Author: Toby Leftly

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has always had a penchant for replying to questions and accusations over his very public email address, but yesterday he went one step further, verbally sparring with a Gawker writer on topics such as freedom, Flash and pornography. Ryan Tate was angered by an Apple TV commercial that referred to the iPad as “revolutionary”, and immediately penned an email to Jobs. It’s not surprising that Jobs answered, but the debate continued over several emails. Tate is clearly writing out of frustration or anger, but Jobs remains cool and calm, calling Tate on misinformation and biased…

I’ll admit, I was skeptical when I saw the title of this video. I assumed I was in for three minutes of watching robots unsuccessfully attempting to walk and their creators optimistically trying to convince the audience that this constitutes “dancing”. Oh how wrong I was. This is a small slice of awesome. The world has seen some pretty advanced robots, robots that can play the violin, robots that fight and even robot waiters, but this is fun, creative and mesmerizing. The robots, or hexapods, are competing in the 5th Annual Austrian Hexapod Dance-Off. Boy, those Austrians sure know how to party….

For a point upgrade, Android 2.2 has high aspirations. Google’s latest upgrade is 450%, that’s right, 450% faster than it’s previous effort. Google’s mobile strategy clearly couldn’t be any further away from Apple’s. Back in 2007 Apple released the iPhone minus some features some said were so critical, the device was bound for failure. Three years later, these features are steadily being added as and when Apple declares them fit for public consumption. Google on the other hand is taking the same approach as with their myriad business ventures – flinging a mess of stuff at the wall and seeing what…

We all know people who are just too happy. Annoyingly, overly happy. Well, here’s an invention for those people by those people. A designer actually looked at the common household nail and saw the opportunity for optimistic improvement. The git. It’s hard to believe this simple innovation has never been done before. The designer of the Happy Face Nail Cap, Jung-Woo Lee, felt that having a plain nail in the wall was a missed opportunity. You simply slip the nail cap over a nail and viola, happy nails. And what if you’re a miserable, pessimistic person, the kind of person who is grinding their teeth…

Don’t be confused by the picture, HOLO 2.0 is more than a child’s plastic bracelet with some iPhone Skype screen shots pasted above it. In the eight years since its release, people have been using the computer interface in Minority Report as the milestone for the next level of computer interaction, but now that Multi Touch is widespread, what’s next on the horizon? HOLO 2.0 is the brainchild of a group of Indian designers, and as you might have guessed, focuses on holographic technology. Assuming the technology lives up to the hype, this actually sounds like a great concept. The device is worn like…

the last time someone was excited about light bulbs, candle manufacturers were riding high on Wall Street. Philips has announced an LED light bulb that is a viable replacement for 60 watt bulbs commonly used in most households. Light bulbs have become more efficient, but until now LED bulbs have failed to meet the output required to match traditional bulbs. Philips’ innovation will allow their bulb to replace 60 watt bulbs but with power consumption of only 12 watt. On top of saving energy, and thus cutting our wonderful Mother Earth some slack, Philips light bulb even looks cooler than traditional…

Facebook is one of those things you hate yourself for using, but you keep using it and hating yourself because, well, it’s easy and fun and everyone else is using it. But what if there was an alternative? What if there was a Facebook clone that was open source, privacy aware and personally controlled by you? What if, and I can’t imagine the sweet words are leaving my lips, what if there were no Farmville, Mafia Wars or Zooville? Diaspora is a Kickstarter project that aims to do all of the above, and people are voting with their wallets – the project was asking for $10,000 funding and the current total is…

Geeks have known this for a long time, but science has has finally proven it: Technology makes people feel good. BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT in the UK analyzed results of a worldwide survey and has discovered that people feel all warm and fuzzy when they’re thinking about gadgets, computers and the internet. Communication devices were the most appreciated, the study found. Science has often proclaimed technology to be negatively perceived by people because it blurs the line between professional and personal time. More and more, technology is becoming transparent, and is simply allowing…

With it’s hot shot iPhone developer Joe Hewitt gone, Facebook has gone some time without an update for iPhone, and there is still no native iPad client. Indie developer Sobees has changed all that. Their Facebook for iPad client is actually a breath of fresh air, with a new interface that breaks down your Facebook information into a palatable, newspaper-style look and feel. Facebook is generally not too happy about applications taking all your information, or as they see it, once you’ve uploaded it to Facebook, their information and displaying it outside their web application, so we’ll see how…

Pantone today unveiled their new Pantone color matching system, Pantone Plus. The new system adds new colors, new tools and a new arrangement to make viewing colors in a range easier. The Pantone matching system is a valuable tool in any designers arsenal, and with these changes Pantone is hoping to remain on the cutting edge of color selection. The video features Pantone’s iPhone and iPad app, myPANTONE. One new useful addition is the inclusion of a light checking tool that ensures correct lighting for selecting colors as accurately as possibly. Check out the new Plus series at Pantone’s website….