Hasta La Gadget!

When we go somewhere new, we wish we could spend more time taking in the sights and less time looking at our phone for directions and info about our surroundings. Apple’s well aware of this conundrum, and has filed a couple of patent applications to let you ogle your environment while telling you where to go and what you’re seeing. One app is a method for combining augmented reality (AR) information and real time video while allowing users to interact with the images on screen — so you can shoot a vid of a city skyline with your iPhone, touch a building where you want to go, and let it show you the way there. The second patent application is for a device with an LCD display capable of creating a transparent window, where the opacity of the screen’s pixels is changed by varying the voltage levels driving them. Such a display could overlay interactive info about what you see through the window, so you can actually look at the Mona Lisa while reading up on her mysterious grin. Of course, these are just patent applications, so we probably won’t be seeing any AR-optimized iDevices anytime soon (if ever), but we can dream, right?

Apple seeks to spruce up the real world with interactive augmented reality, has the patent apps to prove it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what that means, right? It means that Kingston’s on track for keeping its “July” release promise for the above-pictured Wi-Drive. For those who missed our preview last month, this is essentially a portable, battery-powered hard drive that’s meant to stream content exclusively to iOS devices. Think of it as a way to add more storage to a device that simply cannot accept more storage. Barring any last-minute fights with the number crunchers, this guy will ship for $130 (16GB) / $175 (32GB), and while an FCC appearance is no clear indication of “when,” it almost always means “soon.”

Kingston’s iOS-lovin’ Wi-Drive wireless storage device hops into FCC database originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s July, there is no new iPhone, and the analysts are restless. This time last year, Apple had already announced and begun shipping the iPhone 4 — in fact, every single previous model has been announced in June, save for the first, which was unveiled in January 2007. So, now that the month has come and gone and WWDC with it, what are all of the tech publications out there to do? Make with the rumor stories, naturally — and over the past few weeks, they’ve been coming fast and furious.

DigiTimes has offered a fairly constant stream of sometimes dubious rumors surrounding the device from its stable of supplier contacts, and a recent article from The Wall Street Journal has reopened the floodgates. GigaOm has gone so far as to suggest that the latter may well be a controlled leak from Apple, and certainly it has reignited interest in the belated device.

There’s not a lot in the way consensus here, save for one key detail: Apple appears set to release a new iPhone. That much seems certain. After all, the iPhone remains the company’s biggest money maker, even in this post-iPad world. Last year, of course, we had a slightly better guide ahead of the launch, but this time out, for better or worse, no one at Cupertino has been considerate enough to leave the upcoming handset at a Redwood City bar after a night of partying, so let’s cut through the noise and and piece together a cohesive picture based on the wide assortment of rumors.

Continue reading iPhone 5 / 4S: the rumor roundup

iPhone 5 / 4S: the rumor roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aluminum Keyboard Buddy Case cloaks your iPad 2 in a MacBook Air duvet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re one of the proud and the brave who have sampled the latest wares of the crew behind JailbreakMe on your iPad, you’d be well advised to not update your TWCable TV app. We received the above screenshot from the latest version of said software, an update that apparently serves no purpose other than to prevents it running on jailbroken tablets. What do to? Well, you could restore your device to “factory defaults” — or you could watch a little Netflix or Hulu instead and use this as yet another reason to “cut the cable.”

Update: Time Warner has posted a full rundown of what’s new in Version 2.0 of TWCable TV. This is the version we’d heard about a few weeks ago, which does indeed add quite a bit of functionality. Channel listings have been expanded to 100, users can now tune their cable boxes from within the app, and Remove DVR Manager has been added to let you schedule things whilst away. All useful additions if you’re still rocking stock iOS. If not, you can see what it really looks like in the image below.

Update 2: Well, that didn’t take long! Here’s a bypass for you troublemakers.

[Thanks, Chris]

Continue reading Time Warner Cable iPad app hates jailbreaks, loves gratuitous quotes (updated)

Time Warner Cable iPad app hates jailbreaks, loves gratuitous quotes (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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