Latest news

GE has launched a new lightbulb this week, one that uses LED technology instead of compact fluorescents and that has a life expectancy of 17 years. The catch? The bulb costs $50 USD.

The new bulb uses only 9 watts and "provides a 77% energy savings" while lasting up to 25 times longer than a current 40-watt CFL (compact fluorescent).

The bulb is dubbed the GE Energy Smart LED Bulb, and will work in any normal incandescent socket.

The U.S. government recently passed new lighting efficiency standards, meaning 100-watt incandescent bulbs will soon be phased out (starting in 2012), with 75-watt bulbs getting phased out in 2013, and 60 and 40-watt bulbs getting the boot in 2014.

Although set for launch next week, it appears Microsoft has jumped the gun and begun selling the 64GB model of the Zune HD early.

The model sells for $349 USD, which is a $50 discount from the comparable iPod Touch model.

Additionally, Microsoft has dropped the price of smaller capacity models, with the 16GB model dropping to an MSRP of $200 and the 32GB model to $270. Of course, Amazon has the players for much cheaper, ($170 for the 16GB for example) but seeing the MSRP drop is a good start for other e-tailers.

Check it here: Zune HD 64GB model

Crackberry has got the rumor mill in full spin today by saying that RIM could possibly be developing a BlackBerry tablet, and is already ordering 8.9-inch displays.

Says the report: "The source (of the rumors) is from a research firm that specializes in component supply chain information - and the company sent out a brief report this week touting "RIMM to Launch Own Tablet in Late 2010" which got the industry insiders buzzing. Three sources have confirmed that RIM has placed an order with supplier Hon Hai for 8.9" displays for use in a tablet."

If true, the move would be a stark contrast from RIM's old position on tablets. Just a few months ago CEO Mike Lazaridis said this about tablets: "I don't see the benefits of a tablet over a notebook... A lot of technology falls in the middle."

The report says the more likely use of the 8.9-inch displays will be for in-car touchscreen systems, especially given the company's recent acquisition of QNX Software, the "leading provider of superior realtime operating system (RTOS) software, development tools, and services for embedded design."

The Mexican government, in an effort to fight crime, has been urging residents to register their mobile phones and identities, however it appears that over 30 million line still have not and those will likely be shut down in the coming weeks.

The law was passed in 2009 "to stop criminals from using cellphones for extortion and to negotiate ransoms in kidnappings," says Reuters.

Critics of the law have called it ineffective, as criminals will now be more likely to pay off poor citizens to register the phones under their names.

America Movil, which controls 70 percent of the Mexican market, will lose about $10 million USD in revenue daily if those 30 million unregisterd lines are shutdown. The company has been trying to get an extension on the deadline for registering.

Microsoft is set to officially reveal their new mobile phone series on April 12th during a media event, introducing the phones that have been developed under the working title "Pink."

The "Pink" phones will feature social networking tools, and will be aimed at teens.

Today, one of the phones, dubbed "Turtle" by the media for its rounded shape, has been "seen in the wild."

The video clip is short and it's hard to see much, but it certainly does look like the MS Turtle mockup that sites have been floating around for months.

Wi-Lan, the Canadian technology licensing company, has sued Apple, HP, Dell and 16 other companies over a patent related to Bluetooth technology used in mobile phones.

The Canadian company says all 19 companies are infringing on their 1996 patent, which calls for a "method for frequency sharing and frequency punchout in frequency hopping communications network."

Wi-Lan is looking for monetary damages as well as "triple damage" for "willful" infringement.

None of the companies sued have commented yet.

There was a rant posted today by Lee Brimelow, a Platform Evangelist at Adobe focusing on the Flash, Flex, and AIR developer communities on The Flash Blog and it's all aimed at Apple.

Reads the blog post:

[Adobe would like me to make it clear that the opinions below are not the official views of the company and are entirely my own.]

By now you have surely heard about the new iPhone 4.0 SDK language that appears to make creating applications in any non-Apple-approved languages a violation of terms. Obviously Adobe is looking into this wording carefully so I will not comment any further until there is an official conclusion.

[Sentence regarding Apple's intentions redacted at request from Adobe]. This has nothing to do whatsoever with bringing the Flash player to Apple’s devices. That is a separate discussion entirely. What they are saying is that they won’t allow applications onto their marketplace solely because of what language was originally used to create them. This is a frightening move that has no rational defense other than wanting tyrannical control over developers and more importantly, wanting to use developers as pawns in their crusade against Adobe. This does not just affect Adobe but also other technologies like Unity3D.

According to Mozilla's official "Metrics" blog, Firefox has seen a gigantic improvement in stability over the past five months, with the launch of v3.6 being a big reason why, especially compared to v3.5.

To get their number, they used the "Crash Reports" data as well as the "Aggregate View of FF Crashes" data, which can be viewed at the end of the article.

Says Ken Kovash: "As mentioned previously, improving Firefox stability was a top level objective of the Mozilla community during the last few months of 2009. That effort was led by a variety of folks across a wide breath of the community… people who saw the many complaints about crashes, collected the data, figured out what was causing the most pain, addressed those issues (sometimes in code, sometimes by working with partners) and saw product improvements."

Well done.

According to Digitimes Research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo, Apple is already developing a smaller version of the iPad, reportedly anywhere from 5-to-7 inches, which it will launch in early 2011.

Kuo based his conclusion on talks "with upstream component sources," and he also concludes that the smaller iPad will sell for somewhere between $300 and $400.

The device will be targeted at at the "highly-portable mobile device market and consumers that focus mainly on reading and do not have a high demand for text input," meaning it will basically be an e-reader that additionally has all the other perks of an iPad.

When asked about the HP Slate, Kuo says it will not be any competition to the iPad, mainly due to its low battery life.

Sales of the Nintendo DS line, including the DS Lite, DSi, and DSi LL have combined to retake the top spot in the Japanese hardware market, closely followed by the PSP.

The DS series sold 41,219 units for the week ended April 4th, with the Sony PS3 close behind at 38,877 units sold.

The PSP-300 handheld, and the DS' biggest rival, sold 37,445 units, but when adding the minuscule sales of the PSPGo (1803 units), it outsold the PS3 and almost rivaled the DS.

According to an interview with Eurogamer, Ubisoft has said today that their "always on" DRM is here to stay and the developer will continue to "evolve and improve" it as gaming evolves.

"Most forthcoming Ubisoft PC titles will use our online services platform," said a spokesperson speaking about the DRM. "As with any online technology, we are constantly working to evolve and improve it."

The controversial DRM makes it so gamers must stay online at all times or not be able to play their games. If the Internet ever cuts out, or the Ubi servers go down, gamers are returned to the main menu, unable to play.

Kotaku has posted an accidentally leaked promotional page for the upcoming Gears of War 3 game for the Xbox 360 which shows that the game will hit retail shelves next April.

The ad says: "The epic story concludes April 2011".

The ad was supposed to have been revealed on Monday, when Epic Game's Cliff Bleszinski is expected to have an appearance on Jimmy Fallon's late night show.

There is little other information, but the new game is expected to include new features such as underwater combat.

Gears of War 2 was one of the platform's biggest selling games of all-time.

Creative has announced the launch of a few new media devices today, the Zen X-Fi Style and the Zen Style series.

"In line with the upcoming Pure Audio Campaign where Creative is set to deliver pure sounding high performance speakers and premium noise isolation earphones, we are pleased to unveil the ZEN X-Fi Style and the ZEN Style series - the embodiment of the purest-sounding music on-the-go experience on the market," says Joseph Liow, Vice President for Personal Digital Entertainment Products at Creative.


ZEN X-Fi Style:


* Bright 2.4-inch TFT display
* X-Fi technology for crystal clear music
* Video Out in X-Fi audio quality for watching movies on the TV
* Lossless audio support (FLAC)
* Up to 25 hours of audio playback, up to 5 hours video
* FM radio, alarm clock, calendar and voice recorder
* 8GB, 16GB & 32GB capacities
* Built-in speaker for music sharing
* Playback for downloaded RSS feeds
* Available in black and white for the 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models. Also available in red for the 8GB and 16GB models exclusively at www.creative.com/shop

Ankeena, the maker of server software that helps improve streaming of "multiple streams of simultaneous video over various network types," has been acquired by tech giant Juniper for just under $100 million.

The acquired company has claimed their streaming and data caching tech is "superior" to other current video delivery methods.

Ankeena makes software that runs on x86-based servers to improve performance of multiple streams of simultaneous video over various network types. The company claims its streaming and data caching technology is "superior" to other methods of video delivery.

"Juniper's acquisition of Ankeena reflects our commitment to transforming the experience and economics of networking — in this case by delivering an enhanced TV-like user experience of both fixed and mobile video traffic, while enabling crucial TCO reductions for operators," adds Manoj Leelanivas, head of the JUNOS (Juniper operating system) product efforts.

Infinity Ward has said today that it plans to release the Modern Warfare 2 DLC "Stimulus Package" for the PS3 and PC on May 4th, two months after its release on the Xbox 360.

Says IW community manager Robert Bowling via Tweet: "The Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package DLC will hit PS3 in North America on May 4th, everywhere else May 5th. PC gets it worldwide on May 4th."

Coinciding with the release, IW will "host a double XP event," allowing gamers to make double experience points while playing multiplayer.

The pack will cost $15 USD, just like it does for the 360, and will add 5 new maps.