Cool tips n tricks related to smartphones, tablets and computer

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “插入硬币” as the subject line.

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When it comes to supergroups, The Traveling Wilbury’s haven’t got anything on these guys. Bright House, Cablevision, 康卡斯特, Cox and Time Warner are teaming up to share around 50,000 metro WiFi hotspots for their customers, under the banner of “CableWiFi.” New York City and the Tri-State area, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando and Philadelphia will be among the first to get the service, with growth to more cities pledged for the future. If nothing else, it should be a good way to stick it to the man when he snatches your unlimited data plan.

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Gogo has a virtual lock on in-flight WiFi for the US, but most of us forget that everything goes dark the moment you decide to cross the border. The company already has a deal with Inmarsat for Ka-band Internet connections, and now it’s partnering up with AeroSat to bring Ku-band satellite access. The tie-in will let Gogo offer precious relief from tedium on international flights, whether it’s a modest hop to the Great White North or an hours-long trip across the ocean. Gogo considers the deal an interim step until Inmarsat’s technology is ready, making for much quicker availability than if it had just waited until it could use Ka-band: Ku-band satellite linkups should be on airliners as soon as the end of 2012, while Ka-band won’t even show its face until at least late 2014. It’s unknown what kind of premium we’ll pay over the $13 maximum Gogo normally charges, but if AeroSat lets us squeak in a few more Twitter updates on our way home from Barcelona, it’ll be worthwhile.

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Getting photos out of your iphone is a fairly easy task. You don’t even need to launch iTunes to access your images. Nevertheless, you still have to use a cable, which is why there are still plenty of 应用程序 that make this task even easier. Air Projector is an iOS app that serves a similar purpose, but not just for extracting images. Using Air Projector, it is possible to display photos and PDF documents on any desktop computer without even transferring the data to it first. The app streams your media and documents to a web browser of your choice. The app doesn’t even need a desktop client as everything is done over Wi-Fi and HTTP.

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Venstar is giving the good old thermostat a techie makeover with a new Skyport WiFi Key for its ColorTouch residential thermostat. The Skyport WiFi Key allows the thermostats to connect to the company’s Skyport Cloud Services, which lets 用户 remotely monitor and control their thermostats via Venstar’s mobile app. The new cloud access is compatible with the most devices, including the iphone, iPad的, and iPod touch as well as BlackBerry and android 系统 设备. It can also be accessed over the web via Macs and PCs.

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If you are even remotely concerned about your iphone, iPod touch or iPad’s privacy, 锁 屏幕 passcode is the most rudimentary measure that can (and should) be taken, and previously reviewed Cydia tweak, CleverPin, makes that passcode intelligent enough to automatically disable itself whenever the 设备 is connected to a trusted WiFi network, 例如, the network at your home or any other location where the chances of your privacy getting violated are minimum. The tweak also offers some other useful options (like defining a time period during which the passcode will be disabled), but you have to pay $1.99 to get it. Meet AutoProtect, a new Cydia tweak that provides the same functionality for free!

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If you are new to iOS, using iTunes can prove to be a nightmare. There are a host of errors you might run into, or you might accidentally lose some of your data in the name of “syncing”, if your 设备 has ever been associated with another computer and iTunes library. Even if you do manage to tame the wild beast that is iTunes, it still won’t let you extract and transfer to your computer, " 音乐 that is already on your iphone, iPod touch or iPad. 有很多 应用程序 and services that let 用户 do just about anything to bypass iTunes, and Song Exporter Pro is one such useful app. If you have a lot of songs on your iphone, iPad 或 iPod 触摸, this app will let you 下载 them to your computer, given that both devices are on the same WiFi network. What’s even better, is that you can do this on any computer, irrespective of OS, drivers or in the absence of iTunes, since all transfers are handled through the browser. This is as simple as it gets. More past the break.

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Like other OS platform, Mac OS X also shows network icon in menu bar, letting 用户 view current status of active network(s), modify network connection settings, and open Network Configuration window to set advanced options. Although the dynamic WiFi network icon shows the network strength in the form of signal bars, Mac OS X doesn’t natively offer different network indicators to check other important attributes of WiFi network, including local and public (external) IP address, Network Interface Card’s MAC address, Noise and Ping response time. While one can easily check these attributes of WiFi connection using any third-party network utility, most applications require 用户 to bring up their main interface to view information regarding current Wi-Fi network. 例如, if you need to keep a check on ping response time, you either have to run Network Utility from Applications—>Utilities or use ping command in Terminal. Network Strength is a small 应用程序 for Mac OS X that displays network strength (percentage), local and public IP address, MAC address, Noise and ping response time, all in menu bar.

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Virgin Mobile’s newest android 系统 smartphone ‘Venture’ 是目前可在美国前，为了通过该公司的官方网站. 由中兴通讯制造, 这自有品牌手机体育1 2.8英寸的触摸屏显示, 1 600MHz的处理器, 1 512MB的RAM, 1 microSD卡插槽, 万像素 相机 with LED flash and video recording support, 一个QWERTY键盘, 3G, 个，共, 蓝牙, a 3.5mm headset jack and runs on android 系统 2.3 操作系统. 该合资公司的零售价为 $99.99 ，将开始出货从3月15日. [

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