Let me guess: you’re still using the stock earbuds that came with your phone. Don’t deny it, I see you every day, on the bus and train, listening to white cords coming out of your ears. I get it—they were free, and they were convenient, and you haven’t gotten around to upgrading. But you should know that they don’t actually sound that great, and those white buds tell everyone—even muggers—what you’ve got in your pocket. Today’s Dealzmodo is for you; we’re giving you a chance to upgrade your stock earbud noise to premium Klipsch reference sound at a pretty large discount. More »
If you thought the BlackBerry platform was coming back simply due to their powerful contracts held with the US government, today’s announcement of the ICE drop might throw you for a loop – especially since they’re moving to the iPhone instead. This update comes from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who says BlackBerry “can no longer meet the mobile technology needs of the agency.” This government agency speaks for groups such as Homeland Security Investigations and has been using RIM‘s BlackBerry phones for 8 years.
The folks at ICE have let it be known that they’ve been analyzing both iOS for the iPhone and Google’s Android smartphone platforms and have come to the conclusion that Apple’s choices ring true for them. This is because, as they say, Apple’s tight controls of the hardware platform and the operating system on the iPhone work best with the government group’s own requirements for security. The agency made it clear that this change will be made soon and will span several organizations.
“[The iPhone will be used by a] variety of agency personnel, including, but not limited to, Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations, and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor employees.
The iPhone services will allow these individuals to leverage reliable, mobile technology on a secure and manageable platform in furtherance of the agency’s mission.” – US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
This will certainly not be a welcome bit of news coming up on the feeds of the Canadian company’s own BlackBerry 10 devices. With the BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system coming out early 2013, RIM will be making great strides to keep the groups they’ve already got attached to their company for BlackBerry’s business-oriented security features. Apple’s iPhone appears to have finally started chipping away significant bits of IT business here after the launch of the iPhone 5.
Have a peek at the timeline below to see how BlackBerry 10 has been evolving to get a better view of how RIM will handle the near future of the platform. Let us know if you plan on continuing to use BlackBerry through the future – or if you plan on adopting a BlackBerry 10 phone next year. ICE will not be joining that party, needless to say – but perhaps sometime in the future.
Windows 8 users, what with their “Modern” UI and pinned applications, won’t have to stoop to using Hulu Plus in an antiquated internet browser any longer. Hulu today announced its brand new Windows 8 and Windows 8 tablet application, which is designed specifically for use with the tiled UI that Micrsoft’s new multiplatform OS is based around. The new app aims to take advantage of that UI in a variety of ways — pinning an episode or show to your start screen, for instance, or multitasking with other apps while Hulu continues playing in a smaller window, cropped to the left. We’ve dropped a video walkthrough of the app just below the break.
Those with early access to Windows 8 can grab the app right now in the Windows Store through this link (at least, when it goes live again — it seems to be down right now); the app will be available to the rest of us at launch on October 26th, and on Windows 8 tablets the same day.
Microsoft‘s new Surface tablet might have its share of dissenters, but apparently very few of them live in the UK. Earlier today, ZDNet reported that the 32GB Surface without the Touch Cover – Microsoft’s cheapest Surface model – had sold out in the UK. In the time since that report went live, the 32GB Surface with the Touch Cover has sold out as well. Pretty impressive for a tablet that’s only been up for pre-order for six days.
Those shopping at Microsoft’s online store in the UK now only have one option: the 64GB model with the Touch Cover, which comes in a pretty hefty £559. By comparison, the asking price for the 32GB Surface without the Touch Cover is £399, while the addition of the Touch Cover brings that price up to £479. Perhaps consumers just opted for the cheaper versions of the tablet instead of going all-out on the most expensive one?
Then again, it could be that Microsoft simply had fewer 32GB models produced, expecting the 64GB Surface to be the one that pulled in the lion’s share of attention. In any case, 32GB Surface tablets are no longer available at Microsoft’s UK online store, so prepare to wait a while if you want to snag one. At the moment, we don’t know how much longer it will be until 32GB models are back in stock, but if Surface truly is hitting a homerun with UK consumers, it might be quite some time.
Whatever the reason behind the shortage, you can bet that it has Microsoft happy today. The company is taking a pretty big leap by jumping into the tablet market, so to see Surface doing so well with UK consumers has to be encouraging. Keep it tuned here to SlashGear, as we’ll let you know once 32GB Surface models are listed as in stock on Microsoft’s UK store.
With an iPad mini, refreshes of several other devices in smaller forms, and an updated software build quite likely in the wings, our [live update feed] (otherwise known as a liveblog) will be running rampant with colors galore. You can tune in on the Apple event starting at 10AM PST on October 23rd (thats Tuesday), and we’ll have already started updates earlier in the morning right here in the SlashGear main news feed. This event promises to be a doozy with “We’ve got a little more to show you” as Apple’s chosen tagline – miniature everything!
The Apple announcement for this event has many guessing that additional rainbow colors are coming to the Apple universe, but past examples of invites have shown colors regardless of the casing of the product. Also the iPod family has already brightened up once again at the iPhone 5 event, and the devices we’ll be seeing this week will much more likely be coming in any color you like – just so long as they’re black or white. Of course the aluminum family is set to get a bit denser too.
There’s likely going to be an announcement of availability for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, an iMac with a teardrop-shaped body, and an improved Mac mini. These will each be working together – and with the new iPad mini – in a collection of ways that Apple will surely outline in many magical ways. The iPad mini is, of course, going to be the star of the show no matter what, so it’s going to be all things miniature in a bit of a dance around the tablet release.
The timeline below this post will bring you some more insight on everything this event may very well contain, from hardware to software updates. This event has most recently been tipped to be bringing an education angle in on the iPad mini, with low costs and iBook updates for the students of the planet – we’ll have to see if this tip, like the rest, pan out soon!
Check out our giant Apple portal the whole event long as well!
Today, Austin and Salt Lake City are getting the first Isis-enabled phones from Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. It’s a test program for the NFC-based payment system before it gets released to everyone else. But what is Isis, exactly, and how is it different from the dozens of other mobile payment techs? More »
The new mobile payment system known as Isis Mobile Wallet has officially launched its pilot program in two US cities today. Salt Lake City, UT and Austin, TX are getting Isis support city-wide, and already there’s a total of nine smartphones to choose from that come loaded with Isis support from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
Isis is a new mobile payment method based on NFC that AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all teamed up to support and develop. Isis already has formed partnerships will the major credit card companies Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express, and the platform is being tried in the public for the first time today in Salt Lake City and Austin.
On top of the nine Isis-ready devices that are already available from the three carriers, 11 more are said to be launching before the year’s end, which means a total 20 Isis-capable phones will be available before 2013 rolls around. It seems that Isis may become the new mobile payment standard, but it will be competing against Google‘s Wallet service, which has already gotten a head start.
It’s claimed that there are already “hundreds” of locations around Salt Lake City and Austin that support Isis, so finding a place to use the new service might not be as difficult as it sounds. New Isis users will receive a $10 Isis card when they activate their account, and users can earn another $15 when they activate their card to become reloadable.
It’s either a premature confirmation or one of the larger executive gaffes we’ve seen in recent memory, but it’s hard to ignore. LG’s Mobile Product Planning lead for India, Amit Gujral, just claimed in an interview with IBNLive that the “LG Nexus” will launch at Google’s October 29th event and ship to India “by the end of November.” He even stuck his neck out to offer specifications — the Nexus will reportedly have a very Optimus G-like 4.7-inch screen and quad-core 1.5GHz chip while throwing the unreleased Android 4.2 into the equation. Nothing’s official so far despite the statements, and we’re not expecting to Google to spoil its own party; if Gujral really does have the inside track, though, we may have been given a peek at the main attraction in Google’s playground.
I lack any of the skills you need to make cool mods and DIY projects of just about any type. That is certainly not true when it comes to modder Ben Heck. This geek took his hobby of building modded consoles and other items and turned it into his own web series. On the latest episode of his show, Heck returns to his console-modding roots showing us how to build one of his portable Xbox 360s.
Heck’s latest Xbox 360 Slim laptop has a 16-inch LED backlit display and a custom-routed and 3D printed enclosure housing the electronics from the gaming console. I’m not sure how easy something like this would be to pull off for your average DIY person with nothing but everyday tools. The fancy custom enclosure that Heck made required a computer-controlled router and a 3D printer, so unless you have ready access to those tools, you might be a little behind the curve. You can decide how difficult it might be by checking out the entire episode below:
I guess you could build something out of plywood to put your own portable console mod together. Still, even if you can’t pull off such a mod on your own, it’s very cool to see an Xbox 360 that can be played anywhere you happen to be – assuming an electrical outlet is nearby.
Amazon’s terms of service grants it basically god-like authority over its domain, but we all buy in because we believe that the company will be benevolent with its power. That’s not always the case. Here’s the story of a user whose account was deleted and her Kindle wiped with no explanation whatsoever. More »
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