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AfterDawn: News

Google employee Nexus S get Ice Cream Sandwich update

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Dec 2011 5:04

Google employee Nexus S get Ice Cream Sandwich update Google has begun rolling out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for its employees using the Nexus S smartphone.

The company regularly give employees the OS first so they can work out any remaining bugs in a "contained environment."

Employee Adel Saoud says:

Just got Ice-cream Sandwich update on my Nexus S & it's looking great


He then added:

Yeah an OTA, but it's an early one for Google employees so we test it further so it's even more awesome when you guys get it. So sadly I can't comment on it more at this time...




AfterDawn: News

New rumored Wii U spec sheet is likely BS

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Dec 2011 4:46

New rumored Wii U spec sheet is likely BS Wii U Daily has posted a spec sheet for the upcoming console from an "undisclosed developer."

Unfortunately for fans, these rumored specs are not all that impressive and the source seems to have mis-worded a good portion of the report.

According to the source, the Wii U will have a quad-core, 3-GHz CPU from IBM, a 45-nanometer PowerPC chip. This is strange because IBM has suggested the Wii U will run on a Power7 CPU, which would be significantly more powerful than the rumored chip.

Additionally, the console will have 768 megabytes of embedded DRAM and an "unknown 40-nanometer GPU from ATI." This is once again strange as eDRAM is extremely expensive and the current Wii only has 3MB of it, says PCM.

If accurate, the specs will place the Wii U squarely ahead of the PS3 and Xbox 360, each of which are over a half-decade old, but not by much.




AfterDawn: News

The 2012 BBX BlackBerry roadmap

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Dec 2011 3:34

The 2012 BBX BlackBerry roadmap Crackberry has a preview of the upcoming BlackBerry 2012 BBX roadmap.

The "London" (pictured) will be the first BlackBerry devices to use the BBX operating system, RIM's first move away from their BlackBerry OS and the first integration of the very sleep QNX OS.

Sources say the London should be released in March, although RIM is notorious for being late with their devices.

Headed further into 2012, the codenames looks like "Lisbon," "Milan," "Nevada," and "Black Forest."

The Milan has a preliminary March launch date, as well, and should be headed to AT&T.

Lisbon is expected to be a slider. Black Forest is a 10-inch PlayBook and Nevada is expected to be the next flagship device, a touch screen and full QWERTY BBX.

(Pic of the "London" via

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

HP TouchPad Go listing taken off eBay

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Dec 2011 2:41

HP TouchPad Go listing taken off eBay Earlier this week, a Chinese seller put the HP TouchPad Go up for sale on eBay.

The TouchPad Go is the 7-inch prototype model of the now defunct TouchPad tablet.

On eBay, the pre-release model was put up for sale at $700 and it is unclear if there was interest before the auction was taken down.

The specs were mostly the same as the TouchPad, and this model came with a 3G radio and 32GB internal storage.

Auction was here.




AfterDawn: News

ICE seizes more domains

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 11:41

ICE seizes more domains ICE targets Korean download portals.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has seized yet more domain names, redirecting users to a notice that the domain has been seized for copyright infringement. The movie portals served a Korean audience, and so ICE has added a Korean translation to its notice.

The domains reported seized are: 007disk.com, 007disk.net, 82movie.com, 82movie.net, 82us.com, bzserv.info, itvwmg.com, ktvwmg.com ,wmgitv.com, wmgus.com, wmgus.net.

The domain seizure was authorized by a US District Court, and now all 11 domain names are in the custody of the federal government. Domain seizures target websites found to be dedicated to copyright infringement activity, and sites selling counterfeit goods.

The domains in question, while operating in Korea, are all connected to World Multimedia Group, Inc., a Seattle-based company. Some of the sites seized offered access to downloads for a small fee.

Over 350 domain names have now been seized as part of the "Operation In Our Sites" actions against online piracy hubs and knock-off sellers.

The practice of DNS blocking has come under scrutiny lately for being ineffective and setting a dangerous precedent. You can find some information on getting around such blocks here.




AfterDawn: News

Windows 8 build leak shows Charm Bar, IE auto-update

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 11:32

Windows 8 build leak shows Charm Bar, IE auto-update Chinese site PCBeta posts up images of leaked Windows 8 build 8158.

Images include one of the Desktop with a charm bar located on the right side of the screen. It can be accessed by bringing the mouse pointer to the bottom-right-hand corner of the screen.

Another image seems to suggest that Microsoft has brought silent updates to Internet Explorer, which is something rivals like Google already have in their web browsers. The image shows the "About" Windows in Internet Explorer 10 with a checked option to "Install new versions automatically."

A public beta of Windows 8 is expected to be released next month, at the same time as the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is underway in Las Vegas.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Charter bumps broadband to 100 Mbps

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 11:15

Charter bumps broadband to 100 Mbps Charter boosts broadband speeds.

In areas where Charter Communications has deployed DOCSIS 3.0 technology (95 percent of its Internet service areas), the company is increasing the download and upload speeds of its broadband packages at no additional costs to customers.

The Charter Internet Express package will bump download speed from 12 Mbps to 15 Mbps, and increase upload speed from 1 Mbps to 3 Mbps. Charter Internet Plus download speeds, previously set at 18 Mbps download and 2Mbps upload, will be bumped to 30 Mbps and 4 Mbps, respectfully.

The fastest residential offering from Charter was 60 Mbps download. It will now be bumped to 100 Mbps, with 5 Mbps upload speed, and renamed as Charter Internet Ultra100.

"The Internet is changing the way we watch TV, communicate with our friends and family, and engage in social and professional networks. When you're posting content online, we know it's important to have a fast, reliable connection, and we're committed to enabling the rapid sharing of content," said Rich DiGeronimo, Charter Senior Vice President, Product and Strategy.

"With multiple connected devices in your home, you don't have to make tradeoffs with Charter Internet. You can use multiple gadgets simultaneously, and enjoy a rich experience with each one. The power of the Internet continues to grow, and Charter delivers more speed than ever."




AfterDawn: News

Facebook fixes iPhone app bug

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 11:01

Facebook fixes iPhone app bug Facebook app had problems with commenting.

Users of Facebook's iPhone app may have noticed that there were odd problems with comments on the service. A user could post a picture, and then notice that comments would be mixed up. Some of the comments, for example, could have been posted for completely different items.

The social network investigated the mix-ups and put out version 4.0.3 of the application. There's no indication that any of Facebooks other apps were affected by the same flaw.

The updated app is available from the iTunes app store. The description just reads, "Fixes an issue that caused incorrect comments to be displayed for certain photos." There doesn't appear to be any other changes in the update.




AfterDawn: News

Yahoo Messenger exploit spams your friends

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 10:50

Yahoo Messenger exploit spams your friends Yahoo Messenger flaw is unpatched.

The zero-day flaw allows remote attackers to mess with users' status messages. It affects Yahoo Messenger right up to the recently-released 11.5.0.152-us version.

Bitdefender security researchers warned that this type of attack is dangerous due to basic trust principles. Your friends and family see your status update, and if it contains an innocent looking link, they would be a lot more likely to click-through than if they just received unsolicited spam.

The flaw is exploited when the rogue attacker simulates sending a file to a targeted user. The bogus file transfer tricks Messenger into loading an iFrame which then changes the status message to whatever the attacker wants it to be.

The iFrame comes over as a regular message from another Yahoo Instant Messenger user, even if the user isn't in the victim's contact list.

You should change your Yahoo Messenger settings to ignore people not on your contact list if you are worried about being targeted, but that won't stop your friends status messages from being changed, so stay vigilant.




AfterDawn: News

Sony wants Flash on Vita

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 10:40

Sony wants Flash on Vita Sony hopes abandonment of Flash for Mobile software won't stop it from running on Vita.

Adobe recently announced that it was ceasing the development of Flash for mobile devices, conceding that the HTML 5 standard is more than enough to do the same job, and also beats it with cross-industry backing.

The move came after Adobe had fought to make its software more efficient and secure on mobile devices, after then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs questioned its reliability on mobile devices.

Still, Flash is used with a huge amount of web services and Sony is still hoping that it will be able to bring Flash support to the PlayStation Vita handheld console. Muneki Shimada, head of software development at Sony Division 2, said the company is still in negotiations with Adobe over the possibility.




AfterDawn: News

AT&T blasts FCC staff report

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 8:55

AT&T blasts FCC staff report AT&T brands FCC staff report "one-sided", questions whether authors were predisposed.

Unsurprisingly, AT&T did not react to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staff report very enthusiastically. The report tore into the claims AT&T made to regulators about the positive outcomes from such a large merger, which would crate the largest wireless carrier in the United States.

"The report cherry-picks facts to support its views, and ignores facts that don't," Jim Cicconi, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President of External & Legislative Affairs, said. "Where facts were lacking, the report speculates, with no basis, and then treats its own speculations as if they were fact. This is clearly not the fair and objective analysis to which any party is entitled, and which we have every right to expect."

Several of the main topics of the FCC report were addressed by AT&T. It claims that AT&T will expand its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) deployment from 80 percent of the population to 97.4 percent of the population without the merger ever happening. The report says this will occur because AT&T will be forced to do so by competition, despite documents and sworn declarations by AT&T to the contrary.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

iPhone 4S battery woes may continue past iOS 5.1

Written by James Delahunty @ 04 Dec 2011 8:37

iPhone 4S battery woes may continue past iOS 5.1 iPhone 4S battery concerns may not be alleviated.

Apple recently pushed out a fix to help some iPhone 4S users who were experiencing some battery life problems. The reaction to the fix has been mixed, with some users saying it improved the battery and others saying it only seemed to make things worse.

The iPhone-maker pushed out a beta of iOS 5.1 earlier this week, which is also expected to include further measures to improve battery life, but already reports surfaced that the beta does not have any effect on the battery life issues either.

The problem, however, might not have anything to do with any major changes in iPhone 4S, and may be just a symptom of the smartphone packing more features. "iOS 5 may simply be using more data transmission or running more background processes to support its new features," ABI Research mobile device expert, Michael Morgan, told Ars.

"There is also some potential impact of iCloud services."

Some users reported that turning off Siri's "raise to talk" feature, or reducing the number of services that sync data to the iPhone, can boost the battery life noticeably.

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Tesco adding free WiFi to biggest stores

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Dec 2011 12:41

Tesco adding free WiFi to biggest stores Tesco has announced today that they will be adding free Wi-Fi to their Tesco Extra stores in the UK.

The only catch is you will need a Clubcard.

After getting a card, you register and then you have unlimited access anytime you are at a store.

Shoppers without a Clubcard will only get 15 minutes of access.

There are 13 Tesco Extra Stores in London, eight in Manchster and six in Birmingham.




AfterDawn: News

Nokia sees huge drop in Finnish market share

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 04 Dec 2011 12:14

Nokia sees huge drop in Finnish market share It appears that Nokia has seen a significant downturn in market share in its native nation of Finland.

In the past 12 months, Nokia has dived from 76 percent market share to just 31 percent.

That figure is enough to keep the handset maker in first in the nation, but other companies have significantly closed the gap.

Samsung has jumped from 3 percent to 25 percent, Apple has jumped to 16 percent, Sony Ericsson and Huawei came in at 11 percent each, and Chinese handset maker ZTE has the remaining 6.

Nokia will look to take some of that share back with the release of their new Lumia 800 Windows Phone 7.5 device.

The Lumia has seen strong reviews out of the gate.




AfterDawn: News

Obsidian Entertainment developing a South Park RPG

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Dec 2011 4:47

Obsidian Entertainment developing a South Park RPG Game Informer's upcoming January magazine will give a first look into the new Obsidian Entertainment-developed "South Park"-based RPG.

The game is called "South Park: The Game," and publisher THQ says the game will hit the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC later next year.

Obsidian is the team behind Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are "writing the script, performing the dialogue, and overseeing the development of the game," says Shack.

Throughout the course of the game you get to control "the new kid" in South Park and the game requires you to make friends and "defend the town from a wide range of threats."





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