Apple may have found a way to convince those on older machines to finally upgrade, or just a way to make them switch to another music store. It seems Apple is requiring iTunes 10 to access the iTunes Store. Some older machines cannot run the latest version of the software, meaning they’re locked out from the store.
The story comes from 9to5Mac which heard from a user who still uses a G3 Mac, which a decade old. The G3 Mac can only use iTunes up to version 8.2.1, but that didn’t stop Apple from telling the user he needs to upgrade to iTunes 10 to access the store. It seems that up until now the store was still accessible, meaning this was a recent change on Apple’s part.
It is possible that the change is merely a glitch on Apple’s end. If it isn’t a glitch, it’s certainly an interesting way to get people off older machines. I was honestly surprised that a decade-old Mac could still access the iTunes store in the first place. If you haven’t upgraded in so long, I would suggest save the money you’d reserve for music and invest in a new MacBook, you’ll probably be much, much happier.
Looking for a smartphone not based on looks or specs, but on durability? On April 28 Verizon has you covered with the Casio G’zOne Commando, an Android smartphone with military-grade durability.
The Commando meets military standards for protection against rain, shock, dust, solar radiation, salt fog, humidity, vibration, high and low temperatures and altitude. So, it’s a great phone if you spend all day in constant danger, or if your phone is prone to disasters. Even if you aren’t in the military or construction (two professions Verizon believes should want this phone), but you’re an adventurous type, the Commando has you covered. The phone comes with an Earth Compass to tell you direction, and where a number of national and international landmarks are. Finally, a way to find out just how far I am from Mount Everest at all times. There’s also apps for taking virtual hikes via a walking counter, tide charts, sun/moon calendars and star gazing.
The Casio G’zOne Commando runs Android 2.2, and is said to have high-security encryption for your corporate email. The only specs mentioned are the 5MP rear-facing camera with LED flash, WiFi, Mobile Hotspot and Stereo Bluetooth. It will be available on Verizon Wireless on April 28 for $199.99.
The HP Pre 3 still has a vague release window of “summer,” but it’s now one step closer to that eventual release. The phone has come through the FCC, not for a teardown just yet, but for a filing. The filing actually brings about a few surprises and confirmations.
The FCC for the HP Pre 3 has the phone running on GSM only, with 850MHz and 1900MHz bands otherwise known as AT&T’s bands. So, we can be pretty sure the Pre 3 will be coming to AT&T when it does launch. This isn’t the GSM+CDMA global device that has been promised since launch, but there’s always more time for that to show up. For now we can safely bet that AT&T will be carrying the device at or around release.
The next big surprise is that the Pre 3 is running WebOS 2.3. It’s been assumed that the smartphone would be running WebOS 2.2 at launch. We don’t know too much about WebOS 2.3, and what makes it different from 2.2. Perhaps we’ll find out more in the weeks leading up to launch, but for now we can only really speculate as to what it means.
Disclaimer: This MetroPCS smartphone was loaned to Gadgetell by MetroPCS for the purpose of this review.
MetroPCS was kind enough to send over one of their newest offerings for review. The handset is the Sanctioned by TapouT smartphone, which is a special edition Huawei Ascend. As told by the name, this is a TapouT branded phone and that means some goodies are included in the form of exclusive content. The handset features a 3.5 inch HVGA touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera, 256MB internal memory, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 1500 mAh battery and Android 2.2 Froyo. And as for that exclusive content, that comes in the form of 10 virtual training center videos, 12 static wallpapers, 6 live wallpapers, a TapouT application and two TapouT branded battery covers. The MetroPCS Sanctioned smartphone is priced contract-free at $119, which comes after a $30 mail-in-rebate. With that, while we offered a general overview of the phone along with several images, we still have a more in-depth review coming.
According to a leaked roadmap, Dell is hard at work on a 10” Streak Pro tablet. The Android-powered unit was slated for June according the leaked document. No word on pricing or launch date beyond “June”.
The tablet looks targeted to enterprise. Listed in the specs is “Enterprise application stack” which reveals a bit where Dell hopes to find some success with this tablet. Packed with the new Tegra T25, cameras and mics for video conferencing and Dell’s Stage 1.5 UI, the unit looks to be interesting.
Last week, we heard rumors that Dell is pushing back a tablet to the fall. It’s unclear if this is that tablet.
We are now in Day Seven of Sony’s PSN and Qriosity outage, and Sony is just now telling us what we should have found out much earlier. If you have a PSN or Qriosity account, your personal information has been taken. Your credit card information is a maybe at this point.
The personal information stolen includes your name, address, birthday, username, email, and password. Also included is your purchase history, billing address, and security question. So, basically all of the information you have to give to Sony to create an account, and it’s in the hands of the unidentified hackers now.
The one upside is there’s a chance that your credit card information wasn’t taken, but Sony isn’t ruling it out at the moment. So, to be on the safe side, check your upcoming statements to make sure the number was stolen. Or, if you want to be absolutely sure, cancel the credit card attached to PSN to make sure your card can’t be used.
The worst part is that it took Sony seven full days to say our information was taken. It took a few days to announce the PSN was down because of a hack, and now a week before saying anything about a privacy breach. The information that was taken could be used for fraud or identity theft, the least the company could do is warn us when ti happens, not a week later. The updates to PSN/Qriosity are supposed to have better security, but would you trust Sony with the information again? At the very least, I’ll probably be sticking to prepaid cards to buy content.
I’d love to see how Sony makes the Kevin Butler character smooth this over, if that’s even possible.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer went on sale today in the United States, but you’ll be lucky to find it in stock. This tablet has stormed onto the scene and performed exceptionally well. It didn’t have the same buzz that the Motorola Xoom had out of the gate, but it has still become the Android 3.0 tablet of choice. The tablet has also been getting rave reviews. We suspect one of the biggest incentives customers have towards purchasing the Eee Pad Transformer is its price.
Some of the most popular online retail stores such as Walmart, Target, Amazon, TigerDirect and Best Buy are out of stock. You can still check with your local stores to see if there are more Eee Pad Transformers there.
The Eee Pad Transformer can cost as low as $399.99 at retail for the 16GB version. It has the advantage of being the cheapest Android 3.0 tablet currently available and it doesn’t require any connections to a mobile phone carrier. $499 will get you the 32GB model and it also has an optional keyboard dock for $150 more. This dock essentially turns the Eee Pad Transformer into an Android-powered laptop computer.
It also doesn’t skimp on the specs. The tablet has a 10.1-inch screen, a Tegra 2 processor, two cameras and a HDMI-out port.
Hopefully the success of this low cost tablet will rub off on other manufacturers.
Remember Friendster? An early entrant in the social networking game, the site was purchased in 2009 for $40 million by a Malaysian payment company and is now looking to take the site in new directions. To make way for the new directions, all data will be wiped at the end of May.
What new direction? Good question; TechCrunch reports that the new site will add to your current social experience:
Our improved site is designed to create new profiles that allow you to connect differently with people and do things differently than other networking sites. Basically, the new site will complement your existing online presence in other social networking sites.
Friendster is offering an export tool so users can port their data elsewhere. After May 31st, the data will be gone for good.
Facebook rolled out a new service called Facebook Deals today. Facebook Deals will thrust itself into competition with companies such as LivingSocial and Groupon by offering its users some good deals on goods and services in their city. Facebook Deals is only available in five cities - Austin, San Diego, Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco. We expect Facebook to roll out this feature to all of its 600 million users in the future.
The deals offered by Facebook can be purchased with a debit card, credit card or Facebook Credits. This will be the first time users can use Credits to buy something tangible. Facebook Credits can also be purchased from major retail establishments.
After looking through the site, it appears Facebook has some major discounts. For example, San Diego customers can purchase two tickets for Glee Live for $78. These tickets would typically cost $132. There are also deals for hikes, wine tasting, restaurants and even improv classes.
You can sign up for updates on when Facebook Deals will be coming to your area.
Google Offers is also waiting in the wings. When it becomes fully realized, Facebook will have even stiffer competition on its hands.
It looks like webOS users have some new App Catalog features to look forward to this summer. The details are coming by way of the webOSroundup blog who recently interviewed Richard Kerris. Anyway, while the interview is certainly worth a listen, some of the highlights in terms of the App Catalog include in-app purchases and promo codes. According to the details give, the promo codes and in-app purchases are expected to arrive sometime this summer. And for those who may have remembered hearing about the promo codes before, that part was more an update with a better timeline for release. And lastly, it was also noted that “HP is actively working on a way to remove geo-restrictions.” But sadly, that last one was noted as how it may not be ready for “several months.” Of course, several months could place it just after summer, that is, assuming all goes well.
Sprint has just announced the availability of its upcoming 4G Android phone, the Samsung Nexus S 4G on May 8, 2011. Those who’ve pre-ordered the said device when it became available now rest easy and bear the agony of waiting for more than two weeks more. While those who haven’t purchased the said smartphone yet may do so now to get the device hopefully on the said date as well. Prepare to spend $199.99 for the Nexus S 4G and convince yourself that you’ll also be tied to a two-year Sprint contract. Is the two-year contract worth all the features that the Samsung Nexus S 4G will bring to the 4G LTE Android phone table? It seems like so.
In case you’ve missed earlier news about the Samsung Nexus S 4G, this device will be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and also happens to be the first 4G-capable Nexus S phone. The Nexus S 4G is equipped with a 1GHz Samsung processor, supports HD-like multimedia content, dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU), 4-inch Super AMOLED display with contour form factor, 5MP rear-facing camera, integrated GPS, Bluetooth, gyroscope sensor, 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and Wi-Fi connectivity.
The latest issue of the Best Buy Buyers Guide (for May) is showing off the Samsung Droid Charge and the HTC Droid Incredible 2. And interestingly enough, both are listed as “Coming Soon.” Of course, the interesting part with that is we have seen the official announcement for the Droid Charge and we know that it will be released on April 28th, however we have yet to see Verizon announced the Droid Incredible 2. Bottom line, either Verizon has a soon-to-be-made-announcement or Best Buy has gotten a bit ahead of themselves.
Verizon Wireless has just officially announced the new HTC DROID Incredible 2, an Android 2.2 smartphone sporting a 4-inch super LCD display which shall be available by April 28 at all Verizon Wireless stores as well as online. For $199.99 plus a new two-year contract, you can have this powerful smartphone featuring a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 8MP back-facing camera, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 720p HD video capture plus DNLA support, 3G Mobile Hotspot and Wi-Fi. The DROID Incredible 2 also features the HTC Sense UI running on top of Android 2.2. The HTC DROID Incredible 2 is a follow-up to an equally great HTC Android smartphone, the HTC Incredible which was one of the more popular Android smartphones that came out previously.
FROM GAMERTELL - Sony’s new tablet line will kick off with the S1 and S2. The S1 is standard tablet while the S2 is a dual screen system, like the DS and 3DS. Both games will work with the PlayStation Suite and Qriocity. MORE »
We watched Sprint release the HTC 7 Pro as the HTC Arrive and now it looks like another CDMA based US carrier will be releasing the handset. The carrier is Verizon and the phone appears to be coming as the HTC Pro. Of course, naming aside, this will still be the Windows Phone 7 running handset that we have seen launch with numerous carriers across the globe. In other words, the HTC Pro will feature a 3.6 inch display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, hardware QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, digital zoom and flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack and more. That said, as of now there are still plenty of questions, mainly when Verizon will choose to make this official. And that just brings the next question, will Verizon end up launching the HTC Pro or the long since confirmed HTC Trophy as their first Windows Phone 7 smartphone?
Godrej and Boyce, an India-based typewriter manufacturing company, has officially closed its doors and discontinued their production of typewriters after over 50 years of service. As it turns out, Godrej and Boyce was the last remaining typewriter manufacturer in the world. The company’s general manager, Milind Dukle, expressed his concern over the companies imminent demise to India’s Business Standard newspaper.
“From the early 2000s onwards, computers started dominating. All the manufacturers of office typewriters stopped production, except us. Till 2009, we used to produce 10,000 to 12,000 machines a year. But this might be the last chance for typewriter lovers. Now, our primary market is among the defence agencies, courts and government offices.”
Now even though typewriters lost their steam in the western world, they were still being utilized in India until a jump to personal computers hit the country roughly a decade ago.
Godrej and Boyce is now down to its last 200 typewriters which are primarily Arabic based models.
It’s always sad to see the end of such an influential piece of technology. Godrej and Boyce was still selling around 50,000 models per year in the early 1990s, but last year sold under 800.
The typewriter revolutionized the creation of documents in personal and business related areas alike. A salute to you, our dearest fallen brother…
It looks like HP is going to be kicking off the Veer smartphone advertising campaign in a small way—literally. A PreCentral reader spotted (and managed to capture some images) of a few HP Veer branded Mini Cooper cars. And when you think of it like that, it truly makes sense—take a small smartphone and advertise it on a small car. Of course, as many who have either owned or driving in a Mini Cooper will tell you, they are fun cars to drive. Maybe that is saying something about the Veer. Anyway, as the car states, “Small is the new big.”
RIM has announced the latest update in terms of the BlackBerry Podcasts app and with a new version number comes a few key new features. But first, the BlackBerry Podcasts app is available (as a free download) by way of the BlackBerry App World and the most recent version is 1.5. With that, the new features include;
Addition of a preview or play option while the podcast is downloading
Web podcast searching with integrated Google search
Improved content presentation within categories: the first 40 listings in each category will be "featured content," a combination of the most popular feeds and RIM-programmed feeds
After months of rumors and sketches Sony has finally unveiled not one, but two Android Honeycomb tablets, the S1 and S2. There’s one with a traditional slate form, and a smaller clamshell design. Both will be PlayStation Certified just like the Xperia Play, and will feature Sony’s Qriocity service. The two tablets are scheduled for release this Fall with WiFi and 3G/4G models planned.
The S1 is the slate-style tablet we’ve heard so much about before. It will have a 9.4-inch screen, front- and rear-facing cameras, all powered by a Tegra 2 CPU. The back of the S1 isn’t just a straight piece of plastic or metal. Instead it’s designed to look like the front panel was folded onto the back, not unlike a folded magazine. That gives is an unusual center of gravity which Sony claims makes the tablet feel lighter, giving it more stability and comfort over time.
The second tablet is the clamshell, dual-screen S2. The S2 features two 5.5-inch screens, each with a resolution of 1024x480. It seems the dual-screens are meant to use only one app between them. There doesn’t seem to be two apps running at once like on the Kyocera Echo, instead the S2 is shown playing a video on one screen with controls on the other, one screen being used as a keyboard for the other, and email splitting inbox and messages. It seems questionable at best, at least until we can actually hold the device.
Despite RIM having released the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet a week ago, they have just now begun with the television commercials. Or should we say commercial, because at this point there has only been one. That aside though, this commercial comes in at the standard 30 seconds and offers a nice look at the PlayBook highlighting just how portable and powerfully it is. In fact, the commercial ends with these words, Powerful, Portable, PlayBook.
It looks like webOS users have some new App Catalog features to look forward to this summer. The details are coming by way of the webOSroundup blog who recently interviewed Richard Kerris. Anyway, while the 
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