Penpower Technology has released an iPhone which uses the device’s camera and Google’s translating prowess to offer instant word translation and definition

Whether browsing through the latest technology news, following the exploits of your favorite musician or film star or looking up exotic holiday destinations, chances are you will bump into a language that’s not your own. Thanks to online translation services, most of us can usually get the gist of what’s going on, but there are occasions when typing a word into a translation box is just not convenient. Penpower Technology has an alternative solution in the form of an application that uses the camera on the iPhone and Google’s translation service to offer instant word translation and definition.

The Worldictionary app allows iPhone 3GS/4 owners with iOS 4.2 or later and a network connection to point the device’s camera at a word on a street sign, book, restaurant menu, online newspaper or website written in one of the supported languages and engage a View and Translate feature to get access to its meaning. The app automatically recognizes the language and works both as a dictionary and thesaurus.

The current version of the app translates between traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Germany, Italian, and Spanish but is also said to be capable of taking any word from those nine languages and translating it into any of over 50 other languages.

Worldictionary automatically saves searches to allow you to build a custom dictionary or to make translation even quicker and offers the facility to learn more about a word’s usage in language. A photo needs to be taken of the text and the word highlighted, the app will then reveal etymology, phonetics, synonyms and other valuable information. Words can also be entered manually using an onscreen keyboard.

Like the World Lens augmented reality app, Worldictionary’s word-by-word approach is by no means perfect. It doesn’t offer the same translation potential and power as the Quicktionary TS Premium pen-based solution from Wizcom Technologies, for instance, but it is much cheaper and makes use of something many of us already have – a smartphone.

The app is available now from the iTunes store for US$4.99.

Runners live longer, so they say, and a new iPhone app proves it through the theory of special relativity. Just in time for marathon season!

As your velocity increases, time as you experience it slows down relative to something moving slower than you. A passenger on a spaceship traveling near the speed of light would appear to have aged less than his friends when he returned to Earth, for instance. Similarly, a fast runner appears to gain time compared to a slow runner.

Einstein’s Pedometer brings special relativity to your daily activities, showing how much time you gain by moving. The faster you move, the more nanoseconds you gain relative to your stationary friends.

The iPod app, designed by a Japanese developer, uses the iPhone’s GPS capabilities and Lorentz transformation equations to calculate this. The Lorentz transformation is a set of equations that relate one observer’s space and time coordinates to those of another observer.

Einstein’s Pedometer is free on the App Store, available for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad devices.

Logitech has entered the seemingly insatiable iPad accessory market with a case that should appeal to those looking to use their new iPad 2 for something a bit more productive than playing Fruit Ninja. The Logitech Keyboard Case for the iPad 2 is made from aircraft-grade aluminum to match Apple’s tablet, features a built-in wireless keyboard and is lined with high-density padding to keep the tablet safe and secure and prevent the keyboard from touching the screen, even if dropped.

The physical keyboard, which is charged via USB, connects to the iPad 2 via Bluetooth and comprises a full QWERTY keypad with special function keys for music, volume, slideshow, home and search controls. The case’s flexible hinge makes it easy to switch from touchscreen to keyboard input and can support the iPad in either portrait or landscape mode.

The case, which protects the screen and sides of the iPad, only adds about a quarter of an inch (6 mm) to the thickness of the slimmed down iPad 2 and could be a more convenient solution than carrying around a separate keyboard – even if it’s a folding Bluetooth keyboard.

Anyone familiar with the ZAGGmate with keyboard case from ZAGG will recognize that it is identical to the Logitech offering, with a partnership between the two companies giving Logitech worldwide distribution rights to the ZAGGmate case. The Logitech Keyboard case is expected to be available in the U.S. this month and will retail for US$99.99. If you can’t wait or are after a case for the original iPad, they are still available from ZAGG for the same price.

Pinball Magic is an ‘(app)cessory’ that lets an iPhone or iPod touch operate as a miniature digital pinball machine

It’s perhaps inevitable that as video gaming technology advances, some of us may start to long for the simpler nuts-and-bolts arcade games of our youth. Well, they never got much nuttier and boltier than pinball, and the new Pinball Magic "(app)cessory" allows you to transform your iPhone or iPod touch into a digital version of just such a machine – complete with its own functional iDevice-sized cabinet. Just fire it up, turn up the Buddy Holly, Jefferson Airplane or Joan Jett, then pretend you’re back in the days of broken curfews and wedgies.

The Pinball Magic cabinet has working side-mounted flipper buttons, a ball-launching plunger and a credit/select button. Its legs fold up for transport, while an oscillating top-mounted LED and animated backbox light display add to the tacky realism.

The app itself is available for free from iTunes, for iPhones 2G, 3G, 3GS, or 4, or iPod touch running OS 3.0 or higher. The games are also available on iTunes, and include features such as multiple skill levels, multiplayer and multi-ball modes, and replay bonuses. Cheaters beware, the games also incorporate tilt detection, and will warn you accordingly if you try to "help" the ball out. Support for third party games is said to be in the works.

You can also play music from your device’s library as you’re playing pinball, which will be overlaid with the audio of the game – all sorts of retro possibilities come to mind, depending on the era in which the user misspent their youth.

Pinball Magic is made by New Potato Technologies, and the cabinet is available at various retailers, or via the company website for US$39.99.

Apple announced the latest iPad today, and while it may not have the ultra-HD screen or SD card slot we’d been hoping for, it’s still an improvement over the first iteration of the tablet, both in hardware and software. Chief among those: the new Apple A5 chip, a dual-core processor like the Motorola Xoom’s and BlackBerry PlayBook’s, and both a front-facing camera for FaceTime chat and a rear-facing camera.

The Physical

Size: The hardware has been rejiggered in the typical Apple way–ever thinner, in this case whittled down to a mere 8.8mm thick (thinner than the iPhone 4, even) and lighter, down from 1.5 to 1.3 pounds (the Motorola Xoom, in comparison, weighs 1.6 pounds).

Color: White! Everyone likes white things! (As John Mahoney noted, it "totally looks like a picture frame"). The classic black will still be available.

Internals: Apple revealed its latest processor, the update to the single-core A4 chip that is predictably a dual-core chip called the A5. That puts the iPad on relatively equal footing with, well, every other tablet that sprung up in its wake–the Motorola Xoom has a dual-core Tegra 2, and the soon-to-be-released BlackBerry Playbook and HP TouchPad both offer dual-core chips as well (a TI OMAP and a dual-core Snapdragon, respectively). Apple claims the new A5 is nine times faster than the A4, which is kind of a hard number to quantify but at least assures us that the iPad 2 will be noticeably faster than its predecessor. At the same time, Apple says the iPad 2 will retain that legendary 10-hour battery life, despite the new power and new size.

As for other internals, the iPad 2 will come with a gyroscope sensor, just like the iPhone 4–it can be used for better sensing of movement, in concert with the accelerometer. Apple did not mention memory, however, long considered the Achilles’ heel of the iPad 1: That tablet came with a mere 256MB, 25% as much as competing tablets like the Motorola Xoom. That inhibits its ability to run multiple programs at once, so we hope Apple just neglected to mention a bump.

Accessories

Protection: Weirdly enough, the new Apple-made case is one of the more exciting things on display today. "Case" is really a misnomer–it’s more of a screen cover, a thin sheet that shields the iPad’s screen but not its back. The case, made of either leather or poly cloth, attaches to the iPad with magnets, and can be folded into a stand to hold the iPad 2 either vertically or horizontally. Our favorite part? When the cover is applied, the iPad goes to sleep, and when it’s removed, the iPad wakes–automatically.

HDMI-Out: There’ll also be an HDMI-out adapter, the first in an iOS device, which mirrors your content on an HDTV. Nice, but pricey at $40, especially when just about every other tablet and phone can do this with a standard miniHDMI port.

Software

Apple is updating their content creation software for the iPad, perhaps to counter the perception that tablets are all about content consumption. That comes in the form of a revamped iMovie and GarageBand, Apple’s two excellent programs for video and music editing. GarageBand features virtual touch instruments, which make me uneasy as a musician, but it seems like it could be a pretty impressive mobile recording studio. Both will be available for $5, which is pretty insane considering the depth of those programs. Loath as I am to give up my decades-old, chipped plastic 4-track cassette recorder, the iPad 2 might actually be a superior option.

Otherwise, iOS 4.3 is largely unchanged–Apple says Safari browsing will be faster, and there are some improved AirPlay functionality, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same. iOS 4.3 will ship for modern iOS devices (less than two years old) on March 11th, though Apple excludes the Verizon iPhone 4 from this announcement–it’s possible that iOS 4.3 will be a little delayed for it, although Verizon iPhone owners are accustomed to waiting.

The Network

The iPad 2 will be available in both black and white on both AT&T and Verizon. Both will be 3G–no LTE here yet.

The Price

The iPad 2′s price is unchanged from the iPad 1–it starts at $500 for the Wi-Fi-only 16GB version, and moves up to the priciest version, a 64GB 3G iPad for $830.

The Release Date

You’ll be able to snag the iPad 2 here in the States on March 11th, otherwise known as next Friday. Internationally, it’ll see release on March 25th.

Apple’s New Pentalobular Screws

If you thought Apple’s dictatorial stranglehold over the devices that you bought and paid for only extended to the company’s vice-grip control over its operating system and its app store, think again. According to the hardware hackers over at ifixit, Apple is switching to new kind of tamper-resistant screw that aims to keep you from dismantling your iPhone or Macbook at home, ensuring that the only person who can get at the guts of your device is wearing “Genius Bar” insignia.

The new screw is similar to a Torx screw, but rather than six points it has five, and they are rounded rather than sharp. Service manuals refer to them as pentalobes (that means they’re pentalobular), and the tool that extracts them is expensive, rare, and more or less only readily available behind the repair counter at the Apple Store. See how that works?

These screws first showed up on the mid-2009 Macbook Pro apparently, and since has shown up on the Macbook Air and in several non-U.S. iPhone 4 editions. New editions of the iPhone 4 will have them as well, and—and this is the real icing on the cake—if you take your phone to Apple for service, they will replace your standard screws with the new pentalobular versions, reportedly even if the service you require doesn’t require the screws to be removed.

In other words, Apple doesn’t want you to be able to modify your phone in any way without the company’s explicit permission and oversight (and a nominal service fee).

What will save us from this kind of technological tyranny? One thought generated at PopSCi HQ: more technology. Such “security” shenanigans may soon be rendered obsolete by technologies like 3-D printing, which would allow tinkerers to scan the shape of a screw head into their workbench console and quickly custom-print the proper tool for any task. Until then, ifixit will happily sell you a rather inexpensive iPhone 4 Liberation Kit.

Apple’s Diabolical Plan to Screw your iPhone from iFixit on Vimeo.

TabGrip makes typing easier in either portrait or landscape mode

Apple’s iPad gets top marks for aesthetics, but when it comes to ergonomics, most would agree there’s room for improvement. The result is a bevy of products devoted to protecting, propping-up and generally enhancing the experience of living with an iPad. This example – the TabGrip – is a versatile stand that also protects the device when placed on flat surfaces, but its primary aim is to ensure the iPad stays firmly in your mitts as you play games or show off your latest holiday snaps.

The TabGrip is made up of four contoured, rubberized grips centered on each of the iPad’s four sides so that it’s comfortable to hold in both portrait and landscape mode. The hinged legs can also be used to make viewing and typing easier regardless of which way the screen is orientated.

There’s a slot for the connector so you don’t have to remove the TabGrip while charging/syncing and it protects the iPad from getting scratched or dented when placed on a flat surface, even with the screen facing down.

While the design doesn’t offer any corner protection, it doesn’t add as much bulk as some covers and at 0.25 lbs, it won’t send you to the chiropractor.

The US$50 TabGrip is nominated for the "Best of Show" prize at CES in Las Vegas and the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco.

Here’s a look at the company’s promotional trailer:

The current generation iPad

With Apple likely to maintain its usual one-year gap between updates to its popular product series we can expect to see iPad mark II sometime around April – if not before. As the original iPad was announced at a press event in January 2010, it’s also likely we’ll get some kind of official announcement early in 2011. With that date rapidly approaching we thought it would be a good time to do a round up of the more credible rumors surrounding the next generation iPad that for the time being, thanks to Apple’s renowned secrecy, has simply been dubbed the iPad 2.

Cameras Aplenty

Despite the undeniable success of the iPad, perhaps the greatest criticism leveled at the device has been its lack of a camera. As a result, the consensus among pundits is that the iPad 2 will rectify this oversight with not one, but two cameras, like the iPhone 4 – a back-facing camera and a front-facing camera for Apple’s Facetime video calling software. This rumor seems to be a good bet and would be the one we’d be putting money on.

USB Port

In keeping with the mobile nature of the iPad, getting files and information on and off the original iPad is usually a wireless affair, either through Wi-Fi or 3G. The current iPad’s wired connectivity options are limited to Apple’s proprietary dock connector, but a report from the Chinese-language Economic Daily News suggests that could change with the introduction of a USB port for the iPad 2.

Although this would likely be a welcome addition for many users, the Economic Daily News has a mixed track record when it comes to Apple rumors. Although it was the first to reveal that Apple was working on a tablet and not a netbook, it also reported that Apple was planning a 7-inch iPad before Christmas 2010. Steve Jobs specifically denied this in October but more recent reports have sparked rumors of a smaller iPad once again – just not before Christmas obviously.

As for a USB port, this seems like a longer shot than others on the list but may be helped by the fact that the European Commission this year formally approved a policy that will require nearly all smartphones and “data-enabled” phones to adopt a standard micro-USB charging connector from January 2011. The iPad obviously isn’t a phone, but Apple has signed the agreement.

Smaller, lighter and carbon-fiber

Another common criticism of the current iPad is its weight. Coming in at 1.5 lb (680 g) for the Wi-Fi model and 1.6 lb (730 g) for the Wi-Fi + 3G model, the current iPad can quickly wear one’s arms out when being used without support for even short periods. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the evolution of Apple’s products will know that the company likes to slim down its devices from one generation to the next so a slimmer and lighter iPad 2 seems a pretty safe bet.

However, the most recent rumor doing the rounds relates to how Apple might achieve shedding some of that weight. According to a new patent application from Apple published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week that was discovered by AppleInsider, Apple may be considering doing away with the solid aluminum back of the current iPad in favor of much lighter carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The patent application concerns a “Reinforced Device Housing” for electronic devices composed of a “layered fiber-in-matrix type material, such as CFRP,” with illustrations showing a housing with dimensions suspiciously similar to an iPad. Again, a slimmer, lighter iPad 2 seems a sure thing. How Apple achieves the weight reduction is another matter but replacing the hefty aluminum housing would be the obvious place to start.

Retina Display

Although the current iPad’s 1024 x 768 pixel resolution display is no slouch, the addition of more pixels is always welcome. The addition of a Retina Display would make the iPad 2 an even better deice for reading text and Apple’s history of introducing a new feature on one device – in this case the iPhone 4 – and adding it to other devices in its lineup is well known. This one also seems like a good bet.

The Rest

Other rumors that have also been bandied about include an upgraded speaker, dual-core CPU, gyroscope and, in addition to the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + UMTS models, a Wi-Fi + CDMA model that would work on Verizon’s 3G network. There are countless other rumors doing the rounds that would fill an article multiple pages long, but we’ve stuck with the ones that we think have a better than even money chance of becoming a reality.

With the iPad enjoying one of the most successful launches of a tech gadget in history, it’s not surprising speculation regarding the next generation of the device is rife. Of course, if you’re not the sort to buy into such crystal ball gazing it shouldn’t be too long before we get the official word from the horse’s mouth.

Of course you knew this was coming, you probably just didn’t expect it so soon. If Apple keeps up with its usual schedule, we don’t expect an iPhone 4 successor to rear its head until summer 2011, but already some KIRF scientists are making forward-looking projections and produced what it thinks might be the KIRF iPhone to go tête-à-tête with the presumed iPhone 5. Resolution’s apparently low, but it does its best to make up for it with dual SIM capabilities, WiFi, Bluetooth, a microSD slot, built-in camera with flash, an all-too familiar UI — all at a price guaranteed to assuage regret: about 700 yuan (US $106). The future is now, why wait?

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is reportedly teaming up with Apple to develop a tablet-only publication

Over the past decade, the rise and rise of the Internet has seen traditional newspapers scrambling to go online lest they go the way of the dodo – or the Rocky Mountain News. Unfortunately for the publishers, the public became accustomed to getting this online content for free and publishers faced the difficult task of converting readers to a more sustainable subscription model. The increasing popularity of tablets such as the iPad is changing the newspaper landscape yet again and media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is now reportedly teaming up with Apple to develop a tablet-only publication exclusively for the iPad and other tablet devices.

Possibly looking to avoid the difficulty of weaning readers off free content that he faced with publications such as the Wall Street Journal Online, News Corp’s new venture, called The Daily, will be available only via subscription right off the bat.

Murdoch told Fox Business The Daily will launch in beta mode around Christmas before being introduced to the public early next year. With no printing or distribution costs it is expected to cost US$0.99 a week, or about $4.25 a month and will come out seven days a week.

The Guardian says that Apple has been working with News Corp. on the project and that, even though iOS 4.2 went public just yesterday, it is already aiming at a mid-December release for iOS 4.3 that will enable the publication to be dispatched automatically to an iPad. There is also speculation the update would usher in recurring subscriptions for apps through iTunes and that Steve Jobs would join Murdoch on stage at a press event to launch the publication.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Jesse Angelo, formerly the managing editor of The New York Post, is working full-time on the project, which is expected to eventually comprise a newsroom of around 100 staffers. As well as traditional print journalists, The Daily will also concentrate on producing video content, as evidenced by the choice of Steve Alperin, a producer at ABC News, as one of the three managing editors.

Angelo reportedly wants The Daily to have a tabloid sensibility with a broadsheet intelligence, while Murdoch told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) that the new publication would be a bit like The New York Post, with a similar attitude and element of humor, only national. There will also be no foreign bureaus, and there aren’t even plans for a D.C. bureau at the moment. Murdoch did say that the publication would campaign on many issues, nominating U.S. education as one of the first topics.

Murdoch also told the AFR that he initially wanted to call the publication The Daily Planet but that DC comics wasn’t amused.