You may remember the Google Nexus Q from our coverage of Google IO in San Francisco. It’s a multimedia device that connects to your home theater system and TV to deliver multimedia streams from an Android device. Well, Google has listened to the early user feedback and has decided to postpone the Nexus Q indefinitely, which means until it is ready. To sweeten this setback in the schedule, the company has announced that those who had pre-ordered it would get one for free.
Hopefully, customers won’t be too disappointed, but given that they won’t be charged for it, chances are that Google navigated this one fairly successfully – from a commercial standpoint. Here’s the official announcement: (more…)
Many photographers will tell you that their least favorite shooting situation involves a portrait with the sun to the subject’s back: there’s a good chance the shot ends up an unintentional silhouette study unless the shooter meters just perfectly from that grinning face. Apple has just been granted a patent for the metering technique that takes all the guesswork out of those human-focused shots on an iOS 5 device like the iPhone 4S or new iPad. As it’s designed, the invention finds faces in the scene and adjusts the camera exposure to keep them all well-lit, even if they’re fidgety enough to move at the last second. Group shots are just as much of a breeze, with the software using head proximity and other factors to pick either a main face as the metering target (such as a person standing in front of a crowd) or an average if there’s enough people posing for a close-up. You can explore the full details at the source. Camera-toting rivals, however, will have to explore alternative ideas.
I’m moving to a new apartment today. Groundbreaking because I’m actually going to have room for a dinner table. And you can’t have one of those without a few chairs. The bistro chairs from American Country Home look just like the ones you see in cute sidewalk cafes in New York City. More »
At CES 2012 we were promised that Yahoo would integrate IntoNow’s SoundPrint technology with its backend to pull up useful extra content about whatever TV program was being watched and now it’s delivered that and more. IntoNow 3.0 for iOS (no upgrade yet for the Android version) enhances the app’s TV companion experience in three key ways: TV / Music Sync, “CapIt” screengrabbing and finally Group Chat. The TV and music sync brings not only the associated info we’d heard about before, but also brings Shazam-style information about any music that might be playing. CapIt can pull screenshots from the cloud of any of the TV shows IntoNow’s backend is monitoring, which adds up to about 13 million frames a day, then pops them up ready for meme creation and sharing. Group Chat does exactly what it sounds like, and lets you talk to friends or set up circles of fans around particular shows.
We gave the app a try and found it worked as advertised, quickly identifying what was playing whether live or on DVR and popping up episode info, cast listings and Wikipedia links. The CapIt feature (shown above) pulls frames with surprising speed and ease, even on live broadcasts, and allows users to scroll backwards or refresh for new freezes to grab just the right one. It doesn’t monitor what you’re watching live, but punching the green TV icon in the upper left corner causes it to sync right away, which also creates an entry of what was being watched and when.
This week the folks at Google are bringing on the version of Google’s Chrome web browser that MacBook Pro with Retina display users have been waiting for. This version is ready in a fully prepared downloadable and stable release for you to grab right this instant. With this release, also known as Chrome 21, you’ll find clarity in your display like you’ve never seen from Chrome before – because quite simply, it wasn’t prepared for the jump – now it certainly is.
What we’ve got here also is WebRTC support for your devices galore as well. This upgrade means you’ll be able to use webcams as well as microphones on supported pages without the support of Flash or other plugins. That’s rather helpful for those of you looking to bust yourself from that ever-present bug.
There’s now wider support for Cloud Print as well as gamepads as well, with gaming never left too far behind in a Google release such as this as you should well know. Have a peek at our Retina MacBook Pro review from just a few weeks ago at its launch to see how Chrome performed before this upgrade – if you dare. You’ll find less than fabulous results, that’s for certain.
For those of you wishing to grab this newest version of Chrome for your OS X toting machine, head over to Google’s Chrome download page and make with the downloading. This version of Chrome is only working on Mac OS X 10.5 or later and needs Intel to run as well.
This version also brings on such innovations as the Sketchbots experiment too, a lovely strange event of a web app where you use a photo of yourself to create a robot. This robot sits in the Science Museum in London and draws out our portrait in a patch of sand in real time – we’d like to see any other web browser claim to be a part of such a strange innovation. Check the timeline below for additional Chrome bits as it continues to roll on into the future!
TomTom is busting out a pair of new smartphone cradles to ensure your handset sits snugly on the windshield of your whip. The Hands Free Car Kit is available in both iPhone or microUSB (for all other smartphones) versions and comes with a built-in two watt speaker, extendable microphone and fast charging. Both editions are available for £80 ($125), while an iPhone-specific bundle that comes with the company’s navigation app will set you back £130 ($204).
Burf aka Simon Burfield is an iOS programmer and Lego experimenter who tries to take building blocks to the next level. Interestingly, if this wild rideable Lego wheelchair is any indication, he’s left the next level and is now firmly in the distant future.
Made with 12 Lego NXT motors and 12 multi-directional wheels, this carefully designed prototype can carry around a 198 pound person and is controlled via a small joystick. It can move in multiple directions and even roll side to side to “strafe” through a room.
Obviously this is a one-off DIY project, but it’s amazing how far a little ingenuity, a whole lot of Lego, and an underdeveloped sense of the dangers associated with sitting on a bunch of little plastic blocks can get you.
We all know about the ultra-rare and super-valuable Nintendo World Championship cartridges that pop up from time-to-time, but this prototype cartridge for The Legend of Zelda you see pictured below has a price tag that will make even the serious game collector cringe. Currently available on eBay, the cartridge comes with a Buy It Now price of $150,000.00. To be fair, seller tjcurtin1 is also including a factory sealed and graded copy of The Legend of Zelda, but the main star of this listing is clearly the yellow prototype cartridge.
It isn’t much to look at, but the seller says that it still works and still even saves – not bad for a cartridge that is apparently dated February 23, 1987. If the cartridge was indeed made around that date, that means this copy of The Legend of Zelda was making its way around Nintendo of America’s offices six months before the retail version released. For those doubting the cartridge’s authenticity (or the claim that it’s still in working order), the seller made a YouTube video demonstrating that the cartridge boots up just fine when popped into an NES. Check it out below.
Sadly, there don’t seem to be any differences between this prototype and the retail version that hit shelves in August of 1987. The seller does point out that he hasn’t played through it all the way yet, so there could very well be some differences which remain undiscovered, but if you’re planning on buying, you should probably keep that little caveat in mind. If it isn’t different from its retail cousin, you’re buying the prototype because it’s a prototype, and not because it provides an ultra-rare glimpse at gameplay elements that were left on the cutting room floor.
So far there have been 37 offers made on the prototype, and while a few are currently pending, most have been declined. That means there’s still time to secure this bad boy, but the seller obviously won’t abide low-ball offers. $150,000 is a lot to pay for a cartridge, and with this supposedly being the only one in the world, it’s difficult to put a value on the prototype. We’ve got some pretty serious game collectors walking this planet, however, so the seller may just make his sale by the time everything is said and done.
Remembering if you’ve taken your medication could be a thing of the past now that the FDA has approved Proteus Digital Health’s new chip-embedded pills that can report back to a sensor and your smartphone when meds have been ingested. More »
Fanhattan’s often been praised for offering a one-stop hub where folks can keep track of all their cherished entertainment shows, which has led it to become a crowd favorite amongst iOS users. Well, today the application’s expanding its TV guide services a little more, announcing it’s now showing content from 10 new providers, including HBO, Cinemax, NBC and, better yet, The CW — you know, because we just can’t miss out on the latest Gossip Girl episodes. In addition to these channel inclusions, Fanhattan’s also introduced a novel, Amazon-esque WatchList feature that pushes out alerts as soon as added shows (movies, too) are ready to be watched. If you’ve yet to give the handy application a try, you can do so now by grabbing it at no cost from Cupertino’s well-known app mart.
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You may remember the Google Nexus Q from our coverage of Google IO in San Francisco. It’s a multimedia device that connects to your home theater system and TV to deliver multimedia streams from an Android device. Well, Google has listened to the early user feedback and has decided to postpone the Nexus Q indefinitely, which means until it is ready. To sweeten this setback in the schedule, the company has announced that those who had pre-ordered it would get one for free.
