As an iPod Touch owner, I’m often left to the mercy of WiFi hotspots when I’m out and about; sometimes the connection works great, but in a crowded spot, connecting could get pretty tough. If you’re a heavy iPod Touch user, you may want to consider Sprint’s upcoming 3G-case. Essentially a MiFi-like device, the case allows you to connect to Sprint’s 3G network. Another plus is that you’re not limited to just the iPod Touch; you can connect your other devices as well.
No word yet on pricing or release date. Still, if you’re finding yourself limited without an internet connection on your iPod Touch, this may be something to consider.
Engadget reports that the pages of over 100 million Facebook users (that’s about 1 out of 5) have been indexed and grouped into a giant 2.8GB file, available now for download (via torrent). Information includes the URL page, phone numbers, and email addresses.
Before everyone runs to a panic, however, all this information was public already. It’s information that anyone can access simply by surfing around Facebook and looking up one’s page. In fact, this was to serve as a reminder to users in being conscious of the information they share on social networks. If you haven’t already, be sure to check your privacy settings to limit how public your profile is (it’s defaulted to the entire internet, but can be limited to your friends, friends of friends, etc.).
Check out a our post on Facebook privacy for more info as well as info on how to change you settings.
In the wake of San Diego Comic-Con 2010, we await the coming apocalypse, although whether that’s brought about by alien invasions in Los Angeles, the loss of work productivity playing Snake on YouTube or riots from yet another delay with the white iPhone is subject to debate in this week’s episode of Gigawhat.
For current iPhone 4 users, we look into the process of getting that free bumper Steve Jobs promised last week. If you’re waiting for the white iPhone though… well, it seems like it’s just another item to add to our list of things we’re still waiting for.
Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Iyaz at @iyaz, Derrick at @derrickc82). Leave a though or coment as well on the blog post at dxstuff.com.
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San Diego Comic-Con, the annual comics (gaming, and entertainment) convention was held on July 22 – July 25th at the San Diego Convention Center. With over 100,000 fans congregating in show of their love for their favorite works and shows, SDCC also serves to host the biggest announcements in film, gaming, and of course, comics.
X marks the spot – for Apple, it’s the line that drops your line. Fear not though, Apple has a solution… and a few extra words. While Apple’s pulling out their punches, Motorola sells out of the Droid X, the next contender for top smartphone in the market. And what of the Boxee – will it ever make it out in time? Listen in as we discuss all this and more, not to mention my choice in antiperspirant on this week’s episode of Gigawhat.
Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Iyaz at @iyaz, Derrick at @derrickc82). Leave your thoughts, comments, or recommendations for antiperspirants on the blog post at dxstuff.com.
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If you’ve been a fan of such classics as Jay vs Leno and Internet turns on Justin Bieber, you’ll get a kick out Apple Daily’s next quasi-news piece on Steve Jobs rise to the Dark Side and Applegate. You won’t even need to understand Chinese to find it hilarious.
For the truly geeky, you’ll appreciate all the tiny touches and details in the video. Even better, Jason Chen of Gizmodo publishes the Gizmodo post!
Twitter’s “Earlybird Offers” finally tweeted out it’s first deal. Whether or not you actually consider it a deal is another question. For those unfamiliar, Twitter recently made a splash with their @earlybird account, which was created to promote “special time-bound deals, sneak-peeks, and events.” While this isn’t a new concept at all for Twitter (just look up your favorite companies and you’ll find Twitter accounts for deals, contests, news, etc.), it is one of the very few steps Twitter has taken to capitalize on their platform. The tweets are currently only to promote advertising partners of Twitter; in this case, it’s for the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, owned by Disney Pictures, who was the first to use Twitter’s ad-based Promoted Tweets to advertise Toy Story 3.
While immediately receiving over 10,000 followers on its launch day a week ago, the Earlybird’s account has slowed to right above 53,000 to date. To make this something worthwhile to both advertisers and consumers, however, Twitter will need to raise the bar in the number and quality of promoted deals to show that this is a bird worth following.
Though Apple hasn’t given any details (aside from it being about the iPhone 4), one can only guess that Friday’s scheduled press conference to select members of the press will be to address the antenna-reception issues that have been making headlines. One can only imagine what Apple has in store.
Consumer Reports released a report detailing the antenna-reception issues plaguing the iPhone 4. Their conclusion? Stick with the 3GS, not the iPhone 4. The report continues further to call into question Apple’s recent response and “fix” with the software patch.
Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4’s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that “mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.
The tests also indicate that AT&T’s network might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4’s much-reported signal woes.
The issue, ultimately, is that the iPhone 4 “death grip” (the loss of reception when your hand grips across the phone in certain spots) is a hardware issue, not a software issue. The so-called “fix” that Apple is promising only re-adjusts (and properly displays) the service (or lack thereof) AT&T provides. The issue with the total reception loss (when holding the phone) is a different issue entirely and cannot be fixed without actually physically fixing the phone.
While a relatively easy fix for the phone is to (buy and) use the bumper (sold for $30) or “just avoid holding it that way” (as per Steve Jobs’s suggestion), what’s really at a fault is Apple’s response. Not only has Apple done little to address these issues as they have been coming to light, but the few actions Apple has taken has been misleading and can even be considered as deceptive.
The Apple iPhone, as great as a phone as it is, has a major hardware flaw – one that in fact impacts the primary function of the phone: to make calls. To ask consumers to pay additionally (for bumpers) to fix a mistake on Apple’s end is a failure on Apple’s end to provide basic and adequate support for their own product. While a full recall/replacement of the millions of iPhone 4s already sold may be wishful thinking, Apple should, at the very least, be held to fully acknowledge this product flaw and provide a reasonable solution to their consumers.
This week we look at several applications and software updates, including an improved YouTube mobile site, an update on playing Hulu Plus on PS3, and Fring – will it play nice with Skype, the new iPhone, and the HTC Evo? What still refuses to play nice on the iPhone 4? And listen to the first disagreement between Iyaz and me when we talk e-book readers! This and a whole lot more (including a reminder on password security) on episode two of Gigawhat!
Feel free to leave comments and thoughts here. Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes with the link below and follow us on Twitter (Iyaz at @iyaz, Derrick at @derrickc82).
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