Horizons
A Canadian man says he used a photo of his passport, stored on his iPad, to cross the border into the US. Here, the Apple iPad 2. (File)
Visiting the US? Forgot your passport? Try your iPad.
Earlier this week, a surprising story began ricocheting around the Internet – a Canadian man named Martin Reisch had crossed from Canada into the United States using nothing more than his driver's license and a photo of his passport, which he had uploaded onto his Apple iPad.
No, there isn't an app for that. He simply had a digital image of his passport.
RECOMMENDED: Five surprising facts from the Steve Jobs biography
According to Reisch, he had traveled from Quebec almost all the way to the Vermont border when he realized that he was missing his passport. But he did have a saved image of his passport, which he allegedly presented to a border control official. "He kind of gave me a stare, like neither impressed nor amused," Reisch told the Canadian Press. "He was very nice about it," Reisch added.
Only hiccup: US officials say Reisch is not telling all of the truth.
"The assertion that a traveler was admitted into the U.S. using solely a scanned image of his passport on an iPad is categorically false," a customs official told Wired today. "In this case, the individual had both a driver’s license and birth certificate, which the CBP officer used to determine identity and citizenship in order to admit the traveler into the country."
Reisch, for his part, has battled back, maintaining that he did not have his birth certificate – only, as he originally said, his iPad and his driver's license.
Check Reisch's Twitter feed for more, and in the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.
IN PICTURES: Remembering Steve Jobs
The Nokia Lumia 900 could launch in early 2012. Here, a user holds the Nokia Lumia 800. (Reuters)
Nokia Lumia 900: AT&T's 'Ace' in the hole?
Just a few months after the unveiling of the Lumia 800, Nokia is set to take the wraps off another Lumia handset, this one affectionately dubbed "Ace."
So say the folks at tech site Pocketnow.com, who have published what they say is a spec list for the forthcoming Lumia 900. On the list: a 4.3-inch high-resolution display, 512MB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera, and the Windows Phone Mango operating system.
"Although it will almost certainly be sold carrier locked, Ace – like most modern Nokia handsets – will contain the 1700MHz band necessary for T-Mobile 3G, so we imagine that a workaround to unlock that functionality will arrive with the quickness," writes Evan Blass of Pocketnow.com. "At 160 grams [0.3 pounds], Ace weighs 18 more grams than the Lumia 800, likely due to the combination of a bigger screen and LTE radio." (To compare, the iPhone 4S weights 140 grams, still around 0.3 pounds.)
Launched in Europe late in 2011, the Lumia 800 – the first Nokia phone to run the Windows Phone OS – has yet to debut on US shores, although some bloggers have forecasted a January release date. As we noted back in October, the Lumia line is the early offspring of the Nokia and Microsoft partnership, which was penned earlier this year.
Before Nokia and Microsoft joined forced, Nokia ran an OS called Symbian; in the US, at least, Symbian will now be phased out.
So how will the Lumia 900 – essentially a plus-sized version of the Lumia 800 – stack up to competitors such as the iPhone and the Motorola Droid Razr?
Well, over at Gizmodo UK, Sam Gibbs sees good things (mostly). "[W]hile I’m still not blown away by the specs here, I liked the aesthetics of the Lumia 800, so I’m not sad to see Nokia’s sticking with the design theme," he writes.
For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. And don’t forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.
Steve Jobs speaks at an event in 2008. This week, a Chinese company announced it would make a $99 action figure of Mr. Jobs, the former CEO of Apple. (Reuters)
At $99, Steve Jobs action figure is priced like an Apple product
A Chinese company called In Icons is poised to launch a new action figure of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs – complete with black turtleneck, blue jeans, "highly-articulated body" and two apples (get it?) – one whole apple and the other missing a bite. The figurine, which has been described alternately as "expressive and finely wrought" and "creepily realistic," is priced at $99, and set to ship in February.
Of course, as Tim Hornyak of CNET points out, this isn't the first Steve Jobs action figure. Back in November of 2010, when Jobs was still alive, Chinese retailer MIC Gadget announced it was building a small plastic Jobs figurine. But Apple lawyers promptly swooped in, and ordered MIC to cease and desist.
RECOMMENDED: Five surprising facts from the Steve Jobs biography
"Mr Jobs has not consented to the use of his name and/or image in the Product," Apple reps wrote in a filing. "Unauthorized use of a person’s name and/or likeness constitutes a violation of California Civil Code Section 3344, which prohibits the use of any person’s name, photograph or likeness in a product without that person’s prior consent."
So will the same fate befall the new action figure? Almost definitely. The toy "is supposed to ship this month, but pre-orders for the $99 figure have already stopped," notes Leslie Horn of PC Magazine. "The site says pre-orders will resume 'soon,' but if Apple's past moves on third-party tributes like this are any indication, it will probably pull the plug on the toy."
For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. And don’t forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.
IN PICTURES: Remembering Steve Jobs
Previous
Become part of the Monitor community