Back in June, Google announced that it would be ‘retiring’ Health effective January 1, 2012. Now, everything appears to be on-track for the shutdown, with Google sending out a final reminder to Health customers earlier today. You have until the stroke of midnight to access the service or port your data to a competitor — after which point you’ll no longer be able to view information saved to your account, though it’ll remain available to download in .zip format for another year. Want to know more? Hit up the source link for the Google Health FAQ.

Google Health’s New Year’s Resolution is to cease to exist, countdown begins to save your data originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy has a pretty spectacular deal on iPhones this weekend: It is offering buy-one-get-one-free pricing on the 2010 32 GB iPhone 4, on either Sprint or AT&T with a new two-year contract activation. It is the same deal that was offered last weekend, keen observers will note, and it is back for Friday and Saturday only.

The deal is only available in-store, and it is last year’s model, not the current iPhone 4S, but this is still a great deal for couples or just two friends looking to switch to iPhones or upgrade from older versions, since Best Buy still lists the 32 GB version of the iPhone 4 for $199 on contract. The price, $200, is the same as what you would pay for two 8 GB iPhone 4 devices under Apple’s current pricing scheme.

About the only significant feature you will be missing is Siri, since the camera and processor improvements of the 4S are good, too, but likely won’t make too much of a difference for the average user. This is probably a way for Best Buy to clear out existing stock, so expect supplies to be limited.

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There are plenty of tools and apps out there that automate the essential computing tasks that face us every day. Some are time consuming others are simply monotonous — but they must be done. Dropbox Automator combines time-saving task mastery with perhaps our favorite cloud storage solution. The service watches a designated folder for uploads, when a new file is added an action is triggered — everything from converting documents, to resizing an image or tweeting a link. And that’s just scratching the surface. There are already plenty of automation scripts in the fledgling service’s repertoire and devs can add there own by creating a SOAP webservice. Hit up the source link to get started now.

Dropbox Automator triggers monotonous tasks with uploading of a file originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lots of people may be on vacation right now, but Kickstarter isn’t. The crowdfunding site has some great new Apple-related accessories that could be just what the doctor ordered if you are flush with post-Christmas cash or a guilty indulgence if shopping cleaned you out.

An iPhone Smart Cover that does more

The TidyTilt carefully avoids using the actual words “Smart Cover,” which is a smart move given Apple’s propensity to quickly and strongly defend its trademarks. But as a segmented, magnetic cover that also doubles as a stand, it has striking similarities. But the TidyTilt isn’t designed first and foremost as a protective device; it doesn’t cover your screen, after all. Instead, it lives on the back of your iPhone 4 or 4S, thanks to an adhesive magnetic frame, and provides on-the-spot cord and cable management.

The magnetic strip attaches to your iPhone’s back surface with a removable adhesive, and it can then be used to stick the device to metal surfaces. It also connects with magnets in the TidyTilt itself to keep it in place on the back of your device, adding very little extra depth. The TidyTilt panel can be folded to act as a spool for earphones or a dock charging cable, and it can also be used to prop up your iPhone for viewing or typing. It’s a remarkably versatile but somewhat hard to describe system. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Just a $19 pledge nets you a preorder for the TidyTilt, which is pretty cheap for what looks like a completely unique yet highly functional iPhone accessory.

Swanky iPad storage

The diFeltro Fold enters a crowded market: iPad bags. But this handcrafted beauty, designed in the U.S. and made in Italy using German wool felt and Italian leather, oozes style and practical usability. It should add very little weight to the iPad itself, and it has a magnetic pocket for cables, chargers and accessories and should prove a long-lasting iPad companion.

If you want to impress at the board meeting as well as among your friends, the diFeltro fold is an awesome balance between fashion and function. A $150 pledge nets you a preorder, which is sure to be a heavy discount off the retail price for a handcrafted product that uses these kinds of materials.

Cables where you need them

The Cord-On-Board iPhone 4 and 4S case packs a hidden secret: a dock charging cable that is always on hand when you need one. For those who have left the things in hotels across the world, this will definitely come as a welcome innovation.

The case comes with a short dock-to-USB cable to use for charging and syncing purposes with your iPhone, which can be stowed out of site within the shell of the case itself. It adds a little bulk to the iPhone but also an ergonomic curve to the iPhone’s back that might actually make it more comfortable to hold. Plus, every case ships with a removable screen protector.

Preorders for the Cord-On-Board start at the $25 pledge level. It’s an interesting concept that could definitely strike a chord with travelers, but it still has a lot of funding to gather before it meets its $20,000 goal.

Got an exciting Kickstarter project? Send it to us for consideration in our regular roundup of promising accessories.

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As expected, the past year was an exciting one for mobile tech. I did reasonably well on my predictions for 2011, but now it’s time to power up the crystal ball and gaze at what 2012 will bring. Make no mistake, the coming year will bring much change to the fast-paced mobile tech landscape. Companies will continue to battle for consumer dollars as both computing and mobile broadband advances put even more power in the devices we carry around with us and even the ones we wear.

• Wearable computing becomes the next mobile frontier. This year saw an increase in the number of viable smart devices that can be worn on a wrist, but 2012 will see greater consumer adoption of them. Watches such as the MetaWatch, InPulse and WIMM have set the stage and others will follow. I expect Sony to take another crack at this market after its mediocre LiveView watch. Motorola has already made a play here in 2011 with the MotoActv but will add another model or improve the current one. And I’m not counting Apple out here either: Adding Bluetooth to the iPod nano would be an ideal way to interact with an iPhone to see messages, or even utilize Siri. Note that Bluetooth 4.0 will power most of these devices in 2012.
• We’ll remotely connect to our smart homes. I’m an early adopter in this category, having in 2010 enabled a home automation system that I can tap via my smartphone. Next year, more will do so and the idea of a “smart home” will be a term that most consumers are familiar with. Trying to tap the growing number of smartphone users, companies will aggressively compete for the business of installing sensors in the home and offering software and services to monitor them. But more people will test their own do-it-yourself solutions due to falling costs of sensors, networked cameras and simple, low-cost software to communicate with a smart home.
• A jump in wireless home broadband adoption. With two LTE networks in the U.S., plus a fast HSPA+ option in T-Mobile, carriers will offer wireless home broadband solutions at appealing prices. I anticipate seeing wireless bundles of home and mobile broadband on single bills that cost less than wired broadband paired with mobile data plans. Instead of opting for DSL or fiber connections, we’ll see the beginnings of homeowners “cutting the cord” on home broadband, creating more demand for spectrum.
• Windows Phone usage grows, but slower than expected. Microsoft will make headway in smartphone platform market share in 2012, but still won’t see double-digit share in 2012. It will, however, surpass BlackBerry market share for phones sold in 2012. Windows 8 will actually help create demand for Windows Phone in the second half of the year as desktop upgraders will want the Metro user interface on their phones for a unified experience.

• Windows tablets in 2012 will sell like Android tablets did in 2011. Windows fans will trumpet the success of Windows on a consumer tablet this coming year, but the total sales of such devices will be less than 10 million units from all hardware makers combined. The iPad was the king of tablets in 2011 due to a strong ecosystem and intuitive interface and won’t be dethroned in 2012. Tablet choice for consumers next year will be iPad first, Android second and Windows third.
• Research In Motion will no longer exist as we know it today. I’d like to be wrong on this, as competition is good for all, but RIM’s missteps and late reactions to competition finally exact a toll: By year-end, I suspect the company will be purchased, mainly for its patents, or will refocus as a services-oriented entity.
• Nokia uses Symbian as a backup plan (but doesn’t call it Symbian). Although Nokia is using Windows Phone as its primary platform for smartphones, it continues to mature Symbian in the face of underwhelming Windows Phone sales. Without momentum and in the face of growing iOS and Android sales, the platform won’t fare any better than it did in 2011.
• The patent wars worsen. This year was marked with more high-profile patent cases than I can remember in the mobile space. The situation won’t get better in 2012; it will worsen as platforms are now less disruptive and show more parity. With fewer ways to differentiate from the competition, lawsuits will multiply. However, I do expect that of all the companies involved in such suits, Samsung and Apple, will come to terms in 2012. Samsung will pay an undisclosed amount to Apple and will have to heavily modify the look and feel of their customized user interface software.
• Dual-core devices will outsell quad-core devices. Although dual-core chips only began to power smartphones and tablets in 2011, they’ll be used more often in 2012, even though quad-core chips are here now. The power of four cores simply isn’t needed in lower-cost phones and tablets. Think of Amazon’s Kindle Fire, the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet and other devices that don’t require such power, cost or reduced battery life. Remember that throwing hardware in a device doesn’t solve software or usability problems.
• Apple’s next iPhone will be the iPhone 4GS. The company has wisely waited for two things before bringing 4G support to its handset: efficient radios supporting both 3G and 4G technologies and widespread deployment of LTE networks. These problems will disappear in 2012 and 4G will be one of the big features of the next phone. I don’t expect the general design of the hardware to change, however. When the iPhone 4GS arrives, it will be priced the same as today’s 4S. That old model will be priced at $99 and the old iPhone 4 will be free on contract.
• There will be an iPad Pro available in 2012. The iPad 2 will continue on as a current model in 2012, but see a price reduction, while a double-resolution iPad Pro will launch this coming year. The new Pro model will be priced the same as the current iPad 2. With a price drop for the current iPad 2, Apple will see no need to create a 7-inch iPad for $199 and up, although I will still want such a beast for several reasons. There’s the off-chance that Apple retires the iPod touch so as not to compete on price with the reduced-cost iPad and because iPhone sales will continue to siphon off potential iPod touch buyers.
• Google will split off Motorola not long after its purchase goes though. This may not happen in 2012, but I expect the announcement of it to take place next year. Google can’t own a hardware company and compete with its hardware partners. It knows this and will split Motorola off with the provision that it retains Motorola’s mobile patents for use in protecting any Android partner.

• Android’s momentum will continue thanks to Android 4.0. The new platform will be seen by many as more comparable to iOS, which will keep selling phones and begin to finally build a large following for Android tablets. Even so, developers will continue to generally make apps for iOS first and will make far more money as a collective group. However, the adoption of Android 4.0 will be the impetus for noticeable improvements in the quality and availability of Android apps.
• Hybrid apps with HTML5 will be the norm. The standards for HTML5 are still in motion so native apps will continue to be stronger than web-based apps. But as in 2011, many of the native apps on smartphones will use HTML5 as a base with a native wrapper around them. With the number of HTML5 compatible handsets expected by 2013, we’ll see momentum grow for true web apps on low-end phones.
• Intel will announce that 2013 is the year it really gets into the mobile market.The song has remained the same for the past few years, but Intel still hasn’t cracked the fast-growing mobile market. It will see more success in 2012, especially with tablets, but still will be considered an also-ran to ARM-powered devices in 2012.
• We’ll see a smaller Kinect in 2012, with expectations that such technology fits in a mobile device the following year. The promise of gesture-based mainstream interfaces began in late 2010 as Microsoft debuted Kinect. A smaller version for the Xbox will arrive before the 2012 holiday season and Microsoft will demonstrate an integrated prototype that works with Windows Phone or a Windows 8 tablet.

Just as I did this year, I’ll revisit these thoughts at the end of 2012 to see how well — or how badly — my prognostication skills are. Got any of your own predictions for mobile in 2012? Share them in the comments!

Image courtesy Flickr user islandguy

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Apple Senior VP Jonathan (or Jony) Ive has been credited with fueling the company’s resurgence alongside Steve Jobs with products like the iMac, iPhone and iPad, and for these successes has been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire as a part of the New Year’s Honour’s List. Aside from having a much better NYE celebration than yours, he’ll be tapped on the shoulders by the Queen’s sword and that will forever be Sir Jony to you, commoner (we’ll see if he can make it through the ceremony without suggesting some tweaks for better balance and usability — you can see his passion above as he eats an invisible sandwich pontificates about new iMacs). It’s a bump up from his previous title of Commander of the British Empire and keeps the cycle going, as he released a statement appreciating the benefit of a “wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making”.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple lead designer Jonathan Ive knighted for the New Year, how’s your 2012 looking? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What would New Year’s be without the traditional Times Square party? People in New York City have been watching the ball drop at midnight for more than a hundred years, and millions from all over the U.S. have been glued to their TV screens for decades to catch a glimpse of the action.

This year, the party is once again live streamed online as well, and mobile apps for Android and iOS come in handy if you don’t want to miss it while on the go.

Here’s how to watch the New Year’s celebration at Times Square live online and on your phone:

• The official Times Square live feed will once again be hosted by Livestream, and start on New Year’s Eve at 6 p.m. EST (3 p.m. PST).
• EarthCam will give you a bird’s-eye view of the party via Ustream. The webcam is live year-round, so feel free to drop in any time.
• EarthCam is also once again providing a 3-D feed of the party on its website.
• The Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball App for iOS not only offers you a live feed of the party, but even an option to upload your own face to be shown on the huge Toshiba big screen at Times Square.
• The Times Square Official Ball App for Android offers the same thing for your Android phone.
• Looking for an alternative to the action in New York? There are too many streams from parties around the world to list them all here, but I want to single out one for originality: Singer-songwriter Daria Musk is organizing a world-wide interactive party with live music via Google+ Hangouts. People can join in via her Google+ feed or simply watch the action unfold on her YouTube page.

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Now that pod2g has done the heavy lifting and released an untethered jailbreak for iOS5, the Seas0NPass tool has been updated for your untethered jailbreaking pleasure on Apple TVs running even the latest 4.4.4 update. Redmond Pie has a full walkthrough and how-to that should help you get things going, so that you no longer have to choose between extending your device’s capabilities beyond Apple’s restrictions (still no Plex support on 4.4.4 though) and features like AirPlay mirroring. Even more interestingly however, a few hackers may be close to unlocking iOS apps for use on the Apple TV. There’s nothing released yet but we’ll be following @themudkip and @westbaer on Twitter for further updates as they’re available.

Seas0nPass untethered jailbreak for Apple TVs on 4.4.4 detailed, iOS apps coming soon? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thanks to Chinese portal site sohu.com, the images above and below of the new BMW 1-Series as a 3-door hatchback, has been exposed with patent/trademark designs. With the knowledge of a BMW 1-Series 5-door hatchback on the way, the images provide a good idea of what to expect next from BMW.

Looking elongated, the B-pillar is pulled back and angled towards the rear and the effect is enhanced even more by the arcing of the roof combined with arcing side glass.

BMW will be offering the 1-Series in a total of six different body variants divided into two different build architectures. The 1-Series 3-door hatchback is expected to arrive in the U.S. Summer time in 2012.

Source: World Car Fans

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Games for the Weekend is a weekly feature aimed at helping you avoid doing something constructive with your downtime. Each Friday we’ll be recommending a game for Mac, iPhone or iPad that we think is awesome enough to keep you busy until Monday, at least.

100 Rogues ($0.99, Universal) is a role-playing game that challenges the bond between a player and their character, which is normally a valued relationship in RPGs. How does it do that? By killing your chosen character, over and over, again and again.

Instead of a deep and meaningful bond with your character, 100 Rogues drives game play forward through classic aesthetics and a never-ending quest for food.  You also still have to watch health and energy, as in most RPGs, but the Belly stat is the key difference here. Unlike with health and energy, you won’t be told in the general heads up display when you’re running out of food, and items to bolster that stat don’t seem as plentiful as those for the others.

Once your belly is empty, you will start losing one point of health each round until you either find food or die. You are warned from time to time that your character is getting hungry, and when that happens, you may find yourself taking unusual risks in your quest for food.  And just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, you’ll discover that some of the food in the dungeon is rotten, and eating it will deduct permanent points from your max health.

When you’re not in panic mode searching for fresh food, the randomly generated levels and over sixty different monster types will certainly keep you on your toes. Your character also earns experience which you can spend on skills, and the world is littered with treasure and merchants that will sell you items, including food, for a price. When you start a new game, you can choose between a Human Crusader, a Fairy Wizard, or one of seven different classes available via in-app purchase.

Overall, thanks to the unique belly stat, and variety of levels and characters, Dinofarm Games and Fusion Reactions have done an outstanding job of injecting new life into the dungeon crawler genre with 100 Rogues.

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