Tag: technology

Apple Being Sued Over Siri Woes

When Apple announced the iPhone 4S, the main feature to set it apart from previous offerings was Siri, a virtual personal assistant. With all its products, Apple claimed Siri was amazing, incredible, and unlike anything else (which no doubt angered Vlingo). What wasn’t so readily mentioned by Apple (instead buried away in a crevice on its website) is the fact that Siri is still in beta. The adverts showing Siri behaving like a portable Yellow Pages and fortune teller also omit this, along with any disclaimer that the feature may not work as well as advertised. To make matters worse, Siri doesn’t know business information or certain location-based information outside of the US – unlike its rivals Vlingo and Windows Phone’s Ask Ziggy.

So Apple’s flagship feature has landed the company in legal trouble once again – following the tradition of Apple being sued after an iPhone release, with users suing the company over the iPhone 4 “antenna gate” problem whereby holding it a certain way dropped calls (leading to Steve Jobs’s famous retort to “not hold it that way”, before getting up on stage to declare (falsely) that it’s a problem to plague all mobile phones), and an earlier court case where Apple got in trouble for claiming the iPhone offered a “full web” experience when it did not provide access to Flash content. This time around, it’s a man from Brooklyn, Frank Fazio, suing Apple, with the case claiming that Siri does not work as advertised because it produces incorrect answers, fails to understand what is said, doesn’t locate local shops and can’t understand directions, whereas the adverts show Siri understanding and replying to all these things without missing a beat, and even assisting people to learn music.

The inclusion of Siri led Fazio to spend $299 on an iPhone 4S, and his disappointment with how it performs has led to the case, which states that “The iPhone 4S’s Siri feature does not perform as advertised”. While it has yet to be decided in court if Apple has been misleading or not, Fazio is only one of a growing group of 4S users and critics frustrated with Siri, which seems to be hugely overhyped in the adverts. Other complaints of the service include it having a difficult time understanding non-US English accents (although it also seems to have trouble understanding American accents), and with Siri requiring an Internet connection to work, as most processing is done not on the phone but on Apple’s servers, it will not work for anyone without a connection. This particular problem was particularly troublesome when Apple had an outage that rendered Siri unusable for about a day.

Whether Apple’s claims are misleading has yet to be decided, but Fazio is part of a growing chorus of discontent over Siri. Despite an initially positive reception from reviewers when the iPhone 4S launched in October, users and critics have raised complaints about the iPhone 4S’ oft-hyped feature. The biggest complaint is that Siri requires an Internet connection to function since most of the heavy-duty processing is done on Apple’s servers and not the phone itself. So if you are without connectivity, Siri will not work. And the phone doesn’t even have a backup feature, such as the iPhone’s old voice control features, for basic Siri-like functions such as voice dialing. Siri’s connectivity limitations were highlighted in November when Apple suffered an outage that knocked Siri service offline for about a day.

 

Unboxing of the White Nokia Lumia 900

The Lumia 900 is the current high-end Windows Phone offering from Nokia, with a 4.3″ ClearBack Display and front-facing camera. The device is announced but not yet released, and from an aesthetics perspective, it is perhaps the most desirable Windows Phone yet. The Lumia 800 has the same design as the Nokia N9, which the 900 is also similar too, and in white the phones are reminiscent of the leaked images of Nokia’s white N950, the developer edition of the N9. The beauty of the N950 was its noticeable similarity to the stunning Macbook range:

 

Nokia Vibrating Tattoo – Never Miss Another Call

Nokia has filed a patent for a ferromagnetic material that can be applied to people’s skin, either sprayed, stamped or tattooed in the traditional way. When the phone gets a notification – SMS, email, phone call etc – the tattoo will vibrate alerting you to it.

The premise is explained in more detail at the Nokia Connects website:

 

The ferromagnetic material vibrates in a multitude of ways when a message, phone call, low battery indication or several other alerts are received by the tattoo from a Nokia phone. The magnetic field can cause of multitude of different vibrations!

The magnetic mark can however remain invisible, making it more appealing to people who don’t want to visibly mark their body with a tattoo. I know I’m not a tattoo person so this would appeal to me, but each to their own! Wait, there is more….

The tattoo also acts as a form of identity. Yes, could this be the end of passports?! Maybe not, but it does mean that I would no longer need to type a password into my phone. I AM THE PASSWORD!! If I happened to be walking around blissfully unaware that my pocket was flapping open on a busy street and someone saw the opportunity to steal my phone, I would be over the moon that they couldn’t access it without a small marking on my arm!

We will let you know soon once/if the patent application is successful. Fingers crossed everyone, until then don’t leave your pockets flapping open.

The 5 Wackiest Alarm Clocks

 

 

It’s a dull, grey Monday morning; you’re due in work extra early for some ungodly reason, and before you fell asleep the night before you begrudgingly set your alarm, praying that it would successfully rouse you from your slumber. When it does finally go off, it’s unreasonably harsh and shrill. You blindly poke about, wishing to silence its incessant ring, and then, it’s all up to you. Do you have the discipline to get up and out of bed? Do you really feel in the right frame of mind?

Well, what if there was a clock which was specifically designed to get you up out of bed? I’m not talking about any old FM Tuner Radio Alarm Clock that can be found in John Lewis for a tenner, I’m talking about something that plays on your whimsical side, something designed to get you out of bed, entertain you, maybe even allow you to wake up naturally, rather than abruptly shaking you from that rather pleasant dream you were having.

Even better, what if I gave you 5 of them?:

 

The Flying Alarm Clock

 

It does exactly what it says on the tin; this alarm clock comes equipped with a mini propeller on top of the main hub. When the alarm goes, it will, as always, wake you up with its dull ring, but this time, it sends off the propeller flying into the air, and the only way to cease its howling is to pluck the propeller and stick it back in its rightful place.

This can be annoying, and may not do wonders for your mood, but it is designed specifically to get you out of bed, ensuring that you don’t hit snooze and drift off again, as we’ve all done from time to time.

The Sonic Bomb

This one is a monster; it consists of a double-feature: the clock coming with a vibration pad which is placed under the pillows and acts as a sort of practical insurance policy. There will be no problem getting up with this super-loud alarm piercing the silence each morning (you are, of course, able to tone down the volume to your preference), and literally shaking you awake. Seriously, the maximum volume is 113db, which is louder than a chainsaw. So, this should be taken as a note of caution to all potential buyers.

This product is perfect for those who care only about being roused efficiently in the morning, but if you’d rather get up in a better, lighter mood, read on…

The iPod Alarm Clock

There are quite a few of these on the market. It makes viable sense to attach your iPod to your alarm clock and have it play you awake. After some research, I would recommend anything made by the Phillips brand, as they seem to be highly popular with customers and are invigorated through many different, fun designs. In particular, the DC190B model caught my attention. It allows the user to fiddle with different alarm times for weekdays and weekends, which is a plus in my opinion, and it lets you fling your iPod/iPhone on to the attachment, slotting in perfectly, and allows you to wake up to your favourite tunes. An FM/AM radio tuner is built-in as well, and you have all the power you need.

Ideal for those looking to wake up to something a bit different rather than a monotonous ringing, and giving each morning an extra spice.

 

The Natural Light

This ‘alarm’ clock is perhaps one of my more unique discoveries. The idea behind it is scientifically proven and accurate, but may not be ideal for those who are adamant about when they get up. Another Phillips product, this clock works by turning itself on 30mins before your desired alarm setting, slowly increasing the amount of light it emits, so, akin to the sun shining into your room, by the time your selected alarm time comes around, you will find yourself gently roused by the natural light produced.

Additionally, you can use it as a bedside lamp for a spot of light reading, and it comes equipped with a few select easy-listening sounds, such as early morning birds, or the silky smooth sway of the ocean’s waves for those wishing to be somewhere else.

Clocky

‘Clocky’ draws many a resemblance to our flying friend above in that the user must leap out of bed and catch something in order to retain the peace and quiet of the morning. I included it because, quite frankly, it amused me to no end.

The method behind this playful device is that you get one chance to wake up, and if you choose to neglect that opportunity and slam your hand down on the snooze button, ‘Clocky’ sets off. It rolls down your night-stand, and, able to roll on both wood and carpet, it spins this way and that, emitting the usual shrill drone, whilst you’re treated to an early morning work-out as you scuttle around behind it. By then, you’ll be fully awake and prepared for your morning shower and coffee. ‘Clocky’ is small, an ideal fit for your bedside table, and good for travel. A good idea for students in particular.

 

5 great gift ideas for anyone looking to pack a whimsical punch. There are many sublime models out there, and searching for the mentioned products will definitely lead you to other sites and links, but these 5 are the best I found.

Nokia Win Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet at Mobile World Congress

 

It’s been a seemingly long time since Nokia was viewed favourably in both the public and the tech world. The company has been long revered for its hardware and the incorporation of certain technologies in its device – such as FM Transmitters, USB OTG, HDMI output and so on – but it is also on the receiving end of negative reviews largely on the software side of things.

 

This looks to be in reverse now though, with Nokia winning awards for the design of the N9, and awards for the Lumia 900. Earlier this week was Mobile World Congress (MWC), which saw the unveiling of the incredible 808 device and yet another award for the Finnish handset maker. The 808 PureView landed the company the award for Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet at Mobile World Congress, and the judging panel consisted of analysts and leading journalists, making it an especially important award – it is, after all, these same groups of people that have been Nokia’s strongest critics in recent years.

 

The award itself is justified, and aside from the write-up of the 808 on this site you can learn about the technology running the phone from Nokia’s imaging expert Damian Dinning. Nokia’s Jo Harlow explained the importance of the award: “It’s a fantastic award because it signifies that consumer experience counts. It’s about tech, but it’s about how tech is used to make a consumer have a fantastic experience…These are first signals that we are executing against our strategy. That we’re back. That we’re bringing great products to our consumers – and that this is just the beginning.”

 

The first part of the quote is entirely true – it isn’t just about having an impressive sheet of specs, a quad-core phone still seems entirely pointless, but it’s about the core user experience when using the device that’s important, making it function in such a way that users want to pick it up, and more importantly know how to use it in certain situations, from travel to photography to social interaction. As for the second part of the quote, that signifies Nokia has at last truly begun to understand the situation it finds itself in and is putting its efforts into turning things around – so let’s hope we can expect more of the great pioneering that turned it into the biggest phone manufacturer in the world.

Sample Shots From Nokia 808 PureView – With Zoom

Yesterday Nokia announced the 808, featuring a 41megapixel camera with PureView. Today we have sample photos of what the phone can do, which aside from stunning pictures is the ability to zoom in to unprecedented levels to see detail invisible to the human eye when in that real-life position. Below are two pictures taken with the new device – for a glimpse of the technology on offer, zoom in on the rock climber’s foot in the photo on the right.