4 posts tagged “accelerometer”
Haier HLT10
Portable Digital TV
Link: Haier America
The Haier HLT10 is a 10-inch LCD portable TV with a digital tuner, supporting NTSC and ATSC. 16:9 aspect ratio, maximum resolution 800 x 480, about 10" x 7.5" x 1.3", 2 lbs in weight, with built-in speakers, composite and and coaxial inputs.
Lighters' Encores
Leo remarks that these days when the audience want an encore in a concert, instead of holding up their lighters, they hold up their cellphones. Gone are the Zippo and Ronson lighters, although the companies are still around. Zippo even makes a Virtual Zippo Lighter app on the iPhone, as Leo demonstrates.
Leica Distos Abound
John Boline, from Elgin, Illinois, is a land surveyor and uses the Leica Disto (Episode 880) all the time, and assures Dick and Leo that many a surveyor or contractor owns one or more of the Leica Distos.
Listen to Episode 889
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Find DGW Info on GizWizSearch
T-Mobile G1
Smartphone
Link: T-Mobile G1
It has bluetooth, wifi, GPS (though not turn-by-turn), 512 MB built-in memory, although it has an microSD card slot and comes with a 1GB card; a back-lit qwerty keyboard (which is revealed by sliding out the screen) and a replaceable battery; a 3.2MP camera, but like the iPhone, it does not shoot video, and like the iPhone it does not support Flash on the internet. Unlike the iPhone, it supports voice dialling and "cut and paste".
Physically, it weighs just under 6 ounces. At the bottom is a panel of buttons: a big Menu button, underneath which at the centre is a trackball (for navigation and as a select button). To the left of the trackball are the "Call/Send" button and the "Home" button; to the right of the trackball are the "Back" and "Hangup/Power" buttons.
On the left hand side of the phone is a Volume toggle, and on the right hand side the camera button. For the earphones, unfortunately it's a microUSB connection and you'll need an adapter for your 3.5mm jack earphones.
The display is 3.2 inches at 480 x 320 resolution, with a capacitive touch-screen. It does not support multi-touch, but does support long presses (through which you get a context menu including "cut and paste"). It has an accelerometer and is supposed to adjust itself to Portrait/Landscape mode, at least when the qwerty keyboard is open.
Since Android is open-source, many applications are expected to come out supporting the platform, and will not be filtered as in the case of the iPhone. You can access the apps from the Android "Market", and Google will tell you in relation to each app what types of access the app may have on the phone - such as communications, your location and your personal information.
The phone comes with the standard Google apps, such as Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, and like the iPhone, offers a mobile version of YouTube. If you don't use Gmail, there is another mail application. Unfortunately, this other mail app cannot open attachments (which Gmail can by HTML conversion), nor save them. The IM app supports major instant messengers such as AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo and of course Google Talk. Like Google's desktop browser the Chrome, the Android browser is WebKit-based. Another app that comes with the phone is AmazonMP3, with access to Amazon's DRM-free mp3 downloads - which only works with Wifi, and not 3G or Edge. The phone also has its own music player software.
At the moment, the phone is available in T-Mobile stores only in cities which has T-Mobile's 3G coverage.
Favourite Episodes
In Episode 679, Dick and Leo were asked if they had a list of their 20 favourite/funniest episodes. Ludwik Trammer of gizwizsearch can answer for them. Search queries on his site show which episodes are most frequently accessed - 182 Titanium Spork, 465 Electron Echo Piano, 462 MP4 Watch, and of course 282 Toothpick Bird.
Ludwik also tells us that the accumulative length of all the DGW shows now exceeds 7 days.
One More Thing
Ludwik is going to introduce a new feature on his site. In fact it is already operational. Just go to his site and see if you can spot the difference. Otherwise, just wait for an announcement through Dick and Leo in tomorrow's recording session, or in next week's episodes.
Video Podcasts To Wait
The last time Leo talked about video podcasts (with hopes of getting DGW on video) was Episode 671. Unfortunately, with the economic downturn, Leo has decided to be a little more prudent, and maybe putting that on hold, although he may still put out a weekly "best of" video podcast.
Second Longest Episode
At 31:03, today's show is the second longest episode, just 12 seconds short of Episode 634, the Lexmark X9575 Professional.
Listen to Episode 686
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
iPhone 3G
Smartphone
Link: Apple
Leo talks about some of the new apps, including the iPhone app from Omnifocus, the Enigmo game, Aqua Forest, location-based Loopt, a New York Times app, Pandora, and AOL Radio.
But still no voice dialing, and no cut and paste.
TWiTLive Viewership
Since Leo's coverage of the iPhone 3G launch, viewership of TWiTLive has gone up about 30%.
DGW in Order
Opher Banarie finally figures out how to listen to his DGW in the correct order (earliest first) on his new iPod (see Episode 609). From the Main Menu, select Podcasts, scroll to DGW, and just press the centre button. Other listeners have also written in with the same tip, including Sue Watkins and Jacob.
Listen to Episode 617
Go to TWiT
The Giz Wiz Home Page
Sanyo Xacti HD1A
HD Flash Card Camcorder
Link: Sanyo
The Sanyo Xacti HD1A records HD 1280 x 720 pixels, 30fps video (16:9 wide aspect ratio) in MPEG-4 on to SDHC cards, 5 MP stills. It fits on to the palm of your hand, has a 2.2" OLED screen, and weighs only 210g. Leo thinks that these flash drive camcorders are finally ready for the big time. The quality of the highly compressed video is very acceptable. It comes with a dock (which you use for charging the camcorder as well) and a USB cable and you can just copy off the video files on to your computer.
Sheisters!
A listener thinks that since doing the commercials, Dick and Leo have sounded like sheisters. Leo's reaction: "You mean we weren't?"
Feathering the Mad Minutes
Leo has figured a way to turn down the perceived sound level of Mad Minutes. He corresponded with a sound engineer. It's all heavily compressed in the mid-range, so he'll try expanding it, and a little EQ, a little feathering. Leo promises the Mad Minute this time will be a beaut. So it may be, but it's nowhere to be found on the podcast!
