IBLOG SPACE

Ok guys up next on the chop block we have the LG Thrill 4G with its pretty glasses-free 3D screen and dual-core power. You may know it better as the Optimus 3D as this is a glasses-free 3D device loaded with fun. Between dual cameras and the dual-core cpu you will have plenty to do with this beast. Full details as well as hands-on video are below for your enjoyment.

More iPhone 5 silicone cases have leaked today. With the next-gen iPhone rumored for a September launch, third-party accessories manufacturers are getting antsy, readying the accessories ahead of time based on insider information. These latest images emerged after some prototype renderings and photos of cases surfaced yesterday purported to be for the iPhone 5. The previous images were revealed by 9to5 Mac via a large phone accessories retailer who has connections to Chinese factories. Since those have been published, other sources have offered up images of their own cases that also support rumors of a radical new design. These latest ones, however, include not only a silicone case but also a hard case, clearly revealing what may be the new curves of the iPhone 5. Although there’s no knowing whether these cases are designed based on accurate dimensions or simply wishful thinking, the suppliers do insist that the information on the iPhone 5 design was received from their own proven indu

According to a new report, Apple’s profits have now soared to become an astonishing two-thirds of the entire mobile phone market. This observation comes from Asymco’s Horace Dediu after gathering data from the latest quarterly earnings reports from all the major mobile phone vendors. From earlier today, we already know that Apple blew past Nokia to be the number one smartphone manufacturer, according to Strategy Analytics. Holding an 18.5 percent market share, Apple is followed by Samsung with a 17.5 percent share and then Nokia with 15.2 percent. But that’s looking at unit shipments, wait till you take a look at profit comparisons. From what Dediu has gathered, the latest quarter saw a decline overall in the profits of the mobile phone sector, with four of the major vendors—Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, and LG—all reporting losses. Of the other vendors that did see gains, Apple chomped 66.3 percent of the pie, followed by Samsung with 15 percent, RIM with 11 percent, and HTC at 7.4

Yesterday we talked about the rumor that AT&T may start throttling the data speeds of its unlimited data plan subscribers, specifically the heaviest-use customers that surpass a certain data threshold per month. Well, that’s no longer just speculation. The carrier has come forth and made an official announcement today revealing that the throttling would start on October 1. AT&T explains that it’s simply doing what other carriers have done as well to manage the “exploding” demand for mobile data. It is responding to this “serious wireless spectrum crunch” by investing billions in network enhancements and acquiring more network capacity, but it also has to take a more immediate measure. And what is that, you ask? Data throttling. Starting October 1, AT&T will begin reducing the data throughput speeds for some of its customers—a number they deem a “very small minority” and less than 5% of their total customer base. These heavy-use customers, according to AT&T, use on avera

What you’re going to get right here is one small computer, that’s an open and shut case. This is the quite unassuming LPC-125LPM from Stealth Computer, a group that’s known for it’s small and awesome machinery. This device measures 6.1-inches by 4-inches by 1.45-inches, it weighing in at 1.2 pounds and having any color case you want, just so long as it’s black. Inside you’re going to find a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom D525 dual-core processor, 2GB of DDR3 memory, and a 55GB solid state drive. Is this the next ultra-tiny computer on your desktop or hidden under your desk, or would you rather have a dual-core smartphone instead? Let’s get a little bit more into this situation before you make your decision. The LPC-125LPM has a VGA port, ExpressCard/34 slot, RS232 ports, an internal mini PCIe slot, and a partridge in a pear tree. It’s got a rough and tumble hard case surrounding it and comes standard with a few brackets so you can mount the device to your wall or right on to the back of your giant

The ASUS Eee Pad Slider will be the first of its kind with an innovative slide-and-tilt keyboard to spice up the common tablet form factor—now if only it would show up already. It’s been delayed from summer to fall and now signs of its imminent release are finally cropping up. The device has just been spotted in the August catalog for Portuguese electronics retailer Phone House. The ASUS Eee Pad Slider first debuted back at CES alongside the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, which has since launched and reaped great success. It’s not clear why the Eee Pad Slider is taking so long to launch, but speculation suggests some problems with its slide-and-tilt mechanism. Another possible factor is a switch from NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset to Intel’s Oak Trail Atom Z670. However, none of this has been confirmed. In Phone House’s August catalog, the Eee Pad Slider is listed at €349, the equivalent of $467 on contract with ZON. Off contract, the Slider goes for €479 or $684. And although it’s been given an

Amidst the political debates over the federal budget and the debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. government revealed that it now has $73 billion remaining as the “financial headroom” before hitting an arbitrary debt ceiling. Interestingly, this figure, which represents all that the government has left to spend is less than the mountain of cash that Apple’s sitting on as reserve. Apple has been rapidly building up a gigantic cash reserve over the years. In 2005 it reported $9 billion in cash on hand, which has since skyrocketed to $60 billion in 2010. At that time, their pile of cash was already more than any other non-financial company in the US. And as of June 25, 2011, the company is now sitting on nearly $76 billion in case reserve. With that kind of money, it’s said that Apple could buy Facebook and Goldman Sachs and still possibly have some cash left. Or, it could purchase most of the mobile phone industry including HTC, Nokia, RIM, and Motorola and still have cash left.

It’s the news bit you’ve been waiting years to hear! The folks at the IEEE standards body have today announced a next-generation WiFi IEEE 802.22TM standard – technology that’s designed to facilitate wireless data transfer up to 60 miles (or a hundred kilometers) at 22Mbps. This technology is said to work over these great distances by utilizing television bands – without interfering with the reception of existing television broadcast stations at that. Imagine it – connect to your HambergerDLX network anywhere inside your town from your smartphone with no data plan costs. Magical freedom! Photo by Wayani This technology takes advantage of VHF and UHF TV bands and transmits broadband wireless internet over 60 miles in diameter. This technology takes place in the space between channels, aka the place where the poltergeists live, if you believe technology lore. The officials at the IEEE standards body have noted the following about this new age in wireless technology: This new standard for

Using Google Search on tablets hasn’t been difficult, but the experience is about to get even easier. The company confirmed today that it will be rolling out an update to optimize its search interface for both iPads and Android tablets. The enhancements involve not only more touch-friendly elements but also faster-loading images and continuous scrolling. A major change will be the addition of more touch-friendly navigation menu buttons at the top left, including a Search drop-down that makes it easier to switch between results in Images, Videos, Places, Shopping and more. Image results will now also be larger and load faster, with filtering options easily selectable from the top navigation area. The overall look takes on the design style introduced with Google+, with a more simplified and streamlined layout, larger text, buttons, and other touch targets. The new Google Search should work equally well in both portrait and landscape orientations. However, the update is rolling out gradua

Yesterday many things were revealed about Nintendo, facts about their abysmal earnings this past quarter, the fact that they had “few hit titles,” and of course, most importantly, that the price of the Nintendo 3DS had beenslashed to $170 from its original $250. Upon further analysis of the earnings call just hours ago, Nintendo’s CEO Saturo Iwata appears to have revealed that the gaming company may be taking a loss on every 3DS unit sold with the cut. While some reports have Iwata saying that Nintendo’s price cut for the 3DS was necessary and would improve the company’s balance sheets this year and next, others have reported that he, in one set of words or another, said that Nintendo is now taking a loss on ever 3DS unit sold. Research firm IHS iSuppli has done a teardown of the device in question and has noted that the total cost of materials put in to each Nintendo 3DS is $100.71. With this and manufacturing cost added in, this number is raised ever so slightly up to $103.25. After

The much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone is finally making its way to the states and the company sure knows how to tease. Just yesterday we received a surprising little reminder from Samsung in the form of a mini telescope telling us to keep watch for the next generation Galaxy S. And today, the the company has posted a Galaxy S II sign-up page for folks in the U.S. The Samsung Galaxy S II had been previously confirmed to launch in the US sometime in August. No details were given at the time on the carrier and pricing, nor a more exact date. But we now know that the handset will be offered through three of the four major carriers with different names for each. The handset will be called the Samsung Within on the Now Network, the Samsung Function on Verizon, and the Samsung Attain on AT&T. We still prefer simply the Galaxy S II, don’t you? If you’re eager to find out more on its progress to the US you can stay tuned here on SlashGear or you can get updates by surrendering

Vizio has long been known for its budget-friendly TVs and now they’ve entered the tablet market with their very first Android slate that’s similarly affordable. It quietly hit the market recently for $349. Given its lower-end target, the Vizio Tablet obviously isn’t competing for the most cutting-edge specs, but instead offers more functionality for the everyday consumer, packing in some rather unique features. The Vizio Tablet offers an 8-inch multitouch display with a 1024×768 resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio. It sports a front-facing VGA (640×480) 30fps camera, but no rear-facing camera. Inside, it runs on a 1GHz single-core Marvell 600 Series processor with 512MB of RAM and has 2GB of internal memory that’s expandable with a microSD up to 32GB. For connectivity, it offers micro-USB, micro-HDMI, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. There’s also the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a physical on/off power button and volume rocker. When powered-on, three capacitive touch buttons light up for Back, Home

Sony Ericsson has announced that the Sony Qriocity streaming video service will be landing on select smartphones from the company’s range as of August 1, with a choice of content from NBC, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. and more. Arriving first on the XPERIA mini and mini pro, the Qriocity video app will allow for both rentals and purchases of titles. After the two compact Android devices, Sony Ericsson will push out phased updates for the XPERIA Arc, neo, PLAY, Pro and acro, while the XPERIA active and XPERIA ray will have the app preloaded when they go on sale. Nine countries will support the service, at least initially – the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Japan (albeit from the end of August), Canada and the United States – though the actual content on offer will vary depending on location. Unfortunately, those with any other Sony Ericsson Android device, such as the XPERIA X10, won’t be getting any of the Qriocity fun. The company has confirmed that it’s exclusive to th

Self-driving cars are still quite a few years off, but Volkswagen hopes that its so-called Temporary Auto Pilot(TAP) could help avoid a few accidents until then. The system, demonstrated for the first time on a new Passat test mule, uses a barrage of sensors to momentarily assist in the control of the car, keeping it positioned in the lane, under the speed limit and automatically slowing when workers are in the road. Altogether, the car is packed with a radar system, various cameras and ultrasonic sensors, a laser scanner and an “electronic horizon” that, together, give it an understanding of whereabouts on the road it is and what other traffic or pedestrians are around it. Rather than taking full control, Volkswagen is positioning TAP as an assistance aid for periods where accidents are increasingly likely: complex lane navigation, junctions and traffic jams. The system can take control, alert the driver with noisy alarms, and even perform an emergency stop. It’s not the first time we

I’m not sure what to think of this Chinese dude that took a fake MacBook Air to one of the only real Apple Stores in the country for support. Either the man is a moron that thinks his cut price FauxBook Air is real or he has the biggest balls of them all. The weird part is the Apple Genius at the store the dude made an appointment with actually helped him. I suspect the whole thing went down rather like the time in high school when I had a goth chick ask me to a band dance in front of a bunch of people. My mind was all like “ummm…this chick is crazy” but I was thrown off and what came out of my mouth was “ummm…OK.” Or, maybe the Apple Genius in this case wasn’t such a genius, who knows. You can see the people working the Apple Store thought it was all pretty funny. You would be surprised what people will do if you can ask with a straight face. The Apple Store in the photos appears to be real, but there have been some convincing fake stores in China before.

HTC has announced that it has 6-8 new devices in the pipeline for the remainder of 2011, a mixture of Android, Windows Phone and tablet hardware. Confirmed as part of the company’s Q2 financial results presentation, HTC failed to give an exact breakdown of which models will use which OS, but did say that Android would be the dominant platform. As for its money-making performance, HTC announced “record-breaking” results and the fifth consecutive quarter of growth, with NT$17.52bn ($607m) after-tax profits, more than doubling the performance in Q2 last year. Total revenues were similarly healthy, reaching NT$124.4 ($4.31bn), and HTC shipped 12.1m units altogether, a rise of 123.7-percent from Q2 2010 and a 24.8-percent rise on Q1 this year. Average selling price of each device rose a moderate 2.6-percent, to $349. HTC now predicts 13.5m unit shipments in Q3 2011, with NT$137bn ($4.74bn) revenues. However, HTC declined to detail how much of those unit sales were down to each platform or,

If Google didn’t see fit to bless you with an invite to the launch of its Google Music Beta program you may have felt slighted. You may even know someone that got into the beta round and been more than a little jealous. I hope that jealousy didn’t turn into some sort of bitter feud though considering the announcement that Google has now made. Each of the people that got into the launch of Google Music Beta now has two invites that they can bestow upon their besties. If you are one of those besties this may be one of your last chances to get in until the service leaves beta. If you managed to completely miss the launch of the service back in May, Google music is sort of a cloud storage place for the music you already own. You take your library and upload it and then you can stream it back to your computer at home, the office, or wherever you may be. There is also an Android app that you can put on your smartphone that will let you stream your tunage to your smartphone. If you have a bun

You have to be a pretty special device to get all the features the PHOTON 4G has yet still come with a kickstand. You’ll see what I mean as we go over everything this device offers. From being a powerful dual-core phone to all the accessories, this one is aiming right for for Atrix. The Motorola PHOTON 4G was announced back in June and we were live in NYC for some hands-on time while it was on display. Today is the full deal though, review and all so see below for all the details. To get this review started I’ll post the hands-on and unboxing first so you get a feel for the device then continue with the details and photos below so start right here with the video. Motorola PHOTON 4G Hands-on and Unbox Hardware From first glance there is nothing that really stands out as far as a weakness with this phone. To remind you of all the details it features a dual-core 1 Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU, 1GB RAM, comes with 16GB internal storage, VGA front facing camera with a 720p capable 8MP rear camera

Lockheed Martin has been working on a new generation of airships, which I have always called blimps. Decades ago, the airship was seen as the future of passenger flight across the country and between continents. The airship was quickly surpassed in capability by aircraft and thanks to notable disasters it was relegated to use for advertising and filming sporting events for the most part. Lockheed rolled out its next generation HALE-D or High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator yesterday for its first flight. The idea is that the HALE-D will ascend to an altitude of about 12 miles above the earth and float there in a geostationary position where it can monitor a huge patch of land and airspace. The idea is that the airship can have capabilities similar to those of satellites at much less cost. The HALE-D could survey a 600-mile stretch of land along with all the airspace above that land from its fixed position. The HALE-D is an unmanned aircraft. The test flight this week was set to ta

Google has confirmed it snapped up a bundle of IBM patents, in a move that is believed to be defensive against the growing number of IP-based lawsuits. The 1,030 patents acquired cover a broad range of technologies, SEO by the Sea reports, including memory and microprocessor chip fabrication/architecture, server and router design, and software programming such as relational databases, object oriented programming and more. “Like many tech companies, at times we’ll acquire patents that are relevant to our business” a Google spokesperson told the WSJ, though declined to reveal the financial details of the deal with IBM. The decision is in contrast to comments by Google CEO Larry Page earlier this month, in which the chief exec denied that the Android patent situation was serious, and argued that rather than acquiring IP, the company would focus on developing its own technologies. “We’re really committed to Android” Page suggested, “[but] we will support it in a cost-effective manner.” Wha

The company that brought us the OnLive cloud gaming system has a new way to use the cloud to reduce the latency and interference associated with sending WiFi and 3G data across a network. The new system is called DIDO and it was invented by Steve Perlman. Perlman offered a glimpse at what DIDO can do for cloud services like OnLive gaming in the whitepaper describing the DIDO system. According to Perlman when the OnLive servers were co-located with DIDO servers, the latency of the OnLive games was less than that of the same game running on a local console. That is one hell of a statement. Latency is the devil when it comes to online gaming. Perlman claims that the latency with DIDO should be a mere millisecond or two. The DIDO magic is in how it transmits data across the network. DIDO cuts out the intelligence integrated into the radios at the PC and the access point and replaces them with the much more robust and powerful cloud-computing servers. That processing allows the DIDO servers

Yesterday I mentioned that over in the UK the High Court had ordered BT to block access to the pirate website Newsbin2. The original Newzbin site had been closed down previously and went into administration to pay back money the owners were fined. The site was later sold to new owners. The new owners opened Newzbin2 and continue to offer up the same catalog of pirated content to members for download. With the High Court forcing BT to block the site, Newzbin2 is threatening BT if it tries to block access to the pirate hangout. BBC News reports that Newzbin2 administrators have pledged to ensure that the site is available to users even if the judge rules against it in a request by the Motion Picture Association to compel BT to block the site. The administrator from Newzbin2 also said that its attempts to stay online may involve attempts to circumvent the BT Cleanfeed filter that is used to block sites by the ISP. The Cleanfeed filter is normally used by BT to block any sites containing c

The white version of Samsung’s best-selling Galaxy S II has been confirmed for a September 1 release in the UK. Functionally identical to the existing black Galaxy S II – which hit the market 85 days ago, and has already racked up 5m sales and set a new record within Samsung – the white model will have the same 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display and 1.2GHz dual-core processor that impressed us in our review of the smartphone. The incoming white variant was first previewed by a UK retailer earlier in the week, though the original product page suggested an August 15 launch and has since been taken down. Pricing was listed at £410 pre-tax ($667) for an unlocked, SIM-free model, though Samsung UK tells us that the white version will be made available through carriers as well, so subsidized deals are more than likely. In the meantime, Samsung is expected to begin sales of the Galaxy S II in the US, with the launch taking place in August. One of the first carriers to get the Android handset

Verbatim has a new line of external storage drives that are thin and compact plus they are clad in brightly colored cases. The new external HDDs are called the Verbatim color splashed Store ‘n’ Go SuperSpeed USB 3.0 portable HDD. The new drives are designed to connect to your USB 3.0 drive as the name of the drive shows. The storage solutions come in two colors with Caribbean blue and hot pink version available. The storage device has 500GB of internal storage so you can back up your photos or videos and take them with you wherever you go. The drive also ships with Nero BackItUp and Burn Essentials software for full system backups and restore functionality. The software also allows you to schedule backups. The drive software also allows for the encryption of data backed up. Verbatim formats the HDDs in FAT 32 for use on a wide range of computers. However, that format can be changed to NTFS or HFS+ using the included Formatter Software. The drive also has cool Green Button software that

Apple’s new MacBook Air may have a Thunderbolt port, but size and cost constraints have led to the updated ultraportable offering reduced external display support in comparison to its MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini siblings. The Air uses an Eagle Ridge Thunderbolt chip, AnandTech reports, which only supports half the data channels of the chip found in the other recent Apple models, as well as a single DisplayPort output. That means that, while Apple’s new Thunderbolt Display is capable of daisy-chaining its Thunderbolt connection to support two such monitors coming off of a single MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac mini, the MacBook Air can only handle a single screen. It’s unlikely to be a hugely restrictive factor for most Air owners – after all, the Thunderbolt Display is $999, the same as the entry-level 11.6-inch ultraportable itself – but it’s worth bearing in mind if you wanted to make the notebook the center of a triple-screen workstation. The limitation is because Apple uses a different

Yesterday the Steak Pro was nothing more than a somewhat grainy leaked photo that was floating around the web. Today the Steak 10 Pro is officially official and has landed in China for purchase. The tablet is looking to offer the ability for pros to manage both parts of their life with the business needs and the consumer home needs addressed in one tablet. The little tablet runs Android 3.1 Gingerbread and has a 10.1-inch screen. The screen of the tablet has a resolution of 1280 x 800, is covered with Gorilla Glass, and supports 10-point multi touch. The tablet has a rear camera with 5MP resolution and a 2MP resolution front camera. The Streak 10 Pro supports 1080p video output and has a USB port. Internal storage is 16GB and it has a SD card slot supporting up to 32GB SDHC cards. The processor inside the machine is the dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 and there is 1GB of RAM inside the tablet. It has 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi supporting 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands along with Bluetooth 2.1EDR. The tablet t

Apple and Samsung have pushed Nokia into the number three position for worldwide smartphone sales, analysts have claimed, with strong Q2 2011 performance leaving Symbian devices significantly overshadowed. Apple is now the number one smartphone manufacturer, Strategy Analytics‘ figures suggest, with 18.5-percent of the market, while Samsung comes in at second place, with 17.5-percent. In contrast, Nokia has 15.2-percent in the last quarter, less than half the 38.1-percent in the same period twelve months ago. That’s based on Apple shipping 20.3m iPhone units in Q2, and Samsung shipping 19.2m smartphone units. Strategy Analytics had previously suggested that Samsung could beat Apple to the top spot, but it seems the Korean company’s performance wasn’t quite sufficient to do so. Still, year on year Samsung has shown the bigger increase: from 5-percent in Q2 2010, versus Apple’s 13.5-percent in the same period. The analysts put that down in no small part to high demand for the Galaxy S II

What looks to be Fusion Garage‘s JooJoo 2 has been caught clearing the FCC, the company’s second attempt at the fast-growing tablet segment. Details on the currently unnamed tablet are scant, thanks to a confidentiality agreement that lifts at the end of November, though the test report does confirm the device to be a “smart mobile tablet PC” with dualband WCDMA/HSDPA, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. Fusion Garage confirmed back in November last year that it was abandoning its original JooJoo slate, and instead looking to Android for its successor. The company has missed its original launch goal, however; the plan had originally been to get the new JooJoo on the market in the first half of 2011. This new “JooJoo 2″, then, looks set to follow other Android tablets we’ve seen in recent months. The name given in the FCC testing is “Grid10″ which could imply a 10-inch display, rather than the 12-inch panel of the original JooJoo. Meanwhile, the UMTS band II and V support (as well as quad

Adapter lenses to encourage your iPhone to take unusual photos are increasingly popular as the optics across each generation of Apple smartphone improve, and Pixeet reckons what your handset needs is a fish eye. The snap-on lens comes with an iPhone case to which it mounts magnetically, as well as a special app that stitches four shots into a floor to ceiling full 360-degree panorama. The resulting pictures can be shared via your Facebook profile, Google+ galleries or any other method, or uploaded directly to a Pixeet account and viewed there. There are examples here, which you can drag around to explore the scene, and despite the limitations of the iPhone 4′s 5-megapixel camera, the end result – even in full-screen – is surprisingly good. Video recording is also supported (though doesn’t get stitched together as with stills) so that you can fit more of the scene into the frame at any one time. Cases for the iPhone 3G/3GS and iPhone 4 are available, each priced at $49 complete with the

Apple’s iPhone is the most popular mobile device among travelers paying for in-flight WiFi, according to provider Gogo, with almost two-thirds of the mobile gadgets used to get online while in the air being the Cupertino company’s smartphone. In contrast, the wireless firm told AllThingsD, Android devices are a mere 12-percent. The iPad, interestingly, ousted Apple’s OS X based notebooks for full-sized internet device use. The 9.7-inch tablet is classified as a computer, rather than as a mobile device, pitting it against MacBooks and Windows machines in Gogo’s rankings. Still, over a third of users in that category got online with their iPad, compared to just short of 20-percent of OS X users. Windows machines ruled the segment, however, with 41-percent. Back in mobile, the iPod touch was used by around 20-percent of flyers, comfortably besting WiFi-equipped BlackBerry handsets, at just 6-percent. Windows Phone and other platforms picked up the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel, me

Acer’s Iconia Tab A100 is set to launch in August, according to new reports, with a roughly $300 price tag. The delayed slate – which had originally been promised for May 14, but which Acer then put back to the second half of 2011 - will drop sometime next month, according to an email sent to retail partners that leaked to Engadget. The cause of the original delay was not specified, but leaks suggested that compatibility issues with Android Honeycomb were at fault. Supposedly “many” of the Honeycomb apps proved unhappy with the Acer’s 7-inch screen, and its taken Android 3.2 and its native 7-inch support to address that. The A100 will face competition from other slates in the same size bracket, however, which have emerged since the company first demonstrated the tablet at MWC 2011 in February. Huawei is expected to launch its low-costMediaPad next month, while ViewSonic’s ViewPad 7x is also believed to be an affordable option. Meanwhile, Acer is expected to slash prices of its larger,

The troublesome sleep issue affecting some owners of Toshiba’s Thrive Android tablet should be addressed by early next week, the company has said, promising a new firmware update to fix the problem. According to Toshiba, the new software will be released via the on-device Service Station utility, and will mean owners no longer have to reset their slate in order to get it powered up and functional again. Although not reportedly experienced by every Thrive owner, those affected by the bug have been left with significantly underwhelming experiences of Honeycomb. The Thrive refuses to come out of sleep mode, failing to respond to the power button; some have found that doing a full reset will address the fault, whereas others have had to pull the battery completely. Even that has failed to work for a small subset of owners. Toshiba has also said that the incoming firmware will “enhance the multimedia playback capabilities of the device” though failed to specify in exactly what way that woul

With WiFi tablets generally proving more affordable and more popular than their cellularly-equipped brethren, Samsung probably made the right decision launching the WiFi-only Galaxy Tab 10.1 first. Still, we’ve had a taste of Verizon’s LTE network on Android smartphones, and that left us with a taste for more. Just in time, then, comes the new Verizon Galaxy Tab 10.1: a super-slimline 4G LTE slate with a sugary Honeycomb center. Outwardly there are very few indications that the Verizon Tab is any different. Both white and grey versions are available, each with either 16GB or 32GB of flash storage. The physical controls have shifted a little from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 we reviewed earlier this year: power and volume buttons are now on the left edge, rather than up top. A 3-megapixel camera on the back is still present, along with a front-facing webcam for video calls. Performance is still generally slick, though we’ve found Honeycomb can bog down somewhat over time. The Tegra 2 is still sw

So all the new OS X Lion features are great, but what’s the use if they’re not compatible with your most used software applications. Despite many Mac computer adopters, a good number of them are still relying on Microsoft’s Office suite for Mac, which currently does not support any of the new Lion features. Luckily, Microsoft has confirmed that they are busily working away at integrating them as we speak. The new features will be integrated for the latest Office for Mac 2011 and will include Auto Save, Versions, and Full-Screen mode. However, don’t expect the update to come tomorrow or even in the next few weeks. Instead, Microsoft Office team member Pat Fox confirmed that the wait for the update will more likely be “measured in months.” Fox also emphasized that Office for Mac 2004 will not work with Lion as it is written for PowerPC systems and Lion no longer includes the Rosetta code needed for backwards compatibility. This seemed to have been the same problem for several other softw

Although the iPad 2 launched but a few short months ago in March, there are already rumors of an iPad 3 or possibly an “iPad 2 Plus” that will feature an enhanced display and support full 1080p HD video. Whatever it’s called, something is indeed brewing as reports now suggest a new manufacturer for this next-gen iPad has already been selected. According to Taiwan Economic News, Apple may switch its iPad 3 manufacturer from long-time partner Foxconn to Pegatron, another Taiwan-based contract manufacturer. Pegatron has reportedly already won an order of 15 million units of Apple’s iPhone 5, which is a big shift in Apple’s supply partnerships for up until now, Foxconn had been exclusively assembling iPhones and iPads. Perhaps partly due to the plant explosion as well as the many cases of reported worker suicides, Apple no longer wants to keep its eggs soley in Foxconn’s basket. Apple also wants to ramp up production to avoidsupply bottlenecks like it experienced with the iPad 2. However,

During Motorola’s quarterly earnings call today, CEO Sanjay Jha was surprisingly candid about the company’s upcoming products. He not only confirmed the timeline for the much anticipated and long delayed Droid Bionic, but he also revealed that the company has planned two new 4G LTE tablets to hit the market before the end of this year. Recent rumors have suggested a September 1 launch for the Motorola Droid Bionic, which is expected to land on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Jha confirmed the September time frame for the Droid Bionic but also adds that they have at least one other 4G LTE smartphone planned for this year. Additionally, the Webtop interface for the Atrix 4G could get some enhancements before the end of the year as well. As for upcoming tablets, Jha revealed that there will be two new 4G LTE tablets due within the coming months, with one of them likely to be a Motorola XOOM sequel since shipments of the original are planned to go down during a “transition” to the new product. A

Skyfire, popular for their mobile browser that enables viewing of Flash videos on the iOS platform, has just released a new iOS app called VideoQ. The app has similar functionality to its browser in allowing users to watch Flash videos on iOS after the files have been converted remotely, but focuses on the playback element. The company seems to think that many iOS users still prefer to use the Safari browser and hence instead of making them replace that with the Skyfire browser, they’re now offering the Flash video component as a standalone player. It works almost like the Read It Later app, letting users import links via email, the clipboard, or a bookmarklet installed in Safari to queue Flash videos for viewing later. On top of that, the VideoQ app also has a discovery facet to it. It offers various channels to browse, including News, Sports, Technology, Humor, Kids, and Anime. It also has a “Hot” list that highlights the most popular videos being watched. VideoQ is compatible with b

Dell already has 5-inch and 7-inch Android tablets in the market with news of an upcoming 10-inch Honeycomb model first leaked in April. Since then, we’ve only seen a rendering of the tablet with an estimated June arrival, which has already passed without any signs of the slate. Well, now a photo of the tablet has finally surfaced suggesting a launch could be coming very soon. The image was leaked on AsiaDroid showing the Dell Streak Pro looking ready to ship and running Android 3.1 Honeycomb. It’s expected to ship in China as soon as tomorrow, although no details were revealed about it coming stateside. The 10.1-inch tablet features a 1280 x 800 resolution display, 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. Something interesting about the image is that the Dell Streak Pro is pictured alongside the 5-inch Streak and the 7-inch Streak 7, with the latter slate noticeably running Honeycomb rather than the Froyo it origin

Who would've thought that some American would come down to India and change the histrionics of cinema? He was an audience himself on the sets of his own film. Quiet, observant and that knack for finer detailing has today made the Indian Film Industry take notice of him with respect and amazement. Writer and Producer Jim Furgele's one step into Bollywood has changed things. His ambitious film Delhi Belly has once again put a smile on the face of our Box Office. The movie is riding the peak of its success and nowhere has it found a bigger star than Jim Furgele. His company Ferocious Attack Cow has made its presence felt, but what really matters the most to Jim is one simple rule - 'It's not an idea that makes a movie successful, it's the people'. And as we sit to talk about Delhi Belly's success, I see it in the eyes of the visionary called Jim Furgele, that for him films are forever, pain is temporary. We are proud to have you Jim because you have truly shown

Slumdog Millionaire is back in focus yet again. Ever since its release, the multiple Oscar winning film by Danny Boyle has found itself be a subject of debate amongst various quarters. This time around it's the turn of Neha Dhupia who has been left wondering that when illiterate characters in Slumdog Millionaire could be shown speaking in English, why are fingers being raised on her speaking in Hindi for Gandhi To Hitler where she plays a German? "She really feels that all this finger pointing is uncalled for, especially since the makers of Gandhi To Hitler are relatively new in the industry and are just trying to make a good film. The entire so- called issue of her as well as Raghuveer Yadav (who plays Hitler in the film) speaking in Hindi is uncalled for since at the end of the day, it is the story telling that matters and not the spoken language", says a friend of Neha. Neha's turmoil is understandable since this is her first ever biopic and that too in the ch

Today Mahie Gill is exuding sensuality quotient in her back to back films like Not A Love Story and Saheb Biwi aur Gangster . However, though she is seemingly confident and carefree of her free flowing act, it wasn't something that came naturally for her when she had first started her career as she made her transition from Punjabi to Bollywood cinema. "I didn't quite know how and where to start actually", says Mahie who did struggle a bit before landing a plum role in Dev D that made her famous overnight, "I met many people out here in Mumbai and everyone had a different point of view. Some suggested that since I was from Punjab, I should maintain my individuality and hence wear salwar-kameez while visiting filmmakers and actors. I too thought that chalo theek hai, let it be since I am also quite comfortable with that attire." However, this turned out to be counterproductive for Mahie as not many were amused with the idea of a leading lady having her me

Zoya has been missing for the past few days. Says the brother Farhan jokingly, "She fell asleep on Friday night and has not woken up. Any director after the film's release needs 4-5 days to unwind. Hopefully we will see the re-emergence of Zoya Akhtar." Farhan has a lot to be happy and grateful about. "There's a general sense of elation in the family about the success of ZNMD .....Pa (Javed Akhtar), Mom (Honey Irani) and Shabana. The success of this film is something that Zoya really needed to happen after her first film Luck By Chance. She was confused about what would work and what wouldn't. We're really happy for her. I am truly grateful to Naseeruddin Shah for doing the cameo of my father. I can't imagine anyone else doing it." There was always the chance that ZNMD might fail. But Farhan was not bothered by the specter of failure. "With my partner Ritesh Sidhwani and me doing what comes naturally to us is every important. There had h

All those interviews that you're seeing with the Mausam pair enjoying each other's company with giggly pleasure...attribute them to the persuasive powers of Shahid Kapoor. When Shahid had a house-warming party on July 9 at his newly-renovated apartment at Raj Classic in Andheri for his close friends, invitees were surprised to see Sonam's presence. Since when had she become Shahid's friend? Everyone at the intimate party wondered. It's a well-known fact by now that Shahid and Sonam are two different individuals and actors with irreconcilable differences about their approach to work. There was constant friction during the shooting engendered by their different work methods. The differences of opinion vanished just as suddenly as they started. During the last schedule of Mausam in Mumbai, Shahid, always the one in charge, sat his co-star down for a long meeting. Says a source, "Shahid was the one who initiated the long meeting. He felt that if the differ