interweb ink » Apps

Android Augmented Reality Integrates GPS

Jason Patocka — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:47:59 +0000

Top Gear enthusiasts and Android fanboys alike will get a kick out of Wikitude’s slick new platform that integrates GPS and augmented reality. Its apps like this that drive home Android’s uncanny ability to suck on some serious Apple milkshake. One of the greatest Android criticisms was its scant supply of apps, and now by every metric I’ve seen to date, its gaining ground on the iPhone at record speed.

Safety concerns, carbon footprint, and local law enforcement withstanding – I kind of want to see a guitar hero / geocache overlay on that AR navtrack. That my friends, would take road trips to an entirely new level.

Microsoft Envisions Future – Kind of.

Jason Patocka — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:25:47 +0000

I love it when marketing departments envision the future.

It’s just a shame that they don’t show someone throwing their fancy futurepaper across the room because they suddenly discover it won’t play Flash. This also omits the holographic pop up you get when you try to transfer some files to your table interface, only to discover you’ve ran out of license agreements.

Perhaps a better video would be a future inspired romp through interface standards protocol and 2035 IP litigation, but that doesn’t quite get the kids posting to Facebook status these days does it?

Regardless, enjoy the sequel to Minority Report.

Blizzard Announces Starcraft 2 Collector’s Edition

March 27th Apple App Store Roundup

Savan Thongvanh — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:45:19 +0000

This week’s app is called Chalkboard Stunts and it’s done by Manta Research. I’d sum this game up as excite bike on a chalk board with a truck. Except you can’t build your own courses. Aside from that it’s a fun little app from the company who’s also done other games like Cubes, Cubix, AppSniper, and Virus.

The objective of the game is to navigate your truck through various obstacles using the controls provided. Four onscreen buttons allow you to go forward or backward and also rotate your truck clockwise and counter clockwise in case you get flipped over.

Chalkboard Stunts is a sort of 2d road rally game played on a chalkboard. It comes with 25 tracks and you start with one car and through the Chalkboard Stunts Store you can buy upgrades for $.99. In the store you can also buy upgrades for the game’s level building feature.
There is a handy little tutorial at the beginning of the game although you could probably figure it out on your own.

On the “home” screen you can sort the 25 tracks in alpha order, by target finish time length, or you can star your favorites and bring them to the top of the list. Of course you also get the proverbial high scores. There are however some other pretty cool options like the aforementioned store for upgrades, the ability to upload and download home made tracks, and the ability to flip your controls.

And here’s the rest of this weeks Top 10 Free iPhone Apps

Chalkboard Stunts by Manta Research
Shut Up Button by Shaved Ham
Solitaire by MobilityWare
Simon: Classic by Category 5 Games
Racing Live by Storm8
Race or Die 21 by The Godfather
Adult Sex Strip by IntroWizard LLC
Pets LIVE by Storm8
Spearfishing 3d by Yossi Malki
redbox by redbox

HTC HD mini Provides HTC HD2 Experience in Compact Design

Savan Thongvanh — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:15:08 +0000

Today, HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced the HTC HD mini, an HTC Sense-based Windows Phone focused on delivering the popular experience of the HTC HD2 in a more compact design.

“The demand for the HTC HD2 has exceeded our expectations, and the HTC HD mini fulfils a desire from some customers to bring the capabilities and experience of the HTC HD2 to a more compact design,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “The integration of HTC Sense and Windows Phone on HD mini and HD2 gives customers an additional choice for an advanced Windows mobile phone that is sleek, well crafted and easy to use.”

The HTC HD mini sports a high degree of usability along with its own unique and beautiful design. Precision fasteners used to assemble the phone are externally visible, displaying a high level of craftsmanship rarely found in mobile phones. And the strong design ethos continues under the battery cover where a bright yellow internal structure, offers an unexpected surprise when the phone is opened.

The HTC HD mini utilizes HTC Sense, a user experience focused on putting people at the centre by making the phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were developed by observing and listening to how people live and communicate. These core tenets of Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected continue to be the key to the new HTC Sense experience.

Like the HTC HD2, the HTC HD mini continues the same focus on people-centric communication with complete Outlook integration. It helps you stay close to the important friends and colleagues in your life by providing a single contact view that displays individual communication snapshots of your conversations, regardless of whether it was a call, text, status update or email. HTC’s Windows-based Twitter application, HTC Peep, enables you to tweet and follow your twitter stream.

HTC HD mini includes capacitive touch for viewing, zooming and resizing websites, Microsoft® Office files, PDF documents and pictures with just a pinch of your fingers. Leveraging its 3G broadband connectivity, the HTC HD mini also offers personal Wi-Fi anywhere for your computer or other devices. The HD mini can also be further enhanced to reflect your needs and style by downloading a variety of applications from the Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.

HTC HD mini Key Specifications

Availability & Suggested Retail Price
The HTC HD mini™ will be available by end of March with a suggested retail price of HKD$3,898.

Any customer who pre-orders HTC HD mini at HTC authorized dealers* will be entitled to get a 8GB micro SD card for free. Limited stock of gifts will be given on first-come-first-served basis.
*Authorized dealers include CSL, PCCW, Broadway, Chung Yuen, Citicall, Fortress, Leading, Wilson and CTM.

Source: htc.com

Sprint and Verizon come out in support of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan

Savan Thongvanh — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:04:05 +0000

This week Sprint and Verizon both came out with statements supporting the newly annouced National Broadband Plan. The plan outlines six goals for America’s internet. To find out more about the plan you can visit http://www.broadband.gov/ but here are some highlights:

The Goals

Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.
Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a nationwide public safety wireless network.
Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.

The site also hosts a coule of useful tools, one being a broadband speed test (http://www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/?TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=470&qt=true) and the other is a form people can use to report “Broadband Dead Zones”. By using the form you can put your address in the national Broadband Dead Zone Registry. The registry will be used to track and point underserved areas.

Sprint and Verizon were both quick to make statements.

From Sprint:

“With the release of the National Broadband Plan, the FCC gave America a roadmap to a better broadband future. Sprint applauds Chairman Genachowski, his fellow Commissioners, and staff at the FCC for producing a comprehensive set of recommendations designed to expand the availability of high speed affordable broadband across the U.S.,” said Vonya B. McCann, senior vice president, Government Affairs, Sprint.

“At Sprint, we share many of the FCC’s goals as outlined in the plan. Over the next several days, we will be reviewing the plan’s specific recommendations and look forward to working with the FCC and Congress to expand affordable high-performance broadband services,” McCann continued.

From Verizon:

“Verizon strongly supports the emphasis in the National Broadband Plan on the deployment of broadband facilities and adoption by all Americans. To that end, we are encouraged by the call to reform the policies that subsidize some companies’ telecommunications services so the policies are focused on the technologies of the 21st century. The plan also properly focuses on identifying the barriers to swift deployment and adoption and proposing recommendations to remove or overcome those barriers.

“The plan correctly notes that government is a major purchaser of services and can be a catalyst for using broadband to reform the health care delivery system, improve energy conservation, preserve the environment, and promote the use of broadband technology to advance education.

Read the Broadband Plan here http://www.broadband.gov/
More from Sprint http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=1402871
More from Verizon http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2010/verizon-statement-on-fccs.html

3/13 Apple App Store Roundup

Savan Thongvanh — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:54:35 +0000

This is the first installment of a weekly feature here in the interweb, our App Roundup. In this feature we’ll recap the top 10 free apps for the week in the iTunes App Store and review the top app or if we’ve already reviewed that we’ll cover the next one in the list.

Here we go!

This week’s top app is Fingerzilla by Inert Soap. Fingerzilla is another great little game that in no time, you can get lost in. There’s only one thing to do and that’s smash stuff with your finger and cause havoc. There are nice little bits like people running around, police cars, helicoptors, and other things running around to squish and burn if you get tired of crushing diners and quicky marts.

Fingerzilla also hooks up to OpenFeint which is a social hook to iPhone gaming. Check that out at http://www.openfeint.com/. This game isn’t going to win and graphics awards but it is a great way to kill some time in an airport or waiting room.

Here are some screen shots from Fingerzilla and the rest of the list.

And here’s the rest of the field

Fingerzilla by Inert Soap
Baby Scratch by Async
A Doodle Fly by j2sighte
Sniper Strike by Donoma Games
Tap Fish by Bayview Labs
Cool Wallpapers by Appsillicious
Zombie Farm by Playforge
Original Gangstaz by The Godfather
Singshot Cowboy by Digital Prunes, Inc, and
Scoops by NimbleBit

Amid Apple lawsuits and controversy HTC keeps pushing on

Savan Thongvanh — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:52:43 +0000

HTC announced today that they would push the reach of the beloved Desire smart phone even further. HTC will how offer, exclusively with Telstra Corp, their HTC Desire in Australia.

According to HTC, Telstra is Australia’s largest and fastest 3g network. The Desire will be available in April and pricing has not yet been announced.

See the full release from HTC

Skinput asks, “Dancing Coconut Girls, Anyone?”

Jason Patocka — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:37:20 +0000

Body modders rejoice! Touch interfaces may soon be coming to your tattoo if Carnegie Mellon and Microsoft Research engineers advance their concept of Skinput. So far, the team has developed an external sensor that detects acoustic vibrations on the human body, and have paired this input with a projected user interface. This is an interesting field of conceptual R&D, as there could be more far reaching and tantalizing applications with convergent developments in bio-materials engineering and thin film displays.

I can’t wait to see people doing cover up work that requires erasing video links from that vacation they took with their ex. Or having the distinct pleasure of having a co-worker queue up his old fraternity drinking song at a moments notice by touching his letters on his bicep. Upsides however might include a more adult Foursquare clone named *Foreplay*.

You read it here first, folks.

No related posts.

Childhood classic Qbert hits the iPhone and Touch

Savan Thongvanh — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:29:25 +0000

This is an app you may not have been dying for but if you’re from my generation you might be dying to get. Sony has released the bouncing beeping classic game Q*bert to the iTunes Store.

This version has:

a bluetooth multiplayer co-op mode
10 levels of play
50 new levels, and
5 special themes for iPhone and iPod Touch

Of course you can get it from iTunes or the AppStore

Verizon helps us citizens call Chile

Savan Thongvanh — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:24:09 +0000

As of late we’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing some high profile corporate citizenship. Yesterday Verizon added to the list of good deeds done by American companies by allowing , through March 6th, calls from the US to be made without fees for residential log distance users.

“This is an excruciatingly difficult time for our customers with loved ones in Chile,” said Susan Retta, vice president of consumer products for Verizon. “Waiving the calling charges will help our customers focus on tracking down and keeping in touch with their family and friends without having to also worry about the cost of the call.”

Additionally customers with smaller plans, 300 or 500 minutes, can call without burning plan minutes.