Windows Phone 7: iPhone Killer?

Since Apple’s revolutionary iPhone came into the world, numerous companies have attempted to make “iPhone killers.” None of them has come close to being successful, but Microsoft just announced its Windows Phone 7 series. This could be the real competitor we’ve been waiting for. To be released just in time for the holiday season, this is probably the most groundbreaking phone since the iPhone.

Microsoft’s announcement took place in Barcelona, and Microsoft’s chief executive officer said, “I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones. In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience.

“Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people, and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Other than having a multi-touch screen, an accelerometer and a five-megapixel camera, the phone is organized around a set of hubs: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace and Office. These function as sort of super-applications. For example, the People hub is not just your contacts. Here you can social network and stream updates from Facebook or Windows Live (no Twitter yet, but hopefully it will be added by the shipping date).

Pictures allows you to share photos and videos with social networks in one step, and integrates your photos with the Web and PC. It gives you a central place to post and sync your updates to Facebook and Windows Live. As a part of Game hub, the Xbox LIVE tile on the phone is probably the most impressive thing. It’s Xbox LIVE tied to a phone! Your LIVE profile will be tied to your phone, and you can see your gamer avatar, achievements, gamer points (for your phone games) and gamer profile.

The Music + Video hub makes this a Zune Phone, since the Zune Marketplace is integrated into the phone. You can sync your content from your computer and listen to your favorite FM radio stations. The Marketplace is where you’ll buy apps and games.

Bing and Bing Maps are built into the phone as the default search and map services. And last but not least, the Office hub gives you access to Office, OneNote and Sharepoint in one place for you to read, edit and share documents. Additionally, the phone’s browser is Internet Explorer.

So far, Microsoft is working with Qualcomm, LG, Samsung, Garmin Asus, HTC, HP, Dell Sony Ericsson and Toshiba for hardware, and AT&T for service. Each phone will have a Bing button and a Start button, and the phone manufacturers will be able to decide their phone’s shape and whether or not it has a keyboard. No price has been announced yet, and we’ll just have to wait until December to see it. Visit http://www.windowsphone7series.com for more information.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Words With Friends

If you enjoy Scrabble or other word games, you’ll love the Words With Friends app. It is so addicting that it helped me (discreetly) survive an extremely boring two-hour-long function I had to attend.

Words With Friends plays similar to Scrabble as you have seven letters to work with, and the board has the standard double-letter, double-word, triple-letter and triple-word blocks. You can play up to 20 games simultaneously and choose to play against your friends or a random opponent. If you exit the app, you’ll receive a text message notifying you that it’s your turn.

In addition, you can chat with your friends within the game and invite other friends through Facebook or Twitter. This game is a great example of social gaming, and so far has a community of more than 500,000 players. Download it for free at the iTunes App Store. A $2.99 ad-free version also is available.

 

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Let’s Help Get Hawaii Up To Speed

Compared to other places in the nation and around the world, Hawaii has some of the slowest Internet connection speeds. I had a perfect firsthand example of this on my last trip to Japan. The very slowest connection I received there was probably about the average speed I have at home. Even when I lived in Texas a few years ago, my Internet speed there was so much faster than what I have now. If you’ve traveled around, you probably can say the same thing about your speeds.

A possible remedy is an initiative called Gigabit Hawaii. This is a community based appeal for Google to make Hawaii one of the test locales for its recently announced ultra-fast broadband service. Local government has already made an official request. Google says a “level of community support” would be a deciding factor.

Reflecting on the economy, Dan Leuck of TechHui and Ikayzo says, “Being on the most isolated island chain on earth, the speed and quality of our connection to the Net directly impacts our ability to communicate, learn, educate and conduct business. Google’s gigabit broadband initiative could help reinvigorate communities and businesses in an economic downturn.”

If Google selects Hawaii, the state could reap the benefits in a multitude of ways. Several leading members of the local high-tech community drafted a multipoint support document and formatted a petition. Olin Lagon of Kanu Hawaii stated his support: “Unlike most parts of the U.S., our residents are separated by ocean. Enabling gigabit broadband directly into our communities could have a profound impact on better connecting our neighborhoods and islands as well as invigorating our challenged public educational system.”

Here are some of the reasons stated on the petition why Hawaii is an ideal choice for Google’s gigabit initiative:

* Hawaii’s speeds are among the worst in the nation. According to the 2009 CWA report on Internet speeds (http://www.speedmatters.org), Hawaii ranks No. 47 in terms of average download speed.

* Hawaii is the most isolated and import-dependent state in the union.

* Hawaii represents a huge telemedicine test bed opportunity. We’re the first state to offer online physician visits statewide - 700,000 HMSA members, or 54 percent of the state’s population.

* Google has offices in 17 states but no Hawaii presence. It would be a great place for software engineers to escape the colder weather of Mainland winters, and one of the most inspiring places on earth.

Your help is needed to make this happen. Sign the petition online by March 15: http://www.techhui.com The goal is 50,000 signatures, so spread the word to all your family and friends. Links to resources and media on this effort are also available on the TechHui Web site.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Angry Birds

The name Angry Birds pretty much sums up my parrot’s attitude these days, but there’s nothing angry about this game app. It’s addicting to launch various birds from a slingshot to hit green pigs. These pigs have stolen their eggs, and that is why these birds are angry.

The game consists of two worlds and more levels than many other game apps. The levels steadily increase in complexity as well as the capabilities of the angry birds you propel at the pigs. If you hit a pig with a bird or debris, he’ll pop.

Once all the pigs are eliminated, you’ll progress to the next level. You may need to use some strategies to pop all the pigs before you run out of birds to sling.

Angry Birds is fun, addictive and worth the 99 cents from the iTunes App Store.

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Control A Drone With Your iPhone

One of the most anticipated tech toys of this year is the Parrot’s AR.Drone. It’s a quadricopter with builtin cameras and Wi-Fi for video streaming, and best of all you control it with your iPhone or iPod touch.

The streaming video that comes through your iPhone/iPod touch enables you to control the AR.Drone as if you were sitting in the pilot’s seat. The idea behind this is to mix a video game and the real world together. The drone is composed of a central cockpit surrounded by four propellers, each with its own engine. It generates its own Wi-Fi network, and when your iPhone/iPod touch connects to it, it turns into a true piloting station.

There are two cameras: One is under the drone’s structure and connected to an inertial measurement unit, and the second one is at the front. This front camera is the one that broadcasts and streams to your iPhone/iPod touch. With the mix of these wide-angle and high-speed cameras, and the three axes accelerometer, three axes gyro and ultrasound sensor, piloting this thing is a breeze for even the youngest or non-tech-savvy person.

 

Controlling the AR.Drone from your iPhone/iPod touch lets you move forward and sideways to corner and change direction by using your phone’s built-in accelerometer. In addition, your phone’s touch pad has the command buttons for rise, down, rotate, move back and move forward.

The AR.Drone can be safely flown inside. For inside flights, a hull surrounds the propellers and protects the quadricopter if it hits something. For outside, a shaped hull reduces the area to the wind for better maneuverability. It also has the ability to do multi-player flights for aerial fights between two AR.Drones.

The AR.Drone is a dream toy for any kid (big kids included). I can’t wait until this comes out, but there’s no word on how much the AR.Drone will cost or when it will be available - supposedly sometime this year. For more information, visit parrot.com.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Siri Assistant

The Siri Assistant app turns your iPhone into a personal assistant by using voice recognition to accomplish everyday tasks such as buying movie tickets, making restaurant reservations or checking the status of a flight. Basically, you talk to your phone and it makes plans for you.

Siri is simple to use. Just launch it and speak into your iPhone’s microphone. “Where is the closest Starbucks?” or “Table for two at Sam Choy’s today at noon,” and within seconds you’ll receive your answer. This beats going to Web sites or having to launch separate apps to do your searching.

Siri partnered with the successful Dragon Dictation app creators for its capability to recognize your voice’s context and intent to receive accurate question-and-answer results. Other launch services Siri is working with include OpenTable, MovieTickets.com, TaxiMagic, Citysearch, Yelp, Yahoo Local, GAYOT.com, Rotten Tomatoes, NYTimes.com, Flix Movie Reviews, BooRah, WeatherBug, AllMenus, LiveKick, Maponics, Flightstats, True Knowledge, Localeze, West World Media, Eventful, and more added every day. You can download Siri for free at the iTunes App Store. Sorry, this won’t work with an iPod touch, and you need iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

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Levana’s Line Of Baby Monitors

If you’re a new parent-to-be, one of the things you probably added to your list of things to buy is a baby monitor. It’s impossible for you to be with your baby 24/7, so a baby monitor lets you hear and/or see what your baby is up to if you’re in another part of the house. You put a microphone or camera near your baby and you can listen/watch to his/her cooings, cries and movements.

While shopping around for a baby monitor, you’ll find an overwhelming number to choose from. When I was pregnant, I knew that I wanted one that could show video and monitor for sound, but I didn’t want to spend a ton of money. After a long search, I found the Levana BABYVIEW20. Then, in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, Mr. Click Chick discovered its new TWINKLE series, which was just released this month.

First off, I love our BABYVIEW20! It’s so simple to use, the picture looks great and it was not expensive ($135 from Amazon). The system comes in two pieces: a camera and a monitor. The camera has a built-in microphone, night light, plays lullabies and has night vision capability (crib mount included). If you have it pointed at the crib most of the time, it’s best to leave it plugged in, but when you want to move it around the house, it can also be powered by four AAA batteries (not included, powers up to 4.5 hours or 2 hours with night vision on). The night vision image is clear and easy to see.

The monitor has a 2.36-inch color screen, built-in rechargeable battery (4.5 hours), and a range of up to 150 feet from the camera. Mostly the signal does-n’t interfere with my other wireless devices, but I do notice occasionally my cell phone has a buzz when I have it running. To save power, you can set it to “Vox,” which will only display the camera’s picture when movement is detected. You can control the camera’s lullabies from the monitor, and it’s so small you can have it anywhere with you (especially convenient when in the kitchen cooking). This is an easy setup for even the most technologically challenged.

Levana’s new TWINKLE is a little different, as it’s not a direct baby monitor. Also very affordable ($125), it’s a baby webcam that you can watch and control from your computer. The system consists of a camera and a USB dongle that needs to stay plugged into your computer. The camera specs are almost the same as the BABYVIEW20, including the ability to be powered by batteries.

To see the camera’s image, you need to install software on your PC (not compatible with a Mac) to configure the camera and install the USB dongle’s driver. Once you do that, you can see your baby and set the camera to record and/or e-mail you when movement is detected (set the movement threshold high so you don’t receive a billion e-mails from every little twitch). You can password protect your camera feed and watch up to four cameras running with the included software.

Additional cameras cost $84, but we were able to make it work with my MacBook Pro’s built-in iSight camera. The TWINKLE is perfect for your relatives and friends to watch, and for you to monitor from your iPhone or other portable Internet-connected device. This setup is so affordable, keep in mind you could use it as your security camera, too. For more information or to buy both products, visit www.mylevana.com.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: RealityCheck

If you’re into reality TV shows but don’t have time to watch them all, the RealityCheck app will help you track your favorite reality shows and give you nightly recaps and news right on your iPhone/iPod touch.

Developed locally in Hawaii by George Uno’s Kuawa Road Productions, RealityCheck includes American Idol 2010, Amazing Race, Biggest Loser, Big Break Disney Golf, Launch My Line, Project Runway, Chef Academy, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor Samoa, The Bachelor, The Apprentice and Big Brother.

Each show on RealityCheck includes an episode summary, cast tracker (red X indicates elimination), archives of past episodes and cast/contestant biographies. Help support a great local-grown app - it’s $1.99 at the iTunes App Store.

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World’s First LCD Greeting Card

In partnership with American Greetings and Target, Euri Inc. has developed the world’s first digital photo greeting card. Combining sight, sound and a nice LCD screen, this is the perfect card to send to your loved ones across the ocean (an especially great gift for the deployed military servicemember in your life).

This card is capable of storing and displaying up to 50 digital images on a 2.4-inch LCD screen, and you can record a personalized message up to five minutes long (audio only) to go along with it. The card’s packaging opens into a nice coordinated gift box and includes an appropriate-sized mailing envelope so you don’t have to purchase anything additional to send your special card. Its postage costs approximately $2.30.

“With the explosion of social media sites like Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, we’ve seen a transformation in ways consumers communicate and share,” said Josiahs Livingston, director of marketing and product development at Euri. “The digital photo card goes one step beyond - creating both a highly personalized and memorable gift.”

The card can double as a digital photo album. You load your images onto the card via USB, and it’s activated each time it opens. It will last up to three hours on a charge (via USB).

“Once consumers add their favorite photos and message, the card transforms into an emotional and personal experience that can be enjoyed for years to come with mom, dad, an older brother, younger sister or anyone with whom you’ve shared cherished memories,” says Carol Miller, executive director on new product concepts at American Greetings.

This digital card is a great idea and announced to only be available in Target stores for $19.99. I haven’t found these in a Target store yet, so we’ll see.

Another interesting idea from the card’s creator, Euri, is the Euricase. Made for a marriage proposal or an elaborate anniversary/birthday gift, this is a ring box with a full-color LCD display. There are different versions available: The Euricase Classic-L (voice only, $40), Euricase Classic-T (video, $99) and the Euricase Classic-T (metallic case with video, $249).

Visit euricase.com for more information both the digital card and ring box.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: NBC Olympics on AT&T

It’s that time again - the Olympics! Last week we saw the Winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, and you can follow the action on your iPhone. With NBC’s Olympics on AT&T app you can see live real-time updates on events, see video clips, highlights, results, schedules and medal counts. You can even follow your favorite athletes on Twitter from within the app.

You also can see your athletes’ bios, sports information and view the TV coverage schedule (and set program reminders). Participate in discussions and comment on public forums or create private forums for you and your friends. This app is easy to navigate through and a great tool if you’re an Olympics fan. Download it for free at the iTunes App Store.

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Apple Introduces Its iPad E-reader

As you probably know, last week Apple announced its much-anticipated “e-reader,” called the iPad. As I was watching Apple CEO Steve Jobs’announcement, I cringed when I first heard that name as it brought to mind, um, feminine products. Oh, well, it looks cool and I’m just going to have to deal with the name.

“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Jobs. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

The iPad is, as predicted, essentially a giant iPod touch, but it’s 0.5 inches thick and weighs 1.5 pounds - thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. It has an aluminum backing with a 10-inch screen surrounded by a shiny black border. It uses the standard iPhone/iPod touch connector on the bottom, so if you have an existing iPhone/iPod touch you don’t have to worry about losing another cable.

 

Supposedly the iPad can run all of the existing 140,000-plus iPhone apps just fine (either at the regular iPhone size or blown up double with some loss of clarity). As an e-reader, Apple will have its own e-reader bookstore when the iPad launches, but I don’t expect it to have the selection (yet) or the $10 bestsellers you can find with Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Also, it’s powered by A4, Apple’s next generation system-on-a-chip. The A4 provides excellent processor and graphics performance, allowing up to 10 hours of iPad battery life.

Pricing isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Available in late March, the lowest models starts at $499 (16GB) and $599 (32GB), which just use Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet. If you want 3G service, the cost is $629/16GB, $729/32GB and $829/64GB. As with the iPhone, the 3G service will be provided by AT&T ($15/month for 250MB or $30/month unlimited data), but the difference is you can cancel the service at any time.

Overall, I think the iPad is a dream for e-reading and watching movies, but I don’t think it can replace a computer yet. The on-screen keyboard would frustrate me after awhile, and that’s one of the big complaints I hear, along with “no removable battery,” “no memory-card slot” and “too expensive!” These are similar to the gripes we heard about the iPhone, but it’s too early to tell. Most of the initial iPhone bashers I know now own one, so we’ll see.

Apple is not quite taking pre-orders yet, but you can have an e-mail notification sent to you to let you know when it’s available (http://www.apple.com).

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Diving For Colors

Diving For Colors is the first locally published book to be turned into an iPhone app. App books such as these are becoming more available, and it’s great that this one is homegrown! You can listen to or read the story in English or Hawaiian, turn off the sound so you can read it to your keiki, and either turn the pages manually or let it go automatically. Additionally, at the end of the book, a screen shows up with all the different creatures that appeared in the book.

My daughter is only 2 months old, and when I read it to her, she couldn’t get her eyes off the colorful pictures that popped up with the story. I can’t wait to see what this will look like on my future iPad - I’ll probably be buying more of my children’s books this way. Find the Diving for Colors app for $1.99 at the iTunes App Store.

 

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New Netbooks With Itel’s Atom Chip

If you rushed out and bought a netbook for Christmas, sorry, but you missed out on Intel’s new Atom processor (N450) for the new generation of net-books. From here into the near future, this is the preferred processor for your netbook.

“The Intel Atom processor has fueled an entirely new category of computing over the last year and a half, and we think the growth will continue for devices like netbooks and entry-level PCs built around basic computing and Internet usage models,” says Mooly Eden, Intel corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group. “We’re excited to be delivering the next-generation Atom platform and working across the industry as we head into a second phase of growth, powering innovative new system designs with better performance, smaller footprints and better battery life.”

Code named Pine Trail, the Atom N450’s best features are the 20 percent improvement in average power and the smaller package size over the previous Atom platform. This translates into a smaller system with a longer battery life, and a 60 percent reduction for the entire net-book platform. In addition, the memory controller and graphics are integrated into the CPU, which is a first in the industry on x-86 chips such as the Atom.

Most of the leading companies, such as Dell, ASUS, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, Samsung, Fujitsu and MSI, are now on board with the Atom. The bulk of the systems will feature the new Windows 7 or Home Basic operating system, with some offering Mobiln Linux v2 as an alternative for those who desire a customizable and differentiated user interface. Some of the top-rated systems include the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 ($379), HP Mini 5102 ($424), Toshiba mini NB305 ($399) and ASUS Eee PC 100PE-P ($379).

Worldwide netbook shipments by telecommunications companies such as T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange are growing and expected to fuel another round of expansion. Intel has been working closely with mobile operators and modem vendors to advance 3G capabilities in net-books. So far, about a dozen service providers offer netbooks in various markets, with the numbers expected to grow with this newest platform.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Star Walk

Living in Hawaii, you might take for granted the fact that our air is clear enough where you can actually see the moon and the stars in the sky at night (as long as it’s not raining). People who live in big cities such as New York or Los Angeles don’t have that luxury.

Tonight, take a moment to enjoy the stars and enhance your experience with the Star Walk app.

This app turns your iPhone/iPod touch into a virtual astronomy guide. Using its Star Spotter function (with your phone’s digital compass), day or night, you point your iPhone at the sky and it shows you a map of the stars/draws out the constellations at wherever you aim your phone.

Star Walk also gives you information about sunrise, sunset, daylight hours, your elevation and moon phases. Star Walk is $2.99 at the iTunes App Store.

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Enjoying The 3D TV Experience

Thanks to the movie Avatar, 3D movies are more popular than ever, and 2010 will see the introduction of 3D TV into homes. 3D TV lets you experience the content on your TV (TV shows, movies or games) with a stereoscopic effect. It adds the illusion of a third dimension and depth to your viewing experience.

Most of you probably remember the old-fashioned glasses with the redand-cyan lenses. This type of 3D is the anaglyph method, where the red and cyan are used to combine two false color images. If you recently watched a movie in the IMAX theater, you wore passive polarized 3D glasses. The 3D TVs we’ll see available soon use alternate-frame sequencing, and you’ll have to wear active liquid crystal shutter glasses or headgear.

The shutter glasses work by very quickly blocking the left then the right eye in sequence (typically about 120 times per second), and sync to the TV via infrared or Bluetooth.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, the six major TV makers announced their 3D TV models - LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Vizio - with the best coming from Panasonic (VT25 series) and Sony (Bravia XBR-LX900 and XBR-HX900 series).

Panasonic’s VT25 series won the prestigious CNET “Best of Show” and “Best in Television” awards at CES this year. Boasted to deliver a full 1080p resolution to each eye, these 3D TVs will ship sometime this spring and range from 40 to 65 inches. Sony’s line of

3D TVs will be available in the summer and comes in 40 to 60 inches. Neither company announced any pricing points for its 3D TVs.

While it’s cool the technology exists, at this point the biggest issue with 3D TV is the lack of content. So far, some of the Blu-ray 3D titles announced this year are Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monsters vs. Aliens and Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Also, DirecTV will be the first provider with 3D content that will have three 3D channels of its own, and ESPN and Discovery will launch 3D channels this year. There are currently no Blu-ray players that support 3D unless you have a PlayStation 3 (PS3). When Sony’s new 3D TVs are released, there will be a software update for your PS3 that will allow you to view 3D content.

 

Overall the 3D TV experience is great, probably best for sports or gaming. But the downside is watching 3D TV for long periods of time can be difficult and may give you a headache (some people may not even be able to perceive 3D). The glasses can be bothersome and expensive (anticipated to be about $100 a pair). If you do decide to invest in a 3D TV this year, I suggest sticking with the Panasonic or Sony series mentioned above. But, if you’re patient enough, I suggest you wait!

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Glow Doodle

Glow Doodle is a fun way to draw with lights/glow effect on your iPhone or iPod touch. The best part is you can save your light glow doodles to your photo albums and share them. You can draw in red, green, blue or yellow and erase your previous stroke if you make a mistake. If you have a tendency to doodle on paper when you’re bored, this is a better way. It sells for 99 cents on the iTunes App Store.

 

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Oceanic’s Road Runner Mobile

A technology called WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) came to Hawaii in December, and brought us 4G mobile broadband service. In conjunction with this innovation, Oceanic Time Warner launched its 4G Road Runner Mobile Service earlier this month (available on Oahu and Maui).

I used the Franklin Wireless CMU-300 modem to connect to Road Runner Mobile network. It’s the first USB mobile card that supports both WiMax and 3G (EVDO) mobile networks. It’s fairly small - about the size of a wide pack of gum - and has a 64MB storage capacity if you need to throw some files on there. Just to give you an idea on speed, typical high-speed Internet service on your home’s network can give you up to 15 megabits (Mbps) for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads. It varies on which service/plan you subscribe to. Road Runner Mobile’s speed averages from 3 to 6 Mbps, depending on your physical location.

 

“Road Runner Mobile offers customers a superior 4G mobile broadband experience away from their home or office by simply plugging a Road Runner Mobile device into their computers,” says Kiman Wong, general manager for Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner Mobile. “Road Runner Mobile includes all the features as Road Runner High Speed Online, including a full security suite, e-mail, data storage, Photoshow, the Road Runner portal and Road Runner Speed Zones. With Road Runner Mobile, virtually everywhere on Oahu and Maui is your hotspot.”

As mentioned above, you receive the same features of Road Runner High Speed with Road Runner Mobile. Additional items include Mobile Manager (track your mobile data usage or add features, etc.), Road Runner Video Channel (watch on-demand videos) and Road Runner Radio (53 stations/12 genres). The security suite includes anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, anti-spam parental controls and a security center console.

Road Runner Mobile’s pricing ranges from $39.95 (with existing Road Runner service) within Hawaii or $56.95 (with existing Road Runner service) for the national plan.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the service is not available for Macs, but will begin Feb. 1.

For more information or to subscribe to Road Runner Mobile, check out http://rrmobile.oceanic.com or call 643-2337.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: CauseWorld

CauseWorld is the first app that lets you earn “karma points” and lets you “do good deeds by simply walking into a store.” You earn “karma points” when you check in by walking into or coming close to a participating store. These points can then be spent on real world charities that are partnering with CauseWorld: American Red Cross, Feeding America, American Forests, GlobalGiving, DonorsChoose.org, Prevent Child Abuse America, Carbonfund.org, American Humane Association and Room to Read.

Your karma points are funded out of nearly $500,000 provided by Kraft Foods and Citigroup. Additionally, while you’re shopping in a participating grocery store, you’ll be able to click on recipes from Kraft products. Find CauseWorld for free at the iTunes App Store.

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Fun New Tech Toys For 2010

First, I need to apologize for my Dec. 30 column titled Monitoring Home Energy Usage. After it published I realized - and several readers pointed out - that in the fourth and fifth paragraphs, when referring to “kilowatt hours (kWh),” I meant to say “kilowatts (kW)” and not “kWh.” Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Now for the fun stuff: What toys we will see in 2010.

For starters, as I write this, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is kicking off in Las Vegas, and there’ll be no shortage of new products on display - more than 20,000 in fact. This year boasts a record number of exhibitors, with 330-plus new companies joining the 2,500 that are usually there. This year’s CES features 20 market-specific TechZones that highlight the latest trends in emerging markets, including Lifestyle Gadgets, Mobile DTV, Safe Driver, eBooks, Experience 3D, and my new personal interest, the Mommy Tech and Kids

Play TechZones. I also noticed that a couple of companies have power cells that convert water into electricity.

Considering all of those, and looking at the coming year in general, I anticipate the hottest items will be 3D TV, netbooks (especially the ones that include Intel’s new Atom N450 chip) and, of course, e-readers. There are many e-readers coming out of the woodwork, but the big one everyone is talking about is coming from Apple, and it will not be at CES.

Apple’s e-reader is rumored to be more of a tablet PC and will be unveiled at the end of the month. Supposedly, it will have a 10- to 11-inch touch screen with a $1,000 price tag. This is about three times the cost of the current mainstream competition, the Kindle and Nook. With this higher price, people may not be as likely to go out and buy one as a “must-have” device.

On top of all that, Google jumped on the trying-to-compete-with-the-iPhone bandwagon and announced its Nexus One phone. The “super-phone” is what they kept calling it during the launch event because of the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the Android 2.1 operating system and the Google apps from the Android Store. I’m skeptical, but if you want to give it a try, the Nexus One costs $179 with T-Mobile service, or $529 if you want to use your own service and insert a SIM card (google.com/phone).

Overall, 2010 will be an interesting year for tech. Stay tuned for news from this year’s CES. Since I couldn’t attend (again), Mr. Click Chick is there covering it for me.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: White Noise Baby

As new parents, my husband and I have been blessed with a well-behaved baby (she even sleeps through the night). The only time she ever cries is when she’s hungry (so far). I downloaded the White Noise Baby app hoping I’ll never have to put it to its real use, but it seems to be helpful if you have a fussy baby.

The app features a variety of ambient sounds, including an air conditioner, car ride, classical music, conch shell, doppler ultra-sound, hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, blue noise, gray noise, pink noise, red noise, violet noise, white noise, dripping water, grandfather clock, a heartbeat and wind chimes. A shut-off timer is included so you can let it run for a set amount of time.

Additionally, White Noise Baby includes a baby rattle with touch and shake controls. Our little gal is mesmerized by all the colors on the screen as we shake the phone in front of her. To help you eliminate some crying, this 99 cent app is worth it. Find it at the iTunes App Store.

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A New Year, A New You With NextFit

Thankfully, staying in shape and being motivated are not problems for me, but I know it can be an issue for some individuals. It’s nice to have that extra push from someone else, especially if it’s a personal trainer or fitness class instructor. The next best thing is a virtual trainer, such as the NextFit Keychain Trainer that Brian Fowler, a personal trainer and health consultant, brought to Hawaii.

”I like the NextFit from a trainer perspective, and I think it can help a lot of people who need some motivation or something to stay attached to,” Fowler says. “Having been in the fitness business for so long, I have seen how difficult it is for some people to stay active. Some people need accountability from a partner. Some people like the tech side, where they use a product. But ultimately I see this device as a way to keep people motivated and hopefully accountable to themselves.”

 

The NextFit unit is nothing fancy - a retractable USB dongle with an OLED screen so you can see where you are in your session, basic buttons (play, stop, volume controls) and an earphone jack. It’s so small that, if you drop it, it’s no big deal. It has a 10-hour rechargeable battery and includes 150 songs.

To begin your sessions, you first plug the device into your computer (works on both PC and Mac) and launch the NextFit program. Here it asks you questions on your goals, your work-out experience, current fitness level and what type of equipment you have at home. Just to try it out, I indicated that I need to lose “20 or more lbs” (after all, I did just have a baby a couple weeks ago).

Realistically, because of my condition, I really shouldn’t be doing full-blast workouts, so I indicated my fitness level as “medium” as opposed to my usual “high.” It gave me a few options, and the best one looked like a 44-minute walk-jog. It downloaded the workout to the USB device, and I took it with me on my first post-pregnancy work-out.

All throughout it played music you would hear in a fitness class at the gym (no hit music included with those 150 songs). It was a different experience for me, considering I’ve recently trained myself to run without music (most helpful when on the long 10-plus milers because my iPod/iPhone just gets in the way after awhile). In addition, the trainer’s voice came on every so often to give a push to keep going. I can see this being helpful and useful for someone who needs motivation, but probably not for me.

You can purchase a NextFit unit for $150 at mynextfit.com/hawaii or contact Brian Fowler at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 388-9085. Additionally, note the prices on the NextFit’s programs vary, starting at $25.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Gorillacam

When it comes to getting a picture with me, along with my family and friends in it, I’m picky and prefer to stick my camera up in a tree as I frame the perfect shot rather than ask a stranger to take it for me.

That way I can have a perfectly framed picture. I could never do that with my iPhone before, but it’s possible with the new Gorillacam app from Joby (creators of the popular Gorillapod line of flexible tripods).

You don’t necessarily have to use Gorillacam app with your Gorillamobile iPhone stand, but it’s meant to work with it. As long as you can find a stable surface on which to position your iPhone, the app will work just fine. Gorillacam mainly adds a self-timer, time-lapse (short as one second or long as two minutes) and continuous rapid-fire shooting (up to 1.6 frames per second) to your iPhone’s camera.

Additional features include a three-shot burst, press anywhere (turns your entire screen into a shutter button), grid overlay (perfect for lining up landscapes or buildings), bubble level (to take level shots - works in both vertical and horizontal) and share (easily upload or share photos). Download Gorillacam for free at the iTunes App Store.

 

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Monitoring Home Energy Usage

I’ve always wondered how much energy turning off a light switch really shaves off my power bill.

A good way to gauge what your home is consuming is with Blue Line’s PowerCost Monitor. It informs you in real time exactly how much electricity your household is using. It came out earlier this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a hot seller for Christmas. My husband and I bought it as an early Christmas present for our house.

To set yourself up, first you need to clamp a wireless sensor to your home’s power meter (powered by two AA batteries). This sensor then transmits information to a portable wireless receiver that you keep with you in the house (also powered by two AA batteries). The receiver displays your energy usage on an easy-to-read LCD screen. When you turn something on or off, it takes about 30 seconds for it to register on your receiver. You can program various electricity rates on it for extreme accuracy, including single (flat) rates, tiered rates and time-based rates.

 

We mounted our receiver on the kitchen wall and the kilowatt hours (kWh) usage are easy to read in big numbers at the top. The first night it was installed we had fun turning on and off different lights and devices in the house to see what sucked up the most power. The very first thing we tried out was the Christmas tree. Surprisingly this was one of the most energy-consuming lights in the house, using 0.5 kWh. In comparison, the kitchen light and the bedroom both use 0.1 kWh.

Additionally, I noticed my house’s baseline averages at about 1.0 kWh during the day, and 2.0 kWh at night with the basic lights running (kitchen, living room and the outside patio). When the central air conditioner kicks in, it then shoots up to 5.1 kWh (day) and 6.1 kWh (night), but since it’s been cooler these days, it hasn’t kicked on that often. To my surprise, the washer (0.8 kWh) uses more power than the dryer (0.6 kWh) - neither are Energy Star since they’re a little older.

The bottom line is the PowerCost Monitor is a cheap, effective and fun way to help you know what your home is doing. Last week it was even named one of EcoHome Magazine’s Top 20 Reader-Requested Green Products for 2009.

You can find it at Smarthome.com for $99.93 (free shipping on orders more than $200) or Amazon.com for $109.99 (free shipping).

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Dragon Dictation

Nuance Communications’ Dragon Dictation app allows you to speak e-mails and text messages to your iPhone instead of typing them. When you need to type something, all you do is open the app and it takes you to a screen that says “Tap here and dictate.” Here you tap the button and start talking, hit “Done,” your voice is processed for a few seconds, then you see your text appear.

After this, you have the option to e-mail the text, send it as a text message or copy it to your clipboard. If you send the text to your clipboard, you can conveniently use it to paste it into just about anything, including your Facebook or Twitter updates. I found the recognition to be fairly accurate with short phrases, and if there are any wrong words, they’re easy to correct by replacing them with the iPhone’s word suggestions or your own words. With the longer paragraphs, it might need a little work.

The Dragon Dictation app is available free for a limited time from the iTunes App Store. Grab it quick before they put a price on it!

 

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A Barnes & Noble Reading Nook

Back in October, Barnes & Noble announced the Nook, its wireless eBook reader. Clearly this is meant to compete with Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s E-Reader. Unless you were able to pre-order a Nook back in October, this product is a little too late to make Christmas this year since it actually became “available” last week. But in reality, if you order one now, you’ll most likely see it some time in January or maybe even later.

“We asked our customers what they wanted in an eBook reader, and specifically designed Nook to be the most full-featured, fun, stylish and easy-to-use eBook reader on the market,” says William J. Lynch, president of BarnesandNoble.com. “With our nationwide footprint, Barnes & Noble customers can see, touch and hold Nook. Our 40,000 booksellers are ready to help customers discover how easy it is to download and read eBooks on Nook, and what a pleasure it is to have access to their favorite eBooks, magazines and newspapers anytime and anywhere.”

At first glance, the Nook looks strikingly close to its Kindle rival. The noticeable difference is the color touchscreen at the bottom. Yes, it’s only at the bottom. The whole nook display is not a color screen as the ads lead you to believe, but only a color strip at the bottom that is exclusively for navigation and controls. The touchscreen is not very responsive and seems a little awkward against the big gray screen above. When you click on something, there is no indication that your Nook “heard” you, as there is no hourglass or progress bar.

A great feature concept the Nook has is the ability to loan your eBooks to other Nook-owning friends for 14 days. The drawback is that you can only loan it out once, and when it is loaned out, it disappears from your library and you can’t access it. The other thing is that you can’t lend a book out unless its publisher approves it. You’ll see a “LendMe” icon next to it if it is lendable.

As with the Kindle, the Nook has built-in free wireless 3G service to access the Barnes and Noble online bookstore when you’re on the road. The Nook also added on Wi-Fi, but you have to configure your hotspot manually since you don’t see any notifications when you enter into one. I wasn’t able to actually walk into a Barnes & Noble yet, but supposedly your Nook will auto-connect to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots in all Barnes & Noble stores. In addition, the Nook is boasted as the first eBook reader that can run the Android operating system. I don’t see it doing much now with Android, but it opens the door for many future possibilities.

Overall, the Nook is cool, but I’m not so sure it’s worth it at this early stage for the price in comparison to its competitor (same $259 price tag). Perhaps it could be later when it’s more refined. I think it may have been rushed out onto the market too quickly. Visit Barnes & Noble’s Web site for more information or if you do decide to purchase it (barnesandnoble.com).

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: B&N eReader

You don’t necessarily need a Nook to enjoy Barnes & Noble’s eBooks. Similar to Amazon’s Kindle app, the B&N eReader app for your iPhone/iPod touch allows you to read your eBooks from your device. It gives you the basic features of the Nook, including the eReader, a free copy of Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Dictionary, adjustable text size, multiple font choices, choice of tap or swipe to turn the pages, background and text color options for easy reading, and more.

Additionally, you’ll never lose your place with the “Reading Now” virtual bookmark, which remembers where you were reading on your Nook or iPhone. Download the B&N eReader for free at the iTunes App Store.

 

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Cool Techie Stocking Stuffers

Christmas seems to have come upon me quickly this year, and I didn’t even bother waking up early for any of the Black Friday sales. It was just easier and less time-consuming to do all my shopping online. If you still need to shop, here are a few cool last-minute stocking stuffers that should be able to make it to your front door before Christmas:

Flip UltraHD

You may remember the original Flip Mino compact video camera I wrote about last year. Since then, Flip has come out with many other cameras, my favorite being the Flip UltraHD. This is one of the cheapest portable HD cameras out there, perfect to capture your holiday moments. The video quality is good, and much better than the iPod nano’s quality. As with other Flip cameras, the UltraHD is extremely user-friendly. Find it online for $150 at Amazon.com.

MovieWedge

A practical, inexpensive stocking stuffer, the MovieWedge is a $10 media stand for your iPhone, iPod touch, PSP or just about any one of your hand-sized devices. Constructed out of micro-suede (basically a mini pillow), it’s designed to prop up your device on just about any surface without sliding around. With its material, MovieWedge also can double as a fingerprint cleaner, and it’s perfect to use on an airplane tray or on your lap while you’re traveling. Its small size and easel-like front edge make it easy to prop your device at different angles.

WowWee’s Lightstar

For the robot lover in your life, the WowWee FlyTech Lightstar is the perfect flying gadget to pass the time during New Year’s Eve or whenever you’re bored in general. It has a propulsion-based design and built-in LED lights to create a cool glow and halo-effect when it flies. These lights create interesting light patterns that are just as cool as fireworks (and won’t cause any fires!). Unfortunately you can’t steer the chopper, but you can vary the acceleration and bounce it off walls to compensate. At first glance, and for the $20 pricetag, you would-n’t expect much by looking at it, but it’s quite a delight to play with. It comes in blue, orange or green. Find one at your nearest Target, Sears, Kmart, Radio Shack or Toys ‘R’ Us (call store(s) first for availability) or online at Amazon.com.

YoGen Charger

Introduced earlier this year, this pocket-sized green mobile charger only recently became available for purchase this month. YoGen is a compact, easy to use and uniquely efficient hand-powered charger to use with small electronic devices such as your cell phone (including iPhone), mp3 player, game player or a digital camera.

You might think this is another solar charger, but it’s not. YoGen solely relies on your hand’s power from repeatedly pulling a ripcord (similar to starting a lawnmower). Its alternator interfaces with an energy-efficient electronic stabilizer and transmission to transfer linear kinetic energy through a patch cord from the unit to your favorite gadget. It gives an electrical output through its built-in mini USB. There’s an LED indicator that shows the charging for your electronic device its connected to. The maximum power output is typically five watts (but possibly up to six watts if you’re lucky).

This is a perfect gift for your on-the-go gadget junkie. Purchase it for $40 online at www.yogenstore.com (available in black and clear).

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The New Wave In Communication

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. Simply speaking, it’s a live chatroom that you can use to share documents, photos or videos with your fellow Google Wavers. You can collaborate on your projects (perfect for students), and it’s a great service for people who love to multitask.

To start using it, you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use formatted text, photos, videos and maps to communicate and work together. It’s all shared so your participants can reply live anywhere in the message. Some of the other great practical things you can do with Google Wave are event organization, photo sharing, meeting notes, brainstorming or, for fun, interactive games. For event planning, you can add in everything from an itinerary, menu, RSVPs, maps and even the weather rather than using different tools/Web sites as people typically do these days.

Google Wave’s photo sharing is pretty smooth: Just drag and drop pictures from your desktop into a wave to share with others. Everyone else can now see your pics, and they can add their own. When all your collaborative pictures are in there, it’s easy to make a group photo album. Other aspects mentioned above are fairly self-explanatory.

Google Wave was initially demonstrated at the Google I/O conference held earlier this year. Called “e-mail of the future,” it’s the result of a multiyear project by Google to re-invent the inbox and blend e-mail, instant messaging, photo sharing and social networking together.

Creators of the technology behind Google Maps brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen headed up the Google Wave project to help stir up this reinvention of Internet communication. The result: It’s a little bit of Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed bundled into one service. And the bottom line: With Google Wave you can have faster conversations, edits and interact in real-time.

To learn more about Google Wave or request a free invite, go to wave.google.com. If you really want to dive into it, there’s an hour-and-a-half-long video you can watch there. For the invite, click on the “I want Google Wave” link on the left.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: eBay Deals

I saw the eBay Deals app on the App Store last week, but didn’t think to download it and try it out until MidWeek graphic artist Russ Kaya started using it and raved about it. Thanks, Russ! This new app from eBay is awesome, but at the same time dangerous since you can see great deals that span the entire ebay.com listings. eBay Deals allows you to see a constantly changing view of deals from various “must-have” popular categories such as apparel, electronics, photography, sports, collectibles, etc. All these listings have less than four hours remaining, zero bids, no reserve price and free or fixed shipping included in the total cost.

You can customize your searches and place your favorite icon in the start menu for quick access. To see a new group of deals, you just need to shake your iPhone/iPod touch. These deals also have built-in integration with Facebook and Twitter, making it easier for you to share with your family/friends. It’s very easy to use and will make my Christmas shopping a bit easier this year.

Download the eBay Deals app for free at the iTunes App Store, and happy (but responsible) shopping!

 

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The Roku Channel Store Opens

The Roku player has come a long way since its initial launch with Netflix last year. When the latest Roku player, the HD-XR box, was released last month, many new features were promised, and now the Roku Channel Store has its first 10 free channels. The channels include Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe. These are in addition to the already existing Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and MLB.com.

“The Roku Channel Store turns the Roku player into the world’s first open platform designed specifically for the TV,” says Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku Inc. “Now content producers and distributors - from single person shops to billion-dollar corporations - can deliver their content directly to consumers without having to go exclusively through cable operators, satellite networks or TV affiliates.”

From Internet radio, video podcasts to professional Web content and photo sharing, this Roku Channel Store provides an open platform for delivering quality content to your TV. The first 10 channels are just the beginning for Roku as many other developers are working on additional Roku Channels. I’m a little disappointed that Hulu wasn’t a part of these first channels, but there are rumors that it could become available soon.

 

The Roku Channel Store is an automatic and free upgrade for you existing Roku customers. All three Roku players (Roku SD, Roku HD and Roku HDXR) are available at http://www.roku.com, starting at $79.99 (free shipping). Check out http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store for complete details on the channels.

On a different but slightly similar note, you can now watch Netflix movies/TV shows off your PlayStation 3 (PS3) at no additional cost. This is enabled by an instant streaming Blu-ray disk that is sent to you by Netflix - request one at http://www.netflix.com/ps3. It took two days for mine to arrive.

Although I’ve been waiting for Netflix to come to the PS3 for a long time, I’m not too happy that I need to have that disk in my PS3 whenever I want to watch something. I can watch Netflix just fine off my Xbox 360 (with no disk), including the ability to add things to my queue. I hope this will be refined soon, but at least there are more options to view Netflix now.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Meter Maid

I admit I received a parking ticket a couple months ago by not feeding the parking meter - oh, come on, it was a weekend in the middle of a quiet parking lot in Kailua. I never thought the meter maids would be working. I was wrong.

When I saw this Meter Maid app, it sort of reminded me of what happened, and I thought this would be perfect for the forgetful meter feeder. This app allows you to set how much time is on your parking meter and receive a push notification before it expires, even if the app isn’t running.

Meter Maid lets you save the GPS location of where you parked so you can always find your car, and a large display shows how much time you have remaining. You can see your current location on a map and obtain directions back to your car, and set your meter time up to eight hours. Find this for 99 cents at the iTunes App Store.

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Hello, Earthlings, I Am DROID

Earlier this month Verizon Wireless released its much-anticipated DROID smart-phone. This phone is the first to be powered by the Android 2.0 operating system, offering some nice refinements.

The phone physically matches up to its name. It looks “droidy” - all black and industrial, definitely a masculine phone. The 3.7-inch, high-resolution screen (854 x 480 pixels) is sharp, allowing you to view your e-mail, browse the Web and Google Maps in cinema style. The Google Maps Navigation provides you turn-by-turn voice guidance, and you can use voice shortcuts and say “navigate to (your destination).” Additionally, you can do your Google searches using voice-activation, and it will serve up your search results based on your location.

Another great feature is the five-megapixel camera with auto focus, a dual-LED flash and image stabilization. The camcorder has a 16:9 cinematic display and offers you one-touch playback and easy uploading to YouTube. The phone includes 16GB of storage (on an included memory card) and a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It’s customizable with more than 12,000 apps and widgets from the Android Market including music, news and sports games. The phone allows you to toggle among up to six apps at a time.

Verizon Wireless is marketing the DROID as an iPhone killer, especially in its recent TV ads: “iDon’t have a real keyboard. iDon’t run simultaneous apps. iDon’t have interchangeable batteries. Everything iDon’t, DROID does.”

I won’t even go there with the comparisons, since we are talking about two very different phones, but I can say that the DROID is definitely the best phone on the Verizon Wireless network. You can buy one for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 rebate. Check out www.droiddoes.com for more information.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Eliminate Pro

Eliminate Pro is the first online first-person shooter (FPS) that can fit right into your pocket. I was a little skeptical of this app when I first heard about it, but that quickly changed once I downloaded and played it. This FPS has live online multiplayer combat against real players around the world (or just your friends, if you want), along with a system for leveling up and purchasing weapons.

Your goal is to put the most advanced weapons to the test. You earn credits based on performance to buy better gear and upgrades. You can master multiple combat arenas as you experiment with jet packs, berserker shields, cloaking devices and a variety of power-ups. Your progress is easily tracked with Plus+ enabled leader boards and awards. If you’re not ready to play against real people, you can practice with the game’s bots, but you won’t earn any credits for it. The graphics and sound are both polished, especially for a free iPhone game. You’ll just need to acquaint yourself to the controls a bit - playing an FPS on the iPhone was a new experience for me.

This is a good time-killer if you’re stuck in an airport or a long line. Find it for free at the iTunes App Store.

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A Virtual Tour With Google Street View

Hawaii was the only state for years that didn’t have Google Street View - now it’s finally here! Google announced high-resolution imagery of Oahu and Maui has been added to Street View on Google Maps, and that Hawaii is the 50th state to be featured in Street View (saving the best for last). I knew this would be coming soon since the Google Street View camera car was spotted on-island earlier this year.

Just a little background: Google Street View is a free feature you can use on Google Maps to virtually explore and navigate through roads and neighborhoods. You can wander down the streets of cities around the world, even if you want to gaze up at the Tokyo Tower in Japan or gander at the ancient ruins in Rome. The pictures are taken with special Street View cars that have unique cameras mounted to them. The cars take pictures at various angles as they drive down the street.

Street View first launched in May 2007 and has become popular worldwide. Comparing it now to what it used to be, I can say that Street View has really come a long way. Just to test it out, I Street Viewed multiple friends and family members’ houses here on-island as well as on the Mainland, and I found just about all of them. Amazingly, their houses even popped up in the smaller towns on the Mainland!

 

There are some privacy concerns about the photos used in Street View. Since they are taken on public property, you could very well see yourself in a Google Street View image (maybe even doing something embarrassing such as picking your nose). Not to worry though, using face-blurring technology, all faces and car license plates are blurred out and unidentifiable. And, if you prefer to not have your picture included at all, you can request to have it removed.

Take a few moments to enjoy a virtual trip with Street View at maps.google.com or use your Google Earth (earth.google.com).

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Flying Without Fear

Afraid of flying? There’s an app for that. Since we live on an island, a fear of flying is bad if you need or want to travel. Of course, you could always take a boat as they did in the old days, but that’s not really practical. To help you overcome your fear of flying, Virgin Atlantic released an iPhone app based on its Flying Without Fear course.

It starts off with an introduction video with Sir Richard Branson himself (owner of Virgin Atlantic) as he welcomes you to the app. You’ll then be taken through the stages of flight from a Virgin Atlantic pilot. He takes you from the beginning pre-flight to the final stages of flight, to landing. He’s also sure to include the different noises you’ll probably hear. Part three of the course answers common questions people have, split into various categories: engines, landing, pilots, sounds, takeoff, weather and wings.

After all that, you can start the exercises and rate your fears on a scale of “no fear” to “terrified,” in categories ranging from mechanical failures, emergency landings or even booking a flight. There are relaxation exercises that teach you to contain your panic.

Of course, this app won’t completely cure fears of flying, but it’s very educational to someone who may need it. Find it for $4.99 at the iTunes App Store.

 

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Taking Tekken 6 To A Fun New Level

I’ve already enjoyed Namco Bandai’s Tekken 6 in Japan’s arcades, and now it’s finally available to play on your own game console at home. Whether you’re a Tekken veteran and went through all five Tekken prequels over the last 14 years, or a complete newbie, this version is refreshing and easy to play.

One of the first noticeable things is the most comprehensive cast of characters in the entire series thus far. The character lineup features 41 fighters, including the old classics (i.e. Kazuya, Heihachi, Jin, Nina, Lei) and six new ones. These include Bob (big American fighter, speedy for his size), Leo (German martial arts specialist), Miguel (powerful Spanish brawler), Zafina (has unusual almost witchcraft-like stances), Alisa (an android with chainsaws and a jetpack) and Lars (he moves similar to Jin, obviously a part of the Mishima bloodline).

There’s more than enough Tekken gameplay to go around with the various modes. Arcade Mode is good because it allows you to gain ranks for individual characters. The Practice Mode gives you the time to polish your moves, while the Offline Mode gives you the chance to fight against the CPU or other players. Online play gives you the chance to play against others around the world and view or be on the leader-boards. And, last but not least, the new Scenario Campaign mode gives Tekken a nice twist.

In this new Scenario Campaign mode, it’s almost a combination of being in a first-person shooter-type of environment combined with playing a traditional head-to-head fighter game. You go through the adventure as two of the new characters - Lars and Alisa - and it’s the only place you’ll see these characters’ full video ending. It’s the best way to figure out Tekken 6‘s plot. Additionally, after you finish the first few levels of the Scenario Campaign, an Arena Mode is unlocked. This allows you to play through the storyline as any of the characters.

I could go on and on about how much I love this game, but I have to say it’s the best Tekken to date. The graphics, the character variations, the training options and the new Scenario Campaign Mode make it well worth it.

Tekken 6 is rated “T” for Teen and retails for $59.99 for your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. A PlayStation Portable (PSP) version is scheduled to release sometime this winter. Find it at your nearest Toys n’ Joys (toysnjoys.com), GameStop (gamestop.com) or Best Buy (bestbuy.com).

 

Katamari Forever

Katamari Forever is another recent release from Namco Bandai Games, and is the follow-on to the original Katamari Damacy, released in 2004. This release boasts the largest collection of stages, modes, songs and cousins. There are 50 playable cousins that you can equip with a variety of accessories.

The game has 34 levels and only three of them are entirely new. Otherwise the gameplay is the same with a different storyline. In this game, the King of All Cosmos is left unconscious after an accident. You, as the Prince, work with your cousins to construct a RoboKing to temporarily replace the king.

The goal of the game is to pick up as many objects as possible (rolled up in a ball) in the allotted time, and make your katamari as big as possible.

Overall, Katamari Forever is very simplistic, and if you’re into puzzle-type games, you’ll enjoy it, but I’m not sure it’s worth the retail price of $49.99.

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Underwater Tunes

If you’re a lap swimmer, you know that going back and forth in the pool can be monotonous. I always enjoy listening to music while I’m running, but swimming?

Yep, it’s possible. Finis’ SwiMP3 is designed for you swimmers out there.

The SwiMP3 is a waterproof mp3 player that is created with a unique sound transfer feature that gives you underwater sound clarity. It uses a patented bone-conduction technology that vibrates from your cheekbone to your inner ear so you can hear it clearly underwater.

At first I was a bit skeptical that this thing would actually work as advertised - water and electronics usually don’t play well together. To produce decent sound underwater, you need to turn up the volume very loud. Out of the water, you can barely hear it. Don’t even try to compare the sound quality to a regular mp3 player - heck, it’s a music player that works underwater!

 

SwiMP3 comes with its own media manager software, but it’s not worth using. Loading your music is quite simple. When you plug your SwiMP3 into your computer, it shows up as any removable hard drive would (on a Mac or PC, mp3 or WMA files). If you’re using iTunes, the SwiMP3 pops right up in there, too.

It connects to your computer with a USB connector, which also charges the device. It takes about three hours for a full charge, giving you approximately eight hours of playback. Additionally, it has 1GB of storage (approximately 240 songs).

The headphones are very sturdy and clip right onto your goggles or mask. They also are surprisingly comfortable to wear, as they stay in place resting on your cheekbones. But I have a small issue with the buttons on the goggles - they’re tiny, and it makes concentrating on your swim a bit distracting if you need to make adjustments to your tunes. The buttons on the goggles include on/off, volume, next/previous track, pause and shuffle functions.

The bottom line: Listening to your favorite songs takes the monotony out of swimming laps, and if you’re a dedicated lap swimmer or triathlete, the SwiMP3 could be your new best friend. Find it online for $150 at Finisinc.com or Amazon.com.

Click Chick’s iPhone: App of the Week: NASA

A couple weeks ago NASA released its first app for the iPhone/iPod touch. This is a dream come true for space geeks. You can see up-to-date space mission information with this all in one easy-to-use app.

NASA’s app collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various sources. You can see NASA countdown clocks, the NASA Image of the Day, Astronomy Image of the Day, online videos, multiple Twitter feeds, track the positions of the International Space Station and see satellite imagery (with the option of overlaid with country borders/labels).

Not only is this app way cool, it’s free at the iTunes Store. Note that it requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

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Checking Out The New Zune HD

By popular request from many friends, I had to take a look at the Zune HD, Microsoft’s first portable multimedia player that combines a built-in HD radio receiver, High-Definition (HD) video output capabilities, organic light-emitting diode (OLED), touch screen, Wi-Fi and an Internet browser. Other than the radio capability, you could say it’s similar to Apple’s iPod touch.

Before I go any further, let me clarify a common misconception: The “HD” in HD radio does not stand for High-Definition as it would for HD video. It is the trademark/marketing tool for iBiquity’s in-band on-channel (IBOC) technology that was selected by the Federal Communications Commission as a digital broadcasting method for the United States. Essentially, the “HD” has no real meaning.

Note that Hawaii has six HD radio stations: 98.5, 93.9, 92.3, 101.9, 100.3 and 105.1. This is the first time I have a device that can actually play HD radio, and these six stations sound the same as any other “regular” radio station. I cannot hear the supposed “higher quality sound,” but I do enjoy being able to switch back and forth between the HD1 and HD2 channels that most of these have available. I wish my iPhone or iPod touch could do this.

 

That aside, other than the obvious new slender look of the Zune HD, the biggest change is in its software. The new interface is simple and easy to navigate through with its large typography. Being accustomed to the iPhone/iPod touch, going through the menus required a small learning curve for me, but I adapted to the change within a couple of minutes. The sensitivity of the touch screen is different. It’s not as reactive as tapping on my iPhone, and it does-n’t feel as fluid. But the Zune HD’s display looks extremely sharp (16:9 widescreen display, 480x272 resolution). A huge plus is the ability to play back HD video files in 720p from the Zune HD using a docking station (sold separately for $90).

In addition, you have access to a limited amount of apps such as a calculator or the MSN Weather application. Later this year, there are plans to release other apps such as Twitter, Facebook, and 3D games like Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition. As you would download apps, songs and videos from the iTunes Store on an iPhone/iPod touch, you would acquire these for the Zune HD from the Zune Marketplace.

There’s nowhere near the selection of apps/media you would find on the iTunes Store, but I have a feeling it’s not Microsoft’s goal to compete with the iPod touch here. The bottom line: The Zune HD is a great media player and big improvement on the original Zune. This would have been better as a media phone ... maybe in the future?

It comes in 16GB ($220) or 32GB ($290), plus you need to subscribe to the $15/month Zune Pass (which gives you access to everything on the Zune Marketplace). Buy it at your nearest Best Buy (bestbuy.com) or find it online at Zune.net or Amazon.com.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Labor Mate

There must be something in the water because I have many friends and friends of friends who are pregnant or just gave birth recently. A tip from one of them who recently gave birth: White Peak Software’s Labor Mate app. It’s a labor contraction stopwatch and your best friend if you have your iPhone in-hand while you’re having contractions.

Instead of thinking about or counting your contractions, you tap the labor stopwatch as the contractions stop and start. Labor Mate then tracks the information and reports the timings back to you in an easy-to-read format so you’ll know when it’s time to call the doctor and head to the hospital. Find Labor Mate at the iTunes Store for 99 cents.

 

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The Software Stability Of New Windows 7

Apple’s latest operating system, Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6, came out a couple months ago, and this week (Oct. 22) we’ll see the next big operating system release with Microsoft’s Windows 7. I’ve been playing with it since the beta came out in January, and it’s basically a streamlined version of Vista with many visible changes.

Here are some of the main highlights that come to mind:

* Installing Windows 7 was a breeze, and now anytime I turn my computer on or off, both are very quick to do - faster than when it was XP or Vista. Following the install, the first thing I noticed about the display was the choice of fun, colorful desktop pictures. Of course, you can still use your own pictures, but I enjoy some of the ones you can choose from since they remind me of cute Japanese anime.

* The new Aero Peek feature helps you through desktop clutter by giving you X-ray vision through your open windows straight to your Windows 7 desktop. To activate it, point to the right edge of the taskbar and watch your windows instantly turn transparent. Going hand-in-hand with that is Aero Shake - click on a pane and literally shake your mouse. This causes all your open windows, except the one you just clicked, to close. It’s perfect to clear a cluttered desktop quickly. Also related is Aero Snap: This gives you a smart and fun way of resizing/working with your windows.

* If you use OS X, you’re probably quite familiar with Spotlight. Information on your hard drive is better organized in Windows 7; the new search built into the Start Menu works similar to Spotlight. As soon as you start typing in a search query, the results start populating in the window immediately, as it looks at your entire hard drive and not just where you tell it to look. Another OS X similarity is the Taskbar - it reminds me of the OS X dock, but it has larger icons and it’s not as pretty. As far as software compatibility goes, Windows 7 worked with everything I tried loading on the machine, including Office 2007. I didn’t try to install anything out of the ordinary, so maybe I was lucky.

After running Windows 7 for more than nine months, I can say that this new operating system patched up the potholes that Vista left in the road and is a huge improvement. I wouldn’t call it a complete makeover, but more of a refined version of the Windows you already know.

Is it worth it? For the fixes and software stability, yes.

The Windows 7 prices vary: $120-$220/upgrade from XP or Vista or $200-$320/full version. Find it at the Windows Store (store.microsoft.com) or Amazon.com.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Babyphone

With a baby on the way, I’ve been doing a lot of research on baby tech stuff and, in the process, found Babyphone. You place your iPhone near your baby and it turns into a baby monitor that will call your house phone (or another number) to let you know your child is awake.

Babyphone’s main screen shows the current status, microphone sensitivity and the threshold for triggering the alarm. Once the microphone display reaches or exceeds your set threshold, it will call your designated phone number. Since I don’t have an actual baby on whom to test it yet, I used it on my parrot - it works great with him!

Find Babyphone at the iTunes Store for $3.99.

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IngBoo: Information At A Glance

Launched earlier this year, IngBoo brings you a new way to interact with information updates on the Web. It’s basically a heavy-duty tracking tool that analyzes each feed to give you the latest information. It tracks and helps you to quickly find just about anything you can think of, including specific news stories, traffic reports, sports scores or ongoing sales. In today’s economy, this is really helpful for a job hunter to do quick, yet personalized job searches.

“IngBoo provides all of the information on the Web that is important to you in glanceable, snackable snippets,” says IngBoo co-founder and CEO Rikard Kjellberg. “Unlike similar services such as Google Alerts, Trackle and Alerts.com that deliver updates via e-mail, IngBoo updates are experienced in the form of a uniquely designed list that is accessible on desktops and smart-phones.”

 

There are a number of Web applications similar to IngBoo, but really none is as efficient as IngBoo. It helps you keep all your RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, social networking accounts (i.e. Facebook, Twitter) and online interests in one place. Setting up your feeds/info interests is very easy to do with the predefined content catalog/big buttons, or the search function. Once you have that ready to go, you scroll over your topics and the full story appears without actually clicking on the link - very convenient!

For you bloggers, Web publishers and retailers looking to increase your Web site revisits, IngBoo offers a free button that you can place discreetly on your site (similar to an RSS button). This button lets you subscribe with a single mouse click instead of a whole complicated process. Basically, the IngBoo experience is tailored to the folks who may be intimidated by the complexity of an RSS reader.

The best part of it all: IngBoo is free! Too bad there’s no iPhone app to go with it yet. Visit ingboo.com to begin your efficient information flow.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: myStarbucks

It was only a matter of time before Starbucks came out with its own iPhone app, and now it’s here. There’s not really much to the app, but, hey, it’s Starbucks - and as cliche as it is, I love Starbucks coffee. The most convenient thing about the app is the Store Locator. It’s not such a big deal here in Hawaii since I know where all my nearby Starbucks stores are, but if I were traveling, I would want to know where all the Starbucks are.

You can build your perfect drinks, save and share them via e-mail or if you’re close enough, iPhone to iPhone. The Coffee Menu and Food Menu will let you see the full Starbucks selection along with the detailed nutrition information (sometimes it’s better not to look at all - but at least my favorite latte is only 170 calories).

One huge drawback of the app is that it doesn’t have the capability to look up gift card balances. You have to download a separate app to do this.

Other than that, if you enjoy Starbucks, it’ll keep you entertained for a little while. Download the myStarbucks app for free at the iTunes Store.

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Mr. Click Chick’s Top TGS Picks

This year’s Tokyo Game Show (TGS) in Japan just finished, and it was yet another expo I could not attend this year. I’ve always wanted to attend a TGS, but keep missing the opportunity - the show is similar to the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3, in Los Angeles that I’ve written about. This year my schedule looked open, so I registered early, but I’m now well into the third trimester of pregnancy, and per doctor’s orders I cannot travel.

As with all the shows I missed this year, I sent “Mr. Click Chick,” my husband, Alan (systems manager for MidWeek and the Star-Bulletin), to cover TGS for me. Held for four days (Sept. 24-27), this year’s theme was “Game, it’s so energetic!” During that time, a whopping 185,030 attendees showed up, even though it was much smaller than a typical E3. Pretty impressive for a show that had 180 exhibitors and 760 game titles.

 

There were obviously too many titles to mention individually, but here are a few highlights with release dates/platforms that caught Mr. Click Chick’s eye:

* Tekken 6 (Oct. 29: PS3, Xbox 360, PSP): Both PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were featured at TGS, just as they were at E3 by its publisher, Namco Bandai. Only this time it was all in Japanese and the Scenario Campaign was playable along with its entire 40-character roster. First impressions from the demo: Along with normal moves, you can pick up weapons, heal downed opponents (not to full health) and there’s a new energy drink that adds electrical damage to your attacks.

* Lost Planet 2 (Feb. 21: PS3, Xbox 360): Developed by Capcom, this is a great sequel to Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. It’s a first-person shooter with RPG elements and big bosses to take down with three of your friends in coop campaign mode. One of the best games at TGS.

* Bayonetta (Jan. 2010: PS3, Xbox 360): From SEGA/Platinum Games, this is an action-adventure story in which Bayonetta is a reborn witch who battles against angels with her unique shape-shifting abilities and weapons equipped to her hands and feet. The gameplay is similar to Devil May Cry and involves melee and long-range attacks.

* Front Mission Evolved (spring 2010: PS3, Xbox 360, PC): This latest addition to the Front Mission series by Square Enix moves away from turn-based play to full third-person shooter. If you are a fan of robot battle games such as MechWarrior, you’ll love this latest installment. It has great graphics and gameplay, as you can customize your mech’s armor and weaponry.

* Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (released Sept. 29: PS3): KOEI TECMO’s compelling action-adventure game is a redefined version of Ninja Gaiden II and shares a similar gameplay style to God of War III and Heavenly Sword. There are 17 levels in the game that traverse to several locations to show off the impressive graphics.

You’ll be seeing some of these titles and more in my upcoming columns. If you’re curious about the Tokyo Game Show, visit the Web site for more information/pictures: http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/tg s/2009/en/.

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SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny For PSP

Namco Bandai Games recently released SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny, its latest in the SoulCalibur series - but this one is exclusively for Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP). Broken Destiny is the title’s handheld iteration that gives you the signature SoulCalibur weapon-based fighting formula on the go.

You have 28 characters to choose from and they’re available right from the beginning without having to unlock anything. If you’re a SoulCalibur follower, you’ll see some of your old favorites along with some new faces - even a special appearance by Kratos from the God of War game. I was surprised to see him in there, but it’s fun to play his character. In addition, you can create your own character from scratch with the customization tool for physical appearance, apparel and gear. Unlike the characters, these other options need to be unlocked. They’re purely aesthetic since there are no point bonuses associated with what you’re wearing.

 

For the average user. this game is very easy to grasp right from the start. All you need to do is experiment with the buttons while you’re fighting your opponent, and you’ll eventually figure out the basic horizontal/vertical attacks, kicks and swings with whatever weapon you’re armed with.

Chances are, without reading the manual, you won’t know what every button does, but if you hit the square button (when you’re in the character select menu), that will give you information about your character along with combinations to special moves. Additionally, if you don’t feel comfortable jumping right into the fights, you can practice your overall strategy with over 80 exercise missions, and use your fighting skills and advanced techniques/combos in the training mode.

Overall, I think SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny packs a powerful punch and is a must-have PSP game. The fighters are detailed with smooth/natural animation, the ad hoc multi-player mode works well, and the best part is that I can have SoulCalibur available to play right in my purse. The only disappointment I have with the game is the lack of online play, but at least there’s an option to play against your friends with the ad hoc mode.

SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny is rated “T” for Teen and retails for $39.99.

Find it at your nearest GameStop (gamestop.com), Toys N Joys (toysnjoys.com) or on Amazon.com. Check out namcobandaigames.com or soulcalibur.com for more information about the game.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: MewMew Tower

MewMew Tower has been out for awhile, but I didn’t find it until last week when I saw it on my brother’s iPhone. It’s such a simple game, but so addictively fun. Your goal is to stack as many cats as possible on top one another without making the whole pile topple over. The key is to heap the kitties in a straight line to maintain good balance. Don’t move your iPhone/iPod touch around too much because it affects your tower’s integrity. In the beginning of a game, you’ll see small cats and think to yourself, “Oh, easy.” Then after stacking several of those, the game will throw in some fat cats. Watch out - if you’re not careful, those tubbies are the ones that will make your kitty masterpiece come tumbling down. Find MewMew Tower (aka Tumi Neko) for 99 cents at the iTunes App Store.

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The World’s Smallest Camcorder

Of the all the announcements from Apple in the last couple weeks, the new iPod nano is hands-down the best one. The capability of this new nano reminds me of the compact Flip Mino camera I reviewed a little over a year ago - but it’s much smaller, and has a greater space capacity and more functionality. Not only did they add a video camera to it, there’s a built-in FM radio with live pause, iTunes Tagging and a pedometer. If you were following the rumor mills, sorry, disappointingly, there’s no iPod touch with a camera yet.

“iPod nano is the world’s most popular music player with over 100 million sold,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And now we’ve added a video camera to its incredibly thin design, without any additional cost to the user.”

This new nano is exactly the same size as the previous one: 3.6 x 1.5 x 0.2 inches. It has a microphone the size of a pinhole and a speaker perfect for on-the-go footage for your blog or Facebook page, or if you’re traveling and don’t want to lug around a huge video camera. The 2.2-inch screen makes it fairly easy to see your images. There are various video effects you can do for fun - black and white, X-ray, thermal, security cam, cyborg, sepia and more. Sadly, its camera does not take still pictures, only video. The speaker isn’t anything special, but good enough for you to play back your videos or audio if your ears are near it.

 

A few drawbacks on the camera piece: The video quality isn’t as good as a regular camcorder, but it’s certainly better than a typical cell phone. The nano’s video produces standard definition (no HD capability) and there is no image stabilization, so you’ll need to have a steady hand to keep your footage looking good.

As far as the FM radio, Apple is a little late on this capability compared to other music players. I wish the iPhone had this too. Your headphones act as the FM antenna and you can pause live radio for up to 15 minutes by pushing “play” after a phone call. Your music/show then continues right from where you paused it. Theoretically, you can tag songs as you’re listening (to later purchase in iTunes), but so far Clear Channel radio stations are the only ones that transmit this special iTunes tag to make it work.

In addition, the pedometer counts your steps and counts your burned calories. It’s supposed to help you meet your fitness goals. You can also upload your workout data to the iPod+Nike website for complete analysis and/or to compete against others.

The new iPod nano retails for $149/8GB (2,000 songs or eight hours of video), or double your capacity for just a little bit more $179/16GB (4,000 songs or 16 hours of video). Available colors include silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, pink, and PRODUCT RED and yellow online only. Find the new nano at your nearest Apple Store (apple.com) or Mac Made Easy in Kailua (maceasy.com).

Other Apple updates include a new iTunes (iTunes 9), an updated iPod shuffle price ($59) and an iPod touch lineup geared more towards games.

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Cell Phone Use And Cancer

I have a friend who is convinced we’ll all end up with brain cancer because we use cell phones. Perhaps there might be some truth in that, but we probably won’t know for sure until several years down the road. In the meantime, the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) research team just released a comprehensive guide to cell phone radiation that rates more than 1,000 cell phones sold in the United States.

“We would like to be able to say that cell phones are safe,” says Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG senior scientist and lead author of the study. “But we can’t. The most recent science, while not conclusive, raises serious issues about the cancer risk of cell phone use that must be addressed through further research. In the meantime, consumers can take steps to reduce exposure.”

There have been concerns about radiation and cell phones for years, but there is no scientific evidence that makes a solid link between cell phone usage and cancer. However, the EWG claims that recent scientific studies have produced evidence that shows an increased risk for brain and mouth tumors linked to cell phone usage. Public health officials’ concerns about the possible dangers of radio frequency emissions are intensifying as the number of wireless devices continues to grow. There are about 270 million Americans who are wireless subscribers (as of December 2008), which is a 30 percent jump in three years.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires that all cell phones be rated at 1.6 watts per kilogram (W/kg) or lower. According to the EWG’s guide, the highest-rated phones are T-Mobile’s My Touch 3G, Motorola’s Moto VU204 and the Kyocera Jax S1300, all at 1.55 W/kg. I don’t feel too bad, since my beloved iPhone is right in the middle at 1.19 W/kg. The best phone to own is the Samsung Impression SGH-a877.

Check out http://www.ewg.org/cellphone-radiation to see the full report, compare where your phone is rated and read some tips on how to reduce your exposure.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: reQall reQall has been around for awhile, but it was just reintroduced with new features and a Pro version. It’s an effortless personal reminder and organizer system that’s perfect for your iPhone. In a nutshell, reQall transcribes what you utter into your iPhone and reminds you via e-mails, text messages, instant messaging or logging onto the Web site. It’s so innovative, it can even use your phone’s GPS to tell you where you parked your car or remind you to buy groceries at Foodland as you’re walking past it.

Download reQall for free at the iTunes App Store. The service for the Pro version will cost you $24.99 per year, but if you stick with reQall Standard, it’s free. Visit reqall.com for more information and to sign up for a free account. When you register for an account, it’ll automatically give you a free 15-day trial of the Pro service.

A side note: Good news for iPhone 3G/3GS users: Multimedia messaging (MMS) will (finally!) be available beginning Sept. 25 through a software upgrade - geez, it’s about time! Unfortunately, this update won’t work with a first-generation iPhone.

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Apple’s Snow Leopard Upgrade

If you’re a Mac user, chances are you already know about or may have already installed Apple’s latest upgrade that hit the shelves about a week and a half ago: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. It came out a little earlier than I thought it would. Perhaps Apple was trying to beat Microsoft’s release of Windows 7 in October.

“Snow Leopard builds on our most successful operating system ever and we’re happy to get it to users earlier than expected,” says Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “For just $29, Leopard users get a smooth upgrade to the world’s most-advanced operating system and the only system with built-in Exchange support.”

Snow Leopard doesn’t have any “new” features to boast about. It’s more of a huge refinement to the already smooth-running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system.

Before you even think about installing it, make sure you have a good backup! If you are currently using Time Machine, that’s perfect. Just be sure to capture the latest image before you do the install/upgrade. Once you have it installed, you’ll notice it’s truly an optimized version of Leopard. The startup time is faster, and you’ll have some free space on your hard drive (varies depending on what type of machine you have). I now have an extra seven GB on my hard drive, but some people on the forums are claiming to have freed up 40 GB.

Apple engineers have spent loads of time working on improvements for Snow Leopard. Some of the refinements you’ll see include a more responsive Finder, Time Machine backups up to 80 percent faster, a Dock with Expose integration, QuickTime X (with a redesigned player that allows you to easily view, record, trim and share video), and a 64-bit version of Safari that runs up to 50 percent faster and is resistant to crashes caused by plug-ins.

For the first time, some of the applications are 64-bit and make use of large amounts of RAM, increase performance and improve security while still remaining compatible with 32-bit applications. Important for business folks, there is built-in support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 directly in Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal to send/receive e-mail, create/respond to invitations and search/manage contacts with global address lists.

Among other things I discovered on my own is the clock - when you travel, it works as a mobile phone and adjusts the time automatically in time zones. The menu bar shows the date, not just the day of the week. See the strength of nearby wireless hotspots and go through a pdf document or watch a movie right within a file’s icon. Common text substitutions let you create shortcuts for items you use frequently and expand as you type (i.e. changing (c) to a © symbol).

Bottom line: The very affordable $29 price is worth it. If you need/want the additional software, you’ll have to pay a hefty $169 for the Mac Box Set (includes the latest versions of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, iDVD and iWork 09). Note you’ll need a Mac with an Intel processor, at least 1GB of free disk space and a minimum of 1 GB of memory.

Find Snow Leopard at your nearest

Apple Store (http://www.apple.com) or at Mac Made Easy in Kailua (www.maceasy.com).

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Facebook’s New Look

The updated Facebook iPhone/iPod touch app makes a world of difference since it now closely mirrors the functions of the actual Web site. The first thing I noticed after I did the update was the new icons. They’re now easy to see, which makes it easier to navigate. Landscape mode is supported and it’s easier on the eyes.

Other notable features are the ability to quickly dial or text your friends and see their birthdays, sort through your friends either by first or last name, perform easy searches for people and pages, upload photos to any album (not just your mobile album), upload videos from an iPhone 3GS, create shortcuts to your favorite friends/pages, and more.

You’ll need the iPhone OS 3.0 or later to run this app, but if you’re a chronic Facebooker, you’ll want to download this. Find it for free at the iTunes App Store.

 

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Great Power-saving Gadgets

I’ve seen my power bill fluctuate up and down over the past couple of years, and I do everything I can to try to save electricity. Recently my monthly bill has gone down from the average of $400 I was paying to about $250 now. I’m all about turning off the lights when I’m not using them, and I’ll even sit in the dark while I’m watching TV or using my computer.

Hey, every little bit helps, right?

Going even further with saving money, TrickleStar makes a line of easy-touse standby power products that help you conserve electricity used by little things you probably wouldn’t think of as power wasters: computers and televisions, along with their peripherals (i.e. printers, cable modems, speakers, scanners, DVD/Blu-ray players, game consoles).

TrickleStar stops the flow of standby power when these items are in “standby” mode.

“When you consider that standby power has been estimated as contributing to as much as 12 percent of consumers’ electricity bills - in the home or office environment - you realize just how much standby power costs, not just for the impact it has on our hip pockets, but on the electrical grid and the planet,” says Bernard Emby, founder of TrickleStar.

“We have developed a range of industry-leading products that will give Americans the peace of mind that they are putting a stop to the constant flow of standby power - and at the same time are reducing their power bills and their environmental footprint.”

The two products I plugged in at home are the PC TrickleSaver and the TV TrickleSaver. You need to plug each into a power strip to manage multiple connected devices, but there is no need to replace your existing power strips. The PC TrickleSaver connects to your computer via a standard USB cable and detects the power status of your system via its USB port. Likewise, the TV TrickleSaver has built-in current-sensing circuitry that senses when your TV is on or off. Both are extremely painless to plug in and set up.

In addition, the TrickleStar Web site (www.tricklestar.com) has a standby power calculator to help you figure out how much you can save. Adding on all of my components (including my PS3) and the amount of time I use, it indicated I can save about $129.26/year for my TV component and $54.94/year for my computer. Not bad for little things.

For more information and to purchase the TrickleSavers, visit the TrickleStar Web site. The PC TrickleSaver is $24.95 and the TV TrickleSaver is $34.95.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Sheep Launcher

Sheep Launcher is one of those addicting yet simple iPhone/iPod touch apps that keeps you occupied for long periods of time. You push the big red button to launch your sheep, and you keep tapping him as fast as you can to boost him higher and higher in the air. On the way up, you can collect power-up items such as a helium tank, a rocket pack or a flying saucer. Additionally, pick up as many stars as you can to increase your final score.

The higher you climb the more challenging the game becomes, and you can even compete against other players worldwide to try to be one of the top 50 players. If you purchase the full version (Sheep Launcher Plus!) you’ll see a few more features, plus be able to go beyond our solar system to discover what’s out there. Sheep Launcher Free! is free, and Sheep Launcher Plus! costs 99 cents at the iTunes App Store.

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Madden NFL 10 Is Good Football

I always know the summer is coming to a close and football season is about to kick off when a new Madden video game comes out. Now is that time of year as Electronic Arts’Madden NFL 10 just released. All new Madden games include a few features that set them apart from the previous release, and Madden NFL 10 keeps that tradition alive.

The first thing I noticed was the details - it’s the best-looking Madden game that I’ve seen to date. From the way the players look on the field to things you see in the background, this is as close as you’ll come to playing a real game of football with a video game. You’ll see players getting yelled at on the sidelines, referees debating touchdown calls and pre-game warm-ups on the field with commentaries from Tom Hammond and Chris Colinsworth.

Other main attractions of Madden NFL 10 include Pro-Tak, Fight for Online Dominance and Online Co-op. The Pro-Tak System is basically for better gang tackles. It gives you control over the outcome of every play. You can drag defenders toward the first down marker, including up to nine-man gang tackles, fight for a fumble at the bottom of the pile, and evade the rush with all-new quarterback avoidance actions.

The Online Dominance mode lets you compete with up to 32 teams in an online franchise. You can propose trades, draft players and even do a fantasy draft. You can also do real NFL scheduling and have access to league message boards. It also is controllable from your computer - and soon an iPhone app.

A first for Madden, the Online Co-op trait allows you to team with a friend and battle against the CPU. This makes it easy for you to work on your game strategies, practice plays and see how it is playing from a different position with custom camera angles.

In addition, the interactive Fight For the Fumble makes a loose ball beneath the pile live as you fight for the fumble through a new rapid-button-press mini-game. Mash the button displayed on the meter to battle for possession of the ball. There’s also a quarterback pressure alert, and your controller will warn you with a rumble when a defender is near you while your quarterback is in the pocket.

Overall, Madden NFL 10 packs in a ton of good football to start you off this season. The graphics and the look of the game are a nice step forward from Madden 09. The game’s improvements mentioned above make the game attractive, but there’s nothing too massive that would reshape the title. It’s still a good football game that I had a difficult time wrestling away from my husband.

Madden NFL 10 retails for $59.99/PlayStation and Xbox 360; $49.99/Wii; $39.99/PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable (PSP). Visit your nearest Best Buy (bestbuy.com), GameStop (gamestop.com) or Toys N Joys (toysnjoys.com) to buy a copy of your own.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Camera Genius

The recently released Camera Genius app gives your iPhone camera the capability it should have had from the beginning. Just about all the missing features I would want to see in Apple’s real camera app are a part of Camera Genius. It includes Camera Zoom, Sound Capture, Anti-Shake, Big Button, Guides, Self Timer and Camera Manual.

The zoom is pretty self-explanatory, but the Sound Capture isn’t what you probably think it is. It snaps a picture when the noise it hears reaches a certain level (i.e. say “cheese!” really loud and it snaps your picture).

Anti-Shake is good for restless keiki or pets. Big Button turns the whole screen into a shutter release button. Guides helps you level your pics against the horizon.

Self Timer gives you the option to do two, five, 10, 15 or 30-second timer options. Lastly, Camera Manual gives you a quick reference guide of photography right there within the app.

Camera Genius is worth the nominal 99 cents. Find it at the iTunes App Store or visit www.codegoo.com for more information.

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Seeing The Light On Plant Care

“Hellooooo, time to water me!”

That is exactly what I need to hear from a plant if it wants to survive. Plants and I don’t exactly mix well. If I’m caring for one, it usually ends up in death for the plant. It’s not that I forget to water it; I just can’t seem to add the correct amount of water. I think I have a tendency to be stingy with the water I pour into it because subconsciously I don’t want to “waste water.”

The funny thing is my friend just asked me to water her plants while she’s gone on a monthlong trip. I don’t think she realizes that I’m probably the worst person to trust with plants. Lucky for me, her plants are still alive for now (after two weeks), but I hope they are still at least green when she returns. I’m making a conscious effort to put more water in than I usually would.

All this jogged my memory about a little gadget called the Thirsty Light. This is the Click Chick’s solution to successfully living with a houseplant.

This cool invention is an intuitive digital plant moisture sensor that flashes an LED light to let you know your plant is getting dry. It’s designed to be unobtrusive when you leave it in the plant’s soil, as it continuously monitors the moisture level once per second. It contains a circuit called DryPoint, which can sense five different levels of dryness and blinks faster and faster as the soil becomes more dry. When it reaches level five (completely dry), it puts the device into standby mode to conserve its energy, and it double blinks every three seconds.

While there are many soil detectors on the market that detect the conductivity of the soil (if there’s enough water, the salts in the soil dissolve and send a tiny current through the electrodes), the Thirsty Light uses a patent to actually interpret the readings it receives. These are not cryptic readings. If it blinks, you’d better give your plant water. The Thirsty Light is probably the most appropriate for indoor plants, but I suppose you could use it on your outdoor plants if you live in a dry area and have no sprinklers. You can turn it on and off, move it around from plant to plant, and you can change the battery when it gets weak.

For more information or to purchase a Thirsty Light, check out http://www.thirstylight.com. It’s $12.99 for one, $32.97 for a three-pack, $59.94 for a six-pack, or if you want to be safe, a 12-pack is $107.88.

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App of the Week: Ukulele Chord Kumu

If you grew up in Hawaii, chances are you learned how to play the ukulele at some point in your life. Sadly, the last time I even picked up one was most likely in intermediate school, so it’s been a long, long time. Ask me to play a song for you now and I’ll just give you a blank look. Maybe this new app, Ukulele Chord Kumu, can help refresh my memory.

Made right here in Hawaii, Ukulele Chord Kumu was released a couple of months ago by father-and-son team Joe and George Uno. It has more than 100 ukulele chords with finger placements that you can use on your iPhone/iPod touch. The app also includes a hands-free tuner to help you tune your ukulele, and a little ukulele history lesson. Find it at the iTunes App Store for $1.99 or visit http://www.kuawaroad.com for more information.

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A Free Language-learning Tool

A free solution to language learning, Livemocha is a learning tool that combines fun self-study lessons, motivational tools and a community to help you learn the language of your choice. Unlike potentially boring CDs and books, Livemocha brings you useful everyday language from native speakers. It reached a whopping 3 million users in June, yet it’s been out there for about two years.

I started using it about a month ago and, as you probably know, learning another language can be difficult. I find that dealing with a native speaker is the best way to pick up any language. Livemocha allows you to do exactly that by putting you in touch with people who already speak the language you’re trying to learn. So far, Livemocha has a community from more than 220 countries and is the largest language-learning community. The site continues to outpace the growth of traditional classroom and CD-based language courses since it appeals to every age and nationality.

“The contributions of our enthusiastic community allow us to make language learning more accessible worldwide, thereby expanding the size of our community,” said Shirish Nadkarni, founder and CEO of Livemocha. “The viral growth we’ve experienced is a testament to the effectiveness of our unique social learning experience. Livemocha members learn new languages more effectively by accessing lessons online and tapping into a large network of native speakers for real-time practice and helpful feedback.”

Livemocha’s sign-up is quick and easy: You enter in your name, e-mail, password, etc., and choose what language(s) you want to learn. You then choose a course, and there are four steps you need to pass in each lesson: Learn, Review, Write and Speak. There are optional exercises, too: Read, Listen, Magnet and Quiz. Overall, the lesson plans include more than 160 hours of beginner- and intermediate-level content that teaches you everyday useful conversational language along with a wide range of practical reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises. I find the pictures with each phrase useful and easy to remember, as well as the option to choose to see either the characters or romanization (when learning Chinese or Japanese).

In addition, Livemocha encourages members with Mochapoints. You can earn points based on completing lessons, writing submissions or speaking submissions. Once you earn a certain amount of Mochapoints you receive medals. The points are just a way to motivate you to do more and more. Try Livemocha at http://www.livemocha.com.

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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Rowmote

Rowmote lets you control any Mac or Apple TV from the convenience of your iPhone or iPod touch via your Wi-Fi network. It works just as those little Apple Remotes do, but it does so much more without having to worry about a line-of-sight infrared connection with your computer.

Before you can use Rowmote you’ll need to download and install the Rowmote Helper on your Mac from rowmote.com. After that, you’ll be able to control a variety of programs on your computer including Front Row, Boxee, DVD Player, Hulu Desktop, iPhoto, iTunes, Quicktime, Safari or xbmc (Xbox Media Center), to highlight afew.

I have a Mac mini hooked up to my TV for the sole purpose of being a media server, and I’ve been using Rowmote to primarily control Boxee, Hulu Desktop and iPhoto. The combination of using our HDTV to watch streaming media along with Rowmote makes my home media experience very efficient and enjoyable. Download Rowmote for 99 cents at the iTunes App Store.

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A Serious Challenger For Google

The first time I saw one of those Bing commercials on TV, I thought, “Oh no. Another search engine trying to copy Google.” The online critics and cynics joke that Bing is an acronym for “But It’s Not Google.”

Believe it or not, in some ways Microsoft’s Bing may actually be better than Google, depending on what you’re searching for. I noticed Bing comes back with better results when searching for travel (perhaps it’s because it uses the farecast.com engine).

Bing initially launched in early June and Microsoft describes it as being a “decision engine” designed to empower people to gain insight and knowledge from the Web, moving more quickly to important decisions. It was developed as a tool to help you easily navigate through the Internet’s information overload you may see in a typical online search.

A comScore Inc. study across core search engines showed that as many as 30 percent of searches are abandoned with an unsatisfactory result. The study’s data also showed that approximately two-thirds of the remaining searches required a refinement or re-query on the search results page.

“Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don’t do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web. Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly, and use the information they’ve found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions.”

From Google, you’ll usually see a long list of blue links with an occasional photo. Bing does this as well, but instead of the plain white background you see on Google’s homepage, you’ll see a pretty picture on Bing’s.

Bing tries to make sense of your search with a list of common-sense links pertaining to your search (i.e. with a typical medical condition you’ll see a list with symptoms, causes, remedies, treatment, prevention and news).

Related searches are easily pulled up with a single-click and match your word(s) as well as subject matter. Additionally, when you do an image search, it’s nice that the pictures scroll forever instead of having to click Next, Next, Next as you do with Google.

The next time you need to look for something online, try Bing for yourself: http://www.bing.com. And, if you feel up to doing a comparison, check out http://www.bing-vs-google.com. It offers you a side-by-side view of the two search engines.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week:RedLaser

Occipital’s RedLaser app is the first bar code reader application that actually works. It works as one of those red-laser scanners you see at the checkout counter, hence its name. It uses your iPhone’s camera as the scanner.

RedLaser supports all standard UPC and EAN bar codes (the most common formats used around the world). It recognizes just about everything you scan. Scan your items and the app instantly will have access to various online pricing and information. (For example, you’ll typically see the item and price pop up on amazon.com.) The best part about it for programmers is that they’ve made a software development kit so others can integrate it into their apps as well. Find RedLaser at the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

 

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Driving Around In A New Prius

Thanks to the folks at Servco, I got to drive the new 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid for a few days. Most people know the Prius for great gas mileage, but the new 2010 Prius also is loaded with gadgets.

The car came with the advanced technology package, which includes the Navigation Package, Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC), Pre-Collision System (PCS), Lane Keep Assist (LKA) and the Intelligent Parking Assist (IPA). The GPS on the Navigation Package was nothing out of the ordinary. It had a Bluetooth kit with voice-command capability, and the ability to load all your contacts in the system for the voice controls. I could stream music from my iPhone, but there was no way to control my iPhone from the steering wheel, so I wouldn’t consider it fully integrated. Additionally, when you’re reversing, the camera on the bumper is very clear, and is good to help spot obstacles or people while you’re backing up.

From all the other features in the tech package, the one I played with the most was the IPA. I lost count of how many times I blocked streets with friends in the car to show them the car automatically park itself! You can use this feature to parallel park on either the left or right side of the street. Using its sonar sensors, the car automatically knows which side you’re going for. The DRCC senses cars in the front and slows down accordingly, and the LKA beeps at you and gently tugs the wheel back if it feels you drifting into the next lane.

Also, with or without the tech package, you have the Smart Key - leave the key in your pocket/purse and you can unlock/lock the doors and start the car.

“The all-new 2010 Toyota Prius is a vehicle which is intended for everyone,” says Wes Kimura, vice president of Servco Automotive. “As such, we aren’t seeing a specific type of buyer, but buyers from all segments and demographics who are looking for a vehicle that does it all: great of fuel mileage, very clean emissions, available with industry leading feature - and all available at a very affordable price.”

Hypermilers will love this car. In case you don’t know what hypermiling is, it’s basically using techniques to maximize your fuel economy (i.e. minimizing braking and rapid acceleration, driving with the air conditioner off or shutting the engine down at certain times). I work with a novel hypermiler and he sometimes drives me and my other co-workers nuts on our short drives to lunch. He refuses to turn on the air conditioner, so we’ll wind the windows down so we can breathe, then we rag on him about it.

The Prius’ four driving modes give any hypermiler or regular driver the flexibility to have fun with the car. You can select between NORMAL, EV, ECO or POWER modes. I nicknamed the EV mode the “golf cart mode” - it tells the car to drive with electric power until the car goes above 25 mph or the battery level falls too low. ECO maps down the acceleration curve at mid-throttle, while POWER increases it, especially when you’re accelerating from a full stop, or need to pass a slow bus or truck on the freeway. It was fun to play with the different modes on the road, but I had to be careful to not let it become too distracting while I was driving.

The Prius is currently available in four levels. The Prius II starts at $22,000 and comes standard with keyless ignition, full-power accessories, cruise control, a six-speaker sound system, a tilting and telescoping steering wheel and a hybrid display. The Prius III ($23,000) has all that plus Bluetooth capability and an upgraded sound system. The Prius IV ($25,740) adds leather upholstery, heated front seats, an auto-dimming mirror and driver-adjustable lumbar support. The top-of-the-line Prius V ($27,210) adds 17-inch alloy wheels, fog lamps and LED headlights. Check out www.toyotahawaii.com for complete car specs and thorough information/options on each model.

So the question is: Is it worth it to spend the extra money for a hybrid? The recent hike in gas prices have definitely sparked interest in the Prius. Well, you do see an average of 51 miles per gallon, which means you will probably cut your monthly gas bill in half.

The good news is that the 2010 Prius qualifies for the government’s new “Cash For Clunkers” program featured in this week’s cover story. If you have an old gas-guzzling clunker to trade in, you can have $4,500 instantly knocked off the price. Visit cars.gov for more information and to see if your clunker qualifies.

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Confessions Of A Geek At Heart

For MidWeek‘s 25th anniversary, I was asked to share my MidWeek experience, so here it goes:

My MidWeek journey began many moons ago, in 2000, when I was hired on as a sales assistant. That job didn’t last longer than a few months when MidWeek saw potential and moved me into the systems department as an information technology specialist. I guess they could tell I was a geek at heart, and believed I could do the job. That little move changed my life forever.

My Click Chick technology column began in 2005, and I had just left the company to pursue my Air Force career. I remember chuckling at the fact that I had my journalism degree all that time but never wrote for the newspaper until I left. This was yet another great opportunity ... the rest is history.

People often ask me how I come up with my story ideas, and how I keep thinking of new things to write about. The answer is simple. I have a passion for gadgets and following the latest and greatest in the tech world anyway, so it all comes naturally. I seem to always have something at the tip of my brain, and even in the rare instance that I don’t, I receive tons of press releases every day from various companies, so my story pool never dries up. My goal with this column is to share my technology world with you, the readers.

Having this column has opened up so many doors that I almost don’t know where to begin. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many interesting people, attend various events and conferences, and occasionally I am recognized as the “Click Chick.”

One of the more memorable individuals I was able to meet was Kaz Hirai (one of the top execs of Sony Corporation) at the time of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) launch in 2006. Shortly after that, thanks to Sony, I had the first PS3 in the state of Hawaii. I remember driving home with that thing in the trunk - it felt as if I had a million bucks in the back of my car! Keep in mind this was a few days before the mad rush when people were standing in long lines to buy a PS3.

Additionally, that PS3 gave me the opportunity in November 2006 to be on my first MidWeek cover. Kaz Hirai was the main focus on the cover, and I was shown from the back holding a PS3 controller. The second

MidWeek cover I was on was published in October 2007, and it was extremely close to my heart. I was pictured with three fellow survivors of domestic violence, and we were given the opportunity to share our survival stories. After that story published, it was amazing how many supportive reader e-mails and verbal comments I received. Even to this day, I still receive comments about that story, and it published nearly two years ago!

Much mahalo for reading MidWeek and my column! I look forward to many more years of providing you with the latest and greatest from my world of technology.

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All The Buzz About ‘The Conduit’

The Conduit was one of the most popular Nintendo Wii games at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Exclusively for the Wii from High Voltage Software and published by Sega, it has been generating lots of buzz over the past few months in the gaming community.

What’s the big appeal? It’s something that works for both hardcore and casual gamers.

You go through the game as Michael Ford, a Secret Service agent with a knack for hunting down hostile aliens after saving the life of the U.S. president from an assassination attempt and witnessing terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C. All this activity has U.S. agencies in an overly paranoid state as they scramble for answers.

The big appeal of The Conduit is the control functionality. You run around the game using your nunchuk’s stick, aim your guns with the remote, toss your grenades by doing a throwing motion with the nunchuk, and make various other moves by hitting buttons or performing specific motions. I enjoy the capability to aim with precision to do headshots or shoot accurately at far-away targets.

Throughout the game you’ll see a few different environments that include subway stations, underground government bases, war-torn streets and smelly sewers. The only problem I had is even though you see that change in scenery, each level seems to play the same way. At each level you’ll end up seeing narrow corridors that could potentially make you lost if you’re not paying attention, and you go from one alien battle to another. Your bug-like/robot-looking enemies hatch from eggs, and you need to hunt down the nests they come from while you’re taking shots from above and things are sneaking up behind you.

Overall I can say The Conduit is definitely a great success for the Wii. Before this game came out, there was never a good first-person shooter designed specifically for the Wii. The controls are fine-tuned to make gunning down your enemies while sprinting around the battlefield easy and fun. The visuals fill your screen with enemies, explosions and lighting effects without making your frame rate drop.

Most of all, playing the game is enjoyable.

The Conduit is rated “T” for Teen and retails for $49.99. Find it at your nearest GameStop (gamestop.com), Toys N Joys (toysnjoys.com) or Walmart (walmart.com). Visit conduitgame.com for more information on the game or to watch some footage.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Cheap Gas!

I’ve been using the Cheap Gas! app on my iPhone since it came out back in September of last year, but now is a good time to mention it since gas prices are creeping back up. Cheap Gas! uses station pricing from GasBuddy.com and finds the cheapest gas nearest you.

I find this app helpful to quickly spot how much gas is going for nearby. Once the gas stations around you are located, it automatically sorts your results by the cheapest first. Click on the station you’re interested in and it will show you the prices of all the station’s gas grades, and if you need to know where it is, the Map button will show you. It even shows the gas prices on military bases (i.e. AAFES).

Note for the iPod touch: Cheap Gas! only supports postal code searches. Find it for free at the iTunes App Store.

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Earning Extra Income Online

Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed a few people fall victim to online scams that promised great wealth from working at home and investments. In this economy, with many job losses and furloughs, anything to generate extra income can sound extremely attractive. Some websites advertised on pop-up ads or spam e-mails may sound tempting to those desperately seeking work or hurting for money, but don’t take the bait!

Realistically, you’re not going to earn thousands of dollars a week for stuffing envelopes, payment processing/billing from home, or an undisclosed vague “secret method” the company won’t reveal to you unless you pay a fee. These are things the companies tell you so that you’ll likely buy into the scam, such as a product assembly kit. Then, once you have the “product” in-hand, there’s no reason for them to give you a return on investment since they already swallowed your money.

But we do know that there are actual legitimate ways to earn some extra cash online.

Here are a few examples:

* Freelancing: If you have a special talent (i.e. software programmer, web designer, illustrator, foreign language abilities, etc.) you could find a freelance job with elance.com or guru.com. Both sites have a variety of desired trades, and you can post your job for free.

* Transcription services: This is for an extremely fast typist (minimum 75 words per minute) who has a good ear and an excellent command of the English language. Transcription involves listening to recorded speech and putting it into written form. The material you produce can range from interviews, focus groups, corporate research projects and police interrogations to documentary film footage. Here are two reputable companies to check out: productiontranscripts.com/jobs and tigerfish.com/employment. If you don’t already have it, both require Start-Stop’s Power Play for Windows Media software (fairly pricey investment at around $250).

* Customer service: Patience, a computer and fairly quiet surroundings are required for this one. Working Solutions (workingsol.com) offers work-at-home opportunities for various projects that could include order processing, reservations, customer service, sales or market research. The calls are routed to your home office, and you’ll need a computer. No fees are charged to apply or work for Working Solutions.

* Tutor: Are you an academic who enjoys helping others? Online tutoring could be for you. You’ll have to go through an extensive screening process to become a certified online tutor. Subjects range from high-level math and science to social studies and foreign languages. Two websites that offer this opportunity are tutor.com and smarthinking.com.

There are countless other legitimate online opportunities out there, but these probably are the easier ones at which to succeed.

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Flight Control

Flight Control is an action/strategy game for your iPhone/iPod touch. You touch and drag aircraft to their landing zones as you avoid midair collisions. It sounds simple, but you need to do this with great skill as planes seem to pop up out of nowhere.

The game features a peer-to-peer multiplayer mode, where you can play together with your favorite iPhone/iPod touch buddy. The aircraft appear as usual, but one controller is in charge of the pink plane, and the other handles the yellow and blue ones. Additionally, you can save/resume your games (i.e. when you receive a phone call) and fast-forward the game if you want it to move along quicker.

Flight Control is so much fun and addicting, it’s one of those games that will stay on your iPhone forever. It’s perfect to keep you occupied for either a short wait in the doctor’s office or that long plane ride that will last hours and hours. Find it at the iTunes App Store on for 99 cents or visit www.fire.mint.com/flightcontrol for more information.

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Hands-free Options For Your Cell

With the new “hands-free” cell phone law going into effect this week, I’ve been bombarded with the same question from family, friends, co-workers and readers: “What is the best hands-free device I can use with my cell phone?”

As I’ve been telling everyone, that’s a loaded question with multiple answers.

Over the past few years, while the cell phone market grew, so did the variety of hands-free devices. Bluetooth/hands-free devices are available just about everywhere, and there’s no way I can mention everything, but here are some ideas for you to ponder.

I use and enjoy the Jawbone PRIME, which came out in May. I think it’s the best Bluetooth headset for noise reduction. My biggest problem with noise is being outside in the wind. We all know how annoying it is when you’re talking to someone and all you hear from the other side is the wind blowing and not their voice. The PRIME solves this, as it can handle up to 10 mph of wind with its proprietary sensor coupled with its new Digital Signal Processing algorithms.

With this headset I can have a normal conversation without worrying about covering the mouthpiece or getting out of the blowing wind. Also note the PRIME gives you a 6- to 9-decibel improvement in almost any other noisy environment, as it extracts noises and keeps your voice natural. It will last about four-and-a-half hours on a single charge for talk time/eight days standby, and will fully charge in about 45 minutes.

The Jawbone PRIME is a little pricey for a headset, but it’s well worth it. The retail price is $129.99 and it comes in four fun “EARCANDY” colors - lime, scarlet, yellow and lilac - as well as boring black, brown and gray. Find it at your nearest Apple Store (or www.apple.com) or from Jawbone (www.jawbone.com).

If you’re on a budget or just want something reasonable that does the job so you can be in compliance with the new law, Hawaiian Telcom has a few solutions at its stores (Bishop Street, Kapiolani Boulevard or Pearlridge Uptown). The best thing is, all of them are on sale:

* Ear Bud (wired headset): extremely affordable, $7.50 (regular $15)
* foneGear Mini Blu (fG976): four hours talk time/three days standby, $39.99 (regular $49.99)
* BlueAnt X3: seven hours talk time/7.5 days standby, multi-function button for headset control, $39.99 (regular $50)
* BlueAnt Supertooth 3 Bluetooth Speakerphone: If you don’t already have a cell phone that you can control with your voice, the Supertooth 3 allows you to use voice prompts to connect the device with your phone and upload your address book. It announces the name or ID of the caller when your phone rings - just say OK to accept the call. It installs in seconds for an alternate hands-free experience. $99 (regular $125)

If you’re willing to spend a little more and don’t want to deal with a headset, another alternative is installing an entire kit in your car. In addition to my headset, my car came with a Bluetooth kit, and it worked great with my previous iPhones and now my iPhone 3G S. If your car didn’t come loaded with a kit, there are companies that can install one for you. Hands Free Hawaii has been around since 1989 and installs hard-wired Bluetooth car kits that range approximately from $200 to $400 (plus $200 average labor charge). These kits enable you to make and take calls without touching your phone (usually the controls are on the steering wheel).

Talking on your cell phone can be helpful passing the time in heavy traffic, but if you must, please call safely! Remember that the first offense for using your phone without a hands-free device is $67. After that, a judge can impose a higher fine for repeat offenses.

A reminder: Under this new law, mobile electronic devices include cell phones, text-messaging devices, pagers, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, video game players (i.e. PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS) and digital cameras.

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iPhone 3G S: ‘S’ Stands For Speed

The next generation iPhone 3G S was announced last week, and I stopped my whole world just to watch the live coverage of its launch, since I’ve been hearing rumors about it for months. If you’re an in-the-know iPhone enthusiast, you probably preordered it the day of the launch and already have one in your hand. For the more patient, conservative folks, the “old” iPhone 3G will not be discontinued and you can now buy an 8GB version for $99.

The S stands for speed. The new iPhone 3G S is twice as fast as the previous model.

“iPhone 3G S is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, and we think people will love the incredible new features including autofocus camera, video recording and the freedom of voice control,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of WorldWide Product Marketing.

Other features include a longer battery life, a higher quality three-megapixel autofocus camera, video recording and hands-free voice control. A new VoiceOver feature enables visually impaired users to make calls, read e-mails, browse web pages, play music and run apps.

There’s a new universal Zoom function that magnifies the entire screen, and a white-on-black feature that reverses the colors to provide a higher contrast for folks with low vision. One I can probably use is the Mono Audio, which combines left and right audio channels so that they can be heard in both earbuds for those with hearing loss in one ear. And, last but not least, the phone also includes the new iPhone 3.0 software (as you may remember from my March 25 column).

 

The iPhone OS 3.0 features more than 100 new functions: Cut, Copy, Paste; MMS; Spotlight Search across your iPhone or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod (similar to a search in OS X); landscape keyboard, expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings with the new Voice Memo app.

Additionally, if you lose your phone, the Find My iPhone feature works with MobileMe so you can locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen, or play a sound to help you find it (even if it’s set to silent). If you can’t find your iPhone, you can erase all data and content with the Remote Wipe feature - quite handy if you don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.

Pricing for the iPhone 3G S is a little complicated - if you “qualify,” it’s $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB. I didn’t qualify for the special pricing and most iPhone 3Gs won’t either. I was quoted $399/16GB and $499/32GB for the “early upgrade price.” If you want to buy an iPhone 3G S without an AT&T contract, it will cost $599/16GB or $699/32GB ... ouch! Also note you’ll have to pay an additional $30 per month in data charges, and a little more for text messages, depending on your selection - I pay $5/month for 200 text messages a month.

For those of you who just bought an iPhone 3G within the last 30 days, congratulations, you automatically qualify for a free upgrade to the 3G S. If they’re in-stock, you can find these iPhones your nearest Apple Store (or online at www.apple.com) AT&T Store, Best Buy or Walmart. If you’re still deciding whether or not to buy an iPhone ... remember, it’s all about the apps. There are 50,000-plus to choose from - no other smart phone can beat that!

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Sally’s Spa

Thanks to Russ, one of the most organized people I know, I found a great time management game - Sally’s Spa. When I first saw it I laughed at the complete girliness of it, but it’s actually fairly entertaining.

You’re Sally, and you’re running different spas across the world. You refresh your customers with saunas, manicures, massages, hot stones, and facials in an efficient manner. You’re making sure your customers are happy, and you need to make sure you’re making an adequate amount of money to keep your business growing. Use the money for upgrades to help your spa business expand and grow.

Sally’s Spa is fun for all ages and either gender. Find it at the iTunes App Store for 99 cents (full version) or free for Sally’s Spa Lite (similar to Sally’s Spa, but with slightly fewer features).

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Sony Showstoppers At E3 2009

Continuing with Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) thoughts from last week, Sony had a basketful of goodies to share with the world. The main highlights were some PlayStation 3 (PS3) exclusives: God of War III, Unchartered 2 and a new concept called MAG (Massive Action Game). On top of that, a new PSP (PSPgo) was announced.

The most anticipated game at E3 this year was the action-adventure, single-player God of War III. This is the final installment to the hugely popular God of War series, and you again play as Kratos, the angry ex-Spartan warrior seeking his revenge against Zeus and the gods of Mt. Olympus. The graphics are spectacular and the action is nonstop. You can now ride some of the mythological creatures to transport you around, and new weapons such as the Cestus allow Kratos to learn new ruthless techniques. The game’s trademark detailed gore and violence are enhanced on the PS3 - definitely not for the keiki. God of War III comes out in March 2010 (Rating: RP for Rating Pending).

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the fresh single-player, action-adventure shooter follow-up to last year’s hit - Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. You are Nathan Drake, a fortune hunter with a shady reputation and an even shadier past who is lured back into the treacherous world of thieves and mercenary treasure-seekers. The game’s backdrop keeps it varied with locations ranging from lush green swamps to dense urban environments to ice and snow of the Himalayas.

The added unrestricted combat allows you to take an aggressive or stealthy approach to combat with traversal gunplay, free-climbing mechanics and variety of enemy types with advanced AI routines. The launch date is slated for late this year (Rating: RP).

MAG is a first-person shooter game that is played exclusively online, and the next evolution in gaming. It lets you experience battles with up to 256 real people across a global battlefield. MAG is able to manage a large amount of players by breaking them into squads of eight. You climb your way up the chain of command to take control of your eight-person squad, then 32-person platoon and ultimately your 128-person army.

The game takes place in a dark future 2025 where food shortages spark riots, currencies plummet, fuel reserves are dwindling and oil-producing nations ration what remains. A MAG beta is available to download, but the official release will be late this year (Rating: RP).

Last but not least, the PSPgo is for those who prefer to not carry around the typical PSP disc-based content. The PSPgo replaced the UMD drive with 16GB of flash memory to download and store a variety of digital entertainment content using the PlayStation Store. It’s a flip-style system that will come in white or black, and features Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a smaller lightweight design that will fit into your purse or pocket. The regular PSP will continue to be sold alongside the PSPgo, which will retail for $249 starting Nov. 1.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: KHON

2 Mobile Local News

Last month KHON became the first Hawaii TV station to release an app for local news. This app takes a combination of KHON’s newscast and website and rolls it into your iPhone/iPod touch. Designed and developed in partnership with DoApp, KHON 2 Mobile Local News makes it easy and convenient to click and scroll through local news and weather. In addition, you can catch national and international news, sports scores, entertainment news and weird news. Click the “Share” button within a story and you can easily share your story via e-mail, text, Twitter or Facebook.

Find the KHON app for free at the iTunes App Store.

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Mr. Click Chick Covers E3 2009

I was not able to attend this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2009, so I sent the husband, “Mr. Click Chick,” to be my eyes and ears there.

According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), more than 200 video-game publishers and developers exhibited at this year’s E3. It was well worth the quick hop across the pond to Los Angeles to see all the latest video games that will hit the market soon.

My lucky husband was able to attend Microsoft’s star-studded press conference. Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were there to promote The Beatles: Rock Band. Tony Hawk was there to show off his new game Tony Hawk Ride (it comes with a cool skateboard controller, too). Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid’s creator, introduced his latest Metal Gear Solid: Lightning Bolt Action, exclusive for the Xbox 360.

Last but not least, Steven Spielberg was there to talk about Project Natal, a revolutionary new way to interact with video games with no controller. “The next step in interactive entertainment is to make the controller disappear,” said Spielberg, visionary director and producer. “With Project Natal, we’ll see games that bring everyone together through technology that actually recognizes us.”

Stay tuned for more on E3 ... As I write this, the show is still going on.

Hulu Desktop Unveiled

A couple of weeks ago Hulu finally revealed what its Hulu Labs project was all about. This latest development, called Hulu Desktop, adds more color to Hulu’s already popular TV show and movie-streaming site. It’s a “lean-back” viewing experience on your computer that unleashes Hulu’s Flash video capability from your browser and brings it to an application you can install directly on your computer (Windows or Mac). Even better, you can control it with your computer’s remote.

Unveiled shortly after I returned from a couple of months of traveling, Hulu Desktop was absolutely perfect to catch up on all the TV shows I missed while gone. It’s a simple Flash application, seamless, fast and easy to navigate - everything I would expect from Hulu. I enjoy the fact that no browser is needed and I can just sit back and control the interface with my Apple Remote, similar to watching TV. Additionally, you’ll still see commercials, but they’re very minimal compared to actually watching TV.

There are various ways you can find content: regular search (by typing in the show or movie you want), alphabetically, network or studio, Hulu channel or by most popular. I find it easiest to search alphabetically since I know exactly what shows I’m looking for.

Although you don’t need a Hulu account to use it, you do require one if you want to personalize your Hulu Desktop. This includes your queue, subscriptions, viewing history, video playback quality and closed-captioning settings. Download Hulu Desktop for free at www.hulu.com/labs/hulu-desktop.

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Portable Wi-Fi With MiFi 2200

If you need to stay connected, as I do, having access to an Internet connection is a No. 1 priority. You can probably find a hotspot in your hotel, the nearest coffee shop or at the airport, but isn’t it more convenient if you can just carry a hotspot with you?

The MiFi 2200, just released by Sprint and Verizon Wireless, offers you the ability to carry a hotspot in your purse or pocket.

The two MiFi 2200s are almost identical, but Verizon’s is black and Sprint’s is silver. You might be wondering what makes this so special in comparison to a USB data card or a builtin laptop modem. The most significant difference is that MiFi can be shared with up to five devices simultaneously (including computers and Wi-Fi-enabled toys, i.e. an iPhone or your portable game machine). Having that USB device tethered to your computer (as I’ve been using before this) can sometimes be a pain, especially since you don’t want it to snag on anything as you move around.

“You can hold the MiFi 2200 in the palm of your hand, slip it in your pocket, even place it on a beach towel if you’re lying under the sun, and wireless-ly connect your laptop, MP3 player and gaming device to the Internet all at once,” says Steve Elfman, Sprint president of network, wholesale and product. “Now customers will be able to use one mobile broadband device - the MiFi 2200 - to connect multiple personal devices or multiple users. If I have a Wi-Fi-enabled device, I don’t need to find a Wi-Fi hotspot. The MiFi 2200 creates one for me.”

The MiFi is tiny enough to hide in a shirt pocket, measuring in at 3.5-by-2.3-by-0.4 inches and weighing only 2.05 ounces. Both companies say that, on a single charge, the battery will last about four hours when it’s actively in-use and 40 hours when it’s on standby. But depending on how many devices you have connected to it, your battery probably won’t last you the entire four hours. The good news is that you can use it while it’s charging, too. A complete charge takes about two-and-a-half hours. Other features MiFi offers are advanced security through WPA2-PSK, WEP and SPI Firewall, and GPS capabilities to take advantage of select location and mapping applications, such as obtaining driving or walking directions, or finding the best nearby restaurant.

Both Sprint and Verizon Wireless are offering the MiFi 2200 for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate. Sprint is offering a $59.99 per month plan for mobile broadband only, and $149.99 per month for the Simply Everything Plan plus Mobile Broadband (both include up to 5GB per month and 5 cents per megabyte over-age for the MiFi 2200 usage). Visit your nearest Sprint Store or www.sprint.com for more information.

Verizon Wireless’ plans are slightly different at $39.99 for 250MB monthly allowance (and 10 cents per megabyte overage), and $59.99 monthly access for 5GB monthly allowance (and 5 cents per megabyte overage). Check out your nearest Verizon Wireless Communications Store or www.verizonwireless.com.

Either way, the MiFi device is the same, but it’s up to you which plan you’d want to take on.

Correction for the UH’s Award-winning Mouse, Alfalfa story published on May 20: The winning time for Alfalfa was one minute and 11.29 seconds. The original story stated Alfalfa’s finish time as one hour, 11 minutes and 29 seconds.

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Spending More Time in Akihabara

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May 27, 2009

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After I bought my Canon EOS Kiss X3 camera in Japan, I couldn’t just make one trip to Akihabara, Japan’s famous electronic district. I’m so crazy that,on this trip I went there five times! Even at that, I still didn’t see everything I wanted to. There was one store that stood out from all the rest ... Yodobashi. Its nine floors kept me there for almost an entire day and sucked up a good portion of my last paycheck. Ouch.

I always thought Fry’s Electronics was a cool store to visit when I fly to the Mainland. Although I still admire Fry’s, sorry, but it doesn’t even come close to Yodobashi. The mixture of stuff I found in the store was amazing - just about every computer, piece of software, TV, camera or little gadget/device on the planet was in this store. I even found a mouse-ear Mickey Mouse iPod charger for my Disney-crazy friend. Cell phones are a whole other story. They took up almost an entire floor - I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one place.

One thing for sure, the Japanese love their cell phones. But I was a little surprised to learn that the iPhone isn’t very popular there. So much so that Softbank Mobile, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in Japan, is offering free 8GB iPhones with a two-year contract. Wow, what a deal! According to a poll I saw in a Japanese magazine, the most popular cell phone there is FOMA SH906i. From the outside, it looks like a “regular phone” I normally wouldn’t even look twice at. It still wouldn’t be my first choice, but I admit it does have some good features: a three-inch touch-screen display that supports TV, FM radio, 3G connectivity (3G is much faster in Japan than it is here), a barcode reader, music/video players and the usual e-mail/web capabilities.

I can’t wait to go back to Japan again. There’s so much to see and do, not to mention all the tech shopping!

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Top Gun

One of my favorite movies from the 1980s is Top Gun. A couple of weeks ago, I found a Top Gun iPhone app - cool! Yes, it’s a little cheesy, but I love it! This game takes you back into the movie, but you’re a recruit under Maverick and Iceman, as they’re both now instructors at the Top Gun Academy.

Instead of flying the F-14 Tomcat as in the movie, you’re piloting the F-22 Raptor or B-2 Stealth Bomber as you hear the classic Danger Zone song playing in the background (along with other tracks so you don’t become tired of the same song). The plane types threw me off since you can’t land either of them on a carrier. But other than that, for a little iPhone, the graphics are excellent and definitely add to the game-play. If you’re used to playing flight simulators, Top Gun is a breeze. If you’re not used to flight sims, the gameplay might be a small challenge, since you have to learn how to navigate properly.

With how polished this Top Gun app is, I was surprised it only cost me $1.99 (during its first week of release). Unfortunately, the price went up to $3.99, but still a small price to pay for a good iPhone game. Find it at the iTunes App Store.

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UH’s Award-winning Mouse, Alfalfa

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May 20, 2009

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Robotic micromouse Alfalfa

UH Engineering Team Wins Competition

Thanks to a robot micro-mouse named “Alfalfa,” two UH Manoa engineering students took first place in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Region 6 Central Area Spring Meeting and Micromouse Competition, held a of couple months ago at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Team members Alex Zamora and Tyson Seto-Mook built the winning micromouse, which completed the competition maze in one hour, 11 minutes and 29 seconds - 2 minutes and 36 seconds ahead of another UH Manoa entry. From the nine mice entered, UH Manoa teams swept the top seven places in the maze competition, the top three positions in the packaging (construction and design) competition and first place in the student paper competition.

 

In the micromouse competition, student teams design and build an autonomous robot mouse that is controlled by a microprocessor and is no larger than 25 centimeters by 25 centimeters in size.

Each mouse is given 10 minutes to learn the fastest route though the maze from the starting point to the center square. Good job, guys!

 

Honda Demonstrated Walking Assist Devices

Along similar lines, American Honda Motor Co. Inc. demonstrated its prototype walking assist devices for the first time in the U.S. at the 2009 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress. These devices are intended to support walking for the elderly and are currently being tested in real-world conditions by individuals with weakened leg muscles.

The Stride Management Assist

Called the Stride Management Assist, it’s lightweight and wearable, designed for people with weak leg muscles who can still walk on their own. It obtains data about your walking motions from hip angle sensors. Based on the information collected, the CPU applies cooperative control and calculates the amount and timing of the assistance that needs to be provided. With the device’s help, your stride is lengthened and the walking pace regulated, making it easier to walk.

The Stride Management Assist’s compact design was achieved with flat, brushless motors and a control system developed by Honda. The belt worn around the hip and thigh was employed to help achieve its total light weight of about 6 pounds. As a result, it reduces the user’s load and can be fitted to different body shapes.

Also, the Bodyweight Support Assist is designed to help weakened leg muscles, but it also could be helpful during some physically demanding activities. It will support your bodyweight to reduce the load on your legs while going up and down stairs. The load on leg muscles and joints - hip, knees and ankles - is reduced. The device is built simply of a seat, frame and shoes. The contraption is easily attached to your body by putting on the special shoes and lifting the seat into position. A mechanism that directs the assisting force toward your center of gravity and the ability to control the assist force in concert with the movement of the legs make it able to provide natural assistance in various postures and motions.

Honda initially began research on walking devices in 1999. The cumulative study of human walking, along with research and development of technologies conducted for Honda’s advanced humanoid robot, ASIMO, made the current developments possible.

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Canon’s New Rebel With HD Video

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May 13, 2009

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Here I am in Japan again, and I absolutely love it, especially because I’m able to find things that haven’t been released in our country yet. Case in point is my new Canon EOS Kiss X3, as they call it in Japan, aka the EOS Rebel T1i, which released last week in the U.S. After I spotted the X3, I instantly knew I had to buy it since I’ve been planning to buy the American T1i version for months.

Buying my new camera was a huge challenge as I had to wrestle with my credit card company. Even though I called to tell them I was traveling abroad (and spoke to five different customer service reps), they still decided to block my card multiple times, and I eventually just dished out the cash to buy my camera kit.

Lesson learned: Don’t always trust your credit card company, and it’s a good idea to carry cash or traveler’s checks as a backup if you know you’re going shopping. Needless to say, I’m canceling this credit card as soon as I get home.

 

All that aside, this camera is awesome! The very day I bought it my husband and I headed to Northern Japan for sakura to see the cherry blossoms. Snapping pictures of all those beautiful trees and the birds flying around was a perfect capability test. Plus, the big appeal for this camera is the fact that it can do HD video capture, and is the first in the Rebel line to have this capability.

The T1i incorporates the best from the EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II models along with a 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor and DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor, considered to be the muscle in the camera. You can do continuous shooting at 3.4 frames per second (fps) for up to 170 large/fine JPEG images, or up to nine raw images with a single burst, if you have a larger memory card. This was well-demonstrated while I was taking shots of the hawks flying overhead. Using the burst function as well as the 200mm zoom lens that came with my kit, I took many phenomenal pictures of cherry blossoms as well as various birds. The HD video function came in handy as well. I’m more of a short-clip video type of person, so having it integrated into one is extremely helpful. All the videos I took came out sharp with good audio.

Additionally, the T1i gives you ISO speeds of 100 to 3,200. It’s extremely user-friendly with its 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) monitor and an auto lighting optimizer, creative auto mode, and Canon’s Live View modes, the perfect mix for the average consumer to jump on the digital imaging bandwagon.

Canon’s EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR camera retails for $799.99 or $899.99 for the kit with Canon’s EFS18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens. Find it at Amazon (www.amazon.com) with free shipping.

 

Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: iNap@Work

Released a few weeks ago, iNap@Work has to be one of the funniest iPhone apps I’ve seen. I can think of several folks who could and would use this! This app simulates office sounds so you snooze while people around you think you’re working hard. Come on ... it’s better to take a 15-20 minute nap than to load up on caffeine. iNap@Work makes noises that you would normally hear coming from your work area: simulated mouse clicking, keyboard tapping, paper crumpling, pencil sharpening, stapler stapling, clearing throat sounds and sniffling. You can use the sliders to crank up or turn down the frequency of the noises. It all depends on whether or not you want to simulate a light or busy day.

I doubt someone can actually use this at work without getting fired, but this app is just too hilarious. Download it for 99 cents at the iTunes App Store

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