Innergie mCube Slim universal power adapter

Power supplies are the bane of the regular business traveler. They're all different, heavy and if you have a few electronic items in your kit, they clutter your baggage and eat heavily into your increasingly stringently-policed baggage allowance. Innergie showed a new addition to its range of mCube universal adapters at IFA today which goes a long way to overcoming all these problems.

The mCube slim weighs just 150g, is smaller than an iPhone, can charge two devices simultaneously, fits all common notebooks and will charge almost every other portable device.

The mCube Slim was one of two premiers from the company at IFA. It can charge two units simultaneously: notebook, mobile phone, satnav, iPhone/iPod, PSP, digital cameras and more. The mCube Slim is also suitable and approved for use on flights. Its intelligent switching technology makes it simple to use and completely reliable. The range includes all connections for current notebooks, along with a practical carrying case.

The other premier was the Innergie Magic Cable which eliminates the need to carry around several cables for multiple devices. In addition to a retractable 3-in-1 USB charging cable with foldout mini and micro USB connection options, it has a connection for the iPad, iPod and iPhone, and also synchronizes data for portable devices.

The great Angry Birds for iPhone updated.

Fans of Angry Birds for iPhone have something to cheer about this Monday.

Not sure what Angry Birds is?  Here’s a primer on THE best game on the iPhone/iPod Touch:

“The survival of the Angry Birds is at stake. Dish out revenge on the green pigs who stole the Birds’ eggs. Use the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles.

Angry Birds features hours of gameplay, challenging physics-based castle demolition, and lots of replay value. Each of the 63 levels requires logic, skill, and brute force to crush the enemy.”

63 levels is a bit of a misnomer, as today the app has been updated with new levels and so much more!

What will you find in version 1.4.1?

• 15, new, reconstructed, levels.
• A new Golden Egg.
• A slough of new achievements.
• And more!

Rush to your iPhone/iPod Touch now and update Angry Birds, and if you don’t yet have Angry Birds, get it here.  It will be the best $.99 cents you spend all day.

iPad USB in-car charger

Japanese gadget giant Thanko has joined the likes of the offering a dual USB in car charger that lets you juice your mobile devices while on the go. Selling for US$19.99, iLuv charger certainly fills a need. Thanko's iPad compatible unit fills a need as well, at a significantly lower price point: 680 yen or about $8.

 Like the iLuv, it has two USB ports to connect with. So while parents sitting up front charge a mobile phone or iPod, children in the back might use it to power their Nintendo DS or Sony PSP on long road trips.

 The Thanko DC 12-24V socket adaptor measures 1.3 x 1.3 x 2.4 inches in size (or 32 x 32 x 60mm), weighs in at 0.8 ounces (or 23g).

 Thanko is marketing this "Cigar Socket adaptor" as an "iPhone/iPad" compatible charger. If you look closely at the front face of the adaptor, you can see that the first USB port is labeled "For iPad" while the second is marked "others".

Like most products from Thanko this will not be immediately available for sale overseas, but it's not unlikely that specialty websites like ThinkGeek.com or GeekStuff4U.com might carry it eventually.

Scosche also has a USB charger for iPad at $24.99.

Thanko via Impress.

semi-reluctant iPhone buyer

Last Thursday I got a (very) early birthday present—an iPhone 4. Before you say “So what.” or “Wow, did you wait in line overnight!?!”, I want to say that about a year and a half ago I wouldn’t have thought I’d have or want an iPhone.  So these are the confessions of a semi-reluctant iPhone buyer.

 

I switched from a “regular” cell phone to a Blackberry 7130e about five years ago. Oh it was glorious and amazing. I could get email everywhere. I could tether it to my laptop and have Internet access whenever I needed it (WiFi everywhere was still a dream back then remember). I got used to the slim keyboard style (the kind that is still used on the Pearl), but the EVDO speeds were pretty amazing for the time. A couple years ago I had grown weary of the 7130 and its wee keyboard (you think your iPhone makes strange word guesses, try smart type sometime), so I switched to a Curve. This was all just before the iPhone was released in Canada. I was with Telus at the time (and still am in fact) and with a year left on my contract, there was no way to swing canceling my Telus contract, switching to Rogers, and buying a new phone. Just wasn’t going to happen. Also I didn’t think that the iPhone at the time was that great an email device (this is what I used my Blackberry for a lot). While I thought the iPhone was (and is) a revolutionary device, I didn’t think it was for me. At least not yet.

Another year passes and Telus is offering the iPhone, by this time I wanted one. My girlfriend (now wife) had a iPhone 3G and I found that browsing and just using the thing was great. Use my Blackberry for checking out websites? Yeah, I’d rather not thank you. Oh and the apps. The apps on the iPhone were so much cooler than my Blackberry. Yeah, I tried the Storm, and what a terrible phone that it was. I never tried the Storm 2 or the Torch, but all things point to RIM just not being able to get the whole touch thing down. Well since I was only a year into my contract with Telus I wasn’t eligible to get an iPhone at the promo pricing. I tried. I really tried. Still I am, at heart, frugal so I couldn’t justify getting a new phone “just because it was cool”.

Then the iPhone 4 comes out.

Wow, now that’s an amazing device. I’d had my iPad for several months by then and had finallyqualified for the promotional pricing. My wife knew I wanted an iPhone very badly by this point, so she and my mother-in-law planned to give one to me for my birthday (which is in November, btw) and that I should just get one sooner rather than later. groked the whole iOS thing. Everything made sense and worked. Oh and the apps … the apps were just as glorious as I had hoped. After checking if I could switch to my wife’s Fido plan and save us some money (nope, no more family plans there) checked Telus and (be still my heart) I

So I did.

So, what happened? How did I go from “nope, my Blackberry is awesome and I don’t think I’d like an iPhone” to “I really want an iPhone and I know it will be a great device for me”? It’s all in the use case. First, I don’t talk on the phone very much. I email, I text, I check maps, talking not so much. In fact when I do have to talk on the phone I prefer to use my Bluetooth headset. While email on the Blackberry might still be better than on the iPhone , the more used an iPhone, the more I liked it. Looking at the smaller, cramped screen on my Blackberry was just painful after using the real browser on the iPhone. The thing is, it’s not that I was sucked in by Apple per se, but the larger form factor, the touch screen, the resolution of the screen, and the entire UI. I had tried the Sony Ericsson X10 mini and the only think I didn’t like about it was the size. It was just too small. If I had been sent the larger Xperia, then I probably would have loved it. So it isn’t iOS, it’s how the device works. It’s how fast and easily I can do something.

So, yes, I poo-pooed the iPhone at first. So I thought that, while it was going to change everything from the moment it came out (it did), that the device wasn’t quite there yet (I still maintain that it wasn’t). So, I eventually changed my mind and realized that an iPhone was more than hype, even if it might not be the best phone in the world, and got one. So what that all the computers and phones (plus iPad) in my house are Apple devices. I guess it turns out that I just like the way they work, look, and get things done.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have more apps to download for my new phone

resource http://thenextweb.com/

TwitWebSurf for iPad bird

TwitWebSurf for iPad is a scrollable, multi-paged web browser, with added Twitter functionality.

Love It: Can view 5 web pages simply by scrolling and keep up with Twitter feed as well.

Hate It: Can only use one Twitter account at a time, and icons sometimes failed to work.

Overall: 3/5

The Details:

TwitWebSurf for iPad (free) is a multi-paged web browser with capabilities optimized for the official Twitter site.

Through the app you can swipe between 5 web pages, with your bookmarks imported from those you’ve bookmarked through Google Bookmarks.

Once the app is launched, you’ll notice the following icons on the bottom of the screen:

• TimeLine You Follow – New Tweets automatically update.
• @Mentions to You – See them as they happen.
• Your Own Tweets – All of your Tweets collected in a single place
• A List You Follow – Also automatically updated
• Retweets – Retweets of your tweets, automatically updated
• Favorites
• Direct messages – Automatically updated
• Google – Surf to any WebSite, and Tweet about it! Page Title and goo.gl shortened URL automatically copy to the embedded Tweet panel

Additionally, the app provides:

• Full functionality provided by the official Twitter site, no API bugs, inconsistencies or limitations.
• Multi-Touch experience of Safari Browser, including Pinch Zoom in/out, Copy and Paste, etc.
• Tweet anytime from the application’s embedded Tweet pane
• Quote of original message automatically copies to Tweet panel along with shortened URL of the Tweet when you Reply
• Webpage title automatically copies to Tweet panel along with shortened URL of the site when you Tweet a WebSite
• Realtime Tab-Bar Notification (with Sound) for New @Mentions and Direct Messages
• Easily switch between StandardMode and MobileMode of the Twitter site
• No server-side process by the application. Your log-in information is strictly handled by only the Twitter Website and the build-in Safari browser cookie

TwitWebSurf, bad name, even worse opening screen (it frightened me), is a nice app for web browsing and Twitter management.  One warning, it can be buggy, but for a free, multi-paged, web browsing alternative with added Twitter functionality, it is worth trying and won’t cost you a dime.

Mobile payments on the iPhone with Intuit partnership.

Mobile payment systems are quite popular right now.

 Square, Inc., the mobile payment service founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, aims for a mass rollout of its much mobile payment product by the end of Summer.  Visa and Bank of America are rolling out a mobile payment system based on Visa payWave technology and using a system called In2Pay, starting in New York this September.

Now Mophie is entering the fray.

According to a statement on Mophie’s site, Mophie is partnering with Intuit on what they are calling, “Complete Credit Card Solution for iPhone.”

Mophie, known for their battery extending options, is combining its resources with Intuit, “a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals,” on a mobile payment solution for iPhone owners.

According to the statement, the system “integrates Intuit’s GoPayment credit card processing app and quick-to-activate merchant account with the mophie marketplace credit card reader. This package is now available in Apple Retail Stores and soon on Apple.com”

How does it work?

• A user can apply for the service from the GoPayment App, online or by calling Intuit right from their iPhone.
• iPhone owners will then add a clip-on mophie marketplace card reader to their device.
• Merchants securely swipe the credit cards instead of entering numbers by hand.
• After swiping the card, data is immediately encrypted using Intuit’s industry-standard security methods.
• Customers authorize the payment by signing their name on the iPhone touch screen. The merchant can then send them an e-mail or text receipt.
• GoPayment processes the credit card within seconds and funds are deposited into the businesses’ bank account.

An additional option lets businesses integrate GoPayment with QuickBooks Mac to easily and quickly match the right customer and invoice in QuickBooks.

The service is priced as follows:

• The Complete Credit Card Solution from Intuit and Mophie is available for the iPhone 3G and 3GS for $179.95 at Apple Retail Stores and soon on Apple.com.
• GoPayment, including the Intuit merchant account, offers competitive pricing at $12.95 a month, a 1.7 to 3.7 percent discount rate and $0.30 to $0.34 per transaction fee. There are no long-term contracts, cancellation, gateway or set-up fees, and one account can enable up to 50 users.

Compare that to Square, priced at 2.75% + $.15 if a credit card is present, and 3.5% + $.15 when a card is keyed into the Square app, with no setup fees or other additional fees required.

Should Square be concerned?  Not at this point.  Square’s card reader is compatible with any iPhone 3G/3GS, and iPhone 4, while Mophie’s option is a case designed for only iPhone 3G/3GS at this point.  That said, the added QuickBooks functionality and instant availability of the product makes it stiff competition for Square, especially for mid to large companies looking for an all-in-one payment management system.

What do you think?  In the mobile payment sphere who currently holds the stronger position, Mophie/Intuit or Square?

iPhone and iPod Touch launched Netflix

Fans of Netflix with an iPhone and/or iPod Touch, the time has come.  As promised at the unveiling of iPhone 4 in June, Netflix has lauched their app for the  iPhone and iPod Touch.   Get the free app here.

Netflix has been available on the iPad since its launch, and is one of my favorite apps as an iPad owner.  The iPhone and iPod Touch version is equally as grand, albeit on a smaller screen.

The app features:

• Streaming TV shows and movies
• Watch as often as you want
• Resume watching where you left off on your TV or computer
• Browse movies and manage your instant Queue right from your device

The Netflix app allows iOS device owners to stream video directly from Netflix. Users must have a Netflix subscription which starts at $8.99/month. From my early use, the Netflix iPhone app appears to stream TV shows and movies over WiFi and 3G.

Are you a Netflix user?  Have you tried the Netflix app yet?  Thoughts?

Team Will Not Offer iOS 4.0.2

We have received many emails from iPhone owners who had inadvertently updated their beloved devices to the latest iOS 4.0.2 firmware (the firmware released solely to patch the PDF jailbreak exploit) only to find they lost their jailbreak status and had no way of getting it back.

To those people, we bring bad news.

The iPhone Dev Team, in their latest blog post, have decided not to take on Apple in an epic game of jailbreaking cat and mouse. Instead of working on an exploit that would allow users to jailbreak devices running iOS 4.0.2, the team will be looking forward to iOS 4.1, a firmware currently in its final beta stages.

In their own words:

If the cat & mouse game escalates too quickly, especially during beta FW periods, nobody but Apple benefits. For this reason, there won’t be a 4.0.2/3.2.2 jailbreak specifically during the period where 4.0.2/3.2.2 is the latest public release. At best, some future 4.1x FW jailbreak *may* be compatible with 4.0.2/3.2.2 (but don’t count on that).

For those running iOS 4.0.2 on your iPhone3G or iPod Touch 2G, you will still be able to jailbreak your devices using the Rednsn0w tool.

iPad Developer Sees 50% Piracy Rate On Gaming App

For every success story on the App Store, there is a developer that is starting to notice the impact of privacy on their application sales.

As piracy of apps on smartphone devices running both Android and iOS continues to rise, with the Android Market piracy prevention system having recently been circumvented and tools available on the Cydia repository that allow users to download paid apps for free.

It now appears that iPads apps are starting to see a dramatic rise in piracy, with one developer noticing piracy rates as high as 50% on his gaming app. Qwiboo founder Vladimir Roth took to Twitter to demonstrate how piracy affected his game Aqua Globs HD, noticing that the number of people registering a score on the game’s OpenFeint leaderboards was double the amount of people that had actually purchased the game.

Roth compared his iPad figures to those on his iPhone app, the piracy rate on the smartphone was no higher than 5%, a drastic difference between the two Apple platforms.

Pocketgamer interviewed Roth and quizzed him on why he thought the numbers were so different, even though the game is available on the same marketplace. He feels is that because iPad games have been priced higher by developers, customers are not willing to pay twice for an upscaled version of the same app they already have. Roth also feels that because anti-piracy measures can potentially disrupt paying customers, it is not worth adding such restrictions when it could affect your loyal userbase.

We feel that the because the number of iPhones and iPod Touches are so high, there are only a small percentage of users that jailbreak their handsets, allowing them to download the pirated apps. A piracy rate of around 5% would indicate this.

However, many iPad owners will already be Apple customers, possessing an iPhone previously. The percentage of jailbreakers will likely be higher due to the lower volume of devices sold and the existing knowledge of the jailbreaking process.

We would love to hear from some App Store developers who have both iPhone and iPad versions of their games. If you would like to share you experiences of app piracy, drop us a line in the comments.

Fring for iPhone now blocked from Skype.....

Well that didn’t take long. You might remember a story from last week where we talked about Fring for iPhone updating to include video calling over Skype. It seems Skype was none-too-happy about the ordeal, and had now blocked Fring, while threatening to sue over a breach of the Skype ToS.

In a statement to TechCrunch, a Skype spokesperson has eluded to the idea that this is not the first time that Fring has come under fire from Skype. In fact, we’re told that Skype has been considering actions against Fring for over a year.

Apparently the entire ordeal has to do with a huge jump in traffic only a few hours after the release of the latest version of Fring. In answer to the spike, Fring had to cut back on the amount of calls that could go through the service.

The press release, from Fring, throws some strong words toward Skype, as well:

“We are disappointed that Skype, who once championed the cause of openness, is now attempting to muzzle competition, even to the detriment of its own users” said Avi Shechter, fring’s Co-Founder and CEO “We apologize to our users for the impact of Skype’s bullying and we will be happy to reconnect with Skype once Skype reverses their decision.” Avi continued, “We believe in communication openness and know that users will continue to vote with their mobile phones – opting for fring’s innovation, clarity, honesty and openness”.

Update: Not to be outdone, Skype’s Robert Miller has just posted a response to the situation as well. The claims, primarily, state that Fring’s actions were damaging to the Skype brand. However, Miller also makes it very clear that the move was on Fring’s part, and not from Skype.

Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn’t designed to be used – and in a way which is in breach of Skype’s API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. We’ve been talking with Fring for some time to try to resolve this amicably.

We actively encourage developers to build products that work with Skype, acting, of course in accordance with our various API licences. At the same time, Skype will rigorously protect our brand and reputation, and those developers that do not comply with our terms will be subject to legal enforcement.