Lenovo adds Sprint 3G, 4G support across ThinkPad line

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/25/lenovo-adds-sprint-3g-4g-support-across-thinkpad-line/

Lenovo's ThinkPads are already all available with 3G support, but the company has just announced a deal with Sprint that will not only add another 3G option, but 4G (as in WiMAX) support as well. That will be available across Lenovo's entire line of ThinkPads and, like other mobile broadband options, will come in the form a SIM card pre-installed in the device. You'll also be able to use Lenovo's Access Connection tool to manage both 3G and 4G connections, which Lenovo claims is the only such tool that can do so.

Lenovo adds Sprint 3G, 4G support across ThinkPad line originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone SMS database hacked in 20 seconds, news at 11

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/25/iphone-sms-database-hacked-in-20-seconds-news-at-11/

It's a story tailor-made for the fear-mongering subset of news media. This week, a pair of gentlemen lured an unsuspecting virgin iPhone to a malicious website and -- with no other input from the user -- stole the phone's entire database of sent, received and even deleted text messages in under 20 seconds, boasting that they could easily lift personal contacts, emails and your naughty, naughty photos as well. Thankfully for us level-headed souls, those gentlemen were Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf-Philipp Weinmann, security researchers performing for the 2010 Pwn2Own hacking contest, and their $15,000 first prize ensures that the winning formula will go to Apple (and only Apple) for further study. Last year, smartphones emerged from Pwn2Own unscathed even as their desktop counterparts took a beating, but this makes the third year in a row that Safari's gotten its host machines pwned. That said, there's no need for fear -- just a healthy reminder that the Apple logo doesn't give you free license to click links in those oh-so-tempting "beta-test the new iPad!" emails.

iPhone SMS database hacked in 20 seconds, news at 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Printable Nanocircuits Promise to Make RFID Tags More Ubiquitous Than Bar Codes

Source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/cheap-plastic-rfid-tags-promise-replace-bar-codes

The product would also be the first to use printed nanotube transistors

Bar codes in the supermarket might face extinction sooner rather than later, if radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags can cost just a penny apiece, rather than the dime or more they currently run. Now South Korean researchers say they have the technology to print RFID circuits on plastic film, courtesy of nanotube-containing inks, Technology Review reports.

A version of the RFID tags slated to hit the market later this year would be the first product to use printed transistors based on carbon nanotubes. Printing means the application of different layers of antenna coils, nanotube inks, and capacitors and diodes.

The researchers at Sunchon National University in South Korea successfully printed out the plastic RFID tags using common industrial methods such as roll-to-roll printing, ink-jet printing, and silicone rubber-stamping.

These processes churn out tags for just three cents per piece, but the group ultimately hopes to pass the one-cent milestone by figuring out how to lay down all the nanotube ink layers in one go during the roll-to-roll printing. Many RFID tags today cost anywhere from 7 cents to 15 cents, if not more.

But some hurdles remain before you'll see these newer tags at checkout lines. The current prototypes are three times the size of a typical barcode, and can only store one bit of information -- just enough to either give a yes or no response to an RFID reader. Such tags also only work with readers up to 10 centimeters away, because of their weak power signals.

That should change with the 64-bit tag set to come out next year, and then ultimately a 96-bit tag, a real barcode-killer.

Even the pricier RFID tags today have already found use in EZPass highway tolls and as anti-counterfeiting devices.

[via Technology Review]

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Ultra vague accelerometer patent filed in 2006 seems to cover every touchphone on the market, granted last week

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/24/ultra-vague-accelerometer-patent-filed-in-2006-seems-to-cover-ev/

We're going to try and avoid the hysterics: patents are a complicated business, and the fact that they're business usually means that in the worst case scenario, an appropriate amount of money can make problems like this go away -- nobody's going to take our phones away from us. Still, in what we have to chalk up to regular United States Patent and Trademark Office hijinks, or perhaps just a very forward-looking innovator, Durham Logistics (some secretive LLC based in Vegas) has been granted the patent to pretty much any use of an accelerometer in any computing device ever. Its "Method and apparatus for controlling a computer system" describes basically any use of a motion detection sensor in changing the state or implementing functionality in a device, which would obviously apply to most every smartphone on the market, along with a good number of laptops that use accelerometers as free fall sensors to know when to park the hard drive. The patent was applied for back in 2006, and is based on earlier patents from 2004 and 2001 to give it some extra cred (Apple's own motion control patents, for instance, weren't filed until late 2007). Still, it's rather general, vague, and obvious, and all the examples given seem to be about scrolling, selecting icons, and swiping through pages (not popular uses from accelerometers currently) so time will tell if it will hold up in court if Durham decides to go after any one of the multi-billion dollar companies that are currently "infringing."

Ultra vague accelerometer patent filed in 2006 seems to cover every touchphone on the market, granted last week originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Instapaper for iPad Will Sell a Lot of iPads [IPad Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5500629/instapaper-for-ipad-will-sell-a-lot-of-ipads

If you like saving long, interesting articles you find during your internet travels for later, you probably already use Instapaper on your iPhone or Kindle. But boy does it look beautiful on the iPad.

For the uninitiated, Instapaper is a service that allows you to save articles on the internet for later. You put a little "Read Later" bookmarklet in your browser toolbar, and when you click it the article is beamed to your account for reading later on your device or in your browser, stripped of clutter and reduced to the plan text.

Instapaper developer Marco Arment decided to aim to have Instapaper all iPad-ready by day one (or as close to day one as possible), so he's already showing off how it'll look. And while it's a pretty straightforward adjustment of the iPhone app, it just looks right on the iPad. This sort of app is exactly what tablets were made for.

If you've got Instapaper Pro on the iPhone already, you'll get it on the iPad for free, too. Not too shabby. Be sure to check out the Instapaper Blog for more details on the app and the iPad development process, if you're interested in that sort of thing. [Instapaper Blog via Nick Bilton]

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