Hasta La Gadget!

I’ve been hard on Microsoft and its oddly shaped, ergonomic keyboards. The split keys and overly curved bodies were impossible for me to use. Of course, others love them. Still Microsoft makes a lot of keyboard models and the newest of them, the Arc Keyboard Special Edition, $39.99, immediately caught my eye. (Available for the Mac, as well.)

Instead of Bluetooth, Microsoft went with the more standard 2.4 wireless spectrum, which is my preference anyway since Bluetooth might get a bit thready if you’re too far away from the transmitter. I left my office, went down the hall, and was still able to transmit keystrokes. Speaking of which, the USB receiver dongle is tiny (literally about thumbnail size) and can magnetically store against the base of the keyboard when not in use. The Arc uses two AAA batteries for power.

Design wise, the Arc Keyboard Special Edition may be the most elegant keyboard Microsoft has ever produced. There’s nothing ground-breaking here, but it’s all subtlety. The keyboard rises up gently at the center to meet your fingers and the outer edges curve gently on the top and bottom. Nothing however is extreme. Keys are all together and the size of the main keyboard layout is essentially the same as a standard keyboard. The whole keyboard is shallower than my old-full-sized keyboard and it probably tilts less toward my hands (with no adjustment available, by the way), yet it’s completely comfortable to type on.

Konnet Technology just released the PowerEZ Plus, a 1000mAh external charger for iPhones and iPods. Priced at $29.99, it’s good value for a gadget that not only charges your portable, but holds it at a comfortable angle for video-viewing. Merely 0.5-inches thick, the PowerEZ attaches to the bottom of your device to deliver slightly less than a full charge.

Four LED lights convey how much juice is left in the pack. If the device needs recharging, simply connect it to your computer using the included USB charge and sync cable. It offers “smart charging” technology and “over-current protection,” so it avoids over-charging your device by shutting down when it senses that enough energy is stored. Pressing the power button lets you control how much charge is transferred.

Not feeling hot about the trouble–prone iPhone 4, but still tempted by its optional iMovie app? Now you have a choice! Turns out to run said app on other devices (including iPod touch, supposedly) running iOS 3.0 and above, all you need are a jailbroken iOS device, iMovie for iPhone from the App Store, and two quick edits in the app’s info.plist file — change minimum system version to “3.0.0” and front-facing-camera to “false.” Sounds easy enough, although we’ve yet to see the hacked app actually running on devices other than the 3GS demoed in the video after the break. And sorry, Redmond Pie’s already confirmed that this sucker doesn’t work on the iPad… yet.

Continue reading iMovie for iPhone gets a cheeky hack for jailbroken 3GS, runs well-oiled

iMovie for iPhone gets a cheeky hack for jailbroken 3GS, runs well-oiled originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were just starting to get over the Courier, moving on after the tantalizing first reveal, the delish conceptual walkthrough, the heartbreaking cancellation, and the inevitable fallout. Now, Microsoft is dragging us back down memory lane with the receipt of a new patent covering the design of the thing. It was filed back on January 19, right after the CES that we’d (futilely) hoped would give us a glimpse of Courier in the flesh, and that patent has just now been approved. So, Microsoft officially owns the design of the thing, and the question now is whether they’ll ever actually do anything with it other than sprinkle mementos like this about from time to time and remind us what might have been. You’re a cruel mistress, Steve Ballmer.

[Thanks, Basil]

Microsoft’s new ‘dual display device’ patent re-opens old Courier wounds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That didn’t take too long, did it? That pulled EVO 4G update promising a handful of fixes for WiFi, Exchange, and battery life (no Froyo yet, sorry) is back online according to our contacts at Sprint — and indeed, we’re getting prompted on our own unit, so that’s that. Go forth, readers; get your update on, now with less brick than ever before.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: To be clear, you don’t need to apply this update if you already have done so successfully — the only change that we’re aware of here is that attempting to apply the update multiple times won’t kill the phone.

Latest EVO 4G update is back online, presumably won’t brick your phone this time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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