2008 July | tech gadget update

Jul 31 2008

Nokia N96 droppin in the UK on October 1st?

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Just a few months after the N95’s first birthday, Nokia’s prepping to launch it’s big bad brother, the N96. According to rumors floating around the intertubes, this little puppy might be in the hands of Nokia fans as early as October 1st - at least, in the UK. No word yet on US pricing or availability, though past reports have pinned it around $800-$1000 US ducats. Chances are, it won’t be in the bought-on-a-whim price range.

If you like the N95, you’ll want to snuggle up next to the N96 and never let go. They’ve doubled the storage space from 8 GB to 16, upped the screen size, doubled the camera flash, improved audio playback, added support for WMV9 and H.264 playback, and made a ton of design improvements (like the built-in kickstand).

I’m definitely looking forward to playing with this one.

[Via BGR]

Jul 31 2008

Apple seeds background app tools to select iPhone developers

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Oh background push, how I yearn for you. You bring tidings of fun and communication, whether the application is in the foreground or not. Imagine: the capability to receive instant message notifications, even when the application is off screen. This is the future, people. Our jet packs arrive next week.

As of last night, select developers have begun receiving the tools required to create constantly-aware applications. By tying the applications to Apple’s Push Notification Service server via a persistent connection, applications can continue to receive notifications even when they’re pretty much closed.

As the tools aren’t actually tied to a live server yet, it may still be a while before background-enabled applications hit the App Store. Progress is progress, though, and Apple still has plenty of time before their self-set deadline in 2 months.

Jul 31 2008

Samsung Soulb (U800) gets pink’d up

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

When the Samsung Soul went pink back in June, we were a bit surprised that it’s younger brother, the Soulb, wasn’t getting the same treatment.

Turns out, it was - it’s just a few months late to the party. The UK’s Phones4u has announced that they’ll be exclusively offering a pink Soulb starting in October. It’s all the same inside (HSDPA, 3 megapixel camera with LED flash, and 1 gb internal memory), with a pretty-in-pink casing wrapped around it.

Ideal part? Dudes who wanna rock the pink but fear the hassling of their buddies have a more than valid excuse: for each Soulb sold, just under 20 bucks (£10) will be donated to fighting breast cancer.

[Stuff Via Engadget]

Jul 31 2008

Apple seeds background app tools to choose iPhone developers

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

Oh background push, how I yearn for you. You bring tidings of fun and communication, whether the application is in the foreground or not. Imagine: the ability to receive instant message notifications, even when the application is off screen. This is the future, people. Our jet packs arrive next week.

Jul 31 2008

Google Maps for Mobile 2.2 brings transit directions to WinMo and S60

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

When Google announced that they’d added transit information to the Google Maps for Blackberry application, I was beyond pumped. A lingering artifact of a time when pen-and-paper was the only option, transit maps make me angry.

Now Google’s gone and freed S60 and Windows Mobile users from ever having to deal with transit maps either. With the release of version 2.2, both platforms can route directions through the public transportation systems of over 50 cities.

The update also packs in 2 extra features: star-ratings for business can provide a rough estimate of public opinion, while user-generated content on the maps.. uh.. keeps things interesting? I’ve never actually found a use for the user-generated stuff - more often than not, it’s just in my way.

To grab the latest version of Google Maps for Mobile, point your handset at google.com/gmm

Jul 31 2008

Samsung Soulb (U800) gets pinkâ€™d up

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

When the Samsung Soul went pink back in June, we were a bit surprised that it’s younger brother, the Soulb, wasn’t getting the same treatment.

Best part? Dudes who wanna rock the pink but fear the hassling of their buddies have a more than valid excuse: for every Soulb sold, just under 20 bucks (Â£10) will be donated to fighting breast cancer.

[Stuff Via Engadget]

Jul 31 2008

T-Mobile lets your parents control your phone

Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget

T-Mobile announced its new ‘Family Allowances’ service, to promote ‘responsible’ use of cell phones by children, or whoever’s phone you’re paying for.

Available starting in August, the new service grants parents to easily control and how their family members use their T-Mobile phones and service. Using the online tool, parents can set and change limits for minutes, messages and downloads available for each phone on its family plan. Limits can be set up so that certain numbers can always be allowed, even if a phone has surpassed its allowance. Phones can also be limited to work only during certain times during the day.

Lisa Brown, director of marketing at T-Mobile USA, said in a statement:

“Parents across the country want their teens to have a mobile phone to stay in contact, but also want that phone to be used responsibly. With Family Allowances, parents get peace of mind knowing they have the ability to reach their sons and daughters, without having to worry about surprise bills. They have the ability to also reward their teens for responsible phone use by increasing their allowance.”

Family Allowances will be available for an introductory rate of $2 per month.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

Continuing its efforts to give families the freedom to stay connected on their terms, T-Mobile USA, Inc., announces the upcoming availability of Family AllowancesSM. This new feature, to be launched in August, grants parents to easily manage when and how their family members use their T-Mobile® phones and service.

With Family Allowances, parents can give their teens an upfront monthly wireless allowance that works on all the phones T-Mobile offers — virtually eliminating the worry of surprise overages. The feature lets parents set and change limits for minutes, messages and downloads (e.g., games, ring tones and wallpaper) using a easy on the internet tool. Once the allowance is reached, the feature shuts off service for that specific element and parents receive a notification. Parents can stay in contact with their family members by setting up “Always AllowedSM” numbers that will continue to connect, even after allowances have been spent. Any unlimited calling features that are included in a family’s plan, such as myFaves® and T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile, can also still be used, which preserves the value of the calling plan. Additional controls are available so parents can select to set allowances on unlimited calling features, if desired.

With Family Allowances, parents can choose to establish additional limits on the time of day a phone might be used, set allowances to zero to prohibit the use of minutes, messages or downloads (other than to “Always Allowed” numbers), and establish numbers that are blocked from calling or sending messages to any phone on their family plan.

“Parents across the country want their teens to have a mobile phone to stay in contact, but also want that phone to be used responsibly,” said Lisa Brown, director, marketing at T-Mobile USA. “With Family Allowances, parents get peace of mind knowing they have the ability to reach their sons and daughters, without having to worry about surprise bills. They have the ability to also reward their teens for responsible phone use by increasing their allowance.”

Family Allowances delivers significant benefits for all family members, with virtually no surprise bills, and the ability for parents to instruct responsible phone use with a service that works with all the phones T-Mobile offers. In addition to Family Allowances, T-Mobile continues to offer Web Guard, a free-of-charge feature that restricts access to certain adult-themed (18 and over) Web sites. These services, combined with a range of flexible, inexpensive plans and compelling new devices, make T-Mobile a leader in understanding and delivering on the communication needs of families.

Pricing and Availability:
Family Allowances will be available in the coming weeks at choose T-Mobile retail stores and on the web at www.t-mobile.com. For an introductory rate of $2 per month, parents can manage all lines within their T-Mobile family plan.

Jul 31 2008

Giz Explains: An Illustrated Guide to Each Stupid Cable You Need [Giz Explains]

Posted by: admin in General Gadgets News

We put up with too many cables. There are at least four different kinds of USB plugs, two kinds of FireWire and like a million different ways to connect something to Television or monitor. Modern gadget life can be kind of retarded in this way. Why not one kind of cable, or just a couple? I don’t know. But until everyone gets on the same appendage-to-hole scheme, in the meantime, you can use this: an illustrated guide to pretty much each kind of cable you’ll see in current gadgets and what it’s used for (unless, you know, Sony springs a new one on us overnight, which is honestly possible).

USB Type A Universal Serial Bus, the gold standard. The whole idea behind it is that this one interface will connect everything (except the stuff it doesn’t), killing off the old guard, like parallel and serial ports. It moves data, and in the case of USB 2.0—which is pretty much the standard now—it does it faster, and with some extra specs for power. Clarification: USB 2.0 adds in the Battery Charging specification 1.0, which grants for dedicated charging and other power goodness. This particular connector is the type A variety. It plugs everything from your iPod to your digital camera into a personal, or whatever else. If you haven’t seen this before, what are you reading this on?

USB Type B The USB Type B plug is basically a USB connector for peripherals—you’ve probably seen it jacked into a printer or scanner.

Mini USB It’s a type of USB connector for smaller devices like cameras and phones—it takes up less real estate than a port for a Type A connection, obviously.

Micro USB Even smaller than the above Mini USB. Since it’s, like, even smaller, we’re starting to see it adopted by LG, Motorola and others—hopefully this is the last time they all switch power adapters on us, till wireless power makes adapters unnecessary. Update: Better photo via Mobile Burn.

IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire) An substitute to USB, Apple popularized the IEEE 1394 interface as FireWire (Sony called it i.LINK). You’re probably most familiar with it on a digital camcorder (or an old school iPod), since it’s really speedy for data transfers. You’re looking at the four- and six-pin versions of FireWire 400. The six-pin version delivers power, the four-pin version (originally favored by Sony) doesn’t.

FireWire 800 A revised, faster version of FireWire introduced in 2003, it doesn’t use the same connectors as the original, making it rare for non pros—and an unnecessary pain the ass.

RJ45 The kind of plug you’re used to seeing on the end of a Category 5, Cat5 enhanced or Cat6 (commonly known as Ethernet) cable, which is plugged into your router or computer’s networking port. Cat5e is an update to Cat5 that supports faster Gigabit Ethernet. Cat6 is the next-gen standard that’ll handle speeds twice as fast as Cat5e, and has stricter rules about noise and crosstalk. Interestingly, the most recently approved IEEE 1394 spec (aka FireWire S800T) uses RJ45 connectors as well.

eSATA External Serial ATA is a branch off of the Serial ATA interface that connects your hard drive to your computer if it was put together in the last couple of years. As you can guess from the name, the difference is it’s an external port, but it delivers the same insane data transfer speeds as the hookup to your hard drive. Faster than USB or FireWire, it’s basically for external hard drives for quicker data transfers. You’ll be seeing it more as more laptops include a port for it, usually one that can also be used with USB. There’s even speak of bus-powered eSATA coming in the next year or two.

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface is another one of those “it’ll connect everything except all the stuff it doesn’t” deals, but for high-definition audio and video. It basically replaces DVI (see below) plus S-Video and all that other analog crap. Laptops, desktops and even high-end cameras and other gadgets are getting HDMI. Besides fat bandwidth, another benefit is control: The Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) profile already lets machines send commands to other products over HDMI—that or something care about it could be very useful in the Computer space, too.

DVI The digital successor to VGA, Digital Visual Interface is a video connection you’ll most likely see dealing with personal or computer monitors, at least until they’re all replaced by HDMI. Older HDTVs have DVI ports too. It can have a few different pin arrangements, depending on whether it carries a digital (DVI-D) or analog (DVI-A) signal or both (DVI-I, for integrated). The analog deal on some types is to make them easy to adapt for use with a VGA monitor, but it’s less and less noteworthy. There’s also a dual-link version that carries more data for high-res displays. These are helpfully depicted at Wikipedia.

Mini and Micro DVI are dumb, shrunken, Apple-only versions of DVI. Why dumb? Because they’re essentially proprietary formats. HDMI will make them obsolete before long.

DisplayPort is the newest video interface on the block, and its plane of existence is basically in the computer-to-monitor realm only. It’s not even close to mainstream yet, but Dell is backing it, among others, so you might wanna know it. It can carry a whole lot of data, but it’s got DRM built into the spec, so it’s a double-edged sword. Update: Swapped pic out with a superior one.

That’s enough cable to strangle most of California, but by all means feel free to add in your own cable trivia down in the comments.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about cables, plugs, holes, bird or bees to tips@gizmodo.com, with “Giz Explains” in the subject line.

Via [Gizmodo]