Hasta La Gadget!

The leaks, they keep coming. Boy Genius has some new images and details on BlackBerry OS 6.0 today, and while we’ve got our fair share of questions, there’s no denying that what we’re seeing looks like a substantial and much-needed improvement to the platform. First off, it appears that RIM’s acquisition of Torch Mobile has paid off with a totally new WebKit-based browser, complete with tab switching, redesigned favorites, and pinch-to-zoom. About time, we’d say. Pinch-to-zoom and multitouch are also said to be present system-wide, along with kinetic scrolling, and long-pressing on the screen brings up a new modal context menu. That’s definitely intriguing. The media player, photo viewer, and messaging apps have all also been re-done, and we’re told the new inbox offers Facebook, Twitter, and RSS integration. The best part? BGR says this is all due out in June / July, “100%.”

Now, here’s the interesting parts. First, it’s obvious that this system is made for and being demoed on a touchscreen device, yet BGR says it was being shown off by an “AT&T connect.” That suggests Ol’ Blue is about to get a touchscreen BlackBerry of its own to counter Verizon’s Storm sometime soon — perhaps that leaked slider? We can’t say for sure. What we can say for sure is that this is the third set of 6.0 leaks we’ve seen that have content about San Francisco and the earthquake in Haiti displayed on the screen — and while RIM has said the previous two leaks were just mockups, it’s more than a little odd that SF / Haiti has become a theme here. What does it all mean? We may never know, but whatever — just hit us with that new browser and we’ll stop asking questions.

BlackBerry OS 6.0 screenshots and details leak out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The rules about what types of content can and can’t be in Apple’s App Store are still fuzzy, but one thing’s certain: Steve Jobs doesn’t want to sell porn.

Despite yesterday’s iPhone debacle, Jobs was still in a chatty-enough mood to respond to a concerned customer’s e-mail questioning Apple’s role as “moral police” of its App Store. The customer, Matthew Browing, was referring to the App Store’s initial rejection of an app containing Mark Fiore’s Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoon, as well as the company’s recent porn ban.

In his reply, Jobs admitted that rejecting Fiore’s app was a mistake, and he wasn’t shy about advertising his biggest competitor’s product as a phone for porn lovers:

Fiore’s app will be in the store shortly. That was a mistake. However, we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone.

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler, who originally reported the e-mail exchange, noted the “and” typo in Jobs’ response, but he said he verified the sender by checking the e-mail’s IP headers.

Jobs’ purported e-mail response is believable, as it comes in line with a statement the CEO made during a question-and-answer session at Apple’s iPhone OS 4 event earlier this month. A journalist asked whether Apple would consider allowing customers to load apps through means other than the App Store, and Jobs again noted Android as an option for porn fans.

“You know, there’s a porn store for Android,” Jobs said. “You can download nothing but porn. You can download porn, your kids can download porn. That’s a place we don’t want to go, so we’re not going to go there.”

Jobs’ opposition to porn is loud and clear, but Apple’s crackdown on sex-tinged apps can be described as a “semi-ban” at best. The Playboy app remains in the App Store, as does the Sports Illustrated app, because they come from “more reputable companies,” according to Apple’s vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller.

See Also:

• Apple App Store Bans Pulitzer-Winning Satirist for Satire
• Apple Adds and Removes ‘Explicit’ Category from App Store
• Apple Explains Semi-Ban of Sex Apps
• Apple Imposes NDA For App Store Rejections
• Developer: Apple Denied Health Care App for Political Reasons

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

So, hear us out: this isn’t a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination, but we’ve good reason to believe that we’re looking at the FCC ID label of the HTC HD mini variant designed to support North American 3G bands. The most obvious reason is the fact that the label is screaming yellow — a perfect match for the chartreuse internals of the device that HTC was excited to show off at its MWC introduction a couple months back. What’s more, this approval comes a few weeks after approval of the Euro-spec PB92100 with a similarly-designed label, which would’ve been the right time frame for a phone that’s due to ship across Europe any day now. Of course, the approval of this phone doesn’t really say anything about carrier availability — sure, it could ship on AT&T, but it could also come to Rogers, Bell, Telus, or be sold unlocked and unbranded, a tactic that HTC has occasionally employed stateside in the past. Regardless, though — considering WinMo 6.5.3’s rapidly-waning relevance, they’d better ship it on the double.

HTC HD mini with North American 3G gets FCC approval? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll be honest with you — it literally pains us to write this. If you’re the queasy type, we’d probably suggest scrolling on down and continuing about your day. For the hardcore still with us, the story goes a little something like this: a Denver-area man headed out to his local Apple store to pick up an iPad for a colleague (read: not even for himself), and in an interview, he admits to not even really understanding the fascination with Apple’s new product. After doing his good deed and plopping down the plastic, he casually curled the strings atop the Apple bag around his hand as he headed for the exits. Unfortunately, a pair of thugs met him along the way, yanking the bag, the iPad and all of the flesh surrounding his pinky finger as they bolted for a getaway. Currently, police are investigating surveillance footage in hopes of tracking down the crooks who pulled off the stunt… and, uh, a bit more than they likely bargained for. Video after the break if you’ve still got the stomach.

[Thanks, Chris]

Continue reading Thieves snag iPad from buyer, yank a finger off while they’re at it

Thieves snag iPad from buyer, yank a finger off while they’re at it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, check it. You’re out and about with mum and dad on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, eager to get whatever’s on the grill into your own grille. You’re pondering the origin of wildflowers, the middle name of America’s 18th president and how humanity functioned prior to the invention of Mighty Putty. You’re only ten years old, but your young eyes have lived to see a lot… so much, in fact, that you’re semi-seriously considering penning your own novella. Bang. Three inches to your left lies a mildly deformed swivel-screen laptop, and all you can think about is the gush of air that’s still rustling your fauxhawk. Turns out, a medical helicopter departing St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota forgot to bring their Panasonic Toughbook onboard before heading out, and if fate were feeling just a bit more cruel, that shock-mounted hard drive may have left you out for the count. But as it stands, you’ve got a fairly stupendous show-and-tell to deliver in class this week, and who knows — maybe that DIMM will work in your Nickelodeon Edition Mini 10.

Toughbook plummets from helicopter, narrowly misses future Toughbook user originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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