Iphone Updates

Unsurprisingly, Apple’s latest iPhone firmware, version 1.1.1., has been hacked to allow a selection of third party applications to run on it, although Apple has put a number of additional protection measures in place, possibly deliberately, to make it harder to add new apps.

Digging around in the firmware reveals references to Nike, and to a radio.

It looks as if unlocking the iPhone from firmware version 1.1.1 hasn’t happened — yet — though it’s likely to be just a matter of time until users with network-free iPhones can upgrade to 1.1.1 and still use them.

(Via ZDNet)

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The latest rumours surrounding a Candian entry for the iPhone suggest that it could come to Rogers Wireless, but cost twice as much as the US version.

Not only could the hefty $799 tag prove unpopular, but also the fact that there are currently no unlimited data plans available for Rogers customers:

Instead, you can do a pay-as-you-go data plan for $0.05 per KB. Alternatively, there is a $5/month and a $10/month plan for 5MB and 10MB respectively with additional kilobytes coming in at 3 cents each. A web search here and a YouTube video there, and you’ve got yourself one massive data bill. And that’s before you get any minutes, text messages, or caller ID. Ouch.

Of course, O2 in the UK didn’t have a flat rate data plan until the iPhone was announced, and now they’re rolling out the “fair use” version of it to all of their pay monthly customers. Could the same happen in Canada?

(Via Mobile Mag)

Related posts
Expert claims high wireless costs are blocking a Canadian iPhone
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As we’ve been expecting for some time, the possibility of third party applications on the iPhone may be more than just a pipe dream.

While Apple is unlikely to authorise complete access to anyone to develop native applications, it could well approve certain software from selected developers, downloadable via iTunes after they’ve been thoroughly tested (by Apple, of course).

This isn’t fact, yet, so there’s no word on when this might happen, or how developers will get their hands on a software development kit (the iPhone uses a different version of OS X to the Macs).

It probably won’t please those who want a completely open iPhone, either, so expect the hacking and bricking to continue for some time to come. New applications for the iPhone might sound great for the general iPhone-wielding population — even if they do have to be paid for — but it probably won’t satisfy the hackers.

(Via Brighthand)

Related posts
Apple considering third-party application development for iPhone?
iPhone hacking for the rest of us: third party app installer released
Two native third-party applications created for iPhone, hackers claim

Gone are the closeup shots of the iPhone and seamless music and voiceover, replaced by three “ordinary iPhone users” who describe why they like the iPhone – be it the ability to screen the guy who’s left a four-minute sob story on voicemail about why he’s not paid his rent, or the way you can surreptitiously go online to look up the name of someone you’re meeting for lunch. Oh the possibilities…

Interestingly, we spend more time focusing on the three individuals — Doug, Elliot, and Stephano — than on the iPhone itself. Perhaps Apple think that the US doesn’t need to see the new device any more, or it’s found some people who are actually happy with the iPhone and aren’t complaining about it turning into a brick.

Watch the ads here: Doug Elliot Stephano

Related posts
Apple puts out two new iPhone ads, targets business?
O2 and Apple to launch multi-million advertising campaign in UK
Opinion: Apple dissidents peeved over iPhone bricking threaten to sue. Get real!

There have been a couple of announcements over the past few days which could see the number of places offering free Wi-Fi for iPhone users increase significantly.

Granted, both initiatives aren’t exclusive to iPhone users, but as we know the iPhone is the best handheld Internet surfing device around at the moment, particularly when using Wi-Fi, they’re worth a mention.

Firstly, BT has partnered with Fon to bring free Wi-Fi to anyone agreeing to securely share a portion of their home broadband connection, both at BT’s Openzone hotspots, and at the Wi-Fi hotspots of any other Fon subscribers, not jut in the UK but internationally.

Secondly, the McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain has announced that it’s teamed up with The Cloud to offer free Wi-Fi access in 1,200 of its outlets. This will increase the number of places, particularly in urban areas, where iPhone users can enjoy free wireless Internet access. The service won’t be particularly secure, and won’t require a password to access.

“Everyone from big and small business people through to students and online gaming enthusiasts stand to benefit, and it’s possible that it could signal the beginning of the end of high-cost wireless Internet access in the U.K.,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman said.

(Via CNN Money)

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According to French newspaper Les Echos, the apparent rift between Apple and France Telecom could delay the iPhone’s introduction in France, missing out on the lucrative pre-Christmas spending spree.

Apparently, the delays have been caused by a French law that requires mobile phones to be sold both with and without contracts. Given the amount of interest there is in unlocked iPhones, that could pose a serious threat to revenue sharing and exclusivity as (officially) enjoyed by Apple with AT&T, and soon O2 in the UK and T-Mobile in Germany.

Given Apple’s turbulent relationship with France, there is the distinct possibility that the country could miss out on the iPhone altogether.

“The risk we’re evaluating this week is that Apple crosses France off,” an Orange spokesperson seems to have told the newspaper.

(Via Market Watch)

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According to a recent survey of one-thousand Canadians, the iPhone is the eighth most desired electronics item this Christmas.

I’m not sure that the Solutions Research Group survey makes the iPhone a hugely desirable object, given that many of the other general items on the list were above it (laptop, HDTV, digital camera, cellphone, PC, video camera). The Nintendo Wii pipped it to seventh place, with a Blu-ray or HD DVD player in ninth place and a GPS device in tenth.

The iPhone still officially eludes Canada, allegedly due to a disagreement between Rogers and Apple. The iPhone may remain a dream for many Canadians this year.

(Via Mobile Mag

Related posts
Expert claims high wireless costs are blocking a Canadian iPhone
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Analyst Gene Munster believes that, of all the iPhones sold during September, 10% were destined to be unlocked and sold on for use on other US carriers, or internationally.

He said that, “one Apple employee acknowledged that customers were buying five iPhones per store visit in order to turn around and resell them unlocked.”

What we don’t know is how many that is, or even if the figure is accurate, though it does sound as if any restrictions which were in place on launch day have been lifted.

(Via TUAW)

Related posts
User updates iPhone firmware on unlocked iPhone: bricks
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iPhone unlocking software goes on sale

We’ve been fairly focused on the US and European iPhone launches, but those in Asia and Australasia have been (patiently?) waiting for details, too.

Now, speculation surrounds the New Zealand telecoms company Orcon, who may be ready to make a deal with Apple which cuts out the major players Telecom and Vodafone.

In fact, Orcon are primarily a broadband company, looking to enter the mobile market after signing a wholesale deal with Vodafone to use their network. It would be quite some coup if they scooped the iPhone, too, though would Apple go with a relative unknown?

Unsurprisingly, neither Orcon nor Apple was available for comment.

(Via New Zealand Herald)

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According to Expatica, the iPhone is on sale in the Netherlands, via GSMtrack, at a knockdown price.

Dennis Boerekamps, manager of the Branbant web shop, managed to buy a whole consignment of iPhones and is selling them in his web shop at EUR 189 along with a subscription. Boerkamps delivers from stock. “If I sell 100 phones, then I still have got stock.”

€189 is around £132, or $268, which is a huge saving on official prices. It’s not exactly clear what the subscription being offered is, how many iPhones Boerekamps has in stock, or quite how he managed to get hold of such a huge number of phones.

(Via Expatica)

Apple is set to launch its own directory of third party web applications for the iPhone, in much the same way as it has done for OS X software and dashboard widgets.

According to AppleInsider, some application developers have been contacted by Apple to provide screenshots, links, and descriptions.

There are no details of when the service will go live.

(Via Apple may offer limited third-party applications for iPhone
Strive Development offer Web 2.0 application development services for iPhone
Applists.com streamlines finding and using iPhone applications

According to Red Eye Chicago, there may be a limit to the number of ringtones which can be used at once on the iPhone.

Trying to sync more than eight at a time results in the additional tones being ignored. It is possible to synchronise your own choice of up to eight ringtones by disabling the automatic syncing mode, however it does seem strange that this limit has been imposed at all, particularly given that Apple can make revenue from their purchase, and that they can be assigned to individual contacts.

(Via Red Eye Chicago)

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Several news stories have been published today regarding the iPhone’s presence in three European countries.

First up, CEO of Switzerland’s Swisscom AG, Karsten Schloter, has said that his company is interested in getting hold of the iPhone. “It is the first mobile phone that fully utilises the Internet,” he said, adding that the iPhone would help to solve mobile data problems in the country, namely high prices and lower functionality compared to fixed-line Internet services.

He also stated that flat rate data plans would be the basis of a future business model. Whether this means that the iPhone, if and when it comes to Switzerland, will herald that, or is something that has to wait, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of France Telecom, Didier Lombard, has stated that the iPhone should be available exclusively with his company by the end of November. As we’ve reported, French law may make it difficult for Apple to sell the iPhone using the same model as in the US and UK.

And finally, in the UK (where at least we know the iPhone is coming), CFO of the Carphone Warehouse, Roger Taylor, told the Financial Times that they were “very confident” of having enough iPhones to meet demand on November 9th and thereafter.

On the subject of revenue, he said, “We do make money on the iPhone, though possibly not as much as we would like. But the real benefit is as a huge driver of footfall and accessories sales. We are very confident of our supply of devices and we have had a lot of reassurances from Apple.”

Interestingly, the iPhone will be on sale via three high street retailers (O2 Stores, CW, and Apple Stores), of which The Carphone Warehouse probably has the greatest presence.

(Via MarketWatch, MacDailyNews), Pocket-Lint)

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Unsurprisingly, Apple’s latest iPhone firmware, version 1.1.1., has been hacked to allow a selection of third party applications to run on it, although Apple has put a number of additional protection measures in place, possibly deliberately, to make it harder to add new apps.

Digging around in the firmware reveals references to Nike, and to a radio.

It looks as if unlocking the iPhone from firmware version 1.1.1 hasn’t happened — yet — though it’s likely to be just a matter of time until users with network-free iPhones can upgrade to 1.1.1 and still use them.

(Via ZDNet)

Related posts
User updates iPhone firmware on unlocked iPhone: bricks
Apple preparing another iPhone software update?
iPhone unlocking software goes on sale

The latest rumours surrounding a Candian entry for the iPhone suggest that it could come to Rogers Wireless, but cost twice as much as the US version.

Not only could the hefty $799 tag prove unpopular, but also the fact that there are currently no unlimited data plans available for Rogers customers:

Instead, you can do a pay-as-you-go data plan for $0.05 per KB. Alternatively, there is a $5/month and a $10/month plan for 5MB and 10MB respectively with additional kilobytes coming in at 3 cents each. A web search here and a YouTube video there, and you’ve got yourself one massive data bill. And that’s before you get any minutes, text messages, or caller ID. Ouch.

Of course, O2 in the UK didn’t have a flat rate data plan until the iPhone was announced, and now they’re rolling out the “fair use” version of it to all of their pay monthly customers. Could the same happen in Canada?

(Via Mobile Mag)

Related posts
Expert claims high wireless costs are blocking a Canadian iPhone
iPhone is Canadians’ 8th most sought after Christmas gift, survey suggests
O2 and Apple to launch multi-million advertising campaign in UK

As we’ve been expecting for some time, the possibility of third party applications on the iPhone may be more than just a pipe dream.

While Apple is unlikely to authorise complete access to anyone to develop native applications, it could well approve certain software from selected developers, downloadable via iTunes after they’ve been thoroughly tested (by Apple, of course).

This isn’t fact, yet, so there’s no word on when this might happen, or how developers will get their hands on a software development kit (the iPhone uses a different version of OS X to the Macs).

It probably won’t please those who want a completely open iPhone, either, so expect the hacking and bricking to continue for some time to come. New applications for the iPhone might sound great for the general iPhone-wielding population — even if they do have to be paid for — but it probably won’t satisfy the hackers.

(Via Brighthand)

Related posts
Apple considering third-party application development for iPhone?
iPhone hacking for the rest of us: third party app installer released
Two native third-party applications created for iPhone, hackers claim

Gone are the closeup shots of the iPhone and seamless music and voiceover, replaced by three “ordinary iPhone users” who describe why they like the iPhone – be it the ability to screen the guy who’s left a four-minute sob story on voicemail about why he’s not paid his rent, or the way you can surreptitiously go online to look up the name of someone you’re meeting for lunch. Oh the possibilities…

Interestingly, we spend more time focusing on the three individuals — Doug, Elliot, and Stephano — than on the iPhone itself. Perhaps Apple think that the US doesn’t need to see the new device any more, or it’s found some people who are actually happy with the iPhone and aren’t complaining about it turning into a brick.

Watch the ads here: Doug Elliot Stephano

Related posts
Apple puts out two new iPhone ads, targets business?
O2 and Apple to launch multi-million advertising campaign in UK
Opinion: Apple dissidents peeved over iPhone bricking threaten to sue. Get real!

There have been a couple of announcements over the past few days which could see the number of places offering free Wi-Fi for iPhone users increase significantly.

Granted, both initiatives aren’t exclusive to iPhone users, but as we know the iPhone is the best handheld Internet surfing device around at the moment, particularly when using Wi-Fi, they’re worth a mention.

Firstly, BT has partnered with Fon to bring free Wi-Fi to anyone agreeing to securely share a portion of their home broadband connection, both at BT’s Openzone hotspots, and at the Wi-Fi hotspots of any other Fon subscribers, not jut in the UK but internationally.

Secondly, the McDonald’s fast food restaurant chain has announced that it’s teamed up with The Cloud to offer free Wi-Fi access in 1,200 of its outlets. This will increase the number of places, particularly in urban areas, where iPhone users can enjoy free wireless Internet access. The service won’t be particularly secure, and won’t require a password to access.

“Everyone from big and small business people through to students and online gaming enthusiasts stand to benefit, and it’s possible that it could signal the beginning of the end of high-cost wireless Internet access in the U.K.,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman said.

(Via CNN Money)

Related posts
Truphone demonstrates VoIP-over-Wi-Fi on iPhone
iPhone UK: How much free Wi-Fi can you get?
AeON Wireless provides free, secure Wi-Fi access to iPhone users

According to French newspaper Les Echos, the apparent rift between Apple and France Telecom could delay the iPhone’s introduction in France, missing out on the lucrative pre-Christmas spending spree.

Apparently, the delays have been caused by a French law that requires mobile phones to be sold both with and without contracts. Given the amount of interest there is in unlocked iPhones, that could pose a serious threat to revenue sharing and exclusivity as (officially) enjoyed by Apple with AT&T, and soon O2 in the UK and T-Mobile in Germany.

Given Apple’s turbulent relationship with France, there is the distinct possibility that the country could miss out on the iPhone altogether.

“The risk we’re evaluating this week is that Apple crosses France off,” an Orange spokesperson seems to have told the newspaper.

(Via Market Watch)

Related posts
Apple and Orange may be at loggerheads over French iPhone dealOrange make lacklustre iPhone announcement in France
European iPhone rumour: France to get iPhone via Orange

According to a recent survey of one-thousand Canadians, the iPhone is the eighth most desired electronics item this Christmas.

I’m not sure that the Solutions Research Group survey makes the iPhone a hugely desirable object, given that many of the other general items on the list were above it (laptop, HDTV, digital camera, cellphone, PC, video camera). The Nintendo Wii pipped it to seventh place, with a Blu-ray or HD DVD player in ninth place and a GPS device in tenth.

The iPhone still officially eludes Canada, allegedly due to a disagreement between Rogers and Apple. The iPhone may remain a dream for many Canadians this year.

(Via Mobile Mag

Related posts
Expert claims high wireless costs are blocking a Canadian iPhone
O2 and Apple to launch multi-million advertising campaign in UK
Nokia extols its open mobile handsets, snubs iPhone

Analyst Gene Munster believes that, of all the iPhones sold during September, 10% were destined to be unlocked and sold on for use on other US carriers, or internationally.

He said that, “one Apple employee acknowledged that customers were buying five iPhones per store visit in order to turn around and resell them unlocked.”

What we don’t know is how many that is, or even if the figure is accurate, though it does sound as if any restrictions which were in place on launch day have been lifted.

(Via TUAW)

Related posts
User updates iPhone firmware on unlocked iPhone: bricks
Apple sends out warning to iPhone unlockers of “irreparable damage”
iPhone unlocking software goes on sale

We’ve been fairly focused on the US and European iPhone launches, but those in Asia and Australasia have been (patiently?) waiting for details, too.

Now, speculation surrounds the New Zealand telecoms company Orcon, who may be ready to make a deal with Apple which cuts out the major players Telecom and Vodafone.

In fact, Orcon are primarily a broadband company, looking to enter the mobile market after signing a wholesale deal with Vodafone to use their network. It would be quite some coup if they scooped the iPhone, too, though would Apple go with a relative unknown?

Unsurprisingly, neither Orcon nor Apple was available for comment.

(Via New Zealand Herald)

Related posts
Aussie telco Telstra slams the iPhone: it’s doomed!
Vodafone looking to future 3G iPhone deal
Nokia’s N95 arrives in the UK, Europe and Asia

O2 has announced that it will be launching its “most significant campaign” to date, in order to promote the iPhone in a joint partnership with Apple. Though the exact budget hasn’t been disclosed, O2′s CEO, Matthew Key, said that it would be well short of £20m.

A poster and TV campaign is due to kick off two weeks before the iPhone launches here on 9th November.

O2′s figures suggest that 80% of their high-value customers want an iPhone, while 40% of higher-spending customers from other networks would be prepared to switch in order to get the handset. While the exact number of subscribers this covers isn’t clear, that’s sure to be a large number of people.

Countering rumours that O2 would be running the iPhone at a loss, purely as a way of enticing people to its network, Key insisted that the deal would be “absolutely” profitable for O2, adding that it was perfectly fair that Apple should receive a revenue share in return for using its network.

The exact figures have not been disclosed.

We wait to see whether the campaign looks more “O2″ or “Apple” – in other words, do we get cool music and slick presentation, or lots of blue bubbles?

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“Simply put,” offers proud iMac owner Dwight Sliverman (Houston Chronicle), “the new iMacs with their 24-inch screens, all-aluminum cases and powerful components are easily the most pleasurable desktop computers I’ve touched.” Silverman lauds its display—”It’s as gorgeous, sharp and bright as any widescreen LCD monitor I’ve seen.”—and praises its “incredibly fast” performance.

Like to get the latest news from your Facebook friends? Check the movie listings at Fandango? Browse the newest photos posted on SmugMug? Update your weblog with TypePad? Or play a great game of Big Bang Sudoku? It’s all possible. Simply by visiting www.apple.com/webapps/ on your iphone or iPod touch, browsing the library, and bookmarking the web apps you enjoy.

In T3’s annual Gadget Awards, Apple products grabbed honors for iPhone (“Most Anticipated Gadget of 2007”), MacBook Pro (“Drop Dead Gorgeous Award”), the iTunes Store (“Best Download Service”), and in a Gadget Awards hat trick, iPod scored in the “Top Commuter Gadget,” “Best Music Gadget,” and the “Best Gadget of All Time” categories.

“Benefiting from Apple’s tireless design and integration efforts, iWork ‘08 gives users an easy, intuitive interface, beautiful templates and tight integration with Mac OS X and iLife,” reports Paul Vaughn (San Antonio Express News). He praises numerous new features in both Pages ’08—which he calls “a very capable word-processing program, a quite viable alternative to Microsoft Word”—and Keynote ’08: “Apple keeps making it better.” And Numbers ’08, Vaughn says “is designed intelligently from the ground up.” Comparing it favorably to Excel, he concludes, Numbers seems “brilliantly elegant.”

For most Spanish-speaking students attending José Martí Middle School, it takes four to six years to achieve sufficient English-language skills to move out of bilingual classes. In contrast, most students in Grace Poli’s classes make the leap in just a single year. That’s after media specialist Poli introduced an innovative education tool: the iPod. “The school here in Hudson County,” writes Winnie Hu (New York Times), “has been handing out the portable digital players to help bilingual students with limited English ability sharpen their vocabulary and grammar by singing along to popular songs.”

By studying ice cores extracted from deep within the Ross Ice Shelf, scientists with the Antarctic Geological Drilling Program hope to learn how this area of the Antarctic has responded to climate change over the past 15 to 20 million years. The cores have much to reveal, and thanks to their Mac Pro computer and two tiled 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays, scientists can now study high-resolution enlarged images of those cores.

To Keep Adding, the Santa Fe-based artist group that has been creating multimedia and installation art together for more than a decade, the Mac has become integral to the evolving nature of their work. Explains Keep Adding partner Noah MacDonald, “I might work on a painting, then take a photo of it, put it in the computer, open it in Photoshop, digitally rework it, and from that get a sense of what I want to physically do next on the actual painting. The computer influences the physical end of what I do, because I can work on the paintings offsite, then come back and paint what I’ve envisioned on the Mac.”

At Princeton University, sales of Mac computers have increased for each of the last four years. In fact, reports the Daily Princetonian’s Doug Eshleman, “this year, the University’s Student Computer Initiative has sold more Macs than PCs. Students were offered a selection of Dell, IBM and Apple computers, and 60 percent chose Macs, up from 45 percent last year.” Nor is the trend an isolated phenomenon. Princeton’s manager of support, Leila Shahbender “found that Mac sales also had significantly increased at MIT, Columbia, Dartmouth, Penn, Duke, Stanford, Cornell and Brown over the past few years” when she attended a recent college technology conference.

Skiing and snowboarding photographer RIchard Walch can’t afford to leave the mountain behind until he knows he’s bagged “the perfect light, the perfect snow, and the perfect trick or turn.” So he takes his studio with him whenever he hits the slopes. Aperture running on a 15-inch MacBook Pro forms the foundation of the mobile digital darkroom that carries in his backpack on a shoot, allowing him to import images when his crew breaks for lunch. “This is great for me,” Walch says, “because I can isolate any shots I’ve missed during the morning session and get them in the afternoon.”

“For sheer multimedia portability,” croons Arik Hesseldahl (businessweek.com), “it’s hard to beat the new iPod nano.” “The image quality,” he reports, “is gorgeous, especially with animated fare like Japanese anime.” That’s because “the screen density,” Hesseldahl explains, “is the highest of any iPod that Apple has ever shipped, and the end result shows it.” Of course, “the nano sounds as good as any iPod.” “And browsing albums on the screen with Apple Coverflow—a special effect that makes the covers look like they’re whizzing by as you scroll through them —is incredibly cool.”

You’ll find the world’s largest video wall—120 feet long and 11 feet tall—in the lobby of the Manhattan headquarters of InterActiveCorp. A dazzling montage of images fills its vast dimensions day and night, mesmerizing passersby. Yet the deceptively simple visual messages that fly effortlessly across this wide video canvas took massive computing muscle to render. With some sequences requiring as much as an hour per frame to render, designer Jakob Trollbäck and his can-do crew leveraged the power of their Mac-filled office to bring the panoramic wall to life.

On November 1, Daniel Cooperman, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary at Oracle Corporation, will join Apple as the company’s senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, reporting to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Apple today announced.

In PC Magazine’s 20th annual survey of tech support, Eric Griffith (pcmag.com) reports that customers continue to praise Mac desktops and notebooks and the tech support Apple provides for them: “Apple’s high marks extend even into areas we don’t have room to print charts for, such as the 85 percent rating for the reliability of software included on the computer, the 93 percent score for new desktops working right out of the box, and the 9 out of 10 score for the attitude of the tech-support provider.” So pleased are owners with their desktop and notebook Macs, surveys indicated, that 9.4 out of 10 would recommend them to others. “And readers scored Mac notebooks a full 100 percent for ease of setup. Simply amazing.”

“Of the more than 100 million iPods Apple Inc. has sold,” exclaims Tom Rose (Bostonherald.com), “not one of them has been as polished and unblemished as the new iPod nano.” Rose praises the “vastly improved user interface” and the brighter, larger display: “the result is crystal clear video, games and menus.” Rose calls iPod nano “a perfect fit”: “there’s enough space for a few TV shows and a good selection of music, the price is hard to beat and it won’t take up much space in your purse or shirt pocket.”

Blaupunkt recently rolled out an SD-equipped car stereo, but if flash cards aren’t your thing, you might want to consider either the company’s new Kingston MP47 or Hamburg MP57 stereo, each of which boast USB inputs to accommodate your mass storage device of choice. If that’s not enough for you, both models also sport standard 3.5mm front panel inputs to let you jack in any old audio device, and the MP57 ups the options even further
with built-in Bluetooth capability (something that can be added to the MP47 with an optional module). Otherwise, you can expect to get 45 watts of power through four channels from each stereo, along with removable front panels, a three-band parametric equalizer, and an included microphone on the MP57 model for Bluetooth hands-free operation. The MP47 also boasts a customizable Variocolour display, while the MP57 opts for a standard black-and-white dot matrix deal. If that suits, you should be able to grab either one now, with the MP47 running $210 and the MP57 setting you back $320.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Don’t worry BlackJack fans, Samsung does indeed seem to have a true BlackJack II successor in the works for you, unlike that stylus-based i780 pretender to the throne. Turns out the i617 — which we saw pass the FCC yesterday — will be doing the honors, but unfortunately it’s not terribly clear what those honors will be. AT&T is a lock, thanks to the HSDPA 850 / 1900, and of course Windows Mobile 6 will be the main attraction, but there’s no confirmation of WiFi or any other notable hardware upgrades just yet other than a bump to 2 megapixels from the original’s 1.3. As for looks, we’ll let you make up your own mind, but the design isn’t much of a departure — there’s still a back hump — but everything is considerably more shiny this time around. No word on price or availability. There’s a shot of the back after the break.

Continue reading Samsung’s BlackJack II outed as the i617

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

While the technology is still in preliminary stages, it’s not hard to imagine the kind of devices inside which a 3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) OLED display would find a home, and we want one yesterday. Samsung SDI is prepping just such a display, and claims to have overcome the manufacturing and performance barriers that have kept the technology stuck at QVGA in consumer devices. The new technology is being developed in conjunction with Clairvoyante, using Clairvoyante’s proprietary PenTile RGB tech, allowing for low battery consumption and high performance, to the tune of 1000:1 contrast and 200 nits of brightness. Sounds good to us, mass production starts Q3 2008.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

We’re tempted to believe this story just isn’t true, but if the details are indeed factual, we’re a bit flabbergasted to say the least. Turns out, a teenager’s mother scurried to Target in order to snap up a video iPod for her daughter’s upcoming birthday, and she put it on a Target credit card in order to receive a discount. Upon opening it up, the gal’s 14th birthday party took a turn for the worse as Regan Ritter found nothing but rocks packaged neatly inside. After demanding a refund and getting rejected, store employees were able to locate another iPod at a different Target location. As you can probably guess, that box was also stuffed with rocks. Target still refused to refund the lady’s dough and insisted that she blow the $350 on other store merchandise instead. As it stands, Ms. Ritter is expecting some higher-ups to contact her and truly resolve this, but there’s no word as to whether or not Regan ever acquired an iPod from anywhere else.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

It looks like AT&T sure is serious about expanding its network, with the company now following up its recent purchase of Dobson Communications with an acquisition of a stash of spectrum from Providence, R.I.-based Aloha Partners LP, the largest owner of 700MHz spectrum in the US (and parent company of mobile TV firm HiWire). According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal totals some $2.5 billion, and includes spectrum covering 72 of the United States’ top 100 markets, covering about 196 million people in all. No word on how this will affect T-Mobile’s current arrangement with HiWire, or HiWire itself, for that matter, but we suspect there’ll be some rather, um, interesting discussions going on behind the scenes.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Over at Toc2rta, iPhone hacker Niacin has announced a betatest for his iPhone/iPod touch jailbreak effort. To join, you must point your irc client to irc.toc2rta.com and connect to #betatest. 1.1.1 testers only and you will need some working version of iPhuc.

I’m not personally familiar with the current state of his hack so Caveat Hacktor and all that. Good luck, and bring us back a jailbreak.

Update: 1AM: Niacin announces: “I would just like to 100% confirm we cracked the itouch” for a tester whose handle is podometer. He further confirms that his hack is based on Dinopio’s hack, adding some chained calls to get around OS issues.

Update: 1:15AM: Ryan Block of our sister blog Engadget is now trying this out on his own iPod touch.

One of the challenges of ad-hoc open source development is that, sooner or later, disagreements arise. Personality conflicts generate friction (often exacerbated by the limits of online communication, and cultural or linguistic differences). Optimal technical solutions may be obscured by the rising heat of names called and accusations leveled.

This tension was bound to hit the iPhone developer community, and it seems like the time is now. The iPhone Dev Team, by most accounts an informal collection of hackers run pretty much on a meritocracy basis, is now being called on the carpet by a splinter group calling itself the iPhone “Elite” Team. The cause of the split is both technical and personal: personal, a hacker called Zibri was banned from the IDT irc channel; technical, the “Elite” Team is claiming on its Google Code wiki that the iUnlock and AnySIM unlocking utilities contained critical errors that led directly to the 1.1.1-related iPhone bricking problems.

We know that the combination of the unlocking utilities and the 1.1.1 firmware has been a poison pill for iPhones; however, with the substantial population of never-hacked, never-unlocked phones that have also suffered iBrickage, we can’t exclude the likelihood that there are some dangerous bugs lurking in the firmware upgrade itself.

It would be nice if all the clever folk who have taken the time to explore the iPhone’s inner workings could cooperate in the spirit of harmony and mutual support… but even in a world with something as cool as the iPhone, maybe it’s too much to ask that everyone get along all the time.

Roger Kenny sends word that one of the best web-based games for the iPhone, Battlefleet, has been updated. Not only is there a new splash page (quoting an eminent Mac gaming scholar– ahem), but Roger has set up an “iPhone Entrance,” a “Web Browser” entrance (which, strangely enough, didn’t work right in Firefox 2.0.0.7 for me– I had to play the iPhone version in my browser, which worked fine), and an “Internet Explorer Exit.” Very nice.

In game, there are some good updates, too– most notably in the Options menu, you can now switch sides and play as either Red or Blue. Unfortunately, still no multiplayer play yet, but last time we posted the game, Roger mentioned in the comments that multiplayer was as forthcoming as he could make it. Meanwhile, the game plays just as smoothly as before, and faithfully recreates the BattleShip experience.

And yes, you cheaters, Cheat Mode still does work. I won’t ruin things by telling you how to do it, but it’s intact.

Long ago, there was a time when people actually gave each other rocks as gifts; these rocks were welcomed and enjoyed by the recipients (why? We can’t say. It was the ’70s) and, as quickly as the trend started, it was gone. Gone, that is, everywhere but two Target stores in Fort Worth and Grand Prairie, TX, where the lithogift appears to be alive and well.

The Star-Telegram reports that mother and daughter Melanie and Regan Ritter had an eerie experience of deja vu while shopping for Regan’s 14th birthday present, a shiny new iPod(note to self: begin collecting empty bottles and green stamps for children’s future gifts). After finding the iPod in stock at a Fort Worth Target store, Melanie bought it and delivered it on her daughter’s birthday, and Regan opened the lovely shrink-wrapped “Designed by Apple in California” box to reveal… rocks. A collection of rocks, in fact, matching the approximate weight of the missing iPod. I believe the word you’re looking for is “buzzkill.”

Mom Ritter did what any caring mother would do: marched back to Target and demanded a refund (no luck, she paid with a Target Card so store credit was all they would do) and subsequently went on a hunt for a new iPod for her little girl, preferably a rock-free model. The nearest Target with stock was in Grand Prairie, 20 miles east as the crow flies, so off she went. This time, she insisted that she be able to open the iPod box prior to purchase; the Target salesfolk said nope, she would have to buy it first. She purchased the iPod, then in full view of the Target staff, opened the box and found — you guessed it — more rocks.

Target says it’s investigating the incidents. Meanwhile, the Ritters ended up having to use their $350 Target store credit for more mundane, and rock-free, merchandise.

[Picture is of the i-Stones iPod docks, not the actual rocks that were found in the box.]

via MacNN

Remote Buddy, the do-it-all remote program for OS X, has reached version 1.7.1. I haven’t taken a look at this app in a long time, but they’ve come a long way, baby– a few months ago they added support (via AJAX) for the iPhone, and that has added a whole new universe of functionality to controlling your computer via a remote unit. If you haven’t seen it lately, check it out.

The 1.7.1 update fixes a few bugs in the AJAX module, adds a warning if you don’t have an Airport Express setting correct, and adds a newly rewritten driver for Front Row control. And this is all in addition to last week’s big release (1.7), which added a ton of new stuff– almost a complete rewrite of the AJAX remote, and compatibility with a ton of new programs, everything from ComicBookLover to VoodooPad.

Very impressive. Applications like this are what make it so great to be a Mac user. Remote Buddy is available for 19.99 € or as a free 30 day trial version over on their website.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

As I continue exploring 1.1.1, I keep running across unexpected changes in the way the iPhone handles certain things I’ve taken for granted. I was aware that under 1.0.2 that SpringBoard scanned a non-supported /Widgets folder in addition to /Applications. However, two more folders have joined the team in 1.1.1: /AppleInternal/Applications and /Accessories.

I am in pure speculation territory, but perhaps the Accessories folder will relate to those com.apple.mobile.radio and com.apple.mobile.nike references I found in LingoToAccessoryMap.plist.

Most doors have locks on them. Shocking, I know, but they are there for a good reason: to keep people out. It would be nice if we all lived in a Norman Rockwellian world where our doors would never be locked and we would all be busy painting self portraits, but that’s not the world we live in.

Sadly, in our world your Mac might get stolen. When this happens bad guys have the potential to get their hands on lots of your information. One easy way to thwart them is by disabling automatic login for all accounts on your Mac. This means that when your Mac boots up you will be prompted by a dialog asking for a password (at the very least, you can change the settings on this dialog, but that is a matter for a follow up post). Not the most comprehensive way to Secure your Mac, but it is a start.

Read on to learn how to do this.

Continue reading Secure your Mac: Disable automatic login

Gametap, as you may already know, is working hard on a Mac client for their game subscription service, and when they told us they were looking for a few good beta testers, we told them to look no further than you, our beloved TUAW readers. So together with GameTap, we’re offering you a chance to not only help them test their beta, but check out their service and their games (from Atari to Zork) for free.

Hit the link below to see the details, sent to us by GameTap. The short version: you’ll have to apply as a beta tester (not everyone who applies will get a free version of the software– odds are that they’re looking for people who will legitimately help them with feedback), and the client they’re testing only works on Intel processors, so if you’ve got a PowerPC Mac, you’re out. We’ll leave this information up for a week, or until GameTap tells us they have everyone they need. Good luck!

Continue reading TUAW and Gametap invite you to test their beta