Posts tagged Cellphones
Engineer Builds $10 DIY Cellphone Microscope [Microscopes]
Nov 9th
Cellphones are handy in a pinch. They make emergency calls, serve as a late night texting platform, and now in developing areas where money is tight and malaria runs rampant, they can serve as a microscope.
The DIY design is the brainchild of Aydogan Ozcan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and member of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. He did it all with some software he wrote and about $10 in off-the-shelf parts, reports the New York Times.
There’s actually no lens to speak of, as the magnification is handled entirely by software, holograms and electronics. This, Ozcan says, is what’s at the heart of the device’s portability and affordability. Better still, this means that a future system based on this design could have the ability to diagnose and research even better than a traditional microscope in the field. Said Bahram Jalali, an applied physicist and professor of electrical engineering at U.C.L.A in an interview with the New York Times, the beauty of the design is in its lack of mechanical scanning.
“Instead you capture holograms of all the cells on the slide digitally at the same time,” he said to the Times. This makes it possible to “immediately see pathogens among a vast population of healthy cells.” [New York Times]
Leaked AT&T Memo Outlines Spin Tactics Regarding Verizon Lawsuit [Internal Memos]
Nov 6th
Giz Explains: Android, and How It Will Take Over the World [Giz Explains]
Nov 6th
This week we met Motorola’s Droid, the first handset with Android 2.0. To an outsider, it just looks like another Google smartphone, but 2.0 is more than that: it’s proof that Android is finally going to take over the world.
So Wait, What Is Android, Exactly?
In Google’s words, it’s “the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices.” That doesn’t mean much, so here’s a breakdown: It’s a Linux-based, open-source mobile OS, complete with a custom window manager, modified Linux 2.6 kernel, WebKit-based browser and built-in camera, calendar, messaging, dialer, calculator, media player and album apps. If that sounds a little sparse, that’s because it is: Android on its own doesn’t amount to a whole lot; in fact, a phone with plain vanilla Android wouldn’t feel like a smartphone at all. Thankfully, these phones don’t exist. Read the rest of this entry »
LG Chocolate Touch, BlackBerry Curve 8530, and Samsung Convoy: Verizon’s Second-String Lineup [Cellphones]
Nov 5th
The Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris may get all the buzz, but what about Verizon’s less glamorous new phones? The LG Chocolate Touch, BlackBerry Curve 8530 and Samsung Convoy were all introduced today, and they too deserve a look. Read the rest of this entry »
AT&T FLO TV Service Drops to $10/month [At&t]
Nov 5th
If you want to watch “CBS Mobile, CNBC, CNN Mobile, COMEDY CENTRAL, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, FOX News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC 2Go, Nickelodeon and the movie channel Crackle”, that’s now $10 on AT&T phones that support FLO TV. Well, not RIGHT NOW. We mean starting November 8th.
For the record, the service used to cost $15/month. [AT&T]
Somali Terrorists Ban Musical Ringtones [Terrorism]
Nov 5th
Seriously, how messed up is this. Al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia (Al Qaeda’s proxy in the region) are going around flogging teenagers for listening to music and watching videos on their phones. Not to mention the senseless killings and amputations.
Fighting has killed almost 20,000 Somalis since 2007, and though some semblance of order has been restored, the imposed Sharia law has banned even regular moderate muslims from dancing at weddings, or even playing and watching soccer. If you’re having a bad day today, take a moment and remember just how good you actually do have it. [Reuters]
David Pogue: ” Smartphone Is Too Limited…It’s An App Phone ” [Blockquote]
Nov 5th
Before David Pogue wrote his review of the Droid, he had trouble deciding what to call the device. He argued that “smartphone” is an outdated label for the iPhone-like devices coming out and so he looked for a new one.
Our Jason Chen discussed this issue in the past and coined the term “com,” but here’s Pogue’s take: Read the rest of this entry »
