Hasta La Gadget!

A shot of the iPhone 4, which incidentally may or may not look like the iPhone 5. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

As with any Apple announcement, the pre-event online rumor mill is running at full steam. Some are serious, some less so, and some are so ridiculous as to make you curse the egalitarian world of online publishing. And through all of it, of couse, Apple never comments on rumors or speculation (or much of anything else). That leaves a lot of unaccounted-for online blathering.

We’ve rounded up some of the best and the worst of the current conjecture, and we’ve given each a plausibility rating to cut through (most of) the nonsense; a score of one means it’s complete hokum, while a 10 means it’s a sure thing.

1. The next iPhone will feature near-field communications technology

Plausibility rating: 4

As news of the Google Wallet spreads, the hope of having all of our tools rolled into one device is growing. Some think that Apple will wait until NFC is more ubiquitous before sticking the technology into its next phone, but among the growing list of Apple’s patents, there’s evidence to the contrary. iWallet, anyone?

2. The iPhone will be available on more than two carriers

Plausibility rating: 7

This one depends on whom you ask. According to an interview with tech blog Gigaom, T-Mobile is waiting for that miraculous phone call from Apple, while Sprint isn’t “in a position to comment” on the matter.

3. Apple will launch two iPhones

Plausibility rating: 7

Most expect at least one brand new iPhone, complete with aesthetic and hardware upgrades from the iPhone 4. Some, however, think that Apple will release a refurbished, budget-conscious iPhone 4 alongside the new flagship device. The strategy worked for the 3GS, which remains second best-selling smartphone after its big brother. What’s more, Al Gore mentioned the new “iPhones” during his Discovery Leadership Summit address. That’s iPhones, plural.

4. The iPhone 5 will feature voice recognition

Plausibility rating: 8

The Apple event invite explicitly states “Let’s talk iPhone.” People can argue over semantics and punctuation till blue in the face, but Apple’s recent acquisition of voice-recognition startup Siri could mean a robust voice-to-text system isn’t far off.

5. The iPhone 5 will have 4G and LTE speed

Plausibility rating: 4

According to one study, 34 percent of iPhone 4 owners think that they are riding high on 4G. Sorry guys, but the truth is that the iPhone 4 is still stuck in the 3G stone ages. While it would be shocking if Apple didn’t eventually give its new baby the same horsepower as its competitors, we don’t see it happening any time in the near future.

6. We’ll get an iPad 3, too

Plausibility rating: 2

Back in July, reports stated that Taiwan-based parts suppliers for Apple were readying battle stations to provide for not one, but two new devices.

7. iOS 5 will be released alongside the iPhone 5

Plausibility rating: 9

There aren’t many surprises left for Apple’s mobile operating system since its announcement in June, but we’ve been fooled before. There is, of couse, the possibility of a Facebook partnership (though from what we’ve heard about animosity between the two companies, it’s not bloody likely). It’s a safe bet, however, that Tuesday will bring the much anticipated release of iOS 5 that we’ve been waiting for.

This article was written on June 23, 2006 by CyberNet.

If you are interested in watching something to kill some time then Google has some free videos that they normally require you to pay for. This is the first time I have seen Google doing this and it is quite impressive, despite the videos being the unpopular ones. Google tries to up-play the deal by stating:

You can now watch selected videos for free – thanks to our sponsors. These videos usually sell from $0.30 to over $14.99.

These free videos started this morning so there isn’t much time left to watch them. However, you can download them using VideoDL.org which will expose the real URL of the video.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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This article was written on August 21, 2008 by CyberNet.

It was just a few days ago that we got an idea of where Microsoft’s Photosynth technology could potentially go in the future thanks to a project called “Finding Paths through the World’s Photos.” In the article, Ryan mentioned that the project involved some pretty awe-inspiring technology, which reminded him of Photosynth, another project by Microsoft. He pointed out that it has almost been a year since we have heard from the Photosynth team, and what do you know, a couple of days after he says that and the Photosynth team has spoken. The big news from them is that Photosynth has gone public!

We first wrote about Photosynth for the first time way back in August of 2006. Over two years ago. Since then Microsoft has been working on the project one step at a time. As a refresher on exactly what Photosynth is, it allows users transform their digital photos into a three-dimensional, 360-degree experience. Microsoft calls each experience you make a “Synth” and they are now free to create.

Over the last two years while they were working on the project, the Photosynth team made examples available (check them out here) for people to explore to get an idea of what it was all about, but now today, people can use their own photos to create their own synths to share with family and friends and the public..

An obvious area of improvement is shown in the screenshot below:

Yep, no Mac version quite yet, but hopefully soon. Another thing we’d like to see them do is integrate a way for collaboration to take place. If you were trying to create a synth for say, a landmark like the Eiffel Tower, wouldn’t it be great if you could collaborate with complete strangers who have also been there and took some great photos?

We have yet to try Photosynth for ourselves, but Josh Lowensohn over at Webware has and points out how fast it is. He also mentioned the fact that users get 20GB of free online storage for the Synth’s that they create. Now when visitors go to the Photosynth site, they will be able to download a plug-in that allows them to both view synths, but also create them. The plug-in comes with a desktop uploader and works in both IE 7 and Firefox 3, nice.

If you are using IE7 or Firefox 3 on your Windows PC, checkout Photosynth and let us know what you think of the process of stitching your photos together to create a 3D environment. Your computer does most of the hard work, by processing all of the images. It will take very little effort on your part to create something amazing, assuming you are able to correctly take the photos so that Photosynth has an easier time stitching them together.

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Microsoft’s Photosynth Turns 2D Images Into 3DMicrosoft Makes Photosynth Preview Publicly AvailableMicrosoft Actually Releases a Firefox Extension/Plugin?Awesome 3D Photo Viewer Trumps PhotosynthSpace Shuttle Endeavour Photos on Photosynth

Faster delivery is always better when it comes to pizza, Thai food and now… drugs? Doctors seem to think so as they’re experimenting with a new method of delivering medicine to the bloodstream via tiny nanotubes powered by rocket fuel. By storing healing meds within the platinum-coated metal tubes, doctors have been able to propel the tiny vessels up to 200 times their own length per second — faster than swimming bacteria. It works as such: by introducing a hydrogen peroxide/water solution, the platinum reacts, sending it zipping forward and catalyzing the peroxide into water and oxygen. The downside? Even though the fuel is only .25 percent peroxide, it’s still slightly toxic — so it looks like it’s back to the drawing board until they can develop a safer alternative. Spiders, perhaps? Check out the video demonstration after the break.

Continue reading Researchers say nanorockets could deliver medicine quickly within the blood

Researchers say nanorockets could deliver medicine quickly within the blood originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like Zune’s own Business Development Manager once said, all consumer electronics products have a lifespan, and today the (not so long) lineage of dedicated Zune hardware expires not with a roar, but with a promise to honor its warranties. Tucked away in the inner chambers of the Zune support site lies a page spelling out Microsoft’s final words on the device, “Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy,” it says, “we will no longer be producing Zune players.” The Zune HD is survived by the Zune music service, which will continue to function with straggling standalone media players, as well as the Windows desktop, Windows Phone and Xbox platforms.

Zune is dead, long live Zune originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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