Jan 26

Microsoft Zune Takes a Big Recession Hit

Posted in: MP3 Digital Audio, Today's Chili

Microsoft’s recently released earnings report outlined a company hard hit by the economic downturn. Soon after the the report came out, CEO Steve Ballmer announced that the company would be laying off some 5,000 employees. Among the most affected is the company’s Entertainment and Devices division, which manufactures the Zune.

Microsoft ended the week with a 10-Q filing, which outlined the device’s woes. “Zune platform revenue decreased $100 million or 54 percent, reflecting a decrease in device sales.”

But Microsoft insisted that it’s not abandoning the plucky little DAP. “Zune is committed and on track to deliver against our current product roadmap, and [we] are as focused as ever on providing great software and content-powered experiences to help bring our connected entertainment vision to life,” spokesman Adam Sohn told Paid Content.

However you might feel about the device itself, the Zune has always seemed like a pet project for the company–an attempt to stake its claim in the market share dominated by Apple. So if this downward trend continues, how will the company hold onto its beloved Zune? How about folding it into another healthier division; like, oh, say, Windows Mobile? Web speculation says “maaaaaybeeee.”

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Jan 26

New Bill Asks For Cameraphones To Go Clickety Clack

Posted in: Phones, Today's Chili

Camerphone0126_2
Smile, say cheese and hold that pose till you hear the ‘click’. A new bill introduced in the Congress by New York Republican Rep. Peter King requires mobile phones with digital cameras "to make a sound" when a photograph is taken.

The move is part of the ‘Camera Phone Predator Alert Act‘ and the idea is to ensure privacy and safety of the public, especially children, claims the bill.

"Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by
photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a
camera phone," says the draft of the bill, which was introduced earlier this month.

If enacted the bill would require any mobile phone in the US to make a sound "audible within a
reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken with the
camera in such phone." A mobile phone manufactured after the date the bill is enacted will have no way of disabling or silencing the sound.

The idea is not as astounding as it seems.Japan already requires all cameraphones including the iPhone to make an audible noise when taking a photograph.

But chances this bill will pass in the U.S. in its current form? Near zero. It has no co-sponsors and hasn’t seen much traction. But if it does, be prepared for clicktones to be the next big thing after ringtones.

Photo: (curiousyellow/Flickr)

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Jan 26

MyRacer keeps it simple with new Lisse S10 MP3 player

Posted in: OLED, Today's Chili

MyRacer’s no stranger to overly complex portable media players, but it’s taken a decidedly more minimalist approach with its new Lisse S10 player, which manages to cram a 128 x 64 resolution OLED display into a tiny 46x40x10mm package. That’s accomplished in part by making the screen itself a four-way directional pad, which will let you navigate through the surprisingly extensive menu system with relative ease (bonus points if you guessed it had an e-book reader). No word on a release ’round here, naturally, but those in Korea will apparently be able to pick one up soon (if not already) in their choice of 2GB or 4GB variations, and in a variety of colors, of course.

[Via OLED-Display.net]

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MyRacer keeps it simple with new Lisse S10 MP3 player originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 26

Hands-On with HDMI Consumer Electronic Control: Exclusive Video

Posted in: camcorder, hands-on, hdtv, Today's Chili

The it’s mind-blowingly useful HDMI Consumer Electronic Control (aka HDMI-CEC) technology basically turns your HDTV’s remote control into a universal remote control, minus the headache of programming the universal remote control. If the HDMI port on your HDTV and the device plugged into it both support Consumer Electronic Control, the two devices can communicate and control each other, even if the products are two different brands.

This week in PCMag Labs, we just happen to have two such devices. Check out the video demonstration to see what happens once they are connected with an HDMI cable:

  • I turn on the Sony SR-11 High-Definition camcorder.
  • Automatically the Samsung HDTV turns on.
  • Automatically the Samsung HDTV selects the input the Sony camcorder is connected to.
  • Automatically the Samsung’s remote control navigates the Sony camcorder’s menu.
  • Automatically, turning off the Samsung HDTV turns off the Sony camcorder.

Look for HDMI-CEC in future devices. (If you want to see the video in HD, click here.)

Post by PJ Jacobowitz

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Jan 26

Video: Internet dog feeder feeds your dog… via the internet

Posted in: Today's Chili, video

A young man named Tyler’s built a little gadget that will feed his dog even when he’s not around. Using an ioBridge IO-204 module and a continuously rotating servo in the feeder, he’s able to dispense some kibble via a web page he’s built which monitors the action via a webcam. Check the video — the dog sure seems to think it’s rad.

[Via Make]

Continue reading Video: Internet dog feeder feeds your dog… via the internet

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Video: Internet dog feeder feeds your dog… via the internet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 26

Logio Secure Password Organizer protects your passwords the hard way

Posted in: Today's Chili

A standalone device that safely manages all your passwords isn’t exactly the worst of ideas, but the folks from Atek sure seem to have done their best to make it seem like one, at least if Wired’s hands-on of the device is any indication. As you can see above, this one is a 1980s pocket calculator-style device, and requires that you enter all your passwords (up to 200 of ’em) cellphone-style using the apparently less-than-responsive keypad, which Wired describes as an exercise in frustration. On the upside, you do get a stylish faux-leather case with the device and, of course, a lanyard to ensure that you always have the device when you need it. $30 and it’s yours.

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Logio Secure Password Organizer protects your passwords the hard way originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 26

Warning: 10.5.6 MacBooks May Freeze After Jailbreaking iPhone 3G

Posted in: iPhone, iphone 3g, jailbreak, macbook, macbook pro, Today's Chili, top

This weekend, I learned the hard way that trying to jailbreak an iPhone 3G using a MacBook running 10.5.6 can totally freeze up the machine later on. Here are the specifics: UPDATED

Short version: Be careful with that latest QuickTime update if you have run any “DFU fix” Automator scripts on your unibody (Late 2008) MacBook or MacBook Pro. Do not upgrade to QuickTime 7.6 until you’ve repaired the alterations that the script made to your system. UPDATE: I am learning from commenters that this is not just limited to unibody Late ’08 MacBooks, but it applies to ALL MacBooks running 10.5.6.

In this post, we outlined how to re-enable unlocking and jailbreaking functionality if you’ve upgraded to Mac OS X 10.5.6. To do it, you have to run an Automator script that “fixes” the system so that you can enter something called DFU mode. It’s some hardcore juju, but the script seemed easy enough to run and reboot.

The now-mysteriously-missing original Hackintosh article mentioned that there were some issues with the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros, but it never said that you should undo it after you finish jailbreaking.

I didn’t even get the jailbreak itself to work on that machine in the end, even though Jason did on his unibody MacBook Pro, but the Automator DFU fix didn’t cause any perceptible changes to my system’s behavior, so I promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward two weeks. I get a notice of the latest QuickTime upgrade, so I OK it. When my system restarts, I have no access to keyboard or trackpad. Not only do I not have access, I can’t even plug in a mouse or keyboard. I could use those controls when booting off of a system install disc, but I couldn’t get the installer to repair my OS, since it was “newer.” The computer was borked.

My solution was easy but nuclear: I turned an external 320GB drive into a boot disk, ran the migration tool to move every bit of data from my unibody MBP, then simply swapped drives. (Gotta hand it to Apple for that new swappable-drive design.) My machine is as good as new, and now totally up to date.

What you should do, if you already ran the DFU script and haven’t installed that QuickTime update yet, is try the method I have since discovered outlined in this Apple Support thread. Apparently, I’m not the only one with this problem.

Here are a few solutions besides the one in the support thread:

• If you still have access to your keyboard and mouse, you can copy the backup files (it should be under Backup_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_6 on your desktop) to where the Automator script was, Install_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_5 on your desktop. Then, just run the Automator script again, and it will copy those “original” files to the right location, then change the permissions correctly and reboot your machine.

• If you already ran the QuickTime update and you’re unable to access any input (USB or otherwise), you can SSH into your machine and run these commands one by one. If you had trouble with the Automator script, you can open up the terminal and do this too, manually. Note, some of these lines are too long, so they wrap to 2 lines. Make sure you copy it in its entirety. Commands are separated by empty lines in between.

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext
You’ll have to enter your administrator password here

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

sudo cp -R $HOME/Desktop/Backup_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_6/AppleUSBHub.kext /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/

sudo cp -R $HOME/Desktop/Backup_IOUSBFamily_kext_10_5_6/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext

sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBHub.kext

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBCompositeDriver.kext

sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions.mkext

sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

sudo reboot

Your machine will reboot after prompting to update boot caches, and the files should be back to the standard 10.5.6 ones. Good luck!

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Jan 26

‘Rogue’ Googlephone App Raises Questions About Android’s Open Policy

Posted in: Today's Chili

G10126

An Android application that claims to optimize use of the memory on HTC’s G1 phones has drawn the ire of some G1 users who allege it wipes users’ data and spams their contacts.

The application, called MemoryUp from eMobiStudio, has now disappeared from the Android market. But the allegations against it have raised questions about Android’s open marketplace policy.

"As consumers, we all make judgments about what stores we visit and what we buy based on quality, brand, safety and cost," says Carl Howe, director of consumer research at Yankee Group. "Problems like these are going to drive away mainstream users."

Android’s Market is built on an open model that allows any developers to post any application. That approach can be advantageous in that developers don’t have to go through corporate gatekeepers to get their software in customers’ hands. By contrast, Apple vets every single iPhone/iPod Touch application before allowing it into its iTunes App Store, a process that can take weeks and prevents certain types of software from appearing at all.

eMobiStudio released MemoryUp earlier this month as its first application for the Android operating system. The app claims to offer better memory management for the phone, making the device run smoother, and up its battery life. The application is available for free to try and a full version costs $15 for two years’ use.

However, some users on the online Android Community forum complained that the program destroys the data on their phone by removing contacts and calendar items, and corrupts the memory of the phone.

“Doesn’t work at all erased my phone numbers and froze my phone," allegedly wrote a user according to the Geek.com site.

The application’s developers deny those claims. "We are very disturbed by these reports," says Robert Lee, chief technical associate for eMobiStudio. "Whatever damage is out there has not been done by our product."

eMobiStudio says it has a strong history of creating useful applications for smartphones. "We are a software development company focused on mobile devices and we have been in business for four years," says Lee. The company has so far developed the same app for Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile platform.

"MemoryUp is just such a simple application which does not require any permissions to access user data or SDcards," says Lee. "It does not require to connect to the internet, so how can it manage to do all these bad things without asking for any access permission?"

Lee says his team did "extensive testing" before it released the version for Android. "We don’t think our app is capable of damaging any memory or cards."

eMobiStudio says it is trying to get in touch with the users who have complained about the apps and solve the problem. But the app is now out of the Android marketplace. It is not clear who pulled it out, eMobiStudio or Google. Google has not yet responded to a request for comment.

For Android, this signals a larger issue, says Howe. Unlike Apple’s iPhone App store, Android has prided itself on being a truly open system, in direct contrast to the iPhone.

"This was one of the real differentiators for the Android market," says Howe. "But that is also going to mean there is no standard for the apps to be held to."

While MemoryUp may not be the worst out there, the user feedback on it indicates Google and the Android team may need to take a second look at their open policy for the apps marketplace.

"Certainly incidents like these makes it much harder for them (Android) to succeed," says Howe.

See also:

Photo: Tagzania/Flickr

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Jan 26

Study: Nintendo brain games don’t make the grade

Posted in: Today's Chili

Nintendo’s brain games may not help put your kid on the Nobel Prize track after all, according to one professor who put the titles to the test.

Brain Academy screenshot

Can the mind-bending activities in games like Big Brain Academy make you smarter? The debate continues.

(Credit: Nintendo)

Alain Lieury, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Rennes in Brittany, France, surveyed a group of 10-year-olds and concluded that homework, reading, or playing Scrabble or sudoku produced benefits that matched or beat the supposed memory-enhancing properties of such titles as Big Brain Academy, Brain Training, and Brain Age.

The latter game contains several types of puzzle challenges designed to stimulate and keep the gray matter “young” and sharp.

“The Nintendo DS is a technological jewel. As a game it’s fine,” the Times Online quotes Lieury as saying. “But it is charlatanism to claim that it is a scientific test.”

Lieury, a memory specialist, split 67 10-year-olds into four groups, according to the Times Online. The first two took part in a seven-week memory course on a Nintendo DS game console, the third did puzzles with pencils and paper, and the fourth went to school as usual.

Before and after the course, the kids were given tasks including logic tests, memorizing words on a map, doing sums, and interpreting symbols. Researchers found that children using the Nintendo DS system didn’t show any significant improvement in memory tests. They did do 19 percent better in math, but so did the pencil-and-paper group, while the fourth group did 18 percent better.

“If it doesn’t work on children, it won’t work on adults,” Lieury said.

…

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Jan 26

Verizon Jumps into the Femtocell Market

Posted in: Today's Chili, Verizon Wireless

Verizon%20Network%20Extender%20femtocell.JPG
On Monday, Verizon Wireless announced its entry into the market for femtocells, small home routers expressly designed to allow mobile phones to place crystal-clear calls even while indoors.

Verizon’s “Network Extender” device is priced at $249.99, a flat fee that will not be supplemented – or subsidized – by any monthly pricing. The device is manufactured by Samsung.

Sprint also provides a similar device, the Airrave, while T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home uses Wi-Fi to connect its handsets. To date, AT&T has not announced a femtocell offering.

Verizon uses the home’s broadband connection as a backhaul, essentially translating the cellular call into a VOIP connection. Who needs it? People in rural areas that may live on the outskirts of a cell site, Verizon said. According to Verizon, the femtocell provides an additional 5,000 square feet of coverage. One drawback: EV-DO is not supported, including those services that depend on it, Verizon said. Update 1/27: Network Extender users will be charged against their plan, in minutes, for any calls they make.

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