21Apr

SkyFire For Android’s Flash Video Playback Goes Premium

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Hey friends! You know what time it is? IT’S GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS TIME!

The Good News: SkyFire has just released an update for the Android port of their web browser, jam-packed with brand new social features (in other words, more of the social features that I previously said — and continue to say — are silly). If you’re one of the three million people who have already been using SkyFire for Android, you can continue to use all of its features for free. You can find it in the Android Market right here.

The Bad News: If you’re just hopping on the SkyFire train, the browser’s biggest feature (its ability to convert Flash video content into something playable on non-Flash-friendly devices) is going to cost you. The Android browser itself will continue to be free — only the optional Flash feature is going premium. Fortunately, the burn on your wallet shouldn’t be too bad: it’s just a one time fee of $2.99.



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21Dec

Motz Tiny Wooden Speakers Gain MP3 Playback Capabilities

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Motz Tiny Wooden Power Speaker (Images courtesy Pyramid Distribution)
By Andrew Liszewski

The last time we saw the Motz tiny wooden speakers their technological prowess left something to be desired. It’s hard to knock their lovely apricot wood finish and aesthetics, but $50 for a minuscule speaker isn’t exactly the deal of the century. Its latest incarnation however ups the ante with a built-in MP3 player that can load tracks from a USB flash drive or an SD card. For just $10 more!

It probably gains a little bloat from the added electronicy bits inside, but the Motz is still adorably smaller than even the included wireless remote, so there’s not much to complain about. Its rechargeable lithium-polymer battery is still good for about 10 hours of playback with headphones, or 5 hours when using the speaker, and it’s available now from Pyramid Distribution for just $59.99.

[ Motz Tiny Wooden Power Speaker ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]



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29Nov

Video: KDDI Technology Improves HD Video Playback On Mobile Screens

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Japan’s second biggest telecommunications company KDDI is working on optimizing HD video streaming quality on smaller screens. Specifically, KDDI’s R&D Labs are working on making it easier to view HD content originally intended for larger screens on mobile displays.

The idea here is to boost the quality of HD streams when the user chooses to zoom in on a specific part of the screen, something KDDI expects viewers to do especially on mobile devices in the future. The way it works is that the company’s method doesn’t rely on video processing hardware in the handset to do the heavy lifting.

Instead, the video stream is on the server side, cropped and then pushed to the mobile device – without affecting the quality of the stream on the small screen. What KDDI wants to achieve is a sound “three-screen” experience, meaning giving users the same picture quality across TV, PC monitor and mobile screens.

Watch how the tech works in the video embedded below (they are using a Sharp IS01 Android Smartbook for the demo):



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09Nov

Google releases Android YouTube Remote app, to control YouTube playback on your PC/TV

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If you have a Home Theatre PC, a Google TV, or just a big monitor and a nearby couch, you may be interested to hear that watching YouTube on a big-screen device just got a little easier, with Google releasing their “YouTube Remote” app to the US Android Market today.

So, what does it do? Well, like the name implies, it allows you to control the playback of any YouTube videos your watching in the LeanBack interface with your Android (2.1+) device.

How does it do this magic? Easy! It’s all linked to your Google account, so make sure you’re logged into your Google account on both the big-screen device (eg your TV + HTPC), and your little-screen (ie Android) device.

Then — on your big-screen — navigate to www.youtube.com/leanback, open up the YouTube Remote app on your phone/tablet, and let the controlling begin.

You can use the app to search, enqueue, skip forward and back, and adjust the volume.

You can even preview the videos before moving them to the big-screen, so you can be sure that you won’t accidentally Rick Roll your audience.

Over the coming months, Google plan to integrate this functionality into the standard YouTube app, but it’ll remain as a separate app while it makes its way through beta status.

Not on Android? The functionality will also roll out to other platforms in the future, but for the moment, you’re out of luck.

Now, I really wish I could give you my feedback on how the app works, but — sadly for us Australians — it’s only available in the US at the moment. I’ve read some other people’s experience, and they’re largely positive, but I’m really curious about your experience with the app. Why not let me know how it works for you in the comments below, mmmkay?

If you’re in the US, and have an Android 2.1+ device, scan the QR code below to get your remote on!



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01Sep

Apple’s New Touchscreen iPod nano Loses Video Playback And Camera – Will Probably Not Be Missed

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iPod Nano Touch (Image courtesy Apple)
By Andrew Liszewski

I still hold the iPod Shuffle in high regard as one of Apple’s greatest creations. It immediately replaced my larger iPod which had taught me the novelty and joy of just randomly shuffling through my music. But as these diminutive players grew in capacity, allowing us to carry larger chunks of our music collections, being able to occasionally call up a specific track was a missed feature. So that’s why I’m really enthralled by the new iPod nano which is kind of a fantastic hybrid between the Shuffle and the iPod Touch.

Gone is the previous generation Nano’s buttons, vertically oriented landscape display and camera (which I’m pretty sure won’t be missed) and in its place is a square multi-touch capable screen large enough to accommodate 4 icons. While it’s a bit larger than the new iPod Shuffle (also announced today) it’s 46% smaller and 42% lighter than the previous generation Nano, which always seemed odd and out of place to me. Also gone is the ability to watch videos which makes sense given the tiny display, and again, it’s another feature that probably won’t be missed. The multi-touch display gives you full access to your music as well as other useful functionality like an FM radio, connectivity with Nike’s accessories and even the ability to view tiny photo slideshows. And instead of a gyro inside to detect when you’ve rotated the device, you can manually spin the screen’s orientation with a couple of fingers and a twisting gesture.

Available in 7 colors starting next week the new multi-touch iPod nano comes in 2 capacities: 8GB for $149 and 16GB for $179.

[ iPod nano with Multi-Touch ]



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