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QR Code
Here's an update on that QR Code snippet we ran yesterday .....chimpomatic.com encoded.
18th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
GPush
The GPush application finally went on sale today, bringing Gmail instant-notification push email belatedly to the iPhone. £0.59 well spent in the App Store - get it here.
Of course, this makes it very likely that Google will flick the switch to enable it by default, as they have with the Android handsets and the Palm Pre...
17th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Untwisted Words
That new Radiohead single we blabbed about last week is official - and it's available for free right now, at both their webstore and Mininova, just in case even getting it off the man for free is too much to bear.
17th Aug 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
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Snow Leopard Purrs Into Town
the latest in the never-ending big cat Mac OS updates is on the way - Snow Leopard should be out some time in September. doesn't sound like there's anything too wow about it, but some Quicktime updates might make it worth the $$$
15th Aug 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Contortionist Bike
nice design, hope it goes into production. never really liked the look of trad fold-up bikes
13th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Project-o-cam
The future's been on the horizon for quite a while now, but gadgets like the new Nikon S1000PJ camera make it seem closer. No, it's not a Pearl Jam edition, but they tiny camera does contain a built in projector for throwing your recently taken photos up on a wall, like a 21st century family slideshow.
Fingers crossed and maybe they'll put one of these in the next iPhone.
5th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Spotify For iPhone review
hands on review of the Spotify app for iPhone. sounds interesting, though £120 a year to stream everything seems pretty steep in a way. although that's only 12 albums in ye olde music dollars I guess... less impressed with the dude's test playlists
4th Aug 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
SKY+HD 3D ADSL XBOX
Sky has announced their plans to roll out 3D TV next year, via the existing Sky+ HD box. You'll need special comedy glasses of course, but unfortunately you'll also need a new TV.
Tucked away in the announcement is the new that Sky will also be adding Video-on-demand to the Sky+ box in 2010, which will hopefully include the iPlayer...
The Guardian has the details.
Update: Some sniffing around also unearthed the Sky Player / Xbox tie-up, allowing you to watch your Sky content via XBOZ. Could be handy for that upstairs bedroom.
31st Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
3D Monster Maze
News of the BBC's plans to shoot Syntax Era - a comedy drama based on the rivalry between Clive Sinclair and Chris Curry (ie the Curry who gave us Curry's) in the 1980s (should be on BBC4 this Oct) - got me thinking about the genius of the ZX81 (the iPhone of its time kids) - and specifically the joy of playing 3D Monster Maze. With the help of the hefty 16K external memory booster megapack stuck on the outside of the hard-drive/membrane keyboard/CPU, and several hours spent getting it to "download" from the memory stick cassette player, you could be transported into another dimension.
The object was simple: run through the maze to the exit, or be eaten alive by a giant T-Rex. You could run a bit faster than the monster - but thanks to the hours of ambient time spent walking around the identical walls, waiting for it to arrive, and the seconds it took to pounce when it did finally show up, more often than not you were chomped up instantly after waiting for ages. No weapons. No extra lives. Just the chance to do it all over again. Existential terror has never been colder or more accurately detailed in pixel form. Good times.
31st Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Pimp/Unpimp My Ride
Turn your car into a low-budget Transformer (AKA 2010 Transformers Special Edition Chevy Camaro) with this kit.
31st Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Judgement Day: An Update
Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man
30th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Electrosmog
Allergic to WIFI? DJ Steve Miller claims he is, and it's hardly an implausible thought. I shudder to think what colour the atmosphere would be if all the waves we pump out weren't invisible.
29th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Lunar Rover!
Great variation on that Beastie Boys driving game we reported on last month - here's an official Lunar Rover simulator, which lets you cruise around the Apollo landing sites ...and in fact, the entire moon.
UPDATE: Try the Lunar Lander too.
28th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
SpotifiPhone
Spotify have announced an iPhone version of their excellent music streaming program - and have submitted the app to Apple for approval. Assuming it gets accepted, this could be a possible game changer for me, as the thought of owning any more CDs now has zero appeal. This thing requires a premium Spotify account, which will set you back £1 a day or £10 a month, but that will provide access to several million tracks - and no ads.
Spotify are also planning a US roll-out of their service. More info at WIRED.
27th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Dumpster Swimming Pool
I guess in England, we'd use a skip for this.
Update: Oops. Too late.
24th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Japan's Smart Phones
why isn't anyone else into Japan's smart phones?
24th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Data Overload
Interesting article up at Wired about tracking and documenting every facet of your life - a situation I'm sure countless people have found themselves in recently with the barrage of easy-to-use web apps.
I've been trying to cut back and streamline my own activities for many of the same reasons.
23rd Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
De-spotify
Microsoft look set to launch their own competitor to Spotify, with the focus seeming to be to draw attention to their iPod rival, Zune.
With Spotify itself not actually operating in the US, there's certainly room for something like this - although if Apple flipped the switch to allow full stream playback in iTunes they'd be in a pretty superior position themselves.
More info at the Telegraph.
23rd Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Feed The Monster
Web 2.0 has really been picking up speed recently, and with Twitter seeming to catch up with Facebook in terms of mass popularity, let's have a look what else is out there.
Tumblr is somewhere between Twitter and a full blown blog, and in terms of customization it's pretty nifty. You can totally customise the code, and pull in data from other sources (e.g. our main content feed). Their business plan seems to involve ads on the home page, which like Twitter is made up of posts by other people you are following (e.g. Look At This Fucking Hipster). Check out ours and follow us here.
That following aspect is the big selling point for us, as a way of dragging new readers onto the mothership (www.chimpomatic.com), as well as adding some bonus data on the move, as Tumblr and Twitter are very iPhone friendly. In order to keep all our feeds and so on alive, we're using Twitterfeed, which can pull RSS content from any source and auto-Twitter it for you - hence our always up to date Twitter feed. That Twitter feed is then handy to post everything to your Facebook page.
Yahoo's Fire Eagle and Google's Latitude are likely to take off next, allowing you to easily update your location for selected people to find you. While there's something of a privacy issue, I don't think too many people will really care - or will select exactly who they wish to share that data with. Several location based social-networking services are already using the Fire Eagle service - for example Dopplr (there's that dumb spelling again), which is a travel based info-sharing service. Haven't quite got my head around that one yet, but will keep you updated...
22nd Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Augmented Reality
'Augmented Reality' is one of the buzz words of the moment, with location aware hardware and applications allowing you to add layers of data over a real-world interface. Check out this demo, where a GPS and Compass enabled iPhone can tell where you are and which way you are facing, before overlaying data and directions to nearby Tube stations. The App promises to be launched when iPhone OS 3.1 launches.
More data on Wikipedia.
22nd Jul 2009 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
5 Bike Apps
People are coming up with all sort of ingenious uses for the iPhone - typically as a means of replacing some other piece of hardware. WIRED has a round up of 5 bike-tech replacement apps.
21st Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Real Megabots
Gizmodo has some data on the mega-robots that have been surfacing in Japan recently here and here.
14th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Flashy Handbag
Love this anti-paparazzi handbag, which has a slave flash inside and a glittering facade. Any pap flash guns cause the bag to instantly respond, ruining any potentially embarrassing photos.
13th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
They Promised Us Flying Cars
Come on Russian scientists! What's up with the flying car programme?!
9th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
HP Calculator apps
just in case you need to work out some important COS functions, here's a classic HP calculator app for the iPhone
6th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Power-less
The freaky-deaky world of wireless power is moving forward, with the new Palm Pre including a 'touchstone' power-pad - and now Wildcharge is offering a solution for the iPhone, which combines a desktop pad with a special case for the phone that includes the necessary black magic. That also has the possible advantage of letting all your devices charge of the one matt.
Wired has more details.
30th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Googlemaps Paris
The resort formally know as Euro Disney have let the Google cars in for a quick drive around - and now Disneyland Paris is mapped up.
24th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Death of a Blogger
A 2008 survey counted 133 million active blogs, but a 2009 follow-up notes that only 7.4 million of them have been updated in the last 120 days. That's a 95% failure rate.
18th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
BYO CD
Interesting developments on the way from Amazon, with a partnership with distribution start-up Tunecore allowing artists to get physical CDs onto Amazon's books, through a new short-run system.
Only problem is, does anyone still buy CDs? Tunecore are on top of that too as we already reported, allowing full distribution through Amazon's MP3 store - with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor paying the company a mere $38 to get his 4-disc album into the store, then receiving a 40% share of the Amazon retail price.
Wired has the story.
16th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
DJ "Gang" Download Scam
don't often link to the Daily Mail, but this iTunes scam report is pretty nuts
15th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Earth In Motion
If you thought yesterday's time lapse movies were good, then don't miss Wired's article featuring NASA sattelite time-lapse movies, that have taken literally years to shoot. Urbanisation of Dubai above, Amazon deforestation below.
#CSF
#Film
#Photography
#Space
#Tech
12th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Monsanto's House of the Future
Interesting piece up at Wired about Monsanto's 'House of the Future' - which was on put on display at Disneyland in 1957.
12th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Double Twist
I've been trying out Double Twist this week - the new project from notorious former hacker DVD Jon.
The program has a simple premise: bring management of all your phones/devices, photos and music into one place. You can plug in your smartphone, sync up photos, upload them to Facebook and Flickr, share files with friends - and also decode your protected purchases from the iTunes store.
It's a great concept and for certain phone users in particular (Blackberry/Windows Mobile) it'll solve a lot of problems. As a dedicated iPhone user however, it doesn't offer much that isn't already covered elsewhere.
11th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Google Chrome
With Google Chrome now available as a beta for the Mac, I'm already on the fence about jumping ship from the previously trusty Safari.
Safari is getting more and more features - especially with the upcoming 4.0 - but it's also getting more and more bloated. Chrome on the other hand keeps things incredibly simple and is lightning fast to load sites and the program itself it up and running in the blink of an eye. That might change as I bog it down with the extensive bookmarks collection, but for now - it's the speed king.
11th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Better than cable
The crew of the International Space Station jumped the queue to get a home copy of the new Star Trek movie - they were beamed up a copy direct from NASA.
9th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Lego Architect
When I was a kid, I was the Lego Architect. These days it's Frank Lloyd Wright. For middle class kids only.
9th Jun 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
WWDC: iPhone 3 and more
Apple's big World Wide Developer's Conference kicks off today in San Francisco, and while big boss Steve Jobs is still benched with illness, sidekick Phil Schiller is expected to make some big announcements.
A new iPhone seems almost certain, with improvements likely to be made to the camera, a possible magnetometer to add digital compass capabilities. The biggest changes will likely be coming through the new 3.0 software - which should also be available to existing handset owners.
Changes to the way apps can work on the phone should lead to some good developments - so there's bound to be some additional announcements from third-party manufacturers. Personally, I'm hoping for an iPhone version of Spotify - to match the recently announced Android version. A rumoured Apple netbook seems a little less likely for tomorrow, but they'd better get a move on with that as again, Google's already on the case - expanding their Android platform into Acer's new line.
There will also likely be a demo and possible release date for latest edition of OSX, 10.6 'Snow Leopard'. Grr.
8th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
McWifi
McDonald's may have thought their new black store-fronts were having a positive effect on business, but it turns out it's just the free Wifi. That's proved so popular, that they're having to re-jig the seating plans to stop people taking too long over their fast food.
19th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Undo Send
Ever wish you hadn't sent that email - or perhaps you're just frustrated that your emails are arriving too quickly. By enabling the Google Labs tab in your Gmail, you can play with a whole host of bonus features - including the option to delay sending for a few seconds, enabling you to change your mind after you hit the send button. CNN has the story, Google Labs has the technology.
14th May 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Uses For Nuclear Weapons
Whether it's for creating a new Panama Canal, or just to destroy other Nuclear waste - there was a time when there was thought to be many, practical, civilian uses fro Nuclear weapons.
12th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jamie Lidell v Nintendo DSi
Jamie Lidell's remixed a track on the new Nintendo DSi (ie the new gameboy w internet stuff). Looks like it's turned into a baby version of the Korg Kaoss pad which is quite nuts if it really works. Check the behind the scenes thing here
7th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Why the iPhone's days are numbered
Interesting article but aren't they missing the point slightly?
4th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Airfoil
Rogue Amoeba have released a free iPhone app (the creatively title Airfoil Speakers Touch) which turns their excellent Mac/PC desktop application Airfoil into a must-have.
Airfoil allows you to transmit the audio from any application on your laptop to the sound output of one of Apple's Airport Express routers. Indispensable for listening to Spotify without a dozen metres of cable tying you to the stereo.
If you're interested enough to still be reading, Airfoil Speakers Touch does away with the need for an Airport Express altogether, by turning your iPhone/iPod Touch into a receiver for the program to transmit to. Now you can sit your phone on top of the stereo and run a cable out of the line-out of the phone and into the line-in on your stereo while you pick your tunes from the comfort of a laptop on the sofa.
1st May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
6,000,000 FPS
If only Douglas Gordon and Mogwai had waited a little longer, they could have filmed Zidane at 6,000,000 frames per second for some proper slow motion, thanks to this new camera tech.
30th Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Zweiphone
Loving the old-school mod for the iPhone. Downgrade today.
29th Apr 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Squaremin
The Theramin lives! Check out this latest iteration of the movement-based instrument, The Squaremin.
29th Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Yes, No, Similar
Google's new similar images feature is a pretty interesting addition to their image search. Turning away from the more image title or context-based results, the technology alayzes the actual imge content and bring backs matches based on composition and colour. The bottom line is that it makes it very clear how everybody takes the same picture (see Notre Dame), even the pros (see Paris Hilton).
27th Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Pocket HD
The pocket handycam market has been picking up momentum recently, with Flip's original product selling huge amounts - not to mention fitting the bill on the recent chimp snow tour. Flip now have an HD version, which fits 720p in your pocket - and Kodak are amongst the brands offering similar rivals.
With more and more point-and-shoot pocket cameras now featuring HD video (try these: 1, 2) however, the market may be absorbed before it gets going - and rumours are already placing video recording and uploading into the next iPhone.
23rd Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
SkyPhone
A free Skype App has landed for the iPhone, meaning Skype-sized phone bills for calls to exotic numbers - or free calls to Skype buddies. It only works over WIFI, but with the free WIFI cover you get thrown in with the O2 package that's not much of a hurdle.
31st Mar 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet