Recent Comments:
Cyber Figure Alice gives randy geeks something do to with their cybersticks {Engadget}
Jul 20th 2008 6:23PM There is some really awesome stuff going on with things like this. I work pretty closely with things like this at my work, and mixed reality environments allow you to do some really cool things.
For those that may be interested, the technique they are using to place/scale/etc the entities is called fiducial tracking. Fiducials are essentially just low-resolution markers like you see on those cubes, similar to a bar code they act as unique identifiers and by taking the size of the shape you can figure out where it is in 3d space.
BlackBerry Thunder not ready, disappointing, and kills puppies {Engadget}
Jul 9th 2008 11:31AM ^ @ Ocean (Grr Engadget comments, grr)
BlackBerry Thunder not ready, disappointing, and kills puppies {Engadget}
Jul 9th 2008 11:28AM You're right... because when monopolies thrive, we all benefit. They always ensure they have the highest level of quality in products with cheap production costs. I personally wish I lived in Canada or New Zealand so that I could go to sleep knowing how much Rogers and Vodafone are helping me.
BlackBerry Thunder touchscreen phone in live shot {Engadget Mobile}
Jun 8th 2008 5:02PM It's already been confirmed as a Verizon exclusive (if I'm not mistaken). So, this is Verizon throwing it's hat into the arena to grab people to the carrier by phone itself.
Albatron demos 22-inch multi-touch screen for Windows 7 {Engadget}
Jun 5th 2008 12:36AM Good point. Apple made a huge mistake with that whole "touch screen" on the iPhone... those will never sell. I know you hate those silly things.
Sprint posts Windows Mobile 6.1 update for Motorola Q9c {Engadget Mobile}
Jun 3rd 2008 4:35PM Maybe the rumors that the official 6.1 rom would be coming out for the HTC Mogul today could end up being true after all. *crosses fingers*
False alarm: Android-powered phones are coming in 2008 {Engadget Mobile}
Jun 2nd 2008 11:44PM I believe the beauty of this false alarm is moreso that there in many ways is likely a Gphone back on the table and that they plan to release it next year while others release sooner. Whether that's in the form of the HTC Dream or another, who knows?
If Google's recent history were to comment, I believe it would say that Google is planning to do a phone to ensure the market keeps growing. It sees that in many ways the iPhone may force other makers in one direction (though I'll wait till June 9th before passing judgement on this), and they will keep everyone from going in just one direction. They're doing that with the 700mhz market, they're doing it with their platform being able to go into all sorts of bodies, etc.
I think this could be a great great thing for consumers. Imagine where Apple pushes into new areas keeping the multitouch (and hopefully that being adapted more in other phones soon), the fact that accelerometers are becoming more standard in phones now, and maybe they'll soon be doing the same for haptic feedback on touchscreens.... but, on the other side HTC/Google/etc are putting phones with different unique systems out there. It keeps the market alive, allows people to have a wide variety of choices, and encourages even more people to join the Smartphone area... a place where Google can do what it does best with advertising to get it into more people's hands.
The Gphone being back on the table and coming out in 2009 as the articles posted earlier on here showed could be great. It won't be here to try to dominate the market, but ensure that the market doesn't become stale. Apple helped transfer the power of phones from the carriers to a company, Blackberry is taking it's skills in the enterprise market into a similar market as Apple with it's upcoming touchscreen, Google is making a very modular system that can give individuals what they want, and HTC is still pumping out great phones while working with both Android and Windows Mobile (again, modularity and allowing consumers to choose). This is great news for us, it ensures that in a year not all phones will be pure touchscreen and stop evolving... it means that various ideas, interfaces, hardware designs will be continuing to come out and we won't have a "razr" effect where one phone dominates and it takes years for the market to start producing phones that aren't crap.
I find this very exciting, and am quickly finding this Apple/Microsoft/Google/HTC/RIM/Nokia/etc competition to be such a great thing for us. Keep it coming guys, I promise that I'll put my money in the pockets of the people that do their best to give us a phone without the gimicks (HTC, I'm eyeing you, I bet you won't forget to include video card drivers again, eh?)
Microsoft expecting 50 percent growth annually for Windows Mobile {Engadget Mobile}
May 30th 2008 7:06PM Not taking in the growth of smartphones as a whole, I must say I find this hard to believe. I know they have cool things planned for Windows Mobile 7 and are keeping it on the d/l. I'm sure with the Zune teams involvement and the fact we've known Photon would be a huge release for years there will be cool things... but I must say after seeing the things with Android and the rumors of things incorporated in the new iPhone... I may have to walk away from Microsoft unless they bring something big. The Raphael is a great device coming up soon, but I don't know if it's enough.
If Microsoft did something like what Apple/Google have done to promote application development I wouldn't feel so worried, but as a developer I haven't heard if XNA will be coming to it, and even if it is nobody knows and things won't be developed using things like that. Google and Apple both have their next gen SDKs out and huge amounts of money going to the community for development. Looking at Android's Round 1 winners I was majorly impressed, and to think Apple is doing at least 10x that in terms of prize money (and the fact it has a well-selling product in the market attracting people already)... I can't imagine Microsoft suddenly growing massively unfortunately. I truly hope I'm wrong, I hope on Monday morning I wake up to find out what they are planning so I could start developing for it but I'm not seeing that happening... and I just don't see them fixing all the world's problems when they're competing against Apple and Google who are both pumping large sums of money into the community to encourage growth on top of an equally capable internal development team. HTC has helped improve the UI and things in many amazing ways with the Diamond and some other small groups have made neat things, but I don't think it's enough at this point.
I hope this post is a sign they have something huge planned. I would fit in the Microsoft Fanboy category, but every day that goes by and I read this website I find it a little bit harder to go with. I think the Zune was an amazing piece of hardware and (not counting the iPod Touch) I would buy it over an iPod. It feels very intuitive, it's very responsive, and it's just a great experience overall I feel. I don't feel that with my Windows Mobile device and find myself on PPCGeeks too often hoping to find what someone has hacked to improve aspects of my phone. I love having that ability, but I wish I didn't have to do it so much.
That's just the 2 cents of a confused gadget geek who wants to make his next purchase a Microsoft one again... but is finding it harder and harder to justify.
Android Q&A session at I/O reveals Dream specs, carefree mentality {Engadget}
May 28th 2008 6:17PM This is amazing, except it only has 128 mb? That may make me stick with the Raphael unfortunately. However, the capacitive is wonderful! I just wish they could bump those RAM specs. Because it's capacitive, does that mean it has multitouch possible?
HTC Raphael to show up in Europe as T-Mobile MDA Vario IV, specs listed {Engadget}
May 28th 2008 10:59AM I'm not sure how this isn't a breaking story since this is the picture many of us have been waiting for since hearing about Diamond/Raphael. This is beautiful... except for them moving the numbers back to the top (ala PPC-6700 instead of Mogul) I like the additional row on the QWERTY... I am curious to see how easy it will be to use (since with phones like the PPC-6700 you had to press the function button as well). I'm liking it though... it looks like it slides out further in terms of proportions and has the beauty of the Diamond on the exterior.
Now I'd just like to hear about the battery and if they are changing their mind and giving us internal memory like the Diamond instead (please?). Either way, this may be the one thing keeping me on Sprint... because the 3G iPhone is sounding more and more tempting especially if they introduce haptic feedback, and that's coming from a Microsoft enthusiast. Go HTC!
