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- Another Galapagos: Sharp Doesn’t Give Up On Tablets
- Chevy Volt To Get Low Emissions Perks In California
- Amazon Makes Kindle Fire Source Code Available
- SparkFun’s Electric Sheep: For The Android-Obsessed Tinkerer In You
- Bag Week Review: Incase Nylon Sling Sleeve
- Acer Lets Slip New Tegra 3 Tablet With 1920×1200 screen
- Bag Week 2011: The Second Giveaway
- Bag Week Review: Nomadic WR-08 Wise-Walker Shoulder Bag
- Marshall Headphones Are Now Available In Retro White
- Fly Or Die: The Striiv Fitness Device
- 40/40: Zelda Skyward Sword Lands Perfect Score From Famitsu
- TC50 Company iTwin Wins Popular Science’s Best Of What’s New Award
- Nokia Manager Talks About Upcoming Windows 8 Tab, Slated For June 2012 Release
| Another Galapagos: Sharp Doesn’t Give Up On Tablets Posted: 17 Nov 2011 04:31 AM PST  In September 2010, Sharp announced a 5.5- and a 10.8-inch Android tablet for the Japanese market, followed by a 7-inch version in August this year. After seeing they had no chance against the iPad 2, Sharp discontinued the first two “Galapagos” models, with the industry betting not on if but when they will stop producing the 7-inch tablet. But Sharp isn’t ready to give up on the booming tablet market: the company announced yet another Android Galapagos model for the Japanese market yesterday, the Galapagos EB-A71GJ-B. The specs are looking pretty good:
Sharp plans to start selling the device in Japan on December 9 for US$780. Via PC Watch [JP]
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| Chevy Volt To Get Low Emissions Perks In California Posted: 16 Nov 2011 03:17 PM PST  Many in motoring are looking forward to an all-electric future, but as long as we’re burning fuel we’ll need to keep incentivizing low emissions. In California, a limited number of low-emissions vehicles are given stickers that let them travel in the HOV lanes, which residents know is a hell of a perk. Now Volt owners can get in on that action. Chevrolet is making a low-emissions package standard in Californa for the 2012 model (which we’ll be testing soon), making owners eligible to apply for one of the stickers. The new Volt has a modified catalytic converter that helps reduce the tailpipe emissions, and of course it goes for around 35 miles without producing any emissions at all. So it’s a fairly clean little car. This also makes the Volt eligible for a $1500 California clean vehicles tax credit. On top of the $7500 federal credit that takes a lot of the bite out of its sticker price, though that could certainly be lower as well.
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| Amazon Makes Kindle Fire Source Code Available Posted: 16 Nov 2011 12:54 PM PST  Amazon has made the Android-based source code of the Kindle Fire available for download. It’s quite large — over 800 megabytes — and won’t be of any use to casual users. It will, however, enable some custom builds of the software and ROM hacking in the future. Naturally, lots of the Kindle Fire is not, in fact, open source development. What they’re releasing is likely (no one has taken a close look just yet) the heavily modified Android 2.2 code on which their custom OS is based. While this release probably won’t have many surprises, based as it is on quite an old version of Android, it will include vital information for hackers. Custom libraries, APIs, drivers, and so on — though there will be plenty Amazon won’t share as well, original code not covered under any open source license. It will be interesting to see if the hackers can perform optimizations and hacks without disturbing what I am sure is a delicate balance between the underlying OS and the tightly-integrated Amazon services. Providing the source code so promptly is clearly a gesture of goodwill by Amazon, but that doesn’t mean they have to make it easy for people to modify their devices. For example, rooting has been shown to break streaming in some cases. The device has already been rooted; we’ll update as soon as there are first significant developments in the Fire hacking scene. Update: a quick perusal of the forums and I find that many Google applications (GMail, Maps, Reader) are working if you sideload them, but some have a few idiosyncrasies in the install process. [via BriefMobile]
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| SparkFun’s Electric Sheep: For The Android-Obsessed Tinkerer In You Posted: 16 Nov 2011 12:20 PM PST  If you think about it, your smartphone has some really nifty bits lodged inside of it. There’s a GPS chip in there, not to mention an accelerometer, and occasionally even (gasp!) a compass. The folks at SparkFun want to take all of those components and expose them to the outside world, and they intend to do it with a little something called the Electric Sheep. The Electric Sheep is a little Arduino-based breakout board that allows users to create their own homebrew accessories and hook them up to an Android device. Want to open your blinds in the morning without having to get out of bed? Rig up some motors and pulleys and make it happen. Want to get ambitious and create a Rube Goldberg-esque monstrosity that will turn on your coffee machine when you tilt your phone? Have at it. Of course, rigging together your own Android-powered window blind controller will take more than just IO know-how. Users should also be familiar with writing Android applications, so it’s appeal may be a bit limited right out of the gate. That may soon change though — the Electric Sheep’s recent release means that there isn’t much in the way of example projects or code yet, but SparkFun doesn’t think it’ll be long before their community starts to do some crazy things with it. So why would aspiring accessory craftsmen use the Electric Sheep instead of a bog-standard Arduino? Well, aside from the snazzy red color scheme and cute logo, the Electric Sheep has built-in USB host functionality so users don’t have to shell out for an extra USB Host Shield. It may not hold much appeal if you’re already knee deep in Arduino bits (though the Electric Sheep is compatible with most of them), but it’s a nifty all-in-one kit that could help take your DIY ambitions over the top. Happy hacking!
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| Bag Week Review: Incase Nylon Sling Sleeve Posted: 16 Nov 2011 12:06 PM PST  What is it? The Sling Sleeve comes in several sizes, mine being the largest and able to fit up to a 15-inch MacBook Pro. There’s a smaller version for the 13-inch MacBook (though it’s seemingly out of stock right now), and a baby sleeve that can only handle an 11-inch MacBook Air. The bags come in several color flavors, with a solid color for the body of the bag and a complimentary color along the inside lining, zippers, and other accents. Speaking of the lining, inside you’ll find a nice faux fur finish to keep your laptop safe and snug (and probably warm and fuzzy too). The Incase Nylon Sling Sleeve Type: Sleeve/Shoulder Bag The bag sports two zippered pockets up front, and plays the same trick as the Chrome Krakow bag, making me think it flapped open from the bottom rather than having a zippered main compartment. Where the Sling Sleeve really shines is durability and protection. I took the bag out for a walk in the rain and it still looks as good as new, and my MacBook Pro is (obviously) unharmed. There’s also a bit of a bumper along the edges of the bag, so you won’t damage your comp when you put down the bag or plop it onto a desk. Who is it for? The Nylon Sling Sleeve is for the individual who simply cannot go one moment without their laptop, but doesn’t necessarily need all the extra bulk of a backpack. Perhaps that means you spend too many nights a week at your lovers’ place, you work from home (and thus migrate to and from Starbucks regularly), or you simply have a slightly unhealthy relationship with the inanimate object that is your computer. In any case, the Sling Sleeve should be a good fit. Do I want it? Yes, please. I tend to make trips all the time where all I really need is my laptop and a charger. When forced to use a backpack or messenger bag, I feel like a tool shed with all that unused space (like I’m carrying this bag for the sake of fashion instead of, you know, object transportation). The Sling Sleeve is super comfortable, especially with that breathable mesh along the shoulder strap, and it’s one of the better looking bags I’m reviewing this week. Click to view slideshow.Check out the rest of Bag Week 2001 here.
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| Acer Lets Slip New Tegra 3 Tablet With 1920×1200 screen Posted: 16 Nov 2011 11:49 AM PST  I’ve been a big proponent of the idea that Apple will be putting out a high-resolution iPad soon. But it looks like they’re getting beat to the punch by Acer and perhaps others, according to some scraps of information gleaned from an XML file from Acer’s website. The A700 and A701, found by Notebook Italia, were listed on Acer’s support site, and the listing is in fact still there as of this writing. The main features are NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 chipset and an impressive 1920×1200 display resolution. That is in fact the resolution of the 24″ display I’m typing this on right now. The benefits of such a resolution are easy to see, but there’s a reason we expected a major jump by Apple to 2048×1536: simple 2x scaling. When icons and graphical elements have to be blown up, it really helps with image quality if the blown up size is a whole number multiple of the original, so the pixels can just be doubled and no filtering is required. Vector graphics obviate this requirement to some extent, but right now this resolution jump may be a little awkward. Many high-resolution Android phones have to add little borders to the icons to make them the right size, since scaling them would make them look blurry. Hopefully Acer and/or Google have addressed this problem already, but we won’t know for sure until we see the device. The size is also unspecified, but I doubt very much they’ll go very far over 10 inches. A quick search didn’t turn up any obvious sellers of displays of this size and resolution, so the manufacturer is also unknown. Still, I’m loving this increased resolution. I’ve always felt it would enable a lot once we all move past visible pixels, and it’s good to see that hardware change really starting to take place. Hopefully more companies, Apple included, will follow Acer’s example over the next year. While spec-mongering is less important every year, resolution is one thing we can all appreciate. [via SlashGear]
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| Bag Week 2011: The Second Giveaway Posted: 16 Nov 2011 09:25 AM PST  Today’s giveaway is pretty exciting. For your pleasure, we have a Timbuk2 D-Lux Racing Stripe Laptop Messenger bag, a $120 value, yours for the low, low price of free. Like the previous contest (won by a young man named Ryan Mense), this is a comment contest. Your goal this time is to tell us about how this bag will save/improve your life. That’s right: treat this bag like a DJ who did something for you last night. Here’s a bit of info about the D-Lux, but darn it if it doesn’t look cool.
Additionally, if you enter, consider friending me on Facebook so I can send you a message a bit more quickly. If there’s one negative to Facebook comments it’s our inability to directly contact you all if you win. Anyway, not mandatory, just helpful. Good luck and look for our amazing grand prize later this week. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Bag Week 2011 reviews.
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| Bag Week Review: Nomadic WR-08 Wise-Walker Shoulder Bag Posted: 16 Nov 2011 09:00 AM PST  Next up during this year’s Bag Week we have the oddly named but delightfully designed Wise-Walker from Nomadic. This Japanese import is a business up front and a party inside. Nomadic WR-08 Wise-Walker Shoulder BagType: Shoulder Bag Dimensions: 15” x 12” x 5” Pockets: Front flap pocket, zipped laptop compartment (up to 13″), 2 velcro pockets, 1 main zippered pocket, side bottle holders Features: Velcro top flap, bright inside colors MSRP: $73 Style Style-wise most of the magic happens on the inside. Except for the cute name label on the outside, there is little to identify this bag as an actual import nor is there anything to particularly recommend it. However, in practice, it’s quite a find. Utility The Wise-Walker is also quite rugged and resilient. One caveat: the front velcro closure is a bit small to keep the bag closed completely and, when the bag isn’t closed, the front velcro-ed pockets will open to expose some of your items. Don’t stuff it too full and it will be fine. Who’s It For? Again it is a bit small, so feel free to look for something slightly bigger if you’re a heavy-duty laptop user. Check out the rest of Bag Week 2001 here.
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| Marshall Headphones Are Now Available In Retro White Posted: 16 Nov 2011 08:44 AM PST  Last year Marshall took their iconic amps, enlisted the help of Wayne Szalinski who shrunk them down to something that can fit on your ears. The Major and Minor earphones hit the market last November, and here, one year later, they’re available in white just like the iconic white Marshall head used by Randy Rhoads. The white versions cost the same as the black models. The over-the-ear Majors cost $119 while the in-ear Minors are $59. In our tests we found both of them to be rather acceptable and a great deal for the price. But while the black models are unique, they’re still just black headphones afar. That’s where the white models come in. They’re just a little bit more special. And special sells.
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| Fly Or Die: The Striiv Fitness Device Posted: 16 Nov 2011 08:02 AM PST What are your goals? To walk the length of the Golden Gate bridge? To run a 5K? To plant a tree in a magical forest? The Striiv lets you do all of those things and more. This wee device is a fairly basic pedometer that measures your steps as well as flights of stairs taken during the day. However, there’s a bonus – it has a nice, bright LCD touchscreen to display your current steps as well as other information like “badges” you’ve won for walking certain distances. The cherry on top? There’s a goofy little game that you can play, selling your “steps” for magical trees in a some kind of weird Farm-ville Hobbit world. Erick and I took a closer look at the Striiv in this episode of Fly or Die and, while I’m sort of a convert, Erick is unimpressed. To be honest, the Striiv is a bit tough to love. It’s not wireless, like the Fitbit, and it requires you to sync and charge it with a USB cable. However, because most of the goodness happens right on the device, it’s a bit more useful than I originally expected. Pedometers are all the rage this year, and the Striiv is probably one of the better ones.
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| 40/40: Zelda Skyward Sword Lands Perfect Score From Famitsu Posted: 16 Nov 2011 07:31 AM PST  The Famitsu, Japan’s (and maybe the world’s) biggest video game magazine, has tested Zelda Skyward Sword (the newest Zelda game for Wii) in their newest issue. And apparently, they liked what they played: as the first game this year, Zelda Skyward Sword scored a perfect 40/40 score. The four testers gave away ten out of ten points each, making the Wii title the third in the Zelda series to get a perfect total score. In fact, Ocarina of Time for the N64 was the first game ever to get the 40/40 from Famitsu (in November 1998). Zelda: Wind Waker, which went on sale about four years later on the Gamecube, received the same rating. In the US, Zelda Skyward Sword will hit stores on November 20. Here’s a list that shows all titles that have received a perfect score from Famitsu so far: 1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, for Nintendo 64)
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| TC50 Company iTwin Wins Popular Science’s Best Of What’s New Award Posted: 16 Nov 2011 06:32 AM PST  iTwin launched at TC50 back in 2009 and now, in 2011, Popular Science gave the device one of the publication’s highest honors. Two years ago at iTwins first presentation, we were instantly taken by the device’s simple approach to file sharing. Well, it seems PopSci agrees. The novel remote sharing device just won Popular Science’s 2011′s Best of What’s New in the computing category. Congrats. "We are honored & thrilled to have been recognized by Popular Science," says Lux Anantharaman, co-founder and CEO of iTwin in a released statement today. "Winning this award validates a successful launch year for us. Moving into 2012, we are working on improving iTwin in multiple directions – new collaboration-centric features, strengthening iTwin's inbuilt privacy & security and making it even easier to use." Think of iTwin as a cable-less cable. A two-part USB drive plugs into two different Internet-connected computers. Then, just like that, the two systems have access to each other, allowing for simple file sharing — just as if there was crossover cable connecting the two. Sure, Dropbox and other services offer similar functionality without the need for hardware — or an upfront cost. But there’s still a market for a device such as the iTwin. Some consumers want a dead-simple access to another computer and they might be wary of the cloud. The iTwin finally hit the market last January for $99.
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| Nokia Manager Talks About Upcoming Windows 8 Tab, Slated For June 2012 Release Posted: 16 Nov 2011 05:49 AM PST  Nokia is firmly a member of Team Microsoft. The Finnish telecommunication previously dumped most of its internal software OS development and in favor Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 system. But Nokia is seemingly jumping on another Microsoft platform bandwagon: Windows 8. Paul Amsellem, Nokia's French general manager, recently sat down with French Newspaper Les Echos. The interview of course covered the firm’s recently-announced Windows Phone 7 handsets but Amsellem also brought up the Windows 8 Tablet. “In June 2012, we will have a tablet that runs on Windows 8," he said. That echos Nokia CEO Stephen Elop recent statements that the company sees a new opportunity in an upcoming tablet.
This isn’t Nokia’s first go at a tablet. The company long talked about a tablet that would compete with the iPad. However, with Nokia’s mobile platforms floundering in the marketplace and Meego not feeling love from developers, the company seemingly decided not to out a tablet. Windows 8 is a perfect fit. Nokia clearly sees its future with Microsoft. The company missed the wild and crazy early days of Android. Microsoft then made the decision to develop WinPhones easy by offering a billion dollars up front. As Elop pointed out, there’s a clear similarity between Nokia’s new phones and the Windows 8 user interface. If Nokia works it right, the company could quickly become the favorite within Microsoft’s entourage. And that’s a great place to be.
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