metarand

TechCrunch Gets Down To Hard Business

Just as you were thinking the world had righted itself from a tech company like Apple delving into the phone business (and achieving 38% year on year revenue growth), along comes TechCrunch with a bombshell.

This leading tech blogging business has decided to build its own web tablet hardware device. The aim is to create a device that spans the gap between the iPhone and the Macbook Air - the ideal device would be a lightweight small tablet running nothing more than Firefox on a decent screen and with a WiFi connection.

It’s really tough going from being a purely content and connections play into the hardware arena, but here’s why I like it: - the connections side of TechCrunch will be heavily leveraged to create an open source development community and also to bring in the right corporate partners to make sure this succeeds.

Get to it guys and log my order!

Australian iPhone Set To Fire On All Cylinders

Great news for Australians, many of whom have patiently waited and salivated over the iPhone phenomenon.

Their version will deliver a blistering 42 mbs via 3G. And it will be in stock from early June.

What’s more it will be available on three different networks and not be locked into a carrier walled garden. This has caused a bit of scurrying amongst the telcos who are quickly realizing that their lock and load approach has become redundant.

[via ChannelNews]

iPhone Gets Kicked Into Orb(it)

Orb Networks has enabled TV on the iPhone. By installing the OrbLive app users can stream any video format to their iPhone.

There are a few hoops to go through before you can stream your favorite basketbal game though:

• You need a PC or Parallels
• You need a TV tuner card
• Your iPhone must be jailbroken.

We understand that iPhone 2.0 will support video - will it go so far as supporting live TV streaming?

Putting A Universal Translator In Your Pocket

Hands up: ever been to a foreign country and been totally inept at communicating with your taxi driver.

I, for one, have had that fun experience - picture the scene: Tsukuba, Japan - a wintry morning trying to get to a conference I’m hosting. My taxi driver got out of bed on the wrong side that morning (probably had been doing so for many years), and we were just not able to decipher one another’s intentions. Sound familiar?

It would have been great in that situation to call someone who could both translate and interpret the social nuances.

This is where chinaONEcall steps in. Set up in time for the Beijing Olympics, they provide an over-the-phone interpretation service. I haven’t tried it yet, but they say they differentiate from normal translation services in that they interpret the context of your call from both a social and business etiquette point of view.

Given that 2.7 million US citizens visited China last year this may well be a busy number to call.

[Picture courtesy of Stuck in Customs]

Mobile Karaoke Hits New Benchmark (Capital)

Benchmark Capital is reported to have invested in Tunewiki’s first round of funding.

This Israeli startup provides an iPhone app that syncrhonizes lyrics to music playing on the phone.

[via TechCrunch, picture courtesy of magnum_lady]

Bored: Customize Your Keys

Introducing the customizable keyboard from Ergodex.

Is it just another cool gadget or the ultimate resolution to the repetitive strain injuries that plague programmers, gamers, writers and other keyboard tappers?

It works with any program and has 25 buttons that stick to the Tray in any configuration. Label buttons, slide in artwork or customize a key on the fly in-game.

[via Gagdgettastic]

Mobile GPS as standard - privacy versus safety

Your choice - lose your loved one or your privacy.

South Korea is looking into equipping new mobile phones with a chip that will allow users to be located via satellite-based positioning technology.

The argument being put forward in a bill before their National Assembly is that this move will assist in reducing kidnapping and other increasingly violent crimes against women and children.

I know there is the slippery slope argument of benevolent versus big brother government and in no other region of the world is this better illustrated - South Korea doing this versus North Korea ….shudder.

However, where we have the technology to eradicate location-based crimes this, to me, far outweighs privacy issues.

DNA tracking would be optimal - this is not that far off.

[via China View]

Robots: Life-Size versus Life-Like

I  showed my 10 & 11 year old sons the Today show clip of Ross Dawson stroking his Pleo and thought this is my answer to their continuous requests for a pet. They were both instantly besotted with this ultra cute, life-like baby dinosaur. Compared to the plastic coldness of the Sony Aibo, the Pleo exudes cuddliness. Out of the box, its big blue eyes form an emotional tie in a nanosecond.

But what I hadn’t factored in was my 10 year old’s deep connection with anything and everything Star Wars-related. He took one look at the life-size reproduction of C-3PO and was instantly torn: life-size versus life-like.

The human connection will win out in the end. A cold-hearted fibreglass replica is neat, but it has no chance against a cute pet… that doesn’t need toilet training.

Nokia Morph’s Way Beyond iPhone

I remember when the Apple iPhone came out. I had a deep sense that there was no way I’d buy a normal mobile phone ever again. I also started thinking: what comes next? Well it looks like I’ve found the answer over at Nokia HQ.

In fact, if you are in New York you can go along and see the future of mobile phones right now at The Museum of Modern Art. Nokia Research Centre and the University of Cambridge’s Nanoscience Centre have launched Morph, a joint nanotech concept -

Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.

Dr. Bob Iannucci, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia, commenting at the launch, said: “Nokia Research Center is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices; the Morph concept shows what might be possible.”

Don’t hold your breathe, though - elements of Morph may only find their way into handheld devices by 2015.

Google Gadgetry: It’s Official

It’s official - the race is on to see who can speculate the most about a Gphone.

Daniel Langendorf is currently far out in front in the spec stakes.

If it looks and feels anything like his description or Lorin Wood’s designs then count me in.

Features I like:
* own OS, and not beholden to any telco
* at least n95 quality camera
* GPS
* embedded direct to socnet updating
* mobile ads instead of subs for features.