Responsiveness Archive

  • Want to connect your iPhone and Bluetooth keyboard? There’s a (jailbroken) app for that (Update: video!)

    Want to connect your iPhone and Bluetooth keyboard? There’s a (jailbroken) app for that (Update: video!)

    Posted on December 24, 2009 | No Comments
    The wait has been long, but now there's finally a means by which to connect your dear, yet almost buttonless, iPhone or iPod touch to a Bluetooth keyboard for some more intense finger tapping action. The project that delivered us this teasing video back in February has at long last reached the application stage, where simple commoners like us can use it to synergize our gear -- provided we've had the wherewithal to free it from Cupertino's overbearing clutches first. The BTstack Keyboard app is now available in exchange for $5 at the Cydia store, so if you want to be the first to write a bestseller on his or her iDevice, there's no time like the present.

    Update: We've done the inevitable and had a quick play with the app ourselves. Pairing our iPhone and keyboard was a veritable cinch, and we were met by delightfully rapid responsiveness throughout, whether using it in Safari, composing text missives, or jotting those novella notes down. You should note that command, cut, copy, paste, and highlighting functions are not yet active, and then hurry along past the break to see a video demo.

    Continue reading Want to connect your iPhone and Bluetooth keyboard? There's a (jailbroken) app for that (Update: video!)

    Want to connect your iPhone and Bluetooth keyboard? There's a (jailbroken) app for that (Update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • WebOS 1.3.5 coming to CES: better performance and more app storage, says Palm CEO

    WebOS 1.3.5 coming to CES: better performance and more app storage, says Palm CEO

    Posted on December 18, 2009 | No Comments
    Here's something to glean from Palm's recent quarterly call, besides the still less-than-profitable fiscal number, of course. CEO Jon Rubinstein divulged that yes, we will indeed be seeing webOS 1.3.5 during CES early next month. Even better, we got some insight into what we'll be expecting from the update: more application storage (hooray!), better WiFi / app performance, improved battery life, and "increase Pixi speed and responsiveness" -- interesting that Pixi is called out solo for that last one, but we're not about to read too much into that just yet. Good news all around, but let's hope there's still a surprise or two left in store come January 7th.

    WebOS 1.3.5 coming to CES: better performance and more app storage, says Palm CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Fujitsu’s splitting F-04B cellphone gets tested, found to contain no Energon cubes

    Fujitsu’s splitting F-04B cellphone gets tested, found to contain no Energon cubes

    Posted on November 12, 2009 | No Comments

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    Fujitsu's splitting F-04B cellphone gets tested, found to contain no Energon cubes
    Sometimes you want a phone with a physical keyboard. Sometimes you want one that fits in the back pocket of your skinny jeans. And sometimes, when you're feeling really crazy, you want one with a pico projector. Impossible dream? Not if you're Fujitsu, who have made official the bizarre splitting F-04B first showed as a prototype last year, and AkihabaraNews has managed a hands-on. Both the touchscreen and keyboard portions operate independently and connect via Bluetooth, as does the 854 x 480 projector that can clip on in place of the keyboard. Overall impressions are good, the phone said to be a bit too bulky with the keyboard attached but quite fit with just the screen, and though that LCD didn't get high marks for responsiveness, the 12.2 megapixel camera did. If you're looking for price or release info you're out of luck, but we'd advise against getting any hopes up. We know, it's hard.

    Fujitsu's splitting F-04B cellphone gets tested, found to contain no Energon cubes originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Hands-on video: The BlackBerry OS 5.0 update turns the Storm into an iPhone clone

    Hands-on video: The BlackBerry OS 5.0 update turns the Storm into an iPhone clone

    Posted on October 26, 2009 | No Comments
    Verizon released the BlackBerry OS 5.0 update alongside the Storm2 launch date this morning. I just had to try it out as I had ranked the BlackBerry Storm as the worst phone ever made. I’ve only had the update loaded for about an hour so far, but everything seems slightly better including the reception, responsiveness, [...]

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  • The Song of the PowerSquid: The Inside Story of the Life of an Invention Part 6

    The Song of the PowerSquid: The Inside Story of the Life of an Invention Part 6

    Posted on July 28, 2009 | No Comments
    Hello, my name is Christopher Hawker. I am a professional inventor, specializing in innovative consumer products. My company is called Trident Design, LLC. I have developed many products in numerous industries and have over 20 products on the market. My most famous invention is the PowerSquid, a cephalopod-inspired power strip with outlets situated at the end of short cords, thereby eliminating the problem of losing outlets to bulky transformer plugs. John Biggs, editor-in-chief of this blog, has asked me to write the story of the birth of the PowerSquid and its development and journey to market. This is the Song of the PowerSquid. This is part 6 of a 6 part series. Read them all here. Part 6: Philips Enters the Picture In the summer of 2006, I got a call from the president of Power Sentry to tell me that they were being bought by Philips, the Netherlands-based consumer electronics giant. My initial instinct was that this would be a mixed bag. They were just too large. He reassured that it would be great for the PowerSquid, with the awesome brand and marketing power of this giant, worldwide corporation suddenly behind our product. What really ended up happening was that the huge corporation barley noticed that it sold PowerSquid, since it had thousands and thousands of other products. The lack of focus quickly became evident as the relationship began to unfold. Most notably in their responsiveness to our needs as Flexity, which usually amounted to, “bad news delivered late.” Nevertheless, we continued to push Flexity. Philips agreed to let us distribute their other power products to our customers, so we became a distributor of the original non-surge PowerSquid, as well as their lower-end (UL Listed) surge protectors. We successfully sold the Calamari into Dell’s and Apple’s online stores, which were two of our major targets all along. Unfortunately, they both sequestered them to the last page of their surge protector sections. We had no “pay-to-play” money to get higher placement. With no special attention drawn to them and backwoods positioning, neither venue proved as successful as our own site.

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