Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Digital Cube i-Station E9 Portable Media Player from south korea

Digital Cube i-Station E9 Portable Media Player

South Korea's Digital Cube has launched its latest PMP: the i-Station E9. This iPod Touch look-alike comes with a 3-inch touchscreen, a FM tuner, accelerometer, video output, and support for many media formats including MP3, WMA, OGG, AVI, WMV, 3GP, and DAT. It even includes sound recording capabilities, G-sensor, picture browsing, and an ebook reader.

The Digital Cube i-Station E9 PMP measures 92 x 54 x 13mm and weighs 60 grams. Its battery life can last for up to 12 hours of audio playback or 4 hours of video playback. The 4GB version is available in Korea at an equivalent of US$115, while the 8GB model costs US$132.

source: Digital Cube

Concept Car Honda EV-N

Honda EV-N Concept Electric Car

Honda is set to introduce its latest concept car on the Tokyo Motor Show come October. The EV-N battery-powered car comes with a retro style similar to European cars during the 1960s and features swappable seat fabrics, a solar panel on the roof, and an integrated communications system. Its passenger door even contains Honda's UX-3 gyroscopic unicycle (think of it as a seated Segway), which not only adds about 22 pounds in the process, but also adds up coolness points... for us, at least.

Honda EV-N Concept Car

Honda EV-N Concept Car

Honda EV-N Concept Car with Solar Panel

this honda car design are very suite with your fashion look, oldies and elegance. if you did not want to looks like another styler with their luc sport car, you can ride this car as alternative of your fashion style

source : honda.com

Your “weight” for an internet-connected scale is over! Get it?

balanceVues

The “WiFi Body Scale” from French company Withings records your weight and BMI and automatically uploads it to a secure website, which would be a lot easier to make fun of if it weren’t for Wii Fit, which does that stuff but doesn’t upload it anywhere.

People made fun of Wii Fit at first and then it went on to become the most popular Wii game in the history of the universe, so it stands to reason that this scale may become the most popular scale in the history of scales. Or it may not. You never can tell.

And it wouldn’t be a serious product if there wasn’t also an iPhone app for keeping track of your progress as well, right? Well, there is. And get this: up to eight different people can keep track of their weight on the same scale. The scale even knows who’s who right when they step on the scale. Maybe it knows each person by the amount of meat in their feet. Science!

The scale costs $159 and is available at Withings.com (and apparently Amazon, although it’s not in stock there at the moment). Yes, that’s a lot for a scale but even at $159 it offers far more value than the $55 Yay! Scale from earlier this week.

That Sprint Touch Pro 2 price cut? Not happening.


sad

Earlier today, we passed on word of a rumor that the Sprint Touch Pro 2 would be seeing a price cut from the oh-so-absurd price of $349 (after a $100 mail-in rebate, mind you) down to the much more reasonable $149. It sounded great! With Verizon’s Touch Pro 2 already at that price, it certainly didn’t sound too good to be true – but it was, for the most part.

Turns out, the original source got the details wrong. While Sprint will begin offering the Touch Pro 2 for $199, that’s not the price you’ll see – that is, unless you work at a big ol’ corporation with 100+ lines of service.

The bad news came by way of a Sprint Rep, who sent the following comment to Brighthand:

Starting tomorrow, the price drop for HTC TouchPro2 from Sprint is only available to corporate liable customers with 100+ lines. All other channels will sell at original price $349.99 with a two-year service agreement and after $100 mail-in rebate.

Oh well – looks like Sprint will continue to sell their Touch Pro 2 at an absurd price along with everyone else.

Street View rig for fun and profit


1238261

If you suddenly find yourself with $300 to burn, an old laptop, and too much time on your hands this weekend, I might suggest that you build a DIY Google Street View-style rig for your car. That’s what West Point student Roy Ragsdale did for his “disruptive technologies” class. And if someone at West Point does it, it’s okay for you to do it.

The gear consists of eight Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000 webcams, a couple D-Link USB hubs, a GPS receiver, and an old laptop running Ubuntu. Roy whipped up a script that made each of the cameras take a 1280×1024 snapshot every 20 seconds and then later had each 8-pack of photos stitched together to form a panoramic picture. He was able to grab photos while driving over 60 miles per hour that were “perfectly clear and on par with those available on Google Street View.”

Sounds fun, I guess. Sort of. There’s always the actual Google Street View, too, which involves keeping your $300 and far less driving. Well done for a class project, though.

sources : crunchgear.com

Jessica Alba is Flawless with Fringe at New York Fashion Week

image0041

Jessica Alba

Style icon Jessica Alba was spotted in New York last week carrying a black fringe clutch by Gerard Darel. Jessica is a big fan of the Parisian fashion house and is often seen sporting clothing and accessories from the designer. This trendy two-tiered fringe bag is the perfect accent to her sophisticated black ensemble.

image0011

Jessica’s Fringe Gerard Darel clutch is available at select for $380.00 at Bloomingdales stores.

Dries Van Noten oversized bangles necklace

There are these days where I do my research and I do some window shopping along the way and I manage to find something which cost say $1000 but I will shake my head, have a little rant over it and make sure I keep that money in my wallet because it absolutely isn’t worth it. Well, it’s not, not worth it but it’s just not worth it…today. Because I have my tired tight-ass days just as we all do. This has inspired me to do a little “Make it” component because I find that sometimes it is easier to be crafty than it is to splash out the cash. Here is how you can channel the runway accessory look thanks to Dries Van Noten neckpieces.

Oversized bangle necklace by Dries Van Noten

PS; I am actually yet to make this but I am pretty sure that I’m not too far off from the actual designer concept so don’t mind me if there is tweaking to be done. I will post up pictures of my own Dries Van Noten inspired piece when I do have the time to do it.

What do you need?

- Black velvet ribbon (Approx 30cm)

- Various bangles and rings of all shapes, colours and sizes. (It looks best when you stick to one theme)

- Vintage rings

- Big beads and buttons

What to do?

- Knot the top of one end of the ribbon leaving about an 8cm gap from the edge of the ribbon to the centre area.

- Tie the first ring to the knot so that the rings don’t fall off the string.

- Thread through some vintage rings of all shapes, colours and sizes to the end of the knot.

- Finish that section by tying another ring in a knot so that you can start the other section.

- Put your bangles through the string in a fancy order to best achieve the desired result.

- Knot the edge to finish off leaving extra string space at the end of the neckpiece to tie on.

- Tie back edges together to complete.

Oversized bangle necklace by Dries Van NotenOversized bangle necklace by Dries Van Noten

And there you have rags to runway almost instantly! If you do decide to make one, please, please email me some pictures of your fabulous piece so I can check out how it went!

Written by Lisa Chau. Images courtesy of Dries Van Noten.

sources : www.theiconicfashionblog.com

go crazy fashion

Ohhhh I did something totally insane and spent money on a pair of boots that look like this:

Yes. They will be here tomorrow. Wonderful Guess "Maeve" boots. Kind of gothic but I can't wait to wear it with my chiffon dress with tights and leg warmers, a black blazer, and some crazy coloured scarf.

So now for some outfits that I would gladly wear. Because we all have Lacroix, Moschino and Schouler lying around in our closets.









SO EXCITED. SO IN LOVE.

But not nearly as excited or as in love with the fact that Barack Obama is now our President!!

sources : i am fashion

the new iPhone 3GS from apple designer

If it ain't broke, don't fix it -- right? We know countless reviews of the iPhone 3GS may begin with that cliché, but there's little chance you'd find a better way to describe the strategy that Apple has just put into play with its latest smartphone. In many ways, the 3GS is a mirror image of the iPhone 3G; externally there's no difference. It's inside where all the changes have happened, with Apple issuing a beefed-up CPU, new internal compass, larger capacities for storage, and improved optics for its camera. More to the point, the release of the 3GS coincides with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0, a major jump from previous versions of the system software featuring highly sought after features like cut, copy, and paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard options for more applications, and an iPhone version of Spotlight. At a glance, what Apple seems to be doing is less a reinvention of the wheel and more like retreading the wheel it's already got (and what a wheel, right?). So, do the iPhone 3GS and OS 3.0 tweak the details in just the right places, or has Apple gone and gotten lazy on us? Read on to find out.


Hardware



As we said in the intro, there is nothing visually different about the iPhone 3GS versus the iPhone 3G, save for the lettering on the back, which is now mirrored like the Apple logo. While we had seen leaked images of a matte finish, bezel-free version of the device, when push came to shove, what we got was essentially a carbon copy of the iPhone 3G. In terms of the general elements of the phone -- the plastic casing, mute switch, home and power buttons, etc. -- there is no change at all. In fact, if you were to lay this phone and its predecessor next to one another face up, the new model would be indistinguishable. Of course, the 3GS is not just a clone of the previous device, and Apple has made most of its significant changes inside the phone.

Internals



First off, the company has supercharged the CPU of the 3GS (remember, the S is for speed), jacking up the processor numbers from 412MHz to a rumored 600MHz. Additionally, the RAM is said to have doubled from 128MB to 256MB, the phone is offered with 16GB or 32GB of storage, and Apple has swapped out the previous graphics chip for a new version -- dubbed the PowerVR SGX -- which adds support for more robust visuals via OpenGL ES 2.0. All this should mean that end users will see a noticeable difference in app speeds and loading times (Apple claims an average of 2x faster loads, though since the company has been cagey about upgrade details, it's hard to know what the real differences are).

So, do the revamped insides equal an improved experience on the phone? Kinda.

For our oft-used phone actions -- flicking through homescreens, calling up search terms in Spotlight, scrolling through long lists -- we definitely felt like the 3GS was snappier than its predecessor. It wasn't like the doors were flying off, but there was a noticeable bump in speed, particularly when it came to initial data loads (how quickly you see content pop up within an application). When it came to opening apps which pull lots of that kind of content, like Contacts, Calendar, or Messaging, we saw an even more noticeable improvement. Comparing the 3G and 3GS side-by-side yielded small but absolutely palpable differences -- the 3GS does seem to eliminate quite a few of the hangs we find maddening as we go through our day. It's not the perfect salve, but it's a start.

We're excited by the cranked up CPU, but in our experience you'll see lowered load times (though obviously not as drastic) if you take a standard 3G and do a full restore, so there is the lingering question of whether or not the jacked-up feel of the 3GS will last, or will begin to bog down after months of use and heaps of data.



A spot where we really saw the fruits of Apple's labors (and one we don't expect to decline as you pile on data) was actually in the more graphically intense apps for the phone. Comparing a CPU-hungry 3D game like Resident Evil: Degeneration on the 3GS with the same title 3G yielded striking results. The load time was drastically reduced, and rendering and frame rates on the game were noticeably smoother than on the older device (though game speeds stay the same) -- a side effect of the more powerful guts we'd hoped to see, but weren't sure would be so stark. If you're an avid gamer looking for the device with more power, the difference will be crystal clear: the 3GS obviously flexes in this department.

Display



We mentioned that Apple didn't really make any cosmetic changes to the phone, but that's not entirely accurate. While the 480 x 320 display on the iPhone 3GS is technically identical to its predecessor's screen, it adds one small feature which should make some users extremely happy.

The company has changed the treatment on the surface of the touchscreen, utilizing an oleophobic coating -- essentially a protectant that's highly resistant to fingerprint smudging. For those of you constantly wiping burger grease, WD40, and various other toxic materials from your iPhone, this will come as a tremendous little perk. The most surprising thing about the tech is that it actually does what the company says it will: namely, it resists new smudges and wipes almost entirely clean with a single swipe on a pant leg. This wasn't exactly the most pressing issue we had with the phone, but it's nice to know that Apple is innovating in the dirty screen space.

Camera



A camera tweak is a big deal for iPhone fans -- after all, they've had to suffer through not one, but two iterations of a phone with a paltry 2 megapixel camera, no autofocus, and no flash. Apple has tweaked two out of three here, and as Meat Loaf tells us, that ain't bad. The 3GS upgrades the built-in camera to a 3 megapixel version -- not insanely great, but at least competitive -- and has added an autofocus function with a nifty software tie-in. Instead of having to use a gross physical button to snap your shots, the iPhone continues to rely on its onscreen trigger, but cranks up the use of that big display by allowing you to focus in on subjects based on where you tap. In our experience, the parlor trick actually turned out to be quite useful, accurately zeroing in on what we wanted most of the time. Struggles to focus were minor at best, though you won't be able to do any heavy macro work here, and during video recording you're stuck with a constantly focusing lens -- no tapping allowed.



We do have some complaints about exposure, which seems to be permanently cranked to "blinding," and while the shutter speed is faster than on the 3G, it's still not quite snappy enough for our taste. Hey -- we guess we should just be glad they gave us an extra megapixel, right?


Software



As we said in the opener, the 3GS launch isn't just about the hardware -- in fact, you could argue that it's hardly about the hardware. The biggest changes with this device really come in the form of software tweaks, and to a point, the software tweaks provided by iPhone OS 3.0. Apple really piled on the fixes and additions in its latest OS iteration (the company boasts of 1,000 new APIs for developers), and there's plenty to plow through that up until now has only been the domain of those lucky / hard working few. What's all the fuss about? See below.

We'd like to preface this section by saying that because we're testing a US device, MMS and tethering options are disabled thanks to AT&T's current policies on the services. Obviously, not being able to properly test two of the most anticipated aspects of the new OS is disheartening, and while we could hack a solution to get both working (see here), it's not a reasonable option for most end users right now, and probably wouldn't be fair to include in this review.

On a "brighter" note, AT&T claims it will be delivering MMS to the iPhone come late Summer as part of its standard SMS packages (no word on tethering), though we think it's patently absurd that the second largest carrier in America -- a carrier which currently has MMS enabled for all of its other devices -- is failing to make this available at launch. Judging from the reaction to this news during the WWDC keynote, it would seem that most others agree. Apple included.

Cut, copy, and paste



Of all the features added to the new 3.0 cocktail, copy / paste is easily the most talked about. Perhaps because it was such an obvious feature to leave out to begin with, or perhaps because Apple made it through multiple updates with no change (till now). Regardless, the iPhone line now has the ability to perform one of the most basic tasks known to computing. So how does it fare? Well, it's actually a pretty smart implementation of the process on a mobile device -- one of the best we've seen. To grab a chunk of text, you simply tap on the section you want to grab and the phone tries to figure out just how much you meant to select. Usually it's pretty smart about what you want (sort of the copy / paste version of Apple's predictive text input), but it also gives you anchors to grab on the top, bottom, left, and right of the selection box, allowing you to pull your copy area out as needed. A contextual menu appears above or below your selection, and changes based on what stage of the process you're in. To paste you just tap on an empty spot in a document, and the menu presents itself again. For undoing actions, you shake the phone (cute, but a little annoying -- we would have preferred a menu item).



The beauty here is that unlike competitors such as the Pre or Android, iPhone copy and paste doesn't just let you grab text -- you can grab whole chunks of mixed media, like text and images, and it will copy the content with proper formatting and elements. If you want to pull out a section of a webpage, for instance, the function elegantly allows you to zero in on the area you want to copy and easily transfer it into an email or document without losing any components (unless you're pasting into a text only area, like Notes, which strips out formatting and images).

While we don't think the wait was necessarily justified for a feature so simple (and so necessary), we do think Apple has pulled off a tremendously useful implementation of the process. It's the kind of thing you'll miss once you go to another device without such broad and universal functionality.

Push notifications




Way back in June of 2008, Apple promised that we'd see push notifications -- instantaneous alerts for emails, messages, and other app-related notices -- due in an OS update come that September. Needless to say, the fall came and went without so much as a mention of the software addition. Earlier this year, Apple showed off the functionality again at the iPhone OS 3.0 preview, combatting arguments for true multitasking within the iPhone operating system by saying push would not only work as a surrogate for most background tasks, but would allow the devices to retain sufficient battery life. Background tasks, Apple warned us, create a drain on power that would have users running for their chargers far too often.

So -- do push notifications take the place of background tasks? Do they give the end-user the feeling of constant connectedness the way Apple seems to intend them to? In our experience, not quite. At the time of this writing, there are only a few apps actually employing the service, though we're sure more will come. Overall, where push is really useful is in receiving updates or messages -- individual pings which direct your attention towards a particular application -- but they don't keep you in the stream of information the way an AIM session running in the background does. Yes, you get alerted to new messages (or in the case of something like Tap Tap Revenge, challenges), but those appear as either one of the iPhone's annoying pop-ups, or as a background audio notification coupled with a growing message counter for a particular app (AIM for instance). The service is extremely useful, and we're happy that Apple is endeavoring to make it available for all of its developers, but from a practical perspective, it doesn't feel that different than an email notification or a calendar event. In short, it will help you stay connected, but it won't take the place of true multitasking, and unless Apple finds a less obtrusive notification solution, it could actually create quite a mess. Besides those obvious issues, we're still not seeing push for the things we really want, namely, Gmail. We don't know when (or if) a rollout of said feature is planned, but we're guessing it can't be too far off for a device which now has central functionality orbiting around this feature.

Ultimately, we still feel strongly that true multitasking can't be replaced by these notifications, and if there's anything we learned from using the Pre, it's that background tasks can be handled elegantly without a mind-blowing hit to battery life. For a company which prides itself on advanced battery tech, you'd think instead of shying away from the challenge, Apple would be looking for ways to innovate in this space.

Spotlight



We've got to hand it to Apple -- the company has really answered the call when it comes to search functionality on the iPhone. The addition of Spotlight to the iPhone OS is quite notable for two reasons: first, it gives you homescreen access to a full search of all your content on the device, including notes, email, contacts, calendar events, and applications. Secondly, it provides new search functionality within mail that not only lets your get at downloaded messages, but extends the hooks into server-side content. That's a bit of a stunner, as we can't count the number of times we've needed to fish some info from an email that had long moved outside of our 200 message limit (and what's up with that anyway Apple?). Spotlight searching works flawlessly in email, but we have a few gripes about the phone-facing implementation.

To start with, in order to navigate to your Spotlight screen, you have to either assign the home button double-tap shortcut to take you to the search window, swipe back when you're in homescreen view, or single tap once to get to your first page, then again to get into Spotlight. It all seems a bit complicated to us -- what would have made more sense was some kind of universal gesture... like maybe that long home button press reserved for Voice Control (more on that in a bit). Another problem is that you still have to jump through multiple hoops to get to the content you're looking for, particularly with contacts. Once you bring up a name, you have to actually jump into the contact card to call or send a text message -- why isn't this info accessible from the search window? As with a lot of processes on the phone, you still feel like you're clicking through way, way too many screens to get where you need to be.

Video recording / editing




(Here's a link to the raw video file shot with the 3GS)

Okay -- you got us. Video recording on the iPhone 3G S is really quite impressive, and there are two reasons why. For starters, the phone handles pretty fantastic looking VGA video at 30 FPS, which makes for not just passable mobile video, but usable mobile video. The size, clarity, and smoothness of the sequences we shot looked tremendous to our eyes -- certainly on par if not outclassing many of the contenders in this space. In our opinion, the 3GS video quality is high enough that we'd consider this a viable stand-in for lower end camcorders or flip cams -- if you want to capture your kids at the park but don't want to come packing a ton of gear, this produces totally reasonable results.



The second reason we're a fan of the 3GS video functionality is simple: editing. After you snap some video, you can easily pull out just the section you want to use in a kind of dumbed down iMovie edit window, which gives you a timeline of your clip, replete with a preview of the action. You can long-press on the section you're editing to see a more detailed view, and you can pull either the start or end points to snag just the section you want. We love the fact that you can grab and cut video in-phone without having to offload anywhere else, but we'd love it even more if OS 3.0 allowed for non-destructive editing of the clips. As it is now, once you cut something down, you're done -- there's no way to retrieve the full length version of the video. We're hoping in future version Apple gives users either the option to retain the deleted sections, or at least the option to copy the clip over to a new file. We wouldn't scoff at an option to splice or merge multiple clips together either, but we don't want to break the bank with our lofty requests.

One other nice feature that's been tacked on the video tool is the ability to auto-compress and upload to YouTube, MobileMe (a 45 second video took about three minutes to up over WiFi), or send a .MOV in an email. If we had a device that could actually utilize MMS, there's an option for that as well.

Voice Control




Voice Control is a bit like an answer to a question that no one asked. The basic premise is that Apple has given 3GS owners the ability to control their phone via simple voice commands, relayed through a glitzy Voice Control homescreen (which is accessed by holding down the home button for a few seconds). As you issue commands, the screen provides fly-bys of possible actions, ostensibly to make the process a bit easier on those with a blown short term memory. In practice, the application performed admirably when we made specific requests, whether it was dialing contacts, or playing a particular band -- though it wasn't without its hang-ups. The first problem we encountered is that it would sometimes just mishear us altogether, for instance, we asked it to "play M83" and it thought we wanted to listen to a playlist called "Pre" (oh the irony). Another irksome behavior is that you can ask Voice Control things like what song is currently playing, but after telling you, the app closes itself, forcing you to reopen if you want to change the track or perform another action. This seems like weird UI design to us -- why wouldn't Voice Control stay open until we were ready to close it? We also discovered that the range of options for voice activated functions are quite limited -- if you want to do anything beyond controlling music playback or making calls, you're pretty much out of luck.

There's clearly a lot of use for something like this when driving or working on something which keeps your hands away from your phone, though you still have to engage the app physically, so we're not sure how much you'd get out of it in those situations. The whole concept seems something very much in the vein of Cover Flow -- a really impressive component for the phone that just doesn't have a ton of practical use. Yes, your friends will think it's pretty cool, but as a pragmatic group of gadget nerds, we don't see a tremendous need for this functionality. Perhaps Apple will give it a little more undercarriage work in future versions of the OS, because we see lots of interesting places they could take it.

Compass / Google Maps




It may seem like an odd choice, but Apple decided to stick a proper compass inside the 3G S. At first we were a little perplexed by the addition, since we've gotten in this weird habit of expecting bolder moves from the company. Still, in practice the inclusion of a hardware compass is actually really helpful when it comes to doing things like navigating a new city. As far as the hardware is concerned, the compass seems to do what's promised with pretty impressive accuracy.



The Compass app itself, viewed as a standalone product, doesn't really do much for us. We rarely have a need to know which direction we're facing or where north is in relation to where we're standing -- it's just not a piece of data we typically use. The combination of Google Maps and the compass, however, is a powerful marriage that could put an end to many of your navigation woes. Within Maps, you now have the option to not only locate your position via GPS, but orient the map to the direction you're facing. Once the compass picks up your bearing, it rotates the map to reflect. This may not sound like much, but if you've ever tried to walk a new city using just maps and geolocation, you'll understand quickly. Being able to not only see your surrounding landmarks, but how they relate to you from a directional standpoint is incredibly useful, and we found ourselves reaching for the help often with the 3GS. One sour note was that you're not treated to the same reality-bending feat of using the compass while in street view (as Android does -- always great at parties), though it's a minor complaint. We can't say what extended functionality the compass will hold, but the pairing with GMaps here is enough to make it a worthy addition in our opinion.

Landscape keyboard, Nike+, A2DP, further thoughts on iPhone OS 3.0




There are lots of little odds and ends, improvements both small and large, in the iPhone OS 3.0. At the time of this writing, anyone with an iPhone or iPhone 3G should be able to download and test most of them, but we wanted to give a brief overview / opinion on the ones that stood out to us.

The first big one that stands out is the extension of a landscape keyboard to all of the main applications in Apple's arsenal. That means you now have access to the more spacious layout in Mail, Notes, Messages, etc. There are a lot of users out there who were hoping this day would come, and we'll admit, our typing accuracy definitely goes up when we bust out the broader keyboard. Like copy and paste, this is probably an addition that should have been part of the package right out of the gate, but better late than never guys.

Another addition is the inclusion of Nike+ for the 3GS. The app itself is identical to the version which we've already seen for the iPod touch, but it's now in convenient iPhone form. We don't know about you, but carrying around the iPhone for a jog doesn't seem like the best option to us (then again, we don't know if carrying around a touch is preferable). Still, we won't knock Apple for trying to cram as much functionality into this thing as possible -- this is a welcome addition.



And for those wondering about A2DP -- it's here, and it works flawlessly. Testing things out with the Motorola ROKR S9-HD yielded a simple pairing right out of the gate, and the sound quality was excellent. We thought we'd never see the day where Apple came around to a stereo Bluetooth profile, but it's here, and it's fantastic.

It's clear that Apple has taken great pains to listen to users and go over the OS with a fine tooth comb -- you see the company's careful work in places like the call log (which now shows much more detailed info on callers), upgrades to standard apps like Stocks, and the thoughtfulness of adding oft-requested features like voice memo recording. We're not saying Apple has gotten kind and gentle, but the company does seem more kind and more gentle as it insinuates itself into the mainstream.

Battery life, pricing, wrap-up

Battery life


Apple claimed that the battery life on the 3GS is somehow better than what we've previously seen on the 3G, but in our tests, we could barely tell the difference between the two handsets. First off, in terms of talktime and data over a 3G network, the count is exactly the same (five hours) -- though the battery gains two hours (up from 10 to 12) using 2G. Where the differences really show according to Apple are during strictly WiFi, video, or audio use. The claim is that you'll see roughly three to four more hours of life out of the device in those scenarios, but honestly, if you're just using this thing to play audio, why did you bother getting an iPhone? In our tests -- real world, admittedly non-scientific tests -- we hardly noticed a difference in battery life between the new and old model. The point is, you're still very much in the same boat when it comes to general use -- but on the plus side, there's no noticeable deficit in power with the new version (though we have yet to see what heavy video capture does to a full charge).

Pricing

As with any phone, the big, highlighted number you see advertised left and right for the iPhone 3GS -- $199 for the 16GB version and $299 for the 32GB -- is the new contract price, which means there are plenty of thick, barbed strings attached. If you're still using a RAZR from 2006 and you haven't touched your service or bought a new phone directly from the carrier since then, you're almost certainly in business with these maximum subsidies; AT&T's made its money off of you several times over and it's willing to put a little dough back in your pocket once again in order to get a whole lot more out of you over the course of a contract. On the flipside, customers who have been upgrading religiously from iPhone to 3G to 3GS will not necessarily be eligible for those most lucrative prices unless they paid the off-contract price for their 3G (to avoid re-upping the contract they were already on) and are now out of contract altogether -- unless AT&T says otherwise, of course. More on that next.

If you're what AT&T calls "ineligible," you have a a few options. The company has taken the very unusual step of letting iPhone 3G customers who are becoming upgrade eligible in the next three months through the end of September (note that this can be, and usually is, different from the date that your contract is up) can take advantage of the fully subsidized pricing. The way your upgrade eligibility date is an inexact science, involving Magic 8-Balls, mainframes from the 1960s, and faerie dust, but the bottom line is that you need to check with the carrier to find out when that date is (you can see it using online account management -- no need to call in).

You can always add a line, assuming you clear the usual battery of credit checks, which would also get you back in the game for $199 / $299 -- the tradeoff being that you're stuck with another line of service, of course, which ends up significantly outweighing any subsidy advantage upfront by the time your new contract has run its course. If you want to upgrade your existing line early, you can do so for $399 or $499 for the 16GB or 32GB model, respectively, and for contract breakage newbies, that can definitely be an unwelcome shock to the wallet. Even folks who upgraded from the original iPhone to the 3G and don't become eligible in the next few months won't much appreciate what's going on here, since they'd essentially paid "full price" for the first model which allowed AT&T to offer the 3G at maximum subsidy provided customers re-upped their contracts. At any rate, keep in mind that buying in at these $399 / $499 price points will extend your contract back to two years, because -- believe it or not -- they're still slightly discounted. If you want to buy a 3G S outright without the moral and financial dilemma of signing your name to a very pricey piece of paper, get ready for the big bucks: $599 or $699, depending on the model you choose.

It can all be a little confusing, yes -- and if you aren't upgrade eligible or have questions about your individual situation, your best bet is to go into a store; representatives can typically work magic on your account that you can't work yourself through AT&T's website.

Wrap-up




There are probably two very large groups of people thinking about buying an iPhone right now. One set is current users, either those with the 3G, or those still using the original model. The other set is a group of new users -- people who've never owned an iPhone and are now faced with not one, but two different options when it comes to getting in the door. For both groups, there are huge questions to answer about whether or not getting the 3GS makes sense, and very few of them have to do with the quality of the phone.

For current users, we have this to say: the iPhone 3GS is a solid spec bump to a phone you already own... but it is, at its core, a phone you already own. Your real deciding factors will be two-fold, first, are you able to purchase the 3GS at a price which is reasonable or sensible to you? For a lot of current users -- particularly more recent customers -- the pricing will be exorbitant, and it's hard to think of dropping $399 or $499 when you've just shelled out for a very, very similar phone (remember, you're paying for a speed bump, a compass, and video recording). On the other hand, if you're within contract renewal range and you don't plan on jumping platforms anytime soon, $199 nabs you an unquestionably excellent smartphone.

That conclusion speaks to new users who are undecided about the iPhone (or exactly which iPhone to buy). At this stage, we wouldn't recommend anything but the 3GS for newcomers planning on getting into Apple's game. For another $100, you're nabbing a much more robust device with a handful of great additions. It's a small price to pay for something you plan to keep long term -- or until Apple pops the next iteration on us. The other big questions here aren't about the 3G or 3GS -- they're about Apple's platform and AT&T's network. While the smartphone market has cracked wide open lately, the iPhone is arguably the market leader (at least in mindshare), and really does showcase a superb platform -- lack of physical keyboard and multitasking aside. AT&T, on the other hand, isn't exactly acting like the top-tier carrier it's supposed to be, and its service can sometimes be maddeningly poor.

So while it's tough to argue with the package Apple has put together (a stellar device with just enough new to make it nearly perfect), we couldn't help feeling a bit let down by the 3GS. Maybe we've been spoiled by devices like the Pre and Ion (and it's possible we're a little numb to OS 3.0 since we've played with the beta for a while now), but the additions of video recording, a compass, and a speed bump just don't seem that compelling to us. The mix of new features and a ever-growing App Store will still be potent to new buyers -- but pricing schemes which amount to hundreds more for current owners might give previous early adopters and eager upgraders reason for pause. Ultimately we're not saying it's time to jump ship, but we've come to expect a bit more pedal to the floor from Apple -- you've raised the bar guys, now it's time to jump over it.

you can find the original articles on the :
www.engadget.com

Coffee Filter Fashion Prom Dress

Based on the lineup at Starbucks, coffee addicts seem to be getting younger and younger everyday. One young coffee drinker just can't shake her love for coffee, so she brought her addiction to a new level by bringing it to her prom. Yes, you will understand how coffee and fashion come together if you keep on reading.

http://www.greenmystyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/LFW-starbucks-lead.jpg

This is the dress that coffee addiction is made of, created by high school student Aimee Kick so she wouldn't turn up at the prom wearing the same dress as her arch frenemy. The dress consists of thousands of coffee filters which are adhered, dyed, cut and folded. To make this unique prom dress, the high school student turned budding fashion designer, says it only took her about one month worth of accumulate time to make this coffee filter dress. While you've certainly got to hand it to her, one can't help but think if next we'll see a report card dress, as she slyly tries to pass off her poor grades accumulated during her devotion to this project as a sacrifice for fashion.

this articles taken from : inventorspot.com

star trek movie shirt


A lot of geek movie franchises have new pieces of their stories coming out this summer. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and, of course, Star Trek. Now the first all have their loyal fan bases, but for the combination of sheer numbers and passion, they can't hold a candle to Trekk(i)e(r)s. We could totally rise up and take over the world if we had to. But we don't. Cause when the President of the United States purports to be a fanboy, we're getting somewhere. Did anybody else hear that Bo's part tribble? Hope they've gotten him fixed.

This shirt sports the delta shield with the command star outlined in a silvery blue as if lit from behind on a black 100% cotton shirt.

80's fashion

A couple of seasons have come and gone since 80's fashion revivals have made an appearance in a big way. This season, it seems to be shoulder pads that are the major focus in the decade's return to runways and urban streets, but is this trend being taken too far? Read on for an example and tell me if you think this style is a fashion hit or miss.

Shoulder Pad T-Shirts

Shoulder Pad T-Shirts

Shoulder pads in structured military jackets and other similarly hot fashions are one thing - but shoulder pads in your standard t-shirt? I'm honestly not sure that I'm sold. It's a basic, sheer, slouchy t-shirt with structured shoulder pads which are visible through the fabric. Is this a fashion miss and an example of a trend going overboard, or do you think the structured t-shirts are right on trend?

Structured Tees

Structured Tees

The boyfriend-style structured t-shirts are available in black and white from Three Dots and retail for $88.

privacy policy

article on this blog taken from many sources and we're always add the sources, if we're forget to add the sources, please send us email at :

pelayankecil@gmail.com

write for us

you have inormation about music?
you can write here,
just send us email

advertise

If you want to promote a program, an opportunity, a website or a blog, simplerocknroll is the place for you to do it.

simplerocknroll are developing blog that i am sure will keep growing. And you can placed your advertising without spent much money. :D

Advertising Options

http://www.mekeliki.com/wp-content/themes/mekeliki/i/125x125ad.gif

125 X 125 Banner Ad
Your banner ad will appear in the top right sidebar of simplerocknroll. The visitors often pay attention on the banner ads in this location. Thus, your 125x125 banner ad can potentially attract good amount of traffic.

Price:
just for $2/month, $1 for 2 week trial (available) - If you like to reserve an ad spot, please email to pelayankecil@gmail.com

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

history of rock n roll

here we give you the simple information how rock n roll music start, you can read the story below :

Ritchie Valens

In an all too brief career, Ritchie Valens was the first Chicano rock and roll star, having his best remembered hit, "La Bamba," just one month before his untimely death with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper on February 3, 1959.


Steve and Ritchie

The Joseph Steven Valenzuela family live in the San Fernando north of Los Angeles. Steve was a tree surgeon by trade, but dabbled in mining operations and was a horse trainer.. His youngest son, Richard Steven, was born May 13, 1941 in County Osteopathic Hospital. At that time Steve and his wife, Connie were working in a munitions plant in Saugus just to the north of the San Fernando Valley.

Ritchie's mother, Concepcion "Connie" Valenzuela already had another son from a previous marriage named Robert Morales who was four years old at the time of Ritchie's birth. For a few years the Valenzuela family lived a fairly "steady" life at 1337 Coronel Street in San
Fernando.

rvmm24.jpg (17322 bytes)
House on Fillmore

In 1944, the parents divorced with Steve moving and buying a house on Filmore Street in nearby Pacoima while Connie and the children After Steve's death of diabetes in 1951 Connie moved into the house on Filmore with her oldest son Robert, and her two young daughters Connie and Irma. Because the house was small, Ritchie was shuttled off to live with various aunts and uncles in various towns in the upper Los Angeles area. Ritchie spent a great deal of time at his Aunt Ernestine and Uncle Lelo Reyes house when he returned to Pacoima.

connie.jpg (432280 bytes)
Connie Valenzuela and Bob Keane

As a child Ritchie faced the many prejudices that were part of Hispanic life throughout southern California. However, the area was home to many family groups, Asians, blacks, and whites, as well as Hispanics.

Ritchie was an average student for whom music was a guiding force. Influenced by Mexican folk songs and popular songs sung by his relatives his true love was the singing cowboy of the Saturday matinee movies. He also listen to country played on the radio. With only an average singing voice, relatives began teaching him to play the guitar at eleven.

valensguitarb4.jpg (66282 bytes) M109vvds2.jpg (82027 bytes)

valensguitar.jpg (84887 bytes)

Photos courtesy Ritchie Valens Lives On

At the age of thirteen Ritchie entered Pacoima Junior High as a seventh grader where was an average student. He was an average student, a bit quiet and well liked by his classmates. Influenced by Mexican folk songs and popular songs sung by his relatives his true love was the singing cowboy of the Saturday matinee movies. He also listen to country played on the radio. With only an average singing voice, relatives began teaching him to play the guitar at eleven. By this time Ritchie brought his guitar with him everywhere. During lunchtime at school he would sit on the bleachers and practice or entertain his friends with his music.

At Pacioma Junior High, he appeared in variety programs and played his guitar for schoolmates at lunch breaks. As part of a shop project when he was thirteen, he made an electric guitar out of scrap lumber and used electric parts.

valensil1.jpg (103878 bytes)

valensil2.jpg (116698 bytes)

valenscinco.jpg (136288 bytes)

By the time he entered San Fernando High School, he was playing the guitar at school assemblies and after school parties. In his junior year he joined the Silhouettes, a band named after a song by the Rays. The only rock and roll band in the area, the Silhouettes quickly became local stars. At a January 1958 "rent party" held in an American Legion Hall, the band was taped by a part time talent scout working for Bob Keane, the owner of Keen Records. After hearing the tape, Keane decided he wanted to hear more.

In May 1958, Ritchie went to Los Angeles to audition for Keane. At that time Keane's company Keen Records was in the middle of a string of hits with Sam Cooke and was looking for talent for his new label, Del-Fi Records. The audition went well enough that Keane set up a formal session. Ritchie played a instrumental number on his guitar that Keane liked well enough to record "as is" and asked Ritchie to make up some lyrics as he went along.

valensritchiebio.jpg (10678 bytes)

This single, "Come On, Let's Go" was released locally early in the summer of 1958. Valenzuela's name was shortened to Ritchie Valens. The song received attention in Los Angeles immediately and soon spread through the Southwest. In August, Del-Fi released the record nationally and it eventually sold a half million copies.

donna.jpg (212935 bytes)
Donna Ludwig and Bob Keane

In October, after a short tour, Valens began another recording session. "Donna" the next record was a ballad Valens had written for his high school sweetheart. The flip side was "La Bamba" a reworking of a traditional Mexican folk song of the same name.

Valen's time was now filled with appearances and recording sessions. In December, Ritchie appeared at his junior high school for an afternoon assembly in the gym which Keane taped. At this time Valens filmed a cameo for "Go, Johnny Go!" a teen movie. He appeared on "The Dick Clark Show" on December 27.

ritchievalens.jpg (472998 bytes)

On January 23, 1959, Valens joined Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Dion and the Belmonts for the "Winter Dance Party" tour of the Upper Midwest. Valens singles "Donna" and "La Bamba," that was moving toward the top ten, made him the most popular artist on the tour at the moment


Crash site Memorial

On February 2, 1959, the "Winter Dance Party" arrived in Clear Lake Iowa, to play a dance at the Surf Ball Room. the heater on the converted bus that he had been traveling on hadn't been working properly for days while the outside temperatures were near zero. On the way to Clear Lake the bus broke down completely. Buddy Holly who was unhappy with the traveling accommodations arranged to fly to the next stop in a leased airplane. He leased a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza for himself and the band members, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup. The Big Bopper and Valens talked Jennings and Allsup out of their seats. After the show Holly, Richardson and Valens went to the airport and took off shortly after midnight for Fargo, North Dakota. The plane took off and shortly there after crashed into a pasture a mile from the airport. All aboard were killed. Ritchie Valens was buried February 7, in the San Fernando Mission Cemetery.


Grave site at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California

Ritchie Valens was only seventeen when he died, his legacy was based primarily on "Donna" and "La Bamba." popular with teenagers. At the time of his death, his hard rocking style was being phased out in favor of teen idols like Fabian and Frankie Avalon. Valens image as an early Latino rocker has lasted and inspired Los Lobos, Freddy Fender, The Midnighters, Trini Lopez and Sunny and the Sunglows. La Bamba became the model for the Isley Brothers' 1961 hit "Twist and Shout." Valens also inspired the Rascals, Bob Dylan and R.E.M. His untrained voice and guitar style was a basis for the garage band revolution of the early 1960s. In 1987, he was the subject of the successful movie "La Bamba" and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. Ritchie Valens was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001

Ritchie Valens: Homeboy Hero
Ritchie Valens.