Gadget & Technology News

This will be an exciting month for those waiting for a different solution to the iPhone, the Apple iPhone 3G is going to go on the market in the U.K. pay as you go, it is planned to be available on September 16th and the 8GB and the 16 GB iPhones will both be available.
It is set up so that customers of the pay as you go plan will have all the advantages that other iPhone users have with two exceptions. The pay as you go iPhones will not have visual voicemail and call merging available.
They will have unlimited 3G and Wi-Fi web browsing, this will last with these phones for 12 months. After the first 12 months the iPhone owners will have the choice to carry the plan for an extra fee.
These pay as you go iPhones are planned to be sold in many locations making it easy for anyone in the U.K. to find the phones. Makers of the iPhone are excited about these pay as you go phones being available to consumers that might not get a cell phone without this advantage of 3G and Wi-Fi along with their phone.

Cell phone traffickers have found a new way to make money. They have found that by purchasing the cheap prepaid phones and tweaking the software, the phones can be used to make calls on any network. After they are unlocked, the phones are then sold all over the world.

 These phones are bought in retail stores all over in California, Georgia, New York and many other states. Dozens of people have been hired to be runners for the traffickers. They go into the retail stores and buy up the prepaid phones at a cheap price. The phones are then hacked into and resold at $40 to $60 over the original price.  Hacking into the phones and reconfiguring the software is not illegal. This does pose a problem for the cell phone companies however, who are losing revenue by not selling additional minutes. The phones are sold in retail stores sometimes at a loss for the phone company, because they count on making up for it in the new additional minutes they would be selling for the same phone. This is how the prepaid cell phone company makes its profit. More related technology articles may be found at Merlins News Blog Trac Fone Wireless, along with other makers of these phones are suing the cell phone traffickers in federal courts all around the U.S. Trac Fone and other companies such as Virgin Mobile and AT&T, contend that Federal Law protects their copyrighted software and trademarks.  However, there is a company called Incomtel that feels it is perfectly legal to unlock these phones so they work on any cellular system. They have filed suit against Tac Fone, arguing that Trac Fone buys their phones from Nokia and Motorola. Nokia and Motorola use their own software. They contend that Trac Fone has no right to lock the software so others cannot use them and anyone should be able to purchase these phones for use on any network.

The program filled with appliances that has been known in the past as Adobe Apollo and now known as Adobe Air. This software can be used on line and offline giving the user more options and is made in a format for use with Windows and Mac computers.

   Some of the appliances that are included in Adobe Air are things like Ajax, which is a application that can be used in building some of the exciting websites that are seen today and can be used on the desktop or as a browser based rich Internet application.

   There is also flex applications that can be used in building web browser based rich Internet and desktop, along with flash applications all in one program, along with other features.

   The Adobe site has development centers for all three of these applications that are included in the Adobe Air software that will help with tips, tricks and education of what this program can do to aid in building both web based and offline desktop. The help and tips can have any user of this software using it with all of its features in little time and the use of Adobe Air can enhance any project…

Photoshop Express In 2008 Meanwhile, in Adobe Photoshop related news, it has been announced by Adobe Systems that Photoshop Express will be in the Beta version this year.

   According to the statements made at the 6 sight digital imaging conference by the senior vice president of Adobe Creative Solutions John Loiacono , they intend to have this Beta version ready by late 2008.

   Sometime next year this program will appear as an online service to everyone, he went on to show this new Photoshop Express at the conference. He also explained that when this new program becomes available online it is planned to be available through partners including Shutterfly or Photobucket for users.

   Photoshop Express will not be a full Photoshop program, with that said it will be a program that is easier for users that are inexperienced in the use of Photoshop. Features that will be in this program are the ability to remove red eye, erase and correct spots and blemishes on photos, crop and change color tones.

   There will also be some menu options for quick fixes, included in these will be along with red eye and cropping, rotating, sharpening, and auto correct. There is a tuning feature that includes balance, highlights, fill light and other applications. There is also a feature that colors can be completely changed.

According to statements made during a recent event the program that was originally named Apollo and now is referred to as Adobe Air, announced by Adobe Systems that it will come in a platform later this year for use with Linux. CEO Kevin Lynch released this information at the companies Engage Event that took place in San Francisco of what this programs next platform will be after more testing. The company is excited to bring Adobe Air into other formats according to the statements of Lynch.

   This program that is a runtime and enables rich Internet applications is at this time a windows only based program. According to the statements made by Lynch they are seeking Linux users to test the Linux version that is in an alpha format prior to placing it on the market. Along with this they are striving to have Air on mobile devices in the near future.

  A question asked during this statement as to if the time will come when this program and its applications will be found on iPhones Lynch referred it over to Apple, however the goal is to Air everywhere was the stated slogan by CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Possible Malicious Air Code

 The Adobe announced the Web 2.0 development tool, an integrated Runtime or Air, which in the past was Apollo and with this it brought some concerns by security experts.

 This comes from the remote attacks that were associated with Firefox vulnerabilities, much of the concern lies with the local access by the Air applications.

   Adobe’s reply to this is that they have implemented a sandbox background, however there is evidence that there is less security with this and that could give some developers a false sense of security when using this program.

   One of the features of these program applications is that the have to be digitally signed as this can be done by anyone it leaves users vulnerable in the situation that they are apt to run un-trusted applications. Without heed to the warnings, leaving them susceptible to remote attackers.

   To explore and educate users in security when using these applications Adobe has links to several articles, however for users to protect them selves and to be aware of this situation they need to know the articles are there for them to read, understand and educate themselves against remote attackers. Ignoring this information can leave these vulnerabilities open for anyone using these applications.

One of the items that is sure to make its appearance at the Mac show that begins today is a product that Griffin has manufactured, this is called the PowerDock, and for iPod owners that have more than one iPod in the house and iPhones this will make life easy. This new Griffin product is a docking station to charge four iPods or iPods and iPhones at one time. There will also be a two slot docking station that will be released also at a later time this Spring or early Summer. Both of these new products are likely to make their appearance at the Mac Show.

   Griffin has said that the plan to have the four units docking station on the market for consumers in April and will cost $70. Griffins other docking station that is able to charge two iPods in June and will cost $50 on the market for consumers.

    At this time the only function of this product is to charge four units at one time, which is exciting to families who would like a central docking station. However, this is a product that in time is assumed will have features added to it making it more desirable.

Today the Mac show begins and the speculation on many of the national news shows have their experts appearing and giving their opinions what is in store for this show, what new items will be shown and all seem to agree that the talk that has been going on may come to light.One of the things they all seem to agree on is that there is a great possibility that it will be announced that Apple and iTunes will be making movies available for downloading to ipods.

   How this will work has also be discussed, movies will be available on iTunes but also there will be a feature added to DVD’s on the menu that will give information including a code to enable iPod owners to go to iTunes to download the movie to their iPod. In recent months this has been rumored around the Internet, along with it being said that Apple was in talks with some of the Hollywood movie companies to agree upon a deal for these movie downloads.

  Now according to all the tech and gadget experts on the television news shows this is one of the things that will be announced at the Mac Show that begins today, January 15, 2008.

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! The gadgets that you have purchased this holiday season might be even more frustrating than seeing television re-runs. That is since individuals often do not read the manual for more technologically complicated gadgets, thinking that they may be able to set them up with no outside assistance. Apparently, many of us will be lowered to clicking randon buttons on our new toys this holiday season, and this could end up causing them to break. A blog article states, “…..people resort to clicking random buttons rather than turn to an expert. This can often do more damage than good.” And in a research study from YouGov, fully one fourth of us are already resigned to spending between thirty minutes and 5 hours simply setting our technology up on December 25.
Oh, what a dilemma! Tim Fairs of The TechGuys offered some help for those struggling to get their gadgets in working. order:”Most electrical products these days come with a simple quick-start guide that describes the half a dozen or so simple steps needed to get the device up and running quickly.

“We strongly advise customers not to discard this sheet with the wrapping paper. The next most important advice is to pay very careful attention to the order in which things need to be done,” he went on to state.
Sounds like good information to me.

Are you attempting to Trying decide what to get someone for Christmas? Can’t decide between a Blackberry or an Iphone? If your budget is under $150, you have soome good choices, according to new York Post writer/journalist Maxine Shen.
How about an iPod Nano? the diminutive, steel-colored Nano holds some one thousand tunes, plus it even plays video. These features really make it a more attractive gift thn the Shuffle, which is only about eight bucks yet only has the capacity for 240 tunes.
So whether the recipient wants to listen to U2, the Rolling Stones or 50-Cent they are good to go.
Another cool gift could be the one hundred and twenty dollar Philips 7-in. Susan G. Komen Portable DVD player. This is a nifty idea for a broad range of people. In addition, Philips has donated a lot of money to breast cancer research thru the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.
For about eight bucks you can get a G-Tech Smart-Fabric Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard. This gift could also appeal to a very wide range of folks since
just about everybody uses a computer these days. This full, laptop-sized, QWERTY keyboard rolls up so that it is pocket-size and works with the majority of Bluetooth-enabled devices.
Another cool gadget gift idea is the Mimobot Designer USB flash drive. With these you can easily jazz up your data with awesome Mac and Windows-compatible limited-edition drives,
which happen to hold one to four gigabytes worth of files, designed by artists such as Mori Chack (of Gloomy Bear fame) and Sket One. In addition to this, there is a radical “Halo”-themed version plus
 a “Star Wars” collection. pretty nifty stuff to be sure.