£499 Transformer Prime Hits UK January, US Dec 19th

After an issue with Wi-Fi connectivity, Asus has announced that the Tegra quad-core Transformer Prime will hit US shelves December 19th, just in time for Christmas.

However, the folk across the pond in the UK can expect to get their hands on the tablet some time in January. Brits will also be lacking in choice as the Prime will come bundled with the laptop dock accessory, which will be an optional $149 purchase in the States. How much will the bundle cost? A pricey £499 (around $775) is what Asus is asking for, a tad higher than other Android tablets, a smidgen more than the 32Gb iPad 2, and above-par for standard laptops (around £400). In comparison, Asus will be selling the Transformer Prime sans dock for $499, making the bundle a more affordable $648.

Are Asus following Apple’s suit by adding a hefty tax for their devices in the UK? Will you be able to afford the Prime when it eventually releases in January?

Toggle Your iPhone Settings With This SBSettings Style Tweak For Siri

With the untethered iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak coming to a reality, my mouth is salivating the idea of getting my sweet sweet SBSettings back. For as long as I’ve had an iPhone I’ve been jailbroken. And for as long as I’ve had full access to my device I’ve had SBSettings installed. With my recent update to the iPhone 4S I’ve been using stock hardware with a gigantic frown on my face.

But as pod2g sits in his man cave writing code and trying to exploit Apple’s baby, the interwebs sits and waits on all the recent tweaks that have been released. Today’s most notable will come bring the Personal Assistant Siri some extra job responsibilities. After setting up the tweak, Siri will have access to your settings and will be able to toggle said settings, just like with the SBSettings shortcuts.

We’ve heard the issue with using an outside SiriProxy and the security risks involved with this, but developer, Hamza Sood, assures us that he used Mobile Substrate. No outside servers were used which results in a private and secure process. Once we see a jailbreak available for the iPhone 4S we’ll hopefully have this tweak in our hands. We’ll let you know as soon as it is released and how it works!

Hop on in for some more screen shots!

[Update] Verizon Wireless And Cox Communications Announce Service Reseller Agreement, 1700MHz Spectrum Swap.

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Update

— Correction: Verizon Wireless is purchasing a chunk of Cox’s 1700 MHz spectrum, NOT 700 MHz.

It’s no secret that Verizon is dedicated and determined to be the best carrier in the U.S. Why else would they more or less roll out a complete LTE network in just a little over a year — far faster than any other rival? And while it may seem like Verizon is starting to slow down as national LTE penetration nears closer to ~90-100%, Verizon is kicking off the next phase of LTE deployment in a newly formed partnership with Cox Communications.

The partnership will see Cox Communications dissolving their cellular network by selling off network assets. The most important piece of this sale, however, is that Verizon Wireless will spend $315 million in scooping up a chunk of Cox’s 1700 MHz spectrum the same spectrum their fantastic LTE network runs on.

On top of spectrum ownership swaps, Verizon and Cox will now also resell each others’ services at wholesale levels.

While more regional carriers (and even major carriers such as AT&T) lag behind VZW’s LTE network, it’s nice to see Big Red continuing the mad dash to the bar after cross the finish line.

iOS 5.0.1r2 Update Has Open Filesystem – Legal Siri Port Is Now Possible!

Huh…today’s 4S 5.0.1 bump (9A406) has wide open main fs musclenerd.com/4s406.txt

— MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) December 15, 2011

(to clarify: wide open for inspection from a Mac/PC…not wide open security wise Can get Siri files and such without piracy)

— MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) December 15, 2011

Apple released a few software updates yesterday, one in particular being a small bump to iOS 5.0.1. The significant part of this revision is that the 4S .ipsw has a wide open filesystem and non-encrypted ramdisks that will give us the ability to access certain files without copyright infringement.

We have seen Siri running on devices other than the iPhone 4S, but none of them have made it legally. With this latest release, all of that will change. MuscleNerd of the iPhone Dev Team tweeted yesterday that we can now get the Siri files legally. We aren’t sure if Apple will close this with a 5.0.x or 5.1 update, but as long as you are on 5.0.1 you should be good.

With the release of a 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak showing it’s beautiful head, this holiday season might get much more exciting! I recommend updating to 5.0.1 and waiting patiently for the untethered JB!

Microsoft Goes On The Offensive With Internet Explorer.

Microsoft is taking matters into their own hands regarding the — Won’t it ever DIE!! — Internet Explorer 6. Now more than a decade old, IE 6 is a perfect example of what happens when complacency and laziness take hold, if not a bit of obliviousness. Whatever the reason may be for a particular person or company to continue using IE 6, very soon you’ll have to work even harder to keep the old internet relic chugging along on your computer thanks to new auto and transparent updating of IE.

Essentially, Microsoft is making IE update much like Chrome and Firefox already do — in the background silently. IE updates won’t even show up in Windows Updates anymore either. For most consumers, this is great as they don’t have to think about browser maintenance and in turn get stuck in the version number battle. For companies with ancient software that requires and equally ancient browser, the news isn’t entirely exciting. But there’s a perk: the process will be opt-in meaning companies (and consumers should they choose) can keep going the manual route.

The new auto-update functionality is scheduled to begin rolling out this coming January in Australia and Brazil, “scaling up” over the year to other countries.

Verizon Flips The LTE Switch In 11 New Markets.

Verizon has smashed expectations with their LTE rollout this year. The carrier has deployed their next-gen network like a steamroller, easily take top honors in just about any and all markets blanketed with LTE. And the LTE awesomeness isn’t about to stop anytime soon.

Verizon just announced that they now officially serve over 200 million customers with LTE thanks to 11 new markets:

• Dover, Del.; Lafayette, Ind.; Fitchburg/Leominster, Mass.; Duluth, The Rochester Area and St. Cloud, Minn.; Manchester/Nashua, N.H.; Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Findlay/Tiffin and Youngstown/Warren, Ohio; and Indiana, Pa.

If you haven’t experienced Verizon’s LTE network, it’s a bittersweet thing. One one side of the coin you’re missing out. Flip it over, however, and you could argue “you can’t miss what you’ve never had”.

For 11 new markets today, they can go on with life knowing they aren’t missing out. If you’re in one of the new VZW LTE markets highlighted above, be sure to let us know how the experience goes for you!

Doing Magic: A Review Of Snapheal

Over the past few days I’ve been tinkering with an advanced copy of Snapheal from developer MacPhun, and boy has it been a roller coaster of emotion the entire time. Snapheal is software designed for the novice looking to perform professional image enhancements and edits. No prior Photoshop or any other software knowledge is necessary to complete amazing object removals and other edits to your photos.

Macphun claims that Snapheal can “do magic” in terms of touching up your photos. After a few days and many hours trying to get stuff to disappear, we finally have a review for you. Will the $9.99 ($19.99 normally) Christmas price tag entice you into the purchase? Worried about what you’ll be getting into with the buy? Scared of Photoshop but still want to make your annoying family magically disappear out of photos? We’ll hopefully be able to touch on these and so much more after the jump!