Free VoIP calling solution for Facebook users.

Bobsled
Price: Free

Bobsled is a Facebook application by American mobile operator T-Mobile to let users have voice conversations for free. Although it is by T-Mobile, it can be used by anyone and anywhere in the world with an Android or iOS, or even through the browser (IE8, IE9, Chrome 10+, and Firefox 3.6+ for Windows; Safari 5, Chrome 10+, and Firefox 3.6+ for Mac OS X). FB users can make free calls to FB friends and any mobile or landline in the US, Canada, or Puerto Rico for free even from overseas.

How it works
To start the browser version of Bobsled, you need to go to the homepage of the application and click on For Your Browser button. You will then be taken to a page where you are required to log into FB and allow the application access. Once this is done, you will see your friends list.

Friends list is visible once you log into Bobsled in the browser.

Next, you must click on the user with whom you want to start a conversation. At this stage, you can only use text chat. To enable voice calling, you must click on the Call button between your picture and your friend's picture. Click on Download Now button when prompted, to download Bobsled software, which is an 8.1 MB file. Once downloaded, run this file and follow the setup instructions to set up your browsers for making calls. Make sure you have connected a headset with microphone to the computer to be able to converse.

Post installation of the software, clicking the Call button will provide you with options to either call your friend online, to the phone, or just leave a voice message. The first and last options are always available, however the second option lets you call any landline or mobile number in the US, Canada, or Puerto Rico at no charge. While you can make calls from just about anywhere, the recipient has to be in one of these three countries to be able to receive your call.

Different calling options are available after installing the software.

You can call a landline number using this dialer.

If your friend is offline, you will be automatically asked to record a voice message and add a text note to it. This will then be posted on your friend's wall.

Leave a voice message if your friend is offline.

For iOS users, the app can be downloaded from the iTunes store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bobsled/id456700444?mt=8. This app works with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and requires iOS 4.2 or later.

Once installed, you must log into your FB account on your device after launching the Bobsled app. In this case too, you have to tap on one of your friends from the list to start a conversation.

Friends list visible in the Bobsled app.

As before, your friend does not need to download anything to receive your call. However, there are a few more options in this version. You can add contacts to favourites or send invitations to friends to try this Bobsled.

A few more options are available in the app version of Bobsled.

You can opt to make a call to your friend by clicking on the Phone Call button and the call will be made as before. There are Mute and Speaker controls similar to the ones available when you make a normal phone call.

Call in progress in the Bobsled app.

However, if your friend is offline, you can click on Leave Message button and record a voice message, which will leave a public message on your friend's wall.

You can record a voice message and post on your offline friend's wall.

Google Android device users can download the application from the Android Market at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.vivox.bobsled. It is functionally similar to the iOS version and therefore does not warrant a separate explanation.

In all the above cases, your friend need not have Bobsled installed or even be using the app. The person you call receives a Facebook chat message accompanied by ringing from you with a link. When he \ she clicks on the link in the message, your call will be connected. If your friend does not answer, you can use Facebook chat to determine if they are available. If the friend is using Bobsled, he \ she can answer the call by clicking on the Answer button after it rings.

Last but not the least, we must mention that Bobsled is not meant to be used for emergency calls as it makes no claims that it will always be able to place the call.

The Verdict
Bobsled is a useful application indeed. Facebook users can call each other using the browser or app method. VoIP calling is also possible and the voice quality is good with the browser and better with the app. It even works if you are using a GPRS connection, although a 3G or Wi-Fi connection is recommended for the best results. However, its usability as a VoIP calling tool is limited to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico at least for now, which means that applications such as Skype are still preferable if you need to call anywhere in the world, even though it means paying the cost. It is nevertheless a very good means of communication for those whose relatives reside in the above three countries because it doesn't cost anything to make an international call.

Running Android Apps on the iPad with Myriad’s Alien Dalvik

Getting Android apps running on multiple platforms will extend them on to tablets, TVs, automobiles and more. Its a great thing for Android developers since it creates new revenue opportunities by opening up Android ecosystem to new sectors. Alien Dalvik’s a custom bit of code that lets you run unaltered Android apps on a non-Android OS, like Maemo or MeeGo and now iOS devices. We’ve got a video below of Android apps running on the iPad via the cloud with Myriad’s Alien Dalvik.

Myriad will be offering developers and app store owners, along with OEM manufacturers the ability to create a development life cycle based around the services that Myriad provides. The hope is that, this will allow smoother application roll-outs and creating less operating system fragmentation.

Version 2.0 runs in the cloud with Netzyn’s servers doing all the heavy lifting, as opposed to the original where the native host environment resides on the gadget itself. So, devices with this new Dalvik on board get an H.264 video feed of Android with some secret sauce letting users interact with the apps — not unlike Onlive’s cloud gaming service.

There’s currently no support for Honeycomb apps, but Olivier informed us that such functionality is in the works. Myriad’s currently in talks with car manufacturers, avionics firms, Samsung and others to get Alien Dalvik on their products. If you want to get an idea of what type of automotive system would run Alien Dalvik applications, check out the Cadillac Cue video below the walk through of Myriad working on the iPad.

With Courtesy Netbooknews.com

The Little Kingdom

Steve on the cover of Time

he February 15th, 1982 edition of Time magazine featured none other than Steve Jobs on its cover, appearing in an article entitled "Striking It Rich: America's Risk Takers". Instead of a photograph, Steve was depicted in a drawing with a red apple balanced on his head that was pierced by a zig-zag bolt of light emanating from an Apple II.

The article inside focused on a number of high tech start-ups, but there was a long sidebar that told the story of Apple's meteoric rise, written by a young business reporter named Mike Moritz. It was a bit critical in places ("As an executive, Jobs has sometimes been petulant and harsh on subordinates"), but in general it was positive about the company and its prospects.

Macintosh development was shrouded in secrecy, even within Apple, so we were surprised one day a few months later when Steve appeared in the software area of Bandley 4 accompanied by the Time reporter, Mike Moritz. Steve requested that I give him a demo of the Macintosh, and answer all of his questions. Apparently, Mike wanted to write a book about Apple, and managed to convince Steve to give him total access to the company, including the Macintosh team.

"Mike's going to be our historian," Steve informed us, "so you can tell him everything. Treat him like he's a member of the team, because he's going to write our story for us."

The previous year, a development team at Data General was immortalized by Tracy Kidder's best selling book, "The Soul of a New Machine", about the ups and downs of developing a new mini-computer. Now it seemed like Mike Moritz was going to do something similar for the Mac team.

Mike Moritz in 1984

Over the next few months, Mike spent lots of time hanging around the Mac team, attending various meetings and conducting interviews over lunch or dinner, to learn our individual stories. Mike had grown up in South Wales and attended Oxford before moving to the US for grad school, obtaining an MBA from Wharton. He was in his mid-twenties, about the same age as most of us, and was very smart, with a sharp, cynical sense of humor, so he fit right in, and seemed to understand what we were trying to accomplish.

In December 1982, word somehow got around that Time Magazine was considering awarding Steve Jobs its prestigious "Man of the Year" designation for 1982. Mike Moritz, who was by now Time's San Francisco Bureau Chief, came down to Apple for another round of interviews, as background for the lengthy "Man of the Year" story. But we were in for a surprise when the award was announced the last week of the year.

Instead of crowning Steve Jobs as the Man of the Year as we expected, Time's editorial staff gave the designation to "The Computer", declaring 1982 to be the "year of the computer" and explaining that "it would have been possible to single out as Man of the Year one of the engineers or entrepreneurs who masterminded this technological revolution, but no one person has clearly dominated those turbulent events. More important, such a selection would obscure the main point. TIME's Man of the Year for 1982, the greatest influence for good or evil, is not a man at all. It is a machine: the computer."

The cover story did include another profile of Steve Jobs, containing some comments that were less than complimentary. One unspecified friend was quoted saying "something is happening to Steve that's sad and not pretty", but the best quote was attributed to Jef Raskin: "He would have made an excellent King of France."

Mike's book

Steve became quite upset when he read an advance copy of the Time article on New Year's eve, and even called up Dan Kottke and Jef Raskin early on New Year's Day to complain to them about it. Soon, Mike Moritz was no longer welcome on the Apple campus; in fact, Steve told the software team "if any one of you ever talk to him again, you'll be fired on the spot!"

But some of us talked with Mike again surreptitiously, as he was putting the finishing touches on his book around the time of the Mac introduction. The book, entitled "The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer", was published in fall of 1984; twenty years later it remains one of the best books about Apple Computer ever written.

Perhaps inspired by the example of Steve Jobs and Apple, Mike Moritz switched careers in 1986 to become a venture capitalist, working for Don Valentine at Sequoia, one of the original investors in Apple. Mike became the original investor in Yahoo in April 1995, convincing Jerry Yang and David Filo to commercialize their web directory, and today is one of the most respected VCs in the industry.

20 Innovative (Concept) Tablets We Wish Were Real

It’s been around 1.6 years since the initial release of Apple iPad, and regardless the criticism, the device has achieved tremendous success in the tablet market. It’s so successful until so many great companies have risen up to challenge its realm by designing and releasing their own version of tablet.

(Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

While great companies are competing each others by showing off new designs and devices, an interesting phenomenon happened: another group of very talented designers have also implemented their own vision on their tablet design, and these so-called concept tablets have received praises from consumers like, “I hope it’s true!”.

Be it dual screen tablet, fold-able tablet or smartphone powered tablet, in this post you will see concepts which designers combined innovation and art to become something that consumers really thirsts for. Enjoy them and let us know which tablet you hope it’s true!

MacBook Duo By Kane Yanagawa

“My proposal is for a hybrid device that is a unique combination of Apple’s existing portable media device technology with an e-reader / netbook. A device that offers enough usability in each arena to make it a standalone solution for frequent travelers. Now you can work + browse, read + write, and share + play all on one device.”

MacBook Duo. (Image Source: iLounge)

MacView By Patrycjusz Brzezinski

According to an article in blog.moridin.pl, MacView project arose from a need to have such a device. It was designed to substitute the laptop, which is mostly uncomfortable in many situations. When creating the project, the designer bought a MacBook in order to better understand the philosophy of Apple. For sure great studies gave birth a great concept.

Macview. With keyboard on the second touchscreen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Desktop View. With mini music player on second screen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Front View. With keyboard on the second touchscreen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

PDF View. With page thumbnails on second screen. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Video Playlist. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Back View. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

Charging Station. (Image Source: Patrycjusz Brzezinski)

MacBook Page By Devindh Baburam

“The MacBook Page is based on the size of a standard sheet of A4 paper. It maximises screen ‘real estate’ by presenting the user with an edge to edge interactive desktop. It also incorporates a hidden solar panel to supplement the power supply.”

MacBook Page. (Image Source: iLounge)

Doodle Book By Pyeong Yeol Yoo, Hun Park

“Doodle book is a lifebook able to make creative work. Portable enough to be carried out, it can be easily used as memo pad in any place. Included the concept of layer in its input system, it can attach or overlap an existing document, image, sketch or video comment with pen.

Doodle book is able to make creative work between idea and realization.”

Doodle Book. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Handling. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Synchronization. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Ecopad By Yonggu Do, Jun-se Kim, Eun-ha Seo

“Electricity is made automatically by using your ecoPad. Currently commercialized tablet PCs and smartphones have a very limited battery life – often not more than a day before having to be recharged.

However, on average, people press their touchscreens over 10,000 times a day. The ecoPad does not require special charging from an adaptor. Instead, it generates electricity when a user presses the touchscreen, due to the nano piezoelectricity film that is located below the display.”

ecoPad. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Layer View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Front View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

File-top By Fan Zhang

“This tablet is for the people who want a more portable and lighter computer. The inspiration comes from traditional Chinese liber. The foldable File-top composes of several translucent touchscreens and can be used as a touchpad or widescreen PC.

In the future the environmental papery material might take place of current memory devices. You are able to put all the documents into this “file” and it will store the information for you.”

File-top. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Product View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Usage Situation. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Fractal By Pedro Calle

“Fractal is everything you need, it can be split into pieces each of which can work individually as laptop, pad, music player and you can tweak them with apps and widgets.

It can also work together as a console with different touchscreens with programs, menus, tools, palettes, brushes and audio samplers, all separated physically. Find all the fun on customizing your Fractals, share them with your friends and enjoy making the digital realm a more analogous experience.”

Fractal. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Featured View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Hermes By Yeongwom Jeon, Sangmin Park, Seokho Yu

“Previous tablet PC has two disadvantages. The typing work is not as good as the original keyboard and others can easily see what you are doing on the computer. Now, you do not need to worry about emerging of personal information with Hermes. You can send messages and call with Hermes as well.”

Hermes. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Product View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

HTC Evolve Tablet By Timur Pinar

A HTC branded high-end tablet with smart Android OS running on it. Doubtlessly the design is sleek and the user interface seems to be very promising. There’s also an extra tab on the left side of the tablet which gives more dedicated spaces for apps. I must say this is probably one of the best concepts which I wish it to be materialized.

HTC Evolve Tablet. (Image Source: Timur Pinar)

Features. (Image Source: Timur Pinar)

Extra Tab. (Image Source: Timur Pinar)

HTC TUBE By NAK Studio

Another sleek concept for HTC brand, but the idea revolves around the “Cartridge powered multimedia device”. The concept is not much explained, but this might be the tablet which will function as a big monitor when the phone is plugged in. An interesting idea, and I must say the device is well designed.

HTC TUBE. (Image Source: NAK Studio)

Product View. (Image Source: NAK Studio)

MPad By Volker Hübner

MPad is for professional designers. It combines the advantage of intuitive multi-touch operation with the precision of a pressure-sensitive pen, probably sounds like a very, very advanced Wacom tablet.

For its features part, essential keyboard commands are arranged next to the 15.6″ OLED display, 9 fixed buttons, 2 programmable buttons rockers with e-ink display, with up to 24 shortcuts for each software application. Monstrous tablet, but of course I hope there’s a model for left-handers like me.

MPad. (Image Source: Yanko Design)

Back View. (Image Source: Yanko Design)

Piggyback By Brooks Benefiel

Piggyback tablet is the similar concept with HTC Tube which suggests that, you have a smartphone, and what you really need now is just a bigger screen.

With the tablet, you will be able to plug in the smartphone to get a bigger screen for more complicated tasks like typing out long report or, if the processing power allows, doing graphic editing job. Yes, all you need is a bigger screen.

Piggyback. (Image Source: DVICE)

Desktop Dock. (Image Source: DVICE)

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ XL by Frank Tobias

“Well, here I made a XL-version of Vivaz. It features an 8 megapixel camera at the back, of course with HD video recording and the interior capacity is about 75GB. I hope you like it ”

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ XL. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Sony Ericsson X10™ Maxi by Frank Tobias

“So here I expanded the Sony Ericsson X10 to a tablet called X10 Maxi. It features like the X10, an 8 megapixel camera, the system is OS Android 2.0 and the interior capacity features 100GB.”

Sony Ericsson X10™ Maxi. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab By Juris15

Seriously this guy needs to be hired by Sony Ericsson, and I’m sure you will know why by looking at 2 distinguishing designs below. Sleek and sexy.

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab. (Image Source: juris15)

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab10 By Juris15

Another great design from the XTab series, also one of the series that I sincerely hope it was true.

Sony Ericsson Xperia™ XTab10. (Image Source: juris15)

The Part By Jun Se Kim, Yong-gu Do, Eun-ha Seo

“Do we really have to buy a smartphone and a pad? Do we really need both? Actually, the only difference between the smartphone and smartpad that we are using separately is the screen size, and the advantage and disadvantage are identified by the size.

Carrying two kinds of devices, smartphone and smartpad, is not only inefficient for users, but it is an uncomfortable waste that the smart era created. In that aspect, the ‘part’ is not a separate device, but an efficient and convenient smart device with a new concept that a smartpad can be combined with a smartphone.”

The Part. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Component Breakdown. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Smart Extension. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Unknown Tablet by Frank Tobias

“Here I made another tablet. Unfortunately I don’t know which brand and user interface I should take for it… Well, the tablet itself sports a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left side, 2 USB ports on the right side, and a camera with 10 megapixels, HD video recording and a triple LED flash…”

Unknown Tablet. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Unnamed Tablet by Frank Tobias

“So here’s another tablet concept. It’s running Windows 7, supports a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash at the back, 4GB ram, 300GB interior memory, an Intel i5 processor and HD video recording ”

Unnamed Tablet. (Image Source: Frank Tobias)

Volumni By Dulyawat Wongnawa

“Volumni is a new concept of PC which integrates various types of PCs into one single device with only a size of an envelope once it’s folded (23 x 10 cm). It consists of 4 units of ultra-slim touchscreens linked together by a 360 degrees pivot hinge. It serves as both a portable device and a workstation depending on user preference. Users can define their usage of the device by just folding and turning it.”

Volumni. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Product View. (Image Source: Design Boom)

Featured Modes. (Image Source: Design Boom)

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