Consumers beginning to tire of the metal, glass and plastic casing of handsets such as the iPhone, BlackBerrys, or the range of Android smartphones will soon be able to get their hands on a phone constructed from the favourite foodstuff of pandas and the material used for their hardwood floors.

The world’s first bamboo smartphone is the brainchild of Kieron-Scott Woodhouse, a 23 year-old design student from Middlesex University. Woodhouse said he designed the handset during his final year of university after becoming frustrated with the lack of variety and choice in the smartphone market.

His unusual phone design, which has been christened the ADzero, caught the attention of a technology entrepreneur when images of it were posted online. The businessman agreed to fund development of the phone with a view to launching it China.

After receiving positive feedback at a design show in London during London Design Week 2011, Woodhouse and his backers have decided to launch the phone first in the UK and then roll it out to other markets.

The designer has remained tight-lipped about the specifications of the ADzero. All that is known is that it will be encased in solid bamboo and, as mentioned above, be powered by Google’s Android operating system. Other than that, the only other information available is that it will have a proper “ring flash” camera allowing users to take well-lit pictures. Ring flashes are used by professional photographers to give a good lighting finish to their images.

TechCrunch have reported that the bamboo phone will be around half the weight of an iPhone 4S and that no two models of the handset will ever be the same, due to the grain of wood used during the construction process.

Although no official release date has been planned for the world’s first bamboo smartphone, it is hoped the handsets will be available in the UK by the end of the year.

Commenting on his creation, Woodhouse said: “Bamboo may seem like a strange material to use for a phone, but it’s actually extremely strong and very durable, perfect qualities for this kind of application. The whole experience so far has been incredible and completely unexpected. Completing my final year and working has been challenging, but my course and the project complement each other well and it’s a great start of my career. I can’t wait to see my mobile phone in shops this year.”

If you’re curious about what the Adzero looks like and would like a little more information, you can visit Woodhouse’s Google+ page.

O2 Wireless announced today that they will be dropping their surcharge for using your data plan to tether a laptop or other internet connected device other than a mobile phone. That being said, you won’t be getting unlimited data with this service, but at least you will have some decent options for basic web access.

For 100MB of data, it will run you £2.50, step that up to 500MB and the price will double (£5.00). For those looking for a full gigabyte of data, the price will increase to a cool £8.33. Both the 500MB and the 1GB plan include unlimited access to UK Wi-Fi and the 500 GB plan will include 20 UK MMS while the 1GB plan will up that to 50 MMS.

While not the cheapest of plans, it is nice to know that you will not have to shell out additional pounds if you want to connect that laptop or iPad to your device.

Source: O2

If you’re like me then your feet are probably made of led, and that being the case, you might have made some really close calls when speeding thanks to police and their radar/laser guns. Well thanks to Cobra who claims to be the world leader in laser/radar and police trap detection technology, have released an iPhone app for quite some time now.

Well fear not Android users as the company has made it official that they will be releasing the app for the Android platform next month. The app along with the hardware unit is said to be able to detect speed traps, laser detectors, radar detectors as well as red light cameras and other forms of police traps used to lighten the pocketbooks of the citizenry.

The application will use the phones build in GPS to provide warnings of photo enforced speed traps as well as providing better all-around performance.

We’re in no way condoning speeding but every once in a while we understand that there might be a time when you might feel the need to race the hatchback beside you or maybe to put the pedal to the metal as they would say. In either way, rest assured that this system promises to provide basic police detection service for an affordable price. What is such a price you may ask? Well Best Buy USA has the device listed for $129.99 for the hardware.

Hopefully when such a device makes it to here in the UK it will be for a similar price range. Just be certain to pay more attention to the road than the phone which is alerting you about the approaching speed trap because nothing is worse than trying to avoid one evil and falling into another.

The device was first launched in the US last January 5. The unveiling event at the Googleplex gave the media a chance to see the new handset up close and also for the developers to showcase some of the newest features. However, along with the launch came the announcement that the device would only be available through the Google online store –which many tech reviewers saw a red flag for the success of the Android device.

As expected, the sales of the Nexus One were hardly anywhere near impressive. Google only managed to sell 20,000 units by the first week of sales. The company then took a different approach to the marketing of the Google Phone in the UK, the device would be offered directly by Vodafone and later on, by retailers. That time has already come; retailers now stock the Nexus One on store shelves and also on websites for online orders. In fact many of the best Nexus One deals can be found online.

This Google branded handset has been manufactured by HTC and has a spec sheet that closely resembles that of the HTC Desire (formerly HTC Bravo). Both handsets come with 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screens, 5 mega pixel cameras and 1GHz Snapdragon CPUs.

The new Android 2.2 Froyo is already available for Nexus One (and only for the Nexus One). This OS update makes the mobile platform up to five times faster thanks to the implementation of the new Dalvik VM JIT. It also has a fast web browser by using V8 which allows for better handling of JavaScript. Android owners will also be happy to know that this update will allow the use of the smart phone for USB tethering or even as a WiFi hotspot.

According to recent reports, the iPad worldwide launch is set to go on May 28, this coming Friday and that many stores are already getting ready for the big event. However, it seems that all of the iPad stocks are going to be allocated for over the counter sales –no iPads will be shipped to online pre-order customers. In fact, it is highly possible that the iPad will not be shipped until two weeks after June 28.

This sad turn of events is a serious blow to many people who have been preparing for the iPad launch. While it is impressive to see long lines in stores, sales are still sales and Apple should respect the foresight that many people had when it comes to buying their devices. Or perhaps Apple is simply bitter over not having foresight of their own –as shown with the reason why the iPad international launch was delayed; due to their inability to foresee that their stocks would not meet the US demands for the touch screen tablet.

Users who will check online will find that tracking of orders is no longer present and that there is a notice for the possible two-week wait. Apple is practically spitting in the face of its online customers.

Still, there is no doubt that the launch of the iPad will still be a success. It is the first tablet device to be launch in this scale and there is a definitive interest in the device. However, one cannot help but feel that if Apple keeps treating customers like this, they will eventually lose support.

It may not seem like a big deal at first, but once you realize that there are plenty of websites that cannot be accessed because of the lack of Flash, Apple’s strict policies start becoming a source of disdain. This is the result of a recent survey held by a market research company named Changewave.

The results are not surprising, with the iPad being hailed as the new way to access mass media, the fact that it is unable to handle plenty of video streaming sites online due to the lack of Flash is a severe disadvantage that would not be resolved anytime in the future.

For those wondering why Apple is not getting any Flash support, most of the blame goes to Steve Jobs’ stubborn stance regarding support for the Adobe web format.  For the past few years, Adobe has been struggling to update and streamline Flash to be compatible with not only the Mac OS but also the iPhone OS.

Still, lack of cooperation from Apple has left Adobe unable to stabilize Flash performance on Apple’s devices. Ironically, Jobs’ biggest complaint was that Flash is unstable –an issue that he could have helped resolve.

The problem hit a major turn when Apple launched the iPhone 4.0 OS SDK. The software development kit came with a license agreement for developers that practically banned the use of Adobe’s software as a development tool for iPhone apps. This action drove the wedge that has now completely severed Adobe’s ties with Apple. Flash compatibility will be present in the new Android operating system instead.

It is easy to appreciate a few heart-tugging tales of senior citizens finding their re-connections to the world thanks to the internet. But the real success stories are in being able to teach the people who need the internet to live. Of course, the concept of internet access in every house is a pretty tough sell to make, instead, the real focus is in bringing internet access to the public.

Libraries and other public locations such as government buildings, job centers and even the local post office are being considered as prime locations for computer hubs that people can use.

There are already plenty of volunteers who are willing to give their time in order to reach out and teach others about how to use the internet, how to make their own email address and of course how to use the computer, mouse, keyboard and all (or in some cases, how to fiddle around with a smart phone).

The transition is expected to be slow, but this is not ideal. Technology is not waiting for anyone, and society as a whole is still not an exception. The big shift from traditional to digital will happen soon and people have to learn a lot faster.

While it may seem harsh, there is plenty of reasons to go digital. First off, digital correspondence is significantly better than using paper. According to some reports, the government alone stands to save millions if they stop using papers. The same applies to companies and even to individuals (though at much lesser and harder to notice scales).

The point of the game is simple: hit the red ball with the star in the center. In order to do this, players take control of a cannon on one side of the screen and by manipulating the objects in the stage (by shooting humanoids at it) the target will be hit. The first few stages are simple ballistic challenges. This is later made intricate in later stages where there are levers, balancing platforms, slopes and other things around the red ball.

And by red ball, we do mean red ball. The target itself is not a static object; it will be pushed around by levers and roll off slanted edges. More often than not, players will have to toss a humanoid into one or two objects in order to move the red ball in place where it can be hit. Some stages will even encourage players to push the target up in the air and hit it with proper timing.

The gameplay of this title is addictive, though there some points when the actions feels a little too repetitive and players might want to put it down after a while. Regardless, Shoot U is a game that player will keep coming back to when they need to play something that actually requires a little more thinking and planning than the usual.

Graphics wise, this title borders on the semi-artsy with its scribble-style artwork. Some stages are designed in a manner that looks a little haphazard, but all in all, the game stays true to its own unique style and approach. Players looking for a game with a little more depth and detail might want to go for the more traditional looking titles out there.

First up is the LG Viewty. This device comes with a 3 inch touch screen display and a 5 mega pixel snapper. It also has an FM radio (aside from the usual media playback capabilities for video and MP3), Microsoft Outlook with PC sync, and a built in photo editor. The resistive touch screen might be a little backwards in terms of technology, but at least the device has its own stylus. The Viewty is available right now.

The second device on 3’s list is the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. The new 3G edition of the Pearl looks very much like the original device down to the 12 button keyboard layout but this new edition comes with a slightly larger touch screen display. 3 UK has yet to announce a specific date for the launch of the Pearl 3G.

Last on the lineup is the HTC Wildfire. This impressive Android smart phone from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC has been in the headlines recently for its excellent balance of specs and more importantly, price. With the rest of HTC’s smart phone lineup being composed of really expensive high end gadgets, it is about time that they released a device for the mid range crowd.

According to the reports, the Wildfire is focused heavily on social networking features. It has a life streaming feed of social networking updates that will bring users up to date with all the latest happenings easily. The device comes with a 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen, a 5 mega pixel camera, a 528 MHz CPU and of course, the latest Android OS, version 2.1 Éclair. 3 UK has announced that the date for the Wildfire’s launch will be given soon.

So far, the initial changes are worth looking forward to, the new hotmail features are a treat for anyone who needs to easily organize large quantities of emails that come in. Better folder and filter organization that would include possible origins and, as well as an instant email search functions.

Brandon LeBlanc has posted about the changes at the official Google blogs. His biggest favorite is the addition of the new filters:

“I absolutely love filters. And the new Hotmail brings filters front and center. I’ve since turned off automatic sorting and am now relying solely on the new Hotmail’s Social updates filter.”

He goes on to describe how the new filter automatically sorts out content in your inbox, allowing for streamlined viewing of mail that you actually want to see –no need to wade through large amounts of mail when you are just looking for a single one.

Another new addition to Hotmail is the Quick View which gives users an instant view of the content that is found in the email, allowing for users to easily which one they should be reading first –it also helps figure our which emails you should not be opening from your office computer. The best part of this is that it allows users to instant view various file formats such as images and documents from within the web browser itself. There is no need to manually download attachments on public computers that you will have to delete later on.

The new Hotmail features are part of an ongoing improvement across Microsoft’s many web services such as Silverlight and more.