Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Some things do come true! Earlier this year, ThinkGeek April Fooled all of us with its Personal Soundtrack T-shirt. The shirt contained an embedded speaker on the front, and when you pushed the button on the included remote, you could hear music or sound effects for any situation—sort of like a soundtrack to your life.

Well, I′m happy to say that the joke is no longer on us. Due to popular demand, ThinkGeek decided to go ahead and design the Personal Soundtrack Shirt for real. The design remains the same, with a built-in speaker on the front of the shirt, as well as a pocket remote with 20 buttons that let you select one of 10 music themes or one of 10 different sound effects. You can load your own sound effects and music using standard MP3 files. Even more, play your iPod or other portable audio player through the speaker for even more music choices.

Hurry and pick one up today for $40, because this wearable audio system will surely sell out quick!

Original post by Jen the Weird Hunter

I′m sure you remember those times when you breeze through meals so you can go out and play. Parents of old could only attempt to strap you in your seat so you can eat properly, but parents of today have the Kami Kami Sensor. Perfect for those who have the tendency to micromanage their children, Kami Kami Sensor is a gadget that actually counts a child’s number of chews.

The bite sensor which is some sort of a strap that’s worn by tucking the handles behind the ears like eyeglasses is connected to the counter that’s in the shape of a fish. The device beeps every 30 chews counted and rings every 1,000, so children could get used to properly masticating their food. It even comes in two sizes - a smaller one for very young kids and a larger one for bigger kids in grade school. Now if they make a Kami Kami Sensor for adults, it might help wean us off of fast food, junk food and other non-nutritious stomach filler.

Original post by Mariella Moon

Filed under: Storage

Citing SanDisk’s “rapidly declining prospects,” Samsung has withdrawn its hostile takover bid. In a letter just released by Vice Chairman and CEO Lee Yoon-woo, Samsung writes, “After nearly six months of efforts to pursue a transaction with no meaningful progress, we are withdrawing our proposal to acquire SanDisk.” The letter then turn a shade more nasty with this:

“Your surprise announcements of a quarter billion dollar operating loss, a hurried renegotiation of your relationship with Toshiba and major job losses across your organisation all point to a considerable increase in your risk profile and a material deterioration in value, both on a stand-alone basis as well as to Samsung.”

Analysts will remind you that the move does not mean that Samsung has abandoned its quest for SanDisk entirely. However, further action in the current economic climate seems unlikely give the Korean governments warning against major overseas mergers and acquisitions. Besides, just who is SanDisk? Can it really be trusted after being seen palling around with slotMusic?

Update: SanDisk just responded by blaming Samsung for the breakdown in negotiations while questioning its intentions. SanDisk then pivoted abruptly on heel and pretended to freshen-up its makeup while sneaking a wanton look back at Samsung in the reflection of its shareholder discontent. At least that’s our read on the matter.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Storage

Toshiba and SanDisk have been in a number of joint ventures for some time now, but it looks like the two companies are now starting what could be a more drawn out break-up process, with SanDisk announcing today that it’s selling 30% of its manufacturing capacity outright to Toshiba in a $1 billion deal. For the time being at least, the two will remain 50/50 partners in the remaining 70% of the companies’ joint factories, though Toshiba will apparently get 65% of the production capacity at those factories. As MarketWatch points out, this latest move comes just a month after SanDisk rejected a $6 billion buyout offer from Samsung, and some analysts are now speculating that Toshiba’s deal will only make the company a more attractive target for Samsung. Nothing is expected to get wrapped up before August of 2009, however, which is when Samsung’s current royalty arrangement with SanDisk is due to expire.

[Via The Inquirer]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

It’s not too often we get to toy around with a $4,449.99 laptop, but that’s precisely what we were able to do when Sony′s packed-to-the-hilt VAIO TT (VGN-TT198U to be precise) arrived on our doorstop. The model we received included dual 128GB SSDs, a Blu-ray writer, 11.1-inch LED-backlit display, HDMI output, built-in MOTION EYE webcam, 802.11n WiFi, a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo SU9400 CPU, 4GB of DD̷ RAM, Bluetooth and a pair of USB 2.0 ports. The 2.87-pound unit is essentially a huge thumb of the nose to netbooks everywhere, boasting a frame that’s in the same ballpark (in terms of size) with innards and a price tag that contrast sharply. For those just interested in seeing what south of five large can buy you these days, head on down to the gallery below; if you’re actually considering one of these puppies, hop on the past the break for a few impressions.

Continue reading Sony VAIO TT: unboxing, hands-on and impressions

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Storage

Don’t spaz out or anything, but that thing you’re peering at above actually isn’t a small flask of cologne. No, no — it’s an 8GB USB drive, and it’s one of the most expensive you can buy. Reportedly built with titanium, the drive is water-resistant, crush-proof and fancied up further with a single red ruby. Sure, it’s 21,750 rubles ($837), but dollars to donuts they’d trade you one for a sure-to-be-authentic iPhone.

[Via Gadgets-Weblog]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Blu-Ray may have won the format war at the beginning of the year, but the platform’s biggest struggle is still ahead: convincing people to buy it.

Sony’s president, Ryoji Chubachi, set the bold goal of 50 percent market share by the end of the year. Last week, the format dropped to 8-percent of the market. That marks a 13-percent drop from the week prior, according to PC World, leaving traditional DVDs with a whopping 92-percent.

Sony, naturally, has attempted to counteract the decline with a bit of pro-active marketing, including bundling the new issue of Wired with a Blu-Ray copy of the new Web series, Coma. The company will also ship titles like Men in Black with new players.

The company has also started knocking down the price on players, a move which has apparently already begun yielding results. The newly discounted BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player, which recently got knocked down to $199.98 (from $399.99), is currently atop Amazon’s electronics sales chart.

That said, numbers don′t really bode well for the format at the moment. Blu-Ray is off to a shaky start, at best. Further price discounts will certainly help nudge things along–after all, HD-DVD’s major selling point was its price. Aside from Ṕs, it been tough convincing consumers that they need to spend hundreds of dollars for higher definition discs–especially those without HDTVs.

The question, to my mind, is whether the format is a brief stopgap between DVDs and a more widescale adoption of TV to PC technologies. Of course, people have long been predicting the death of the format, right Lance?

Original post by Brian Heater

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM’s BlackBerry Javelin hasn’t exactly been making itself shy over the past few months, but if you’re still not Javelin’d out, you can dive into a fresh new batch of pics courtesy of BlackBerryForums member fѴzen and, if that’s still not enough, you can also now buy the very same phone on eBay. Considering that the bidding has already topped the $2,000 mark with six days to go, however, we’re guessing most will simply choose to bide their time with the pics available at the link below, which also helpfully includes some comparisons with a few other familiar phones.

Read - Blackberry Javelin on eBay
Read - BlackBerry News, “Stunning Photos of the Javelin Emerge!”

[Via CrackBerry.com, thanks Anderson]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Peripherals

Dell has a ways to go before it can match, say, Microsoft’s peripheral acumen — or the considerable buzz being generated by Blue Track at the moment. That said, the computer giant looks to have a couple new ones in the pipeline, and that’s always a treat for the folks too poor or lazy to replace their pre-bundled keyboard and mouse. The keyboard’s short-throw keys will be a love it or hate it affair, but the media keys seem nice enough, while the mouse offers sensitivity-denoting LEDs and some laser tech underneath to match those smooth, predictable contours. No word on a ship date, but look for these to show up in your new Dell boxes before long.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Digital Cameras

By and large, Canon’s EOS Rebel XSi was widely adored. Still, even the fanboys in attendance can′t deny that firmware updates that solve any number of quirks are loved just the same. Canon has just posted up firmware v1.0.9 for the aforesaid DSLR, which purportedly fixes three primary issues. The 7.81MB download addresses a “phenomenon in which AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) shooting does not operate normally under specific conditions,” another in which “the Live View exposure simulation warning indication does not properly display during Live View shooting, and yet another in which “images cannot be played back after continuous shooting when a printer is connected to the camera or a video output terminal is used.” Tap that read link to get your download on, and be sure to let us know if this update actually works as advertised.

[Via CNET]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Samsung’s upcoming BD-P2500 Blu-ray player promises BD-Live support out of the box when it ships in October, with its IFA announcement revealing identical specs and price ($499) to the Best Buy-exclusive BD-󃻶 already on sale. Of course, with HQV video processing and a wealth of audio support including 7.1 analog output and PCM or bitstream audio for Dolby Digital, Digital Plus, TrueHD or dts soundtracks, and DTS-HD HR (after a firmware update) and DTS-HD MA bitstream support, that’s not an entirely bad thing. Samsung, Panasonic, it’s taken you this many generations to get a satisfactory spec sheet, now what about the price?

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Hopes were high that 2.0.2 would decisively crush the reception woes some iPhone 3G owners have experienced since taking delivery of their cracking beauties; dropped calls, latching onto EDGE reception when 3G (also known as “the good stuff”) is available, and general signal strength wonkiness have all plagued a select group of handsets since launch, making for a decidedly MobileMe-like user experience. Some upgraders are actually reporting just the opposite, though — for these lucky few, 2.0.2 seems to be making reception somehow worse than it already was, and what’s more, there are intermittent reports cropping up of broken third-party apps, too. With the 1.x line of builds having chugged along with relatively little drama for a year, here’s our question: what the hell is going on? Why does 2.0, after two post-launch builds, still feel like a beta? MobileMe took the lion’s share of the fall for Apple having spread itself too thin through the launch-heavy summer months, but did some of that fire-drill mentality trickle over to the breadwinner, too? Sound off in comments with your experiences putting 2.0.2 through its paces so far!

[Via Mobility Site]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Yesterday, Digium released version 1.2 for the Digium Asterisk Appliance 50 (AA50). It’s been awhile since I’ve heard any news about the AA50, so I’m glad to see Digium is still developing for the AA50 even with their new Switchvox-based AA60 appliance offering and their even newer AA300 &amp AA350 offerings. Actually, I discussed whether Digium’s AA60, AA300, and AA350 would compete against their original AA50 Asterisk appliance, which might be worth a read. In a nutshell, I stated that they target different sized businesses. Still, there is some overlap, which is why I’m glad to see Digium is continue to develop for the AA50.

So anyway, what’s new in 1.2? First this interesting tidbit for Polycom phone fans: “My Polycom 3XX IP phones display acted funny in the 1.1.x firmware releases. Can I have the original, 1.0.x, behavior back?” To which Digium responds, “Yes. In 1.2, on the Options menu, there′s a setting called “Enable Idle Image Display.” Turn this setting off, Apply Changes, and reboot your phone.”

Also new in 1.2 is support for Internet Explorer 7 and  numerous usability improvements in the GUI itself. A new System Status page shows “firmware revision, information about your trunks (Did my VoIP trunks register okay?  Did they fail?), and information about your extensions (what’s on your system, and where do they point?).”

One important new feature is on the Trunks page. The pre-configured VoIP service providers are now pulled dynamically from a Digium webservice, instead of being hardcoded into the firmware. Thus, the next time one of the pre-configured providers changes something in their required configuration, Digium can automatically address it without requiring users to download a new AA50 firmware.

Another important new feature is that the Outgoing Calling rules page now allows outbound call pattern matches, in addition to a trunk path, to also be sent to a local destination or out via a fail-over trunk if the primary trunk is unreachable.

All AA50 users that purchased their AA50 and registered their subscription before August 13, 2008 will receive an additional free year of subscription. So essentially, Digium is giving away the 1.2 upgrade for free to those who registered.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what’s new, so go check of the Digium blog post for more. Lastly, I′m actually headed down to Huntsville, Alabama to meet with the Digium crew at their headquarters to find out what Digium is up too lately. Hopefully, I′ll have interesting news to report. Stay tuned!

Tags: AA50, Digium, Digium Asterisk Appliance 50, voip

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

With all the incompatibility out there among Guitar Hero / Rock Band instruments, it’s a real treat to see something like this. The Director of Publisher Relations at SCEA has posted an update that promises compatibility between instruments and software for upcoming titles; for instance, Guitar Hero: World Tour’s guitars and drums will work with Rock Band 2 and Konami’s Rock Revolution software, and Rock Band 2’s guitar and drum set will work with Guitar Hero: World Tour and with Rock Revolution. Furthermore, the team is still “working hard to ensure compatibility between the Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles currently on the market,” though we are told that an announcement on that could surface “shortly.” Rock ‘n roll harmony, baby.

[Image courtesy of BeSportier]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Details are slim at the moment, but one thing’s for sure: Dell customers affected (or not affected… yet) by those wonky NVIDIA GPUs will have their warranties extended by 12-months to compensate. The 1-year “limited warranty enhancement” will add coverage for this issue to everyone who recently purchased one of the 15 NVIDIA-equipped machines listed in the read link, and we’re told to expect further details about the whole ordeal in short order. Breathe easy, folks — you’ll be taken care of somehow or another.

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Original post by Darren Murph