Haven’t quite gotten your fill of the Galaxy S4? We haven’t, either. First came the announcement , then the obligatory berating posts about the crazy launch event, followed by the review , which brings us to this fateful judgement day. Will the Galaxy S4 fly or die? The answer is clear, and still multi-layered. There’s no doubt that the Galaxy S4 — packed to the max with the best specs in town — will sell more than its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. Not only does it have a 5-inch 1080p display, a speedy little quad-core Snapdragon 600 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera, but it has a whole bevy of new software features that are sure to delight and surprise. But what does the GS4 tells us about Samsung’s greater strategy Read more »
Fly Or Die: BlackBerry Z10
The BlackBerry Z10 running the new BB10 operating system is a pivotal phone for the company formerly known as RIM. It’s BlackBerry’s flagship all-touch device, and while it has fine specs and cool features, the phone may not be enough to save the beleaguered Waterloo-based company. To be clear, the BlackBerry Z10 is not a bad phone by any means. According to various sources, the phone’s launches in the UK and Canada were quite successful. It has respectable specs, including a 1280X768 4.2-inch display, an 8-megapixel camera, NFC, LTE, and plenty of storage, and that doesn’t include all of the nifty features built into BB10. Unfortunately, many of those features and specs are already on competing phones from Android OEMs and Apple, making it difficult to convince users on other platforms to jump ship. Even messaging, which BlackBerry has taken to a new level, might not be enough to pull Android and iOS users from their respective platforms. Read more »
Want: LG’s Pocket Photo, A Tiny, NFC-Friendly Photo Printer
LG and CES are made for each other. The company may not make the best smartphones (with the exception of Google’s Nexus 4), or get the most attention all year round, but when they whip out the big screen TVs at their massive CES booth, it’s easy to get on the “Life’s Good” bandwagon. Unfortunately, TechCrunch is one of the few attendees at the show that isn’t all that interested in television, which is why we were so pleased to stumble upon this cute little NFC printer, the LG Pocket Photo. It’s incredibly small — you can probably fit the little guy in your back pocket — and it uses a new Z-ink (or Zero ink) technology to print 2×3-inch photos. Through the magical power of NFC, users can simply tap their LG phone against the printer and in 30 seconds the picture goes from a file on a smartphone to a photo in your wallet. Users can also transfer photos through Bluetooth and USB. Simply download the app, and from there you can add skins, text, etc Read more »
Rumor: Apple Building Bluetooth Smart Watch
According to Chinese gadget news site Tech.163 , Apple may be in the process of developing its own smart watch that connects to your Apple devices via Bluetooth. Based on the report, Intel will be working with Apple to create the smart watch, with a 1.5-inch PMOLED display made by RiTDisplay with ITO-coated glass. Apple has long had a small hold on the watch market thanks to its iPod nano, which is easily attached to a wrist band turning it into a full-functioning watch. Recently, however, smart watches have grown increasingly popular. Sony, for instance, has a new offering called the Smart Watch , and we can’t forget how Pebble blew up Kickstarter with it’s e-paper Smart Watch that connects to iOS and Android devices. Users are looking for more and more connectivity, and as it stands now, an iPod nano with no Bluetooth connection to a user’s phone or tablet is becoming less attractive Read more »
“Jewel In The Night”, The First Christmas Carol From Space
The first ever musical recording in space (that we know of anyway) was performed just a few days ago on the International Space Station by Col. Chris Hadfield, commander of the International Space Station. The song, which is already climbing up Reddit’s r/Music page , is an original Christmas Carol called Jewel in the Night. Based on the commander’s Facebook and Twitter pages, he and his crew are celebrating Christmas in every way possible while they’re away from their families. They even have a Christmas tree on the ceiling, thanks to what the commander calls “the beauty of a weightless Christmas.” Col. Hadfield is married, with three adult children, one of whom sent us his Christmas Carol. The song is interesting, as it depicts Christmas from a birds’ eye perspective, from space. The International Space Station crew is spending Christmas as far away from Earth as possible, and while I try to stick with the classics, no situation is more suited to an original melody. Here’s the SoundCloud file: It’s crazy to think that someday, probably soon, when space travel has become a consumer industry, that this could be the Christmas Carol of outer space. Read more »
Gift Guide: ThinkGeek iCade 8-Bitty Wireless Game Controller
Short Version ThinkGeek’s iCade 8-Bitty wireless gaming controller is pretty adorable, though limited. It has a retro feel, eliciting nostalgia for Super Nintendo, and hooks up easily with both iOS and Android devices. The games, however, are limited to various emulators like Atari’s Greatest Hits and Pac Man. These are great games and appeal to just about anyone, but the retro controller supports exactly what you’d expect: old games, not new ones. Long Version Features: 8 button control including 4 face buttons, select, start, two shoulder buttons, and D-pad Wireless Bluetooth connection Automatic power-save mode Retro design Compatible with iCade games on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and Android Info: MSRP: $29.99 Available: Now Product Page The iCade 8-bitty is… … a wireless retro gaming controller built for old-school games on new school devices. By pairing the controller via Bluetooth with the iPad, iPhone or an Android device, user can play games like Pac Man from the comfort of an NES style controller. Truth be told, there aren’t a whole lot of compatible games for the 8-bitty . Developers can freely add support for the iCade, and some like Temple Run have and Pac Man . However, the biggest collection of compatible games is Atari’s Greatest Hits , which in itself packs over 100 classic Atari games, but is only available on iPad Read more »
Flipboard Goes Big, Launches Support For 10-Inch Android Tablets
Flipboard has just launched its social magazine app to support Android tablets, including the Nexus 10, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Tab line. Flipboard is an app that aggregates your RSS info, social networks, etc. to create a beautiful, flippable magazine. In fact, the app won Best Touch Interface at the 2011 Crunchies . But making sure that interface creates the same experience across all platforms has proven tough, as Flipboard didn’t migrate over to Android at all until June of this year . Since then, the app’s been available across the entire iOS ecosystem and Android smartphones, and the Kindle Fire and Nook tablets. But today marks a complete expansion into Android. This is as big as Flipboard’s ever had to go in terms of optimization. But according to the release, Flipboard worked directly with Samsung to optimize page layouts for the wider screen of some Android devices Read more »
Team BlackBerry, RIM’s Biggest Fans, Are Super Excited About BB10
In a marketing move almost as clever as bringing unannounced devices to an NBA game , RIM has rounded up 20 of BlackBerry’s biggest fans to take a look at the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, which will most certainly make or break the Canada-based phone maker. The lucky ducks were sent to RIM’s Waterloo headquarters to get a quick hands-on demo of the new OS, and even got to meet with the one and only Thorsten Heins, RIM’s CEO. And if there’s one group that can be safely called excited about RIM’s forthcoming OS launch, it’s the BlackBerry loyalists. In the video, you’ll hear plenty of buzzwords like “seamless,” “natural,” and “game-changer.” One guy even calls it a “rebirth” (no joke). But there are also some concrete bits of true praise, which RIM deserves, especially when it comes to multitasking and communication management. RIM recently demoed a pre-release build of the new software in London, showing a feature called BlackBerry Hub Read more »
CreativeWorx Launches TimeTracker, A Hands-Free Time Tracking Software For Creatives
We’ve seen a growing need for time tracking enterprise software. 1DayLater has aimed to solve the problem in the UK, and Harvest has built up quite the user-base here in the States, but a new service built by former Adobe executives at CreativeWorx looks to streamline the process in a way that makes time-tracking almost entirely hands-free. Whether you work at an agency as a creative, or do your own freelance work, TimeTracker has no start or stop button, and no tagging requirements. Read more »
NFC Is Great, But Mobile Payments Solve A Problem That Doesn’t Exist
For the past few years, we’ve been told over and over again that NFC will eventually replace the common wallet. Read more »