Video Camera Coming to iPad in Future

MacRumors is reporting on a new job posting by Apple which reveals the possibility of video-capturing capabilities in the next-generation models of Apple iPad. According to the job posting, Apple is looking for a assurance engineer in Media Systems division of their Interactive Media Group which will focus on testing frameworks for digital camera technology in iPad Media segment.

The Media Systems team is looking for a software quality engineer with a strong technical background to test still, video and audio capture and playback frameworks. Build on your QA experience and knowledge of digital camera technology (still and video) to develop and maintain testing frameworks for both capture and playback pipelines.

Apple iPad was unveiled by Steve Jobs last month in a mega event held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The lack of camera in the announced models of iPad has been seen as one of the biggest disappointments of iPad. It now seems as if Apple is holding off some features for the future versions of the iPad, just like how they did with the original iPhone, and its subsequent models the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

Next Generation iPhone 4G Front Pictures Leaked

An iPhone repair site by the name of iResQ today has received some iPhone parts, which they claim are from the upcoming next-gen iPhone which is expected to launch in summer of this year. The interesting bits which they found from this new iPhone 4G shell are as follows.

1) The LCD appears to be factory glued to the digitizer which is more similar to the first generation iPhones than the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The digitizer can be separated from the LCD on the 3G and 3GS models, which should be interesting to all, but for the repair folks like us–this means that the 4G screen repair price will be higher since both parts will have to be replaced at once.

2) The iPhone 4G front panel seems to be about 1/4″ longer than its predecessors.

3) There is an interesting reflective, mirror-like surface directly above the speaker. This is likely a spot for the proximity sensor. If that’s what it is, it’s in a different location than previous models.

Next-gen iPhone is likely to be unveiled at this year’s WWDC conference. It is expected to feature a faster processor, a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, camera on the front for video conferencing, support for WiFi-N standard and so on.

Windows Phone 7 to feature Zune UI, No multitasking like iPhone though

Folks at PPCGeeks have grabbed first exclusive details on the upcoming Windows Phone 7 (or Windows Mobile 7) related announcement ahead of this month’s MWC (Mobile World Congress). Without any further delay, here is what Windows Phone 7 is rumored to feature.

-The User Interface is based upon codename “METRO”. It will be very similar to the Zune HD User Interface with a complete revamp of the “Start” screen. The UI is “Very Clean”, “Soulful” and “Alive”
-Unfortunately there will be no Flash support at the get go as there was not enough time to implement these features.
-Windows Phone 7 will only support application installation through service based delivery. (i.e Marketplace). Application installation via storage card will not be possible.
- No Multi-Task support. Applications will “Pause” when in the background, however will support notifications via push notifications.
-Marketplace will now support “try before you buy” as well as an API
-No NETCF backwards compatibility. This means the original rumor of no backward compatibility for applications holds to be true. That being said, there are high hopes of porting the NetCF to the newer platform easily.
-Microsoft is confident that devices will be ready by September 2010
-Full Zune Integration
-Windows Mobile Device Center will no longer be used. Zune software to take over syncing via PC.
-OEM Interfaces will not be allowed to run on the device. Say goodbye to Sense UI / SPB Mobile Shell / Point UI / Infinity, etc, etc
-Full XBOX Gaming Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
-Full support for social networking

While the integration with Zune and Xbox will be a welcome change, but the lack of backward compatibility in apps, no OEM like interfaces e.g. Sense UI and no multitasking support is going to turn off many existing Windows phone users who have been solely using Windows phones for their flexibility and versatility in customizing the platform the way they like it.

Of course, we will have to wait and see what Microsoft is going to actually announce come February 15th, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

VIDEO: Charlie Rose on the iPad

There’s been various videos with people on the iPad recently, since the lease by Steve Jobs a few weeks back. I think it’s a great piece of technology leading the world into a more innovative sense, with the app store linking with the current one, making it a unique device that can read eBooks, very similar to the Amazon Kindle, but in a sleeker interface with a larger screen than normal in a lovely device.

Charlie Rose here talks about it, this video includes reviews from him, David Carr, Michael Arrington and Walter Mossberg. The video is below, the link is via TechCrunch’s YouTube, and is viewable below:

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 brings multi-touch and more

Microsoft has detailed all the new improvements to Windows Mobile 6.5.3, with some neat touches finally appearing.

The new OS is basically something WinMo fans have been wanting for years, with capacitive screen support meaning the styluses/styli can finally be thrown away.

Gestures are also present in the OS now too, which seems like it's finally taking the threat of Android and the iPhone seriously. While multi-touch has been available in some WinMo programs before, it's good to see it finally appearing across the system.

Headline grabbers

Some of the main new features are:

• Capacitive touchscreen support

• Multi-touch enabling

• Finger-friendly touch system

• Horizontal scroll bar instead of tabs

• Drag and drop icons on the home screen

• Internet page loading time decreased

The Sony Ericsson Aspen is the first phone to be announced running the new WinMo 6.5.3 OS, although we expect to see more at Mobile World Congress.

We're a little confused as to how this upgrade fits in with Windows Mobiles 6.6 and 7, but we'll keep our eye out in Barcelona to sort it out.

NEW: Sways Innovations Friday’s Tech Video [05/02] #2

After much consideration, today’s video is from the avatarxone on YouTube; where the owners of the channel decided to create a hilarious video series from life inside Microsoft, and what it’s like working for them. It is a spoof, but it’s really funny, and I thought you might like it!

I’ve decided to embed two videos today because they both caught my eye, and were in the same genre of video for this week, so we implemented them both for you. Enjoy!

First Video:

Second Video:

Our next video is scheduled for the 12th of February 2010.

Video ideas? Send it to contact@swaysinnovations.com and we’ll take it into consideration and will feature you in the weeks post. Thanks for watching.

Jailbreak your iPhone on 3.1.2 Firmware

 

Jailbroken your iPhone? No? It’s fantastic, nowadays you get the odd person who has and you think, how on earth did they get that background? How on earth are their applications that small, and how did they get 5 icons on the dock? Now you can do it yourself in seconds… George Hotz (aka geohot), the kid who was the first to unlock the original iPhone back in 2007 and then iPhone 3GS in July of this year is back! This time he is the first one to release jailbreaking solution for the new iPhone 3.1.2 Firmware for all devices through his new tool called blackra1n. blackra1n is a software tool which can jailbreak (not unlock) all iPhone’s (iPhone (Edge), iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS) and iPod touch’s (iPod touch 2G and 3G) running on firmware version 3.1.2. blackra1n is currently for Windows only, a Mac version of this app can be expected soon

So, what is blackra1n? blackra1n is a 30 second ALL device 3.1.2 jailbreak. Even the ipt3, but the ipt3 is tethered. In order to boot it, just rerun blackra1n.

Follow the steps below to jailbreak all iPhone’s and iPod touches on OS 3.1.2:

Step 1: Download and install the latest version of iTunes (download link given below).

Step 2: You will now need to first update/restore to the original iPhone OS firmware 3.1.2 on your iPhone by using the latest version of iTunes. Download link for iPhone Firmware 3.1.2 is given at the end of the post.

Step 3: Download blackra1n for Windows (download link at the end of the post).

Step 4: Start blackra1n app. If you are on Windows 7 or Vista, run the app with “Windows XP Compatibility” mode by enabling it from the “Properties” tab to avoid any errors during the jailbreak process.

Step 5: Click on “make it ra1n”:

Step 6: Let the app do its thing and wait for the phone to automatically reboot.

Step 7: You should now have “blackra1n” in the list of applications on your iPhone. Run “blackra1n”, download Cydia and let it install it.

Step 8: Finally reboot your iPhone. Voila! You should now have fully jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch running on firmware 3.1.2.

Before:

 

 

After:

You can follow me on twitter to keep yourself updated on all the latest iPhone jailbreaking and unlocking releases.

Download blackra1n for Windows (UPDATE: blackra1n RC3 Now Available)

Download iTunes for Windows and Mac.