Category Archives: Web

iEmu Open Source iOS Emulator For Android Has Officially Been Cancelled – RIP

Posted by on September 16, 2011 No comments

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It was only about 2 weeks ago we told you guys about an ambitious Kickstarter project aimed at emulating iOS apps on Android. There were more than a few hurdles the iEmu team were facing to get this accomplished but after gaining 100% of their $20,000 funding, iEmu is officially dead in the water. Guess, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. The developer of the project has yet to provide any info or reasons why the whole project was cancelled regardless — we can say this is a sad, sad day. RIP iEmu.

Thanks, Molo!

[Via Kickstarter]

Nintendo CEO Responds To Rumors Of Developing Games For Smartphones

Posted by on September 16, 2011 1 comment

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There has been some talk of Nintendo entering the smartphone gaming market after the creators of Pokemon released a card-based app game for Android and iOS. Even though it wasn’t Nintendo who directly published the game, Pokemon is a uniquely Nintendo franchise which pretty much got the rumor mill churning. During the Tokyo Game Show that’s taking place on the other side of the world, Nikkei was able to interview Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and asked him to speak on the rumors of Nintendo releasing games for smartphones. In typical Nintendo fashion, Iwata had this to say,

“This is absolutely not under consideration. If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It’s the duty of management to make use of those strengths. It’s probably the correct decision in the sense that the moment we started to release games on smartphones we’d make profits. However, I believe my responsibility is not to short term profits, but to Nintendo’s mid and long term competitive strength.”

In other words, NO. You have a greater chance at seeing Apple open source their software than Nintendo officially developing app games for smartphones. Guess it’s back to the emulators..

[Andriasang via Electronista]

Sprint Posts Samsung Epic 4G Touch User Guide

Posted by on September 13, 2011 No comments

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The release of the Samsung Epic 4G Touch is only a few days away, but for those with the phone on pre-order and plans to run out and buy it as soon as the nearest Sprint store opens for business on the 16th can get a leg up by checking out the user guide now. Sprint has posted the document to their support site as of today. If you’re still on the fence, be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming review.

[Sprint via AndroidForums | Thanks, cds0699!]

Samsung Galaxy S II Monitors New Ford Electric E-Bike Concept

Posted by on September 13, 2011 1 comment

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First it was the Nike Mags and now this — the Ford E-Bike Concept. I think it’s safe to say, the future has finally arrived. This Android powered hybrid electric bike packs an electric motor built into the front wheel delivering up to 25 km/h maximum speeds on a 9.2Ah battery. If you’re still living in last century, you can also pedal the old fashioned way but really, why bother? The device you see in between the handle bars is a Samsung Galaxy S II installed with some specialized apps, effectively allowing you to change the bike’s suspension, keep an eye on your battery charge and use our favorite Google apps like Navigation (Gmail is not recommended). So when will this Android powered cycle go into mass production? Well, probably never. But it’s awfully purty, isn’t it? Now where’s my damn hoverboard?

[Via Engadget]

Google’s Auto-Correct Kills Launch of Android App Locai

Posted by on September 13, 2011 No comments

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Auto-correct, while normally extremely humorous can sometimes be detrimental to a business. Don’t believe me? Just ask the developers of Locai, a Dallas, Texas based start-up that introduced their app into the Android Market about a week ago. The only problem, nobody could find it. Google’s auto-correct function in the Android Market just about killed their launch. Go ahead. Give it a shot. Type — Locai — into your Market search bar and watch as Google assumes you meant “Local” and brings up a list of apps with that fill that description. Funny? No. Tragic? Well, if you’re a budding app developer than, hells yes.

The only way to actually find the app is by typing in “Locai” with the quotes. Something I didn’t even know was possible in a Market search until now. Let’s hope the attention brought by this new Market issue will be addressed in some coming updates. All Google would have to do is prioritize exact spelling before auto-correct queries. In any case, to help these guys out — why not give Locai a quick download. They’ve been through enough.

[Market Link]

Amazon Registers AmazonBoomerang.com – What is It?

Posted by on September 12, 2011 No comments

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After Amazon went and secured KindleScribe.com and KindleScribes.com, it seems they have something else called the Amazon Boomerang as they’ve registered AmazonBoomerang.com. I should note that we have no idea what this could be – Amazon has yet to file a trademark with such a name (from what we can find) that could have given a bit of insight into what we’re expecting. This could be a phone, a tablet, or even a popcorn maker. But you all know we’re hoping this will be that second device with Android we keep hearing Amazon will be bringing. [Fusible]

Will Google’s Soon-to-be-Announced Dart Hit the Bullseye for Mobile Web Programming Languages?

Posted by on September 9, 2011 1 comment

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You and I both know by now that Google’s betting on the future of the mobile web, probably more than anyone. Their desire to create a lush mobile web applications ecosystem shines through in their latest shot at a programming language.

Dart is supposed to be a structured web language that will heavily appeal to developers making mobile applications alongside nice desktop applications. While details on it are pretty light right now, we can’t imagine it won’t work together with Google’s Go language to create an even more flexible environment for developers.

The problem with mobile web apps vs native apps is that people think web apps simply aren’t fast enough, but that’s sure to be a focus with Dart once Google does announce it.

I don’t know how long it’ll take the mobile web to unseat native applications, but Google believes that unseating will certainly happen. We should be getting an announcement on October 10th. [Engadget]

Google Engineer Uses The Power of Android and Google Maps To Propose To His Girlfriend

Posted by on September 3, 2011 1 comment

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In one of the more geeky (and equally awesome) stories I came across today, a Google engineer by the name of Ari Gilder proposed to his girlfriend today using a combination of Google Maps and a custom app he built on his Nexus One The girlfriend was given the Nexus One and then, using the Google Maps to plan her route, she would check in at various locations using the custom app to receive a rose and a picture.

Directions to the next location were locked by a password that the girlfriend had to figure out by successfully answering a question about their relationship. You see, this would never work if it was turned around. Men forget everything. Anyway — back to the story. Once, future Ms. Gilder, reached the final checkpoint she was then met by Ari who dropped to one knee and popped her the final question (I promised myself I wouldn’t cry).

This just goes to show you the creative minds working at Google. Oh- and thanks Ari for making the rest of us men look bad. I can barely build a tiny house out of popsicle sticks let alone a custom Android app. In any case, congrats Ari and his fiance!

[Via Electronista]

Minus Looks to Take Down Dropbox – Offers 10GB Of Free Storage and Revamped Android App

Posted by on September 1, 2011 No comments

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Sharing is caring. That’s what I’ve always been taught. Well, if you like to share everything from pictures, to videos and music, there’s a new kid on the block. It’s called Minus and they look to challenge popular file sharing service Dropbox.

Minus first started out as a picture sharing site and I’ve watched as they’ve grown into this behemoth of a service allowing users to store any kind of media, in the cloud, all while providing the most storage space I’ve seen in my internet travels (a full 10GB to start) for absolutely FREE. Yeah, it sounds crazy. I’ve actually been using Minus since its inception (before it was “cool”). Recently they’ve been busy overhauling their website, updating their handier-than-you-would-think Chrome Extension and revamping their official Minus app in the Android Market. They even offer desktop applications for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu.

 

Like Dropbox, if someone already using the service sends you a special link (cough — here — cough) you and that user will both receive extra storage space. But where Dropbox only gives both parties an extra 250MB, Minus offers a bonus 1-freakin’-GB. That’s like 300% more free! I currently only have pictures in my Minus account but with 10GB, I think I may start uploading my most intimate of videos as well.

[Market Link]

 

 

iEmu Hopes To Bring iOS Apps To Your Android Device

Posted by on August 30, 2011 No comments

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iEmu is a new Kickstarter project brought to you by Chris Wade, one of the guys responsible for iOS’s earliest jailbreak exploits back in the day. Chris is hoping to gain enough funding so that he and his team can get an iOS emulator up and running on Android, Linux, Mac and Windows. The iEmu team’s goal is to raise around $20,000 (currently at $5863), which should be just enough to cover a diet of Hotpockets and Top Ramen and a few living expenses for the next 3 months while they slave away at making the impossible possible.

But this entire project is easier said than done. iEmu is attempting to emulate the Samsung A4 chipset (used in the iPhone 4 and 1st gen iPad) by building on top of the open-source QEMU emulator. Apparently, the first step of emulating the CPU has already been accomplished but they still need to emulate support for the GPU, USB controller, Multitouch controller, memory, audio and all those secondary components like Bluetooth, GPS, compass, etc. And even if/once all of this accomplished, there is still the task at getting all the emulated pieces to actually boot. The iEmu team, no doubt, has one heck of an uphill battle ahead of them. (And we all know Apple’s legal team would have something to say about all of this.)

iEmu’s main goal for this Kickstarter project is simply to get “most iPad/iPhone apps” up and running on non-iOS devices like Android. Pretty sweet if they can actually accomplish it. Can you imagine all the the awesome iOS games you could have at your disposal in your hypothetical future? This would change everything. Again.

[Via TechCrunch]