Hey Android users! Envious of the iPhone T-Pain app? Hungry for some portable Auto-Tune action? Are you still reading? Great, because MicDroid, the purported first Android Auto-Tune app, has landed. Commence with the rolling eyes and bleeding ears:
PocketNow, modest as ever, says this is an early stage app, and that features are sparse, but I have to say there's actually quite a few in there. Enough to get amateur Auto-Tuners up and running and annoying the heck out of people, anyway.
MicDroid is available for free in the Android Market, with an identical donation version available for $2.99. [XDA Developers via PocketNow]
At today's event, Steve Jobs gave the audience a glimpse of the the space-age chambers that Apple uses to test its prototype iPhones. Apple published the pictures and, as MG Siegler said, it's basically Professor X's brain scan room. Updated.
Jobs said that the test chamber is the "biggest room" on Apple's campus and explained that "you have to build these rooms or you don't get accurate results." The one shown above, according to the picture's file name, is actually called the "Stargate Chamber."
Apple invested over $100 million to construct 17 such anechoic chambers, facilities that are "connected to sophisticated equipment that simulates cellular base stations, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices - even GPS satellites." Apple has a pretty remarkable video tour of the facilities over at their new Testing Labs site.
During today's press conference, Jobs said that various evaluative tests conducted in the chambers are administered by 18 PhD-holding scientists and engineers. I'll bet they all look like the dudes from Avatar. [Apple - Thanks Mario; Engadget]
Sick of your iPhone's puny lens? Then it's time for a (somewhat unwieldy) upgrade.
This "iPhone DSLR prototype" is a 1.1lb, solid piece of anodized billet aluminum (that looks to be a modified Owle). It will fit an iPhone 3G, 3GS or 4 along with a complementing, full-size Canon EF lens. And since Canon converter mounts are widely available for most lens brands, I'm guessing this rig could fit pretty much any lens you tossed at it with some tweaking.
Is this a real DSLR? Of course not. As many angry camera snobs have pointed out, there's no internal mirror system to control light hitting the iPhone's camera sensor. But could it milk the 5MP iPhone sensor for everything it's worth given access to some premium glass? Theoretically, yes.
The creator hasn't shared any sample photos yet. But it's a fun project. We'll keep an eye out. [iPhone DSLR via SlashGear]