Nick Lee’s Handy Light app, which looks like any other flashlight app that uses the iPhone’s screen to provide illumination, actually camouflages a tethering feature using the SOCKS proxy, à la Nullriver’s Software’s NetShare app that was available for a short time nearly two years ago. The app just hit the App Store a little while ago and costs a mere $.99. Read more…

Pranksters, start your engines. Gizmodo lists eight tricks you can play on your iPad-owning, smug and self-satisfied friends to wipe the grins off their mugs. They’ve got a full gallery of options here; I especially like the SPOD screen, and the Wishful Thinking version shown here (multitasking! Flash! VERIZON!!) is quite funny. Read more…

PC World stress tests show the iPad can be permanently damaged with as little as one or two drops.

While this isn’t surprising given its larger screen. It is important to remember that your iPad needs a protective case. The iPhone seems to be a lot more durable. Mine has taken a few serious drops without any issue; however, its clear the iPad wouldn’t have survived the same experience.

[Via iclarified.com]

Some can’t wait to get their hands on the device, while others could care less. The device, the Apple iPad, is set to launch on Saturday, April 3, 2010. Earlier today, TUAW unearthed a hidden feature on the iPad (via an envelope slipped under the door of our headquarters in Roswell, NM) that may even force many iPad naysayers to consider purchasing it. Read more…

iLounge is reporting that Apple has banned protective screen films from its retail and online stores. Several film-screen manufacturers have confirmed that Apple’s ban will take effect in May. Multiple vendors told iLounge that Apple has said that it will remove both film-only solutions from its stores, as well as any case or other accessory that includes film protection as part of its package, such as cases that include film screen protectors. Read more…

ScreenRecorder is a new application available in Cydia that lets you record everything that happened on the screen of your iPhone. It will therefore be particularly useful for developers who want to run video demonstration / tutorial or all other users with special needs.

The operation and the graphical interface is extremely simple. Wait for the countdown and automatically start recording the screen. Just put everything in the background and move freely among the pages and apps.

It is available in Cydia Store at a price of $ 1.99.

[Via ispazio.net] Translated by google

NLU Products makes a very large line of screen and computer protection products. I got a chance to speak with Kirk Feller the President and CEO of the company about their newest product ScreenGuardz Privacy (US$19.95), that was released last month at the Consumer Electronics Show.

With the iPhone gaining more functionality seemingly every day through third party apps, privacy has become a concern. I really don’t think I want someone looking over my shoulder when I’m doing online banking or reading private email. Read more…

Here it is folks, the Apple iPad. The screen is gorgeous, tilting is responsive, and the thing is super thin. Still, if you’ve used the iPhone before — and you can see the two devices side-by-side here — there’s not a lot of surprises here so far. Here are some initial thoughts on the iPad:

• It’s not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand.
• The screen is stunning, and it’s 1024 x 768. Feels just like a huge iPhone in your hands.
• The speed of the CPU is something to be marveled at. It is blazingly fast from what we can tell. Webpages loaded up super fast, and scrolling was without a hiccup. Moving into and out of apps was a breeze. Everything flew.
• There’s no multitasking at all. It’s a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you’re working in Pages… you can figure it out. It’s a real setback for this device.
• The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.
• No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks. Hell, it doesn’t have an SMS app!
• It’s running iPhone OS 3.2.
• The keyboard is good, not great. Not quite as responsive as it looked in the demos.
• No Flash confirmed. So Hulu is out for you, folks!

[Via engadget.com]

A teen in New York has been arrested for leaving a threatening note on the screen of a computer at an Apple Store. The 17-year-old boy was joking around with friends when he typed a note on screen promising “a bloody death” to anyone working in the store via a “bomb loaded with C4, strapped to my chest.” The note was then signed with the name of one of his friends’ fathers. He claims he typed it just to be funny, and then forgot to delete it when he left, but the District Attorney in Staten Island says it’s no joke — the kid faces up to seven years in prison.

I can’t help but think they’ll let him off the hook eventually. Sure, it was a stupid (really stupid) thing to do, and they should come up with a punishment that teaches the kid a lesson, but time in prison labeled as a terrorist seems a little much for showing off to friends in an Apple Store. Maybe they can have him do some in-store lip synching performances as a community service.

[Via Tuaw.com]

Further fueling a whirlwind of tablet-related speculation Wednesday, some app developers have reportedly been told by Apple to prepare new versions of their software for a “full screen resolution” demo next month.

“Apple is preparing to show off a new, larger mobile device with a higher resolution display in January — probably a version of the Apple tablet we’ve been hearing about for months — according to a plugged-in source in the mobile industry,” Silicon Alley Insider reported Wednesday.
Read more…