Hasta La Gadget!

When it comes to technology that can be worn, well, we have just seen Carrie Underwood’s “projection dress” yesterday that was on parade at the recent Grammy Awards, but this time around, here is an idea that sports company Under Armour has in the pipeline – to develop interactive garments which will be able to rely on technology which helps measure as well as enhance sports in addition to fitness performance. The main “star” from Under Armour would be the Armour39, which is a digital performance monitor which athletes wear around their torso that will work by measuring their activity.

Of course, apart from that, there will also be a concept garment that is in the pipeline that seemed to feature an embedded touchscreen fitness tracker within a bodysuit’s fabric. We do hope to see Under Armour achieve all that they want to in the years ahead, preferably sooner rather than later. After all, if something can be measured, it can be tweaked for further improvement. Do expect Olympians and other professionals to make use of such high tech garments down the road when they are finally made possible.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony EyePad Patent Filed, Train Passenger Car Recreated In Man’s Basement,

Samsung seemed to have placed most of their hopes on the Android mobile operating system where their handsets are concerned, although they do have a minor contribution on the Windows Phone 8 market segment. Fast forward to today, and we have a quartet of handsets from Samsung that will ditch the “smart” word from its generic name, and will instead fall under the featurephone category – namely the Samsung Rex 90, Samsung Rex 80, Samsung Rex 70, and Samsung Rex 60.

Needless to say, the Samsung Rex 90 is the most expensive model among the lot at $120 thereabouts, with a 3.5-inch HVGA display in tow, TouchWiz UI, Smart Dual SIM with Hot Swap, Wi-Fi, Facebook and Twitter integration, ChatOn, a 3.2-megapixel camera at the back, and a microSD memory card slot.

As for the Samsung Rex 80, it is not too far off from the Rex 90, albeit sporting a smaller 3-inch QVGA display. Up next would be the Samsung Rex 70 with a 3-inch QVGA display, although it misses out on Wi-Fi connectivity and has a lower resolution 2-megapixel camera. The most budget-minded model would be the Samsung Rex 60 that features a 2.5-inch QVGA display and a 1.3-megapixel shooter at the back.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony Xperia Z Available for Preorder on Vodafone UK, Android And iOS Capture 91.1% Global Market Share,

Mozilla has been promising a version of Firefox designed for the new Windows 8 UI for a year now, and has trickled out a few details and previews since then. It’s made a considerably bigger step this week though by releasing the browser into its Nightly channel, which lets anyone who’s willing to venture beyond stable releases take it for a spin. As Mozilla’s Asa Dotzler puts it, “there’s plenty of work still to do, but it’s stable enough that we’re ready for more and more regular testing.” It seems folks are indeed having some problems with it in its current state, but you can try it out for yourself at the source link.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Via: The Verge, The Next Web

Source: Firefox Nightly, Asa Dotzler

I love the idea of the Surface: compelling hardware, striking form factor, and, in the case of the Pro, smart compromises to offer a good value. But the products fail to live up to their promise. They have first generation bugs. But maybe a low-priced Surface with a smaller screen could finally help bring the Surface promise to life. It just better run Windows Phone 8 and not Windows RT.

Yesterday at Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference on Wednesday, Microsoft CFO Peter Klein spoke to the Surface and Microsoft’s ability to scale to different form factors. As John Paczkowski lays out, Microsoft could build a Surface Mini.

Both Windows 8/RT and Windows Phone 8 could handle the task. With both options comes compromises, though.

“We can have the same core code base driving form factors from four inches all the way up to 27-inch ones and everything in between,” Klein said. “So I think we are well set up to respond to demand as we see it. We can deliver a versatile set of experiences across form factors, whether they’re four-inch, five-inch, seven-inch, 10-inch or 13-inch.”

Windows 8 requires beefy hardware but can run any Windows application. Windows RT has an extremely limited marketplace of apps and it doesn’t seem to be improving with time. The task seems best suited for Windows Phone 8 even though it’s far from a blockbuster hit yet.

Microsoft’s latest mobile OS is still struggling. It’s fighting for third place against BlackBerry. Android and iOS are simply out of reach. Consumers might not be buying the smartphones en mass, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a fantastic user experience.

I love Windows Phone 8, but I wouldn’t use one as a daily driver. The user experience is beautiful. It’s slick, intuitive, and would scale nicely to a larger screen. It doesn’t require serious computing hardware, allowing for tablets with thin form factors and longer battery lives.

Microsoft might not be alone in developing a 7- to 8-inch tablet. Nokia has been said to be working one as well with its reveal coming as soon as next week at MWC.

Even with a beautiful hardware and wonderful OS, it’s pretty clear that a Windows Phone 8 tablet would struggle to gain traction. Even though WinPhone 8 is growing, the platform’s app ecosystem is pretty weak. Developers are not flooding the Store with apps. The platform is relatively unknown to most consumers. And another Microsoft-made tablet platform could be detrimental to the entire operation.

Microsoft is in a precarious situation. It can no longer rely on third parties like HP and Asus to advance its software. The company clearly feels its hardware needs to lead the charge. The first generation Surfaces are good, but not good enough. A smaller form factor model could help rejuvenation the brand once it goes stale in a few months.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas will guest star on “Last Man Standing,” makring his first return to TV since “Veronica Mars” in 2005.

It’ll be a “Home Improvement” reunion for Thomas and “Last Man Standing” star Tim Allen. Thomas played Allen’s middle son Randy for eight seasons on “Home Improvement.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Thomas will play a manager of a restaurant where Allen’s character’s daughter, Kristin (Amanda Fuller), applies for a job. So far Thomas is only booked for one episode.

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