Latest news

Toshiba has announced today that its Canvio line of external HDDs will be given a cloud storage backup service as an option.

Furthermore, the Canvio Basics and Canvio 3.0 lines have been updated to add support for 6 Gbs USB 3.0. The other lines remain on the 480 Mbps USB 2.0 standard.

The Canvio 3.0 drives come with NTI's BackupNow EZ software allowing for fully-customizable cloud and drive backup.

BackupNow EZ is based on Microsoft Azure tech and allows for single file, folder or file system backup.

Says Toshiba:

All the consumer has to do is click, 'OK.' It's a complete system backup to the hard drive, including the OS. And, it's a bootable drive so if your computer breaks down, you can boot to drive and select a point and time and when to restart and your computer puts everything back.

Google and the Israel national museum have teamed up to digitize the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.

The scrolls were written over two thousand years ago and were discovered in the 1950s in desert caves.

Five of the 972 scrolls were put online today, including the biblical Book of Isaiah.

Using Google technology, users can search for specific passages and translate them into English.

All of the scrolls are currently at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Both teams are working to have all the scrolls available online.

New FCC net neutrality rules for US broadband providers are set to go into effect on November 20. The rules were drafted last year, but have been on hold pending an official announcement of adoption by the agency.

In practical terms, there are two rules and an exception which renders their actual effect less than clear. The first rule mandates transparency with regard to network management practices:

Transparency. Fixed and mobile broadband providers must disclose the network management practices, performance characteristics, and terms and conditions of their broadband services

A second provision forbids the blocking of lawful Internet traffic:

No blocking. Fixed broadband providers may not block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices; mobile broadband providers may not block lawful Web sites, or block applications that compete with their voice or video telephony services

In other words, if an ISP has a policy of prioritizing, or even blocking, traffic based on anything from a subscriber's usage to the protocol being used, they must make that information available to customers.

Adding to its ever-increasing Prime catalog, Amazon has added a new streaming licensing agreement with FOX.

The new deal will bump Amazon's library from 9000 movies and TV shows to 11,000, starting this fall.

TV shows being added are “24,” “The X-Files,” “NYPD Blue,” “Arrested Development,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Ally McBeal,” and some older movies like “Speed,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Doctor Dolittle,” “Last of the Mohicans,” and “Office Space.”

Concludes Amazon:

We have received very positive feedback from Prime members about Prime instant videos. Customers love the instant access to thousands of movie and TV favorites. Since the launch of Prime instant videos in February, we have more than doubled the library to 11,000 titles and will continue to add more of our customers’ favorite movies and TV shows to Prime instant videos.

Amazon Prime costs $79 per year and gives user free access to the streaming library and free 2-day shipping on all items.

According to JPMorgan Chase, Apple has cut down orders to vendors in the supply chain for its iPad.

Analyst Mark Moskowitz says orders have been cut by 25 percent and it is the first cut in the history of the iPad.

Despite the drop, the analyst did not lower his projection of 10.9 million to 12 million units of iPad shipments in the third and fourth quarters.

Apple and the manufacturers have not confirmed the move, but the analyst cites weakening demand in Europe as the cause. As the media continuously reminds us, Europe has been having economic issues.

Google is finalizing contracts before it launches its much-hyped YouTube "channels," says sources.

The channels will feature regularly scheduled content on different themes, including sports and fashion.

Some of the channels will be available within 60 days, and a general launch is ready for early 2012.

YouTube has paid millions of dollars to content creators who will develop content for the channels.

Google will make back its original investment via ad revenue, and then share the rest of the revenue afterwards with its partners.

Chinese mobile giant Huawei has announced their new Honor Android smartphone, which they say can have 72 hour battery life on a single charge.

The Honor runs on Android 2.3.5, has a 4-inch screen, a 1.4GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, a microUSB port and dual cameras.

Packing a 1900 mAh battery is what gives the phone its expected battery life.

The phone will be launched in China, Russia, the Middle East and markets in Asia-Pacific sometime in the next quarter.

Pricing was not revealed.

According to multiple sources, Apple will announce the iPhone 5, at its headquarters in Cupertino on October 4th.

The headquarters is where Apple has chosen to launch all their iPhones and iPad devices, to date.

Although it is unclear when the phone will actually be released, Apple has blacked out vacation days for employees for October 9-15, indicating that a major product launch will be in that time period.

Updated specs for the phone are likely to be an A5 dual-core processor, an 8MP camera, mobile payments (NFC?), a slightly larger display and more memory.

Verizon and AT&T will be getting the smartphone, but there has been massive speculation that Sprint is getting the device, as well.

The latest rumor is that Barnes & Noble is preparing to launch a new tablet by the end of the year.

Following in the footsteps of the Nook Color e-reader/tablet, the book company will release the Nook Acclaim for $350, making it a more fully featured tablet than the Color.

Prices for the Nook Simple Touch ($140) and the Nook Color ($250) will stay the same, giving B&N three devices in its line.

There was no word on specs, but an October release date was cited.

The device could be a response to Amazon's imminent tablet, which will likely retail for under $250 and be a strong competitor to the market leading iPad.

Netflix has signed a new licensing deal to stream films from DreamWorks Animation, the hit studio behind animated film franchises like "Shrek."

The deal will replace a current (but less lucrative) deal DWA has with HBO.

DreamWorks is said to be making $30 million per picture over a specific time period (likely 3-5 years).

Says DWA CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg:

We are really starting to see a long-term road map of where the industry is headed. This is a game-changing deal.

Notes Netflix CCO Ted Sarandos:

You’re seeing power moving back into the hands of content creators. When a company like DreamWorks ends a long-running pay TV deal — when a new buyer in the space steps up — that’s a really interesting landscape shift.

While the deal is already signed, Netflix will only begin streaming the films in 2013. Movies like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Antz and more will be added over time. In 2013, DWA has three titles set for release, “The Croods,” “Turbo,” and “Peabody & Sherman,”

Samsung says its new smash hit smartphone has hit 10 million units sold, without even launching in the U.S.

The Galaxy S II has seen a massive uptick in sales the last two months, after launching in April in Korea.

Samsung's new device has a 4.27-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, Android 2.3.4, a 1.2GHz Samsung dual-core processor, an 8.49mm thin chassis (at lowest), an 8MP camera with autofocus and 1080p recording, NFC support, 4G, a 2MP front-side camera and HSPA+, WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0+HS.

Furthermore, the device will run on Samsung's updated TouchWiz UI and weighs just 4 ounces.

So far, in the U.S., the device has only been available through Sprint since the 16th, and will hit T-Mobile and AT&T next month.

AT&T has said today it has restored cell service for most of the users in Southern California that experienced an outage yesterday and today.

Starting at 3pm yesterday, customers lost service completely or at least had difficulty making/receiving calls. Data and texts were not affected.

Sokeswoman Meredith Red says (via PCM) the downtime was due to a hardware equipment problem, a mechanical issue with the switching equipment that routes calls through the network.

900 towers around LA County were affected but service is now mostly restored.

Red says the "handful of towers" left will be up and running by the end of the night.

Facebook and security firm Sophos have warned visitors of a new hoax affecting millions of Facebook users.

The scam, which is a message that purports Facebook may begin charging a '$10 Gold Membership' if you don't forward the message before midnight, has been sent to million of users duped into sharing it with their friends.

Says Sophos:

It’s amazing what people will believe when they are sent a message from a trusted friend - but let me assure you, Facebook is *not* going to ask you for your payment when you sign onto the site tomorrow morning. And no, the announcement of Facebook beginning to charge its users has *not* been on the news.

As I explained at the end of last week, these claims are complete and utter poppycock. If a friend of yours forwards you the message, admonish them for spreading a chain letter and suggest they inform all of their friends that they were mistaken.

The message concludes with: "IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT," you will not be charged in the future.

Microsoft has launched their new daily deals service.

Adding it to the Bing suite of services, Microsoft has unveiled its new Deals platform this week.

A daily deal site like Groupon, Living Social and others, Deals brings together deals from large stores and small merchants, and is an aggregator.

Says Microsoft: “Instead of building another program, we’re harnessing deals from major providers and retailers.”

Bing Deals offers 200,000 deals from around the nation, eliminating the need to sign up for a million different email notifications.

Check the site here: http://bing.com/deals

Pics have finally leaked for the Motorola Droid Razr (formerly dubbed the Droid HD, or Droid Spyder).

The Razr is said to be the thinnest LTE device on the market.

Specs for the device (unconfirmed) are:

4.3-inch 960 x 540 qHD Super AMOLED display
Unspecified dual-core 1.2GHz processor
8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording and image stabilization
“HD” front-facing camera
1GB of RAM
Gorilla Glass and a Kevlar casing with a splash-guard coating
Webtop support and Lapdock accessories
4G LTE

The device will likely have a December release.