So now that Apple’s iOS 4 is officially out, it was just a matter of time until Dev Team guys will eventually jailbroken it and make this platform even more available for everyone out there, especially those with iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G devices, who generally seem to be left out in Cupertino’s cold (3GS phones are not compatible with this one). At your own risk, simply download redsn0w 0.9.5 beta and start the installation process right away. Once finished, you can finally begin unlocking your mobile handheld, for baseband between 04.26.08 and 05.13.04, using Ultrasn0w 0.9.3 from the Cydia store. Be careful there, eh? If you need more help, just follow these step-by-step instructions on twittown.com.

Update: PwnageTool 4.0 has just been released as well, so you can now jailbreak your iPhone 3GS devices, in case they have the old bootrom installed, along with previous models like iPhone 3G versions and 2nd gen iPod Touch players. Once again, careful there.

Well, there’s not really that much to say about it, so let’s make it plain and simple: Asus has officially launched an online App Store for netbooks, and as much as we were excited to hear that, there’s still a long way to go. We just wanted to give them as much notice as possible. Stay tuned!

Since its launch two months ago, Apple’s iPad sales has already reached over one million units (in the US alone), with users downloading over 12 million apps from the App Store and over 1.5 million ebooks from the new iBookstore. As of today, there are almost 200,000 apps available on iTunes for all Apple devices, while more than 10,000 apps of them were written or redesigned for the iPad platform itself. Steve Jobs says “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers…” – and he does, as Apple already announced its next stage of global roll out, which is allegedly slated to start on May 28. In this post, we have rounded up 11 great (free/cheap) iPad music apps that will let you feel like a pro DJ when using. You can scratch, create loops, remix your audio files, insert samples, play, produce and record your very own audio stuff on-the-go.  Check out each app, download it and you’ll be off and running with some great DJ tools in no time. Considering some of this apps can cost dozens, if not hundreds of dollars in desktop/laptops markets, paying a few bucks is a sound investment, in our humble opinion.

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Looks like it didn’t take long to turn Apple’s  i – devices jailbreak from a nice video demo into a real tangible hack which can be downloaded right away, no matter if you’re a PC user or a Mac. The untethered jailbreak works pretty well on iPhone, iPad WiFi, iPad 3G + WiFi, and iPod touch devices while jailbreak process is very quick (takes few seconds only), and should apply to activated iPhone/iPad OS devices running 3.1.2, 3.1.3, and 3.2 versions, without including the carrier unlock. Mind you, it’s still in beta mode, so make sure you have everything you need as a backup, before getting it installed. Download is available in here, but regretfully, not all Cydia apps will eventually work.

[Spirit Jailbreak]

It was just a matter of time before someone would eventually come up with a crazy first-impression shooting game for Zune HD players, and make it live for everyone to snag – especially now, when Microsoft’s iPod killer has been officially hacked and the OpenZDK toolkit that grants access to game developments, has finally become available. Now frankly, what good is a portable gaming console without the option to play Doom with it? The answer to this cardinal question is literally similar to a well known campaign slogan – Yes We Can! At least that’s what ZuneBoards forum member, Netrix, says and you can get the impression yourself in his video, right after the break. You see, It’s very simple to execute, as long as you run those Doom WAD gaming files through the app itself.

[via ZuneBoards]

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Well, well, what do we have in here…Looks like another episode of “It didn’t take long to jailbreak it” has been unofficially demoed by Apple’s fearless nemesis Geohot ans his counterpart fellows from @comex. See that Cydia app on that iPad device, implying a blackra1n jailbreak? No doubt, it happened, but still no downloadable version to ratify that (rest assure it won’t take long, though). Until then, please checkout the iPad-N64 console video after the break.

[Geohot]

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Well folks, looks like Redmond has just released the latest Zune HD firmware update v4.5 to the pond, which adds some cool features to your portable Microsoft multimedia players, including Smart DJ mix that will let you do exactly what Apple’s iTunes Genius does, personalized recommendations, TV Marketplace support, and more video codec support such as Xvid files and MPEG-4 part 2 format. Like always, plug your Zune HD player to the Zune PC software and get this latest update right away.

Update: Apparently, the Zune HD (and probably previous Zune players as well) just got hacked – for real! So now, you literally have access to Microsoft’s XNA game development platform, which means you can practically load inside everything you’ve ever dreamed about, including games, apps, fun emulators to play with and more. But that’s not all, because according to Zuneboards a group of hackers has just released what they call the OpenZDK toolkit that allegedly, lets you develop lots of stuff for the Zune through their software. In other words, get ready for a whole new range of games and apps withing this exciting sphere.

At last… The new iPad is here, it’s HERE! Steve Jobs calls it ‘magical’; Apple fans report they’re excited, the detractors between us claim it’s just a big iPod player, another wireless digital frame, a toy, a brick, a fancy tray, expensive mirror, babies’ surfboard or electronic sun cover – stop it, STOP IT!

Lets face it guys, If you’re a gamer, not a fake but a REAL gamer, the kind that can seat like 48 hours in front of the tele and burn those long and curvy high speed race tracks all the way to the victory, or feel that you’re the only true mighty fighter on earth that can easily save his planet while busting those mudda fucka ugly aliens that invaded from out of space a few hours ago – if you’re that guy/gal – then you should know. A strong and portable gaming machine, with built in accelerometer that can act as a steering wheel, a shooting gun or anything else that would literally lead your way to the top, in this case the iPad, can definitely be the ultimate machine.

And for portable gaming machine like that, one need games – fun, exciting, sports, or board, shooting or arcade it really doesn’t matter, as long as you can play FOREVE! Check out some of the free games on Apple App Store, available to download right away. But hurry up, because some of them are free for limited time only. Check them out, after the break.

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The latest and not so greatest iTunes, version 9.1, is now available to download either via Apple’s website or through the software itself, offering iPad syncing support that would probably become efficient for many of you starting this Saturday morning. Additionally, it now has the iBook support which organize and sync books you’ve downloaded from the iBook store to your iPad or your iTunes library, while the Genius Mixes add-on that Apple has pushed out couple months ago, now allows users to rename, rearrange, or remove audio mixes, if that’s your thing. The new version weighs 97.3MB, in case you wondered. Happy updates!

Feel you’re running out of patient to get your new lavish iPad device? Already searching for content to fill it with? In that case, prepare to spend big bucks on this track, because according to these Apple iPad App Store screenshots that recently emerged, they won’t come cheap. In fact, only 8 applications out of the leaked images are free, while others will cost from few greenish dollars and up to $49.99(!) when it comes to OmniGraffle – at least there’s more functionality there, and apparently those apps would likely fetch a lot more money for developers rather than iPhone’s apps. One more detailed image after the break, to serve your appetite.

Update1: Checkout the cool video after the break and watch the iPad App Store browsing experience for yourselves.

Update2: Now it’s official, iPad apps cost a lot more than iPhone and iPod touch apps. In fact, for some of them you’ll have to pay more than double in order to enjoy the experience of a larger screen – but that wouldn’t probably stop Apple’s fanboys from getting one – would it? According to the good guys at The Consumerist who dug up this issue thoroughly, the price differences between equivalent applications on both devices is ridiculously bigger when you come to get’em for your soon-to-be-available Apple tablet compared to the ones you’d get for the cellphone machine. How big, you’re asking? $4.99 Flight Control HD vs. $0.99 Flight Control or $2.99 Flick Fishing HD against $0.99 Flick Fishing, etc. Overall, you’d have to pay $53 for iPad apps compared to JUST $27 on an iPhone or iPod Touch for the same list exactly. Checkout the comparing table right after the break.

Update3: And looks like the iPad apps are finally live at the Apple app store [iTunes Link], with 1,000 of them, already available for download/purchase, and many others which are yet to come. Prepare to open your wallets, it ain’t gonna be cheap, you know.

[via App Annie]

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Mobile gaming is still in primeval stages – that’s unquestionable – but the foreseeable future is likely to be promising. In a rapidly growing market with over 20,000 iPhone and iPod Touch games available on Apple’s App Store, it’s not that hard guessing this is just a matter of time until portable games will start dominating our very own smartphones while overpowering desktop platforms. Especially now, when Cupertino teams up with more developing companies and Redmond that finally joins the party with Windows Phone 7 Series which suppose to integrate Xbox Live architecture in Microsoft’s coming machines. Still, it would probably take some time until substantial changes will eventually become real  – a year or two in our humble opinion. Anyway, ’till then, if you already play games on iPhones or iPod touch players, but  feel short in cash to start funding all those neat apps that show up in big numbers, every day and after, here’s a list of twenty one games, free of charge, for you to download. Please feel free to add your favorite “cost-nothing” apps, down in the commenting section.

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Only two days after turning the Buzz official within Gmail accounts, Google seems to roll out more tweaks and improvements, based on feedbacks and user requests, sent directly or to its help desk account. First and foremost, Google has closed security breach where people could actually see lists of friends and followers which automatically appeared on new Google Pages that people initially created to post their Buzz feeds. Those lists created based on interaction with people you email and chat with the most, could literally expose to the world details no one wanted to unveil. There for, from now on the first time you create a post or comment in Buzz, you will be asked to initiate a limited public profile with minimal info released outside. In addition, you can easily choose whether to turn on publicly the lists of people you follow or that follow you back and which of these species can appear publicly on your profile or not. Furthermore, Google adds the ability to block followers or unfollow them with a simple click of a button. Stay tuned.

Update1: Google says that since launched, tens of millions of people have checked Buzz out, creating over 9 million posts and comments, overwhelmingly added to the growing 200+ posts per minute, initiated from mobile phones around the world.

Update2: So you’re already involved with the Buzz, posting your stuff and following others, but you’re not exactly familiar with all those tricks and tweaks the service offers and wonder where you could have learned them all in a matter of minutes. For that reason specifically, we’ve added a Google Buzz cheat sheet where you can find all the keys and shortcuts that would make it easier for you to use the Buzz. Check it out after the break.

Update3: Google has wisely decided to remove the Buzz auto-follow model in which you automatically follow the people you email and chat with most, whenever initiate a new Google profile page. Instead of this auto-suggest model you will be taken into a welcome page, where you will be reviewing the people in your lists that you’re interested outing to the public and others, you prefer keeping them hidden (third image after the break). In addition, your Buzz will not connect with your Google Reader and Picasa shared items automatically, so your “Unlisted” albums or “Protected” reading sources won’t be revealed, unless you decide to. And last but not least, Google has confirmed it will soon add a Buzz tab to the Gmail account that would create a clear distinction between your day-to-day mailing content and your Googlr Buzz feeds (fourth image). Stay tuned.

[Google]

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Google officially released the Buzz. What is it, you’re asking? It’s Mountain View’s new platform that integrates into your Gmail account and turns it into a social community center (sort of), where you can share things like updates, photos, videos and a lot more with people you email and chat with the most. Additionally, the Buzz allows you to start interacting with those people and make in-mail conversations about anything you’d like in a simple and attractive way. The purpose, according to Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president for product management, is to simplify things and help people …”to find signal in the noise”. The target, in our humble opinion, is to launch a successful email product that would make people stick around all day long, and by that, create their own personal streaming platform that would eventually attract potential web users to follow their buzz and turn their voice even louder. Is it a war declaration against popular services like Twitter and Facebook? Time would tell. Google’s buzz  integrates with existing social networks and people can easily add their Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, Yahoo or Facebook accounts, and even Google Reader feeds, into the Buzz while creating  a new social networking interface/aggregator that would gather both mailing usage and media streaming in one accessible place. So, direct war? not sure, but challenging Facebook’s social media domination? definitely yes.

Basically, no special setup is needed and Gmail users should expect seeing the Buzz in their mail accounts immediately, or later on this week, as Google rolls out its new platform across the web, at these very moments . Once receiving it you will automatically start seeing lists of people, who you have emailed on Gmail, added to your Buzz. At that point you can start sharing with them whatever you want, including pictures, messages, videos, articles, news feeds and more, either publicly or in private. It’s a dual direction platform, so in that case you will see their updates as well, but also a few “Recommended Buzz” from friends of your friends, adjusted to your personal feedback.

As for mobile phones, Google also announced mobile integration for Buzz with dedicated apps and maps and an updated homepage you can log into at google.com/buzz. Buzz for mobile makes your sharing a lot easier than expected, it ” brings location to the forefront and makes it easy to have conversations about places”. To start, just type buzz.google.com in your mobile browser address line and begin posting buzz from your phone. You can tag your location or use the suggested tag if correct and later on, search all the public buzz created by your friends or nearby strangers around you in any given location you’ve personally tagged. This way you get yourself a personal location and recommendation platform, based on people’s most basic and common opinions, carried by their smartphones. As mentioned, you can use Google Maps and create public buzz directly from the layer, and attach photos into it from your mobile phone. You can create Textual Buzz shortcuts which appear as a small conversation bubble that everyone can see and read, or go even cooler by creating Voice Buzz shortcuts which let you post buzz without typing a word – Neat! Hit the break to watch the videos.

Update1: Looks like Google Maps 4.0 with Buzz support now available in the Android Market for those who own Android-based smartphones like G1, Droid or Nexus One. Feel free to download it right away and share the Buzz with your friends!

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Have you heard the joke that claims you can turn your iPhone into an iPad once looking at the screen from close range? Well, you don’t really need to, that of course in case you have jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch machines at your disposal. But even if you don’t, just think about it, the idea of carrying at the back of your pocket a mobile device that packs iPad capabilities like 3D interface, iBook reader, neat photo display or other cool functions sounds pretty cool, isn’t it? If so, maybe you’d like try it yourself, after all, getting it is as simple as taking your favorite vanilla cookie out of the jar, just get into Cydia app store and look for the “Simple iPad Theme”, exactly as shown in the video, step-by-step, right after the break.

[via PMPtoday]

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So Google has finally launched the most anticipated Nexus One, and if you happen to live in one of the following 4 countries – the US, UK, Singapore or Hong Kong – you can get it right away from Google’s website, priced at $529.99 without a contract or merely $179 including a T-Mobile two year plan (in the US). Other people will have to wait at least until Spring 2010, when it believes that Google will be adding more countries to its smartphone lineup. The phone itself is an HTC brand, coming with a 3.7-inch 800×480 AMOLED display, which regretfully doesn’t support multi-touch at the moment, although Google says it’s not an hardware issue but a software tweak and it’d consider adding screen gestures capabilities in the future. Besides that, you get a fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor,paired with a 5 megapixels camera including an integrated LED flash that can shoot MPEG-4 video and have it uploaded directly to Youtube. Additionally, this 11.5mm thick device has a built-in compass, GPS, WiFi, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, a multicolored LED under the trackball, an accelerometer for landscape view and two mics, positioned on front, for complete noise cancellation. It runs all common frequencies and compatible with HSDPA 7.2Mbps, UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900), HSUPA 2Mbps and of course, GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz). The 1400mAH battery inside is claimed to provide 5 hours of 3G browsing and 7 hours of 3G talk time, while storage wise, you receive only 512MB of internal flash along with a 4GB micro SD card, expandable up to 32GB. See the full specs here.

Moving forward with the details, the Nexus One packs Google’s “latest greatest” Android 2.1 platform – also known as Eclair – which crams some nifty stuff inside, like the voice recognition feature that works throughout the entire UI and activates almost any feature in the phone. That way, you can use your voice to write SMS messages and notes (speech-to-text), or tell the Google Earth search engine where should it go. Other than that, Google has implemented a Cooliris technology into the Nexus One gallery app, so you get 3D visualization whenever looking at images in landscape mode. It has a lot of widgets to offer, such as weather and news RSS, and the smartphone’s homescreen customization is interactive and houses 5 panels to store your apps and shortcuts. Stay tuned. Video is right after the break.

Update1: And looks like Adobe is now jumping on Google’s bandwagon by demoing its Flash 10.1 beta on a Nexus One superphone. Check it out after the break.

Update2: Well, what do you know, the European version of Nexus One, apparently supports multitouch capabilities out-of-the-box, while US devices don’t. We’re not so sure why, but as someone suggested, the trigger for the abyssal differences might be the fact that Apple has a US Patent on multitouch which doesn’t apply on European countries. Maybe. Google says it’s carefully reviewing this issue at the moment.

Update3: Different from what has been reported, Google’s Nexus One seems to be incompatible with “n” draft wireless connectivityand official specs state it supports only 802.11b/g WiFi frequencies. We’ll have more about this soon.

Update4: You knew it had to happen sooner or later, did you? No? then get this – iFixit guys have taken Google’s Nexus One on a mission and disassembled it into small pieces of technology craft. See the results here and after the break.

Update5: We’ve added two more stunning videos right after the break, in which you can watch Nexus One’s manufacturing process with stress tests such as bending, slamming, dropping, and cracking, all over the place. A must see creation!

Update6: Turns out Google now has live person phone support in case your Nexus One has problems that need to be solved. It’s 888-48NEXUS (63987) and said to work from 07:00am to 10:00pm PST. Right now the line will handle only status and shipping issues while tech problems can find answer via Google’s support forums, FAQs pages, email support and HTC/ T-Mobile customer care departments.

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Tweet tweet, Zune HD finally gets a twitter app – now available for downloading via Marketplace, free of charge. Design wise it looks great, but once ending with registration process and firing up the application, this is where it start getting buggy and the UI performs a bit sluggish. Despite malfunctions, you can send tweets, follow your Twitter feed, view replies, search on Twitter, send direct messages and watch your favorites tab as long as you want – until it freezes up (no lists support at the moment).

Update1: Surprisingly, it forces you to be polite while using the app, otherwise your cursing tweets will snappily get trashed and brutally thrown out of the line. Stay tuned for more about that.

Update2: Microsoft has taken this Zune HD Twitter app censorship way too far from expected, and couple hours later, after setting the stage for turmoil, and getting knocked from every possible direction, it finally unleashed a statement, vowing to fix these chopped cuss words “issues” as soon as it finds a proper code line replacement. Here’s what Redmond had to say:

The recently released Twitter for Zune HD application has been abbreviating some explicit words in tweets when viewed on the device; however these explicit words do appear in their full text on the Twitter site or on any other Twitter client. We have identified the issue and are taking steps to update the application as soon as possible to ensure Twitter for Zune HD users are able to view tweets in their original state.

Update3: And one day later… Microsoft releases firmware update v1.1, which allows free Twitter expression, without any censorship or limitations. Bugs, lags and other malfunctions are yet to be fixed though.

[via Zune Insider; engadget]

So, Google has finally rolled out its highly expected Chrome OS, which was demoed live across the net by Mountain View’s engineers few hours ago, and practically suppose to go out somewhere towards next year’s holiday season. Regretfully, the system won’t be free and it seems you’ll have to buy it pre-installed on portable devices approved by Google, either it’s a netbook, tablet PCs, smartphones, MIDs, etc. The Chrome OS is said to include third-party applications, but won’t support, at this point, any Android materials. The system itself is based on Linux and the Chrome browser, both packed together to run on a web-based platform that will operate any outside content, coming from USB drives or other different sources. Basically, it’s a cloud system but that should not set you apart from it, unless you guys really afraid of taking new tech “adventures” and start new liabilities. Nevertheless, the operating system will run everything that was originally placed in the application panel – and we’re talking about features like Gmail, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Hulu, Google Talk and many more. Google Docs was also included in Google’s OS compatibility list, while drivers from other companies, such as Flash and Silverlight suppose to work as well (although Google wasn’t very clear about it and has chosen to say this: “We are working hard to integrate plugins closely”).

Hardware wise, details are scarce at the moment, and Google will not share those nitty gritty things until next year, but looking at the overall picture, Chrome OS will probably run in compatibility with both x86 and ARM processors, while regular hard-drives support seems to be excluded  – which means you’ll have to use SSDs instead. In general, booting time is set to load up in 7 seconds only, and login process will take 3 seconds more. That, in our opinion, should do best with any standard netbook available in the market, now and in the future (with SSD drives), and just in case you were wondering, Google itself was using an Eee PC machine to run the demo for the first time.

Update1: We’ve tossed some videos after the break, that will walk you through Google’s new system.

Update2: Looks like Google’s Chrome OS is now available free, in case you’re using a VMWare software on your desktop machine. The good part is that you don’t need to actually make it your primary bootable system at all, and by running any VirtualBox software, you can set any of your system folders to be used as a Chrome OS unit. If you think you’re qualified for using this pre Beta platform, you can download the image either from this torrent (we have no clue about this source background) or the build the guys at GDGT recently uploaded. TechCrunch team was all over it in passing hours as well, so you can read their step-by-step instructions in here, if you don’t feel safe to do it on your own.

Update3: Dell Mini 10V owners can now install the Chrome OS as their primary operating system, thanks to a Dell employee who’s managed to hack the USB-bootable edition via WiFi and make it available on Dell’s popular mini laptop, despite fussy restrictions from Mountain View’s direction. Truth is it’s not the perfect OS and in fact, many things are yet to be solved, but for early adopters who are willing to give it a try – it should probably be a great experience that’s worth a shot. Source code and explanations are now available on Direct2Dell’s page. Enjoy the Chrome.

Update4: Mac and Linux users can finally use the Google Chrome Beta-version browser with their computing machines – as Mountain View’s searching giant officially announces in its blog. And although we face a lot of crashes while trying, you don’t really want to skip this experience, especially when Google has recently launched the extensions, do you? Checkout the video we’ve added after the break (3rd one).

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Dev Team has done it again. iPhone 3.1 OS has been jailbroken for iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2 machines, in case you’re Mac users. Mind you, this new Pwnage 3.13 tool, the team has released, will not work with Phone/iPod Touch devices that came out-of-the-box with OS 3.1 or were upgraded via iTunes. In other words, you have to Pwnd them at 3.0 or 3.0.1 versions, before jumping to the latest one.

[DevTeam]

This is a guest post by Israeli blogger Yarin Hochman, who has apparently spent a significant amount of time testing every single iPhone app, ever released. In this post he shares his experiences with Snapture’s newly born PiP camera app. You can read more from Yarin on his Hebrew tech blog, TechVibe.

I don’t know about you but for me, one of the biggest pains with my iphone machine is the camera. Now, I haven’t upgraded to the 3GS version yet, I personally don’t see any substantial reason to, but still, even the iphone 3GS camera itself, is apparently provided with tiny lens, very basic features and low quality images, when it comes to comparison with average Nokia\Blackberry cameras.

Today, Snapture, which previously released a camera app for jailbroken iPhones, seems to turn “legit”, by introducing an official version that is now available on Apple’s formal app store, under Snapture app (1.99$), and has made me like it from first impression, but not without a few reservations attached.

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Dev Team has just released a Pwnage jailbreaking tool for iPhone 3.1 OS, used with Mac systems. Mind you, this new JB version can only work with Apple’s older machines and won’t support new ones, such as iPhone 3GS or iPod Touch second-gen. To get it down and start the process, move with cautious over the link below.

Because of changes with Apple’s update techniques this will be a multipart release, starting with the initial release of PwnageTool for Mac OS X – this application supports the iPhone 1st Generation (2G), The iPhone 3G and the iPod touch 1G. NB: THIS DOES NOT SUPPORT THE 3GS OR 2ND or 3RD GEN IPOD TOUCH. redsn0w for Mac OS X and Windows will follow sometime in the near future, please don’t bug us about it – we’ll release when we have something ready.

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[viaDev Team]