Hasta La Gadget!

The best thing about the VooMote Zapper is that it isn’t ugly. Photo Zero1

The VooMote Zapper is a remote-control adapter dongle for the iPhone that has one major advantage over all other such dongles: it isn’t hideously ugly. The tiny “paperclip-sized” widget plugs into the iPhone’s dock connector and works with a companion app to control any device in your home. Or at least any device that already has a remote — it won’t work with your oven, for instance.

Adding to the visual appeal, the VooMote can also be had in a rainbow of color options with matching with matching bumper-style cases.

The good looks extend to the software, usually a throwback to the bad old days when smartphones actually had their own IR ports. The interface is clean and dark, and you can customize everything, including button positions. There’s also a TV guide which lets you search for shows right there.

I don’t know if I could be bothered to attach a dongle every time I wanted to watch TV (even if I had a TV), but I’d sure dedicate my battered old iPod Touch to the job, especially as it is already used as a remote for AirTunes.

The VooMote Zapper will launch soon, for an as-yet unannounced price.

See Also:

• Peel Turns iPhone into Dongle-Free Universal Remote
• IR Dongle Turns iPhone into Ugly Universal Remote
• IR Dongle Turns iPhone into Universal Remote
• $30 Infra-Red iPhone Dongle Marred by Hideous Interface

Just like the Sn0wbreeze project, redsn0w recently added support for a tethered jailbreak of iOS 5 beta 6. While support for the iPad 2 still isn’t in the mix, the latest version — 0.9.8b7 — adds additional support for Apple’s latest beta on the original iPad, and the folks at Smash iPhone have provided a tutorial for those who move to the beat of a different drum. While redsn0w supports a tether-free solution for iOS 4.3.3, if you want to partake in Cupertino’s freshest fruits, you’ll be required to connect your phone or tablet to your computer whenever you power up the device. Also, while download links for iOS 4.3.5 and 4.2.10 are in the tutorial, if you’re not a developer, it’ll be on you to scrounge up the latest beta. Best of luck with the foray.

Redsn0w 0.9.8b7 gets tutorial for jailbreaking iOS 5 beta 6, iOS 4.3.5 and 4.2.10 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Smash iPhone  | Email this | Comments

Reportedly, in the latest beta of Apple’s Photo Stream app, there’s a verrrry interesting icon repping for the iPhone—an iPhone that sorta doesn’t look any other iPhone yet. More »

Garmin is best known for its in-car navigation systems, but today delved deeper into the realm of personal navigation with a brand new iPhone app for the eternally lost. For a dollar, you’ll get standard walking, driving and public transportation directions, but go premium for $2.99 a month or $29.99 for the year, and you’ll cop more add-ons designed to transform your iPhone into a full-fledged PND. Like the standard iPhone mapping system or HopStop, the subscription-based version of this app lets you integrate public transportation into your journey — but the added feature here is the ability to view public transit schedules like you can in the Google Maps app for Android. It also has spoken turn-by-turn directions, Garmin’s traffic routing and Google search, making it a handy alternative to a clunky navigation system. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading Garmin launches StreetPilot onDemand iPhone app, offers transit schedules

Garmin launches StreetPilot onDemand iPhone app, offers transit schedules originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Convert all your WordPerfect files to PDF with Adobe’s CreatePDF

Aside from the bloated carcass that is Photoshop, and the CPU-taxing nightmare that is Flash, Adobe is also known for the slimline, efficient and easy to use Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, applications for authoring and reading PDF files. Who am I kidding? Acrobat is pretty much the most complicated, slow and cumbersome way to do anything with a PDF, which is why I’m skeptical that Adobe’s CreatePDF for iOS will even work.

The $10 universal app takes files of many formats and converts them to a PDF. If this sounds familiar then that’s because we have recently seen two other apps which do the same and more, for less money: Print to PDF lets you convert anything to a PDF using the standard iOS print dialog, and also automatically catalogs web pages and emails. The other, PDF Converter, also ties in Dropbox support and converts several formats that Adobe’s app won’t, including Pages and Keynote files.

CreatePDF works through the “Open In…” dialog, letting you send documents ready to be processed. Once done, you can use the same method to get the PDFs out, or you can mail them. No Dropbox or other storage option is supported.

That said, you get proper PDFs from supported formats, including preservation of links in converted Word docs (PDF Converter loses these) and also support for Adobe’s own Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign file formats. Here’s the full list:

• MS Word (docx, doc), Excel(xlsx, xls), PowerPoint (pptx, ppt)
• Adobe Illustrator (ai), Photoshop (psd) and InDesign (indd)
• Images – JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF
• RTF, Text and WordPerfect
• OpenOffice and StarOffice documents

Maybe I’m being tough on Adobe for its desktop crimes — the mobile Apps, like the excellent Adobe Ideas, are way better and more focussed than what has come before. And until there’s one perfect PDF app that will convert all file formats, it looks like we’re stuck using a handful off apps. At least iOS has folders, I guess.

Adobe® CreatePDF [iTunes]

See Also:

• Hands-On with PDF Highlighter, the iPad's Best PDF App?
• PDF Converter for iPad, An Indispensable Tool
• Print to PDF, A Virtual Printer for Your iPhone, iPad