Filed under: Cellphones

Apple's no stranger to being slammed by Greenpeace, and while Steve certainly spoke of a "Greener Apple," it seems that the iPhone wasn't included. According to tests arranged by the entity, it was found that the iPhone contained "toxic brominated compounds (indicating the presence of brominated flame retardants) and hazardous PVC," which are said to be disallowed across the pond due to RoHS requirements. More specifically, the independent testing found "brominated compounds in half the samples, including in the phone's antenna, in which they made up 10-percent of the total weight of the flexible circuit board." As expected, Greenpeace wasted no time pointing to rival firms that have received pats on the back for their green efforts, and subsequently shook a finger at Apple while murmuring "tsk tsk" -- but we'll leave the actual politicking to you all in comments, cool?

[Via Switched, thanks Laura]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

Broadcom sure has been on a roll of late, introducing the feature-packed VideoCore III multimedia processor earlier this month and following it with the "world's first 3G phone on a chip" solution. The BCM21551 baseband chip was developed on a single, low-power 65-nanometer CMOS die and features Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, FM radio, an FM transmitter, support for up to five-megapixel cameras, 30fps TV out and "advanced multimedia processing." Notably, you won't find integrated WiFi or GPS, but it does play nice with HSUPA, HSDPA, WCDMA and EDGE cellular protocols. Best of all, this system-on-a-chip is available now to "early access customers," and the low, low $23 pricetag (when purchased in bulk, of course) is music to our ears.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Handhelds

We'll admit, the absolute last place we expected to find out about the N800 Internet Tablet's successor was an Island Def Jam press release, but hey, we'll take it. Turns out, a notice surrounding an upcoming bash just happened to reveal a tad too much about what would be featured there, as it clearly states that Nokia's N810 Internet Tablet will be showcased along with the outfit's mobile sharing service MOSH. Additionally, the "MOSH social sharing site technology will provide party guests with exclusive barcode mobile invites that will be scanned from their mobile phone," which sounds like all sorts of fun. Regardless, we're still categorizing all of this as a succulent rumor for the time being, but considering that the shindig is scheduled for October 23rd, we'd bet the official word is coming soon. Oh, and just in case the read link mysteriously goes down, a screen grab of the release is posted after the jump.

[Via InternetTabletTalk]

Continue reading Nokia's N810 Internet Tablet, MOSH to debut soon?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Apple has signed deals to sell its iPhone with operators in three of Europe's largest markets, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

We know, the 700MHz soap opera is wearing a bit on us too, but just in case you were worried that the latest FCC shakeups would deter Google from coughing up $4.6+ billion when the time was right, fret not. Reportedly, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt "told a conference of regulatory and industry leaders in Aspen that his company would 'probably' move ahead with plans to bid for wireless spectrum freed up once broadcast television networks switch to digital from analog in 2009." When asked by T-Mobile USA's government relations chief Thomas Sugrue "whether Google planned to take part in the auctions for wireless broadband networks," the exec simply stated that placing a bid or two would likely be "the way to answer that." So, there you have it -- until next episode...

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Video, sound and fury over iPlayer

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is planning protests at key BBC sites because it believes the national broadcaster's management has been corrupted by Microsoft.

Wow: We've discovered a 4.5 hour time frame each night when virtually anything can be brought into the secure side of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. There's no metal detector, no X-ray machine, and it's apparently not a problem. Afraid to...

The death rate from traffic injuries is higher in Africa than in any other region of the world, and yet research into improving road safety in Africa is scarce, argues Emmanuel Lagarde (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research) in an Essay in PLoS Medicine.

Filed under: Cellphones, Features

It's no secret or surprise that Apple pushed AT&T into whipping up some new plans for the iPhone -- specialness aside, one look at AT&T and users can get lost in its myriad plans, 44 in all (including prepaid, data, etc.). Not exactly the streamlined customer Apple experience cherishes, so the iPhone just comes with just a few service options (and not a lot to configure) -- but is there really the "Apple premium" associated with buying an iPhone and using the iPhone plan with AT&T? Only one way to find out: let's look at the numbers.

Continue reading How does the iPhone stack up in total cost?

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!