Sprint now Taking Pre-Orders for iPhone 4, Reserve Your 4S on October 7

Looking to grab that iPhone 4 on Sprint and take advantage of the unlimited data? Well, you can place your pre-order now on the current model and for the just announced 4S starting Friday, October 7. The company warns that this is "while supplies last" -- so if you're thinking about jumping ship from the data limiting service of Big Red or Ma Bell, you may want to act quickly. Just hit that source link and head to Sprint's iPhone page to reserve yours. Link.

 

 

Reactions to Steve Jobs’ Death

The world is now reacting to the very sad news of Steve Jobs' death. Including people like Bill Gates, Larry Page, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and President Barack Obama himself.

But perhaps the most important reaction—apart from his family—is Steve Wozniak's. According to the LA Times, he was "overwhelmed and could not get in touch with his emotions". His only words: "People sometimes have goals in life. Steve Jobs exceeded every goal he ever set for himself."

 

 

Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple, has Passed Away at 56

Very sad news. Steve Jobs has passed away. As confirmed on Apple's site, Mr. Jobs has passed away at the age of 56 after recently stepping down from the position of CEO and naming Tim Cook his successor. Steve has had a profound effect on the world of technology, both at Apple and through his many other endeavors. My thoughts go out to his family.

This Piggy Power Strip Is Too Cute/Creepy to Resist

Even though I'm weirded out to no end by it, I still kind of want this thing. Yet another "classic" from Art Lebedev, the Svintus plug pig has 17 Type F sockets for all your Russian power needs.

It's definitely somewhere between creepy and cute—some sort of cthonic pig baby straight out of Carnacki. But having it on your desk is bound to be a crowd-pleaser. Or make some people hungry? Who knows? Unluckily it's just a concept... for now! More here.

 

 

Siri Sounds like Ass in Japan. Literally.

You'd think the smart people at Apple might check for this kind of thing in advance. Japan's giggling in the wake of iPhone 4S' birth, as voice control wizard Siri sounds a lot like shiri—ass. Oops!

The WSJ's Yoree Koh reports the confusion is so bad that Google Japan actually asks users if they'r searching for 尻 (shiri) when they enter Siri. While I'm sure a lot of Japanese browsers are in fact looking for ass online, most of them are just trying to get the scoop on the new iPhone. Not that Siri will support Japanese in the first place.

One (poorly Google-translated) Japanese tweet really says it all: "IPhone devices can talk and magical ass."

 

 

iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4: what's changed?

It's finally happened, after all the wrangling, speculation and aluminum dummies, we now know the truth.

Price (on contract)	$199 16GB, $299 32GB, $399 64GB	$99 8GB
Processor	Dual-core Apple A5	Apple A4
Display	3.5-inch IPS 960 x 640	3.5-inch IPS 960 x 640
Primary camera	8 megapixel AF with flash and f/2.4 aperture	5 megapixel AF with flash
Secondary camera	VGA at 30fps	VGA
Video recording	1080p at 30fps, optional iMovie	720p at 30fps, optional iMovie
Cellular	Hybrid GSM / CDMA "World Phone", Bluetooth 4.0	Quadband GSM, pentaband HSPA
WiFi	802.11b/g/n	802.11b/g/n
Orientation sensing	Accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope	Accelerometer, compass, gyroscope
FaceTime video calling	Yes	Yes
SIM standard	Micro SIM	Micro SIM
Battery life	Up to 8 hours talk time on 3G 14 hours talk time on 2G Up to 6 hours data on 3G Up to 9 hours data on WiFi Up to 40 hours audio Up to 10 hours video	Up to 7 hours talk time on 3G, 14 hours on 2G Up to 10 hours data on WiFi Up to 40 hours audio Up to 10 hours video
Weight	140 grams / 4.9 oz	137 grams / 4.8 oz.
Dimensions	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm	115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm

  

New Nikon D800 May Shoot Ridiculously Large 36MP Photos

Obviously no one told Nikon about the megapixel myth. According to leaked details, the yet-to-be-announced new Nikon D800 DSLR will pack a whopping 36MP of image information onto your SD and CF cards.

Nikon Rumors reports that Japanese camera site, digicame-info posted specs of the new Nikon D800 on their site on September 29. Nikon Rumors was hesitant to post the information until they received additional information about the camera. They are now confident that the new Nikon will be called the D800 and will include a 36MP sensor.

The D800 is also rumored to shoot 1080p video at 30fps, shoot four frames-a-second bursts, sport a larger LCD display, and support both SD and CF cards. Nikon Rumors says that they cannot confirm the rest of specs on the Japanese site. The Nikon D800 is expected to put a $4000 hole in your bank account. That's about $111 a megapixel.

 

 

iOS 5: The Top 10 New Features

The new iOS 5 will go live October 12. It brings revamped notifications and more than 200 new features for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. These are the top ten, and then some more.

Some of these features you already had in your iPhone or iPad. They just came in third-party apps.

If you used apps like the must-have WhatsApp, which allows you to message in an extremely easy way with all kinds of phones for free, you already were enjoying something like iMessage (even while iMessage adds important services, like device-wide conversation synchronization). If you had the awesome Instapaper, you already had some of the features of the new Safari. Or if you had something like Remember the Milk, you already had a great reminders service.

However, there are features that weren't available before; either because they are completely new or because they are system-wide. And there are real jewels too.

Things that may sound silly, like using the volume + button as a shutter in the Camera app. Or more important stuff, like well thought Notifications and the ability to run your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad without having a PC. Your iDevices are now completely autonomous.

All these features put iOS on par again with some of the features that you could already find in Android, Palm or Windows Phone 7. Some of their implementations, surpass those platforms. But even while none of these new features are extraordinary per se, all of them together are quite impressive.

1. Notifications

The first big feature is notifications. At last, Apple will get rid of the annoying popups that break your flow. And with "annoying popups" I really meant "stupid dumb boxes that makes me want to smash my f*cking iPhone against the wall when I'm playing a game or chatting with strangers in the night".

They have replaced those with a new app called Notification Center. It's very similar to Mobile Notifier, the iOS notification app—which makes sense, since Apple hired its developer a while back. It not only includes app notification, but mini-widgets that show live information from apps like Weather and apps.

The notifications extend to the lock screen too, so you can see more stuff right away without unlocking your phone. Sliding your finger on it will automatically lead you to the app that generated that notification.

Notifications are clearly and by far the best part of iOS5—particularly coming from the stone age pop-up mess of previous versions. 

2. iMessage

Another new useful feature, which will hurt Blackberry and the telecommunications companies wanting to sell you stupid SMS and MMS contracts: Apple has implemented a new messaging system called iMessage.

It works between all iOS 5 devices, allowing you to leave conversations on your iPhone and continue them in your iPad (again, I will not be surprised to see this integrated into Lion at a later date). It comes with delivery notification as well. However, unlike WhatsApp, it doesn't work with other non-iOS devices. Maybe Apple thinks your Android and

Blackberry friends are not worth talking to for free.

3. New Camera app and photos

The new Camera up gets two of the most-requested features in the history of iOS. The first is a shortcut in the lock screen to access the camera right away, so you don't have to unlock and then click on the Camera icon, which often makes you lose the moment.

The other one, which is something we have whined about endlessly, is using one of the volume button as the shutter button. Just press + and that's it: CLICK! This is a very welcome addition.

The new app also includes basic photo editing. It includes quick enhance—which basically sharpens your image, making shadows and highlights more detailed, and correct color automagically. It also include red eye reduction and cropping, both welcome additions to those who don't have the Camera Plus already.

4. Newsstand

Apple has built a virtual news stand right onto iOS 5, very similar to the iBooks app but exclusively for magazines and periodicals. It looks like a cross between iBooks and a folder view, actually.

5. Twitter integration everywhere

iOS 5 will have Twitter integration everywhere. Apps like camera will be able to directly post the image to Twitter. The YouTube App, Safari or even Maps will support direct sharing in Twitter. It also adds a new Twitter address field to your Contacts application.

6. A new Safari

Safari has been revamped with new features. Reader will allow you to reformat a site on the fly, taking out ads and reformatting text so it looks better on your iPad or iPhone screen.

This feature flows into Reading List, which is a way to save those pages for later offline viewing, keeping them synchronized between all your iOS devices and Lion. Presumably via iCloud.

Apple's web browser also adds tabs in this version. Your open pages will line up right below your address bar. According to Apple, switching between pages is "lightning fast," so perhaps they have made some magic with the memory management to reduce the reload of pages in older devices.

7. New Reminders app

The new Reminders app makes it easy to make to-do lists. The interface is very simple and it's synchronized between iOS 5 devices and your Mac OS X desktop or notebook.

The really cool thing about Reminders is that it's location aware. Imagine you add that you need to buy milk, but then you forget about it. When you pass by the grocery store, the app will tell you that you need to buy milk.

8. New Mail app

Mail includes a barrage of enhancements

• Rich Text Formatting, which will allow you to annoy the hell out of everyone bolding every sentence in your mails.
• Indentation control, which allows you to control the level of indentation of your quotes from other messages.
• Draggable email addresses, which allows to drag and drop email addresses into to, cc and bcc fields.
• Message flagging to call your attention over a particular mail later.
• Swipe to Inbox, which makes it very easy to access the list of message in portrait mode on the iPad, instead of clicking on a button for a weird pop-up dialog.

9. No PC required

At long last, the most important feature of them all: You will not need iTunes and PC anymore to use your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Apple has caught up with Android and Windows Phone 7. The new iOS 5 will allow you to set up your new device easily: Turn your new gadget on and a Welcome screen will appear. All software updates will happen over the air.

All the applications will now be completely autonomous. You will not have to go to iCal or some other desktop app to create a calendar, for example. There is no need for a desktop or laptop anymore, for anything.

10. New Game Center

The have enhanced Game Center too. Unfortunately, they have not renewed its awful casino interface, which looks as dated as always. But they have added much needed concepts from Xbox Live and other gaming systems:

• Achievement points.
• Access friends of friends, so you can compare and play with a wider range of people.
• Photos in your profile, so you can flirt with other nerds pretending to be women online.
• Game discovery, to play with whoever wants to play with you at any given time.
• Game downloads within Game Center.
• Support for turn-based games like Words for Friends and Scrabble.

What’s Behind the Next Apple iPhone 5 Event

Although you can't clearly see Scott Forstall's deranged face on this drawing, everything in this graphic showing the mechanics of Apple's next iPhone event—starring Tim Cook as master of ceremonies—is true.

There are also robotic ninja fembots with titanium shuriken-nippled breasts, but you can't see them in the drawing because they are hidden.

 

 

64GB iPhone 4S and 8GB iPhone 4 Show Up on Vodafone Germany’s Site

The Vodafone site lists 16, 32, and 64GB models of the iPhone 4S, and 8, 16 and 32GB models of the iPhone 4 on multiple accessory pages. We've heard about the 8GB iPhone 4 previously, and of course the 64GB iPhone has been rumored for years. With iPhone Day coming tomorrow, this seems like it's probably a little more than gum flapping and guesstimating by Vodafone, but it could just as easily be a dummy listing installed ahead of tomorrow to reduce the turnaround on getting the new iPhones' pages live. For what it's worth, though, the page does mention that the bumper for the iPhone 4 will work with the 4S.

So there it is: maybe-probably-hopefully a huge iPhone 4S and an eeny-weeny iPhone 4. Either of those get any of you guys hot and bothered?

 

 

H-57’s IBDM USB Missile Explodes with Retro Design

USB drives are ubiquitous these days. They plug in. They store smallish amounts of info and make that info portable. We all know this. Getting noticed requires quirky design, like this Intercontinental Ballistic Design Missile from Milan-based H-57.

Not only is the design a nice mix of retro and clever packaging (IBCM is of course a play on ICBM), the shop behind it is also responsible for those cool Star Wars typography posters that made the rounds the other day. Two for two. Soon available here.

The Original Kindle Was So Ugly Because of the BlackBerry

Looking back at the Kindle's history, that original Kindle was pretty rip your eyes out ugly, huh? An odd shape with quirky buttons and even stranger scroll wheel...God who thought of that? Apparently, RIM. Jeff Bezos loved his Blackberry so much he based the Kindle's design off of his favorite gadget.

A hardware designer on the first Kindle told the NY Times Bits Blog that:

"Jeff Bezos would come into our design meetings and say he loved his BlackBerry and the ease with which he could find e-mails and respond to people. That's why the first Kindle was so boxy, had the funky square keyboard and that strange scroll wheel on the side; it was all inspired by Jeff's BlackBerry."

Which is incredibly funny now because the Amazon Kindle Fire looks exactly like a Blackberry Playbook (because it is), though I'm 99.9% sure that the Playbook can't possibly be Bezo's favorite gadget anymore. Either way, it's funny to see that companies were once inspired by RIM and how now everything's just slate after slate after slate.

Happy 40th Birthday, Disney World!

Today marks the 40th birthday of the largest, most visited amusement park in the world, Walt Disney World. Part of Walt Disney's dream for the theme park was a planned community where people could live with the technology of the future, today. Although that dream was never literallyrealized, the spirit of technology runs strong throughout the park. Disney World has always been about creating the most magical experience possible with the most cutting edge technology available.

Paris Rolls Out a Fleet of Rentable Electric Runabouts

While Paris isn't nearly as god-awful as Mexico City in terms of traffic, it's by no means a commuter's Shangri-La. So, Parisian officials are testing a new fleet of electric four-seaters to ease its congestion woes.

The concept of shared-vehicle rentals isn't exactly new and is already establishing itself here in the US but this vehicle-sharing scheme is a first for the City of Light.

The initial two-month pilot program will allow enrolled members to rent one of 66 Autolib Bluecars for up to 30 minutes at a time for about four to eight euros. Membership fees for the program range from 10 euros a day to 144 euros a year. If the program gains popularity, the 66 currently available vehicles (and their 33 charging stations) could expand out to a total of 3,000 vehicles with an excess of 1,000 stations by the end of 2012, according to Paris' Mayor Bertrand Delanoe.

The initial set of vehicles were supplied by entrepreneur Vincent Bollore (pictured above) and the program itself is being managed by Autolib, the same firm that maintains Paris' public bike fleet. "We want to persuade people to shift from the concept of owning a car to that of using a car," Autolib General Manager Morald Chibout told Reuters.

 

 

MadCatz now Shipping Tritton Detonator Headset, Official Xbox 360 Stereo Sound for $80

PS3 owners have been sportin' their own official gaming headset for a few weeks, and now -- after months of teasing -- Mad Catz is finally granting Xbox 360 owners a similar privilege. The company's announced that its Tritton / Microsoft co-branded Detonator Stereo USB gaming headset is available and shipping, priced at $80. Positioned as the first of a trio of its upcoming headsets -- including its wireless brethren, the stereo Devastator and Dolby 7.1 Warhead -- the Detonator keeps it to the FPS-pwning essentials. The cans are loaded with massive 50mm drivers and along its cord you'll find an inline remote for adjusting game / chat volume, voice monitoring and mic muting. Impressively, aside from its detachable boom mic, the inline controller is also removeable, allowing you plug straight into your PMP when you're done trash talkin' on Xbox Live, scheduled to ship this holiday season.

 

 

Kodak Is on the Verge of Being Worth Zero Dollars

Have you taken a look at Kodak's stock today? Get a good look while you can, because it's shitting the bed worse than a disemboweled E. coli patient-already down 60%, to less than a dollar. This is how it ends.

We've known the company's in dire financial shape, but this looks like the beginning of the crew abandoning ship. You can't even order off the Dollar Menu with a share of Eastman Kodak. At a certain point that I doubt is too far off, there's not going to be any value left. Their lawyers might soon be charging up their camera phones for bankruptcy court.

 

 

Symbian. Today, Officially Passed the Torch

After placing all bets on Windows Phone, Stephen Elop announced that Nokia would slowly phase out its OG operating system, Symbian. Today, it's officially passed the torch, handing over all Symbian-related duties to Accenture, a consulting and outsourcing firm. 2,300 former Nokia employees will also be repurposed, getting a new name on their paycheck as they tend to the ill-fated OS. The Finnish mainstay says the arrangement will last until at least 2016, and plans to continually roll out updates during this time. Not everyone is hanging on another five years though, as it seems that at least 500 employees have jumped ship or found new gigs within the company since the original announcement predicting 2,800 reassignments. 

 

 

Samsung Unveils Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Packing 1.2GHz Dual-core CPU and Coated in Honeycomb

Samsung has just unveiled a rather unexpected addition to its fleet of tablets, with the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Available in both 16GB and 32GB varieties, this new slate is fueled by a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb and features a seven-inch LCD with 1024 x 600 resolution. It also packs a two megapixel front-facing camera, along with a three megapixel shooter that supports 720p video, boasts 1GB of RAM and ships with Sammy's TouchWiz UI baked-in. 

In terms of connectivity, you'll find support for quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 3G with 21Mbps HSPA and the usual smattering of Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS capabilities. In addition, this little guy offers WiFi 802.11, along with support for channel bonding and apt-X Codec for Bluetooth. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the 7.0 Plus is slated to hit Indonesia and Austria by the end of October, before rolling out internationally. 

 

 

Chrome’s About to Knock Firefox to Third Place

Internet Explorer, the old, fat, mad king of the online kingdom still reigns uncontested. But beneath him, a power struggle between Chrome and Firefox, the latter of which has clung to the number two spot. But that's about to change.

According to internet stats firm StatCounter, Chrome's grown in use by 50%—and is on track to take the silver medal by December. StatCounter is just one company among many that do the exact same thing, so these figures aren't ironclad. But the trend definitely is—IE languishes, and Firefox hasn't done much to excite us in a while. Chrome, on the other hand, at least has Google beating its drum; a luxury afforded by, you know, being owned by megarich Google. The long term trend here—emphasis on long—is the gradual decline of IE. Eventually, I'd expect Firefox and Chrome to take the number one and two spots. It's just a matter of when, and who'll be the new king.

The Panasonic Lumix Phone 101P Might Not Suck at Being a Camera or a Phone

Oh Japan, why do you always get the coolest stuff first? This phone looks amazing. It's like a Panasonic Lumix camera and an Android phone had a baby. And it's waterproof?

This thing is going to pack a 13.2MP CMOS Lumix sensor. In case you don't know, the image sensors in Lumix cameras are pretty great. It's also going to have a 4-inch QHD LCD screen with 960×540 resolution and a 1Ghz TI OMAP4430 dual-core processor. It's waterproof, like all gadgets should be, it runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Traditionally, the cameras on phones have been not so great, and it's no wonder; trying to smash a camera into something as thin as a phone creates a ton of challenges and severely limits the size of the image sensor and the lens. No camera phone will ever replace your SLR, but if Panasonic gets this right, they might just be able to replace your point-and-shoot. As someone who hates having several large items in his pockets, I'm really rooting for them to knock this one out of the park.

No mention of pricing or if this will be available stateside (or anywhere outside of Japan).