GadgetReview

‘Stacks’ have long existed in Apple’s Mac OS, but what about the iPhone?  They are now thanks to ‘Stacks’, a piece of software that you can add to your iPhone, that is assuming it’s Jailbroken (aka hacked).

Much like Mac’s OS you can add multiple applications (in Mac OS X you can view multiple files in a folder, at a glance, from your dock) to your iPhone or iPod Touch’s dock instead of just four.  Tap on a ’stack’ and a playing card like display of applications are laid out before you.  If you’ve added too many applications to the ’stack’ it transforms the window to a grid like layout similar to your iPhone’s default screen.

Wired notes that there are a few draw backs to the current interation, such as the lack of icon badges (unread email), visual notifications and a few other minor hiccups.  Problems aside, I think it’s a great idea, though it might defeat the purpose of having four dedicated buttons to choose from.

If you’ve got a Jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch you can grab ‘Stacks’ now, you’ll just need to make a $1 donation to the developer.

Video after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: Stacks Software Adds Mac OS X Stacks To The iPhone

Ahhh….Techie new parents are going to love this one.  A new iPhone application entitled The Cry Translator is on its way that will effectively tell you what your gurgling baby is crying about.

The app will listen to a whining child and determine through pitch, volume, tone, and inflection, what the deal is.  Ten seconds later that app will tell you whether the child is hungry, sleepy, stressed, annoyed, bored, or has to let go of a mean steamy (omit that).  From there the app offers advice as to what to do with the translation in order to appease your baby.

Developed by Biloop Technologic, they claim that through clinical testing these translations  are 96% accurate, and the age of the child does not waver the results.  On sale for $10 on November 11th.

But will it work with sputtering brain dead alcoholics?

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Okay, admittedly, sometimes you really want just the right skin for your iPhone or iPod.  Your skin says a lot about who you are, how you feel about stuff, and junk.  And of course, you definitely want the coolest one you can find.  And maybe you can’t find a skin with your favorite supermodel on it, or with a sharp enough resolution image of the Klingon Empire’s sigil.

Now, you can make your own.  Thanks to the iaPeel (like eye appeal, only Apple style) you can print off gadget skins for your Apple portables in whatever format you want.

The iaPeel kit will set you back a mere $21, and comes with some basic design software and five skins that’ll work with your inkjet printer of choice.  Plus, you can make your Apple gear into total clotheshorses and make multiple skins, for different occasions or even days of the week.  Imagine the fun you’ll have with your friends when you whip out your iPhone and say, “This is my Thursday skin.”

Of course, if you actually do try that, you may not have friends much longer….

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So a strange development took place on Sunday–a Dutch hacker is currently holding what amounts to several jailbreaked Apple iPhones.

Just in case you’re wondering about the terminology here, a jailbroken phone is basically a hacked iPhone that allows you to install software from other sources besides Apple’s App Store.  The need for jailbreaking has fallen off somewhat in recent days, but there are still plenty of phones out there already that have been jailbroken.

But when you jailbreak an Apple iPhone, you force the resetting of a password that controls remote access to the general password coded in at the factory level.  Now, if you’re smart, you’ll quickly change that password to something you know well.  But a lot of people either got lazy or busy or just plain forgot, because they left their iPhones in the ORIGINAL PASSWORD SETTING.

And that’s where the Dutch hacker swung in.  He changed the passwords, effectively locking people out of their own phones until they pay him a ransom of five euros via PayPal.  Meanwhile, Apple considers jailbroken phones to have voided their warranties, so it’s pretty much either pay off the hacker or lose your phone until he’s arrested and forced to confess.

So if you’ve got a jailbroken Apple, you may want to switch that password around before the Dutch hacker gets you…if he hasn’t already.

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What would probably look cooler in an actual booth at a Hard Rock Cafe than at your place, this cheapo “Limited Edition” iPod dock could make a decent gift idea for that certain nostalgia freak in your family.

At only $15, I can’t imagine the sound quality to be anything of value, but it is cheap enough to buy for your bathroom or walk-in closet.  Especially if you like the included digital FM tuner.  Also featuring a line-in for CD and MP3 players, it will also run off of 4 AA batteries or a wall plug.

Limited Edition always denotes a “Buy Now” type of attitude so don’t hesitate!

[via ChipChick]

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A reliable source in the past,  China Ontrade has just released this picture of what appears to be the body casing of a iPhone 4G.  While none of this is official by any means, it will surely churn out some decent comments from people in the know.

A 4G iPhone is expected to be released in 2010 and will be the biggest Apple news of the year.

Let’s hope the new iPhone uses some of these recent Apple patents to increase battery life.

Should we expect the same design factor?

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Late last week Scosche introduced the powerFUZE car and home USB chargers for mobile products.  It does double duty by incorporating not only an AC plug with a dedicated USB port, but also features a removable car cigarette lighter USB charger that can either be used at home as a second USB port for dual charging or plugged into the car for on the go power.  I really don’t get it since the whole idea of a separate charger for the car and the home is to leave them in each respective place so you don’t run out of juice when in a pinch.

You can grab one now for $30.

Of note, you can purchase these items separately, so it’s more a question of convenience.

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While I’m confident that satellite radio is sure to fail that doesn’t mean that new and cool products for the service aren’t worth noting.  Starting today XM’s Skydock is available for purchase from a barrage of retailers including Amazon, who has it for about $95.  If you recall, the Skydock is essentially a glorified cigarette charger and turns any iPhone (or iPod Touch) running the XM iPhone app into a satellite radio, that is assuming that you’ve attached the magnetic antenna to your car’s roof.

Personally, I’d prefer an HD radio dock, which doesn’t require a hefty monthly subscription.

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Consider this a cautionary tale against trying to fix your iPod or your iPhone yourself.  Recently, a guy over in Sussex (like the European Sussex) tried fixing it.  And he’d checked online, and discovered that the repair process was not what you’d call difficult.  So he started in, and got the first couple of screws out, but discovered that that glass face plate wasn’t exactly the easiest removal in the instruction set.  So he goes at it with a knife.

You can about imagine what happens here, but let’s just say: explosion, glass shards, eye.

You can connect the dots from there.

So he got himself to the hospital and discovered he’d damaged the protective layer covering his eye.  Now he’ll be wearing an eye patch for the next several weeks, and imagine the shock and horror he felt upon coming home and seeing the shattered iPhone, right where he left it.

Consider yourselves warned.

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The iPhone officially went on sale yesterday from China’s Unicom.  While they lacked the same frenzied fans as the US – that was during the initial Gen 1 launch – a few lines did form leaving queued customers in the rain for up to 7 hours.  The first owner of an official iPhone in China – they’ve long been available on the gray market – is Zhi Xianzhong.

Price for the handset with a 3 year, yes 3 year contract starts at 4,999 yuan (about $732) for the 8GB 3G model or 6,999 yuan (about $1,025) for the 32GB 3GS version.  Oh, and that price doesn’t even include WiFi, which has been left out of the handsets due to government oversight.

The success of the Chinese iPhone will be relatively limited given the price which will drop, but probably never enough for the majority to afford it.

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