iPhone watch

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

The Daily Roundup: here's what you might've missed


	iTunes Store now infected with variable pricing, Amazon still $0.99 As promised, variable pricing has now been implemented at the iTunes music store.		GM and Segway's P.U.M.A. makes its stage debut (with video!) We just lived, breathed and experienced GM and Segway's joint press conference, where they "unveiled" the P.U.M.A. one more time for effect. (See also: Engadget's wild ride in the P.U.M.A.)
	Blockbuster voices "substantial doubt" about ability to survive As depressing as it is to see an American icon come this close to collapse, is it really any surprise?	Other news of import Data Robotics goes large with 8-bay DroboPro Microsoft: New Zune hardware coming this year Microsoft hoping for Win 7 upgraders, reluctantly allowing downgraders
	Gulliver's Travels Blu-ray shows the wrong way to bring animation to HD Disney's approach to handling its animated classics has been a careful one, even down to the inclusion of Disney View to keep older features like Pinocchio in their proper aspect ratio and keep viewers from stretching		Samsung Impression now on sale at AT&T If you were waiting for a big-ass OLED display before pulling the trigger on a new North American handset, go ahead and get your wallet (or coin purse, or piggy bank, whatever) ready.
DirecTV's free iPhone app manages 100k downloads in its first week Cox prepping a multi-room DVR for sometime this year		Google's new Gmail mobile web app sports offline message caching, lots of floaty goodness iPhone 3.0 video recording interface, compass support spotted? (Update: voice dialing, too)

The Daily Roundup: here's what you might've missed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Google's new Gmail mobile web app sports offline message caching, lots of floaty goodness

If you've been losing sleep in eager anticipation of the new Gmail for mobile, rest assured that you'll sleep soundly tonight. With support for both Android phones and iPhone / iPod Touch OS 2.2.1, the gang over at the Google mobile blog are justifiably proud of the new app. Expect nothing less than a more robust cache that utilizes Gears (for Android) and SQLite databases (for iPhones / touches) to allow you to compose messages and access recently read messages without a network connection, an improved look and feel, and the all new "floaty bar" (their name, not ours) that keeps popular menu commands from scrolling off screen, as this bad boy rolls out progressively over the course of the day. Most interestingly, using the new Gmail on your devices doesn't require any tweaks or installs -- it's utilizing HTML5 (and its offline storage APIs) already present in the browser. Google is just turning on the juice behind the scenes. And for those of you who are resistant to change, fear not -- the previous version is still available. Check it out for yourself over at gmail.com, but not before peeping that super-sweet video after the break.

Continue reading Google's new Gmail mobile web app sports offline message caching, lots of floaty goodness

Filed under: Cellphones

Google's new Gmail mobile web app sports offline message caching, lots of floaty goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Latest PSP2 rumor covers familar ground, adds pre-Xmas release date

Not that we needed much more evidence that 2009 would be the year 'o PSP rumors, but Pocket Gamer is now reporting that it has heard from an "insider source" who says that the PSP2 will indeed be released before Christmas of this year. That source, who's supposedly a "developer working on the new hardware," also backs up some of the earlier rumors about the design of the device itself, saying that it will be more like the iPhone than the current PSP, and that it will boast a sliding touchscreen that conceals the buttons and dual analog controls when it's closed. Not much more than that, unfortunately, but who know's what next week's rumor will bring? We're personally hoping for a surprise Atari Lynx rebirth to really shake things up.

Filed under: Gaming

Latest PSP2 rumor covers familar ground, adds pre-Xmas release date originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

iPhone 3.0 video recording interface, compass support spotted? (Update: voice dialing, too)

iPhone OS 3.0 is riddled with hints that video recording is on the way, and the latest is is this supposed screenshot of a revised camera app with a video toggle. MacRumors says it comes up when certain config files are edited to make it seem like a video camera is present, but it's not clear exactly what steps have to be taken, so we're treating this one cautiously until we can confirm it. Other secret features buried in the plists are said to include "auto-focus camera," "voice control," and "magnetometer," which is assumed to be a compass. Yep, all stuff we'd expect from an iPhone revision around, say, June, but nothing earth-shattering -- and if the video features are as mediocre as the current iPhone camera, we don't think the Flips of this world have too much to worry about.

Update: Boy Genius Report has scored some other 3.0-culled goodies, including what appears to be voice dialing ("Voice Control" as they're calling it), a digital battery strength readout, and further evidence of video support. Beta 3, where are you?

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

iPhone 3.0 video recording interface, compass support spotted? (Update: voice dialing, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

iPhone 3.0 video recording interface, compass support spotted?

iPhone OS 3.0 is riddled with hints that video recording is on the way, and the latest is is this supposed screenshot of a revised camera app with a video toggle. MacRumors says it comes up when certain config files are edited to make it seem like a video camera is present, but it's not clear exactly what steps have to be taken, so we're treating this one cautiously until we can confirm it. Other secret features buried in the plists are said to include "auto-focus camera," "voice control," and "magenetometer," which is assumed to be a compass. Yep, all stuff we'd expect from an iPhone revision around, say, June, but nothing earth-shattering -- and if the video features are as mediocre as the current iPhone camera, we don't think the Flips of this world have too much to worry about.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Video

iPhone 3.0 video recording interface, compass support spotted? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Monday, 6 April 2009

Dexim's Shu-Lip for your third-gen iPod shuffle spotted in the wilds of the internet

No, it's not the most terrifically exciting accessory we've ever come across -- but Dexim's Shu-Lip, which plugs into the end of your new iPod shuffle -- conveniently converting it into a thumb drive, is no longer just a render. We'll admit that something about the little guy kind of screams "super cute." It's a bit pricier than we'd first heard -- but $16 is still a really sweet deal, right? Right?

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Storage

Dexim's Shu-Lip for your third-gen iPod shuffle spotted in the wilds of the internet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: iPhone watch

Pogoplug review

When we first caught wind of the Pogoplug -- a small box that essentially lets you turn any USB hard drive (and drives only) into a network device -- we were pretty darn excited. Having a house full of disparate storage boxes and no easy way to connect to them made the prospect of the 'plug seem very enticing. Not only does the Pogoplug make your drive accessible via your PC (with accompanying software), but it -- we think more importantly -- makes the drive accessible via a web front-end and an iPhone app. We finally had a chance to break one of these out and see how it performs, and our findings are below.

Gallery: Pogoplug review