Flip Is Dead!
I have been seeing ads and hearing about Flip for a while now. I had made a mental note to look in to it more and perhaps even buy one. Frankly, I couldn't make up my mind about buying one since most cellphones (including mine) record better quality video. The shape is odd too, just like most cellphones - square and not suitable to hold close to your eye - unlike most camcorders. Well, I can now completely cross it of my list since Cisco, the giant networking company that owns Flip, has just killed the entire Flip division.
Source: CNN
Charge your Laptop battery in seconds
Batteries are an important part of our daily lives and help power many of devices that we do not seem to be able to get through the day without. In my case, it is my cellphone and laptop. I have many charges for both. I charge the batteries at home, at my office and in my car. Some may think I am paranoid but I do not want to be caught with dead batteries on my cellphone. Thank fully I work at shopxtreme and we have all sorts of gadgets to keep you powered up. We have quick chargers, car charger, conductive chargers, USB chargers, etc... But additional help is also on the way. New technology that allows you to charge your batteries in seconds.
Source: MIT
Internet Access for all.
I recently drove from Boston to New Jersey with an 8 year old. The trip takes about 5 hours, I know some of you can feel my pain. It took about 25 minutes into the trip before the famous words were uttered. ARE WE THERE YET?
Well luckily I had enabled the Hot-Spot feature on my mobile phone ( HTC EVO 4G by Sprint) which allows as many as 5 devices to connect to the internet at the same time !! You guessed it, I had brought along my laptop loaded with his favorite games and ready to go. To my surprise we had connection all the way to New Jersey and a rather pleasant drive. I actually had to shut off the internet access on my phone before I could get him out of the car.
FCC has now come to the rescue of those of us with mobile service on smaller carriers by obligating AT&T and Verizon to allow other to use their expansive data networks. All parents should rejoice over this decision and upgrade to a Smart Phone with Hot-Spot capability !!!
Source: CNN
Android phones are more popular than Apple’s iPhone
iphone has dominated the news for the past couple of years but it turns out that there is an alternative out there that we do not hear much about. Phones powered by Google's operating system Android. Many manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, LG offer Smart Phones with Android as the operating system. Google is offering the operating system at no cost to the developers and manufacturer's for the time being. I wonder for how much longer, since Android is now the most popular Smart Phone in the Market and well Google is in business to make money ( Market value of about 186 billion) !!!
Source: Engadget
Robots from iRobot to help in Japan
Japanese are no strangers to Robots working on assembly lines at their factories but Robots are now being used to help with the rescue and clean up after the recent earth quake and tsunami. iRobot a Massachusetts based company has supplied 4 robots for this task. Robots have been used in the past for rescue efforts in other disasters around the world but Japan presents a unique situation due to the radiation leak from the Fukushima nuclear site. Sensors used to controll Robots are not well protected from radiation and controlling them will not be easy in such environment.
Source: MIT
Gamers Have More Control Over Their Dreams
Mark a point for kids in the never-ending "too much videogames" debate.
According to a new study, people who play video games are more like to have lucid dreams (dreams in which the individual is aware that they are dreaming), have more control over what happens in their dreams, and even switch perspectives within them.
A psychologist named Jayne Gackenbach from Grant MacEwan University in Canada carried out a study that analyzed the dreams of gamers, and found that their time spent playing video games was almost like practice for their experiences within dreams. Her interest stemmed from a previous study that found that gamers are less prone to motion sickness and have better spatial skills. With this sort of context for her research, Gackenbach carried out two studies.
The first analyzed how common it was for gamers to have lucid dreams, and found that avid gamers were more likely to have lucid dreams, dreams where they viewed themselves from outside their bodies, and dreams where they could control their surrounding environment.
The second study was similar but slightly different, and suggested that while gamers have lucid, first/third person dreams, they actually do not have control over anything more than their dream selves.
The really interesting part of Gackenbach's work, however, was on gamers and nightmares. In it, she found that gamers have less nightmares with threatening situations. In addition, when they do have these nightmares, they often become the threatening presence in the dream. In other words, they fight back instead of cowering from whatever it is that is attacking them physically or mentally.
Gackenbach had this to say about gamers' debated tendencies to have more violent dreams than non-gamers: "If you look at the actual overall amount of aggression, gamers have less aggression in dreams... But when they're aggressive, oh boy, they go off the top."
Gackenbach hopes to carry on her research and apply it to PTSD sufferers, of which 71 to 96 percent experience nightmares. The hope would be to train them to master their fears in dreams as training for their waking hours.
Source: Live Science via Engadget
Foxconn CEO Dispels Facility Comparison to Sweatshop
In a statement released to the Chinese press yesterday, Guo Tai-ming, the CEO of Foxconn, stated that "We believe that we are definitely not a sweatshop." His statement comes in response to a growing number of reports that have brought to light the harsh working conditions and strenuous living conditions that have caused 11 suicide attempts this year. Out of those eleven, nine have been successful (the last one occurring just this morning). This along with the fact that Foxconn manufactures iPods, iPads, and iPhones has brought it widespread publicity
A new video of an undercover report has brought to light the fact that Foxconn has been losing about 50,000 workers each month (the facility that has experienced the suicide attempts holds a team of about 800,000 people) and has been trying desperately to get more employees, at the expense of hiring standards. Aside from identification, no additional documentation has been required to work for Foxconn recently. What's more, the video reveals that workers are forced to sign an affidavit that mandates 60-100 hours of overtime each month (the legal limit in China is 36 hours of overtime). The report also highlights verbal abuse from managers towards the workers, as well as random subtractions from their checks.
So far, 50 counselors have been hired to help with the string of suicides that an exorcism by monks was not enough to curb.
Source: Engadget
Google AdMob Purchase Gets the Green Light from the FTC
Way back before Apple announced their shiny new iAd program to go along with the iPhone OS 4, they were looking into acquiring a company called AdMob. It didn't work out, mainly because (according to Mr. Steve Jobs himself) "Google snatched it away."
While Google may have bought the company just to keep it out of the hands of Apple, it seemed a doomed endeavor, as the Federal Trade Commission was immediately concerned that Google would have a monopolistic hold on the online advertising market if they were to incorporate AdMob into their existing operations.
However, in ruling today, the FTC decided that Google's acquisition of AdMob wouldn't give them too much power in online advertising. But why? It turns out that Apple inadvertently sabotaged any hope they might have had of having Google slapped with anti-trust violations.
After losing out on AdMob, Apple ended up buying out Quattro Wireless, a similar, but less attractive (for Apple's intended goal, at least) option. A few months thereafter, they announced the iAd component of iPhone OS 4, and the FTC deemed this to be sufficient enough opposition to Google's online advertising.
Source: Engadget
Google Announces Google TV at Google I/O Developer Event
Google's I/O Developer Event showcases a lot of different projects Google has been working on each year either by itself or with partners and developers. Short for "Innovation in the Open," past announcements include the development of web applications such as Google Chrome, Google Wave, and different versions of the Android operating system.
This year, Google has announced partnerships with Sony, Logitech, Intel, DISH Network, and Best Buy to unveil Google TV. Using set top boxes made by Logitech or Sony and television service from DISH Network, it will be a system that integrates both television and the internet, allowing you to seamlessly merge your online and offline viewing to your television screen. What's more, it will allow unlimited use of the internet to do whatever you would do if you were on a computer. In a nutshell, it adds internet functionality to your traditional TV setup, with lots of added features that cater to online video-watching.
And, in typical Google fashion, they have made a video that uses cute drawings to explain a more complex topic. Check it out below.
Source: Engadget
Japanese Company Creates Auto-Email Writer for Your Smartphone
Smartphones are wonderful tools that help us get tons of stuff done and stay organized, but they can be distracting. Especially when you are doing something that requires your full attention, such as driving a car. In fact, there has been a growing number of accidents that can be attributed to driver distraction in the United States in the past decade, such that some states have made it illegal to use a phone while driving.
Almost as if in direct response to this dangerous trend, a company from Japan called NTT DoCoMo showed off an automatic email generator for smartphones that uses voice recognition (or traditional text-entry) to write emails for you.
By picking up on keywords such as "10 minutes" and "late," for instance, the program automatically writes an email that tells the recipient that you will be 10 minutes late, using proper grammar and punctuation. It can even cater the writing style of the email to whatever relationship exists between you and the email recipient. For instance, an email going to your boss to tell him/her that you are going to be late to work would be written much differently than if it was going to your good friend to tell him/her to start the party without you.
Source: Engadget