The remote control is, let’s face it, the fulcrum of family life. Whoever has it, has power, while those who don’t have it try to stage mutinies on a regular basis. A newly patented design by Microsoft will do little to solve this issue (that’s more of a family therapy thing to be fair) but it’s still damn cool.

The new Microsoft design.

Microsoft appears to be working on a new touch-screen remote control that has a six-axis sensor capable of detecting what way you are holding the device. The new remote control has controls on multiple sides and by mixing the six-axis sensor into the package, it can detect which way it is being held and activate the appropriate controls.

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What with the iPhone 4 pretty much taking over the world this week – queues outside the flagship store in London, units flying off the shelves in the US – it’s been a pretty good news week for Steve Jobs and co. However, one minor bug has been found with the new smartphone and as many left-handed people have suspected for a long time, this bug is more evidence that the world is against them.

‘Connectivity bars start melting away one by one after the skin of the palm came in contact with the lower left-hand corner of the unit’

According to a report in Dvice, “This could be the weirdest bug to hamstring a phone in a while. Left-handed callers are finding a serious drop in signal strength when using the iPhone 4. It’s thought that when one’s palm covers the bottom left corner of the phone it hampers the iPhone’s ability to make calls.” Continue Reading

Apple has announced that it has, in the sixty days since the device’s April third release in the US, managed to sell 2 million units of its iPad hardware.

Of course, the fact that Apple has managed to push itself up to the 2 million mark so very quickly very likely has something to do with the fact that the international launch of the device proved so successful. Both Japan and the UK have seen a high level of interest in Apple’s tablet device, so we can probably expect to see more announcements coming from Apple as it passes more milestones with the device.

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It seems that Nokia could well be the next company to jump in on the tablet bandwagon with word that it could be planning to release a device by Autumn.

If nothing else it's a space that Nokia is eminently prepared for...

Ever since Apple’s official announcement of its own tablet device, the by now apparently inescapable iPad, it seems that everyone with access to touch-screen kit has been pushing towards their own tablet devices, with Microsoft pushing HP’s Slate, along with a number of other devices, as Windows 7 tablet options. Now, it seems that Nokia is looking to get in on the tablet market too, and it could be well placed to do something interesting with its own tablet device.

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Sharp has said that it will start producing small, three-dimensional liquid crystal displays by September that don’t require special glasses, betting that most portable digital devices will eventually be 3D capable.

A 3D touchscreen LCD mobile device developed by Sharp and a happy looking model.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Yoshisuke Hasegawa, executive managing officer who oversees LCD operations at Sharp said that, “Just like black and white TVs turned color, all displays will eventually be 3D [capable]”. Some electronics makers, including mobile phone makers, have already approached Sharp about possible supplies of small 3D displays, he added.

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Just in case you missed it, information on the poorly titled touch screen portable, the Dell Streak, has been leaked. Why they couldn’t have kept the previous title of Dell Mini 5 I don’t know, though in fairness rumours also persist that ‘Streak’ is just an internal name.

Bad name, but to be fair it is a bit of a looker though.

Anyhoo, it’s called the Streak for now and it has a five-inch screen that has a WVGA resolution capable of displaying 800 x 480 pixels, it also, according to GadgetVenue, comes with 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and a flash is also included along with a front facing camera allowing for video calls over Skype.

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It seems that Apple’s iPad won’t be shipping with some of the applications that people have come to expect with their touch-screen Apple devices since the launch of Apple’s iPod Touch and iPhone lines.

Without calculator, it's hard to think of a use for it

For those not in the know, Apple screened an ad for its upcoming device during the Oscars on Sunday night. Given a little time to pore over the video, a few sites have come to some interesting conclusions about the device, not least of which the fact that it seems that some of the fairly normal iPhone apps don’t appear on the iPad. Indeed, these aren’t just minor applications, but include the Stocks, Calculator, Clock and Weather apps.

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It seems that those of us who have already mode the move to electronic books are very well served indeed by them, apparently regardless of the hardware options.

Indeed, word comes via RegHardware of a survey from industry analysts NPD that those who’ve sprung for ebook reading hardware are very pleased indeed with their purchases. Apparently, 93% of those who’ve picked up an ebook reader fall into either the “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” camps in NPD’s research. Perhaps more interesting still is the fact that only 2% of those surveyed actually said that they weren’t satisfied with their devices.

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Good afternoon folks, hopefully it’s been a good week so far for those of you out there in internet-land. As those of you who’ve read the blog for a while now will know, we like to post up one product every week or so that someone in the office has taken a particular shine to. It’s basically a space where those of us working in the Komplett.ie office can recommend a product that we’re using ourselves for those of you who might be looking for something similar.

Click through to check out our page for Garmin's Nuvi 200W

Anyway, this week our spotlit product is Garmin’s Nuvi 200W. It’s a relatively straightforward GPS that does just about everything you need it to, without overloading on features, so it’s not weighed down in terms of bulk or cost. Essentially, it’s that fact that makes it so attractive. It’s not going to bury you in features, but it should give you just about everything you need without breaking the bank… moreover, it looks well.

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It seems that announcements of new tablet PCs are still coming in thick and fast, with MSI expected to release its tablet offering in the second half of this year.

It certainly looks nice, though that border is a bit wide...

Indeed, it seems that MSI’s device will be running Google’s Android OS, which is in keeping with Apple’s decision to run with its iPhone OS… so we could well be moving towards a world in which more tablets run mobile operating systems, rather than more resource-hungry desktop OSes. Indeed, Dell’s soon to be released Mini 5 tablet runs Google’s Android too. Still, there are plenty of Windows XP-based tablets out there.

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Air traffic controllers may well be on strike in Dublin today but in the future such delays may be a little easier to handle as passengers might be able to wander over to their nearest HP Wall of Touch to check out the news, view offers from generally over-priced airport vendors (‘really, just €9 for a tuna sandwich… count me in!’) and, of course, keep up to date on flight info and even social media updates.

The Wall of Touch... a frankly creepy name for a decent idea

HP are about to launch their first Wall of Touch – a pretty huge grid of screens driven by its Z800 workstation – in Houston Airport and, should it make a decent impression, models costing anywhere between $2,000 and $100,000 will be available in the next few years. Air travel is just one of the markets HP has its eye on though with HD video conferencing a very tangible target as well.

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Rumours have surfaced about Apple, though for once they’re not about a new iPhone or the seemingly-imminent announcement of a new tablet device.

Indeed, this time, it seems as though just about everyone is convinced that Apple is to launch a touch-screen 22-inch version of its iMac all-in-one desktop. According to DigiTimes, Apple will see the production of the machine itself handled by Quanta, while Sintek Photronic handles the touch-sensitive display panels themselves.

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