Sony Smart Outlets Will Charge You And Your Devices

With all of our countless gadgets and devices, the one thing that we always need is power. Our gadgets are charged, drained and charged again in an endless cycle. Sony has some ideas about that and they aim to make money too. By charging you for charging directly from the outlet.

Sure, if you charge something at an airport, it may not cost them much, but think about how many people are charging stuff. Electric cars are becoming more prominent as well. Everything plugs in and needs a charge. Aside from costing you money, there are benefits, like smart power management. Sony is developing two different varieties of the outlets. One uses near-field communications (NFC), where the outlet can read a card in the appliance’s plug by being placed close to it. Sony uses a intermediary female to male piece which fits between the actual appliance plug and the outlet. The middle section contains the NFC card. The other version uses “RFID Over Power Line” where the information would actually be sent through the power line. They would be pretty functionally equivalent. You won’t see these anytime soon, but it will be interesting to see what Sony does from here.

Rechner is World’s First Gesture-based Calculator App

Taking after the idea of swipe keyboards on touch devices, a fresh-from-the-box iOS calculator app allows you to do just that with your numbers.

Unlike your usual calculator app which just shows your boring numbers, operations, and memory storage buttons, the Rechner Calculator stands out as it allows you to accomplish the math by just swiping: to add, just swipe from left to right; to subtract, the other way; and to clear the screen, do a two-finger swiping gesture. In case you forget the rest of the controls, swipe downwards and a menu would appear.
Interface-wise, the Rechner is indeed an Apple app: very minimalist, sleek, and practically plain. The gesture controls might not accomplish stuff any faster than doing it with the native iOS math tool, but hey, it’s a novel idea for numbers!
Rechner boasts of being the world’s first gesture-based calculator. It is available at the App Store since March 14 for $0.99, so try it for yourself.

File Transfer Made Easier Through Facebook’s Pipe

Now we have more excuses to do “work” on Facebook. File transfer is coming to Facebook early next week though a new app named Pipe.


Pipe is set to be in beta on Monday after the London Web Summit unveiling.
Though it is already possible to transfer  files through Facebook message attachments, it cannot handle large data, and almost nobody notices the subtle little icon used to do it. Pipe uses an easier drag-and-drop interface.
“We’re starting on Facebook because it gives us viral reach,”  said CEO Simon Hossell.  ”A native iOS version of Pipe is waiting in the wings, currently in alpha stage, and the plan is to port that over to Android soon after.”
Technically, though, Pipe does not do “file transfer”. As opposed to the one-to-many transmission of file sharing, Piple is purely one-to-one.
Also, none of the data sent in the file transfer goes through Facebook or Piper servers. The app uses Adobe’s Real Time Media Protocol Flow (RTMFP).
This program is designed to let Flash or AIR apps interact directly and load files into the recipient’s cache. This allows larger files to be uploaded depending in the space in the cache.
Although Facebook may only be Pipe’s stepping stone to being viral, it should not take the network  for granted. Facebook bought an American version of the file sharing app; San Francisco’s Caffeinated Mind.
So Pipe better be on its toes and ready to shift markets in case user are more of the Caffeinated Mind.

'Samsung Galaxy S III' pictured, May 22 London unveiling rumored

ZOMG!! Is this the Samsung Galaxy S III???

Who knows. But at the very least it looks a bit more legitimate than the past few alleged images to have emerged online. The screen capture above appeared on Reddit this morning with little in the way of supporting information. However based on the dates and locations shown in the render, there's already rampant speculation that the Galaxy S III will be unveiled in London on May 22, tying into the build-up to the Summer Olympics (of which Sammy is a big sponsor). No doubt it's possible, but it's still a bit of a stretch based on one image of questionable veracity.

If it is accurate, though, we could be looking at a phone with the usual physical/capacitive button setup, a 16:9 display, ICS, TouchWiz and a physical camera button -- none of which is particularly surprising. The presence of a metallic trim similar to that of the Galaxy Tab 2 and Galaxy Note 10.1 is interesting to note, too. If nothing else, there's way less wrong with this image than other purported Galaxy S III pics. Though that doesn't necessarily mean it's legit.

The logo you see in the bottom right belongs to Weber Shandwick Worldwide, a large global PR firm. Samsung uses a whole bunch of PR agencies around the world, so it's entirely possible these guys are involved with promoting a future Samsung device. It's also entirely unconfirmed.

We're sure to hear more about Samsung's next big thing as the Summer approaches, so keep it locked to AC for all the latest.

The new iPad: are you buying one

Today is the day many have been patiently, or not so patiently, waiting for. The new iPad saunters onto shelves around much of the globe, and into the sweaty palms of the "gotta-have-its." So, were you dazzled by that display? Or tempted by the LTE and new graphics chip? Maybe you're upgrading, or treating the partner (by treating yourself)? Perhaps you were hoping for the rumored smaller device, or just gotta have something Android. Whatever camp you fall into we want to know about it, tell us via the poll below!

GeChic On-Lap 1302 is a 'Secret Tool' to give your smartphone dual screens

If you've ever felt the burning urge to mirror your smartphone's display onto a larger screen, then you might consider stuffing GeChic's portable, 13.3-inch monitor into the ol' man purse for your next wayward outing. We're not promising that it'll be simple, but in addition to supporting laptops, game consoles and digital cameras, you can also rig up your smartphone to the On-Lap 1302 monitor -- with the assistance of a tangle of adapters, batteries and cords, that is. The product is said to be just 8mm thick, but most importantly, this 1366 x 768 display can be powered either from your laptop's USB port or an external battery pack. It includes proper hookups for VGA and HDMI video connections (via a proprietary 30-pin connector), but laptop users may also purchase a Mini DisplayPort accessory. Throw in Apple's Digital AV Adapter or an MHL to HDMI solution, and boom, you've also got support for your iPhone and many Android smartphones. Okay, so it's a bit convoluted, but the product's video touts this as, "The best idea ever," and along with its homespun production, we think you'll enjoy it for a good laugh -- so just hop the break. Those interested in such gear will find it on Newegg next month for $199.

Untethered jailbreak for new iPad shown on YouTube, not quite ready for download

Are we shocked to see an untethered iOS 5.1 jailbreak for the new iPad? Not so much. Are we surprised to see it arrive so quick? Hell, yes. The iPad 2's untethered jailbreak took an eternity, whereas this new tunnel seems to have been dug during one fleeting Friday night. The hacker to thank is i0n1c, aka Stefan Esser -- a man who moves so fast his YouTube clip reportedly had 28 likes before it had even finished uploading. Just leap that final fence, Stefan, by releasing your jailbreak to the public, and we shall re-christen you bi0n1c.

Pioneer launches RMX1000 Remix Station, now no tune is safe

Pioneer has been dishing out its line of digital DJ tools for long enough that you'd hope it knows what the spinners want, and these days it seems that's remixing tools. The RMX1000 is a new effects based unit, that looks like an evolution of the firm's EFX range. It still cooks up those chops, rolls, and reverbs, but also has a companion "Remixbox" software, as well as studio-friendly VST / AU functionality. The software lets you overwrite the default set-up with one of your own, and there's an SD card slot so you can leave yours at home, but still bring your settings to the club. Word is that pro DJ settings will be available for download, so nosey DJs can see how James Zabiela likes his high-pass filters. The effects themselves come in four flavors: Scene, Isolator, Release and X-Pad. Connectivity-wise it's rocking a pair of RCA and 1 / 4-inch plugs for both in-and out-put, and there's USB for the computer / MIDI hook-up. It's set to land in June with a $1000 price tag, but in the meantime if you want to see if it'll be worth your savings, hit-up the video after the break, or click the PR for the full specs.

Verizon adding remote diagnostics tool to latest LG Revolution update

Verizon just gave us a heads up to a new update for the LG Revolution that, among other things, will add "Verizon Remote Diagnostics" to the smartphone.

Before anybody freaks out, Verizon describes this as a "new customer care solution to improve device issue diagnosis during customer support calls." You'll have to give a customer service rep permissions, and they they'll be able to "remotely view the user's device for troubleshooting and application demonstrations."

In other words, they'll be able to see and take over your phone -- again, with your permission -- to show and fix stuff. Different from a Carrier IQ-type analytics tool hanging out in the background (though we're willing to bet it's got full access to that same sort of information if need be). Should be interesting to see what folks pull out of this.

Other fixes coming down the pike in version VS910ZV8 include:

Device Enhancements

• Resolved reboot issue found during operating system upgrade from Froyo
• to Gingerbread.
• Playing AVI video files through HDMI no longer causes display to flicker.
• Placing an alarm on snooze while on a voice call will set snooze to 5 minutes.
• Dolby presets have been updated to use loudness, bass and spaciousness
• to improve the user’s experience.
• When placing the device into Airplane Mode, the 4G icon no longer appears.
• Email, Messaging & Web
• Sending a text message to a 7 digit number will display as sent and received.
• Improved device messaging to fix delays or incomplete sends.
• Pressing the back key while browsing will take the user back to the previous page.

Applications & Widgets

• Verizon Video is now preloaded.
• Calendar widget now displays correct month for November.

It'll be interesting to see if this is just the first Verizon phone to have Verizon Remote Diagnostics added. Either way, props to Verizon for being up front about the addition.