gizmos vs gadgets: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Latest Concept From ADR Studios: The iWatch 2

Published on iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource | shared via feedly

Italian designer Antonia De Rosa, who recently released his concept for the iPhone SJ, is now showing off his imagination and talent for design with a fictional production called the iWatch 2.

Antonia released the original iWatch back in March of 2010 and, much like Apple, he’s already got the iWatch 2 featured on his website.

As usual, his design is elegant and functional and the designer continues to produce work that wouldn’t surprise anyone if it came directly from designer Jony Ive’s design secret lair.

Very sleek, and very handsome. If it existed, I know that I would have one. The question is, however, is it functional? Is it simple? These are two of the pillars of Apple’s success in retail electronics and with a screen the size proposed in the concept work were to be for sale, I can’t imagine that it would accommodate all of the lovely Apple functionality in a simple manner.

The strap is also quite nice, until you look at in any colour but black. No thanks!

If the iWatch 2 were shipping today, would you pick one up? Or perhaps the iPod Nano is all you need?

Latest Concept From ADR Studios: The iWatch 2 [PICS] is a post from: iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource

This Folding Bike Helmet Is an Urban Cyclist's Dream Come True

Published on Gizmodo | shared via feedly

Cycling in cities is a great idea: it's quick, cheap, and you even get some exercise. But the number of people that don't wear a helmet is frankly terrifying. Maybe this folding helmet will help change that. More »

Friday, January 27, 2012

Motorola Wi-Fi Xyboard tablets available today

Published on The Verge | shared via feedly

Motorola's Wi-Fi Xyboards have been up for pre-order for a few weeks, but now you won't have to wait much longer; the tablets are available today with free two-day shipping on Motorola's website. Nothing else has changed: an upgrade to Android 4.0 is still coming, and prices still range from $399.99 for the 16GB 8.2-inch model to $599.99 for the 32GB 10.1-inch version. While the Wi-Fi tablets are $200 less than the LTE variety available through Verizon, the Xyboard name probably doesn't yet command the kind of premium Motorola is currently asking.

Apple Overtakes Samsung As World’s Largest Smartphone Vendor In Q4

Published on TechCrunch | shared via feedly

Apple-Further-Explores-Possibility-of-Telephonic-MacBooks-2

According to the latest report from Strategy Analytics, Apple has now overtaken Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume. Apple achieved 23.9% market share during Q4 2011, narrowly beating out Samsung’s 23.5% share.

In addition, Apple shipped 37 million units in Q4, again going neck-and-neck with Samsung and its 36.5 million units shipped during the same time.

However, notes Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, “while Apple took the top spot in smartphones on a quarterly basis, Samsung became the market leader in annual terms for the first time with 20% global share during 2011.” Apple’s annual share, meanwhile, was 19%.

In other words, Apple won the quarter, not the year.

Smartphone global shipments reached nearly half a billion units in 2011 (488.5 million units), the firm found, turning the smartphone battle into a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung in terms of units shipped.

Nokia, the one-time smartphone leader, is still holding onto a top spot, in position #3, with 19.6 million units shipped during Q4 and 77.3 million shipped during 2011. But Nokia’s global share has been halved from 33% in 2010 to just 16% in 2011, indicating its ongoing decline.

Although Strategy’s numbers paint the Samsung vs. Apple battle as a tight race between mobile giants, there’s a big difference between the numbers being reported here. As MacRumors points out, Samsung no longer reports its mobile phone sales numbers, while Apple discloses its units sold each quarter. That means analysts are estimating Samsung’s numbers, but Apple’s numbers are provided by the company itself. It could be that Apple’s lead is even greater than what’s seen here.

Magnificent MultiCopter can Support its own Pilot

Published on HacknMod.com - You name it. We hack it. | shared via feedly

A German company just completed their first successful test flight of world’s first electric multi-copter. It’s fitted with 16 blades surrounding a brave pilot who controlled the vehicle during its initial manned flight of 1.5 minutes.

Powered by lithium batteries, full lift and balancing is supplied by the propellers and computation system. They hope to add GPS and obstacle avoidance in the future for automated flight. The designers hope it will make a useful tool for aerial photography or inspection of large areas such as pipelines. Additional info can be found on the company website.

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Gimmie offers new way for mobile game monetization

Published on IntoMobile | shared via feedly

One of PopCap’s original developers, Roy Liu, launched a new incentives platform aimed at boosting in-app revenue by incentivizing game players with real rewards. The name of the company is Gimmie, and it unveiled its in-game incentives program in beta with ten mobile app developers and ten consumer product brands.

The main idea behind Gimmie is to turn brand promotions into in-game incentives without distracting game players with ads that force them to leave a game altogether.

Through regular/sustained app use, players earn Gimmie points, which they can save and redeem for free and/or discounted real world products. In other words, Gimmie doesn’t force ads on users — rather it motivates them to take desired actions, such as buying virtual goods, signing up for newsletters or advancing to higher levels.

Developers get to keep the control and are able to implement Gimmie’s in-app incentives program in just minutes. On the other hand, brand partners can target those mobile app users they wish to reach with multiple options for coupons and free products, and to amplify this consumer engagement over Facebook and other social media channels.

I like the idea of unobtrusive ads though I still have to see Gimmie in action to have a real opinion. In the meantime, we have a short, 1-minute video to show you, briefly describing the Gimmie platform…

Gimmie offers new way for mobile game monetization originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-01-26T11:45:05Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Will The iPhone 5 Really Have a Bigger Screen and Ship In The Summer?

Published on Gizmodo | shared via feedly

Will The iPhone 5 Really Have a Bigger Screen and Ship In The Summer? There are a bunch of rumors currently circulating the web that suggest that the next iPhone will have a bigger screen, and also that it might be here soon. But they are just rumors, which could do with some perspective.

According to a leak reported at 9to5Mac, a source at Foxconn in China has suggested that the iPhone 5 is now "gearing for production". What's more they suggested that "various sample devices are also floating around..., so it is impossible to tell which one will be the final". Hmmm. Apparently these manifold devices have a few features in common, which again according to 9to5Mac include:

4+ inch display (made by LG on at least one of them).
No teardrop-shaped devices, as rumored in the lead up to the iPhone 4S. Samples so far have been symmetrical in thickness (also longer/wider).
Neither of the sample devices have the iPhone 4/4S form factor.
Neither of the devices are the final versions.

I think it's fair to say that this last point is telling. These devices are prototypes, definitely, and don't give us much to go on. Even if a final design is already chosen — which may, or may not, resemble these descriptions — you can probably expect a six-month lead time. At best.

So, we might expect it to appear some time this year, sure, but I'm skpetical of the summer launch some people are suggesting. I could well be proven wrong, but a nine-month product refresh is very swift. Of course, the 4S built on the 4 rather than redefining the iPhone, so if it was a stop-gap as far as Apple was concerned, maybe an August-or-later launch could be a possibility.

As for the screen size, we've discussed before that the iPhone is likely to keep a screen that's 3.5 inches. If Apple is upping the screen size, that's a big departure, so it will be interesting to see what actually happens. For now, though, keep an open mind. [9to5Mac]

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Look! It's a Sailboat—Wait, No, It's 4:15

Published on Gizmodo | shared via feedly

You know what I hate? Glancing at my watch and actually reading the correct time. Thankfully, Kisai's new watch forces me to read it like I would a 1990's optical illusion poster. More »

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

Popular Aerial Projects:

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

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