HTC Inspire 4G Launching February 13th for $99

Mobile World Congress — a massive, international event where just about every non-Apple phone manufacturer in the industry launches their latest and greatest — starts February 14th. AT&T has just announced that they’ll be launching the HTC Inspire 4G (essentially their version of Sprint’s EVO 4G) on February 13th. Coincidence? Probably!

The phone marks all sorts of firsts for AT&T. It’s their first handset to run Android 2.2! it’s the first handset to run on their “4G” HSPA+ network (which is technically just a really fast 3G technology)! It’s also the first AT&T Android phone with Mobile Hotspot support.

This one’ll cost you $99 out the door on a two-year contract, buying you a 4.3″ screen (480×800 resolution), an 8 megapixel rear camera, a front-facing camera for video chattin’ and the ol’ Myspace shots, with 1 GHZ Snapdragon CPU, 4 gigabytes of storage, and microSD support of up to 32 gigs tucked inside.

Whatd’ya think — anyone going to be waiting in line come February 13th?

Microsoft Puts One Last Bullet In The Kin, Shuts Down Kin Studio

Accurately predicting the swift failure of a handset — as we did to a T with the Kin — is bittersweet. On one hand, being right is always nice; on the other, knowing that people worked hard on something only to have it canned due to mismanagement and a confused vision is disheartening. (Fortunately, we know for a fact that a good chunk of those people are off on bigger, better projects now.)

As of this morning, the last lingering trace of the Kin was thrown into a shallow grave with the rest of the project.

The specialized, Silverlight-based cloud syncing service, KIN Studio, was allowed to run for 7 months after the Kin was discontinued on June 30th, 2010 (a discontinuation which came just 48 days after the device’s initial launch).

As a result of KIN Studio’s termination, the following services stopped working:

News Feed Reader

Posting photos or status updates to social sites

Search Near Me

Loop

Social network contacts

In other words, nearly every feature the social-oriented KIN was built around stopped working. On the upside, Verizon gave anyone who had the misfortune of nabbing a KIN during its 48 day lifespan a 3G device of their choosing, free of cost.

Anyone out there still holding on to there now mostly-bricked KIN?

Greenpois0n Untethered jailbreak Includes Surprise

If you own an iPhone and have been patiently waiting for the Greenpois0n untethered jailbreak to drop you just might get something you’ve not been expecting, although just what that may be is somewhat of a mystery at the moment.

According to an article over on iPhone Download Blog they’ve been keeping their eyes out for anything to do with the Greenpois0n jailbreak, which will apparently bring an untethered jailbreak to iOS 4.2.1 and should drop soon.

And apparently the guys have come across a few tweets, which suggest the Greenpois0n untethered jailbreak may come with a surprise, with hacker and Twitter user Jaywalker9988 tweeting…”Man do we have something in store for you guys in the new GP .” and followed up with…” @tahu363 Dude, i work on GP haha. I just showed @Nomad145 the surprise.”

In reply, @Nomad145 tweeted…” @Jaywalker9988 wasn’t kidding. The surprise for the newest Green Poison is sick! I love it!”

So it would appear that the new Greenpois0n untethered jailbreak will come carrying something that is being kept a secret, but is there really a surprise or is all this simply Twitter chatter. Any idea just what surprise they could be tweeting about?

Apple rejects Sony Reader app, really doesn't want you buying content from others

It's been quite a while since Apple's tight reins on the App Store were a subject worth discussing, but they're back in the spotlight now following the company's rejection of Sony's Reader app for iOS. The reasons given to Sony were that Apple will not no longer accept applications that permit in-app purchases of content that don't go through Apple itself, and, moreover, will not tolerate apps that access material purchased through external content stores. So the Sony Reader Store is out -- but wait, doesn't the Kindle app spend its time serving up Kindlebooks? No comment has been offered on the matter from either Apple or Amazon, while Sony's Reader Store page describes the situation as "an impasse" and promises to seek "other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices." In the mean time, you can get the Reader app for Android or just read your ebooks on a device dedicated to that task.

Update: As noted by Harry McCracken over at Technologizer, it has actually been Apple's longstanding policy to forbid in-app purchases -- the Kindle and Nook apps send you to a browser -- so Sony's desire to do so will have been the major cause for the Reader application's rejection. That doesn't invalidate the second concern expressed in the New York Times article, that Apple will no longer tolerate content brought in from external stores, which is a displeasing development, if true.

LG Optimus 3D Possible First Photograph and details

Well now what do we have here? Well apparently this new smartphone just might be the new Android LG Optimus 3D complete with a nice 4 inch 3d glasses free display, although there is some questions as to whether this is the actual device.

According to an article over on the Boy Genius Report, the guys over at Phandroid managed to get hold of the image of the device they think in the LG Optimus 3D although they do state they aren’t 100 percent sure.

However, presuming this is the LG Optimus 3D the guy’s tipster has come across with a few facts on the device, if this is the LG Optimus 3D, and there’s really no way of telling from the image if that is a 3D display or not, the device will pack a dual-core processor along with a multi-channel RAM and as one can see from the image the handset comes with a front facing camera.

Very little else to be had from the image and as they say it’s not confirmed that this is the LG Optimus 3D but as images of the LG Optimus 2X and Optimus Black have already been seen this is definitely a different device.

With Mobile World Congress 2011just round the corner, no doubt we’ll be seeing more of this device then. So what do our readers think, could this be the LG Optimus 3D?

RIM shows PlayBook living in sweet harmony with BlackBerry Torch in new video

It's no secret that RIM's PlayBook is going to need a connection to a nearby BlackBerry phone to do much of its corporate heavy lifting, and a new video posted by the company today shows a little more detail on exactly how that'll look. The one-minute, 54-second spot spends much of its time in the tablet's email app, demonstrating how the Playbook and the Torch beside it are perfectly in sync -- read an email on one, it immediately shows read on the other, and so on. We also learn that any secured corporate data that you're using on the PlayBook while tethered is essentially on loan -- it'll disappear as soon as you disconnect, which is one of the reasons RIM's touting this as a bolt-on for any corporate BES environment that won't require any additional configuration or lines of data service. The video certainly doesn't do much to appeal the the casual BlackBerry user -- you know, the Curve and Pearl types of folks -- but it's an interesting watch nonetheless. Check it after the break.

UFO Hunters iOS App: History & Sightings

For those ‘friends from other worlds’ seekers who own an iOS device there is an iOS app which can help you fulfil your desire to seek out extraterrestrial spacecraft commonly known as a UFO via your iPhone, iPod Touch or Apple iPad.

With the UFO Hunter iOS app by Europa Pictures the UFO hunter can launch the app, tap “search” and all the reported historic sightings for that area will appear on your device. The UFO Hunter app delivers everything you need right at your fingertips.

The UFO Hunter app enables the user to learn about UFO’s discover UFO history, search for UFO’s anywhere from your iOS device and also watch videos and if you happen to find one you can report your sighting to UFO Hunter HQ.

UFO Hunter is available to download to your iPhone, iPod Touch or Apple iPad running iOS 2.2 and above at a price of $0.99 from iTunes.

Of course if you happen to download UFO Hunter to your chosen iOS device we’d like to know what your think of the app, whether it delivers on what it says it does or if it doesn’t, whatever your fillings about UFO Hunter feel free to voice your opinions to our comments area below.

microUSB Takes One Step Closer To Becoming The Standard Port For Apple, Nokia, RIM, Motorola, Samsung, and More

Slowly but surely, microUSB is winning the battle against the dozens of different types of chargers floating around in sock drawers and land fills everywhere.

Back in 2009, the GSMA announced that it had persuaded a bunch of European manufacturers to switch to microUSB as a standard by 2012. Shortly thereafter, other major industry groups pledged their allegiance and started pushing manufacturers toward the standard.

Today, all these efforts have reached a tipping point; the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission. Tired of acronyms yet?) has announced that it has published their first version of the papers outlining microUSB as a standard, and some mighty big players have jumped on board. Apple, Nokia, RIM, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and Alcatel — many of whom are already using microUSB in a number of their devices — have all signed a Memorandum of Understanding (essentially a non-legally-binding promise. Sort of like pinky swearing, but on paper) indicating their intent to adopt the standard.

So, what do you think: might the next iPhone really rock the microUSB port?