Mobile Devices

When Sprint and Nextel merged, many Nextel customers feared the iDEN technology that powered the Push-To-Talk service would be passed over as the new company pushed more products in line with what Sprint already offered. Sprint has a special message for Nextel Direct Connect customers.; its commitment to the iDEN network remains.

Best of all, not only will Sprint look to continue to support the iDEN technology, the company now wants to enhance it in 2008. This includes combining the Direct Connect service with Sprint Mobile Broadband data capabilities. So, instead of just using Push-To-Talk, you could also push-to-x, whether x is an image, text message, or information. Talk about taking Direct Connect to the next generation.

I think Nextel customers are happy to hear the iDEN network isn’t going anywhere and that Sprint is looking to combine the best of both of their networks to offer new services to its customers. Nextel’s Direct Connect remains extremely popular with many businesses. It’s important for Sprint to remind those customers that Nextel’s Direct Connect isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it is only getting better.

Read more from the Sprint press release.

Windows Mobile User Interface (UI)I isn’t hip, happening or in any imaginable way user-friendly.  So if you pump out phones people like and these folks need Windows Exchange capabilities, what do you do?  Well, HTC changes the game with their own UIs.  This leaked one from HTCInsider looks fantastic: simple and elegant. 

With the HTC Touch, HTC did a partial UI that overlayed the WM menus for some functions.  Here it looks like HTC has created a full GUI all there own.  OK, maybe they’ve borrowed some simple and elegant ideas, but overall, their work is impressive.

This leaked UI is giving would-be hacker/users fits in trying to get it installed or uninstalled for that matter, but it sure looks pretty.  Seemingly aimed at Orange in the UK, there is a download link.  Check it out at your own risk.

Download [HTCInsider] via [CoolSmartPhone]

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Posted Feb 1st 2008 4:53PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Digital Cameras, GPS We haven’t heard much about Jobo’s Photo GPS camera add-on since it was announced around the time of last year’s PMA show, and it now looks like that’s been for good reason, as the company’s apparently decided to have another go at this whole “product launch” thing at this year’s PMA. From the looks of it, however, not much has changed with the device itself in the ensuing months, with it still promising to attach to your camera’s flash hot shoe and record GPS information as you shoot, and squeeze all that data into your images’ EXIF metadata (or XML file in the case of RAW images) when you sync it up. Assuming things don’t change any further, you can now apparently look for the unit to hit “mid-year,” when it’ll set you back $159.

Belkin’s N1 Vision Wireless Router makes going wireless so simple that my mom will be able to feel like she’s on her way to a job at the Genius Bar.

You’ll set NI Vision up without having to follow a manual or insert a CD and obey its “Wizard.” Instead, after plugging it into a power source, its on-screen commands (via an clear and readable LCD display) will help you get connected in no time.

Slim design and set with the latest in Wi-Fi standards–802.11n 3×3 MIMO technology that provides a link rate of up to 300 Mbps, and an unprecedented range of up to 1,600 feet. If you don’t lock your network down, your neighbors will have another reason to love you even more than they already do.

Posted Feb 1st 2008 4:24PM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Features
Well we finally got our grubby mitts on the recently discovered Agfaphoto DV-5000G camera / camcorder / game player, and we’ve got pictures to prove it. Unfortunately for us, seeing the device in person didn’t change what we already know is true — you can’t play NES games on it, thus making ownership of the device a way less attractive offer. Of course, that’s our little niggle with the camera — you may think it’s just what the doctor ordered, and maybe these pictures will help you arrive at that decision.

Gallery: Agfaphoto DV-5000G game-playing camera hands-on

Posted Feb 1st 2008 1:49PM by Joshua Topolsky
It turns out that 17-year-olds probably aren’t that good at studying electrical interference — and its effect on pacemakers — created by iPods. Unlike the data presented to the Heart Rhythm Society last year by a high-school student, which demonstrated the music player’s ability to interfere with heart-regulating devices, the FDA now says that the gadgets are completely safe for use. Researchers measured magnetic fields produced by four different models of Apple’s ubiquitous device, and found no reason why your grandmother can’t keep jamming to her South of Heaven reissue. Said FDA researcher Howard Bassen, “Based on the observations of our in-vitro study we conclude that no interference effects can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested.” We hope the FDA will follow this up with a definitive study on the effects of boomboxes on hip implants.

Gadget Lab editor Rob Beschizza’s dreams of a penis-shaped mouse might finally have come true. Lite-On Technology’s Moldable Mouse can be squeezed into any shape, including that of a male member.

It’s made of “non-toxic lightweight modelling clay, covered with nylon and polyurethane blend fabric”, and can be shaped, Play-Doh style, to fit any hand. Once molded, it keeps its shape until you’re ready to play again. The Moldable Mouse is still in the concept stage, but it has already won a Red Dot design award. If it makes it to production, it’ll be good news for lefties, carpal-tunnelers and Gadget Lab editors alike.

Project page [Red Dot via Make]

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has said that the company can’t keep up with demand for its ebook reader, the Kindle. At Amazon’s fourth quarter earnings call, Bezos detailed a Wii-like success for the ugly white box:

Kindle is, in terms of demand, is outpacing our expectations […] We’re working very hard to increase the number of units that we can build and supply per week.

This comes alongside the news that Amazon wants to buy the audiobook company Audible, for a planned $300 million. This sudden alignment of book services starts to make the Kindle look like the iPod of books, and finally shows us just why the Kindle has a built in MP3 player.

Earnings call transcript [Seeking Alpha via Ars]

One side effect of iFixit’s tear-it-apart-and-post-the-instructions policy is that it gets the scoop on the innards of any new Mac.

Latest on the slab is the MacBook Air. 88 screws and one bent screen bezel later, the iFixit crew discovered that the Air uses the same Broadcom BCM5974 touch screen controller chip as the iPhone and iPod Touch, which puts paid to any hopes of software hacks to bring the Air’s multi touch capabilities to other MacBooks.

Also of note is the tiny hard drive. According to iFixit, this is “the largest drive in this form factor currently available”, which means no swapping it out for the 160GB version found in the biggest iPod Classic. It looks like you’ll have to buy that Time Capsule after all.

MacBook Air [iFixit via Engadget]

Posted Feb 1st 2008 1:21PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals The Wiimote may be spurring on the majority of desktop VR hackery these days, but at least one enterprising developer seems to be aiming to change that, and he’s now showing that you can do more or less the same thing with a PlayStation Eye. As with the Wiimote, you need a pair of homemade IR-equipped glasses, but you’ll also need to perform a couple of minor modifications to the PS Eye itself. That all-important detail consists simply of a homemade lens cap that houses some exposed and developed film, which lets the camera receive only the infrared signals from the glasses. Pair that with some custom-made software (now available for the taking), and you’ll be giving unsuspecting visitors motion sickness in no time. Head on over after the break for a peek at the setup in action.