Wednesday, September 24. 2008Android Has Arrived
By Kate Green in MIT Technology Review - At a press conference in New York today, Google and T-Mobile showed off the long-anticipated G1, a powerful smartphone that runs Google's Android operating system for mobile devices. The handset, priced at $179, will be available from T-Mobile on October 22. It boasts features to rank it at the top end of the smartphone market, and its software offers some neat surprises and tricks. At the same time, the G1 undoubtedly lacks the sparkle of the iPhone, probably its closest competitor. Furthermore, some experts question whether Google's scheme for delivering new applications for the phone--an online store called Android Market--could run into problems that slow down mass adoption. As expected, the G1 has a touch screen and a pullout QWERTY keypad, which make it thicker than the iPhone and some other smartphones. It can make use of T-Mobile's faster 3G mobile network, and it has GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities built in. The G1 comes equipped with a 3.1 megapixel camera (but no video camera), an accelerometer to measure motion of the device and orientation of the screen, and a Bluetooth receiver for hands-free devices. The G1 also has one unusual hardware feature: a built-in compass that can determine the direction in which the phone is pointed. While the G1's hardware doesn't make it stand out from the crowd, its software is already causing excitement. Android is designed to enable easy access to Google's Web applications--including its calendar, e-mail, and mapping services--and to instant messaging applications like Google Talk and AOL's Instant Messenger. The G1's Web browser, based on the same software used to make Google's recently released desktop browser, produces scaled-down Web pages that look, for the most part, as they do on a normal computer screen. And the phone's built-in compass has been integrated into Google Maps Street View to let users pan around a streetscape by moving the handset in the corresponding direction. These applications come as standard, but Google and T-Mobile representatives say that third-party applications could take the device well beyond these basics. A slew of applications have already been released, and some have won funding via Google's Android Challenge, a competition to encourage software engineers to develop for the platform. Locale changes the phone's settings based on the time of day, the phone's location, and the owner's calendar, automatically turning the ringer off during meetings, for example. Another downloadable application, Shop Savvy, lets users take a picture of a product's barcode with the built-in camera and instantly compare prices from around the Web. "Several years ago all phones were controlled by handset [makers] with requirements coming from carriers," says Rich Miner, vice president of mobile at Google. "First with Microsoft, then Apple, and now Google, you have people who really understand software and the user experience on these devices. You combine that with higher speed networks and better screen resolution, and all of a sudden, the mobile Internet is here."
Software apps will be available through Android Market, an online store that can be accessed via the phone. Android Market is similar to Apple's iPhone App Store, in that it is the main method of application distribution. But, crucially, Google will play no central role in vetting applications before they are posted. Instead, developers and users can vote and comment to let others know if an application works as promised or if it drains the phone's battery or makes it crash. According to some experts, this free-for-all approach might lead to quality-control issues in the near future. "I'm totally cheering Android on," says Jonathan Zittrain, a professor of law at Harvard University. "But from what I can tell, [Android Market] is banking on a ratings/reputations systems and common sense for people to know what's okay and what's not." Zittrain says the approach might even hinder Android's progress. "I think [Android Market] may work," he says, "but if there are a couple of well-publicized incidences of code run amok, that can really scare people away from the platform and into Apple's waiting arms." Zittrain says a novel solution to quality control could come in the form of an application that warns users automatically. "I'd love to see an app that reports each phone's vital signs. We need some sense of a nervous system for this thing," he says, so that less tech-savvy people feel comfortable trying out different applications. Minor is confident that the Android Market approach will pay off. "Look at YouTube," he says. "Good things bubble to the top, and if the apps are bad, they will float down to the bottom." Minor adds that the Android platform has built-in security features to limit access to certain types of data and certain functions on the phone. "With Android, our philosophy was [to] make it easy for people to put apps up, but make it so when an app is on a platform, the user knows what functions it's going to be accessing." The first Android phone may not surpass the iPhone in popularity, but its applications will play a vital role in the future of the platform. Within the next two years, says Zittrain, it should be clear whether or not Google's gamble has paid off. Copyright Technology Review 2008. Related Links:Agenda 2015: nokia research areasNOKIA Agenda 2015: Laying a Path for the Future of Mobility - Related Links:Tuesday, September 23. 2008Votre iPhone vous espionne!Jonathan Zdziarski, hackeur d’iPhone de la première heure, a découvert que l’iPhone prend des screenshots (photos) de votre écran à chaque fois que vous poussez sur le bouton “home”. Apple a intégré cette fonction afin de permettre l’animation “zoom-out” d’un écran qui disparait au centre de l’écran en quittant un programme. Bien entendu, l’iPhone efface ses photos du cache mais elles peuvent être récupérées. Cette technique de récupération a déjà été utilisée par des experts légistes afin de confondre des violeurs, meurtriers et trafiquants de drogues. Il n’est malheureusement impossible de désactiver cette fonction et cette faille (encore une…) pourrait poser problème en matière de vie privée… Alors si vous avez des données “sensibles” sur votre iPhone vous aurez été prévenu. USB EyeCandyDo you like candy? I like the candy. This Eye Candy is USB candy. It is a very special candy. "Each of your senses (touch, smell, sight, taste, hearing) sends information to the brain at a different frequency. The brain determines where the sensorial information it receives comes from by the frequency at which it resonates, it can then process it in the appropriate way (e.g. turn sight information from the eyes into pictures in the mind)." Eye Candy transmit information from the tongue to the brain at the frequency that the eyes usually send visual information to the brain. That's why, when you put Eye Candy on your tongue (and not underneath), you see images in your head. It is available in six flavors, depending on what you want to 'see', Cool! You can choose from a relaxing fish, a socializing star and a meditative circle, amongst others. The candy that provides you with a new way to see. Eye Candy should be available soon for about $90 each. Thursday, September 18. 2008Tikitag connects offline devices to online dataSAN DIEGO--Tikitag, an Alcatel-Lucent venture, demonstrated a new product at DemoFall that enables people to use RFID wireless technology to link any type of offline device or paper with information online. Companies can put tikitags, small tags that stick onto things like Post-Its, which contain data, onto products or business cards. Tikitag readers can read the data off the items and provide additional information and services online. For instance, someone can put all their social network and identity information onto a tikitag and affix that to their business card that can display that information on the Internet when swiped over a tikitag reader. Tikitags can be applied to toys and other products so people can get more information about the products online. And cell phones can be used to grab data off a tikitag affixed to a poster to get more information and buy tickets for events. The service will go into public beta October 1 and it will be available on Amazon for $49.95. Related Links:Plastic Logic Previews Electronic-Reading Device With Revolutionary Plastic Electronics Display at DEMOfall 08
DEMOfall 08, San Diego and Mountain View, CA, – September 8, 2008 – The nascent electronic reader industry is poised for explosive growth beginning in 2009. But current products in the category focus on leisure reading and ignore a large and untapped market: business users. Today, before industry influencers at the DEMOfall 08 technology conference, Plastic Logic previewed a gamechanging new device that brings a panoply of business information to your fingertips with powerful tools to make people more productive and simplify their work lives.
Differentiated by a stunning form factor (the size of 8.5 x 11-inch paper), the Plastic Logic reader features a big readable display. Yet it’s thinner than a pad of paper, lighter than many business periodicals, and offers a high-quality reading experience - better than alternatives of paper or other electronic readers on the market today. “Research confirms professionals read much more business content than recreational content. They require access to all formats of digital content at their fingertips, and want a large readable screen,” said Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta. The Plastic Logic reader supports a full range of business document formats, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and Adobe PDFs, as well as newspapers, periodicals and books. It has an easy gesture-based user interface and powerful software tools that will help business users to organize and manage their information. Users can connect to their information either wired or wirelessly and store thousands of documents on the device. The reader incorporates E Ink technology for great readability and features low power consumption and long battery life. The Plastic Logic reader is scheduled to ship in the first half of 2009. "The display is the key to the digital reading experience, and this is the key differentiator that sets Plastic Logic's product apart," said DEMO Executive Producer Chris Shipley. Core to the Plastic Logic product is its display. Current electronic reading devices feature small displays that are based on fragile glass screens that negatively impact their bulk, durability and weight. Plastic Logic has achieved a product that is the ideally sized for business needs and robust enough to take the push and shove of daily usage, based on its revolutionary plastic electronics display technology. Revolutionary Plastic Electronics Technology Plastic Logic’s display technology, first developed at Cambridge University, uses highresolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates, manufactured at a low temperature. The promise of plastic electronics is to disintermediate the traditional silicon based semiconductor industry with components and products that are lighter, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly. Plastic electronics technology has broad applicability across many markets. IDTechEx, an industry research group, estimates the plastic electronics industry will be a $30 billion market by 2015. “Plastic Logic is really innovating on two fronts that represent major market opportunities. We have created fundamentally advanced plastic electronics technology, enabling us to develop reading devices that will transform the way we publish, distribute and consume content,” said Archuleta. Plastic Logic’s go-to-market strategy will include direct e-commerce as well as partnerships with publishing, distribution, retail, and other information services companies. The Company is also approaching another significant milestone in commercializing its product with the opening of its new manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany on September 17, 2008. The factory is the world’s first commercial-scale plastic electronics manufacturing facility. It will begin to immediately ramp production on the Plastic Logic reader. “Plastic Logic has the technology to take a leadership position that could make a major mark on the e-reading category. This is a Company to watch, ” said Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies. Final pricing for the Plastic Logic reader will be announced when the product ships; the Company expects it to be competitively priced among e-reading products. Related Links:Tuesday, September 09. 2008Double-faced Touch Panel Display Debuts |
fabric | rblgThis blog is the survey website of fabric | ch - studio for architecture, interaction and research. We curate and reblog articles, researches, writings, exhibitions and projects that we notice and find interesting during our everyday practice and readings. Most articles concern the intertwined fields of architecture, territory, art, interaction design, thinking and science. From time to time, we also publish documentation about our own work and research, immersed among these related resources and inspirations. This website is used by fabric | ch as archive, references and resources. It is shared with all those interested in the same topics as we are, in the hope that they will also find valuable references and content in it.
QuicksearchCategoriesCalendar
Syndicate This BlogArchivesBlog Administration |