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Friday, December 13, 2013
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Screenshot 2013-12-13 08.45.18

Apple has taught us to dream.


When the company launched game-changing products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple made us feel like the future we picture in our minds will one day be a reality. And here we are, with Elon Musk working on flying cars while Pebble and friends put your smartphone on your wrist.


But some of us take the dream more seriously than others.


Take, for example, these iPhone concept videos from Set Solution, which show an impossibly thin iPhone Air and an outrageously curved iPhone 6C. As you can probably guess, this time the C stands for Curved.


The concept for an iPhone Air is particularly beautiful, with an edge-to-edge glass display and a profile so thin it nearly disappears. Unfortunately, there are a number of obstacles between this concept and reality, least of which being a power source that can fit into such a thin device and still give our digital obsessions enough juice for a full day.


In a second video, you can check out a concept for a curved iPhone 6C, with the same colorful plastic but an uncharacteristic, super curved display.


Apple has reportedly been working on curved display technology based on some recent patents. But it’s fair to remember that Apple patents all kinds of technology that may never make it into a product.


Important Note: These videos are not produced by Apple. These videos have no affiliation to Apple. And perhaps more crucially, the technology shown in these videos is not realistic by any means.


But, that doesn’t mean we can’t dream, right? Apple would want us to dream.


Happy Friday.


[via CNET]







6:39 AM

Apple has taught us to dream. When the company launched game-changing products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Apple made us feel like the f...

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chromecast2

Google Chromecast owners can now stream Google Play music and movie content direct from the web, as well as from smartphones and tablets, thanks to the Google Cast extension for the Chrome desktop browser. Oddly, Google’s own media store isn’t the first to do this, as Netflix on the web can play nice with the Chromecast extension, as can YouTube. But Play media access means Google’s $35 wonder device is everything the Nexus Q was not, and a device only limited by software and time.


When the Chromecast first launched, it was sort of like a knock-off designer handbag: Not the thing you really want, but close enough and so cheap it didn’t matter. Slowly but surely, however, Google has been improving its streaming dongle to the point where it’s quickly becoming a true competitor for Apple’s AirPlay and Apple TV devices, which is a much-needed ingredient currently missing from Google’s ecosystem.


Web-based streaming is also something that AirPlay can handle, thanks to the ability to connect an AirPlay display in the latest version of OS X. Chromecast also still can’t mirror a display entirely, which is something AirPlay can handle that’s incredibly useful for presenters, educators and many others. AirPlay has also been used by many developers as a way to program experiences designed to take advantage of using both a small and a big screen at one time, which is likewise something Google hasn’t really implemented with Chromecast just yet.


Earlier this week, Google added a good list of new content partners to Chromecast’s stable of supported software, and each drove up the value of owning one considerably in my opinion. In the same way that Apple keeps improving the Apple TV via content partnerships and service improvements, Google keeps doing the same with Chromecast, but the short-term potential here is even greater, I think, at least in terms of immediate impact for a huge group of Chrome and Android users.







6:39 AM

Google Chromecast owners can now stream Google Play music and movie content direct from the web, as well as from smartphones and tablets, th...

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As a smartphone app reviewer, I often like to include a bit of explanation for why I choose to review the apps that I do. It adds a bit of human interest, and can make for a more enjoyable read. This week, the story is especially exciting. This is a review of D-Link's Mydlink+ remote security camera Android app add-on, and I can explain the reason for the review in one word: goats. Yes, goats -- those curious, often bearded, small livestock animals with the endearing, nibbling tongue and lips.


5:39 AM

As a smartphone app reviewer, I often like to include a bit of explanation for why I choose to review the apps that I do. It adds a bit of...

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steve-mollenkopf

Reuters reports this morning that Qualcomm will replace current CEO Paul Jacobs with current COO Steve Mollenkopf starting on March 4, immediately following the company’s annual shareholder meeting. This announcement comes only seven and half hours after a report from Bloomberg suggested Microsoft was considering Mollenkopf for the CEO role at its own company.


Maybe Mollenkopf’s camp at Qualcomm leaked that report as the final push needed to convince the chip-maker to sign on the dotted line and retain him for their team, but whatever the circumstances behind the scenes, it seems very unlikely the two reports are coincidentally timed. Mollenkopf is just the latest executive to be snatched from Microsoft’s short list: Ford CEO Alan Mulally seems happy to stay where he is at least through next year, although a report from Thursday suggests the Ford board of directors wants some reassurance on that front.


Mollenkopf is likely in demand because he’s been a key player in helping Qualcomm rise to dominate the mobile industry. Mobile is an area where Microsoft has not done very well, which has led some to question its relevance given the general shift in computing, so Mollenkopf would make sense as a short list candidate to help Redmond right the ship.


Microsoft’s short list is dwindling, with some candidates reported falling out of favor with the company itself, including former Nokia boss Stephen Elop, and others like Mollenkopf being snatched from their grip. At this rate, Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise chief Satya Nadella, also a short-lister, might just get the nod by default.


Photo courtesy Fortune Live Media on Flickr.







5:23 AM

Reuters reports this morning that Qualcomm will replace current CEO Paul Jacobs with current COO Steve Mollenkopf starting on March 4, imme...

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Books in a multimedia environment bring certain advantages not available on paper alone or via classic audiobooks. Among those advantages are audio accompaniment for text and cloud syncing of notes and highlights. Add to that the lower distribution costs of multimedia over paper and the browser becomes a good tool for books. You don't need an e-reader or a tablet. In this week's All Things Appy we take a look at the best free Chrome browser apps for books -- not only free apps but free books too.


5:09 AM

Books in a multimedia environment bring certain advantages not available on paper alone or via classic audiobooks. Among those advantages ...

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moped

Back in the Summer we saw the first signs of Berlin’s startup hot-house begin to consolidate. Amen has been the most high profile company to throw in the towel and merge with a fellow Berlin startup, after an almost Herculean effort to get acquired by a big US company.


Others, like the Toast app and Gidsy also withered or were acquired (in Gidsy’s case). The latest is Moped, a messaging startup which was somewhat ahead of its time, prior to the explosion of similar such apps in the latter part of this year. Now Founder Schuyler Deerman confirmed to users in an email that Moped had been acquired by 6Wunderkinder, the makers of Wunderlist and would be shutting down on December 31st. After that Moped will no longer be available. All Moped users are eligible for a free month of Wunderlist Pro, which lets you have conversations inside their to do app. He declined to comment further. 6Wunderkinder has in turn confirmed that the acquisition was for the technology only, and no Moped staff will be joining.


The Berlin-based startup had previously raised $1 million from SV Angel (Ron Conway), Lerer Ventures, Betaworks and Earlybird Capital.


Only last Summer Moped was continuing to iterate its product, allowing users to sign up within LinkedIn and saying that it was going after the “sweet spot” of sharing files over messaging.







3:40 AM

Back in the Summer we saw the first signs of Berlin’s startup hot-house begin to consolidate. Amen has been the most high profile company to...

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Thursday, December 12, 2013
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The road to immersive virtual reality has been a long and strange one — it was fodder for wide-eyed futurists and engineers for years before it became painfully clear that the sorts of experiences we hoped for were limited by the feeble hardware available at the time.


That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. It was revealed earlier this evening that Irvine, CA-based Oculus VR raised a whopping $75 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Spark Capital, Matrix Partners and Formation|8 to help launch the consumer version of its oft-hyped Rift virtual reality headset. Sadly, the company has declined to talk about its valuation, but we’ve also learned that A16Z’s Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon will be joining the company’s board.


Let’s put that hefty round in perspective: Oculus nabbed some $2.4 million from a Kickstarter campaign that saw over 9,500 backers earlier this year, and it locked up a $16 million Series A this past June. I’m told that there’s still a decent chunk of that Series A capital left over, by the way. The company felt that it needed to supercharge its widespread consumer launch as well as flesh out what CEO Brendan Iribe calls the “full platform” through developer outreach/support and content publishing.


To call this hefty round a vote of confidence in Oculus’ highly-accessible vision of virtual reality seems like an understatement, but Iribe doesn’t seem surprised. As far as he’s concerned, the Oculus headset is the right device with the right software support at the right time.


“Oculus has really invigorated excitement around VR,” he added. “This time it’s really going to work.” And it a lot of ways it really does. Even strapping on an early developer version of the device is like peering into a completely different world, and the consumer model that Oculus is aiming to push out the door soon has managed to do away with the sort of latency issues that kept the original version from feeling as immersive as it could. The end result? An Arthur C. Clarke-ian bit of tech that has the potential to feel downright magical.


It’s honestly a little hard not to get wrapped up in Iribe’s enthusiasm and surety, but the platform that the Rift stands atop is arguably more important than the components crammed into a hefty headset. After all, a pair of goggles that lets you experience 3D worlds isn’t going to be worth a whole lot if there aren’t any worlds available for it.


So far the Oculus Rift has been a hit among developers — 42,000 dev units have trickled out into the wild and the startup has repeatedly pointed to its close relationship with game developer Valve and its (relatively) new CTO John Carmack as proof of the Rift’s gaming bonafides. While the Rift has become somewhat synonymous with gaming, Iribe is quick to point out that the implications for a highly immersive device like this one extend far beyond just fancy new first person shooters.


“This is not just a fun alternative game console,” he noted. “It’s going to apply to medicine, architecture, communications — way beyond just gaming and entertainment.” So what’s next on that virtual horizon? Iribe was hesitant to point at specific potential partnerships, but he did indulge in a bit of sci-fi-inspired blue sky thinking: he thinks that in “a decade or two” we’ll be able to put on a pair of VR glasses and see other users as though they were right in front of you.







11:39 PM

The road to immersive virtual reality has been a long and strange one — it was fodder for wide-eyed futurists and engineers for years before...

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Posted by at 11:39 PM 0 comments
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