Unify4Life: Remote assistance from BlackBerry

Think of a situation where you forgot your garage keys and the porter fails to respond to your honking and open the garage door. So what do you do? Bang your head on the steering? Well, no more! Thanks to Unify4Life for thinking up the Garage/Shadow application in collaboration with BlackBerry. BlackBerry users can now open their garage doors with their phones. Isn’t it so cool? And the best part? It’s all set to make its appearance on April 6, hopefully at CES ‘09.

[via: Uberphones]

Virtual vapor: iPhone gets steamy with interactive technology

Whenever iPhone rolls out an innovative application, I think of usability and most of the times I have been proved right. However, this time not so! The iSteam simulation, is an inclusion just for the sake of novelty. You’d definitely love to flaunt it on your iPhone screen; to virtually wipe out vapor on the screen is sure great fun. Though this application costs $0.99 only, I would still wait for someone to gift it to me. Just check this video out and enjoy this interactive art on your iPhone:

Image Credit: Isteam

Via: Gizmodo

Lupa Swivel concept phone: Elegant transparency!

Mac Funamizu seems to be projecting transparency as the theme for the New Year. And as part of that he offers the Lupa Swivel Concept Phone with a see-through exterior. As the name itself suggests, it has a twirling screen that rests on a touchscreen display, making it an endearing concept. Mind you, all the functional keys are at the bottom of the touchscreen. What separates it from other designs is the presence of navigation keys on the rotary click wheel. There is no word on pricing and availability as of now. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for it to come your way soon!

[via: Concept-phones]

Apple iPhone to get 'Copy & Paste' feature

Two major flaws with the Apple iPhone are its crappy camera and the unavailability of the “Copy & Paste” feature. The latest news in the air is that Citrix is developing a receiver for the iPhone that will bring numerous Windows apps and developers to the iPhone. The Citrix Receiver for iPhone is said to be a remote screen software that hooks to a PC and makes you feel like you are running Microsoft’s OS, including copy and paste functionality. Some features that Citrix is currently eyeing include websites that require flash, medical apps, web apps that need IE and Cut & paste (within Citrix sessions). This will be the very first application that will be supported by a reputed company.

[via: Gizmodo/Citrix]

E-football on your iPhone!

I feel like I have been writing about iPhone applications since ages. We have a new application for the iPhone every third day and the latest is the LED Football 2 by Mark Helmuth. With this iPhone application, the lovers of electronic football will be able to enjoy a range of features, including running, kicking, punts, field goals and the old standby, passing. It can even emulate the slow accumulation of wear on the plastic buttons. That’s really amazing. The power is at your fingertips to bring the defense to its knees. Watch as your receiver goes wide and your Quarterback locks on. As we were talking earlier about the iPhone being a perfect gaming platform, it seems like we might see more and more gaming applications for the iPhone in the near future.

[via UberGizmo]

Cellphone hacked for testing blood and detecting diseases

Cellphone hacking is nothing new but this hack for medical purposes is simply imposing. Scientists at the UCLA have transformed a Sony Ericsson phone into a blood testing unit, which can detect HIV, malaria and several other illnesses. This portable blood tester was created by just using an LED, a plastic light filter and some wires. The hacked device analyzes the blood cells that are placed on an integrated off-the-shelf camera sensor and lit up with a filtered light source. Pictured above is an off-the-shelf Sony Ericsson cellphone that has been modded into a LUCAS imager. LUCAS stands for Lensfree Ultrawide-field Cell-monitoring Array platform based on Shadow imaging.

[via cellphonebeat]

Video: ShakeSMS, a feature I want to see in every mobile device

Symbian Freak brings us a video demonstration of ShakeSMS, a new application that utilizes the accelerometer inside Nokia’s Nseries lineup to bring up your text messages in one easy motion.
Scenario: You get an sms. Take your phone out of your pocket (remember it is still locked), shake it, it brings up the text message you just received. Shake it again, phone goes back to the home screen and locks the keys. It will be interesting to see how it reacts if you have your device in your pocket, that is the only thing that worries me.



[via IntoMobile]

Nokia’s Wireless Wibree Technology merges with Bluetooth SIG

On Tuesday, the consortium behind the Bluetooth wireless standard announced that Nokia will be contributing a technology that promises to bring wireless connections to devices that are too small for regular Bluetooth chips.


The technology called Wibree technology has been developed by Nokia and will become part of the Bluetooth specification under an agreement reached by the Wibree Forum and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

According to Michael Foley, executive director of Bluetooth SIG, “We look at this as an addition to the Bluetooth family of specifications, enabling a new class of devices that Bluetooth isn’t really suitable for today.”

Bluetooth has been used to connect larger devices like handsets, keyboards and mice to stereos and PCs. With the help of Wibree, the technology will be able to connect smaller button-cell battery-powered devices such as watches or even sensors attached to a user’s body.

Wibree uses the same 2.4GHz frequency as Bluetooth. Also, Wibree has a much lower data rate and power consumption than Bluetooth.

Finland-based Nokia started developing Wibree in 2001, and announced this technology in October 2006. The company formed a Wibree Forum with other companies to license and utilize this technology.

From the very beginning, Wibree was designed to work with two implementation options- as an easily implemented extension to a classic Bluetooth radio, and as a stand-alone application.

“Nokia’s contribution of its Wibree technology into the Bluetooth SIG as the basis for ultra low power Bluetooth specifications will continue to enhance the consumer experience of connecting to anything and anyone from anywhere with Bluetooth wireless technology,” said John R. Barr, Ph.D., chairman of the Bluetooth SIG board of directors.

“This new technology, as the basis of a wide range of ultra low power devices, is a commendable advancement in Bluetooth technology,” he added.

The integration of Wibree, the low power technology within existing Bluetooth specification has already begun and the very first version of the specification can be expected during the first half of 2008.