journal: toy

Updated: Dell officially unveils XPS One, Latitude tablet

By Nick, November 16, 2007

Dell. They’ve always had the reputation for churning out decent PCs at good prices. But let’s face it, their products have never seen incredibly unique. That may be changing, though.

Yesterday Dell too the wraps off their XPS One all-in-one desktop, and their very first tablet PC called the Latitude XT. Dell hasn’t said much about the XPS One yet, but there is a teaser page up on Dell’s site. The XPS One is the latest all-in-one desktop to come from PC makers; other recent releases include the Gateway One (yes, I know about the name--coincidence?) the HP Touchsmart, and of course, the iMac. Perhaps PC companies are noticing that there is a market for the all-in-one desktop?

The Latitude XT is the first tablet PC out of Dell, and it’s not an ordinary tablet PC. As Engadget reports, The Latitude XT sports a multi-touch display. Dell used a painting program and photo viewer demo app to show off the XT’s multi-touch capabilities. The big question: how will Windows and applications handle multi-touch input? That remains to be seen. Still, it’s nice to see some really exciting products come from Dell.

UPDATE: The XPS One is now available to buy on dell.com Models start at $1499 for a 20” display, 2 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive.


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Jailbreak your iPhone in one easy step

By UnnDunn, October 29, 2007

A group of hackers have released a web-based application that JailBreaks iPhones and iPod Touch devices running software version 1.1.1. The application also installs Installer.app. From TUAW:

To use it, open Safari and point your browser to jailbreakme.com (which we aren’t linking to so folks won’t install this by accident, but you are prompted to confirm). Once there, read the directions, scroll to the bottom, and tap Install AppSnapp. If Safari disappears and you return to the main Home screen, you’re good. Just wait a minute more for your unit to restart--don’t touch anything until you see the slide to unlock screen. If Safari hangs, just quit out (press and hold Home for 4-8 seconds) and try again.

Once you get to slide-to-unlock, go ahead and unlock your iPhone or iPod touch. You’ll return to your home screen which will contain a new Installer.app icon.

The application is based on a recently-released exploit for 1.1.1 which used a vulnerability in the open-source libtiff library found on the iPhone.


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Thoughts on iPhone’s third-party application support…

By UnnDunn, October 18, 2007

The announcement this morning was as low-key as it was stunning. An innocuous posting on Apple’s Hot News page, signed by “Steve” read:

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users.

And just like that, one of the biggest criticisms against the iPhone disappeared. Just like that, the iPhone (and to a lesser extent, the iPod touch) has gone from being a pretty but ultimately limited gadget to an extremely exciting handheld computing device. Already blogs are brimming with wishlists for applications on the iPhone, and Mac developers everywhere are salivating over the prospect of finally being able to reach a mass-market audience with their apps.

But (and you knew it was coming...) My main worry lies in this paragraph of Steve’s announcement:

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a…
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iPhone SDK to arrive in February

By Nick, October 17, 2007

Seriously.

Today Apple posted one of Steve Jobs’ now-famous open letters (his fourth this year). This one addresses third-party development for the iPhone, and I think this is an answer that most of us wanted to hear:

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more…
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DT @ Digital Life 2007 - Novint Falcon Game Controller

By Nick, October 8, 2007

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Deep Thought staff writer Uchendu Nwachukwu (AKA UnnDunn) recently visited Digital Life 2007 in New York City to test out the latest wares from major technology companies. He also had the opportunity to speak with representatives from some of the exhibitors. Previous interviews we have posted discuss the FordSync in-car entertainment system and the Gateway One all-in-one PC. In this interview, UnnDunn discusses the Novint Falcon game controller.

The Novint Falcon is unlike other input devices on the market. It’s not a mouse, trackball, or joystick. Instead, it is described as being a “small robot” that provides “three-dimensional force feedback,” according to Novint’s web site. The Novint Falcon is currently available, and is now also available at CompUSA stores.

Anyway, enough of me writing about it; let’s listen in as UnnDunn gathers details about the Novint Falcon, including information on pricing, availability, compatibility, and more.

Click here to listen - MP3 format; 1.6 MB


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