Been waiting for an HTC Sensation to arrive in Canada? Today just might be your day to get your hands on one. After having called local Bell and Virgin mobile locations I can confirm that most stores (At least, in my area) have now received their inventory. With the device not set to officially launch until July 5, you might want to try and score one a little early. Let us know if you do — I tried but was advised I would have to take one under contract, not outright purchase it.
Delorme’s InReach GPS Communicator lets you send text messages, even when you are in the wilderness and far away from cellphone coverage.
As befits a GPS device, it’s all done with satellites. Delorme has teamed up with Iridium, the satellite phone people, to offer a $10-per-month messaging package.
It works in two ways. First of all, you [...]
How To Set a Strong Passcode on iPhone and iPad Last week, I wrote a post about the Top 10 Common iPhone Passcodes you should avoid. The irony is that most iPhone/ iPad owners do not know how they can set a strong passcode on their devices and therefore they fall prey to security vulnerabilities associated with using simple passcodes. In this post, I walk [...]
Last week, I wrote a post about the Top 10 Common iPhone Passcodes you should avoid. The irony is that most iPhone/ iPad owners do not know how they can set a strong passcode on their devices and therefore they fall prey to security vulnerabilities associated with using simple passcodes. In this post, I walk through the steps that you need to follow to secure your iPhone/ iPad with a strong passcode.
Though Apple introduced the strong password feature in iOS 4.0, it continues to be one of the lesser-advertised features. In fact, I’m somewhat amazed that most iPhone and iPad device owners do not know that it’s a setting on their iOS devices and does not require installing any third-party apps.
To enable a strong password on your iPhone/ iPad, follow these simple steps.
1) Go to Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock
Make sure that the “Simple Passcode” setting is OFF. If it’s set to ON, you will not be able to set strong passwords on your device.
2) Turn Passcode On
The next step is to click the ‘Turn Passcode On’ button and enter a strong password. I’d recommend choosing a combination of mixed case letters, numbers and an underscore to create strong passwords.
Once you do that, the button will automatically toggle state and display ‘Turn Passcode Off’ caption. You can set the ‘Require Passcode’ setting to either ‘Immediately’ or you can specify the interval between which your iPhone will require you to enter your passcode. Once the passcode has been turned on, the ‘Passcode Lock’ option under Settings which will be shown as ‘ON’.
For better protection, I’d recommend that you enable the “Erase Data” option. This will erase all data from the device if someone tries to enter the wrong passcode more than 10 times. Therefore if your iPhone or iPad is stolen and somebody tries to guess the password, this option will wipe the device data after 10 incorrect attempts.
Having the passcode lock turned on ensures that your device and data is safe. Choose a strong password – stay safe, stay happy!
Microsoft, citing Google’s tyrannical 95% share of the European search market, has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission. It’s not like Microsoft is breaking any ground here — the European Commission has been investigating Google’s alleged violation of European competition law since November 2010 — but there’s no doubt that the addition of Microsoft’s gravitas will affect the proceedings.
Microsoft’s complaint reads like a sincere and plaintive cry for help against the Google Overlord. Microsoft lists no less than six damning reasons why Google’s behavior is anti-competitive — from Windows Phone 7′s incompatibility with YouTube, to its nefarious handling of Google Books — and finishes with a wide-eyed plea to the European Commission to please find Google guilty.
For those of you that have been following Microsoft’s own antitrust troubles over the last decade, don’t worry: MS is quick to point out the irony in the situation. “There of course will be some who will point out the irony in today’s filing. Having spent more than a decade wearing the shoe on the other foot with the European Commission, the filing of a formal antitrust complaint is not something we take lightly. This is the first time Microsoft Corporation has ever taken this step. More so than most, we recognize the importance of ensuring that competition laws remain balanced and that technology innovation moves forward.”
It sounds like Microsoft, having well and truly gone through the wringer, wants Google to be held similarly accountable. That’s fair enough, right?
iPad makes a huge difference to visually impaired schoolgirl’s life, gives her back the cool factor Australian schoolgirl Holly Bligh has started using an iPad to assist her learning in her school, and it is reaping huge rewards. Holly has albinism, which has badly affected her vision to the point that she needed a large magnifying glass to see textbooks and papers. Now, with the use of an iPad, all it [...]
Australian schoolgirl Holly Bligh has started using an iPad to assist her learning in her school, and it is reaping huge rewards. Holly has albinism, which has badly affected her vision to the point that she needed a large magnifying glass to see textbooks and papers. Now, with the use of an iPad, all it requires is a simple tap or pinch gesture to blow up the area of interest and she can join in with the rest of her class. The iPad has also brought about a cool factor for Holly compared with having to use a chunky magnifying glass.
Holly’s mother claims that the iPad has increased Holly’s attention span and estimates that visual fatigue now takes twice as long to set in. She was so impressed with how the iPad has improved her daughter’s life that she emailed none other than Steve Jobs to thank him; and received a response too.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Do you mind if I read your email to a group of our top 100 leaders at Apple? Thanks, Steve.
Holly will always have limitations with her eyesight; but with the use of an iPad and her amazing attitude, we are sure this girl will go far! Do any of our readers use an iPad to overcome vision problems? Let us know!
While this slick little HTML5 audio player might not pack all of the features of your favorite desktop media application, it’s still a very cool demonstration of what a Web app can do with access to local resources — like MP3 and OGG files.
Just fire up http://antimatter15.github.com/player/player.html in your HTML5-compatible browser and browse to the topmost folder in your music library. The app will quickly build an index of all your tunes and let you start listening right inside your Web browser. Click on the filter library text, and you can enter a search string — results load as you type.
There’s a volume control, shuffle mode, play/pause control, and you can click and drag to skip forward or rewind during playback. As OMG! Ubuntu points out, you can even save the app to your hard drive and run it offline, which is pretty darn cool.
Not all browsers are equal when it comes to HTML5 implementation, of course. We found that Chrome worked the best, and Firefox was OK. It’s also worth noting that this music player comes from the same developer that created one of our favorite restartless Firefox 4 add-ons, drag2up.
Google+ iPhone web app gallery Google+ is the search giant’s take on a social network, and while it will get its own iOS app eventually, it’s already got it’s own world-class web app (would you really expect anything else from the company that’s defined the modern web?). Here’s a quick look at it, primarily the profile, circles, and friends elements. [...]
Google+ is the search giant’s take on a social network, and while it will get its own iOS app eventually, it’s already got it’s own world-class web app (would you really expect anything else from the company that’s defined the modern web?). Here’s a quick look at it, primarily the profile, circles, and friends elements.
Daily Tip: How to check available storage on your iPhone or iPad Worried that you might be filling up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and wondering how to check to see how much storage you have left? Take a picture, download an app, and come up with a message that tells you there is not enough space on your device to install or save? Checking your [...]
Worried that you might be filling up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and wondering how to check to see how much storage you have left? Take a picture, download an app, and come up with a message that tells you there is not enough space on your device to install or save? Checking your available storage can save you a lot of time and headache, and let you know when you need to free up space before you run into any problems. Hit the jump to find out how.
To check available storage on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad:
Launch the Settings app
Choose the General tab
Finally, choose the About tab and scroll until you see the Available option.
That’s it, now you know! If you have any other device management tips, let us know in the comments!
Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)
The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.
Presumably it’s not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that’s causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab’s JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.
Alexander Clauss, iCab’s developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. “Maybe if I would have called the modules ‘smart bookmarks’ and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code.”
In conclusion, to circumvent Apple’s draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however — but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.
Google has updated the imagery for Street View in 13 of their Street View countries, making for the biggest update of this kind. Images for places in Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom have been updated (I notice Germany is noticeably absent) with new high-res panoramic images.
Street view is fun to play with on a computer or Android device. The above image is where the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Horn of Africa meet at Cape Agulhas, South Africa. I’ll likely never be able to find the time or money to get there, but I can at least imagine I were there right from my Android phone. Using Street View is easy as pie. Make sure you have it installed (we’ve got a download link after the break), open Google Maps and find a location then zoom in close enough to see its pop-up description. Then click the arrow on the description and choose Street View. It’s a 360-degree view, so be sure to use your fingers to rotate around, and you can drag your "pin" along roads and paths. Not every place will have Street View enabled, so move your map pin around a bit until you pick one up. Google has a few great suggestions (including Cape Agulhas) at the source link, be sure to check them out!
If you play Scrabble (or a scrabble-like game) from time to time, you may want to check out Scrabble Helper. This simple website is a godsend when you’re at a loss for words. Simply enter whatever letters you have, and the word you’d like to connect with. Scrabble helper comes up with a whole bunch of suggestions sorted by score.
The site lets you select one of five dictionaries – Scrabble International/US, Lexulous International/US, and Words With Friends. Some people might say this constitutes cheating — I think if the other side knows you’re doing it, it’s definitely not cheating. And it doesn’t take the challenge out of the game, because implementing Scrabble Helper’s suggestions and deciding which words you’d like to connect with still takes a fair bit of thought.
Very handy, though perhaps not one for the Scrabble puritans in the crowd.
Remember the good old days when a gigabyte was considered a lot of space? Improvements in hard disk technology have allowed the humble magnetic drive to reach the dizzying heights of multiple terabytes of storage, but Cisco foresees a future that’s a few orders of magnitude more impressive. Pinpointing 2015 as the commencement of what it calls the zettabyte era, the company has put together a handy infographic to show us just how much data can be fit into one: you can alternatively think of it as the equivalent of 250 billion DVDs, 36 million years of HD video, or the volume of the Great Wall of China if you allow an 11oz cup of coffee to represent a gigabyte of data. So “zetta” must be Greek for one hell of a lot, but what Cisco expects is that we’ll be pushing that much information around the web each year by 2015. Any bets on how many exabytes of it will be to stream videos of cats diving into cardboard boxes?
iPhone Live podcast tonight at 9pm EDT, come chat! Reckon you’ll be showing up for iPhone Live tonight? You’re a daisy if you do. Now we’ll be you’re huckleberries, all you gotta do is sit there and chat. Follow along with our show notes! Time: 6pm PT, 9pm ET, 2am BST! Place: http://live.tipb.com/live/ (You can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here’s how) [...]
Reckon you’ll be showing up for iPhone Live tonight? You’re a daisy if you do. Now we’ll be you’re huckleberries, all you gotta do is sit there and chat.
(You can watch from iPhone via Ustream Viewer app (here’s how) and iPad (we recommend Duet Browser.)
If you have any questions or stuff you want us to make sure we cover tweet them to @TiPb, email them to podcast@tipb.com, or leave them in the comments below!
E3 2011 Is A Wrap! The Beercan Bot: Frighten Your Drunk Friends DIY Geodesic Dome On Kickstarter Weekend Giveaway: A B&N Nook Japanese Robo-Drone Will Interrogate Your Leia Will iCloud Fly Or Die? (TCTV)
Half way through the week and we’ve reached that point again where everyone is excited for the upcoming weekend. We’ve had plenty of Android news happening all day so be sure to catch on up on things when you get a moment or sign up for our daily newsletter to stay in the loop. If you’re looking to be more interactive then the Android Central forums are always open for new discussions:
The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.
Presumably it’s not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that’s causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab’s JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.
Alexander Clauss, iCab’s developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. “Maybe if I would have called the modules ‘smart bookmarks’ and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code.”
In conclusion, to circumvent Apple’s draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however — but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.
Ready for a mid range 4G phone on the Sprint network? If so, it looks like the Samsung Conquer 4G will be right up your alley. Samsung posted some details about this one on their website today, and it looks to be a solid entry level Android smartphone:
3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen
1 GHz CPU
3.2MP rear camera, 1.3MP front facing camera
Android 2.3 (without TouchWiz and with Sprint ID)
Tri-Band CDMA (including the 800MHz frequencies)
While this one won’t be in the same league as phones like the EVO 3D, mostly stock Android and a 4G radio make it something to have a look at. Nobody has mentioned anything about prices or dates just yet, but we imagine Sprint will have something to say soon.
It’s the classic storyline: a man and a girl are in love. Just when they want to get married, BAM! The bad guy swoops in and steals the girl. Luckily, the good guy knows how to save his girl and does just that. Picture this in your mind and now apply it to little balls. [...]
Burrito Bison is a pretty simple game, but if you’re into gummy bears you might find it addictive.
As you may have guessed from the name, you’re a bison (not a burrito, though). In the course of your day-to-day grocery shopping, you’re abducted into a bag of gummy bears, and must now fend for yourself.
At the beginning of each round you launch yourself onto the marching gummy (gummi?) bears, while you’re being watched by a huge crowd of even more gummy bears. Your goal is to keep bouncing on the bears and earn more and more money while you do it. Every time you hit a gummy bear, you lose some momentum. If you hit the floor, you basically lose all of it.
But don’t give up just yet! You have an emergency thrust which you can use to gain some momentum and keep bouncing on those bears. This extra thrust gets refilled as you hit more bears.
There are also special gummy bears that give you extra thrust or extra money. The money comes in handy at the end of each round, when you can shop for cool stuff to make your bison even more effective against those gummy bears.
It’s a fun and colorful game that kept my interest for quite some time, and almost sent me running to the closest store to get some gummy bears!
Want to Modify “Slide to Unlock” Text? Check Out OwnSlide! The functionality of iOS devices keeps getting better with the increasing number of apps. The amount of things that can be done with a single tiny device never fails to amaze us. Although there are countless apps available for all the iOS devices, but jailbreaking takes it to the extreme. Jailbroken iOS devices are much [...]
The functionality of iOS devices keeps getting better with the increasing number of apps. The amount of things that can be done with a single tiny device never fails to amaze us. Although there are countless apps available for all the iOS devices, but jailbreaking takes it to the extreme. Jailbroken iOS devices are much more customizable as compared to the locked ones. They give us added control along with great affordability.
While iOS already is quite remarkable the way it is, but being able to customize a device to our own tastes is what jailbreaking is all about. This is why the jailbroken devices have gained so much popularity in the recent past.
Lately, we have discovered a new fancy tweak from DjKira, which is called OwnSlide. This tweak makes one of the most demanded alterations to your iOS device, without any additional worries.
If you’re still wondering what it is about, OwnSlide lets you edit the text that is displayed when unlocking your device. “Slide to unlock” is the standard text that’s displayed in an iOS device; however, OwnSlide gives you total freedom to edit this text to your taste.
OwnSlide can be activated by a simple gesture that is allocated to it by Activator, which launches a text-input box where you can type your new unlock text. Once you are done with it, your device will show the new text the next time it is to be unlocked. Fair enough? Well, of course!
More is explained in the video embedded below, which discusses the tweak in detail.
While it’s pretty obvious that Apple is slowly showing sings that it will in near future allow its users more functionality inside its operating system, and iPad’s mute switch being a prime example of that; however, it is still unclear whether lock-screen editing will be one of the new features. As far as our predictions go, we don’t see it being introduced anytime soon.
It must be kept in mind that OwnSlide will only work for the jailbroken devices. It will shortly be available for download on the ModMyi repo of Cydia, for only $0.99.
Wakemate promises to bring you around from the land of dreams into an alert, awakened state every single morning, without a klaxon or bacon cooker in sight.
It’s wristband that monitors your movements throughout the night and, when you get close to your pre-set optimum waking time, it waits for the shallowest part of your sleep [...]
At least one of the Facebook phones HTC announced back in February has finally hit AT&T. Now the ridiculous-sounding HTC ChaCha goes by the somewhat more palatable HTC Status. More »
What do you get when you take an HTC ChaCha, slap on an AT&T logo and take a picture? (That’s a trick question.) What you see above is a leaked shot of what’s rumored to be called the AT&T Status (that’s the ChaCha’s name on Telus, so it’s looking more likely now). And it appears, for all intents and purposes, to be relatively unchanged from the HTC ChaCha we’ve been eying since Mobile World Congress some four and a half months ago.
Still no word on when the so-called "Faceboook phone" will be announced, or how much it’ll cost.
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.
It’s been a year since we last heard about Social Bicycles (SoBi), the bike sharing concept that has potential to revolutionize the way we rent, ride, and lock bikes. Now the New York-based startup is working on a very promising second prototype, and is turning to Kickstarter for funding. The new version is still a few weeks out (that’s a rendered version in the image above), but we pedaled over to SoBi HQ in Brooklyn to take a look at the first model, which is already far more efficient than systems we’ve seen implemented in Europe and select US cities, including Denver. Both versions feature a main rear-mounted lock unit, containing a U-lock, rear wheel immobilizer, GPS tracking chip, GSM modem, and a hub dynamo electrical generator. The new version’s unit will be much more compact, two-thirds lighter, and will include an integrated solar panel for keeping the electronics powered up even when the bike isn’t moving.
SoBi interfaces with a mobile app, which lets you locate and unlock unreserved bikes around the city (you’ll use your PIN to control the lock during the reservation period). Users pay a monthly fee to subscribe, which will include an hour of free riding each day. The system implements a clever financial incentive to have bikes returned to strategically located hubs, charging a fee for users who prefer to leave bikes elsewhere, then offering the same amount as a credit for riders who rent that bike and return it to a hub. Because the SoBi will be a rental service and you won’t be buying a bike to own, early supporters will receive a future credit in exchange for a Kickstarter donation. Donations of $50 or more also include a slick AR-enabled t-shirt, which displays a “3D” model of the bike on your mobile device. Jump past the break for a hands-on with the first Social Bicycle, and a behind-the-scenes look at the company’s shared workshop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Want to Modify “Slide to Unlock” Text? Check Out OwnSlide! The functionality of iOS devices keeps getting better with the increasing number of apps. The amount of things that can be done with a single tiny device never fails to amaze us. Although there are countless apps available for all the iOS devices, but jailbreaking takes it to the extreme. Jailbroken iOS devices are much [...]
The functionality of iOS devices keeps getting better with the increasing number of apps. The amount of things that can be done with a single tiny device never fails to amaze us. Although there are countless apps available for all the iOS devices, but jailbreaking takes it to the extreme. Jailbroken iOS devices are much more customizable as compared to the locked ones. They give us added control along with great affordability.
While iOS already is quite remarkable the way it is, but being able to customize a device to our own tastes is what jailbreaking is all about. This is why the jailbroken devices have gained so much popularity in the recent past.
Lately, we have discovered a new fancy tweak from DjKira, which is called OwnSlide. This tweak makes one of the most demanded alterations to your iOS device, without any additional worries.
If you’re still wondering what it is about, OwnSlide lets you edit the text that is displayed when unlocking your device. “Slide to unlock” is the standard text that’s displayed in an iOS device; however, OwnSlide gives you total freedom to edit this text to your taste.
OwnSlide can be activated by a simple gesture that is allocated to it by Activator, which launches a text-input box where you can type your new unlock text. Once you are done with it, your device will show the new text the next time it is to be unlocked. Fair enough? Well, of course!
More is explained in the video embedded below, which discusses the tweak in detail.
While it’s pretty obvious that Apple is slowly showing sings that it will in near future allow its users more functionality inside its operating system, and iPad’s mute switch being a prime example of that; however, it is still unclear whether lock-screen editing will be one of the new features. As far as our predictions go, we don’t see it being introduced anytime soon.
It must be kept in mind that OwnSlide will only work for the jailbroken devices. It will shortly be available for download on the ModMyi repo of Cydia, for only $0.99.
See this happy couple? They’re smiling because they’re in love, they’re at a waterpark, and they haven’t contracted E. coli yet. They could also be chuckling with the knowledge that all 700 of their closest Facebook friends will soon see them canoodling in an artificial lagoon, thanks to a strange new photo-sharing program from Great Wolf Resorts. From now on, visitors to Great Wolf’s Grand Mound lodge will be able to automatically post their vacation pics on Facebook, using only an RFID-equipped wristband. All they have to do is register their accounts at check-in, slap on their bands and head over to any of five kiosks stationed throughout the resort, where they can pose for pictures that will be instantly uploaded to their walls (along with captions). Immediately de-tagging yourself, however, remains a uniquely manual task. Wade past the break for the full PR.
Ionocraft Racing HD for iPad now available Ionocraft Racing HD is a racing game with “dieselpunk” stylings. The environments, tracks and racers take on an industrial grime with a touch of Victorian class. Build and upgrade your own speeder piece by piece Time-trial racer Game Center leaderboards and achievements. 13 tracks with hours of gameplay. Global world records to beat. Retina display [...]
Ionocraft Racing HD is a racing game with “dieselpunk” stylings. The environments, tracks and racers take on an industrial grime with a touch of Victorian class.
Build and upgrade your own speeder piece by piece
Time-trial racer
Game Center leaderboards and achievements.
13 tracks with hours of gameplay.
Global world records to beat.
Retina display support.
If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the screenshots after the break.
Sherlocked? Apple’s iOS 5 built-in a lot of new, basic functionality previously filled by 3rd party App Store apps, which effectively “Sherlocked” those apps, rendering them redundant in a post-iOS 5 world. Or did it? There’s a world of difference between basic functionality that serves the needs of only the most casual user, and advanced functionality [...]
Apple’s iOS 5 built-in a lot of new, basic functionality previously filled by 3rd party App Store apps, which effectively “Sherlocked” those apps, rendering them redundant in a post-iOS 5 world. Or did it? There’s a world of difference between basic functionality that serves the needs of only the most casual user, and advanced functionality with enough control and features to satisfy a hardcore pro.
What Apple did with iOS 5, as with previous generations of iOS, is take away the entry-level business of several prominent 3rd party apps, but still left them with the premium, higher order market. While it’s always dangerous creating an enterprise based on glaring functionality holes Apple will almost certainly fill at some point in the future, there’s just as much opportunity building a great product that Apple’s entry into the space can benefit.
Here are a 5 apps (and a couple things more) I think could make that case.
Instapaper
Marco Arment’s excellent read-it-later client, Instapaper, which strips away everything but body content from web articles and lets you store it on his web service and access it via a paid iOS app, at first glance, looks threatened by Apple’s new Reader and Reading List features in iOS 5 for iPad and iPhone, and OS X Lion Safari. However, as any long term Instapaper user knows (and Arment himself will tell you), Instapaper goes far beyond the bare-bones, Readabiliy-derived, bookmark-synced implementation Apple is providing. Arment uses the example of how Apple baking RSS into Safari and Mail hasn’t hurt dedicated RSS readers like Google Reader, Reeder, NetNewsWire, etc., and it’s not a terrible. While Google’s entry into navigation (with the free Google Maps Navigation) was met by a similar response from traditional turn-by-turn navigation vendors, Instapaper isn’t a recurring monthly charge or a massive up-front expenditure. It is well regarded and has a devoted install base, and more importantly it has a passionate and creative developer who’s probably as happy to occupy the high end against Reader/Reading List the way MacBook’s occupy it against cheap netbooks.
Arment was smart, however, to drop the free version before Apple launched Reader/Reading List.
Camera+
Just like Apple put a hurt on HDR (high dynamic range) app makers with iOS 4, the addition of Twitter integration, gridlines, and basic photo editing tools will be challenging for App Store apps that previously filled those post-production and easy sharing niches. There’s an especially bitter irony here for Camera+, however, as the Lisa Bettany-driven, Tap Tap Tap built, filter-filled shooter was previously removed from the App Store for using a private API that enabled the volume button to be used as a shutter switch — something Apple has now added as default to the built-in Camera app in iOS 5. Whether you consider that fair or foul, in a post iOS 5 world, Camera+ still offers those previously mentioned filters. And as for the elements iOS 5 does include, some still seem to prefer Camera+’s implementation. So neither Camera+, nor other popular apps like Hipstamatic or Instagram are in immediate danger.
(Ironically, Apple’s iBooks did much the same to Tap Tap Tap’s Classic following iOS 4 [Hat tip, @arnoldkim])
LockInfo
LockInfo, the brilliant lock screen information and pull-down notification manager by David Ashman, was the primary reason I jailbroke under iOS 4.x. iOS was (and still is, outside the iOS 5 beta) a modal, interruptive bag of notification hurt, and LockInfo was my salve. With iOS 5′s Notification Center, however, Apple has taken almost direct inspiration, offering both the lock screen info and the pull-down notifications that made LockInfo so indispensable. But again, Apple is — so far — only covering the basics. As Ashman told us during our video interview at WWDC 2011 there’s a lot that LockInfo does that Apple’s Notification Center still doesn’t do. LockInfo provides quick access to full mail texts, for example, and has a plugin architecture for extensibility. Those who only need very basic, unobtrusive notifications will be fine with Notification Center. Power users will still want LockInfo’s fuller feature set.
Todo
Whether you’re a fan of Appigo’s Todo, or of another app like Omni’s OmniFocus, Cultured Code’s Things, you probably thought there was no way Apple would ever enter their space. They hadn’t in 4 versions of iOS, after all, and since Steve Jobs has assistants to manage his lists, there was a slim chance he even noticed the gap. (That’s a joke, I know he doesn’t code the entire OS himself. He has people for that too…). Enter Reminders in iOS 5. Time aware, location aware, it will help you get things done whenever, and wherever you need, and unlike Things it offers sync — with iCal, after a fashion — from day one. But it’s rather spartan. It does what it does simply and elegantly (if you like paper textures), and that’s about it. One-trick list-making apps and alarm apps are in a lot of trouble, but deep, highly productive, nerdy apps like Todo and Omnifocus, and even more able alarm apps like Due will still be required for more complex time management. Even Omni’s premium price probably won’t cause them too many problems since at that price people who get OmniFocus want OmniFocus, they don’t want Reminders.
BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) is such a platform lock-in for RIM that it’s not surprising astute developers made direct messaging apps for iPhone, including Kik, Whatsapp, and the now Facebook-owned Beluga. That’s probably the very reason Apple introduced iMessage in iOS 5, to provide platform users the ability to quickly, easily, and cheaply text each other. (Roshambo’ing the carriers by building it into the previously SMS/MMS-only Messages app was no doubt the cherry on that feature Sunday.) But here’s the thing — Kik isn’t a platform owner, so they have no vested interest in locking their users into a platform. Instead, they want to lock them into the app/service, and so they make them cross-platform (though RIM has pulled Kik from BlackBerry App World due to a legal dispute). This means, while they’re still proprietary and you’re still locked in, you can message people on non-Apple mobile devices, and if you ever switch to a non-Apple mobile device (perish the thought), you can bring your contacts with you. BBM might eventually go cross-platform, Twitter might one day supplant messaging apps, or — please, oh please — someone might actually build a great service with non-proprietary pipes on top of Jabber (or something similar), but for now only iOS-to-iOS only users will have any incentive to switch.
Jailbreak
Right before the WWDC 2011 keynote I asked Saurik, founder of Cydia, if Apple was out to make Jailbreak irrelevant. He didn’t think they could, and neither did I, but Apple is certainly going through the list of compelling reasons to Jailbreak and checking them off in the stock software, at least some of them, at least to some degree. I already mentioned LockInfo, but Apple still doesn’t offer any form of quick actions, like BiteSMS does for responding to text messages without having to switch to the Messages app. Apple doesn’t offer quick access either, like SBSettings does for toggling Wi-Fi, Blue Tooth, Airplane Mode, etc. Apple doesn’t offer themes beyond wall papers. And like a host of other apps do for a host of other features Apple can’t or won’t yet support. Nor do I think Apple wants to kill Jailbreak. Aside for their not going out of their way to kill recent exploits (with the exception of easily targetable malware vectors like web-based PDF attacks), it gives Apple a free expert mode and public test bed — an incubator to see ideas and metaphors tried out on a scale their own secrecy would never allow. They have to have some way of vetting features for next year’s iOS 6, right?
Android
As I was writing this article, Seth Weintraub joked that, with iOS 5, Apple tried to Sherlock Android. It’s fair to say that however many checkboxes Apple was trying to take away from Jailbreak, they were trying just as hard to take them away from Google’s competing OS. While Android’s “openness” is disingenuous, their relative freedom and powerful feature set are inarguable. You can still do more on a stock Android device than you can on a stock iPhone, but the gap narrowed with iOS 5. (Ignoring for the moment rooting vs. Jailbreak which is a different conversation). Android still has widgets, it still has skins (a mixed blessing but an important one to many users), it still offers tons of customization options, and hooks into the OS Apple will probably never provide. It’s a different OS, operating under a different model, but that will no doubt appeal to a different type of user. And most importantly for iOS, it will keep pushing Apple to check off those boxes and narrow that gap even further.
Who’s Sherlocking who?
With iOS 5, Apple certainly killed the low-end, casual market for a lot of iPhone and iPad apps. (Just like they’ve done with previous generations of iOS, including Installer for Jailbreak when they released the App Store with iOS 2.) For the best-in-class, however, for the premium apps with the pro-level functionality, it’s possible Apple’s entry into their space will validate their functionality and introduce them to a much larger audience. Only time will tell if they ultimately lose any sales to the new built-in apps, or gain even more customers due to increased awareness. But this has happened before and it will happen again, and the really savvy developers will have positioned their really great apps to take full advantage, and perhaps kill a certain lucrative segment of the built-in apps’ user base.
Given the HTC Evo 3D actually hurt our poor reviewer Sam’s eyes, do you really want to put your own eyeballs through similar pain? Would you actually pay for that privilege? If so, the TOYin3D should be added to your sadist-wishlist. More »
Real Estate is big business and having the right tools to get things done is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Sprint is looking to help out real estate professions with their latest Sprint ID pack — Real Estate Pro. Specifically designed for real estate agents the Real Estate Pro ID pack includes everything you need to keep on track.
“The launch of the Real Estate Pro ID pack marks an important step in the evolution of Sprint ID for business,” said Paget Alves, President of the Business Markets Group (BMG) for Sprint. “As companies increasingly move to support a broader range of mobile devices and operating systems, Sprint ID will serve as a quick and easy way for our business customers to push updates and new applications to employee handsets running the Android OS.”
The pack includes many great applications designed for sales, enhanced communications and expense control and reduction services. For the full list, you can jump on past the break for the press release or check out the Sprint site via the link below.
Replace Your Real-Life Notepad with Bamboo Paper for iPad Wacom’s newly released Bamboo Paper app lets iPad users take notes and draw doodles whose primary function is to act as a conventional real life notepad that contains your writing glyphs and doodles. The Bamboo Paper app sports a simple and intuitive interface that let’s choose from the on-screen icons such as Pen, Erase, Library, [...]
Wacom’s newly released Bamboo Paper app lets iPad users take notes and draw doodles whose primary function is to act as a conventional real life notepad that contains your writing glyphs and doodles.
The Bamboo Paper app sports a simple and intuitive interface that let’s choose from the on-screen icons such as Pen, Erase, Library, Share etc.
By using a page turn gesture, the user can open a new page which can be either plain, grid, or lined page. The turning of pages in Bamboo Paper resembles iBooks. The Pen controls come with three different thicknesses and 6 color options.
Bamboo Paper app is very receptive and writing and line drawing comes pretty smooth. As accustomed, pinching can be one to zoom in and zoom out on writing/doodle. Unlike the Adobe apps, Bamboo Paper is devoid of layers and there’s an icon on the top to clear the entire contents of the page. The app comes with unlimited undo-ing and redo-ing of work, but there’s one limitation that comes with this app: No landscape mode for Bamboo Paper. Once you’re done with your document, the app lets you save your work in the photo library or gives you the freedom to email it, which is received as a PNG file. But what if you want a print-out of the document right away? Bamboo Paper lets you do that too, straight from your iPad, provided that you set up AirPrint on your tablet to make printing possible.
Since Bamboo Paper mimics your real-life notepad, all the notes you’ve taken and written, and all doodles drawn, are saved in sequence. Another great feature of this app is the option to bookmark pages and as a consequence, in the Scan Pages tool at the bottom of every work page, those bookmarked pages will appear. The app also lets you change the color of the cover of your notebook, its title and the ability to email or reset the entire contents of your notebook at once!
Bamboo Paper is costing nothing for now but will cost you $1.99 in the iTunes App Store from July 1, 2011. So download it now!
All iOS 4.3.1 jailbreaks are still tethered, meaning you’ll have to jailbreak your device after every reboot. An untethered jailbreak is slated for release sometime in the next week — but 4.3 was meant to have an untether, too, and that never emerged.
Maybe Apple’s updated security mechanisms will finally keep hackers at bay!
Ionocraft Racing HD for iPad now available Ionocraft Racing HD is a racing game with “dieselpunk” stylings. The environments, tracks and racers take on an industrial grime with a touch of Victorian class. Build and upgrade your own speeder piece by piece Time-trial racer Game Center leaderboards and achievements. 13 tracks with hours of gameplay. Global world records to beat. Retina display [...]
Ionocraft Racing HD is a racing game with “dieselpunk” stylings. The environments, tracks and racers take on an industrial grime with a touch of Victorian class.
Build and upgrade your own speeder piece by piece
Time-trial racer
Game Center leaderboards and achievements.
13 tracks with hours of gameplay.
Global world records to beat.
Retina display support.
If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the screenshots after the break.
Select Microsoft Connect partners — major players like HP — have been given their first taste of Windows 8. According to various sources, the build string currently sits at 7971.0.110324-1900, which is the third milestone build of the successor to Windows 7.
So far, there haven’t been many details revealed about Windows 8. An actual System Restore — which is being referred to as History Vault — has been reported, and the feature will allow users and administrators to completely roll back a system to a previous state. A factory reset option is also said to be included.
We’ve also seen Windows Live integration taking shape on the desktop. It’s believed that you’ll be able to log in to Windows 8 using your Windows Live credentials, not just a traditional offline Windows username and password.
All that’s left now is for a leaked Windows 8 build to show up on a torrent site. Feel free to tip us if you see that happen.
Jailbreakme.com updated, been far too long working on iPad 2 Jailbreak? Comex’s Jailbreakme.com site has been updated again with yet another image that shows a list of commits along with an overlay saying: “It’s been far too long.” The commits go back almost a year, which is certainly a long time. Whether or not this signifies any progress on the long-anticipated iPad 2 Jailbreak is unknown. [...]
Comex’s Jailbreakme.com site has been updated again with yet another image that shows a list of commits along with an overlay saying:
“It’s been far too long.”
The commits go back almost a year, which is certainly a long time. Whether or not this signifies any progress on the long-anticipated iPad 2 Jailbreak is unknown. Jailbreakme.com was last active during the early days of iOS 4, when a PDF exploit allowed an easy, over-the-web Jailbreak unseen since the early days of iOS 1. The site was recently updated with another cryptic image, so hopefully something is afoot…
This morning, Corel released VideoStudio X4. We’ve already published a quick overview and hands-on of the application, and now is the moment you’ve all been waiting for: We’re giving away ten full licenses of this new version, each worth $99.99!
To enter our random draw, you just have to leave a comment. Full terms and conditions are after the break.
Remember the unmodified Nissan Leaf that dared to take on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb? No, it didn’t win the electric vehicle class, but it did have the honor of playing second fiddle to a new paladin. By pairing the motor they used to set last year’s EV record with a new high-performance cooling system, Team Yokohama managed to shave nearly a minute off of their previous record-setting time, completing the course in 12 minutes and 20 seconds. The Leaf? It leisurely drifted through the finish line at 14 minutes, 33 seconds. Not the quickest way to the top, but let’s be fair — if it’s a choice between being comfortable or being king of the hill, we’ll stretch our legs, thanks.
Sure, Amazon’s Cloud Player works — as long as you’re in the U.S. or willing to do some tinkering — but it’s fairly simplistic at the moment. There are plenty of features missing which we’d like to see added — but since Cloud Player is a Web app we don’t have to wait for Amazon!
Google Chrome users, for example, can add playback hotkeys with an extension called keyMazony. Once installed, you’ll have keyboard control of your Amazon Cloud Player queue. keyMazony commands will work as long as you’re in the same Chrome window as Cloud Player, even if its tab doesn’t have focus. The key combinations are customizable as well — just make sure you don’t set up a combo that conflicts with another extension or Chrome’s built-in keyboard shortcuts.
TAG Heuer has unveiled the Link smartphone — a 3.5-inch snakeskin covered Gorilla Glass coated precision made phone that will certainly fulfill any James Bond-like fantasies we would happen to harbor. Specs are a little unknown, but what TAG Heuer is telling us won’t be likely to tickle anyone looking for a powerhouse:
And a choice of materials: 316L Stainless steel, Gold, Diamonds, Black PVD, Titanium, Rubber, Calfskin leather, Carbon leather, Alligator and Lizard
Clearly dated specs in the age of dual-core and 3D, but I doubt TAG Heuer is going after the typical Android geek with this one. Especially with $6,700 as the base price. It will fill a very small niche, and maybe we’ll see one at a police auction one day, becuase thiis one won’t be hitting the AT&T store any time soon. Anyone at TAG Heuer who would like me to review this one, please contact me. Pretty please. Anyhoo, check out the video after the break. You know you want to.
Report the weather with Weddar for iPhone Weddar for iPhone is a weather forecast app powered by the people, for the people. You can check out current weather reports from real people as well as contribute your own. Instead of a generic forecasts, Weddar provides reports such as “feels good, but a little windy” for a more personal and realistic feel. The [...]
Weddar for iPhone is a weather forecast app powered by the people, for the people. You can check out current weather reports from real people as well as contribute your own. Instead of a generic forecasts, Weddar provides reports such as “feels good, but a little windy” for a more personal and realistic feel.
The recent update of Weddar includes the following:
Better contrast of weather conditions icons (on map screen “+” popovers);
Improved location descriptions when sharing reports to Twitter and Facebook;
Location context (“Chuo, Tokyo” instead of “Chuo” or “Almada, Portugal” instead of “Almada”);
“Fresh” is now “Cool”;
Share of “Hell” is now reported correctly as “like hell.”;
5 requests per day limit (Request/Fill) – Prevents misusage of the requests feature;
Images files optimization resulting in smaller application and faster loading;
App code, Server code and general performance optimization.
If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the screenshots after the break.
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
George “GeoHot” Hotz, famed for his hacking of the iPhone and PlayStation 3 (and subsequent court dramas), has apparently found gainful employment. At social networking behemoth Facebook. More »
Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you! In Case of Fire: The world is burning! Run through traps, obstacles, [...]
Iterate 1: SoftFacade Our podcast feed Download Directly Subscribe via iTunes (coming soon!) Welcome to Iterate, focused on design, user interface, and user experience from conception to realization. In our debut episode, Marc, Seth, and Rene talk Notification Center in iOS 5, Photoshop 5.5 and SDK, linen textures, justified text, and talk with Anton and Dmitry of SoftFacade. [...]
Welcome to Iterate, focused on design, user interface, and user experience from conception to realization. In our debut episode, Marc, Seth, and Rene talk Notification Center in iOS 5, Photoshop 5.5 and SDK, linen textures, justified text, and talk with Anton and Dmitry of SoftFacade. Loop until done.
Tom Bihn makes great bags, and I can say that with absolute confidence. My husband has a Tom Bihn Empire Builder bag that he has used every single day for the past 8 years. After seven years, we bought him a new Absolute Shoulder Strap, but the bag itself looks as good as the day [...]
Report the weather with Weddar for iPhone Weddar for iPhone is a weather forecast app powered by the people, for the people. You can check out current weather reports from real people as well as contribute your own. Instead of a generic forecasts, Weddar provides reports such as “feels good, but a little windy” for a more personal and realistic feel. The [...]
Weddar for iPhone is a weather forecast app powered by the people, for the people. You can check out current weather reports from real people as well as contribute your own. Instead of a generic forecasts, Weddar provides reports such as “feels good, but a little windy” for a more personal and realistic feel.
The recent update of Weddar includes the following:
Better contrast of weather conditions icons (on map screen “+” popovers);
Improved location descriptions when sharing reports to Twitter and Facebook;
Location context (“Chuo, Tokyo” instead of “Chuo” or “Almada, Portugal” instead of “Almada”);
“Fresh” is now “Cool”;
Share of “Hell” is now reported correctly as “like hell.”;
5 requests per day limit (Request/Fill) – Prevents misusage of the requests feature;
Images files optimization resulting in smaller application and faster loading;
App code, Server code and general performance optimization.
If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the screenshots after the break.
Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking: chocolate on Download Squad? That’s right! That’s because Chocomize is one of the nerdiest ways to get chocolate online: it’s a website where you customize your own bar using a multi-step process.
We’ve covered Chocomize before in our holiday gift guide, so when they reached out to us offering to do a giveaway, we really couldn’t resist.
Chocomize is giving away ten gift certificates, each worth $50, for you to create your own customized chocolate. They sent us some pictures of their recent creations, which you can find in the gallery below.
Regardless of the giveaway, you can use the discount code switched to get 10% off any Chocomize order. The code is valid through April 20th – just in time for Easter!
To participate, simply leave a comment. Fine print is after the jump.
And here it is, folks. Just a few minutes after a not-so-cagy tease, we’ve got the myTouch 4G Slide from HTC and T-Mobile, officially announced. Claiming the "most advanced camera of any smartphone," it’s got an 8MP shooter with ClearShot HDR (stitching together different exposures into one image, like on the iPhone 4, yo), SweepShot panorama, BurstShot for, well, burst mode and the Genius Button we saw on the original myTouch 4G.
According to T-Mobile’s press release, the camera sports zero shutter lag, a backside illuminated sensor, as well as an f/2.2 aperture.
Other features:
3.7-inch touchscreen.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
Sense 3.0
Swype
Four-row QWERTY keyboard.
Qik mobile video chat.
Genius button with Dragon Dictation from Nuance.
Netflix.
T-Mobile TV.
YouTube
T-Mobile KidZone
Not a bad list. It’ll be available in July for $199. We’ve got the full press release after the break.
Who knew hallucinogens were actually good for you? In a recent study, two psychiatrists discovered that patients suffering from agonizing cluster headaches found relief while taking LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs. More »
So it’s a lazy weekend afternoon. The videogames are beat, the girls are off elsewhere, and the internet is barren. What are two bored dudes to do, other than fill a balloon with some flammable substance and blow themselves up? More »
iPad Live 62: SHSH it Our podcast feed Download Directly Subscribe via iTunes Georgia, Craig, Seth, and Rene talk iOS 5 beta 2, MobileMe to iCloud transition, iPad 3 rumors, New York Post lockout, Skype app, and AirPlay mirroring. This is iPad Live! Show notes Hosts @GeorgiaTiPb (Georgia) @reneritchie (Rene) @iBanyan (Craig) @sethclifford (Seth) Credits Thanks to the TiPb iPad [...]
Georgia, Craig, Seth, and Rene talk iOS 5 beta 2, MobileMe to iCloud transition, iPad 3 rumors, New York Post lockout, Skype app, and AirPlay mirroring. This is iPad Live!
Another Monday is almost past us and like always we’ve got plenty more coming up for the rest of the week but we’ll get to that later. If you haven’t stopped by the Android Central forums today, now is as good a time as any to do so. Check out some of the threads below to help get you started:
TiPb Asks: Are you concerned with iPhone data caps? AT&T transitioned to data caps and tiered plans just over a year ago and come this summer, Verizon will follow suit. Are you concerned? International iPhone users have had to deal with data caps and tiered plans for years, but in the US “unlimited data” was pretty much expected. It framed users’ habits. Streaming internet [...]
AT&T transitioned to data caps and tiered plans just over a year ago and come this summer, Verizon will follow suit. Are you concerned? International iPhone users have had to deal with data caps and tiered plans for years, but in the US “unlimited data” was pretty much expected. It framed users’ habits. Streaming internet radio, watching internet video, tethering on the down-low… You could do all of that without the slightest thought.
Many users are already and will remain “grandfathered” into “unlimited data”, but if you want official tethering, you’ll have to switch, or like we’re seen with AT&T, be forcibly switched, to the new, capped and tiered plans. And then you have to start planning for limited data.
Netflix, in response to broadband caps, has started offering smaller sized streams to users worried about their data consumption.
Starting today, watching movies & TV shows in Canada will use 2/3 less data on average with minimal impact to video quality. For example, watching 30 hours of Netflix movies & TV shows will only use 9 GB of data, well below most Canadian ISP data caps. Previously, 30 hours from Netflix typically used 31 GB.
Skyfire has long made a web browser that proxies and compresses data.
A recently released Nielson poll showed that the average smartphone user watched 3.25 hours of mobile video each month in 2010. In a video data consumption test, Skyfire allowed the average user to watch 4.5 hours of video per month, while staying below the baseline 200 MB data cap. For this reason, the one-time purchase of a Skyfire mobile browser ($2.99) can save an average iOS or Android user from $120 to $240 annually in data charges. (This comparison is based on current AT&T and T-Mobile data plan pricing. Specific pricing for other carriers around the world will vary.)
Various audio apps will also let you download over Wi-Fi and store or cache podcasts, songs, audio books, etc. so you don’t use data on the road.
How dependent have you become on “unlimited” data? Have you routinely hit 5GB, 10GB, or even more a month? What do you think about the new caps and tiers? Will they cause you to rethink or reduce your usage, or just shake your fists and keep streaming in data defiance?
Or have you never gotten near a data tier, only use a few hundred MBs a month, and don’t see what all the fuss is about?
Amazon’s recently-introduced Cloud Drive is a great place to store your files online. It offers 5 gigs of totally free space, and U.S. users also get access to the handy Cloud Player app (for Web and Android!) which streams music you upload to your Cloud Drive.
The service could be a little easier to use, however. Until Amazon releases a desktop client, Windows users might want to take another look at Gladinet. The multi-service cloud connector has now added Amazon Cloud Drive support and will let you map a network drive letter to your account with minimal fuss.
Once you’ve added your credentials to Gladinet, just pick the letter you want to assign to the drive and you’re good to go. You can then copy files to and from your Cloud Drive, rename items, and manage folders like you would any local hard drive in your system.
The only downside is that the free version of Gladinet gives you a limited number of cloud interactions. Once you use those up, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid version, which costs $49.99. If you work with a number of cloud-based storage providers, however, it could be well worth the price tag.
A big draw of the modern smartphone is a quality camera, and the HTC EVO 3D is no exception. Not only can you take some very nice stills in 2D, like Android Central forums member zmann’s flower garden above, but there’s that nifty little thing called 3D to play around with. We’ve got a place for you to share your pictures, novice or pro, and in 2D or 3D right in the EVO 3D forums.
Now grab your EVO 3D, snap some pics, and share with the class — we all wanna see them. And while you’re at it, you can pick up all the hints and tricks about sharing your 3D content from the folks in the forums who seem to have it just about figured out.
If you’re the proud owner of an Acer Iconia Tab A500 then you’re no doubt waiting for Android 3.1 to be rolled out — which should be coming in July. However, if you’re a risk taker you can grab the recently leaked version of Android 3.1 for the Iconia Tab and take it for a spin.
The reports thus far state that the leak is leaps and bounds better then version it shipped with but like all things, your mileage will vary. You can hit the source links below for the full details and the download link if you’re looking to give a shot. Make sure you follow the instructions for the best results.
If you’ve found yourself asking "When, oh when, will Samsung release an Android slider for Verizon?" then you may be in luck. Realistically, I’m sure no one has ever asked that but that doesn’t matter because it looks as though Samsung might make it happen with the SCH-i405, as spied in the image above.
Although specs are seemingly slim pickings for this device as of yet, it has crossed the paths of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certification experts but has not hit the FCC. The details available peg this one as being a mid-range device similar in styling to that of the Epic 4G from Sprint minus the 4G but coming with a WVGA display and a single core processor capable of one – yes, singular gigahertz. Sidenote: That’s a Slacker Radio icon you’re seeing — not CyanogenMod. Sorry to disappoint.
A new Pew research survey of U.S. adults conducted in May, 2011 shows that ownership of electronic readers such as the Amazon Kindle or The Barnes & Noble Nook is now at 12 percent. The ownership of e-readers doubled from six months prior when it was 6 percent. The adoption of e-readers continues to outpace tablets such as the iPad and Motorola Xoom. Only 8 percent of respondents said they won a tablet, compared to 5 percent six months earlier. So tablet ownership seems to be growing at a slower pace.
AutoCorrector App: Fix The Awful iPhone Auto Correct Feature I often say that the iPhone and the iPad are near-flawless devices. While just about everything else works perfectly, I’ve never been at peace with the in-built auto-correction feature. I don’t want to turn it off as it hampers my productivity. I hate it at times when it pops up some ridiculous auto correct options. Therefore, [...]
I often say that the iPhone and the iPad are near-flawless devices. While just about everything else works perfectly, I’ve never been at peace with the in-built auto-correction feature. I don’t want to turn it off as it hampers my productivity. I hate it at times when it pops up some ridiculous auto correct options. Therefore, I’ve been looking for a solution which would let me customize the auto-correct feature as per my needs. I recently stumbled upon the AutoCorrector app which offers a great way to customize an iPhone’s vocabulary.
To be honest, I’m somewhat disappointed that despite a plethora of other new features and enhancements, Apple never improved upon the spelling auto correction feature. None the less, I set out evaluating AutoCorrector hoping that it would end my autocorrection woes for good. At 1.7 Megs, the app is quiet small and downloaded within a few seconds on my iPhone 3GS.
The UI is pretty basic and lets users add new words as well as view added words. On installation, the app adds the “SMS Shorthand” category which includes words like AKA, LOL, ROFL, ASAP, ASL etc. I’ve often thought of suing Apple because its auto-correction suggestions for my name are dismal to say the least. As soon as I type ‘Gau’, it would prompt me to change it to ‘Gay’! None the less, AutoCorrector fixed it and in the process, helped me keep my sexual orientation intact.
AutoCorrector isn’t perfect and it won’t work with all words but it certainly makes life much easier when dealing with iPhone’s awful pre-built auto correction. It helps reduce the number of typos in your emails and SMS messages. Due to certain Apple policies within iOS, AutoCorrector is unable to disable autocorrect on the following words such as ‘hell’ and ‘shit’.
AutoCorrector is available to download for $0.99. It works with all iOS devices running iOS 4.0 or later. If you’re fed up of iPhone’s auto correction, check out AutoCorrector at the App Store, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
TomTom HD Traffic Service for iPhone now available [giveaway] TomTom International has updated their family of navigation apps with the availability of TomTom HD Traffic Service. This service chooses your route based on the current traffic reports and is available as an in-app purchase for $19.99. TomTom HD Traffic: Experience the most-accurate, real-time traffic coverage available with revolutionary TomTom HD Traffic service. TomTom HD [...]
TomTom International has updated their family of navigation apps with the availability of TomTom HD Traffic Service. This service chooses your route based on the current traffic reports and is available as an in-app purchase for $19.99.
TomTom HD Traffic: Experience the most-accurate, real-time traffic coverage available with revolutionary TomTom HD Traffic service. TomTom HD Traffic is more accurate, provides more road coverage, and delivers updates every 2 minutes to get you around traffic more effectively than ever before. Available via in-App purchase.
Updated TomTom maps: Because roads are constantly changing, on average 15% of roads change every year, your TomTom App update comes with the latest and most up-to-date map.
Multi-stop routes: Make your journeys simpler. With up to five stops on your journey, you can pick up friends and visit places of interest more easily – and you only need to plan your route once.
The good folks at TomTom International have give us a promo code for TomTom U.S. & Canada to give away to one of you, our awesome readers! For a chance to win, let us know approximately how many miles you drive per week. (Note that the traffic subscription will still be an additional $19.99).
If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!
So, here’s the good news: Boingo Wireless has teamed up with Aircell, a company that provides WiFi in the skies. Now, the bad news: it barely matters. At first blush, we assumed a Boingo / Gogo tie-up would allow monthly subscribers to the former to get gratis access to the latter; in fact, that’s not at all the case. According to the release (shown in full after the break), in-flight access “is a premium service and is not included in monthly plans,” and in fact, there’s not even a discount given to Boingo subscribers. The point here? To make billing even easier, since you’re logging in with your Boingo credentials. Gee, thanks.
According to the Chinese site TechWeb, the Chinese search company Baidu is developing their own version of Android called "Qiushi", and it will be launched before the end of 2011. Baidu neither confirms or denies these rumors, saying only that Qiushi is simply a way to offer mobile advertising. China is a huge market, one that everyone wants to get a strong foothold in. They also already have two Android variants being sold on mobile devices — MIUI (yes, the same MIUI that’s familiar to many an Android hacker) and DianxinOS. This could be something a bit different, as you have the name (and the capital) of a highly successful tech corporation behind the development and distribution. If the rumors pan out, things could get very interesting in China at the mobile OS front.
When Microsoft released its Kinect SDK we marveled at the impact it could have on desktop interaction; sure enough, Kevin Connolly’s Kinect Natural User Interface has made our geeky pipe-dreams a reality. His inspiration for project? Not surprisingly, the Minority Report UI (aka g-speak). Similar projects like MIT’s hack do exist, but it’s brilliant knowing that another emulation has been made rather quickly with Redmond’s tools. In a brief video using the Kinect on Windows 7, he demos various ways of manipulating on-screen content with hand gestures and body tracking — neglecting his mouse in the process. It’s still a work in progress, but the results are already quite striking, so take that ancient input device and click past the break for the full demo.
Later today, Firefox will undergo its biggest developmental upheaval ever. Mozilla-central, the source of nightly builds, will be renumbered to version 5 — and at long last, after years of wallowing around version 1, Mozilla’s rendering and layout engine, Gecko, will also have its version number updated to match Firefox.
Shortly thereafter, Firefox’s new channel system will be implemented. Firefox 5a2 will be introduced as the first Aurora build, and we should also see a Firefox 6 Nightly build. While we we’re not sure where they came from, one Sören Hentzschel seems to have unearthed the new Nightly and Aurora logos (see above), along with new About Firefox dialogs (after the break).
In other news, if you want to take a sneak peek at the new ‘channel changing’ technology that will be introduced in upcoming Firefox builds, head to about:config and create a new string called app.update.desiredChannel — the value doesn’t matter. Then open Help > About Firefox and you’ll be able to switch channel, but it doesn’t do anything just yet (image after the break). Here’s hoping that Firefox channel switching is smoother than Chrome.
The week in iPad Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review. And hey! [...]
Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.
And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPad Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us at TiPb.com/live and follow along!
Well, what do we have here? From the looks of it, we’ve got ourselves launch dates for a slate of new Lenovo tablets. A little note from the outfit’s Affiliate Program, pictured above, shows the Android-packing IdeaPad K1 will, unsurprisingly, debut in late June or July, with a June 28th arrival being pegged for its rumored ThinkPad tablet. What’s more, we could see a refresh of the company’s IdeaCentre nettop coming our way August 30th. Looks like this summer could be a hot one for Lenovo, but we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out.
Skype for iPad Coming this Tuesday! A Look at What It’ll Offer It’s real! Yes, Skype for iPad is coming this Tuesday. As per common sense, the first-gen iPad will support the video option on Skype for iPad, due to the absence of camera but just like the desktop version of Skype, the original iPad will still be able to receive video, despite the absence of camera. Video [...]
It’s real! Yes, Skype for iPad is coming this Tuesday. As per common sense, the first-gen iPad will support the video option on Skype for iPad, due to the absence of camera but just like the desktop version of Skype, the original iPad will still be able to receive video, despite the absence of camera. Video conferencing through Skype will be possible through both the cameras on iPad 2. The user interface for chatting isn’t quite as elegant as you’d expect for an iPad app, but rather perceptive. With smooth chats over 3G and WiFi, the app shows Contacts are on the left hand side and text messages on its opposite.
Here’s CNET’s word on the voice chat quality, who got hold of the app before the official release:
“During our preliminary tests today, we made calls over Wi-Fi to an iPhone 4 (3G) and to Skype on a desktop computer with a hard line. Wi-Fi video calling to the desktop produced the best quality on both ends, with high image resolution and video that was mostly smooth; there was only a slight delay. During a call, our friends notices almost no difference in video quality when we switched between the front- and rear-facing iPad 2 cameras; they told us that both images had sharp edges and nothing looked especially blurred.
We were also able to easily send and receive chat messages while a video call was connected, although the chat window and keyboard obscured almost the entire image, and we had to manually close the keyboard when we were done so we could see the video again, a slight inconvenience.”
As said in networking lingo, the quality of chat is reliant on the traffic congestion and the space to have data packets flow, more simply put as bandwidth; contrastingly Skype for iPad actually has a problem with the sockets being made, or simply put as connection quality.
FaceTime calls will now be more meaningful, as Skype for iPad will allow video calls over WiFi and 3G, despite the fact that iOS 5 stable release (non-developer version) will itself have FaceTime support for iPad over 3G networks.
More that you’ll have in Skype for iPad is a revamped contacts page that resembles the album view of iTunes. Unsurprisingly, Skype Out credits are supported by the app but the credits need to be bought from outside the app.
So Tuesday it is, and Skype for iPad will find a home in the iTunes App Store.
While this slick little HTML5 audio player might not pack all of the features of your favorite desktop media application, it’s still a very cool demonstration of what a Web app can do with access to local resources — like MP3 and OGG files.
Just fire up http://antimatter15.github.com/player/player.html in your HTML5-compatible browser and browse to the topmost folder in your music library. The app will quickly build an index of all your tunes and let you start listening right inside your Web browser. Click on the filter library text, and you can enter a search string — results load as you type.
There’s a volume control, shuffle mode, play/pause control, and you can click and drag to skip forward or rewind during playback. As OMG! Ubuntu points out, you can even save the app to your hard drive and run it offline, which is pretty darn cool.
Not all browsers are equal when it comes to HTML5 implementation, of course. We found that Chrome worked the best, and Firefox was OK. It’s also worth noting that this music player comes from the same developer that created one of our favorite restartless Firefox 4 add-ons, drag2up.
Apple still tweaking Notification Center UI ahead of iOS 5 launch There have been some significant UI changes to Notification Center in iOS 5 beta 2, specifically, the way notifications are handled on the Lock Screen. In beta 1, notifications would simply appear as line items, with new notifications stacking as new line items, one after the other. In beta 2, if a single notification comes [...]
There have been some significant UI changes to Notification Center in iOS 5 beta 2, specifically, the way notifications are handled on the Lock Screen. In beta 1, notifications would simply appear as line items, with new notifications stacking as new line items, one after the other. In beta 2, if a single notification comes in, it now gets its own, newly styled popup.
In both cases, you could and can drag the associated app icon to unlock and be taken directly to the app, only the appearance of the first notification has changed. I addition, Apple has added a visible “window shade” UI element, complete with a little “gripper” handle, to the lock screen, above the single notification, so you can pull down the full list of recent notifications.
For alarms, the change is even more striking, as the addition of the “snooze” button seemed bitsy in the beta 1 UI but is now big and bold in the beta 2 UI (see above).
The most interesting part of this is that Apple is still working on, or experimenting with, the notifications user experience during the beta process. During previous iOS releases, the user experience for cut, copy, and paste, and for the multitasking fast app switcher and folders remained relatively unchanged during the beta process. (Though significant changes were made prior to the beta period, when it was still internal to Apple).
We know Apple hired the father of webOS notifications over a year ago, but also hired the developer of Jailbreak notifications just prior to the iOS 5 beta release. What, if any, impact that might be having on the betas is unknown, but it’s tremendous to actually “see” Apple’s design iterations on such a major new feature release.
One of the problems with laptops is their tendency to overheat, which can damage internal components. Their small size doesn?t allow a lot of venting nor big cooling fans to keep down heat. And their portability often means that people are using them places that can block the cooling vents ? like on laps or [...]
The week in iPad Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review. And hey! [...]
Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.
And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPad Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us at TiPb.com/live and follow along!
Apple today previewed iOS 5, the latest version of the world?s most advanced mobile operating system, with over 200 new features that will be available as a free software update to iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch users this fall. New iOS 5 features include: Notification Center, an innovative way to easily view and manage notifications [...]
Color for iPhone Lets you See Photos You Didn’t Take Let’s say you are at a party and start snapping away. You are bound to miss some pics. Or if you are at a concert and take only pics only from where you are seated, your collection would be limited. Now what if 10-20 of your friends took and shared the pics from the same [...]
Let’s say you are at a party and start snapping away. You are bound to miss some pics. Or if you are at a concert and take only pics only from where you are seated, your collection would be limited.
Now what if 10-20 of your friends took and shared the pics from the same occasion? You would have quite a collection of pics to share and view. That’s just the concept for Color, the app that lets you share pics with people that are around you.
Color uses your phone’s location and posts pictures you take along with comments and sends them as a “feed” to others around you so that then can view, like, and comment on. You can also share the photos via Twitter, Facebook, Email, and sms.
This app had quite a shaky start but after some revamping it looks like its up and running.
In theory, I think it’s a pretty good idea if you enjoy snapping pics on your iphone. In practice, I would be freaking careful about letting kids use them in case some perverts decide to have an open house and sends pictures of his/her body to be view by those around. I didn’t see anything to help me block nor manage the contacts so these dangers are a great possibility.
Color also has some quirky user-interface that I don’t understand. The interface buttons are arranged by:
(1) Nearby – to see pics taken nearby
(2) Feeds – To see Feeds of Pictures taken
(3) History – History of all feeds received
(4) Inbox – Messages from people nearby
The first 3 features I found to be redundant as they replicated functions.
Anyway, I believe this App has quite a long way to go. It is a great idea and with a reported $41 million dollars raised in funding, they certainly have the ammo to get things right. Let’s hope they find their version of Mark Zuckerberg (or Mini Mark) to fix things and get this off the ground.
When I was growing up, you weren’t a kid if you didn’t have a sword. Foam, plastic, or even just a tree branch. Naama Agassi’s Branch Holder is an elegant reminder of that time when you could really be the neighborhood samurai. More »
Skype for iPad Coming this Tuesday! A Look at What It’ll Offer It’s real! Yes, Skype for iPad is coming this Tuesday. As per common sense, the first-gen iPad will support the video option on Skype for iPad, due to the absence of camera but just like the desktop version of Skype, the original iPad will still be able to receive video, despite the absence of camera. Video [...]
It’s real! Yes, Skype for iPad is coming this Tuesday. As per common sense, the first-gen iPad will support the video option on Skype for iPad, due to the absence of camera but just like the desktop version of Skype, the original iPad will still be able to receive video, despite the absence of camera. Video conferencing through Skype will be possible through both the cameras on iPad 2. The user interface for chatting isn’t quite as elegant as you’d expect for an iPad app, but rather perceptive. With smooth chats over 3G and WiFi, the app shows Contacts are on the left hand side and text messages on its opposite.
Here’s CNET’s word on the voice chat quality, who got hold of the app before the official release:
“During our preliminary tests today, we made calls over Wi-Fi to an iPhone 4 (3G) and to Skype on a desktop computer with a hard line. Wi-Fi video calling to the desktop produced the best quality on both ends, with high image resolution and video that was mostly smooth; there was only a slight delay. During a call, our friends notices almost no difference in video quality when we switched between the front- and rear-facing iPad 2 cameras; they told us that both images had sharp edges and nothing looked especially blurred.
We were also able to easily send and receive chat messages while a video call was connected, although the chat window and keyboard obscured almost the entire image, and we had to manually close the keyboard when we were done so we could see the video again, a slight inconvenience.”
As said in networking lingo, the quality of chat is reliant on the traffic congestion and the space to have data packets flow, more simply put as bandwidth; contrastingly Skype for iPad actually has a problem with the sockets being made, or simply put as connection quality.
FaceTime calls will now be more meaningful, as Skype for iPad will allow video calls over WiFi and 3G, despite the fact that iOS 5 stable release (non-developer version) will itself have FaceTime support for iPad over 3G networks.
More that you’ll have in Skype for iPad is a revamped contacts page that resembles the album view of iTunes. Unsurprisingly, Skype Out credits are supported by the app but the credits need to be bought from outside the app.
So Tuesday it is, and Skype for iPad will find a home in the iTunes App Store.
Motorola Atrix bootloader unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II Review (Vodafone network) LG Optimus 3D Review HTC Evo 4G Batteries, Cradles and Cases Video tour of the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900! Check out AV by AIM – Free video chat on your BlackBerry PlayBook Is it RIMAGEDDON? RIM Co-CEOs lose billionaire status while shareholder resolution seeks [...]
The week in iPad Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review. And hey! [...]
Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.
And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPad Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us at TiPb.com/live and follow along!
Dude! Get off the tracks! What the hell are you thinking—oh, I see what you did there. You cheeky, talented bastard! [YouTube via Doobybrain via Neatorama] More »
LulzSec leaks shows AT&T considered speed and session-based pricing for LTE? LulzSec dumped one last load of AT&T documents on the internet, which though outdated and never meant for public consumption, does give some insight into some of the things they were at least considering — like speed and session-based pricing for their upcoming LTE network. But one interesting tidbit is AT&T’s apparent plan to market [...]
LulzSec dumped one last load of AT&T documents on the internet, which though outdated and never meant for public consumption, does give some insight into some of the things they were at least considering — like speed and session-based pricing for their upcoming LTE network.
But one interesting tidbit is AT&T’s apparent plan to market LTE data with various speed tiers, which it’s calling “Speed Based Pricing.” Verizon’s about to switch to tiered pricing for its data plans (3G and 4G), but that’s based on total consumption, not speed. The basic idea would be pay more, and you get faster LTE speeds. Not exactly a new premise — cable companies have been doing this for Internet access for a while now, but it’d be an interesting change in the mobile space.
You could also pay for a session, or temporary speed boost if you needed it. Again, this is something broadband providers have been doing for a while.
Of course, we probably won’t get our hands on LTE until iPhone 6 in 2012, but it’s still interesting to see where the industry might be by then. Any of you have an interest in speed or session based pricing, or are data caps complicated enough already?
Back when I was a kid, I used to love crafting ornate puzzle boxes out of Lego. There would be just one way to open the box, by carefully shifting and rotating a bunch of pieces. Well, either that, or breaking the box in frustration.
Interlocked takes that spirit and turns it into a beautiful Flash game. It’s a good thing the soundtrack is soothing, because the game itself can get pretty frustrating.
At the start of each level, you’re presented with a box built out of blocks in different colors. You can click and drag the mouse to rotate the box any which way. Once you decide you want to shift a part of the box, hit SPACE to switch into “move” mode. You can then click any part of the box and drag it. Of course, you can only move a part as long as nothing is in its way. So it becomes a matter of understanding how the box is built, and what parts you need to move around so you could eventually take the box apart.
It’s a tricky, difficult game, but it’s a great brain teaser — and definitely a keeper.
Zero-emissions. Smooth lines right out of Tron: Legacy. Scenic, rendered vistas. Yup, sounds like a design firm’s taken a crack at the future of camping. Let’s have a peek. More »
Color for iPhone Lets you See Photos You Didn’t Take Let’s say you are at a party and start snapping away. You are bound to miss some pics. Or if you are at a concert and take only pics only from where you are seated, your collection would be limited. Now what if 10-20 of your friends took and shared the pics from the same [...]
Let’s say you are at a party and start snapping away. You are bound to miss some pics. Or if you are at a concert and take only pics only from where you are seated, your collection would be limited.
Now what if 10-20 of your friends took and shared the pics from the same occasion? You would have quite a collection of pics to share and view. That’s just the concept for Color, the app that lets you share pics with people that are around you.
Color uses your phone’s location and posts pictures you take along with comments and sends them as a “feed” to others around you so that then can view, like, and comment on. You can also share the photos via Twitter, Facebook, Email, and sms.
This app had quite a shaky start but after some revamping it looks like its up and running.
In theory, I think it’s a pretty good idea if you enjoy snapping pics on your iphone. In practice, I would be freaking careful about letting kids use them in case some perverts decide to have an open house and sends pictures of his/her body to be view by those around. I didn’t see anything to help me block nor manage the contacts so these dangers are a great possibility.
Color also has some quirky user-interface that I don’t understand. The interface buttons are arranged by:
(1) Nearby – to see pics taken nearby
(2) Feeds – To see Feeds of Pictures taken
(3) History – History of all feeds received
(4) Inbox – Messages from people nearby
The first 3 features I found to be redundant as they replicated functions.
Anyway, I believe this App has quite a long way to go. It is a great idea and with a reported $41 million dollars raised in funding, they certainly have the ammo to get things right. Let’s hope they find their version of Mark Zuckerberg (or Mini Mark) to fix things and get this off the ground.
Nokia just gave us a look at their new N9 running MeeGo. It looks great, except that it’s dead on arrival. But just in case you were unsure about Nokia’s future plans, CEO Stephen Elop basically confirmed it’s all over. More »
Welcome to the new TiPb Forums! As most of our TiPb Forums regulars probably noticed, we’ve been moving things around on a fairly massive scale lately. Basically, we’re going from a nice home in the burbs to a big party house in the hills. That’s because you deserve more — more space to play and more features to play with. We’ve [...]
As most of our TiPb Forums regulars probably noticed, we’ve been moving things around on a fairly massive scale lately. Basically, we’re going from a nice home in the burbs to a big party house in the hills. That’s because you deserve more — more space to play and more features to play with.
First of all we’re bringing things more in line with the other Smartphone Experts communities. Many of you use multiple platforms and several devices now and as you move through our network we want you to feel at home no matter which site you’re on. That means you’ll see the same types of device forums on TiPb now that you’ve always enjoyed on Android Central, CrackBerry.com, PreCentral.net, etc.
It also means, like any move to bigger digs, some of the rooms will be a little empty for a while. We can only stretch the furniture so far! We’d love you to help us with the decor, though, so jump in, start some threads, and get posting. There will be some great contests coming up, and it just might be a good idea to keep busy now… hint. hint.
New features are also coming, along with a fresh coat of paint. Again, we’ve got a lot of great new stuff in the pipeline and we can’t wait to show it to you.
Huge thanks to the SPE team, Kevin, Tom, Marcus, Steph, and Cory, and to Jeremy and the TiPb Forum mods for all the help, front and back of house. Jeremy is going to introduce some of the new forums, features, and topics to you in the coming weeks, but for now, head on over to the all new, all awesome TiPb Forums and let us know what you think.
Well, what do we have here? From the looks of it, we’ve got ourselves launch dates for a slate of new Lenovo tablets. A little note from the outfit’s Affiliate Program, pictured above, shows the Android-packing IdeaPad K1 will, unsurprisingly, debut in late June or July, with a June 28th arrival being pegged for its rumored ThinkPad tablet. What’s more, we could see a refresh of the company’s IdeaCentre nettop coming our way August 30th. Looks like this summer could be a hot one for Lenovo, but we’ll just have to wait and see how things pan out.
Got a brand-new Sprint EVO 3D? You’re hardly alone. Our forums are the best place to find all the tips and tricks — from readers like you! Here are but a few you should check out.
By Ryan Paul, Ars Technica
Nokia has finally announced the long-anticipated N9 handset, the culmination of Nokia’s five-step plan to deliver a mainstream Linux-based smartphone. The N9 is an impressively engineered device that is matched with a sophisticated touch-oriented interface and a powerful software stack with open source underpinnings. It’s a worthy successor of the developer-centric [...]
While some folks swoon over HTC Sense, there is a good amount of people out there who just simply do not like it. This is yet another one of those great things about the Android platform — if you don’t like something, chances are someone will make a build of it that you will like. Such is the case for the HTC Thunderbolt this time around.
Das BAMF being one of the most popular ROMs for the Thunderbolt has now been stripped of most of its HTC Sense components and we’re left with BAMF GingerBolt Sense 3.0 stripped that makes use of the MR2.5 Gingerbread radio and other nice things such as the Das Bamf Toolkit. The developer behind this, TMZ_Andrew, has posted the nitty gritty details in the Android Central forums so if you’re looking to go senseless on your Thunderbolt you’ll certainly want to check it out and be sure to leave some feedback — it is a beta though so keep that in mind.
What if you lived in an anti-gravity house? Or, better yet, what if your house somehow rotated on an axis? The architects at Bureau Spectacular tried to design a room with that in mind. More »
Apps are fun. They are what keep our devices in our hands far longer then they should be, and allow us to do lots of different things while on the go. Unfortunately finding the perfect app is not always easy, but that’s where we step in and help you all out. So, let’s hit the break and take a look at some of our favorites from this week.
If you’re a baseball fanatic, the MLB At Bat app is a must-have. It’s packed with live updates, scores, stats, news, and videos — and right now there’s another great reason to pick up At Bat. Pony up for At Bat and you’ll get to enjoy MLB.tv free for the entire month of April.
The service streams games in HD to just about any connected device you can imagine, from iPhone to PS3, and even Roku boxes and LG Internet-ready televisions. The basic subscription will set you back $99 for the season, and a Premium sub is an extra $20 (and adds DVR functionality, multi-game PIP, and more).
MLB At Bat is available for Android and iOS and both apps run to $14.99 US.
The History Channel worked with Bottle Rocket Apps to bring the history of the American Civil War to the iPad. Daily updates let you watch the war unfold day by day. You’ll explore photo galleries; newspaper articles; personal letters and diary entries from 15 people (including Abraham Lincoln and Horatio Nelson Taft); authentic period maps; [...]
Welcome to the new TiPb Forums! As most of our TiPb Forums regulars probably noticed, we’ve been moving things around on a fairly massive scale lately. Basically, we’re going from a nice home in the burbs to a big party house in the hills. That’s because you deserve more — more space to play and more features to play with. We’ve [...]
As most of our TiPb Forums regulars probably noticed, we’ve been moving things around on a fairly massive scale lately. Basically, we’re going from a nice home in the burbs to a big party house in the hills. That’s because you deserve more — more space to play and more features to play with.
First of all we’re bringing things more in line with the other Smartphone Experts communities. Many of you use multiple platforms and several devices now and as you move through our network we want you to feel at home no matter which site you’re on. That means you’ll see the same types of device forums on TiPb now that you’ve always enjoyed on Android Central, CrackBerry.com, PreCentral.net, etc.
It also means, like any move to bigger digs, some of the rooms will be a little empty for a while. We can only stretch the furniture so far! We’d love you to help us with the decor, though, so jump in, start some threads, and get posting. There will be some great contests coming up, and it just might be a good idea to keep busy now… hint. hint.
New features are also coming, along with a fresh coat of paint. Again, we’ve got a lot of great new stuff in the pipeline and we can’t wait to show it to you.
Huge thanks to the SPE team, Kevin, Tom, Marcus, Steph, and Cory, and to Jeremy and the TiPb Forum mods for all the help, front and back of house. Jeremy is going to introduce some of the new forums, features, and topics to you in the coming weeks, but for now, head on over to the all new, all awesome TiPb Forums and let us know what you think.
Evernote, the popular multi-platform ‘digital memory’ app, has done some serious re-tooling of its Web interface. In addition to a more polished UI that more closely mirrors the look of Evernote on the desktop, the update brings features like notebook stacks and snippet view to the Web.
Auto-saving is now enabled as well, and you can select multiple items by holding down the Cmd or Ctrl key on your Mac or Windows keyboard. If you’ve got items stored in your notebooks that you want to share with friends or co-workers, Evernote has improved that process, too. You can quickly post an item to Facebook, share it via email, or generate a Web sharing link to paste into an IM conversation or status update.
Apps are fun. They are what keep our devices in our hands far longer then they should be, and allow us to do lots of different things while on the go. Unfortunately finding the perfect app is not always easy, but that’s where we step in and help you all out. So, let’s hit the break and take a look at some of our favorites from this week.
A good mobile application is a fine balance between simplicity and functionality. You’re using it on the go, so you don’t have a lot of time to sit there and fumble with the phone to figure it all out. But you also need it to be powerful enough to let you do whatever it is you’re trying to get done.
Hello Expense is one mobile app that gets it right. It’s an expense tracker that lets you use your Android-powered phone to quickly log the money you spend and then analyze it and see where it all went.
I recently had the chance to use it in a real-life situation – a road trip that took a few days and involved quite a few expenses. Logging each expense took seconds, and at the end of each day I could get a great overview of how much money I spent on each category so far.
Categories and tags are user-configurable; the app also sports its own number pad to make number entry easy, regardless of what keyboard you’re using.
Last week, I wrote a post about the 
Microsoft, citing Google’s tyrannical 95% share of the European search market, has 
The functionality of iOS devices keeps getting better with the increasing number of apps. The amount of things that can be done with a single tiny device never fails to amaze us. Although there are countless apps available for all the iOS devices, but jailbreaking takes it to the extreme. Jailbroken iOS devices are much more customizable as compared to the locked ones. They give us added control along with great affordability.
Wacom’s newly released Bamboo Paper app lets iPad users take notes and draw doodles whose primary function is to act as a conventional real life notepad that contains your writing glyphs and doodles.
A jailbreak of iOS 4.3.1 is now possible with both PwnageTool on Mac, and Sn0wbreeze on Windows. RedmondPie — who else? — has some handy guides that you can follow for 
Select 
A new 
I often say that the iPhone and the iPad are near-flawless devices. While just about everything else works perfectly, I’ve never been at peace with the in-built auto-correction feature. I don’t want to turn it off as it hampers my productivity. I hate it at times when it pops up some ridiculous auto correct options. Therefore, I’ve been looking for a solution which would let me customize the auto-correct feature as per my needs. I recently stumbled upon the 
It’s real! Yes, Skype for iPad is coming this Tuesday. As per common sense, the first-gen iPad will support the video option on Skype for iPad, due to the absence of camera but just like the desktop version of Skype, the original iPad will still be able to receive video, despite the absence of camera. Video conferencing through Skype will be possible through both the cameras on iPad 2. The user interface for chatting isn’t quite as elegant as you’d expect for an iPad app, but rather perceptive. With smooth chats over 3G and WiFi, the app shows Contacts are on the left hand side and text messages on its opposite.
Here’s 
Let’s say you are at a party and start snapping away. You are bound to miss some pics. Or if you are at a concert and take only pics only from where you are seated, your collection would be limited.
