Archives for October 2007
Dell says no to carbon
Darius Chang | Oct 01, 2007
When we think of carbon, our minds wander to the delightful taste of a well-barbequed chicken wing with small black flakes. But while this element is found in useful stuff like pencil leads and lubricants, in its gaseous form carbon dioxide it is responsible for the ills of global warming effects.
While any industrial activity produces carbon dioxide, a company can "redeem" itself by promoting carbon-reducing activities like tree planting. This is what Dell plans to do. According to a report by PC World journalist Grant Gross, Michael Dell has announced that the PC maker will be carbon neutral by 2008. In order to reach this target, it will reduce carbon emissions in its manufacturing process as well as insist that the suppliers do the same or face penalties. Another initiative is the Plant a Tree for Me program which allows customers, at point of purchase, to donate a small sum to the planting of new trees.
Anything to help save the environment gets a thumbs up from us. After all, its a little hard to touch type while floating in a sea of melted polar ice caps.
Another Sony mystery product
Dan Ackerman | Oct 01, 2007
Of all the companies that have caught the mystery marketing bug, Sony is quickly becoming the most prolific perpetrator. In fact, the campaign tactics may be too secretive for their own good. The Sony "Rolly", for example, still has people guessing what it's all about even after the product was officially unveiled.
Its latest entry is equally baffling. A teaser page on Sony's Japanese Web site offers virtually nothing other than an obscured photo and the obligatory "Coming soon" tagline. (We're thankful that they at least spared us the cliched countdown clock.) Engadget speculates that it could be an all-in-one PC, which wouldn't be a bad idea considering all the coverage Gateway in the US got with its version this week, but it's really anyone's guess.
And here we are, once again, getting suckered in.
This post originally appeared in CNET Crave.
Samsung SGH-i780 gets official
John Chan | Oct 01, 2007
Samsung is not new to the Windows Mobile PDA-phone business. The company has a few products in that category, though till now, there has been no sustained effort to establish itself in this space. We know the company has had some success with the i320N, and after that the i600 smart phones. So there seems to be no reason why that can't be extended to the handhelds arena.
This may be the one that gets Samsung noticed--the SGH-i780. We first reported on its initial sighting during the GITEX tradeshow, a QWERTY-enabled touchscreen model with a mouse cursor. Samsung has since released the official image and it shows a device that's not unlike the i600 in design, though instead of a rectangular display, it has a square one.
The cheabol has yet to officially release this model and so has not release official specifications. From the knowledge harvested around the Internet, we know it will probably come with a 320 x 320-pixel display, HSDPA, GPS and a 3.2-megapixel camera. It's supposed to be just 13.3mm in depth, which makes it extremely thin for a touchscreen handheld. More information will be available in the coming month--we'll bring you those as we receive them.
Apple iPhone relocked and frozen
Reuben Lee | Oct 01, 2007
The iPhone unlocking saga continues with Apple, as promised earlier, delivering its first blow to iPhone hackers by releasing its latest software update. When installed, this will freeze the iPhone completely. Yes, you read it right. The iPhone will become a brick (read permanently inoperable) if you update your unlocked phone with the latest software from the Cupertino company.
Many of those who did not heed the warning sure learned painfully last Friday when their iPhones were disabled after the software update. When Apple first issued the warning early last week, iPhone hackers advised users with unlocked iPhones to wait before installing the new software updates, promising a fix by this week. So far, we've come across one iPhone fix which will unlock all of a bricked iPhone's functionalities, save for the cellular service.
The good news is, with the recent price cuts, the iPhone is a lot cheaper to replace. So do you think Apple has gone too far this time by rendering the iPhone completely useless, instead of just relocking it and removing the illegal apps? Share your thoughts here with other readers if you've found ways to get around this issue.
Ten steps (actually 11) to unlock your "bricked" iPhone
Russell Shaw, ZDNet.com | Oct 01, 2007
If you've downloaded the latest iPhone firmware on to your previously unlocked iPhone, you have a course of action available to you that will unlock all your iPhone’s functionality except for your phone service.
The ticket is iNDependence, a Cocoa-based app for Mac OS X. This provides a UI for modifying your iPhone.
You can download it here. I guess that would be the first step.
Once you do just that, hackintOsh Member sparx writes that you should:
1. Make sure you have a copy of the 1.0.2 firmware handy in ipsw and decrypted form.
2. Reboot iPhone holding top (power) and home buttons *BUT* release the top button 10 seconds into it (right after the screen goes dark).
3. The iPhone screen will appear to be off, but start iTunes (latest version worked for me on the Mac).
4. Option+Click restore and select the 1.0.2 firmware ips.
5. The phone will restart and error out at the end with an unknown error 1013, this is expected.
6. Restart iTunes and let it get to the screen that says you have an invalid SIM
7. Launch the latest iNDpendence
8. Jailbreak the phone using a decrypted 1.0.2 (it will flash all sorts of error, but stick with it)
9. Activate the phone
10. It will show the SIM error but you should be able to get back in.
Additional stuff for code jocks here.
Via ZDNet blogs
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