Gadgets Future

Isn’t this cute? The Yamanote Line tape measure pays homage to one of the most awesome train line in Tokyo, with the green and silver cars being an icon in the metropolis that ferries thousands of people each day to and from their destinations without missing a beat. This tape measure is worth a purchase by any means, even if you don’t appreciate trains. Think about it - once the tape measure is spoilt, you can always pass it to a kid and let him play with it as a toy train. Interestingly enough, pulling out the tape will reveal individual station names in sequence on top of the centimeter readings. Would be cool if they had a whole set.

Mitsubishi has a new range of flat panel TVs known as the Mitsubishi Ultra Thin Frame Premium Flat Panel TV with Integrated Sound Projector. Well, it certainly sounds like a mouthful, but good thing it provides an earful as well, featuring integrated sound capabilities that will transform the home entertainment experience with innovative sound technology by offering consumers a built-in home theater TV solution without the need and hassle to install extra speakers or additional wires. Best of all is, this system can be controlled via a solitary remote control, and you won’t suffer from the lack of viewable real estate either with 46″ and 52″ panels to choose from.

The integrated sound projector (iSP) reproduces true 5.1 surround sound from a single speaker cabinet attached below the TV screen. The speaker enclosure houses a 16-speaker array that creates a 5.1 channel sound field. Through the use of an advanced algorithm, the iSP delays the sound varying intervals to each of the 16 speakers. As a result, the speaker generates 5.1 distinct sound beams that are focused both directly and indirectly to the listener.

I’ve always been rather skeptical on how manufacturers claim that simulated environments are just as good as the real thing - I am a strong advocate that substitutes just aren’t up to par with the original. I suppose this Mitsubishi TV does a pretty decent job with its integrated sound projector, but will it work better in a small room or a large hall? I think the answer lies in the former, since sound has less distance to travel before it bounces off the walls to create that surround sound effect, whereas a large hall would sound pretty weak. It is like one of those virtual 5.1 earphones that are better off doing stereo sound IMHO. You can pick up the 46″ LT-46149 and 52″ LT-52149 this July for $3,299 and $3,699, respectively.

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Dash Navigation has made available an update for the Dash Express, making it the first Internet-connected automotive GPS device from its stable that allows one to wirelessly update the device software without having to purchase upgrades separately while going through the hassle of installing them through a PC or DVD download later on. All you need to do is turn on your Dash Express and the updating process will kick in - provided you’re within range of a compatible Wi-Fi network, that is. Sounds like a no-brainer to me, somewhat akin to Windows XP’s Automatic Updates. Check out the new features that comes with the update right after the jump.

MyRoute - Maps and traditional GPS devices are great navigation tools, but they will never replace local street smarts. Drivers often know the best shortcuts to and from the places that they frequent, but what they really want to know is whether their route is the smartest route today based on current traffic data. Dash is the only GPS that learns routes automatically based on user behavior. With Dash’s new MyRoute feature, as drivers travel from one point to another, the device automatically learns their preferred route. The next time that they drive between the same origin and destination, the first route choice will be a MyRoute, complete with traffic-based arrival time data. Drivers can compare their MyRoute to the computed Dash routes, including traffic detours, and decide which one is optimal.

Search Along Route - Finding whatever drivers need on the road using Yahoo! Local search just got even easier. With the new Search Along Route feature, Dash drivers can now search for virtually anything they need along their selected route, shortening diversions on the way to their destination. Want to grab a latte on the way to a meeting? Simply do a Yahoo! Local search for “Starbucks” and select “along route” to be presented with the stores that are most conveniently located. Results are displayed with the distance from the current location, the distance from the route and the direction of the destination relative to the selected route.

FasterFind - With FasterFind powered by SiRFInstantFix technology, Dash Express uses additional over-the-air GPS satellite position information to get a fast GPS fix so Dash drivers can be underway in seconds. Since the Dash Express is connected, the FasterFind file is automatically and wirelessly downloaded at regular intervals providing users with the most accurate GPS satellite position information available. There is no need to connect to a PC or wait to get a GPS fix. FasterFind not only helps drivers get a quick start every time the device is turned on, it also enables a fast GPS fix under difficult conditions such as beneath tree cover and near high-rise buildings.

Performance Enhancements - Continued system upgrades have enabled significant progress in overall device performance. For instance, the June08 Update increases the speed in which Dash Express draws its maps by more than 50%. It also enables quicker toggling between 2D and 3D map views and smoother map zooming.

User Interface Improvements - The June08 Update also includes numerous user-requested refinements to the Dash Express interface, making it even more intuitive for daily use. These improvements include tuning the route selection screen to make it easier to select among the multiple route choices, improving the readability of road labels on the map and expanding the night mode color scheme across more menus for glare reduction.

Does reading all that make you want to grab a Dash Express now?

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I do most of my work on a laptop that I bought about two years ago. I don’t think it was a newer model, because it didn’t come with Bluetooth. Remember a few years ago when everyone was in a Bluetooth frenzy? These days, practically everything has Bluetooth as a standard feature, whether it needs it or not.

Fortunately, companies like Com One is here for those who missed the Bluetooth train after purchasing a PC or laptop. Their Bluetooth USB Adapter plugs in, and can sync with Bluetooth devices.

I had a chance to try out Com One’s Bluetooth USB Adapter, and now I am a Bluetooth addict. I was hoping that it would easily plug and play, but there was the obligatory CD that came with it. After a loading process that wasn’t too long, I was able to get it working.

It created a Bluetooth Exchange Folder on my computer, so I was able to Beam files from my mobile phone right to my computer, something that I had never been able to do before without a wire of some kind. The range of this device is about 330 feet.

The Bluetooth USB Adapter is available off of the Com One website, along with the Combo Bluetooth 2.0 EDR and SD card reader dongle, which allows Bluetooth capability as well as memory card reading.

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Alltel has just added another improvement to their MyCircle calling plans. Now, in addition to voice minutes, they will have the option to include text, video or picture messaging. Current MyCircle customers will be able to send or receive unlimited messages to anyone in their Circle as well as other Alltel customers with the addition of a “My Circle message pack” which starts as low as $7.99 a month.

In addition, for those looking to send messages to friends outside of their circle or to non-Alltel customers the new messaging options include either 400 or 1000 messages and are priced at $7.99 and $12.99 a month respectively. Users looking for an unlimited messaging plan will still have the option to get the All Access Pass which costs $19.99 and allows for unlimited messaging to anyone.

Keep reading to check out the full press release.

Read [Alltel]

Alltel Wireless introduces texting to “My Circle”
Addition of text messaging makes it easier than ever for “My Circle” customers to stay connected with those that matter most
 
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As text messaging is becoming a popular communication method for millions of Americans, Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network, today announced the addition of “texting” to its exclusive “My Circle” offer. Starting today, “My Circle” customers with a “My Circle” message pack starting at $7.99 can send and receive unlimited text/video/picture messages to anyone in their “Circle,” as well as other Alltel Wireless customers.
 
Customers can choose from several message packs including plans for $7.99 or $12.99 which provides users 400 or 1,000 additional text/video/picture messages, respectively, to communicate with consumers outside of their “Circle” or that are not Alltel customers.   For customers seeking unlimited messaging, Alltel Wireless still offers the $19.99 All Access Pass that includes unlimited messaging and mobile web.  “My Circle” message packs can be added to any “My Circle” five, 10 or 20 calling plan. 
 
“Alltel’s ‘My Circle’ provides customers the ultimate in choice and value by giving them the ability to call or text any five, 10 or 20 numbers,” said Frank O’Mara, chief marketing officer of Alltel Wireless. “Whether talking or texting, our new “My Circle” message packs provide customers the most cost-effective plans for staying in touch with friends, families and business associates.”
 
In addition to the “My Circle” message packs, Alltel is also introducing new “My Circle” Family Choice Plus plans.  For $84.99 per month, customers will receive two lines with 1,000 shared minutes and the ability to call any 10 numbers on any network.  Also, customers can receive two lines with 2,000 shared minutes and unlimited calling within their “Circle” of 20 numbers for $114.99.  In addition to the unlimited calling within their “Circle,” Family Choice plan customers will receive unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls and unlimited nights and weekends. Customers will also have the ability to choose either free evening calls starting at 7PM or 1,000 text/picture/video messages the plans include unlimited texting to their “Circle of Friends” and other Alltel customers.
 
“My Circle” customers receive unlimited free calls to and from any combination of home phone, office or wireless numbers located anywhere in the U.S., regardless of local phone company or wireless carrier.  Alltel Wireless makes it easy for customers to change their numbers anytime for free, by simply visiting http://www.alltel.com/myaccount.  Free calls to “My Circle” numbers are in addition to anytime minutes, unlimited night / weekend minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes included in customers’ calling plans. 
Alltel Wireless was the first carrier to offer Anytime Plan Changes, giving customers the flexibility to change their calling plans at any time, without extending their current contract. 
 
Alltel is owner and operator of the nation’s largest wireless network and has more than 13 million customers.  For more information about Alltel, please visit http://www.alltel.com.

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Everex is designing a larger version of its Cloudbook portable notebook to go up against its bitter rival, the Eee PC 1000. This updated version will feature a 10.2″ display, complete with the following :-

• Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
• 1.3 megapixel webcam
• 3G modem included, optional WiMAX
• 2GB RAM
• ExpressCard slot

We’re looking at a November launch despite a serious drought of information.

When I first saw Back to the Future II back in 1989, I remember being quite impressed with their version of the year 2015. At last, a science fiction film that presented the future not as a dark place, but something like today, with more advanced technology and its own set of problems.

Ever since I saw that film, I have always thought of the year 2015 as this giant due date. Now we have only seven years to catch up to this futuristic technology. We’re probably a long way off from flying cars, but Back to the Future II did show us something more probable: shoes that lace themselves.

The shoes from that film sported the Nike logo, and so the company has finally decided to mass produce those shoes from the movie. They have dubbed them the Hyperdunk, and they will be endorsed by none other than Kobe Bryant.

Unfortunately, these shoes lack the self-lacing or “power laces” feature that made them so interesting. The film also showed the Nike logo glowing once the shoes were laced. I’m guessing that this isn’t a feature either, even though it would be a way for Nike to get some more fancy advertising in.

In other words, the Hyperdunks are a “looks only” glimpse into the future. These shoes should be available sometime later this month, but no word on the price.

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Brando is back, and this time its with a new type of earbud/MP3 player, that at first glance seem pretty cool. The player offers an around the head style of headphones with the actual MP3 player built into the headphones. They offer 1GB of internal memory and have support for MP3, WMA and WAV file formats. The main point of earbuds like these is purely for exercise purposes. They allows you to not have to worry about carrying an mp3 player; just the earbuds. Also, they are lightweight, weighing only 20g, meaning it would fit in easily and wouldn’t cause any strain on the ears to hold it in place. Additionally, it comes with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which provides up to 8 hours of continuous playback.

It is already on sale for $22, and comes in two different colors, red and blue. This looks to be a good idea to those who exercise frequently and look to carry nothing with them other than earbuds.

Via [Brando]

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It all started on June 29, 2007. Well, technically it started months before that since that’s when the iPhone was first unveiled. What compelled me to wait in line from 11am to 6p (and palmsolo to camp out overnight) just to get my hands on the iPhone? Was it the tease of the iPhone or my need to always be among the first to have cool gadgets? Regardless, I waited, wrote up my impressions, and have had a love/hate relationship with the iPhone ever since.

Now I sit with it as my primary device one year later, after swearing that it wouldn’t be. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many phones that have tried to be my primary, including the Mogul, the blackberry Curve, the BlackJack II, and the HTC Touch Diamond, just to name a few.

So, why have they not succeeded in ripping the iPhone from my hands? Below is a quick list of what the iPhone does really well. To be fair, I’ve also included all of the things that I wish would be fixed, and marked them accordingly, if the new version of the iPhone’s hardware and/or software will finally fix them. By the way, even though my iPhone is jailbroken, that still doesn’t influence why it’s still my primary device more than a year later–I guess the iPhone just works for me.

What I like about the iPhone

Reading- I tend to use the iPhone for late night and early morning reading. Be it mobile-friendly webpages, Google Reader, or full-blown websites, I’m always ready to browse.

Watching movies and videos- I watch a fair amount of video on it, including YouTube, and Break.com. I also have an ipod Touch but nothing beats an integrated speaker.

E-mailing- I use Gmail as my primary and thankfully Google has continued to improve the Gmail interface for iPhone. I can also access Gmail through IMAP on the iPhone if I don’t want to work with the web-based interface.

Picture taking- I snap a bunch of pics with the iPhone, more so than any other camera phone. It just works effortlessly and very rarely blurs a shot. I also easily e-mail it off to someone listed in my Contacts or sync it up to my Mac at the end of the day.

Visual voicemail- I thought it was a gimmick when I first started using it but it’s a really great feature. I don’t skip over certain messages in favor of others, but I do use it for archiving messages for an extended period of time and it’s nice to be able to jump right to the archived message, without having to wade through the newer messages.

Weather- It sports a really nice weather application. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have extended forecast, but I’ll leave that to the “against iPhone” section.

iTunes on the phone- I find myself buying a few tracks a month on the iPhone directly. Most of the time I’m sitting around and I hear a song on the radio or on TV. I then pick up the iPhone, perform a quick search and seconds later I’m clicking the preview and then purchasing the track. I had forgotten that I used to enjoy buying 45’s and singles, and the ability to easily buy a track at a time is fantastic.

Google Maps- Even though it doesn’t offer integrated GPS (the iPhone 3G will), the integration of the maps with Contacts on the iPhone is perfect. Also, there are plenty of times where instead of calling information I’ve used Google Maps to find the information. You can’t beat that!

What I don’t like about the iPhone

No cut and paste- I still can’t believe that after a year this hasn’t been addressed. Even 2.0 doesn’t have it.

Can’t forward a text message- Same as above. At least if I could cut and paste I wouldn’t care as much about not being able to forward a text message.

Playing games- it doesn’t ship with ANY! What an oversight, in my opinion. Even a simple solitaire or something would have been great. I first Jailbroke my iPhone just to get games. This will be fixed with the App Store though.

Battery life- I’ve been using it for a year and I’m lucky if it can hold a charge for the full day. The new version is supposed to have improved battery life, but with 3G, it’s going to suck it dry, I’m sure.

Lack of 3G- The original version is slow on EDGE. It’s great on WiFi and thankfully the iPhone bounces between the two seamlessly, so most of the time you don’t even know when you’re moving from one to the other. As mentioned above, the new one will have 3G.

Signal- I’ve got a lot of phones and the iPhone seems to have the worst reception. I’ve tried holding it in a variety of different ways and it still doesn’t get the signal it should.

No Todo list- I guess Apple doesn’t think we need to keep track of our ToDos. We’ve had a bunch of software updates and even 2.0 won’t carry ToDos. Hopefully a developer will have added this functionality and made it available for free through the App Store.

No over-the-air sync- I’m so used to syncing with Hosted Exchange over-the-air. I’ve definitely missed this most, having to always remember to tether the iPhone. The iPhone 2.0 offers over-the-air ActiveSync and also MobileMe integration. Unfortunately, we’ll still have to tether to get our photos synced up.

Notes doesn’t sync- I’m using Missing Sync which backs up my Notes onto my Mac, but why not include that as part of the package by now?

Weather has to go online for extended forecast - Even the forecasters can’t get it right by the hour anymore, so seeing what the high is going to be is just not enough. You can go online for more but I don’t always want to go online. The App Store will no doubt fix this.

No RSS feed reader- Pretty self explanatory though I use Google Reader now and I’m sure they’ll have an offline component soon enough.

Calendar too basic- It’s not the most fluid interface for jotting down appointments on the fly. Again, I’m sure developers will add their own flare to this one.

As you can see above, the majority of my complaints should be fixed by hardware and/or software. Either Apple will fix with an update of the firmware or a developer will offer an application for free or for a price that will address my concerns. Regardless, it should only be a couple of months before the iphone answers all of my needs. Here’s hoping, anyway.

As for who should buy the new iPhone, there are two different camps. If you already have the iPhone and it’s working for you, don’t buy the new one. 3G and integrated GPS isn’t worth the upgrade price, considering you’ll have to pay more for your mobile plan. The new software update comes without a price, so that will bring you all of the new functionality that you are hoping for. However, if you have yet to buy an iPhone, the new iPhone, with its starting price of $199, is definitely a compelling offering and one worth taking a solid look at.

Planning a wedding can easily be one of the happiest and the most stressful events of a young couple’s life. It’s not uncommon for those doing the planning to use technology to make the process a little easier. What may be unique is the couple that utilizes Google services to make things run smoothly.

David and Bergin Boyle were able to find a wedding date that matched both of their schedules through the use of Google Calendar. To-Do and RSVP lists were created with Google Docs and then shared with relatives and friends. The couple even went as far as creating a site about the wedding which included a personalized Google Map.

To top everything off the couple posted their Google wedding story using Blogger’s “future-dated posts” so that their post appeared the same time they were coming down the aisle.

Boy, this is quite a marketing piece for Google. It’s no wonder they make a point of bringing it to the attention of visitors through their Google Blog. I must admit it was a slick little idea to future-date the post about their wedding. Of course, it allowed them the flexibility to back out of the wedding if needed. Still, I don’t think that was a concern for either of them.

Honestly, it sounds like the couple’s love of Google made them a perfect match.

Read more from the Google Blog and the Info Clarity blog.