Angry Web

I’m sure many of you have already stumbled across the news by now, but in case you haven’t, we’ll be happy to fill you in. Earlier today, an iPhone, discreetly wrapped in an iPhone 3GS case, was discovered in a bar in Redwood City, CA. The case was removed and to much surprise was revealed to apparently be Apple’s next generation iPhone. The following details are taken from Gizmodo:

What’s new

• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the “Connect to iTunes” screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic

What’s changed

• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery

You can find the full scoop on Gizmodo here: http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

An inside source connected with Apple’s hardware team is reported to have knowledge on the specs and release date of the next generation iPhone.  As it turns out, the next-gen iPhone will be released quite sooner than we thought.  According to the source, the expected release date is this July 17…take it as you will.  Here are the specs:

• 32GB and 16GB storage (up from the current 16GB and 8GB models)
• $199 and $299 price points to be maintained
• 3.2-megapixel camera (up from the current 2-megapixel camera)
• Video-recording and editing capabilities
• Ability to send a picture & video via MMS
• Discontinuation of the metal band surrounding the edge of the device
• OLED screen
• 1.5 times the battery life of the current models
• Double the RAM and processing power
• Built-in FM transmitter
• Apple logo on back will glow
• Rubber-tread backing
• Sleeker design
• Built-in compass
• The camera, GPS, compass and Google map combined will identify photo and inform about photo locations
• Turn-by-turn directions

The most notable additional features are the built-in compass, the video recorder and editor, the built-in FM transmitter, and the OLED screen.  Other than that, this will be a relatively minor upgrade with a few aesthetic improvements here and there.  What do you all think?  Will you be purchasing the next-gen iPhone?  Let us know in the comments below!

Trent Reznor reacted strongly on the Nine Inch Nails forum when news broke that Apple had rejected an iPhone application that was submitted for the group. The following is Trent’s outburst:

“Now, “The Downward Spiral” the album is not available anywhere in the iPhone app. The song “The Downward Spiral” I believe is in a podcast that can be streamed to the app.

Thanks Apple for the clear description of the problem – as in, what do you want us to change to get past your stupid fucking standards?

And while we’re at it, I’ll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and “clean” versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart’s standards of decency – because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you’ll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart. My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any “indecent” material for sale – but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film “Scarface” completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense? You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can’t allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. (…) Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck’s sake get your app approval scenario together.”

Does Trent have a point? What do you think?

Professional sculptors, Bob Causey and Bob Dullam have built a driveable replica of the Batmobile from 1995′s “Batman Forever”.  Check out this sweet ride…

We also have a video demonstrating the remote control top:

Shigeki Toyama, a robotics professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, has developed an agriculture robot suit designed for use by 40% of Japan’s farm workers, aged 65 and over. Toyama seeks to make the harvesting and pruning suit industry and task-specific to generate cost savings in production.

Toyama states:

Anyone can use it without a drop in work efficiency. I want to increase the types of work in which it can help.

In the following video dated January 9th, student Gohei Yamamoto demonstrates one of the power-assist suits by pulling a white radish from the ground.

So…is anyone else thinking Harvester prototype here – as in non-humanoid hunter killer units produced by Cyberdyne (which is, in fact, a robotics company in Japan)?  Because I definitely see what’s going on here.  The next few years we’ll have 65+ seniors in harvesting suits picking off carrots, beets, and radishes off remote plantations in Hokkaido; then before we know it, these suits will become self-aware and start rebuilding and mass-producing themselves on a global level into tank-like structures, capturing humans and harvesting their stem cells!  Eventually by 2018, the Series 800 models will then be introduced and you know what that means, my friends.  The end is nigh…

I think you guys might also want to check out this mysterious company called Skynet Research (please ignore the 2009 Warner Bros. Entertainment copyright at the bottom…). From what we’ve heard from our “sources”, it seems like this firm does have future, covert projects lined up with Cyberdyne. Skynet has been incredibly discreet on the details, simply releasing the codename of one of their projects in progress: T-1. What could this possibly mean??? Further details will be revealed May 21st.

While surfing the iPhone app store today, I came across the Gameloft publication “Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles”. It was announced the game was in production but there was no set release date or price to accompany the information.

Since there are no reviews on this application yet I’m going to assume it was released within the past day or so. Here are a few screen shots to give you an idea of what you can expect should you decide to drop the $9.99 for this game. All I can say as of now is that it looks better than a DS game and plays pretty smoothly too. Whoever says Apple is not in the gaming industry is certainly off their rocker. It’s nice to see the U.S. embrace the mobile gaming market. Now I don’t have to be so jealous of the Japanese when a mobile “Final Fantasy” title comes out.