Thursday, March 31, 2011
One Month Later, Android Tablet Platform Has 50 Apps
Motorola's Xoom, the first Android tablet to run "Honeycomb." Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Motorola’s Xoom tablet is the first promising alternative to Apple’s iPad, but the sickly condition of Android’s tablet app ecosystem may end up stalling the platform’s progress.
One month after its launch, the Xoom currently has about 50 native apps available for Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Google’s version of Android optimized for tablets.
That’s pitiful compared with the iPad, which was released last year with approximately 1,000 native apps on launch day. The Xoom debuted with a paltry 15 Honeycomb-native apps available for download in its catalog.
50 apps is a pretty small number, and the actual total may be even smaller. The official Android online market, as well as other online message forums for Android enthusiasts, place the number of Xoom apps somewhere close to 50. But this number hardly seems accurate, as it includes existing Android applications which have been re-sized to take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen. The number of apps with interfaces made specifically for the tablet is probably diminutive.
Still, it’s unclear why more developers haven’t taken the short cut and re-sized their apps for Honeycomb. It could be that developers aren’t sold on the idea of re-sizing their apps to fit more screen real estate, as opposed to “building a true tablet experience that takes advantage of the new platform’s possibilities,” iOS developer Justin Williams told Wired.com in an interview.
And even if developers wanted to create such a “true tablet experience,” they’re hard-pressed to do it without the source code for Honeycomb, which Google is currently keeping a tight reign over. The big device manufacturers working on Honeycomb-powered hardware — like HTC, Motorola and Samsung — all have early access to the code, but only after licensing agreements were made with Google. Smaller developers don’t have this luxury.
“Apple was wise to have the tools out there months in advance of launch,” Williams said, “as compared to Google who made them available only a short time before.”
To be fair, the Xoom is currently the only Android tablet on the market running Android 3.0. Once the glut of Honeycomb-running hardware devices arrives — like the June release of LePad from Chinese electronics manufacturer Lenovo, which was delayed specifically to ensure the tablet will run Honeycomb — we could reasonably expect to see more tablet-optimized applications available. Samsung’s redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also run Honeycomb, and will also launch this summer.
“Google needs more hardware,” says Williams, “and they need to get developers excited about building tablet experiences, not just larger screened phone apps.”
Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
See Also:
- Report: Motorola Xoom Tablet to Cost a Hefty $800
- Motorola Thinks You’ll Pay $800 for the Xoom Tablet
- Motorola Xoom Launches Without Flash
- Honeycomb
- Video: Android ‘Honeycomb’ Tablet OS Revealed
- Video: Motorola Tablet Running Android 3.0 Honeycomb
- Upcoming Asus Tablets Will Run Android Honeycomb
- What We Know About Honeycomb, the Android for Tablets
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/FjZRjqUDnBU/
Gadget Lab Notes: 8-Bit Camera App Snaps Game Boy Camera-Style Photos
The 8-Bit Pocket Camera App gives your photos a nostalgic, pixelated feel
8-Bit Pocket Camera App Wastes Your Smartphone?s Megapixels for Fun Photos
5-megapixel cameras, 8-megapixel cameras? Totally unnecessary?at least that?s what the makers of the 8-Bit Pocket Camera app want you to think. This $1 iOS app lets you take 200 x 200 tiffs reminiscent of the pictures (and quality) that the Game Boy Camera used to take back in the day (which were 128 x 112). The black and white pixilated pics you snap with this app can also be stylized, distorted, or enhanced with a border or different paper color, and will export as PNG files when emailed or posted online.
Recreate the Game Boy Camera with 8-Bit Pocket Camera App [Cult of Mac]
A Mouse That Doesn?t Click? My Ears Rejoice!
Click. Click click. Clickety clickclick click. For those who find themselves eternally irritated by the noise associated with every mouse button push, Nexus has a product for you: the Silent Mouse. It?s built with a patented switch that makes no sound when it?s clicked. The Silent Mouse is wireless, connecting to your notebook or PC via a nano receiver. It?s also got a button for selecting 1000 or 1600 DPI sensitivity, which is great for those who work on a large monitor.
Nexus Silent Mouse [Nexus via Slashgear]
Samsung Ships Notebooks With Keylogger Installed
The StarLogger keylogger program has been found preinstalled and active on two new Samsung laptops. The software logs every keystroke and takes screen caps, and can regularly email the data it collects without the user ever knowing this has been done. The affected laptops were purchased by Mohamed Hassan and detected when he installed security software. The first notebook that had the keylogger installed was eventually returned due to a driver issue; its replacement had the same keylogger program installed.
Samsung Installs Keylogger on its Laptop Computers [Network World via Geek.com]
Touchscreen Interface Simulates a Stretchy, Flexible Surface
Rather than just pinching to zoom and swiping to slide your position further along a screen, researchers at Osaka University have developed a touchscreen display that appears to flex, as if it were made of elastic material. So when you drag your finger to change what part of a map you?re viewing, for instance, the screen visually resists that movement, squishing and stretching the map?s proportions to keep your original position in perspective until you release your finger, almost like the map is printed on a sheet of rubber.
New Flex Touchscreen Interface Demonstrated Using Google Maps [Diginfo.tv via Crunchgear]
The PiCycle Electric Bike is Frowning at You
The PiCycle e-bike uses a 48V brushless DC motor to help power you up steep hills, across vast distances, or just on your daily commute. It can take you up to 20 miles without a single pedal on your part and reach speeds up to 30mph. Other featuers include an internal hub transmission, a beltdrive system, shifting on-the-fly, a suspension seat post, and hydraulic brakes. Its perfectly arched frame looks like a rainbow, or a frownie face.
PiCycle LTD Electric Bike [PiCycle via Uncrate]
Creative Coffee Table Is a Four-Person Pong Game
There?s no need for a coffee table in today?s world to be simply made of wood and just sit there. The coffee table is the perfect piece of furniture to transform into something interactive, like a four person game of pong played on a 30 x 30 matrix of red LEDs. Players use one of four knobs placed along each side to slide their bat left and right. The game can support up to 5 balls for more complicated play.
Super Pong Coffee Table [Instructables via Technabob]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/bJLKsx0Ae_A/
$50K race car steering wheel even pours drinks
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42328416/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
Robot overlords win with Kinect-controlled 'copter�
Full story at http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/30/6376249-kinect-controlled-helicopter-scores-win-for-robot-overlords
Key Republicans Seek IRS Investigation Of AARP
Three members of the influential House Ways and Means Committee released a report Tuesday questioning whether the seniors lobby deserves to keep its tax-exempt status. The lawmakers say AARP stands to make a "windfall" from the new health care law the organization supported.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134985786/key-republicans-seek-irs-investigation-of-aarp?ft=1&f=1001
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Data Caps Claim a Victim: Netflix Cuts Streaming Video Quality
By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica
Netflix announced last night that Canadian users will, by default, receive lower-quality?and lower-bandwidth?streaming video. The change was made to protect users, “because many Canadian Internet service providers unfortunately enforce monthly caps on the total amount of data consumed.”
Fast Internet connections could previously chew through 30-70GB of data while streaming 30 hours of Netflix video in a month. Data caps for the Rogers cable operator and for Bell Canada start at 2GB per month; cable operator Shaw starts at 15GB.
Faced with the prospect of users thinking twice before streaming anything on Netflix, the company has decided to put Canadians into a default “Good” streaming tier that will transfer only 625Kbps (which works out to 0.3GB per hour), using up 9GB a month if someone watches 30 hours of Netflix. The move is designed to keep users from exceeding their caps by accident.
The company admits that “there is some lessening of picture quality with these new settings” but insists that “the experience continues to be great.” Customers can manually switch their accounts to two higher levels of service, “Better” (0.7GB per hour) and “Best” (1GB per hour with standard definition content, 2.3GB per hour for HD content).
Netflix will continue to use adaptive streaming, which reduces the stream bit-rate in cases of congestion or low-speed connections, but this is the first time Netflix is purposely dialing back video quality and size for connections perfectly capable of handling the larger streams.
The major Canadian ISPs?Shaw, Rogers, and Bell Canada?all offer separate pay-TV services of their own. Netflix has offered its own streaming service in Canada for only eight months, and ISPs like Rogers�welcomed Netflix to the country by�lowering the data caps on some tiers. (One lower-priced tier dropped from 25GB to 15GB.)
Perhaps Canadians�really do need a “Not Safe For Canada” badge on large files after all?
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/6SLMZ-dHhFk/
Gadget Lab Notes: iPad Speaker Dock Streams Music, Netflix
JBL's OnBeat speaker dock fits an iPhone, iPod, or even an iPad
Gadget Lab Notes is an eclectic roundup of gadget news briefs and intriguing products that catch our eye.
JBL OnBeat Speaker Dock Works With iPhone, iPod and iPad
The OnBeat is JBL?s first iPad speaker dock, and it will be available in April for $150. Touted as a loudspeaker docking station, you can stream Netflix, chat on Skype, or watch YouTube using the dock, or just blast some music. A universal connector supports iDevice docking in landscape or portrait orientation, and an IR remote lets you control it from the comfort of the couch.
iPod Batteries In Short Supply After Factory Closure
The factory supplying a particular polymer used to make the iPod?s lithium-ion batteries was closed after Japan?s March 11 earthquake, now leading to tight supplies of the eponymous MP3 player. The company in charge of the factory, Kureha Corp., plans to move more of its factories overseas. Although the factory itself wasn?t overly damaged, the port nearby has sustained sever damage, inhibiting the delivery of necessary chemicals.
Chemical Reaction: iPod is Short Key Material [WSJ]
Cosmonaut Stylus Feels Like You?re Using a Dry Erase Marker
From the makers of the Glif comes the Cosmonaut, a stylus designed to make writing on a tablet less awkward. The makers felt that using a pen on a tablet felt unnatural; it was like writing on a dry erase board, not writing in a paper notebook. So, they developed a tablet that grips like a dry erase marker. You can donate to their Kickstarter campaign now. The Cosmonaut is expected to retail at $25.
The Cosmonaut [Kickstarter via Core77]
Nokia E6-00 Pics and Specs Leaked: Yep, It?s a Nokia Phone
A prototype Nokia E6-00 was found and has bared all on some Nokia forums. It?s got a VGA resolution capacitive touchscreen (small ? under 3-inches) with a D-pad and a physical QWERTY keyboard situated underneath. An 8-megapixel rear camera supports 720p HD video recording. There?s no HDMI port, but it does include a microUSB port and 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as a 2mm charging socket. It runs a new version of Symbian^3 that?s compatible with the 4:3 aspect ratio display.
Nokia E6-00 Most Detailed Leak [My Nokia Blog via Slashgear]
Quadrocopters Tossing and Catching a Ball to One Another
Those quadrotor drones never cease to amaze. In the latest video from the Flying Machine Arena, a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology research facility, a pair of quadrocopters (and sometimes a human) plays catch with one another. The video title says they are juggling, but they?re not really juggling.
Quadrocopter Ball Juggling [Adafruit via Makezine]
Remember Tamagotchis? They?re Back (in Japan) With Color Displays
Maybe you missed this trend, but back when I was in 5th or 6th grade, everyone had a Tamagotchi. It was a little palm sized, black and white screened gadget that you let you raise and take care of a virtual pet. Bandai has now released the Tamagotchi iD L, which is available in 6 colors, with 32 virtual characters. I?m not quite sure if today?s smartphone toting, Internet-savvy pre-teens and tweens will dig this little electronic toy of yesteryear? Perhaps that?s why they?re releasing it exclusively in Japan first.
Tamagotchi iD L [Japan Trend Shop via Chip Chick]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/o3EscK315wo/
Cosmic Log: First look at Mercury from orbit
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/29/6369556-first-look-at-mercury-from-orbit
Exoplanets pose for family portraits
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/29/6368813-planets-pose-for-family-portraits
Tokyo Sees Its Lights Go Dim, And Lifestyles Change
In normal times, Tokyo thrives on electricity. Dazzling digital billboards overlook the shopping districts, and doors glide open automatically. But the earthquake and tsunami have forced the city to reduce its power usage, forcing residents to alter their lifestyles.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/2011/03/30/134957742/tokyo-sees-its-lights-go-dim-and-lifestyles-change?ft=1&f=1001
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Report: Credit Giants Team Up With Google to Drive Mobile Payments
Google's flagship NFC phone, the Nexus S.
Google wants to do away with your wallet.
The Mountain View, California, company is working on a partnership with credit industry giants MasterCard and Citigroup that would allow you to make real-world purchases at stores using your smartphone, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
If the partnership materializes, buying groceries may require little more than a wave of your smartphone across an installed card reader at the checkout counter.
The partnership would allow for cardholders to pay for retail items after activating an app on Android NFC-enabled smartphones. The phones could then be swiped liked credit cards across card readers enabled with near field communication, or NFC, at participating retailers.
As Wired’s Epicenter blog reported earlier Monday morning, Google will begin testing the mobile payments service in key markets — New York and San Francisco — within the next four months. Other test markets include Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington D.C., according to a report from Bloomberg.
Google would pay for the installation of thousands of NFC terminals in the major cities. The terminals will be built by VeriFone Systems, a manufacturer of point-of-sale electronic payment technologies.
As with many other Google experiments, the push into mobile payments would serve as a loss-leader for the company’s advertising business, sources told the�Journal.
Google would be able to offer retailers more data about customers and purchasing habits, while tailoring its ad targeting and promotional offerings to smartphone users. The company isn’t expected to take a cut of the transactions.
The mobile payments initiative faces some challenges. Currently, only one NFC-enabled smartphone is on the market — Google’s Nexus S (above). Samsung’s successor to its popular Galaxy S smartphone, the Galaxy S II, boasts NFC capability, but isn’t slated for release until the summer of 2011.
Also,�it’s been difficult to imagine a major disruption of a massive industry like that of the credit industry that’s already established. One big reason: companies like Visa rely on trunks — shared lines that provide network access to a series of endpoints rather than providing them individually — and leased lines to provide retailers with reliable credit card terminal service.
One attractive option to companies like Google and other mobile-payment startups would be to cut out the credit card companies completely. Instead of using the card companies’ private networks, mobile payment could be made over a given smartphone carrier network.
But any attempt to circumvent the credit card companies’ private networks over 3G or 4G access runs into the problem of network reliability. A wealth of frustrated customers unable to pay for a meal because of spotty network service is less than ideal for any mobile-payment initiative.
That’s most likely the reason why Google is teaming up with the major credit card companies, instead of trying to bypass them. And Google isn’t alone in doing so. Joint mobile payment venture ISIS — which finds AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile partnering up with Discover Financial Services — is Google’s main competition in the mobile payments arena. ISIS is reported to begin testing its payments network this year, according to Bloomberg.
Google did not respond to our requests for comment.
See Also:
- Report: Google to Test Mobile Payments This Spring in NY, SF …
- Visa Seeks to Extend Retail Dominance With Pay-With-iPhone Service …
- Paying by Phone Slowly Coming to the U.S.
- Will the iPhone Become Your iWallet?
- Why Your Phone Can’t Really Replace Your Credit Card
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/7EwCkplEeww/
Gadget Lab Notes: Sales of Apple?s Next iPhone Could Top 100 Million
Based on the number of previous iPhone models sold, Apple could sell over 100 million iPhone 5s
Based on Past Sales Patterns, Apple Could Sell Over 100 Million iPhone 5s
If history is any indicator, it looks like the iPhone 5 (whenever it does debut) could sell over a hundred million units. That would be as much as all previous iPhone model sales combined. This is based on the chart above, which shows the monthly sales of every iPhone model thus far; each one has roughly doubled in sales over its predecessor.
Predicting iPhone Sales for Dummies [Asymco via 9to5 Mac]
American Express Debuting App-Based Digital Payment Service
Not to be outdone by other credit card companies getting in on the digital payment arena, American Express has revealed Serve, an iOS and Android app that manages a digital account that?s used for person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and online purchases. It?s not tied to one particular debit card, and sub-accounts can be setup from the main account. Ticketmaster, Flipswap, and Concur have agreed to partner with the service, which can also be accessed through Serve.com or through Facebook.
American Express Serve Services Launches With Android and iOS Apps [Slashgear]
Real-Life Fruit Ninja Looks Fun, and Kinda Difficult
At FH-Wedel in Germany, 4 students developed a real-life Fruit Ninja game using 3-D motion tracking (4 camera-based IR sensors), 5.1 sound, and haptic feedback with a Wiimote. The project was done in the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), which consists of 4 synced PCs and 4 duobeamers. Your ninja sword sits above the Wiimote, which you use to slash the onslaught of fruit flying at you from all directions. It looks pretty awesome, but judging by the number of missed fruit, not a little difficult.
German Students Create Life-Size Motion Controlled VR Fruit Ninja Game [The Gadget Site via Crunchgear]
Pioneer SE-NC31C-K Noise Cancelling Headphones Are In-Ear Style
14.2mm drivers and a variety of adapters means you can plug these active noise cancelling headphones into a variety of plugs and gadgets to enjoy your tunes. They?re powered by a single AAA battery, which provides up to 120 hours of music. To save battery (or once it?s dead), noise cancellation can be switched off or bypassed. These $99 in-ear headphones promise to cancel up to 90% of external sounds.
Pioneer Unveils New SE-NC31C-K Noise Cancelling Headphones [Slashgear]
Donya Gamepad Stickers Give You Better Mobile Gaming Control
If you?re looking for a little more action and traction while you play games on your capacitive screened mobile device, check out Donya?s $12 set of Gamepad Stickers. It includes 5 reusable, repositionable stickers: 3 different single button stickers and two 4-way directional controllers. Mobile device designers take away all those extraneous buttons… then we stick ‘em back on.
Donya New Gamepad Stickers for iPhones [Akihabara News via Geeky Gadgets]
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/E6Ns8KppRrw/
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