Archive for the 'Wireless' Category
DDH Software has just updated its iPhone HanDBase rational database application for the iPhone to 4.1.0. New for the version is a the Carbon Fiber theme, snazzy icon, and a choose database file cabinet screen with collapsing folder Pop-up Bubbles. The cabinet bubbles are for selecting Views, Popup values, Field, and Database actions. Other enhancements include database sorts can now use a right side quick index. You can run reports with graphs and all! A new security feature allows you to protect databases on the phone when accessed via Desktop Connect.
To learn more about HanDBase for the iPhone, visit DDH Software’s site
IDAPT, a Spanish company specializing in mobile energy technology, is announcing its portable charging systems product line for 2010. The three models in the IDAPT line – i4, i3, and i2 – were showcased at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.
IDAPT charging stations bring a complete and affordable solution to consumers with multiple mobile devices that each have unique charging cords. Its simple interchangeable tips system allows users to charge up to four devices at once without the mess of four different tangled wires, or the need for more than one outlet plug.
Of course, different mobile users have different needs: IDAPT’s models give consumers the option for more or less charging capacity. The i4, which is the highlight of the product line, has four points of charge, including a USB port. The i3 and i2 offer three and two points, respectively, and use the same interchangeable tips as the i4.
The IDAPT interchangeable tips are compatible with over 3,500 devices (Apple, Garmin, Blackberry, Sony, Nintendo, etc.), making the IDAPT a completely customizable charging solution for any home, office, or bedroom. IDAPT is committed to forward capability by creating new charging tips as soon as new devices hit the market. Users will also appreciate the two-button “quick release” feature to the tips, which allows for safe and easy ejection.
“We understand the modern hassle of juggling several different charging systems on a daily basis,” says Jeremy Patay of IDAPT. “That’s why we created the IDAPT: it offers organization and powerful simplicity for a truly affordable price.”
More reasonably priced than its competitors, the IDAPT universal charger is available from $34.95, which includes 6 charging tips. Additional tips can also be sold separately for $9.99 each. For more information, visit www.idaptweb.com or email contact@idaptweb.com.
Today at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show, Verizon Wireless and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) announced the Jan. 25 availability of Palm® Pre™ Plus and Palm Pixi™ Plus, bringing the Palm webOS™ experience to customers on the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless 3G network.
Palm Pre Plus has a large, vivid touch screen; high-performance processor; and slide-out keyboard. The Pre Plus keyboard makes for quick and easy typing, while the unique gesture area provides a sleek look and intuitive navigation. Pre Plus also comes with the Palm Touchstone™ Back Cover, making the phone compatible with the revolutionary inductive Touchstone Charging Dock (sold separately). Verizon Wireless Pre Plus customers will also get 16 GB of storage (approximately 15 GB user available) for applications and media.
Feature-rich, Pre Plus and Pixi Plus offer Verizon Wireless customers greater flexibility for access to the Internet with Wi-Fi. In addition, the all-new Palm mobile hotspot, a webOS app that can be downloaded from the Palm App Catalog, gives customers the option of creating a personal Wi-Fi cloud capable of sharing the reliability and high-speed Internet connectivity of the Verizon Wireless 3G network with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as notebooks, netbooks, cameras, gaming devices or portable media/MP3 players.
Social communicators and first-time smartphone buyers who want an affordable and customizable phone and instant access to messaging and Web content will love Pixi Plus. Customers have a host of options for personalizing their phones with the separately-sold Palm Pixi Artist Series Back Covers (www.palm.com/artistseries) and new color Pixi Touchstone Back Covers, which will be available in pink, blue, green, orange and black.
“The Palm experience is all about helping our customers stay connected so they never miss a thing,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re constantly enriching this experience with new features and innovations. The Verizon Wireless launch of Pre Plus and Pixi Plus is the next phase in delivering this unique Palm experience to more people.”
“The Palm webOS family is a great addition to Verizon Wireless’ robust line-up of smartphones,” said John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “The outstanding capabilities and functionalities on both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus give customers a wealth of customization options to help them manage their lives. Customers get the latest technology from Palm along with the nation’s largest and most reliable 3G network for an unsurpassed mobile experience.”
Following are key features and specifications available on both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus:
· webOS – Allows customers to run multiple applications simultaneously and provides over-the-air software updates delivered automatically to their devices
· Palm Synergy™ – Brings customers’ information from the many places it resides into a single, more comprehensive view
· Unobtrusive notifications and universal search
· Palm App Catalog – Currently offers more than 1,000 webOS applications for download
· High-speed connectivity
· Gesture area – Enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
· Full QWERTY keyboard
· High-performance, desktop-class Web browser
· Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
· Integrated GPS
· Robust messaging support (combining IM, SMS and MMS capabilities)
· E-mail, including EAS (for access to corporate Microsoft Exchange servers) and personal e-mail support (Google Gmail™ push, Yahoo!®, POP3, IMAP)
· VZ NavigatorSM – Allows customers to get audible turn-by-turn directions to more than 15 million points of interest and share the directions with others
· USB mass storage mode
· Proximity sensor – Automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display when consumers put their phones to their ears
· Light sensor – Reduces power usage by dimming the display if the ambient light is dark
· Accelerometer – Automatically orients Web pages and photos
· Ringer switch – Easily silences the device with one touch
· Removable, rechargeable battery
· Multimedia options, including pictures, video playback and music as well as a camera with LED flash and a standard 3.5 mm headset jack
· Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
· Charger/microUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Additional Palm Pre Plus Specs
· 3.0 megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field
· Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
· Dimensions: 2.35” x 3.96” x 0.67”
· Weight: 4.89 ounces
Additional Palm Pixi Plus Specs
· 2.0 megapixel camera with LED flash
· Fixed QWERTY keyboard
· Dimensions: 2.17” x 4.37” x 0.43”
· Weight: 3.26 ounces
Availability:
· Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus will be available online at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning Jan. 25. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.
· 3G mobile hotspot is a separately-purchased feature added to a voice and data plan.
· For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.
TASER International Inc., a market leader in technologies that protect life, will introduce a groundbreaking new family safety platform called PROTECTOR during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that runs from January 7-10 in Las Vegas, NV.
PROTECTOR is a revolutionary toolset that gives parents the ability to supervise their children’s mobile phone usage and driving behaviors. Parents can manage the contact lists and content of their child’s mobile phone – including calls, texts, emails, photos and video, and can automatically limit phone functionality to prevent dangerous distractions while driving. PROTECTOR uses integrated GPS, allowing parents to track their child’s location, monitor driving habits, and release vital records to the authorities in emergency situations.
“Our mission at TASER International is to protect life – PROTECTOR is our latest technology breakthrough to further our mission by empowering families to protect the most precious of lives: our children,” says Rick Smith, CEO and founder of TASER International. “Auto accidents are the leading cause of death among American teenagers, and distracted driving is becoming a major factor in these accidents. PROTECTOR will play a significant role in addressing this national tragedy.”
“Keeping my family safe is crucial, but being engaged and staying involved in my kids’ lives is important too. With PROTECTOR, I can do both,” says Smith. “Many kids spend more time with their mobile phone than their families, and most parents have been helpless, in the dark as to who their kids are interacting with and what kind of content their kids are exposed to every day. PROTECTOR empowers parents to stay involved and provide parenting guidance in a fast moving, mobile world.”
PROTECTOR works on multiple devices, each managed through an intuitive control panel accessible through a smart phone, PC, MAC or smart TV. Parents can control who their children interact with and monitor their mobile phone activity and driving behavior at any time – and change permissions and settings in real time. PROTECTOR is carrier-independent and seamlessly connects parents and children, even if they’re on different cellular networks.
Smith adds, “It’s unlike anything on the market today. PROTECTOR is a technologically advanced, yet flexible product suite that grows with the family by providing controls as needs and situations change – from a child’s first mobile phone through the critical teenage years. PROTECTOR adapts as children mature. Through a simple, user-friendly interface, parents can modify parameters or rules anytime.”
TASER will introduce PROTECTOR at CES from booth SOUTH 4 36200 in the Las Vegas Convention Center Thursday, January 7 through Sunday, January 10, 2010. PROTECTOR is anticipated to launch as a subscription service in mid 2010. More information will be available at www.PROTECTOR.com on January 7, 2010.
Lenovo today announced the industry’s first hybrid PC for consumers, the IdeaPad U1 hybrid notebook, featuring a groundbreaking detachable screen. The IdeaPad U1’s unique design is engineered to provide consumers with two PCs in one device – each with its own processor and operating system – that work together and independently as either a clamshell laptop or a multitouch slate tablet.
“The IdeaPad U1 hybrid notebook is a game-changing technology in the PC industry that lets user switch their PC experience within a single device to match their dynamic lifestyle,” said Liu Jun, senior vice president, Idea Product Group, Lenovo. “By fusing the functionality of a notebook with the slate tablet’s rich multitouch entertainment and mobile Internet experience, U1 provides consumers the freedom to choose the device they prefer for any activity.”
The IdeaPad U1’s fashionable scarlet red exterior has a footprint just smaller than a piece of notebook paper and is paired with an equally impressive 3.8 pound thin and light design. With its unique detach-and-converge design, users can easily remove the screen to instantly switch from clamshell mode into a multitouch slate tablet. When the IdeaPad U1 is in its traditional clamshell form, the system boasts an 11.6 inch HD LED screen and runs Windows 7. When the 1.6 pound, multitouch screen is removed, it becomes an independent slate tablet with a powerful ARM processor, running Lenovo’s customized Skylight operating system.
Two Brains are Better than One
Leveraging the benefits of both CPU, the two devices can synchronize to work as one with the ability to share battery power, 3G wireless, data and documents. In this way, the base laptop system can serve as a hub and docking station and the slate tablet as a mobile device. The two PCs have been engineered to work together and independently through Lenovo’s Hybrid Switch technology that enables seamless toggling between the two processors. For instance, users can surf the Web in laptop mode and then continue from the same point without interruption if they detach to tablet mode.
“Me Centric” User Interface Provides Instant Gratification for Today’s Consumers
Lenovo’s hybrid notebook also features a customized “Me” centric tablet interface for comfortable landscape and portrait viewing. Users can switch between a six-section display and a four section display. U1’s six-section screen display is designed to enhance the mobile internet experience by letting users easily multitouch access multiple Web-based applications at once such as email, calendars, RSS readers and social networking Web sites. The four-section screen display option is perfect as a media center on the PC such as photos, music, videos and to view/edit documents.
IdeaPad U1 Doubles Entertainment Fun
The IdeaPad U1’s laptop and tablet modes each support more than five hours of 3G Web browsing and 60 hours of 3G standby. In addition, the U1 comes with integrated video camera and two stereo speakers with integrated microphone with echo cancellation make this the ideal PC for users who need flexibility but do not want to compromise features or functionality.
Pricing and Availability
The Lenovo IdeaPad U1 hybrid notebook will be available June 1, 2010 with an estimated retail price of less than $1,000.1
For the latest Lenovo news, subscribe to Lenovo RSS feeds or follow Lenovo on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Lenovo’s activities at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas at LenovoSocial.com/Live.
GOGII, Inc. announces today the launch of textPlus, its popular next generation texting application, on the Android Market. Previously available only on the Apple App Store, the unique textPlus app now brings sponsor-supported free and unlimited messaging to Android users and allows them to have instant group “conversations” in text with friends on most U.S. carriers.
“We’ve already seen overwhelming consumer response to the textPlus app in the Apple App Store thanks to the millions of consumers who’ve embraced our game-changing features – from casual texters to the staggering number of consumers who text as their primary mode of communication,” said Scott Lahman, CEO and co-founder of GOGII. “We’re pleased to make textPlus available to Android users, and offer even more text-happy mobile consumers this tricked-out, next generation texting service.”
By leveraging GOGII’s interactive messaging technology, textPlus allows both old-style texting – one-to-one conversations – and next generation texting – rich, engaging environments and instant group text conversations. A useful ‘reply-all’ feature, similar to email, turns texting into a chatroom that lets users make plans with several friends at once, introduce people to one another or just carry on a group conversation – all in text and all for free.
Additional features make it easy for Android texters to make textPlus their preferred SMS service, including the international ability to send free messages from abroad to friends in the U.S. using a U.S. 10-digit phone number and free Notifications when messages come into the app, even when closed. What’s more, textPlus lets Android users communicate with friends who aren’t using the app – they simply pay for texts through their existing carrier plan.
GOGII expects the textPlus Android app to be met with the same degree of consumer fervor on the Android Market that it has on the Apple App Store. To date, the textPlus app has already seen almost 3.5 million downloads, and over 350 million messages have been sent using the service since June. And while only the top 5% of applications in the Apple App Store reach 100,000 unique monthly visitors, textPlus exceeded that by over 7 times in its second month of release.
Coming soon to Android are textPlus “text addresses,” which let users personalize texting and facilitate conversations, all without requiring a phone number.
The textPlus application can be downloaded for free from the Android Market.
Specifications – eStarling 802.11n Touchscreen Connected Frame
” Touchscreen: Full screen touch-sensitive screen for easy navigation
” LCD Display: 10.2 inch 16:9 (800X480) pixels Digital LCD with split-screen design for right sized image presentation and built-in high speed JPEG decoder/rendering engine
” Communications: WiFi 802.11b/g/n (WEP64, WEP128, WPA1, WPA2) connectivity and capable RJ45 Ethernet wired connectivity
” Interface: SD media card supported
” Memory Size: 2GB on-board FLASH Memory
” Power Source: External AC Adapter (Input: AC110~240V 50/60Hz, Output: 9V 1500mA)
” Weight: 2.4 Lbs
Features
” Independent Internet Appliance Design: The frame requires no computer for setup.
” Social Network Integration and RSS Support: Social network frame design allows frame to automatically access photos through Picasa, Flickr, Facebook, and more including a Twitter client to view your Twitter stream live.
” Immediate Direct Photo Emailing to Frame: Each frame has its own unique Gmail address so photos can be received from computers or mobile phones. A built-in email filter protects against unwanted photos. No setup is required for senders to send photos.
” Connected Video: All frames can receive videos up to 20MB in size that can be e-mailed directly to the frame.
” Automatic Firmware Updates: All active frames will receive automatic over-the-air firmware updates as new features and upgrades are added to the firmware.
” Dual Use Mode: If no Wi-Fi connection is available, the eStarling frame can operate as a stand-alone digital photo frame.
” Auto Power Saving: RTC-powered automatic shutdown feature for reliability and energy-saving
If you’re interested, you can purchase the mount for $19.99 today from NewerTech or OWC direct by visiting http://www.newertech.com/products/iphwinmount.php.
SvenOnTech is requesting a review unit and will let you know how this works out once we get it.
Magellan, one of the leading GPS brands, today announced an innovative new vehicle mount for the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and second generation iPod touch. With a built-in GPS receiver for improved navigation accuracy, the Premium Car Kit features an amplified speaker for crystal clear directions and enhanced Bluetooth hands-free calling and clear turn-by-turn directions.
For iPod touch 2G users, the GPS receiver in the Magellan Premium Car Kit allows true navigation functionality, turning the iPod touch into a complete car navigation system. Once the iPod touch is connected to the Premium Car Kit, a separate Bluetooth enabled mobile phone can be connected to it via Bluetooth for hands-free calling.
“Building on the ease of the Magellan RoadMate app, we are proud to introduce a cutting-edge Premium Car Kit that gives our consumers the entire in-car navigation experience from their iPhone or iPod touch,” said Peggy Fong, Chief Operating Officer for Magellan.
Features of the Premium Car Kit include the following:
Secure vehicle mounting for iPhone or iPod touch
Accommodates most silicon skins and hard shell cases
Adjustable mount securely rotates iPhone to either portrait or landscape mode for optimal positioning and widescreen route display
Recharges battery via the vehicle power outlet
Amplified speaker with volume control for loud and clear phone calls and directions
Noise canceling microphone for full duplex speakerphone operation
Auxiliary audio output (for connection to your car stereo)
Works with all navigation applications (including the Magellan RoadMate for iPhone application)
Bluetooth enables hands-free calling
Available now for pre-order, the car kit will retail for $129.99 and will be available at Amazon.com, Best Buy, and MagellanGPS.com.
So you’re sitting in the comforts of your warm home and your car is parked out front all cold and uninviting? Bundle up and tackle that frigid automobile until the heater makes things nice or you can pull out your iPhone and just start it from your couch!
Viper has just announced the Vehicle Remote Start & Security application for the iPhone (with limited support for the iPod touch) that when coupled with a $500 box installed to your vehicle will let you remotely start the car, toggle the locks, pop the trunk, and beep the horn. The application works with multiple vehicles equipped with the Viper hardware and is only limited to cellular connection for the vehicle and Wi-Fi or a cellular connection on your iPhone.
Viper has a pretty sweet demo on its Facebook fan page with an option to win one of these cool remote devices.
While I love this whole set up, I have to say, $500 is a pricey for just starting your car and unlocking it. Still, really cool idea and makes OnStar that much lamer. 