Phones
iPhone Firmware Drops Tomorrow, Apple Confirms
Posted by Charlie White at 11:50 PM on November 8, 2007
If you been scampering about with all kinds of jailbroken applications on your iPhone, the party will be over tomorrow when Apple releases its 1.1.2 iPhone firmware update. At first we heard it was going to be included on the new European iPhone, but now word has it that Apple has confirmed that the 1.1.2 firmware will be released internationally via iTunes tomorrow (November 9th).
Although Apple wasn't confirming that compatibility with unauthorized applications and unlocked iPhones will be broken, it looks like the situation will be similar to what happened last time the company released a firmware update with version 1.1.1. This new update won't bring much new stuff, except support for more languages and access to The Cloud Wi-Fi hotspots for UK users. And so another round of hacking on the iPhone begins, all on the sly until the eagerly awaited SDK hits in February. [Pocket Lint]

Billed as "promotional pricing" for the holiday season, TiVo is now offering pay-as-you-go service for $12.95 to everybody, not just people planning to keep it for three years. That's a savings of $4 per month. Also 1-year prepay is now $129, down from $179, and 2-year prepay is $249, down from $279. Three years up front is still $299. The new multi-service deal is $9.95/month or $99/year.
AMD's launching "the world's first Stream GPU with double-precision floating point technology," the FireStream 9170, and the AMD FireStream SDK for Stream processors. Running a cool $2000, the 55nm chip pulls less than 150 watts of juice while pumping out 500 GFLOPS of computing power.
Tivo's been selling data about people's viewing habits—what shows and commercials they
The sort-of awaited 2.00 firmware update for the PS3, featuring remote start, customizable themes and other fancy newness is now live. If you'd like a video demo (for whatever reason) before clicking update, click
Hewlett-Packard's shifting the focus of its digital photo business from cameras to home printing and online photo services. Future cameras will still bear the HP branding, but they'll be designed and manufactured by a licensed third party. The HP-but-not camera deal should be set with the ghost producer halfway into 2008—HP will keep selling their own through the end of this year. [
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The Netrunner is a device that allows you to affix your laptop to a treadmill — and I don't think I need to tell you why this idea falls short of genius (although I will anyway). I'll admit, they had me with the ability to play DVDs. I can see how that could be useful in certain situations. But if you can surf the web using this thing, you are not working hard enough my friend. Plus, if you are interested in this, you might as well go all out with the
The concept of solar ships is nothing new, but it appears that Australia's Solarsailor may be on the brink of bringing the technology to the mainstream. Hornblower Yachts in San Francisco is in the midst of negotiations with the Coast Guard to install a Solarsailor sail on one of their commercial ferryboats. If all goes well, the boat will be operational in 2009. Solarsailor has also won contracts in Shanghai and Hong Kong for similar vessels.
This lightbulb-shaped lamp can be affixed to a wall or placed on a desk whenever you need some extra light. Plus it has a touch activated dimmer to help you navigate treacherous terrain on a late-night trip to the bathroom. May also be amusing when placed overhead to indicate that you have a bright idea. Available for $US9.50. [
So you're furiously reading all the news you can on the latest Hannah Montana game, but don't want to be found out...what do you do? If you want to protect your precious core gamer cred, my advice is the new, improved StealthSurfer, which has all the network security tools to make sure nobody finds out what you're getting into.
Manufactum, a German web retailer, has released a portable PC that is sure to delight Linux users. Weighing in around 900g, with dimensions of 180 x 112 x 48 mm, the "Manuscriptum" comes equipped with a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor, 80GB hard drive, 1920 x 1400 graphics capability and 512MB DDR 400 RAM expandable to 1024MB. The device also comes pre-loaded with Debian Linux with a KDE desktop environment, and other essential software like Firefox, Open Office and the Foxit PDF reader. Despite its diminutive size, the price is anything but. Available for around $US650. [



We've all been known to smack a fellow Wii Tennis player in the head, especially when down 40-Love, two games to zilch. DreamGear's new Soft Sports Kit has playful Nerf-like attachments that help avoid the subsequent stitches. You put your Wiimote right into a little casing, then snap on the tip of your choice, Tennis, Golf or Baseball. (What, no Boxing Gloves?) It looks a little hokey, but it might just give Adam the edge he needs to
• Rumours before UK iPhone release: British users to get bronze trim instead of silver? [
Da-Lite is taking home entertainment to ridiculous new places with a video projection screen that boasts a 184-inch diagonal (almost 4.7m). For those of you doing the math, that equates to a viewing area covering a 407cm(w) x 229cm(h) or a total viewing area of 9.3 sq m. No pricing details have been made available, but my guess is that if you are looking to pick one of these up you had best find a good financial adviser—and a decent builder that can knock down a few walls. [
Jaehyung Hong, the the same designer that developed the
In an effort to combat rampant piracy in China, Paramount and Warner Brothers have begun selling legitimate DVDs there for only $3. And these titles are not some bargain-bin Steven Segal DVDs either, rather new releases that are only two months out from their theatre debut in the US. The $3 price tag is still over twice as high as a pirated copy, but the studios hope that customers will learn the value of the legal versions. Perhaps previous trial runs proved successful. Hey, we have piracy too! When are we going to get a slice of this? [
Swedish manufacturer Doro has launched the HandlePlus 324gsm, a mobile phone they are describing as the "world's easiest" thanks to an interface that features only seven buttons. Of those seven, there are five programmable buttons, a talk button and an end-call button. That, combined with an easy to read layout, makes it a fantastic choice for the elderly, the extremely young and the severely technologically impaired. Plus, the phone is unlocked so it can be used with any GSM service provider. Available for £85.10. [
When
Bainultra is set to roll out its Euphonia waterproof headset on December 1, so you can do your best Julia Roberts impersonation by belting out the lyrics to "Kiss" in the bathtub like the red-headed actress did in "Pretty Woman." Unlike the
Looking for an HD camcorder? They're proliferating like bunnies, but is it a good time to buy one yet? Not only are there lots more HDTV camcorders on the market now than there were last year at this time, the variety of HD camcorder recording methods has expanded as well. Sure, you can record on tape, but wouldn't you really rather record to a hard drive, or better yet, a flash memory card? What about recording to DVDs, or even to Blu-ray discs? All these choices are available at prices that are oftentimes south of $US1000. Here are 10 things you need to know before you plunk down your cash.
Nothing makes zooming down a hill at 50km/h more fun like some recreational drinking on the chairlift on the way back up. The Flask Pack is a little neoprene case that'll hold your flask and keep it snug up against the back of your snowboard's bindings, allowing you to have a little nip in between increasingly erratic carves. Just look out for trees, bro. [
Get excited! There's a new firmware update heading to the PS3 in the coming days, version 2.00, and it's, well, not that mind-blowing. What can you expect? Well, you'll be able to turn on your PS3 remotely using your PSP, for one. You'll also be able to customise the theme of your XMB home screen, create music and photo playlists, and an info board that'll give you PS3-related news. There's also Trend Micro Web Security to protect from the hackers out there. Yeah, that's about it. Hit the jump for the full press release.
Reducing the price of those HD DVD players to a rock-bottom $US99 must be catching on, with 90,000 of its HD DVD sold last weekend. Most of them were those Toshiba HD-A2 players (pictured here) sold by Wal-Mart and Best Buy, locking horns in a price war, and resulting in a welcome reduction in inventory of those older models. The source "close to retailers" refused to be named so this might as well be a player count of 900k. Who knows?
Today Nokia said that in technical trials, the target of 100Mbps download speed and 50Mbps upload speed for its next-gen cellular data network "can be met", and promised initial deployment by 2010. Americans probably won't see it until later, since the 3GPP LTE (don't ask) initiative has more momentum across the Atlantic. The founding members are all Euros, though some Asian companies just joined in, including LG Electronics, NTT DoCoMo and Samsung. Still, it's grounds for excitement, since those superfast wireless data rates will get here sooner or later. (FYI: The phone pictured is Nokia's concept Aeon, and no, that's not a real 100Mbps antenna.) [
Reminding us of a tiny paper airplane with flies superglued to its wings, here's another melding of insect and machine, the Robo-Moth. This six-inch robot uses a moth's brain and eyes to get around, and wherever the moth's eyes look, that's where the robot goes. Sure, moths are plenty stupid, with brains scarcely larger than a couple of commas like this, but they can still detect motion better than anything scientists can build.
Sorry kids, but Microsoft knows that your parents are the members of the family holding the wallets. That's why they've gone and given them a big, red, NO FUN button that they can hit whenever they want in the form of the Xbox 360 Family Timer.
Something about the Wii has really lit a fire of creativity in cheap Chinese game accessory manufacturers. They just love releasing add-ons for the controller that makes it feel like the object you're supposedly using in the game, such as
We know, you didn't show up to Gizmodo today to see a pair of gloves. But sometime this winter, you are going to try to make a phone call or use your iPod with some fat-fingered glove and wish you'd paid attention. The $US30 Tec Touch gloves are meant for using your gadgets while staying warm. Composed of water-resistant nylon and warm stretch fleece, they'll work well enough to avoid blue fingers. But their claim to fame is a tiny silicon nub on the index finger that's perfect for a button press, along with a suede-like palm that'll keep your "slick" electronics out of the snow. If they can also make a vicious ice ball and pick a frosty nose, we're game. [