What's new on SlashGear.com |
- Google Keeping Android 3.0 Honeycomb Closed For Now
- RIM To Support Android Apps For BlackBerry PlayBook
- Novatel 4G LTE and WiMAX MiFi Hotspots Win At CTIA 2011
- Kindle Now Gets WiFi Delivery Of Audible Audiobooks
- BizCafe: The Cafe of the Future?
- Google And Twitter Both Get A Visit From Gaga
- Make Your iPhone into a Woody – from Trunket
- Hexacopter Senses Motion and Breathing Through Concrete Walls
- Samsung Apps Celebrates 100 Million Downloads
- The Disruptive Potential of the Amazon App Store
- AT&T and Sprint May Divide the Spoils of T-Mobile
- South Korea: Interested in Preventing Zombies, or just Spying?
- Steve Jobs: “No Interest” in Radiation Detection App
- HTC Incredible S Review
- Brown Dwarf Star Not Hot Enough to Boil Water
- Duke Nukem Forever delayed. Again. [Video]
- Color image sharing app sorts by location (& gets privacy zealots worried)
- Microsoft TV project gets new hardware-expert boss
- Acer Iconia Tab W500 and A500 tablets priced and dated
- iPad 2 international sales open with long shipping estimates
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 official, attempts to wear world’s fastest and quietest crowns
- Firefox 4 beat IE9 market share on launch day
- Canon announces five new LCD projectors for mobile types
- Target announces Nintendo DS trade in program
- Samsung announces SE-406A slim external Blu-ray combo drive
- Aircell Smartphone for business jets runs Android and lands later this year
- Ricoh offers new firmware for GXR and GR Digital III cameras
- Slacker adds ESPN personal sports radio to lineup
- iBuypower offers three new Battalion 101 gaming notebooks with Sandy Bridge
- Hands-on with the T-mobile LG G2X smartphone
| Google Keeping Android 3.0 Honeycomb Closed For Now Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:14 PM PDT Google has decided not to release the source code for Honeycomb to outside developers anytime in the near future. Honeycomb was developed from the ground up specifically for tablets and Google isn't quite ready to let developers besides big manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC, and Motorola to play around with it yet. "To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs," says Andy Rubin, Head of Android and vice-president for engineering at Google. "We didn't want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extend our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut." Google has made the source code of earlier versions of Android public so that developers can customize them and load them onto whatever devices they can. Rubin wanted to restate that Google hasn't changed its stance on Android being an open-source project, but they're afraid that if they released Honeycomb to the masses right now it would lead to "really bad user experience." He knows that plenty of users want to put Honeycomb on their phone, but warns that "we have no idea if it will even work on phones." Looks like developers will have to wait just a little longer before they can put Honeycomb on any other device besides tablets for the time being. [via Android Community] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| RIM To Support Android Apps For BlackBerry PlayBook Posted: 24 Mar 2011 02:42 PM PDT RIM has just announced that it will be expanding its apps ecosystem to include support for Android apps in its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The tablet is scheduled to launch on April 19, and will support both BlackBerry Java and Android, along with C/C++ development, HTML 5, Flash, and AIR. Two optional “app players” will be launched that provide application run-time environments for BlackBerry Java apps and Android 2.3 apps and allow users to download the apps to their PlayBook from BlackBerry App World. The native SDK for the tablet will also be released to enable C/C++ development on the BlackBerry Tablet OS. New support from Ideaworks Labs and Unity Technologies, will allow game developers to use the cross-platform game engines to bring more games to the BlackBerry PlayBook. “Supporting a new OS can be a challenge for developers,” says Alex Caccia, President of Ideaworks Labs, “however, integration of the BlackBerry Tablet OS with the Airplay SDK makes this a non-issue. We think this is a far-sighted move by RIM: the BlackBerry PlayBook is a great device for games and applications, and combining this with content distribution via BlackBerry App World brings an exciting new ecosystem for developers.” The BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK will be available in beta later this year. The new app players should launch sometime this summer. Press Release:
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| Novatel 4G LTE and WiMAX MiFi Hotspots Win At CTIA 2011 Posted: 24 Mar 2011 02:13 PM PDT Novatel Wireless has won the 2011 CTIA Emerging Technology Awards under the Mobile Consumer Electronics Accessories category for its 4G MiFi Intelligent Hotspots, the LTE MiFi 4510 and the WiMAX MiFi 4082. The MiFi devices create a mobile hotspot that allows up to five different devices to connect and are about the size of a credit card. The newest MiFi Intelligent Hotspots support 4G networks like WiMAX and LTE and take your typical hotspot to the next level. Each device comes with an external e-link display that shows battery level, signal strength, and how many devices are connected. They also come with a MicroSD slot, GPS functionality, and depending on the carrier it might come preloaded with MiFi OS widgets and application support. "The CTIA Emerging Technology awards serve as a benchmark for success across several competitive industries and validate the dedication and hard work of the entire Novatel Wireless organization,” said chief marketing officer for Novatel Wireless, Rob Hadley. “We are very excited to be assisting our carrier customers with their 4G roll-outs with our innovative and high-performing solutions.” Press Release:
[via PR Newswire] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Kindle Now Gets WiFi Delivery Of Audible Audiobooks Posted: 24 Mar 2011 02:04 PM PDT For those who appreciate listening to literary works as opposed to reading them in their digital form, the newest iteration of Amazon's Kindle allows users to download Audible Audiobooks via Wi-Fi. This opens up the more than 50,000 audiobook titles available from Audible.com. Any version of the Kindle can still download audiobooks from the Audible website and transfer them via USB. Right now you can get two free audiobook titles with a 30-day free trial of AudioListener Gold Membership. All you'll need to do is check out the Audible Audiobooks Store to check out what titles are available for you to download. If you've never listened to a good audio version of your favorite book, it might make you appreciate some things you've never noticed before and can give you a completely different experience. Being able to read the Kindle in direct sunlight is an advantage the device boasts over its competitors, something that Amazon has played up in many of its commercials. And now that the Kindle can directly download audiobooks over Wi-Fi, the e-reader becomes an even more complete companion to those who enjoy books, whether it is in visual or audible form. [via Kindle Post] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| BizCafe: The Cafe of the Future? Posted: 24 Mar 2011 01:31 PM PDT The BizCafe, a new design concept from the folks at SADI, a design school in South Korea, promises an environment where you can not only get some coffee, you can remain completely connected as well. It features a multi-touch table that will display your cell phone screen on the table and charge your phone at the same time. And before you go, you can dump your coffee into a device that uses the water to humidify the room. Find out more about this concept and see what it would look like after the cut. There would also be a partition between seats, lest you actually have to look at the person next to you. You can make it opaque, and it can also update you on the weather, or show advertisements. And if you should need to print, a printer will be available as well, but it will feature the ability to remove the ink from the paper if you made a mistake, and re-use the paper. Should you look for at least some of these concepts at a Starbucks near you? Maybe sooner than you think. More concept artwork below: Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Google And Twitter Both Get A Visit From Gaga Posted: 24 Mar 2011 01:11 PM PDT Lady Gaga made a trip to Silicon Valley this week and made visits to tech giants Google and Twitter for sit down interviews. The popular singer spoke with Google and Twitter employees and was interviewed by Google executive Marissa Mayer and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. Fans also got to submit questions through videos via YouTube, which tallied over 54,000 by the time the interview took place. Lady Gaga showed up in her requisite fashion and was treated to a video made by Google that showed her rise in popularity on Google Trends and YouTube. There was even a portrait of Lady Gaga made from words in a tag cloud and words that are associated with the pop singer in searches. Some Google employees turned out to be "little monsters", which is what Lady Gaga calls her fans. They dressed up in Lady Gaga inspired clothing and got to ask their idol some questions. The interview focused on the pop star’s rise to fame and how the amalgamation of technology and popular culture helped her. Lady Gaga is the first artist to surpass 1 billion views on YouTube and when you search her name on Google it pulls up a whopping 443 million results, something the popular artist confessed to doing herself. The singer visited Twitter next and she really seemed to appreciate what Twitter allows people to achieve. "It's truly genius. What I hope you all realize is you are giving a voice to people who want to feel famous and you don't have to be a part of an echelon. You don't have to be in a special club, you don't have to have a special key and…that's what I love so much about Twitter," said Lady Gaga to engineers at Twitter. The 70-minute Google interview is below and it should be pretty entertaining and a must watch for Lady Gaga fans. [via L.A. Times Tech Blog] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Make Your iPhone into a Woody – from Trunket Posted: 24 Mar 2011 12:49 PM PDT If you want to add a bit more class, or maybe charm, to your iPhone, look no further. Trunket, a company based in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has wooden iPhone 4 cases available for sale. Really, it’s not a case, it’s an overlay that you stick to the back of the phone. Find out more about the company and the cost of these stylish stickies after the break. The overlays are available in 6 colors, Blood Red, Violet, Orange, Hickory, Jet Black and Sea Blue. All are made of American Rosewood, and made by hand in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The little elephant logo is inlaid with brushed stainless steel. The cases sell for $34 each, plus $5 for shipping. If you are not a fan of elephants, you can have the poor little elephant removed for $5 extra. And you needn’t feel guilt about killing trees, as the wood is listed as “rescued S. American rosewood”. Plus, the company donates $1 from each sale to the Arbor Day Foundation. A sample description for the Violet: “With all the heady allure of a fine vintage wine, this piece’s violet finish adds a touch of class to your favorite accessory. The organic rose and magenta hues enhance the wood grain while retaining the attractive look of natural wood.” The company’s tag line is “Makers of fine wood and leather lifestyle accessories”, but the iPhone 4 case is the only item on the website right now. What do you think? Do you want one? Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Hexacopter Senses Motion and Breathing Through Concrete Walls Posted: 24 Mar 2011 12:24 PM PDT This week TiaLinx has unveiled its Phoenix 40-A unmanned hexacopter (helicopter with six blades) which can sense breathing and motion in buildings on the ground. This is the newest addition to the line of life-sensing bots that includes the Cougar20-H, a rolling ground-based robot that can detect breathing through a concrete wall. The US Army has provided development funding for this project. But wait, there’s more. This bot can help locate land mines as well. Aside from the obvious military and surveillance applications of the hexacopter, it would be very useful in search and rescue operations like in Japan after the earthquake and Tsunami. Since it can travel over long distances and get into spots where people are not able to travel, it could help to lead rescuers more quickly to survivors of disasters. We were not able to immediately locate specs, such as how far it can travel, how large it is, or the fuel it uses. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Samsung Apps Celebrates 100 Million Downloads Posted: 24 Mar 2011 12:12 PM PDT Samsung's application store, Samsung Apps, has just passed the 100 million download mark ten months after it opened. The app store was launched in June 2010 with the Samsung Wave and is available in 120 different countries with over 13,000 applications available to download. Samsung Apps is for both Samsung smartphones and TVs. Samsung Apps is big in Europe as France has the highest number of downloads, followed by Germany and Spain. The three countries make up 40% of all downloads from Samsung Apps. The most popular apps for each country reflect its culture; Germans are obsessed with football (soccer) apps, the French are into wine and cooking apps, and Italians appreciate film information apps. "We are anticipating that Samsung Apps will show a rapid growth in 2011, especially with a variety of the upcoming bada device line-up, "said Kang-Hyun Kwon, Samsung's Senior Vice President of Media Solutions Center. Samsung is celebrating the 100 million download milestone with a weekly drawing for those who download an app from Samsung Apps. The lucky winners could receive a new Samsung Galaxy Tablet, Galaxy Player, USB sticks, or vouchers for the Samsung Apps store. The promotion will run from March 25th till April 30th 2011 and applies only to bada handset devices. [via Press Release] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| The Disruptive Potential of the Amazon App Store Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:52 AM PDT A few days ago, Amazon’s App Store officially opened for business. I’ve been spending the past few days reflecting and talking with colleagues on the many ways Amazon’s move could disrupt the Android ecosystem, in a good way. There are a number of challenges manufactures have run into with Google as it relates to Android, and the Amazon app store may show a clear path to overcome those challenges and limit dependence on the Android marketplace. The Android Market is the Glue I personally have seen a number of incredibly innovative concepts from OEMs and ODMs that never had a shot at passing Android marketplace certification but were incredibly innovative implementations of Android. Ensuring your product passed certification was a strong reason for manufactures to jump through hoops to abide by Google’s rules. Everyone knew a device that did not have access to the Android market was DOA. The Amazon App Store has the power to change this, primarily because device manufacturers now have the freedom to use Android as they please and not have to worry about marketplace certification. The Amazon App store provides a solid and trusted alternative that many consumers will feel as comfortable or even more comfortable using. Even though loading the Amazon app store onto an Android device currently requires side loading the application, I think it’s reasonable that in the future we will see manufacturers pre-install Amazon’s Android app store on devices. In essence, the Amazon app store opens the door for us to see more innovative implementations of Android in the future. It will also be interesting to see how Google handles the app store fragmentation. Right now, they won’t let the Amazon app store application into their market for obvious reasons. It will also be interesting to see how both app stores cater to developers. Amazon’s one paid app a day for free is an interesting promotion that has consumer appeal. Will Google need to start using similar gimmicks to keep their app store competitive? Regardless of how we feel about Amazon’s move, manufacturers now have a way to take steps to differentiate their products using Android and not have to worry whether or not Google will certify their products. The Amazon app store allows them a little bit more control of their own destiny. Let us know what you think about Amazon’s move and what it means for the Android ecosystem. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| AT&T and Sprint May Divide the Spoils of T-Mobile Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:31 AM PDT AT&T may have to make some major concessions in order to get FCC approval for its acquisition of T-Mobile, according to analysts at Citadel Securities, and Sprint may just be the beneficiary of those concessions. AT&T has already stated, in its Stock Purchase Agreement filed March 21, that it is ready to divest up to 40 percent of T-Mobile’s subscribers. But AT&T may need to make even more significant concessions to get the deal done. According to the Citadel report:
According to the Wall Street Journal report, the FCC plans to proceed slowly, so it may be a while until we see where the chips may ultimately fall. [via eweek] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| South Korea: Interested in Preventing Zombies, or just Spying? Posted: 24 Mar 2011 10:49 AM PDT South Korea has introduced the “Zombie PC Prevention Bill” in the interest of “promoting the use and propagation of security software”. But is that all they want to do? Some are concerned that since the government would designate which security software is allowed, there might be an additional motive. According to techdirt, around the same time that the goverment started pushing the Zombie PC Prevention Bill, a hard-drive destroying malware appeared. But the malware does not act in a way that makes much sense for creating zombie PCs. According to the Korean site Open Web, “To launch a DDoS attack, the attacker must amass a large number of zombie PCs. The attacker would have to put in some effort at this stage of the process. This is because it is not always easy to disseminate botnets (malware) without getting caught. It is a particularly risky stage of the operation. Once a herd of infected PCs have been obtained, it is important to maintain them.” But that would require keeping the malware under the radar so that the user doesn’t know that the computer is infected. If they do, they will run anti-virus software, and remove the malware. But this latest malware damages the boot sector of the infected PC, and “act of killing the "troops" which he/she took pains to recruit.” So the speculation is that the government has released this malware in order to win more people over to the new law. This is just speculation, but it is worrisome. And it is also troubling to have a government mandating what software people can put on their computers. Something to keep an eye on. [via techdirt] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Steve Jobs: “No Interest” in Radiation Detection App Posted: 24 Mar 2011 10:16 AM PDT If you are concerned with radiation levels coming from your cell phone, you can measure it if you have a BlackBerry or an Android phone, but not (officially) with your iPhone. Israeli developer Tawkon has been repeatedly rejected by the Apple App Store, and now has been personally refused by Steve Jobs in a two-word email: “No Interest”. So now, Tawkon has posted instructions online through Cydia and on its website to download the app. If, while using the app, you see that radiation levels are high, you can change location, use the speakerphone, hold the phone vertically, or use a headset. The email Tawkon says it received from Steve Jobs is below: [via PC Mag] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Posted: 24 Mar 2011 10:05 AM PDT The first of HTC’s new range from Mobile World Congress last month, and tracing a direct line back to a handset almost 12 months old, the HTC Incredible S should on paper leave us cold. Packing neither the huge screen of the Touch HD, nor running the latest OS like the imminent Desire S, it’s a single-core phone in what’s fast shaping up to be a dual-core world. Thing is, underdog devices have a habit of surprising you, and the Incredible S is no different. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut. HardwareIt’s tough for an all-black smartphone to stand out of the crowd, but by a combination of distinct design and a little razzle-dazzle the Incredible S does at least make an attempt at differentiation. The 120 x 64 x 11.7 mm chassis – which tips the sales at 135.5g – is finished in soft-touch plastic and has an unusual molded rear panel. Some we asked liked it, others felt it looked like a pond liner, but either way the phone fits nearly into the palm and the edges feel surprisingly slim. Up front is a 4-inch WVGA 800 x 480 touchscreen with a 1.3-megapixel camera LED indicator light. The panel itself is a Super LCD with bright colors, decent saturation and generally strong performance; despite lacking qHD resolution, like the EVO 3D, on-screen graphics generally look smooth and crisp. Underneath is the usual row of touch-sensitive buttons for home, menu, back and search. Unusually, though, the button legends rotate when you flip the Incredible S 90-degrees counter-clockwise. It’s reasonably pointless but entertaining nonetheless, and a good gimmick to show friends. On the left edge is a volume rocker and microUSB port, though HTC still refuses to add a dedicated camera shortcut to the other side. Power/lock and the 3.5mm headphone jack are on the top edge, while on the back is an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, a single speaker, and a subtle embossed HTC logo. Peel off the back cover and there’s a microSD card slot, a removable 1,450 mAh battery and, underneath that, the SIM card slot. HTC may have announced its first dual-core handsets at CTIA 2011 this week, but the Incredible S is resolutely single-core. A 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 – as in the Desire HD – runs the show, paired with 768MB of RAM and 1.1GB of internal storage. Connectivity includes HSPA/WCDMA and quadband GSM/EDGE, along with WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1, and there’s GPS, a digital compass, g-sensor, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor. Unfortunately HTC apparently have no plans, as of writing, to make the striking red version of the Incredible S more widely available. Instead the company is testing the waters with a limited Danish release. Still, even in sober black it’s a solid, well-constructed device, and we’re pleased to see HTC’s trend of putting difficultly-pressed power/lock buttons has ended with the Incredible S’ easily-stabbed key. The only real omission is an HDMI port. SoftwareUnlike it’s MWC 2011 launch-mates, the Incredible S arrives bearing Android 2.2.1 Froyo rather than Gingerbread. It’s a disappointing decision on HTC’s part, though the underlying platform is of course tarted up with HTC Sense. An update to Android 2.4 is promised, though there’s no definite release date. Still, out of the box there’s no shortage of functionality. The latest version of Sense has evolved into an impressive bundle of local and online services, with the HTCSense.com site offering remote access to contacts, calendar, messages and more, tracking, and remote lock/wipe. There’s also a dedicated HTC Hub download store, with various widgets and apps for the phone, alongside the full Android Market. As usual, signing in with your Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts pulls updates into the combined FriendStream timeline. HTC throws in a copy of Quickoffice, along with SoundHound and its custom navigation app which allows for cached mapping data (but charges for directions, unlike Google Maps). There’s also a Car Panel interface, intended to be stab-friendly when you’re concentrating on driving, and the Connected Media app for handling DLNA support, a wireless workaround to the absence of HDMI. Finally, there’s a Reader app for downloading ebooks from Kobo’s store, complete with a few preloaded titles. CameraHTC’s smartphone cameras have been middling in their performance but generally improving, and the Incredible S marks another incremental step up for still and video capture. Like we found on the Thunderbolt, 720p HD video is a particular strength, with reasonably smooth footage that only shows tearing during fast pans. Low-light video is also impressive, and HTC offers a number of effects which can be applied. HTC Incredible S 720p HD video sample: Stills obviously do better the more light you give them, though the dual-LED flash does a reasonable job as long as you’re neither too close nor too far from your subject. It can lead to a fair amount of noise in the final picture, however. Touch-focus works in both still and video modes, a marked improvement over the fixed center-focus of earlier Android handsets, though there’s some lens jumping as the focus shifts which mars the usability during video recording. In addition to tapping the screen to fix the area of focus, HTC’s system also meters the color and exposure based on that point. There’s also optional Face Tracking and geotagging. You’re not going to achieve DSLR-style images, and the Incredible S’ manual settings – for exposure, contrast, saturation and sharpness – lack the scope of even a regular point-and-shoot camera, but there’s a lot more tweak-potential for interesting shots. HTC’s various filters and effects, like sepia and polarization, can be applied quickly through a side menu (with thumbnail previews of the type of effect) and also work with both stills and video. While there’s no dedicated macro mode, close-up images are far better than, say, we found with Nokia’s E7. The front-facing camera, while higher-resolution than the VGA example you’d find on, say, the iPhone 4, isn’t going to be much use for more than the odd vanity shot. Oddly, HTC doesn’t include its (gimmicky but arguably useful all the same) Mirror app, as on the Desire S, which turns the smartphone into an expensive way of checking there’s no spinach stuck in your teeth. Phone and PerformanceInterestingly, despite the same processor and RAM as the Desire HD, the Incredible S feels faster and generally more polished than its larger sibling. In fact, while Gingerbread would obviously be preferable to Froyo, the Incredible S is still a snappy runner. We ran benchmarking tool Quadrant and the handset scored 1559, higher than a Nexus S also running Android 2.2, but what the raw figures fail to convey is quite how slick the overall experience is. Even heavy webpages pan, scroll and zoom swiftly, and apps load with the minimum of delay. There’s little in the way of pixelation while pinch-zoom resizing images, and video playback is similarly smooth. Unfortunately, out of the box there’s only support for 3GP, 3G2, MP4 and WMV video, but third-party apps can of course add to that list. Android 2.2 means Flash Player support, and the Incredible S handled the latest version, 10.2, reasonably well. Trying to stream a 720p HD video over WiFi left us with some dropped frames and jerkiness, though was still watchable, but lower resolutions were perfectly acceptable and general Flash animations and games played as expected. As for phone performance, the Incredible S clung to a signal well, and audio quality in voice calls proved clear and interference-free. There’s a Mobile Hotspot app pre-loaded as well, allowing you to share the HTC’s 3G data with up to eight WiFi-tethered devices, complete with optional WEP/WPA/WPA2 encryption and the ability to set a lower number of simultaneously connected users. BatteryHTC predicts up to 380 minutes of WCDMA talktime (580 minutes GSM) or up to 370 hours WCDMA standby (290 hours GSM) from a full charge, and in practice – with mixed use – the Incredible S proved capable of lasting a full day. In fact, compared to the power-hungry Desire HD (which admittedly has a bigger display) the Incredible S’ longevity was a minor revelation. With push-Gmail turned on, and some regular Twitter and Facebook updates throughout the day, we were able to go from morning through to evening with some browsing, a little photography and some Google Maps use. Obviously heavier use – or turning on the Mobile Hotspot app – will see the battery drain quicker, and as with any modern smartphone there are various choices to be made which can prolong runtimes based on how you use the handset. Periodic social networking updates can be a significant drain, and we found notching down the frequency at which they refresh – or even leaving them set to manual – meant we had more juice for browsing and GPS. Wrap-UpAs we said at the start, it’s easy to discount the Incredible S from specs on a screen. A single-core processor, superseded version of Android and twiner display size all fall short on paper. In reality, though, the Incredible S manages to occupy a sweet-spot previously poorly served by HTC’s Android line-up. At 4-inches it’s more usable than the 3.7-inch Desire but not as unwieldy as the 4.3-inch Desire HD; the fact that the display itself is an excellent Super LCD panel does no harm either. It’s also a fine example of how manufacturer familiarity with a particular software build, hardware set and clear usability guidelines can add up to a great smartphone even without the latest specifications. With dual-core processors yet to convince on battery and functionality, you could certainly make the case that in sticking with the more proven single-core chip, the Incredible S does a better job of balancing speed and all-day usability. A two-year agreement is a long time in today’s smartphone software world, though, and there’s no telling whether the Incredible S’ Snapdragon will be enough for future iterations of Android. With a proliferation of dual-core right around the corner, there’s a good argument for the sensible would-be Android buyer to hold off and wait a while to see what’s incoming, if future-proofing is a key concern. Nonetheless, we always recommend buying a device for what it does today, not what it might do tomorrow, and on that basis the Incredible S is a solid choice for the mass market. A decent turn of speed, stable software and ticks in most of the hardware boxes we expect – including a respectable camera and great browsing experience – add up to a great all-rounder. The oblique aesthetics might deter some, but they’re missing out on another strong HTC smartphone. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Brown Dwarf Star Not Hot Enough to Boil Water Posted: 24 Mar 2011 09:45 AM PDT In a new discovery that blurs the lines between stars and planets, astronomers at the University of Hawaii have found the coldest brown dwarf star yet, 75 light years from Earth. Surface temperatures of the star are only around 206 degrees F (or 97 degrees C). Brown dwarfs are sometimes called “failed stars” because they have the chemical properties of stars, but not enough mass to ignite nuclear fusion at their cores. The star, named CFBDSIR 1458 10b (and shown below in an artist’s interpretation), is part of a binary system in close orbit with another brown dwarf star. The star has an estimated mass of only about 6 to 15 times that of Jupiter, and is the smaller and dimmer of the pair of binary stars. The star is so cold that it may even have a watery atmosphere with clouds. Though Jupiter is very cold, with surface temperatures around -236 degrees F, there have been “hot Jupiters” found that have surface temperatures up to 1000 degrees F. But the size of CFBDSIR 1458 10b is what classifies it as a star. Study leader Michael Liu, astronomer at the University of Hawaii said, “Over the years there has been steady but slow progress in pushing the boundaries of finding the coldest stars. But with this latest discovery we have made a big leap forward—besting the previous record holder by at least 150 Kelvin [270 degrees F, or 150 degrees C].” The faint infrared signature of the star was seen from the W.M Keck Observatory and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, which are both located on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. But the star may not keep the title of “coldest” for very long. Astronomers with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope are now trying to confirm another cold brown dwarf that has surface temperatures as low as 86 degrees F. [via National Geographic] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Duke Nukem Forever delayed. Again. [Video] Posted: 24 Mar 2011 08:54 AM PDT If you’re responsible for one of the most delayed games of all time, and you have to announce yet another hiccup in the roadmap, you may as well try to make people laugh when you break the bad news. Gearbox Software has admitted that Duke Nukem Forever will take a little longer to arrive (again), with the release pushed back from May 3 to June 10 at the earliest, and they’ve used a tongue-in-cheek video to announce it. Video after the cut Now, international buyers will be able to pick up Duke Nukem Forever from June 10 2011, while the US will get it a few days later on June 14. No reason for the delay has been given, but we’re guessing there are a final few bugs needing to be ironed out. Still, another month hardly seems all that dramatic, when you consider the game was first announced all the way back in 1997. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Color image sharing app sorts by location (& gets privacy zealots worried) Posted: 24 Mar 2011 08:48 AM PDT Privacy advocates and social networking addicts alike are all aflutter over new image sharing app Color today, a start-up with $41m of investment and a desire to get proximal photos onto your screen at the same time. Available for iOS and Android, Color allows you to take a photo or video and then upload it for general viewing – hence the privacy concerns, since there’s no security or filtering available – and gathered by being taken within a 150ft radius. So, if you’re at a concert you’ll see not only your photos but anybody else taking shots using Color as well, while weddings and other social gatherings also seem likely candidates for use. Comments are also supported – and freely accessible - and over time the app builds up a dynamic network of those you frequently interact with. Unfortunately, aside from the privacy concerns, there are other issues giving Color teething pains. The Android version of the app is being heavily criticized as a “poor port from the iPhone” with forced-closes, basic features like image rotation absent, and an underwhelming UI. Still, with all that money in the bank, we don’t imagine it’ll be long before the early issues are ironed out. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Microsoft TV project gets new hardware-expert boss Posted: 24 Mar 2011 08:22 AM PDT Talk of a Microsoft TV project to take on the Apple TV and Google TV has reignited today, with the news that Microsoft has put an experienced hardware exec in charge of its interactive TV business. New corporate VP in charge of Microsoft’s TV and Service business Tom Gibbons was previously the head of Microsoft Hardware, the company’s peripheral arm, before moving to Windows Phone where he oversaw smartphone hardware reference designs. Earlier this month, leaks suggested Microsoft was working on project Orapa, described as an “Xbox LIVE, Kinect & Mediaroom mash-up” which would use Mediaroom streaming content with avatar and Kinect control together with social networking and recommendations. Before that, a a “Santa Fe” Mediaroom/Silverlight set-top box was rumored, along with a “Silverlight system-on-a-chip” (SoC) implementation that could form the basis of third-party STB and Blu-ray player hardware with a Microsoft heart. Gibbons’ involvement could suggest that Microsoft is now shopping a reference hardware specification around its OEM partners, or indeed heading a team of in-house designers putting together their own product. The company already has a foot in the living room thanks to Xbox 360 and its media extender functionality. [via Business Insider] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Acer Iconia Tab W500 and A500 tablets priced and dated Posted: 24 Mar 2011 07:52 AM PDT Acer has confirmed pricing and availability for several models in its Iconia Tab range, with a choice of Windows 7 and Android 3.0 Honeycomb slates to choose from. The Windows-based Acer Iconia Tab W500 will go on sale in the UK and Europe on April 8 2011, priced from £449 ($726) for the slate alone; if you want the optional keyboard, the bundle will cost £529 ($855). Alone, the keyboard – which has an ethernet port, two USB 2.0 ports and a trackpoint stick, but no integrated battery like ASUS’ Eee Pad Transformer – will be £89 ($144) which seems on the expensive side to us. A 3G-enabled version of the Iconia Tab W500 will also be on offer, priced at £529 ($855) without the keyboard or £579 ($936) with the keyboard. Acer tells us that they’re “far along” in talks with carriers regarding offering the 3G version of the slate on-contract. Also on April 8, the Honeycomb-based Acer Iconia Tab A500 will also go on sale, priced at £449 as well. However, the 10-inch Android slate will not be offered with a keyboard dock, but instead a Bluetooth keyboard. Acer’s 7-inch Iconia Tab A100, which also runs Honeycomb, will arrive in mid-May, pricing yet to be confirmed. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| iPad 2 international sales open with long shipping estimates Posted: 24 Mar 2011 07:44 AM PDT As promised, international sales of the iPad 2 have begun, with Australia and New Zealand among the first countries outside of the US to have the opportunity to order Apple’s second-gen tablet online. It looks as though queuing will be the only way to get your hands on an iPad 2 today, though; already shipping estimates are suggesting a 2-3 week wait before online orders are delivered. Sales in the 25 countries getting the iPad 2 from March 25 start from 1am local time online, with in-store sales kicking off at 5pm local time. Apple is expecting long queues, just like in the US, and already there are people lining up outside the company’s stores across the world, in the hope of picking up the rare new slate. US availability continues to be tight, with the online Apple Store still listing a 4-5 week delay before the tablet will ship. More on the iPad 2 in the full SlashGear review. [Thanks to everybody who sent this in!] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 official, attempts to wear world’s fastest and quietest crowns Posted: 24 Mar 2011 07:37 AM PDT Poor old AMD; the company got to hold on to the “world’s fastest graphics card” title for all of two weeks with the Radeon HD 6990, and now here comes NVIDIA to try to snatch it away. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is finally official, and as we expected it’s a dual-GPU masterpiece of CUDA grunt folded into a super-quiet chassis. Video demo after the cut In fact, despite having 1024 CUDA cores, 3GB of GDDR5 memory and 32 tessellation engines, the GeForce GTX 590 only musters 48dB; that’s enough, NVIDIA reckons for it to be the world’s quietest graphics card as well as being the fastest. To manage that, the pair of GeForce GTX 580 GPUs are clocked down to 607MHz and the memory to 3.4GHz, and dual vapor cooling chambers employed to keep temperatures low. Four outputs are native, and there’s SLI support for pairing two cards together in the same system. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 cards from the usual suspects are expected to go on sale today, with prices around the $699 point. [youtube MOCZF5IxY6I] Press Release:
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| Firefox 4 beat IE9 market share on launch day Posted: 24 Mar 2011 05:41 AM PDT StatCoutner has offered up the stats on what the market share of Firefox 4 was like and compared the numbers for the launch of IE9. Firefox 4 went up for download on the 22 of March. StatCounter reports that Firefox 4 had grabbed 1.95% of the browser market in only a day on the market. StatCounter reports that on the first day of FF 4′s release it scored higher globally than IE9 did on its first day. StatCounter said that by March 22 IE9 had only 0.87% of the global browser market. Internet Explorer still holds the vast majority of the browser market when all versions are taken into account. IE with all versions combined currently has 45% of the market with Firefox having 30% and Chrome taking 17% globally. The US only results are much the same with 48% on IE, 26% on Firefox and 14% on Chrome. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Canon announces five new LCD projectors for mobile types Posted: 24 Mar 2011 05:27 AM PDT
They all share many of the same features with auto setup that corrects the keystone and identifies the input in use with the press of a button. The lamp in the projector is good for up to 6,000 hours and the filter is good for 5,500 hours. The lens is a 1.2x zoom unit and has manual zoom and focus. The line are all quiet with 29dB of sound output in quiet mode. Connectivity includes computer, video, and audio connections and more. The 8225 has a resolution of 1280 x 800 and 2500 lumens. The 7490 has 4000 lumens and a resolution of 1024 x 768. The 7390, 7295, and 7290 have XGA resolution and light outputs of 3000, 2600, and 2200 lumens respectively. Pricing for the Canon LV-8225, LV-7490, LV-7390, LV-7295, and LV-7290 are $799, $1099, $799, $699, and $599 respectively. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Target announces Nintendo DS trade in program Posted: 24 Mar 2011 05:13 AM PDT If you have a serious hankering for a new Nintendo 3DS and you have a DS unit around that still works you can trade that DS in to get credit towards the 3DS. Target has announced that it has expanded its trade in program at its Target Mobile center and will give shoppers credit in the form of gift cards to use in the store. The program will give shoppers up to $50 for working DS consoles in good condition and that loot can be put towards the 3DS when it launches on March 27. Target also notes that the users can put the money towards other devices too like the iPhone 4 on Verizon hitting Target on March 25. The Nintendo 3DS will be in 1200 stores around the country and the stores will have 3DS trial stations where people can try the console out before buying. Target will also have specialists on hand to answer questions that know about the 3DS. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Samsung announces SE-406A slim external Blu-ray combo drive Posted: 24 Mar 2011 04:55 AM PDT
The drive ships with CyberLink TrueTheater software for playback of movies and the software will also test the ability of the PC to support 3D content. The player will play normal DVDs and Blu-ray flicks too. It can also read and write to CDs and DVDs. However, it only reads Blu-ray discs. The SE-406A is designed to work with both Mac and Windows computers and it has Buffer Under Run technology to prevent any errors that may result from writing speeds that are faster than data transfer speed. The drive supports most DVD and CD formats and can read from multiple Blu-ray formats too. The drive will ship in April for $150. Samsung offered no images of the optical drive with the official announcement. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Aircell Smartphone for business jets runs Android and lands later this year Posted: 24 Mar 2011 04:12 AM PDT If the name Aircell sounds familiar it’s because we have talked a lot about the firm and its hardware that allows services like Gogo in-flight internet to operate on commercial jets. That service allows people flying to access the web and chat or just surf while they are on long and boring flights. The company has announced a new smartphone for business jets. The new phone is the Aircell Smartphone and it runs an unspecified version of the Android OS. The phone has a 3.8-inch touchscreen LCD and supports Bluetooth. The Bluetooth connectivity allows the user to talk while flying using a Bluetooth headset. The phone has an interesting design that will let it be used in the aircraft as a wired or wireless phone. The Aircell Smartphone is a drop-in replacement for current Aircell Axxess flush-mount headsets. The device will land in late 2011 with pricing to be announced then. [via Android Community] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Ricoh offers new firmware for GXR and GR Digital III cameras Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:53 AM PDT Ricoh has been making digital cameras for a long time now and back in 2009 we talked about the companies GR Digital III camera that had just launched. Ricoh has now announced that it has launched a new firmware for that digital camera and for another of its digital cameras. The other camera getting new firmware is the GXR digital. Ricoh reports that the new firmware brings features and enhancements that customers have been asking for. The new firmware for both cameras can be downloaded right now. The firmware for the GXR adds Scene Mode with five types of modes including soft focus, cross process, toy camera, miniaturize, and high contrast monochrome. It also adds a new Target Follow Function. This allows the focusing on a specific part of a subject. Other new features include reset/cancel for the target move, magnified playback function to magnify the center of the target, and exposure correction and white balance can now be assigned to the zoom button. The GR Digital III gets the SF Target Follow feature, the ability to switch that function to the Fn button, and a setting change to the ADJ level for scene mode allowing the lever to change settings like ISO and image quality. Several other improvements are added as well. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Slacker adds ESPN personal sports radio to lineup Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:40 AM PDT Sports fans that also like to use Slacker will be glad to hear that the personalized streaming content provider has signed a deal with ESPN that will bring Sports content to the service. The personalized ESPN content will be offered on the web, smartphones, and devices supporting Slacker in the home. The service will allow the user to choose what they want to hear with an option to hear only hourly updates with headlines on any Slacker station. Slacker says the new ESPN content will offer up to the minute coverage of all major sporting events and the top national and regional level. The Slacker station will offer content from several popular ESPN programs including Mike & Mike in the Morning, SportsCenter, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, and others. Slacker says that the ESPN content will be available to users of the free service with access to the interactive programmed ESPN content. Listeners that subscribe to the paid service at $3.99 monthly will get ad-free access with unlimited skips, the ability to create custom content channels based on team preference, and the choice to add top of the hour SportsCenter updates to any slacker station. Slacker isn’t specific on when the service will land only saying it is “coming soon.” Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| iBuypower offers three new Battalion 101 gaming notebooks with Sandy Bridge Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:23 AM PDT iBuypower is a boutique maker of gaming notebooks and desktop computers. The company has announced that it has three new gaming notebooks in its Battalion series that all use Sandy Bridge processors from Intel. The new machines include the Battalion 101 P151HM1, W150HNQ, and W170HN with pricing for the rigs starting at $899. The P151HM1 is a 15-inch notebook that packs in a GeForce GTX 460M video card, 4GB of RAM, 500GB of storage, and the screen has a 1920 x 1080 resolution for $1,119. The W150HNQ is very similar except it uses a GT540M GPU and the screen has 1366 x 768 resolution with prices starting at $899. The big screen offering is the Battalion 101 W170HN notebook. This machine has a 17.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a GT540M GPU. Pricing starts at $1019 for this gaming notebook. All three of the machines use the Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Hands-on with the T-mobile LG G2X smartphone Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:08 AM PDT Sister site Android Community spent some quality time with the T-Mobile LG GX2 Android smartphone recently and offered up hoards of pics and details on the new smartphone for fans to check out. The smartphone runs Android 2.2 and it will land this spring on the T-Mobile network. The official name for the smartphone is a mouthful – T-Mobile G2x with Google by LG. We will just call the thing the G2x. The smartphone may have one of the more stripped down versions of Android, but it packs in some nice hardware. It runs the Tegra 2 processor at 1GHz. It has an 8MP rear camera and it has 8GB of internal storage. The phone supports all sorts media formats including Divx. The device AC played with is not the final offering that will hit stores and tweaks are still being made according to LG. The device might not have been finalized, but AC reports it worked well and looked really good to boot. Hit the source for all the pics. [via Android Community] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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