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AfterDawn: News

Nintendo 3DS game cart revealed, wireless e-reader app coming soon?

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 19 Jun 2010 12:39

Nintendo 3DS game cart revealed, wireless e-reader app coming soon? Siliconera has posted a picture this week on how the game cart for the Nintendo 3DS looks, and unsurprisingly it looks very similar to a standard DS cart.

The new 2GB 3DS carts are the exact shape as a standard DS cart, but with a small tab in the corner.

Additionally, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has hinted that the 3DS may be getting an e-reader app that works with the handheld's built-in Wi-Fi support. Using the wireless, the device may soon be able to "automatically acquire newspaper and magazine articles."

Posted in the Japanese Nikkei, Iwata also said the 3DS' wireless connection could stay active even when the handheld is asleep: "It will seek out and automatically connect with wireless LAN spots, and download information," leaving the latest news or other info for gamers when they turn the system back on.

Please read our full post on the 3DS here: E3 2010: Nintendo shows off 3DS, 'No More Glasses'

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AfterDawn: News

HP will release updated WebOS, new Palm devices next year

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Jun 2010 11:30

HP will release updated WebOS, new Palm devices next year PreCentral has revealed this week that HP, which recently acquired the struggling smartphone maker Palm for $1.2 billion, is planning on releasing new Palm smartphone devices next year, as well as an updated WebOS mobile operating system.

Palm had put itself up for sale in March after it became clear that the company's phones were not selling and it only had enough cash to last the next 12 months. In late April, HP swooped in and purchased the company Palm for $1.2 billion, after at least four other companies gave serious bids.

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AfterDawn: News

Best Buy to offer HTC EVO 4G in white

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Jun 2010 11:02

Best Buy to offer HTC EVO 4G in white Engadget has posted the official press sheets for a white HTC EVO 4G that will be sold exclusively through Best Buy.

Pre-orders start today for the white model, and it will be officially launched on July 11th.

While unconfirmed, the site says Sprint stores will get the model in August and other retailers will get it as late as September.

The price is the same as the existing black model, $200 with two-year contract.

Under the hood is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB ROM, 512MB RAM, a 1500 mAh battery and an 8GB microSD card. The device has a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive multi-touchscreen display (with pinch to zoom), Android 2.1 with Sense UI, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Goggles, YouTube, Google Calendar syncing, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability for connecting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices.

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AfterDawn: News

More adults are texting and driving than teens are

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Jun 2010 10:49

More adults are texting and driving than teens are According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, adults are more likely than teenagers to text while driving, with 47 percent of respondents saying they either send or read messages while at the wheel of a vehicle.

That shockingly high number compares with 34 percent of teens doing the same thing. Pew considers teens as minors aged 16 and 17.

Says Mary Madden, senior research specialist at Pew: "There's been a lot of focus on young drivers, and for good reasons. But this research provides an important reminder that adults are setting a bad example."

The U.S. Senate is currently voting on banning texting as a federal mandate, and 28 states already ban the practice. Seven states have banned all mobile phone use while driving.

Pew also says that focus groups have shown that younger children have seen older siblings and their parents texting while driving, and see it as "okay" to do, as well.

The industry as a whole is moving to discourage use of mobile phones while driving, with the CTIA wireless trade group, the National Safety Council, and large carriers Verizon and AT&T starting ad campaigns.

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AfterDawn: News

Facebook had $800 million revenue in 2009

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Jun 2010 10:22

Facebook had $800 million revenue in 2009 According to sources cited by Reuters, Facebook had revenue of $800 million USD in 2009, thanks to huge boosts in user-ship and advertising.

Perhaps more importantly, the social networking site turned a profit "in the tens of millions of dollars."

Facebook, which started in 2004, has become the most popular web destination in the United States, even topping Google, and has over 500 million users.

The revelation comes at a time when would-be shareholders are practically begging for an IPO (initial public offering) for the site, making the company public and allowing it to trade in the stock market.

$800 million in revenue, and profits in the tens of millions is well ahead of what various analysts have estimated over the course of the year. Even the most generous estimates placed revenue at $700 million with a thin profit margin.

Revenue in 2008 was $250 million, based on 150 million users.




AfterDawn: News

Apple releases iTunes 9.2 ahead of iPhone 4 launch

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Jun 2010 9:40

Apple releases iTunes 9.2 ahead of iPhone 4 launch Apple Inc. has pushed out an updated version of its popular iTunes multimedia software ahead of the iPhone 4 launch next week. Top of the list of changes is compatibility with iOS 4 and syncing with iPhone 4. It also introduces book syncing and reading with an iPhone or iPod Touch running iBooks 1.1.

iTunes 9.2 also supports organizing and syncing PDF documents as books and supports the new "Folders" feature of iOS 4 that lets users organize their applications into groups. The update version also promises some improvements such as much faster backups while syncing with an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 4, and quicker display of album artwork in the iTunes library.

Changes between iTunes v9.1.1 and iTunes v9.2
  • Sync with iPhone 4 to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on-the-go
  • Sync and read books with iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4 and iBooks 1.1
  • Organize and sync PDF documents as books. Read PDFs with iBooks 1.1 on iPad and any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4
  • Organize your apps on your iOS 4 home screens into folders using iTunes
  • Faster back-ups while syncing an iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4
  • Album artwork improvements make artwork appear more quickly when exploring your library

Download iTunes 9.2 for Windows from:
https://www.afterdawn.com/software/audio_video/media_management/itunes.cfm

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AfterDawn: News

Redbox to keep offering Paramount rentals on DVD release day

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Jun 2010 9:30

Redbox to keep offering Paramount rentals on DVD release day Think back a few months to a fight that took place between Redbox and the major Hollywood studios. Hollywood execs were all hot and bothered about how Redbox kiosk's cheap $1 movie rentals were cannibalizing new DVD and Blu-ray sales, and decided to order their wholesale distributors not to sell to Redbox for a month or more after the initial release.

Redbox launched some legal action in response and decided to buy directly from retailers to stock kiosks as a workaround. However, that came crashing down for Redbox when Wal-Mart and other retailers imposed limits on the number of units of the same film a single customer can buy from them. Long story short, Redbox ended signing deals with Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. that required a 28-day window before Redbox kiosks could offer new titles for rental.

Paramount however decided to actually test whether or not the availability of new titles from rent from Redbox kiosks affects the sales of new DVD or Blu-ray releases. It signed a deal with Redbox in August 2009 which would allow it to stock new releases on the same day as the title comes out on Blu-ray and DVD. Redbox agreed at the time to share rental data with Paramount so that it could evaluate the potential benefits of a longer-term contract.

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AfterDawn: News

FSF 'firm, simple' declaration takes aim at ACTA

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Jun 2010 8:59

FSF 'firm, simple' declaration takes aim at ACTA The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is inviting everyone who is opposed to the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA), or to provisions of ACTA (or how it is being negotiated) to support a "firm, simple declaration against ACTA." People can sign the declaration which includes 11 demands about ACTA if it is to be implemented, or provides an alternative of abandoning ACTA entirely.

The FSF does not want to seem opposed to the Wellington Declaration however, but a post from Richard Stallman of FSF does point out some details about it that he "cannot put his name to." New Zealand citizens held a public meeting dubbed PublicACTA to criticize a secret meeting of government representatives. The attendees published the Wellington Declaration (which you can sign), calling on the negotiators to reject several injustices suspected to appear in the controversial treaty.

Stallman however points out that while the Wellington Declaration condemns the plan for ACTA to prohibit devices that can break digital restrictions (DRM, digital handcuffs etc.), it goes ahead to suggest instead that a limited prohibition, along the lines of Article 11 of the WIPO Internet Treaty. This would result in government backing being given to certain kinds of digital handcuffs, according to Stallman, and he is concerned that to accept that much without a fight would tempt ACTA negotiators to try for "more."

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AfterDawn: News

Samsung reveals speedy 512GB solid state drive

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Jun 2010 8:14

Samsung reveals speedy 512GB solid state drive Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., has introduced a new high-speed 512GB solid state drive, utilizing high-performance toggle-mode DDR NAND. "The highly advanced features and characteristics of our new SSD were obtained as a direct result of an aggressive push for further development of our NAND flash technology, our SSD controller and our supportive SSD firmware," said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics.

"Early introduction of this state-of-the-art toggle DDR solution will enable Samsung to play a major role in securing faster market acceptance of the new wave of high-end SSD technology." The 512GB SSD uses 30 nanometer-class 32-gigabit chips that the company began producing just last November. Combining the toggle-mode DDR structure with the SATA 3.0Gbps interface generates a maximum read speed of 250 MB/s and a 220 MB/s write speed.

Samsung claims this provides three-fold the performance of a traditional hard disk drive, with two 4GB DVD movies being stored in just a minute. The SSD is also developed to be energy-efficient, using a low power controller specifically for toggle-mode DDR and a low-power mode that is activated after the controller analyzes the users' activities that can extend the batter life of a notebook significantly.

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AfterDawn: News

Sony Ericsson unveils Xperia X8 Android device

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2010 2:00

Sony Ericsson unveils Xperia X8 Android device Sony Ericsson has launched its latest Android device, the Xperia X8, a mid-level entry to the smartphone market.

The device will have a 3-inch HVGA touchscreen, a 600 MHz processor,Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS, a 3.2MP camera, a microSD slot, a 3.5mm headset jack, and will run the aging Android 1.6.

An update to 2.1 is expected "soon," however, says Sony. On top of the Android OS, the device will use Sony Ericsson's "four corners" UI layer.

Additionally, the X8 will run the Timescape app, which manages calls, texts, emails, and social networking.

As with all SE devices, the phone will come with strong video and audio playback players.

Price and release date were not revealed.




AfterDawn: News

Oracle sued for overcharging on their software products

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2010 12:59

Oracle sued for overcharging on their software products The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued Oracle today, claiming that the software giant overcharged the federal government by tens of millions of dollars after not disclosing discounts given to other corporate customers.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the DOJ says Oracle did not provide a discount that is normally given to "most favored customers." The government should have that discount through a deal with the General Services Administration (GSA).

GSA's "multiple award schedule" lets the government negotiate contracts with companies so that government employees can make purchases at a discounted price.

Due to regulations, the GSA must obtain the best price a contractor provides, and the contractor must disclose that price.

The new suit says Oracle, starting in 2007, did not disclose their lowest prices to the GSA.




AfterDawn: News

iPhone 4 pre-order deliveries pushed back to July 14th

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2010 12:41

iPhone 4 pre-order deliveries pushed back to July 14th For consumers hoping to get their Apple iPhone 4 early, watch out, you may be in for a multiple week wait.

Apple's official store is now showing that iPhone 4 pre-orders will ship by July 14th, a big-time delay from the expected July 2nd ship date.

Yesterday the company said they sold 600,000 of the device on June 15th, the first day of pre-orders, with the demand so high that the AT&T web site had to take down the pre-order form and call in specialists.

Apple apologized for the lack of supply yesterday: "Many customers were turned away or abandoned the process in frustration. We apologize to everyone who encountered difficulties, and hope that they will try again or visit an Apple or carrier store once the iPhone 4 is in stock."

If you want your device closer to launch date on June 24th, Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy should have a limited number of devices in-store.




AfterDawn: News

Europeans have purchased 25,000 3D HDTVs, so far

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2010 12:25

Europeans have purchased 25,000 3D HDTVs, so far While it is expected to become a huge market in just a few small years, 3D HDTVs are having a modest early adopter period in Europe, says retail analyst GfK.

Consumers in Europe have purchased 25,000 3D-capable TVs as of May 31st 2010, with sales expect to grow significantly with the release of a number of new devices this month.

Overall, 252 million TVs are expected to be sold, globally, in 2010.

GfK says "every notable manufacturer" either currently offers, or will offer within months, a 3D-capable HDTV, and that interest is growing from the consuming public.

A recent study has shown that the majority of consumers interested in buying a 3D TV are avid gamers, with 27 percent saying they plan to purchase one within the next year.

Sony recently revealed the first 3D games available for the PS3, the console which has had the capability to playback 3D content for a few months.




AfterDawn: News

Nokia: All smartphones to feature NFC from 2011

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Jun 2010 12:01

Nokia: All smartphones to feature NFC from 2011 Nokia has revealed that all smartphones it releases from 2011 on will feature near-field communication (NFC) technology, a welcomed announced as NFC-backers feared Nokia was backing off on its long-term support plans for NFC. Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive VP for markets, made today's announcement at the Mobey Forum's 10th anniversary meeting in Helsinki.

Vanjoki was unable to give specific details about the new smartphone models, but delegates were informed that information would be made available "in due course." Vanjoki said that the handsets will support "all open business models," suggesting that they will support both the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) and other secure element formats such as MicroSD cards, or possibly an embedded security element.

Using NFC technology, users can avail of a proximity payment system to carry out transactions, such as paying for public transport. Besides having the NFC to facilitate wireless communications, the handset would also need a lot of various elements to be stored safely that control the system securely. Operators have lobbied for the SWP standard which would store all of this important data in the SIM and facilitate such features.

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AfterDawn: News

Retailers price Kinect at $150

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Jun 2010 11:56

Retailers price Kinect at $150 On Monday, Microsoft officially launched Kinect, the motion control system that had been formerly dubbed "Project Natal."

The software giant, however, would not set an official price for the product at E3 this year.

On Tuesday, GameStop put the system on sale for $150 USD while also offering up a bundle with an Arcade console and Kinect for $299.99 and an Elite console with Kinect for $399.99.

Today, more retailers have followed suit, with Amazon, Best Buy and Wal-Mart all offering the system for $150, as well.

With four major retailers now offering the device for the same price, it seems the pre-order price is Microsoft's MSRP on the system.

The Kinect is compatible with all current Xbox 360 models as well as the unreleased Slim console.

At E3, Sony also unveiled its Move motion control system, pricing the two-part controller at $80 USD.





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