FocuSoft Tech Blog

Exclusive: Apple dictated Light Peak creation to Intel, could begin migration from other standards as early as 2010
Sprint Instinct HD Impressions: Shockingly Decent 720p Video Doesn’t Save It [Sprint Instinct Hd]
Microsoft’s New Windows 7 Ads: Colorful! [Ads]
Own a Piece of Gizmodo Gallery ‘09! [Giz Gallery 09]
Jabra, you got me good with the Stone headset teaser pack
iPhone Gets MMS, Apple/AT&T Instantly Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Said MMS [Crime]
Super Mario Bros 3 USB HDD: awesome, or waste of a perfectly good NES cartridge?
Computer scientist mods Xbox 360 to detect heart attacks, girls still mysteriously elusive
How to Trick Your Cameraphone Into Taking Non-Crappy Shots [Guides]
HTC TouchFLO 3D Exposed on Video, Looks Damn Hot [Htc]

Exclusive: Apple dictated Light Peak creation to Intel, could begin migration from other standards as early as 2010

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 03:02 PM PDT

Remember how Intel showed off its new, advanced optical standard — Light Peak — this past week on a Hackintosh? Well it turns out there’s more to that story than you probably know, and it all leads back to some revealing facts about the connection… literally and figuratively. Engadget has learned — thanks to an extremely reliable source — that not only is Apple complicit in the development of Light Peak, but the company actually brought the concept to Intel and asked them to create it. More to the point, the new standard will play a hugely important role in upcoming products from Cupertino.

Continue reading Exclusive: Apple dictated Light Peak creation to Intel, could begin migration from other standards as early as 2010

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Handhelds, Laptops

Exclusive: Apple dictated Light Peak creation to Intel, could begin migration from other standards as early as 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint Instinct HD Impressions: Shockingly Decent 720p Video Doesn’t Save It [Sprint Instinct Hd]

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 02:30 PM PDT

The Instinct software feels pretty damn dated now, and the Instinct HD doesn’t make it feel any fresher. But, the hardware is a deadly serious upgrade: It can shoot 720p HD video and 5MP photos, plus it finally has Wi-Fi.

It’s also got Opera MIni 9.7 off the bat, a capable, though not phenomenal browser, along with (crappy) apps for Facebook and Twitter, besides the usual Sprint stock: Navigation, Live TV, etc. Overall, the experience feels clunky and, far too often, frustratingly laggy.

Why anyone would buy this $250 (or $200 at Best Buy) faux-smartphone over the much cheaper, more elegant, and just plain better Palm Pre or HTC Hero—which are real and excellent smartphones on Sprint—I don’t know. The welcome addition 720p video isn’t worth it, even if it is pretty decent vs. the Flip Ultra HD:

[Sprint]

The rest is here:
Sprint Instinct HD Impressions: Shockingly Decent 720p Video Doesn’t Save It [Sprint Instinct Hd]

Microsoft’s New Windows 7 Ads: Colorful! [Ads]

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 02:15 PM PDT

Microsoft let loose with a crop of new ads for Windows 7, and they’re actually not bad, aside from that weird line about “waiting for a spaceship” in the first one.

They focus on the new UI elements (Aero Shake, new Start Bar, themes), which is probably smart given that Windows 7’s main competition, Snow Leopard, has barely any visible changes from its predecessor. I like the emphasis on Windows 7’s bright shiny colors, too. Will the ads convince people to go out and buy the OS? Who knows; I’m not really sure there’s a lot of mainstream enthusiasm or knowledge about upgrading an OS. But these ads probably won’t hurt matters. Check out a couple more over at CNET. [CNET]

Microsofts New Windows 7 Ads: Colorful! [Ads]

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Microsoft’s New Windows 7 Ads: Colorful! [Ads]

Own a Piece of Gizmodo Gallery ‘09! [Giz Gallery 09]

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 01:50 PM PDT

OK here’s your chance to permanently own a piece of the magic that was Gizmodo Gallery ‘09. The whizkids over at Upcycle Design who designed all our furniture, are putting all the pieces up for sale.

All the furniture was made from single sheets of maple plywood, and was designed so that no materials went to waste. There are tables, stands, desks, display cases and a few other custom pieces, so come by and take a look at them. Here’s the rough, approximate pricing list.

Cubes: $75 a piece

Display Cases: 40 to 60 depending on size

Gizmodo Desks: $225

Lego Bins: $225 with Legos

Greeting Desk: $225

Netbook display: $125

If there’s something you see and want to make an offer, feel free. Just shoot an email over to gallery@gizmodo.com with the subject line “Gallery Furniture”.

Own a Piece of Gizmodo Gallery 09! [Giz Gallery 09]

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Own a Piece of Gizmodo Gallery ‘09! [Giz Gallery 09]

Jabra, you got me good with the Stone headset teaser pack

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 01:32 PM PDT

So I got home a few minutes ago, grabbed the mail and sat down to watch Michigan sneak a win over Indiana. I noticed a small, black package in the mail, but I didn’t care about it until I was sure that Michigan was going to hold off Indiana. After all, I thought, it was probably just another flash drive with some random press release on it. After Michigan intercepted the ball – and the call was upheld – I opened it up only to find a small satchel and a card that clearly showed the Jabra Stone teaser image.

Oh man, we’ve already seen what it’s suppose to look like but I didn’t think the Stone was suppose to come out for another couple of weeks, I thought. So I quickly opened the black pouch and was instantly disappointed. You suck, Jabra.

The black pouch held a stone. It wasn’t the headset at all. It was an eff’n rock with a website address engraved on it. Clever? Yes, but it’s also mean to do that to a gadget blogger. Jabra has always been good to us here and I thought perhaps they sent us the headset for an early look. But nope, what they sent us could have been a lump of cool. Ah well, it’s not like Jabra is developing a vaccine for AIDs, the Stone is just another Bluetooth headset and the world already has enough options in that department.

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Jabra, you got me good with the Stone headset teaser pack

iPhone Gets MMS, Apple/AT&T Instantly Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Said MMS [Crime]

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 01:30 PM PDT

d258b9c769elarge.jpg iPhone Gets MMS, Apple/AT&T Instantly Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Said MMS [Crime] Apple class-action lawsuit, case file #23423: A Minnesota iPhone owner joined a class-action lawsuit to punish Apple and AT&T for failing to provide MMS by “late summer” as promised. Evidence: MMS came out post-Labor-Day, which is officially autumn. The horror!

Kyle Irving of Minneapolis was told he would have MMS when he purchased his iPhone in late June, yet it took another two months to arrive, which surely is a crime heinous enough to warrant yet another go-nowhere class-action lawsuit. The Minnesota suit will be grouped with similar suits from other states, though it’s not clear exactly how much money in damages is being sought.

Not to make light of AT&T’s inability to get MMS, a long-established and fairly basic feature, onto its top-selling phone, but suing for having to go two months without MMS is awfully silly. [Twin Cities, thanks Ponies!]

iPhone Gets MMS, Apple/AT&T Instantly Hit With Class Action Lawsuit Over Said MMS [Crime]

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iPhone Gets MMS, Apple/AT&T Instantly Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Said MMS [Crime]

Super Mario Bros 3 USB HDD: awesome, or waste of a perfectly good NES cartridge?

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 01:05 PM PDT

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This is a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, you’ve basically got the coolest external drive ever created. A 160GB hard drive is stuck inside this cartridge with no other modifications but the port; it fits right in its original sleeve. It’s even bus-powered!

il_fullxfull.91515410

But! On the other hand, this is a Super Mario Bros 3 cartridge. It’d be like desecrating the temple of my youth. I could have dragged out my old NES and played SMB3 all day. Of course, I’ve already got two copies of the game, but still — what if they break? Or are stolen and turned into hard drives?

It’s available from French Etsy seller LilyPixelArtshop for $120, and… wait, is that a gold Zelda cartridge? Sacrilege!

[via Geeksugar]

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Super Mario Bros 3 USB HDD: awesome, or waste of a perfectly good NES cartridge?

Computer scientist mods Xbox 360 to detect heart attacks, girls still mysteriously elusive

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 01:04 PM PDT

We’ve seen so many mods around here that sometimes it’s truly hard to get excited over the minor stuff. Well, this doesn’t fall into that category in any way. A computer scientist at the University in Warwick has developed a method to use Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to detect heart defects and help prevent heart attacks. Based on a demo created by Simon Scarle a few years back when he worked at Rare studio, it’s based on a modded chip that — instead of producing graphics for the game — now produces data tracking how the electrical signals in the heart moves about damaged cells, creating a model of it. The model can then be used to help doctors to identify defects and disturbances in the heart’s beating. This significantly decreases the costs and complications of creating a model of the heart, which is currently done by supercomputers and is very expensive. Scarle’s project and findings were just published in the August issue of the Journal of Computational Biology and Chemistry. Looks like we’ll all have a response the next time someone tells us that gaming is good for nothing, right?

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming, Science

Computer scientist mods Xbox 360 to detect heart attacks, girls still mysteriously elusive originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to Trick Your Cameraphone Into Taking Non-Crappy Shots [Guides]

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 12:45 PM PDT

d9d72ed33c094952.jpg How to Trick Your Cameraphone Into Taking Non Crappy Shots [Guides] Today’s Lifehacker Top Ten list shows a half-score ways to get the most out of that most humble of lenses (short of the iPod Nano): The cameraphone. From DVD-laser macro lenses to editing tricks, it’s a great guide. [Lifehacker]

See the rest here:
How to Trick Your Cameraphone Into Taking Non-Crappy Shots [Guides]

HTC TouchFLO 3D Exposed on Video, Looks Damn Hot [Htc]

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 12:00 PM PDT

Set to debut on the HTC Leo/HD2/whatever, we’ve seen screenshots of HTC’s updated TouchFLO 3D but now we’ve got some video. PocketNow managed to install it onto a Touch Pro2, and despite that handset’s lesser specs it looks nicely smooth.

The Touch Pro2 only has a last-gen Qualcomm chipset and TouchFLO 3D is still running buttery smooth, so we can only imagine how well it’ll run with the Leo’s 1GHz Snapdragon. The early build of the WinMo skin is available on XDA-Devs, if you want to give it a try. [PocketNow via MobileTechWorld via Engadget]