Motorola Droid 2 Coming Packaged With Android 2.2

The Motorola Droid 2 is on it's way and more and more information is being leaked about it. Today there are a pair of independent leaks confirming that the second coming of Motorola's QWERTY keyboard smartphone will be running Android 2.2 (Froyo) right out of the box. Droid Life has a tipster that has apparently spent some time with the device describing its keyboard as "phenomenal" and pointing out that it feels notably snappier than the original Droid. The Froyo connection was reiterated by Phandroid's sources, which provide images of Verizon's device database indicating once again that Android 2.2 and Droid 2 will be matched and paired for when the launch codes get entered.

The device is rumored to be released earlier than expected and rumor has it that it might be dropping on August 12 which is 11 days sooner than previously mentioned. How many of you Android fans are excited hearing all this news now? Let us know by dropping us a comment below! And, stay tuned for more news and info by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

GeoHot Ready To Release iPhone 4 Jailbreak?

A very curious post on Twitter is causing some people to believe that a jailbreak release is imminent from Geohot. The move would be quite surprising if made since recently Geohot's alleged and self-proclaimed "retirement" from the jailbreak community - a move where we saw Geohot cancels his Twitter account, set his blog to private, and assign good friend Mike Cohenn as his proxy, nothing all future messages would come through Mike.

Today a message from Mike was received and it has the jailbreak community at the tip of their seats. The message specifically said: What's a good time to make it ra1n? It could easily be misinterpreted but Cohenn's relationship with Geohot is solid and it stands to reason that the jailbreak master may have simply thrown everyone off his scent to toil in private for the last few days of the jailbreak release preparation. Of course, this is entirely speculation but if advised by Geohot to follow Cohenn for the latest jailbreak update, then maybe this tweet is both meaningful and newsworthy.

As with much of these news about jailbreaking and unlocking, time will only tell what (if anything) this tweet may actually mean. But in the mean time, keep your eye on Geohot's proxy today and as always you can stay tuned for more news and info on the topic by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed. The question as to "What's a good time to make it ra1n?" may possibly be answered soon by none other than Geohot itself.

Apple And AT&T’s Relationship Just A Meaningless Tie

Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, we have heard several rumors about Apple working with Verizon to bring the iPhone to their network. It seems that some of the speculations may have actually had a grain of truth to them. Wired recently looked into the complexity of Apple's relationship with AT&T over the years and the reason the partnership continued thus far despite the many problems between the two.

Fred Vogelstein from Wired says that one of the earliest instances the relationship between Apple and AT&T fell short was with Cupertino's use of Infineon as the supplier for cellular communication hardware. Vogelstein pointed out that Infineon's technology is better suited to the European market where cellular towers are located closer to one another. Apple reported to have declined the request by AT&T insisting on working with Apple to make the hardware from Infineon work better on their network, saying things such as "No, you resolve them. They're not our problem. They're your problem."

The report further mentioned that officials from AT&T visited Apple a number of times to try and convince the company to make a trade-off between user experience and call-quality but Apple officials ended up firmly standing their ground on these requests. Vogelstein noted the following:

It(Apple) wasn’t interested in cooperating, especially if it meant hobbling what had quickly become its marquee product. For Apple, the idea of restricting the iPhone was akin to asking Steve Jobs to ditch the black turtleneck. “They tried to have that conversation with us a number of times,” says someone from Apple who was in the meetings. “We consistently said ‘No, we are not going to mess up the consumer experience on the iPhone to make your network tenable.’ They’d always end up saying, ‘We’re going to have to escalate this to senior AT&T executives,’ and we always said, ‘Fine, we’ll escalate it to Steve and see who wins.’ I think history has demonstrated how that turned out.

Wired also mentioned that Steve Jobs suggested several times that Apple must terminate its partnership with AT&T in favor of another carrier. The report pointed out that Apple engineers made several visits to Qualcomm headquarters to study the possibility of switching to Verizon's network and what doing so would entail. Vogelstein mentioned the following regarding this issue:

Apple also heavily considered switching to Verizon numerous times. Around the end of 2007, at Jobs' behest, Apple engineers (including Scott Forstall) visited the headquarters of Qualcomm - the primary supplier of the chips in Verizon's phones. It concluded that switching to Verizon would be too complicated and expensive because the chips were different sizes and would necessitate rebuilding the iPhone from scratch. Apple also wasn't convinced that Verizon's network would fare much better and let's not forget the nasty lawsuit that voiding its exclusive pact with AT&T would invite.

Mainly an extremely high cost of transition to the Verizon network has been the primary reason behind Apple's decision to stick with the AT&T network thus far as noted by Wired. However the company continued to work with Qualcomm on possible other solutions to the issue. Recent rumors have been suggesting that Qualcomm could be working on a hybrid chip that will allow the iPhone to run on both CDMA and UMTS networks and it turns out these rumors are true.

Verizon is currently making the transition to the LTE network that is expected to become available next year. Currently, AT&T has also hinted on the imminent end to carrier exclusivity by announced the revised Early Termination Fee (ETF) chargers and advancing the upgrade eligibility for many of their customers for the iPhone 4. Between these events and the fact that there is a court case regarding AT&T and Apple's partnership with the iPhone we believe that speculations that Apple would offer the iPhone to Verizon as early as next year may turn out to be true. What do you think of the whole ordeal? Do you prefer the iPhone be on a network such as Verizon instead of AT&T? Share your thoughts in the comments below. If you are interested in reading the Wired article, click here.

Download/Save YouTube Video’s On iPad With YourTube HD

YourTube HD for iPad is now available for download in Cydia store. The application let's you save/download YouTube videos on iPad for offline viewing. By default, iPad won’t let you save YouTube videos so you cannot play them offline. But using YourTube HD app you can save/download YouTube videos on iPad.

If you own an iPad, you may have been bothered by your crushing inability to save YouTube movies – whether you want to play back your collection offline, or just show your friends the next big thing without having to say “wait a sec, it’s buffering” – you can now do it all with YourTube HD! Like YourTube for the iPhone, we’re bringing YouTube video saving to everybody’s favorite semi-tablet device!

DISCLAIMER:

This article is for information purposes only. Downloading videos from YouTube is not supported by the YouTube Terms of Service. YourTube and YourTube HD maybe violating this TOS. Use it at your own risk only.

NOTE:

YourTube HD is a jailbroken app so you iPad MUST be jailbroken first. You can jailbreak iPad running iOS 3.2 using the guide below:

[How To] Jailbreak iPad 3.2 with Spirit

You can download YourTube HD for iPad from the Cydia Store for $2.

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Handy Light - Flashlight App Sneaks Tethering To Apple's iPhone 4

Recently an app called Handy Light was found on the app store and it looked like an ordinary flashlight app for the iPhone. In reality, it was hiding a tethering feature using the SOCKS proxy. The app which was only 99 cents was only in the App Store for a short amount of time and was pulled by Apple. Many users have tried the tethering feature and mentioned that it works well. If you were one of the many users who managed to download the app before it was pulled and are unsure of how to get the tethering feature to work, check out our instructions below:

1. Set up an ad hoc Wi-Fi network on your computer (network name and password requirement are not needed).
2. Connect to the Wi-Fi network you just created on your iPhone through the Settings/Wi-Fi menu.
3. Tap on the blue arrow to the right of the selected Wi-Fi network, click Static in the IP Address menu and enter the following IP address (you can laugh at the irony): 13.37.13.37
4. Next, enter 255.255.255.0 in the Subnet Mask field.
5. Back out of the Settings menu to ensure these settings are saved.
6. Go to your Mac or PC and change the network settings to use the SOCKS Proxy and enter 13.37.13.37 as the Socks Proxy Server address and 1337 as the port. On our Mac laptop, this is what the resulting screen looks like:
7. Be sure to apply/save these settings.
8. Go back to your iPhone and open the Handy Light app and tap the flashlight colors at the bottom in the following sequence: blue, yellow, red. Then tap the top right corner of the screen and the color should change to purple. Your iPhone is now capable of sharing its internet connection with the computer you set up.
9. Leave the app open and go to your computer and start browsing. As the video describes, we found that it took a few seconds for the connection to kick in but then it worked like a charm. Though many variables affect network speed tests, a quick test using Speedtest.net yielded 3.92 Mb/s down and 0.38 Mb/s up while tethered to our iPhone 4 through Handy Light.

Check out the video of the app in action below:

If you have any troubles in the setup process, drop us a comment and we'll try to help. As usual, stay tuned for more tips and tricks by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Apple Destroys Q3 2010 Earnings Estimates – With 78% Revenue YOY

Although Apple has been getting some bad press lately due to the issue dubbed "antennagate" it clearly isn't hurting their bottom line for the company. In a press release today, the Cupertino company announced earnings for Q3 2010 which ended on June 26th. There is only one thing we can say - wow, the statistics are pretty impressive. The company posted revenue of $15.7 billion for the quarter with earnings per diluted share coming in at $3.51 p from the $2.01 per share in Q3 of last year. The company's gross margi was 39.% compared to 40.9% from a year ago and international sales accounted for 52% of the company's quarterly revenue. Apple ended up selling 3.47 million Mac computers (a 33% increase from Q3 of last year), 8.4 million iPhone (up from 61%), 9.41 million iPods (an 8% decline), and 3.27 million iPads. Apple's CFO, Peter Oppenheimer did say “We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter. Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44.” Think whatever you may of Apple, but at this point Apple is practically printing money at Cupertino. You can check out the press release below and check out the full release on Apple's site for more details.

Apple Reports Third Quarter Results

All-Time Record Revenue
Earnings Increase 78 Percent

CUPERTINO, California—July 20, 2010—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 third quarter ended June 26, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $15.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.83 billion, or $2.01 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.1 percent compared to 40.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 52 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, representing a new quarterly record and a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 61 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.41 million iPods during the quarter, representing an eight percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million.

“It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

“We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44”

Apple will provide live streaming of its Q3 2010 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PDT on July 20, 2010 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq310/. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

How Does Apple's "Free Bumper" Offer Effect iPhone Case Market

As announced, Apple will be launching their free cases program at the end of this week, and its already affecting different iPhone case manufactures. Some companies most likely figure that many people will be swayed to Apple's free bumper, as after all the case works well to solve the antenna issues and comes in a few stylish colors. Perhaps the most obvious and important reason is because of the price, FREE. Apple's giving all iPhone 4 users the ability to get a Bumper for free, so why would anyone pay $29-49 for a case from a different manufacturer?

Incipio is already realizing this so they're running the "We love our customers too" campaign. This promotion lets users obtain their free Bumper from Apple, then send it in to Incipio for 5 bucks off one of their premium-quality cases. Incipio figures that a $5 incentive will be good enough to keep themselves in race, and honestly their campaign is quite clever. The catch is they'll only be accepting 2 trade-ins per households, and that's U.S only. The big question though is, what's Incipio planning on doing with all those bumpers cases?

Also, other case manufacturers like Zagg InvisbleSHIELD without wasting any time, have already started promoting their cases with a study that shows that their bumper cases can resolve the iPhone4's antenna issue.

Share your thoughts in the comments below, and stay tuned for more news and info by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

Samsung Working On “Unbreakable” AMOLED Displays

As you may already know Samsung Super AMOLED displays are getting pretty popular despite the iPhone 4 using a different screen technology. The manufacturer is already running low on supplies and furthermore they are working on new technology which will probably be higher in demand than the current scarce supplies. Samsung is reportedly working on an unbreakable Samsung AMOLED display. OLED-Display.net is reporting that within the next two years, Samsung is aiming to have ultra-rugged, unbreakable smartphone screens available to OEMs. The report doesn't detail whether he digitzer will be included on this specific AMOLED display (the digitizer is what registers touch input and is what makes Super AMOLED displays "super") but if we to guess, it probably won't be. If you don't want to take anyone's word for whether something like this exists or if it can be made, you don't have to. Check the video below to see what happens when a a prototype of this flexible, bendable, very hard to break AMOLED display is hit by a hammer. (SPOILER: It doesn't break).

Google Images Now Redefined With Less Text

Today, Google announced several enhancements to their Google Images search page that aim to be more accurate, efficient, and image-oriented. The new look is said to bring the following enhancements:

• Dense tiled layout designed to make it easy to look at lots of images at once. We want to get the app out of the way so you can find what you’re really looking for.
• Instant scrolling between pages, without letting you get lost in the images. You can now get up to 1,000 images, all in one scrolling page. And we’ll show small, unobtrusive page numbers so you don’t lose track of where you are.
• Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.
• A hover pane that appears when you mouse over a given thumbnail image, giving you a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as “Similar images.”
• Once you click on an image, you’re taken to a new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it’s hosted on visible right behind it. Click anywhere outside the image, and you’re right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context.
• Optimized keyboard navigation for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down. It’s all about getting you to the info you need quickly, so you can get on with actually building that treehouse or buying those flowers.

The company seems to show that it is trying to change with the times and implement new technology behind their image searches to provide a better user experience. Not only has Google Images expanded since its first debut it has also been through several changes and it is now nearing what seems to be the ideal image search. Not only are they working on expanding functionality for users but also for advertisers who seek to put up ads on the Google Images searches. The new type of ads are called "Image Search Ads" and allow you to put a small thumbnail next to the text. Seems like Google is working hard to provide the average person a better internet experience. If you are interested in reading the official Google Blog Post, click here.

Defective Screen Issues Found In Droid X Handsets

Looks like the iPhone 4 isn't the only smartphone on the block having issues. The Motorola Droid X adopters are documenting serious graphical and/or electrical problems with the handsets large screen. As of right now, we don't know how many users are being effected, symptoms include rapid flickering and vertical banding over all of the 4.3 inch LCD. Forums for many different sites have users claiming that they have already had their phones replaced and in some cases claimed that the defect was a common problem found in launch day batches. Verizon hasn't responded to the situation yet but hopefully they will soon. In the meantime, check out the flickering and symptoms for the issue below to see if you have experienced anything similar.

If you are a Droid X owner and are experiencing the problems, share your experience with us in the comments below. And, stay tuned to us for more news and info. by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.