Leander Kahney's Blog, page 1464

This Awesome Accessory Turns an iPhone Into a Fully Functional Microscope

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We've seen some truly great accessories for the iPhone this year and the SkyLight should should certainly be counted among them. The SkyLight is a sleek, easy to use adapter that can connect an iPhone to a microscope. In an effort to overcome the global shortage in trained healthcare workers, SkyLight's creators hope to connect doctors and nurses to patients in developing nations and rural areas.

By holding an iPhone steady over the eyepiece where an image is formed, SkyLight makes it incredibly easy to take pictures and video through the microscope. Once recorded, the pictures and videos are then saved on the phone and can be emailed to doctors, shared on social media sites, or saved for later use. Another interesting idea is that with the use of FaceTime doctors can examine samples remotely and provide immediate feedback.
The SkyLight's universal compatibility allows previously owned technology (microscopes) to be upgraded to the digital age with the use of readily available new technology (smartphones). Rather than spending funds on costly new microscopes, schools and medical teams will be able to use the SkyLight to adapt new technology to their needs.

While working on a low-cost microscope for developing countries, SkyLight's inventor, Andy Miller, saw a need for a device that could help overcome a global shortage in trained healthcare workers. Hoping to revolutionize telemedicine by bringing together two previously disparate but widely available technologies, SkyLight plans to implement the new technology in developing areas of Africa as well as empower students in classrooms across the country who will find the SkyLight setup to be more intuitive than old fashioned microscopes.

If you're interested in helping the cause, SkyLight is currently looking for backers on KickStarter and only need $5000 more to reach their production goal of $15000.

 

 

[via KickStarter]

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Worst Idea Ever? iPhone App Tracks Employees

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If you have a micromanaging boss, watch out. GPS Punch! is a new iPhone app that promises to "track employee attendance in business situations."

And what are those situations? The free app says it can use the iPhone's GPS to "eliminate slacking off" as employees are on sales trips, since managers can see where their employees are and track their moves. It follows those sales employees on the road, ostensibly boosting sales calls by monitoring location history, so you can't hole up in a cafe somewhere instead.

Those road warriors can now get the "punch" from babysitting bosses in Japanese and English. (An Android version of the app is next up, they say.)

The pugilistic name of the app doesn't inspire good faith – at least from where I'm standing. (That's distracted, slovenly and away from prying eyes in my home office, if you really want to know.)

Just the fact that many employees (not just sales people who travel frequently) are expected to be available via cell phone in what used to be be off hours makes this seem more than a little unfair, though part and parcel of the ongoing trend of employers monitoring our digital footprints.

Then again, maybe I'm overreacting. It could just bee seen as an extension of the Foursquare check-in culture and apps like Reallymet, which provide alibis or the same informal function.

What do you think?

Via GPS Punch!

Follow @nmar

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Would You Buy an Android Tablet So Your Kids Leave Your iPad Alone?

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Toys R Us won't even start selling the Nabi Kids Tablet until next week, but it's already sold out in pre-orders.

Billed as the first full-featured Android platform made especially for kids, the 7-inch $200 tablet  comes loaded with about $150 in games and uses "kid-friendly" software. (Apparently they haven't seen how adroit the tykes are with grown-up versions.)

The device, designed by FUHU and manufactured by Foxconn, is being marketed to parents who want their kids to stop messing around with their iPads.

"The problem is you're not really comfortable with them playing with a $600 device," Jim Mitchell, CEO of FUHU told 7×7. "You get it back from them and the screen is smudged, they may have deleted some of your files, and so on. One of my colleague's son, who was maybe three or four, somehow ordered $250 worth of smurf toys on his iPad one night."

The smudge factor plus low price of the tablet may draw parents in, but like many toys for children, the must-have appeal comes from the cool extras that kids will hound you for until you give in.

"We won't make huge money on the tablet itself," Mitchell says. "It's the accessories that go with it that will be profitable for us." These include cute add-ons for the rubber bumper case like a Hello Kitty or Kung Fu Panda head.

The Nabi Tablet also comes equipped with "Mommy Mode," so that once your kids are in bed you can do whatever one does with an Android tablet that you wouldn't want your kids to do.

Would you consider buying your kid a starter Android tablet?

Via 7×7

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EA Is Giving Away Games For The Holidays

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Ever since Electronic Artists (EA) started investing in the mobile games scene, the company has produced a flurry of titles that have been a big hit with Apple fans. With the combination of console to iOS ports (FIFA 12, NBA JAM, Dead Space) and original content made exclusively for iOS (Max & the Magic Marker, Fantasy Safari), EA has become one of the hottest game developers for the iPhone and iPad.

Now that we're rolling into the holiday season, EA is starting to feel the Christmas spirit and has created a "Daily Deals" page that highlights new deals on their most popular games.

Updated daily, the site will feature new games every day that are either free or discounted for super cheap. Right now the site features Shift 2 Unleased for free on both the iPhone and iPad as well as Road Trippin' and Fantasy Safari. Discounted games are available for iPad, iPhone, and even Android if that's your weapon of choice.

If you're always on the look out for great new games for your iOS device but don't enjoy the experience of paying $6.99 for an app you'll only play once, then you should definitely bookmark EaMobile.com/dailydeals and check up on the great deals EA is prepared to give fans.

[via EA]

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Apple Is Internally Testing A New Quad-Core iPhone With 720p, 16:9 Display [Rumor]

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With every new iPhone, we know to expect a faster processor and faster GPU. However, a weird report coming out of Germany says that Apple isn't just testing new CPUs and GPUs for the next generation of iPhone… they are also testing some truly bizarro resolutions that could indicate that Apple will radically redesign the iPhone in 2012 to be even higher resolution and with an entirely new aspect ratio.

German Mac blog Macerkopf is reporting (Google translation) that two sources independently tell them Apple is internally testing a number of configurations for new iOS devices internally, in both quad-core and dual-core CPU varieties.

What's weirder, though, are the resolutions of the devices Apple is reportedly testing. One is the standard Retina Display, a 960 x 640 resolution affair. But here's where it gets interesting: Macerkopf says that Apple is also testing a 1280 x 720 (or 720p) device (that display would be similar to the LG Nitro HD's display), as well as an utterly bizarre 1440 x 800 device.

Why are these resolutions so notable? Well, they are totally different aspect ratios than the current iPhone, which has a 3:2 aspect ratio. The 720p display has an aspect ratio of 16:9, but the 1440 x 800 device is just odd. In fact, it's so odd, that it makes me wonder if it's not just a typo: maybe they meant 1440 x 900, which is, again, an HD standard 16:9 widescreen resolution. Makes a lot more sense.

Right now, there's only a single report from a site with a spotty track record on making Apple predictions, so take this all with a grain of salt, especially given how loathe Apple is to fragment iOS between different aspect ratios (they've only done it once, with the iPad). But if — big if! — Macerkopf is right, we could see a new iPhone next year boasting a higher density display and a totally new aspect ratio in 2012. Between that, the iPad 3 and the possibility of a proper iTV, 2012 is looking like it might be a hell of a year.

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How To Print Directions From The Maps App In iOS 5 [Tips]

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Having the Maps app on the iPhone is a lifesaver for me. Not only does it help me navigate my way around places I don't know, but it'll also tell me how to get there when I leave the house.

However, trying to read directions from an iPhone while driving isn't ideal, and it's certainly not safe. Fortunately, iOS 5 allows you to print your directions from directly within the Maps app as long as you have a printer compatible with AirPrint. Here's how!

To do this, open up the built-in Maps app and begin by tapping the 'Directions' button at the bottom. By default, your directions will automatically start from your current location, and the app will assume you're driving a car. But you can change these if necessary.

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Once you've told the app where you want to go, simply hit the 'Route' button in the top right-hand corner. The app will then calculate your route and present you with your directions.

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Now tap the options button in the bottom right-hand corner. Your map will curl up and you'll find there's a 'Print' button underneath — tap this!

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Now you can select your printer. It must be compatible with AirPrint or your iPhone will not find it. However, you can use an application such as Printopia on your Mac to connect to standard printers.

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Once you've selected your printer and the number of copies you'd like to print, simply hit the print button and your directions will be on their way.

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Save Over $700 In 11 Incredible Apps With MacUpdate's December 2011 Bundle [Deals]

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MacUpdate always knows how to throw a good bundle, and their Yuletime offering is no exception, offering 11 incredible apps for just $49.99, shaving nearly $700 off of their full retail value.

In any app bundle, a few pieces of software stand out from the rest of the crowd, and MacUpdate's December 2011 bundle is no exception. Here are some of the apps that catch our eye:

&bulkl; First, there is Postbox 3, the latest version of my personal favorite e-mail client for the Mac. For power users who need serious tools to manage their email, you can't do better than Postbox 3, which usually costs $30 on its own.

• Then there is TechToolPro 6, which headlines the bundle. It's a great app for making sure your drives don't meet with catastrophe, or saving them after they've seemingly given up the ghost. TechToolPro 6 usually costs $99.99 on its own.

• Neverwinter Nights 2 is a fantastic RPG by Obsidian Software, who have also done Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, two of my favorite RPGs of recent years. Like the first game, Neverwinter Nights isn't just an incredible RPG, it's also an incredible multiplayer role-playing experience. It usually costs $20.

Other apps in the pack include FontPack Pro Master Edition, audio equalizer app Hear, clipboard manager iClip5, DVD ripping software MacDVDRipper Pro 3, and TotalFinder 3, which adds tabs, hotkeys and other keys to finder. Plus many more besides.

All in all, MacUpdate's latest bundle has something for anyone. If you can only make use of one or two apps in this bundle, it's already paid for itself, so if you can afford $50 during this expensive season, head on over and drop it there.

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Apple's Next-Gen iTV Will Come With A6 Chip In Sizes Between 32- And 55-Inches [Report]

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Ever since Jobs enigmatically said in his bio that he had "cracked" the television problem, people have been going nuts speculating… and Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has gone so far as to say that the iTV will cost twice as much as a regular television set, and come in three different sizes.

Well, looks like Munster's forecast has some corroborating evidence. A new report not only says that Apple's iTV will come in three different sizes, but that it will also pack Apple's next-gen A6 CPU.

The story comes from the sometimes correct Smarthouse, who report:

Sources at a major Japanese company who are involved in manufacturing the TV believe that the 55″ model will compete with new Smart TVs from Samsung and LG that will have new processors built in while offering a combination of OLED display, as well as new Super HD TV technology from LG.

Okay, let's say all of this is true. Even Apple can't expect people to pay twice as much for an A6-powered, Siri-equipped iTV as any other smart TV on the market. So if this is all for real, what else does Apple have to offer, and why can't they just slap it into a set-top box? Kinect-like motion detection? What is going to justify the price, and how will Apple keep people upgrading their sets? All important questions.

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Apple Named As Defendent In Carrier IQ Class Action Lawsuit

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Despite the fact that Apple allows users an easy way to opt out of the service, have removed it entirely from most of their phones and that Apple's implementation of Carrier IQ tracks no personal information whatsoever, guess what? Cupertino's been named in a class action lawsuit over the notorious keylogging software, along with a host of other hardware makers, all of whom are way more guilty.

The class action lawsuit has been lodged against Apple, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Carrier IQ.

At issue, of course, is Carrier IQ, the invasive "diagnostics" software / keylogger that logs pretty much everything you do on an Android phone.

The lawsuit reads:

The carriers and manufacturers last month were caught willfully violating customers' privacy rights in direct violation of federal law. A technology blogger in Connecticut discovered last month that software designed and sold by California-based Carrier IQ, Inc. was secretly tracking personal and sensitive information of the cell phone users without the consent or knowledge of the users. On Nov. 30, 2011, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary said in a letter to Carrier IQ that "these actions may violate federal privacy laws." It added, "this is potentially a very serious matter."

It's worth noting that no hardware manufacturers seem to be responsible for Carrier IQ. Rather, it's software that is installed on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile phones at the carriers' insistence. So HTC, Samsung and Motorola all being named is pretty bogus: they had nothing to do with the Carrier IQ software being installed on their phones.

Even so, Apple is especially blameless of any wrongdoing here. Not only does Carrier IQ not track iPhone users' personal information, but what information it does track can be opted out of. In addition, Apple has already turned its back on Carrier IQ, promising to remove the software totally from all handsets out there. Still, there's more potential money to be made from Apple than any other company on this list, so I suppose it's not surprising that they have popped up as a defendant in a class action lawsuit. In fact, I'll eat my half of this is the only one.

[via

Kindle Fire Will "Vaporize" Android Tablets, But Be Gateway Drug To iPad

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Amazon's Kindle Fire could be the gateway drug for iPad users. That's the belief of one analyst who sees the $199 7-inch device as a way for consumers to get a taste for tablets and want more — like the iPad.

"If anything, we think Apple views the Kindle Fire as a device that stands to bring incremental consumers to the tablet market," J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz writes. Although reviewers have panned the Kindle Fire as being underpowered and not up to the iPad's performance, that very lack could consumers to "gravitate to more feature-rich experiences," Moskowitz adds. In other words, the Kindle Fire could be used as an iPad with training wheels.

Despite all the talk that the Kindle Fire could become the No. 2 tablet, not many people are worried in Cupertino. There's "not much concern in tablet town," the analyst says.

Echoing that opinion, Evercore Partners' Robert Cihra writes today Amazon will "vaporize" all Android tablets that are selling for a profit. Although the Kindle Fire is a credible challenge to the iPad, its success comes from selling the tablet at cost. Cihra estimates Amazon will have 50 percent of the Android tablet market in 2012.

Meanwhile, Apple continues flattening the competition, skimming the cream from each. First, Apple decimated the PC business, sending rivals into a tailspin of cheap computers while selling boatloads of iMacs and MacBooks. Then the iPhone turned the smartphone market upside down, derailing longtime leaders. The iPad is just the latest example.

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