Fans of the doomed-from-the-start Palm Foleo will be happy to hear that the Celio REDFLY Windows Mobile companion notebook is now available online. The Celio REDFLY works to extend the computing power of your Windows Mobile smartphone to a notebook form-factor with larger display and full-sized QWERTY keyboard. With no OS, CPU or storage, the Celio [...]

BMW’s iDrive control system is incredibly complex and enabling. While it enables you to control virtually every aspect of your iDrive-equipped BMW through a series of twists and pushes on the iDrive controller-knob, the system’s inherent complexity has drawn the ire of almost every automotive reviewer on the planet. BMW knows tech, but they just don’t know how to make it simple to use. So, this latest rumor about BMW ditching iDrive in favor of an Apple-designed control interface makes a lot of sense. Apple is well known for designing the most intuitive interfaces that are still able to control fairly complex actions. Moreover, Apple is great at simplifying the most complex actions into a handful of intuitive control-gestures - exactly what BMW’s iDrive system needs. Wouldn’t it be amazing if your car’s media controls, environmental controls, communication settings, and even operational options (like pathway lighting and day-time running lights) could be controlled with the ease of an iPod (or iPhone)? The car is just about the most expensive and one of the more complex gadgets you’ll ever own, so it stands to reason that your car’s interface become almost, if not just as, easy to operate as an iPod. AutoSpies’s internal sources are indicating that BMW may very well implement an Apple-style control system soon - possibly with the next-gen 7-series. While BMW might not be integrating the iPhone into the car as Land Rover did with their LRX concept, an Apple-esque user interface ( it’s all about the UI ) would be a much welcomed change. We’ll keep an eye on BMW’s latest developments for you guys. Stay tuned. [Via: AutoSpies ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:No related posts

We let this one slip through the cracks, but here it is - better late than never. Playing a mobile game usually means that you’ll have to put all other applications on hold (if not closed-out altogether for the sake of memory usage). The mobile game usually takes priority on most touch-based commands (and directional commands on phones without touchscreens), rendering the cellphone all but useless for anything but playing the game itself. Incoming calls interrupt game-play, and the game must be stopped in order to load a webpage. Well, Apple wants to change all that. Apple has filed a patent application for a multi-touch gaming interface that allows iPhone and iPod Touch owners to play mobile-games while simultaneously being able to control a secondary application. The application, titled “Techniques for interactive input to portable electronic devices,” outlines a method whereby the user would be able to input touch-based commands on any touch-based device. Depending on where the touch-input is registered, the underlying technology would determine which application the input was intended for. The “Input is directed to the appropriate application based on one or more locations (e.g., points, positions, regions, portions) of the input area effectively identified when input is received (e.g., when input is entered by a person by touching a particular position on a touch screen).” Furthermore, the inputs’ intentions can be derived from more intuitive motions, like “positional, directional, rotational, pressing and/or pushing type inputs (or movement),” in order to determine which application should process a particular input. News of the application filing comes just prior to Apple’s expected release of an iPhone SDK. The release of the official SDK should foster a flurry of mobile gaming development on the iPhone, and as such, Apple will want to give mobile gamers more control over their devices’ features. [Via: Apple Insider ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Apple files for second pressure-sensitive touch display patentApple considering multi-touch for Mac computer lineupApple files patent application for pressure-sensitive touchscreen technologyApple patent filed for tactile touchscreen - raised, indented keysMicrosoft Zune Phone - New Patent Application Hints At Zune Phone Tiled Interface