Gadget News

‘Tis the season to be merry at Disney Parks, when the 26th annual Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, featuring award-winning musical talent and iconic stars performing in this year’s television special, airs December 25 (10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

This year’s show promises to dazzle viewers with must-see performances by Celine Dion and Stevie Wonder. Pop sensations the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato spread joy to all as enchanting sounds from world-renowned musical artist Yanni and his Yanni Voices echo through the park. American Idol Season 8 winner Kris Allen will perform, and “Wizards of Waverly Place” star Selena Gomez will make a special appearance in the annual telecast.

http://pcwargaming.com/DisneyParade/

For you Windows users out there (Bootcamp?) with a Magic Mouse, we have some fantastic news for you.  You can now use the ‘magic’ scrolling capabilities of the device thanks to a clever little hack:

Thanks to a little hackery from Apple’s Bluetooth Update the Magic Mouses driver was extracted via WinRar resulting in a 32bit version and a 64bit version that you can install on any ordinary Windows PC that will enable all the scrolling ‘magic’ of the Magic Mouse.

Remember you can still pick up Magic Mice (yeah that’s plural) from the fine affiliate folks at Amazon for, wait for it…$120!!!!!  Ouch!  It looks like some retailers are trying to take advantage of short supplies.

We’re now getting the first spyshots of the inside of Apple’s new Upper West Side Store.  It looks pretty standard issue from here (except some 5 story high glass ceilings), including the big tables and that giant Apple Logo that will be hanging over your head (at bottom).  The Store opens Saturday the 14th.

Apple TV users running the recently released Apple TV 3.0 update need to update again, according to Apple. The new Apple TV 3.0.1 update prevents content from temporarily disappearing from the set-top box until it’s resynced.

According to Apple’s release notes on the 3.0.1 update, Apple TV 3.0 users may notice that movies, TV shows, and songs appear to be missing from their device. The 3.0.1 update fixes that problem.

Users should restart their Apple TV by unplugging the power cord and plugging it back in. Then, they should select Settings->General from the main menu, followed by selecting Update Software. Select Download and Install when prompted by the Apple TV.

If the problem persists, Apple tells users to disconnect the Apple TV from their computers from Settings->Computers , and then reconnect the device again. If the users are still experiencing the problem, they should try a factory restore and an update to version 3.0.1 before re-syncing content from iTunes.

Apple released the 3.0 update to the Apple TV software late last month. That update added a new main menu interface that provides direct access to rented and purchased movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, photos, and YouTube videos; the update also let Apple TV users enjoy iTunes LP and iTunes Extras content for albums and movies.

Danish e-commerce website Fleggaard has recently made a “not-safe-for-work” commercial that depicts a group of topless skydivers who, during their descend, come together in mid-air to spell out an advertisement for a washing machine.

Fast Facts

• The women spell out “SIEMENS VASKEMASKIE KUN 4999″
• At the end of the commercial, a woman falls into a pool after her parachute fails and emerges    totally nude
• Fleggaard is similar to Amazon.com
• Known for outlandish commercials

The great thing about offering a hugely-popular development environment for a successful mobile device is just how quickly 1000,000 apps can reach your App Store, but Apple’s developers complain app discovery is flawed, leaving many earning less for their work than they think they should. However, the other great thing about a popular developer environment is that problems are solutions waiting to happen, and socially-connected app discovery is the iPhone developer response.

One of the first of what we predict will be a wave of these solutions is Chorus for the iPhone and iPod touch. Developed by envIO, the app helps us find whuch applications our friends are using.

You can connect with your friends to see the apps they’re using, which apps they rate highly, and to stay up-to-date on new apps as they come through.

Chorus features real-time feeds from your designated friends, displaying the apps they are downloading, and what they are saying about them.
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Here’s the situation. Despite only effectively offering one model of iPhone Apple’s already made it into the top three handset makers on a global basis, despite competition from multiple products from other manufacturers (there’s more than one BlackBerry, after all). So, what’s a company going to do to maximise its reach? Diversify its product line, that’s what – just as with the slow extension of its iPod family.

Here’s the news: Overnight reports are claiming the company is developing a smaller, CDMA-compatible device for Verizon (and other CDMA networks), a device it intends releasing in Q3, 2010.

This rumoured device would host a Qualcomm hybrid CDMA/WCDMA chip and have a smaller 2.8-inch screen.

It’s by no means the first time Apple’s been rumoured to hold plans for a smaller device. The Dally Mail made such claims last year, speculating (incorrectly) that this would ship then.
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The Wall St. Journal is reporting that Radio Shack will begin selling the iPhone for the holidays in New York City and Dallas-Ft. Worth and will roll it out to all of its stores in 2010.  Seperately, Radio Shack will be operating Target’s wireless phone business or “store-within a store” so it is conceivable that they’ll sell the iPhones at Target as well

“The Shack” has been rumored to carry the iPhone for over a year.