Bringing your iPad on the road and want more juice than its 10 hour spec? Battery maker Sanho have you covered: their new HyperMac Stand for iPad will add an additional 16 hours to your mobile time.
The HyperMac Stand is a rectangular block in which your iPad can be slotted at an 18 degree angle, perfect for typing. It contains an 1100mAH, 40Wh battery that will charge your iPad even when it’s away from an AC outlet, as well as pass-through charging and syncing.
The price? $130. That sounds a bit steep at first, but given the combined price of both a stand and an external battery, a moment’s reflection makes it a loss less hard to swallow.
Although seventeen more countries will be getting the iPhone 4 at the end of this week, South Korea’s not one of them… and it’s getting a lot of airplay in Seoul, with Steve Jobs being explicitly called a liar by the South Korean press.
The issue isn’t really the delay, so much, but a comment by Steve Jobs saying: “It’s going to take us a little longer to get government approval [for the iPhone 4 in South Korea].”
In actuality, government approval doesn’t seem to be the issue. In fact, the Korean government says that the iPhone 4 has yet to be submitted for approval to the proper channels, either by Apple or their local carrier partner, KT Corp.
The government statement has sparked some confrontational headlines. “Jobs lied, didn’t he?” one local newspaper wrote.
Are you one of the millions of AT&T customers afflicted by terrible 3G upload speeds brought about by buggy Alcatel-Lucent HSUPA hardware? AT&T has announced that they have begun working on a fix.
Good news, but of course, this is AT&T, and after taking several weeks to examine the problem, they will be proceeding with the fix at their usual glacial pace: it will take an additional two to three weeks to fully resolve.
The fantastic Mac and iOS password managing application 1Password has just gotten a fantastic little upgrade, finally bringing cloud synchronization between 1Password for Mac and 1Password Pro for iOS.
While 1Password has long been able to sync your passwords between your Mac and your iPhone, the process was a bit convoluted: you needed to use WiFi, and you needed to make sure the 1Password app was open while near your computer to suck down your data.
However, the new 3.3 update to 1Password for Mac and the 3.5 update to 1Password Pro for iOS brought Dropbox support to the mix, and the syncing process has become a lot more straight forward.
It’s a fantastic update. It’s just too bad that 1Password Pro is so expensive. 1Password is one of the easiest ways to keep your various online accounts secure, but the $14.99 price on the Dropbox syncable “Pro” version is probably a pretty big barrier to entry for most.
If you bank through Citibank on your iPhone, you might want to update it now: the Wall Street Journal is reporting that there is a security vulnerability in the last version of the Citi Mobile app that saves personal account information in a hidden file.
This hidden file contains information about account numbers, security access codes and bill payment information. While it can’t be accessed remotely, it could conceivably be accessed through a Mac or PC upon being connected by USB cable… particularly if the device is jailbroken.
“We have no reason to believe that our customers’ personal information has been accessed or used inappropriately by anyone,” Citi has said, while simultaneously releasing an updated version of the app that fixes the problem.
Shares of DVR-manufacturer TiVo jumped about 5% yesterday after rumors swirled that the company’s next tech revision might get included on the next Apple TV.
It’s a pretty silly rumor. Apple has made it clear time and time again that they want to own the core technology of their devices. Unless Apple sees fit to buy TiVo, then, I don’t see it happening. In fact, why would Apple allow television recording on the AppleTV to begin with? If the AppleTV ever makes the leap from hobby device to serious initiative, it’ll be because Apple wants to give consumers a cheap, set-top box to conduct iTunes purchases.
I just don’t see it. The most compelling rumor right now is that the next AppleTV will run iOS and stream through the cloud. I don’t think TiVo is going to become an Apple partner with the next AppleTV: I think they’ll become even more of a competitor than they are now.
Unfortunately, because of the legal issues involved, the Apple spokeswoman would only provide me with the following statement on the record:
“Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”
Got a spare $170,000 lying around? If so, UK jeweler Stuart Hughes will sell you an iPad covered in solid gold that weighs a hefty 5.5lbs.
The 64GB 3G iPad is covered in 2.5 kilograms of solid 24ct gold. “A magnificent combination of top of the industry technology and unrivalled craftsmanship was involved in creating this masterpiece,” the jeweler says. The iPad will be limited to 25 units.
Stuart Hughes sells a bunch of other blinged-up gizmos, including a $33,000 iPhone 4 covered in 150 grams of 24ct gold. It’s a 32GB model without a SIM lock. The gold doubles its weight to about 290 grams. It includes a hand-finished wallet made from Ostrich foot.
No word on whether the gold improves reception, but investing in gold has never been hotter.
Back in the day the entertainment industry tried to stop consumers from videotaping TV shows to watch at a later time. But the courts and Congress said taping TV shows is a non-infringing use of copyrighted works: it is “fair use.”
Now, the Copyright Office has determined that Apple locking the iPhone to prevent it running unapproved apps is an unfair restriction on consumers’ fair use rights.
Consumers should be allowed to jailbreak their iPhones and install whatever applications they like: not just those approved by Apple. Unlocking your iPhone to install non-approved apps is a legal exemption to the DMCA, the Copyright Office has just ruled.
To reach this conclusion, the Copyright Office applied the four famous “fair use factors” to the case:
Now that the US Copyright Office has ruled that jailbreaking your phone is not a violation of the DMCA, you can go ahead an tinker without crossing over to the wrong side of the law.
Tell us whether you will jailbreak your iPhone now or not and why in the comments.
Many of the most vocal critics of jailbreaking — a group which includes Apple itself — have been quick in the past to cite the fact that hacking your smartphone is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and thus illegal.
It wasn’t a bad argument, all things considered, but if you’re used to relying on it, you’re going to have to ditch it: the Copyright Office has just issued a new set of exemptions to the DMCA, making jailbreaking and unlocking your iPhone officially legal.
The sad fact of the matter is we’re never going to see the release of the long fabled iControlPad iPhone case, which would allow you to add a D-Pad and physical buttons to your phone.
For us jailbroken retro-gamers with an affinity for emulation, that’s pretty sad, but maybe there’s hopes: the iPhone Game Pad has now come along, adding the same functionality to the iPhone.
Unfortunately, right now, it only works with the original iPhone, with 3G and 3GS support coming soon. Double unfortunate is that, as usual, this seemingly wonderful product isn’t in the shipping phase, with its creators now looking for a manufacturing partner.
Granted, it’s understandable why iPhone accessory manufacturers both wouldn’t and couldn’t sell an accessory that depends on jailbreaking, especially if they want to keep a good relationship with Apple. Still, I hope someday one of these iPhone control pad projects gets off the ground: there’s plenty of iPhone gamers out there who miss the tactility of physical buttons underneath our thumbs.
Harking back to a time when Lost‘s mysteries had not been explained away with the MacGuffin of a stupid magic light, the original Dharma Initiative Apple II Plus computer used in the Pearl Station to release electromagnetic radiation every 108 minutes way back in Season Two is soon to go on sale.
If you’re interested in picking up this bit of Apple-centric television history, it’ll be auctioned off on August 21st. If you win, don’t worry about typing in the numbers: like everything in Lost, failure to follow the rules set down by the show’s creators will ultimately have no consequence whatsoever.
Samsung isn’t the first smartphone maker to try to capitalize on the iPhone 4 antenna issues, but they are the only one who stand to directly benefit from Apple’s latest handset’s success.
That’s what makes a recent campaign by Samsung USA so curious. They have begun giving away free Samsung Galaxy S Series smartphones to Brit’s complaining about their iPhone 4 on Twitter.
What’s so odd here is that Samsung makes an estimated $2 billion a year supplying components to Apple for sale in the iPhone. In fact, as 9to5Mac notes, they make $50 for every 16GB iPhone sold, and $75 on every 32GB iPhone sold.
In other words, Samsung’s playing the strange game of competing against itself: stressing the iPhone 4 antenna issue in order to get some free publicity for its own series of handsets, even while profiting directly from every iPhone 4 sold. It’s hard to tell whether or not this is win-win or lose-lose.
Your average digicam already takes care of almost every step of the photographic process for you. From selecting an ISO, to autofocus, to opening the aperture, to adjusting the shutter sped, today’s digicam is truly an idiot-proof affair… providing said idiot is trying to take pictures of it, as opposed to, say, eating it.
Unfortunately, while the hardware is streamlined enough that any swollen-tongued moron can use it, photographic composition itself is still very much thwartable by the dumb and untrained.
Enter the prototypical Nadia digicam, which eschews an LCD live view display for a simple read-out gauging a photograph’s composition against its own programmed aesthetic beliefs in percentage form.
Inside, there’s a Nokia N73 cellphone, communicating with a Mac via Bluetooth, which is in turn running an “aesthetic inference engine” linked to Acquine. Unfortunately, Acquine’s aesthetic taste seems pretty questionable: Goatse.cx (Wikipedia link, work safe) scored an astonishing 67.5%, for example, while a photo of the Nadia itself scores a paltry 32.5%.
Still, the theory’s sound. After all, digicams already do everything short of telling you if your shot is good, and they already boast every other software feature under the sun in the ongoing quest for brand differentiation. Why stop there?
Again jabbing their paint coated thumbs right into poor Jonny Ive’s vitreous jelly comes rig pantone outfit Colorware, who are now prepared to slather your gorgeously designed aluminum unibody Mac mini in whatever garish, classless color scheme of your heart’s choosing.
The service costs $250, which is pretty cheap given how much they charge for a custom-colored iPad, but still a lot more expensive than a can of spray paint and some masking tape. For $1000, you don’t even have to mail them your own hardware: they’ll just send you a Mac mini in the colors of your choosing.
Me, I prefer the Mac mini’s gorgeous design as it is naturally, before it was dipped in a vat of Manic Panic. Pig in lipstick is the wrong analogy: it’s more like a supermodel drowned in a vat of the stuff. Your mileage may well vary.
If you’re living in one of the many international countries yet to experience the iPhone 4’s transcendent Retina Display, futuristic FaceTime capability or the infamous Death Grip, good news: Apple has just announced that they will be shipping iPhone 4s to 17 more countries this Friday.
The second-tier first-worlders who can expect to get the iPhone 4 are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Launch day? July 30th. We can’t wait to see the iPhone 4 waiting line photos from far more exotic climes.
Although there are already quite a few iOS 4 jailbreaks out there, they don’t work on some devices like the third generation iPod Touch (MC), and — of course — the veritable iPhone 4.
The good news, of course, is that the indefatigable Dev Team is already hard at work on a new jailbreak that will support all iDevices under iOS 4.0.1, including the iPhone 4.
The new jailbreak will be very much like the 3.1.3 ‘Spirit’ jailbreak. Unfortunately, though, it’s not quite ready for prime time.
According to the Twitter feed of one of the most vocal members of the Dev Team, their iOS 4.0.1 jailbreak has been delayed because of issues with FaceTime on jailbroken devices, noting there’s no point in releasing a half-assed jailbreak if some of the best new features don’t work entirely right.
Rest assured, though: a jailbreak for the iPhone 4 is coming. It’s just a matter of patience.
As we reported on Friday, Apple seems to be unsure of itself when it came to promising swift delivery of free iPhone 4 bumpers.
In Leander’s case, his free iPhone 4 bumper won’t ship until August 27th, and delivery was slated for September 1st.
Luckily, it looks like Apple was erring on the side of caution when it comes to delivery dates: a few readers have emailed us, saying that while their original estimated delivery date was closer to Leander’s, they have already received word that their free bumpers have shipped, well over a month before originally promised.
Personally, I was pretty understanding about Apple having shipping delays: this iPhone 4 antenna issue clearly took them by surprise, and organizing and shipping out millions of free cases on such short notice is a difficult logistic problem. Good on Cupertino for getting things done more quickly.
Anyone else gotten an email saying their bumper’s on the way?
If you woke up this morning ready to pull the trigger on that long-lusted for Mac Pro, here’s some counter-intuitive good news for you: it’s currently “unavailable” for purchase at both the Apple Store and many retail stores around the United States.
This is good news, trust us. Apple pulling an item from inventory usually signifies an imminent hardware refresh, and rumors have been swirling for the last few days about what the next MacPro might have going for it.
What does the scuttlebutt have to say for itself Try a USB 3.0 capable Mac Pro with FireWire 1600 (or even 3200) ports, and — in all likelihood — a couple of Intel Core i7 processors.
We’ll keep readers informed if and when new Mac Pros go on sale. We’re certainly hopeful that any new Mac Pro update will hearken a company-wide adoption of the faster USB and — in Pro-level computers — FireWire processors.
MacRumors have picked up on some claims this morning by Mac4Ever that give details on Apple’s next update to the iLife suite.
It’s rumored that the update will happen on August 7th, 2010, and will introduce a whole host of new features including a new “mystery” application:
– iLife ’11 will be sold for $79
– Release Date of 08/07/2010
– All applications will be 64-bit
– Improvements in iPhoto faces & places
– Improving the integration of social networks
– iWeb will be totally renewed
– New application (mystery!)
– Disappearance of iDVD
– MobileMe gallery in beta (with faces & places)
Several rumors have circulated recently regarding an update to iLife, some of which claim the new update will be labelled iLife ’10. However, as MacRumors points out, the iLife ’11 name would be more consistent with Apple’s previous behavior; iLife ’08 was introduced in August, 2007.
Email and texting is so yesterday; we’re all down with Twitter and Facebook and whatnot these days, so it only makes sense that the new 2.0 update for Nuance‘s speech-recognition app for the iPhone, Dragon Dictation, now adds the ability to send messages as status updates and tweets instead of just as emails or texts.
Another, smaller improvement, is the ability to instantly paste the transcript into the body of a text message.
Finally, in addition to standard Yankee English, the app now also supports “Engish (United Kingdom),” which presumably means it’ll insert the letter “u” randomly into words throughout the message. More languages arriving soon, including German in a few weeks and Italian, French and Spanish by the year’s end.
Nothing like dropping a little ninja into a spoiling dish to spice things up. In this case, the dish is a game like Tap-Tap Revenge, and the ninja is…well, it’s a ninja. Sorta.
Rhythm Spirit ($2) lets you control a little rendered cartoon-ninja named Toshi as he battles through ten levels of Japanese-ish folklore after being “empowered by a spirit.” The art and soundtrack look and sound tasty, but it’s the way you control Toshi — through tapping out fight (or flight) commands to the rhythm of the soundtrack— that makes this game stand out from the crowd.
Try the free version if you’re still not sold after watching the vid.
