• On The Insider: Michael Jackson Tops Yahoo Search

Crave

December 4, 2009 5:00 AM PST

When an iPhone and a dSLR lens meet

by Leonard Goh
  • Post a comment
Share

iPhone dSLR (Credit: Bhautik Joshi)

The iPhone 3GS has a 3.2-megapixel fixed-lens camera and that seems to satisfy most users, but not Bhautik Joshi. The engineer with ILM Research took apart his Apple handset and retrofitted it with a couple of optical drive lenses, then stuck a few PVC pipes to accommodate his 18-55mm Canon glass.

Personally, I think this this hack is way overdone. I'm pretty sure your modded iPhone won't fit in your pocket anymore and stability will be a major issue. Also, pictures taken with the modified lens actually look worse than before it was tweaked. But if you're brave (or free) enough to try out this time-consuming hack, here's the link for the instructions.

iPhone dSLR photos

The photo taken with the modified version is on the right.

(Credit: Bhautik Joshi)

(Source: Crave Asia via Gizmodo)

December 4, 2009 4:00 AM PST

Crave giveaway of the day: Motorola Cliq

by John P. Falcone
  • 437 comments
Share

Motorola Cliq (Credit: Motorola)

For this weekend, the Crave Giveaway is the Motorola Cliq. It's one of T-Mobile's latest and greatest Android phones, and it scored a four-star rating from Kent German, who noted its "great design," "brilliant display," and "easy-to-use controls and keyboard." Its MotoBlur interface is optimized for fans of social networking and media sites including Facebook, Picasa, MySpace, Twitter, and Photobucket.

Normally, the Motorola Cliq would cost you $449 (with a service plan from T-Mobile, that price drops to $199). But you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this Motorola Cliq? (Note: no wireless service is included, and you'd need to sign up for a T-Mobile account to get service.) Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

  • Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
  • Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
  • Leave only one comment. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
  • The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive (1) Motorola Cliq (without wireless service). Approximate retail value is $449.00.
  • If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
  • Entries can be submitted until Monday, December 7 at 6:59 am EST.
And here's the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules):

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 6:59:59 AM ET on December 7, 2009. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

December 3, 2009 9:01 PM PST

Hardware for Gmail: The 'Gboard' keyboard

by Josh Lowensohn
  • 14 comments
Share

Gmail has long had keyboard shortcuts, though learning them can be difficult. Enter the Gboard, a specialized mini-keyboard for Google's e-mail service. It debuts this Friday at an asking price of $19.99.

The Gboard consists of 19 colored keys set in a standard size numpad-only keyboard. Clicking on any one of these performs that particular keyboard shortcut. Included are Gmail-specific features such as starring messages, starting a search, and jumping between message threads. Outside of Gmail they simply act as normal keyboard buttons, and will type in whatever letter or number corresponds with that shortcut.

The device is powered by USB and requires no special software or drivers, however users need to first enable keyboard shortcuts within Gmail's settings before using it. Also worth noting is that it was created not by Google, but by Charlie Mason, a film producer from Venice, Calif. This is his first foray into the computer hardware business.


The Gboard consists of 19 keys, all of which act as shortcuts within Google's Gmail Web mail service.

(Credit: James Martin / CNET)

This really is a product that users will either love or hate. Those who have mastered Gmail's shortcuts will see little need to buy special hardware and find a spare USB port to plug it into. Meanwhile, newbie users may be unwilling to take the plunge on such a specific peripheral for a program that works only within another program (the browser). The Gboard runs the risk of being an unappealing prospect to both parties.

It's also not the first attempt at easing the process of learning and remembering shortcuts. This time last year Google offered users a free pack of color-coded shortcut stickers that could be tacked onto any keyboard. There have also long been specialized keyboards for video and audio editing as well as graphical design--all of which provide similar, color-coded keys. Users who don't want to commit, or tack stickers on their keyboard, also have the option of buying a silicone keyboard mat, though no such thing has been created for Gmail.

Considering there are a total of 69 Gmail shortcuts (with more on the way if Google graduates some of its experimental features from its labs section) the Gboard could just be the first step toward creating a full-size (100 plus key) version. In the meantime, its early December release and low price tag make for a good stocking stuffer if you've got a Gmail lover in your family.

The good:
• No setup required
• Color coding is logical and makes it easy to learn the keys
• Good build quality and feel; keys are flat like on a laptop
• At $19.99 it's not that expensive. Most numeric-only keyboards cost about the same.

The bad:
• Does not come close to including all of Gmail's shortcuts
• Could be rendered less useful if Gmail's shortcuts change
• Only comes in one color (black)

Originally posted at Web Crawler
December 3, 2009 5:35 PM PST

Android 2.0.1 for Droid users coming soon

by Nicole Lee
  • 3 comments
Share
Motorola Droid

Motorola Droid

(Credit: CNET)

Verizon just informed us that Google released an SDK for Android 2.0.1 Thursday, which means those who have a Motorola Droid can expect a free over-the-air upgrade to their phone in the "coming weeks."

Some updates include an improvement to the camera's auto-focus and the phone's voice reception. There's still no news on the exact dates the new firmware will be rolled out, but we look forward to it all the same.

Originally posted at Dialed In
December 3, 2009 5:25 PM PST

RIM, Monocle team for $1,500 BlackBerry

by Andrew Nusca
  • Post a comment
Share
Monocle BlackBerry Bold 9700

The limited-edition smartphone comes in a wine finish, and sports a custom leather strap and a branded Monocle "M" logo on the back.

(Credit: Monocle)

Research In Motion and $10-per-issue jet-set business editorial magazine Monocle have collaborated on a BlackBerry Bold 9700 that costs an astounding $1,500.

Well, it actually costs 950 British pounds, but that's just how bad the exchange rate is right now.

Read more of "RIM, Monocle collaborate on $1,500 BlackBerry Bold 9700" at ZDNet's The ToyBox.

December 3, 2009 5:08 PM PST

Real Deal Podcast 189: Road Test

by Tom Merritt
  • 1 comment
Share

Tom and Rafe talk about the gadgets they've been using like Windows Home Server, a Canon printer and the PS3 as a Blu-ray player.

Listen now: Download today's podcast



Subscribe with iTunes (audio)
Subscribe with iTunes (video)
Subscribe with RSS (audio)
Subscribe with RSS (video)

... Read more
Originally posted at The Real Deal Podcast
December 3, 2009 4:44 PM PST

Gadgettes Podcast 164: The Kill Me - Holiday Gift Episode

by Jason Howell
  • Post a comment
Share

We spend most of today's show covering holiday gifts you won't want to stuff in the stocking of someone you care about... and a few that you might.

Listen now: Download today's podcast



Subscribe with iTunes (audio)
Subscribe with iTunes (video)
Subscribe with RSS (audio)
Subscribe with RSS (video)

EPISODE 164

ThinkGeek 8-bit tie

Necktie for music-loving commuters

Blacksocks — the Sockscription ™

The Cushy Tushy

Passive aggressive gifts for tardy geeks

The H1N1 Destroying UV Wand

My DNA Fragrance lets you smell like a celebrity

... Read more
Originally posted at Gadgettes, the blog
December 3, 2009 4:19 PM PST

New Droid ad: iPhone is 'digitally clueless'

by Chris Matyszczyk
  • 74 comments
Share

Perhaps you have already become used to Verizon's Droid tossing names at the iPhone like an 8-year-old boy behind his teacher's back.

However, the latest ill feelings directed at Apple's little cutey seem beyond even anything heard in an elementary school.

In a new TV spot, Droid asks an important question: "Should a phone be pretty?" To which many sane people would say "yes," and many emotionally challenged beings made of metal would say, "Huh? What?"

Its answer--the latest in its presentation of the Droid as a robotphone--is to hurl metallic-tasting custard pies as if the Apple store was a state fair.

"Should it be a tiara-wearing digitally clueless beauty pageant queen?" belches the ad's rhetoric, clearly referencing the iPhone, while wrapping the pie in a question.

I know many Socratically-inclined Apple fanpersons will object to the notion that beauty is only skin deep. But they will surely rail against the mere suggestion that the iPhone is digitally clueless.

Of course, this ad implicitly suggests that the Droid is, well, one of Cinderella's sisters, which might well affect its abilities to entice certain sectors of the populace.

Actually, the suggestion is more than implicit, for the deeply hirsute voice declares: "Is it a precious porcelain figurine of a phone? In truth, no."

So do you wait for a design that is pretty and is, as this ad so elegantly puts it, "racehorse duct-taped to a Scud missile fast" or do you have to compromise?

I know they say you can't have everything in life, but surely there must be some very attractive engineer out there who can give us everything in a few square inches of cell phone.

Originally posted at Technically Incorrect
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
December 3, 2009 4:11 PM PST

Giving voice to a new artificial larynx

by Leslie Katz
  • Post a comment
Share

A new type of artificial larynx could mean better-sounding speech for those who've had their larynx removed due to laryngeal cancer or other ailments.

Researchers hope the SmartPalate can work for those without a larynx. The space-time graph pictured below the device corresponds to the tongue-palate contact pattern for the word "been."

(Credit: Jaren Wilke/Megan Russell/University of the Witwatersrand )

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have come up with a system that tracks mouth movements to determine what word is being formed and then uses a speech synthesizer to audibly produce the correct word.

"All of the currently available devices produce such bad sound--it either sounds robotic or has a gruff speaking voice," Megan Russell, a Ph.D. candidate at the university, told Technology Review. "We felt the tech was there for an artificial synthesized voice solution."

Russell and her colleagues created the software for the system, which is being shown off this week at the International Conference on Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Engineering in Singapore. For their research, the team is training a retainer-like mouthpiece already utilized in speech therapy to recognize words mouthed by people without a larynx.

The mouthpiece, called a SmartPalate, is made by Utah-based company Complete Speech. It uses 118 embedded sensors to track tongue-to-palate and lip closure contacts.

A microprocessor input/output device worn around the user's neck or placed on the desktop connects the SmartPalate to a personal computer, and software produces real-time, onscreen visual feedback that shows those with speech impediments how to reposition their tongues.

The system being developed in South Africa, according to Technology Review, would translate mouth movements into words to be reproduced on a small sound synthesizer that could be kept in a pocket.

Russell has trained her software to recognize 50 common English words by saying each one multiple times with the SmartPalate in her mouth. The information picked up by the sensors can be represented on a graph and put into a database, and each time the wearer configures his or her mouth to form a word, the contact patterns are compared against the data to identify the right word.

Russell says the system identifies correct words 94.14 percent of the time, although this doesn't include words that the system classifies as "unknown" and chooses to skip.

December 3, 2009 3:45 PM PST

Sprint to phase out QChat

by Nicole Lee
  • Post a comment
Share

Sanyo Pro-700

(Credit: Sanyo)

It was back in April 2008 that we saw Sprint Nextel come out with a bevy of new QChat phones like the Sanyo Pro-700 and the LG LX400, which were designed to offer push-to-talk interoperability between CDMA and iDEN networks.

Now, however, it seems that Sprint is doing away with its QChat offerings altogether, in favor of just iDEN alone. This is quite a turn-around from the rumors last year that indicated the company was planning on doing away with iDEN altogether. Now it seems Sprint is keeping iDEN alive, which is good for Nextel, as well as Boost Mobile.

(Via Engadget Mobile)

Originally posted at Dialed In
advertisement

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

The yogurt makers of tech: Gadgets to avoid

Don't buy these one-trick ponies--unless you like gizmos that gather dust.

Google wants to unclog Net's DNS plumbing

The Net giant, ever eager for a faster Internet, debuts its Google Public DNS service. With it, Google could become even more central to the Net.


Most Discussed

Gadget Galleries

Gift guide for space jockeys

Looking for a perfect present for the space fiend in your life? Look no further.



Robolamps light up our life

Artist Robert Matysiak has come up with cute, quirky "Robolamps" made from plumbling supplies and colored lightbulbs.



Chumby gets leaner, cheaper

Take a closer look at the second generation of the small, Internet-connected widget host/Internet radio/alarm clock.



Modern Warfare 2 arrives

Game promises even more of the same thrilling storyline and captivating online multiplayer experience as its predecessor.



Nikes for the geek set

Humans have a nasty habit of producing garbage, but Gabriel Dishaw, a junk-metal genius, turns trash into artwork.



Courier's interface in-depth

A document published by Gizmodo explains Microsoft Courier's interface, gestures, and features more in-depth than ever before.



Nintendo DSi gets bigger

Nintendo has announced a supersize version of the DSi, the DSi XL (or LL in Japan).



Meet Barnes & Noble's Nook

Take a look at the new Nook, billed as the first Android-powered e-book reader.



Apple media player headset?

An Apple patent filing reveals designs for a wireless headset with integrated memory and music playback.



Apple's new 27-inch iMac

Apple updates its iMac line with larger, wide-screen displays, more powerful specs, and a few extras to sweeten the deal.



Snuggle up with a space quilt

Artist Jimmy McBride designs quilts with astronomy and sci-fi-movie themes. Perfect for the cold geek.



Peek at Nokia Booklet 3G

CNET checks out Nokia's Windows 7 Netbook at the CTIA Fall 2009 show.



USB drives from automakers

We've collected some of the wilder USB drive media kits we've received over the years.



From online ad to art

Illustrator Sophie Blackall has created whimsical drawings from online "Missed Connections" posts.



Curious robot contraptions

Artist Will Wagenaar scours yard sales and flea markets for discarded objects that he transforms into playful art.



IFA through the years

Historic photos from the German electronics show take us on a tour of tech trends.



Nissan GT-R can fight fires

What happens when you mix a fire engine with a 193 mph supercar co-designed by the makers of Gran Turismo?



Rubik's cubers compete

Puzzlers from around the world descend upon Stanford University for 18 mind-boggling events.



Kicking off game season

See Madden and other highly anticipated platform-agnostic games.



Eyeing Zune HD browser

Take a closer look at the mobile Web browser offered on Microsoft's Zune HD portable media player.



Twitter on your TV

The Twitter widget for Yahoo TV Widgets offers a well-designed, fully featured client that lets you post tweets from your TV.



Sony Walkman turns 30

CNET looks back at the last three decades of Sony Walkmans and the pop music that went with them.



Best 10 digital DJ rigs

CNET's Donald Bell rounds up his favorite digital DJ systems, including controllers and interfaces from Numark, Serato, Vestax, and Pioneer.



Saying hi to HTC's Hero

We take a close look at HTC's Hero, the company's third handset to sport the Google Android operating system.



iPhone 3G S and OS 3.0

CNET rounds up Apple's photos of the iPhone 3G S. Also, revisit iPhone OS 3.0 with screenshots from our iPhone 3G.



Giant Gundam after dark

Bandai has built a giant robot in Tokyo to mark the 30th anniversary of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" anime series.



Cracking open the Palm Pre

Tech Republic pries open the latest smartphone to create buzz and sees how it--and its insides--stack up against the iPhone.



Microsoft shakes up gaming

A recap of the motion-sensor system, games, and social-networking features Microsoft is bringing to the Xbox 360.



E3's wackiest moments

Getting ready to hit L.A. for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, we were inspired to peek back at photos taken at E3s past.



Meet the Amazon Kindle DX

Similar to the Kindle 2, the DX model's larger 9.7-inch screen is designed to better accommodate newspaper and magazine reading.



2011: The year of the electric car

Mass production of e-cars is coming faster than we would have thought. Nissan is out in front, but Mitsubishi and Ford aren't far behind.



Moto Labs' multitouch display

Updated sensing-screen concept uses--you guessed it--multitouch technology.



Part insect, part timepiece

Artist customizes real insect specimens with antique watch parts and other technological components.



All-in-one Nettops

Less expensive all-in-one desktop PCs with Atom processors are one of the few ways to buy Windows XP on a desktop these days.



Cracking open the Dell Adamo

TechRepublic disassembles the upscale, ultrathin laptop and even compares it with Apple's rival MacBook Air.



Give your iPhone a make-under

Embarrassed to be seen in public with your trendy iPhone? A zweiPhone sticker can make it look like an old clunker instead.



Raising CB2, the child robot

Japanese researchers are working on a bot that can mimic real kids' behavior to teach lessons about early development.



Yahoo Messenger for iPhone

Yahoo Messenger gets its own free app just for iPhones and iPod Touches. Take a look at the core features.



The inner life of gadgets

Artist Satre Stuelke uses a CT scan machine to offer a penetrating take on objects from the iPhone and iPod to a vacuum tube and a wind-up rabbit.



Controlling bots with thoughts

Honda has come up with a system that lets humans control a bot through thought alone. But don't start telepathing your Scooba yet.



Rube Goldberg showdown

Penn State held a contest for Rube Goldberg devices, which do a simple task in a complex way. The winner had a Super Mario theme.



Hands-on with the Dell Adamo

We've managed to get our hands on a preproduction version of one of the most buzzed-about new laptops of 2009.



iPhone 3.0 new features

Apple rolled out a host of new features with the iPhone OS 3.0. Check them out in our slideshow.



Step-by-step to geek chic

Former "Project Runway" contestant Diana Eng shares ideas for twinkling shoes, a music-filled hoodie, and more.



Fitness gadgets of the future

At health expo in San Francisco, "exergaming" makes a play, and a vibrating gadget moves your muscles for you.



Terrafugia's flying car flies

The Transition "roadable aircraft" makes its debut flight over upstate New York. It's still just a proof of concept, though, and another prototype is yet to come.



Inside Dell's design labs

The design staff has ballooned as the maker of PCs and servers aims to create a new look. Crave got a tour of two design labs at company headquarters.



Top five Swarovski disasters

Here's a look at the five crystal-clad abominations that have stood out most over the last few years. There are others, of course.



Favorite iPhone photo apps

Apple's App Store is loaded with really cool tools to make the most of the little camera that couldn't.



Windows Mobile 6.5 hands-on

We've just had a super-sneaky peak at the future of Windows Mobile--version 6.5--and got to demo the new operating system in all its glory.



Gadgets that broke our hearts

See which gadgets have broken Crave contributors' hearts--or at least made us question our undying love.



To Timbuktu, in a flying car

A bio-fueled flying vehicle called the Parajet Skycar is journeying from England to Mali via France, Spain, Morocco, and the Western Sahara.