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Filed under: Cellphones

Want to add iPhone ringtones? iToner’s your solution, it’s the easiest (and most graphically purdy) method we’ve seen yet, and it works without even jailbreaking your iPhone. The down side (yeah, there’s always a downside) is this simple utility could teach a course in Nagware 101, bugging you incessantly and imposing increasingly longer delays before carrying out its function until you buy the thing. Still, it’s worth it if you’ve been waiting for an excuse not to use marimba anymore. We’d just suggest waiting until next Wednesday before making the buy, we hear Apple might just do this thing themselves. More shots after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading iToner makes adding iPhone ringtones ridiculously easy

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Features, Home Entertainment

It’s not like it’s too big of a deal, but we happened by this new Blu-ray player from Sony while we were on our mass-wanderings amongst the gadgetry at IFA, and we thought we’d share a few images. Really nothing to write home about, though it does have a snazzy sliding front panel (the one that appears mirrored) — but we couldn’t say what that panel’s function actually is. Maybe you can figure it out, so have a look at the gallery.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Joshua Topolsky

ThinkPad760 writes “Early in September All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan will complete their rollout of a ticketless check-in and boarding pass service called SKiP! You book the ticket online thru either a computer or your mobile phone. Prior to arriving at the airport, you ‘place’ the ticket onto your IC-chipped ANA Mileage card, or have the booking dowloaded into your IC-enabled phone. When you get to the airport you just wave your mobile or IC card at the reader. It confirms your booking, the light turns green, and off you go to the gate. At the gate it’s the same thing. I’ve been using this service out of Haneda to Osaka for the past year. It is fantastic. Since I never have to check bags, I turn up to the airport just short while before my flight, walk straight through security and onto the plane.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by Zonk

Filed under: Cellphones

The two big teams claiming iPhone software SIM unlock solutions (iPhoneSIMfree and UniquePhones) have been a bit mum of late, but while iPhoneSIMfree’s hack is supposedly due by tomorrow, you just might have a free (as in beer) alternative — if you’re the type to believe the hype you read on internet forums. Unknowns the Deathcorp team claim tomorrow, September 1st, will also mark the wide public release of their iPhone SIM unlock software, which is supposedly going to be distributed with no charge to you, unlike iPhoneSIMfree’s forthcoming release, and UniquePhones’s intended, but waylayed, launch. As usual, we’ll be there to sort the fact from the fiction.

[Thanks, Ed]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Features

Ever wanted a full, 1080p camcorder that looked just like the Super-8 your dad used to shoot sun-soaked home movies with back in the 1970s? Well, you’re in luck, because Sanyo seems to be sharing your nostalgic vibes this year, particularly in the case of the Xacti DMX-HD1000, the world’s tiniest, full-HD video camera. We got our chance to manhandle this minuscule (yet powerful) camcorder at IFA today and honestly, it’s like holding a gun… a memory gun. Deep, right? Take a look at the totally ill photo gallery and let us know your thoughts on the matter.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We already had word that the Archos 605 WiFi would be released tomorrow, but it looks like the company couldn’t wait — the 605 and and 405 just appeared for sale on the Archos website. Pricing is right in line with what we told you earlier: the 160GB 605 is $399, with the 80GB, 30GB and 4GB + SD versions coming in at $349, $299 and $230, respectively, while the 2GB + SD 405 is just $169. Still no word on all those rumored content partnerships, but at least now we can do some digging Stateside, eh?

[Thanks, Dimitri]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Nilay Patel

ajs writes “Moriarty, over on Ain’t It Cool News is running a column about the upcoming J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie. In it, he discusses some theories about where the movie is going, but doesn’t reveal his sources. He claims that Nimoy’s Spock, not the younger versions of the original Trek trio, will be the primary star of the film; and that the movie will make some very substantial changes to the Trek lore in a way that is internally consistent with what went before, but opens up many more options for future franchise films or series. If he’s right, there are some pretty substantial spoilers in the column.” Obviously, as unverifiable speculation this should be taken with a grain of salt. Live long and prosper.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by Zonk

Filed under: Features

Know Your Rights is Engadget’s new technology law series, written by our own totally punk copyright attorney Nilay Patel. In it we’ll try to answer some fundamental tech-law questions to help you stay out of trouble in this brave new world. Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, it is not meant as legal advice or analysis and should not be taken as such.

Preface: There’s been a lot of discussion about the RIAA’s, shall we say “controversial” (and we’re being generous here) tactics in suing P2P users who download copyrighted content; especially this week, what with the EFF releasing its “RIAA v. The People: Four Years Later” report. But it’s never been easy to find information about the nuts-and-bolts of what happens when you get that first letter from the RIAA. We’re not going to get into our feelings about the RIAA and MPAA (you probably already know what we think), but since we’ve (read: Nilay) been involved in a couple successful defenses — and a lot of unhappy settlements — we thought we’d try and break down the process for you. We’re not telling you how to avoid or get out of trouble with the RIAA, just how it is that trouble usually operates.

Help! I’m being sued by the RIAA!

Wow, bad luck for you. The RIAA really only sues about 6,000 people a year, mostly those who use FastTrack clients like Kazaa. Users of other networks have been sued, of course, but it’s by far Kazaa users who get sued the most often, and generally those who have been unknowingly sharing files. That’s a drop in the bucket compared the to estimated nine million people who use P2P software every month.

Continue reading Know Your Rights: What to do when the RIAA comes calling

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: GPS

GPS without hands-free calling is hardly worth its weight in silicon these days, and Sony is getting in on the game in Europe with its new nav-u personal navigation devices. The 4.8-inch NV-U93T (pictured) and NV-U83 in particular are getting the new Bluetooth functionality. The U93T bests its peer with a broad selection of Europe maps, and live traffic info, the latter of which is optional with the U83. You can control either device with “Gesture Command,” which allows you to scribble symbols on the screen and be presented with directions home or to the nearest gas station. If you’re not quite ready to take the Bluetooth plunge, Sony also has the 4.3-inch NV-U73T and NV-U53, which both do Gesture Command, and hold the same traffic info and Europe map differentiations of big brother 4.8-inchers. All four models will be out in Europe this November, ranging from 249 to 379 Euro ($340 to $517 US).

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Paul Miller

Huh, a couple makers sent sent in this link that turns Google Earth in to a flight simulator, I just tried it and it works! I’m going to see what no-fly zones it will let me buzz over… -

To enter the flight simulator mode, press Ctrl + Alt + A (Command/Open Apple Key + Option + A on the Mac). Once you have entered flight simulator mode for the first time, you can re-enter the mode by choosing Tools > Enter Flight Simulator. To leave flight simulator mode, click Exit Flight Simulator in the top right corner or press Ctrl + Alt + A (Command/Open Apple Key+ Option + A on the Mac).

The following keystrokes control navigation and other aspects of the flight simulator. You can also control the aircraft with a mouse or joystick. To disable or enable mouse controls, left click (single click on a Mac). Once mouse controls are active, the pointer shape changes to a cross on your screen.

Flight Simulator Keyboard Controls - Google Earth User Guide - Link.

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Original post by Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women

InfoWorldMike passed us a link to a story at his site about a way to perform computer functions on the atomic level. IBM has pioneered the process at their Almaden Research lab in California. Essentially, researchers detect ‘magnetic anisotropy, a property of the magnetic field that gives it the ability to maintain a particular direction’. Since the process allows the detection of the ‘direction’ individual atoms are facing, this is the first step towards the ones and zeroes used in binary. “In a second report, researchers at IBM’s lab in Zurich, Switzerland, said they had used an individual molecule as an electric switch that could potentially replace the transistors used in modern chips. The company published both research reports in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.The new technologies are at least 10 years from being used for components in commercial products, but the discoveries will allow scientists to take a large step forward in their quest to replace silicon, said IBM spokesman Matthew McMahon.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by Zonk

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

We first stumbled upon a prototype of the DirecTV D-HR20P DVR at Electronic House Expo last year, but haven’t heard anything about it since then. Now with CEDIA coming up, a promo image of what could be the next evolution in this design has been leaked, the HR21 Pro. The DVR will reportedly handle 100 hours of high-def recording and output it at 1080p over optical HDMI, but lacks any over-the-air antenna inputs, probably due to DirecTV’s 100-channel rollout plan. We should see it in November, so clear out some rackmount space… you do have a rack to mount it in, right?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Erik Hanson

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

It was only a matter of time until Blu-ray hit the home theater in a box systems. Sony is taking their HT-SF2000 HTIB, adding the BDP-S300, and throwing in the BD Spider-Man trilogy for kicks. The system is built for HDMI, as the receiver has three inputs and one out, so besides speaker wire, users aren’t going to have many cables to deal with. Plus, all that HDMI allows for auto-setup, in Sony’s parlance: Digital Cinema Auto Calibration. HTIB systems have never been known for their sound quality and something tells us this 1000W system is going to be exactly top-notch, but that said, if priced right, it could be a great option for some with limited budget and a need for Blu-ray. The HTP-BD2RSF is currently announce for the European market only at an unknown sum, but something tells us that Sony is going to drop sometime very similar at CEDIA next week.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Matt Burns

tonganqn writes “Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope scientists have discovered huge amounts of water vapor in the young star system, called NGC 1333-IRAS 4B. From the article: ‘The water vapor is pouring down from the system’s natal cloud and smacking into a dusty disk where planets are thought to form. The observations provide the first direct look at how water, an essential ingredient for life as we know it, begins to make its way into planets, possibly even rocky ones like our own.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Original post by Zonk

Filed under: Displays, Networking

Samsung announced a few new items at IFA today, but one of the more interesting finds in its treasure trove of mysterious electronic goodness were two LCD displays equipped with built-in 2.0-megapixel webcams, 1680 x 1050 resolution, 10/100 ethernet ports, and four or two powered USB jacks (the 220TN and 225UW, respectively). The 220TN, which you’ve probably seen already, rocks an onboard 500MHz CPU and an embedded version of Windows XP, thus alleviating your need for a PC (even for Skype). Its new kid brother, the 225UW, can’t make that same claim, though the specs are dangerously similar (save for that pesky “look-ma-no-hands” processor action). No word on pricing or availability, but you’ll know as soon as we do.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Joshua Topolsky