Sure you only use Linux and GPL. Sure you’re down with LAMP and know Perl. Why, then, did you buy an iPhone? As Nik at TCIT points out, the App Store is so enmeshed in DRM and shut source policies that you basically can’t give away your software without Apple’s permission. Apple has wrapped the iPhone […]

Sure you only use Linux and GPL. Sure you’re down with LAMP and know Perl. Why, then, did you purchase an iPhone? As Nik at TCIT points out, the App Store is so enmeshed in DRM and shut source policies that you basically cannot give away your software without Apple’s permission.

Apple has wrapped the iPhone SDK in enough licensing, security controls and right management that it would make the Microsoft Active Desktop team blush. The phone and platform that is certain to soon take second spot behind Symbian in the smart phone market is also the most restricted and closed. Applications can only be installed from a single source, iTunes, and open source applications and distribution is near impossible. How do you install an iPhone application without iTunes? Where are the community recommends arguing for a standard interface, openess and free code?

Now Apple is planning to offer special methods for creating and uploading apps to iPhones for educational and non-profit institutions but you still have to use iTunes to pop those files onto your phone. Nik posits that Apple might, some day, release all applications via the App Store, allowing Apple to become a “gatekeeper.” It will also kill our first-born sons and make them into beef jerky.

I for one welcome our glossy masters. Given the difficulty of downloading mobile applications in the past - multiple sites, odd billing systems, inability to browse big collections efficiently - the App Store is a godsend. Sure it runs through iTunes, but I’m willing to accept a tiny control for a streamlined and efficient method for app transmission.

Nik also discusses the openness of the kernel:

It should be very possible to attach a easy BSD license to code, and if a big company utilizes the effort from others in a way that’s unacceptable - the market should be able to sort that out, we simply wont buy it. The community needs to do more than just wear their support for openess and standards on their sleeves (and on their laptops). The problem with Apple is that the blind demand is driven by a distorted reality, so those same developers who poured thousands of hours into the BSD kernel now turn around and buy an iPhone running that code, but it is now tied up in DRM, licenses and restrictions placed there by others.

Now that’s a good point and one I’ll not refute.

Via [crunchgear]

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Sprint Nextel is talking with South Korean company SK Telecom about forming a partnership. The two companies would share information about mobile phones and other technology. Sprint and SK Telecom are also discussing the possibility of SK Telecom becoming a minority investor in Sprint. Last year, Sprint turned down a $5 billion offer from SK Telecom and Providence Equity Partners, which were interested in buying a minority stake of the American service provider.

Sprint’s chief executive Daniel Hesse seems to be using a strategy of forming partnerships with other entities in an attempt to boost his company’s slumping subscription rate. This spring Sprint entered into a high-speed wireless venture with Clearwire, Google, Intel, Comcast and Time Warner. Sprint is hoping this partnership will give it an edge over AT&T’s and Verizon’s high-speed service.

Ever since Sprint and Nextel merged, there have been troubles. The two networks had teething problems with equipment compatibility that frustrated many subscribers. There are many customer service horror stories which have caused subscribers to drop the service and scared new subscribers away from Sprint Nextel. Perhaps some high-tech partnerships will help the public forgive past troubles with the allure of new technology.

Via Mobilecrunch

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Lenovo’s 12.1-inch X200 is the newest and smallest member of the revamped X series. More than that, this thing is actually affordable, bringing some of the X300’s sweet form factor (0.8 inches of thinness) and power down to a reasonable price, starting at just $1199. It almost sounds too good to be true. Is it? Here are the first 5 takes from reviewers.

Laptop Mag
The Lenovo ThinkPad X200 is an excellent lightweight notebook for mobile professionals who demand the business essentials: security, durability, and lengthy battery life. Even though some may prefer an optical drive or a slightly more massive display, the power of the Centrino 2 platform combined with the usual ThinkPad excellence makes this one of the best ultraportables around.

Personal computer Mag
With wider dimensions, the ThinkPad keyboard we all come to love is more massive than the previous one, and the typing experience is nothing short of spectacular, trumping the ones on both the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ791N and the Toshiba R500 (SSD). For those who adore the pointing stick, the X200 carries one over from the X61.

Notebook Review
The amazing battery life capabilities and cool and quiet running performance are real highlights. Having so much power in a small package while still maintaining a cool and quiet computing experience further adds to the impressiveness there. The ThinkPad X200 is also durable enough to last a very long time even with the most abusive of owners, shoving the X200 in a tightly packed bag and then physically forcing it under seat 21A on the plane won’t cause this laptop harm.

Channel Web
What really grabbed our attention was the X200’s 9-cell battery life. Using the Test Center’s standard test, in which all power-saving options are turned off and video is run continuously off the hard drive until the battery dies, the X200 lasted for 4 hours and 16 minutes. That’s pushing the envelope in our testing environment, and puts it at or near the head of the class this year in battery life.

Notebooks.com
One minor thing that bugs me is Lenovo’s logo, which stands on its own and looks like an afterthought. Another negative is that the X200 only has a single speaker, which isn’t good for much except for system beeps. If you’re going to listen to tunes while you work on the X200 headphones are an absolute must.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Gameloft and Chuck Norris have partnered to produce Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain to your mobile phone. The August launch should bring some thumb-thumping, round-house kicking action that’ll drain your phone’s battery faster than Chuck Norris can take down a pizza delivery man.

In the game, Norris is fighting the forces of Communist dictators Fidel Castro and Kim Jong-iL. You can select to be Ranger Chuck or Commando Chuck as Norris hammers and sickles the Reds. Marxists aren’t the only ones who will feel Chuck’s wrath. The game has a destructible environment that lets Norris punch down houses and raze whole forests with his gun.

The game includes an avatar feature. A player can take a picture of someone’s face with their camera phone and insert that picture into the game. The picture will be placed on enemy bodies for Norris to pound. This is fun to do to friends and enemies alike.

Chuck Norris: Bring on the Pain promises to be full of humor. The game draws on the kind of one liner’s that can be found at ChuckNorrisFacts.com. So if you are a fan and have access to a mobile phone, show the world you can kill the bad guys with just two thumbs.

Gameloft

Via Mobilecrunch

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Adam gets funky showing off Parker Hannifin’s leading edge servo stage. It’s the smallest on the market this day!

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Marathon gaming sessions that go late into the night inevitably continue to play out after my head hits the pillow. My eyeballs that had been subjected to an onslaught of graphic eye-candy just can’t seem to stop seeing explosions, skateboards, or worse, huge non-stationary mushrooms. In a collision of worlds, now it seems, that if […]

Marathon gaming sessions that go late into the night inevitably continue to play out after my head hits the pillow. My eyeballs that had been subjected to an onslaught of graphic eye-candy just can’t seem to halt seeing explosions, skateboards, or worse, big non-stationary mushrooms. In a collision of worlds, now it seems, that if I wanted to I could further blur my reality by sticking these large graphics right on my walls.

I’m not sure waking up from tormented pixelated fantasies to find physical manifestations of my nightmares is such a good thing. While it is true I’ve thought about how cool it would be to actually be in a video game, I don’t think I want to go there just yet. But hey, now you can.

Via [crunchgear]

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Last summer the news was full of stories about people who unlocked their iPhones. So with the new iPhone not out even a week yet, the news cycle is repeating itself. The Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo is reporting that the firm DesbloqueioBR has won the race to be the first to unlock Apple’s latest version of the iPhone.

By altering the handset’s firmware and installing a special card add-on to the SIM chip, DesbloqueioBR claims that the iPhone can connect to any carrier. In most countries, only one service provider has the right to carry Apple’s brand. The initial price of the iPhone is subsidized by the service provider, which makes up for the loss through lengthy contracts and monthly charges. DesbloqueioBR plans to charge between 250 and 375 dollars to unlock an iPhone, an alteration that may cost service providers large money.

Other unlocks are sure to follow and so are the stories that cover them.

DesbloqueioBR

Via Mobilecrunch

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A few weeks ago, I stated that Opera Mobile 9.5 would roll out on July 15th. Well, Opera’s gone and made a liar out of me, but not by all that much - the release date has been pushed back 2 days to July 17th.

As anyone who has rotted away the last night before a release date knows well, setting concrete release dates on beta software tends to mean face palms and angry yelling once that date rolls by. Bugs happen, stress levels rocket - it all goes bananas, and the dates slip up a bit. Even if 95% of your audience forgives you, you can always count on that other 5% to tell you to die in a fire.

So, to that other 5%: Be cool. Go have some chamomile tea, play with some kittens, and come back in a day or two. Opera makes a solid product - a few more days to polish up 9.5 can only be good for the end user.

Via Mobilecrunch

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