New Gadgets Guru » Apple

iLuv portable speakers in new colors

newgadgetsguru — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:13:01 +0000

If you are looking for good portable speakers for your iPhone or iPod then you might want to check out the new portable speakers from iLuv. iLuv has recently introduced some brightly colored models which will suit your active personality anytime.

They offer from the overly feminine to the neutral colors for those that don’t really want any of that color nonsense mucking up their speakers. Luckily they don’t have any of those overly bright colors that you typically see these days. More subtle colors but with a splash of brightness is how I would describe them.

The iSP100 speakers include 720-degree surround sound 4W speakers and of course the necessary 3.5mm jack. This makes it easy for you to use it with your favorite music player. They run on three AAA batteries and it comes with a carrying case to protect from scuffs. You can pick one up for $34.99 in purple, pink, black or gray.
[Via Gearlog]

Apple sued over “book reader” claims!

newgadgetsguru — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:18:45 +0000

Apple has recently been marketing their iPhone as a book reader. Apparently this has not gone down well with certain quarters and has resulted in a law suit. A Switzerland-based communication firm on Monday filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the corporation is committing patent infringement, unfair trade practices, monopolization and tortious interference by promoting the iPhone as a touchscreen book reader.

The suit has been filed by Monec Holding Ltd, a business that develops and markets data transmission tools for mobile electronics. The company had actually filed a patent about seven years ago which describes a lightweight electronic device with a touchscreen LCD display for reading e-books. They claim that Apple is actually infringing this patent by promoting the iPhone as an ebook reader via apps available on the app store.
[Via Wired]

Expect better internet speeds with the next gen iPhone

newgadgetsguru — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:51:59 +0000

Quite a lot of news has been reported about the next gen iPhone due sometime late this year. Although these are just rumors it is always interesting to speculate what the new model of this spectacularly successful phone will offer. One of the features that we think will be improved is the internet surfing speeds.

Why do we thing so? Well this was actually mentioned by an industry source and reported in The Business Insider. What this could mean is that we could see an upgrade to either the WiFi chipset or the 3G chipset in the next generation iPhone.

Here is what slashgear has to say:

The experts suspect that highly cryptic tip refers to a boost in Internet speed, however, with the addition of speed-doubled 7.2Mbps 3G. And this would make sense, especially since Infineon will be releasing a new 3G chip sometime in the middle of this year. On top of that, AT&T has been testing their 7.2Mbps 3G service for awhile now and that is scheduled to roll out this year as well. If WiFi gets an update, then the Broadcom 802.11 chipset is the likely candidate to boost speeds to 50Mbps. Whatever the truth is, we’re excited to find it out. And soon!

What’s new on iPhone firmware 3.0?

newgadgetsguru — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:44:08 +0000

So much has been said about the iPhone firmware 3.0 launch that I won’t bother talking about it. Apple announced Tuesday a host of new features for the next version of its mobile operating system, iPhone 3.0. Among the additions are two features that the company has long been criticized for overlooking: The ability to cut, copy and paste text between applications, and support for multimedia messages.

Here are some of the notable features that will be offered:

* Cut, copy and paste support within and between applications.

* MMS support.

* A global search feature, which lets you search content from various applications on the iPhone from a single interface. Like the search feature in OS X, this is called “Spotlight.”

* The ability to compose e-mail messages, text messages and notes in landscape mode, which gives the user a larger, easier-to-use keyboard.

* Support for peer-to-peer Bluetooth, which will enable the iPhone to connect with other Bluetooth devices, including stereo Bluetooth headsets. Previously, the iPhone only supported Bluetooth for connecting to monaural phone headsets.

Nice features to have on any phone which were missing on something as cool as an iPhone. Its good that Apple has managed to get their act right to get these features rolling. Can’t wait to upgrade my iPhone!

Diamond encrusted iPhone spotted on eBay

newgadgetsguru — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:16:21 +0000

What else will they do to the iPhone? A diamond encrusted iPhone has been spotted on eBay and is currently selling for $10,000. According to the seller, there “are 420 diamonds with a total carat weight ranging from 5.65 to 6.34.” So is the iPhone going to be a fashion accessory as well? What will they do with it – wear it on a chain? Incredibly ridiculous if you ask me!
Auction Page
[Via Techeblog]

Is there a DRM chip inside the iPod shuffle earbuds?

newgadgetsguru — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:41:52 +0000

The folks at Boing Boing Gadgets certainly seem to think so. They have dissected the iPod shuffle’s headphone controls and found the chip marked 8A83E3 which they believe to be some sort of proprietary digital control that prevents unauthorized transmission of commands to the Shuffle without an official Apple adapter.

Here’s what Boing Boing Gadgets have to say:

It is possible the new Shuffle headphones simply send a pulse or other analog electrical signal to the headphone jack of the Shuffle, but we do not have the equipment to determine that ourselves. (Put a multimeter on the second ring of the new headphones, though, and you’ll at least be able to see if different button presses causes different resistance, implying the controls work with analog controls, not a digital scheme.)

But it is also possible the signals are digital. “Digital” does not mean “encrypted”, however. If the signals are not encrypted, then there would be no legal impediment to manufacturers making compatible and unlicensed headphones that work with the new controls. (Either way, regular audio headphones still work, although without controls they’re useless on the Shuffle.)

Could Apple be adding in “hardware locks” instead of their traditional DRM methods?
[Via BBG]

New firmware for iPhone to preview next week

newgadgetsguru — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:44:38 +0000

Thanks to reader alec, the error in this post has been corrected.

Apple is due to launch preview firmware 3.0 for the iPhone sometime next week. There will be an event held on Tuesday which will showcase the new firmware along with its new features and capabilities. Apple said in an email invitation on Thursday that it will provide a “sneak peek” at the iPhone 3.0 software, along with information about the new software kit that third-party vendors use to create applications for the device.

The event will be held in its corporate HQ at Cupertino, California on March 17th. Shares of Apple rose $3.07, or 3.3 percent, to $95.75 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. It will be interesting to see what new bells and whistles come along with version 3.0.

Full fledged bluetooth capability on your iPhone is not far away

newgadgetsguru — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:34:37 +0000

One of the common grudges of iPhone users is the inability of the phone to support “full fledged” bluetooth data transfer and other capabilities. But it looks like that might not be an issue anymore. As expected Apple is taking eons to come up with this feature but you could probably be having this feature on your iPhone as long as it is jailbroken.

If you haven’t heard before, this is the iBluetooth app that is currently available on Cydia. At present stage, it supports file transfer of images and audio, while stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) support is on track for future versions. That said, the developers of iBluetooth ask 4 EUR (3.99 to be more precise) for the application, the money which will they use to purchase a full Bluetooth stack and implement it as a daemon (background service) into the iPhone. Not a bad price to have some cool features on the coolest phone in the planet!

Track your FedEx packages on your iPhone – after they arrive?

newgadgetsguru — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:14:31 +0000

If you are one who is sending and receiving packages via FedEx on a regular basis then this iPhone app might be the right application for you. The FedEx iPhone app is free of charge and basically tracks shipments that you have shipped or are being shipped to you.

Well at least you don’t need to get to their website everytime to check the status of your package. Guess you can use this so you’re at least aware of the delays, or see what time you should be home to get your package. At least that’s that its intended to do. But we have seen comments saying that the updates are not really “real time” and some updates happen after the package has been delivered. How useful is that?

Talking iPod shuffle will keep you entertained?

newgadgetsguru — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:49:07 +0000

Apple has finally launched an all new iPod shuffle model. Obviously the value proposition is still the size and Apple has taken it one more step further by reducing the size (check out the picture comparison against the key). And yes, the world’s smallest music player can also talk to you! Not exactly a killer feature but something cool.

Apple has made the iPod shuffle to be the smallest music player in the world by shifting the controls from the player itself to the earbud cord. This has helped them to achieve dimensions of 1.8″ X 0.3″. Pretty impressive we must say. Add it to the VoiceOver feature which announces the name of the song, artist or playlist this tiny music player definitely seems to be a nice cool gadget to have for that quick jog around the park.
[Via Apple]