New “Poser” theme from Elecite brings new approach to customizing your theme

The days of being able to simply change your wallpaper and calling that the end of your customizing rope are over. A new BlackBerry theme by Elecite takes a rather unique and exciting departure from the typical world of BlackBerry themes. Instead of merely having the ability to change your background and maybe move the icons a bit, Poser gives you a new, untold amount of options.

The whole concept of the theme revolves around customizing an avatar and yes, wallpaper too. The number of avatars available is pretty high with Stewie from Family Guy and a stealthy Ninja being two of my personal favorite. But the customization doesn’t stop there. With each avatar you choose you can further drill down in the options and change features such as the head, outfit, weapon, accessories — even giving the poor creation a pet.

All of this seems like it would cause the greedy theme dev to jack up the price. Thankfully that’s not the case. $3.49 and your’re out the door rockin’ your new theme.

**Super cool side note: If you think your poser/avatar is the coolest of the cool, take a screenshot and send it to poser@elecite.com for a chance to win a top spot in the 10 best posers. The 10 best winners will receive a refund from purchasing the Poser theme as well as another theme of your choice free. What are you waiting for?!

• Purchase Poser for BlackBerry devices running OS 5.0 or higher from Elecite for 3.49

3D glasses to tag team that nifty 3D TV you just bought priced out of relevance for most — $75+

Isn’t it funny how HD’s dominance as “the” TV tech to have was rather short lived? In some senses I guess it isn’t that short. Looking at the bigger picture however again suggests otherwise. Overly philosophical theories aside, 3D TV is going to explode in the next few years. HD was cool and all, making the best of what a 2D picture could look like, but 3D is an entirely different animal. A fine, sexy, killing machine of an animal I would wager to say.

One of the obvious tools the 3D aficionado of the coming years will need is first a 3D capable TV. With that TV you’ll need some form of 3D content — hello satellite, cable, Blu-ray 3D. Good to go? Not quite there skippy. You need one more item — glasses. While we’d all like to see 3D pulled from it’s reliance on glasses, the ugly truth is you’re going to be in for quite a wait if that’s what you’re hoping for anytime soon. Be thankful for these new age 3D glasses aren’t nearly as ugly or gimmicky as the old red/blue anaglyph versions as you can see from the renderings above.

The pair of glasses pictured above are what a good deal of the 3D glasses that are both paired with 3D TV purchases and bought separately will look like. Red isn’t my personal favorite but if it gives me Avatar in my living room, well let’s just say I’ll deal with it. The only thing that makes your eyes to the double brow lift is the reported price tag of $75+. Youch. That $75 is on the low end as well with prices easily climbing to $150.

Clearly, these glasses and TV’s are not meant for families with children or the clumsy prone. At least not in the near term. As the technology advances and the market becomes more saturated, picking up said glasses at a fraction of the cost will become much easier. Even still, a 2, 3, or more child home would likely want to stay away from 3D TV’s and glasses for the mere fact that replacing the glasses alone could bankrupt them. Sad that greed is tarnishing a great technology and service from the start. But I digress…

Anyone out there ready to drop it big on 3D TV in 2010 and beyond? If you so choose, share with us whether you have kids or not and if that factors in to your decision. Happy commenting

Dvice

NYC goes one step further, bans in-ear cellphone devices for cabbies.

Many states and municipalities are beginning to move forward with cellphone bans, making it illegal to use your hands and talk on the phone in the car. Hands-free devices such as bluetooth ear pieces fix this. For cabbies in NYC however, life just became a much bigger pain in the ass — the city has unanimously voted to ban in-ear cellphone devices, specifically stating: “in the immediate proximity of the driver’s ear”.

Numerous reports and studies have been conducted showing the increased risk cellphone use in the car presents. Even hands-free use has been shown to increase the risk of accidents. But does it really matter? How far will governments go with the ban hammer. Just as a cellphone conversation or texting can distract driving, so can talking deeply to a friend, fiddling with the radio, and adjusting the mirror. Will the government ban that too?

If I come across harsh, sorry, I’m merely saying it how it is — at some point, you have to stop safety proofing the world. If we ever reach a point in society where there is no way for a person to die by accidental means, we’re all going to be trapped in our houses surrounded by our own miniature force fields and plastic bubbles.

With that said, I can understand and generally accept a hands free rule for mobile talkers in the car. But banning pretty much any type of communication is stupid, short sighted, and in fact more dangerous than the ear pieces caused. Mind you, cabbies have been banned from most cellphone usage for close to a decade now. The only reason this is cropping up again is because the in-ear devices made it nearly impossible to tell if they were chatting to the passenger, themselves, or the person in their ear. Not so anymore.

What do you think? Is NYC getting too draconian in their ways? I mean, you can only ban so many things and services in life before it starts getting over reaching. In this particular case, I’d say NYC is going overboard. What’s your take?

NYC

[Image Source]

The GameBoy Calculator: Fooling teachers of all subjects since 2009.

Math is far and wide my least favored subject. But we’ve gone over that before many, many times. So instead of complaining about my number crunching hatred, I’ll share with you one way to ignore it altogether, fooling your teachers and pleasing your soul.

The GameBoy Calculator is one of those inventions we all wished for as school children. School is rarely “fun” in the purest sense of the word. Making our days go quicker by filling them with some super cool retro gaming would certainly give the daily grind a much needed kick in the pants, wouldn’t you say? Skilled tinkerer Alentris did just that.

He took your standard TI-83 (TI really needs to upgrade these things) graphing calculator and crammed a fully functioning GameBoy inside. Cool is an understatement. You may notice some rough edges and what not, but lets be real, this is a calculator/GameBoy meant to pass some time — not some Apple inspired gadget of beauty.

The only problem that crops up is when Alentris does actually need to use a calculator. Such issues can be remedied with simple adjustments in the design however. When making the next iteration, remove the GameBoy and replace it with an iPod Touch. Games. Tools. Internet. Problem solved.

Technabob

Verizon: “The iPhone will…err…if we had an iPhone, it would totally work better on our network.

The ever persistent iPhone/Verizon rumor comes and goes in what seems like monthly cycles. The rumors are brought on by god knows what as there are plenty of reasons and clues pointing both towards and away a CDMA iPhone for VZW. Of course, with AT&T’s current plight, the case for a VZW bound iPhone is stronger than ever with VZW even letting a few of their own voice their own opinions, saying something along the lines that Verizon would rock the iPhone sooo much better. One exec in particular, CTO Anthony Melone, just so happens to be one of those supporters.

Late Thursday, Verizon CTO Anthony Melone stated that the company has taken appropriate measures in regards to upgrading their network for “iPhone-like data traffic”. His wording is careful and clever. He doesn’t come straight out and say “we’re getting the iPhone” or “we upgraded our network specifically for the iPhone” instead, softly stepping around the direct issue.

However you interpret the data here as well as the other rumors that have floated past your senses, it’s common sense to assume a CDMA iPhone will come at some point. How or when as well as what it will look like are all up in the air, as are questions surrounding Verizon’s claims. Is Verizon really prepared for data spikes attributed to a bajillion iPhone users? We shall see…

Electronista > Business Week

[Image Source]

Android catching up to iPhone, slowly eating off everyone’s plates.

The iPhone may still be the defacto standard when it comes to anything in the consumer smartphone realm, but Android would like to remind you that they aren’t giving up. In fact, according to the latest AdMob reports, Android is actually biting away at Apple’s share as well as making mad grabs from a few other OS’s dinner plates.

The chart shows Apple still maintains a 2 : 1 lead as far as OS market share goes, however, Android is again closing that gap. Of all the members present, Symbian and Windows Mobile bring up the back end of the pack. If they follow their recent trends, expect their shares to sink further and further as RIM, Apple, and Android claim even more of the mobile market.

**It’s worth noting that AdMob stats don’t highlight individual units owned or market share of actual devices. Instead, AdMob shows how much users of said OS’s use the mobile web.

VentureBeat

A bunch of Iranian wacko extremists who butcher the English language “take control” of Twitter.

Unless you live at 120 Rock Ln., you’ve no doubt heard about Twitter’s “hijack” at least twice this morning. Late last night a group claiming to be the “Iranian Cyber Army” exploited a hole in security around Twitter’s DNS records which led to the events that unfolded. The events of course weren’t anything too sinister — a simple picture and some propaganda jargon saying we’re the best you’re not. Really deep stuff. I should be more worried but I find myself more cynical than ever, though nothing worth getting bent out of shape over.

What this little attack does highlight is that Twitter needs to get a better grip on their stuff. I shouldn’t write them off too quickly as such a large American staple of mass communication is an obvious target for those looking to spread a message.

The Message:

The translated message:

Iranian Cyber Army
THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY
iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM
U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, But They Don’t, We Control And Manage Internet By Our Power, So Do Not Try To Stimulation Iranian Peoples To….
NOW WHICH COUNTRY IN EMBARGO LIST? IRAN? USA?
WE PUSH THEM IN EMBARGO LIST
Take Care.

**Note to extremist groups who think they’re tech savvy: If you’re going to “take over” jack around with some DNS records, please at least learn the fuckin’ language of the people you’re trying to mock. You’re senseless ramblings only make you look stupid.

BGR