Acoustic Research Infinite Radio now on sale for $129.99

Remember that ARIR200 WiFi radio from back at CES? If not, you can take comfort in the fact that we're the forgiving type, but Acoustic Research has rung in to inform the world that the so-called Infinite Radio is now on sale. For those with short memories, this radio brings along Slacker support, on-demand weather forecasts from WeatherBug, MP3tunes music locker streaming, an AM / FM radio tuner, USB and Ethernet connections and enough internal memory to hold ten hours of audio. The device is available now at regional chain stores and nationally online for $129.99, and if it's the iPod-friendly ARIR600i you're after, that'll hit the market later in the year for $199.99. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Acoustic Research Infinite Radio now on sale for $129.99

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

Acoustic Research Infinite Radio now on sale for $129.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Apple uses a jailbroken iPhone in patent application

Uh oh Apple -- it looks like even your attorneys are dirty, thieving jailbreakers. Tipster a|e§ was poring through that iPhone biometric security patent application we posted earlier and noticed that the images show a jailbroken phone, complete with Installer.app, SMBPrefs, and the iWood Realize theme from the iSpazio repository. We're guessing the fine folks at Kramer, Levin Naftalis & Frankel are going to have some 'splainin to do on Monday morning -- but at least they get to run apps in the background.

Update: To those of you saying that this is in reference to one of the claims of the patent, we're not so sure -- there's no reason for Apple to use images of a jailbroken phone to make that specific point. Remember, somebody drew this picture, they didn't have to use these specific icons or this theme to illustrate Springboard variations.

[Thanks, a|e§]

Filed under: Cellphones

Apple uses a jailbroken iPhone in patent application originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Meizu M8 unboxing and hands-on!

Yes, folks -- things are about to get really real. We have managed, through a series of delicate negotiations, to get our hands on an honest-to-goodness Meizu M8 -- heretofore the stuff of pure legend. At first glance, the build quality of the phone is actually pretty decent -- it's mostly plastic, but everything seems to snap together firmly. The battery (which is removable, naturally) is quite large, though we haven't had a chance to test its life in any significant way. Of course, the real showpiece here is the software -- which admittedly owes its entire existence to the iPhone. We've found that it's quite snappy, and the styling and functionality of the UI is really kind of impressive (though this did spend a long time in the oven). Still, the phone's KIRF roots are clear -- you can judge for yourself in the gallery below.

Thanks to the good folks at MP4 Nation for the hookup!

Gallery: Meizu M8 unboxing and hands-on!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Meizu M8 unboxing and hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Remote control airsoft gun MacGyvered out of Wiimote, ioBridge, and Construx

It's the weekend, folks, and you know what that means -- time to blow off a little steam. By way of example, the folks that brought us that Wiimote coil gun a while back have returned to the scene with a little something they like to call OfficeDefender. Using the very same servo and ioBridge module as the last time, this hack finds the gun replaced with a Beretta 9mm replica airsoft gun. Also note the nice use of Construx in a non-beer or iPhone related context. If that weren't enough, this bad boy has a full-auto mode, moves 180 degrees horizontally, can be sighted with the head-mounted webcam and fired via Wiimote. We're not telling you that you can use this to hassle folks in the office come Monday, but you totally could. Videos after the break.

[Via Engadget German]

Continue reading Remote control airsoft gun MacGyvered out of Wiimote, ioBridge, and Construx

Filed under: Robots

Remote control airsoft gun MacGyvered out of Wiimote, ioBridge, and Construx originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

iPhone 3G finally available contract-free

At long last folks with a contract phobia or just a general penchant for lawlessness can pay exorbitant amounts of money to get an iPhone 3G contract-free. As promised, 8GB models for $599 and 16GB ones for $699 are now available from AT&T and Apple stores, with AT&T requiring buyers to be existing AT&T customers, limited at one per, while Apple stores will sell the handsets to anyone wandering in off the street -- rebellious demeanor preferred.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

iPhone 3G finally available contract-free originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Major smartphone platforms emerge unscathed from Pwn2Own

Sure seems like your handheld is a lot more secure than your computer, at least in some sense -- although the desktop versions of IE 8, Safari, and Firefox were each almost instantly cracked on the first day of the Pwn2Own contest, no one claimed the $10,000 bounty placed on each of the major smartphone platforms. That's certainly reassuring, but it may not ultimately mean much: according to contest organizers Tipping Point, the bugs in Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and the iPhone and BlackBerry OSes are still there, but they're harder to exploit because of device, OS, and carrier variations. That makes any vulnerabilities even more valuable -- one of the contestents apparently had an iPhone exploit ready to go, but wasn't willing to part with it since he wanted more than $10K for it. Tipping Point says it'll try and nail down specs of each platform earlier next year to make it easier on hackers, but let's hope the results are similar.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Cellphones

Major smartphone platforms emerge unscathed from Pwn2Own originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Unicom confirmed as Chinese iPhone / G1 provider?

It's been a long, arduous road to Shanghai for the iPhone, but its trip may finally be at an end. Sure, there are already thousands of the things in the pockets and purses of trendy Chinese right now, but an official launch there has taken ages. Last summer it was looking like China Mobile had scored the deal with Apple, but word is now that China Unicom may have completed the upset, posting up a page on its site detailing the iPhone's specs and including the phone in its list of supported headsets. The company hasn't officially confirmed the phone's availability or anything else, but word on the streets of Shanghai is that the phone will be launched there on May 17th.

Update: Looks like it has posted specs for the G1 as well, albeit complete with T-Mobile branding. Hmm. [Thanks, Sze!]

[Via JLM Pacific Epoch; thanks, Scott]

Filed under: Cellphones

Unicom confirmed as Chinese iPhone / G1 provider? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Car stereo thieves looking elsewhere to make those ends

At least one in five Engadget staffers can attest: car stereo crime was all the rage in the 1990s, and needless to say, we were all on the losing end of the deal. These days, however, larceny cases involving in-dash head units has dropped dramatically, and we've generally got no one but the auto makers to thank. Back in the day, factory stereos were downright laughable, and considering that most 1- and 2-DIN aftermarket decks could be installed in almost any car, the street value for those puppies was pretty high. Now, it's tough to find a vehicle without a marginally decent player already in it, which has led to a 50 percent decline in reported car stereo thefts over the past 15 years. If we had a gun to our head, we'd guess these folks have all moved on to swiping iPods.

[Via Fark, image courtesy of Notla]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

Car stereo thieves looking elsewhere to make those ends originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Vuze brings online video to game consoles, portable media players

Sheesh -- this is dangerously close to getting out of hand. We've got Hulu, boxee, ZeeVee and Vuze (amongst others) all vying for your attention in the wide world of broadband video, but it's the latter dishing out a potent new offering with its latest version. Today, Vuze has announced a new iteration of its online video portal application that integrates playback with iPhone, iPod, AppleTV, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 devices. So far as we can tell, no other competitor offers that much integration (read: direct Mac / PC-to-device transfers) across so many products. Of course, none of this matters if you aren't a fan of Vuze itself, but you can surf on over to download it (gratis, naturally) in order to test the waters.

Filed under: Handhelds, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Vuze brings online video to game consoles, portable media players originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch

Scammer shuffles Apple out of 9,000 iPods

For whatever reason, Apple's iPod ends up in the middle of quite a few crimes. The latest story, however, is even more extreme than usual. Nicholas Arthur Woodhams, a 23 year old from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was recently slapped upside the gord with federal charges of fraud and money laundering after he managed to con Apple into shipping him around 9,000 iPod shuffles. As the story goes, he managed to somehow correctly guess thousands of valid shuffle serial numbers and have replacements shipped to him; once they arrived, he sold them for less than MSRP to excited buyers, all while giving Apple a prepaid VISA number that would reject the charges after he failed to send back the nonexistent "original" shuffle. It's rather amazing to us that he was able to pull this off for so long without being noticed, but even if it works for awhile, we've learned yet again that crime doesn't pay. In fact, the feds have already seized a half million bucks from one brokerage account, some real estate and a trio of vehicles. Tragic, yeah?

[Via Macworld, thanks Steve]

Filed under: Portable Audio

Scammer shuffles Apple out of 9,000 iPods originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Source: iPhone watch