Archive for December, 2009
26th December 2009
Meet Desi. He’s in front of an HP MediaSmart computer, and he’s testing out the webcam. The webcam is powered by a fancy face tracking software which allows it to track his face within the confine of the frame.
Is Desi a happy guy? No. Apparently the tracking software does not work for African-Americans, and he drives home the point in this video:
Granted, this video was made for laughs, and HP computers aren’t really racist. It’s apparently a screw-up with the tracking algorithm; it has a problem detecting contrast for darker skins.
HP has heard of this issue, and this is what they say about it:
Some of you may have seen or heard of a YouTube video in which the facial-tracking software didn’t work for a customer. We thank Desi, and the people who have seen and commented on his video, for bringing this subject to our attention.
We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.
Now if the face tracking software is based on standard algorithms, does that mean that we’d see “racist” webcams everywhere, and not only with HP? How come we haven’t heard of this problem before? I’d like to see more brands having problems tracking darker-skinned (not just African-American) people.
[via]
26th December 2009
It all started as rumors spreading in Twitter. Apparently Google employees were given a phone to test (or “dogfeed,” as the practice is known). The employees started tweeting about how amazing it was and how it can cure cancer, solve world hunger, etc. Okay, I’m just kidding. But we all know how great the new phone is and how Android 2.1 is amazing on it.
Soon, pictures of the new phone started to leak and spread like wildfire. The “Google Phone” is running on HTC hardware and it seems to be an HTC Passion, but without the branding.
Google at first was claiming that the phone was just a mobile lab for their developers to use over the holidays:
We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.
Soon it was revealed that the Google Phone is actually called the Nexus One, and it will be sold unlocked. Amazing.
Again, I don’t think I want to use the term iPhone killer. Please, it’s been overdone. But believe me when I say that only Google would have the same brand equity as Apple which would demand the same amount of loyalty. Plus the fact that the Nexus One is unlocked and can be used with any carrier is going to win them a lot of users fed up with AT&T.
Let us wait and see what will happen.
Meanwhile, here’s a video of Nexus One booting up at a less-than-impressive 20 seconds. If Google hopes to beat the iPhone, the Nexus One has got to do better than that.
26th December 2009
If you think about it, we’ve amassed a lot of security features for our various gadgets by now. We have password encryption, biometric scanners, and alarms to protect our gadgets.
But if you think about it, one important thing that we need to really protect seems to have been overlooked. I’m talking about the wallet. We keep a lot of important things in the wallet, yet we seem to have not given any thought on how to secure our belongings inside the wallet. If we lose our wallets, we basically give the thief free rein with our money, credit cards, ATM cards, IDs, and our other personal trinkets that we keep in them. We’re basically risking our privacy the more we put really sensitive objects in our wallets.
Now, the iWallet is being touted as a solution to this problem of possible identity theft. It is made of Kevlar and carbon fiber – the same material bulletproof vests are made of. Now I don’t know why anyone would want to put a bullet through your wallet, but for those times you need to protect your high school graduation picture from an armed attacker, this would be perfect.
Other added security measures would be the built-in biometrics reader – use your fingerprint to open your wallet! – and a Bluetooth alarm that will buzz your phone if your wallet and phone start to have a considerable distance away from each other.
I actually think that these security measures are a bit overkill. Unless you’re keeping the nuclear missile launch codes in your wallet, I don’t know why else you’d have a biometrics scanner in your wallet. But if you really feel like you need this and you have $299.00 USD to burn, go ahead, get an iWallet.
26th December 2009
CNET Asia was able to get ahold of Creative ’s attempt to enter the smartphone market, the Zii TRINITY, and it’s looking good. The Zii Trinity is a smartphone development platform based on its ZMS-05 and ZMS-08 processors. Sadly though, this isn’t a consumer product but a reference device meant for developers and manufacturers. Just like Creative’s Zii Egg device.
Basically, it’s not that much different from the Zii Egg (the Trinity is capable of video output up to HD resolutions). What makes it different is added cellular connectivity supporting GSM and WCDMA networks. So this is the iPhone to Apple’s iPod touch.
From the videos below, you’d see that the TRINITY 001 is still in an unfinished. Of course you can expect the occasional glitch but the fact that it is run by a powerful ZMS-05 SoC more than make up for it. Manufacturers interested in rolling out a Zii-powered phone can do so in 3 months, according to Creative.
Check out the videos after the jump:
The specs of the Creative Zii Trinity are:
- Quad-band GSM/tri-band WCDMA/HSDPA support up to 7.2Mbps
- ZiiLabs ZMS-05 processor
- 3.1-inch 480 x 800 OLED capacitive display
- Mini HDMI port
- 5-megapixel camera with autofocus
- Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS
Personally, I was expecting Creative to sell the phones themselves. The Trinity’s specs are way good for a smartphone. Imagine Creative selling this: this could be their chance to be a household name. I wouldn’t go as far as to call this as an iPhone-killer (seriously, how many devices have been called that since 2006 and where are they all now?), but this one comes close. Really, really close.
26th December 2009
It’s dead, Jim.
And now, news of the CrunchPad’s demise has reached the blogosphere (twice-over, I must say), we’re here to examine the post-mortem. It was an ambitious project: an internet tablet meant to sell cheap. Everybody was waiting for it with bated breath, but it never came.
The first sign of trouble came when no word from TechCrunch came out after they presented a prototype way back in June. And of coure, there was the time when Arrington said that instead of the projected $200 price, the CrunchPad will be sold for $300-400, subsidized with (non-invasive) advertising.
Finally, last November 30, Arrington finally came out and announced that the CrunchPad is dead.
But the email went on. Bizarrely, we were being notified that we were no longer involved with the project. Our project. Chandra said that based on pressure from his shareholders he had decided to move forward and sell the device directly through Fusion Garage, without our involvement.
Err, what? This is the equivalent of Foxconn, who build the iPhone, notifiying Apple a couple of days before launch that they’d be moving ahead and selling the iPhone directly without any involvement from Apple.
Chandra also forwarded an internal email from one of his shareholders. My favorite part of the email: “We still acknowledge that Arrington and TechCrunch bring some value to your business endeavor…If he agrees to our terms, we would have Arrington assume the role of visionary/evangelist/marketing head and Fusion Garage would acquire the rights to use the Crunchpad brand and name. Personally, I don’t think the name is all that important but you seem to be somewhat attached to the name.”
And with that, the entire project self destructed.
The fact that TechCrunch did not protect their trademark was very risky. I’ll even go on a limb and say that it was very naive of them to share the intellectual property with Fusion Garage. I’ll even go further and say that this won’t be the last time we’ll hear of the CrunchPad. Arrington’s no idiot. He’s a former corporate lawyer at a major firm, so we can expect a major legal battle ahead. All options will be definitely explored.
This is definitely a move to gain sympathy on his part. Fusion garage has yet to release an official statement on the matter, and we’d love to hear their side of the story.
For the record, when the CrunchPad hit the $300-400 price mark, I lost all enthusiasm for the product and decided that when, released, it was going to be something of a flop. I just didn’t expect it to die before being released. Man, three days before the official launch. That sucks.
Oh well, we better wait for the Apple tablet then. Wait, you mean that’s vaporware too? Well, damn!
