Hasta La Gadget!

What’s the difference between a case and a cover? The Korean company Anymode is provoking just that question with a Galaxy Tab 10.1 case (cover?) that looks awfully familiar. The Smart Case, as it’s known, comes in multiple colors, protects the tablet’s front, and folds into a triangular stand. You might be thinking that sounds remarkably like Apple’s Smart Cover, and if so, you’re not the only one. Ah, but the plot thickens: 9to5mac reports that the maker of this blatant knock-off has strong ties to Samsung. Family ties, even, as their tipster claims Sang-yong Kim, the Anymode CEO, is the nephew of Kun-Hee Lee, Sammy’s chairman. We couldn’t confirm any blood relation, which could mean we’re dealing with a cover-clone conspiracy theory. Either way, we suspect this’ll lead to more billable hours for Cupertino’s lawyers.

[Update: Samsung has responded on its official blog, distancing itself from Anymode’s product:

As a general practice, Samsung Electronics reviews and approves all accessories produced by partners before they are given the “Designed for Samsung Mobile” mark.

In this case, approval was not given to Anymode for the accessory to feature this official designation. We are working with Anymode to address this oversight and the product has already been removed from the Anymode sales website. The product has not been sold.

Thanks, Phil.]

Anymode’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 case cops Apple’s fashion sense (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs demonstrates iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud at WWDC 2011. (Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com)

Apple may be preparing to release two major products simultaneously this week: upgrades for its MacBook Air subnotebook and Mac OS X Lion, the latest Mac operating system.

The MacBook Air refresh and the arrival of OS X Lion will arrive Wednesday, possibly at 8:30 a.m. EDT, sources told AppleInsider. The tip comes in line with a report last week published by All Things Digital, which also claimed the products would debut sometime this week.

The MacBook Air last got a reboot in October 2010 as a 13.3-inch and an 11.6-inch model with super slim silhouettes: 0.68 inches at their thickest point, to be exact. OS X Lion, which was announced at Apple’s Back to the Mac event and previewed at WWDC 2011, is supposed to marry iOS and OS X, merging some of the more successful features in iOS into their new desktop platform. However, early reviews have not been promising.

The new MacBook Airs will feature backlit keyboards and Thunderbolt ports, like their MacBook Pro big brothers, according to AppleInsider. They’ll also include Sandy Bridge processors and come standard with 4GB of RAM and a minimum of 128GB storage capacity — the better to run OS X Lion with.

Apple’s Steve Jobs last year said that both OS X Lion and the superslim MacBook Air are taking lessons learned from the iPad and rolling them into a PC system. Indeed, Lion will incorporate some characteristics from the iPad with new multitouch gestures and a Launchpad for opening apps, which resembles the iPad’s home screen. The MacBook Air’s long battery life and usage of flash memory also mimic the iPad. These two products symbolize the gradual convergence between PCs and mobile products as traditional laptops become thinner, lighter, more low-powered and more dependent on web-based storage.

See Also:

• Size Does Matter With the 11-inch MacBook Air
• Why Apple Saddled the MacBook Air With Weak CPUs

This article was written on October 08, 2007 by CyberNet.

Some of you probably remember the Dell laptop that caught fire at a Japanese conference last year due to problems with the battery. Now the same type of lithium-ion battery is likely to blame for an iPod Nano that caught on fire in a man’s pocket as he was working at the Atlanta International Airport. While the reason that the Nano caught fire hasn’t been confirmed, it would be no surprise if it were due to the battery.

According to an Atlanta News Station who interviewed the man, the flames came up to his chest and lasted for about 15 seconds. As mentioned, the man, Danny Williams works in an airport.  He said that the fact that his Nano caught on fire was bad, but it was worse that it caught on fire while he was working. He said, “If TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist.” Of course Apple has said that they’ll replace the Nano, and they are asking that he ship the Nano that caught fire back to them so that they can look into what caused the problem. Now it leaves me wondering if this was an isolated incident, or if others have experienced something similar?

Shortly after the aforementioned Dell incident last year, Dell announced that 4.1 million laptop batteries were being recalled. If it turns out that the battery caused the fire in the Nano situation, it’ll be interesting to see if Apple will issue a recall for some of the iPod batteries. If there is a recall, it could amount into a rather large expense for Apple like it did for Dell when they spent about $300 million!

Source: InfoWorld

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

Related Posts:

Apple Acknolwedges Issues with 1st Gen iPod NanoA Longer/Slimmer iPod nano Coming?Only One Day Left To Enter The iPod Nano Giveaway!The iPod Of The FutureGet Ready for New iPods

Apple leaks Cinema Display refresh, teases dual-monitor Thunderbolt setup? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, the US Army could continue to develop expensive proprietary gadgets for use in the field, or they could make the switch to (relatively) inexpensive off-the-shelf smartphones. It’s a change that’s been considered for some time, and the Army is now at the tail end of a six-week trial of more than 300 Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices for military use. The results have been promising, according to program director Michael McCarthy, stating that younger soldiers who grew up with smartphones and handhelds are very comfortable using them for military purposes.

Soldiers in the field can text GPS coordinates, send pictures of their surroundings, or file common reports directly from their phone. Despite positive results, the Army still has some hurdles to jump before taking the plunge — some of the phones had OS bugs, others (specifically, iPhones running on AT&T) couldn’t get signal in the New Mexico and Texas testing areas, and none of the devices were secure enough for use in overseas operations. The Army is considering tying the phones to tactical radios to help encrypt transmissions, and are testing self contained “cell tower in a suitcase” equipment to ensure coverage in sensitive locations. The Military hopes to push out limited deployment this year, and Army program director Ed Mazzanti has stated that they expect to select two mobile operating systems for official use, noting that “iPhone and Android have been very well received.” Sure, using multiple platforms may help protect soldiers against cyber attacks, but we can’t be the only ones worried the Army is unintentionally breeding a generation of fanboys with guns, can we?

US Army runs smartphone trial, could see ‘limited deployment’ later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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