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TAG Heuer outs $6,700 Link Phone for those who like alligator skin with their Froyo (video)
As far as most of us are concerned, if we're going to pay a lot for a phone -- you know, like, $350 on contract -- it had better come with the works. We're talking a qHD display, dual-core processor, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p recording, NFC, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 4G radio, to boot. If you're someone who buys things made by TAG Heuer, you've got different priorities. The company just introduced the Link Phone, a darling clunker of a handset festooned with steel, 18K rose gold, or titanium, topped off with leather, alligator- and lizard-skin, rubber, and diamond accents -- a medley that'll set you back no less than €4,700 ($6,712). What's that you say? You want specs? The Link, named after the Swiss outfit's storied watch line, runs Android 2.2 -- a clear step up from its feature phone predecessor. Other ho-hum features include the 3.5-inch (800 x 480) display, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 256MB internal memory, an 8GB memory card, 1400 mAh battery, and EDGE / HSUPA connectivity. TAG Heuer also says it'll be particularly durable, though it's coming up short on specifics. Somehow, though, we don't think it will survive when we accidentally drop it in our gold-plated toilet.Update: TAG Heuer might not have the chops to build a highly spec'd phone, but it sure knows how to root one. As a tipster pointed out, if you pause the video at 1:18 you'll see Superuser in the app menu -- a telltale sign of hacking if ever there was one. Freeze frame after the break. [Thanks, Sasika!]%Gallery-127297%
Is Zelda about to hit the MMO space?
The land of Hyrule may be invading your computer very soon -- or maybe you will be invading it. Nintendo, creator of the console hit the Legend of Zelda, has just registered for an ESRB rating for a game called Zelda Universe. According to the ESRB website, this mysterious game has received an "E" rating with "violence" as the only descriptive text, but the game is listed as "online." Although all other Nintendo games have a console listed along with the rating, this particular title does not. This could very well mean that everyone's favorite adventurer will appear in an MMORPG. The official website for the Legend of Zelda games is called Zelda Universe, but the Entertainment Software Rating Board is not in the habit of handing out ratings to online content unless that content is also a game. Perhaps this is one of the big announcements Nintendo will reveal in its presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in less than 12 days.
First light wave quantum teleportation achieved, opens door to ultra fast data transmission
Mark this day, folks, because the brainiacs have finally made a breakthrough in quantum teleportation: a team of scientists from Australia and Japan have successfully transferred a complex set of quantum data in light form. You see, previously researchers had struggled with slow performance or loss of information, but with full transmission integrity achieved -- as in blocks of qubits being destroyed in one place but instantaneously resurrected in another, without affecting their superpositions -- we're now one huge step closer to secure, high-speed quantum communication. Needless to say, this will also be a big boost for the development of powerful quantum computing, and combine that with a more bedroom friendly version of the above teleporter, we'll eventually have ourselves the best LAN party ever.
Bungie posts, pulls signup survey for secret beta
Ah, the perils of trying to do "secret" beta testing. A few Bungie.net members got an email this week asking them to join in on a Bungie beta tester signup survey, but when they headed over to the actual survey link on Bungie.net, all they got was an error message saying the survey was suspended due to "technical difficulties." Presumably Bungie will get the survey up and running later, though they'll possibly send the invitation out to less "talky" members of their community -- this is supposed to be a secret, after all. In other news: Bungie conducts secret survey! Could it be about that new MMO? Oh, wait -- never mind. [Thanks, Ed!]
New Goo.gl URL shortener API lets third party developers in on the outrageous fun that is Google URL shortening
Just a quick note, because we know how much you love APIs: Google has opened its URL shortening service to third party developers. That's right -- not only can you use Goo.gl to generate QR codes, but now you can build it into your own software. As well as support for URL shortening and expanding, the API will also let you track your history and analytics. Says Ben D'Angelo of the URL shortening team: "You could use these features for a wide variety of applications, enabling behaviors ranging from auto-shortening within Twitter or Google Buzz clients to running regular jobs that monitor your usage statistics and traffic patterns." The team is also working to improve spam and malicious site detection for the service. Since the government of Greenland seems to be a bit more stable than that of a certain Muammar al-Gaddafi, we're sure that Google won't run into the same problems that vb.ly did (although we wonder if things would change if Kuupik Kleist got his own voluptuous Ukrainian nurse). Hit the source link to get coding.
Play with your brain: 3 Degrees of Wikipedia
I've been a trivia buff forever, and it seems like my brain has an endless capacity for relatively useless information while it has difficulty remembering important things -- like my name, for instance. With over 3,500,000 articles in the English version of Wikipedia, there's plenty of fodder for gathering information, whether it's real knowledge or just fun trivia. One thing that always amazes me is the connections that you can find in Wikipedia. For example, many times I've found connections between rock bands while reading about a particular musician. I'll find that one of his or her bandmates in a certain band later leaves to play in another band that I like. Those kind of connections are what the iPhone game 3 Degrees of Wikipedia (US$0.99) by developer Ivan Zhao is all about. Upon loading the app for the first time, a five-screen tutorial describes how to play the game. You need to solve puzzles that link two Wikipedia pages. The example used in the tutorial has you link the "Halloween" page on Wikipedia to the "Candy" page. How would you do that? Simple -- you'd look for a link to an article on "Trick-or-treating," which would have a link to the "Candy" page. %Gallery-110505%
Panasonic's 'Parallel link' manufacturing robot can learn new tricks
It may not be quite as whimsical as some of Panasonic's other robots, but the company's new "Parallel link" manufacturing bot might just be one of the most important the company's developed in some time. Not only does it boast a 50% reduction in power consumption compared to some traditional one-armed manufacturing robots, but it's able to learn new tasks simply by having someone move its arm through the motions. It also supposedly has an "affordable" price, although we're guessing it's still a bit out of reach if you're just looking for something to help out around the house. Head on past the break to check it out in action.
Goo.gl URL shortener can also spit out QR codes, if you ask it nicely
Once again, Google fails at being ordinary. Although the claim with its Goo.gl URL shortener is that it's more about quality than features, the search giant couldn't help itself and has inserted a QR code easter egg into the mix. Should you be so daring as to append a .qr at the end of your contracted hyperlink -- such as turning http://goo.gl/JCKW into http://goo.gl/JCKW.qr (both point to this post) -- you'll be treated with a QR code, built especially for you by the company's imaging smurfs. So, in case you still don't have Android 2.2 and its awesome Chrome to Phone functionality, here's an alternative method for transitioning the webpage you're reading onto your phone. Heavens forbid we'd ever have to actually type anything out ourselves.
Super Mario Crossover would have killed us in 1989
Sometimes, we wonder what it would be like if versions of ourselves from the past could be magically transported to today and have their minds blown by all the technological advances in video gaming technology. We have a feeling that they'd be disinterested in our "movement controllers" and "big definition graphicals," and would instead become entranced by a new Flash game by Exploding Rabbit that's sweeping the nation at terrifying velocities: Super Mario Crossover. The premise of the game is simple: It is the original Super Mario Bros., only your choice of playable characters isn't just limited to squat, Italian plumbers. You can also wreck Goombas while playing as Link, Mega Man, Samus, Simon Belmont or Bill (you know, from Contra). You could also just be Mario, but why would you do that, when you could be Bill from Contra? Stop being so silly. [Thanks, Eric]
Game Informer puts Link in 3D Dot Game Heroes
It was almost too obvious: 3D Dot Game Heroes looks a lot like Zelda, it lets you make characters, boom: You put Link in it. Done. But like all innovations that were so natural as to be almost self-evident, someone had to be first. In our case, that someone is Game Informer's Tim Turi, whose achievement you can find after the break. Congratulations, Tim. It may have been obvious, but that's what they said about going to the moon and now who's on Dancing With The Stars, eh?
AT&T posts four new featurephones from Samsung and Pantech
AT&T loves to trumpet the importance of the so-called "quick messaging" segment to its bottom line -- the QWERTY-equipped featurephones that keep the teens and tweens texting 24 / 7 -- so it's no surprise that of the latest batch of devices they've added into the mix from Samsung and Pantech (which we missed while caught up in the week's MIX10 activities), three of the four have full keyboards. The Strive from Samsung gets real in stores on March 21 with a 2 megapixel cam and vertical slide for just $20 on contract with rebate; the Sunburst comes on the same date for $40 with the same cam but a rather attractive full-touch design. On the Pantech side, you can choose from the portrait QWERTY Link (pictured left) or the Pursuit portrait slider, though neither has been blessed with a price or release date just yet. Perhaps more interesting than the phones themselves is the fact that the devices are the first to get hooked up with a host of new services from AT&T, including a cloud-synced address book, a media sharing service called Mobile Share that allows you to transfer videos and pictures between devices for a monthly or per-transfer fee, and so-called "Next Generation Messaging" that adds group texting capability, a threaded view, and a unified inbox -- smartphone-caliber features across the lower end of AT&T's range.
TUAW Tip: Sync your bookmarks to an iPhone or iPod touch with Xmarks
I'm an avid user of Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) as are probably many of you. I browse the Internet regularly on three different computers, and so it helps immensely to have all of my Firefox bookmarks and passwords synced. But the one fly in my ointment has been my iPhone's mobile Safari installation -- because I don't usually use Safari as my browser, I haven't yet figured out a way to get all of my usual bookmarks on to the iPhone. Until now: this writeup by Shawn0 (via the good folks at Lifehacker) presents a quick workaround to get your Xmarks-synced bookmarks up and running on your iPhone. Unfortunately, he uses Internet Explorer to do it, but given that we're all on Macs, I discovered that it worked just fine with Safari. Set up Xmarks on your Safari installation, sync it up with your usual bookmarks, and then set iTunes to sync your mobile browser's bookmarks with Safari. The one big drawback is that you'll have to start up Safari every once in a while to make sure your changes get all the way out to the mobile device, but that's better than not having them synced up at all. And yes, you MobileMe users are laughing at us Xmarks users right now, because Apple's service syncs all of these things automatically. But I've never known Xmarks to go down, and this solution costs the low, low price of free per year. If, like me, you haven't landed on a solid way to sync bookmarks out to the mobile browser yet, here you go.
Alltel picks up the Samsung Freeform, looks pretty well-defined to us
Most Americans likely won't ever get a crack at Samsung's latest low-end portrait QWERTY design, despite the fact that Virgin Mobile Canada's managed to snag it as the Link. Notice we said "most," because Alltel -- what little remains of it outside Verizon's clutches -- has picked it up as the "Freeform." The phone makes do with a 220 x 176 landscape display clocking in at 2.2 inches, a 1.3 megapixel camera (curiously forgotten from both the spec sheet and the press release), stereo Bluetooth support to accompany the microSD slot, GPS, and availability in both teal and burgundy -- both bolder choices than the deep gray offered up north. It runs $69.99 on a one-year contract (remember that those guys recently dropped the two-year deal), which is a little more than $20 less than what Virgin Mobile Canada's charging on prepaid.
The Legend of a giant papercraft Link
Remember how frustrated you were when you tried to build that tiny papercraft Link? Yeah, well this guy made a life-size statue of Link ... out of paper. Paper. Just look at it. It's insanity. Seriously, if someone handed you a pile of card stock and asked you to build insanity, it would turn out like this. Sure, it's awesome and everything but ... damn. If you can feel your grip on reality slipping a little every day, then feel free to download the detailed plans to craft your own right here. (Note: You'll need a special Windows-only viewer to view the plans.) Oh, and be sure to stock up on printer ink. [Via GoNintendo]
Video: Opera 10 promises Turbo browsing using Scandinavian flat-packing knowhow
We've got to hand it to the kids at Opera who somehow manage to maintain relevance while battling Microsoft, Apple, Google and Mozilla for browser market-share. Opera 10 is now available for download featuring a redesigned UI, a resizable tab bar with Visual Tab thumbnail previews of each loaded page, and Opera Link synchronization for keeping bookmarks and more synchronized between all your Opera devices. It's biggest feature, however, is Opera Turbo: a new compression technology that Ikea flat-packs web pages for fast transport over slow connections. See it demonstrated in the video after the break.
We're having a baby to justify this Link costume
You want to watch the paternal instincts of a bunch of guys instantly kick in like their desire for s'mores over an open fire? Then show them this adorable knit baby-sized Link costume. Oh my gawd, who doesn't want a little baby now?! Not only that, but the quiver holds the baby bottle. It's all toooooo cute. We want an office baby now. Craftster.org user UpKnitCreek created this as a baby shower gift ... and we're totally jealous of the recipient. We're currently trying to get in contact with UpKnitCreek to see if we can get the pattern. Not that we'd know what to do with it, but we're sure somebody else does -- and then we want one! We haven't been this impressed with a knitting project since the Guitar Hero scarf.
Samsung Link launches on Virgin Mobile Canada
Here we were, just minding our own business and thinking that the Samsung Link was going to be christened by Bell, then bam -- out of nowhere, Virgin goes and steals some thunder. If you're looking for EV-DO, go ahead and keep right on lookin' because you're not going to find it here -- but otherwise, the Link offers portrait QWERTY on the cheap alongside a 1.3 megapixel cam, microSD slot, and stereo Bluetooth. If you like what you see, you can go ahead and grab it now for CAD $99.99 (about $92) on prepaid or CAD $29.99 (about $28) on a three-year deal. Sorry, Bell guys -- it's coming soon. We think. [Thanks, Daniel] Update: As commenter live_strong points out, Bell's bought out the remainder of Virgin Mobile Canada that it didn't already own -- so this is all making a whole lot of sense, though as far as we can tell, customers who are on the Bell branded service still won't be able to get in on the Link just yet.
Link, the later (and depressing) years
If you've ever wondered what Link's life would be if he were real (and a pathetic middle-aged man), you may enjoy Link, the later years (watch it after the break). If you're a fan of uproarious laughter and entertainment, you won't be a fan of Link, the later years. It has its moments, but Link's pathetic (and monotone) state drags on as a nearly six-and-a-half minute bummer. Seriously, we're so depressed about it we're going to go polish off a whole tub of Chunky Monkey.[Via GoNintendo]
Oh, by the way: July 16, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Thursday, July 16th, 2009: The Samsung Omnia II will go on sale in Singapore this Saturday, July 18 for S$898 (about $619) unlocked, while the Omnia Pro will be available August 1 for something under S$550 (about $379). [Thanks, Rixter] Remember that mysterious Samsung Link for Bell? MobileSyrup has scored the lowdown on the device, and it turns out not to be a smartphone of any sort -- instead, it's just a text-centric dumbphone (isn't that theme starting to get a little played out?) with a 1.3 megapixel camera and a 2.2-inch display. It'll allegedly launch on July 30 in your choice of white or black for CAD $19.95 (about $18) on a three-year deal. HTC has already managed to roll a fix for that Bluetooth vulnerability they've been dogged by in recent days. [Via pocketnow.com] Ovi Maps 3.1, N-Gage, Ovi Contacts 2.1, and a mysterious "phone memory update" are all now available to users of North American Nokia N97s. Early reports suggest that some users are having trouble getting the goods installed successfully, so let us know how it goes. Continuing a trend it started earlier this year on other smartphones, Verizon has gone ahead and unlocked the GPS on its Samsung Omnia with an official firmware update. The release also includes an updated WinMo 6.1 AKU, Bluetooth tethering support through VZ Access Manager, and some memory fixes. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
How to get your blog crashed by WoW.com
Every day, our tip line gets a number of requests for link exchanges, publicity, and feedback on whether a post would be good for inclusion in the Daily Quest. We're really happy to be able to direct traffic to bloggers with good information, but sometimes we get requests that leave us baffled, uncomfortable, or both. While it's pretty easy to deal with some of these (gold-selling sites wishing to advertise here are a quick, "No thanks"), some of them come from otherwise well-meaning bloggers who want a link, but who may not get the desired results from one. Naturally this leaves us with a bit of a dilemma, and these are the things I think about while nosing around incoming links and my own list of favorite blogs:Please don't ask us to link your blog. Ask us to link a post.Even if we love your site and we read it all the time, we still need a reason to link you that's relevant to a subject we're writing about. Readers dislike getting recommendations like "It's a great blog!" or "You're going to love it!" Uh, why is it a great blog? Why should they love it? Nothing speaks so loudly or effectively as a great post on a good topic. Moreover, if we're linking a post of yours, your blog's main page should be linked as well. Even if we got dumb and forgot, it should be a simple matter for readers to find your central page (and you've got a design problem on your hands if they can't).
