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Saturday, February 18, 2012

What will change in our TVs in 2012 /1/11 the 4K



Presented at CES in Las Vegas as the unavoidable successors are in our current HD flat screens, televisions 4K are not close to invest yet our living rooms.


While the Blu-ray, standard bearer of the video and film high definition, has all the trouble to win the general public the manufacturers would have us believe - to blows the first prototypes of demonstration in major exhibitions around the world - as TV 4K soon replace our current full HD televisions. It depends what they mean by "soon". For these TVs "high definition" will still be a few years of loss leaders, technology showcases designed to spread the know-how of manufacturers in the eyes of the world. For two main reasons.

The 4K is only of interest as "very big screen"

Mitsubishi WD-92840 92-Inch

First, culturally, The figures show, in fact, that in the Hexagon, they are essentially small televisions that people buy (26 to 40 inches). But for that 4K resolution (4096 x 2160 pixels) to make sense, we need a large display area: 60 inches minimum, or 152 inches diagonally for a TV. And again. The perfect place to enjoy the gain in pixels (four times more than the Full HD mode), it is obviously the video projection. This is also the source for digital cinema that 4K was developed.

This gives scope for larger screens without loss of definition and it also helps viewers to be closer to the screen without the pixel structure is visible. Sony and JVC are already offering home theater projectors with 4K an starting bet of 9,237.88 USD (for JVC DLA-X70). That said, for now, this market remains confidential and is confined to a few private facilities very upscale.

Where are the sources native 4K?

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Second, there are no 4K sources. No. Neither Blu-ray or via satellite (although in both cases, it is technically possible), the optical fiber, ADSL and DTT still less. Fortunately, there is YouTube that hosts some trailers and short films in 4K. Useless to tell you it takes some for the read speed (well, a graphics card and monitor ad hoc), because they are extremely heavy. Sony and LG will however do everything possible to accelerate the development of a new type of Blu-ray 4K with the first models could appear in late 2013. And who says new type of Blu-ray, we mean a new readers.

Which pleads in favor of the two manufacturers is that today more and more movies are shot at 4K. Among them: The Social Network, The Reef, Contagion, Pirates 4, Fright Night, The Amazing Spiderman and the highly anticipated The Hobbit: an unexpected journey. Still, all this will not weigh very heavily in a library (such as Blu-ray 3D). But we must begin somewhere. Manufacturers have jumped the gun and will now incorporate some of their devices, a system for inflating upscaling in 4K, HD sources. This is already the case on some Onkyo amps and 4K projectors Sony and JVC, and it will happen also on the new amps A / V and Yamaha on the Blu-ray player Sony BDP-S790.
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The Kindle Fire stands against the iPad and Galaxy Tab

Far from the big battles that against Apple to Samsung, Amazon's Kindle Fire wins the successful as expected.


Kindle Fire

To combat Apple, the makers of tablets products take advantage in a hunt for the iPad. All? No. Amazon has quietly remained in the niche map lights before unveiling the Kindle Fire. This Android tablet features a color touch screen, a sleek design, is displayed at a price less than $ 200 and gives access to Amazon's catalog, one of the most of provided Web.

Only available in the U.S., the Kindle Fire wins with the success forecast by being a place in the cutthroat world of tablets. Keeping the secrecy of results of this launch, it is the analyst firms that produce forecasts of sales. Stifel Nicolaus had predicted a score of 5 million tablets sold in the fourth quarter of 2011. The firm recently revised his forecasts upwards, bringing them to 6 million. Of course, the company of Jeff Bezos was careful to confirm those figures.

A different study, conducted by the company Flury, confirms the success of the tablet from Amazon. She reports that in two months the Kindle Fire stole the show at the Galaxy Tab by Samsung, becoming the most popular with 36% of all activities of Android tablets. The Kindle Fire still has everything to prove because it is always expected in Europe. Launched in the U.S. market in November 2011, its launch on this side of the Atlantic is still not announced.

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Facebook will close on March 15 ... or not

Facebook will close on March 15 ... or not, According to a report published on the website Weekly World News, and largely taken online and on Facebook, especially by English-speaking users, the social network Facebook will close on March 15.

This is one of the fun aspects (or shocking) of the Web. Written information in a satirical newspaper online, and obviously implausible, can spread and take shape more surely than the result of a lengthy investigation.

So, 11 January 2012, while rumors of a Facebook IPO began to shudder with emphasis on line, the Weekly World News published an article stating that the decision to close the doors of Facebook has been taken from disappearance of the largest global social network was planned for March 15.


Too stressful, In great detail, advice and feedback: "I spent ten hours a day on Facebook, what will I do with all this free time? , "The article says that Mark Zuckerberg said he was too stressed out by the management of his company, to believe that the only sure course. Facebook founder and declared, in an interview that readily believes imagined from scratch, want to close Facebook stating: "I personally do not see difference does it make. "

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The Most Anticipated Mobile At MWC 2012 Reviews

The living show room world of telephony is the meeting place for discovering new smartphones that will be released throughout the year.



The 2012 edition of the Mobile Word Congress (MCW) would it be a little soft? Indeed, the show Mobile World, to be held from February 27 to March 1, 2012, will be marked absent by brand: Galaxy not S III, or even a Samsung press conference, without counting the absence of iPad 3. But here, this is normal, Apple never wanted to participate in this event. 


Android 4.0 and Windows 8 face to face

However, this MWC 2012 should be interesting. First, he will devote Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as the operating system the most common. This version of Android 4.0 update is a unified system from Google that runs on smartphones on shelf. She brings so many new products. In addition, manufacturers will take advantage of MWC to update their old phones.
Then Google will not be alone. ON find systems in decline as BlackBerry OS, WebOS and Symbian, but also that Microsoft comes back in force. With Windows Phone 7 and his version Tango, with, let's be crazy, a demonstration of the upcoming Windows Phone Windows Phone aka Apollo 8. But especially with Windows 8, that will be available for free download from February 29 in his first beta version, called Consumer Preview.
The symbol is strong: the fact that Windows 8 is launched in a room phone is one more sign that the future of software, and more generally of high-tech is definitely mobile.





Huawei Ascend D1 Q "the fastest smartphone ever designed" reviews



But first of all, the MWC is THE show that are launched and mobiles the tablets of tomorrow. And that starts with a bang on Sunday, February 26 from either the day before the official opening of the show. This is China's Huawei, which has the honor to present his first terminal, a symbol. After Ascend P1 S, telephone the world's thinnest introduced at CES 2012, Huawei promises the "fastest smartphone ever designed." The Chinese giant is expected to announce the Ascend Q D1, a smartphone with an Intel quad-core designed, he also, made by Huawei. A large stone in the garden of which nVidia will equip many devices with its Tegra 3 quad.


LG a smartphone Optimus X3 and Tegra 3 as a competitor of the Galaxy Rating reviews


The Korean LG will take advantage of the relative discretion of his brother enemy Samsung to present two very strong. The first, Optimus X3 (LG P880), was unveiled by the site Pocketnow. This will be powered by a Tegra 3  processor quad-coreand has a 4.7 inch screen.

The second, the Optimus Vu, a competitor will be the Galaxy Note - which is very popular (the fourth best selling mobile in Uk in January 2012 after the iPhone 4S, and the Samsung Galaxy S II and Ace).
The IPS screen view of the Optimus has a diagonal of  5 inch 768 x 1024 points with a 4:3 ratio against an AMOLED screen Super Plus in 5.3-inch 800 x 1280 points 16:10 ratio for the Galaxy Note.

LG is also expected to release a version 2 of his Optimus 3D, called Optimus 3D 2 or Optimus 3D Max. LG could also return to the market with a Windows Phone LG Fantasy or Miracle, in all modesty.


Sony Xperia S standard bearer reviews


Also Sunday, February 26, Sony Mobile, previously Sony Ericsson, it will remonstrate with his Xperia S, its flagship model introduced at CES 2012, but also an Xperia U (Kumquat), a 3.5-inch model (1 GHz processor double heart, 5 megapixel camera, Android 2.3) and a Xperia P (Nypon), with the same look as the Xperia S, but with a 4-inch QHD screen, a dual heart of processor 1 GHz and a camera 8 Megapixel .


HTC One X, an ultra-powerful quad-core 1.5 GHz

Last big conference Sunday, HTC, which should provide many models including the most anticipated are the HTC One X (codename Endeavour). The smartphone Android 4.0 with Sense 4.0 interface should win all the votes. It should be carry a quad-core processor at 1.5 Ghz and be provided with a 4.7 inch HD display. Unless this being the HTC City - still a code name - which retains the interest with his double heart at 1.5 GHz, the QHD screen of 4.3 inches diagonally, his 8 megapixel camera that shoots in HD 1080p and audio Beats. Also work with Ice Cream Sandwich and the new interface Sense 4.0.

Samsung without S3, but with a S2 Plus and Galaxy Note S


The main competitor to Apple in the smartphone will favorably despite no press conference and the long awaited Galaxy S3, whose output was rejected just before summer. Indeed, the manufacturer should initiate the successors of the successful mobile Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note with Galaxy S2 Plus and Galaxy Note S. Every other devraitent be refreshments flagship models with a slightly more powerful processor and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We should be also see an Ace Plus, Ace's successor. Tablets are also, announced.

Acer the head into the Cloud

The Taiwanese manufacturer is expected to launch their flagship model Acer CloudMobile equipped with a heart dual processor 1.5 GHz and connected to CloudMobile, the new online brand.

Asus  PadFone, half-tablet half-phone

Launched at Computex 2011 and overview at CES 2012, tablet smartphone PadFone will actually launched at the Mobile World Congress 2012.



Nokia the Symbian and Windows Phone

The Finnish firm should offer Windows Phone as a variant of the 900 Lumia, but also a more entry level as a 610 Lumia. Symbian models are also presented.

Intel Atom processors in the phones

The computer giant Intel finally comes into the world of telephony. Too late? That may well be seen ahead of his competitors, but Intel does not lack resources. With his Atom processors for mobiles Medfield, Intel wants to surprise. Existing x86 applications on Windows could run on a smartphone with little modification. Good luck to Intel in a world where ARM processors are omnipotent.

Motorola: the first smartphone with Google and Intel

Following the agreement in September 2011 between Intel and Google, Intel had to carry Android 4.0 on the x86 architecture. Since December 2011, this is something to do with an Atom Medfield engraved in 32 nm. Pocketnow site showed pictures of a phone-motorola Google would work on such a platform.


Mobile MWC 2012 Reviews

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How To Update HTC Rezound with Android ICS 4.0.3 Custom ROM

Today the article is about How to Update HTC Rezound with Android ICS 4.0.3 Custom ROM. XDA developers are wondering the Android users with its latest updates and firmware upgrade guides. Now it’s the turn of HTC Rezound and it has been blessed with latest Android OS that is Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, the ICS version. It has been named as newtoroot.

This custom ROM is based on ICS 4.0 firmware and HTC UI sense has been removed and now the HTC users can experience sense free UI by using the custom ROM. There are many more interesting updates will come in 2012.
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Olympus Tough TG-820 compact digital camera




The Olympus digital camera line-up for resilient characterise a next-production Olympus TOUGH compact that sets a new benchmark for Waterproof, Shockproof, Freezeproof, Crushproof and Dustproof performance.

It is their durable shooter just yet, being waterproof up to 10 meters, is shockproof and also freezeproof. This 12-megapixel shooter comes with a backlit CMOS sensor and the powerful image processor that can be found in the Olympus PEN range, you know for sure that your images will turn out great right from the get go, never mind if you do not know everything else about digital photography.

Olympus' iHS technology is also found in the new model, allowing decent pictures in even low lighting conditions.12 Megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor,TruePic VI image processor,F3.9-5.9, 5X optical zoom lens, equivalent to 28 - 140 mm,Sensor-shift image stabilization,Waterproof to 33 feet, shockproof from 6.6 feet, freezeproof to +14F,3-inch LCD with 1.03 million pixels,Point-and-shoot operation, with Intelligent Auto mode,Full resolution continuous shooting at 5 frames/sec,Super Resolution feature doubles your zoom power, with minimal loss of image quality,New HDR Backlight Adjustment feature,Records Full HD video with monaural sound,46.8MB onboard memory + SD/SDHC/SDXC card,Uses LI-50B li-ion battery, 220 shots per charge,Comes in silver, black, red, and blue.The price of Olympus Tough TG-820 compact digital camera is $299.

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Swann HD 4 GB PenCam and discreet video surveillance




Swann has disclose its latest digital video cameras the HD PenCam and PenCam 4GB. Each device cover a tiny video camera and DVR inside a real working pen.This PenCam is one of two, the first being HD and the second having a “4GB” annexed to the name. These units both work as ink pens and are able to capture high definition AVI videos as well as JPEG images, both able to do so in complete suppress and without the person you’re recording conscious that the recording is going on.

The HD PenCam is proficient of recording high-definition AVI videos (1280x720 pixels) and high-resolution JPEG images on microSD memory cards, while the PenCam 4G ($69.99) shoots VGA movies and 1.2-megapixel stills and saves them in its built-in memory. Both versions switch between video and photo mode with a touch of a button, feature date and time stamping, and are compatible with PCs and Macs.

The on-board storage has gone, but that’s no bad fact as it’s being substitute for with a MicroSD card slot. It takes cards up to 16GB on to which you can store 150 minutes of HD video.If you want a coat pocket video recorder then the PenCam 4GB costs $69.99. The HD PenCam arouse that price to $99.99.


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BELL NOKIA C6-01 FEAUTURES,REVIEWS AND PRICES



The Nokia C6-01 will be Bell’s foremost smartphone to have an 8MP camera (with flash and HD video recording). The device also characteristic a 360 x 640 pixels ClearBlack touchscreen display, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Ovi Maps with free navigation, Bluetooth 3.0,Social networking integration, document viewer, and MicroSD card support (2GB card pre-installed). The Nokia C6-01 sports a 3.2” AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with Nokia’s ClearBlack display, which has a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels and contains multi-touch (pinch to zoom), proximity, and light sensors. The Nokia C6-01 is approximately 103.8mm (tall) x 52.5mm (wide) x 13.9mm (thick), and weighs around 131grams.

It′s dimensions are 103.8MM x 52.5MM x 13.9MM . The talk-time of the phone is Up to 11 hours 30 minutes (2G) / Up to 4 hours 30 minutes (3G). The phone operates at frequencies of GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 / WCDMA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 /1700 MHz. The Phone has a Display of 3.2 inches, AMOLED Capacitive Touchscreen, 16M colors. This model comes with Camera of,Rear Camera is 8 MP (3264x2448 Pixels) with Auto Focus, Dual-LED Flash, Front Camera is 0.3 MP, VGA Camera (640 x 480 Pixels) with , 2x Digital Zoom.

Capture every instant with 8MP still shots or smooth videos with the built-in camera,The 3.2" display lets you clearly touch, tap and swipe your way through menus and digital content,Ovi Maps offer voice-guided walking and driving navigation so you'll continuously find your way around town,Stream content or chat hands-free with compatible Bluetooth devices,The built-in media player lets you view the photos and videos you've recorded, as well as listen to your preferred tunes,The Symbian OS offers an sensitive mobile experience.The price of Bell NOKIA C6-01 is Rs.13.299.

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Brightcove Shares Pop Over 30 Percent On First Trade; Valued At Nearly $400M

Online video service Brightcove has just made its public debut on the NASDAQ under the symbol 'BCOV', with an opening trade of $14.50. This is up over 30 percent from the company's original pricing of $11 per share, after setting the range of $10-$12 per share. At $14.50 per share, Brightcove is valued at $382 million.Brightcove sells online video publishing and distribution services, including Brightcove Video Cloud, an enterprise-friendly online video hosting and management platform, and Brightcove App Cloud, a software application development and management platform designed to help customers publish and distribute video through software apps across multiple Internet-connected devices.]]>
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“Etsy For Eco” Ethical Community Raises $300,000+ In Seed Funding

Ethical Community, an online, eco-friendly marketplace (which has plans for a snazzier name in the works!), has secured a £200,000 ($316,640 USD) round of seed funding from a syndicate of angel investors, the company is announcing today. Founded in 2009, the marketplace has signed up over 850 sellers from around the world, who have now listed over 7,000 eco-friendly, organic and natural products including clothing, jewelry, health and beauty products, food and drink items, pet items and more.]]>
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RVIP Karaoke: The Most Amazing RV On Earth Is Now Much More Than A Hobby

You'll never forget your first time.Huddled in a hallway three feet wide, arms reaching every which way for a cup or a beer or the microphone. It's hot and it's messy and it's noisy and everyone is pushing against everyone else but it doesn't matter because your best friend is at the front of it all belting Total Eclipse of the Heart (how did she just hit that note) — and the world outside is whirling by in a blur.It's incredible. And now the RVIP Karaoke RV is ready to take the country by storm.Today, the people behind this legendary tradition are announcing that they're turning their passion into a full-fledged company. The papers have been filed, they're fully insured, and the RV fleet has doubled in size (to two — with more on the way).]]>
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Analyst: Facebook Will Make $1.2 Billion Annually From Mobile Ads

No, Facebook is not advertising yet on mobile platforms. Yes, that hasn't stopped people from speculating on what it will mean when it does. The latest: an estimate of how much the social network stands to make from mobile advertising: $1.2 billion a year in the U.S. and its five biggest markets in Europe -- the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.The numbers come from UK-based analyst firm Mobile Squared, which has worked out that Facebook will be making an average revenue per mobile user of around $6.50 per year -- some $2 more than Facebook currently makes per users online, using figures supplied in its S-1 earlier this month. The caveat here is that the modelling appears to be hinged on mobile display-style ads, while in truth it's not known what Facebook will do when it comes to formats; and several reports have pointed to them first opting for something altogether different -- sponsored stories.]]>
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WinZip iOS App Lets You Crack Open .Zip Files From Anywhere

Having access to your documents and pictures is really easy these days. About a million services, including Dropbox and iCloud, allow you to sync your stuff between devices, but there's one little thorn in our collective cloud-syncing side: it's called a .zip file. Fortunately, WinZip has just launched on the Apple App Store and it effectively rids us of this particularly annoying issue. After installing, a single tap will let you get a peek at what's inside the .zip file. If you tap again, you'll be able to look at individual files, even if you don't have the associated applications installed on your iPhone or iPad. ]]>
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Study: Windows Web Browsing Market Share Drops 10% Over Past 6 Months

Following up on its earlier report on iOS browser market share, ad network Chitika today released new results from a study which analyzed the impact mobile computing has had on traditional web browsing trends. In examining traffic across it network from August 2011 to February 2012, Chitika says that Windows web browsing market share has declined by almost 10%.]]>
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Cobook, A Slick Address Book App That Doesn’t Upload Your Data

The mundane Address Book was big news this week due to the privacy fiasco, but here's a post about an impressive address book app with a different approach to privacy. Cobook is a Mac contact management app that's simple, powerful and actually fun to use. The software, made by a boot-strapped startup, is now in a free beta test, with 60,000 downloads since it launched at the end of January. Cobook is what the Mac OSX Address Book should be. It sits in the menu bar or can be undocked and instantly synchronizes with Apple's Address Book. Any data entered into Cobook gets synced to your other computers and devices. Because it’s a native app, adding contacts, assigning tags, and editing contact info is very quick. Your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn contact info can also be pulled in, and if you hover over it, a pop-up window displays your contacts' Facebook info, Tweets, or LinkedIn profile. ]]>
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After Conquering The World, Our Favorite Angry Birds Head Into Space On March 22

I'm not even going to pretend that you don't know what Angry Birds is... that would be insulting to both you and the game. But do you know what Angry Birds Space is? Nah, I didn't think so. And truth be told, I'm not quite sure what it is either. According to Rovio, Angry Birds Space will be the biggest launch for the company to date. Remember what a big deal Angry Birds Rio was with that whole 20th Century Fox partnership and a movie and all that jazz? Well guess what! Space is even bigger.]]>
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Review: The Playstation Vita, Sony’s Portable Powerhouse

Like a line of hard-marching Lemmings (or a swarm of Patapons), Sony's countless, niggling enemies would like nothing better than to distract and steal the company's hard-won fan base. The Playstation has long been the gold standard in console gaming, despite the Xbox's recent challenges to the throne. And Sony does a good job. Graphics are better, gameplay is or can be more immersive, and in the battle for RPG dominance the PS3's library is peerless.But now Sony is fighting against lots of great ways to waste your time. Stuck in a long line? Whip out the iPhone, RAZR, or Blackberry. Want to play something bigger and bolder? Pull out a tablet and rock a few hours of Civilization Revolution or Need For Speed. Want to watch a movie? Bring up Netflix on any device in the house save your kitchen blender. There's not as much space for a dedicated gaming device out there as there used to be, and both Nintendo and Sony know it.]]>
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New Windows Logo Shows Microsoft Is Going All In With Windows 8

In a move that demonstrates how cleanly Microsoft intends to cut itself off from the last 20 years of its most widely-used and widely-recognized products, they have given the Windows logo its most significant redesign in 20 years. Ever since Windows 3.1, the slightly curved, red-green-blue-yellow panes have greeted millions on startup, or at least peeked out from the corner of the screen.No longer: Microsoft has abandoned the shape, color scheme, and even the start button. The new logo is monochromatic (or rather, polymonochromatic), straight, and unfamiliar. If they intended to show just how much they've changed the philosophy of the OS, this is a good way to do it.]]>
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Rumor Roundup: What To Expect From HTC At Mobile World Congress

With the end of February nearly in sight, the tech community is all abuzz with talk about Mobile World Congress, the huge mobile conference set to take place in beautiful Barcelona in just over a week. All the big players will be there (though some will be less conspicuous than before), and of course among them will be Taiwan-based phone giant HTC.]]>
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Gillmor Gang Live 02.17.12 (TCTV)

Gillmor Gang Live - Robert Scoble, Kevin Marks, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor . Recording has concluded.]]>
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Fundraising Platform For Startups ProFounder Shuts Its Doors

ProFounder, a startup that offered entrepreneurs ways to raise money for their startups and ideas, is shutting its doors, according to an announcement on the company's site today.ProFounder, which is the brainchild of Kiva co-founder Jessica Jackley and fellow Stanford Business School alum Dana Mauriello, allowed entrepreneurs to share a percentage of their revenues with investors (their friends, family, and community) over time in exchange for an investment. ]]>
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Google Under Fire For Circumventing Safari Privacy Setting

It's a tense time for Google: controversial policy and user-experience changes are combining with a growing distrust of tracking and advertising to produce something of a toxic atmosphere. Not the moment, then, you would want a minor scandal to erupt in the form of Google circumventing, intentionally or unintentionally, the privacy settings of millions of Safari users.The allegations have their source in a report by Stanford grad student Jonathan Mayer, who showed that using Safari triggered a special behavior in the normal cookie-creation process; his report was later played up by the Wall Street Journal. This behavior deliberately goes around the default Safari behavior of blocking all third-party cookies — like one from Google when you're visiting TechCrunch.Google says it's a side-effect from something else, but even if that's true, it's still ugly.]]>
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Irrationally Paranoid? AdiOS Shows Which Apps Access Your Address Book

Does Address-gate have you terrified that your mobile apps are secretly slurping up your address book? AdiOS is a free new Mac program that in seconds detects which of your iOS apps have the ability to access your phone numbers and email contacts. AdiOS doesn't indicate if or how the apps are transmitting your address book, but you should still delete any that access it.No. That was a joke. This has all gotten ridiculous.]]>
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Keen On… Pomplamoose: How Nataly And Jack Are Reinventing The Music Business (TCTV)

So maybe there really is a sensible middle ground in the music business - somewhere between David Lowery's pessimism and Bram Cohen's blind faith in our digital future. That future may be the pop music band Pomplamoose. Its members are Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte, two young musician-entrepreneurs who are not only making a living marketing and selling their music online, but who even own a "nice house" with two recording studios. Nataly and Jack, I suspect (and hope), are the viable future of the music industry - one that will neither revolve around Platinum records nor completely free online content.]]>
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Groupon Acquires NYC-Based Startup Hyperpublic

Groupon has just acquired Hyperpublic, a NYC-based startup that's spent the last two years building technology related to geo-location and the layers of information — like deals and events — that live on top of it.Terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but CEO Jordan Cooper describes it as a "huge win for our team and our investors". He adds that Groupon was after Hyperpublic's technology — this isn't a case of it acquiring the team alone.]]>
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Purported Next-Gen iPad Display Caught And Examined; 2048×1536 Resolution Confirmed

MacRumors has done something very bad - they went and got themselves an iPad 3 display module. Actually, it's not so bad when you can apparently just order one online. Normally this part even being online and available ahead of launch would suggest it was a scam, but what matters isn't the name of the part (could easily be a scam) but the part itself.They took a microscope to it, see — and it appears to have exactly four times the pixels of an ordinary iPad screen. It's really just the latest in a long line of "confirmations," but it's nice nevertheless to see the thing itself.]]>
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CrunchBase: Social, Mobile And Deals Categories Led 2011 Private Tech Investments

In case it wasn't already clear to you that later-stage social, mobile and deal-oriented companies led venture fundraising last year, here's some analysis of CrunchBase data that drives the point home, courtesy of Alexey Tolkachiov at BuzzSparks.org.]]>
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Pinterest Is Not “Playing Dumb” About Making Money

It seems like everyone's discovered Pinterest this week! Alongside the countless posts dissecting its userbase over, sideways, and under have been a series of stories about how it's "secretly" "monetizing" -- a fact unearthed when LLSocial revealed that the startup was using a service called SkimLinks in order to drive affiliate revenue from purchases that originated on Pinterest.]]>
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Motorola Droid 4 by Verizon

The last thing we heard about the new Motorola Droid 4 is that the device is expected to go on sale this Thursday,the 9th of February, although this has yet to be confirmed by Verizon.


We have already seen one video of the Motorola Droid 4 in action, although a new video has been released by the guys from Wirefly which gives us a really good look at the handset.

As a reminder, the Motorola Droid 4 features a 4 inch qHD multi-touch touchscreen display with a resolution of $540 x 960 pixels, processing is provided by a dual core 1.2GHz processor and it also features 1GB of RAM.

Other specifications on the Motorola Droid 4 include an 8 megapixel camera, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 16GB of built in storage and a microSD card slot which can take up to 32GB cards.

The Motorola Droid 4 is a 4G LTE enabled device, and it comes with a mobile hotspot feature, which gives you the option to connect up to eight separate devices via Wi-Fi.

The Motorola Droid 4 is expected to retail for $199 when you sign up to a new two year contract with Verizon, as soon as we get some confirmation that it will launch this Thursday we will let you guys know.
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Galaxy Nexus White Official Launch Date in UK and Price

We just heard that Nokia is releasing the white Lumia 800, and now Samsung has announced that the white Galaxy Nexus will go on sale in the UK on the 13th of February. With a 4.65-inch 720p display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Android 4.0 ICS to boot, what’s not to love?

Well, if you’re being picky, perhaps you’re yearning for a white GalNex, in which case I have good and bad news. Which do you want first?

The good news is that the white Galaxy Nexus is indeed an official product and it will be available on February 13, which gives you a whole day to use a combination of Google Wallet and Fab to find your sweetheart a nice Valentine’s Day gift.

The bad news is that, according to TrustedReviews, the white GalNex is only available to the UK this week. (Bad news for us, anyways.)

Wait, there’s one extra bonus bit of good news: If you have enough dough, the white GalNex is has a pentaband HSPA+ radio, meaning it will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks. And by “enough dough”, I specifically mean at least £496.79 ($770), which is what the 16GB model seems to be going for over at UK online retailer Handtec.

Past it’s pale appearance, all the specs will remain the same between the black and white models. However, if you happen to remember when we first noticed the white Galaxy Nexus, you’ll recall that the render within the post showed an all-white bezel. That isn’t the case with the official version, as the front bezel of the phone is still solid black and the back portion of the phone is white.
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Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus in UK cost arround £249

Samsung recently announced the Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus, a new budget Android smartphone which is due to land in the UK shortly, and now it looks like the handset will retail for $249.99 SIM free.

One UK retailer has the Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus up for pre-order for £249.99 SIM free, although they haven’t as yet listed an actual launch date.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus features a single core 1GHz processor, plus a 3.65 inch HVGA touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, plus Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Other specifications include a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and an LED flash, HSDPA, WiFi and Samsung’s custom user interface, the TouchWiz UI, plus A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, plus an accelerometer, digital compass and a proximity sensor, it comes with 3GB of built in storage, plus a microSD card slot.

You can find out more information about the SIM free Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus over at Expansys, there are no details as yet on how much the device will retail for on contract with the various mobile providers.
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Samsung Galaxy SIII - 7mm thick

Samsungs's next big smartphone release, the so-called Galaxy S III, may end up challenging the Motorola Droid Razr as the thinnest 4G handset on store shelves when it arrives later this year, according to new reports.

The Galaxy S III, as the next major Samsung Galaxy S phone is expected to be called, will come in at a thickness of about about 7 millimeters, or about 0.27 inch thick, according to a report from South Korea'sElectronic Times News translated by the website BGR.

Rumors continue that the S III thickness won't be uniform, and it will allegedly have the same camera 'hump' found on the S II. This new generation should also feature LTE support, although that's almost expected considering the growing list of Galaxy models already released with LTE.

The S III will also supposedly launch an entire lineup of S III models, just like the previous Galaxy flagship, and we may see as many as seven S III variants this year, sporting various specifications with nomenclature ranging from '3D display' to 'stylus'. We can add these to the list of recent Galaxy S III rumors we've heard, which include a quad-core processor, 8MP camera, and of course, Android 4.0.

While manufacturing has supposedly been underway since October of last year, we may have to wait until May to see the new S III. And while it's confirmed that we will not hear an announcement regarding the S III at MWC, numerous rumors about a March announcement are floating about, including this latest one from French website Frandroid.com, where they claim they already have an invitation for a mysterious Samsung event that's to be held on March 22.
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Huawei Ascend P1 S Coming to China early first quarter of 2012

The Chinese giant’s iPhone-killer made quite a stir at CES with its super-skinny 6.48mm (0.255 inch) frame. The device will also feature Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is  powered by the dual-core TI OMAP4460 CPU powering the phones, clocked at 1.5GHz and complemented by 1GB RAM. alongide an SGX 540 graphics engine.

The Ascend P1 S and P1 are near identical mobile twins, A 4.3-inch, Super AMOLED 960 x 540 displays qHD display is protected by hardened Gorilla Glass and there is a broad range of UMTS/GSM 3G and HSPA+ 4G connectivity capabilities, according to the firm.

Complete Specification and feature of Ascend P1


Design Type: Candy bar
Display Type: Super AMOLED Capacitive Touch Screen
Display Screen Size: 4.30 inches
Display Resolution 540 x 960 pixels
Display colors 16 million
Multi Touch input support
Sensors Light sensor
Proximity sensor
Scratch Resistant Glass
Operating System: Google Android (4.0)
Processor Type: Dual core
Processor Power: 1500 MHz
System Memory: 1024 MB RAM
Internal Memory: 4000 MB
Expandable Memory: Supports up to 32 GB
MicroSD, microSDHC Card Slot
Graphics Acceleration
Camera Size: 8 megapixels
Camera Support: LED Flash
Camera Features: Auto focus
Video Recording: 1920x1080 (1080p HD)
Secondary Camera Size: 1.3 megapixels
Video Calling
Audio Format Support: MP3, AAC, AAC+
YouTube Player
Video Format Support: MPEG4, H.263, H.264
FM Radio
Internet Browser: HTML, Flash
YouTube (upload), Picasa integrated
Calendar, Alarms
Phonebook: unlimited entries
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Threaded view, Predictive text input
Document Viewer
E-mail: IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Push e-mail
Internet connectivity: 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n and GPRS/EDGE
Data Transfer connectivity: microUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 3.0 and Tethering
GPS included
3.5 mm Audio connector Jack
Sensors Accelerometer
HDMI Support
MicroUSB Charging Connector
Dimensions: 6.68mm thick
Colors Choice: Black, Pink
Battery Model: 1800 mAh

In India It will be available in second Quarter of 2012 and price is yet to be announced .


Its 1670 mAh battery is said to provide up to 30 per cent more battery life over its rivals and the handset even comes in cherry blossom pink.
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Microsoft Finally released OneNote for Android

Microsoft has brought its OneNote digital notetaking app to Android, OneNote Mobile for Android has similar features and capabilities to its app counterparts on Windows Phone and iOS. The latest cross-platform push from the Windows company as its software teams spread their wares beyond their own PC, gaming and mobility devices. A free download from the Android Market, OneNote allows you to create text and image notes and sync them across to the full Office 2010 version as well as the web-based viewer using SkyDrive storage.

Following is requirement for Microsoft NoteOne for Android OS


1. Must have Android 2.3 or higher.
2. A free Windows Live ID is required to use OneNote Mobile for Android - use an existing ID or let OneNote help you sign up.
3. Web functionality uses the free OneNote Web App available on SkyDrive, which requires a supported web browser.
4. OneNote Mobile for Android opens notebooks created in Microsoft OneNote 2010 or the OneNote Web App.


Following are Features of Microsoft NoteOne:


1. View and edit your MS OneNote notebooks on iPhone, iPad or Android device.
2. You can edit OneNote pages and add new text on a page.
3. Inking feature allows handwriting input and drawing in your notes.
4. You can add, move and delete images on your pages.
5. OneNote tags are supported.
6. Sync two-way with MS OneNote.
7. Your pages look on iPhone (iPad, Android) exactly the same way as in MS OneNote.
8. Format text as you like: change font size, color, create lists.
9. Create audio recordings and play media in your notes.
10. Take text notes and attach pictures to them (Quick Notes).
11. Sync wirelessly, over Wi-Fi or 3G (includes WLAN sync).

Like the iOS version, OneNote Mobile for Android is offered for free from Microsoft, but has a maximum limit of 500 notes. Once you hit the max, you will have to purchase the unlimited version for $4.99 or you will no longer be able to create or edit notes from the Android app. You will, however, still be capable of syncing and viewing the notes you have created on other platforms.

Click here to Download ---- > Download
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Samsung Announced three Designer Model Ace, C3322, C3520 La fleur

Samsung announced 4 new Model of  La Fleur handsets for the Russian market and other market. We got new smartphones with the Android-running Ace and the Bada-powered Wave Y, as well as two featurephones - the C3322 and C3520.

its comes with new La Fleur handsets has any functional differences, compared to their original versions. They should all be on sale in Russia by the end of the month of Feb or first Quarter of 2012

The Samsung Galaxy Ace La Fleur with its 3.5" HVGA screen, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 5 megapixel camera and an 800 MHz CPU will go for 9,990 RUR, which translates to about $335 or €250.
Samsung Galaxy Ace La Fleur
Finally, the Samsung C3322 La Fleur and the Samsung C3520 La Fleur are feature phones with QVGA screens, measuring 2.2" and 2.4", respectively. The C3322 La Fleur will sell for 3,990 RUR ($130 or €100), whereas the asking price of the C3520 La Fleur is 3,490 RUR ($115 or €87).
Samsung C3322 La Fleur
Samsung C3520 La Fleur

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Motorola new Smartphone GLEAM+, Flip Smartphone

Motorola has announced the GLEAM+, a new flip phone that improves upon the original GLEAM with a thinner design and an HTML web browser.

Now if you know anything about mobile phone naming conventions, you'll already have deduced that the “+” in the Gleam+'s name means it's in fact a follow-up (it was either a + or an S), with the original Gleam having arrived on the scene 12 months ago.

Motorola GLEAM+ is a basic but yet stylish looking feature phone coming with a fancy LED matrix display that provides expressive notifications and alerts. Other features include a 2.8” WQVGA main display, 2MP camera, FM Radio, music player and microSD card slot for up to 16GB of additional memory.

Complete  Specifications of  Motorola GLEAM+

1. Networks: GSM 900/1800(WE) GPRS class 12
2. Dimensions: 107 x 52.5 x 13.5mm
3. Weight: 105g
4. Display: 2.8” WQVGA (400 x 240) 260K TFT CLI: 144 LEDS
5. Internal user available memory2: 50MB, expandable up to 16GB via microSD
6. Email: POP3, IMAP4
7. Camera: 2MP, fixed focus, digital zoom
8. Audio: MP3 playback; FM radio W/RDS; AAC, AAC+, MP3, MIDI, AMR NB, AMR WB, WAV
10. Video1: capture up to 12FPS and playback up to 25FPS, .263, MPEG4
11. Other: alarm clock
12. Connectivity: USB 2.0 (high speed), Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR; micro-USB charging & data (USB 2.0 HS); 3.5mm
headphone jack
13. Web browser: WAP 2.0
14. Battery type: 750 mAh
15. Battery life3: Talk Time up to 4 hrs 49 mins, Standby Time up to 417 hrs 26 mins
16. Size: 75.84cc

The Motorola GLEAM+ comes in silver and in winter white colors and is priced at 99 Euros (including VAT). It would be available in Germany in March.
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Intel Core i3-2125, 2x 3.30GHz 3.3 2 LGA 1155 Processor (BX80623I32125) (Personal Computers)

Intel Core i3-2125, 2x 3.30GHz 3.3 2 LGA 1155 Processor (BX80623I32125)
Intel Core i3-2125, 2x 3.30GHz 3.3 2 LGA 1155 Processor (BX80623I32125) (Personal Computers)
By Intel

Buy new: $149.96

First tagged by Dan Regan
Customer tags: sandy bridge, cpu

Review & Description

Intel Core i3-2125, 2x 3.30GHz, boxed - Dual-Core "Sandy Bridge" - TDP: 65W - Manufacturing process: 32nm - DMI: 5GT/s - L2 cache: 2x 256kB - L3 cache: 3MB shared - Stepping: D2 - IGP: HD Graphics 3000, 850MHz (Turbo: 1100MHz) - Memory controller: Dual Channel PC3-10667U (DDR3-1333) - SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, Hyper-Threading, VT-x, Intel 64, Idle States, EIST, Thermal Monitoring Technologies, Intel almost Memory Access, Intel Flex Memory Access, XD bit Read more


Find out More for the best price at Amazon

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Samsung Refreshes Galaxy Tab Again: Dual-Core, No Plus

The original 7" Galaxy Tab was already long in the tooth when it was refreshed in the form of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. That iteration brought Samsung's mighty Exynos SoC to bear on an otherwise meager tablet. Great isn't apparently good enough, though. Samsung's seen fit to produce a true successor, the awkwardly named Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0). 

 

So what's different this time? The Tab Plus already padded out the length and width of the original, while slimming down the depth; the Tab 2 is just a little thicker this time around. The 7" screen remains a PLS panel with a 1024x600 resolution, nothing too astonishing. The SoC is based on a dual-core design clocked at 1 GHz even. We haven't previously seen an Exynos SoC clocked at 1 GHz, though it's not inconceivable. Qualcomm has some dual-core parts clocked the same, as does NVIDIA. 

The only other notable feature of the Tab 2 (7.0) is that it will be the first Samsung-branded device running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). Hewing to their old habits, Samsung has seen fit to bring TouchWiz to the ICS experience, and from the looks of things we shouldn't expect anything to groundbreaking. The usual assortment of Hubs will be on order (Music, Media, Social and Game), along with a new app curation tool S Suggest (kind of like an App Hub). They're also including a Motocast competitor called AllShare Play. Like Motorola's entrant, the AllShare Play app allows users to view media stored on their PCs or other Samsung devices from wherever they have an internet connection. 

The presence of Android 4.0 might point us to another likely suspect for SoC: TI. Samsung's involvement in the Galaxy Nexus is no secret, and they have had the most time with the ICS code as any manufacturer. It's plausible that in order to expedite shipping their first ICS tablet, Samsung chose the Nexus' platform, TI's OMAP 44x0. If that's the case, GPU performance could take a hit versus the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, particularly when that device gets updated to ICS. 

Pricing and availability Stateside have yet to be announced; though UK availability is pegged for March. In just two short years, Samsung has gone from having no tablets to a stable at least six deep (more if you count the 10.1v and 10.1N). The Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) may fall short in the hardware department, especially compared to something like the Transformer Prime, but the 7" form factor has long been a fan favorite, and at the right price this could be a great way to experience Ice Cream Sandwich on a tablet. We'll update when we have pricing and availability. 

Gallery: Samsung Refreshes Galaxy Tab Again: Dual-Core, No Plus

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Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX Review - 1.8x The Battery

For a while now, our chief complaint when talking about 4G LTE handsets has been battery life. The combination of 45nm cellular basebands, ever increasing screen size, and 4x nm SoCs has been unforgiving in the power department. Handset manufacturers are always engaged in a difficult balancing act between device size, price, and the resulting battery life. Too big of a battery and you’ve created a brick that looks unattractive next to other svelte phones, too small and you’ve created something that looks great but needs to be tethered to the wall all day.


Droid RAZR MAXX (left), Droid RAZR (right)The Droid RAZR MAXX is quite simply a Droid RAZR with a larger internal battery, 1.8 times the size of the original, to be exact. The result is a device that does internal batteries the right way - if it's going to be sealed inside, it should at least be huge. Read on for our full RAZR MAXX review.

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Intel Releases Core i7-3820

Intel has finally filled out the Sandy Bridge E lineup by releasing the Core i7-3820. The initial Sandy Bridge E lineup launched back in November 2011 and it consisted of two SKUs, the i7-3960X and i7-3930K. While the i7-3820 wasn't released until this week, we reviewed it over a month ago, so head there for a longer analysis. The table below summarizes the current Sandy Bridge E lineup:

ProcessorCore ClockCores / ThreadsL3 CacheMax TurboMax Overclock MultiplierTDPPriceIntel Core i7 3960X3.3GHz6 / 1215MB3.9GHz57x130W$999Intel Core i7 3930K3.2GHz6 / 1212MB3.8GHz57x130W$583Intel Core i7 38203.6GHz4 / 810MB3.9GHz45x130W$294

The short summary is that i7-3820 is Sandy Bridge E on a budget. In terms of CPU performance and price, it's equivalent to the i7-2600(K) but provides higher I/O performance due to the quad-channel memory and 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes. Anand summed it up nicely in his review, so we'll just repost here.

There are three reasons why you'd want the Core i7-3820:

You need PCIe 3.0 today and/or you need more PCIe lanes than a Core i7-2600K can provide.You need tons of memory bandwidth for a particular application.You want a 2600K but you need a platform that can support more memory (32GB+).

So in general, most users will be better off with a LGA 1155 based platform. While the i7-3820 is actually cheaper than the i7-2600K, the total price of the platform is not. LGA 1155 based motherboards go for as little as ~$50 (e.g. Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2). If you want more features such as Intel Rapid Storage Technology, you can get a Z68 based motherboard for around $90 (e.g. ASRock Z68M/USB3). In contrast, the cheapest LGA 2011 based motherboard starts at $210. Unless you benefit from the extra features that Sandy Bridge E offers, your money is better spent else (e.g. on an SSD).

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Microsoft Discusses Windows 8 Accessibility Improvements

After last week's broad, sweeping post about Windows on ARM, the Building Windows 8 team is back to discussing the nuts and bolts of the operating system - today, Microsoft's Jennifer Norberg discusses enhancements made to accessibility tools in Windows 8. Chief among the new announcements is a set of baseline accessibility requirements that Windows Store apps must meet before being declared "accessible."

These requirements, which mainly focus on presenting information to users in a clear and simple fashion, can be implemented mostly through standard WinRT-supported languages like HTML5, JavaScript, XAML, and others. Apps created using project templates in Visual Studio Express use code that is already "accessibility ready," and the program's IntelliSense feature can also be used to type (and declare) accessibility information more quickly as you code. Once a developer's app is deemed "accessible," it can be marked as such in the Windows Store to make it more easily searchable.

Microsoft has also made efforts to give developers consistent APIs to use when programming Metro-style apps - the company says that developers (both of standard apps that need to use accessibility features, and of apps designed themselves to enhance accessibility) should be able to depend on on the "UI Automation" accessibility API to communicate with Wndows' accessibility tools more seamlessly than in the past, when developers would sometimes have to code their own methods and workarounds into their programs.

Other enhancements focus on improving on existing technologies: the Windows Narrator, which reads text on the screen back to the user, now performs better, includes additional voices and languages, can be configured to speak more quickly or slowly, can read more content on pages loaded in Internet Explorer, and can respond to user customizable keyboard commands. Narrator can also be invoked during Windows Setup to help with out-of-box setup or an upgrade install, and vision-impaired users on touch-enabled devices can have Narrator read what your finger is touching before activating it.

The Windows Magnifier, another existing tool, has been adapted to work better on touch-enabled computers - it can now be invoked by pressing the Windows logo key and the volume up button, which zooms in and brings up on-screen borders that can be used to change your focus.

The full post, which is linked below for your convenience, covers these topics in greater depth - read on if you're interested.

Source: Building Windows 8 Blog

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LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series Now Available

LaCie showcased their 2big Thunderbolt drive at CES 2012 and it has now started shipping. 

Specifications of LaCie 2big Thunderbolt SeriesCapacities4TB and 6TB (and 8TB)Revolutions per minute (rpm)7200rpmMaximum Read Speed327MB/sMaximum Write Speed320MB/sConnectivity2x ThunderboltDimensions (WxHxD)3.5" x 6.7" x 7.8" (9.1 x 17.2 x 20.0 cm)Price$649 (4TB) and $799 (6TB)

The LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series is essentially the LaCie Little Big Disk in 3.5" form factor. It has two swappable 3.5" drives whereas the Little Big Disk has two 2.5" drives. 3.5" drives offer larger capacities and better performance, particularly with hard drive. The 2big is rated at transfer speeds up to 327MB/s while the Little Big Disk tops out at 190MB/s (both results are for the non-SSD versions). LaCie has an 8TB model on their site as well but there is no price listed, which suggests that it's not shipping yet.

There are also two Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining, so you can daisy-chain several 2bigs or other Thunderbolt devices. The 2big most likely uses the same SATA controller as the Little Big Disk, which means you are limited to two SATA 3Gb/s ports. For the standard configuration this isn't an issue, but people who are interested in swapping the hard drives for SSDs should be aware that the SATA controller will be a potential bottleneck with the fastest SATA 6Gb/s SSDs.

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Windows Store App Submission Process Detailed

Microsoft’s Jonathan Garrigues has detailed some aspects of the submissions process for the upcoming Windows Store on the company’s Windows Store for Developers blog. The post describes in detail the various steps involved in the app submission process, and Microsoft’s efforts to address developer complaints about its competitors’ storefronts.

Most of Microsoft’s efforts focus on transparency: they want app developers to be aware of the approval process before they ever submit any code, and they want developers who have submitted apps to be able to track those apps through every step of the submission process. Each step in the process is described, both in terms of what the steps entail and how much time the step usually takes. The submission procedure is mostly automated and focuses on validating code and making sure it runs, but ultimately depends on a human being to launch your app, verify that it works and that it does not violate any of Microsoft’s policies, and verify that it does not contain any malicious code.

Visual Studio will include some features that work toward these ends, including a feature that will allow developers to reserve a name for their app before the app is actually ready for submission to the store. Microsoft will also supply a Windows App Certification Kit that automatically goes through your code to make sure that your app launches and meets a set of basic requirements – the certification kit can be run locally and corresponds to one of the stages of Microsoft’s certification process, meaning that if your app passes this test it stands a better chance of being allowed on the Windows Store.

As is often the case with Microsoft’s latter-day offerings, the Windows Store is trying to find a place in between Apple and Google’s respective app stores for the iOS and Android platforms: it wants to maintain some aspects of Android’s openness and flexibility with the added benefit of iOS’s safety and freedom from malware while at the same time steering clear of Apple’s obscure and sometimes fickle approval process. While Microsoft’s system does result in a “walled garden,” the company hopes that the Windows Store’s relative transparency about the approval process pleases longtime Win32 developers and newcomers alike.

For more on this process, you can read the full post - it is linked below for your convenience.

Source: Windows Store for Developers Blog

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ASRock CoreHT Server Edition Review

Late last year, we took a look at the ASRock CoreHT 252B, a Sandy Bridge-based midrange HTPC. We liked the CoreHT quite a bit, noting that the small form factor HTPC was a solid choice for most users in this segment. It hit all the key points, though it didn’t do anything in particular to set itself apart from the rest of the SFF crowd. Our main complaints centered around the hard drive performance, and to that end comes the ASRock CoreHT Server.

It’s very similar to the CoreHT we reviewed before, even sharing nearly the same specs. The one major difference: there’s two 500GB HDDs in the place of one, configured in RAID 0. Other than that, there’s the same mobile Sandy Bridge internals, headlined by the HM67 chipset and Core i5-2410M processor. Read on to find out if this update addresses our earlier concerns of if we're still left wanting more.

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Alienware X51: The Xbox With Teeth

While Alienware isn't openly inviting comparisons to Microsoft's Xbox 360 with their brand new X51 gaming desktop, it's hard not to see the resemblance, at least in form factor. But where Microsoft's aging console continues trudging away with generations old hardware, Alienware has produced an authentic Windows 7 gaming PC in a shell roughly the same size. Not only that, but they're introducing it at one of the lowest prices we've ever seen for what's ordinarily a very premium brand.

Was Alienware able to cram a fully-powered machine in this tiny chassis, or were too many sacrifices made? Just what exactly can you fit into this console-esque chassis? Read on for our full analysis!

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Acer Updates Iconia Tablets to Android 4.0

True to their word, Acer is announcing the availability of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for their recently launched A200 tablet. We posted the PR blurb about the A200 in early January, and we were able to get some hands on time with the A200 at CES 2012. The quick summary is that Acer has trimmed a few features from the A500, like the rear-facing camera and HDMI port, but they also changed up the industrial design. While the plastic exterior may not sound as impressive as the aluminum shell of the A500, the reality is that in hand the textured plastic actually feels better (at least in our opinion).

As far as the Ice Cream Sandwich update, while Acer’s press release states that they’re updating all of the Iconia line to Android 4.0 (including the A100, A200, and A500), the reality of the updates isn’t quite so impressive. The update is currently being pushed to Iconia A200 customers (it’s not clear if you can get it faster by checking for a system update or not) and should be completed over the coming week. A100 and A500 users eager to get the ICS update on the other hand will have to wait a while longer—April to be precise.

Besides all the Android 4.0 goodness, there are a few features that are unique to Acer. Chief of these is their Acer Ring, allowing you to navigate directly to apps from the lock screen. While the idea is nice, in practice we haven’t found the Acer Ring to be necessary and at least the one time I looked at it, it felt a bit chunky and sluggish to launch and navigate (though I could say the same for Android 3.x in general on Tegra 2 hardware). The only other extra feature Acer mentions is an improved weather widget.

You can read more about ICS in our Galaxy Nexus review, though obviously there will be some differences when running on a Tegra 2 tablet. It should provide a better UI experience on Tegra 2 tablets, but unfortunately unless you’re one of the users that purchased an A200, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. The A200 8GB is currently selling for $330 while the 16GB model goes for $350. However, at this late stage in the life of Tegra 2, we wouldn’t recommend buying a new tablet running Tegra 2 hardware unless the price is under $200, especially considering Tegra 3 tablets are expected to hit sub-$300 prices in the very near future.

Gallery: Acer Updates Iconia Tablets to Android 4.0

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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Micron CEO Steve Appleton Dies in a Plane Crash

Micron's long time CEO, Steve Appleton, has died in a plane crash at the age of 51 at the Boise Airport on Friday morning. He was reportedly flying a single-engine Lancair plane, which stalled and then nosedived shortly after take-off. Appleton was the only person onboard and died immediately upon impact.

Appleton started working at Micron in 1983 and became the CEO eleven years later in 1994. Micron is most known for storage solutions, such as NAND flash. Intel's and Micron's joint NAND venture, IMFT, is one of the leading NAND manufacturers, and consumers may also be familiar with Micron's subdiary Crucial, a well known SSD and RAM brand. Flying was always Appleton's passion and he owned over 20 airplanes. He leaves behind a wife and four children.

R.I.P. Steve Appleton, 1960-2012

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Intel SSD 520 Review: Cherryville Brings Reliability to SandForce

Intel was rumored to be working on a SandForce based drive for several months now, but even the rumors couldn't encapsulate just how long Intel and SF has worked on this drive. According to Intel, the relationship began 1.5 years ago. Still lacking a 6Gbps controller of their own and wanting to remain competitive with the rest of the market, Intel approached SandForce about building a drive based on the (at the time) unreleased SF-2281 controller. Roughly six months later, initial testing and validation began on the drive. That's right, around the time that OCZ was previewing the first Vertex 3 Pro, Intel was just beginning its extensive validation process.

Codenamed Cherryville, Intel's SSD 520 would go through a full year of validation before Intel would sign off on the drive for release. In fact, it was some unresolved issues that cropped up during Intel's validation that pushed Cherryville back from the late 2011 release to today.

Intel's strenuous validation will eventually make SandForce's drives better for everyone, but for now the Cherryville firmware remains exclusive. Intel wouldn't go on record with details of its arrangement with SandForce, but from what I've managed to piece together the Intel Cherryville firmware is exclusive for a limited period of time. That exclusivity agreement likely expires sometime after the SF-2281 is replaced by a 3rd generation controller. There are some loopholes that allow SandForce to port bug fixes to general partner firmware but the specific terms aren't public information. The important takeaway is anything fixed in Intel's firmware isn't necessarily going to be fixed in other SF-2281 based drives in the near term. This is an important distinction because although Cherryville performs very similarly to other SF-2281 drives, it should be more reliable.

Read on for our full review of Intel's SSD 520.

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CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus 4.0.4 Update Changes Signal Reporting

Back when the Verizon CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus released, there was much talk of a signal related issue, which we investigated. The findings back then were that there was nothing wrong with the device itself, the problem was merely a discrepancy with how 4.0.2 was painting signal bars. Since then, I've been watching for an update which would change the way the device reports signal, and it appears that these changes are included in the 4.0.4 ROM which has emerged for the mysid (CDMA/LTE) model. I spent some time playing around with our CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus with this ROM installed and have a few impressions.

 
Three bars on 4.0.2 (left) versus four bars on 4.0.4 (right) at -93 dBm

First, the update does indeed appear to change the signal strength to signal bars mapping. In the same reported signal strength (-93 dBm in this example), the device has gone from 3 bars on 4.0.2 to 4 bars on 4.0.4. The rest of the change points seem to be accordingly lower as well, meaning you'll see more bars for the same field strength. This change makes the Galaxy Nexus more in line with the reporting I've seen on other Verizon LTE devices.

I believe that there's a good chance that the Galaxy Nexus as of 4.0.4 is reporting signal strength based on LTE RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) which is the summation of power from adjacent cells, interference, and thermal noise, as opposed to LTE RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) which is the power of a reference signal from a specific cell. Lately, Verizon has been making a concerted effort to standardize reporting on LTE handsets to a 5 bar scale reflecting LTE RSSI instead of LTE RSRP, starting with the recent HTC Rezound update.

  
Dock options, power menu

A few other observations address some other cellular performance characteristics - specifically hard handover speed from 4G LTE down to 3G EVDO and back up. Going both directions on the Galaxy Nexus now seems much, much faster compared to the device's original shipping state - doing the handover and getting data flowing now is basically instantaneous. This is a big improvement if you're frequently in an area with marginal 4G LTE signal. Other changes are subtle and include some UI tweaks: the camera launch from lock screen now feels faster, there's a subtle tweak to the power off menu, and inside settings is a "Dock" category and options tab (shown above) which was present in 4.0.3 but new for the CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus. Performance through our benchmark suite remains the same, however. 

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Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet Gets Ice Cream Sandwich in May

Lenovo will be rolling out its official Ice Cream Sandwich build for the ThinkPad Tablet in May of this year, the company announced via the tablet's product page.

The tablet, which starts at $479.00 and integrates NVIDIA's Tegra 2 SoC, 1GB of RAM, a 10.1" 1280x800 display, optional 3G, and 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, is currently Lenovo's flagship Android tablet. The company also sells two other Android tablets: the IdeaPad Tablet K1, another 10.1" tablet running Android 3.1, and the IdeaPad A1, a 7" tablet running Android 2.3. Lenovo hasn't said when (or if) either of these tablets would receive an official Android 4.0 upgrade.

We'll continue to do our best to keep you updated as Ice Cream Sandwich (reviewed here in its smartphone iteration) trickles out to phones and tablets across the Android ecosystem.

Source: Lenovo

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Clevo Refreshes X7200 With X79-Based P270WM, AVADirect First in Line

Clevo's venerable X7200 notebook has gotten more than a little long in the tooth. The desktop hardware-based behemoth has been sporting the X58 chipset and support for LGA1366 processors pretty much since launch, despite the availability of Sandy Bridge processors and 6 series chipsets. Since mainstream hardware just isn't punchy enough for Clevo, they've now released a refresh to the X7200 in the form of the P270WM.

While we don't have any good photos of the new kit yet, we do know AVADirect will be among the first if not the first to have the new notebook available. They'll be shipping the P270WM with NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580M standard; not a bad choice, as our testing showed the 580M inching out AMD's Radeon HD 6990M as the fastest single mobile GPU on the market. Users craving as much power as humanly possible will be able to spec the P270WM with a pair of 580Ms in SLI along with up to a Sandy Bridge-E Intel Core i7-3960X.

Where things get really interesting is that, judging from the photos AVADirect sent us, Clevo has finally given the X7200 a much-needed sprucing up. The P270WM includes not just a backlit keyboard, but in a bid to finally satisfy our Jarred Walton, the keyboard itself has been completely redesigned and now includes a layout that's actually functional.

Gallery: Clevo P270WM

Everything else about the P270WM should seem pretty familiar for users who already know the X7200: 17.3" screen at 1080p, punishing 12.13 pound body weight, three 2.5" drive bays, and four SO-DIMM slots to populate Sandy Bridge-E's quad channel memory controller.

Just like every other aspect of the P270WM, though, the pricetag isn't for the faint of heart: pre-orders start at a whopping $3,122 and are expected to ship around early March. Hopefully we'll have one in hand for review in time for launch.

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AMD Announces Turks Based FirePro V3900

While AMD’s consumer GPU division is well into its deployment of their first 28nm products, the long validation and certification period for business hardware means that AMD’s business GPU division is still in the process of wrapping up the last of their 40nm product launches. In November AMD launched the Turks based FirePro V4900, and today they’re launching the final member of the current generation FirePro product stack: the FirePro V3900.

 AMD FirePro V7900AMD FirePro V5900AMD FirePro V4900AMD FirePro V3900Stream Processors1280512480480Texture Units80322424ROPs323288Core Clock725MHz600MHz800MHz650MHzMemory Clock1.25GHz (5GHz data rate) GDDR5500MHz (2GHz data rate) GDDR51GHz (4GHz data rate) GDDR5900MHz (1.8GHz data rate) DDR3Memory Bus Width256-bit256-bit128-bit128-bitVRAM2GB2GB1GB1GBFP64N/AN/AN/AN/ATransistor Count2.64B2.64B716M716MTDP<150W<75W<75W<50WManufacturing ProcessTSMC 40nmTSMC 40nmTSMC 40nmTSMC 40nmPrice PointN/AN/A$189$119

If the FirePro V4900 was a business version of the Radeon HD 6670, then the FirePro V3900 is a business version of the Radeon HD 6570 DDR3. Clocked at 650MHz and coupled with 1GB of 900MHz DDR3, the hardware specs are identical to the DDR3 version of the Radeon HD 6570.

For this reason the FirePro V3900 compares to the V4900 in much the same way the 6570 and 6670 do. While the V3900 has a lower core clock (650MHz vs. 800MHz), it’s otherwise a fully functional Turks GPU just like the V4900. The bigger reason for their performance difference is that while the V4900 uses GDDR5, the V3900 uses DDR3, giving it less than half the memory bandwidth and a similar overall performance drop compared to the V4900.

Of course the tradeoff for this drop in performance is size and power consumption. While the V4900 was a full profile card rated for 75W the V3900 is a low-profile card rated for 50W, with most of those power savings coming from switching out GDDR5 for DDR3. This makes the V3900 unique in that it’s the only low-profile FirePro card in AMD’s lineup – though it should be noted that for compatibility purposes it will be shipping with its full-profile bracket installed while the low-profile bracket will be in the box.

AMD will be releasing the V3900 today, with a price of $119. This positions it directly against NVIDIA’s GT216 based Quadro 400, and roughly $50 below NVIDIA’s GF108 based Quadro 600. For the V3900 AMD will be heavily leaning upon the fact that Turks can drive 5 monitors. However as with the V4900 this feature is effectively MIA until DisplayPort MST hubs ship this summer, as without the hub the card can only drive up to 2 monitors via its DP 1.2 and DL-DVI ports.

More immediately, on paper the V3900 should be far more powerful than the architecturally ancient Quadro 400. But as this is the professional market AMD’s real competition is NVIDIA’s certification and support, more so than their performance at any given price.

On that note, since AMD already launched a Turks based FirePro last year the certification process should be rather straightforward. Products (rather than GPUs) are individually certified, but as AMD already worked out any Turks driver kinks for the V4900 there shouldn’t be any surprises in store for the V3900.

Finally, it’s interesting to note that with this launch AMD has effectively committed to keeping Turks around for quite some time. AMD’s 3 year FirePro lifecycle means that the V3900 will be available until at least February of 2015, some 4 years after the first Turks products launched. Given Turks’ continual recurrence through 2012 in OEM laptops, desktops, and now professional cards, it’s clear that it’s living up to its position of being AMD’s low cost, high volume anchor GPU for the 40nm generation.

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