Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Yesterday, HP had an earnings call in which they discussed the companies financial details for the last quarter. For some, that’s not particularly interesting. However, in that call someone asked about the arrival of a tablet from HP.
The actual question asked was more in line with the launch of the iPad and it’s effect on sales of netbooks. The response basically said a webOS based product was being launched early in 2011. [Read more…]
Bloomberg is reporting today that the BlackPad from RIM (Research in Motion) will be using an operating system built and developed by QNX Software Systems.
Companies that already use QNX software include GE, Cisco Systems and Caterpillar. The move is certainly a departure from what we thought RIM would do. We figured an upscaled version of BlackBerry OS 6 would be used in a similar way to how iOS from the iPhone is slightly modified and made to fit the larger Apple iPad screen. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] has won a patent for a couple of software features found in iOS.
The first is in relation to the “Slide to Unlock” bar that is found when you switch on an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. The second is in relation to the character-pop on the virtual keyboard that Apple uses.
What it basically all means is that you can’t copy Apple by creating a Slide to Unlock that looks like the version that Apple uses. Also you cannot create a keyboard with popping characters like shown in the diagram above. [Read more…]
Over the last week or so there has been some news about Apple [AAPL] buying a company out that makes Liquid metal. The metal has some unique characteristics that make it more bouncy than other metals. Rumours started going around about how a new iPhone or iPad could be made with this metal to toughen them up a little, thanks to the ability of the metal to morph a little.
We expected that in the next couple of years that this metal could be introduced somewhere in to phones although it appears that we might have already all used Liquidmetal with our iPhones and iPads and just not realised it.
The part we are talking about here is pictured above. The iPhone 3GS SIM pin is apparently made from Liquidmetal alloy. The reason this part is made of liquid metal is that it’s part of the iPhone, but not an essential part. The liquidmetal used makes the part extremely hard but at the same time very light weight. [Read more…]
With the recent opening of the Amazon Kindle UK store, the Kindle Digital Text Platform has now also arrived in the UK.
“Publishers and authors can now take advantage of the Kindle Digital Text Platform and make their books available to the millions of customers that visit Amazon.co.uk,” said Greg Greeley, Amazon Vice President, European Retail. “Sales of Kindle books in the US continue to rise and we are now selling more Kindle books than hardcovers. We expect to see a similar pattern in the UK with publishers and authors benefitting from greatly increased sales as a result of adding their titles to the new Kindle Store via the Kindle Digital Text Platform.”
S.N.A.P is an app for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) that has been designed to analyse the privacy settings on your Facebook page.
SNAP means Social Network Analyzer for Privacy and works by logging on to Facebook with it. At that point, it checks the settings on your account and provides a grade based on what your privacy settings are.
S.N.A.P. stands for Social Network Analyzer for Privacy. Working with Facebook, S.N.A.P. gathers privacy information about your profile then grades you on how visible you are to the outside world.
S.N.A.P. also features an in depth search of your Facebook profile for any keyword. Not only will it tell you how many times the word is found, but will show you exactly where, when, and how it was posted.
We just mentioned that the Samsung Galaxy Tablet firmware had been spotted. In that firmware some details were found about the specs of the new Galaxy Tablet due to be announced at IFA 2010.
We have now come across this screen capture showing the Samsung Galaxy Tablet coming to the Vodafone network in the UK which indicates it will have 3G connectivity built in and perhaps be sold subsidised.
Although the Samsung Galaxy Tablet has been confirmed by Samsung in the past, and confirmed it will run Android, we still lack all the official details including pricing and release dates. Although Vodafone does have it listed on it’s system, it is unclear when it will launch and how much for. [Read more…]
Two new Sony Reader eBook devices could be launched soon if this rumour is to be believed. The two new models include the Sony PRS-350 and the PRS-650 which fall in line with the time of year that Sony updates it’s line of eBook readers.
Sony has a lot more competition at the moment with the launch of the new Amazon Kindle 3 with a very low price tag, and of course the Apple iPad with iBooks installed. Others who are gaining a strong presence include the Nook from Barnes & Noble as well as the Ectaco to name a few.
What we can expect to see from the Sony Reader eBooks is thinner devices, perhaps under 10mm in thickness as well as faster page turns and an improved contrast for better reading. [Read more…]
The bar for game quality has just been raised by iD software. John Carmack yesterday demoed a test version of Rage for the iPhone that is capable of running at 60 frames per second. A quote says that this version is able to “kill anything done on the Xbox or PlayStation 2.”
The demonstration (video below) uses the id Tech 5 engine and although running on the iPhone 4 in the demo, it is said to run comfortably on all older iPhone models.
Rage will launch as a “show-off” style game according to Kotaku, and a larger fuller game is due out next year. [Read more…]
Apple [AAPL] released iOS 4.0.2 and iOS 3.2.2 to fix the PDS flaw in the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, iPod touch (newer generations) and the iPad. This problem has it’s good and bad sides. The good side is that once upgrading you are safe from any malicious exploits, but on the down side, the iPhone jailbreak doesn’t work any more if you upgrade.
One other problem is for those who own early generation iPhone hardware that cannot upgrade to iOS 4 and specifically 4.0.2. The older iPhone is still prone to this attack. Apple hasn’t made a fix for the people who own the older iPhone which leaves them a little open to attack.
To make your original iPhone safe you’ll need to jailbreak it which is kind of ironic. Once jailbroken a new app can be downloaded via Cydia that seals the security hole and essentially adds the same protection that iOS 4.0.2 adds. [Read more…]
Comex, the developer of the iPhone 4 Jailbreak (JailbreakMe 2.0) has posted the source code of the said jailbreak.
The source code was released right after Apple [AAPL] launched the iOS 4.0.2 and iOS 3.2.2 updates that blocked and prevented the jailbreak from working.
The exploits that comex used to jailbreak the iOS could be used for other purposes, including delivering malicious payloads to grab control of iPhones, iPads , and iPod Touches. All that would be necessary is for hackers to dupe users into visiting a malicious Web site or persuading them to click on a link in an e-mail or text message.
Apple [AAPL] will be holding an annual event mid-September according to AllThingsD.
This particular event has been held every year since 2005 and is expected to run next month. Items expected to be announced are the new iPod touch 4 with the Retina Display and the dual cameras for FaceTime. There is also the possibility that the iPod touch could get the A4 processor like the iPhone 4 currently has. With the higher resolution screen being mentioned, we suspect that the innards will also get spruced up a little. [Read more…]
