There's a fair amount of speculation about what the iPhone is going to do from this point forward. And, with iFund putting up that $100 million to nurture the iPhone development environment, iPhone-ideas are bound to start creeping up. Box Fab has come out of the woodwork and announced a few of their own off-the-wall ideas for iPhone development. The most outlandish concept? The 3D Virtual Reality head-mount for the iPhone.
No, I'm serious. Box Fab wants to bring the world of 3-dimensional virtual reality to iPhone users everywhere. For just $200, the company envisions using the iPhone as an image plate which clips into the head-mount - allowing iPhone users to go about their day in virtual reality bliss. According to Box Fab, the concept is ?a virtual reality head-mount which the iPhone clips into instantly become a networked, head-tracked, virtual worlds viewer."
The head-mount would use the iPhone's accelerometers to translate head-movements into VR movements, all the while being networked with other iPhone users trippin' along in their own VR worlds - with the aid of "special close-view depixelization flat optics turn the iPhone screen into a 3 dimensional window into another world." And, with a projected $200 price point, the idea sounds enticing. Unless you consider the downsides.
Doc over at Macenstein points out that it's going to be a bit difficult to manipulate the iPhone's multi-touch display while it's clipped into the head-mount. Add that to the overly-optimistic $200 price point (in case the super-realistic 3D rendering above didn't give it away, these guys still have to develop this stuff), and I'm not going to hold my breath for a VR head-mount for my iPhone.
Still, Box Fab has a couple other ideas that seem a bit more realistic. The iPhone video conferencing camera idea is interesting. It's a "A clip on camera lens which lets you point the internal camera back at yourself for live internet video conference calls." Although, the idea would be limited to WiFi-only use.
The iPhone LED flashlight idea sounds the most practical (in terms of development) of the bunch, but it's still limited to a tiny niche. Box Fab envisions the iPhone LED light being used as "a plug on adapter that lets the device project laser or LED light patterns on the walls or ceilings in time to the sound output without the need for an electronic connection." Like I said, it's a good idea, but would you really buy this (assuming Box Fab can get Apple's "Made for iPhone" blessing to mess around with the dock connector)?
Keep in mind, Box Fab's concepts are little more than ideas at this point. The company is hoping that somebody out there picks up on one of their ideas and pays them to run with it.
We'll keep an eye out for the VR head-mount…
[Via: Macenstein]
—
Related Articles at IntoMobile:
feeds.feedburner.com
Written by iPod News admin on March 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on iPhone card.
A LOT has been written in the small amout of intervening time since the announcements around the iPhone SDK - some good, and a lot negative (for some strange reason) - so time for my tuppenceworth, as IntoMobile's resident UK … er …. resident! 
It fascinates me the hype that is generated around anything that Apple does - to the point where people are spotting tiny graphical alterations being made in the UI (see Will's article). Really this is a testament to how Apple have gone about things, but forgetting for a moment all of what is being said, Apple do continue to make great, simple, defined strides in Mobile - something, if you'll notice, that they happen to do pretty well in computing, and personal audio also!
The SDK only looks to be building on what is, as far as I am aware a pretty solid mobile platform - unfortunately I am not lucky enough to own an iPhone, but have yet to hear mutliple reports about the O/S going over or hanging on simple tasks (something we all have heard too often with other manufacturers). Similarly, first reports I am hearing from people that have downloaded the SDK is that it is also well-designed, and easy to use - hardly surprising…..!
But the devil in the detail is if the SDK will allow developers enough access to do genuinely useful things with the iPhone - and we've no reason to assume that it won't. Despite Stefan's comment that "run one app at a time" is no good, I'd suggest that if the app is genuinely useful, doesn't crash, and is easily accessible (the last two of which will be qualified by the iTunes distribution model), then that's still one more useful app that we had previously.
I am going to be heading out to the US in a couple of weeks, and if I get the opportunity, I may just be tempted to grab myself one o' them Apple phones (or should they be called multimedia computers? 
), and see what all the fuss is about - perhaps by the time I do finally get my hands on one, we'll have some details about those genuinely useful new applications from third-parties too 
—
Related Articles at IntoMobile:
feeds.feedburner.com
Written by iPod News admin on March 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on iPhone card.
Daniel Ahdout over at blargKABOOM noticed that the new iPhone 2.0 software update will bring something new to the contacts application. During Phil Schiller’s talk on the iPhone’s new Enterprise-focused features, one of the screenshots showing the contacts app had a Spotlight search icon above the alphabet running along the right-hand side. While the feature wasn’t used or mentioned, it is assumed that the icon will be used for searching for contacts.
read more
Written by Michael Johnston on March 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on News.
I just spent a couple of hours playing with my new iPhone.
I remember that the first few times I try a new cell phone, I wish it would just work the way my old one did. So I'm trying to factor that in, and imagine what it will be like to use it later, but it's not easy.
I was able to register with AT&T, choose a service plan, get a phone number, and make a phone call. I was able to use Google Maps to locate my house, and while YouTube was slow, and so was the email app, even though both were running over my fast wifi as opposed to the relatively slow AT&T network, they were all usable and useful, and in some cases represent features the Blackberry doesn't have, and would be nice to have. But there are optimizations I hope Apple makes soon.
This is my fifth iPod, and it works differently from the last one. I like to use my iPod with manual synchronization, but that doesn't appear to be possible with this one. I'm not happy about that! I have my iPod act down, and I want to use this relatively small one (it has just a 4GB capacity) the same way I use my larger, 60GB video iPod. It doesn't seem possible.
Look, all the other people reviewing the iPhone are gushing. I just don't have that in me, at least at the beginning.
And there's a major usability problem with the Safari web browser, it's hard to believe that Apple didn't see and fix this problem before shipping, because it seems to make all websites unusable in the default configuration, with the default font choice, and there doesn't seem to be a way to change their choice of font. Is it possible they made this choice so that the TV commercial would look good, and forgot to test the browser the way real people will use it? I must be missing something??
Written by unlocker on March 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on iPhone and review.
I doubt it. I may not care much for the iPhone, but the Verizon Voyager doesn’t look to be the answer either. The Voyager has 2 monitors including a 2.8 inches touchscreen, QWERTY, 2Megapizel Camera, BlueTooth, GPS, Mobile TV, MicroSD port, and more according to sources.
I haven’t had a chance to play with the Voyager that Jack posted about last week, but James Kendrick has. From his video, it doesn’t look to be the iPhone Killer that Verizon is saying…
"We think it’ll be the best phone … this year. It will kill the iPhone," Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman said in an interview. - Yahoo
I don’t see it… Check out James’ Video around the 7 Minute mark. What do you think?
The keyboard is great and the ability to use Verizon’s EVDO helps, but the software doesn’t seem as intuitive as the iPhone’s. While I am not advocating the iPhone, I do think that Apple will open the data up by allowing it to be used on At&t’s 3G Network.
Written by unlocker on March 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on iPhone.
« Older articles
No newer articles
