An iPhone case from Nissan? As you can imagine, it would make no sense for the automaker to develop an ordinary case, and the so-called Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone Case is actually special. According to the company, it’s the world’s first “self-healing” iPhone cover: in other words, it quickly fixes (fine) scratches by itself.
Nissan says they used their self-healing paint finish originally developed for vehicles for the case, which is made from light weight ABS plastic. Scratch Shield as a paint technology has been used in various Nissan cars since 2005, before Nissan teamed up with the University of Tokyo and Japan-based Advanced Softmaterials [JP] to create the case. → Read More
Japan-based accessory maker Sanwa Supply started selling the 400-PRJ011 [JP] in its online store, a DLP micro projector that slides onto an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. The device comes with a 2,100mAh battery, which takes about five hours to fully charge and provides enough juice for 2.5 hours of projector usage.
With the projector function turned off, buyers can also use the device to charge their iPhone (it adds 100% to the life of the phone’s battery). → Read More
Set the rear-facing Apple logo aglow with this simple mod. Per the video demo below, it only takes 5 minutes to install and seems relatively simple. Just pop off the back cover of the iPhone, remove 5 internal screws, disconnect the screen’s cable and install the mod. From there, you’re a hop, skip and jump from having a glowing Apple logo every time the iPhone’s screen kicks on or displays a notification.
But there’s a catch. The retailer knows it won’t be able to sell this thing forever. Apple will no doubt release its legal hounds as soon as it catches wind of the unofficial mod. K.O Store is currently selling the kit for $42, but only for a limited time. Per a countdown timer on the website, the kit will go into hiding in just over two days from now unless of course Apple gets to it first. So? Do you want it or not?
Update @ 10:30 am: Looks like we crashed the store or Apple retaliated with an orbital bombardment.
→ Read More
When Cyber Monday rolls around, everyone’s eyes dart to the big boys like Amazon and Newegg for cheap goods, but niche retailers have their own deals too. Case in point: the DIY repair nuts at iFixit have whipped together a nifty bundle for aspiring iPhone modders who would like to see the fruits of Apple’s design savvy instead of an opaque black panel. → Read More
Sprint Nextel, the no. 3 carrier in the United States, reported its quarterly earnings today, and they’re quite solid. In Q3 2011, the company generated consolidated net operating revenues of $8.3 billion, up from $8.15 billion in the same period last year and relatively flat compared to Q2 2011.
The company booked a quarterly loss of $301 million (or 10 cents per share), roughly a third the loss it reported in the same quarter a year ago ($911 million). → Read More
Despite predictions to the contrary, Apple did not announce a cheaper, mass market version of the iPhone today. Instead, it announced an upgraded iPhone 4 called the iPhone 4S. It’s the same on the outside, but with all new insides.
However, there are more affordable iPhones now on the market: the old ones. Apple says it’s keeping the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 around. Not only that, it’s dropping their prices. Why would Apple keep these aging devices alive? Simple. To battle Android, Symbian, RIM and Windows Phone – especially in emerging markets. → Read More
It’s time for your weekly dose of next-gen iPhone rumors. This edition is a doozy, friends. Purported iPhone components are leaking everywhere with every site claiming to have the real deal. It’s hard to say which components are lifted straight from Foxconn’s lines, but when they’re viewed as a whole, these components paint an interesting picture that Apple is about to dramatically shift course and fully disrupt the cell phone market. → Read More
There really should be no argument when I say that a case for your iPhone 4 is nothing short of necessary. Unless you’ve got cash to burn, the iPhone is just too damn expensive to leave unprotected. The only problem is that most of them make your phone pretty clunky, which sucks since Apple works hard to make the iPhone as slim as possible. Unfortunately, the only trade-off for all the heft is protection against impact. But what if you drop your iPhone in the toilet?
The folks at Catalyst have an answer for you: EscapeCapsule. → Read More
Déjà vu, much? Like Apple’s original strategy for the aging iPhone 3GS, a new report states that Apple is working on an 8GB iPhone 4 to be sold at a discount while the iPhone 5 will sell at a higher price with contract.
According to Reuters’s sources, Apple has contracted a Korean firm to manufacture the discount iPhone’s flash drive. Samsung was previously one of Apple’s vendors of choice for flash memory (the other being Toshiba) but it’s possible that recent patent unpleasantness may have soured that relationship. → Read More
And we’re off: the first photos of a “cheap” iPhone – not specifically of the iPhone 5 but of a light version of the iPhone 4 – are beginning to appear, the latest leak coming from a Vietnamese forum, Tinhte.
We wouldn’t usually fall for this sort of thing but Tinhte has been correct in the past and so it’s at least worth a quick look.
→ Read More
In our ongoing quest to keep track of which domain names Apple owns – and doesn’t own – we picked this up over at Fusible: the Cupertino tech giant has apparently acquired the domains iPhone4.com and WhiteiPhone.com quite recently.
Both domain names have already been forwarded to the iPhone 4 product page, which apparently a lot of people mistake for a 4G phone (according to a Retrevo study).
As Fusible points out, Apple is not the owner of iPhone5.com, iPhone6.com, iPhone7.com (and so on) although it’s always possible they’re simply not interested in registering them or obtaining ownership by filing a dispute. They’ve never owned iPhone3GS.com or iPad.com either, by the way. → Read More
You look for a case for your iPhone 4 but those Hello Kitty ones we showed earlier this week are too girly-girly for you? Then here’s a (quite nasty) alternative: a case with a plastic Dokkiri, a Japanese beetle, glued to it. → Read More
Tokyo-based Japan Trend Shop, an online store selling unique gadgets and lifestyle products from Nippon, started listing something super-cute today: Hello Kitty-themed protective cases (the site is completely in English) for use with the iPhone 4. → Read More
Earlier today, TUAW noted that according to Flickr’s stats, the iPhone 4 is now the most popular camera across the site. Yes, it has overtaken all those professional cameras, all the point-and-shoots, etc. That’s huge.
But the news came with a caveat. And it’s actually a big one.
As TUAW notes at the bottom of their post, the caveat is Flickr admitting that they’re only able to detect the camera used to take photos “about 2/3rds of the time”. But the key part is the next sentence: “That is not usually possible with cameraphones, therefore they are under-represented.” → Read More
There it was. Like the White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver. It was 15 feet away from me. The white iPhone.
Tonight I was at dinner with a couple of friends when something caught my eye. I cut into our conversation. “Look at the table next to ours. Is that the white iPhone?” Both of my friends, geeks like me, got excited. Yep. → Read More
When it comes to iPhone cases with special tricks up their sleeves (that is, the ones that do more than just protect your handset from the wilds), you usually get one or the other: an external battery, or some sort of clever kickstand system built to prop the iPhone up for movie watchin’.
With the just announced switchBACK Surge G4 case, Scosche is lookin’ to cover both bases at once. → Read More
What’s the most popular camera used in terms of pictures taken that are uploaded to Flickr? Right now, it’s the Nikon D90. But in about a month or so, it will be Apple’s iPhone 4. What’s amazing is that D90 is nearly three years old. The iPhone 4 is not even a year old. Just look at a the chart above. The rise has been spectacular.
But it’s hardly the first time an iPhone has risen this quickly. Back in 2009, the iPhone overtook the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi as the most popular camera on Flickr. The difference is that at the time, Flickr was counting all the iPhone models together. That meant the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G, and the iPhone 3GS were all clumped together to overtake the Canon model. Now they’re split up, and the iPhone 4 alone is still going to be the most popular camera on Flickr in under a year. It’s pretty remarkable, really. → Read More
There are quite a few panoramic apps for the iPhone but they all require a steady hand, lots of patience and, most important, you can only take still photos. The GoPano aims to solve that by adding a panoramic mirror to the iPhone’s video camera, thereby allowing you to take panoramic video in real time.
The GoPano simply snaps onto your iPhone and the included app does the rest. As you record, you can turn the panorama by swiping the screen to shoot what you want as it happens. → Read More
We have to level with you. The iPad 2 has some flaws. One would only expect that the iPad 2, a device many many months ahead of the iPhone 4, would have an equal or better quality camera. Sadly, it doesn’t. So to see just where the iPad 2 camera ranks with the rest of the meaningful tablets, Macworld thoroughly tests them. → Read More
San Francisco, CA
