We’re big fans of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 here at MacLife.com, but sadly the folks in Redmond don’t seem too eager about moving the platform to the tablet. But that hasn’t stopped a Dutch developer from giving it a go anyway, using RIM’s failed BlackBerry PlayBook.
BGR is reporting (via N4BB) that a developer in the Netherlands has successfully ported Microsoft Windows Phone 7 to a Research in Motion BlackBerry PlayBook. While that may sound like a match made in hades for iOS and Android users, the unholy union actually seems to work pretty well, judging from the YouTube video embedded below.
“‘Gamer109X,’ the developer behind this curious chimera, said he plans to release a Windows Phone build for the PlayBook to the public in the coming months,” the report reveals, which certainly could help RIM shove a few more deeply discounted BlackBerry PlayBooks out of its warehouses if true.
Among the feats of strength shown off in the video are browsing photos, downloading Angry Birds from Marketplace, posting a message and running Nokia Maps, which curiously places the developer in Barcelona, Spain instead of the Netherlands. Here’s hoping we’ll get some further details on exactly how the developer pulled off this trick, but in the meantime enjoy the video!
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(Image & video courtesy of BGR and N4BB)
Apple has used celebrities sparingly to pimp their product, most notably with the classic “Think Different” ad campaign. But the company appears to be going in a new direction, starting with a pair of television commercials that popped up Monday night.
Apple has released a pair of new television commercials focusing on the magic of Siri with the iPhone 4S, but this time we get a good look at the faces using the handset — and they’re quite familiar.
In the first spot, Nicky Fury himself (better known as Samuel L. Jackson in real life) uses Siri to help prepare for date night, complete with his own homemade risotto for the guest of honor who’s never shown. The spot ends with Jackson telling Siri to take the night off, to which she responds, “If you say so.”
The second spot features that “adorkable” New Girl star Zooey Deschanel, who uses her iPhone 4S with Siri to spend a rainy day at home in her pajamas. (Oh, how adorkable!) Zooey orders in tomato soup, asks for a reminder to clean up the next day and finally, dances to “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”
Apple’s new commercials appear to equally promote the three U.S. cell phone carriers handling the iPhone 4S, with tags appearing for AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint in various sightings last night.
Oddly, the pair of television spots have yet to pop up on Apple’s website or the company’s YouTube page, but YouTube user TelevisionPromos was able to record them straight off the air (and in HD to boot) for all to enjoy.
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(Video courtesy of YouTube user TelevisionPromos)
The new iPad has only been on store shelves for less than a week and the complaining is already shifting from “My iPad is too warm!” to “Streaming video is eating up all of my 4G LTE data!” — clearly first-world problems if ever they were.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting on one not-so apparent downside of those new iPads with 4G LTE data on board — apparently the lower-tier data plans can get slurped down after just a couple hours of watching college basketball. But is it an Apple problem or a user problem?
“It’s kind of a Catch-22,” says Brandon Wells, the 31-year-old Web developer who chewed through his 2GB Verizon Wireless data bucket watching college basketball and was forced to pony up for an additional gigabyte. “It streams really fast video, but by streaming really fast video you tend to watch more video, and that’s not always best.”
Wells’ father Steve also discovered how fast 4G LTE can consume data on his new iPad. “While he was at the basketball game with his son, his wife was using his iPad as a video baby monitor for his granddaughter while she napped in another room,” the report explains. “By the time the two were back from the game, the app had burned through his two gigabyte plan.”
“All the advantages of the iPad device are completely neutralized by the two gigabyte data limit,” explains the elder Wells.
There’s little doubt that faster data will increase consumption, which means that somewhere down the road, carriers will have to increase data plans accordingly. For now, users should consider themselves lucky that this lightning-fast 4G LTE data isn’t coming at a premium — for end users, it costs exactly the same as older, slower 3G data speeds.
That extra value is little consolation to 24-year-old Texas resident Albert Park, however. After attempting to stream YouTube videos using a slow Wi-Fi network at a local café, Park decided to switch gears and use the AT&T 4G LTE data on his new iPad instead — and soon discovered he’d burned through two-thirds of his 3GB allotment for the month.
His solution? “I’ll probably avoid watching videos outside my home,” Park says.
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Remember Flip, the diminutive digital camcorder whose short life was snuffed out by a combination of mismanagement and the advent of smartphones that could record higher-quality HD video? The cameras are still six feet under, and as of this week, so is the companion FlipShare service.
Flip Video master Cisco Systems has sent an email to users of FlipShare announcing that the sun is finally setting on the video sharing service, which was a companion to the hardware itself and allowed users to share their videos with loved ones as sort of a more private kind of YouTube. It’s a bit of a sad ending to cap off the once-mighty Flip camcorder that just a short time ago revolutionized on-the-go video recording.
“Thank you for your loyalty and support of Flip Video,” the email begins. “Starting March 15, 2012, videos shared through email or FlipShare groups will only be available online for viewing and downloading for 30 days after being sent. At the same time, older videos that you might have shared more than 30 days in the past will also expire.
“Remember, the original videos that you have stored on your computer are not affected and you can use FlipShare to re-share these videos, as well as allowing your friends and family to download these videos for permanent storage at any point in that 30 days,” the notice continues.
While FlipShare may be going away, they’re handing the keys to their castle over to Givit, a mobile video sharing service currently offering an iOS app as part of their business model.
“We know that many of you are looking for a way to store your videos online for a longer period of time,” Cisco explains. “Today we are happy to announce a new offering called Givit, an alternative service to FlipShare, through which you can share and store videos online for more than 30 days. You can also import your previously shared FlipShare videos to Givit to keep them online for your friends and family to view. Givit is a long-standing technology partner of Cisco, but Givit is not part of Cisco.”
More information on the FlipShare to Givit transition can be found on the Givit website, including full details on migrating videos to their service, which comes with 2GB of free cloud storage. Additional premium packages are also available ranging from 10GB (.99 per year) to 50GB (.99 per year), and FlipShare users will get double the storage space with any paid upgrade.
Meanwhile, Cisco will continue to provide technical support for Flip cameras as well as the FlipShare service until December 31, 2013; a FAQ page documenting the changes is available on the Flip support website.
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The official video from today’s iPad event is now up. It includes all the announcements about the iPad and the Apple TV, as well as the demos of the new iPad’s gaming hardware and iLife suite. Ch-ch-ch-check it out!
