The Good NET Guide

Posts Tagged ‘interface’

Need some 3G? Buy some 3G! Macrumors has some shots of the interface that will appear when you need to add data to your iPad data plan. You can either add 250MB for $14.99 or change to an unlimited plan for $26.99 a month

See the rest here:
iPad 3G will be a la carte

The slew of music recording / creation apps for the iPhone all share the same weakness. They rely on the internal microphone, and a recording quality microphone it is not. The Guitarbud from PRS Guitars gives you a direct input into your iDevice without taking away headphone capability

Original post: 
Guitar/headphone interface for iPhone

We have written repeatedly that Windows itself is one of the main reasons why touchscreen computers have never caught the general public’s attention. The interface just wasn’t designed for finger input. Like it or not, that’s the truth. Windows was designed to be used with a mouse, and to a lesser extent, a pen or stylus.

That’s fine. Windows 7 works great. I’m writing this on a Win7 machine. But I hate Windows on my tablet computers for the aforementioned reason. It’s also the reason I’m very apprehensive of the upcoming onslaught of slate computers. I’m afraid that wonderful hardware will be passed up in favor of the disappointing iPad because of the interface. But Adobe gave me hope today in its demo of Flash and Air on the HP slate device.

Finally. We finally have new TiVo models. The TiVo HD XL launched a long year and half ago and the UI is even older. But that’s behind us now, the TiVo Premier is here and it’s (nearly) everything we need in a DVR. Everything is different: the hardware, the interface, even the remote. (QWERTY!)

With the TiVo Premier comes a new interface that’s been designed to present web videos just like live TV. But it’s not just web videos. The whole system was reworked to allow users better access to their locally-stored content as well. Premiere’s search function queries all sources and will find content whether it’s on a web video or live TV. Pandora and FrameChannel join Netflix and YouTube as built-in apps.

Google has just sent out an Email to select Android developers informing them that they are eligible to receive either a Verizon Droid or a Nexus One, as part of its ‘Device Seeding Program’.  The criteria for getting one of the phones is to have an application with 3.5 stars or higher and more than 5,000 downloads, which sounds like it could include quite a few developers.

In an odd move, Google isn’t actually allowing the developers to pick which device they’re receiving — if you’re in the US, you’ll get a Droid or Nexus One, at random. If you’re in Canada, the EU, Norway, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore, you get a Nexus One.  If you’re not in any of those, you don’t get a phone at all (Google explains that the phones aren’t certified in other countries).

So why is Google doing this? Android is already having to deal with fragmentation issues, as a large number of users (and developers) have older phones that aren’t running Android 2.0. Now that the Droid, which runs 2.0, comprises a big part of Android’s market share, it’s in Google’s best interest to make sure that Android’s best developers are building software that’s compatible with the latest devices. The free phones also serve as a nice carrot to entice developers to build quality applications.

Here’s the Email Google is sending out:

Due to your contribution to the success of Android Market, we would
like to present you with a brand new Android device as part of our
developer device seeding program. You are receiving this message
because you’re one of the top developers in Android Market with one or
more of your applications having a 3.5 star or higher rating and more
than 5,000 unique downloads.

In order to receive this device, you must click through to this site,
read the terms and conditions of the offer and fill out the
registration form to give us your current mailing address so that we
can ship your device.

You will receive either a Verizon Droid by Motorola or a Nexus One.
Developers with mailing addresses in the US will receive either a
Droid or Nexus one, based on random distribution. Developers from
Canada, EU, and the EEA states (Norway, Lichtenstein), Switzerland,
Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore will receive a Nexus One. Developers
with mailing addresses in countries not listed above will not receive
a phone since these phones are not certified to be used in other
countries.

We hope that you will enjoy your new device and continue to build more
insanely popular apps for Android!

Update:: And here’s a followup statement from Google about the program (it’s real, for those of you who are worried that it’s a scam):

A thriving developer community is an important part of creating a better mobile experience for users around the world. We hope that offering devices to developers will make it easier for them to create and test great applications. This is inline with other efforts to support developers, which also includes our Android Developer Labs World Tour and our upcoming participation at the Game Developers Conference.

The Mac mini has long been a HTPC fan favorite. It’s small, quiet, yet powerful

See the original post:
Apple prepping a Mac mini with HDMI? And Blu-ray?

Its a proven fact that playing guitar will get you chicks.

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i-tab digital tablature reader

One of the small surprises of the iPad announcement was that it was running on Apple’s own custom silicon. Well, that’s true to an extent, but it’s not like Apple actually invented the processor in-house. It’s just not OEM hardware

Read the rest here: 
Apple’s A4 processor is in ARM family tree with Snapdragon, Tegra

It’s about time that TiVo outs some new hardware and it looks like it might be sooner than later. The TiVo HD and HD XL have been sitting atop the companies mast unchanged for sometime now, while other DVRs like the Moxi keeps the updates rolling.

Read more from the original source: 
TiVo Premiere leaked by manual mix-up?

I’m afraid it’s time for me to upgrade my media center. My old Xbox just isn’t cutting it any more, between the composite input and the lack of processing power, it looks like it may be time to put the old reliable out to pasture and upgrade to something new. Is the Patriot Box Office Media Player the solution?

Go here to see the original: 
Patriot Box Office Media Player gets reviewed