FocuSoft Tech Blog |
- Is the iPhone romance fizzling out?
- Study: Crushing cigarettes in virtual reality may reduce smokers’ nicotine dependency
- Electrobite bizarre battery-powered trilobite [Video]
- Technology should be aspirational not confrontational
- Giger DIY $10k walking robot [Video]
- HP Envy 14 notebook tipped: ideal Core i5 candidate?
- Verizon Early Termination Fee leaps to $350
- DS and PSP Go fired through walls (just for the fun of it)
- Acer Liquid A1 gets previewed: speedy Android but little customization
| Is the iPhone romance fizzling out? Posted: 04 Nov 2009 01:04 PM PST
Apple announced today that the iPhone's App Store broke the 100,000-software mark, and app fever rages on. Heck, there's now an app for driving a car. But maybe apps aren't enough anymore. We were taken aback when readers flooded a post about AT&T improving cellphone service in Southern California with comments spitting venom at the telecom and threatening to jump ship to Verizon — iPhone or not. Funnier still, complaints about AT&T kept rolling in even as T-Mobile was experiencing a full-on outage that affected an estimated 5% of customers. Could it just be lust for Verizon's Droid, the telecom's first smartphone based on Google's Android operating system? Either way, it's comforting to know that we here in the States are not alone. CNet UK called the iPhone “the worst phone in the world” on Tuesday, adding that it was a great mobile device but terrible for making calls. CNet lays much of the blame on O2, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 3G S; other carriers offer the older models. On top of that, a survey released Tuesday makes iPhone owners look like shallow jerks. Among the damning statistics, Apple phone users are more attracted to other gadget owners rather than those with a college education, according to the Retrevo survey of 247 iPhone owners nationwide. Oh, and they also end relationships via text messages and e-mails, according to the survey, which is caused by their significant others spending too much time on their phones a quarter of the time. Of course, there haven't actually been any signs showing that iPhone users are tossing away their beloved devices — not even of slowed growth. AT&T reportedly added 4.3 million 3G-enabled devices in the third quarter and 3.2 million of those were iPhones. But the iPhone's public perception is no longer pristine. And Verizon, with its iDon't marketing campaign, wants to keep it that way. – Mark Milian Twitter: @markmilian Photo: Apple's Steve Jobs with an iPhone. Credit: Peer Grimm / European Pressphoto Agency Read the original here:
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| Study: Crushing cigarettes in virtual reality may reduce smokers’ nicotine dependency Posted: 04 Nov 2009 12:38 PM PST Destroying cigarettes in a virtual world may help smokers quit smoking. Credit: M. Spencer Green / Associated Press Could exorcising your unhealthy habits in a virtual world mitigate your desire to engage in them in the real one?A recent study by the GRAP Occupational Psychology Clinic and the University of Quebec in Gatineau found that smokers who destroyed cigarettes in a virtual reality experienced a significant reduction in nicotine addiction. A group of 91 smokers who were enrolled in a 12-week anti-smoking support group were split into two treatment groups. One group grasped computer-simulated balls and the other crushed computer-simulated cigarettes. After 12 weeks, 15% of the participants who crushed virtual cigarettes stopped smoking, while only 2% of those who grasped virtual balls reported abstinence. The participants were between 18 and 65 years old, with an average age of 44. They were in good general health, smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day and had been smoking for an average of 27 years. They came to the clinic once a week for the first four weeks, then once every two weeks for the last eight weeks of the study. After six months, the researchers called the participants, and 39% of the people who had crushed virtual cigarettes said they had not smoked in the last week, but only 20% of the people who had grasped virtual balls exercised the same restraint. The researchers believe further studies must be conducted to explain their results, but they have hypothesized various explanations about self-efficacy, motivation and learning. If destroying cigarettes in a virtual world could galvanize smokers to quit smoking, could throwing food and smashing alcohol bottles in virtual reality reduce obesity and alcoholism? It may not be so far fetched, at least according to this study. – Melissa Rohlin [via LATimes.com]
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| Electrobite bizarre battery-powered trilobite [Video] Posted: 04 Nov 2009 08:33 AM PST
Bizarre, metal and electrically powered, if you thought the Cupcake Cars were too cutesy then The Electrobite might be just up your street. Otherwise known by its mouthful of a Latin name – Sarriugarteis (Odontochile) trilobiteis – the battery-run bug is the handiwork of Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate and is another ex-Burning Man oddity.
Video after the cut BoingBoing have been out to have a ride, and it certainly looks like good fun. Not especially practical, mind; unlike the motorized Cupcakes, you don’t even get a matching hat never mind waterproofing for your shoulders. Still, if you’ve always wanted the feel of a sturdy, oversized Roman helmet in-between your thighs, then you’re unlikely to find a better way of achieveing it. Right now we don’t think there are any production plans intended for The Electrobite, but as Neiman Marcus have shown us, vague demand and a big check-book are usually enough to win the day. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Technology should be aspirational not confrontational Posted: 04 Nov 2009 05:59 AM PST
And that brings me to the point of today’s post. Technology should be aspirational, because the ability to aspire is what causes consumers to spend. Nike understands this. It’s not a subtle message, the only thing separating you from Michael Jordan and his ability is a pair of Nike shoes. In days gone by, PCs were sold with a programming language, the notion being you could use this tool to create great things. Later, it was HyperCard with Macintosh that took the creative paradigm one step further. Apple’s CEO at the time, John Sculley, was reported to have said when he saw HyperCard for the first time, “at last, I can program”. Programming computers might not be what most aspire for these days. Today, the most that many folks aspire to is to create playlists of their favorite songs or lightly edit a photo. It’s good to see both Microsoft and Apple extending their platforms with tools that can do more. There’s a reason that Apple ships iLife with all of their Macs (Hypercard itself is alas, no more) and Microsoft offers Windows Live Essentials. It’s to help create the inspirational environment. I’ve often argued that consumers consume content and don’t create it, that’s why they’re called consumers. It’s true, but that doesn’t mean that the industry shouldn’t strive to create products that fire the imagination and further spark creativity. Many may never care, others may aspire to the goal and in the end, never take advantage of the power to create and others may come up with the next big idea. Aspiration is good even if potential is never totally unleashed and frankly, I’d rather see more about companies telling me why their stuff is good and what it enables me to do as opposed to why their competition is bad or overpriced or hurts puppies and kittens. As the poet Robert Browning said, “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or else what’s a heaven for?” Let’s think the same way about consumer tech. So tell me, what do you aspire to? Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Giger DIY $10k walking robot [Video] Posted: 04 Nov 2009 05:14 AM PST
Now that might sound like an awful lot – probably because it is an awful lot – but you can blame the pro-quality servos. Tyberius used Dynamixels RX-64 and RX-28 units, which come in at $300 and $200 each, respectively; however unlike cheap servos they put out a whopping 1,000 ounces per inch of torque. We’re not sure what we like most about Giger: his classic Cylon-style eye, mean looking pincers, or how easily he segues from a butch fighting stance to a reasonably camp wave. Tyberius’ next job is tightening up the dynamic balancing and getting the walking gait more natural; right now Giger looks a little drunk. Video demo after the cut [via MAKE] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| HP Envy 14 notebook tipped: ideal Core i5 candidate? Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:50 AM PST
HP’s Envy range promises MacBook style at mainstream prices, but is there a gap in-between the 13.1-inch Envy 13 and the 15-inch Envy 15? HP seem to think so; according to a support page on the company’s site there’s an Envy 14 on the horizon, which we’d presume would offer a 14-inch display.
The document lists two potential machines, currently unnamed beyond “Envy 14-1000″, and there’s no sign of any specifications regarding the hardware. The existing Envy 13 uses an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, while the Envy 15 gets a Core i7 chip; it’s possible that the Envy 14 could slot in-between with one of Intel’s new Mobile Core i5 processors, expected to arrive in Q1 2010. Still, that’s all speculation, and so we’ll have to wait and see whether this pans out to a real product or gets cleaned up as sloppy support housekeeping on HP’s part. More on the Envy 13 and Envy 15 here. [via NotebookReview] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Verizon Early Termination Fee leaps to $350 Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:29 AM PST
We suppose we can’t really fault Verizon too much for wanting customers to honor their contracts rather than paying an early termination fee (ETF) of around half the phone’s value and then selling the handset for a profit on eBay, but our natural dislike of ETFs is perking up this morning. According to a leaked slide that found its way to the BGR, Verizon are now planning to charge up to $350 in termination fees on “Advanced Devices” – we’re guessing they mean smartphones or high-end featurephones – whose owners don’t complete the full term of the agreement.
The ETF does decrease by $10 for each month you remain a loyal customer, which means you could be looking at a slightly more palatable $230 halfway through the typical two-year contract. Still, it’s significantly higher than the new-line cancellation fee of $175 which some unscrupulous subscribers were taking advantage of to pick up, say, a buy-one-get-one-free BlackBerry, activate a second line, then cancel it and sell on the handset for a profit. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| DS and PSP Go fired through walls (just for the fun of it) Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:17 AM PST
Remember how Sony launched a PS3 at a BRAVIA flat-panel TV pretty much just for the fun of it? Well, they seem to have triggered a new trend of firing gaming hardware at solid objects, as French gaming magazine Amusement have included a photo-shoot involving Nintendo’s DS and Sony’s PSP Go being fired through walls.
The force of it causes both handhelds to come apart, it seems, with the DS’ top panel completely detaching from the base while the PSP Go’s sliding screen achieves the sort of tilt that you’d usually have to look to an HTC Touch Pro2 to achieve. Amusement’s accompanying feature was apparently about things that frustrate gamers – hence them throwing stuff very hard against their walls. We’re trying to find some legitimate reason why you’d want to do more of this – crash testing for Wiimotes, perhaps? – but we’re falling short on excuses. Looks like our partition walls are safe.
[via Kotaku] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Acer Liquid A1 gets previewed: speedy Android but little customization Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:06 AM PST
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 may have been making the Android headlines this week, but it’s not the first smartphone running Google’s open-source OS to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. That honor goes to the Acer Liquid A1 – though the company have apparently underclocked the CPU to 768MHz – set to be the first Snapdragon Android phone to reach consumers’ hands. Arne from the::unwired has been playing with the Liquid and has put together a “preview” review.
We’re still not entirely convinced by the Acer’s physical design, and we wish they’d done more to the smartphone’s UI too. Arne gives them credit for bundling the excellent RoadSync Exchange client - which goes some way to making up for their choice of Android 1.6 rather than 2.0, which has native Exchange support – along with some of their own apps for streaming media, improved local media control and social networking. In the end, the Liquid A1 scores highly for its performance and its stability, though it lacks some features many consumers might reckon are becoming essential: an LED flash, for instance, and an integrated Twitter client. It’s expected to hit shelves across Europe within the next few weeks. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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I had lunch recently with someone who was a recent transplant to NY from Silicon Valley. They commented on what a great thing it was to finally ditch their car for getting around as it’s a bit of a hindrance to own a car in Manhattan. I thought about this for a while afterward, mostly remembering the few years I lived in NY when I owned a car and kept it in NY. I never drove it anywhere for fear of losing the most sacred of things in NY, my parking space. As a result, it mostly sat unused except to move it from one side of the street to the other, twice a week. (I initially had dreamed of just garaging it until I discovered that for the same money, I could have gotten it three bedrooms and a 2 baths in a nice area in NJ). The key was, I had the potential of using it anytime I wanted to. Today, I live in the NJ suburbs, no more than 15 minutes from Manhattan without traffic. Ask me why, and I’ll tell you it’s to have the advantages of the suburbs but still be close to the great museums, theater and culture of NY. Of course you might want to ask me when the last time I went to one of the great museums or saw a show on Broadway. There’s an aspirational theme associated with all this. It’s not what I do. Rather what I could do.
Over at Let’s Make Robots! Tyberius is 
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