Gizmodo: portable devices

DARPA's Secret 'Gandalf' Project Busts Terrorists With Their Own Portable Devices

Sean Fallon — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:15:00 EDT

The new 'Gandalf' project launched by DARPA is classified, so there isn't much in the way of details, but it seems that the goal is to use a special set of "handheld devices" to track targets of interest using "radio frequency geolocation." Spy planes and drones are already capable of similar functions, but this new portable system would allow undercover operatives to track targets on the ground without broadcasting their intentions to every terrorist within a hundred miles. I would have thought this sort of operation was going on already, but if we can bust bin Laden when he calls out for sex chats or listens to New Kids on a portable radio it is better late than never. [FBO via Danger Room]

Is Sony Ditching Ericsson For a PlayStation Branded Phone?

Sean Fallon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:35:00 EDT

According to Marketing Week, Sony may be considering launching a PlayStation branded phone by Christmas 2009. Naturally that would raise some questions about the health of their relationship with Swedish mobile company Ericsson. The report goes on to say that Sony is leaning towards modifying the PSP to incorporate a phone—which would seem like the most logical route.

Citing industry sources, Marketing Week heard that the relationship between the two companies has become "frosty" and that Sony would “never give its PlayStation branding” to a Sony Ericsson joint venture. If it were true, it could go a long way in explaining the recently released F305 which is certainly not PlayStation branded and seems to fall well short of a fabled PSP phone. Could it be that Sony is throwing Ericsson scraps while they keep the juicy ideas to themselves? There have been a lot of rumors thrown out there about a PSP phone, and so far nothing has materialized. We will just have to wait and see. [Marketing Week]

Retromodo: Microsoft Takes a Few Steps Back With "The Veda" Computing System

Sean Fallon — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:00:00 EDT

While The Veda concept is a fairly new idea out of Microsoft's R&D labs, the design itself looks as though it was picked out of a time capsule sealed in the mid '90's. Apparently, the Veda can be used as a phone when the screen is closed, as a multimedia player when the screen is open, and as a normal portable PC by opening the screen and extracting the keyboard. It also looks about the same size as a library dictionary.

The question here is: Why the hell would anyone want to build such a device? Microsoft's justification for the project is that PCs can often do the same things that dedicated devices can do (like cellphones), but there is a learning curve involved :

User studies carried out on a number of users have shown that entertainment, communication and information retrieval are the three main motivating factors for people to use devices like a personal computer. However since a personal computer is a general purpose device, some amount of learning is associated with achieving the same task as compared to achieving the same task using a special purpose device like a telephone, a music player, or the like.

For example making a telephone call using a computer involves knowing what application is used on a computer to make a call, starting the application and figuring out how to use it using input devices attached to the computer like keyboard and mouse. Instead if the device had a hardware keypad that is normally used in a telephone, along with appropriate software then dialing a call would just involve pressing “Dial” button, followed by the numbers to be dialed on hardware keypad and the required software will come up and complete the call for the user. In this way the interaction of the user with the device would be the same as the interaction with a special purpose device for making a telephone call.

So, instead of focusing on user friendly smartphones and portable PC software, they have basically duct-taped a cellphone to a laptop. The future is here...today! [WIPO via Unwired View]