Devices Site

I’m not too sure why nearly every single software or hardware that has to do with Apple normally comes with the ‘i’ prefix, but hey, if it works just fine, there isn’t much to complain about as this would be but a minor gripe. MacSpeech has taken the opportunity to introduce its MacSpeech Dictate software for the Mac that utilizes Nuance’s speech processing engine to create one of the (claimed) most accurate commercial speech dictating software ever, even more so than iListen that was released way back in 2000 (and having seen a fair number of revisions since then).

Before you get too excited and start looking for a website where you can order or download this program, be prepared to be disappointed as MacSpeech Dictate is not shipping just yet since the software is still in beta. Those at the Macworld showfloor were not given the green light to spend some time with it - instead, a demo was shown to interested parties. Unfortunately, we all know that demos can be rather misleading at times so it remains to be seen whether performance in actual real life usage will actually pan out to be as claimed. Apparently, the demo showed that “training” the software to recognize your voice takes approximately 10 minutes (I wonder what happens when you get a sore throat?). You get a 95% accuracy rate with that, and from that point onwards, the software is smart and dynamic enough to learn based on your speech.

You get voice commands that enable you to correct errors should they appear, while there are also other commands which allow one to open, close, switch, and even control different Mac applications. Should your Mac be used by more than a single person who is interested in Dictate, the software is capable of storing a few profiles for individual voice. Those who do not speak in an American English accent will be pleased to note that Dictate has made allowances for other accents such as Australian English.

Source: Ars Technica

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LG loves touching when it released the V50 portable media player at the recently concluded CES, featuring a 2.2″ full touchscreen display along with video playback support, an image/text viewer and an integrated FM radio to keep you entertained on the road. You can choose from 2GB, 4GB or 8GB flavors, depending on just how much media you want to carry around on your daily commute. Battery life is rated at 24 hours for audio and 4.5 hours for video - just make sure you perform enough hand exercises while watching this on a long haul flight in order to avoid cramps.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But sometimes, a crummy copy is just a crummy copy. Take for example, this poor Taiwanese knock-off of the Apple iPhone. This thing makes no bones about its source of inspiration. Heck, they couldn’t even come up with an original name and just called it the iFone.

This wannabe version of the iPhone copies the basic case design of Apple’s beauty, but certainly falls short on the details. For starters, there’s no glass face or durable aluminum back here. We’re talking cheap plastic and shiny chrome plate. Plus, it looks like it’s about twice as thick as the real iPhone.

Under the hood, you won’t do too much better. It’s pretty much your run-of-the-mill MP3/MP4 player phone, with just 256MB of on-board memory (although you can expand storage up to 2GB with an SD card). Of course, the touchscreen isn’t multi-touch, and needs a stylus to function properly. On the other hand, the bargain basement iFone does offer video recording capability with its 2-megapixel camera - something Apple hasn’t yet added to the iPhone. It’s also not locked to to a single carrier. The phone supports all GSM/GPRS networks, has SMS and WAP capabilities, but no real HTML web browser. At least they did manage to include Bluetooth connectivity inside the iFone’s bulky shell.

But let’s get real here. If you really want an iPhone, save your money and buy a real one. The only reason you’d even think about buying one of these is if you’re a real cheapskate, and you don’t mind looking like one. If you’re still convinced that you must have one, the iFone is available for $165 from DealExtreme (including free shipping).

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apple, bluetooth, china, clone, fake, gprs, gsm, iphone, mp3, mp4, phone, taiwan, touchscreen

Stressed-out scientists can now relax with the Sandpendel, a mashup Zen sand-garden/physics-experiment desktop toy. Designed by Jürg Näf, the Sandpendel is based on Léon Foucault’s famous 19th-century experiment that demonstrated the Earth’s rotation. Details, plus another pic, are below.

The pendulum of Näf’s creation swings in a little orbit and traces fine track patterns in the sand. As the earth spins, the orbit moves gradually, so the pattern gets slowly modified. Since, however, Foucault went to great lengths to abolish friction in the real device, we’re a bit skeptical. Still, it produces pretty patterns and is way more novel than an old Newton’s cradle, even if it costs a largeish €239, around $350. [Singulier via 7Gadgets]

Samsung have announced their new Duo HD player, gaining appreciation of many HDTV owners around the world. The new Samsung BD-UP5500 Duo HD player can play back both HD formats, HD DVD, Blu-ray and also standard DVDs upscalled to 1080p. Duo HD / Dual formats players are the answer to the very annoying “HD format war” which leaves HDTV owners not knowing which format to go for.

Last year Samsung released their very popular, and CES award winning BD-UP5000 duo player, and this year hope to take things a step further with the Samsung BD-UP5500. This player will enable you to play back every HD disc avaliable, and also your old DVD collection at full 1080p HD out put via it’s HDMI 1.3 output. The slim and sleek duo HD player complies to Blu-ray profile 1.1, so it contains both secondary audio and video decoding for picture in picture features.

The BD-UP5500 is a fully functioning Blu-ray Bonus View player with the latest BD-Java and HD DVD interactivity support avaliable. An Ethernet connection is also avaliable allowing users to experience a large selection of viewing options as well as downloading new firmware to upgrade the player. The BD-UP5500 also supports the latest audio decoding with 7.1-Ch PCM, DTS-HD High Resolution, Master audio, and Dolby TrueHD Bistream output via HDMI 1.3. All packed into a slim 2.3 inch piano black design.

The Samsung BD-UP5500 will be avaliable in the second half of 2008, for a estimated price of $599.

Panasonic’s latest alkaline AA battery has made it into the Guinness World Records. The record it holds is for the longest lasting battery in its AA class and by some margin. It manages to outlast rival batteries from competitors including Duracell and Energizer by an incredible 20%.

The reason for the longer lasting battery is more due to design than any new energy storage breakthroughs. Panasonic has re-designed the AA battery and has managed to free up more internal space for materials storage. The materials are also packed more densely, again increasing the storage potential.

The Evolta series of batteries also uses a new sealing technology, making them more robust, and they have a shelf life of around 10 years; other batteries, including Panasonic’s own Oxyride range, typically only last around 5 years.

The Evolta AA, AAA, C, and D battery ranges will come to market in Japan in April, and we will hopefully see them not too long after that in the West.

Read more at PC Pro.

Matthew’s Opinion

That’s quite a significant increase in power storage and is made even more impressive by the fact these new batteries are more robust and last longer on the shelf. It is sure to have rivals looking to their own research labs and asking why they haven’t managed to achieve a similar feat.

Batteries used in new gadgets seem to be using lithium-ion solutions increasingly, mainly because they can hold more juice and are rechargeable. There are still a range of gadgets that need standard batteries, however, if only to keep the initial cost of the products down. My main use for standard batteries are the wireless keyboard and mice sets I use, and they do use a lot of them.

As we patiently wait for the next big battery technology to appear on the market, it is encouraging to see manufacturers continuing to push the boundaries of what existing technologies can provide. We also learned about similar advances in lithium-ion batteries a few weeks ago, with researchers giving them a 10x energy boost.

Even though I own the WiFi t-shirt, which shows you - and everyone else - when you’re in a WiFi zone, it’s a little geeky even for me, so I’d prefer this bag by Soyntec. The Wiffinder series of bags will find a signal for you and show you the connection available via a discreet “slideshow” function on the side of the case. The Wiffinder 400 Executive case fits laptops up to 15.4″ and costs 43,02 Euros (about $65).

Via Gear Fuse.

Korean design studio 3F have taken a chunk of inspiration from the classic Converse sneaker for this weird piece of furniture. Vaguely resembling a giant boot, it’s covered with speakers (11 or more that we can see) to blast out your sounds, and is decorated with sketches of Converse boots flying around and doing all kinds of odd things. Its angular shape and chunky size may not be to everyone’s taste, but mainly we’re wondering what you do with it: sit on it and get your butt blasted with sound? Lean nonchalantly against it and hope not to fall? Eat your lunch off it? 3F’s tagline may well be “Furniture from Fun” but we suggest they add “befuddling but cool stuff” too.
[3F-Studio via Yanko designs]galleryPost(’Chucks’,2,’Chucks’);

TiVo today announced it would soon add Jaman Internet Movie Service to all Series2 and Series3 broadband-connected DVRs, giving users access to Sundance and international award winning movies that you’d probably have a hard time finding otherwise. The idea here is that Jaman supplements the mainly Hollywood offerings of Amazon Unbox, so you get a ton of movie choices from right there on your couch—at least enough to make your girlfriend think you’re smart or something. Rentals start at $1.99, but apparently some movies and shorts will be available for free. Not the good ones, of course. Press release after jump. [TiVo]

JAMAN AND TIVO EXPAND INDEPENDENT AND INTERNATIONAL FILM ACCESS DIRECT TO THE LIVING ROOM

Jaman Internet Movie Service to be Available on the TiVo® Service

ALVISO and SAN MATEO, Calif. - January 17, 2008 - Jaman.com, a leading Internet movie service, and TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that TiVo subscribers will soon be able to access thousands of American independent and international film titles directly from the TV screen via their TiVo DVR. The service will be available in the coming months to broadband-connected TiVo Series2™ and Series3™ subscribers. Viewers will be able to browse and select from Jaman’s premier library, featuring internationally-acclaimed titles such as Oscar-nominated “Paheli,” “Loverboy” (Sundance) with Kyra Sedgwick, “All About Lily Chou-Chou” (Berlin International Film Festival) and Dardennes Brothers’ “La Promesse” (Cannes/Toronto), helping to open up a new world of content to TiVo subscribers.

TiVo and Jaman’s relationship significantly expands the number of independent and international titles available to TiVo subscribers while providing a perfect complement to TiVo’s popular Amazon Unbox offering, which currently boasts thousands of movies and TV shows. The combination of high-definition content from Jaman, with the convenience and familiarity of TiVo’s intuitive interface, will provide users with the ability to discover and enjoy films from around the world.

“By capitalizing on TiVo’s vast big-screen user experience, we’re making it even easier for people to discover, browse and enjoy our catalog of high definition, edgy and award-winning films on their TVs,” said Jaman’s CEO Gaurav Dhillon. “This venture cements our position as a leading online provider of movies, offering unique and original content that viewers can’t find anywhere else.”

The relationship with TiVo extends Jaman’s broad cross-platform leadership with support for set-top boxes, PCs, Macs, SanDisk’s TakeTV and DivX. It also illustrates the continuing emphasis TiVo is placing on providing unique broadband services to their customers. Whether it’s thousands of movie and TV shows from Amazon Unbox, or millions of songs available through Rhapsody, TiVo lovers have more ways than ever to get great content on their TiVo DVR.

“We’re delighted to introduce the availability of Jaman to our TiVo subscribers and we think it’ll prove to be an exceptionally popular addition to our already robust broadband offerings,” said Tara Maitra, Vice President and GM of Content Services at TiVo Inc. “This joint alliance significantly increases the selection of international and award-winning movies made available to TiVo subscribers, giving them more choices and easy access to premium content not available elsewhere.”

With Jaman on TiVo, viewers will be able to both rent and purchase films starting at $1.99, with a number of shorts and full-length films that are available to download for free. Visit www.jaman.com to check out the vast library of movies that will soon be available on TiVo DVR. TiVo boxes are available at leading consumer electronic retailers including Best Buy and Circuit City. See www.TiVo.com for details.

The Faucet Buddy concept is a tiny chrome gadget which can be latched onto your existing sink fixtures, letting you know just exactly how hot (or cold) water flowing from your tap is. In addition, it helps nibble at your conscience by letting you know if you’re using more water than you actually should. Designed by Baek Uyeol, these should be made mandatory in homes everywhere.