Apr 08

Magic Wax Coating Keeps Touch-Screens Smear Free

Posted in: R&D and Inventions, Today's Chili

This enlarged screen-grab does full justice to the Nu-Screen’s infomercial-inspired product page

My iPad screen is a filthy, greasy mess. No matter how often I clean it with a microfiber cloth, within a few touches I have soiled it again.

It’s not that I have particularly oily fingers. It’s just that the iPad’s screen seems to be oleophilic, slurping the grease from my digital pores and slathering them over the screen like a redhead slaps on the sun lotion. I have gotten used to it, and barely see the dirty streaks when the screen is lit. But it causes me great embarrassment when somebody else flips open the cover and is confronted with something that would make an English pub toilet look clean. Clearly I need to do something.

And whatever I settle on, that something won’t be the Nu-Screen HD, a $20 blob of wax squeezed into a ChapStick tube. This magical unguent is rubbed onto the problem screen (iPad, iPhone, or any touch-screen device) whereupon it magically stops scummy smears from forming. It leaves a “slippery smooth, non-greasy, shiny surface” that stops you smudging the screen, no matter how dirty you are.

The magic ingredient here is carnauba wax (which is, I believe, what M&Ms are made of). It also contains various other oils and waxes, along with cetyl stearyl alcohol. Alcohol and grease, in other words, which is pretty much what my diet consists of anyway, making the Nu-Screen HD double as a tasty snack.

If this works, I’m guessing that other waxes would also work, too, and not come in a tiny $20 package. If anyone has tried this out, or wishes to point me to a place where I can test it, I’m game. Otherwise, I’ll stick to my current solution: wiping the screen clean with my novelty, microfiber nerd’s necktie.

Nu-Screen HD product page [Nu-Screen via Engadget]

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Apr 08

Crave giveaway: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Slim

Posted in: Today's Chili

For this week’s giveaway, we’re serving up Seagate’s svelte 320GB external drive, the FreeAgent GoFlex Slim.

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Apr 08

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo delayed to Q3, Arc and Play facing limited supply due to Japanese quake

Posted in: Android, delay, gingerbread, Japan, launch, release, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili, xperia

There hasn’t been much good news coming out of Japan lately and this sadly keeps up with the unhappy trend. Sony Ericsson has officially bumped the broad launch (it’s already available in limited quantities) of its Xperia Neo handset to at least July, explaining the delay as the result of “supply chain disruptions.” Additionally, the Xperia Arc and Play devices, two other members of the company’s new Android Gingerbread family, will be available in smaller volume than expected, at least for the near term. We guess that might go some way to explaining why the Xperia Play failed to reach some UK carriers in time for its April 1st launch date. Skip past the break for a statement from Sony Ericsson, who promises to be more explicit about the situation when it delivers its latest quarterly results on April 19th.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo delayed to Q3, Arc and Play facing limited supply due to Japanese quake

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo delayed to Q3, Arc and Play facing limited supply due to Japanese quake originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink dialtosave, Clove  |  sourceSony Ericsson Italy (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 08

Slotted Wooden Spoons Hang Around On Your Pots

Posted in: household, Today's Chili

These slotted spoons live life on the edge

Here’s a Dremel project in the making: Muuto’s Hang Around kitchen utensils are a wooden spoon and spatula with a slot in the back side, which lets you kind of clip them to the side of any pot or pan you may be using.

Designed for Muuto by Kibisi, these tools are clearly more about form than function. Whilst the spoon, for example, will clearly let you spoon things up, its fat-backed shape makes it useless for stirring and beating. The spatula looks better, but not really any better than a dollar version from the dime store.

Of course, they need to be thick to accommodate the slot in the back, so I propose an improvement: Go grab your Dremel and find or buy a spoon and spatula. With the spoon, a slot cut just one third of the way through should do the trick without weakening it too much. With the spatula, which already has a wide handle, just go in from the side.

Or, as I do already, just put the blade or bowl on the pot’s edge and lay the handle onto the pan handle. No slots, stable, and free.

Hang Around is available in design and cookware stores around the world. If you really hate yourself, and love Flash sites that resize themselves to take up your entire monitor, then you could visit the Muuto site to find out the exact stores that carry them.

Hang Around product page [Muuto via Yanko]

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Apr 08

Motorola’s SocialTV app will turn your Xoom or Atrix into a communicative couch companion

Posted in: moto, motorola, social networking, SocialNetworking, Today's Chili, TV

Whether you look at stats or your own limitless experience, you know very well that humanity spends too much time staring at tubes, screens, and other unnatural visualizers. Motorola isn’t really here to fix that ailment, but at least it’s converging the uses of some of those device classes with its introduction of a SocialTV Companion Service. Designed to turn your smartphone, tablet or laptop into a, you guessed it, TV companion device, this new software serves up social networking, complimentary content, real-time chat, TV show ratings, and interactive (as opposed to what, non-interactive?) games. Basically, since you spend your TV-watching time idly browsing away on your Xoom anyway, why not fuse the two things together and “generate some incremental revenue” for your service provider in the process? We presume the new SocialTV stuff will be rolled out in app form, Moto doesn’t dish up those details or give us a launch date. If only we had an app to tell us when to expect new apps to arrive.

Continue reading Motorola’s SocialTV app will turn your Xoom or Atrix into a communicative couch companion

Motorola’s SocialTV app will turn your Xoom or Atrix into a communicative couch companion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 08

GoPano 360º Lens Shoots Panoramic Video with iPhone

Posted in: iPhone, Today's Chili

Before you watch this video, make sure you have $50 spare, because you’re going to need it. The product is the GoPano lens for the iPhone, and it lets you shoot 360º video.

The lens is held over the iPhone’s lens using a supplied case, and the camera looks in all directions, all the time. It’s all done with mirrors: a curved mirror bounces the image down through the lens whereupon it is bounced again at 90º into the iPhone. Companion software un-warps the image and shows it on screen. As you can’t show the whole lot at once, you can pan around by touching as you record or play back. Think of it as a mini Google Streetview camera.

I’d totally buy one to play with if I had an iPhone. Sports is the obvious subject. I would clamp this to the top of my helmet whilst playing bike polo, so after the game I could play back what I have already seen, and also what was going on behind me. If I’d have had this several months ago, I might have been able to find out which joker broke my leg during my last game.

GoPano already makes versions for regular cameras, but these cost from $700 to $1,100 and look very vulnerable, holding the mini out on a thin stalk in front of the camera’s lens. This makes the $50 asking price for the iPhone version all the more surprising. The project is being funded by Kickstarter, but the $20,000 goal has already been reached. Currently there is $60,000 worth of pledges, with still over a month to go.

GoPano micro – Capture 360º videos from an iPhone 4 [Kickstarter via PetaPixel]

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Apr 08

Over-Engineered iPhone Stand with ‘36,000 RPM’ Bearings

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, iPhone, Today's Chili

Spend just $170 and your iPhone need never lie flat again

If you ever thought that it might be practical to take the Power Loader from Aliens, put it in your kitchen and use it as a fruit bowl, then we may just have the perfect iPhone stand for you. It’s called the RokForm RokStand and it is possibly the most over-engineered accessory ever made.

Made from CNC-machined aluminum with rubber rings to cosset the iPhone within, the specs contain quite ridiculous bullet points. Here’s one: “Precision High speed bearing and cam adjustment” [capitalizations in original].

The stand works with one of the several dozen white iCharging cables you have already, clamping it into place with grub screws. Once propped agains the precision milled “billet 6061 T-6 aluminum” widget, you can set one of six angles of view by clicking around the little lever on the side. There are also shaped ports in the case to “enhance” the sound from the speakers.

At least you can be pretty sure that your phone never falls over.

The price for this monster is a whopping $170. If that seems like too much (although I can’t see why it would) you can opt for the portable version for “just” $120. It only has two angles of adjustment, but it does come with “Adjustment arms [which] ride on double sealed 36,000 RPM bearings.” 36,000 RPM! That should set your mind at rest.

I’m sure all of you have stopped reading already and are currently over at the RokForm site, desperately entering your credit card details into the shopping form. If not, then may I interest you in a new product I’m working on? It’s an oversized, hand-machined, aircraft aluminum pen-holder, which weighs a satisfying two pounds and will cost you just $200.

RokForm RokStand product page [RokForm via Oh Gizmo]

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Apr 08

3LiveShop woos you into phone contracts by touching your screen from the other side (video)

Posted in: hands-on, sales, Today's Chili, video
Feeling lonely? Got some Swedish kronor to burn? Now you can kill two birds with one stone thanks to Three’s Scandinavian arm. Hold up, we’re not talking about online dating here; but you could certainly start by buying a phone from 3LiveShop, which lets you interact virtually face to face with a human sales rep. Better yet, these folks are equipped with eccentric multitouch workstations (pictured after the break) to let them drag phones and spec sheets around your screen. We had a go on this service just now and apart from a couple of hiccups later on, our Hong Kong-to-Sweden call was surprisingly fluid and fun. Sadly, we didn’t get around to filming our intimate conversation with Adam here, but you can watch a promotion video by B-Reel — the folks behind the touchscreen’s Flash interface — after the break to see how it works.

[Thanks, Johan]

Continue reading 3LiveShop woos you into phone contracts by touching your screen from the other side (video)

3LiveShop woos you into phone contracts by touching your screen from the other side (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThree, B-Reel  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 08

Nokia sucks at Photoshop

Posted in: app, ios, iPhone, marketing, nokia, photoshop, symbian, Today's Chili

Oh man, is this the new version of Symbian? If so, it looks magical.

[Thanks, Jaris]

Continue reading Nokia sucks at Photoshop

Nokia sucks at Photoshop originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceOvi Store  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 08

Intel licensing Kno hardware for partners with manufacturing knohow

Posted in: education, intel, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili

A month or so ago, we reported that Kno was looking for a way out of the tablet hardware business and intended to transition itself into a purely software-centric operation. Well, now Bloomberg and All Things D tell us that a deal has been worked out to make that desire a reality. A $30 million investment round led by Intel Capital has reportedly been arranged, whose stipulations include granting Intel a license to the hardware designs and blueprints of the original dual-screen tablet. Chipzilla’s share of the new buy-in is estimated at around $20 million, though before you start fantasizing about what the company’s financial and R&D muscle could do for the platform, we should note that it apparently doesn’t intend to build any tablets of its own. The goal is simply to obtain the knohow and share it with its OEM partners (while inevitably tying that gesture of goodwill to more chip orders). As to Kno itself, it’ll try to exploit the new cash in its continued efforts to become an educational software delivery platform benefiting from its many partnerships with academic institutions. Knowledge is power, after all.

Update: Not that there was much doubt, but this deal is now completely official. Press release is after the break.

Continue reading Intel licensing Kno hardware for partners with manufacturing knohow

Intel licensing Kno hardware for partners with manufacturing knohow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBusinessweek, All Things D  | Email this | Comments

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