GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

A new patent application from Apple aims to remove yet more componentry from its already minimal devices. The invention combines the orifices for microphone and headphone into one, promising a kind of double-penetration for iPhones.

In this design, the microphone would sit at the bottom of the cavity into which slips the headphone jack, and “is coupled to the body such that the plug aperture and the cavity provide an acoustic path to the microphone.”

Not only does this close off an open hole through which dust and dirt may enter, it could actually be used in conjunction with a normal, hole-using mic to provide noise-cancelation for phone-calls and even provide directional recording via something called “beamforming”.

This obsession with stripped-down hardware will clearly never end. We’re down to one main button and a few dedicated switches on the iPad, along with four holes in the edges. I don’t think Apple will be satisfied until it has printed its multi-touch circuitry directly onto our retinas and fingers.

Audio Jack with Included Microphone [USPTO via New Scientist]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Today we point and laugh at yet another ill-conceived bike design, only this one will actually make it into stores and is the spawn of big-name Brit designer Ross Lovegrove, not just some dude with a CAD app.

The first thing I though when I saw the LDN (for “London”) was “How the hell do I lock it?” You could run your D-Lock through that hole in the frame (there to lighten the bike and let you hang it on the wall) but then you’re left with two unsecured wheels. And because the carbon-fiber frame lacks a down-tube, the front-wheel can’t be locked to it. The only answer is three D-Locks, inferior cables or heavy chains, hardly practical on a “London” bike. And that’s before we even get to securing the saddle.

Lovegrove designed the LDN for Biomega, and it is clearly billed for city use. It has a couple of saving features: hub-gears and a shaft-drive keep things clean (both in looks and non-dirtiness) and, well, that’s it. The Lady thinks that it would be hard to ride in a skirt, and I wonder why the rear-wheel mounts on track-ends, especially as the shaft-drive means no chain pulling on the wheel, and no real need to move the wheel back and forth for perfect tension.

One more thing: The press release somewhat naively states that “LDN [is] a true urban tool.” Indeed.

Cratorial Biomega: LDN & NYC (Press release) [Cyclelicious via Bicycle Design]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

We’re living in an age of multiple connected screens, where even our media-savvy televisions demand some occasional typing to search for a videogame, TV show or NetFlix rental. Problem is, typing (more like hunting and pecking) with a game controller or remote control is a pain in the butt and that’s the world into which the TiVo Slide is being born.

The TiVo on-screen software keyboard has been semi-affectionately dubbed “the Ouija Board input” from the way users slid and hovered the remote over each letter to search for titles. As TiVo added more and more text-dependent features, Ouija-hovering got more and more obnoxious. With recent software updates, Premiere and Series 3 users can use a USB keyboard or mouse, or a wireless device with a USB Bluetooth dongle. (That’s actually how the Slide connects.) But for one-stop remote/keyboard shopping, the Slide is your guy.

It solves a few technical problems that have haunted keyboard-style remotes for years. The slide interface is one: We’ve gotten so used to handheld devices that almost nobody wants to use a keyboard for everything. The bigger deal may be Bluetooth, which, among other nice things, performs the essential task of letting you use the keyboard sideways. It also lights up in the dark — there are other TiVo remotes that do this, but typing text with your thumbs makes this feature pretty much essential.

Yes — you have to type with your thumbs. If you’ve used a smartphone hardware keyboard like most Blackberries’ (or a slide-out like the Droid’s), this is familiar stuff. If your typing skills are optimized for a keyboard, or you’re not much of a typist to begin with, it’ll take some getting used to.

It’s surprising, actually, that we’re not seeing more innovation and experimentation in alt-keyboard devices. There’s nothing sacrosanct about the QWERTY keyboard layout other than that it’s what most typists in the English-speaking world have come to expect. Most people know that it appeared on early Remington typewriters because it kept the keys from clashing; if a rifle maker knew anything, it was precision-manufacturing a device not to jam.

But whether it’s hardware or software, we don’t have to worry about keys jamming on keyboards now. And yet, even swiping, chording, and hovering software keyboards use the QWERTY layout. Why not try an alphabetic keyboard — something designed for people who don’t do much typing at all? The last time I checked, relatively few people with TVs sit in front of a computer most of the day.

Or, if you’re targeting experts and speed freaks, why not try a version of the Dvorak layout?

Dvorak is an alternative keyboard configuration patented in 1932 and named for its inventor, August Dvorak. If QWERTY is the MS Windows of keyboards, Dvorak is the Mac. What its adherents lack in numbers, they make up in devotion. In “Seven Reasons to Switch to the Dvorak Keyboard layout,” Red Tani of WorkAwesome makes a good case:

In QWERTY, only 32% of keystrokes are on the home row. Which means most of the time, typists fingers are either reaching up for the top row (52%) or down for the bottom row (16%). So not only does QWERTY do nothing for typists, it actually hinders them.

Dvorak further increases typing speed by placing all vowels on the left side of the home row, and the most commonly used consonants on the right side. This guarantees that most of your strokes alternate between a finger on your right hand (consonant) and a finger on your left (vowel). Alternating between fingers from either hand is faster just imagine texting with one hand or drumming with one stick.

On a tiny mobile device, DVORAK could be comparatively even faster. More comfortable, too.

QWERTY beat out DVORAK because typists who’d learned the first were faster and more accurate using that layout than on the second. It’s a classic example of what economists and other social scientists call path-dependence and increasing returns: an inferior technology can beat a superior one if it’s adopted early and widely enough to lock out the competition.

So maybe somewhere out there is a new kind of phone/remote/controller-sized keyboard that blows the QWERTY keyboard away. The trouble is, most of us would be better off typing with something else, if they were giving superior machines away. The new TiVo remote acknowledges that this is the world we live in.

Photos: TiVo.com, Wikipedia

Follow us for real-time tech news: Tim Carmody and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The Tnr Expedition Tent from Nomad is a tent with a parking-garage. Designed by two touring riders, the Tnr is a shelter for two men and their motorbike.

And when we say two men, we mean two big, burly men: the product blurb says that if the tent were measured by normal means, it would be rated for five, so you have plenty of room to stretch out and stow some gear.

But the bike part is the most interesting. When you arrive at camp, you pitch the outer-shell first and then drive the bike right in and zip out the rain. From there, the inner-chamber can be erected from the inside. The outer-shell has no ground-sheet, so there’s nothing to damage when you park, and the tent is tall enough to stand in.

It weighs 13-pounds packed, which is a lot for a hikers tent, but nothing when you’re on a bike. Nervous about your bike falling on you while you sleep? The tent can’t do anything about that, but the guys at Nomad offer some advice: just make sure the bike is leaning away from you when parked up on uneven ground.

The Tnr is $400. Not cheap, but cheaper than a stolen bike.

Tnr Expedition Tent [Nomad Tent]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Gadget Lab reader John Costello sent in his ingenious invention, one of those ideas so simple that you slap your forehead and wonder why it hasn’t been done before. John has designed an induction hob which uses LED “flames” to stop you turning it up too high.

While induction hobs give the instant control of a gas flame, there is no way to see how high you have set the heat (there are numbers on the knob, but that’s hardly intuitive). John noticed that people would set the controls too high, so he decided to fix it.

His hob uses LEDs arrayed around the perimeter of the heat-rings. these project a light onto the pot which varies in height depending on the amount of heat dialed-in. As the power creeps higher, so do the “flames”, giving visual feedback that can be read by anybody, even from afar.

I love it. I still use gas, as I like to melt the plastic handles off my stovetop espresso pots every few months, but if I went to electric, it would certainly be induction, and I’d like to have John’s electric blue flames licking up the sides of my saucepans.

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

<< Previous
|
Next >>

At first glance, electronic circuit boards may seem as far from art as you can get. But look closer, and the boards have patterns & mdash; horizontal and vertical grids that have a strange, precise beauty to them.

It’s the kind of beauty that we perceive in the whorls of a seashell or a grain of wood, says Theo Kamecke, an artist who is taking vintage circuit boards and transforming them into pieces that can adorn homes and galleries.

Kamecke has harvested the etching from the boards, then affixed them to hardwood to create the effect of polished metal on stone.

The results are exquisitely decorated chests, sculptures and boxes.

“Either you get it or you don’t, either you like it or you don’t,” says Kamecke. “I don’t mass-produce these, and no one else makes them.”

Kamecke uses a technique called marquetry that’s popular among furniture makers. But he has added a high-tech twist to it that hasn’t been done by anyone else.

“There is a neat aesthetic to it,” says Phil Torrone, senior editor at Make magazine and creative director at Adafruit, an online store catering to the DIY crowd. “It has a futuristic, yet Egyptian and retro, feel to it.” Adafruit has featured Kamecke as its summer artist on the company’s website.

Kamecke’s work has found a place in art galleries and has been acquired by Hollywood director James Cameron and Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger.

The pieces cost anywhere from “a few thousand dollars to many thousand,” says Kamecke. But each is painstakingly crafted by hand.

“It’s unique and going to go away after Theo,” says Torrone. “The kind of circuit boards that he uses are not being manufactured anymore.”

Above: Theo Kamecke named this chest Byzantine, because its motifs remind him of art from that era.

Photo: Theo Kamecke

<< Previous
|
Next >>

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

I what has become an annual occurrence, the yearly leaking of new iPod cases has begun. In previous years, these have given us hints about the presence of cameras, whether correct (Nano) or not (iPod Touch). This year, things are more interesting thanks to the whole antenna-gate fiasco, and its subsequent fix via free cases from Apple.

Above we see what are likely to be the cases for a new Nano and Touch. The Touch case has a cut-out for a rear-facing camera, and we’d guess that it will also sport a front-facing camera for FaceTime calling. Notice that although it has a bumper-style colored strip around the edge, the transparent rear is curved just like the current Touch. My guess is a form-factor almost identical to the current one, only with cameras, a Retina display and the game-friendly gyroscope.

The other, smaller case is probably for a touch-screen Nano. What? Yes, I think that the small square screens that have leaked out over the last few months are not for a shuffle but for a tiny Nano. It probably won’t run anything from the App Store, but if the Nano is to get any smaller, the only way to do it is to combine the screen with the controls. The cut-out on the rear is probably for the existing video camera to peek out through.

As ever, all will be confirmed at the Apple Event next Wednesday September 1st, and I can begin my own yearly ritual of buying the new Touch and passing the old one down to the Lady for use as an alarm clock and not much else. This year the lucky thing will have a 32GB, multi-tasking monster to wake her up.

Accessories appearance early exposure iPod touch 4G leaked [SJ.91 via iLounge]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

In what’s a sure sign that the megapixel race in cameras is out of control, Canon has announced that it has developed a 120-megapixel image sensor.

That’s 13,280 x 9,184 pixels packed into an area that’s less than 29 millimeters or 1.4 inches. It’s the highest level of resolution in a sensor of its size, says Canon.

Most cameras today used either a CCD (charge-coupled device) sensor or a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) sensor. Canon’s latest innovation is for a CMOS sensor.

The 120-megapixel sensor is about 7.5 times larger and offers a 2.4-fold improvement in resolution over Canon’s highest comparable commercial sensor. Canon’s highest-resolution commercial CMOS sensor is currently the EOS-1Ds Mark III and EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR cameras. That sensor incorporates approximately 21.1 million pixels.

Cramming more pixels into a sensor is not necessarily indicative of the quality of the photos. Many consumers think more megapixels in a camera means better photos. But sometimes packing more light-sensitive pixels on a tiny sensor can result in greater noise in the photos. Cameras also require strong processing capabilities to take all the data from the sensors and translate into a beautiful picture.

With most CMOS sensors, camera makers use parallel processing to read data at high pixel counts. But that has to be balanced against problems such as signal delays and deviations in timing, all of which can affect image quality.

Canon has modified the method to control the readout circuit timing to get about 9.5 frames per second. This can support continuous shooting of ultra-high-resolution images, says Canon.

The newly developed CMOS sensor also includes full HD video (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) output capability.

For now, the 120-megapixel sensor is a proof-of-concept. It’s an engineering flight of fancy but it shows camera makers are trying to find ways to pack in greater capability into increasingly smaller sensors.

Photo: CMOS sensor/Canon

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

How can you make tiny, flexible materials that conduct electricity more efficiently than today’s batteries? You can engineer expensive, high-density carbon nanotubes. Or you can use the original nanobots, made by nature itself: viruses.

An MIT group recently described an advance that brings us closer to the day when freaky, half-alive nanomachines assemble batteries you could wear.

The research comes out of Angela Belcher’sBiomolecular Materials Group at MIT, which has been working on this project since 1994. They use bacteriophages to build — really, evolve — hyperdense materials from ionic particles, the same way bone, shells, chalk, and glass were made in the Cambrian period.

This week Mark Allen, a postdoc in the group, outlined the use of a new cathode made with iron flouride. Allen also described some of thepotential applications of this technology. The high flexibility of the nanostructured material means you can weave it into any fabric or pour it into any shape, including:

• Wearable battery packs for soliders, first responders, and civilians;
• Tiny rechargable batteries for portable electronics including smart phones, laptops, and GPS;
• Unmanned aerial vehicles, which require lightweight, long-lasting power sources.

In 2008, the group published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences outlining how this would work. Viruses create a template, assembling nanowires out of cobalt oxide. These are built on top of a synthetic electrolytic polymer, called a polyelectrolyte. (Natural polyelectrolytes include protein polypeptides and DNA.) Stamp this electrode onto a platinum current collector, and:

The resulting electrode arrays exhibit full electrochemical functionality. This versatile approach for fabricating and positioning electrodes may provide greater flexibility for implementing advanced battery designs such as those with interdigitated microelectrodes or 3D architectures.

A UAV is going to provide the first real-world test of the scaled-up batteries in action. Other applicationswe’ve seen touted for wearable electronics include wearable solar cells and electronic devices that stand up to repeat laundering. So much to look forward to.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

After Microsoft’s Surface multitouch table premiered, early implementations were limited: retail stores, hotels, restaurants, bored executives goofing off in board rooms, and university researchers modeling totally kickass Dungeons & Dragons games.

But why waste your time controlling virtual armies of NPC henchmen when you can control REAL armies of tiny robots? Or giant ones? That’s the Doctor Doom move. You don’t even need to peek at your WWDDD? bracelet from inside your hideous metal mask.

Nobody at the UMass-Lowell Robotics Lab (as far as I know) has a hideous metal mask. And they haven’t even built the robots yet — so this is still at the D&D level of virtual awesomeness/villainy, not cartoonish super-villainy.

But there’s important, amazing, yet simple tech at work in this proof-of-concept demo. The researchers use multitouch to send the robots scurrying around to execute commands, but also to pan and zoom a map of where they’re operating, create virtual subcontrollers, and display text and video data, all within the same interface.

The lab’s work focuses (among other things) on human-robot interaction, robot vision, interactive learning, and disaster response. The ease-of-use of multitouch controls is clearly valuable in all of those scenarios. As Evan Ackerman gushes at BotJunkie, “Its not even that theres anything that innovative going on here, strictly Its just that Surface is able to merge existing hardware and existing controls into a new interface, which makes all the difference.” Ackerman also notes that very little innovation in robotics research is happening at the UI level; the fact that a consumer/commercial product can be introduced on this end solves a slew of practical problems for existing robotics, not to mention potentially putting control of the technology in the hands/fingertips of many more people.

Now imagine if this research merged with the retail applications of Surface already in use. You go to a bar, touch a table, order a drink — and a robot navigates the room and brings it to you.

From UMass-Lowell Robotics Lab via the Microsoft Robotics Blog and BotJunkie.

Related posts:

• D&D + Microsoft Surface = Unheard-of Levels of Radness
• First Look: Microsoft Milan Surface Computer A Table That Knows Whats On It
• Microsoft to Install Surface Systems in AT&T Stores
• Microsoft Shows Off Surface in Sheraton Hotels
• Quadrocopters Work Together to Lift Loads, Destroy Mankind
• Robo Spiders Are Multilegged Mechanical Marvels
• Gallery: Robot Bartenders Sling Cocktails for Carbon-Based Drinkers

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Cosina, the camera giant responsible for many rebranded cameras and lenses, along with its own Voigtlnder brand, has joined the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) team. That means it will begin making lenses for the cameras from Panasonic and Olympus.

This is pretty big news. While the lens line-up for the large-sensor mirrorless cameras is growing, with even a Leica-branded lens on sale, it is doing so rather slowly. Adding Cosina to the team means that we should soon see a whole lot of interesting glass which will work fully with the cameras, and without adapters.

Not convinced? The first MFT lens from Cosina is its amazing Nokton 25mm 0.95 prime, a 50mm equivalent lens which can see better in the dark than you can. It will be on sale in October for Around $1,100.

And it’s not just lenses. It’s possible that we could see a Voigtlnder camera-body in the near future, too. Given that Voigtlnder is a name closely associated with rangefinder cameras, which are the spiritual ancestor of the Micro Four Thirds cameras, this is pretty exciting stuff. An MFT camera with chunky metal body and all-manual knobs and dials? Yes please. Welcome aboard, Cosina!

Cosina Joins the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group [Olympus via DP Review]

Micro Four Thirds Nokton [Cosina]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Remember the McFly 2015s, the Official Shoes of Gadget Lab? They were a fairly faithful rendition of Marty McFly’s amazing self-lacing sneakers from Back to the Future 2, forced to the market by the tireless work of the Maloof brothers who spent years badgering Nike into making them.

They looked great, but lacked the flashing lights and auto-lacing functions of the “real” thing. Now, Nike has actually patented a self-lacing sneaker. This, you are no doubt just realizing, is completely frickin’ amazing: It’s entirely possibly that these shoes could actually be in stores in the year 2015, just like in the movie. This would be a weird, time-warping paradox so perfectly mimicking those in the Back to the Future movies that the world might possibly end.

That Nike have filed a patent for these things is mind-bending enough, but pretty much everything has made it in. The shoes will of course fasten themselves, but there are also LEDs a-glowing and a detailed breakdown of the batteries, circuits and control-systems. There is even a charging stand.

One problem Nike might have to face, though, is the existence of prior-art. Not only did the sneakers already show up in the movie, but Just last month we saw that an enterprising hacker had made his own self-lacing shoes.

McFly 2015 patent application [WIPO via Nice KicksThakns, Matt!]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Link, from Imation, is a dead-simple way to get movies off your computer and onto your TV. It consists of two parts: a USB-dongle for the computer and a receiver that hooks into your TV. The pair talk to each other wirelessly and stream whatever is on the computer’s screen over to the television.

The connection is via Wireless USB, or WUSB, and will stream video up to 720p resolution and still images up to 1080p. It also sends stereo sound, and the whole lot is piped into the TV via an included HDMI cable.

Unfortunately, the one thing Imation doesn’t want to share is the price. If this thing is under $100, it might be in with a chance. With the rumors hotly tipping a new, $99 Apple TV at next week’s Apple Event on September 1st, anything that costs more than that may as well just go home now.

Link product page [Imation. Thanks, Michelle!]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Ergomotion’s new wrist-friendly mouse is little more than a symmetrical, two-button laser-mouse with a scroll wheel, but one single tweak to traditional mouse-design should make it a lot more comfortable to use. The mouse is in two parts, a top that looks just like any commodity mouse from the dime-store and a bottom part that sits on the table and contains the lasery bits. These two sections are joined at a central pivot, letting the top rotate, pitch and roll.

This, we are assured by inventor Dr. Jack Atzman, stops RSI and carpal-tunnel injuries because it doesn’t force your hand into a stiff, unnatural position. I have pretty much given up on mice in favor of touch-screens, trackpads and tablets, partially because of the discomfort they cause. I’m not going back anytime soon, but for those with stiff wrists and a rodent addiction this may be a solution.

Otherwise, nothing about this mouse will surprise you, not even the price. The Ergomotion mouse costs a reassuringly dull $50.

Ergomotion product page [Smartfish. thanks, Matt!]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

It’s clearly the season for new camera gear, and today it’s Canon’s turn in the spotlight. Along with a few new lenses comes the EOS 60D, a “replacement” for the two-year-old 50D. Those looking to upgrade from their 50D should look elsewhere, though, perhaps to the 7D, as this new camera is more for consumers than enthusiastic amateurs.

The magnesium body of the 50D is now plastic, and the 60D uses SD-cards instead of Compact Flash. It also gets a slew of gimmicky image processing features (Toy Camera, anyone?) and the obligatory video capabilities.

In fact, video seems to be what this camera was made for. The rear screen is the pop-out, tilt-and-swivel type, Canon’s first on an SLR, and has the over a million dots of resolution (or around 330,000-pixels). Video is shot at varying sizes and speeds. 1080p is available at 24p, 25p or 30p frame rates. Drop to 720p resolution and you can shoot at up to 60fps. Whatever picture you choose, you get full manual control, including sound with 64 audio-levels.

The 18MP sensor (like the LCD panel) is the same as that found in the 550D (or Rebel T2i), the AF system comes from the old 50D and the 63-zone exposure meter comes from the 7D. It’s almost like the Canon engineers just picked through a shelf of existing parts and snapped them together like Lego, producing what seems like a pretty sweet-looking camera.

The 60D will go on sale in September for $1,100 body-only, or as part of a $1,400 kit with a 18-135mm lens.

EOS 60D product page [Canon]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

A new, soon to be released case for the iPad comes with a built-in Bluetooth keyboard that will effectively turn the tablet into a netbook. The leather folio-style case has an ingenious design that lets flips between three configurations. Closed; open with the iPad in normal, touch-screen use and open, propping up the iPad with the keyboard flat in front of it.

The keyboard itself is made of silicone and will therefore be squishy and very likely unresponsive. It has a home button along with all the media controls you’d expect, and will go into sleep mode to save batteries after ten minutes of non-use. The battery, must be charged separately from the iPad (although you can use your iPad’s charging cable to do it) and will give up to 45 hours of use on a charge.

It looks kind of neat, if you really want such a bulky thing. I prefer Apple’s Bluetooth keyboard as it is small enough to sling in your bag, but separate so I don’t have to carry it with the iPad all the time. In fact, I bought the Apple keyboard but almost never use it. Like Wired.com NY bureau chief John C Abell, I find I actually prefer typing on the iPad’s screen. The auto-correct along with the big keys means I actually type faster and more accurately on that than I do on a “real” keyboard.

Doubtless there are plenty who rightly disagree, and for them, this case exists. It’ll cost you sixty British Pounds Sterling ($93), or likely less when it makes its way to a US outlet.

KeyCase iPad Folio with Integrated Bluetooth Keyboard [Gearzap via Apple Insider]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Just as the e-readers market seemed poised for a shakeout, Sharper Image–a store best known for its R2-D2 droids and ionic air purifier–has decided to jump in with a new e-reader.

Sharper Image has announced ‘Literati,’ a device with a color screen that will retail for $160. The device will be powered by the Kobo e-book store. Literati will have Wi-Fi connectivity, wireless book downloads and free reading apps.

The Literati has been created after an “extensive two-year design and development process,” says Sharper Image, and will ship nationwide in early October.

The Literati comes to market at a time when upstart e-readers are disappearing. Price wars by the big three e-reader makers–Amazon, Sony and Barnes & Noble and competition in the category has taken its toll on companies. Earlier this month, Foxit announced it will stop development on its eSlick e-reader. Plastic Logic canceled its plans to bring its e-reader to market, while Cool-er’s e-readers have been listed out of stock in the U.S. for months.

Meanwhile, bigger e-reader makers are ramping up their marketing efforts. Barnes & Noble has started aggressively selling the Nook reader in its stores. Amazon new, improved Kindle e-reader also seems to have turned into best-seller with Amazon racing to keep up with the demand.

Literati will wade into this fiercely competitive market. The color screen on the device is interesting. Though the company hasn’t offered any details about it, it is likely to be an LCD display. But the device doesn’t have a big price advantage over its rivals. The Literati costs just $20 less than the $190 Kindle.

What it has going for it is an impressive retail distribution network. The Literati will be available in stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, JC Penney, Kohls and Macys.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple’s iPhone users may be buying more apps but when it comes to mobile ads, it is Android customers who are click happy, says an online advertising network.

Android users click on ads 81 percent more often than those who have an iPhone. That makes Android users much more valuable to advertisers, says online ad network Chitika. But here’s another interesting data point. Apple’s iPad did better than the iPhone when it comes to ad click-through rates. The data is based on a sample of 1.3 million impressions across Chitika’s network.

“iPad users are much more likely to click ads than their iPhone-using contemporaries. This may be chalked up to the difference in display size,” says Chitika on its blog.

The numbers from Chitika are similar to those from another mobile ad company called Smaato in June. Android devices are more friendly to mobile ads compared to the iPhone, says Smaato.

The data about how smartphone users react on different platforms comes as Apple has started rolling out its iAds mobile advertising platform. So far, only five of the 17 iAd launch partners have managed to roll out their advertising campaigns since Apple introduced iAds in April.

Though early advertisers have said they are happy with the results they have seen so far, data from companies like Chitika and Smaato is not an encouraging sign for Apple.

It is not clear why Android devices are ahead of the iPhone when it comes to getting consumer attention for ads, says Chitika. Android users show a click-through rate of 1.187 percent compared to 0.654 percent click-through rates on the iPhone. The lack of iPhone-like elegance in the Android’s interface could result in more user clicks–including those on mobile ads, says Gigaom.

But that alone can’t explain why the Android platform is ahead of the iPhone in getting consumer attention for mobile ads. It’s something that Apple may also be trying to find the answer to.

Chart: Chitika

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

You might think it was already dead, but sales for the Barnes & Noble Nook (both B&N-branded hardware and multi-platform software apps) are booming.

The company’s web stores are doing great, too: B&N has a bigger share of the market in digital books (an estimated 20 percent) than it has in physical books.

That’s pretty good considering the Nook’s only been available for nine months, and the company still generates more revenue selling hardcovers and paperbacks than anyone, including Amazon.

Surprised? It’s easy to think about e-reading as a two-horse race, with Amazon’s austere text-centric Kindle facing off against Apple’s “magical” iPad, like PCs vs Macs or Protestants vs Catholics. And it’s true, Barnes & Noble lost money this past quarter, partly because it’s still sorting out its messy relations with its investors.

But Barnes & Noble is for real, and isn’t going anywhere. In the religious analogy, the Nook might be, I don’t know, Judaism, trying to adapt to a newer world while holding onto its traditional community.

Barnes & Noble has consistently gone for a hybrid strategy: providing touch and text, tightly integrating e-sales with its existing stores while also selling the Nook at Best Buy, letting its books be read on the Nook as well as other platforms. B&N’s apps for PC and Mac are arguably best-in-class (bonus points, too, for getting its Mac app out way before Amazon’s). The company is doubling down on (and rebranding) its apps for mobile devices. And it’s drawing on a solid base of neighborhood customer/members and university bookstores. Even as Amazon cuts its prices and diversifies its models to match the Nook, it can’t match Barnes & Noble’s deep reach into the real world.

According to B&N, its members with Nooks have increased their spending by 20%. The company’s building and staffing Nook boutiques in its stores. The idea is that you’ll go buy the Nook in the store, learn how to use it in the store, browse through titles (for free) in the store. And by the way, you might also want to buy some coffee, have lunch, pick up a photo album — all goods with better margins than books.

If the Kindle offers the promise of books anywhere at once and nowhere in particular, the Nook keeps alive the idea that books have a place. And the best place, Barnes & Noble thinks, is in one of its stores.

Photo credit: orb9220/Flickr

Related posts:

• 5 Things That Will Make E-Readers Better in 2010
• Nook Software Update Adds Web Browser, Chess
• Wi-Fi Only Nook For $150 in Best Buy
• 5 Things That Make Us Want Barnes & Noble’s Nook E-Reader

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple is preparing to announce a major revamp for the Apple TV and upgrades for the popular iPod Touch in an event scheduled for early September, according to a report.

Citing two anonymous sources, Bloomberg claims that Apple will hold a special press event on Sept. 7 in San Francisco to introduce the new products along with a new iTunes rental service for TV programs, as Wired.com’s Epicenter reported Tuesday.

Repeating previous rumors about Apple TV, Bloomberg said a new version of the device would cost $100 and include a smaller hard drive, as it will be designed primarily for streaming content from iTunes. Other reports have claimed Apple would rebrand the device iTV and ship it with its mobile operating system iOS, which could potentially mean the television device will have an app store to enhance its functionality.

Bloomberg’s report also claims Apple will announce an upgraded iPod Touch, sporting a high-resolution display like the iPhone 4. Previous rumors add that like the iPhone 4, the next iPod Touch will include dual cameras.

For several years, Apple has held an annual September event devoted to iTunes and iPods. It would make sense for Apple to unveil a new Apple TV at this year’s event, because a TV-streaming media service would likely be accompanied by a new version of iTunes capable of online storage.

It’s also likely that Apple will release a software update for iPad customers, iOS 4, which will bring multitasking capability, among other features, to the popular tablet.

Photo of Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Comedian Louis CK says we might not take our technological marvels for granted if we spent “some time where we’re walking around with a donkey with pots clanging on the sides.” I say, why can’t we have both?

That’s the premise behind industrial designer Cornelius Comanns’s Bufalino personal transport vehicle/camper. It’s a Piaggio Ape (pronounced “op-ay”) three-wheeler tricked out with storage, a bed, a sink, and a mini-kitchen with a range, water tank, and refrigerator.

These pictures are all computer generated, but considering it’s Comanns’s bachelor’s thesis, it’s impressive all the same. As Cliff Kuang writes at Co.Design, it’s “Perfect for the Dust Bowl 2.0!” All we need now is for someone to build it.

Image by Cornelius Comanns, via Designboom.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

I-O Data’s new hard drive not only hooks up to your computer but connects direct to your camcorder and slurps in any video that might be there, all without an intermediary PC.

The 500GB will work with the JVC Everio, the Sanyo Zakuti Sony’s Handycams, and hooks up via USB. There is also a port for connecting it to a TV via HDMI cable, so you can watch the footage straight back, again without a computer.

Weirdly, the specs say it won’t work with a Mac, but we’d guess that it probably works fine as a hard-drive: you just won’t get any fancy extra features. The HDPN-U500 (it’s clunky name) will be available in “late September” for 14,600, or around $170 of your American dollars.

Portable Hard Disk Camcorder [I-O Data via Akihabara News]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Oh, won’t you look at this: A spy video of the mysterious new Samsung Galaxy Tab, the seven-inch Android 2.2 tablet to be announced next week at the IFA show in Berlin. The clip comes courtesy of the folks at the Electronista blog, who spotted a telco employee with what is presumably a testing unit.

As you can see, it looks like Electronista was secretly filming as it tried to extract the info from the unsuspecting worker. Listen carefully and you’ll hear the Tab being described as “different” from the iPad and “awesome.”

The video part doesn’t really show us much, other than just how the Tab fits in the hand. It looks to be comfy enough for the long-fingered to grip in a single paw. I do wonder, though, if this in-between size has a use: it’s too big to fit in a pocket, yet much smaller than the iPad’s book-sized display.

The best part is at the end, when the Tab-toting tester finally realizes that he has said too much. “I can’t talk about it,” he says. Too late. You already did.

Samsung Galaxy Tab seen in the wild [Electronista via ]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The pitch for Steelcase’s modern take on the classroom chair, the Node, is full of nonsense about trying to “implement multiple pedagogies”, but all you really need to know is that the new desk/chair combo adds wheels and proper under-seat storage to the classic school furnishing.

I tested a Steelcase chair soon after starting work at the Gadget Lab, way back in 2007, and found it to be “comfy”. It was also huge, dominating a small room. The Node might be designed for the classroom, but it would sure look pretty great in my small office (read: bedroom), especially as it would also do away with the need for a desk.

The plastic seat offers no adjustment, so it is rated by Steelcase as suitable for a “short-term sit” only. The table section, though, is adjustable and is good for use by both left and right-handers. And in addition to the wheels on the bottom, for scooting around the room, the chair will swivel.

The Node comes in a bewilderment of colors, with 12 options for the seat and three for the base. Cost will vary depending on how many you buy, so you probably will have to enroll in college to use one of these. We’ll wait for the inevitable Ikea knockoff.

Node product page [Steelcase via OhGizmo]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

IPADock. Its name may sound more like a place to keep your iRacehorses, but the curiously-capitalized accessory is probably the most useful desktop gadget ever. Plug it into a computer and you can charge and sync a pair of iPads, four iPhones, and various combinations thereof. A universal dock-port can be fitted with the adapter from any iPod, from Nano to Touch, and then things start to get even handier.

Stacked up around the back are slots for SD-cards, MemorySticks, CompactFlash cards and a three-port USB-hub. In short, pretty much anything you might want to dock on your desktop will be served by this surprisingly good-looking and compact device.

The price? $70, although you’ll be ordering it from Japan if you want one.

iPADock product page [Photofast via Cult of Mac's John Brownlee. Thanks, Pedro!]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews