iPhone Sheep

Whatever happened to that dreamy Line 6 / Apple tie-up? Who knows, right? While those two sort out their future behind the scenes, Paul Reed Smith Guitars is stepping up to take advantage of an obvious market opportunity. The newly announced Guitarbud is a simplistic accessory that allows axe slingers to jack their guitar into an iPhone or second-generation iPod touch, all while providing a headphone output in order to keep the noise making to yourself. We're told that the device works with pretty much any recording-supported app (even Apple's own Voice Memos), though PRS obviously recommends that you check out its JamApp guitar amp simulator / tuner / training tool. Best of all, it's available today for £29.95 (or $29.95 here in the States), putting you just a few yard mowings away from securing your own personal aural sanctuary. Too bad the reviews from early adopters aren't so promising...

PRS Guitarbud jacks your axe, ego into iPhone / iPod touch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think we'd all be better off if HTML5 could somehow instantly replace Flash overnight? Not necessarily, according to a set of comparisons from Jan Ozer of the Streaming Learning Center website, which found that while HTML5 did come out ahead in many respects, it wasn't exactly a clear winner. The tests weren't completely scientific, but they did find that HTML5 clearly performed better than Flash 10 or 10.1 in Safari on a Mac, although the differences were less clear cut in Google Chrome or Firefox. On the other hand, Flash more than held its own on Windows, and Flash Player 10.1 was actually 58% more efficient than HTML5 in Google Chrome on the Windows system tested. As you may have deduced, one of the big factors accounting for that discrepancy is that Flash is able to take advantage of GPU hardware acceleration in Windows, while Adobe is effectively cut out of the loop on Mac -- something it has complained about quite publicly. According to Ozer, the differences between HTML5 and Flash playback on a Mac could be virtually eliminated if Flash could make use of GPU acceleration. Hit up the link below for all the numbers.

HTML5 vs. Flash comparison finds a few surprises, settles few debates originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The JooJoo tablet's launch date might have been pushed back a month while Fusion Garage sorts out issues with the capacitive touchscreen, but it looks like the extra time has given the company a chance to tweak the interface and add in some features. Obviously the most noticable change is the revised homescreen, which has gone from line art on a garish solid color background to a nicely rendered icon grid over a high-res customizable wallpaper, but Fusion Garage has also ditched the confusing pinch-to-go-back gesture and replaced it a vertical swipe that brings down a status bar containing the home button, status indicators, browser navigation controls, and a combination address bar / search field. Scroll behavior has been revised as well, with two separate behaviors: a two-finger scroll that works like a scroll wheel, and a single finger "pan" that works like a mouse arrow. That's so you can move around sites like Google Maps, which have different interface elements mapped to each control -- CEO Chandra Rathakrishnan pointed out to us that devices like the iPhone avoid the issue by using dedicated apps, but Fusion Garage wants to deliver the "full web experience." It's an interesting solution and a clever spin on things, but we're waiting to try it out for real before we pass any judgment.

What else? The text-entry situation has been improved: there's now both a smaller keyboard designed for one-handed operation that can be moved around the screen so it doesn't obscure content, and a full-screen multitouch keyboard that does chording so it recognizes more than one key at a time. There's no auto-correction or prediction, though. Flash is now fully working, and YouTube videos can either be played back using Flash or the custom H.264 HD breakout player we've already seen; that player supports a range of codecs and can also be used to play videos stored on a USB thumb drive. And finally, and perhaps most oddly, the JooJoo has changed colors. Instead of black, the back casing is now a "champagne" color, a picture of which you can see below -- Chandra told us that unhappy preorder customers can just have their $499 refunded if they desperately wanted black instead. All we desperately want to do is get a review unit and tell you what the JooJoo is actually like to use -- if all of these promises hold up, it could be very intriguing indeed.

Continue reading JooJoo revamps interface ahead of launch, adds local video playback -- and changes color

JooJoo revamps interface ahead of launch, adds local video playback -- and changes color originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's only about a month to go before Apple drops the iPad on the world, and it looks like all those theories about a last-minute camera addition were just fond fanboy wishes -- iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 just came out, and in addition to stripping out several video-call related icons, we've been told the docs contain this little tidbit about that Camera tab:

Launching the Photos application under the iPad Simulator will initially show three tabs: Photos, Albums, and Camera. The Camera tab represents photos available via the Camera Connection Kit for iPad, and is not relevant for the Simulator. The Camera tab will disappear after a few seconds.

So much for that, then. In the meantime, we also have some good news -- 9to5 Mac did some digging and found some files indicating that Apple's opening up some new gestures to app developers, namely the long tap currently used to pop up the copy / paste menu and the triple-tap used to flip the display on and off when using VoiceOver. It's a small consolation, to be sure, but at least the iPad, will, um, be a great game machine, right?

[Thanks, Anonymous]

iPad SDK 3.2 beta 4 squashes rumors of a camera, but adds new gesture controls originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Google Maps adds bicycle directions, turns out its nothing like 'Quicksilver'

Google Maps adds bicycle directions, turns out its nothing like 'Quicksilver' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Target's announced it is launching a scannable mobile coupon program -- the first of its kind. The opt-in program will provides Target shoppers with a customized webpage on their mobile phones, with all offers scannable at checkout via a single barcode. Target's no stranger to innovative marketing -- its gift cards are well known for their cute, gadgety ways -- and while this new program is essentially a text message driven sale (meaning it could quickly become a mere annoyance), anything that minimizes our interactions with fellow humans gets our stamp of approval, so the ability to scan your own barcode at the register? Thumbs up. The full press release is after the break.

Continue reading Target launches first scannable mobile coupon program, frugalistas going wild

Target launches first scannable mobile coupon program, frugalistas going wild originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By and large, EA Sports' Season Opener event here at GDC was underwhelming, but one glimmer of newness did manage to shine through. Nearly a year after Active hit stores (video after the break) and encouraged Wii gamers to drop those unwanted pounds before hitting the soft sand in the summer, the company has announced that Active 2.0 (a working title) is currently in development for Wii, PS3, iPod touch and iPhone. We're told that a "new suite of fitness products" will be launching in the fall, with the Active 2.0 program delivering "true fitness results by featuring an innovative wireless control system powered by new leg and arm straps with motion sensors, a heart rate monitor to capture intensity and a new online hub to track and share workout data." Outside of that, details are nonexistent (like how exactly the iPod / iPhone components will factor into this equation), though we get the feeling that Xbox 360 owners may be left out of the party. Here's hoping we're wrong.

Continue reading EA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galore

EA Sports introduces Active 2.0 at GDC, complete with sensors galore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just sat down with Palm here at GDC and fished out a few more details on the PDK beta front. Firstly, and most interestingly, Palm has confirmed that the PDK now works on all of its handsets (instead of just the Pre and Pre Plus), which means Pixi buyers can stop hating themselves pretty soon. Apparently the level of performance degradation should be comparable iPhone 3G vs. 3GS, which doesn't sound too horrible. This is functionality that wasn't available even to Palm's early PDK partners like EA and Gameloft, so we should be seeing versions of existing games make the jump to the Pixi when the time for PDK beta-developed apps to hit the Palm App Catalog. When will that time come, you ask? The "middle of the year," or "a few months," whichever sounds more promising to you. Palm's not saying whether this new era for the App Catalog (anyone being able to release PDK apps, and those apps working on the Pre and the Pixi) will accompany a full-on webOS update, but it seems logical to us.

On a more technical front, we're told the PDK supports the Linux standard SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) to ease in porting and development (Unreal for Linux runs using SDL, for instance), and that developers could even build apps like an audio processor that rely on PDK components but don't show up in the UI at all, or OpenGL-empowered things that aren't necessarily games or in 3D. Also, existing developers have only been able to do "full screen" games that rely on PDK components alone, but the PDK beta lets you mix and match webOS UI with PDK elements. Currently there aren't many PDK games that use the extra Palm hardware like the QWERTY keyboard and the gesture area, but we're told that's all exposed to the developer, along with any other element of webOS that Mojo SDK users have access to. One notable plugin hangup is the fact that Flash only works in the browser, and can't be embedded into a regular webOS app, PDK or no -- though we have to assume this is something that's in the works.

Palm's webOS PDK beta adds Pixi native development, PDK'd apps will hit the Catalog mid year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Suspense! Drama! Surprises! Unrealistic expectations! It's always a veritable roller coaster of emotions whenever Apple gets around to cutting a new SDK build -- and without a doubt, iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 is no exception. We don't yet have a good read on what's new here, so if you're a member of Apple's $99 dev program and happen to get it downloaded and installed, let us know if you find anything awesome, like an iPhone 4 or iPad 2. Or, you know, anything else. Have fun!

iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 drops in originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Meizu MStore open for business, Mr. Jelly on sale now for 29 cents originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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