Hasta La Gadget!

Remember how we blogged in October over Japan Rail’s controversial use of Saigo Takamori as the mascot the countdown boards marking the time till the new Kyushu Shinkansen line opens?

Well, as part of the same campaign JR has also recruited Kamakura-based Kayac to create Saigoudoon, a free iPhone app that produces augmented reality versions of Saigo, providing you can find him. Taking the form of a kind of quest, you use the app’s map to check out where Saigo is lurking along the Hakata-Kagoshima line. As the train tracks get closer to Hakata, so too does Saigo. Meanwhile his trademark faithful dog waits patiently at Fukuoka.

If you then actually head to the location the map tells you that Saigo has reached, the app shows you a “giant” image of the leader through your phone’s camera. You are then meant to tweet your sighting.

The app’s website, however, rather forebodingly states that “Saigou is coming” and with the remaining days until the March opening of the bullet train. Given the rebellious history of Takamori, is that perhaps the best slogan?

This article was written on February 05, 2008 by CyberNet.

When everybody was making their predictions of what Apple would announce at Macworld 2008, a 16GB iPhone was usually on the list. Macworld came, and what we got was the MacBook Air, iTunes movie rentals, iPhone Firmware, and Time Capsule, but no 16 GB iPhone was to be found.  It’s been three weeks now and apparently Apple wanted to throw a curve ball by releasing an expanded storage iPhone and an iPod Touch three weeks after Macworld.

Double the storage for the iPhone means that there is now a 16GB model.  If you recall, the original pricing of the 4GB iPhone (which is now discontinued) was $499.  Guess how much the 16 GB model is selling for? You guessed it, $499. Quite the deal, isn’t it? The iPod Touch also got double the storage.  Previously they had an 8GB and a 16 GB model, but now there is a 32GB version which is priced at $499 as well.  That means more songs, photos, and videos for those of you who just can’t get enough space.

Many of you who already own an iPhone or an iPod Touch are breathing a sigh of relief at this point knowing that prices have remained the same for the older models. I don’t think Apple would want to repeat the fiasco they went through back in September when they so abruptly dropped the price of the 8GB iPhone and announced that they were discontinuing the 4GB model all together. The expanded storage models of the iPhone and the iPod Touch are available starting today at the Apple store online, or in Apple and AT&T retail stores.

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Peel is a very clever universal remote for your iPhone, combining hardware and software to both clear the mess off your coffee-table and recommend shows.

It works like this. The app, free from the App Store, provides a customized TV guide based on your favorite shows (you need to tell the app which shows you like). Pull up the main screen and you can flip through the night’s time slots and see only shows that you’ll like and that are available to you. And if you really like something, you can tweet it or share on Facebook direct from the app.

But that’s not all. Touch the show you want to watch and the hardware part takes over. A small puck sits on the table, beaming instructions to your cable-box. And a second dongle plugs right into an Ethernet port on your Wi-Fi router. These two talk to each other using the wireless Zigbee protocol and allow you to control the TV via Wi-Fi.

The app will also learn from your habits to fine-tune its suggestions. Support right now is limited to cable-boxes, TVs, DVD and Blu-ray boxes, but soon updates will let you use it with the Apple TV, Roku, Tivo and home theater receivers. The Peel will be on sale in a few weeks, and the price will be determined by the offers that prospective customers make.

Peel product page [Peel]

See Also:

• Case Turns iPhone Into Universal Remote While Charging It
• IR Dongle Turns iPhone into Universal Remote
• IR Dongle Turns iPhone into Ugly Universal Remote
• 5 Nifty Apps That Turn Your Android Into A Universal Remote …

According to a new report–and a little common sense–the consensus seems to be that a Verizon iPhone would drop fewer phone calls than its AT&T counterpart. Nothing too shocking there, right? I mean, that’s sort of the whole reason so many customers are eagerly awaiting Apple’s rumored January announcement of a Verizon handset.

A Verizon iPhone would actually be bolstered by its own limitations–the fact that the CDMA carrier can’t surf the Web while taking phone calls (unlike AT&T’s GSM technology) means that phone calls are less likely to be dropped due to data clogging the bandwidth.

“One of the things about CDMA is that most CDMA operators are set up to be voice first, data second,” a spokesman for the CDMA Development Group told MSNBC. “If you are browsing a Web page and you get a call coming in, the data will stop and the call will go through.”

Think of it this way: Verizon’s 3G data protocol is called EVDO–that acronym initially stood for Evolution-Data Only, meaning that the service just does data, not calls. There is a separate channel for calls. AT&T’s 3G network, meanwhile, does both.

In the next year, CDMA will be offering “simultaneous voice and data optimization,” according to the CDMA development group. While the chipset will allow users to surf the Web while making calls, data and voice will remain on separate channels, meaning that, at least theoretically, one won’t interfere with the other.

http://www.tenonedesign.com/sketch.php

Looking for a low priced gift for the tech enthusiast in your life who has everything? Well, if said person owns an iPhone or iPad, consider one of these ultra cheap accessories. Steve Jobs would likely consider the Pogo Stylus Sketch a crime against nature. For those who use their devices to create art and handwritten notes, it may just be a godsend.

This $15 accessory features a soft tip that gives the user the writing freedom of a stylus (you remember those, right?). The Pogo Stylus is also a terrific option in these winter months, when gloves make it impossible to use the device’s touchscreen.

The Pogo also works with the Zune HD, Android handsets, and most other touchscreen devices. You can pick one up at the Ten One Design page.