16657098
submission
andylim writes:
Just when you thought it was safe to dev a fart app for a BlackBerry, RIM's VP of platform product management, Alan Panezic, is making it clear that that's not want RIM is looking for. "We don't need 200 fart apps in App World. Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again. You're not looking at ads, clicking on ads or buying premium upgrades, and the app isn't adding any value to your device." Turns out RIM wants 'SuperApps', ones that keep you coming back for more because they add something to your life — be it ongoing entertainment value or doing something for you. Most importantly for developers, these are the apps that will garner the most revenue; whether it comes from premium upgrades, in-app advertising or additional-cost content.
13110224
submission
andylim writes:
UK wireless provider Orange and renewable energy experts GotWind, have come up come up with a prototype pair of power generating rubber boots. Inside the power generating soles of the boots there are thermoelectric modules constructed of pairs of p-type and n-type semiconductor materials forming a thermocouple. These thermocouples are connected electrically forming an array of multiple thermocouples (thermopile). They are then sandwiched between two thin ceramic wafers. When the heat from the foot is applied on the top side of the ceramic wafer and cold is applied on the opposite side, from the cold of the ground, electricity is generated.
12075748
submission
andylim writes:
According to the Telegraph, the BlackBerry was first predicted more than a century ago, by Nikola Tesla, the electrical engineer. Seth Porges, Popular Mechanics' current technology editor, disclosed Tesla’s prediction at a presentation, titled “108 years of futurism”, to industry figures recently in New York. Recombu.com has published the original Popular Mechanics article in which Tesla predicts a mobile phone revolution.
11370578
submission
andylim writes:
Opera today announced its popular mobile browser, Opera Mini has been approved for iPhone and iPod touch on the App Store. Opera Mini will be available as a free download within 24 hours, depending on market. You can download it from iTunes here.
11309522
submission
andylim writes:
Dcept905, aka Paul, has interfaced an EEG headset and an arduino with an IR LED to control his television set with thought alone. "I have finally gotten around to re-writing some of my old code and re-recording a proper demo of controlling physical objects using thoughts by interfacing an EEG headset with an Arduino. While this technology is interesting and exciting, before anyone sees this as an endorsement for this particular EEG headset, I strongly recommend reading my full review of the device."
11175646
submission
andylim writes:
Several universities and commercial entities are developing multimodal multitouch games, such as a a card game with iPhones for individual hands and an iPad for public information and an iPad Scrabble game that lets you use your iPhone to see your letter tiles. Of course, it's an extremely expensive setup right now but over time it will become cheaper and it's also pretty cool so why wouldn't you want to play board/card/strategy games like this?
11114406
submission
andylim writes:
Christian Cantrell, a technical product manager at Adobe, has created an app for multiple platforms including OSX, Windows 7, Ubuntu, Android, iPhone OS, iPad OS. What's amazing is that all the apps use the same code base. "The application is called iReverse, and it's is a fully functional Reversi game (complete with a pretty decent AI). Although iReverse is fun to play, the most amazing thing about the project is the fact that it runs in all these different environments completely unchanged. In other words, the exact same code base is used to build versions for five different environments. There's no other platform in the world that can boast this level of flexibility — not even close."
11069066
submission
andylim writes:
According to Barry O'Neil, ex-President of Namco Bandai Network Europe, Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving "beta" product doesn't cut it. It has to learn from the mistakes of the Java business in order to save Android. "If Google is to present a threat to the Apple App Store ecosystem, it needs to address discovery and purchasing as a matter of urgency, or abandon control and hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers."
10846022
submission
andylim writes:
At EclipseCon 2010 attendees were challenged to create a robotic control system to drive a NASA-provided robot across a prototypical Mars landscape. To win the EclipseCon e4-rover Mars challenge, developers could either prove their e4 programming skills by creating the best e4-Rover client, or use an e4 client to operate the Rover through a series of tasks to collect points. Software architects Peter Friese and Heiko Behrens built an iPhone client for the EclipseCon challenge which controls the robot around NASA's Mars landscape using the iPhone's accelerometer.
10438410
submission
andylim writes:
It's been rumoured for some time now that Apple will include RFID technology in a future iPhone. An RFID-packing iPhone could interact with various objects including opening doors and it could even be used in shops to register items at the checkout. Beating Apple to the RFID punch, last year a company called Wireless Dynamics announced an iPhone RFID accessory called the iCarte but if you'd rather make your own reader then a research assistant at University College London has managed to build his own RFID iPhone accessory.
10313690
submission
andylim writes:
Separate teams at Oxford university and Zentium, a South Korean company, are working on next-gen augmented reality solutions, which make it possible to fuse real and 3D computer-generated visuals on the fly using mobile phones. The team at Oxford university has named its solution Parallel Tracking and Mapping (PTAM) and it has licensed its technology to QderoPateo LLC, which has ambitious plans to grow the mobile augmented reality market and create an augmented reality search and gaming engine running for its 'Ouidoo' smart phone. Zentium's solution is called D-Track and is being used to develop the first markerless mobile augmented reality pet, called iKat. D-Track's mapping technology is very similar to PTAM and allows your phone to recognise the space in front of the camera and create an appropriate space for an augmented reality object or pet.
10117388
submission
andylim writes:
According to Cellular News, researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a method for mobile phones to convert silent mouth movements into speech. As recombu.com points out, the "potential for secret conversations just got huge". You could pass the time by making phone calls from the cinema without disturbing anyone. In noisy places like bars and clubs you could feasibly make yourself heard without having to shout.
10054710
submission
andylim writes:
Several mobile gaming companies are developing cross-platform multiplayer games allowing Android and iPhone users, for example, to play games against each other. Last month touchArcade reported on a cross-platform baseball game developed by Com2Us, called Homerun Battle 3D. Unlike turn-based multiplayer mobile games, Homerun Battle 3D, allows players to compete against each other instantly but you don't see the other player, instead you only get to see your competitor's score being updated. Pushing cross-platform multiplayer games even further, a company called Bulky Pix, has created a table football style game that displays the action as it happens — both players see the ball moving around. This hopefully suggests that first person shooter cross-platform multiplayer mobile games aren't far behind.
9725718
submission
andylim writes:
According to an interview with recombu.com, Toei Animation, producers of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball z, thinks that mobile phones and tablets could help save the anime industry, which is being heavily damaged by piracy. "The way people consume anime is changing and our fans are ahead of the curve... we're learning the hard way and getting burned by piracy" stated Sae Song who is responsible for new business development at Toei. The article also mentions the concept of creating an online anime streaming hub, Hulu-style, which would be cool.
9177400
submission
andylim writes:
According to Engadget, John Koller, Sony’s head of PlayStation marketing, recently said that "Apple's entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony. When people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP." What's odd though is that everyone knows that the mobile phone gaming market is a huge and yet neither Sony nor Nintendo has made a gaming phone yet. Recombu.com thinks that Nokia could enter the space with PSP-like devices and it has come up with a concept phone called the Ovi Orion, which would bridge the gap between phone and console, "If the iPhone is Wii, then Ovi Orion would be Xbox and offer Xbox Live style features. A serious gaming phone for serious gamers."
