Manifest Tech Blog

Bluetooth wireless has been a big hit for mobile phones, with Bluetooth headsets for talking on the go while your phone remains safely and comfortably in your pocket or bag. But Bluetooth audio is not just for voices -- mobile phones are becoming music players, and some media players are adding Bluetooth as well.

However, listening to music through a Bluetooth headset in one ear is not a great experience. Instead, you can use a wireless headphone to enjoy the music in stereo.

Or, get a wireless speaker like the Altec Lansing SoundBlade (see previous post) or the new Miccus BluBridge Mobile Speaker (shown here).

These are not just portable wireless speakers -- they're also speakerphones, with built-in echo-canceling microphones for hands-free dialing.

Even better, the Bluetooth interface not only transmits voice calls and streams wireless music, it also extends remote control so you can pause and skip through the tracks on your player from the front panel of the speaker.

The Miccus BluBridge Speaker supports two connections, to stream music for a wireless player or laptop and then cut over to your phone for a voice call. You also can use it with Skype or VoIP carriers for Internet calling from your laptop.

The BluBridge Speaker is designed to be especially portable -- around 8 x 3 1/2 x 1 1/3 inches, with a stand that rotates to protect the front control buttons and speakers when closed. The speakers put out 6 watts rms stereo sound, which is plenty loud in a room, although the highest volumes do not mix well with some compressed music on portable players.

It runs for up to 16 hours with 4 AA batteries, or plug it in with the included AC wall adapter or USB cable. It's available for around $89.

See my Portable Audio Accessories Gallery for more on wireless audio.

Find the Miccus BluBridge Mobile Speaker and
Altec Lansing SoundBlade Speaker on Amazon.com

Bluetooth wireless gives you the freedom to enjoy your music on the move with wireless headphones, and share with others with a wireless speaker (see previous post). But not all media players support Bluetooth, including the Apple iPods (though the Apple iPhone added Bluetooth for wireless headsets).

So how can you free the music from these non-wireless player devices? You can open up a laptop with a USB Bluetooth dongle, to connect a wireless mouse or keyboard (see previous posts).

And for other music playback devices, you can use a Bluetooth transmitter like the Miccus BluBridge Mini-jack. Simply plug in to the standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack on your device and pair with your headphones or speaker, and you can be streaming wireless music.

The BluBridge Mini-jack has a simple pairing process that works with most Bluetooth-capable receivers (with pin codes 0000, 1234, or 8888). The power/pairing button has an LCD underneath that blinks to indicate connection or charging status.

The Mini-jack charges though a mini USB port (with included cable) and runs for up to 7 hours of playback with the internal battery, or can run continuously if the cable is left connected. The headphone jack also swivels down to fold against the unit for more compact storage and portability.

The Miccus BluBridge Mini-jack is priced at $59, but is currently available for around $19. There are also similar products designed for specific devices, like the Miccus BluBridge for iPod with dock connector that runs off the iPod battery to transmit wireless music (list $59, street $24).

See my Portable Audio Accessories Gallery for more on wireless audio.

Find the Miccus BluBridge Mini-jack
and BluBridge for iPod on Amazon.com

Flat-screen LCD displays have swept the field, replacing CRTs as computer monitors and picture tubes for TVs. The revolution is complete, so it's time to move on to the next thing!

At CES, Samsung was showing "LED TV" models, which actually aren't a new display technology. Instead, they are LCDs with LED back-lighting, replacing the traditional Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) light source to offer higher contrast ratios and energy savings. The LED designs also can be edge-lit, with the electronics around the sides of the displays allowing them to be even more ridiculously thin.

Another competitor is OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), which does not require a backlight, and therefore can display deeper blacks with a higher contrast ratio, save more energy, and be even thinner and lighter.

At CES, LG demonstrated a 15-inch OLED TV, model EL9500, due around this summer, which is water resistant, and an amazing 0.1 inch thin (yes, that 1/10 of an inch). Sony also showed a 24 inch OLED 3D TV prototype.

OLED also is coming to portable devices in the form of AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED), which offers brighter and thinner displays and longer battery life.

For example, the Microsoft Zune HD (see previous post) media player has an OLED display, as does the new Google Nexus One smartphone. And it's used on multimedia phones like the fun Verizon / Samsung Rogue, with a 3.1" widescreen AMOLED display, at 800 x 480 resolution for Web browsing on the go.

And we're not done. The completion is heating up in E-Book Readers with E-ink displays, with the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle (see previous post) joined by the Barnes & Noble Nook, plus new announcements at CES from well-known brands including Audiovox / RCA and Samsung, and some other new entrants.

But E-ink is not just for digital paper for electronic books. The Verizon / Samsung Alias 2 puts E-ink technology to work for the keys, so they can be reconfigured as you re-orient the phone.

The Alias 2 has a clever dual-hinge design: flip up vertically to use it as a phone, or open horizontally to send text messages in landscape mode.

As you reorient, the 10 x 4 grid of E-ink keys are re-labeled to match: they show a standard phone keypad for making calls, and full QWERTY keypad for texting -- which can switch between letters and numbers / symbols. The remaining keys then serve as one-press hot keys.

The E-ink lettering is crisp and clear, very readable in normal light or in the dark with back lighting. The phone keys have room for each digit plus the associated three letter, and the dedicated keys use words (Space, SEND) and symbols (envelope for mail). The 4-way cursor pad section even relocates, with the keys grayed to make them stand out. And, of course, the E-ink persists even when the phone is turned off, so the keys are not left blank.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on these mobile phones and smartphones, and my Media Players Gallery for more on media players and E-Book Readers.

Find the Verizon / Samsung Alias 2 on Amazon.com

Do you want to be able to share the music from your iPod or phone, but don't want to have to lug around external speakers (see previous post)?

Then check out the Tunebug Vibe "SurfaceSound" speakers for around $69. Instead of using a larger speaker to make bigger sound, the Vibe is a small pod (2 1/2 x 1 inch) with a tiny speaker on the bottom that plug it in with the standard audio cable.

How does it work? Just place the Vibe on a desk or table, and stand back as the sound reverberates out and turns the surface into a flat panel speaker.

The Vibe works best with hollow surfaces. For example, it comes with a small cardboard box in the package that boosts the sound nicely, and then can store the Vibe away in a foam nest.

But it's also fun to experiment -- We got interesting results with hollow walls and single-pane glass windows, and the thin wooden panels in interior doors worked especially well. (Tightly constructed walls and multi-pane glass were much less interesting.) Even better, try it held to the bottom of a plastic cup for nice directional sound, and place it on a large trash can for a real boost.

The Vibe is constructed solidly with a brushed aluminum housing, with an illuminated power button in the center. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, but it's also dense at 5 1/3 ounces -- more like a rock than a plastic plaything so it sits solidly on the surface. Just be more delicate with the speaker assembly on the bottom.

It has a built-in LiPoly battery, good for around five hours of play time. The product includes a USB-to-audio adapter to recharge it through the same audio jack.

The Tunebug Vibe is an interesting and fun product that works well to share music from a personal player. The quality of the music, of course, depends on the kind of surface that's responding to the sound waves -- A hollow box will sound different from one with padding, for example. So think of it as not only boosting the sound, but adding an environmental air as well.

See also the Tunebug Shake speaker to attach to bike, ski and skateboard helmets for a different kind of surround sound ($119).

See my Portable Audio Accessories Gallery for more on portable speakers.

Find the Tunebug Vibe on Amazon.com

The New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC) is hosting a meeting this Wednesday on Innovations in Wireless Applications. Topics will include trends in wireless data services and particularly the future of 4G, including LTE.

I'll be speaking from the consumer electronics side, particularly trends in smartphones and apps.

See my presentation notes -- Wireless Trends 2009 - Smartphones and Apps. These cover trends in smartphones and apps, as we move from location-based to augmented reality services. They also cover related non-smartphone portable wireless devices, and include bonus sections on some fun trends in new technologies for accessories and new business ideas.

The NJTC meeting starts at 4 PM with a tour of Verizon's Consumer Sales and Service Center.

Innovations in Wireless Applications

New Jersey Technology Council
Wed., Jan. 27, 2010, 4 - 6 pm
Verizon Consumer Sales and Service Center
600 Horizon Drive, Robbinsville, NJ 08691
www.njtc.org/events/index.asp

The panel includes:

- Susan Brazer, Managing Partner, Lionshare Strategies (Moderator)
- Douglas Dixon, Manifest Technology
- Dr. Shoshana Loeb, Chief Scientist/Exec. Director, Telcordia
- Joel Vaughn, Regional Data Manager – Enterprise, Verizon Wireless

For more information, contact Paul Frank, NJTC Vice President of Membership, at pfrank@njtc.org or (856) 787-9700 x222.

Yes, you now can schedule recordings on your home DVR -- on your mobile phone. But why would you want to do that? Well, with the Verizon FiOS TV Remote DVR services you can set up show to record even when you're away from home, and review and cancel recordings. And you can browse TV listings and video on demand, and set parental controls.

And Verizon offers three different ways to set up your DVR remotely. You can log in over the Internet at the main FiOS TV Central site, or from any mobile device with an Internet browser at the Mobile Web version of the site.

Or, you can download the Verizon FiOS Mobile application, customized to your device (currently available for some Android, Blackberry, and BREW / Feature phones).

What's interesting about the Verizon FiOS Mobile app for Android, however, is that today's touch-screen smartphones like the Verizon / Motorola Droid have matured enough that they actually provide a better interface for interacting with a DVR than the Internet or a remote control.

You can set up your phone by registering the phone number on your TV (Settings > FiOS TV Remote DVR), and then confirm by entering an authorization code on the phone.

The app then launches quickly, with a several-second delay to download your current program guide and recording schedule -- faster than accessing over the Internet.

Then browsing listings is very fast, as you can use your finger tip to flick through channels and times, or browse into categories -- again quicker than pressing on the remote control.

Even better, the FiOS Mobile app has built-in search, so it's again fast to find matching show titles or actor's names. As you browse, the search is context-sensitive, to only display matches for the actor or show or category (TV, pay per view, on demand) in which you are browsing.

(Of course, you should be aware that you're having information about your recordings passed through Verizon, and opening up an outside connection into your home through the DVR. And it's possible to have fun accessing and controlling someone else's DVR if you have access to their device to set it up -- but this can be stopped by re-entering a different phone number on the DVR.)

The Verizon FiOS Mobile app is a free download from the Android Market -- in the Verizon / VCAST Apps section. It's quite convenient to use, and makes browsing the selections fun as the menus automatically display not only all occurrences of any episode of a particular show, but also list the actors associated with a show, or shows associated with a particular actor, so you can quickly dig in to make more recordings of your favorites.

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on smartphones.

See my Smartphone Apps Gallery for more on apps and app stores.

Find the Verizon Droid from Motorola on Amazon.com

Microsoft has previewed the next generation of its Windows Phone platform at the Mobile World Congress. Dubbed Windows Phone 7 Series, the first products are due for the holiday season at the end of 2010.

Windows Phone 7 is a significant change for the former Windows Mobile platform (see previous post). It combines a Zune-like smooth-flowing user interface, the Zune music and video experience, and Xbox LIVE games and service. And it tightens the platform requirements, including requiring a touch screen.

But the biggest news is Microsoft's push to move beyond individual apps, to make your phone the "hub" of data and information, especially updated from online sites -- using "live tiles" on Start screen.

At a first look, the Windows Phone 7 design brings together several ideas from other smartphones:

- Like the Apple iPhone, it's now a full-fledged media player, albeit designed to work like the Zune HD (see previous post) and to sync with the Zune PC software.

- Like Android phones, all Windows Phone 7 devices now will have dedicated hardware buttons for Back, Start (the Windows button), and Search (although there's no Menu button -- instead there's an app options bar / bar at the bottom of the screen). The design finally abandons the Windows Mobile phone buttons for Start and End Call, and updates the Zune design which had only one button for Home.

- Like Palm OS, Windows Phone 7 provides integrated views of information from the different aspects of your life -- personal and business, local and online, and social networking sites -- to view all your photos or contacts or calendar entries together, even though they come from multiple sources.

- Like Android, Windows Phone 7 lets you organize and customize your home screen, not just with favorite apps and contacts and links, but with dynamic "live tiles" (i.e., widgets) that display live feeds from applications and Web services.

But the deeper change in Windows Phone 7 is the move away from individual apps to more integrated "hubs" that provide common access across multiple sources. The tiles on the Start screen are doorways to these hubs, including People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office.

For example, for communicating with people, on Android you need to run different applications for Messaging vs. Gmail vs. other Email, plus separately check for friend updates on a various social networking sites by downloading individual associated apps. But on Windows Phone 7, the People hub integrates contacts and social network updates in one view -- and you also can post your own updates to these sites.

Similarly, the Pictures hub presents combined albums for your local and PC and online photos, plus updated photos from your friends online. And all these use the Zune interface approach, with automatic organization including Recently viewed items and What's New updates.

The open question, then, is how this more controlled and tightly integrated platform can still allow phone manufacturers and cellular carriers to customize and distinguish their offerings, and allow software developers to create innovative apps. At the announcement, Microsoft insisted that there was still room for customization and innovation, for example though extensions to the hubs in lieu of separate apps.

But this was still an early announcement of plans for products that are due out around the end of the year, so there are more details to come.

See the Windows Phone news site for videos of the introduction and key features of Windows Phone 7

See my Mobile Communications Gallery for more on smartphones

See my Media Players Gallery for more on the Zune and wireless media players

What's all this about "augmented reality" for mobile apps? Well, Virtual Reality (VR) has to do with being immersed in a synthetic 3D graphics environment, i.e., experienced in a head-mounted display -- whether for action games, or for serious research like exploring the virtual surface of Mars or experiencing chemical bonds at molecular scales.

Then Augmented Reality (AR) combines graphics overlays on top of (i.e., augmenting) the real world, as in a heads-up display or the familiar yellow first down line for football games.

On a smartphone, the device already can display location-based information about near-by businesses and points of interest. And it has a camera that can display live video on the display. So combine these and you get AR -- hold up the phone and look around to see the local scene as live video, with text and graphics overlays identifying items in that direction.

This idea is already implemented in mobile apps including Google Goggles (for Android) and Yelp (iPhone 3GS only).

Or try Wikitude (shown here), which adds geo-tagged user-created content including Flickr photos, YouTube videos, and Wikipedia info (iPhone, Android, Symbian), and Layar, which imports user-created or partner content "layers" for customized tours of local areas (iPhone, Android).

However, these apps still are limited by the handheld mobile platform. It's awkward to hold up a device and look around with it, especially when the small screen can only show a rather limited field of view within the surrounding scene. In addition, the inexpensive sensors in handheld devices can have significant errors. As a result, current mobile AR apps cannot precisely register information to the background scene, and instead typically indicate objects of interest in a general direction, and show their relative positioning.

So augmented reality is just beginning on smartphones. Still, these devices are good enough to do real-time GPS navigation, for example, and support AR-style apps that display information about upcoming traffic cameras, or help you retrace your route to where you parked your car.

Maybe it's time to put on wireless eyewear to go with our Bluetooth headsets.

See my full article - Augmented Reality Goes Mobile - for more on the development of mobile AR, from early research prototypes to desktop AR to mobile devices

See my Smartphone Apps Gallery for more on apps and app stores.

Cameras are for more than taking pictures, and smartphones are more than communications devices. Combine the two, and you have a handheld device that can "look" at objects and tell you about them.

For example, the Shop Savvy app (free for iPhone, Android, and Nokia) and similar apps can scan a barcode and return information about that product, with web links and reviews.

But why require barcodes? The new Google Shopper app for Android offers three forms of product search: plain old text search, voice search (say the product name), and image search.

With image search, Shopper continuously scans the image from the camera, looking for a recognizable product -- not only barcodes, but also cover art from books, CDs, DVDs, and video games.

In seconds, it identifies the object and returns information including prices, reviews, detailed specs, and links to sellers. You also can save history and favorites to access even if the phone is offline.

And Shopper does not even need to see the entire cover -- I was able to use it to quickly recognize books from just the top of the cover, and CDs from just the artist's face.

Shopper packages the product search features demonstrated in the earlier Google Goggles app (also free for Android), which does more general visual search. It identifies products, also including wine labels, as well as generally recognizable objects including landmark structures (buildings and bridges) and famous artworks.

Plus, Goggles does text recognition for business cards to extract contact information, and Google has demonstrated a new version that does more general text recognition and transition, for example for highway signs. While Shopper just constantly looks for something recognizable, Goggles waits until you take a picture to start the search.

These are amazing -- and useful -- apps, harnessing the Google image search and product search engines and databases in the cloud to turn your phone into an almost real-time recognizer. And this is just the beginning -- Google is not terribly specific about exactly what kind of stuff these apps recognize. For example, it turns out that Goggles also does general image search to find matching images on the web, whether or not they are further identified as known products, landmarks, or artworks.

So keep a look out for further updates -- There are plenty of other objects around us that would be useful to recognize, including faces. Hmmm ...

See my Smartphone Apps Gallery for more on mobile apps

See my article Augmented Reality Goes Mobile - for more on AR apps, including Google Goggles

I've been really spoiled lately by using the Google Android search by voice on the Verizon Droid phone -- and not just for doing translations (see previous post). When looking up crossword clues, for example, it's so much easier to speak a phrase instead of typing tricky words on the virtual keyboard -- although the Droid did have a problem today understanding "Cy Young award" (it heard "scion").

But even occasional misunderstandings aren't a big deal, with the impressive ability of Google search to figure out what you probably meant, even if you couldn't express it fully. This kind of flexibility is really helpful for searching, since you can get to the right results even if you misspell some words, or don't have all the right words. But what if you don't even have the right letters to make up a word?

The new Google Gesture Search app takes this idea to the next level. The idea is that you draw letters on the touch screen, and it instantly displays matching items on your phone -- contacts, bookmarks, apps, and music. Just enter a couple of letters to display any names that contain that sequence.

But how can this work? Can you really depend on each letter being correctly recognized? It doesn't matter with Gesture Search -- it just searches on multiple possible letters for each of your gestures, and shows all possible matches.

As a result, you can write quite loosely. You can enter upper or lower case. You can draw the full character with multiple strokes (like the cross bar on "A" or "F") -- but why bother? Just keep entering more loose letter gestures, and the list of matches will reduce down to what you are looking for. (Of course, this works so well because Gesture Search is working with a known list of items on your phone -- this would be less useful for doing general text searches of the web.)

This is another fun Android application from Google Labs, experimenting with new ways to use our mobile devices (see previous posts on Google Shopper and Google Goggles). Gesture Search is currently English only, and has options to select the items to search (i.e., omit the music library), to regenerate the search index, and to send gesture data to Google to help improve the application.

See my Smartphone Apps Gallery for more on mobile apps

Find the Verizon Droid from Motorola on Amazon.com