Crave

The iPhone OS 3.0 Camera Roll is running out of film for some iPhone users. A handful of photographers on Apple's discussion board are reporting that pictures taken with the iPhone camera and screen captures are disappearing from the iPhone's onboard photo library.

The bug, according to these reports, occurs when the photo names generated by the iPhone reach IMG_10000.xxx or higher, where the xxx represents either a JPG for photos, PNG for screen snapshots, or MOV for videos. Once you've reached this 10,000 mark milestone in your iPhone photography career, the Mobile Photos app no longer displays additional media files. Luckily, however, the photos are still there--they simply don't display on the phone.

Some users found help using the Phoneview utility from Ecamm on their Macs--the free demo version worked long enough to uncover the missing photos. PC users may be able to find their shots via iPhone Browser.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Canon released a service note detailing a notable but infrequently and randomly occurring artifact in photos shot with certain PowerShot G10s: lines. If you've seen these and wondered at them, wonder no more, and contact Canon for your free repair. It turns out our evaluation unit fell into the relevant serial number range, but none of my test photos displayed this problem. Whew.

EPISODE 105

Clumsy, drunken DJs rejoice

iDrum--making beats on the iPhone and iPod Touch

Eton P’9120 Porsche Design Clock Radio looks fast while standing still

Rubik’s cube/subwoofer mashup from Elac

BLOCK ROCKER: portable PA system for iPod

Zune Bug MP3 nightlight lulls or excites, depending on your music library

Sony IP Music Player takes retro approach to touch-control interface

Orator Briefcase PA System lets politicians make speeches anytime, anywhere. Oh, great...

What the hell!?
The Ghetto Blaster Tote with working speakers

Kill me.
Contact lens jewelry for your eyeballs: Ouch!

Hello Kitty Watch (DJ edition!)
Hello Kitty won’t stop breeding

E-MAIL

Thanks, Azizul AND Shalin

Just make sure you grab the toy gun and shoot the designated target.

Shuttle's custom version of Foresight Linux on the new XP19 monitor.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News)

Attending LinuxWorld might be a first for us here at Crave. But I did want to head over to the expo, held at the Moscone Center here in San Francisco, to see Shuttle's latest mini desktop, the KPC K4800, live and in person.

Turns out there was more for us to see than we thought--bonus! Along with its just-released $299 mini desktop, Shuttle also had the $199 K4500 on display at the Foresight Linux booth. (Foresight actually created a custom OS just for Shuttle machines.) The KPC 4800 was hooked up to a new display Shuttle is offering.

Bug Labs' Bug Base gets a few updates.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News)

The Bug Base now has a Web browser.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News)

The XP19 Monitor is almost iMac-esque with it's picture-frame style support. But the similarities really end there, since it's silver, and of course, just a monitor.

Shuttle says the XP19 is 0.9 inches thick, has a 5-millisecond response time, a 9-millimeter border, and integrated speakers. Also, there will be a tablet version of the XP19 in late October or early November.

Bug Labs was also on hand, showing off a few new updates to its Bug Base gadget platform. The hardware is essentially the same, but the software interface for the Lego-like gadget prototyper has been improved. The device now runs Poky Linux--which is intended for small devices--and now has a Web browser and window environment. The software update, available in either late August or early September, will also support Wi-Fi. Also, we hear the MMCmicro card slot will be switched out in favor of microSD in the next version.

OLPC had a booth in the nonprofit ".org" section of the expo hall, but it was really just showing off the XO. No XOs with XP to be found, unfortunately. But still, there was a steady stream of conference attendees crowding around the tiny green-and-white machines.

Absent was the XO's rival, the Classmate PC from Intel. The chipmaker is currently working on the third-generation version of the low-cost laptop which runs both Linux and Windows XP. And though Intel had a fairly large booth at LinuxWorld, a woman manning it said she hadn't even heard of the Classmate.

A row of XOs at LinuxWorld 2008.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET News)

This August, you may be dodging something other than Frisbees at the beach or your boss at the office.

The Hexbug Crab has built-in light sensors that are programmed to run from light, just like a real crab does.

(Credit: HexBug/Innovation First)

Innovation First is releasing the Hexbug Crab, the latest in its line of Hexbug microrobotic toys that sell for about $9.99.

While the minirobot is geared toward kids, it's easy to see the Hexbug Crab gaining a place alongside office stress balls in cubicles across the country.

Like other Hexbugs, the Hexbug Crab can be left to roam around and respond to its environment. Think of it as a little pet that doesn't need to be fed.

"Feelers" on the crabs legs are actually robotic sensors that help it avoid obstacles. It responds to loud clapping or banging sounds by running away. The Hexbug Crab, however, is slightly more advanced than Hexbug's robotic bugs. This one will also have light sensors and be programmed to scurry to the darkest spot it can find, just like a real crab does.

The 75-employee Greenville, Texas-based company also seeks to promote robots in general. It maintains RobotEvents.com, a site that tracks news of educational robotic and technology projects for children and teens.

Looks fun, but you'll have to wait.

(Credit: Bug Labs)

Bug Labs is on to something.

We certainly thought so when we gave the Bug Labs platform a Best of CES award in the Emerging Technologies category. It turns out the "Lego of gadgets" had broad enough appeal to sell out of its first manufacturing run. Visitors to the Bug Labs online store are now greeted with a promise that the company will begin to fulfill orders "by the end of May." Fortunately, the lauded early adopter pricing remains in effect.

In an interview with Silicon Alley Insider, Bug Labs founder Peter Semmelhack noted that many of the device's first purchasers were hobbyists and tinkerers. But to his surprise about a third of the buyers were corporations looking for less-expensive alternatives to custom devices.

The Bug Labs platform starts with a minicomputer, the Bug Base, onto which you can snap multiple modules (the current line-up includes GPS, motion detector, camera, and an LCD screen). Thanks to the device's open-source software, skilled Java programmers can use the Bug to build their own dream gadget. Eventually the company hopes to offer a library of free programs so that even less technically inclined people can use the platform.

Sure, the iPhone and all those whiz-bang Nokia crowd-pleasers have users in their thrall, but that doesn't mean you should feel bad with the something else you've got. While searching for cool software for a Palm Treo 650, I discovered a productivity oldie that has yet to crumble into the dust of antiquity.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

For Palm, and Windows Mobile 5 and 2003, BugMe Notepad is a handy, feature-rich note-taking app that comes with a companion for annotating screenshots pretty much how you like. For some, that means typing text in various colors. For others, importing a photo and scrawling a note in your own shaky hand is preferred.

With BugMe Notepad, you can also record a voice note and set custom, even repeated alarms. Erasing part of a note, trashing a note, and scrolling through your notes library are all easily achieved by tapping clearly defined icons on the app's interface.

These features boost BugMe Notepad over native memo and task apps that stop after giving you a blank slate and an alarm schedule to hook to it, but it's not as cost-effective as I'd like. If you're the kind of person who absolutely relies on notes and alarms, the $19.95 could for you be a wise investment. If you're not sure what your mobile note needs are, the free trial gives you seven days to test it out and come to a decision, though you only get three notes to make up your mind.

Today it is possible to mash together Web services into a passable site with only a hobbyist's knowledge of programming. Tools like Yahoo Pipes get you started with the concepts, and then the APIs for products like Google Maps make things like the Chicago Crime Map buildable without requiring a large investment in original technology.

The same has not been true for hardware, but Peter Semmelhack at Bug Labs wants to change that. The company is releasing a hardware development system made of sensing and input modules that snap into a low-cost central Linux-based core, allowing you to mash up your own gadget. The main core, the BugBase, is bit larger than an iPhone. The modules that snap into it are half that size and a standard BugBase has four ports for modules.

Special-purpose modules snap into the BugBase.

(Credit: Bug Labs)

Say you want to make some sort of gizmo for your car that records location and acceleration and displays stats on a screen. You could try to write a program for an existing GPS gadget, or you could snap together the necessary Bug Labs modules, write your own code in the Bug Labs system for your device, and go from there.

Bug Labs' system is meant for prototyping, and all the pieces of it are open-source. This means that once you've got your gadget working, you can use the Bug Labs hardware schematics as the basis for your own mass-produced version of the gadget in question. (You can also use the actual Bug circuit boards in your products, since they screw together nicely even when liberated from their plastic snap cases. However, this would be an expensive way to produce hardware.) The development environment is Eclipse. I'm not familiar with it, but it's open-source and looks to be philosophically similar to the Bug hardware--that is, highly modular.

All input/output to the modules is done via Internet protocols, and each hardware component has its own URL. This will make building mesh or networked devices that aren't physically connected to each other relatively easy, and it also means that all Bug-based gizmos are, by default, Web appliances.

The first four modules, and the base.

(Credit: Bug Labs)

Bug Labs may get into the business of helping developers make Bug-based prototypes into actual mass consumer products, by embedding Bug-standard hardware with developers' code in more permanent cases.

But you can also just get a bunch of modules and hack around in them for fun (the first modules are: GPS, camera, touch-sensitive LCD, and accelerometer; the company plans to release four new modules each quarter). Bug Labs is very much like Lego Mindstorms: A collection of hardware modules you can snap together and then program. You don't need to sell your work to have a whole lot of fun with this system.

Bug Labs hardware should be available by the end of the year.

See also HeathKit (historical) and CompuLab. Also, Engadget has more Bug specs.

(Credit: Grand River Toy Company)

It's depressing enough to think that parents need some sort of remote sensors to keep track of their kids--or are paranoid enough to think they need them, anyway. Making matters worse, most of the tracking devices we've seen have a clinical or Orwellian feel to them (often both).

So if we must resort to technology to raise our children, at least the "Giggle Bug Toddler Tracker" tries to make it a little less frightening for them by turning it into a toy of sorts. Rather than sound an alarm like an air raid horn, the bug blinks its eyes and emits a "child friendly" beep, according to Red Ferret. Once the kids are returned safely, you can then begin disciplinary procedures with the "Control-a-Kid" remote.