Fourth IE9 Platform Preview Available for Developers

As you know IE9 Platform Preview is Available for Developers following is great article by Dean Hachamovitch IE9 GM.

IE9 started from the premise that the modern web will deliver HTML5 experiences that feel more like native applications than sites. Building on hardware-accelerated SVG, canvas, video, audio, and text, developers will use the power of the whole PC to achieve great performance. On the modern web, developers will use the same markup across different HTML5 browsers.

With IE9, we have worked much more closely with the developer community. Developers have had an earlier (and more frequently updated) look at the platform. With that early engagement, developer feedback has had a bigger impact than before. People have downloaded IE9 Platform Previews over 2.5 million times. The samples on the IE Test Drive site have had over 20 million visitors. We appreciate the positive feedback and all the specific issues logged in Connect. They’ve helped us make demonstrable improvements that the community has noticed.

The fourth Platform Preview of Internet Explorer 9, available now, shows the opportunity of fully hardware-accelerated HTML5. You can run new test drive samples that show modern SVG and native JavaScript integration in action. In March, we promised to deliver platform preview releases approximately every eight weeks. With this installment, you will find more performance and more support for same markup. You’ll also find many fixes to issues reported in previous Platform Previews. Here is a video of some of the test drive samples:

Note this video uses the HTML5 video tag (with the H.264 codec) if your browser supports it, and falls back to other methods otherwise. It’s a good example of same markup in action.

Fully Hardware-Accelerated HTML5

The performance benefits of hardware acceleration are clear from running different sample sites side by side in IE9 and other browsers. Browsers that implement partial hardware acceleration – for example, text-only, or video-playback only, or image-only acceleration – offer inconsistent and possibly unpredictable platform experiences to developers and end-users.

IE9 offers consistent, fully hardware-accelerated text, graphics, and media, both audio and video. Try Hamster Dance Revolution, IE Beatz, or MSNBC Video in different browsers to experience the difference. Psychedelic Browsing demonstrates what HTML5 canvas can do when it’s fully accelerated with the GPU.

Modern SVG

With Platform Preview 4, we’re excited to show highly-interactive and integrated, or modern, SVG. Typically, developers think of SVG as the graphics format for static engineering diagrams and images. With HTML5 and hardware acceleration, SVG is an excellent choice for a new class of interactive, animated scenarios.

You can see great SVG performance, animated via JavaScript, with the SVG Dice example. The sample shows striking performance differences between browsers animating the same SVG markup, as well as the benefits of being able to style SVG with CSS. Unfortunately, you can see differences in how different browsers display the same SVG; as an industry we have more work to do so the same markup delivers the same results.

Native JavaScript Integration

We’re committed to the right foundation for HTML5 applications, including performance and ensuring the same markup and same script work across browsers. One aspect of doing these things well is integrating the JavaScript engine natively inside the browser, rather than bolting it onto the side to support multiple JavaScript engines as some other browsers do today. How a JavaScript engine is integrated into the browser is as important as the engine itself for real-world HTML5.

The fourth Platform Preview moves the new JavaScript engine, codenamed Chakra, inside IE9 and brings them together into one single, integrated system.

Through this deep integration, the performance of real world websites significantly improves, and IE9 becomes the first browser to have a shared DOM between the browser and the script engine based on ECMAScript5. The benefits start with real-world performance and consistency.

The easiest way to understand the importance of this fundamental change is by looking at how earlier versions of Internet Explorer integrated JavaScript. For the last 15 years Internet Explorer has supported multiple programming languages including JScript, VBScript, and even specialized languages such as Perl. While this gave developers choice it also came at the cost of performance and features. The browser and these script engines communicated through COM which could cause performance problems. Each script engine had its own language specific view of the DOM which created discrepancies. Additionally, the browser was forced to use a least common denominator approach which made adding new features challenging.

In the fourth Platform Preview, we’ve moved the JavaScript engine inside IE9. With this change, communication between the browser and script engine is now direct, which significantly improves performance for real world websites. We now have a single DOM, shared across all browser subsystems including JavaScript. This change ensures a consistent and interoperable view of the document. And this single DOM is now based on ES5, which prepares the entire system for the future.

When programming the IE9 DOM from JavaScript, objects now feel like native ES5 objects because, underneath the covers, they actually are ES5 objects. This approach brings the benefits of ECMAScript5 to the DOM. With the fourth Platform Preview, IE9 becomes the first browser to have a fully discoverable DOM through ES5 reflection features. IE9 is the first browser to apply ES5 bindings to DOM objects, enabling a full Inheritance view of the DOM, and taking advantage of the WebIDL specification as the foundation for this support. Together, these changes provide developers a natural ES5 based programming model. Try some of these enhanced DOM capabilities out for yourself to see how well your browser’s DOM and JavaScript engine are integrated. IE9 will continue to support additional programming languages through the legacy model, but we strongly encourage developers and enterprises to take full advantage of the benefits of JavaScript moving forward.

Platform Preview 4 also continues improvements to the JavaScript engine itself. One measure of JavaScript performance is the Webkit Sunspider microbenchmark. Here is a chart of the latest results:

The differences between browsers on this microbenchmark are converging within thousandths of seconds on tests that repeat operations many, many times to find any differences at all.

Real-world HTML5 performance often reflects the entire browser’s performance, not just the JavaScript engine in isolation. This video, for example, shows a side by side comparison of different browsers running an HTML5 canvas. The performance differences between browsers are striking and do not reflect relative JavaScript performance. We encourage other browser vendors to consider following our lead in designing for end-to-end performance and natively integrating JavaScript engines rather than treating script as a separable subsystem to be optimized in isolation.

Same Markup, and Tests

To assess the quality and completeness of a browser’s standards support, we look to the official standards bodies. Their open, consensus-based process is the best way to bring the community of browser vendors and web developer and design professionals together in building a test suite.

With Platform Preview 4, we’re contributing 519 new tests to the standards bodies. Based on community feedback, we’ve also updated five of the previously submitted tests. This brings the total number of tests we’ve contributed during IE9 development to 2,138. We welcome your feedback on the specific test cases. Please continue to provide feedback on the test cases to the appropriate W3C working group. In case of ES5 test cases please provide test case specific feedback via Microsoft Connect. We also invite you to submit your own test cases to the standards bodies as well. You can find the test cases Microsoft has developed at the IE Test Center.

These test cases represent a strong start on a complete and comprehensive test suite of the web standards developers expect to work consistently across browsers. While the suite is not complete yet, it is interesting to note how interoperable some of the same markup is across different browsers:

Some people use a particular test or website as shorthand for standards compliance. Different sites test different subsets of different standards to different depths. Acid3 is one that some people in the community have cited. It tests about 100 fragments of a dozen different technologies. Here’s a screenshot of how today’s IE9 Platform Preview runs today’s Acid3 test, going from 83 in the previous platform preview to 95:

As IE9 has implemented more of the standards that developers use and value, IE9’s Acid3 score has continued to rise. The remaining points involve two particular technologies (SVG Fonts and SMIL animation of SVG) that are in transition.

Support for SVG Fonts in the web development and font communities has been declining for some time. There’s already been discussion without objection of dropping SVG fonts from the Acid3 test. The community has put forth a proposal in the SVG Working Group to give SVG Fonts optional status.

Instead, developers can use the Web Open Font Format (WOFF, supported in IE9 Platform Preview 3 as well as other browsers) for both HTML and SVG content. It works well in conjunction with the CSS3 Fonts module and has broad support from leading font vendors (e.g. here, “a majority of font makers have already settled on WOFF or services like Typekit as their format of choice”). WOFF fonts are a better long-term solution for many reasons discussed previously.

Similarly, support for SMIL animation of SVG in the web development community is far from strong. The leader of the SVG standardization effort wrote that not supporting SMIL in its current state is probably best “since the SVG WG intends to coordinate with the CSS WG to make some changes to animation and to extend filters.” There’s already work started to reconcile CSS3 animations and SVG. Developers interested in animating SVG can use JavaScript, as the samples in the test drive site do today, with consistent results.

Getting sites ready for Beta

With the fourth Platform Preview, we strongly recommend developers, designers, and partners to start getting your sites ready for the IE9 Beta.

• Test your site in IE9 Standards Mode. This mode provides the best performance and interoperability and will offer additional benefits in the IE9 Beta. We suggest using the HTML5 doctype. More details here and here.
• We recommend sending IE9 the same standards-based markup your site sends other browsers. More details here and here. From the feedback so far, and our experience with sites, the best way to get your site working in IE9 Standards Mode is to start from the same markup other browsers receive rather than IE6, IE7, or IE8 markup.
• Use feature detection, not browser detection to handle any cross browser differences in behavior or feature support. This keeps your site working even as browsers change.
• Please continue to report issues on Connect if your site doesn’t look or work right, and you’re giving it the same code as you’re giving to other modern browsers. With IE9 Platform Preview 4, we’ve fixed over 100 community-reported issues. We will fix even more between now and the IE9 beta and want your feedback.
• Consider the experience for IE9 Beta users if you find that sending the same markup creates more issues than you can resolve in your production site. It is possible that running your site in Compatibility View is better for your users.
• Take advantage of HTML5, CSS3, SVG, DOM, ES5, and more… all described here in the developer guide. We’re excited to run the amazing experiences you bring to the web using these new capabilities, taking advantage of hardware through IE9.

Platform Preview 4 is an important milestone on the way to beta. It is the last preview before the IE9 Beta. The IE9 platform is nearly complete. We ask that developers and partners start testing in preparation for the beta and prepare their sites to take advantage of IE9’s new capabilities. We continue to welcome your feedback

Bing Gets OpenStreetMap

Bing Maps has added “OpenStreetMap” as the newest layer available to its online mapping service. It’s also available as a standalone Bing Map App from the Bing Maps gallery. OpenStreetMap (OSM), for those of you unfamiliar, is a project to create an open-source, freely editable map of the world…sort of like the Wikipedia of mapping.

The data in OSM comes from people who record it using GPS devices as well as from free satellite imagery. Once online, it can then be edited by anyone who may know more about a particular area or spots an error. At present, there are around 250,000 users contributing to the project.

By adding OSM as a layer in Bing Maps, you can now easily access this rich data from a f amiliar source: Bing. The data hasn’t been modified in any way, except to fit into the “tile schema” of Bing Maps, explains Chris Pendleton via blog post. Also of note, the data is being hosted on Windows Azure CDN, which is designed to support globally distributed apps such as this.

Bing Gets a Cab Fare Calculator

How much will that taxi ride cost you? A new Bing Maps application can give you the answer. The Taxi Fare Calculator app was developed by Ricky Brundritt for the King of Bing Maps competition.

As you may imagine, the app lets you enter in a starting address and end address and then see what the cab fare may be, as well as the shortest route. (Quick, we need a mobile version of this for tourists! )

Fare estimates are based on rates for cabs in the area, and include pick-up rates and by-the-miles costs, as applicable.

This map app is actually one of many great entries in the contest, several of which are featured here. Other apps include a “World of Football” app, a data viewer app, a pharmacy finder and more.

But the cab fare is my favorite, maybe it’s yours too?

Microsoft Tag

Microsoft Tag connects almost anything in the real world to information, entertainment, and interactive experiences on your mobile phone. Tags are a new kind of bar code that can be displayed anywhere. You can add a Tag to your ads, posters, product packages, flyers, display it on your website, billboards, clothing…the list is endless. When you scan a Tag by using the free Tag Reader application on your mobile phone, it will automatically open a webpage, display a message, or dial a number – there are no long URLs to type or SMS messages to send.

Anyone can create Tags. Put them on your materials or your webpage and you decide what your customers will experience. Unlike other kinds of bar codes, Tags are fully customizable. You can decide to create your Tags in black and white, or you can create colorful Tags that visually represent your business or personal brand in a spectacular manner. It only takes a few minutes to start working with Tag and it is free to scan and create Tags.

5pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">· Use a Tag to instantly link to a mobile website or video.

· Scan a Tag on a business card to instantly add someone to your address book.

· All the Tags you've scanned to-date are saved so you can retrieve them later or share with others.

· Create your own Tags using our Tag Manager and view reports on how frequently they are scanned.

Microsoft Tag vs. Other 2D Codes

Linking real-world objects to deeper experiences on mobile phones started in Japan with QR Codes. Microsoft Tag provides a next-generation solution that offers many useful improvements.

Tag is an end-to-end system that provides many capabilities beyond simply opening a URL, and is built upon an architecture that allows for new functionality to be added over time. Instead of just opening a URL, the Tag system leverages dedicated client software and a cloud-based back-end to provide functionality that just isn’t possible with earlier QR Codes. For example, the Tag system has built-in reporting to let you know how your Tags are being scanned, and enables you to provide integrated solutions that span multiple Tags and sessions. And over time, it can provide many other value-added services.

The new bar code format itself also provides many advantages. Tags can be created in a much smaller size than older bar codes and can be read faster and under a wider range of lighting conditions. Tag provides the option to make Custom Tags that full integrate your brand’s personality into the Tag itself, creating colorful, visually exciting codes that don’t distract from your message. Learn more about how to create Custom Tags.

Here are just some of the reasons to use Microsoft Tag:

Adaptable Size

Tag's small size makes it a perfect choice for use in printed materials and visual media forms.

Customized Look and Feel

It's easy to customize the look of a Tag to reflect the personality of the person or a brand.

Single Source

All Tags report back to a single source, ensuring a high consistency in user experience across multiple devices and platform types.

Reliability of Reads

Overcomes limited camera phone optics, resolution, and processing power.

Advanced Analytics

Captures the number of click-throughs and scans of a particular Tag, as well as the resulting responses.

The Tag Reader application runs on all the major phone platforms, and users can instantly download the app from a single site. Even better, unlike older formats, every Microsoft Tag can be read by every Tag Reader, so there is no consumer confusion that results from incompatible solutions. Tags just work.

More about tag visit... http://tag.microsoft.com/

How to Scan Barcodes with Bing for iPhone

Earlier, the Bing iPhone app was updated with a barcode scanning function, meant to be used for comparison shopping purposes. If you’re wondering how this works, the Bing blog has just provided a handy how-to.

However, I noticed a couple of things about the way the instructions were written over there that may be confusing to new users. For one, you don’t “click” anything – you “tap.” Also, the camera is not an icon, it’s text. And you only tap to take a photo when you’re scanning cover art, not barcodes.

Based on my experiences with the Bing app, here’s how I would explain it to new users:

1. From the Bing’s homepage, tap the word “camera” at the bottom of the page. This launches the iPhone’s camera.
2. Point the camera at a barcode or, if a book, CD, DVD or video game, you can just point the camera at the cover art.
3. If a barcode, the app will automatically recognize the code and perform a search. For cover art, you’ll need to tap to take a photo first.
4. Bing will then search for results. When it finds a match, it’s displayed in a box at the bottom labeled “1 result.” (I’ve yet to scan anything where it finds more than 1 result, but that could happen, I suppose).
5. Tap the thumbnail to see the result details. Here, you’ll find a description, images, rating, reviews and links of where to buy.

First Microsoft Hohm Gadget Has Launched

Microsoft is launching its first Hohm-enabled gadget courtesy of a partnership with Blue Line Innovations, a Canadian-based company which sells energy monitoring and management devices. Hohm, for those unaware, is a web service designed to help consumers monitor and analyze their energy consumption and then make recommendations for cost-savings measures.

Previously, using the Hohm website, the Q&A section would have to be filled out based on what you knew about your home – but unless you already had energy-monitoring gadgets installed, your answers were estimates in several cases.

Now, with the new Hohm PowerCost Monitor and WiFi Gateway, you’ll have hard data.

The device hooks up to your home’s power meter (no wiring required!) and reads actual usage. The details are transmitted to your Microsoft Hohm account which displays the data in near real-time graphs and charts (delays are 30 seconds or so). You can also view the data from a mobile device, if desired.

This is only the beginning for Hohm-enabled gadgets: Microsoft plans to connect Hohm with smart plugs, thermostats, HVAC systems, electric vehicles (it’s already in the Ford Focus Electric) and more.

The Blue Line PowerCost Monitor and Wi-Fi Gateway are available today from Blue Line Innovations and through select retailers like Frys, Amazon, and Microsoft stores. The complete package of PowerCost Monitor and Wi-Fi Gateway is available for $249, the Wi-Fi Gateway is

also sold separately for $159.

Skype SDK Now Available for Windows

Developers interested in integrating Skype into their applications can now request access to Skype’s new SDK, called SkypeKit. Available in beta format as of June 14th, the Windows version of the developer’s kit works on Windows x86 operating systems.

Access to the kit is on an invite-only basis at the moment, and interested developers have to go to Skype’s website and fill out an online form detailing their user and organization info.

SkypeKit will allow the integration of voice and video calling and/or IM features into third-party desktop applications or compatible Internet-connected hardware devices. It also offers Skype’s super wideband audio, based on the SILK codec. Developers who use SkypeKit will be able to describe their apps as “plugged into Skype” in their marketing materials, notes a company blog post about the announcement.

To request an invite to the program, you can head over here to the sign up page now.
http://on10.net

Microsoft Research Shows off Street Slide View

Engadget (via MIT’s Technology Review) uncovered a cool Microsoft Research project called “Street Slide” view. The project attempts to create a new interface for viewing the street-level photos used in online applications like Bing Maps Streetside View.

As explained on the project’s homepage, today’s mapping applications enable users to virtually visit cities by way of “immersive 360 degree panoramas, or bubbles.” Users move from bubble to bubble, but this doesn’t necessarily provide the best visual sense of a city street.

With Street Slide, the researchers took the best aspects of the “immersive bubbles” and transformed them into multi-perspective strip panoramas. You can actually slide out of a bubble to see the street from a different perspective – a strip that’s viewed from a greater difference. When viewed in this mode, the empty space above and below the strip could be used for business logos and building numbers (addresses), or even ads.

According to the MIT article, the researchers have already made a version of this technology for mobile devices, including the iPhone. “It broadens out your visual sense to cover a two-block radius,” says Michael Cohen, a senior scientist at Microsoft Research.

Who’s hoping for a WP7 phone implementation of this tech? I know I am. In case I didn’t explain this too well, you can see Street Slide in action in the video here.

Introduction to Project Hilo

Project “Hilo” is a series of articles and sample applications that demonstrate how you can leverage the power of Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 and Visual C++ to build high performance, responsive rich client applications. Hilo provides both source code and guidance that will help you design and develop compelling, touch-enabled Windows applications of your own. Join Yochay Kiriaty and James Johanson for an introduction of Project Hilo, a quick tour of its architect and design principles.

Additional information about the project can be found in the Introducing Project HILO post, and on MSDN – Hilo: Developing C++ Application for Windows 7

Acer Frameless Laptop & Touchscreen Keyboard?

Would you believe that Acer is working on a frameless laptop with touchscreen keyboard? As far-fetched as the idea might be, it's certainly plausible, expected even. The idea, as rumored by DigiTimes, involves doing away with the display's frame by printing colors directly onto the back of the display's reinforced glass substrate from Corning (a la Gorilla Glass presumably). Coupled with a touchscreen keyboard, the rumored device should be impossibly thin by traditional laptop comparisons. Keep in mind that we've already seen this Frame Zero concept pictured above from Fujitsu and Acer's arch-rival ASUS has been showing off its dual-display laptop prototype with touchscreen keyboard for months. Even the OLPC XO-3 plans to eschew the clickity keyboard in favor of a touchscreen version. And anyone who has ever seen a scifi movie knows that tactile keyboards and display bezels have no role to play in our computing future anyway, so we might as well get things started now -- or in the second half of 2010 according to DigiTimes' sources.

Aiptek PocketCinema Z20 Packs Pico Projector

Watch out, Flip, because here's one tough guy that you don't wanna mess with. Joining Aiptek's family of pocket camcorders is the PocketCinema Z20 -- a fine mix of 720p camera (courtesy of a 5 megapixel sensor) and pico projector of an unknown resolution, powered by a two-hour battery (which we'll believe when we see it). Users will be spoiled by a long list of features: 2GB of internal memory, microSDHC expansion, built-in 2.4-inch LCD, HDMI output, composite video input (iPod adapter included) and remote control. Want it? You can pre-order now for €349 or about $476 ahead of its mid-April launch. Meanwhile, enjoy Aiptek's cheesy promotion video after the break.

GPS and Sensor-laden ski Goggles

Remember those mind-melting Recon Instruments goggles that we caught wind of late last year? Admit it -- you never, ever expected those things to actually make it to market. Despite your pessimism, it seems as if those very specs are indeed making a beeline to the consumer realm, with Zeal Optics jumping in, working a bit of magic and relabeling 'em Transcend. Deemed the planet's first GPS and sensor-laden ski goggles, these things are purportedly capable of logging speed, altitude, temperature and time details, and the side-mounted toggle switches will enable you to view said data in real time (or not, if you're paying attention to the 50 foot drop ahead of you). Peek the read link for further details on the $350+ wearables (demoed after the break), and get ready to hit the slopes with a whole new mindset this October. more

eVouse Concept Mouse

We're not going to lie, it was a major let down when we found out that this glowing V-shaped mouse with faux Microsoft branding is nothing more than a splendiferous concept, but we're holding back the tears as best we can. The super futuristic-looking eVouse doubles as both a regular mouse and a pen sensor (in theory, anyway) or as its designer Marcial Ahsayane says, "it's a mix between a classic mouse and a tablet PC." We assume that means you can -- you know -- write digitally with it, but it will also work as an air mouse with touch sensitive buttons. Maybe you can discern a little more from the images below where it seems to morph into a boomerang of sorts, but in the meanwhile we'll be in the corner wishing this thing had a ship date attached to it. You hearing this, Microsoft? (www.engadgets.com)

The 10 Golden Rules of Systems Analysis

The 10 golden rules of Systems Analysis by John E. Gibson, William T. Scherer, William F. Gibson.

Rule 1: There Always Is a Client

Rule 2: Your Client Does Not Understand His Own Problem

Rule 3: The Original Problem Statement is too Specific: You Must Generalize the Problem to Give it Contextual Integrity.

Rule 4: The Client Does Not Understand the Concept of the Index of Performance

Rule 5: You are the Analyst, Not the Decision-Maker

Rule 6: Meet the Time Deadline and the Cost Budget

Rule 7: Take a Goal-Centered Approach to the Problem, Not a Technology-Centered or Chronological Approach

Rule 8: Nonusers Must be Considered in the Analysis and in the Final Recommendations

Rule 9: The Universal Computer Model is a Fantasy

Rule 10: The Role of Decision-Maker in Public Systems is Often a Confused One

Dublin's Luas Route Info - Android App

I have developed a very simple application to show Map Info of Dublin's Light Rail Tram System Luas. This will show you full route of Luas-Green Line and Luas - Red line stations and different fare areas. This application is built for Android plateform. You can download this application on your Android device simply by downloading from following link.

Download Luas.rar (contains Luas.apk)

HTC HD2

From a pure specification standpoint, it's hard to knock HTC's HD2. Scratch that -- it's impossible to knock the HD2. A 1GHz Snapdragon CPU is just the tip of the iceberg, with the icing on the cake being the 800 x 480 resolution display, 5 megapixel camera, GPS and a downright stunning overall design. Unfortunately, phones are made or broken by the software that's loaded on, and Windows Mobile 6.5 isn't exactly the most nimble mobile OS on the market right now. That said, we're confident that more than a few of you have unloaded your savings accounts in order to posses one of the sexiest cellular telephones this world has ever seen, and now that the deed is done, we're eager to hear your opinions on how the phone really stacks up. Are you happy with the performance? Did you expect it to be snappier given the monstrous CPU? Would you have held out for WinMo 7 if Sir Patience would've allowed you? No need to go easy on anything -- tell it like it is in comments below.

Robonica's Roboni-i Programmable Robot

Life became duller ever since FedEx took away our last annoying little robot, so we got our hands on a new but less chatty plastic companion -- say hi to Robonica's Roboni-i programmable robot. Since its last Engadget appearance we've seen a drastic price drop from the original $299.95 to $159.95 at Hammacher Schlemmer, but the robot is no less awesome -- those unique wheels alone deliver plenty of coolness already, not to mention the bunch of peculiar accessories in the box for games and even interaction with other fellow Roboni-is. Read on to find out if this bot's a keeper.

Gesture Cube

You know how it is -- another day, another "magical" and "intuitive" input device -- not unlike Immersion's Cubtile, which we first saw about a year ago. This time around the culprit is Gesture Cube, the heathen spawn of Ident's "GestIC" electric field sensing technology (for 3D spatial movement tracking) and a couple German design studios. GestIC detects movements and distances in 3D space, enabling touch free gesture control. If this sounds good to you, wait until you see the YouTube demonstration, complete with all sorts of "magical" and "intuitive" interface ideas! It will really make you with you were a designer living in Germany, starring in YouTube videos for "magical" and "intuitive" design firms. We don't know how much of a hurry we are to see this implemented in our fave hardware, but who knows? Maybe we'll come around eventually -- after all, Grippity did wonders for our words-per-minute. Video after the break.

Samsung's Transparent OLED Laptop

So um, remember this crazy 14-inch transparent OLED display Samsung was showing off perched atop a laptop at CES? Yea, that might be in the shops within the next 12 months. If that doesn't get you tingling with excitement, we don't know what will. Samsung will start its big push toward translucency with the IceTouch PMP, which we found to have a gorgeous 2-inch display in our earlier hands-on, but it's already working away in the labs on turning the prototype above into a concrete retail product. The IceTouch is slated to make its US arrival early in the first half of this year, priced at around $332. European availability is as yet uncomfirmed, but the Korean's company is being very ambitious about its technology, suggesting that windscreen-mounted SatNav units could be next on the agenda and ruling nothing out as it strives to bring its transparent AMOLED displays into the mainstream

HDMI 1.4's 3D

3D's happening whether you like it or not -- but the good news is that there won't be any format war to go with the adoption of the new tech. At least that's the sense we've been getting, as most manufacturers are adopting active shutter glasses, delivery will happen on cable, satellite, and Blu-ray, and now the HDMI Licensing group has opened up the 3D portion of the HDMI 1.4 spec so non-licensees can make their gear compatible. There'll be some changes coming down the pike in HDMI 1.4a, but that's also due for public release, so really we'll all be one big dorky family in 3D glasses when this is all over.

Armatix Smartgun

Armatix has apparently been working on its so-called "smartgun" concept for quite a while, but it's now finally shown up at the Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT, naturally) with its first actual product: a .22-caliber pistol that relies on a wristwatch as a safety. As you can probably figure out, the gun will only unlock itself when its in close proximity to the watch, which sends a "wireless arming signal" that, of course, also activates some green LEDs for good measure. Previous incarnations of the company's concept also relied on a fingerprint ID as an additional safety, but that seems to have been left off this production model, which will run €7,000 (or $9,700) when it starts shipping next month. more

Aerotel GeoSKeeper

Have a grandmother or grandfather who tends to go for afternoon walks and somehow winds up on the other side of town? Does that town happen to be in Finland? Aerotel GeoSKeeper system could be your saving grace, a wrist-worn cellphone and GPS combo device that allows for others to keep tabs on the location of the wearer. It was announced back in 2008 and is now going live in Finland courtesy of EcoTec, where families can set up safe zones and receive alerts whenever the wearer decides to wander outside of them, which is reassuring -- so long as you're not the one wearing the thing. Calls can be made to doctors or family with the press of a button should something go wrong, and apparently you can even receive text messages somehow. The one thing it can't do? Tell time. If you're going to make someone wear something like this, the least you could do is build a watch into the thing! more

LGE 15" OLED TV

LGE 15" OLED TV : 15-inches is small, it easily trumps the world's first production OLED TV, Sony's $2,500 11-inch XEL-1, and is a reasonable size for the bedroom (if you must) or kitchen counter. No word on specs but we expect the production set to offer the same million:1 contrast, 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution, and 30,000-hour shelf life as the prototype unveiled in January. The TV will launch first in Korea for an undisclosed price that is bound to be punishingly expensive.

POB-Bot Lite II

The POB-Bot Lite is a complete robot assembling all the POB-Technology’s know-how.

It provides a mechanical base on which an intelligent color camera, a screen, and I/O management board are mounted.

A CD-Rom with examples and development tools, a serial cable for your PC are also provided.

The POB-Bot has been designed with an open architecture allowing any kind of customization (electronics, mechanical and software).

Modules communicate via the very fast POB Bus. An I2C Bus is also available.

Except the the graphical screen, all POB robot parts can be used in other robots than ours.

You program the POB-Eye (colour camera) which pilot the other robot parts.


For example, you can add to the POB-Bot Lite :

Sensors on the front of the robot

Integrate servomotors to create an arm or motorize sensors

Add robot parts

Or add...your imagination !!!
Applications

The POB-Bot is the first robot totally open for users, as well for mechanical, electronics as software.

The softwares, RISBEE for starters and the POB-Tools for higher skilled users, make POB-Bot an excellent pedagogical support for different teaching levels from high schools to engineering schools.

You can use your robot with given examples or let your imagination go freely by developing new behaviors or adding electronics to increase capabilities and give new horizons to your robot.

Includes

1x POB-Eye II
1x POB-LCD128
1x POB-Proto
1x Tank Kit
The POB's Mechanical base
1 serial cable and 1 CD-ROM including compilors, softwares, examples and documentation.
USB/Serial Adapter

Next Generation Dashboard

Intel Atom processors, capacitive touchscreens, NVIDIA Tegra 2 graphics, Moblin installs... sounds like a suite of hot next-gen ultra-portables, right? Think again. Those are just some of the technologies used in the dashboards of cars that will be appearing on showrooms in the coming months and years, dashes that were largely on display at CES -- minus the cars themselves, usually. There we were treated to mobile glimpses of Google Earth, Pandora, and Slacker Radio on the go, plus the ability to lock and unlock your car via Ye Olde Internets. It's the future, and it's coming soon, so click on through already and get a sneak peek. more

Inbrics Android Based SoIP S1

The SoIP S1 from Inbrics is running Android, of course, but it's under that same fine UI skin that Inbrics has coated its M1 Android slider in. The result is a finger-friendly device with nice software for making calls and sending messages -- though it could really benefit from an external text-input device of some sort, and luckily there's Bluetooth onboard to make that a possibility. There's HDMI, Ethernet, USB and an SD slot around back, and the device is designed to sling video calls and media playback to a TV over the HDMI plug or DLNA (there's also WiFi onboard, natch). For VoIP there's a wireless handset embedded in the base of the unit. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see a demo of the video calling in action, and the big hangup with most of these video calling stations is still here: there's no mention of the big standards in video calling like Skype, Google Talk or iChat, so it's hard to see this catching fire with people who actually video chat. Still, at least Inbrics has roughly half of the software problem solved. Check out a video walkthrough after the break.(http://www.engadget.com)