Hasta La Gadget!

We feel your pain: you love your BlackBerry at work and your iPhone for personal use, but as hardware goes, nothing gets your motor running quite like the Pre’s pebble-esque shell. Trust us, we’ve all been there! Well, a new clone out of China seeks solve all your technological woes by combining an iOS-inspired user interface and the Pre’s body — with an iPhone home button thrown in for good measure, of course — and when the time comes to throw on the suit and tie and head to work, you can switch the UI over to BlackBerry mode. As far as we can tell, it still functions like an iOS clone here, but at least the skin will remind you of the good ol’ Bold days. Looks like you can’t buy this thing online, but considering how well the software works in most of these things, it’s probably for the best.

Palm Pre fake tires of waiting for webOS 2.0, takes up iOS and BlackBerry OS lookalikes instead originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MIC Gadget  |  m8cool  | Email this | Comments

Apple invited members of the press Wednesday morning to a special event scheduled for Sept. 1. Rumor has it that Apple is preparing to announce a major revamp for the Apple TV and upgrades for the popular iPod Touch, according to multiple reports.

The event will kick off 10 a.m. at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts theater, where Apple has held its annual iPod event for several years.

Citing two anonymous sources, Bloomberg claims that Apple will introduce the new products along with a new iTunes rental service for TV programs, as Wired.com’s Epicenter reported Tuesday.

Repeating previous rumors about Apple TV, Bloomberg said a new version of the device would cost $100 and include a smaller hard drive, as it will be designed primarily for streaming content from iTunes. Other reports have claimed Apple would rebrand the device iTV and ship it with its mobile operating system iOS, which could potentially mean the television device will have an app store to enhance its functionality.

Bloomberg’s report also claims Apple will announce an upgraded iPod Touch, sporting a high-resolution display like the iPhone 4. Previous rumors suggested that, like the iPhone 4, the next iPod Touch will include dual cameras.

Apple’s annual September event has for several years been devoted to iTunes and iPods. It would make sense for Apple to unveil a new Apple TV at this year’s event, because a TV-streaming media service would likely be accompanied by a new version of iTunes capable of online storage.

It’s also likely that Apple will release a software update for iPad customers, iOS 4, which will bring multitasking capability and other features to the popular tablet.

Updated 11 a.m. PDT: The event has been confirmed for Sept. 1, not Sept. 7 as Bloomberg originally reported.

See Also:

• Apple May Be Internally Testing Next-Gen iPod Touch, iPad
• Ten Things Missing From the iPad
• Why iOS Could Make Apple TV Succeed
• Rumor: New $100 Apple TV Takes Aim at the Cloud
• Rumor Repeat: Apple TV to Gain iOS-Based Overhaul

Photo: Steve Jobs introduces iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010
Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Just about every mobile operating system manufacturer can remotely delete apps from the smartphones they help provide, but if a recent patent application is any indication, Apple’s looking to lock down the whole enchilada on future devices. The basic concept is as simple as the diagram above — certain activities trigger the phone to think it’s in the wrong hands — but the particular activities and particular remedies Apple suggests extend to audiovisual spying (to detect if a user has a different face or voice than the owner), and complete remote shutdown. While the patent mostly sounds targeted at opt-in security software and would simply send you an alert or perform a remote wipe if your phone were stolen or hacked, jailbreaking and unlocking are also explicitly mentioned as the marks of an unauthorized user, and one line mentions that cellular carriers could shut down or cripple a device when such a user is detected. Sounds great for securing phones at retail, sure, but personally we’d rather devices don’t determine our authority by monitoring our heartbeat (seriously, that’s an option) and we’re plenty happy with the existing Find My iPhone app.

Apple attempts to patent kill switch that roots out unauthorized users, detects jailbreaks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AppleInsider  |  USPTO  | Email this | Comments

Looking for one box to rule them all? If so, you must have glossed right over Monsoon’s Vulkano launch, but lucky for you, there’s a reminder coming in the form of a ‘now shipping’ proclamation. Just weeks after the $379 mega-box — which aims to replace all of those other STBs under your television — went up for pre-order, the earliest of adopters have started to receive their devices. We’re still waiting on a proper critique, but if you’re yearning to have a glance at what the future of media looks like, give those links below a look. Just kidding about that last part, by the way.

[Thanks, Dan]

Monsoon Vulkano do-it-all media box starts shipping, gets unboxed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Zatz Not Funny  |  Uneasy Silence  | Email this | Comments

Continue reading SNAP for iOS gives you The Power… to appraise your Facebook privacy

SNAP for iOS gives you The Power… to appraise your Facebook privacy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  App Store  | Email this | Comments