Consumer Reports finds iPhone 4S to have worthwhile antennas, says newer iPhone 4 is still problematic

Consumer Reports recommends the iPhone 4S.” It’s only half a dozen words, but to the engineers (and marketers) at Apple, it spells “relief.” After being profusely impacted by Consumer Reports’ decision to recommend against buying the iPhone 4 due to those Antennagate issues, the entity has allowed all in Cupertino to breathe a sigh of relief by effectively declaring the reception issue dead on the newest edition. To quote:

“Apple’s newest smart phone performed very well in our tests, and while it closely resembles the iPhone 4 in appearance, it doesn’t suffer the reception problem we found in its predecessor in special tests in our labs. In special reception tests of the iPhone 4S that duplicated those we did on the iPhone 4, the newer phone did not display the same reception flaw, which involves a loss of signal strength when you touch a spot on the phone’s lower left side while you’re in an area with a weak signal. (The iPhone 4, which is still available, continues to exhibit that problem, we confirmed in tests of new samples of the phone. Because of the flaw, we continue to omit the iPhone 4 from our list of recommended models, despite its otherwise fine performance.)”

In other words, even the newer samples of the iPhone 4 continue to have antenna quirks, but at least the latest and greatest seems to have addressed ‘em. Hit the source link for the full report.

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Siri successfully ported to iPhone 3GS, dictation and voice commands run smoothly

Yes, you read it right! Legendary iPhone hacker chpwn has, with a little help from stroughtonsmith, managed to successfully port Apple’s new system-wide voice recognition feature through to the equally legendary old-timer that is the iPhone 3GS.

The iPhone 3GS has been a great asset to Apple since it’s launch all the way back in the middle of 2009, and continues – to this day – to sell and compete with more recent devices on the smartphone market.

Since Siri was launched along with iPhone 4S as an exclusive feature to Apple’s very latest smartphone, it has scarcely been away from the headlines. Developers have been plugging away to see what the software can really do when unleashed, and if the progress thus far is anything to go by, Siri will be singing songs whilst flipping eggs for your breakfast in no time!

Jokes aside, though, the latest inroads only further increase the suspicion that the fruit company kept Siri as an iPhone 4S-only feature in order to increase sales. It was said that Apple’s first dual-core smartphone was the only device capable of handling the new, exciting technology; but the work of chpwn and friends has certainly made that claim appear as a simple, sensible marketing ploy.

Although it appears to run as smoothly on the aging 3GS as it does on its younger brother, and the predictable kinks are currently still being ironed out. Activator integration is also subject to further testing, so as we say, the 3GS port is not yet the finished article. It’s exciting nonetheless, and even connects to Apple’s servers. More importantly, it demonstrates just how dedicated and talented the hackers and developers are.

Those who doubted the need for jailbreaking and hacking to continue with Apple bringing 200 new features to iOS 5, (many of which had been lingering annoyances since day one), need look no further than here, because despite the positive progress being made by the Cupertino company in delivering the updates to its mobile operating system, the inroads being made within the jailbreaking spectrum are just as exciting – and just as important in dictating the future direction of iOS.

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Download iOS 5 for iPhone 4S, 4, 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod Touch

Download iOS 5

How To Install IOS 5

Connect your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad to iTunes 10.5 or later, new firmware iOS 5 availability message will appear then hit the “Download and Install” button. (Not recommended for jailbreakers and unlockers)
You can also download iOS 5 firmware from the links below. Hold down the Shift (Windows) or Alt/Option (Mac) key and hit the restore button on iTunes and select the downloaded IPSW file.

You can download iOS 5 firmware for your desired device from the links below:

• Downlaod iOs 5 for iPhone 4S – iPhone4,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
  
• Download iOS 5 for iPhone 3GS – iPhone2,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
• Download iOS 5 for iPhone 4 GSM – iPhone3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
• Download iOS 5 for iPhone 4 CDMA – iPhone3,3_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
• Download iOS 5 for iPad 1 – iPad1,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
• Download iOS 5 for iPad 2 – iPad 2 WiFi | iPad 2 (GSM) | iPad 2 (CDMA)
• Download iOS 5 for iPod Touch 3G – iPod3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
• Download iOS 5 for iPod Touch 4G – iPod4,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw

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Download iOS 4.0 Final

Download iOS 4.0

Download iOS 4.0 for iPhone 4

• Mirror : iPhone3,1_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw (Apple)

Download iOS 4.0 for iPhone 3GS

• Mirror : iPhone2,1_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw (Apple)

Download iOS 4.0 for iPhone 3G

• Mirror : iPhone1,2_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw (Apple)

Download iOS 4.0 for iPod Touch 3G

• Mirror : iPod3,1_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw (Apple)

Download iOS 4.0 for iPod Touch 2G

• Mirror : iPod2,1_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw (Apple)

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iPhone 5 Concept Features

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Microsoft Office Labs 2019 Vision Montage

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Bang & Olufsen Beo6 Wi-Fi Remote Control

Bang & Olufsen has just announced their new Beo6 Wi-Fi remote control, which the name immediately tells you that it is the successor to the Bang & Olufsen Beo5. Designed to be used as a universal remote for both your audio and video systems in your living room, this high-tech touchscreen system can control everything from your TV to music player all from a touch of your finger, but of course you’ll need a Wi-Fi network.

The Beo6 can connect to your Wi-Fi network to enable 2-way control with other Bang & Olufsen devices supporting a 2-way communication. Measuring 82mm x 118.1mm x 36.7mm and weighing 215 grams. Now your luxurious house can go even further a step in high tech.

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The fridge that shoots beer!

Check this out. A fridge that shoots the beers out from an air cannon! Apparently some dude made it, and controlled it with an ‘iobridge’ and a web based iPhone interface. Now you don’t have to miss anything in the 45 minutes of the match!
Features:

* Vends 4 types of beer
* Broadcasts temperature
* Adjust temperature via iPhone
* Aim via webcam
* Auto tweet video per shot
* Fire beer with 50psi of deliciousness

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Have any Asus? Is it your Pride?

Here’s a contest by Asus for all Asus owners. Apparently there’s lots of “Pride” in this poster, which means Asus want you to show off your rig with their name in a photo and a video, alongside a ‘fairytale and happy ending ever after’ story at their site. But what’s in return? Apparently, a chance to win the next Asus Intel chipset motherboard (probably P67) including the processor, and that’s not all. You’ll also get either a ‘Republic of Gamers’ 3D notebook, or the grand price of an all-expenses paid trip to Asus HQ in Taiwan!

P/S: You only have about a week’s time to do this, as the deadline is 7th January 2011, before 23:59:59. For more info, head over to the source.

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SurfCube gives Windows Phone 7 the 3D browser

Now who says Windows Phone 7 isn’t fun and dandy? Now they’re getting 3D browsers, whether you like it or not (and whether you need I or not). This comes courtesy of SurfCube. SurfCube turns the browser into a ‘fake’ 3D experience of sorts, with favourites on “top,” and history and settings on the “sides,” while the front face of the cube is the browser itself. You can get around with swipes and flashy tilt gestures, and for $1.99 on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace you won’t need to rob a bank to have 3D browsing on your phone.

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PS3 private cryptography key hacked, mass Bluray disc coming!

Linux on every PS3 ever sold. Possible? Yes, and it’s coming probably next month, as a group of hackers called fail0verflow has just claimed to hacked the PS3 to reveal its own private cryptography key, the all important thing that allows people to sign their own code. But that’s not all; they also revealed that Sony didn’t bother generating any random numbers to secure the blasted thing, thus the cryptography always generate a same number all the time. The group intends to generate a proof-of-concept video tomorrow, and release the tools sometime next month, which will allow installation of Linux onto PS3.

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Cheap method to keep on cycling, in the snow

It’s snowing, and your car can’t move, but what about your bicycle? It should be the same, right? Well not really. If you don’t have stud tires, then a bunch of zip ties should do the trick. One of the cyclists at Dutch Bike Co. was caught without studded tires when it started snowing in Seattle. However, with some MacGyver trick, the problem is solved.

“I can accelerate, brake, and corner with aplomb, even on the vile snowpack/sheet ice mix the plows leave in the bike lanes. The zip ties dig nicely into the hardest packed surfaces, but they’re thin enough not to bounce the bike around at low speed or on short pavement sections. “

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Intel’s new SSD 310 is eight time small than your notebook’s HDD

Intel has announced a new SSD. Nothing fast that’ll kill SandForce, but something that’s extremely small which Intel hopes to give a fight to Toshiba. Intel’s just announced a new SSD 310 line that offers spectacularly minimal 51mm by 30mm by 5mm dimensions, while retaining X25-class performance (up to 200MBps read and 80MBps write speeds).

To give you an idea of what those measurements mean, the industry-standard 2.5-inch form factor, an already diminutive footprint, is eight times larger than these new-fangled storage chips. 40GB and 80GB variants of the SSD 310 are shipping out to OEMs already and Lenovo has confirmed it plans to roll these into its next refresh of the venerable ThinkPad laptop line.

Prices are set at $99 and $179 (depending on size) when bought in batches of 1,000, though direct sales to end users are predictably off the table for now, as expected. The next SSD might be more expensive, and you’ve been warned.

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ASUS teases Eee Pad and Eee Slate ahead of CES launch

Last time manufacturers usually unveiled their products wholly before CES, but this time around, they all prefer to tease instead. Today we see yet another tease from Asus. What we see above is a USB 3.0 port embedded within a very slinky keyboard panel, which itself seems attached to a touchscreen display (with Android buttons!) up top. It’s looking more like a tablet PC (presumably with a pivoting screen) than a tablet, which is corroborated by other images at the source link. Two devices are included in this teaser picture set, with the other looking like it has a slider keyboard. We’re not sure what this thing really is though. Well, we’ll just have to wait for CES 2011.

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Kinect Hacked To Play World of Warcraft

Since many had hacked Kinect to do all sorts of stupid stuff, why not mod it to do some real actions? That’s what this new hack is all about. The Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California demonstrates its Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST) technology in this World of Warcraft for Kinect demo. Yes, using Kinect to wave your hands around and control your World of Warcraft hero.

Using open source software and smarts, the eggheads at USC can control some of WoW’s simpler actions—movement, spellcasting, targeting—with the Xbox 360 add-on. FAAST is designed to be used with off-the-shelf game software and can be configured to work with different titles. So the future of the mouse is your hand and your body?

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Call of Duty: Black Ops is the most pirated game

Call of Duty: Black Ops has been the fastest selling video games of all time, but that also racks the title a good spot in Jack Sparrow’s territory. The FPS game is now one of the most downloaded games, illegally.

TorrentFreak, a BitTorrent news site reports a scary 4.2 million download for Black Ops. That’s a very big number considering that the game has only been out not so long ago, and already beaten Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (3.96 million downloads), Mafia II, and Mass Effect 2 to take the notorious throne.

Thieves who own an Xbox 360 did their share in Black Ops stealing, downloading that console version 930,000 times, according to TorrentFreak’s numbers. Dante’s Inferno wound up being the most downloaded Xbox 360 game, with Super Mario Galaxy 2 sitting atop the most pirated list on for Wii owners. Well, the good thing is Black Ops is winning at nearly every corner.

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NFC chip with embedded flash memory from Samsung

Looks like NFC chip will indeed go quite big in 2011, as Samsung announced that its new near field communications (NFC) chip now comes with embedded flash memory for next-generation smartphones. Fancy a Galaxy S2 with Gingerbread and NFC? Mass production of the NFC is slated for the first quarter of 2011, so we should be able to see these NFC chips being used in smartphones launched during 2011, at least the third quarter.

The new Samsung NFC chip adopts flash for the embedded memory which allows device designers to easily to upgrade software or firmware. Samsung also provides a software protocol stack and technology services for antenna design and tuning. Through such features and support, designers can reduce their product’s time-to-market, the vendor said.

Samsung claimed it developed this NFC chip to have minimal power consumption in both active and stand-by mode. With a 20% decrease in power consumption, Samsung’s NFC chip remains active for mobile payment even without battery power. But if you look at the current NFC chip in the Google Nexus S, switching it on full time does little to the lifespan of the battery that it’s totally insignificant. The PN544 NFC chip from NXP that is used in Google’s Nexus S runs at an insignificant 50 micro amps and 35 milliamps when briefly interacting with a tag. If you deduct 20-percent from that, which we assume is the benchmark of current NFC chip’s power consumption then 40 micro amps is definitely insignificant to the battery’s consumption.

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Three versions of iPad 2 for 2011?

Not sizes, but features at least. Currently there are two versions of iPad being released, a WiFi-only and a WiFi + 3G. Now, sources close to industry stated that Apple will be adding CDMA into that lineup. That means we’ll see iPad 2 in Wi-Fi, UMTS, and CDMA. Apple will ship about 500,000-530,000 units to channels in January with shipment ratio of Wi-Fi, UMTS and CDMA models at 3:4:3, according to industry sources, citing upstream component makers.

“The sources pointed out that about 60-65% of current iPad shipments are 3G models, indicating that consumers prefer models that are able to connect to the Internet all the time, therefore Apple is aiming to work even more closely with telecom carriers by offering more wireless solutions for iPad 2 to satisfy market demand.”

Besides adding CDMA, the source also stated Apple working on improving the glass panel of the iPad 2 for better anti-smudge and anti-reflective treatments, to probably give a fight against Kindle and gain ahead in the tablet market. How about considering Gorilla Glass, Apple?

“Since Apple’s upstream supply chain is estimated to ship about 16 million iPads in 2010, the sources expects about 2-3 million iPad units of inventory will remain in the channel rolling over into 2011. Since Apple will gradually stop the production of iPad after January and launch iPad 2 by the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second, the remaining iPad inventory should be able to satisfy demand during that period of time.”

Now, what about the capacity memory options? If Apple keeps up with the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB options, that’s about nine versions of iPad 2 to be manufactured.

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Mika Hakkinen stumbles on old rival while driving

During this frosty and jolly season, Mercedes Benz has aired an advertisement to promote their new 4Matic all-wheel drive system for those that ‘race’ in the snowy mountains. You know, sometimes senior citizens like to have some fun too. Apparently Mika Hakkinen was driving down a snowy mountain road in an E350 wagon when he comes upon a very classical old SL, but it’s not moving fast enough. Once he found a chance to overtake the slowpoke, he was greeted with a very familiar face, but surprisingly Mika couldn’t recognize him, as only referring him to ‘a typical Sunday driver’.



Apparently there are two versions of the ad. The first is an international audience target, with Mika Hakkinen, a ‘Sunday driver’, and a very pretty lady. You might not know her, but Susie Stoddart is Mercedes’s DTM driver from Scotland. The second version apparently only aired in Germany, having the cute lady replaced by an old man. But this is no old man. Beckenbauer might not be known worldwide, but apparently every kid and adult in Germany knows him as the “Pele” of Germany, since football in Germany is so much bigger than Formula One.



Well, all I know is, this ad deserves a part two, where the two old geezers pit with the young lady (or the other old geezer if you’re a Dutch) down the mountains, snow rally style! By the way, if only Beckenbauer gives Mika the international finger flip, then that’ll make this the ad of the year!

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Apple wants to ship 65 million iPads in 2011

Yes, that’s a very massive number. Though they didn’t really mention if that’s the original iPad or the new iPad as nobody mentioned about it, and the size are still the same. There’s also no mention of what type of panel are Apple ordering. Digitimes receives this number from the amount of LCD orders Cupertino ordered. Insiders has said that LG Display is asked to ship about 35 million of the tablet’s displays, but the original iPad’s sales was not that promising due to LG unable to cope with the massive demand. So for 2011 Samsung and Chimei Innolux are said to contribute some to Apple. Besides the 35 million from LG Display, each of the other two companies is said to deliver about 15 million of their own to Apple. Over-confidence and over-commitment from Apple?

Apple shipped about 16.76 million iPads in 2010, which is the first year the popular tablet is introduced. November alone saw 2.7 million iPad displays for Apple from LG and Samsung. These numbers are not constructive but it’s still a good estimation. Compared to the 65 million that Apple requested, this is still a very big bump.

Then again, the iPad’s introduction to foreign countries was rather slow, as Apple had to establish a market in every country. Seeing the trend of the iPhone when it was launched and compared it to the iPhone’s current market, Apple is probably trying to avoid having short supply cutting sales down. Apple is also famous for ordering large chunk of flash memory which will pull down prices significantly when buying in extremely huge bulk. It’s also a fail-safe strategy to avoid surprise defect of a certain component from a specific manufacturers, which is common in the industry.

If the estimates are close to Apple’s actual shipping goals, it could help the iPad lead the tablet market for longer than thought. Analyst guesses have had Apple shipping roughly 40 million iPads in 2011, and delivering almost two thirds more could keep it the market leader if Android and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets don’t keep pace.

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NFC chip with embedded flash memory from Samsung

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Periodic table of sports cars

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