Earlier in the month, we reported on rumors that since the Apple TV runs iOS just like as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, it should be possible to jailbreak it. But there was no indication if how and if it could seriously be done, due to the Apple TV’s limited storage capacity.

But a member of the Apple jailbreak blog iPhone Dev confirmed that if you use Greenpois0n and the SHAtter exploit, you can indeed jailbreak the Apple TV’s iOS 4.1 installation. The Dev-Team managed to jailbreak the film rental since Apple having has firmware on its servers.

The greenpois0n update for 4.1 isn’t out just yet, so beware of any fake Website that claims to have the newest download.

It will be interesting to see what hackers cando with a jailbroken Apple TV. At present, various how-to Websites show users how to add a multitude of apps and programs such as Sapphire and Boxee to the old Apple TV. With the jailbreak options readily available for the newbie, (as well as the Apple TV’s mini-USB port at your disposal to add external storage), there’s no reason to think that hackers can’t come up with some interesting customizations..

Are you more tempted by the new Apple TV now it can be jailbroken? Sound off in the comments.

[Via: Quickpwn]

Like this? You may also enjoy…

• iPad Runs Windows 95, Universe Stays Intact
• Make your Mac Emulate the Verizon ‘Droid’ Robot Voice
• Apple TV Runs iOS, Hackers Likely Ready to Storm the Gates

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It’s not the apocalypse and hell isn’t freezing over, but Google Voice is reportedly going to become available from Apple’s App Store.

This may come as a surprise after Apple publicly rejected the Google Voice app last year from the iTunes App Store. Some rumors say this may have been more AT&T’s doing, because it would be the company with the most to lose–as in text messaging charges.

The Google Voice mobile app would allow a caller to send and receive free SMS and use cheap long-distance calling, so it wouldn’t be doing AT&T any favors.

Perhaps a lot changed in a year, or Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, who also sits on Apple’s board of directors, was able to sprinkle a little Google fairy dust. Now Apple has reversed its decision and will make the Google app available in the next few weeks.

But the reversal of the Google Voice app ban also signifies something more important: a possible understanding and partnership between Google and Apple, and essentially their Android and iOS mobile platforms.

That means if both companies continue to partner to offer quality applications, customers can only win. Imagine using some of the better Android apps, such as Google Voice, on your iPhone, and using Apple’s FaceTime on your Samsung Galaxy Tab. It opens up the applications to broader commercial success and usage.

With FaceTime, which runs on the Apple iOS, its code could potentially be rewritten to run also on the Android platform, so that two people–one with an iPhone and one with a Droid X, for instance–could both use the program to communicate directly.

Few platforms speak with one another, but enabling such applications as Google Voice to run on different platforms could lead to more diverse apps markets and customized products, and mean a longer life for all operating systems.

This app trading could also keep costs down. IT managers could opt to buy a cheaper tablet or smartphone and then download needed applications, rather than buying a more expensive device. Instead of purchasing a pricey iPad, a manager could choose a cheaper Android tablet and download Apple apps.

If the new mobile platform world order is here, we’re all the better for it.

Reach or follow Barbara E. Hernandez on Twitter: @bhern.

Research In Motion has previewed a new PlayBook web tablet that represents the biggest potential challenge yet to Apple’s red-hot iPad. The mobile device will offer support for capabilities unavailable on the iPad today, including enterprise-friendly features such as two-way video conferencing and the seamless pairing of the new tablet with BlackBerry smartphones, as well as providing access to web-based Adobe Flash and AIR multimedia.

The PlayBook will be equipped with a one-gigahertz dual-core processor and powered by the QNX Neutrino operating system that the BlackBerry maker acquired earlier this year. Though the tablet won’t become available for purchase until early 2011, its feature set “looks to be strong relative to what the market will have in that time frame,” said Al Hilwa, director of applications software development at IDC.

An Enterprise-Class Tablet

Beyond appealing to consumers, RIM thinks the PlayBook will gain traction in the enterprise space because of its out-of-box compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which provides mobile workers at many companies with secure access to corporate data. The tablet also has two cameras for two-way business videoconferencing: A three-megapixel front-facing camera and a five-megapixel rear camera.

Both cameras will be capable of recording high-definition video at a maximum resolution of 1080p, while Apple’s iPad does not have a camera. Additionally, the PlayBook will sport an HDMI output for connecting to external high-definition displays and recorders.

By pairing the PlayBook with BlackBerry smartphones, users will be able to access work documents, calendars, spreadsheets and other sensitive files over a secure Bluetooth connection. The link also will enable the PlayBook to serve as a bigger monitor for small-screen BlackBerry phones.

This would give BlackBerry users a far better reading and browsing experience when surfing the web or accessing e-mail, documents and other files, Hilwa observed. Additionally, BlackBerry owners will be able to use their tablets and BlackBerry smartphones interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data. “It is a novel idea,” but “much will depend on how conveniently and reliably it works,” he said.

A Vision for Developers

Measuring 5.1 by 7.6 inches and less than an inch thick, the PlayBook will be svelte enough for users to hold comfortably, as opposed to the iPad’s larger 9.5 by 7.5 inches. Additionally, RIM’s tablet will be a half-pound lighter than Apple’s iPad.

The PlayBook’s biggest comparative shortcoming is that it will only come with Wi-Fi, at least initially. By contrast, Apple’s iPad can be ordered with both Wi-Fi and 3G wireless capabilities.

Moreover, software availability will be a major concern for businesses and consumers considering the PlayBook. “Though pricing and battery power are crucial, applications will make or break” RIM’s tablet, Hilwa said. “Right now, the application-development story is not fully rolled out.”

RIM provided no concrete timing for when the Java environment crucial to PlayBook app developers may become available, Hilwa observed. Moreover, the WebWorks technology that will bring low-level device features into HTML APIs also has no timing attached, he added.

“The tools for both these approaches to develop applications still have to be fleshed out better,” Hilwa said. “However, the bright spot for the device is the availability of Flash and Adobe AIR.”

On the other hand, RIM did offer developers a vision of an expanding market by introducing the new mobile tablet in a credible way, Hilwa observed. “Perhaps most importantly, RIM has put together an application-development vision that leverages the energy behind the web to generate full-featured apps without relying on the intricacies and complexities of its two incompatible operating systems for phones and tablet,” he said.

demise of the adult services section on Craigslist here in the United States. PinPointsX, which offers a GPS-enabled mobile app that allows adult services seekers to find nearby “sensual resources,” has now begun marketing its services as a Craigslist adult services alternative.

“All users of this service [Craigslist] can now turn to a different network, PinPointsX, which can serve as an improved substitute for Craigslist’s adult service section,” declared the site’s owners in a recent press release.

If you can imagine it, PinPointX says it will help find what you are looking for wherever you are. Its location-aware social networking platform, which runs on both Apple and Android phones “provides direct access to all imaginable erotic resources around the user, and a complete real-time, personalized and interactive ‘Passion Map’ of the user’s current location.”

From the company’s description of its services, it sounds like it has introduced a new software category: the Personal Erotic Information Manager. Its mobile app allows sex ferrets to “filter, prioritize, schedule and directly interact with people and sensual resources, leading towards the ultimate fantasy and potential hook-up.”

PinPointsX claims it’s a safer way than Craigslist ever was for its members to fool around by providing “a secure, location-based network to find what they are looking for either on the computer or on the go.”

(Here is more information on the iPhone App and Android App)

“It’s a safe and practical means of searching for adult partners and entertainers and adheres to all federal laws regarding adult services,” it adds.

Not everyone is buying the “secure” argument, though. “Having a one night stand can have a high price tag,” Catherine Smit, a veteran cop and police chief turned private eye, cautioned in a statement. “Once you turn on that GPS function and tell someone where you are, you’re fair game. Who knows who you’re going to meet up with and what their motives are?

Seesmic has released a new update for its iPhone app, bringing some much-needed iOS features and UI updates to the iPhone version of the social platform.

The updated version of Seesmic for iPhone adds a few new features to the mix. The biggest change is support for Retina Display in iOS 4. It brings tweets into sharper focus on iPhone 4 and the new iPod touches. Seesmic also finally supports multitasking, which lets the app run in the background and quick-launch from the multitasking menu.

The app also makes some UI improvements. Loading new tweets used to require clicking the refresh button, but now Seesmic for iPhone supports the very popular “pull-down to refresh” interface that Twitter for iPhone (formerly Tweetie) popularized. A new threaded conversation view for @replies and direct messages has also been included in the updated app. The app adds Twitter List support as well, specifically the ability to add friends to lists.

The list of updates to Seesmic for iPhone goes beyond Twitter and bug fixes, too.

Facebook improvements include an updated News feed UI, messages support and the ability to see a list of friends and friends’ profiles. Finally, Seesmic for iPhone now includes integration with Instapaper and ReaditLater, allowing you to select articles to read later in Seesmic.

Seesmic is betting on its multiplatform strategy as a selling point for its myriad of apps. Not only is Seesmic available on Android, iPhone, desktop, the web, and soon Windows Phone 7, but it also supports Facebook and a range of other social services. Being able to update your Facebook and Twitter statuses from the same app sounds useful, but whether it’s a big enough differentiation point remains to be seen.

When Steve Jobs said the iPad wouldn’t support Internet tethering, the hearts of many Apple fans sunk. It meant that even if you already owned an iPhone, you couldn’t use it to connect your iPad to the Internet, which could be handy in places with no open Wi-Fi connection.

Sure, you can buy the 3G version of the iPad, which gives you the freedom to connect to the internet almost anywhere, but it comes with additional costs.

Of course, it works both ways — if you want to share your iPad’s net connection with another device, you cannot do that either.

Now, however, a glimmer of hope has appeared for those longing for tethering support on the iPad. 9to5Mac has a screenshot from the beta 2 of iOS 4.2 (with the iPad running on the Swedish network 3) that shows a new section, dedicated to tethering, within the APN network settings.

Don’t get too excited, though. This type of tethering, if it ever gets implemented to a final version of iOS, would only let you share the iPad’s connection with another device, as opposed to connecting the iPad to the internet through an iPhone’s connection. Furthermore, 9to5Mac claims it could not replicate this new settings pane on an iPad 3G running on AT&T’s network, which might mean that the setting will be present only if the carrier allows it — and that might not be the case with AT&T.

Image courtesy of 9to5Mac

SugarCRM has repackaged its open-source, browser-based customer relationship management platform to make it easier for other vendors to put their own brand on products and services built with SugarCRM, the company announced Thursday. But it is also working on a native iPhone app that will put the brand under the noses of many more users.

With SugarCRM Platform Edition, the company hopes to draw more attention to a line of business few people know it has, CEO Larry Augustin said. SugarCRM already has six partners reselling or repackaging its software in this way, including database marketing company Harte-Hanks, which uses it in its Allink Connect tool.

By creating a special edition for the “OEM” (original equipment manufacturer) or white-label markets, Augustin hopes more companies will incorporate SugarCRM into their product offerings rather than trying to build their own CRM system, or using competing offerings such as Salesforce.com.

Vendors working with SugarCRM Platform Edition will have access to SugarCRM’s code and developer tools, enabling them to integrate CRM functions into on-premises or cloud-based systems under their own brand or Web address. That’s one thing that will set SugarCRM Platform Edition apart from, say, Salesforce.com, where the customer would be forever tied to a salesforce.com URL, Augustin said.

The company also released Sugar Logic, a suite of new JavaScript and PHP code libraries that customers can use for managing and defining workflow and business logic in SugarCRM applications. The company described the libraries as “upgrade safe,” suggesting that customers building business processes with Sugar Logic will face fewer problems when upgrading to a new version of SugarCRM than those who have hard-coded their business processes in other ways.

SugarCRM issues a couple of major updates a year, the most recent of which, 6.0, included the ability to create Web interfaces tailored to mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad, or mobile phones running Android.

Those interfaces still look like Web pages rather than native apps, though, and users are more comfortable with native apps, said Augustin.

Native SugarCRM apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry are on the way, and will offer all the same capabilities as the Web interface, he said.

SugarCRM is testing the mobile app internally and with some resellers, Augustin said. The SugarCRM iPhone app, and a version for iPad, should be released by the end of the year, but the Android and BlackBerry apps will take a little longer.

While the BlackBerry may be seen as more of a business tool than the iPhone, in general, there is a lot of interest in the iPhone among SugarCRM customers, Augustin said.

Rather than code for the three platforms separately, SugarCRM is using a development tool from Appcelerator that lets it build the interface in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

The first version will primarily be a conversion of the Web interface into a native app, without additional functionality. It will still require an Internet connection to work. But the company plans to add a local data store to the next version, allowing off-line working with the possibility of synchronizing changes to data with the server later.

That development effort may also serve for other platforms, including the PC.

“This technology will also give us a native app on the desktop. The reason for a native desktop app is to be able to work in disconnected mode,” an important factor for mobile workers who may not always have reliable Internet connections, Augustin said.

“We went through this wave of everything being in the browser. Now we are going to see more and more native apps,” he said.

Peter Sayer covers open source software, European intellectual property legislation and general technology breaking news for IDG News Service. Send comments and news tips to Peter at peter_sayer@idg.com.

Finding an outdoor speaker that matches your garden or porch area can be tricky, as plastic and wires tend to clash with a natural setting. Klipsch’s AudioRock Outdoor Speaker should help with this dilemma; its realistic rocky outer shell allows it to blend in with most outdoor environments, and its wireless design means you won’t need to worry about cords or cables cluttering up your yard.

The $199 wireless speaker unit is sold as an add-on to Klipsch’s $600 LightSpeaker System Architectural Speaker system, which along with providing wireless ambient sound and LED lighting for your home, also provides a 2.4 GHz wireless transmitter for Klipsch’s speakers.

The AudioRock employs dual 0.75-inch polypropylene tweeters for crisp highs and a 5.25-inch injection molded polypropylene woofer for deep lows. Furthermore, the drivers are seated at a 20-degree upward angle to provide improved sound performance from ground level. The unit is weatherproof and rustproof, so you shouldn’t have a problem with leaving it out for extended periods of time, and its rechargeable lithium battery pack provides up to eight hours of playtime on a full charge; a standalone charging base recharges the battery pack in four hours.