Weezy: Stream audio from your mobile device using Bluetooth

Enjoying in music on your smartphone is always nice, but what if you ever get tired from listening your favorite songs on built-in speakers? Well, if you’re looking for a sound boost, today we have a special device that might help you out.

Folks from Eikonsite have developed a useful device called Weezy that allows you to connect your iPhone or any other mobile device wirelessly with your stereo. Using a Bluetooth connection you can pair up your stereo and smartphone or tablet, and play your favorite songs from your mobile device right on your stereo. The setup process is rather straightforward, you just need to connect Weezy with your stereo, pair it up with your mobile device, and play your favorite songs on your smartphone or tablet as you normally would, and enjoy in the sound from your stereo’s speakers.

Weezy is available in several colors such as white, red, black and orange, and as for the price, Weezy is available for €69($93).

Verbatim Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Keyboard: Wireless keyboard for your smarthphone and tablet Read more: Verbatim Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Keyboard: Wireless keyboard for your smarthphone and tablet

Getting used to touchscreen keyboard can be a tiresome process, but if touchscreen keyboard on your tablet or smartphone is giving you problems, you can use the latest Bluetooth keyboard that comes from Verbatim.

Verbatim has launched its Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Keyboard, and this keyboard comes with low profile, quiet, soft-touch keys. In addition, this keyboard has smart keys for common functions such as cut, copy, paste, and undo, but it also has keys for music control, power off and device locking.

Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Keyboard is available in black and white color, and it comes with a carrying case, and a rechargeable battery. Regarding the compatibility, this keyboard is fully compatible with iPad, iPad 2, iPhone, Android tablets, and all other Bluetooth devices with HID keyboard support.

Verbatim Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Keyboard is sleek keyboard for your tablet or smartphone device, and it is great especially if you’re not a fan of virtual keyboards, and as for the price, this keyboard costs $49.99.

10 reasons Windows 8 will be painful for developers

Since the release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview, people have had a lot to say about the experience of playing with it. But few folks are talking about the changes it represents for developers. Windows 8 is the biggest update to the Windows development model since the move from Windows 3.X to Windows 95. While there are lots of good things, there are also a lot of pain points. If you are looking to develop Windows 8 native applications with the new Metro UI and WinRT API, be careful of these 10 things.

1: Market reboot

If you want your applications to be fully compatible with Windows 8 (including running on ARM CPUs), you’ll need to do a full rewrite in Metro/WinRT. This may be great for developers looking to break into markets with established players. But if you are the established player, you are suddenly back at square one.

2: The asynchronous model

Windows 8 development is highly dependent upon asynchronous operations for anything that is long running. While that may be a cute trick in some scenarios, it is downright frustrating in others (like trying to download a file). It isn’t just the work needed to handle the async call; it’s things like error handling and reporting problems back to the user. It requires a whole new approach to the UI from what developers (especially WinForms developers) are used to.

3: Lack of direct disk access

Windows 8 cuts off direct access to the system in quite a few ways, but the one that will hurt typical developers the most is the lack of disk access. Windows 8 follows an extreme isolation model for applications, and if your application requires access to data outside its own confined little world (including networked services you can access), you can forget about porting it to Windows 8.

4: Touch UI paradigm

Unless you have been writing a lot of mobile apps, shifting to the new UI style, which is designed for touch interaction, is going to pretty tough. It took me a long time to get a feel for what works well and what doesn’t. To make things more difficult, what looks and works well on a screen using a mouse and keyboard can be a poor experience with touch, and things that work well with touch often are a struggle to use on the screen. It’s a tricky balancing act, and as the uproar over the Metro UI in Windows 8 shows, even Microsoft is struggling to get it right despite having had a few years of Metro experience.

5: Playing by Microsoft’s app store rules

If you want to be using the Microsoft app store, you will need to learn to play by its rules. While the rules are fairly reasonable, it will be a jarring experience if it is anything like the WP7 App Hub. For starters, Microsoft rigorously inspects the application and looks for all sorts of things, like unhandled exceptions and circular UI paths. Although this ensures a high quality app, it can be a surprise to developers. In addition, you need to work with an approval process. The details of the Microsoft application store are still under wraps, but recent experience with WP7 suggests that it won’t be fun.

6: Heavy emphasis on cloud

While there is no mandate to use the cloud, Web services, and other off-premise techniques and technologies, it is most definitely encouraged. Things like automatic syncing of settings and data between devices (regardless of how it is done) will become the rule, not the exception, and users will be expecting it. Windows 8 makes this easy (you can have your locally saved information synced automatically with Live), but you will want to be judicious about how you do it for sensitive data. Encryption and other privacy and security techniques will become more important than ever.

7: Shift to “contracts” and “interfaces” for interop

One unique aspect of the Windows 8 paradigm is the idea that applications can provide services to the OS (such as acting as a source of contacts or pictures), as opposed to just dumping the data into a common directory. This allows all sorts of sweet application concepts. But even though this is easy at the technical level, it’s difficult to figure out how to leverage at the conceptual level.

8: Market uncertainty

Now we get into the more high-level pains. Microsoft is clearly pushing Windows 8 for tablets and maybe even phones. Right now, we’re seeing Android struggle in the tablet space, and at the same time, it seems like the Metro UI is universally panned by people who have tried the Developer Preview. But again, the Metro experience is geared for touch, and the Preview is usable only on a virtual machine, so the true tablet experience will be much different.

In addition, the people who have seen the Developer Preview simply do not represent the typical user one bit. Will the market adopt Windows 8 or reject it? Will Microsoft cave in and let people skip the Metro UI entirely? Will the tablet market for Windows 8 take off? These are all questions that won’t be answered until it is far too late to be a first mover in the market. If you are going to bet on Windows 8, you simply can’t properly assess the risks right now.

9: Lack of tablet hardware

Speaking of the disliked Developer Preview, not having tablets to try Windows 8 on is a major problem. There is just no good way right now to get an idea of what the user experience will be like for your applications on those tablets. Not just in terms of the UI either, but of performance. Can the tablet CPUs run your app well? Is it too “chatty” for a device on a cellular connection? Are you using more storage than makes sense for the typical tablet we’ll see? Without a few tablet models easily available, we don’t know the answers here.

10: The trail of dead tech

This is the one that really breaks my heart. Microsoft has a history of pushing a technology as “the next big thing” and then leaving it dying on the vine a few years later. We don’t know if Microsoft will back off its Windows 8 strategy before launch, right after launch (Kin), or a few years down the road (Zune, Silverlight). If the new Windows 8 paradigm is not a success, Microsoft may very well change course in a way that renders all your hard work on Windows 8 native applications a waste of time.

10 reasons Windows 8 will be painful for developers

Since the release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview, people have had a lot to say about the experience of playing with it. But few folks are talking about the changes it represents for developers. Windows 8 is the biggest update to the Windows development model since the move from Windows 3.X to Windows 95. While there are lots of good things, there are also a lot of pain points. If you are looking to develop Windows 8 native applications with the new Metro UI and WinRT API, be careful of these 10 things.

1: Market reboot

If you want your applications to be fully compatible with Windows 8 (including running on ARM CPUs), you’ll need to do a full rewrite in Metro/WinRT. This may be great for developers looking to break into markets with established players. But if you are the established player, you are suddenly back at square one.

2: The asynchronous model

Windows 8 development is highly dependent upon asynchronous operations for anything that is long running. While that may be a cute trick in some scenarios, it is downright frustrating in others (like trying to download a file). It isn’t just the work needed to handle the async call; it’s things like error handling and reporting problems back to the user. It requires a whole new approach to the UI from what developers (especially WinForms developers) are used to.

3: Lack of direct disk access

Windows 8 cuts off direct access to the system in quite a few ways, but the one that will hurt typical developers the most is the lack of disk access. Windows 8 follows an extreme isolation model for applications, and if your application requires access to data outside its own confined little world (including networked services you can access), you can forget about porting it to Windows 8.

4: Touch UI paradigm

Unless you have been writing a lot of mobile apps, shifting to the new UI style, which is designed for touch interaction, is going to pretty tough. It took me a long time to get a feel for what works well and what doesn’t. To make things more difficult, what looks and works well on a screen using a mouse and keyboard can be a poor experience with touch, and things that work well with touch often are a struggle to use on the screen. It’s a tricky balancing act, and as the uproar over the Metro UI in Windows 8 shows, even Microsoft is struggling to get it right despite having had a few years of Metro experience.

5: Playing by Microsoft’s app store rules

If you want to be using the Microsoft app store, you will need to learn to play by its rules. While the rules are fairly reasonable, it will be a jarring experience if it is anything like the WP7 App Hub. For starters, Microsoft rigorously inspects the application and looks for all sorts of things, like unhandled exceptions and circular UI paths. Although this ensures a high quality app, it can be a surprise to developers. In addition, you need to work with an approval process. The details of the Microsoft application store are still under wraps, but recent experience with WP7 suggests that it won’t be fun.

6: Heavy emphasis on cloud

While there is no mandate to use the cloud, Web services, and other off-premise techniques and technologies, it is most definitely encouraged. Things like automatic syncing of settings and data between devices (regardless of how it is done) will become the rule, not the exception, and users will be expecting it. Windows 8 makes this easy (you can have your locally saved information synced automatically with Live), but you will want to be judicious about how you do it for sensitive data. Encryption and other privacy and security techniques will become more important than ever.

7: Shift to “contracts” and “interfaces” for interop

One unique aspect of the Windows 8 paradigm is the idea that applications can provide services to the OS (such as acting as a source of contacts or pictures), as opposed to just dumping the data into a common directory. This allows all sorts of sweet application concepts. But even though this is easy at the technical level, it’s difficult to figure out how to leverage at the conceptual level.

8: Market uncertainty

Now we get into the more high-level pains. Microsoft is clearly pushing Windows 8 for tablets and maybe even phones. Right now, we’re seeing Android struggle in the tablet space, and at the same time, it seems like the Metro UI is universally panned by people who have tried the Developer Preview. But again, the Metro experience is geared for touch, and the Preview is usable only on a virtual machine, so the true tablet experience will be much different.

In addition, the people who have seen the Developer Preview simply do not represent the typical user one bit. Will the market adopt Windows 8 or reject it? Will Microsoft cave in and let people skip the Metro UI entirely? Will the tablet market for Windows 8 take off? These are all questions that won’t be answered until it is far too late to be a first mover in the market. If you are going to bet on Windows 8, you simply can’t properly assess the risks right now.

9: Lack of tablet hardware

Speaking of the disliked Developer Preview, not having tablets to try Windows 8 on is a major problem. There is just no good way right now to get an idea of what the user experience will be like for your applications on those tablets. Not just in terms of the UI either, but of performance. Can the tablet CPUs run your app well? Is it too “chatty” for a device on a cellular connection? Are you using more storage than makes sense for the typical tablet we’ll see? Without a few tablet models easily available, we don’t know the answers here.

10: The trail of dead tech

This is the one that really breaks my heart. Microsoft has a history of pushing a technology as “the next big thing” and then leaving it dying on the vine a few years later. We don’t know if Microsoft will back off its Windows 8 strategy before launch, right after launch (Kin), or a few years down the road (Zune, Silverlight). If the new Windows 8 paradigm is not a success, Microsoft may very well change course in a way that renders all your hard work on Windows 8 native applications a waste of time.

Video: Microsoft TellMe vs Apple Siri

Microsoft’s Craig Mundie last week said that Siri was nothing special, and Microsoft’s own voice capabilities have been around for over a year. Why have Siri become so popular whereas many may not even have heard of ‘TellMe’? The answer according to Microsoft is ‘good marketing’.

People are infatuated with Apple announcing it. It’s good marketing, but at least as the technological capability you could argue that Microsoft has had a similar capability in Windows Phones for more than a year, since Windows Phone 7 was introduced.

The video below featuring the battle between the two voice assistants speaks for itself, be sure to check it out and listen to their subsequent responses when asked to complete a task…

  

                           

ClamCase All-in-One Keyboard Case and Stand turns your iPad 2 into netbook

We know that iPad 2 is an incredible device, but if you have problems adjusting to the iPad 2’s virtual keyboard, today we have a special case that might be helpful to you.

Today’s keyboard case for iPad 2 comes from ClamCase, and it has thinner and lighter design, and in addition to that, it can work as iPad 2 stand as well. Thanks to the QWERTY keyboard with 14 special keys for iOS functions, you can turn your iPad into a netbook with ease.

This keyboard connects to your iPad 2 via Bluetooth and it offers hard shell polycarbonate case that protects your iPad, while providing you access to all ports and buttons. In addition, if you ever get tired from typing and using your iPad 2 as netbook, use can use this case as a iPad stand as well.

ClamCase All-in-One Keyboard Case for iPad 2 has a lot to offer, especially if you’re not a fan of virtual keyboards, and as for the price, this device is priced at $149.

Cloud Computing Advantages & Comparison: Public vs Private

When it comes to saving both time and money, cloud computing offers business owners and multinational companies alike one of the best solutions. Understanding cloud computing is not as easy as you might want, as you will need to learn how to use the service properly and store information there in a way that will be secure. However, if you are looking into cloud computing for your company, here are some things you need to know.

Cloud Computing: Private vs Public

There are two types of cloud computing that are available to small businesses:

1. Private clouds are made specifically for a single organization or entity, and it can be stored either on or off premises. Most large businesses prefer a private cloud to a public one, as they feel more secure knowing that their information is stored on a cloud that is dedicated exclusively to their data. It will require a lot more to manage the private cloud, however, and IT managers need to be prepared to spend a lot of time studying how to operate and modify the cloud as needed.
2. Public clouds are usually owned by large companies that sell cloud services to organizations or companies, and these services are usually made according to a specific application. The pricing of these services is usually good deal simpler than private clouds, as they are usually priced according to a specific cost per seat per month basis.

Using cloud computing is one of the best ways for companies to be able to store their information where it will be easily accessible, but it is essential to make a plan for using cloud computing.

Cloud Computing: Why Cloud Computing?

There are a number of reasons why your company may choose to purchase could computing services, especially if yours is a large company that is looking to expand steadily.

• What is your data storage currently like? Do you need more storage space? Cloud services may be exactly what you need.
• Does your company face problems in the support and management of applications that are widely used? If so, your company may benefit from the support and ease of use offered by the cloud computing services.

Are your servers nearing the end of their life? If you don’t want to spend money purchasing a new server system, you may want to consider upgrading to a cloud computer service instead.

The cloud computing concept is divided into 3 major parts – Application, Storage and Connectivity. These don’t have to be interlinked, and they individually can serve the purpose of serving products and services among the interested individuals or large businesses. Cloud computing, although is new to many in the world of Internet, if taken seriously by businesses would surely prove to be a boon in the coming future.

The cost of cloud computing depends on the type you are selecting, and usually the public cloud computing is proved to be more cheaper than the other, as most of the times these cloud servers are sponsored by 3rd party companies and the end users don’t have to pay much when they choose the public cloud computing. Compared to the other types of the hosting and computing solutions, the cloud computing has an advantage of asking the least maintenance because there is nothing one has to do locally to use the cloud computing service.

Latest iPhone 4/4S Monolith case packs built-in projector and backup battery

If you want to show a photo on your iPhone to a group of friends and don’t have the time to fiddle with transferring files onto a computer, just project it onto a wall with this latest gadget. The Monolith Case by Century is able to project images in 640×360 resolution, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, with 12 lumens of brightness.

The largest projection size possible is 60 inches, but its recommended that this be projected in a dark environment to ensure quality. The Monolith also does double duty as an external battery pack, featuring 1,900mAH battery raising your iPhone’s battery life by an estimated 50%. It will require 4 hours to fully charge although it shouldn’t impact your phone’s charge time.

iTar accessory from Starr Labs turns your iPad into a guitar

You probably remember Sonoma GuitarJack 2, an accessory that lets you connect all sorts of instruments to your iOS device, but in case you don’t have a musical instrument, such as guitar, company Starr Labs has a new accessory for you that turns your iPad 2 into a guitar.

We know that iPad 2 can do all sorts of things, but if you want to turn your iPad 2 into a guitar, you can do so easily with the iTar accessory that comes from Starr Labs. It’s rather simple, all that you have to do is to dock your iPad 2, start the specific Starr Labs app, and that’s it. iTar is using patented button fretboard technology, and if you’re skeptical about it, we would like to mention that this technology is being used by many musicians such as Chemical Brothers, Linkin Park, Lou Reed, and many TV/film studios.

iTar looks amazing, and if you want to turn your iPad 2 into guitar, you can preorder iTar  online. Regarding the price, starting price for iTar is $200.

Google’s mobile payment system Google Wallet is available for public

You’ve probably heard about Google Wallet, a new mobile payment system developed by Google that was introduced in May. If you’re interested in Google Wallet, we’re glad to inform you that Google Wallet is now available for public use.

Google Wallet had been tested extensively during these last few months, and now it’s finally available to the public. As for the Google Wallet, it is available to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones via over-the-air update. Currently Google Wallet works only with Citi MasterCard credit cards and the Google Prepaid Card. As for other cards such as Visa, Discover, and American Express, they will be added in the future versions of Google Wallet. Concerning the NFC stickers, there’s no word about them, therefore, Google Wallet is currently limited to Sprint Nexus S 4G users.

Google Wallet sounds innovative, and if you’re Sprint Nexus S 4G user and owner of a supported credit card, make sure you try it out.

Facebook is constantly working on new improvements, and in order to provide you with interesting stories and feeds from your friends, Facebook has decided to add several new features for its users.

In order to provide you with most popular and most recent news from your friends, Facebook decided to change its News Feed, and now both Top News and Most Recent buttons are forever gone. Instead, both of Top News and Most Recent news are combined into a single News Feed, but in order to deliver you the most interesting information, now you have Top Stories that are actually feeds from your friends that have small blue triangle next to them. Besides Top Stories, Facebook has introduced another feature called Ticker that is another feed located next to the News Feed, and it informs you about your friends’ activity in real time. In addition, if you put your mouse over a Ticker update, you’ll get a pop-up with all related information about that activity.

Facebook did a great job with this update, and if you want to stay updated at all times, or simply find the most interesting news, log in to Facebook to check this update out.

Stay updated on Facebook with new Top Stories and Ticker feature

Facebook is constantly working on new improvements, and in order to provide you with interesting stories and feeds from your friends, Facebook has decided to add several new features for its users.

Video: See Windows 8 boot up in 8 secs

We’ve talked quite abit about Windows 8 recently simply because – Vista was horrible, Windows 7 much better but still not quite there, we’re hoping Windows 8 will live up to our expectations and this video below does show us one feature we want to see improved, check out Windows 8 officially boot up in this demo video in under ten seconds…




Microsoft achieves this quick boot by writing the kernel sessions to disk, essentially putting the computer in hibernation mode rather than shutting it down completely. This improves boot time by 30-70% since the computer doesn’t have to load all the drivers and services every time.

Sewage water powers fuel cells from electric cars

Cars have advanced a lot during the years, and now, cars can run on wine, cheese, and chocolate byproducts, but that’s not all. According to the latest reports, cars will be able to run on sewage as well.

According to the latest research, sewage could be used to power hydrogen cells in electric cars, and speaking of which, this process is already taking place in Orange County sewage treatment plant where fuel cell-powered vehicles are filled up by using methane generated by wastewater. Most of the hydrogen that is generated in this process will be used to power the plant while smaller part will be sent to the fueling station for public use. As for the number of powered vehicles, this station should be able to power up to 25 to 50 fuel-cell electric vehicles per day.

As you can see, this process sounds great, but we wonder will other sewage treatment plants accept this method someday in the future?

Samsung announces Galaxy Tab 7.7, runs on Android 3.2

After delivering Android tabs in 7, 8.9 and 10.1-inch dimensions, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Tab 7.7 at IFA in Berlin. The tablet sports a 7.7-inch super AMOLED Plus display and is based on Android Honeycomb version 3.2 with Samsung’s patented tablet-only UI on top, the TouchWiz UX. At its heart, breathes a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, a 3.0 AF camera at the back with a LED Flash and a front facing 2.0MP camera. This 3G HSPA+ tablet includes a microSD card slot that can accommodate cards up to 32 GB, supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and is built to offer 10 hours of video playback. Pricing and availability has not been announced yet but do hit the break to check out the press release.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, World’s First Mobile Tablet Featuring Super AMOLED Plus Display Unveiled at IFA 2011

Pioneer of the 7-inch mobile tablet introduces next generation Galaxy Tab, delivering the ultimate in viewing quality and portability

BERLIN – Sept. 1, 2011 –Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading provider and innovator of award-winning consumer electronics, today announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the world’s first tablet to feature the brilliant Super AMOLED Plus display. The powerful Galaxy Tab 7.7 with a 1.4GHz dual core processor measures just 7.89 millimeters thin and weighs only 335 grams (12 ounces), making this tablet one of the most portable devices in the market.

“The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 demonstrates Samsung’s commitment to offering consumers the most choice in the mobile tablet market,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business. “The Galaxy Tab 7.7′s ultra-thin design and WXGA Super AMOLED Plus display are impressive differentiators in the tablet marketplace and pillars of our ultimate goal of meeting a wide variety of consumer needs.”