps are in the folder and it’s doing the folder creation animation, drag Newsstand into the folder
As long as you’re quick enough Newsstand will go into the folder!
Rather than showing yet another demo of what WebGL can achieve, today it's Google itself that shows us a practical application of this 3D technology that remains mostly unused inside your browser. Google has decided to put WebGL to good use in its own WebGL Google Maps.
You just need to access it via the following link: http://maps.google.com/gl and enable the WebGL mode ("try something new" in the bottom left corner).
Though there's still a lot to be done, you can now see 3D building in your Google Maps, just like the Android version (and unlike iPhone users - which remain without it, even in iOS5) and also smoother zoom transitions across different view modes.
The much awaited iOS 5 for the iPhone and iPad will be made available today, for free, for all devices from the iPhone 3GS onwards.
This updates comes with lots of improvements and new features that will turn even an "old" iPhone 3GS in a completely new beast - not to mention some nice speed improvements in browsing speed and javascript. An improvement that makes the iPhone 4 faster than the speedy Galaxy S 2 with Android 2.3.4, not to mention the even faster iPhone 4S - even though its underclocked to 800Mhz.
Unfortunately, we won't be getting Siri with the iOS 5 - not even on the iPhone 4 - but with over 200 new features, I'm sure there will be enough to keep users happy for quite some time.
Some were beginning to think it would never come, but... Facebook has finally updated its iOS App and we can now have a decent Facebook App on the iPad.
There are lots of improvements on it, making it a lot easier and faster to use on both the iPad as well as iPhones - the best of it (for me) being able to check messages and notifications without leaving the page we're currently in.
The new App is already on the App store, so... be sure to update it as soon as possible.
A New Way to Experience Facebook
Enjoy bigger, better photosYour photos take on new life on the iPad. They're big, high-res and easy to flip through—like a real photo album.
Focus on what mattersWith less on the screen, it's easier to zoom in on your friends' photos, updates and stories.
Navigate anywhere, fastJust tap, slide or pinch to get from one screen to another and back again in no time.
Never lose your place Use simplified navigation to send a message, see your notifications or browse your bookmarks without switching screens.
Play games on the go Play your favorite Facebook games wherever you are, and on a bigger screen.
Tap to send messages A simple dropdown menu makes it easy to scan and send messages without visiting your inbox.
We all want bigger screens on our mobile phones... but we also need it to be compact enough to be easily carried around in our pockets and usable with just one hand. With screen sizes of 4.2" and bigger, things look like they might be getting out of hand, and with the new HD OLED 4.65" (1280x720) screens, like the one we expect to have on the new Nexus Prime, it would seem Google would have lost its mind... UNless they could find a way to cram a larger screen without making the smartphone bigger than the last Nexus.
And thats exactly what it seems they did. With the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich, Google might have decided to ditch the usual Android physical keys (just like they did on Android Honeycomb), making it show as "softkeys" on screen.
If this is the case, the Nexus Prime might indeed have the larger screen and still keep the same apparent size - and it also will clear up, once and for all, all the messy button situations out there (each brand deciding on which keys to implement, and its order, etc.)
Looks like the Nexus Prime will soon become the first real Android device for the next generation.
Is you rely on Google to work and manage your docs, you've probably noticed Google Docs new look. A look that was improved based on user's feedback, and that - at least for me - looks like another step in the right direction.
Sure, the color scheme might not look as "cool" as the previous version, and even look a bit "flashy" - but at least it adds enough contrast to lets us easily sort through what we're trying to find.
But, better yet, the thing I just love the most... We can now select the display density setting! This was one of my biggest complaints (and still is, in the case of Blogger's dashboard - but I hope Google will eventually implement a similar option there).
This allows us to have a visual appealing "Comfortable" setting... but also having a "compact" mode that allows us to put to use all the available screen estate we have.
I just hope the Blogger team won't take too long to "copy" this feature... ;)
If you ever wished you could have your cellphone repeat Armstrong's famous moon landing speech whenever someone calls you... Now you can, and from the official and original source: Nasa itself!
There are dozens of historic sound clips form NASA, not only from the Apollo and Mercury Missions, but including satellite beeps and sounds as well - including Sputink's - and more modern space missions like the Space Shuttle and ISS.
You can get it in both MP3 and M4R (iPhone) formats.
This is one small step for Nasa... One giant leap for your cellphone ringtone! ;)
It's quite sad that the new iPhone 4S launch will now forever be associated with Steve Job's death.
But, let's see what the new iPhone 4S has to offer, and if it will be able to keep up the not-that-easy task of being the most successful smartphone on the market.
iPhone 4S - The Best iPhone ever?
Lots of people felt disappointed for not having a brand new design. But, if you stop to think about it, this is exactly what happened with the iPhone 3G and 3GS... and we all know just how well the 3GS did.
However, on the inside, the 4S has nothing to do with the current iPhone 4. We now get the dual-core A5 CPU found on the iPad, twice as fast and with 7x faster graphics. That should be enough to tackle the dual-core Android competition for a while (although performance must always be kept in check with battery life - no use in having lots of dual/quad-core power in your smartphone if you can't even use it for an entire day).
Next, we also get a new and improved 8MP camera (check the sample photos), that also should be able to stand its ground against the best of the best.
If you think about it, this would indeed be the logical move for Apple, no matter just how much people would "wish" for something truly amazing and revolutionary. Other than including heat-vision, or x-ray vision, or blood pressure sensors, I really can't say what people could expect to be "revolutionary" on smartphones.
As for NFC... what's the point in adding something you can't really use for the foreseeable future, no matter what they might want us to believe?
Regarding the screen size, that's a matter of personal taste. I find the current iPhone size to be quite adequate, and the 4,3" screens to be the biggest I'd be willing to tolerate. However, there are those that welcome 4.5 and even 5" screen as being the "perfect" size. More so, don't forget that those Super Amoled screen sizes are only that big because... they can't yet make them any smaller! So, it's really not a matter of "choice", but a manufacturing constraint.
iOS5
Lots of the new stuff that we'll see in the iPhone 4S arrives via the new and improved IOS5 and will be freely available to iPhones going back to the 3GS (over 2 years old now - also, something Android smartphone makers should learn to do... go check any 2 year old Android and see if you can get it to run an official Android 2.3 update - not that it's actually Google's fault).
The new iOS is also better than never - though not perfect, we'll get back to that when it's available next Oct 12th - and comes with a revamped notification system (long overdue!), iCloud, PC-Free (also one of my favorites!), and even a Find My Friends geo-location system (kind of Google's Latitude), among hundreds of other small/medium/major improvements.
Siri
But, for revolutionary stuff, we have to turn to Siri, the new iPhone Virtual Assistant. Better than trying to explain what's about, better watch the following video.
Yes, you can now simply talk to your iPhone, and have a "conversation" with it. This is the kind of stuff that will forever change the way we interact with computer devices - I just can't figure out why this kind of thing hasn't been around for years on desktop computers (they can't say it's due to lack of computer power, can they?)
Unfortunately, it's still English/french/German-only for now, and also restricted to the iPhone 4S. Considering Siri first showed up running on iPhone 3GS nearly 2 years ago... I can't imagine they wouldn't be able to make it work at least in the iPhone 4... hummm...
But I guess, now that the "cat is out of the box", the same kind of technology will soon be pursued by Google and MS, and it will soon be available not only in Smartphones, but every other kind of devices as well.
Just imagine what this kind of tech could do for disabled person's computer interaction!
Prices
The new iPhone 4S will be available on Oct 14th, (pre-orders start tomorrow, Oct 7th) and start at $199.
The old iPhone 3GS can now be had for free, and a downsized 8GB iPhone 4 drops to $99.
All things considered, I think the new iPhone 4S is still the one to get... And I'm sure people will still line up like crazy to get on, even more so now that there's a tragic event that will certainly help "bond" Apple fans all over the world.
