Let's Talk Tech
It’s finally here!
Always the ultimate tech irony, the best smartphone cameras in the world had no official native app to upload pics to the world’s most popular social photo service.
No longer. Instagram is finally officially on Windows Phone as an open BETA. Let’s see how it compares to the popular third party solution 6Tag, and what features the Android version might have that IG will have to catch up on!
This is cool folks.
I think hardware is starting to plateau. Phones and tablets are now “powerful enough” for the services of today, and I think we’re going to see a pendulum swing back to software and services over the next year as developers start tapping into all the raw sensor data available in consumer gear.
I got to spend the day at Dreamworks Animation Studio today to get hands on with their new collaboration with Nokia. A game called ‘Dragons Adventure’ will be launching exclusively for Nokia phones and tablets starting with the Lumia 2520, and it’s featuring some really forward thinking tech… Continue reading “Hands on: Dreamwork’s Dragons Adventure for the Nokia Lumia 2520 – ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ GPS Game”
I used to work a government contract. Even though I don’t handle sensitive information anymore I still password protect just about every device I own. I recently reviewed the Kingston DataTraveler 6000, a USB 2 flash drive which uses military grade encryption and anti-intrusion measures to make sure your mobile data can never fall into the wrong hands. I liked it a lot.
Kingston is now introducing a pair of USB 3 protected drives which might be good for businesses or those just looking for a bit more piece of mind with their own personal data. The Vault Privacy 3.0 features hardware based 256-bit AES encryption and password protection. After 10 failed login attempts the drive wipes itself clean making sure your data can’t be accessed.
The Vault Privacy 3.0 Anti-Virus offers all of the same intrusion protections while adding anti-virus protections into the mix courtesy of ESET/ClevX to protect against viruses, worms, rootkits, and other malware.
Both Vaults are available in sizes from 4GB to 64GB, and Kingston is first to market with USB 3 protected drives. Check them out if you’ve been looking for strategies to safeguard your info.
See our review of the Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ G3!
Full PR after the jump.
Just a quick heads up folks!
Humble Mobile Bundle 3 is ready to roll. For those of you not hip to the Humble Bundle, it’s a collection sold by the developers, artists, musicians, or writers under a “pay what you want” model. This bundle is a collection of Android games: EPOCH, rymdkapsel, SpellTower, Swordigo, Ridiculous Fishing, and Kingdom Rush. To get all six games, you have to pay more than the average price, which at the time of this writing was under $5. Less than a dollar an app.
At checkout you can decide how much to pay, and how much of your payment will go to the Humble Bundle team, the app developers, and to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play Charities. And keep an eye out for future bundles. I’ve gotten some great albums, e-book collections, and PC games through this site.
Get to it folks! These games aren’t going to buy themselves!
We live in a crazy world. Parents face difficult choices in what tools they might use to help protect their children. You might not be able to keep your eyes on your kids all the time, but that’s where data services can help fill in some of the gaps.
Amber Alert GPS is a small puck which fits in the palm of your hand. It logs GPS data on your child’s location, and can communicate that info to you over its own cell phone data connection. The unit also includes a two-way voice call option, parent or child can call each other at any time and communicate over voice service. Any time the child feels like she or he might be in danger, they can hit an SOS panic button which will send alerts to up to ten individuals over text or email.
It seems like a handy piece of gear for monitoring your family members. Small, lightweight, easy to throw into a backback or a pocket. AT&T is now carrying the Amber Alert GPS for $129.99, and to utilize the data and voice features will only cost an additional $10 a month on a family share plan.
Full PR and a video after the jump.
Continue reading “AT&T offering Amber Alert GPS child locator for $129.99”
I’m stoked to see more gadgets like this.
Getting files on and off our tablets and phones can be painful. As much as these devices claim autonomy, often we still need to resort to plugging them into proper computers. Wireless drives afford us more flexibility in handling our mobile data, allowing us to build portable clouds, and providing us easier solutions for sharing media with other people.
Let’s take a look at RAVPower’s entry into this gadget class with the RP-WD01.
More info on RAVPower devices.
The RAVPower Wireless Card reader on Amazon.
FreedomPop is a plucky MVNO which uses Sprint’s network to offer up a potentially market disrupting service. Namely plans starting at FREE per month. Yup. They’re bare minimum plans: 200 minutes, 500 texts, 500MB of data. Still, did I mention that you get all that for free?
Stepping up to plans with more minutes are reasonably priced. Their top plan includes 500MB of monthly 4G data and unlimited calling/texting for around $11 a month.
Until now, the only phone you could use on the plan was an old HTC EVO 4G (also reasonably priced for $100 for a limited time), but now FreedomPop is expanding to older Sprint phones. You can bring your own device to the table and sign up for free. Currently the supported pickings are slim: HTC EVO 4G, HTC EVO 3D, Samsung Epic 4G, Samsung Epic 4G Touch, Samsung Galaxy S III and LG Optimus S. We should see more phones added soon however.
If you have one of these older handsets kicking around, it might be worth it to sign up just to have a spare number use.
Check to see if your phone is compatible at: http://www.freedompop.com/byod
You know what?
I’m actually fine with this. No really. Oxford writes up a fascinating look at the history of the word. They tracked down some of the earliest mentions of “selfie”. They explain the significance of the term. I’m a sucker for etymology, and selfie is one of those terms that does a really good job of summing up exactly what it is.
Compared to Webster Macmillan changing the definition of “literally” to mean “figuratively”, Oxford’s addition of selfie almost seems noble.
Other notable new additions to the Oxford dictionary this year include binge-watch, bitcoin, schmeat, and twerk.
(via Oxford Dictionary Blog)