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Matt Richardson?s friend Lauren wanted a device to hold down the down arrow and physically scroll through Google Reader, like a sustain pedal on a piano. Matt built it for her using an old USB keyboard, wire, solder and a little DIY invention. It?s surprising we don?t see foot pedals more often in mainstream desktop computing. They?re a natural, well-established interface: besides analog tech like pianos, drums, bikes or a spinning wheel, think of cars, table saws and electric guitars. If you?re curious, there are plenty of commercial USB foot pedals available, mostly targeted for disabled users or industry-specific uses. For example, they?re extremely popular in professional digital voice transcription, often coming bundled with transcription or dictation software. These usually have three controls: play/pause (center), rewind (left) and fast-forward (right). Musicians, too, continue to experiment with foot pedals: we?ve written about AirTurn?s Bluetooth sheet-music turner for iPad, with a special eye towards its potential for disabled users. Other USB foot pedals are extraordinarily versatile and programmable. But because they aren?t a universal accessory marketed to mainstream users like a mouse or keyboard, all foot pedals tend to be expensive and often highly tailored to individual users? needs. Building a foot pedal yourself using a keyboard?s guts is one way to solve this problem. But I can?t help but wonder what a determined hacker could put together with an Arduino board, a weekend and a little imagination. Google Reader Pedal: hacking a USB keyboard [Boing Boing] See Also:
PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS PALM OSI SYSTEMS The first reviews of Windows Phone 7 smartphones -- the Samsung Focus and the HTC HD7 -- are in, and they range from lukewarm at the low end (nice, but not enough pizzazz) to acceptable (much improved but not enough features). Will smartphone buyers be influenced by the reviews? Or do they generally decide what they want first, then go get it? Will the reception for WinPho 7 and smartphones running the operating system make Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) future or break it?
Some Thumbs-Ups But no Thumbs in the Eye
Many reviewers say Microsoft has done a good job with Windows Phone 7, not just in terms of the platform itself, but also in the clean break it made from the flagging Windows Mobile OS.
Smartphone buyers didn't find any difficulty in staying away from post-Windows Mobile 6 versions, preferring instead to wait for what at the time was designated Windows Mobile 7. However, after the spectacular failure of the Kin smartphone, which Microsoft launched in April and pulled from the market a few weeks later, dropping a cool US$240 million or so in the process, consumers were wary. Their concerns were heightened by the delay in launching WinPho 7, which was attributed to Microsoft's decision to rewrite the operating system from scratch. "There's a lot stacked up against Microsoft in terms of its own history, and the pressure has been on them to put out a product and a service that make people forget what Windows Mobile was like in the past," Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld. The decision to rewrite the OS from scratch seems to have paid off, by and large. WinPho 7 is "light-years ahead and beyond what Windows Mobile 6.x have been," Llamas said. "From what I've seen, Windows Phone 7 smartphones are very much on par with iPhones or Android smartphones," he added. "I've seen and played with a Windows Phone 7 phone, and I didn't see any problems with the operating system" Maribel Lopez, founder and principal analyst at Lopez Research, told TechNewsWorld. "I found it quite easy to use, and you know, some Android smartphones are easier to use than others." Most of the early reviewers like WinPho 7, although they point out it lacks a few essential features and enough pizzazz to actually go head-to-head with Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iOS or with Android.
Never Mind the Sticks and Stones
Still, perhaps it would have been better if WinPho 7 had generated enough passion to get people to either really love it or hate it.
"Negative reviews can get people motivated to disagree with them, and that drives sales; positive reviews also can drive controversy, and clearly people will buy on them, but lukewarm reviews don't drive any controversy and don't excite people about the product either," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "Normally, reviews don't kill a product per se; they might give you some hesitation, but you'd still want to see it," Lopez Research's Lopez said. "I've just had some great conversations with carriers and retailers, and I've learned people initially come in looking for a phone with a particular operating system -- Android or BlackBerry or iOS," IDC's Llamas remarked. "But two factors really help them decide after that -- cost, and whether the smartphone suits their needs." While most of the newer smartphone models provide access to the Internet and to social networks, they implement these differently through their user interfaces, Llamas explained. "The question is, does the smartphone provide this access in the way you like?"
Where Does WinPho 7 Go From Here?
Perhaps the next round of reviews on WinPho 7 will generate more passion, as more WinPho 7 devices hit the market and Microsoft tweaks the OS to add some of the features reviewers say are lacking. Or maybe Microsoft should rethink its advertising. "Windows Phone 7 is one of those operating systems that won't come alive for you until you play with it," Lopez remarked. "A flat campaign won't do it; I think an in-store presence and a multimedia presence are critical to get people excited about the platform." Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Besides devices, Redmond has to catch up in other parts of the smartphone market where it's lagging if it is to see WinPho 7 succeed. The most prominent of these is its lack of apps. "Microsoft needs lots of apps, it needs apps like games from Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), because it's very difficult to wrest mindshare from Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Apple right now," Lopez Research's Lopez said. "We saw how tough it is in the smartphone market when [Research In Motion] came out with a more friendly OS -- it got a ho-hum yawn. Windows Phone 7 runs the risk of getting a ho-hum yawn too."
 VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES UNITED ONLINE UNISYS TRIQUINT SEMICONDUCTOR TRIMBLE NAVIGATION LIMITED Filed under: webOS by Lee Mathews (RSS feed) Oct 19th 2010 at 11:00AM  HP is gearing up for the release of webOS 2.0, and the new version is packed with updates for Pre and Pixi owners. Apart from rebranding as HP webOS, the most newsworthy changes from an average user's standpoint are the long-awaited arrival of both Flash and Skype.
The updated webOS browser will offer better HTML5 support, and Flash 10.1 beta will be built-in. And yes, Skype is coming to webOS 2.0 -- but only to the Verizon network (cue sad trombone). For users on other carriers, you'll just have to continue waiting patiently -- much like your Android friends did.
Other slick new features include enterprise-friendly VPN support, the Exhibition dock interface, enhanced multitasking with Stacks, and more powerful IM and Facebook apps.
Full details about webOS 2.0 are available from HP, or take the jump to check out PreCentral's 10 minute video review!
NETGEAR NCR NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS MOTOROLA Filed under: webOS by Lee Mathews (RSS feed) Oct 19th 2010 at 11:00AM HP is gearing up for the release of webOS 2.0, and the new version is packed with updates for Pre and Pixi owners. Apart from rebranding as HP webOS, the most newsworthy changes from an average user's standpoint are the long-awaited arrival of both Flash and Skype.
The updated webOS browser will offer better HTML5 support, and Flash 10.1 beta will be built-in. And yes, Skype is coming to webOS 2.0 -- but only to the Verizon network (cue sad trombone). For users on other carriers, you'll just have to continue waiting patiently -- much like your Android friends did.
Other slick new features include enterprise-friendly VPN support, the Exhibition dock interface, enhanced multitasking with Stacks, and more powerful IM and Facebook apps.
Full details about webOS 2.0 are available from HP, or take the jump to check out PreCentral's 10 minute video review!
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Steve Jobs today gave a hint at the future of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, and that future is? iOS and iPad! - Multitouch gestures
- App Store
- App home screens (with Folders)
- Full screen apps
- Auto save
- Apps resume when launched
It?s not going to be a multitouch Mac. Jobs says Apple tried it but vertical touch surfaces are tiring and don?t work. That?s why Apple has made multitouch trackpads for laptops, and Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad for desktops. That?s how they?re going to do multitouch. Mac App Store won?t be exclusive but Jobs thinks it will be the best. Same 70/30 developer split, one click downloads, free and paid, auto instal, auto updates, licensed for use on all your personal macs. LaunchPad will be the homescreen for Macs. Mission Control will unify Spaces, Exposé, Dashboard, full screen apps. Screenshots after the break. And check out Apple.com?s new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion page for more.
THQ TEXAS INSTRUMENTS TERADATA TELETECH HOLDINGS TECHNITROL Filed under: Social Software, Mobile, Android  by Sebastian Anthony (RSS feed) Oct 19th 2010 at 1:30PM
 I always had one rather large complaint about Fring and other multi-network messengers: they're dog-ugly -- like, Ugliest Dog In The World ugly. Fortunately there's a beautiful alternative that, until now, has only been available for iPhone and BlackBerry: it's called BeejiveIM, and after you try it every other messenger app on Android will fade into clumsy and ugly insignificance.
From the outset, BeejiveIM is just another multi-network messenger. It has support for all of the usual suspects -- AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GTalk, Jabber, ICQ, MySpace IM, and even a very nice Facebook chat interface. What sets it apart from its clunky brethren, of which there are many, is the user interface.
The UI (and I apologize for this cliché) is an absolute dream. The ease at which you can carry out conversations across multiple networks is almost superior to desktop apps.
Let me walk you through the UI and explain what I mean. On the left, you have your "accounts" panel, and on the right, your unified contact list. If you use friend groups on Facebook, or Categories in your Yahoo, MSN, or AIM buddy lists, they appear here, too. Clicking each bar makes it expand or contract, so you can easily manage a huge number of friends. With a push-and-hold you can easily see each contact's profile, or block them.
Your current status can be set across all messaging networks, or you can select each one individually. If you want to be invisible on Facebook but visible on MSN, go for it!
My only complaint is that tabs are on top, far away from your thumb. There's no reason for them to be up there!
If you don't like lime green speech bubbles, you can change the color to something more sensible in the settings -- you can also change the wallpaper (and BeejiveIM comes bundled with a bunch of pretty images that are guaranteed to make your text almost impossible to read!).  You can also change the Sent and Received notifications (sounds from MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and iChat are available), the sort order of your buddy list (and whether they are broken into groups/categories or not), your auto-away message (handy if you're going to leave BeejiveIM online 24/7), and you can even enable "Text Auto Correct" -- but I couldn't work out what this actually did.
Finally, I want to show you a really simple (but really cool) feature: "Email Chat." From any conversation, you can email the entire dialogue to any email address. This is a great way to get important conversations off your phone and onto your PC, or indeed any other device.
ConclusionI'm hard pressed to find anything wrong with BeejiveIM for Android. Admittedly, I don't regularly use my phone for instant messaging, so there may be issues that would only emerge with extended use -- but considering Beejive's experience with other mobile platforms, I doubt it.
Perhaps the only bad thing is the fact that it costs $9.99 -- but if you commute, or otherwise spend a lot of time on the move, I think the price is more than reasonable.
BeejiveIM for Android Tech Specs- Installed Size -- 8MB, and I'm pretty sure conversations are cached. This isn't a small app by any means
- Speed/Responsiveness -- Excellent, very snappy
- User Interface -- Very intuitive, highly polished, but tabs should be on the bottom!
- Configurability & Extensibility -- You can't change the theme of the tabs, nor can you alter the font -- the ability to change conversation colors and individual statuses for each network is very nice however
- License -- Commercial, closed-source. 30-day trial available by visiting www.beejive.com/android on your phone
Tags: aim, android, apps, beejive, beejiveim, gtalk, IM, instant messaging, instant messenger, InstantMessaging, InstantMessenger, mobile, msn, yim QLOGIC PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS PALM August 16th, 2010 at 8:24 pm - Posted by admin Every iPad owner understands the importance of keeping their device both protected and clean. It takes very little time for oil from your hands to build up on the iPad?s screen, leaving plenty of unwanted smudges. There is an affordable solution though thanks to the iShine Microfiber iPad Sleeve.  The iShine Sleeve is a must have multipurpose accessory for your iPad. It acts as a protective pouch for your tablet device and also doubles as a lint-free cleaning cloth. Quickly remove nasty smudges and fingerprints without worrying about scratching or damaging your screen. Apple makes it very clear not to use typical household cleaners that contain chemicals which can be harmful to your iPad?s screen. That?s even more reason why owning the iShine Sleeve is such a great benefit. For less than $20 you can have the comfort in knowing your iPad is getting the proper protection it needs. SILICON LABORATORIES QUEST SOFTWARE QUANTUM QLOGIC PROGRESS SOFTWARE
Catalogs.com?s new iPad app offers something unique. Just like the website, it aggregates inventory for a wide range of retail stores and pairs them with coupons and a central wish list. But it lays them out in a familiar catalog form that you can browse by flipping virtual pages on the iPad?s touchscreen. It?s not lifestyle porn. There aren?t any two-page spreads showing clothing or furniture in impossibly well-appointed houses. It?s just a familiar, straightforward way to find good deals on products you want, whether from brick-and-mortar giants like Home Depot and Foot Locker or web/catalog standbys like Musician?s Friend, Ghirardelli Chocolate and Little Tykes. And it?s something you can hold in your hand, sitting in a waiting room or laying on a couch ? perfect for the kind of casual reading web-browsing that?s suited to the iPad. Released this week, Catalogs.com is currently the 5th most downloaded app in iTunes?s Lifestyle section, behind eBay and ahead of Amazon. ?We?re not PDF-dependent,? Catalogs.com president Richard Linevsky told Wired.com, contrasting his company?s HTML5 approach with that of other retailers offering catalog apps. ?We?re feed-dependent. If you have a feed, we can literally build a catalog for anybody. So it allows people that are in the website world to have a flippable catalog that they never had before.? Even for retailers who already have their own catalogs, Linevsky thinks their HTML5 approach gives retailers additional flexibility. ?We can update in 24 hours,? he said. ?PDF-based apps can?t do that? There are definitely some benefits to PDFs; with glossy images, they?re very nice to look at. But they don?t interact as smoothly, and many of them don?t interact at all. ?If a merchant wants to do that, they should. Our [catalog] doesn?t really have to compete with that,? Linevsky added. ?They can still be on our program. And we have the added benefit of being able to attract customers beyond their existing base. ?What we?ve built isn?t designed for an 8.5 by 11-inch page, which then has to be shunk down,? sacrificing readability, Linevsky said. ?It?s optimized for the tablet. And it?s easy for us to adjust to even smaller screens.? Because the application was built in HTML5, Catalogs.com was able to simultaneously launch an iPad-optimized webapp version of the store. The idea is that retailers will be able to link or redirect to a custom URL for their catalog at catalogs.com, saving some of them the trouble of having to build a separate interface for iPad. Linevsky felt the feed-to-graphic-catalog approach was powerful enough that Catalogs.com filed a patent on the IP. There are 30 retail partners in the initial launch ? much fewer than the number on the Catalogs.com site ? but Linevsky plans to expand that. He?s also hoping to add more social and sharing features, offering merchants greater input on how their products appear in the app and developing it for Android and other mobile platforms within the next 60 days. Linevsky describes the iPad app as a coffee table full of catalogs held in one hand. It definitely shows that the digital reading revolution isn?t limited to books, magazines, or newspapers. In time, nearly every printed form factor can be recreated as an application, a web site or both. What may be surprising about the current wave of innovation, as opposed to the early iterations of the web, is that while the backend workflows are changing rapidly, the end-user?s physical modes of interaction with reading are becoming closer to how we?ve traditionally done things ? more familiar, not less. See Also:
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Man, how impatient are we in our comfortable, high-tech palaces? It seems we can?t even wait for a lightbulb to fire up after we hit the switch. But don?t worry, you over-entitled fusspots, GE has you covered with its complicated new Hybrid Halogen-CFL light bulb. The problem: CF, or compact-fluorescent bulbs take a while to get to full brightness. Depending on the model, they can take a large chunk of a minute to get up to speed. My parents, for instance, sit in the dark for what seems like forever when I Skype them and they turn on the light in the ?computer room?. My CF lamps, though, are at full power almost instantly. GE?s solution is to put a tiny halogen lamp inside the bulb, squeezed in alongside the elegantly looping CF-tube already coiled therein. If nothing else, this intricate device looks like a glass-blowers version of a Swiss watch movement, beautiful and impossible to fathom. When you flick the switch, the halogen bulb lights instantly. When the CF tube comes up to temperature, the halogen lamp blinks out. I?m inclined to think that this is a solution to a first-world problem, something which only whiners would ever feel a need for. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who refuse to buy energy-saving bulbs because of this warm-up delay, preferring to selfishly burn the planet?s resources for a few seconds of added convenience. If GE?s hybrid bulb can get these self-important idiots to switch over, then I?m all for them. The bulbs will be on sale in 2011. GE Unveils Unique Hybrid Halogen-CFL Light Bulb [GE. Thanks, David!] Press images: GE See Also:
MOTOROLA MOODYS VERISIGN VERIFONE HOLDINGS VEECO INSTRUMENTS 
The OtterBox Commuter Series Case for the Droid Incredible is truly a tank of a case. It wraps your precious DInc in two protective layers: a hard outer shell and a soft, shock absorbing inner layer. Join me past the break to get a closer look. To put the case onto your phone, you must first encase your Droid Incredible in the inner layer. This layer has little rubber flaps that guard the microUSB port and the headphone jack, as well as a pronounced rocker casing for your volume controls and a slight nub for the on/off button at the top of the phone. Once you have all of these lined up just right, you have to use a bit of force to get it into the hard outer shell. I found the easiest way to to this was line up the volume rocker and microUSB port on the left side into their respect holes in the outer case, and then force the right side down into place. Around the back, slots are cut out for the camera, LED flashes, and the speaker. The front is left mostly exposed, so you will want to get a screen protector for that 3.7-inch beauty if you don't already have one. 
When you use this case, you really feel like the phone is inside a small tank. It adds a good bit of padding on all sides, and you can definitely feel the difference when you hold the phone in your hand. Those with large hands might find the slim DInc slightly easier to hold because of the added size. The case itself is smooth on all sides, which I am not too fond of. It almost felt like it might be a bit easier to drop to me, but I am sure the case would help prevent any issues from dropping it. The volume rocker on the side does its job quite well, but the on/off button at the top is somewhat hard to press without using more force than you are used to. In addition, the area around the microUSB port is pretty cramped, so if you are using any plug other than the standard HTC one, you may run into issues. The same could be said for the headphone jack, but this is much less of an issue. 
Overall, this is a case for anyone paranoid about dropping their phone on those with large hands. I tend to go for the thinner cases that mostly protect against scratches and the like, so your mileage may vary. That being said, the case itself was built very solidly and gave me confidence that my precious DInc would survive a moderate fall to the floor unscathed. The OtterBox Commuter Series Case for the Droid Incredible is available now for $32.95 from the Android Central Store. 
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As part of the Back to the Mac event, Steve Jobs wondered what would happen if a a MacBook and iPad hooked up and the answer is the new MacBook Air. It?s full unibody, full keyboard, full trackpad. Instant on. Great battery life. Great standby time. There will be both 13.3 inch and 11.6 inch models. - 1440×900 display or 1366x 768
- Core 2 Duo
- NVidia graphics
- FaceTime camera
- Flash storage
- 7 hours Wi-Fi use (under better battery tests) or 5 hours for 11.6 inch
- 30 days standbye
- 802.11n Wi-Fi
Pricing starts at $999 for 11.6, 64GB, 1.4Ghz. All models are 2GB of memory (sniffle). Available today.
PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS PALM OSI SYSTEMS ORACLE Verizon, the very same company that recently announced it will sell the iPad beginning next week, announced Wednesday that it will become the first U.S. carrier to stock Samsung's Galaxy Tab. The widely anticipated Tab is a 7-inch Android-based tablet -- the epitome of a class of devices that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs famously declared "dead on arrival" this week in answering questions about his company's latest earnings report.
Side-by-Side Competition
Beginning Nov. 11, when the Tab goes on sale at Verizon Wireless retail stores for US$599,99, consumers will get a chance to handle it and the iPad side-by-side and decide which they prefer -- and a significant number may well choose the Tab, predicts Chris Hazelton, director of mobile and wireless research for The 451 Group.
While Jobs said "seven-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad," Hazelton said he sees things almost exactly the opposite way. "The advantage here is that it's a smaller device, and seven inches I think is a good size," Hazelton told TechNewsWorld.
Tab Advantages
The device can fit in a large pocket or smaller bag and is almost half the weight of the iPad, making it less fatiguing to hold, Hazelton said.
For Verizon customers, Hazelton said the Tab may have a singular advantage over the iPad: connectivity. To connect the iPad to Verizon's network, iPad owners have to use an Verizon MiFi hotspot device, which is included in the purchase price of $629.99 and up. But the Tab, priced at $599, features a built-in 3G modem that works on Verizon's network and can make use of a $20, 1 GB-per-month data plan without any additional devices. "I think that will push people to seriously consider the Galaxy Tab over the iPad," he said. The Tab also features front- and back-facing cameras -- a feature entirely lacking on the iPad -- and may score points on memory as well. The Verizon device will come with 2 GB of internal memory and a pre-installed 16 GB Micro SD card that can be upgraded to 32 GB. After buying a new card to max out memory, a Tab user would be out about $714, at current micro SD prices, and have a spare 16 GB card. The price tag for the fixed-memory 32 GB iPad at Verizon is $729.99.
DOA or Not?
Neither Samsung nor Verizon responded to requests for comment on the marketability of the 7-inch Tab in light of Jobs' remarks.
But Hazelton said it's clear Apple is trying to discourage people from taking Android tablets as serious competitors to the iPad. "I think they're trying to leverage that to steer people towards the iPad," he said, noting that Apple had the iPod and iPhone markets largely to itself for years. "It's been less than a year with the iPad, and you're already seeing significant competition coming to market," Hazelton said.
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As part of the Back to the Mac event, Steve Jobs wondered what would happen if a a MacBook and iPad hooked up and the answer is the new MacBook Air. It?s full unibody, full keyboard, full trackpad. Instant on. Great battery life. Great standby time. There will be both 13.3 inch and 11.6 inch models. - 1440×900 display or 1366x 768
- Core 2 Duo
- NVidia graphics
- FaceTime camera
- Flash storage
- 7 hours Wi-Fi use (under better battery tests) or 5 hours for 11.6 inch
- 30 days standbye
- 802.11n Wi-Fi
Pricing starts at $999 for 11.6, 64GB, 1.4Ghz. All models are 2GB of memory (sniffle). Available today.
TRIDENT MICROSYSTEMS TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS TOTAL SYSTEM SERVICES TNS TIBCO SOFTWARE Filed under: Productivity by Lee Mathews (RSS feed) Oct 19th 2010 at 10:00AM If you're an Evernote fan, their official blog has some good news this morning: the wildly popular cloud-centric note taking app has secured a cool $20 million in funding.
That's a big chunk of cash, and Evernote plans on putting it to good use. "Things are moving pretty quickly at Evernote," Phil Libin writes. "They're about to start moving even faster." Count on seeing more features and support for more devices coming in the very near future.
But Evernote isn't stopping there. Libin mentions a lofty new ambition for the app: to become "the global platform for human memory." Evernote wants to be the app to use when it comes to preserving your memories digitally, and it will be interesting to watch its evolution going forward.
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