IRL: Bose SoundLink, DropCopy and Worldmate Gold

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.
Happy Friday, folks. This week in real life, Brian invests in the Bose SoundLink after his pet rabbit destroyed his previous setup (no, really), while our own Andy Bowen explains why he'd rather use the DropCopy app than DropBox, much less AirDrop. And Darren, who racked up frequent flier miles this week traveling out to Google I/O, details the virtues of Worldmate over TripIt. Bunnies! Apps versus apps versus more apps. All that, just past the break.

I have what is likely a fairly unique problem: a pet rabbit whose overwhelming sense of curiosity, ever-growing incisors and insatiable appetite for electronics wires rendered my last sound system useless. I've been in-between stereo gear since then, largely relying on a tiny pair of computer speakers for sound -- a less-than-adequate solution, even in a New York City apartment. The question, then, is how to fill the small (by non-NYC standards) space on a reasonable budget, while using this as an opportunity to cut cords in the process.

The Bose SoundLink seemed an ideal solution, a standalone speaker that can be synced to multiple Bluetooth devices, and that's small enough to cart around. It's not particularly light, but it can fit in my messenger bag, and is a lot easier to pick up than a standard home stereo system. Granted, it's not quite as ritzy as a multiple-room system, but despite my love of music, I'm not really trying to impress anyone with my audio setup.

The Bose has big enough sound to fill the rooms of my apartment. It's a warm and full sound, and breathes a lot more life into those Thelonious Monk records than the computer speakers I've been relying on. The whole thing's pretty easy to set up, and being able to play Spotify tracks off of my iPhone the minute I get home is a nice bonus. I've run into a few syncing problems on occasion, but it's nothing that can't be remedied by holding down the Bluetooth button atop the speaker. Meanwhile, the range is good, but not great -- my dream of pushing music from my house into the back yard is often met with hiccups in the stream.

Those minor issues aside, this thing has been an awesome addition to apartment living. Since I picked it up, not a day's gone by that I haven't used it -- and that includes recent trips to Boston and LA, when I kept the speaker stashed in my luggage.

-- Brian Heater

DropCopy has quickly made its way onto my top 10 favorite apps list. Part of that being because it cost me not one penny -- well, the lite version anyway -- but mostly because of its amazing usefulness. Back in 2011, I was wildly disappointed to discover that AirDrop seemingly wasn't making its way onto iOS devices. Actually, I may have been more confused than disappointed. I'd been waiting on a native app like that for the sole purpose of quickly sharing URLs and text files with my iPhone 4S. Unless iOS 6 really surprises us all, I'll probably stick with DropCopy for my data sharing needs. For one, it's generally much quicker than AirDrop. Yeah, I know, DropBox and SugarSync accomplish the same task, but it's much faster sharing a single URL or message with DropCopy rather than having to produce a text file and toss that sucker into the cloud. DropCopy's shining star? Speed, obviously. No dialogues, accounts or confirmations. It's an IP address, drag-and-drop straight shot.

Ideally, I'd like DropCopy to chug along in the background (as it does on OS X). Manually launching the app every time I'm in need of a transfer? That gets annoying. I'd also welcome the ability to share those bits and bytes with my Macbook Pro courtesy of my data plan, and not be limited to a local WiFi network. Cloud apps definitely have the advantage here. Of course, thanks to Apple's third-party app regulations, internal files aren't accessible through DropCopy anyway, and vice versa -- you won't find an "export to DropCopy" option. There are a few ways to sort through the files that you're storing in DropCopy on your iOS device, but other than that there's really no organization at all. Just one folder with many, many files. A falling star perhaps? This app has a temperament: it's 100 percent dependable, 90 percent of the time.

-- Andy Bowen

I've actually been using Worldmate for some time now, but I only upgraded to the Gold option recently -- right around the time it went on sale in the App Store for $2.99 (it's usually $9.99). Unlike so many other travel / itinerary managers, this one requires no yearly subscription. You pay once, and it'll work magic on whatever trips you have coming up. For one, I love that Worldmate Gold works on Android, iOS and the web, and it's relatively easy to make edits to trips on any of those platforms. It's also a super-polished app, and the ability to export minute details (things like multiple flight confirmation numbers for the Mr. and Mrs.) to my Google Calendar with minimal effort is a huge boon.

For those who aren't familiar with the app, it's designed to digest travel information via email. Just shoot over any email with confirmation details (a flight, car rental, hotel booking, etc.) and it'll update your trip and any connected calendars. The Gold edition also keeps tabs on your upcoming flights, alerting you to gate changes, time changes and the like as they're reported -- push notifications here work excellently, except when information isn't delivered to Worldmate from the airlines fast enough. Granted, that's not a Worldmate problem.

Overall, it's remarkably useful for keeping tabs on a schedule that involves well over 80 flights per year (read: mine). But, I do have a few bones to pick. For one, it didn't recognize legitimate Delta flight information for a flight that was 9.5 months out (but flights happening within the next six months were added sans fuss). Two, it rarely understands atypical emails. For example, your casual email conversation about a Homeaway.com rental will probably confuse Worldmate's processing engine, again forcing a manual entry. And lastly, it requires you to forward each piece of your trip to "trips@worldmate.com." TripIt, in contrast, simply looks in your inbox for you and makes updates as new email confirmations arrive -- that's way, way slicker. Of course, TripIt requires a $49 annual subscription for most of its niceties, so for $2.99, I'm more than willing to forgive Worldmate Gold's minor shortcomings.

-- Darren Murph

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University of Tokyo builds a soap bubble 3D screen, guarantees your display stays squeaky clean (video)

There are waterfall screens, but what if you'd like your display to be a little more... pristine? Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a display that hits soap bubbles with ultrasonic sound to change the surface. At a minimum, it can change how light glances off the soap film to produce the image. It gets truly creative when taking advantage of the soap's properties: a single screen is enough to alter the texture of a 2D image, and multiple screens in tandem can create what amounts to a slightly sticky hologram. As the soap is made out of sturdy colloids rather than the easily-burst mixture we all knew as kids, users won't have to worry about an overly touch-happy colleague popping a business presentation. There's a video preview of the technology after the jump; we're promised a closer look at the technology during the SIGGRAPH expo in August, but we don't yet know how many years it will take to find sudsy screens in the wild.

 

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Apple lands preliminary ban against Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US (update: search patent the key)

Reception and call quality 8.3 Display 9.5 Battery life 6.6 Camera 7.2 Ease of use 8.9 Design and form factor 8.9 Portability (size / weight) 8.6 Media support 8.9 Durability 8.1 Ecosystem (apps, accessories, etc.) 8.7

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Scientists develop flush-efficient toilet system that can turn waste into energy, sort before it recycles

By Alexis Santos posted Jun 29th 2012 9:43PM

Scientists from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University aren't keen on being wasteful -- that's why they've developed a toilet that uses 90% less water than other commodes and is capable of generating energy. Aptly named the No-Mix Vacuum Toilet, the porcelain pedestal's pot divides waste between two partitions -- one side for liquids, the other for solids -- and uses vacuum tech reminiscent of airline lavatories. Flushing fluid and solid wastes with 1 and 0.2 liters of H2O, respectively, the can will be able to route refuse to external processing facilities. Fertilizer ingredients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous would then be harvested from liquids. Similarly, methane can be coaxed from solids for conversion to electricity or as a replacement for other natural gasses. Two of the university's restrooms are slated to have the toilets installed in the near future, and the team expects the thrones to roll out worldwide within three years.

[Thanks, Yuka]

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Sony drops VAIO T from free PlayStation offer, hikes real cost of entry to $970

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Crowd-funded group building asteroid-mapping telescope, saving Earth (video)

Just when you're numbing to robot, zombie and nuclear apocalypse scenarios, some old-fashioned asteroid paranoia pops up to surprise you. The B612 Foundation, which gets funding from, well, anyone, has just announced plans to launch Sentinel, a space telescope which will wander the vacuum cataloging asteroids in our inner solar system. Their goal is to track asteroid orbits and predict large impacts up to 100 years in advance, giving us plenty of time to find a solution (or enjoy our final days). Construction doesn't start til late fall, with the launch expected in around five years, so it won't be any use in disproving the 2012 doomsday believers out there. You can find out more about the project and donate to the foundation at the source link, or jump past the break for a video explanation, Aerosmith not included.

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HP plans to hold off on building ARM-based Windows tablets, focus on x86 instead

Ease of use 8.6 Speed 8.4 Configurability 8.4 Ecosystem (apps, drivers, etc.) 8.7 Openness 6.9

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Gigabyte launches Aivia Xenon dual-mode touchpad mouse

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Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5pm ET!

Regular time, regular place. Wait, what? For such a hectic and crazy week as this, it's equally astounding to think that we'll be doing the Engadget Mobile Podcast the usual way -- Friday afternoon at 5pm. Just like last week, this is definitely one you don't want to miss: Google announced a couple things, RIM broke a few hearts and we reviewed a few devices. Tune in and enjoy Myriam and Brad waxing poetic about the wild week that was wireless!

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Flickr brings in Nokia map data for precise geotagged photos, Instagram shots just got eerily accurate

By Jon Fingas posted Jun 29th 2012 12:59PM

Open Street Map has been helping Flickr display geotagged shots for some time. That crowdsourced map data has led to more than a few photos being located in a gray blob, however, which is why Yahoo just struck a deal to put Nokia maps into as many nooks and crevices of the world as possible. The addition will make sure that Instagram photo tour of Africa is often accurate down to the street corner, not to mention give a slightly Finland-tinged look to the maps themselves. Open Street Map isn't going away, but it's now being used only for those areas where regular coverage is spotty or non-existent. The images already apply to any existing and upcoming uploads -- there will be no question that self-portrait was taken in Tanzania.

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Rdio goes minimalist, tries another redesign on for size

By Donald Melanson posted Jun 29th 2012 4:46PM

Finally get settled into the last Rdio redesign from just a few months ago? Well, we're afraid you've got a bit more adjusting to do. The streaming music service has now rolled out another sweeping visual overhaul of its website and desktop apps -- one that ditches the former iTunes-like appearance for a far more minimalist look, although all of the key elements remain in the same places as before. Naturally, that brings with it yet another software update for the desktop apps, although there's no word on any changes for its mobile apps just yet.

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Cracking the Nexus Q, Google's 25-watt amplified obsession

"We're missing a nut," says a bemused Matt Hershenson, former Danger founder and now Google's director of hardware for Android, pointing at a vacant spot on an exploded photo of the Nexus Q. Its parts are strewn out across a white background, perfectly arranged in a linear pattern that starkly contrasts with the spherical nature of the thing. "Wow, you're right," agrees Joe Britt, engineering director at Google and another former Danger founder. "It's like the illuminators, you know, the monks who used to draw up the codexes." Hershenson picks up the reference without missing a beat: "Everybody needs to make at least one mistake. Nothing can be perfect."

That goes against everything else we've been learning from the pair, who spend 45 minutes walking us through every detail of what went into the development of the new Nexus Q. They worked hand-in-hand with engineers and designers and materials experts, ensuring everything from the bearings to the LEDs were, well, perfect. But there is one thing, something larger, that many have said is a crucial flaw in this illuminated device: pricing. Will people pay $299 for a high-concept, low-functionality social media streamer? Join us after the break for how the Q came to be, and why Britt and Hershenson think it will be a success.

Inside that spherical exterior is a decidedly more square dual-core TI OMAP 4460 processor CPU paired with 1GB of RAM, the same basic power behind the Galaxy Nexus. That's matched with 16GB of flash storage, but that storage is (at least out of the box) inaccessible. This is a purely streaming device, connecting over 10/100 Ethernet or dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi to pull media only from the cloud -- and, even more restrictively, only from Google Play.

Even though you start playback from your phone or tablet, the data must always go directly through the Q, and it's always pulled from Google's servers. Even the concept of "pinning" something for offline playback later is absent here. "Fundamentally, this is the way content is changing," says Hershenson. "There are a lot of people consuming data this way. YouTube is coming from the cloud in the first place. we're not doing something out of convention with regards to the information being in the cloud, and the use cases it enables is just awesome. The social aspect... those kinds of things are really exploiting the fact that it's in the cloud."

But, Britt is quick to point out that "this is just the initial feature set." As we've already seen, the Q is eminently hackable, a point that its two proud parents return to frequently. That "initial feature set" is admittedly limited, but Britt hopes the "collective imagination of the community" will continue to do amazing things to expand the functionality of the device. He is, after all, an evangelist for the Accessory Development Kit and the kind of person who has all sorts of naughty ideas for what could be done with the ADK demo hardware given out at I/O this year. He's also proud to point out the Arduino bootloader that's lurking within.

What that community won't be able to do, at least not easily, is expand the hardware, which is perhaps partly why the two obsessed over the Q's design. The alloy base, for example, is intentionally heavy, both acting as a heat sink for that OMAP chip and also preventing the Q from rolling off the back of your entertainment center when you plug in high-gauge, low-impedance speaker wire.

The top half, which can be spun about to quickly adjust volume and is ringed by 32 RGB LEDs (plus a 33rd on top), was originally going to be made of stainless steel but, due largely to cost concerns, is instead made of plastic. But, a weighted metal ring is inset within and the whole assembly rides on stainless steel bearings, conspiring to give it a higher-spec feel than its polymer composition would otherwise impart.

It's a custom class-D amplifier in there, nestled dangerously close to an integrated switching power supply, a recipe for noise if not handled properly. "We didn't want a wall wart," says Britt, but we shouldn't worry about interference. "The same guy who designed the amp designed the power supply." That amp is one of the more curious, and honestly controversial aspects of the device, but it was a fundamental part of its design, says Hershenson. "The sound this is capable of delivering is best realized on bookshelf speakers. A lot of powered speakers are fine, but the typical sound source is a PC, right? It's not quite as high-fidelity in the first place."

That amp, and all the engineering required to make this thing sound genuinely good, surely has a lot to do with why the Nexus Q costs as much as it does. We have to imagine the majority of Q users will skip the amp and rely on the TOSLINK or HDMI outputs for digital audio, thus bypassing all that attention to detail altogether. Plus, we couldn't help but question the merit of having such a high-fidelity audio source that can exclusively play compressed audio streamed from the internet.

Is lossless playback coming? "That would be a good idea," says Britt, saying it not in an "I hadn't thought of that" kind of way but with more in a "Wait and see" sort of intonation. "The hardware's totally capable."

Another thing driving up that cost is the geographic heritage of the device itself: designed and produced right here in the great US of A. This is an aspect that Google barely mentioned during its keynote unveiling, but is an important point at a time when so many are criticizing Apple for the handling of its partnership with Foxconn and thinking a lot more closely about where our gadgets are made. However, we're asked to not read too much into any implications here.

"I don't think that we're philosophically set," says Hershenson, when asked about the reasoning behind the domestic nature of the Q. Instead, it seems to have been more a question of optimizing the design and engineering process, which took a little over a year. Having partners locally meant they could get hardware revisions to evaluate the very next day, not next week. It seems to have worked well here, but again it sadly isn't something we can necessarily expect to see in whatever comes next. "We have to look at what's appropriate for each product," says Britt.

And presumably what comes next depends a lot on the success of the Q -- not the success of the engineering, of which we have little doubt, but rather the success of the marketing and consumer perception. As of now, the biggest question asked about the thing, even by ourselves, is why folks would pay $300 for a device that is less functional than a $100 Apple TV. Far more beautiful and with much higher quality analog output, sure, but that's largely meaningless for anyone who sticks an HDMI cable in the back.

It's the social aspect, the ability for anyone to interact with the device and add their own music to a playlist, that Google is making the most fuss about here. Of course, that "anyone" should come with a very large asterisk, pointing to a disclaimer stating: "Anyone with an Android-powered device and their own collection of music on Google Play." Even should you have an appropriate number of anyones among your gaggle of friends, there's still another question. How often will you legitimately get enough of those anyones together to really make use of everything this has to offer?

Google does every Friday, having something of a social mixer with multiple Q devices, each hooked to analog speakers, scattered about for all of their anyones to interact with. That sounds like the perfect storm for a Nexus Q -- a situation that typical users will have the opportunity to experience far less frequently.

So, then, is this a niche or halo device, expected to be fondly remembered but not frequently purchased? Definitely not -- Britt and Hershenson are both adamant that there's enough general appeal for this thing to be a mass-market success. "This is a device that sets a precedent," says Britt, "but it isn't like a concept car. We built it to sell it... This is the first of many."

We have to imagine that exactly how many is at least partially related to how well this thing sells. And that, of course, is largely up to you.

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Government-backed movie streaming service coming to China in Q4, bringing Paramount titles along

Jiaflix Named Exclusive Partner of China Movie Channel Web Subsidiary M1905; Venture Will Stream Films Throughout China

Jiaflix Enterprises principals Sid Ganis, Marc Ganis and Kenneth Huang, and M1905, the official internet subsidiary of China Movie Channel/CCTV6 jointly announced today an exclusive venture to stream both Chinese and international feature films on a subscription basis (SVOD), as well as international feature films on a transactional video on demand basis (TVOD) throughout China. The long term agreement names Jiaflix, a U.S./China enterprise, M1905's exclusive authorized party for the importation of international films and libraries from North America and Europe for new media, internet streaming and mobile devices.

"China has the largest number of online users in the world, and M1905.com, commonly known as China Movie Web, is SARFT's official internet movie site. The M1905.com web site is dedicated solely to movies and caters to fans of both domestic Chinese and international films. It averages more than 16 million page views and 4 million unique visitors daily, has more than 3 million registered users and has been growing rapidly, more than doubling year to year," said Jiaflix principal Marc Ganis. "This new venture will bring the best that Hollywood has to offer to viewers in China. It represents a great opportunity to enhance cultural cooperation between our two nations and we are thrilled to be part of this official bridge between the Chinese and Hollywood film industries."

Jiaflix also announced today that it has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Paramount Pictures to include titles from Paramount's extensive and renowned film library for both SVOD and TVOD.

"This is an important step for Paramount in terms of positioning our product in China," said Hal Richardson, President, Paramount Home Media Distribution. "Paramount has worked with China Movie Channel for many years and we are happy to be expanding our relationship and online movie viewership in China through our deal with Jiaflix."

M1905's Director and Vice President, Longfei Liang, adds, "We are delighted to make this announcement with our partners at Jiaflix. China has a long and storied history in films. New media distribution of films is the future and M1905 is excited to be working with Jiaflix and Paramount Pictures, an iconic Hollywood studio, in bringing great movies to our expanding online audience."

The agreement with Paramount is the first under the Jiaflix partnership with M1905 that will see licensing deals with several other North American and European content providers.

M1905 is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the China Movie Channel, which is under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) of the People's Republic of China. China Movie Channel is that country's largest television buyer of international movies and has agreements with virtually all of the major movie studios. M1905 sub-licenses domestic Chinese films to a number of video web sites in China. In June 2012, M1905's mobile television service officially started operations with China Mobile and China Telecom's mobile video service allowing M1905 to provide officially licensed content and VOD service to the more than 100 million 3G mobile subscribers in China.

Sid Ganis' long affiliation within the film industry along with his recent role in China as Honorary Chairperson of Wuxi Studio Development and Promotion Committee, assisted in bringing this venture to fruition. He is a former President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and previously held roles as Vice Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and President of Paramount Pictures. Ganis is currently an independent producer at his company Out of the Blue Entertainment and Co-Executive Producer on last year's ABC Television series PAN AM.

Kenneth Huang is a China based entrepreneur and investor. He is active in a number of important business sectors in China including capital markets, infrastructure construction, sports and entertainment. Mr. Huang is a successful philanthropist and was voted the most popular philanthropist by Sina.com and BQ Magazine in December 2009. Mr. Huang was raised in China and educated in the United States.

Marc Ganis is President and Founder of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago based sports business advisory firm. Mr. Ganis has been involved in a number of the most visible and valuable sports business transactions in the U.S. He has been active in China for more than a decade in the capital markets, sports and entertainment sectors.

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