GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

Something as simple as changing your Android phone’s wallpaper or downloading a ringtone could transmit personal data about you, including your location, without your knowledge.

Sound farfetched? It’s not: About 15 of 30 randomly selected, popular, free Android apps sent sent users private information to remote advertising servers and two-thirds of the apps handled data in ambiguous ways, say researchers.

The researchers at Duke, Intel Labs and Penn State University, created a tool called TaintDroid that identifies apps transmitting private data to distant locations. TaintDroid monitors how applications access and use your location, microphone, camera, phone numbers in your contact list. The tool also provides feedback once an app is newly installed, letting you know if the app is transmitting data.

“This automatic feedback gives users greater insight into what their mobile applications are doing and could help users decide whether they should consider uninstalling an app,” says Peter Gilbert, a graduate student in computer science at Duke University who’s working on the project. The TaintDroid program isn’t publicly available yet.

The latest data supports a study published in June by mobile security company SMobile Systems that found 20 percent of the then-available 48,000 third-party applications for the Android operating system provided sensitive or private information to outside sources.

Data collection practices in apps are increasingly becoming a major privacy issue for consumers. In July, a mobile security firm called Lookout identified a free wallpaper Android app, Jackeey, that allegedly gathered data about its users, including their phone numbers, carrier subscriber identifiers and phone number of their voicemail accounts. The app then sent the information to a website based in China. The Jackeey app is estimated to have anywhere from 1 to 4 million downloads.

Read more…

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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Dodo cases are not supposed to exist.
Just like the famous flightless Mauritian native it shares a name with, traditional bookbinding should be extinctor at least critically endangered.
But instead its thriving at Dodo Case, a San Francisco-based manufacturer that utilizes old-school manufacturing methods to make coverings for iPads.
The Gadget Lab recently got in on the ground floor of their operation, learned how the case itself came about, where its inspiration came from, and why an extinct bird is the perfect mascot for a company thats preserving a dying craft.

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Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

This week, K-NFB, an e-reading company founded by Ray Kurzweil and the National Federation for the Blind, launched its much-anticipated Blio reading app and e-book store. Blio was immediately and widely panned by publishers, developers, and readers.

“Many of the failures are fundamentally at odds with the one thing that Kurzweil was touting above all else: accessibility,” wrote Laura Dawson, a digital reading industry consultant, formerly of BarnesAndNoble.com. K-NFB promised immediately to make e-books more accessible to blind readers, yet Windows, currently its only enhanced books platform, has known text-to-speech conversion issues.

K-NFB spokesperson Ray Chapman acknowledged the problems with Blio’s text-to-speech in an interview with Publishers Weekly, but blamed the platform, not the books: the TTS software on most Windows machines isnt very good. Yet many Windows XP users were unable to even install Blio’s software. K-NFB currently offers a mobile reader for Nokia phones; Blio for Android and Mac OS X are reportedly “in the works,” and an iOS application is being beta-tested.

Users weren’t the only ones frustrated with Blio. Hadrian Gardeur, founder and CEO of free e-books site FeedBooks, complained on Twitter that Blio was offering downloads from FeedBooks’ catalog without permission: Hey Blio, next time that you add our OPDS [Open Publishing Distribution System] catalog to a commercial product, send us an e-mail first.

In a follow-up e-mail, Gardeur noted that FeedBooks only allows other systems to include their catalog under the following conditions:

• full support for the EPUB standard (Blio converts EPUB into its own format and can’t support EPUB with other companies’ DRM)
• support the entire OPDS catalog (Blio only includes some of FeedBooks’ feeds)
• Add other OPDS catalogs to its library (Blio can’t do that)
• allow payment for commercial content through open standards (Blio doesn’t)

For these reasons, Gardeur asked Blio not to include FeedBooks’ content in its initial launch: K-NFB went ahead and included part of the catalog anyways. Since FeedBooks has a planned system update in the works, it will most likely break Blio’s access to the catalog.

Finally, as we noted earlier this week, Toshiba launched its own branded version of the Blio application, store, and e-book catalog, Toshiba Book Place. Toshiba is offering 6,000 titles at launch; Blio 11,000. This puts Blio at a distinct disadvantage against the 700,000 e-books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers for sale from Amazon, and Barnes & Noble’s library of over 1,000,000 e-books.

It’s not precisely clear why there’s a gap in the number of books offered by Toshiba and Blio. But the brand and store fragmentation is another confusing component of a deeply confusing product launch. It’s especially troubling for those who have been hoping for serious innovation in making e-readers accessible to users of all abilities.

Image via Blio.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

iPad 4.2b2 tethering preferences by Paul Grave on Twitter

If you install the latest iOS 4.2 beta 2 on your iPad 3G and visit the “Cellular Data” section of the settings app, then you may be in for a rather nice surprise. Right there, underneath the familiar APN settings is a new option: to tether the iPad’s internet connection.

Both of the screenshots here come from the UK, one on the T-Mobile network and the other on 3. A complete lack of reports of this option in the US indicates that tethering on the iPad will follow tethering on the iPhone, and be available only in select markets where the carriers approve. This is far from the first time that an iOS beta has switched on tethering, and it may disappear later.

Why would you want to do this? After all, sharing the data connection from your iPhone to you iPad would seem more sensible, right? I can think of several uses: Sharing a connection with friends (I actually needed this when I was reading in a bar, and the Lady was working on her MacBook with no internet connection). Or perhaps letting you update an iPod Touch’s email and Instapaper before heading out and leaving your iPad in the hotel.

The most useful, though, would not be the sharing of 3G data itself. If tethering lets you set up an ad-hoc network with the iPad, then you could beam photos to it from a Wi-Fi camera in the field. Then my waste-of-money Eye-Fi card might finally become useful.

iPad 4.2b2 tethering preferences [Paul Grave / Twitter]

Internet Tethering coming to iPad? [9to5 Mac]

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

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When I saw this Raytheon XOS 2 suit, I immediately thought of the scene in Iron Man 2 where a poor “volunteer” soldier is almost broken in two, his body snapped and wrung by an experimental exoskeleton he is wearing. So you can see how surprised I was to see Agent Phil Coulson from Iron Man wearing it in this YouTube video.

The XOS 2 is an upgrade to the original XOS built for military use by contractor Raytheon. It is lighter, faster and uses half the power of the XOS, and according to one of the uninjured test-soldiers – lets you press 200-pounds or do pushups with 150-pounds on your back without even feeling it. Check this thing out:

While the suit is clearly perfect for fighting, when it makes it into service in five years it will be used just like Ripley’s power-loader in the movie Aliens. A tethered, full-body XOS would be used for loading weapons and supplies (and, of course, fighting Alien queens in airlocks). A pants- only version, encircling legs and waist, could be used in the field to help troops carry heavy loads.

After seeing that soldier twisted like a pretzel in Iron Man 2, I have had an irrational fear of exoskeletons. But I’d love to take this one out for a spin. Imagine doing sports with this thing: you’d slug every ball out over the stadium walls.

For more on exoskeletons in the military in general, and suspiciously timely celebrity appearances in particular, check out the coverage over at our sister blog Danger Room.

Raytheon Unveils 2nd Generation Exoskeleton Robotic Suit [Raytheon]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

To convert your SLR camera into a pinhole camera, you need only to take the body-cap and drill a tiny hole in it. This option, which uses the protective cap that came with the body, is free, and highly recommended for some photo-fun.

If you lack the skills to make a little hole in a piece of plastic, but somehow still have enough of a brain to have bought a camera and know how to use it, you could buy Photojojo’s $50 version, made from an actual Canon or Nikon body-cap. This pro-pinhole isn’t quite as dumb as it seems, but it’s still a little steep compared to Photojojo’s usually reasonable offerings.

The SLR Pinhole Body Cap has a small, countersunk hole at its center, and this hole is covered by a piece of opaque film. In the centre of this film is a tiny dot of transparent material. The advantage here is twofold: the tiny hole in the film is better than the ragged one you’d cut with your Dremel, and the fact that the hole is covered keeps dust off your sensor. The results can be seen in the gallery below.

I’m torn. On the one hand, this is a nicely made, fun accessory for your camera. On the other hand, you already own one, and $50 is a lot of money for something you could easily do yourself.

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SLR Pinhole Body Cap [Photojojo]

Photos: Photojojo

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

Source:wired.com

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The folks at BotJunkie didn’t trust their brand new Mint floor-mopping robot, so they decided to spy on it. Whilst testing out the little square bot’s cleaning skills, reviewer Evan Ackerman took these long-exposure photographs to track Mint’s movements in the dark, when it thought it couldn’t be seen. The one above shows Mint in sweep-mode, running back and forth in straight (ish) lines to brush dirt from uncarpeted floors. The blank section you see at bottom left was caused by Ackerman’s evil cat, which Mint politely avoided.

The next photograph shows Mint mopping. When loaded up with a wet, soapy mop, the robot scrubs back and forth on a spot to get things shiny and clean. You can see the zig-zagging pattern in the picture.

Overall, Ackerman likes the Mint. It’s silent (no vacuum cleaner) and cheap ($250) and when it stops to work out where it is (using a separate “North Star” box that projects a Mint-visible pattern onto the ceiling), it flashes its lights as it thinks. Ackerman calls this “cute” and “adorable.” Ahhh. Best of all, it works tirelessly and behaves itself, even when you’re not watching. Not like that damned cat.

Evolution Robotics Mint Sweeper [Bot Junkie]

Photos: Evan Ackerman

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

Source:wired.com

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Ask anyone, and they’ll say the kids today think wristwatches are a thing of the past: smartphones are so much more “now.” WEWOOD’s wooden watches forego touchscreens and brushed aluminum to embrace old-school craftsmanship and style.

Each watch costs about $120, and is made from Ebony, Maple, Guaiaco, or Red Wing Celtis woods. The Italian watchmaker’s design philosophy is “eco-luxury”: no artificial or toxic materials, use of waste and reclaimed woods whenever possible, and every watch purchased pays to plant a new tree.

But mostly, WEWOOD says wearing a wooden watch from connects you not with the present but time itself: “WEWOOD lets us rediscover nature in its beauty, its simplicity and inspired design. It reminds us of a trees powerful way of life; rooted, yet reaching… It respects your skin as you respect nature by choosing it. Your WEWOOD Watch breathes the same air that you breathe and may awaken memories from another time and place.” I guess that justifies using an all-wooden band, which otherwise seems like it could be totally obnoxious.

These watches (particularly the ones with the digital faces) remind me of the Futurama episode “Obsoletely Fabulous,” where the robot Bender rebels against technology and replaces his metal body with a wooden one.

You couldn’t really call these watches retro, because even a century ago, we didn’t usually make watches using so much wood. Maybe you could borrow an analogy from grandfather clocks and call them “grandfather watches.” Or even (sigh) “steampunk watches.”

Image via WEWOOD.

WeWood: Watches crafted from reclaimed planks [Cool Hunting]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

After testing (and buying) far too many iPad cases, including the famous bamboo Moleskine-alike Dodocase, I finally settled on Apple’s own slimline sleeve. So good is it that I have removed it precisely once since buying it almost a month ago, and that was to show my mother the iPad inside.

Booq’s new Boa folio-style case looks a lot like Apple’s, and adds a few extras. Like the Apple case, the iPad slides into the Boa and is held with its edges enclosed, and with holes for the ports. Both cases also share a sticky-out bumper around the perimeter, although the Boa’s sits at the back, not the center. Booq’s case also folds into a stand for either typing or horizontal display using the same clever tuck-in flap as Apple.

Then things diverge. The Boa is slightly padded, which makes it thicker but more protected than Apple’s case. It also has a couple pockets: a document sleeve on the inside and an iPhone-sized pocket on the front. These, too, could add bulk. Finally, the case has a closing strap to stop it flapping open like dirty uncle Pete’s shorts and accidentally revealing the delicate object within.

For me, the Apple iPad case is pretty much perfect. I don’t care about its dirt-attracting abilities, and prefer its slimline, skin-like profile to more protective padding. But in taking the best points of the Apple case and slightly adding to them, along with using high-quality Napa leather and something called “Twylon”, the folks at Booq have come up with a nice upgrade. It isn’t cheap, though: the Boa can be had in a range of manly, neutral colors for $90, or in a ballistic nylon version for $50. Available now.

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Booq Boa product page [Booq. Thanks, Brad!]

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

Source:wired.com

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Italian design-house Alessi’s new Alessi Tab comes on like a digital photo-frame with benefits. The Android-powered tablet is meant to be used at home – the odd angular shape means it prefers table and countertops to pockets and bags.

Astonishingly, the press release says the Tab is aimed at the ‘young housewife’, who will presumably move the Tab from room to room whilst enjoying real-time news from the ANSA agency, weather from Epson (?), recipes (of course!) from Domus magazine’s Silver Spoon cookbook, internet radio and nutritional information. Further, she can make video calls and watch digital TV broadcasts (it actually has an antenna) while “having fun in the kitchen.”

If all this looks to you like the future as envisioned by Mad Men, you’re not alone. Even the styling has a slick, retro 1950s feel to it. This is all the weirder when you see the specs, which are decidedly up to date:

• 10.1-inch capacitive display
• Auto-rotation sensor (accelerometer)
• Android 2.1
• 1GB RAM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• DVB-T with detachable antenna
• Front-facing camera and microphone
• HDMI output
• USB port
• SD card reader

There’s no mention of processor speed, but we suppose the average housewife wouldn’t want to worry her pretty little head about things like that. Aside from the awkward shape, though, the Tab looks very capable, and all that installed crapware can presumably be cleaned off.

Price and availability are both still secret. You can be it’ll be expensive, though: Alessi charges $150 for a teapot.

Alessi Tab [Alessi via Uncrate]

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

Source:wired.com

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Roku’s streaming media players can shake off the “Netflix box” tag once and for all. TiVo, too, keeps its spot high in the set-top food chain. Both Roku’s three new devices and TiVo’s Premiere and Premiere XL boxes will be able to stream network shows with Hulu Plus this fall.

Hulu Plus, a $9.99/month subscription service that offers additional premium content in addition to the network TV shows and backlist films offered through the free Hulu web site, is already available for streaming with net-connected Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players, Boxee’s set-top boxes, and Sony’s Playstation 3, with announced support for XBox 360, other Sony devices, and some Vizio TVs and Blu-ray players coming either this fall or in early 2011.

The announcements from TiVo and Roku did not specify dates on which the service would be available on either device. Roku currently offers access to Netflix Watch Instantly, Amazon Streaming Video, Pandora, and other streaming media channels. TiVo offers DVR capability in addition to most of the same services. Apple’s much-anticipated new version of Apple TV offers Netflix access and rentals through iTunes, but not Hulu at this time.

The emerging model for set-top boxes appears to be devices that offer a wide range of streaming services, whether free, for purchase, for rental, or through subscriptions. Either the boxes are inexpensive and dedicated for this purpose, like Roku and the new Apple TV, or relatively expensive but offer additional services like gaming, web browsing, or video recording, like TiVo, PS3, or XBox 360.

The devices have differentiated themselves according to three features: 1) price; 2) some exclusive features, as in the case of game consoles; and 3) the strength and ease-of-use of their interfaces — both the on-screen software and remote control capability.

All can be used in conjunction with traditional cable and satellite TV service, but some users are beginning to find the offerings of internet video rich enough that they can forego cable or satellite altogether. Hulu Plus on TiVo and Roku may be what pushes many of them over the edge.

Image via Hulu.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple’s cheap, puny Apple TV set-top box shares many of the same internals as the iPad, according to a teardown of the device.

The nimble engineers at iFixit cracked open the Apple TV earlier this afternoon and found the same type of Samsung flash chip that’s also inside the iPad, holding 8 GB of capacity. iFixit speculates this storage will be used to for caching while streaming TV shows and movies.The teardown also revealed that the Apple TV features the same A4 processor and amount of RAM (256MB) as the iPad.

Of course, the Apple TV has connectivity features that the iPad doesn’t: Ethernet, HDMI output, an AC adapter and an optical audio-out port. But it’s pretty interesting how similar the two devices are otherwise. Perhaps this is a clue that the Apple TV and iPad will be very tightly integrated in the near future (going beyond the AirPlay streaming feature we’re already familiar with).

An 8-GB drive doesn’t sound like much, but it’s pretty good considering the Apple TV’s $100 price tag. And because the Apple TV’s focus is streaming media, 8GB should leave more than enough room for extra third-party apps, if Apple later decides to open an Apple TV app store, which some have speculated to be a possibility.

A full step-by-step teardown of the Apple TV can be found on iFixit’s website.

Photo: iFixit

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

The new Apple TV could be Steve Jobs’ best sleight-of-hand trick yet.

During his modest introduction of the device, Jobs called the Apple TV “one more hobby.” But a closer look at the code and the hardware powering the Apple TV reveals that there’s a lot more going on under the hood than the CEO shared.

Interestingly, Jobs didn’t mention that Apple TV runs iOS, the same operating system running on its flagship product, the iPhone, and some other big hits the iPod Touch and iPad. And there’s more, too: The Apple TV’s software might already be jailbroken, and some hidden software should eventually allow you to share the Apple TV’s media with other iOS devices.

These secret ingredients could be the recipe Apple needs to shake up the television industry. For years, Apple executives have labeled the set-top box a “hobby” product because of its mild success compared to blockbuster sellers like the iPhone and iPod. Now that Apple TV has been revamped into a streaming rental service with an arsenal of stealth features, maybe Apple has a chance to change the TV business if not today, perhaps later.

“The most importanthint ofApple’s real ambitions in the living room come fromAirPlay, whichputs iPhones and iPads in the driver’s seat and makes theTVjust an outputdevice for theAppleecosystem,” said James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst, in a recent e-mail statement. “ExpectAppleto gradually push more and morein that direction, but as of this moment in 2010,Applehas not yet made asignificant play for control of theTV.”

Here, we round up the juicy tidbits we’ve heard about Apple’s mysterious new set-top box.

iOS and third-party app support

There’s more than enough evidence proving that the Apple TV runs iOS. Dispelling any doubts, Apple recently posted a build of iOS 4.1 specifically for the Apple TV.

This piece of information about iOS is important because of a new feature called AirPlay, which streams media from your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to the Apple TV. When Jobs demonstrated AirPlay, he only showed the feature working with an iPad’s built-in video player, photos app and music library. Now that we know Apple TV runs iOS, it’s likely that third-party apps such as MLB at Bat or ABC Player will be able stream media to the set-top box, too.

DaringFireball blogger John Gruber confirmed that an AirPlay button is showing up in the MLB at Bat app, and he adds that apps using the built-in media controller will be able to integrate AirPlay.

Long story short, you’ll be able to wirelessly stream media from some third-party apps straight to your Apple TV with an AirPlay button. AirPlay is shaping up to be Apple’s secret weapon to reshape home entertainment.

In addition to AirPlay, the fact that Apple TV is running iOS means that — in principle, at least — it may someday be able to run applications from the iTunes App Store. For now, that capability is not included in Apple TV, but the underlying operating system certainly supports it, so Apple might open a TV App Store in a future software update.

Jailbreaking hacks

Third-party app support will probably be limited for the Apple TV, but that’s where the jailbreakers come in. In the same way that we’re able to override restrictions on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with a jailbreak, we should be able to run unauthorized apps on the Apple TV — something Jobs would never advertise, of course.

In fact, hackers already have a head start, because a tool called Shatter, which was used to jailbreak the newest iPod Touch, already works with the Apple TV, according to the iPhone Dev Team. That means we should be expecting hackers to code some unauthorized apps soon to unlock additional capabilities such as video-conferencing via your Apple TV.

On top of that, existing hacks for the old Apple TV should work, too.Dev Team memberWill Strafach explained thatthe new AppleTV OS seems to be a mashup of the old AppleTV OS and iOS, meaning “frappliances,” plug-ins that add functionality to the old Apple TV, should work as well.

‘Lowtide’ app

The Unofficial Apple Weblog’s Erica Sadun, a popular iOS programmer, took a close look at the Apple TV’s software and discovered that it runs an application called “Lowtide” the software containing the set-top box’s media interface.

Sadun dug deeper and found lines of code that suggest that Lowtide might eventually be extended to other iOS devices. In other words, you should be able to share media from the Apple TV to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, whereas originally we thought we’d only be able to do the converse with AirPlay. This functionality would be comparable to a Slingbox or an EyeTV.

Lowtide isn’t readily available for Apple’s iOS mobile devices yet, but iOS developerDustin Howett has already managed to load Lowtide on an iPod touch running iOS 4.1, demonstrated in the video above. He recommended against doing it yourself, though, unless you plan on reformatting your iPhone on a regular basis just to turn it back into a phone.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Dell’s 5-inch Streak tablet may not be on a tear but the company is still moving forward with plans to introduce its second Android tablet.

Dell plans to launch a 7-inch tablet “in the next few weeks” and a 10-inch tablet within a year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.Dell’s founder and chief executive Michael Dell briefly showed the device at a Oracle conference last week but didn’t offer any details about the product.

Dell’s move to a larger screen tablet is in keeping with the company’s strategy of slowly but steadily introducing new handheld devices. In February, Neeraj Choubey, general manager of the tablets division at Dell told Wired.com that the Streak aka Dell 5 Mini would be the first in a series of devices.

“We are going to have a family of tablets,” Choubey said. “The first one is a 5-inch screen but we want to scale that up to a variety of screen sizes.”

Since the introduction of the Apple iPad earlier this year, almost every major PC maker has announced that it is working on devices that can rival the iPad.

Just this month, Samsung, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and tablet startup Kno announced new products. Samsung showed a 7-inch tablet called Galaxy Tab that will be available on four major U.S. carriers –AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile in time for holiday season shopping.

Meanwhile, RIM has announced the BlackBerry PlayBook, a 7-inch tablet targeted at business users and consumers. The PlayBook is expected to be available early next year.

Tablet startup Kno is focusing on students with 14-inch single screen and dual-screen tablets that are expected to be available by the end of the year.

Apple has sold more than 3 million iPads so far.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has canceled its planned tablet ‘Courier’ while HP is trying to integrate the Palm webOS into its tablet products.

The 7-inch Dell tablet could make the company a real contender in the tablet space. With its 5-inch display, the Streak is more like a super-sized phone than a real tablet. Dell has also priced the Streak like a phone –offering the device for $300 with a two-year contract on AT&T.

So far, there’s no word on pricing for the 7-inch Dell tablet. But Dell will have plenty of competition to keep it real with its upcoming tablet.

Photo: Dell Streak (Jon Snyder/Wired.com)

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When we talk about “the internet of things,” we usually begin with commercial and household applications — tracking inventory, or a lost remote. But one future of networked objects might be in public information and infrastructure: the internet of cars.

For four years, MIT’s CarTel project has been tracking the driving patterns of GPS-equipped taxis in metro Boston. The research team, led by computer scientists Hari Balakrishnan and Sam Madden, thinks we can stop spotting traffic jams after the fact with news helicopters or roadside sensors by equipping cars themselves with position sensors and wireless connections. They’ve developed a new software algorithm that optimizes information-sharing between multiple nodes on a network, when those nodes are on the move, drifting in and out of close contact with one another.

Equipping cars with position and network technology has several advantages over traditional traffic-tracking methods. It’s already here, in the form of on-board GPS systems and the RFID fobs city car-sharing programs use to track cars and give multiple drivers access to vehicles. It’s less expensive than helicopters, and less static than fixed roadside sensors. Finally, news organizations and planners can see traffic tie ups as or even before they happen, rather than after the fact.

There are potential privacy concerns. Why should I allow the Department of Transportation, my local news team, or any entity to track my movements? Collection of this information would have to be closely regulated, highly encrypted, and strictly anonymized — perhaps even initially restricted to public and publically licensed vehicles likes public transit, cabs, police/fire/rescue vehicles, or cars and trucks owned by local government. The whole point is that when it comes to plotting traffic patterns, tracking unique users simply doesn’t matter.

But the potential upsides are tremendous. Having better knowledge of actual traffic patterns could help urban planners improve their transportation infrastructure, from retiming traffic lights to restructuring bus routes. It could help first responders and ordinary drivers avoid potential tie-ups.

Researchers at Ford and Microsoft are sufficiently intrigued. They plan to test the MIT researchers’ algorithm and network design in future versions of Sync, the Redmond-designed, Detroit-implemented automotive communication and entertainment system.

Image and video from Ford Motor Company

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

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Tablet startup Kno has jumped into one of the hottest consumer electronics product categories of the year but the company is counting on two things to set it apart from the competition: a clear focus on students as potential consumers and a massive 14-inch screen size.

“From the students’ perspective you need the real estate to completely see a single page of a textbook without scrolling,” says Osman Rashid, co-founder and CEO of Kno, “and you need enough room to make notes around the edges.”

Kno launched the single screen tablet on Monday. In June, it showed off a dual-screen device that would have two 14-inch LCD touchscreens that fold in like a book. Both the single screen and dual-screen tablets are expected to start shipping at the end of the year. There’s no word yet on pricing.

Meanwhile, here’s a closer look at the features of the single screen tablet.

The Kno will run on an Nvidia Tegra processor and have a capacitive touchscreen. It will also come with a stylus to write notes or draw on the device. The device isn’t lightweight though. The massive 14-inch screen pushes its weight up to 2.6 lbs. Compare that to the 1.5 lbs of the 10-inch Apple iPad.

Rashid says the heft is unlikely to become a strike against the device. The Kno tablet can hold up to 10 semesters worth of content, or 25 to 35 books. That will make the 2.6 pound-device lighter than a backpack filled with half as many paper books, he says.

The Kno divides its home screen into three tabs: ‘My Apps’, ‘My Courses’ and ‘My Library.’ Under the apps tab, the tablet, which runs a version of embedded Linux operating system, has a browser, notebooks, news apps and a RSS reader. Kno plans to release a SDK (Software Developers Kit) so independent programmers can create applications for the device.

The ‘My Courses’ tab features all e-textbooks sorted by the semester. The company plans to have its own bookstore where students can download textbooks from.

Overall, e-textbooks from the Kno bookstore will be about 30 percent to 40 percent cheaper than their hardcover versions, says Rashid.

The Kno will have a battery life of six to eight hours and with a one-hour charge time.

“We are not trying to replace a laptop,” says Rashid. “Instead we are trying to improve on it by making it better for students.”

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Pixel Qi’s low power displays could be a second screen for your laptop or smartphone. Pixel Qi has partnered with a German company to offer its 10-inch displays that can be hooked up to another device using USB.

The secondary display could come in handy for extra real estate or to show someone else screen information, says Pixel Qi. Customers can plug in the Pixel Qi display using a wired or wireless USB.

“This extra screen would be small and light enough to carry, very low power, offer crisp text for good reading and be readable in any light even in sunlight,” says Pixel Qi in a statement.

The USB-connected screens should help widen Pixel Qi’s reach among consumers. Since March, Pixel Qi has been offering a 10.1 -inch displays for $275. But the displays were compatible with only two models of netbooks–the Samsung N130 and Lenovo S10. And users had to take a screwdriver to their PC and swap out the screen themselves.

Pixel Qi first showed its screens in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The display called 3Qi operates in three modes: a full-color LCD transmissive mode; a low-power, sunlight-readable, reflective e-paper mode; and a transflective mode that makes the LCD display visible in sunlight.

While technically impressive, a major challenge for Pixel Qi has been finding ways to get these displays into the hands of consumers. That’s why it seems to have partnered with German company Display Solutions, which has developed a driver board that can be combined with the Pixel Qi screen.

The entire module can be plugged into a laptop or even some phones via USB to create a second screen. The modules will start selling next month. Pixel Qi hasn’t disclosed pricing for the module.

Photo: Pixel Qi

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

When Research in Motion introduced its tablet, the PlayBook, on Monday, it was diving into a market already dominated by Apple’s iPad.

But there’s other competition too, either already on the market or soon to be: The 5-inch Dell Streak, which is available now; and Samsung’s 7-inch Galaxy Tab, which isn’t.

Since the iPad started shipping in April, Apple has sold more than 3 million devices. In June, Dell introduced the Streak, a device billed as a tablet but priced like a phone. Samsung hopes to bring its tablet, the Galaxy Tab to market in time for the holiday season shopping.

RIM announced its latest device, the 7-inch PlayBook at its developer conference Monday.

The PlayBook won’t be available till early next year. But it’s not too soon to see how its promised specs stack up with the main competitors it will face when it comes out.

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• Tablet
• Apple iPad
• BlackBerry PlayBook
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Dell Streak

• Display
• 9.7 inches, 1024 x 768 pixels
• 7 inches, 1024 x 600 pixels
• 7 inches, 1024 x 600 pixels
• 5 inches, 800 x 480 pixels

• Processor
• Apple A4 1 GHz
• 1 GHz dual-core
• 1 GHz ‘Hummingbird’
• Snapdragon QSD280 1 GHz

• Weight
• 1.5 lbs
• 0.9 lbs
• 0.8 lbs
• 0.48 lbs

• Dimensions (H x W x D)
• 9.5″ x 7.4″ x 0.5″
• 5.1″ x 7.6″ x 0.4″
• 7.5 ” x 4.7 ” x 0.4″
• 6″ x 3.1 ” x 0.4″

• Storage/Camera
• 16GB, 32GB, 64GB; no camera
• 16 GB, 32 GB; 5 MP rear camera, 3 MP front camera, video recording
• 16 GB, 32 GB; 3 MP rear camera, 1.3 MP front camera, video recording
• 16 GB microSD card; MP rear camera, VGA front camera, video recording

• Operating System
• Apple iOS
• QNX
• Android 2.2
• Android 1.6

• Connectivity
• Wi-Fi + AT&T 3G (no contract) + Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi + Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi + 3G (on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile) Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi + AT&T 3G (on contract) + Bluetooth

• Internet
• No Flash Support
• Supports Flash 10.1
• Supports Flash 10.1
• No Flash Support (Flash software updates could come later)

• Battery
• 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• N/A
• 4,000 mAh rated for 7 hours of movie play
• 1,530mAh battery, rated for up to 9.8hrs talk time

• Price
• $500-$700 (for Wi-Fi only). $630 – $830 for Wi-Fi + 3G
• N/A
• N/A
• $560 with no contract, $300 with a two-year contract

• Availability
• Shipping since April
• End of the year
• Early 2011
• Shipping since August

• Apps
• iPad + iPhone apps through Apple app store
• New app store will be launched by RIM
• Android Market Apps
• Android Market Apps

*battery life as specified by the manufacturer

Photo: BlackBerry PlayBook/Research In Motion

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

A recent Apple patent and a strongly-worded report from the National Research Council suggest that the future of biometrics lies with personalization, not security.

Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple, Inc. a patent for biometric-sensor handheld devices that recognize a user by the image of his/her hand. In the not-too-distant future, anyone in the house could pick up an iOS device — or a remote control, or camera — and have personalized settings queued up just for them.

The patent (which Apple first applied for in 2005) protects handheld devices with one or more “touch sensors” — buttons, touchscreens, or other interfaces — on any of the device’s surfaces. These sensors can take a pixelated image of a user’s hand, match it to a corresponding image on file, and configure the device’s software and user profile accordingly.

It’s a very different use of biometrics than we’ve seen in the movies. Hand and retina scanners have been touted for years as a futuristic gatekeepers to high-security buildings. This is usually a much-embelleshed version of their real-world use by businesses and government agencies for whom secrecy is a big deal. In the wider world, tiny fingerprint scanners have been built into laptops, but they aren’t widely used for the simple reason that they don’t work reliably enough.

But while it might be insufficient for security, biometrics might work just fine for personalization. Suppose my family shares a future-generation iPad that supports multiple user profiles and a version of this sensor technology. When my wife or I pick it up, the mail application displays each of our inboxes separately. When our young son picks it up, only games and other approved applications are available. If a guest or intruder picks it up, a guest profile would make none of your personal information immediately available to them.

Now, an important caveat: the personal profile dimension of this technology would frankly be stronger than the security implications. You could outwit a three-year-old, but not a determined hacker. You could hide a sensitive email from a snooping houseguest, but not a practiced identity or information thief.

This “soft-security” approach may actually be the right approach for technology companies to take with biometrics. Last week the National Research Council issued a report (sponsored by the CIA, DARPA, and the US Department of Homeland Security, among others) on the state of the art of automated biometric recognition security. The report argues that existing technologies as implemented are inherently fallible, and that more research and better practices were needed before they could be relied upon in high-security contexts.

Joseph N Pato, HP Labs distinguished technologist and chair of the “Whither Biometrics?” committee that wrote the report, wrote that we’ve been misled by spy-movie fantasies about palm-and-retina-scanning doors: “While some biometric systems can be effective for specific tasks, they are not nearly as infallible as their depiction in popular culture might suggest.”

Thinking for a moment about Apple’s user-sensitive iPad shows the limitations of biometric recognition systems. What if I put my hands in the wrong place, or can’t get the device to load the proper profile? What if my son grows up and his hands get bigger? Image-based recognition systems have to be probabilistic, with a certain amount of give, or they won’t work at all.

In fact, when the security thresholds are set too high, the committee found that the sheer number of false alarms led users to ignore them altogether — definitely a dangerous result, but one familiar to anyone who’s disabled an uncooperative smoke alarm or software “security feature.” And even in such high-security cases, an individual’s biometric traits can be publicly known or accessed, in much more prosaic and less gruesome ways than the cinematic fantasy of cutting off a hand or pulling out an eyeball.

Nope — the biometric future probably isn’t a world of impregnable security corridors protected by perfect technology that only the perfect hack can defeat. Instead, it’s a media player that (90% of the time) knows your son likes Curious George more than your Office spreadsheets. Actually, that isn’t too bad.

Image via US Patent and Trademark Office

Apple granted patent for handheld that recognizes your hands [Engadget]
United States Patent 7,800,592 (Sept 21, 2010) [USPTA]
Automated Biometric Recognition Technologies ‘Inherently Fallible,’ Better Science Base Needed (Press Release) [National Research Council]
Biometric Recognition: Challenges and Opportunities (Full Report) [National Research Council]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Sometimes hailed as the poor man’s iPhone, the iPod Touch has been a popular device for Apple geeks craving the iOS experience sans the hefty monthly fees. However, a new accessory promises to give the Touch the whole she-bang without the contract.

The Peel, a protective case packed with a SIM card, dock connector and battery, is designed to expand the iPod Touch into a device capable of placing phone calls and sending text messages. Chinese company Yoison Technology developed the gadget, and U.S. company GoSolar announced this month is has signed an agreement to bring the Peel to the states.

“As soon as they arrive, we’ll begin distributing demonstration models to retail buyers across the country,” said GoSolarUSA CEO Tyson Rohde, in a statement. “The amount of interest in this product that we’ve received from distributors has been staggering.”

GoSolar did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but its website suggests that the iPod Touch must be hacked (i.e. jailbroken) in order for it to operate as a phone. And any iOS user is familiar with the fact that Apple regularly wipes out jailbreak hacks with every new iOS update. So in short, as cool as this solution sounds, it sounds less practical than simply using the iPod Touch as a VOIP web phone with third-party apps available through the App Store.

GoSolar did not list a price for the Peel. However, Yoison was selling the gadget for $388 RMB in China, or around $57.

Via IDG News

Photo: Yolson Technology

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image via Apple/iTunes

Today, Apple updated its iOS Remote application to version 2.0. The free Remote app is now optimized for the iPad’s larger display and supports streaming from shared libraries over wireless networks with computers running iTunes and the new Apple TV using AirPlay.

Earlier this week at CEDIA 2010, Sony showed off AV Receiver Remote, a similar (and similarly free) iOS universal remote application for its wide range of media appliances. While Apple’s Remote application allows you to control profiles for speaker volume, Sony’s allows you to do that, control room lighting, and stream internet, satellite, or broadcast radio. Christopher MacManus was able to record a hands-on for Sony Insider:

Just as Apple’s remote application leverages its strength in high-end computers and media players, Sony’s app leverages its strength in home theater appliances. Apple can send a movie to your television, but it didn’t make your television (or the receiver your TV might be connected to).

Last week at IFA 2010, Samsung used its new Galaxy Tab to demonstrate its Home Watcher app for Android, which leverages the Korean tech maker’s even more ubiquitous position in home appliances:

As Vivian Kim observes, writing for Apartment Therapy Unpluggd, Samsung’s “washers and dryers, refrigerators, microwaves, ranges, and home entertainment devices” can allow them to position their phones and tablets not as Apple imitators, but as genuine home automation solutions. You’ve never had a remote control for your refrigerator before — maybe you didn’t even know you wanted one. But once it’s within the realm not just of the possible — it always has been, for high-end early-adopters — but reasonably attainable for Samsung’s global middle-class consumer base, something has changed.

How much will we want to do with a single remote when that remote is not an infrared box wrapped around two AA batteries, but a powerful computer with an intuitive interface? In different ways, that’s the future towards which Apple, Sony, and Samsung are all pointing.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

If you’re searching for a way to wreak havoc on an ex-lover or a rotten business partner, look no further than the video above. The 8-minute tutorial walks you through the steps to hack an iPad to run Windows 95.

That’s just wrong.

We’ve seen people hack iPhones and Windows Mobile phones to run the Android OS, which could prove useful. But if you’re even thinking about installing Windows 95 (not even XP) on an iPad, you’re just twisted. Demented. Messed up. Hellbent on revenge. And a nerd.

At least it’s not Vista, though.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image by Charlie Sorrel and Tim Carmody

There’s a lot of gadget news about Amazon today, so we’re going to take these items one at a time, in increasing order of uncertainty:

1. Amazon launches Beta version of Kindle for the Web. Think YouTube for books. You can preview short selections of books in your browser, embed them on web sites with a little bit of JavaScript, and customize the size (it won’t automatically keep the aspect ratio) or even add your Amazon Associate tag to the embed. Click through and it takes you to the book’s entry on the Amazon Kindle store. Level of certainty: This you can actually use right now.

   KindleReader.LoadSample({containerID: ‘kindleReaderDiv’, asin: ‘B003X28734′, width: ’640′, height: ’346′});

2. Amazon announces Kindle app for forthcoming RIM Playbook tablet. Makes perfect sense given yesterday’s Playbook announcement, natural extension of the Kindle app for Blackberry, iPad, and other platforms. Level of certainty: Actual press release from Amazon after high-profile announcement from RIM. I suppose a bolt of lightning could strike one or both companies tomorrow. But you can’t see it today.
3. Amazon to Launch Android App Store, which my pal Charlie Sorrel already let you know about. Level of certainty: Well-reported rumor. But it makes sense — Amazon sells a lot of stuff, and there are a lot of Android app stores — and it’s confirmed by multiple developer sources. Don’t be surprised if you hear details soon.
4. Amazon to Build Own Branded Android Tablet. Okay, so, a source comes to you with what seem like two wild, fan-fiction stories about Amazon and Android. You ask around, and one of them — an Amazon App Store — turns out to probably be in the works. Is the other story true?
   
   On the one hand, again — Amazon sells a lot of digital products online, not just e-books: movies, games, music. And it’s not hard to make an Android tablet. In fact, at this point, Amazon has more hardware-production experience with the Kindle than some of the companies that are coming forward with pretty solid products. Add an App Store and it starts to look pretty appealing.

   On the other hand, Amazon’s built up good brand identification with the Kindle, e-books, and E Ink. Will they turn around and say, “oh yeah, multimedia tablets are really awesome, but not, um, more awesome than a Kindle, I mean, um, why not buy both?” Just seems a little surprising. Level of certainty: Pretty cloudy. The source was right about an app store, but as they say, a stopped clock can be right twice a day. If Amazon releases some kind of other media hardware, whether using Android or anything else, it’s equally likely to be a TV box or a smartphone or something else that equally plays to their strength while being a little more differentiated from a dedicated reading machine than a tablet.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Image from Toshiba

Today, Toshiba will announce its entry into the e-book market with Toshiba Book Place, a Windows application to both purchase and read enhanced e-books. The application will be bundled with all of Toshiba’s laptops, and will also be available as a free download from their website. The library will initially offer 6,000 e-books for purchase.

Wired.com interviewed Terry Cronin, vice president of Business Development and Channel Marketing for Toshiba America. While e-books for dedicated e-readers and other devices have been successful, he believes e-books for laptops can offer something unique for particular kinds of reading — especially those that benefit from immediate access to other media.

“It’s a device that people already have,” he said. “If you’re traveling or bringing a bag, you’re already bringing your laptop with you. You don’t need to bring another device.”

Cookbooks, children’s books, and textbooks all benefit from the greater storage space and graphics capabilities of a laptop, Cronin said. The goal a library of e-books enhanced with 3-D viewing and embedded video, audio, and online search and web browsing.

Toshiba developed the application with futurist Ray Kurzweil’s K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc., a joint venture with the National Federation for the Blind. K-NFB is working with publishers to encode the books in the XPS e-book format and add video and audio enhancements to the e-book library.

It’s not clear to me whether this will work. There are already e-book applications from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others available for Windows laptops with a much wider selection of books and portability across devices. The hope is that XPS will catch on, and emerge as a standard alongside EPUB, MOBI, PDF, and other electronic document formats. Then the store will be able to expand to support other outlets.

Toshiba Book Place [ToshibaBookPlace.com]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Hog Bay Software, maker of the cult-favorite distraction-free text-editor Writeroom, has released its long-awaited iPad app, PlainText. When it was first announced, I was very excited to see a Dropbox-syncing, Textexpander-expanding writing app for the iPad. Now, though, it launches into a crowded field.

PlainText has two tricks. It has folders, which apps like Elements don’t support, and it looks gorgeous. The developer, Jesse Grosjean, has clearly spent a lot of time polishing the UI. From the wide margins to the minimalist black-on-gray interface, it looks classy, and makes you want to write. Navigating is easy once you have learned a few tricks: you rename a document by opening it and editing the name in the title bar, for example, and swipe-to-delete files and folders as you’d expect.

After that, though, PlainText falls behind. A recent update to Elements has added a feature that searches within your files, and it already has a word-count and the excellent scratchpad we love here at Gadget Lab. And the newly released iA Writer, profiled last week by our own Tim, wins for its extra row of writing-specific keys and its easy-to-edit typeface.

Plaintext scores big points by being free, and it also lets you specify which folder in your Dropbox it will sync to (choose this before logging into Dropbox from the app), so you can share documents with other iPad apps. It’s certainly worth a look, and we’ll be keeping an eye on updates, but for now, most iPad writing needs are covered elsewhere.

PlainText [Hog Bay / iTunes]

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

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews