Don’t you wish Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) would make a flip phone? An iPhone with a keypad and a flip form-factor. No? We thought not. But, for the 12 people out there that actually want an Apple clamshell phone, you’ll be glad to hear that some no-name Chinese phone maker has crafted a dumbphone that looks a lot like a mini MacBook, it even sports the backlit Apple logo. Make no mistake, though, the handset is as fake as they come – even with a name like the “Apple Q300 Ultra.”
The Apple Q300 Ultra and its glossy-white exterior can be yours for $70-$80. It doesn’t support any apps, it doesn’t even run a smartphone operating system, and it sports a 2.2-inch display. It will, however, get you some attention (don’t blame us for any ridicule you bring unto yourself).
Turkey Day is fast approaching, and you know what that means. Burned, dry and otherwise barely edible birds will be hitting American dinner tables in a few days’ time! Admit it, you’re secretly hoping you don’t make a mess of Thanksgiving by cooking the turkey too long. It’s okay, we feel your pain. That’s where TurkeyTimer for iPhone comes in. The new iPhone app keeps track of your turkey’s cooking progress, reminds you when it’s time to baste the bird, and even alerts you to take your sizable bird out of the oven. The TurkeyTimer app even adjusts cooking time to accommodate your taste for moister or dryer turkey. In other words, it does for your cooking skills what your mother never could.
TurkeyTimer takes into account your turkey’s weight and uses algorithms based on cookbook instructions to determine cooking time. The app tracks the brownness of the turkey, the approximate internal temperature (which will determine how moist your turkey turns out), how long it needs to cook, and even how long you have to wait before tearing into the oversized bird.
Grab TurkeyTimer from the iPhone AppStore for $2.99. We think the price is worth not having to face your family with a too-dry turkey… again.
Good news for those who have been following the rumors about the Samsung Omnia II i920: Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has set a pricetag and release date! Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface built on top of Windows Mobile 6.5, a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and dual-LED flash, GPS, and Wi-Fi all round out the Omnia II. Initially, we thought it would be launching with Windows Mobile 6.1, but it’s possible that originally-planned releasedates were pushed back to include 6.5. You can expect to pay $199.99 on contract after mail-in rebates to pick up the i920 from Verizon stores on December 2.
Ah, good ‘ol Black Friday is coming up at the end of this week… and frankly, I can’t wait. ‘The Shack’ was among the first to let their Black Friday plans be known, with the Motorola CLIQ on for $79. Not bad. Not great, but not bad if you’re wanting a CLIQ anyway…
Now it’s Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s turn to tease us with a little Apple Online Store promo action. I wonder what they could have in store for us on Black Friday? A free iPhone 3GS with Apple Tablet purchase, perhaps? (joking, but blarg, I wish it were true) At any rate, here’s what the latest teaser promo entails:
Come back to the Apple Online Store the day after Thanksgiving for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You’ll find dozens of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas — all with free shipping.
Mark your calendar now. And until then, start your research by browsing the Apple Online Store to find iPod, iPhone, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list.
Black Friday is the one magical time of the year the Apple Online Store actually has a ’sale’, so I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves this year. I’m actually kinda/sorta in need of a new MacBook Pro, so I’m going to be keeping my eyes open for the discount details.
Get your wallets, purses and helmets ready for this Friday. It’s going to be a good one.
Wearing a Bluetooth headset in public isn’t “cool.” Hell, in some circles, that simple act of geek-dom isn’t even acceptable. We’re certainly not hanging out in those circles (well, not anymore, anyway), but if we were, we’d be all over BrickHouse Security’s Invisible Bluetooth Headset. The tiny little Bluetooth headset is no bigger than a pencil eraser, so it’s just as good as invisible to those overly critical people you call friends.
The Invisible Bluetooth Headset crams a half-functional headset into a barely visible little earpiece that completely hides itself in your ear. You’ll need to use a separate neck-loop microphone and a little remote control if you want to hold a two-sided conversation. But, hey, at at least you won’t have to bear the ridicule that an over-the-ear headset tends to draw. The Invisible Bluetooth Headset even works with a covert SOS button that hides in your shoe.
We can see a couple problems with this tiny headset. The most obvious: it’s too easy to lose. The less obvious: there’s no visible headset, which might make you look crazy as you talk into thin air.
There are plenty of apps out there that allow you to control your computer from your smartphones, but what if you want to browse your Windows Phone from your desktop computer? Well, then you’ll want to check out WiFi Remote Access for Windows Mobile. The new Windows Mobile app installs itself on your Windows Phone and acts as a bridge between the phone and your computer, allowing you to connect to your handset via WiFi and browse its contents through a web browser (like the one you’re using to read this very sentence).
Remote Access is still in beta, but doesn’t skimp on features. You can view photos, complete with thumbnails. You can listen to the music you have stored on the phone. You can even edit your Windows Phone’s registry through the app.
There’s no desktop installation required. Simply install the Windows Mobile app on your smartphone and point your desktop computer’s browser to the handset’s IP address. It’s that simple.
Find more information on Remote Access here. Grab Remote Access here.
Quick, raise your hand if you sent an MMS from your iPhone this past week. Okay, how about this past month? If you’re not raising your hand, your either A) not following the rules of this game or B) just like the millions of Americans that just don’t send out MMS (picture messages) regularly from their iPhones. I fall into the latter category. Today’s release of FunMail might change all that.
FunMail for iPhone automatically analyzes your text message and serves up relevant images that you can embed into your message. The idea behind FunMail is to bring MMS out of the dark ages and allow people to use images for rich communication. Rather than send your friend a text message asking them if they want to eat, FunMail would have you send them the same text with overlaid on an image of a burger. You can even send that messages to Twitter and Facebook.
The trick to making picture-chats convenient is FunMail’s “Media Brain,” which pulls out the semantic meaning behind your text and gives the user a set of pictures that might fit the situation. If you’re talking about going to lunch, FunMail returns images of food. Talk about a birthday, and you get birthday-related images.
The app is free in the iPhone AppStore, so it won’t hurt to give it a shot. I personally can’t see myself using FunMail for everyday communication, but it’s definitely worth trying out at least once.
This one goes out to all of you out there in Woodland Hills. In a puzzlingly region-specific announcement, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless has announced that it has added a new cell site in Woodland Hills, California. Those of you living in the western San Fernando Valley will see improved 3G wireless coverage and performance on your Verizon handset.
Verizon’s press release also mentions that the carrier spent $600 million in infrastructure improvements in California during 2008. With all the back-and-forth between AT&T and Verizon these days, we can’t help but think that the $600 million figure is a jab at AT&T (NYSE: T). Although, we have to point out that Verizon is quoting numbers from a lifetime ago (which roughly equates to a year in the mobile world).
If you’re looking for a new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) smartphone with no strings attached, you might want to look in T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA’s direction. The carrier has announced their T-Mobile Complete program, which gives customers a choice of four no-contract BlackBerry smartphones to be used with T-Mobile’s pre-paid plans. The kicker? T-Mobile is including the first month of service for free with purchase of a T-Mobile Complete BlackBerry handset!
Of the four options, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 will run $299.99, while the BlackBerry Pearl goes for $149.99. T-Mobile is offering several unlimited pre-paid plans that start at $50 per month. At those prices, T-Mobile Complete BlackBerry handsets would work really well as holiday gifts. Think about it, just buy the pre-paid BlackBerry kit (which, again, includes first month of service for free), wrap it up, and you’re good to go.
You’ll find T-Mobile Complete at Walmart and Best Buy locations.
There are now more mobile apps available in the AppStore than any one person could ever hope to try out in a single lifetime. Add in the myriad Java apps out there, and the sheer volume of mobile apps becomes overwhelming. How is anyone supposed to wade through the much and find truly unique and innovative apps? Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone app “Top lists” clearly aren’t cutting it. Another possible solution is mplayit’s mobile app discovery engine.
At the Under The Radar conference today in Mountain View, CA., mplayit was showing off their Facebook-based mobile app discovery platform. The idea behind mplayit is to harness the power of crowd sourcing and Facebook’s massive social network to give users a quick way to find new mobile apps. A live “Apptivity Feed” integrates with Facebook to show you, in real-time, what apps other Facebook users have been checking out. The “Featured Apps” section monitors apps that are trending hot with Facebook users, while the “Shared” and “Popular” sections display apps that have been shared the most or downloaded the most, respectively.
Once you’ve stumbled upon an interesting app, mplayit serves up app descriptions, reviews, screenshots, and even videos of the app in action – if it’s a Java app, you can even demo it through mplayit’s emulator. You can even download the app, add it to your “collection,” and share the app through email and Facebook right from mplayit’s platform.
At this point, only iPhone and Java apps are supported, but Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) will be supported by year’s end. Windows Mobile and webOS will be coming in 2010. Check out the demo video below, and then hit up mplayit.com to see for yourself!
Turkey Day is fast approaching, and you know what that means. Burned, dry and otherwise barely edible birds will be hitting American dinner tables in a few days’ time! Admit it, you’re secretly hoping you don’t make a mess of Thanksgiving by cooking the turkey too long. It’s okay, we feel your pain. That’s where 
(joking, but blarg, I wish it were true) At any rate, here’s what the latest teaser promo entails:
This one goes out to all of you out there in Woodland Hills. In a puzzlingly region-specific announcement, Verizon (
There are now more mobile apps available in the AppStore than any one person could ever hope to try out in a single lifetime. Add in the myriad Java apps out there, and the sheer volume of mobile apps becomes overwhelming. How is anyone supposed to wade through the much and find truly unique and innovative apps? Apple (
