Android Comes to Life: Google Mobile Phone

Webmonkey got an extended look at some of the newest features of the latest Google Android mobile phone software stack today.

Video of yesterday’s keynote and high-res screenshots follow plenty of buzz surrounding the phone software. Fire marshalls even prohibited entry to some of the overflowing Android sessions held after the keynote.

Android is set for release in the second half of 2008

Usher-Here I stand new album free download

[click the image to download the album]

Usher has finally announced his album title and is closing in on a release date. The singer's reps confirmed to MTV News that the new Usher album is named Here I Stand and will come out sometime in June.

Usher's return comes at a time when he may have more momentum on his side than any other performer in the business. His album's first single, "Love in This Club," is #1 in the country and made the third-largest jump to the top in the 50-year history of Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The record, which was just #51 last week, rose 50 spots. The single's video is being filmed in Atlanta next week.

The quick rise of "Love in This Club" — which features Young Jeezy — can partially be credited to producer Polow Da Don's triumphant club beat and his impetuous nature.









First, he let Young Jeezy get on the track without Usher's permission; then, he leaked the song several weeks before it was supposed to be released.

"I actually leaked it. I'm the culprit," Polow told MTV News recently. "It's no secret. I told [Usher] when I saw him that I had to put my relationship on the line. 'If it fails, I know you probably gonna be mad at me. I know you probably won't f--- with me anymore.' I just felt like it was so much back-and-forth [between Usher and his record label]. I know this record is it! I'm out there, I know what it is. It got 600 spins in two days. That's great for a record label. Imagine how good that is for one person who leaked it? Radio stations were getting it off the Internet and playing it. Before I left Atlanta, they were playing it 10 times in a row.

"When I spoke to Usher, he was like, 'Maaan, why'd you do it?' " Polow added. "He knew I leaked the record; he didn't have to ask. I was like, 'What?' He said, 'You know you leaked the record.' But he was getting good calls on it too."

As for Jeezy's appearance on the song, Polow told Mixtape Monday it was perfect timing. The Snowman asked to be on the record, arriving to the studio minutes after Usher had left.

"I was like, 'Man, I don't know,' " Polow recalled of Jeezy's request. "He said, 'Just let me do the verse, dawg. If you don't wanna keep it, cool.' I played the version that night at [Jermaine Dupri's] club, and Usher went crazy. That was the first time he heard it."

In addition to Polow, the Here I Stand recording sessions have included collaborations with Dupri, Dre & Vidal, Timbaland, Ludacris and Nelly, with Sean "The Pen" Garrett and Lil Jon still scheduled to check in.

PSP hacked with DualShock controller

It's not the first time we've seen a controller hacked for use with the PSP, but this mod by Acidmods member Blizzrad takes things a bit further than most, with it relying entirely on hardware modifications in order to work, meaning it can be done on any PSP regardless of the firmware. It's also one of the cleanest-looking mods we've seen to date, with the only evidence of tampering on the PSP itself being a discreetly placed controller connector right above the power switch. Of course, that also means it's considerably more difficult for most of us to do ourselves, but we can at least get a glimpse of what's possible courtesy of the video after the break.

Phone for the future-Nokia 888

About The Concept

NOKIA 888

*design concept

“Form follows you”
A personal mobile communication device which lets you be free and fun. It is light, simple and carefree. You can change its form according to your needs during the day.

*target

It is targeted to the young consumers who are likely to be active and take place in a lot of different activities.

*why this target ?

Because they move and change place too much.





They do a lot of different things during the day. So that’s what my design offers : to adjust to the moment, the place and the function.

*technologies that are used

It uses liquid battery, speech recognition, flexible touch screen, touch sensitive body cover which lets it understand and adjust to the environment. It has a simple programmable body mechanism so that it changes forms in different situations.

*the functionality of design

You dont have to carry it in your pocket or on your wrist. You can carry it anywhere, in anyform. You can roll it, bend it, put on your clothes like a clip. It also makes some form changes that makes it more ergonomical: i.e. when you want to talk on the phone, the body form turns into the form of the good old telephone. You can personalize these forms and record them. So it fits you the best in the way that you have chosen. The functions that it has also create a feeling of electronical pet, as it senses your moves, understand what you want, respond you in the best way. It learns you, to fit you better.Also e-motions lets you send forms to the other 888 users. It could be the shape of a heart or a small dance. This way you can talk without words.

*how the user interacts

E-motions… It means electronical motions that 888 has. You can send and receive forms from / to friends. You can send a heart shape to your girlfriend, so her telephone turns into an icon of heart. Or you can send a dancing form to your friends to call them to the party tonight. This is the fun side of the product. If we look from the functionality side, 888 is quite flexible. You can put it into your pocket, roll it and make it smaller, or put on your wrist when you want to make a video call on the go. If you want to talk like a normal telephone, there you have your telephone shape. We go through a lot of places and situations in the daily life, so it seems like one form is not enough.

*what is unique ?

You can change the form of the body. Not just the color. And you can do the same by sending an e-motion to your friend.

*the inspiration

The idea is that “the perfect form” does not exist. “Form follows you”
We create the perfect form for each function.

Tamer NAKISCI
industrial designer

Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts
Istanbul / TURKEY

Signity International Watch Design Competition

Explanation of the ORB concept:

The idea for this watch is classic plastic bracelet, with incorporated lines inside the watch that show the current time. Those three line are rotating around the watch and show the time, while the seconds line is going around all the time. One line for hour,second for minute and third for seconds,and three different colors for every lines. It`s simple concept, attractive and eye catching. The ORB could be made in two colors, black and white, with different colors for the time lines. Adjusting the clock is easy as the watch is the touchscreen, all you have to do is to touch the line, click adjust icon and slide current time line to correct time.


source [www.behance.net]

The world most smallest helicopter

A Japanese company called Gen Corporation has created what people are calling the world's smallest one-man helicopter, capable of flying 50km/h and weighs (by itself) 75kg. As you can see from the photo, it's probably the world's most dangerous helicopter too, as the man has barely any piping to stand on and barely any seat to sit on. Then again, if GTA4 has taught us anything, using a helicopter is the easiest and fastest way to travel, and is useful for locating pigeons and flying under bridges for achievements.

source [gizmodo]

Photoshop CS4 to get GPU acceleration-coming soon..

Santa Clara (CA) – GPU acceleration is one of the most significant trends in today hardware industry, opening the doors to an entirely new class of software. It appears that the next Photoshop will be one of the first mainstream applications that will tap into the GPU for a speed up. And, at least from what we have seen during a first demonstration, the progress is simply stunning.



We have been saying it for a while now, mainstream applications need GPU acceleration to ring in the next major evolutionary step in software development. Far too long we have been stuck in a cycle of programming that relies on increasing clock-speeds, brings acceleration with new CPUs and a slow-down with new software releases. Even if Photoshop supports multi-core CPUs, it is one of those applications that always are very time intensive to use and especially if you are a professional user and work with huge images, then you are very familiar with “The Great Wait”, which typically describes the time lost when opening a big file or when applying a filter.



But there appears to be a very effective solution on the horizon, a solution that is most likely more effective than anything else we have seen before and in our experience using Photoshop over the past 14 years. During a demonstration at Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, we got a glimpse of Adobe’s "Creative Suite Next" (or CS4), code-named “Stonehenge”, which adds GPU and physics support to its existing multi-core support.

So, what can you do with general-purpose GPU (GPGPU) acceleration in Photoshop? We saw the presenter playing with a 2 GB, 442 megapixel image like it was a 5 megapixel image on an 8-core Skulltrail system. Changes made through image zoom and through a new rotate canvas tool were applied almost instantly. Another impressive feature was the import of a 3D model into Photoshop, adding text and paint on a 3D surface and having that surface directly rendered with the 3D models' reflection map.

There was also a quick demo of a Photoshop 3D accelerated panorama, which is one of the most time-consuming tasks within Photoshop these days. The usability provided through the acceleration capabilities is enormous and we are sure that digital artists will appreciate the ability to work inside a spherical image and fix any artifacts on-the-fly.



According to information we were given, all of these new features are part of the next-gen Photoshop, which should be a part of the “CS Next” suite. The package is expected to be released on October 1.

source [ TG Daily ]

Windows 7 Features Revealed

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7


Here's what Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer revealed about Windows 7 at All Things Digital a few minutes ago. The biggest "feature" is the touch and multi-touch integration, which takes many of its roots from Microsoft's Surface Table, and will be available as an interface options for other apps. Here's some more stuff they pulled out, which we captured in photos here. More »

source [ gizmodo ]

Top 13 Most Expensive Cell Phones

GoldVish Le Million - $1.3 million

We were supposed to have a tie in first place, both the GoldVish LeMillion and the Diamond Crypto Smartphone costs approximately the same US$ 1.3 million. BUT, as the Guiness World Record gives that to GoldVish, I’ll take their word.
It is made with 18-carat white gold, mounted with 120-carats of VVS-1 graded diamonds, and was introduced during the Millionaire’s Fair, last year, in Moscow.

Diamond Crypto Smartphone - $1.3 million

The Diamond Crypto Smartphone has a platinum body, covered with 50 diamonds including ten which are a rare blue diamond. The navigation key and the company’s logo are made of rose gold.

Bucheron for Vertu Cobra - $ 310,000

This is a special two-carat pear-cut diamond, a one-carat round diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies totaling 21 carats, all Vertu phones also link up to a special concierge service with information about travel, entertainment, restaurants and events.

Sony Ericsson Black Diamond - $ 300,000

Unlike the other phones in this list, this cellular phone is actually a power-packed phone that comes equipped with 400Mhz Intel Xscale CPU, 4-MP digital camera, touch screen feature, SIP technology for VOIP, 2.0″ 256K TFT screen and IEEE 802.11g WiFi support.

Vertu Diamond - $ 88,000

All platinum with encrusted diamonds, limited edition, only 200 were made. As the other Vertu phones, give access to the special concierge service.

Vertu Signature - $ 81,000

There are actually 934 diamonds encrusted in the body of this gold made phone, sum that to more 48 other diamonds in the keypad (why didn’t they 18 more diamonds, and made a 1000 diamonds cell phone?)

Motorola SLVR L7 - $ 75,000

I did not found any other information on this phone, besides its price.

Samsung SPH-E3200 Diamond Crusted - $ 54,000

This one has 240 diamonds, and was auctioned in a Korean site.

Motorola V220 Special Edition - $ 51,800

Austrian designer Peter Aloisson, has taken a standard Motorola, studded it with 1,200 diamonds and added a keyboard inlaid with 18 carat gold.

Gresso Black Aura Collection - Up to $13,000

The phones from Gresso are made with 200 years old–the age of the African Blackwood on each phone’s case, the most expensive model features an 18-carat gold front panel.

Gold Edition Nokia 8800 - $ 2,700

Not much to say about it, other than it is a Sirocco phone all made of 24-carat gold.

Mobiado Professional EM - $2,200

Made from ebony wood, hard-anodized aluminum and has titanium buttons, limited edition of 200 units.

Bang & Olufsen (Samsung) Serene - $1,250

You can’t expect anything but an original design from Bang & Olufsen, so, you have the Serene.

Smallest projector

Earth Trek, a Hong-Kong based company, recently released the world’s smallest handy projector, the 90-805R mini projector. Our little device features a card slot (SD/T-flash card), built-in lithium battery (1-2 hours), built-in speaker, MP4 player, and provides a 22" diagonal projection. It measures 105x58x25mm and weighs 160g.

source[akihabaranews]

Solar powered iPhone?

It's possible that Apple's future just got sunnier.

Employees at computer, phone and software company Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) have filed a patent to place solar cells on portable devices, Trade the News reported Monday.

Outfitted with such technology, Apple’s devices, like the iPhone, could have photovoltaic cells stacked underneath LCD touch screens, thus maximizing the area available for harnessing the sun.

The filing said that information regarding the performance of a device’s solar cells could be displayed on the main screen next to info for battery power, text message alerts and time of day. Or this information could also appear on top of the solar cells themselves, which are likely to display some version of the Apple logo.

In any case, Apple's new technology could herald the next generation of wireless mobility. Without the need to electrically charge devices--either via outlets or USB cables--users could at last start to break free from on-the-grid power connections.

Apple is certainly not the one in this field field. Mobile product manufacturers have looked at solar energy for some time, as consumers demand more battery power from portable devices.

One related product is the 6.4-ounce Solio Mg, $200, from Better Energy Systems. Its three magnesium blades fan out to reveal solar panels, which can store enough power to charge most phones and PDAs twice; an hour of clear sun will give most cell phones 25 minutes of talk time or an iPod an hour of playing time. It takes ten hours of direct sun to fully juice the device.

Also, the world’s first solar bag--the Voltaic Systems’ Generator laptop bag--is covered in solar cells and can charge a laptop. It generates up to 14.7 watts after a day of direct sunlight, can carry a 17-inch Apple Powerbook and comes with adapters that allow other electronics, such as cell phones, to be charged.

source[www.forbes.com]

Kobe and the Jackass crew

To see is to believe!..again!

Move over Wii, Apple 3D game

With WWDC around the corner, the blogosphere is aflutter with talk of the 3G iPhone. But what else does the mothership have in store for us next? Try 3D gaming.

Earlier this month, AppleInsider reported that Apple had published its patent for a 3D remote-control system. The report suggests that the remote-control system will be able to detect the absolute position of the remote on an X, Y and Z axes, similar to Nintendo's Wiimote.

AppleInsider suggests that Apple TV would serve as the game console. Supporting AppleInsider's speculation, PopCap vice president of video game platforms Greg Canessa said in a Wired interview that he would be "customizing [PopCap's] user interface and display for Zune, ipod, [and] Apple TV."

Details on the 3D-gaming experience itself are scarce; when questioned about gaming in interviews, Steve Jobs has been tight-lipped as usual. But keep in mind that Apple is an overachiever and strives to be revolutionary. Jason Schwarz, a writer at Seeking Alpha, suspects that Jobs is going to blow us away with true 3D gaming: "You actually want to learn to fly a plane, to sail, to race Nascar, or to improve your golf swing? 3D Apple could bring these real life simulations to the mainstream," he wrote in a Mar. 14 blog.

Among Windows-PC enthusiasts, the most echoed criticism of Apple is its relatively diminutive grip on the gaming industry; despite the ability to run Windows on Apple's Intel machines, gaming remains a concern. Will the digital-music giant strive to conquer new territories by revolutionizing 3D gaming? Or will Apple TV just let us play crappy iPod games like The Sims Pool? We'll keep you posted.


wired.com

A Vista theme for iPhone? Yes, really

Posted by Jessica Dolcourt

Does this logo look familiar?

(Credit: ModMyiFone)

The latest third-party iPhone app to draw blogosphere buzz this morning is most definitely not Apple-approved.

The object of hilarity and defamation is VistaPerfection 2.0, a theme by developer Spec-Works that plops the Windows Vista GUI onto the iPhone. To run it, you'll need a jailbroken iPhone (see video), the SummerBoard app, and a wicked sense of humor.

Spec-Works reports that the application took "a couple days" to create and includes more than 90 icons, wallpaper, and sounds, including the Vista log-in and log-off chime and a revamped taskbar.

Your eyes do not deceive--Spec-Works has made iPhone Vista-friendly.

(Credit: ModMyiFone)

Quite a few tech bloggers have been happily jabbing away at the oxymoronic theme. Technabob, for instance, recommends it for those who are "ready and willing to deface [their] glorious chrome and glass iPhone with Microsoft's bloatware user interface."

The general consensus excuses VistaPerfection as a hack created for its own sake, though Zach Epstein of The Boy Genius Report charitably concedes that it might be useful for "a Vista addict [who has] begrudgingly picked up an iPhone but always loathed its clean UI."

It's true that design currents carry the visual style of Apple products into third-party Windows themes and apps, like ReadAir, ObjectDock, and the Macfox Firefox theme, and not the other way around. But that turning of tables is what makes the theme so deliciously amusing. VistaPerfection 2.0 does not come bundled with an installer, and those who want to play with the stuff of Steve Jobs' nightmares should consult ModMyiFone for the installation guide and tips.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

Super Slow motion Camera! What brand?

Users can take photographs while, in the monitor, the momentary action that is before their eyes is displayed in slow motion. It is just as if they have slowed down the passing of time. Users can unhurriedly observe the motion of the subject as they press the shutter, ensuring that they never miss that crucial moment.

This camera is the anti-DSLR. It's as digital as you can get, so you have to expect some photographic shortcomings. But the tradeoffs are reasonable, with still options that are not available anywhere else. You can shoot full-resolution 6-megapixel stills at up to 60fps, to ensure that you get a decent pic of a fast-moving subject. I preferred to use something more like 7fps or 15fps with pets and kids, since they're not that fast, and you have no idea how annoying it can be to flip through 60 or more identical-looking shots.

GIZMODO-full review

New Firefox 3 Up Now

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 is available in more than 45 languages as a public preview release intended for developer testing and community feedback. It includes new features as well as dramatic improvements to performance, memory usage and speed.

firefox 3

Globe Telecom Brings iPhone To Philippines

MANILA, Philippines--Globe Telecom will be among the first telecom operators in Asia to officially carry Apple's popular iPhone handset.

Manila, 12 May 2008 – Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel and Optus today announced that they have signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Australia later this year.

via[inquirer]

The New Philips Xenium Phone

A couple things you should know about this purported Philips Xenium X-Connect before churning your gadget juices through the emotional Osterizer. First, it's clearly a product rendering. Second, Philips Xenium cellphones are primarily found in Asia Pacific region -- as such, a European or North American launch is likely out of the question. If the X-Connect is the real-deal, however, here's what we'll be missing: Windows Mobile 6, 3G UMTS/HSDPA radios, GPS receiver, AA/AAA battery backup, microSD slot, and Bluetooth 2.0 all powered by a 624MHz Intel processor beneath a 3.0-inch (presumably touchscreen) display. Still, as a broadly positioned "communication device," maybe we'll see Philips reach out to different geographies this time around.

via [engadgetmobile]