brit:

Looking to kick the sound on your iPad up a notch, but without external speakers? You’ve gotta check out the Amplifiear, this week’s Kickstarter find!

I do this with my hands all the time. Months ago I pondered how there should be something exactly like this and now there is. I want a blue one.

Taking a photo with your eyes, or google glasses rather, may finally become a reality. (plus a bunch of other cool things by by Google)

Kinda miss the Fail Whale.

parislemon:

The New iPad Makes Apple’s Tablet Domination Clearer Than Ever

While texting with my friend Daniel, I brought up the topic about the new iPad just announced today. The first thing he asked (like the rest of the tech world did during the announcement) was what the name is: the highly rumored “iPad HD” or the reasonable new name “iPad 3”? Neither.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook apparently wants to take a new approach with the iPad line, sort of like they already do with the iPod Touch. There is no iPod Touch 3 or 4, it is simply called the “iPod Touch” with whatever generation we, the consumers, add to differentiate among models. But is Apple right to do this?

As Gizmodo editor Mat Honan wrote:

“Presumably, Apple will eventually quit calling this thing “the new iPad” and just refer to it as the iPad. And when it does, that’s going to be kind of weird because Apple is still selling the iPad 2. (At least for now.) In six months, will you be choosing between an iPad and an iPad 2, with the iPad being the newer, better model? Do they just plan on calling it “new” until iPad 2 inventory runs dry?

Presumably, this will the new approach Apple will be taking with its products from now on. Whatever reason they have to drop numbers or to stop using alphanumeric titles is kept well hidden, perhaps that was Job’s thing and the company is looking another direction with names now that he’s gone. All we know so far is that there is a new iPad coming March 16 and it will be the same name as the original iPad, except it will be a third generation device with brand new features. Expect confusion while you recommend it to your non-techy friends and parents.

parislemon:

Jim Dalrymple:

The PC industry has spent an incredible amount of time and money trying to convince us that computers (netbooks or ultrabooks) are what we really want to use. The problem is, that’s not true.

The problem PC makers face (but most don’t seem to realize) is that using a computer is not a natural thing. It’s weird to type on a keyboard and look down or forward at a screen. It’s weird to use a mouse. Or a touchpad. Much more natural is holding something in your hands and touching it to manipulate what’s on the screen. A tablet. The iPad. 

The keyboard itself is unnatural. It’s something that kids have to take some time to learn because the letters are completely out of order. Just look down for a second — what the fuck? Speaking is much more natural. Siri.

Speaking, of course, isn’t perfect in all situations. But I think the combination of touch + Siri (with a keyboard fallback) is bringing us closer to a much more natural form of computing. One that makes sense to children without much explanation. 

That’s where we’re heading. Right now.

My thoughts exactly. An iPad is so popular because of how natural it is to use. Touch, tap, slide; that’s how we subconsciously wish we could use our PCs. Children who have never seen a device like this know how to use one right off the bat, and even the less savvy elderly are finding it useful and entertaining because it doesn’t require too much knowledge on how to use a bizarre rectangle with the alphabet all scrambled up or to know the meaning of the other strange symbols on it. Even the mouse and trackpad are a pain (quite literal, physical pain) to use and will eventually be replaced by pure, natural touch technologies, and Apple has the upper hand on this thanks to iOS.

discoverynews:

Princess Leia-Like Hologram Coming Soon

At a recent tech forum, Microsoft Research unveiled a prototype of an augmented reality application called Holoflector.

The system includes an LCD panel a few feet behind a large, translucent mirror equipped with a motion-detecting Kinect camera on top.

keep reading

About time, future!