(Credit:
TAT7)

With the iPhone having been around as long as it has, it’s a bit surprising no one has come up with an affordable waterproof case that lets people use the device to take pictures and shoot video while snorkeling or scuba diving.

We saw the FourPro iPhone housing appear on Kickstarter late last year, but it didn’t reach its funding goal, and it’s unclear at this point if it’s being produced. At any rate, with the Kickstarter failure, the retail price was expected to be about $700.

There’s also the LifeProof Case, which, for about $80, is supposedly waterproof to depths of up to about 6.5 feet.

Now we’re seeing the TAT7. It’s a $90 case that its makers say will let you use your iPhone 4/4S (running iOS 5) to take photos and video at depths of up to 100 feet.

Its three mechanical buttons are designed to let users click the camera’s shutter; switch between still images and video; and access the iPhone ‘s home button. That’s about it. There’s no way to swipe the sc… [Read more]

The iPhone 's camera roll, something developers can download without you knowing?

(Credit:
Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

An iOS security feature that lets users share information about their location can also be a conduit for those applications to surreptitiously grab user photos, according to a new report.

The New York Times’ Bits blog today details how developers can gain access to a user’s entire photo library through the same user dialog window that requests access to a user’s current location. When users click the OK button, the report says, the developer can then copy photos–complete with GPS metadata–to a remote server, without alerting users to the fact.

Before wrapping your iPhone in tinfoil and throwing it into a fire, know that Bits says it’s “unclear” if any apps that have been published to the App Store actually exhibit this behavior. Nonetheless, it adds that an unpublished test application from an unnamed iOS developer was able to successfully upload user photos using the dialog option.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to Bits, the potential for this loophole opened up in 2010 with the introduction of Apple ‘s iOS 4.0 software. While the focus of that release was on bringing multitasking to Apple ‘s mobile operating… [Read more]

Mapping music: Bluebrain's Ryan Holladay makes sheet music out of a landscape as he diagrams “pockets” of sound in Central Park's North Meadow.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET)

Imagine popping in your earbuds, queuing up some tunes, going for a stroll, and then listening to the music morph in response to your surroundings.

Thanks to electronic-music duo Bluebrain–along with a clutch of willing musician friends, the expertise of a software developer, and the iPhone ‘s built-in GPS system–that Brian Eno-esque fantasy is, in fact, a reality.

Washington D.C.-based brothers Ryan and Hays Holladay are continuing their push–perhaps the better word is “meander”–into a new musical realm with their recent album/iPhone app “Central Park (Listen to the Light).” The piece uses GPS to monitor a listener’s movements through New York’s famous green oasis and play different tracks keyed to specific locales–or “zones” and “pockets”–within the park.

The tracks fade into and out of one another, and the overall shape of the album is an everchanging affair, based on a given listener’s wanderings. It’s a “choose your own adventure of an album,” the duo likes to say, conjuring up memories of those children’s books that let young readers pick alternate outcomes and endings.

The Holladay bro… [Read more]

Why don't you slide on over here?

(Credit:
Concord Keystone)

Once upon a time, cell phones with small screens were supplemented with an invention known as the slider keyboard. This advance made texting much more pleasant for fleet-fingered phone users.

Now that touch screens have taken over the market, virtual keyboards are the norm. It’s not always fun trying to cram your digits onto a digital representation of a keyboard. With the Concord Keystone Eco Slider, you can turn your iPhone into a keyboard-toting slider phone.

This isn’t a brand spanking new idea. ThinkGeek came out with the TK-421 iPhone keyboard that swivels into position. Concord Keystone keeps things a little more compact with a straightforward sliding motion.

Related stories• Turn Instagram photos into an iPhone case• An iPhone with slide-out keyboard?

The $49.99 Slider consists of a case that you snap onto your iPhone 4. A small QWERTY keyboard slides out of the bottom for your texting and e-mailing pleasure.

It connec… [Read more]