Best New Technology

Right, now April 1st has been and gone, we can get on with the real mobile news - thankfully! Apologies to regular readers for the lame April Fool’s joke on April 1st. Everyone else was doing it, but that’s no excuse, and after finding myself bored senseless by reading lame joke after lame joke, I realized that I’d committed the same sin on my own blog! So, no more April Fools from now on!

Anyway, on with the news. A newcomer to the mobile phone world, ClarityLife, has released a new mobile phone that offers, well, nothing at all! As you can see from the pic, you get four huge buttons, a monochrome screen, and a one touch emergency button on the back…and that’s it.

The point of the phone is to make it as simple as possible to operate so that kids and the elderly can use it without being overwhelmed by features. Oh come on, who are they kidding…since when did anyone under the age of 12 have any problems with technology?! It’s for older people, pure and simple.

Perhaps to reinforce this fact, ClarityLife have decided to make the screen a violent shade of orange. Allegedly, this is to make it much easier to read than a standard black and white display, and I guess it is…if you have cataracts!

Yeesh, if this is what I have to look forward to when I get old, I might as well give up now!

[Source: SlashGear]

Everex has unveiled their next generation Cloudbook during CTIA, dubbed the Cloudbook Max. The Max, unlike the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition adds more than just the addition of WiMAX, but improving quite nicely on the overall specs as well.

Upgrades from the current Cloudbook are seen in just about every area of the notebook, ranging from the larger display with higher resolution, a faster processor, larger hard drive and multiple added connection options. Also notable is the have included a ‘normal’ trackpad and have still managed to keep it pretty close to the original Cloudbook in weight. The Max is being listed as weighing less than 1kg, while the current model weighs 0.91kg.

The Cloudbook Max will feature a 1.6GHz VIA processor, 8.9 inch display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, 80GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, two built-in 2-megapixel webcam, S-Video output, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, integrated GPS receiver and of course the WiMAX support. The Max will also come with a 4-hour battery life and will be running Windows Vista.

Everex has yet to release any pricing information, but its safe to say that it will be retailing for a few bucks more than the current $399. While it seems like a great offering, its going to be a little while, the Cloudbook Max is “expected to be available in a year.”

Read [Via]

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Nokia unveiled its latest N-series device, the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet - WiMAX Edition. The first device from Nokia to take advantage of WiMAX networks, the N810 is a pocket device that unleashes a full Internet experience while on the go. Unlike Wi-Fi which has a range of a few hundred feet, WiMAX allows for a larger area with each base station capable of reaching a radius of 2-3 miles.

The WiMAX Edition of N810 features a 4.13 inch touch screen along with a slider QWERTY keyboard. A host of popular apps, including IM, Skype, Google Talk and Gizmo5 are available to take advantage of VoIP calling. It also features built-in GPS and support for up to 10GB of memory, apart from microSD memory card slot.

Bundled with upgraded OS2008, the Nokia N810 features an enhanced email client, Chinese character rendering in the browser and software update capability.

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet - WiMAX Edition will hit stores in summer 2008.
[ Source ]

Well, well, what do we have here? An iphone clone that surprisingly runs on Windows Mobile 6.0. At $265 a pop (minimum order of 10 pieces), you will get the following with the CECT T5 :-

• Tri-band GSM900/1800MHz/1900MHZ
• 2 megapixel camera
• 2.8″ QVGA TFT touch screen display
• Video and audio playback
• microSD memory card slot
• e-book reader
• Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
• GPS navigation
• 128MB ROM, 64MB RAM

There seems to be a big push in the mobile market to be able to access video from anywhere. Another desire from consumers has been the ability to access the same information whether they are on their computer, social network or mobile device. That’s why Veveo has announced the new vtap eed service which will allow you to access web video from any source.

Now it no longer matters whether you want video on your computer, mobile device or through your social network. The vtap Feed service will learn user preferences based on search queries, interest in categories and social network user profiles. The service is great for use on social networks since a vtap Feed can be built on the fly simply using the information within a profile. In addition to searching for videos users of the service will be able to keep and share videos via SMS, email or vtap Feed links. The vtap application is accessible on the iphone, Windows Mobile and Java devices. It is also featured on MySpace and Facebook.

Online video is extremely popular these days. Just look at the booming success of YouTube. Social networks are also just as popular. Combining the two while also offering video a variety of ways seems like it would be a great recipe for success. Now vtap will just have to see how many people want to dive into their new creation.

Read more from the Veveo press release (PDF) and vtap website.

Facebook continues to prove that it’s a social network like no other by using a new user-powered translation engine for their site. They’re going to use this to add 22 more languages to Facebook so that it will be accessible to more people across the world. Currently, Facebook is only available in four main languages: English, French, German and Spanish. This move will no doubt add to the site’s overall visibility and accessibility.

As mentioned previously, the translation engine will be a user-powered, so if you’re interested in contributing to Facebook’s expansion, you may do so by going through the simple application process here. You need to be a member before you can actually see that linked page, so if you’re not, don’t forget to sign-up.

Via [TechCrunch]

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Posted Apr 2nd 2008 1:01PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel’s Nehalem chips were just officially announced a couple weeks ago, but the company’s already showing off early samples at the Intel Developer Forum in China this week. Performance numbers are being closely guarded, but quad-core samples are clocked at 3.2GHz, and it’s expected that Nehalem chips will offer up to a 30 percent performance increase at the same clock speeds over Core 2 processors. Of course, the name still sounds like a particularly violent sneeze, but you know Intel’s running some hard-core focus groups right now to fix that problem.

Posted Apr 2nd 2008 12:31PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Wearables

Right on cue, Nike’s making things official with its oft-rumored (and still unpriced) Nike+ SportBand and even had the time to toss in details about Nike+ Coach, too. The band, which opens up features at the NikePlus website along with enabling runners to check out distance, pace, time and calories burned, is indeed marketed as a standalone device for those who’d prefer not to have a DAP flanking their arm when exercising. Moreover, the outfit’s online Nike+ Coach system will allow runners to have the information they need to appropriately train for long distance events or achieve customized goals. Get those kicks cleaned up prior to April 10th — after all, that’s the day you’ll be sprinting out to pick this thing up, right?

Gallery: Nike+ SportBand, Coach gets official

Publishing 10 million articles across 250 languages is not an easy task, but Wikipedia has managed to do exactly that. OK, maybe collectively millions of volunteer workers from around the world did the job for them, but still, this is an event that cannot go uncelebrated. And to think, a lot of other web sites are struggling with just hitting their 1-millionth article mark.

Wikipedia is happy that it has reached it’s 10-millionth article with a Nicholas Hilliard write-up, made by user Pataki Márta on the Hungarian Wikipedia web site. And while it’s nice to see Wikipedia steadily increase in popularity and volume of content, one can’t help but feel bad for them knowing that they are barely able to sustain their growing business from within. If you haven’t noticed, Wikipedia serves entirely advertising-free pages, which could’ve possibly raked them millions in ad revenue every single month. But remaining true to its noble causes, Wikipedia strays away from the prevalent digital media route, and instead asks users for donations and volunteer service (which, obviously would not be enough for a multi-million page view per day kind of Web site like Wikipedia).

Still, I hope Wikipedia reconsiders its position with regards to the possibility of online advertising being served on its pages, or at least comes up with a viable alternative. I have a feeling that if Wikipedia doesn’t adapt to best suit its needs, it will fail. Because when a company runs out of money and goes broke, no amount of inquisitive page views or number of eye balls can help it get back. Not 1 million, not 10 million. To survive in business, you need cash. And you won’t have any, Wikipedia, unless you let advertisers in on your site. You can quote me.

Read [Wikimedia Foundation] Via [Cyber Net News]

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In what seems to be a crowded field, speech and imaging company Nuance, joined the fray with their voicemail to text solution. This however isn’t a direct consumer product but will probably be sold as an add-on service to wireless/wire line service providers and will integrate with their voicemail systems. The end-user would get the transcribed voicemail as an e-mail or a text (SMS) message.

Earlier this year, we had reported on Simulscribe which we tried and we very impressed with. At this point, they’re still offering a free 30-day trial for GfG readers.