Verizon’s Droid 2 has finally been rooted, by the cool cats at xda-developers of course. Those of you lucky enough to have Motorola’s latest and greatest Android powered Droid 2 be sure to check it out, but a warning: as usual proceed with caution! One wrong move, one misspelled command… Just be sure you know what you’re doing alright?

The latest version of the WordPress for BlackBerry app has gone live on BlackBerry App World this week. The app allows you to do most of the administrative work (posting, commenting, uploading video/photos…) on your WordPress blog through a BlackBerrry. It’s a simple app that boosts productivity for those of you with a BlackBerry.

This latest update is mainly bugfixes bringing the version number to 1.4.1. Localization is well under way, with 11 languages currently supported, with the door open to further community translations.

The app is of course free, and the reviews tend to be slightly above average at 3.5 stars by 106 reviewers. Be sure to check the BlackBerry for WordPress blog or the App World gallery for screenshots of the app. If you experience any issues after the upgrade be sure to check out the FAQ.

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A team at the University of Manchester has been researching and developing facial recognition biometrics to bring added security to smartphones. In collaboration with the Mobile Biometrics project, the team is using Nokia’s N900 to lock and track facial features in real time, using the lower resolution front facing camera. The emphasis here is on real time recognition, with a quick lock on and robust tracking. The test video showcases the N900 being shaken, twisted, rotated (etc…) with little effect on the tracking. Move it from side to side, flip the camera, dance a bit… and when the software looses track of the face it is able to recalculate and track the face fairly quickly. Facial recognition software is nothing new; the innovative part is using low resolution video being processed by highly efficient algorithms due to the lack of traditional processing power. Though it is becoming fairly evident that the lines between desktop and smartphones are blurring every day. The next time you unlock your cell, you may want to make sure to have a bright smile!

Samsung has finally come clean with their upcoming 7-inch tablet the Galaxy Tab, which has had its fair share of leaks, and uploaded an official teaser onto the web. We can expect an official product announcement and showcasing on September 2nd. In brief, the Galaxy Tab will be Froyo powered (Android 2.2), with HD video playback capability, Swype, video calling, and a custom e-reader software. The e-reader is said to be better than the current offerings on Android. You’ll obviously be able to browse the web comfortably, and as far as radios are concerned there will be WiFi and GPS for sure, with a possible 3G version on the way (read: unconfirmed/hints there-of). Interestingly, the video teaser uses augmented reality as one of the main selling points.

Smashing Magazine has released a free iPhone application, Color Stream, designed by Sahil Lavingia. The application is geared towards web designers to help them continue to work on designs on the go. Color Stream allows you to create color palettes for use in designs, and can do so either from scratch, or generated from an image on your iPhone, or even generate a color scheme at random. You can even use the camera to pull color data, meaning that if you meet inspiration along the way you can use the camera to capture your idea (in the city, in nature… wherever!). Coded by a designer, Color Stream is obviously fairly complete (monochromatic, triadic, analogous, etc…), with several intuitive user interface amelioration from standard Apple UI.

Sahil’s motivation for writing the app is clear: to always be productive, no matter where he is, and with thousands of downloads and 4+ stars he can’t be wrong.  Be sure to check out Smashing Magazine’s post for further information and a slew of screenshots!

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Virgin Mobile is simplifying their pricing plans for their mobile broadband service, Broadband2Go. Their current four plans will be simplified into two plans. The first plan is $10 for 10 days with a 100MB cap, while the second plan is unlimited data for $40/month. Pretty sweet eh? The new plans will be going into effect August 24th on its EVDO Rev A network. As Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint, they will be using Sprint’s 3G network. So whether you’re in the country for a couple days and need a cheap way of getting online, or you live off of download, Virgin Mobile has you covered!

Google has started a new beta program to deliver AdSense advertisements for iPad applications. Advertisers with campaigns running on the Google Display Network via Mobile for AdSense will now be able to target applications that run on the iPad. The beta program is currently limited to the US and Canada, but is sure to expand eventually.

So basically, while developing an application using the iOS SDK, you can now further monetize by inserting ads into the application.

What are the implications of this? As time goes on, advertisements are slowly infiltrating every corner of our lives. As more money is to be made, more developers will be inserting ads in their apps (we’re not talking about web here, applications themselves!). It’s also interesting to note that Google is not missing an opportunity such as the iPad to expand its advertisement network, surely in a bid to put competition to Apple on its own platform. In fact, it’s probably Google’s strongest motive for their move on iPad apps.

Word’s on the net that Canon’s PowerShot G11 successor is getting near, the G12. While covering the latest cameras to launch from Canon, it looks like Cnet Asia slipped and released info on the G12 as well. Though the info has since been redacted, several other blogs grabbed the images. Not much seems to have changed from G11 to G12 other than inclusions of HD video recording (looks to be 720p) and some slight cosmetic changes, ergonomics. CanonRumors grabbed a screenshot of the slip up by Cnet Asia. So when can we expect an official press release with official specs? Most probably at Photokina this coming September.

A detailed preview for Canon’s PowerShot S95 is already online, courtesy of the fine folks at dpreview; be sure to check it out, as the sensor is most probably identical to the G12 (like the S90 and G11 shared).

It looks like Nokia’s N900 is slowly reaching its end of life, in preparation for Nokia’s new MeeGo flagship, probably the N9. Engadget has a few stories covering the supposed leak of a prototype.

Now’s the time to buy! The N900 can be found on retail around $400 at Amazon and other places, while some slick deals can be found such as Nokia USA’s $200 deal, though it requires a trade in. NewEgg has it for $420, and throws in a free 3G router. Deals are popping up all over the net, it’s clear that the N900′s successor is just, around, the, corner… stay tuned!

Events to look out for: MeeGo Conference 2010 (November 15th-17th in Dublin) and Nokia Developer Summit 2010 (September 14th and 15th in London).

The fine folks over at Engadget Spanish received a Nokia Booklet 3G and started cranking the old cam for some pics and vid. The Booklet that they received is running a fresh copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. The Engadget Spanish team were really impressed with the packaging, and particularly the adapter (interestingly, it’s just an adapter, right?). They’ve already posted an unboxing video and a picture gallery. Check ‘em out. The Booklet 3G will be hitting stateside by mid-november, with BestBuy already allowing pre-orders.

Nokia’s official blog confirmed this morning that the N97 mini will in fact be shipping this week, world wide. Alongside the N97 mini launch is an update to the N97′s software to revision 2.0. The N97 mini is seen by many as an attempt by Nokia to correct or iron out the bugs that shipped with the N97. Time will tell how well the mini will sell.

“The Nokia N97 mini brings with it a raft of new software features, alongside a diminutive stainless steel frame but still with all the things people love about its original bigger brother. [...] the N97 software [update] brings a host of optimisation tweaks, improving performance and battery life.”

James Beechinor-Collins, Nokia

Telus and Bell’s joint HSPA+ Network will be coming online next Thursday (November 5, 2009). Telus has already listed their launch devices, with some very nice things in the lineup. As we already knew, Bell and Telus will launch their network with the iPhone 3GS spearheading the way. What we didn’t know was that Telus has managed to grab some nice exclusivities. The HTC Hero and LG’s New Chocolate will be exclusive to Telus, as well as the black and red versions of Nokia’s E71. Last but not least, RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9700 will also be featured on the launch, but not as a Telus exclusive.

Peter Schneider, head of Maemo’s marketing team, posted an update on the latest word from Nokia concerning the N900′s shipping date. Looks like the N900 should see the light and start shipping “sometime” within the following weeks.

“The Nokia N900 is a great example of what we and the open source community have been able to achieve with Maemo software. We are working closely with open source developers and for example, at the Maemo Summit in October, we loaned 300 pre-production units to get more feedback from the community. This feedback is extremely important to us and as such we also want to provide the best user experience with the Nokia N900. We expect it to start shipping during November 2009.”

Peter Schneider, Nokia

So to recap, the official word from Nokia is “during November 2009“. Some other sources appear to have inside info on when specifically in November. Expansys USA has the N900 listed with a November 2nd ship date, while product-reviews.net says that they got an email from MobilePhonesDirect that claims a November 16th UK release. The German Nokia store has “possibly November 25th” listed, while NewEgg has the shipping date stateside as November 14th. Who is right? Stick around…

Nokia released a press release this morning detailing their legal prospects of bringing Apple to court. Nokia claims that Apple is infringing on 10 of their patents in wireless sectors. All iPhone models (and possibly iTouch devices by extension) since 2007 infringe on patents covering GSM, UMTS (3G WCDMA), and WiFi technologies. According to Nokia, the patents are currently successfully licensed by more than 40 companies, including industry-leading ones.

Apparently Apple has refused to agree to “appropriate” licensing terms, preferring to fight this one out in the courts. The Delaware Federal District court will get a chance to square this one away (in the coming years). Nokia is vague on specific patent applications, claiming that they cover “wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption”. It is unknown if these are hardware or software patents, but it is likely a mix therein.

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Want to save a couple hundred bucks on your next MacBook or MacBook Pro? Look no further, AppleInsider is pulling their connections to get the community some nice savings. You can grab the new 13″ MacBook for $899 (from $999), the MacBook Pros will net you savings of $120 to $280 depending on the model, or save $105 on the MacBook Air. Looks like today’s Windows 7 launch has Apple moving.