by stephanlange on October 20, 2011
The University of Sydney has a great bunch of interaction design students and one of them is Stephen Davis.
As you all know Amnesia Razorfish is always trying to stay ahead of the curve especially when it comes to new technologies so when Stephen had the idea of the BrandTable we were able to help him out a little.
Together with Publicis Mojo we were able to get him first hand insights into Paypal and Google and what they are planning in regards to mobile payments. We were also able to help him with the build of his prototype that shows how NFC could be used in future.
Check out the video:
Here is what Stephen has to say about his creation:
Brand Table is a product designed initially for shopping centre food courts that takes in an order via a mobile device in where item selection and payment will occur.
[click to continue…]
by stephanlange on October 19, 2011
Today Google and Samsung finally had their Nexus event where they released the next version of the Nexus phone series as well as the announcement of their new iteration of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich.
So let’s start with the phone: Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Obviously it will be running ICS and it will have some very impressive specs:
- a huge 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720
- 1.2 Ghz dual-core processor
- 5 Megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- 1.3 Megapixel front facing camera
- 1080p full HD video recording
- 1 GB of RAM
- Wireless N network
- NFC capabilities
- the usual accelerometer, compass, gyro, proximity sensor
- a barometer
and to power it all a big 1750mAh battery
It will be released in November, but so far we haven’t heard any carrier announcement or if it even hit AU shores any time soon. No price yet either.
So what about Ice Cream Sandwich?
Better known as Android 4.0, the update offers a massive redesign to the user interface and adds a lot of new features. Mostly developed to bridge the gap between handsets and tablets it is the first step to fight the Android fragmentation.
Some of the highlights include an NFC-enabled feature called Android Beam, that allows 2 NFC enabled devices to share information by simply touching them together.
Offline search in Gmail, new lock screen features and a fancy unlocking method called "Face Unlock," which uses facial recognition to obviously unlock your phone.
Ice Cream Sandwich also includes enhancements in almost every native app within Android itself. E.g. the camera interface is completely new, it is faster and easier with instant access from the lock screen, no more shutter lag which means photos are taken immediately, new panorama features, touch to focus etc etc.
The gallery app now has “Instagram” like filters and there is an inbuilt photo editor. Sort your shots by location or by person (if you tagged them) and video can now be captured in 1080p. And to really stress your battery you can now create time lapse videos right out of the box.
A Siri competitor or just a newer version of Google Voice?
The SDK is already available for Android 4.0 – here
so what are you waiting for, get developing
@maniac13
by eunmac on August 10, 2011
The success of Tesco’s new retail store in Korea is something to behold:
Why? Because there is no physical store and no physical product. However the experience of the store has been fully recreated two dimensionally as a backlit poster with the products and ordering fulfilled using mobile and QR codes. It’s a neat idea and solves a number of issues:
1. The familiar supermarket experience. Tick!
2. Impulse shopping. Tick!
3. Cheap rent. Tick!
4. Open a new store in high traffic areas in one day. Tick!
5. No internal fit out costs. Tick!
6. No need to stock shelves Tick!
7. No Staff wages. Tick!
8. Open 24hrs. Tick!
The list goes on.
Personally I’d like to see NFC integration as well as QR codes. I think we can also expect to see these walls become screens rather than printed products in the very near future.
by stephanlange on May 12, 2011
Googles I/O event is in its second day and personally I was more excited about yesterdays announcements, but Google is not stopping with new and improved ideas.
Today they showed off their Google TV running a new honeycomb UI that will be released later this year.
You will be able to run your apps and widgets on the screen and there will be a much faster way to get back to your live TV.
The Google TV remote app was always a bit too complicated and Google announced today that the source code for it will be made open source (source code here) so anyone can make their own and improve it. The Anymote protocol code is also available (here) which means you can integrate it into phones and tablets.
More things to come as well as soon as Android 3.1 will hit the TVs – mentions of 3D support and Game Controller support for example.
The Android Market was another topic for Google today and they announced improvements on discovering apps – the market has grown to over 200000 apps and it is quite hard to find the good ones. Now there are 5 new features that will help you find the next Angry Birds:
New Top app charts – fresh new look and country specific
Editor’s choice section – apps chosen by Google
Top Developers section – a special icon next to the name of the developers that fit the criteria
improved related apps
trending apps – it shows you which apps are growing the fastest
Right now they are only on the web based version of the market, but Google mentioned that it will come soon to the phone and tablet versions of the market.
From June onwards the market will also support larger apps – up to 4GB – and it will give the developers the ability to exclude specific handsets – sorry HTC Magics
So what was left for Google? Chrome OS
The biggest improvements to Googles OS are that it will support Netflix and Hulu (can you please hurry up and establish yourself in Australia) right out of the box.
There will be new hardware – both Samsung and Acer models were shown off and they will include offline versions of Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs. They will probably hit the market in a few month.
Chrome OS laptops will cost you nothing upfront – instead you will pay a monthly subscription that includes regular software and hardware upgrades.
There was also a teaser that Samsung is going to build a desktop version called Chromebox that will run Chrome OS
And who would have guessed, but there will be Angry Birds at the Chrome Web Store – it is build in WebGL, but also has Canvas support so it should run in different browsers to Chrome, however it will get exclusive content like chromebombs.
If you have been left out of the Chrome Web store you will be pleased to know that it is now available worldwide.
another day of great Google news
@maniac13
by stephanlange on May 11, 2011
Google started as an online search engine that within month make a massive impact and took over the space and we all love googling.
Last night Google had their annual I/O event and the future seems to be all about everything you can imaging. Google will be in your life if you like it or not.
Android has been the big buzz word for a while now and with 200000 apps in the Android market, 400000 daily Android activations and a lot of manufacturers joining the Android hardware bandwagon, this train is not going to stop.
One of the big negative aspects of Android is its fragmantation and Google announced today that the new version of its OS, called Ice Cream Sandwich, will change all that. Hardware manufacturers had to promise that newly released devices will need to be capable of new instances of the Google OS for at least 18 month of the hardware release. The new OS starting with Ice Cream Sandwich will also run on both handsets and tablets and will be smart enough to adjust itself to the actual device capabilities.
It is the step in the right direction, but personally I don’t it will stop people like HTC and Samsung to take forever to release the new OS because they are customizing theirs so heavily.
But Android will not be limited to mobile devices anymore.
Google announced the Android Open Accessory API which is based on Arduino, the universal open source hardware.
This means that Android can live in any device you can imagine – fridges, medical equipment, exercise equipment and and and
This API will be available at the end of the year so next year we will be overrun with Android devices.
Google Music was announced today as well and Google is going after Amazon and Apple (even though apple isn’t ready yet) by offering a music locker that seems to be worth using.
It is really targeted at hard core music fans that can upload their nicely sorted and curated music collection to the Google cloud and then listen to it on any Android device they own.
Then Google announced something new – Home Automation with Android@Home
Their vision is to have little Droid doing all the work for you – Open source libraries will allow developers to create apps that are Android compliant. This way you can dim the lights from your couch, start the washing machine on your way home from work – all you need is a Android@Home receiver.
Another shot at Apple here too as the new libraries incorporate Google tungsten that will allow you to stream your Google Music collection to any speaker in your house – no more Apple Air play
This was only Day 1 of the I/O and there is more to come in the next 24 hours. We haven’t heard anything about Google TV or Chrome. Does Google have something bigger still to come?
Only time will tell – Let me know your thoughts on Googles announcements in the comments below.
@maniac13
by stephanlange on May 22, 2010
At Google I/O in San Francisco, Google unveiled its new version of the Android operating system, 2.2, dubbed “Froyo.”
One impressive improvement is its speed and Google isn’t shy to show it off and compare it to, let’s say the iPad
In the video after the jump, 2.2 is the phone on the left, 2.1 is the phone on the right. And on the other side of the stage on the other screen is the iPad. All the devices have a 1 Ghz chip, and all are running the same (web-based) app (in which a creature races around a screen).
check out the video after the jump
[click to continue…]
by stephanlange on April 29, 2010
the iPad is out and it seems that it is very popular as it sold over 300000 units in its opening weekend. I have been talking about alternatives to the iPad already here, but every day I come across more and more of them.
So here are a few more.
It seems that the windows versions are getting more attractive. Not only that they are running windows 7 (which just sold more than 100 million licenses a couple of days ago), but they also support multitouch, flash and everything else that windows supports out of the box.
GBook tablet
1.2GHz Intel ULV SU2300 processor with integrated Intel graphics and 2GB of RAM – it looks like you can put a 2.5 inch HDD or SSD in it for storage. it will run win 7 and the multitouch panel supports up to 10 touchpoints – no word on price or release date yet, but definitely an option to keep your eye on
Jumper’s JK01-TT
10 inch screen with multitouch, running win 7, 667MHz processor, GMA950 graphics, Realtek audio, 2GB RAM, 250GB SATA HDD, 2 megapixel camera, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI out, WiFi b/g, and 3G and it ships with a wireless keyboard, mouse, and a stand – all that for US$ 672 from here
here it is in action
The other option that I always come across are the Android tablets and even though Google and HTC seem to work on one together, others have already released their low cost versions
Enso’s zenPad
5 inch screen, 800 x 480, Android 1.6, 8GB of storage (on a replaceable microSD), 667MHz Samsung processor and WiFi all for US$ 155
And if you want to spend an additional US$ 60 it comes with GPS and an external 3G adapter.
Not the best specifications on the planet, but you can’t expect the world for US$ 210. available here
Vi10 from Onda
there is not much known about this 5 inch tablet, but it is meant to be powered by a 600MHz Rockchip and has WiFi and 3G connectivity. no price or release date yet.
Toshiba tablets
Toshiba just confirmed that it will release Windows and Android tablets in the beginning of next year. The Windows one will be the more expensive version, but it also comes with 2 screens (like a book? or the MS Courier?) the cheaper option will run Android, but of course it is still too early to speculate anything else. One thing that seems to be common knowledge is that they will have NVIDIA Tegra 2 internals which should make them nice and powerful.
WePad
I have talked about the WePad already in my earlier post here, but I wanted to share this video with you of the WePad in action
Looking at these options it will get harder and harder to make a decision on which pad is the right one for you and me and it will probably come down to what do you need it for? do you just want something you can play games on and watch the occasional (converted) movie? or do you want to do proper work with it, connect your other devices to it, maybe even make a phone call or stream your 1080p videos to your big TV?
In the end it is really up to you which one you choose and which one you can afford – all I am saying is that there are plenty of alternatives out there and you don’t have to go for the shiny one 
Let me know which one you go for or if you have found another one that I didn’t see in the comments.
@maniac13
by stephanlange on April 8, 2010
I believe the developer said everything that needed to be said about this:
"The app is called iReverse… Although iReverse is fun to play, the most amazing thing about the project is the fact that it runs in all these different environments completely unchanged. In other words, the exact same code base is used to build versions for five different environments. There’s no other platform in the world that can boast this level of flexibility – not even close."
Check out the video where he shows off his app running all different OS platforms and handheld devices including his brand new iPad
This is sweet and I can see a lot of people getting really excited about it already – I know I am
@maniac13
by stephanlange on January 13, 2010
I wish I had the time (and money) to go to CES this year, but thankfully all my favourite tech sites were covering it very well.
So looking at all the new gadgets coming out I thought I share my favourites with you – they are in no particular order
1. The transparent laptop screen – Samsung 14 inch Transparent OLED
2. HP Slate tablet – Apple is meant to do it – MS and HP have done it
3. A.R Drone – a Quadcopter controlled by your iPhone (we mentioned it here already)
4. liquid Image HD snow goggles and underwater goggles – all you need for your own discovery movies
5. Peregrine Glove Game controller
6. LBO Light Touch – have an interactive surface on any surface (we mentioned it here already)
7. Finally some USB 3.0 products – superspeed here we come
8. PlasticLogic Que Pro eBook reader/tablet – very sexy
9. Project Natal – can’t wait to connect this to my Xbox360
10. Zyxio Sensawaft – move your cursor with your breath
something additional – these didn’t quite make it into my top 10, but are still pretty cool
The instant Camareas are back – non digital – Polaroid makes a comeback with the Polaroid Pic 1000
Lenovo bringing out a phone
Panasonic 152 inch 3D TV and wireless HDMI transfer
MSI Dual screen multitouch tablet
by Dan Leon Krause on May 21, 2009
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