Are you reading?

As promised, Apple just debuted its upcoming iPhone OS 3.0. Much of the news seemed developer-centric, but there are certainly plenty of consumer implications down the road, along with long-awaited functions like copy and paste, A2DP, MMS and universal Spotlight search. Improvements include:

App and developer functionality (more here)

Peer-to-peer connectivity over Bluetooth for gaming and other info-swapping.
Paid apps will have the potential to be subscription fee-based, and can include optional paid content that can be bought from right inside the app.
Developers can now build apps that call out to Google Maps, and can also finally bring Apple-blessed turn-by-turn to the phone.
Devs can also connect with hardware accessories over in their apps now, such as a blood pressure monitor — or perhaps a keyboard? Connectivity works through the dock connector or over Bluetooth.
Long-promised push functionality will at last be included, but apps won’t run in the background.
Developers can add streaming video and audio to their apps, along with in-game voice use.

General functionality

Cut, copy and paste. At last! You can shake the phone to undo and redo the action, and it works with both text and photos, allowing Mail to send multiple photos at a time. (more here)
MMS, along with forward and delete for multiple messages. (more here)
A2DP stereo Bluetooth.
Unlocked Bluetooth functionality on 2G iPod touch. (more here)
Spotlight has been added to a new home screen page to the left of existing pages, allowing for universal search on the phone. (more here)
Tethering is built into 3.0, and Apple will work with carriers on that — who will have the last say on its implementation, most likely.
App Store will be available in 77 countries.
Parental controls for TV shows, movies and App Store apps.
Auto-login for WiFi hotspots.

Apple apps

A new app called Voice Memos which lets you record notes and reminders.
A revised Stocks app, with news stories and a landscape view.
Landscape view available for Mail, Text and Notes.
CalDAV support has been added to Calendar, along with subscriptions support in the .ics format.
Apple’s major apps have all been expanded with search functionality.
Note syncing to Mac and PC.
YouTube account support.
Form auto-fill.
Phishing protection.
Shake the shuffle iPod playback.

A developer beta of OS 3.0 is available today, and the 3.0 update will be coming to consumers this summer as a free update to all iPhone 3G customers. It’ll also work for 1st gen iPhone owners, though they won’t receive A2DP or MMS due to hardware limitations. iPod touch owners will be able to update for $9.95, just like last time.
Gallery: Apple previews iPhone OS 3.0
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PCs have fallen wildly in price over the past couple of years, but while the prospect of a “real computer” (well, almost) for a mere $100 isn’t completely outlandish these days, it’s still rare. The Nova Navigator, built for the India market, is actually down from its originally-projected $199 pricepoint, and commands a monthly subscription fee in the vicinity of $15 and up — the more you pay the more online storage you get, with 50GB as a baseline. On its sparse 256MB of built-in storage, however, you get a full build of Linux with Firefox and OpenOffice, and the ability to access Windows with a Remote Desktop client. The unit doesn’t come with a keyboard monitor or mouse, so once you get around to supplying all that and paying for a few months of service, you might’ve been better off with a cheap netbook, but the expansion and peripheral-compatibility afforded by this desktop form factor might just make it worth the hassle.
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By Luke Anderson

How many times have you needed to send someone to your house to pick something up at the last minute, but had no way to get them a key? Sure, it’s not something that comes up all the time, but when the situation does arise, it can be frustrating. With the new LiNK door lock system from Schlage, you can unlock your house from anywhere.

This fancy door lock has three different ways of being opened. You’ve got the standard key, a number pad for entering a PIN, or you can send it a text message. What is really cool is that you can assign up to 19 different PIN numbers for each of your family members, and it will keep track of just when each person entered the house. All of this is accomplished by the use of a special wireles bridge which interprets the commands and unlocks the door. This can also be used to automate lighting and other electronic devices throughout your home.

Be prepared to set back some cash for this system, as a starter kit will set you back $300. That gives you everything you’ll need to control one door and a single lamp. While that might be worth it, the $13 per month subscription fee for the LiNK web service (which is the brains of the operation) would get old quick.

[ Schlage ] VIA [ Dvice ]

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There’s certainly no shortage of internet-connected digital photo frames out there, but those looking for a truly out-of-the-box experience may want to keep an eye out for Isabella Products’ new Vizit frame, which ditches the usual WiFi and Ethernet in favor of a more convenient (and more expensive) cellular connection. Unfortunately, Isabella Products doesn’t seem ready to get too specific with things just yet, with it only saying that the frame boasts a “high resolution” 10.2-inch touchscreen, and that it’ll be tied to the as yet non-existent Vizitme.com website, which promises to let users share photos and engage in a whole host of other social networking activities. As you might have guessed, you’ll also have to fork over an unspecified monthly subscription fee, but the frame itself is at least a reasonable $299.

[Via LetsGoMobile]


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By Evan Ackerman

Well, okay, maybe it’s not literally zero steps. You do have to plug something in and go to a website. But in practically zero steps, you can turn any USB hard drive into a networked hard drive that’s accessible from absolutely anywhere, without going through all of the complicated and nausea inducing networking drama that’s usually required to do something like that.

Pogoplug is a piece of hardware that looks like one of those A/C adapters we all hate because they’re huge and they take up a bunch of outlets. On the bottom, it’s got a USB port, and an ethernet port. You attach your USB HD to the Pogoplug, and the Pogoplug to your router. Then you go to the Pogoplug website, set up an account, and you’re done. You now have access to your drive just like it was physically plugged into your computer, except it works like that from anywhere you have internet (it just might be a little slower). You can even get at your files via an iPhone app.

I got a demo of the Pogoplug at CES yesterday, and it seems to work exactly as advertised. There was a drive showing up on the demo computer as local network storage, except that the physical location of the drive was in Arkansas or something. It’s completely, impressively transparent. The file browsers online and on the iPhone are simple to use, and I’m told the security is excellent. Oh, and you can even hook up multiple USB drives to one Pogoplug using a USB hub.

Pogoplug is on pre-order at the moment for $79, and even though Pogoplug is also a service, there’s no subscription fee. Look for it in March of this year.

[ Pogoplug ]

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By Evan Ackerman

There are a variety of self contained GPS tracking solutions out there, but most of them seem to assume that you want to know where something is almost all the time, and require you to pay a monthly subscription fee for that service. The fact is, though, that most of the time, you know exactly where your stuff/kids/pets are. It’s that every once in a while panic attack that makes having a GPS tracker worthwhile.

The XACT TRAX is just like any other GPS tracking device, with a GPS receiver and a cellular antenna to call home with coordinates, plus the ability to set “fences” around areas and a panic button. The primary difference to the TRAX is that it doesn’t do realtime monitoring, and you don’t have to pay a subscription. Instead, when you want to know where the TRAX is, you just ask it (via the internet or phone), and it’ll tell you and charge you $1. If you have > 15 freak outs about losing stuff per month, then maybe this isn’t for you, but if that’s the case you probably have other things to worry about. If, on the other hand, you’re just worried about things occasionally getting lost or stolen, $1 is not that much to ask for a precise location.

The XACT TRAX will be available by the end of Q1 for $249.99.

[ Xact ]

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There’s certainly no shortage of devices out there that promise to alert you when you’re approaching a red light or speed camera, but if you’re looking to keep things as simple as possible, you may want to consider this new so-called GPS Angel device, which pares things down to a couple of buttons and blinking lights. As with similar devices, you’re also able to sync it up to your PC to ensure you have all the latest camera locations (Mac users are on their own, unfortunately), and you don’t have to worry about a monthly or yearly subscription fee for the service. Head on past the break to check it out in action, and get ready to fork over $129 if you think it’ll do the job for you.

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It doesn’t seem like the connected GPS market is the best place to be at the moment — Dash just dropped hardware sales in a radical restructuring and Magellan’s halted development of the 5340 — but Telenav isn’t shying away, throwing its hat into the ring with the $300 Shotgun. A $12/month GPRS subscription gets you the usual slew of web-enabled features like real-time traffic and weather, live POI searches, gas pricing, and online trip planning, all wrapped in the usual Telenav PND UI and bolstered by 11 million preloaded POIs. Sounds like an interesting piece of kit, and it’s apparently well done — GPS Review took an early look at the 4.3-inch touchscreen PND and found it to be a “good start,” albeit with some minor annoyances that will hopefully be remedied in a future software update. Still, we’re just not all that convinced that another subscription fee is going to appeal to many in this economic climate — we’ll see if the Shotgun manages to fire. Peep tons more pics in the gallery.
Gallery: Telenav Shotgun
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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.


Often, a shotgun is used at the beginning of a dash, but not so in the world of connected GPS devices, where Telenav launched its Shotgun portable navigation device days after Dash decided to exit the hardware business with its pioneering Dash Express.

Unlike Dash, Telenav was no newcomer to the guided navigation space, being a leading provider of turn-by-turn navigation services to cell phones. Its customers include Sprint and AT&T, and consumers can subscribe to the service directly through Telenav — even if their carrier doesn’t support it — as long as their smartphone does. The product is free to download, but carriers charge a subscription fee for unlimited use, or offer it on a per-diem price. Because it is designed for an inherently wireless device, Telenav software includes features such as traffic notification, which is a premium feature in portable navigation devices.

In addition to physical advantages such as the large screen, the Shotgun has at least one important advantage over Telenav’s cell phone services. Since its maps are local, the device continues to route even when you drive outside of cellular coverage areas. But there’s at least one holdover from its cellular heritage that Telenav needs to shed on the Shotgun — an unceasing, bright blue LED signaling wireless connectivity, which is hugely distracting to the driver, especially at night. Perhaps a bundled strip of black duct tape will do in the meantime.

Despite the LED, based on the design of the hardware alone, the Shotgun would have been deemed a Dash Express-killer if the economy hadn’t already beaten it to the murder scene. The Shotgun has a relatively slim profile in contrast to the Frankenstein-like flat head that crowns the Dash Express. Dash’s user experience was very strong, and while the Shotgun’s may not be quite as simple and is certainly not as extensible as Dash’s, it is comparable to the generally good quality of user interface we see from Garmin and TomTom. It also avoids many of the frustrations of data entry precision in unconnected PNDs since, like the Dash, it can search for landmarks that may not be in its local point-of-interest database.

Dash won the hearts of early adopters with the ability to send custom RSS feeds to the unit. You’ll see none of that esoteric functionality on the Shotgun, which has also eschewed WiFi for downloading large system software and map updates. Telenav says it has developed a way to do this efficiently without Wi-Fi, but is mum on how. On the other hand, the Shotgun’s native “moving maps” mode mimics the “bird’s eye” perspective more similar to the way most consumers use their GPS devices. Dash, in contrast, provided a flat 2D map so that you could see traffic trouble spots brewing on upcoming and surrounding roads. The Shotgun relies more on a proactive alert approach. The 2D maps are not missed per se, but it was nice to have an option of multiple routes on the Dash before venturing forth, even if they sometime involved minor detours.

At $299, the Shotgun hardware still commands a premium over rapidly falling PND prices and will have to face the same aversion to subscriptions in the PND market that surely hurt Dash. Also, while traffic is an easy feature to include in a PND, it is enormously challenging to do well given the near real-time notification required and intelligence to gauge the efficiency of alternative routes to be as effective as possible.

While traffic no doubt holds the most potential value for subscription services and could elevate PNDs from something used only occasionally to an everyday navigational tool, there are significant barriers to justifying the expense. It is probably of most use to regular commuters. It must be able to notify you early enough so that you can avoid he most crowded route. And it may be limited in how much time it can save you even if it delivers the optimal route when all main routes are congested, particularly on shorter trips.

This is why, for the near-term, it’s going to be difficult to get consumers to pay in excess of $10 per month for such service and Navigon has seen its fortunes rise by promoting basic free traffic delivered via radio signals to its PNDs. However, for those who want the added convenience and flexibility of two-way communications in the wake of the Dash Express’s demise, the Shotgun is a well-designed, effective and handy companion to have on the road. If backseat drivers are pestering you to pull over and ask for directions, there’s no quicker path to passenger peacemaking than bellowing that one more request will result in your using your Shotgun.

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Now, we’re sure that everything’s on the up and up here, but the lack of information about the TouchDiva from any source other than the makers of the TouchDiva gives us pause, especially as the product’s apparently launching on December 1st. Regardless, here’s what we’ve gathered: the device is a 15.4-inch touchscreen unit you install in your home, and, via the magical wonders of the internet, you get all the music your heart could ever desire, free of charge — besides the $75 $13 monthly subscription fee, of course. The Danish manufacturers claim to have “agreements with the four major music companies in the world (Warner, EMI, Sony-BMG and Universal),” giving them access to over 2 million songs. Housed inside the unit are two 125W ICEpower (Bang & Olufsen-manufactured) amps, and the Diva itself has just two buttons — an on / off, and a reset, giving it a pretty stark exterior. As you can probably imagine, it’s um, not cheap — in fact, you’re going to have to cough up $6,000 $1,100 if you want one, and you’ll have to live in Europe, where the device is (supposedly) about to go on sale.

Update: As a few commenters have pointed out, the prices are in Danish Kroner, and we’ve updated to reflect that.

Read – Danish invention will change music sales
Read – TouchDiva

[Thanks, Soren]

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