When there is such a powerful name brand such as Apple, Iphone, or Ipod laughing at you and your pitiful attempts at new mp4 players what do you do? What do you do?
Why you copy them of course!
The KL-285mp4 player is taking the stance that if they look like an iPhone or iPod then people will grab it just to look cool. But, does it stand up? The KL-285 certainly can’t call anyone nor will you be able to get any internet connection no matter how hard you smack it, it does have some alright features for an mp4/mp3 player.
It features include the usual such as a microSD memory card slot, support for 3GP, MP4, and AVI video formats, MP3 playback, a clock and calendar function, an e-book reader and an integrated FM radio.
The $47 KL-285 also includes a 2.8″ touch screen 320 x 240 resolution display, a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, 4.5 hour video playback and 8 hour audio on a single charge. If you’re looking for just an mp4 player with no bells and whistles then why not.
There is nothing worse than being out listening to your music, or web browsing, or in the middle of a video and your iPod Touch goes dead. Well, the Japanese company Radius has just solved that problem with the radJacket CHARGE.
The radJacket is a cool little hard case that keeps your iPod Touch free from dust, dirt, grime, scratches, dings, spills, cracks, and anything else that could happen to it while you’re out. As cool as that is, that’s not the best part.
You can get a case anywhere but what Radius has done is put in a rechargeable Lithium ion battery to keep your iPod Touch fully charged. This recharging ability now prolongs the life of your Touch to up to 46 hours of music, 12 hours of video and 10 hours of web browsing. Nice.
The lithium ion battery can be recharged with miniUSB and is ready to go after just 3 hours. The radJacket is only available in Japan right now.
Today O2 announced that as of tomorrow (16/04/08) until June it will be cutting a sweet £100 off the I-phone until June. Although this only covers the 8Gb version (the 16 Gb will continue to be priced at £329) it is still great (or at least better) value for money, and a deal that I am sure will leave a sour taste in all current I-phone users.
However the question that has been aroused by this action is, unsurprisingly, why? The obvious and easily the most likely answer is that sellers are clearing the way for the 3G I-phone, which is is expected (no coincidence here) in June, which is set to expand the current I-phone capacities. The reduction may also have something to do with the unconvincing sales, and that this is a method to improve them so as to keep in line with sales targets, both of which would fit perfectly together.
So, if you want an I-phone and think its too expensive then tomorrows your early birthday, but just hope that reductions in tarrif will follow the reduction in price!
Hailed as being a masterpiece of modern internet access that will revolutionize the way we use the internet, i figuered it was time to have a look at this little technology wonder and see whether it lived up to the hype.
When you first look at it you can’t help but notice the sleek design and the crisp finish that surrounds it. It looks pretty cool, and is thin and small enough to fit into a large pocket with ease. When you open up you also get a sleek welcome, and a keyboard that looks neat, an works well if you get used to it. It also has a very good battery life, which is important for some thing that it designed to be mobile, but unfortunately that is where the probems start.
PocketSurfer2 is advertised as being: Free, anytime, anywhere access. To be honest only one of those words is accurate, and that is ‘access’. Although it gives the impression of being free, Datawind (?) the people behind PocketSurfer2 have come up with a clever way of getting money off you. Firstly they use GPRS, which is cheap for them, which they have managed to speed up so it can render pages in 7 seconds, which isn’t bad. However they give you the first year free (probably covered by the hefty $350 price tag) before charging you $80 for the year after. Now am i just being stupid, or is $80 more than free? Also that only covers for 20 Hrs a month (thus making it not anytime, and if you want more? an extra $12 a month.
Also because it uses GPRS it has limited reception, so the claim that it can be used anywhere is also hollow.
Verdict: Taking into account that it is, really, just an ordinary internet surfer it is quite good, as it is easy to use and is relativly quick, but it is a bit of a let down considering what is promised, and for the money
you could get a better Epc, or even a low spec brand laptop.
It’s nothing new to have a portable DVD player with the ability to dock an Ipod into it for the added functionality of sound/video. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
The Philips DCP951/37 Docking Entertainment System is not really portable. It could be, as it does come with a battery with a life of about 2.5 hours on a single charge, but the DCP951/37 is better suited for spaces in your home, room, or dorm where a big screen or large entertainment system is just not possible or necessary.
The player is equipped with a 9 inch diagonal LCD screen with built in speakers. The iPod dock swings from the back when needed. In addition to being able to playback DVD and it’s iPod functionality, it also has SD/MMC card slot for memory cards and supports a wide variety of playback formats including DVD, DVD+/-R and DVD+/-RW, (S)VCD, DivX & MPEG4 videos.
In the portable DVD market, this is a pretty good gadget and is something that is rather inexpensive (only 199.99 at Amazon).
What is the point of NapTV by designer Sung-kyu Na? Umm see picture. It looks like kiddy stuff but NapTV isn’t just the way to make your kid lazy, man. And please, it isn’t the coolest chair to sit on while doing school work. Your kid will mostly likely watch TV most of the time. ”Mom, it’s the NapTV for what it is!”
Of course, lying on bed and looking above must be the most comfortable way to watch TV but maybe it’s not good for your health.
So, a kid might be better off socializing with the opposite sex. On second thought, the drawing of the person with the NapTV above is that of a kid at heart rather than that of a kid. I’m okey with that. It’s one more reason to stay in bed for us adults. Pretty terminal.
Verdict: Now, don’t they make a version for the whole family?
Now you CAN have a life and work/blog. The iPhone multi-touch display combined with the Safari browser is the perfect platform from which to blog on the go, thus allowing you to take the blog mobile!
This is a must have for me. Now I’ll be consistant with posting, be on top of my game, and have to think of new excuses for why I can’t blog!
So, it’s good to hear that mobile blogging tools are about to hit the iPhone. WordPress is apparently going to hit the iPhone very soon - perhaps with the launch of the AppStore. Matt Mullenwag, lead man at WordPress, will only admit that there is a mobile device that has a WordPress client “built in,” and that “you can probably guess which one that is” - but we’ll take that as confirmation that WordPress is coming to the iPhone.
HELL YEAH.
Six Apart will also be throwing a TypePad blogging application into the fray. “Six Apart pioneered the mobile blogging experience with an iPhone-optimized blog service,” said Chris Alden, CEO, Six Apart. “We’re taking it to the next level with our native iPhone application for TypePad that’s already in development.”
The third-party applications do away with the need to blog through a web interface, and will no doubt offer the benefits of speed and offline blogging to iPhone lovers. Until these WordPress and TypePad application hit the market, you might do well to check out WordPress plug-in (WPhone) that optimizes the WordPress interface for your iPhone (read: it’s EDGE-friendly). I personally would rather use the full WordPress interface, but I only use it in conjunction with a WiFi connection.
VirtueSphere has been developed over 45 man years, and the end product is essentially a large hamster ball which when coupled with head tracking provides the ultimate virtual reality.
The VirtuSphere platform consists of a large hollow sphere that sits on top of a base
and allows the sphere to rotate 360 degrees. Wearing a wireless, head-mounted
display, users can step inside the sphere to fully interact in immersive virtual
environments. The VirtuSphere enables 6 degrees of freedom – one can move in any
direction; walk, jump, roll, crawl, run over virtually unlimited distances without
encountering real-world physical obstacles. (from the VirtueSphere website).
Basically this means that you can really take part in the game, or simulation, and be a lot more involved as you are really doing the movement, as opposed to just pressing buttons. The same applies to the aiming aspect, as guns etc can be linked to the head tracking, meaning that you can really experience FPS games.
However it is currently designed just for simulation purposes, and gaming is in the pipeline, but not for a while. However it does have the following advantages:
User can move in any direction; walk, jump, roll, crawl, run over virtually unlimited distances
Life-like movements inside cyberspace
Standalone or networked
Multiplatform
Need to change the purpose of use? Just reload the software
Mobile solution, transportation in middle size car, assembled in 4 hour
Obviously this means that potentially you could adapt it for any old game, but it would be extremely difficult, and perhaps not worth the effort.
Anyway, we have the technology, and it is only a matter of time before this can be developed into a real life gaming experience, and imagine what it will be like!
Verdict: At the moment, great for simulation and for ‘exploring worlds’, but watch this space, because this could get big in the gaming world!
Yup, replace the internet. That’s how theGlobal Grid Forum would have it. A while ago, I posted about the revolutionary Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. One tiny thing I forgot to mention is the incredible computing power needed to process endless data that the LHC will be churning out (said to be some peta-bytes of data annually, whatever would that be).
Solution: Invent a turbocharged internet that will connect supercomputers around the world. The whole thing is ominously called the Grid or the LHC Computing Grid. The specs include dedicated routing, fiber optics, servers, and, of course, supercomputers. Result: Download that’s 10000 times faster than broadband. That’s faster than Caltech’s Fast Transmission Control Protocol ( = 6000x faster). It turns out Caltech is involved in the Grid project.
However, the Grid is more than just fast downloads. It’s really about consolidating the world’s supercomputers to detect and analyze elusive sub-atomic particles (at this point).
And before I forget, the Grid is already online. It’s time to coin new terms, man! Where were you when I was plugged into the Matrix, er, the Grid? Still surfing? Haha!
Verdict: Said to download the Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in two seconds.
Revised verdict: Hints at the Matrix, Terminator 3, I Robot, and other overbearing meta-conscious AI.
Are you in the market for a 4Gb flash drive? How about one that also doubles as a TV tuner?
Buffalo has come out with it’s DH-KONE4G/U2DS (why can’t they ever think of anything other than numbers and letters for names?), the latest 1Seg TV tuner USB dongle. So if you’re ever out and not only want to carry your files with you but want to catch your favorite show at the same time… you can!
The Buffalo DH-KONE4G/U2DS includes 4GB of internal memory which gives you the ability of recording up to 20h of TV programs directly on the USB key. It could possibly be low quality video but still… ya gotta admit… pretty cool.
When there is such a powerful name brand such as Apple, Iphone, or Ipod laughing at you and your pitiful attempts at new mp4 players what do you do? What do you do? 
Now you CAN have a life and work/blog. The iPhone multi-touch display combined with the Safari browser is the perfect platform from which to blog on the go, thus allowing you to take the blog mobile!
