New iTV?

AppleInsider has found evidence of an unknown device lurking in the USB configuration files of iOS 4.1.

“According to people familiar with the matter, the latest beta of iOS 4.1, due to ship in the coming weeks, includes three new “Configuration Descriptors” within its USB configuration files — all of which pertain to devices that list “Apple, Inc.” as their “manufacturer” — as can be seen in the screenshot below.”

“Finally, and most intriguing, is a previously undiscovered mention of a mysterious device listed only as “unknownHardware.” Although the configuration files tag this device with a unique Apple product ID of 20547, it’s textual descriptor is similarly listed as “Unknown- Add device descriptor info for this device.”

The unknown device has an Apple product ID in the 20,000s, suggesting that will be the reincarnation of the Apple TV, which is rumored to be compatible with the App Store. (Making this theory even more likely.)

As rumored, the IDs point to the iPod Touch getting a major overhaul, as well as the iPad. (Cameras, anyone?) For a closer look at when these Apple product IDs actually mean, check out this post at the Boy Genius Report.

[AppleInsider]

USB Memory Support for the Xbox 360 coming April 6th

On April 6th, Microsoft will be releasing a system update over Xbox LIVE for your Xbox 360 that will allow USB flash drives to be used for storing profiles, game saves, demos and more. I’ve been testing this feature out for a few weeks, and I have to say it’s really great. Once you take the system update on April 6th, you’ll be able to connect your USB flash drives to your console and head over to the memory section to configure your new storage device. Once you do that, the system will conduct a one time performance and integrity check to confirm the drive is working properly. You will then be able to configure how much storage to use on the device, up to 16 GB. The remaining space on the flash drive will be accessible by your PC or Mac. USB Hard drives may work, but like flash memory, you’ll only be able to use up to 16GB of space. Since performance on flash based USB storage is usually better, I highly recommend using flash based instead of spinning media like a hard drive… It’s just going to give you a much better experience.

Microsoft has also enhanced the memory management functions, so you’ll be able to have better control on what you want to copy or move between storage devices.

A couple of points:

• You can have 2 devices connected to the console at a time, enabling up to 32GB of simultaneous storage.
• The system won’t just configure the device once it is connected to the console. You’ll need to head to the memory area in system settings, select your USB Device, and choose from Configure Now (Format and Configure the Full Device), or Customize (you can choose how much memory you want configured for Xbox360 from the free space on the device.)

While any flash drive can be used, Microsoft is partnering with SanDisk to release an Xbox 360 branded USB flash drive in May that comes pre-configured out of the box and ready to go.

Why didn't we think of this???

This is just one of those things that makes you wonder "Now why didn't I think of this?"

Android Tablet gives iPad run for the Money

Notion Ink demoed its final version of the Android tablet called Adam prior to Mobile World Congress 2010. In the video cofounder Rohan Shravan shows off some awesome hardware innovation.

It was demonstrated in an area outdoors which was partially shaded and fully exposed to bright sunlight. This was done to show how wonderfully the tablet adapts in either condition; beautiful LCD display in normal lighting and crisp monochrome display in direct sunlight.

Unlike the Apple iPad, Adam has a camera that conveniently swivels 180 degrees. Imagine the use cases: turn towards yourself to have video chats, turn away 90 degrees to record a lecture or seminar while working simultaneously, turn another 90 degrees to take a picture of someone in front of you. Let’s not forget to throw in multi-tasking capabilities.

Another interesting feature places the touch pad on the back, very interesting to control touch screen operation without looking. The Adam tablet also features 3 USB ports, one HDMI out port for full HD in 1080p, eco-friendly using a tenth of the power, and boasting 24 hours of battery life(more than 10 hours viewing full high definition video).

Notion Ink plans to customize the Android operating system it will ship with, plus open up the API for developers to write apps for the larger screen. Although the final software was not ready for the demo, they noted they will have split screen virtual keyboards to allow typing with thumbs on the tablet. Look for it in June 2010 with a price point of $327-$800.

Below are side by side specs compared with the Apple iPad courtesy of Technoholik. See more exclusive photos at Technoholik’s Flickr stream.

	Apple iPad	Notion Ink Adam
Screen	9.7 inch 4:3 IPS LCD (1024×768)	10 inch Transflective LCD Pixel Qi screen (1024×600)
	1024×768 pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)	Low power full color black & white mode
OS	iPhone OS 3.2	Android, Unbuntu, Chromium
CPU	Apple A4 processor	nVidia Tegra 2
		Dual Core 1GHz + Graphic
Internet Browser	Safari	Firefox, Chrome
Outputs:	VGA, Dock connectors (extra)	HDMI, 3x USB
Video Out	720p	1080p
Camera	No	Yes, 3 Megapixel with Autofocus
Battery	Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music	16 hours, 160 hours on backlight off mode
Wireless	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSPA/GSM), Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSPA/GSM), Bluetooth (US Edition)
Weight	1.5 pounds	1.7 pounds
Other:		RF, ambient light sensor. AGPS, Proximity sensor, accelerometer, Touchpad
Multitasking	No	Yes
Adobe Flash 10.0 support	No	Yes
Storage	No	Yes, (SD Card slot)
Price	$499-$829	$327-$800
Availability	April/May	June/July

via Android Tapp

What are your thoughts? Comment below!

iPad Keyboard Dock

The iPad keyboard dock comes in real handy as a home base for your iPad. It has a nice smooth aluminum finish and it can be used for charging,syncing,etc. It is also compatible with other accessories like the camera kit for the iPad.

There are several ways the iPad keyboard dock can enhance your life:

• Use it to charge the battery by connecting to a computer with USB cable
• You can also charge the battery by plugging the dock into a regular electrical outlet
• Its great for holding the iPad at just the right angle when you want to write emails or watch a movie
• What I really love is that that dock can be connected to a video projector, television, stereo, or speakers

USB Port Concept

In a classic case of "why didn't we think of this first," Chinese design student Gonglue Jiang has shown us a new way for overcoming the limitations imposed by the scarcity of USB ports on some computers. Instead of forcing you to constantly hot swap devices into that one port, Gonglue's Infinite USB plugs keep all your cables connected, thereby facilitating those smartphone syncs, spy camera recharges, and -- for the ultimate irony -- maybe even a USB hub. If you're thinking this would be brought down by a bout of bandwidth starvation once you start some USB multitasking, you're probably right, but power shortages shouldn't be an issue as the author has also come up with an external power connector that joins into his Infinite chain of connectivity. If only this wasn't just a concept.

Site: http://jianggonglue.com/DesignUSB.html

via Engadget

iPad, Apple's new tablet device

Just one day ago Apple unveiled its newest creation, the iPad. The iPad follows the same principles as an iPod Touch/iPhone; but this one's got a 9.7" screen. The iPad can run all of your native iPod Touch/iPhone apps, plus a few more. Apple has also created iWork for the iPad, each app costs $10. The iPad an on-screen keyboard that works well, the iPad has 3 speakers as well. The iPad docks just like a normal iPod, through the same cables & uses the same program (iTunes). AT&T has also provided a no-contract 3G plan for the iPads.

Features List -

• On-Screen Keyboard
• Built in speakers
• 9.7" multitouch screen
• Mp3 player
• Video player
• Faster than the iPod Touch
• Same basic interface as the iPod Touch/iPhone
• 3G Capable

What do you think about the iPad?

[Reader Article] Cool Use For an Old Flash Drive

Co Cool Use For Old Flash Drives

Don't throw your old USB flash drive away. Instead, you can use an old flash drive to prevent your laptop from being stolen. Here is how.

1. Install free software on your laptop. www.lalarm.com/LaptopAlarm. (free for personal use)
2. Fasten a neck strap to your old USB flash drive.
3. Fasten the other end of the strap to a table.
4. Plug in the USB flash drive into a USB port of a laptop.
5. Lock the laptop by pressing the Windows logo key and L key together.

When a thief removes the laptop from the table, the USB flash drive will be disconnected from the laptop and then a loud siren sound will be emitted. (See photos: www.lalarm.com/arm2) In addition to sounding an alarm, the software sends an alert to your mobile phone. This tip is also useful if you worry about identity theft. The free software destroys data in case of laptop theft.

This was a reader submitted article by James Lee

How to make a "Terrorist Bomb" WiFi USB heatsink

As you all know, I built a heatsink for my modded Nintendo WiFi USB Connector (Want to make one? Go HERE) I got a few emails after posting that asking me for the instructions on how to build one. So for those of you that were interested, here you go:

(Original Article)

Materials Needed:
---------------------
A 2" 3-Pin 12v CPU fan
Duct Tape
A 9v battery
Modded Nintendo WiFi USB Connector (Make one HERE)
USB cable (Preferably the one that came with the USB connector)
An empty 7.06oz tetramin fish-food can
Drill Press (Or some other tool for making holes in the fish-food can)
---------------------
How to make it:
--------------------
1: Take all the labels off of the fish-food can
2. Punch a hole in the bottom of the fish-food can (Make sure that you can fit the USB calbe through it)
3. Drill holes around the bottom part of the can (There is no size/quantity limit)
4. Run the USB cable up through the bottom of the can, plug the WiFi USB Connector into it
5. Take the white cable off of the CPU fan
6. Tape the fan to the top of the fish-food can (So that the air blows down into the can)
7. Tape the 9v battery to the side of the can
8. Run the red wire to the negative contact & the black wire to the positive contact
9. Tape the excess wires down so they don't get in the way
10. Enjoy!

Make sure that you taped the wires down so they can be un-taped when not in use, otherwise you will run your battery dry.

DIY: Nintendo Wifi USB connector heatsink

So, after I modded my Nintendo Wifi USB connector (Do it HERE) I found that it gets really hot. So I took matter into my own hands and made this "Terrorist-Bomb" heatsink for it.

Nintendo Wifi USB Hack

I found this tutorial on how your nintendo USB wifi connector into a softap (wifi router) and have had great success with it in creating a wifi network for internet connection sharing, printer and file sharing etc.

To do this you need to have this rar file:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S4VLBP9A
or you can get it from here:
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

Then follow these steps:

1)
Unplug the usb connector and uninstall all the nintendo software then restart.

2)
Plug the usb connector and when asked for the drivers navigate to the where you unrared the downloaded files and inside the Drivers folder you will find modified Buffalo drivers. Install these drivers for the USB Connector. Then install the ASUS software (also in RAR file(eng_2371.zip)). When it prompts you to restart, select No. I have found that there is no need to.

3)
Now in the ASUS EXEs folder of the RAR file, extract the six EXE files in the into the ASUS folder (C:\Program Files\ASUS\WLAN Card Utilities). Make sure you overwrite the existing files.

4)Then run ASUS WLAN Control Center. You will get a dialog asking if you want to use the Windows configuration utility or the ASUS one, select the option that uses ASUS one and disables the Windows one. Then there will be a wizard. Click Cancel to close the wizard.

5)
Now copy the file (C:\Program Files\ASUS\WLAN Card Utilities\Driver\WinXP\AP\rt2500usb.sys) to (C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers). Make sure you overwrite the existing file.

6)
Right-click on the ASUS software icon in the System Tray (bottom-right corner of screen) and select Wireless Settings. When the settings dialog opens, on the left select Config, then go to the SoftAP tab, and select Soft AP Mode. Then un-tick the Enable ICS checkbox. Then on the left click Apply. You will get a message box asking if you really want to change to SoftAP mode, click Yes. A message will come up saying something like "add the adapter to the network bridge", just ignore it and click OK. If all has gone well, there will be no error messages. Now close the ASUS Wireless Config utility or it will start conflicting when we manually set ICS.

7) Now go to Control Panel -> Network Connections. Right-click on the Network Adapter you are currently accessing your Internet through (or your internet connection icon) and open the properties for that connection. Go to the Advanced tab, and click "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection". Then click OK. If you get an error message saying the IP address is already in use, disable the Network adapter you are trying to share then try again - be sure to enable it again afterwards. It can take a long time for ICS to be enabled so wait patiently.

8)
Now right-click on the Wireless Network Connection and click Properties. In the middle of the dialog there will be some protocols, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and then open the properties for that. Windows would have assigned a static IP address if ICS was successfully enabled, check to make sure this IP address does not conflict with other IP addresses on your network. Also, it should be on a different subnet to the Local Area Connection (for example, my computer's IP address is 192.168.0.2, I assigned the wireless network connection the IP address of 192.168.1.1 - which is on a different subnet). If it is on the same subnet, ICS will not work correctly.

9)*****
With that done, open the ASUS Wireless Config utility again. On the left select Config, in the Basic tab set a SSID. In the encryption tab, select Shared for Network Authentication and WEP for Data Encryption. Now enter a WEP key. Go back to the Basic tab, and at the bottom click on Advanced, change the 54g Mode setting to 802.11b only. Click Apply on the left to save the settings.

10)
Now turn on your wii or ds, go to the Nintendo WFC Settings, and select Manual Setup. Enter the SSID and WEP Key (both of these are case-sensitive) you entered to the ASUS Config utility before. Select No to Auto-obtain IP Address. Now give your wii an IP Address (this must be on the same subnet as the USB connector, I gave my wii the IP address: 192.168.1.2). For subnet mask enter 255.255.255.0. For gateway and primary DNS, enter the IP address of the USB connector. Now try and test connection, and if all has gone well the connection should be successful!

11) Optional 

Now with the ASUS Wireless Config utility, hide your SSID, and use MAC Address filtering to improve the security of your wireless access point.

12)
You now have an Official Nintendo Wifi USB Connector that can connect online with any other devices.

You can now search for an access point on other devices such as laptops, iTouch's and psp's or just enter the ssid and wep(if used) of your access point.

this tutorial was made originally by kcajblue of the afterdawn forums