Are you Not happy with the short amount of features that come stock with the Android camera application? We got the Solution, ProCapture Made by nEast Studios, ProCapture brings many features you would find on a nicer digital camera to your Smartphone. Features such as a timer, burst, WideShot, Panorama, and reduced noise.

ProCapture Features:

- Panorama mode automatically links together up to 12 photos to produce a high resolution panoramic image providing the ability to zoom in on small details. Output panorama has the highest resolution and best quality among competitors.
- WideShot mode automatically links together 3 photos to produce a high resolution wide image.
- Reduced Noise mode captures 2 photos and combines them in order to reduce noise in the photo by about 30%.
- Shoot better photos with 2 different on-screen composition aids: grid and Fibonacci spiral.
- Real-time on-screen histogram helps you get better exposed photos.
- Simple UI with easy access to all features.
- On-screen remaining photos indicator.
- Ability to configure volume buttons for zoom or photo capture.
- Save to internal or external storage.

 

 

This App Available on the Android Market in two version Free/Paid version, We Offer it for FREE as the App of the Week.

Download ProCapture

You know Siri, Apple Newest App, The voice-powered personal assistant found in Apple iPhone 4S is a mysterious one. Nobody has seen her until the last episode of The Big Bang Theory. There is one of the main characters in the CBS series, gets the new iPhone 4S and inevitably falls in love with Siri and her voice.

Must See Video Below!

One of the more consistent rumors is that Samsung will announce the Galaxy Tab 11.6 Android ICS tablet.

The name suggests a 11.6-inch screen, but according to the rumors the tablet itself will not be much larger than the Tab 10.1. The screen will supposedly have a whopping WQXGA resolution (2560×1600).

If this is true, the Tab 11.6 will have 260ppi pixel density, which would be amazing for a tablet. Samsung have already shown a 10.1-inch WQXGA screen, so 11.6-inch WQXGA is right up their alley and will be competitive to the rumored high-res iPad 3. The new Exynos 5250 chipset supports just that resolution too. The chipset packs two Cortex-A15 cores running at 2.0GHz.

A recent sneak preview of the newest version of Adobe legendary photo editing software, Photoshop CS6, reveals some really cool stuff you can do to your phone photos.

Adobe senior product manager Bryan O'Neil Hughes gives us a glimpse at how he takes an ordinary photograph from his phone and brings back highlights and opens up shadows revealing details previously unseen.

Among other things, CS6 features a rewritten Camera Raw 7 module, which, as evident, is good for processing more than RAW images.

Demo Video Below!

 

 

 

The white Lumia 800 will follow in the footsteps of the white Nokia N9 shown above which went on sale in certain markets back in December. Like the N9, the Lumia was originally shown in just three colors, though the CNC polycarbonate manufacturing process lends itself to any hue that the raw plastic can be supplied in.

Nokia will launch its Lumia 800 Windows Phone in Australia come March, with the existing black, cyan and magenta variants joined by a white model. Offered on Australian carriers Optus, Telstra, Vodafone and all major retailers no pricing for the Lumia 800 has been announced, but the smartphone will come complete with Nokia Drive for turn-by-turn navigation and Nokia Music for subscription-free streaming audio.

 

 

Multiple sources have reported seeing impressive demos of Windows 8 running on high-profile devices from key manufacturers already and the word is developers are expected to receive a stable build of Windows 8 suitable for ARM architecture come February.

"In October of last year, it [Windows 8 on ARM] scared the industry because it was unstable. But what we are seeing now is quite stable," one industry insider told the team at CNET. "We have not heard this directly from Microsoft, but we have heard this from the hardware partners that [Microsoft] is working with. We've been promised something in the February time frame."

There are a number of key reasons why bringing Windows 8 to ARM is so significant. For one, Windows 8 using ARM architecture would be far less costly than with an Intel equivalent. An Intel-based Windows 8 device showcased at CES this year, would have been considerably cheaper as a cosmetically identical ARM-based unit.

The powerful messaging integration is one of the best features of Windows Phone and an alleged screenshot from the upcoming Tango update shows Skype and Google Plus integration into the messenger hub.

After Microsoft acquisition of Skype, it was pretty clear that we will see Skype added to WP7 arsenal but everyone expected that it will take until the next major version, Apollo, before it appears. This screenshot shows that the integration will happen sooner and will add Google social network to the mix.

We know that the next version of Windows Phone codenamed Tango, will reduce the hardware requirements of the OS so that it could run on devices with slower and cheaper hardware.

Now, Microsoft has announced that Tango will have support for additional languages as well. This is necessary for Microsoft if it intends to sell Windows Phone devices in as many locations as possible. Mango currently supports 35 different languages but Tango is expected to take that number to 120.

Microsoft has also said that with the next release, developers will be able to develop apps and games for the OS using C++, although it is unclear whether next release refers to the next version of the OS or the SDK.

With MegaUpload facing irretrievable data loss later this week and rival services locking down their file sharing options, attention has turned to well-used but clandestine rival RapidShare AG and whether it will be next in line for the FBI attentions. Worlds apart from the showy Kim Dotcom, MegaUpload CEO, RapidShare founder Christian Schmid has focused his attentions on lobbying the US government, the WSJ reports, spending over $600,000 since 2010 to persuade them the site is a legitimate file repository and not a haven for copyright infringement.

"[Schmid] is shy and does not really like other people" RapidShare lawyer Daniel Raimer told the newspaper, after the founder declined to speak publicly on the MegaUpload saga. "He is not into chatting."

Nonetheless, plenty of copyright holders seem keen to talk to Schmid and his company. We have lawsuits coming in and being ended all the time" Raimer conceded, "this is an ongoing battle." Despite those suits dismissed, RapidShare ended up on the 2010 International Piracy Watch List, prompting the file sharing site to employ a lobbying firm to champion its cause among US lawmakers. In contrast, MegaUpload apparently spent its money on luxury cars and weapons.

A while back, Nokia Twitter account jumped the gun when announcing the release of the Belle update for older Nokia smartphones. Lets hope this time it is for real Nokia Vietnamese site announced that Belle is coming on February 8 for the following models: N8, E7, X7, E6, C6-01. Nokia Vietnam Facebook page confirmed it.

However the page on Nokia site is now gone, while the Facebook post is still up.

We know the Belle update is coming in February, that is the latest info from Nokia. The exact date is not clear though, their UK page just says "soon" and adds the Nokia 500 to the list of updateable phones.

 

Samsung Galaxy Note LTE will hit stores from February 19 priced at 299.99 USD with a new, two year agreement, the carrier has announced, though online pre-order customers can get the LTE smartphone up to two days early. Officially launched at CES earlier this month, the AT&T Galaxy Note keeps the 5.3-inch 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED HD display and digital stylus of its GSM counterpart, but throws in 4G networking.

THe device packed an 8-megapixel main camera with 1080p Full HD video recording, and a front-facing camera for video calls. Inside lurks Qualcomm dual-core Snapdragon 1.5GHz processor along with HSPA+ for when you are outside of AT&T growing LTE network, plus WiFi b/g/n and GPS.

We previously reported that Motorola is facing intense pressure from users to unlock their devices, and it seems like the mobile giant may finally be giving in.

In a recent post on their official blog, Motorola announced that it will be shipping the unlockable RAZR sans warranty, as well as with post-purchase instructions on how to unlock/relock the device, locate build instructions, as well as access additional developer resources.

 

Samsung is Working on an Advanced version of the Galaxy S, the Galaxy S Advance GT-I9070. It has a higher specs than the Original Galaxy S I9000 but lower than the Galaxy S II I9100. Seems like samsung want to make a version of the Galaxy S that can run ICS onboard and the Galaxy S Advance is the solution.

Galaxy S Advance Specifications

In addition to the new slim-looking design (as you can see on the photo above), the phone is said to have a 1GHz dual-core processor, 4-inch Super AMOLED WVGA (800×480) display, a 5MP camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording, 1500mAh battery, 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom, It currently running Android 2.3.6 but it will surely get the ICS 4.0.3 Update according to its high specs.

Samsung may reveal this device during MWC 2012 Next month.

2 Hands-on Videos Below!

BBC has once again updated its Android app, this time focusing on all of you with Android tablets. The new version of the application sings along Honeycomb devices, offering simple browsing in landscape and portrait view. In other words, the app now has a new UI for large tablets while those of you with 7-inch ones will continue to see the mobile phone version.

And that is about all there is in this release. The future update will also bring Live News Channel and home screen widgets.

Good sales of Amazon Kindle Fire tablet led to significant gains for Google Android operating system in tablet market share during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new data from mobile analytics firm Flurry.

Flurry, which purports to measure application sessions on more than 90 percent of all Android devices, found that Android tablets gained 10 percent share from Q4 2010 to Q4 2011 and now represent 39 percent of the overall tablet market.

The Kindle Fire, which only just debuted this past November, has managed to best Samsung Galaxy Tab in terms of application session usage. The Kindle Fire already represents 35.7 percent of total Android tablet application sessions, while the Galaxy Tab has been reduced to just 35.6 percent, according to Flurry data that accounts for most of January 2012.

Samsung today announced its record fourth quarter earnings, in which it saw operating profits of 5.3 trillion won (around $4.7 billion) on revenues of 47.3 trillion won (around $42 billion).

That is a decent jump over last year, when it reported earnings of 3 trillion won (about $2.6 billion) on 41.8 trillion won (about $36.5 billion) in revenue.

Dutch retailer Typhone has just added a page for the Nokia Lumia 910, a phone which is specced almost identically to the Lumia 900, but swaps the 8-megapixel rear camera with a 12-megapixel unit.

The only other apparent difference is in the handset connectivity, as there is no LTE. If the Typhone listing is to be believed, this will be the first Nokia handset to have a 12-megapixel camera since the N8, which won widespread praise for the quality of its photos.

HP is moving forward with its plans to open source webOS, after failing to sell it off last year. The company says it plans to complete the open sourcing process for webOS by September, which will be called Open webOS 1.0 when it is released. Today, HP is getting the ball rolling by releasing the Enyo 1.0 Javascript framework, as well as the cross-platform Enyo 2.0 core, under open source licensing.

Enyo is the framework used to create webOS apps on the HP TouchPad and other HP webOS devices. Enyo 1.0, which will not be developed any further, will let developers bring their webOS apps to other platforms. The real future of the framework lies in Enyo 2.0, which can create apps that run across mobile devices and desktop web browsers. Right now HP is only making the core of Enyo 2.0 available, which will let developers begin making apps, with a UI widget set and other features to follow.

 

If you thought that signing up for the premium Call of Duty Elite service on your PS3 would get you access to DLC the same time as your Xbox 360 counterparts, well, Activision has no sympathy for you. The publisher says it never made any claims to that effect, and says anyone who thought that was the case "convinced themselves that it would happen because they wanted it to happen."

Activision has a very well-known, iron-clad contract with Microsoft that guarantees Call of Duty add-on content will be released first on the Xbox 360, and then trickle down to other platforms later. Microsoft paid Activision a whole bunch of money for this privilege. But then Activision launched a service called Call of Duty Elite, which gives gamers exclusive access to special in-game events, content, and more. One of the biggest selling points is that Elite members are the very first to access new DLC packs but only on Xbox 360. That is exactly what happened this week, when Modern Warfare 3 first DLC pack was released.

 

Despite a point of contention over the true nature of these applications, a string of 13 apps have been identified as potential threats on the Android Market. One of the largest security software makers in the business, Symantec say they have identified these applications and relate them to a botnet-like virus called Android.Tonclank.

The applications in question run a type of malware called Android.Counterclank. Botnets spread from a host command computer and take control of other device via means of spam messages or in this case, malicious applications.

Un-install These Apps Immediately, If you already have them!

Symantec already say millions of users could be affected and they consider the damage level to be "medium" with regards to data and identification theft. So far a list of 13 applications have been identified on the Android Market as malicious, with the majority of them being mobile games of some form.

 

 

A recently leaked RIM roadmap reveals all the upcoming BlackBerries for 2012. Unfortunately there is nothing really interesting scheduled before November this year.

RIM is preparing two new mid-range Curves for the spring seaso 9220 and 9320 for Q1 and Q2 release respectively. White Bold 9790 and Curve 9380 will hit the market in March or April as well.

 

If you have heard about Eventbrite. The web-based service helps event organizers manage ticketing and costs nothing for free events, This must be your lucky day as they have just launched thier own Android App.

 

The company has recently launched an iPhone app, and now they are out with an Android version. As you can imagine, these apps allow you to not only browse upcoming events, see them on a map and get GPS directions but also to make your event attending a paper-free experience. Simply pull up your ticket barcode or registration info on your phone and you are good to go.

 

Eventbrite [Android Market]

 

Microsoft Windows Phone Tango update is the rumored codename for the next version of Windows Phone OS. Previous reports suggested that the update is designed to drive down the cost of manufacturing Windows Phones, but how does Microsoft plan to achieve this? We have heard that Microsoft biggest work with Tango is reducing the RAM requirement for Windows Phone. We have been informed, but cannot immediately verify, that Microsoft will actively support just 256MB RAM, from the standard 512MB found in today devices. Although this is a current hardware requirement, most devices use 512MB of RAM.

A leaked Windows Phone roadmap showed that Tango will arrive in Q2 of 2012, a date range that appears to be accurate. Coupled with Microsoft plans to allow OEMs to support new chipsets, and the alleged 256MB memory requirement. There will be more details on Windows Phone updates at Mobile World Congress next month in Barcelona.

In December 2011, Huawei offered a demo version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for its Honor smartphone, allowing users to dream about a full version.

Now the handset has been officially launched with Android ICS on board in China (via China Unicom). Of course, this means that if you have already bought the Honor with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, an update to Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich should be available for your device soon.

The Huawei Honor features a 4 inch FWVGA 854 x 480 display, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, 8MP rear camera with 720p video recording, front-facing camera, 1.4GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory, and a 1930 mAh battery. The handset is available in the US via Cricket Wireless under the name of Huawei Mercury.

HTC released another Fast 4G smartphone that re-define Speed, The HTC Velocity 4G for Telstar.

In terms of specs, the HTC Velocity 4G comes with a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, Android 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) along with HTC Sense 3.5, 16GB internal storage, up to 32GB of expandable storage via microSD, 4.5-inch qHD screen (960×540), 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash, a 1620mAh battery, plus an unlocked bootloader.

Velocity 4G Full Specifications

The lack of Ice Cream Sandwich in the HTC Velocity 4G is a dealbreaker for me now that I have tasted Ice Cream Sandwich, I pout at the thought of going back to Gingerbread. Telstra said that they only received ICS from Google last week, so although the HTC Velocity 4G would be launching on Gingerbread, they expect to roll out ICS within "the next two months". I do not believe them for even a second that they will make that self-imposed deadline, but I can appreciate that they have a lot of testing to do, not only to ensure the best possible user experience, but also for legal reasons.

 

February 22, the launch day for the North American version of the the PlayStation Vita is drawing near and Sony has now announced a new version for those who'd like to buy the console on the day of the launch.

If you want to get your hands on the PlayStation Vita a bit early, then you can opt for the previously announced First Edition Bundle. Although it will cost you 50 bucks more over the standard 3G model, you will get the console a week in advance, along with a 4GB memory card, limited edition PSVITA case, a copy of ‘Little Deviants' and upon activation of the device you'll also get AT&T DataConnect Pass and a PSN game, making it the best value of all the bundles. If you're in no hurry and want to spend the least, then you should go for the base Wi-Fi model that costs $249.99.

This limited edition Launch Bundle comes with the 3G/Wi-Fi version of the PlayStation Vita, along with a free PSN game, 8GB memory card and an AT&T DataConnect Session pass that will give you 250MB of free 3G data. The Launch Bundle will set you back by $299, which is actually a bit less than the standard 3G/Wi-Fi model, which would cost you $299.99.

Up until this week, Google Calendar and Windows Phone did not play together nicely. You could only sync one Google calendar per account and had to use a JavaScript hack to sync more. Wekll, those days are gone now that Google updated its Sync product to let Windows Phone users select multiple Google calendars. Customers with a Windows Phone can navigate to m.google.com/sync on their phone and setup the calendars they want yo sync. Besides Calendar Sync, Google also lets you configure which addresses you want to send mail as if you use custom addresses in Gmail.

Google Official Press Release:

We launched a few new features on Google Sync for our Windows Phone (7.5+) users. Multiple Calendars is a feature that lets you select which of your Google Calendars are synced to your device. Just navigate to m.google.com/sync on your phone's browser and configure the calendars you would like to see. From that page, you can also configure which addresses you send mail as if you have custom addresses in Gmail. We've also improved search to look beyond the conversations that are stored locally on your device so that you are able to find more of your conversations, faster.

 

 

The Wi-Fi-only Motorola Xyboard tablets have been up for pre-order in the US for over two weeks. So if you pre-ordered one, it is on its way to you. Otherwise, you can just go and buy one now and prices are on the photo above.

These Xyboard tablets are basically just Droid Xyboard units sans the mobile data connectivity and without any Verizon branding. They were initially supposed to ship during the week of January 18 (so last week), but better late than never.

Sprint has started rolling out a small update (EL29) for the Samsung Epic 4G Touch to fix one of the most annoying issues folks had with phones on the Now Network Carrier IQ integration. That "minor detail," described as "security update," is not the whole story aside from that, the new software also updates the calendar app, allowing users to dismiss multiple calendar alerts at once.

After another successful quarter, Apple is worth more than 400 billion USD, which is about $6,622,516 per employee. In the last three months, Apple brought in 4x more profit than Walmart, the world largest retailer... And here is how it all comes together in an infographic prepared by MBAonline.com.

Yahoo! Meme, Yahoo! Mim, Yahoo! AppSpot, Yahoo! Deals, Yahoo! Shopping, and Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search have all been removed from Apple App Store. And if you are like most people, you never even looked at these apps in the first place. That is exactly the point. It is part of Yahoo strategy to rebuild its mobile presence from the ground up.

That list only refers to apps that were available for the iPhone and iPad. The former search leader also took down a handful of apps for Android.

The Galaxy S III is a device that will be popping up some time inside 2012, and today information leads us to believe that it will be sooner than later: a clue at Samsung own Global Download Center support site, no less. Here we can see inside the Mobile Device and Smart Phone categories a brand new Product Model Name: GT-I9300, a model that is a grade above the rest. Here will find the next Samsung handset that will break down the walls previously set up by the Galaxy S II last year and the Galaxy S before that.

Not only the GT-I9300 shows up today but also the Samsung GT-I9800, This code showed up at samsung WIFI-devices certifications.

After the disappointing Q4 results, which saw a sharp drop in profit and revenue for HTC, the Taiwanese mobile device company is now looking to cut back on its smartphone portfolio this year, instead focusing on fewer devices. This is exactly what we argued HTC should be doing, though leaks from December already suggested that this change was coming.

In an interview with Mobile Today, HTC UK boss Phil Roberson said the following:

We have to get back to focusing on what made us great - amazing hardware and a great customer experience. We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much.

So 2012 is about giving our customers something special. We need to make sure we do not go so far down the line that we segment our products by launching lots of different SKUs.

We had a fantastic year, with 65% growth year on year in the UK. But in Q4 we delivered a lot more products than in the past. Now we want to create more of a ‘hero' approach. We make great phones, but it is hard to do that when the portfolio is spread too much.

 

Qualcomm recently launched GameCommand to showcase games that leverage on the capabilities of the their Adreno GPUs. GameCommand features games from various dev companies, but apparently, Qualcomm are upping the ante with a game studio of their own.

They are also working on a much improved version of GameCommand, which is expected to launch at the upcoming MWC.

Qualcomm game studio will target phones and tablets powered by the company Snapdragon chipsets (which use Adreno graphics). They are promising "console-quality graphics" on the mobile devices.

Desert Winds [Free]

 

The app in question is called Clear and it is not even out yet. I stumbled upon a video ad for it and I was amazed. It has been a while since we have ever seen a user interface so beautifully simple, elegant and intuitive.

Clear main and only function is to help you organize your life by creating easy to follow to-do lists. There are many to-do list apps and organizers out there, but it is Clear user interface that will make you buy this app when it comes out, Make sure you check out the App Demo video below.

Coming Soon to iTunes

 

Rage HD is not only one of the best looking games on iOS but also one of the best looking games on any mobile platform. Now this gorgeous first person shooter has been upgraded to v2.0 and brings along some nice goodies.

For starters, you get higher resolution player and weapon models in the game. Secondly, the game brings performance enhancements and a wide variety of bug fixes. Next, the game also includes the ability to output the video through an HDMI cable to a television so now you can play the game on a bigger screen. There are also some improvements to the video output through the VGA and component cables.

 

Dropbox is an online file storage service that automatically syncs files between all your computers and devices. You are given 2GB of free storage, and can pay monthly for more. On the desktop versions you interact with Dropbox through a folder, within which every single file is backed up and synced. This syncing happens in the background and is nearly instantaneous.

 

The Newer Features

The latest 2.0 update has drastically improved and overhauled the Dropbox app, so lets look a little closer at these newer features. Also Dropbox Now Optimized for Android Ice cream sandwhich 4.0 and the Galaxy Nexus.

 

Multi Upload

The new multi uploading ability has proven to be a real time saver for me. This ability to upload numerous files at once really pushes the power of Dropbox on your phone, allowing for easier backing up of important files.

However, when using this to sync all 400 photos taken on my phone I realised that a "select all" feature was desperately needed! Each file must be selected individually; this is fine when dealing with a few files, but as the number of files increases this gets a lot more tiresome. But perhaps this was intentionally left out, in case some people tried to upload 400 photos at once.

 

Favourites

Before, navigating to a file through the app involved a lot of browsing through directories to get to the right location. Now, if you know you will need a file again soon, or use it frequently, you are able to "favorite" it. This places a shortcut to the file in a easily accessible section of the app, as shown in the screenshots below:

 

The File Previewer

It is a real pity that this aspect is so underdeveloped, as it would really add to the uses of Dropbox: it could function as a streaming media player, on top of everything else. Even just allowing these files to open with the phone’s default app would be an amazing improvement, in my opinion.

 

Interface

The UI of the app got a total makeover. It now looks a lot cleaner, with file access made much easier, and the number of steps required to upload files greatly reduced.

 

Download

Qualcomm upcoming 28nm based Snapdragon SoCs (Adreno 225), codenamed Krait, are expected to arrive later this year. But a NenaMark 2 benchmark score on an unidentified device has leaked ahead of launch.

In this benchmark, we see this unidentified device, probably just a reference unit, running the MSM8960 processor with the Adreno 225 graphics. The device has a display resolution of 1024 x 600, same as 7-inch tablets but despite the higher resolution, it posts a rather impressive score of 54.90 in NenaMark 2.

 

A high-ranking source with a major electronics retailer has told TechnoBuffalo to expect the long-rumored Apple TV set this April, or possibly May at the latest. Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the source said they have seen "gorgeous, very thin" pre-production versions of the set in person, and that they employ OLED panels at various sizes up to 42-inches. If true, Apple set will debut as the largest OLED based HDTV on the consumer market. LG and Samsung debuted 55-inch OLED sets at CES earlier this month, but neither is set to launch as soon as April.

While there is no info if the set will be running its own version of iOS, we do know that will have deep integration with devices based on the popular operating system. The set will also sport Siri style voice controls as well as facial recognition software, and plans for the TV voice control system are said to far exceed what's currently in use on the iPhone 4S.

Lately, Some reports across the WEB was showing that Apple is the biggest smartphone seller in 2011 according to the company shipments during the whole year, but these reports have misleading info.

Here is the correct chart that shows that Samsung is the No.1 biggest smartphone seller in 2011, Samsung booked a lot of succes with their Galaxy S 2 and Apple did this in their latest months of 2011 with the iPhone 4S.

Samsung sold 40.8 million smartphones in 2011
Apple 37 million and Nokia 20 million

Nokia have now confirmed via their official Twitter feed that major updates have already begun rolling out to a number of devices currently running Symbian Anna, bumping them up to Symbian Belle, news that a lot of Nokia fans will no doubt welcome with open arms.

Devices including the N8, as well as the likes of Nokia E7, C7, E6, X7, C6-01 and 500 will all now ship with Symbian Belle pre-installed. The latest iteration of the Symbian OS brings functionality and a general user experience more inline with that of Android and iOS.

 

 

Microsoft is testing prototypes of Kinect-enabled notebooks using motion-sensing as an interface forWindows 8, it is been revealed, ahead of what are believed to be plans to license the technology to laptop vendors.

Specially modified ASUS netbooks are being used to demonstrate the system, which builds on Microsoft freshly-announced Kinect for Windows hardware, The Daily reports the ultraportables replace the single webcam above the screen with a row of sensors that can track movement.

 

There are noises starting to emerge that the upcoming Sony Xperia S will come with two neat features that the company have not exactly been banging the drum about. First off, the phone will come with some kind of anti-stain shell. This is not in dispute as the company mentioned this point on a Facebook post, although SE has not formally expanded on what this involves.

PocketPC.ch recently spoke to the Sony Ericsson Product Manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands who appears to have also confirmed the above. They said that the phone will come with a special nano coating that is not just dirt repellent but also UV Active. They also report that the Xperia S will come with a fast charging ability. Charge times will be reduced by half and a 10-minute charge is good enough to keep the phone going for an hour. We haven't been able to verify the latter ourselves, but it seems like a nice addition if true.

It is needless to say that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III is one of the most anticipated Android devices, which are going to break cover this year one of the brightest stars of the MWC which is set to kick off next month in Barcelona.

According to a fresh new rumor, the yet to be revealed samsung flagship might break cover after MWC, but before the summer. The reason for this shocker is the company consideration for the U.S. market one of its most important ones. Apparently, Samsung wants to avoid a huge gap of availability as in the case of the Galaxy S II last year.

The Bada 2.0 update certainly took its time to arrive, but it is finally seeding to S8500 Wave smartphones.

The release is not officially announced by Samsung just yet and there is no information about its rollout schedule, but we suspect it will go global quite quickly. Bada is not too widespread a system and while the Wave was a pretty popular smartphone, Samsung servers should handle it quite easily.

You can check if the update is already available for your region by hooking up your Samsung S8500 Wave to your computer and launching the Samsung Kies software suite.

 

 

When Google launched the Galaxy Nexus along with Ice Cream Sandwich, they removed the ubiquitous menu button that was found on all the previous Android devices. Instead, they incorporated the functionality of the menu button inside an action bar that appeared on top of the screen. If there were additional options that need not be immediately shown to the user, they were hidden inside a drop down menu signified by a Windows Phone-style vertical ellipsis.

However, this change was only visible inside the native apps in Ice Cream Sandwich whereas the third party apps continued to use a standard menu button functionality, which was replicated on the Galaxy Nexus by displaying the vertical ellipsis in the bar at the bottom of the screen.

 

 

 

An ICS ROM for the GSM version of the Motorola RAZR has leaked online that gives a glimpse of what we could expect later during the year when it starts rolling out officially.

At first glance it looks almost stock but that is mostly because it is still in the developmental stage and there is a lot of work left to be done on it. only visible changes are a new lock screen that features four custom spots where you can drag the lock icon and the option to put the phone on silent or vibration, sorely missing from the stock ICS ROM. Also new is a camera app that is similar to the one on the current Gingerbread ROM for the RAZR.

 

 

Google has launched a major update for the cool Google Earth program. The update (Google Earth v6.2) brings with it higher quality images that look much, much better than they used to. Google Earth now offers users a seamless experience. Rather than a patchwork of images like those that it used to offer, Google Earth now has one giant seamless image (as you can see above).

I would like to know how Google is able to render the images into the seamless shots we see now. I always understood that the reason the images were patchy was because the satellites flew over and snapped the shots at different times of day and in different weather conditions. Better image quality is not all the update brings.

 

Prada Phone by LG 3.0, the latest smartphone to come out from the partnership between LG and the fashion giant, will hit UK stores today.

Phones4U will be the lucky store to offer the device in the UK starting tomorrow with others to follow in the days after.

 

HTC has already said it plans to focus on quality not quantity with its 2012 range, but it seems the company has some significant software changes in the pipeline too with HTC Sense 4.0. The Android reskin initially offered a far more usable interface than the native OS, but Google successive iterations narrowed the gap and HTC failed to keep pace with its own services. Now, according to some preview playtime by Pocketnow, that is changing: gone is the unnecessary heft, replaced with a pared-down UI, better typography and improved apps such as email and DropBox integration.

Some of the changes are said to address common complaints like landscape homescreen orientation support and putting notification menu access into the lockscreen. However there are also more fundamental improvements, such as 50GB of free DropBox space automatically granted when you first activate your phone, and treated as another "local" drive by apps.

HTC email app is apparently much improved, with a new Smart Sync option that learns from your usage patterns and shuts down push-email so as to save battery life and data. A Guest Mode can lock down usability to certain apps and block access to personal data, for when you hand your shiny HTC over to someone to play with.

Rovio just confirmed that their immensely popular title is hitting the world largest social network on February 14.

The Facebook Angry Birds will have higher quality animations than their mobile counterparts and will introduce new power-ups. According Penn Olson those special power ups will either be an earthquake or new, more powerful birds.

Rovio plans to hold a huge launch event in Jakarta, which according to the company is the "global capital of Facebook". The Facebook version will brings some nice new twists to the gameplay, so it's definitely one worth checking out.

 

 

Yesterday, 22 European countries ratified a little something called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Japan. The list includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. They joined Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and, of course, the United States, all of which had signed it October 1, last year.

What is ACTA?

In short: it is the European version of SOPA. But here is how it is described in Wikipedia:

ACTA - ‘The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a proposed pluri-lateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement in Europe.

ACTA would establish a new international legal framework that would create its "own governing body outside existing international institutions" such as - the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or the United Nations.

ACTA gets off on the wrong foot by combining counterfeiting and piracy into a single treaty and views them as similar things. Which they are not. Counterfeiting of physical goods describes the act of somebody selling you a fake Samsung, LG or Apple product for example, deceiving you into buying it thinking it is the real deal. Piracy, however, is when somebody distributes illegal and unauthorized copy of a real legit product - a movie, a piece of software, or a music track. See how those two don't have anything in common?

How ACTA works?

The Video Below will Explain!

 

 

How to stop ACTA?

ACTA is not by any means new. It has been in the works for more than five years now and it was only brought to the public awareness thanks to WikiLeaks a while back. The protest against SOPA and PIPA last week was unprecedented. People all over the world demonstrated that they did not want to browse in a censored Internet and many key websites like Wikipedia, Google and Reddit led a blackout protest to raise awareness among Internet users.

 

And for the most part it was a huge success. SOPA and PIPA are put on hold indefinitely in U.S. Congress. But standing quietly unnoticed in the sidelines, ACTA was allowed to gathered quite a bit of momentum internationally and the outcry against it must be equally massive.

Samsung has provided detailed descriptions of all the important Galaxy Note functional elements. You should keep in mind that what we have here is the US version of the Note, featuring a Qualcomm chipset and LTE, instead of Exynos and HSPA+.

1. S Pen

Here’s the Galaxy Note breakdown, as provided by Samsung:

What would the GALAXY Note be without the S Pen? Still a pretty awesome phone, but that’s not the point.

The S-Pen uses electromagnetic induction technology and has pressure sensitivity equal to a regular pen. Your input on the screen varies with the amount of pressure you put, making it a seamless re-creation of writing with an actual pen.

2. OCTA (On-Cell TSP AMOLED)

The 5.29 HD Super-AMOLED display (1280×800) is combined with the Touchscreen panel (TSP).

3. Digitizer

The digitizer interacts with the S-Pen to sense the pen-tip’s location and the amount of pressure. By establishing an electromagnetic field, it blocks the noise and magnetism through the shield plate.

4. Bracket

The bracket is like the Note’s backbone, holding together all the custom parts to maximize space efficiency.

5. Main PCB

With over 1000 different parts included in the mainboard, it fully utilizes Samsung’s integration technology.

5-1 (Front)

Acceleration Sensor – Detects the tilting motion of the Note, whether you’re turning it sideways for a widescreen view or turning it to play games.
Gyro Sensor – Detects the up, down and sideways motion of the phone.
Proximity Sensor – Detects when a detectable object comes close to the phone. Prevents unwanted input during calls or other situations.
Light Sensor – Detects the brightness, used to adjust the screen brightness accordingly.
Bluetooth/Wi-Fi – With BT 3.0 + HS support, allows for fast transmission between mobile devices.
NFC – Can used for close-distance communication, allowing users to use the phone like a credit card or transportation card.
WACOM IC – Used to actualize the S Pen’s movement and use.
MISC – Front Facing Camera, DMB, GPS

5-2 (Back)

Internal Memory – 6/3GB of memory for storing lots of data including videos, music, etc.
LTE Modem Chip – The latest in communication technology, widely known as 4G.
1.5GHz Dual Core AP Chip – Twice the processing power with a dual core chip.
Misc – Back facing camera (with flash).

6. Rear case

The area that stores a variety of antennae and wires.

7. Battery Cover

The battery cover also stores the NFC antenna.

 

 

Recall back in July of 2010 the US government ruled that jailbreaking and rooting were not a crime as long as the intention behind them is not circumventing copyright.

An organization called the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has issued a petition that anyone can sign the idea is to get enough objective opinions in favor of renewing the ruling. The EFF also wants to add tablets to the agreement.

The ruling is set to expire soon and unless renewed, jailbreaking and rooting of smartphones will become illegal once again.

More Info Here

 

 

Fans of the Sony brand gather around, because now you have got yourself a theme song on which to cheer your beloved phones.

Well-known Xperia fan and YouTube user Domothy85 has created a third music video to celebrate the Sony Ericsson Xperia line-up and who knows, maybe attract new Xperia owners. The lyrics are really catchy and combined with the New Jagger melody by Maroon 5 it could really be worthy for your daily music playlist.

 

According to the latest bit of online rumors, the Nokia Lumia 900 will hit the ATT shelves on March,18th and will cost 99.99 USD. This price tag on a two-year contract does look cheap so if it is true, Nokia will obviously market the Lumia 900 quite aggressively.

Nokia Lumia N900 has a 4.3 inches of non-PenTile AMOLED WVGA and a 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU, which is about as fast as it gets on the Microsoft platform. Given that WP is still in no position to challenge the big guys just yet, pricing the Nokia flagship lower than the Android and iOS top-dogs seems like a reasonable move on the AT&T side.

iPhone 5, has been tipped by a Foxconn China employee and is said to ready for production now with a summer launch in the wings. This newest iPhone is said to have several iterations being tested at the moment, with no one model being the clear victor before full production begins. Each of these devices has at least a 4-inch display with one of them being made by LG.

Each of the devices being tipped here are symmetrical in thickness, this meaning they are the same width at the top as at the base with no "teardrop-shape" in any of them. Each model is also longer and/or wider than the current iPhone 4S. None of the devices being tipped have the same form factor as the iPhone 4/4S, and none of the devices are absolutely final in their build.

 

There is nothing like a good burn to start off your Tuesday afternoon, that being exactly what Samsung has aimed at doing today as they release their next in a long line of burns on the iPhone with the Galaxy S II.

As this particular video spot shows, the Samsung Galaxy S II running Android has the ability to translate your voice into text and send a text message without a hitch, this much to the dismay of a very chilly customer whose iPhone does not do the same. When he steps in the hipster clothing store it all becomes rather apparent where his heart lies.

Ad Video Below!

A week ago Nokia released N9 PR1.2 beta version to the Nokia N950 developer device but at the time we did not have the full changelog at the time. Well now we do it includes 5 new languages, app folders, extended copy-and-paste support , lockscreen music controls, front camera support, etc.

Changelog :

 

 

• New languages

• Software update notifications for content in Nokia Store

• Face recognition for gallery and face tags for Facebook

• Support for folders in the application view

• Mail for Exchange global address book lookup

• Mail thread support in the Email client

• Extended copy-paste support

• Media sharing with DLNA compatible devices

• Improved browser history view

• Compass support in Maps

• QtWebKit update to version 2.2

• New font taken into use

• Front camera support

• Video editing support in the Gallery application

 

 

Other important improvements:

 

 

• MeeGotouch Framework

• Visual hint for differentiating swipe close gesture from normal swipes

• Timestamps shown in notifications

• Notifications sorted by timestamps

• Improvements in Event Feed area

• Music controls in Lock screen

• New feedbacks added to MeeGoTouch theme:

• priority2_callbutton_press

• priority2_callbutton_release

• priority2_close

• priority2_close_multiple

• priority2_move

• priority2_popup

• Kernel updated to be in sync with the upstream kernel version 2.6.32.48

• Connectivity

• Android NDEF Push Protocol disabled

• NFC polling enabled in lock screen

• Separate switch for controlling mobile background connections while roaming

• Camera

• Self Timer support

• Composition grid + on/off control

• Calendar

• Better handling of To-Do lists, recurring events and timezones

• Private flag support for events

• Support for read-only events

• Ability to forward/reply/reply-all for received events

• Clock

• Clock alarm becomes silent by flipping the device face down instead of snoozing

• Updated time picker

• Gallery

• People view added to the grid toolbar

• Improved multiple selection indication in grid view

• Music Player

• Audiobook and podcast support

• Ability to create playlists

• Ability to delete music files from music player library views via object menu

• Possibility to see songs that are on the current play queue

• In addition, there are numerous bug fixes related to the implementation of new features, improving the overall user experience and reliability of the device.

 

 

The Nokia Snake game is a classic that kickstarted the whole mobile-gaming scene back in 1997. If you had a phone in the late 90s, the chances are you had this game - or several of your friends did. You can still play our online Nokia Snake game, but what if you are offline? Snake '97 is available for your Nokia Lumia and recreates the old favourite, right on your phone.

There are lots of snake games on the market, but none of them capture the feel that you had with the classic game on the old Nokia phones. Besides, Snake '97, that is.

As far as interfaces are concerned, this one is just perfect. Your touchscreen is transformed into a replica of a Nokia 5110, with the keys positioned at the lower part of the screen. It turns retro gaming into an art form.

 

Download Snake '97 Here

Wireless standard 802.11n has been around for a while and naturally, it is time to look forward to the bright and speedy future of Wi-Fi 802.11ac. The new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard is still in the works, but is bound to be finished and ready for testing come the end of this year.

 

 

It is faster and more efficient

Thanks to technologies like beam-forming and higher amplitude modulation used in Wi-Fi 802.11ac, you will be able to send data faster and more efficiently than the current 802.11n. up to 1Gbit/s faster. That is three times the speed of 802.11n.

This means that streaming HD video from your phone, tablet or laptop to an HDTV will be a breeze, not to mention syncing music or any file for that matter with your PC or laptop. Or you can even utilize the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard for distributing video from a cable or a satelite set top box to mulitple TVs across the router area.

Better coverage

Lets be honest here current-gen wireless routers do not have the best coverage possible. Yes, they have come a long way from past years, but still there are times when you go from one room to another and the Wi-Fi signal just dies on you.

With the introduction of 802.11ac this will be a thing of the past. Thanks to the aforementioned higher amplitude modulation, the new Wi-Fi standard provides better coverage with fewer dead zones.

Official numbers are mot out yet, but having in mind that the 802.11ac modulation has been quadrupled in comparison to the Wi-Fi 802.11n, I can't help but feel hopeful.

Worth the Wait until 2015

Yes, you read it right. According to NPD In-Stat analyst Gregory Potter, we will have to wait three more years until the mass production of smartphones, tablets, laptops and HDTVs featuring the Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard ramps up.

Potter expects multiple devices supporting the standard draft specifications to pop-up at next year CES. But as is with most tech we see there, it will take a while for it to teleport into our pockets. At least, when the standard does become a Wi-Fi Alliance certified early next year, we will see more than 1 billion devices equipped with 802.11ac in a span of three years.

 

It should come as no surprise that this device was all but overlooked at CES 2012 as its predecessor, the Casio GZone has not exactly seen its fair share of press or success in the market That said, this device has a few one-ups on its predecessor, including perhaps most importantly the "G-Shock" branding, straight off Casio ultra-popular wristwatch line by the same name. The G-Shock smartphone will be running Android, has a camera on the back, and will likely be near-impossible to break.

 

For those of you that love hardcore electronics, congratulations, you have found the king of the crop. At the moment this prototype is said to be shock resistant up to 10 feet, water resistant up to 1.0 bar, and pressure resistant up to 1.0 bar.

 

 

 

 

Those of you that are eager to take Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for a spin on their Samsung Galaxy S II just got another option. In addition to flashing the leaked Samsung beta ICS ROM, you can now try the ICS-based latest version of the MIUI ROM.

The unofficial release is said to be quite stable and ready to do the job as your everyday ROM. Of course, MIUI comes with a heavily customized interface, so if you are a fan of the stock ICS looks you probably do not need to bother with this one.

Changelog:

 

• Based off MIUI Android v2.1.20 and CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 01172012 build

• KP9 Kernel - Due to data issues with later versions 

• Camera from CyanogenMod Supports 8MP

• Fixed External SD not being read, now both Music app and Storage in Settings read it

• Added some build.prop tweaks

• Fixed Storage view Now shows both internal and external SD Card

• SQLite3 upgraded to latest version

• Added TitaniumBackup v4.7.5

 

ROM soruce

 

 

 

New reports suggest that Sony is already testing ICS on their two Android tablets and that the public release of the update should coincide with the release of the update for the company now wholly owned Xperia lineup some time in April.

A moderator in Sony UK forums confirmed back in December that the company two tablets the magazine-like Tablet S and the folding Tablet P will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update. Now we have the release schedule.

Sony is also allegedly preparing "some really cool unique bits" to spice up the Android 4.0 for its tablet devices, but we can only guess.

RIM first QWERTY BlackBerry 10 handset will not arrive until December, according to the latest leaks from the ailing company, with a further keyboard-toting slider tipped for early 2013.

After last week twin PlayBook tidbits as well as news on new Curves, BGR‘s sources reckon the BlackBerry London will hit in September, but will be followed in December by a combo touch and QWERTY device running the BlackBerry 10 OS and slotting into the Bold series.

 

Verizon announced during its earnings call today that 15 million Android phones were activated and nearly 11 million iPhones were sold. This news comes after the largest wireless carrier in the United States activated a record of over 4 million iPhones in the fourth quarter.

Apparently these numbers were not too impressive as investors punished the company stock because costs associated with offering the iOS handset weighed heavily on Big Red earnings.

Samsung Galaxy S III Photo

 

The MWC is coming by the end of next Month where we expect the announcement of the next Samsung flagship. The Galaxy S III, but if those latest rumors are to be believed.

The rumors come from Eldar Murtazin, who has not had the most accurate series of predictions lately, but who we are willing to believe now as he claims he has played with the smartphone already. So, according to the Russian, the Samsung Galaxy S III will indeed be unveiled at the MWC and will go on sale in April, exactly a year after its predecessor.

The Samsung Galaxy S III will, come with an HD resolution screen, a 12 megapixel camera and a quad-core CPU, running at 1.5-1.6 GHz. The beast will be running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and, according to Mr. Murtazin its two extra cores will be more than just PR materials the smartphone feels really fast.

Late last month we reported on a rumor that said Nokia was going to introduce two new color variants of the Lumia 800. A French website said that white and yellow will soon join the existing color choices: black, cyan (blue), and magenta (pink).

What they failed to say was when those color variants would launch and in which markets. Now thanks to XDA Developer forum member, who was "playing with my app that browses nokia firmwares", we now know that Nokia plans on brining a white Lumia 800 to Switzerland. Also in his firmware app are indicators that there are several different models of the Lumia 800: versions 1 for example exists in Spain, France, and the UK, which are the first markets that got the device; version 2 is in Ireland, Norway, and Taiwan, and version 3 is in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Samsung has again hit the Apple fans with its new ad saying that the "Next Big Thing is Already Here".

The ad series which comes heavily up on Apple fans and the forthcoming Apple iPhone 4S, mocks the Apple motto of bringing out the next big thing.

Latest Ad Video Below!

It is now possible to perform an untethered jailbreak on an iPhone or iPad with the A5 chipset, as long as you are running firmware 5.0.1 and below.

These are the downloads over the last 3 days:

 

• 491,325 new iPhone 4 devices

• 308,967 new iPad2 devices

• 152,940 previously jailbroken (at 4.x) iPad 2 devices

• 953,232 total

 

 

The numbers were calculated using Cydia, the jailbreak app store, which can track queries being made to the server.

Instead of converting your movies to play on your phone or tablet, you can use Plex to stream them wirelessly directly from a PC or Mac with the free companion app. The app interface combines your own media (music, video, photos) with popular online content from various sources too, and you can spend your time watching video rather than waiting for it to convert. The App for all Android Tablets or Smartphones.

Plex is not the flashiest brand new streaming media app in the Market but it certainly is one of the more reliable and flexible ones. There are few applications of this type that can handle as many formats for videos, music, and photos. With Plex, you can practically play anything you throw at it whether the source is online or local. And it presents all your streaming content in a well organized and easily navigable UI.

There are actually two parts to the whole process of using Plex. One on your Desktop Mac/PC Download From here (Choose your platform Mac or PC), the Other part is on your Android phone and we provide it today for FREE as the [App of the week] Download link Below. Enjoy!

 

Download PLEX for FREE

The world largest video game controller, 30 times the size of a standard joypad, was unveiled today as one of the wackier winners in the new Guinness World Records Gamer Edition. 

CyanogenMod is working on releasing their very own application store for Android. The idea was originally by one of CyanogenMod team members Koushik Dutta, who wanted to create an application store that would host applications that were removed from Android Market for some reason. This would include stuff like one click root apps, game emulators, tether apps, visual voicemail apps, etc. Although Google Market is open, some of these apps do get removed from time to time when they do not meet Google or the carrier terms and conditions.

Dutta admitted to having approached Amazon to bundle their Appstore within CyanogenMod if the CM team got a cut from the app sales but the idea was shot down by Amazon.

The other reason to have their own application store is so that they could use a small portion of the money coming in from app sales to fund the CyanogenMod project, which has been made available to users for no cost at all.

 

 

Cut the Rope is one of those great games that is graced the iPhone and Android for quite a while. Now Cut the Rope has been ported to your modern browser through HTML5. Works on all Browsers.

Microsoft debuted it at its CES keynote on Monday night to help promote its Internet Explorer 9 browser. Our quick testing shows that the game works in other HTML5-capable browsers, but Microsoft has a special deal where seven of the 25 levels are new and exclusive to IE9 users.

Players who want to unlock the IE9 Exclusive levels must pin the game to their Windows 7 taskbar.

Play NOW Online

AppTech new ReconAge Android app rocks. Relying on a proprietary technology developed in partnership with Cognitec Tecnologia Brazil and data processing specialist BrScan Tecnologia, it can recognize the approximate age of anyone using the phone's built-in camera to take pictures.

Available as a free download, the application is made to demonstrate the power of this patented technology called FaceMidia. which will be able to ascertain the age, gender and ethnicity of their audience and evaluate whether they are advertising the right products to the right demographics.

 

RIM has elected a new CEO and President Thorsten Heins, with previous co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis stepping back after investors and the company board demanded change. Heins who was previously co-COO at RIM, and before that Senior VP of Handhelds takes his new role today, where he says he will "focus both on short-term and long-term growth, strategic planning, a customer- and market-based product approach, and flawless execution."

Jim Balsillie will remain a RIM board member and a Director of the company. Mike Lazaridis, meanwhile, will become Vice Chair of the Board as well as head a new Innovation Committee; to further pacify investors, he is grabbed another $50m of RIM shares to show confidence in Heins abilities and the company future.

 

 

Sony Ericsson ST25i "Kumquat" has emerged in a spy photo and it looks, well, quite familiar. The upcoming smartphone looks a lot like the highly anticipated Sony Xperia S flagship, which got announced at CES this year. Its specs however, have been toned down a bit.

The device is rumored to feature a dual-core CPU, clocked at 1GHz and a 5MP snapper. The screen is reportedly in the 3.5" range, and has FWVGA resolution.

MegaUpload shut-down fallout continues, with rival file-sharing sites FileSonic and Uploaded.to each dramatically slimming their services to avoid allegations of copyright infringement. FileSonic has ceased any new sharing functionality whatsoever, the site now saying that "our services can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally," while Uploaded.to has blocked US traffic though remains accessible elsewhere in the world.

If you attempt to access Uploaded.to from a US IP address, however, you are greeted with the message that "Our service is currently unavailable in your country. Sorry about that." Neither site has made any public announcement of the change in services, leading to speculation that the decision to curtail file sharing was a sudden reaction to the shock arrest of MegaUpload CEO Kim Dotcom and other employees of the site.

 

A new custom firmware called Whited00r lets you install portions of iOS 5 on older iPhone models.

Some highlights include iOS 5-style reminders, sounds, shadows, wallpapers and folders. It also jailbreaks your phone and provides a carrier unlock, if needed.

Whited00r brings a few modern improvements to the older iOS 3 and iOS 4 platforms to match the latest developments of iOS 5.

 

 

 

Working all day on one battery charge. That is what Samsung promisses this year whith their new smartphones, says a senior manager at Samsung in an interview. It is for normal to heavy users, says the manager of the Korean electronics manufacturer.

According to Kevin Packingham, vice president for products at Samsung, Samsung will provide a guarantee for its smartphones this year. Guarantees that they will last at least a whole day in normal use on a single battery charge. Packingham told this in an interview with CNet. According to the CEO, many consumers now fear that they will get through an entire day on a single charge it. This is undesirable according to Samsung and they said that the tide will turn in 2012 with their upcoming phones.

Samsung launched a new software update for its big Galaxy Note smartphone. Unfortunately this firmware version does not bring Ice Cream Sandwich rather it comes with a number of tweaks that overall improve the phone capability.

Update Change-log:

• Keyboard now has five rows with the number row being always visible. Moreover, there is a new "one hand" mode that shrinks the layout, making it easier to type with one hand only.

• Preinstalled torch widget that supports three different brightness levels you cycle through them by continuously tapping the widget.

• Ability to set different brightness level for the browser, saving you some battery juice along the way.

• Improved lockscreen with arrows around the padlock, encouraging you to swipe to unlock. A line of text telling you what to do has also been added.

• Calendar app now supports different date formats. If you are not born in Europe you are probably not used to the day/month/year format, so you may want to change that.

Samsung updated its Game Hub app, bringing new games to its users. Available as a free download from the Samsung Apps store, Game Hub now offers new "social games" allowing you to play/compete with your friends, chat with other players, compare your results with other members of the community and more.

As for the games included with the new version of the app, we find such titles as BlackJack, Mancala, Paper Toss, Delicious Village, Checkers, Age of Legends, We Rule and Zombie Farm.

Get NEW Samsung Game Hub

Sony has announced that their newly announced Xperia smartphones, the Xperia S and Xperia Ion, will come equipped with the GLONASS satellite navigation system built-in.

Also, hey have also revealed that some of their previous smartphones on sale right now have had GLONASS support built-in since launch. These other handsets include the Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia ray, Xperia neo, Xperia pro, Xperia PLAY, Xperia active and Xperia Live with Walkman.

GLONASS is to Russia what GPS is to America. Most of the phones have just GPS on-board, which restricts them to 31 satellites but having both, GPS as well as GLONASS on-board, you have access to 24 additional satellites, which not only speeds up lock-on time but also ensures you get a lock-on in trickier places when you are surrounded by tall buildings.

Asus is not holding back with its Ultrabook line, but it is also got a high-end ultraportable ready to go for business users as well. This device is known as the B23E and will be available with Intel Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processors under the hood, complete with a 12.5-inch 1366 x 768 pixel LED backlit anti-glare display.

It is ultra-simple profile and black hood look the part for your everyday computing action in the office or in the home.

This laptop has up to 750GB of hard drive space, support for up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and will connect along 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and gigabit Ethernet. Of course there is also a single USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, and a USB/eSATA combo port. Inside you will find such business oriented gems as LoJack, BIOS password protection, and a fingerprint reader. The whole package comes with a magnesium alloy case and the contents are protected with an anti-shock hard drive.

 

 

Vertu is about to announce yet another Ferrari product in the nearest future. The Nokia subsidiary, which is rumored to be for sale, has released a teaser for Vertu Constellation Quest Ferrari a version of its well know Constellation Quest business offering, treated to a serious amount of Italian supercar goodness.

 

A jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 has just been released by the "Dev Dream Team" just moments ago. Apparently, cracking the A5 was "Not exactly a walk in the park" according to the entire team. The jailbreak is termed GreenPois0n Absinthe and is now available for download on Mac OS X alone.

Users must be on iOS 5.0.1 or this WILL NOT WORK. And for the record if you update to iOS 5.0.2 when it comes out, you will completely lose the jailbreak.

Motorola was kind enough to release the official changelog for the XOOM WiFi Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.3) update this afternoon. The push started last night for many, although according to our own Tato, not everyone is able to pull it.

The update itself is, well, ICS. Once you read the changelog below, you will understand that this is as stock as it gets, which is a good thing. The updated browser, swiping of notifications and tasks, new People/Gallery/Camera apps, and improved typing and spell-checking are all included.

 

Megaupload Goes Down

U.S. Justice department has shut down popular sharing website Megaupload and its founder, Kim Schmitz, has been arrested by the FBI in New Zealand, where he is been living.

As a way to fight back and revenge, hacker group Anonymous has been messing around with U.S. government and major record label websites such as those of the FBI, MPAA, RIAA, EMI and many more.

 

 

Anonymous Fight Back

Anonymous, however, quickly responded to this and has been hard at work shutting down various government and record label websites. Among the victims are the FBI, EMI, Universal Music Group, MPAA, Recording Industry Association of America and the US Copyright Office. All of them have been affected by Anonymous' vigorous DDoS attacks.

Earlier today, the Department of Justice also arrested three more company executives Megaupload CMO Fin Batato and CTO Mathias Ortmannand, both from Germany and Bram van der Kolk living in New Zealand. Furthermore, New Zealand police has seized Megaupload assets worth millions of dollars including luxury cars, cash and various property around the country.

The arrested Megaupload executives, dubbed the"Mega Conspiracy group" by prosecutors, will be charged for various crimes including copyright infringement, supporting piracy and more. It is been estimated by the U.S. Justice Department that Megaupload has done more than $500 million in economic harm to various copyright holders and with the advancement of the investigation this estimate could double or even triple.

Interestingly enough, this happens just two days after the major Internet websites went black as a form of protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is in U.S. Congress waiting to be voted on.

Also, Here are some photos of the luxury cars of the Megaupload CEO that were seized by the New Zealand police being taken away.

 

SOPA is DEAD

Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill "until there is wider agreement on a solution."

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy," Smith (R-Texas) told Reuters. "It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products."

Chronic Dev Team and iPhone Dev Team have updated the greenpois0n tool for a successful untethered A5 jailbreak of the iOS 5.0/5.0.1 running iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.

The solution is reportedly called corona jailbreak, due to the use of pod2g corona exploit, and has been really hard to concoct. We did catch a glimpse of an iPhone 4S with an untethered jailbreak a couple of days ago and were expecting to finally see the solution in real life.

This week it is time to get serious about quad-cores, LG X3 is the device you see in the image above. This device has the fabulous NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor inside, working with a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 pixel resolution display, and all the while working with a profile that is under 9mm.

This device is set to be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box as all good 2012 smartphones coming with Android should, so says the source leaking this image and the details that come with it. The rear facing and front facing camera sizes come as no surprise at 1.3 megapixels and 8 megapixels, and storage inside the device is said to be 16GB. Inside it also got a 21Mbps HSPA for connectivity along with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

In another advertisement released by Samsung to attest to the power of the Galaxy S II in the face of what they would call the clearly inferior iPhone, the new term "Samsunged" pops up to dice the love felt between Apple lovers in line for The Next Big Thing. Of course Samsung lets us know that The Next Big Thing is already here with the Galaxy S II in its many iterations, the people in line waiting for an absolution that Samsung says will never come.

Removing both the front and rear cameras from an iPhone 4S does not sound like the best way to attract new customers to your network.

That is however, precisely what Singapore-based carrier M1 are offering to potential customers and before you call for the men in white coats to take them away, there is method in their madness.

The operator say that the front and rear camera modules have been completely removed rather than just covered up and the altered hardware means that they 'may not be reinstalled'. But why?

Unless you are from Singapore you may not realize that men are required to fulfill two years of mandatory military service. These 'blind' iPhones have been certified by Singapore Ministry of Defense (Mindef) for use within military installations, meaning those either in the army full-time or just in the service for their compulsory two years, can use them.

 

Megaupload One of the world largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.

An indictment accuses Megaupload.com of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart online piracy.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Kim Dotcom, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, and three others were arrested Thursday in New Zealand at the request of U.S. officials. Two other defendants are at large.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

Windows 8 tablets will be put through the same strict regime as Windows Phone 7 devices as to what hardware goes in them and what OEMs are allowed to put. This was to be expected from Redmond, as the company has set a goal to keep solid user experience across its different devices. Interestingly enough, Microsoft seems to be allowing both tablets and convertibles to run its tablet version of Windows 8.

Requirements

Tablets running Windows 8 are reuired to have five hardware buttons: power, rotation lock, Windows Key, volume up, volume down. Note that the back, search and camera buttons from Windows Phone 7 are not included in the specs. For the Displays, the minimum native resolution required is 1366 x 768 at a depth of 32bits. Microsoft oblige OEMs to make the dimensions of the display panel to match the aspect ratio of the native resolution. However, the native resolution of the display panel can be greater than 1366 x 768 so we can Expect a Full HD 1080p Tablets to come soon enough.

Other requirement includes at least 10GB of space to be at the user disposal as well as WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0, Direct3D 10 GPU w/ WDDM 1.2 driver, camera capable of shooting 720p videos and all kinds of sensors including a light sensor, magetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, Also USB 2.0 and stereo speakers are required.

We know that Nokia Lumia 800 had battery related issues and Nokia investigation revealed that they were caused by a software glitched. They promised a fix for early this year and they just delivered on that promise.

The update is ready and it starts rolling out today. Nokia say the update is happening in stages over the next two weeks half of the Lumia 800s will get it this week and the other half are getting it next week.

Battery fix aside, the update (version 1600.2483.8106.11500) also includes some Wi-Fi connectivity enhancements.

Apple held its press event in NYC today and unveiled a suite of new and updated apps for education and book publishing. The iBooks 2, an updated version of the eReader app that willl support interactive textbooks for all education levels.

These textbooks will mix traditional text with interactive multimedia content. These textbooks can be updated on a regular basis and will offer students the opportunity to interact with their material instead of just stare at it. Apple showed how students can pinch to zoom on high-resolution images, and then click on the them to pull up additional information.

iBooks 2 is available now for the iPhone and iPad from the iTunes App Store. Apple will launch these interactive textbooks with the help of McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Most of the early textbooks will be science textbooks for college and high school. The books will be priced reasonably with the high school books starting at 14.99 USD. To help you create these multimedia textbooks, Apple also introduced its new iBooks Author app. iBooks Author is compatible with MAC OS X 1.7 Lion and available for FREE from the Mac App store.

 

Full Event Video

 

HTC Start Sending Invitations to its next major event and it will take place on February 26. Look like HTC will announce its new smartphones the day before the MWC 2012 starts.

Perhaps HTC really has something special for the MWC this year. It may be the rumored Android ICS powered HTC Edge with a 720p screen and a quad-core CPU, it will be the first Quad-core Android phone for HTC.

 

An ad spotted on UK retailer Mobicity website lists an upcoming release of what is most likely aGalaxy S II HD LTE, except without the LTE designation.

For those of you unfamiliar with the HD version of the Galaxy S II, the main improvement is, you guessed it, a bigger screen 4.65in@720x1280px to be exact. It also features an upgraded 1.5GHz processor, and a more robust 1850 mAh Li-Ion battery.

We knew it had to happen eventually, but now we already have an exact date to look forward to. Google has just announced that it will be joining a bunch of other major internet companies in a coordinated launch of the next-generation Internet protocol on June 6 this year.

So as of the start of June, more than 15 years after the official IPv6 specification was published, the world will finally migrate to it. It should be a pretty seamless experience and regular users should not be able to tell the difference.

IPv6 is the replacement for the current version of the Internet Protocol, IPv4, which ran out of addresses quite some time ago.

Google IPv6 Announcement

Apple will hold an iPad 3 launch event in early February, according to new rumors, where the third-gen tablet expected to debut a 9.7-inch Retina Display will be shown off for the first time. The press event next month, so Macotakara Asian supply chain sources and "a source in the United States" claim, will precede the commercial launch of the new iPad in early March. Meanwhile, there are also indications that Apple will keep the existing iPad 2 on sale alongside its new model.

Speculation around Apple events is rife, of course, while given the company track record in iPad announcements it would not be hard to guesstimate a debut date. The original iPad was revealed in January 2010, while the iPad 2 was first shown off officially at an event on March 2 2011, and previous rumors have indicated a Q1 launch for the third-gen model.