DIY: How to give your iPhone’s chrome bezel a brushed metal look

The iPhone is one sexy kit, but it generally doesn’t doesn’t stay that way for long. So if your chrome bezel is scratched up, why not give it the brushed metal look? All it takes is a two-sided kitchen sponge and a bit of work to give your iPhone a different look.

Japanese rules volleyball: one player must be robotic

There’s not much for me to add here. In addition to walking normally, robots can now play pool, baseball, volleyball, and make ramen. Anybody else feeling a bit like an endangered species?

Watch the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trailer here

 I’m surprised. The Prince of Persia movie doesn’t look terrible. But we all know that Disney will likely destroy the franchise and the movie will flop, but at least the trailer doesn’t look that bad. I think I’ll watch it again.

Watch it: 

Sony Ericsson tease the crowds with an XPERIA X10 video

Heating up the expectations for the XPERIA X10 announcement next Tuesday (3 November), Sony Ericsson have just published a teaser video of their upcoming Android uber smartphone.

We recently reported on the new Sony Ericsson landing promo page that mysteriously appeared to arouse the interest of the general public about an upcoming announcement on 3 November. We know for sure that this is when Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 will get its official unveiling after so many leaks such as this.

Now Sony Ericsson have added a promo video to that page as a sneak peak to what's coming. Here's it:

 

If you've lived on a foreign planet the last several months, we'll remind you that the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (previously rumored as Rachael and XPERIA X3) is Sony Ericsson's first Android smartphone.

The XPERIA X10 is based on a blazing fast Snapdragon CPU and has a 4-inch display and an 8 megapixel

Bioshock 2 video preview

 I’ve been told that I need to play the original Bioshock. I missed out on it when it first came out, but picked it up on Steam a while back and just never played it. I’ve been told it’s a great game, but I haven’t had the time to check it out yet. Guess I should get to it, since the hands-on videos are already coming out for the sequel.


The preview video that IGN published shows some basic gameplay, graphic examples, and some of the new combat styles. It’s interesting to see how they’ve overhauled the graphics engine, and added some combat options that weren’t available before. All in all, Bioshock 2 is looking to be very compelling game, and could end up being the hottest game of the holiday season.

Spooky Tesla Radio in a jar

This fun little DIY device is labeled as a “crystal radio circuit in a jam-jar.” But that description doesn’t even to begin to do it justice. According to Tesla, this electronic wonder allows you to hear the disembodied, etheral voices, of the, well, ether, I guess.

Posted on instrutables.com by mrfixits just in time for the Halloween season, this non-powered radio unit will react to all sorts of stimuli. Sound waves, lasers, radio pulses, even lightning storms! And for output, you get all sorts of spooky sound effects that I’m sure you can find a use for. It plugs straight into your computer’s audio jack, letting you record and manipulate whatever crazy sounds this thing generates. Make one if you’ve got the time and electronics know-how. If it doesn’t end up working, you’ll have a really nifty steampunk paperweight.

Samsung Tocco Lite Overview

The best-selling phone in the first half of 2009 has probably been the LG Cookie. The secret to the Cookie's success is simple: it's a touchscreen phone with loads of gadgets for just £100. So now Samsung have released the Tocco Lite to go head to head against the Cookie for best budget touchscreen phone. Which phone will win in the Cookie vs Tocco Lite battle?

Well, the Tocco Lite is arriving on the scene 6 months later than the Cookie, so it should be 6 months ahead of the curve, and a clear winner. But in fact the specification is almost exactly identical to the Cookie, and the Tocco Lite is retailing at a slightly higher price, although this may fall in the weeks after launch. What then, is the point of the Tocco?

Physically, the two devices are exactly the same size, to within a millimetre! The screens are identical in type, size, colour definition and pixels. With a good size screen (3 inches) and high resolution, Samsung's TouchWiz user interface works well on the Tocco Lite. TouchWiz can now be regarded as a mature technology, and it seems to be pretty much universally popular. Mobile widgets let you customise your home screen and give easy access to apps such as the clock, weather forecast, etc. There are also widgets for popular web apps such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. The built-in accelerometer sensor will automatically rotate the screen when you turn the phone on its side, so you can easily switch between portrait and landscape modes. The virtual QWERTY keyboard is easy to use, and we think that you'll have no problems using the touchscreen. The addition of "real" keys for call, send and select make it even easier to use than a full touchphone. The user interface also supports handwriting recognition and gesture lock.

 

As we commented earlier, the spec of the Tocco Lite is virtually identical to the Cookie's. There's a 3.2 megapixel camera with digital zoom. Samsung's "Smile Shot" feature lets you take a photo when the camera thinks your subject is smiling. You can also edit your photos on the camera itself. A basic camcorder is available too. There's a music player, FM radio with RDS, and support for downloadable MP3 ringtones. Audio quality is good, with a virtual 3D surround effect, an equaliser and support for DNSe. The memory is similar to the Cookie's, and is expandable to 16GB with a microSD card. When it comes to connectivity, the Tocco Lite supports Bluetooth and USB. Like the Cookie, there's no WiFi and no 3G, which means that features like YouTube are going to be on the slow and jerky side. But remember that this is a budget phone - you can't have everything, and this seems like a reasonable compromise.

The web browser is very good, making excellent use of the large screen and with easy access to RSS feeds, Google Mail, Google Search and Google Maps. The lack of 3G does hamper the web browser though in terms of download speed.

Battery life seems to be pretty good. The Tocco Lite doesn't have the heavy duty battery of its big brothers, the Tocco or Omnia, but it has fewer gadgets to power, so it seems to be up to the job. Just don't expect it to last as long as your ancient Nokia and you'll be OK.

Taken on its own terms, the Tocco Lite is a fabulous phone. Whilst it lacks some of the features of high-end phones (3G, GPS, 8 MP camera, WiFi, etc), it does offer a lot for your money: a beautiful touchscreen user interface with 3.2 megapixel camera, stereo FM radio with RDS, accelerometer sensor, handwriting recognition and up to 16GB microSD expandable memory. It's available at launch with some fabulous contract deals: free line rental, or free gifts such as an XBOX 360, etc, and it comes in a choice of pink or black. The big question for many will be whether to choose the Tocco Lite or the LG Cookie. We have struggled to find a real reason to prefer one over the other, and frankly we can't. It seems that Samsung have made a phone so similar to the Cookie that there's virtually nothing to choose between them. But don't get the impression that we dislike the Tocco Lite - quite the reverse. It's an excellent phone offering outstanding value. Whether you choose the Tocco Lite or the Cookie you'll be getting one of the best phone bargains of 2009. On balance, our user reviews seem to be giving a slightly higher score to the Tocco Lite.

Update: a minority of users have reported a problem with the audio cutting out every few seconds, so that you can't hear the caller. As far as we can tell this happens on O2 only. Mike B has a possible fix for this problem for O2 users: Try going to Menu - Applications - O2 - Get Settings. Install the settings you are sent and reset the phone. Since I did that, and received the settings for PAYG from O2 I haven't had any problems with calls, (at least for the last 2 days). Hope it helps ! Thanks to Mike B, and if you have tried this, please write a review to let us know how it worked. Please also report this problem if you experience it on any other network. John L has an alternative fix for O2 users: go to settings, network settings and for network mode select GSM 900/1800.

Features of the Samsung Tocco Lite include:

3.2 megapixel camera with digital zoom

Video recording (QVGA 15fps)

Display: TFT, 262K colours, 240 x 400 pixels (3.0 inches)

Music player (MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC++/WMA formats)

Stereo FM radio RDS

64-voice polyphonic ringtones / MP3 ringtones

Integrated handsfree speakerphone

Personal organiser functions

Memory: MicroSD memory card slot (up to 16GB)

Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, USB 2.0

WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 10, EDGE

Quadband GSM

Size: 106 x 54 x 12 mm

Weight: 94g

CrunchGear PSA: If you run XBMC or Boxee on your Apple TV, do not upgrade to 3.0 – UPDATE

To repeat, do not upgrade your Apple TV to 3.0 if you’re running hacked ATV plugins like XBox Media Center or Boxee. I’m sure this will be fixed in a matter of days – if not hours – but as of right now it means a ride on the Failboat to Sad Trombone Town. That’s right: this update destroys the only thing that makes Apple TV usable and good.

Also, as an added bonus, Apple TV firmware 3.0 is insignificant. It adds Internet radio to the package and improves the UI. It also adds Genius playlists. My cup, as they say, runneth over.

I started to really like the Apple TV recently because I built an entire infrastructure for watching TV and movies using shell scripts, RSS feeds, and spit. Apple’s ham-fisted hegemony has destroyed all that.

But I do have Internet radio! Welcome to 2001, Apple TV! When I’m old and bitter I can listen to AM talk radio from all over the world!

That said, you can easily hack any 2.x AppleTV with the ATVUSB Creator, a Windows or OS X app that takes the hard work out of hacking. You just run it and insert the resulting USB key into the Apple TV. A few minutes later you have Boxee and XMBC installed. We also have an older How-To here.

For now, keep your eye on this and this for updates. I’ll do the same. Together, we can fight this menace.

If you accidentally update to 3.0, run ATVPatchstick on your 3.0 machine, ssh into it using frontrow@appletv.local password: frontrow. Then enter these commands, ideally one at a type:

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/OS/061-6242.20090624.Aq20P/2Z694-5660-029.dmg

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/EFI/009-7567.20080212.Vc45T/LOCKED_ATV11_00DA_00B.scap

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/EFI/061-3046.20080212.U7tgG/AppleCapsule.efi

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/IR/694-5484.20080708.hnji4/irrxfw-0x0244.irrxfw

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/IR/061-3045.20080708.Aq12D/IRReceiverUpdaterTool2

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/SI/061-3618.20080212.Pk8Bn/hdmiutil

wget -c http://mesu.apple.com/data/SI/061-3617.20080212.Qvh6u/FW29050_20080205_dse_hex.sihex

mv {2Z694-5660-029.dmg,LOCKED_ATV11_00DA_00B.scap,AppleCapsule.efi,irrxfw-0x0244.irrxfw,IRReceiverUpdaterTool2,hdmiutil,FW29050_20080205_dse_hex.sihex} /Users/frontrow/Updates/

wget -c http://ericiii.net/sa/appletv/osupdate

chmod 755 osupdate

sudo chown root:wheel osupdate

sudo ./osupdate

This will downgrade your system to 2.4 without touching your content.

Source: http:crunchgear.com 

Video demo: Endless Racing Game iPhone App

This video is based on the Endless Racing Game for iPhone 3G / iPhone 3GS. It shows how the game evolves. The game can be downloaded for free on iTunes

Android 2.0 ported to the aging G1

Forget about updating your G1 to Motoblur, go all the way with a little Android 2.0 action. Hells yeah. The official Android update was ported to the G1 by some ambitious coders. Now, calm down until you see the video after the jump as the early build doesn’t exactly run all that well on the one year old phone. But you have to start somewhere.

The Nintendo DSi XL shows its stuff in front of the camera

Question: Are standard DS & DSi games going to look pixelated and stretched on the DSi XL’s 4.2-inch screen? Idk. But the screen is huge when compared to the standard DSi. Check out the Japanese TV debut after the jump.

DIY: Attack of the pumpkin

Tired of the hoodlums destroying your pumpkins? Looking for a little payback? Here’s a project that will allow you to get some vengeance. Plus, it’d be fun to shoot silly string at the older kids that show up on your front step this Halloween.


This pumpkin does a bit more then just fire silly string. It’s controlled by an Arduino device coupled with an IR motion sensor, which allows it to shoot the aforementioned silly string. It also controls a sound box, and will twitter when it fires so you can count how many victims.

It’s not a complicated build, but requires some specialized hardware so you better get to it if you want to be set up in time for the weekend.

Behold, the ultimate keg/arcade machine mashup

Meet the arkeg. The ultimate combination of a MAME console, and a kegerator. Those lucky blokes at Wired managed to get they hands on one to review. It’s got some good and bad points, but you have to admit it’s cool no matter what.


The arkeg isn’t cheap, you’ll need to spend about $4000 to get this bad boy set up. It also is limited to a ‘Corny’ keg, and not a full size unit.

Robots taking over role of backseat driver

Meet AIDA, the Affective Intelligent Driving Assistant. This is a prototype robot that utilizes sensors inside and outside the car to create “a platform comprising of a personal robot and an intelligent navigation system that aims to bring an innovative driving experience.”

I don’t own an automobile, so practically every driving experience is innovative to me right now! Rather than traditional destination-oriented GPS navigation, AIDA posits “a navigation system that mimics the friendly expertise of a driving companion who is familiar with both the driver and the city.” Hopefully AIDA won’t complain about my driving the way all my friends do.

“Instead of focusing solely on determining routes to a specified waypoint, our system utilizes analysis of driver behavior in order to identify the set of goals the driver would like to achieve.” That is innovative, and as the video above indicates, AIDA can work to help you efficiently navigate your home city. It still looks suspiciously destination-oriented, and I wonder how much our continued reliance on navigation products is going to make us miss out of serendipitous discoveries, like the mom-and-pop movie theater nearby is showing your favorite B movie, or a big multi-family yard sale is taking place this Saturday. The more we rely on technology to get us where we’re going, the less likely we are to see what’s going on nearby.

AIDA is a product of the MIT SENSElab, the MIT Media Lab’s Personal Robots Group, and the Volkswagen Group of America’s Electronics Research Lab. The full press release is available.

Video: Kohjinsha dual-display netbook

  

 I actually like this idea. Kohjinsha recently showed off its dual-display 10-inch netbook, which runs Windows 7 atop an AMD Athlon NeoMV-40 CPU at 1.6GHz. The machine can be used as a netbook with a standard 10-inch display (it’s a swivel, screen) or a second 10-inch display can be slid out from behind the first to be used together for double the desktop real estate.

There’s no firm release date or pricing, except to say that the company wants to launch the product by the end of the year with a target price of less than 100,000 Yen. That’s around $1100 US, which is far more than most people would be willing to pay for a netbook – two screens or not – but the idea’s there. We likely won’t see it here anyway, although certain Kohjinsha products can usually be ordered through various online import shops.

Video: How wood chips or tires are converted into Ethanol fuel

Ethanol fuel was always a mystery to me. Really, I never took the time to learn about it until I watched this 3:31 video that shows how a Pennsylvania company, Coskata, converts anything that contains carbon into fuel. Yeah, it’s an infomercial for GM, but it always quickly explains the whole waste to fuel conversion process and so it might be worth your time.

Unboxing: The Verizon Droid by Motorola

John Biggs already gave the Verizon Droid a quick hands-on earlier today – but in the endless rush of things, he didn’t get a chance to walk it through a proper unboxing ceremony. Somewhat magically (albeit a bit later than we would have hoped), a Droid also happened to show up on my doorstep this morning, so I went ahead and captured the whole undressing for all to see. Enjoy!

Shirt features playable guitar, flames

The future, ladies and gentlemen. ThinkGeek has invented a tee shirt with a built-in playable guitar that uses a magnetic pick and included miniature amp to belt out any and all major cords. There’s a drum shirt, too, in case you’re more into rhythm.

So it’s up to you: a $30 tee shirt with a built-in guitar or this $95 tee shirt from J.Crew that looks like it was made by a glue-huffing toddler. Seems like a pretty easy choice.

Here’s a video just in case you’re still not convinced:

Up-close with Watchismo, one of the most eclectic watch collectors I know

While I’m not quite down with a lot of Watchismo’s aesthetic choices, you gotta respect his drive. This guy loves Swiss quartz, crazy designs, and even goes nuts over Hamilton Electrics, watches that are so odd that only one person in the world can fix them.

Dudes like Watchismo and ABlogToRead really took up the watch coverage torch and they’re doing some of the freshest watch reporting out there. Good on ‘em.
 

Spooky sounds from your Telecaster

 

 Do not adjust your computer because Bill Ruppert has put together a nice set of sound effects using only EHX pedals and some creativity. I love how he makes a clock sound with just the pick-up switch and then adds in some bells for spooky effect.

You can see all of Bill’s gear here but I doubt we’ll be able to recreate his sweet tones without years of practice and fifty full listens to the Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, an album that I used to own.