Droid X gains 1-click root

If a 1-click root is what you seek for your Droid X, Alldroid user Sil3ntKi113 whipped up something that might tickle your fancy. The app is a Windows-only type of affair, and requires a few things such as .Net framework 3.5 (comes standard in Vista and 7), USB debugging ENABLED on your device, and the full contents of the download file unzipped/extracted. If you can manage the few simple rules, your Droid X will be cracked and golden in literally no time flat.

**Remember, this root simply gives you system file access and the ability to tweak a few other things — NOT install/flash custom roms, kernels, or any other tom foolery.

It may not be what we’re all looking for, but removing the few bits of bloatware/non-used apps that ship with the Droid X isn’t a bad thing, now is it?

Hit up Alldroid for the DL link…

It’s official: Chevy Volt costs $41k before $7,500 tax credit. Pre-orders now open!

Fancy saving a tree or two and happen to title yourself a nerd? There’s no doubt that Chevy’s ambitions Volt project has been a long time coming. Since the truck market bombed out a few years back, they’ve been scrambling to catch up to other manufacturers more fuel efficient and alternative fuel-powered vehicles. And up until now, the biggest mystery about the Volt was the price. Price it to high no one will buy it. Lucky for consumers, it looks like Chevy will make it relatively affordable, at a now confirmed base price of $41,000. Interested parties may even get a stab at the electric wonder vehicle for a far cheaper price, however. At stake is a tax credit totaling up to $7,500 as well as leasing options. Speaking of the latter, the leasing program looks like it’ll hit a little closer to more individuals’ homes with a $350 monthly payment and $2,500 due at signing.

But what good is a hot new geek car with relatively new and untested reliability without decent warranties and protection from the factory? Oh dear reader, jump on in and find out…

Nokia N8 delayed? Amazon Germany starts canceling N8 pre-orders.

Bad news bears for Symbian/Nokia lovers — look like Nokia will be testing the limits of what “3rd quarter” means. While the Finnish phone manufacturer hasn’t officially announced a specific release date (instead opting for a rather vague “late 3rd quarter”), late August has come to the more or less “unofficial official” date, with numerous outfits pointing towards it. However, folks in Germany are going to be going to bed a bit more broken hearted tonight. Amazon Germany has been sending out emails to individuals who pre-ordered the N8 stating that the order has effectively been canceled. Even worse, pricing information and pre-order options have been removed from Amazon altogether.

For the loyal few whom are sticking by Nokia in a time where they are easily topped, it’s a deafening blow to say the least. Hopefully the 3rd quarter estimate by Nokia sticks, because falling back into the holiday season will see it easily overshadowed by a flurry of activity from various rivals.

In instances like this, we have to remain positive. So…on the bright side, those who pre-ordered an N8 now have roughly $600 USD back in their bank accounts. See, better already, huh? Yeah, not so much. Hop on in to take a gander at the cancellation email goin’ ’round and brush up on your German — Bonus!…

Apple updates Cinema Display, iMacs & Mac Pros, releases Magic Trackpad and battery charger.

The big news surrounding Apple today is that it’s Tuesday — a day that at several points during the year is the birth date of new Apple products and mild refreshes. What did Apple have in store for us?

The iMac line did in fact get the highly rumored Core i3 dual-core processors for the lower end units. Ranging in speed from 3.06GHz-3.2GHz, the small increase in speed isn’t quite as important as the change in architecture. Intel’s Core i3 dual-core line is a considerably better proc than the aging Core 2 Duo. All iMac’s have received minor bumps in graphics cards (ATI 5670 and 5750) and slightly more capacious entry-level hard drive options. Awesomeness all around.

Moving onto bigger and better things, the iMac’s bigger brother, however, received an even bigger shot of muscle, with new processor options randing from 4 all the way up to 12 cores — 12…count them…12! Sadly we’ll have to wait a few more days-weeks as the new Mac Pros are listed as “coming in August”. At the very least, a few more days isn’t so bad, is it? I can lie and say I’d stress a 12-core Mac Pro, but it would be nothing more than pure bragging rights. Hey, we all deserve to smile.

Taking a step away from the computers themselves and focusing on accessories, Apple took the wraps off of their new Magic Trackpad — $69 — (think of it as a cross between the Magic Mouse and your standard laptop trackpad…except way bigger). I personally don’t have much use for the trackpad at this point, though I could see how it would be a huge help and time saver in many different types of editing applications and possibly even normal web browsing when gesture-based controls are used.

And last but not least — a new battery charger.

**Almost forgot — The IPS-based Cinema display now tops out at 27″ and features 2560 x 1440 resolution all for a cool $999.

AT&T’s claims that >95% of data users consumer less than 200MB/month is bunk…

A few weeks back, AT&T made the monumental decision to completely cut unlimited falsely advertised, capped “unlimited” plans. At the time, they said it would benefit all of their consumers. Specifically, AT&T claimed that upwards of 95% of their iPhone user base never went above 200MB/month. In effect, all of those sub-200MB iPhone users saw their data plan bill halved. Certainly a good thing, and one that I do commend AT&T on. But, for heavier users (and come on, 200MB is nothing) their bills while dropping a solid $5, become increasingly more expensive at far lower data points under the new tiered plan. What am I getting at?

Today I stumbled upon an article over at Cellular-News which highlights an ongoing study by “Validas”. The study is focused on average data usage per month, and directly compares Verizon Wireless alongside AT&T. In one light, the findings aren’t surprising — essentially AT&T lied…again. However, far more interesting is that the study shows the new tiered plans were created in such a way to force even light users to upgrade to the heavy duty 2GB data plan. We’re essentially destined to lose…

$1,800 Klingon Death Ray (UV Spotlight) unearths hidden oil in the gulf.

If the situation were any different, I would say hunting for oil (say on a stretch of the Edens Expressway in Chicago) with a massive $1,800 UV spotlight would be interesting, dare I say exciting. But in the case of the gulf coast oil disaster, that excitement is quickly overshadowed by the devastating effects the oil is bestowing upon the US landmass. But even with all of this disaster and destruction around us, nature has a way of showing of its beauty.

National Geographic photographer Chris Combs has gone through large areas of the gulf with that $1,800 UV spotlight (dubbed the “Klingon Death Ray”) mentioned above and captured some downright stunning, if not depressing, pictures of the the gulf coast oil spill. You see, oil glows a neon orangish-ish color under UV light, meaning a massive spotlight like the one Chris ported around is an easy way to spot oil — even if it’s been lightly covered up or reduced to small amounts.

The photoshoot of the gulf coast’s beaches is quite a site. Head on over to National Geographic and take a look.

Google Maps getting all Yelpy with latest 4.4 update.

Android users and fans of food finding service “Yelp” have a new toy to play with residing in the latest Google Maps 4.4 update — food, ATMs, Bars, Gas Stations and more. In a market (no pun intended) that is heavily saturated with similar “food-based location search” apps, Google’s update may seem like a “me too” approach. For the most part, that assumption would be true. Google Places aggregates its data from Yelp, (Actually, Google Places aggregates it’s information from several more places than just Yelp — CitySearch, GrubHub, and Yahoo to be exact.) so right there you realize you’re going to have results that are pretty similar to Yelp. What does Google do to make their little bundle more valuable? From what I’ve seen, not a whole lot. Don’t take that as a reason not to use Google Places though. The app is very fully featured save for a few, oddly omitted features — reviews, comments, and a lesser tasteful UI.

But the lack of a few important, yet not quite critical features shouldn’t detract from an overall highly useful app. For example, when selecting a selection within Places, users have the option of navigating deeper down to things such as price level, Wifi hotspot information, shortcut buttons for Google Maps mapping/calling/street view images, as well as a link to the website of the business/service in question. That is of course on top of other information such as basic restaurant information, and in many cases, menu details.

Lucky for legacy Android users, Google Places will work on just about every version except for Android 1.5. However, finding Android 1.5-only devices is starting to get quite hard. (A very good thing by the way.) BlackBerry users on the other hand have a bit more waiting to do. The update has been mentioned as “coming soon” — which could mean a few days to a few months. It’s pretty vague. Hopefully BlackBerry Google Place users have some other service that’ll keep them happy until then.

Anyone out there tried the new Google Places in Google Maps 4.4 yet?