Sony makes Reader Wi-Fi official with smartphone styling

Sony makes Reader Wi-Fi official with smartphone styling - Sony on Wednesday confirmed a long-expected update to its Reader e-book hardware. The Reader Wi-Fi, or PRS-T1, borrows much of its influence from the Xperia smartphone line, down to an 0.35-inch thickness and a lighter six-ounce weight dictated by a switch from aluminum to plastic. The design runs on a much newer, E Ink-made six-inch Pearl screen and now supports multi-touch for zoom as well as page turns through swipes ...

(Via MacNN | The Macintosh News Network.)

Quick tip: Preserve your iPhone battery for that important call

Quick tip: Preserve your iPhone battery for that important call -

Sometimes you need a plain old phone more than you need a smartphone. But with all the social, location and notification apps you have loaded and running on your iPhone, your battery may not hold out when you need it most.

Placing your iPhone in Airplane mode will maximize the life of your battery for listening to your music, watching movies or playing games, as it disables all network and cellular services. But that’s an extreme solution, so check out the following general tips for making that last 10 percent of juice last as long as you need it to:

• Under Settings > Brightness, disable Auto-Brightness and adjust brightness down to a tolerable level. Especially if you’re not using your device for lengthy reading sessions, you should be able to get away with a fairly dim display.
• Under Settings > Location Services, turn off Location Services. Note that apps that use location like Maps won’t be able to find you if you do this.
• Under Settings > Wi-Fi, turn Wi-Fi off.
• Under Settings > General > Network, turn off Enable 3G and Cellular Data.
• Press the Home button twice (quickly), press and hold any app’s icon in the tray that appears, then tap the red “x” to shut down running apps.
• Under Settings > Notifications, turn off Notifications.
• Under Settings > Phone, turn off FaceTime.
• Under Settings > Sounds, turn off Vibrate, Lock Sounds and Keyboard Clicks.
• Power off and then power back on your iPhone.

Even if you do all of the above, you’ll still be able to make and receive phone calls, as well as send and receive SMS messages. Data services are required to review your visual voice mail list, however, so you’ll need to call your voice mail box manually to retrieve messages. But if you find yourself in a situation where your battery is approaching or already into the red zone, and you need it to stay on for at least a couple more hours, this is the way to make sure that happens.

(Via TheAppleBlog.)

Jawbone unveils Icon HD and The Nerd

Jawbone unveils Icon HD and The Nerd - Jawbone updated its iconic Icon earpiece Tuesday with significant new features. The company also unveiled The Nerd, a USB/Bluetooth dongle.

(Via Macworld.)

Barnes & Noble: e-book sales quadruple, stores still losing

Barnes & Noble: e-book sales quadruple, stores still losing - Barnes & Noble on Tuesday reported spring results that heralded a major spike in its digital efforts. Its "digital content" sales, led almost exclusively by e-books and magazines, quadrupled in just the past year. Even orders of physical goods through its website were up 37 percent to $198 million, as many were buying Nook Colors or the 2011 Nook redesign ...

(Via MacNN | The Macintosh News Network.)

iCloud support could be headed to Snow Leopard

iCloud support could be headed to Snow Leopard - So far iCloud has been thought to be a Lion-only feature, but a new screenshot would suggest Apple plans otherwise, bringing some of the features to Snow Leopard users.

(Via CNET News.com.)

Apple TV vs. Roku 2: What's the best streaming-media device for under $100?

Apple TV vs. Roku 2: What's the best streaming-media device for under $100? - Both Apple and Roku sell black boxes that offer Netflix and other streaming services. Which one's the best value for your $99?

(Via CNET News.com.)

Video: Hurricane Irene's Birth, Death Seen From Space

Video: Hurricane Irene's Birth, Death Seen From Space - New satellite images show the 10-day genesis of hurricane Irene from the storm?s birth in the tropics to its death over the East Coast of North America.

(Via Wired Top Stories.)