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Coda 2 for Mac, Diet Coda for iPad available May 24

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:02:00 +0000

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Sprint’s EVO 4G LTE Has Cleared U.S. Customs, Pre-Orders To Be Filled As Early As May 24

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 04:04:31 +0000

Sprint’s launch plans for the HTC EVO 4G LTE were ruined last week when shipments of their shiny new Android handset were held up by United States Customs, but we’re hearing that they may been hitting doorsteps and store shelves sooner than expected. According to Sprint , the devices are now currently sitting safely in Sprint’s warehouses and are expected to start trickling out into the world “on or around May 24.” And rest easy, you faithful pre-orderers — the world from on high is that you’ll still be getting your devices first. In case you’re new to this little shipping snafu, shipments of Sprint’s new EVO (along with those of their AT&T-based cousin, the One X) were prevented form entering the country thanks to an exclusion order handed down by the International Trade Commission. The entire convoluted story started last year, but here’s the tl;dr: Back in July, HTC was found by ITC judge Carl Charneski to have infringed on one of Apple’s patents — specifically, it involved recognizing a particular structure within a set of data and binding it to a particular action. Sounds pretty dry…

TUAW Talkcast tonight: Previews, podcasters, and premature plaudits

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 05:06:34 +0000

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: NY Design Week, a hybrid Porsche and recycled sportswear

admin — Mon, 21 May 2012 01:09:40 +0000

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

Want a sneak peek into the future of design? This week Inhabitat hit NY Design Week to uncover the best and the brightest in green interior and furniture design. At ICFF we spotted an ethereal series of 3D printed Hyphae lamps and we were wowed by the iTree — a massive iPod sound system made out of an entire tree trunk! We also saw LED technology take on surprising new forms – like Light and Contrast’s tiny flower-shaped lamps and Peteris Zilbers’ quirky mood broom lamp (yes, it’s shaped like a broom). We’ll continue with the New York Design Week coverage throughout next week, so come back to Inhabitat in the coming days for more fresh new design finds, and read on beyond the break for more in the here and now.

We’ve been thinking about green technology lately — not only the local level, but also on the international and even interplanetary scale, beginning with a team of engineers from Glasgow that is currently testing solar satellites that would be able to tap the sun’s energy around the clock, regardless of weather conditions. Meanwhile, back on Earth, we were pleased to hear that Saudi Arabia, a nation that is practically synonymous with oil production, promised to invest over $100 billion to develop 41 gigawatts of solar power by 2032.

Closer to the home front, a proposal backed by Google for a wind power transmission line stretching from Virginia to New Jersey cleared a major regulatory hurdle when it was given the green light by the federal government this week. Speaking of promising news for renewable energy, a study led by researchers from Yale and Harvard shows that Americans are willing to pay slightly higher electricity bills for clean energy, meaning that Americans are ahead of Congress when it comes to clean energy policy (big surprise there). And if you’ve been sitting on the fence about wind energy because you think all wind turbines are ugly, feast your eyes on the Enessere Hercules wind generator, a vertical axis wind turbine with wood blades that produces energy regardless of which way the wind is blowing.

This week was also a big one for LEGO builders from around the world. South Korea broke the world record for the tallest LEGO skyscraper with a physics-defying 104.65-foot-tall tower in Seoul. But perhaps equally impressive is Thomas Poulsom’s beautiful and ingenious set of LEGO birds, which are highly detailed and built to be as close to their real size as possible.

In a development that should appeal to the inner Trekkie in all of us, an engineer known simply as “BTE Dan” believes that (with technology currently available) it is possible to create a full-size replica of the USS Enterprise, but instead of dilithium crystals, it would be powered by nuclear power. And in an unrelated bit of space-based news, NYC artist Tom Sachs teamed up with Nike to produce a new line of sportswear using recycled Mars Rover airbags, mainsails for boats, and even NASA spacesuits. Far out, man.

In green transportation news, we’ve been busy drooling over Porsche’s upcoming 918 Spyder Hybrid, which is reported to get more than 770 horsepower and an estimated 78 mpg fuel economy rating. It’s a shame we’ll have to wait until the end of 2013 before it goes into production. Another hybrid release to keep an eye out for will be the 2013 Ford C-MAX compact utility vehicle, an efficient five-seater that’s scheduled to hit dealerships this fall. And in one of the more interesting developments of the week, Siemens announced that it would test its “eHighway of the Future” – a system of electric lines that will be used to power hybrid trucks in California. We’ve also been keeping tabs on Honda’s new UNI-CUB, an electric, self-balancing, weight-shift controlled device that will almost certainly compete with the Segway for the title of personal mobility device that makes able-bodied people look the weirdest.

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Kickstarter: Meet CordLite, The Light-Up iPhone Cable For Night Owls

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:14:07 +0000

My set ritual before going to bed each night is as follows — turn out the lights, plug in my iPhone, take off my glasses and attempt vainly to nod off. Step two in that process can be a bit of a crapshoot in the dark, but the folks at Scrap Pile Labs have recently kicked off a new Kickstarter campaign for a product called the CordLite that just may come in handy. As the name sort of implies, the CordLite is a dock connector cable for iDevices that, well, lights up thanks to a pair of forward-facing LEDs. It’s a very simple concept, but the thoughtful execution is what make this project worth keeping an eye on. Perhaps the niftiest thing about the CordLite is how you actually fire up those lights — the dock connector’s aluminum body is entirely touch-sensitive, so the lights engage whenever someone goes to plug in the cable. Meanwhile, a pair of …

DVD-encryption cracking to be allowed by the Feds?

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:13:38 +0000

The United States Copyright Office has reportedly heard requests of the public to discuss any possible loopholes on its rules. At the UCLA Law School this Wednesday, Federal regulators have considered testimonies whether to legalize DVD-encryption cracking or not. The public hearing was attended by federal officials, representatives from motion picture studios and about 2 dozen members of the public. The public, including filmmakers, have petitioned the U.S. Copyright Office for the permission to continue using DVD decryption tools to copy short clips of DVDs from motion pictures. It is also reported that another proposal was heard about the authorization for the public to make copies of their own DVDs without breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Court orders Apple and HTC to attend settlement talks, Dragon Shout, Unofficial Skyrim App for iPhone Gets Legal Note from Bethesda’s Lawyers,

MacStories looks at four years of the App Store

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 01:11:37 +0000

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Insert Coin: CordLite illuminated iPhone cable (video)

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:17:33 +0000

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.

On average, North American consumers will spend a lifetime total of five days on failed attempts to pair their dock connector cable with an iPad or iPhone. Yeah, that’s not true, but we can certainly sympathize with frustrated device owners — fitting a tiny connector to any gadget can be a chore, especially in the dark. Scrap Pile Labs’ CordLite sets out to point the way to a successful connection with its built-in LEDs. The illuminated cable is quite simple to use — with no buttons or switches to fuss with, the connector lights up when you touch the aluminum plates, and powers off the moment it’s secured to your device. There’s really not much else to it — CordLite functions identically to an Apple-manufactured cable, though the dock connector itself is significant larger than the OEM variety, at least in its current prototype form.

The design team has turned to Kickstarter to get their project funded, with a $70,000 goal. If all goes to plan, they expect to ship black or white CordLites beginning in September at $35 a pop, but as always, getting in during the “pre-order” phase will net you a hefty discount. The first 200 backers can get an early-bird cord in the color of their choice with a $25 pledge, with the required amount jumping up to $30 from there. A $45 pledge gets you an exclusive laser-etched model, while $50 will be met with a pair of early-bird cords. As you may have gathered from the picture above, the first version will only function with Apple devices, though a microUSB cord is also said to be in the works. See it in action in the video demo just past the break.

Previous project update: The Chameleon Android interface is well on its way to a $50,000 goal, with just shy of one month left to go. A $5 pledge will get you early access to the app, while higher amounts net you goodies like theme packs, t-shirts and a Galaxy Tab.

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G-Technology G-Drive mobile: Rugged, pocket-sized, and fast

admin — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:05:03 +0000

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DIY Doorbell Will Send Pictures Of Your Guests To Your iPhone

admin — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:41:09 +0000

Say you’re a misanthrope and you’re afraid of humans. What to do? Well, you could cower in the dark when people ring your doorbell or you could laugh derisively at their smug faces in the screen of your iPhone. I’m going for the derisive laughter. This DIY Arduino project involves a simple circuit, a webcam, and a few API calls to PushingBox to enable a truly enjoyable derisive experience. The system works by pushing images grabbed by the webcam through PushingBox to an app like Prowl or Pushme.to . When the doorbell is pressed, it sends a serial signal to the Arduino board which in turn notifies the various services. The webcam picture then gets sent over to you so you can decide whether to let whoever is outside in. It’s probably a little more complex than it needs to be, but if you’re totally into watching the world pass you by it’s a great solution and a fun weekend project. Project Page