iSmashPhone

Linux for iPhone: Is An Android iPhone Next?

The iPhone Dev Team has done it again...

Team member planetbeing, thanks to some clever reverse-engineering, has figured out how to run Linux on an iPhone, controlled with a USB keyboard running off the iPhone multi-purpose port.

While the current implications of this hack are at best academic, one projected outcome is Google's Android running directly on an iPhone.

Here's a more detailed video of the hack:

Keep in mind that while the Linux port has the framebuffer driver (for video), the serial driver, serial over USB driver, and drivers for the interrupts, the clock, and miscellaneous hardware components, it's still missing most of the other things, like write support for the NAND memory, wireless networking, touchscreen drivers, sound, accelerometer, and, one big and, the baseband chip, which is what makes the iPhone communicate with the cellular networks.

[Via Gizmodo]

Great Little App Turns iPhone into Wireless Keypad

Miss a good old-fashioned number pad when typing in numbers on your Mac?  Hate using both hands to type in numbers from the top row of keys on your notebook? 

Well, Balmuda's Numberkey is a great little solution.  The app, which costs only $1.99, turns your iPhone into a standard number pad that connects through your Mac's Wi-Fi connection. 

It's a simple, great solution for spreadsheets, accounting software, or even if you just got some numbers to enter.  And there's even an assortment of skins to choose from so the keypad matches the style of your Mac's keyboard.  A simple, sweet and inexpensive solution!

[via Gizmodo]

PanoLab Lets iPhone Shutterbugs "Go Wide"

Originate Labs has released PanoLab, billed as "an elegant, free* tool that enables photographers to assemble multi-frame panoramas directly on the iPhone."

Using photos taken on the fly and/or already on your iPhone, PanoLab stitches them together into a wide-screen vista that can then be saved/edited/shared like any other photo file.  It can use as few as two -- and as many as thirty -- images to do this, and also "applies perspective correction and linear projection to make many photos from one viewpoint align into a cohesive wide-angle view."

*The "free" applies to the basic PanoLab app.  There's also a PanoLab Pro with more features -- and a US$4.99 pricetag.  One caveat: according to iTunes reviewers, neither basic nor Pro app offers a truly seamless stitching of images, so proceed accordingly.