Pricemo

Probably the best reviews on the planet!

Tag: iPhone

New Potato’s FLPR IR dongle gives your iPhone home automation capabilities

It’s hard to say why we’ve seen a glut of these adapters hit all within the same week, but hey, the more the merrier! North Carolina’s own New Potato Technologies (yes, we’re serious) has followed up on ThinkFlood and Power A’s efforts by introducing an Infrared iPhone / iPod touch dongle of its own. The difference? This one connects to the dock connector, and when used with the accompanying app, it can control lights, stereo systems, home cinemas and pretty much anything that allows dictation via IR. The best part just might be said app, as it allows users to search a database of over 14,000 device codes and just add the products they already own, which means that you’ll probably only be stuck programming that LaserDisc player you refuse to give up. It’ll start shipping today from the company’s own website for $79.99, or you can consult the middleman (read: Best Buy) on starting on March 28th.

Continue reading New Potato’s FLPR IR dongle gives your iPhone home automation capabilities

New Potato’s FLPR IR dongle gives your iPhone home automation capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

by Darren Murph on March 4, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

iPhone gets a stainless steel clamshell case, we’ll wait for the titanium version

You know, for all the praise the iPhone has received in its time, we never thought it looked quite Matrix-y enough. Thankfully, that all-important deficiency has been remedied by a man named Ryan Glasgow up in Portland, who has just started selling the above case to all who care to have one. It’s built out of stainless steel on the outside and silicone padding on the inside, with strategically located cutouts for wireless signals and heat emissions to get through. You can flip the front plate open, turning it into a rather outsized clamshell, or you can just talk with the lid closed, it’s all up to you. Aluminum and engraving options (can we suggest “my other phone is a Vertu“?) are also available with each case costing a slightly spendy $95. See more of it in the gallery below.

Gallery: Solid steel iPhone case

iPhone gets a stainless steel clamshell case, we’ll wait for the titanium version originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  LTD Tools  | Email this | Comments

by Vladislav Savov on March 4, 2010
filed in Case
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apple sues HTC for infringing 20 iPhone patents

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_goes_to_war_Sues_HTC_for_infringing_20_patents’; Looks like Apple’s going on the warpath, kids. Just a few months after Cupertino got into it with Nokia over phone patents, Apple’s filed suit against HTC, alleging that the company is infringing 20 patents “related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware.” Steve, you have something to say?

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

Okay then. We’re pulling the complaint filing now, we’ll let you know the exact details as soon as we learn them.

Update: HTC just gave us a statement — this is apparently coming totally out of the blue for them, since Apple hasn’t even served the complaint yet.

We only learned of Apple’s actions based on your stories and Apple’s press release. We have not been served yet so we are in no position to comment on the claims. We respect and value patent rights but we are committed to defending our own innovations. We have been innovating and patenting our own technology for 13 years.

Update 2: We mean it when we say this was all just filed in the past few hours — it’s not yet in the court’s systems. We just got the PDFs and put the full list of claims from the federal lawsuit below, but remember not to take the names of the patents literally or directly, since they don’t mean much. We’ll poke each one apart and tease out what’s really at stake as we go along.

[We've now looked at each and every patent in both cases in-depth -- check it out here.]

Update 3: We’ve just learned that Apple submitted over 700 pages of exhibits to the District Court, which is a little nuts. In addition, the ITC complaint lists a number of specific HTC handsets as exhibits, including the Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro2, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream / G1, myTouch 3G, Hero, HD2, and Droid Eris. That’s really a full range of HTC phones, running both Android and Windows Mobile, with and without Sense / TouchFLO. Interestingly, the Android sets are specifically included because they run Android, while the WinMo sets are called out specifically for including DSP chips, not anything to do with Windows Mobile.

Gallery: Apple / HTC Delaware filing

Gallery: Apple / HTC ITC filing

Apple sues HTC for infringing 20 iPhone patents originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Apple, Complaint (PDF), ITC Complaint (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

by Nilay Patel on March 2, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , ,

RedEye mini converts iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into IR-beaming universal remote

ThinkFlood’s original RedEye was pretty swank, but unfortunately, it was both expensive and somewhat convoluted. It’s only been four months since that very device hit the scene, but it’s safe to say it’s already history. Today, the RedEye mini is setting a new bar in the world of iPhone / iPad / iPod touch remotes, with a single plug-in Infrared (IR) adapter enabling your Apple device to beam out a near-limitless array of IR commands. All that’s needed is the 3.5mm dongle (read: your dock connector remains open), the latest iPhone OS and the free RedEye app; once you’re setup, you can then control your TV, AV receiver, Blu-ray player and whatever else is lucky enough to be in your home theater rack and support IR dictation. Better still, the app allows users to customize the way they control their gear, with full multitouch and accelerometer support complementing the ability to add (soft) macro buttons. Oh, and did we mention that this wealth of functionality will only set you back $49? Huzzah!

Continue reading RedEye mini converts iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into IR-beaming universal remote

RedEye mini converts iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into IR-beaming universal remote originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ThinkFlood  | Email this | Comments

by Darren Murph on March 2, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Adafruit is in the Square payment pilot, awesomeness will likely ensue

Our good friends at Adafruit Industries are now taking mobile payments with the best of ‘em thanks to a prerelease Square dongle they’ve managed to score, ostensibly as a part of the public trial announced earlier this month. They’ve posted a quick video showing the process of taking someone’s cash via plastic, and it looks every bit as painless as Square makes it out to be — just swipe, sign with your fingertip, and your Square-equipped payee is a few dollars richer. The particular dongle Adafruit’s been provided looks rough to say the least — these aren’t the units you’ll be getting off the shelf — but that’s part of the fun of being involved with a beta, isn’t it? Head over to Adafruit to peep the video, and needless to say, we’re curious to see how they plan to make use of this little bugger.

Adafruit is in the Square payment pilot, awesomeness will likely ensue originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Adafruit Industries  | Email this | Comments

by Chris Ziegler on February 25, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , ,

The titanium iPhone is real, really real (video)

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Engadget_gets_a_titanium_iPhone_3GS_on_video’; You came, you saw, some of you were not convinced. So what’s a gadget blog to do when picture evidence isn’t enough? Why, get those pictures moving, of course, right up to 30 frames a second. The stunning titanium iPhone 3GS from this morning is back, proving not only its existence in the corporeal realm, but also its much-disputed ability to place a call — something that even the default plastic-backed units sometimes struggle with. Look, we’re not in Austria and therefore can’t lick it and tell you if it really tastes of titanium, but on the evidence we have the thing looks legit. Judge for yourself after the break.

Gallery: Titanium iPhone 3GS mod

Continue reading The titanium iPhone is real, really real (video)

The titanium iPhone is real, really real (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

by Vladislav Savov on February 25, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apple serves up 10 billionth iTune, smiles all the way to the bank

Whether you love it or loathe it, there is now no way to deny the spectacular success of Apple’s iTunes Store. The proprietary digital media player, organizer and salesperson has just now recorded its 10 billionth song download, marking a truly unique achievement in the still nascent world of digital distribution. Congratulations to Apple, whose response has been to thank you all for spending so much cash and making El Steve look like the techno pied piper. Hit the source link to find out what the most downloaded songs of “all time” were… you might not be surprised by the top three, but you should definitely be horrified.

Apple serves up 10 billionth iTune, smiles all the way to the bank originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Apple  | Email this | Comments

by Vladislav Savov on February 24, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Modern smartphone radio design partly to blame for AT&T, O2 network woes?

Even though AT&T’s already committed both carrier and backhaul upgrades in an effort to buck the butt-of-the-joke trend it’s been experiencing for the last couple years, there’s some evidence that it’s a recent trend in the way phone radios operate — not a lack of overall capacity — that should shoulder at least some of the blame for the issues. An O2 staffer (O2 carries the iPhone and has coincidentally experienced many of the same growing pains AT&T has in recent months) that reached out to Ars Technica says that Apple’s baby was one of the first widely popular phones to immediately drop data connections as soon as transfers were complete and re-establish them only when needed; that tactic saves battery power, but can overwhelm cell sites pretty easily if they’re not configured to handle it — even if there’s plenty of spectrum and backhaul available. Other handsets now employ the same strategy, compounding the problem. This seems like an awfully odd thing to miss during carrier testing, but who knows — we wouldn’t put it past anyone to gladhand the iPhone through the toughest parts of the gauntlet.

Modern smartphone radio design partly to blame for AT&T, O2 network woes? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink iClarified  |  Ars Technica  | Email this | Comments

by Chris Ziegler on February 24, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , ,

Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 now available!

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Engadget_for_iPhone_iPod_touch_2_0_1_now_available’;
Hey guys, some fun news to share: Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 was just approved by Apple and is now available on the App Store! The big new feature is landscape mode in article, comment, and sharing views, but we’ve also bumped up font sizes, made some improvements to the commenting experience, and added the ability to edit tweets directly in the app. Oh, and you can also now email photos from galleries from within the app, and customize the toolbar. Of course, that’s in addition to our regular features like offline viewing, built in streaming for The Engadget Show, and in-app tip submissions — you know, for when you see the iPhone 3GT leak out.

So what are you waiting for? You can download the app right here, or just click the image above — if you’ve already got it installed the update should be waiting for you right this second. Full changelog after the break.

Once again, a big thanks to the team at AOL that makes these apps happen: Sun Sachs, Andy Averbuch, Hareesh P, Anibal Rosado, Rajesh Kumar, Rich Foster, Claudeland Louis, Mike Wolstat, Eric Wedge, Vikas B R, Milissa Tarquini, Asha Indira and Bob Gurwin. High fives all around.

P.S.- Updates for the BlackBerry and webOS apps should hit in March, and that’s also when we’re scheduled to launch our Android app — stay tuned!

Continue reading Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 now available!

Engadget for iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 now available! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

by Nilay Patel on February 24, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

iPhone 3GS mod ditches plastic cover in favor of titanium vestment

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/iPhone_3GS_titanium_mod’; Engadget reader Martin Schrotz is a man after our own hearts. He’s taken the editors’ choice for best smartphone of 2009 and tricked it out with a handsome new back cover made out of titanium. Not sufficiently pleased with the plastic casing provided by Apple, Martin opened up his favorite CAD program and refashioned his phone into the much hardier and indubitably more awesome machine you see before you. The new backing is built out of a titanium alloy that allows RF waves through and therefore requires no plastic parts to let the wireless communications flow. Check out the gallery for more before hitting the link below to bug Martin to provide you with a video or a price estimate.

Gallery: Titanium iPhone 3GS mod

iPhone 3GS mod ditches plastic cover in favor of titanium vestment originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

by Vladislav Savov on February 24, 2010
filed in Laptops
tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,