The Demo Site

When I got up this morning, I threw my Kindle in my bag's padded courdoroy laptop sleeve like I always do. A few hours later, I pulled it out and it looked like this.

Granted, this is partially my fault—I didn't keep it in the ugly cover that comes with the Kindle, just like I don't lock my iPhone or any other gadget in disfiguring covers, since I'm all about naked gadgets (almost entirely for aesthetic reasons), and I thought my bag's padded sleeve provided sufficient protection. Apparently it does not when you have a heavy DSLR on the other side of the stuffing and some guy slams into your bag.

A book made out of dead trees would've buckled and creased and returned to its original shape. So would a reader with a flexible display like Plastic Logic's, which at one point was said to withstand getting smacked by a shoe. Which actually takes it one step closer to emulating books than the more fragile Kindle or any other E-Ink powered reader—too bad Plastic Logic's reader is about a year away. (Though it says something about the Kindle that I'd sort of taken to treating it almost like a real book, and that this is the first time I'd actually materially felt the gap between it and paper.)

The story for other kinds of flexible displays, like bendy OLED, is actually even more depressing, since "progress" at this point means they're now 5 years away. Given how easy it is break screens, and how much we depend on them now—witness the slow recession buttons, though I'm sure they'll experience a retro counter-touch resurgence—rugged displays that we can treat like organic materials instead of delicate magic under the constant threat of destruction by mere everyday living might be more revolutionary than expected.

Or maybe I'll just have to learn to be more careful. [Giz's Kindle Review]

If you call Jason, his iPhone, Pre, Ion and pants all ring because he has Google Voice. The service's biggest downside is that you have a new number to deal with—but TechCrunch says number porting is coming.

That means you'll be able to port the phone number you've had for 5 or 10 or 100 years to Google Voice and use whatever phone you want, whenever you want, on whatever carrier you want, with your current number—meaning you'll never have to worry about your phone number again. Right now, you can kinda hack it by forwarding calls from your current number to your Google Voice number, but you're stuck with pitfalls like texts not being forwarded. Google's also got an app cooking that'll route outbound calls through Google Voice as well, so the service is more seamless—currently, your outbound caller ID is whatever's actually assigned to the phone you're using. Update: Lifehacker pointed out a few months ago that Google mentioned the possibility in their support pages, but TechCrunch specifies Google is testing it now and that it'll roll out later this year.

I have to say, it's been interesting watching carriers become more and more irrelevant over the last two years. Their fears of becoming a "dumb pipe" are certainly coming true, and cutting the core of your mobile identity—your phone number—completely out of their hands has to be at least a little bit scary for them.

Now if Google would just solve GV's other major flaw—actually letting people in. [TechCrunch]

This slick Seamless Experience video from the Asus Computex booth is a neat glimpse at a future where even coffee cups have a story to tell. It looks, unsurprisingly, like Microsoft Surface. Let the marketing concept arms race commence.

Judging from the concept, the future works surprisingly well, so long as your desktop is populated with nothing but Asus products, computers, mugs and coffee products. [YouTube via Engadget]

For gamers well-versed in the antics of former attorney Jack Thompson, this PS2 casemod found over at Kotaku has to be all sorts of Schadenfreude. [Kotaku]

Do you want to create your own slow motion water gun fight, just like Gizmodo? You do? Then head on over to Lifehacker, where they've discovered a DIY project that will create a high speed studio in the garage. [Lifehacker]

Ironically, even in this economy, the title of world's largest yacht lasted less than a month, as Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich finally launched his record-setting 557-ft. megayacht "Eclipse" in Hamburg, Germany.

The launch bests the lavish $350 million Dubai that set sail from, yes, Dubai. At 551-ft. in length, the Dubai had been the longest yacht in the world. The Eclipse also cost a cool $350 mil to complete, but it comes with a host of modern extras and a decidedly un-tacky interior so we're giving it the edge not only on length, but in the taste department as well.

Take for example the missile defense system that allows the crew to jam incoming pirate missiles. Or, perhaps you'll consider the secret underwater submarine entrance, perfect for James Bond style escapes—just watch out for those underwater knife fights!

Then there's the two heli-pads, pool with surrounding Havana bars, cinema, library, restaurant, private garden and a 5,000-sq.-ft. master bedroom, the latter of which had me feeling pretty stupid about all the bragging I did last night regarding what I pay for my new "spacious one bedroom apartment." [Morgan Post via Born Rich]

OK, enough unfortunate or otherwise negative Microsoft news for today. Let's instead focus on something good, like how the company is donating the equivalent of eight meals to the Feeding America Network for every completed download of Internet Explorer 8.

The program, called "Browser for the Better," is connected to those wacky Dean Cain IE8 commercials that launched earlier this month.

And while the Dean Cain marketing effort will likely last forever thanks to the glorious wonder of the Internet, the charity portion of Browser for the Better only runs from June 10 to August 8. Don't ask about the image. Apparently, for the meals to become viable, Microsoft had to truck in a bunch of artists so they could stack them into shapes resembling the Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge. [Neowin]

The capable Nokia E71x, not exactly an old phone even by the fast paced renewal process that's inherent in the tech industry, is about to get usurped by the business-class E72, seen here getting handled in a promotional video. Updated.

Coolest takeaway? Probably the inclusion of an optical mouse instead of the clickable one found in the similar models.

As is the case with promotional videos, availability and pricing are not present.

Update: The video is now private, so here's a screen grab I took earlier in the event the YouTube user made his previously public video private.

"Bob, I wish the damn elephants were closer. This new telephoto lens is amazing, but the extra weight is killing me!"

And yes, the photographer and videographer apparently had no idea. [National Geographic via Neatorama]

The Tragus Bluetooth headset concept is a clever idea for people who misplace theirs between calls, save for the fact that it looks like a colorful sperm is about to swim into your ear canal.

The flagellum squiggle is a clip that fastens the earpiece to your shirt collar when not in use.

We'd say that's incredibly handy, if not for all the lame "is that hair gel?" jokes you'll get from your friends. [Design Blog]

My, how things have changed since Bill Gates left Microsoft. Case in point: The company filed a patent for a "Hot or Not" interface that allows viewers to rate "fashion and other personal appearance decisions."

From the "Online Personal Appearance Adviser" patent abstract:

The contributor uploads self images for viewing and rating (or voting) by viewers who choose provide an opinion on different fashion and/or cosmetic looks of the contributor. The contributor takes images show the contributor presented with a number (e.g., two) of different fashion choices. The snapshots can then be processed for upload to a website or other accessible location by one or more viewers. The viewers can cast a vote for one of the images by selecting the desired image, in response to which the viewer and/or contributor will be presented with overall statistics for that set of images as to how other viewers voted, as well as a next set of photos depicting the user in a different fashion and/or cosmetic choice. This process can continue until terminated.

After reading this today I can't help but have this sinking suspicion that Project Natal will be silently judging and rating me as I wave my arms and legs about like a jackass. If it ever really comes out on a widespread commercial level, that is (Surface *cough*). [Patent Application via Slashdot]

I knew the Navy's Blue Angels were good, but seeing their stuff from inside the cockpit actually got a few butterflies stirring in my gullet. [Danger Room]

BGR is reporting today that the well-known AMOLED-equipped Samsung Omnia Pro might be linked to the recently unearthed "Louvre B7610." By the way, "linked" in this case means "the exact same thing."

Why the subterfuge? No idea, but what today's news does bring us are a slew of updated specs for the Omnia Pro/Louvre, due out sometime in September or October.

* 3.5-inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen display w/ WVGA resolution
* 800MHz processor
* 5.1 megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash
* Sliding QWERTY keypad
* 2 UIs (Pro & Media)
* TV-OUT
* 3.5mm headphone jack
* MicroUSB
* Divx/WMV/H.264 accelerations
* GPS/WIFI/HSDPA/HSUPA/Bluetooth
* FM Radio
* DNLA support
* 1GB internal memory with microSDHC up to 32GB
* 1500mAh battery

Louvre? Omnia Pro? Louvre Pro? Who knows. It's a slick phone with a robust set of features and a presumably sharp little touchscreen. We'll definitely know more toward the end of the summer. [Unwired News via BGR]

Microsoft, on the heels of its big layoffs and other cost-cutting measures enacted earlier this year, has reportedly stopped reimbursing its employees for iPhone, Blackberry and Palm Pre data plans even if they're being used significantly for work-related purposes.

Only—you guesed it—Windows Mobile device users will have their data plans reimbursed. It may sound fishy at first (Bill Gates banning iPods in his house, anyone?), but you have to remember that many companies offer no such perk for their employees to begin with. The economy being what it is, such a cut in employee benefits wouldn't be out of line for any tech company. [Business Insider]

Our comprehensive smartphone guide lacked one key feature: NES emulation. An important trait, to be sure, and one that the Palm Pre, after a bit of fiddling, now possesses.

As mentioned above, the "fiddling" actually requires you to gain root access to the Pre. This important step is followed by compiling FCEUltra and an adjustment or two to the display settings so that the NES games run at a somewhat squished 320x480.

Understand Linux better than breathing? Great. Should be easy then. Full instructions in the Pre Dev Wiki link. [Pre Dev Wiki via CrunchGear]

As part of an effort to alleviate its current European Union-sized headache across the Atlantic, Microsoft has volunteered to remove Internet Explorer from Windows 7. The move is an about face for the company, which had previously testified such a removal was impossible.

Indeed, Microsoft has stated before that it would be impossible to remove the browser from Windows 7, due to the fact that "the browser is closely connected with the operating system." However, thanks to EU pressure and a multi-billion dollar fine hanging over its head, Microsoft has miraculously discovered a way to make it so.

As a refresher, the EU demanded that MS remove IE (or include competitor's browsers) in Windows because of its dominant 90% market penetration across the continent. According to an article at Swedish news site e24, the EU has also proposed that Microsoft include competitor's browsers, including those from Opera, Mozilla and Google, as part of a settlement. [e24 (Swedish) - Thanks, Andreas]

I still think we should and will reach the stars, but today I'm forced to concede that using a theoretical "warp drive" might not be the best way to go:

You see, while warp drives are all sorts of fun within the confines of Star Trek, when they're applied to the real world—which must live under the iron fist of physics—things get expensive, exponentially difficult to power, or just plain deadly.

Warp drives, for example, are now theorized to be black hole-creating monstrosities that, if activated in the distant future, would incinerate their passengers and suck Earth into a black hole.

This according to Stefano Finazzi, of Italy's International School for Advanced Studies, who said in a scientific paper published this past week that warp drives, powered by dark energy bubbles, are completely possible—it's just that they're unsustainable and would kill us all if one should collapse.

According to their calculations [...] it would take a huge amount of energy to create the bubble, and then increasing amounts of energy to contain the highly repulsive dark energy. Eventually the energy would run out. The bubble would rupture, with catastrophic effects. Inside the bubble the temperature would rise to about 10^32 degrees Kelvin, destroying almost anything on the bubble.

Anyone watching the ship nearby wouldn't be much better off. "We know that the warp drive will be destabilized," said Finazzi. "But we do not know if it will in the end explode or collapse to a black hole."

Of course, speaking of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry and crew already had this all figured out by the time The Next Generation came around. As any Trekkie knows, for safety reasons Federation ships are discouraged or even forbidden from making warp jumps in-system. Time to get back to the lab, Finazzi. [Discovery Channel - Thanks, Chase]

Hey look, it's our first BlackBerry app roundup. We've got free podcasts, free music and free hacks to make your BlackBerry more usable—or let you grind its battery into the ground.

Stitcher: Formerly an iPhone/iPod touch app, Stitcher lets you cut together podcasts to stream them to your phone as virtual radio stations. Mostly news(ish) content, but it spans from the Wall Street Journal to Slate and we'll take free streaming audio wherever we can get it. Free at App World or OTA for Curve, Bold and Storm. (Image via Crackberry)

LEDReset: Simple, but great: Turns off your BlackBerry's LED light until the next alert. Grab it here OTA. Free.

ScoreMobile BlackBerry: Real-time sports scores for MLB, NHL, NBA, and PGA from Canadia's theScore—so perhaps their Canadian numbers aren't to be trusted. Supposedly, more sports are coming this summer. I'm hoping for PBA scores, personally, since it's been way too long since I've bowled. Free at App World or OTA.

Slacker 2.0: With the latest version of Slacker Radio, song transitions and skip times are supposed to be damn near instant. All of the regular features are still there, obviously, with full stereo over any connection and offline caching being two of its biggest perks. Free in App World.

SmrtGuard for BlackBerry: What makes SmrtGuard worth a look is that it rolls up a bunch of security features for the always-losing-their-damn-phone crowd into one tasty combo: Location tracking, remote data wipe and remote backup and restore. Oh, and stealth listening, so you can hear whoever picked up your phone gloating. I'm sorta surprised RIM doesn't actually bake all of this into the OS, but SmrtGuard delivers it for $4 a month or $45 for the year.

ForceRadioOn: Do you hate it when your BlackBerry kills the phone because the battery is moments away from death? ForceRadioOn speeds your phone to its doom by turning the cellular radio on against its will, so you can gab for a few fleeting seconds. Free here and other app stores.

BB: Robot Scheduler: The range of this robot schedule slave is pretty impressive. You can schedule emails, texts, audio recordings, GPS location sharing, or pretty much anything else you can do on BlackBerry, in simple or more complex arrangements. It's only available for the Bold and Storm at the moment. $6 OTA here.

BlackBerry App Coverage:

• BlackBerry Facebook 1.6 Is More Like Real Facebook
• New BlackBerry Messenger Is Much Better [BGR]
• RIM Acquires Dash Navigation (no app from this yet, but there totally will be!)
• Every Mobile Browser Should Just Give and Go WebKit

This list is in no way definitive (especially cause it's our first!). If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this month, give us a heads up or let us know in the comments. Have a good rest of your weekend everybody!

This is a rumored "extremely recent" look at a CrunchPad prototype. What do we learn? First, the demo man says the tablet will be out by this year, "for sure." The other is that the video guy is a klepto.

The sharp, colorful packaging isn't quite what people will see on launch day, but it's close. Enter the demo guy again, who says it's "almost launch day packaging." Presumably this means Michael Arrington still has to bless each unit or anoint them with oils before they're shipped out the door.

And lastly, while it is billed as such, this video is not a true unboxing, as the CrunchPad in this video is covered from head to toe in filthy fingerprints. This one's been sleeping around already. Harlot. [YouTube via CrunchPad Fans - Thanks, Trooper]

We're loving Samsung's new line of PMPs, and as lifelong haters of forced video conversion, we're especially glad that Samsung's been throwing us torrent-using pirates a bone with great codec support and a 2.7-inch touchscreen in its new YP-R1 PMP.

We don't know too much about the 2.7-inch touchscreened YP-R1, as it's merely leaked onto a British online shop, but it looks like the YP-R1 is set to bring it in the audio department (with AAC, FLAC, and OGG support in addition to MP3 and WMA) as well as video (where it can read Xvid, DivX, H.264, MPEG-4, WMV, and, oddly, Real Media Video). It's got TV-out to display all that goodness on a big screen, though the only capacity we know about is a paltry 8GB, which just doesn't cut it these days. The page shows a release date of July 30th and a price of about $180 USD, which is a little pricey for an 8GB player. We'll keep an eye on the R1 for more official specs, and check out our Samsung P3 review for a look at Samsung's current PMP line. [DapReview]