Nokia Gets Record LTE 4G Connection in Tests
By Robert | January 9, 2008
Nokia recently announced a very impressive success in a real-world test of their 4G. We are talking about LTE (long-term evolution) wireless technology. Nokia performed this test in an urban area using the 2.6GHz spectrum, which was able to achieve peak download speeds of 173 Mbps, coming up more than previous controlled trials. As you can imagine this is quite impressive and the 3G Partnership Project that Nokia is a port of claims that the results actually confirm the fact that LTE can be a very good combination of scalability, bandwidth range and low power use that users are looking for in a 4G service.
A prototype base station was installed by Nokia at the top of the Heinrich Hertz Institute building in the middle of Berlin in order to test LTE. This is one location that shows interference and usually degrades bandwidth. The first test had many users connected to this new base station and gave the 173 Mbps credibility if considered a real world peak. Nokia also tested this LTE station with using terminals in vehicles that were 1 km away from the station. According to Matthias Reiss, Nokia can demonstrate that LTE actually meets the expectations users have for the new technology. To make it even better, the company also has proof that future LTE networks can function on an existing base station site and mobile phone operators can build LTE networks without having to get new antenna sites. If all this is true (and it most likely is), we might be witnessing the future of mobile phone networks in Nokia’s 4G LTE variation. All wireless vendors want to make the switch from 3G to 4G as easily as possible and we might have the solution here. Even Verizon announced that they want to join the LTE camp so we are dealing with constant rise when talking about support.
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Frozen iPod Shuffle as Popsicle Prize
By Robert | January 9, 2008
Popsicle promotions have always been interesting and most included prizes that were printed on the stick. With the evolution of technology, we should have expected something like this coming but we really did not think about it. A Brazilian ice-cream company called Kibon recently took it to the next level by putting in the prize inside the popsicle. Kibon will manufacture 10,000 special propsicles that will come identical in both color and size with the actual thing but will have an iPod shuffle frozen inside. The company that is responsible for developing the idea for Kibon is Bullet Brazil. They started to ponder on the possibility in March as the objective was to put the iPod shuffles directly in the hands of the winners. The consumer basically purchases a Fruttare popsicle, which comes in 10 possible flavors and may actually find an iPod Shuffle inside the package, ready to play. The problem was that people could tell if such a gadget was in the package by simply looking at it so a solution needed to be found. The lucky popsicles needed to be the same size as a regular popsicle and the possibility of putting a Shuffle inside the ice cream was bad as humidity can destroy it. On the other hand, the winning idea was a prototype that emulates the real ice cream, thus a face ice cream that is aimed to protect the iPod Shuffle from humidity while feeling just like the real ice cream. You basically can not differentiate without opening the package.
Apple also did some tests in order to make sure that the propsicles will protect the iPods and once all was successful they gave the go ahead for the campaign. The only drawback is that you will get the shuffle but in order to get the charger and the manual an 800 number needs to be called and a special code that the winners will have is used to get these two pieces. They will also receive a real popsicle with the same flavor as the fake one that contained the gadget.
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Record Movies up to 45 frames per Second on iPhone
By Robert | January 9, 2008
Monster and Friends recently created a special iPhone application that can help you in recording at 45 frames per second. The final version is still not ready. On the other hand, they recently released the application in a beta version. It can only record 5 seconds at up to 10 frames per second but at a resolution of 2 megapixels. The program is called Drunknbass and the tests done show that it does work perfectly.
Drunknbass does not come with an interface and we do not think the full version will have one either. All you need to do is download the application and put it in your iPhone’s Applications folder. Next you can click on the button and recording starts. In this beta version, as soon as the 5 seconds are up you will see that the clip is replayed once. According to Monster and Friends, the final application will make it possible to record clips of unlimited size with up to 30 frames per second. Interface to save clips will also be provided and they are still looking for interested developers to help with the graphical side of Drunknbass. The good news, as we see it, is that the only real limit we will have stands in our own available storage space. Video recording does work great on the iPhone and we might even see Drunknbass as an official release from Apple in the next update. This is just a rumor but it might be true. Drunknbass does prove that third party application can be a huge success for the iPhone and can come with a lot of features. Monster and Friends might be among the first third party developers that will get official support by Apple and we all know that the company does not do this often.
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CyberLover – Scoring Girls for Nerds
By Robert | January 9, 2008
CyberLover is soon to be launched by a Russian web site. This is a special program that will simulate chat room flirting. The idea is quite strange and it is said that the aim is to help nerds that have no skill when it comes to getting together with women. CyberLover is said to be able to chat with “up to 10 women at one time” and should score. Also, according to the web site, “not a single girl has yet realized that she was communicating with a program!” Another feature that is possible with the program is performing virtual sex online. If we were to talk about fun and games we could say that it is quite interesting although the possibility of loosing a credit card number is also possible according to PC Tools, an Australian anti-virus software developer.
Although this program promises the world, we need to wonder if it really delivers. It seems that all it takes is around half an hour of use and CyberLover will basically introduce the user to girls, exchange photos and even be able to get a contact phone number. Now the real question is: now that you do not have the program to aid you, what will you do in a real conversation? You will probably not be Don Juan anymore! Also, Sergei Shevchenko, a malware analyst at PC Tools, said that CyberLover comes with a previously unseen level of social engineering for a tool that can be utilized by hackers for identity fraud. CyberLover is scheduled for release on February 15th, right after Valentine’s Day, which is probably a good move for such software. We are very curios as to the success rate of getting to meet girls as the program might be good for cheating a virtual date but a real one will expose you for the inexperienced nerd that would use CyberLover.
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All World Info in an iPod by 2020
By Robert | January 9, 2008
How much can fit inside an iPod now? The answer is: pretty much! You can basically put in so much information, music and video to last you for days, maybe even weeks of continuous playback. A recent presentation at the Captains of Industry Conference saw Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Google BP, emphasize on the fact that storage technology played and is still playing a huge role in technology in all fields of activity. If compared with the year 1982, the factor of storage is now under by 3.6 million, which is an incredible growth rate. According to Sukhinder, if this trend continuous and we get to see storage costs constantly decreasing, around the year 2020 all of the world’s content could actually fit inside an iPod. She also added that all of the world’s music can sit in an iPod (yes, just one unit) by 2015, thus making CDs virtually unneeded. Besides storage facts, something else was also pretty interesting in some stats highlighted by Sukhinder. Current estimations say that around 65,000 new videos are added daily to YouTube and around 100,000 blogs are created. It is quite interesting to stand and think about the huge rate of development of information we are noticing and the fact that storage capability manages to keep this alive and continue growing.
The scary part is that Sukhinder Singh Cassidy might be right on everything fitting in an iPod. We already can fit basically all we want inside these gadgets, huge discographies and more. It is impossible not to have every type of song you would need in given situations and this is when talking about music alone. Think about the fact that a text document is dozens of times smaller than an .mp3 file. Information is the key and the iPod can become the storage of the key.
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