If there is one near universal gripe folks have with the Kindle, it’s the DRM-laden files. It’s no wonder, then, that the thing has been a lightning rod for the “information wants to be free crowd,” almost since the beginning. Sure, we’ve seen Mobipocket, .epub, and .pdf files used on the device, but if you really want to bedevil Bezos the thing to do would be to altogether circumvent the DRM from your Amazon e-books — and it looks like an Israeli hacker named Labba has done just that. For the time being, the hack, which allows you to convert your legally obtained e-books to unencrypted PDF files, is available as a Python script. We’re sure that the process will be streamlined for us civilians soon enough — let’s just hope that it happens before the hole gets plugged and your e-reader auto-updated. This is one way to keep hold of your legally purchased Orwell, eh?
Personal genomics startup 23andMe has recently raised another $14.2 million to close out its $27.8 million Series B round, according to regulatory filings with the SEC. The filing indicates that the new funding is an amendment to the company’s previously reported raise of $11 million in May, which was followed by an additional $2.6 million in June. We’ve reached out to 23andMe to confirm the funding amount, and to also determine if there are any new investors. Update: 23andMe have confirmed that they’ve raised funding, but have not yet confirmed the amount.
The last few months have been rocky for the company. In September, co-founder Linda Avey left 23andMe to start a foundation dedicated to studying Alzheimer?s disease. In late October, the company laid off a substantial chunk of its workforce, but declined to comment on how many people were affected.
Due to hit the Cydia store momentarily, Matthias Ringwald’s BTstack Keyboard app allows users to type text into any iPhone application using an external Bluetooth keyboard. Built on the open source BTstack project, BTstack Keyboard runs a daemon in the background of any jailbroken iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPod touch with Bluetooth support. As you type text on the keyboard, the daemon generates synthetic keyboard tap events; the effect is the same as if you’d typed that text using the on-screen keyboard.
You will need to install BTstack and the BTstack Keyboard packages on a jailbroken 3G or later iPhone or 2nd generation or later iPod touch. The software has been tested with an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, a Think Outside Stowaway Universal keyboard, and a Palm Wireless keyboard. There’s no reason to think it won’t work with any standard Bluetooth keyboard, i.e. one that uses standard BT protocols.
A member of the FCC’s five-person commission, Mignon Clyburn, has sent out a letter today in response to Verizon’s earlier reply regarding questions surrounding its gargantuan $350 early termination fee on so-called “advanced devices,” and in brief, it looks like this issue is far from tied off. Her choicest quote is that she found Verizon’s answers “unsatisfying and, in some cases, troubling,” noting that customers are already paying “high” monthly fees and suggesting that the public interest isn’t being served when someone gets slammed with a three-digit cancellation charge mid-contract. She also straight-up calls the company out on its claim that customers aren’t being inadvertently charged when the press the web button on their phone without an appropriate plan, saying that “press reports and consumer complaints strongly suggest otherwise.” Commissioner Clyburn’s conclusion? “I look forward to exploring this issue in greater depth with my colleagues in the New Year.” Dum dum dummmmm. Follow the break for the full text of the letter.
[Thanks, Daniel P.]
Twitter CEO Evan Williams just announced on the company blog that they have acquired Mixer Labs, creators of GeoAPI. In a nutshell, GeoAPI provides developers with the ability to query the world through services which include a reverse geocoder; deep data about 16 million businesses and tens of thousands of points of interest; a writable layer for developers to annotate the world and do complex geo-queries; and location-enabled media layers (e.g., Twitter and Flickr). Just recently, they’ve added an iPhone SDK to speed up mobile development as well.
GeoAPI will be integrated directly into the Twitter API, speeding up Twitter’s efforts in the geo-location space. In August 2009, Twitter first announced that they’re getting into the geo-location game as well. And, in September, a lot of you started seeing the Geo API in action through apps like Tweetie, Birdfeed, etc.
Join TUAW Lead Blogger Steve Sande today at 5 PM ET (2 PM PT) as he hosts the first-ever TUAW TV Live broadcast. We’ll be broadcasting live on Ustream (see live window below) and feel free to join in on the fun by using the chat window to talk with Steve about any topic (as long as it’s Apple-oriented) that interests you.
Today’s possible topics include addictive iPhone apps, some news we might not be posting, why remanufactured inkjet printer cartridges might not be a good idea, a quirky idea that’s helpful for any MacBook owner, what one Apple product you’d like for Christmas, and what you’d like to see as topics on future episodes of TUAW TV Live.
‘Tis the season shop until your brains melt (or skip it all entirely, depending on your interpretation of the term holiday). In that spirit, for the next few weeks we’ll be rounding up a dozen daily deals courtesy our friends at DealNews.com. Each afternoon tune in to TUAW for this handy summary. Keep in mind that while our posts will live on, the deals won’t. Each is lovingly generated by the deal-bot every day, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Enjoy!
iTunes Music Store: [iPhone / iPod Apps] App Store Freebies: Super Santa, Roller Uberball, Enso-Dot, BuddyFeed, more
This should come as a relief to all you anxiously awaiting your Barnes and Noble Nook pre-orders. We’ve received a statement from Barnes and Noble affirming that all pre-orders which had an original pre-holiday ship date will be fulfilled, and that the rest of the orders will be filled starting in Friday. Here’s the full, reassuring statement:
“We’re happy to report that all customers who pre-ordered nooks and were given a pre-holiday estimated shipping date will be sent their nooks in time to receive them by Christmas. As you know, there’s been an overwhelmingly positive response and unprecedented demand since Barnes & Noble announced its new eBook reader on October 20th. Customer demand continues to be strong and new orders will be fulfilled beginning February 1, 2010. ”
In Mac OS X (and back into OS 9 history), a creator code is a hidden value attached to a document and bound to a preferred application, allowing the OS to know which application to use for opening that file. This is particularly helpful for filetypes that have multiple valid ‘target’ apps (JPEG, PDF, etc.); the creator code lets Preview ‘own’ its PDF or image files, TextEdit automatically open its text files, and so on.
Those who are familiar with the process are already (painfully) aware that Snow Leopard ditched this system a while back (some great details at Ars Technica). For many users — especially Windows switchers — the new method is an improvement, allowing a more standardized response to double-clicking a document file that’s driven by the file name extension (.doc, .html, and the like). If you’re in the former group, though, and missing your creator codes, the developer behind PageHand has a treat for you: LaunchCodes.
A lot more people have ordered the Barnes & Noble Nook, first announced on October 20, than the company expected (despite getting panned by the official reviewers). The company had Foxconn, their ODM, build far fewer of them than they should have.
The original plan was to ship pre-orders by November 30 but that date was pushed back to December 7. It took a mere month for the entire order process to break down. Now a small number of pre-orders still haven’t arrived and most brick and mortar stores are sold out and even then they were only available in “higher volume” stores on December 7.