Video: Watch an iPhone 4 Handle a Beating from a Hammer

Check this out ouch!

Mod Turns iPhone 4 Transparent

This has to be one of the coolest iPhone mods we’ve seen.

One enterprising user has taken off the front and back glass panels of his iPhone 4 and converted them into clear panels by removing the paint using a paint thinner.

As you will see from the images after the break, the results are quite amazing as you can see the insides of the iPhone 4, which surprisingly look quite good.

There is some debate whether the mod was achieved with a paint thinner or clear case mod kit for iPhone 4.

You can admire the mod in the photos below:

It would have been even more awesome if we could see the processor and other components.

What do you think of the mod? Planning to tinker with your iPhone? Tell us in the comments section below.

The All-Access iPhone-Connected Thermostat

By Jeff St. John Jan. 26, 2011, 6:00am PST on Gigaom

Build your energy-smart home with an iPhone-compatible thermostat from Home Depot. That’s this morning’s news from Radio Thermostat Co. of America, a company which develops home energy gear, and has launched a line of energy-smart, iPhone-compatible smart thermostats in conjunction with 3M.

The thermostats use Wi-Fi right now, but in the future could use just about any communications network, if the trade group the U-SNAP Alliance builds enough momentum. The U-SNAP Alliance, led by Radio Thermostat and Sensus, and including companies like Comverge, Google and GE are pushing for home energy gear to be equipped with a universal communications module (UCM) — a radio that can be switched out with another radio of any description, be it Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave or FM radio.

The U-SNAP Alliance hopes to grow a snowball of support to drive its technology into the field. Sensus tested the technology in a project last summer, alliance director Barry Haaser told me. Alliance member EnTek makes water heater load control switches that communicate with Trilliant’s smart grid networks, and demand response provider Comverge is making U-SNAP-compatible IntelliTEMP thermostats. GE has acknowledged that interchangeable radios could be a part of their smart appliance future, with ZigBee, Wi-Fi and HomePlug on its list, though it hasn’t committed to the U-SNAP model.

U-SNAP backers say their model will allow device makers to start building and selling energy-smart products today, without worrying about which wireless technology will win the long-term market race. That could open up the home energy management field to more players.

But big appliance makers will want to make sure they don’t hand the control of sensitive household loads like ovens and refrigerators over to just anybody. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers trade group is working on standards, and the big smart appliance launches from GE and LG at CES this month were built around their own control hubs and networks.

It will be interesting to see how Home Depot markets Radio Thermostat as a pathway to consumer adoption. Utilities remain the main channel for driving smart home devices into the market right now, if only in pilot project-scale numbers.

While most of the U-SNAP devices out there are thermostats, others are linking to broader smart grid systems. Aztech Associates, which has worked in GE’s smart appliance project in Louisville, Ky., makes U-SNAP-compatible products to pull data from smart meters and show it to homeowners, for example. Another U-SNAP alliance member, e-Radio, has demonstrated its FM signal-controllable modules in various utility pilots.

Skype 5 for Mac Now Out of Beta

By Darrell Etherington Jan. 27, 2011, 7:37am PST on Gigaom

Skype 5 for Mac left beta today, bringing with it new group video chat features, improvements, and a new design. The development team behind Skype for Mac listened to user concerns and complaints, which were numerous, and made changes to the final version accordingly.

While Kevin found the beta version of Skype 5 released in November of 2010 to be a big improvement, I agreed with many others that Skype 5 brought in a lot of questionable design elements, including too much whitespace. The app felt ungainly and ugly, despite bearing many new elements that helped it look and feel much more like a native Mac app. The new version makes a number of small changes that add up to a better look overall, but it doesn’t go far enough. The app still feels like it’s taking up way too much space for what it needs to accomplish. The Twitter for Mac app is a perfect example of the exact opposite design philosophy, taking up as little space as possible while still doing what it’s supposed to, and doing it well.

Here are the other changes Skype made based on user feedback regarding the beta (all are welcome and much-needed improvements, in my opinion):

• Tweaked instant message display to reduce whitespace, allowing for more conversation to be visible at once
• Relocated contacts monitor to the Window menu to make it easier to find
• Brought back full-screen mode for video calls
• Introduced easier one-click access to show and hide chat while on a call

One change that might not be so welcome, as it moves a feature that was free in the beta to the Premium subscription package. The feature is Group Video calling, which will now cost you either $4.99 for one day, or $8.99 for the month as part of the Premium package, which also includes customer support calls. Skype had indicated that the feature wouldn’t be free forever, and you can still try it out for free for seven days if you’re a new user, so there’s little reason to complain.

What do you think of the new version? Better than the Beta? Better than Skype 2.8?

How to Manage Your Mac’s A/V Settings for Voice & Video Chat

By Jeff St. John Jan. 26, 2011, 6:05am PST on Gigaom

A few times every week, I’ll play World of Warcraft with some great friends. Rather than type, we’re much more comfortable using a VOIP solution like Skype. Nothing beats actually hearing the sarcastic abuse your friends heap on you.

VOIP and video chat solutions are becoming much more common and user-friendly. While I’m going to go over multiple programs (Skype, iChat, and FaceTime), my preferred app is Skype because it’s available for most platforms, allowing you to talk to people on almost any kind of hardware.

Managing Your Default Preferences

If you’re using the built-in microphone and iSight camera, you can skip over this part. Please, for the love of Steve Jobs, don’t use the built-in microphone. You will end up producing a sound not unlike yelling into a flushing toilet bowl, albeit one with great acoustics. Headsets with boom microphones are relatively inexpensive at around $30, so do your listeners a favor and buy one.

If you have an external headset, open up your System Preferences and choose Sound, then go to the Input tab. Make sure your microphone is plugged in to your Mac, and that OS X sees your microphone and you’ve set it as the default input device, and set the headset as the default output device.

Now, the dirty secret is, this isn’t really going to change much in many programs, except for iChat. Since it’s unlikely you’ll keep your headset plugged in all the time, when you unplug it, OS X will go back to the default setting of the built-in gear. Even so, it’s the perfect place to make sure OS X can detect and use your hardware.

Setting up iChat

Apple provides an A/V communications program on every Mac called iChat. It’s very easy to set up and use, but for video, the protocols it supports are limited. Google Video Chat accounts, for instance, are rumored to not work well with iChat video. MobileMe and AOL Instant Messenger accounts work well, however.

As with most Apple programs, setting up iChat is pretty easy. Open up the iChat Preferences, choose Audio/Video, and choose your camera from the drop down list. I’m using an Xbox 360 Camera as my test, so that’s why I have a “Camera #2″ showing. So long as you have a recent USB webcam (one that’s USB Video Class compliant and uses USB 2.0), it should be recognized under OS X 10.6.6 (the latest version).

Setting up FaceTime

FaceTime for the Mac lets you video chat with a supported iOS device or another Mac user. Currently, FaceTime only supports recent iPod touches, iPhone 4s, and Macs running 10.6.4 or higher, making the number of people you can reach fairly limited. Another limitation is that I couldn’t get FaceTime to detect my external video camera. This could be a major issue if you’re using a MacBook with the lid closed, or a Mac mini.

Setting it up is easy, though, if you’re content with your built-in iSight camera. You download the program from Apple’s site, and log in with your Apple ID. FaceTime will then prompt you for the email address you want to be identified by.

Below is a cropped screenshot of the settings panel, but all it has is an On/Off switch and a display of what email addresses you’re using. FaceTime uses your default audio input and output devices.

Setting up Skype

As I mentioned earlier, Skype is my favorite of the video conferencing apps. It’s easy to set up, and since everyone is using the same network (Skype doesn’t support multiple protocols like iChat), a lot of hassles are eliminated.

If you haven’t already set up a Skype account, the first time you open the app you’ll be prompted to create one. Then go to Preferences, Audio/Video and select your preferred Microphone, Speakers and Camera from the drop-down source lists. Skype lets you specify different devices for in-call audio and the ringer for incoming calls, which can be useful if you have your headset plugged in but you aren’t wearing it.

What I love is since Skype lets you call toll-free numbers free of charge, you can easily take notes or browse the web while on a conference call without having to awkwardly shoulder your phone.

Final Thoughts

If you’re video chatting for work, still make sure you’re in business attire when working from home. Also, if it’s a business call make sure your on-camera surroundings are neat, and your camera isn’t aimed at the pin-up calendar on your back wall. And make sure you’re wearing pants, just in case you need to stand up suddenly.