Orchestra members turn the iPhone into a musical instrument

Generally, cell phone noise is pretty much the last thing you'd want to hear at a concert. But it's all the audience will be getting at a Michigan recital next week. And that's the way it's supposed to be when the Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble hits the stage.

Orchestra members are University of Michigan students winding up a fall course on turning mobile phones into musical instruments. The course merges engineering practices, mobile phone programming, and sound synthesis with music performance, composition, and interactive media arts.
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AMD readies Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D demo for CES 2010

AMD has fired its first salvo at the potentially lucrative 3D Blu-ray market ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show held next month in Las Vegas. According to its press release, the company will have a working demonstration of the forthcoming Blu-ray stereoscopic 3D standard at the annual tradeshow. More importantly, AMD is claiming the availability of compatible products and solutions as early as the second half of 2010 even though related format specifications are still a "work in progress" at the moment. This new development could probably mean AMD/ATI chips in your future Blu-ray players or computer-oriented 3D implementations in the PC market.

Either way, you'll probably need to overhaul your existing home theater to enjoy 3D visuals that jump out of your screen. And if you still recall the initial confusion with Blu-ray profile 1.0, 1,1 and 2.0, we strongly suggest you take the manufacturers' promises with a huge pinch of salt. These electronics makers seldom get things right the first time and will probably need time to iron out the kinks.

Via Engadget HD

Toddlers send tweets with Twoddler

If orangutans can post photos to Facebook, then toddlers can certainly Twitter.

And now they have a prototype gadget for doing that--the Twoddler, a tricked-out Fisher Price Activity Center with pictures of family members and friends attached and an Arduino board inside.

When a child presses a certain picture for a select amount of time, software captures sensor data from the activity center and selects and sends a predefined text related to that data.
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Youth harass and spy on partners with mobile phones

Cell phones and the Internet are great ways for romantic partners to stay in touch, but based on a recent survey of 14- to 24-year-olds, they're also being used to spy and harass significant others.

My report on the Associated Press and MTV study about youth digital abuse focused mostly on sexting and how youth respond to cyberbullying. But there was also some interesting data on how technology is being used for "dating abuse."

The study (PDF) found that 22 percent of youth involved in a romantic relationship say they feel like their significant other uses a cell phone or goes online to check up on them too often. The study also found that "more than 1 in 4 say their boyfriend or girlfriend has checked the text messages on their phone without permission," and more than 10 percent of the young people said that a boyfriend or girlfriend has demanded that they give them their password.

Whether by coercion or not, 26 percent said they had shared an online password with someone. Females (31 percent) are more likely to share passwords than males (22 percent). And though there isn't necessarily a causal relationship, 68 percent of those who have shared passwords report having been a target of digital abuse compared with 44 percent of those who hadn't.
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SingTel iPhone owners: What you should know if you switch telcos

After some delays, Singapore telco operators MobileOne (M1) and StarHub finally revealed their iPhone price plans today.

If you put aside the value-added services and loyalty discounts (which may vary depending on your subscription plans), M1 appears to offer the best deal with its cheapest iValue plan. If you are a current SingTel subscriber with an iPhone, here's what you need to know if you are switching service providers.
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