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Apple Recalls the First Gen iPod Nano Over Toasty Battery Issues [Apple]

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Apple hasn’t been having the best couple of weeks recently. The iPhone 4S’ battery woes have been a big issue, and the iOS 5.01 update they released to remedy the problem seems to have opened an entirely new can of worms. But now it’s come to light that the company has also recalled the first generation iPod Nano over safety risks with its aging battery. More »

Philips Builds the First Universal Android Speaker Dock [Audio]

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:20:00 +0000

The Android market is, as we all know, woefully fragmented . Thankfully, Philips has finally figured out how to make a standalone speaker system that can connect to any Android device, regardless of manufacturer. More »

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Philips Builds the First Universal Android Speaker Dock [Audio]

Acer and ASUS scale back ultrabook production

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:41:32 +0000

The ultrabooks put out by both Acer and ASUS were originally intended to compete against Apple’s MacBook Air, with the hope that they could offer something better than the MacBook Air and give Apple a run for their money. As it turns out the sales of the first month’s ultrabooks by both Acer and ASUS did not perform to their satisfaction, thus causing both companies to scale back production of their ultrabook computers. Acer and ASUS scale back ultrabook production , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : Galaxy S2 Review , Droid Bionic Review ,

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Acer and ASUS scale back ultrabook production

Gaiam Touch heart rate monitor from Oregon Scientific

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:00:48 +0000

Oregon Scientific has just announced the Gaiam Touch, a button-free, touchscreen heart rate monitor that is the first of its kind in the industry that delivers a hassle-free exercise session. Having picked up the prestigious International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Award in the Health & Wellness category, the Gaiam Touch will boast of fashion-forward colors that will not disappoint, not to mention coming in a comfortable, slim design that is 2 millimeters thinner compared to all the other heart rate monitors that are currently on the market. Gaiam Touch heart rate monitor from Oregon Scientific , By Ubergizmo . Top Stories : iPhone 4S Review , Droid Bionic Review ,

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Gaiam Touch heart rate monitor from Oregon Scientific

This Simulation of NASA’s First Orion Flight Is Stretching My Astronaut Underpants [Video]

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:20:00 +0000

It’s just a cool animation, but I love this simulation of the proposed test flight of the first Orion capsule . Called Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), Orion will reach an altitude higher than any other manned spacecraft since 1973. More »

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This Simulation of NASA’s First Orion Flight Is Stretching My Astronaut Underpants [Video]

Philco Mystery Control: The World’s First Wireless Remote [Video]

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:40:00 +0000

We take remote controls for granted. For most of us, they’ve existed from the day they were born. We knew how to use them before we could even begin to fathom how they work. But really, they’re magnificent devices . More »

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Philco Mystery Control: The World’s First Wireless Remote [Video]

Sony HMZ-T1 3DTV Headset Review: An Amazing Toy [3D]

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:20:27 +0000

I’m already living the Philip K. Dick life. I’ve got the communicator, the tablet computer, the everywhere Internet. All I need now is a deadly government conspiracy and an immersive 3D environment that lets me jack in and walk around. More »

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Sony HMZ-T1 3DTV Headset Review: An Amazing Toy [3D]

Disabled Citizens in Oregon Are Voting With iPads [Voting]

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:20:00 +0000

Physically impaired Oregonians are using iPads to vote in today’s election after the new system was introduced to help voters who can’t fill out traditional forms. Election workers armed with tablets and portable printers will be stopping in parks, nursing homes and community centers in five of the state’s counties to assist voters whose limited mobility prevents them from participating through write-in ballots. With the iPad, voters can adjust reading size, font colors and even use a “sip and puff” device that registers breaths as fingertip touches. More »

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Disabled Citizens in Oregon Are Voting With iPads [Voting]

BankSimple Is Now Just ‘Simple’, And It’s Accepting Its First Users

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:41:05 +0000

BankSimple, the well-funded startup that’s setting out to build ‘a bank that doesn’t suck’, has some big news today: it’s now allowing its first users into the service. And to mark the occasion, it’s announcing another major change: the company is now just called Simple (and yes, they own Simple.com). Simple has gotten a lot of pre-launch coverage — it was co-founded by CEO Joshua Reich, CFO Shamir Karkal and CTO Alex Payne, who made a big splash when he announced he was leaving his role as Twitter’s API lead to help start the new banking service. The company has also raised a lot of money for a service that has yet to launch, with a $3.1 million round in September 2010 and another $10 million this past August. But it wasn’t until this past September that the company posted a video showcasing some of Simple’s early feature set (you’ll find it embedded below). And, as the video shows, Simple has built a user experience that’s much better than other banking services. Simple isn’t a bank itself — it’s working with FDIC-insured banks that will handle your money, as it serves as the more human-friendly frontend. To be clear, this is still a limited beta — if you go to Simple.com you’ll note that you need an invitation — but it marks the first time that non-employees will be able to use the service. From the company’s blog post announcing the news: We’re thrilled to be welcoming our first customers. We want to understand what works for them and what can be improved. We also want to learn how our customers prefer to reach us so that we can intelligently grow our customer relations team. Using this feedback, we’ll rework and revise; the experience we’re launching today will continuously evolve. There is still a tremendous amount to be done, but as of today we are live to our first customers, and that’s a huge milestone for us. Today is a new beginning for another reason as well: BankSimple is now Simple. Simple is a better representation of what we aspire to. It releases us from the constraints of an industry in desperate need of innovation. Using Simple, you can make purchases with a Simple Visa® card, pay bills, earn interest, set up and track savings goals, and much more. Simple replaces your bank, but we are not a bank. You use our mobile and web apps and speak with our customer relations team when you have questions. We partner with chartered banks that hold your deposits in FDIC-insured products. They take care of money, we take care of customers, and together we’re delivering a new type of financial experience that’s easier, faster, and friendlier. Crunchbase BANKSIMPLE Company: BankSimple Website: banksimple.com Funding: $13.1M BankSimple is creating a better interface for banking through the Web and mobile apps. In partnership with financial institutions which will hold the actual deposits, BankSimple is focussing on creating a better customer experience and simplifying the banking process by unifying all accounts into one, accessible through a bank card. Rather than making money from different fees, BankSimple plans to split the net interest margin with its partner banks (the difference between the rate they lend at and the… Learn more

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BankSimple Is Now Just ‘Simple’, And It’s Accepting Its First Users

HTC Edge Could Be the World’s First Quad-Core Smartphone

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:49:13 +0000

Just when we started getting used to dual-core smartphones, here comes a quad-core smartphone, the HTC Edge. Whether it’s the first-quad core handset in the world is still up for debate, but if the rumors are true, it’ll be the most advanced. Looking a lot like that HTC Rezound we were admiring last week, its inner parts list has a similar spec sheet, with a gig of RAM, 8-megapixel camera with the F/2.2 lens, and it will even have the Beats audio enhancement package. But that’s where the similarity ends. The Edge has a relatively gigantic 4.7-inch screen (compared with the Rezound’s 4.3 inch screen), and then there’s that Nvidia http://mashable.com/follow/topics/nvidia/ processor with its quartet of cores, each zinging along at 1.5GHz. All this updated tech will reportedly be shoehorned into a package that’s just 10mm thin. By the way, in an Nvidia demo last spring, the company showed its Tegra 3 processor running twice as fast as its predecessor, the Tegra 2, and also running faster than an Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 chip. So we’re talking about laptop speed in a smartphone. Here’s a video of that demo, which also suggests the Tegra 3 sips less battery power than the Tegra 2: One disappointing spec in this HTC Edge phone is a lack of the faster LTE capability, but it’s still no slouch with 21 megabit-per-second HSDPA connectivity on board. Our friends at Pocketnow say they expect this beast of a smartphone to go on sale late in the first quarter of next year (or early in the second quarter), hopefully packing that shiny new Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) operating system. Our take: The idea of a quad-core smartphone that’s as fast as a laptop in the palm of your hand is quite impressive. However, are people concerned about how smartphones are too slow? We’re not hearing that complaint nearly as much as worries about the nagging problem of too-short battery life. And with its screen that’s significantly larger than most, along with two extra cores, wouldn’t the laws of physics require more battery power to run all this? Although the Tegra 3 chip is said to use less power than the Tegra 2, that larger screen will probably run the battery down faster, and the rumor didn’t include any info about improved battery life. Let us know in the comments if you think it’s more important to have four cores on a smartphone than longer battery life. Or can we have both? The phone will probably look a lot like this: HTC Rezound is slightly over a half-inch thick Click here to view this gallery. More About: HTC Edge , smartphone , tegra 3 For more Mobile coverage: Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Mobile channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad

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HTC Edge Could Be the World’s First Quad-Core Smartphone