Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Laptops

Generally speaking, Americans can count on the US price of any particular piece of kit being a fair bit less than the straight pound-to-dollar conversion. Unfortunately, the exchange rate here is nearly on point, with the £299 NC10 10-inch netbook on sale for $480 (give or take a few nickles) in the US of A. Granted, it looks as if it’ll be a fortnight or so at the very least before any Yanks can wrap their grimy paws around the germ-shunning PC, but we’ve already got the e-tailers lining up to hold your place in line. Who knows — maybe our version will come with built-in WiMAX and 12-hours of battery life to really sweeten the deal.

[Via Liliputing, thanks Michael]

Read - Pre-order NC10, option 1
Read - Pre-order NC10, option 2

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Thanks, MIT. Why don’t you just make the rest of the world feel a little more useless. Every week or so, we’re forced to stare at yet another amazing invention coming from your doors; to be frank, it’s just downright unfair. All childish angst aside, the latest idea to come from the institution is one that could certainly be put to good use: a self-sustaining sensor network that taps into trees for power in order to continuously monitor forests for threats of fire. Moreover, the concept could be applied in other scenarios as well — to detect potential threats such as smuggled contraband along a nation’s borders, perhaps. Testing of the wireless sensor network (developed by the appropriately named Voltree Power) is scheduled to begin next spring, and we’re hearing that pot-sniffing turtles may even be brought in to create a completely natural self-policing environment.

[Via Inhabitat]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Hard to believe that Jack Kilby’s unsightly concoction (pictured above) turned 50 yesterday, but it’s true. Half a century ago, Mr. Kilby crafted the integrated circuit, which ended up having a monumental impact on taking computers from warehouse-sized to, well, not-warehouse-sized. As the story goes, the very first microchip was demonstrated on the 12th of September in 1958, and it passed its first test: “producing a sine wave on an oscilloscope screen.” Safe to say we all know how things progressed from there. Here’s to you, IC — and here’s to 50 more.

[Via MAKE]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

Attachable iPod speakers are nearly as old as the DAP itself, but NEONECO may actually be onto something with its swing speaker. Rather than simply tapping into the iPod’s headphone jack and hoping that listeners have canine-like hearing abilities, this unit includes its own source of power — a rechargeable battery. This enables the stereo speakers to be louder than passive alternatives, though we can’t speak for the sound quality. It’s available now in South Korea for ₩29,000 ($29; iPod nano), ₩32,000 ($32; iPod classic) or ₩35,000 ($35; iPod touch).

[Via Wired]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: GPS

It looks like those relying on GPS to find the quickest route possible could soon be getting a boost, with Inrix now touting its new “third generation” routing platform, which promises to bring with it all sorts of new traffic jam avoidance measures. One of the key components of that, it seems, is Inrix’s so-called Total Fusion system, which the company claims to be the very first traffic data service that “intelligently combines real-time, predictive and historical traffic information for over 800,000 miles of roadways across the U.S.” That gets backed up by Inrix’s Connected Services platform, which’ll let navigation companies integrate all sorts of other aggregated data, including weather information, fuel prices, and movie times, to name a few. There’s no word as to when we’ll actually see any of that in an actual product, however, although Inrix has apparently already signed up at least one automaker that’ll apparently remain nameless until later this year.

[Via Autoblog]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones

We’re not sure how LG managed to hold a touchscreen UI design contest with a $14K prize without telling anyone, but it certainly did — and keeping things on the DL probably explains why “Driving,” pictured above, was the winning entry. The “Art in Mobile” contest started last December in Korea, and the 10 winning entries will see their creations actually turned into functional phone interfaces. There’s not much info on the other nine winners, but apparently one is called “Sixty Seconds” and is designed to stall for a minute before connecting a call so you can browse photos and check messages. Uh, yeah — if our phones were taking a minute to connect calls, we’d have a bigger problem than the UI. Seriously, LG, next time you want some consumer input on phone interfaces, we think we might know some people with ideas.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Telecoms Korea story on the contest
Read - Translated LG press release

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Original post by Nilay Patel

In a news release, Intuitive Voice Technology is calling out other Asterisk-based solutions. First, Intuitive Voice Technology (IVT) espouses their 3,500 deployments as well they should. They then follow this back-slapping good news with a claim that "competitors clamor to keep pace with industry’s most innovating, easy-to-use Asterisk-based PBX". Them’s fightin’ words! They then stoke the fires some more when CEO Chris Jones states they he believes IVT’s offering is blazing new trails in the industry, as evidenced by industry competitors who are mimicking the company’s Evolution PBX 3.0 - released in September 2007. Specifically, Mr. Jones commented on the similarities to Evolution PBX 3.0 in Fonality’s recent announcement of their latest release. “Many of the features introduced in their new release are similar to Intuitive Voice Technology’s Evolution PBX 3.0 which was introduced September of 2007 and released publicly in October of 2007.”

IVT then points to these similar "copycat" features which include follow-me/find me, cell phone integration, presence detection, and simultaneous ring.

There’s one feature Intuitive Voice Technology neglected to mention that most other Asterisk solutions don’t have but IVT does- and that’s call screening. In my Cool Stuff at ITEXPO post I espoused IVT’s Evolution PBX 3.0 product and how it’s one of the few Asterisk-based solutions that supports call screening.

Just yesterday in my Voiceroute article, Voiceroute was claiming their Asterisk front-end GUI was better than anything on the market, including FreePBX and now today Intuitive Voice Technology is claiming they are the "best of the best" in the Asterisk universe.

The Asterisk (Asteroids?) Wars have begun…

Or even better - to quote Yoda - "The Asterisk Clone Wars have begun…"

Of course, the Asterisk Clone Wars been going on behind the scene for awhile. If you’re in the Asterisk community you already knew this. It’s getting almost as bad as the VoIP Clone Wars.

Well, soon we shall have a battle royale between all the Asterisk players… Digium’s Asterisk vs. Trixbox vs CentPBX vs. Elastix vs. Fonality vs. Intuitive Voice Technology vs. Voiceroute vs. PBX-in-a-Flash vs. PBXact, etc. etc. It’ll be Clash of the Titans! Fun times ahead for the Asterisk community.  Competition is a good thing and will help drive Asterisk to only get better & better.

Actual IVT news release after the jump…

Continue reading Intuitive Voice Technology Calls Out other Asterisk Competitors - Asterisk Clone Wars Have Begun……

Tags: Asterisk, CentPBX, Elastix, Fonality, Intuitive Voice Technology, IP-PBX, PBXact, PBX-in-a-Flash, Trixbox, VoIP

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Cellphones

Well, would you look at this? Not quite a year after we got some pretty strong whiffs of the SGH-F110 fitness phone, the rumor has at long last become a reality. Heck, even the model name stayed the same. Slated to launch in the UK next month, the Samsung / Adidas F110 (miCoach) is out to take on the mighty Nike+ training system, and besides the obligatory heartbeat monitor and step counter, the handset also boasts a built-in MP3 player / FM tuner, two-inch LCD and a two-megapixel camera. Additionally, the currently unpriced phone will chime in when you’re not running hard enough, but feel free to drown it out with jams packed on the 1GB of internal memory.

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Peripherals

Sure, we’ve seen input peripherals stretch the core meaning of the word “mouse,” but few have done it better than Simtrix. First up in the Swiftpoint series is the TriPed (on left), which was designed to be held much like a pen if needed and is aimed primarily at tablet PC / tabletop computer users; according to the firm, it “provides seamless transitioning between mouse, pen, and text entry.” Moving on, we’ve got the equally zany Slider, which looks to grab more attention by being able to operate when sliding over a keyboard. Granted, folks with ergonomic / split boards are probably out of luck there, but that’s not to say your thumb still wouldn’t love this critter on a traditional mouse pad. Mum’s the word on pricing and availability at the moment, but we’ll keep an ear to the ground for whispers of either.

[Thanks, Dave]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Get ready to burn through your allowance, kids, as AMD is getting set to loose its Catalyst 8.3 drivers for all to indulge in. What does the download net you, exactly? Why, CrossFireX support, of course. Starting today, users can link up any combination of RV670- and R680-based products — that includes the Radeon HD 3850, Radeon HD 3870 and Radeon HD 3870 X2 — in order to acquire triple- and quad-GPU performance within Windows Vista. Additionally, the drivers also introduce ATI Hybrid Graphics support in Vista, which was boasted about already when the firm unveiled its upcoming 780G chipset. Check out the read link for the full list of changes, and keep an eye on the firm’s support page for v8.3 to surface any moment now.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops

While one generally associates “Everex” with “bargain basement,” we can’t exactly see the incredible value in the gPC mini. Hinted at late last month, this minuscule desktop is now getting all official on us and comes loaded with a 1.83GHz T2130 processor, 120GB hard drive, 512MB DDR2 RAM, a DVD writer and Intel’s GMA950 graphics set. Furthermore, it’s packin’ gigabit Ethernet, DVI / S-Video outs, FireWire, four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 multicard reader and audio / in out. Granted, you’ll have to deal with the gOS that comes loaded in, but hey, maybe that’s not such a thorn in some folks’ sides, anyway. Don’t worry, you’ve got until March 1st to mull it over, after which you can (hopefully) place your order at NewEgg.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Hailed as a rig that “gamers won’t outgrow,” the XPS 630 that we originally peeked at CES is finally official. As expected, the tower is ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI-ready and will support Intel’s Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme processors on the nForce 650i SLI chipset. You can beef things up with 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 1TB of HDD space or an optional Blu-ray drive and AGEIA PhysX accelerator, and you’ll have plenty of room for all those peripherals thanks to six total USB 2.0 ports, an optional 19-in-1 media card reader, gigabit Ethernet, audio in / out, FireWire and even PS/2 mouse and keyboard connectors. Also of note, it’s the first pre-fab PC to support the Enthusiast System Architecture (ESA), and you can snag your own for as little as $1,249 right now. Click on through for more of the breakdown. Oh, and if you’re interested to see how this beast stacks up, you can check out reviews from PC Mag and Computer Shopper.

Continue reading Dell’s XPS 630 gaming desktop gets official, reviewed

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Just yesterday we learned that Hitachi’s Ultra Thin LCD lineup would be gifted with ultra-wideband technology courtesy of Tzero, and now it seems that the family is edging ever closer to hitting storefronts outside of Japan. Reportedly, the series will include the 32-inch UT32MH70, the 37-inch UT37MX70 and the 42-inch UT42MX70, all of which will feature IPS LCD technology. Additionally, a digital tuner for the UT series should be available in October, and while pricing still remains a mystery, the smallest of the three is set to hit Europe in April while the larger two arrive in May and June, respectively.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Remember that intriguing KP-900 that came our way courtesy of the FCC late last month? Turns out, this creature is getting all official on us today, with Universal proudly proclaiming that its newest IR / RF dual-use remote will be debuting at the Electronic House Expo in Orlando next month. The multifaceted gizmo is made to be retrofitted into any home that could use a wall-mounted home automation controller and a sophisticated home theater remote, and it should be hitting authorized dealer locations next month for $599. Not bad, not bad at all.

[Via Widescreen Review]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Lugging around a DSLR just isn’t for everyone, and Canon’s got the heart of the market covered with their Powershot digicams. The ELPH series has always focused on compact and stylish design, and the new 8-megapixel SD1100 IS is no exception. Small enough that you won’t set off anyone’s “photographer nearby” alarm, and you can even pick a color that blends with your wardrobe for more stealth; available in brown, pink, blue and champagne. Even quick snaps might turn out with the help of the image stabilization. A little less fashion minded (and less expensive) but no less capable are the A-series cams, the A590 IS, A580 and A470. We’ve spilled the details on these before, so check out the gallery if you’re looking for your next P&S.

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Original post by Steven Kim