Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Tesco Mobile have made changes to their iPhone tariffs that include several new 12 month contracts. Prices are as follows…
For a 12 month contract paying £35/month you can get the iPhone for the following prices…
iPhone 3G 8GB – £100
iPhone 3GS 16GB – £200
iPhone 3GS 32GB – £275
If you want to get a free iPhone 3GS (16GB) you can pay £45/month on a 24 month contract. [Read more…]
As far as I can remember back, I don’t think we have ever covered the subject of pottery here at gadgetvenue. So, here we have perhaps the worlds first pottery gadget that uses 3D technology with an old art.
The device consists of a 3D scanner that tracks movement of your hands. The 3D scanner part is referred to as a Virtual wheel. This technology is combined with a 3D printer that converts ceramic powder in to a solid form and then cools it down.
So, you create your virtual potter subject and once done, you send it to print and it gets built for you as you designed it. [Read more…]
Microsoft [MSFT] have confirmed that they will be taking responsibility for providing firmware updates to Windows Phone 7 devices when the new OS launches. Right now, Microsoft leave that to the device manufacturers.
Updates will arrive on Microsoft Windows Phone 7 devices in a couple of different ways. For small updates, they will be received over the air (OTA) using either a 3G connection on the phone or the WiFi connection if available. Larger updates will be downloadable in the Zune Manager software and when tethering a phone to a computer, you’ll be able to update your device.
In my opinion, MS looking after the updates will be a good thing as all users should be able to get the latest updates around the same time. The current method of device manufacturers pushing out updates could cause some phones on some networks to get delays, for example the same phone on the Orange and T-Mobile networks could see Orange customers with a new firmware and T-Mobile lagging behind. With a central coordinated system it should allow all users of a specific phone to get that update when it is made available. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] have launched a major update to their Google Docs service that brings several new features to the free service. This includes a redesigned spreadsheet application, document app and a drawing editor. As well as improving each of the services, Google have also created group chat functions within each app.
The whole upgrade to Google Docs revolves around collaboration whereby Google believe this part of the service lacks. Several people can update a single document that can then be destroyed by a bad save by someone. The new version brings in more tools to make it run like desktop versions and also includes the ability to mark-up character by character.
Google Docs now makes it possible to see real-time what others are writing on the opened document. As the other user writes it is immediately updated on your screen. Up to 50 people can work on a document simultaneously. [Read more…]
An event by Nokia [NOK] is happening in the next 14 hours that nobody really knows much about. Some believe it could be related to Ovi Maps Navigation although that was recently pushed in an event in London.
Over at Mobile review we heard that the event isn’t related to the Nokia N8 which is a shame, but with a bit of investigating they found out that the event could be related to a new messaging solution called Nokia Messaging. [Read more…]
Geohot has managed to Jailbreak the Apple iPad. The iPad runs iPhone OS 3.2 and within days of the iPad being launched Geohot managed to post the encryption keys on his site followed the day after by the image above showing Cydia and Blackra1n on the home screen of the iPad.
On the blog post about the encryption keys he simply says (after publishing the keys) that “This is more exciting than a lot of you realize.”
We should be hearing more soon about how it will all work, but from what we can gather, it will be an update to Blackra1n where you simply tether the iPad, load up Blackra1n and a few moment later your device will be jailbroke. [Read more…]
Google [GOOG] are getting in to the tablet game by creating a Google Tablet. This particular tablet computer they will be making will run the Google Android OS rather than Chrome OS and from what we hear, it will be created by Google (or perhaps as the Nexus One is… created by HTC but sold exclusively by Google).
We have heard of Google Chrome OS based tablets previously, but from what we understand now, Google is actually planning on running Android on this particular tablet. It isn’t clear if they will just run plain old Android 2.1 for example, on the tablet where everything is just spaced out more on the screen, or if a specific Android Tablet Edition OS will be made. [Read more…]
Reports today are indicating that Palm, Inc. are actually looking for buyers. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) are reported to be wanting buyers and wanting bids in as quick as this week.
Three companies are known to be interested at the moment which includes HTC, Lenovo and Dell and there could be others too. Dell have also made comment through a spokesperson although HTC and Lenovo have declined to comment so far. Other companies that could be in the running for Palm include Huawei and ZTE who are not as mainstream in terms of known brands although they are certainly not small companies. [Read more…]
When loading up the Safari browser on your iPhone you’ll see an address bar at the top left raking about 2/3 of the screen width along with a smaller search box just next to it with the word Google inserted. When taping the search box the keyboard pops open and the word Google can be found on the bottom right of the keyboard… this is changing.
Apple [AAPL] in their latest iPhone OS 4.0 have actually scrubbed out Google [GOOG] from the box and keyboard in what looks to be a move to distance themselves from the company. The iPad running it’s current OS also has Google replaced on the keyboard with a generic “Search” added to the device. With in the iPad, users have the option to default search to either Google or Yahoo!, so it seems like Apple are not wanting to tie themselves down to just one search function. On the iPad when selecting a default, the small box at the top does show the default search setting, but the keyboard just has that generic search added. [Read more…]
Last week we came across leaked pics of the new Flip Slide HD camcorder built by Cisco that was spotted in a Best Buy store. From what we saw it appears to flip open to reveal a larger screen. Thanks to Best Buy selling the Slide HD early to one customer we now have the full picture on what the Flip Slide HD is and how it works.
The device actually just has 1 large touchscreen across the face of the device. When recording the screen is split in to two where the top side is taken by the screen and the bottom side has touchscreen controls. When sliding the Slide HD open, the full screen is then used for displaying videos that have just been captured. A slide control can then be found under where the screen flipped out from that allows you to slide through the video you have captured. [Read more…]
When deleting applications on the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, you are presented with a message whereby you can give the deleted application a rating. When prompted by the message you have two options… either to rate or not rate the application.
This rating feature on app deletion was added on iPhone OS 2.2 but a problem has now been spotted with how this actually works. The rating system it’s self works in a technical way as in, you give it how many stars you want out of and the rating is recorded and averaged out to give a result… but the problem is that people more often than not, delete applications when they are unhappy with it… meaning the ratings of apps can be skewed towards the lower amount of stars as those who are happy with the app wont delete it and wont be prompted to rate it. [Read more…]
Hack a Day have managed to mod a SNES controller to include USB support and accelerometer support. This was achieved by using a Teensy USB development board along with a 3D accelerometer which were both crammed inside the SNES controller.
The Teensy board is used to allow the controller to connect to a PC via USB, but can also read signals from the 3D accelerometer and pass them back to the computer. The buttons are translated to key presses on the keyboard and the movements translated to mouse movements allowing the controller to be used to navigate around games such as Portal.
Other uses of the modified SNES controller could include support for more games and the creator also says it could be used to brute-force passwords if movement is translated in to various keystroke inputs. [Read more…]
