Devices
Microsoft’s Windows Phone Developer Tools package goes to beta
Early versions of the tools Windows Phone 7 developers will use to craft their wares have been floating around since Microsoft’s MIX event in March, but it looks like things have finally gotten robust and feature-complete enough this week to bless the kit with a beta label. In fact, Microsoft is coming out and saying that this release “represents the near final version,” which we take to mean you can develop with some confidence that your world won’t be turned upside down when the time comes to prep your apps for shipping devices and firmwares.
BlackBerry 6 teased again in new official video
There have been rumors that the first volley of BlackBerry 6 -powered devices could launch as early as last month — but seeing how we’re still empty-handed, we may as well enjoy more high production value video pimping the biggest new features, right? RIM has published another official YouTube spot on BlackBerry 6 today showing off goodies likes aggregated social network integration, universal search, and — of course — the all-new WebKit-based browser coming out of last year’s purchase of Torch Mobile . Interestingly, this latest video continues RIM’s trend of showing 6 running only on full touchscreen phones; we can’t fathom that they’d abandon the form factor that made them famous, of course, but it’s becoming more and more obvious by the day that we’re going to see this launch on the rumored 9800 or something very similar to it
Confirmed: HTC Sync lets tethered AT&T Aria sideload apps
Looks like more than HTC’s description was erroneous yesterday afternoon — we’ve just confirmed that the HTC Sync desktop client for the AT&T Aria allows users to install third-party apps on non-rooted devices, just as promised . We ran some quick tests, and while it doesn’t actually enable anything on the handset end, it most certainly does allow those of you with Windows PCs (or VMware) to sideload APKs like Swype over USB with a simple drag-and-drop maneuver. Given how quickly the company sought to correct our original post on the subject, we’d expect HTC will be issuing a rather different version of the software soon, so hit up that source link, pound in your serial number, grab the EXE, and get while the getting’s good.
HTC Aria update for AT&T enables mobile hotspot, sideloaded app support (update: disappointment)
Well, this is genuinely awesome: it seems AT&T is pulling back from its ban on third-party sideloaded apps on its Android devices, because HTC has just released an Aria update that enables them (either that or HTC just went rogue here, but we highly doubt it).
Netgear’s ReadyNAS Ultra 4 and Ultra 6 stream to TiVo, mobile, and DLNA-certified devices
The “Death of Local Media Storage,” eh Netgear? The company is certainly proud of its latest unveiling, the ReadyNAS Ultra series, as the aforementioned press release headline exemplifies. In addition to the usual network storage capabilities, the gang can stream media to any TiVo device, DLNA -certified machine (via Skifta), and mobile devices using Orb technologies.
Uplink Audio Strap System offers solar power for runners on the run
Designer Adam Hammerman’s concept — the Uplink Audio Strap System — is for all you sports enthusiasts that want to listen to tunes while running but don’t want to be bothered with headphones. It can connect with a variety of different mobile devices, and boasts four ultrasound speakers, meaning that you can hear the music but nobody else can, so you’re not disturbing the peace! For outdoorsy types, of course, it would be a much safer system for things like running, since you would still be able to hear the street noise around you, and the device would also have flexible solar panels which charge the speakers on the go. It’s just a concept for now, but one we’d like to see in reality.
