Geohot Has A Friend In Microsoft: Free Windows Phone 7 Dev Phone Offered.

Geohot is Sony’s new best enemy thanks to his efforts in giving back functionality to end users that Sony has stripped away. But it appears that while Sony whittles away at his finances and self image, a new friendship is being born. An “entrepreneur on loan” to Microsoft, @BrandonWatson, sent Geohot a tweet stating that the Windows Phone 7 development team would give him a Windows Phone 7 dev phone if he contacted the group via email — a bold, but much needed move by Microsoft. By offering a helping hand (however big or small) to a very prominent developer, especially a developer in the middle of a legal battle because of his “open” nature, Microsoft is giving Windows Phone 7′s brand image a much needed boost in the developer support department.

We don’t know if Geohot took up Watson on his offer, though the hacker did voice interest on his own Twitter account in recent weeks of purchasing a Windows Phone 7 device out of pocket. Either way, it’s a fresh change of events considering Apple and Sony’s current views on the matter.

Apple’s Special “Pentalobe” Screws Continue U.S. Assault. Now Being Installed In Serviced iPhones.

The funky-looking “Pentaglobe” screws that Apple started using in 2009′s MacBook Pro are continuing their assault on our iDevices. A video (after the jump) from iFixIt details Apple’s current plans of replacing the stock phillips screws with the newer, more tamper proof pentaglobe screws whenever customers bring their iPhones in for service. To most iPhone users, this change doesn’t mean much as they’ll never crack open their phones. But to those who do for whatever reason, you’ll want to pick up some new screwdrivers to get past Apple’s latest anti-tampering attempts. And wouldn’t you know it, iFixIt has just the solution for $9.95.

Forget the White iPhone. This See-thru Case Is Cooler.

The white iPhone may still be the unicorn phone of Apple’s lineup, but somehow this see-thru design on sale at mobile.uwants.com is much more lust worthy. Granted, Apple didn’t design the iPhone to look pretty without its clothes on, nor did they take into account light bleeding through to the back of the device sans stock case. But I can look past those small hiccups if the price is right. Gallery of naked iPhones after the jump…

iPad 2 Image Reveals Release Date: February 9th.

Apple is generally very secretive with new products announcements and release dates. However, Apple also loves to slip in cryptic little hints. One favorite of mine is their on again/off again use of the Calender icon on both OS X and iOS devices to foretell of upcoming changes, announcements, and release dates. Case in point: The original iPad featured a calender icon that read “29th” and was announced on January 29th. There leaked stock image above shows an reported iPad 2 with a calender icon reading “9th” instead, signaling that we could be seeing the iPad 2 revealed on said day. It’s certainly a stretch to say that the calender icon is always correct in highlighting important announcement/release dates. But given Apple’s track record, we certainly can’t discount it either. What do you think?

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G With Android Coming Soon.

Before we had our Android, iPhones, webOS, and more modern mobile operating systems, T-Mobile’s Danger-made Sidekick was one of the hottest selling gadgets. Unfortunately, the platform lost its direction in recent years after Danger was picked up by Microsoft. But times look to be a changin’. Today at a company meeting, T-Mobile CEO confirmed that they are in fact working on a “Sidekick 4G” and that it will drop the once proprietary OS. To the delight of many, taking its place will be Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) combined with the added support for T-Mobile’s own HSPA+ network. As of writing, it is unknown whether “Sidekick 4G” is the real name or not. But you can be sure we’ll let you know as soon as the real name and more information drops.

Someone Build This: Tri-screen Smartphone Running Stock Android.

The image you see before you holds quite possibly the coolest Android phone yet. Designed by Kristian Ulrich Larsen, this concept device goes where no Android device has attempted to go yet — triple screens. Unfortunately, because this is a render, there isn’t much to go on or announce in regards to specs or release. Nonetheless, it’s certainly nice to look at. Video after the break.

HTC Scribe Renamed To “Flyer”, Coming In March.

HTC’s upcoming “Scribe” tablet may instead go by a different name, according to a report by DigiTimes. The new moniker is supposedly going to be “Flyer”, and come with a March release date. At launch, the tablet in question will feature Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), though plans to upgrade the tablet to Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) are mentioned. Furthermore, it is rumored that AT&T will be the U.S. carrier launch partner as the other three major wireless carriers all have tablets of their own already. Stay tuned to Gadgetsteria for continuing news of the HTC Scribe/Flyer.