Month: August 2008 (Page 3 of 5)

What’s happening in tech today? Trust Dr. Blip to find out!

Turn by Turn GPS Navigation for iPhone Coming?
Mac Rumors – MSNBC recently spoke (via MacDailyNews) with several GPS manufacturers about their plans to develop a turn-by-turn GPS solution for the iPhone. While the manufacturers were unable to provide many details about their plans, TomTom reasserted that they do have GPS navigation working on the iPhone and that it works well:

History Proves the iPhone Will Never Win the Handheld Gaming Wars
Gizmodo – Super Monkey Ball is arguably the current zenith of iPhone tilt gaming. The gameplay involves navigating your bebubbled monkey through a series of elevated, edgeless mazes without letting him fall—it’s fun, if repetitive. Nintendo’s Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble is similar: The player guides Kirby through mazes using tilt-sensitive control, collecting stars along the way. Both games are entertaining, and both won positive reviews for nearly identical control schemes. So why is Monkey Ball getting all the attention?
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What’s happening in tech today? Trust Dr. Blip to find out!

Apple to Update MacBook Air to Penryn Soon?
Mac Rumors – PhoneNews claims that Apple is preparing to release a new version of the MacBook Air imminently. The external design is to remain the same, but the new MacBook Air is said to incorporate a new Penryn-class processor “from 2.0GHz and potentially beyond”. To compensate, Apple will be including a higher capacity battery.

Logitech Snaps up Ultimate Ears, Chasing this “Portable Audio” Market we’ve Heard so Much About
Engadget – Logitech is getting into the earbuds game, announcing today that it’s buying privately-held Ultimate Ears. Historically focusing on spendy in-ear monitors for live musicians, Ultimate Ears has recently hit the earbud game with full force, and Logitech seems to want a piece of that action. Plus the acquisition price of $34 million is like, what, profits from your last seven minutes of iPod dock sales, Logitech? Logitech and Ultimate Ears expect the deal to close in August. Continue reading

What’s happening in tech today? Trust Dr. Blip to find out!

Some Customers with iPhone 3G Connection Issues
Mac Rumors – There are a number of reports of iPhone 3G users having problems with inconsistent cellular connections with their new phones. CNet points to a growing discussion thread at Apple’s forums detailing the problems.

UK Researchers Give Robot a “Biological Brain”
Engadget – It looks like a group of researchers from the University of Reading are making a solid run at the title of mad scientists of the year (in the best sense, of course), with them now boasting that they’ve developed a robot that’s controlled by a “biological brain.” That’s not quite the sci-fi sight you may be imagining, however (though it’s close), with it instead made up of some 300,000 neurons taken from the neural cortex of a rat fetus, which are contained in multi electrode array that packs 60 electrodes to pick up the signals generated by the cells and, in turn, control the robot.
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What’s happening in tech today? Trust Dr. Blip to find out!

Lenovo Intros the Monstrous ThinkPad W700
Slashdot – Engadget recently got their hands on an early delivery of Lenovo’s new powerhouse of a laptop, the W700. Aimed at graphic artists and photographers this beast is designed to really pack a punch. No word on how much for the extra fusion generator to power it for longer than 20 minutes.

The Quick 10: 10 Things 300 Didn’t Tell You
mental_floss – It was, um, a lot of years ago today (480 B.C., to be exact) that King Leonidas and the Spartans were defeated by Xerxes’ army at Thermopylae. Well, that’s according to some accounts. Some historians say that we can’t be sure exactly what day in late summer the Battle of Thermopylae happened, but for our purposes today (namely, a timely Quick 10) we’ll stick with the ones who have agreed on August 11.
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What’s happening in tech today? Trust Dr. Blip to find out!

Why Shoot Down a Satellite? Analyzing an Analysis
Slashdot – Writing in the IEEE Spectrum, James Oberg analyzes whether there was, in fact a significant risk to humans from the satellite which the US military shot down on 21 February, purportedly ‘to head off the possibility of its splashing a half ton of toxic hydrazine fuel somewhere on Earth.

Scientists Closer To Invisibility Cloak
Slashdot – “Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects. Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects.”
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