Hasta La Gadget!

We were undeniably excited about Netflix coming to the iPhone and iPad, but according to CEO Reed Hastings — who spoke on the subject during a Web 2.0 Summit panel discussion — that move has actually had little impact on the company’s business. In his mind, these results indicate that consumers just aren’t interested in streaming long-form video on mobile devices and instead prefer the experience on bigger screens. To support his conclusion, Hastings cited how Netflix integration on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Mac significantly grew its subscriber base. While we personally disagree with his judgment on mobile and grant him honorary captain obvious credentials for his bigger screen preference remarks, we’ll still entertain the possibility that Hastings may know somethings we don’t. That’s not to say the phrase correlation does not imply causation isn’t tickling the back our throat though. But what about you, reader? Are you taking advantage of the little red app on your Apple portable devices or even on your new Windows Phone 7 handset? Hit the poll on the next page to tell us what’s up.

Continue reading Netflix CEO says consumers just aren’t interested in long-form video on portable devices

Netflix CEO says consumers just aren’t interested in long-form video on portable devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Suffering from a little bit of Droid envy? It happens to even the most loyal of iPhone users, and now BoxWave is stepping in to make your life almost complete (we say “almost” because there’s still no native Gmail client for the iPhone, and all your tears aren’t going to solve that). The BoxWave Keyboard Buddy Case is just what it sounds like, a Bluetooth keyboard embedded in an iPhone 4 case, only instead of flipping out like the TK-421 or slide-tilting like the ultra-bulky Nuu Mini Key, BoxWave’s solution is a simple sliding affair that adds very little to the iPhone 4’s profile and hardly anything to its footprint. Also, it’s your buddy. It’ll start shipping next month, and it’s a little spendy at $70, but can you really put a price on the flattery of imitation?

BoxWave’s Keyboard Buddy turns your iPhone 4 into the Droid it always wanted to be originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Android and iOS aren’t short on productivity applications for cobbling together a .doc and sending it on its way, we’ve been really hankering for native Google Docs support since pretty much day one. Google is finally ready to deliver, and it looks like they’ve actually put some thought into the UI, particularly on the phone end of things. Edits show up in near realtime across platforms, and you can even edit tables embedded in documents — though don’t try to get too fancy, the tools still look pretty basic. Android also allows you to insert text using voice recognition. Currently Google Docs will be supporting Android devices with Froyo and iOS devices with 3.0 or newer (including the iPad), with the functionality rolling out over the next few days. There’s a video after the break demonstrating the new features.

Continue reading Google Docs now supports mobile editing

Google Docs now supports mobile editing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If it seems like a lot more than a year that Google Voice has been languishing in the limbo between Google’s labs and the iTunes App Store, that’s because it is. Google’s one-phone-number-everywhere service served as the best example of Apple’s byzantine and opaque app “approval” process.

Now, Google Voice is back, and available as a free download for U.S iPhone owners. With it, you can all but replace the iPhone’s phone app, receiving push notifications for incoming texts and voicemails, read (often hilariously inaccurate) transcripts of those voicemails and make calls to contacts in the iPhone’s built-in address book. Your caller Google Voice caller ID is even shown to people you call.

This is really the last step in Google-fying your iPhone – Gmail has long been a first-class iPhone citizen, and the maps app is powered by Google.

Why use Google Voice? The service lets you assign all your phones to one number, be they mobile, home or office. Callers call this number but you choose where you answer, and you have fine-grained control over how incoming calls and texts are handled.

Calls are still routed over the regular cell network. As our own Brian Chen pointed out back in January, Google Voice isn’t VoIP: it uses the iPhone’s telephone app to place calls. Tell this to the metric-ton of commenters on the App Store who are complaining that the app won’t work on the iPod Touch.

So there we have it. Apple is finally “open”. Or at least those who like to complain that Apple is “closed” (by not supporting proprietary, inefficient and badly-coded browser plugins, say) have now lost their best weapon.

For more coverage, and a history of the Google Voice app, see this great post from our sister blog, Epicenter.

Google Voice [App Store]

See Also:

• Roll Over Ringo — Google Voice Is Today’s Real iPhone Rock Star
• Google Voice App Rejection: AT&T Blames, Apple Denies, Google …
• The Empire Strikes Back: FCC Probes Google Voice (Updated …
• Apple Change Quietly Makes iPhone, iPad Into Web Phones

Do you hate being stuck in the kitchen on Thanksgiving day while you watch the turkey cook in the oven as your guests socialize in the living room without you? If only there was a way to know when your turkey was finished cooking without having to check it continually to make sure it’s not getting overdone and dried out. Released yesterday in the iTunes App Store, the iGrill is the first grilling/cooking thermometer and app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

The iGrill is a long-range Bluetooth device that connects to a probe, which you the insert into whatever it is you’re cooking (we’ll keep with the Thanksgiving example and say you’re cooking a turkey). The iGrill device connects via Bluetooth to your iPhone — up to 200 feet from your oven –, and keeps you informed about the temperature of your turkey while you’re in a completely different room.

The iGrill device also works as a stand-alone thermometer. Just set your desired temperature, and iGrill will beep when the item is ready.

The app part of iGrill offers a slew of helpful options. One feature is the food temperature option, which will tell you what temperature a particular meat should be at to be safe to eat. It also has a feature that tells you the cooking time remaining. That way, you know when to set the table, or start the veggies, etc. You can go to recipe sites on the Web right in the app, and the app also acts as a simple kitchen timer.

The iGrill device and iGrill app will cost you $99.99. You can also buy additional probes for $19.99 each. The iGrill can monitor the temperature of two items simultaneously. Check out iGrillinc.com for more info.