SoBeTECH

Apple Iphone 3G: Alleged 3G iPhone Looks Like Le Fake, Le Merde

Some frogsters* with no track record are claiming that this piece of scratched plastic—which in the photo looks like a cheapo LG cellphone clone wannabe—is the new iPhone 3G. Although it matches the rumored all-black and specs, we don’t believe it’s the real thing. The reason: these photos have been up since 12:04AM Central European Time and it’s now 4:04PM. That’s 16 hours up with no Cease and Desist order—and Apple Europe is as aggressive with leaks as Cupertino. In any case, check its back and tell us what you think after the jump.

Whatever it is, the back looks as bad as the front (including the deformed Apple logo), at least in these photos. We have a hard time imagining that anything like this could come out of Monssieur Jonathan Ive’s brain. Or better said, we have a hard time envisioning us buying what looks like a soulless piece of machinery, even while the true soul of the iPhone is its operating system.

We will see if we get a cease and desist email—now that Cupertino is waking up—but for now, remember our first rule of rumors: never, ever trust them.

(Via Engadget.)

Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch soon to have a whole lotta shakin’ goin on“
SiiTE Interactive, a New York-based creative marketing agency, said it’s developing a range of iPhone [and iPod touch] applications for clients and just for experimentation. One is for a yogurt chain interested in SiiTE’s idea for mobile coupons,” David Needle reports for InternetNews.com.

“The concept is that iPhone user will be able to mix a virtual smoothie, picking, say vanilla yogurt, strawberries and other ingredients on the screen. Once the ingredients are selected, the consumer can literally shake the iPhone to ‘blend’ up the drink they want (software written for the iPhone’s accelerometer lets the device respond appropriately to the shaking),” Needle reports. “Then the consumer can go to the yogurt shop any time with their iPhone and have an on-screen bar code scanned to receive the discount.”

“‘It can be a channel to keep you connected to the company,’ Alan Ruthazer, CEO of SiiTE Interactive, told InternetNews.com,” Needle reports. “‘It’s a fun thing to show off to your friends and we think it can be an effective form of viral marketing.’”

A few other ideas being cooked up by SiiTE for the iPhone include an ‘Origami-gram,’ an illuminator for rock concerts and a virtual juice squeezer.Full article here.

(Via MacDailyNews.)

ZipHolder - A Simple Solution To An Age Old Problem

By Andrew Liszewski

I guess when I think about it, the problem of your fly accidentally coming open really only dates back to the invention of the zipper. But even if it’s not an ‘age old’ problem, it’s still a problem, particularly if it’s ever happened to you. So this simple solution created by Lisa Sjövall seems so obvious that you have to wonder why it hasn’t been thought of or even incorporated into pants already. (At least I haven’t seen it before.) The ZipHolder is basically an elastic loop that fastens to the pull tag on your zipper. When it’s done up, the loop is placed around the button on your fly which prevents the zipper from accidentally coming open. In fact it’s so simple there’s really nothing else to say about it, so to fill out this post here’s a collection of euphemisms for your fly being open.

- Your zip code is invalid.
- Your pod bay door is open, Hal.
- You’re flying low.
- I thought you were crazy; now I see you’re nuts.
- Paging Mr. Johnson…
- You need to bring your tray table to the upright and locked position.

You can get the ZipHolder from SmartaSaker for about $6.40.

[ ZipHolder ] VIA [ Smart Stuff ]

(Via OhGizmo!.)

Eeeeew! Study shows some computer keyboards are far dirtier than a toilet seat.

In a study just published by Britain’s Which? Computing magazine, alarming levels of dangerous bacteria and other gross-out biological matter was found on many computer keyboards. A microbiologist examined and measured bacteria levels on 33 keyboards in a office, and one was found to be five times dirtier than the office toilet seat, carrying 150 times the acceptable limit of bacteria. Two others had ‘warning’ levels of bacteria, and a further two had elevated levels of coliform, which is usually associated with fecal matter.

Eating at your desk along with poor personal hygiene are primarily responsible for these problems, so it might make sense to invest in some kind of cleaning device. Some have also said that you can actually wash a standard keyboard in your dishwasher as long as you remove it before it melts in the dry cycle, but don’t take my word for it.

Guardian.co.uk

(Via DVICE.)

Apple iMac (24-inch, 2.8GHz) Desktop reviews - CNET Reviews
The good: A minor specification update results in some significant performance gains; graphics upgrade an option on this 24-inch model; sleek, polished design didn’t receive an update, but we won’t start clamoring for a new design until the current one is at least 12 months old.

The bad: Free phone support runs out after 90 days.

The bottom line: A slight bump to the specifications for the same price in addition to a much appreciated option to upgrade the graphics means the 24-inch iMac keeps the Editors’ Choice it earned last year when the brushed-aluminum-and-glass design was first introduced.

Specs: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (2.8 GHz); RAM installed: 2 GB DDR II SDRAM; Hard drive: 320 GB Standard  See full specs >>

Price range: $1,721.15 - $1,798.99

Interesting article about Google from MacNewsWorld:

The Real Threat to Google
Google’s biggest threat may not be Microsoft or Yahoo. No, one of the most formidable challenges facing Google is likely sitting in your pocket or purse. It’s your cell phone, and it will put added pressure on Google and other Internet companies to revamp the way they handle online marketing. As more people use cell phones and their tiny glass screens to gain access to the Internet, Google and its fellow online advertisers will have less space, or what’s called “ad inventory,” to place marketing messages for customers.”

(Via MacNewsWorld.)

Times
Times is a new type of newsreader for Mac OS X Leopard. By rethinking the way you read news, we’ve created the best possible news experience straight from the ground up.
Instead of treating news like email (as most RSS readers do), Times presents you with headlines and photos from a variety of sources all in one place, letting you more easily discover the news you want to read. Like your own personal newspaper, you can put feeds into separate areas, create pages for different subjects, and more”
$30…Get a Demo and more info HERE

Google releases Visigami, open source image browser

The guys over at the Google Mac blog have dropped a new little open source application called Visigami, which serves as a more “interesting” and “fun” way to browse and play around with images online. Basically, after installing the app, you can then pull in pics from Picasa, Google Images, or Flickr (iPhoto is just a suggestion so far), and then search, animate, zoom in or out on them, and even turn them right into a screensaver.

It’s a pretty neat little application — not exactly the kind of thing that anyone has probably been hoping for (it seems more fun than utilitarian), but if you find yourself often browsing photos online, this definitely seems like a more fun way to do it. And it’s one more reason to praise all the great developers working on our platform — it’s little apps like this that make the Mac user experience so much better.

(Via (TUAW).)

Microsoft/Yahoo: No Deal Today, Markets Look For Announcement Early Monday

Talks between Microsoft and Yahoo continue as the market closes and the business week comes to an end. Every signal is that the two sides are close to finalizing a deal, somewhere between $33 and $37/share.

Microsoft has signaled that they’ll go as high as $33 this week. The alternate board members, who must be notified before any announcement of Microsoft going officially hostile, have not been contacted by Microsoft, sources say.

The market agrees, with Yahoo stock up as much as 11% today. Yahoo closed at $28.68, up about 7% for the day.

Analysts we spoke to today, emphasizing that they have no inside information, say they expect a deal to be wrapped up over the weekend and announced on Monday. Look for a cash/stock mix in the $35 range, announced before the market opens, possibly with a conference call pre-market as well.

The main reason Microsoft has changed strategies seems to be the overt willingness of Yahoo to do a search outsourcing deal with Google in the event Microsoft walks away or goes hostile. The threat is very real, and some experts say that regulatory approval of such a deal would not be as difficult as some have speculated.

See our interview with Citi Analyst Mark Mahaney from earlier this week.

(Via TechCrunch.)

R2-D2 - Ultimate Digital Audio and Video Projector (VIDEO)

This amazing remote control Artoo unit is a complete entertainment system featuring a projector, cd/dvd player, ipod/mp3 dock, stereo sound system, multimedia card reader, USB slots and more. He can even be remote controlled to maneuver around your home. Very cool.

(Via Green Head.)