There’s no doubt that an iPhone update is imminent. But while nearly everyone has agreed on that, nobody knows anything definite about the specifics… except that the new iPhone will be compatible with the Microsoft Exchange email services. There’s a link on the main Apple.com iPhone page where you can apply to be a beta tester.
In regards to the iPhone, here’s what we know today:
Apple.com lists the iPhone as “Currently Unavailable.†Stock is so low that you can’t buy it. Usually a good sign that a new model is coming out soon.
Apple continues to make iPhone sales deals across the globe. Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Australia were all announced with the last few months.
A 3G settings screen was found by hackers in the latest firmware update for the iPhone.
The new iPhone will most likely be unveiled during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Apple’s WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) on June 9th.
AT&T is prohibiting retail-store employees from taking vacations between June 15 and July 12, claiming that they’re expecting a “heavy selling periodâ€. They implemented a similar policy last year for the iPhone launch.
AT&T executives have said numerous times that all of their smartphones (the iPhone is one of the) will support 3G networking soon.
The Apple Stores have been out of stock of the iPhone for weeks. And people are forming daily lines outside Apple stores that still have a few iPhones in stock.
And here are some rumors that the guys at MethodShop.com compiled, about what Steve Jobs might announce at the WWDC on June 9th:
Rumor: The new 3G iPhone will be about 20% thinner.
Rumor: The new 3G iPhone will have built-in video chat that would allow you to video chat with other iPhones or even computers with webcams.
Rumor: The Apple TV is going to get an add-on USB camera that will turn the Apple TV into a video chat system (see item above). How would it work? A picture in picture effect would happen if you were watching a movie on your Apple TV when someone tried to “video call†you from an iPhone.
Rumor: Just like the iPods, the new iPhone will come in several colors including black [pic] and white [pic]. Several colored iPhone photos have already surfaced on the Interweb. There’s no doubt that black would be an extremely popular iPhone color.
Rumor: The new iPhone will have built-in GPS (it’s about time).
Rumor: Apple will also announce a new, wireless keyboard specifically for Apple TV, with multi touch capabilities. Basically it will be a super remote control.
iTunes is much more than a digital music jukebox. It’s capable of handling many different tasks involving digital media. Some of iTunes’ most popular features include buying music and videos online, burning CDs, and syncing files with your iPod or iPhone.
But one of the lesser known functions hidden within iTunes is the ability to convert audio files.
Why would you need to convert an audio file? Converting audio file types can be useful in many different situations. Here are a few examples:
You have an AAC file in iTunes that’s not compatible with your Zune that can play MP3 and not AAC files.
A WAV file needs to be emailed to a client for approval but it’s too big. You need to convert the file to an AAC so it’s small enough to easily send via email.
You are making a music video and want to use a song you got online as the soundtrack. However, the editing program won’t import the song because it doesn’t support MP3 or AAC.
You need to remove the DRM (Digital Rights Management) from an AAC song you purchased from the iTunes Store (see step #7).
I am all for spicing up the computer world with cool designs, colors and shapes, but sometimes even the most valiant effort fails. Case in point: The Nishi-Ki keyboard is the ugliest keyboard you will ever see, despite it’s attempt to be a beautiful piece of artwork.
At just a glance, or even long stare, you can’t guess what’s printed on the keyboard. Just ugliness.
Apparently there are unique and customized butterfly and flowers painted on to each key. Wow – that takes time, and to justify those wasted hours Nishi-Ki is charging about $155 per keyboard.
Source:Â Slippery Brick.
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It would be nice to have a dock station to house all your hard drive and memory gadgets…say, one interface to connect them all. Oh wait, that’s what the Brando Multi-Functional Dock Station does…USB + eSATA + 2 port hub + 4 slot card reader. All this dockability in a slick looking design:
The multi functional dock station may be connected to host computer by either a USB cable or eSATA cable, both of which provide the highest possible data transfer rate.
The card reader includes support for the SDHC and mini SDHC formats along with the long list of standard flash card formats.
Probably the most noteable feature of the multi functional dock station is the
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“This morning I had to go buy another copy of OS X Leopard (my original copy got scratched). As I walked closer to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue I was somewhat surprised to see a line of about 50 people waiting in line. The 3G iPhone announcement isn’t rumored to happen until June 9th right? Are these people going to wait in line for over 2 weeks or do they know something we don’t?
I asked the security guard by the Cube what was going on and he said it was for the iPhone. That’s all he knew and he very was annoyed at me for asking him about the iPhone line. I’m doubt I was the first person to ask.
Still confused I walked downstairs and bought my copy of Leopard. Before I left the Apple Store, I asked Jessica, my cashier, if the people outside were waiting for the new 3G iPhone. She cryptically said “They are waiting to buy an iPhone. We will sell them whatever phones we have in stock.” She was kind of pissed off too.
For some reason the majority of people waiting in line were Chinese. I was later informed by a friend that to get around iPhone quantity restrictions (one one per person), you can pay people (usually from Chinatown I guess) to buy you extra iPhones and even hold your place in line.
I wonder how many of these people will still be in line on June 9th.
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Urban Outfitters has a nice looking USB flex speaker which attaches to your PC or laptop via USB. Looks odd, yet cool but I doubt it’s contribution to quality audio or enhancing the standard laptop speakers you probably already have.
At just over 3″ in width and 1.25″ in height the goose neck speaker does give you the freedom for directional audio but if you are using a laptop aren’t you generally right in front of the computer anyway, just crank up the sound.
Regardless of my petty opinion, Urban Outfitters feels different. They offer the USB flex speaker at
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Looking to unlock your iPhone or Blackberry? Or how about that new Nokie or Motorola? One this is for sure, if you do want to unlock your phone, you don’t want to void the warranty. With some of the SIM unlock solutions out there, voiding the warranty is exactly what you have to do.
USB Fever is offering a $23 universal SIM unlock which does not require you doing anything to your phone(s). Simply fit your SIM card on top of the unlock card and start your jibber-jabber.
This SIM unlock is made of a very thin piece of FPC (0.10mm) with a Micro controller mounted on, that goes between your Operator’s SIM card & the phone’s SIM socket.
Because of it’s very thin & slim design, it fits into most phone’s and can also be
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Creative Labs just came out with a hot little box for 5.1 digital surround sound for any laptop or PC. What Creative did with this new Sound Blaster is rather than make a card out of it, the Sound Blaster is a USB based external device. The X-Fi, as they call it, operates over a USB interface and will provide full cinematic digital surround sound in hi-fidelity with a 1 second connection.
Two Creative technologies are embedded into the USB Sound Blaster which are X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi CMSS-3D. I’ve talked about these technologies before which are the key components to Creative’s solution.
Not to leave any stone unturned, here are the list of features for the USB Sound Blaster:
Supports USB 2.0 for high quality 5.1 audio
USB bus-powered
Gold plated RCA front outputs and mini-jack surround outputs for maximum fidelity
Optical Output for connectivity to surround sound systems
24-bit Playback and Recording ADC, DAC
X-Fi audio enhancement technology
Easily accessible Headphone out and Mic In for connecting headsets
Convenient Volume Control with push to mute feature
Line-in monitoring
Host-based EAX advanced HD 4.0 and OpenAL support
Creative Alchemy software that restores DS3D Games’ 3D audio in Windows Vista
The Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround Sound 5.1 system will retail for $60 – a great price for the package (available now).
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On the heels of announcing the EVGA USB to VGA or DVI adapter comes USB Fever with their power house trifecta USB to VGA, DVI and HDMI adapter. I believe it’s the first USB video adapter with these three options.
So with the news of USB Fevers multi-display adapter we can revisit the idea of boosting your video space. For me, this product is of special interest as I’m currently running a 19″ wide screen off my laptop dock station. Unfortunately the laptop doesn’t have enough video processing to push two monitors. The USB Fever multi-display USB adapter solves this problem.
It appears EVGA has an edge on higher end resolution, but the USB Fever will still get you a max 1400×1050 resolution. This is ideal for 19″ wide screens. The VGA, DVI and HDMI video adapter can string up to 6 monitors together and will work through powered USB hubs. I would venture to say this solution isn’t ideal for hi-end graphics applications like 3D modeling or gaming, but would be a good product for use of viewing spreadsheets, email, word processing, web surfing, blogging, Photoshop and TV.
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Still doubt that the 3G iPhone is coming soon?
This settings screen with a 3G toggle switch (see image) was found in the latest beta release of the iPhone’s 2.0 firmware.
Why would you want to turn off 3G? Because 3G drains cell phone batteries very quickly. In this screenshot, Apple has included a toggle setting to turn 3G off, and use AT&T’s slower but more battery friendly EDGE network instead. Probably a very useful feature if you are almost out of juice.
When can we expect to see a 3G iPhone and how much will it cost?
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The Y-Shaped USB hub from Apacer is a clever design, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen it. RiDATA introduces a flash drive with combo two port hub on the back side, which I’m still wondering why it hasn’t gained more popularity, about a year ago. The Apacer Y-shaped USB hub increases the port connectivity over the RiDATA by two fold, but doesn’t have flash memory storage.
The Apacer PH151 uses a miniUSB connection to the host computer [via cable] and then provides two vertical ports and two horizontal ports. To me, once you’ve put a cable to the hub, it doesn’t matter what shape it’s in. Just stick your device in and go. The clear advantage with this design, is increasing
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There’s no doubt that an iPhone update is imminent. But while nearly everyone has agreed on that, nobody knows anything definite about the specifics… except that the new iPhone will be compatible with the Microsoft Exchange email services. There’s a link on the main Apple.com iPhone page where you can apply to be a beta tester.
In regards to the iPhone, here’s what we know today:
And here are some rumors that the guys at MethodShop.com compiled, about what Steve Jobs might announce at the WWDC on June 9th:
Rumor: Just like the iPods, the new iPhone will come in several colors including black [pic] and white [pic]. Several colored iPhone photos have already surfaced on the Interweb. There’s no doubt that black would be an extremely popular iPhone color.
methodshop
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iTunes is much more than a digital music jukebox. It’s capable of handling many different tasks involving digital media. Some of iTunes’ most popular features include buying music and videos online, burning CDs, and syncing files with your iPod or iPhone.
But one of the lesser known functions hidden within iTunes is the ability to convert audio files.
Why would you need to convert an audio file? Converting audio file types can be useful in many different situations. Here are a few examples:
The band Weezer posted their new music video called “
“This morning I had to go buy another copy of OS X Leopard (my original copy got scratched). As I walked closer to the 
Looking to unlock your 
