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Can’t be bothered typing Internet searches on your iPhone? Then try talking. Google has added voice functionality to its Mobile App for the iPhone which it claims allows you to speak your searches into the phone. This voice search facility was announced recently but Google has finally launched it. The only question is whether Apple has managed to get it up on the App Store? Despite its official launch a few days ago, Apple failed to put the new and improved Google application up on the App Store. There’s new version of the Google Mobile App up there now but it doesn’t list the voice functionality in its new features list. I’ve been told it’s there though, but you′ll have to activate the feature yourself.. Google product manager, Gummi Hafsteinsson, jokingly explained voice app: “Have you ever been in a hurry and really needed to find an answer to something, but there was no one to ask? Like when you′re grocery shopping and looking for the last item on your list, the kids are running around you in circles, you′re holding a basket in one hand, and you have no idea what “fennel bulbs” look like. That’s why we’ve added voice search to Google Mobile App for the iPhone — and made it super easy to use. Once the app is running, you don’t have to tap any buttons. Just hold the iPhone to your ear, wait for the beep, and say what you′re looking for.” For those of you that wish to voice search for things other than fennel bulbs, you can find it on App Store by searching for ‘Google Mobile App’. Let us know if it’s any good or, if there’s some funny UK-to-US English anomalies.-Martin Lynch google iphone software

Original post by nafiz

You can tell people are getting ready to pig out in style this Christmas when the most searched-for product on the Internet by UK surfers is Nintendo’s Wii Fit. Hitwise said that during October, the Wii Fit led the Wii, the iPhone, Nokia N96, iPod and the PS3 as the priority Christmas items for UK online shoppers. Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise commented: “Wii Fit, Nintendo’s popular video game, is currently the most searched-for product by UK Internet shoppers in the run-up to Christmas. During October there were more UK Internet searches for Wii Fit than the Nintendo Wii, the most popular product last Christmas. After Wii Fit and the Wii console, the third most searched-for gadget is the Apple iPhone.” However, buying a console has dropped in importance this year compared to last as the focus now seems to have shifted to games. After our recent coverage of the Gears Of War 2 sales success and the frenzy yesterday to get World Of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King, games look set kick the recession into touch. “The popularity of Nintendo’s Wii Fit, which accounted for one in six searches for a video game during October, has helped online searches for video games overtake those for consoles in the run-up to Christmas. Judging by the search data, it looks as if the current generation of consoles - the Wii, Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 - have started to mature.” Looking in more detail at the most searched for games during October, it is multi-platform video games that are most popular; almost one in two video game searches are for titles published across more than one console. Three of the top five most searched for video games in the UK during October were multi-platform: Far Cry 2, Call of Duty: World at War (released this week) and Saints Row 2.” Sadly, it looks like hundreds of thousands of you may be out of luck as Woolworths, John Lewis, Argos and Play.com are all reporting that they’ve now sold out of Wii Fit. Don’t despair too much though because Electronic Arts (EA) is cooking up its own ’shed-the-festive-flab’ Wii Fit rival called Sports Active - more on that later this morning.-Martin Lynch [Hitwise] games wii fit console

Original post by nafiz

We recently saw the UK launch of the new Myvu Crystal video eyewear and today we have two new offerings from Vuzix, including the first pair to offer widescreen movie playback. The company has just released its iWear AV310 Widescreen and its AV230XL headsets, designed specifically for use with video iPods, portable media players (PMPs), portable DVD players and multimedia phones like the iPhone, Nokia N95 and others. The viewer on the AV310 Widescreen is adjustable and there’s a +2 to -5 diopter focus providing individual adjustment for each eye. Playing time is rated at a healthy 5-hours from one AA battery. The AV230XL uses OLED screen technology to deliver a brighter image with better contrast but, while using less power. Playback is rated at 7 hours on 1 AA battery. The virtual screen size is equivalent to 44in viewed from 9-feet. Vuzix founder and CEO Paul Travers said: “With Vuzix iWear you can get the full big-screen cinema experience, in a device that is small enough to carry in your pocket. And the range of products you can connect to is increasing all the time as more and more mobile phones are released with video out capability.” Both sets of eyewear come bundled with a ‘Made for iPod’ cable that will connect to iPod devices like the Classic, the Nano and the Touch, as well as the iPhone. Leads for other handsets like Nokia’s N95 and N96 are also bundled. The AV230XL will initially retail at £130 and the AV310 Widescreen at £150.-Martin Lynch [Vuzix] movies ipod video

Original post by nafiz

You may already have a dock for your iPod or iPhone already but can it rotate them? Hmm? Can it? Can it? That’s the pitch for the latest speaker dock from Logiϡ, the i-Station Rotate, which claims to be the first “iPhone-compatible speaker to feature a built-in rotating dock mechanism″. And why would you need one, you may ask? Well, anyone who wants to watch videos without straining their neck, can simply rotate the iPhone sideways until it’s horizontal and watch the video in widescreen. Ta-Da! Quite smart actually and it does make you wonder why it’s not been done before. The speaker dock measures 12.5in x 5in x 2in, weighs just 1.5lbs and promises 10W of audio output. A Video Output lets you hook it up to your TV too. Jump now for more features and the price.- TDMA noise suppression technology to remove static interference noise when your iPhone rings or when surfing the web - Video Out function for iPhone and iPod, meaning video’s can be displayed directly on your TV - Remote control with iPhone/iPod Menu navigation - 10W Audio output power (5W + 5W RMS) and power efficient Class D Amplifier for superb sound quality at high volume - Mains powered or 4x AA battery power for use outside and at home - 3.5mm Stereo line-in socket, meaning a wide range of other media devices can be connected - A carry case for safe storage and easy portability Out now, it costs £80 here.-Martin Lynch iphone ipod

Original post by nafiz

iOscilloscope displays the iPhone’s mic in as waveform with fast fourier transform or Sonogram modes - iOscilloscope

For a more advanced view check out SignalScope -

• Analyze signals coming from the iPhone’s built-in or headset microphone, or from the built-in accelerometer.

• Zoom in or out on spectrum and waveform displays with two-finger expand/pinch gestures, even while the analyzer is running.
• Pan vertically or horizontally in zoomed displays with two-finger scrolling.
• Pinpoint individual sample values or frequencies with a cursor.
• Save high-resolution spectrum or waveform display images to the iPhone’s Camera Roll photo album.

- SignalScope

Sorry, no hardware BNC connector for iPhone as of yet

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Original post by Collin Cunningham

The word is that AT&T “is working on a new service that would let Apple iPhone owners use their devices as a modem for their laptop computers.” And of course, there will be a charge for this functionality, which of course is doable on other phones, running on other service providers’ networks.

Look, I totally understand that AT&T has to make money. After all, putting up all that infrastructure isn’t cheap. But charging for phone-as-modem functionality is like charging users for using Bluetooth. Why ask people to pay for a feature that’s already built into the phone?

Even worse, Apple manages to get off without even so much as a complaint, if the comments on the source article are any indication. This is a manufacturer that decided to play along with a service provider’s unreasonable scheme people!

(image by sfgate.com)

Tags: apple, AT&T, iPhone, phone modems, teflon

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Original post by Rico

The word is that AT&T “is working on a new service that would let Apple iPhone owners use their devices as a modem for their laptop computers.” And of course, there will be a charge for this functionality, which of course is doable on other phones, running on other service providers’ networks.

Look, I totally understand that AT&T has to make money. After all, putting up all that infrastructure isn’t cheap. But charging for phone-as-modem functionality is like charging users for using Bluetooth. Why ask people to pay for a feature that’s already built into the phone?

Even worse, Apple manages to get off without even so much as a complaint, if the comments on the source article are any indication. This is a manufacturer that decided to play along with a service provider’s unreasonable scheme people!

(image by sfgate.com)

Tags: apple, AT&T, iPhone, phone modems, teflon

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Original post by Rico

The iPhone 3G knocked the Motorola RAZR off the top of the US sales charts for the first time to become the most popular consumer handset for ̭. According to the latest stats from NPD Group, the iPhone has ended a 3-year run at the top for the RAZR. Behind the RAZR sits Research in Motion’s Blackberry Curve, LG’s Rumor, and LG’s en͞. “The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. “Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimised for messaging and other advanced Internet features.”Looking at the specific features that motivated consumers when purchasing, 43% of buyers cited the need for a camera and 36% wanted the ability to send and receive text messages [isn’t that almost every phone?]. Mobile phones with a QWERTY keyboard experienced the greatest year-over-year rise in sales with 30% of all phones sold in ̭ having one. This is up from 11% in ̭ 2007. Despite the iPhone’s success though, the recession is kicking in with sales of phones down 15% against ̭ last year.-Martin Lynch [NPD] iphone mobile phone razr

Original post by nafiz

Inspired by the Brain Machine project, Jason created brain entrainment software for iPhone -

Simply select the duration of the session and your desired state of mind and MindPulse will use flashing light and binaural beats to entrain your brain from its current state and into the state you have selected.

Very cool! I officially need a new phone - MindPulse

Hack Your Brain - Make Video Podcast

Brain Machine Kit

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Original post by Collin Cunningham

RjDj is a sound application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch* that allows users to access “scenes” that transform sound that comes in through the microphone and allows additional tweakage via the the iPhone’s accelerometer and touch screen. But did you know that RjDj’s scenes are made with PD (PureData), a free, open-source multimedia programming environment that uses a visual patch cable-style interface to create interactive applications for audio and multimedia? Yup. This makes RjDj scenes incredibly hackable, and it also makes it very easy to port RjDj scenes that you’ve made to other platforms. Because RjDj is built with PD under the hood, it isn’t difficult to modify the scenes that come bundled with RjDj, and with a little PD know-how, you can also create scenes from scratch (see my video below). Read on to see how.

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Original post by Mike Dixon

Ericsson is predicting the future mobile device by 2012. Ericsson predicts mobile devices with 12-to 20-megapixel cameras, support for full HD video shooting capabilities, 1Ghz processors that don′t suck your battery dry, 1024×768 XGA resolution, and high-speed Internet access using “HSPA evolution″. HSPA evolution is the successor to HSPA, and “LTE (long term evolution)” with speeds of more than 100Mbps.

I still can′t over the fact that the iPhone, supposedly the “bleeding edge” of mobile devices is only 2 megapixels. In any event, it’s hard to predict the future, but I′ll take a 20-megapixel camera, 100Mbps mobile device sooner rather than later thank you very much.

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Tags: 2012, Ericsson, HD video, HSPA, iphone, LTE, LTE Advanced, mobile broadband, mobile phone

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Original post by nafiz

During a summit for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, venture capitalist John Doerr spewed some funny logic regarding the iPhone:

But he also repeated his claim - made in March at the App store announcement - that the iPhone is more important than the PC. Even with the runaway success of games on Apple’s iconic device and thousands of other applications for the iPhone, that is still quite a claim.

I’m trying to think of a metaphorical explanation here (perhaps Doerr was trying to package the iPhone as the platform of the future), but I can’t help but gag and agree with the polite “quite a claim” conclusion of Mike Harvey.

Let’s face it: the iPhone is, for all intents and purposes, a phone. The PC—a generic gadget category that ironically covers the Mac—is a versatile multi-purpose piece of machinery that can do so much more. Even the most wild-eyed iPhone fans understand that even the “best” phone can’t do everything a PC can.

Granted, Doerr may have equated the importance of the iPhone with the apparently vast market potential of its application platform. But we are all aware of current hardware and ergonomic limitations. The phone still has a long way to go to offering an experience that matches what’s offered by the PC.

(image from kottke.org)

Tags: apple, importance, iPhone, John Doerr, pc

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Original post by Rico

The iPhone is proving to be quite a platform for portable music apps. This new digital ocarina from Smule aims to convert Apple’s wonder-phone into an expressive and nuanced instrument all its own -

The Ocarina synthesizes sound in real-time, just like a regular instrument, based on actual gestures including wind input, tilt, and finger placement over the four holes overlaid on the multi-touch pad. Unlike other iPhone audio apps, the sound is not pre-compiled but is generated by the notes, gestures and nuance of the individual performer. As a result, it allows an iPhone user to explore and master the musical sounds of an entirely iPhone-native version of an ancient flute-like instrument.

… the group rendition of Stairway to Heaven is certainly something special as well

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Original post by Collin Cunningham

The iPhone is proving to be quite a platform for portable music apps. This new digital ocarina from Smule aims to convert Apple’s wonder-phone into an expressive and nuanced instrument all its own -

The Ocarina synthesizes sound in real-time, just like a regular instrument, based on actual gestures including wind input, tilt, and finger placement over the four holes overlaid on the multi-touch pad. Unlike other iPhone audio apps, the sound is not pre-compiled but is generated by the notes, gestures and nuance of the individual performer. As a result, it allows an iPhone user to explore and master the musical sounds of an entirely iPhone-native version of an ancient flute-like instrument.

… the group rendition of Stairway to Heaven is certainly something special as well

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Original post by Collin Cunningham

4 track voice recorder for iPhone… via Wired.

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Original post by Phillip Torrone