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Researchers develop braille for vibrating touchscreen devices
digg_url = 'http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/31/researchers-develop-braille-for-vibrating-touchscreen/'; In braille, a character is made up of six dots laid out on a two by three matrix -- not something that can really be conveyed using capacitive touchscreen technology. Working with a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, researchers in Finland have developed a method for piezoelectric touchscreen devices that uses a single pulse of intense vibration to convey a raised dot, and a longer vibration made up of several weaker pulses to represent a missing dot -- spelling out letters that can be easily read by touch. It took a while for volunteers to get used to this method, but once they had they were able to read a character in as little as 1.25 seconds. Now that they have letters down, the team is moving on to words and sentences -- with an eye towards developing text-to-braille software sometime in the future.
Silica hack "tester" perhaps too good at its job
As if we didn't have enough cause to be paranoid about WiFi hacking, Justine Aitel has worked out a way to do it completely automatically -- your ports will never be safe again. Justine's Immunity Inc. has developed a tool it calls Silica, which runs a custom version of CANVAS, Immunity's point-and-click attack tool, on a Nokia 770. The 770's touchscreen displays three simple buttons: "Scan," "Stop" and "Update Silica." As soon as you hit Scan, Silica can start hopping onto WiFi networks, search for open ports, and automatically launch code execution exploits. For instance, you could set Silica to download anything of interest off of exploitable file shares, then put the 770 in your pocket and walk through an office, gleaning all sorts of fun files to peruse later, or even have the device actively penetrate machines and have them hook up to an external listening port via HTTP / DNS at your bidding. Sounds pretty malicious, but it's all in the name of safety -- Immunity sells the $3,600 device to penetration testers to have a quick and automated way of testing network security on the spot. Once you're done running the scan, you get an HTML report of Silica's findings, meaning even a noob can get their hack on with this thing. Immunity keeps track of new exploits, and sends out updates about once a month to Silica users. Of course, Immunity also tries to be careful who they sell the device to to make sure it doesn't fall into malicious hands, but there's no way to be 100 percent sure, so we recommend unplugging your router now, selling the house and kids and moving to a mountain cave before it's too late.[Via Slashdot]
Nokia N800 specs
Alright, we had some unboxing porn of the new Nokia N800 for ya yesterday, but what we didn't post up were its specs. Fortunately Carrypad has all the gory details on the new Internet Tablet, which sports a 4.1-inch, 800x480 pixel touch screen, a 320MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, 256MB of Flash ROM, dual SD memory card slots, 802.11b/g WiFi, a built-in camera (they don't specify resolution), and Bluetooth 2.0. Apparently CompUSA, which carried the original Nokia 770, already has 'em for sale in some stores.
Puppybot has a Nokia 770 for a head
Oh, robots, is there anything you can't do? (Don't answer that.) This latest bot that we've spotted combines the utility of a Nokia 770 Internet Tablet with the personality (and body) of a robot puppy dog. Apparently you can control its movements by using another tablet, and it'll even update its facial expressions to reflect whatever it's doing at that moment. No word on if you can launch Google Talk while it's in dog mode or if you'd just be too saddened by those digital puppy eyes to carry on a decent conversation. Either way, peep the video on the flip side for the full effect.
Switched On: Pretty fly for the WiFi
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: Neither Sony nor Nokia have Microsoft at the top of their buddy lists, and their product lines don't contain much overlap; but the Japanese electronics giant enlisted the help of Nokia's longtime Scandinavian rival Ericsson when it made its serious push into the mobile phone space. Hence, it's easy to see how convergence often makes for strange competitors, and this year Sony's latest stab at it came in the form of the Mylo, which entered the WiFi-enabled portable connected media device alongside an updated software suite for Nokia's 770 internet tablet. While on their surface the products have many similar capabilities and share a price of $349, their form and philosophy are strikingly different.To remove any confusion, neither of these devices are cell phones per se; they don't make voice calls using cellular networks and are thus not purchased with calling plans. Also, in contrast to the PDAs of yore, neither of them has an integrated personal information manager. In fact, to its detriment, the 770 comes with no PC software at all.The appeal of these – forgive me, Webster – WiFliances is plain from the company's perspective. With cell phone carriers moving most of the handsets in the US, companies are hamstrung in terms of the kinds of communications capabilities they can offer to consumers both by bandwidth limits and carrier fiat. However, are these products right for consumers? For one, they certainly have more appeal if you spend most of your days in an extended guest-friendly hotspot network or "hotzone" such as a university campus or a metropolitan WiFi network like the one Google is now offering in Mountain View, CA.
Archos' WiFi-capable 604 slips by the FCC
So Archos is getting into the WiFi PMP game. With as much buzz as devices like the Zune and the eternally unconfirmed wireless iPod get, you'd think it's the absolute holy grail of the PMP. But in truth you need some spankin' good software to back up the 802.11, or you're just wasting a chip. From the looks of the documentation of the Archos 604 WiFi, they've at least got it half right. The new version, which we spotted last week, includes not only 802.11b/g connectivity, but replaces the 4.3-inch 480 x 272 screen with a touchscreen version. As reported, they've packed in an Archos-specific version of the Opera browser, making the device much more akin to Nokia's 770 tablet than the Zune. Along with tabbed browsing and other touchscreen-based perks, the new 604 has full-fledged Windows file sharing capabilities, and seemingly robust WiFi connection tools. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any snazzy WiFi-based sync, sharing or purchasing capabilities -- all main selling points of the Zune -- so the verdict is still out on how successful this could actually be. Still, we're definitely willing to give it a once over, and a harmless little cage-match-to-the-death between it and our 770 shouldn't go too far amiss. Keep reading for a few pics of the WiFi in action.
More mylo deets emerge, Linux is under the hood
Now that we've recovered from the initial surprise of Sony's mylo announcement, we're starting to get a few more details on its functionality. Turns out the teeny device is powered by an unspecified version of embedded Linux (possibly from Wind River), with a graphics and application framework provided by Trolltech's Qtopia platform. There's also Java Virtual Machine support, which seems to give homebrewers plenty of options for creating apps for the device -- if Sony hasn't locked things down too tightly. As for that QVGA 2.4-inch screen, Sony is packing in MP4 video support, so ready-to-go videos shouldn't be hard to find. There's also MP3, ATRAC and WMA to round out format support. While the mylo dodges that main Nokia 770 bullet by packing a QWERTY keyboard, Sony's device suffers from a hefty pricetag for its younger target audience, a notable omission of AIM and Windows Live Messenger, and a lack of explicit gaming or 3rd party support. Still, those WiFi and Linux specs hint at a lot of potential, so we're sure that this thing can manage to be a bit more than another Skype handset.
Engadget Podcast 064 - 01.20.06
We promised an all listener-voicemail Engadget Podcast, and that's exactly what you're gonna get this Friday, January 20th. Today's listener questions run the gamut of topics from BitTorrent and movie piracy to CableCard and (HD)TV on your computer, and we do our best to answer 'em with our usual brand of gadgety back-n-forth. If you haven't already blown us up at 1-888-ENGADGET to leave a voicemail, why not start now? Who knows, you may make it on next week's regular Podcast, or if we have enough callers we can always work another voicemail episode of the show. What's that number again? 1-888-ENGADGET. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the show (enhanced AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Hosts Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 46:48, 21.4 MB, MP3 Program 01:23 What's the best way to use GMail Mobile? 05:20 Internet Downloads and sweet home theaters ruining theaters? 17:25 Do computer monitors support HD input? 20:56 Will Apple release another PDA? 27:10 Will they ever announce the Motorola Q? 31:58 Does the Nokia 770 support stereo Bluetooth profiles? 33:00 What's up with CableCard? 40:15 Why do cellphones interfere with so many electronic devices? LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Call up the Podcast at: 1-888-ENGADGET
Newton OS on a Nokia 770
Following Paul Guyot's release of Einstein, the Newton emulator for Linux-based PDAs, the race has been on to get it running on different devices. At last week's Worldwide Newton Conference, Paul gave a demo using a Sharp Zaurus, and today, Andy Diller has got it working on his Nokia 770. Very cool! The existing Newtons will eventually stop working, so it's great to see this taking shape. Remember, if you have a Linux-based PDA with X11 support, you can (most likely) run the Newton OS.Good work, Andy!Update: Paul has made the Nokia 770 binaries available.
