2011年11月30日星期三
2011年11月28日星期一
2011年11月27日星期日
LunaTik Lynk review: The zenith of iPod nano watchbands?
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LunaTik Lynk review: The zenith of iPod nano watchbands?
The LunaTik Lynk is a new take on Wilson's excellent LunaTik, which along with the TikTok, were funded via Kickstarter last year and began being sold via the Apple Store earlier in 2011. The Lynk uses the same semi-permanent watch conversion approach as the LunaTik (hence its first name), but introduces a bracelet consisting of aluminum links for that full-metal experience.
The Lynk comes in either anodized aluminum for a matte silver finish, or, like my review unit, in a PVD-plated all-black version that's coated down to the screws, and even the interior of the clasp, which for sure won't be seen by anyone but you. That's the kind of attention to detail I'm talking about, as is the silicone coating on the underside of the band's links, which make the band comfortable on the wrist and also ensures it won't go slip-sliding around too much even if you wear it a little loose.
If you aren't familiar with the original LunaTik's design, it features a two-part case for the nano that you use an included set of allen keys to separate and put back together once you've slid in your nano. It's a little fiddly, which may be the one downside of this nano strap, but the idea is that once its in, it's in, so you shouldn'...
2011年11月26日星期六
Type to your iPhone with Type2Phone and your Mac keyboard
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Type to your iPhone with Type2Phone and your Mac keyboard
As a general rule, I avoid reviewing apps from friends. You send me a pitch, I pass it along to the team. But when Matthias Ringwald, Bluetooth developer extraordinaire told me about Type2Phone, I really wanted to try it out myself. For $4.99, this Mac app transforms your computer into a wireless Bluetooth keyboard.
If you're not exactly following why anyone would care about that, let me explain why this utility fills a huge hole in the iOS experience, particularly for developers.
Nearly all recent devices now support external Bluetooth keyboards for text entry. You navigate to Settings, enable Bluetooth, select a device and pair to it. You can then type using a physical keyboard rather than the onscreen touch one. This greatly speeds up text entry.
What Type2Phone does, by emulating a BT keyboard, is let you perform the same announcement and pairing tasks, but from your OS X desktop. That means, if you're testing software on your device (or you just want to type to your device with your computer nearby for any other reason), you can pair and go in just a few seconds, without having to drag out a hardware keyboard.
The application remembers the pairing details for you, and you can select each device from a pop-up menu.
For devs, that's insanely useful. You can instantly type into text fields, into text views, or into any object that implements a UITextInput protocol. Type2Phone means you can do your text entry from your normal keyboard, along side your normal development tasks. It evaporates a messy annoying detail of development.
Personally, I'd prefer if the app offered a way to switch off its scrolling text preview (you see it at the top of this post) -- I type fast enough that the scrolling letters make me a bit dizzy -- but aside from that, this app did its job exactly as promised.
You can grab Type2Go from the Mac App Store.
Microsoft Doesn't Get It, Episode 65,536: TellMe versus Siri
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Microsoft Doesn't Get It, Episode 65,536: TellMe versus Siri
As with all new technologies developed by or associated with Apple, competitors are stumbling over one another to dismiss Siri. Google has already played the "yawn" card, and now Microsoft's Craig Mundie has joined the fray during an interview with Forbes. Here are Mundie's remarks when asked about Siri, proving for the 65,536th time that Microsoft Doesn't Get It:
"TellMe facility's been in the Windows 7 Phone (sic) for more than a year! I just think that people are infatuated with Apple announcing it... it's good marketing. At least as a technological capability, you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows phones for more than a year. You could take these Windows phones and pick them up and say, 'Text Eric,' and it'll say, 'What do you want to say?' and it transcribes it... You can query anything through Bing by just saying the words. I mean, all that's already there. Completely functional, been there for a year."
Can you really just pick up one of these Windows phones and use it right out of the box in the way Mundie claims? Not if the results of a video comparing TellMe versus Siri are any indication. Using Siri and TellMe simultaneously, an Australian user tries to create a meeting, send a text, check the time in Perth, and play songs by a certain artist. Siri doesn't miss a beat, while TellMe fails every time, often with hilarious results.
Let's issue some apologetics for TellMe: maybe it's tripping over the Aussie accent. Maybe it needs to "learn" the speaker's voice over time to deliver better results. Maybe the handset's microphone wasn't picking up his voice well enough to decipher his commands accurately. But the side-by-side comparison doesn't lie; Siri kicked TellMe's butt up and down the block.
The comparison video even handicapped Siri by using the sort of stilted, standardized voice commands that Android and Windows Phone 7 have indeed "alr...
Is Samsung giving up on netbooks next year?
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Is Samsung giving up on netbooks next year?
An email sent by Samsung to its trading partners appears to shut down any prospect of the manufacturer producing new netbooks after the first quarter of 2012. The email is quoted by French site Blogeee and says that Samsung will switch its focus to 11.6- and 12-inch ultraportables as well as Intel Ultrabooks. The quote does not preclude some of those ultraportables running cheaper processors such as Cedar Trail, which would arguably just make them slightly larger next-gen netbooks, but it does specifically mention the abandonment of the 10.1-inch form factor. Here's our translation:
"Following the introduction of our new strategy in 2012, we will discontinue our 10.1-inch (netbook) product range in Q1 2012, in favor of ultraportables (11.6 and 12 inches) and ultrabooks to be launched in 2012."
[Thanks, Marco]
Is Samsung giving up on netbooks next year? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Blogeee (French) | Acer Allegro officially on sale in France and Taiwan
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Acer Allegro officially on sale in France and Taiwan
Here it is, folks: the inaugural Windows Phone from Acer, known as the Allegro, is now ready and rearin' to be sold. Not only is it coming to France as originally expected, it appears that Taiwan has elected to join in the fun as well. It's no top-notch device, but it doesn't pretend to be either. Even then, the specs aren't that much of a disappointment: it comes with a 3.6-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display, 1GHz single-core Qualcomm MSM8255 CPU, 8GB internal storage, 5MP rear camera with LED flash and a 1,300mAh battery. We'd like to see a front-facing cam and a larger juicepack, but it still promises a lengthy nine hours of talk time regardless. And the no-contract price is definitely tempting, with it being sold currently in France for €285 ($380); Taiwanese customers can wander into their local Synnex store on November 30th, likely at a very similar price point. There's no word on if the Allegro will grace any other countries with its presence.
[image courtesy sogi.com.tw]
Continue reading Acer Allegro officially on sale in France and Taiwan
Acer Allegro officially on sale in France and Taiwan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our
Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: digital cameras
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Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: digital cameras
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We're well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties surrounding the seasonal shopping experience, so we're here to help you sort out this year's tech treasures. Below is today's bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.
With cameras popping up on tablets, smartphones and even Bluetooth headsets, there's a fairly good chance that there's already a device in your pocket capable of shooting high-res stills and HD video. But even with popular apps like Instagram on-board, mobile devices still can't match the versatility and image quality of a dedicated snapper. If you're looking to hide a new point-and-shoot under the tree this year, there are plenty of great options to consider, for any budget. So clear off the memory card and get ready to jump past the break for our top picks that will deliver -- and capture -- plenty of holiday cheer.
Continue reading Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: digital cameras
Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: digital cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
RIM, Telefonica announce NFC trial, aim to launch mobile wallet next year
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RIM, Telefonica announce NFC trial, aim to launch mobile wallet next year
RIM's NFC campaign is about to roll into Iberia, now that the BlackBerry manufacturer has announced a new partnership with Madrid-based Telefonica. This week, the two companies unveiled plans to begin testing a mobile payment and ID card system across the Spanish capital, in the hopes of launching commercial services next year. The so-called Telefonica Wallet for BlackBerry trial will involve some 350 Telefonica employees and a select group of testers within Madrid, each of whom will be able to make payments, access offices and check bank statements from their BlackBerry handsets. Telefonica's Matthew Key told Reuters that his company chose RIM to participate in the trial primarily because of the security of its BlackBerry platform, stressing the importance of earning enough consumer trust to handle sensitive personal data. No specifics yet on when or where the carrier will launch a full payment system, though Key said that Telefonica's aiming to bring it to a handful of markets in 2012.
RIM, Telefonica announce NFC trial, aim to launch mobile wallet next year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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