Apple

Even a couple of months after the fact, I have to say that iFrogz’ Boost speaker was one of the most interesting things I saw at CES this year. It’s a little box speaker that works, more or less, like magic. There are no wires or hookups necessary. All you do is set the Boost speaker down, put your iPhone right on top of it as seen above, and then the speaker somehow amplifies your iPhone. It’s not super loud, but it’s more than enough for just a desk speaker, or maybe something small in the bedroom.

As far as I can tell, it simply works by “listening in” to whatever is coming out of your iPhone’s speaker with a really close-up microphone, and then just amplifying that audio as best it can (the device is powered with a few batteries, so that would make sense, if it’s making more sound on its own). What’s most surprising about all of this, however, is how exact the unit must be — I moved the iPhone around quite a bit on the unit, and it really only works if the iPhone is sitting in exactly the right place, which means that mic, if that’s indeed what’s happening, must be very finely tuned.

At any rate, the Boost is an interesting device — there are quite a few speakers out there, but I haven’t seen anything like this, that doesn’t require any wires or hookups at all (aside from the old school megaphone style amplifiers, I mean). The Boost is available for $39.99, and if you have a place to use it, it might be worth picking up.

Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/22/ifrogz-boost-speaker-out-now/

Last week I heard about a new Bluetooth wireless speaker for iOS devices that sounded pretty interesting, but since it was “just” a Kickstarter campaign and we get a lot of product pitches for speakers in production, I completely forgot about it. That was until today, when I found out that the Zooka Wireless Speaker Bar has completely blown by its funding goal of $25,000 with 25 days left to go.

The Zooka looks like a pretty cool product, although in my opinion the jury will be out until we have a chance to actually try one. Zooka works with any iOS device, but is most striking when it is attached to an iPad. The device has a speaker at each end of a silicone tube that can be used as an iPad grip, and it features internal rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries for up to 8 hours of amped-up sound.

There are plans to make Zookas in a variety of colors — orange, fluorescent green, dark blue, brown, tan, and black — and high-level backers even get the opportunity to get a limited edition glow-in-the-dark version.

Check out the video below for a demonstration of this unique take on a Bluetooth tablet speaker.

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Source: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1733547063/zooka-bluetoo…

Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/22/gadzooks-zookas-wireless-speaker-bar-is-a-hit-on-kickstarter/

Mike Daisey is making headlines with The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, a stirring monologue about his love of Apple and disappointment with working conditions in Apple’s supplier factories. Daisey’s monologue details his trip to China and his time with workers from Foxconn’s Shenzhen plant. If you want to read the monologue yourself, you can now do so at Mike Daisey’s website.

The well-known storyteller released the text of his performance under an open license which lets you not only download the piece, but perform the work yourself. Daisey writes that his work “may be performed by anyone, anywhere, royalty free.”

The text is moving, but it doesn’t compare to a live show which infuses energy and emotion into the words. Our own Mike Rose attended one of Daisey’s performances, and you can read about his impressions in an earlier post. Now that the text is available to the public, I look forward to derivative works which capture a different aspect of this stirring account.

[Via The Verge]

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china, daisey, foxconn, iPhone, labor, Mac, mike daisey, MikeDaisey, monologue, open source, OpenSource, steve jobs, SteveJobs, theater

Source: http://mikedaisey.blogspot.com/p/monologues.html

Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/22/mike-daiseys-steve-jobs-monologue-available-under-an-open-licen/

In September of 2011, Google introduced its Flight Search service. The service provides information on upcoming flights to specific destinations, providing schedule, price, and airline information. Now Flight Search has become iOS-friendly, perfect for those who want to check on flight availability and pricing on the go.

What Google did is to make Flight Search fit the Safari browser on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The features of Flight Search include searching, discover by location, filtering results by price, flight time, airline, and calendar view.

One little trick I found is that you can use Siri to call up Flight Search. Just tell Siri to “Google flights between Denver and Las Vegas” (or whatever two points you’re interested in flying between), and one of the top results that Siri will produce is a Flight Search listing. It’s a fast way to get a first pass at flight schedules and pricing while keeping up your personal relationship with Siri.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/22/google-updates-flight-sea…

Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/22/google-makes-flight-search-ios-and-siri-friendly/

Are you a fan of Instagram? I often find myself taking snaps with the app, adding some special effects, and then posting them for close friends and complete strangers to enjoy. Now the folks at Tiny Hearts, the developers of the fun Pocket Zoo app I reviewed last year, have come up with Instamatch — a US$1.99 universal iOS app (on sale for $0.99 for a limited time) released today that turns those awesome Instagram photos into a fun and challenging matching game.

Instamatch is a variation on the old “Concentration” matching game that has contestants matching similar Instagram photos. There are several ways to play — you can either select photos from your own Instagram account, in which case you match two identical copies of photos until all photos are matched, or from a selection of photos of Nature, Food, Animals, Cities, or World Wonders. With the latter, you match similar photos of the same subject, like two different photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. There’s also a search mode, so you can find and match photos of just about any subject under the sun.

Instamatch

To get a high score, you need to match all of the photo pairs as quickly as possible. It’s also helpful to be lucky enough to match two photos without looking at them first — the combos give you extra points that really add up.

On the iPhone, the game can be played with one or two players, and there are three levels of difficulty — Easy, with 12 photo cards; Normal, with

Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/02/22/instamatch-turns-instagram-into-an-engaging-ios-game/