The next generation in iPhone applications is on the way, using an ‘augmented reality’ app to, well, improve reality.

These applications are expected to surface in line with the next iPhone update (3.1) and are looking quite impressive… check the video below to see how iPhone + camera + compass + GPS + imagination can create groundbreaking functionality.

Unfortunately this may have cause people to walk the streets staring at their iPhone screen rather than actually participating in human contact, we’ll have to wait and see.

Factron, an expensive Apple case manufacturer, have announced something that certainly… catches the eye.

Their new case, the ‘Quattro’, is a robust looking, mostly metal iPhone case that features a neat interchangable lens section to improve on the iPhone’s camera capabilities. Available lenses include a close-up macro style lens, a fisheye lens and a wide angle lens.

The lenses for the case range in price from $15 – $55… but the case itself is an eye-wateringly expensive $200… which, thanks to the release of the 3GS and subsequent price drop of the previous models, is about $100 dearer than the iPhone 3G.

Source: Engadget Polska

If like me you play a few virtual console games on the Nintendo Wii console, then wildly claim you’re rubbish at Super Mario World because your classic control pad just isn’t the same as the real thing, then fear not!

Small manufacturer Komodo  have announced a three way adapter for the wii that allows the connection of original Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo and NES pads and even claims compatibility with third party ‘cheapo’ pads.

Pricing for the USA is currently estimated around $20 which is a not bad, considering a lot of Nintendo fans have the dusty old control pads stashed away already. Komodo are expected to give more info on the product at this years E3 convention in June.

Another similar alternative is to search eBay or import stores for Nintendo’s own offering of a ‘Classic Controller SNES Pad’ but these don’t come cheap (around £45) as they were a limited offer for Nintendo points in Japan only.

If, like many people, you now own a “HD Ready” TV and haven’t yet splashed out on a Bluray player or some subscription HD broadcasting, then you may be happy to know there is an alternative.

The Western Digital TV HD Player is a tiny device that links to your TV via a HDMI or composite cable (though I’m not sure why you’d use composite), and allows up to two USB hard drives to be linked to it. Now, the beauty of it is that these hard drives can contain pretty much whatever file type you want (whether it be .mkv, .avi or  .wmv files …the list goes on) and the WD TV HD Player is capable of playing them, and play them well – even 1080p movies!

All this costs around £80 at the minute; an absolute bargain for anyone with a lot of home movies and pictures.

Small, but it does the job!

Sharp have recently announced their new “Mebius NJ70A” netbooks. Due for realease in late May, the specifications of the netbook are pretty standard, making use of the Intel Atom N270 (1.60GHz), 1GB RAM,  a 10.1 inch display and a 160 gb mechanical hard disk.

The thing that really sets this netbook apart from the rest, however, is the use of a photodetector liquid crystal, which is basically a mouse with a display. This quite frankly looks awesome, a bit like having your very own Nintendo DS on your netbook, but with multi-touch!

The applications that use the touchpad seem rather like novelties (things like pianos and a bowling game) than practical uses that really take advantage of the touchscreen, yet if the price is right (estimated at around $800) this will be a highly desirable selling point for avid netbookers.

Click below to see the touchpad in action from Akihabara News:

The iPhone has taken America by storm since its much-vaunted release. The rest of the world is slowly working on giving a crap, but to the States the iPhone represents the current holy grail of mobile phones. New handsets with high expectations are relentlessly branded ‘iPhone killers’, though has any phone even come close to knocking the iPhone from its pedestal in the minds of its users? Not even close.

However, during these times of economic uncertainty, a little bit of fiddling you can give your iTouch essentially the same features as the iPhone. Sure, you won’t have an inbuilt camera, but you can’t send MMS messages or record video anyway, so what are you really missing out on? The kink in the plan here is that you need to be in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot to use your iTouch-Phone, but with the ever-increasing number of public hotspots, it’s likely that if you live in an urban area you’re probably not too far away from one most of the time. The only money you’ll need to spend is on a microphone, since sadly the iPod Touch has no built-in mic.

The great news is that besides having to spend a bit of cash on your microphone solution, all the software used in this tutorial to give your snazzy iPod Touch the functionality of the iPhone is totally free. So what are you waiting for?

There’s no need to jailbreak your iTouch or modify it in any way – all you need is an iPod Touch on 2.x.x firmware, a pair of headphones with a microphone, a WiFi network, and access to Apple’s App Store so you can download and use Fring – a free app which supports several different chat protocols.

1. Choose your microphone

Philips iPhone Mic Adapter $9.99 from Target	Apple Earphones with Remote & Mic (MB770) $29.00 from Apple Store	Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote & Mic (MA850) $79.00 from Apple Store

I’d recommend the Philips mic adapter, mainly because it costs under $10 compared with Apple’s habitually expensive alternatives, but also because it allows you to use your own headphones. However, you’ll lose out on having the remote. If you prefer a hands-free approach, SwitchEasy’s ThumbTacks might be more your style. Thanks to Apple’s proprietary chip in the new iPod shuffle remote/mic combo earphones, pickings are a little slim at the time of writing.

For 1st generation iPod Touch users, you’ll have to come up with a solution that uses the iPod’s docking port, since the 1st gen doesn’t support line-in through the earphone connection. Sadly, the new fancy Apple earphones are not backwards compatible with the 1G iPod Touch. However, there are some alternative solutions which use the 30-pin dock connecter, such as the popular iVoice3.

Once you’ve sorted out your mic, you’re ready to start setting up your VoIP application.

The alternative to Fring is downloading the new Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch application, which was released last Tuesday. How do the two compare, though? Well, Skype is a very recent release and I’ve found that it tends to crash occasionally, though it’s still very much useable. Fring’s current release (v1.0.0.2.4) is very stable in comparison. Both allow you to import contacts from your iTouch’s contact list, and support both text and voice chat… but what really sets Fring apart is its ability to support not only the Skype VoIP protocol, but also 3rd party SIP accounts, MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, and Google Talk. It even has plugins for Twitter and last.fm, which make it the winner in my book. However, you can add SkypeOut credit and dial any phone in the world from the Skype application, so if you’d rather stick with a brand you know already, go ahead and download Skype for free and have fun making calls on your iPod!

Personally, I have both, since I prefer the look and feel of the Skype application, but love having the extra functionality of Fring.

2. Install Fring

Step 1: Search for Fring in the App Store with your iPod, and download and install it for free.	Step 2: Once installed, fire up Fring and register a new user account (or sign in if you’re already a Fring member).
Step 3: Now simply pick a User ID, nickname, password and email address (only used to retrieve your password if you forget it).	Step 4: Next, link your Fring account to an active Skype account, and a SIP provider if you have one (I recommend voipstunt.com – it’s free!)
Step 5: Your contact list should now populate with your Skype contacts. Just click their names to call and chat.	Step 6: Click the Dialer and… hey presto! Dial the number you want (don’t forget the leading 00s) and hit the green “SIP” button to dial over your own VoIP provider, or “Skype Out” to use your outgoing Skype credit.

Congratulations! You can now make as well as Skype-to-Skype and Fring-to-Fring calls with other users, absolutely free. Add some SkypeOut credit and you can use that, but watch out – if you don’t make a call for 180 days, they’ll wipe off any credit on your account.

I’d recommend signing up with VoIPstunt for your free VoIP service – they offer 100% free calls to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries in Europe, South America and Asia (see the full list here). All you need to do is top up your account with a little bit of credit every 120 days to keep it active. Best of all, Fring supports it out of the box – just enter your username and password and you’re away.

3. Get SMS working
Now that we’ve got the microphone and phone sorted, you’re only missing SMS. Well, you’ve got plenty of options here. For a long time there were apps available that granted jailbroken iPod Touch users completely free text messaging, but sadly a lot of these have been banned, obsoleted, or have not been updated in a long time.

Right now, your best options are:

1. http://sms.dynadel.com (Worldwide, free)
   Open this web page in Safari on your iPod (or even better, make a bookmark and put it on your home screen), choose your country/carrier and type in your friend’s number, type your message and press send. Done.
2. Using the AIM client (Worldwide, free)
   Download the AIM client for iPhone from the App Store on your iPod Touch. Once installed and signed in, you can text anybody by creating a new buddy contact, and set their AIM address as their complete mobile phone number, with country and area code, preceded by a plus (+), for example: +12065550559. It might be better to log on AIM using your computer so you can add friends’ cell numbers more easily. Now you can simply tap the buddy number on your iPod Touch, compose your message, and click Send. Any replies you receive will show up in your AIM client as part of the chat! This method may also work on Fring, as it supports AIM chat – but I didn’t get round to testing it yet.
3. http://www.txtdrop.com/iphone/ (US/Canada only, free)
   Open this address in Safari and send a free text to any US or Canada cellphone.
4. http://www.cbfsms.com (UK only, free)
   Another web-based one, open in Safari and send free UK text messages.
5. http://www.jellysms.com (Worldwide, paid)
   You can purchase the JellySMS app from the App Store for around $3.49 (there’s also an ad-assisted version for half the price). Then simply sign up with a one of the many free VoIP providers they give you, and you can send cheap text messages. OK, so it’s not free, but it seems to be more reliable than the free alternatives, it’s contained within its own app (which supports landscape texting!), and you can set your own caller ID so you can direct replies to the number of your choice.
6. Send SMS through email (US/Canada only, free)
   Quite a nice feature of North American providers is that you can actually send an email to a number via a provider, and it will convert it into a text and send it for you. Try using the iPod’s native Mail app and email your messages to the following addresses, replacing {phone#} with the recipient’s phone number. You will have to know which carrier they’re with, however:

If you’ve got any other working methods for sending and/or receiving SMS on the iPod Touch, let us know! Unfortunately you’ll always need a wi-fi network nearby to use your iPod-come-iPhone mobile phone, but hey! It’s easy to do and it’s a really neat feature.

Many thanks to everybody who helped me out with info for this tutorial! I got most of the info from the iPod Touch Fans forum and Macrumors – check them out if you need even more info on making the most out of your iPod Touch!

Smell my flash storage!

Maxell Europe have decided to improve on the standard features of USB storage and make their flash drives smell of nice things like chocolate and oranges, in fact the full list of ‘flavours’ are: Strawberry, Apple, Chocolate, Lemon and Orange. Gimmicks aside, the flash drives are splashproof and shockproof (but last time i looked so is any normal USB flash device).

I wonder if they’ll try a Walkers-esque marketing campaign of new flavours… fish ‘n’ chips scented flash drives anyone?

I couldn’t find an official site for the Maxell Aroma range of flash drives, but you can pick them up at Play.com – £12 for 8Gb.

Ooh shiny.

Whilst recently searching for new drivers for my Razer Copperhead mouse i stumbled across Razer’s new offering, the Razer “Mamba” which quite frankly looks awesome. The mouse is both wireless and wired, and as far as I know it’s the first wireless mouse Razer have produced. It also features 5600dpi tracking, which is a number so big it can’t be bad, but unfortunately the price is equally as big, at around £120 ($176).

Battery life is stated to be  14hrs of continuous gaming, and 72 hours of ‘normal gaming usage’… I don’t actually know what consitutes ‘normal gaming usage’, when I’m gaming normally it tends to be continuous anyway, for many sweaty hours.

Price point aside, worth checking out if you’re a gamer that fancies a bit of expensive but lag and wire free gaming.

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-mamba/

Easter’s looming and if we’re not careful we’ll all end up looking egg-shaped if we indulge in too much chocolate!  I’ve found just the thing to ensure this doesn’t happen and it’s not an expensive gym membership. If your busy schedule leaves you little time to keep fit, then shape up with HandyTrim. Maybe you work in an office, sitting at a desk all day with little movement. This compact fitness device allows you to achieve maximum results without spending hours training. The most effective training plan requires only five minutes, five times a day, but even if you can only manage three times a day, you’ll soon notice a difference in the way you feel.

HandyTrim fits easily into any handbag, sport bag, backpack, locker, desk drawer or glove compartment so you can have a mini workout at your convenience! It may be small in size, but you’ll be surprised at how gigantic the results can be.

Most effective for sports that require strong arm and upper body coordination, HandyTrim could help to improve your game! Sports that may benefit form a HandyTrim Mini Workout session include golf, tennis, badminton, swimming, athletics, volleyball, boxing, karate and even archery. Experts agree that not properly warming up before sporting activity results in the most sports injuries. Within minutes, HandyTrim warms the muscle groups located in the upper body to help prevent injury. There are various exercises to concentrate on strengthening different muscles and all will improve your coordination. HandyTrim will also help to improve your posture and prevent deformity caused by incorrect posture. Even though you’re working out, HandyTrim can help you to relax – as you concentrate your energies on rotating the disk, all other worries will ebb away.

So, if you find it difficult to make time for the gym, stay trim with the handy workout you can carry in your pocket!   Now you can enjoy your Easter Eggs with a clear conscience!

When it comes to tea and biscuits are you a dunker? Maybe the thought disgusts you, because you can’t stand getting to the bottom of a lovely mug of tea only to discover soggy bits of biscuit floating around! Well, if you can’t stand the mess, but harbour a secret desire to dunk, you might be interested in a little invention I saw whilst watching the One Show the other week. Following on from the invention of the Dunk Mug which eliminates the need for a plate for your biscuits by cleverly combining a mug with a cut out section to store your biccies, they were showcasing an invention designed to prevent bits of biscuit falling into your tea while you dunk!

Ok, maybe it’s taking things a little bit far, but knowing how fussy people can be, they will probably be a few people rushing out to buy one! And, remember, if you’ve ever struggled to carry a hot mug of tea and some biscuits upstairs, the Dunk Mug enables you to pop your biccies into your mug so you’ll be less likely to spill enroute. Ah, there’s nothing like a nice cup of tea!