Hasta La Gadget!

Myriam Joire (tnkgrl) was born wearing combat boots and holding a keyboard; moments later she picked up a soldering iron. She’s been stomping, typing and hacking ever since. In her regular series, she’ll share her tips, tricks, and mods on everything from phones to netbooks — and be sure to catch her weekly on the Engadget Mobile podcast.

Things used to be simple: you either had a CDMA device with no SIM, or a GSM device with a SIM. If your GSM device was unlocked you could swap SIMs between carriers, and if was locked, you could swap SIMs between accounts on the same carrier. Basically, an unlocked phone meant mobile freedom. At first, the only complication was the different frequencies used for GSM in different parts of the world, which was remedied with quadband radios. Then 3G was introduced, with different frequencies used by different carriers in the same geographic area, like North America. Today, this proliferation of bands makes it difficult to build universal radios, and makes it less appealing to switch carriers. In fact, the only phone that currently supports all 3G frequencies used in North America is the upcoming pentaband Nokia N8.

The second obstacle was the introduction of special data plans, either requiring additional service layers (such as BlackBerry or Sidekick plans) or restricting the types of devices permitted as the iPhone and iPad plans do. What used to be as simple as changing APNs is now a Kafkaesque nightmare, complete with nasty “you are using the wrong data plan and we are going to send you a bill” text messages from carriers. Strike three was the micro SIM (also known as the 3FF SIM), popularized by Apple’s iPad and the iPhone 4. This smaller form-factor SIM is electrically compatible with the standard SIM we all know and love — and as such, it’s easy to convert a standard SIM into a micro SIM and vice-versa (but still, it’s one more hurdle standing in the way of happiness).

Let’s dive in and take a look at how it’s done.

Continue reading How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom

How-to: resize your SIM, change your APN, and drink the sweet nectar of mobile freedom originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, sure — ThinkFlood promised us back in early March that a RedEye mini would be landing this summer, but at the time, all we had were a few luscious renders. Today, the company has finally revealed the first actual shots of the forthcoming device, along with a video showing it in action. While diminutive, it’s certainly not as compact and discrete as IR-enabled cases, but if you’ve already committed to an iPod touch / iPhone / iPad case (or just prefer rocking your device sans clothing), this here dongle is likely the next best thing. In case you’re wondering, this little guy will transform your iDevice into a universal remote, enabling it to talk to any home entertainment component that listens to IR (read: that’s just about all of ’em). We’re still stuck waiting a few more months for this $49 product to hit shelves, but for now, feel free to hop past the break and peek a brief demonstration.

Continue reading IR-beaming RedEye mini iPad / iPhone remote dongle gets real, its own video demo

IR-beaming RedEye mini iPad / iPhone remote dongle gets real, its own video demo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the USB-wielding cat’s out of the bag, it’s looking like supplies of the iPad Camera Connection Kit aren’t keeping up with demand — one Engadget reader tipped us off to the fact that the $30 attachments are worth up to $180 on eBay. A quick bit of sleuthing showed that Apple’s actually still selling the things — they’re simply backordered, with a three to four week shipping delay — but sure enough, niche e-tailers currently list the dongles for as much as $150, and eBay auctioneers are finding the kits sell for two to five times the original MSRP. If your external HDD experiments didn’t work out the way you’d liked, at least you can be sure you’ll get your money back.

[Thanks, Paul P.]

iPad Camera Connection Kit a commodity item, now fetches $100+ on eBay originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Targus recalls half a million laptop power adapters due to burn hazard originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 May 2010 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Reports are coming in that the iPad Camera Connection Kit has finally shown up on a couple buyer doorsteps, and that the pair of white dongles may actually have been worth the wait. While one is a simple SD card adapter that adds one-touch image and video import (including RAW, complete with EXIF data) to the iPad, the second provides a USB port with some exciting new functionality. TUAW reports one reader could type on an iPad via USB keyboard, and those rumors about USB audio were true, too: TidBITS was actually able to make a Skype call after connecting a USB headset. Before you get too excited, however, please note that the USB and SD image transfers are one-way, and not all peripherals are supported — for instance, TidBITS‘ iPad sneezed at an external hard drive. Also, according to the Apple Store, Camera Connection Kit shipments are still two to three weeks out, so don’t be surprised if it still takes some time to get yours. For now you can make do with the video after the break.

Continue reading iPad Camera Kit ships with USB headset and keyboard support

iPad Camera Kit ships with USB headset and keyboard support originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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