The 3G IPhone - 1 Week And Counting

It’s always pleasant to pontificate on Steve Jobs’s keynote speech. Apple has a history of causing a stir during the Worldwide Developers Conference, with the iPhone the most recent example of this. The world was taken aback by the announcement of the first version of the iPhone and it is widely accepted that the 3G iPhone will be the major talking point this year.

The release of a 3G version of the handset has brought with it numerous rumours. Solar cells stored behind the screen of the iPhone in order to partially power the unit may be several years away yet, but it looks probable thanks to the patent that has been filed. However, many expect the new iPhone to include GPS and offer improvements in its design.

It is seen as an opportunity for the iPhone to break into new world markets, including the Asian market where a lot of handset owners already have 3G handsets. Because of the unwillingness to downgrade to a 2G, Apple has not managed to break the Japanese market to anywhere near the same extent that they have taken on the rest of the world.

Whatever Steve Jobs will announce next week you can be sure the world will be waiting with baited breath. The iPhone is unlikely to be the only “surprise” awaiting us either.

Smartphone Rankings Released

Analyst house Gartner has released figures of the most popular smartphones in the world, by market share. Despite the iPhone only having been available for purchase for around 12 months it has already taken third spot behind Nokia and RIM. In America, the iPhone has second spot behind just RIM with Nokia in third.

Nokia holds top spot with a whopping 45 percent of the market share, while RIM (who make the Blackberry range of mobile phones) comes in second with slightly more than 13%. However, Apple has performed remarkably considering the head start afforded to the other two companies. They rank third with a 5.3% share.

Nokia has continued to fail to break into the American market where it’s handsets typically do not fare as well. This is also true of smartphones with RIM commanding a 42% market share and Apple coming in second with a very respectable 20%.

Growth is expected to continue for the iPhone, especially because as yet this figure does not include a large number of replacement handsets or upgraded phones as you would expect with both Nokia and RIM. When the new iPhone is released and once contracts start to come to fruition it is highly likely that these figures will increase further.

Google Moving In With NASA

Google has never been particularly shy in its monumental achievements and certainly isn’t afraid of splashing the cash to ensure that its workers have the most productive environment. Reports last year showed the offices that included bean bag meeting areas, fireman’s poles, and many more initiatives. However, they’ve taken it a step further this time.

Paying just less than $4m lease per year initially, Google has announced that it is leasing 1.2m sq ft of land from Nasa. The land will be used to build research and development labs as well as to house some of the thousands of new employees expected when they further expand the business.

Google currently employs approximately 20,000 people having significantly boosted their staff in recent years. The new site will also include a huge office block and it is likely that it will also incorporate housing, leisure, and possibly retail facilities for employees.

From NASA’s point of view it is seen as a positive move, not only because of the obvious injection of cash but because it will further improve their own credibility within the scientific and technology arena.

While the lease is for an initial period of 40 years, building is not expected to start for five years and will not be complete until some time after 2022. Fortunately, there should be the opportunity to extend the lease by 50 years once the initial period lapses.

IBM Shows Off Water Cooled Chips

While showing off their latest 3D chip development, chip manufacturer IBM has declared a need for an improved cooling system. In order to combat the increased amount of heat experienced when stacking chips on top of one another, they have developed a network of tiny arteries no wider than a hair that pumps water around the chip to cool it.

Traditionally, chips are laid out horizontally, but stacking them vertically allows for data to be transmitted quicker and more effectively. However, the by-product of this architecture is a massive increase in heat. The usual method of cooling chips, fans and air based cooling systems, cannot cool the chip enough and cannot be scaled to an acceptable level.

3D chips represent the future of computer technology and will enable the chips to become smaller and more powerful but cooling has been a problem since the idea was first thought of. Water has been used to cool computer systems before and is believed to be a viable solution because it absorbs more heat much more effectively than air.

If 3D chips are to become a part of future computing then the cooling issue has to be beaten, and IBM’s water cooling technique looks to offer a highly probable solution.

Sky Remote Record

So Sky+ revolutionised the way we watch and record satellite TV (even Ross Kemp’s grandma uses it to record and watch back the snooker [embarrassing laughter]) but where a solution is provided it only ever presents another problem. What if you forgot to set Sky+ and the snooker’s about to start. You wouldn’t want grandma Kemp getting upset now would you?

All Sky+ members benefit from free registration to the Remote Record service and once you’ve registered you can use a PC or your mobile phone to set your Sky+ or HD box (like you should have done before you went out). Simply log on to My Sky, view the listings for the day and then choose the programs you don’t want to miss.

Mobile recording can be done either using a Sky Anytime mobile phone or by sending a text. Sky Anytime is a mobile phone service that lets you watch Sky content on your phone, wherever you are. You can get celebrity headlines, sports headlines, and can watch content from some of the major Sky Channels.

Sky offers some really good packages that brings you one stop closer to a completely digital home and mobile world. With remote record, they also let you record shows that you would have otherwise missed.

100,000 Mobile Phone Users Tracked - Apparently Humans Are Lazy And Habitual

100,000 mobile phone users somewhere in Europe have had their movements tracked to determine how we, as humans, behave. Researchers are not permitted to give out details of where the information was collected but every time one of the 100,000 made a call or received a text they were tracked using information from the mobile base station.

The findings determined that we are habitual in the places we visit (presumably, work and home feature quite highly) and that the vast majority of us travel very short distances (I’m guessing that’s between work and home). Phone data was kept secure and, in place of a mobile number, a 26 digit code was assigned to each mobile phone.

Data could only be tracked to within a 3 sq km radius but the research showed that the majority of us rarely travel out of these areas and that we typically return to the same spots over and over again. It’s almost like the majority of us move reasonably close to the places we work and where our kids go to school.

Researchers appear to have got a little light headed over the discovery that humans are lazy. They claim that it will help them in creating effective models of human behaviour. It has also been noted that sensors could be attached to mobile phones in order to track weather data, air pollution levels, and much more. Presumably the phone manufacturers would get the permission of mobile phone users before making even more money from us.

Roomba Hacking – Who’d Have Thought It?

I was reading Engadget when I came across a piece about the latest Roomba hack. Roomba hacking is one of those things that you probably never knew existed, and once you learn of its popularity, you’re forced to ask the question “Why?” What’s perhaps even more bizarre to those of us that don’t see the point is the news that all Roomba vacuum cleaners created after October 2005 come with hacking software pre-installed.

Primarily, Roomba hacks started out as functional beasts. Engineers set to work in developing hacks that enabled the fixing of potential bugs, and the cleaning of deep pile carpets. And then, such is the nature of the human animal, we turned to creating slightly less than functional mods. Since then, there’s been no end to the weird, wonderful, and plain banal that has been accomplished.

The WiiRoomba is potentially the daddy of them all enabling you to control your Roomba with your Wiimote. Taking it in a similar direction, there is a Java applet that can be installed on your mobile phone thus enabling you to control your robotic vacuum cleaner with your mobile. Cameras, video cameras, and a whole host of other sensors have been added in order to document the robot’s progress too.

One of the most recent, and possibly coolest, of all the mods is the Pacman mod. 448 LEDs and some potentially misplaced coding genius has led to the creation of a Roomba that looks alarmingly like Pacman while on its domestic cleaning chores.

Corsair Padlock Flash Drive

USB Flash Drives come in all shapes and sizes, and Corsair are one of the companies responsble for the influx of such devices. The Flash Padlock from Corsair is one of the most secure and simple ways to store large amounts of data and offers peace of mind that your data is completely secure even when you’re mobile.

Owners can enter their own pin codes, and as soon as you remove the flash drive from the computer, it automatically locks using that code. To unlock it, simply use the mini keypad provided to enter the pin and you’re away with your data. Two indicators display whether the drive is currently locked or unlocked.

The plug and play flash drive is multi platform compatible and can be used with Windows, Mac, and Linux based system and because it’s plug and play there’s no need to install any software or drivers before you can start using it. This also means you can transfer data quickly and easily (presuming you haven’t forgotten your pin).

2GB and 4GB versions are available and range in price from £10 to £20 depending on where you shop. Forgetting your pin shouldn’t be a problem because you can choose your own rather than use a randomly generated one – use your bank card pin or your best friend’s hairdresser’s sister’s birthday to make it as memorable and secure as possible.

Fortunately, you can register one or more pins on the Corsair website, so if you do happen to forget it (which, if you’re anything like me, then you will) you can retrieve the pin and carry on as normal.

Free mp3 Or CD Player With Bose Headphones

Stuck for something to spend your hard earned hundreds on? Like to listen to music without the niggling distractions of the outside world? Bose QuietComfort headphones aren’t cheap, but they do offer an exceptional level of digital noise reduction and excellent audio clarity. The two sets currently being touted as the best noise reduction headphones available are the QuietComfort 2 and QuietComfort 3 sets.

Shopping around won’t necessarily bag you the greatest bargain on these, either. The Bose online shop not only has some of the cheapest prices but they are also offering a free mp3 player or Bose CD player when you purchase either set before the end of June.

The QuietComfort 2 headphones, priced at £225, are around ear headphones and obviously include the patented Acoustic Noise Canceling circuitry. The technology detects external noises, identifies them, and then eliminates them from the noises you are hearing.

QuietComfort 3 headphones work in the same manner but are on ear headphones, weighing less, and include their own rechargeable battery pack. They do cost slightly more at £275 but the extra money buys you less weight, more comfort, and a rechargeable battery. What more do you want for your £50 extra?

Itunes Offers Movies For Sale Or Rent

Apple has announced that it will now offer UK users the opportunity to rent or buy movies from the iTunes online service. The service will initially include 700 films, 100 of which will be in high definition, and many more will be added. Apple boasts that films from some of the major producers like 20th Century Fox, Disney, and Paramount will be made available.

Movie rental gives users 30 days to start viewing once a title has been downloaded and 48 hours from when they first view it. Over a broadband connection the download will take just a few minutes and can be downloaded either to iTunes or to Apple TV so it can be watched on your widescreen HDTV at home.

Pricing looks fairly reasonable with rentals costing £2.49 (£3.49 HD) for a library rental and £3.49 (£4.49 HD) for a new release. Buying an older movie will cost £6.99 with new releases weighing in at £10.99.

An Apple TV box connects directly to your TV and wirelessly to your computer or home network. You can then download music, TV shows, and movies so that you can watch them on your home TV.

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