Hasta La Gadget!

Following the catastrophic earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, surviving victims from the affected region are going to face a tough time over the coming months, if not years. Many of those who are more fortunate have been actively contributing in one way or another, regardless of distance, to help put Japan on its road to recovery. Back in the country, one such generous person is non other than Softbank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who’s recently visited Tamura, one of the cities most affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster. During that trip, Son announced that Softbank will cover a year’s worth of living costs (commute and food) and provide job positions for the 1,200 people to be relocated to Takeo in Saga, the prefecture where Son originated.

Additionally, Son is using Softbank’s “Let’s Do It” campaign site — a tracker for his “Let’s Do It” tasks posted on Twitter, each accompanied by a completion status indicator — to crowdsource requests for supporting earthquake victims. So far, these requests are mainly about ways to increase efficiency for donation efforts (like publishing a live list of item shortages for each shelter, and setting up new mobile networks at the shelters), but there were two that caught our attention. Last week, one of Son’s followers suggested that Softbank should provide orphaned children free phone credit for a limited time, so that they could contact their friends and other family members. Son then retweeted this idea and announced that all earthquake orphans will receive free phones, along with call costs waived until they reach the age of 18. Another gadget-related initiative came in earlier today with Son promising free replacement for all lost or damaged iPhones due to the earthquake, with details to follow later.

Obviously, anyone providing aid to Japan in any way, shape, or form deserves just as much credit, but Softbank’s extra mileage and cunning use of social networking is certainly praiseworthy in its own right. Here’s hoping that Son’s actions will inspire others for even greater causes.

[Thanks, Tres]

Update: It’s worth pointing out that Son said he’s also happy to help pay phone bills for earthquake orphans who are already on other networks, including DoCoMo. Good on ya, sir!

Softbank to offer free phones to earthquake orphans, free replacement for lost iPhones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Engadget Japanese, Macotakara  |  Softbank, UDN  | Email this | Comments

Voice-recognition capabilities on the iPhone enable a user to play music and call contacts using speech commands. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Apple’s next-generation mobile operating system may include a more powerful voice recognition system, putting to use the company’s recent acquisition of an artificial-intelligence startup.

Apple on Monday said it would announce details on the future of iOS, the software powering the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Expanded voice recognition features will be a highlight of the new operating system, claims TechCrunch’s MG Siegler.

The new voice system would take advantage of technologies developed by Siri, an artificial-intelligence company that Apple acquired April 2010, Siegler claims. Before Siri was acquired by Apple, it released an iPhone app that acted as a personal assistant. Dictating a command such as “I’d like a table for four at Nopa restaurant” would prompt Siri to reserve a table through the OpenTable online-booking service.

Deeper voice recognition in iOS would be a plausible next step for Apple. The touchscreen interface was already a giant leap forward for making user interface more approachable, and an expanded voice recognition system that controls core aspects of the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch would make Apple’s mobile products even more user friendly for customers.

I can imagine less tech-savvy customers picking up an iPad and saying something like “Download Angry Birds,” which would initiate the download after you verify the purchase. Some other casual use examples would be “Search World War II on Wikipedia,” or “What’s the weather like next week in San Francisco?”

An improved voice-recognition system would also be extremely useful for an often-neglected audience: customers with visual impairments. The National Federation of the Blind previously applauded Apple for its VoiceOver system in iOS, a computer voice that reads back any text that you touch with your finger.

See Also:

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Apple's Steve Jobs appears on stage in San Francisco to introduce the iPad 2. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Apple has traditionally debuted new iPhones at its annual software developers conference, but this year’s event in June will be 100 percent software news, according to a report.

Citing anonymous tipsters, well-sourced Apple blogger Jim Dalrymple claims there will be no iPad, iPhone or Mac hardware introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off June 6 in San Francisco.

Apple’s press release announcing the event doesn’t give much hope for any hardware announcements.

“At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

Apple will likely give details on the next-gen Mac operating system, OS X Lion, and the next version of its mobile OS, iOS 5.

New cloud-based features will likely be included in iOS 5 (think online storage, or a “music locker” service). It may not be released until fall, according to a TechCrunch report. That means an iPhone 5 would probably release in the fall timeframe with the launch of iOS 5.

See Also:

• ‘IPhone 5′ Video and Photos Leaked?
• Gadget Lab Notes: iPhone 5 Could Have a Flat Metal Back

Bill Gurley thinks that Android is an unstoppable freight train that will prevail against all its rivals. For Google, Android is not even a product with a business plan. It’s just a weapon at the service of their master domination strategy, a way to destroy any potential threats that may eventually kill their search monster. This is how they are doing it and the potential consequences. More »

Comcast is back with what it’s calling the third major release of its Xfinity TV app for iOS, and while the product team says it’s added streaming content from IFC, Adult Swim, BBC and more the key upgrade is in customizations. It features a new favorites list that is most improved by its ability to sync with the XfinityTV website, a new channel keypad for quick changes when used as a remote and the ability to jump to specific dates in the TV listings. The iPhone version has also gotten a tweak, with the addition of a “flip through previous channels” feature previously restricted to the iPad version. Of course the next question is when we can expect these enhancements to filter over to the recently launched Android version, and also when Comcast is planning to follow Time Warner through the live channel streaming door, despite the loud protests of some of the TV networks against it.

Comcast’s Xfinity TV app for iOS updated with more streaming and customization originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Comcast Voices, iTunes, Comcast Interactive Media  | Email this | Comments