Latest news

Leaked photos of the Motorola Droid HD have surfaced this week.

The Droid HD, true to its name, will have a large 4.5-inch screen and a 720p resolution (1280x720), the largest yet seen on a smartphone.

Motorola's new "superphone" will run a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 8MP standard camera with LED flash, a fron-side camera for video chatting, a microUSB and an HDMI port.

Google recently purchased Motorola Mobility (the smartphone and tablet division) of the company for $12.5 billion including all of MM's patents and $3 billion in cash.

The company says it made the purchase to protect itself from a slew of patent lawsuits brought by Oracle and Microsoft amongst others.

Leaked pics via TCM:

Amazon has purchased the rights to the latest book from best selling self-help guru Timothy Ferriss, in what many are calling its first "major publishing deal."

The e-tailer will begin publishing the book, "The 4-Hour Chef," in digital, print and audiobook starting in April.

Over the course of the past 12 months, Amazon has been moving into publishing, striking deals for imprints covering all genres. Additionally, they hired former Time Warner Book Group CEO Larry Kirshbaum to lead their New York division.

Says Ferriss of his move away from Random House's 'Crown':

It wasn't just a question of which publisher to work with. It was a question of what future of publishing I want to embrace.

My readers are migrating irreversibly into digital, and it made perfect sense to work with Amazon to try and redefine what is possible. This is a chance to really show what the future of books looks like, and to deliver a beautiful experience to my readers, who always come first. I could not be more excited about what we're doing.

Rival publishers are notably scared of the move, with HarperCollins UK's chief executive Victoria Barnsley saying (via Guardian):

The once-popular cyberlocker Hotfile is preparing to countersue Warner Bros., whilst currently in the middle of a lawsuit brought against it by the MPAA and its member studios.

In February, the MPAA sued Hotfile, run by a man in Florida, after the site saw such huge growth that it became a top 100 site in the world, in regards to traffic.

Cyberlockers, like Hotfile and Fileserve (and the fathers of the industry, Rapidshare and Megaupload) allow users to upload and share all files they want, and many use the platforms to share movies and music, while collecting an income. Hotfile, for example, paid $20 for every 1000 downloads of a user's file (with other conditions).

Despite shutting down some of its biggest uploader's accounts, Hotfile has not really gone down without a fight and a judge has so far thrown out the MPAA's case for direct copyright infringement.

Hotfile is also demanding that the film industry begin sharing its anti-piracy investigation techniques with the world, including why DMCA takedown notices are sent and they found such files. The MPAA has flatly said no, saying they are sensitive trade secrets.

It's no secret that HP's WebOS powered tablet, the TouchPad, hasn't exactly set the world on fire. Now it seems Best Buy may be giving up on the tablet.

According to a report from AllThingsD, Best Buy has sold as few as 25,000 TouchPads and that number is "charitable" once returns are figured in. Sources claim the big box electronics retailer wants to return the remaining stock in their warehouse, over 200,000 units, to HP.

Neither company has commented on the report, which also mentions that a senior HP executive will be visiting Best Buy headquarters to discuss the matter. However, we may know more tomorrow after HP holds their third quarter earnings call with industry analysts.

What we do know is HP has a long way to go if they want the TouchPad to be mentioned alongside tablets from Apple and Samsung as more than a punchline.

HP has already cut prices by $100, but price is only part of the equation, and based on iPad sales probably a small part. A much bigger hurdle for HP to clear is the low visibility of WebOS.

UK Information Commissioner gives suggestions to search giant.

An ICO report into Google's privacy policies and practices was broadly positive, though it did warn that problems could still arise. The commissioner looked into Google after the Street View incident last year, in which Google's Street View cars accidentally sniffed payload data packets from unsecured wireless networks.

The incidents happened across the world and different jurisdictions dealt with the incident in different ways. Since then, Google promised reforms to help ensure better privacy practices later.

It has been praised for improving staff training and for a Privacy Design Document (PDD) which laid out guidelines and safeguards for engineers working on new Google products.

The ICO also welcomes Privacy Stories, a series of tutorials produced by Google for users, outlining what data the company keeps and why. It covers 28 products, but the ICO has called for it to be extended to all products offered by Google.

"We know that there is no perfect solution, so we will continue to improve our current processes and develop new ones so that privacy awareness grows and evolves alongside Google," Alma Whitten, director of Privacy at Google, wrote in response to the report.

Two British men handed tough punishments for attempting to incite violence.

Last week, people in Britain had to sit back and witness an unprecedented level of peace-time civil unrest in the country, as rioters and looters rampaged through streets damaging homes and businesses, looting and some starting fires.

It became clear that social networks were being used to organize some of the disorder, and police kept tabs on Facebook, Twitter and other online services. Two men in their early 20s have been dealt serious punishments for attempting to organize rioting using their Facebook accounts.

22 year old Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan from Warrington, and 20 year old Jordan Blackshaw from Marston, near Northwich, have been jailed for four years for attempting to incite violence, even though police said their attempts failed.

"If we cast our minds back just a few days to last week and recall the way in which technology was used to spread incitement and bring people together to commit acts of criminality, it is easy to understand the four year sentences that were handed down in court today," said Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson.

Update addresses vulnerabilities in popular RealPlayer SP.

If you use RealPlayer for Windows, Mac or RealPlayer Enterprise, RealNetworks recommends that you make sure that it is up to date. The latest version of the software patches vulnerabilities and several other software bugs reported by users.

The security vulnerabilities, if exploited, can allow an attacker to run arbitrary code on a victim's PC. All the user has to do for this to happen is to visit a maliciously crafted website, or open a malicious file that targets the security holes.

Users of RealPlayer software should update it at: www.real.com

More information: service.real.com

Japanese reports suggest Apple will make move to ensure steady supplies.

The news comes as relations between Apple and Samsung continue to sour over Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets, which Apple claims slavishly clone features of the iPad and iPhone devices. The company is reportedly looking to diversify suppliers.

Japanese chipmakers are hoping that poor relations with Samsung will bring them a lot more business from Apple. "If the situation escalates into a state of war, this could mean a huge shift in orders," a Reuters source said on the situation.

Japanese media has been suggesting a possible investment in a Sharp LCD facility for some time, and Sharp's shares rose on Wednesday after firm, MF Global FXA Securities, talked up the likelihood of the deal in a sales note.

"We think it is highly possible that Apple will make an investment in Sharp's Kameyama plant to the tune of around $1 billion in order to secure a stable supply of screens for iPhones and iPads," MF Global FXA Securities analyst David Rubenstein said.

"This would have a material impact on Sharp's profitability."

Low cost standard- and high-def movie rentals to be offered weekly.

Sony Network Entertainment America (SNEA) has introduced a discount movie rental rate for rentals offered over the PlayStation Network (PSN). The online service has offered movies for rent for the past three years, when it was introduced at the E3 conference.

Now U.S. and Canadian PSN users will be able to rent some movies in standard-definition for just $0.99 and some in high-definition for just $1.99. The titles available on this special discount rate will be rotated each week by the service.

The new rentals will appear as part of Sony's Tuesday PSN updates. The titles offered at the discount rate this week include Sicko, The Longshots, Salvage, Tony, Shank, Bonded by Blood, JFK: Reckless Youth (Part 1), JFK: Reckless Youth (Part 2), Deadly Blessing, Carver, Devil in the Flesh 2 and Illuminating Angles & Demons.

iPhone maker targeted by thousands following location info gaffe.

In total, Apple is being sued by 27,612 people in South Korea. They are suing Apple for privacy violations, related to the collection of location information on the iPhone handset. Each is seeking 1 million won in damages, or about $932.

Attorney Kim Hyeong-seok filed a lawsuit against Apple earlier this was and was awarded 1 million won in damages.

Apple's devices stored information on nearby cell towers and WiFi hotspots for up to a year, without users' consent and even if location tracking features had been switched off. It was heavily criticized by privacy groups, who said the information could be used to trace the movements of an iPhone user.

Apple has not commented on the South Korean lawsuit.

Nintendo finally gets some relief, for now.

According to Enterbrain, Nintendo's 3DS handheld system sold 215,000 units following a price cut in Japan. The price cut was enforced to boost sales of the ailing handheld, which saw a lot less demand than Nintendo had anticipated.

From August 11, the price of a 3DS in Japan dropped from ¥25,000 to ¥15,000. The sales numbers for the following week have been the second highest for the handheld, behind the launch week tally of 371,000 units in the country.

Japanese publication Nikkei also reported a strong week for the 3DS following the price cut, though its sales figures were 8,000 units less than those given by Enterbrain.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata recently apologized to customers in Japan for the price cut. He admitted that such a sudden price cut not so long after the launch off the device had left some first buyers upset.

Videos show possible new Xbox 360 Dashboard.

YouTube videos showed screenshots and brief usage of a new Xbox 360 Dashboard development that leaked. The Dashboard was clearly in an unfinished state but offered a glimpse into what Microsoft has in store for the next software upgrade to its almost six year old console.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has pounced on any videos uploaded to YouTube with a copyright claim, forcing them down, though that does suggest confirmation of authenticity. The original uploader, ITzLuPo, who got his hands on the new Dashboard also had other revelations that weren't shown in the videos.

The Dash does feature the Windows Mobile-like UI that had been revealed before. The video showed a setting for "Discoverable" mode, described as "Change your settings to allow companion devices discover your Xbox." This could have something to do with recently discovered strings referencing Xbox 360 in the ntoskrnl.exe file on Windows 8 builds.

Windows 8, which has also been shown with the tiled User Interface seemingly coming to Xbox 360, will power tablet PCs and smartphones in the near future.

It appears the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google could be the best thing to happen to Research In Motion so far this year.

RIM, the company behind the Blackberry brand, has been having a rough year. Their stock price has fallen more than 50% since the year began thanks in no small part to disappointing sales of their Playbook tablet and an extended period between major handset upgrades.

RIM's stock rose nearly 10% based on speculation their patents, which largely center around data synchronization, might make them the next handset maker to be sold. In addition, RIM is part of the alliance which, earlier this year, outbid Google for more than 6000 patents previously owned by now defunct Nortel Networks.

Like the Motorola deal announced on Monday, Google's interest in the Nortel patents was seen as primarily defensive, which raises the question of just how much interest there would be for purchasing RIM. Unlike Google, the companies frequently suggested as potential buyers, Apple, Samsung, HTC & Microsoft already own extensive smartphone related patent portfolios.

British Secretary of State for Culture Jeremy Hunt has announced a £363 million investment allocated to improve broadband networks in England and Scotland.

English counties will get the brunt of the investment, £295 million, with Scotland getting the rest.

The investment is part of a wider plan to make sure the UK has the most comprehensive and fastest broadband in Europe by 2015. The goal is for 90 percent of homes to have broadband and minimum 2Mbps.

ISPs like BT and Virgin Media, will be in charge of bringing the broadband to 70 percent of the population and the new government investment will pay for the other 30 percent, which are mainly rural areas.

Additionally, the government has told BT "it must reduce the wholesale price it charges other providers to use its network in less populated areas," says Which.

ViewSonic has unveiled their 10-inch tablet today, one that dual-boots Android and Windows 7 and runs on Intel's brand new 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor.

The ViewPad 10Pro will run Windows 7 Professional (or Home) and Android 2.3, with users able to switch the operating system by pressing one button on the display. The tablet can do so by virtually running Android using BlueStacks technology.

Intel unveiled the chips in April, the first designs that are efficient enough to compete with ARM designs seen in most tablets and smartphones now.

The tablet has a huge 3500 mAh battery and a 1.3MP front-side camera for video conferencing.

Says ViewSonic's vice president of business development, Michael Holstein:

We listened to our customers. We made the ViewPad 10pro dual OS interface as quick and intuitive as possible, while partnering with industry CPU leader Intel to deliver the latest in design and innovation across all fronts.

In terms of pricing, the Windows 7 Professional + 32GB SSD model will sell for $700 and the Windows Home Premium + 16GB model will sell for $599. Both will be available starting next week.