Qbo the cute open source robot created by the Thecorpora, which was
created around six years ago, to provide a low cost, open-source robot
enabling anyone to enter the robotics and the artificial intelligence
world. Has now been updated to recognise hand gestures to control the
playback of music.
Qbo has been programmed to use its stereoscopic vision and only pay
attention to hands that are nearby, successfully distinguish, in
real-time, among several hand gestures associated with several commands
including: play/pause, stop, volume up/down, next/previous song. Watch
the video after the jump to see it in action.
When Sony announced the PS Vita earlier in the year, we also heard
that their new handheld gaming console would go on sale before the end
of 2011, now it looks like it will only be Japan that will get the PS
Vita before the end of the year.
Sony’s executive vice president, Kazuo Hirai has announced
that the Sony PS Vita will go on sale in Japan by the end of the year
but it wont go on sale in the UK, US and Europe until 2012.
There are no details as yet on when exactly in 2012 the PS Vita
console will hit the US, UK and Europe, and the news will come as a
disappointment to many gamers who were expecting to
... Read more »
Skype has today rolled out a new version of its Android
Skype application to 2.1 which brings with it video call support for an
additional 17 of the most popular Android devices.
But even if your Android phone is not listed, if you are using
Android 2.2 (Froyo) and above, you should still be able to enable video
calling in your Skype settings. If you can not see the video call
settings on your device then unfortunately at the moment your Android
smartphone is not compatible.
You can now download the updated Skype 2.1 for Android app from the Google Android Market&n
... Read more »
The last thing we heard about HTC’s bootloader unlocking tool for its Android devices that it would be available some time in August,
HTC has now confirmed they are still on track for an August release and
have also revealed some details on how the tool will work.
The bootloader unlocking tool for HTC devices will be available as a
web tool and you will have to register an account with HTC, then plug
your HTC smartphone into your PC with the Android SDK loaded to retrieve
a device identifier token, this token can then be entered into the web
tool and a unique unlock key will be sent to you via email.
Since our last update, many of you have asked how the bootloader
unlocking process will actually work, and in particular why HTC’s
... Read more »
Google has rolled out a new update to their mobile Gmail web
application designed to bring it more inline with a
native application you might find on Apple’s iPhone 4. To make the feel
of their Gmail web app a little more polished, Google has now added
high resolution icons, providing a smoother and sharper user interface
on retina display smartphones.
Other new features included in this update include a new
Pull-to-refresh feature, that makes it quicker and easier to check for
new messages and download them to your smartphone. As explained in the
digram below there is now a bar along the top which if flicked down and
released will now start the send and receive process.
Google has released new statistics on its Android platform
distribution, and the statistics show that many users are still on
Android 2.2 Froyo, with around 55.9 percent of users still on Android
2.2.
Next up is Android 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 Gingerbread with 23.7 percent of
all devices using Gingerbread, after that we have Android 2.1 on 15.2
percent, Android 1.6 using just 2 percent and Android 1.5 just 1.3
percent.
Google’s latest Android version Honeycomb, which is designed for
Android Tablets now makes up just 1.3 percent, and this includes
honeycomb 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2.
HTC’s smartphones have become incredibly popular over the last few
years, mainly thanks to Google’s Android OS, and they also produce
Windows Phone 7 smartphones.
Now HTC’s CEO, Peter Chou has announced that the company will launch
between six and eight new smartphones this quarter, and whilst he didn’t
give details of any models that will be announced, we suspect that we
will see some of the rumored devices we have heard about over the last
few months.
We can expect to see some new HTC Android devices as well as some new
HTC Windows Phone 7 devices, as soon as we get some more information on
exactly what new HTC smartphones will be launching we will let you guys
know.
Before you get too excited the image below is a fan-made amalgam
using pre-order graphics and does not represent official game artwork
for the new games skins. As Rocksteady/Warner Bros have still not yet
released any official images of the skins included within their
new Batman: Arkham City game.
However to date there are expected to be six skins available within
the game but this could increase as the game gets closer to launch.
The skins are available to gamers who pre-order the new Batman :
Arkham City from certain retailers. For example if you like the
Batman animated series skin you will need to purchase the Batman: Arkham
City from MightyApe.
It looks like Skype, which was recently purchased by Microsoft is
looking to bring video calling to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform,
as a recent job posting mentions the following ‘building and optimizing
the Skype Video Engine solution for Microsoft Windows and Windows Phone
platforms.’
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Mango offers support for front facing video cameras, so it would make sense for Microsoft and Skype to offer video calling on Windows Phone 7.
There are no details on when Skype with video calling will be
available for Windows Phone 7, but we suspect it may be before the end
of the year.
Black Diamond has this week unveiled their new next generation auto
locking carabiner the Black Diamond Magnetron, which no longer relies on
springs but magnetic fields. The magnetron carabiner uses the magnets
to make the carabiner easy to use and lock in either your left or right
hand. Magnetic attraction to a steel insert in the carabiner nose keeps
two independent arms securely locked in place locking the carabiner.
Watch the video after the break to see Bill Belcourt Black Diamond’s
Climbing Hardgoods Category Director explain the new magnetron
technology and the way it works without the need for traditional
springs.
Google’s new social network Google+ seems to be becoming more popular
every day, and Google has now released a new version of Google+ for
Android brings a range of new features to your Android device as well as
some bug fixes.
With the latest version of Google+ for Android it now features
improved notifications, the ability to share stream posts with
individual people, and much more you can see full details of everything
that is new in the Google+ for Android app below.
We have been hearing a number of rumors that the iPhone 5 will launch
at end of September or the start of October, earlier today we heard
that Pegatron who is rumored to be producing the iPhone 5 for Apple, along with Foxconn would start shipping the device to Apple in September.
Now according to the Guardian’s Charles Arthur, Apple has sent out
the iPhone 5 to mobile carriers for testing, and apparently the iPhone 5
units are being tested under a fair amount of secrecy at the mobile
carriers.
The next iPhones go for their testing inside locked and sealed
boxes so that the carriers can carry out checks on their network
compatibility in their labs. It’s very high security, as you could
guess; my understanding
... Read more »
Earlier today RIM announced its new BlackBerry smartphones which will all come with the new BlackBerry 7 OS, one of the new handsets was the new BlackBerry Torch 9860.
The video below was put together by Vodafone and it gives us our
first look at the new BlackBerry Torch 9860, which is due to go on sale
in the US and the UK later this month.
Both Microsoft and Apple have been going after Google’s Android OS,
with Microsoft signing patents deals with a number of Android smartphone
manufacturers and Apple suing the popular Android device makers like
Samsung and HTC.
Google has been pretty quiet on the whole situation , until now,
Google’s David Drummond who is the companies Senior Vice President and
Chief Legal Officer, has posted a blog post attacking, Apple, Microsoft
and Oracle.
The article has the title ‘When patents’ attack Android’, and it
makes for interesting reading, and David Drummond mentions the recent
Nortel Patents which were acquired by the companies recently.
But Android’s success has yielded something else: a hostile,
organized campaign again
... Read more »
So for $24.95 you get a plate whose bottom is magnetized thereby
allowing the owner to stick trinkets on it. That, boys and girls, is the
sum and totality of this particular semi-gadget. If it had blinky
lights we’d honor it as a ‘whole’ gadget, but it’s just a metal plate.
If you’re wondering about the genius who ‘invented’ this, why, ’twas an industrial design student named Jake Frey. Bravo, Mr. Fray. You now have a commercially distributed product to your credit.
Its being reported that the Xbox Live service is currently
experiencing intermittent service outages, so if you have been kicked
from Halo Reach or Black Ops don’t work its not your kit and your not
alone.
The outages started to be report last night and have been shown on
Microsoft’s status service board. The issues experienced seem to include
creating, managing, and recovering accounts, and creating, maintaining,
or joining matches in Halo Reach or Black Ops.
You can check on the current status of the Xbox Live service by visiting the support site ... Read more »
If you like creating and building your own gizmos and gadgets,
you might be interested to know that SparkFun has launched a new range
of kits called Protosnap. Designed to help the novice electronics
enthusiast easily move into the world of Arduino programming,
prototyping and design.
Each product in the new ProtoSnap line are equipped with various
input and output boards linked together, complete with traces, to form a
multi-use prototyping platform. The new boards have been designed to
allow users to experiment with embedded electronics without having to
soldering, wires or other typical prototyping limitations.
Watch the video after the jump to see a run through of the new ProtoSnap
Kits.
Last year, Google made it possible for U.S residents to call any mobile phone
or landline directly from their Gmail accounts. Google has now rolled
out a new update to the service making this available to 150 locations
worldwide in 38 languages.
You can now buy calling credit in your choice of four currencies :
Euros, British pounds, Canadian dollars or U.S. dollars and there are no
connection fees, so you only pay for the time you talk. Watch the
promotional video created by Google explaining the new update.
Google has also lowered their call rates:
"For example, it’s now only $0.10 (or €0.08) per minute to call
mobile phones in the U.K., F
... Read more »
Huawei has added another Android smartphone to their range with the launch of the Huawei Vision, which features a uni-body design and will come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
The Huawei Vision features a 3.7 inch capacitive multi-touch display,
plus a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM 8255 processor, it also comes with
512MB of RAM and 2GB of built in storage, plus a microSD card slot that
can take up to 32GB cards.
Other features on the Huawei Vision include Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP,
plus a 5 megapixel camera on the back with built in auto focus and an
LED flash, the camera is capable of recording HD video in 720p.
On top of that there is also a 1400 mAh battery and a micro USB port,
plus A-GPS, an
... Read more »
