Software – Page 2

Chumby now available in Canada

October 27, 2010October 28, 2010 Doug Groves Chumby, Chumby Classic, Chumby One, internet alarm, Linux, open source, Sony, Sony Dash1 Comment

After years of waiting, the Chumby store is now taking orders from Canada, at a price of $120 US for the Chumby One. If you’re not familiar with Chumby, it started out about four years ago as a modified Linux OS customized to run on small screen hardware, specifically the Chumby hardware. The hardware itself is about the size of an alarm clock, but with a 3.5 inch colour touch screen, with the Chumby Classic encased in a soft leather and plastic casing, while the newer Chumby One in a…

Ubisoft crossover fever: Assassins Creed, CSI and Pets to have Facebook components

September 30, 2010October 3, 2010 Doug Groves Assassin's Creed, Brotherhood, crossover, CSI, CSI Crime City, facebook, Hamsterz, iPad, iPhone, Nintendo DS, PC gaming, Petz, PS3, Ubisoft, Wii, Xbox2 Comments

Do you like console gaming, but somehow find yourself wasting too much time on Facebook, making you fell guilty for not using your beatiful next gen console to its fullest potential? Depending on how you look at it, maybe Ubisoft is going to give you a reason to fire up the console more often, or maybe they’re just going to suck you all the way into the black (and blue – so much blue) pit that is Fb. At a press conference in San Francisco, they’ve announced that they’ll be…

Adobe Demos It’s Plenoptic Lens and Software

September 26, 2010September 28, 2010 kingpinlei Adobe, Bladerunner, demo, Plenoptic Lens, video8 Comments

From the realm of cool news, Adobe recently demoed a radical technology involving a Plenoptic Lens and a new software that will find it’s way into Photoshop eventually. Basically, this new lens (with software help) allows still pictures to be focused and re-focussed AFTER the picture is taken. That’s right! AFTER the picture is taken, you can manipulate the depth of field to pretty much anywhere within the picture. How does it do this? The Plenoptic Lens is basically made up of a whole bunch of tiny little lenses. The…

Microsoft expanding Zune Services internationally

September 21, 2010September 24, 2010 Doug Groves Microsoft, MP3, press release, Windows Phone 7, Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune, Zune Pass7 Comments

With Windows Phone 7 just around the corner, it’s no surprise that Microsoft finally announced their first round of international expansion of the Zune service, providing digital entertainment services to more than 20 countries. Not all countries are created equal however. The much vaunted Zune Pass will be available in the UK, France, Italy and Spain, for 9.99 euros. The Zune pass allows users to have unlimited access to the Zune music library from Windows PCs, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Live. Unlike the US version, which costs $14.99 US,…

Blurring the line between production and post production: NewTek demonstrates Virtual Cinematography in Lightwave

September 21, 2010September 22, 2010 Doug Groves 3D, Avatar, Lightwave, Lightwave CORE, newtek, post production, production, Rob Powers, virtual camera, virtual cinematography1 Comment

Newtek has long been one of the most innovative digital content creation companies out there. Originally an Amiga based company, with products such as DigiView, the first colour digitizer for a computer, and the Video Toaster which gave users the power of a live switching studio via an add on card , they’ve continued to innovate through the years. This year at SIGGRAPH is no different, as Rob Powers, VP of 3D development took the stage to demonstrate the virtual cinematography capabilities of Lightwave 3D 10, the latest version of…

Pure Pwnage Android app l33t Speaker beta demonstrated

August 30, 2010September 20, 2010 Doug Groves Android, app, Apple, beta, Boom Headshot, Fan Expo, Fan Expo 2010, Geoff Lapaire, google, HTC, iPhone, l33t Speaker, l33t Speaker Pro, Nexus One, Pure Pwnage, smartphone, soundboard3 Comments

At Fan Expo, Geoff Lapaire of Pure Pwnage was kind enough to give us a look at the still-in-beta app that they’re developing for Android phones (an update to the already available iPhone app). The soundboard app, l33t Speaker, will have both basic and Pro versions, and Geoff shows it off on his Nexus One. The soundboard is a popular app category, but sound quality can sometimes be an issue. Since this is an official app, not only is the sound quality going to be top notch, but they’ve actually…

Java must be stopped

August 26, 2010November 6, 2020 Jason Cobworks, cross-platform, Java, programming5 Comments

Java has passed its expiry date. It is no longer the only cross platform, fast language available. There are few examples of widely used Java applications. The few popular ones there are are noticeably slower and more resource intensive than native apps. And as a developer, I waste far too much time worrying about types in Java and generally writing out a lot of boiler plate code. Here are some examples of Java compared to Python (a more modern language): converting an integer to a string in Java: String aString…

The State of Mobile Application Development

August 16, 2010November 6, 2020 Jason Android, developer, iPhone, Mobile, programming, Symbian, tools4 Comments

It is amazing to see the amount of enthusiasm people have for their smartphones. Many iphone users not only like their phone, but regularly put on a sales hat for Apple and convince others that the iphone stands alone in its awesomeness and to not have one is the same as losing a sense. Android too isn’t without it’s feverish supporters, though I think most are just happy to have a decent device that isn’t an iphone. It is fun to watch and participate in such meaningless fanfare, but it’s…

App Inventor aims to democratize Android application development

July 12, 2010 Doug Groves Android, Android Market, App Inventor, google5 Comments

Google has just announced the beta of App Inventor, a new tool that makes development for Android easier than ever before. Instead of using a programming language, the App Inventor tool makes use of blocks of code that the user can manipulate and customize, and is based on MIT’s Open Blocks project. Although the interface looks very straight forward, Google mentions that amongst the predefined blocks are tools to access the various sensors found in Android phones, from GPS to accelerometer, and that this includes communication tools. The App Inventor…

Cold calling for hackers

July 5, 2010November 6, 2020 Jason Cobworks, cold calls, commentary, sales, schedule bin1 Comment

As a hacker, you live by what you think is a high code of ethics and standards. You pride yourself on your good work, you take your work very seriously and it’s not uncommon to work every waking hour to meet a deadline. Every year or two you invest lots of time and effort learning a new technology, be it a new programming language, server platform or design paradigm. When you stroll into the office every morning, you can almost be forgiven for having what appears to be a chip…

PS3 3D gaming experience

June 10, 2010September 17, 2010 Doug Groves Bravia, Bravia 3D, Futureshop, MotorStorm Pacific Rift, PAIN, PS3, Sony, Super Stardust HD, WipEout HD2 Comments

Sony has officially launched it’s new line of Bravia HDTVs with 3D, either built in, or 3D ready by adding a transmitter. To go along with the TVs, they’re also leveraging 3D games for the PS3. Here in Canada the TVs will come with PSN codes to download MotorStorm Pacific Rift and PAIN, both of which are demos, or partial games, and WipEout HD and Super Stardust HD, both full games. Yesterday at a launch event, we had a chance to go hands on with both MotorStorm Pacific Rift and…

Google gets Bingified

June 10, 2010 Doug Groves bing, Bing hotspot, Google background image, search1 Comment

Although Microsoft’s Bing has only made a minor, though respectable dent in the search market, it’s certainly been more effective than Redmond’s past efforts, holding 2nd place, what with it providing backend support for Yahoo search, and making deals to get on the iPhone. Last month, Google‘s search results got a makeover, which gave them a much more ‘bing-like’ look, and now Google’s gone one step further. The Google home page now has an image background, just like Bing. Although it doesn’t feature the ‘hotspots’ of Bing where you can…