BlackBerry Playbook tablet OS
Earlier today, RIM opened up its BlackBerry PlayBook devkit to all developers who may be interested in creating apps for the forthcoming tablet. The company also allowed anybody to download a beta ISO of its OS simulator, mainly to allow programmers to test their applications as they go.
However, Pocket-lint has gone through the (fairly) lengthy process to install the new OS on a PC, and this is what we’ve found… Read more 
VLC downsized to fit on the iPhone and iPod touch, now playing in the App Store
If you like your players orange and portable but don’t have a tablet, you may be in luck. The VLC Media Player app, which recently made the iPad a little more codec-friendly, is now available in the App Store for the iPhone (4 and 3GS) and iPod touch. This new version is also said to support even more file types, offer better performance, and allows for the deletion of files right through its own interface. It’s available now, so get downloading — your classic cartoons await.
72 Windows Phone 7 tips and tricks
If you’re new to the OS or thinking about getting a phone with it on, check out our whopping list of 72 tips and tricks to get you started.
1. Using the Windows Phone 7 voice controls
Press and hold the Windows key at the bottom of your screen and you can start talking to your phone. Try saying “Open Calendar”, to see what we mean.
2. Adding apps to the Start screen
When you are in the long applications list on your phone pressing on an icon and holding brings up a contextual menu that gives you a series of options, one of which is “pin to start”. Press on this option and the app will be shown on the Start screen. Read more
Adobe announces Air 2.5 for TVs, tablets and phones, launches Adobe InMarket to package apps
Adobe’s making a serious play for the app space today, and it’s not limiting itself to phones — its new Air cross-platform runtime environment is designed to toss apps on your smart televisions and tablets as well. Air 2.5 supports accelerometers, multi-touch gestures, cameras and microphones, GPS data and hardware acceleration in a variety of silicon. What’s more, the company wants a piece of the action, so it’s going to help developers bring their Air 2.5 apps to market by partnering with the stores themselves, and charging a mere 30 percent to take care of your hosting, billing and app store approval — though we’re informed the service will be free for the first year if you sign up today. The newly-christened Adobe InMarket won’t help you get into the iTunes App Store, as you might expect, but it should assist with the Intel AppUp store… and perhaps a pair of brand-new marketplaces from RIM and Samsung as well.
Read more
iPhone 4 82% higher screen damage rate than 3GS?
Specifically, iPhone 4 owners reported 82-percent more damaged screens in the first 4 months, compared to iPhone 3GS owners. The company is also not entirely impressed with the aluminosilicate glass, which they reckon “doesn’t seem any less likely to break than previous models.”
At least a quarter of the broken glass claims involved the back panel, SquareTrade says, and the company is projecting accident rates of 15.5-percent by twelve months after purchase. Of course, as a warranty company it’s perhaps in SquareTrade’s best interests to be ominous about the figures, but with over 20,000 handsets covered you do have to wonder if there’s still something to it all.
Samsung Galaxy Tab available in Israel
The Samsung Galaxy is on an all out, world-wide blitz (I’m in defensive NFL mode, its Sunday) ready to take on the ever demanding and popular iPad.
Israel is the latest, adding another location the Samsung Galaxy Tab is available. The tab will be offered exclusively by Cellcom where it’ll cost 89NIS ($25 US) per month in 36 installments, which adds up to 3,604NIS ($900 US). The only Galaxy Tab available is the 16GB version, not the 32GB . If you decide to grab this Galaxy Tab, the purchase requires an additional 89NIS ($25 US) monthly data plan.
Acer Liquid Metal S120 spotted running Android 2.2 on AT&T bands in FCC
Rumors of a 3.6-inch 800 x 480 Liquid Metal handset from Acer have been heating up in recent months. Now the aluminum handset said to be housing an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230-1 processor just cleared the FCC sporting GSM/EDGE 850/1900 and WCDMA Band II and V making it the perfect candidate for an AT&T launch. The listing also confirms Android 2.2 Froyo, GPS, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi on the tested model S120 DVT2 (that’s Design Verification Test 2) prototype. With an October launch set for the UK, well, it won’t be long before we see this babe in North America. A bit of documentary evidence after the break.
AIVAnet 