Flixster sure didn't look this good on our BlackBerry Bold.
(Credit: Flixster)We were excited to hear that Flixster's popular iPhone movie app was making the jump to BlackBerry. Unfortunately, not all apps dive as elegantly into other mobile platforms. Flixster's Movies app is one of them.
The free Movies by Flixster app for BlackBerry has all the essentials: a tab for box office hits, an area to enter your Zip code to find movies near you, a list of upcoming titles, and movies that have come out on DVD. You can even purchase movies via movietickets.com. Yet this movie "app" is not so much a native application as it is a shortcut to a BlackBerry-optimized version of Flixster's mobile Web site.
While a nicely formatted mobile site routinely delivers a better experience than navigating the site through a browser, winding up with a not-app after downloading an application feels like a cheap trick. To top it off, Flixster Mobile looks like a mobile site on BlackBerry and reloads every screen as you navigate. In contrast, the iPhone version, pulls show times and theater information into a stylized interface that in no way resembles the Flixster.com site, apart from the information it downloads.
Users aren't fooled by the bait-and-switch, either. Flixster's movie app on BlackBerry rates 2.5 stars out of 129 votes at the time of writing. The program's average iPhone rating scores higher, with a 3.5-star average for the current version out of about 16,000 user reviews.
Come on, Flixster. We know you can do better than that.
How did U.S. power plugs fare in the smackdown? Read on.
(Credit: Crave UK)Here at Crave UK, we might be British, but that doesn't mean we're generally swelling with national pride. After all, there's much about the U.K. that's simply broken and highly annoying (Hello, trains! Take a bow, Royal Mail!). We do have some things going for us though. Our health system means that if we get ill, we get treated--and our power plugs are excellent.
Yes, you read correctly. We said power plugs.
So, let's take a 100 percent objective* look at the plugs and plug sockets of the world--who will rise to be global victor in this crucial battle between the power interconnects of the planet? We welcome you to a no-prongs barred fight that will eventually decide what sort of sockets they use on Mars.
*Objectivity in this sentence has a one-off, government-approved change in definition. Its meaning here, and only here, is the exact opposite of what it usually means.
Read more of "Plug versus plug" at Crave UK.
From the back, you'd think this man was injured and wearing some sort of neck and body brace.
(Credit: Substitute Materials)We've heard of sleep pod facilities in New York for sleep-deprived cubicle dwellers seeking some shut-eye. But here's a way to have your power nap upright while still appearing to keep to the spirit of a city that never sleeps.
This crazy contraption--by the amusing one-man Office for the Development of Substitute Materials--was actually tried and tested during a 40-minute snooze along Broadway as part of the Conflux 2009 festival, a gathering of artists, technologists, and urban adventurers.
Out of the box, you have a vertical bed that attaches conveniently to any subway ventilation grating for prop support; opaque sunglasses; free standing brolly; and noise-canceling headphones. And it all collapses into a totable briefcase.
That said, this isn't as elegantly simple as Japan's chindogu (art of useless idea) solution, the Commuter Chin Stand. Plus, it's always a bad idea to catch 40 winks in the middle of the Big Apple, where you'll be easy pickings for light-fingered pickpockets who'll clean you of everything but the braces you stand in. In short, you snooze, you lose.
A man takes a 40-minute "nap" at Broadway and 33rd St. in New York as part of the Conflux 2009 festival. He must have an incredible talent for tuning out honking horns.
(Credit: Substitute Materials)(Source: Crave Asia via DesignLaunches.com)
Much like Stanza identifies songs, Cry Translator identifies cries.
In the classic Simpsons episode "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", Homer's long-lost brother Herb invents a baby translator. The baby cries, the machine announces its meaning (in Danny DeVito's inimitable voice) in plain English.
Seventeen years later, there's an app for that. Cry Translator promises to identify the "five distinct cries" made by infants.
In other words, you no longer have to wonder if your ankle-biter is tired, hungry, mad, stressed, or just bored. It's like Stanza for crybabies.
My first reaction: That's cheating! My second reaction: Why wasn't this around nine years ago when I needed it? And finally: No way does this actually work.
Unfortunately, I'm fresh out of babies on which to test it. So I'll throw this out to anyone willing to invest $9.99 on the promise of easier parenting. Put the app to the test, then report your findings here.
For what it's worth, the app not only translates Junior's cries, but also offers suggestions on how to calm him. You can also enter emergency contacts, like your pediatrician, for quick and easy access.
Again, I have my doubts about whether this really works--but wouldn't it be awesome if it did? The developer cites a study--conducted in Spain--that reported a 96-percent success rate in calming crying babies when following the supplied suggestions.
If nothing else, it might be $10 well-spent just to calm fretful parents. Once upon a time, I was one of them.
The Freedom Leg is 2.5 pounds.
(Credit: Forward Mobility)Anyone who's ever worn crutches knows they are a pain at best. It's bad enough trying to walk, let alone surviving stairs, and we haven't even gotten to the underarm chafing.
Forward Mobility to the rescue. The Edmonds, Wash.-based company, which got its start manufacturing bicycles in the 1990s, is now designing and manufacturing a slew of medical mobility products, from a collapsible wheelchair to a seated scooter for foot and leg injuries. The Freedom Leg, released at MedTrade in October, functions like a hands-free brace. In the company's words:
Go beyond the limitations of crutches, wheelchairs, or scooters. It is truly an off-loading prosthetic that allows the user to fully integrate the device into their lives, giving them complete mobility. The user has the ability to accomplish all their normal day-to-day tasks without assistance, while at the same time keeping the strength in upper muscles of the injured leg.
According to "Emma" in the video, who broke her foot, the Freedom Leg transfers the weight of her step to her upper leg, ... Read more
A wireless digital 'plaster' that monitors vital signs is being tested on patients and volunteers at Imperial College London.
(Credit: Toumaz Technology)When you go to the doctor and you get your heart rate or blood pressure taken, the resulting data is narrow, since the measurements are taken of you doing just one thing: sitting still. True monitoring throughout someone's typical daily activities has until now been something of a pipe dream.
All that could be about to change.
A range of vital signs, including body temperature, heart rate, and respiration, is currently being monitored--continuously and remotely--by a small strip of digital plaster affixed to a patient's chest, neck, and/or arm.
... Read more
LightForm strips are available in red, amber, green, and blue (although that really looks like purple to us), with white currently in development.
(Credit: Grote Industries)Flexible LED lighting strips could mean flash in unexpected places. Grote Industries' LightForm flexible LED lighting film, which just became commercially available, is ultrathin and ultrapliable, meaning it can be bent around corners and over contoured areas and maneuvered into various shapes. It can also be cut to fit while lit and slid into narrow crevices and between panels and trim.
The LED strips can be sewn directly into fabric.
(Credit: Grote Industries)Grote mainly envisions the strips being used for vehicle lighting (along carpet edges, floor vents, and window openings; inside trunks; and as ambient lighting under dashboards and seats) or sewn into fabric--say, for LED dresses and doggie porcupine costumes (too bad we found out about this just after Halloween). We're sure creative types will be able to think of plenty of other possibilities, though.
The strips, introduced at the 2009 SEMA auto trade show in Vegas Wednesday, measure 10 inches long, half an inch wide, and less than 1 millimeter thick. They're expandable: up to three, 10-inch segments can be connected, providing up to 30 inches of red, amber, green, or blue LED lighting.
LightForms come with a peel-and-stick adhesive backing that sticks to clean metal, acrylic, polycarbonate, and fiberglass surfaces. And they're hardy enough to withstand hammer blows, as well as extreme humidity, heat, and cold, according to the maker--potentially good news if you live in Fargo, N.D., and plan to trick out your car/garage/clothing in January.
We've contacted Grote for pricing information and will add that as soon as we hear back.
A nice look, but let's not get too carried away here.
(Credit: Grote Industries)
Ever get so annoyed with your alarm clock you feel like yelling at it? With Moshi clocks, your words will actually accomplish something.
(Credit: Moshi)If Moshi's voice-responsive alarm clock got you in the habit of talking to clocks, you can now continue the dialogue while traveling.
Moshi's Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock is a smaller, cheaper version of the earlier device. Like the Moshi IVR Clock, the new clock lets you use nine voice control commands to do things like turn the alarm on and off ("set alarm...7:30 a.m."), hit snooze, ask for the temperature, and access a help menu. As far as we can tell, the device does not respond to exhaustion-related rants.
The travel clock measures 3.75 inches by 2.75 inches by 1 inches, costs $24.99, and comes in four colors--white, blue, pink, and black.
(Credit:
Cambridge Consultants)
People who like getting physical with their gadgets may warm to a new Internet radio that must be moved around to operate.
The Q2 Cube radio from Cambridge Consultants and Armour Group will change to one of four preselected stations when it's turned over on its side. Tilting the speaker back or forward lowers or raises the volume.
The Cube seems to be a bit bigger than palm-sized, so it would fit neatly on a cluttered desk. It wouldn't do as an alarm clock, since tossing it from the bedside table would presumably only change the station.
The companies are calling the device "revolutionary," though in what sense is unclear. In the old days, radios also had to be tuned by turning something--a large dial.
There's no word on price yet, but the Cube could be in some U.K. stores for the holidays.
(Via Wired)
(Credit:
Rakuten)
Hang on. You're coughing and sneezing your lungs out, and you want ME to come inside Ground Zero to pass you a tissue? No thanks. Four little letters and numbers: H1N1.
Fortunately, we have Rakuten's Running Tissue Box to come to the rescue. Using a standard remote-control chassis, you put a tissue box on top and drive the absorbent paper to its destination at a maximum of 26 feet away. Think of it as a bomb disposal robot that enters dangerous contaminated territory where no man should tread.
The only thing that makes us scratch our heads is how long it took for someone to bring this idea to fruition. The Running Tissue Box comes in white, red, and black and costs around $25. It's available from online stores such as Japan Trend Shop.
(Credit:
Japan Trend Shop)
(Source: Crave Asia via CrunchGear)
