Author: Greg Kumparak

Strunk and White fans, rejoice! Run to the nearest peak and herald to all that will listen: “Less is more! Less is more!”

The Windows Phone Team has just announced via Twitter ([cue the “Announcements via Twitter! Boo!” rants in comments]) that they’re dropping the word “Series” from “Windows Phone 7 Series”.

This makes a whole lot of sense; from the very first second Microsoft announced WP7 to a room full of press, people were asking, “What the heck do you mean, ‘Series’?” Subsequently, nearly everyone outside of Microsoft just started referring to it as “Windows Phone 7″ (partially out of laziness, but mostly because “Series” just sounded silly).

If you see anyone from Microsoft’s advertising, marketing, or graphic design teams walking around with smiles today, now you know why: that’s one less word they have to fit into everything.

[Thanks, Jonathan G.]

We’ll keep this one brief, because the news is likely as much of a bummer for most as it is good news.

Skyfire, which is still the only mobile browser able to churn through Flash, Silverlight, Quicktime, and just about any other media you throw at it, just opened up the signups for the Alpha test of their upcoming Android client. Hurray! We knew the Android port was coming after they bought up the already-established Android browser, Steel — we just didn’t think they were progressing this quickly.

Here’s where the news goes sour.

If you’re reading this now and you haven’t signed up yet, you’re out of luck. Almost as quickly as the Alpha sign-up page opened, it closed; Skyfire got overwhelmed with inquiries, and hit Alpha capacity within a few hours.

We tend to be on good footing with the folks at Skyfire, so I’ll reach out to see if they’re willing to set a few spots aside for our readers. In the mean time, keep an eye out for future Alpha signups and let us know when things go down, won’t you?

There is absolutely nothing that needs to be said about this video. Oh, except for this: wear headphones. Don’t want to wake the baby.

[via Reddit]

I’m a fan of GameFly. As a hardcore gamer (as in I spend too much time doing it, not as in I’m particularly good) who gets bored of games quick, it just makes economic sense. That’s why when GameFly announced their GameCenter iPhone app last October, I just about ate my pants in excitement. That’s what people do when they’re excited, right? Eat their pants?

Unfortunately, my buzz was killed pretty quick: as it turned out, GameFly’s iPhone app didn’t allow you to actually.. you know, use GameFly. While it had a bunch of fun game info and screenshots, you couldn’t add or remove games from your shipping queue (or as GameFly calls it, your GameQ.)

The fans clamored, so they threw in a workaround of sorts in an early update: users could access their GameQ, but it was really just an embedded version of the GameFly mobile site. Where’s the fun in that?

In an update released today, GameFly has gone and made things right. GameQ management is now built-in through proper, native code, along with a handful of other new features:

* Personalize games and news for your platforms
* Similar games recommendations for each title
* Share games you add to your Q with friends
* Improved UI for browsing games and news
* More game trailers with higher quality

What do you think? Any other GameFly members out their eating their pants right now?

Oh, Apple! You dirty, dirty tease.

Two days before the iPad itself hits the shelves, its apps have begun to go on sale in the App Store.

Why is this happening, you ask? Well, as it turns out, Apple asked developers to set the release date to a few days before the iPad launch. We can’t say for sure exactly why they did that, but we’re assuming it was to avoid last minute hiccups. We expected Apple to have some sort of magical invisibility toggle set on all of these apps – but given that we’re looking at the listings for Scrabble, Omnigraffle, the New York Times, and a bunch of other iPhone apps right this second, we’re guessing that’s not the case.

There’s no (public facing) official iPad directory just yet, so you’ll have to punch things manually into search if you’re trying to dig things up. Fortunately, the guys over at AppAdvice have already done most of the work for you, unearthing a few thousand iPad apps by way of the iTunes API. Check out their big list here. Update: A bunch of people have also found this one right within iTunes

Developers who want to keep their app a secret until the big day are being asked to change their release date to Saturday.

Didn’t manage to squeeze your way into our Twitter for BlackBerry Beta code giveaway? Got into the Beta, but just want to be on the absolute cutting edge? Either way, you’re set. A new Beta version of the client has just leaked out, making RIM’s mediocre Twitter client slightly less mediocre.

Made available by the lovely folks over at BBTweeps (and brought to our attention by the also-lovely folks at CrackBerry), the new Beta should work for anyone running BlackBerry OS 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.7.1, or 5.0 — in other words, just about everyone.

The new goods in this Beta:

• Profile editing
• Click profile pictures to enlarge them
• Faster performance by way of data caching
• Twitter List viewing and creation
• Font settings
• You can now disable the navigation bar, and remove the update box from the app’s homescreen.

It’s still got a ways to go before it’s competing with the likes of Seesmic and TweetGenius – but progress is progress, right?

You can find all the over-the-air download links here.

Be still, my pounding heart! In what is quite possibly the worst day to choose to do so (we promise its not a joke!), Verizon has just lopped a ton of cash off the entry fee for the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. Better yet, they just made Mobile Hotspot, the add-on service that turns your Pre Plus/Pixi Plus into a 3G-powered WiFi hotspot for up to 5 devices, completely free.

Free! As in $0 a month! The Mobile Hotspot feature used to cost $40 a month. That’s $480 bucks a year in free features that Verizon is now giving to Pre Plus/Pixi Plus owners.

And as for the devices themselves: The Pre Plus has been cut down to $49.99 (from $149.99 at launch) and the Pre Plus is down at $29.99 (from $99.99 at launch). These devices are now amongst the cheapest Verizon offers, on the same price tier as a bunch of feature phones. Lets see here: a crummy LG Cosmos for $29.99, or a Pixi Plus? No contest.

[Source: Engadget]

It’s here. It’s finally, finally here. After countless rumor-fueled false starts and delays, the Android 2.1 update has finally started rolling out to Verizon Droid owners.

Unfortunately, it’s only been rolled out to around 8,000 Droids at this point — and considering that there are purportedly at least a million of these things floating around, that means the majority of people are still waiting for their update. Are you one of them? Fear not, friend! We’ve got all the details on how to manually update your Droid to the official, Verizon-and-Google-blessed build of Android 2.1.

All in all, it should take you about 10 minutes. There is no “hacking” required – your device doesn’t need to be rooted, overclocked, underpantsed, or what have you. This is the same package you’d be downloading from Verizon (it even comes from Google’s server!), just a whole lot sooner.

Here’s how to do it:

• Download the update package from here. Don’t unzip it! If your browser automatically unzips things (like Safari on Mac, for example), use a different browser. It MUST stay zipped.
• Rename the file from signed-voles-ESE81-from-ESD56.fa406da6.zip to update.zip. If you’re using an OS that doesn’t show the .zip extension, just rename it “update” — otherwise it’ll be called “update.zip.zip” and won’t work.
• Take the microSD card from your phone, plug it into a microSD card reader.
• Drag and drop the “update.zip” file into the main folder (otherwise known as the root folder) of your microSD card. Don’t go looking for a folder called “main” or “root” – we’re referring to the folder on your microSD card that holds all the other folders.
• Turn your Droid off, and put the microSD card back in.
• Hold down the letter “X” on the keyboard. While still holding it, turn your Droid back on. You should see an exclamation point icon appear on your screen.
• Push the volume up button and the camera button at the exact same time. If nothing happens, do it again. When you get to the bootloader screen, you know it worked. (Some folks are reporting that you need to hold the volume up button and then tap the camera button right after. It’s a bit tricky, but it’ll work eventually.)
• Use the d-pad to navigate to the “apply: update.zip” option, and choose the file you just dragged onto your microSD card.

Bam! Download, rename, reboot, hold a button, done. Could it get much simpler? As soon as the upgrade process finishes, you’ll be Android 2.1′d up and ready to go.

Enjoy!

[Much love to the guys at AllDroid for digging up the update file name, and to Nikolai for giving us the heads up]

Hey, Sprint. Whatever changed recently, whoever you hired to save you from the downward spiral you’re in: keep doing it, and give that person a raise. You’ve got the EVO 4G, the first Sprint device (Sorry Palm!) I’ve heard actual, non-geeky people talking about with excitement in as long as I can remember. And now, you’ve just morphed your 30-day refund policy into the industry’s finest.

The new “Sprint Free Guarantee” policy can be explained quite simply: You get your money back. You get it back for the device costs, the taxes, and the activation fees. You get the money you’ve spent on your plan back. ETF? Waived. If you give money to Sprint in the first 30-days and then change your mind, they give that money back.

It’s a dangerous move, considering how many shady people might try to find a way to take advantage of this – but at the same time, Sprint desperately needs to convince people to test the waters, and an unconditional money back guarantee is probably a damned good way to do it.

Sprint Free Guarantee goes live for all customers signing up from tomorrow on, at which point we’ll start tearing apart the fine print to make sure it’s all as good as it sounds. We’re guessing there’s a line or two about “reasonable limitations” on overage fees and long-distance calling, so don’t try calling Europe for 29 days straight in hopes of putting it on Sprint’s tab.

Sometime yesterday afternoon, some new information started floating around the Kingdom of Ol’ Rumorton. “The Samsung Galaxy S… another version is coming,” whispered the trees of Rumorton, “and it’s called the Galaxy S Pro! And it has a physical keyboard!”

The rumors were in a bit too shaky of a state yesterday for us to cover them; we didn’t know much about the site that claimed it, they admitted that it was hearsay, and (outside of the fan-made render above) there weren’t any pictures. Plus, who the hell listens to trees? We decided to skip it.

Well, the rumor just got a whole lot more credible.

Mobile maven Eldar Murtazin just tweeted out details of the project, claiming that it’s the exact same model save for the QWERTY keyboard, will cost about 50 euros (~70 dollars) more, and launch sometime in June. Given that Eldar’s got a rumor accuracy rate rivaling the hit rate of a brick wall in a squash court, we’re believers now.

So lets think about this: The Galaxy S is an absolute beast. It has a gorgeous, absurdly bright Super AMOLED screen, and a 1GHz processor that Samsung claims blows everyone else (read: Snapdragon) away. It’s Android-powered. And now we’re talking about adding a physical keyboard to it? Hello, dream phone.

[Render via hdblog.it]

Back in September of last year, Starbucks made it possible to pay for your daily caffeine hit with their Starbucks Card Mobile iPhone app. The entire concept is pretty simple: punch in your Starbucks Card info, verify some details, and BAM! The iPhone app becomes the gift card, presenting a secure QR code for the Barista to scan when it comes time to pay up.

Here’s the catch: out of Starbucks’ roughly 74 billion locations, only a few have started accepting the mobile payment system. As in very few. As in sixteen. Until today!

Starbucks has just announced that they’re now taking iPhone app payments in over 1,000 Target stores nationwide, increasing the number of test locations by well over 6,000% overnight. Now go, go and pay for your fix of the ol’ brown drank without ever worrying about silly nonsense like wallets and cash ever again. (Be sure to check the store locator first to make sure your local Target spot is participating in the roll-out.)

There was a wee bit of chaos amongst iPhone jailbreakers after this morning’s iTunes 9.1 update hit. Seemingly out of nowhere, “tethered” jailbreaks (the slightly-less-convenient type necessary for newer iPhones) stopped working. Panic!

Fortunately, the endlessly resourceful army behind the jailbreaking effort has already isolated the problem, and a fix is in the works.

Shortly after the first reports came out that tethered jailbreaks had gone awry, it was determined that the issue was isolated to folks running the jailbreak on Windows. This lead the jailbreak brains straight to the source of the issue: one of the .DLL files required for the hack had been changed. The nature of the change makes it seem likely that the temporary jailbreak-breakage was more of a side effect than a deliberate move by Apple.

While it wasn’t clear at first just how straightforward a fix would be, iPhone hacking team iH8Sn0w (the same team that initially discovered what had gone wrong) has announced that a “quick fix” has been discovered, and is already in the works. It “will require a few hours to code” (and presumably, a few hours to test), so be on the lookout for a patch in the next day or two.

Hurray, it’s cat and mouse time again! iTunes 9.1 was just released, and it looks like Apple has taken yet another step (or two) in their endless fight against jailbreaking.

Take this with a grain of salt for the time being, but we’re hearing a lot of early reports that jailbroken devices will not sync with this latest iTunes release.

Update: This also appears to be breaking some “tethered” jailbreaks – that is, jailbreaks that need to be hooked up to a computer each and every time the device is turned on. Unfortunately, this includes the most popular jailbreak application, blackra1n. We’re still looking for more confirmation.

Update #2: Reports are all over the place. Some folks are having no problems getting their jailbroken iPhones to sync up, while others are having no luck at all. Some are reporting that a computer reboot cleared things up. It’s likely that whether or not it will work for you will depend on how you jailbroke, and what modem firmware is running on your iPhone. Tread with caution until this clears up.

Update #3: iPhone hacker ih8snow says the new-found troubles with blackra1n are all Windows-oriented, with the OS X version still working fine. Blackra1n hooks into a Windows .DLL file to find some of the things it needs, and said .DLL has changed. OS X users should be fine.

Drop us a comment and let us know if syncing is working with your jailbroken device.

I hadn’t realized it until just this second, but it’s been way, way too long since we’ve seen a monstrous carrier leak. I suppose after the heavily-detailed data dumps from the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile in 2009, the carriers have been tightening their grip. Fortunately, that hasn’t kept what looks to be the majority of Cricket’s 2010 product line up from leaking out.

The juiciest bit of info in the leaked slide deck (which, by the way, was obtained by those lovely gentlemen over at PhoneArena) is easily the pricing/launch target details for the Android-powered Kyocera Zio, which we first heard about at CTIA.

What’s in the leaked deck:

• The Kyocera Zio should cost about $299 when it launches in July. This is more than the sub-$220 tag that was indicated as a price point when it launched at CTIA, but remember: this is Cricket, so that’s a no-contract price. Not bad for an Android-powered phone packing an 800×480 screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 3.2 megapixel camera.
• The BlackBerry Curve 9630 should launch in August for around $349
• On the highend feature phone front: The Samsung R631 is a QWERTY slider that will launch in Q3 2010 for around $200, while the Samsung r710 is a touchscreen bar that will launch for $249 in Q4.
• A bunch of lower end feature phones
• Two new 3G data USB sticks: the Huawei EC1705 and the foldable, microSD-slotted Cricket A605, which will both launch in August for around $120 bucks. Both support Windows (2k, XP, Vista, 7) and Mac OS 10.4 and up

So, what do you think of Cricket’s 2010 line-up? Let us know below.

Man, it’s a big day for ol’ Red when it comes to software updates. All signs are indicating that the near-mythical Android 2.1 update for the Droid is beginning to trickle out right this second, and now they’ve announced that the BlackBerry Tour 9630 is getting bumped up to OS 5.0.

It doesn’t look like there’s going to be any OTA update route, as Verizon is suggesting that everyone heads to the Tour support page to get the upgrade juices flowin’.

So what’s new? Here’s everything Verizon thought worth mentioning:

Camera − Smoother operation in both camera and video applications.
Calling
− Improved Bluetooth® functionality for last number dialed.
− Enhanced functionality for Voice Activated Dialing in both French
and English.
− Improved missed call log now shows missed Call Waiting calls.
− Upgraded Call Waiting caller ID and call timer.
Messaging
− Improved functionality for reading, sending, forwarding, and
deleting SMS messages.
− Corrected in-box display when device is used with a holster.
Media
− Better video streaming functionality.
− Enhanced display for MMS messages containing both video
and text.
− Improved multitasking ability while streaming and downloading
videos from www.youtube.com.
Basic operations
− Improved operation during charging.
− Simplified key-lock functionality. A password is no longer needed
unless a security timeout has occurred.
− Improved GPS connectivity when using third-party
mapping applications.
− Push to Talk–capable.

Hey you! The one holding your breath until the Verizon Droid gets Android 2.1! Exhale. Inhale.

After a surprise delay of about two weeks, it looks like Android 2.1 is finally hitting the Motorola Droid today.

Those crazy cats over at Engadget have got their mittens all up on an internal e-mail which says pretty flat out that the update roll-out will begin today. 1,000 people should be getting it right around now, with 9,000 more getting it by the time the night is over. As long as frogs don’t start falling from the sky and dogs don’t start wearing shoes as a result of this update, Verizon will kick it out to everyone else by Thursday night.

Of course, there will probably be a manual update method available for all the anxious folks within the next few hours.

The new Facebook for webOS application that launched earlier this month brought a massive overhaul and a laundry list of needed improvements, but it lacked one thing that users have been clamoring for since the beginning: notifications.

webOS’ notifications system is one of its greatest strengths, allowing alerts to pop up on screen in a way that is unobtrusive while still allowing the user to quickly jump to the relevant screen if desired. An alert-heavy application like Facebook going sans-notifications definitely dampened the experience a bit.

Well, Facebook notifications are coming. In fact, they’re already here, if you’re willing to dabble with Beta software.

Palm has just released a beta version of Facebook v1.1.4 to their developer community, with notification support being the flagship feature. They also took the opportunity to patch up a few bugs that have sprung up since the launch of the new app, and to tack on a few new features like keyboard shortcuts and making the news feed automatically refresh when you re-open the Facebook card.

Not a developer? Don’t sweat it. Though you won’t find this in the official App Catalog just yet, Palm doesn’t seem too picky about who they’re sending it to from the beta download page.

In a post tinged with just a hint of spite, Apple pundit John Gruber has responded to today’s WSJ report of a forthcoming pair of new iPhones, one of which they say is headed for Verizon. His reaction? “Lame.”

The reason it’s lame, says Gruber, is that it lacks details. Details which Gruber has. Maybe.

Gruber lists a handful of specs, but does so in such a way that it’s not at all clear if he’s claiming the specs are the real deal or just the type of specs that would be expected from a real, non-”lame” scoop:

And they have no actual details of the next-generation iPhone. Nothing. Not the A4-family CPU system-on-a-chip. Not the 960 × 640 double-resolution display. Not the second front-facing camera. Not even the third-party multitasking in iPhone OS 4. All they have is that there’s going to be a new iPhone this summer, period.

There’s certainly nothing too crazy there. A4 CPU? Sure — Apple probably didn’t build that thing solely for the iPad. A 960×640 display (with a resolution double quadruple that of the iPhone’s current 480×320 display) would allow all apps to perfectly fill the screen in a 2x drawing mode, ensuring compatibility and eliminating a major fragmentation issue. A front-facing camera has been rumored since before even the first generation iPhone, and I’m pretty sure The New Kids On The Block were still huge when the multi-tasking rumor came around. Still, he never outright claims that these are indeed specs that have been leaked to him.

He certainly implies it, though. In a response to a tweet saying “I love how @gruber “casually” slips all the iPhone inside info he has into a post criticizing the WSJ,” Gruber responds simply:

“Not all.”

Tricky, Gruber. Very tricky.

Consider the iPad OS locked, loaded, and ready to go. A few hours after the first few iPad shipments have trickled into the shipping warehouses, Apple has just released iPhone SDK 3.2 in it’s GM (or “Goldmaster”, a fancy industry way of saying “absolutely final. Like, seriously, seriously final.”) form.

There’s not much here for us meager iPhone users to worry about; most of the recent changes have all been iPad-focused, and this specific one is presumably (please let us know if we’re wrong) oriented around last minute bug fixes and code clean-ups. If you’re a developer who hasn’t submitted their iPad app yet, be sure to start testing against this build immediately – if it’s submitted after today and not up to snuff against 3.2GM, you’re instantly denied.

Got a T-Mobile Cliq? Feeling lucky? Be sure to stick around T-Mobile’s community forum today at around 6 PST. According to our buddies over at TmoNews and this screenshot they obtained, 1,000 quick-fingered Cliq users will be getting early access to a software update that the rest of the Cliq-bearing public won’t see until next week.

It’s not a massive update, so don’t get too excited — we’re not talking about a bumpgrade to Android 2.1 or anything. That said, the purported changes coming in this next are certainly welcome. Straight from the screenshot:

• Improved battery life
• Improved software performance (Improved homescreen, improved widget response, and a decrease in “Force close” error messages)
• New Manage Sim Card application
• Added support of .WMA and .WAV audio files
• Removes the imeem application

So how do you get it? Keep slammin’ that manual update button on your device a few minutes before 6, and be sure to keep an eye on T-Mobile’s forum for updates. Of course, you could also just wait until next week and let everyone else be the guinea pig.

[Via TmoNews]