Otaku Gadgets

Saturday is the day when I treat you to the latest in Apple. Apple – the company that gave us the iPod, the iTunes Store and the iPhone. Not to mention a whole line of great computers the fondly call Macs. Did you know that Apple practically invented the portable computer line?

We have made a whole week without a tablet rumor. I guess we will hear less of the tablet around holiday times. Buyers should not be distracted during buying.

Get to the other side to get your piece of the Saturday Apple Pie.

Rumors:

It’s the iPhone all over folks!

$99 8GB iPhone 3GS For Christmas [?]

This is still unconfirmed but according to Boy Genius Report, a 8GB version of the iPhone 3GS will be available for $99 during the holiday season. [read]

New iPhone Coming To Verizon Next Year [?]

After the Tablet, this has got to be the hottest Apple rumor of the year. It is pretty much agreed upon that the Apple-AT&T exclusivity contract ends next year and apparently, Apple is readying for it by making a new iPhone that will run on Verizon’s network. Time to hit the w00t button I guess! [read]

iPhone Nano [?]

Alright people, here we go again. The iPhone Nano has materialized again in rumorsville. Word is that the new iPhone that is being developed by Apple will be a smaller version of the current iPhone with a 2.8inch screen and it will host a Qualcomm CDMA/WCDMA chip for working on the CDMA networks of Verizon and other networks. This is almost a rumor about a rumor. [read]

iPhone Getting RFID [?]

A rumor suggests that Apple is testing out a new version of the iPhone which has an RFID chip inside it. This could really come in really handy for über local services and other commercial features. [read]

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General Apple News:

Steve Jobs Declared CEO Of The Decade

Fortune Magazine has declared that it regards Steve Jobs as the CEO of the decade. The magazine says that he has made successful, not one, but four different businesses. Other the obvious (personal computers), he has succeeded in selling music, movies and mobile phones. And we may be on to the 5^th one right now – the print industry! [read]

Silly Lawsuit Against Apple (And Sarah Jessica Parker)

The plaintiff claims that he invented and name both the iPod and the iPhone in 1980 and then Sarah Jessica Parker and Apple stole them from him through the FBI. If he is given money, he will not drag it through court (how generous and forgiving of him). BTW, did I ever tell you folks about the time when I invented the iMac and Steve just stole it from me? [read]

Apple Store To Have Reserve And Pick Up For Holidays

If you want to shop at an Apple Store this holiday season but do not want to risk not getting what you want, you can reserve your purchase online. All you have to do is login with your Apple ID, choose a store location and reserve the item/s you want. You get all the usual stuff – MacBooks, Mac Minis, iPods, iPhones, iMacs, etc. on this deal. You can then pick them up between 19 to 24 December. You will be required to pay the full amount during the pick and nothing before. [read]

Mac OS 10.6.2 Update Takes Away Atom Support

Hackintosh’d netbook users beware, the next Snow Leopard update might break your netbook completely. Apple has taken out support for Intel Atom from the latest build kernels of Mac OS 10.6.2. Just let the hackers come up with something before updating. [read]

Apple Store Opens At Carrousel du Louvre

If you thought Apple already has stores in all the prime locations, you missed out on this one. The first French Apple store has opened up in Paris at the Carrousel du Louvre. This is commercial area beneath the glass pyramid that sits at the entrance to the Louvre and as of November 7^th (i.e. today) you can buy Apple products from here. [read]

Apple Might Offer TV Shows For $30/Month

Apple is asking around to see if anyone’s interested for providing content on a $30/month service. This might mean the deal making its way to Apple TV owners. [read]

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iPhone News:

Radio Shack To Carry iPhone

If you want to purchase an iPhone this holiday season, you can get one from Radio Shack. According to Wall Street Journal, Radio Shack is going to sell the device in New York City and also at Dallas-Ft. [read]

iPhone Devs Stealing Phone Numbers

Developers of Storm 8 (makers of the games shown above) have been accused of stealing their customers’ phone number through a hidden code in their apps. The team has, in a way, admitted that the apps indeed do this. [read]

iPhone Does (Quite) Badly In China

The iPhone hasn’t been doing too well in the Chinese market. This after Apple going through so much trouble to make it happen. High price and no WiFi is what is killing it out there. [read]

Aussies Think The World Of the iPhone

Within hardly a year since launch, the iPhone has gotten pretty popular in Australia. A survey has it that Australians in general see the iPhone as a bigger brand than all its competitors. [read]

Orange Will Start Selling iPhones From Nov 10, Bans YouTube, Spotify, Etc.

Orange will start selling the iPhone from Nov 10 this year in the UK and everyone is more or less looking forward to it.

But Orange has this forbidding T&C agreement that disallows its customers from using any online media streaming service other than its own. This would effectively ban all media streaming apps, from YouTube to Spotify. But the carrier has told BBC that it will allow those apps for its iPhone users. [read]

CNET UK Says iPhone Is The Worst Phone Ever

A CNET UK editor has awarded the ‘CNET UK Worst Phone Ever’ award to the iPhone. Her argument is that the iPhone does a lot of things really well but it is in no way a great phone. Lesson: When everyone ignores you, go for shock value. [read]

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iPhone Apps:

App Store Overshoots 100,000 Apps

Apple has officially acknowledged that they now have over 100,000 apps in the App Store. [read]

Louvre App Arrives

Along with the launch of the (Carrousel du) Louvre Apple Store, we have a stunning new App from the Musée du Louvre itself. The app lets you browse through a selection of the timeless art collection, gives you valuable information and even takes you on a virtual tour. The app is available for free. As they say, some of the best things in life are free and you end up paying a buck or two for an app that does pretty much nothing. [read]

Text From Your iPod Touch For Free With textPlus 2.0

GOGII’s textPlus 2.0 has come to the App store and with it comes the ability to text for free from any iPhone OS device. This app uses in app advertising to pay for the texting and with 2.0 you can now have a username. At this rate, you might be able to go completely without a phone, as long as you have the Internet. [read]

App Cures Fear Of Flying

Virgin Atlantic has released an app that will calm those with fear of flying and will ease them into finally taking off of from their grounded lives. [read]

Chorus iPhone App For iPhone App Discovery

Now that we have 100,000 apps to choose from, I am sure I am not the only one who thinks that finding worthwhile apps will become a pain in the you-know-where. But the app store has far too much attention for this problem to go unnoticed. Say hello to Chorus – an iPhone app that helps you discover great new apps through your friends. [read]

Stacks For (unlocked) iPhone

This is a pretty neat hack of the iPhone UI that allows you to store more than one app in each of the four home screen slots. It is still in alpha and can be used only by owners of unlocked iPhones. [read]

Blacksn0w Arrives To Unlock iPhone OS 3.1.2

Want to unlock the new iPhones running the iPhone OS 3.1.2? There’s an app for that! Get the Blacksn0w app from Cydia and get it done. This app comes from hacker GeoHot, the same guy who made purplera1n and blackra1n some time back. [read]