Meebo Brings Slick Multi-Network Chat to the iPhone, and It's Excellent [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/v2cHCEBBBNM/meebo-brings-slick-multi+network-chat-to-the-iphone-and-its-excellent

iPhone/iPod touch: We've been fans of popular chat app Meebo for a while, so it's great to hear they've released a version for the iPhone that competes with premium chat apps in the App Store but doesn't cost a dime.

Meebo sports push notifications that activate automatically when the app is closed so you can keep in touch even when Meebo isn't running, and it syncs between your iPhone and desktop app so you don't miss a beat communicating with your contacts. It's got all the features its web-based cousin has—like full chat history and integration with Facebook, AIM, and Yahoo.

Landscape mode and other little niceties like the ability to add Away messages make using Meebo on the iPhone a joy. It doesn't have a whole bunch of useless features weighing it down so the learning curve on this app takes about 10 seconds.

If you're not rocking an iPhone, Meebo hasn't forgotten about you. The service already has apps for Android (and a mobile web site for other smartphones).

Now that instant messaging apps are finding their way off the desktop and onto mobile devices, what features would you like to see in future versions. Dream big in the comments.

Meebo for iPhone [via Gizmodo]

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Google Shopper Visual Search App Officially Confuses Me: WTF Is Google Doing? [Google]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hPdshh1OwAQ/google-shopper-visual-search-app-officially-confuses-me-wtf-is-google-doing

I don't understand Google Shopper. Not because the function—searching for books, CDs, DVDs and more by using the cover art or barcode—is confusing. But because they already have a visual search app built into new Android phones, Goggles.

Goggles does the same thing: You take a picture of something, like a book cover, and it searches for it. I get that Shopper is slightly different, with more of a direct Amazon-competitive slant, since you can bookmark products to buy them later (presumably through Google Checkout).

But why not just integrate that into Goggles? Why the hell does this separate other product exist? Like Fake Steve says, WTF is going on over there? Android and Chrome OS? Wave and Buzz? (Okay, Buzz and Wave aren't an entirely fair comparison, though try explaining them to a normal person.) Now Goggles and Shopper? Am I just missing something? [Google]

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New CCFL Lamps Could Outshine LED TVs [TVs]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5xoKsGVMds0/new-ccfl-lamps-could-outshine-led-tvs

Cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlights are fast disappearing due to the more efficient and brighter LED swaggering onto the TV scene, but the Japanese company Sanken Electric claims its new CCFL technology is 60 per cent cheaper to produce.

Too little, too late for the unfashionable technology? Sanken reckons TVs perform just as well using two of its lamps as opposed to the six normally required. As production won't start until this summer, it's unlikely we won't see them in TV sets for at least another year—and by then, LEDs will reign supreme. [Nikkei via CrunchGear]

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SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/18/sk-telecom-shoves-android-onto-a-sim-we-check-it-out/

SK Telecom was showing off some interesting ideas about where it'd like to see SIM cards go in the future here at MWC this week, including a couple particularly juicy ones called Android SIM and the SIM Theme Package. Android SIM shoehorns a CPU, the Android OS, applications, user data, and 1GB of storage into the card pictured above. SK Telecom envisions it being used in dumbphones -- as the CPU is onboard, there wouldn't be a need for the device to have one -- letting consumers move between sets or perhaps to a tablet with even more ease than they already can. SKT's Theme SIMs use a similar smart card to take advantage of the storage space for theme elements, music, pictures, and any variety of apps that vendors or operators care to put in them. Follow on for a quick demo (and some minor failure -- typical demo time Murphy's Law) of moving the themed chips between two handsets.

Gallery: SK Telecom Smart SIM Technology hands-on

Continue reading SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out

SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VTech launches kid-friendly MobiGo handheld gaming system, Flip e-reader

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/18/vtech-launches-kid-friendly-mobigo-handheld-gaming-system-flip/

You may be 32 36, but that's not to say that the kid in you is long gone. At this week's Toy Fair in New York City, VTech took a welcome step away from the landline handset department and tried its hand with a few swank toys. Up first is the $59.99 MobiGo (shown after the break), a handheld gaming system designed for minds within humans aged 3 to 7. Seen as a little tike's GameBoy, the device supports touch inputs and even features a QWERTY keyboard, both of which can be used to fish, color, draw, play on-screen instruments and generally enrich those malleable brain cells. Potentially more interesting, however, is the Flip; described as the planet's first children's animated e-reader, this $59.99 device has a 4.3-inch color touchscreen, a built-in dictionary and a QWERTY keyboard. Look out, Kindle!

Continue reading VTech launches kid-friendly MobiGo handheld gaming system, Flip e-reader

VTech launches kid-friendly MobiGo handheld gaming system, Flip e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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