Jailbreak your iOS-powered AppleTV

We can’t say for certain just quite yet whether or not Apple’s latest “hobby” (read: AppleTV) will run iOS, but glancing through the latest iOS 4.2 beta certainly seems to heavily hint that it will. With an iOS-powered AppleTV comes all kinds of possibilities. On the more “legitimate” front, there’s the possibility we could see AppleTV specific apps. With TV’s continually hyping apps on the sales floor, Apple could instantly smash through all previous attempts to woo customers with such things. Even more exciting, however, is the possibility of jailbroken AppleTV’s.

Unlike the older generation AppleTV’s, the new models are molded around a rental-only approach. You can’t actually “purchase” and download TV shows and movies to your local drive anymore. But, with a jailbroken AppleTV, such things could be made possible. At that point, the AppleTV would be a whole helluva lot more interesting — in my eyes at least.

And yet, the AppleTV demo Steve showed off a few weeks back appeared to be running the same stock UI/OS the older AppleTVs did. With that said, I highly doubt Steve would demo one thing, neglect to say anything about iOS taking over navigational duties for AppleTV, and then release said product a couple of months later without any previous keynote/demo/limelight whatsoever.

So while we wait on the edge of our seats for anything more concrete, we’ll cling to the only clue we have: the “AppleTV2,1″ string found in the latest 4.2 iOS beta. Would anyone prefer an iOS-powered AppleTV over the old standard?

HTC Sense spied running on Windows 7?

Coming from Android and it’s free-for-all skinning affair, I’ll admit that I’m pretty worn out on all this customizing stuff, even if HTC’s Sense UI is one of the nicest looking skins to ever grace a mobile OS. As such, HTC puts their mark on every possible platform they can. But there’s one we haven’t seen them improve/taint yet — Windows Phone 7.

Well, until now that is. We now have some ideas of what HTC’s Sense UI will look on Windows Phone 7. In short: It’s very flashy. Immediately, more minimalistic users will be turned off. I however welcome the eye candy. If I wanted a bare bones OS I’d look to 1998 for something to tickle my fancy. This is 2010 baby! High horsepower phones with sophisticated and eye catching visuals are what I want. So without further adieu…Windows Phone 7 and HTC Sense in video after the jump…

Google Music: $25/yr to stream your own music? (Not if the labels can help it…)

Rumor bin time, folks. The much discussed topic of Google Music is back in the forefront of attention today with a fresh rumor — a $25 yearly fee. With that fee will presumably come unlimited bandwidth (or at least high amounts) and the ability to have music purchases instantly and easily transferred to your Google Music cloud account. At first, a fee sounds kind of onerous. On the other hand, millions of peoples’ music collections will take a small fortune in the way storage space and bandwidth. In that light, $25/yr. actually seems pretty cheap. But even if the $25/yr. figure is true, there’s one monumental step Google has to overcome. One that even Apple hasn’t been able to crack — music labels.

XP Phone gets the disassembly treatment. Nifty black PCB lurks beneath…

Disassembling gadgets is probably one of the greatest past times of geeks everywhere. Whether we’ve flogged our gadgets beyond recognition or just finished unwrapping it from the box, taking them apart starts an entirely new journey. It’s exciting yet scary at the same time. On one hand, you’re venturing into the unknown splendor of circuit boards and silicon. On the other, you always run the risk of permanently neutering your beloved gadget. But such is the price we pay.

Mini word-filled voyage aside, check out the full XP Phone breakdown hosted over at BSN, and conducted by ITG (In Technology Group).

Shure debuts new SE315 earphones.

While I may describe myself as borderline audiophile, I sadly must admit that I don’t have anywhere near the monetary background to sustain such a lifestyle. For that reason, $500+ earphones like the Shure SE535 aren’t in my budget. Thankfully Shure has a little something for everyone. Today, Shure took the wraps off of their “low end” SE-model earphones, the SE315. Now, don’t let the “low end” verbiage scare you away as they’re anything but. I’ve had a few Shure earphones over the years that were relegated to the cheap seats. But let me tell you, they were pretty awesome.

With that said, how awesome are the SE315′s. Their single-driver design will win some over while turning others away. Generally, the single-armature designs have a more “life-like” or “pure” sound about them, though never really excelling at any one aspect of music. That’s where multi-armature designs come in. But in reality, one could argue that opinions or statements about earphones/headphones and sound quality are purely subjective. But that’s enough riff raff. The specs…

• Sensitivity: 116 dB SPL/mW

• Impedance: 27

• Noise Attentuation: 37dB

• Freq. Response: 22Hz – 18.5kHz

• Cable Length: 64” Detachable (at ear) with wireform fit

For $199, they’re not too bad. Any audio no0bs or audiophiles care to weigh in?

[Product Page]

“Free” WiFi coming to NY city parks.

Find yourself residing the Big Apple? Good news — if you’re a digital junkie anyway. 32 New York City parks will soon be blanketed with “Free” WiFi. Of course, the free is slightly misleading. New Yorkers won’t be able to live outside and still consume all the online content they’ve grown accustomed to. The city, like every other city in the country, needs to make money to keep the lights on, water flowing, citizens happy, etc., etc. On that note, the “Free” NY WiFi is actually a 30-minute-per-month block of time that can be had for $0.00. After you exceed 30 minutes in any one month, you’ll be billed $0.99 per day.

Hmm, that still sounds like a deal to me. $30/month for public WiFi usage — all day, every day, and all you can consume? Count me in. Any New Yorkers feel differently?

You can now get your ATI/AMD graphics cards updates through Steam!

Good news for Steam users powered by ATI/AMD graphics cards: You can now get your Catalyst driver updates through Steam itself. That’s right. No more having to navigate to AMD’s website to download stuff. Of course, doing so in the first place isn’t exactly rocket science nor is it difficult. Still, having drivers downloads consolidated to a portal that you already visit several times per week is pretty handy you have to admit. Anyone given it a shot yet — likes/dislikes?