iriver Story Touch edition reader shows up on fan site

It's been a while since we've heard anything from iriver on the e-reader front, so this one isn't a huge surprise. It looks like the Story is getting a nice, compact Touch edition, and while we don't have full specs yet, we do have plenty of photos, and we also know it's going to boast a 6-inch, touchscreen display (which appears to be some type of e-ink), 2GB of internal storage, with SDHC expansion up to 32GB. This one's going to be for the Korean market only, so we don't expect to get our hands on one anytime soon, but we can always dream. Another photo is below, hit the source link for more.

iriver fans

NPD: Android is now top-selling OS in American smartphones

Step aside, BlackBerrys and iPhones, the American consumer has voted with his wallet and picked Android as his favorite flavor in the quarter just gone. NPD's number crunchers have just announced their findings for Q2 2010, concluding that 33 percent of phones sold during the period had Android on board. This marks the first time in eons (Q4 2007, to be more precise) that RIM has not held the crown of most purchased smartphone OS on US soil, with its BlackBerrys accounting for 28% of the market and Apple's iPhone occupying third spot with 22%. Motorola and HTC are the key suspects fingered for Android's continuing ascent, with the "large screen allure" of their handsets playing well with the buying public. Skip after the break for a more detailed breakdown.

Jailbreak your Apple iphone 4 !

It's finally here, after being declared completely legal to jailbreak your iPhone,JailbreakMe 2.0 is released.

Now, any and all iDevices can be jailbroken by simply visiting the URL above; however, before you start your devious adventure in the land of apps not approved by big brother Apple, there are a few issues.

The webpage is being slammed at the moment so you'll have to wait. There is a chance the jailbreak will not work, and you could brick your phone. MMS and Facetime are having complications after jailbreaking. And finally, carrier unlock still needs to be done with ultrasn0w.

But beyond those small stepping stones, jailbreaking is just a touch away.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Team Up on Smartphone Payment System

System aims directly for Visa and MasterCard

There are four major wireless carriers in the U.S. today: Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, andAT&T. The four carriers battle fiercely to land exclusive handsets and customers in the mobile market. Getting three of those four major carriers to work together on one plan seems unlikely.

The only thing that could drive AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile to work together is money – the three carriers are reportedly working together on a new system that could replace credit cards with payments using a smartphone. Bloomberg reports that the carriers are working on the idea for a system that could rival MasterCard and Visa.

Payments on the system according to Bloomberg sources close to the deal would be made through Discover and Barclays, two of the four major credit card payment-processing firms. Credit cards are a huge business with MasterCard alone handling $2.45 trillion of credit cardspending last year.

The system will be trialed at test stores in Atlanta, Georgia and stores in three other cities in America. The system would allow the user to pay for purchases at the register using a contactless system on their smartphones.

Analyst Richard Crone of Crone consulting LLC said, "This is definitely a game-changer." He continued saying, "[Wireless carriers] are the biggest recurring billers in every market. They are experts at processing payments."

There are similar services already in use in other countries with payments being processed using smartphones in Japan, Turkey, and in the UK. AT&T and Verizon are reportedly equal partners in the venture with T-Mobile having a smaller stake. Retailers are welcoming of a new processing system in hopes that the fees on purchased made using the system will be less than the 1% to 2% that credit card firms typically charge on each transaction today.

However, none of the sources that Bloomberg cites were able to give an indication of how much the processing fees would be or when the trials of the new payment system would start in test cities. Fees on credit and debit card purchases are a $40 billion per year industry.

Windows Phone 7 coming to Europe in October, US in November, according to Microsoft COO

Here's something that seems to have slipped the net from Kevin Turner's recent presentation on Windows Phone 7 devices. While discussing the move to Microsoft's next great hope in the mobile space, the Redmond COO told the world that the transition is expected to happen in the October timeframe across Europe, and in the November timeframe in the US. This is the most explicit anyone from Microsoft has been about the likely launch date for Windows Phone 7, and sets up the intriguing potentiality of Europeans getting to savor the goodness of the brand new OS ahead of their US brethren. See Kevin dishing the info on video after the break.

Amazon's third-generation Kindle 'temporarily sold out,' bookworms curse the universe

Gone so soon, Kindle? Due to what we can only assume is unprecedented demand or a terrible shortfall in supply, Amazon's third-generation Kindle (you know, the one with 3G and WiFi) is already sold out. Just days after being pushed into the world, the $189 e-reader is now hoisting a "temporarily sold out" sign, with Bezos and Company urging prospective consumers to place their order now in order to "reserve a place in line." So, what'll it be? Reserve now, or throw a temper tantrum? Tough call, we know.

homemade $1,500 IMSI catcher, Hacker intercepts phone calls, claims GSM is beyond repair

In 2009, Chris Paget showed the world the vulnerabilities of RFID by downloading the contents of US passports from the safety of his automobile. This year, he's doing the same for mobile phones. Demonstrating at DefCon 2010, the white hat hacker fooled 17 nearby GSM phones into believing his $1,500 kit (including a laptop and two RF antennas) was a legitimate cell phone base station, and proceeded to intercept and record audience calls. "As far as your cell phones are concerned, I'm now indistinguishable from AT&T," he told the crowd. The purpose of the demonstration was highlight a major flaw in the 2G GSM system, which directs phones to connect to the tower with the strongest signal regardless of origin -- in this case, Paget's phony tower. 

The hacker did caveat that his system could only intercept outbound calls, and that caller ID could tip off the owner of a handset to what's what, but he says professional IMSI catchers used by law enforcement don't suffer from such flaws and amateur parity would only be a matter of time. "GSM is broken," Paget said, "The primary solution is to turn it off altogether." That's a tall order for a world still very dependent on the technology for mobile connectivity, but we suppose AT&T and T-Mobile could show the way. Then again, we imagine much of that same world is still using WEP and WPA1 to "secure" their WiFi.

Wired, AP, MobileBeat, Forbes, IDG

Mario Kart toys Remote Control??

To win at Mario Kart on a console you must master two things: drifting and power-ups. Half of that is replicated in these R/C Mario Kart toys, which we saw standing still last month but now can finally see in action motoring around what looks to be either Corporate Carpet Raceway or CDR Castle. The controller emits that familiar jingling item select sound when you've snagged a virtual power-up, and you can see how mushrooms boost your speed while banana peels cause your opponents' cars to freak out. Sadly there is no drifting to be found in this version of the game, but we're wondering if a little tape on the rear wheels wouldn't help address that shortcoming.