Apple Files New iPhone Patents

There have been several reports on some of the Tech blogs about Apple filing a new patent relating to making it a lifestyle companion. The patents as they have been reported on look like nothing new. Old ideas that have been rehashed to fit new technology. I can understand companies wanting to protect their Intellectual Property, but some filings have become ridiculous. It's well past time the patent system was overhauled to avoid all this potentially litigious material.

CanSecWest PWN 2 OWN Results

The PWN 2 OWN hacking contest at CanSecWest yielded some really interesting and amusing results. The MacBook Air on display was seized in just two minutes by Charlie Miller, who had prepared an exploit in advance which took advantage of a problem with Safari. Shane Macaulay and a few of his 1337 associates managed to crack the Vista equipped unit with 2 full days work. The Vista unit featured the extra protection offers by the SP1 version of Vista. The Linux unit was the only one left unclaimed at the end of the conference. but this was largely due to the fact that none of the attendees wanted to put in the necessary effort to crack it.

XP Based Eee PC Due In April

ASUS have announced that their Eee PC will be available from April 9th. The 4GB units will ship with XP Home and sell for around US$400. With 4GB you wont be able to do much but if you want to read just how well the system performs read the review at Laptop Mag.

Luna Watch Concept - Crystal Cool

Yanko Design are showcasing yet another cool and beautiful concept. this one is by designer John Pszeniczny and features a watch made out of crystal, stainless steel and featuring a Spessartite Garnet. To tell the time simply touch the two contact points and the time appears inside the crystal. In their words it is "Simplistic in its function yet aesthetically complex therefore this is a fashion watch. You can expect to see it in a range of colors with coordinated Signity gems." Beautiful concept work really.

Buffalo Releases External HD DVD/Blu-ray Drive

Buffalo has launched an external Blu-ray & HD DVD Combo Drive. This drive first external optical disk drive and supports both read/write for Blu-ray and reads HD DVD. The drive supports single and double layer Blu-ray read/write speeds at up to 6x, HD DVD read speed at up to 3x and DVD read/write speeds at up to 16x. Although HD DVD is now dead I can see this device appealing to early adopters of the format.

Seagate Might Sue SSD Makers If Format Takes Off

Although Seagate are also looking at SSD themselves, they're no so keen on the technology taking off. They are as a result making some noise about sueing other manufacturers if this happens. Seagate CEO Bill Watkins, has recently told Fortune magazine that he is "convinced" SSD manufacturers such as Samsung and Intel are violating some of Seagate's patents. I'm of the opinion that this would be bad for the industry, resulting in higher prices for this already expensive technology.

Windows XP SP3 Due

Reports are that Microsoft are going to be releasing Service Pack 3 for Windows XP in the next few days. Although the news is that there are still a few issues that might delay things a little, I myself will probably wait before installing it.

Touch-screen PMP Goodness...

Meizu and Teclast have released more info on their new media devices. The Meizu M8 is looking less and less like an iPhone each day. The interface shots at cnmo.com certainly look interesting. With both landscape and portrait screenshots on view the product is starting to look more like a reality. Its windows mobile origins are very much evident in these shots The Teclast M26 PMP also has a similar form factor to the iPod Touch but features more supported media formats than Apples devices , RealVideo and even Flash video files. The M26 is controlled mainly though the 2.6-inch, 400x200 capacitative touchscreen. The iPhone and iPod have had an excellent impact on the desire of manufacturers to improve the usability and feature sets of PMP devices and mobile phones. In many respects Apple have done much to raise the expectations that consumers have of their devices. manufacturers like Meizu ans Taipower may lack in originality but they have certainly taken notice of the markets attention to Apples products.

Sony Alpha A900 Slated For Fall Release.

Sony are showing their new 25 megapixel Alpha A900 at Photo Imaging Expo 2008 in Japan. The new camera is not slated for released until this Autumn but folks are already speculating on how Canon and Nikon will respond. Myself, I'm interested only in finding out more on the cameras performance which includes features like a full frame sensor, Liveview and a HDMI port. Visit the MasterChong blog where there is some excellent coverage and photos.

USBee Flash Drive

Yanko Design keep coming up with all sorts of cool and wacky tech product concepts. The USBee key is both. This unusual design is shaped like a bee's abdomen and is supposed to prevent accident removals of the key through it being knocked, because the tail of the key flexes. Check out the photo diagram. For more, visit the conceptual products page on the Yanko Design website.

Acers Gemstones - Blue Ray Dreams

Acer have announced their new media-centric Gemstone notebook computers. These high specification laptops sport Blu-ray drives, high resolution screens and up to two 320GB hard disk drives. The Aspire Gemstone 8920G and 6920G notebooks are the the first in their "Blue" line of notebook computers which have a blue & black color scheme with blue lighting effects. One of the coolest features is the cochleal touch sensitive Cinedash Media Console control which allows you to play your media and adjust the volume. The Blu-ray optical drives are complimented by screens that are capable of displaying true 1080p high-definition media. The Aspire 8920G features either an 18.4" LCD display offering full HD resolution (1,920 by 1,080 pixels), a 2x Blu-ray burner, one or two 320 GB hard drives, an Nvidia GeForce 9650M GS graphics controller with 512 MB of dedicated video memory, and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The notebook also sports an integrated TV tuner, Dolby home theater audio enhancement with five built-in speakers and an Acer Tuba Cinebass booster for enhanced bass response. The 8920G also features an integral Webcam, 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard/54 slot, four USB 2.0 ports, HDMI with HDCP output, VGA out, headphone and audio input jacks. The Aspire 6930G features a 16" display, which is available in a full HD (1,920 by 1,080) or 1,366 by 768 resolution, a 1x Blu-ray burner, and an Nvidia 9500M GS graphics controller with 512 MB of dedicated video memory. The 6920G also offers two built-in speakers with Acer's Tuba Cinebass low-end reinforcement, an integrated webcam, Bluetooth and 802.11 a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi wireless networking, gigabit Ethernet, and the same port and slot configuration as the 8920G. US prices are said to range between $900 and $1700. No idea yet on European prices or availability. For more information, visit the Acer website.

Datacolor Announce Spyder3 Line Up

Datacolor announced the addition of Spyder3Pro and Spyder3Print to its new Spyder3 range of monitor calibration and printer profiling solutions. Their Spyder3Pro solution offers an affordable display calibration tool for serious and professional photographers. Spyder3Print is a printer-profiling device which is aimed at fine art printers and production professionals. Spyder3 colorimeter offers a seven-detector colour engine, the only one of its kind on the market. The colorimeters 27mm aperture is the largest in its class, and provides a greater screen sampling area and a 400 per cent increase in light sensitivity. When used in conjunction with the embedded ambient light sensor, which automatically measures surrounding ambient light levels even when stored in its cradle, the Spyder3Pro will enable users to achieve the highest levels of precision and calibration for your display devices. Spyder3Print is the perfect complement for the Spyder3Pro and Spyder3Elite. The printer calibration device enables users to create custom printer profiles by using an updated Datacolor 1005 spectrocolorimeter and colour calibration tile with tracking ruler for more accurate readings, Spyder3Print enables the production of professional-looking prints quickly and accurately, by avoiding the wasteful trial-and-error process of uncalibrated devices. Spyder3Elite uses an enhancement of the feature set offered by Spyder3Pro. Spyder3Elite uses dual-mode software that allows the calibration of multiple displays in a studio via either an easy to use walkthrough wizard guide or its expert console, which gives advanced users full control of all settings. The Spyder3 elite is also the only device in its category, which is able to calibrate front projectors. Spyder3Studio is Datacolor's complete colour management suite. Spyder3Studio combines the powerful features of Spyder3Elite’s display calibration with the excellent printer profiling functions of Spyder3Print. These tools will make the job of controlling the accuracy of your display and output devices a breeze. For more information visit Datacolor.

Sun Developing Java For iPhone

Sun Microsystems are developing Java Virtual Machine (JVM) for use on Apple's iPhone. They plan to release JVM in the summer. This will make the iPhone able to run Java applications. The iPhone edition is to be based on the Java Micro Edition of Java and in spite of Apple's apparent disinterest in doing so themselves. Who knows, but maybe this will be extended into support for all the web based Java apps and tools. Maybe Apple's claim of having the "real" Internet on their device will finally become a reality, and not just marketing spin.

BBC iPlayer for iPhone

The BBC have announced that their iPlayer is avaialble for the iPhone. To use iPlayer o all you have to do is access the iPlayer website and then stream the required BBC programme. This is great news for iPhone users and only if you have wifi access. But to use the player on an Edge enabled phone sounds like a recipy for frustration and disaster. Apple need to release a 3G version and pretty damn soon.

Apple Announce SDK & Beta Of Version 2 iPhone OS

With much hurrah, Apple announced the release of the iPhone SDK and a slew of new features for the new iPhone OS at their SDK conference. Details of the iPhone SDK were also released relealing that developers will have access to their "Cocoa Touch" framework and the other APIs being used by Apple for iPhone software development. The SDK provides support for developing hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, location-enabled apps as well as full access to the media capabilities. Developers will also be able to use Xcode (a Mac only option), there is also a new iPhone Simulator which facilitates easy testing of all developed applications. Version 2 will include things like, Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync support, Push mail and Contacts, Global Address List, VPN, authentication via certificate, and lots more. The Beta will initially be available for developers and selected enterprise IT departments only. Missing from the announcements was any mention of a 3G version of the iPhone ... get with the program, Apple, many of us want 3G, although by the time we get it, it may be old hat anyways.

Samsung Ship First 500GB Laptop Drive

Samsung Announced at CEBIT that they have officially shipped their first 500GB Laptop Drives. The 2.5in Spinpoint M6 HDD is only 9.5mm high and uses three 167GB platters. Samsung have indicated that most notebooks could be easily fitted with two of these drives, hmmm ... A 1TB laptop sounds real sweet.

Meizu CEBIT Booth Briefly Shut Down

German Police have closed down the Meizu Booth at CEBIT, early assumptions were that the cause was an Apple led dispute over the Familiar UI. It turns out that the closure is due to the use of an unlicensed MP3 codec, which constitutes a Patent violation and this resulted in the seizure of the offending products by the German Police. The booth was later open for action but without the offending media player. The Phone however was on display after the booth reopened.

Trent Reznor Releases Latest Music Under Creative Commons...

Ars Technica are reporting that Trent Reznor has released his latest NIN (Nine Inch Nails) album under a Creative Commons license. He has released Ghost I-IV under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license that allows for noncommercial redistribution. Reznor has leveraged his musical history into some real selling power generating real sales via a number of attractive product figurations. A free download version of Ghosts I is available to those who wished to pay nothing. A digital version of all four albums is also available for $5, and for $10 you could get a CD version along with a digital download. $75 and $300 deluxe versions were available and include things like a Blu-ray disc, a DVD of the multitrack audio files from the project, videos, deluxe packaging, and more. These deluxe editions sold out immediately, the $300 version alone getting $750,000. It all goes to show you that you dont need the major labels backing you to make some serious money. For more info read the original article at ARS Technica

Mac System Fun

I came across two very different configurations for Mac OS based systems this week. One is a mod and the other a conceptual study. The first hails form the Steampunk world which brought you the Steampunk Keyboard. The other is a conceptual rendering of a curved, future iMac. The Steampunk Mac Mini is a physical modification of the Mac Mini and peripherals into what looks like a Mac conceived under Victorian technological sensibilities ... kinda cool actually. The mod has been featured at the Steampunk Workshop. Well worth a look if you ask me. I especially like the Mac Mini case — it looks like an antique biscuit tin. The curved, widescreen iMac concept is more mundane in comparison, but still pretty cool. The rendering was produced by Nuno Teixeira and features two screens as well as other cool gear and accessories. More info can be found in the article at alltechnoblog.com. All photos courtesy of the source sites. Cool stuff.

CEBIT Underway Tomorrow ... Goodies Revealed

The annual CEBIT show is underway in Hanover in Germany and lots of cool products are being unveiled. ASUS unveiled a cool gaming centric desktop which looks somewhat like a Cylon designed and built it. They also announced a 9 inch Eee PC, but frankly I'm underwhelmed by the Eee PC and all it's emulators. I'm looking forward to seeing what else surfaces...

Penryn Means Cooler Systems

Engadget and several other sites are reporting that new Penryn equipped laptops like the Apple MacBook Pro are running around 9% cooler than the systems they've replaced. This means good news for road warriors . . .