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Current News: We pick through it, so you don't have to.
Jailbreaking iPhones Legalized
Jul 26th
Well, for those of you that haven’t hopped on the superior Android bandwagon and have been scared to “jailbreak” your iPhone because of its potential legal issues, fear no more.
Thanks to pushes by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Federal Government has just indicated that exemptions will be made to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to include “Jailbreaking” smartphones well within the consumer’s legal rights.
Update
Consumers still shouldn’t jailbreak their iPhones says Apple (really? that’s shocking Apple…you don’t want consumers to do what you’ve been arguing against in court…*gasp*)
iPhone4 Fail
Jun 23rd
I just felt like posting a few links to articles about the “wonderful” iPhone4. Some of these you may question but mind you, they are real. Maverick didn’t believe one of them and tried it on a friends (the reception problem). Really Apple? Did you make ANY calls with this before releasing it? I find it extremely hard to believe that noone there noticed that the signal disappeared while it was in the user’s hand. Was every tester using a bluetooth headset? Were they all fascinated by the “Facetime” video calling with it laying on a table? This is ridiculous. “Oh, let’s just sell it, it’s the iPhone4. They’ll buy it no matter what’s wrong with it. Our fans will follow us regardless of our problems. We’re ingrained too much into their lives with iTunes for them to give up on us now.”
- iPhone4 Reception problems (Apple tries to encourage “hands-free” phone calls *by preventing use in hand*) Wired.com Article Explanation
- iPhone4 precious “Retina” display has had it’s share of controversy due to the poor choice of wording. But now it shows it’s REAL colors (yellow primarily).
- iOS 4 Causing Frustrated Adopters
- iPhone breaks on second drop; “Gorilla Glass” my ass…
- iOS 4 Multi-tasking a big letdown
- Privacy violations?
And just for fun…the banned iPhone4 promo vid
Update:
Steve Jobs’s response (as seen @TechCruch……@Engadget) to the reception issue.
Just avoid holding it that way.
Also, a friend of mine brought up a good point. The field testers for the iPhone probably didn’t notice the problem because of those camouflaged 3GS look-a-like covers they had on them when testing. With that on, noone would have been touching the metal band. Oh if only someone had realized it was going to be a problem (Thanks Professor Gert).
Update:
Response to Jobs’s response…@Engadget
You’re holding it wrong. We’re only holding it the way you showed us.
Xbox Slim
Jun 16th
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/14/slim-xbox-360-gets-official-at-299-shipping-today-looks-angul/
I just replaced my old Pro model for an Elite……shoulda waited!!!! FML.
Xbox 360 250GB
Xbox 360 is fully loaded with new features and still comes with everything you know and love. Here’s a feature list to make sure you don’t miss any of the newest Xbox 360 250GB parts.
Form Factor: Sleek, lean and gloss black finish with chrome accents. Place vertically or horizontally in any living room entertainment center.
Touch Sensitive Buttons: Turn the Xbox 360 video game system on/off and eject a disc with the swipe of a finger.
Whisper Quiet: Whether you’re playing a DVD disc or from the hard drive, or navigating the dashboard, with the all-new and much quieter Xbox 360, the only noise you’ll hear is your own laughing, cheering and playing.
Wi-Fi: Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi for fast, easy connection to your friends and entertainment on Xbox LIVE.
Hard Drive: 250GB internal, swappable hard drive for even more storage. To access, remove the bottom panel by pushing the small tab toward the front of the console.
Kinect-Ready: Custom Kinect port on the back of the console that directly hooks up to the Kinect sensor for controller-free fun.
USB Slots: Five USB ports; three in the back of the console and two in the front for easy plug and play.
AV Connections:
AV Cable included for standard definition TV connection.
HDMI port for high definition TV connection.
Optical Audio out port integrated on back of console for AV system connection.
Power Supply: Smaller and more efficient. Xbox 360 250GB and Xbox 360 Original power supplies are not interchangeable.
Wireless Controller: The award-winning Xbox 360 Wireless Controller matches the console in all black with color-matched thumsticks and directional pad with a touch of gloss and chrome to complete the look.
Backwards Compatible. Your favorite accessories and games will work with Xbox 360 250GB. (Xbox 360 External Hard Drives and Memory Units are not compatible.)
Accessories. Customize your Xbox 360 250GB with matching black accessories, including favorites such as Controllers, Wireless Headset, Chatpad, Quick Charge and Play & Charge Kits and more. Get a look at a few of these today.
Key Internal Components Changes:
Fan: Moved from two small fans to one larger fan for improved acoustics.
Chipset: 45 nanometer and integrated CPU and GPU.
Wi-Fi: Integrated wireless capability.
HTML5 vs Flash
Jun 14th
Short version: Flash still wins, but browsers are catching up.
Long version: At the moment I can see 3 viable alternatives to Flash for animation: HTML, Canvas and SVG. Only Canvas is strictly HTML5, but since everyone’s getting all hot about making web apps on the iPad with “HTML5″ I thought I’d lump them all under that buzzword.
Short story…don’t let Apple convince you that HTML5 will make Flash obsolete (boy Apple just can’t win *1* *2* *3*), at least not any time soon. Sites will have to be redesigned and browsers improved to take full advantage; but as for now and some time to come, Flash seems to be clearly superior by leaps and bounds. I’m personally getting over 5X the framerate for the Flash test vs the Canvas (using FF 3.6.3) and don’t even get me started on the HTML and SVG tests. Not completely sure how accurate these tests are but there are obvious speed benefits to Flash.
Try it for yourself: http://www.themaninblue.com/writing/perspective/2010/03/22/
Results using the links provided:
- Firefox 3.6.3
- HTML= 7.73-16 FPS
- Canvas=19.4-19.6 FPS
- SVG=2.12-2.15 FPS
- Flash= 97-107 FPS
- Chrome 5.0.375.70
- HTML=19.7-22 FPS (blocks generated instead of balls)
- Canvas=26.5-27 FPS
- SVG=17.7-19 FPS
- Flash=46-50 FPS
- IE6
- HTML=20-21 FPS (blocks generated instead of balls)
- Canvas=1.02-1.04 FPS
- SVG=N/A
- Flash=54-62 FPS