It’s an ugly little mutant, like a Courier screwed an EeePC and Kindle. The e-Ink screen’s 9.7 inches—same as the Kindle DX—and readers ePub and PDF files. It’ll let you take notes with stylus, or tap them out on a keyboard. On the Android side, which will apparently let you run full Android apps, you’ve got a 10.1-inch, 1024×600 screen, which you can use to look at images from books (in full color?). Like any good anything that does everything, it also records video and audio. For wireless, it’s got Wi-Fi and optional 3G, along with Bluetooth for external keyboards.

Admittedly, I kind of like the idea of a reader I can use to browse the internet too, but I just can’t do it on something this hideous. And, I really can’t abide stupid capitalisation patterns, like eDGe. It’s $US500, if you can. [Entourage via Cnet]]

Tipsters Brendan and Ryan both alerted me to the fact that their phones (an iPhone and a Blackberry), when roaming on Voda’s 2G network, were telling them they were on EDGE rather than GPRS speeds. When I contacted Vodafone for confirmation, they gave me this response:

“Vodafone is currently upgrading its 3G network to reach areas covering 94 per cent of the Australian population, due for completion by Monday, 31 August 2009.

Vodafone’s regional 2G network will remain active and will switch from GPRS to EDGE technology, as part of the upgrade.”

So not only do Voda customers get a free boost to a 3G network, but when they roam onto Voda’s 2G network, they’ll get EDGE data speeds? I think I’ve found my next Aussie Telco…

[Thanks Brandon and Ryan!]

The problem, of course, is that monthly fees will most likely be part of the deal—monthly fees that many GPS users are probably not willing to pay. Still, the nuvi 1690 appears to be on its way, for better or worse—although pricing and a release date have yet to be announced. [Electronista]

•Turn your outgoing calls into incoming calls using the Incoming! desktop application along with the iPhone application.
•Depending on your phone plan, you can eliminate long distance charges and daytime minute fees.
•Make your own visual favourites list for fast dialing.
•Easily access contacts from your phone’s address book.
•Conference calling supports up to nine callers.
•Supports international calling.
•This app also works with an iTouch by routing the incoming call to a nearby phone.

I have to admit, that sounds pretty awesome if it works properly. You can check it out for yourself in the App Store right now for $US5. [TerryDemco and iTunes]

New iPhone Application Allows You to Use Skype Over 3G and Edge Networks

Users can harness the power of Skype without the WiFi VoIP restrictions by turning every call into and incoming call.

MIAMI, FL – June 16, 2009 – Terry Demco, developer of Apple iPhone/iTouch applications, today announces the release of his newest app, Incoming! for Skype. With Incoming!, every call becomes an incoming call with the assistance of a partner application that’s downloaded onto the users main computer. By using a helper app on a computer that’s connected to the internet, it allows Skype to work on the 3G or Edge network, thus eliminating VoIP restrictions. Incoming! is now available in all iTunes stores around the world for $US4.99 US. More information can be found at www.terrydemco.com.

Just the facts:

* Turn your outgoing calls into incoming calls using the Incoming! desktop application along with the iPhone application.
* Depending on your phone plan, you can eliminate long distance charges and daytime minute fees.
* Make your own visual favourites list for fast dialing.
* Easily access contacts from your phone’s address book.
* Conference calling supports up to nine callers.
* Supports international calling.
* This app also works with an iTouch by routing the incoming call to a nearby phone

Requirements:

* Mac OS X 10.5 or Vista
* Skype version 2.8 (Mac) or Skype version 4.0 (PC) on your main computer
* Current SkypeOut account
* Main computer must have internet connection

The Sectera Edge, a brick of a smartphone with the styling of a five-year-old Palm Treo, is the only device of its type to be approved by the NSA. But it’s not just a super-secure BlackBerry replacement: the Edge has two distinct “modes,” normal and secure, and the phone toggles between them with the press of a button. In secure mode, it uses powerful encryption and constant monitoring to keep the data safe, while in normal mode, the phone functions pretty much like a typical smartphone with the same commercial encryption we normals are stuck with. I especially like the colour themes signifying the difference: bright red means top-secret, just like in the movies.

Of course, nobody has confirmed that the Sectera Edge is going to be used by President Obama, but it will certainly be used by high-ranking members of the Department of Defence and others who need its functionality. The Edge costs $US3,350, although it doesn’t seem likely that they’re available to purchase even if somebody was inclined to.

No word yet on the speed-dial number for the Kremlin. [YouTube]

The chromeless Edge, vibration-countering Shaking Web, privacy-inclined Incognito and enhanced-tab WebMate browsers all claim functionality that you can’t get with Mobile Safari, but they’re all based on Safari’s version of WebKit. In a sense, they’re like browser extensions, but which can only run one at a time and as completely separate apps.

This isn’t an entirely new concept, as many iPhone apps already call on Safari’s rendering engine (the NYT, AP and USAToday apps, the name a few) to display content. The difference now is that these browsers are marketed as browsers, and could serve as total replacements for the stock app.

The approvals do represent some leniency in Apple’s app approval policies, but don’t necessarily mean that the company is moving any closer to approving browsers based on a different engine, namely Opera Mobile and Firefox. Assuming these approvals hold, though, we could soon see a huge expansion of Mobile Safari’s capabilities, albeit through awkward, redundant copies of the app. [MacRumors]

EDGE/2G was previously using the 850 MHz band, which compared to the new 1900 MHz offered superior coverage, especially indoors. The switch, as confirmed by AT&T sources, is designed to boost the network’s 3G coverage, but that leaves many users of previously functioning phones, including the original iPhone, with worse service, especially in rural areas. An AT&T PR representative, as well as several customer service reps, offered the same solution: buy a new 3G phone, at the customer’s expense.

AT&T representative Mark Siegel denied that AT&T is forcing customers to upgrade operational phones to 3G, but this all amounts to a definite push, intentional or not. Customers who have recently purchased EDGE/2G phones may now find their phone unable to get adequate service in areas previously covered.

As much as we love the push for better, faster networks, it shouldn’t have to come at the expense of those with last-generation phones.
[I disagree. If it takes hurting 2G networks to speed up 3G, so be it. — Blam]
[OFB]

AT&T was calling me to set up an interview with their CTO, but all I could hear was garbled noise on my AT&T iPhone. “I can’t really hear you!” I shouted, as if volume would clear the channel. It’s always been like this, in my home in San Francisco.

While the howls of iPhone 3G reception issues get louder and louder, I’ve always wondered if it was the network’s fault, as some Swedish scientists and journalists have recently suggested. Maybe it’s just new AT&T customers making the bulk of the noise. From my experience, the phone isn’t blameless, but the network is a major part of the issue.