Gadget Access

Posted Feb 16th 2008 5:34PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Handhelds
You’re already well aware that Apple and Starbucks are buddy-buddy on at least some level, but this application would really cement their friendship. Quickorder, as you can probably imagine, would enable ipod touch users to swing by their local Starbucks, order up their favorite drink and avoid a good deal of that always questionable human interaction. Granted, what you’re peering at above is still a mockup for now, but it’s brimming with potential, no? Hit up the read link for lots more pics.

[Via DVICE]

King 5 has a nice little video, giving us a brief look into one of the fifty-two hubs that Netflix has nationwide. This location is the Northwest hub and it is just south of Tacoma, Washington. They have 40 employees and can process 110,000 movies per day.

At least one employee is averaging around 950 per hour (which is around 18,000 per week), while the company standard is around 650 per hour. Lets hope she gets a nice bonus every so often.

Employees are up at least every other hour for scheduled exercise breaks where they move around and stretch to avoid cramps and stiff bodies. It was also mentioned that the employees enjoy a free Netflix membership as a perk of the job.

Read [King 5] Via [Hacking Netflix]

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In a follow up to the first reports that we say yesterday, Reuters is now reporting that Toshiba will be pulling support for HD DVD. According to a company source within Toshiba they are, “planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high definition DVDs, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp.”

With all the recent trouble, the poor showing at CES along with Netflix, Best Buy and Wal-Mart pulling support this latest news is not coming as a surprise. The official announcement is expected to come next week.

“We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.

Just a few things left to wonder about, what will happen with the hd dvd early adopters, will we see a cult like following start to pop-up and just how soon will we see a rush of Blu-ray players sales.

Read [Reuters]

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There’s a great line in Apollo 13 where the character of Gene Kranz yells out “I don’t care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do!” So when some enterprising geek comes along and creates and application that turns an iphone or iTouch into a piano, how can we not scream “encore!?”

Taking advantage of the iPhone and iPod Touch’s multi touch interface, the iAno virtual piano application turns a “jailbroken” iPhone into a four octave keyboard with realistic piano sampling sounds. The keys on the keyboard even animate on touch and up to give keys can be pressed at any one time. On screen navigation allows users to easily move up and down the scales by octave or partial octave.

And what’s really cool is that it can play in concert with the iPhone/ipod’s mp3 player.

But make no mistake, users who are chomping at the bit to use this great application will have to first “jailbreak” their phone (and all that implies) so that third party applications can be installed. But the good news is that Apple recently announced a third party application development kit which could mean that iAno will become a hot application in the open, for all to enjoy.

Really cool video of the iAno in action here.

Hat tip: Technobob

Posted Feb 16th 2008 3:22PM by Chris Ziegler
Filed under: cellphones, Handhelds
There’s a reason phones don’t remotely resemble PC cases, and we think this mockup does a fabulous job demonstrating why that is. Okay, look, we’re totally cool with Dell and Alienware producing an Alienware-branded handset — especially if it runs Android, a platform Dell has been rumored to be very, very interested in — we just really don’t want this (or anything like this) to be it. The morphing keypad and user interface look awesome, but we have a very simple rule when we purchase a new phone: under no circumstances should the slider have physically painful ridges digging into your hands during use. Is that too much to ask?

[Thanks, Julian]

Posted Feb 16th 2008 8:29AM by Richard Lawler
Filed under: HDTV, Home EntertainmentJapan’s NHK has followed up The Hollywood Reporter’s earlier indications Toshiba was ready to dump its money-losing HD DVD business, with news that the company is prepared to cease manufacturing software and hardware, at a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. This caps the worst week ever for red, when hd dvd was dumped by Netflix and Wal-mart, pushed to the background by Best Buy and put on — an apparently incredibly short — deathwatch right here. Toshiba is mum on the subject right now, but we hear there’s plenty of cheap players and movies in a dumpster around back of the HQ.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; via Reuters; warning, Japanese read link]

Update: Along with an English translation of the NHK’s article (Thanks sfditty!) comes additional confirmation from Reuters sources, it’s a wrap. Toshiba is shutting down its DVD manufacturing facilities in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, while official word is expected “soon”.

It’s hard not to see the handwriting on the wall. Literally. But let’s recap. First, it was select studios announcing the dropping of HD DVD and focusing on the better selling Blue Ray Line. Then, it was Best Buy announcing it would only sell Blue Ray. Then, Amazon announced a 50% off clearance on 150 hd dvd movies. Microsoft drops the price of their XBox HD DVD add-on player to $129. But the real killer was when WalMart announced it would drop HD DVD effective in June. So what to do when the war is over? Toshiba finally raises the white flag.

The news came from a report by NHK in Japan, which stated that Toshiba plans to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD production and close plants in Japan. And that isn’t the worst of it as Toshiba is facing a shortfall in the neighborhood of several hundred million dollars U.S. as a result of losing the format war.

It was only a matter of time before HD DVD would come to it’s whimpering end. Recently, Blu-ray seized up to 90 percent of the Japanese high-definition DVD market after a price war which left it the only format standing.

And now it’s all over but the shouting.

Hat tip: Crave

Microsoft has partnered up with the Russian cellphone company Mobile TeleSystems OJSC to offer a subscription based PC. The subscription based PC’s will become available to all of the 85 million customers in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan and Belarus beginning in June through Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential program.

While the details on the PC’s are still light, they are reported to be running Windows Vista and will also include a built-in mobile broadband access. The two companies are also currently working on new mobile communication services that can be used on the PC’s, but have not made any mention as to what they will be. While we know the availability the pricing information has not been announced.

In addition to this partnership, Microsoft also has similar partnerships with TelMex in Mexico and Telefonica in Brazil.

Read [New York Times]

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Posted Feb 16th 2008 6:10AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Gaming
Well you knew it was coming. That PSP hack we told you about a few weeks ago has hit the interblogs, and we predict all hell will be breaking loose any moment. Un-retired homebrew mastermind Dark_AleX has come up with a little number called Timemachine, which is capable of spinning your PSP back to all sorts of crazy firmwares at the touch of a button. We know you can hardly stand finishing this post due to excitement, so… get out of here and grab it!

[Thanks, Craig]

The official release of Firefox 3.0 is almost upon us, but if you can’t wait, check out a beta version. This is the 3rd beta that has been released. There’s 1 more to come, but it’s pretty much there. The reviews so far have been very positive. I can’t wait, but unfortunately, I’m going to have to wait just a little longer until the programmers of my beloved extensions catch up.