It is not known if the glasses will be built with transparent LCD or AMOLED displays or have an opaque screen off to one side. What is known is the glasses will only feature a screen on one side. The glasses are said to resemble Oakley Thumps and will look very much like ordinary glasses save a few buttons for control. What’s interesting is the glasses are rumored to connect directly to Google’s cloud via its own Android OS instead of piggy-backing off the users own Android Smartphone.

The move by Google into “augmented reality” is hardly a surprise as they’ve been vigorously mapping the world for over half a decade with Google Earth and Google Maps. Google labs product, Google Goggles is a natural extension of that trajectory, neatly blending internet information with real world items. Getting rid of handheld phones and moving it into the eyes line of sight is a logical next step for the information giant.

Information could be layered into the picture that the user sees creating a very natural viewing environment for location based data. This idea lines up very closely with Google’s recent push into more local search results and personalized search results based on your interests and social connections.

The first generation product is likely to be rough as Google isn’t known for chic design, but those willing to brave a fashion faux pas could be rewarded with a glimpse of the future.

The signs are all there- wearable technology is on the verge of exploding. The internets have been abuzz with rumors of Apple hiring wearable technology specialists, Google developing wearable gadgets, fitness trackers that quantify your life, track your sleep, and tell you things you never even knew about yourself abound all over!

Flexible batteries, capacitative fibers, conductive materials, and more are being announced every day. These new technologies and others are pushing the envelope on what is possible with smart clothing and wearable tech. Exciting times are ahead and we will be right there to report on it and bring you the latest and greatest news and reviews!

It’s a brave new world out there! Tablet computers and touch screens are only the start! Join us on our new adventures as we delve into the world of wearable tech and see what we can find!

But what is the surprise going to be? Could it be an iPad 3? If so, what will it look like?? What other announcement will be made? Read on for our predictions…

1. The iPad 3 will actually be the iPad Mini!

You heard it here first. Rumors of the 7″ iPad mini just refuse to die. Even after a direct denunciation by the Steve Jobs himself, we keep hearing rumors that an iPad mini is still a very real possibility. We think that the iPad 3 announcement that could be coming this Fall is indeed going to be this iPad mini we have all heard so much about.

2. iPad 3 will have an OLED Retina Display

Since the iPad mini will have a smaller screen, an OLED retina display is a much better possibility. Up until now, supplies of 7″ OLED screens have been tight, and were expected to ease up in the second half of 2011… just in time for an iPad 3 to be announced… hmmm… Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

3. iPad 3 will be able to compete with the Sony NGP

Who isn’t drooling over the specs of the soon-to-be-released Sony NGP? The power of a PS3 in the palm of your hands is almost too cool for school. Since games are by far the biggest money makers on the app store, it makes sense that Apple will want to keep pushing the envelope and keeping their devices on the top. We are predicting that the new iPad Mini will have enough power to compete on that level, as will the iPhone 5 or 6 soon thereafter.

4. Apple TV will get it’s own app store and enter the console gaming market

This isn’t exactly a revolutionary idea, we have all been calling for it ever since the Apple TV came out. With it’s incredibly low price point, compact size, and already MASSIVE store full of Apps, it makes sense that Apple would want to continue to press its advantage and bring the app store into as many houses as possible. Possibly games will be streaming just like Steam and make use of their new data center that is currently under construction.

So those are our predictions for this Fall’s “big surprise.” What do you think?

Oh, and for an additional little treat, here’s a video of everybody’s favorite tyrant before he found his “Turtleneck of Confidence +3″ terrified to be on camera and about to toss his cookies:

The new device will be thinner, lighter and will come with a faster processor, more memory and a more powerful graphics processor, said the people familiar with the matter. It will have a front-facing camera for the first time for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the new iPad’s display will be similar to the first iPad, they said.

More after the jump…

Though Apple of course declined to comment, the iPad 2 will reportedly be available through AT&T and Verizon just like the iPhone 4. If the iPad 2 screen is going to have a resolution that is similar to the original, why were people able to find assets that were double their original size? Possibly this is a bit of misinformation, or Apple was unable to secure higher resolution screens at a competitive price. There have been many reports stating that the amount of power required to run a higher resolution screen and the price tag would both be through the roof.

Also of note was that a rear camera was lacking on the iPad. Most, if not all, of the competing tablets that were announced at CES had rear facing cameras. Whether this will be a big deal or not remains to be seen. With 5MP cameras in our iPhones, I don’t see a need to have one in my tablet. But that’s just me.

No matter what, after the incredibly disappointing unveiling of the Motorola Xoom that has a $799 price tag and no wi fi support enabled unless you purchase a 1 month 3G package, the iPad 2 is just looking better and better.

Ditch Your Old iPad While There’s Still Time!

Now is the time to start ditching your old iPad if you want to get your monies worth if you plan on upgrading. Currently a used iPad with a box (you DID save your box right?) is selling for 85-90% of their original value on eBay! As soon as the new iPad 2 gets announced however, you can count on your current “antiquated” tablet to drop in value. Check out these auctions to see just how much a used iPad is selling for:

As you can see, now is the time to put your iPad up for sale on eBay or Craigslist! Or at least wait one more month before you buy the original iPad as the price will drop substantially!

You will likely remember our recent article where we saw GeoHot discussing his legal issues with Sony on Attack Of The Show. Yes, it seems that Sony has filed a temporary restraining order against the notorious hacker George Hotz a.k.a Geohot.

Apparently, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted Sony’s request for a temporary restraining order which forbids Geohot and fail0verfl0w from distributing the jailbreak for Sony’s PlayStation 3 console. Initially it was rejected over a jurisdictional issue since the case was supposedly filed in the wrong place, but once that was resolved the TRO was back on the table. In addition to no longer distributing the jailbreak, they cannot help others with jailbreaking share information found while hacking their PlayStation products. But it gets worse…

What’s even worse is that Geohot and fail0verfl0w have also been ordered to hand over to Sony’s lawyers any computers that were used to create the jailbreak.  This doesn’t necessarily mean Sony has won the case, but it’s not looking too good for the teams at this point. Of course, this won’t stop the PlayStation 3 jailbreak as it’s already being posted all over the internet by other people. With Geohot and fail0verfl0w losing some of their technology, how do you think this will affect future jailbreaking projects for both teams? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out for ourselves…

The article reports that the iPad 2 production will start at a “small ramp” which means that the production is expected to increase in the second half of the year.  Shipments are also expected to be larger than the first generation iPad which should prevent the stock shortage from last year.

The report also adds that both Foxconn and Pegatron are also part of the process of the production.

According to the source, the iPhone 5 will be handed out by production partners in May, which would then follow the annual June release of Apple iPhones.

Notice the lack of iOS 4.3b1 for the iPhone 3G and the second generation iPod Touch. Maybe Apple’s finally dropping support for those devices?

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A lot of people have already flocked to our website to try and grab the downloads. We’re not planning on uploading these, as it’s a beta, and requires the device’s UDID to be activated with a developer account. We only upload firmwares that are Golden Master builds, or betas that don’t require an activated device. If you really must have the beta (it’s just a beta…), then contact the person who has activated your UDID. Sorry!

Also, the “Personal Hotspot” feature requires carrier activation.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

During the LG keynote here at CES, LG has announced a number of new Smart appliances, Smart phones, and Smart TV’s. Check the photo gallery below for more info! Don’t forget about the Optimus Black, a dual-core smart phone with a NOVA display, the worlds brightest screen.

Also, be sure to follow @besweeet for all things CES and tech!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/05/lg-unveils-new-line-of-appliances-smarttvs-and-the-optimus-black/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/msi-announces-new-motherboards-video-cards-and-laptops-at-ces-2011/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/msi-announces-new-motherboards-video-cards-and-laptops-at-ces-2011/#comments Wed, 05 Jan 2011 05:38:59 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4933

Today, during MSI’s CES keynote, they’ve unveiled a number of new motherboards, laptops, and video cards. They primarily talked a lot about Sandy Bridge, a great new technology by Intel. There’s also going to be a lot of slates/tablets and all-in-one computers by MSI that they’ll be showing off on Thursday. Check out the full photo gallery below. Also! I won a netbook! While live blogging, I ended up winning a MSI Wind U160-007US netbook. Not sure what I’ll do with it…

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @besweeet for all things CES! http://twitter.com/gumballtech

Also, be sure to check by tomorrow for lots and lots of live blogs from companies like LG, Samsung, and of course, Microsoft!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/msi-announces-new-motherboards-video-cards-and-laptops-at-ces-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/ten-one-design-unveils-fling-tactile-game-controller-for-ipad-at-ces-2011/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/ten-one-design-unveils-fling-tactile-game-controller-for-ipad-at-ces-2011/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:05:28 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4871

While gaming on the iPad can be someone difficult and/or uncomfortable, Ten One Design (the makers of the Pogo Sketch) are hoping to make it more enjoyable. They’re calling if “Fring”, and it’ll make gaming on the iPad more practical. Full press release below!

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Ten One Design Unveils Fling Tactile Game Controller for iPad at CES 2011

Montclair, NJ (January 4, 2011) – Ten One Design, creator of the first capacitive touch-screen stylus for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, has announced its revolutionary tactile game controller for iPad – Fling. This patent pending device adheres to the iPad’s screen over the directional pad of any applicable game to deliver ultimate control and superb response for full gaming immersion. Fling’s unique spiral design creates actual physical resistance so gamers are assured of greater directional control.

Fling works with any iPad game with a directional pad, or virtual joystick, including Meteor Blitz, Across Age and Super Megaworm, among many other First Person Shooter and RPG titles.

To use Fling, launch the game of your choice, secure Fling’s center control over the game’s directional pad. Then simply place your thumb on the center control to navigate easily through the game.

Fling’s unique transparent and flexible design provides an unrestricted view of all on-screen action. Plus, the suction cups allow simple attachment and detachment for spontaneous gaming sessions. Click here to see full video demo.

The included microfiber bag is ideal for on-the-go storage and doubles as the perfect screen cleaning cloth to eliminate unwanted smudges and fingerprints.

Available with Ice, Ninja and Ultraviolet accents, Fling can be pre-ordered now at www.tenonedesign.com for just $24.95 and will begin shipping at the end of January.

ABOUT TEN ONE DESIGN, LLC

Ten One Design, LLC, is a New York-based design firm established in 2007 to create innovative solutions for and enhance the quality of the ever-changing mobile lifestyle. By striving to improve the status quo and develop groundbreaking products like the Pogo Stylus, the Ten One Design brand is dedicated to being first and best. For more information about Ten One Design, please visit www.tenonedesign.com.

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We’ll try and bring you a hands-on demo while at CES in a few days. Follow @besweeet for all things CES and tech!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/ten-one-design-unveils-fling-tactile-game-controller-for-ipad-at-ces-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/smartfish-announces-availability-of-the-world%e2%80%99s-most-intelligent-keyboard/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/smartfish-announces-availability-of-the-world%e2%80%99s-most-intelligent-keyboard/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:58:29 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4867

A keyboard that’s intelligent? That’s what Smartfish is claiming with their new “Engage Keyboard”. It will slightly change its shape to the way that you type. Full press release below.[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Smartfish Announces Availability of the World’s Most Intelligent Keyboard

Engage™ Keyboard with Anti-Fatigue Comfort Motion learns from how you type and automatically makes subtle adjustments to create the most comfortable computing experience ever

2011 Best of Innovations Honoree on display at CES – North Hall #4022

Englewood, NJ – January 4, 2011 – SmartFish Technologies is proud to announce the immediate availability of the Engage Keyboard, the first-ever automated keyboard designed to provide the user with the ultimate comfort typing experience. Unlike traditional keyboards that place your hands in a rigid position, the Engage Keyboard features a patented motion system that studies your typing frequency and makes subtle, comfortable adjustments periodically so your hands and wrists are never in a fixed position while you work. These changes in positioning promote the natural motion of your hands and wrists, providing the highest level of comfort possible. The intuitive and beautiful design of the keyboard allows users to immediately become an expert and enjoy the ultimate level of comfort in their computing experience.

“Most so-called ’comfort products’ tend to differentiate themselves through radical forms and shapes, but they still limit movement by placing the hands and wrists in a static position.” said Dr. Jack Atzmon, President and CEO of Smartfish Technologies. “Engage ensures movement in the user’s typing experience which is crucial for increasing flexibility, circulation and alleviating stress and pain.”

The Engage Keyboard was developed in collaboration with the country’s leading Orthopedic Hospital, The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, whose mission statement is to “improve mobility and the quality of life for all.” This is the Hospital’s first collaboration on a consumer product in their 160-year history. A portion of our proceeds is donated to the Hospital for Special Surgery Rehabilitation Education Fund to help further research of technologies. (www.hss.edu)

The Engage Keyboard is compatible with PCs and is available now from www.getsmartfish.com for $149.95.

Get social with Smartfish:
www.facebook.com/smartfish.technologies
twitter.com/GetSmartfish
www.getsmartfish.com/blog.asp
www.youtube.com/smartfish

About SmartFish
Smartfish Technologies was founded on a passion for healthier living, smart technology and true ergonomic innovation in an ever-growing electronic world. As a practicing chiropractor of 14 years, Smartfish president and CEO Dr. Jack Atzmon met with thousands of patients who continually complained of hand, wrist, shoulder and back pain. Through extensive knowledge of repetitive stress injury (RSI) – common forms known as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, he began to understand that a key contributor to these ailments came from the day-to-day use of computers – specifically, repetitive motion of computer peripheral use. Dr. Atzmon’s vision and breakthrough technology led him to form Smartfish Technologies and launch a line of computer peripherals based on the company’s ErgoMotion technologies, beginning with the Whirl Mouse, to promote a healthy PC lifestyle for work and play.

About ErgoMotion
Combining the science of ergonomics with the technology of motion, Smartfish’s ErgoMotion is the industry’s most advanced computer peripheral solution designed to relieve discomfort and repetitive stress injuries (RSI) related to extended computer usage. ErgoMotion forms the basis for a new generation of solutions, including mice and keyboards that promote comfort and productivity for a wide range of computer users during long hours of daily usage, whether at work or at home. ErgoMotion enables computer peripherals to automatically adjust the user’s natural hand and wrist positions throughout the day, providing for a more comfortable, healthier, and enjoyable computer lifestyle. http://getsmartfish.com/v1/about-ergomotion.asp

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We’ll be sure to bring you a hands-on review while we’re at CES. Follow @besweeet for all things tech and CES!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/smartfish-announces-availability-of-the-world%e2%80%99s-most-intelligent-keyboard/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/hercules-expands-xps-audio-line-with-xps101-refined-performance-speakers/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/hercules-expands-xps-audio-line-with-xps101-refined-performance-speakers/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:49:11 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4860

If you’ve ever been looking for some really sleek looking desktop speaker systems that sound professional, then here you go. Hercules has unveiled some new high performance speakers for the high-end user. Full press release below.

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Hercules Expands XPS Audio Line with XPS101 Refined Performance Speakers

NEW YORK, NY – (January 4, 2011) – Hercules, the digital audio specialist, expands its successful XPS multimedia speaker line with their latest creation, the Hercules XPS 101 system. Meeting the demanding criteria of multimedia PC users, these speakers deliver the dynamic ambience of a live music event, the captivating soundtrack of an action movie and the precision audio effects of a multiplayer video game. A high-end 2.1 audio system, the Hercules XPS 101 combines acoustic excellence, visual appeal and high-quality materials, resulting in a product well beyond the average speaker set up. Featuring a design that is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the ear, these wide-ranging acoustic workload, multimedia speakers can be proudly displayed in the user’s living space. Hercules XPS 101 will be available in January 2011, at a suggested retail price of $249.99.

Precise design for refined sound

As excellence in sound quality is achieved through precise design and engineering, the Hercules XPS 101 brings the latest technology together with high-quality audio components and materials.

The subwoofer houses 3 drivers: one 6’’ main active driver, and two 6’’ passive pressure drivers. This non-ported design takes up minimum space, while providing the quick response time of compact drivers and all of the deep bass generally reproduced by a large driver. The subwoofer’s wooden enclosure guarantees excellent bass reproduction.

The satellites feature high-performance wideband drivers, which – combined with the speakers’ rounded shape, in which air has room to expand – ensure enveloping, rich and clear sound, with perfectly reproduced treble and mid-range frequencies. In this way, the overall sound is highly balanced and full of subtleties, for enhanced musicality.

Hercules XPS 101 provides 101 watts RMS of output power – ideal for perfect listening enjoyment without any audio deterioration, no matter what you’re using it for.

Stylish, understated design

As always, Hercules has paid particularly close attention to the design of this new speaker kit, ensuring that it provides balanced sound along with total visual appeal, for seamless integration into the user’s living space. The rounded satellites feature a black lacquer finish, with metal back sections and transparent “floating” stands at the bottom: they are both elegant and powerful.

The challenge for the subwoofer was the same: how best to make it captivating for users, both in terms of audio performance and looks. The answer is a completely novel design: it is covered with stylish, dual layer black Lycra fabric, and crowned by a metal plate on top.

A system full of ingenuity

Hercules XPS 101 includes a wired “pulse” remote control that is very intuitive and easy to use, providing precise control of both bass and treble levels, in order to satisfy even the most demanding ears. Press once to power on the system and adjust the master volume; press again to adjust the bass; and press a third time to adjust the treble. Blue backlighting and LEDs – Hercules’ signature touch – guide the user through the adjustments.

For the ultimate in flexibility, users can connect an MP3 player, headphones, a game console and even a headset (using the included cables) directly to the XPS 101 system.

Another clever design feature: all connectors are located on the underside of the subwoofer, leaving its shape and lines perfectly harmonious and unspoiled.

Check out the entire Hercules multimedia speakers range at www.hercules.com

About Guillemot Corporation:

Guillemot Corporation is a designer and manufacturer of interactive entertainment hardware and accessories. The Group offers a diversified range of products under the Hercules and Thrustmaster brand names. Active in this market since 1984, the Guillemot Corporation Group is currently present in 11 countries including France, Germany, the UK, the United States, Canada, Belgium, Holland, Hong Kong, Romania and Italy, and distributes its products across more than 30 countries worldwide. The Group’s mission is to offer high-performance, ergonomic products which maximize the enjoyment of digital interactive entertainment end users. www.guillemot.com

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We’ll try and bring you a demo of these speakers in a few days at CES! Follow @besweeet for all things CES and tech!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/hercules-expands-xps-audio-line-with-xps101-refined-performance-speakers/feed/ 5 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/speakal-unveils-2011-line-of-advanced-iphoneipod-docking-sound-systems/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/speakal-unveils-2011-line-of-advanced-iphoneipod-docking-sound-systems/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:34:36 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4853 Finally! Some new speaker docks (for iDevices, of course) that seem pretty cool! Speakal has unveiled a line of new iDevice speaker docking systems. We’ll be sure to try and get a demo of all of the units at CES in a few days. Full press release and information are below.[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Speakal Unveils 2011 Line of Advanced iPhone/iPod Docking Sound Systems

Culver City, CA – January 4, 2011 – Speakal, a company driven by its passion for sound, intelligent technology and innovative designs, is proud to debut its new lineup of vibrant and colorful sound docks for 2011. With this new line, music enthusiasts now have a collection of uniquely designed sound solutions to match their individual lifestyles.
SBPKX-100 – SBPKX-100 is a portable docking sound system that comes in an array of stunning colors complemented by a soft colorable LED light. It features high quality audio with an acoustic accelerator and DSP audio processing and an AM/FM alarm clock with 20 pre set stations. The LCD clock automatically syncs up with your iPhone/iPod to ensure the time is always accurate. You can plug it into the wall or power it up with AA batteries making it a great solution for around the campfire or trips to the beach.

SB 12 – This premium speaker system surrounds your iDevice with a colorful halo of powerful sound. Its modern, industrial design superbly complements the modern home with a thin disc of superb fidelity featuring touch controls.

iExecutive – This luxury docking sound system boasts a wide array of playback options with iPod/iPhone/USB/SD/Bluetooth compatibility. It’s sleek, aerodynamic design coupled with a powerful 20W subwoofer make this the ultimate centerpiece for the modern office. Additional functionality includes a radio, alarm clock, 20 pre-set channels, and video output.

Kurve – This compact, tubular sound dock blends 20 watts of clear and powerful sound with a colorful, clean form that accents your tunes with style. An integrated LED with 4 levels of brightness helps customize the atmosphere of any room.

SB5 – This fashionably designed oval speaker cranks out powerful bass with over 27W of total output. Bluetooth capabilities allow you to control your playlist from the comfort of your couch.

“Our lineup of speaker solutions offers something for every type music enthusiast” said CEO David Solomon. “With a variety of vibrant color options we have a design that will perfectly match your personality” added Solomon.

Speakal’s innovative 2011 lineup of lifestyle-oriented, intelligently designed technology solutions will be on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in the North Hall-iLounge Pavilion at booth #4616.

For more information about Speakal visit www.speakal.com

About Speakal

Speakal Corporation is a privately held, United States company, based in Culver City, California that earned its worldwide recognition by delivering consumers unique product designs that combine intelligent technology, high quality sound, durability, and functionality. Established in 2008, Speakal was able to expand their reach and presence in the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East markets. Speakal continues to gain market share by introducing new audio product designs and diverse product lines that relate to the different end-users life styles and that hold special value for them. For more information, please visit www.speakal.com.

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Be sure to follow @besweeet and @gumballtech on Twitter for all things CES and tech!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/04/speakal-unveils-2011-line-of-advanced-iphoneipod-docking-sound-systems/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/03/mili-power-unveils-mili-hd-at-2011-ces/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/03/mili-power-unveils-mili-hd-at-2011-ces/#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 04:39:48 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4846

Looking for an iPad HDTV dock? MiLi has the answer, and they’ll be showing it off at CES this week (which we’ll be at!). The MiLi “HD” is compatible with all Apple iDevices and can output a video signal of up to 1080i (even though no iDevice is capable of outputting that high of resolution). Full press release below!

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MiLi Power to Unveil MiLi HD at 2011 CES, Bringing Your Mobile Content Directly To Your Home Entertainment System In High-Definition

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We’ll be sure to give you a hands-on while at CES!

Be sure to follow @besweeet for tweets about CES and all things tech!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/03/mili-power-unveils-mili-hd-at-2011-ces/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/03/aoc-unleashes-the-breeze-tablet-with-8-inch-screen/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/03/aoc-unleashes-the-breeze-tablet-with-8-inch-screen/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:59:56 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4831 Here’s yet another Android tablet. It runs Android 2.1 (how about 2.3?), has 4GB of internal memory, and sports a 8″ 800×600 display. Full press release in a bit, but this one’s looking like the rest.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

AOC Unleashes the Breeze Tablet with 8-Inch Screen

“In developing the Breeze Tablet, we were able to capitalize on our expertise in video displays and our strength in the computer industry to create a device that matches our 60-year reputation of providing quality and user-friendly products at a great value,” said Robert Velez, Marketing Manager of AOC.

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I’ll try and get my hands on this tablet later this week!

Follow me on Twitter for all things tech: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2011/01/03/aoc-unleashes-the-breeze-tablet-with-8-inch-screen/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/29/archos-70-internet-tablet-the-first-android-tablet-with-a-250gb-hdd/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/29/archos-70-internet-tablet-the-first-android-tablet-with-a-250gb-hdd/#comments Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:37:54 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4819 An Android tablet with a 250GB HDD in it. Sounds good, right? How about battery life? No word on that, but it looks like a pretty solid device. It’s retailing for $349.99, and will be demoed next week at CES. Full press release after the break.

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ARCHOS 70 Internet Tablet, the First Android Tablet with 250GB HDD

Denver, Colorado – December 29, 2010 – ARCHOS, an award winning technology innovator and leader in the portable media player, market today announced the availability of the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet, 250GB version in retail stores. The ARCHOS 70 internet tablet, 250GB version offers a unique over-molded PVD stainless steel structured slim and light design. It also features the latest technology high res capacitive touch screen, a powerful 1 GHz processor and high speed WiFi that allows PC like web-surfing. Although the tablet sports 250GB, it is still the slimmest and the lightest (7.91 x 4.49 x 0.55 inch – 14 oz) on the market and is now available for $349.99 MSRP at ARCHOS.com

The ARCHOS 70 internet tablet – 250GB is a connected mobile device with a sublime user interface, 3D Graphics accelerator and Wi-Fi connectivity. With Android™ Froyo compatibility as the user interface, this tablet comes with a full pack of connected apps such as a web browser and email application, flash 10.1, HDMI output connectivity, tethering via your mobile phone and home streaming from your PC capability.

“We are proud to be the first to release an android tablet that features a 250GB HDD” says Henri Crohas, CEO and Founder. “We strive to be the leader in the Android and Windows based tablet market by creating award-winning innovative options at affordable prices.”

Connected Android™ tablet

As a Hi-def multimedia tablet, users will experience:
• A huge storage capacity to store up to 250 movies
• A full multimedia experience, with 720p HD video playback
• Built-in web cam for chatting with friends and family
• With the HDMI output function, you can view the full Android interface on your TV in High Definition, including all the apps, not only video playback like other tablets on the market
• Play 3D games from your TV and use your tablet as the steering-wheel/control
• Unique Android Multimedia applications designed by ARCHOS such as:
o Movie information and cover retrieval in video file info dialog
o 3D animated photo frame with ability to display pictures from Facebook, Flickr and Picassa directly through WiFi
o Music cover carrousel allows quick browsing of your music album covers
• A lot of applications with Appslib to fit your lifestyle including games, books, music, social media, recipes, news and sports

This latest tablet is from a long line of ultra affordable and ultra portable internet, multimedia, wide screen and super-fast tablets released by ARCHOS. In 2010, ARCHOS released a 10.1 ‘’ tablet with capacitive touch screen. As a connected android device it offers a very fast web browsing and HD multimedia experience from a 10.1” high resolution screen. The rest of the line up includes Android based tablets ranging in size from 2.8” to the 10.1“.

For more information about the ARCHOS 70 internet tablet and other ARCHOS products visit www.ARCHOS.com

About ARCHOS
ARCHOS released the first pocket-sized HD-based MP3 player with the Jukebox 6000 in 2000 and since that time has revolutionized consumer electronics devices. The company invented the portable media player in 2003 and was the first to bring television recording, wireless and touch screens to Portable Media Players. ARCHOS has also introduced the Internet Media Tablet range – the 5, 5g and 7 – offering users instant, uncompromising access to the internet, media content and TV. Established in 1988, ARCHOS has offices in the Unites States, Europe and Asia. ARCHOS is listed on Euronext Paris, Compartment B, ISIN Code FR0000182479. www.archos.com
[/spoiler]
We’ll be at CES 2011! We’ll be bringing you as much coverage as possible from the halls of the LVCC (and other places, for that matter) January 4th – 9th. This includes blog posts (with pictures!), live blogging, and videos. We hope you come by to check it out! You can follow our Twitter account to check out our posts as they happen.

Follow me on Twitter for all things tech: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/29/archos-70-internet-tablet-the-first-android-tablet-with-a-250gb-hdd/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/ios-4-2-1-jailbreak-taking-longer-than-expected/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/ios-4-2-1-jailbreak-taking-longer-than-expected/#comments Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:29:25 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4710

While comex’s latest tweet doesn’t surprise me, I sort of expected it. Apple is getting better and better at patching up certain exploits and making things harder for iDevice hackers.A few weeks ago, it was said that the untethered iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak (and the updated ultrasn0w with iPhone 4 support) would both be released before Christmas, which is only a few days away.

While the actual details of this delay are unknown, we’ll never know when or if it’ll come. We also don’t know if comex is just playing around, or if he really is having troubles.

But, if comex really is having problems, we could always rely on geohot!

Follow us on Twitter for all things tech! http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/ios-4-2-1-jailbreak-taking-longer-than-expected/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/motorola-to-debut-tablet-at-ces-named-the-xoom/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/motorola-to-debut-tablet-at-ces-named-the-xoom/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:32:07 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4706

A few days ago, Motorola posted a teaser trailer on YouTube (see the video above), hinting towards a tablet release. What will it look like? How much? Which version of Android?We’ll find out in a few weeks, but earlier today, rumor has it that the name of the tablet will be the “Xoom”. The name came up through some patents that Motorola seems to be filing.

In the video, you’ll notice that Motorola says the Galaxy Tab has the Android OS, but for a phone. This should indicate that the version of Android that Motorola will be using will be 3.0 (Gingerbread).

That’s all we really know for now, but stay tuned in a few weeks once CES 2011 kicks off. We’ll be bringing you as much coverage as possible from the halls of the LVCC (and other places, for that matter) January 4th – 9th. This includes blog posts (with pictures!), live blogging, and videos. We hope you come by to check it out! You can follow our Twitter account to check out our posts as they happen.

Follow me on Twitter for everything tech related! http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/motorola-to-debut-tablet-at-ces-named-the-xoom/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/microsoft-to-unveil-arm-compatible-version-of-windows-at-ces/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/microsoft-to-unveil-arm-compatible-version-of-windows-at-ces/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 20:47:52 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4703 Microsoft is set to unveil a new version of Windows that will be compatible with ARM-based devices at CES. Details aren’t exactly known at this time, but a very early version of it will be shown off during Microsoft’s keynote on Wednesday, January 5.

While it will be demoed at CES, it won’t be available for at least 2 years, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft’s initial goal was to make a version of Windows that will work with low-power/low-cost mobile devices. To me, this will be very interesting, because hackers and tinkerers will try and find a way to get it to run on every device out there, including Android devices, and possible older iDevices (as one can install Android on the iPod Touch 1G/2G and the iPhone 2G/3G).

A number of people are confused as to whether this is a good move for Microsoft, as Windows will need quite an overhaul to run on anything slower than todays recent hardware. Only time will tell!

Also, we’ll be at CES 2011! We’ll be bringing you as much coverage as possible from the halls of the LVCC (and other places, for that matter) January 4th – 9th. This includes blog posts (with pictures!), live blogging, and videos. We hope you come by to check it out! You can follow our Twitter account to check out our posts as they happen.

Follow me on Twitter for all things tech! http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/microsoft-to-unveil-arm-compatible-version-of-windows-at-ces/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/lg-optimus-2x-tegra-2-ftw/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/lg-optimus-2x-tegra-2-ftw/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:00:47 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4696 Ah, yes. The smartphone wars are still being fought strong. It looks as though 2011 is going to be a long and hard battle when it comes to smartphones. Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chipset seems as though they’re going to be the standard when it comes to mobile phone processors. CES is going to be very fun and daunting, but we’ll be there to cover as much as possible. Back to the phone…The LG Optimus 2X is going to be the first smartphone running the Tegra 2 chip. Here’s a quick rundown of the 2X’s features:

1. 1GHz Tegra 2 (dual-core)
2. HDMI mirroring/output (up to 1080p)
3. 4″ WVGA display
4. 8GB built-in memory
5. microSD slot (32GB max)
6. 1,500mAh battery
7. 8MP rear-facing camera (w/flash, of course)
8. VGA front-facing camera
9. DLNA compliant
10. “Exceptional graphics performance”
11. 1GB RAM (not confirmed?)
12. Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

So far, it looks very promising. The only downside that I can think of at the moment is LG’s horrible Android UI. Either make it look pretty and make it function properly, or just stick with the stock Android UI, which I personally prefer over a lot of these custom Android UIs.

For the most part, the Optimus 2X will probably have the standard hardware specs for all smartphones being released in 2011. Faster processors and more memory should be the norm.

All we have to do now is to wait and see what Apple has in-store for the competition.

Also, we’ll be at CES 2011! We’ll be bringing you as much coverage as possible from the halls of the LVCC (and other places, for that matter) January 4th – 9th. This includes blog posts (with pictures!), live blogging, and videos. We hope you come by to check it out! You can follow our Twitter account to check out our posts as they happen.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/22/lg-optimus-2x-tegra-2-ftw/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/21/ipad-2-what-it-needs-and-will-probably-have/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/21/ipad-2-what-it-needs-and-will-probably-have/#comments Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:29:15 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4690

An early case for the next-gen iPad 2. Does it accurately represent the next iPad? Only time will tell.

Everybody knows that the iPad 2 will be released in a few months, right? Some of you are probably saying “big deal”, but this is going to be the next top gadget for 2011. What’s going to make it so popular? The momentum from the first iPad.

The iPad has really been taking off. A few weeks ago, it was said that the iPad drove Apple first place for North America mobile PC sales, and third worldwide [source]. This is only going to get better for them, because even large corporations, who are planning on purchasing a tablet computer during the first quarter of 2011, will be purchasing an iPad [source].

So what’s going to make the second generation iPad so popular? Well, nobody (in the general public) knows exactly what it’s going to have, but some of the more obvious features should be coming to it.

First, it’ll be getting a camera, or maybe even two. It’s guaranteed that there will be a front-facing camera for FaceTime calls and more. There may also be one on the back of the iPad, which will allow for avid photography. While a lot of people don’t see a rear-facing camera to be practical, it would be nice to have one, and I think that Apple will definitely put two cameras on there.

Next up, speed. The iPad was the first iDevice to use Apple’s A4 1GHz SoC (system-on-a-chip), which combines the ARM Cortex-A8 processor and the PowerVR graphics processor. The iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4G, and the Apple TV 2 were next to use this chip. While it’s nice and fast, a lot of recent applications could use a faster piece of hardware (such as recent games, albeit they have decent frame rates and look great). One could only imagine how much smoother recent games would play, and how much snappier things would be. Because of this, I believe Apple will be using some sort of dual-core processor (possibly clocked at 1.5GHz per core or higher) and a much more powerful GPU.

How about the 9.7″ display? Anything smaller than that just doesn’t seem very practical, so the screen size will most likely be staying the same, but how about its resolution? The iPhone 4 introduced the Retina Display, which was (and still is) the highest resolution display for its size (960×640). You can’t even see the pixels on the screen, where on every other mobile device, you can. This produces very crisp and clear images. The iPod Touch 4G was the next device to take this display. The iPad’s 9.7″ display has a resolution of 1024×768. The iPad’s screen is nearly 3x larger than the iPhone 4′s, yet its resolution is only a little bit larger. So, Apple will most likely be introducing a much higher resolution display, possibly at 1280×960 or 1400×1050 (and will stay at its 4:3 aspect ratio).

Design wise, nothing will really change. It’ll probably be a little thinner and a little lighter (like Apple usually does with revisions of all of their products).

And finally, ports. The iPad 2 is rumored to have a built-in SD card slot for offloading photos and videos from a camera directly onto the iPad. Some of the leaked iPad 2 accessories suggest that there will be an SD card slot at the bottom of the device, which would be really useful for a number of reasons. Click here to go to a website that has a number of iPad 2 cases, ranging from silicone and hard-plastic cases to a leather folio.

The next iPad isn’t going to a huge revision, but there will be enough changes that would probably make a lot of current iPad users make the upgrade. Personally, I’ll be sticking with my first generation iPad, as it suits my needs just fine, and I could live without the cameras (already have an iPhone 4 with me everywhere).

I’d love to hear your comments. Think this is a decent list? What do you think will be on it? Leave your feedback down below.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/21/ipad-2-what-it-needs-and-will-probably-have/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/15/itunes-10-1-1-released/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/15/itunes-10-1-1-released/#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:22:28 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4585 Apple today has released iTunes 10.1.1 to the world. The changes are quite minor, and is more geared towards Mac users.

Here’s “what’s new” in iTunes 10.1.1:

• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not play on Macs equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics.
• Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when deleting a playlist that has the iTunes Sidebar showing.
• Fixes a problem where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when connecting an iPod to a Mac equipped with a PowerPC processor.
• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not sync to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

Update away!

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/15/itunes-10-1-1-released/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/15/u-s-cellular-android-2-2-updates/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/15/u-s-cellular-android-2-2-updates/#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:16:24 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4579 U.S. Cellular was deemed the most reliable cell phone carrier in the US a few weeks ago by Consumer Reports. While they have a number of Android smartphones, they aren’t on the latest versions, which add a number of must-have features and enhancements. U.S. Cellular is planning on upgrading all of their Android-based smartphones to Android 2.2. The release dates have been unknown for quite some time, but we’ve received some information (from U.S. Cellular) regarding the updates.

For the Samsung Acclaim and HTC desire, they were originally planning on putting the updates out at the end of the month, but they will most likely be delayed until the middle of January.

For the Samsung Mesmerize and the LG Apex, those updates will be available shortly after the Acclaim and Desire updates.

Here’s the official email:

I wanted to clarify some information around our plans for Android 2.2 that you mention in the review.  We are working diligently to provide our customers with an upgrade to Android 2.2 for all of the Android-powered phones we launched this year. We’re targeting the end of the year for the Samsung Acclaim and the HTC Desire, but these may be delayed until January due to some technical issues we’re working hard to resolve with HTC and Samsung. The Samsung Mesmerize and the LG Apex will be ready for Android 2.2 upgrades shortly thereafter. We want our customers to have the best possible experience when using our phones.

This is all fine and dandy, but with the way Google has been putting out Android updates, this leaves us to wonder how long it’ll take for Android 2.3 updates.

But, it’s nice to know that U.S. Cellular is planning on upgrading their Android phones to Android 2.2 to further enhance their customers’ experiences.

Since you’re already here, why not check out our HTC Desire review?

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/15/u-s-cellular-android-2-2-updates/feed/ 5 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/14/white-iphone-4-pictures-resurface-on-apple-com/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/14/white-iphone-4-pictures-resurface-on-apple-com/#comments Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:40:35 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4554

The white iPhone 4 has always been a little mysterious. Announced with the current black iPhone, it still hasn’t reached Apple’s lavish stores.

Apple originally delayed it for vague reasons, and then again. The white iPhone then completely disappeared from Apple’s website. The site now has both this thumbnail as well as a high resolution picture in the iPhone 4 gallery. Earlier this month a picture “confirming” a Spring white iPhone. Could the rumored LTE iPhone be available exclusively in White to (further) encourage people to switch from AT&T?

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/14/white-iphone-4-pictures-resurface-on-apple-com/feed/ 3 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/10/real-racing-2-full-details-announced-10-released-december-16/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/10/real-racing-2-full-details-announced-10-released-december-16/#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:10:17 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4469 Today, Firemint has released all the details anyone would want regarding their upcoming Real Racing 2 iOS game. It will be available on December 16 for $9.99. More details after the break!

Some of Real Racing 2′s features include:

• 30 officially licensed cars
• 16 car grid against AI, and 16 player online racing – an iOS first
• Career mode with well over 10 hours gameplay and a range of event types
• Earn in-game currency to buy and sell cars, and buy upgrades
• 5 game modes: Career Mode, Quick Race, Time Trial, Local Multiplayer (8 players), Online Multiplayer (16 players)
• 15 locations with 40 miles of highly detailed race track
• Vehicle damage
• Online Save Game
• Game Center and Cloudcell integration, multiple profiles
• Wide range of control options
• HUD with minimap that can be turned on or off
• 5 camera angles including fully 3D cockpit view, and TV style replays
• Powered by Firemint’s exclusive Mint3D™ engine

For FULL details with LOTS of screenshots, CLICK HERE.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/10/real-racing-2-full-details-announced-10-released-december-16/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/03/real-racing-2-official-screenshots/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/12/03/real-racing-2-official-screenshots/#comments Sat, 04 Dec 2010 05:03:26 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4430 Firemint this morning has released some official screenshots of their upcoming Real Racing 2 iOS game. Two more screenshots are after the break!

Real Racing 2 is definitely shaping out to be a must more realistic game. Release date and pricing are still unknown at this time.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

A lot of people have asked for in-game footage from Real Racing 2. The game is still in active development and as we now have licensed cars, everything is a little more involved. However, we’ve just shot a quick video (with an iPhone 4!) of a preview build of Real Racing 2 to give you a small taste of what’s to come. The video shows the Nissan GT-R (R35) and you’ll also notice that we have added a minimap, which was a popular request. The HUD can be turned off if desired.

We love racing games, and we’re building Real Racing 2 to be the kind of premium game we enjoy playing ourselves: incredibly fun, with beautiful graphics, intuitive controls and lots of content. The career mode alone will easily provide 10 hours of gameplay: win races to earn in-game currency and reputation. Buy and sell cars, unlock new tracks and championship events to progress your career. Customise your cars by adding performance enhancements or respraying.

We are aiming for a pre-Christmas release and will support iPhone 2G and iPod touch 1, up to the latest devices with a particular focus on bringing out the best of the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4 hardware.

Here’s the video:

The driving physics still don’t look as realistic as they should be (turning is way too easy to do even at high speeds), but it’s still going to be a great game nonetheless.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/24/real-racing-2-actual-gameplay-footage/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/22/apple-to-release-ios-4-2-1-today-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/22/apple-to-release-ios-4-2-1-today-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:01:20 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4229

UPDATE: iOS 4.2 (where’s 4.2.1?) is now available for download and installation via iTunes.

UPDATE 2: The MD5 sums of the GM release and today’s release are EXACTLY the same, so if you’ve already downloaded and installed the 4.2.1 GM from us, then you don’t need to do anything and you shouldn’t see an update in iTunes. You can either download iOS 4.2.1 directly through iTunes, or from us using various file sharing mirrors and direct links to Apple’s files.

Apple today, at about 10:00am Pacific Time, will be releasing iOS 4.2.1 to the general public. The first beta of iOS 4.2 went live for developers in mid-September. Although they’re saying iOS 4.2, it’ll most likely be iOS 4.2.1. Full press release and general information after the break!

Press Release

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Major Software Update Brings Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay & AirPrint to iPad

CUPERTINO, California—November 22, 2010—Apple® today announced that iOS 4.2, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, is available today for download for iPad™, iPhone® and iPod touch®. iOS 4.2 brings over 100 new features from iOS 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 to iPad including Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay® and AirPrint.

“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”

iPad users can now run their favorite apps and switch between them instantly, while preserving iPad’s legendary battery life. Users can organize their apps with drag-and-drop simplicity using Folders, and Mail now features a Unified Inbox, fast inbox switching and a threaded message view.

Game Center allows iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users to challenge and play friends or be matched automatically with new opponents, showcase their scores and achievements, and discover new games their friends are playing.

AirPlay is a new feature for streaming music, video and photos wirelessly from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to Apple TV®, transforming Apple TV into a great accessory for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. iOS users also will be able to use AirPort Express® and AirPlay to stream wirelessly to any stereo or powered speakers, or directly to AirPlay-enabled speakers coming to market in the months ahead.

AirPrint is a next-generation Wi-Fi print architecture that dramatically simplifies printing by completely eliminating printer drivers. A selection of AirPrint enabled printers including the HP Photosmart, HP LaserJet Pro and HP Officejet will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to any printer that supports AirPrint.

The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe℠ subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store℠ and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.

Other new features that iOS 4.2 brings to the iPad include: the ability to rent TV episodes directly to iPad using the iTunes® App with a 30 day viewing window and a 48 hour session window once playback is started; the ability to easily find and highlight specific words and phrases on web pages in Safari®; enhanced enterprise support so businesses can take advantage of stronger security features, new device management capabilities and improved enterprise integration; industry-leading accessibility enhancements; and support for 25 additional languages, including Korean, Portuguese and Traditional Chinese.

The revolutionary iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. You can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, using the innovative Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds, making it easy to carry and use anywhere.

Today, customers have downloaded more than seven billion apps from the groundbreaking App Store and more than 300,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries, with more than 40,000 native iPad apps. Over 125 million iOS users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

Availability
The iOS 4.2 update is available today to download to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch. Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.

*The free Find My iPhone feature is available for iPhone 4, iPad or new iPod touch (4th generation).

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.[/spoiler]

The iPad will see the biggest number of features, as some features from iOS 4 for the iPhone and iPod Touch will be available to iPad users.

Jailbreak/Unlock

While unofficial jailbreak modifications have been released for iOS 4.2.x for quite some time, the iPhone-Dev Team (and others, such as Geohot and Chronic-Dev) should be releasing their jailbreak software shortly after launch. The iPhone-Dev Team should also be releasing an updated ultrasn0w unlock shortly as well. Both the jailbreak and unlock may be released today, or within a few days from now.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/22/apple-to-release-ios-4-2-1-today-for-iphone-ipad-and-ipod-touch/feed/ 7 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/19/firemints-real-racing-2-cinematic-trailer/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/19/firemints-real-racing-2-cinematic-trailer/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:35:40 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4210 Firemint has posted the first trailer to their upcoming Real Racing 2 game for iOS. It features a number of real cars and lots of collisions (with damage!). View the video after the break.

Also announced are the:

• 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, the
• 2010 #33 Jaguar RSR XKR GT, and the
• 2010 Nissan GT-$ (R35)

It’s going to be a pretty awesome game.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/19/firemints-real-racing-2-cinematic-trailer/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/17/real-racing-2-update-real-cars/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/17/real-racing-2-update-real-cars/#comments Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:55:29 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4150 Real Racing, possibly the best racing game for iOS, will be receiving its second version later this year (or early next ?). They’ve been sending out periodic emails showing off the changes and new features for the second version. The first email was just an announcement email. This second one, sent out a little while ago, shows 2 real cars.

The original Real Racing featured fake and basically boring vehicles. Real Racing 2 will feature real cars, which is a very good thing. The image above features a 2006 BMW Z4 M Coupe, and a 2010 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R. Here’s the games’ icon below:

Stay tuned for more updates as they are sent out!

Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/17/real-racing-2-update-real-cars/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/11/ping-twitter/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/11/ping-twitter/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:26:13 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4059

Looks like Ping may be trying to get a little more useful. The idea of Ping was really great and I personally do enjoy it and have discovered some new artists from the service, but for most, it has proven pretty useless.

Most people just don’t want to deal with another social-networking site when they already have Facebook to consume all their precious time. Apple and Facebook are reportedly working together to bring an integration between the two after Facebook pulled the plug a few hours after Ping went live. Ping is now however working with Twitter and it looks like the service just may get a bit easier to use. After getting on Ping you can now sign in with Twitter and integrate the services. Every time you ‘like’ or buy an album on Ping it will tweet it and your multitude of followers will be able to preview the song right from Twitter. When connecting the services you will also be able to see who you follow on Twitter is also on Ping.

There may have been a million people who signed up on the opening weekend of Ping but hopefully this will get those people actually using it. Check it out, or don’t. Your choice.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/11/ping-twitter/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/11/firemints-real-racing-2-announced/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/11/firemints-real-racing-2-announced/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:21:13 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4069 Earlier today, Firemint announced that Real Racing 2 [for iPhone] will be coming. Actual details of the game are currently unknown.

If you’re unfamiliar with Real Racing, it’s a very awesome arcade-style racing game for iOS. Hopefully, RR2 will have more realistic handling and real/actual cars and tracks.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/11/firemints-real-racing-2-announced/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/09/faceit-3gs/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/09/faceit-3gs/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 01:09:31 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=4032

Feeling a bit jealous that your friend can FaceTime and you can’t? Missing a loved one off at college and want to seem? If you got yourself a jailbroken iPhone 3GS then you can add yourself to the FaceTime crowd. Using Faceit-3GS you can make and receive FaceTime calls from any other FaceTime capable device. Of course there is no front-facing camera on the iPhone 3GS but maybe you don’t care. If you’ve just been itching for this feature then head on over your local Cydia store and download it right away.

The link below shows the guys who made it happen. This is the same time you first allowed you to FaceTime over 3G. Translated into English from Arabic, sans Google Translate. Now FaceTime away.

iPhoneIslam Team

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/09/faceit-3gs/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/04/skype-for-mac-beta-now-available/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/04/skype-for-mac-beta-now-available/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:50:15 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3992

Skype for Mac has just been released as a beta to compliment the release of 5.0 for Windows. In this beta release there are a number of new features: Address book integration, a single-window design, and group video calling.

Group video calling will be free for users during the beta period but will require Skype credit once the final version goes live.

Hit up the link for the download.

Let us know what you think of it below.

At least two of us (3) are real apple fans, and this idea has stuck in our heads since at least 2 years. We don’t even remember what really sparked the idea.

The idea is about 2 years old and we started working on it during early summer 2010 as a sideproject.

Yes.

We will try to bring the table.connect system to as many devices as possible. That’s all we can say now.

First if all we never intended to compete with anybody on a professional level, but since you asked: We see table.connect as a hardware controller enabling touch-input and visual-output for a host-device. This host-device can be an iPhone or (in the future) any other device which was designed to be touch-controlled. Microsoft Surface is more like a closed system and a combination of special hardware and software/userinterface. The possibilities with both systems are similar but the approach is different and will appeal to different audiences. However both systems are not on the market, so this is pure speculation.

This is our first prototype and it’s pretty solid – no you can´t dance on it and as somebody suggested “using your iphone with your feet” is not recommended . If we can bring this idea to a final stage for serial production it will probably change its shape a few times before.

The most expensive part is the display for sure. (weeks of research not counting). For now we’re quite happy that we have found a development partner who can build such a display at all. We don’t know how the prototype costs would translate into a serial production model.

Any ETA until more information can be out there?

The last hours have been crazy for us but it wasn’t all fun. Besides tons of interesting emails (like yours) which we are barely able to keep track with, there is also already the usual fake comments on youtube and our project-site. Questions are pouring in every minute and honestly we are a bit overstrained by the massive media-response. We are sifting through emails and will try to answers most questions during the next days.

As well as the question about pricing this depends a lot on the further development and finding a manufacturer that can implement a serial production.

This is pretty cool, but is it real? As soon as the guy taps the icon on his SpringBoard, he presses the power button on his iPhone. Maybe there’s something to this.

Technical details are unknown at this time. We’ve sent some questions to them, so hopefully they’ll answer some (although it has been a few days since we’ve sent them…).

More information: http://tableconnect.co.cc

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/11/02/table-connect-a-big-itable-video/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/28/verizon-tiered-plans/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/28/verizon-tiered-plans/#comments Fri, 29 Oct 2010 03:19:34 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3851

Just as promised, Verizon has created a tiered data plan. No worries though, this is much better than the way AT&T decided to do it. Verizon gives you a 150 mb option for $15, in addition to keeping the $29 unlimited option. Definitely upstages AT&T who decided to get rid of the unlimited plan altogether. As a person who is hoping to get an iPad any day now I sure hope that AT&T is pressured into bringing back the unlimited option. For many people it seems that the unlimited option isn’t about actually using up a lot of data but just not wanting to worry about ever going over.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see who is right on tiered plans though. You have to feel a bit bad for AT&T though when they have about 50% of all mobile data going through their cell towers; makes them have to be a little more drastic in their measures. What do you think? Is AT&T or Verizon right about how to to tiered data plans? Who’s going to break first and follow the other carrier?

Verizon Data Plans 1 2

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/28/verizon-tiered-plans/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/28/white-iphone-4-project-discontinued-2/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/28/white-iphone-4-project-discontinued-2/#comments Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:59:43 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3829 Apple finally seemed to have stopped the white iPhone 4. They’ve been having problems with it since they first announced it at WWDC earlier this year. It was said to have discoloration problems, problems with the light going through the glass and into the camera, and a number of other problems. The white iPhone 4 has been removed from Apple’s online store pages, although the white iPhone 4 still appears in pictures over at the iPhone 4 gallery.

Apple has also said to have a batch of white iPhone 4′s lying around their Cupertino campus, but nobody really knows how to get them.

Until an official press release is released, lets just give the white iPhone 4 the gravestone right now.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/28/white-iphone-4-project-discontinued-2/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/access-the-entire-ios-filesystem-without-a-jailbreak/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/access-the-entire-ios-filesystem-without-a-jailbreak/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:44:23 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3805 Remember iDOS that was released earlier today? It was pulled 4~ hours later (according to @snazzyq). It turns out that, as this is an emulator, you can access whatever file on your filesystem whether or not you’re jailbroken. If you happen to have a copy of iDOS, you can run the below commands to access whatever file or directory you’d like. NOW, this isn’t of very much use, as you can’t copy or remove files/directories, but YOU CAN copy files from the filesystem over to iDOS’ Documents folder. In other words, you can read, but you can’t write.

Run the following commands in iDOS to mount the root directory as a virtual drive “D”, change directories to it, and then list everything in the root directory:

1. mount d /
2. D:
3. dir

You’ve now listed everything from root without being jailbroken. You can use the “copy” command to copy files from wherever you’d like on over to the Documents directory (virtual drive C) of iDOS. Run help for info on how to use other commands. You can’t remove anything. You only get read access, not write access.

Thanks to @joshvg for testing this out on his unjailbroken iPhone 4!

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/access-the-entire-ios-filesystem-without-a-jailbreak/feed/ 10 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/ios-passcode-bug-%e2%80%93-it-can-get-worse/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/ios-passcode-bug-%e2%80%93-it-can-get-worse/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:00:22 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/ios-passcode-bug-it-gets-worse/ Everyone has probably already heard of iOS 4′s passcode bug. Basically, if you have a passcode enabled, you can gain complete access to the phone app, which let’s you view and edit contacts, check voicemail, etc. You can do this by tapping on the “Emergency Call” button, entering #### into the dial pad, and quickly pressing the physical power button IMMEDIATELY AFTER tapping on the green call button. You’ll then be presented with the stock phone app. You can’t go to your homescreen. The only way to get back to your lockscreen is to hold the power button until the “Slide to Power Off” slider shows up, and then tapping the power button. After that, you’ll go back to the phone app, but pressing the home button once will take you back. BUT, it gets worse. Suppose the person who got a hold of your phone wants to see exactly what you’ve got on there.

They can easily plug the device into their computer, jailbreak it, and then gain access to the entire filesystem without losing a thing. By using DiskAid/Total Commander/iPhone Explorer/iPhone Browser/iFunBox, one can access some of the more vital files and folders.

You don’t quite need to be jailbroken to access the filesystem. You can still use one of the above programs to gain access to the Media folder, which contains all music, photos, videos, voice memos, and more.

So basically, this passcode bug isn’t anything to be worried about, as jailbreaking is a much bigger threat when it comes to security. Apple will most likely fix this bug in iOS 4.2, but not a jailbreak fix.

ALSO! If someone really wanted to get into your contacts, they could plug the device into their computer, run a backup in iTunes, and then extract the contents of that backup using some third-party software.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/26/ios-passcode-bug-%e2%80%93-it-can-get-worse/feed/ 4 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/25/exolife-iphone-4-battery-case-by-exogear/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/25/exolife-iphone-4-battery-case-by-exogear/#comments Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:00:45 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3492 We can all use a little more battery life every now and then, especially for a phone that will barely get through the day. In situations like this, the Exogear Exolife iPhone 4 battery case comes to save the day. Available in both black or white color choices and priced at $89.95, this case will nearly double the battery life of an iPhone 4 while adding very little bulk to your phone. This is the world’s “thinnest & lightest” battery case, and it packs a 1500mAh battery. Check out our full review!

A lot of people think design is more important than the actual function of things, so we’ll start there first. The back portion of the case is made of a shiny but smooth plastic, which will attract quite a bit of fingerprints. Exogear’s logo is proudly displayed in the middle of the case. Near the bottom of the back is “exolife”, as well as a 4-way blue LED indicator for viewing battery capacity. There’s also a huge cutout for the camera and flash.

On the bottom of the case is a mini-USB port for charging (AND SYNCING!!!). There’s also a button for turning the device on, turning the device off, and checking the battery capacity. On this button is a little green light (which is on whenever the case is on).

The front of the case is rather simple. There are some slits for the microphone and speaker. There’s also a 30-pin dock connector, which you will put your iPhone 4 into. There’s a little plastic “bumper” that sits around the case, and this is what actually keeps your iPhone 4 into the case. You can easily take the bumper off, slide your iPhone 4 into the case, and then put the bumper back on. There are cutouts for the power button, headset/noise cancellation microphone, the silent switch, and the volume buttons. The bumper snaps into place, and you won’t have to worry about your iPhone 4 ever falling out of the case (that is unless you drop the case onto the floor, where you might have a bit to worry about). You can purchase additional bumpers (in various colors) for $14.99 a piece on Exogear’s website (which is honestly very pricey).

Included in the packing is the case, a mini-USB cable (in white, and it also has Exogear’s logo on it), a secondary bumper, and a few user manuals.

Lt’s talk about how to use the Exolife. At first, it wasn’t obvious to turn on (which is why we should all read the freaking manual ). To turn the Exolife on, you have to hold the power button for exactly 3 seconds (or until the blue LED indicators on the back will start to flash). The blue LED indicators on the back of the case will start to turn on (one-by-one, 4 total). Once they are all on (this process takes about 5 seconds), they will all turn off, and then your iPhone 4 will begin to charge. To check the battery capacity, you have to hold the power button down for 1.5-2 seconds. The blue LED indicators will then turn on. Each indicator represents 25% battery capacity, so if one indicator is on, then you have between 0% and 25% left, and if there are three indicators, you have between 50% and 75% left. Once you figure out how to turn it on, you’ll begin wondering why this process couldn’t have been a little bit easier. Rather than holding down a button for 3 seconds, and waiting another 5-7 seconds for it to turn on, a simple switch would’ve been much practical. BUT, it’s not how to turn the device on, it’s how well it performs.

Exogear claims that the integrated 1500mAh battery will add up to an additional:

• 300 hours standy
• 7 hours talk
• 6 hours web surfing
• 10 hours video playback
• 40 hours audio playback

Because the iPhone 4 has a 1420mAh battery, this case will theoretically double the battery life of your iPhone 4, so this is ideal for those who are out and about most of the day and don’t have access to any way of charging their iPhone 4.

Charge times aren’t too shabby. It took 1hr28min to go from 61% to 100%, and 1hr44min to go from 47% to 100%. The differences between those two times may sound weird, but the iPhone 4′s battery seems to charge faster after the initial 50%. The Exolife had between 50% and 75% capacity left after charging.

Overall, the Exolife is a very pretty product that does its job, and it does its job very well. Being the lightest and thinnest iPhone 4 battery case, this will add very little bulk to the actual iPhone 4. It let’s you use all the functions of your iPhone 4 while doubling the battery life of it. It is a bit pricey, though. It’s priced at $89.95, and there are actually some other iPhone 4 battery cases that are a little cheaper and have the same battery capacity (or more). But, when it comes down to design, the Exolife is the best there is. It functions the way it should, and comes in really handy in a number of occasions. This would be a great buy for anyone with an iPhone 4 who is a little hesitant when it comes to their device’s battery life. Pick it up today!

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

Photo Gallery

Video

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/25/exolife-iphone-4-battery-case-by-exogear/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/flight-control-hd-coming-to-the-mac-app-store/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/flight-control-hd-coming-to-the-mac-app-store/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:50:17 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3647 Let’s just hope that it won’t cost that much more than the iPhone version… People look to iOS app store a cheap way of getting great apps. Once the Mac App Store is out, people are going to think the same way. Therefore, applications in the Mac App Store better be cheap.

No official press release from Firemint has been released yet.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/flight-control-hd-coming-to-the-mac-app-store/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-unveils-the-new-macbook-air-thinner-faster-smaller/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-unveils-the-new-macbook-air-thinner-faster-smaller/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:24:23 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3638 Finally, Apple has unveiled an updated MacBook Air. It’s cheaper, faster, and thinner. It comes in 2 sizes: 13.3″, and 11.6″. They’re available today, and start at $999. More information, press release, and images are after the break.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Apple Reinvents Notebooks With New MacBook Air

CUPERTINO, California—October 20, 2010—Apple® today unveiled an all new MacBook Air®, the first of a next generation of notebooks which will replace mechanical hard disks and optical drives with Internet services and solid state flash storage. These next generation notebooks are:

• faster—solid state flash storage is up to twice as fast as hard drive storage
• more reliable—hard drive crashes are eliminated
• lighter and smaller—solid state flash storage is up to 90 percent smaller and lighter than hard drives

Available in 11-inch and 13-inch models and weighing as little as 2.3 pounds, the new MacBook Air is Apple’s lightest and most portable notebook ever. MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as iPad™ to deliver instant-on responsiveness, up to seven hours of battery life and up to 30 days of standby time.* Starting at $999, the affordable MacBook Air defines the next generation of MacBooks.

“MacBook Air is the first of a new generation of notebooks that leaves behind mechanical rotating storage in favor of solid state flash storage,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve taken what we have learned with the iPad—solid state storage, instant-on, amazing battery standby time, miniaturization and lightweight construction, to create the new MacBook Air. With its amazing responsiveness and mobility, it will change the way we think about notebooks.”

With its precision aluminum unibody enclosure, the new MacBook Air measures an incredibly thin 0.11-inches at its thinnest point and 0.68-inches at its thickest, and weighs just 2.3 pounds for the 11-inch model and 2.9 pounds for the 13-inch. Like iPad, MacBook Air was designed from the ground up to use flash storage exclusively. Apple’s custom-designed flash storage is 90 percent smaller and lighter than a conventional notebook hard drive, contributing to MacBook Air’s mobile, featherweight design. MacBook Air’s flash storage also provides faster data access and is more reliable than notebook hard drives due to its solid state design.

MacBook Air features a full-sized keyboard for typing comfort and productivity, as well as the highly acclaimed glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad found on Apple’s MacBook® Pro, so you can scroll through web sites, flip through photos, and resize or rotate images all from the trackpad. The built-in FaceTime® camera, mic and stereo speakers are perfect for video calls with iPhone® 4, iPod touch®** and other Macs.

Flash storage combined with power-efficient Intel Core 2 Duo processors and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics delivers an ideal balance of mobility, battery life and performance. MacBook Air features an 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch high-resolution LED-backlit display and Mini DisplayPort to connect your 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, projector or HD TV. Ultra-fast 802.11n Wi-Fi networking allows you to download music and movies from iTunes®, back up data to Time Capsule® and store or share files with MobileMe℠ and iDisk®. MacBook Air includes Bluetooth 2.1+EDR for wireless peripherals and two USB ports making it easy to sync and charge an iPad, iPhone or iPod® while using another device. The 13-inch MacBook Air also includes an SD card slot.

Apple makes the industry’s greenest notebooks and the MacBook Air is the latest Mac® notebook to achieve EPEAT Gold status and meet Energy Star 5.0 requirements.*** Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. Mac notebooks contain no brominated flame retardants, are PVC-free and are constructed of recyclable materials.

Apple uses advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to create a MacBook Air battery that delivers up to seven hours of wireless productivity on a single charge and up to 1,000 recharges.**** The built-in battery design results in less waste, and depleted MacBook Air batteries can be replaced for $129, which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner.

Every Mac comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for creating and sharing great photos, movies and music. Snow Leopard builds on more than a decade of innovation and includes multiple features for portable computing such as Multi-Touch navigation, advanced wireless networking, easy file sharing, automated data backup and intelligent power management. The new iLife ’11 features iPhoto® with stunning full screen views for browsing, editing and sharing photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use tools to transform home videos into fun theatrical trailers; and GarageBand® with new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs.

Pricing & Availability
The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are immediately available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 1.4 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $999 (US) with a 128GB model for $1,199 (US). The 1.86 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US) with a 256GB model for $1,599 (US). Configure-to-order options and accessories include faster processors, 4GB of memory, MacBook Air SuperDrive® and a USB Ethernet Adapter.

Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online atwww.apple.com/macbookair.

*Battery life and standby time vary by use and configuration. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.

**iOS 4.1 required.

***EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visitwww.epeat.net.

****A properly maintained MacBook Air battery is designed to retain 80 percent or more of its original capacity during a lifespan of up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings. For more information visit www.apple.com/batteries.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[/spoiler]

All-flash storage. Big step. Small footprint.

What do you get when you build a notebook around flash storage? A computer that’s thing, light, fast, and wakes from sleep in an instant.

Multi-Touch trackpad. Tap into more than ever.

Multi-Touch meets MacBook Air in the best possible way. With a spacious, smooth glass trackpad that lets you tap, pinch, swipe, drag, rotate, and scroll with ease.

Long-lasting battery. Built to go. And go. And go.

A great portable computer needs great battery life. MacBook Air gives you up to 5 hours of power on the 11-inch model, up to 7 hours on the 13-inch model, and up to 30 days of standby time.

High-resolution display. Pixel perfect.

The MacBook Air display features a resolution so crisp and vibrant, it’s a big-screen feel in small-screen form. And even at a mere 0.19 inch, there’s room for a FaceTime camera.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-unveils-the-new-macbook-air-thinner-faster-smaller/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announces-ilife-11-new-iphoto-imovie-and-garageband/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announces-ilife-11-new-iphoto-imovie-and-garageband/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:11:19 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3632

Apple has also announced iLife 2011 (’11). With it comes updated versions of iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand. These new versions bring a number of new and interesting features. iWeb and iDVD, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have been updated. More information, images, and the press release are all here in this post.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Apple Introduces iLife ’11 With Major Upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand

CUPERTINO, California—October 20, 2010—Apple today introduced iLife® ’11, a major upgrade that gives Mac® users even more great ways to create and share photos, movies and music. iPhoto® ’11 has a whole new look, with stunning full screen modes for Faces, Places and Events. iMovie® ’11 makes it easier than ever to edit videos and quickly transform them into fun theatrical trailers for easy posting online. GarageBand® ’11 introduces new ways to improve your playing and create great sounding songs with Flex Time and Groove Matching. Free with every new Mac, iLife ’11 is available as a $49 upgrade for existing users.

“iLife is widely regarded as the best suite of ‘Digital Life’ applications in the world, and iLife ’11 makes them even better,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iLife now makes it easier than ever to create books and letterpress cards, make amazing movie trailers from your personal videos and post them online, and make your band sound far better or teach yourself piano or guitar.”

iPhoto ’11 features stunning new full screen modes that take advantage of your Mac’s brilliant display for browsing, editing and showcasing your photos. Sharing your photos is easier than ever in iPhoto ’11, whether you send them by email using one of eight beautiful themes, post them to your Facebook wall with a single click, or play them in full screen with one of 12 professionally designed slideshows. iPhoto ’11 features a completely new approach to creating books and cards with a sleek carousel interface, intelligent book layout and a bookshelf that displays all your projects. New letterpress cards let you combine your photos and text with elegant imprinted designs to create unique wedding invitations, birth announcements, holiday greetings and more.

iMovie ’11 helps you turn your videos into captivating Hollywood-style trailers that are fun to watch and share. You can choose from 15 different genres including Adventure, Romantic Comedy and Epic Drama, each one complete with its own unique titles, graphics and cinematic soundtrack. Powerful new tools make it easy to selectively adjust audio levels and apply sophisticated visual effects like flash and hold, instant replay and jump cuts with a single click. People Finder analyzes your videos and marks sections containing faces, so you can quickly find the perfect clips for your trailer or movie. iMovie ’11 also adds exciting new themes that make your videos look like professional news or sports programs.

GarageBand ‘11 includes two new ways to fix or change the timing of your recordings. Flex Time lets you move, stretch or shorten individual notes by clicking on just the part of the audio waveform you want to change, without affecting the rest of the recording. With Groove Matching, you can select any track as the “Groove Track” and all other tracks will instantly match its rhythmic feel. GarageBand ’11 adds seven authentic-sounding new guitar amps, five fun new stompbox effects, and 22 new Basic Lessons for piano and guitar. The new “How did I Play?” feature listens while you play along with any lesson, highlights mistakes and tracks your progress to help you become a better musician.

Pricing & Availability
iLife ’11 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $49 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife ’11 Family Pack includes five licenses and is available for $79 (US) and the Mac Box Set which includes iLife ’11, iWork® and Mac OS® X v10.6 Snow Leopard® is available for $129 (US).

iLife ’11 requires Mac OS X version 10.6.3 or later, a Mac computer with an Intel processor, 1GB of RAM, a DVD drive for installation and 5GB of available disk space. iPhoto print products and GarageBand Artist Lessons are sold separately and are available in select countries. Full system requirements and more information on iLife ’11 can be found at www.apple.com/ilife.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[/spoiler]

iPhoto ’11

Stunning new full-screen views.

Completely immerse yourself in your photos onscreen and in print. Browse, edit, and share them with new full-screen views. Then take your best shots and turn them into gorgeous photo books.

iMovie ’11

Starring Hollywood-style movie trailers.

Turn your home videos into epic movie trailers. Create TV-like sports highlights and news segments. Add special effects. And edit sound, too. iMovie makes you an indie filmaker instantly.

GarageBand ’11

Suddenly, everyone can have rhythm.

Now you have everything you need to make great-sounding-songs — including perfect rhythm, a good groove, and guitar and piano lessons. Are you ready to rock?

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announces-ilife-11-new-iphoto-imovie-and-garageband/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announced-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-app-store-release-for-summer-2011/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announced-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-app-store-release-for-summer-2011/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:59:52 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3618

Today, Apple has announced their next iteration to Mac OS X: 10.7 “Lion”. Apple’s goal with Lion was to sort of combine some elements of the iOS into Mac OS X. They’ve also created a Mac App Store (will also be available for Snow Leopard within 90 days), which is a decent solution for a centralized application market. There’s also “Launchpad”, which gives you home screens and folders, similar to iOS. Finally, there’s “Mission Control”, which lets you manage all of your windows and more. Pricing is unknown at this time, but is scheduled for a Summer 2011 release. More information, pictures, and press release after the break-o-clicko.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Apple Gives Sneak Peek of Mac OS X Lion

CUPERTINO, California—October 20, 2010—Apple® today gave a sneak peek of Mac OS® X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Shipping next summer, Lion is inspired by many of iPad’s software innovations. Today’s sneak peek highlighted just a few of Lion’s features, including the Mac® App Store℠, a new way to discover, install and automatically update desktop apps; Launchpad, a new home for all of your Mac apps; system-wide support for full screen apps; and Mission Control, which unifies Exposé®, Dashboard, Spaces® and full screen apps into an innovative new view of everything running on your Mac, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere.

“Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Lion has a ton of new features, and we hope the few we had time to preview today will give users a good idea of where we are headed.”

The Mac App Store brings the revolutionary App Store experience to OS X, making discovering, installing and updating Mac apps easier than ever. Like on iPad™, you purchase apps using your iTunes® account and they download and install in just one step. App updates are delivered directly through the Mac App Store, so it’s easy to keep all of your apps up to date. The Mac App Store will be available for Snow Leopard® within 90 days and will be included in Lion when it ships next summer.

Launchpad makes it easier than ever to find and launch any app. Similar to the Home screen on iPad, you can see all the apps on your Mac elegantly displayed just by clicking the Launchpad icon in the dock. Apps can be organized in any order or grouped into folders, and you can swipe through multiple pages of apps to find the one you want.

Lion includes system-wide support for full screen applications. With Lion, you can enter full screen mode with just one click, switch from one full screen app to another with just a swipe of the trackpad, and swipe back to the desktop to access your multi-window applications.

Mission Control presents you with a unified view of every app and window running on your Mac, so you can instantly navigate anywhere. Mission Control also incorporates the next generation of Exposé, presenting all the windows running on your Mac grouped by application, alongside thumbnails of full screen apps, Dashboard and other Spaces.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[/spoiler]

Photo Gallery

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announced-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-app-store-release-for-summer-2011/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announces-facetime-for-the-mac-beta-available/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announces-facetime-for-the-mac-beta-available/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 18:42:44 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3613 Apple today has announced that FaceTime will be available for all Mac owners. With it, you can video call other Mac users as well as iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G owners. Apple has also put out a beta, which requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 (or later). More information and download links (and the press release!) after el break-o.

From Apple’s FaceTime for Mac page:

Now your smile goes even further.

FaceTime for Mac makes it possible to talk, smile, wave, and laugh with anyone on an iPhone 4, iPod touch, or Mac from your Mac over Wi-Fi. So you can catch up, hang out, joke around, and stay in touch with just a click. Sure, it’s great to hear a voice. But it’s even better to see the face that goes with it.

Apple has posted a link to download the Beta, but it seems to just download the iWork ’09 trial.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

Apple Brings FaceTime to the Mac

Macs Can Video Call Over 19 Million iPhone 4 & iPod touch Users

CUPERTINO, California—October 20, 2010—Apple® today announced the public beta of FaceTime® for Mac®, an entirely new application that allows Mac users to video call iPhone® 4 and iPod touch®* users as well as other Macs. Featuring an easy to use interface, FaceTime for Mac automatically uses your Address Book contacts so there’s no need to create special buddy lists, and it works seamlessly with the built-in camera and mic on Mac notebooks, iMac® and Apple LED Cinema Displays.

“FaceTime makes video calling to or from mobile devices easy for the first time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve sold more than 19 million FaceTime-ready iPhone 4 and iPod touch devices in the past four months, and now those users can make FaceTime calls with tens of millions of Mac users.”

FaceTime for Mac requires Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® and is easy to set up with an Apple ID. The public beta is available immediately as a free download at www.apple.com/mac/facetime.

*iOS 4.1 required.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[/spoiler]

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/apple-announces-facetime-for-the-mac-beta-available/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/pwnagetool-4-1-released-jailbreak-ios-4-1-and-3-2-2-for-all-device-including-apple-tv/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/pwnagetool-4-1-released-jailbreak-ios-4-1-and-3-2-2-for-all-device-including-apple-tv/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:24:43 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3593

The main PwnageTool screen.

The iPhone-Dev Team has finally released PwnageTool 4.1.1, and Mac OS X application which lets users create their own customized IPSW file for jailbreaking and unlocking purposes. What’s cool about this latest version is that it jailbreaks a number of different devices that are running iOS 4.1. It also jailbreaks the iPad running iOS 3.2.2, and even the latest Apple TV. Download links and a how-to are after the break!

The credits screen.

As quoted on their official release post:

Through a combination of the recently released geohot limera1n exploit , @comex’s recently released pf kernel exploit, and our original pwnage2 exploit, PwnageTool 4.1 works untethered on these devices at firmware 4.1:

• AppleTV 2G
• iPad (firmware 3.2.2)
• iPod touch 4G
• iPod touch 3G
• iPhone4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 3G

PwnageTool allows you to restore to a custom IPSW file.  For instance, you can restore to a pre-jailbroken firmware while simultaneously maintaining your current baseband (and thus your ultrasn0w carrier unlock).  You can also add whatever packages you want in the “Expert” mode of PwnageTool, if you wish to pre-install Cydia packages.   iPhone 3G users get the additional benefit of selecting their own boot and recovery logos, and features like multitasking and battery charge percentage.

PwnageTool’s main advantage to ramdisk-based methods (limera1n, greenpois0n, redsn0w) is for unlockers — those that need to keep their current baseband and preserve their ultrasn0w unlock.  But in this new age of both bootrom- and userland-based exploits, it’s an excellent platform for continuing the jailbreak through all future firmwares.  More on this later!

AppleTV 2G users:  Welcome to the JB family!  Right now, about all you can do is command-line stuff via ssh.  You also have afc2 available, so you can use tools like ifunbox to move files around.  These are the *very* early days of AppleTV 2G jailbreaking, so it’ll take some time for JB app developers to come up with methods to use your AppleTV 2G from the remote, versus the command line.  PS: Your ssh password is “alpine”…please change it when you can

Expert mode: By popular demand, the IPSW file selection in Expert mode is now completely manual (doesn’t use Spotlight).  Just pick your IPSW file directly instead of waiting for the Spotlight search to complete.  In Expert mode, the default is to hacktivate (“Activate the iPhone”), so if you have a legit SIM card be sure to deselect that option in Expert mode.

DFU button:  That “DFU” button in PwnageTool is more than it looks like.  It guides you through the DFU process, but then also runs the appropriate exploit to convince your device and iTunes that all is legit.   The DFU button in PwnageTool is not just your average DFU.

Hopefully what they’ve already given us is enough to give you a feel of what PwnageTool does (please read through it a few times!). So now, onto the how-to, but keep in mind that this jailbreak requires a RESTORE of the device, so everything that’s currently on it will be erased. And after the restore is done, it’s best to setup your device as a new device, instead of restoring from a backup. You may want to look into using limera1n and/or greenpois0n, as they both are able to jailbreak on-the-fly. PwnageTool is for experienced jailbreakers who knows what they’re doing.

DOWNLOAD PwnageTool_4.1.2.dmg NOW

Please refer to the image gallery below for step-by-step instructions. We find this to be more effective, rather than just listing all of the steps.

Step 15 would be to alt/option+click on the Restore button, find the custom IPSW file, and to let iTunes restore to it.

The entire IPSW creation process took 3.5 minutes on our 2009 MacBook Pro with a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, and a 64GB SSD.

That’s it! PwnageTool is more “hard-core” than limera1n/greenpois0n/blackra1n/redsn0w/QuickPWN.

Leave any questions down below!

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/pwnagetool-4-1-released-jailbreak-ios-4-1-and-3-2-2-for-all-device-including-apple-tv/feed/ 5 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/say-goodbye-to-the-7-inch-ipad/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/say-goodbye-to-the-7-inch-ipad/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:48:45 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3537 In the past few weeks you might’ve seen news around of a 7-inch iPad, and maybe even a picture of the supposed model. But at the conference call from earlier today Steve Jobs put to rest any sort of speculation that they may be releasing a smaller iPad, and maybe even as far as a larger iPhone.

He spoke about RIM’s tablet which he claims is too small to be a good tablet. He went over this twice during the quarterly conference call. Jobs also went on later to say that this size is not big enough to be a tablet competitor and too big to compete with a smartphone. Expressing that the screen isn’t big enough for a developer to do what they really want to. In this conversation he included Android which will also be having some 7-inch tablets out soon, and spoke over how fragmented this market will become with all the different sizes he foresees coming out as hardware-manufactures experiment. There is much more he said about fragmentation and the Android market but that can be left for an entirely different post.

I think with what he has said about a smaller tablet can also be applied to a larger iPhone. He doesn’t see a reason why there should be multiple screen sizes which would require a developer to rewrite the code for each one. As for me, I love the screen size of my iPhone and hope it doesn’t change.

You can listen to the entire conference call here.

Feel free to let me know what you think below.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/say-goodbye-to-the-7-inch-ipad/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/new-products-by-apple-accidentally-leaked/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/new-products-by-apple-accidentally-leaked/#comments Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:47:42 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3586 With a few hours left, people are trying to figure out exactly what Apple will be announcing today. On Apple’s discussion forum, it was noted that there will be 5 new discussion categories (all of which will change/have changed):

• Reserved 10 20
• iMovie ’11
• GarageBand ’11
• iPhoto ’11
• MBA (Need official name)

Apple quickly fixed this by replacing those names with generic characters, such as “a” and “ac”.

There’s some speculation as to what “Reserved 10 20″ will be. Rumor has it that Apple will either be discontinuing iWeb ’11 in favor of building it into Mac OS X, so “Reserved 10 20″ could be Mac OS X 10.7.

The world will know what Apple has in store in roughly 2 hours. Also, Apple will be providing a live stream so that users around the world can watch the event live on their Mac OS X 10.6 machine or their iOS device.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

UPDATE: Apple has removed all of those discussion categories except for “Reserved 10 20″, which of course is now named “a”.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/20/new-products-by-apple-accidentally-leaked/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/apples-back-to-the-mac-rumor-round-up-sort-of/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/apples-back-to-the-mac-rumor-round-up-sort-of/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:52:53 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3574

With Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event being less than

[LCT-|-embed]

away, there’s a lot of speculation about the next MacBook Air, and more obviously, Mac OS X 10.7. Contained in this post is a list of all of the rumors that have been floating around over the past year or so.

New MacBook Air? Most likely…

• New redesign with a USB port on both the right and left side of the device
• Integrated “SSD-card” for super fast startup and application load times
• Upgradable RAM and SSD (2GB of RAM to begin with)
• 2.1GHz (with 2GB of RAM) and a 2.4GHz (with 4GB of RAM) configuration – Not sure if it’ll be Core i3/i5 based, so a Core 2 Duo seems more likely
• Price to start at $1100 for the base model, and up to $1400
• Possibly a 11.6″ display
• Black power key

Mac OS X 10.7? Absolutely…

• A slightly altered interface that resembles more of the iOS (iOS-like scrollbars, rubber-band style inertial scrolling, Quick Look updates, etc)
• Supposedly will be even faster and slightly more slim compared to Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”
• Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” could be the name, indicated by the invitation that Apple sent out
• FaceTime should be added to iChat
• Speaking of iChat, it might be headed to Windows
• FaceTime might also be integrated into iTunes 10.1

Small hardware changes to current Macs? Possibly…

• Apple has been known for slightly altering the hardware in Mac computers
• Usually happens every 6-12 months

Tablet Mac? Hmm…

• Rather unlikely, but it’s interesting to think about
• Notice the invitation. Behind the Apple logo reveals a lion
• The silver material is obviously the aluminum housing for some sort of computer
• The fact that the Apple logo is sort of cut-out like that could indicate some sort of tablet-style Mac, where the screen portion can flip out and act as a multitouch monitor
• There have been some rumors of a multitouch display, so maybe this will be it

iLife 2011? Sure!

• iLife hasn’t seen an update since 2009
• Not much to say about it…

Basically, the 2 stars of the show will be the new MacBook Air and Mac OS X 10.7.

What do you think Apple will talk about? Think our list is stupid? Let us know! Leave your comment down below.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/apples-back-to-the-mac-rumor-round-up-sort-of/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/idapt-adds-color-to-the-i4-universal-charging-station/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/idapt-adds-color-to-the-i4-universal-charging-station/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:01:41 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3570 We can all use some color every now and then. IPADT, the maker of the famous i4 universal charging station, now has a number of different color options available (instead of just black). The i4 is basically a charging station for virtually any device. It can charge up to 4 devices at once: 3 on the station, 1 via USB. View the full press release after the break.

[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]

IDAPT Adds Splash of Color to i4

Universal Charging Solution

[/spoiler]

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/idapt-adds-color-to-the-i4-universal-charging-station/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/new-pwnagetool-coming-today-all-you-need-to-know/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/new-pwnagetool-coming-today-all-you-need-to-know/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 19:24:39 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3566 The new version of PwnageTool? Where?! Where?!?! Oh wait, the Internet! Not yet… MuscleNerd, the “leader” of the iPhone-Dev Team, has posted a tweet concerning PwnageTool. He says that, as long as there aren’t any unexpected issues with their final testing of PwnageTool, it will be released later today, so it looks as if “Funday” (usually Sunday) might be moved 5 days ahead. What’s so good about this version, and how will it influence you? Continue reading to find out!

A screenshot of the next version of PwnageTool

Here’s the “official” tweet:

@rodder13 pending any unexpected issues during final testing, today

So what’s so good about this version of PwnageTool? Well, it’ll be untethered for all supported devices running iOS 4.1/iOS 3.2.2, which includes:

• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4
• iPod Touch 2G
• iPod Touch 3G
• iPod Touch 4G
• iPad
• Apple TV 2

The only devices that aren’t compatible are the iPhone 2G (3.1.2/3.1.3 only, so you can use JailbreakMe.com) and the first generation iPod Touch (you can also use JailbreakMe.com).

What does PwnageTool do? Basically, PwnageTool lets you create your very own customized IPSW file that you can restore your device to from iTunes. Some of the customizations include boot and recovery logos, customizable root partition size, etc. You can even add your own Cydia repositories from right with PwnageTool, so that will be one less task that you may need to do after jailbreaking.

What’s the difference between PwnageTool and something lime limera1n and greenpois0n? Well, PwnageTool requires you to restore your device to a custom IPSW file. This means you will lose all of the data that’s currently on your device, so it’ll be a good idea to back it all up. The good thing about limera1n and greenpois0n is that you can jailbreak a device without requiring a restore, but the jailbreak won’t be as customizable.

Stay tuned to @besweeet and @MuscleNerd on Twitter for updates!

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/19/new-pwnagetool-coming-today-all-you-need-to-know/feed/ 9 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/18/video-iads-coming/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/18/video-iads-coming/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:34:06 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3515

Apple is rumored to be bringing videos to their iAd advertising platform. This would be a real “bringin’ in the bank” moment for Apple, as this should bring a whole lotta cash their way. This should also help advertisers determine whether or not to bring their videos to iAds.

Not only would this be great for iPhone’s and iPad’s, but it’ll be even better for the Apple TV. The second generation Apple TV will be getting apps eventually. Once iAds are put into these apps, you can interact with the iAd like you normally would, and watch a video on the ad, possibly in HD, on your big screen.

Personally, I like iAds! I tap on every iAd that I find, despite the fact that only 2 of my apps even have them. They’re cool, interactive, and interesting. Even if I can care less about the company that the iAd is coming form, I’ll still tap on it, and I feel as if a lot of people do the same. This will really help Apple rack in even more money than they’re already making.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/gumballtech

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/18/video-iads-coming/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/16/bloomberg-game-changers/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/16/bloomberg-game-changers/#comments Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:01:15 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3439

If you love history and you’re on this site then you’ll surely want to take a look at the next Bloomberg series. Bloomberg is doing a series over the game changers in the tech industry, which consist of the likes of people such as Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. The video is already up and will also be airing on TV tonight. Check out the video here, Zuckerberg and Jobs is up right now.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/16/bloomberg-game-changers/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/15/find-my-phone/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/15/find-my-phone/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:00:03 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3362 Find my iPhone Windows Phone. Apple showcased  the “Find My iPhone” a while back but it is surely not alone anymore. At Microsoft’s event today they added themselves to that mix, which also includes Verizon Wireless who will soon be adding that feature to it’s smartphone line up.

As opposed to having to pay the $99 premium to even use the feature on iOS, AT&T has announced it will be free. That may not be true of all carriers. To use the feature it looks as if all you have to do is head over to the Windows Phone site and sign in to find your phone.

They may be late to the Smartphone Wars but they sure are trying to reel in some buyers.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/15/find-my-phone/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/13/apple-back-to-the-mac-media-event/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/13/apple-back-to-the-mac-media-event/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:07:44 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3414

This should be interesting. After putting a lot of emphasis towards iOS in the last few events, Apple is now hosting an event that seems to be putting it’s efforts towards showing what’s next for Mac OS X.

The event will be held October 20th, 10 A.M. Pacific Time on the Cupertino campus.

By the looks of the picture on the invitation it looks like it will be focusing on 10.7 which just may be named “Lion” which follows the Big Cat theme. It has also been a while for some notebook hardware refreshes such as the MacBook Air, and they may just make an announcement at the event.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/13/apple-back-to-the-mac-media-event/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/12/download-ios-4-2-beta-3-for-all-devices-itunes-10-1-beta-2-for-mac-and-windows-now/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/12/download-ios-4-2-beta-3-for-all-devices-itunes-10-1-beta-2-for-mac-and-windows-now/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:57:24 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3378

We’ve noticed that this post has been getting a lot of attention recently (probably because of the redsn0w 0.9.7 betas). While you’re here, be sure to bookmark our site! Follow @gumballtech for all things tech!

Apple this evening has released iOS 4.2 beta 3 for the iPad, iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G, iPod Touch 4G, 3G, 2G, as well as beta 2 of iTunes 10.1 for Mac OS X, Windows x86, and Windows x64. At the moment, actual details of what’s new in this release are unknown, but there are some changes to the way printing works as well as some Xcode related goodies. Release notes and download links for all are after the jump.

[spoiler show="Show release notes" hide="Hide release notes"]

iOS SDK Release Notes for iOS 4.2 beta 3

Contents:

Introduction
Bug Reporting
Notes and Known Issues

Introduction

iOS SDK 4.2 provides support for developing iOS applications and includes the complete set of Xcode tools, compilers, and frameworks for creating applications for iOS and Mac OS X. These tools include the Xcode IDE and the Instruments analysis tool among many others.

With this software you can develop applications that run on iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 4.2. You can also test your applications using the included iPhone Simulator, which supports iOS 4.2. Installing iOS SDK 4.2 requires a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard) or later.

For more information and additional support resources, visit:

http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/

Bug Reporting

Please report any bugs not mentioned in the “Notes and Known Issues” section using the Apple Bug Reporter on the Apple Developer website at: http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/. Additionally, you may discuss these issues and iOS SDK 4.2 in the Apple Developer Forums: http://devforums.apple.com.

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using the 4.2 SDK to develop code.

Xcode

• There is a new Base SDK setting called “Latest SDK”. This is the recommended choice for all projects and will cause your project to always build against the newest available iOS SDK.
• The Overview popup menu will display “Base SDK Missing” if a project was created with an SDK earlier than iOS SDK 4.2. However, after selecting a new SDK that Overview popup may still display “Base SDK Missing”.To work around the issue, close and reopen the project window.

Audio

• The iPad screen rotation lock switch now functions as a sound/silent switch in iOS 4.2. This switch behaves the same way as the ring/silent switch on iPhone.Applications targeted for iPad will need to take this into account when implementing audio behaviors.For more information on audio behavior guidelines and how to implement them, see “Handling Common Tasks” in iPhone Human Interface Guidelines and the Audio Session Programming Guide.

Calendar

• Calendar can now import .ics files directly as a way to add events. If your app has access to .ics files, you should test importing them using the UIDocumentInteractionController API.

Compiler

If you are using the “LLVM Compiler” (a.k.a. Clang) you may experience problems with exception handling in Objective-C that manifest as exceptions not being caught in the appropriate places.

To work around this issue, add the -fexceptions option explicitly to the Other C Flags build setting of your Xcode project.

FairPlay

• Books bought from the Apple iBookstore fail to load in iBooks because “the requested resource is missing”.

GameKit

• Applications can use the GKFriendRequestComposeViewController class to initiate friend requests.
• The GameKit view controllers for leaderboards, achievements, matchmaking, and friend requests must be presented modally. Presenting them any other way will result in an exception and unexpected behavior. This affectsGKLeaderboardViewController, GKAchievementViewController, GKMatchmakerViewController and GKFriendRequestComposeViewController.

MapKit

• For applications built against iOS 4.2 and later, MapKit will now conditionally display annotation views based on the currently visible region of the map. To account for this, developers should make sure they reuse annotation views as documented and never assume that the absence of an annotation view implies the absence of a corresponding annotation

Printing

• iOS 4.2 devices can print wirelessly to printers that support AirPrint, including:
  • HP Photosmart Premium Fax e-All-in-One Printer – C410
  • HP Photosmart Premium e-All-in-One Printer series – C310
  • HP Photosmart Plus e-All-in-One Printer series – B210
• iOS 4.2 devices can print to printers shared through a Mac or a PC.
• For iOS 4.2 beta 3, testing printing requires:
  • A printer that supports AirPrint, running the latest available firmware
  • A printer shared through a Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.5 beta, available on the iOS developer page
  • A printer shared through a PC running iTunes 10.1 beta, available on the iOS developer page

Simulator

• Building an app that weak links CoreVideo.framework against the 4.2 Simulator SDK and then running that application against the 3.2 Simulator will result in a crash. The same configuration will work when building against the 4.2 device SDK and running on a 3.2 device.

Weak Linking

• The following frameworks currently do not support weak linking by way of the NS_CLASS_AVAILABLE macro:AV FoundationCore AnimationCore TelephonyWhen targeting older versions of iOS, you can check the class availability in these frameworks by calling the NSClassFromString function and seeing if it returns a non-nil value. For information about using theNS_CLASS_AVAILABLE macro, see “iOS 4.2” in What’s New in iOS

[/spoiler]

Thumbnail image. Beta details.

iTunes 10.1 Beta 2, Mac OS X – 68.05MB

• Multiupload (direct)
• RapidShare
• MegaUpload
• DepositFiles
• Hotfile
• zShare
• Uploading

iTunes 10.1 Beta 2, Windows x86 – 70.9MB

• Multiupload (direct)
• RapidShare
• MegaUpload
• DepositFiles
• Hotfile
• zShare
• Uploading

iTunes 10.1 Beta 2, Windows x64 – 71.81MB

• Multiupload (direct)
• RapidShare
• MegaUpload
• DepositFiles
• Hotfile
• zShare
• Uploading

iPad iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 549.44MB

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iPhone 4 iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 625.41MB

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iPhone 3GS iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 402.14MB

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iPhone 3G iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 324.03MB

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iPod Touch 4G iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 618.1MB

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iPod Touch 3G iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 390.05MB

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iPod Touch 2G iOS 4.2 beta 3 – 347.86MB

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So here’s the deal. A few months ago, I was told by someone (lets just say that he isn’t very liked anymore and could have lied when he told this to us) that geohot has left the scene to go work for Apple to patch as many exploits as possible. Is this true? I don’t know, but it’s always plausible. Geohot left the scene on July 13th, 2010. Four and a half months earlier, he created limera1n.com (at least according to its WhoIs results).

Yesterday, Friday the 8th, @p0sixninja “confirmed” that geohot is making a return.

Anyway, what has geohot been doing since he left? He could possibly have been at Apple, looking at various pieces of source code, and trying to patch all of the possible exploits.

It’s currently rumored (or confirmed?) that geohot will be releasing his “limera1n” jailbreak on Monday, one day after the expected release of the “greenpois0n” jailbreak. What will geohots supposed “jailbreak” do? Nobody knows just yet (or at least anyone in the general public doesn’t, but maybe someone internally knows exactly what’s going on).

What could it possibly do?

Geohot could be releasing limera1n so that it permanently prevents your device from being jailbroken. As he might know how all of the exploits work, he himself can probably get them all patched. This could possibly “jailbrick” your device.

Keep in mind that this is all speculation, and since nobody knows exactly what will be happening, this could all potentially by possible. It’s certainly possible, as there’s nothing really from keeping this from being true. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The best thing to do, should limera1n really be released, is to stay away from it until the iPhone Dev Team has had some testing with it. Twitter: 1 | 2

Please leave your comments below. I’m curious to see what people will think about this.

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Here’s the thumbnail pic that we made just in case somebody wants it:

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/10/09/what-really-happened-to-geohot/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/28/download-ios-4-2-beta-2-for-all-devices-itunes-10-1-beta-for-mac-and-windows/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/28/download-ios-4-2-beta-2-for-all-devices-itunes-10-1-beta-for-mac-and-windows/#comments Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:12:37 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3110 Apple this evening has released iOS 4.2 beta 2 for the iPad, iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G, iPod Touch 4G, 3G, 2G, as well as the beta of iTunes 10.1 for Mac OS X, Windows x86, and Windows x64. At the moment, actual details of what’s new in this release are unknown, but there are some changes to the way printing works as well as some Xcode related goodies. Release notes and download links for all are after the jump.

[spoiler show="Show release notes" hide="Hide release notes"]

iOS SDK Release Notes for iOS 4.2 beta 2

[/spoiler]

Thumbnail image - Beta details.

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Would you like to donate a little bit? You can do so via PayPal by sending the donation to contact@gumballtech.com.

iTunes 10.1 Beta, Mac OS X – 65.9MB

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iTunes 10.1 Beta, Windows x86

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iTunes 10.1 Beta, Windows x64

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iPad iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 520.38MB

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iPhone 4 iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 622.31MB

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iPhone 3GS iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 403.45MB

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iPhone 3G iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 322.6MB

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iPod Touch 4G iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 620.49MB

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iPod Touch 3G iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 391.32MB

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iPod Touch 2G iOS 4.2 beta 2 – 349.18MB

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/28/download-ios-4-2-beta-2-for-all-devices-itunes-10-1-beta-for-mac-and-windows/feed/ 93 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/27/ipod-touch-4g-and-iphone-4-jailbroken-with-shatter/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/27/ipod-touch-4g-and-iphone-4-jailbroken-with-shatter/#comments Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:14:19 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3101 The iPhone-Dev Team has posted a teaser video of an iPod Touch 4G running Cydia and a battery percentage mod. They’ve created a beta version of PwnageTool, which allowed them to successfully restore to a custom IPSW file in iTunes. Video after the jump.

So, what does this mean to you? The iPod Touch 4G, running iOS 4.1, has been jailbroken. This method also works on the iPhone 4.  The Dev Team is working on “faster tools”, which seems to me as if an updated version of redsn0w will be available soon, allowing users to jailbreak without restoring to a custom IPSW file.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/27/ipod-touch-4g-and-iphone-4-jailbroken-with-shatter/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/22/jailbreak-ios-3-1-x4-0-x4-1-for-iphone-2g3g3gs-old-bootrom-ipt1g2g-non-mc/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/22/jailbreak-ios-3-1-x4-0-x4-1-for-iphone-2g3g3gs-old-bootrom-ipt1g2g-non-mc/#comments Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:39:47 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=3011

Earlier tonight, ih8sn0w has updated his line of jailbreaking application, including sn0wbreeze, which has been updated to version 2.0 which supports various iOS 4.0 firmwares. All information and a quick how-to guide are all after the break.

DOWNLOAD: CLICK ME (sn0wbreeze is Windows only – You’ll want PwnageTool if you’re on Mac OS X)

SN0WBREEZE 2.0 IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE IPHONE 4!

If you’ve ever heard of PwnageTool, this is basically the Windows equivalent of that app (although they are made by 2 different developers).

sn0wbreeze 2.0 is compatible with the following firmwares:

• 3.1.2
• 3.1.3
• 4.0.0
• 4.0.1
• 4.0.2
• 4.1

sn0wbreeze 2.0 is compatible with the following devices:

• iPhone 2G (3.1.2 or 3.1.3 only, for obvious reasons)
• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS (old bootrom)
• iPod Touch 1G
• iPod Touch 2G (non-MC)

Basically, sn0wbreeze takes in a stock compatible IPSW file, and mingles with it to create a customized IPSW that is jailbroken for a specific devices and firmware. You can then restore to this custom IPSW file in iTunes. This is considered an “advanced” jailbreak method, but works fine.

Enjoy! Post your success (or your failures, should you have any) down below in the comments.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/22/jailbreak-ios-3-1-x4-0-x4-1-for-iphone-2g3g3gs-old-bootrom-ipt1g2g-non-mc/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/09/google-instant-search-is-here/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/09/google-instant-search-is-here/#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:00:49 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=2745 Have you been wondering (like so many others) what Google’s latest doodles were leading up to? Well, here it is! Google Instant!

From the Google Press Conference today: ” It takes a user nine seconds to enter a query into Google. It takes 800 ms for networking time, 300 ms for serving results, and 15 seconds to select a search result…..The problem to increasing search speed is the 9 seconds to type and the 15 seconds browsing results. It takes time to type and think, plain and simple. But Google thinks it can even make this more efficient.”

Here are a few screen shots to help acquaint you with it.

More info on Google’s official page HERE.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/09/google-instant-search-is-here/feed/ 0 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines/#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:56:40 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=2767 Apple today has published “App Store Review Guidelines”, which “provide rules and examples across a range of iOS development topics, including user interface design, functionality, content, and the use of specific technologies” to “Ensure your apps comply with the App Store Review Guidelines before submitting them for review”. View the full document after the break.

[spoiler show="Show guidelines" hide="Hide guidelines"]

Enjoy!

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[spoiler show="Show press release" hide="Hide press release"]
We’re thrilled to announce that Flight Control has now landed on more than 3 million iPhone and iPod touch screens! Our ever-popular App Store classic continues to delight new players around the world, and even 18 months after release is in the top 30 paid games in 64 countries around the world, including #7 in Netherlands, #12 in UK, #14 in Australia, #16 in France and #27 in the USA.

Over 2 billion planes have been landed on Flight Control’s online leaderboards, approximately equal to 5,000 times the air traffic handled by LAX per day! Flight Control has enjoyed numerous free updates adding social and online features, additional airfields and gorgeous updated graphics to make the most of the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4th generation Retina display. We will also release an update that supports Apple’s new Game Center to coincide with its launch, and even more free updates are currently in development.

Flight Control has also spread its wings to new platforms, with Flight Control HD, the highly successful adaptation for iPad being awarded a prestigious Apple Design Award for its “innovative gameplay, outstanding use of Multi-Touch, and superb attention to detail”. Flight Control HD for PlayStation Move is about to launch in glorious 1080p, coinciding with the Move motion controller’s European launch on September 15. It supports drop-in/drop-out multiplayer for up to 4 people and stereoscopic 3D, and features an exclusive new map that cycles through day and night. Flight Control is also available on Nintendo DSiWare, and through a licensing agreement with Namco, is currently rolling out on non-Apple mobile phones.

Flight Control is a fantastic example of an App Store success story, and we’re overjoyed that player communities around the world are continuing to embrace its elegant simplicity and insanely addictive gameplay. There’s a lot more Flight Control to come, so stay tuned!
[/spoiler]

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The device itself has a cable attached to it and has a 3.5mm jack that can plug into your iDevice. Combined with the various XWave applications (that can be downloaded from iTunes), you can do a number of different things, such as exercising your brain,  playing games, relaxing, and much more. What’s even more cool is that developers can take advantage of the SDK program.

The XWave costs $99.99, and will be available sometime in October of 2010. You can also pre-order the XWave today from www.plxwave.com.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/09/07/xwave-brainwave-interface-for-iphone-ipod-touch-and-ipad/feed/ 1 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/08/22/apple-plans-to-kill-jailbreaking-with-new-patent/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/08/22/apple-plans-to-kill-jailbreaking-with-new-patent/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:48:10 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=2578 Apple is, once again, going to attempt to kill jailbreaking and other forms of iHacking. In a patent that was filed in February (which was just published on Thursday), Apple aims to protect Apple’s devices against “unauthorized users of an electronic device”. Sounds good, right? Well, this is basically going to kill jailbreaking, unlocking, iDroid, and all of those sorts of fun and worthwhile things.

More specifically, the patent describes the identification of “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of SIM card”. Should this happen to a device, sensitive information that is stored on the hacked device will be uploaded to Apple’s “secure” server, and then the hacked device can be remotely erased. This is somewhat of a major security and privacy breach. Also included in the patent is some information regarding the camera, where it can take a picture, have it geotagged, have it uploaded to Apple’s servers, and then have it erased.

Apple’s move here is rather immature. As said in the past, this is our device, therefore we should do what we please with it. Apple apparently wants to protect their device so that people are restricted to only using what Apple allows them to use.

“An activity that can detect an unauthorized user can be any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked. For example, a sudden increase in memory usage of the electronic device can indicate that a hacking program is being run and that an unauthorized user may be using the electronic device.”

Lets think about that last paragraph for a second. How often are iDevice stolen? Probably quite a bit. How often are they hacked so that they can steal information that’s already most likely encrypted by the respective application? Pretty unlikely.

This raises a lot of red flags to people who are concerned over their security, as a simple 3D game can “sudden[ly] increase memory usage”, thus sending Apple the magic signal. Now, Apple has probably already thought about that as a potential problem, and will find a way to work around legitimate memory increases.

Keep in mind that this patent may be denied, as jailbreaking (and general hacking) for “educational purposes” has been deemed as legal by the US Government.

What say you? Go ahead and leave a comment down below for this blog post so we can see what you think about what Apple plans on doing.

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[Source: USPTO, Patently Apple]

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/08/22/apple-plans-to-kill-jailbreaking-with-new-patent/feed/ 7 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/27/ios-4-1-beta-2-released/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/27/ios-4-1-beta-2-released/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:10:07 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=2435 Apple has just released iOS 4.1 beta 2 to developers. You can view the full release notes after the break.

[spoiler show="Show release notes" hide="Hide release notes"][/spoiler]

So basically:

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

[spoiler show="Show Press Release" hide="Hide Press Release"]

Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking

Section 1201(a)(1) of the copyright law requires that every three years I am to determine whether there are any classes of works that will be subject to exemptions from the statute’s prohibition against circumvention of technology that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work.  I make that determination at the conclusion of a rulemaking proceeding conducted by the Register of Copyrights, who makes a recommendation to me.  Based on that proceeding and the Register’s recommendation, I am to determine whether the prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works is causing or is likely to cause adverse effects on the ability of users of any particular classes of copyrighted works to make noninfringing uses of those works. The classes of works that I designated in the previous proceeding expire at the end of the current proceeding unless proponents of a class prove their case once again.

This is the fourth time that I have made such a determination. Today I have designated six classes of works. Persons who circumvent access controls in order to engage in noninfringing uses of works in these six classes will not be subject to the statutory prohibition against circumvention.

As I have noted at the conclusion of past proceedings, it is important to understand the purposes of this rulemaking, as stated in the law, and the role I have in it. This is not a broad evaluation of the successes or failures of the DMCA. The purpose of the proceeding is to determine whether current technologies that control access to copyrighted works are diminishing the ability of individuals to use works in lawful, noninfringing ways. The DMCA does not forbid the act of circumventing copy controls, and therefore this rulemaking proceeding is not about technologies that control copying. Nor is this rulemaking about the ability to make or distribute products or services used for purposes of circumventing access controls, which are governed by a different part of section 1201.

In this rulemaking, the Register of Copyrights received 19 initial submissions proposing 25 classes of works, many of them duplicative in subject matter, which the Register organized into 11 groups and published in a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comments on the proposed classes.  Fifty-six comments were submitted.  Thirty-seven witnesses appeared during the four days of public hearings in Washington and in Palo Alto, California. Transcripts of the hearings, copies of all of the comments, and copies of other information received by the Register have been posted on the Copyright Office’s website.

The six classes of works are:

(1)  Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:

(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;

(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos

(2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

(3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network.

(4) Video games accessible on personal computers and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully obtained works, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities, if:

(i) The information derived from the security testing is used primarily to promote the security of the owner or operator of a computer, computer system, or computer network; and
(ii) The information derived from the security testing is used or maintained in a manner that does not facilitate copyright infringement or a violation of applicable law.

(5) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.  A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace; and

(6) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.

All of these classes of works find their origins in classes that I designated at the conclusion of the previous rulemaking proceeding, but some of the classes have changed due to differences in the facts and arguments presented in the current proceeding.  For example, in the previous proceeding I designated a class that enable film and media studies professors to engage in the noninfringing activity of making compilations of film clips for classroom instruction.  In the current proceeding, the record supported an expansion of that class to enable the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into documentary films and noncommercial videos for the purpose of criticism or comment, when the person engaging in circumvention reasonably believes that it is necessary to fulfill that purpose.  I agree with the Register that the record demonstrates that it is sometimes necessary to circumvent access controls on DVDs in order to make these kinds of fair uses of short portions of motion pictures.[/spoiler]

This will probably bring in a new bunch of jailbreakers, as this story is making its way around the web. If you’re on iOS 4/4.0.1, it will be best to wait for @comex’s new jailbreak to make things easier and less confusing.

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]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/26/jailbreakingrooting-now-made-legal/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/24/corporate-technology/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/24/corporate-technology/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:51:39 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=2389 In today’s economy technology has infiltrated and changed almost every sector of business from the medical field to the advertisement industry, and the companies that take advantage of the newest technology are usually the ones that come out ahead in employee satisfaction, efficiency and ultimately revenue. Just to name a couple comparisons, Borders vs. Amazon. Borders is currently on the brink of bankruptcy while Amazon thanks to its online content and the Kindle, is thriving and doing well. Blockbuster vs. Netflix, for a long period of time Blockbuster had a monopoly on the video rental industry but almost overnight it lost its advantage because it failed to utilize technology. Netflix and other online video providers are enjoying the rewards while Blockbuster much like borders is close to declaring bankruptcy. I pointed to these examples because they very clearly demonstrate what happens when companies don’t adapt and utilize the technological tools available to them, much like Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution, survival of the fittest.

Amazingly however still many companies feel technology is a necessary evil, an objective to be overcome, not the powerful instrument it is and unfortunately because they have this misconception about technology they don’t receive the benefits that technology has to offer and ultimately they fall behind their competitors. In a recent study conducted by Comptia it was reported that nearly one half of law firms in the United States plans to increase spending on information technology in 2010. (http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100622005364&newsLang=en) I feel sorry for the other half that has decided to do the same old.

With so much competition today each firm is looking for a leg up on its competitors. Whereas in the old days competency and word of mouth were the separators between a successful company and a bankrupted one; just to name a few objectives in today’s markets you need to be able to express yourself in a unique way, maximize your efficiently, capitalize on your exposure, and make yourself available to your clients 24-7 for the lowest cost available, and the only way to achieve these vital goals is to embrace and utilize technology. This doesn’t mean getting the fastest computer on the line or upgrading your entire infrastructure annually. However this does mean examining your current business structure and seeing how technology can improve your weaknesses. For example, if your website generates a lot of traffic however your sales team hasn’t been able to produce the results desired you may want to consider adding some sales features to your existing website. Ultimately technology should very fluently blend into your environment, maximizing your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses.

]]> http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/24/corporate-technology/feed/ 2 http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/16/iphone-4-fix-free-bumper/ http://www.gumballtech.com/2010/07/16/iphone-4-fix-free-bumper/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:33:17 +0000 admin http://gumballtech.com/?p=2382 Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference just ended. Their solution for the iPhone 4 problems? A free Bumper. If they run out of Bumpers, you can choose from their own selection of cases, which probably won’t be too great. Hit all the info after the break.

*CATCH UP ON THE LIVE EVENT HERE*

So basically, Apple knows that there was a problem, and would have done this within the first few days, but they wanted all of the data.

What’re they going to do about the reception issue? They’re going to give people free Bumpers starting late next week via Apple’s website through September 30th, where they will stop the program, and think about continuing it later on. They probably won’t have enough Bumpers to go around, so they’ll have their own selection of cases to choose from.

People who’ve already purchased Bumpers will be able to get a refund. Information on this is currently unavailable, so we’ll have to wait for Apple to open up their free Bumper website.

I have reason to believe that Apple will start selling the white iPhone 4 next week at the same time. They might as well do it all at once, right?

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The live stream will be below. Again, we’ll be pulling in the information from several websites immediately (ex. Engadget). Enjoy!

UPDATE: It’s over! Thanks to the 175 people who came and stopped by! You can view a replay of the event above.

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Changes for 4.0.1 (iPhone 3G/3GS/4 only):

• Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display

Changes for 3.2.1 (iPad only):

• Improved Wi-Fi connectivity
• Fixed an issue that could prevent copy and paste of single-page PDF attachments in Mail
• Addressed an issue that could cause video playback to freeze
• Improved reliability of video-out when using iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
• Added Bing as an option for Safari’s search field

Downloads links:

• iPhone 3G (4.0.1)
• iPhone 3GS (4.0.1)
• iPhone 4 (4.0.1)
• iPad (3.2.1)

It’s not 100% sure what Apple will be talking about, but it will most likely be about the proximity sensor, cell reception, and the white iPhone 4.

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