Hasta La Gadget!

Say what you will about traditional media and the continually shrinking size of print magazines, but we’ve got some proof right here that good ‘ol pulp still has a lot of life left. French publishing house les éditions volumiques has been doing research into new and… interesting ways to use the print medium and to combine it with mobile devices. The company’s site is like a playground for bookistas, with short videos showing off all sorts of wondrous things. One project is The book that disappears, a volume printed on reactive paper that turns black after 20 minutes. Another is The Night of the Living Dead Pixels, a graphic novel (shown above) that allows you to choose your path, with terminal pages featuring QR codes that trigger videos on your smartphone. There’s a board game that uses iPhones for pawns, and even a book that turns its own pages. All are demonstrated at the company’s site (in Flash, so watch out for Steve), and most are destined to actually see print by the end of the year. We’ve already made room on our bookshelves.

Boutique publishing house les éditions volumiques shows us that print is far, far from dead originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 08:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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if you feel like going through the process of typing in your PIN every time you unlock your iPhone is worth it thanks to the unconquerable security it implies, you might want to read this report from Bernd Marienfeldt about the chosen one’s security model. Yes, a PIN will keep casual users from picking up your phone and making a call with it, or firing off an e-mail to your co-workers saying that you’re quitting and becoming an exotic dancer, but it won’t keep someone from accessing all your data. Bernd and fellow security guru Jim Herbeck have discovered that plugging even a fully up-to-date, non-jailbroken iPhone 3GS into a computer running Ubuntu Lucid Lynx allows nearly full read access to the phone’s storage — even when it’s locked. The belief is that they’re just a buffer overflow away from full write access as well, which would surely open the door to making calls. Bernd believes the iPhone’s lack of data encryption for content is a real problem, and also cites the inability to digitally sign e-mails as reasons why the iPhone is still not ready for prime time in the enterprise.

[Thanks, Amit]

iPhone vulnerability leaves your data wide open, even when using a PIN originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 06:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, now this is just getting ridiculous. We know Onkyo has a long history of building iPod docks, but to see the company build an entire all-in-one PC around the feature is a little much, especially when — once again — the iPhone isn’t invited to the party. No, when the E713 series ships in Japan next month at or around the ¥99,880 (about $1100) price point, it will include up to a Core i5-650 processor, 4GB of RAM, a digital TV tuner, Blu-ray drive, 1TB hard drive and loads of ports behind that 23-inch, 1920 x 1080 LCD screen, but a slide-out iPod classic / nano / touch dock that apparently can’t accommodate the iPhone’s portly frame. That’s discrimination, right there — or at least we’ll keep on telling ourselves that, since we’re all out of sour grapes.

Onkyo’s E713 all-in-one PC is the space station to your starfaring iPod originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As our extensive KIRF library shows, China’s one wild country that can make almost anything you don’t want, so don’t mind us while we inspect this new finding with extra caution. This particular Chinese online seller not only claims to have parts for the next-gen iPhone, but also one white face plate — something not seen on iPhones thus far. While we drool over the thought of an all white Apple handheld, there are still questions to be answered here: the seller wasn’t able to explain what that silver bit above the speaker is, nor have we seen white back plates to match this. Furthermore, we were given a “maybe” for a bulk order of 15 to 20 units, which is quite a lot for something that’s not even out yet, but we were told over the phone that there’s always a back door to Foxconn as long as you wave cash at someone. Not that you should engage in such risky business, plus this piece’s authenticity will be revealed in about three weeks’ time, anyway. One more shot after the break.

[Thanks, Francesco]

Continue reading White front plate looks all set and ready for next-gen iPhone, or not

White front plate looks all set and ready for next-gen iPhone, or not originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 16:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That picture above is about all you need to know, because if you go to this product’s website there’s virtually no text — just that self-explanatory image showing the thing and what it does. The thing is the iAngle and what it does is double as an earbud case and a mini stand, perfect for your coach class commutes. Massive advancement in the world of gadgets? Hardly, but it’s a neat little deal, and at $10 it won’t break the bank either. We’re thinking it might work with other gadgets too, at least those of roughly the iPhone‘s thickness, but you’re on your own for verifying that hypothesis.

iAngle holds your earbuds and your iPhone… at an angle originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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