Ultimate Travel Gadget: Belkin Mini Power Strip

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Anyone who travels a lot will simply look at this device and sigh with relief. Why? Hotels are awful about providing enough power outlets near the desk - and with more and more gadgets hitting the road, it means a room strewn with charging cell phones and laptops and headsets, etc. One room [...]

Netflix Streaming to PS3, Xbox 360 Teased?

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Generally when presented with an opportunity to take a survey, I decline. This one might just have caught my attention.
It’s certainly not a done deal; it’s just a survey asking customers how they would feel, but Netflix, according to reports, is testing the waters to determine if customers would be [...]

modu’s Modular Cell Phone: Some Assembly Required

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
How would you like a cell phone that has a business-like QWERTY keyboard when you want it to, or a 12-key at other times, or can even be slipped into some future Kindle-type device as its cellular guts? That’s the basic premise behind Israeli startup modu’s new modular cell [...]

Apple Unveils 16GB iPhone, 32GB iPod Touch

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Available immediately, Apple has announced new models of the iPhone (16GB) and iPod Touch (32GB). Ever since the 16GB iPod Touch was announced in September we all knew it was only a matter of time until Apple slapped that 16GB into its larger brother. At the same time we get a [...]

Intelius Shuts Down Controversial Cell Phone Directory

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Only a few months after launching an online cell phone directory with over 90 million numbers, Intelius has shut it down, following an outcry from both the wireless industry as well as consumers.
In a press release, Liz Murray, Communications Manager at Intelius said:
“As a company, we have strived to be [...]

The iPhone Goes Corporate

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
AT&T and the iPhone have gone corporate. Despite the opinion of many analysts, AT&T is now labeling the iPhone an Enterprise-class device. My question, as with my earlier AT&T SIM-only story is, why is this all that great again?
The reason I say this is because if you compare the [...]

Lotus Notes Coming to the iPhone?

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
According to AP, those of you corporate types who’ve been holding off buying an iPhone because of a lack of corporate email support may find that reason vanishing soon. IBM is poised to announce a version of Lotus Notes e-mail for the iPhone at its Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Fla., [...]

Celio is Like the Foleo, Only Worse

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Anyone remember the Foleo? We do - it was Palm’s ill-fated attempt to marry an underpowered UMPC with a cell phone, and it died a very, very swift death. See our coverage “5 Reasons Why Palm’s New Foleo Device Will Fail”
Today we fond out that the Foleo concept is rising from the [...]

Is this the Zune Phone? (Dream On)

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
OK - so it isn’t, but after all the ugly iPhone imitations, this is the first concept design that actually looks appealing. We hereby take quick a break from reality to bring you the following idea. A forum member on ZuneScene named Teccom747 dreamed up this concept phone. His specs:
The Zune 3 is [...]

New Lithium Battery Flight Restrictions to Begin

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
As if your traveling experience isn’t bad enough already, here come new battery safety requirements from the DoT. The new rules ban packing of spare lithium batteries in checked baggage, and go into effect on Jan. 1, 2008.
New rules from the Transportation and Security Administration that take effect on January 1 [...]

PlayStation Emulator for iPhone, iPod Released

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Previously only available as a private beta to donators, a PlayStation 1 emulator for the iPhone and iPod has been released to the public. The version is 0.1.0 so it’s obviously far from done, but psx4iPhone is available now.
The developer, ZodTTD, indicates that although there will be public releases to [...]

T-Mobile’s ‘Unlocked’ iPhones ‘Freed’ via iTunes

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
You’ll recall Vodafone’s court case against T-Mobile’s iPhone exclusivity in Germany … and the subsequent response by T-Mobile (unlocked iPhones, for a mere $1478). You’re probably also aware of how many hoops have to be jumped through for hackers to unlock or jailbreak their iPhones. Apparently, if you’re connected [...]

Surprise! Virtual Keyboards on iPhones Have Higher Text Entry Error Rate: Study

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
When I first wrote about this subject, I received some flak from people who said the study was flawed because the participants in the study had only one week of use with the phone. The initial study was also limited to 10 users. User Centric, Inc., who ran the [...]

Google to Unveil ‘Android’ platform for Mobile Phones

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Rumors about the gPhone, whether it be an actual phone or a platform, have been rampant for months. Now sources say Google will hold a press conference tomorrow to reveal what’s really up.
The company is expected to hold a press conference on Monday to unveil the project, which is expected [...]

Apple Announces Stellar Fiscal Q4 Results

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
We already knew Apple had sold a ton of iPhones, based on the fact that the iPhone had become AT&T’s top-selling phone in that company’s Q3 results. Today Apple released its Q4 fiscal earnings (yeah, it’s one of those companies that likes to run its fiscal year separate from real time [...]

iPhone Becomes AT&T’s Top Seller, #4 Overall in 3rd Quarter

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
We know that Apple has been selling tons of iPhones, but the top-selling AT&T phone? With the high price in comparison to many phones? Yes, that is exactly where the iPhone ranks, at least in Q3.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics and its latest ProductTRAX program data, nearly 1.1 million units [...]

Nokia N810 Pocket Computer

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Call them Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) or pocket computers - this is a category that just won’t die. Here’s why: I got the PepperPad back when it launched - a small tablet-style device you could stick on a kitchen counter and manipulate with a touch screen, stylus, thumb-wheel mouse, and an odd [...]

Apple to Offer Third-Party iPhone SDK

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Wednesday in one of his open letters to the world, on Apple’s Hot News section of their site, Steve Jobs announced that in February of next year, Apple will release a third party SDK to developers, enabling native applications not just on the iPhone but on the iPod Touch.
An interesting comment [...]

iPhones Unlocked Again, Including Bricked Ones

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Following up on the success of the iPhone Dev Team at finding a way to jailbreak the iPhone 1.1.1 system, the iPhoneSIMfree developers (who released the first software unlocking solution for sale “way back” in early September) have released a new version which not only unlocks iPhones with the 1.1.1 software [...]

“Jott” It Down

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Unless I really, really need a feature on my cell phone, or unless it’s something huge like the iPhone, I am usually a little behind the bleeding edge on cell phone or cell phone-related tech. Thus it is with Jott, a service that allows you to send text messaging [...]