Hasta La Gadget!

Plucky Sprint has figured out a way to get in on the iPad action. The carrier is offering a free iPad case with a pocket for its 4G cellular Wi-Fi router, allowing you to use a basic Wi-Fi iPad and still enjoy an always-on internet connection.

Sprint’s Overdrive modem is like a 4G MiFi, taking a fast cellular data connection and sharing it via its battery-powered Wi-Fi hotspot. Many people, including our own New York Bureau Chief John C Abell, are considering this kind of setup (either MiFi or Overdrive) instead of opting for the 3G iPad. The thinking goes that you can use the connection with any of your devices, not just the iPad.

The downside is that you need a contract, the lack of which is one of the 3G iPad’s best features. Still, this case is neat and, despite the “steal-me” Wi-Fi logo on the outside, is a very smart marketing move from Sprint.

It comes in two flavors: folio and sleeve. Both have a pouch on the side to carry the Overdrive, and the folio has an extra flap that closes over the top.

To get one, you’ll need to buy an Overdrive from a participating BestBuy store. These are sensibly limited to areas where there is Sprint 4G coverage. As you’ll see from the drop down list on the site, there still aren’t many of those.

iPad Case [Sprint via Electronista]

Users of webOS and HTC Sense can skip ahead, you’re already familiar with tight social networking integration on your handsets. Now Apple appears ready to join the social, so to speak. New evidence of low-level Facebook event and contacts integration has been revealed in iPhone OS 4 hinting at the possibility of unified Calendar and Contacts apps from Apple when the OS launches this summer on, um, this device. Web site Website Gunning for Safety says that Apple appears to have created a “separate type of contact” just for Facebook. On its own, the claim is suspect if only because the site’s focus is related to nail gun safety. But we’ve grabbed copies of the associated .plist files from a jailbroken iPhone running OS 4 that seemingly back the claim. There’s even mention of a generic “SocialKitInternal.framework” opening the door for integration with services like Twitter — though we found no evidence for that. All this aligns nicely with a “Linked Contacts” feature discovered by AppleInsider last week. According to AI, multiple Linked Contacts can be associated to a single entry in the new iPhone OS 4 Contacts app. See some of the .plist evidence in the gallery below.

iPhone OS 4 reveals its social side: Facebook integration? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Gunning For Safety, AppleInsider  | Email this | Comments

It’s a little known fact* that in Wired’s sunny San Francisco offices, the Gadget Lab crew is forced to work in a locked basement room, devoid of all outside stimulus save the umbilical connection to the internet and the occasional sighting of the Wired chef’s hand as he pushes the lunch leftovers through a hatch in the door.

This is why we shall be ordering the Winscape, a pair of plasma displays which are mounted on the wall to mimic windows, drawing their 1080p video-feeds from a connected Mac. Better still, we will be able to control the view from our iPhones, saving us the trouble of calling the IT-crew down to our basement dungeon to unshackle us from our cramped desks for a few moments.

Why not just run a screensaver on a TV? Because the Winscape has an extra trick. If you wear an IR necklace or carry a Wimote with you, as you move the software monitors your position and changes the view accordingly. So, if you walk over to the right, say (or strain to the right against the chains which bind you to your desk), you’ll see a little more out the left side of the window.

If you have the necessary hardware already (and believe us, we have plenty of hardware down here) you can grab the OS X software for $10 and the iPhone app for $2. If you don’t already have the gear, you’re looking at $2,500 to $3,000.

Winscape [Rational Craft via Uncrate]

*not fact

If you already pre-ordered a 3G iPad, then Apple will still be shipping it to your door in “late April”. Those of you who were too lazy to click the “buy now” button until today will have to wait until May 7th for your order to be filled, indicating that Apple has already sold out of the first shipments of the cellular iPad.

Over at Cult of Mac, ex-Wired.com blogger John Brownlee points out that even these delayed 3G iPads will be in your hands before prices and pre-order details are even announced outside the US. This is a rare moment of lucidity for the Berlin-based blogger: in the same post he claims to be European, even though he was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts (or possibly Geelong, Victoria).

One thing, though, is very clear. Apple’s “toy” tablet is so far a runaway success, despite its “lack” of flash and all the other nerd-essentials.

iPad [Apple via Brownlee’s ravings]

It’s not streaking through downtown Dallas remaking Matt & Kim videos just yet but after an uneven start the TiVo Premiere continues to evolve, this time towards something with even more capacity and (hopefully) less lockups. ZatzNotFunny mentions a new software update to version 14.1c has gone live this weekend which is intended to fix lockups some customers are experiencing with more revisions promised over the coming weeks and months to address various performance and stability issues. Forum reactions are mixed, with some dropping back to the old UI for more stability and speed but if you’re living the Premiere lifestyle let us know how things are going for you. Those still on the outside looking in who haven’t been scared off by the growing pains can also consider a few new larger capacity options courtesy of longtime modder/reseller WeaKnees, now ready to deliver units with up to 2TB of storage internally or even externally for those who like it like that — you know who you are.

TiVo Premiere is updated and expanded, but is it ready? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ZatzNotFunny (software update), ZatzNotFunny (WeaKnees)  | Email this | Comments