Microsoft has shipped some developers running prototypes of Windows Phone 7. This distribution to Developers’ is in a bid to get some developer feedback on the device, as well as get the developers’ behind the platform, a la Android.Here are some of our previous leaks on the Windows Phone 7 OS.

The prototype shipped is a Samsung Taylor SGH-i707, and it comes with all the hardware one would expect given the Windows Phone 7 required specifications.

The main showpiece remains the near production ready software that the phone touts, and here are a couple of scren shots of said OS. The developer in question claims the software is smooth and intuitive, and that the screen transitions and UI fluency is comparable to the Zune HD.

Windows Phone Music Hub

windows phone 7 photos hub

Microsoft has unleashed public betas of the first service packs for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Both betas are now available for download via TechNet.

Of course, there’s really no need for Windows 7 users to jump eagerly on the download. Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is little more than a collection of patches already released via Windows Update, so there are no new features or functionality to be found. Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, on the other hand, brings Virtual Desktop Infrastructure enhancements that enable hardware-accelerated 3D graphics and video playback over a Remote Desktop Connection.

Omio, the UK mobile phone outlet, has purportedly got its hands on “a huge UK mobile phone release schedule for the rest of the year… [from] all the manufacturers”. Ofcourse , the source of the list remains a mystery, as we can’t find any sources mentioned, nor any other sources mentioning  the above mentioned list. So, with bated breath.. and a few grains of salt thrown in for good measure, here is the list:

• July
  • Nokia E5-00,
  • Sony Ericsson W20, and
  • Samsung i5500.
• August
  • Nokia X6 8GB and
  • BlackBerry Curve 9300.
• September
  • SonyEricsson Hazel and
  • Nokia X2 candybar
• October
  • HTC Vision,
  • the virtually unknown HTC Ace,
  • Nokia N8, and
  • Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X8 and Yendo.
• November
  • HTC Gold, with Microsoft’s new mobile OS, Windows phone 7
  • Samsung i8700
  • Nokia E7 — the latter being possibly a N8-esque QWERTY slider with AMOLED display and Symbian^3,

Phew! That’s quite a list the UK retailer plans to host on its outlets this year, what remains to be seen is how much this roadmap is followed.

[via Omio]

According to French Apple news site Macgeneration, Safari 5.0 will be released at WWDC. This confirmation comes after we expressed our hope to hear something on this front. Here’s what the release notes say:

• Safari Reader: Click on the new Reader icon to view articles on the web in a single clutter-free page.
• Improved Performance: Safari 5 executes Javascript up to 25% faster than Safari 4. Better page caching and DNS prefetching speed up browsing.
• Bing Search Option: New Bing search option for Safari’s Search Field, in addition to Google and Yahoo.
• Improved HTML5 support: Safari supports over a dozen new HTML5 features including Geolocation, full screen for HTML5 video, closed caption for HTML5 video, new sectioning elements (article, aside footer, header, hgroup, nav and section), HTML5, AJAX History, EventSource, WebSocket, HTML 5 draggable attribute, HTML 5 forms validation, and HTML 5 Ruby.
• Safari Developer Tools: A new Timeline Panel in the Web Inspector shows how Safari interacts with a web site and identifies areas for optimization. New keyboard shortcuts make it aster to switch between panels.
• Smarter Address Field: The Smart Address Field can now match text against the titles of web pages in History and Bookmarks, as well as any part of their URL.
• Tab Settings: Automatically open new webpages in tabs instead of in separate windows.
• Hardware Acceleration for Windows: Use the power of the computer’s graphics processor to smoothly display media and effects on PC, as well as Mac.
• Search History with Date: A new date indicator in Full History Search shows when web pages were viewed.
• Top Sites/History Button: Switch easily between Top Sites and Full History Search with a new button that appears at the top of each view.
• Private Browsing Icon: A “Private” icon appears in the Smart Address Field when Private Browsing is on. Click on the icon to turn off Private Browsing.
• DNS Prefetching: Safari looks at the addresses of links on web pages and can load those pages faster.
• Improved Page Caching: Safari can add additional types of web pages to the cache so they load quickly.
• XSS Auditor: Safari can filter potentially malicious scripts used in cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
• Improved JavaScript Support: Safari allows web applications that use JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to run faster and more securely.

In other news by the same source, we can reveal that the Mac OS X will also receive an update, version 10.6.4, which has reached gold master status internally, and is said to contain several minor updates. The 10.6.4 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

• resolve an issue that causes the keyboard or trackpad to become unresponsive
• resolve an issue that may prevent some Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications from opening
• address issues copying, renaming or deleting files on SMB servers
• improve reliability of VPN connections
• resolve a playback issue in DVD Player when using Good Quality deinterlacing
• resolve an issue editing photos with iPhoto or Aperture in full screen view
• improve compatibility with some braille displays.

[via Macgeneration]

A number of snap shots of this upcoming release, have the Verizon logo embossed on it, perceiving Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ to be launched on Verizon.

The specifications of this phone as listed below have provided it a standee against the Apple iPhone.

Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ Specification:
Dimensions: The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ smart phone has a thickness of 9.9 millimeters.
Keyboard: The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ phone won’t comprise of a physical QWERTY keyboard.
Processor Speed: As compared to the latest smart phones available in the market, running at 1000 or 15000 MHz (Megahertz), the Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ will skim on a TI OMAP 3630 processor spurting at 720 MHz (Megahertz).
Touch Screen: The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ will compose of a 4.1 inch FWVGA (800×484) capacitive multi touch screen. This display is the largest display, than any of the state of the art Verizon phones available.
Memory: Onboard memory is of 2 GB, and has a MicroSD card support, of up to 32 GBs.
RAM: Supports a 512 MB of RAM.
Media Connectivity: The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ has an inbuilt feature, which provides support for the HDMI cable to interface the phone, to the High definition video displays, providing video output of 1080p. This has put it in antagonism to the HTC Evo 4G.
Camera: The phone has an 8 MP (Mega Pixel) camera, geared with a dual-LED flash. The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ Android phone is capable of capturing 720 p HD (High Definition) videos.
Operating System: The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ is loaded with Android 2.1 (Éclair), which is upgradable to the comparatively faster Android 2.2 (Froyo). The upgrade will enable the users to save their apps on the MicroSD Card.
Softwares: The smart phone will be equipped with a new version of the Motorola’s Software; the MotoBlur. This update of MotoBlur, will enable all the chats of social networking sites, web messengers, and email accounts to be accessible concurrently at a common platform, and along with that, provides a rainbow of 7 user friendly home screens.

The curiosity regarding this Motorola device is on its peak in the public, and will be fulfilled upon its release in July. The Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’ is predicted to have a price tag under $200.

So you don’t have to wait in the queue for a long time, as soon, you are about to judge power of the Motorola Droid ‘Shadow’.

Do you have an iPhone 3GS, and are wondering what improvements the much vaunted new iPhone OS 4.0 will bring to your phone?

Well, as you might know, that is not possible right now, as the iPhone OS 4.0 beta has so far only been jailbroken for the iPhone 3G, with the redsn0w 0.9.5 jailbreak tool. But, do not despair, as hope is here in the form of a new jailbreak method, introduced by kaatjeNL (an ex-apple employee). The beauty of this jailbreak is that it doesn’t upgrade your baseband, so you can enjoy all the jailbroken goodness of the new iphone OS 4.0 Beta on your older baseband, using ultrasn0w unlock.

This nifty hack has been achieved by patching up the firmware in several places, then allowing a custom firmware (like the PwnageTool and sn0wbreeze) to restore it using iTunes on the iPhone 3GS, keeping the older baseband unlock intact.

While there is no release date for this tool, and by the author’s own admission (see method link), it is very much a work in progress; it is expected to debut with the next version of the PwnageTool, which will jailbreak the final release of the iPhone OS 4.

The iPhone OS 4 support will extend to all iDevices that run on iPhone OS, once it is officially released at the WWDC, so this method can prove to be a godsend for the early birds who want to get a taste for the functionality of the new OS, when unshackled from the grips of apple copy protection, and maybe get a head start on developing new multithreaded apps for the new iphone OS.

Here are some leaked screenshots of Windows 7 Post RTM version, which indicates the release of service patch 1 for Windows 7 in near future.

Windows 7 RTM Build 7700 Details

• FILE: 7700.0.100122-1900_x64fre_client_en-us-GRMCXFRE_EN_DVD.iso
• SIZE: 3,231,166,464 byte
• SHA1: C0CB719B781D49B39D8CC93A27F990A366B8E4C7
• MD5: EBEB8AEC73339536564D26DB584A9474
• CRC: B3F323D6

Windows 7 RTM Build 7700.0.100122-1900 Screenshots

[Via BlogsDNA]

Though there are already too many freeware out in the market which give the option of creating a bootable USB of any OS of your choice, but this time, Microsoft has realized how better and faster it is to install the OS on your machine with the help of a USB stick, therefore they have officially launched a tool which would make a Bootable Windows 7 USB for you.

This tool will help you to Install Windows 7 with a USB or flash drive, or using the DVD-ROM which is the standard procedure. This tool will create a bootable Windows 7 USB which could be used for Installation.

In order to gain most of this tool, try to download the “ISO” format file while downloading your purchase from Microsoft, or else you’ll have to create one for yourself which would consume a lot of time. The tool can only read the ISO file to make a bootable USB.

Once its done, you can boot and install Windows 7 with the help of your USB Flash Drive.

You can get the tool from here.

This consumer launch event will be hosted by Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation and he will be accompanied by the man behind Windows 7, Steven Sinofsky – President of Windows Division along with usual hardware partners and Microsoft employees. Click here to see what time is it in your region

See the player embedded below for the live video feed of the event :

The procedure of unlocking the firmware 3.0 has already been discussed here but for the sake of simplicity, we will define it here too.

Follow the following steps in exact order to get your iPhone 2G unlocked:

1. Download the PwnageTool 3.0 (Direct | Torrent)
2. Make sure to download bl39.bin and bl46.bin
3. Install the iPhone firmare for iPhone 2G from here.
4. Run the PwnageTool and follow the steps on the software.
5. Once the custom firmware is made, enter DFU mode and restore the firmware.

Note: To enter DFU mode, watch this easy tutorial. Also while clicking the restore button, hold ‘Shift’ in Windows and ‘Option’ in Mac to browse to the custom firmware file.

Unfortunately the PwnageTool does not work for Windows users so just make use of the following custom and unlocked firmware 3.0 files for iPhone 2G.

1. Download the Custom/Unlocked firmware 3.0 files above.
2. Combine the files with HJSplit (for Windows) and Split&Concact (for Mac).
3. Now you will have on file named iPhone1,1_3.0_7A341_Custom_Restore.ipsw
4. Simply boot into DFU mode and restore the Custom/Unlocked firmware 3.0.

If you follow each and every step mentioned here carefully, then you should have an Unlocked iPhone 2G running on firmware 3.0. Good Luck!