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There’s only about a month to go before Apple drops the iPad on the world, and it looks like all those theories about a last-minute camera addition were just fond fanboy wishes — iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 4 just came out, and in addition to stripping out several video-call related icons, we’ve been told the docs contain this little tidbit about that Camera tab:

Launching the Photos application under the iPad Simulator will initially show three tabs: Photos, Albums, and Camera. The Camera tab represents photos available via the Camera Connection Kit for iPad, and is not relevant for the Simulator. The Camera tab will disappear after a few seconds.

So much for that, then. In the meantime, we also have some good news — 9to5 Mac did some digging and found some files indicating that Apple’s opening up some new gestures to app developers, namely the long tap currently used to pop up the copy / paste menu and the triple-tap used to flip the display on and off when using VoiceOver. It’s a small consolation, to be sure, but at least the iPad, will, um, be a great game machine, right?

[Thanks, Anonymous]

iPad SDK 3.2 beta 4 squashes rumors of a camera, but adds new gesture controls originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Surely you remember those Sixense motion controls that we caught lounging around at Razer’s CES booth, right? Yeah. Today at the Game Developers Conference, both outfits have teamed up in order to distribute the Ultra-Precise Motion Controller SDK and FPS utility library via Steam, which should give devs the ability to create new games and port existing titles for use with the aforementioned sticks. We’re told that these new tools will require “require virtually no knowledge of the inner workings of the controller,” enabling coders to craft titles that take full advantage of the six degrees of freedom. Will this turn the PC into the next Wii? We kind of doubt it, but at least someone’s looking out for non-console gamers who have a secret obsession with Nintendo’s Wiimote.

Continue reading Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam

Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are already plenty of solutions for monitoring your power consumption, particularly with Google’s relatively recent PowerMeter ecosystem, but if you want to do things the Microsoft way, Microsoft’s Hohm is about to get third party device friendly. An SDK has been recently released to manufacturers, and we’re supposed to expect the first compatible products by the summer. Interestingly, Microsoft has also mentioned that it “might” even get into the game of energy hardware at some point. The end game is to feed back information and control to utilities to be able to load balance energy demand (charging up that fancy electric car of yours overnight instead of at 7pm, for instance), though that sort advance might be as much as a decade out.

Microsoft Hohm SDK is available to third parties, first devices to hit this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we march toward the inevitability of a post-iPad world, so marches the development of iPhone SDK 3.2 — and this time, we’re on to beta 3. There’s no word yet on what’s changed, but unless you’re a registered (and paid) member of Apple’s iPhone Developer Program, it doesn’t much matter to you seeing how you can’t get in on the download. Keep us abreast of the trials, tribulations, highs, and lows of your downloads and installs, won’t you?

Update: TUAW now reports that beta 3’s been pulled, but it’s not yet clear why. We’ll fill you in more as we find out.

Update 2: iPadInsider reports that a Photos app has been added to the emulator, and there’s a Camera tab in it — possibly corroborating evidence that there’ll be a camera in some version of the iPad, but more likely a tool for the camera connection kit.

Update 3: MacRumors has a couple more interesting details. Looks like there’s a couple of lines in the code that suggest a front-facing camera (as often rumored), zoom, and camera flash is in the cards. Additionally, there’s iPad-sized “Accept” and “Decline” buttons with video camera-related iconography. We know what you’re thinking, but we still wouldn’t advise getting your hopes up anytime soon. It’s not good for your heart, y’know.

iPhone SDK 3.2 moves on to beta round 3 (update: it’s been pulled) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a break from tradition, the availability of an official SDK for Android 2.1 trailed availability of a phone running it — the Nexus One, of course — by nearly a week, undoubtedly leaving countless developers sleepless. Despite the Nexus’ fistful of new goodies like active wallpaper and a far flashier 3D-enabled Gallery app, Google’s [...]