(Reuters) - Call it phablet, phonelet, tweener or super smartphone, but the clunky mobile phone - closer in size to a tablet than the smartphone of a couple of years back - is here to stay.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Handset makers scurry to join Year of the Phablet
(Reuters) - Call it phablet, phonelet, tweener or super smartphone, but the clunky mobile phone - closer in size to a tablet than the smartphone of a couple of years back - is here to stay.
Riches in niches: U.S. cops, in-flight movies may be model for Panasonic survival
(Reuters) - Panasonic Corp's answer to the brutal onslaught on its TV sales may be in a product the Japanese firm launched 17 years ago and which is a must-have for U.S. police cars.
Google pact with FTC could affect other patent disputes
(Reuters) - While the focus of last week's agreement between the Federal Trade Commission and Google Inc was search, the deal's restrictions on how Google uses its patents could have a broader impact on the technology industry.
Weekend tech reading: A glimpse at what it takes to build CES
Organized chaos: here's what it takes to build CES For those who've never helped run a booth at a trade show, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the temporary city -- an endless sea of lights, sounds, and humans pressing past one another in search of the next great gadget -- takes weeks to assemble before the first attendee even hits the floor. It's a choreographed symphony of thousands of laborers, installing everything from flooring to televisions to washing machines.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
SAP CEO says China to become as important as U.S.: paper
(Reuters) - German business software maker SAP sees potential for one million new customers in China, five times the number it currently has world-wide, German weekly paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung said.
Cars, homes smarten up at Vegas tech extravaganza
(Reuters) - At the world's largest technology conference that kicks off on Monday, the most intriguing innovations showcased may be gadgets and technology that turn everyday items into connected, smarter machines.
Asus, Acer kill off netbooks as Chromebook tops popularity chart on Amazon
Once the rising stars of the personal computing industry, netbooks have fallen out of grace in the last few years, replaced in consumer's hearts by tablets or more powerful ultra-slim laptops. Samsung, Dell and Toshiba already walked out of this market as far back as 2011 in favor of higher-margin products. Now, Acer and Asus, the last two major netbook manufacturers are giving the form factor a final blow.
Samsung has announced a new series of monitors just days ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show. The 24-inch Series 7 SC770 utilizes a 10-point multi-touch panel that is optimized specifically for use with Windows 8 – the first display designed for Microsoft’s new operating system. This will allow users to take full advantage of Windows 8 touch features like pinching, dragging and rotating objects.
Corning to demonstrate tougher Gorilla Glass 3 at CES 2013
Corning has announced plans to introduce the next generation of its high durability glass for mobile devices and other products at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. Dubbed Gorilla Glass 3, the new gadget glass has been improved at the molecular level, incorporating a proprietary feature called Native Damage Resistance (NDR) to reduce the propagation of flaws and the appearance of scratches.
Google developer shares original Android mascot artwork
We’ve seen Google’s Android mascot dressed in a number of different outfits over the years to commemorate each new operating system release. Visions of delicious jelly beans, an ice cream sandwich and gingerbread immediately come to mind but odds are you’ve never seen the original Android mascot until now.
Leaked roadmap shows Intel 530 SSDs with SandForce controllers
VR-Zone has once again shared (Chinese) a possible leaked Intel roadmap, this time showing an Intel "530 series" SSD on the horizon. According to the leaked slide, 80GB and 180GB 530 models could appear as soon as Q1 this year. 2.5" and mSATA models should arrive during Q2, 2013. Meanwhile, the wallet-friendly 335 series will be in for a series of "continued product optimizations".
Friday, January 4, 2013
Clearwire investor seeks to block sale to Sprint
(Reuters) - A large Clearwire Corp shareholder on Friday stepped up its campaign against the planned sale of the wireless service provider to its majority owner, Sprint Nextel Corp, saying it plans to ask the U.S. telecoms regulator to block the deal.
EU says its Google case not affected by U.S. ruling
(Reuters) - A decision by U.S. regulators to end a probe into whether Google Inc hurt rivals by manipulating internet searches will not affect the European Union's examination of the company.
"Cam" movie pirate issued record 5-year prison sentence
Four members of prolific illegal file sharing group iMAGiNE have been ordered to serve prison terms after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. The group's leader Jeramiah Perkins, 40, managed to receive the longest sentence ever handed to a convicted file sharer -- five years in federal prison.
Additional Intel Bay Trail details surface courtesy of leaked slides
Additional details concerning Intel’s next generation Atom processor platform have surfaced online more than a year ahead of its scheduled arrival. Codenamed Bay Trail, the new platform will be a true single chip SoC built on Intel’s latest 22-nanometer process with Tri-gate transistor technology, according presentation slides posted to German technology forum 3DCenter.org.
Sony applies for RFID DRM patent that would block used games
Sony has applied for a patent on a hardware-based DRM technology that would let the company block second-hand games. Filed last September, the application (PDF) hadn't been published until this week and it's unclear if or when the patent will be awarded. The document outlines an "electronic content processing system, electronic content processing method, package of electronic content, and use permission apparatus" that "reliably restricts the use of electronic content dealt in the second-hand markets."
Jelly Bean is now on 10 percent of Android devices
Google has updated its Android Developer Dashboard site with data about the percentage of active devices running a given version of its mobile operating system. Unsurprisingly, the holiday season marked a few shifts in the version distribution of the platform, with Android 4.2 and 4.1 -- both named Jelly Bean -- breaking the 10 percent milestone for the first time in six months.
Apple may release an iPhone mini priced under $250 this summer
The latest Apple rumor to surface suggests the company is planning to release a budget version of the popular iPhone handset known as the iPhone mini. Such a rumor would have easily been squashed previously but since Cupertino released a smaller and more affordable version of the iPad late last year, is the thought of a cheaper iPhone really that farfetched today?
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Microsoft acquires start-up id8: source
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp bought start-up id8 Group R2 Studios Inc as it looks to expand further in technology focused on the home and entertainment, a person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
Judge rejects part of Apple App Store suit vs Amazon
(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected part of Apple Inc's lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc's use of the term App Store, ruling Apple cannot bring a false advertising claim against the online retailer.
Intel is planning to unveil a set-top box and TV service at CES
Intel is reportedly set to unveil a set-top box as well as a cloud-based television service at the Consumer Electronics Show later this month in Las Vegas. The initial plan is to roll the service out on a city by city basis which will give the chip maker enough time to work out various licensing issues that are sure to spring up.
Install pirated iOS apps without jailbreaking your device
If you wanted to install pirated apps on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch up to this point, you’d first need to jailbreak your device – a process that many users simply didn’t want to fool with for a number of reasons. But that’s all changed now as there are at least two apps that allow users to install pirated apps without having to root the operating system.
Armed robbers hit Paris Apple store, steal $1.3M in merchandise
Armed gunmen with a taste for Apple-branded merchandise burglarized an Apple store in Paris, France. The purportedly well-planned heist, which occurred on News Year's Eve, is thought to have net thieves more than 1.3 million dollars worth of ill-gotten iPhones, iPads and other Mac-related goods.
LG beats Samsung to the punch with their 55-inch OLED TV
LG was able to beat Samsung to the punch with regards to launching a 55-inch OLED TV. The technology isn’t new by any stretch of the imagination but thus far it has proven difficult to mass produce large OLED displays. But even with the milestone behind them, there’s no clear road to success with OLED sets as another technology looks to be the next big thing in home entertainment.
Some iPhones to refuse to ring due to New Year's DND bug
A number of iPhone users may be questioning their popularity this year thanks to a New Year's-induced bug in iOS 6. As the year-o-meter rolled over into 2013, some iPhones simply refused -- and may yet still refuse -- to ring while receiving an incoming call. This behavior is due to an iOS scheduling bug which has enabled its Do Not Disturb feature in perpetuity.
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