Credit Check Required to Buy iPhone 3G

According to reports, with the launch of the iPhone 3G releasing on Friday, Apple is making sure that their US consumers are fully aware that they will only be able to buy and unlock a handset in official Apple and AT&T stores. Secondly all those consumers would also be required to sign up with the provider for a 2 year contract and thirdly they would be required to undergo a credit check. For that purpose they will need to show up with their social security numbers and credit cards.

With the situation like that you’d think they were buying some sort of a life insurance policy or weirder yet, a brand new car. It’s not going to be too long after that (again hopefully) that the iPhone 3G would make its way here. Can we expect the same requirements for documentation et al? Get your taxes paid and stand by with your credit and Pan cards people.

Explore The Universe ( Space ) From Computer

Microsoft launches a free tool that allows amateur star-gazers to explore the universe from their computers. The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the universe.

This is a virtual telescope for you and me. You can now view galaxies, exotic nebulae and exploding stars from your own computer Want to see the same images that scientists use for their research or perform your own research with those images? Do you want to see the Earth from the same perspective that astronauts see as they descend to Earth? Try this software.

System requirements to run WWT

• 2GHz or faster processor
• 2GB of RAM
• 1-10GB of free disk space
• Graphics card with 128 MB RAM or 256 VRAM
• Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
• Net connection
• Macs must run Windows OS

=> Download software here
=> More information available here and here

India To Undertake 70 Space Missions by 2012

The Indian Space Research Organization develops technologies related to space and their application to India’s development. ISRO announced to undertake 70 space mission by 2012. This is three times more than the numbers of mission undertaken in the past five years. ISRO have proposed 70 mission in the 11th plan – April 1 2007 to March 31, 2012.

Also the 2008-09 annual budget has gone up to INR. 4072 crore – a 25% increase over the last financial year.

Fring Makes Its Debut on The iPhone

Fring has now became the world’s first mobile VoIP application to be made publicly available for the Apple’s iPhone, enabling users to talk, chat and interact with other fring users (“fringsters”) and all of their online communities, using their iPhone’s Wi-Fi connection.

A light, sneak preview R&D version of the mobile VoIP application, developed in conjunction with the Holon Institute of Technology academic research labs in Israel, is now available for use on the iPhone. The pre-release version is designed to both answer demand from iPhone-owning, would-be fringsters and at the same time enable fring to learn about user experience, benefit from early feedback and influence the R&D process of the full release version, due for launch later this year.

The special pre-release version will enable iPhone users to get an early taste of application. They will also have the ability to make free and low cost mobile calls over Wi-Fi and use IM-style live chat with their online contacts, regardless of whether they are on their mobiles, PCs or other internet devices.

During login, fring automatically creates a single, integrated contact list, combining contacts from all of the users’ selected internet communities. And because fring is an always-on, always-connected application, it offers features like real-time, PC-style “presence” indicators, which continually display whether contacts are online, away, offline, in a call, on their mobiles or in front of their PCs, providing new levels of freedom to interact and truly take the internet mobile.

For instructions on how to install fring on the iPhone click here.

New iPhone SDK Launched, 3G iPhone Pics Leaked

The iPhone with 3G capabilities is slowly but surely becoming a reality as more and more sites seem to be finding leaked images of the handset. With all the hullabaloo of Vodafone bringing the iPhone to India, things could be looking up for Apple fans. It seems like it would probably have a more glossy finish and it also seems like the Dock/Speaker connectors might also be altered slightly.

Apart from that the next-gen iPhone could also be sleeker. Not that it isn’t already, but there’s always room for improvement.

Image Source – Appleinsider

The 3G version aside, Apple has launched the Beta 5 version of the iPhone SDK. This newer version will supposedly make things a lot easier for developers by making the existing tools a lot better and it should also be able to fix a few more bugs. The new SDK includes a set of tools like Xcode IDE and Instruments analysis tools as well as compilers, frameworks, and documentation for creating iPhone OS applications. It also has a test simulator to test the created applications.

The Beta 5 SDK can be downloaded here.

Via IntoMobile.

iPhone to Get VLC Player

The iPhone will soon have an alternate video player that, with any luck, will offer a solution to always having to use iTunes to convert and transfer videos. Zodttd has developed an iPhone VLC player that will also work on the iPod Touch. Of course the player is still being tested and comes with only a few decoders as of now but that will change over time as the developers will no doubt increase that list. It will provide playback for MPEG/ MPG, AVI, MP3 file formats as well as other media formats.

Hopefully after the research has been conducted and tests complete, the media application should also include decoders for formats like, DivX, WMA and WMV, with support for FLAC and OGG.