HTC has acquired Dashwire, the company responsible for the Dashworks mobile sync client and Awesome Drop file sync app. The deal – which will see HTC spend up to $18.5m buying up Dashwire’s shares – will net HTC not only a way to easily transfer files such as music, video and images between PC/Mac and its Android smartphones, but offer a browser-based remote dashboard allowing access to data and control of apps loaded onto the device.
The Dashwire system supports remote access of contacts, SMS, calendar, calls, voicemail, multimedia, memory card content and social networking integration, and in effect allows users to sync their data with the cloud as well as access it through various browser-based widgets. There’s also Dashpush, a push-API which promises to deliver text, photos, apps, music and advertising in real-time to a mobile device, regardless of platform or carrier.
HTC already has HTCSense.com, it’s online portal allowing users of recent Android devices to log in, track their phone’s location, lock it, read SMS messages and send them, and access contacts. With Dashwire’s technology, that interactivity could be increased more fully throughout the smartphone.
Samsung experimented with a similar technology on the Galaxy S II, in the shape of Kies air, which provides browser based access to content stored on the handset. However, Kies air demands that both computer and phone be on the same local network, and has only basic multimedia sharing and social networking functionality.
HTC is yet to say exactly what it intends to do with Dashwire, only saying that “HTC expands cloud services with Dashwire long-term investment.” Nonetheless, with custom software, sync and cloud services being one way of differentiating Android devices, and manufacturers from each other, we’re expecting the firm to rapidly bolster Sense with the new technology.
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Fiberglass is a lightweight and strong material. It has been used in vehicle construction to save weight for a very long time. In fact, notable performance cars like the Corvette make extensive use of fiberglass. DigiTimes reports that the shortage of materials and the lathes required to make the aluminum frames along with the expense of adding more CNC lathes is causing a shortage.
The two main makers of aluminum chassis for notebooks are supplying Apple leaving availability tight for other players. A fiberglass chassis maker called Mitac Precision in Taiwan has pointed out that it makes a fiberglass chassis that is about as strong as aluminum and $5-$10 cheaper than a magnesium-aluminum alloy one allowing for a price on the market for a notebook using the fiberglass chassis of $50 to $100 less than one using magnesium-aluminum chassis.
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Last month the cool looking, but very expensive DSLR body cap from LockCircle surfaced for about $100. The thing was meant to replace the cap all DSLRs come with made from cheap plastic that locks onto the lens area to keep dirt and debris from getting inside the camera body. The LockCircle is certainly aimed at the pro or serious amateur shooter that wants all the protection they can get.
If you thought, the price of the cap was ridiculous and wondered what justified the price, check out the video below that shows the LockCircle cap being made. The video follows the creation of one of the caps from its start as a round disc of solid billet aluminum. The thing spins in a computer controlled lathing machine and little slivers of aluminum fly as the cap takes shape.
Some of the parts of the video you can’t see well thanks to the cooling fluid being sprayed on the cap. The coolest part to me is the end when the laser is zapping the knurled handgrip and marking it with the letters. I always wondered what laser etching looked like when it was being applied and now I know. This is a really cool video so check it out.
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