Prototype iPhone 4 Cardboard Keyboard

As the song says – well kind of – Some guys have all the fun! Ben Grubb is such a man, the Digital Life wunderkind gets bundles of superneat new gadgets thrown at him, from the big guys and the not-so-big guys.

This week he’s been tossed a neat little gadget for that device we refuse to cover – the iPhone – from one of the littler guys. A prototype app made for the iPhone 4 allows users to type on a keyboard made of paper using vibrations.

Created by Florian Kräutli, a university student in London, the “Vibrative” app makes use of the iPhone’s inbuilt accelerometer, reading vibrations as a finger taps a surface to work out which key is being pressed.

According to the Daily Mail, the software works out the approximate location of a strike on a paper keyboard by analysing the strength and frequency of tremors through the surface the iPhone is resting on :: Read Ben Grubb’s full article at Digital Life »»»»

Samsung Slips Passed Apple on 4G

The war between Apple and Samsung over design and technology patents has cast Samsung as the underling, while Apple is painted as pushing at the edges of innovation. Ahh what a short sighted world we live in, I’d argue with such commentary, going so far as to say that most commentators have things wrong, very wrong.

While Samsung may have a little eggroll on it’s face over claims of plagiarism, the Korean consumer electronics behemoth is definitely no slouch on the technology front, winning the much more important war on patent innovations, particularly when it comes to 4G and it’s application in the mobile device wars.

4G isn’t so much a new technology but  a better use of existing technologies, Samsung has been working on 4G since 2005 and has pretty much perfected it’s use in mobile devices. The higher and more responsive – up to 10 x 3G – bandwidth of 4G is well suited to tablets and smartphones.

In Australia, Telstra has the largest geographic coverage in 4G and has been upgrading mobile cell towers to 4G since 2010, with a consumer roll-out from late in 2011. The benefits of running mobile devices on 4G are real, the simultaneous speed is pretty outstanding :: Read the full article »»»»

UPDATED! Apple vs Samsung vs Apple vs Samsung

UPDATED! August 28, 2012: Apple is seeking speedy bans on the sale of eight Samsung phones, moving swiftly to capitalise on its resounding court victory over its arch-foe. The world’s most valuable company wasted no time in identifying its targets: eight older-model smartphones, including the Galaxy S II and Droid Charge.

Original Post! Just hours apart, in two separate courts – one in the USA and another in South Korea – two absolutely opposing views on the war that is Apple vs Samsung, – or should that be Samsung vs Apple? – have been handed down.

A South Korean court has handed down a split ruling over Samsungs claim that Apple infringed it’s intellectual property, ruling that some element of the iPhone do indeed use patented Samsung telecommunication technology. The court also ruled however that Samsung had – as Apple has been ranting – copy Apples interface for it’s early Galaxy phones and tabs.

The South Korean court found that both companies shared blame, ordering Samsung to stop selling 10 products including its Galaxy S II phone and banning Apple from selling four different products, including its iPhone 4.

Meanwhile across the pacific in San Jose, California, a US jury has found in favour of Apple in a case that was expected to take years to settle, Apples copycat rant has just landed it a $US1 billion dollar win! However, the US ruling runs much deeper than just a huge compensation payout, BILLIONS of dollars in future sales hang in the balance for both tech-behemoths :: Read the full article »»»»

The Ultimate Fridge Magnet! Woodford Designs FridgePad

There is little question that the Apple iPad has taken over the galaxy, the ultimate in mobile computing. The experts – PC World – say that there are a heap of reasons to rely soley on the iPad as your primary mobile computing device. Apple’s iPad has a more functional interface than a netbook, it’s lighter and has a longer battery life.

Technology is only any good if it fulfils a human need, the iPad seems to cope rather well with fulfilment. Surfing, communicating, imagery, sound and motion, the iPad was designed as an interface to all the human bits that make us smile day to day.

A bunch of clever boffins at Woodford Design have now replaced the humble, often tacky fridge magnet with what they bill as the Ultimate Fridge Magnet, meet FridgePad :: Read the full article »»»»

CHINA: Teen Sells Kidney For iPhone

Five people in the southern China province of Hunan have been arrested and charged with intentional injury in the case of a teenager who sold a kidney so he could buy an iPhone and an iPad.

The five included a surgeon, who removed a kidney from the 17-year-old boy in April last year.

The boy, identified only by his surname Wang, now suffers from renal deficiency, the government-run Xinhua News Agency quoted prosecutors in Chenzhou city, Hunan province as saying.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, one of the defendants received about 220,000 yuan, $US35,00 to arrange the transplant.

He paid Wang 22,000 yuan and split the rest with the surgeon, the three other defendants and other medical staff.

The report did not say who received and paid for the kidney :: Read the full article »»»»