Archive for 2010

Flash for iPhone 4, here and now? Only the ‘broken need apply.

Apple putting Adobe’s Flash on the iPhone – it’s now as likely as Burger King putting Big Mac sauce in their Whoppers.  Unless of course you are an industrious hacker with a fleeting regard for the welfare of your ultra-expensive telephone.  Thankfully the internet is such a vast place there’s bound to be at least one willing to take one for the team, and that one goes by the name Comex, the brains behind the JailbreakMe  and Spirit tools for iOS.

The process uses Frash, and apparently works with a jailbroken 3GS (at 3.2.1), iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone 4.  The process is relatively simple, involving some SSH to-ing and fro-ing with OpenSSH (found in the Cydia repos), and placing the package onto the handset using FTP.  After this Flash content appears as a Flash button, which when clicked launches Frash to run the Flash code.

Sounds relatively straightforward, especially if you already have a jailbroken device, but obviously all of this is done at your own risk.  Saying that though, this does look like the only way Adobe’s foremost web technology will ever grace iOS shores.

Check out the instructions here and accompanying video here from Redmond Pie

Posted by: Ian

HTC Desire HD rumour roundup

First confirmed in a Vodafone Germany stock system screen late July, HTC’s codenamed ‘Ace’ device has been building up a steady head of rumour, culminating in the recent leak of a rumoured prototype device (pictured here). You may be aware that James and Matt have been talking about the HTC Ace for several months but now we know that the new flagship handset will almost certainly be called the HTC Desire HD.

So, in a wheat/chaff sorting effort, let’s take a look at the whispers:

Real-time 3D from 2D promises Toshiba with new Cell Regza panels

Toshiba’s near mythical television, the Cell Regza is gaining a new string to its already impressive bow with 3D capability. However, this isn’t regular 3D capability, as the Cell Regza being the technological behemoth that it is, this is real-time 2D to 3D conversion that takes your common-or-garden 2D broadcasts and converts them on the fly by “recognising vectors of movement”.

This mind-expanding 3D comes courtesy of the processing power afforded by its PS3 cell processing power. But don’t worry, none of this is at the expense of the other features – it still has a massive 3TB hard disk space for acres of HD TV recording and it’s still capable of recording 8 different channels simultaneously. As you’d expect from Tosh’s highest-end kit, there is also a barrel full of image enhancing technologies, including “Block Noise Clear” that promises to deliver even clearer HD broadcasts. The Cell Regza line also uses a 9,000,000:1 LED backlit “mega” panel and is, despite all this technology, still only 2.9cm thin (although much of the real brains of the set are in the separate tuner box). Unfortunately there is no word on a firm date when UK eyes can expect to gaze on a 3D Cell-rendered Eastenders.

Posted by: Ian

Pioneer and ViaMichelin team up for NavGate

Upmarket audio manufacturer and erstwhile purveyor of lauded television sets Pioneer have announced a partnership with route planning service ViaMichelin. From the ViaMichelin service you can now export your route to your Pioneer NavGate GPS, joining other luminaries of the GPS world such as Garmin, Tom Tom and Navman. It’s a relatively simple process of searching the ViaMichelin for a destination and then exporting the details from the site to the NavGate’s SD card which shows up as a feed on the device in-car.

The NavGate software will add this function to your currently installed software via an update and Pioneer claim that the ViaMichelin feeds are available for all Europe.

Pioneer has helpfully provided a short video to explain the process.

Posted by: Ian

Sneaky Preview of iPod Touch 4?

A brazen or possibly foolish case manufacturer has maybe given the world it’s first glimpse at the expected 4th generation iPod Touch by sending this picture to a mac site.  Clearly sporting what appears to be a camera and flash, it lends further credence to rumours that Apple are pushing the iPod Touch as an all in one media player for those not quite needing (or affording) the iPhone 4. 

From the picture it appears the iPod is still maintaining the third generation’s rounded back, possibly forgoing the iPhone 4’s glass extravagances to keep costs down.  Beyond this however, nothing more is given away, and yes that iPod is still sporting the previous iteration of iOS.  The new devices are rumoured for a September refresh according to UK retailer John Lewis but as yet Apple confirm or deny nothing.

Posted by: Ian