Due to a ruling by the Librarian of Congress, come tomorrow it will be illegal to unlock a new, on-contract iPhone -- or any phone -- in the U.S. If you bought your iPhone before tomorrow, or if you bought a factory unlocked iPhone straight from Apple, or off-contract, full priced iPhone from carriers, or your contract is over, you shouldn't be subject to any restrictions. Doing it on your own via Jailbreak, however, will be strictly verboten, and likely subject to prosecution by law enforcement and the Batman. Michael Gowen of TechNewsDaily reports:
In October 2012, the Librarian of Congress, who determines exemptions to a strict anti-hacking law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), decided that unlocking mobile phones would no longer be allowed. But the librarian provided a 90-day window during which people could still buy a phone and unlock it. That window closes on January 26.
No doubt oligopoly networks built on public airwaves appreciate your understanding. Know your laws, your rights, and make your purchasing decisions accordingly.
HTC has just quietly rolled out a spec page for a new device, the mid-range Desire U, targeted at the Taiwan market. Falling in line design-wise with the rest of the recent "One" and "Desire" devices, the Desire U has a smooth plastic body and rounded edges with a classy looking circle design that accents the back plate. On the inside, this device is clearly lower end, with a 1GHz processor, 4GB of (expandable) storage, 512MB of RAM and a 480x800 (WVGA) display. The U has a 1650mAh battery, which should give a good bit of life for a device with these specs.
The device is a Taiwanese listing, so the frequencies on this device are set up for that market -- 900 and 2100MHz HSPA along with 900, 1800 and 1900MHz GPRS/EDGE. No one is likely to import this, but with a striking design and acceptable specs, this low-ranger may do well in specific markets. We're finding unlocked pricing of about $275, which is quite competitive.
Google, according to reports from "a dozen executives working at key companies in the Android ecosystem" is finally locking down the open source and easily-fragmented Android operating system.
As it currently stands, Google hands over the 'final' code for each version of Android, and OEMs and developers then spend some time customizing the OS to fit their hardware, and to create a unique and marketable flavor. That's all set to change, however. Over the last few months, according to several people familiar with the matter, Android licensees such as HTC, Motorola and Facebook, have been asked to sign 'non-fragmentation clauses.' This new contract caveat will give Google the right to review and pass judgment on all changes to the Android OS. Two executives at Facebook say that they're unhappy that Google gets to review its changes to Android -- which is understandable, given Facebook and Google are direct competitors -- and there have also been allegations that Google is preventing some Verizon devices from shipping because they include Microsoft's Bing instead of Google search.
Later today, Firefox will undergo its biggest developmental upheaval ever. Mozilla-central, the source of nightly builds, will be renumbered to version 5 -- and at long last, after years of wallowing around version 1, Mozilla's rendering and layout engine, Gecko, will also have its version number updated to match Firefox. Shortly thereafter, Firefox's new channel system will be implemented. Firefox 5a2 will be introduced as the first Aurora build, and we should also see a Firefox 6 Nightly build. While we we're not sure where they came from, one Sören Hentzschel seems to have unearthed the new Nightly and Aurora logos (see above), along with new About Firefox dialogs (after the break). In other news, if you want to take a sneak peek at the new 'channel changing' technology that will be introduced in upcoming Firefox builds, head to about:config and create a new string called app.update.desiredChannel -- the value doesn't matter. Then open Help > About Firefox and you'll be able to switch channel, but it doesn't do anything just yet (image after the break). Here's hoping that Firefox channel switching is smoother than Chrome.
Earlier today Twitter launched a new service and app named Vine. It was a purchase rather than something homegrown, and sits mostly on its own. I'd be tempted to explain the relationship of Twitter and Vine in similar terms to Facebook and Instagram, but frankly Vine is nowhere nearly as good yet.
Phil Nickinson from Android Central has already shared his thoughts on Vine. Here are mine.
The idea behind Vine has a lot of potential. You get to easily make concise video clips and just as easily share them with your friends. It's the implementation where Vine falls all over itself. To go back to Instagram, Vine took the square format but didn't take any of the user experience lessons.
It's almost as though Vine has gone out of its way to make the app and the service less compelling to use. It starts with sign-in. The process isn't bad, and you can sign in with Twitter, but it's just a little more cumbersome than it ought to be. The existing Vine system was bought but the integration not improved.
To take a video, tap the Camera button at the top right. Then touch the screen to start recording. To pause, you stop touching. There's no simple record/stop button like on the built-in Camera app, or on real video cameras. And... I'm not sure about it yet. If you're going to replace something so default, so well understood, so instantly discoverable, you have to do it with something far, far, better. This doesn't seem much, if any better. Sure, it's fast to touch/untouch, but it's also fiddly and more error prone than a simple switch.
You can't change to the front facing camera, making self-video, one of the hallmarks of quick internet sharing services, awkward and painful to shoot. Likewise, you can't upload existing video, so you can't even use the built-in Camara app to take self-video. And you can't share moments you've captured using apps outside of Vine, which is absolutely table-stakes for a social sharing app.
The square aspect ratio video gets stored in your Camera Roll, which Vine then needs permission to access. (Along with Location permission, Twitter permission, push notification permission, and various other permissions, so be sure to properly stretch out your "OK" tapping finger before you begin.)
Once the video is recorded, you can share it. But if you do, it's public. No protected accounts like on Twitter. Once it's out, it's out for the whole wide world. Vine is rated 12+, and given the 500px app getting rejected for "pornography", both Twitter and Apple are likely monitoring it carefully. Still, be aware and conduct yourself accordingly. No reason to lose that big job in 10 years just because you Vine'd your nethers in ought 13.
You can view videos in the timeline, called Home. They auto-play the moment you scroll down enough for them to fit on the screen. Tap to pause. Tap to keep playing. You can like videos with a smiley face or add a comment. There also an Explore section where you can find recommended videos, sorted by Editor's Picks, Popular Now, All Posts, or by #hastags, represented by big square icons.
Activity shows likes, comments, and follows. And Profile shows your info and videos. You can access Settings from here, and also Find People. You should be able to find and follow friends you have on Twitter, Facebook, and in your contacts on Vine, but it wasn't working for me, returning only a few results and forcing me to search and add people manually. Worse still, we've gotten some reports of user account mix up and cross-posts, which is a huge bug and needs to be fixed and now.
The server side stuff can be quickly and easily fixed, however. The user experience choices will likely require a major redesign, and that takes time. Twitter has some fantastic designers and coders on their team, so hopefully the acquisition not only gives them great underlying video technology, but gives the Vine team resources to make a better app.
Make the Twitter integration absolutely transparent. If I use Twitter, I can use Vine just by logging in. All my Twitter follows are just there. Let me switch cameras between rear- and front-facing. Let me upload videos I've already shot. Give me a real shutter button and make the gesture a shortcut, not the main control. Use Twitter conventions, like the same tabs with the same names along the bottom. Consistency is usability. Take a look at what really works in Instagram and Twitter and use that. Make it great.
For now, Vine is interesting but nowhere nearly fully cooked yet. I won't be spending any time with it until 1.x or 2.0 is released, but I will be coming back to take another look as soon as they are.
Don't forget to read Phil's piece on Android Central and watch his video, below. If you've tried Vine, let me know your thoughts as well.
Microsoft has shared some news about the state of its most and least loved Web browsers -- Internet Explorer 9 and 6, respectively. Even with IE9 only recently exiting beta, Microsoft reports that 3.6% of Windows 7 users are now running the new browser (no mention of Vista... what's with that?). The post also reveals that the adoption rate is almost five times what IE8 garnered in the early going. It's also interesting to note that there are now more than 1,000 sites utilizing Internet Explorer 9's Windows 7 integration features -- like the new desktop notification support we showed you in Hotmail. But perhaps the best news of all is that Microsoft's IE6countdown.com now has more than 400 partners and is generating nearly two million pageviews per month, helping to lure users away from the woefully out-of-date browser. Can the end come soon enough, DS readers?
Tired of Kim Dotcom yet? No? Okay, here's a pretty good interview with Russia Today in which the Megaupload founder chats up his fight with the U.S. Justice department, possible extradition, and the new Mega. More »
By far one of the best features of Apple’s iPad is it’s ability to access thousands of apps. It does have a great multi-orientation interface too but the fact that these apps have been designed for the iPad only means there is very little chance of finding them on any other device other than the iPhone and iPod Touch.
The applications cover a wide range of categories from entertainment to business with games, education and sports in between. Apple have thought of just about everything imaginable to be run on the iPad which means whatever a user needs, Apple’s engineers have developed an app for it.
One of the nice features is it’s iBook app which is an e-book reader. The screen size is perfect making it easy to read wherever the user happens to be at the time. Readers can adjust the background light to suit them. They can also change text size and fonts which is great because people do have their own personal preferences when it comes to fonts and text size when they are reading.
One of the best features of the iBook app is it’s graphics, the crisp clear screen with it’s high speed memory means that images appear instantly as text is being read. Reading illustrated books and graphic novels on the device is a very nice experience.
Marvel Comics even has its own e-book reader app on the device so these are easily accessible by a downloading them when you want to. Users can enlarge or minimize images by just pinching the multi-touch screen and it is very easy to navigate through the pages of Marvel comic books by simply tapping the thumbnails.
There are so many apps available on the device that users are spoilt for choice and this includes things like the Wall Street Journal as well as the New York Times, both of which created an app that is exclusive to the iPad.
Users can get apps from Apple’s App Store and again there is a special app on the iPad for users to do this easily and quickly. The iBook app comes pre-installed in the device whereas other apps like the Marvel Comic’s app have to be purchased from the App Store. Users can go to Amazon to buy the apps they need too and a. Amazon holds the record for offering the best titles around and have a greater selection than anyone else, this is one place where you’ll find everything you’ll ever need. Users have the option of previewing any books or comics before they commit to buying them which is a great advantage. Ipad owners also have one other advantage and this is to order Marvel Comics in print if they want to.