Wired’s tablet app goes on show: developed on AIR, heading to the iPad (video)

Mmm, digital magazines. They are the little bites of paid-for content that all the publishers believe we should be deeply enthralled with. Hoping to show us why exactly it is that we should all care (and pay) for prepackaged digital content is Wired's latest and most comprehensive demo of its tablet app. Setting aside hopefuls like the Joojoo and Adam for a moment, it is clear that this is intended for Apple's iPad -- the device that stands by far the biggest chance of making the digimag concept a commercial success. Interesting choice of development partner, then, as Condé Nast has opted to use Adobe's AIR platform for the underlying mechanics. Adobe promises its Packager for iPhone will allow devs to easily port AIR apps to run natively on the iPad, but until Apple gives its official ascent to the final code, nothing is guaranteed. As far as the app goes, it'll come with Twitter and Facebook integration, and navigation is geared toward the touching and swiping model so prevalent today. See it on video after the break.

Continue reading Wired's tablet app goes on show: developed on AIR, heading to the iPad (video)

Wired's tablet app goes on show: developed on AIR, heading to the iPad (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buffalo Kokuyo reveals 4-port USB 3.0 hub, leaves you little choice but to upgrade

Oh c'mon, that 80-port USB 2.0 hub served you well, and frankly, it owes you nothing. With USB 3.0 upon us, it's only a matter of time before every last external HDD, scanner and printer you own is cruising along the SuperSpeed highway, and while that's obviously a gross exaggeration, we've always been one for proactiveness. If you're worried about having the bandwidth to handle the next generation of USB, Japan's own Buffalo Kokuyo has just the thing: a 4-port USB 3.0 hub. The BSH4A03U3 supports Windows and Mac platforms and promises to handle speeds up to 5Gbps, though the ?8,000 ($89) asking price does feel a wee bit steep.

Buffalo Kokuyo reveals 4-port USB 3.0 hub, leaves you little choice but to upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Engadget Korea, Akihabara News  |  sourceBuffalo-Kokuyo  | Email this | Comments

RIM CEO claims we are staring ‘down the barrel of a capacity crunch,’ should all get BlackBerrys to prevent it

Capacity crunch, isn't that a breakfast cereal? RIM's Mike Lazaridis seems to have been a real grouch at MWC this week as apparently he hasn't stopped talking about the doom and gloom awaiting mobile carriers over the next few years. Focusing on the bandwidth-hungry North American market, Lazaridis has criticized the apparently irresponsible network saturation growth, which he sees as being primarily driven by app-centric operating systems. If you're wondering who he could possibly be referring to, let Mike clarify it -- according to him, you could carry five BlackBerry devices for each iPhone on a network. As evidence of his firm's focus on efficiency, he points us to that freshly demoed WebKit browser, which he claims uses a third of the bandwidth required by the competition from Apple and Google. If only he wasn't implying that owning a BlackBerry would save the internet, Mike's sales pitch would be rather compelling -- those are mighty impressive numbers he is citing.

RIM CEO claims we are staring 'down the barrel of a capacity crunch,' should all get BlackBerrys to prevent it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac  |  sourceDaily Telegraph, Economic Times  | Email this | Comments

Google Buzz Warning: Force Feeding Users Can Result In Vomiting

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Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 gets ported onto Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X1

Not even a fortnight after we saw Android 2.0.1 slapped onto Sony Ericsson's all-but-forgotten Xperia X1, along comes a port that makes the other look like child's play. A dedicated coder over at XDA Developers has managed to stuff Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 onto an X1, and while the functionality is limited (as you'd expect), the amount of fun to be had is restrained only by your imagination (and available vacation time). Go on and peek that source link to join the discussion -- but be warned, you'll be sucking down over a gigabyte worth of data before the first installation process.

[Thanks, Jules]

Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 gets ported onto Sony Ericsson's Xperia X1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook’s Mobile Strategy Condensed Into 16 Minutes (Video)

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Zynga Heads To India For First Office Abroad

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$2 Sensory chip could give toys (and other products) improved speech recognition, additional capabilities

Sensory Inc. may stay behind the scenes most of the time, but the company's speech recognition chips are already used in toys from JVC, Mattel, Hasbro and others, and it's now announced a new chip that could lead to toys with some significantly improved capabilities. Costing just $2 apiece (in quantities over 100K/year), the company's NLP-5X chip not only boasts support for speech recognition and text-to-speech that lets it "generate thousands of voices on the fly," but support for sound samples and MIDI playback as well. What's more, the chip uses what's described as an "incredible algorithm" that allows it to be on all the time and simply listen and activate itself when needed -- or when you least suspect it. Of course, while toys are one application, the company also sees the chip being used in a whole range of other consumer electronics -- Sensory even gives the example of an internet-connected oven that could let look up a recipe and then have a conversation with your oven about how you'd like to cook it.

$2 Sensory chip could give toys (and other products) improved speech recognition, additional capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Yahoo News  |  sourceSensory Inc.  | Email this | Comments

Puma Phone hands-on

Chalk one up for Sagem and Puma who apparently just want a cell to be fun -- and somehow, we're right there with them. The obviously-named Puma Phone launched today, and for a pretty basic handset, it was drawing some reasonably large crowds at the booth. That might be thanks to some of the silly stuff like a calculator that teases you when you try an operation it deems too trivial, a pet puma on the device called Dylan (who shows up on-screen when you leave your handset untouched for a while), and an audio player with a turntable you can actually scratch -- but the real draw is probably the solar panel around back. It's quoted at a respectable 15 minutes of talk time or two hours of music playback for every hour in the sun, meaning you should theoretically be able to charge the phone even while blasting tunes (of course, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to battery claims, as always). It's not going to replace your Pre, but the Puma set is definitely geared toward a youthful active market that focuses on sports and entertainment, and you've got to admit that it's driven by a brand everybody recognizes. Sure, it's simple; sure it is at its most basic a feature phone; but all that aside, we just liked the experience of using it. We're feeling that if the companies behind this thing align themselves with the right carrier when it launches in Europe this April, it'll actually do pretty well. No plans for it to land in North America yet, but we're told that if its launch goes well it could cross the pond later this year. Follow on for a full tour and gallery of the goods!

Continue reading Puma Phone hands-on

Puma Phone hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gary Reback: Why the Technology Sector Should Care About Google Books

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