Friday, October 03, 2008

iPhone-Backgrounder Hack Brings True Background Multitasking to iPhone Apps [IPhone]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/409520818/iphone+backgrounder-hack-brings-true-background-multitasking-to-iphone-apps

iPhone-Backgrounder (available for jailbroken iPhones via Cydia) brings another much-desired functionality that Apple's not allowing for legit apps—the ability to run in the background. After installing the extension, simply hold down the home button on the app you want to preserve, and it will keep running until you tell it to stop with another home button press. Looks like those jailbreak folks aren't done innovating just yet...

Like copy and paste, the only way to bring system-level functions to the iPhone remains via jailbroken software. If you have the "BigBoss & Planet-iPhones" source loaded, iPhone-Backgrounder should show up as a default install option. Our tipster says he's got Pandora playing while receiving background IMs while syncing at the same time (crazy!). He reports some bugginess with duped IMs and the like, but on the whole it's working as expected. [iPhone-Backgrounder - Thanks Horn!]


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Use Our 150-Inch TV Photos to Make Me Look Like a Real Cool Dude [Photoshop Contest]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/409538682/use-our-150+inch-tv-photos-to-make-me-look-like-a-real-cool-dude

For this week's Photoshop Contest, I want you to use our photos of me playing with the 150-inch TV as a source (as found in Mahoney's awesome FAQ, my essay on the TV and these photos of me playing games on it). Then I want you to make me look awesome. This was a suggestion from reader WB (that's his work you see above), and it's good, but I want to make sure you understand me here: don't make me look like a jackass. Put me in cool places, like on the moon or in the Playboy mansion. Don't embarrass me guys. Guys? Please? Dammit, Chen, I can't believe you're making me do this.

If you must, submit your entries to contests@gizmodo.com with the subject line of "Adam is Awesome!" and no other subject line than that! Make your photos JPGs or PNGs or, if you must, GIFs. Send them in by Tuesday morning and I'll make a gallery of the best ones.

And remember that I'm a human being with feelings, you jerks!


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Apple Patent Adds QuickLook Capabilities to Mouse Pointer? [Patents]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/409564500/apple-patent-adds-quicklook-capabilities-to-mouse-pointer

QuickLook for instant-previewing files with the spacebar is my favorite feature of OS X 10.5 hands down. Encouraging news, then, is this Apple patent dug up by Apple Insider which could add QuickLook to the cursor, enabling system-wide quick peaks or contextual choices for everything in the OS.

The patent sounds like it's basically bringing Aperture's monocle view for viewing full-res areas of photos instantly (which is also amazingly useful) to the OS as a whole—hovering over an icon could spring a bubble with four app choices to open that file, or provide other info on what you're looking at.

Apple also seems like they're trying to patent those horrific Snap previews you find on fine blogs everywhere—that blow out a preview version of the webpage being linked to when you hover. That one we can do without. [Apple Insider]


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Dell Inspiron Mini 9, Now Running OS X Leopard [Hacks]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/409669115/dell-inspiron-mini-9-now-running-os-x-leopard

The first time a mini-notebook is loaded with OS X, like any right of passage, it's a major event. And now the Inspiron Mini 9 has become a man, or at least an honorary Apple fanboy. Loaded with a slipstreamed version of OSX in a manner similar to the MSI Wind, the wireless card, Ethernet and sound didn't work initially but were fixed after the download of a few additional files.

If you've got a Mini 9 you'd like to load OS X onto, hit up the link for, not quite step-by-step instructions, but probably enough to get the job done. [UneasySilence]


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2000 iPhone Incites Exact Same Reactions as 2008 iPhone [Retromodo]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/409669113/2000-iphone-incites-exact-same-reactions-as-2008-iphone

Thanks, Google, for putting up your 2001 search index because otherwise we wouldn't have found the true iPhone, a forgotten gem from the last century. Back then it wasn't made by Apple, but with its 56K Built-In Modem, high resolution display, QWERTY keyboard and 800-entry address book, it got a Best of CES award and provoked exactly the same reactions from haters and fanboys all over the world:

functional and inexpensive
by imagesbyamy, May 08 '00
Five star rating

Pros: easy to use, quick dial-up, cost efficient
Cons: not a cordless (woot!?)

think that at 1/3 the cost of a computer (bare minimum model), the iPhone is very functional. This product enables the non-technical person to access all information on the internet as well and send and receive e-mail, do online banking, and even...

Iphone= piece of cr*p
by diverdown , May 08 '00
One star rating

Pros: NONE
Cons: ALL

I know I have already written one review on this product, but I feel the need to vent some more.
The iphone is one of the worst technological items I have used.
I warn anyone interested in it to stay away.....far away.

Some things just don't change.

Here's a mini-review from a retro-Brian Lam at net4tv:

The iPhone is another information appliance that found its way to many members of the press and CES attendees. infoGear placed several of its second-generation iPhone units in the press rooms and the show's surrounding areas so that people can surf the web and check e-mail on the go while sampling the device. I was glad it was free to use, because at a hefty $399 I was not impressed by the 16 color grayscale display and the 7.4" touch screen. According to infoGear, the unit has been available since July 1999. The prior version shipped in January 1998. It has been through six software upgrades to date. We discovered that the unit's browser is Mozilla version 1.1-compatible. As a result, it does not support Java, JavaScript, RealAudio (or support for any audio on the web for that matter) and even background images on webpages! The e-mail application was plain-vanilla; it was unintuitive to set up and switch between separate e-mail accounts. The phone felt small for my hands as was the dialing pad. At the rear of the unit were two jacks for separate phone lines so that anyone can stay online while using the speakerphone or headset simultaneously. The iPhone was the only so-called webphone that was in full use at the show as there were no working alternatives from competitors.

And like the iPhone, it was available in black or white for $399. [Epinions and Lifetrends - Thanks jopari!]


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