IBLOG SPACE

The iPad Facebook app has become the hostage of tense negotiations between Apple and the social network, reports claim, with arguments around licensing and strategy adding months of delays to the feature-complete software’s release. The app – which leaked back in July - has hit headlines again after the lead developer, Jeff Verkoeyen, revealed his frustrations at Facebook constantly shifting the launch date, and how those frustrations were part of his motivation to jump ship to Google. However, there’s now talk that Facebook will officially reveal the iPad app at Apple’s iPhone 5 launch event, expected to take place on October 4. Verkoeyen told TechCrunch that, while the Facebook iPad app wasn’t “totally done” back in May, it was nonetheless feature-complete. According to the developer’s blog, he had been working 80+ hours a week for eight months, trying to hit Facebook’s perpetually moving launch target. He’s now working on Google’s mobile team. “It is now nearly 5 months since the ap

The Amazon Kindle Fire tablet may be just a day away from launch, but further details of the Android-based ereader slate continue to leak. Originally tipped to be aesthetically similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook, thanks to a shared ODM in the shape of Quanta, there’s talk that the Kindle Fire actually used RIM’s tablet as a template. Still, it’s software which will arguably be more important – or, to be precise, content – and the pipes are groaning with word of which publishers have lined up to be included in Amazon’s roster. The Quanta connection helped Amazon take a big shortcut in the Kindle Fire’s design, so gdgt‘s sources claim, which had already helped RIM design much of the PlayBook. Rather than task its own in-house Kindle team, Lab 126, to get up to speed on developing a slate, Amazon supposedly looked to Quanta’s existing experience with the PlayBook and the QNX tablet acted as a “shortcut” of sorts. Ironically, previous leaks out of Taipei have suggested that RIM demanded Qu

Say hello to the Samsung Galaxy S II for AT&T now that this phone has finally landed in the US. I’m sure everyone was jealous it was first released throughout Europe and Asia, but for those that have patiently been waiting it’s finally here and available for AT&T. The first one available, the Epic 4G Touch just launched and you can see it here, but this is all about the AT&T version of the popular Galaxy S II phone. Head on below for all the details and pictures you could ask for.

Following RIM’s disappointing Q2 performance, the company promised to drop prices for its BlackBerry PlayBook in an effort to boost sales. And indeed RIM has dropped the price for the tablet by about $200, but the discount is only temporary. The deal is available now for all versions of the PlayBook, including the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models and is offered by Office Depot and Staples until October 1. The discount for the BlackBerry PlayBook for both Office Depot and Staples involves an immediate $100 discount. You can get an additional $100 gift card with your purchase at Office Depot or you can get an additional $100 rebate at Staples. So, altogether, the discount amounts to be $200. The BlackBerry PlayBook launched back in April, facing immediate criticism for its half-baked firmware. In an attempt to rush the tablet out to market, RIM had not completed native apps for basic functions such as email, calendar, and contacts, which further hindered adoption among its already diminishing

Apple has scheduled its Q4 2011 earnings call for October 18 at 2:00pm PST. Besides addressing the company’s performance for the period ending on September 30, this time’s conference call will also likely touch on the company’s transition to new CEO Tim Cook as well as the initial performance of the iPhone 5, which will have presumably launched by then. It was a tough year for many companies, but Apple performed incredibly well in Q3, which was hailed as its best quarter ever. The company is expected to do equally well in Q4, especially with the iPad supply issues ironed out, the refreshed MacBook Air, Mac Mini, OS X Lion, and back-to-school season. Hence, there’s plenty of expectations for positive results. This earnings call will also be the first time investors get to inquire about the transition to new CEO Tim Cook and how that is progressing. And given that the iPhone 5 is expected to launch sometime from October 4 to October 15, there could certainly be questions regarding initia

Samsung announced today the immediate availability of its Galaxy Tab 8.9 Android tablet and its soon to arrive Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 media devices. The ultra-thin 8.9-inch tablet was first unveiled back at IFA 2011 and is the smaller sibling to the popular Galaxy Tab 10.1, while the Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 are handheld devices set to go head to head with Apple’s iPod touch. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 measures only 8.6mm thin and features Samsung’s TouchWiz UX running on top of Android 3.1 Honeycomb. Samsung’s custom UX includes a magazine-like widget view called Live Panel, one-touch overlay access called Mini Mode Tray, advanced copy and paste functionality called Clipboard, quick toggle settings called Indicator Quick Panel, and a native photo editor that lets you easily rotate, crop, and adjust colors of high quality images. The tablet will run on a dual-core T250S processor and sport a WXGA TFT display with 1280 x 800 resolution and protected by Gorilla Glass. For more details on the

You’ll remember our most recent hands-on look at the most recent JAMBOX LiveAudio update from late August as a significant addition to an already rather neat speaker system. Now we’ve got news that there’s another new update bringing this system up to version 2.1. This version of the JAMBOX software adds functionality to two items: Sound Clarity and LiveAudio, both of them absolutely necessary if you plan on bouncing beats mobile-style unto the future of the streets. Download time! What’ll this update give you? Two things. First, Sound Clarity. This delivers you clearer distortion-free sound when LiveAudio is OFF. To turn Sound Clarity ON, go to your Advanced Setting in MYTALK and select Sound Clarity’s ON option. This option will use an audio tuning algorithm to clean up distortion at high volume levels. For LiveAudio, the other half of this equation, you’ve only to hold the + and – buttons until you hear a tone. When LiveAudio is ON, the max volume is not as loud. If you’d like addit

Amazon sent out invitations last week for a press event this Wednesday and although the company did not specify the agenda, all speculation pointed to the unveiling of the much anticipated Amazon tablet. TechCrunchclaims that its sources have confirmed that the event will indeed be for unveiling the slate and they’ve also revealed some additional details. According to the sources, the Amazon tablet will be called the Kindle Fire, to help differentiate it from Amazon’s e-ink Kindle e-readers, since Amazon plans to maintain sales for the e-readers instead of replacing them with the new full-color tablet. The tablet is still expected to be a 7-inch device with a backlit display that looks similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook. Despite this similarity to the PlayBook as it is produced by the same contract manufacturer, Quanta, the Amazon tablet is said to offer much better software and a much more complete ecosystem of services and content. The software is developed from a fork of Android and

We’ve already seen the official press shot for the HTC Vigor as well as some leaked screenshots, but the upcoming handset has now appeared in a new series of leaked images that, although a bit smudgier, reveal many more details on the device. This series of shots show the device from all sides and even the About screens, confirming much of the rumored specs. The leaked images confirm that the HTC Vigor will indeed be running on a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM. It will have a 4.3-inch display with 720p resolution, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The About screens also reveal that the device will be running HTC Sense 3.5 UI on top of Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. Other details expected but not shown in these new images is 16GB of internal storage as well as integration of Beats Audio technology. The Beats Audio integration, however, was shown in a previous leak of various screenshots and boot screens for the HTC Vigor. Those screens ind

During the Mobilize conference today, T-Mobile announced the details for two upcoming Android smartphones, the HTC Amaze 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S II, but the carrier also shot down rumors that it would be getting the iPhone 5 this year. T-Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, Cole Brodman, told AllThingsD that the carrier would “love to have” the iPhone, but that it is not getting the device this year and is instead focused on the two just announced Android phones. This new public statement from Brodman confirms reports from last week that showed a leaked internal memoalso insisting that T-Mobile would not be getting the iPhone 5 this year. “If we were to get an iPhone this year, nobody has told us,” said Brodman. Instead, the company will be intent on pushing the HTC Amaze 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S II, which will both run on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42Mbps network. Although T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom had already begun taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5, that distribution deal

Of all the places in the world to open a support facility, it had to be Ireland that took on the task of providing support to masses for the new Star Wars MMORPG game The Old Republic as it ramps up for launch on December 20th and 22nd. Of course I and we have no reason to be saying such a thing, in fact such an island base will likely be the greatest place to avoid the craziest of game players that’ll more than likely try to swim to the support group in hopes of getting their lightsaber license re-activated after having chopped up too many ewoks. You following me? If you are, this is definitely going to be the game for you. BioWare, the group responsible for blasting the game out into outer space with a global launch and full support for the entire user base along with EA have announced just this past week that the drop date for The Old Republic will indeed be the 20th of December, 2011, and the 22nd of that same month and year for the USA and the entirety or Europe respectively. BioW

We are fast approaching the rumored dates for Apple’s next-gen iPhone launch, be it the iPhone 4S or theiPhone 5. Speculation that this next-gen handset would support 4G LTE continue to swirl, with the latest talks suggesting that Apple plans to demonstrate the new smartphone running on a tightly controlled 4G network by installing AT&T’s LTE base stations in certain venues. Perhaps, that’s why an AT&T truck is parked outside a San Francisco Apple Store that won’t re-open until October 5, likely being revamped for the iPhone 5 launch? Back in August, some images leaked, which have now been replaced at the request of the source, revealing that some Apple Store locations were getting 4G LTE equipment installed. Since AT&T’s 4G LTE network has just launched and is in fairly limited markets, it’s possible that Apple would need to install suitable base stations in certain venues where it expects to demonstrate it’s next-gen iPhone running on LTE. Although this raises hope that t

Your humble narrator is here down on the South side of the United States for the next couple of days as a guest of HP for their Making of Elite Tour 2011. I’ll be documenting my experience here in several ways, most of them being hands-on and eyes-on looks at how HP goes about bringing you their “most reliable, toughest and highest quality computers ever built”, straight from the HP Houston Campus. Stick with us here on SlashGear for the full experience – for now though, look at this fabulous presentation of information we’ve got right off the bat! To give you a bit of a prep for what we’re going to be seeing tomorrow and the next day, have yourself a trip on over to http://www.hp.com/go/BeElite or just head to one of our many posts on the line via our [HP Elite portal]. From there you’ll see how this line of computers has been running strong for some time now. And what better way to promote their continued dedication to Elitebooks, ELite Tablet PCs, Elite Mobile Workstations, Elite De

The Google+ social network first rolled out games back in August but has been slow to add new titles. But with the recent opening up of Google+ to the public sans invitations, the platform may start getting more serious with its game offerings. Zynga, the publisher of popular game apps on Facebook, is hoping to transfer over that same success with the announcement of CityVille on Google+. Zynga has so far only offered Zynga Poker on Google+, making CityVille its second title for the fledgling social network. CityVille has quickly grown to become the company’s largest game on Facebook and it seemed logical to “build a presence for it” on Google+. In this way, the game will become even more accessible to everyone regardless of their preferred platform. Cityville on Google+ will be joining 17 other popular games, including Angry Birds, SuDoku, and Bejeweled Blitz. The Google+ games reside on their own tab and are said to be less intrusive than those found on Facebook. Google also hosts th

At the GigaOM Mobilize 2011 event today, T-Mobile unveiled two new smartphones during its keynote, one being the HTC Amaze 4G and the other being the long anticipated Samsung Galaxy S II. Although the device was first announced back in August, many details on T-Mobile’s version of the popular Samsung handset remained a mystery. Hence, the carrier took this opportunity today to reveal and confirm some additional details. One of the specs that seemed to noticeably be left out of T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy S II marketing materials thus far was the type of processor. Rumors had spread earlier this month that the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II would sport a powerful 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, and that turns out to be true. The carrier confirmed today that its Samsung Galaxy S II will be powered by a 1.5Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor. The handset will come running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread and will have NFC enabled. The device will also allow customers to access various mobile

Today at GigaOm Mobilize 2011, T-Mobile has officially announced the HTC Amaze 4G, which has long been rumored as the HTC Ruby. The device, now sporting the new name with the 4G label is officially confirmed to support T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network of up to 42Mbps connectivity. It’s being touted as having the most advanced camera experience and the latest addition to T-Mobile’s family of advanced camera smartphones. The HTC Amaze 4G features an 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flash that’s capable of 1080p full HD video capture. It boasts zero shutter lag, a backside illuminated sensor for improved light performance, and various advanced digital camera features, including SmartShot and PerfectPics. SmartShot lets you capture five photos and creates the best shot using clear faces, smiles, and no blinking. PerfectPics lets you more easily organize your photos by scoring and filtering so that the best shots come up on top. It automatically prioritizes photos by criteria such as calendar event

The Nikon 1 Series J1 and V1 are the company’s very first mirrorless interchangeable lens digital cameras similar to the Micro Four Thirds cameras that we’ve seen from Olympus and Panasonic. However, the Nikon offerings have a smaller sensor but are touted as being much faster at image processing. The cameras debuted last week and the more affordable J1 model is now available for pre-orders on Target.com. The Nikon 1 J1 comes with a 10-30mm lens kit and has a 73-point AF system that switches between phase and contrast AF for the best results. It supports 10fps continuous shooting with AF or up to 60fps with AF locked. It also features a 3-inch LCD display as well as a pop-up flash. Its 10.1-megapixel sensor is capable of 1080p full HD video capture and it works with interchangeable lenses from the 1 NIKKOR lens system, which will start off with a choice of four lenses. The Nikon J1 model is priced at $649.95 while the V1 model is priced at $899.95. They are available in a variety of co

Today Nokia officially announced the Nokia 700 smartphone running on Symbian Belle. After teasing about itback in August, then unveiling the new details last month it has finally arrived and will be available early October in the UK. Being dubbed Nokia’s smallest smartphone, able to fit just about anywhere including the skinniest of jeans. We’ve received some hands-on time with the tiny smartphone so head on down past the break for photos and more details. After some press shots leaked back in July we’ve slowly received all the details on this new smartphone from Nokia and it will finally be available soon for all you Nokia fans in the UK. Featuring a 3.2″ 640×360 nHD AMOLED display it is one of the smallest smartphones on the market. Measuring in at 110 x 50.7 x 9.7mm and weighing just 96g. Powered by a 1.0 GHz processor, 2GB internal memory, micro-SD support, a 5 MP camera on the rear with LED flash capable of 720p video recording, with 7 hours of talk time on a 1080 mAh battery and

It looks like there may soon be another contender in the 7-inch tablet market here in the states. The ZTE Smart Tab 7 Android tablet has just passed through the FCC, signaling an imminent launch. However, it was first unveiled during IFA 2011 as a slate branded for Vodafone, so it’s not clear whether it would also be distributed here rebranded under a major carrier. The FCC filing shows the backside of the tablet sporting a Google logo and support for both WiFi and 3G connectivity. It’s apparent from the diagram that the tablet will have a textured backside and rear-facing camera, but other than that, details on the tablet are scant. We can only assume that it’s going to be similar to the Vodafone offerings but reworked for the US. The previously unveiled Vodafone Smart Tab 7 and 10 are 7-inch and 10-inch tablets both expected to feature 1280 x 800 pixel resolution screens. They will be powered by Qualcomm’s dual-core 1.2GHz processor, running Android Honeycomb, and to be available in

AT&T is after another large company and today we are hearing that they’ve acquired Superclick, the popular and widely used internet provider for many hotel and hospitality industries, at an impressive cash sum of approximately $15 million. Superclick is a technology leader in IP infrastructure and network solutions for a wide array of hospitality industries. They design, manage and deploy the internet services for many top hotels and healthcare facilities such as Marriott Hotels International, Four Seasons, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jumeirah, Kimpton Hotels, Mandarin Oriental Hotels throughout North America, Canada, the Middle East and parts of Asia. While this is nothing compared to the $39 Billion in the T-Mobile deal it is a big move by AT&T. According to sources Superclick is actually being acquired by a subsidiary of AT&T at the price listed above pending the little details. While Superclick isn’t widely known, they’ve been doing quite well. With revenue increasin

Apple’s rumored plans to hold the iPhone 5 launch, tipped to take place next week, at the company’s Cupertino campus could be an LTE strategy decision, with the company looking to tightly control a 4G demonstration of the new smartphone. While Apple’s usual iPhone launch venue, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, is known to be booked up on October 4, it’s also possible that the company had no intention of revealing an LTE-equipped iPhone 5 anywhere but on its home turf. We already know that Apple has a considerable wireless testing facility at its Cupertino headquarters. In fact, the company took SlashGear on a tour of the antenna design and test labs last year, in the aftermath of the iPhone 4 signal controversy. That the company would have an LTE base-station there is hardly a great stretch of the imagination, especially given Apple previously admitted to considering LTE for the CDMA iPhone 4 but rejecting it due to the physical size of 4G radios. It’s not the first we’ve heard of

Sprint and Clearwire are not doing well and neither is their partnerships to bring WiMax 4G service to the masses. Sprint was said to be in talks with Clearwire in August to possibly buy Clearwire out. Since then nothing has happened between the two companies. A new report has surfaced from Dish Network CEO Joseph Clayton that says that Dish may be looking to buy out or partner with Clearwire or Sprint. The move would make sense for Dish Network as the firm has long sought to bundle both wireless phone coverage and satellite broadband internet services for its customers. A purchase of either or both Sprint and Clearwire would help Dish to provide more service to more people. Bloomberg reports that Dish has been looking for a wireless partner to take advantage of the spectrum it landed in deals for DBSD North America Inc and Terrestar Networks earlier this year. Dish has also reportedly filed for government permission to offer mobile high-speed web access to customers. The filing was la

We talked about the decommissioned space satellite UARS last week and the fact that it was going to be plummeting back through the earth’s atmosphere Friday or Saturday of last week. UARS has made its descent back through the atmosphere and most of it did in fact burn up in re-entry. However, the 26 satellite components that NASA thought might survive the atmosphere are still unaccounted for. NASA says that the satellite re-entry took it from the east coast of Africa over the Indian Ocean, then the Pacific Ocean, then across Northern Canada, the Atlantic Ocean, to a point over West Africa. The majority of the flight was over water according to NASA. NASA thinks that the parts that survived re-entry would have landed in the Ocean, but that can’t be confirmed. NASA did say there had been no reports of injuries or property damage. Apparently, the reason the satellite was so hard to track was due to the space it was traveling in changing in density over time due to incoming particles. The

We all know that Microsoft is pinning a bunch of its hopes for Windows Phone 7.5 Mango on Nokia being a major maker of smartphones running the OS. At the same time, Nokia is hoping that Mango will be interesting enough to pull its smartphone business out of the tailspin that is seeing Nokia plummet on the global smartphone market. Over the weekend, the first Windows Phone 7 app from Nokia landed in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The new app is called Top Apps and it is made to help users of Windows Phone OS to find the top apps for their smartphones from around the world. Nokia says the app will let the user find the apps, view ratings, and them get the app on their phone. The app also shows featured content that is handpicked for users daily. The app landed on September 22 and is in the tools and productivity section of the market. Other features of the app include local and global app tops lists and more. Nokia is expected to show off other first Mango smartphones it makes at Nokia W

Courts at The Hague will rule on the Samsung versus Apple injunction request on October 14, deciding whether or not the Korean company can push ahead with its pre-emptive attempt to have the iPhone 5 banned from sale in Europe. Earlier today, Apple’s legal team argued that Samsung had sought to mislead the 3G development process by withholding the fact that it was promoting the inclusion of certain technologies it had already patented. The Korean firm then attempted to ambush Apple, the lawyers suggested, in an attempt to distract from its own patent infringements, and demanding sky-high royalties. Meanwhile, Webwereld‘s Andreas Udo de Haes reports, both Samsung and Apple have agreed not to seek any ex parte injunctions ahead of the October 14 hearing. Apple is pushing for the judge to reject injunction demands, based on the fact that there is no urgency to the case; it claims it has only ever used Intel’s 3G chips – or, more accurately, Infineon’s chips, after the company was bought b

A few days back OnStar was in the news when it notified its customer base that it would be collecting data on their locations and other data and that it was reserving the right to share that data with anyone for any reason including marketing. The part that really angered people is that OnStar was saying that it would continue to track user movements even after they cancel the OnStar account. OnStar later said that it would warn the user when cancelling that they would be tracking their location. OnStar later came back with an announcement that the user could opt out of the tracking service. The mere thought of users being tracked after cancelling an account was enough to make three US Senators angry enough to call on the FCC to investigate. Two of the Senators are Al Franken (D-MN) and Chris Coons (D-DE) who called the tracking of users a violation of basic principles of privacy and fairness. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) raised objections of his own in a letter that he wrote to the FC

Android phone geeks in Japan will soon have another new smartphone to lust over, and this one sounds pretty good. The smartphone comes from Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications and it is called the Arrows Z ISW11F smartphone. The device runs Android 2.3.4 operating system and is waterproof to IPX5/8 classification. That means you can get it wet or splash it accidentally and it will survive. The phone is targeting men, but a pink version is available for the ladies. The screen the smartphone uses is a 4.3-inch unit with 1280 x 720 resolution. The phone can shoot 720p HD video out to a TV or other screen and can shoot 1080p HD video from its 13.1MP rear camera. The front camera is a 1.3MP unit. The camera also has filters and other artistic settings. The processor is a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4430 from TI. Storage is to a 32GB microSDHC card and internal ROM is 8GB with 1GB of RAM. The phone has WiFi tethering and supports WiMax 4G connectivity. It also has encryption to protect data and a

A 7-inch ASUS Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet has been revealed, the ASUS TOUGH ETBW11AA, offering both water and dust resilience along with WiMAX connectivity. The 1280 x 800 tablet, which Impress got to play with as it made its way to carrier KDDI, runs NVIDIA’s dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor paired with 16GB of onboard storage. There’s also WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth, EVDO Rev.A and GPS, along with mini USB, microSD and a 5-megapixel main camera. Unfortunately, all that ruggedness – including IPX4 waterproofing, IP5X grade dust resistance and the ability to survive 76cm drops onto concrete – comes at a price, which is bulk: the ASUS TOUGH is clad in rubber and the like, adding up to 215 x 132 x 20-22.2 mm and 620g on the scales. Battery life from the 7,400mAh pack is unconfirmed, though we’re guessing KDDI and ASUS’ target audience – enterprise users wanting to outfit their on-site workers with ruggedized slates capable of standing up to some careless treatment – will demand all-day runti

Corning’s Gorilla glass can be found in a bunch of the most popular smartphones and other portable devices on the market today. Gorilla Glass is much stronger than normal glass and allows devices like the iPhone and others to survive drops without damage more often than normal glass. Back at Computex 2011 Corning was showing off curved Gorilla Glass that could be used in future smartphones. Industry sources cited by DigiTimes are now claiming that in the first half of 2012 that curved glass will be very popular with device manufactures outside of Apple. Apple likes its flat and thin designs. The sources say that makers are getting ready to release multiple devices using the curved glass in an attempt to take some of Apple’s market share. It will take more than a curved screen to beat the iPhone and Apple’s smartphone dominance. Apple is rumored to have purchased glass-polishing hardware for suppliers in preparation for producing devices with curved cover glass. The rise of curved glass

Ben Heck made his name crafting some really cool game consoles that were packed into portable from factors. Since his show kicked off on element 14, Heck has created some stuff that we are used to seeing from him likeportable Xboxs, but he has also branched out into some odd projects like the automatic hand sanitizer dispenser. Heck’s latest DIY creating is out of the realm of what he is famous for. The latest project Heck created some sort of sensor that attaches to the handlebars of a bicycle. The idea is that the sensor would alert you when you are riding too close to cars or other devices. The sensor is an electric light-up ping sensor. I thought the sensors that warned when you were too close to things were your eyes. The episode shows how to build your own if you want from measuring timing and distance with Parallax ping sensors and connecting LEDs to writing the code for the Arduino chipKIT inside and routing the case to hold the device. The sensors will illuminate red or green

eBay is the place many automotive enthusiasts go to dream about the cars they want to own and to actually buy them when they are able to. With the large amount of people that are coming to eBay to check out the cars on offer, the auction site has launched a new car show that it calls “World’s Fastest Car Show.” The show is a mere 7 minutes and 44 seconds for the first episode so you can watch it quickly and get on with your day. The first episode has the host, former racer Justin Bell, hooning the 2012 Ford Boss 302 down Mulholland Drive in LA. The segment of the show is about the hidden racetracks that most cities have. Granted it’s not legal to race down this track at speed. The show will get a new episode each week and they will be viewable on eBay here or via YouTube. At the end of the Boss 302 segment Bell dubs the car the best Mustang ever. I’d agree too, I own one just like Bell is driving. The car is a blast and a huge amount of fun to race.

The iPhone 5 will feature an upgraded 1GB of RAM along with the dual-core Apple A5 processor, tipsters suggest, essential for the Assistant voice-control system that will be an exclusive to the new smartphone. iOS Assistant, so 9 to 5 Mac‘s sources tell them, will be limited to the new fifth-gen handset as the processor/RAM combination in the existing iPhone 4 and 3GS will be insufficient to run the Siri-based voice recognition technology. Meanwhile, there’ll also be World Phone support with a single model for AT&T, Verizon and others. Apple has supposedly used Qualcomm’s Gobi chips for the iPhone 5′s radio, meaning one version of the handset can be used on either CDMA or GSM networks. However there’s no word on whether Apple has used a so-called virtual SIM, as has been rumored, or if the handset includes NFC support for mobile payment and other services. However, a backlit 8-megapixel camera sensor module is apparently a lock-in, along with support for taking panoramic images and

Amazon’s Kindle tablet may be the most cloud-centric slate we’ve seen to-date, reports indicate, ironically making it perhaps the purest implementation of Google’s cloud ambitions, despite the search giant reputedly having zero involvement in its development. In addition to delivering streamed music and video from Amazon’s Cloud Player and Prime Video services, the Kindle tablet could also put all documents – both ebooks purchased from the retailer’s virtual store, as with the existing Kindle ereaders, and user’s own personal files – into the cloud. Over the weekend, currently unused code in Amazon’s “manage your Kindle” page was spotted by The Digital Reader, making reference of “Pdocs_Archival_Support” that implies Cloud Drive access from the tablet itself. “Pdocs” is an abbreviation of “personal documents” it’s suggested; meanwhile, there are also code references to “Prime ebooks” that lend weight to rumors of an ebook subscription service. Amazon is already expected to offer Kindle

Apple has accused Samsung of manipulating open telecom standards, failing to disclose patents the company holds on technologies it pushed the ETSI to adopt, and then attempting to hold Apple and others to ransom afterwards. Presenting its case at the preliminary Hague hearing this morning, Apple claims Samsung engineered the 3G standard so that it would include technologies the Korean company secretly held patents on, reports Webwereld‘s Andreas Udo de Haes, and is now demanding “simply excessive” royalties amounting to2.4-percent of the chip price for every patent. However, Apple insists that Samsung’s actual contribution to the 3G standard is nothing more than “bug fixing,” and argues that the company has been selective in how it handles the patent situation because of its own market concerns. Samsung only demanded Apple license its technologies in 2010, the Cupertino company’slegal team claims, holding off until then because of the value Apple holds as a customer of Samsung’s memory

Intel wants to sell Ultrabooks in droves to help the PC industry come back from the grips of tablets that aren’t powered by Intel CPUs to thin and light notebooks that are Intel powered. The catch for Intel is that while it wants the machines to sell for under $1000, the notebook makers working on the thin machines with it say the hardware costs too much. That means that only very slow and basic machines have hit that under $1000 price point while the full featured machines may be more than twice that amount. Earlier this month an ad for HP Ultrabooks surfaced on Google hinting that HP is in fact working on Ultrabooks. So far, that is the only worked we have heard out of the world’s largest computer maker. DigiTimes reports that Samsung is already at work on two Ultrabook notebooks. Samsung will apparently build one of the machines in house. Interestingly, sources tell DigiTimes that Samsung will also be farming the construction of a second Ultrabook out to Quanta Computer, one of the

AMD has an ever growing line of GPUs for all sorts of needs ranging for the high-end gaming GPU down to the power sipping integrated GPU for computers of all sorts. AMD has announced that its entry-level embedded discrete GPU will support multiple monitors. The GPU supports up to four displays at one time. The GPU has some very nice features with an advanced 3D graphics engine and programmable shader architecture. The GPU supports DirectX 11 and has a third gen unified video decoder. That video decoder supports dual HD decode of H.264, VC-1, MPEG4, and MPEG2 compressed video streams. It has 512MB GDDR5 frame buffer included in the BGA package and has high memory bandwidth. The GPU is aimed at casino gaming, digital signage, instrumentation, and industrial control systems. The GPU is designed for the value conscious market and it uses AMD EyeFinity tech. The GPU supports both HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 outputs. AMD plans to make the GPU for five years and the GPU is designed to be pai

Samsung Korea has unveiled two LTE versions of the Galaxy S II, the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE and the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE, the latter packing a huge 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD display running at 1280 x 720 resolution. Each model totes a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 along with 4G LTE support and NFC, though the Galaxy S II LTE makes do with a 4.5-inch WVGA panel as on the EPIC 4G Touch. Both models have an 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus and Full HD video recording, aong with a front-facing camera for video calls. There’s also 16GB of internal storage – plus a microSD card slot – and GSM/HSPA+ roaming for when you’re outside of South Korea’s 4G cosseting. Maybe most impressive is the thickness: both the Galaxy S II LTE and Galaxy S II HD LTE come in at 9.5mm deep, even accommodating a 1850 mAh battery. Samsung will be offering the Galaxy S II LTE via SK Telecom as a carrier-exclusive, while the Galaxy S II HD LTE will go on sale through SK Teleco

The Dead Sea Scrolls are some of the most famous Christian documents in the world and they are the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence. The scrolls have a storied history that saw them stashed away inside a series of caves on the shores of the Dead Sea to protect them for the Roman armies that were invading the Holy Land in 68 BCE. The scrolls were lost until 1947 when a shepherd tossed a rock into the cave and discovered the scrolls. The scrolls have been on exhibit since 1965 at the Shrine of the Book at The Israel museum in Jerusalem. Google has announced that it has now made the Dead Sea Scrolls available online and has digitized all of the content in the scrolls and made that content searchable online. The images of the scroll are high resolution at up to 1200MP to allow the user to see everything about the scrolls. Google says that you can zoom in on the Temple Scroll and see what the animal skin that the text is written on looks like. The Great Isaiah Scroll can be re

Unofficial figures suggest Google+ saw a 30-percent jump in members after throwing open its doors to registrations, with indications that the total user-base could amount to 43.4m. According to tracking data by Paul Allen (not the Microsoft co-founder), Google+ growth in the period following broad availability of the social network matched that of the very earliest days of the closed beta. On September 9, Allen claims, his counting model suggested Google+ had 28.7m users. That figure leapt to 37.8m users by September 22, “with most of the growth coming in the last 2 days”; his model uses a list of common and uncommon surnames, factoring in a little extra wiggle-room for those still using unlisted profiles and those with non-Roman names. It’s a system he claims has kept pace with Google’s own figures for Google+ activity. Those official figures have been in short supply, despite there being plenty of interest in how the search giant’s fledgling service has grown compared to Facebook and

I was bummed not long ago when Netflix announced that it would be ending the content deal that it has in place with Starz. At the time, it seemed that all of the movies my kids liked to watch were part of that Starz deal. Netflix has patched up that kids movie hole with a new deal that has been announced with DreamWorks. The deal will see DreamWorks’ kids flicks coming directly to Netflix. Previously the movies from DreamWorks went to HBO when they hit TV for the first time. The deal is said to cover not only films, but also TV specials. That means the holiday content that DreamWorks offers will hit Netflix as well. The terms of the deal aren’t public at this time, but according to the NYT, analysts think that Netflix is coughing up $30 million per movie for the content. The content won’t hit Netflix until 2013 according to reports. The deal between Netflix and DreamWorks is the first deal to be made of this sort between a streaming content provider and a major movie studio. Generally,

Geeks are always out to ply their geek trade no matter if that is waxing up their car, playing video games, or showing of their latest sling shot inventions like our slingshot madman Joerg Sprave. Not too long ago Joerg was showing us a new slingshot that was a crossbow bullpup design. That slingshot worked pretty well and had some impressive power behind it. Joerg is back now and is showing off the crossbow design again alongside another little slingshot that he made that looks like a traditional handheld design. The design of the handheld slingshot is tweaked though to use the roller system that is on the crossbow slingshot to give the thing more power. Joerg picked up a little beer keg that was left behind and uses it for slingshot fodder. Surprisingly despite the fact that the crossbow is able to fire the ball bearing faster than the handheld design, the crossbow is unable to go through the little keg. The handheld design on the other hand shoots right through the can sending beer

Samsung has revealed its latest Windows Phone 7 device, the Samsung Omnia W, running WP7.5 Mango on a 1.4GHz single-core processor. The successor to the original Omnia 7, the Omnia W shrinks the display somewhat to a 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED panel, but drops a tenth of a millimeter to come in at 10.9mm thick and falls to 115.3g. There’s also 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel main camera with autofocus and an LED flash. Like other recent Windows Phone 7 Mango devices we’ve seen, Samsung has slotted a front-facing camera – running at mere VGA resolution – into the bezel to support video calling. Connectivity includes dualband 900/2100 HSPA and quadband GSM/EDGE, along with WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1. As well as the various improvements in Mango itself – more on which in our technical preview - Samsung has spent some time working over its software. There’s the company’s own AllShare DLNA support for media streaming, a 3G-compatible video calling app, the Mini Dia