Right off the bat, what does this prototype laptop—the Purity Notebook—remind you of? To me, it looks like any number of PCs trying, really trying, to emulate the MacBook. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Being a PC, it runs Windows Vista, insofar as prototypes runs anything, I suppose. → Read More
The FCC approved the E-ten Glofiish X800 and with that approval came more details that might make you forget about dropping $700 on an iPhone or becoming a crackberry addict. The spec sheet is quite impressive with GPS, Wi-Fi, 2.8-inch LCD touchscreen, but it runs on WinMo 6 and lacks a QWERTY keyboard that allows users to be a tad more efficient than poking around with a stylus. Full specs after the jump. → Read More
A strong second quarter by IAC saw a 78% increase in profits, mostly driven by assets sales and reduced costs. The positive headline results did not flow through to the struggling 4th ranked search engine Ask.com, which saw a decline in revenues. The second quarter decline comes despite a $100 million Crispin, Porter + Bogusky advertising campaign that should be resulting in increased traffic and revenue to the site. The exact amount of the decline was not disclosed. → Read More
I think it’s safe to say that iPhone owners are cutting edge individuals and in order to keep up that façade you must know about everything iPhone. Keeping with that trend, don’t be the oddball not playing Bejeweled while waiting in line at Starbucks. Popcap Games has developed a free iPhone-only version that’s playable via Safari. Actually, anyone can play it for free through Safari, but it’s been optimized for the iPhone, so you’ll look silly in your cubicle with your face two inches from the monitor. *leans back in chair* Bejeweled Turns iPhone Into Gaming Gem [Game Daily] → Read More
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G1 is a behemoth of a point-and-shoot, due in part to its beautiful 3.5-inch LCD. And with 2GB of internal storage and a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar f/3.5-4.3 38mm-114mm 3x zoom lens and quality 6-megapixel sensor, you’d be hard pressed not to give the G1 a fighting chance in a crowded market. However, its steep $600 price and sucky built-in Wi-Fi feature nearly negate all of the G1′s positive attributes. → Read More
Sometimes we’re broke and you know what: that’s OK. We all know that it’s worth eating ramen noodles for three weeks so that we can enjoy playing Playstation 3 games for hours on end between bong rips. So when some crafty gentleman needed an extra controller for rocking out in Guitar Hero, he reached out to household crap and a PS1 controller. The result is the above picture, which Giz thinks looks ugly as hell. Me? It reminds me of some guitar the guys in Warrant would use. I approve. How to Make an Ugly Guitar Hero Guitar Out of Scratch [Gizmodo] → Read More
So, when is the UK getting the Apple iPhone? British mobile provider O2 continues to flirt with the iPhone, dropping little hints here and there that it will be the UK home for Apple’s cellphone++. Apparently, the company’s CEO mentioned, you know, just casually, that the iPhone will help the company “maintain momentum” as it heads into the remainder of the year. Then, immediately afterwards, O2 denied that it actually won the coveted iPhone contract. Loose lips sink ships. → Read More
Tomatoflash! Tomatoflash! It’s a USB key that kicks ass! Uses microSD! Can’t you see? It’s really easy as 1-2-3! Throw your card in the back Just like that Now you’re ready to ROCK Yeah you’re ready to ROCK → Read More
To celebrate the founding of the People’s Liberation Army, China Unicom is offereing its subscriber base film clips of the Korean War and pictures of weapons and/or military figures. So why is China Unicom offering such a strange variety of content to celebrate? According to company official Yu Peng, “I believe it will be popular since we have so many military fans in China.” → Read More
Australian startup Tangler has created a next generation forum product that allows real-time discussions to occur without page refreshes. Their forum product is both synchronous and asynchronous – meaning it competes as much with Meebo (web based chat) as it does with existing forum applications. Users can also easily embed rich media into the discussion. We first wrote about Tangler in February 2006, when it was deep in a development. They’ve been quietly working with beta partners for the last six months, and recently opened their doors to allow anyone to create a new forum. Last week, the 1,000th forum was created on Tangler. Tangler forums are also decentralized. Any discussion/forum can easily be embedded in a third party website or websites. The discussion occurs simultaneously on all instances of the forum. See here for an example of an embedded forum. Examples of startups using Tangler as their forum include Weewar, Particls and Omnidrive. See our recent coverage of Meebo Rooms as well. It is interesting to see web chat and forums colliding towards the same end product. → Read More
Apple doesn’t want you messing with the iPhone’s battery. Really, it doesn’t. When your iPhone’s warranty runs out, you’ll have to send it back to Apple to get the battery replaced for an exhorbitant fee ($79 + shipping). Yes it sucks, but there’s no other alternatives. Or are there? In comes Asia, full of OEM batteries and plastic. For only $20, you can get a battery replacement kit for your iPhone that might work. But be careful, ’cause taking apart the iPhone, let alone replacing its battery, isn’t an easy or pleasurable task. Just ask The Boy Genius. He nearly destroyed his iPhone just trying to remove the back cover. $20 iPhone Battery Replacement Kit [I4U] → Read More
Eminem, who peaked in 2000, has filed a lawsuit against Apple, which peaked on June 29, 2007. The lawsuit centers on the whether or not Universal Music, which publishes Eminem’s hot beats, can deal directly with Apple with regard to selling music online. It seems Em wants more of a cut of that sweet, sweet iTunes money and doesn’t like how Universal can make deals with Apple without his say. (Don’t record labels own the air musicians breathe, let alone their music rights?) Why, then, Eminem is going after Apple and not his label is unknown. It’s also stupid. → Read More
Facebook is down, and has been so since at least 10 am PST. Anyone notice it down earlier than that? We’ve emailed the company for their comment. Update: Facebook is now back up as at 11:30am PST Update: Statement from Facebook: This morning, we temporarily took down the Facebook site to fix a bug we identified earlier today. This was not the result of a security breach. Specifically, the bug caused some third party proxy servers to cache otherwise inaccessible content. The result was that an isolated group of users could see some pages that were not intended for them. The site has now been restored and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. → Read More
Go ahead and hit play on the video above. It’s OK, I’ll wait while you gasp in total amazement. You see my friends, these are Chuck E. Cheese type robots from a kids place that are modified to sing and dance to rap music. I must say, Bubba Sparxxx’s “Miss New Booty” is a fantastic song for these robots to perform. What child wouldn’t love shaking his or her ass to a hot beat while friendly animals perform the best of Top 40? I keep wondering how I can take life seriously after watching this. Chuck E Cheese bots modded to play hiphop [Boing Boing] → Read More
Back in the day, Apple hit 1 billion songs sold on iTunes and the world exploded in celebration. Well not really, but the mood of the occasion was very jovial all around. Now Apple has gone the distance and has sold over 3 billion songs on iTunes. That doesn’t even include videos or games! Looks like Jobs & Co. has many more years of insane profits headed its way. Apple says iTunes sales top 3 billion songs [Reuters] → Read More
It’s been a few days since I mentioned any new Samsung phones, but that changes today. Samsung’s latest is circling the Web and its features are rather impressive. The i550 is rumored to be GPS-enabled and run Symbian S60, which is a nice change from a Windows Mobile OS. It’s being touted as a smartphone and I’m inclined to believe that label is correct. It will supposedly run on 3G and have HSDPA, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 2.6-inch display, FM radio, 128MB of RAM, microSD and microUSB. The layout of the keyboard suggests dedicated GPS, MP3 player and Internet buttons. Unfortunately there is no official word on availability or which market the i550 will appear in. Samsung i550: GPS smartphone [GSM Arena] → Read More
Yeah, he looks happy… Maybe if the Far East regulated itself a little better, dogs wouldn’t have to spend umpteen hours in this oxygen chamber, which I think is called the Ownd Cafe. It’s from AirPress, and the same premise that applies to humans—it’s healthy, you’ll feel better, etc.—applies to Fido over here. Hand over you wallet and watch your pampered dog be all oxygenated. Why? Just why? Product Page (Kinda) [Air Press via Akihabara News] → Read More
Some music fans will rejoice as they flip open their AT&T phones this morning. AT&T is now offering DRM-free tracks from eMusic in MP3 format, meaning for once, you can actually download tracks on your phone and eventually transfer them to your PC. In addition to the non-DRM goodness, you’ll also find the largest selection of music downloads offered by a mobile carrier with over 2.7 million songs available for purchase. However, tracks aren’t a peachy 99-cents per download. You’ll have to purchase five-packs of downloads for $7.49 per pack. To top it off, only a few phones currently run the custom app required to browse eMusic. If you have a Samsung A717, Samsung A727, Nokia N75, or Samsung Sync, then you’re in the clear. Otherwise, hit the PC and bust out that USB cable. AT&T launches DRM-free eMusic Mobile [Electronista] → Read More
Blogging here in the morning, I’m either listening to house and/or trance mixes or to talk radio, be it NPR or the Norton and Friends show. If I lived in a DAB-friendly area, I might be using something like the Pure Digital EVOKE-1S. Not because it’s “revolutionary” or anything, but because it looks like it’s straight out of 1954. That’s not to say that the radio is mere eye candy, though. Evoke has the necessary inputs to connect a DAP, and Pure Digital throws in FM radio for good measure. → Read More
Soon more people will be doing their talking on mobile handsets than landlines in Europe. According to a new report from Analysys, a European consulting telecommunication and IT firm, the migration to mobile continues to replace traditional landlines. Even in Germany, where landlines still dominate, nearly a quarter of all calls originate on a mobile handset, a rise of six percent during 2006. It is also interesting to note that the Analysys study users aren’t necessarily talking more, they’re just using land-lines less. [Via The Register] → Read More
