Let’s not deny the obvious- that the iPhone is a conglomeration of the supreme features of all phones that have come to pass in the up and coming telecommunications age. It’s the best of all the phones out there. We’ll ignore how they chose one of the slowest networks as their internet provider, but other than that, what is there not to love?

As iPhone is Apple’s newest and biggest venture, we have to assume that the notorious iPod is a natural feature. Already we start with a feature that exceeds the practicality of SMS and completely destroys the cute alphabetized contact list attached to every phone released to the world public. You can only activate this very phone through iTunes as well as equip the phone with the same play lists on your Ipod. Using a program that incorporates the same features as iTunes, Cover Flow can help you store songs in the 4 GB or 8 GB memory. As iPods and iTunes, alike, have swept the nation, their hottest member has just joined the team.

A few of the simple features include the primitive call, text, voicemail, and pictures. A person may wonder why they are a paying a star price of 500 dollars for a phone that does what any other phone can do, but the iPhone has revolutionized each feature with a bit of style. For calling anyone, for example, all you need to do is press the number that shows on the screen. If the person is in your contacts, on a website, or on a map with local restaurants, there is no need to physically press the seven digits- just once will do! In the teenage land of texting, where idk, lol, and btw say more than what may appear as random letters strung together, the iPhone aids this language with the famous QWERTY keyboard. You can text with a full keyboard of letters at your fingertips, assisted by a program that spell checks your texts as well. The best part, is the voicemail: you don’t have to listen to all of them again and again and again; you just choose the ones you want to hear, save, or delete. And for the finale, Apple will not suffice with a simple showing of pictures- No, they allow you to drag your fingers along the pictures, mimicking movements to enlarge them or shrink them. With its 2.0 megapixel camera, taking and viewing pictures have never been more fun. Simple just came with a new sense of style!

One of the few aspects that has drawn people out of their beds at 2 AM was the Internet accessibility. Just as your laptop can acquire a Wi-Fi signal, this phone will deliver you Google, the New York Times, YouTube, and more through your own wireless network. Equipped with Safari and an HTML email client, it can synchronize bookmarked pages with that of your own computer as well as instantly connect to search engine to fit your desire. Instant magnifying is always at the touch of a fingertip, making any reading piece far from a hassle. Naturally, of course, like any lost road-runner, the use of satellite road navigation systems accessed via the phone’s internet, is more like a God’s gift of solace and why anyone would want Internet in the first place. The last bit rests in widgets- a term referencing the many small applications that keep a person on his or her own toes, including stock market updates and weather reports.

Now that we know this phone a little better, it’s time we understand some of the secrets behind the glassy screen. With a 3.5 inch display and weighing about 4.8 ounces, the phone is quite optimal to hold for a long conversation or surf the internet. Actually according to Apple, “iPhone will feature up to 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback…and 250 hours of standby time”. The extra time provided by this smart phone, as most others in its league offer on average 6 hours of talk time, is credited by the technologies of its operating system, OS X, and the sensors.

There are four major programs that were implemented into the phone to encourage the success that it is now experiencing. The first of which includes Multi-touch, an interface that specializes in allowing a person to touch the screen to access different parts of the phone. Working with three layers in the glass field, the TFT LCD display, the capacitive touch layer, and the protective shield all comprise to create this Multi-touch surface that dominates that phone’s unique appeal. Complementing the Multi-touch feature, is its operating system, OS X- “the world’s most advanced operating system”. It allows for a person to view rich HTML email, internet, and Safari, which includes calendar, text messaging, Address Book, weather, and more. Focusing on using Web 2.0 applications in the OS X operating system, Apple comments, “Web 2.0-based applications are being embraced by leading developers because they are far more interactive and responsive than traditional web applications, and can be easily distributed over the Internet and painlessly updated by simply changing the code on the developers’ own servers.” Another essential facet to the iPhone, is of course, the wireless component. Governed by quadband GSM, a global standard or wireless for all phones, the iPhone is also supported by AT&T’s EDGE network, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR. And granted, that in this day and age when speed is what matters most, the iPhone is capable of switching between EDGE and Wi-Fi to provide the customer with optimal speeds at all time. Lastly, are the built-in sensors, arranged in three types, and which further ensure the prolonged nature of this product. The accelerometer, for example, allows for you to rotate the device but yet still keep the object in focus and upright at all times. The proximity sensor detects how close it is to certain objects, as if to know its too near or too far from a proper viewing distance, and turns off the display to save power. And for the cherry on top, the ambient light sensor adjusts the amount of light needed to see the screen in order to save power and provide for the quintessential viewing experience.

With over 200 patents attributed to the creation of this phone, the iPhone is a story waiting for a heroic ending. We have not yet reached a climax, but the beginning has been, as always, a bit shaky for the newcomer. As small flaws, such as not being able to send texts to multiple people at once, exist, there are a plethora of features that any phone company would love to adapt to their machines. The technologies engineered to render a phone easy to use and fun to have are what attract the average customer to this piece of eye-candy. We have only to wait and see what is in store for this pioneering phone- a benchmark for the phones to come!

Video Links:

http://www.apple.com/iPhone/usingiPhone/guidedtour_medium.html

http://www.apple.com/iPhone/ads/ad1/

http://www.apple.com/iPhone/usingiPhone/keyboard_large.html

I know we have all been in that situation, either in a bus, train, or classroom, when that one miscellaneous cell phone starts to buzz. Quickly a sea of heads looks right, left, behind, and in front if not having sought down into their own bags or pockets, trying to find this vibrating mobile. Now that everyone in the civilized world has acquired this device, unless your ring tone resembles Buy U A Drank or Summer Love, it might be a little embarrassing to put one of those pre-recorded tunes that Verizon downloaded into your phone. Sometimes you just have to vibrate like everyone else in the room. So what makes a phone vibrate that perfect pitch?

The process is very simple, as Howstuffworks.com performed an autopsy on a Tickle-Me-Elmo to discover this exact answer. The doll’s shaking is comparable to a phone’s vibration, which can be explained through the interaction between a quaint flywheel motor and a weight. The weight, approximately that of five nickels, is attached off-center on a gear. As soon as the motor instigates the gear-weight system to turn at speeds of 100 to 150 RPM, a vibration action is immediately caused. This system would be replicated in a smaller version to fit inside your cell phone, but the principles and setup remains virtually the same.

In the end, you always are forced to silence or vibrate your phone when you enter a movie theater or a lecture. And despite your impassioned desire to listen to T-Paine and JT, social etiquette demands otherwise. At least now, you know what happens as you search for your vibrating phone, gears, weight and all!

Written by: Jeffrey Olsen

What is one food product where no one ever asks for it and is most likely to be pushed aside, but might be the most talked about technological acronym in today’s computer driven world? You guessed it, SPAM. Who would have thought America’s first canned meat product created over 81 years ago by Jay C. Hormel, son of Hormel food products founder George A. Hormel would be associated with 130,000 complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission per day in the Twenty First Century (www.ftc.gov)? Spam, also known as “junk mail”, can be best defined as unsolicited electronic messages sent to recipients who would not otherwise have chosen to receive it. Most forms of spam are sent as a form of commercial advertising promoting illegal or offensive content. With more and more consumers and business’s relying on the electronic form of mail everyday, we have all experienced first hand the growing problem of spam and how it affects our daily lives both at home and at the workplace.

You might be wondering what the various techniques spammers use to send out millions of spam messages per day without getting caught. There is approximately 20 different methods spammers use but I will only touch on the top five most relevant methods used today.

1. Use of offshore ISP (Internet Service Providers) – Spammers use offshore ISP’s to transmit their spam or host spam websites because these operators usually charge less money and are usually harder to trace back to because they are often hosted in third world countries

2. Transfer of mail via open proxies or what is known as “Zombies”- What spammers do is implant proxy software on computers and mail servers that use this software to send spam via remote control. This method is popular because they can take advantage of the victim’s existing infrastructure to transmit spam without paying for these services. This method is also extremely difficult to trace back to the sender. In most cases, when the spam is traced, the results the investigators receive show that the spam is being sent from the individual or company that had their infrastructure taken over remotely.

3. Fake “to” and “from” addresses – Spammers use fictitious or stolen e-mail addresses in the visible headers of their messages. To the recipient, the message looks legitimate and the user is more apt to open the message they received.

4. Embedding recipients e-mail address in hyperlinks or “web bugs” – They put your e-mail address into a URL contained within the message body of the e-mail. The result is that the spammers get a signal back that you personally opened the message. It is useless to send mail to non-functioning e-mail addresses because it is a waste of bandwidth and resources. E-mails that are sent to non-functioning addresses that get bounced back to the sender can also be a path back to the originator of the message creating additional problems to the individual who sent the message.

5. Dictionary Attacks – Dictionary attacks a domain’s mail exchanger by continuously sending messages that may or may not be delivered. What this does is, it collects a list of working e-mail addresses within a particular domain. Spammers use this trick to verify the existence of e-mail addresses. This method also allows spammers to develop a list of targeted addresses allowing visiting mail-sending servers to send thousands of messages in a very short amount of time

The originators of these spam marketing campaigns do sometimes get caught. On May 30, 2007, a 27 year old man who has been labeled as one of the worlds most prolific spammers was arrested on charges of using networks comprised of “zombie” computers to send out millions of spam e-mail messages. According to MSNBC.com, a federal grand jury returned a 35 count indictment against Robert Soloway charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. The impact Soloway has made on businesses, individuals, and local, state and federal government institutions has been extensive. Many business owners and individuals face the impact of their reputations being damaged when it appeared spam was originating from their organizations computers or mail servers. Soloway’s main objective with sending out these spam messages were to get the recipients to use his internet marketing company to advertise their products. People who clicked on a link in the e-mail were directed to his website. Soloway would then advertise his ability to send out as many as 20 million advertisements over a 15 day period for $495.00. But please, if you are the type who hacks away at code all day long, don’t get involved in this SPAM business, unless, of course, you want to share your fate with Soloway!

It’s a wild craze, the Wii console, in which friends group together in front of the television batting balls, climbing walls, or racing cars. Perhaps, one of the most popular games for Wii is tennis. People have become completely engrossed in this virtual sport, striking aces like Roddick and angling shots like Federer. I was watching two of my friends play each other in the game, and in doing so, one of them hit the other when going for a forehand. Besides trying to stop myself from laughing, I realized how involved everyone gets into this game, just as they had done during the Nintendo 64 or the PS2/PS3 phases.

Waving the remote around is fun, yet being engineers we have to wonder what happens behind the scenes. The main parts to this system include a console, a sensor bar, a remote, a nunchuk, a sports disc, a console stand, an AC adaptor, and an AV cable. Additional parts, such as extra controllers, remotes, or Nunchuks, are sold separately, but are probably necessary if you wish to play with friends.

The console is a sleek white design that is about the size of three DVD cases stacked together. It’s compatible with any of the games offered to the Gamecube and can connect to the Internet on a wireless provider or through a LAN adaptor. Like most game console devices, the Wii allows for four controllers to be attached. The PowerPC CPU is the soul to this fun-filled masterpiece of design, made with a 90nm SOI CMOS and jointly produced with IBM.

Assisting the console, is the famous controller, a shape uncommon to the avid video-gamer but still possessing many of the same features. The remote is your tennis racket, your weapon, or your steering wheel because unlike past remotes, this one is equipped with motion- sensing technology. It also serves as a speaker and a rumble feature as well as outfitted with ports for expansion devices such as the Nunchuk. Within the Nunchuk is an analog stick that allows for gamers to control character movement while still handling the remote with the other hand to hit a ball or dodge an enemy.

All such motion-sensing processes are carried through the sensor bar that operates via Bluetooth technology. It can register actions from up to thirty feet away and as for specific pointing actions, it will acknowledge them from up to fifteen feet away. These revolutionary parts enlist gamers to reach their potential as the best pilots, athletes, or adventure-seeking-soldiers in a manner quite different from the past sit-down games.

Now inside the innovative CPU are newly reformed semi-conductors that are manufactured into a smaller chip and enforces less power consumption. The new ideal of this game console is thus, “high performance with lower power consumption”- the way it should be! This allows for the console to be on for 24 hours a day, and simultaneously can be connected to the Internet for just as long. Another attribute was the improved ICs (integrated circuits) of this system. Normally, creating such an involved device would produce more heat than a regular console. To compensate for the difference, the design of these ICs is key to allowing such a product make its way into many households across the country. The sensor technology inside the controller is what makes this console one of the most desired, as it is built with a sensor system that detects 200 signal changes per second.

The makers of this pioneering technology concur on the idea that this will welcome a new era of gaming in the industry. The motion-sensing and unique designs of the console and controller allow for everyone to get completely involved, almost losing sense of the real world. Without the ingenious ideas from these inventors, we would still be moving characters with our fingers instead of our minds and bodies. The Wii system is encouraging modifications in standard technologies and focusing this generation toward a finer art of playing video games.

Read More: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/nintendo-revolution.htm

Video Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p5cPVP_llfo

There was a flurry of activity a few months ago regarding the secret Microsoft product release planned for Wednesday morning by the same team that worked on the Xbox^™ and the Zune^™ devices. Blogs and technology sites were out in full force with predictions and well-crafted rumours, building hype for what was thought to be an updated version of the Zune^™ music player. Instead, Microsoft^® made press everywhere double-take and scratch their heads wondering what a touch-sensitive table could possibly mean.

The Surface^™, a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor is the first commercially available surface computer in production, with business partners like Sheraton^® and T-Mobile^® set to use the devices in their locations as early as the end of the year.

The Surface^™ is powered by a rear-projector and cameras in the enclosure.

The concept is simple. Instead of using touch-screen technology, cameras sense objects, gestures, and touch on the screen. The display is powered by a rear-projection system, housed in the same central enclosure as the cameras, alongside a massive tesla coil that fries any Apple products placed nearby (Only kidding).

In press videos on the Microsoft^® website, a few applications are demonstrated:

• Photo – A simple photo editor where photos can be resized and dragged about.
• Paint – A painting program that works much like finger paint.
• Games – A puzzle game was shown, where pieces of glass illuminated with fractions of an image by the screen can be moved around and solved
• Restaurant tables can benefit from Surface™, as it recognizes drinks, helps order menu items, and helps pay for the night.Virtual Concierge – A map application that can give directions and save routes to portable devices.

• Restaurant – Drinks are recognized when they are placed on the table, dynamic payment methods (dragging and dropping meal items to various credit cards placed on table to split bills, etc.), virtual ordering.
• Music – Users can dynamically flip through music, buy it, and drag-and-drop it to their portable music players.

While dragging around photos will become mundane after half an hour, the Microsoft^® Surface^™ looks quite promising for developers and consumers alike in the ability to produce quite a large variety of applications that take advantage of its user interface. Having a Surface^™ in the living room would brighten up the atmosphere, eating on a Surface^™ in a restaurant would make ordering, waiting for, and paying for meals much easier, and buying products in-store would be made much easier for the consumer if placing something of interest on the Surface^™ would provide information and specifications.

Apple^® seems to be in the process of creating something similar; with rumors that they will include touch-screen displays in their next line of products, and with OSX Leopard^™ being resolution-independent, this is not too far-fetched.

Here’s to hoping, however, that this new age of computing is not marred by consumers arriving home only to see their living room basked in the eerie, cold glow of the blue screen of death.

Follow the link to check it out: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

Silky burl wood, buttery leather, voluptuous curves, rear seats that rival a Swedish masseuse. These things all come to mind when one gazes upon the brand new Lexus LS460. This super-luxo boat is loaded with creature comforts galore and utilizes the automotive industry’s most advanced technologies. With over a dozen speakers, heated and cooled seats, an optional mini-fridge, and of course a state of the art navigation system, what else could Lexus possibly throw into this swanky vehicle? The answer is a self-parking feature. For the first time in the history of consumer automobiles, a mass produced vehicle now has the ability to assist the driver in parallel and perpendicular parking. Notice the italicized word in the previous sentence, when one hears self-parking, they immediately think: press a button, sit back, check your email, etc and voila, perfect parallel parking job. However, this is unfortunately not the case. The system merely adjusts the steering column, thus the driver must ride the brake and simultaneously watch for small children, poodles, other cars etc. Now don’t get me wrong, this is an insanely cool feature, however, just how practical is it? Let’s find out.

Here is a scenario: you’re on your way to a Broadway show, let’s say Spamalot. You just picked up a few of your friends in your brand new Lexus, and since you aren’t already bragging enough, you decide to show off the self-parking feature as soon as you find a spot. Bingo, a nice-sized crevace opens in the wall of hastily parked automobiles. You swoop in for the kill, align yourself with the car in front of the spot, and shift into reverse. Now let us freeze time for just a moment here, you have two choices, you can parallel park your $80,000+ car manually in about 15-20 seconds, like you barely did on your drivers test, or you could let the computer do it for you. Choosing the latter of two options, the space-time continuum is restored and you notice that a view of the rear of the vehicle presents itself with a few colorful boxes, a flag, and some directional buttons. You hit the parallel park button, and move around the red box that represents the spot until it turns green and press ok. Incase you hadn’t noticed, by now there is a discordant symphony of raging car horns and a small sea of angry New Yorkers. No sweat, you’re almost done. So with your foot on the brake, you gently release pressure and the car lurches backward, but hey look at that, the steering wheel is moving itself, cool! After some more brake pumping, you have gently shimmied your way in between the two vehicles. But you’re not done yet, you still have to shift the car into drive, and pull up to even out the space between you and the other vehicles. This present juncture in time is about 1 minute and 30 seconds after you were initially faced with the decision between manu-park and self-park. Thoroughly impressed, your friends get out of the car, and you enjoy the show. On the way back to the car, for some reason you can’t help but wonder “What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

So what cutting-edge technology was required to design and implement such a groundbreaking option? Let’s discuss how it works. Most luxury/upscale vehicles include sonar sensors on the rear bumpers in order to facilitate manual parking. The sensors emit sound waves and measure the amount of time until the sound bounces back from an approaching object; as the vehicle nears an obstacle, the time delay between sound “blips” decreases and eventually sets off an alarm in the cabin to alert the driver. The LS460 also includes two sensors on the front bumper to maintain an “idea” of objects around the car. The intuitive parking system ties together the various sensors and the backup camera in order to maximize the amount of information that is fed into the system. The computer processor analyzes the image with programming algorithms and promptly calculates the optimal steering angles. This data is then fed into the electric power steering system while the throttle is manually controlled by the driver. An electrical engineers heaven!

Ideally in the future, consumer vehicles will be able to park themselves without driver input and require the same amount of time as a manual parking job. Hopefully sometime soon!

Video Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p4kBbIOZaGE