IBLOG SPACE

It's long been the case that if you wanted a HTC handset over in the world's most populous nation, you'd have had to look for its rebadged variant under the Dopod brand. But, as of today, that is no more. The prolific Taiwanese phone maker has decided that its name is now recognizable and valuable enough in China to be put on its own hardware and is kicking off a campaign with four own-branded phones. The Wildfire and Desire we're all familiar with already, while the Tianxi looks like a mildly tweaked HD2 and the Tianyi is a mix-and-match of design elements from the rest of HTC's portfolio. The company's also announcing a partnership with China Mobile to bring these puppies to market, so it's looking like smooth sailing ahead

Sure, we in the US are pretty much stuck with AT&T when it comes to iPhone 4 indulgence, but Canada gets to pick -- for a price. We knew the of the option up north but not how much, and according to CBC News , that'll be $659 for 16GB, $779 for 32GB, and $549 for the 8GB iPhone 3GS. All Canadian dollars, of course -- the US conversion would be about $637 / $753 / $530, respectively. Carriers are still offering it up for a discount on contract, and to be perfectly honest, we think that's probably the route most people will take anyway. All the same, gotta love having a choice.

Only four months after OpenGL 4.0 hit the scene, the next revision of the cross-platform graphics API is here, bearing gifts of fancier math and more cribbed DirectX 11 features. Unless you're a graphics guru, though, we doubt you'll be that interested in "64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs," so let's get to the meat of what you're after: impressive 3D gaming. OpenGL 4.1 promises to help deliver that to cellphones easier than ever before, by making OpenGL ES (used in iOS and Android, depending on your hardware) completely compatible with the desktop graphics version, and promises "features to improve robustness" in WebGL 3D browser acceleration as well. There's also support for stencil values in fragment shaders, but we digress -- if you understood what we just said, hit up the source and more coverage links for the rest.

Looks like AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent have finally sorted out the software glitch that's resulted in slow HSPA upload speeds in certain markets -- we were just told on the record that a patch is being rolled out and the update will be completed over the next two to three weeks. That should mean iPhone 4 and laptop data modem customers should start to see their upload speeds creep back to higher levels after being capped at UMTS rates for the past few weeks, so that's good news -- let us know if things are getting better for you, yeah?

via press release: CBS NEWS’ “THE EARLY SHOW ON SATURDAY” CELEBRATES CHELSEA CLINTON’S WEDDING WITH “A CHELSEA MORNING” ON JULY 31 Erica Hill Reports Live from Rhinebeck, N.Y., the site of Clinton’s Wedding; Chris Wragge Broadcasts from the Studio in New York City

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for July 28, 2010 P2+ Total Day FNC – 1,191,000 viewers CNN – 408,000 viewers MSNBC – 353,000 viewers CNBC – 178,000 viewers HLN – 305,000 viewers P2+ Prime Time FNC – 2,187,000 viewers CNN – 630,000 viewers MSNBC –670,000 viewers CNBC – 201,000 viewers HLN – 466,000 viewers

Our friend ‘Travis Yanan’ has a long post up on FOX’s Lone Star and NBC’s The Event which will both air at 9pm on Mondays. Despite the headline and the blurb below, it’s not about Chuck , and Travis doesn’t have much love for The Event . He’s rooting for Lone Star Though. Show Travis some love: read his post, leave a comment, etc.

HYPERION AND ABC FAMILY ANNOUNCE THE FIRST ENHANCED EBOOK BASED ON A TELEVISION SERIES, NOW AVAILABLE ON THE iBOOKSTORE The Enhanced eBook Combines Video from ABC Family’s Hit Series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and Text from Hyperion’s New Book The Secret Diary of Ashley Juergens in a Brand New Reading Experience

Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Daytime Programming – Week of July 19, 2010 ABC Remains Daytime’s No. 1 Network With Women 18-49 for the 14th Consecutive Week Hitting a Five Month High in Women 18-34, “General Hospital” Stands as the Week’s No. 1 Program in Daytime in the Core Demo

Ratings Report for ABC News’ “Nightline” For the Week of July 19, 2010 “NIGHTLINE” IS NO. 1 SEASON TO DATE “NIGHTLINE” BESTS “LETTERMAN” 15 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS IN TOTAL VIEWERS—FIRST TIME IN 11 YEARS YEAR TO YEAR, “NIGHTLINE” GROWS +21% AMONG A25-54, +16% AMONG A18-49 AND +6% IN TOTAL VIEWERS

July 29, 2010 RATINGS FOR ABC’S “GOOD MORNING AMERICA” For the Week of July 19-23, 2010 “GMA” Only Morning Show to Gain Total Viewers Week to Week and Year to Year, and to Increase Adult 25-54 Demo Viewers Week to Week “GMA” Cuts Both Total Viewing Gap with NBC Week to Week and Year to Year, and Adult 25-54 Gap Week to Week

CBS NEWS’ “FACE THE NATION” WINS “BOOMERS” AND TIES FOR FIRST IN ADULTS AND MEN 25-54 ON SUNDAY, JULY 25 “Face the Nation” Beats ABC in Households and Viewers; Posts Year-to-Year Gains in Key Demographics

‘THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO’ AND ‘LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON’ SCORE ACROSS-THE-BOARD WINS FOR THE JULY 19-23 LATE-NIGHT WEEK JAY BEATS ALL CABLE AND BROADCAST RIVALS IN 18-49 AND TOTAL VIEWERS; TOPS THE CBS AND ABC COMPETITION IN EVERY KEY CATEGORY JIMMY FALLON DELIVERS BIGGER AUDIENCES THAN ‘LATE LATE SHOW’ AND ‘KIMMEL’ IN ALL KEY CATEGORIES — ADULTS, MEN AND WOMEN 18-34, 18-49 AND 25-54, PLUS TOTAL VIEWERS

SYFY’S BEING HUMAN STARRING SAM WITWER, MEAGHAN RATH, SAM HUNTINGTON AND MARK PELLIGRINO BEGINS PRODUCTION IN MONTREAL Adam Kane Directing and Producing with Executive Producers Michael Prupas, Anna Fricke and Jeremy Carver Muse Entertainment Producing American Adaptation of Acclaimed BBC Original Series New York, New York – July 29, 2010 – Syfy ’s all-new drama series Being Human , starring Sam Witwer ( Smallville, Battlestar Galactica ), Meaghan Rath ( The Assistants ), Sam Huntington ( Cavemen, Superman Returns ) and Mark Pellegrino ( Lost, Supernatural ) has commenced production in Montreal, Canada. Adam Kane ( The Mentalist , Heroes ) is Director and Co-Executive Producer with Executive Producer Michael Prupas ( The Kennedys , Pillars of the Earth ) and husband and wife Executive Producers/Writers Jeremy Carver ( Supernatural ) and Anna Fricke ( Men in Trees , Everwood ). Muse Entertainment is producing 13 1-hour episodes for Syfy . Being Human , a re-imagining of the accl

“BIG BROTHER WEDNESDAY” WINS TIME PERIOD IN VIEWERS, ADULTS 18-49 AND ADULTS 25-54 “Big Brother” Posts Gains Over Last Week and Last Year

EXCLUSIVE: LEE BOYD MALVO REVEALS SHOCKING NEW DETAILS ABOUT THE D.C. SNIPERS’ KILLING SPREE A&E PRESENTS THE ORIGINAL ONE-HOUR “CONFESSIONS OF THE D.C. SNIPER WITH WILLIAM SHATNER: AN AFTERMATH SPECIAL”

FRAN DRESCHER IS IN CHARGE WHEN “THE NANNY” JOINS TV LAND BEGINNING AUGUST 2 Network Celebrates Launch With Week-Long Nightly Marathons Of Hilarious Star-Studded Episodes From Series

via press release: ESPN Films Announces ‘30 for 30’ Fall Schedule Alex Gibney, Steve Nash, Ron Shelton and John Singleton among the next group of filmmakers; four new films announced

SELECT CONVERSATIONS FROM PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S HISTORIC APPEARANCE ON “THE VIEW” Full Interview Airs Tomorrow, Thursday, July 29 at 11:00 a.m., ET on ABC (Conversation #1)