Hasta La Gadget!

Google’s Cloud Print is now live, and you can print directly from your Android or iOS device to any printer you might have lying around. Right now, you can see the new feature by going to Gmail and pressing the double-arrowed “more” button. “Print” is now an option in the resulting drop-down menu.

Unlike Apple’s AirPrint, which works over the local Wi-Fi network and currently requires an AirPrint-compatible printer (or an easy workaround), Cloud Print sends your print jobs via the internet. You need to install the Chrome browser onto any computer with a printer, and then enable Cloud Print in the settings. This is tied to your Google account, and there’s even a page for managing your printers and print jobs.

Right now, you’ll need a Windows PC hooked up to the printer, running Google Chrome 9.0.597.1 or later. Linux and Mac support should be following soon. Currently you can print emails from Gmail and documents from Google Docs. You can also print from Google’s Chrome notebook computers.

This is exactly how printing should always have worked – no worrying about drivers or installations, just sign into your account and print. It’s ironic it has happened just when most of us no longer need to print anything onto paper. I have been using a version of this ever since I ditched my own printer years ago: I just email my documents to the local copy shop and pick them up on my way to the bar next door.

Cloud printing on the go [Google Mobile Blog]

See Also:

• HP Printers Work with Apple's iOS4 AirPrint
• AirPrint
• Print Wirelessly From iPad to Any Printer? There's an App for That …
• How to Print With Any Printer From iPad, iPhone
• Rumor: Apple's iOS Printing Crippled on Release

Nickel Buddy, the developer of Anywhere Abs, describes its interactive fitness title as “a workout partner on Kindle.”

Hot on the heels of re-tooling its data plans Verizon is now confirming that the iPhone will indeed be eligible for the company’s $30 unlimited data plan. COO Lowell McAdam told The Wall Street Journal “I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” thus confirming what we already knew and showing his keen sense for both business and self-preservation. No comment on whether discontinuing the company’s $15, 150MB monthly data plan will result in penetration wounds to any other appendages, but time will tell on that one.

Update: As spotted by SlashGear, WSJ has posted an update indicating that the unlimited plan is a decidedly limited time thing, with tiered pricing to come in the “not too distant future.” Intrigue!

Update 2: And Macworld’s confirmed that Verizon’s iPhone WiFi data tethering pricing will be the same as all their other phones: $20 a month on top of your regular data plan, with a separate 2GB cap and $20-per-gig overage charges.

[Thanks, Mike]

Verizon confirms iPhone will get $30 unlimited data plan, we try to act surprised (update: WiFi tethering prices) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Apple sicced its legal dogs on battery and accessory maker HyperMac, did it lay down to die? Did it hell. The company, which makes giant external battery packs for Mac and iDevices, just got cleverer.

Apple’s legal ire was caused by HyperMac’s use of MagSafe connectors on its products, a device for which Apple owns a patent. But HyperMac wasn’t even making its own adapters: it was harvesting them from actual Apple power-bricks.

Now, after a rather convoluted solution involving airline adapters and the like, HyperMac is back, with the HyperJuice Magic Box, described as a “MagSafe modification kit”. This kit lets you safely chop the cable off your own MagSafe power adapter and use it with HyperMac’s batteries.

The $50 HyperJuice Magic Box comes in two parts. You chop your Apple cable (the thin part, not the part that runs to the wall) and insert one quickly fraying section into each box. These boxes both have their own cord on the other side.

Now you can either plug one into the other and carry on as before. Or you can take the box that hooks to the computer and plug that into a HyperJuice battery. Or you can charge the battery with your Apple charger.

HyperMac says that the snip-n-fix only takes two minutes, and it looks as easy as wiring an electrical plug. The solution isn’t as clean as the previous one, which did without the two extra boxes, but for travelers it’s probably worth the trouble. Available now.

HyperJuice Magic Box – MagSafe Modification Kit [HyperMac]

See Also:

• HyperMac Crams 16-Hour Battery into iPad Stand
• Accessory Maker Pulls the Plug on MacBook-Charging Battery …
• Battery Pack Boosts iPad Life to 99-Hours