Hasta La Gadget!

After the lack of Flash support and the “missing” camera, one of the biggest complaints about the iPad is that you can’t print from it, with or without a wire. Google is about to solve this problem with cloud-printing, which will send your documents from a mobile device to any web-connected printer.

I tend to view printing as something like the floppy disk, a legacy technology that nobody really needs anymore. And before you light up the comments telling me you need to print receipts for your car repair shop customers, I say that’s not the job of an iPad or a cellphone. What you need (and already have) is a computer. For the odd boarding pass or document I might need on paper, I just email the file to the print shop down the road and pay them 10 cents.

But if you still insist on dead tree copies, Google hears you. To enable printing from its driver-free Chrome OS and any other mobile device, Google is putting those drivers in the cloud. Apps send print jobs to Google Cloud Print, whereupon they are processed and sent to net-connected printers. And this isn’t just the printer in your upstairs office, either. It could be on the other side of the world.

Google has today released the code and documentation to developers, so its just a matter of waiting for this to show up in the apps you use. In the meantime, iPad users might like this alternative solution:

A New Approach to Printing [The Chromium Blog]

One of many things the Micro Four Thirds manufacturers are getting right is the lenses. Panasonic’s optics clearly show the benefits of its long association with Leica, and Olympus’ Zuiko lenses have been great since pretty much forever.

These lenses aren’t cheap — this latest wide-angle zoom from Olympus will cost around $700 when it ships next month, but according to the testers at DP Review, you get your money’s worth.

The M Zuiko Digital 9-18mm (18-36mm equivalent) F4-5.6 is small. That’s it above, in the middle squeezed between a pair of already tiny wide zooms from Panasonic, one a Four Thirds lens on an adapter (left) and one a native M4/3 optic. Olympus manages this by making the lens collapsible like the 14-42mm kit zoom which comes with the Pen EP-1. When in use, it extends to around double the length.

The takeaways from the DP Review test: the bokeh, or out-of-focus highlights are ugly, but the lens is sharp and not prone to flare (essential in such a wide lens). Autofocus is good and fast (the lens “reveals a significant advance in Olympus’s autofocus system”) and also silent for movie-shooting. As we’ve said, it is also tiny, which is kind of the point with M4/3 cameras.

I’ll still skip it, though. The problem with all but the most expensive zooms is that they have variable and relatively slow maximum apertures. One of the great things about using a fast prime is both that shallow depth of field and the ability to shoot at night without worrying too much about getting the shakes.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 review [DP Review]

See Also:

• Panasonic Micro Four Thirds 'Rangefinder' with Leica Lenses …
• Sony Fights Micro Four-Thirds With Lens-Changing Compact
• Adapter Puts Leica Lenses on Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Olympus Pen E-P2
• Olympus Pen E-P1
• New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks

So you’ve seen how Apple intends to handle printing on its web-centric mobile device, now how about Google? The Mountain View crew has decided to solve one of Chrome OS‘ significant shortcomings — namely the lack of a printer stack or drivers — by interposing itself between apps and the printing hardware. Essentially, when you want to print you’ll be sending your request over to a Googlestation up in the clouds, which in turn will translate those instructions and forward them along to the nearest paper tarnisher. We say nearest, presuming that’s what you’d want, but the big deal here is that you’ll be able to use any device to print on any printer anywhere in the (internet-connected) world. It’s quite the brute force approach, but at least it assures you that whether you’re using a mobile, desktop or web app, you’ll be able to print without fear of compatibility issues. This project is still at a very early stage, but code and dev documentation are available now. Hit the source link to learn more.

Google Cloud Print service aims for unified, universal web printing method originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And Comcast makes three. Two years after Cablevision started rolling out hotspots in the Big Apple and less than a month after Time Warner joined it, Comcast has gotten buddy-buddy with the pair in their efforts to blanket New York City with WiFi. If you subscribe to any one of their data services, you now get free access to all three, and can use your existing login at any Optimum, Time Warner or Xfinity hotspot across the city. In a press release, Cablevision executive John Bickham said the agreement might be “the first of many.” We wonder if by banding together, cable might one day compete with the telcos on wireless connectivity, the way they now do with home internet and television services. Still, the best laid plans… Full press release after the break.

Continue reading Comcast, TWC and Cablevision make friendly, team up for NYC-wide WiFi

Comcast, TWC and Cablevision make friendly, team up for NYC-wide WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s nowhere close to being first out of the gate with a tablet computer, but there’s something about its products that drive people into fits of creative insanity. While early tablet enthusiasts were focused on automating insurance claims adjustments, iPad fanatics are busying themselves with a wearable sleeve and app to automatically signal a bicyclist’s intentions to motorists: sit upright (stop sign), lean left (left arrow), etc. Silly sure, but we expect it might be very popular in Berlin’s techno subculture. Video after the break.

Continue reading iPad Sprocket Pocket makes us feel like little girls (video)

iPad Sprocket Pocket makes us feel like little girls (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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