Join 100 grand up for grabs
No, we here at Coolest Gadgets aren’t holding a competition of any kind, but are just passed the word that $100,000 in cash will be offered for the right to freely distribute the iPhone unlocking software onto the Internet. Needless to say, full credit will be given to the creator(s) during the proposed release date of Wednesday night (the time zone is unspecified). No idea on who is offering the dough nor how payment is supposed to be made since only a single email address has been posted. I wonder how far Apple and AT&T will go to counter this campaign, as losing exclusivity to the iPhone would certainly hurt the pockets of AT&T.
Source: Engadget
Music Games allow kids to Jam
Last year it was Dance Dance Revolution – a game that allowed users to get a work out while they did the two step to fast paced megahit. Then came Guitar Hero – which allowed axe wielding wannabes to follow hard core riffs and get high scores.
Now, it’s all about the Jam as new games go into interactive, yet social gaming. Witness Disney’s latest video game for Nintendo DS that’s based on the hit family TV show “Hannah Montana.” Called the Hannah Montana Music Jam this game lets players use four different instruments for some stellar high fidelity performance. And the handheld game takes advantage of the DS’s wireless networking ability to not only get kids to rock out in concert, but to record it as well. And the quality is out of this world with players strumming their Nintendo DS touch screen to master instruments including lead, bass and rhythm guitars, or ripping the digital skins with with drums – all in an effort to help Hannah win a competition.
The cost is about $30, and will be out come October. Meanwhile, you can check out the Hannah game in action over at YouTube.
Continue reading » Music Games allow kids to Jam
Microsoft slashes Vista price in China
China does not exactly have a sterling reputation when it comes to the number of shops that sell legitimate software, and piracy runs rampant there (along with plenty of other countries in Asia, especially South East Asia where piracy is more of the norm than exception). After all, when you can fork out around $1.50 for a copy of Windows XP or Windows Vista, why not? That’s surely the cheaper alternative than handing over $99 to enrich Bill Gates’ coffers further. Microsoft has certainly seen such cheap prices as a threat and will do the necessary in order to have more people jump onto the genuine software bandwagon. In order to achieve this, the first step Microsoft has taken is to reduce the retail price of Windows Vista Home Basic to a mere 499 renminbi (that’s approximately $65.80) from 1,521 renminbi – which means you can pick up a copy for roughly one third of the original price.
Continue reading » Microsoft slashes Vista price in China
Musical search engine to come soon
The search engines of today might be able to do just word and images searches, but how many of them will be able to take a sound sample and retrieve similar tunes? An Australian computer scientist believes that the upcoming search engines in the future will be able to do just that – retrieve music on your behalf whenever you belt out a tune to your computer. She strongly holds on to her views that the next three to four years will see such a search engine appear on anyone who loves music. Currently, there are still a fair number of problems to solve, such as the wide range of music genres available as well as ‘the effect interference from things such as sound quality and environmental noise have on the ability of the program to detect notes.’
Continue reading » Musical search engine to come soon
BBC iPlayer stores video clips on computer
Normally, people would associate downloading videos and music from the Internet without paying a single cent from Torrent sites as well as other host providers with piracy, but what happens when a legitimate company allows you to do all that without forking out any dough? The BBC has done exactly that, launching an online video service that enables subscribers to download a wide range of TV programs for free since last week. There are over 400 hours of programs to choose from – that number is roughly the equivalent of 60% to 70% of total TV output. You won’t just get third string media as even hit shows such as Planet Earth will be made available. The service is currently free and can be downloaded here, but unfortunately it is currently limited to those living in Britain only.
Continue reading » BBC iPlayer stores video clips on computer
Protect Your Mobile Phone From Unwanted Access Using Iris Recognition
The Japanese company Oki Electric announced the development of an iris recognition technology for cell phones, in the first application that uses the existing video camera of your phone or PDA, in an ultra high level of security protection. No one will ever be able to make any calls, or to access the web from your phone, unless it is authorized by you. The software Iris Recognition Technology version 1.0 needs a 1 or 2 megapixels camera to function properly, and is based on a proprietary algorithm designed to work with standard cameras on mobile phones.
Continue reading » Protect Your Mobile Phone From Unwanted Access Using Iris Recognition
Plaxo, or, you have the option of never consolidating your contacts…
Wow, so many of you may have tried Plaxo, back in the day (it was a Wednesday, about 3 or 4 years ago I think). Well, they’re back, and surprisingly, they’re great!
I’ve been wrestling with organizing and consolidating my contacts for years, I’ve got Hotmail, GMail, Yahoo! Mail, and more, plus my old Palm Pilot data too. Since my Pilot died, ugh, (still waiting for you Gandalf (or iPhone)) I haven’t been happy at all with my contacts and scheduling, and as my phone isn’t particularly web savvy well, let’s just say I’ve been vexed with integrating everything. It seems those worries are coming to an end.
Yeeehaww!!
Testing: In no time at all I had brought my Palm data into my Yahoo! account (just click on the sync help button in Yahoo! Mail and it brought all my Palm Vcard data in (it’s not too hard, select all your contacts then export vcard)). Then in Plaxo, I selected, Yahoo! Mail, then GMail, then Hotmail.
Voila!! All my woes, gone!!! Check the Continue reading » Plaxo video! Plaxo, or, you have the option of never consolidating your contacts…
Logitech’s MX Air is out and it’s looking good
Back in June, we reported on Logitech’s new MX Air mouse. Now, in mid-July, it’s finally out and the reviews are in. So far, they’ve been excellent. For those wondering why a mouse is even remotely interesting to them, you should know that the MX Air lets you control your computer using hand gestures in the air. The best part of this though, those hand gestures actually work.
Continue reading » Logitech’s MX Air is out and it’s looking good
