Hasta La Gadget!

Netflix today announced the release of a new Netflix app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new app would allow for streaming content over a wi-fi or 3G connection straight onto your very tiny screen.

The concept has been around for a while, going back to the wrist-watch TVs of the ’80s, but the experience of watching anything on a screen that small is never fully satisfying. At best, it can help make those long plane, train, and automobile rides more enjoyable. Sorta anyway.

If not used for streaming, the new Netflix app can also be used as a tidy queue management system complete with a search function (which, for some reason, Wii’s Netflix channel is sadly missing). Up until now, the queue-management app void was being filled by the likes of Phone Flicks, which I suppose will go hang out with the Dodo now.

The move into small screens does makes some branding sense for Netflix, which has faced increasing competition of late including a newly-announced streaming service from HBO, Verizon’s live TV app for the iPad, and who knows what exactly Apple will be throwing into the mix with their upcoming press conference.

The battle for your eyeballs is coming to your phone. (Imagine reading that sentence somewhere even ten years ago.)

via bits

When the “Check Engine” light comes on in your car, it lets you know it’s time to take it to someone who knows what that light means, if you don’t already know. What you may not know is that most mechanics and dealerships see that light and immediately connect diagnostic device to the data port under your steering console to get the error code that your car’s internal computer is sending: the one that results in that light on your dashboard. With the Kiwi from PLX Devices, you can use your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android device to get that code yourself. Once you have it, one quick Web search will tell you what’s wrong with your car before you even take it to the shop to have it fixed.

The Kiwi comes in two flavors: the Wi-Fi model that plugs into your car and uses your home wireless network to communicate with your iOS device, and a Bluetooth model that pairs with Android phones. Both models are designed to communicate with your device and then send data to any one of a wide variety of supported car diagnostic utilities in the iTunes App Store and Android App Market that you can download to your phone. Depending on the app you choose, you can query the Kiwi for more than just error codes: you can run diagnostics, do horsepower and torque calculations, monitor your fuel efficiency between trips, and more. The Kiwi Wi-Fi is available now for $149.99 list, and the Bluetooth model is available for $99.99 list. 

Fwoosh! Clack-clack-Clack DING! Clack-clackety-clack. The iPhone’s death cries?

Not if you have New Potato’s latest toy, the Pinball Magic. The dock transforms your iPhone or iPod Touch into a miniature pinball machine.

Pinball Magic comes with flipper buttons, a ball-launching plunger, a credit/select button, and an LED-lit animated backbox. The legs fold for easy transport. You will need to download the free app to play.

The app uses the iPhone’s motion sensors to support tilt detection, so jostling the tiny machine works like the real thing. The game offers four possible multi-ball modes, end-of-ball and replay bonuses and advanced multi-level and multi-player competition.

Priced at $39.99, New Potato says it will be available online “August 2010” and Best Buy is also accepting pre-orders.Those folks better get cracking, though, there’s only seven days left!

It looks like New Yorkers may finally get 4G next month. The high-speed wireless network, run by Clearwire but also available from Sprint, Time Warner Cable and various other companies, has been up and down in New York City for weeks as Clearwire has been testing it, Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge told me on Twitter.

Walking through the Queens Center Mall today, though, I found a Clearwire store promising to open in September. They could open the store as an information kiosk without a network available, but it would help pay the rent if they could actually sell modems.

To double check, I emailed both Sprint and Clearwire. Clearwire spokeswoman Susan Johnston said, “In advance of Clearwire’s commercial 4G launches we
regularly conduct operational readiness activities, which include
preparing our local market retail presence.  These activities are
underway in a number of cities, including NYC.  As we stated during our
recent 2Q earnings call, we expect to launch commercial service in NYC
by the end of the year, but we are not providing additional details at
this time.”

Looks like some white paint at the Queens Center Mall may be providing additional details!

Apparently the folks at EFO decided to defy conventional wisdom when designing their external board. Instead of a standard-size keyboard, the iPazzPort Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard is the size of a credit card.

Intended for the iPad, iPhone, other smartphones and mobile devices, the iPazzPort keyboard is a full QWERTY keyboard, with all the function keys, CTRL, ALT, DEL and multimedia keys (play, pause, next, previous, mute, and volume up and down). Resembling a BlackBerry keyboard (without the trackball), the keys are angled upward, toward the sides. The keyboard has a backlight for typing in dim lighting.

Since it’s both Bluetooth and wireless, you can use the keyboard without any unsightly cables snaking from your mobile device.

For smartphones with an on-screen keyboard and the iPad, this portable keyboard could make texting and taking notes less cumbersome. On the other hand, for mobile devices and smartphones that already have their own keyboards (like the BlackBerry and a number of HTC models), I am not sure where the value is. It can serve as a wireless remote control for those devices, but I wonder how many people are going around wishing, “Man, I wish I had a remote for my phone!”

It’s normally priced at $40, but EFO is currently offering an $8 discount (for a bargain of $32) for anyone who pre-orders the mini keyboard. Shipping is expected in early September.