News Archive for 08/01/09

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Film studios praise Apple, iTunes

01/09, 5:35pm

Studios keen on iTunes

Major Hollywood content providers gave Apple and its iTunes Store a thumbs up during a panel discussion and Q&A session on Monday at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. The Cupertino-based company began offering hit TV shows and more than 2,000 music videos in October of 2005 after experiencing enormous success in the digital music industry. Deals with four Disney-owned studios -- Disney, Pixar, Miramax, and Touchstone Pictures -- were followed by a deal with Paramount Pictures and later Lionsgate films.

BlueAnt preps speakers, voice-controlled headset

01/09, 3:50pm

BlueAnt voice headset

Bluetooth purveyors BlueAnt have announced two new devices through the CES expo in Las Vegas. The first of these is the V1 Voice Controlled Headset, which as its name implies, allows users to control "most" functions through audio commands rather than pushing buttons. Pressing a single button activates the voice system, which will list available commands if the user asks for help. The headset uses Bluetooth 2.1, and actually supports connections with two phones simultaneously, by switching to the ringing phone when necessary. The V1 comes with car/desk and USB chargers, and can handle up to six hours of talk time, or 200 hours (over eight days) of standby. It should be available soon for $119.

Pioneer preps hybrid GPS with voiced iPod link, more

01/09, 12:25pm

Pioneer GPS at CES

Pioneer at CES has unveiled a slew of in-car devices for both navigation and music, including a unique hybrid device that can work outside of the car. The AVIC-F500BT (pictured) is tailored for drivers who want the features of an in-dash GPS and stereo unit but also the ability to take it on the road; although the 5.8-inch touchscreen device can connect to an existing head-end unit through an auxiliary input jack or a mounting kit, it can also detach and run independently on a battery.

Apple pledges to reduce prices on iTunes UK

01/09, 9:30am

UK iTunes price drop

Within the next six months, music prices on the UK iTunes Store will drop to fall in line with other European countries, Apple has announced. The company notes that while iTunes pricing is already standardized between countries such as Germany, Ireland, Spain and Sweden, the UK has for some time paid greater song prices; Apple blames this on unnamed record labels, who it accuses of charging more for distribution in the UK than they do elsewhere. The company says it may "reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK" with labels that do not drop their own fees to the European standard.

iPhone Trojan revealed, targets jailbroken phones

01/09, 12:10am

First iPhone Trojan attack

The iPhone recently fell victim to its first Trojan attack, which came in the form of a malicious file named “113 prep”. While installation of the phony application is relatively benign – the app merely says “shoes” when activated – uninstalling the file causes damage to or deletes system-critical files in the /bin directory on the iPhone. In addition to harming the devices own software, third party utilities are also being rendered useless through the same means. This attack was orchestrated by an 11-year-old, and has some modmyifone.com forum members laughing to ease the pressure using references to the 1995 film Hackers, due to the similarity of circumstances.