Gizmodo recently posted a huge scoop with photos and video for the next iPhone. But the police are questioning how editor Jason Chen acquired the iPhone prototype for his written review.

Last Friday night, California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team raided Chen’s home (while he was away, but with a search warrant) and confiscated four computers and two servers. There’s a lot of information regarding the situation and questions of legality are being thrown to both sides of the action.

According to TechCrunch, Gizmodo admits to paying $5000 for the alleged iPhone 4g prototype, but “contended the device was found at a bar, not stolen.” Gizmodo also contests, “the search warrant to remove these computers was invalid under section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code.” This code, sometimes referenced in part of the Shield Laws, states “no warrant shall issue for any items described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code.” Basically, it protects journalists from having to reveal their source(s) and includes any unpublished information. Does that apply to online blogs, such as Gizmodo? Well, the DA has currently halted the police investigation as they thoroughly mull over Gizmodo’s defense statements.

Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch asked Stephen Wagstaffe, Chief Deputy at San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, if it was “typical for the DA to evaluate the relevance of these shield laws after removing evidence.” Yep, “Wagstaffe did concede that it was unusual.”

The Business Insider says Chen may face up to one year in prison if “convicted of a felony for receiving stolen property or aiding a thief.” SND Readers, what do you think? Was Chen in the wrong? Were the police too quick to raid?

So what’s the biggest new feature that OS 4 has and none of the others have? Multi-tasking. “We’re not the first to this party, but we’re gonna be the best. Just like cut and paste,” says Steve Jobs. Yeah, what does that mean, exactly? I wondered the same thing when I tried to get the scoop from a friend (unfortunately, I was unable to check out the event as it occurred).

Multi-tasking, cut to the skinny of it, brings in better capabilities to run multiple programs. The iPhone OS 4 utilizes a dock for applications that are running. This makes it easy to jump from program to program… multi-task. Jobs speaks of an example:

I’m gonna launch mail, this has a URL — so I jump to safari — so I want to go back to mail… I double click the home button and a window raises that shows me all the apps that are running. Now I want to go to ebay — I go right to where I left off in the apps, now I want to play a game — now I want to play a game, Tap Tap Revenge, it keeps me where I was. Again, the game stops, let me go back and look at mail. And again, I can go home anytime I want. Boom I’m home. Make sense? Really simple UI, puts all the apps at the bottom that are running…

Other capabilities in regards to multi-tasking include:

• running Pandora in the background (music won’t stop when you switch apps)
• VoIP for Skype-ing (stay logged on, even while using other apps)
• Push notifications now will be “Local notifications” (no longer need to use Apple servers)
• Task completion (continue a task, such as uploading photos to Flickr, in the background while doing other things)
• Fast app switching (save the current state you are at with one app, switch to another, return to the same state for previous app)

Moving on… so what other cool features were mentioned in the preview today? Here are a couple of my picks…

Folders
Rather than flipping through page onto page for an individual application you are looking to launch… consolidate a logically grouped bunch of applications into a folder — less flipping through pages. Will, say, 2,000 apps be enough? OS 4 allows you to have over 2,000 apps on your iPhone now…

Unified Inbox
All your mail in one place, with the addition of multiple Exchange accounts. ‘Nuff said (sorry to sound thug-like, but the occasion called for it…)!

If you are interested in reading more, Engadget has a live blog from the events held earlier today; they also have a video preview. The Business Insider has a quick and simple slide show explaining the seven features highlighted by Apple. Or if you are just looking to recap every single moment of today’s iPhone OS 4 developer preview, watch the entire event at Apple.

Oh, yes, developers can download the SDK (software developer kit) version of iPhone OS 4 already. Check that out here: iPhone Dev Center.

You may remember this time management app from an article last month. About two weeks ago, I downloaded a free trial and took Chrometa for a test spin. Words of wisdom, Chrometa logs everything… EVERYTHING.

My day-to-day at work has gotten fairly routine — just the way I like it. I usually ride in on my bike (okay, I lie to sound cooler than I really am… it’s been snowy, cold and rainy, but if it had been warm, this would hold true), turn on my computer and open up each of my daily applications. Since it takes a few minutes before my computer is fully booted up, I’ll grab my Nalgene and walk around the corner to fill it up.

Microsoft Outlook. Mozilla Firefox. Tweet Deck. Google Chrome. Once those are all up and running, I get to it. Basically, half my day is spent here, at SoftwareNewsDaily.com, and the other half is spent on SoftwareMedia.com. I activated Chrometa for the past week, March 17 to March 24, for a more exact breakdown.

Okay, what about a review of the software? Chrometa is a great, easy-to-use and very thorough time logging application. Just how thorough you ask? Well… Google Reader is my homepage on Chrome. I’ll run through hundreds of posts each day using Reader. As I read posts or as more posts come in, the title of that page will change to reflect how many posts are unread — i.e.: Google Reader (545). Chrometa logs every single one of those title changes and how long I have been on that particularly titled page. And when I was installing an application (or uninstalling) or even when a program popped up a crash error, Chrometa would also log it. It’s that thorough. So, you can only imagine how much I had to sort through when it came to categorizing each item logged on Chrometa.

Chrometa’s best feature? It’s simple and hardly needs any attention at all. Once you’ve installed the program, just set it up to launch at startup (plus any other options you may desire) and let it ride. That’s it. Chrometa runs seamlessly in the background when your computer is turned on, logging each of your tasks automatically. It’ll also automatically detect whether when you are away. There’s an option to adjust your idle time before logging away time as well. When you get back to your computer, Chrometa pops up and asks how you would like to define that time away from the computer — lunch, phone call, etc… I was amazed at how easy Chrometa was to implement!

Despite the amazing detailed logging and the ease of using Chrometa, I felt there were a couple of faults: the lag and tags. While I was trying to compile the data together for the past week, I found the program to lag quite a bit. While I was trying to categorize each of my tasks, I found Chrometa took a few seconds after I created a new category to gather itself together again. There was also a bit of lag from clicking off or onto the “all categories” view.

Secondly, tags. Each task logged in Chrometa may only be assigned to one category — this is understandable. Say, you are a lawyer and each category represented a client you represented… Obviously, you could only tag each task to one client (or, at least, you shouldn’t be billing multiple clients for the same task, right?). However, I wish there was an option tagging to multiple categories. Spoiled by my Gmail, I like to sort my items to multiple tags. What if I wanted to break down a chart in various ways?

Let’s say I logged 3 hours researching on the Internet with Firefox for Client A and I want to create a pie chart using the types of applications I use and the clients I would be billing. Unfortunately, I can’t tag those 3 hours of research to two categories to create those two separate charts. Rather, I would need to categorize every task for one a chart in regards to the client. Then, re-categorize it (losing the previous categorization) to create a chart in regards to the application.

Recommendations for Chrometa 3.0? *Ability to create charts within the program — so I don’t have to type the data into Excel. *Tagging items to multiple categories with the advanced capacity to create “sets” of categories for creating different charts — uh… creating a “set” of category for each set of data that you would create a chart for… does that make more sense? *Fix that lag time.

All in all, Chrometa is a great easy-to-use program that captures your time thoroughly. It’s definitely worth a try if you need a time management app.

TechCrunch recently published a few interesting stats for users on Chatroulette. By using data from Chatroulette Map, “some scrappy programming, and a passionate tech community” from just under 3,000 sessions, TechCrunch found some (possibly not surprising) statistics. A few highlights below (or read the full analysis from TechCrunch).

• Half of the spins will connect you with someone in the US…
• They also found 89% of the spins came up male, and only 11% were female
• The chances of getting a webcam with no person at all are more likely than one with a single female
• 1 in 3 females appear as part of a group, whereas only 1 in 12 males appear as part of a group

Michael, one of our IT guys, praised to me how entertaining Chatroulette could be and suggested we have the staff try it out. He took the initiative, found us a webcam-loaded laptop and set it up. After witnessing a few sessions on Chatroulette with the brave souls at SoftwareMedia.com, I can’t say that Michael was wrong nor that TechCrunch’s Chatroulette stats were far off at all.

Brandon (Warehouse) — “It’s interesting. It’d be way funny with people dressed as super heroes.”
Brandon was up first and got passed off a lot after many weird looks. Oh, did I mention we dressed a mannequin to stand next to him? After a majority of male encounters, he noted “I’d do it again, if it wasn’t just people looking for chicks.”

Jeremy (Sales) and Ashley (Accounting) — “This is amazing!” “When it works!”
Our wi-fi connection on the laptop gave us a few connection problems. Michael fixed it by plugging in the Ethernet cable. Remember that TechCrunch finding? How girls are four times likely to appear in a group? Well, Ashley told us she’d only volunteer “if I have somebody with me,” most likely because she doesn’t “appreciate the half naked men” the two encountered — 1 in 8 spins bring up a R-rating or worse according to TechCrunch. But Jeremy loved it so much, he was going to start it again right when he got back to his desk.

Dustin (Development) — “Awkward.”
Dustin lucked out and got to chat up a gal from Denmark. He did tell me, “I prefer to talk to girls.” And I bet the 89% majority of male Chatroulette users prefer to talk to girls as well… He probably had the most pleasant experience, although it would be less “awkward with less people running around” — people as in co-workers looking for ways to harass him later. Ha.

Billy (Sales) — “Freaky people! It’s weird just seeing someone there.”
It was going well in the beginning… but as Billy chatted it up, he incidentally encountered a spin that was beyond a R-rating. Sorry Billy! That immediately ended his first session of Chatroulette but he hinted at the possibility of giving it another go, “cause I’m so intrigued.”

Casey (Development ) — “Way too much…”
Pressured by a couple of nameless co-workers, Casey gave it a go and enjoyed a very entertaining session. Would he do it again? “No, I want to keep my marriage.”

Curious for more stats? In addition to TechCrunch, Comscore also did an analysis.

Items are presented in a full-screen format, one at a time, with easy arrow buttons to move back and forth. There’s a “like” button and the option to choose categories to personalize your feed even more. Algorithms used in Google Reader for Recommended Items are also used in Reader Play to generate a custom feed. “It takes into account your past reading behavior and global signals,” according to the Reader Help section. Although Google Reader Play does not require a Google account for access, signing in will allow you to “star” items and provide better feed customization.

Only playing with Reader Play for a few minutes, it’s definitely more visually appealing than Reader, itself. The viewer presents items via slideshow (or not, you can turn this off) in “magic” mode or in their original layout. “Magic” mode gives the items more pop by filling the screen with the most eye-catching item (graphic or video — if it’s just text, it makes the text bigger, basically). Try it out for yourself and tell us what you think.

Chrometa has notoriety to claim as well. Inc.com, Law.com, TechnoLawyer and Business Journal have all featured the product. Hey, and check out even more reviews and buzz circulating for Chrometa. They include first-hand experiences noting the app is “kick ass” and “a straightforward solution to a painstaking task.” Lee Rosen, an attorney in North Carolina even claims “Chrometa pays for itself on the first day – before you go to lunch.” That’s some super high ROI, if you ask me.

So what exactly does it do? Chrometa is a program that automatically tracks your time. Find out just how long you’re spending on documents, emails, applications, calls, meetings and everything in between. Recall everything you’ve done and account for billable time and become more productive by automating many tedious tasks. This program is great for lawyers, event planners, graphic designers and other professionals who need to keep track of and account for billed time. Why not try it out for yourself? They offer a free 30-day trial. If you’re already impressed, snatch it up (for $10 less, that’s one entire $Hamilton bill) at SoftwareMedia.com.

Okay, tell me that ad won’t run through your head every time you hear “iPad” from now on?! iPad is a HORRIBLE name!! But the product itself is pretty snazzy, I admit.

The press event, held at Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, lasted about two hours. And to my slight disappointment, only included a long presentation about the the tablet. I was looking forward to hearing about the iPhone 4 and possible Verizon ventures, but I guess that will be later down the line. Nevertheless, my highlights for today’s event as follows…

“We call it the iPad.”

Basically, it looks like an over-sized iPod touch.

Maps. Address book. Calendar. iTunes, YouTube. Also syncs to iTunes like an iPod touch or iPhone. “More intimate than a laptop” and “more capable than a smartphone.”

Photo scrubber bar at the bottom is awe-some. And built-in slideshows!

It’s 0.5 inches thin, 1.5 pounds and green tech evolving. There’s a “9.7 inch IPS display.” 10-hour battery life (a month on standby) with the “latest in wireless: 801.11n, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR.”

Fancy apps, just like iPhone and iPod.

iBooks app that will give Kindle a run for its money.

AT&T team-up for a $14.99 250mb per month data plan or $29.99 unlimited data plan.

It starts at only $499. Not bad.

Thoughts? Comments? Let us know; we want to hear your comments! For more thorough coverage of today’s event, check out gdgt.com or engadget.com‘s live blogging coverage.

The Nexus One, closely designed in partnership with HTC, resembles an iPhone. Okay, maybe it looks a lot more like the DROID ERIS by HTC…

The Nexus One is 4.68″ (119mm) in height, 2.35″ (60mm) wide, no thicker than a No. 2 pencil (11.5mm) and weighs under 5 ounces (130 grams), or approximately 53 pennies. It features a high-resolution 3.7 inch 480×800 pixel AMOLED touchscreen. And it’s built with a second microphone for active noise cancellation, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack (eliminating the need for an adapter, as such with my LG), compass, Micro SD slot, light and proximity sensor, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and it’s Teflon coated (interesting). TechCrunch praises that this “is the best mobile phone display on the market today, blowing away the iPhone’s 480 x 320 display.” On top of being pretty, it’s also fast — the Nexus One, which runs the new Android 2.1 platform, is powered by a 1GHz snapdragon processor. This updated processor allows upped capabilities to handle 3D graphics and ability to run multiple applications simultaneously — less lag time and what not. Amped for more? Read more fancy tech spec stuff at Google.

Wait! There’s more cool stuff…

Google Maps Navigation, voice recognition, Facebook sync/widget, one-click YouTube upload, quick contacts, live wallpaper (there’s a wallpaper that pumps to your MP3s!), weather and a very cool new gallery app also come on the Nexus One. So that makes the phone… a weatherman, Rolodex, media library, GPS and social life manager all rolled into one, eh. And that wasn’t even a full list of everything the Nexus One has to offer! The new gallery app, a team-up with Cooliris, sounds will be awesome. Scroll and tip the phone to show a 3D layout of images? Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Then it syncs to Picasa! Awesome Bad ass! Get a taste for Cooliris by downloading their browser extension for FireFox or Chrome. I already use it and feel like I’m pulled into another dimension each time I search images through the 3D portal.

Mashable has a quick comparison chart if you want to make a more informed smartphone choice. But, I am psyched! Aren’t you? Verizon. Spring 2010. I’m ready.

Created at the University of Tsukuba, a city about an hour outside of Tokyo where research reigns supreme, the Yotaro baby doesn’t quite look like a baby at all… But rather, it mimics actions true-to-life  to that of a baby. According to the University of Tsukuba website, Yotaro even holds a body temperature!

Yotaro reacts with facial expressions, movements and moods computed through human interaction and outside stimulation. His cheeks are soft to the touch and cute enough to pinch. His skin changes color when you touch him, just like when your skin whitens briefly at where you apply pressure (as demonstrated in the video). Snot runs from his nose. He also cries and sneezes. He giggles when you play with him, whether by rubbing his belly or rattling toys in front of him. The video proclaims, since it does not understand spoken words, anyone can play with him! It’s quite the complicated operation, all under a cuddly baby blanket. I suppose it’s like an evolved tamagotchi trapped in the baby stage? Use your imagination; I don’t think it’ll ever replace (nor is meant to replace) having a real one but it’s definitely intriguing technology!

Are you feeling the economic squeeze around your bank account? Are you feeling the polluted air contaminating your lungs? Are you feeling the fat build on your body?

Stop paying for that car. Stop contributing to carbon emissions. Stop letting those calories store into fat. And start commuting more economically. Start doing more for the environment. Start burning off those undeniable cravings. Start bicycling!

And do it with style by utilizing the latest technology… The Copenhagen Wheel, a product designed by MIT’s Senseable City Lab, was presented at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change yesterday. A device that adds a boost to your ride, the product could be thought of as a hit of nitrous mounted to your back bicycle wheel. It’s the latest in the Biking 2.0 revolution, a movement to customize  bikes through electronic mods.  Carlo Ratti, director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab, explains, “[The Copenhagen Wheel] can be plugged into any bike without requiring additional electronics or wires.”

“The Wheel uses a technology similar to the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), which has radically changed Formula One racing over the past couple of years,” says Ratti. In other words, the Wheel stores energy from braking and cycling for when you need a boost — it’s sort of similar to hybrid technology in cars. When I read about how the Copenhagen Wheel works, I think of the happenings on the energy monitor display in my friend’s Pruis…

The Wheel can also be turned into a speedometer, odometer, compass and real-time traffic or air quality hub. Packed inside the product lies a GPRS (general packet radio service), torque sensor and sensor kit measuring carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, noise, relative humidity and temperature. Control the wheel and utilize the sensors via Bluetooth technology. Just sync your iPhone (or other smartphone) and use the Copenhagen Wheel Application to secure your bike, change gears, control your energy boosts and view real-time information (distance traveled, average speed, calories burnt, pollution levels, air quality and traffic conditions). The application also allows the user to share the information with friends or social networks.

I couldn’t find a price for the product, probably because they haven’t gone into production just yet, but it’s said to be on par with standard electric bikes. In case you open an new tab to do the same, a rough Froogle search for “electric bikes” gave me products ranging from the low $100s to a few grand. Um. I totally want one… even if I don’t know how I’ll afford one. Ritt Bjerregaard, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, seems to want  many…

“Our city’s ambition is that 50 percent of the citizens will take their bike to work or school everyday. So for us, this project is part of the answer to how can we make using a bike more attractive.”

Copenhagen is a fairly prosperous city, right? Maybe the city will buy one for everyone! Seeing as it is one of the most livable cities in the world, I could totally move there. Then after I receive my Copenhagen Wheel (from the bulk inventory that the city purchased), I’ll probably need a smartphone too. I could probably find some way to fund the phone and coverage. I suppose I could…

It’ll be definitely be an investment (especially if this Copenhagen move doesn’t end up working out), but it’s comforting to know the lock also uses advanced technology — it has a smart lock. Associate director of the Copenhagen Wheel Project, Assaf Biderman, explains the lock a bit further.

“If somebody tries to steal it, it goes into a mode where the brake regenerates the maximum amount of power, and sends you a text message. So in the worst case scenario, the thief will have charged your batteries before you get back your bike.”

In the future, the Copenhagen Wheel hopes to incorporate customization. “Be able to spec out your wheel according to your riding habits and needs,” mentions the website. More power for those in San Francisco. Perhaps an altitude sensor for those in Denver. Maybe some sort of lighting device for night owls? And blind spot warning sensors for the sometimes otherwise occupied?

Does the Copenhagen Wheel encourage you to bike rather than drive to work? Would you be interested in attaching it to your bicycle? Share you thoughts – hit that comment link!