It's hard to choose a Game of the Year when comparing video games from different genres but with my main criterion being ambition, there's no need to look for game of the year further than Fallout: New Vegas, the combination between action and role-playing game created by the team at Obsidian and published by Bethesda, who are now the holders of the franchise.
The great triumph for New Vegas is that it delivers a world which is closer to feeling alive than any other delivered in video gaming this year, including that of Mass Effect or that of Fable III.
The post apocalypse is believable and oddly beautiful and all the factions involved in the various stories and quests have motivations that are consistent and make sense within the confines of the world.
Obsidian sure knew video game writing and Fallout: New Vegas is the perfect showcase, allowing them to execute a number of callbacks to the previous titles in the series while also creating new gags and situations.
Everyone who plays should take the time to go to Vault 11 and read the scraps of information which deliver the chilling narrative and Caesar, with his mix of charisma and absurd moral code, is one of the most interesting characters I met in 2010.
Obsidian has also made New Vegas tougher than Fallout 3 and more rewarding, with feats like taking out the Alpha Deathclaws really being something to brag about around the office, adding gravitas to the world.
Yes, the game had a lot of bugs initially, linked to technical problems, like inexplicable crashes to desktop and freezes on consoles, but also to how the game progresses, leading to quests that cannot be completed and weird world results.
Obsidian has pushed out a number of patches which improve things significantly and it seems that the game could get a stream of downloadable content as long as Fallout 3.
Fallout: New Vegas has longevity (one playthrough can go to 60 hours easily), has replayability (at least four main paths and many more possible variations) and has character and that makes it my 2010 Game of the Year.
Tired of going to the Twitter website each time you want to tweet about something? Are you looking for a Twitter client that has native Mac interface? YoruFukurou is such a software, allowing you to read and write tweets from the desktop.
Like it or not, Twitter is a very important part in our life. It has become more than a social hub, where people share experiences and thoughts. Twitter is also used by software developers to share the progress of an application or receive feedback. Artists use it to share their current tour information, album status, etc.
Twitter is a rich information source that provides free access to all the things you are interested in. Accessing Twitter from your desktop does not raise too many problems, since there are a lot of Twitter clients available. While many are running on the Adobe Air platform, only few of them are designed to run on Macs natively. YoruFukurou is one of them.
The Looks
All Twitter clients have a simple, accessible interface, and YoruFukurou is not any different. Tweets and replies can be visualized and written from the main window, which is small, but gives access to a lot of tools.
One can view the tweets timeline in 3 different ways, having the possibility to decide whether it wants a practical or a more stylish approach. Side panels are used for viewing the personal information of any Twitter user. They provide an easy way to view profile info without opening a new window.
The Works
The first thing you have to do when using YoruFukurou is to enter your Twitter account information. Based on the credentials you've entered, the app will grab your latest tweets and let you visualize them in the main panel, using your pre-defined visualization mode.
While using YoruFukurou, you have full access to all Twitter features, so you can add favorites, retweet or delete a tweet. I enjoyed the fact you can add various notes to any tweet, in order to find it faster. One can also add a tweet to favorites, if the information here is precious, or just fun.
Another feature I find very useful is the fact that you can filter your tweets using personal criteria, and then delete them if needed. Filters can also be extended to persons, and one can use them when a having to block people that send annoying tweets.
Any image contained in a tweet can be immediately visualized in a side panel, both full scale or resized, depending on its resolution. YoruFukurou also comes with a pretty useful autocomplete feature, which is very handy if you don't want to write full words in order to find what you're looking for.
A fun thing is that you can use YoruFukurou to automatically tweet your currently playing song from iTunes or the webpage you are currently viewing in Safari. While this is useful for some people, others will find it annoying, mainly because it generates a lot of tweets if you are spending a lot of time at the computer.
Unread tweets can be accessed simply by pressing Space. This action will lead you to the oldest unread tweet. The behavior can be disabled from the options menu, a pretty useful feature because one can press Space accidentally, and jump from away from the currently selected tweet with no warning whatsoever.
Using Growl, YoruFukurou is able to send notifications each time a new tweet is available. Very useful, but sometimes annoying. Why? If you have a lot of subscriptions, and the people you follow tweet a lot, your Mac's screen will be full at all times. Of course, you can easily disable this Growl notifications if this is the case.
Also interesting is the fact you can customize the tweet color, making personal tweets easily recognizable. Aside from Space, there are a lot of keyboard shortcuts, which give you an easy access to features like sending messages, opening links and previewing images.
One of the most interesting things brought by YoruFukurou is the image uploading function. This lets you upload any kind of image file to TwitPic and YFrog, without having to visit the websites. All you have to do is drag and drop the image files into the upload window. This feature can prove to be extremely useful for all people that are constantly sharing pictures due to the huge amount of time users can save when not having to visit an image sharing website each time they want to send their friends a picture.
The Good
YoruFukurou is small, but pretty powerful. Managing your Twitter account via YoruFukurou is both easy and fun, and it is very helpful if you are using the Twitter service daily. The fact that you can receive notifications, access the autocompletion function and other features give it a unique, practical touch. Side panels are a good addition, since they provide additional information on any person or tweet and let you visualize images.
The Bad
What I disliked the most was the Growl notifications feature, that brings all the new tweets on your desktop. If you follow a lot of people, the desktop will soon be filled with notifications.
It would be nice to have advanced options for managing the Growl notifications feature: to choose the people you want to receive tweet alerts from or to exclude the ones that fill your Twitter screen with tweets that you're not really interested in.
The Truth
YoruFukurou is simple, handy, and it makes your Twitter experience lots more fun. YoruFukurou also makes visualizing and managing tweets much easier. Because the app features both ease of use and a lot of customization options, each user will experience YoruFukurou in his / her own way.
Overall, YoruFukurou can prove to be a very useful Twitter client and, if you won't take my word for it, download it on your Mac and take it for a spin yourself.
As the year draws to an end, music fans and industry people are taking a good look at the best and the worst of 2010. Speaking of music, Christina Aguilera’s much mediated video for “Not Myself Tonight” has just been named the worst music video of the year.
At the time of the release, even some of the fans considered that the video was simply trying too hard when Aguilera was not the type to need this kind of in-your-face release to make herself noticed: she more than had the pipes for it.
Now, the people over at Yahoo! have crowned the vid as the worst 2010 had to offer, precisely because it marked a desperate (unnecessary and unoriginal) effort from an accomplished artist that would have done much better with much less.
Starting the countdown at number 10 though is Susan Boyle with her latest release for “Perfect Day,” which was directed by Lou Reed as kind-hearted gesture on his part for past offenses.
Though the Scottish singing sensation comes as far as it gets to what Yahoo! calls a “video vixen,” the video was unimpressive because it aimed too high. Leaving Susan to impress with her crystal clear voice would have been more than enough.
“No one wanted to see her brave the elements at Scotland’s Trussochs National Park, looking like one of the missing members of Celtic Woman, either. And the fact that SuBo received ‘creative direction’ on this gauze-lensed, new-agey snoozer from the song’s originator, Lou Reed – supposedly one of the coolest rockers ever – boggled the minds and broke the hearts of NYC hipsters everywhere,” Yahoo! writes.
Up next are the “Radioactive” video from Kings Of Leon and “One More Chance” from Michael Jackson. The latter was shot in 2003 and emerged this year, and broke many a fan’s heart for lacking completely close shots of the singer’s face – thus prompting speculation he was ashamed to show it.
Countess Luann decided to turn singer from reality star. Her first effort, the Autotune-heavy “Money Can’t Buy You Class” proved that money can’t buy a decent single – or a decent music video either.
2010 was also the year when Miley Cyrus attempted to show she was grown-up, strictly musically speaking. Her video for “Can’t Be Tamed” was meant to prove that, but actually did the contrary, landing at number 6 on Yahoo!’s countdown.
Miley Cyrus takes a trip to the wild side in “Can’t Be Tamed” video – and fails Enlarge picture “Note to Miley: When Natalie Portman or Johnny Weir bedeck themselves in black feathers and leotards and exhibit freakish behavior, it’s cool and arty. When you do it, you just look like foolish – and you alienate your entire fanbase in the process,” the e-zine writes.
At number 5, we find Imperial Stars’ “Traffic Jam 101,” while fourth position goes to Anouska De Georgiou’s “Bad Girls.” Jersey Shore’s Angelina Pivarnick is at number 3 with “I’m Hot” and Dries Roelvink’s “Alleen Door Jou” is runner-up.
“Xtina can blame this trying-too-hard trainwreck, which kicked off a very bad year, professionally and personally, for the once-unstoppable diva,” Yahoo! says of Aguilera’s “Not Myself Tonight” video, which literally killed her comeback.
Instead of relying on her star power and the talent that she has more than plenty, the diva gave in to pressure from the record label and the industry and tried to fit in by taking a little bit of something from other artists of the day.
“Much of the imagery in ‘Not Myself Tonight’ seemed borrowed from other artists – namely Madonna and, yes, Lady Gaga,” Yahoo! notes.
Still, it wasn’t the shocking and explicit imagery that most disappointed, but how utterly unoriginal everything was.
“The sad thing is, as one of the few truly vocally gifted female pop singers recording today, Christina didn’t need to do this to be heard,” says the e-zine.
At least when it comes to adoption, 2010 was Google Chrome's year. Google's increasingly popular browser has gone through about five major versions and has pretty doubled or even trippled its market share, depending on who's numbers you trust.
Net Applications, which is more conservative about Chrome's growth, shows that the browser went from slightly above five percent in January to over nine percent in November.
Judging by Chrome's month to month growth for the past year, its market share may go over 10 percent in December, effectively doubling in one year.
Granted, it's still far behind Firefox, not to mention Internet Explorer, but both have been losing market share to Chrome.
StatCounter is even more optimistic with Google Chrome's growth. It started the year with 6.04 percent of the browser market and it's now at 13.35 percent and this is November's data.
Firefox, on the other hand is holding steady, most of Chrome's market share came from Internet Explorer according to the StatCounter data. Microsoft's dominant browser, all versions combined, lost seven percent points in the past year.
W3Counter, another popular source for browser market share numbers, paints a similar picture to StatCounter's. Chrome started out with 6.4 percent of the market and had 13.1 percent in November. Based on the trends, it should go over 14 percent in December 2010.
According to Google's own numbers, Chrome now has over 120 million users worldwide. This data is from early December from the Chrome Web Store / Chrome OS event.
That's triple the number of users it started the year with, Chrome had about 40 million users in January 2010, Google says. In May this year, it was up to 70 million active users. In the next months it added another 50 million.
The question now is, will Google Chrome continue to grow in 2011 like it did in 2010. The growth rate has been accelerating lately, but it remains to be seen if it can be sustained. Another interesting question is where will Chrome get its new users from, Internet Explorer or Firefox.
It’s almost the end of the year and this means this is as good a time as ever to have a look and see what 2010 brought in terms of best and worst in everything. As far as movies go, below is a list of the most boring movie titles of the year.
On the premise that a good movie must first have a good title, MovieFone set out to determine which were the releases that better stood out from the rest because of how boring their titles were.
Of course, this doesn’t hold any water the other way around: there have been some pretty excellent films that did have poor titles, without losing anything in terms of quality, says the e-zine.
An honorable mention goes to the recently released, star-packed romantic comedy “How Do You Know,” which not only is lackluster in terms of plot and performance, but it’s also been cursed with a too generic title that fails to offer the smallest insight into what the flick could all be about.
“Remember Me,” starring “Twilight” heartthrob Robert Pattinson as a brooding and troubled guy finding love, comes up next, with MovieFone saying the title is almost a guarantee that no one will remember it once the film is over.
“Let Me In,” one of the most critically acclaimed releases of 2010 is a remake of a film called “Let the Right One In,” that comes with a title perfectly illustrating how films are “dumbed down” for Americans, says the aforementioned e-zine.
“That title is the biggest problem. The nicely-worded original title, ‘Let the Right One In,’ had sinister connotations, but this one has been reduced to a simple, soft title that any non-vampire drama could have used. The only positive is that it can’t be mistaken for the original,” MovieFone argues.
Up next is “Life as We Know It,” which, according to MovieFone, also takes the cake for being among 2010’s worst rom-coms. The title is so vague that it could have easily been stuck to “Lord of the Rings” and it would have still made sense because, why not, LOTR is still about “life as we know it,” fictional as it may be.
The recently released “Never Let Me Go” is up next. Based on an original novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, this title is faulty because it hints of a rom-com (it’s not) and fails to relate to the dystopian world where clones are used for organ harvesting, which is where the action takes place. Then again, the book was called the same.
“Dear John” and “Letters to Juliet” come up next: both star Amanda Seyfried and both have uninspired and boring titles.
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” is among MovieFone’s most boring titles of the year Enlarge picture “Firstly, is there anything less cinematic than someone writing a letter? Secondly, couldn’t they have come up with something more dynamic than ‘John’ and ‘Juliet’? What about some memorable nicknames? Why not ‘Dear Meathead’?” MovieFone writes.
Speaking of ties, the next position also goes to a duo of titles, both futile (and boring) attempts at kicking off franchises in the vein of “Harry Potter”: “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” and “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.”
Not only are these two titles excessively long – which prompted audiences to refer to them mostly as “the owls movie” and “Percy Jackson (Jackson who?)” – but they also set a dangerous precedent for upcoming sequels. What will these be called, MovieFone asks.
Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” is also ranked in this list. A good film (the e-zine considers it one of this year’s best), it has a soft title that will make it easier to forget, which is actually quite a shame.
“If you love a movie, that’s a huge help in remembering a soft title like ‘Somewhere.’ And, indeed, in this story of a lost and bored Hollywood actor, the title more or less fits. But it’s still one of those very minor, passive titles that will totally disappear if someone is combing through the current listings,” MovieFone says.
Honorable mentions also go to “The Town,” “The American,” “Just Wright,” “The Switch,” “The Next Three Days,” “You Again,” “Takers” and “Why Did I Get Married Too?”
A new feature planned to debut with the release Candidate (RC) of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) in early 2011 got me thinking that Windows 8 could use something similar.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced Tracking Protection for IE9 RC, a new opt-in mechanism designed to identify and block undesired tracking while navigating the web.
The mechanism is based on ’Tracking Protection Lists’ which need to be implemented individually by users in order to block or allow specific websites to track their behavior online and harvest data from them.
Now obviously, since this feature is in IE, it will also be in future versions of Windows, so it’s not really my concern.
However, a similar concept should be applied to applications. It would be a great move from Microsoft to add blacklisting and whitelisting capabilities to Windows 8, as far as applications that get to run on top of the operating system are concerned.
The software giant is already providing Application Compatibility Updates, refreshes that can block incompatible apps from running on Windows altogether.
But at the same time, app blacklisting in Windows 8 doesn’t necessarily need to be about incompatible programs.
Instead, icould be ut sed to tackle a major threat that customers are facing today, rogue code, also known as scareware.
Microsoft, or certain trusted third-parties such as antivirus vendors could supply users with lists of blacklisted application which can be integrated into Windows 8, preventing the installation of rogue applications, independent of whether a security solution is present on the computer or not.
Given that fake antivirus, rogue defragmenters , etc. are considered malicious code, there shouldn’t be any real problem from putting together lists with the scareware that users should stay away from, and keeping it up to date through RSS, or another update mechanism.
There also the possibility that tools such as Windows Defender or the Malicious Software Removal Tool could leverage such a list to block rogues from installing on a computer, or detecting and preventing them from running until a legitimate AV can be used for their removal.
Apple and several third-party application vendors have been hit with lawsuits over disclosing customer information, such as age, gender and whereabouts, without the latter’s consent, reports said this week.
One suit, brought by KamberLaw on behalf of a California resident, alleges that the companies cited are violating federal privacy laws, including the wiretapping act, for their financial gain.
KamberLaw specializes in consumer class-action suits and digital privacy, according to The Washington Post.
The paper mentions a second suit led by Dallas lawyer Majed Nachawati of Fears Nachawati, which represents consumers in Texas and California.
Similar allegations are present in this suit, according to the report.
Specifically, the suits say that the personal information negligently disclosed by Apple and third-party application vendors included users' ages, gender and location alongside a unique device identifying number, referred to as UDID.
The paper notes that Apple assigns a UDID to all iPhones and iPads, but forgets to mention the iPod touch.
An investigation carried out this month found that many popular iOS apps distributed sensitive data to third-party advertising networks without consumers' knowledge or consent.
At times, this was in violation of Apple's own privacy policy, the report claims.
"We are in a world where every pixel that appeared on a screen could be under the control of a different party, and that really made everything much more complicated," said Marty Abrams, executive director for the Centre for Information Policy Leadership, an industry-funded think tank.
"Users ought to have control over the amount of data that is sent of their activities," said Jeremy R. Wilson, a lawyer with Wilson Trosclair & Lovins who is working with Nachawati on the case. "It's an invasion of their privacy, and it's done without their consent.”
HTC Desire Z, one of the latest Android-based devices that Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC launched on the market during the ongoing year, is expected to become available for purchase at Flipkart in India starting with January 3rd.
The handset is already listed on the site as available for pre-order with a price tag of Rs. 25,799 attached to it, down from Rs. 29,699.
As the guys over at androidos.in report, the handset was not announced officially in India as of now, neither did the HTC Desire HD, which is already on sale at Flipkart for Rs. 27,499.
However, since the handset is expected to be released on January 3rd, the official launch might take place on the very same day, even if HTC did not confirm the move for the time being.
The HTC Desire Z was announced officially back in September, the same day as the HTC Desire HD, being the latest generation of Android-based mobile phones from HTC.
The handset sports a 3.7-inch touchscreen display that boasts a 480 x 800 pixels (WVGA) resolution, along with an 800 MHz application processor (second generation Snapdragon), and a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, with HD video recording capabilities.
With 512 MB of RAM, the phone can offer enhanced performance levels. It also includes 1.5 GB of internal memory, along with a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space.
The new mobile phone also comes to the market with a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard, as well as with a 1300 mAh battery inside, which can offer up to 400 minutes of talk time, or up to 430 hours of standby time.
The specifications list of this device also includes Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, as well as Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate, Standard micro-USB, and GPS receiver.
The HTC Desire Z is powered by Google's Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, and offer support for a wide range of applications and services.
Canadian mobile phone users should soon have the possibility to enjoy a new high-end mobile phone on the airwaves of TELUS in the country, namely the HTC Desire HD, which has just passed through the FCC.
The handset is already available in a range of markets around the world, with more of them set to receive it soon, and it seems that Canada will also be among those countries to enjoy the capabilities of HTC's latest flagship device.
Some of the latest news around the world show that an LTE-capable version of this mobile phone is headed for Verizon Wireless in the United States.
As for the HTC Desire HD set to arrive in Canada on the airwaves of TELUS, we should note that it comes with support for North American 3G bands, while being powered by Google's Android 2.2 Froyo operating system.
All of the appealing features that already made the Desire HD a popular smartphone in various countries around the world are there as well.
For those out of the loop, we should note that the specs list of this device includes a 1GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm (the new generation, we might add), along with a large 4.3-inch touchscreen display that offers an impressive experience when viewing videos, browsing the Internet, or playing games.
On the back, Desire HD packs an 8-megapixel photo snapper with 720p video recording capabilities. All the usual connectivity options are included into the mix as well, along with some other features more.
The handset that passed through FCC's hallways packs support for WCDMA Bands II and V, which would make it fit for the networks operated by AT&T, Bell, Telus, and Rogers, as Engadget notes in a recent article.
Apparently, the likeliest destination for this phone would be TELUS, as a branded Desire HD, running on the carrier's network, was already spotted into the wild, BGR reports. Hopefully, more info on this will emerge soon, so stay tuned to learn the news.
growing thanks to the large number of developers who thought to give the new mobile platform a try. In this regard, game developer Amused Sloth has just announced its first game for Windows Phone 7, Rebellion Rise.
The arcade space shooter game offers players challenging missions as they are taking a long and full of adrenaline journey through space to recover their captured friends.
As the game advances, players will have to rebuild the resistance against a powerful enemy, the Federation.
Players take the role of a rebel, member of an underground society which operates in the shadows of the Federation.
Simply take control of a prototype ship better than all other created so far and blast your way through hordes of enemies.
With its strong shields, new weapon technology, better engines and strong armor, players have to achieve the main goal of the game, conquer the Sirius Cluster.
Just like most arcade action games, Rebellion Rise will test players when it comes to skill, patience and reflexes.
Some of the highlights of the game include:
- Fully voiced dialogues; - Take part in 5 battles against gigantic base ships; - Meet 6 different enemy fighters; - Use unique power-ups to gain the upper hand; - Test your skills against unlockable challenges.
“We’re excited to bring Rebellion Rise to the Windows Phone 7 audience. From casual gamers to hardcore hunters, Rebellion Rise provides an amazing and immersive gameplay experience. This is just the first of our games and a small part of our catalog of up and coming Windows Phone 7 games,” said Catalin Zima, lead developer at Amused Sloth.
Rebellion Rise is compatible with any Windows Phone 7 device and can be downloaded exclusively through the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace for only $1.99.
Super talent once again broke its silence in order to step up and announce that a certain series of flash drives has now grown with the addition of one member, which is fast and more capacious than its siblings.
Since capacity and speed are the two things that define a storage device, it makes sense that Super Talent would do its best to optimize both aspects when making its best and latest USB 3.0 flash drive.
With all the advancements in NAND Flash memory and the transition to smaller manufacturing processes, giving a Flash Drive multi-gigabyte storage is quite easy, even when it comes to 16 GB or above.
Also, in order to ensure high speed transfers, one need only utilize the most advanced connectivity interface on hand.
Currently, very fast transfer rates, for storage units that are connected to PCs externally, are the ones delivered by the USB 3.0 interface.
For those in need of a reminder, the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard has a theoretical maximum speed of roughly 5 Gbps, ten times that of USB 2.0.
The new drive from Super Talent features this technology, as well as no less than 32 GB of storage inside a package measuring just 67.8 x 17.2 x 7.7 mm.
"The USB 3.0 Express DUO has been our best selling USB 3.0 flash drive to date. We are please to offer the larger capacity 32GB at such an aggressive price point,” said CH Lee COO of SuperTalent.
“With USB 3.0 prices like these, there’s simply really no reason to buy a USB 2.0 flash drive anymore."
The maximum transfer speed attainable by the newcomer, which is part of the Express Duo collection of products, is 67 MB/s.
Online stores should start listing it soon, if they haven't already, with a price of $59 Euro and accompanied by a five-year warranty.
Hackulous, a community dedicated to plundering Apple's DRM and indexing unprotected iOS software, has announced an important achievement - the upcoming Mac App Store is cracked!
The folks at torrentfreak.com have posted a statement from Hackulous admin Dissident where he reveals that, by removing DRM from titles in the Mac App Store using a new tool called ‘Kickback,’ Hackulous will be able to offer the same kind of free download service for Mac as they do for iOS devices.
However, the folks at Hackulous are concerned that releasing Kickback around January 6th will mess things up for both developers and the end users.
So they’ll wait for when the time is right, Dissident says.
“We don’t want to release kickback as soon as the [Mac App] Store gets released. I have a few reasons for that,” Dissident said.
“Most of the applications that go on the Mac App Store [in the first instance] will be decent, they’ll be pretty good,” the admin added, according to torrentfreak.
“Apple isn’t going to put crap on the App Store as soon as it gets released. It’ll probably take months for the App Store to actually have a bunch of crappy applications and when we feel that it has a lot of crap in it, we’ll probably release Kickback,” Dissident explained.
“So we’re not going to release Kickback until well after the store’s been established, well after developers have gotten their applications up. We don’t want to devalue applications and frustrate developers.”
In related news, Apple developers indicate that a Mac OS X 10.6.6 software update tasked with adding Mac App Store support is to arrive momentarily, while a Mac version of the popular Cydia application is coming as well, Jay Freeman (Saurik) said at the 360|MacDev conference for developers.
Developed by Jay Freeman (also known as "saurik"), Cydia was originally released as an open-source alternative to Installer.app on iOS 1.1.x, but quickly became the most popular package manager upon the app’s 2.0 release.
Cydia allows users of a jailbroken iOS device to browse and download applications, themes, ringtones etc. that didn’t get Apple’s approval.
Apparently, the N53SV and N73SV are not the only mobile PCs that ASUS has in store, the outfit having also put together the G53SW and G73SW, gaming-oriented notebooks that also run on Sandy Bridge processors.
It would seem that ASUS intends to come out in force at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show.
Since Intel is going to officially launch its collection of Sandy Bridge central processing units, it makes sense that system makers would adopt the chips with all haste.
ASUS itself has already proven its eagerness by detailing the aforementioned N53SV and N73SV.
Those two are not the only such products, however, as the same company also plans to deliver the G53SW and G73SW, which are apparently powered by the same CPU.
The chip in question is the Core i7-2630QM, a quad-core model that is quite mighty compared to its peers, with a base clock of 2.0 GHz which can go up via Turbo Boost.
In the G73SW, the CPU is backed up by 8 GB of DDR3 memory whose own operational frequency is of 1,333 MHz.
Furthermore, the system features two Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drives of 500 GB, plus the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics, whose amount of VRAM is 1.5 GB.
What's more, ASUS threw in a Blu-ray combo drive and an LCD display whose diagonal is of 17.3 inches and which has a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. Other specifications include USB 3.0, WiFi b/g/n.
As for the 15.6-inch G53SW, it has mostly the same specifications, except for the fact that only one hybrid drive is present, with a capacity of up to 1 TB.
The ASUS G73SW will sell for a starting price of 1,900 to 2,050 Euro, which is the equivalent of roughly $2516 to $2714, while the G53SW begins at $1,299 (has a DVD writer and 6 GB of RAM as base configuration).
Disney star Demi Lovato got a day off to spend at least a few hours with her family on Christmas, with staff at her treatment center allowing her to go off the premises. TMZ has photos and video of her outing.
As fans must know, the young singer and actress is now seeking help with unspecified emotional problems she’s been dealing with since she was a teen.
Her rep insists these have nothing to do with an alleged drug addiction that all the tabloids are raging about, but reports continue to come detailing her use of heavy drugs like cocaine.
On the bright side, as several celebrity bloggers also note, while her issues remain unknown, it’s good to see she’s working on them and getting better, which would also explain her recent outing.
“Demi Lovato only had a few hours to leave her treatment center to spend time with her family on Xmas – but she spent the time hanging at a place where you’re not supposed to talk... a movie theater!” TMZ writes.
“Demi – sporting dark nail polish, dark lipstick, dark clothing and a leopard-print jacket – hit a place in Illinois called Hollywood Blvd – a movie theater with ‘full to-your-seat food and beverage service’,” says the same report.
Photos indicate Demi was accompanied there by at least 4 other people. Unfortunately, she wasn’t allowed any time to bond over Christmas presents by the tree, because she had to go back to the treatment facility.
“As we previously reported, Demi’s treatment center granted the singer an Xmas Day pass to hang out with her kinfolk outside the facility – but she was required to return to the center a few hours later,” TMZ also says.
Since she was admitted to the center at the beginning of last month, her rep was repeatedly forced to deny reports of drug use, the existence of a very private and embarrassing home-made tape, the existence of leaked personal photos and about everything else the tabloids could thing of of writing about her.
A few days ago the whole Web was plagued with reports that said Logitech has instructed Gigabyte to suspend the production of its Google-TV enabled Revue STB until early 2011, the Swiss company just making an official statement regarding this situation that reads “all's well with Logitech Revue.”
The rumors, that popped out at the beginning of this week, stated that Logitech has instructed Gigabyte Technology (the manufacturer in charge with building their STB) to stop Revue production until Google updates or releases a new version of its software platform.
However, a recently published blog post from Ashish Arora, vice president and general manager at Logitech Digital Home Group, reads, “Those familiar with our product know that we don’t need to modify the Logitech Revue box to deliver software enhancements.
Each of our customers will receive periodic over-the-air updates whenever Google and Logitech release changes to the Google TV platform.
Logitech Revue boxes purchased at launch in October, as a holiday gift in December or to follow basketball in the spring, will all be the same and will all benefit from the same software updates,” wrote Mr. Arora.
Although this sounds like good news indeed for Logitech, the statement doesn't say anything about the Revue production plans and just points out something we already knew about Google TV.
As we already reported, it is highly probable that the Swiss company was forced to stop Revue production for a while in order to deal with the increased stocks that are available on the market, as many analysts claim that the Google TV adoption rate has been under the search giant's (and its partners) expectations.
This way, Logitech will be able to adjust its stocks without creating any shortages, manufacturing following to be resumed once they manage to sell most of the already built Revue units.
Lately, Google TV went through some pretty rough waters, rumors suggesting Google has instructed companies that planned to showcase new solution built on top of their interactive TV platform at CES 2011 to postpone their introduction until a further date.
This added to the mixed reviews received by the platform upon its launch and to all the troubles faced by Google with Hollywood movie studios that have been reluctant to make their content available on this platform
Windows 7 SP1 Build 7601.171257 made its way out of Redmond indicating that the company is hard at work developing and testing the first upgrade for the last iteration of its Windows client.
The full Build string of the leaked release is 6.1.7601.171257.101210-1930, v.741, revealing that the software giant compiled it on December 10th, 2010.
Of course, as usual, there’s no work from Microsoft either confirming or denying the legitimacy of Windows 7 SP1 Build 7601.171257.
Judging by the little information available with the leaked bits, Windows 7 SP1 Build 7601.171257 is a pre-RTM release, and in this sense nothing more than an interim Build.
Microsoft produces a constant flow of interim Builds of Windows 7 SP1, sometime at the rate of a new Build per day, but the software giant doesn’t share all of them with testers outside the company, although it’s dogfooding (testing internally) all releases.
In this regard, Windows 7 SP1 Build 7601.171257 seems to be nothing more than the evolution of the Release Candidate of the service pack.
Windows 7 SP1 RC Build 7601.17105.100929-1730 was made available to testers at the end of October 2010.
Early adopters that are test driving SP1 RC should stick to the official release from Microsoft and not download the leaked bits, as there’s really no way of trusting the sources offering them.
Obviously, the leaked Build 7601.171257 supersedes the official RC 7601.17105, however, the release is still far from RTM.
According to third-party sources, Microsoft has already signed off on Build 7601.17514.101119-1850 which is very close to the RTM of Windows 7 SP1.
Still, the service pack appears that it has yet to be released to manufacturing. Microsoft won’t say when it scheduled the RTM deadline for Windows 7 SP1, but it did reveal that it will deliver the final version of the service pack in the first quarter of 2011.
A recent report indicates that Microsoft regards the advent of Windows 8 as the perfect chance for a new push into PC gaming.
The Redmond company has yet to offer official confirmation of this, but it’s expected of the software giant to at least overhaul the graphics core of Windows 7’s successor, thus catalyzing the evolution of gaming experiences leveraging the platform.
The next step for graphics is related to the introduction of DirectX vNext, of course, per the model that customers are undoubtedly already used to from previous releases of Windows.
It would be an excellent move from the software giant if it would make the successor of DirectX 11 backwards compatible with at least Windows 7, if not even Windows Vista.
This way the Redmond company would ensure that game developers have a broad audience to reach, and make Windows vNext as attractive as possible.
But at the same time, the gaming evolution of Windows 8 needs to be more than just about DirectX vNext.
While DirectX 11 offered consistent enhancements including Tessellation, Multi-Threading and DirectCompute, gaming these days is not limited to the actual graphics.
When I’m thinking about Windows 8 gaming, I’m thinking that Microsoft has to at least consider building a community of gamers much in the same manner as it did with Xbox LIVE.
For this the Redmond company needs to usher in Cloud-based services that allow for an entirely new level of sharing and collaboration among Windows gamers.
Fact is that Windows Azure could be extremely useful in making sure that Windows gamers can enjoy a variety of advantages that the Cloud makes possible, starting with social networking.
At the same time, backporting DX vNext is not the only way to make Windows 8 more attractive to game publishers.
Microsoft needs to take action in helping gaming companies fight game piracy, and ultimately increase sales.
Why not open up Windows Azure to devs, making it simpler for them to ensure that gamers run genuine products in order to access the benefits of the overall Windows 8 gaming community?
TopWare Interactive has announced that Reality Pump's Two Worlds II RPG is now available to the European market as an exclusive download for owners of the Royal and Premium Editions of the game who rock Mac OS X.
While North American gamers will have the chance to buy the game starting January 25, 2011, all those who purchase the "Two Worlds II" special edition are entitled to a free Download of the Mac version, the publishers said.
Gamers simply enter their "Two Worlds II" serial number and one of their bonus codes for authorization to activate the download link.
“Mac owners should begin gearing up for an adventure of epic proportions,” reads a post over at the official Two Worlds website.
"Two Worlds II is now accessible to Apple users through TopWare's offering of an exclusive download and serial key to Royal and Premium Edition owners in Europe,” the company confirms.
According to TopWare Interactive, the 87 MB download borrows core files from the PC version. These must be in the disk drive during Mac installation, according to the post.
The Royal Edition download special will remain available on all future sales up to January 25th, while multiplayer games between Mac users now possible.
Cross-platform battles will be possible only after the upcoming Gold patch, the developers said.
“With the appealing Gold Upgrade for the Windows PC version of ‘Two Worlds II’ multiplayer features are compatible,” says TopWare.
Two Worlds II calls for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, at least 2GB of RAM and NVIDIA GF 8800 or AMD RADEON HD graphics.
For a flawless experience, an Intel Core i5 CPU is recommended, alongside 4GB of memory, and an AMD Radeon HD 5750 (1GB) graphics card.
ESPN NFL 2K5 is a video game that was developed by Visual Concepts Entertainment, Inc. and published by SEGA of America, Inc. The game was launched on the PlayStation 2 from Sony and on the original Xbox from Microsoft in July 2004.
The game is classed as being an American football simulation that is played from a third-person perspective and includes a lot of management aspects.
The presentation element, taking advantage of the ESPN license, has been rebuilt from the ground up with the voice of the commentator replaced with a fully realized virtual Chris Berman, who makes an introduction for each game, a half time report and a post game show that focuses on analysis.
There's also a side line reporter enhancing the presentation.
The game also introduces a new V.I.P. profile which is designed to show how each particular players enjoys the game, with states collected from each of their games.
The profile can then be used to play against an Artificial Intelligence that has the same characteristics as the player.
With the ESPN celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2005, the game also introduces an Anniversary Mode that will allow the player to experience directly great moments from the history of American football, like The Heidi Bowl and The Immaculate Reception.
The Crib mode has been redesigned with points being earned through games that can be then spent in order to get specific items.
The mode now also has a dart board and celebrities can call if the fame of the player is high enough.
The list of celebrities includes: Steve-O, Carmen Electra, Jamie Kennedy, David Arquette or Funkmaster Flex.
GAMEPLAY HINTS
Beat the salary cap
Beating the salary cap can be frustrating with created characters. Instead, go to the roster for your favorite team, find the third string position player, then just edit his name, stats, and appearance. By doing this, your player will be rated 100 overall, but still be paid a very low salary.
Over the Christmas weekend, the infamous iPhone Dev Team released a new version of redsn0w that implements the “backup plan” to the 4.2.1 untethered jailbreak. The Team is seeking help from the iOS community to test this redsn0w and find any bugs before the general release.
According to the Team, “backup plan” requires that you have the iOS 4.2 beta 3 IPSW on your Mac, and that Cydia has the user’s 4.2b3 SHSH hashes (blobs).
The hackers also said that they were working on a way to get this technique to apply to iOS 4.1 IPSWs.
Calling this beta backup method the “Jailbreak Monte,” it does not support all current iOS-based hardware.
To be clear, redsn0w 0.9.7b2 only works to jailbreak iPhone 4, iPad, and iPod touch 4th generation, and only if the user has saved his / her iOS 4.2b3 SHSH blobs with Cydia.
“We’re about to release the first beta using this new “backup method,” which redsn0w calls ‘Jailbreak Monte,’” the Team wrote on its blog.
The post continues with what the hackers call “some important points:”
· This is a beta tester program. It’s not a general release! Things can go very wrong, so please don’t even consider testing if you have pictures or other media on your device that you haven’t backed up! · For the same reason, please don’t participate if you rely on the ultrasn0w carrier unlock. Wait for the final version! · Until we fix some sandbox issues with bluetooth, the bluetooth functionality is disabled. This very first beta1 is limited to iPhone4, iPad, and iPod touch 4G. · Cydia must have your 4.2b3 SHSH blobs saved on file. (As we approach a general release, we’ll provide a way to let you use locally saved hashes too). · You must already have the usbmuxd software installed and running on your Mac (this requirement will eventually go away too). The correct invocation of the relay is just as that page says: “./tcprelay.py -t 22:2222”. If the relay isn’t installed or running correctly by the time the redsn0w ramdisk has started, you’ll need to restore to stock FW again to try it again. Please test it beforehand to save yourself some time! · Please leave all feedback in the comments below (we really need your feedback to help develop it into a stable release!)
Initially, there was a redsn0w 0.9.7 beta 1 release which had a few issues, but the Team quickly posted a second beta that only suffers from one bug - “Bluetooth disabled due to sandbox problem.”
Finally, the Team urges testers to test the redsn0w 0.9.7b2 jailbreak only a fresh restore.
The reason: “…otherwise it’s impossible to keep track of the variables involved,” according to the iPhone hackers.
This article has a purely informational purpose and doesn't, in any way, suggest that you should hack your Apple device.
Using hacks may render your device unusable, or may reduce the quality of your experience employing the respective device.
If you choose to download and install jailbreak tools, you will do so at your own risk. Unlocking / jailbreaking your iPhone / iPod touch / iPad / Apple TV may violate your warranty or the EULA with Apple and / or your cellular-service provider.
It looks like Epic 4G users will have to wait a little bit longer for Android 2.2 Froyo, as the update won't be available until next year. Rumors about a possible update to 2.2 Froyo on December 26th had surfaced last week, but it seems that they were false.
According to a leaked Sprint internal memo posted by PhoneArena, the Samsung Epic 4G should've started to receive the software update to DL11 (Froyo) starting on December 26th.
However, Sprint has issued an internal document for its employees, in response to these rumors, where it states that the software update Android 2.2 Froyo is not available yet.
Sprint internal document Enlarge picture “Despite what many websites are saying, Android software version Froyo 2.2 is still on hold. If customers ask about this update explain the following:
- The current Samsung Epic software version is DI18; - There is no firm delivery date for the Froyo 2.2 software update, but it will be available in the near future.”
Although, the carrier has not issued a certain release date for Android 2.2 software update, new rumors say that it may be delivered in January 2011.
Some of the key features of the Samsung Epic 4G Android 2.2 Froyo update include:
- upgrade of the OS from Eclair to Froyo (2.2.1); - ability to install applications to external storage; - improved Bluetooth device support; - Bluetooth voice dialing; - Flash Player 10.1; - GPS enhancements.
Samsung Epic 4G, known as the Galaxy S Pro, is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor and comes with Android OS 2.1 out-of-the-box.
Unlike its Sprint Galaxy S sibling, the Intercept, it comes with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Samsung Epic 4G is currently sold by Sprint for $249.99 with a two-year contract or for $499.99 without a subscription.
At some point in a company's life, there comes the time when a product sells so well and brings in so much money that its maker can't help but consider it its best-selling product ever, something Amazon seems to be finding out right now.
Not long ago, reports emerged saying that Amazon will have sold about 8 million Kindle e-readers by the end of the ongoing year.
Now, Amazon itself issued a press release in which it states that, indeed, the e-reader,or at least the third generation, has been selling massively.
In fact, the company went as far as to say that the Kindle is its best-selling product in history, and that Kindle e-book sales were also quite intense on Christmas day, though it was hardly a surprise.
"We're grateful to the millions of customers who have made the all-new Kindle the bestselling product in the history of Amazon - surpassing Harry Potter 7," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO.
"We're seeing that many of the people who are buying Kindles also own an LCD tablet. Customers report using their LCD tablets for games, movies, and web browsing and their Kindles for reading sessions,” he added.
“They report preferring Kindle for reading because it weighs less, eliminates battery anxiety with its month-long battery life, and has the advanced paper-like Pearl e-ink display that reduces eye-strain, doesn't interfere with sleep patterns at bedtime, and works outside in direct sunlight, an important consideration especially for vacation reading. Kindle's $139 price point is a key factor -- it's low enough that people don't have to choose."
The only thing missing from the official announcement is the actual number of sold units that Amazon reached.
Thus, one can only try to speculate just how many million devices were shipped and by how large a margin said sales exceeded those of the other popular Amazon products.
On Tuesday, computer maker Acer announced the upcoming release of a new series of devices powered by Google's Android operating system, including a new smartphone that boasts a touchscreen larger than any other smartphone available on the market today.
According to the company, the new Acer handset, which doesn't have a market name at the moment, it seems, packs both smartphone and tablet PC capabilities in the same device, especially since considering its large 4.8-inch widescreen with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 1024 x 480 pixel resolution.
The screen comes with multi-touch capabilities, accompanied by 4 keys, namely Home, Search, Back, and Menu, and by a a 2MP front camera for video calling. On the back, the handset sports an 8-megapixel photo snapper with LED Flash.
“Its revolutionary design, characterized by a stretched out, thin and slightly curved shape, makes it a fascinating device that will not go unnoticed. Its full metal body, enriched by subtle wavy patterns, conveys a sense of timeless elegance,” Acer notes.
Moreover, the new handset is expected to fit perfectly in users' hands, courtesy of its smoothly curved back, and a minimal width (64mm).
“This truly innovative device is perfect for fashion addicts or tech savvy people looking for the latest and cutting edge technology available ensuring superior browsing and excellent multimedia entertainment,” the company continues.
The features list of this handset also includes a fast Android browser, with multi-touch, Java script optimization, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 support; as well as HSDPA @ 14.4, WiFi N, and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity options.
The new mobile phone is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, which should offer it increased performance levels. It also includes a 6-axis motion sensing (Gyroscope + accelerometer), and more.
Acer also touts the new smartphone as being capable to prove a great option for users interested in viewing movies on it while on the go, thanks to its 21:9 screen
“On the 21:9 screen you can watch a movie in its original format, for an engrossing cinema-like experience. What’s more the LED backlit display uses the same technology as TV showing super bright and vivid images; to top it off, Dolby Mobile technology delivers vibrant, immersive sound,” Acer notes.
“Not enough for you yet? Thanks to DLNA technology or the HDMI cable, you can connect it to your TV to view your content on an even bigger screen,” the company continues. The new device should be released on the market sometime in April next year.
A new survey from the market research company Nielsen has revealed that among those children over the age of 13 the most interesting purchase for the next 6 months is a new computer, with the iPad from Apple in fourth place but more interesting than traditional mobile and handheld gaming consoles.
The survey was conducted among a sample of the general population in the United States during October 2010 and also included a separate desire chart for those who are between 6 and 12.
Among those over 13 a personal computer is the most attractive purchase, beating out the television set in second place and a new smart phone which is not made by Apple in third.
18 percent of those surveyed are interested in an iPad which edges out those who would like to get a Nintendo Wii, standing on 15%.
13 percent are interested in getting a PlayStation 3 in the next six months, with 9% ready to also drop the money needed to get the Move motion tracking system.
Over on the Microsoft front 9% are interested in getting a Xbox 360 and one percent less are also looking into buying a Kinect add on.
The current Nintendo DS family sits at 8 percent while the upcoming 3DS, the device which introduces three dimensional gaming without glasses, is at 6.
Only the PlayStation Portable is less interesting to potential buyers with the age over 13.
For those under 12 the iPhone is much more interesting and sits just ahead of the various Nintendo DS devices, which also have better percentages than in the over 13 age group.
Interestingly the PlayStation 3 and the Move are again ahead of the Xbox 360 and the Kinect but with wider margins among younger customers.
The Kinect is also more attractive than the console it works with, which could suggest that the Xbox 360 will no longer move the same amount of consoles it managed in October.
A senior executive from Sony Ericsson has suggested that the much rumored PlayStation Portable phone is real and that it could be officially announced soon as the company tries to attract customers away from Apple made products by offering a similar experience with a focus on gaming.
Bert Nordberg, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the joint Sony Ericsson smartphone business, has stated, “There's a lot of smoke, and I tell you there must be a fire somewhere.”
He added, “Sony has an extremely strong offering in the gaming market, and that's very interesting.”
A series of photos, very grainy and lacking any details, were leaked online recently, apparently showing a gaming devices which can double as a phone or a phone which also has significant video game related capabilities.
Initially Sony reacted strongly saying that all the photos are “definitely fake” but the company then changed its tune, saying that it will not comment on rumors and on speculation.
The most recent set of rumors talks about a Sony gaming capable phone which will be released under the Xperia brand and will run the Android operating system from Google, with Sony offering an application, presumably similar to iTunes and based upon the PlayStation Network, which will be powering the gaming side of the system.
At the moment the Sony made PlayStation Portable is continuing to sell well just on the Japanese market while seeing falling numbers in the United States and analysts are saying that the company needs to put out a new device which can compete with the Nintendo 3DS system, which is set to be released on February 26,2011.
Sony has not announced any device but numerous game developers have said that they have had time to evaluate the possibilities of the PSP 2 as Sony tries to make sure that as many game creators as possible create gaming experiences for the new platform.
Competing against Apple in the field of ultra-thin notebooks is not exactly a very easy task, but it seems that the people over at Asus accepted it gladly, since they've just taken wraps off a new portable computing system that will certainly go directly against the MacBook Air in the coming months, namely the U36 model.
While the new U36 notebook from Asus doesn't really match the paper-thin dimensions of the MBA (who's just around 2.7 mm thick at its thinnest point), it's nevertheless one of the most ultra-portable and super-slim computing solutions released on the market over the past couple of months, given the fact that it's only 19mm thick and weighs only 1.44 kilograms (a feat partially achieved with the help of the U36's aluminum magnesium alloy case.
As TCMagazine informs us, similar to some of the other ultra-portable systems available on the market, the Asus U36 will come equipped with a 13.3-inch display, delivering a relatively standard 1366 x 768 pixels resolution with the help of the built-in NVIDIA graphics card.
And since we're reached this particular topic, it's also interesting to mention that Asus has also thrown in the mix the NVIDIA Optimus technology that automatically switches between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics card, thus helping the built-in 4-cell battery achieve up to 10 hours of operation.
In terms of processing power, we'll have to mention that the new Asus notebook will be based on Intel's Calpella platform (a choice of Core i3 or i5 CPUs will be available) and will also sport a dual-heatpipe cooler.
Sadly, no word on storage just yet, but we certainly hope Asus used an SSD on the U36, in order to keep it as thin as possible.
This is just about every bit of info available on the U36 for the time being, since the Taiwan-based manufacturer has not provided yet any significant details on either the pricing or the availability of this MacBook Air contender.
Apple has no plans to drop the price on its tablet computer to match the competitive pricing announced by TJ Maxx last week, according to an email conversation between an Apple fan the Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.
In what is a typical news story involving the name of Apple’s chief executive officer, 9to5mac has obtained an email exchange between reader Josh and the CEO of Apple, where the former kindly asked Mr. Jobs to confirm whether Apple has any plans to match competitive prices for the iPad.
Based on a screenshot published by the web site, the conversation between Josh and Steve Jobs has been reproduced below:
Josh:
“Hey Steve!
If I walk into an Apple Store and ask for you to match TJ Maxx’s price, would you do it?
Is TJ Maxx even an authorized reseller?
Steve Jobs:
Nope. And nope.
Last week, reports emerged saying that the Framingham, MA-based chain of department stores was planning to sell Apple iPads for just $399, a $100 discount from the original $499 price which nabs you one at Apple’s own stores, including the act of ordering one online.
TJ Maxx is an American department stores chain owned by TJX Companies. It has more than 900 stores, and is regarded as one of the biggest clothes retailer in the United States, whilst also operating stores in a number of other countries.
While not advertising the sale, the discount retailer has confirmed it via Twitter, stating: “The rumors are TRUE! Select (unadvertised) locations/limited quant.”
Although Apple doesn’t seem to have any plans of dropping the price of its popular iPad this holiday season, the company is expected to introduce an updated version of the tablet computer early next year, featuring FaceTime support via dual cameras (among a flurry of other enhancements).
As it did with every newly launched iPhone, the introduction of the iPad 2 will most certainly see the price of the original tablet slashed by at least $100.
Google is going on a hiring spree judging by the number of open positions at the company. Based on worldwide listings, Google is looking to hire over 2,000 employees at this time. Successfully doing so would swell the company's employee numbers to over 25,000.
According to Reuters, Google is hiring 2,076 people around the world, the largest figure the company has ever wanted to hire and a six time increase from the number open positions last spring.
Already, the company has grown, in terms of employees by 18 percent this year. At its latest quarterly financial report Google said it had a little over 23,000 employees.
When it completes the current wave of hires, it will have over 25,000 though there's no indication that the company has any plans to stop at that.
Apart from the job openings, Google is adding even more people through acquisitions. It's proposed acquisition of ITA Software, which hasn't been approved by the authorities yet, would add at least 500 more people to the Google family.
Google has been ramping up hires for the past year after a period of stagnation during the recession in the US.
But Google is doing more than just hiring aggressively, it's fighting to keep its current employees, going to extremes to keep them happy. The perks the company spoils its employees with are close to legendary.
But even this is not enough with the lure of younger, pre-IPO companies, notably Facebook, which can offer new employees stock grants that could be worth millions of dollars once they go public.
The stories of the type counter-offers Google is providing to keep people from deflecting to the 'enemy,' sometimes in the tune of several million dollars for regular employees, are becoming increasingly fantastic.
The company has even offered its employees a 10 percent raise starting in 2011. Senior staff is said to be getting even more, 30 percent to 40 percent in some cases.
Wireless carrier U.S. Cellular has announced the introduction of a new offer for its customers who are interested in adding a smartphone line, offering them a $150 Smartphone Activation Credit. The offer was put in place for both new and existing customers who choose a smartphone on the operator's airwaves.
According to the company, the offer was made available during a week-long sale on the entire series of Android-based smartphones the carrier has in store for its users.
Moreover, the operator announced that it would have the offer in place starting today, November 22nd, all the way to next Monday, November 29th.
Customers who are on a Belief Plan and add a smartphone line, as well as new customers to the operator, are offered $150 credit off future bills, U.S. Cellular announced.
The is a wide range of advantages that customers can benefit from when choosing Android devices on the wireless carrier’s network, including The Belief Project, a series of initiatives that includes the “no contract after the first” offer, which also guarantees the availability of the latest devices at promotional price tags every 18 months or faster.
“We want to remove barriers for consumers who’ve heard about everything we have to offer and are ready to experience something better,” said Edward Perez, vice president of marketing and sales operations for U.S. Cellular.
“We believe the $150 activation credit combined with the great deals on our Android-powered smartphones and the unmatched benefits of The Belief Project will make it hard to resist giving U.S. Cellular a try.”
Recently, the wireless operator announced the introduction of a $69.99 Primary Plus Plan, a smartphone-friendly option through which users receive 5GB of data with unlimited text, picture and video messaging, along with free GPS navigation. At the same time, the plan comes with free unlimited incoming calls from any phone.
“Family plans that appeal to smartphone users include the Essential Plus Family Plan that comes with two lines for $139.99 per month with 1500 shared minutes, unlimited messaging and 5GB of data per line,” the carrier notes.
“We’re confident that once customers experience all of the unique benefits of being a U.S. Cellular customer, they won’t want to leave,” Perez said.
Additional info on the $150 Smartphone Activation Credit, as well as on the Belief Project can be found on the wireless carrier’s website, as well as on the company’s stores, or on its Facebook account.
Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion is expected to bring to shelves its first tablet PC, the BlackBerry PlayBook sometime during the first quarter of the next year, at least on the North American market.
The slate, RIM's direct response to Apple's iPad and to an increasing number of Android-based tablet PCs, was unveiled officially a few months ago, and runs under the BlackBerry Tablet OS, based on the software developed by QNX.
According to a recent article on DigiTimes, Gregory Wade, regional VP for Asia Pacific of RIM, confirmed that the slate is set to make an appearance on shelves in the North American continent sometime in the first quarter of the next year.
Moreover, he also unveiled the fact that Research In Motion aims at global availability for the slate sometime in the second quarter of the next year.
The BlackBerry Playbook will be aimed mainly at business users, Wave stated, adding that the tablet PC will offer support for WebKit, Java, Adobe Flash and more, and that users would enjoy full security updates for the software.
The price tag at which RIM plans on making the tablet PC available on the market was set at US$500, Wade announced.
Packing a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 pixels, capacitive multitouch display, the slate is powered by a Cortex A9-based, dual-core 1GHz CPU, complemented by 1GB of RAM, and should offer increased performance levels for all users.
The specifications list of the tablet PC also includes WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity options, along with HDMI port and microUSB jack.
At the same time, the slate should boast 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, a 5-megapixel photo snapper, and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera for video conferencing.
All in all, it appears that the BlackBerry Playbook will be able to offer great value for money, especially when compared to other similar devices on the market, which boast higher price tags, while being able to offer the same or lower hardware specs.
The best selling tablet in the world, Apple's iPad, just got a consistent discount from its recommended price and is now available for only $399.99. The Wi-Fi only 16GB iPad is sold by T.J. Maxx stores with a $100 discount compared to other retail stores that are selling Apple's product.
The sale hasn't been advertised at all in the media, but it was confirmed on the company's official Twitter account. Previously rumored to be available on Black Friday, the whole shipment of iPad tablets has been sold in only one day, November 18th.
“We have received many inquiries about a particular item recently sold in our stores. A small number of T.J.Maxx and Marshalls stores received a very limited quantity of electronic tablets this week. These were first quality goods sourced from a retailer. They sold out in one day, and they were not advertised in the media,” T.J. Maxx.
Even though many retailers have the Wi-Fi only iPad on sold-out status with no intentions of bringing new shipments, Apple is still selling the product, but it will not be able to match T.J. Maxx's price.
Apple's Wi-Fi only tablet measures 242.8 x 189.7 x 13.4mm and weighs 680g (battery included). It is powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed CPU and runs on iOS 3.2.2 platform.
The tablet features a 9.7-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch compatible display with IPS technology. The touchscreen has a 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi) and is fingerprint-resistant.
In addition to its Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n connectivity, Apple's iPad includes 16GB internal memory, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR technology and 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack.
It supports a wide range of file formats such as: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel).
The 16GB Wi-Fi only iPad can be purchased from Apple's store for 499.99, which is is $100 higher than T.J. Maxx's price.
Facebook dominance over the web continues to extend and there's no better indicator than the 'like' buttons popping up all over the place. But if you want actual numbers, Facebook accounted for a quarter of the page views in the US in the last week. One in four web pages served in the week ending November 13 were from Facebook, analytics company Hitwise says.
"The amount of content consumption taking place on the popular social network has also grown substantially where nearly 1 in 4 page views in the US took place on Facebook.com for the week ending November 13, 2010," it added.
"The market share of page views for Facebook.com was 24.27% last week, 3.8x the volume of the 2nd ranked website YouTube.com with 6.93%," it continued.
There's no denying that Facebook is huge and it's only going to get bigger. While, in terms of new users, it's growth has been slowing, the existing ones are using the site more often.
And, as Facebook becomes a bigger part of the web, though the platform, 'like' buttons, Facebook Connect and so on, more people are going to spending more time on the site, in one way or another.
In terms of page views, Facebook already dominates in the US. Google and YouTube combined don't even come close to Facebook's page views.
With unique visitors, Facebook doesn't have such a massive lead, but it's still the biggest website in the US with more than 10 percent of visits. Google comes second with over seven percent and YouTube third with three percent. Combined, YouTube and Google account for slightly more visits than Facebook, but the social network still has room to grow.
Building certain computing products fitted to the specific needs of a local market is not exactly a good idea unless said market is, in fact, quite a huge one, and for this reason, HP's decision to build a tabletop computing system designed specifically for the Indian seems like a very good business opportunity for the computer manufacturer.
The device in question is called the HP DreamScreen400 and, according to the company, has been “developed in India, for India”, delivering the full reach of the internet and access to localized content and services to all members of a family.
To develop the HP DreamScreen from concept to final product, team members from the HP Innovation Program Office visited scores of Indian families in their homes, the primary objective being to create a customer experience that would be intuitive to people familiar with basic cell phones.
It needed to offer people convenient alternatives to the travel and long lines that are commonplace in India for paying bills and purchasing train tickets, for example.
“We sat with people in their homes and really listened to what was important to them. They inspired us,” said Phil McKinney, head of the Innovation Program Office and vice president and chief technology officer, Personal Systems Group, HP.
“To serve kids, their parents and their grandparents sharing a household – sharing one device – that was our goal.”
The result is quite an interesting one, the HP DreamScreen400 being equipped with an 18.5-inch diagonal touchscreen display, a DVD optical drive, and being powered by innovative technology from Intel.
Thanks to an intuitive user interface, information ranging from school curricula to Bollywood TV and music is instantly accessible – in English or Hindi.
Moreover, video calls can be initiated by tapping an onscreen number keypad or touching a photo while real-time religious services are brought into the home from webcams stationed in faraway temples.
The HP DreamScreen40 will be available in India later this month at Rs. 19,999 plus taxes, or about US$450, and we're actually quite glad to learn that the concept and business model of the HP DreamScreen400 is applicable to other countries and regions, so it's likely that it will make its way towards other parts of the world as well.
A security researcher claims that reports of China hijacking 15% of Internet traffic for fifteen minutes earlier this year are grossly overestimated, the real impact being closer to 0.015%.
On April 8, 2010, China Telecom, the largest ISP in China, announced bogus Internet routes to the rest of the world, which caused a portion of international traffic to be redirected through its nodes.
In technical terms this is called a BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) prefix hijack and it seems that the problem originated with a smaller Chinese carrier.
The incident saw limited coverage in the specialized media at the time, but it didn't make it into the more mainstream press.
The discussion resurfaced because of a report on Chinese trade recently released by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
On page 244 of the 324-page document, the commission writes that "For a brief period in April 2010, a state-owned Chinese telecommunications firm 'hijacked' massive volumes of Internet traffic."
Massive is a relative term, but the media is now circulating a more exact figure of 15%, which, apparently, was first put forth by Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at security giant McAfee.
"Now certainly, diverting 15% of the Internet even for just 15 minutes would be a major event," says Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor Networks, a company specializing in network security and DDoS mitigation solutions.
"But as earlier analysis by Internet researchers suggested, this hijack had limited impact on the Internet routing infrastructure — most of the Internet ignored the hijack for various technical reasons," he adds.
In fact, based on data gathered from Arbor Network's worldwide sensors and discussions about the incident on the North American Network Operator Group (NANOG) mailing list, the researcher estimates that diverted traffic amounted to only a few Gbps.
"In an Internet quickly approaching 80-100 Tbps, 1-3 Gbps of traffic is far from 15% (it is much closer to 0.015%)," Labovitz concludes, suggesting that the 15% might actually be the percentage of affected routes in relation to a default-free table.
However, routes are not traffic and, in addition, all evidence up to this point suggests that the incident was most likely accidental.
Canadian mobile phone carrier Virgin Mobile has just added a new Android-base smartphone to its offering, namely the Samsung Galaxy 550, the third such device the company has on sale for its customers.
The Samsung Galaxy 550 was added to a lineup of Android-based smartphones that already included the HTC Legend and the Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant.
Those mobile phone users interested in the purchase of this device would find it available at the wireless carrier for free upon the signing of a three year contract agreement.
However, in case there are some who would go for the Samsung Galaxy 550, but do not want to commit to a new contract, will find the device available at Virgin Mobile for $199.99.
Of course, this is a lower-end smartphone, but its specs are still pretty appealing, and should be able to offer all of the basic features that users would like to find in their devices.
The new mobile phone runs under Google's Android 2.1 operating system, while offering support for a nice range of services from the Internet giant.
Moreover, it also offers access to various applications, which can be downloaded and installed from the Android Market.
Not to mention that the Android 2.1 OS was paired with the popular TouchWiz 3.0 user interface from the South Korean mobile phone maker.
The specifications list of the new device also includes a 2.8 inch touchscreen display that can deliver a QVGA resolution, along with a 600MHz application processor, and support for up to 16GB of additional storage space via a microSD memory card slot.
The smartphone also comes with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, as well as with a 3.5mm headset jack, and with built-in GPS receiver.
A 2-megapixel photo snapper was packed on the handset too, along with other multimedia features, and with support for email, messaging, IM, and more.
Proving once more (if further proof was required) that he's one of the most solid and bankable actors of the day, Leonardo DiCaprio is getting ready for another major drama / thriller film, based on a book on the conspiracy around the assassination of JFK.
While preparing for Clint Eastwood's “Hoover,” in which he plays the lead, the controversial FBI director, DiCaprio has also found some time to secure the rights to “Legacy of Secrecy,” which he will turn into a film that he stars in and produces, E! Online has learned.
The actor's production company, Appian Ways, has secured the rights to the book that argues that the Mafia was behind President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, with DiCaprio playing an FBI informant determined to get to the bottom of it – and prove it.
“The actor's idea to adapt the tome, whose full title is Legacy of Secrey: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination, came from his father, George, who introduced it to him years ago,” E! reports.
“DiCaprio will play FBI informant Jack Van Laningham who, according to recently declassified FBI files, took part in a dangerous undercover operation to infiltrate the mafia organization of crime boss Carlos Marcello, who was active in Texas and Louisiana during the 1960s,” says the same e-zine.
“In his role as an informant, Van Laningham alleged Marcello confessed to him that he was behind Kennedy's murder and that he even had a hand in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Watergate scandal,” the same report notes.
Since the deal for the rights has been sealed, and on condition that everything goes according to plan, the film should arrive in theaters sometime in 2013 – just in time for the 50th anniversary since the President's death, E! points out.
In the meantime, with the Oscars coming up early in 2011 and DiCaprio (supposedly) in the run with both his releases of 2010, “Shutter Island” and “Inception,” bookies are casting odds on whether he'll finally win one such statuette.
Since Friday at midnight, history is being written: the latest installment in the “Harry Potter” franchise, “Deathly Hallows: Part 1” was released and is now poised to make for a historical weekend at the box office, both domestically and abroad.
Right now, after midnight sales that came very close – but not close enough – to top sales of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” “Harry Potter” is well on its way of becoming the biggest opening in the franchise, Deadline reports.
Figures coming in from all territories where it's now playing and even estimates show that Warner Bros. has solid grounds to say that the film will become one of the biggest earners of all times, thus writing movie history.
“My sources are estimating $37 million for Saturday and $61.1 million for Friday from 4,125 theaters for the biggest installment in the Harry Potter franchise,” Deadline reports.
“Warner Bros is now saying Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 should translate to a weekend opening of $125M. That's a lot of moolah as HP7A bested HP4's $102M weekend opening and became #5 among all-time 3-day opening weekends,” the same report notes.
Internationally too, “Harry Potter” is faring admirably at the box office, especially in home country England, where it has surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.
“Overseas, the latest Harry Potter installment has earned $49M from 53 territories – 17% higher than HP6 in the same markets / same days of release. UK opened to £5.9M ($9.4m) with over 1 million admissions from 579 situations, which is the biggest single day gross of all time there,” Deadline says.
Of course, as amazing as these results are, they were seen coming my industry watchers: the promo campaign for the last two “Harry Potter” films, “The Motion Picture Event of a Generation” campaign, was kicked off about a year ago and has managed to make of the releases more of a cultural event than just mere films.
The fact that Warners played its cards remarkably well by marketing the conclusion of the “Harry Potter” franchise as something no longer just for kids will also contribute to its success, the same e-zine notes.
The first Call of Duty impressed in the way it approached World War II. It had a grandeur and a surge of feelings which were scarce in video gaming at the moment. It was also sober about the horrors of war, which were depicted in a more lively manner than ever before. It was a game which took a historical period loaded with meanings and managed to translate the events into an experience which resonated with gamers.
Call of Duty 2 and 3 were solid in their own right but the series made another great leap with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which took the action out of the most video game friendly conflict ever and into, as the name says, contemporary times, although the plot fictional and only limited inspiration was taken from the socio political situation of the moment.
Modern Warfare 2 took this concept further but the plot was so out of this world and some of the gameplay sequences were so unconnected that some felt the player was less than its predecessor.
And now Call of Duty: Black Ops, developed by Treyarch, is getting more positive reviews by jumping to yet another historical setting, the Cold War, and by making the plot more grounded and the levels more focused.
But the game seems to be quickly running out of historical space to cover, something pretty similar to what is happening to the Total War series.
Total War has solved the problem by picking the best bits for all out warfare and revisiting them, like they plan to do with Japan in Shogun 2: Total War.
So the rumor which came out recently out of a Gamasutra story citing developer resources that are talking about Marines in space as the main concept for the next Call of Duty seem closer to truth when the history of the series is considered.
So expect to see at least another Cold War set game bearing the Call of Duty label soon, maybe from Sledgehammer Games, and then prepare for the big jump into space.
Although iOS 4.2.1 GM has been confirmed as jailbreakable, a Cydia-compatible version cannot be installed as of yet. That’s not to say Cydia for iOS 4.2.1 isn’t ready. It’s just not available to the masses, according to those who’ve carried out the first jailbreak of the software.
Earlier this week, Apple released the iOS 4.2.1 GM (gold master) to developers, which marked the third time the company reportedly delayed the release of its latest iOS software update.
Redmond Pie, a source which generally takes it upon itself to provide comprehensive jailbreak and unlock guides for iPhone and iPod touch users, reveals in a recent post that iOS 4.2.1 GM can be jailbroken on several iOS devices using the iPhone Dev Team’s redsn0w utility.
Currently at version 0.9.6 beta 2, redsn0w is capable of pwn-ing a stock iOS 4.2.1 GM IPSW, which means that the final version of the software is likely to be jailbreak-supported, “out of the box”.
According to the web site, tests carried out with the iOS 4.2.1 GM jailbreak have confirmed that “Cydia wont work just yet because Apple has changed some of the private APIs used by Cydia in iOS 4.2.x because of which Cydia crashes when you try to run.”
The report continues with some good news, revealing that “an iOS 4.2.1 compatible version of Cydia is ready and will go live as soon as iOS 4.2.1 is released to public.” (emphasis ours)
It adds that GM jailbreakers can install jailbreak-apps via SSH for now, since they will gain full root access on the device via the redsn0w hack.
I do not encourage jailbreaking / unlocking the iPhone / iPod touch / iPad / Apple TV, or any other device.
This article has a purely informational purpose and doesn't, in any way, suggest that you should hack your Apple device.
Using hacks may render your device unusable, or may reduce the quality of your experience employing the respective device.
If you choose to download and install jailbreak tools, you will do so at your own risk. Unlocking / jailbreaking your iPhone / iPod touch / iPad / Apple TV may violate your warranty or the EULA with Apple and / or your cellular-service provider.
Nokia's Xseries is a successful sequel to the XpressMusic mobile phones lineup and comprises a wide range of music phones. The X3 was one of the first handsets of the Xseries, along with the more advanced X6.
The Finnish giant rehashed the S40 UI of the XpressMusic phones, but added a few new features and embeded it into the Xseries music phones.
Unfortunately, we still don't have multi-tasking, something that other brands like Samsung and LG have already introduced into their feature-phones.
One year has passed since its debut on the market and Nokia's Xseries already includes 7 music phones.
Announced in September 2009, Nokia X3 was launched on the market in December 2010. Currently the handset can be purchased for about 150 US dollars without a subscription, which puts it in the low-budget category.
Potential customers can choose from two available color schemes: Red on Black or Blue on Silver.
Design
Nokia X3 has a typical slider design with a few nifty features that make it easier to handle such as the external multimedia keys. What's really interesting is the fact that the phone doesn't look cheap, even though it is now tagged as low-budget. The matte plastic covering the back of the phone doesn't catch fingerprints and feels nice to the touch. However, it seems that the thin battery cover is slightly joggling when one is sliding the phone up or down. Still, the sliding mechanism seems pretty solid, even with the 1mm gap between the two parts.
The handset features a small-sized 2.2-inch display, which is “trapped” between two red metallic frames. The one on the left also includes three multimedia keys that are used to control the music player without the keypad. Above the display is the usual earpiece, but the phone lacks an ambient light sensor, which means the display brightness won't change according to the environment.
The soft keys and Accept / Reject calls keys have been placed below the screen, around the D-pad button. The slider doesn't have a dedicated power button; instead, it uses the red Reject calls button. The phone also includes the option to make the D-pad light pulse to the rhythm of the songs. To enable the function go to Settings / Lights / Music lights, and choose On.
The right side of the phone features the dual-volume key and a dedicated camera button. The microSD card slot has been placed on the left side, while on top there's a charging port, a microUSB port and a 3.5mm audio jack port. The two stereo loudspeakers that make the X3 a music phone have been placed on the top and bottom of the slider.
The flat alphanumeric keypad is revealed when one slides open the phone. The layout of the keys is standard with large enough and responsive buttons. The keypad is made from a thin metallic material that enriches the messaging experience. The 3.2-megapixel photo shooter on the back of the phone lacks LED flash or any other extra features.
The X3 measures 96 x 49.3 x 14.1 mm and weighs 103g (battery included), which puts it in the mid-sized category. Overall, Nokia X3 looks pretty much like a standard slider. It doesn't impresses at first glance, but it's not ugly either.
Display and Camera
Nokia X3 comes with a 2.2-inch QVGA display with 262K colors support and 240 x 320 pixels resolution.
Unfortunately, this is one of phone's disappointments, as the colors look washed off and viewing angles are simply agonizing. If you don’t position the phone in such a way that you can see its screen dead on, then you won't be able to see much. The same goes for sunlight legibility which is very low, so you have almost zero chances to distinguish anything on the screen when it's exposed to strong light.
The small size is another downside, but one can get passed this as we're talking about a low-budget handset after all.
The 3.2-megapixel camera embedded in the Nokia X3 doesn't come with a LED flash, autofocus or any other extra feature that could improve the picture shooting experience. The maximum resolution that can be used for pictures is of 2,048x1,536 pixels, while clips can be recorded with a maximum resolution of 320x240 pixels (QCIF@15fps) and can be saved in .MP4 format.
In terms of picture quality, the camera is pretty decent for a 3.2-megapixel snapper, but it heavily relies on favorable light conditions. Even though it's not the best camera module out there, you can take good pictures when you need to capture special moments that don’t require the use of a professional tool.
Overall, the performance of the camera is satisfactory and those that get the phone for its camera too, will probably be pleased.
Menu and Software
Nokia X3 runs on a S40 6th Edition UI, which is the latest user interface coming from Nokia. Once one of the most user-friendly interfaces on the market, the S40 is unchanged on the surface. Even though if it's a step forward compared with older versions, the X3 is clunky, obsolete and overrated when it comes to user experience.
The firmware includes the Flash Lite player 3 and MMS 1.3. Message support has been improved to accept 600KB attachments. There is better support for WMA and WMV codecs. The slider has some useful applications, such as Search, Maps, Alarm clock, Calendar, To-do list, Notes, Calculator, Countdown timer, Ovi Store, World Clock and Stopwatch.
Also, some Java games come preinstalled – Block'd, City Bloxx, Bounce Tales, Diamond Rush, and Guitar Rock Tour. The phone is compatible with Java MIDP 2.1 applications, but there is a limit to the size of any application that you might want to install on it, and that's the usual 1MB. This might be the case with most Java-compatible applications.
The menu is customizable and you can designate any MP3, MIDI or AAC file as a ringtone. The phonebook can store up to 2,000 contacts and each can be filled with up to five different phone numbers. The fonts can be customized, but only those displayed when opening the Contacts, Web browser and messaging sections.
Nokia X3 lacks multi-tasking and, by the look of it, the Finnish handset manufacturer won't be introducing the feature too soon. Also, even though the phone is snappy when one is browsing the menu, there's a very annoying lag when you slide up/down the phone. It takes about 2 seconds each time you want to open or close the phone and during this time you get a loading wheel on the screen.
Communication
The X3 slider is fully compatible with GPRS and EDGE Class 32, but lacks any faster technologies such 3G or Wi-Fi. Benchmarks reveal that the device underperforms when it comes to data-transfer speeds (EDGE 136 Kbit/s download and 69 Kbit/s upload), but that may greatly vary depending on the location and carrier.
The phone also features Bluetooth 2.1 and microUSB 2.0. Synchronization with the PC is possible through the microUSB port along with charging the battery. The phone does not have a built-in GPS receiver, but it comes with the Nokia Maps, which can be used to find addresses.
The phone doesn't include any maps but users can download the maps on their desktop computer and sync them with the phone. There's also a new feature added to the Contact list called Find on map, which enables users to pinpoint a contact's address with Nokia Maps. Of course, this only works if the address field contains a real address.
In terms of messaging, the device accepts standard text messages, MMS 1.3 (600 KB attachments), as well as emails. The message client works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols, and supports more than one email account. The X3 also displays SMS messages like Conversations, but this can be changed back to Inbox, if you don't like it. You can do that from Messaging / Message settings / General settings / Change message view.
The device comes with Opera Mini browser, in addition to the integrated WebKit-based HTML browser. I was content with the native browser's performance, which seems to work fast and the page rendering is ok, so I'm recommending using this one over the Opera Mini browser. The scrolling is smooth and Flash Lite 3.0 support is also nice.
The quadband (GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) network-compatible slider has a very good GSM signal reception. Even though the phone comes with “Voice Clarity” enhancement technology, I found the sound during phone calls average. On the other hand the vibration alert is more than decent, so users won't miss calls when the device is kept on the Silent profile.
Processor and Memory
Nokia X3 embeds 46MB internal memory and microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 16GB. The external memory card slot can be found on the left side of the phone and it's covered by a plastic stripe. The handset lacks multitasking and can only run four applications in the background. If you haven't closed the applications after you finished working with it, you will get a message displayed on the screen, that will let you choose which app you want to close. And no, you won't be able to switch to any of the apps in the list, you are limited to selecting the app and the phone will close it for you.
Multimedia
One of the strong points of the slider and the reason it has the Xseries tag on it, is represented by the multimedia features. The phone truly shines when it comes to music sound quality, which is surprising if we take into consideration that the other features of the phone are mostly average. The Xseries lineup has been especially developed to include exceptional music features and X3 is no exception to this rule. The phone comes with a 3.5mm audio jack port and Nokia Stereo Headset WH-205 earphones. The quality of the sound definitely recommends it as a music phone.
The included earphones are definitely under-performing, so users should switch them with better ones for an enhanced multimedia experience. Even though the integrated MP3 player's interface is old and basic, it includes a few advanced specific features such as: Equalizer, Stereo widening, Shuffle and Repeat. The Equalizer can be customized or the predefined settings can be used: Normal, Pop, Rock, Jazz and Classical. The mobile phone is compatible with MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA formats.
Thanks to the dedicated external keys, users will be able to easily control the music player or the radio without even pulling out the phone from their pockets. Of course the phone is also compatible with Bluetooth headsets. The Stereo speakers have a very low quality sound and are the only downside of the phone when it comes to listening to music (a major one). There's also an FM radio with the RDS function and built-in antenna, so you won't need to insert the headphones for the radio to work.
The video player lacks support for DivX or XviD codecs and is limited to 3GPP (H.263), H.264 and MPEG-4 formats. Overall, the Nokia X3 is one of the best low-budget music phones that the Finnish handset manufacturer has launched on the market so far.
Battery
The 860 mAh Li-Ion (BL-4CT) battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 380 hours in standby and of about seven hours and 30 minutes in talk-time mode. Music playback is rated at around 26 hours. My device made it with only two full charges per week on average use, but it's understandable with such a low power battery.
Impressions
For a device that opens up an entire series, the X3 is a pretty decent phone. Unfortunately, the slider's software is plagued by a few bugs and its UI is old and unattractive. It makes up for it thanks to its excellent music features, but otherwise the X3 doesn't impress at all.
The Good
Truth be told, the best features of the X3 are music-oriented: excellent music sound, external dedicated multimedia keys, Equalizers, 3.5mm audio jack, 26 hours of music playback, Stereo FM radio with RDS and built-in antenna. Other highlights of the slider include: Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support, microSD card slot for memory expansion and decent 3.2-megapixel camera.
The Bad
Perhaps Nokia fans will disagree on this, but the S40 UI is too old to impress anyone. It lacks a lot of features, and those included are not on par with those offered by Nokia's rivals on the mobile phone market. The X3 has a sub-mediocre 2.2-inch display and lacks a lot of features such as: office document viewer, multi-tasking, smart dialing, more social network services, GPS receiver and 3G or Wi-Fi.
Sales Package
Nokia X3 handset Nokia Battery (BL-4CT) Nokia High Efficiency Charger (AC-8) Nokia Headset (WH-205) Nokia 2 GB microSD card (MU-37) Nokia Connectivity Cable (CA-101D) User guide
