Gadgets

1672 articles on Gadgets

• Motorola Doubles Down With the Atrix 2 Android Phone
  Motorola's first iteration of its Atrix smartphone promised a lot. Its successor follows the same path, but offers improved specs and a kinder price.
  10.13.11

• iCloud Is Like a Roach Motel You¿ll Love Anyway
  Apple launched its iCloud suite of services Wednesday, offering 5GB of free storage (more if you pay) for music, photos, apps, and other data, all of which sync effortlessly across any number of Apple devices: iMacs, Macbooks, Mac Minis, Mac Pros, iPod Touchs, iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and AirPort Expresses. This ...
  10.13.11

• What You Need to Know About Photo Stream
  iOS 5 is here, and with it iCloud. ICloud is the biggest step yet towards cutting the cord with desktop computers, and it arguably does away with the old-fashioned idea of files and folders. One of the best parts of iCloud is Photo Stream which, in combination with the new Photos app, lets you forget ...
  10.13.11

• Making Sense of Digital Books for Kids - Part 2
  In my last post, Making Sense of Digital Books for Kids - Part 1 I looked at a number of categories to begin to understand how publishers and app developers are exploring the realm of digital books for kids. The response to part 1 has been terrific. Parents, publishers and app developers have all contacted ...
  10.13.11

• Apple TV Update Adds Photo Stream, AirPlay Mirroring and¿ Hockey?
  Amidst the deluge of software launches from Apple yesterday, it was easy to miss an update to the company's "hobby," the Apple TV. Version 4.4 of the set-top box's OS is rather conservatively named, as it comes with many iOS 5 features. AirPlay Mirroring Before, you could stream video and audio content to the Apple TV from ...
  10.13.11

• Cheap Android Tablet Tries to Out-Cool the Fire
  Velocity Micro — a brand better known for its ultra-pricey, high-end gaming rigs — has produced a $200 Android tablet.
  10.13.11

• Courts Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales In Australia
  One thing Samsung doesn't seem to be able to copy from Apple is the success of its crack legal team. The latest court to ban the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet is Australia, which upheld a temporary injunction against selling the device in Oz. Samsung's defense appeared to largely take the form of shouting ...
  10.13.11

• T-Mobile's SpringBoard Tablet Aims to Snuff Amazon's Fire
  Following the lead of Amazon's Kindle Fire, T-Mobile has teamed up with Chinese computer company Huawei to create the SpringBoard, a sub-$200 tablet positioned to undercut the glut of other Android slates currently shipping.
  10.12.11

• iPad's Big Screen Makes Brilliant Scribblenauts Shine
  How many traditional console games are actually improved by making the leap to iOS? Scribblenauts Remix must be counted as one of the few.
  10.12.11

• Touchscreen Braille Writer Lets the Blind Type on a Tablet
  One group of people has traditionally been left out of our modern tablet revolution: the visually impaired. But a Stanford team of three has helped change that. Tasked to create a character-recognition program that would turn pages of Braille into readable text on an Android tablet, the team ended up creating something even more useful: a touchscreen-based Braille writer.
  10.12.11

• Apple Stealth Launches 'Find My Friends' and 'Airport Utility' Apps
  Apple's iCloud launches today, along with a few new iOS apps. And while we're still waiting for the iWork and iPhoto updates that will allow us to use the new syncing and Photo Stream sharing services, Apple has released the Find My Friends and Airport Utility apps. Find My Friends was announced last week at the ...
  10.12.11

• Adjustable Balance Bike for Fast-Growing Kids
  Some people think that bikes are just for kids. Those people should be sterilized. But bikes are pretty great for kids, and the sooner you get them started, the sooner they'll be riding without training wheels. Seriously. I know bike polo players whose kids were riding at three years old, which is pretty badass. Which brings ...
  10.12.11

• Bobo Explores Light Will Illuminate Your iPad Learning
  Say hello to Bobo, your kid's new best friend! Well, maybe not quite, but he is the star of a new iPad app out now from developers GameCollage, which they'll definitely love. Bobo is a cute little robot who is both your guide and fellow adventurer as you explore various aspects of one of science's ...
  10.12.11

• GeekDad HipTrax #78
  Typically Ken and I reserve our October shows for Halloween merriment. With all our recent scheduling and technical problems, however, we've elected to devote this episode to some unfinished business -- namely spotlighting three new releases that certainly warrant your attention. Suffice it to say you won't be disappointed with: "Critical Hit" by MC Frontalot Frontalots new album ...
  10.12.11

• An iOS Game Built With Adobe Edge: Run Kitty Run
  Run Kitty Run is a new iOS game for kids in the style of Sonic or Mario. It has been developed by Adam Kahn and his team at Crossborders using the new Adobe Edge platform. We got the chance to have a chat with Adam about the game and what Adobe Edge means for developers ...
  10.12.11

• With Siri, the iPhone Finds Its Voice
  The iPhone 4S looks exactly the same as its predecessor — but who cares? If it was shaped even slightly differently or came in a new color, people would still go nuts over the stuff that's more important anyway: the insides. And both inside and out, this is a magnificent smartphone.
  10.11.11

• App Brings Enterprise Video Conferencing to iPad, Android Tablets
  SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Telecommunications company Polycom launched an enterprise-grade HD video conferencing application for mobile devices on Tuesday, targeting the growing number of tablets equipped with front-facing cameras. Available for the iPad, the Motorola Xoom, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the app is built atop Polycom's "RealPresence Mobile" platform, which allows for connectivity to existing ...
  10.11.11

• Apple Updates iPhone AppleCare Plan to Include Accidents
  For the accident-prone, an iPhone can be a costly replacement. Luckily, Apple is about to offer a new iPhone-only warranty program that covers much more than manufacturer-based hardware malfunctions or software woes. The program is called AppleCare+, and it replaces the previous AppleCare warranty program for new iPhone owners. AppleCare+ provides one year of hardware ...
  10.11.11

• Kiip Fast-Tracks High Scores to Guinness Book Fame
  With the folks at Guinness producing an annual Gamer's Edition of their book of world records, the definition of what constitutes a record-worthy accomplishment has been greatly expanded. Can you set a high score worthy of eternal glory? New software from the mobile company Kiip makes it easy: If you top the leaderboards in certain games ...
  10.11.11

• Some German iPhone 4S Pre-Orders Delivered Early
  A few lucky customers who pre-ordered Apple's iPhone 4S in Germany got their delivery today ¿ three full days early. And according to benchmarks that are beginning to pop up online, the phone looks to be wicked fast. Readers sent in images of the new Apple device, its packaging and screenshots of Siri to German blog ...
  10.11.11

• New Android Smartphone Software Bridges the Work/Play Divide
  SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Employees who want to use a personal smartphone as their primary corporate device have to jump through endless hoops, be they application limitations, program security certifications or stuffy IT managers who don't want to deal with the headache. It's a huge backend hassle, and most companies would rather you suck it up ...
  10.11.11

• Humor Abuse Finding My Father Under the Clown Paint
  The Seattle Repertory Theater opened its season with the play Humor Abuse in Seattle last week, written by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, directed by Schmidt with a solo performance by Pisoni. Pisoni tumbles, stumbles and pratfalls his way through his childhood from his beginnings as a circus performer in the Pickle Family Circus in San ...
  10.11.11

• Atom-Thick Graphene Sheets Could Make Great Camera Sensors
  Graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon, could end up making a pretty good camera sensor. Researchers at MIT have discovered that graphene can turn light into electricity, but not the way you'd think. Unlike camera sensors and solar panels which rely on the photovoltaic effect, graphene creates a current because of a temperature difference. When light ...
  10.11.11

• 97 Percent of Tablet Internet Traffic Comes From iPad
  As if any Gadget Lab readers needed to be told, the mobile Internet is taking off. What might be surprising is that almost all tablet Internet traffic comes from the iPad. "In August 2011, iPads delivered 97.2 percent of all tablet traffic in the U.S." says a new Comscore report. What's more, the iPad is ...
  10.11.11

• The "Stormtrooper for Halloween" Video Challenge
  When I was a kid, I dressed up as a Star Wars character just about every year for Halloween. Even though my Chewbacca & Ben Kenobi costumes were pretty sweet, nothing beat the Stormtrooper getup that my parents made for me when I was 5 years old. Because it meant so much to me, I ...
  10.11.11

• Samsung Stratosphere Targets Professionals With 4G and a Hardware Keyboard
  Being on Verizon's 4G LTE network and having a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard have been mutually exclusive features until now. Today, the carrier revealed the Samsung Stratosphere, a 4G smartphone with a slide-out keyboard. The Stratosphere targets the business professional crowd, the folks who used to use (or still use) BlackBerries, but are looking to ...
  10.10.11

• Facebook Releases Long-Awaited iPad App
  It seemed like it would never arrive, but at long last, Facebook has released its iPad app. One of the key features of the iPad-specific app is its integration with other iOS apps: The Facebook app will send you straight to other apps when you navigate to them from a friend's news post or status update. ...
  10.10.11