Touchpad for iPhone gives remote mousing for your PC

The extent to which your iPhone gets its fingers into the rest of your digital life increases today, as software is released that turns the touchscreen cellphone into a remote trackpad for your PC.

Touchpad for iPhone is the work of coder JS, and uses the basic framework of VNsea to allow full single/double clicking, dragging & dropping, vertical scrolling and more, all on the iPhone. JS suggests the software as an accessory for giving presentations or controlling media, and I can certainly see how this might be handy if you use your system as an HTPC.



This app reminds me of one I used to use back in the days when I regularly had my iPaq 4150 Pocket PC to hand; PPC Tablet did basically the same thing as Touchpad for iPhone, letting you use the touchscreen on the PDA to control what was happening on the PC.

You can install Touchpad for iPhone by following JS’ instructions; you’ll need to have Jailbroken your handset, and I’m assuming this also works on the iPod Touch:

1. Start Installer.app, and go to Sources. Click “Edit”, and then Add this repository: http://cnp.qlnk.net/
2. After the refresh, install Touchpad from the Utilities category.
3. You’ll need to have VNC installed on your desktop.

[via Engadget]

AIRDRIVES interactive headset for iPhone

AIRDRIVES have announced an addition to their range of so-called interactive stereo earphones, introducing a model specifically catering for the iPhone (as well as BlackBerry’s Pearl and Curve). The set adds a microphone and “one-touch music-to-phone capability” to the company’s existing earphones, the InAir Technology of which places the speaker buds outside, just forward of the ear canal rather than inside as normal. This, apparently, allows you to both listen to clear music but also hear environmental sounds (such as the honking bus about to run you over).

The earphones have a 20-20,000Hz frequency range, 95dB at source and 80dB SPL at inner-ear sensitivity, and 16 Ohm impedance. All AirDrives earphones exceed the House Ear Institute and Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) standards for all-day listening based on sound pressure levels detected at the inner ear.

They’re apparently available now for $99.99.

[via Phonemag]

Nokia N78 advert: it’s bigger on the inside

Someone at Nokia has a sense of humour; their latest marketing skit is for the recently-announced N78, which whips together HSDPA, WiFi, GPS and a 3.2-megapixel camera. What you may not have realised - and Vincent certainly didn’t in his hands-on, else he wouldn’t have shaken the phone so much - is that there’s a tiny Nokia engineer inside each handset, patching through calls, sending photos via air-tube to your blog and polishing up your GPS satellite dish.

Check out the video after the cut



It’s interesting to think about which approach other companies take in their advertising; I can’t imagine, say, Apple or Sony making this sort of ad, they’re too busy concentrating on making the product look slick and professional. I’m just glad gadget adverts haven’t gone the same way as car commercials: all long winding deserted roads and gravel voiceovers.

[via NSeries]

BluAlert Vibrating Bluetooth Wristband is your silent call reminder

I’m notorious for leaving my phone on vibrate and missing numerous calls, so while this BluAlert vibrating Bluetooth wristband might look a bit silly, the concept behind it is surprisingly alluring. After pairing it with your cellphone - it shows up as a headset or hands-free device in the Bluetooth pairing menu - whenever you get a call the battery-powered wristband vibrates to let you know. Moreover, walk more than five meters away from your mobile and the band will vibrate to remind you that you’ve left it behind.

It uses Bluetooth v1.2 and is, as you’d expect for something so straightforward, compatible with all other versions of the short-range wireless technology. Battery life is a very reasonable 100hrs, and a full charge takes 3hrs. The strap is made of neoprene rubber, can be resized, and suits wrists between 7.5 and 9.5-inches around.

Best of all, if you’re interested the BluAlert costs £34.95 ($62.91) and is available now.

[via Crave]

Sony Mylo 2 to use On2 video decoder for YouTube compatibility

After looking at On2’s new 1080p HD-capable mobile video chipset yesterday, today there’s word that the company has licenced one of their software decoder solutions to Sony for their latest WiFi communicator. The TrueMotion VP6 video decoder will power the Flash Lite 3 functionality in the new Mylo 2, Sony’s IM, VoIP and internet device, ensuring compatibility with streaming web video such as YouTube and Google Video.

“We continue to improve the quality of our video solutions for leading handheld
device manufacturers, and the mylo communicator is one of the best examples of
mobile video products on the market today. Most of the leading user-generated
content web sites today use our Flix Engine product and VP6 compression scheme
to create and publish video, and we see the market trends moving toward mobile
video sharing and consumption” Bill Joll, president and CEO, On2 Technologies

Apparently the On2 Flix Engine is the video processing application often used to convert video files into streaming Flash-based video, with customers including Adobe, AOL, Skype, VideoEgg and Nokia.

You can read more about the Sony Mylo 2 here.

[via Phonemag]

Pink phones line up for action

To be honest, I do see pink cellphones - in fact pink gadgets in general - as a rather shameless and vapid attempt to cash in on the female market (and in doing so presume in rather a sexist way that all women are interested in is pretty colours rather than what a handset can do), but the damn things continue to sell. Crave have decided to look beyond the dubious intentions and put together a list of the top ten pink handsets around; if anything, I suppose it’s interesting to see the different shades available.

A lot of the time, manufacturers seem to bring out new colours (pink being a common one, now) to refresh flagging sales of an ageing handset (Motorola, I’m particularly looking at you). If you’re looking for a gift for a wife, daughter or mistress, I’d find out exactly what she plans on doing with the cellphone before settling on the one that closest matches her eyeshadow; your gift could backfire if she discovers it lacks a 5-megapixel camera, HSDPA or WiFi!

[via Phonemag]

XPERIA X1 Runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

We all sort of knew that Windows Mobiles 6.1 powers XPERIA X1, but there wasn’t any proof. Thankfully the Hungarian website Terminal.hu had an opportunity to snap a number of money shots revealing more details.

So since Microsoft hasn’t officially announce Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional yet, it’s still unofficial that XPERIA X1 is running it. It’s also powered by Qualcomm 7200 CPU running at 528 MHz with 128MB of RAM. The screen size and resolution is already known to be 800×480 and the camera is 3.2-megapixel with NO flash. During a separate press conference with Sony Ericsson execs, I learned that XPERIA has a 1500 mAh battery. I’m concerned about the performance due to the measly 128MB of RAM and Sony Ericsson’s decision to leave out the flash and autofocus.

As far s the design go, I’m pretty impressed with the slightly curve slide out QWERTY keyboard, the metal case and large touch screen. Perhaps when CTIA Wireless 2008 rolls around, Sony Ericsson and Microsoft are ready to reveal much more info regarding the device as well as Windows Mobile 6.1.

[via Phonemag]