Hasta La Gadget!

Just in case a new iPhone model and OS 3.0 weren’t enough goodies for this week, Sirius XM support team members are sending emails out announcing the company’s long-awaited iPhone / iPod touch app will finally seeing the light of day and will launch this Thursday, June 18th. We just got off the phone with a customer service rep who confirmed the letters are legit, so unless there’s some communication breakdown on the corporate latter, looks like it’s really, finally coming. It’ll be available as a free download from the App Store, but those who subscribe to the gratis Basic Online Service will have to upgrade to the $2.99 monthly premium plan to have it on the go. We’re a bit light on other details — we can’t imagine it being as full-featured as the standalone receivers — but it’s a good bet we’ll have all our questions answered before the week is out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

Sirius XM iPhone app coming this week, says customer support originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

When the iPod touch swiped away the small display, aversion to WiFi and telltale scroll wheel of previous iPods. Microsoft was left with Zune models squarely targeted at Apple’s state of an older art. This fall, though, Microsoft will close the features gap and, in some ways, leapfrog the iPod touch with the Zune HD, which takes advantage of the startling contrast of OLED screen technology and will be one of the first (and likely the most popular) portable HD radio receivers. But no DNA test is needed to see that the Zune HD is inspired by the iPod touch, with a single button below the screen, side-mounted volume controls, and a power button at the top.

Now that the Zune HD will have a hardware exterior that looks like a credible challenger to at least today’s iPod touch, what about filling the flash memory in its interior? Here, Microsoft has a number of opportunities that could improve the Zune’s standing if successful, or leave it in the iPod’s shadow if not.

Continue reading Switched On: Dark side of the Zune

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Portable Audio

Switched On: Dark side of the Zune originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s an interesting new mandate for all of Missouri School of Journalism’s incoming freshman: equip themselves with iPhones and iPod touches. Actually, let’s go ahead and clarify what “mandate” means here, as associate dean Brian Brooks has stated that no one will a be punished for not buying / owning one. While noting the audio recording and playback capabilities were motivation for this decision, he explains the reason it’s classified as a requirement is because it lets students include it in their financial need estimate — wholly beneficial when you’re figuring out scholarships and loans. It doens’t look like there’ll be any direct discounts from U of M, however, unlike some other schools with similar initiatives. It’s a clever loophole, to be sure, but we’d wager there’s more than a few undergraduates who are none too pleased at the Apple favoritism, and to be honest, we love nothing more right now than imagining a large group of S60 and Zune supporters gathering in a field for frisbee, picnic, and lots of protesting.

[Via Macworld]

Filed under: Cellphones

Missouri School of Journalism’s iPhone “requirement” a clever interpretation of financial aid rules originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 May 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the Apple iPod Touch is your favorite gaming device, then you need a case built for gaming, right? DLO thinks so, which is why is just introduced the Jam Jacket Game.

This $19.99 silicone case has integrated comfort grip handles that make it more comfortable to hold your iPod horizontally. The silicone protects your iPod from scratches and offers easy access to all the controls. The case also comes with an optional wrist strap and a screen shield.

It looks great, but what about us iPhone users? We can play the same games, so can’t we have a nifty gaming case, DLO?

When you’re ready to buy, view a list of DLO retailers.

Just two weeks after the last revision went up, Apple’s released iPhone OS 3.0 beta 4 to the developer community alongside an iTunes 8.2 pre-release. No word yet on what has / hasn’t been updated, but we do know the new iTunes is required to activate beta 4. More information as we get it.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Update: We’ve toyed with beta 4 for just a few quick moments now, and naturally, the first thing we had to check out was that previously-empty “Store” settings pane. It’s now populated, and it’s mega-boring; all it does is allow you to sign in and out of your iTunes account, and while signed in, there’s an Account Info button that lets you get booted out to an unstyled web page where you can view and edit your credit card information and the like. On the iTunes 8.2 side of things, we noticed that we were explicitly warned that the app would verify that our phone was activated for use with the beta firmware — we don’t remember seeing that before — and the Gracenote legal mumbo jumbo in the About window now specifically calls out both DVD and Blu-ray metadata, which we’re taking as a promising sign of playback support in the not-too-distant future. Thanks, David!

iPhone OS 3.0 beta 4, iTunes 8.2 pre-release now live originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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