In 1969, composer Alvin Lucier created a work that’s half science demo, half wonderfully creepy art: he recorded and then re-recorded, his own voice, over and over, until it turned into nothing but noise. It’s the coolest thing you’ll hear today. More »
Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been on the market so long you’d think that production of the relatively ancient PS2 stopped some time ago. Well, that wasn’t true, but according to the Japanese PlayStation website, the PS2 has now officially been discontinued in the region. Japanese site Famitsu adds that shipments of the console have ended, so once the remaining stock has been depleted in
Via: The Verge
Apple worked closely with Frogdesign during the eighties, creating Apple’s early design language and charting the visual path of Apple computers from the Apple IIc to the Macintosh. Frogdesign founder Hartmut Esslinger’s fingerprints are all over those early, iconic designs, and in a new book called Design Forward, he reveals some concepts for Apple computers and tablets that never made it to market, but that would seem perfectly at home in evolutionary charts depicting the design history of the iPad, iMac and other modern Apple products.
Esslinger’s designs show off a tablet-type device called the “macphone” from 1984, which boasts a corded handset for calling as well as a stylus-based touchscreen for handwritten text entry and a software keyboard, which in some ways resembles the early Newton Apple tablet. Another, the “tablet mac” from 1982, depicts a more simple slate, which can support a corded keyboard for text entry and an external floppy disk drive that’s actually much bulkier than the device itself. These designs show that Apple was thinking about ways to make the computer a tablet long before it introduced the iPad in 2010.
There are also computers inspired by Sony, a company whose industrial design tastes Steve Jobs famously admired, as well as a concept called the “baby mac” from 1985 that has all the hallmarks of later iMacs in a package with a tilting base and low profile keyboard. Some of these concepts are a little more far out, like a two-screen workstation with a tower in the middle, but overall, it’s clear from these designs that Esslinger and Frogdesign didn’t just define the early Apple aesthetic, but also set the stage for later innovations to come.
Check out the full gallery over at Designboom for more.
Fans of technology won’t be surprised at the results of the new survey that claim half of Americans have ditched landline phones. For many people, having a home phone makes no sense when all calls can go to a mobile phone or smartphone that can be on your person at all times. The source of the survey that showed only half of Americans have home phone is rather surprising.
The study was conducted by the Center for Disease Control and is called the National Health Interview Study. The study is conducted in person with interviews throughout the year asking participants all sorts of questions ranging from health insurance status to whether or not they have a home phone. Certainly some of the people interviewed in the study might not have a home phone or a mobile phone.
However, people too poor to afford phone service can get free service thanks to the Universal Service Fund that has been in place for years. The survey interviewed over 20,000 households and found that just over half use mobile phones for all or nearly all phone calls. The survey also reported that 35.9% of those interviewed were wireless only households.
Another 15.9% of the homes surveyed have a landline but rarely used it. Many people have a home phone solely for Internet connectivity via DSL. All totaled, 51.8% of homes are predominantly wireless. That’s an increase of less than 2% from the same period last year. Older people tend to keep landlines while younger people increasingly use mobile phones only.
[via NBCNews]
Half of Americans no longer have a landline phone is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A new patent application from Apple has turned up online that shows an interesting process for making curved glass – and potentially hints at new gadgets with such screens. The process starts with a flat piece of glass like you would find on top of a smartphone or other gadget from Apple. The heated glass is then slumped over a contoured form to create a curved piece of glass.
Presumably, this type of glass bending is easier and more efficient than other methods for creating curved glass. Notably, the patent application hints that we could possibly see tablets and smartphones from Apple in the future that have curved screens. However, the contour I see in the patent application looks more like a mouse to me.
Apple is rather famous for its seamless, modern designs so I could see this easily being a way to curve glass to make the touch sensitive surface of the top of a future mouse. Of course, Apple and other manufacturers attempt to patent all sorts of ideas that never get used, so who knows if this technology will ever turn up in an actual product.
[via Wired]
It’s that strange time of year, the lull between Christmas and New Year, when you’re not really celebrating but not really working either. So, how about you wrap your brain around the world’s hardest logic puzzle to keep yourself amused? Y’know, just for fun. More »
China has kicked off commercial and public services of its Beidou satellite navigation system across the Asia-Pacific rim in earnest, after finishing trials it started last year. Civilians in the region as far away as Australia are now able to navigate using the satellites to a distance of 30 feet and speeds as low as 0.5 mph — comparable to (WAAS-less) GPS, according to officials. Currently the nation has 16 navigation satellites aloft along with four experimental models, and expects to provide worldwide coverage by 2020 when it’ll have as many as 40 additional units in orbit, according to China Daily. China launched the project in 2000 to avoid reliance on the US GPS system, and joins that service, Russia’s GLONASS and eventually Galileo in the EU at the sat nav soirée. Check the source for the party line.
[Image credit: Xinhua]
Filed under: GPS
Via: Space War
Source: China Daily
Amazon’s Instant Video has landed on Google TV, with a new app for the smart TV platform arriving in the Play market. A free download – though initially to select Google TV hardware – the Amazon Instant Video app builds on the generic browser access of the streaming media service, with HD support along with recommendations and “Your Watchlist” support.
There’s also support for Closed Captioning subtitles and Your Video Library access, for playback of movies you’ve previously purchased through Amazon and which are stored in the cloud. It’s possible to rent or buy titles in the app, with SD and HD versions supported (title depending).
More than 140,000 movies and TV episodes are on offer, and Amazon Prime membership gets you access to 30,000 items as part of your annual subscription. As you’d expect from Google TV, there’s easy catalog search built-in too.
Unfortunately, the Google TV Amazon Instant Video app will only be available for a limited number of devices initially: namely, LG’s 2012 Google TV models. If you haven’t got an LG 47G2 or LG 55G2, you’ll have to wait for the generic app to be released “soon.”
Amazon Instant Video app hits Google TV is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
When smart TVs were first entering the market many TV manufacturers believe that the technology would push a massive number of users to upgrade. That massive upgrade to adopt smart TV technology didn’t take place the way TV manufacturers had hoped. A new report published by NPD Group claims that most people who own smart TV aren’t using their smart TV to its full capacity.
According to the report, smart TVs get little use beyond streaming TV services such as Netflix and others. The report says that about 60% of smart TV owners are using their TV to access over the top video services. However, the report claims that very few people are taking advantage of available smart TV apps for services like Twitter or Facebook.
The report also claims that very few people are using their TVs to surf the Internet. With the abundance of Internet connected gadgets in homes today such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops it’s really no surprise that people are using the TV to surf the web. The report does say that there has been “reasonable consumer uptake” for streaming music apps offered on smart TVs for services such as Pandora.
The usage rate for apps for social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn, gaming, and other apps are said to be well under 10% among smart TV owners. The report also claims that about 10% of smart TV owners use the TV to surf the Internet and only 5% or 6% use their TV to access their computer desktops.
“The less than great news is that the TV manufacturers are failing to make the TV more than, well, a TV. Further, we are seeing attached devices also focus heavily on TV and video-centric apps, Microsoft’s upcoming launch of more than 40 additional television apps for the Xbox Live subscription service is one example,” the NPD analyst noted.
[via PC Mag]
Report claims most smart TVs are not used to full capacity is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
For folks living in countries where there are four seasons, isn’t it great to know that the heat turns up only when summer arrives? As for others who live in tropical climates, or even worse, in the desert areas, then you have only two seasons – hot, and hotter. Which is why an iPhone accessory such as the $12.99 Blimp iPhone Fan is ideal for everyone, as you are bound to run into moments when the mercury shoots up and it gets unbearably hot, and that miserly boss of yours does not want to turn up the air conditioner’s speed while lowering the temperature, citing operational costs affecting the organization’s bottomline.
Fret not, the Blimp iPhone Fan is here to the rescue, where it will plug into the data port of your iPhone, iPad or iPod in order to deliver a nice gust of air that blows your way. Being tiny and compact, you are able to tote it with you just about anywhere you go, even when you are not going to use it. Turning on and off the Blimp iPhone Fan is a snap, all it requires is a single push of the button, and the fan operates on its internal battery, so you need not replace the battery when it is dead, as it draws juice to recharge from your iDevice. You should be able to coax half a dozen hours of use from the Blimp iPhone Fan on a full charge.
[ Blimp iPhone Fan copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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