Review Horizon

True to their word to bring Kindle platform to everything including your toaster, Amazon launched Kindle app for HP’s newest tablet toy, TouchPad. The application is free and matches 100% the functionality found on other platforms like Android and iPhone / iPad. That means Amazon bookstore, synchronization across platforms, etc. The basics are there as well, including portrait / landscape support, text size and font selection, search, etc.

If you want to get yours, it is free via HP App Catalog. I got mine, let’s see how it performs.

TouchPad Kindle App Review

I will start by declaring that I love reading, and my daily commute by train gives me ample opportunities to follow my passion. That being said, I tried a number of reading devices, mostly to write reviews. I started with Nook (not the Nook Color), bought Kindle 2 and 3, Nook Color which I root Read More…

When I saw this news, before reading CNN’s full press release I was really happy. I cut the cable cord long time ago relying on Netflix / Hulu Plus to provide me with entertainment, however I missed CNN. I thought – hey, they finally got smart and provide us with live streaming services – it is true, but, like ESPN or HBO Go, you’ll have to have a cable  /satellite subscription to access the new CNN/HLN live streams. The iPhone / iPad app update is already available in the Apple’s app store for free (screen shots after the break) , however in order to unlock the live streaming feature you’ll need to have a subscription to one of the following:

COX – Comcast – AT&T U-verse TV, Dish Network or Suddenlink. Verizon is mentioned in the press release but not available in the app.

Interestingly enough, Time Warner is not listed as supported providers for the CNN iOS app, presumably because they already have their own streaming app?

That being said, I do hope that, with more and more people cutting the cable cord, the big content providers will understand the need to stream their live feeds online in order to reach the growing crowd that choose to not pay a cable / satellite subscription.

Read More…

With no other purpose other than to close the recently discovered and hugely popular security hole used in the recently released jailbreakme.com 3.0 jailbreak, Apple just launched iOD 4.3.4. Unless you have some self esteem issues if you do not have the latest update, my advice is to stay away, even if you don’t intend to jailbreak right now. Also, always behind version wise, Verizon’s iPhones get version 4.2.9 with the same fix.

So again, the only purpose of Apple’s new iOS versions is to close the existing security hole that allows the current jailbreak. You have been warned!

In case you were living under a rock, the new Jailbreakme 3.0 is a userland jailbreaking method that for the first time worked on the iPad 2 devices (and everything else) running iOS 4.3.3.

Apple just released a new iBooks app version 1.3. Beside several bug fixes, the major new feature is read-aloud that works with certain children books in the iBookstore. The main difference from let’s say Kindle 3 is that read-aloud uses a real person to narrate the books and  some books will help your children read along by highlighting the words as they are spoken. The new feature closely resemble the interactive books available on the Nook Color since last year. Some books even have video clips and other interactive features integrated. The new 1.3 update also increases iBooks speed when very large books are opened.

Read-aloud is very simple to use and iBooks allow automatic page turning and volume control from inside the application.

via iTunes

This must be one of the quickest jailbreaks ever – and it comes again from our trusted Dev-Team. Its member musclenerd tweeted earlier in the day with the big announcement. Why so fast? Because the current jailbreak method is based on the popular limera1n vulnerability. The only problem is that this jailbreak is tethered, meaning you’ll have to re-apply it if you ever reboot your iOS based device. We are quite sure that an un-tethered method will follow, especially since there are still several month until the release iOS 5.0 will be publicly released. Meantime, we are still waiting for our iPad 2 jailbreak which Read More…

iPad 2 won’t ship until tomorrow (orders start only at 1:00AM Pacific Time, in Apple store at 5:00PM local time), but there are already a bunch of early reviews around the web from the big guys lucky enough to get their test units early. While everybody is in awe about the reduced thickness of the new Apple device – at only 0.34 inches – amazingly enough even slimmer that the already slim iPhone 4, the general opinion seems to be that the new iteration is more an evolutionary device rather than revolutionary.

Hardware:
Everything is faster and better, that much is sure. The weight is somewhat reduced from around 1.5 pounds to about 1.34 pounds (for Europeans, from 680g to 601g), the overall dimensions are reduced a bit to 9.5 by 7.3 inches (see the comparison table) and the processor in now dual core A5 instead of single core A4.
The memory doubles as well to 512MB from 256MB and there is a new graphic beast inside, around 9 times faster than the Read More…

Following the latest news from Barnes & Noble in which the giant book seller announced that Nook platform controls a quarter of the eBook market, the popular Nook Kids framework that proved very successful on Nook Color jumped the street (and the OS) to Apple iPad.

The application is completely free and allows access to over 12,000 children books supporting a number of interactive features including search, zoom, notes, multiple fonts, etc. Some eBooks take the degree of interaction even deeper with the help of AliveTouch technology which allow kids to interact with their picture books.

Like the initial  release on Nook Color, the iPad version of Nook Kids also comes with two free books to help you acquire the taste:  Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling and Fun Facts about Pets by Seymour Simon.

As we already mentioned, the application (and the initial two books) are free so there is no reason why you Read More…

iOS 4.2 just got seeded to the developers so it will soon be available for your iDevice. Among the most important features that iOS 4.2 will bring you can find the following:

• AirPrint – wireless printing, initially to some compatible HP printers
• Enhanced parental control for those of you who give iPhones to your children
• Like / Dislike capability for YouTube
• iPad gets multitasking, Game Center, Folders, threaded e-mails and advertisement support in applications
• closes the security hole that you could use to bypass iPhone’s lock screen from emergency call

Dev-Team – the group behind PwnageTool jailbreaking tool for iOS devices just released their latest version – PwnageTool 4.1 (available for now on MacOS X systems only) and beside iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices it can also jailbreak the new Apple TV (second generation).

The new jailbreaking tool is the untethered kind (only needs to be used once) and aloows your iOS device to be restored to a custom IPSW file.

The full list of devices that can currently be jailbroken by PwnageTool 4.1 is:

• Apple TV 2G
• iPad (firmware 3.2.2)
• iPod touch 4G
• iPod touch 3G
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 3G

Read more and download the latest softare from Dev-Team website.

Well, someone had to do it first, right? And it wasn’t Skype so it had to be Yahoo! Their latest Yahoo Messenger version 2.0 for iOS devices  is available for free in the Apple App Store and it allows free video conference over 3G using either of iPhone 4 two cameras (with instant switching). The new version also offers international calling from your iPhone via 3G networks. The video calls work both between two iPhones or between an iPhone and your PC. The quality is reasonable but the reliability is not where I would like it to be. Maybe version 2.0.1

Based on the initial reports, Yahoo Messenger 2.0 for iOS doesn’t work with the MAC client which wasn’t updated in quite a while, only with the more popular PC version. This version also supports background call and multi-tasking.

As today’s release proved, there is no technical impediment to have video over 3G and we can’t help but wonder why not yet a Skype or FaceTime version?