Major carrier rivals AT&T and T-Mobile USA have agreed to share their networks to customers of the other company in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, namely in New York and New Jersey.
Millions of customers were affected by power outages and flooding after the two day hurricane rolled through the East Coast.
The network roaming agreement calls for no fees or charges to their current rate plans if they roam.
"AT&T and T-Mobile customers will be able to place calls just as they normally would, but their calls will be carried by whichever network is most operational in their area," the press release reads. "This will be seamless for AT&T and T-Mobile customers with no change to their current rate plans or service agreements even if the phone indicates the device is attached to the other carrier's network."
AT&T and T-Mobile use the same GSM and UMTS standards, making an agreement possible. Sprint and Verizon use different CDMA standards.
Microsoft has unveiled that the popular Halo franchise has sold 46 million units since original launch in 2001.
The franchise has generated $3 billion in revenue, in total, with most of the games bringing in over $100 million in revenue on day one.
More recently, Halo: Reach brought in $200 million in revenue in 24 hours across the U.S. and Europe.
"Halo is a $3 billion blockbuster franchise which has shaped entertainment history and defined a generation of gamers," added Microsoft's Chris Lewis (via GI.biz).
To boost awareness of the upcoming Halo 4 (not that it needs any), Lewis says: "From the world's first ever red-carpet premieres for a video game to sending a man strapped to a jet-pack 50-foot above London's iconic skyline, Halo launches have continually broken the mould and we are back with a colossal bang for Halo 4, transforming a country on the biggest scale imaginable".
Just a couple of weeks before launch, Nintendo has revealed the digital benefits of purchasing a Wii U Deluxe set.
The set, which costs $50 more than the Basic model, comes with a number of hardware upgrades and accesries, which have long been known. The system itself is in the black colorway, there is 32GB of internal memory (compared to 8GB for the basic), the console comes with NintendoLand, and Nintendo is including a charging cradle and stand for the tablet controller, as well as a stand for the system itself.
Alongside those upgrades, if you opt for the Deluxe set, you get digital promotions, as well. Gamers will earn 10 percent of their purchase back in points at the Nintendo eShop, for everything they purchase. For every 500 points, you receive $5 in eShop money to spend as you please, making it a pretty solid deal if you were planning to buy some titles that cost $59.99 right off the bat.
The U.S. DOE has activated the world's most powerful supercomputer, dubbed the 'Titan.'
Speaking from their Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) facility, the agency said the supercomputer was live, with the ability to calculate at 20 petaflops (FLOPS stands for "Floating Point operations per Second", so 20 PFLOP/s == 20 quadrillion floating point operations per second, or 20,000,000,000,000,000 floating point operations per second).
Titan is 10 times more powerful than the ORNL's current 'Jaguar' machine, which is the sixth fastest machine in the world after long being the top dog.
The ORNL's press release says the computer is powered by the Cray XK7 system:
"The Cray XK7 system contains 18,688 nodes, with each holding a 16-core AMD Opteron 6274 processor and an NVIDIA Tesla K20 graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerator. Titan also has more than 700 terabytes of memory. The combination of central processing units, the traditional foundation of high-performance computers, and more recent GPUs will allow Titan to occupy the same space as its Jaguar predecessor while using only marginally more electricity."
Yesterday we reported that Apple was in the midst of a major management overhaul, with long-time executive and iOS boss Scott Forstall being let go.
Additionally, new retail boss John Browett was let go, as well. Supposedly, Forstall was fired because he would not sign off on the company's apology over the buggy iOS 6 Maps.
According to multiple reports, Apple's employees are actually very happy with the recent turn of events. Said one employee: "This was better than the Giants winning the World Series. People are really excited."
Read a second report: "Forstall's firing was met with a sense of quiet jubilation, especially among people who worked in the engineering groups. Or as one my sources quipped: there are a lot of people going out for celebratory drinks, even if there is a little bit of doubt about their roles in the future."
Obviously, iOS remains a massive part of the Apple bottom line, with iPads and iPhones accounting for at least 70 percent of all revenue on a quarterly basis.
According to a lead voice actor, Infinity Ward's next game will be "Modern Warfare 4," as expected.
Bill Murray (not that Bill Murray), is the voice actor for Captain Price, the protagonist of the series. In an interview with ThisIsXbox, Murray says he has already begun work on the next game, with a meeting next week to speak with the developer about the title.
The title will start where the last game ended: "Yeah on Monday I am off to meet Infinity Ward about the next game, Modern Warfare 4, I'm doing work on the sequel to Modern Warfare 3, it carries straight on and I only ever appear in the Modern Warfare games..."
Infinity is releasing COD Black Ops 2 in the coming weeks, and MW4 likely to see release for the holidays of next year.
As of this morning, Apple's initial supply of new fourth-generation iPads have sold out, with shipping times being pushed to one week after release.
The tablet is set for release on Friday, as is the new iPad mini, which also sold out in record pace and now has a shipping time of 3 weeks.
Apple unveiled the device last week, and the tablet sells for $499 base, the same price as the third generation iPad which was released in March.
The new tablet brings the new A6X processor, which clocks in at 1.4GHz and paired with 1GB RAM promises double the performance of the third-generation device.
In their ongoing efforts to expand the Windows Store app ecosystem, the Redmond giant has unveiled new apps from major developers.
PayPal, the online payment system, will be supplying an API for developers who want to use the services within their own Windows Store apps.
Dropbox, the extremely popular cloud syncing service, is "coming soon," says Microsoft, although there was little else revealed.
Just like it does for other platforms, the new ESPN app will aggregate scores and videos, with pin support as a live tile for the new Windows 8 start screen.
Rovio has released the first gameplay video for the upcoming Angry Birds: Star Wars edition.
In the demo, Rovio shows Luke and Leia in action, using the "traditional" Angry Birds physics but with some new special moves. For example, Luke can use a lightsaber attack post-launch and Leia can use a laser shot.
Additionally, the pigs have gotten some weapons, as well, with their areas being able to shoot projectiles.
Of course, besides the characters, there are popular Star Wars locations, including Hoth and Tatooine.
The game will be available for iOS, Android, Mac and PC on November 8th.
Apple's iPad Mini shipping times have jumped to two weeks now as pre-orders from the online store have sold out.
The white 16GB Wi-Fi version sold out within 20 minutes when it went on sale on Friday at 3 AM but the black version remained available for a few more days.
Quick sales have been a constant with the iPad, but it is unclear how many units Apple made available.
The iPad Mini costs $329, and is the smallest tablet Apple has made available. It is 7.2 mm thin and weighs 0.68lbs, 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third generation iPad, featuring a 7.9-inch multi-touch display. It features FaceTime HD and iSight cameras. It's battery life matches that of its bigger brother, at 10 hours. The iPad mini is powered by an A5 chip, the same dual-core chip powering the third-gen iPad.
With Hurricane Sandy picking up strength as it reaches the East Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has tweeted some advice to those in affected areas.
The agency says cell networks will likely be congested over the next day or two, and texting or using social networks will help alleviate such strain on the networks.
So far, over 700,000 people on the East Coast have lost power, and for many cell use is all they have left.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said this week that he is very confident about Wii U launch sales.
The exec says there were strong pre-order figures for the console, in all regions where it is launching. The console will hit North America, Europe and Australia next month and Japan in December.
"If you look at how preorders are doing at the moment, it is not an exaggeration to say that Wii U is sure to sell well in this holiday season," noted Iwata.
Most retailers sold out of both Wii U bundles, and Iwata noted last week there were 250,000 people on a waiting list. By comparison, the best selling console in the U.S. currently, the Xbox 360, sold about 275,000 consoles last month.
Iwata also noted that some launch games have been pushed back to 2013 to keep gamers interested: "Nintendo tends to release too many titles at the launch of a hardware system and as a result suffers a drop in new games for quite some time after launch, and for the Wii U launch, we are being very careful not to let it happen. Fortunately, third-party publishers overseas are launching many titles for us this time, and we were able to push back the release of some of the titles that we had originally intended to release as launch titles until next year."
Apple has just announced a major shakeup within its management, announcing that John Browett and Scott Forstall will both be stepping down.
Browett was hired last year to run the company's retail division and Forstall was the head of iOS and a longtime Apple executive.
As part of the changes,current execs Jony Ive, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will be given more responsibility.
Forstall will remain as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook until next year, confirmed the company.
"We are in one of the most prolific periods of innovation and new products in Apple's history," added Cook. "The amazing products that we've introduced in September and October, iPhone 5, iOS 6, iPad mini, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, iPod touch, iPod nano and many of our applications, could only have been created at Apple and are the direct result of our relentless focus on tightly integrating world-class hardware, software and services."
Google has announced today that it will roll out the popular Google Music cloud service to Europe on November 13th.
Perhaps more importantly, the service will also include the new scan-and-match feature, which is great for users who do not want to, or cannot upload their entire libraries manually.
Europe will get scan-and-match first, with Google Music, with the U.S. getting it "soon after."
The service will also be free, beating out competitors like Amazon and Apple who charge $25 per year for it.
Alongside their new hardware, Google also unveiled Android 4.2 today, the latest update to the mobile operating system.
The software will be available immediately on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 devices when they are released on November 13th.
As rumored, Android 4.2 will allow multiple user accounts, meaning family members or other groups can share the device while keeping their own settings.
Additionally, the OS adds a "quick settings" icon, similar to the power control bar currently on Android devices, and very similar to the quick settings option of HTC Sense. In Android 4.2, the icon will allow you to rapidly switch between user accounts, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, airplane mode, adjust brightness and more.
Google has also redone the gallery app, adding "Photo Sphere." Sphere lets you take 360-degree panoramic photos, an update from the panorama of Android 4.0 and 4.1.
Finally, the update brings gesture typing, similar to Swype and SwiftKey's new Flow beta.
The Nexus 7 features a 7" 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi), Android 4.1, Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, scratch-resistant Corning glass, a 1.2MP front-side camera, NFC (Android Beam) and a 4325 mAh battery.
Google has unveiled their Nexus 10 tablet today, the full-sized brother to the popular Nexus 7 and a true iPad competitor.
Built by Samsung, the device features a 10.1 inch display with an incredible 2,560 x 1,600-pixelresolution. With a ppi of 300, the company has built a display that rivals and surpasses Apple's Retina.
Android head Andy Rubin says even with the display, the Nexus 10 will last 9 hours when playing video and 500 hours on standby.
Priced ultra competitively, just like the new Nexus 4, the 16GB version of the tablet will cost $399 and $499 for the 32GB model.
Under the hood is a dual-core, Cortex A15-based 1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos 5250, which Google says is faster than Apple's new iPad A6. Furthermore, there is a Mali T604 GPU, stereo speakers, 2GB of RAM, NFC, 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO + HT40) WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, with front-and rear NFC (Android beam) radios. There are dual 5/1.9-MP cameras, a microUSB, Pogo Pin, microHDMI for connectivity, and a thin frame of just 8.9mm.
Google has unveiled its poorly kept secret, the LG Nexus 4.
The powerful device features a a 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 320 ppi IPS+ LCD display, runs on a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, has 2GB RAM, an 8 megapixel camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wireless Charging.
Google has also made the back of etched glass that sparkles as if it is different layers. The phone also includes a large 2100mAh and the screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 2 tech.
The search giant has priced the device extremely competitively, at just $299 for 8GB of storage, or $349 with 16GB without contract.
With the amazing price and specs, there is one downside, no LTE radio. The unlocked device does have access to fast 4G HSPA+, but no LTE. Additionally, it may upset some consumers that there is no microSD slot.
Amazon has updated their homepage to show off how the Kindle Fire HD compares to the new iPad Mini.
While the "attack" is tame compared to Samsung's recent ad campaigns, it does take a shot at how little Apple is really offering with its new tablet.
The Kindle Fire HD sells for $199 while the new iPad sells for $329. The Kindle has a better screen resolution and a better PPI to go along with its dual speakers.
Amazon also added a quote to the homepage, from a Gizmodo article it appears: "...your [;] 7.9-inch tablet has far fewer pixels than the competing 7-inch tablets! You're cramming a worse screen in there, charging more, and accusing others of compromise? Ballsy."
Apple stepped into this world with its latest tablet, and should likely expect more heat from rivals, including Google, Samsung and Amazon.
The low-end Nokia 510 has been made official in China and India.
Nokia will introduce the phone as its entry-level Lumia in the nations.
Under the hood is Windows Phone 7.5, a Snapdragon S1 800MHz single-core processor, 256MB RAM, and 4GB internal memory. There is a 5MP rear camera, but it lacks autofocus and flash.
The display is 4-inches with a WVGA (480x800) resolution.
A Polish website has posted new posters of the upcoming GTA V game, showing off an autumn 2013 release date, at least for Europe.
The posters look very official, but Rockstar has not confirmed the authenticity.
If the posters are legit, the date is a bit later than earlier speculated.
Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter had already said that the delay of the upcoming BioShock title hinted that GTA V will launch in May of next year.
Take-Two's financial figures are what caused Pachter to believe that. The publishers' figures show that it anticipates between $1.75-$1.85 billion for the year ending March 31, 2013.
Pachter believes that the guidance is "unattainable" without a major Rockstar title. He believes the developer will provide $1.1 billion to Take-Two's bottom line, with $300 million coming from Max Payne 3 and its DLC, and a further $150 million from Rockstar's existing catalog. That leaves a void of $650 million, which Pachter believes could easily be accounted for by GTA V.
Even though it was made available unofficially at Staples last week, it appears the Google Nexus 7 is finally official and widely available.
Office Depot and Gamestop are offering the tablet at $249, replacing the price point of the 16GB model. The 16GB has seen a price drop to $199, with the 8GB model being discontinued.
The spec sheet did reveal one surprise, however, and that is the version of Android. Most speculated it would run the upcoming 4.2 right out of the box, but the specs say 4.1.2.
It is likely that 4.2 is coming, very soon, as Google was supposed to unveil the update at their press event on Monday. That has since been postponed due to the incoming Hurricane Sandy.
Additionally, the search giant is expected to unveil the Nexus 4 smartphone and the Nexus 10 full-sized tablet at the event.
If you live on the East Coast of the U.S., you have no doubt been inundated by news about the incoming "Frankenstorm," Hurricane Sandy.
For those that live in New York and New Jersey, states of emergency have already been declared by the Governors of the respective states and even by President Obama, who has backed the states with aid and FEMA support.
A great way to follow the storm, especially if you live in the affected states, is through webcams that are situated at popular spots.
Microsoft has come out swinging with its first ARM-based tablet, but does it live up to all of Microsoft's promises?
Back in June, Microsoft unveiled the Surface tablets, one based on the popular ARM architecture seen in most tablets and smartphones and one based on the standard Intel/AMD x86/x64 architecture seen in nearly all PCs. The first to be released is the ARM-based device, which features its own form of Windows 8 dubbed Windows RT.
The device is priced equal to the Apple iPad and higher-end Android tablets but it is being branded as more than just a tablet, it is being branded as a desktop/laptop replacement.
In this review, we will discover if Microsoft has lived up to that promise.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has confirmed that foreign hackers attacked the South Carolina Department of Revenue, stealing 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers.
For the cards, 16,000 were unencrypted, but the exposed social security numbers will affect 78 percent of all of South Carolina's population.
Says Haley: "The number of records breached requires an unprecedented, large-scale response by the Department of Revenue, the State of South Carolina and all our citizens."
If you have filed a tax return in the state since 1998, the Governor is urging you to call 1-866-578-5422. If your number was exposed, you will be given a free year of identity theft protection through Experian's ProtectMyID service.
Authorities say the attack was definitely foreign, and the FBI and Secret Service have joined in the investigation.
Apple's latest, the iPhone 5, will reach a plethora of new nations on November 2nd.
The company had allegedly prepared to release the device in the nations this week, but supply issues forced the delay.
As part of their global rollout plan, the phone is headed to India, Mexico, Greece, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, Malta, Romania, and Thailand.
The device launched in 9 countries on September 21, followed by an additional 22 countries the next week.
Casio has unveiled a new enterprise Android tablet that will also double as a scanner.
Dubbed the "Paper Writer," the tablet has a front-facing camera that faces downward, allowing it to take images of any documents placed directly in front of the device.
Built in is special software for character recognition that works with hand-written notes and uses symbols as tags for saving. As long as the paper being scanned has "reasonable contrast" to the ink, you should have no issues with scanning. Early reviews say there is a business card feature as well, although it is still buggy.
The base model will sell for $2500 in Japan in November, boasting a 10-inch screen, a low end dual-core 1.5GHz OMAP processor, a large 7000mAh battery and a rubberized case for water and shock resistance. An American and European launch is set for later in the year.
According to Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller, customers have finally stopped asking for Blu-ray drives in their Macs.
Many of the new Macs, especially the popular Mac Air ultrabook line, do not have an optical drive to begin with, so that may be helping Apple's case.
In 2008, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs made headlines when he called Blu-ray "a bag of hurt." At the time, Jobs said: "Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace."
Two years later, Blu-ray had become mainstream but Jobs reamined anti-Blu: "Blu-ray is looking more and more like one of the high end audio formats that appeared as the successor to the CD - like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats."
Schiller said this week in an interview that native Blu-ray support is probably never coming to Macs: "Schiller pointed out that one major application for optical drives, software distribution, has gone largely digital. As for video, he said that "Blu-ray has come with issues unrelated to the actual quality of the movie that make [it] a complex and not-great technology...So for a whole plethora of reasons, it makes a lot of sense to get rid of optical discs in desktops and notebooks."
BriefMobile has posted an official photo of the upcoming, yet still unofficial, Google Nexus 10 tablet.
The tablet is expected to be released on Monday at Google's press event where it will unveil the Nexus 4 phone, Android 4.2 and the Nexus 10, a tablet built by Samsung.
Besides Android 4.2, under the hood the tablet features a dual-core Cortex-A15-based 1.7GHz Samsung Exynos 5250, a Mali-T604 GPU, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 5MP rear-facing camera, NFC / WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. unfortunately, there is no microSD expansion slot.
While some may complain about the processor being dual-core, the Exynos has clocked in much faster than the Snapdragon S4 Pro and the new Apple A6, making it an incredibly efficient and powerful chip.
Google has begun trialing same-day delivery, testing the service in San Francisco for employees and friends.
The search giant has not officially unveiled the service, but sources claim it has been in development for over a year.
Supposedly, one major apparel chain has already signed up, with more expected before an eventual launch.
Amazon started the trend of same-day shipping last year, and eBay, Wal-Mart and even the US Postal Service are testing similar services now.
Google will not own or operate their own warehouses or shipping service but will instead team up with delivery companies and major retailers.
While it is clear why same-day delivery is a huge victory for retailers and consumers, it remains unclear why Google is getting into the business. The NYTimes speculates the company will use the service to help profit from mobile advertisements: "On computers, Google and advertisers know if a user clicks on an ad and visits or buys on another Web site. But they lose track of customers who look up a business or product on their phone and then put their phone away, walk into the store and buy something. Online ordering and delivery could help solve that problem."
Following in the footsteps of Apple, it appears a Google employee has lost a prototype of the upcoming LG Nexus 4 at a San Francisco bar.
Back in 2010, a prototype iPhone 4 was left at a bar and was later purchased by a Gizmodo editor, who revealed it to the world months before its highly-anticipated official unveiling.
According to Wired, a bartender at the 500 Club in San Francisco, Jamin Barton, found the unclaimed smartphone in September, with the Google branding and a sticker that read "not for sale."
Barton gave the phone to a friend who contacted Google in an effort to return it. The next day, the friend told Barton that he had been threatened by Google, and that the search giant's Global Investigations & Intelligence Manager, Brian Katz, began telling employees at the 500 Club that Google could potentially file criminal charges over the phone.
A couple of days later, Google retrieved the phone, and Katz offered Barton a free phone if he kept the situation to himself.
Clearwire has announced this week that it will use equipment from large Chinese firm Huawei to upgrade its data network starting next year.
The plan has been blessed by the U.S. government, more specifically by "the technical arms of multiple federal agencies." The company says it has "great respect for the U.S. government and their oversight role over the nation's infrastructure."
A congressional report earlier in the month had tried to block such a move, claiming Chinese state influence as a potential security threat.
Clearwire is majority owned by Sprint, which uses the high-speed network to boost its own spectrum and capacity. Sprint also provides carrier services to the U.S. government.
Overall, Huawei equipment will only represent about "5 percent of Clearwire's total budget for the network upgrade to Long Term Evolution Technology and that the company is "materially reducing their footprint" for its LTE network."
Apple has intensified their recent discussions with the major music labels in an effort to get their own streaming radio service launched.
The service would be supported by ads and would be a direct competitor to Pandora.
For now, the negotiations are revolving around how the labels and the company will share ad revenue.
Sources close to the discussion say a deal could be reached by as soon as mid-November, with Apple starting the service in February or March of 2013.
Pandora was one of the pioneers of the service, allowing customers to hear streaming music that is placed into playlists due to their similar rhythms, genres, or artists. Apple will look to do away with Pandora's largest restriction, which is the amount of times per hour an artist can be played and how many times tracks can be skipped.
Apple is the world's largest music retailer, offering over 20 million tracks through iTunes to its 400 million registered users. The service would be tailored to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users, with little focus being placed on a Web browser-based option.
GameStop has announced a new store concept aimed directly at kids, or those that remain kids at heart.
The aptly named GameStop Kids will be rolled out to 80 malls around the U.S.
"We are always striving to make the shopping experience better for holiday gift givers," added Bob Puzon, GameStop's vice president of merchandising. "GameStop Kids takes that one step further by having the hottest brands and products that people of all ages can love – from Star Wars and LEGO to modern favorites like Skylanders Giants."
Each of the stores will feature video games and accessories including toys and collectibles:
Skylanders: GameStop exclusive Golden Dragonfire Cannon Battlepack, additional characters, throws, backpacks, carriers and displays
Angry Birds: Angry Birds plush with sound effects, splat balls, mash'ems launcher pack, backpack clips, mugs and coming soon: Angry Birds Star Wars plush
LEGO: Lord of the Rings, Stars Wars and Harry Potter build sets along with Marvel character build sets
Star Wars: Two-foot plush talking Chewbacca, key chains, phone cases, banks and more
Minecraft: Minecreeper head, LEGO Minecraft Microworld and foam pick axe
Earlier this month, we reported that Microsoft was blocking mature PEGI 16+ rated games from the Windows 8 marketplace in Europe or ESRB MATURE in the U.S.
Today, it appears Microsoft will revise the Windows Store guidelines to allow such games, much to the relief of developers and gamers alike.
Had the rule remained, in Europe, games such as Halo, Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed would have been banned from the Store, due to their rating.
Microsoft has allegedly revealed that it will block mature PEGI 16+ rated games from the Windows 8 marketplace in Europe or ESRB MATURE in the U.S.
Read more...
Despite reports that it would be delayed, LG has brought the first Ultra HDTV to the U.S.
The TV, which is 84-inches, will retail for $20,000 and be available only at Video and Audio Center, an independent electronics retailer in California. The store is selling the massive TV for $17,000, a discount on its MSRP.
Ultra HD, formerly known as 4K, is a standard that requires a 3840 x 2160 pixelresolution and 16:9aspect ratio. Additionally, any Ultra HD display must have at least one digital input for native 4K video, not just upscaling.
Amazon reported their quarterly earnings today, posting a loss for the first time since 2003.
The big drag was struggling daily deal giant Living Social and higher expenses for their ecosystem and delivery system.
Amazon, the world's largest e-tailer, saw a loss of $274 million even though revenue jumped 27 percent to $13.8 billion year-over-year.
CEO Jeff Bezos says the company is opening 19 worldwide fulfillment centers to offer faster delivery for the holidays. With this, however, expenses jumped 28 percent, dragging on potential profits.
The biggest loss came via LivingSocial, however, where the company owns a majority stake. After investing $175 million in the service, the company was forced to take a $169 million loss this quarter.
According to Sprint's latest quarterly earnings report, earnings improved although the company did post a large loss.
The company saw a net loss of $767 million, down from $1.38 billion last quarter.
Furthermore, the carrier added 410,000 subscribers, slightly down from last quarter's 442.000 gain but still healthy.
Sprint's biggest bet in history, the iPhone, saw 1.5 million units sold during the quarter, same as last quarter. Last year, the company made a massive $15.5 billion investment with Apple for four years worth of iPhones. CEO Dan Hesse admitted that the carrier had to pay Apple a 40 percent higher subsidy than Verizon and AT&T.
Major Japanese carrier recently announced its intention to purchase Sprint for $20.1 billion.
Although it has been rumored for over a month and even seen via very official looking press photos, Google has not officially unveiled the LG Nexus 4 just yet, instead waiting for their press event on October 29th and release just one day later.
The company put up a pre-order page, including a pic and specs of the device, and an inventory screenshot shows the price.
LG's latest will feature a 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 768 resolution, Android 4.2, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, NFC, and an 8-megapixel rear camera. As rumored, the phone will have just 8GB on internal storage, 2GB RAM and be just 9.1mm thick.
According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo Wii U has blasted past their pre-order expectations.
Additionally, there are now 250,000 GameStop customers on a wait list for the console.
Unsurprisingly, the Wii U Deluxe is selling better than the cheaper Basic set, due to its extra accessories. Each bundle is set for release on November 18th, with the base model costing $300 and the deluxe edition selling for $350.
The base model will include the Wii U console with 8GB memory and the Wii U GamePad in all white. The deluxe edition comes with 32GB and a GamePad charging cradle. Additionally, it will come bundled with the game NintendoLand.
"As production only started this summer, it is has now become more likely that it is our production capacity, rather than consumer demand, that will place limits on our Wii U prospects for this calendar year," Iwata said. "But we will make every effort to supply as many units as possible, and we will strive to continue to ship Wii U hardware without any interruptions in each regions even after its launch."
Microsoft will sell the Xbox 360 with a two-year subscription to Live Gold for $99, the cheapest the hardware has ever been available for.
The company recently announced they had reached 70 million units sold, leading the PlayStation 3 in the console race. Consumers in the U.S. purchased 270,000 consoles last month, alone.
For your $99, you receive a 4GB Xbox 360 and a Kinect sensor, but you commit to two years of Xbox Live Gold. The service will cost $13 a month, making the full price of the bundle about $420 after two years.
The bundle was available at Microsoft retail stores, but those are available only on the West Coast. The bundle will now be available at Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart and Toys "R" Us stores.
"I think that the $99 program has always been a test to see if Microsoft can do it with the launch of the next Xbox," add video game industry analyst Michael Pachter. "They're rolling out to broader retail so everyone is ready for the next generation launch, likely to be subsidized by cable companies since the next generation will likely have a TV tuner built-in."
According to a new report, Microsoft will not release a second service pack for Windows 7.
Instead of packaging everything into a service pack, Microsoft will just continue to patch every month until support for the OS comes to an end.
The software giant has not confirmed nor denied the report, so it is unclear whether the new move will be a standard moving forward with Windows 7 and the new Windows 8.
Looking backwards, Windows XP launched in 2001 and saw its first SP one year later. SP2 was released in 2004, followed by service pack patches and then finally SP3 in 2008, a year before the launch of Windows 7.
Vista got SP1 in 2008, a year after launch, and SP2 in 2009. Windows 7 got its first, and possibly only SP, in 2010.
Microsoft has unveiled the pricing for their cloud-based Office 365 University.
The productivity suite is aimed at college kids and will be cheaper than a regular license.
Starting in February, college students can subscribe to the service for a four-year subscription price of just $79.99. Microsoft notes this costs students just $1.67 per month.
If you do not graduate in four years or move on to Master's and Doctorate programs, you can renew for another four years at the same price. Faculty and staff of higher education institutions can also access the software.
Being a "cloud" service means all documents created are automatically saved to your SkyDrive cloud storage locker. With each subscription, students are given 27GB of free storage.
Office 365 can be installed on two devices and includes access to online versions of Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.
T-Mobile USA has made the Samsung Galaxy Note II available today, although the price tag is big enough to scare off anyone who was on the fence about buying the "phablet."
The powerful Jelly Bean-powered phone will cost $370 with contract and be available in just the "Marble White" and "Titanium Gray" colorways to start.
If you want the phone, off-contract, it will set you back $649.99.
The new device runs on Android 4.1, has a 5.5-inch screen, a new 16:9aspect ratio meaning 1280x720 resolution.
Additionally, despite having a larger screen, the Note II is actually thinner than its predecessor, at 9.4mm. The new S Pen is longer, and also thicker than last year's, but with a more ergonomic grip.
Under the hood, the phone is powered by a quad-core 1.6GHz processor and 2GB RAM. The device has an 8MP LED rear camera and a 1.9MP front-side camera, a microSD slot, MHL, NFC, dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and Glonass, Wi-Fi Direct, 21 Mbps HSPA+ or 4G LTE support.
Following their press event yesterday in which they unveiled the the long-rumored iPad Mini as well as a refreshed iPad, the company has quietly dumped the price on a refurbished third-generation model.
The third gen iPad was released in just March but has now been discontinued, meaning Apple has some inventory to unload.
As of yesterday, Apple is now selling the Wi-Fi only 16GB Apple iPad 3 in White or Black with a 1-year Apple warranty for just $379, including free shipping. That price is much lower than the $500 consumers were paying for the same model (new) just two days ago, which may anger recent purchasers. Apple has said it will upgrade your recently purchased iPad to the new fourth-generation if you purchased the tablet within the last 30 days and it is in mint condition.
The new refresh of the tablet Apple is powered by the A6X chip, promising double the processing and graphics performance over the third generation iPad. It features a 9.7-inch Retina Display, and adds a FaceTime HD camera. Apple also promises twice the performance from Wi-Fi with the fourth generation iPad, along with broader international support for LTE.
Sharp has said today that their new IGZO display tech will lead to triple the battery life in smartphones and tablets, as well as offer better touch sensitivity.
The company also proudly boasted that shipments of devices with the new tech will "surge," although they neglected to state a time table.
For the time being, only two devices have been announced with the tech, both from Sharp themselves for sale in Japan.
IGZO is a backplane technology describing the materials used for the thin film transistors that drive the display. The tech requires less LEDs for backlighting leading to a huge improvement in power draw and therefore, battery life. So much so, that Sharp says mobile devices could have up to 300 percent better battery life, a number that cannot be ignored.
For example, Sharp's own Aquos Phone has a 2,320mAh battery and the company says it should last a full 48 hours on a single charge with "normal usage." Most current smartphones (with the exception of the Motorola Maxx line), including the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S III average 18-24 hours for "normal" usage on a single charge.
Netflix released its Q3 2012 earnings today, sending shares falling as much as 12 percent.
On the positive side, Netflix revealed it now has 25.1 million streaming subscribers in the U.S., up significantly from the 23.9 million users last quarter, and 21.5 million during the same period last year.
DVD subscribers dropped by 690,000 as it continues its trend to zero. International streaming customers also increased exponentially, from 1.5 million during the same quarter in 2011 to 4.3 million as of this quarter.
Revenue increased to $905 million, and net income came in at $8 million.
CEO Reed Hastings took time to discuss threats to their streaming service, including Amazon and HBO. The company downplayed both but did note that HBO will likely "go direct-to-consumer in the U.S., and become more of a competitor to Netflix" in the future.
In an effort to curb the piracy of their products in the nation, Microsoft has announced they will not offer boxed versions of Windows 8 in China.
If you want to purchase the OS legitimately in the nation, you will need to purchase it digitally or have it pre-installed on a new computer.
"After having talked to many customers, Microsoft has made the decision to simplify the distribution model of Windows in China, by taking all physical Windows media off the market," the company noted.
Although that doesn't make too much sense, Microsoft did add later that the move was made to help protect customers from malware and spyware. Many counterfeit copies sold on the streets include some type of spyware pre-installed.
China has long been one of the world's worst offenders in regards to piracy, with the BSA claiming the illegal software sales market in 2011 totaled $9 billion compared to $3 billion for legal sales.
By some accounts, pirated Windows copies account for 85 percent of the total Windows copies installed in China.
Apple has confirmed that it will give consumers who purchased a third-generation iPad in the last 30 days a free upgrade to the newly announced fourth generation iPad.
That being said, the exchange will have to be done in stores, and is at the discretion of the store itself.
Some stores may not choose to exchange, but anyone who purchased in the last two weeks is still under the 14-day return policy no matter what.
The new fourth generation iPad is powered by a new A6X chip, promising double the processing and graphics performance over the third generation iPad. It features a 9.7-inch Retina Display, and adds a FaceTime HD camera. Apple also promises twice the performance from Wi-Fi with the fourth generation iPad, along with broader international support for LTE.
The fourth generation iPad also features the new lightning connector, which can be utilized for TV out via a "Lightning to HDMI" or "Lightning to VGA" cable, and other cables adapters also support cameras and SD cards.
Microsoft has announced that Xbox SmartGlass will be launched the same day as Windows 8, on Friday.
The new feature will be the company's first real try at "second-screen entertainment," blending together movies, media and games between Microsoft-powered gaming consoles, smartphones, tablets and PCs.
For right now, only Windows 8 tablets and smartphones will have access to the feature, but the company has promised iOS and Android apps in the near future.
The company listed the games and other applications that have SmartGlass support, right at the launch.
Games: Ascend
Dance Central 3
Forza Horizon
Halo Waypoint
Home Run Stars
Karaoke
Kinect Sesame Street TV Prima Games
Sports: ESPN
NBA Game Time
UFC
Entertainment Apps: Elections 2012
HBO GO
MSN
NBC News
NOW TV
Slacker Radio
TODAY
Univision
Amazon has discontinued the original Kindle Touch today, choosing to focus on its new Paperwhite model instead.
The $99 Touch is no longer available through Amazon, and heading to its page will instead redirect you to the Paperwhite product page, which costs $20 more but is thinner and offers "Paperwhite," backlighting so you can read your books in low light or no light environments.
Amazon's latest is also on backorder for 4-6 weeks, due to huge demand (and probably some supply side issues, as well).
It appears now that Paperwhite was always seen as a replacement to the Touch, and that Amazon was looking to sell through any remaining inventory of the Touch.
As reported last week, the company also said good night to its oversized 9.7-inch Kindle DX.
Earlier today, we reported that Samsung was allegedly ending its LCD contracts with Apple by 2013.
Samsung has quickly denied the rumor, which came from a Korea Times report citing an anonymous Samsung official. The company says the story was completely untrue and that "Samsung Display has never tried to cut the supply for LCD panels to Apple."
Original Story:
The rift between both giants continues to widen as Samsung is reportedly cutting its LCD supply contracts with Apple. The report from the Korea Times said that Samsung has already cut its LCD shipments to Apple in recent months, but will cease shipping LCD screens to the iPad-maker in 2013.
Samsung was the largest supplier of LCD screens to Apple in the first half of 2012, topping 15 million screens, somewhat ahead of LG Display's 12.5 million. In the third quarter however, Samsung shipped less than 3 million LCDs to Apple, and is expected to ship only around 1.5 million LCD screens in the fourth quarter.
Read more...
The poorly kept secret that is the LG Nexus 4 will be officially unveiled on October 29th, says an LG exec.
LG's Head of Mobile Product Planning in India, Amit Gujral told a reporter that the phone will indeed be unveiled next week, at Google's previously announced press event. Google is also expected to unveil a 10-inch tablet and an update to Android itself.
As rumored, the device will have a 4.7-inch 1280x768 display, a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, dual cameras and Android 4.2.
Under the hood is 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and a large 2100mAh battery.
What remains unclear is when the device will be available, and at what price from the Google Play Hardware Store.
Hulu has unveiled a dedicated Hulu Plus app for Windows 8.
The app will be optimized for touch screen, and just like the newly launched Skype app, will be available with Windows 8's launch on Friday.
"The Hulu Plus app uses a tile-based view common to the new Windows UI. This will make it easy for you to find the latest episode of the shows you want to watch, but also to discover new ones," Hulu added in a post.
Additionally, "launching the app presents you with an immersive panorama of your favorite shows and episodes laid out in a wide canvas," Hulu said.
Sprint has announced its biggest 4G LTE rollout yet.
The carrier has expanded the fast data network to new markets in Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Texas for a total of 32 markets.
Users who want the faster LTE will now have it in Hutchinson and McPherson, Kan.; New Bedford and Fall River, Mass.; and Wichita Falls, Texas. Additionally, the rollout includes Addison, Bolingbrook, Des Plaines, Downers Grove, Kankakee, Rockford, Joliet, Naperville, Palatine, Plainfield, Ill., and Gary, Ind.
By the end of the year, Sprint says it expects to have LTE available to over 125 markets. By comparison, Verizon's faster LTE is available to 400 markets and AT&T is available to 77.
Microsoft has unveiled the long-awaited Skype for Windows 8, which will be available starting on Friday with the launch of the Surface and other Windows 8 products.
The company says the software will be a brand new experience, with contacts and messaging placed at the forefront. Right after the client is launched, recent chat bubbles, messages and your most frequently messaged contacts will appear.
"Skype has also made it even easier for you to call landlines or mobile phones directly, with a new modern dial pad," added Mark Gillett, chief development and operations officer at Skype. "You can easily see how much Skype Credit you have along with active subscriptions and your recent calls all in one easy view."
As with most new apps, the new Skype will show up in Windows 8 as a live tile, including notifications for any missed calls or messages.
Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion last year, ensuring the popular international video chatting service is available on all Windows devices into the future.
The large resolution display format "4K" will now be known as "Ultra High Definition" for consumers.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) made the announcement this week, claiming the new name would make it more clear for consumers that the displays have a resolution above Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 pixels.
Ultra HD will require resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels vertically, the CEA said. Furthermore, any Ultra HD display will require at least one 4K-capable digital input and be able to display 4K content natively without upconverting.
"This new terminology and the recommended attributes will help consumers navigate the marketplace to find the TV that best meets their needs," concluded president and CEO of CEA Gary Shapiro.
Microsoft has sold 70 million Xbox 360, a strong milestone for the aging console.
The console launched in November 2005, a year ahead of the rival Sony PlayStation 3.
At 70 million, Microsoft will have the eight best selling console of all-time, just ahead of the PS3 at 64 million and just behind the PSP at 74 million. Sony's PlayStation 2 remains the leader (likely of all-time unless the DS sneaks in some more sales) at 153.6 million.
Last year, Microsoft announced 50 million units had been sold, so the company has sold an impressive amount of consoles over the last two years. In the last quarter, however, the company only sold 1.7 million, a large 30 percent drop from the same quarter last year.
The video game industry itself has been struggling of late, with a downtrend in sales that has not let up for almost a year.
Earlier this week, Google sent out press invites for an event on October 29th.
Today, TNW is reporting that Google will use the event to not only introduce the new Nexus 4, but also to unveil the rumored 10-inch Nexus tablet with Samsung.
The "premium" Nexus 10 tablet will have Samsung as the manufacturer and include a massive pixel density, higher than that of the iPad's Retina Display.
If accurate, the sources say the tablet will have a 2560 x 1,600 display and a PPI of 299. The third-gen iPad has 264 PPI and a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution.
Furthermore, Google will also unveil Android 4.2, which includes new features like "Tablet Sharing," "Content in the Center" and new vertical panoramic photo capture, as well.
Earlier this week, Netflix expanded to Nordic nations including Finland, Denmark and Sweden.
To be able to properly expand, the company added native language subtitles to some of the videos.
However, it appears that a few of those streams were "unauthorized" fansubs, created by the popular fansub community "DivX Finland." DXF has been translating subs for TV eps and movies since 2003 and has seen their subtitles downloaded 26 million times, says Freak.
Making a joke, DXF wrote on Twitter: "It's nice to see that the texts are used, but they did not ask permission."
Netflix apologized and pulled the subs immediately: "We buy movies and TV shows from many different distributors. Generally they provide the subtitles. We're investigating how these subtitles were added to Andromeda. We have removed the series from Netflix pending the investigation. We are a legitimate service and pay a lot of money for the TV programs and movies on Netflix, including subtitles."
As of last week, T-Mobile has done away with their existing 200MB data plan for all new smartphone activations.
The new minimum is 2GB, which is the standard for the other carriers.
For existing customers, you can keep your grandfathered 200MB plan, but all new subscribers will need to adhere to the new policy.
T-Mobile says the new policy is in place because "modern smartphones consume data at a faster rate" and "2GB will protect consumers from unexpected overages."
Last week, Best Buy announced their first tablet, the Insignia Flex.
The company did not reveal all too much about the tablet, except to say it would have a 9.7-inch screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor and battery life of 10 hours. Insignia is Best Buy's in-house branding.
Additionally, the company noted the device will initially run on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, with an update to 4.1 Jelly Bean possible in the future. The tablet has a mic, headphone port and microSD slot, but other ports are unknown.
The device will ship in the second week of November but there was no word on price. This week, however, we have a better idea of the pricing, thanks to Reuters.
"$239 to $259" will be the price, says the report, likely implying a price tag of $249.99 when the price is officially unveiled.
For a 9.7-inch tablet, the price undercuts anything out there and the price matches the upcoming 32GB 7-inch Nexus 7.
According to the Center for Copyright Information, the controversial "Copyright Alert System" will hit the U.S. within weeks.
"Over the course of the next two months, each participating ISP expects to begin rolling out its version of the CAS," added the Center.
The CCI has worked with major ISPs and the media companies to come up with the system which progressively sends out warnings to alleged online pirates. Eventually the warnings will cease and will lead to penalties. Jill Lesser, CEO of the CCI says the system will cover 75 percent of all American Internet users when deployed.
The exec also says the system will be more of an educational program: "It is not a six strikes program. This is an educational program; there are a series of educational alerts that will be sent out to subscribers."
Through this education, Lesser hopes pirates will be steered towards legal content, which is readily becoming easier to access.
If you reach the fifth or sixth strike, rightsholders will have the option to bring lawsuits, and ISPs could kick you from their service, although there is little financial incentive for them to do so. Participating ISPs include AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon.
Just one week before their biggest ecosystem launch in history, Microsoft reported weak earnings.
For the fiscal Q1 2013, the company had $16.01 billion in revenue (far below expected $16.5) with net income of $5.31 billion, down 22 percent year-over-year.
Windows sales lagged significantly, leading to the profit drop, due to the upcoming launch of Windows 8 and consumers holding off. In total, the Windows and Windows Live divisions saw revenue fall to $3.24 billion, a 33 percent decrease year-over-year.
Looking at the bigger picture, PC shipments in general lagged, down 8 percent in the quarter as consumers waited out the launch of Windows 8 and the expectation of better deals over the holiday season.
Microsoft's biggest cash cow, the business division (with Microsoft Office), grew by 1 percent to $5.50 billion.
Next quarter's earnings will be historically volatile for the company which normally has steady sales. The company is launching the Surface tablet, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and potentially its own Surface smartphone.
According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Google has sold somewhere between 800,000 and 1 million Nexus 7 tablets since launch in June.
The analyst came to the conclusion after reading through Google's recent quarterly earnings report. The company did not directly report the Nexus 7 unit sales.
Munster says the "other income" entry in the report was a reference to the tablet. 'Other Income' came in at $666 million for the Q3. Adds Munster: "We believe Google's Other Income of $666 (compared to Street at $477) suggests that Google likely sold 800k-1m Nexus 7s in Q3. Excluding our estimated Nexus 7 impact, core net revenues would have been up 2.5 percent quarter-over-quarter vs. 4.7 percent."
Google CEO Larry Page did not waste any time urging investors to purchase the popular tablet: "Today there are over half a billion Android devices-half a billion – with 1.3 million more being activated every day. You should all run out and buy the Nexus 7 tablet for $199. It's had rave reviews and recently won Gadget of the Year from T3, the gadget experts. You'll love the integration with Google Play. It is an amazing device."
Sony has finally revealed which of its devices will get the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update.
The company will certainly anger some its users, but a significant amount of its phones will be getting the best Android available.
Here is the full list:
Xperia T
Xperia TX
Xperia V
Xperia S Xperia acro S
Xperia ion
Xperia P Xperia go
Xperia J
This year's low end devices, such as the Xperia U and Tipo, will not get the update, however. Additionally, the company's entire 2011 line will be trapped with Ice Cream Sandwich.
The time table is not entirely laid out except for the TX and V, which are getting the update sometime in February.
Sharp has introduced a new 7-inch tablet for availability in Japan.
Most notably, the tablet will have IGZO display technology, which consumes much less energy than LCD due to special backlighting. The company recently showed off an Aquos phone with the same tech.
Dubbed the Sharp Aquos Pad SHT21, the tablet is set for launch in Japan in December.
The Aquos Pad will have a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual core processor, 1280 x 800 resolution, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, and 4G LTE, weigh 9.3 ounces and include a small 2040mAh battery due to the efficiency of the IGZO screen.
Nicholas Allegra, the infamous "Comex," has been terminated after his quick employment at Apple.
The 20-year old Brown University student, became infamous for jailbreaking all of Apple's iPhones and iPads and releasing Jailbreak tools, usually within days or weeks of their release.
Comex revealed his departure from Apple via Twitter: "So...no point in delaying. As of last week, after about a year, I'm no longer associated with Apple. As for why? Because I forgot to reply to an email."
Supposedly, Apple sent an employment letter asking Allegra whether he wanted to continue his time as a remote intern, which the hacker accidentally forgot to answer. The letter was soon rescinded. "I wasn't too happy about it, but it didn't seem like I was able to fix it. So that's what it is."
Allegra took the internships because, in his own words, he got "bored" with jailbreaking.
Verizon has launched the new Motorola RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD flagships.
Starting with the Maxx HD, the phone has a 4.7-inch, 1280-by-720 Super AMOLED HD display with 312 pixel-per-inch density and Motorola's own ColorBoost technology which makes for 'more vibrant color reproduction.'
The phone is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, which should be as efficient and powerful as quad-core equivalents. Inside is 32GB internal storage and a massive 3300mAh battery. Dual cameras 8/1.3MP are standard as is a microSD slot, NFC, LTE and an HDMI port.
At launch, the device will have Android 4.0.4, with a Jelly Bean update expected before the end of the year.
AT&T has confirmed that it has an exclusive deal to market and sell the upcoming Nokia Lumia 920.
What the carrier did not reveal, however, is how long that exclusive would last.
A new report today claims that AT&T has a full 6 month exclusivity pact, leaving Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint users in the dark until at least April or May.
The 920 has a nice 4.5-inch TrueBlack display and a fast dual-core S4 Snapdragon processor. The phone also offers a curved glass display just like the Lumia 800 before it. A new addition to Windows Phone is a microSD slot. Always fans of nice cameras, Nokia brought the PureView software from its 808 phone, adding that the camera catches 10x more light than other smartphones, making it ideal for dark shots.
A new feature is 'City Lens,' an augmented reality piece of software that 'overlays details about nearby points of interest or businesses onto the phone's display - providing information including reviews, ratings and contact information for nearby shops or restaurants at a glance,' says ZD.
Over the past two weeks, rumors have been picking up about Google's supposed new Nexus phone, the LG Nexus 4 (or Optimus Nexus).
Today, we have one more rumor; the price.
Multiple reports are claiming that Google will sell the phone unlocked via its Google Play Store for just $399.
Why $399? Apparently because the phone will have just 8GB internal storage and no LTE radio. Supposedly, the device will launch on October 29th, after a Google press event in NYC.
LG's device looks like a slightly revamped LG Optimus G, which is the company's new flagship. Under the hood, the device will feature a quad-core Snapdragon S4, 2GB RAM and a large 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 768 display.
One question that remains is whether the phone will introduce a new Google operating system despite the fact that Jelly Bean is on less than 2 percent of all Android devices, currently. Most screenshots reveal the OS will be 4.1.2, a minor update to Jelly Bean, which makes the most sense and is already available for the Galaxy Nexus.
Earlier this week, following an investigation, Foxconn admitted to hiring underage interns, in breach of child labor laws.
In China, the legal working age is 16 but some of the interns were found to be as young as 14. While Foxconn did not admit it, some reports claimed the interns were working many hours including overtime.
Today, Nintendo has responded to the news, since their upcoming Wii U is built by Foxconn:
Nintendo is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating the matter. We take our responsibilities as a global company very seriously and are committed to an ethical policy on sourcing, manufacture and labor. In order to ensure the continued fulfillment of our social responsibility throughout our supply chain, we established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines in July 2008. We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo's policy.
Read more...
It appears that both LG and Samsung will be delaying the release of their respective 55-inch OLED HDTVs.
Display analyst firm DisplaySearch says the delays are due to manufacturing issues. If accurate, the report says the displays will be delayed until 2013.
Says the firm: "Samsung and LG recently scrapped their plans to mass-produce 55-inch OLED televisions this year as the companies are having serious difficulties in improving manufacturing yield. Samsung and LG planned to start selling OLED TVs at major outlets worldwide during the London Olympics. But mass-produced OLED TVs will be available from late next year, not this year."
LG, for its part, says the report is inaccurate, claiming the display is on track for "initial launch in late 2012". without any specific time table
OLED TVs offer frames 50 percent thinner than even the thinnest LED TVs and also offer the blackest blacks and sharpest colors.
Acer has gotten into the AndroidJelly Bean mix with its latest tablet, the Iconia Tab A110.
The 7-inch device has a 1024x600 resolution and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor and Android 4.1.
Under the hood is 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, a microSD card slot, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, and Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports.
There is no rear camera but a 2MP front-facing should do just fine for video calls.
Battery life is stated at 7.5 hours.
Unfortunately for would-be buyers, the A110 will cost $229.99, more expensive than the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the more popular Google Nexus 7, which should keep sales muted.
Nokia announced their quarterly earnings this morning, and the numbers were not pretty.
The company saw an operating loss of €969 million ($1.27 billion) for the quarter, on revenue of just €7.2 billion ($9.45 billion).
Even though the company is supported by Microsoft, net cash and cash equivalents fell from €4.2 billion ($5.5 billion) to €3.56 billion ($4.7 billion) in just one quarter, showing the company is burning money fast.
Unfortunately for the company, Lumia sales lagged, with just 2.9 being sold during the quarter, even though the average selling price fell from $244 to $210. For comparison's sake, Apple sold 2 million iPhone 5 in just the first 24 hours of pre-order, and Samsung has sold 20 million Galaxy S III in the last 4 months.
Today, the hit-or-miss site DigiTimes reported that Google is actively building a $99 Nexus tablet, following up on past rumors from prominent analysts and east Asian suppliers.
In the report, the site claims Google is working with manufacturers WonderMedia, HannStar, and Quanta. Furthermore, Google will use a WonderMedia PRIZM 8950 processor, reads the report.
This however, is where the story seems to fall apart. The PRIZM is a single-core Cortex-A9, running at just 800MHz, making it particularly useless for a tablet which would run Android 4.1 with hopefully an HD display. There is little chance Google will choose to ruin their highly regarded Nexus brand with an under-powered, under-performing device.
Most likely, if Google is really trying to create a $99 tablet, it will use a capable yet low-end S4 Pro from Qualcomm, or potentially a TI OMAP 4 like the one in the Kindle Fire.
Google has just sent out a press event invite in which they will likely unveil either the next version of Android or the next Nexus hardware.
Most rumors have the new Nexus device coming from LG. The phone will be based on the LG Optimus G, and include high-end specs.
Under the hood, the device will feature a quad-core Snapdragon S4, 2GB RAM and a large 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 768 display.
One question that remains is whether the phone will introduce a new Google operating system despite the fact that Jelly Bean is on less than 2 percent of all Android devices, currently. Most screenshots reveal the OS will be 4.1.2, a minor update to Jelly Bean, which makes the most sense but Google could come out swinging with a new updated OS and the hardware.
According to Strategy Analytics, the amount of smartphones in use has crossed 1 billion for the first time ever.
That number is expected to double by 2015, thanks to demand for iPhones, Android and Windows Phone devices.
In the third quarter, the figure reached 1.038 billion, a 47 percent jump from the same time period in 2011.
Back in 1996, Nokia introduced the first real "smartphone" to the scene, but the industry really only heated up after the release of the BlackBerry and then the iPhone and Android.
"Smartphone penetration is still relatively low," added Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics. "Most of the world does not yet own a smartphone and there remains huge scope for future growth, particularly in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa."
Samsung is the world's top smartphone maker, followed by Apple.
HTC has unveiled the specs and pictures of their new superphone, dubbed the HTC J Butterfly in Japan.
The phone has been rumored as HTC's version of the Nexus, with high-end specs.
Featuring a 5-inch Super LCD 3 display with 440ppi, the display is much more detailed than any current smartphone, including the new iPhone 5 and its Retina Display.
The phone is just 9.1mm thick, has a nice curved design and is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 processor, 2GB of RAM, and an 8MP rear camera. Even better, the phone will come with Android 4.1.2 right out of the box.
HTC has placed a large 2020mAh battery in there too, which should lead to long battery life.
There is no word on American naming, availability, or pricing anywhere.
After an investigation, Foxconn has admitted to hiring underage interns, in breach of child labor laws.
In China, the legal working age is 16 but some of the interns were found to be as young as 14.
Reads the company's statement: "This is not only a violation of China's labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions. We are also carrying out a full investigation, in cooperation with the respective educational institutions, to determine how this happened and the actions that must be taken by our company to ensure that it can never happen again."
Foxconn's investigation came quickly after a report from China Labor Watch claimed it could confirm the underage interns at the Yantai facility.
Read the CLW report: "These underage interns were mainly sent to Foxconn by schools, but Foxconn did not check the IDs of these young interns. The schools involved in this incident should take primary responsible, but Foxconn is also culpable for not confirming the ages of their workers."
Foxconn says it will fire any employee who helped facilitate the hiring of the interns.
Motorola was asked why they don't ship stock Android with their new phones in the U.S., despite being owned by Google. The answer was not pretty.
Senior Vice President of product Rick Osterloh said the company would like to ship all new devices with stock Android, but the U.S.'s largest carrier, Verizon, won't have it.
Says Osterloh: "Going forward, we're going to try to be as close to the base as we can be, because we think that's the right thing for users. We think users also want fast upgrades and upgrades for their phones over the long haul, so we're going to be focus on that as well. It's a little bit different than what a lot of OEMs are doing and certainly what Motorola did in the past, but going forward that's going to be our strategy."
One good example is Motorola's new Razr HD. The OS is very close to stock Android, but it comes with some Verizon bloatware and a minor skin overlay. Because of this, the device ships with Android 4.0, not 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The world's worst kept tech secret, literally, has finally been confirmed by Apple.
On October 23rd, the world's largest public company will unveil the so-called iPad Mini, a smaller, cheaper version of their market leading tablet.
In the invite, Apple simply says "We've got a little more to show you."
The device will allegedly feature a 7.85-inch display, making it a direct rival to the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7. Supposedly, the tablet will lose Retina Display and cellular data connectivity, and will not add the A6 processor seen in the iPhone 5. However, the tablet will also allegedly lose some of its hefty price, with the $249 figure being thrown around the most. At $249, the device will be more expensive than its rivals, but $250 cheaper than the third-generation iPad and $150 cheaper than the aging iPad 2.
Furthermore, the new iPad will have the new Lightning connector, which could alienate Apple fans who purchased expensive docks for the older proprietary port.
Netflix has announced expansion of the streaming service to Sweden and Denmark.
The company promised to do so earlier in the year but never gave an exact timeline.
In Sweden, the service costs 79 krona ($12), per month and even more expensive in Denmark, at about 79 krone per month ($14). In the U.S., the service costs just $7.99 and has the largest catalog of movies and TV shows.
New customers are all eligible for a free trial.
Additionally, iPhone fans will be happy as the new countries (and their languages) are supported in the iOS app.
Netflix has 27 million subscribers in the U.S. and about 3.6 million in Canada, Latin America and the UK.
Four months after first unveiling the Surface, Microsoft has finally priced the tablet and begun pre-orders.
The tablet goes on sale on October 26th, and will cost $499 for a 32GB model with no accessories. Moving up the price ladder is the 32GB model with Surface Touch Cover in black for $599 and the 64GB model with cover for $699.
If you want a Type Cover (better keyboard), you can buy it separately for $129.99.
The Surface has a 16:9 display, 10.6-inch screen, the edges are beveled at 22 degrees, and is just 9.3mm thick. The display has Gorilla Glass 2 and you can connect to "the strongest Wi-Fi connection ever." The case is built of magnesium, and the "liquid metal is formed into an ultra rigid and light frame" while weighing just 1.5 lbs.
Under the hood is 2GB RAM, a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, dual-cameras, Bluetooth 4.0, Stereo speakers, a full-size USB 2.0, a microSDXC card reader, Headphone jack and HD video out port.
MetroPCS shareholders have sued over the upcoming merger with major carrier T-Mobile USA.
The shareholders claim the new merger will "drastically undervalue" the company.
Additionally, they suit claims that the MetroPCS board of directors are "conflicted and serving its own financial interests" rather than that of its shareholders.
Reads the complaint: "The process leading to the proposed acquisition was tainted by conflicts, tilted towards T-Mobile and driven entirely by the board and company management, who together control 15.4 percent of PCS' outstanding stock and seek liquidity for their illiquid holdings. [Metro]PCS' officers and directors will receive millions of dollars in special payments -- not being made to ordinary shareholders -- for currently unvested stock options, performance units and restricted shares, all of which shall, upon the merger's closing, become fully vested and exercisable,"
In the deal, T-Mobile USA will merge with MetroPCS with the smaller company taking a 26 percent stake in the combined company and gaining $1.5 billion in cash. Deutsche Telekom, parent of T-Mobile, will keep the remaining stake.
The deal still requires FCC and DOJ approval, which will likely take 6 months.
On Saturday, EA began giving gamers a special promo code if they completed a survey. The promo code was supposed to be good for one free download from the Origin digital download store.
However, as gamers quickly discovered, the code was not secured properly, and was good for as many games as your bandwidth could handle, for free.
Additionally, the code worked for Canadian Origin account holders, as well, and it didn't matter if you ever took the survey or not.
The code was out there for at least a few hours, prompting users to download all they could during the loophole period. One Redditer posted a screenshot of the 90GB worth of games he was able to download and boost his collection.
Amazon has discontinued its least popular Kindle, the over-sized DX.
The DX had a large 9.7-inch screen and is now only available through third-party sellers on Amazon.
Jay Marine, vice president of Kindle at Amazon, recently said the company is "pretty much done with it," when asked about the DX, so the new move should not be seen as too much of a surprise.
Amazon, which recently dropped the price of the e-reader from $380 to $300, has not said if the device will come back on sale, but its highly doubtful given the price drop to clear inventory.
The giant e-tailer also recently announced their Kindle Paperwhite e-reader and Kindle Fire HD tablet, each of which are cheaper than the DX and offer more features and newer software.
Early this morning, Microsoft formally announced their long-awaited Xbox Music streaming service.
The service will allow some Microsoft customers to stream music for free, as well as discover new artists or play full albums on-demand. You can create playlists, and create stations based on genre/artists/music type, as well, just like major rivals Spotify and Pandora. Additionally, the service will offer music videos, as well.
If you have a Windows Phone 8 device or an Xbox, the service will cost $10 per month for unlimited access to all 18 million songs.
The biggest catch of the service is the lack of support for existing software. The service will be available on Windows 8 and RT tablets, PCs, Windows Phone 8 and Xbox 360. Yes, you read that correctly, no Windows 7 or Windows Phone 7 support, nor Mac, iOS, Android or Linux.
According to supposed leaked screenshots of internal inventory of large European retailer Media Markt, the Apple iPad Mini may have the prices most have assumed all along.
If accurate, the base Wi-Fi 16GB model will sell for $250, half the price of the third-generation iPad and $150 cheaper than the older iPad 2.
At its most expensive, a 64GB model with cellular data connectivity will cost $650, making it easily the most expensive 7-inch tablet on the market.
Microsoft has released their first Windows 8 commercial today, two weeks before the company prepares its commercial launch.
The new operating system will hit shelves on October 26th, and the company's marketing campaign is said to be above $1 billion, many times the figure spent on Windows 7.
In the commercial, Microsoft shows off some Windows 8 features and the campaign's motto, "Windows Reimagined," playing off the OS' new 'Metro' theme.
Windows 8 costs $70 for a physical disc, or $40 for a digital upgrade.
Best Buy has announced its first tablet, the Insignia Flex.
Insignia is the company's in-house branding, used for HDTVs, Blu-ray players and more.
The company did not reveal all too much about the tablet, except to say it will have a 9.7-inch screen, a 1GHz dual-core processor and battery life of 10 hours.
Additionally, the company noted the device will initially run on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, with an update to 4.1 Jelly Bean possible in the future. The tablet has a mic, headphone port and microSD slot, but other ports are unknown.
The device will ship in the second week of November but there is no word yet on price. Insignia is known for lower priced items, so most speculation has the tablet at $199.
OnLive, the cloud-based gaming company, was sold for just $4.8 million, literally pennies on the dollar for the company that was once valued at close to $2 billion.
The service allowed gamers to play PC games via a set-top box on your HDTV or on a PC that does not have powerful specs. The games were streamed via cloud servers and cost a nominal amount per month.
OnLive seemed to be having a good year, signing deals with Google's Android, Ouya and others. However, two months ago, the wheels fell off and the company laid off all its employees and began looking for a buyer before going bankrupt.
After the sale, the service remained active and the buyer, venture capitalist firm Lauder Partners, began taking new investments.
As of today, we have learned that Lauder paid just $4.8 million for the service: "Had the sale to the buyer not taken place, the assignee would have been left with inadequate capital to fund the significant costs to preserve and market OnLive's patents and other intellectual property, thus greatly reducing expected recoveries essentially to those of a forced piecemeal auction," added Joel Weinberg, president of Insolvency Services Group (ISG), the firm in charge of the potential bankruptcy proceedings.
Reuters has confirmed that Apple will have a press event on October 23rd to unveil the iPad Mini.
The event will be three days before the major Microsoft event where the company will launch the Surface tablet, the first Windows RT device.
Says one analyst: "We actually had the opportunity to play with a pilot iPad Mini used by one of the vendors. This 7.85-inch iPad Mini fit our hands like a glove and we were easily able to tuck the device in our sport coat, offering consumers a more mobile iPad experience for certain use cases."
Original story:
he device will feature a 7.85-inch display, making it a direct rival to the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7. There have been plenty of rumors about the device, mainly about what features it is missing compared to its larger brother.
Supposedly, the tablet will lose Retina Display and cellular data connectivity, and will not add the A6 processor seen in the iPhone 5. However, the tablet will also allegedly lose some of its hefty price, with the $299 figure being thrown around the most. At $299, the device will be more expensive than its rivals, but $200 cheaper than the third-generation iPad and $100 cheaper than the aging iPad 2.
Read more...
Major Japanese carrier Softbank has agreed to purchase a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel.
According to sources, the stake will cost them $20 billion. Softbank will buy $8 billion in direct shares and another $12 billion in shares on the market.
The news is especially notable since Sprint only has a market value of $17 billion.
The company is the third largest carrier in the U.S. behind Verizon and AT&T but ahead of T-Mobile, who is also looking to boost subscribers and spectrum by merging with pre-paid king MetroPCS.
Softbank is worth about $40 billion and is led by Japan's second-richest man, Masayoshi Son. The company recently purchased eAccess in Japan for $1.84 billion, giving it 39 million subscribers. Sprint has 56 million in the U.S.
During a recent interview, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos admitted that the company does not make any money on its new Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Fire HD hardware, selling the lineup at cost, give or take a few pennies.
The strategy is notably different from Apple, which sells each iPhone or iPad with a margin as high as 40 percent, making significant profit on every piece of hardware they sell.
Amazon does not have the same strategy instead choosing to get the devices into as many hands as possible so consumers can purchase more online content from Amazon's extensive ecosystem.
The company offers shopping, music, movies, apps, and books.
"What we find is that when people buy a Kindle they read four times as much as they did before they bought the Kindle," added Bezos. "But they don't stop buying paper books. Kindle owners read four times as much, but they continue to buy both types of books."
Best Buy has announced that it will price match online prices of competition for in-store customers to avoid "showrooming."
Showrooming is where customers go in-store to try out a product before going back home to buy it online at places like Amazon for better prices and in some states, no tax.
Most brick-and-mortar retailers, like Best Buy, price match other brick-and-mortar store prices but will not price match online prices, which almost always are lower.
While the new move is certainly an improvement, it is not absolute. The match will be given "on an if asked basis" and is ultimately at the discretion of the staff.
Additionally, the company will not price match special one-off sales. For example, if Amazon is doing a Gold Box sale where they slash prices on an item by 50%, Best Buy will reject the price match. If an item is out of stock, Best Buy will ship it to you for free, as well.
The new policy is in effect until November 17th and then from November 27th to December 24th, carefully avoiding Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Apple has agreed to license the iconic clock created by the Swiss national railway (SBB).
Last month, Apple's latest iOS operating system finally gave iFans a native clock app, and most new users found the app to be "beautiful" or "gorgeous." However, fans were not the only ones to notice the style of the new app, and the SBB accused the company of stealing the design.
Apple's design is "identical" to their own, which was created in 1944 and trademarked, said the spokesperson at the time, and they certainly had a point.
As of today, the two companies have agreed to a licensing agreement although neither company disclosed the financials.
According to AllThingsD, Apple will unveil the oft-rumored iPad Mini on October 23rd.
The device will feature a 7.85-inch display, making it a direct rival to the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7. There have been plenty of rumors about the device, mainly about what features it is missing compared to its larger brother.
Supposedly, the tablet will lose Retina Display and cellular data connectivity, and will not add the A6 processor seen in the iPhone 5. However, the tablet will also allegedly lose some of its hefty price, with the $299 figure being thrown around the most. At $299, the device will be more expensive than its rivals, but $200 cheaper than the third-generation iPad and $100 cheaper than the aging iPad 2.
Furthermore, the new iPad will have the new Lightning connector.
Microsoft has allegedly revealed that it will block mature PEGI 16+ rated games from the Windows 8 marketplace in Europe or ESRB MATURE in the U.S.
The exact quote, in Microsoft's content legislation, is "Your app must not contain adult content, and metadata must be appropriate for everyone. Apps with a rating over PEGI 16, ESRB MATURE, or that contain content that would warrant such a rating, are not allowed."
Additionally, the legislation says "Your app must not contain content or functionality that encourages, facilitates, or glamorizes illegal activity. Your app must not contain content that encourages, facilitates or glamorizes excessive or irresponsible use of alcohol or tobacco products, drugs or weapons. Your app must not contain excessive or gratuitous profanity."
If the report is accurate, the move will do nothing but infuriate developers, many of which offer Mature titles that are their most popular.
Last month, Motorola unveiled their new Razr line of smartphones, three new devices aimed at the entire spectrum of Android fans.
The company has announced today that two of the devices, the RAZR HD and RAZR Maxx HD will hit the U.S. on October 18th.
Starting with the Maxx HD, the phone has a 4.7-inch, 1280-by-720 Super AMOLED HD display with 312 pixel-per-inch density and Motorola's own ColorBoost technology which makes for 'more vibrant color reproduction.'
The phone is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, which should be as efficient and powerful as quad-core equivalents. Inside is 32GB internal storage and a massive 3300mAh battery. Dual cameras 8/1.3MP are standard as is a microSD slot, NFC, LTE and an HDMI port.
A hacker who goes by the name "Pinkie Pie" has had a nice pay day.
Pinkie Pie was paid $60,000 by Google for hacking the Chrome browser during the ongoing Hack in the Box Conference event in Kuala Lampur.
Google allows hackers to attack their Chrome browser as long as they report vulnerabilities. The grand prize was $60,000 for anyone who found a "full exploit." All partial exploits have prizes of $50,000.
The search giant called the hack "critical" and says it will not reveal the vulnerability until the majority of its users have patched their system.
Other companies like Mozilla and Facebook offer similar bounty programs, offering money for those who come forward after finding exploits.
Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has introduced the Sharp Aquos Phone Zeta SH-02E, the first commercial phone to feature Sharp's new IGZO tech.
The device has a 4.9-inch 1280x720 display, a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro, Adreno 320 graphics, LTE, NFC and a 16MP camera. The phone will launch with Android 4.0 with an update to 4.1 in near future.
Outside of the great specs, the IGZO display is the real selling point.
IGZO is a backplane technology describing the materials used for the thin film transistors that drive the display. The tech requires less LEDs for backlighting leading to a huge improvement in power draw and therefore, battery life.
Unfortunately, like most phones that hit Japan, the Aquos phone is not expected to reach the U.S.
The L6 E960, better known as the still unconfirmed upcoming LG Nexus 4, finally has seen some clear shots revealed of its front and back aesthetics.
It looks like a slightly revamped LG Optimus G, which is the company's new flagship.
Under the hood, the device will feature a quad-core Snapdragon S4, 2GB RAM and a large 4.7-inch display with 1280 x 768 display.
The device is expected to be launched on October 29th.
One question that remains is whether the phone will introduce a new Google operating system despite the fact that Jelly Bean is on less than 2 percent of all Android devices, currently. Most screenshots reveal the OS will be 4.1.2, a minor update to Jelly Bean, which makes the most sense.
The new device will have a smaller 4-inch Super AMOLED WVGAresolution display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution. The phone has a solid 233 PPI and weighs just 3.93 ounces. The screen size is identical to Apple's latest iPhone.
Under the hood is a 1GHz dual-core S3 processor, a significant step down from the S III's global quad-core processor and high-end dual core model in the U.S.
The Mini will also step down to a 5MP camera and a 1.2MB front-side camera and remove LTE support, making sure the phone is definitely not going to the U.S. anytime soon.
Furthermore, the phone has Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, 8GB or 16GB storage with a microSD slot, a 1500mAh battery, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and all software from the S III, including S Voice.
HTC has confirmed it has discontinued tablet sales in the U.S., at least for now.
The company will focus instead on its smartphone lineup, which includes the new One X+ and the Windows Phone based 8X and 8S.
Says HTC: "Bottom line, HTC is pleased with the results of our first foray into tablets, and like any products in the mobile space that were released some time ago, those products have run through their planned lifecycles. We're continuing to watch the tablet market very closely for the right opportunity to offer a product that's compelling, differentiated, and inspiring to our customers."
HTC released the Flyer and Jetstream tablets, neither of which saw much traction with consumers due to their prices that matched the iPad.
The company may have to take an extended break from the tablet market as it is unclear if they can compete against Google or Amazon at the $199 price point or Apple or Microsoft at the higher-end.
The Taiwanese government has asked Apple to blur some of the images in its Apple Maps mapping service.
The images are of the Hsinchu airbase, where the military recently added a new radar defense system. The station will help the country detect if any missiles are fired from nearby nations, most notably China.
Legally, no one can force Apple to change the images (sensitive area or not), but the nation has asked for the blur as a gesture of goodwill.
There are blurred areas in rivals mapping services, such as Google's, but all of their blurred areas were purchased that way.
Apple made headlines when it launched iOS 6 with Apple Maps, leaving out Google Maps, the current gold standard. The service is so bad it spawned its own Tumblr page.
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, has taken another jab at the company.
During an interview, the Woz was asked about his thoughts on the iPhone 5 in which he responded:
Part of me wishes Apple had not been so arrogant and feeling like 'We're the only one with the right clue.' I wish they had made a wider version [of the iPhone 5]...I think Apple tricked itself by saying 'Oh, you can reach everything with one thumb.'
I don't see anybody having trouble using the larger screen. But Apple said that as a defensive move because everyone else had larger screens...Not all people want the same thing. A lot of people really like big screens.
As he usually is, Wozniak is of course right that Apple has become arrogant believing that consumers only want one thing and that they can provide it. Android and even Windows Phone offer larger screens, expendable memory, and removable batteries (for the most part), making them more consumer friendly.
Earlier this week we reported on Pandora CEO Tim Westergren noting that the company pays some of the top artists in the world over $1 million per year in royalties, with Lil Wayne and Drake topping the list at $3 million per year.
Additionally, the exec mentioned that over two thousand artists were making $10,000 or more per year.
Today, Billboard took a look behind the numbers, which appear to be a bit misleading.
While the artists do make money from Pandora, Pandora pays SoundExchange which then gives the money to the artists. SoundExchange gives artists 45 percent of net royalties, while the record labels get 50 percent. The other 5 is given to session musicians and any backup singers. SoundExchange takes 5.3 percent off total revenue to start to get to net royalties.
That being said, for the example of Drake, while net royalties may be $3 million, the rapper will see $1.35 million.
While those figures are still nice for the larger artists, it is less than Pandora originally suggested.
Large Japanese carrier Softbank is in active talks to buy a major stake in Sprint Nextel, confirms the American carrier.
The majority stake would cost Softbank 1 trillion yen, or about $12.75 billion USD.
Sprint's stock has jumped 20 percent today following the news. The news is especially notable since Sprint only has a market value of $17 billion, meaning the Softbank stake will likely be very substantial.
The company is the third largest carrier in the U.S. behind Verizon and AT&T but ahead of T-Mobile, who is also looking to boost subscribers and spectrum by merging with pre-paid king MetroPCS.
Softbank is worth about $40 billion and is led by Japan's second-richest man, Masayoshi Son. The company recently purchased eAccess in Japan for $1.84 billion, giving it 39 million subscribers. Sprint has 56 million in the U.S.
Canal Plus CEO Bertrand Meheut has let it slip that Amazon is preparing to launch a subscription video-on-demand service next year, most likely in March.
Meheut told the French Council of State: "Amazon will launch its SVOD service in France in March 2013. We know it because our branch Studio Canal has been selling exclusive rights to Amazon for a launch of their service in March on the Kindle Fire."
Canal Plus has been banned from keeping VOD and SVOD rights exclusive for its own network, following its merger of main competitor TPS. Canal Plus has been arguing that needs such rights to able to compete against companies like Amazon, which have quickly gained market share outside of their native nation.
Amazon, for example, has two million subscribers in Europe through its LoveFilm SVOD business and would likely not have to abide by French regulations barring exclusive rights.
It appears that streaming music may actually be great for artists, despite what the record labels may believe.
Pandora CEO Tim Westergren noted today that it pays some of the top artists in the world over $1 million per year in royalties, with Lil Wayne and Drake topping the list at $3 million per year.
Says the exec: "For over two thousand artists Pandora will pay over $10,000 dollars each over the next 12 months (including one of my favorites, the late jazz pianist Oscar Peterson), and for more than 800 we'll pay over $50,000, more than the income of the average American household. For top earners like Coldplay, Adele, Wiz Khalifa, Jason Aldean and others Pandora is already paying over $1 million each."
Some smaller, upcoming acts, like Drake friend French Montana will make $138,567 this year, despite being the 17,000th best-selling artist on established platforms like Amazon, says Westergren.
"These are all working artists who live well outside the mainstream--no steady rotation on broadcast radio, no high profile opening slots on major tours, no front page placement in online retail," the CEO concludes.
A new report claims that Apple's still unconfirmed 'iPad Mini' will be Wi-Fi only, leaving out cellular data support.
The alleged device, which will be 7.85-inches and directly compete with the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google Nexus 7, is widely expected to be announced later this month although Apple has made no mention of it, as is their policy.
If accurate, the move will certainly save Apple some costs, and Apple has long said consumers don't really care about data on their tablets, with most consumers opting for Wi-Fi only models.
Additionally, the same sources claim a new full-sized iPad update is coming soon with a Lightning connector and an A6 processor.
T-Mobile USA has announced its own exclusive Windows Phone 8 smartphone.
The Nokia 810, which will be a mid-range device, will be similar to the AT&T exclusive Lumia 820 announced last month alongside the flagship Lumia 920.
810 devices will feature a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 resolution display, dual cameras 8MP/1.2MP and an unknown dual-core processor.
Unfortunately, the carrier hasn't announced the internal storage or whether there will be a microSD slot. Just like the 820, wireless charging will not be bundled but available separately as an accessory.
Additionally, the phone is missing the PureView camera tech but will come with all other built-in feature apps like CityLens and Group Shot.
Last month, Valve said it would allow 1000 Linux users to test out the popular Steam platform as a private beta starting this month.
Steam has been available to Mac and Windows users for years now, but Linux users have been left in the dark. Valve announced earlier this year that Linux users would be getting access and four months later fans have a beta. Founder Gabe Newell became specifically involved in the process, expediting the process.
This week, entries into Valve's Content Description Record database for Steam have leaked the games that will be available to Linux users, at least during the beta phase.
Those games are Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Crusader Kings 2, Cubemen, Dynamite Jack, Eversion, Galcon Fusion, Serious Sam 3: BFE, Solar 2, SpaceChem, Steel Storm: Burning Retribution, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Trine 2, Waveform and World of Goo.
The company has also enabled UltraViolet for some of its content, meaning if you purchase a BBC DVD, you will also get streaming access online, no matter where you are.
For the time being, UV-enabled shows will be few and far between with just Doctor Who Series 7 Part 1, Rollercoaster, a Top Gear title and Attenborough: 60 Years In The Wild getting the treatment.
To stream the UltraViolet films, you will need to register for Flixster, Time Warner's movie site.
The BBC says: "Details concerning the redemption process will be provided on a leaflet, designed in collaboration with other participating studios, which will be in the DVD case. Post-launch, users will be able to visit a BBC Worldwide site for further information after which they will be automatically transferred to the relevant Flixster location."
According to multiple sources, Google is currently working on the 10-inch "premium" Nexus 10 tablet with Samsung as the manufacturer.
The tablet will have a massive pixel density, higher than that of the iPad's Retina Display.
If accurate, the sources say the tablet will have a 2560 x 1,600 display and a PPI of 299. The third-gen iPad has 264 PPI and a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution.
Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, also noted that Samsung will be building the tablet, instead of Asus who built the Nexus 7. Samsung has developed some of the most popular Android devices, and worked with Google on the Galaxy Nexus, which featured Ice Cream Sandwich when it first launched.
HTC has reported another horrible quarter, as the company struggles to stay relevant in the smartphone market that is quickly becoming a two-horse race.
The company, which is the fifth-largest smartphone maker in the world, reported that Q3 profit fell 79 percent year-over-year, missing even their own downgraded forecasts.
Net profit came in at $133 million, down from $640 million during the same quarter last year.
By comparison, Apple posted a net profit of $8.8 billion last quarter and Samsung more recently posted a net profit of $7.3 billion for the quarter.
HTC will look to turn its fortunes around with the new Windows Phone 8-based HTC 8X and Android-based One X+.
Warner Bros. Entertainment has signed a new pay TV deal with French media giant Canal Plus that will give Canal's subscribers access to new films and also catalog titles via their TVs, mobile device or gaming console.
The new deal covers all of Canal's channels including Canal+, CINE+, Comedie+ and Jimmy, and each of their "catch-up" on-demand services.
"We are proud to give our subscribers access to the films of one of the most prestigious American studios," says Canal Plus deputy general director Rodolphe Belmer.
Adds Warner Bros. International Television president Jeffrey Schlesinger: "Canal Plus has always had a deep appreciation of Warner's productions and successful cinematographic legacy. We are delighted with our return to Canal Plus in 2013."
Canal Plus has 13 million subscribers, each of who will get access to top movies like Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: trilogy, Argo, The Great Gatsby and The Hangover III, all 10 months after theatrical release.
According to the latest Digital Music Index (DMI) report, Gainesville, Florida is the new 'pirate capital' of the world.
The report is a global look into music piracy and digital music trends are the world. The companies behind the report investigate BitTorrent file sharing.
In a number that seems low, the report states that Americans downloaded 759 million songs illegally using torrents during the first six months of the year. Americans remained the worst offenders, says the group.
Gregory Mead, global CEO of Musicmetric: "Detailed data analysis is of great value to the industry and just as retailers need to know their customers, we need to do the same online. Offering people better insight into music through the DMI will help the industry begin to reclaim its past glories and we're excited about working with labels to achieve this."
Unauthorized file sharing did decrease slightly in areas where Spotify and Pandora were available, but YouTube remains far an away the most popular way to listen to music online, with 33.5 billion plays in the last year.
Rovio and Lucasfilm have announced the next stage of the blockbuster Angry Birds franchise; "Angry Birds Star Wars."
The new game will hit on November 8th and will incorporate classic Angry Bids character into the stories of Star Wars.
Says Rovio: "From the deserts of Tatooine to the depths of the Death Star – the game and merchandise will feature the Angry Birds characters starring as the iconic heroes of the beloved Saga...The Force is definitely strong with this one."
Adds Lucasfilm: "Both Star Wars and Angry Birds share the instant and irresistible appeal of hands-on fun. People seem to instinctively know what to do when handed a lightsaber or a bird in a slingshot, so this is a natural combination."
Additionally, starting October 28th there will be a huge retail merchandising launch including plush toys, costumes and action figures.
The game will be available across the spectrum on iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, Windows Phone and Windows 8.
T-Mobile has begun stocking nano-SIM cards for unlocked iPhone 5 owners.
Despite not being an official carrier, the company has made it a priority to woo iPhone owners over.
Unfortunately for most of the U.S., the iPhone 5 is not supported on T-Mobile's 3G or 4G AWS bands, making it almost useless given 2G/EDGE's slow speeds. However, T-Mobile has iPhone-supported 4G HSPA+ (1900 band) in major markets Seattle, Las Vegas, and New York City, with more cities gaining access in the near future. The carrier hopes to have migrated to the 1900 band nationwide by the Q1 of next year.
Additionally, you will need to get access to an unlocked device, or unlock it yourself when the methods become available.
Apple recently unveiled the iPhone 5, which features a 4-inch Retina Display, a new A6 processor, a new 'Lightning' dock connector, the nano-SIM slot, iOS 6, LTE support and a thinner frame.
Microsoft has begun moving away from the controversial Microsoft Points payment system, moving instead to good old cash.
For services like XBL and also in Windows 8 betas, customers have been forced to pay in Points, which almost always left scraps of points left that are unusable because they are so low or oddly numbered.
One dollar of real money has equated to about 80 Microsoft Points, and users could not use a credit card to pay, instead having to buy Points first.
The new changes are for Windows 8 and the way customers purchase or rent videos and music, and will allow credit cards and other cash payment types. You can still use Points if you have them, however.
Motorola has announced it will abandon all development of its Webtop software.
The software turned smartphones into workable laptop operating systems when the phones were connected to the company's Lapdock accessory.
Citing slow (or no) adoption, Motorola will shut down the program after just 18 months.
Says Motorola: "Motorola's Webtop app helps users extend their smartphone experience to larger screens. While consumers around the world have adopted Webtop and the concept spurred a lot of innovation in the industry, the adoption has not been strong enough to justify continued resources being allocated to developing Webtop on future devices. We have also seen development of the Android operating system focus on the inclusion of more desktoplike features. Beginning with Photon Q and Droid Razr M/Droid Razr HD/Droid Razr Maxx HD, we will no longer be including Webtop on our products moving forward."
It is unclear for how long Motorola will continue to support existing Webtop software, but it is already outdated.
In 2010, Sony began a new marketing campaign that included comedic actor Jerry Lambert as Kevin Butler, an alleged Sony VP of whatever the company was marketing in that ad.
The character and the ads were an instant hit, and Sony has stuck with them ever since, letting Butler introduce most new features and items for the PlayStation 3.
Most recently, however, Lambert took a job with Bridgestone for their "Game On" promotion. In the commercial, Lambert is portrayed playing a Nintendo Wii console. As one can imagine, Sony is not happy.
Sony Entertainment has now filed suit against Bridgestone Tires and Wildcat Creek, the ad agency behind the commercials. The company says Kevin Butler is their intellectual property and seeing Lambert playing a Wii will confuse consumers and hurt the brand.
Bridgestone pulled the ads last month after just a few days live, following the filing of the suit.
Says Sony: "Sony Computer Entertainment America filed a lawsuit against Bridgestone and Wildcat Creek, Inc. on September 11. The claims are based on violations of the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract and tortious interference with a contractual relationship. We invested significant resources in bringing the Kevin Butler character to life and he's become an iconic personality directly associated with PlayStation products over the years. Use of the Kevin Butler character to sell products other than those from PlayStation misappropriates Sony's intellectual property, creates confusion in the market, and causes damage to Sony."
One of Nokia's most senior executives has abruptly left the company, without word or statement from Nokia.
VP of product marketing Ilari Nurmi was in charge of the company's entire smartphone strategy. It remains unknown why the executive left after 15 years with little more than a Tweet.
The move follows Nokia's recent launch of the Lumia 820 and 920, flagship Windows Phone 8 devices, which were well received but left the consumer with questions, mainly the price and release date.
More embarrassingly for the company, Nokia was found to have faked a promotional video, using a professional DSLR camera to take photos and pretending they were taken with a Nokia device instead.
I have left Nokia. I am thankful for almost 15y there. I wish Nokia all the best and look forward to getting Lumia 920 once available.
iPhone 5 owners have complained of a purple ring at the edge of their photos, and it appears Apple sees it to be a real issue since they have issued a statement about the bug.
Apple says if you have any kind of light source right outside the viewing area of the phone's lens, you might get some purple light leakage in your photos.
The company says the issue is well known, and it affects many more devices than just the iPhone:
"Most small cameras, including those in every generation of iPhone, may exhibit some form of flare at the edge of the frame when capturing an image with out-of-scene light sources. This can happen when a light source is positioned at an angle (usually just outside the field of view) so that it causes a reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor. Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimize or eliminate the effect." – Apple
Officially, Apple calls the symptoms "a purplish or other colored flare, haze, or spot is imaged from out-of-scene bright light sources during still image or video capture."
Acer has announced their first Windows 8 tablet, the Iconia W700.
The device will retail for $799 just like Asus and Lenovo's Windows 8 tablets, and launch on the 26th, as well.
Owners will get a tablet with a large 11.6-inch, 1,920 x 1,080, IPS display and the tablet will come bundled with a Bluetooth keyboard, protective case, Micro HDMI-to-VGA cable and a docking cradle, making it an ideal productivity device.
The base $799 model will come with an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i3, have 64GB SSD storage and dual cameras 5MP/2MP.
FlixChip, a new startup company, has announced that it will release films pre-loaded to USB flash drives, in an effort to replace DVDs, Blu-rays and other streaming options.
The company is currently in negotiations with major film studios, indie distributors and also video game producers and they have recently signed a content deal with FilmChest Media Group.
FlixChip is looking to offer its products online and in brick-and-mortar stores by the holiday season.
Dubbed the "muvichip," the company's product is a USB flash drive pre-loaded with movie content and other extra features. The device can be loaded directly into computers or devices that can read from USB, including Blu-ray players.
Additionally, "to accommodate tablets like the iPad that don't have USB ports, FlixChip also has developed muvifi, a small-portable player that accepts the muvichip and streams its content to any wifi-enabled smartphone, tablet or TV. As many as five devices can stream a movie from muvifi at the same time," says THR.
MoDaCo has revealed some details of the supposed LG Optimus Nexus (name up for debate), which is now expected to be unveiled later this month.
Supposedly, the phone will be based on the Optimus G but with a different "look."
The device will feature a 1280 x 768 "True-HD" IPS screen, a powerful quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB RAM. The screen will be around 4.7-inches (like the G) and the device will have 16GB internal storage with no microSD slot and a non-removable battery, two features that will do nothing but turn consumers off.
It appears the big selling point, besides vanilla Jelly Bean and the quickest access to new operating system updates will be wireless charging right out of the box.
If accurate, the device is expected to be available in mid-November. Additionally, the sources say LG may not be the only OEM to release a Nexus phone, which would be very interesting although we are not sure why Google would sign off on such a move.
Last month, Nintendo finally revealed the price of their upcoming Wii U console, with the base model selling for $299 and a Deluxe model selling for $349.
The console goes on sale in the U.S. on November 18th.
Pre-orders have sold out at all major retailers, and Nintendo has noted demand will likely exceed supply well into launch.
Wii U Deluxe set pre-orders are on sale via eBay, at a 60 percent mark-up, meaning prices above $550 for the console. The base model is selling for an average 15 percent premium.
Elsewhere, some sellers on Amazon have gone off their rockers and are offering the console for $1000.
Apple has paid tribute to Steve Jobs on the first anniversary of his passing.
The company has replaced their home page with a short tribute video to the co-founder of the company. The video features black and white images and notable quotes from Jobs who passed away last year after a long fight with pancreatic cancer.
The 1-minute, 45-second video consists of black-and-white still images, as well as quotes from Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
Current CEO Tim Cook added a letter to the video:
Steve's passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.
One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the same privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.
I'm incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road.
Read more...
Rumors are running rampant that Microsoft is preparing to launch its own branded smartphone.
The sources each claim the device will be ready for launch in the Q1 2013, which means a Mobile World Congress introduction could be on the horizon.
There are precious other details about the alleged device, except that it will be considered a "premium" phone just like the iPhone, Galaxy S III and the (aging) Galaxy Nexus.
Microsoft could use the Surface name and line for its smartphone if its tablets prove to be popular.
For now, those looking into Windows Phone 8 devices will have to wait for HTC 8x, Lumia 920 or Samsung ATIV coming early next month.
Despite Apple reducing orders for processors and display, Samsung posted a massive $7.3 billion quarterly profit, a record for the company.
Samsung says sales of high-end HDTVs and Galaxy smartphones more than helped offset Apple's decision to look elsewhere.
The company does expect to have slightly lower profit next quarter, as marketing budgets are expected to go up, and performance bonuses to their 200,000 staff members will add up. Samsung is said to have spent $2.7 billion in advertising/marketing for the last quarter alone, mainly on their Olympics and Galaxy campaigns. Additionally, the company may have to put $1 billion aside to pay Apple after losing their patent dispute in the U.S. in late August.
Smartphone shipments totaled 58 million during the quarter, with 22 million being S III units.
The company expects a full year profit of about $24 billion, a record for the company.
Samsung is making a major announcement next week, and the general consensus is the company will release the so-called Galaxy S III 'Mini.'
The event will take place in Germany, and the Korean giant has sent out invites with hints as to what they are unveiling.
In the invite, the Galaxy S logo is found in the background and the title directly translates to "So big can be small, and small can be big." Additionally it says "On 11.10.2012 comes a small sensation out of [something] really big."
These hints have led most to believe the "Mini" is coming, as rumored.
The rumored device will have a 4-inch display with 480x800 display, a dual-core Snapdragon, 5MP camera and AndroidJelly Bean.
At an undoubtedly a cheaper price tag than its older brother, the mid-range device could be another hit.
Redbox will begin selling tickets to concerts and other events via their rental kiosks.
VP for new business and strategy Mark Archler says the company's strong reputation as an "impulse buy" company will help it sell tickets that wouldn't ordinarily sell, such as "nosebleed" seats for concerts.
There will be a $1 surcharge on each ticket purchase, much cheaper than other event purchasing services like TicketMaster or StubHub.
It is unclear if the tickets will be discounted, and "impulse buys" are less attractive at $100 (for example) than a $2 Blu-ray.
If you do end up purchasing, the kiosk will not print the tickets, as you have to do that at home or pick them up at the event.
AMD's latest A10-5800K APU has been overclocked to extreme levels.
Using "32nm manufacturing technology from GlobalFoundries and the new Piledriver cores using the clock mesh technology from Cyclos Semiconductor," the chip was pushed to an incredible 7.3GHz with extreme cooling.
Using air cooling, the A10 clocked to 5.1GHz, which is very impressive, as well, for a chip that costs just $122.
For those into overclocking and high-performance for cheaper chips, the A10-5800K APU has certainly upped the ante against Intel.
The latest rumor, from sources out of Europe, claim Microsoft is preparing to purchase digital music streaming company Rdio.
So far Microsoft and Rdio declined comment, but the deal would certainly make sense.
Microsoft is currently planning its new music streaming service Xbox Music for the Xbox console, Windows and Windows Phone 8.
Rdio, the ad-free music service is available in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and New Zealand, practically every major market Microsoft would be aiming for with its new service.
The popular service is available for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Windows Phone and could provide an excellent framework (as well as added customer base) for Microsoft.
Rdio's catalog now has 18 million songs and attracts new musicians by giving them a revenue split for new subscribers they attract. While Rdio is popular now, it is getting blown out of the water by rival Spotify, which has a partnership with Facebook. A purchase by Microsoft would certainly help the company compete.
Social media giant Facebook has announced today that it has reached the 1 billion user mark, a milestone certainly never seen before in history.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the milestone was hit on September 14th, and the figure is a small jump from June when the company hit 950 million.
Perhaps more importantly for the company, Zuckerberg said the network now has 600 million mobile users, although the main struggle for the company has been how to monetize such users.
Facebook recently saw revenue increase by 32 percent to $1.18 billion in the latest quarter, with 84 percent coming from advertisements. However, the average Facebook user uses the site only from their mobile device, where there are no ads.
Amazon has already sold out of their latest e-reader, the Kindle Paperwhite.
The device's page now reads "four to six weeks delivery," meaning you will have to wait over a month to receive your e-reader after ordering.
Paperwhite devices offer a higher resolution screen than previous models, as well as a much more responsive touch interface and a lighting system for dim-light or no-light situations. Navigation of the interface and all touch elements are fast and lack any lag like some previous models.
So far, the Paperwhite has been a critical success, with most major outlets calling it hands down the best dedicated e-reading device, ever.
It is clear Amazon has another hit on their hands. Now they just need to produce more of them.
Google and Verizon have dropped the price of the flagship Galaxy Nexus for the carrier.
With two-year contract, the Nexus will now cost just $50, down from its original price of $200 and more recently, $149.99 online.
The carrier has added a new "Promo" discount when purchasing online, in a clear effort to clear out remaining inventory for the plethora of new devices headed to shelves soon.
The Nexus line is popular due to its "vanilla" version of Android straight from Google and not marred by any third-party overlay such as HTC Sense or MotoBlur.
Samsung has started the next round in the long-standing legal battles between themselves and rival smartphone maker Apple.
The Korean giant has filed suit over alleged patent infringement in Apple's latest, the iPhone 5.
Adds Samsung: "We have little choice but to take the steps necessary to protect our innovations and intellectual property rights." Unfortunately for them, the case is expected to go to trial in the Q1 of 2014. By that time, there will be plenty of rumors of the iPhone 7.
Additionally, the company is asking that the courts add the iPhone 5 to its current lawsuits already underway in the U.S. Federal Court. The new phone allegedly infringes upon "a total of six utility patents in addition to two standards essential patents," says Tom's.
In their filing documents, Samsung says "the iPhone 5 has the same accused functionality as the previously accused versions of the iPhone, so the proof of infringement of the patents-in-suit by the iPhone 5 is the same as for other Apple devices already accused of infringement in this litigation."
Deutsche Telekom is speaking again with MetroPCS in an effort to possibly merge its T-Mobile USA carrier with the smaller pre-paid brand in an effort to better compete with AT&T and Verizon.
The plan will merge the companies but leave Telekom as the majority shareholder. Deutsche Telekom's supervisory board could approve such a transaction as soon as tomorrow, say the sources.
T-Mobile USA has 33 million subscribers, the smallest of the majors in the U.S. MetroPCS has about 9.5 million, meaning they would still be the smallest major carrier in the nation, even after the merger.
"The talks are at a stage where significant issues have not yet been finalized, contracts have not yet been signed and the conclusion of the transaction is still not certain," added Deutsche Telekom in a statement. "The board of management and supervisory board of Deutsche Telekom have therefore not yet taken the resolutions necessary for such a transaction."
Both MetroPCS and Telekom investors seemed very excited by the prospects of the merger, moving their stock prices.
According to Pew, Apple's iPad is quickly losing its majority share of the tablet market.
A year ago, Apple controlled the lion's share, 81 percent, but that has fallen to 52 percent as Android tablets continue to hit the market at a quick pace.
Amazon's Kindle Fire line accounts for 21 percent of the overall market, representing a hefty portion of Android's 48 percent share.
The new report did not include the popular Google Nexus 7 or Amazon's brand new Kindle Fire HD, meaning the numbers may even be closer to 50/50.
As is their monthly tradition, Google has released the share splits for Android devices.
Google says Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and 4.1 Jelly Bean now account for 25.5 percent share, still far behind the outdated 2.3 Gingerbread by a significant margin, but growing rapidly.
Jelly Bean is only on 1.8 percent of devices, a very disappointing figure for the far and away best version of the operating system.
Gingerbread remains on 55.8 percent of devices, with versions before 2.3 still on 16.8 percent of devices.
Google has promised to work on fragmentation, but carriers and OEMs do not appear to be to helpful in their endeavor.
Earlier this morning, search giant Google surpassed Microsoft in terms of market value before failing to keep the title of world's second largest tech company.
Google ended the day valued at $247.56 billion, slightly below Microsoft who closed at $248.8 billion.
Both combined still remain below the somewhat bloated valuation of Apple, at $620 billion, the world's largest public company.
Google has seen its shares soar this year, up 35 percent since July, alone. Microsoft has also seen gains, about 11 percent for the year.
New numbers from NetApplications show that Windows 8 pre-launch numbers are severely lagging those of its predecessor, Windows 7.
Adoption numbers are low, lagging Windows 7 by a 5-to-1 ratio: "With just weeks before the public launch of Windows 8, users are five times less likely to be running the new OS than they were Windows 7 at the same point in its countdown."
As of this week, only 0.33 percent of all Windows computers are running Windows 8, whether that be earlier betas, the Consumer Preview, or the leaked RTM versions. At the equivalent time before the Windows 7 launch, the OS was running on 1.64 percent of all Windows PCs.
While of course these figures are early, they certainly are not what Microsoft was hoping for.
Large research firm Gartner says Microsoft gambled by making an excellent tablet OS into a desktop OS, and that the gamble will likely not pay off. Gartner says they expect Windows 8 to peak at 20 percent of the enterprise market, an extremely low figure for Windows.
Showtime has put the season 7 premiere of Dexter and the second season premiere of Homeland on YouTube, in their entirety.
The premium cable channel is looking to entice new users, by offering a glimpse into the top-rated shows they offer weekly.
Showtime's move is not the first in the industry. Fox aired the pilot for "New Girl" online weeks before its launch on TV. The airing was extremely successful, so much so that Fox made the same move for the new "The Mindy Project."
NBC followed suit this year with their shows "The New Normal" and "Revolution."
So far, the Dexter episode has 55,000 views, certainly a success for the company if it took users who may have otherwise pirated away from doing so with a legal offering.
Japanese Internet users who download unauthorized movies, music and games can now face up to two years in prison or a fine as large as 2 million yen ($25,000).
The new penalties are an amendment to a 2010 law for copyright infringement crimes which formerly invoked no penalties.
Critics of the law say efforts should have been concentrated on stopping uploaders of copyrighted material instead of punishing those who consume it. In the nation, uploaders face a max sentence of 10 years and a 10 million yen fine.
Japan is the second-largest music market in the world behind the U.S., and media companies say the country is plagued by piracy just like in all nations. The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) says illegal downloads surpassed legal ones at a pace of 10 to 1.
The WSJ is reporting that Apple is quietly looking to expand to India, the world's second most populous nation.
Currently, Apple sells the iPhone and iPad through partnerships with local distributors Redington and Ingram Micro, although they have no Apple Store retail presence in the nation.
India has made it tough for high-end brands to setup retail stores in the nation, with local companies controlling distribution and most of the vertical integration.
There is a rule that requires mandatory 30 percent local-sourcing requirement for foreign retailers, but it appears Apple is in discussions with the Indian government to have that legislation (and some others) relaxed.
If completed, Apple will then look to open multiple stores in 2013.
Sharp has announced that it has begun mass production of a new 5-inch, 1080p display that boasts a pixel density of 443ppi.
Manufacturing started last week and will be increased throughout October.
The company also notes that the display will feature a "new pixel design," one that is 30 percent denser than their current 720p displays.
Today's announcement should do little to quell the rumors that HTC is preparing the new Nexus 5 for Google using the Sharp display and other 'superphone' features.
Motorola Mobility has lost an appeal in their Xbox software lawsuit against Microsoft.
The three-judge panel upheld an order that blocked Motorola from enforcing a sales ban injunction they had won in May in Germany over Microsoft.
Motorola and Microsoft are in a battle over patents used by the Xbox gaming console and smartphones. Motorola says it is owed royalties for Wi-Fi and video compression tech used in the console, while Microsoft says all of Motorola's Android phones use Microsoft tech and patents.
To avoid the injunction, Microsoft could start taking steps toward a licensing agreement, as long as the rate is determined by Motorola.
"We're pleased that Judge Robart's decision has been affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, preventing Motorola from enforcing an injunction in Germany until its use of standard essential patents can be closely examined," added David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft. "It continues to be our hope that Google and Motorola live up to their promises to standards organizations."
According to the scientific journal Nature, Australian researchers claim to have moved closer than ever towards quantum computers.
The researchers say they were able to "create the first qubit based on a single atom in silicon."
This is considered a major milestone since only 300 qubits "would be required to store a number greater than the number of particles in the universe."
Tom's Hardware explains: "The researchers are able to use their discovery to read and write information from and to the qubit. "Quantum computation" is now possible within "1 to 2 years" and "transporting quantum information across chips" within 3 to 4 years."
The next step is building pairs of quantum bits.
Altogether, the first quantum computers can potentially be built within 10 years.
According to multiple sources, Apple's plans for a Pandora rival are being held up by one major music publisher.
The sources say the service has hit a speed bump with licensing for music controlled by Sony/ATV, the world's largest music publisher.
What is in dispute is unsurprisingly the rates for streaming Sony/ATV tracks, with Apple wanting to pay less than what is being asked.
Sony purchased EMI Music Publishing earlier this year for $2.2 billion, giving them two million extra songs including tracks from the Beatles and new artists like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.
For now, Apple will need to keep negotiating before it has a chance to release its still unconfirmed 'Pandora-killer.'
Sony, along with their Android 4.0 update, has added 'Glove Mode' to their latest smartphones.
"Glove Mode" will let users take advantage of floating touch technology, and the phone will detect the user's fingers, even through gloves.
The 4.0 update was brought to the Xperia Sola, Xperia Go and Xperia U but only the Sola will get Glove Mode.
Alongside the standard 4.0 updates, the update brings "Sony applications like the Walkman music app, extended standby mode and various bug fixes" says Sony.
Major carrier rivals AT&T and T-Mobile USA have agreed to share their networks to customers of the other company in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, namely in New York and New Jersey.
Just a couple of weeks before launch, Nintendo has revealed the digital benefits of purchasing a Wii U Deluxe set.
The U.S. DOE has activated the world's most powerful supercomputer, dubbed the 'Titan.'
Forstall's departure not a totally sad occasion.
Modern Warfare 4 in development.
Fourth generation iPad also sells out.
Redmond gets some important apps for Windows 8
Rovio has released the first gameplay video for the upcoming Angry Birds: Star Wars edition.
Apple's iPad Mini shipping times have jumped to two weeks now as pre-orders from the online store have sold out.
With Hurricane Sandy picking up strength as it reaches the East Coast, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has tweeted some advice to those in affected areas.
Google has announced today that it will roll out the popular Google Music cloud service to Europe on November 13th.
Alongside their new hardware, Google also unveiled 
Google capped off its hardware upgrades today by unveiling an updated Nexus 7 tablet with more internal storage and mobile data capabilities.
Google has unveiled their Nexus 10 tablet today, the full-sized brother to the popular Nexus 7 and a true iPad competitor.
Google has unveiled its poorly kept secret, the 
Amazon has 
The low-end 
A Polish 
Even though it was made available unofficially at Staples last week, it appears the Google Nexus 7 is finally official and widely available.
If you live on the East Coast of the U.S., you have no doubt been inundated by news about the incoming "Frankenstorm," Hurricane Sandy.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has confirmed that foreign hackers attacked the South Carolina Department of Revenue, stealing 3.6 million social security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers.
Apple's latest, the 
According to 
Google has begun trialing same-day delivery, testing the service in San Francisco for employees and friends.
Following in the footsteps of 
Clearwire has 
GameStop has 
Earlier this month, we reported that 
Despite reports that it would be delayed, 
Amazon reported their 
According to Sprint's latest quarterly 
Although it has been rumored for over a month and even seen via very official looking press photos, Google has not officially unveiled the 
Following both company's earnings reports, it has become clear that AT&T has sold a lot more 
According to a new report, 
T-Mobile USA has made the 
Following their press event yesterday in which they unveiled the the long-rumored iPad Mini as well as a refreshed iPad, the company has quietly dumped the price on a refurbished third-generation model.
Netflix released its Q3 2012 earnings today, sending shares falling as much as 12 percent.
In an effort to curb the piracy of their products in the nation, 
Amazon has discontinued the original Kindle Touch today, choosing to focus on its new Paperwhite model instead.
Earlier today, we reported that 
The poorly kept secret that is the 
Hulu has unveiled a dedicated Hulu Plus app for Windows 8.
One of Amazon's cloud data centers went down earlier today, causing thousands of sites to be taken offline for as much as 3 hours.
The large 
Earlier this week, Google sent out press invites for an event on October 29th.
Best Buy has begun pre-orders for the upcoming 
As of last week, T-Mobile has done away with their existing 200MB data plan for all new smartphone activations.
Although Google has still not confirmed it, the 32GB Nexus 7 has been purchased out in the wild, in multiple countries.
Last week, Best Buy announced their first tablet, the Insignia Flex.
According to the Center for Copyright Information, the controversial "Copyright Alert System" will hit the U.S. within weeks.
Just one week before their biggest ecosystem launch in history, 
According to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Google has sold somewhere between 800,000 and 1 million Nexus 7 tablets since launch in June.
Nicholas Allegra, the infamous "Comex," has been terminated after his quick employment at 
Verizon has launched the new 
AT&T has confirmed that it has an exclusive deal to market and sell the upcoming 
Over the past two weeks, rumors have been picking up about Google's supposed new Nexus phone, the 
Google and 
Earlier this week, following an investigation, Foxconn admitted to hiring underage interns, in breach of child labor laws.
It appears that both 
According to Strategy Analytics, the amount of smartphones in use has crossed 1 billion for the first time ever.
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After an investigation, Foxconn has admitted to hiring underage interns, in breach of child labor laws.
The world's worst kept tech secret, literally, has finally been confirmed by 
Netflix has announced expansion of the 
Four months after first unveiling the Surface, 
MetroPCS shareholders have sued over the upcoming merger with major carrier T-Mobile USA.
Someone at EA will have some explaining to do.
Amazon has discontinued its least popular Kindle, the over-sized DX.
Early this morning, 
According to supposed leaked screenshots of internal inventory of large European retailer Media Markt, the 
OnLive, the cloud-based gaming company, was sold for just $4.8 million, literally pennies on the dollar for the company that was once valued at close to $2 billion.
Reuters has confirmed that 
Major Japanese carrier Softbank has agreed to purchase a 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel.
A hacker who goes by the name "Pinkie Pie" has had a nice pay day.
The Taiwanese government has asked 
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of 
Earlier this week we reported on Pandora CEO Tim Westergren noting that the company pays some of the top artists in the world over $1 million per year in royalties, with Lil Wayne and Drake topping the list at $3 million per year.
So far there isn't much, but this single Tweet and the actual decision here.
Canal Plus CEO Bertrand Meheut has let it slip that Amazon is preparing to launch a subscription video-on-demand service next year, most likely in March.
It appears that 
T-Mobile USA has announced its own exclusive Windows Phone 8 smartphone.
Last month, Valve said it would allow 1000 
Popular media company BBC Worldwide has joined the 
According to multiple sources, Google is currently working on the 10-inch "premium" Nexus 10 tablet with 
Warner Bros. Entertainment has signed a new pay 
According to 
According to the latest Digital Music Index (DMI) report, Gainesville, Florida is the new 'pirate capital' of the world.
Rovio and Lucasfilm have announced the next stage of the blockbuster Angry Birds franchise; "Angry Birds Star Wars."
In 2010, 
One of Nokia's most senior executives has abruptly left the company, without word or statement from 
FlixChip, a new startup company, has announced that it will release films pre-loaded to USB flash drives, in an effort to replace DVDs, Blu-rays and other 
Last month, 
Rumors are running rampant that 
Despite 
Redbox will begin selling tickets to concerts and other events via their rental kiosks.
AMD's latest A10-5800K APU has been overclocked to extreme levels.
The latest rumor, from 
Social media giant Facebook has announced today that it has reached the 1 billion user mark, a milestone certainly never seen before in history.
Google and Verizon have dropped the price of the flagship .jpg)
According to 
According to the latest numbers from research firm Net Applications, Windows 7 has surpassed Windows XP in global Web traffic among desktop OS.
As is their monthly tradition, Google has released the share splits for 
New numbers from NetApplications show that Windows 8 pre-launch numbers are severely lagging those of its predecessor, Windows 7.
Showtime has put the season 7 premiere of Dexter and the second season premiere of Homeland on YouTube, in their entirety.
Japanese Internet users who download unauthorized movies, music and games can now face up to two years in prison or a fine as large as 2 million yen ($25,000).
According to the scientific journal Nature, Australian researchers claim to have moved closer than ever towards quantum computers.
