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The iPhone’s fake GPS is a useful feature, and stops you from looking too much like a map-studying tourist when in foreign lands, but the new iphone 2.0 update will bring the service one step closer to real GPS. It still uses cell tower and WiFi triangulation, but will be able to update in real time as you walk (or drive) around.

Your position is represented on screen by a pulsing blue ball which moves as you do. That’s a lot easier to use than the current method of stopping and hitting the “Locate Me” button every few steps.

iPhone OS 2.0 includes live location tracking [iPhone Atlas]

Posted Apr 4th 2008 3:43PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
You know, we should have paid a little closer attention to Microsoft’s decision yesterday to extend Windows XP sales to “June 2010 or one year after the general availability of Windows 7″ — if the company was really planning on shipping Windows 7 in 2010, that first date doesn’t make a lot of sense unless the plan is to ship Windows 7 much, much earlier. And hey — what’s Bill Gates doing telling investors this afternoon that Windows 7 will come “in the next year” and that he’s “super-enthused” about it? As far as we know, the official Windows 7 timeline hasn’t changed, so Bill might just talking about beta versions, but something’s clearly up Windows-wise in Redmond — perhaps Vista’s wow is not long for this now.

[Thanks, Jon]

Colour Phasing Sphere

You can have this for ?24.95

Griffin iClear Transparent Hard Case for iPod Nano

Protect your iPod nano from the daily abuse of active lifestyles with Griffin’s iClear case. This sturdy polycarbonate case is completely transparent so that it can protect your iPod from dust and scratches without marring its cool looks. The simple clam-shell design is easy to install. Press on the front, swing up the back and snap the clasp. You’ll get a snug fit that stays secure through even the most rigorous activities. The iClear also has openings for your ipod’s control wheel, audio jack, on switch, USB port and LED. Full access to controls and ports ensures that you’ll never have to take your nano out of the iClear’s protective grip. A tough iPod nano case that you’ll hardly even notice is there: the Griffin iClear.

Technorati Tags: gadgets

eMusic, together with the Music Intelligence Institute, presents this Music Intelligence Quiz developed by experts in the music field. It consists of 30 multiple-choice questions covering many genres and eras of music. The maximum number of points is 180, and there are 5 levels of music intelligence: Top 40 Radio Listener, Air Guitarist, Birthday Party DJ, Mix-Tape Master, and Musical Magician.

What’s great about this test is that, unlike other assessments out there, you are not obligated to provide a name or email address or register in order to see your results, although after you view your results eMusic invites you to check out some music suggestions based on your music intelligence level, but that’s fine. You can provide some demographic info (year of birth, gender, location) which is no big deal, but that would be cool if you could see some sort of results breakdown by these factors, or if you could get a badge to post on your social networking profile. Perhaps in the next version. Anyway I feel that this test is fair and accurate, as my music IQ turns out to be 126 which makes me a Mix-Tape Master. Try it yourself, but no cheating and no taking it over and over again to try to improve your score!

Read [Seen This]

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If like so much of the rest of America, you need to clean up your diet and eat less, then you should take a look at the tech world for tools that will help you in your quest. One such excellent tool is a scale, and today’s models use technology to give you even more relevant information.

Take the Salter Nutri Weigh & Go Portable Dietary Computing Scale. Whew, that was a mouthful (pun intended!) The Nutri Weigh calculates the nutritional value of food by portion size, using its database of 1400 foods! It shows you 11 different pieces of nutritional info on each of those foods.

It can also record up to 7 days of your nutritional intake. This is a great way to wrap up both measuring what you eat and keeping track. Salter has a full line of these products running approximately from $50 to $120. The one pictured is portable and comes with a travel pouch.

Gimme!
Price: $59.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation

This new Chinese PMP called the AOC X600, comes with a pretty unique feature which allows it to play RMVB files on the player itself, or you can use TV-Out option to play them on your big screen TV.

Aside from playing RMVB, it’s pretty much your average PMP, but it is actually pretty cheap considering what it comes with. Beginning with its screen, it sports a nice 3-inch display with a 400 x 240 resolution, and 16:10 aspect ratio. Additionally, it can also play FLV, AVI, MOV, ASF, MP4, WMV, 3GP, MGP, MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC lossless, and TXT files. No matter what audio or video format you have on your computer, you are almost guaranteed to be able to play it on the AOC X600. I think this PMP player looks really cool the way the whole device is basically the screen, kind of like the ipod Touch.

Unfortunately, no word on exact availability, but expect it to be only for sale in the Chinese market selling for 599 yuan (around $85).

Via [PMP Today]

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Had enough of the usual gang here on Gadget Lab? Think you can do better than the multitalented (but inescapably British) Rob Beschizza? Now’s your chance to show us what you’ve got.

We’re looking for an enthusiastic, eager, tech-savvy blogger to join the Gadget Lab team and help cover the most interesting and compelling daily tech news for Wired’s most popular blog. We’re not just shoveling press releases onto the web here, unlike some blogs we could mention. That’s why we want someone who can bring an intelligent, informed and entertaining perspective to our gadget coverage.

In return, you’ll get unparalleled exposure on Wired.com, plus the chance to test out, play with and write about all kinds of new gadgets long before your friends do. Oh yeah, and we pay money too.

If this sounds like your dream job, send me an email with your resume, links to 3 recent blog posts you’ve done, and a sample Gadget Lab post on a tech news item from the day you send it. Resume not up to date? Fine, just tell me what jobs you’ve worked lately. And please keep your sample post to 150 words, tops.

Photo: foundphotoslj / Flickr

iLounge takes the Griffin ClearBoost out for a spin, and here’s their take on it.

At a $35 suggested retail price, ClearBoost sells for around a $10 premium over a plain but comparably protective Griffin or other company’s iPhone case, which strikes us as a little bit high relative to its benefit—had this been a cosmetically beautiful case at the same price, or had it provided a big reception boost under all circumstances, it would have rated a high recommendation, but as-is it offers a nice bump at a decent price. If you’re experiencing serious signal variation issues with your iPhone, you’ll find that it helps at least under some circumstances, and also provides above-average protection and looks. It’s worthy of our B+ rating and general recommendation; follow-up versions have the potential to be even more impressive.

Do you have issues with your iphone’s signal to warrant the Griffin ClearBoost?

Posted Apr 4th 2008 3:08AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Wireless
If it wasn’t clear going into the auction, it’s pretty much obvious now that the dust has settled: Google wasn’t in the 700MHz Block C auction to win it — though it was certainly ready to pony up the cash in the event of a win. It was conjectured that Google was driving the bidding early on, in an effort to get hit that magical 4.6 billion reserve price that would require the winner to allow open access of devices and applications to the resulting network, and now Google has confirmed that it was pretty much a Google show in the early days of the auction. Apparently ten of the bidding rounds involved Google raising its own bid, “but it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher,” reads the Google Public Policy Blog. It’s worth noting that Google claims it would’ve nabbed the C Block license “at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price,” but building out a network and becoming a major player in next-gen wireless internet would certainly be a large departure for the company, and we’re sure there’s a bit of relief over in Mountain View, CA at the moment.