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- Kno Adds New Features To Smart Textbooks In Attempt To Head Off Apple
- ARROWS μ F-07D: Fujitsu’s Android Phone Is Waterproof And 6.7mm Thin, Comes With 4-Inch OLED
- Scratch Shield: Nissan Introduces World’s First Self-Healing iPhone Case
- Daily Crunch: Surface Cut
- The Surface 2.0 From Microsoft And Samsung Ships At Last
- PrimeSense Demos A Gesture-Based Next-Gen TV Interface
- Microsoft To ARM Win8 Tablet Makers: No Dual Boot For You
- Wimm Labs VP Tim Twerdahl Shows Off The Android-Powered Wimm One Smart Watch
- Viewsonic VP Mike Holstein Demos New Android, Windows Tablets
- Our Favorite CES 2012 Interviews, Videos And Events
- Ooma CEO Eric Stang Shows Off The New HD2 VoIP Handset
- Dropcam CEO Greg Duffy On Getting Into Hardware: “Don’t Ship Before It’s Ready”
| Kno Adds New Features To Smart Textbooks In Attempt To Head Off Apple Posted: 17 Jan 2012 05:28 AM PST  Kno might be in a world of hurt come Thursday. That’s the day Apple is said to commence its assault on the textbook industry. Even if it’s mostly hype, any current textbook alternative companies (like Kno) should be on notice. Apple is gunning for their market. This puts Kno in a precarious position, having been a scrappy start-up that once based its future on a massive, dual-screen digital textbook. Now, several years later, the company is focused on building a digital textbook ecosystem for the iPad and web. Kno just unveiled several new features lauded by the company as “major advances in smart textbook technology” which is a fancy way to describe flashcards and a smart goal page. Kno Flashcards allows for quick and smart generation by automatically converting any key term within a Kno textbook to a flashcard. Kno says the feature will bring 40 million flashcards to more than 105,000 eTextbooks. The other new feature, Kno Me, strives to make analytic junkies out of students (while helping their education). Kno Me utilizes an “interactive graphical dashboard” to display key learning metrics and study habits. The goal is to show the student instant feedback on their study habit and where there is an opportunity to improve. Kno Me also allows for the creation of personal and education goals. "The future of education will be driven by analytics and self paced learning. We are taking the first step by making the student more self-aware of their study behavior to help them visualize how they engage with materials or benchmark themselves against previous students who took the class," said Osman Rashid CEO and Co-Founder of Kno said in a released statement today. "This will eventually lead to improved outcomes for students and near real-time insights for professors on student engagement." Kno built an impressive digital textbook platform over the last two years. It’s seeming the leader in the space. But that space is set to get a new player come Thursday. Kno better be ready for Apple. Cupertino wants a piece of the pie (chart).
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| ARROWS μ F-07D: Fujitsu’s Android Phone Is Waterproof And 6.7mm Thin, Comes With 4-Inch OLED Posted: 17 Jan 2012 04:14 AM PST  The Infobar C01 from yesterday was a bit too much for you? Not to worry, Japan still produces “ordinary” Android phones: Fujitsu’s ARROWS μ F-07D [JP], which mobile carrier NTT Docomo plans to start selling this Friday, is the newest example. It doesn’t look as unique as the Infobar, but the list of specs is long and pretty impressive:
NTT Docomo will be offering the handset in “Sapphire Black” only.
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| Scratch Shield: Nissan Introduces World’s First Self-Healing iPhone Case Posted: 17 Jan 2012 03:08 AM PST  An iPhone case from Nissan? As you can imagine, it would make no sense for the automaker to develop an ordinary case, and the so-called Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone Case is actually special. According to the company, it’s the world’s first “self-healing” iPhone cover: in other words, it quickly fixes (fine) scratches by itself. Nissan says they used their self-healing paint finish originally developed for vehicles for the case, which is made from light weight ABS plastic. Scratch Shield as a paint technology has been used in various Nissan cars since 2005, before Nissan teamed up with the University of Tokyo and Japan-based Advanced Softmaterials [JP] to create the case. Nissan explains:
The company distributed a number of prototype iPhone cases to journalists and “customers” and might commercialize the product later this year. Mobile carrier Docomo is already offering the NEC N-03B, a feature phone using Scratch Shield, on the Japanese market. Via Penn Olson
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| Posted: 17 Jan 2012 01:00 AM PST  Here are some recent posts on TechCrunch Gadgets: PrimeSense Demos A Gesture-Based Next-Gen TV Interface INFOBAR C01: Japan's Newest (And Most Colorful) Android Phone Ooma CEO Eric Stang Shows Off The New HD2 VoIP Handset Our Favorite CES 2012 Interviews, Videos And Events
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| The Surface 2.0 From Microsoft And Samsung Ships At Last Posted: 16 Jan 2012 12:35 PM PST  If you’re wondering why we didn’t stop by to test out the Samsung SUR40 touch-table, AKA the Surface 2.0, during CES, there’s a good reason: we did that last year. The device, while impressive, isn’t exactly new. But as it has little in the way of competition — the Surface is the nonpareil of touch tables — they probably didn’t feel they needed to get it out in any kind of hurry. The device, which costs $8400 and ships this month, must be quite a bit more attractive than the original to companies eager to spruce up their public spaces. The old Surface was kind of a chunk, and the limited resolution was no help, either. Oh, and the price. The new Surface beats it handily in every respect. It’s flatter, lighter, wall-mountable, and 1080p. As we learned last year, the SUR40 also has what they call PixelSense, tiny sensors built in between the pixels of the image that can detect light. It’s through these, not capacitive or resistive sensors, that your touches are detected. This also means it can read things like QR codes, whole-hand gestures, and text. Here’s our hands-on from last CES: One problem I see is that companies aren’t always willing to do what it takes to make a Surface effective. When we were at CES, we passed countless touchscreens and displays showing menus, promotions, local info, and so on. They were all pretty terrible: no multitouch, buggy and unresponsive UIs, and kind of useless info. But doubtless they cost only a fraction of what a Surface cost. Are restaurants and hotels going to be satisfied with this level of quality? Many, I fear, will be. To truly take advantage of what the Surface 2.0 has to offer, it will take thousands of dollars in development and training. Imagine checking in to your hotel via Surface, or ordering food on it. Great! But not easy. Fortunately the development community for Surface has been around for a long time and is serious about what they do. I got a chance to hang out with a few developers, and it seemed to me that the capabilities of the thing are huge, but only for those dedicated to it. At all events, the device should ship soon, and it might be just the thing to make your lobby or waiting area more interesting. You can pre-order or find out more at Samsung’s Surface page.
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| PrimeSense Demos A Gesture-Based Next-Gen TV Interface Posted: 16 Jan 2012 11:07 AM PST We’ve all seen the Kinect, or at least heard about its wonders. Well, the same company that hooked up Microsoft during “Project Natal” development has showed off some pretty wonderful technology at CES last week. It uses a 3D camera on top of your TV to let you interact with your television through gestures. To be honest, it looks a lot like any touchscreen interface you’re already used to (with similar transitions and gestures) but you just happen to be 10 feet away from the screen. The next-gen interface lets you flip through channels and navigate the TV guide just by waving your hand around and throwing in a few pinching gestures. It made me hate my remote, if that’s any indication of how cool it is (and I love TV). But watching TV is just the beginning. PrimeSense showed us a (somewhat bizarre) dancing implementation for the technology that lets you get jiggy with it in front of what looks a lot like Windows Media Player visualizations. The camera follows your movements and lets you throw out bursts of “energy” on screen. I didn’t really get the hang of it while I was there but it seems like an excellent technology for a rave or a group of stoned college kids. PrimeSense even mentioned ways to let you see yourself in clothes you’d like to buy, right on the screen, and purchase them directly. Now it’s just a matter of time until a major OEM snatches up the technology and we all find ourselves waving at the TV.
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| Microsoft To ARM Win8 Tablet Makers: No Dual Boot For You Posted: 16 Jan 2012 11:01 AM PST  This may seem a bit of inside baseball, but it’s a fairly interesting fact for folks looking forward to thin-and-light Win8 devices running ARM chips rather than Intel. According Computer World, devices running ARM versions of Win8 will not be able to run other OSes, like Android, thanks to something called Secure Boot. A version of Secure Boot is built into many mobile devices – namely phones and tablets – in order to avoid bootloader mobile attacks and, obviously, to keep things locked down. Windows Phone, for example, prevents folks from installing anything into the bootloader nor can they run off-brand software. However, folks love them some Linux and for these devices to be completely locked down could disappoint the hacker contingent. Microsoft says that you can disable Secure Boot on larger systems, however, noting in the design documents: MANDATORY: Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of Pkpriv. Programmatic disabling of Secure Boot either during Boot Services or after exiting EFI Boot Services MUST NOT be possible. Disabling Secure MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems. It’s clear from this that Windows 8 is both a mobile and a desktop OS, depending on the install. The question, then, is what you lose in the move to ARM chips? More info as we get it.
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| Wimm Labs VP Tim Twerdahl Shows Off The Android-Powered Wimm One Smart Watch Posted: 16 Jan 2012 08:37 AM PST There are plenty of smart watches out there in the world. The iPod Nano doubles as one, and the new MotoACTV watch is a pretty solid offering, too. But over at Wimm Labs, they’re taking the concept to a whole new level. We got the opportunity to sit down with Wimm Labs VP Tim Twerdahl who let us get up close and personal with the new Wimm One Smart watch. It’s “a wearable platform” as Twerdahl would call it, based on Android and packed with fun features like WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers and plenty of other fun stuff. There are all kinds of apps that can track your workouts, keep your calendar information, and post alerts from your smartphone, but as Matt points out in the interview the Wimm Smart watch is a watch first. But the module itself can be toted around in a number of ways, including on a carabiner. Right now the Wimm One is only available to developers for $299, but we’ll be sure to let you know once it’s ready to hit store shelves.
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| Viewsonic VP Mike Holstein Demos New Android, Windows Tablets Posted: 16 Jan 2012 08:24 AM PST When I think of tablets, I think of the usual suspects — Apple, Motorola, Asus, HTC, and the like. Viewsonic never really comes to mind, but that hasn’t stopped them from pushing out their own tablets and smartphones, and their VP of Business Development Mike Holstein joined us at CES to show us what the company has been up to. First up on the agenda were two new Android tablets, the Viewpad 10e and the Viewpad e70. The bigger 10e sports a 10-inch IPS display and is surprisingly light, but it only runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Don’t expect to be blown away by its performance as it sports a single-core 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, but its $279 price aims to make up for it (whether or not it succeeds is up to you). Despite being smaller, the E70 is arguably the more interesting of the two — it’s a 7-inch Ice Cream Sandwich-powered tablet that only costs $169. It’s no barnburner with its single-core 1GHz processor and 4GB of internal storage, but budget shoppers could do worse. That said, they could also do better for just a bit more, as the budget segment Viewsonic occupies is growing more crowded by the day. And lest you think that Viewsonic is all about churning out low-cost tablets, Holstein also took a moment to trot out the Windows 7-powered Viewpad 10pi. It’s a far cry from their budget offerings at $849, but its Oak Trail processor, 64GB SSD, and its ability to boot into Android make it an intriguing (but iffy) option for companies looking to trick out their workforce.
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| Our Favorite CES 2012 Interviews, Videos And Events Posted: 16 Jan 2012 07:38 AM PST  CES was a blast this year. It was the best show in recent memory. Everyone from the press to vendors were upbeat and seemingly truly happy to be there. Attendance was up. The show was the largest ever (too big for some). Best of all, we shared a wonderful booth with the Engadget crew, which allowed us to conduct more interviews and chill on some comfy couches when not livestreaming from the show floor. Below is the best of our booth interviews and roaming coverage. We truly hope you enjoyed our unique coverage. Any outlet can stuff people in a room (or trailer) and write up press releases nonstop. We strive to bring the entire show to you by webcasting our shenanigans from the floor and interviewing the smaller guys from the booth. Here’s our nine favorite videos from this year’s show. 50 Cent interview
Gary Shapiro on the future of innovation and CES Schick shaves John G-Form does its best to destroy and iPad The Butt Show Days Of Wonder’s Ticket To Ride iPad board game Broksonic humidifiers OhMiBod, the vibrators with an app The TechCrunch Gadget’s Final CES Webcast We had a great time at CES 2012. This was our final live podcast (here are the rest) where we interviewed Parrot, GoPro and gave away a bunch of free stuff to show goers and people watching the webcast. We hope to do CES 2013 even bigger. Thanks for watching, everyone!
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| Ooma CEO Eric Stang Shows Off The New HD2 VoIP Handset Posted: 16 Jan 2012 07:29 AM PST At CES 2012, there are quite a few products that would totally change the way you do things (or at least save you some money) that just don’t get enough coverage. We reported on Ooma’s new HD2 VoIP handset, but nothing beats getting the facts straight from the CEO of the company. Luckily, Eric Stang had a chance to meet with us and chat it up. He explained that, while unnecessary, the HD2 Revel pretty much eliminates the need for a land-line. It’s basically a smartphone (or a smartphone-like handset) that pairs with the Ooma base station to offer VoIP services in your home. It also offers HD calling and caller ID with images collected from your Facebook, Google and Yahoo friends. The handset should be available in February at select retailers and Ooma.com for $60.
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| Dropcam CEO Greg Duffy On Getting Into Hardware: “Don’t Ship Before It’s Ready” Posted: 16 Jan 2012 06:08 AM PST If you were paying attention last week, you can probably surmise that we have about a billion hours worth of footage to process from last week’s CES International show. There’s live streaming coverage that has now been archived, as well as quite a few recorded interviews including this one with Greg Duffy, Dropcam CEO. Speaking with John Biggs, Duffy shows off the new Dropcam HD and speaks on the transition from hardware buyer to small OEM. His biggest piece of advice to other companies looking to enter the hardware space is to take your time. “Don’t ship it before it’s ready. We’ve been working on this for over a year and a half and didn’t tell anybody until now because we wanted to get it just perfect,” Duffy said. “It’s totally worth it, even if a couple prototypes are lost in the wild.” Sounds like a good piece of advice for some of our larger OEMs, too. A few other highlights from the interview:
Enjoy!
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