WordPress for iPhone/iPad v2.6 Released

Attention Apple-gadget-owning WordPress users! Have you been using the WordPress iOS app for iPhone and iPad? Or maybe you tried it a while back and thought it wasn’t for you? Either way, the new release — v2.6 — will knock your socks off. Why? A bunch of reasons:

Mophie Juice Packs for iPhone 4, iPad en route to Apple Store

We have some details for you on Mophie's upcoming Juice Pack Universal line. Ready? Okay: available at the Apple Store sometime this month (and at Mophie's website now), all the new models, including Boost ($60), Reserve ($40) and Powerstation ($100), are compatible with all iPhone and iPod touch form factors, while the latter also throws iPad compatibility into the mix. Additionally, Reserve and Boost both feature one amp current (which, as the company points out, means they'll charge your device twice as fast as your standard 500 mAh charger), while Power Station boasts 2.1 amps. Not bad, eh? PR after the break.

HP: webOS products coming but these things take time

We’ve been anxiously waiting to see what Hewlett-Packard will do with Palm and the webOS platform since the $1.2 billion acquisition but it looks like we may have to wait a bit longer.

On his blog, HP’s “innovation czar” Rahul Sood said HP Palm is working on webOS smartphones and connected devices but it could be a little while before we see these.

    You will certainly see products released over the next 12 months, some sooner than others, and some which are very exciting to me. The stuff that excites me the most are the new form factors. Now, when I said “over the next 12 months,” I really mean over the next 12 months. Not at the end of 12 months, not tomorrow … but over the next 12 months we will see the makings of a new portfolio and the beginning of something great again. There is no predefined window of opportunity in the technology business; lack of innovation is the only thing that closes the window.

    There are challenges when you bring together two companies with distinct cultures. Palm was once a much smaller company with less access to resources than HP. HP, on the other hand is large: that’s

TeleNav Launches Ads within GPS Navigation App

TeleNav, the fine folks behind the GPS navigation apps for AT&T, T-Mobile,  Rogers, and Bell, have announced a new advertising program that points users to sponsored search results. It sounds an awful lot like the Poynt announcement made earlier today, but TeleNav’s existing partnerships with carriers will likely give them a leg-up.

There’s something to be said for the advertising effectiveness of a mobile application designed for turn-by-turn navigation – at that point, it’s not just about subliminally inserting logos into people’s heads, but actually affecting shopping decisions at the source. I would be curious to see if carriers need to agree to these advertisement programs, or have any rights to alter sponsored results in their own ways. Poynt and TeleNav should still be able to coexist without butting heads too much – after all, Poynt is about more than just directions, and includes movies, white pages, weather, and a lot of calendar and address book integration.

All Best Buy Locations to Sell iPad Starting September 26

The Apple iPad  has been selling like hotcakes despite being a “niche” device, or not having a place in the market, according to some analysts prior to its release, but now it looks like it’s going to an even bigger boost. Well, perhaps not quite as big as selling in China soon, but close enough. Starting September 26, every single Best Buy location in the U.S. will be selling the iPad.

This is good news for those who’ve been reluctant to order it from Apple online, who don’t live near an Apple retail store, and whose local Best Buy retailers don’t carry the tablet computer. It’s also perfect for the holiday season where the iPad is likely to be a hot commodity for holiday shoppers. Having it at every Best Buy location is going to be very convenient.

HTC Aria gets an firmware update – pulled shortly after release

The HTC Aria is one nice little Android phone and it’s even better when such a phone gets an update. It’s not so good when said update isn’t what you’re expecting at all. Recently, this tiny, Sense UI bearing phone received an update, but nowhere Froyo was to be found.

It’s not all bad, though, as the update the Aria is receiving packs a couple of fixesthat some may be happy to hear. But, let’s face it, this is a minor update and hopefully Froyo (Android 2.2) will pop up shortly.

Full Angry Birds for Android coming in 2-3 weeks

If you’re like me, you’re obsessed with the mobile game Angry Birds and the lite beta version  which hit earlier this month wasn’t enough to satisfy your pig-killing needs. I have good news for you, as the Rovio team said the full version is due to hit Android in 2-3 weeks.

In an interview with the folks over at TalkAndroid, Rovio talked about the release date and some of the issues we’ve been seeing. As you may recall, we heard from many users who said the Angry Birds beta couldn’t be found in the Android Market on devices not running 2.2. There are also support issues with devices like the HTC Wildfire.

Acer reportedly planning 5-inch Android 3.0 tablet

Acer had some 7- and 10-inch Android tablets in the works, but it looks like it's not stopping there. DigiTimes is now reporting that the company is also prepping a 5-inch tablet which, like the others, will be based on Android 3.0 and will roll out sometime in the first quarter of 2011. Of particular note here is that the 5-inch model will reportedly boast both "handset and tablet PC functionality," which would pit it up against the likes of the Dell Streak. Details otherwise still seem to be pretty up in the air for all three, though in fact, DigiTimes  says that Acer is still deciding between Qualcomm's Snapdragon and NVIDIA's Tegra 2, and that it will even release an Intel-based Windows 7 model before the Android tablets in order to "test the water in the market."

iOS 4.1 offers new photo features, Game Center

Though music and entertainment were the of focus of Wednesday's Apple press conference in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs devoted a few minutes to the next release of the company's mobile operating system. iOS 4.1 will be available next week for the iPhone and iPod touch. And in a change from previous OS updates, it will be free for iPod touch users.

Here's a summary of the new features that Jobs announced. We'll add to this list as we learn of other additions and we'll follow up with a hands-on review after next week's release.

Bug fixes
These will be for the proximity sensor, Bluetooth, and iPhone 3G performance. Though Jobs didn't detail the specific problems that Apple is fixing, we've experienced the latter two issues on the iPhone 4 and previous models. In fact, Bluetooth connectivity with stereo headsets was one of the first issues we noticed with the iPhone 4 the day it went on sale.

Game Center free to download next week on iOS 4.1

Ever since Apple's spring run-down of iOS 4, we've been curious about Game Center, Apple's attempt to add an across-the-board social gaming dashboard for the iPhone and iPod touch. Apple left it out of iOS 4's release, but it will finally be available for free next week as a download after the release of iOS 4.1, and will appear on iOS 4.2 on the iPad.

Game Center was given a quick demo at today's Apple music event, and it seems to offer some actually useful features. While social multiplayer services such as OpenFeint already exist, Game Center will work across most games. Like Xbox Live's dashboard or PSN, game achievements and player-to-player automatching will be highlighted. Player-to-player game invites will appear as popups.

Nokia discontinues remote data access service Ovi Files

Nokia has sent out an email notification to alert Ovi Files users that the service, which lets them access their computer data remotely via the Internet, will be shut down from October 1.

"Nokia is discontinuing the Ovi Files service, effective October 1, 2010," the company said, while asking users to uninstall the Ovi Files Connector client on their computers. Nokia added that users will not lose any content since the service only mirrors the files residing on the desktop.

Nokia assured users they will still be able to share content between their handset and the PC via Ovi Suite. The difference is that this method requires a wired connection and isn't a direct substitute for Ovi Files.

The world's largest phone-maker started to build its suite of Internet services in 2007. Ovi Files, previously known as Files on Ovi, was the result of Nokia's acquisition of Avyenu. The beta service launched in July 2008. A year later, it moved from being a paid to an entirely free service. According to Nokia, Ovi Files had 631,000 active users worldwide to date with over 1.5 million registrations.

Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet unveiled at IFA 2010

Samsung's plans to create the Galaxy Tab Android tablet can't come as much of a surprise at this point, but today's announcement at IFA 2010 marks the first time we're seeing official specs from the company.

Official pricing is still unknown, but we now know that the device is due to hit European markets in mid-September, and the US and Asia by year's end. The Galaxy Tab's size and specs put it somewhere between the phone-like Dell Streak and the magazine-size Apple iPad. The Tab uses a 7-inch capacitive touch screen with a 1,024 x 600 Wide Super VGA (WSVGA) resolution. It ships with Android 2.2 (Froyo), the complete Google apps Market, Flash 10.1, 16GB or 32GB of memory, GPS, and integrated sensors, such as a gyroscope, accelerometer, light sensor, and geomagnetic sensor.

Huawei announces affordable Android 2.2 IDEOS and three others

Google's mobile operating system just got bolstered by four new Android smartphones from Chinese telecommunications provider and handset-maker Huawei. The company said previously that it plans to announce a new Android smartphone at the IFA tradeshow in Berlin this week.

Dubbed the IDEOS (Industrial Design Evolution Operating System), the touchscreen smartphone runs on a stock implementation of Android 2.2 Froyo, the latest version of the Google OS, and will be priced between US$100 and US$200. The IDEOS has a 2.8-inch QVGA display, 528MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, 3.5mm audio jack and a microSD card slot. It also supports a range of wireless connections including 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS for navigation, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi b/g/n and doubles as a Wi-Fi router.

South Korea’s KT Corp. sets a September 10th date for the iPhone 4 launch

The iPhone 4 will officially land in South Korea starting September 10th, according to KT Corp.  which confirmed the highly anticipated launch date on Saturday. The iPhone 4 was originally expected to launch on July 30th in the Asian country but problems with regulatory approval forced its delay. After some wrangling, the South Korean government finally gave Apple’s flagship smartphone the rubber stamp of approval at the beginning of August.

As the exclusive carrier for the iPhone 4 in South Korea, KT is ready and rearing to get the handset into the hands of the masses. KT has been accepting pre-orders for the Apple-branded handset since August and sold over 130,000 handsets in the first nine hours of availability. Crashing servers and general chaos accompanied this very successful pre-launch. This degree of enthusiasm is not surprising as KT, also the exclusive carrier or the iPhone 3GS, has sold over 850,000 3GS handsets since the model launched last November.

Google: Hey Apple, Our Android Sales Numbers Don’t Include Upgrades

We had already heard  Google Music for Android could see a delay until next year and a new report today shows that the service could be limping along.

Reuters reports that Google Music hasn’t signed a single music label, which doesn’t portend well for something that will need a large catalog to compete against Apple and its iTunes juggernaut.

That doesn’t mean Google Music is dead in the water though, as some music companies are giddy at the chance to stick it to Apple.

“Finally here’s an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform,” said a label executive who asked not to be identified. “What you’ll have is a very powerful player in the market that’s good for the music business.”