Leander Kahney's Blog, page 1472

Physical Print is Poised to Make a Comeback Thanks to this Little Printer and Your iPhone

I never thought that I could possibly get excited about using a printer, but the design team at BERG has made that a reality thanks to their newest invention. If you're like me, then one of the first things you do in the morning is check your feeds and messages to catch up on anything that might have happened while you were sleeping. Cellphones are great for accessing information, but the problem is you have to constantly check up on them to make sure you're up-to-date, and sloshing through all of the content you missed can take a while. Little Printer aims to make print more relevant by compiling information and printing it on to neat little sheets to be consumed at the time of your choosing.

Connected to the Web, Little Printer has a wide range of sources available to check on your behalf. They call them "publications". Subscribe to your favorites and choose when you'd like them delivered. Right on time Little Printer gathers everything it needs to prepare a neat little personalized package, printed as soon as you press the button.
Paper doesn't seem like the most obvious medium to consume information in an age where LCD's have quickly become our preferred mode of reading, but one of the benefits of paper is that it's always on. Messages can be posted on a fridge, bulletin board, or tucked away for later reading. You don't have to worry about spilling milk on your cellphone while catching up on the latest news thanks to the Little Printer. It seems pretty ironic that paper is being used to relay information from our digitally connected world, but it's hard to argue against the practicality that the Little Printer brings by merging the old world with the new. Plus, check out how awesome that Little Printer looks. It's design is simple and intuitive. The perfect companion for the iPhone.

Little Printer holds a compact, inkless, thermal printer so you don't have to deal with the hassle of changing ink cartridges every few weeks. Its zero-configuration wireless connection to the Web (via the Bridge unit, included) lets you place it wherever you have a power outlet. Little Printer is constructed in high-gloss injected moulded plastic and the brushed steel faceplate holds the paper, framing each delivery as it prints.

BERG's Little Printer is set for a 2012 release that will be supported on both iOS and Android platforms.

[via The Verge]

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Published on November 29, 2011 13:23

Apple Pulled iTether From The App Store To Keep Carriers Happy

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We told you about iTether last night, a new app in the App Store that let anyone have unlimited tethering from their iPhone's 3G connection for a one-time purchase of $15.

We were all amazed that iTether made it past Apple's stringent App Store review process, and no one expected the app to remain available for very long. Apple has since pulled iTether from the App Store, and the developers behind the app have explained why.

iTether is developed by the folks at Tether.com, a well known company with similar apps for both Blackberry and Android. Tether has been featured in publications like The New York Times, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch.

In an official statement provided by Tether this morning, the company explains why Apple pulled their app:

Around 12PM EST, Apple called our head office to let us know they were going to go ahead and pull our app iTether from the App Store. They stated it was because the app itself burdens the carrier network, however they offered us no way to remedy the solution… We were very clear when listing the app what the primary function was and they even followed up with several questions and requested a video demo then they approved the application.

We strongly disagree that it burdens a carrier's network, as from our own data history on more than 500,000 users we know the average user consumes less than 200 MBs of data per month on Tether. In comparison, one TV show streamed from Netflix, an approved Apple App, could easily be in the 300-400 MBs range. Sure, there are some users that will consume way more than the average however that's the case with any of these types of products.

Our team is very disappointed in Apple's decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line. It is very anti-competitive to not allow any Tethering application to enter into this space to innovate. Our team has created a lot of innovative solutions for the BlackBerry product, which we were hoping to port over to the iPhone like end-to-end encryption, compression, website filtering and port filtering.

According to Apple, users who purchase iTether before it was pulled will continue to be able to use the product.

Our team is evaluating all of our options… Stay tuned.

There is currently an app in the Cydia store for jailbreakers called "iTether," but the app is made by a different developer.

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Published on November 29, 2011 13:22

Easily Access Your Camera Roll While Taking Photos In The Camera App [iOS Tips]

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The other day a friend and I were discussing the merits of the iPhone 4S camera and the new software features in iOS 5. He was grumbling about not being able to see his camera roll after taking some snapshots. His complaint was that he had to switch between apps and leave the Camera app to go to the Photos app just to see the photos he just took. I explained to him that he didn't have to launch that app to see his photos. Today I'll show you how.

If you are in the middle of an important photo shoot of your significant other or some other equally important subject, it might be nice to check how your photos are coming out. You can check your photos without leaving the Camera app by swiping from left to right. This will make your camera roll appear. As you continue to flip from left to right you'll see more photos in your Camera Roll.

If you need to return to shooting photos, tap once to show the onscreen image controls, and hit the camera icon to return to that all-important photo shoot.

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Published on November 29, 2011 12:08

Use Windows Phone 7 On Your iPhone Now, No Jailbreak Required

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It's probably not very popular to say on a Mac blog, but Windows Phone 7 is actually pretty damn good. Not iOS good, of course, but it does a lot of cool, unique things, and unlike Android, doesn't just rip off Apple's ideas wholesale: its tiled Metro UI is very pretty, very informative, very smart and its own thing entirely.

Even so, if you're on an iPhone, you aren't likely to envy Windows Phone owners very much, but if you want to see how the other half lives — and find out for yourself that it's not actually that bad — Microsoft has just posted a WP7 emulator in HTML5 on their official site.

To test it out, just go here on your iPhone or iPad, and you can take Windows Phone 7′s Metro UI for a drive. It's informative stuff, not least because the Metro UI will be the cornerstone of Microsoft's Windows 8 tablet UI, which could potentially give the iPad a run for its money sometime in 2012 where Honeycomb has so far failed. Operative word being could.

[via OS X Daily]

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Published on November 29, 2011 11:50

iOS 5.1 Beta Offers Developers Limited Siri Integration

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So far, nothing in the iOS 5.1 beta seeded yesterday has supported the rumors that Apple would add new capabilities to Siri with the first official point update, but there is at least one big new addition to Siri with the release of yesterday's beta: it gives developers limited Siri integration.

Ars Technica reports:

A source confirmed to Ars that a handful of the new iOS 5.1 APIs allow developers to specifically handle the response from Siri's speech-recognition servers. These APIs don't allow developers to integrate Siri support for controlling an app the way that Apple has with, say, Messages or Reminders. But it does open up the possibility to better handle text dictation input.

Better yet, it implies that opening SIri's advanced functionality up to app developers is a work-in-process that will get more robust in time.

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Published on November 29, 2011 11:35

U.S. Government Wasted $200,000 On Worthless Heat Safety App [Occupy App Store]

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The U.S. Government isn't exactly known for smart spending, but at least that $10,000 hammer actually works. That's more than the Department of Labor can say after they blew almost $200,000 on an utterly crappy app for the iPhone and Android.

The app in question is the OSHA Heat Safety Tool, available for free from the App Store. The stated goal of the app is to give access to the heat index where your work, and then converts that temperature into a safety level and offers up some tips on working safely in those conditions.

Okay, not bad so far. That could be useful. But as of writing, the OSHA Heat Index has a lowly average of a one-and-a-half star rating on iTunes. "Amazed at the incompetence," writes one reviewer. "Did a five year old write this app?" puzzles another.

Sounds pretty terrible, but here's the kicker: a Freedom of Information Act request reveals that the U.S. Government spent over $96,000 to make this app, along with another $106,467 to make the Android version.

And for all that, the app doesn't even work. Rich Jones, who discovered the extravagant spending and craptacular app, describes the app thusly:

Pardon my French, but I really cannot stress how bad this application is. Firstly, it isn't actually capable of the function it is supposed to do. When I first tried the application, it told me that it was currently 140F in Boston. It is also extremely slow, it looks like butt, and it crashes all the time. It is completely horrible in every way. If I had to reproduce it, I'd say that it would take me about 6 hours at the maximum. At my hourly rate of $100, that's $600.

In other words, the U.S. government has overpaid for this app by roughly $198,800. And after all that, it doesn't even work correctly. One thing's for sure: that's quite the racket the app's developer Eastern Research Group has put together.

Forget about Occupy Wall Street. Looking at this wasteful spending on useless apps, maybe it's time to Occupy App Store?

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Published on November 29, 2011 10:18

Acer: Apple is Beating Our Brains In, But Third-World Still Loves Our Netbooks

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Photo by Wesley Fryer - http://flic.kr/p/6eqHEt

Despite being caught in Apple's vise-like iPad and MacBook Air grip, Acer continues on with the belief there must be a market somewhere remaining for netbooks – maybe China. Monday, the head of the company's China operations said "emerging markets" could boost vanishing profits. On Monday, the head of the company's China operations said "emerging markets" could boost vanishing profits. In other words, everyone else may think netbooks suck, but they're still good enough for those third-world citizens who don't know any better.

According to industry publication DigiTimes, Acer vice president Scott Lin admits netbooks "only contribute limited profits," yet said emerging markets "normally place large amounts of orders" for the devices largely consumed by Apple. Although Acer leads the netbook market with 1.7 million units sold in the third quarter, the Cupertino, Calif. tablet maker sold 11.2 million iPads during the same time – more than Acer, Asustek and Samsung netbooks combined.

The enormous demand for iPads over netbooks helped push Acer to its first quarterly loss during the second quarter. Little consolation came from the bizarre whistling-past-the-graveyard remarks by Acer Chairman J.T. Wang, who told investors consumers were just caught in a tablet "fever" that would soon recede (like Acer's profits?) The Acer head is known for his spot-on predictions, like his 2010 pronouncement that the iPad would drop to 20 percent of tablet sales. Apple currently has more than 60 percent of the market and there's no noticeable slippage in sight.

If netbook makers still think they can weather the iPad storm, there is also the MacBook Air – the $999 notebook that ate away any other reason consumers might have had to buy the cheap devices. The MacBook Air went from 8 percent of Apple's notebook sales to 28 percent in just months. Now there is talk the MacBook Air could see an even steeper price cut as Apple preps a reported 15-inch model for early 2012.

But there could be some hope for Acer. Intel had promoted its Ultrabook laptops as defense against Apple eating more PC sales. However, unlike the devices' "no-compromise" marketing, the chip giant won't budge of its profits, causing some Ultrabook fans — including Acer — to jump ship.

However, betting it all on China may not be wise for Acer. The Asian nation has one of the largest markets, but it is not a miracle-worker. As we've reported, as China's consumers become wealthier, they tend to prefer Apple products.

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Published on November 29, 2011 06:55

Get iOS-Style Copy & Paste On Your Mac Thanks To This Awesome Utility From Pilotmoon

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Last week, we published a video how-to that demonstrated a number of simple ways you can make Mac OS X look and act more like iOS. To be added to that list is an awesome new utility from Pilotmoon that makes the copy & paste function on your Mac look just like the copy & paste function on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

The utility is called PopClip and it's available now in the Mac App Store for $4.99, but you can download a free trial from the Pilotmoon website. Once installed, PopClip puts an icon in your menu bar which provides you with quick and easy access, and you can customize its functions to suit you.

But its main attraction is that when you select a piece of text, PopClip displays iOS-like copy & paste options that look much better than the default menus in Mac OS X — in my opinion. You don't have to right-click, it just appears automatically. And if you don't use it, it'll disappear when you move your mouse.

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What's more, PopClip also detects hyperlinks and email addresses when they're selected, and provides you with the option to open them; and it'll correct words you misspell when OS X doesn't do it automatically. It'll also look up definitions, just like iOS, but chooses to open up your Mac's Dictionary application rather than the little overlay, which is a little frustrating.

I think $4.99 is a little expensive for such a simple tweak, but it is pretty awesome. Would you like to see iOS-style menus built into the Mac OS?

[via The Next Web]

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Published on November 29, 2011 06:42

Beautiful Glass Multitouch Keyboard And Mouse Can Make Any Mac More Futuristic

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Do you love typing on your iPad, the feel of your digits drumming atop virtualized letters glowing out of slippery glass? No, we thought not: for serious typing, few do, which is why the iPad keyboard case market is doing so well. So I have some haptic problems with this Kickstarter project to bring a wireless multi-touch glass keyboard and mouse to market. Aesthetically, though? Gorgeous.

The keyboard and mouse combo uses infrared LEDs mounted along the edge of the glass, causing light to bounce around inside the glass. When a finger taps down on a key or button, it distorts the light; that distortion is then captured by a miniature camera, which runs the math and calculates which key was being hit.

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Finally, a mouse even prettier and less ergonomic than one of Apple's own.

It's a very nifty trick, and there's no doubt that this keyboard and mouse would look wonderful sitting in front of an iMac. Even better? The software is open source, allowing other developers to come up with their own drivers for the peripherals:

Imagine a mouse that can select objects and zoom like an iPad or rotate puzzle parts while moving them to position, or a keyboard that can toggle from a standard keyboard to a tool to smear separate areas of color for each finger on an image. You might want to toggle your number pad off and dedicate that space to video-editing CAD design or music mixing. The functions of these spaces are limited only by our imagination!

A $150 Kickstarter pledge will guarantee you the mouse, while $250 or more will guarantee you the keyboard. There's still 32 days to go, and the project has already made half the $50,000 backing it needs to get off the ground, so it seems like a lock this will enter production.

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Published on November 29, 2011 06:38

Art Professor Draws His Hero, Steve Jobs, Using Nothing But Descriptive Words

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According to redditor cheeseboyhalpert (doubtlessly a nom de plume), this portrait of Steve Jobs was created out of nothing but words, beautiful words.

Cheeseboy — an art professor — assigned his students the task of drawing their hero using nothing but descriptive word, a somewhat advanced art technique. Here's how Prof. Cheeseboy describes the process:

If you have trouble seeing accurate proportions, I recommend researching the grid drawing method. Create a one inch grid on your photograph to draw from and then very lightly create a one inch grid on your drawing paper. Use each square to help you identify where key landmarks on the drawing should be placed. Once you have a very light line drawing and have a good idea of where the darkest parts of the drawing will be, erase the grid. From there, start writing the words you choose in the darkest spots first. Once you get them fairly dark, start writing bigger words in the mid tone areas. It's basically understanding that the smaller the words are, the darker the area will be. Also it's a matter of How many layers of words you use in a particular spot. Save the lightest areas for the end. The lighter areas should have the largest, most spaced out words.

The end result is impressive, although surely I'm not the only one who sees the word 'sexy' staring out of Steve's shoulder blade.

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Published on November 29, 2011 06:10