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I got this picture from our Tips mailbox just after reading Wired's article on Fanboys, Ernie Cline's odyssey of a group of diehard Star Wars fans who break into Skywalker Ranch to steal a copy of Episode I before opening day. Reader Rye Clifton explained what it is, much to Addy's disbelief:

I just got back from a wedding where the groom had a Death Star groom's Cake.

Yes. A Death Star wedding cake.

Now, I know there are fanboys everywhere, but come on people. Heck, yes, I admit it. I'm guilty as charged, your honor. But although I was willing to pilot the X-Wing rocket (on retrospective, I'm glad that didn't happen,) and I know the first trilogy backwards, forwards and inside-out, I've never dressed up or played lightsabers, re-enacted scenes or been to conventions. At most, I played Larry Holland's X-Wing and TIE Fighter simulators when I was in college. And, of course, built Star Wars LEGO stuff. And while I may have suggested to Addy that we should go and live in an Ewok village, I would have never, ever have subjected her to a Death Star wedding cake. Seriously.

Mainly because I didn't want to end up like Greedo, that is, or frozen in carbonite. [Thanks Rye]

written by iPhone Fan

I have a confession to make: I've never owned a digital camera. I've played around plenty with friend's point-and-shoots, and I have picked up a DSLR on occasion too. But I never saw the point of paying $300 for something my iPhone could pretty much do well enough. Now that summer's coming up and the price of high-megapixel cameras is going down, though, I figure it might be time to pick one out for myself—on the cheap. Let someone else waste money, I want to know what's good at $150 and not a penny more. I'm gonna be picky: I only want a camera that can take shots that make me look like a photography genius while in truth I'm a photography dumbass, but still, the key is to keep the price down. I tried out five $150-and-under cameras, and here's what I found:

Kodak EasyShare M853 ($150 , 8.2MP) - The Best UI
The Good: The UI is clean and straightforward. On-screen menus explain the different options very clearly. The color in outdoor, well-lit settings was very accurate. Macro shots were clear.
The Bad: For such a great UI, I was surprised at the mediocrity of certain features. The most problematic issue I found was the M853 wouldn't mount to my Mac. Neither iPhoto nor Image Capture recognized it as a USB mass-storage device. The display is too small to get a decent field of vision. There are few options for taking manual shots, and the buttons used for these limited options aren't labeled. The M853 had the worst battery life of any camera I tried. Low light/no flash situations yielded poor pictures.
The Verdict: A beginner will be taking pictures right away, but it's not worth the frustration that comes later.

Nikon CoolPix L18 ($140 , 8MP) - The Easiest to Use
The Good: The CoolPix is so simple that it pretty much has two modes: Auto and Easy Auto. No pure manual mode exists, but there are some scene options available if you need something more specific. Outdoor pictures as well as close up macro shots looked good. Most of all, I really loved the 3" LCD display—larger than any other I tested.
The Bad: It may be too simple for people who like to tinker with their shots. You can adjust exposure and ISO, but the options don't help very much and you may not have as much control over your pictures as you'd like. Low light shots came out very blurry. I am not fans of AA batteries in cameras, and this one takes two.
The Verdict: This camera is a no-brainer for those with no-brains. It's pretty much the digital equivalent of a disposable camera—decent pictures for a decent price.

Canon PowerShot A580 ($150 , 8MP) - The No-Frills Camera
The Good: This camera takes pictures and it takes them well. Outdoor pictures came out bright and colorful, and turned out best when we were able to get a clear shot of the subject without background distractions. Manual options are comprehensive and show changes live, allowing you to see your alterations. The A580 took the clearest pictures of any of the cameras in dim light/flash free situations.
The Bad: It's bulky and unattractive. Pictures taken from a distance were out of focus and came out bad. The UI is cumbersome. Indoor, well-lit, no flash macro shots did not come out well (though maybe that's asking too much). It too runs on AAs, which I have avoided buying since 2002.
The Verdict: If you want the best pictures you can get in this price range, the A580 is a good choice. If you want to win the $150-and-under point-and-shoot beauty contest, you better keep shopping.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S750 ($150 , 7.2MP) - The Fiddler's Delight
The Good: Pictures on the S750 turned out bright and crisp. Outdoor shots looked good, and so did indoor macro shots. Plenty of manual options put you in control of the pictures you take.
The Bad: It helps to have some experience with digital cameras if you want to get the most out of the Cyber-shot. The auto mode is fine, but the manual options are the stars of the show. The scene modes are few and located on the camera dial itself, not a menu, adding some awkwardness. Low light shots were blurry. It uses Sony's proprietary Memory Stick, and not SD, a big no-no in my book.
The Verdict: The Cyber-shot is a very complete camera, it takes good pictures in different situations, has many options as well as a solid UI. I think it's worth learning all of the features on the camera; after all, this will be an investment, and it could improve my photo-taking skills.

GE A735 ($100, 7MP) - The Cheapest
The Good: The A735 is seriously cheap—$40 to $50 less than the rest—and holds its own when it comes to features. Manual mode is full of options. Bright light pictures had rich, deep colors.
The Bad: Most pictures didn't come out well and were very dark. Indoor and low-light situations were blurry and unfocused. The UI is a mess, way too many options and not easy to figure out. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't want no stinking AA batteries!
The Verdict: If you're super-broke, wait until you save up some more and get something nicer than this. It will take pictures, but you won't be happy with most of them.

The Final Word: Point-and-shoots in this price range will never be masterful at taking great pictures. However, if you don't have the money or desire to make the DSLR investment, or even spring for the next step up, you don't have to be stuck with junky pictures or a junky camera. There are different things I liked about each one I tested, especially the screen on the Nikon and the picture quality of the Canon. But for the best all around package, I'd spend my hard-earned $150 on the Cyber-shot DSC-S750.

written by iPhone Fan

This is HTC's first big TV ad in the US. Rather than focus on their devices individually, HTC's going for a general "brand" awareness. Seeing as how they've previously marketed their phones under the four big providers' own names (AT&T TilT, T-Mobile MDA, Verizon 6700), it's a smart step in breaking away from their control. This particular ad, one of a few that will hit print and online outlets, is underwhelming. It wants compare the HTC Touch with the iPhone (implicitly), but if you've read any of the many reviews of the device, you'll see that it's nowhere near as usable. If we were HTC, we'd focus more on their slide-out QWERTY devices that are like Sidekicks, but for businessmen.

written by iPhone Fan

There's a gem of a story in Leander Kahney's new book, Inside Steve's Brain, about the biggest OS X mistake Apple never made: The original plan UI was to take the old crusty crap interface from OS 8* and drop it on top of the core. Thankfully Steve Jobs called the entire UI team a "bunch of idiots" and they used the beautiful tech demo mockups as the basis for what you see on leopard's OS today. Close call, eh?

After buying NeXT, Apple had to figure out how to turn NeXT-step into a Macintosh operating system. At first, the job looked so big that Apple's programmers decided they should take the old interface in Mac OS 8 and try to graft it on top of the NeXT-step codebase..."We assigned one designer to OS X," he recalled. "His job was pretty boring: make the new stuff look like the old stuff."

But Razlaff thought it was a shame to put an ugly facade on such an elegant system, and soon, had designers creating mockups of new interface designs...to show off advanced technologies under NeXTstep's hood.

Jobs called Razlaff into a meeting before ever seeing the prototypes, immediately called them "a bunch of idiots" and complained about the old Mac interface.

One of the things he hated most were all the different mechanisms for opening windows and folders. There were at least eight different ways...

The meeting ended with Jobs and Razlaff, now a creative at Frog Design, figuring out how to fix the UI issues, and Jobs asked for the mockups to be made into prototypes. Three weeks later Jobs dropped a compliment on the man.

This is the first evidence of three-digit intelligence at Apple I've seen yet.

And this was just the start. And over the next few weeks, Jobs and Ratzlaff's team would meet once a week where the CEO would pore over mockups and code based executions, pixel by pixel, until the UI was done.

I got through a copy of Leander's book this weekend, and to my delight it was very fact, quote and anecdote dense, not only relying on many previous interviews but lots of original reporting, as well. I mean, yea, it's a book, not a blog post. There are people at Portfolio complaining that Jobs didn't participate in the book, but anyone who knows anything about Jobs knows that he does not typically comment on these projects.

The book is pretty good at highlighting the evidence of his genius, chalking up the control-freakiness that he has a rep for as a strategy. (As a comparison, his Pixar is relatively open with news.) But I would have liked a little more discussion here about one or two things. Like Apple TV's lack of support for DivX, while Jobs is lauded for being open to new business models even if they threaten old ones, for example.

Inside Steve's Brain is meant to be a look at The Steve's business practices, and so chapters are organized as such, with Lessons from Steve summaries at the end of each. But Apple nerds looking for more details on the company itself will find plenty new here. Previous Apple history books like iCon are detailed, but only go up to a certain point in time. Leander's book adds new stories like the one above from the past, and bring the company's backstory up to about the time where the iPhone launched plus the SDK and bricking debacles.

And even though it's meant for business nerds, who is to say that we all couldn't use a little bit more evil/genius in the way we work and live. I mean, I call everyone here on staff a friggin idiot every day, and it seems to be working ok. CHEN WHERE ARE MY TPS REPORTS!? And of course, there are dozens of new interesting stories in the book like the one above. [Inside Steve's Brain]

*OS 9 was released as a stop gap.

written by iPhone Fan

There's a gem of a story—one of many—in Leander Kahney's new book, Inside Steve's Brain, about the biggest OS X mistake Apple never made: The original plan UI was to take the old crusty crap interface from Mac OS Classic and drop it on top of the core. Thankfully Steve Jobs called the entire UI team a "bunch of idiots" and they used the beautiful tech demo mockups as the basis for what you see on leopard's OS today. Close call, eh?

After buying NeXT, Apple had to figure out how to turn NeXT-step into a Macintosh operating system. At first, the job looked so big that Apple's programmers decided they should take the old interface in Mac OS 8 and try to graft it on top of the NeXT-step codebase..."We assigned one designer to OS X," he recalled. "His job was pretty boring: make the new stuff look like the old stuff."

But Razlaff thought it was a shame to put an ugly facade on such an elegant system, and soon, had designers creating mockups of new interface designs...to show off advanced technologies under NeXTstep's hood.

Jobs called Razlaff into a meeting before ever seeing the prototypes, immediately called them "a bunch of idiots" and complained about the old Mac interface.

One of the things he hated most were all the different mechanisms for opening windows and folders. There were at least eight different ways...

The meeting ended with Jobs and Razlaff, now a creative at Frog Design, figuring out how to fix the UI issues, and Jobs asked for the mockups to be made into prototypes. Three weeks later Jobs dropped a compliment on the man.

This is the first evidence of three-digit intelligence at Apple I've seen yet.

And this was just the start. And over the next few weeks, Jobs and Ratzlaff's team would meet once a week where the CEO would pore over mockups and code based executions, pixel by pixel, until the UI was done.

I got through a copy of Leander's book this weekend, and to my delight it was very fact, quote and anecdote dense, not only relying on many previous interviews but lots of original reporting, as well. (Like the story above.) There are people at Portfolio complaining that Jobs didn't participate in the book, but anyone who knows anything about Jobs knows that he does not typically comment on these projects. What you'll find is some crossover with previous historical treatments by other authors, but put together in a unique way. Leander's does not dote on the history or sequence because it is organized by, well, mannerisms of Steve's Brain, dissecting how the man thinks between many anecdotes like the one above.

The book is pretty good at highlighting the evidence of his genius, chalking up the control-freakiness that he has a rep for as a strategy. (As a comparison, his Pixar is relatively open with news.) But I would have liked a little more discussion here about one or two things. Like Apple TV's lack of support for DivX, while Jobs is lauded for being open to new business models even if they threaten old ones, for example. But this is a minor point — the book covers a lot of ground and does it over a nice stretch; to about the time where the iPhone launched plus the SDK and bricking debacles.

And even though it's meant for business nerds, who is to say that we all couldn't use a little bit more evil/genius? One could use this as a guide to pretending to be Jobs, at work, at home, and in bed I mean at work. I call everyone here on staff a friggin idiot every day, and it seems to be working ok. CHEN WHERE ARE MY TPS REPORTS!? And of course, there are dozens of new interesting stories in the book like the one above. [Inside Steve's Brain]

P.S. Leander adds "please buy my book." I told him I'd just photo copy the whole thing and mail it by US Postal to whoever wants a copy and send him the bill for the stamps. That might take awhile, so if you want, pick up a copy before then.

P.P.S. BoingBoing's Rob B. did this funny treatment of the book. You'll have to see it for yourself.

written by iPhone Fan

Filed under: Cellphones

We've been avoiding the 3G iPhone rumor mongering as much as possible recently. After all, we know it's coming as both AT&T and Apple have confirmed. Now this: one of Italy's most respected newspapers, La Repubblica (like the WSJ with red sauce), is claiming in no uncertain terms that the 3G UMTS iPhone is coming shortly to Telecom Italia without a revenue sharing deal and without long-term exclusivity. If true, this change in strategy could mean a true global 3G iPhone launch on GSM networks around the world come summer time.

We contacted Telecom Italia who refuse to comment on the matter.

[Thanks, jimbojambo and Claudio]

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written by iPhone Fan

Yetro is something so unfashionable it has yet to be retro—and probably will never be. Example: my RAZR. I've had it for almost three years now. I hate it. Actually, hate is too strong a word. I pity it. My mobile phone with its nauseous blue-painted interface, its ability to change ring tone to the Motorola theme whenever it feels like it, and its battery, which now gives me about five minutes' talk time before it bleeps like a demented synthetic chicken. In the video above, Jesus and I "reenact" a more joyful time, its original unboxing three long years ago. Today, I'm thinking I should bite the bullet and retire the old boiler. Is the utter demise of the RAZR finally nigh at hand?

In nine years, I've gone through five mobiles. A Nokia brick my dad gave me (left in the back of a taxi), an Ericsson flip T28 (the flip eventually flopped), an Ericsson T68 (honestly, the best phone ever, lasted three years), a cheapo, tiny Panasonic I picked up at Dubai airport for 50 bucks, and the RAZR.

Perhaps its because, as phones have become more sophisticated, they have become more fallible. The RAZR promised so much—and I'm not talking about bumping into Beckham at the supermarket checkout here—and failed to deliver.

As my first cameraphone, it made pictures that looked like something I drew on Etch-a-Sketch a couple of decades ago, but I can live with that. What I can't live with is the sluggy interface. Or the buttons that don't work, with their eerie backlight that just shows up all the hideous detritus that my phone has picked up from being chucked into the black hole-esque dustbin that is my bag. Or the seemingly random volume control. I can't see a thing on the screen when the sun is shining. And I have room for just 13 incoming SMS messages at any one time before I have to start deleting them.

So, let's talk about the good times with my RAZR. *tumbleweed blows across the page* I was pissed off the day I bought it because the shop didn't even have the black one I wanted. I'd liked the look of that when it came out, but by the time my Panasonic gave up the ghost, all that was available was silver. Why did I go through with it? It was small enough to fit into my pockets without making me look like a ladyboy, and I'd heard good things about Motorola from other friends. They're not my friends any more.

I asked myself what I liked about it, and there was one thing: the wallpaper is a picture of Jesus taken the day after he asked me to marry him, and I'll be sad to see that go. But the quality is so shite—honestly, I'd have got better results from a pinhole camera—I know that it won't travel. Plus, for some reason, I can't send photos via SMS.

I can't even lose it, like older more beloved phones. I left the RAZR in a club a couple of months ago, and I'd made it halfway down the block when some guy came running up behind me. "You left this on the bar," he wheezed. (Everyone in Spain smokes, and I'm a fast walker.) As he palmed the RAZR back into my hand, I could swear there was a look of pity on his face.

In truth, this isn't about the RAZR, but what comes after. I bleeding know it's time for a new phone, but which? No prizes for guessing which one Jesus wants me to get. But even when the 3G model of the iPhone eventually deigns to park its arse at an Apple Store near me, I am still digging my heels in over certain issues—internal memory too small, eminently crackable screen for my klutziness, a rather larger size than a closed RAZR, etc etc. I also know that the largest-capacity 3G iPhone would be molto 'spensivo, and I don't know whether I really want to spunk that much on a phone. Pathetic, isn't it?

So here I am, willing but unable to put the RAZR out of its misery. Until it breathes its last, when the ringtone that sounds like J-Lo bellydancing sputters to a halt, as the little screen with the M logo fades to gray, when the buttons lie dull and unresponsive beneath my desperate fingers, that will be the time to replace it. Got any recommendations?

written by iPhone Fan

We've covered a handful of new and modded Lasonic gear here at Giz, but I finally got up close with their fabled i931 iPod Ghetto Blaster. If you're unfamiliar, Lasonic made some classic boomboxes during the 80s, and now they've updated their TRC-931 boombox with a built-in iPod dock, SD card reader and USB port. The picture and description pretty much sum up what makes this $170 retro wonder so amazing, but I have a laundry list of reasons why the i931 boombox is one of my favorite gadgets I've ever laid hands on.

The main appeal of the i931 is it's nostalgia factor, hands down. If you have any sort of infatuation with the 1988, boom-bap era of hip-hop, you can't help but be in love with this thing. And after I spent a few hours with the i931, I was ready to march down to the nearest 7-Eleven, boombox in hand, and yell at the guy behind the counter for D batteries (This boombox takes TEN D batteries, but there's also a power cord, so fear not). The i931 also stays true to the historical design of Lasonic boomboxes. The speaker grates, the cheesy color graphics, the volume knob and power button, all taken from Lasonic designs of the past. The iPod dock even pops open like a tape player and you insert your iPod like a cassette. Awesome.

The iPod function works about as well as you could expect; the menu system is semi-complicated to learn, but functions efficiently with the external button interface, and the window in the dock face makes the screen clearly visible. The i931 is compatible with any iPod up though the 5.5g model iPod and the 1g and 2g iPod Nanos. I assume its also compatible with the iPod Classic and 3g Nano, but I wasn't able to test that, so I cant confirm. There is also an AV out in the back if you want to route video playback to your TV.

On the technical side of things, the i931 has an AM/FM tuner (w/telescoping antenna), 3.5mm stereo auxiliary input, USB input and an SD card reader for direct MP3 playback. It has a glowing spectrum analyzer and a 1/4" headphone jack. The two 15w speakers are powerful and clear, with no distortion until level 35 of a 40 point volume scale (with the bass turned up).This is all controlled by 10 buttons on the right, with the standard array of play/pause, stop, track up/down, random, repeat and function buttons. It also has a folder button for browsing file structures.

There are, however, a few issues I have with the i931. The most glaring problem is the lack of support for the iPod touch and iPhone. They don't close into the iPod dock, and they can't be controlled by the button interface. And the plastic on the door of the dock means you can't get to the touch screen. There are other minor issues like the omittance of the physical EQ sliders (pure nostalgia), which are replaced by presets and bass/treble controls. The AM/FM tuner graphic doesn't actually do anything, and the former tape deck buttons have been replaced with generic graphics that don't do anything. Also odd, is that the i931 will occasionally and randomly shut off during playback. Not enough to be an annoyance, but enough to notice.

That said, the i931 gets a big, fat Giz stamp of approval. The '88-'94 golden era of hip-hop occupies a special place in my heart, and the boombox was one of it's universal symbols. This isn't the most technically advanced or well-built audio gadget around, but that's not what this is about. The i931 gives a nod to the past with it's head in the future, exuding charisma along the way. At $170, you get a that sounds good, and it doesn't break the bank if you buy it just as a novelty item. Personally, this will be one of my favorite gadgets I ever play with. [Lasonic on Giz]

This review is dedicated to Radio Raheem, who was killed on the fictional streets of Brooklyn by the fictional N.Y.P.D.

Video by Chris Mascari

written by iPhone Fan

If you were hoping Motorola's 2008 cellphone lineup was going to turn around their "slump", we've got good news and bad news for you. The bad news is most of their phones are pretty much retreads of old devices, and there aren't any great new form factors—not even an iPhone clone—to speak of. The good news is that the upcoming ZN5 actually does look halfway decent with its 5-megapixel camera, Xenon flash, 2.4-inch display, 500MHz Freescale processor and Montavista Linux. It's somewhat sad when the best of your lineup is a Linux phone, but we weren't really expecting much from Motorola at this point anyway. [IT168 via JAMPB via Uber Phones]

written by iPhone Fan

Evolution Robotics ViPR visual search technology is coming to the iPhone this June. ViPR allows to take a photo of any movie, CD or book, send it to a server, and automagically get an email back loaded with information and links pointing to YouTube videos or iTunes Music Store links. It will also be deployed in Japan on KDDI's au camera phones this Spring. As you will see in the iPhone demo after the jump, it works incredibly well, even when the object is partially occluded:

It seems like the perfect software for the laziest people in the world, but it's one of those "oh wow" things that will make everyone smile when using it.

Breakthrough Visual Search Engine for Mobile Phones Takes Off Big in Japan

Pasadena, CA & Tokyo, Japan - April 17, 2008 - Evolution Robotics Inc., a leading robotics technology company, in partnership with Bandai Networks Co. Ltd, Japan's leading mobile content provider, announced today that KDDI Corporation is including the "ER Search" visual search engine on its new Spring 2008 "au™" line of camera phones, and has made it available for download for any KDDI customer with a prior "au" camera phone. This launch marks a dramatic expansion in the market for mobile visual search, which will enable millions of consumers in Japan alone to do online searches by taking pictures of everyday objects with their camera phone.

The deployment of this technology in the mass market also opens up an entirely new range of categories of services for mobile marketing, which is already projected to grow to $24 Billion worldwide by 2013. (Source: ABI Research)

ER Search is a mobile search engine operated by Bandai Networks and powered by Evolution Robotics' ViPR visual pattern recognition system. It works essentially like using a traditional search engine, but without having to type any text or go through complicated menus. Instead, users simply snap a picture of something they're interested in and immediately get back relevant content, all in the palm of the hands.

As an example, KDDI customers will be able to take a picture of a music CD that would return links relating to the artist, hear clips from the album and purchase songs to download on their phone. If they are shopping for wine in a store, they can take a picture of the wine label and get expert reviews and recommendations on the spot. Or, if they are browsing through a catalog and see an item they'd like to buy, they can order it immediately by snapping a picture of the item on the page.

"ER Search is an entirely new way for connecting consumers with content and companies," said Satoshi Oshita, CEO of Bandai Networks. "Because ER Search runs on mobile phones, searches happen when and where the customer is, as soon as they see something that they're interested in. Additionally, the fact that a customer simply has to click a picture of a product or advertisement, makes the search process far easier and immediate than anything that has been available before."

"We are very pleased to be working with Bandai Networks and are excited to see the momentum building in the Japanese market," said Paolo Pirjanian, President and CEO of Evolution Robotics. "Our mission is to take aerospace-grade technologies and make them affordable for mass market applications, and ER Search is a great example. We see this as just the start of a growing market for visual search in Asia and other parts of the globe and are actively working with our partners to expand the range of services that can benefit consumers and companies alike."

Bandai Networks had already deployed ER Search on over one million phones in Japan in 2007. With this deployment with KDDI, the number of users with access to ER Search will expand by millions more in a very short time, making it even more compelling for companies and advertisers to participate in the service.

About ViPR

The ViPR technology easily supports user-generated content so that users can take new pictures of objects, images, videos or even locations and tag them with links and content to expand the database. That content will then show up in the results returned to other users who take similar pictures, thus creating a robust world-wide visual database for communities to develop and access. (A video demonstration of Evolution Robotics' visual search technology running on Apple's iPhone can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/user/EvolutionRobotics)

ER Search's versatility rests in Evolution Robotics' breakthrough ViPR visual recognition technology. ViPR is able to learn new objects and images on the fly (such as the cover art on a music CD), without the need for any special encoding such as barcodes or watermarks. Just as significant, ViPR performs well on low cost components such as the cameras used on most mobile phones today, even when lighting and other visual conditions are poor.

For the music search application alone, Bandai Networks has over 150,000 music CD covers already indexed in their database. Other mobile marketing and mobile commerce applications include providing content and links for print ads, book covers, DVDs, product packaging, movie posters, retail displays, business signs, etc. Even animation, streaming video or images from live TV can be supported.

[Evolution via Mobile Whack]

written by iPhone Fan