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Posts Tagged ‘Converts’

RedEye mini converts iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into IR-beaming universal remote

ThinkFlood’s original RedEye was pretty swank, but unfortunately, it was both expensive and somewhat convoluted. It’s only been four months since that very device hit the scene, but it’s safe to say it’s already history. Today, the RedEye mini is setting a new bar in the world of iPhone / iPad / iPod touch remotes, with a single plug-in Infrared (IR) adapter enabling your Apple device to beam out a near-limitless array of IR commands. All that’s needed is the 3.5mm dongle (read: your dock connector remains open), iPhone OS 3.2 and the free RedEye app; once you’re setup, you can then control your TV, AV receiver, Blu-ray player and whatever else is lucky enough to be in your home theater rack and support IR dictation. Better still, the app allows users to customize the way they control their gear, with full multitouch and accelerometer support complementing the ability to add (soft) macro buttons. Oh, and did we mention that this wealth of functionality will only set you back $49? Huzzah!

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RedEye mini converts iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into IR-beaming universal remote originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inbrics’ SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet

We saw some incredibly cheap, ill-thought, Android-based videophones at CES this year, but this wasn’t one of them. The SoIP S1 from Inbrics is running Android, of course, but it’s under that same fine UI skin that Inbrics has coated its M1 Android slider in. The result is a finger-friendly device with nice software for making calls and sending messages — though it could really benefit from an external text-input device of some sort, and luckily there’s Bluetooth onboard to make that a possibility. There’s HDMI, Ethernet, USB and an SD slot around back, and the device is designed to sling video calls and media playback to a TV over the HDMI plug or DLNA (there’s also WiFi onboard, natch). For VoIP there’s a wireless handset embedded in the base of the unit. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see a demo of the video calling in action, and the big hangup with most of these video calling stations is still here: there’s no mention of the big standards in video calling like Skype, Google Talk or iChat, so it’s hard to see this catching fire with people who actually video chat. Still, at least Inbrics has roughly half of the software problem solved. Check out a video walkthrough after the break.

Continue reading Inbrics’ SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet

Inbrics’ SoIP S1 tries to make videophone converts out of us yet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Sites Offers Templates; Claims It’s Easier Than Sharepoint

Google Sites is getting an upgrade. Starting today, Google will provide templates that it claims makes it possible for users with no technical background to create web sites with a degree of functionality that includes page layouts, adding links for navigation and embedded gadgets.

Templates are available for intranets, project sites, team sites, employee profile pages and other sites that people would use within the enterprise. Employees using Google Sites may submit their own templates to a gallery, similar to the services that Sharepoint offers.

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Google Sites is making a clear strike against Microsoft which requires a certain level of technical skill to create a Sharepoint site.

The differences between Google and Microsoft are often quite striking. Microsoft is a document-centric organization. Sharepoint uses a file system architecture for customers to deposit their documents. With Sharepoint, companies may use a web inetrface to share their documents.

Google’s approach is entirely web centric. Documents are web pages. Each document is a link, not a file. When documents are uploaded to Google, they are converted, so to speak, each document receiving its own unique URL.

It is this approach that you see with Google Sites. By being entirely web-centric, Google believes it is making it easier for employees to share information, act faster and cross-pollinate ideas.

It’s difficult to say which approach is better though web converts will tell you that sharing web links is far easier than files. We agree with that point but the Sharepoint environment is tremendously popular. It has its core set of users who are happy that they can share documents in such a manner. Most organizations work in a document centric environment and are therefore comfortable with Sharepoint. It’s an environment that many people trust.

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