Electronic Waste (Credit : takomabibelot on Flickr CC-BY)

Top mobile telephone suppliers have agreed to back an EU-wide harmonization of phone chargers, the European Commission said on Monday, hailing the pact as good news for consumers and the environment.

“People will not have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone,” said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, estimating that unwanted phone accessories accounted for thousands of tons of waste in Europe each year.

What about the data transfer and headphone? Doesn’t every second mobile buyer buys/gets a headphone?

• Reuter
• Slashdot

HotHardware reports that id Software has released an official free software port of Wolfenstein 3D for the iPhone. The source code for the port can be downloaded from id’s Web site.

Earlier this week id Software released an iPhone port of Wolfenstein 3D as open source, but at the time it wasn’t in the App Store. Wait no longer, it’s there.

Besides having its own website (which you absolutely have to visit, right?), the game that id Software calls “the grandfather of the FPS at your fingertips” is located here in the App Store.

Sorry, you can’t have everything. While the code has been released as open source, the game itself is a relatively high for the App Store $4.99. But come on: it’s Wolfenstein 3D.

While I detest the iPhone, and really wish id would go ahead and release the media for such an old game under a free license as well, it’s good to hear that their port is free software just like the PC version. Hopefully it will be ported to Android and the FreeRunner soon.

Also, when is id Software releasing id Tech 4?

• HotHardware
• Digg

T-Mobile G1. Source: jonathansin on Flickr. License: CC-BY-SA 2.0

Macworld reports that the unlocked version of the T-Mobile G1 is not permitted to access Google’s Android Market.

Last week, Google employees began replying to questions people posted on the Android Market Help Web site about being unable to see copy protected applications in the store. “If you’re using an unlocked, developer phone, you’ll be unable to view any copy-protected application,” wrote Google employee Ash on the help site in reply to a user’s question on Friday. “This is a change that was made recently.”

While Google offered only slim details about why it made the change, it could be an attempt to close a loophole that reportedly allows users of the unlocked phone to download paid applications for free. “The Developer version of the G1 is designed to give developers complete flexibility,” Google said in a statement. “These phones give developers of handset software full permissions to all aspects of the device… We aren’t distributing copy protected applications to these phones in order to minimize unauthorized copy of the applications.”

The Android Market has DRM? What’s the point of having a free software operating system on an un-crippled phone if your downloads have DRM on them?

• Macworld
• Digg

Android - Credit: source.andriod.com

Google Code’s Android page lists another Android phone for developers: the Android Dev Phone 1.  This phone, unlike the T-Mobile G1, is unlocked and fully free.

The Android Dev Phone 1 is a SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked device that is designed for advanced developers. The device ships with a system image that is fully compatible with Android 1.0, so you can rely on it when developing your applications. You can use any SIM in the device and can flash custom Android builds that will work with the unlocked bootloader. Unlike the bootloader on retail devices, the bootloader on the Android Dev Phone 1 does not enforce signed system images. The Android Dev Phone 1 should also appeal to developers who live outside of T-Mobile geographies.

To purchase an Android Dev Phone 1 device, you must first register as an Android developer on the Android Market site, if you haven’t done so already. Once you’ve logged into your developer account on Android Market, you can purchase the device by clicking the “Purchase” link. To accommodate demand, there is a limit of 1 device per developer account, for now.

I’m sure the developer warning is nothing more than a disclaimer letting you know that Google is not going to help you if your tweaking breaks the phone.  You still need a developer account to buy the device, however.  Incidentally, Openmoko has plans to port the Android platform to the Neo FreeRunner.

• Google Code
• Slashdot

Google Android

The “Break it Down” Blog reports that Google has finally released the software for their Android platform under free software licenses.

It’s official, no more waiting, no more secret SDKs and top-secret government handshakes (ok, there never really was), but it’s still nice to hear that Google has officially Open Sourced Android.

The preferred licensing for working with the Android platform is the Apache 2.0 license. For folks wanting to contribute directly to the platform you will need to complete and send in a signed Individual Contributor License Grant and for corporations that are assigning people to work with and contribute to the Android project, they must complete the Corporate Contributor License Grant; I imagine this is very similar to how the Eclipse Foundation works as well.

Much of the code is under the Apache 2.0 License, so there’s no guarantee that your Android phone will not be tivoized, or that proprietary code won’t be slipped in by the handset manufacturer or phone company.

• The “Break it Down” Blog
• Android source code
• Slashdot

It’s been reported in various news sources that Apple’s iPhone comes with a “kill switch” that Apple can use to disable apps. The Register reports that Google has one as well for their Android platform.

Unlike Apple, the company has made no attempt to hide its intentions, and includes the details in the Android Market terms and conditions, as spotted by Computer World:

Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion.

But the existence of the capability opens more questions about the platform.

The clause only covers applications distributed through the Android Market, but the whole point of Android is that anyone can distribute any applications they like. Mobile publisher Handango has already stated it will be selling Android applications through its web site.

Openmoko is looking better and better.

• The Register
• Slashdot

The second iPhone OS has been unlocked, before even being released to the public.

If you were wondering how I was doing push email tests on iPhone OS 2.0 and Vodafone UK, this is the reason why. The code wizard commandos at the iPhone Dev Team have been working on this non-stop since the early days of beta testing. In fact, I had iPhone OS 2.0 running on my iPhone since last week. That was version 5A345, two below 5A347, but identical in functionality.

Now that the official iPhone OS 2.0 is out, the iPhone Dev Team will release their Pwnage tool for everyone to unlock and jailbreak their iPhones soon, although the specific date/time is not firm yet. It may not be as interesting as before—since most countries now have the iPhone and it will be impossible to buy without doing a contract first—but people looking to install unsigned applications and buy pay-as-you-go cards while traveling—instead of roaming—will find it very useful.

Once again, locking devices down is proven futile.

• Gizmodo