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AfterDawn: News

MWC: Nokia unveiled six new phones

Written by Matti Robinson @ 27 Feb 2012 8:47

MWC: Nokia unveiled six new phones Nokia has revealed new mobile phones in Barcelona. Nokia's Mobile World Congress event brought us three new affordable Asha phones, two new Windows Phones and a new Symbian powered camera phone.

Starting with the three affordable Asha phones that have been designed mainly for the emerging markets. The models are Asha 202, Asha 203 and Asha 302. All of them have estimated retail price (before taxes) of less than 100 euros and have 2,4 (202, 203) or 2,6 inch (302) touch screen. The Asha 302 has a QWERTY keyboard and the other two come with an alphanumeric keypad.



Nokia's new Lumia phones are as expected the HSPA+ version of Lumia 900 and the more affordable Lumia 610. The first is a copy of the LTE version, only dropping the LTE for HSPA+ connectivity. Lumia 610 on the other hand is a totally new handset. It comes with 3,7 inch touch screen, 256 mb of RAM, 800MHz processor and a price tag of 189 euros before taxes. Both Lumia phones are expected to launch in second quarter.

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AfterDawn: News

WikiLeaks begins releasing 5 million emails from STRATFOR

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Feb 2012 11:08

WikiLeaks begins releasing 5 million emails from STRATFOR WikiLeaks has begun publishing "The Global Intelligence Files," a group of over 5 million emails stolen from Stratfor, the global intelligence agency.

The emails are dated from 2004 until late last year and Wiki says the emails will "reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency."

Stratfor apparently deals with psychological control methods, payment-laundering, informants, and more.

One such email, from CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez reads as follows: "[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control... This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase."

There are over 4000 emails that mention WikiLeaks or its founder Julian Assange, and the emails show how Stratfor attempted to subvert WikiLeaks.

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AfterDawn: News

Adobe makes Photoshop available for iPad 2

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Feb 2012 10:42

Adobe makes Photoshop available for iPad 2 Adobe has made its Photoshop Touch app available for iPad 2 owners.

For $10, iPad 2 owners (sorry iPad 1 owners) can have access to the powerful image editing capability of the app. Android owners have had the app since 2011.

Similar to the popular desktop version (which costs upwards of $700), users can work in layers, use "sophisticated selection tools" and erase unwanted parts of pieces. You will also be able to make standard editing

The app is the first of Adobe's upcoming Touch apps for the iPad. The rest are (via Mashable):

Adobe Collage; Adobe Debut presentation software; Adobe Ideas, which will be similar to the Illustrator vector-based desktop drawing software; Adobe Kuler color theme manager; and website- prototyping and wireframe tool Adobe Proto.


Adobe's remaining apps will be released this year and work with the company's Creative Cloud services.

To download the app, you will need iOS 5 and an iPad 2.




AfterDawn: News

MWC 2012: Sony unveils Xperia P smartphone

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Feb 2012 9:43

MWC 2012: Sony unveils Xperia P smartphone At Sony's Mobile World Congress conference today, the company unveiled its Xperia P smartphone.

The device is the first from Sony after its breakup (buyout) with Ericsson, and the company hopes to become a player again in the market where it has almost disappeared.

Sony's Xperia P will have a 4-inch display, a unibody aluminum form factor and be the first to use Sony's "White Magic" display technology for better visibility in sunny conditions.

The smartphone has a dual-core 1GHz processor, will run Gingerbread 2.3.7 out of the box (update to ICS 4.0 coming in the Q2), and have an 8MP camera with 1080p video support.

Sony has also pre-installed photo, video and music player apps, as well as integrating the Sony Entertainment Network. NFC is also supported, and will be work with "Xperia Smart Tags" to created macros for your device.

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AfterDawn: News

MWC 2012: HTC unveils new quad-core One X powerhouse

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Feb 2012 9:05

MWC 2012: HTC unveils new quad-core One X powerhouse The world's first quad-core Android smartphone is coming soon, via HTC.

At the Mobile World Congress event in Spain, HTC unveiled there new flagship One X device, the high-end model among three new phone "HTC One" branded phones.

The device has a large 4.7-inch display with 1,280x720-pixel HD resolution and Gorilla Glass. The phone runs on Android 4.0 with HTC Sense 4.0, and the phone maker has decided to keep three buttons, one for back, home and running/recent apps.

Due to its large screen, the device is 0.36-inches thick, putting it on par with the Windows Phone-powered HTC Titan.

The superphone also has, what HTC is calling its "most advanced" camera ever, an 8MP deal with five levels of LED flash and automatic focus, an (f/2.0) lens, a better image sensor and a dedicated imaging chip. The front-side camera is 1.3MP and the device will also have Beats Audio.

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AfterDawn: News

MWC 2012: Samsung shows off Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Feb 2012 8:13

MWC 2012: Samsung shows off Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 The company has unveiled the tablet today at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is very similar to its predecessor, but is actually heavier. The device has a 10.1-inch 1280x800 PLS TFT display, a dual-core 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 16 or 32GB internal storage and a 3MP 1080p capable standard camera with a VGA front-side camera.

Additionally, the device has 802.11gbn Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0 Host, A-GPS, accelerometer, digital compass and light sensors. The tablet will be 1.3 pounds and be 9.7mm thick.

The Galaxy Tab 2 will run on Android 4.0 mixed with Samsung's TouchWiz UI overlay. The device will have a large 7000mAh battery, as well.

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AfterDawn: News

MWC 2012: Samsung unveils Galaxy Beam with built-in projector

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Feb 2012 7:55

MWC 2012: Samsung unveils Galaxy Beam with built-in projector Samsung has unveiled their Galaxy Beam at the Mobile World Congress event in Spain, an Android smartphone with a built-in Pico Projector.

The company says the device will go on sale globally in the Q2.

On the spec side, the Beam has a 1GHz dual-core processor, a 4-inch WVGA TFT LCD display, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage and a 5MP standard camera. The device will launch with Gingerbread 2.3, but be upgraded to Android 4.0 ICS by the end of the year.

Unlike other past phones with projectors, the Beam will actually be on the thinner side at 0.49 inches with a 15 lumens pico projector. Samsung says the phone can project video for three hours on a gull charge, and there will be stands available for sale. The projections can be up to 50-inches wide, and the resolution is 640x360.

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AfterDawn: News

Study: AT&T's reasons for throttling are BS

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2012 7:00

Study: AT&T's reasons for throttling are BS A new study has torn apart AT&T argument for throttling mobile data.

The carrier shut down its unlimited plans last year, saying it was aiming at stopping the "top 5 percent" of bandwidth hogs, who allegedly accounted for over 50 percent of all mobile traffic during the year. Users who go over 2GB on an unlimited plan are throttled back down to 2G/EDGE speeds.

Validas, a company that promises to "slash your cell phone bill, on average, by 20%," conducted the study, by examining over 55,000 cell phone bill from Verizon and AT&T in 2011.

The study showed that AT&T's alleged data hogs were not actually using much more data than anyone else. The study says that the top 5 percent of data users on AT&T's network use (on average) 3.97GB per month, only 780MB more than the top 5 percent of those that use tiered plans, which come in different flavors and prices.

In conclusion, the company says AT&T is throttling to force users over to their tiered plans, which are "easier to manage" and efficiently block the occasional user who does use a massive amount of data that actually puts a strain on their network.

Read the report here: Validas Blog




AfterDawn: News

Killzone 3 multiplayer will be free-to-play

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2012 6:49

Killzone 3 multiplayer will be free-to-play Starting next week, Killzone 3's multiplayer experience will go free on PSN.

Players who download the free-to-play Killzone 3 will be able to join and play with those who own the full game. Additionally, FTP users will have "access to the Warzone, Operations, and Guerilla Warfare modes, as well as every map and DLC pack currently available."

The only catch is all free gamers will be capped at the level of "Sergeant," which is level 10 of 45.

To unlock the "full experience," gamers can pay a one-time fee of $15. By doing so, they will also be given 24 hours of double-experience play and the ability to level up to level 45.

The deal is pretty decent considering the game still sells for around $30 from most retailers (not including used copies) and there are many gamers who could care less about the single-player campaign.




AfterDawn: News

Sprint drops out of acquisition of MetroPCS

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2012 6:28

Sprint drops out of acquisition of MetroPCS Sprint has walked away from an acquisition of MetroPCS in the 11th hour, say sources speaking with Bloomberg.

The deal would have valued MetroPCS at $8 billion, but the final deal was rejected by Sprint's board of directors at the last minute. The company currently trades with a value of about $5 billion, so Sprint's offer would have been with a significant premium.

MetroPCS has 9.3 million subscribers and significant spectrum and certainly would have helped Sprint compete better with major CDMA player Verizon.

Sprint looked into purchasing T-Mobile USA last year, but the price was too high. AT&T eventually bid $39 billion for the company but was rejected by the FCC and US Department of Justice over anti-trust concerns.

Another potential option, says the report, is MetroPCS' rival Leap Wireless.




AfterDawn: News

Samsung Galaxy B will feature edge-to-edge screen

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2012 6:03

Samsung Galaxy B will feature edge-to-edge screen A paper in South Korea has reported this weekend that Samsung is planning on unveiling a smartphone with a bezel-less display.

The phone will have an edge-to-edge touchscreen except for the top part with the internal speaker and front-side camera.

Samsung's new device will be called the Galaxy B and feature Android 4.0.

To do so, the device will likely be more rectangular shaped than its current devices, which have rounded corners. Similar devices with rectangular designs are Nokia's latest, the Lumia 800 and 900.

There was no other details on the device, but there is a chance Samsung will drop more details at next week's Mobile World Congress.




AfterDawn: News

Rapidshare: 404 errors for free users are being resolved

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2012 5:49

Rapidshare: 404 errors for free users are being resolved Yesterday, Rapidshare confirmed it is throttling the download speed "free users" of its service receive in an effort to reduce piracy.

Today, free users of the site began complaining that instead of slow speeds, they were instead seeing 404 error screens, blocking them from downloading anything.

Users with premium accounts were having no issues.

Rapidshare has responded (via Freak), chalking the errors up to a mistake: "This error is due to a website update and therefore not intentional. RapidShare is working on a solution so that these "false" links should work again soon."




AfterDawn: News

Proview sues Apple in the U.S.

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 25 Feb 2012 5:35

Proview sues Apple in the U.S. The Chinese electronics maker Proview has sued Apple over the trademark to the iPad, after a successful suit in China.

Proview is accusing Apple of fraud in their purchase tactics for the trademark. Apple purchased the trademark from Proview's subsidiary IP Application Development. The company says the "representatives Apple negotiated with claimed that they wanted the "IPAD" trademark because it was an abbreviation of the company name."

Lower courts in Shanghai have sided with Proview in the dispute, but the courts over there are now waiting for a higher court ruling, with all current decisions being suspended. The Guangdong High Court will begin its hearing on February 29th, and the suspension means Apple can continue to sell their product in China.

Apple remains in litigation with numerous other companies, mainly for patents relating to Android and iOS, in the U.S., Germany, China and other nations.




AfterDawn: News

HTC One X revealed through leaks

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 24 Feb 2012 11:15

HTC One X revealed through leaks HTC's next smartphones, expected to be launched at the Mobile World Congress event next week, have been leaked ahead of time.

The HTC One X will be the company's first quad-core smartphone, using a Tegra 3 processor. The device will also have a very large 4.7-inch "super bright" display, an 8MP camera and a thin form factor.

Furthermore, the device will have three menu buttons, each of which will correspond to their (usually) virtual Android 4.0 buttons (home, back and running apps).

The One X will be released along side the One V and One S, two mid-range devices focusing on Beats Audio and multimedia. The devices will run on Android 4.0 but have 1GHz dual-core processors, 5MP cameras and 4-inch (or smaller) displays.

Pics via ITPP




AfterDawn: News

Redbox offering free video game rentals next week

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 24 Feb 2012 10:37

Redbox offering free video game rentals next week Popular kiosk rental service Redbox has announced it will offer video game rentals for free next week.

Starting on Sunday, February 26th, Redbox customers will get their first day's rental for free. There are 30 different games available total for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.

The rentals normally cost $2 per day, so gamers will get a very decent $2 discount for a game they probably would have rented, regardless. After the first night, the regular rate will apply.

A few of the games available include "Just Dance 3," and "COD: Modern Warfare 3."

There is one small catch, however. To get the free night, the games must be reserved online and a credit card must be provided. You can also use the company's iPhone and Android apps to make the reservation.





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