The new labels for different versions of HDMI cables.
(Credit: HDMI Licensing)If you've caught yourself scratching your head trying to figure out what type of HDMI cable to buy, you're probably not alone. With so many versions, it's hard to know which does what. However, very soon, you won't have that trouble anymore.
In an effort to make it easier for customers to identify the right products for their needs, HDMI Licensing released Thursday, on behalf of the HDMI Founders, an updated version of the HDMI Adopted Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines. HDMI Licensing is the agent responsible for licensing the high-definition multimedia interface specification.
The most notable changes in the guidelines are significant restrictions on the use of version numbers and new marketing requirements for cables. These new requirements are designed to simplify the product selection process for consumers, enabling them to purchase an appropriate product based on features, instead of having to do research on what each version does.
According to the new guidelines, adopters will no longer be allowed to use HDMI specification version numbers in the labeling, packaging, or promotion of their HDMI-compliant products. These restrictions go into effect immediately for cable products. Noncable products, however, have until January 1, 2012, to fully comply.
The new guidelines designate all HDMI cable products into five types:
... Read more
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Screenshot by Bonnie Cha/CNET)
As most Palm Pre owners (and anyone who bought the Palm Pixi, which went on sale Sunday) found out this weekend, WebOS 1.3.1 is now available for download.
The latest version of Palm's WebOS brings new features, such as the integration of Yahoo contacts, calendar, and instant messaging into Palm Synergy; text message forwarding; custom ring tone support; and support for Google Apps and Yahoo Small Business Domain e-mail accounts. In addition, WebOS 1.3.1 offers several of bug fixes, all of which you can find on Palm's Web site.
However, there seems to be some hidden treasures of WebOS 1.3.1. Precentral.net has listed some of the undocumented features that its users have found as well as changes to general performance. Some of the highlights include:
- Snappier response from the photo app
- Delete all option in the Trash e-mail folder
- International dialing preferences
- Signs that video recording capabilities are in the works
There are a handful more discoveries over at Precentral. But what about you? Have you found any goodies? Let us know or just tell us about your general experience with WebOS 1.3.1 by leaving a comment.
Rhapsody forces my hand
(Credit: Jasmine France/CNET)The retirement of the 1GB Shuffle wasn't the only thing that flew under the radar amid all the Apple-created chaos Wednesday: the company also rather quietly lowered the price of the OS 3.1 software update for iPod Touch owners.
Those who follow MP3 Insider know that I railed against the $10 price tag and refused to purchase the refresh. Unfortunately, I was forced to back down while trying to test the new Rhapsody app, which requires OS 3.1. Imagine my surprise when the price at check-out was a mere $4.95--still not ideal (that would be free), but much more reasonable.
According to Gizmodo, the price cut is a result of so few iPod Touch owners upgrading the software. Um, no kidding, Apple...because it was an absurd price point for those of us who already spent plenty of dough picking up the Touch to begin with. Better late than never, I guess.
If you're one of the millions of iPhone users who've jailbroken their iPhones or iPod Touches--the desktop hacking trick that allows you to use non-Apple approved apps, access the iPhone's file system, and other tweaks--you'll want to hold off on the latest software update (3.1) that Apple announced Wednesday. Updating your iPhone or iPod Touch will break your jailbreak, meaning any services and apps you've installed via Cydia will be gone, as well as Cydia itself.
The Dev Team is working on a new app to jailbreak the current version, but no word yet from them on an expected launch date. That being said, the Dev Team traditionally has had a jailbreak method out within a few weeks of a software update.
Since none of the features of 3.1 is stand out "I have to have it now!" (OMG! Bulgarian keyboard!) you're better off downloading it for now via iTunes so you'll have it handy when the jailbreak software is out, which we'll tell you about here, naturally.
Yelp shows me what's outside my window.
(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET)The hot trend of 2009 has to be augmented reality, particularly with all the impressive tech demos and futuristic games currently in development across the world.
On the iPhone in particular, several companies have promised Twittering, search, and other navigation using layers of real-time data overlaid onto live video from the iPhone's camera. Imagine a heads-up display on reality itself, and that's what augmented reality is promising.
Apple has been onboard with these developments, promising that the upcoming OS 3.1 will provide full compatibility for AR apps. But it turns out we don't need to wait after all. In addition to French and British AR map programs hitting the App Store early, a much better and cooler solution has been lurking under our eyes the whole time.
Called "Monocle," it's an Easter egg within Yelp. As in, Yelp 3.0, the one that's currently available on the App Store. When I first read a tweet about it, I was disbelieving. But all you have to do is shake your phone three times like in some fairy tale to trigger the Monocle button, which suddenly appears on the top of the screen.
Launching it brings up honest-to-goodness overlaid restaurant and bar information that moves as you move, aided by the iPhone 3GS's built-in compass. It resembles the demos seen by the Layar browser.
That compass is key for AR apps to work properly, because it senses direction. GPS alone won't cut it, which means you'd better have a 3GS to pull this off. Give it a try, though, and let us know if your 3G will work on it. And don't forget to update the Yelp app before shaking.
Will we use this? Maybe not so much, but we sure will enjoy showing it off.
(Via Fast Company)
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Apple, Inc.)
Two weeks after iPhone OS 3.0's initial release, Apple posted new, beta 2 versions of the iPhone OS 3.1 firmware and the iPhone SDK 3.1 for developers. The OS 3.1 is available for all versions of the iPod Touch and the iPhone, while the SDK 3.1 is available in versions that are compatible with Leopard and Snow Leopard.
Without seeing the update, we don't know which changes the beta brings, but we're hoping it contains bug fixes for problems we've covered here and here.
If you've seen and used this new update, please tell us about your experiences with it in the comments.
Updated at 7:28 p.m. PDT: to reflect updated information about the iPhone OS 3.1 beta 2 release.
Gizmodo reports that the new SDK will allow developers to connect their iPhones to a Mac running Xcode over Wi-Fi using Instruments for debugging. They point out this is useful whenever the dock connector needs to be used for another reason (Tethering? Development and testing of Tom Tom like hardware add-ons?).
TUAW reports that the tethering and MMS hacks we all enjoyed on iPhone OS 3.0 and 3.1 beta 1 no longer work under beta 2.
You will be missed.
My friends often show concern about being obsolete when I tell them to stay with Windows XP and skip Windows Vista entirely. Little do they know, a lot of people are still actually using Windows 3.x. And for those, I have some bad news.
According to BBC, Microsoft finally decided to stop selling licenses of Windows 3.x, starting this month.
The third major release of Windows first came out in May 1990 with a few minor releases in the early 1990s. It was Microsoft's first big success with operating systems that have graphical user interfaces.
Windows 3.x is actually just a software application that runs in MS-DOS environment. However, thanks to its rich graphics and the ability to multitask, it completely changed the way people interact with computers.
Microsoft stopped its support for Windows 3.x at the end of 2001 but left it as an embedded operating system until now.
I personally have a lot of good memories of Windows 3.11 on my 386 computer and really enjoyed its ability to display 256 colors on a 1,024x768 screen resolution.
While this is rather sad news, considering that it is a 16-bit operating system that can address just a little more than 640KB of RAM and is definitely not secure enough for the Internet, it's probably time for you to upgrade.
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