Tuesday, June 1, 2010

How-to: push Chrome / Firefox links to your Android 2.2 Froyo device (video)


While we absolutely adore our Nexus One -- now that it's got a bellyful of that fabulous frozen yogurt -- one of the most exciting Android additions shown off at Google I/O isn't actually slated for Froyo: the ability to push apps and music over the air from computer to phone. The underlying framework apparently is, though, and thus a bite-sized version of the functionality is already available at Google Code. If you're one of the lucky few running Android 2.2, you can get an extension for Chrome and Firefox web browsers that will let you push URLs, Maps and YouTube video links direct to your device using a Google Account. You can think of it as an early foray into a Continuous Client, perhaps, sharing with yourself before you head to a business meeting. Better yet, share an account with a group of friends and push interesting items to everyone on the go. See how (and see it in action) right after the break.





  1. You've got a phone running Android 2.2, right? Good. Use it to download the Google Chrome to Phone Extension application . Make sure Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources is checked if you're installing over USB, or use Barcode Reader (highly recommended!) to scan that QR code.

  2. Download the latest version of the Chrome to Phone extension from the same page, or get the Firefox version here.

  3. In your web browser of choice, log into your Google Account.

  4. On your phone, start the Chrome to Phone application

  5. In the app, add the Google Account you'd like to share with.

  6. Click on "Register Device" to link your account to the Google Chrome to Phone service.


Finally, open up that web browser, find something you'd like to share, then click the new icon in the toolbar to beam it to your phone. Now you're cooking with fi--we mean, now you can continue your browsing sessions, share YouTube videos and get those Google Maps into a form factor where they can do some good. It's not like you were going to memorize those directions, right?

Saturday, May 8, 2010

AmpliTube iRig brings axe slingers closer to their iPhone, creative side (video)

The iPhone Video Converter is a nice movie encoder which supports converting AVI information to iPhone. The avi to psp
can even put Wmv, Mov, Gif, MPG, Realmedia (RM, RMVB), AVI (Wav, XviD), ASF, Gif in your apple iphone. Oh sure, we've seen something similar from PRS, but the reviews on the Guitarbud were -- how do you say? -- less than stellar. For those looking high and low for a decent alternative, IK Multimedia has outed the equally seductive AmpliTube iRig, a software / hardware tandem that enables axe slingers to jack their guitar or bass into an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and tweak their sound with a variety of amps and effects (up to 10 stomps, 5 amps, 5 cabinets and 2 microphones). The dongle also has a headphone jack for keeping your wailing to yourself (read: it's mom and neighbor approved), and if you're sporting a jailbroken device, you could also record your newest masterpiece while this hums along in the background. It's a beautiful thought, no? It's up for pre-order right now at $39.99, and you can peek a video of the solution in action just after the break.
See more video at our hub! Show full PR text
IK Announces AmpliTube® iRig™ AmpliTube iRig turns your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad into the ultimate portable guitar and bass multi-FX May 2010, Modena, Italy - IK Multimedia is pleased to announce AmpliTube® iRig™: the ultimate mobile guitar amp and effects rig system for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. The Complete iPhone Interface and Software Solution... AmpliTube iRig is a combination of an easy-to-use instrument interface adapter for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad mobile devices, and the new AmpliTube for iPhone software for guitar & bass. With AmpliTube iRig, you can plug your guitar into your iPhone* and jam anywhere with world-class guitar and bass tones, from the leader in studio-class guitar and bass software. Simply plug the iRig interface into your iPhone*, plug your instrument into the appropriate input jack, plug in your headphones, amp or powered speakers, download AmpliTube FREE for iPhone and start rocking! You'll have at your fingertips the sound and control of 3 simultaneous stompbox effects + amplifier + cabinet + microphone just like a traditional guitar or bass stage rig! Add amps and effects as you need them - you can expand your rig with up to 10 stomps, 5 amps, 5 cabinets and 2 microphones in the AmpliTube iRig app custom shop. iRig Plug Interface Adapter The new iRig interface adapter is the easiest way to get your instrument's signal into your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad mobile device.
Simply plug iRig into your mobile device, plug your instrument into the iRig, plug headphones or amplifier to the output and you are ready to rock! The iRig is the ideal companion not only to the AmpliTube for iPhone app, but also works with any other recording, processing or tuning app. Plus, you can also use the iRig with line level signal sources such as synthesizers, keyboards or mixers. *Compatible also with iPod Touch and iPad. AmpliTube for iPhone At the core of the AmpliTube iRig System is AmpliTube - the leader in gear modeling software for professional recording studios. Now AmpliTube for iPhone gives you incredible, ultra-realistic sound and functionality in a convenient mobile platform app. With the AmpliTube for iPhone software, you'll have an entire guitar/bass rig at your fingertips, comprised of 3 simultaneous stompbox effects, an amp-head plus cabinet and a microphone. With AmpliTube fully loaded, you will be able to choose between 5 amp models (clean, crunch, lead, metal, bass) with full tone and drive controls, 10 stompbox effects (delay, flanger, phaser, overdrive, distortion, filter, wah, fuzz, octaver, chorus), 5 cabinets and 2 microphones (dynamic and condenser). Plus, AmpliTube for iPhone features a chromatic digital tuner and a metronome. You can also import and play along with songs or backing tracks, and create, save and recall up to 36 presets on the fly! - Real-time guitar and bass mobile multi-FX app - Full rig made by 3 simultaneous stompboxes + amp + cabinet + mic - 10 Stomps, 5 Amps, 5 Cabinets, 2 Mics available - Import and play along with songs and backing tracks with real-time effects - 36 presets can be saved/recalled on the fly - Includes tuner/metronome - FREE, LE and Full versions available - FREE and LE versions expandable with a-la-carte downloadable gear - Same low-latency as Mac/PC system Pricing and availability AmpliTube iRig - $39.99/€29.99** MSRP and is already available for pre-orders from the IK online store as well as from IK selected dealers and distributors worldwide. AmpliTube for iPhone will be available in 3 versions from the iTunes App Store: FREE, LE and FULL. AmpliTube FREE: Includes 2 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, and 2 microphones. AmpliTube LE: Includes 4 stompboxes, 1 amplifier + cabinet, 2 microphones for $2.99/€2.39. More gear can be added to FREE and LE through in-app purchase of a-la-carte models with stompboxes costing $2.99/€2.39 each and amplifiers + cabinets for $4.99/€3.99 each. AmpliTube FULL: Includes the entire collection of available gear with 10 stompboxes, 5 amps + cabinets and 2 microphones for $19.99/€15.99. Coming soon, AmpliTube iRig and AmpliTube for iPhone will be available in stores and on the iTunes App Store. **All prices listed exclude taxes where applicable.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

iPad taken apart then re-assembled in under four minutes, Harryhausen-style (video)

We hope you're not sick of seeing the iPad's inner bits, what with the iFixit disassembly, gratuitous Blendtec promo, and even the FCC having some fun. Now TechRestore is getting in on it -- a bit tardily -- by giving the iPad the same stop-motion tear-down treatment that it lovingly applied for a Modbook last year. Not only does the company rip this magical
tablet down to its constituent parts but it puts it all back
together again and, while there is neither a kraken released nor
Medusa slain, the video does feature some rather fanciful
sound effects for you to enjoy, and it's all after the break.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Android and Arduino-packin' Cellbot features voice recognition, autonomy, and charm to spare

The Cellbots gang has been furiously productive as of late. Not even a month after their wooden "boxbot" was first spotted on You Tube the project has moved on from its humble beginnings of lumber and windshield wiper motors to a full-on a neon green acrylic Truckbot that uses a G1 and Arduino board combination for control.
Sure, we've seen Android-powered robots before, but these guys have done some pretty cool things, and have no intention of stopping now. They've already implemented an ultrasonic range detector so the 'bot can override the operator and prevent itself from running off a cliff (although we'd like to suggest mounting one on the rear as well -- for obvious reasons), voice recognition, and the Android compass into the control system. If anything, the amount of progress makes this project very well worth keeping an eye on. Move past the break to see some video, and then hit the source link to keep up with the action yourself.
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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Victorinox Secure Pro USB drive is 'un-hackable,' can file your nails

This isn't the first USB drive / Swiss army knife we've seen from Victorinox, but the company's new Secure Pro drive is the first that is supposedly "un-hackable." To put that claim to the test, Victorinox actually offered a ?100,000 prize to a team of "professional hackers" if they could crack the drive during the company's launch event -- they were unable to do so. That un-hackableness apparently comes primarily from the drive's combination of AES256 technology and fingerprint security, which is paired with (get this) a self-destruct mechanism that irrevocably burns the CPU and memory chip if there's any attempt to force the drive open. All that and a pair of scissors -- how can you go wrong? No word on a release over
here just yet, but the drive is now available in the UK in
capacities from 8GB to 32GB for between ?50 and ?180 (or about $75
to $270).

Saturday, March 20, 2010

BIS 3.0 coming to North American BlackBerry users next weekend?

It seems almost too good to be true, but it looks like the era of usable Gmail integration on BlackBerry might finally be upon us. CrackBerry is citing information that BIS 3.0 will be rolled out to North American customers in the wee hours of Sunday, March 28, when most of us are in a peaceful slumber (a good thing, considering that data services will be mostly down during the four-hour window). Out of the gate, 3.0 will offer Gmail label creation and deletion when using the plug-in along with support for OpenDocument file types and WMA audio, but the real meat should come shortly thereafter as two-way synchronization of read status and sent messages "will be added throughout the Spring 2010 by region." Technically, Spring starts today, so this could show up the moment BIS 3.0 goes live -- but given that we've waited literally years for this to happen, we're not getting our hopes up prematurely.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Packard Bell Studio ST media playback drive invades Europe

It's not much more than a hard drive with HD media playback abilities, but the Packard Bell Studio ST certainly looks nice, doesn't it? It's Europe-only for now, but we're hoping parent company Acer brings over a US-branded version of this box, which holds up to a 2TB hard drive and can do 1080p out over HDMI with Dolby Digital. Codec support is described as "all main formats,"
which is a little shady, but we'll be forgiving if it's cheaper
than the
Western Digital WD TV Live HD.

Friday, March 5, 2010

NVIDIA pulls 196.75 driver amid reports it's frying graphics cards

One of the discussions that arise anytime we bring up a new graphics card from ATI or NVIDIA is about which company has the better drivers. Well, this should help sway the argument a little bit. It would seem StarCraft II Beta players were among the first to notice low frame rates while using the latest drivers from NVIDIA, and further digging has uncovered that the automated fan-controlling part of said firmware was failing to act as intended. The result?
Overheated chips, diminished performance, and in some extreme cases, death (of the GPU, we think the users will be okay). The totality of it is that you should avoid the 196.75 iteration like the plague, and NVIDIA has temporarily yanked the update while investigating the reported issues. Shame that the
company hasn't got any warnings up on its site to tell those who've
installed the update but haven't yet nuked their graphics card to
roll back their drivers, but that's what you've got us for,
right?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Palm sales 'lower than expected,' revenues to miss targets

Ruh-roh. Palm just confirmed what we heard from analysts yesterday: sales aren't going so well. The company's updated its third quarter financial guidance to say that consumer adoption of its products is "taking longer than expected," leading to lowered order volumes from carriers and deferral of some orders to "future periods." That certainly puts that "Chinese New Year" Pre / Pixi work stoppage in a slightly different context, doesn't it? Looking at the new numbers, Palm says it expects non-GAAP Q3 revenue to be about $300m, or about the same it pulled in in Q2 before the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus launched on Verizon. That's not a good sign, but we'll see if that kicks someone at Verizon or Palm into realizing they might need a new, less-stupid ad campaign focused on capabilities, not stereotypes.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Samsung to mass produce 3.3-inch touch-embedded AMOLED panels




Need a mystery to keep you bewildered? Here's one: that layer of
nothingness between the touch-sensing glass and the display on your
phone. Whatever that is, Samsung's about to
blow it away with a new 3.3-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen
coming in March. The magic lies in the on-cell touch technology --
0.001mm-thick capacitive touch sensors are deposited between the
panel's substrate and the bottom polarizer film, thus removing the
usual touchscreen glass cover and the gap that follows. If all goes
well, Samsung should be delivering thinner and lighter phones with
slightly brighter touchscreens in a few months' time, or possibly
phones in the current package but with bigger batteries. Sorry,
LCD, but we've got a new crush to focus on.


ATI FirePro M5800 mobile graphics chipset listed, world awaits details with bated breath



ATI's FirePro
series of graphics accelerators has been showing us that CAD
rendering is serious business on
laptops and
desktops for awhile now, and now HP fans will seemingly be
getting first taste of a new entry in the line, the FirePro M5800.
All we know is a name at this point, and that it'll be an option in
HP's (formerly NVIDIA exclusive)
EliteBook 8540w, but HP Fansite goes on to speculate
that it'll be based on the ATI Mobility Radeon 5800 series (the
numbers certainly jive) and that it will have 1GB of memory. Think
you can solve the puzzle and unearth more information? The whole
sordid PDF is waiting for you at the source link below, with the
wild and thrilling ATI support narrative beginning on page nine.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Seems like Helsinki's always got something interesting to show in its Nokia Research Center (NRC). Today's conceptual adventure involves radar, or RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging) if you prefer. Without going into too much technical detail, Nokia demonstrates a handset that uses electromagnetic waves to measure the speed of an impressively stoic Finn as he walks towards and away from a prototype handset that can identify the direction of movement. It also works through fabric to help turn typically mundane tasks such as volume adjustment into an aerobic art form. No really, see for yourselves in the video after the break.