Hasta La Gadget!

With iOS 7 having been released for a couple of weeks now, there are still apps out there whose developers have yet to release an update to make their apps compatible with iOS 7, not just under the hood, but visually as well. Popular messaging app WhatsApp has yet to release an update and they seem to be taking a while, just like they did when they finally released an update that made it compatible with the iPhone 5’s display In any case WhatsApp users will be pleased to know that the developers are working on an update, thanks to a handful of leaked screenshots courtesy of developer @HackiPhone.

The screenshots are allegedly two weeks ago so there’s no telling if there have been additional changes made since then. As you can see in the screenshots, the app has been visually “flattened” to look more cohesive with iOS 7’s overall look and feel, and presumably the app’s icon will be given the same treatment as well. No word on when WhatsApp will release the update, but @HackiPhone said that we can look forward to it “soon”. What do you guys think? Are you digging the new WhatsApp look?

WhatsApp For iOS 7 Screenshots Leaked original content from Ubergizmo.

With several recent major updates including a grid UI and filters, Flickr’s days of languishing in Yahoo’s hands seem over. Another refresh has just arrived for iOS 7, bringing automatic uploading from your camera roll to its servers at full resolution — with sharing set to private by default. …

Remember that internet-of-things they keep talking about? There’s now a new “thing,” namely the iKettle, a $160 appliance that sends you a missive when your water boils or hits that perfect temperature. It connects via WiFi to a companion iOS or Android app, which can ask if you want to “pop the …

Firefox OS's adaptive app search feature is now front and center with version 1.1 of the operating system. The feature retrieves a list of Web sites and Web apps based on search terms, and if people like the results, they can save apps to their home screen for future use.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Mozilla announced on Wednesday it’s finished Firefox OS 1.1, filling in a large number of missing features, improving performance, and securing some new commitments from carriers that are helping back the browser-based operating system for mobile phones.

Firefox 1.0 debuted earlier this year for the first generation of mobile phones, generally low-end models targeted at feature-phone owners who wanted to take the smartphone plunge but who didn’t want to spend the money required for higher-end Android or iOS devices. As with many first-version operating systems, though, there were a lot of missing pieces.

Now, along with performance improvements including smoother scrolling and faster app loading, a host of those missing pieces have been added, according to a blog post by Chris Lee, director of the Firefox OS product. Among the new features, which are due to ship to Firefox OS users “soon,” are the following:… [Read more]

Related Links:
Mozilla: Help us test touch-optimized Firefox for Windows 8
New Android Firefox simplifies mobile browser sharing
Guest browsing coming to Android Firefox
Firefox to deactivate most plug-ins by default
iCloud can now sync bookmarks with Firefox and Chrome

One of the more ambitious and interesting hardware projects on a crowdfunding platform recently has to be the Quasar IV, a smartphone designed entirely around security, encryption and identity protection. QSAlpha’s Quasar IV uses authentication tech called Quatrix, and a hybrid Android/Linux and Quatrix mobile OS called QuaOS to make sure communications in and out of the phone are protected.

The Quasar IV is going to be made, despite the fact that there are only nine days remaining in its Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, and only $48,796 raised out of $3.2 million sought on a fixed funding goal (meaning they don’t get anything if they haven’t got the whole amount committed). While the Quasar IV won’t raise that much money in the next 9 days, it apparently will get made regardless thanks to help from outside investors.

On the Quasar IV Indiegogo page, an update posted a few hours ago says that production with “one of the world’s largest consumer electronics OEMS manufacturers” has already begun, as a result of support from “various vendors and companies” who share the founding team’s passion for a vision of an ultra-secure mobile device. Early backers will be added to the pre-order list for the Quasar IV automatically, and will be notified about how to buy one when the time comes, which QSAlpha CEO and founder Steve Chao says will happen sometime in Q2 2014.

There’s very little in the way of information about who has picked up the tab for the initial production run, but Quasar’s appeal, while niche, applies very specifically to firms that require incredibly high levels of security and encryption, which are resistant to outside attempts (*cough* NSA *cough*) to read said data. QSAlpha has said it was inspired by the stealthy ways of the ninja in designing the phone and its operating system, and there are, conceivably, clients who would pay well for a phone that stays truly off-grid.

Indiegogo has sort of become a place for ambitious new smartphone concepts to go to attract a lot of attention before falling well short of their funding goal (see the Canonical Ubuntu Edge), but it looks like the Quasar IV might become real with a little help from some potentially high-powered friends. Or, it could always disappear in a puff of smoke, ninja-style.