From the guys who created the Han Solo Carbonite Desk, here comes the Galactic Emperor Throne. It's a limited edition of five units, which means it's almost expensive as the Carbonite Desk itself.

The chair will set you back a whooping $5,000, but that's the price you pay to rule the Galaxy and say classic, unforgettable phrases like "Now witness the power of this fully armed and operational PowerPoint presentation!", "Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen," or "Anakin, could you bring my slippers and today's paper, please?"

Carbonite Desk leads to a Galactic Throne

Tom Spina Designs follows up their incredibly popular "Carbonite Desk" with the "Galactic Throne", a unique themed chair, originally privately commissioned and now available as an extremely limited edition piece of furniture art. In early 2008, the company's one-of-a-kind “Carbonite Desk” achieved cult status through media coverage on television, in magazines and internet blogs, generating millions of views on the Tom Spina Designs website. After a desk like that, no ordinary task chair would do!

Based on the client's requests and interests, artists Tom Spina and Richard Riley drew inspiration from elements of Captain Kirk's bridge chair from Star Trek and the Emperor's throne from the Star Wars films and created a sleek new design. The result is an impressive functional art piece that is well over four feet tall and crafted in custom welded steel. It features an adjustable pedestal and is made to appear to “float” on 8 hidden wheels. The custom upholstery is real leather and the finish is powder-coated gloss black for a classy and durable surface.

Tom Spina Designs is a NY-based company which accepts commissions to create highly unique sculpture, furniture and artistic elements for home theaters, offices, trade shows and more. They also create custom displays and meticulously restore one-of-a-kind and often fragile original movie props. Their past clients include businesses, themed attractions and a wide range of private collectors.

Those interested in seeing photos and learning more about the artists and their latest projects can visit the company site, www.TomSpinaDesigns.com

The Galactic Throne is now available in a limited edition of 5 furniture art pieces and potential clients can expect to pay approximately $5000 to commission one. Each will be made to order and can be personalized to the client's preference of color, upholstery and add-on options.

For More Information contact:
Tom Spina
TomSpina@mac.com

[Tom Spina Designs]

From the guys who created the Han Solo Carbonite Desk, here comes the Galactic Emperor Throne. It's a limited edition of five units, which means it's almost expensive as the Carbonite Desk itself. ...

Adem's Takes, an album of covers of alternative-era songs like P.J. Harvey's "Oh My Lover" and Smashing Pumpkins' "Starla", was a surprise favorite of mine this year. His nuanced fingerpicking, clever arrangements, and expressive voice breathed new life into these nostalgic relics of fairly recent vintage. Adem has said that the album was conceived after many fans requested recorded versions of the solo cover songs he often played at his shows, a practice that he's apparently continuing while extending his reach. In this video, he abandons the 1990s to take on a bulletproof classic of the late 60s, Leonard Cohen's "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye". Where Takes took liberties with its sources' arrangements, Adem plays the Cohen cover close to the hip, keeping its brevity, phrasing, and chord structure faithful to the original. Though it means that this cover lacks the rejuvenating quality of Takes, it's probably wise-- as we learned from the film I'm Your Man, tampering with already-perfect Cohen songs often ends in disaster. The audio is lovely, even if the video portion-- it's simply Adem, playing guitar and singing on a piano bench, peering up reverently-- doesn't exactly enrapture the eye.

[Takes is out now on Domino]

If you’re at all a fan of simple, minimalist publishing services like Tumblr, Streem or Posterous, the last one being a relatively new launch, Placefav is something you may well enjoy. Its utility is very specific, mind you. Can’t quite toss out anything you’d like for the wide world of friends and strangers to see. Information posted to Placefav is restricted to particular locations you’re fond of. Just as its name suggests. But that’s the fun of it. To serve one purpose and do it well.

Aesthetically, Placefav is something that follows in lockstep behind the likes of Flickr, Delicious, and countless other sparsely-laid, Helvetica-crazy Web designs. Except this one carries the see-no-mess mantra further than most. It’s like some kind of secret zen room in Ikea. The maxim of less is more, taken to the nth degree.

Function-wise, it’s something of a toss-up. If you’re looking for a utility such as this, to catalog your favorite dots on the map, it’s very nifty. On the other hand, its focus might not appeal to you. You get a bunch of blank spaces - a total of 12 spots per person, it seems - and you plot out some choice positions. An example could be your childhood home, say, or that place you go virtually every day for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Maybe some memory that you grow ever more nostalgic for. Whatever highlights you deem important, really. And after you’ve designated an address, you and anyone who visits your page can then take a look at some photos culled from another service called Panoramio. If you wish, you can upload images you yourself have produced. Also, users and visitors can click a link to Google Maps to visually pinpoint that favorite locale.

Yes, it’s true, Placefav is rather “Googley” in that sense. Panoramio, for the unaware, is a Google property. It recently received some accolades for a feature called “look around,” even. But these ties give Placefav some partial uniformity so far as its connections to the outside go. Of course, it would be quite nice if its creator, Kyle Bragger, would convenience users further by enabling expandable and collapsible maps, much like he’s done with the photography side of the operation. But overall, Placefav hardly lacks for elegance. Take a look at Kyle’s sample page. I think you’ll agree that it does the trick. And sign-up is a cinch.

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Thin is in at IFA 2008, and Sharp's LCD lineup leads off with the super-skinny XS1 Aquos series LCD. A 23mm thick 1080p 52- or 65-inch panel packing 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 100Hz motion processing and detachable speaker system, halves it's previous 5cm best from May of this year. Old school fat LCD fans can look forward to the D65E line, pulling 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and claiming an "environmentally conscious design" for Sharp's premium range, in sizes from 32- to 52-inch models, with prices to match from €899 to €2299. Of course, none of this would be right without a matching Blu-ray player, and Sharp has announced the BD-HP21H, a Bonus View Profile 1.1 model with a quick-start mode, but like the XS1 lacks pricing info that would make it so much juicier. All are due in the UK in October, we should hope for more details before then.

Gallery: Sharp XS1 eyes-on

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Sports, Metareviews

Mario steps up to bat on the Wii and ... well, doesn't strike out, but doesn't hit a home run, either. That's the consensus (minus the baseball terminology) on the latest mascot-ified sports title from Nintendo, Mario Super Sluggers. Mario Strikers Charged was the last, and scored (both a gaming and sports term) a bit better overall. We're just excited to finally see the Wii Sports baseball mini-game fleshed out into something that will (we'd hope) have us playing for more than, oh, two minutes.

• 1UP (B): "Super Sluggers succeeds and fails as most Mario sports games do. Its quick, arcade-style action is easy to get into and plenty fun, coming at the expense of the nuances - and balance - you'll find in a sim."
• GameDaily (80/100): "What it lacks in innovation and online play, Mario Super Sluggers makes up for with its robust modes, fun controls and multiplayer options. If you're a fan of either the characters or the sport, you owe it to yourself to round these bases."
• Game Informer (55/100): "Multiplayer is amusing in that hanging out with your friends is fun anyway, but the single-player content is truly terrible. A series of boring one-off challenges punctuated by simplistic exploration and the occasional full game makes up Mario's quest to foil Bowser Jr. via baseball. Yes, it's as insipid as it sounds."
• IGN (74/100): "We wouldn't go as far as to say this is Nintendo-made shovelware, but there's very little that has changed in the three years between Mario Superstar Baseball on GCN, and Mario Super Sluggers on Wii.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Sony's S-series Walkman is their new high-end digital audio player that is not only their slimmest player to date, but has active noise cancellation and the SensMe music suggestion engine. Sony bundled 13.5mm EX headphones with the S-series players, as well as a pass through cable that connects to an in-flight entertainment system and uses the noise canceling capability of the Walkman. In addition Sony released their midrange E-series and entry-level B-series Walkman players. The S-series has a 2-inch QVGA screen, that not only plays back WMA, AAC and MP3 audio formats, but also WMV and MP4 video. SensMe is featured on a Walkman player for the first time, previously only on Sony Ericsson Walkman-branded phones. For those unfamiliar, the SensMe engine analyzes a song for various qualities and maps it on an X-Y chart. From there you can select what type of music you want to listen to according to "mood". The S-series is only 7.5mm thick, has 40 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video playback on a single charge. The E-series is Sony's mid-range Walkman offering, which features the same audio and video playback the S-series offers, but lacks the noise cancellation and SensMe features.Unlike the S-series, the E comes in multiple colors, including black, red, blue and pink. It has 45 hours of audio playback and 8 hours of video playback. The E-series is also available in 4 GB and 8 GB sizes. The B-series is Sony's no-nonsense line of Walkman players that only play music. But in addition to audio playback, the B-series also serves as a voice recorder and FM radio. It has 16 hours of battery life and also comes in multiple colors like the E-series. The B-series plugs directly into your USB port for drag and drop file transfer and comes in 1 GB and 2 GB sizes. All the players above are expected to be available in September. The 4 GB S-series will cost $150, while the 8 GB will cost $180. The 4 GB E-series will cost $100 and the 8 GB $140. Lastly, the 1 GB B-series will sell for $45 and the 2 GB will be $60. [Sony]SONY RAISES THE CURTAIN ON NEW WALKMAN PLAYERS THAT DELIVER HIGH-QUALITY AUDIO AND VIDEO SAN DIEGO, Aug. 28, 2008 – From noise-cancellation for frequent travelers to affordability for customers on a budget, Sony today unveiled three new Walkman® players (series S, E and B) that have something to offer nearly every customer segment. ”Whether the fit and finish, the engineering or the integration of unique technologies, each of these new series has different points of appeal,” said Mitch Li, product manager for Walkman players in the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics. ”These new Walkman players satisfy the need of consumers who don’t want to sacrifice sound quality for the digital music and MP3 experience.” S-Series Walkman Players The top-end, format-friendly Walkman S-series broadens options for enjoying tunes from multiple sources, including many download stores and personal music collections. The supplied Content Transfer software even simplifies ”drag and drop” transfer of non-DRM music, videos, podcasts and playlists from online music services to Walkman players. If you’re migrating your personal collection of ripped tracks from another MP3 player, there’s no need to re-rip all your tunes from your CDs. Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the S-series Walkman devices play Windows Media Video (WMV) files with DRM, allowing you to enjoy rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections. Additionally, the S-series Walkman players are the first MP3 players with Sony’s SensMe™ Channels function, which automatically creates channels that can align with a user’s preferences. Based on Sony’s SensMe Channels function, the S-series players analyze a user’s music collection and suggest channels based on each song’s speed, mood and rhythm. They create a choice of 11 themed channels from upbeat pop to emotional ballads. In-Flight Noise Cancellation Whether commuting, flying high or just listening to music at home, the new S-series Walkman players help diminish background noise while improving your overall listening experience. The top-end S-series Walkman players feature integrated active noise cancellation with supplied 13.5mm EX noise canceling headphones and an accessory cable that extends the noise canceling functionality of the device. On airplanes, travellers can – for the first time – connect the S-series player directly to a plane’s audio video system with the included accessory cable and enjoy regular in-flight entertainment with the bonus of high-quality noise cancellation. Just 7.5mm thin, the super-light S-series is the slimmest Walkman player in any of the new series. It has a bright, high-contrast 2-inch QVGA LCD screen (measured diagonally) that has an ultra-quick response time, with smooth playback at up to 30 frames per second and selectable horizontal/vertical viewing. The interface can be personalized with the user’s choice of 10 pre-installed wallpaper images or their favorite digital photo. E-Series Walkman Players The E-series combines high-quality video and audio performance to create the perfect device for enjoying favorite photos and video clips. Like the S-series, all E-series models are format friendly, easily playing back ripped tracks from your personal music collection, music store downloads and rights-managed video clips. Non-DRM files can be transferred by ”drag and drop” from online music services to Walkman players. Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the E-series Walkman players can also support Windows Media Video (WMV) with DRM, allowing rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections. B-Series Walkman Players The affordable entry-level Walkman B-series player offers the high-quality sound that users have come to expect from Sony. The ultra-portable devices can connect to your PC’s USB port for easy ”drag and drop” file transfers. Like all other Walkman models, open support for Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MP3 codecs enables users to buy, copy and manage music to fit their needs. The stylish design is enhanced by an illuminator that pulses in time with the music when the bass button is pressed. The device has an FM radio for enjoying favorite stations and a voice recorder that’s great for capturing memos, shopping lists or random thoughts while you’re on the move. Battery Life The battery life is up to 40 hours of music playback for S-series, up to 45 hours for the E-series and up to 16 hours for the B-series. The battery life is up to 10 hours of video playback for S-series, up to 8 hours for the E-series. The battery life is also up to 30 hours of audio playback for the S-series when the noise-cancellation feature is activated. Actual battery life may vary upon usage patterns, product settings, battery and environmental conditions. Sony’s Open Platform Means More Choice The E- and S-series Walkman players support an open platform, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online. The devices can support security-enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC, linear PCM and MP3 music formats plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the WMV with DRM, AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs. Pricing and Availability The S-series of Walkman noise canceling video MP3 players come in two different storage capacities in black: * The NWZ-S736F has approximately 4GB of internal storage and will cost about $150. * The NWZ-S738F has approximately 8GB of internal storage and will cost about $180. The E-series of Walkman video MP3 players will be available in the following configurations: * The NWZ-E436F comes in black, red, pink, blue, has approximately 4GB of internal storage and costs about $100. * The NWZ-E438F comes in black, red, pink, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $140. The B-series of Walkman MP3 players come in two different capacities and four colors: * The NWZ-B133F player has approximately 1GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and blue and will cost about $45. * The NWZ-B135F player has approximately 2GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and pink and will cost about $60. Presales have begun for the new Walkman models online at www.sonystyle.com/walkman and at Sony Style stores. The players will be available in September across the country at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers nationwide. </img>
</img> </img> </img> </img>


More...

Sony's S-series Walkman is their new high-end digital audio player that is not only their slimmest player to date, but has active noise cancellation and the SensMe music suggestion engine. Sony bundled 13.5mm EX headphones with the S-series players, as well as a pass through cable that connects to an in-flight entertainment system and uses the noise canceling capability of the Walkman. In addition Sony released their midrange E-series and entry-level B-series Walkman players.

The S-series has a 2-inch QVGA screen, that not only plays back WMA, AAC and MP3 audio formats, but also WMV and MP4 video. SensMe is featured on a Walkman player for the first time, previously only on Sony Ericsson Walkman-branded phones. For those unfamiliar, the SensMe engine analyzes a song for various qualities and maps it on an X-Y chart. From there you can select what type of music you want to listen to according to "mood". The S-series is only 7.5mm thick, has 40 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video playback on a single charge.

The E-series is Sony's mid-range Walkman offering, which features the same audio and video playback the S-series offers, but lacks the noise cancellation and SensMe features.Unlike the S-series, the E comes in multiple colors, including black, red, blue and pink. It has 45 hours of audio playback and 8 hours of video playback. The E-series is also available in 4 GB and 8 GB sizes.

The B-series is Sony's no-nonsense line of Walkman players that only play music. But in addition to audio playback, the B-series also serves as a voice recorder and FM radio. It has 16 hours of battery life and also comes in multiple colors like the E-series. The B-series plugs directly into your USB port for drag and drop file transfer and comes in 1 GB and 2 GB sizes.

All the players above are expected to be available in September. The 4 GB S-series will cost $150, while the 8 GB will cost $180. The 4 GB E-series will cost $100 and the 8 GB $140. Lastly, the 1 GB B-series will sell for $45 and the 2 GB will be $60. [Sony]

SONY RAISES THE CURTAIN ON NEW WALKMAN PLAYERS THAT DELIVER HIGH-QUALITY AUDIO AND VIDEO

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 28, 2008 – From noise-cancellation for frequent travelers to affordability for customers on a budget, Sony today unveiled three new Walkman® players (series S, E and B) that have something to offer nearly every customer segment.

“Whether the fit and finish, the engineering or the integration of unique technologies, each of these new series has different points of appeal,” said Mitch Li, product manager for Walkman players in the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics. “These new Walkman players satisfy the need of consumers who don’t want to sacrifice sound quality for the digital music and MP3 experience.”

S-Series Walkman Players

The top-end, format-friendly Walkman S-series broadens options for enjoying tunes from multiple sources, including many download stores and personal music collections. The supplied Content Transfer software even simplifies “drag and drop” transfer of non-DRM music, videos, podcasts and playlists from online music services to Walkman players. If you’re migrating your personal collection of ripped tracks from another MP3 player, there’s no need to re-rip all your tunes from your CDs.

Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the S-series Walkman devices play Windows Media Video (WMV) files with DRM, allowing you to enjoy rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections.

Additionally, the S-series Walkman players are the first MP3 players with Sony’s SensMeâ„¢ Channels function, which automatically creates channels that can align with a user’s preferences. Based on Sony’s SensMe Channels function, the S-series players analyze a user’s music collection and suggest channels based on each song’s speed, mood and rhythm. They create a choice of 11 themed channels from upbeat pop to emotional ballads.

In-Flight Noise Cancellation

Whether commuting, flying high or just listening to music at home, the new S-series Walkman players help diminish background noise while improving your overall listening experience. The top-end S-series Walkman players feature integrated active noise cancellation with supplied 13.5mm EX noise canceling headphones and an accessory cable that extends the noise canceling functionality of the device. On airplanes, travellers can – for the first time – connect the S-series player directly to a plane’s audio video system with the included accessory cable and enjoy regular in-flight entertainment with the bonus of high-quality noise cancellation.

Just 7.5mm thin, the super-light S-series is the slimmest Walkman player in any of the new series. It has a bright, high-contrast 2-inch QVGA LCD screen (measured diagonally) that has an ultra-quick response time, with smooth playback at up to 30 frames per second and selectable horizontal/vertical viewing. The interface can be personalized with the user’s choice of 10 pre-installed wallpaper images or their favorite digital photo.

E-Series Walkman Players

The E-series combines high-quality video and audio performance to create the perfect device for enjoying favorite photos and video clips. Like the S-series, all E-series models are format friendly, easily playing back ripped tracks from your personal music collection, music store downloads and rights-managed video clips. Non-DRM files can be transferred by “drag and drop” from online music services to Walkman players.

Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the E-series Walkman players can also support Windows Media Video (WMV) with DRM, allowing rights-protected movies and video clips from other media collections.

B-Series Walkman Players

The affordable entry-level Walkman B-series player offers the high-quality sound that users have come to expect from Sony. The ultra-portable devices can connect to your PC’s USB port for easy “drag and drop” file transfers. Like all other Walkman models, open support for Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MP3 codecs enables users to buy, copy and manage music to fit their needs.

The stylish design is enhanced by an illuminator that pulses in time with the music when the bass button is pressed. The device has an FM radio for enjoying favorite stations and a voice recorder that’s great for capturing memos, shopping lists or random thoughts while you’re on the move.

Battery Life

The battery life is up to 40 hours of music playback for S-series, up to 45 hours for the E-series and up to 16 hours for the B-series. The battery life is up to 10 hours of video playback for S-series, up to 8 hours for the E-series. The battery life is also up to 30 hours of audio playback for the S-series when the noise-cancellation feature is activated. Actual battery life may vary upon usage patterns, product settings, battery and environmental conditions.

Sony’s Open Platform Means More Choice

The E- and S-series Walkman players support an open platform, providing more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online. The devices can support security-enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC, linear PCM and MP3 music formats plus JPEG files for photos, in addition to the WMV with DRM, AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.

Pricing and Availability

The S-series of Walkman noise canceling video MP3 players come in two different storage capacities in black:

* The NWZ-S736F has approximately 4GB of internal storage and will cost about $150.
* The NWZ-S738F has approximately 8GB of internal storage and will cost about $180.

The E-series of Walkman video MP3 players will be available in the following configurations:

* The NWZ-E436F comes in black, red, pink, blue, has approximately 4GB of internal storage and costs about $100.
* The NWZ-E438F comes in black, red, pink, has approximately 8GB of internal storage, and costs about $140.

The B-series of Walkman MP3 players come in two different capacities and four colors:

* The NWZ-B133F player has approximately 1GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and blue and will cost about $45.
* The NWZ-B135F player has approximately 2GB of internal storage; comes in black, red and pink and will cost about $60.

Presales have begun for the new Walkman models online at www.sonystyle.com/walkman and at Sony Style stores. The players will be available in September across the country at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers nationwide.

Why should you put a dent in your wallet when there are so many great free applications out there for the iPhone and iPod Touch?  There are tons of games for the devices, but the vast majority of them cost money, so we’ve sorted through and located 12 totally free ones for you to throw on your gadgets and entertain yourself throughout the day.

Unlike with Firefox or WordPress addons, where we always tell you not to load everything we list, there doesn’t seem to be any problem with loading lots of iPhone or iPod Touch apps.  Just make sure you have enough memory for the programs and you can easily load all 12 of these on your device.

Originally this list included Tris, but with yesterday’s news that it would be removed we took it off the list.  It’s really too bad as it was a great port of the game.

Blanks - A simple word game that gives you a definition and four choices as to what the word may be.  Fun and educational all at once.

Cannon Challenge - Made by the Discovery Channel, Cannon Challenge is based on their show Future Weapons, and firing a Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) cannon at targets of varying distance.  Equal parts addicting and challenging.  As you can tell from the screenshot, the game is played entirely in the horizontal position.

Crash Landing - This game uses the iPhone and iPod Touch accelerometer to control the descent of a starship, aiming to land on the platform on the moon.  If you have as much luck as I did, you’ll see the message in the above screenshot a lot.

Cube Runner - You use the accelerometer to pilot a ship through a landscape littered with mysterious polygonal cubes that have appeared.  Though the ship lacks any sort of gun, it feels a bit like the classic Starfox game from the Super Nintendo system.  New maps can be designed and shared with friends.

Dactyl - A fast-paced game of bomb diffusing that helps you practice your dexterity and frazzles your nerves as bombs explode.

Fire Drop - A puzzle game that tries to test your speed and your willingness to see how far you can push your luck.  The more cauldrons you burn at once, the higher the score, but make sure you don’t fill the entire screen!

Fit2Vote - Politics come to iPhone gaming with Fit2Vote.  You will be asked to name who said the quote, Obama or McCain, and tilt your phone to the left for the Democrat and to the right for the Republican.  Once you have gotten 50 correct, you are deemed “Fit2Vote.”

Frotz - An interface for playing text-based adventure games that harken back to games like Zork, Bard’s Tale and Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy from the 1980’s.

Othello - Also known by the name “Reversi” on just about every Windows computer sold for years, it is the familiar game played on an 8 X 8 grid with the object of controlling the majority of the board at the end of the game.

SimStapler - Why risk dangerous stapler injuries by using a real stapler?  SimStapler provides you with all the fun and excitement of real stapling in a fun, safe, manner.  App has an old school Mac look, and with it being a red Swingline stapler, you can feel free to make Office Space jokes.

Tap Tap Revenge - The perfect free game for all of the Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution fans who need a fix whenever they are away from home.  A bit difficult to play on the iPod Touch as it lacks an external speaker, but works fine with headphones.

Warcraft Characters - Not so much a game in and of itself, but a way for you to look up World of Warcraft characters on the go and see their stats, skills and equipment no matter where you are.

---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Knibble Offers Free Games for iPhone
Bejeweled Optimized for the iPhone
Greystripe iPhone 3G API Lets Game Developers Earn Ad Revenue
Still No iPhone? Adopt a Virtual One.
iPhone Opening to Third-Party Apps; Not Other Networks
Mundu Optimizes Multi-Client Chat Tool for the iPhone
Greystripe Offers Hands-On Mobile Games for Free

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK

John Casasanta has written up a pretty damning condemnation of the vulture venture capitalists (VCs) hovering around the iPhone's App Store lately. While many developers are smelling a lot of potential in the iPhone and its SDK, VCs are smelling lots of money, and unfortunately, as was apparently the case between Mike Lee and Tapulous recently, sometimes those smells lead the two in different directions.

It's not that there isn't money to be made in the App Store -- there are some great programs coming out of there, and those programs are certainly worth paying for (even if a lot of them are offered for free anyway). But Casasanta describes a situation where venture capitalists are willing to pay out in spades even for shovelware, and in that kind of environment, no one profits. Not the VCs and developers who lose their money because no one wants their crappy programs, not the consumers who have to sort through a flood of terrible apps, and not the platform -- the Mac, as Casasanta says, is thriving because of the quality of the software, and the iPhone (though it will likely always be a popular phone) will thrive as a platform for the same reasons.

Casasanta's solution is for the developers to do things on their own, and that's a possibility everyone has to consider for themselves. Even well-funded developers can create valuable pieces of software. Whether you receive funding from a VC or from your own bank account, the focus while developing should always be on quality. And any developer pushing out 100 apps by the end of the year (as Casasanta's VC asked) lacks that focus.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK

John Casasanta has written up a pretty damning condemnation of the vulture venture capitalists (VCs) hovering around the iPhone's App Store lately. While many developers are smelling a lot of potential in the iPhone and its SDK, VCs are smelling lots of money, and unfortunately, as was apparently the case between Mike Lee and Tapulous recently, sometimes those smells lead the two in different directions.

It's not that there isn't money to be made in the App Store -- there are some great programs coming out of there, and those programs are certainly worth paying for (even if a lot of them are offered for free anyway). But Casasanta describes a situation where venture capitalists are willing to pay out in spades even for shovelware, and in that kind of environment, no one profits. Not the VCs and developers who lose their money because no one wants their crappy programs, not the consumers who have to sort through a flood of terrible apps, and not the platform -- the Mac, as Casasanta says, is thriving because of the quality of the software, and the iPhone (though it will likely always be a popular phone) will thrive as a platform for the same reasons.

Casasanta's solution is for the developers to do things on their own, and that's a possibility everyone has to consider for themselves. Even well-funded developers can create valuable pieces of software. Whether you receive funding from a VC or from your own bank account, the focus while developing should always be on quality. And any developer pushing out 100 apps by the end of the year (as Casasanta's VC asked) lacks that focus.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang just can't resist throwing more jabs at Intel, distracting the inaugural NVISION crowd from Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer with the claim that "Larrabee hasn't shipped so you don't know what it is and I don't know what it is." The fact that we do know what it is -- a next-gen hybrid CPU / GPU -- shouldn't be a concern according to Huang, because "By the time it does ship, Nvidia's technology will be so far advanced it won't matter." Besides stuffing Usain Bolt-type speed into a GPU the company will keep busy working on its WinMo smartphone hardware, and software for the not-exactly-Atom-killing VIA Nano, but forget about that rumored x86-compatible hardware 'cuz, as Jen-Hsun reminds us, "the Internet doesn't run on x86." For a company that lacks innovation, is "a joke," and at least four years behind, Intel must be doing something right, because the competition can't keep its name out of their mouths.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang just can't resist throwing more jabs at Intel, distracting the inaugural NVISION crowd from Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer with the claim that "Larrabee hasn't shipped so you don't know what it is and I don't know what it is." The fact that we do know what it is -- a next-gen hybrid CPU / GPU -- shouldn't be a concern according to Huang, because "By the time it does ship, Nvidia's technology will be so far advanced it won't matter." Besides stuffing Usain Bolt-type speed into a GPU the company will keep busy working on its WinMo smartphone hardware, and software for the not-exactly-Atom-killing VIA Nano, but forget about that rumored x86-compatible hardware 'cuz, as Jen-Hsun reminds us, "the Internet doesn't run on x86." For a company that lacks innovation, is "a joke," and at least four years behind, Intel must be doing something right, because the competition can't keep its name out of their mouths.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Everyday activities — commuting to work, walking the dog, grocery shopping — could one day help keep your cell phone charged, thanks to an emerging technology that converts regular motion into power. And while motion-harvesting mobiles might not become a blockbuster hit in industrialized nations, they could fill a real need in developing nations where the power grid is woefully lacking.