Swype is a new way to type on a touch screen phone.

As seen in the video above, showing a side-by-side comparison of typing on the Omnia II versus typing on the iPhone, the way you type using Swype is to literally swipe your finger from one letter to another as fast as you can.

Phones will start shipping with Swype technology from next year, including a new android phone.

Everybody must have by now seen the advertisements on TV about the great new digital camera from Samsung called the ST550.

The Samsung ST550 is the first digital camera to offer users dual LCD screens. One at the back like conventional cameras and a smaller one in front useful for self portraits.

Now this is all great and with it being advertised on TV you would have thought that it would be easy to get your hands on one, wrong.

The first time my wife saw the advert of the Samsung ST550 she wanted to get one ASAP, so we decided to go out one Saturday morning and scout the local mall for the beauty just to return empty handed.

We visited Game, Makro, Dion Wired, Hifi Corporation, several camera dealers and even Incredible Corruption just to find that they do not stock the ST550 or they have never even heard of it. Upon arrival at home I set out to phone several stores to hear if maybe one of their other branches stock the Samsung ST550, but no, the answer being we don’t stock it and there is no plans to get it in aswell.

After phoning every possible store that sells electronics in the greater Cape Town area I decided to phone Samsung electronics as they are the manufacturer of the ST550 and should at least have an idea who sells their product. But no, the person on the other end could not give me a clear indication of who sells the ST550 digital camera but gave me some names of stores that do sell Samsung cameras. These stores where mainly the ones I mentioned above that either had no clue of the ST550 or just did not have any plans to sell it.

Now my question to Samsung is how can you advertise a product, even with a free 2GB memory card, but nobody has the bloody thing in stock? I would appreciate I someone from Samsung can get into contact with me regarding the ST550 and where I can get one. Even if you are a online supplier and can get your hands on one I would also really appreciate it, as I did search the web and could only find a few overseas sites selling the ST550 but I would rather avoid importing one myself.

Features

Now let me share some features of the Samsung ST550 with you.

• Surefire portraits with Dual LCD – The ST550′s breakthrough 1.5″ Front LCDSelf Portrait of you and your friends without leaving anyone left out to hold the camera. The Front LCD also features Children Mode for fun, engaging, and simple animation that captures those special expressions only kids can make. Ensure your timing is always perfect with the built-in Self Timer, improve your chances for great results with Shutter and Function Information, and you’ll be ready to shoot in any situation.
• A Touch screen with clear feedback – What could be more useful than seeing every detail in brilliant 1,152K High Resolution before you take your first shot? How about the ST550′s vibration and audio feedback technology that reacts to your touch? After all, you don’t want any of life’s special moments to pass you by. And with the ST550′s super clear 800 x 480 display and innovative Haptic sensor technology, your camera will let you know what you’re doing with every click, swish and hum of the controls.
• See deeper, go wider, get closer with the ST550 – Have it all, literally, with the ST550. From its all inclusive 27mm Schneider-KREUZNACH wide angle lens to its up close and personal 4.6X optical zoom, you’ll capture more fun out of every moment and relive each detail with artistic depth and perspective, and with absolute ease. Plus, with a healthy 12.2 mega pixels of superb clarity, the ST550 delivers sharper detail from every birthday cake, natural wonder, or front row seat view than you ever thought possible. Get the most out of life with the ST550.
• Tilt it, gesture it, and you’ll control it – Tilt it to one side, and the ST550′s Smart Gesture UI will start the perfect slide show without a single touch! With the ST550′s built-in Acceleration Sensor, your gestures work as your commands. Manage camera functions, rotate or delete photos, create special slide shows and more…all without lifting a finger.
• Just what you had in mind – You see the image you want in your head. You point the ST550. And Smart Auto sees it too. This scene recognition technology actually chooses from 16 different settings ranging from landscape to portrait automatically. 
  Then adjusts for the perfect shot. Whether it’s catching your friends on a night on the town or a waterfall off a mountain. What you get is exactly what you had in mind. Plus all the credit.
• It knows you, and gets your best side – The ST550 isn’t just smart in design. With its Smart Face recognition technology, the ST550 creates brilliance with every snap. And keeps it that way. By knowing up to 20 of your friends and family, it automatically focuses on them first, making sure the most important subjects are always in crystal clarity. And since the ST550 never forgets a face, you can also browse more efficiently by the people you’ve registered.
• HD quality video – If you prefer still shots to movies but want to leave your options open (and leave your camcorder at home) the ST550 is right for you. You’ll get 720p HD quality video at 30 frames per second. And a recording time that’s 4X longer than MJPEG video. You even can use the 4.6X Zoom to get up close and vividly personal. And when things get dicey, you can even pause your recording. You’ll give up nothing, except carrying around that extra camera.

This is just a few nice features the Samsung ST550 posseses, for a more detailed look at all the ST550′s features head on over to the official Samsung Page.

I’m an active CTWUG member now for the past 3 years and since the beginning we relied mostly on Mikrotik routers to run our network, not excluding routers like WRT and Ubiquiti.

The good news is that Mikrotik has now stared penetrating the fixed line arena with their brand new RB750 router. The RB750 is a small five port ethernet router in a nice plastic case for a very special price, and yet – with all the power of RouterOS.

Even more it’s probably the most afordable MPLS capable router in South Africa at the moment. With it’s compact design and clean looks, it will fit perfectly into any SOHO environment. All this for only a mere R350 excl vat from Scoop Distribution.

With the indroduction of the cheap RB750 into the South African market Scoop Distribution has launched a competition where you can win one of 3 RB750′s aswell as subscriptions to SACM the South African Computer Magazine.

All you have to do to stand a chance to win one of tese prizes is to simply create a unique Router OS script that can be used with the RB750, scripts that are unique to the South African internet space will be favoured, this include scripts to split local and international traffic.

Get scripting.

If you are interested in buying the RB750 feel free to buy it from Scoop Distribution and just use the CTWUG account when buying to get it at the nice price of R350 excl vat.

Even the iPhone isn’t perfect. Here are the top ten iPhone annoyances and what you can do about them.

Even the greatest gadgets have flaws, and the iPhone is certainly no exception. Praise it all you want, but the “Jesus phone” has plenty of little annoyances or nuisances that get under a user’s skin. Fortunately, technology is all about workarounds to common problems. So we’ve not only put together a Top 10 list of iPhone annoyances to vent about, we’re also offering solutions (where we can) to fix those pesky iPhone problems we hate so much.

10. Default Apps Can’t Be Hidden

The iPhone’s start screen is filled with shortcuts to prepackaged applactions that come with your iPhone whether you want them or not–for example, an app for checking stocks whose shortcut can’t be removed from the iPhone interface. Despite Apple’s insistence, not everyone wants to check the Dow Jones Industrial Average or for that matter the weather, or even use the iPhone’s calculator. That the iPhone’s prepackaged apps can’t be hidden, deleted, or otherwise customized speaks to the stubborn rigidity of Apple.

Ideally: If Apple wanted to fix this annoyance, it would have an “Appearance” option in the Settings menu that would allow users to make unwanted apps disappear without actually deleting them.

The workaround: Isolate undesirable apps on your last home page–that’s the quick and dirty method. A more elaborate trick, detailed at Macenstein, stashes apps on a hidden overflow page, though this works only until the iPhone is turned off. Jailbreakers will seek out programs such as Sbsettings or Poof.

9. You Can’t Run Pandora or Other Apps in the Background

One of the iPhone’s greatest assets is the ability to stream Internet radio stations such as Pandora and Slacker from anywhere with a 3G or Wi-Fi connection. Too bad you can’t listen to that music while checking e-mail or playing games.

Ideally: In a perfect world, Apple would allow certain apps to run at the same time as others. We understand that Apple’s trying to keep the smartphone running smoothly, but if the iPod app can play music in the background, the iPhone’s audio apps should be able to do the same.

The workaround: Sadly, you’ll have to use your get-out-of-jail-free card. Jailbreakers can download Gaizin’s Backgrounder app for full multitasking glory.

(more…)

Sony recently opened a brand new Blu-ray factory in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia. No matter how you may feel about the Blu-ray format the automized creation process of a Blu-ray disk is still pretty awsome.

Charlie Brewer from News Limited Australia walks us through a step by step (16 worthwhile photos in all) process as robots transform gem-like polycarbonate granules into laser-readable storage. Humans are present, of course, but they’re mostly around to walk through dust rooms and try not to hinder the machines.

The lead shot? It’s of the final product being boxed for retail. [news au via Kotaku]

Networked Media Tank announced the next generation NMT Popcornhour C-200.

This is just some info regarding the NMT Popcornhour C-200 for users to get an overview of the new device. The Popcorn Hour C-200 is the most powerful and versatile Networked Media Tank yet. With it’s blazing-fast processor, Blu-ray capability, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, the C-200 makes an ideal addition to your home theater set up or high-def entertainment system. The C-200 a going for USD 299.

So here is a quick look at the all new Next Generation NMT Popcornhour C-200

The new UEC HD PVR wil be here in September, with a cheaper low end HD PVR decoder model to follow in next year.

MultiChoice launched its first HD PVR decoder in August last year, in time to view the Beijing Olympics in high definition. During this launch many consumers rushed to get the new HD PVR to put they high definition TVs to better use.

The PACE HD PVR was hover plagued with allot of software bugs, which Multichoice said has for the most been resolved. According to MultiChoice CEO Nolo Letele the latest HD PVR software release, which was made available to DSTV subscribers in May, means that the decoder is now very stable and reliable.  MultiChoice CTO Gerdus van Eeden added that there is another HD PVR software update on its way, which will further improve stability and fix a few smaller bugs.

So far Multichoice has only been able to sign up 41000 HD subscribers, allot les then the 290 000 SD PVR subscribers. Acording to Multichoice this is about to change as they wil be launching a agressive Dstv HD PVR campaign soon, with 3 additional HD channels within the next 9 months time.

Good news to those of us waiting for a new HD PVR is that there is two new HD PVR models on their way with the first being released in September this year. The first wil be a UAC HD PVR which will compete directly against the current PACE HD PVR, aswell as a lower end UAC model which will be more afordable than both the PACE and UAC HD PVR models.

The UAC HD PVR will ba a quad tuner decoder and you should see it in shops by September this year. This model is expected to cost the same as the current PACE HD PVR,

The lower end model will only contain a dual tuner and a smaller HDD, which should reduce the cost significantly. Although Multichoice has released any datails about availability and pricing, it is expected to retail for about R2000.

Lets just hope that the new models doesn’t also take almost a year to run stable.