AT&T has decided to do away with its $27.99 monthly no-voice plan, claiming that the offer was generated in error. While AT&T has a fair number of data-only plans for the deaf community, this service won't be extended to the iPhone plan. I suppose this has something to do with AT&T trying to make as much profit as possible, since they still need to pay Apple a certain amount of dough on each iPhone regardless of what plan the user picks up. How is the hearing impaired community taking this bit of news? Will they do something about the situation so that corporate bigwigs get the idea that it always pays to treat their customers right?

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Those free iPod advertisements are legit! It is not a scam, however they involve lots of work in order to get them. First it involves lots of time management and organization. For the big prizes you have to go through lots of special free offers and they must remembered to be canceled before the trial is over! If they are not canceled, the website will take the money off your credit card. You must remember this if you do not want to be overcharged! After completing these numerous offers, it may be necessary to refer a friend or two, or three, or four... however many needed in order for the prize. Not only must the friend be referred to the site, they have to complete an offer as well for you to receive the referral. But, if all done correctly, you will have your iPod on your front step after a couple weeks.

Here is the step by step process:

1. Sign up for a free offers site.

2. Pick the gift you want, and it will state how many referrals and trials needing to be completed, depending if you pick doing the trials yourself or referring friends to the site.

3. Do the trials needed to complete and remember to cancel the free ones!

4. Once the website has seen that you have completed all requirements, the gift will be sent to your front door.

Notes:

Do not give out false information to the website giving you the free gift, or else how would the gift be sent to your home!?

Always write notes to yourself reminding yourself to cancel free memberships signed up for. Avoid giving out your personal information unnecessarily.

Autor: Gene Ang

Gene is also the author of an earning money blog called: http://earnmoney123steps.blogspot.com which is a website that includes more ways to make money and free stuff.

Added: November 30, 2007
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Having witnessed the ridiculous hype and initial demand for the iPhone here in the States, overseas iPhone carriers are going to have a hard time matching the feverish rate of US iPhone sales. But, that didn’t stop O2 from expecting to sell/activate upwards of 100,000 handsets during the O2 iPhone’s initial launch window.

So, how did O2 fare in their initial iPhone sales? Not as well as they would have liked, apparently. “Slow” would be one way to describe iPhone sales in the UK. The Register reports that initial iPhones sales figures have yet to break 30,000 units - with 26,500 iPhones having been activated in the two weeks since the iPhone’s launch on O2. Carphone Warehouse reported sales of 11,000 units over the launch weekend. And, an unnamed source told AppleInsider that the premier Apple Store in the UK, located on Regent Street, was still working to sell the entirety of their initial iPhone stock - which was shipped to the store prior to the iPhone’s UK launch on November 9. The Regent Street Apple Store has reportedly been selling a laggardly 100 iPhone handsets per day (compare that with the LG Shine that effectively sold more than 10,000 units worldwide for every day it was on the market this past year).

Even with an optimistic outlook, taking into account the fact that some iPhone stock may still be awaiting activation (as they wait to be gifted for the upcoming holidays), it seems unlikely that O2 will meet its sales goals by year’s end.

Part of the problem may lie in UK citizens’ reluctance to cough up �269 ($554) for a mobile phone - which is quite a steep price for a population used to getting handsets for free, or almost free, with activation/contract. While Brits are quite aware of the iPhone (the iPhone topped the GfK NOP ranking for brand awareness), with 78% of people associating the iPhone with music and 65% of people recognizing the iPhone’s email and internet capabilities, it’s just the higher-than-average price of the iPhone that’s going to keep it from replicating the US iPhone’s success in the UK. Keep in mind that many iPhone-bashers in the US cited the original $599 price-tag as the main reason that they predicted the iPhone launch would flop.

Are most Brits just waiting for the iPhone v2.0? We know we sure as hell are. All those missing hardware features and EDGE-only (although web surfing is still a much more pleasing experience than most 3G phones we’ve used) support might be keeping the iPhone from taking the UK by storm. Would we be singing a different tune if Apple had decided to simultaneously launch the iPhone around the globe? It’s quite possible that many people are just plain tired of hearing about the iPhone already. Regardless, we love our iPhone, so bully to you, O2.

See also:

• Where to Get Cheap MP3 Albums
• How To Download iPod Movies Online
• Cheap MP3 download

Since the announcement of its arrival in France, iPhone has already won over more than 63,000 fans who have registered on www.iphone.orange.fr, confirming its status as a "must-have" device. iPhone combines three devices into one-a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device-all based on Apple's revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers.

Its design and interface make it a "one of a kind" mobile, finally offering a genuine mobile Internet experience.

Bringing this to life for customers across France, Orange will be holding late-night openings at 12 of its stores, when iPhone is unveiled on Wednesday November 28, 2007. Bordeaux, Lille, Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nancy, Nice, Nantes, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse will be welcoming iPhone fans from 6:30 pm onwards. In Paris, Orange will take this opportunity to inaugurate its brand new store at 125, avenue des Champs-Elys�es.

As exclusive carrier for iPhone in France, Orange has developed a range of four "Orange for iPhone" plans. These offers have designed to let customers make the most of this revolutionary device that will change the way customers communicate.

All four "Orange for iPhone" plans include:

- Visual Voicemail, an industry first, which allows consumers to see a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to previous messages. Just like email, Visual Voicemail on iPhone enables users to immediately access the messages that interest them most, in the order they want.

- Unlimited access to email and the Internet 3, which combined with the revolutionary features of iPhone, at last offers true Internet browsing

With this range of dedicated offers, Orange is meeting iPhone customer expectations in terms of voice, sms & wifi, with prices ranging from EUR49 to EUR119 euros per month, and the iPhone available for EUR399.

Orange is also offering iPhone at EUR549 to customers who do not wish to benefit from one of the four "Orange for iPhone" plans and at EUR649, without a plan. The cost of unlocking the handset is 100 euros during the six months following the acquisition of the iPhone, regardless of the package chosen.



About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators. France Telecom serves more than 167 million customers in five continents as of September 30, 2007, of which two thirds are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 51.7 billion euros in 2006 and 39.4 billion euros for the first nine months of 2007. At September 30, 2007 the group had 106.9 million mobile customers and 11.4 million broadband internet (ADSL) customers.
Launched in June 2005, the NExT program (New Experience in Telecommunications) will enable the Group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator and make France Telecom the benchmark for new telecommunications services in Europe. In 2006, Orange became the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates, and Orange Business Services the banner for services offered to businesses worldwide. France Telecom is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband internet services in Europe and one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information : www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.

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Just when you thought you were the king or queen of the latest technology, a new release comes and puts you behind the eight ball.

If you were one of many that rushed out to buy an iPhone, you could be working on an outdated Smartphone. There is talk that a new and faster iPhone is in the works for 2008.

AT&T Inc. Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson made the following announcement recently:

The device will operate on third-generation wireless networks, Stephenson said today at a meeting of the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California. San Antonio-based AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S.

“You’ll have it next year,” Stephenson said in response to a question about when the 3G iPhone would debut. He said he didn’t know how much more the new version will cost than the existing model, which sells for $399. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs “will dictate what the price of the phone is,” he said.

The new iPhone will provide faster download rates from the internet.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on further details concerning the 3G Apple iPhone as they become available.

Bloomberg

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

We knew it was coming. Steve Jobs himself had even commented about the prospect of a 3G iPhone coming when battery life for the phone was well fit for the more power hungry high-speed internet. Despite knowing a 3G iPhone was on the rise, it's still exciting that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says, "You'll have it next year." No pricing was of a 3G iPhone was mentioned, as Stephenson concedes that Jobs and Apple will have the final decision on pricing, but if Apple were to price the phone at the original price of the iPhone ($599) we wouldn't be too shocked. This would make even more sense as to why Jobs decided to lower the price of the iPhone with sales still coming fast.

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XtremeMac has a brand new line of leather cases for the recently released iPod touch, iPod nano 3G and iPod Classic. These cases are made of hand-crafted genuine cows, minus the meat and bones of course. Soft interior lining ensures its precious cargo won't get scratched, while the leather on the outside gives it an elegant look whist offering protection from nicks and scratches. The Verona Flap series boasts a front flap that can be folded and snapped into a rear panel, doubling up as a stand whenever you want to catch a movie on your iPod without having to hold onto it. These cases will come in a wide range of designs and varying prices to boot - ranging between $24.95 and $29.95.

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We’ve been talking about the next-generation iPhone for almost as long as the current iPhone has been on-market. The 3G version of the Apple iPhone has been rumored time and again for a launch in early 2008. And, we’re expecting Steve Jobs to drop the 3G-bomb on us during his January Macworld keynote.

But, all that talk about a 3G iPhone has been rumor and hearsay. That is, until AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson slipped up and uttered those precious few words - “You’ll have it next year.” Stephenson confirmed the existence and near-term arrival of the next-generation iPhone with 3G data speeds at a meeting at Churchill Club in Santa Clara, California. As far as price is concerned, AT&T’s Chief could only say that Steve Jobs “will dictate what the price of the phone is.”

And, as any good CEO should do, Randall Stephenson took the time to undermine Verizon’s recent announcement that they’ll be opening up the CDMA network to “any app, any device” in 2008. The AT&T CEO said that Verizon’s plans were “overblown” and that AT&T is “probably one of the most open networks in the world, not just the U.S.” Take that, Verizon.

Apple’s doesn’t usually talk about future product developments or releases, and keeps those in-the-know on a tight leash. So, that begs the question - did Steve Jobs give Stephenson the go-ahead to confirm the 3G iPhone’s launch-window? Or did Randall Stephenson goof-up and let the cat out of the bag? Either way, we’re already saving up our couch-change for that 3G iPhone in 2008!

[Via: Bloomberg]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• AT&T COO calls Apple iPhone Revolutionary - Again
• AT&T looking to expand oversease?
• AT&T: Apple iPhone On Target For Launch - Wants To Push 1 MILLION Units On Launch
• AT&T Wireless CEO Stan Sigman steps down
• iPhone Makes A Cameo Appearance At CTIA

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Ixos has released a new iPod nano 3G case known as the First range, and it definitely blings up your portfolio without breaking the bank. Made from silicone, the XMI419-AS will be available in pink, white or black for £7.99. As for the XMI419-DI, this mix of silicone and diamante is available in only one color - white, and retails for £9.99. Finally, the XMI429-DI "Crystal Diamante" retails for £14.99 and is clear to display your nano's color despite the diamante effects on the case itself. All the cases mentioned are meant to prevent dust from entering your precious nano while protecting it against accidental brushes, scratches and nicks. Have you dressed up your iPod nano 3G yet?

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The VertiPod carries you about in a similar manner as the Segway… except for the fact that this device keeps you afloat between five to 15 feet above the ground and boasts a top speed of 40mph. Steering it is pretty easy - all you need to do is lean towards the right direction and you're good to go. Each purchase comes as a self-assembly kit, so it is time to break open that hardware box in your home.

The VertiPod comes with a $10,000 price tag along with a petrol or ethanol engine. No idea on when it will be commercially available though, but should the VertiPod get popular in urban areas, it is time for the local municipal council to rewrite traffic laws? Do they count as a motorist or pedestrian?

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As we expected, France’s exclusive Apple iPhone carrier will be offering their unlocked iPhone at a price that undercuts its German rival T-Mobile’s price point of 999 Euros. The French wireless carrier will be asking 749 Euros for the unlocked version of the Apple iPhone, a steep discount in comparison to T-Mobile’s unlocked iPhone.

The announcement of a relatively cheap unlocked version of the iPhone on Orange’s network makes sense. With Orange obligated by French telecom regulations, it makes sense for the iPhone operator to attempt to attract as many customers as possible with a lower-priced unlocked iPhone offering. T-Mobile’s unlocked iPhone price of 999 Euro seems to be more of a deterrent - an effort to coax customers into buying a subsidized version of the iPhone, while T-Mobile fights to have the court-order (that forced T-Mobile to offer an unlocked version of the iPhone) overturned.

Orange will be offering four iPhone-specific rate plans when it launches today at 6:30pm local time - all plans are Visual Voicemail-enabled and will include unlimited data. The cheapest plan will cost 49 Euros and include 120 peak minutes, 120 night/weekend minutes, and 50 SMS text messages. The most expensive plan will cost 119 Euros in return for 480 peak minutes, 480 night/weekend minutes, and 1000 SMS text messages.

We’ll have to wait and see if Orange will be able to meet their iPhone sales goal of 100,000 units by year’s end.

[Via: Apple Insider]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Want an unlocked iPhone? Just go to France. Orange France to sell carrier-unlocked iPhones
• France's Orange expects to sell 100,000 iPhones by year-end; sell cheaper unlocked iPhones
• T-Mobile set to face-off with Vodafone over locked iPhones in Germany - November 29
• It's official - Apple and Orange launching iPhone in France on November 29
• Apple and Orange still negotiating iPhone deal?

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I must admit I love the scrolling on iPhone. It’s so simple, elegant and useful at the same time. And I’m sure I’m not the only one loving it — after all we saw it demoed on such device as Linux-based Nokia N800 Internet Tablet.

And now, TreoTown has released Treobble, a touchscreen contacts scroller application that adds that iPhone-like contact scrolling to your beloved Palm OS based device like Treo or Centro. The application is not actually designed to manage contacts — rather it’s made to provide users with quick access to their contacts. Once you find a contact, you can either call it, send him/her a message or email. The screenshots look promising, and yes I do advise you to give it a try. It’s free after all!

[Via: PalmInfocenter]

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• GooSync adds Contacts support
• We've been testing this week: VITO QuickContact S60
• Parallels Desktop Beta adds iPhone support - sync your iPhone with Windows Vista/XP running on your Mac
• fring adds ICQ support
• Mobilize your life with Syncxo

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A wise man once said something along the lines of "if you don't waste stuff, you won't want stuff." I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea. For example, that handy box that your iPod Nano came in? I hope you didn't throw it away.

If you didn't, you can use it to make a sweet speaker for your portable music player. A kit, available from Bird Electron, is a fun, easy DIY project that'll let you turn what was trash into something you then won't have to go out and buy. I mean, after you buy the kit, but you know, that's way cooler than just buying a speaker off the shelf, right? — Adam Frucci

+D IT Media, via Trends in Japan

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The wait for the Apple iPhone comes to an end in France tomorrow. The Smartphone made by Apple will be serviced by Orange.

In France, the starting price of the iPhone with a contract will be ?399, and a 24-month contract will start at ?49 a month and include two hours of communications and 50 SMS text messages.

The price would be ?4.50 more per month for a 12-month contract, the minimum term.

Orange expects to sell 100,000 units before the end of 2007.

Ireland

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

Everyone loves LEGO, and the BLOC MP3 player concept takes after Denmark's most famous toy. The core unit itself comes with an OLED display, a 4-way toggle, and 50MB of internal memory, but should that be insufficient (and it surely would), you can always snap on additional memory modules. For those who love sharing their tunes, forget about WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity as the BLOC MP3 player does it the old school way - you swap your module with your friend. Hopefully the interlocking design is timeless should this concept design ever roll out.

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With the French iPhone launch just days away, the nation’s Apple-partnered wireless carrier is speaking up about its iPhone sales goals. Orange has announced that it expects to push 100,000 iPhones out its doors by the end of this year - merely a month after the iPhones launch on November 29. Orange Wireless’s CEO, Didier Lombard, stated that he expects sales numbers to reach “a little under 100,000″ by December 31 - amounting to approximately 3,000 iPhones being sold every day.

And, to help move more iPhones than its European counterparts in Germany, Lombard has promised that Orange will be selling unlocked iPhones at a price that’s significantly lower” than the 999 Euro ($$1,485 USD) price tag that T-Mobile German is charging for their iPhone. Recall that the iPhone’s future in France was put in jeopardy due to French telecom regulations that required all wireless carriers to offer unlocked versions of their handset.

We think it makes sense that France’s Orange would offer the unlocked version of the iPhone at a lower price-point than Germany’s T-Mobile. It seems that T-Mobile is only offering the unlocked iPhone to comply with a temporary court-ordered injunction, which T-Mobile is actively seeking to get overturned - so unlocked iPhones in Germany are something of a stop-gap solution, and is perhaps even discouraged from being purchased through the incredibly high price. In France, however, Orange will have to offer the unlocked version of the iPhone without question, and so will likely be giving customers more incentive to buy the iPhone, locked or unlocked, from Orange.

Orange’s subsidized (read: locked) iPhone will command 399 Euro and will require a 2-year contract that starts at 49 Euro per month for 120 minutes and 50 SMS text messages. Interestingly, customers opting for a 1-year contract will initially pay the same price for the handset, but will be charged about 4.50 Euro more per month for service.� We’d love to see this sort of tiered-contract offering from US carriers - it would be easier to pay a few bucks more per month than to shell out a couple hundred more dollars upfront in order to keep contracts down to a reasonable length. It’d be great to pay the same amount for the cellphone and just pay an extra $8 per month in return for a 1-year contract.

[Via: Apple Insider]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Want an unlocked iPhone? Just go to France. Orange France to sell carrier-unlocked iPhones
• T-Mobile set to face-off with Vodafone over locked iPhones in Germany - November 29
• Carphone Warehouse expecting to hock 10,000 UK iPhones on launch day
• T-Mobile Germany offering unlocked Apple iPhones due to court order
• O2 sells tens of thousands of UK iPhones since Friday's launch

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It seems that Apple has heard our pleas to stop talking it up and get their official iPhone SDK out into developers’ hands. Well, in all actuality, Apple probably wasn’t responding to our singular call for the iPhone SDK, but we’ll take what we can get.

Electronista is reporting that Apple has started seeding the official iPhone SDK to a select few developers. An extremely lucky few software developers are reportedly getting rough-draft versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch Software Development Kit. We’re not sure exactly what comprises the iPhone SDK, but the “special” few that have the pleasure of using the SDK have confirmed that it creates native applications and works in much the same way as Google’s OpenSocial - acting as a middle-man between the iPhone OS and the programmer.

However, programming applications for the iPhone OS will not be the same as on the Mac OS X - the SDK has it limits. Again, details on the SDK’s capabilities are not yet known - the developers have reportedly only been working on the SDK for a couple weeks. And, as such, there is no available release date for any iPhone SDK-sourced applications.

It makes sense for Apple to choose a few high-level developers to get a head-start on programming native applications for the iPhone prior to the official iPhone SDK release in February. Having native applications up and running at the time of the iPhone SDK’s release is a prudent move on Apple’s part. We suppose Apple learned from Google’s Android announcement - you know, the super-hyped mobile phone platform from Google that soon lost steam and fizzled out due to lack of marketable hardware and software. Apple could keep third-party iPhone applications on the hype-radar by releasing working applications at the time of the SDK’s launch.

Bring on the iPhone SDK!

[Via: Electronista]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

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• Apple goes live with iPhone Dev Center - web apps only for now
• Apple working on offline storage for iPhone Safari browser-based applications?
• Apple iPhone will launch only in Apple Stores and select AT&T stores
• iPhone SDK to be announced at WWDC?

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In a move designed to compete with AT&T, German mobile operator will offer a large rebate on the iPhone. This should open up the German market quickly for iPhones.

Debitel — which resells airtime it buys from T-Mobile and rivals Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research), O2 (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) and E-Plus (KPN.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) in Germany — said on Tuesday it would pay the difference in price between an unlocked iPhone and one locked to T-Mobile.

T-Mobile has an exclusive deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in Germany, but was ordered by a court last week to offer customers an option to buy an unlocked iPhone.

It agreed to do so — at a price of 999 euros, compared with 399 euros for an iPhone locked into a T-Mobile contract.

The move is expected to rapidly increase sales for Debiel when the unlocked phones go on sale.

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

So, with T-Mobile Germany forced to sell unlocked iPhones (at least for now), Debitel’s got a plan to help snatch-up some potential unlocked iPhone customers. Debitel provides its customer with leased network time from its German counterparts, and they’re offering a ?600 bonus to all new iPhone customers. The sign-up bonus should help bring the unlocked iPhone’s ?999 price tag down to a more manageable ?399 - the same price that T-Mobile Germany charges for on-contract iPhones.

Debitel’s deal should appeal to Germans interested in an unlocked iPhone but wary of the prohibitively high price point from T-Mobile (which is probably T-Mobile’s intention). But then again, Debitel will probably require iPhone customers to sign a contract to get that ?600 sign-up bonus - so the only advantage to signing with Debitel would be that you have an unlocked iPhone once your contract expires. Which would you choose - a T-Mobile locked iPhone with Visual Voicemail and unlimited data for ?399, or an unlocked iPhone that’s essentially locked to Debitel’s network sans Visual Voicemail for the same price?

Of course, that unlocked iPhone is likely to be obsolete by the time Debitel lets you off their contract.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• T-Mobile unlocks German iPhones through iTunes - official iPhone unlocking hack on the way?
• T-Mobile Germany offering unlocked Apple iPhones due to court order
• France's Orange expects to sell 100,000 iPhones by year-end; sell cheaper unlocked iPhones
• T-Mobile set to face-off with Vodafone over locked iPhones in Germany - November 29
• P990, M600 and W950: UIQ 3 compatibility and Symbian Signing special offer

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Vivienne Tam is going to dip her fingers into the world of consumer electronics with the spanking new TAM MP3walkman concept. The MP3walkman is currently just an idea, so there isn't any concrete specifications laid out just yet. Other than the painfully obvious MP3 playback, it surely oozes with style that appeals to women worldwide (as well as the more effeminate men). Chances are it will cost many times the price of an iPod and yet have a fraction of its functionality. The concept can be viewed at the Vivienne Tam flagship store in New York in case you're curious.

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Now here’s a reason to rejoice this Monday. We’ve just spotted that the folks behind the ScummVM project has ported their popular application to the iPhone. Yes, it’s the true unofficial native app, meaning you’ll have to jailbrake your beloved handset before installing it — that’s in case you still tolerate the lack of real 3rd party apps. And after the install, voila… the world of good ol’ point-and-click adventures is open for you. You’ll be able to play such titles as Secret of the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Flight of the Amazon Queen, Full Throttle, Simon the Sorcerer, Gobliiins, Indiana Jones and much more. And in case you have one of Nokia’s Internet Tablets, yap ScummVM can also work on your device. Enjoy!

[Via: Gizmodo]

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• Is it Apple's or Samsung's iPhone?

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While the iPhone isn't exactly the most technologically advanced handset in the market at the moment, what makes it even more appealing would be the fact that one can run LucasArts games on it flawlessly. The only downside would be having your phone undergo a Jailbreak which some are not willing to do. Currently, the list of games supported include:

Beneath a Steel Sky

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

Day of the Tentacle

Full Throttle

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Monkey Island: The Secret of Monkey Island

Sam & Max Hit the Road

Simon the Sorcerer

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The Apple iPhone SDK is likely coming early next year, that much we know. And, as Apple’s Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing, Greg Joswiak pointed out in an interview with Fortune, Steve Jobs is planning to require any third-party iPhone applications to use a digital signature - much like Nokia requires for any third-party applications designed for their phones. That way, if some eager-but-novice iPhone developer releases some wonky software, we’ll be able to track down exactly what’s causing the problem - the same applies to malicious applications.

And, in classic pompous-Apple style, Joswiak pointed out that Apple is staying ahead of their competitors, and that they “tend to put the cross hairs on where we are now, and by the time they come up with a product that tries to match where we are now, we?re beyond them. We?re one or two generations beyond, moving faster than they are.” Thanks for the tip. We already love and use your products, there’s no need to get all uppity about it - but, then again, Apple’s elitist attitude has been working pretty damn well so far.

Just release the iPhone SDK already and stop talking it up, will ya?

[Via: MacRumors]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Steve Jobs: You want an iPhone SDK? Wait until February
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• Apple working on offline storage for iPhone Safari browser-based applications?
• Apple prepping iPhone SDK for January release?
• Apple to require iTunes subscription for iPhone

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Ever taken stock of what happens to the packaging of your gizmos and gadgets? If you have picked up the new iPod nano, what have you done with its clear plastic case? The good people at Bird Electron has come up with an iPod nano speaker kit that turns the now-empty case into a fully functioning speaker. It is compatible with 3rd generation nano cases only, and installation is a cinch, taking less than 10 seconds at worst. Once you're done, just plug the necessary audio cable between it and the iPod and you're good to go. Don't expect a room-shaking experience with this $20 purchase though.

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One of the main gripes most people have about the iPod range of portable media players is the lack of an FM transmitter, and it has taken Ovito of China to come up with a 2G iPod nano clone that boasts this feature. Forget those stretched 3G nano clones - this 2G knockoff looks pretty close to the real thing, and is pretty practical in nature as well with an antenna that folds into the back for it to fit into your pocket comfortably. Features include AMV video compatibility, support for MP3, WMA, WAV, and JPEG formats, an integrated FM radio, audio recording capability and a 1.8" TFT display. No idea on how much it costs, but you probably have to purchase this in bulk. Is it just me or is the chick in the image not wearing anything? Guess 1.8" of viewing real estate isn't enough...

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Guess the Apple iPhone isn't just meant to look good as it does have its fair share of practical purposes as proposed by Nextrials. Nextrials' Prism clinical trial data management platform supports remote access via the Apple iPhone, giving users anytime/anywhere access to ongoing clinical trial data in addition to viewing data in similar graphical formats normally generated by Prism for a desktop computer. With iPhone support integrated this time round, Prism is always within reach of the researcher’s fingertips, delivering an on-the-go ability to navigate data and generate the most current reports. What are some of the other practical applications for the iPhone you can think of?

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The latest iPhone update didn’t really do anything impressive for our iPhones. Sure, that TIFF-image security hole was patched, but it was more of a headache for third-party iPhone developers than anything else. Or was it? One iPhone hacker noticed that the last iPhone update contained some interesting code hidden within. These code strings seem to indicate (and confirm previous rumors) that Apple is cooking up some sort of online-based (most likely iTunes-based) rental scheme.

Here’s the code-of-interest from the “lockdownd” file:

pumpkin:~ pumpkin$ strings /usr/local/share/iphone-filesystem/usr/libexec/lockdownd | grep -i rental

trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not retrieve FairPlayID

trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not initialize FairPlay context

trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not verify the rental bag response: %d

load_rental_bag_request: Could not retrieve FairPlayID

load_rental_bag_request: Could not initialize FairPlay context

load_rental_bag_request: Could not generate rental bag request

load_rental_bag_request: Could not create mutable dictionary

load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFData from request message

load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFArray

load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFNumber from indice

RentalBagResponse

RentalBagRequest

pumpkin:~ pumpkin$

Is Apple planning on launching a movie-rental section for the iTunes Store? We’d pay maybe a buck, or two, to rent a movie for our iPhones, and slightly more for a full-fledged (higher-resolution) version. Anything more expensive than that, and you can bet we’ll be keeping our online movie rental subscription. Act

[Via: World of Apple]

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Well, it looks like Vodafone is about to get what they’ve been seeking. The mobile phone carrier has successfully prompted the German government to look into whether or not rival carrier T-Mobile’s iPhone exclusivity deal breaches German wireless regulations. T-Mobile has already complied with the temporary court order, and is offering unlocked iPhones for almost $1,500 - but the upcoming hearing on November 29 may allow T-Mobile to resume selling iPhones locked exclusively to their network. On the flip-side, we could see T-Mobile forced to permanently offer unlocked iPhones to the German masses.

Of course, the T-Mobile / Vodafone showdown is scheduled for the same day that France’s Orange will be launching their own iPhone (November 29). We’re expecting Orange to offer unlocked iPhones in order to comply with French telecom regulations for a hefty price - so no matter the German court’s decision, krauts in need of an unlocked iPhone may still be in luck. We’ll be watching this court-battle, stay tuned.

[Via: CNN]

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FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- A Hamburg court will hear the case on T-Mobile Deutschland's German marketing rights for Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone November 29., the court said Friday.

Vodafone Deutschland, a unit of Vodafone PLC (VOD), earlier this week filed an injunction with the court, requesting a legal assessment of T-Mobile's marketing rights to the iPhone.

Vodafone objected to the fact that the iPhone can be used only on T-Mobile networks, and questioned the company's pricing packages, which were tied to binding contracts with T-Mobile.

Following a court order, T-Mobile has made changes to its iPhone offer, but has said it expects its marketing model to hold up in court.

T-Mobile is a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (DT).

Company Web site: http://www.t-mobile.com

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iPhone users who happen to write a blog, here’s a good news for ya. Thanks to the new plugin called WPhone, you’ll be able to add new and manage existing posts right from your shiny handset, wherever you are. Apparently, WPhone is quite fast — all pages are NOT ONLY pared down to their bare essential HTML, but each is GZIPed before it is sent off to the iPhone, saving bandwidth for those using the crappy EDGE network.

In addition, the folks behind WPhone also prepared a plugin version that works with other mobile browsers which don’t support JavaScript. There you have it — now you can really blog on-the-go…

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We’ve already covered two virtual keyboard applications for Windows Mobile devices - PocketCM Keyboard and TouchPal. Now, Vito Technology is also releasing its own version of such application, giving users of the Windows Mobile powered devices yet another option to choose from.

According to Vito, their newly launched ZoomBoard allows users with touchscreen enabled smartphones to quickly and accurately type with their fingers. The application sports such features as screen sliding for accurate typing and zoom preview, making misprints hardly possible.

ZoomBoard is free to trial and the full version costs only $9.95…

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• iPhone-like scrolling on Nokia N800

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Here’s another iPhone that’s had its butt-end confused for its top-end. Aren’t there people getting paid to make sure stupid slips like this don’t make it into the production version of any film or TV show? Actually, we’re pretty sure there are - which begs the question, where were they during the taping of this recent episode of Two and a Half Men? Charlie is clearly holding his iPhone upside-down as he sits in that beautiful, red Ferrari. We’ll cut him some slack, seeing as how he was probably distracted by Jenny’s ample…talent - but the production crew definitely dropped the ball on this one.

Honestly, we actually watched this particular episode and didn’t even notice the iPhone. Like we said, Jenny’s got some major “talent.” That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

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We mentioned about unlocked iPhones going on sale in Germany yesterday, and here are the latest developments. It seems that T-Mobile will be offering the iPhone without any contract for an insanely high price of 999 Euros. In addition, T-Mobile has to unlock free of charge for customers who bought the iPhone since November 19th. Logically speaking, an unlocked iPhone would mean the lack of Visual Voicemail, although that remains to be confirmed. Do you think this locked iPhone issue is overblown, and Apple ought to stick to its original strategy of selling the iPhone with a plan, or to just bow to consumer and industry pressure by offering standalone units?

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What do we have here? Unlocked iPhones in Germany? Indeed we do. It seems Vodafone’s legal pursuit of T-Mobile’s Apple iPhone exclusivity has finally caught up with the No. 1 German wireless carrier. Thanks to a German court order, T-Mobile Germany has agreed to start selling iPhones sans contract - at least until they can work out this little legal snafu. As you might recall, a court in Hamburg, Germany ordered a temporary injunction (upon rival carrier Vodafone’s request) against T-Mobile Germany - stating that the iPhone exclusivity deal with Apple was in breach of local laws.

Well, T-Mobile Germany is now offering iPhones without requiring the customer to sign a 2-year contract, but unlocked iPhones come at a price, a huge price. In return for the privilege to use the iPhone on any GSM carrier, T-Mobile is asking a hefty 999 euro ($1,470) price tag for an unlocked iPhone. Of course, if you’d rather buy a new LCD HDTV and a new iPhone, T-Mobile Germany is still selling locked iPhones for 399 euros ($590) on a 2-year service contract. T-Mobile Germany is also offering unlock codes to customers that previously bought an iPhone and want to venture out to other GSM wireless carriers’ networks (ahem, Vodafone perhaps?).

T-Mobile is planning to appeal the injunction so that it can continue to maintain its status as an Apple iPhone exclusive carrier. We’ll keep you posted on the happenings in this space. Stay tuned.

[Via: Apple Insider]

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• Germans in a frenzy over impending Apple iPhone release

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Wait a tick. Didn’t RIM CEO recently bash on the Apple iPhone’s touch-sensitive, virtual keyboard “that?s a real challenge” to use? Well, he did. But that doesn’t mean this latest speculation is any less true. Rumblings from the rumor mill have indicated that RIM is preparing the 9000-series smartphone to give the iPhone a run for its touchscreen-money. Development of the new 9000-series platform will see new hardware and mobile OS (software) coming out of RIM’s R&D labs.

According to Carmi Levy, an analyst at AR Communications Inc., the RIM BlackBerry 9000-series will be “the future of the BlackBerry franchise” - a stark contrast to the company’s traditionally business-oriented roots. “The 9000 is supposed to be a touch-screen device, very similar in form factor to the iPhone,” Levy says. “Which means that it is not an enterprise-friendly device.”

RIM’s been branching out into the consumer-market with the recent BlackBerry Curve and Pearl handsets, and it looks like RIM is going to go full-out and take on the iPhone with a media-savvy, touch-based handset of their very own.� The 9000-series BlackBerry will reportedly feature a full-face touchscreen and upgraded audio and video playback capabilities to supplement the iconic BlackBerry push-email feature. We’re also expecting US-friendly 3G frequency support and 600Mhz processor to power all those media-intense features.

As we expected and mentioned previously, Levy believes that RIM will be launching the 9000-series BlackBerry in Q1 2008. The rest of RIM’s BlackBerry lineup will still see updates (like the 3G EVDO Pearl that recently hit CDMA carriers in the US), and a RIM VP stated that the company will be releasing 4 or 5 new smartphones for 2008. We can’t wait to see what RIM’s answer to the iPhone will look like. No, check that. We know what it will probably look like (there are only so many ways to implement a full-face touchscreen), we can’t wait to see how it actually works. It had better use a capacitance touchscreen if it plans to take on the iPhone. Balda, anyone?

[Via: Unstrung]

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Fast Company sent an iPhone to UNIX specialist and consultant Rik Farrow and commissioned him to crack through its defenses. Using the popular platform for testing security systems H D Moore’s Metasploit, Farrow was able to take complete control of an iPhone, even demonstrating the ability to eavesdrop on conversations, intercept voice mail and email, and upload nefarious software programs. According to him, to hack Apple’s handset, “physical access to an iPhone is not required.” In addition, he pointed out this is NOT just an iPhone’s vulnerability — most today’s smartphones (including those based on Windows Mobile, Linux and Symbian mobile operating systems) are not immune to this. Scary…

Anyway, here’s the video.

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Your friend has pictures from the latest party on her iPod. She says she'll email them to you, but you know it will never happen. You're home from the holidays and want to share your favorite play list with your kid brother. A new company called miShare is trying to make this process easier with a gadget that allows direct iPod to iPod transfer. Basically, it's Apple's worst nightmare. The gadget won't disable iTunes DRM, but if you have regular MP3s you can now share them at will without having to haul out the laptop, charger cable, and iPod reverse transfer software like Senuti. miShare will cost $99 and should hit shelves before Christmas. Get one before Apple publishes an iTunes update that gimps its software. — S.E. Kramer

miShare, via Engadget

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Ah, here we are with another 3G iPhone rumor. According to a manager at Spain's Telefonica, this new iPhone will launch in May should Telefonica and Apple arrive at an agreement. Somehow, the coming May release date of a 3G iPhone doesn't sound so crazy anymore since it is quite near the iPhone's first anniversary - and Apple normally marks those anniversaries with an updated version of the product in question.

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We've seen a 3G iPod nano clone yesterday, and today there is yet another clone to keep you entertained. Known as the MP4-21 from Shenzen, this clone comes with a strangely stretched Apple Click Wheel knockoff, supporting your usual range of MPEG-4, WMA, MP3, WAV and JPEG images with seven EQ modes to choose from. Other features include a 2.4" 262k color TFT display, a USB port, and a miniSD memory card slot. Mac users will have to give this a pass since it supports only Windows 98 and above.

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Here we go again. The latest 3G iPhone rumor points to Vodafone as the exclusive carrier for the next-gen iPhone with high-speed wireless data. Italian website Morse.IT claims to have spoken with high-level Vodafone sources that� seems to indicate that Apple and Vodafone have signed an exclusive iPhone deal. Seeing as how Vodafone is currently backing a German court’s decision to force T-Mobile to give up iPhone exclusivity in Germany, we’re betting that the Vodafone iPhone deal doesn’t concern the EDGE-only iPhone. Could Vodafone’s move to force T-Mobile to give up iPhone exclusivity have been a negotiation tactic to secure the UMTS-addled iPhone for Vodafone’s networks all over Europe?

The 3G iPhone is rumored to be hitting Vodafone’s network in Q1 2008, which is pretty much in line with rumors that a 3G iPhone could hit Europe by May of 2008.� We’re hearing that the 3G iPhone will launch simultaneously in all countries where Vodafone has a carrier-presence, but the announcement won’t be made until after the holidays - in order to prevent cannibalizing current iPhone holiday-sales. Could we see Apple and Vodafone bow the 3G iPhone at MacWorld Expo 2008? We’re crossing our fingers.

[Via: Unwired View]

Pic from Engadget Mobile

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You may like or not, but Apple’s iPhone is THE more disruptive device like ever. Now, we have Vodafone — the same company that fights iPhone defection by taking customer service offline — obtaining a Court order that required rival T-Mobile Germany to sell iPhone without a service plan. And while we do agree that’s a good news for German consumers who like the Apple’s handset, somehow if that’s the way Jobs&Co wants to go - you can’t blame them. Apple was never really open about its platforms, but always managed to get its place under the Sun. Kudos to them for that. Also, it’s important to note that this could lead to complete halt of iPhone sales in Germany…

Back to Vodafone. Don’t you guys have F700 and N95 8GB? I find those two devices to be quite appealing. Why oh why do you want to take this kind of (stupid) action? According to the Big Red it’s the fear that other handset makers may follow Apple’s example and begin tying their handsets to specific providers (like the Samsung F700, which is exclusive to Vodafone?), further shredding the German wireless market. Yeah, it’s the benefit of the German mobile phone users you care about, not shareholders. C’mon folks, it makes me sick. You could have an iPhone deal, but you decided to go the other route. What’s the problem now?

Anyway, T-Mobile’s parent company — Deutsche Telekom — has confirmed the ruling, and is working to overturn it in an appeals processes.

[Via: AppleInsider]

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It looks like Apple is tracking iPhone users data including IMEI number, IP address and stock quote preferences (amongst other things) through a hidden string in the Weather.app and Stocks.app iPhone applications. This information is sent to "http://iphone-wu.apple.com/dgw?imei=%@&apptype=finance" (IP resolved "17.254.32.16"). See screenshot below for details.

From this information, Apple could build a profile on users. Where they travel, where they spend their free time, where they work, where they invest their money, what they browse, etc etc. Obviously most users would like to be able to control who has access to this information. If they connect this data with the credit card that you used to purchase the iPhone (remember, you can't use cash anymore), they could build an even bigger profile on you.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can doanything about it - though hackers are working on it now. According to Uneasysilence.com, if you use an iPhone, you've already forfeited this right to privacy (from the Apple Terms of service):

When you interact with Apple, we may collect personal information relevant to the situation, such as your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and contact preferences; your credit card information and information about the Apple products you own, such as their serial numbers and date of purchase; and information relating to a support or service issue.

Whether or not the backlash from this will cause Apple to change its policy remains to be seen. However, there are alreadly lots of people deleting the Stocks.app and Weather.apps from their iPhones and donning their tinfoil hats.

source

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CES has a weird taste for what is innovative, like this speaker lamp, and occasionally gadgets that don't exist.

This year one of our favorites of CES's "favorites" was Vestalife's Ladybug speaker dock. It's a portable set of speakers for iPod and iPhone that transforms from an adorable speaker ball into a flying-ladybug shape. We can't imagine that the sound competes with higher end iPod docks, but the Ladybug does have a built in subwoofer, auxiliary-in jack, and a serviceable remote control. The company also plans to sell it for less than $100, so you won't mind too much when your children decide that it works better as a dodge ball than a set of speakers. — S.E. Kramer

Via Vestalife

blog.scifi.com

The Zune isn't the only fancy new portable media player with a touchpad to drop this holiday season. Nope, there's also this Haier Ibiza Rhapsody Media Player. Coming with a 30GB capacity, a 2.5-inch screen, and WiFi you can actually use to slowly and painfully surf the web on it using a freaking touchpad, it's a sort-of-slick alternative to the big boys that you're all too familiar with at this point.

I mean, sure, it's got some decent features on it, but it's bigger and bulkier than some other models, it's not exactly priced to sell at $330. If you're wondering why Apple still has the lion's share of the PMP market, you're looking at it. No one can deliver anything that's sexier than Apple's offerings. — Adam Frucci

Via Technabob

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Check out this really cool mp3 player. It is simple and tiny. It looks like a plug. It can plug into earphones or onto a stand where it can sync, recharge and control the music like a joystick. This was designed by Tae-wan Kim. Very nice...

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ECNokia of China has just lifted the veil on its latest knockoff effort that takes after the form factor of the 3G iPod nano. Not only does it come with an integrated FM tuner, a microphone for voice notes, and a much larger touchscreen display, it also boasts a 1.3 megapixel camera for you to snap impromptu shots. Unfortunately, there is no internal flash memory for you to fill it up - instead, all your media will have to be carried by an SD memory card slot. You can also bet your bottom dollar that the user experience won't be as refined as the real deal. There is currently no word on pricing or availability, since it is most probably available only to wholesalers at the moment. Keep a keen eye out whenever you see a cheap 3G iPod nano on eBay with such clones floating around in the market.

cheap Apple iPod nano

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Vodafone recently obtained a Court order that requires T-Mobile Germany to sell Apple's iPhone to Germans - minus a service plan. This temporary injunction requires T-Mobile to respond within a couple of weeks' time, and Deutsche Telekom (the parent company of T-Mobile) aims to overturn the ruling by appealing. Should this injunction actually go through, we could see a potential halt of iPhone sales in Germany since both T-Mobile and Apple have come to an agreement that the iPhone can be sold only with a service plan.

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Now this is one iPod nano case that will definitely keep your lady happy - it is diamond-encrusted, covered by 586 diamonds and set on 120 grams of 14k white gold, bringing the total price of this case to a whopping $12,495. Guess this would go down well with your gold iPod nano, save for the fact that the case itself is worth many times more than the Midas-enhanced nano. Best keep this in a safe, I say.

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

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One of the leading providers of mobile entertainment, Jamster, has recently unveiled its iPhone offering. Users simply need to visit www.jamster.co.uk from their iPhone and grab all the cool content — including music, music videos, amusing videos, movie trailers, and bonus material for selected films — for free. In addition, Jamster will be also providing iPhone/iPod Touch users with original excerpts from all episodes of the fourth season of the popular SKY ONE TV series “24″, as well as such popular mobile games as “Bejeweled” from PopCap and “Bowling” and “Black Jack” from MyNuMo and HandyGames.

Finally, let’s not forget Ojom’s first iPhone game “Maya: Temple of Secrets” is now also part of Jamster’s iPhone games collection. What are you waiting for?

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Transcend has released its T.sonic 650 MP3 player that offers up to 4GB of storage space at a price that does not hurt the pocket that much. Features include a dual color OLED display, a lyrics sync function, an intuitive interface, a 4-way button, an integrated FM radio as well as Voice Activity Detection for high quality gapless voice recordings and personal memos. Audio formats supported include MP3, WMA, WAV and even WMA-DRM10. The Transcend T.sonic 650 measures 75 mm x 31 mm x 13 mm and weighs a mere 30g. It will come in ivory and charcoal colors, coming in 2GB and 4GB capacities.

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It was never going to live up to the hype, unless every single person in Britain shivered in the cold outside their nearest Apple, O2 or Carphone Warehouse store eager to get their hands on the most-hyped consumer product, possibly of all time.

Eight thousand iPhones were registered on Friday 9 November and Carphone claimed to have sold 11,000 devices over the weekend ? more than a fifth of its initial allocation.

All eyes were on Apple's flagship store on Regent Street on Friday at 6:02pm, with a queue winding back to Hanover Square.

O2 and Carphone stores elsewhere in the West End had much smaller queues.

Apple had planned to keep the store open until midnight, but closed at 11pm as die-hard fans had dried up, while others looked to the far less busy O2 and Carphone stores.

O2 sent an email to stores an hour after the launch, claiming that 2,000 customers who bought iPhones from O2 stores had registered by 7:02pm.

Store sales vary considerably from store to store, with anecdotes of disinterest from some, disbelief at the price tag from others and queuing in the snow at O2's Aberdeen store.

O2 chief Peter Erskine is reported to have said that two thirds of iPhone customers have come from other networks, with three quarters anticipated over the longer period.

Rivals expect interest in the iPhone to die down. 'You've had all the Apple geeks get one in the first week, now normal customers will look at the pricing and find it quite unattractive,' said a source from a rival manufacturer.

Vodafone said it was happy with trading over the weekend. CEO Nick Read said: 'It has been fine. I didn't see chaotic scenes [at Carphone or O2 stores] anywhere.'

Phones 4u's marketing chief, Jim Slater, said: 'We are delighted with the weekend's trade ? it was our best of 2007. A combination of the iPhone launch generally invigorating consumer interest, strong propositions and an outstanding effort in our stores ensured that we delivered excellent performance. We're hoping for another iPhone launch as soon as possible!'

Dial-A-Phone has published pictures on its website of Carphone and O2 stores with a distinct lack of crowds.

source

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With more than 8,000 iPhones customers registering their devices on O2’s network on November 9, it’s safe to say that Apple’s UK iPhone launch went well. Now, Carphone Warehouse is reporting that they’ve pushed 11,000 iPhones out their door over the weekend. The largest mobile phone retailer in the world says that they have already sold more than one-fifth of their initial iPhone stock.

O2 also reported that 2,000 iPhones had been registered within an hour of the UK iPhone launch - with two-thirds of iPhone customers coming from other wireless networks. So, with the initial successes in the UK and European markets, we’ll just have to wait and see how iPhones sales fare over the holiday shopping season.

[Via: Mobile Today]

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The market is flooded with iPod speakers that let the world know what you've been snatching from BitTorrent sites, but only one speaker system lets you add a touch of magic. The WinniF Air Speaker won't just blast tunes from your iPod, but also allows you to control the speaker volume wirelessly via motion sensors.

Just wave your hands near the speaker's sensor points and you're in direct control. In addition to the nifty magic trick, the device includes an FM radio and an ever-changing LED mood light built into the speaker's surface. This psychedelic music experience can be yours for just $64.90 here.

— Adario Strange

Via Brando

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Here are a few shots comparing the Sony Ericsson W960 and the iPhone. Boy does the iPhone screen make the W960 look miniscule. Come on Sony Ericsson...unveil your full touchscreen phone already...

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Rik Farrow, a security expert showed that an iPhone with a ROM older than 1.1.2 could be hacked to allow an intruder to tune in text messages, emails or conversations. The hacker does not even need to have physical access to the phone because the code can be simply uploaded via email or http by usual phishing techniques. iPhones with the 1.1.2 updates should be OK as the loophole has been closed. Nerdy video below.

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www.ubergizmo.com

Apple iPods have revolutionized the way one listens to music. For the uninitiated, Apple iPods are portable media players that are designed and delivered by Apple Inc. to cater to the growing needs of tech-savvy music lovers from across the globe. Since the launch of Apple iPods in 2001, these innovative gadgets have provided stiff competition to digital music players that were prevalent in the market upto that period. Music lovers have been more than eager to store and carry "1000 songs in their pockets," made possible with many of the Apple iPods.

However, innovation is an on-going process. Technical experts have not been satisfied with their developmental efforts; they have strived to make these high-end gadgets more effective - viz-a-viz the needs of users. Since the launch of the Apple iPod, a lot of innovation has been carried out to make these gadgets all the more user-friendly. These efforts have resulted in the design and development of more versatile iPods from Apple Inc. Apple iPod Classic is one such high-end iPod from the Apple kitty.

One could use the Classic iPod from Apple to play music files in a host of file formats - AAC, AIFF, MP3 and WAV are some among them. This light weight Apple iPod comes with a storage capacity of 160 GB, quite comprehensive by any standards. Users can use the photo viewer option of the Apple iPod Classic to connect to their personal computers. Additional features such as video playback make the Apple iPod Classic all the more desirable.

And the good news does not end here. A person interested in owning an advanced iPod such as the Apple iPod Classic can now easily do so. This and other equally innovative gadgets are now available at industry leading costs. Many such deals are featured on reputed e-tailing sites and one needs to visit the web pages of these sites to avail of these interesting offers.

Autor: Adam Caitlin

Adam Caitlin is expert author of Telecommunication industry. Who writes on cheap laptops, mobile phones and Apple iPod Classic

Added: November 16, 2007
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

The Lars & Ivan motto, posted on its website, is "less is more." One look at the PA-40Ti Hybrid iPod Dock makes it clear that the company's serious — notice the lack of speakers? You won't hear anything when you plug in your iPod to just the dock, but the Hybrid is actually a 40 watt tube amplification system that'll give some serious power to whatever sweet pair you (hopefully) already have. It does have a subwoofer pre-amp built-in, and will charge your iPod, support USB connections, video output. You can hook it up to some other RCA audio devices (no digital inputs, though). It's also worth noting that you won't be settling for a boring old box like more other amps.

For a powerful amplifier (and pretty cool looking), the Hybrid is pretty decently priced at $340. Click on through for an additional image. — Kevin Hall

Lars & Ivan, via Technabob

blog.scifi.com

That’s the prediction of tech veteran Philippe Kahn, (who founded Borland in the 80s) now CEO of FullPower Technologies, a company with motion sensing expertise. We don’t know if this prediction is based on more than a personal feeling, but given his position in the industry, it is certainly worth listening at what he has to say.

Ever since the iPhone was announced, we thought that a “nano phone” would be the real killer (although the actual iPhone is doing very well)

On motion sensors, he said: "… the Wii and iPhone are just the beginning. Sensors will soon enable all kinds of functions, such as shaking your cell phone to pick up a call. No buttons, no fingers, just simple, natural gestures". Well, Samsung has phones that react to gestures, but at this point it doesn’t look like gestures can be used to convince customers to drop the money.

Head to Uberpulse to get the rest of the story.

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Contour Design has rolled out its Showcase and iSee cases for the relatively new iPod Classic. The Showcase Classic comes with shock absorbing rubber as well as a clear hard shell plastic case, boasting a dual-sliding latch system, removable belt clip as well as easy access to all ports and controls. Regardless of whether you own an 80GB or 160GB iPod Classic, the Showcase Classic line caters for all, retailing for $35 each. As for the iSee Classic, this is a clear and hard plastic case that comes with a two-piece, snap-together design, easy access to all ports and controls, and a belt clip. It is slightly cheaper than the Showcase Classic with a going price of $30.

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EDGE Tech has just released a new 12" Digital Picture Frame that comes complete with an integrated MP3 player, allowing you to not only play back slideshows of your favorite memories, but accompany those with the appropriate tune as well. Using this is pretty much a no-brainer - all you need to do is plug your digital media card, choose the transition effects and music, and let it go to business automatically. You can also hook it up to a TV or monitor to display the frame's content. The 12" Digital Picture Frame with MP3 Player will retail for $129.95 after a $40 rebate. Among its features are:

Compatible with SD, MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, CompactFlash, Microdrive, and USB Flash Drives

Supported formats: AVI, BMP, JPEG, MP3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WAV and WMA

Dimension: 13" (L) x 2" (W) x 10.5" (H)

Resolution: 800 x 600 pixels

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Now the Lars & Ivan PA-40Ti Hybrid iPod Dock is truly one of a kind, merging together a home for your media player with a powerful tube-based amplifier. There are no integrated speakers in this offering, instead it offers 40 watts of stereo amplification that will be received gleefully by speakers of your choice. The iPod itself gets a pretty cozy corner to lounge itself, being charged while docked. Not only that, the amp also comes with additional input for other devices albeit via RCA stereo only and not digital. The Lars & Ivan Hybrid iPod Dock will retail for approximately $342 after conversion.

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Clearly inspired by the minimalist future visions of Stanley Kubrick, Zumreed has released the uber-stylish Rain Drop Speaker for the iPod. Shaped exactly like a raindrop, the waterproof speaker conceals your iPod within it's circular interior allowing you to control the device with just a few buttons (volume up, stop, playback, volume down) located on its exterior.

After securing your iPod inside the device, you're ready to start rocking out as you scrub away the day's grit. The Rain Drop Speaker comes in white, blue and red and is available for just $49.00 here. — Adario Strange



Via AudioCubes

blog.scifi.com

One of the most popular weather information services, WeatherBug, has decided to jump into iPhone bandwagon. Their newly launched iPhone/iPod Touch optimized website provides users with international weather information, detailed views of the 7 day forecast, radar, and camera images from WeatherBug’s proprietary network of tracking stations. In addition, the WeatherBug Web app allows users to set a variety of locations for multiple cities and scroll through current conditions, forecasts, radar and live camera images for each one.

iPhone/iPod Touch users point your Safari to iphone.weatherbug.com. Don’t have an iPhone/iPod Touch, visit www.weatherbug.com/mobile to see some of WeatherBug’s other mobile offerings.

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• HTC Touch gets updated with more memory, new colors - Immaculate White and Burgandy Red

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With the increased battery life of the modern iPod's, there are still some things that you can do to increase the life of your iPod. These simple tips will help increase the battery life of your iPod so that you don't have to go through the hassle of a dead battery.

Pausing vs. standby
Because much of the power consumed by hard-disk iPods (not the Nano or Shuffle) spins the disk, press Pause when you leave the player unattended. Left playing in default mode, the iPod will run until the battery is drained.

However, you might think you have turned it off, when you've actually entered a standby mode. The way Play/Pause is engineered on the click dial, if you press down until the screen goes dark, the iPod may be in a paused standby mode (not Pause), which uses more power. To verify that the unit is in Pause mode, press the middle button. When the screen lights up, look in the upper-left corner for dual bars (Pause), not the triangle (Play). To cut power totally, flip the Hold switch on the top.

Charging and the temperature
The iPod's fast-charge setting can bring the battery to 80 percent of full power in an hour, however, charging it fully still can take up to 4 hours.

Even when it is turned off, the iPod still uses the battery and will drain completely in two to four weeks of nonuse, depending on the temperature where the iPod is stored. The warmer the area, the quicker the battery charge will dissipate. Accordingly, it's best not to leave the iPod in a vehicle parked in the sun, where temperatures can climb to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit; even shielding the player in the glove compartment won't keep its battery from discharging quickly.

Backlighting and the equalizer
The backlight feature on iPod's can eat up battery power really quickly. To do without the backlight, choose Settings, Backlight Timer, Off.

The equalizer feature can also use a large amount of power, so if you aren't entertaining a large crowd in an orchestra hall, turning off the iPod's sound equalizer will also preserve battery life. It takes processing power to transform a sound track into an high acoustic sound quality that most users won't notice through the average headphones. To disable the equalizer, select Settings, EQ, Off.

Changing tracks
Rewinding or fast-forwarding uses extra energy, but so does changing tracks via the Previous/Next buttons, as the hard drive turns on to find and open the songs. Similarly, using the device's Shuffle or Random modes, which require frequent hard-disk accesses, will affect your player's battery life.

The iPod sends tracks to its memory cache so it can seamlessly play them while powering down the hard drive. That's great for tracks that are 7MB or smaller (the average length of a single), but podcasts, audiobooks, and other long files need sustained hard-disk access, which can run down your battery. Keep in mind that spoken content can be compressed much more heavily than music, so don't hesitate to use lower bit rates for talk-radio-style podcasts or recompressed audiobooks.

Autor: Elliott Cross

You can find more tips, techniques and discussions about iPod's by visiting bestipodstuff.com

Elliott Cross is an avid blogger and web designer living in Burlington, Kentucky. He enjoys blogging about search engine optimization techniques, blogging tips for Wordpress and the Firefox browser. In his spare time, he enjoys woodworking, spending time with his family, and reading. To learn more, visit Elliott's site: http://ejcross.com

Added: November 14, 2007
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

File this under “highly unlikely to happen” because of two reasons: 1) China Unicom is a CDMA carrier and the iPhone relies on the GSM technology; 2) We’ve already posted China Mobile may be the carrier for the iPhone. Though the latter doesn’t confirm nor deny anything…

On the other hand, it’s still very early to say whether iPhone will ever hit the Chinese market. While China keeps growing like crazy, their people are still considered a cheap labor for the Western world - hence not many of them will be able to afford Apple’s handset. Then again, Apple could sell its device cheaper in the “world’s fastest growing economy” and make money from the scale. That being said if they ever enter the Chinese mobile market, they may actually produce a CDMA handset as well and really get the nationwide reach, although we doubt Jobs&Co will be able to get the same kind of deal they’ve got from AT&T and/or European carriers.

Anyway, Li Zhengmao - executive director and VP of China Unicom said to Dow Jones: “It seems that iPhone is hot in some markets. We are willing to discuss with Apple.” The same guy was later on interviewed by Reuters when he said: “Right now, we don’t have any plans to introduce Apple’s iPhones in China. But of course, we’re always willing to discuss a good business opportunity if it presents itself. As for whether we’ll talk about iPhones with Apple, you’ll have to ask Apple.”

Is it just a cheap PR to get some attention, or what? You be the judge…

[Via: Engadget]

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As far as MP3 players go, they don't get much smaller than the Tok Tak. It's essentially a little nub with a headphone jack, making it look like you're wearing headphones plugged into nothing. And while it might get you strange looks on the street, but you'd have empty pockets, so I guess you'd have the last laugh.

It's just a concept at the moment, but I'd wonder how well you could control a player this small. Can you even fit button on there? In any case, it's a pretty awesome design, one I'd be interested to seeing in the real world eventually. — Adam Frucci

Yanko Design, via Ubergizmo

blog.scifi.com

As long as the iPhone hacking community keeps jailbreaking the latest iPhone firmware updates, we have no problem with updating our handsets. However, should there come a time when iPhone hackers are unable to find a way into the iPhone’s file-system, Apple had better offer us some really, really, enticing features to get us to update our iPhones - features like video recording, iChat, MMS, stereo Bluetooth.

Well, we could be getting those sought after features in the near future. Pocket-lint is reporting that they have confirmation from an Apple spokesperson that “plenty more upgrades” are planned for the future. “All the complaints and feature requests we’ve had can be fixed and added by software upgrades,” said the Apple spokesperson.

There is even talk of Apple adding video recording functionality and integrating a YouTube uploading feature. And industry insider told Pocket-lint that, “They [Apple] aren’t stupid. They won’t want to give you everything at once. You wait, there will an exciting partnership with YouTube that adds video functionality and then lets you upload to the site in no time.”

So, only time will tell if Apple will be releasing highly-sought-after features like video recording, iChat, and MMS. We really want some added Bluetooth support in the next update. But, as far as video uploading to YouTube, that’s highly unlikely. Downloading YouTube videos are painful enough over AT&T’s EDGE network, but uploading would be just excruciating. Hey Apple, Bluetooth keyboards! You have a great wireless keyboard that we’d love to use with our iPhones.

[Via: MacRumors]

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Now this is a hoot - a faux boom box that requires some assembly before it can be used. Comprised of a flat cardboard and two speakers, this dual AA battery-powered boombox of sorts won't be able to rock the house down, but it would make for a decent desktop speaker for everyday Joes like you and I. Needless to say, it will be extremely lightweight in nature, and ought to avoid coffee spills at all costs lest you end up with a soggy boombox. Chances are it will use a standard 3.5mm audio jack to connect to other audio players, so don't expect your iPod to get charged while it is plugged in. The two AA batteries won't be able to supply that much power anyways.

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Now this is definitely one of the more interesting MP3 player concepts, with its extremely tiny size being one of the standout features. The Tok Tak MP3 player looks like your everyday audio jack, and that's because it is so. All you need to do is plug in the other end of your earphones into the Tok Tak and you're good to go, although you might receive strange stares from people who think you're listening to nothing. Each Tok Tak is accompanied by a base station that can recharge it, upload new music and function as a joystick controller whenever you groove to your tunes externally. It could do with a change in name though to be more appealing, assuming it ever makes it to the production line.

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Following on last week’s launch of the iPhone in the UK, O2’s CEO Peter Erskine told The Times Online that the iPhone is “the fastest selling device we have ever seen.” As Erskine previously mentioned, O2 has been selling tens of thousands of iPhones since last Friday’s launch - and it seems that Brits are still snatching up iPhones at an impressive pace.

We’re not looking for O2 and T-Mobile to break the US iPhone sales record, but if this kind of demand keeps up, it’s not entirely impossible. Either way, we’re sure O2 is ecstatic about these iPhone numbers. It’s just too bad they have to give some of their iPhone revenue back to Apple.

[Via: World of Apple]

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• Apple still selling iPhones like it's nobody's business

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The largest wireless operator in China, nay, the world, is reportedly in talks with Apple to bring the iPhone to the 350 million end-users that China Mobile calls its subscriber-base. We already know the iPhone will be hitting the Asian-region in 2008, so it makes sense for China Mobile to court Apple for exclusive rights to the iPhone.

China Mobile’s CEO, Wang Jianzhou, has confirmed that they are negotiating with Apple. However, the Chinese carrier is a bit reluctant to give up iPhone revenue to Apple - a kick-back model that Apple has forced all iPhone carriers to obey. Says Wang, “We still think we can maintain the operator-centric model because we have the customers, the end users.”

Sure, China Mobile has the subscriber-base to make demands, but will Apple give in to these demands? Precedence would dictate, no. Afterall, revenue sharing from a potential pool of 350 million customers is just way too enticing for Apple to pass up.

[Via: iPhone Central]

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Remember when the iPhone launched in the States? Remember how AT&T’s activation servers buckled under the massive deluge of launch-day iPhone owners trying to get their iPhone activated? Well, it seems activation-problems have crossed the pond and are afflicting O2’s iPhone activation servers. With O2 selling iPhones like it’s nobody’s business, we’re not too surprised to hear that their activation system is having trouble handling the load.

Some newly-minted iPhone owners in the UK have reported that the activation process crashes after they enter their credit-card information in the iTunes-based activation process. The problems seem to be rooted in O2’s activation servers and not from Apple or iTunes. Apparently, the activation woes stem from low-credit users trying to activate their iPhone. You see, the activation system will check the user’s credit and require a �100 deposit payment if the user’s credit-score is not up to par. The activation system seems to be having trouble dealing with processing this particular payment.

We’d love to get an idea for how widespread this problem is. So, if any of you have experienced iPhone-activation problems in the UK, please drop us a line.

[Via: Macworld UK]

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• Apple iTunes will sync your existing data to the iPhone!

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Alpine Electronics' eX-10 is a Bluetooth-ready, dashboard-mounted control unit for your iPod that will let you easily switch through your tunes without having to glance down at every red light (or every time you switch lanes, you rebel you). Simply hook your iPod up, slap the unit's suction cup to the dash, and then you're ready to go - the eX-10 uses the car's stereo system by way of an FM signal or a wired connection, and is controlled by way of a remote. Unfortunately, there's no way to sync up the eX-10 to recognize steering wheel inputs, but the 2.4 inch LCD screen will be up where you can easily see it.

The eX-10 comes out this month and will retail for around $200. — Kevin Hall

blog.scifi.com

A usability consultancy firm called Centric Inc, has determined that the iPhone’s virtual keyboard is more error-prone than its physical counterparts. I have heard “it gets a lot better after a month” a hundred times from iPhone users, but the experiment seems to show that the number of errors while typing on the iPhone doesn’t really go down with experience.

“iPhone owners entered text as rapidly as QWERTY owners on their own phones. However, iPhone owners made significantly more texting errors on their own phone (5.6 errors/message) than both QWERTY owners (2.1 errors/message) and numeric phone owners (2.4 errors/message) on their own phones, p < .01. Interestingly, comparing texting performance between iPhone owners and novices (non-owners) on the iPhone found no significant difference in error rates. "While the iPhone's corrective text feature helps, this data suggests that iPhone users who have owned the device for a month still make about the same number of errors as the day they got it," (more details)

We said in Jan 07 that the keyboard would not perform all that well, but it’s not important enough to stall sales: many iPhone owners don’t type extensively or carry a blackberry in addition to their iPhone.

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About This Video
Spot the difference between a UK and a US iPhone launch!

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The iPhone hit UK shores just a few days ago, and it seems that Apple’s exclusive iPhone carrier, O2, has already sold their fair share of the iconic handset. Peter Erskine, chief executive of Telefonica’s 02 Europe said that the UK Carrier has pushed “tens of thousands” of iPhones out its doors since Friday’s UK iPhone launch. One report suggests that O2 activated more than 8,000 iPhone on Friday (UK launch-day) alone. In contrast, Germany’s T-Mobile sold more than 10,000 iPhones on launch day alone.

Erskine told reporters during a conference call that iPhone sales figures have been in line with expectations, but stopped short of quoting specific sales figures.

US sales figures are closing in on 1.5 million iPhones sold in less than 4 months, can the UK and Germany beat that? Maybe with France’s help. Maybe.

[Via: CNN]

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We love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, but they usually amount to nothing more than paranoid thinking. Then again, sometimes the coincidences can’t be ignored. The Inquirer’s got a conspiracy theory that’s just too juicy to dismiss off-hand.

The theory goes something like this:

• iPhone launches in Europe


• Vodafone is not an iPhone carrier


• Vodafone wants to prevent huge customer-base losses to the iPhone


• Vodafone takes customer service offline to prevent customer cancelations

Vodafone’s customer service line for customer cancellations is dead - it’s been dead since the iPhone’s launch last Friday. The helpful recorded message blames a “system fault” and kindly suggests that the customer call back later.

Is Vodafone fighting cancellation-spikes due to iPhone-defectors by taking down its service-cancellation hotline? Or are they just experiencing a legit system bug? We don’t know for sure, but it’s fun to wax conspiratorially.

[Via: The Inquirer]

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The question of how does an iPod work will very likely come to mind for anyone new to the music, video and even game download world. The fact is these portable devices are pretty complicated, but for users' purposes they are as simple as can be to operate. All it takes is a basic understanding of the Internet to made one of these devices work to its full advantage.

To answer the question of how does an mp3 player (like iPod) work, one must first understand basic download technology. An iPod works using the same principles as a computer with a portable storage device. Music, video and game files are downloaded onto the device's memory and can be recalled for use whenever an owner would like. The player itself does all the work to make the files operate correctly.

Detailed answers to the question of how does an iPod work will vary depending on the model in question. Let's look at some of the top questions surrounding basic use:

How does an iPod work for music downloads? In its most basic form it is designed to read MP3 files, which are music related. The device serves as a giant storage system for downloaded music files, while also offering sorting capabilities and playback.

How does it work for video downloads? In much the same manner as the music downloads, an iPod, depending on the model, can also handle video files. This depends on the model and its storage capacity.

How does an iPod work for video games? Some newer models are designed to offer serious gaming action in addition to music and video playback. This works in much the same manner as the other two, but the iPod must be equipped to handle the files.

How does the device work for getting downloads? Getting downloads will depend a lot on the device in question, but Apple has set up an online store that enables direct purchase and download of a variety of files that can be played back on it.

How does it work in this circumstance is pretty easy to answer. All that's necessary is a computer with an Internet connection, broadband preferably, and an iPod. Buy the files from the iTunes store, plug the iPod into the computer using the USB port and then download the selected directly to the machine. The store basically walks users through the process.

Answering the question of how does an iPod work really depends on the model in question, but the truth is as far as users are concerned the answer is fairly simply. How does an iPod work? Quickly, efficiently and simplistically are all words that come to mind.

Autor: Hong Brandon

Find out about the latest iPod news, iPod models, and iPod music and videos at http://www.piggybanksmonthly.com/iPod

Added: November 11, 2007
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

Just when you’ve started enjoying the unlocked iPhone firmware 1.1.1, Apple decided to close the doors to the third party apps and other hacks again. Luckily, there’s a way to go back in time and restore your firmware version to 1.1.1.

You should know you’ll need the firmware 1.1.1 ipsw file in your computer as well as iNdependence version 1.2.5 before you proceed. If you don’t have it - grab it from an iPhone buddy and check out the detailed instructions on Hackintosh forum. Good luck.

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Everyone wants to be affiliate with Apple’s handset nowadays. So it doesn’t come as a surprise to see Dr Pepper releasing its own iPhone game called Matchcaps to grab some media attention. Touted as the “first-ever branded game for the Apple iPhone,” Matchcaps is a Bejeweled-like game that runs via the built-in Safari web browser. It was developed by Imaginuity New Media, which will release the game as a native application as soon as Apple releases the iPhone SDK. In the meantime, hop over to drpepper.com/matchcaps and enjoy your weekend…

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Instantly rotate to any position with elegance, secure and your cable accessible.

Overview:
- Rotate infinitely 360 degrees
- Two angled positions
- Cable management, using the center split base (see photo below)
- Rubber coated metal grips allow full use of ports/controls
- All solid steel construction
- Baked on coating
- Made in the USA
- Separate versions for iPhone and iPod Touch

Get it here

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Here is a funny tutorial posted by chris_b0ss over at se-nse. Here is his full post:

if you have an nokia 3220 and you want to convert it to an iphone you are at the right place...

Disclaimer:i am not resposable for your actions!!

forget any flashing tools or cables..

here are the steps: 1.grab your phone (sorry for the quality of the phone,it was my exphone)


2.take out the battery cover


3.take out the front part of the casing


4.take out the keypad


5.insert the casing back without adding the keypad


6.use a pen or something to press the buttons.and you have a sensitive keypad

enjoy!!

note:there is no risk!

good tuturorial no?

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Now that the Europeans officially have the iPhone (the UK and Germany do, at least - France’s Orange is slated for November 29), it’s time to turn our attention to our hockey-loving friends to the North. We’re talking about Canada, of course. When is the iPhone coming to Canada?

Well, we’ve been hearing rumors left and right rumor the iPhone will be coming to Canada next year. The newest iPhone tidbit from the land of the maple-leaf pegs Apple’s entry into the Canadian wireless market at January 15, 2008. The updated launch window will miss our previous speculation that Rogers Wireless will launch the iPhone December 7, 2007. Of course, eager Canadians could just grab an unlocked iPhone from, say, eBay. A trip over the border and some iPhone downgrading/unlocking could also get the job done. But, if Visual Voicemail is important to you, you’d do well to wait for Rogers Wireless to offer the iPhone officially. Just a couple more months, be strong.

[Via: TUAW]

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If you live in Ireland and have been waiting for the release of the Apple iPhone, your wait is coming to an end today when the Smartphone hits retailers shelves.

Carphone Warehouse, O2 and Apple outlets were braced for a surge of customers when the gadget officially launches at 6.02pm tonight.

The shops including Carphone Warehouse’s 10 Belfast branches confirmed they are to stay open until 11pm to facilitate the demand from technology buffs.

The all-singing, all-dancing phone goes on sale at 6.02pm at a hefty pricetag of �269.

The release of this phone might even be reason to duck out of the pub for an hour or two!

Belfast Telegraph

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

We’ve already talked about Visto and their plans to support Apple’s handset. Well it’s started happening and now users of the “leading global provider of mobile email services” will be able to get their Visto fix right from their shiny phone.

According to Visto, business iPhone users will certainly benefit from the secure access to corporate email from Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes on their devices, without downloading any additional software to the iPhone or requiring any changes to security policies or corporate firewall settings. This translates into zero headaches for both end-user and sysadmins…

At the same time, Visto has also announced a new capability for the iPhone called directory lookup, which relies on the built-in Safari web browser to enable users to to search for any contact and either place a call, send an email or get driving directions.

Visto Mobile for iPhone is available for both individuals and enterprises free for 60 days. After 60 days, pricing will begin at $10 per device per month for the U.S. users, while the prices for users in Europe are still not announced.

More information is available on Visto Mobile iPhone site, and you can view a video demonstration of Visto Mobile after the jump.

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Due to the potential of being a fire hazard, Coby has just issued a recall statement that involves approximately 12,000 portable DVD/CD/MP3 players, consisting of the TF-DVD170 and the TF-DVD176. As long as you purchased either model at discount, electronics, music, toy and office supply stores from May 2006 till October 2007 for between $140 and $170, you would do well to stop using it while returning the units for a full refund lest an accident occurs.

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Well, the iPhone has officially hit European shores today with the launch of the Apple iPhone in Germany, on T-Mobile. While there were probably unlocked iPhones already in Germany, this morning marked the official (read: carrier-supported) iPhone entry into the land of the autobahn.

And it seems that Germans, for the most part, have welcomed the iPhone with eager, open arms. T-Mobile has announced that their initial iPhone sales numbers have topped 10,000. In impressive launch-day sales figure to be sure. However, save for a few hundred eager iPhone hopefuls lined up in Cologne, the iPhone-launch-hype that swept the US was largely non-existent in Germany. The Frankfurt T-Mobile store saw a single iPhone fan waiting an hour for the iPhone to launch.

Still, with more than 10,000 iPhones sold before the end of launch day, it seems safe to say that the launch was a success. There’s even talk about Christmas demand for iPhones outpacing German iPhone supply. But,� those lucky few official iPhone owners in Germany are now part of the iPhone family. Willkommen!

[Via: Apple Insider]

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As expected, Apple has posted a new iPhone firmware today. With the European iPhone launch well underway, the new firmware is now an official part of the iPhone community. As you’ll probably recall, the iPhone v1.1.2 firmware basically adds extended language support with special character sets and keyboards. More notably, the iPhone v1.1.2 firmware gives UK iPhone users access to The Cloud WiFi HotSpot network. Oh, and it patches that TIFF security hole that’s been exploited by all jailbreak solutions.

But, if you’re not in the UK (UK iPhones comes pre-installed with v1.1.2 anyway), and you don’t need anything more than English-language support, there’s really no reason to update your iPhone v1.1.1. The new v1.1.2 firmware will break your current jailbreak solution. And, seeing as how you can easily patch that TIFF security hole with an Installer.app application or through jailbreakme, we can’t really see any added benefit to US iPhone users.

But, should you feel like updating your iPhone to the new v1.1.2 firmware, go right ahead and download the 160MB update. Find the v1.1.2 firmware here.

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WTF?! Why can’t I hear the caller on my brand-new Apple iPhone? Is it some crazy bug that’s keeping the earpiece volume on permanent “mute?”

Oh wait. Damnit. The plastic film that covers the brand-new iPhone also obscures the earpiece. What? You mean I have to actually put the earpiece to my ear? Double damnit. I hope no one sees this and posts it on the interwebs…

The best part of this whole deal is the serious look on this guy’s face! Look at him try to use the iPhone upside-down. He’s apparently an iPhone reviewer in the UK. Funny Brits…

[Via: Macenstein]

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So we've seen an adorable apple-shaped speaker yesterday, and today we'll take a look at this apple-shaped MP3 player that comes in a variety of colors other than red and green. Don't expect out of this world functionality as it offers just MP3, WAV and WMV support, an equalizer for superior sound quality as well as a running time of 10 hours on a single AAA battery. Heck, the extremely tiny screen can even display lyrics, but I'd recommend against staring at it for too long a period lest you end up with sore eyes. This apple MP3 player retails for $29.99 and would make a cruel trick on little Johnny especially after promising him an Apple this Christmas - just not that from the Cupertino orchard.

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Looks like iPod owners will not be left out of the loop by the Guitar Hero franchise, and it is only fitting that an iconic portable media player like the iPod is graced by an equally genre-definining game like the Guitar Hero franchise. Titled 'Phase', this game is similar to the way Guitar Hero is played on the console, but is much cheaper at $5. What makes this version different is it uses the music you already have on the iPod and converting them for game use. Don't expect the same level of depth as its console brethren though, but at least it gives your iPod one more functionality to boast about.

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iPod products by Apple. This year Apple has taken the new iPod product offerings to a whole new level. Unlike recent years, where the new Apple range of iPods being launched really didn't have much new to offer, other than increased storage, this year proves to be Apples best product launch yet.

The new iPod Products this year offer great solutions to a wide array of different needs. If you were interested in purchasing an iPod product in previous years, but did not want to plop down the cash because you were unsure about whether it was going to fulfill your wants and desires, this might be the year for you to reevaluate the Apple product line.

What makes this year different versus other years is the selection of media players available. The iPod products includes a blend of old and new gear that covers the spectrum as far as needs and price range. The Apple inventory includes four different models that meet different budgets and varied levels of functionality, giving you more choices when selecting the best product that fits your needs.

The engineers at Apple have gone the extra mile to develop a wide range of iPods that meet the demands of several different groups. Whether it be that you are looking for an iPod product to use use while working out, in need of one that holds millions of songs or videos, need one that fits a frugal budget, or a product that allows you to enjoy all the above plus surf the internet, the iPod line of products has it covered.

The possibilities are endless with the new range of Apple products available this year. If you've been hesitant as to whether or not making the plunge into the world of iPod's is worth it, this might be the year for you to take a test drive.

Autor: Michael Kingsley

iPod Products provides detailed information about the new Apple products, iPod accessories and more.

Added: November 8, 2007
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

The 3G iPod nano is recipient of Macally's new line of carrying and protective cases, marrying both style and comfort in a wide range of designs that enables customers to express the many different aspects of their personality, lifestyle and interests. These iPod nano cases are the Mirage mirrored finish case, the Bella leather case, the Masquerade decorative stainless steel overlay, the Divo leather case, the Sportivo neoprene band case, the Metro leather holster, and the IceSuitN3 sleevel. More on these individual cases are available after the jump.

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Beware, dear iPhone user. Apple has confirmed to PocketLint that US iPhone users can expect to see an iPhone v1.1.2 update become available tomorrow, Friday, November 9 - concurrently with the European iPhone launch in the UK and Germany (on O2 and T-Mobile, respectively).

We already know that the v1.1.2 firmware will bring enhanced language support with special character keys and international keyboards. UK users can also expect support for The Cloud WiFi HotSpots. So, what’s with the ominous warning? Well, like with all previous updates, we’re expecting the iPhone v1.1.2 update to break all existing jailbreak solutions - including our favorite, one-click, jailbreakme solution.

If you don’t need any extended language support, we’d recommend against updating to this latest firmware. Jailbreakme will automatically patch the TIFF security hole (and there are patches available through Installer.app as well) so the increased security that Apple is touting with the new firmware is a moot point. Wait until Apple releases their official iPhone SDK or gives us video recording/MMS/iChat.

[Via: Mobility Today]

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The HTC Touch vs. the iPhone, a software smackdown.

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Looking for a mobile phone that can be used in conjunction with iTunes? Then you’ll want to be sure to check out the Motorola ROKR E1 iTunes phone. This crisp looking phone gives you many features to organize and keep you entertained.

Motorola’s much-hyped “iTunes phone,” the ROKR E1, is a compact triband GSM phone with a lot of fun features, not least of which is the ability to sync up with the same iTunes software on your PC that you use with iPod devices. Based heavily on Motorola’s fine E398 handset, the ROKR E1 weighs 3.9 ounces and measures up at 4.3 by 1.8 by 0.83 inches. It has a pearl-white exterior finish that houses a pair of stereo polyphonic speakers, a 262k color display, and a good, video-capable VGA camera with flash, as well as a nice keypad and dedicated camera and volume controls.

Music, camera, and calls: it’s easy with the ROKR.

The keypad offers a good feel, and the green and red call control keys and joystick are sufficiently separated from the rest of the keys to keep from being pressed accidentally. The joystick offers has good action and is accurate, but its chrome finish can sometimes be a bit slick. A dedicated music button directly left of the menu key launches the iTunes application.

What a great idea for a gift for your favorite music lover. (Or the music lover in you!) The ROKR E1 by Motorola is available now.

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

If you’re an iPhone user that was able to live through the first firmware update without getting your mobile phone “bricked” - good on you!

Word has it that iPhone has another firmware update slated for very soon, possibly this Friday, in conjunction with the phones release in Germany and the U.K. The European version of the iPhone will have firmware version 1.1.2 already installed.

Much like the first update, users that have made modifications to “unlock” their phone or are running third party applications will have to hold their breath since this firmware update is likely to make these iPhones unusable.

Just a heads up to you rogue iPhone unlockers!

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Just when you thought the iPhone couldn’t get any more coverage in popular media/culture, the geeky-cool TV show MythBusters gave the Apple a bit of free advertising. The show’s talkative Adam Savage apparently uses the iPhone’s stopwatch feature (it’s a part of the “Clock” app, in case you were wondering) to keep time in an effort to “bust” or “confirm” urban/popular myths.� Does using an iPhone make Adam hip and cool? Possibly, but we think it has more to do with his cool beard and graphic tee.

If you’ve never seen the MythBusters TV show, check it out on the Discovery Channel. They use an iPhone so it’s obviously a great show.

[Via: Macenstein]

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Oakley is still at it. Despite only having one customer for their Thump line of MP3 sunglasses — the not-so-favorable Dog the Bounty Hunter — the latest in the line of Thump MP3 sunglasses, the Split Thump is now available. Design-wise, these sunglasses have definite stepped it up a notch from its predecessors by being able to hide the earbuds in the side arms of the sunglasses.

Unfortunately, Oakley has missed the target when it comes to pricing. The multi-hundred dollar price of the original Thumps two or three years ago made sense because MP3 players were damn expensive, but now it is just shameful. The Split Thumps with a puny 2 GB MP3 player will be sold for $400.

Upon further investigation of the Oakley website finds a similar pair of Oakley sunglasses, sans the MP3 player for $170, and if my math is correct that could inevitably make the 2 GB MP3 player in the Split Thumps worth $230, or nearly the same price as the 80 GB iPod classic and way more than it should be. Yeah, that just isn't right, Oakley. — Travis Hudson

Split Thumps, via BBG

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Wait a tick. When did the iPhone launch in China? Oh, that’s right, it hasn’t. So, what are enterprising, iPhone-loving Chinese to do? Well, they could make a trip to Hong Kong and scoop up one of those unlocked iPhones from the corner electronics boutique - complete with Chinese-language support. Hong Kong has already had unlocked iPhones almost from day-one, but full Chinese language support is an interesting (and completely expected) development. The wonders of third-party apps.

Oh, and take a look at those iPhone promotional window dressings. They look like a 3-year old made them.

Keep reading for a couple more pics.

[Via: JustAMP]

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It?s taken them 10 years but Nokia boffins have finally perfected a ?touch feedback? touchscreen. Don?t be fooled by simple vibrational imitations folks, this is the real McCoy ? you press a key on the screen, and it clicks under your finger with exactly the same sort of fingertip feedback as if you?d pressed a conventional keyboard key. Roope Takala, Senior Program Manager at Nokia?s research labs gave me a demo of the technology in Finland the other day on a hacked N770 Internet tablet.

?The basic technology is not that difficult,? he explained, ?We inserted two small piezo sensor pads under the screen and engineered in a 0.1mm movement in the screen itself. What?s taken the time has been fine tuning the movement and response to mimic exactly the sensation of pressing a real key.?

The problem in perfecting the tech ? codenamed Haptikos, meaning ?to touch? ? lies in how our fingers experience a key press. We actually feel two movements, in and out, and these movements and the associated audio have to be perfectly attuned to the speed and responsiveness of a real keyboard. In use, the touch feedback on the demo device was near on perfect. Each press of a key returned a clunky click and tactile snap on the touchscreen, which made typing feel incredibly responsive and very usable on the smooth screen surface. In fact it was hard to remember that you were using a touchscreen keyboard.

?Funnily enough, although you think you?re typing faster than normal because of the feedback, in actual fact you?re not,? said Takala, ?There?s just some sort of mental satisfaction that comes from typing with a tactile response.?

The new Haptikos technology will apparently be shipped with the upcoming Nokia S60 Touch phone that has been shown off at recent demos, and the team is busy working on the next challenge, which is to provide exact tactile replicas for scrolling and draw/paint programs. The problem is that while we expect and need ultra fast responses for keyboard use, navigation and things like drag scrolling require a different, slower response map, which is another hurdle for the engineers to overcome.

?What?s nice is that people who are new to handheld devices don?t even notice this technology at first,? says Takala with a smile. ?But they really miss it if you take it away from them once they?ve experienced it. It?s kind of addictive.?

One thing I can say is that this is the first technology I?ve seen and played with which could genuinely revolutionise the use of handheld devices in general. The ability to touch type at reasonable speeds on a touchscreen is something which every phone, PDA and handheld computer manufacturer would give their right arm for, and it looks as though the technology is about to reach the marketplace with a bang. I can?t wait.

source

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It is now being sold fully unlocked and fully functional with Chinese support. All this just for about 570$ US.

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Here are some more great shots of the iPhone clone with haptic feedback and a flush touchscreen. The phone is called N8 and made by DESAY.

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We’ve already reported that O2 is expecting to see the iPhone becoming the single fastest selling handset in the UK. And now we have Europe’s biggest independent mobile phones retailer, Carphone Warehouse, adding they see up to 10,000 iPhones sold on the first day across their network of around 800 stores in the country.

Again, the iPhone goes on sale at 6 p.m. this Friday and we’ll report numbers back to you as soon as we get them…

[Via: Reuters]

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Watching a video on a portable media player can be hassle for some people. You have to make the device stand still in order to be able to enjoy the movie or whatever you’re watching. Hence, we have many media player stands available on the market today.

Lately, we’ve spotted a new rotating iPhone stand called PED3. It’s pretty much a self-explanatory product that can be rotated 360 degrees, gripping the iPhone in both vertical and horizontal manner. As you can see from the image above its look fits perfectly with Apple’s handset. And best of all, it doesn’t cost a fortune but mere 40 bucks. That’s like nothing compared with what you’ve already paid for the iPhone…

[Via: CoolestGadgets]

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This Bratz-branded MP3 player comes in the shape of a lipstick, which ought to appeal to those tweens as well as teens who absolutely adore this show. Featuring a mere 512MB in capacity, it comes in a purple shade and has a backlit LCD display, an integrated USB connector, and voice recording capability. Each $59.97 purchase comes with an earbud headset, a belt clip and a color matching neck strap. Sounds like the perfect holiday gift!

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The Apple iPhone hasn’t been the most customer-friendly item in more than a few ways, and the return policy for the device is not great, according to people who have broken iPhones, or iBricks as they call them.

If you buy an iPhone from AT&T Wireless, remove it from the box and it doesn’t work, you can’t go back to the store and exchange it for another.

Instead, because of a unique agreement between AT&T and Apple Inc., you have to send the phone to Apple and wait for it to be repaired. Or you can return the phone to AT&T — but pay a 10 percent restocking fee. And you only have two weeks to find out whether something’s wrong with the phone before the return option ends.

“The Apple iPhone is a customer’s nightmare if you have a problem with the phone,” Mornes says.

This is quite different from AT&T’s usual policy for new cellphones that don’t work. For cellphones other than the iPhone, AT&T gives you 30 days to return the phone for either a new phone or your money back.

“For the iPhone,” AT&T spokeswoman Luz Varela tells me, “we follow Apple’s 14-day policy.”

It’s doubtful that the policy for either AT&T or Apple will change soon. Both companies have been reporting huge profits due to the runaway success of the iPhone.

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

Apple iPhone is going on sale in Britain at 6:02pm this Friday, hence you’ll see more iPhone news coming during the weekend. The thing that caught my eye is O2’s prediction, which is claiming the iPhone will be the fastest selling handset yet. According to the carrier, we’ll see up to 200,000 iPhones sold by Christmas.

Yeah it lacks 3G, a better camera and much more, but it’s Apple we’re talking about here. We’ll see how will Brits react, but somehow I’ve no doubt in iPhone’s success…

[Via: textually.org]

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iPhone users will be able to experience some gaming on their smartphone courtesy of Dr. Pepper, where the latter has released Matchcaps - the first advergame that was specially designed for the iPhone Safari browser. This move allows Dr. Pepper to interact virtually with its consumers anytime, anywhere through their iPhones. Matchcaps was developed by Imaginuity New Media, taking after the well-loved "match three" format that online gaming fans have loved for years. Thankfully, Matchcaps won't be affected by iPhone software updates in the future since it is accessed via the Safari browser. More games on the iPhone can be expected from February onwards next year as Apple did drop an announcement concerning plans to distribute kits to third party application developers by then.

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Samsung's got a hot new smartphone it's just announced: the SPH-M4650. It's a beauty, featuring a 2.8-inch touchscreen that has haptic feedback, responding with a vibration when you punch a button. It also has a 2-megapixel camera, DMB TV reception, is loaded up with Windows Mobile 6, and is a mere 16mm thick.

The would-be iPhone killer is, unfortunately, headed for Korean shores only at the moment, but as with most Samsung phones, there's always a chance that it'll make it's way over here at some point, probably after everyone in South Korea has moved on to an even slicker, cooler phone. Ah well, such is life. — Adam Frucci

Via Akihabara News

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Dr. Pepper is number one in many ways.. and now they are an innovator by releasing the first ever “branded” game to the Apple iPhone.

“There’s always more to Dr Pepper. Consumers want enhanced access to fun and games on their iPhones, and Dr Pepper will be the very first to deliver it to them,” explained Andrew Springate, vice president of Dr Pepper marketing. “With the launch of this advergame, Dr Pepper can interact virtually with its consumers anytime, anywhere through their iPhones.”

Developed by Imaginuity New Media, the game will follow the popular “match three” format that online gaming fans have loved for years. Unlike other games, the Dr Pepper game will not be affected by iPhone software updates, as it is accessed via the Safari browser.

If you have an iPhone and want to check this advergame out, visit www.drpepper.com or go directly to the game at www.drpepper.com/matchcaps.

blog.planet-cell-phone.com

As usual, our friends across the pond (that little puddle we call the Atlantic Ocean) got their hands on mobile tech before us. This time (November 9 on O2, officially), the UK will get to play with the newest iPhone v1.1.2 firmware. Aside from some additional multi-language support and access to “The Cloud WiFi” hotspots, the only real update in the v1.1.2 firmware appears to be a plugged security hole. Specifically, the TIFF security hole that allowed iPhone hackers to jailbreak the iPhone will be officially patched with the iPhone v1.1.2 firmware - which should render all current jailbreak methods invalid. We’re sure the iPhone development community will be hard at work to jailbreak the v1.1.2 firmware, just like they did with the current v1.1.1 firmware.

Of course, if you’re concerned that your iPhone v1.1.1 is a little too lax in the security department, you can just jailbreak your iPhone with the online-based one-click jailbreak solution we brought you earlier. The jailbreakme.com solution will actually open up your iPhone v1.1.1 to third-party applications while patching that ominous TIFF security hole.

So, are we jealous that the UK gets yet another first-hand crack a some mobile tech? Sure we are. Are we jealous that they get to play with the iPhone v1.1.2? Hardly. Are we going to update to the new v1.1.2 firmware once Apple makes it available (most likely at the same time as the UK iPhone launch - November 9) to the US? Most definitely not. We’ll just stick with our home-brewed TIFF security patch from jailbreakme.com. Like we said before, Apple had better entice us with some truly drool-worthy features (iChat, MMS, video capture, etc) with their successive iPhone updates if they think we’re going to give up our third-party apps.

[Via: T3]

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Unlimited data plans, and their carrier-defined usage limits, have been getting a lot of coverage recently. Wireless carriers love to use the term “fair-use” to define their policies regarding these supposed “unlimited data” plans. But, to whom, exactly, are these policies “fair?”� Not the consumer, that’s for sure.

O2, Apple’s partner carrier in the UK, took some flak for their “fair use” policy regarding the “unlimited data” plans for future iPhone customers. In this case, the UK carrier was expected to limit their iPhone customers to 200MB of “unlimited” data per month.� But, according to the Telegraph, O2 has just rescinded their policy - allowing UK iPhone-hopefuls to surf the web and check email with abandon. Here’s the revised ToS from O2:

“There is no limit on the monthly network usage. However if we feel that your activities are so excessive that other customers are detrimentally affected, we may give you a written warning (by email or otherwise). In extreme circumstances, if the levels of activity do not immediately decrease after the warning, we may terminate or suspend your Services.”

Come this Friday, November 9 at 6:02pm, Brits will be able to enjoy their very own O2 iPhone with “unlimited data” allowances - as long as they cross some invisible line. Wait, what’s with the “6:02″ release time? Oh, (insert feigned laughter here), O2 will launch the iPhone at 6:02. Um yea, we get it now.

[Via: Telegraph]

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T3 video exclusive: We've taken a very close look at the iPhone, as it will be sold in the UK.

It can be yours on Friday! [more images]We came, we saw, and we blagged one of only a handful of fully working, o2-powered iPhones. Last week, in a secret London location (just west of Regent street), T3 met up with Apple's Greg 'Joz' Joswiak and o2's Director of Communications, Glen Manoff, for a natter about all things Jesus phone.

Given that we first mentioned the Apple iPhone back in January and, more recently, awarded it the most anticipated gadget of 2007, finally getting our grubby mitts on a UK iPhone was like waking up on Christmas Day and being told it was your birthday too. Twelve months of tick-inducing anticipation had, in an ephemeral moment, just been exchanged for internal squeals and loud snorts.

So, what's it like? Well, apart from the o2-engraved box, the UK iPhone is, externally, identical to the US version, which we reviewed back in August. The biggest modification is on the inside and is something that will have nerdgeeks sprinting to online forums in a message-posting furore. We can reveal that the UK iPhone is, in fact, installed with firmware version 1.1.2. Oh, how we wanted to post picture proof last week but would have run the risk of Steve Jobs personally removing our knackers. As well as more keyboard character sets, the updated firmware will have addressed security issues and minor bugs: Great for news overall stability, but it is likely to cause yet another uproar in Apple's loyal fanbase, as Apple is sure to have closed up the security loopholes (such as the TIFF exploit) which allowed people to hack the iPhone to run their own software.

The UK iPhone works just the same way as one bought from the states. However, having a solid week to play around on the o2 network meant we could road-test the experiences of iBlighty come 9 November. And impressed we were. Early reservations about the iPhone's lack of 3G were dampened with how well EDGE copes with Safari page loading (around 10 secs), Google map finding, email downloading and other net-based apps (weather and stocks). Glen did mention, however, that because we were testing in Beta, we might not reach warp speeds until the ninth. So, a chunky double thumbs up, although we'd like to see a greater selection of UK weather locations and an improved pop-up blocker - a roguish couple escaped the net.

Web-surfing on the iPhone is simply the best example of internet browsing on a handheld device. Ever. Zooming is smooth, pages look great thanks to its super-sharp screen and the virtual keyboard is quick to learn - we were double finger pecking within a few days. And now that IMAP has been added for Gmail, we were living the mobile office dream.

We do have some gripes, though...

1) The accelerometer doesn't work in Mail. Shame, as in landscape mode, the keys are more spaced, which reduces typing errors. The genius automatic spelling corrector does a fantastic job of fixing mistakes, mind.

2) Many standard email features, such as 'mark all as read' and 'mark as spam' aren't available. You can, however, have multiple email accounts running simultaneously. We had Gmail, .Mac and Yahoo Mail chugging away very nicely, with no hiccups. And adding new accounts is ridiculously easy; enter your username, password and you're away. Finally, a gizmo to properly rival the well-heeled crackberry.

Being a fully functioning British iPhone, we've been amusing ourselves with the UK iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. While you can only connect via wi-fi (downloading tuneage over EDGE would just take forever), it's straightforward to use and effective. Song snippets can be previewed, iTunes+ music can be downloaded (now at the same 79p price tag) and everything is synched back to your computer-based iTunes account. Brilliant.

Downsides are, at present, no video or podcast downloads and a limited run of 'proper' iTunes featurettes; 'iTunes Festival: London' and 'buy iTunes gifts', to name but a couple. However, downloading a 5min tune takes less than a minute (on a decent broadband wi-fi connection or, when it's up and running on the 9th, Cloud wifi hotspots) and everything is nicely catalogued into the iPhone's music library.

The iPhone can be synched to one 'pooter-based iTunes library and the new version of iTunes (we were given 7.5 d15) supports Ringtones as well as iCal and the Address Book. However, in a move that would annoy Ghandi, it's impossible to drag music files directly into an iPhone's playlist. Conversely, all choons have to be stored locally in an iTunes playlist, which then has to be synched to the iPhone. Obviously there are ways to make this process easier but if you're used to an iPod, this new direction makes no sense. What's more, just like on the US iPhone, there doesn't seem to be a way to click on an address in iCal and have it appear in Google Maps. A hitch before the final release, perhaps?

Another exasperating issue is the headphone socket. While it's a 3.5mm input, a surrounding lip means it's impossible to use anything bar the bundled earphones. Ok, so sound-wise they're a marked improvement on the original white ear-bleeders and now they've got a in-built mic that can be squeezed to take an incoming call, pause the current track, or - by a swift double squeeze - skip to the next track. But come on Apple, at least give us the opportunity to make our own acoustical decision, why do you mock us so?

Another pain in the rear chute is the iPhone's ineptitude to talk to any Bluetooth device bar Apple-endorsed headsets. So, no across-the-pub-table contact sharing and definitely no tube 'toothing'. We hoped this might have changed in the new firmware update, but alas, no such luck.

On the plus side, visual voicemail is a real treat. Just like Jobs bragged earlier this year, messages can be selected at will and paused, rewound and skipped, just like an audio file. It's a bonafide step in the right direction for mobile telephony and compellingly useful. Even your voicemail message can be recorded from the iPhone itself and then uploaded to the system. It's an ingenious piece of work.

However, mashing our spirits (slightly) are two of the most infuriating and utterly illogical decisions that Apple could have ever made: You can't SMS more than one person at once (so, no group texting) and that the iPhone is incapable of sending or receiving MMS messages.

Not only do we think that most UK phone-owners class picture messaging as a standard feature, it's also an obvious money spinner for o2 and Apple. So, we posed the simple question why? Joz's answer was that 'Apple only wants to deal in hi-res images and these can be emailed'. 'But hold up', we retorted, 'surely the all-powerful iPhone has the technology to resize hi-res originals?' Joz repeated 'sure, but users are used to hi-res photos and that's where we want to be'. Glen's silence suggested a trick missed.

However, did uncover a nice piece of insider info: If you've signed up to an o2 contract before 18 Sep 2007, you can break it and jump onto an iPhone plan without incurring any leaving or contract-moving costs. You'll be able to keep your old handset too. Result.

Apple answers some of our questions

Of course, we weren't going to let Apple away with the flaws we found, so we went ahead and asked them. The answers from the Apple spokesperson were... Less than enlightening. They do hint at even more functionality being unlocked in future firmware updates, however...

1) Why can't you drag and drop music direct into iPhone playlists within iTunes?

There is no drag and drop functionality on iPhone. iPhone uses iTunes to sync contacts, calendars, photos, music, videos and more just like iPod.

2) Why doesn't the screen rotate in Mail?

With the latest software update for iPhone you can view email attachments in landscape.

3) Why can't you send group text messages?

We don't comment on future products or features. This is the first iPhone and you have to make choices about what to include and what not to at some point. That said, one of the unique benefits of iPhone is our ability to easily add new features/functionality at some point in the future via software update.

4) Why has the headphone socket been designed in a way that all 3.5mm jacks won't fit?

The headphone socket is recessed for functional and aesthetic reasons. There are third party adapters available (Belkin is one example) for iPhone that enable the use of a wide range of headphones.

So, while the iPhone is undoubtedly the most forward-thinking, most innovative, most glorious piece of mobile technology since the Motorola DynaTAC, it's also deeply maddening. Basic features that the UK mobile population have been privy to for so long have been overlooked. While these can be updated through future firmware releases, we think these irritations could be irksome enough to discourage those wanting to replace their existing pocket rocket. Shame, as it's the best piece of kit we've seen all year.




source

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Negotiators continued to hammer our deals over the weekend

November 03, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Google negotiators this weekend continue to hammer out agreements with wireless carriers, handset makers, software developers and hardware providers, as the company prepares to announce on Monday an ambitious platform for creating mobile applications.

Although Google has declined to comment for months on its rumored move into the mobile space, sources said the company will make an announcement Monday at 11 a.m. EST, and that details of the plan are being finalized this weekend.

Google will announce an open source development platform for mobile applications that will contain a full set of components, including an operating system, a set of common APIs, a middleware layer, a customizable user interface and even a mobile browser, sources said. Instant messaging standard protocols will also be supported.

The platform is intended to simplify the process of creating and deploying mobile applications, so that an application can be built once and be compatible with multiple phones.

On the partner side, well over 30 industry heavyweights are already on board, including Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nvidia, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, China Mobile, Telefonica, NTT DoCoMo, LG Electronics and HTC, the sources said.

With negotiations expected to continue through the weekend and into Monday morning, it's possible that the list could exceed 40 partners. Among those not supporting the announcement at this time are Nokia, Verizon and Apple.

The development platform will be freely available to anyone who wants to use it, and, aside from a common core, will provide a lot of flexibility for modifications and extensions.

The ultimate goal is to lower the costs and simplify the creation of mobile applications and spur innovation that, as Google sees it, has been hampered by technical fragmentation. As such, the Google offering will rival existing mobile platforms from Microsoft and Symbian.

For Google, the benefit will come indirectly from an acceleration in improvements to mobile phone interfaces, which the company reasons will make it easier for people to access online services, like search engines, and applications, from their mobile phones. The intent is to bridge the gap between the Internet and mobile phones.

As usage of Google online services increases on mobile devices, so will the advertising revenue the company generates.

Mobile advertising is a tiny market but is expected to grow quickly in coming years. According to Opus Research, mobile advertising spending in North America and Western Europe will reach a combined $5.08 billion by 2012, up from an estimated $106.8 million at the end of this year. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 116 percent.

Opus Research, which released the forecast last week, said that improving the mobile user experience will drive ad revenue growth, which will prompt more people to spend more time using the Internet via their cell phones.

In addition to Google, all other major providers of online services, like AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft, are busy tweaking their Web sites and Web applications for use via mobile phones.

As the Google deal takes its final shape, it appears more and more likely that it might pit Google against its traditional ally Apple, and align it with carriers that have been hurt by the success of the iPhone.

Although the platform will be available to anyone, including Apple, it could indirectly accelerate the pace at which competing handsets catch up with the iPhone's user experience innovations.

A few weeks ago, Apple announced it will release a software development kit so that third-party developers can build applications for the iPhone. It expects to make it available in February.

If Apple is absent from the partner list in Monday's announcement, it could signal that Steve Jobs's company views the Google platform as a negative development in the mobile market, an interesting situation, considering Google's CEO Eric Schmidt sits on Apple's board.

The intensity of this weekend's negotiations is not surprising, but rather reflective of the bold undertaking Google has assumed in the notoriously complicated world of dealmaking in the wireless market.

As has been reported previously, the components of the Google platform will not be delivered until at least mid-2008. At some point, the effort might even yield a Google-branded phone, sources said.

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LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's biggest independent cell phone retailer, Carphone Warehouse (CPW.L), could sell up to 10,000 Apple (AAPL.O) iPhones when it goes on sale next week, a Carphone executive said on Thursday.

The touch-screen smartphone, which combines Apple's popular iPod music player, a camera and Web browser, will be sold through Spanish-owned operator O2 UK (TEF.MC), Carphone Warehouse and Apple retail and online stores from November 9.

Apple has not given any forecasts for sales since announcing the launch in Britain but Darren Gardner, head of wireless UK at Carphone Warehouse, said with around 800 stores across the country, Carphone could hope to sell up to 10,000 in the first day.

The phone will go on sale at 6 p.m. local time next Friday and the Carphone stores are set to stay open for four hours to meet consumer demand.

"We will hope to represent a big share of what is sold," he told reporters on Thursday.

source

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Just a week left until Brits can get a legit iPhone in their hands! And, in preparation for the launch-day festivities, Apple has launched a UK iPhone site. Apple has posted more details about the UK iPhone and hooked it up with iPhone advertisements and� guides to help eager Brits get ready for the iPhone.

If you still haven’t had your fill of iPhone-related media, head on over to the UK iPhone site for some more iPhone eye candy.

Apple iPhone UK�

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• Apple launches iPhone web-app portal - find all iPhone web-apps through Apple's catalogue

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Korea is known for some pretty crazy gadgets, but this one may take the cake. The latest in dog consumer electronics comes JooZoo, a diamond encrusted and gold MP3 player from Innobitz.

Innobitz actually tries to justify this device by stating that the MP3 music is designed to relax and stimulate the pet while also encouraging play and physical movement, which assumes that the player comes preloaded with sounds that can do these feats. Although, I'm sure any dog would get bumping to a little Soulja Boy beat. The JooZoo is currently available for $1,000, which can be blamed on the completely pointless 18k gold and diamond encrusting. — Travis Hudson

Via AVING

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Europe’s top mobile phone retailer, Carphone Warehouse, has announced that they are expecting to push out 10,000 iPhones come next week. You see, O2 and Apple are launching the UK iPhone on November 9, and the British hype is already starting to grow.

With over 800 retail locations throughout the UK, Carphone Warehouse could very well meet their 10K sales projection on day-one. Apple has not yet chimed in on their sales goals for the UK launch.

[Via: Yahoo]

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Related Articles at IntoMobile:

• Pre-Order your Nokia 8600 Today!
• Carphone Warehouse may offer Omniphone's Music Station service on handhelds
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• Apple announces O2 as UK iPhone carrier - just like we expected
• O2 inks iPhone deal with Apple - 40% revenue kickback secured

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With Halloween behind us, I’m sure you’ve noticed many strange costumed kids out there. Hack, you may have been that lucky to attend one of those Halloween parties, which I admit, I adore. Anyway, we’ve spotted a fairly ugly puppy dressed up in an iPhone costume. Ok, you may like the puppy, but it’s just not my kind of dog.

Whatever the case is - have a nice weekend. Relax, but stay tuned - we’ll be bringing you more news on both Saturday and Sunday…

[Via: Gizmodo]

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• More Nokia N95 image samples

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 HearAtLast has launched its exclusive new line of MP3 earphones that feature custom earbuds in order to provide a proper and comfortable fit for the iPod generation. These Sonomax custom earbuds have been specifically designed to suit the need of all users, ranging from the avid jogger to weightlifter and even the music enthusiast. It is said to provide a greater degree of comfort, reduce background noise while enabling the user to enjoy his/her music at a lower volume. The Sonomax custom earbuds will come in a vast array of colors and price points, but customers must first have their impressions taken in the HearAtLast clinic and wait for an hour before it is made available. Looks like music has gotten even more personal this time.

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AT&T has just dropped a new international plan for iPhone owners, giving them up to 50MB of data per month for Internet browsing, e-mail checking as well as information access across more than 29 countries, including Canada, China, Mexico and selected areas throughout Europe and Asia. Dubbed the Data Global Plan, it will retail for $59.99 monthly. Bear in mind this is on top of the domestic voice and data iPhone plan customers purchased during iPhone activation. Features include international voice and data roaming, as well as international long distance dialing from the US at standard rates. Bear in mind you'll need a domestic voice and data plan first since this is no stand-alone offer. If you don't plan to surf that much, there is always a 20MB Data Global Plan for iPhone customers that retail for $24.99 monthly.

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What does it take for the No. 1 wireless carrier in the US to finally offer a consumer-friendly service that actually prioritizes the the customer’s needs ahead of the corporate bottom line? We’d say something like 4 months.

AT&T has finally announced an international iPhone data plan to help jet-setters avoid racking up roaming data charges in the thousands of dollars. The new Data Global Plan offers iPhone users 20MB of overseas wireless data for $25 per month (data overages cost half a cent per KB), $60 per month if you need 50MB of data (with each additional KB costing $0.005) - and is offered in 29 countries. The Data Global Plan only offers international data, so keep that overseas talktime to a minimum.

Hit up AT&T’s handy pre-travel guide to make sure your travels don’t result in some un-godly wireless bills.

[Via: Apple Insider]

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Expectations of rebounding NAND flash prices due to rising shipments of iPod touch may be dashed since touch screen panels are running short at present, according to market sources.

Following the launch of the iPod touch in September Apple originally planned to rapidly grow global shipments up to the year-end holidays. However, due to the shortage of touch screen panels, volume shipments have been pushed back to this month, added the sources.

The shortages have affected shipments from NAND flash makers to Apple. If the NAND flash makers were able to make shipments to Apple as planned, they would not have had to face pressure to sell their products to other vendors. In the long-term it is unlikely prices in the NAND flash market will stabilize, noted the sources.

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 Sena Cases has just released its new line of luxury leather cases for the recently released iPods. The company uses nothing but the finest quality European leather, bringing together both style and function in a wide range of colors and styles. Among the iPod Touch case variants include the Premium Stand that allows the iPod Touch to stand freely as users watch video without cramping up their fingers, while the UltraSlim case offers protection with minimal bulk, and the Elega Pouch features a shock-absorbent design for those suffering from a bad case of butteritis-fingeritus. Prices for these cases range between $26 to $52, depending on the model chosen. The iPod Classic is not left out as both 80GB and 160GB models have their fair share of cases as well that are priced at $50. As for the nano, choice is limited to just one - the UltraSlim case that retails for $18. Have you protected your iPod yet?

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The latest Apple iPod classic 160 GB silver coming from apple Inc. is really something entirely different and unique. Thanks to the excellent performance. The beautiful and sleek gadget comes in an aluminum and polished stainless steel enclosure with rounded edges that have already attracted the attention of the consumer market. The latest media player weighing 5.7 grams with a storage capacity of 160 GB system is the latest version of the old iPod that had created a revolution in the world of musical entertainment.

The attractive features of Apple iPod Classic 160 GB silver is presence of internal hard drive and photo viewer. It is possible for the user to connect the media player with the PC system which is much beneficial for the user. The USB storage media supported gadget carries additional features including video playback and an internal memory of 160 GB.

Launched in the U.S as an answer to the various audio players in 1997, Apple had succeeded in maintaining the popularity of iPods for the past a decade. Thanks to the excellent technological characteristics that had featured in the iPods. Putting forward the slogan" thousand songs in your pocket", iPods by Apple continued its reign for the past one decade and the latest version Apple iPod classic 160 GB silver is the technically modified version of the iPod.

Coming with a depth of 0.53 inches, width of 2.4 inches and height of 4.1 inches, the Apple iPod classic 160 GB silver also carries lithium Ion battery with a playback time of 40 hours. The iPod package consists of batteries, head phones and USB cable. Also it is noteworthy that it has features including AAC, AIFF, MP3 and WAV that makes it technically more advanced. The Apple iPod classic 160 GB silver has a limited warranty of one year.

Autor: Adam Caitlin

Adam Caitlin is expert author of Telecommunication industry.

• Apple ipod
• cheap laptops
• Game consoles

Added: November 1, 2007
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

You can love it or hate it, but the fact stays that Apple’s handset made other handset makers “think differently.” We saw such players as Nokia and Sony Ericsson unveiling their plans for the future, which are in many ways inspired by the iPhone. Hence, it doesn’t surprises Time Magazine gave the iPhone a prestigious “Invention of the year” title. Outlined reasons are: it’s pretty, it’s touchy-feely, it will make other phones better, it’s not a phone - it’s a platform, and it is but the ghost of iPhones yet to come. Somehow I agree with every single point.

As a reminder, YouTube won the same title last year…

[Via: textually.org]

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Mad Catz Interactive has plans to launch a next generation AirDrive Interactive Earphones that caters specifically for use with the Apple iPhone. This product is tipped to be released early next year, boasting an outer-ear design powered by InAir Technology, a microphone and one-touch music-to-phone capability that aims to enrich the listening experience and optimize convenience and communication for iPhone users. This new AirDrives earphones will retail for $119.99 and is not only compatible with the iPhone, but iPods, regular MP3 players, computers and portable DVD players as well.

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The iPod Touch form factor has just "benefitted" from yet another cloning effort, and this time we have a nameless device up for your perusal. This touchscreen-based PMP comes with a 2.8" display, MP4 video support and MP3, WMA and WAV audio playback, an integrated FM tuner, dual headphone plugs, a miniSD memory card slot, an e-book reader, USB connectivity and a (presumably) 8-bit game emulator to boot. It relies on the Wolfson WM8750 sound chip to decode your audio, and thankfully it uses the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. This 2GB PMP will retail for $199.95. At that price point, would you settle for something that is more established or venture into the unknown?

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Japanese cell phone giant Docomo just released two new phone models, the 905i and 705i series, with 23 variations available in 75 different colors. After perusing the selection it's immediately clear that the new 905i is the phone you'll want to get your hands on. The 905i features 3G/GSM international roaming, credit card and iD credit payment services, Japan's popular 1-seg mobile television (with the ability to record programs), and GPS location information.

But that's just for openers... The phone also offers voice-activated Japanese-to-English translation, plays Windows Media video files, features a constantly updated music video channel and comes with an interactive game operated via finger movements, tilting/waving of the handset and spoken words. The 905i, due out in Japan on November 26, may not have an iPhone-esque touchscreen, but on all other counts it sure seems like the next-gen superphone we've been waiting for. — Adario Strange



Via Docomo

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iSkin has further expanded the iPod accessory market with its Cerulean F1+TX stereo Bluetooth device, making it one of the handful of companies that offer a premium quality Bluetooth 2.0 solution. The Cerulean F1 and TX were sold separately previously, but iSkin is making both available in a single package this time for a wireless iPod experience. It is compatible even with the recently released iPod Classic, nano, Touch, and iPhone. You can also use it with the WiFi killing Leopard OS thanks to the latter's A2DP support. The Cerulean F1 is capable of bonding with a TX-equipped iPod and can be connected to a compatible cellphone simultaneously for greater flexibility. The F1 comes with basic music controls including volume adjustment, track cycling and pause playback. You can pick up the Cerulean F1+TX online for $189.99.

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