Developages - Development and Technology Blog

You know how it is: you have a decent buzz going, it’s the third quarter, and, honestly, it’s not like your girlfriend is going to know you used one of empty beer bottles as a urinal. But you′re hungry. The cordless is all the way across the room, and the bloody dog will chase a stick all day, but not fetch the $%&#^@ phone.

Last week, you would have been boned. But not today! As of Monday, you can order a fresh piping hot pizza from Domino’s via your TiVo! We have the super-secret methods inside.

Users have two ways of ordering pizza: first, they can set up an account with Dominos.com, then simply enter an access number to begin the order process. Users can also access the Dominos site through any number of entry points — Gold Star sponsorship, program placements, interactive tags in live TV spots, and through Music, Photos, Products & More by clicking on “Order Your Pizza” — and manually enter an address and pizza order. Users will also be able to track their pizzas, according to Domino’s.

“Joining forces with Domino’s Pizza creates an effective marketing and commerce tool for Domino’s while enhancing and further distinguishing TiVo as the ultimate way to watch TV with a closed-loop advertising experience,” said Karen Bressner, senior vice president of advertising sales for TiVo, in a statement. (For the love of god, Karen, just say that people might like to order a pizza while watching six straight episodes of “Ghost Hunters″ back to back.)

The Domino’s service is free, but users will have to pay in cash for their order, TiVo sai — OK, hold up, Whoa. You mean I actually have to get up off the couch, find my wallet, and walk over to the door?

I want a way to send an email from my TiVo controller to Karen. It may take me a good half hour or so to write using the on-screen keyboard, but I can assure you it will be scathing.

Original post by Mark Hachman

Filed under: Cellphones

Well, now isn’t this something? Best Buy has its fancy little iPhone 3G, but it′ll be Wally World offering up the G1 outside of official T-Mobile outlets. As we’d heard yesterday, 550 Walmart stores across the country will begin selling the Android-powered handset beginning tomorrow, and folks who opt to pick one up here versus a traditional T-Mob store will save $31.11. Yep — according to company spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien, the new / upgrade-eligible customer price for a Walmart-sourced G1 will be just $148.88 with a 2-year agreement. Wait, what? You already purchased your G1 at the full price? They always said the early bird pays the premium… or something along those lines.

T-Mobile ˇ coming to Walmart for $148.88 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

With all sorts of outlandish figures being bandied about regarding sales / expectations for the T-Mobile G1, someone intimately close to the situation has finally chimed in with his take. Peter Chou, chief executive and co-founder of HTC, stated in a recent interview that it expects to ship over 600,000 G1s this year, and while he wouldn’t come clean on an exact figure for 2009, he did proclaim that “in general, we think we can do more next year.” We aren’t betting the farm that his prediction will come true or anything, but it certainly falls within the realm of feasibility. Oh, and if you were wondering how Mr. Chou planned on convincing potential iPhone buyers to opt for the G1 instead, he reckons that the full QWERTY keypad will handle that for him — after all, “Americans are very keyboard-oriented.”

[Via mocoNews]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Being that the T-Mobile G1 launched officially today in the US of A, it makes sense that the phone’s marketplace for applications would open its doors as well. A recent post over at the Android Developers Blog has affirmed that users can now indulge in over 50 apps, and moreover, it has laid out details surrounding the process for getting your own app in there. Beginning on Monday, prospective devs will be forced to “register and pay a one time $25 application fee” in order to ensure that they′re “authenticated and responsible for their apps.” After that, the programs will be “made available to users without further validation or approval.” Starting in Q1, developers will be able to distribute paid apps in addition to free apps, and similar to Apple’s revenue model, devs will get 70% of the revenue, though it should be noted that Google won’t be taking a percentage of the remainder. Go at it, you eager developer you — we fully expect a gratis app showing off your handiwork to emerge on the 27th.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/T_Mobile_G1_now_available’; Now that T-Mobile’s systematic discrimination against non-T-Mobile customers (how dare they?) has come to an end, we can all exhale, pull out our credit cards and get to maxin’ out the plastic. That’s right — the Android-powered G1 is now available for sale from T-Mob’s website to all comers, though we’re only seeing the black and bronze models listed at the moment and both are tagged with an ominous “extremely limited availability” label which tells us they probably won′t be there long. $179.99’s the price on two-year contract, and if they do sell out online, don′t sweat it just yet — sweep your local stores today.

[Thanks, Elisha]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

We really, really like where this is going. First came the Zune puppet rap vid, followed by the equally astounding Large Hadron Collider joint. Now, we’ve got a video for all you G1 pre-orderers that’s sure to get your noggin’ bobbin’ as you patiently await the arrival of Android. And just as any true rap should, it unashamedly bashes the iPhone, Instinct and most every other “rival” on the market today. The best 3 minutes and 56 seconds of your day are about to occur — click on past the break and get it going. Word?

[Via Phandroid, thanks Rob]

Continue reading Android rap shows the G1 love, gives Google some street cred

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

October 22 was supposed to be the date, but you know, when you add in the shipping fudge factor, buffoonery was destined to ensue — and sure enough, G1s are already showing up on some buyers′ doorsteps days ahead of the official release. These pre-orders were only open to existing T-Mobile customers, which means us AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and Alltel types are gritting our teeth and shaking our fists at merciless gods right about now. Wednesday, here we come. Anyone else nab theirs?

[Thanks, cWj]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Blusens hit the scene in a big way last October, but for whatever reason, we haven′t heard from ‘em since… until now, that is. The Blu:Brain Home Entertainment Device features a somewhat misleading name, as there’s (regrettably) no built-in Blu-ray drive to speak of. What it does have, however, is a remarkably sexy shell, twin digital TV tuners (DVB-T), a removable internal hard drive, Ethernet / WiFi connectivity and a USB port. Essentially, this here box can serve up all sorts of multimedia (high-def content included) via HDMI, though word on the street says it won′t even be available to order until 2009.

[Via Gizmos]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

It’s one thing to hear 3.46- x 4.12- x 1.46-inches. It’s another thing to see how giant someone’s hand looks beside Dell’s absolutely minuscule 𒴵S pocket projector. Based on a hands-on session with a near-final prototype of the pico-PJ, the cats over at Popular Mechanics were mighty impressed with what they saw. They noted that “colors were a little more washed-out than a top-end home theater projector,” but given the size and the manageable $499 price tag, it still managed to wow. Peep the in-action video in the read link.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays

We’ve been waiting ever patiently for this to get official, and at long last, that Project Projector we saw leaked in July has been revealed. Formally christened the M109S, this 0.8-pound beamer arrives with a native 858 x 600 resolution, a projection distance of up to 94.5-inches and a mercury-free LED light source that lasts up to four years. Moreover, it packs the ability to suck power from a Latitude or Vostro AC adapter if you’re caught in a pinch, and yes, it’s available today for $499 in the United States. As for the rest of the world, you wait.

[Via AboutProjectors]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

As we’ve seen, NASA has some pretty big plans for the moon (which may or may not come to fruition), and it’s now finally offering up a solution for how it might keep everything powered. Turns out, it’s looking at going nuclear — with a fission surface power system, to be specific. That system, seen above in an artist’s concept, would consist of nuclear reactor buried below the lunar surface (which provides some handy radiation shielding), with the engines that convert the heat energy into electricity placed in the tower above the reactor — those long radiators would “radiate into space″ any leftover heat energy that wasn’t converted to electricity. All told, the system promises to generate a steady 40 kilowatts of electric power, or enough for about eight houses on Earth, but with NASA’s various power-saving measures, they say that’d be more than enough to sustain a serious lunar outpost.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

marshotel writes “NASA astronauts will need power sources when they return to the moon and establish a lunar outpost. NASA engineers are exploring the possibility of nuclear fission to provide the necessary power and taking initial steps toward a non-nuclear technology demonstration of this type of system.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by CmdrTaco

Filed under: Displays

Barco has a knack for stopping shows, and while Tokyo’s Industrial Virtual Reality expo didn′t exactly shut down, we can only imagine how many folks took the time to check out the CADWall concept. Hailed as a “multi-channel display system with a high pixel density that consists completely of Barco technology,” said system utilizes a pair of LX-5 projectors, a superflat high-contrast screen and just two-channels to create a 10-megapixel 3D stereo image. Sure beats six or eight to make the third-dimension come to life, huh?

[Via AboutProjectors]

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Original post by Darren Murph

rjwoodhead writes “This past weekend, my entire family learned what it’s like to float in freefall aboard G-Force One (recently featured on the Mythbusters’ Moon Hoax show). Being science-lovers, we wanted to do some kind of original experiment. So we decided to test whether the Diet Coke & Mentos reaction was affected by the lack of bubble convection in microgravity. At the lnk you can find the story of how the experiment evolved and how we talked Space Adventures into letting us fool around with sticky and corrosive cola and candy inside their nice clean airplane, as well as high-speed video of the results.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by kdawson

German police have confiscated the world’s fastest office chair and arrested its 17-year-old inventors. The duo added a lawnmower engine, brakes and a metal frame to the office chair and were reported to be driving it all over the streets of Gross-Zimmern. Police did not comment on the chair’s handling or acceleration but I look forward to it being profiled on Top Gear.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by samzenpus