IBLOG SPACE

Apple has won another victory against Samsung in their ongoing legal battle. The Dutch courts in The Hague have today issued a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace smartphones that would ban the sale of the devices across almost all of Europe. The ruling, however, does not include Samsung’s Galaxy tablets. According to FOSS Patents, the preliminary injunction only applies in member countries of the European Patent Organization where a specific Apple software patent is valid. There are several countries in which the patent was not made valid because Apple did not complete the filing and pay the costs. Those countries include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain. Also, Samsung’s Korean parent company is not bound by the ruling, but the company’s primary European distribution hub is believed to be in the Netherlands. Samsung will have to reorganize its logis

After teasing Symbian Belle with a countdown on Monday, Nokia has indeed unveiled the latest Symbian update today along with three new smartphones. The Nokia 600, 700, and 701 will all be powered by Symbian Belle, which now provides more customization, resizeable live widgets, and new apps that take advantage of an integrated NFC chip.

I mentioned this morning already that Sony has unveiled its new DSLR and other cameras. Nikon is also showing off some new point and shoot digital cameras in the Coolpix family. The new cameras include the Coolpix P7100, AW100, S1200pj, S8200, S6200, and the S100. The P7100 is a 10.1MP camera with a 3-inch rear LCD. The lens is a 7.1x optical zoom unit with wide-angle. The camera has full manual controls with dials and will be shipping in September for $499.95. The AW100 is the first rugged Nikon point and shoot. It’s waterproof, freeze proof, and shockproof with a 16MP backside illuminated CMOS sensor and 1080p video capture. The camera will ship in September for $379.95. The S1200pj has a little projector built-in that has 20 lumens of brightness and it will work with the iPhone and other iOS devices. It has a 14.1MP resolution, 5x optical zoom, and records 720p movies. The rear LCD is 3-inches and it will ship in September for $429.95. The S8200 is a 16.1MP camera with a 3-inch scre

We know that sales of the typical sort of notebooks, netbooks, and desktop computers are sagging while the sale of tablets is booming in the US and other parts of the world. The numbers look good for PC shipments in part because tablets are figured into those figures. IDC has announced that in Q2 2011 Chinese consumers purchased more PCs than Americans did. We also mentioned not long ago that Apple had passed Lenovo for the top spot in sales inside China. China purchased 18.5 million computers during the quarter worth $11.9 billion compared to 17.7 million units sold in the US for $11.7 billion total. IDC predicts that China won’t stay on the top of the list for long with the holiday season coming soon and Americans purchasing PCs in larger numbers. IDC predicts that the US will buy 73.5 million units in 2011 versus the 72.4 million units China is predicted to buy. However, China will eventually take the top spot from the US and keep it since China is still a developing market and it h

We have talked more than once about the cheap and cool Vizio 8-inch Android tablet. The tablet is now at retailers around the country for $299 making it a cheap tablet option. Vizio has announced that the tablet will now support Hulu Plus. I think we all knew this support was coming to the tablet since Hulu plus and Netflix are two of the most popular video streaming services out there. The Hulu Plus service on the Vizio 8-inch tablet will cost subscribers $7.99 monthly for access. We already know all about Hulu and the shows it offers. This is a great service for catching up with your favorite shows past and present. The tablet also has the integrated universal remote software for Vizio home theater gear. At the $299 price the Vizio tablet should be appealing to people that don’t use Vizio home theater gear. The tablet packs in 2GB of memory with support for up to 32GB more via a microSD card. We reviewed the tablet not long ago. We found the tablet lacking in performance compared to

Sony has announced the addition of four new cameras to its lineup. The announcement includes the official launch of the Sony Alpha A77 DSLR that we have been seeing in leaks for a while now. In fact, some specs of the A77 leaked earlier this week. The official introduction is for the Alpha A77 and A65 DSLR cameras along with some interchangeable lens NEX cameras including the NEX-5N and NEX-7. The NEX-7 is the first camera I want to talk about. This little camera has a 24.3MP image sensor with high performance and a bunch of creative options. The case of the camera is magnesium alloy for strength and lightweight. The interchangeable lens camera weighs 10.3-ounces. The NEX-5N is a similar camera with a resolution of 16.1MP. This camera can also shoot full HD video at 60 frames per second. The A77 DSLR camera claims to have the world’s fastest continuous autofocus performance. It can capture full image resolution of 24MP at 12 frames per second with full phase detection auto focus. The c

One of the biggest improvements for the iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 4 was the screen. The AH-IPS panel that the iPhone 4 uses is much better than the older screens. A company called Intertek has pitted a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display from the Galaxy S2 against a 4.5-inch AH-IPS Display like the one Apple uses on the iPhone. The IPS display has 720 x 1280 resolutions at 392 ppi with the Super AMOLED at 480 x 800. Intertek tested the screens for color accuracy using a spectrophotometer that measured color temperature against standardized display color. The winner in the test was the 4.5-inch AH-IPS screen with three times more color accuracy than the Super AMOLED. The two screens were also tested for power consumption. The AH-IPS screen was found to consume 624mW of power compared to consumption of as much as 1,130mw for the 4.3-inch AMOLED. That means that the AH-IPS screens are more power efficient than the AMOLED screens. The power consumption was tested at 600 nits brightness. The 4.5-i

The Bering Strait is the point where Russia and the US are at their closest. The Strait runs between Siberia and Alaska and the distance between the two continents is only about 65 miles at the Strait. This was one of the places during the Cold War when tensions between Russia and the US were at their highest that saw the militaries of both countries at the ready in case one or the other attacked. With the Cold War long behind us, a new plan to connect Russia and the US via a long railway tunnel underneath the waters of the Bering Strait has been green lighted. The project is projected to cost $10 – $12 billion for the 65-mile long tunnel construction alone with the complete project expected to run in the $65 billion range. The tunnel is expected to take about 15 years to complete and when finished it would allow travel by rail from London all the way to New York City. The thought of one of those high-speed trains zipping you across the world is very interesting. One of the most intere

A few days back we saw some leaked screen shots of the HTC Puccini tablet that surfaced and the hint that the tablet would be called the Jetstream on AT&T. Today another leak has surfaced with some blurry cam shots of the Puccini tablet and a tip that the tablet is currently in testing and will land in the “not too distant future.” This should be a nice 10.1-inch tablet for those wanting fast mobile broadband. The leak has confirmed that the Puccini or Jetstream will be the first AT&T tablet to land with integrated 4G inside. The 4G service won’t be the lame 3G on steroids that AT&T boasts about now, but real 4G LTE capability. The hardware inside the tablet is supposed to include a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. The tablet is also supposed to have 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 10.1-inch WXGA resolution screen. The OS is Android Honeycomb. The same leak also had some details on the HTC Flyer WiFi-only tablet with a 7-inch screen. This tablet is expected to land in the US

I am a big fan of Star Wars as are most geeks. I think that it’s really cool to see girls that are fans of Star Wars too. It’s easy to think of Star Wars fans as a bunch of guys, but that isn’t the case. Check out the is hottie named Jenn Hall that created her own Star Wars R2D2 theme helmet for riding her scooter. Hall is a pastry artist by day and geek by night. The helmet may have started its life as your typical glossy black brain bucket, but some tape, silver paint and blue accents later the thing is a geek work of art. The build process looks like it took some work to get it just right. You can see a slew of different photos on Jen’s website that shows her making the helmet. The little projections on the helmet are apparently made from cut down PVC pipe. I think it would have been equally awesome had she created a helmet that had the round hair things that Leia wore in the original flick. Jen says after she completed the project she wore it around the house and then wore the helm

If you are a fan of homes that aren’t traditional and love steampunk this apartment in NYC will really impress you. The apartment is up for sale and is located in the Manhattan Chelsea area. The apartment is done in painstaking detail in very geek chic steampunk style and everywhere you look the apartment screams cool. The place isn’t cheap as you can imagine being in NYC and then being fitted with so much detail. The seller is asking $1,750,000 and the purchase of the apartment comes with all the furnishings. I have no idea how large the place is. The photos don’t make the apartment look particularly small. It is fully featured with a nice kitchen and appears to have one bathroom and one bedroom. One thing that does jump out is the big private terrace that the apartment has. Anyone that lives in this place will certainly have the admiration of geeks all around the world that are into steampunk. The apartment has a very movie set feel to it.

The US Office of Naval Research has announced the successful testing of a new explosive material that can increase the effectiveness of a weapon impact. The new material is made of a high-sensitivity substance that has five times the explosive energy of existing armaments. The material mixes metals and polymers and is as dense as steel with the strength of aluminum. The scientists on the project say that projectiles made using the new material are less likely to harm bystanders and will ensure that when used against other missiles in flight the chance of destroying the target is increased. The new material can be used to create missiles, artillery shells, and other munitions that are typically constructed with a steel casing that contains high explosive inside. The new weapons using the improved material called High-Density Reactive Materials (HDRM) use a casing that has materials that combine and explode when the projectile hits a target. The components inside the HDRM casings would c

If you have an iPhone or an Android device that is unlocked and you are tired of the contract and the expensive rates that AT&T, Verizon and others are charging you H2O wireless has a solution for you. The catch for some users is that the pre-paid wireless carriers often don’t have any compelling smartphones. H2O has a new app that will turn your existing iPhone or Android device into a pre-paid smartphone. The app for Android devices is new and is on the Android Market right now. The app allows the phone to be configured automatically to allow it to operate on the wireless network offered by H2O. Not only will the phone have voice capability, but it will also have access to a data network. The carrier has both 3G and 4G networks in some areas and there are unlimited talk and text plans along with pay by the minute plans. The carrier also has a $10 SIM card starter pack that allows Android users to change to prepaid coverage easily. The app will automatically configure the device f

If you have an iPhone or an Android device that is unlocked and you are tired of the contract and the expensive rates that AT&T, Verizon and others are charging you H2O wireless has a solution for you. The catch for some users is that the pre-paid wireless carriers often don’t have any compelling smartphones. H2O has a new app that will turn your existing iPhone or Android device into a pre-paid smartphone. The app for Android devices is new and is on the Android Market right now. The app allows the phone to be configured automatically to allow it to operate on the wireless network offered by H2O. Not only will the phone have voice capability, but it will also have access to a data network. The carrier has both 3G and 4G networks in some areas and there are unlimited talk and text plans along with pay by the minute plans. The carrier also has a $10 SIM card starter pack that allows Android users to change to prepaid coverage easily. The app will automatically configure the device f

What we’re looking at here is a completely unverified, yet generally believable roadmap that’s been picked up by PocketNow which shows a whole handful of devices releasing on the USA ST&T network during the second half of 2011. This list includes a whole batch of Android phones, all of them running Android 2.3.3 or 2.3.4 Gingerbread, two BlackBerry 7 devices and two Windows Phone 7.5 Mango devices. Educated guesses abound! This list contains Android devices mainly, including a device, first of all, called the Pantech Null. This device has an 800×600 pixel resolution display that’s considered odd because the bulk of Android devices on the market today have a resolution of 800×480. Our sister site Android Community had a bit of information about a Vega No. 5, a Pantech device with 800×480 display – maybe they pulled it out a bit? There’s also a Pantech device on the list called Pantech Onza P7050 with 800×480 pixel resolution – is this match enough for you? Last time we spoke about a

It appears that Sprint, one of the “big four” carriers in the USA to NOT have gotten their hands on any version of the iPhone thus far, will be amongst those lucky 3 (T-Mobile still not included) that are able to sell the next-generation device come October. It’s the Wall Street Journal that’s reporting their sources “familiar with the matter” that Sprint will be supplied with the iPhone 5 (or whichever iPhone is the most current at the time) alongside Verizon and AT&T. Meanwhile Sprint stock has jumped considerably today (see image inside post below) in light of the news. The Wall Street Journal article has a bit of information that contradicts a story from earlier today in which Rueters reports a September launch for the next-gen iPhone. According to the Wall Street Journal’s sources, a mid-October launch will be “later than expected”. Either way it appears that several name-brand sources are reporting SOME sort of iPhone upgrade inside 2011, and sooner than later if we’re lucky.

Today Jawbone has announced a software update to their JAMBOX, a bluetooth speaker which we’ve previouslyreviewed quite positively. This new update includes what’s called LiveAudio and is included with the totally free JAMBOX Software Update 2.0 available on the JAMBOX companion webpage MyTALK. We’ve got our hands on this brand new software update and have been busting it out on our JAMBOX review unit for not only optimization across the platform, but a totally new three-dimensional sound that brings the JAMBOX to a whole new sound level. What LiveAudio does is add depth, detail, and “unprecedented spacial realism” to your audio experience that works to enhance the audio you’ve got in your library right this minute as well as future JAMBOX-centric downloads. These Spatial DSP sounds can be compared to the rich sound of high-quality headphones, binaural audio recordings now blasting your face from this cool little box – the next best thing to actually being there at the live music sessi

For those of you already in possession of the now price-slashed Nintendo hand-held 3D gaming unit, you should know that even though Nintendo has apologized for the cost reduction to early adopters who’d payed more in the first place, Nintendo may indeed be taking a loss on every unit BUT they’re not giving up yet! As evidenced by the flame red 3DS and the oncoming release of flagship game Star Fox 64 3D as well as what’s been announced today: a trade event in September centered around the Nintendo 3DS gaming unit. What Nintendo is planning here is a trade event scheduled for September 13th, 2011, just days before the official Tokyo Games Show. This trade show is not for the public, open instead only to investors, analysts, and journalists of all kinds. What this event will more than likely play host to is a brand new flagship game or two, a show of support for the already released 3DS hardware, or MAYBE a new device. On the other hand, there is another rumor surrounding a potential add

Facebook today announced a series of privacy-related changes to its social networking site, several of which address the question “who can see this?” Facebook has for several years (or I suppose we can go ahead and say “since inception”) been the subject of questions about privacy and what it constitutes as fair game as far as user-entered information goes. The two main subjects of this newest release cover broadly what will appear on your profile from here on out as well as what happens when you share something on Facebook in many manners. On Your Profile First note that now on your profile you’ll be able to see a pull-down menu that allows you to select everything “from your hometown to your latest photo album” and decide whether or not you’d like that element to be seen publicly. These settings (or some of them at least) have been available before on your Settings page, this page now being much cleaner and less full of wackiness. Along with what appears on your profile, the photos y

More details are surfacing on Sony’s first Android tablets now that we’re getting closer to launch time. Despite several teaser videos and some hands-on time with the tablets, very few details have been revealed. But Engadget now has word that the larger of the two Sony tablets, codenamed the S1, will be officially named the Tablet S and is set to launch within the first two weeks of September. The Sony Tablet S features a 9.4-inch 1280×768 screen and will come running Android 3.1 Honeycomb. The key features for the tablet are focused on its integration with home entertainment, such as being able to control home theater devices via the integrated IR blaster, similar to what’s available on the Vizio Tablet. However, the Sony Tablet S also offers the ability to “Throw” media to other DLNA-compatible hardware. The Tablet S will have a front-facing 3-megapixel camera with a rear=facing 5-megapixel camera as well as various accessories such as a wireless keyboard and dock and connector dong

It appears that the very first place one might see a tablet computer in action, at least one looking so minimalistic as an iPad, is in the 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick. This movie features at least one scene in which a couple of tablets are used to compute while breakfast is being consumed by their users. What this particular scene is being used for at this very moment is so-called evidence that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet design does not use the iPad 2 for inspiration, that instead a single screen with little border surrounding it used for computing has been a common design for a “tablet” computer for quite some time. The funniest bit about this entire situation is that Samsung literally attached a YouTube clip to a court case file as evidence that as far back as 1968 (in the Kubrick film) tablets have had a rather chopped-down look to them. Whether or not this actually holds up in the case is yet to be seen – what’s interesting here is that by including a

When you’re getting prepared for Diablo III which, for the record, we still expect to be coming out sometimebefore the end of 2011, you’ve got several things to think about. One of these things is: how will you earn enough money in the real world so that when the game is released, you’ll be able to call in sick for several months? Second, and MAYBE more importantly, what kind of computer will you be playing the game on? Samsung has your answer – and you can play other games here too – with the Series 7 Gamer. This gaming tablet is made for the most evil of barbarians, not for those of you who would just like to play some little ol’ G+ games – no way! What this device does it takes your love of games and stomps on it, creating a whole new love with pain! This is a laptop full of power! Inside you’ll find an fully awesome Intel i7 quad core chip with a minimum of 8GB of RAM (up to 16GB), and that’s only the beginning! We’re talking about the AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5 graphics card, F

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace has opened up its doors to app submissions for the upcoming Mango update. Back in July, Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace Senior Director Todd Brix had promised to startaccepting submissions in late August and here we are with the Mango update rumored to launch in less than two weeks. In the announcement today, Brix says that they will begin accepting and certifying Mango apps through the App Hub that use Mango’s new fast app switching, background audio, multiple and double-sided Live Tiles and better Search integration. This means that these new Mango optimized apps could be published within a matter of days. But he quickly adds that it doesn’t mean the Mango update itself will arrive on existing devices in the coming days. Instead, developers with Mango builds will start seeing these new apps in the Marketplace. The current 30,000 Windows Phone apps and game titles will also be able to run on Mango. Brix also adds that they have updated and e

Although Android does have one massively fantastic amount of devices out there, and several major manufacturers working tirelessly to bring us the biggest (and smallest) and the best devices day after day, week after week, year after year, you’ve got to wonder why more manufacturers haven’t jumped into the game. One group you may never have heard of before in your life today jumps aboard this crazy bandwagon with a device that certainly looks decent for a first effort. This is the VERZO Kinzo. What we’re looking at here is a company whose aim is, surprisingly, to come clean with the public right out of the door. They’ve released a statement saying that they do not plan to “bring some great change to the field and forever change the current state of affairs” with this first device. They go on to note that they KNOW that they aren’t going to “scare off Apple and Samsung” with their first effort, letting the public know right away what their true intentions are: “we are not the slimmest,

New evidence has surfaced that supports a longtime rumor that Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 will be a world phone with dual-mode GSM and CDMA. According to TechCrunch, a major iOS apps developer, who asked not to be named, has offered up some “solid proof” that supports the world phone claim. If true, this would essentially kill the 4G LTE iPhone 5 rumor. The developer provided app usage logs for an app that they were developing, revealing that a number of people who registered to test out the app did so from a device that is most certainly an iPhone 5. Unlike all models thus far of the iPhone, this new single device had two distinct sets of mobile network codes (MNC) and mobile country codes (MCC). These codes can be used to identify mobile carriers. Some of the devices that registered to test out the developer’s app showed MNC/MCC codes from both Verizon and AT&T. This is great news for CDMA iPhone users that wish to travel abroad since dual-mode support would mean convenient roaming

Canon is adding two new PIXMA wireless All-in-One (AIO) photo printers to their lineup with models MG8220 and MG6220. These printers are affordable and yet offer great design and convenient wireless connectivity for printing from anywhere as well as accessing images from the web without having to touch your computer. An added bonus is the updated software that now includes Easy-PhotoPrint EX and Full HD Movie Print. The PIXMA MG8220 and MG6220 wireless AIO printers can be connected wirelessly to your desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone. The Canon Easy-PhotoPrint mobile app will be needed for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets and has now been upgraded to allow PDFs to print directly. Users can also scan documents on the printer to be sent to a compatible wireless device. An exclusive feature for these two printers is the ability to print select Google Docs and Gmail attachments from any accessible device. Registered users of Canon Image Gateway or Picasa Web Albums c

Kodak will be releasing a special Burton edition of their rugged PLAYSPORT Zx5 pocket video camera designed for people that love snow. It’s touted as being touch enough to meet the demands of even the most dedicated snow boarders, capturing all the best moments of the day on the slopes in even the harshest winter weather conditions. The Burton edition of the camera will have all the award-winning features of the original PLAYSPORT. It’s waterproof and shockproof making it perfect for extreme conditions in the snow. The interface is easy to read and the buttons are large enough to operate with gloves on. The camera is capable of full 1080p HD video capture as well as 5-megapixel stills for 16:9 widescreen HD images. Videos can even be captured at 60fps for fast action that’s also perfect for slow motion playback. The Burton edition bundle comes with an HDMI cable, remote control, 4GB SDHC memory card, a tripod and carrying case. Priced at $199.95, the camera will be available this fal

Samsung has just unleashed another teaser video hinting at the imminent US release of the much anticipatedGalaxy S II smartphone. The device has been available in various parts of the world since April, and only now approaching a US launch. It is already suspected to make its big US debut during a special Samsung eventscheduled for August 29. The video hints at the imminent US arrival while showing off some features with clever shots of the device in various parts of the world. The video starts off with the Galaxy S II’s large screen and dual-core processor in Europe, its thin profile in Japan, its kick-ass sales all over the world, and ending with the message that soon it’ll be big in America. The Samsung Galaxy S II sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and 8-megapixel camera capable of 1080p full HD video capture. And, it has an incredibly slim chassis at only 8.49mm thin. For more information, you

One of Lenovo’s first two Android Honeycomb 3.1 tablets, called the ThinkPad Tablet has finally gone on sale. Designed for the enterprise market, the ThinkPad Tablet can be used with an optional digital stylus for both handwritten text input as well as document mark-up and drawing. The first press images were leaked back in July when we also got our hands-on with the ThinkPad along with its consumer-oriented sibling the IdeaPad K1. The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet sports a 10.1-inch WXGA 1280×800 16:10 IPS panel display covered with Gorilla Glass. It runs on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM and has a storage capacity of up to 64GB. It has USB 2.0 and micro-USB ports along with HDMI-out and SD card slot. It delivers a professional multimedia and entertainment experience and fully supports Adobe Flash. But it’s main differentiators are in its optional digital stylus and its enterprise security features. It offers network passwords, full device and SD card encryption,

Although AT&T’s 4G LTE network has yet to launch and isn’t expected to reach more than 15 markets by year-end, rumors of its first LTE handset are already surfacing. A rendering of an unmarked mystery handset, along with an image of a hard case accessory for the handset, turned up that could be a Samsung offering that will support AT&T’s LTE network. BGR received the photos from a “trusted source,” claiming that the images are of the Samsung Impulse 4G, which could be AT&T’s first 4G LTE phone. Few details were given on the phone, except that it looks very similar to Samsung’s Droid Charge on Verizon. The Droid Charge sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 1GHz single-core processor, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. However, AT&T’s LTE efforts are far behind those of Verizon, which has just announced a new batch of LTE markets to roll out on September 15 with a goal of reaching 175 markets by year-end. Given AT&T’s limited

My kids like to shoot their own photos of their friends and other stuff. My daughter has one of those Fisher-Price cameras that are designed to survive rough treatment she uses quite a bit. The catch is that the image quality is horrible and she often gets mad because the photos are so dark you can’t make out what is going on. What she needs is a real digital camera that can survive drops. A modder has taken a normal digital camera and created just that using the Sugru material to ruggedize the camera. I have never heard of Sugru before, it’s a material that is like modeling clay that won’t slump over and is bouncy because it’s made from silicone. The builder took the material, molded it into bands that would protect the camera, yet leave controls accessible, and then gave it to a kid. Apparently, the Sugru material is bouncy enough to keep the camera alive if it is dropped. The builder says that the only tricky part is making the Sugru bands for the camera. Check out the finished prod