Posted in Technology, Videos

Kinect hacked for home automation system

Ok, so this is way uberly, nerdy cool. This kid took a Kinect and turned it into a home automation system. Watch the full video below, its cool how he can setup different zones for different lights to be on. Now the only thing is, I would have to go back to a studio apartment or get a house with a man cave!

via [Engadget]

Posted in Technology, Videos

Viber coming soon to Android (free SMS too!)

It seems that the iOS app for free calling over the internet (VoIP) has decided to be spreading its footprint and bringing the app to Android devices as well. Viber is a FREE VoIP provider and app that allows you to make calls over 3G or WiFi, allowing you to save your minutes on your cell phone service. There is no sign up or any special codes that you have to enter, it just makes the call for you. It uses your existing telephone number and allows you to call your friends on Viber as well with their telephone numbers. No usernames no email addresses, just the number you already have.

Now I will say that app is currently only in use on the iOS devices, and a little more specifically the iPhone 4, but apparently can be used on the iPod Touch and the iPad, but according to the FAQ on the website:

Viber was primarily developed for iPhones, so for the best experience, an iPhone with iOS 4 is recommended. While Viber is known to work on iPod Touch and iPads, they are not officially supported.

So I have a few friends on this app, and it sounds GREAT. It doesn’t change over 3G either, it still sounds great. Now that the community is expanding, it is nice to know I can add a LOT more friends to the list! What is even better, is that SMS (text) messaging will be in an upcoming update as well, so you can text back and forth for free as well!

Here is a video direct from the website to give a full run-down:

via [MobileCrunch]

Posted in Technology, Videos

Forget tethering. Just get a Motorola Atrix 4G

Ok, so I first have to say the 4G part of the phone is a little misleading, or as I like to say Incorrect. Outside of the fact that At&t’s 4G isn’t 4G at all (it’s really 3.5G), the Motrola Atrix announced at CES seems to be the phone to have this year. I have seen a few videos from podcasts that were there live at the event, but I don’t think they did the phone justice. So lets go over the features real quick.

It is the first dual-core processor phone on the market. Which actually helps in the multitasking issues that our current smartphones seem to have. It has 1GB of RAM for memory. It has 16GB of on-board storage that is expandable up to 48GB with a 32GB SD card. It has the ‘full’ web with Flash support built in. This amazing phone has an optional laptop that weighs less than 3 pounds, that you can attach it to, so you can have the laptop experience out of your phone! It has a HD camera for video recording and front facing camera for video chat w/video share. It has HDMI out for quick viewing of your content on an HDTV. You can get the optional docks (there are a few different ones) instead if you want to use this thing at work, home or in the car! Check out the promo video for the smart docks they will sell for this bad boy:

If you missed the announcement of this thing, it’s fine, they just made a great video for promotion as well that I saw on Engadget, check it out:

I really think, that this may be the real iPhone killer. Because unless the iPhone can dock into the MacBook Air, Apple will have to rethink the strategy. Especially with the dual core processors as well. Right now, this will be the largest storage on a mobile phone as well, with the 32GB being added to the 16GB that is on-board. Since Skype has added video chat to the iPhone though, I hope soon that android version of Skype will inlcude the same. I don’t want to have to use Qik for my video chatting, but since Skype bought them, I guess that is their door into the android world. We shall see, Motorola hasn’t had a huge phone success since the overplayed and remolded over and over V3. I hope this is the next one!