Friday, June 24, 2011
Branch Holder Turns Dead Sticks Into Awesome Swords
The Branch Holder will turn little Johnny into Zorro. Photos: Naama Agassi
Opinion on Naama Agassi’s Branch Holder could go one of two ways. You could dismiss it, clucking like an exasperated aunt, calling it useless. Who needs a gadget to hold a branch after all?
Or you might take one look and wish that Agassi had made this 30-something years ago, when you were a kid (if you’re as old as me, that is). The Branch Holder is a rubber strip with two holes. You thread it onto a suitably straight stick and that stick instantly — and magically — becomes a sword, turning an otherwise average kid into a swashbuckling pirate, a samurai warrior or even (gasp) a ninja.
It also offers a measure of protection to the knuckles of dueling children, meaning one less scrape to clean up after a scrap. Sadly, Agassi’s invention is a concept design only, but that shouldn’t stop you. After all, anyone with enough imagination to believe a stick can be a sword has enough imagination to raid the kitchen and chop up some Tupperware.
Branch Holder [Naama Agassi via Andrew Liszewski via Fancy]
See Also:
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/ku_cG81YeM8/
Life?s Too Short: Modular Silicone Kitchen Drawer Organizers
Make the end of your life seem to arrive sooner with these drawer organizers
Truth: My kitchen utensils are “organized” into two shallow wooden wine crates. One for cutlery, tho other one for everything else. There are no compartments, sections or organizational niceties whatsoever. I figure that when you need a knife and a fork, its just as easy to pick them from a pile. This approach also makes it a lot quicker to put away washed cutlery.
So I couldn’t care less about DrawerDecor, but I know there must be somebody out there who actually wakes up in the night and has to go check their whisks and corkscrews are parallel before thy can sleep.
The DrawerDecor starts with a silicone drawer liner which can be cut to size. Onto this you stick a variety of modular “divits” which let you organize the space to keep your utensils neatly in check. Thus arranged, you can enjoy wasting an extra ten minutes putting thing just so, every time you unload the dishwasher.
The kits cost $25 each, come in a variety of candy colors and contain a mat and 15 assorted divits.
And before you tell me I should treat my knives better, I should say I have a magnetic knife holder on the wall. All my chef’s knives are in tip-top condition. Even my boner.
Available now.
DrawerDecor [Daily Grommet via Oh Gizmo]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/WXLbUIv8wtM/
How dino proteins could survive
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/22/6918709-how-dino-proteins-could-survive
Scientists take dinosaur's temperature
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/22/6921883-how-to-take-a-dinosaurs-temperature
Osama Bin Laden Wanted To Change Al-Qaida's Name
As Osama bin Laden watched his terrorist organization get picked apart, he lamented in his final writings that al-Qaida was suffering from a marketing problem. Perhaps what al-Qaida really needed was a fresh start under a new name.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/2011/06/24/137387822/osama-bin-laden-wanted-to-change-al-qaidas-name?ft=1&f=1001
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Rumor: Amazon Gunning for a Tablet Release This Fall
A shot of Kindle apps on the iPad. A sneak peak at what we can expect an Amazon tablet interface to look like? Photo courtesy Amazon
It looks like we could be getting an Amazon-branded tablet sooner rather than later, based on the latest reports on the retail giant’s plans.
According to DigiTimes, Amazon will launch its tablet PC models by August or September of this year. The company hopes to push four million units by the end of the 2011 holiday season.
Previous reports suggested that Amazon would be releasing two tablets, codenamed “Coyote” and “Hollywood”, before the end of the year. “Coyote” is tipped to feature an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, while “Hollywood” is purportedly built with Nvidia’s T30 “Kal-El” quad-core processor. DigiTimes claims that Amazon’s tablets will incorporate TI processors instead.
Amazon’s forthcoming tablets will also reportedly be accompanied with their own movie streaming service.
Amazon began its foray into the hardware space in 2007 with the debut of its Kindle e-book reader. Now in its third iteration, Amazon has proven its chops in the mobile device market with a loyal following of Kindle users, even snagging a piece of the iOS and Android party with Kindle iOS and Android apps (and a WP7 app as well).
Amazon solidified its stake in the Android platform in particular with the recent debut of its own Android app store, which would be an obvious choice to have baked in on an Amazon-branded tablet. That, paired with Amazon’s Cloud Drive music streaming service and the rumored movie streaming service, the tablets could be a veritable Amazonian tour de force in the tablet market, if they’re executed correctly.
Market research firms agree: Amazon would be the most credible threat to Apple’s dominance in the tablet arena.
And with Amazon’s focus on non-reading based media and entertainment services, its potential tablet offerings sound perfectly in line with CEO’s Jeff Bezos’ previous carefully-worded statements regarding new products like a tablet (if you need a refresher, he said we should “stay tuned” and that the company “will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device?).
With the recent rumors and reports, and Amazon’s latest activities, all signs seem to point to “yes,” we’ll be seeing an Amazon tablet in the next few months.
See Also:
- Amazon App Store Requires Security Compromise
- Amazon Launches Its Own Android App Store
- Tablet Wars: Amazon Adds Apps to Kindle
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/qtaZaBeYShk/
New Android Phone Works Even After Bathing in Your Sweat
Sony Ericsson's new Xperia Active Android phone aims to be your new workout buddy, holding up in the sweatiest of environments. Photo courtesy of Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson’s new smartphone was made for two kinds of people: sporty jogger types and those who sweat profusely.
Dubbed the Xperia Active, Sony Ericsson’s recently announced smartphone is built to withstand the elements. It’s dust proof, water-resistant and even incorporates “wet finger tracking” (which, admittedly, sounds somewhat gross).
The Active probably won’t withstand a dip in the lap pool (or an accidental drop in the toilet). It’s aimed more at those who want to browse the web while on the treadmill, or perhaps check out their Runkeeper stats while taking on their latest triathlon. One word of advice, though: last time we checked, it’s still not kosher to talk on your phone at the gym.
Along with the Active, Sony Ericsson also unveiled the Xperia Ray, a fairly bland, run-of-the-mill Android smartphone. It comes with a 1-GHz processor, 3.3-inch screen and 8.1-megapixel back-facing camera.
Sony Ericsson unveiled the devices at the CommunicAsia tech conference in Singapore on Wednesday.
Over the past few years, hardware manufacturers have been pushing out new Android smartphones to the public at a breakneck pace. The problem, however, is that most of the phones have similar hardware specifications, with little else for consumers to differentiate between each device. Handset makers have tried adding on different layers of software (or “skinning”) over the stock version of Android in order to give a different look and customized feel to its phone. But not all custom skins have proved popular with smartphone enthusiasts, and some prefer a bare-bones approach to the operating system.
Sony Ericsson has taken a different path by releasing novel hardware designs with minimal software modification. The company’s recent release of the Xperia Play (or “PlayStation phone”) included a built-in, slide-out PlayStation controller interface, the first of its kind seen on a smartphone. The release of the Xperia Active is in the same vein as the Play — curveball additions to the company’s smartphone line-up which aim to break from the indistinguishable crowd of available devices.
The two phones are expected to be available this fall.
- Curvy, Slim Xperia Arc Is Leggy Supermodel of Smartphones
- Hands-On With Xperia Play, the Android-Powered PlayStation Phone
- G-Lab: Xperia Play, Cyanogen, Mac Malware
- Sony Ericsson?s Xperia Neo Release Delayed by Japan Quake
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/vNfHEYnLBTI/
Boehner Says Obama Lacks House Support For Libya
Setting up a showdown on Libya, House Republicans agreed on Wednesday to vote on dueling measures, one to give President Barack Obama limited authority to continue U.S. involvement in the NATO-led operation against Moammar Gadhafi and the other to cut off funds for military hostilities.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/2011/06/23/137359966/boehner-says-obama-lacks-house-support-for-libya?ft=1&f=1001
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Verizon Prepares to Kill Unlimited Data Plans
Verizon's iPhone debuted with an unlimited data plan, but Verizon has confirmed that it soon will transition to tiered data plans. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Unlimited smartphone data plans are going the way of the dodo bird.
Verizon Wireless confirmed on Monday it would soon be changing its wireless data pricing plans in July, ending its longstanding unlimited data plan option for smartphone users, priced at a very affordable $30 monthly.
“We will move to a more usage-based model in July,? a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman told AllThingsDigital in an e-mail. “We’ll share more later.”
In other words, Verizon is moving to a tiered data pricing model, just like its rival AT&T did last year.
Although Verizon didn’t expound upon the exact details of the new pricing model, the mobile blog site Droid Life claims to have received inside information on the new tiered usage plan. Expected to debut on July 7, Droid Life claims the new model will cost $30 monthly for 2 GB, $50 monthly for 5 GB, and $80 monthly for 10 GB of data.
With the rise of smartphones over the past three years, mobile access to data connections has grown tremendously. U.S. smartphone data usage has spiked at an 89 percent increase from last year, according to research from Nielsen. Most users, however, are essentially paying the same amount for their data plans as they were a year ago. Effectively, this means a decrease in cost per megabyte of data — about half of what it once was.
And the carriers, of course, want to get paid more, so they’re altering their data plans to give customers less bang for their buck. AT&T ended its unlimited data buffet last year. In May, T-Mobile introduced a tiered pricing structure to high-speed data access that throttles your connection speed after reaching your allotted amount.Verizon pulled the data-throttling maneuver earlier in the year, although it tried to sweep it under the rug in an unpublicized memo. And now Verizon is getting ready to kill its unlimited data plan, too.
Sprint is currently the only carrier to offer an unlimited data plan. The company hiked its rates slightly at the beginning of this year, however, tacking on a $10 “Premium Data” plan fee for any customer who purchases a smartphone. The fee applies to both 3G and 4G Sprint phones purchased or upgraded during or after mid-January of 2011.
And then there’s tethering – the ability to share your smartphone’s 3G or 4G internet connection with another device, such as a computer. If you want to add tethering capability to your phone, prepare to shell out even more dough.�AT&T charges you an extra $20 a month to enable tethering on your smartphone. Verizon may give you a better deal, although it’s still not cheap: According to Droid Life, an extra $20 a month to Verizon will get you tethering capability, as well as tack on an additional 2 GB of data to your monthly limit. Not a bad way to outdo AT&T.
Confused? Don’t worry, you’re supposed to be. Luckily, we’ve got an explainer chart below for some clarity on who’s offering what data plan, and for how much.
- Carrier
- Data Plan
- Extras
- Verizon
- 2 GB for $30/month; 5 GB for $50/month; 10 GB for $80/month
- Add tethering to any plan for another $20/month (comes with another 2 GB with initial plan); $10 overage fee for every GB over allotted amount
- AT&T
- 200 MB for $15/month; 2 GB for $25/month; 4 GB for $45/month
- Tethering costs an additional $20/month; $10 overage fee for every GB over allotted amount
- Sprint
- 3G/4G unlimited data/minutes for $100/month; unlimited data and 450 minutes for $70/month; unlimited data and 900 minutes for $90/month
- Add $10 premium data fee for smartphones; 3G/4G 3 GB/unlimited mobile hotspot for $45/month
- T-Mobile
- 200 MB for $10/month; 2 GB for $20/month; 5 GB for $30/month; 10 GB for $60/month
- HTC Thunderbolt Outselling iPhone 4 at Verizon Stores, Says Analyst
- Fast, Big and Light: Hands-On With Verizon?s Droid Charge
- Verizon iPhone Gets $30 Unlimited Data for Limited Time
- What AT&T?s Limited Data Plans Mean for You
- AT&T Adds iPhone Tethering, Kills Unlimited Data for iPad, Smartphones
Update: Edited at 6:20 PST to reflect change to AT&T’s tethering rate policy.
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/j9aQrnB4aDY/
Some Mobile Programmers Skeptical About Adobe?s Flash Utopia
The BlackBerry PlayBook, which launched April 19, supports Adobe Flash. (Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com)
It’s no secret: Adobe wants to see Flash everywhere. The company wants everyone to write programs with Flash, and for all customers to rely on Flash for their software needs.
With a set of new tools launched this week, the company continues to make an aggressive push in that direction — though it may have a tough time convincing developers to buy into its vision of a Flash utopia.
Monday’s release of two software tools for mobile developers, Adobe Flash Builder and Adobe Flex 4.5, creates a single platform programmers can use to make applications that work across three major mobile platforms: Android, iOS and the BlackBerry PlayBook.
Both of these tools allow a developer to write software in Adobe Flash, then automatically recompile their creations into native apps that can be sold on three major mobile platforms.
According to Matthew Fabb, senior mobile developer at StickerYou.com, cross-platform tools like Adobe’s, and another popular one called PhoneGap, serve a need.
“Companies want to reduce their costs in creating mobile apps across platforms, rather than making them all natively,” Fabb says. “I know some companies have outsourced a lot of their mobile development,” he says, as a result of needing external talent to handle code with which in-house developers may not be as familiar.
But such tools come with their own set of problems. Some critics say using tools like these result in decreased performance, compatibility problems and generally mediocre software. So, as convenient as the idea of “write once, run anywhere” sounds, it’s just not that simple.
Poor performance is the most often-cited problem with cross-platform development tools.
When you create an application using code that’s not native to the device you’re targeting, the authoring software you’re using sometimes needs to tack on an additional layer of code called a runtime. The runtime enables the device to interact with your non-native code, but a common side-effect is a more sluggish app.
“Generally, the additional runtime is a performance hit, and it’s another layer to worry about,” says Mike Novak, Android engineer for Group.me. “I prefer native environments for the lack of a middle man.”
Also, cross-platform tools may miss some of the intricacies of each mobile OS, says mobile developer James Eberhardt.
“The biggest complaint that I have with third-party tools like these is that they’re focused on lowest common denominator features,” Eberhardt says. “The iOS SDK has a feature that allows in-app purchases, while some of the third-party tools don’t support that.”
Problems with performance and compatibility aside, Adobe has been pushing to get its software on all mobile platforms, especially the iPhone. In 2010, Adobe added the ability to create Flash apps for iOS in its Creative Suite 5 Professional software.
The company trumpets the fact that its software helps developers get their creations into multiple app marketplaces more quickly.
“If you’re deploying a mobile app, you want to reach every one of your customers on whatever device they’re on,” Greg DeMichillie, director of product management for Flash Platform tools at Adobe, tells Wired.com. For companies building everything in native code, that can take “up to three times longer to bring the apps to market,” according to DeMichillie.
Flash, along with the companion technology AIR, has long been Adobe’s flagship cross-platform environment for application development, but Adobe has struggled to implement the software consistently across different computing platforms. Most famously, Apple CEO Steve Jobs blamed Flash for frequent crashing and battery drain on Macs, and he says similar limitations have kept Apple from supporting Flash on its iOS platform entirely. On other smartphones and tablets, Adobe continues to face challenges in getting the technology to work consistently across different devices, including Research In Motion’s PlayBook tablet, which runs QNX and the Motorola Xoom tablet, which runs Android.
There’s also an entirely different snag that’s tied to device compatibility: Each class of devices has its own app store.
Unlike the centralized marketplaces like Apple’s App Store and the Android Market, there isn’t an efficient app distribution channel for applications built in Flash or AIR.
“For small guys peddling smaller web apps or services it’s a lot harder,” says Phillip Ryu, developer of the best-selling iOS game The Heist. “And there aren’t many turnkey monetization services or effective sales channels to just tap into.”
This is the problem Adobe’s new tools are effectively trying to solve, by giving Flash developers an easier way to get their creations into the multiple app marketplaces rather than rely on ad hoc distribution.
Another issue: Adobe may not be able to keep up with continuous feature updates from the different mobile platforms. Android, for instance, currently maintains a six-month release cycle, on average. Just like hardware manufacturers struggling to keep up with the platform developers, Adobe may not be able to keep its tools updated at the same pace.
That’s a non-issue for native coders. “If you go right to the source you’ll always have the option to be cutting edge,” says Group.me’s Mike Novak.
Developer James Eberhardt echoes this sentiment.
“It doesn’t matter how good the technology is,” he says. “If it doesn’t support some of these important features, it’s dead in the water.”
See Also:
- Steve Jobs Claims Flash Will Kill the Mobile Web
- Adobe Releases Flash Player 10.1 for Android
- No Flash On Windows Mobile 7
- Flash Lands on iPhone ? One App at a Time
- PlayBook Shows Challenges of Bringing Flash to Tablets
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/1ecq0rWRwkU/
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