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Buzz Player can stream movies in any format to your iPad, from anywhere

Buzz Player is an iPad (and iPhone and Android) app that lets you stream video from pretty much any device on your network. That means you can watch movies stored on a network-attached hard drive without switching on a computer. It’s pretty amazing.

There are other solutions for streaming video to the iPad. Air Video takes any file on your Mac or PC and converts it on-the-fly to an iPad-friendly format, but requires a computer to do it. Another app named FileBrowser will stream movies direct from, say, a Time Capsule, but they need to be H.264 MP4 files. This probably means you’ll have to convert the files first.

What Buzz Player does is connect directly to any SMB or FTP server. From there, you can browse the folders until you meet a movie you’d like to play. Tap it and you can choose to copy the file to your iPad, or just play it. The movies starts right away, and plays stutter free in seemingly any format.

And I mean any format. Not only will it play H.264 MP4 and WMV in a range of containers (AVI, MOV, OGG, DIVX and more), it will handle things like Sorensen, Real Video and Theora. It also supports pretty much any sound format, and allows you to connect over the local network or even via 3G using most networking protocols. Buzz Player even supports subtitles, and lets you tweak not only their appearance but to offset their timing — handy for getting things to sync up.

It’s not all great, though. The interface is ugly, unintuitive and looks more like an open-source Linux project than a polished iPad app. Once you get past this, though, it’s easy enough to use.

I also get some crashing. Every time I hit the “X” in the top left corner to back out of the current movie or section of the app, it dies. When playing movies and working with the network, though, it is stable.

You really need to read the iTunes description to see just how much this thing can do, but let me just add one more point. You can also load up the app with movies via iTunes, just like any other video player. That way, you have pretty much every possibility covered.

Buzz Player is just $4 for the iPad, $3 for the iPhone and 499 (around $6) for Android.

Buzz Player [Bugun Software]

Buzz Player for iPad [iTunes]

Source:wired.com

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Angry Birds, the insanely popular multi-platform game, is introducing a new payment system to some Android customers for purchasing in-game content.

Angry Birds game players will be able to use their real cash money to pay for virtual goods existing only within the game’s ecosystem. It’s like buying a shovel for your plot on Farmville with your Mastercard. Read More…

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by Sam Biddle

Tuesday is the day a lot of you have been waiting for — theiPhone 4 taken under Verizon’s big red wing. We know the announcement’s happening, but what else do we know for sure? And what about thosefloating rumors?

First, here’s what we’re sure of.

It’s Announced Tomorrow

It doesn’t get much more solid than this. Verizon’s sent out invites to tech writers, and, though only through the always-nebulous “people familiar with the matter,” the Wall Street Journal has confirmed.

It’s the Same Phone as Ever

The odds of Apple giving Verizon anything other than a CDMA version of the same iPhone 4 AT&T has are extremely low. If a new Apple product — say, the iPhone 5 — were about to be loosed on us, you better believe it’d be Apple doing the unveiling, not Verizon. There’s also a whole host of reasons whyan LTE iPhone doesn’t make sense right now — poor coverage, battery-life murder, Apple’s early-adoption anxiety, and existing knowledge of a CDMA model’s development behind closed doors. Engadget’s alsodug up photos of an adjusted antenna design, likely made with CDMA optimization in mind.

Finally, if Apple had something shiny and exciting to debut, they’d be doing it themselves. So keep your pants on until this summer, when a new version is likely to be announced.

It Might Have an Unlimited-Data Option

Now we head into slight uncertainty territory. AWSJ report — again, via “a person familiar with the matter” — says Verizon’s planning an unlimited data plan. This makes sense, as it would give Verizon a competitive edge over AT&T, which terminated its own unlimited plan in favor of capped data (except for those subscribers grandfathered in with an unlimited plan that predated the change).

It’ll Be Out … Soon

The original WSJ report points to an end-of-the-month release for Verizon’s iPhone, whileBGR says sometime between Feb. 3 and 6 (based on a Verizon employee-vacation blockade during that time). Not much of a difference, either way.

Steve Jobs Might Show Up

All Things D, citing “sources in a position to know,” says Jobs’ appearance alongside Verizon is “likely,” unless there are “unforeseen circumstances” (a flat tire?). The significance of Jobs’ attendance, and what role he might take, of course a whole other barrel of speculation.

Verizon Might Get the White One

The elusive great white whale of mobile electronics! Could it show up tomorrow?ZD Net’s “educated guess” is that, yes, Verizon will indeed land the oft-delayed white model.

This story was written by Sam Biddle and originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Photo credit: jfingas /Flickr

See Also:

• Reports: Verizon iPhone Likely Coming Jan. 11
• WSJ: Verizon iPhone Debuts Early 2011
• Verizon CEO Throws Wet Blanket on iPhone Rumors
• Bloomberg: Verizon to Launch iPhone in 2011
• Verizon to Apple: We Want the iPhone
• Fortune: Verizon iPhone Debuts Early 2011

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Apple has dropped the price of the iPhone 3GS to $49, a week after AT&T did the same. That Apple has made this official, even adding the price to the blurb on the phone’s web-page, makes this an permanent price-drop, not just a offer from a telco to boost new year sales.

The 8GB handset can be had for this price only on a new two-year contract, which means that buyers will miss out not just on the iPhone 4 but also the iPhone after that, whatever it may be called.

Apple has established a pattern of selling last year’s iPhone model for $99 in the US, and we imagine that this will continue with the iPhone 4 in the summer. This is the first time, though, that the iPhone has cost just $49, likely a side-effect of the 3GS using the almost three-year-old body-design first seen in the 3G.

Anyhow, if you’re happy to sign up for two years with AT&T, then you can now have an iPhone for the price of an iPod Shuffle. And that’s plain nuts.

iPhone 3GS [Apple]

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American iPhone users frustrated with AT&T’s slow data speeds and dropped calls may soon have an alternative.

Verizon yesterday sent out invitations to a Tuesday, January 11 press event in New York.

Many believe that this event will be the debut of the iPhone on Verizon.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that “a person familiar with the matter” had confirmed the Tuesday event would be the announcement of a Verizon iPhone. Earlier, the New York Times cited “people with direct knowledge of Apples plans” who said that Verizon would soon be adding the iPhone to its lineup. Both phrases typically mean that a company has delivered a controlled leak to the newspaper.

Adding credence to the codewords, Gizmodo reports that it did not receive an invitation, despite having a good relationship with Verizon — while Apple-centric blogger Jim Dalrymple, who never covers Verizon, did. Gizmodo has been excluded from every Apple press event since it published photos of the then-unreleased iPhone 4. Gizmodo’s conclusion: Apple is behind Verizon for this event.

Many iPhone users have been frustrated with AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone since its launch in 2007. The company’s network frequently drops calls (especially for iPhone users) and many users crave faster data speeds and more extensive geographic coverage. Despite adding additional infrastructure, AT&T appears to have had difficulties keeping up with the demand for the wildly popular phone. Many hope that Verizon would do a better job — or would at least offer an alternative to customers who like Apple’s phone, but don’t like AT&T.

We’ve been unable to confirm the NYT and WSJ reports independently, but the signs point strongly in one direction: Verizon is about to get the iPhone.

Maybe it will even be available in white.

An award-winning writer specializing in technology, science and business, Dylan Tweney is a senior editor at Wired.com and publisher of tinywords, the world’s smallest magazine.
Follow @dylan20 and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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LAS VEGAS — Speakal has created a dock for your iOS devices in the shape of the iconic TARDIS from Doctor Who. The bottom of the box slides out like a tray, revealing a small docking station. Speakers are built into the windows, and there’s a volume knob in the back.

The company has also created an iOS app that turns your iPhone or iPod into a wireless remote control for your home theater, controlling the TV, stereo and DVD or Blu-ray player. The free app connects to the TARDIS via Bluetooth, and the commands are beamed to your various home theater devices using a small infrared emitter in the lamp at the top of the TARDIS.

It will be available this spring for around $130, and it will be slightly smaller than this demo unit (It’s actually bigger on the inside than it is on the outside).

Speakal has a few other official BBC-licensed products, including a dock shaped like Stig’s helmet from Top Gear. Your iPhone plugs into the top, which looks kind of silly, but it’s still a wicked cool piece of art.

See also:

• Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Wiimote
• Can Doctor Who Redeem Ebenezer Scrooge?
• Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver, Now Screws Screws

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If you’re tired of speed traps and don’t have the cash to buy a high-end radar detector, Cobra Electronics has a solution that makes use of your smartphone — at a price point that isn’t too hard to swallow.

The iRadar hardware is straightforward. It’s a small, oblong device (above left) weighing less than six ounces, mountable to the windshield interior of your car without being an eyesore. It’s like any other radar detector, but more sleek and without all the annoying LEDs.

But the kicker comes in the smartphone connection. After downloading the free iRadar app from the Apple store, the iRadar hardware connects to your iPhone or iPod Touch via Bluetooth, displaying visual alerts on the phone’s screen — like, say the presence of a red light camera at an intersection, or the nearest po-po sniping at you with his laser gun at a known speed trap.

Although it’s only available for iOS devices now, Cobra will be launching the app for Android smartphone platforms in March.

As the iRadar network expands, users will eventually be able to see potentially risky areas encountered by other iRadar units on the road. That’ll give you some advance warning of a speed trap well before the radar gun actually paints your car. The device also has access to AURA, a continuously updated database of driving threats and hazards used by much of the GPS and navigation industry.

iRadar is priced at $170, and is currently available through select electronics retailers.

See Also:

• Radar Detector
• GPS, Radar Detector United

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

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LAS VEGAS — Iomega’s SuperHero dock backs up your iPhone as it charges. It sounds like an ideal, portable alternative to backing up when traveling, or for those who hardly ever hook up their iPhone to a computer. And it is, kinda.

The SuperHero looks like a slightly oversized Apple Universal Dock, and charges the phone as normal. The backup comes courtesy of a 4GB SD-card. Your iPhone has way more than 4GB of data on it, so the SuperHero only backs up your contacts and photos. And it isn’t automatic, either. You need to download a (free) companion app and use that to do the business. You can also swap in bigger SD cards should you need to. To restore to a new phone, you use the same application.

It’s a fine solution as far as it goes, and takes care of the most valuable data on the phone: the photos. It’s better to sync your phone and computer daily, but let’s be honest. How many people do that? $70.

SuperHero product page [Iomega]

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LAS VEGAS Maybe you’ve been eating too much fried chicken, or you’re just a neurotic health nut. Whatever the case may be, if blood pressure is important to you, there’s some iPhone dongleware for that.

Withing’s blood-pressure monitor is a traditional strap with a dock connector at the end to plug into an iPhone or iPad. Launch the WiThings app, tap the Start button and you’ll feel the accessory tighten around your bicep and slowly loosen up until the app gives you a reading of your blood pressure.

During my demo here at the Consumer Electronics Show, I scored a blood pressure of 160/90 pretty high, but expected because this convention’s pretty stressful. After it took my pressure it gave me the option to look at my blood-pressure history in a 2D chart nifty for monitoring progress.

“In the near feature, 30 percent of Americans will have to follow their blood pressure, so we think we have a big audience,” said Eric Carreel, chairman of Withings, a French company specializing in health accessories.

WiThings is among a wave of new gadgets taking advantage of features inside mobile devices to monitor health anywhere and anytime. A similar device we saw last year was an insulin meter that connected to an iPhone for diabetes patients to plan out their meals and insulin injections using live data.

The Withing accessory ships this month for $130; the iOS app will be a free download in the App Store.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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Apple’s iOS App Store hit the ground sprinting two-and-a-half years ago, and it hasn’t slowed down. In 2010, programmers unleashed a plethora of high-quality apps for the iPhone and its brand-new big sibling, the iPad.

For Apple’s tablet, many of the most impressive apps focused on the reading experience. That’s not surprising, because what better to do with that big, beautiful screen? And for the iPhone, we saw some clever apps that made excellent use of the handset’s always-on data connection, geo-awareness and camera.

With 400,000 apps crowding the iOS App Store, it’s tough to choose what’s worthy of a space on your screen. Here are Wired staff’s picks for the best iOS apps of 2010. There may be a lot of useless apps out there, but these are worth downloading.

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See Also:

• 15 iPad Apps You Should Download Today
• 10 Stellar iPad Apps That Will Blow You Away
• Top Five iPad Comic-Book Apps Reviewed
• GeekDad: IPhone Apps
• Underwire: IPhone Apps

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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Skype now does video-calling on iOS devices. The new 3.0 update allows users to make video calls not only between iDevice, but also with desktop computers, and the calls can be placed over both Wi-Fi and 3G.

To make and receive video calls, you’ll need to have an iPhone 3GS or better, and be running iOS4. If you have both front and back facing cameras, you can use either. The 3GS can only, obviously, use the rear cam.

And if you have an iPad or a last-gen iPod Touch? You’re not left out. You can still receive video calls, but of course you can’t send any video.

Skype has a big advantage over FaceTime, Apple’s own video-calling app, as pretty much everyone already uses Skype. FaceTime requires a camera-equipped iPhone or iPod Touch, or a Mac running beta software. It also only works over Wi-Fi.

This is big news, especially for people wanting to replace computers with iPads. If a camera-equipped iPad goes on sale this year, as expected, then peope like my parents could ditch their hard-to-administer PC for an iPad. Hopefully Skype’s next update will bring us a proper iPad version of the software. This update, despite adding video, still requires you to pixel-double it to get full-screen.

Skype 3 for iPhone – With Video Calling [Skype Blog]

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The iPhone is already the spiritual successor to the Polaroid, able to deliver great results, instantly. So instead of wishing that whichever company currently owns the Polaroid brand-name would just make a great new camera already, why not just make your iPhone look like the iconic Land Camera?

Buy this skin, designed by Canada-based Ryan Astle, and you can do just that. The reusable plastic stickers come in a pack of two – one big one for the back, so the subject of your photo can see how retro-serious you are about your snaps, and a little sticker for the bottom panel on the front, adding a fake button on either side of the home button.

Of course, the Polaroid name itself isn’t mentioned, because this might distract Polaroid’s current owner from churning out cynical cash-in crap for long enough for a visit to court. There’s really no doubting what the design is “inspired” by, though, and it can be yours for just $15. The skin will fit any iPhone model, not just the current one.

Photoroid Skin [Infectious / Ryan Astle via Giz]

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Boxwave’s keyboard case for the iPhone 4 looks to be just about perfect for the person who loves their iPhone, but still pines for the hard keys of their BlackBerry. They’ll also need big pockets – not because the case is particularly expensive, but because it adds quite a bit of thickness to the already chunky iPhone. Boxwave doesn’t list the size, but from the photos, it appears to double the iPhone’s depth.

The keyboard itself is a landcape slider combined with a snap-on case which leaves the front of the phone clear. It’s a Bluetooth model (battery life, 45 days) and has a row of numbers up top as well as the standard QWERTY. You also get a home button and a search button, especially handy as it means you don’t have to reach up to the touch-screen to swap apps. What you don’t get is a proper spacebar, but there are both shift and caps-lock keys.

Despite the bulk, this fat accessory manages to be fairly elegant, and has cut-outs for the camera and all the edge-switches. Finally, the case charges via USB.

Like I said, it’s perfect for the keyboard-lover who has defected to an iPhone. But how many of those are there these days? I have a feeling that the people who simply cannot use an on-screen keyboard will just stick with a BlackBerry, or move to a keyboard-equipped Android phone. After all, who really wants to double the thickness of an iPhone 4? $80.

Keyboard Buddy iPhone 4 Case [Boxwave via iLounge]

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Apple can’t stick to its own rules with the gigantic iOS App Store.

The company recently approved an iPhone camera app that carries a special feature: the ability to snap a photo with the physical volume button rather than tapping the touchscreen. Oddly enough, about four months ago Apple banned a top-selling iPhone app for including the same “volume-snap” functionality.

Apple in August rejected the photo app Camera+ when it included a volume-snap feature, because changing the behavior of the iPhone’s external hardware buttons was strictly prohibited.

“Your application cannot be added to the App Store because it uses iPhone volume buttons in a non-standard way, potentially resulting in user confusion,” Apple told Camera+ developer Tap Tap Tap in its August rejection letter. “Changing the behavior of iPhone external hardware buttons is a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.”

Following the rejection, Tap Tap Tap hid the volume-snap feature as an Easter egg inside the app and hinted that it could be enabled by visiting a URL in the Safari web browser. That led to Apple slamming the ban hammer. After four months in the penalty box, Camera+ returned last week with the volume-snap feature removed.

So it’s inconsistent that the app Quick Snap got the greenlight in the App Store, explicitly promoting the volume-snap feature that Apple strictly forbade (see screengrab above).

“Why choose the soft or full screen shutter when you can use VOLUME BUTTON as the hard shutter button on your iPhone?” Quick Snap’s iTunes description reads.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hosting over 300,000 apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, Apple’s App Store has drawn criticism for some of its rules regulating the content and functionality allowed inside third-party apps. Apple only three months ago published guidelines listing reasons why apps get rejected from the App Store.

But with the case of Camera+, it’s evident that disclosing guidelines hasn’t solved one of the App Store’s major problems: App Store reviewers are not consistent with enforcing the rules, and therefore censorship still seems arbitrary. I’ve argued in the past that arbitrary censorship in the App Store is detrimental to creative freedom an issue poised to grow as Apple continues to expand as a major media publisher.

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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IPhone photographers get all the retro-licious fun. Apps like Hipstamatic and Instagram let you mess with your pristine digital pics and make them look as if they came from a low-quality plastic camera from communist-era Eastern Europe. Now videographers can join in the image-degrading hijinks, with 8mm Vintage Camera.

The app does exactly what you’d expect. It adds dusty, speckly artifacts to your footage, and you can shoot through a variety of virtual lenses (flickering frame, light leak and color fringing, for example) and capture the video onto one of several “films”. You can also add random jitter and movement to the movie, as if the projector was having trouble keeping the film fed neatly through its gate.

All the effects happen in real time, so you see on-screen exactly what you are recording. There are modern touches, too: you can light up the iPhone’s flash whilst recording, and the familiar touch-to-focus feature is in there. Exporting options are good, too. ITunes sharing is supported, as is email and saving to the camera roll, but you can also send movies straight up to YouTube.

Best of all, the app is just $2. Sure, my $800 Micro Four Thirds camera might shoot great-looking, hi0def video, but this looks like way more fun.

8mm Vintage Camera [iTunes via iPhoneography]

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Thimble is a Bluetooth finger-glove that hooks up to your smartphone and works as a Braille display. By pulsing Braille shapes onto the fingertip via an “electro-tactile grid array”, all kinds of messages can be conveyed to the user.

But that’s not all. The concept design, by Erik Hedberg and Zack Bennet, also has a camera inside to scan words in the real world and transcribe them into Braille, along with a microphone for voice control. Thus the user can ask where they are, the phone will provide the location via GPS and the Thimble will read out the answer. Here’s a slow-moving video showing how it would work.

The phone, in this case, is an iPhone, as iOS already has great accessibility features for the sight-impaired, and already works just fine with existing Braille displays. Hedberg and Bennet are “working on a patent”, and as the product is actually fairly straightforward, we’re hoping to see real, working versions in the future.

Thimble – There’s a Thing for That [Vimeo via DVICE]

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Our favorite iPhone camera app just got a boatload of new features after its four-month exile from the App Store.

Previously pulled by Apple because it included an inoffensive hidden feature, Camera+ returned to the App Store on Tuesday night with new controls, more image-editing effects, improved performance and several other additions.

Most notably, there’s a new slider bar that allows you to adjust the intensity of each effect applied to a photo, giving you more control over the end result.

There are also some neat new filters like a Nostalgia filter for a more old-school look and a depth-of-field effect to give your photo an artsy touch. (See the photos above for examples.)

I’ve had some time to test the update, and the biggest improvement is speed. Camera+ now loads much faster than it used to, which is useful for capturing those serendipitous moments, and the time to process photos has decreased significantly.

The app’s maker Tap Tap Tap has a full post onall 53 new features.

It’s a free upgrade for those who already own the app. For new buyers, Camera+ is $1 in the App Store.

Download Link [iTunes]

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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The Octopus is an external battery-pack for the iPhone, with a neat trick. Instead of just hanging off the dock connector and sliding out just enough to disconnect, it has suction cups that stick the pack onto the back of the phone.

These suckers are just like those on an octopus’ tentacles, just not as tasty hence the name. The battery pack connects to the dock-port via a flexible cable, and takes around three hours to fully transfer its load of electricity into the iPhone.

One juiced, the iPhone will be at roughly half-power, able to play video for 10-hours or offer four hours of talk time. The Octopus itself charges via a USB-cable.

Why use this instead of a combo case and battery? Because it only needs to be used in emergencies. Those battery cases add bulk to what is a pretty slim and pocketable device, whereas an emergency battery can be kept out of the way in a bag until needed.

The Octopus is pretty cheap, too, coming in at a shade under $30.

Octopus Attachable Battery for iPod and iPhone [Chinavision]

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Word Lens for the iPhone is, quite honestly, one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Take a look at this, but put down any hot liquids first.

It’s an augmented-reality, OCR-capable translation app, but that’s a poor description. A better one would be “magic.” World Lens looks at any printed text through the iPhone’s camera, reads it, translates between Spanish and English. That’s pretty impressive already – it does it in real time – but it also matches the color, font and perspective of the text, and remaps it onto the image. It’s as if the world itself has been translated.

Impressed? You’re not the only one. John Gruber of Daring Fireball puts it best: “[It's] as though near-future time travelers started sending us apps instead of Terminators.”

If it works as well as it does in the video, Word Lens really is a taste of science-fiction, something like a visual version of the universal translator or the Babelfish. Only instead of being a convenient device to avoid movie subtitles, it’s a real, functioning tool.

Word Lens is free, and will do some fancy word-rearranging to show you how it works. The Spanish-English and English-Spanish dictionaries are in-app purchases, for $5 each, and the app runs offline – perfect for when you’re traveling. You can pick your coffee back up, now.

Word Lens download [iTunes]

Word Lens product page [Quest Visual]

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Skyfire, a web browser that I recently concluded was primarily a porn browser for iPhone, is heading to the iPad soon.

Demonstrated in the video above, the Skyfire iPad app will carry some new features in addition to its core functionality. Like the iPhone version, Skyfire automatically transcodes Flash video into HTML5 so it’s playable on Apple’s iOS, which doesn’t normally support Flash.

The iPad version of Skyfire adds the ability to view your Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader feeds though I’m not sure why you’d want to. As I’ve argued before, most people are going to download this app to watch naked people do naughty things to each other, because otherwise there isn’t much other compelling video out there that’s still encoded in Flash.

A Skyfire spokesman said the iPad app should be arriving “hopefully before Christmas” and will probably cost $5.

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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As if the iGrill thermometer wasn’t enough to convince you that pretty much every gadget will be replaced by the iPhone, what about this? The O’Car – despite sounding like an Irish, erm, car, is in fact a car stereo which uses the iPhone as its display and control panel.

The O’Car comes from Oxygen Audio, hence the “O” on the name. As befits a dumb head-unit, it does almost nothing. Apart from the iPhone slot, there is an RDS radio tuner and an 4×55-watt amp, so you can still tune in to something when you forget your phone.

But plug in the iPhone and you get everything. The O’ar will hold the phone vertically or horizontally, so you can use any app, turning this humble stereo into a GPS navigator, Pandora radio, or even – should you feel like killing some other road users while you drive distracted – Angry Birds.

The integration goes further. The iPhone charges when it’s docked, and you can make and receive calls via the integrated Bluetooth hands-free kit.

O’Car is set to debut at CES next month, when the price will be announced. Given its lack of, well, anything, it should really be pretty cheap.

O’Car product page [Oxygen Audio via Andrew Liszewski]

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Source:wired.com

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Syncing an iPhone to a computer stinks: You have to physically plug in the device via USB, and iTunes still takes forever to copy your files. Apple hasn’t delivered a cloud-based iTunes yet, but a new iPhone app at least offers a wireless syncing solution for photos.

With the app Cinq, you can snap photos and save them straight into a folder on your computer even when you’re outside. Here’s how it works:

• You download the Cinq app for Mac or Windows to create a server on your computer. Register to create an account.
• Then you download the Cinq app for iPhone and log in with your Cinq account.
• From here on, you can pop open Cinq and tap the camera icon to snap a photo, and it will save straight into your Cinq folder on the desktop.
• You can also choose photos stored in your iPhone’s photo library and save them into Cinq.

It’s a pretty nifty app, especially for iPhone shutterbugs who haven’t gotten in the habit of plugging in and syncing to iTunes and iPhoto on a regular basis.

I just have a minor complaint: When choosing stored photos from an iPhone album to send to Cinq, we can only select one photo at a time. It’d be much more efficient if we could select multiple photos, or even the entire camera roll, to wirelessly sync with our Cinq folder.

But hey Cinq is less than a week old, so hopefully future software updates will make this a really sweet app. It’s a free download in the iTunes App Store; there’s also a $2 version that’s ad-free.

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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Source:wired.com

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The extremely popular iPhone and iPad game Angry Birds has accumulated 50 million users who play it for 200 million minutes a day, according to its maker.

Humongous.How did Angry Birds do it? It hardly seems like luck; if you look at it closely, the game’s success was brilliantly engineered.

The company Rovio hit all the check boxes. Angry Birds has a really sharp style, fits in an accessible game genre and features a physics-based gameplay that creates a ton of different situations to keep the game interesting at various skill levels.

On top of that, it’s priced at an irresistible 99 cents. Plus, the game’s makers regularly add new stages through software updates to keep people talking about Angry Birds (just like Doodle Jump does), which makes it a constant viral sensation. So whenever people buy an iPhone, one of the first apps recommended by friends is Angry Birds. Add that all together and you have a mega hit.

And it’s only going to get bigger. Angry Birds recently soared onto the Android platform, and soon it’s also heading to PCs, Macs, every game console and Facebook, according to Rovio.

From CNET

Brian is a Wired.com technology reporter focusing on Apple and Microsoft. He’s also writing a book about the always-connected mobile future called Always On (publishing April 2011 by Da Capo).
Follow @bxchen and @gadgetlab on Twitter.

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Source:wired.com

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