Cool, “home-made” hardware hack! Take your GameCube, and shrink it down to a hand held version! Very cool! And, he will build YOU one for between $700 to $1000!

The Envision: A portable Gamecube sans disc drive

“One of the main problems faced by hackers and modders creating portable versions of home consoles is, well, portability. Making something you can hold in your hands isn’t exactly an easy task, but creating something that also fits in your messenger bag is a tall order, especially when hacking together a handheld version of something with a disc drive.

ModRetro member Jonathan Shine’s solution to this problem is as ingenious as it is simple: If the disc drive is too thick, don’t use it. The Envision, Shine’s homemade portable Gamecube, kicks spinning media to the curb in favor of an SD card loaded with what we’re sure are completely legal and legitimate backups of games he already owns. The device measures approximately 1.375 by 6.5 by 4.125 inches and will run for 2 to 3 hours on a single charge.”

“If you build it, they will come.” True of hand held devices, for sure! If you come up with a device, somebody will want to hack, either the hardware, software, or both!

Sony PS Vita, A Hacker’s Dream, Or Nightmare

“The Sony PlayStation Portable (Sony PSP) was a dream for hackers, as they were able to pretty easily crack the first Sony handheld, getting to it run homebrew, as well as a variety of other applications. Will the Sony PS Vita end up being a hacker’s dream, or nightmare?

The Sony PSP was quickly hacked when it was released several years ago, as the handheld ended up being an absolute dream for gamers who enjoy truly unlocking their hardware.

We saw the Sony PSP turn into a device that was able to be manipulated via software to run homebrew applications, pirated software, as well as a variety of other things with great ease.

Sony set out with the Sony PS Vita to try and correct these issues that plagued its original handheld, by being far more pro-active in its attempts to fight hackers trying to crack the Sony PS Vita.

The jury is still out as to whether or not the PS Vita is going to be a dream or nightmare for hackers, but if it is unlocked, expect some pretty amazing stuff.

The Sony PS Vita is far advanced from where the Sony PSP was when it launched. It has a touch-screen, dual-analog sticks, as well as advanced processing power. Hackers would have a field day in what they would likely be able to run on the handheld if they were able to get into it.”

So, only two years since the advent of the iPad! Wow! As ubiquitous as tablets are, who would have thought it has only been a relatively short time?!

Apple iPad: Happy 2nd Birthday

“Apple’s iPad turns two on Friday, assuming we accept the late Steve Jobs’ announcement of the iPad as the device’s date of birth rather than its April, 2010 release date.

The iPad’s gestation period was a long one. Computer pioneer Alan Kay had conceived of a tablet computer, the Dynabook, back in 1968, around the time that the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on Arthur C. Clark’s novel of the same name, depicted a tablet news reader.

Over the years, variations on the tablet theme appeared. Microsoft hardware partners shipped tablet PCs in 2002 and Windows-based tablets have lingered on, without much success.

Apple had a tablet of sorts in its Newton handheld device. The Newton had a ten-year run, starting in the late 1980s, but failed to achieve broad enough appeal to survive.

The iPad, however, is different. It’s hugely popular, so much so that Apple sold 15.4 million of them during the last quarter of 2011. That’s more than the number of PCs sold during that period by HP, the world’s leading PC vendor. The desktop computing era is officially over.”

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Kindle software update 6.2.2 update! Blackberry Playbook security issues, Amazon reports Kindle Fire more profitable than originally thought, Hand Held Hightlights from CES 2012, Time Warner customers now can access content via their hand held devices.

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Kindle software update 6.2.2 update! Blackberry Playbook security issues, Amazon reports Kindle Fire more profitable than originally thought, Hand Held Hightlights from CES 2012, Time Warner customers now can access content via their hand held devices.

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Now you can watch Time Warner on your Android or iPhone!

Time Warner Customers Can Watch TV on iPhone

“Want to watch Time Warner Cable content on your iPhone? Yes, as of today, there’s an app for that. (We know that phrase is becoming cliché, but couldn’t help ourselves.)

The media conglomerate said on its blog Thursday that after it launched an app for Apple’s iPad in March, viewers demanded it for the iPhone and Android devices.

‘It’s only natural — the universe of handheld devices is expanding fast, and we’re working hard to keep up,’ wrote Time Warner Untangled blogger Jeff Simmermon. The Android app, which does not include live TV, came last month.

Mobile devices are increasingly an essential part of cable companies’ strategies. Last month Verizon Wireless signed a $3.6 billion deal with Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks to acquire spectrum licenses that also allows the cable companies to sell Verizon’s products and vice versa.”

A smattering of things from the hand held world that were mentioned at CES this year:

Handheld devices in class of their own at CES

“Following a week in Las Vegas for the world’s largest consumer electronics fair, CES, Brady Gunn of online iPod speaker dock store www.dockhub.com.au predicts that handheld devices will become the ‘hub of our lives.’
‘Soon handheld devices will replace credit cards, keys and even passports,’ Gunn says. ‘We’ll even have conversations with them!’

Here are Gunn’s top 3 handheld related technologies, from the Consumer Electronics Show.

1)’Haptics’ from ViviTouch.

This is a new way of causing our handheld devices to vibrate. They use 70% less battery than previous motorized vibrators and offer a more realistic rumbling while playing games or handling navigation. Soon all hand held devices will have this technology.

http://www.destructoid.com/vivitouch-technology-could-change-rumble-forever-213219.phtml

2)The Galaxy Note Smart Phone.

This is a merge between the smart phone and the tablet. It also features the S Pen which is pressure sensitive so light strokes create thinner lines.

‘This Galaxy Note is world leading in it’s concept. It’s the first truly awesome hybrid of a phone and a tablet,’ says Mr Gunn. ‘And the S pen is mind blowing, the caricatures the artists were doing in the Samsung stand were unbelievable.’

http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/consumer/mobile/mobile-phones/smartphone/GT-N7000ZBATGY/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

3) Guitars and pianos with ‘built in’ iPads.

Ion audio has released specialised guitars and pianos with ‘built in’ iPads. The iPads demonstrate to the learner where better to place their fingers.

‘This essentially replaces the need for a teacher and is just the beginning when it comes to tablets being ‘built in’ to physical objects,’ he says.

About Dockhub
Dockhub is an online iPod speaker dock store.

Dockhub is committed to bringing you the best electronic equipment at the best possible prices.”

As you know, my Kindle Fire is my favorite new tech toy… and we had a report not long ago that Amazon was selling them at a price lower than it costs to make them. But this report seems to indicate that, as we predicted, they are doing fine on sales and profits!

Kindle Fire Could Be More Profitable Than Expected

Amazon’s Kindle Fire, released in November, may wind up being more profitable than was expected, thanks to users’ penchant for purchasing digital goods, according to a new research report from RBC Capital.

Though Amazon actually eats a loss of an estimated $18 for every Kindle sold due to manufacturing costs and other factors, the company makes up for it through sales of ebooks and apps, according to the report. Based on survey of 216 Kindle Fire Owners, RBC analysts estimated that over the course of three years, each Kindle Fire sold could earn Amazon $136.

‘Amazon will break even on a Kindle Fire unit in less than five months, accounting only for direct digital good purchases,’ the report states.

Amazon makes the most money off the Kindle Fire from sales of ebooks, according to the report. RBC estimated that each Kindle Fire owner purchases five ebooks per quarter, generating Amazon roughly $15 per user each quarter. In RBC’s survey, just 19 percent of respondents had not purchased an ebook for their device, while 29 percent purchased three to five and more than 28 percent bought more than six.

Kindle Fire owners also purchase three paid apps on average, per quarter, RBC estimated. In the survey, 66 percent of respondents said they had purchased at least one paid app for their device, while 34 percent had not.
Besides digital content, the Kindle Fire could also generate revenue through sales of physical goods and memberships to Amazon Prime, the company’s ‘preferred’ tier that gives customers free unlimited two-day shipping.”

Blackberry hasn’t had much good news (in terms of sales) on the tablet front, and this won’t help!

Blackberry PlayBook Tablet Security Flaw Discovered

An exploitable connection between the PlayBook tablet and handheld BlackBerry devices poses a risk to users.

Research in Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry smartphones and the struggling PlayBook tablet, faces a new security threat after Ben Nell, a consultant with the Intrepidus Group, and colleague Zach Lanier, a principal consultant with Intrepidus, announced the flaw during the Infiltrate Security Conference in Miami this week. The security flaw allows hackers to tap into a connection made between the tablet and handheld devices, according to a report on ThreatPost, a Kaspersky Lab security news site.

The report said the authentication token for BlackBerry Bridge, which uses Bluetooth technology to connect the two devices, could be located and acquired, allowing a hacker to access sensitive information, including email accounts. ThreatPost quoted Lanier, explaining while the Bridge is active, the token is in a place that is essentially world-readable, and the file being in a place that is world-readable is the issue that causes the problem with the Bridge sessions.

‘The BlackBerry PlayBook issue described at the Infiltrate security conference has been resolved with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, which is scheduled to be available as a free download to customers in February 2012,’ RIM said in a statement published on ThreatPost. ‘There are no known exploits, and risk is mitigated by the fact that a user would need to install and run a malicious application after initiating a BlackBerry Bridge connection with their BlackBerry smartphone.’

This isn’t the first security flaw RIM has dealt with concerning the tablet, as it faces struggling sales in light of competition from an increasingly crowded tablet market. In December, the company patched a flaw that allowed users to jailbreak the PlayBook, but hackers soon found another security hole to exploit. On Dec. 5, a team of hackers, led by ‘Neuralic,’ released Dingelberry, a jailbreak tool, to make it easier for users to jailbreak their own PlayBook tablets in order to gain root access on the device.”

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VMware brings View Client to Kindle Fire, Linux, and the Mac, differences between RDP and PCoIP, Kindle Fire upgrade, Hasbro sues ASUS over ‘Transformer’ name, Quad Cores coming to iPad, and iPhones, a review of the Marware Leather Case for Kindle Fire

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