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
Lindsay Lohan’s extended stay in rehab has cost her another movie role, one for which she even sparked some Oscar talk. The director of “Inferno,” Matthew Wilder, confirms to E! Online that they’re going with a different actress for the much-mediated biopic.
Lindsay was cast in the role of Linda Lovelace, a well-known adult movie actress, before her legal problems began but, throughout the trial, Wilder said the film would wait for them to be over.
In fact, it’s only some weeks ago that Wilder was telling the media “Inferno” would only be made with Lohan or not at all. Clearly, he’s had a change of heart in the meantime.
“We are withdrawing our offer from Lindsay Lohan. We are currently in negotiations [with another actress] and working out the legalities of bringing her onboard,” Wilder says for E!.
In fact, producers have already withdrawn the offer, since the name of the new actress on board, who will come to replace Lohan, will be announced on Monday, which means a decision has already been made.
As for why Wilder and producers are now backing out on Lohan, especially since she’s doing much better in rehab and has even been photographed out on the town, the director says it’s nothing personal. It simply can’t happen.
“We have stuck by Lindsay very patiently for a long time with a lot of love and support. Ultimately, the impossibility of insuring her – and some other issues – have made it impossible for us to go forward,” Wilder explains.
Lohan’s rep confirms that she won’t be doing the film, but insists the decision was mutual and not one-sided as Wilder appears to be implying.
“Lindsay is dedicated to her recovery and together they decided to move forward without her,” the rep says. Lohan must remain in rehab at the Betty Ford Center at least until January 3. A judge will then decide if she’s done the time for her DUIs.
In addition to letting customers download Microsoft Security Essentials free of charge, the Redmond company has partnered with Symantec in order to offer a new free security offering, this time geared at small businesses.
MSE is available not only to home users and home businesses but also to small businesses which can install it on up to 10 PCs in their organization.
In addition, small business customers are now able to also take advantage of a free copy of Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition for each license of Windows 7 Professional they purchase from PC Mall.
“We’re excited to let you know that today we’re also working with Symantec and PC Mall, a major U.S. reseller of technology products, services and solutions to small businesses, to extend free security software to those larger small businesses with up to 50 PCs and at least one server,” revealed Microsoft’s Sandrine Skinner.
Obviously, small businesses with as much as 50 computers need more than the 10 licenses of MSE that the software giant allows them to download and install completely free of charge.
In this sense, the Redmond company itself has advices customers with more than 10 machines in their organization to consider other security solutions beyond MSE.
Small Businesses that want to take advantage of Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition can do so by purchasing Windows 7 Professional from PCMall by the end of the year.
“From Nov 1st until December 31st you can get Symantec EndPoint Protection Small Business Edition for free when you purchase a new copy of Windows 7 Professional from PC Mall,” Skinner added.
“Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition complements Windows 7 Professional security features by providing small businesses with easy to use, enterprise-level protection they need to help protect their critical assets from today’s known and unknown threats.
“We think this is yet another great reason for small businesses to migrate to Windows 7 Professional with confidence.”
A group of experts confirmed the existence of an exoplanet that was formed outside the Milky Way, but which was brought into our galaxy as its star was engulfed during a galactic merger. The finding has tremendous implications for the field of astronomy.
The announcement was made on Thursday, November 18. The astronomers behind the discovery say that the parent star for the newly-found planet was most likely formed in a nearby galaxy billions of years ago, and that it made its way here after the Milky Way engulfed the other galaxy.
This process may have taken place anytime between 6 and 9 billion years ago, scientists now believe, and it was only chance that brought the planet within the range of astronomical observatories, Space reports.
Until now, no one has been able to confirm the existence of exoplanets around stars in other galaxies, mostly due to the distances involved. This is what makes the new finding all the more precious. A body born elsewhere in the Universe has been brought fortuitously right in our backyard.
“This is very exciting. We have no ability to directly observe stars in foreign galaxies for planets and confirm them,” explains Rainer Klement, who is a coauthor of the new investigation. The expert is based in Heidelberg, Germany, at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie (MPIA).
As soon as the planet was discovered, astronomers realized that this particular body could change their theories about how planets form, and about how much beating they can take from their star before they are destroyed.
This particular exoplanet, which has been dubbed HIP 13044b, resides around a star that is extremely old, and also metal-poor, which means it features only negligible amounts of chemical elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.
In fact, it would appear that this planet is very resilient. Its parent star has long since passed through its red giant phase, which is when the stellar outer atmosphere engorges and enlarges by a large amount.
When the Sun will pass through this stage, its surface will nearly reach Mars, destroying Mercury, Venus and Earth entirely. HIP 13044b was apparently able to survive disaster in its own system, astronomers say.
The really interesting fact is that the exoplanet is not located far away from its star. In fact, one year there is the equivalent of 16.2 Earth days, and the distance at closest approach between the two bodies is just 5 million miles.
Additionally, the planet is about 25 percent more massive than Jupiter, which places it in the gas giant category. The system lies some 2,000 light-years away, in the direction of the constellation Fornax.
The age of that star system also raises some tantalizing questions. “You can think of the very first stars in the Universe, or the second or third generation of stars. Could they already have been able to form planets?” Klement says.
South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics is getting ready to bring to the market a new tablet PC, supposedly the successor of Galaxy Tab, which was showcased at the ARM Technical Symposium 2010 in Taipei this week.
The upcoming device supposedly sports the name of Orion, the same as the dual-core Orion processor, which was introduced in early September.
The tablet PC that Samsung unveiled at the event was only a prototype, but its alleged specifications should make almost all users want to purchase one.
Inside the device, Samsung reportedly packed a quad-core ARM Mali-400-based GPU, which should be able to encode and decode of full HD 1080p videos.
Moreover, there should be an HDMI 1.3a output included into the mix, so as to offer users the possibility to project content from the slate to larger displays, such as those of TV sets.
According to a recent article on DigiTimes, Samsung showcased the internal structure of the device at the aforementioned event on Thursday.
The slate should include a ARM Cortex-A9-based dual-core processor manufactured by Samsung themselves using the 32nm lower-power consumption process, the same Orion chip that Samsung announced officially about two months ago.
For the time being, however, no specific info on what screen size the upcoming device would boast emerged, though we already knew that the Orion processor was aimed at powering larger screens than the one on Galaxy Tab.
The Android slate was launched on the market with a 7-inch touchscreen display on board, and was rumored before to be followed by a 10.1-inch Android device from Samsung (not to mention that the slate's internals would successfully handle a larger screen).
Until more info on the matter emerge, we can only conclude that Samsung is indeed set to bring a pretty appealing tablet PC to the market next year, since the Orion chip can reportedly deliver up to five-times the 3D abilities of its predecessor.
Previously, Samsung announced that Orion should land during the fourth quarter of the ongoing year, but the product is now expected to arrive next year, when mass production will also kick off. No specific details on when the slate would land on shelves emerged for the time being.
Tests carried out on the iOS 4.2.1 GM seed handed by Apple to developers this week have confirmed that the new build can be jailbroken using the iPhone Dev Team’s redsn0w 0.9.6 beta 2.
Offered as a free download to enrolled iOS developers this week, the third GM preceding the official release of Apple’s next iOS software update has been jailbroken in a test carried out using redsn0w, a simple jailbreak utility developed by the infamous iPhone Dev Team.
Notably, redsn0w 0.9.6b2 is based on geohot’s Limera1n exploit which can hack all current iOS devices.
According to the initial test results, iOS 4.2.1 can be jailbroken on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch devices. However, Cydia is not supported on iOS 4.2.1 as of yet, but it will be shortly, going by how fast the folks behind the application generally act to support the community.
Reportedly, Cydia is incompatible with iOS 4.2.1 builds because Apple has changed some of the private APIs used by the application in iOS 4.2.x, making it prone to crashing as the user attempts to launch the app.
According to the folks at Redmond Pie, an iOS 4.2.1 compatible version of Cydia is ready. They say it will go live as soon as iOS 4.2.1 is publicly released.
Apple is known to have encountered a few issues with the planned iOS 4.2 November launch. The iPhone maker was forced to delay the software not once, not twice, but three times, with this week’s reported iOS 4.2.1 GM seed.
Those knowledgeable in such matters claim this last build will undergo a full week of testing before being released to the general population as the final iOS 4.2.1 software update.
When it’s released, the update will be applicable on most iOS devices, excepting first-generation iPhone and iPod touch units, and the second-generation Apple TV.
Google scored a new victory for Google TV Ads, the rebranded product that aims to bring the company's advertising technology to the TV. Google has partnered with Verizon FiOS TV and will provide the ads for 50 channels over the fiber-optics network.
"Today we've strengthened the reach of the Google TV Ads platform even further by signing a partnership with Verizon FiOS TV, one of the fastest growing television providers with the largest fiber-optic network in the US," Mark Piesanen, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Google TV Ads, announced.
"By adding over 50 networks on Verizon FiOS TV across 3.3 million homes, we can offer you growing access to the audiences you want to reach on television," he said.
It marks quite a big victory for Google which has been trying to get some traction behind its TV ads program for years. The traditional market has proven a much bigger challenge for Google than the web, perhaps unsurprisingly.
Google says that, with this new partnership, it will be able to reach 35 million US homes, about a third of all cable and satellite subscribers in the US. That's a good milestone for Google and a remarkable achievement considering the slow progress.
Google TV Ads, which used to be called simply Google TV but has been rebranded for obvious reasons, is one of the company's few forays into the offline world of advertising and pretty much the only one that has seen any amount of success.
With Google TV Ads, the company delivers customized ads to viewers depending on their location, demographic and other factors. In a way, it brings the power of AdSense to the TV.
But progress has been slow as cable companies have no desire to pair up with Google rather than sell the ads themselves. Google TV Ads has had a deal with Dish Network for a few years now and a more recent one with DirecTV.
The deal with Verizon makes sense considering that the two companies have been getting very friendly lately with Google even giving up its ideals of net neutrality to win over the telco.
In a note posted to the Developer section of Apple.com, the company behind the Mac operating system is signaling that its Mac App Store will be going live soon. In the same announcement, Apple encourages, or, should we say, downright rushes developers to start submitting their applications for the review process.
“Start Submitting Your Mac Apps to the Mac App Store Today,” reads the latest Developer update from Cupertino. Apple is also reaching out to developers via email. The company's message is depicted in the screenshot above (click to enlarge).
“The Mac App Store will be opening soon,” Apple confirms. “You can get ready by submitting your Mac apps for review now. Log in to the Mac Dev Center for details on setting up an iTunes Connect account, creating Apple-issued Mac Distribution Certificates, and preparing your apps for the review process.”
The Mac App Store was officially introduced by Apple during its October 20 keynote.
The venue is set to replicate the success of the already popular iOS App Store by providing Mac users with a one-stop method of downloading third-party software for their Macintosh computers.
In addition to offering a streamlined process of downloading and updating safe-to-use applications approved by Apple’s own review board, the Mac App Store is believed to launch alongside a new version of the iWork suite.
Individual downloads for iLife 11 applications, including iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand, are also expected to debut in the forthcoming Mac App Store, alongside downloads for the apps comprising the iWork suite.
Those enlisted in Apple’s Mac Developer Program now have access to iTunes Connect with the purpose of distributing their apps on the Mac App Store.
The use of iTunes Connect, a suite of web-based tools that allows devs to submit and manage their applications, was previously limited to those enrolled with Apple’s iOS Developer Program.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 users on the airwaves of wireless carrier O2 UK have now a reason to rejoice, as the company has just announced the availability of the Android 2.1 software update for their devices.
The operating system upgrade was originally expected to arrive on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 devices at O2 in the beginning of this week, but it seems that the company has actually delayed the launch a few days more.
In all fairness, this was not the first delay that the Android 2.1 OS upgrade for Xperia X10 devices, X10 mini and X10 mini pro included, registered.
Initially, Sony Ericsson announced that the software update will be released sometime in September, but it had to delay the solution a few times.
However, the roll-out of this upgrade started at the end of October, and continued for many unlocked devices out there, though carrier branded Xperia X10 units started to receive it a little later.
Starting today, O2 UK customers who own an Xperia X10 smartphone have the possibility to upgrade their handsets to a news flavor of Google's mobile OS, after being stuck to Android 1.6 for the past several months.
According to the wireless carrier, the Android 2.1 software should become “fully available” this afternoon, though there's no telling how long it would take for all Xperia X10 users out there to update their handsets.
“The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 2.1 update is available today. It's starting to roll out and will be fully available from this afternoon,” the wireless carrier announced via its Twitter account.
Following the update, users should benefit from a nice range of enhancements on their devices, including access to more applications and services.
According to Sony Ericsson, some of the main improvements include:
Xperia X10: • HD video recording with continuous auto-focus for high quality videos • Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1 • New backup and restore application, with extended content back up • 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders • Social phonebook which automatically syncs contact pictures from Facebook and shows when your friends are online
Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro: • Improved Bluetooth functionality with support for sending and receiving pictures, contacts and more • New backup and restore application with extended content back up • Automatic synchronization of your contact pictures between Facebook and your phone book • Improved ways of handling pictures, audio, text and numbers in your messages • Upgrade of the Android platform to Android platform 2.1
Microsoft’s private Beta development milestone for the first major upgrade for Office 2010 has become somewhat of less private.
The bits for Office 2010 Service Pack 1 Beta have been leaked almost immediately after the release was made available for download on Microsoft Connect.
Once a select group of testers were permitted access to Office 2010 SP1 Beta Build 14.0.6011.1000 on Connect, the development milestone made its way into the wild, and is currently being offered for download by various illegal third-party sources including torrent trackers.
Microsoft has not revealed any plans to offer the Beta of Office 2010 SP1 to the public, with the company appearing to be keen on having only a small group of early adopters take the upgrade out for a spin.
According to third-party sources, both the 32-bit and the 64-bit flavors of Office 2010 SP1 Beta have made their way to peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks.
At the start of this week, testers that registered for the Office 2010 SP1 Beta program start receiving emails informing them that the bits were up for grabs on Connect.
In addition to Office 2010 SP1 Beta, Microsoft is also serving SharePoint Server 2010 SP1 Beta to early adopters, but so far the leaks have focused mainly on the latest iteration of the software giant’s productivity suite.
SP1 is bound to help Office 2010 evolve, updating reliability, compatibility and security. However, at this point in time, Microsoft is not yet ready to start discussing all the details related to the first upgrade for Office 2010.
And while Office 2010 SP1 is being built, most likely prepared for a 2011 release, the Redmond company is also focusing on the next major iteration of Office.
Of course, information on what is referred to internally as Office 15 is extremely scarce for the time being, and it will most likely remain so at least for the immediate future.
There is not a soul on this planet that hasn’t heard of Apple’s negative stance towards Adobe’s Flash platform. Many should also be aware that, starting this October, the Mac maker is shipping its computers Flash-free, because it reportedly overloads the CPU, while draining MacBook batteries faster.
While those who listen to Apple’s side of the story are inclined to agree with their stance, Adobe has an explanation of its own, as to why Flash doesn’t perform all that well on the new range of MacBook Airs.
As it turns out, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen confirmed at the Web 2.0 summit that Apple did not provide them with a pre-release MacBook Air unit for testing purposes, according to a report by Engadget.
Because of this, Narayen reportedly said they didn’t have enough time to create an optimized version of Flash Player.
In other words, Adobe either…
a) worked "blind-folded" to create a Flash implementation that would hopefully match the hardware specs they’d heard of, or hinted at before Apple's October 20 unveiling;
or…
b) left Flash just the way it was at the time the last maintenance was carried out on the software, and hoped it would perform well on Apple’s new computers.
The CEO reportedly added: “when we have access to hardware acceleration, we’ve proven that Flash has equal or better performance on every platform.”
Either way, it appears that the performance of Adobe’s Flash on new MacBook Airs was intentionally crippled by Apple, in its ongoing crusade against the platform.
This got us thinking: is Apple’s war with Adobe affecting customers worse than originally thought?
Apparently, it is.
In its ongoing spat with the makers of Photoshop, Apple is speeding up the Mac ecosystem’s transition to HTML5 using rather unorthodox methods, going by Narayen’s claims.
Let alone that Mac users are not being asked whether they want to continue using Flash on their Macs, even though they’ve done their bit of "thinking different", choosing a Mac over a clunky Windows PC.
The least Apple could do is endorse the software until the people who actually use it agree it’s getting stale, Softpedia believes.
The company’s own interests are clearly more of a priority here, even though Apple continues to score high marks in customer satisfaction surveys.
It seems that I-O Data is definitely mindful of current trends as far as portable storage solutions are concerned, as is made obvious by the new line of flash drives that it has prepared.
Since USB flash drives are specifically designed with mobility in mind, makers of such devices have been doing their best to reduce their size while also implementing sufficient storage, endurance and fast enough transfer speeds.
This has led to the appearance of USB sticks that are as small as a fingernail or which can withstand tremendous degrees of physical abuse.
Then there are those flash drives that focus on speed and, thus, utilize the latest USB standard available, which currently happens to be USB 3.0.
This SuperSpeed USB 3.0 specification has a maximum theoretical transfer speed of 5 Gbps, which is ten times the performance of USB 2.0.
The new I-O Data flash drives, known as the TB-XT series, do not merge all of these features, but they do possess the speed asset.
They are not exactly the smallest drives out there, bearing an enclosure pf 18.0 (W) x 69.6 (D) x 8.6 (H) mm.
Said enclosure is, however, made of aluminum, and that gives them a decent level of survivability, while the USB connector is protected by a cap.
Said cap can be placed on the other end of the flash drive when plugging the USB connector itself into a host PC.
I-O Data plans to send the TB-XT series to Japanese stores starting in December, 2010, the total number of members of this line being six.
While there are only three capacities available, namely 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB, all of them come in two color schemes, black and blue that is.
Unfortunately, the company did not provide actual pricing details, though this final bit of information should not take too long to arrive.
t seems that Acer decided to forgo a press release this once and just quietly introduce its latest Aspire mobile computer, one which goes by the name of Aspire 1430 and can be classified as an ultraportable notebook.
While not exactly a record-breaker in terms of chassis thinness, the Acer Aspire 1430 can still be seen as an ultraportable laptop.
Measuring 285 (W) x 204 (D) x 28 (H) mm, it has a LED-backlit liquid crystal display (LCD) with a diagonal of 11.6 inches.
Said panel has a native resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels or 1,366 x 768 pixels meaning the the integrated graphics will have all they need to show off their capabilities.
Speaking of integrated graphics, the solution here present is the Intel HD, which is built into the central processing unit itself.
The CPU at the heart of it all can be a Core i3-330UM, i5-430UM, i5-520UM or i5-540UM, depending on user preference.
Whichever CPU is elected is backed up by up to 4 GB of RAM (random access memory) and paired with a hard disk drive whose capacity can go as high as 640 GB.
Of course, the machine has its own collection of connectivity and I/O options, and this includes not just wired or wireless web access but also multiple other kinds of ports and accessories.
On the Internet and networking side, Acer threw in Gigabit Ethernet, optional Bluetooth (2.1 or 3.0), optional 3G and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi.
As for the rest, there is a multi-in-1 card reader, a Crystal Eye webcam, USB connectors and HDMI and D-Sub video ports.
All of these hardware components are kept operational by a 6-cell battery, which can last for up to 6 hours on a single charge, and weigh a total of 1.4 kg.
Unfortunately, nothing is known on the actual price of the Windows 7 Home Premium-loaded Acer Aspire 1430.
As expected, U.S. Cellular has just announced the upcoming availability of its fourth Android-based smartphone, the LG Apex. The device adds to the carrier's Android lineup, which includes smartphones such as Samsung Mesmerize, HTC Desire and Samsung Acclaim.
U.S. Cellular's LG Apex will hit the shelves on November 19th for $79.99 after an $80 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract.
The LG Apex is powered by a 600MHz Qualcomm processor and runs on Android 2.1 (Eclair) platform.
The device comes with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a vibrant 3.2-inch touchscreen with 800 x 480 pixels resolution.
The Apex sports a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash and video recording capabilities, Wi-Fi and built-in GPS receiver.
It looks like the LG Apex is U.S. Cellular's version of the LG Ally which is sold by Verizon Wireless. Both phones have the same features only slightly different designs.
Apparently, Verizon's LG Ally will be getting the Android 2.2 (Froyo) software upgrade by the end of the year, but it is unclear if U.S. Cellular plans a future platform upgrade for its LG Apex.
“Phones powered by Android are perfect for customers looking for high-performance devices that help them stay productive, entertained and connected on the go,” said Edward Perez, vice president of marketing and sales operations for U.S. Cellular.
“The LG Apex is backed by the tremendous value of The Belief Project and our high-speed nationwide network, making it a great gift this holiday season,” Perez added.
With the release of LG Apex, U.S. Cellular is left with only two more Android devices to launch by the end of 2010, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, slated to arrive in stores this month and the LG Optimus U that will debut in December.
The last two devices will be rounding out U.S. Cellular’s Android-powered smartphone catalog for 2010.
Although the market is already starting to be a little bit overcrowded with tablets (just about everyone and their mother rolling out such a product, while the iPad is the only model that actually sells consistently), that's not stopping the companies manufacturing such products to release even more devices onto the more or less “unsuspecting” audience, with Fusion Garage being one of the latest to prove that they don't really know when to stop (or at least take a break).
For those of you who're not really that familiar with the tablet world in general and Fusion Garage in particular, we'll have to say that the company has managed to make itself famous (or better said, quite infamous) after the scandal involving their JooJoo tablet, a device initially designed and developed together with TechCruch's Michael Arrington (back then, it was called the Crunchpad), but that Fusion Garage then decided to launch on its own, with some rather unimpressive results.
However, it seems that poor sales (and the ongoing legal debacle with Mr. Arrington) isn't stopping Fusion Garage from planning to launch even more tablets, but with a few changes compared to the original.
So, according to Ubergizmo, the JooJoo 2 tablet will apparently go for the Android operating system (no word on the specific Android build, though), while in the same time changing its target from the mainstream segment to the business one.
To this end, Fusion Garage has apparently already contacted Japanese company ASTEC Co. Ltd, who'll modify the tablet's current OS (non-Android) to tailor it to enterprise applications.
Another interesting and useful modification will be a serious bump-up in the amount of internal memory, from the current 4GB to 16GB.
Of course, we're not really sure just how these modifications will affect the success of the JooJoo 2 (or whether we'll actually get to see the tablet released onto the market), but that's probably something only time will tell.
Wireless carrier AT&T is reportedly getting ready to make a new device available for purchase on its airwaves, none other than the popular Novatel Wireless MiFi hotspot solution, which should become available for purchase for the carrier's customers come November 21st.
Other mobile phone carriers in the country already got similar solutions for their users, and now AT&T would make the move too, with its own branded MiFi 2372.
According to the news, the operator should make the hotspot available for purchase for its users this Sunday, November 21st, with a price tag of $49.99 attached to it, after a $100 mail-in rebate.
We should also mention that the new device reportedly includes some more features than what was available inside the MiFi solutions aimed at CDMA networks, such as an integrated microSD slot, which one would be able to access from any of the connected devices.
According to AT&T, the features list of this device includes:
- Go quickly: With a qualifying DataConnect Plan MiFi 2372 connects you to the Internet on the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network from AT&T.
- Take it easy: With no software to install, setup is fast and simple. And it’s easy to add almost any Wi-Fi enabled device.
- Share the wealth: Up to five users or devices can connect to MiFi 2372, making it the perfect companion on-the-go.
- Look good: The sleek design is easy to carry and looks good anywhere, from the board room to the coffee shop.
- Bring your passport: MiFi 2372 allows you to stay connected globally with data roaming in more than 200 countries.
The MiFi should offer support for up to 7.2Mbps speeds on the downlink, while being available with various DataConnect plans from AT&T, including a $35 per month option for 200MB of data, or $60 per month for 5GB. Contract-free plans were put in place too, ranging from 100MB to 1GB.
South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has brought to the market a few weekss ago its first Android-based tablet PC, the Galaxy Tab, which was brought to the Indian market too, though the price tag this device sports there might not seem too appealing to users.
In order to compensate for that, Samsung India came up with a series of free accessories for Galaxy Tab, which should make the device seem less expensive.
For example, every Galaxy Tab unit sold in the country should include a 2GB memory card in the package, preloaded with MapmyIndia navigation and 3 Idiots movie.
Moreover, the tablet PC comes with a free Bluetooth headset that enables users make calls, as well as a leather diary case.
According to a recent article on Samsung Hub, the Stereo Bluetooth Headset and the Leather Diary Case wont be included in the shipping package, but they will be sent to users' homes within 7 working days.
Basically, all of these accessories are said to worth more than Rs. 5,500, while being offered for free with the Galaxy Tab, which sports a price tag of Rs. 38k.
At the same time, wireless carriers in the country also announced a series of special data plans for users interested in the purchase of a Samsung Galaxy Tab.
According to Samsung Hub, these special offerings include:
Airtel - 2GB free data usage @ Rs. 300 per month for 6 months
Aircel - 3 GB free per month for 3 months for Prepaid users - 1 GB free per month for 6 months for postpaid users
Reliance Mobile - 5 GB Free Data usage per month for 6 months on Reliance network
TATA Docomo - 3GB Free data per month for 6 months on Tata Docomo network
Vodafone - 2GB data @ Rs. 99 per month for Prepaid users - 2GB data @ Rs. 199 per month for Post –paid users
The Galaxy Tab sports a 7-inch touchscreen display, packs a 1GHz application processor inside, along with 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options, as well as 16GB of internal memory, complemented by a microSD memory card slot with support for cards of up to 32GB.
We're pretty sure that many of you typically associate cloud computing with enterprise and web-related applications, but the truth of the matter is that this concept could prove to be particularly interesting in other areas as well, such as gaming, the people from OnLive proving this only too well with their newly-released OnLive Game System.
While the OnLive Game System has been presented at several trade-shows until now, it seems that the whole platform has reached a sufficient level of maturity in order to be pushed onto the market, would-be customers being able to pre-order this thing as we speak, with the first pre-orders being set for December 2'nd.
However, those of you who haven't come across this product up until now should know that what the OnLive Game System does is bring the latest game titles to your TV (via the Internet), based on a monthly or yearly subscription, so you won't have to worry about actually purchasing a PC or a gaming console, not to mention real, physical discs.
The system includes the MicroConsole TV adapter (the “MC”), an OnLive Wireless Controller and all the cables you’ll need for a current HDTV, including HDMI or component video, as well as digital audio.
The MC supports up to 4 controllers at once, and although the current OnLive Wireless Controller resembles more the type of controller typically encountered in the case of the PS3 and Xbox 360, the manufacturer ensures us that the system delivers full compatibility with PC and Mac games, as it supports the addition of a keyboard and mouse.
Plus, setting up the system is extremely easy, since you'll only have to plug in power, TV and Internet, sync your Wireless Controller and log in.
The OnLive Game System will retail for $99 (one also gets a free game of their choice for this sum) and OnLive will be offering a flat-rate plan for unlimited access to a growing library of big studio games and indie titles.
The combination of OnLive’s 3-day or 5-day rentals and Full PlayPasses for the latest new-release titles, together with the new flat-rate plan means there are great game options for players with any budget.
This might not be news for people that are used to dogs or even have one as a pet, but the world is large and surely there must be some people that are a bit scared at the thought that if they meet a dog, it will probably attack them.
Now, what everyone should know is that dogs never attack without a reason, and if you follow some simple behavior rules, who knows, one day you might actually have a dog as your friend.
Dogs do not usually bite adults, and more than 60 percent of the people who are bitten are kids, with the elderly in second place and mail carriers and meter readers in third, according to Fred Cicetti, of The Healthy Geezer.
The explanation for this phenomenon is quite simple, for example, children often don't know how to act around a dog and frighten them into aggressive behavior.
Older people are slower and weaker than younger adults, so if they meet an aggressive dog, they are more likely to be bitten by it.
Finally, mail carriers on the job, are perceived by dogs as trespassers of the domain they have to defend, and … the “mailman scene” has become a classic in comedies.
For the rest of those who are scared of dogs, here are some tips to avoid being bitten: first of all, never look a dog straight in the eye, it will see it as an aggression.
Never run away from or past a dog, it could be interpreted as a challenge, an aggression or an invitation to run after you.
If one day you decide to get friendly with a dog, go up to it when it is behind a fence, tethered or in a parked car, and if an unfamiliar dog comes up to you, stand still, it will probably just sniff you and walk away.
When a dog eats or sleeps, leave it alone, and most of all, stay away from a mother watching over her pups.
A dog trainer would say that if you're ever threatened by a dog, you must not yell, but respond calmly and in a commanding voice, tell the dog to go away, and stand still until it does so or back away slowly.
If after following all these rules you still get attacked, give the dog a jacket or a bag to bite, it will always be less painful than if it bit you.
If you're having a really bad day and you get knocked down, roll yourself into a ball and lie still, while covering your face and head with your hands.
All this advice is useful but to be honest, if a rottweiler decided it does not like you and starts running your way, you are likely to forget all that you have read until now and run.
If you do so, and then you remember the advice about not running from a dog, do not stop, thinking that if you stand still the dog will stop too and walk away.
This is not likely to happen, and you risk serious problems so keep running as fast as you can and hope you are faster that the dog.
After you escape the angry dog, call your doctor if it bit you on the hand, foot or head, if the bite is deep or gaping, if you are more sensible or sick and you cannot fight the infection or if there are signs of an infection.
Also if you still bleed after 15 minutes of pressure, if you think you have a broken bone, nerve damage or another serious injury, and if your last tetanus shot was more than five years ago, pick up the phone.
If you were lucky and the bite is not serious, than you should clean the wound with soap and water, then apply pressure with a clean towel to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound with a sterile gauze.
You could also keep the wound above the heart level to slow swelling and prevent infection and you can put on an antibiotic ointment twice a day until the injury heals.
Sometimes, even if the bite is merely a scratch, you should be concerned about rabies.
The disease is rather uncommon in the US, and if a dog is apparently healthy, it probably does not have rabies.
Still if you get bitten by a dog, you should take some precautions, like checking the dog's vaccination record, if you are familiar with the animal, and even if it has been vaccinated, it should be quarantined for 10 days to make sure that none of the rabies symptoms appear.
If the dog is stray and the animal control agency or the health department do not find it, you should get the rabies shot.
For those who love numbers, here is some statistic data: over 4.7 million Americans are bitten by a dog every year, about 800,000 victims seek medical care, pf those injured, 386,000 need a treatment in an emergency department and about a dozen die.
In my experience, dogs really don't attack out of nowhere, and if you calm yourself as you pass a dog and try to convince yourself that it has no reason to bite you, it usually works.
Animals in general and especially dogs have the ability to sense nervousness in people, I guess it's somehow like a particular smell.
So be calm, think positive, leave the dog alone and you will be OK.
Microsoft is currently gearing up to release Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0, the successor to version 1.0, which was developed under the Morro codename.
But the Redmond company is not looking to rebrand the free security solution that it’s offering for genuine Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP, no matter what kind of Security Essentials flavors users might come across in the wild.
Case in point: Security Essentials 2011. Security Essentials 2011 is not Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0, or MSE 1.0, for that matter.
Some users, including many victims of scareware, might already be familiar with Security Essentials 2010, a rogue antivirus that the Redmond company tackled earlier this year.
Well, Security Essentials 2011 is also a fake antivirus, completely useless, in the sense that it is only designed to scare users into thinking their PCs are infected so that they will pay for a full license of the rogue AV.
Obviously, there are no actual threats that Security Essentials 2010 or Security Essentials 2011 detect, not that they’re capable of detecting genuine malware.
“New rogue security programs seem to be popping up all the time, but when we dig a little deeper what we see is mostly just new variants of the same old rogues.
“Five months ago, a rogue called Win32/Fakeinit that used the name "Security Essentials 2010" was released. We expected to see the "2011" version appear at some point,” revealed Microsoft’s Hamish O'Dea.
Users should understand that Security Essentials 2011 is the successor of Security Essentials 2010 and that it has nothing to do with Microsoft.
“Apart from the name, not much has changed. In fact, it still uses the same file name it used to, "se2010.exe". It seems even rogue creators have trouble keeping up with their own name changes sometimes,” O'Dea added.
Attackers are simply copying Microsoft Security Essentials with their malicious code in an attempt to give it a feeling of authenticity and pass it for genuine antivirus. This is not the case.
The Redmond company recently released a Beta Refresh of Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0, and is reportedly planning to have the final version available to users by the end of 2010.
Customers should keep in mind that Microsoft Security Essentials is offered free of charge, and that going forward, MSE 2.0 will also not require users to pay for a license.
An announcement posted to the official Twitter blog reveals that the microblogging service now boasts instant notification support on Apple’s iOS platforms. A new version of the Twitter app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is now available for free download from the iTunes App Store, featuring additional enhancement, like improved display of shortened URLs, the ability to manage saved searches on the iPad, and several UI improvements.
“When you’re out and about, your phone probably isn’t always in front of you,” Leland writes on the Twitter blog.
“It might be in your pocket or purse or on a table – perhaps with the screen off. We want to make sure you see important Tweets even when you’re not looking at Twitter at the moment. To help with that, today we’re launching push notifications for @mentions,” Leland reveals.
It works like this: those who use Twitter on their iOS device will immediately receive a notification whenever an account that they follow mentions them.
The benefit? “You’ll know who is talking to or about you on Twitter, and you’ll be able to continue the conversation in real-time,” Leland claims.
According to 9to5mac.com, Twitter 3.2.1 for iOS also brings support for the upcoming iOS 4.2.
Initially available on SMS and on the latest version of Twitter for iPhone, notifications for @mentions are accompanied by push notifications for Messages to Twitter for iPhone.
The developers at Twitter hope to have this feature ready for Android Windows Phone fans soon enough.
In order to turn on SMS notifications, users must visit twitter.com/devices and tick the boxes under “Text message notifications”.
“You can change your notifications settings at any time,” Leland caims.
To turn on notifications for @mentions from everyone, users must text ‘set mentions all’.
To turn off @mentions notifications, Twitter iOS users can text ‘set mentions off’.
MEA Mobile has announced the release of iGloLEDset, the first real-time, iPhone based, controller for color lights. Users control a 16’ strip of LED lights by moving the iPhone around in the air, or by touching the screen to paint the lights different colors. Lights are programmable, while the iOS application is, of course, free.
iGloLEDset is touted by MEA Mobile as the perfect gadget gift for tech lovers.
The real fun is programing your own sequences, the company claims. Still, hundreds of presets are already available with the standard iGLO LED Set application for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
According to the apps’ iTunes description, key features include:
- 16.4 foot strip - 120 x FULL COLOR lights - Hundreds of presets - Programmable Sequences - Savable sequences - Segment up to 8 sections the strip - Show different colors and patterns in each segment. - Real time controls - Chain up to 3 strips together for 49 feet of lights - App can control multiple kits - Universal power supply - Also works with iPod Touch, iPad & iPhone 4
“iGloLEDSet is the most physically engaging lighting technology since the on switch,” said Bruce Seymour managing director of MEA Mobile, “Devices controlling other devices is convergence defined. At MEA Mobile, we are excited to be a part of this eruption which is the mobile device space today.”
“Before today only limited quantities of the iGloLEDset were available. Our production is now in full swing and we anticipate robust holiday sales for Christmas lights applications and more,” said Seymour.
Beginning today, the product is shipping worldwide and is now available through Amazon.com or directly at igloledset.com. The company also confirmed availability for a Car Kit which ships with a power inverter to run the iGloLEDset inside a car.
The iGLO LED Set application requires iOS 3.0 or later and is localized in English only.
