Tag Archive

Spiderpodium iPhone Holder Looks Creepy

We’ve already seen many different cradles for Apple’s iPhone, but you have to admit that the Spiderpodium does seem to stand out from the others, not least because it has eight bendable spider-like legs. You’ll be able to bend the legs to hold up your iPhone on various surfaces, probably even the handlebars of your bike, not that we’re advocating you fiddle with your iPhone while riding it. The Spiderpodium is currently up for preorder for £14.99 ($23 USD) and it will be available on March 29th.

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Replace Your Dead iPad If The Battery Dies For $99

Here’s something rather interesting regarding Apple’s iPad. Normally if your iPhone’s battery dies and needs a replacement, Apple will service the device for a fee, meaning it will probably just swap in a new battery for you. But according to the latest FAQ page from Apple regarding the iPad, it seems that it’s offering to replace your iPad for a service fee ($99) in the event that your iPad battery decides to kick the bucket. It’s hard to tell if this is a typo or a serious deal, but there are certainly pros and cons to your iPad being replaced for $99, not to mention you’ll almost certainly be getting a refurbished unit. If your iPad battery died, and you had to pay $99, would you rather Apple changed the battery, letting you keep your sentimental iPad, or would you be happier with a “new” refurbished unit?

Apple iPad battery FAQ.

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New Lithium-sulfur Batteries From The Folks At Stanford

All the coolest gadgets in the market probably have a common problem – battery life. With plenty of external batteries being created to sustain your iPhone when used in an extended trip, it’s obvious that battery technology is lagging behind. If the new lithium-sulfur technology developed by the folks at Stanford becomes mature, we might just have a solution to our battery woes. This new technology is apparently safer, and more importantly (actually safety is probably more important); it currently achieves 80 percent more capacity than lithium-ion batteries. The downside is that it’s still far from becoming a mass market product, as the charge cycles of just 40-50 times compared to the 300-500 times of lithium-ion batteries aren’t anything to shout about. Hopefully they manage to tweak it and we’ll see a significant boost in battery life in all our devices sooner rather than later.

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TomTom iPhone app hits 1.3, gains real-time traffic and Google local search

Here lately, Navigon has been crushing it on the iPhone GPS front. Every couple of weeks, it seems that MobileNavigator is getting yet another fantastic update, all while TomTom’s lackluster offering hangs back in the land of complacency. Thankfully for us all, the outfit has just pushed out the v1.3 update, which adds real-time traffic (an unfortunate $19.99 add-on), Google local search, updated roadways, automatic music fading between text-to-speech instructions and the ability to add locations from other apps and websites. We’d still recommend Navigon’s software if you’re looking to buy into iPhone GPS for the first time, but this is certainly a boon for those already locked into the TomTom alternative.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

TomTom iPhone app hits 1.3, gains real-time traffic and Google local search originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dead iPad battery? Never mind replacing it, Apple just sends another iPad for $99

Whoa, Nelly! Isn’t this something? Apple has just posted details on its iPad battery replacement service, which is really not a battery replacement service at all. Check out the company’s opening line:

“If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will replace your iPad for a service fee.”

Now, let’s compare that to the verbiage found in the iPhone’s battery replacement program details:

“If your iPhone requires service only because the battery’s ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple will service your iPhone for a service fee.”

We can see the puzzled look on your face from here, and we’re sharing in the same disbelief. Apple is actually saying that it won’t bother cracking open your withered iPad, replacing the battery and sending it back your way; instead, you’ll pay $105.95 (including shipping) for a completely different iPad, which certainly has its pros and cons. On one hand, you’re getting a new (or potentially refurbished, actually) iPad in around “one week,” but on the other, you’ll be waving goodbye to every morsel of personal data on the device that you send in — unless you backup beforehand, of course. Here’s Apple’s take on answering “will the data on my iPad be preserved?”

“No. You will receive a replacement iPad that will not contain any of your personal data. Before you submit your iPad for service, it is important to sync your iPad with iTunes to back up your contacts, calendars, email account settings, bookmarks, apps, etc. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information when servicing your iPad.”

Lovely, don’tcha think? Head on past the break for the full text.

[Thanks, David]

Continue reading Dead iPad battery? Never mind replacing it, Apple just sends another iPad for $99

Dead iPad battery? Never mind replacing it, Apple just sends another iPad for $99 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Diamond iPad: You Knew It Was Coming

Considering the trend of cramming diamonds into Apple products, nobody should be surprised to see a Diamond iPad show up on the Internet, much less from Goldstriker, the company which came up with the gold-plated iPod nano and Diamond iPhone 3G. This $19,999 iPad sports a diamond studded frame featuring 11.43 carats of diamonds, hand-set in a micro-pave styling. You’re currently able to place your order online to reserve one, so there’s nothing but your wallet and common sense to stop you from placing an order now.

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German student shows off camera-based input on an iPhone

Continue reading German student shows off camera-based input on an iPhone

German student shows off camera-based input on an iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pink Floyd only wants you to download their entire albums, not individual songs

There was an interesting debate on today’s Ron and Fez that speaks to a subject we’ve been whinging about for some time now: digital delivery of content, specifically of music. Pink Floyd has won a court ruling that will put an end to places like iTunes selling its songs individually. The band feels that their music can only truly be appreciated in the album format, from start to finish, and it never liked people being able to pick and choose what songs they wanted to download.

Wanna read Kindle books on your iPad? Of course you do~! UPDATE

All the Apple marks are excited about the iPad. Not me, but whatever. What I am excited about, though, is seeing consumers use the items they’ve bought in the manner of their choosing. Say you’ve bought a bunch of books from the Amazon Kindle store. (Don’t tell Devin!) Those books are only “supposed” to work with the Kindle and the various Kindle readers, but with a bit of work you can read them wherever you want—yes, including on your iPad.

The Engadget Show: Inside chiptunes and 8-bit visuals

Greetings humans! If you’ve seen The Engadget Show, then you’ve been privy to some pretty incredible performances by a group of musicians and artists who eschew familiar instruments in exchange for hacked and modded handheld gaming devices. We grabbed our cameras and got a brief look at the history of the chiptunes movement, the difference between Game Boy music and music from Game Boys, and most importantly, how these artists and visualists make it all happen. Kick back and take a look at the segment (featuring the likes of Glomag, Paris, and Outpt) — you’ll be glad you did!

Special guests: Glomag, Paris, and Outpt
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm
Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger
Edited by: Michael Slavens
Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec

Download the Show: The Engadget Show Segment – 005 (HD) / The Engadget Show Segment – 005 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted)

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
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Continue reading The Engadget Show: Inside chiptunes and 8-bit visuals

The Engadget Show: Inside chiptunes and 8-bit visuals originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FCC comes through with a Consumer Broadband Test app for iPhone, Android and the home

We talk about the FCC a lot here, but usually the ways ye olde Commission affects our lives are indirect. A little extra spectrum here, a nice leaked image there, that kind of thing. Not this time, though, as the FCC is getting involved directly with its own Consumer Broadband Test app, designed to probe network latencies and download speeds on your home connection or mobile device. Part of the hallowed National Broadband Plan, this will furnish the FCC will useful data to show the discrepancy between advertised and real world broadband speeds, and will also — more importantly perhaps — serve as a neat way for users to directly compare network performance in particular areas. It’s available on the App Market and App Store right now, with versions for other operating systems coming up, so why not get with the program and give it a test drive?

FCC comes through with a Consumer Broadband Test app for iPhone, Android and the home originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad mute switch magicked into a ’screen rotation lock’ overnight, a flurry of other tidbits emerge

Apple’s pushing out a few more scraps of info about the iPad in conjunction with the launch of pre-orders. One of the quirkier details is that what was previously known as the mute switch on the iPad — similar to the one on the iPhone — is now known as the “screen rotation lock” on Apple’s website. We suppose it makes more sense for this sort of device, both due to the “hold it any way you feel like” marketing push, and since it’s less likely to start ringing in the middle of a Remember Me screening than your iPhone is. In other news, it’s been confirmed that iBooks will be able to sync free (non-DRM’d) ePub titles in from iTunes, which is good news for people who want to use an existing ePub stash of theirs with Apple’s fancy page-flipping interface. Also on the books front, it was clarified today that the iPad can indeed use VoiceOver screen-reading for reading pages of books out loud — we knew the screen reading tech was on the iPad, but now it sounds as if it will be more directly integrated into iBooks. Apple also clarified today that folks who sign up for the 250MB iPad data plan will receive pop-up alerts when they’re running short on data, similar to battery warnings, at the 20 percent, 10 percent and zero marks. There’s an account management pane that lets you sign up for or cancel service, add another 250MB, or swap to an unlimited plan. But wait, there’s more! Apple’s also confirming a few more iPhone OS 3.2 features, like the addition of Google’s “Terrain” view in maps and a slightly revamped iPod app UI. 3.2 also brings some nice video tweaks like support for additional formats (AVI and MJPEG) and native uploads to Facebook — further boosting the iPad’s external camera friendliness.

iPad mute switch magicked into a ’screen rotation lock’ overnight, a flurry of other tidbits emerge originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Macworld, iLounge, AppleInsider  |  Apple  | Email this | Comments