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Pebble nabs the former interface designers for webOS and First Else
Here's some rather unusual news from Pebble: Former webOS designers Itai Vonshak and Liron Damir have left LG to join the wearable startup, which is a pretty big deal given their unique spin on UI design -- you'll want to check out what they did to LG's smart TVs before they left. In fact, if you recall the ill-fated First Else phone from late 2009, its Splay interface -- now available as a standalone launcher (pictured above) on Google Play -- was also the work of the Israeli duo. Vonshak is now in charge of Pebble's Product and UX team, whereas Damir is joining as the Head of Design; and for those who are interested, they're hiring!
The Daily Roundup for 05.07.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
First Else's Splay officially comes to Android as a thumb-friendly launcher (video)
Emblaze's long-canceled First Else may never come back in its original form, but to our surprise, its futuristic Splay interface has finally been ported to Android! Released as a free beta by the same company, this fan-shaped launcher offers a similar single-hand experience that the ALP device once promised to deliver. The UI's main menu has four categories: Phone (call log, contacts and profiles), Diary (email, calendar and messaging), Media (music, video, photos, camera and file manager) and Apps (with seven customizable shortcuts). Upon laying your right thumb onto any of these, a sub-menu expands and you can go one level deeper by dragging your thumb to the left of your desired sub-category, and then let go to toggle the item. Similarly, dragging to the right takes you back to the previous menu, or you can drag to a blank area and let go to jump back to the main menu. All of this is accompanied by slick graphics like before, thanks to the good work by Israeli design house Sugapusher back in the day. The only downside of this release is that some of the features need serious refining. For instance, the Music Player sub-menu fails to filter out ringtones, and the Video Player sub-menu only managed to load the latest few clips taken with the phone's camera. We'd also like to see integration with other apps, obviously, but this simple beta will do for now. Check out our hands-on video after the break, and head over to Google Play to grab the free Splay launcher.
Nokia N900 teardown reveals smartphone semantics
Until robots rule, we're still within our rights to do pretty much anything to our gadgets short of chucking them at the help. Still, some of you might want to look away as Nokia's promising flagship handset -- the Maemo powered N900 -- is stripped of its components and Finnish dignity to reveal its ARM Cortex-A8 CPU and PowerVR SGX 3D accelerator soul. Check the unofficial how-to video after the break. If you look real close you just might spot the difference between this "mobile computer" and a smartphone.
Pleo dissected -- oh, the humanity!
We guess it was only matter a time until it happened. Still, we can't help but feel a bit sad and creeped-out at seeing Pleo splayed in a Santilli-esque display of sideshow curio. Inside, the evil doctors over at ifixit reveal a single-piece, rubbery skin covering 14 motors, more than 100 gears, 15 circuit boards, 1 color camera, 2x microphones, 1 IR transmitter, 1 accelerometer, and 8 touch capacitance sensors. Plenty of high-res shots just beyond the read link. Man, aren't there laws against this kind of thing?
Myvu Solo's silicon secrets revealed
Ever wonder what's behind those Myvu Solo goggles besides LeVar Burton? Good, because EE Times took a X-acto and splayed the $199 video headset wide. Of interest are those tiny left and right-eye microdisplays with 320 x 240 pixel transmissive color LCDs from Kopin Corp out of wicked Westboro, Mass. Also notable is the weight -- 118-grams -- of which, a good portion is from the cables. Plenty of lewd, techno-gore just beyond the read link. You know, if you can pull yourself away from your ohmmeter long enough.
iPod touch splayed but Bluetooth mystery continues
What a tease. The ifixit tear down we've all been waiting for on the iPod touch fails to specifically exclude the existence of Bluetooth silicon or even point out which chip is providing the WiFi. After all, Broadcom, Marvell, and CSR all offer single-chip solutions with combined WiFi and Bluetooth radios. Hell, they'll even integrate an FM radio if you ask real nice. Ah well, perhaps those of you with more IC-focused eyes can take a look at these snaps and bring an end to the Bluetooth in iPod touch mystery once and for all. Otherwise, we're looking at a Foxconn manufactured iPod with Toshiba (not Samsung) flash NAND memory, Wolfson audio chip, and what appears to be a Samsung manufactured ARM processor presumed to be "very, very similar" to the proc found in the iPhone.
iPhone splayed for your pleasure
Fanboys, look away. Haters prepare to drool as the iPhone gets splayed to the bone. It wasn't us, honest. This is the work of the evil doers over at the curiously named ifixit.com. Click on for the full carnage. It seems to be a work in progress so we'll just have to wait and see whose silicon is really inside.[Thanks, Marshall B.]
