IBLOG SPACE

A while back, we talked about the first of the Amazon Locker cubbies for package deliveries that turned up inside stores like 7-Eleven in Seattle. They were interesting, but more than a little strange. The NYC package delivery system is now in place in NYC after the test in Seattle performed well. Right now Seattle and NYC are the only places where the Amazon Locker system is in place. There are eight locker systems in each of the major cities. The idea is that the lockers could be used to deliver packages bought from Amazon rather than having them shipped to a person’s residence or office, they can ship them to these lockers. I guess I could see the benefit if you were ordering a gift you didn’t want someone else in the house to see. The majority of shoppers on Amazon won’t have access to the locker system at this point. If you do live in an area where you can access the lockers the option for shipping there rather than your home or office should be available at checkout. What do

We are all familiar with Colorware, this is the company that will take your gadget and paint it up for you in whatever retina burning hue you so desire. Colorware has done this for all sorts of gadgets for a long time including the iPad and previous iPhones. It is now offering up the new iPhone 4S in fancy colors, but you had better be prepared to pay dearly for the service. To start with their iPhone 4S in black or white colors will cost you $1,500. For that much loot you can choose whatever colors you want on the back, frame, button, SIM card tray, and the ear buds. You can get the colors in original shades, gloss and SofTouch. The SofTouch will cost you an extra $10. That price is just crazy, I don’t recall any previous devices costing that much when colored. The iPad 2 with 3G is nearly $500 cheaper than the iPhone 4S. Would you ever pay that kind of money for a smartphone?

For a long time one of the more popular cheap Android devices for hackers to get hands on was the Nook Touch. That little Android reader was hacked to open it up for use surfing the web and more. I think that hacking it and other devices like it will be not such a popular thing to do with the Kindle Fire coming. If you own a Sony Reader PRS-T1 that runs Android inside this hack might appeal to you. We don’t know exactly how this was pulled off, but someone has been able to coax the PRS-T1 into running more Android apps. The E-Ink screen certainly lacks the cool factor of color screen devices when it comes to apps. Apparently, the hacker that created this hack is not ready to release it to the public. There are still a bunch of apps that don’t work. For instance game apps like the ever-popular Angry Birds will not run. However, a bunch of other reader apps will run like CoolReader, FBReader, ReLaunch, AWD.Launcher, and Android Terminal. The hack is in the early stages and presumably

Nintendo has offered up some more detail on the highly anticipated Nintendo Wii game called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The game will land as a Wii exclusive on November 20. Last week Nintendo unveiled some of the first details on the game areas and it is back with some new details to tease fans with. The new game details show off Lake Floria and the Parella Tribe. The new details also offer a bit of insight into the swimming techniques that allow Link to explore Lake Floria on the surface and under. Other things covered are the various insects and potions that will be offered with Link traveling from the surface to Skyloft and back. The bugs will be usable to add new ingredients to give potions new effects. A new island will be available for exploration called Fun Fun Island. It’s a small island above the clouds near Links hometown. He can play there, but must find a way to complete the quest offered by the only inhabitant of the island. Link also gets a whip that the play

Reports that Apple would ditch Samsung and look instead to TSMC for the Apple A6 processor expected to feature in the next-gen iPad 3 and iPhone 5 are premature, a Samsung exec has insisted, claiming that the two companies will continue to collaborate on chipset design and manufacture. While multiple sources had suggested TSMC had snatched the production contract out from under Samsung, as Apple supposedly distanced itself from over-reliance on its courtroom foe, issues around manufacturing have apparently left Apple still dependent on Samsung The Korea Times reports. “Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone. It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner” the unnamed Samsung executive told the Korean newspaper. The reasons behind that conclusion aren’t specified, but a separate – and also anonymous – supplier claims that TSMC’s production naivety is

Apple has announced launch weekend sales figures for the new iPhone 4S, confirming that over 4m of the iOS 5 smartphones have been sold since it went on sale last Friday. Meanwhile, over 25m people are now using iOS 5 having upgraded their iPad, iPod touch or existing iPhone since the platform’s release last wednesday. “iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend – the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days” Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller said in a statement today. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.” As for iCloud, Apple’s cloud-sync backup service, the company says more than 20m users have already signed up for access. iCloud offers a remote way to safely store the data from your smartphone, as well as allowing for music access across iOS devices. The next batch of countries to get

RIM has started to tease a pair of new handsets that are in the works. The two new devices are the Blackberry 9380 and the 9790. The first details about the new smartphone duo surfaced Friday in a post on the Inside Blackberry Developers blog with the intent to get devs to get the apps ready for the new devices. The 9380 is thought to be called the Curve Touch 9380. It will sport a 3.2-inch display with 480 x 360 pixels in portrait view. It will not have a keyboard packing in a touchscreen only. The other handset is thought to be called the 9970 Bellagio. That is certainly an odd name since many are familiar with the famous hotel in Las Vegas called the Bellagio. The 9790 is expected to have the same screen resolution as the 9380 with a smaller size at 2.44-inches. That smaller size means that the Bellagio will pack in the standard QWERTY keyboard as well. We have no indication of the other features, when the two new devices will land, or how much they will cost. If RIM wants apps

A security firm called Intersperience has conducted a survey in the UK to see what the biggest fears that consumers have about mobile payment security are. The goal was to figure out the big concerns that might keep people in the UK from adopting the new mobile wallet services like Google Wallet. The survey was conducted by interviewing adults in the UK. The results found that only 17% of those polled would like to use their phone as a mobile wallet in the future. The top concern that was going to keep people from taking advantage of mobile wallets was security with 44% of those polled citing that as what will keep them away from mobile wallets. The survey conducted polled 1000 people. Some of the hesitation seems to be simple lack of knowledge. Out of those polled 24% of the respondents think that using mobile payments feels less secure, though they don’t know why. Another 24% of those polled think their mobile is more likely to be stolen than their wallet. Right now only 8% of ad

Nintendo has been leading the portable gaming market for years since it launched the dual screen packing Nintendo DS. Nintendo has passed along some new numbers for the DS that come by way to stats tracking firm NPD and they show the DS is still selling very well. The Nintendo DS has now sold 50 million units since it was launched. It continues to sell well even thought Nintendo 3DS has been on the market for months now. The same numbers show that the 3DS sold 260,000 units in September. That means that since Nintendo got realistic on the price of the console and cut it down to size, the 3DS has sold 450,000 units in the US alone. Other than the price cut, another thing that has driven sales of the console is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D. That game has sold more than 500,000 copies so far. What the 3DS really needs is more appealing games to help drive sales. I bet that Mario Kart 3D will sell very well and help move some hardware at the same time.

I have never been a huge BMW fan. I can certainly appreciate the M versions that the car company puts out with nice performance. Overall, I find the brand a bit boring personally. Still, it’s always cool to see the refreshed vehicles that will be coming to market soon. At this point, we have a few pics of the normal 3-Series cars that are lighter, yet lower and wider. The updated rides include the 328i, 335i, and 320d. The cars are getting a 4-cylinder engine marking the first time that the 3-series will get a 4-cylinder since the 1999 318ti. The new cars will also get a stop-start feature that works like a hybrid to increase fuel economy. There will also be an available 8-speed automatic transmission too. The car is 88 pounds lighter, 3.66″ longer overall, and 1.96″ longer in the wheelbase. The slight extra length and width gives a bit more leg and knee room. There will be three different trim packages offered with the new car. An M version will also be coming. I wonder if it will

Anyone that has flown post 9/11 knows that airport security has greatly tightened. However, there are still worries that bad guys might slip some weapons past the security at the airport that could be used to take over an aircraft. The invisible weapons that Sprave is testing on his ballistic gel are not literally invisible; a metal detector just won’t detect them. Among the weapons are some knives made from things like ceramic and flint along with one of Sprave’s slingshots made from carbon fiber. It never ceases to amaze me just how powerful a slingshot can be. Ballistic gelatin is the stuff that mimics the resistance of flesh so it’s interesting to see just how bad the gel is damaged by this stuff. Most of the knives slice and stab just as you would expect. The stones that he is flinging from that carbon fiber slingshot are very large. Despite how large they are the stones still penetrate the gel and lodge inside. The smaller stones with sharper edges penetrate surprisingly deep

I know that this side of Windows ME, Vista was the most maligned OS that Microsoft has produced. I have used Vista for a long time and still do on all of the machines in my home. Honestly, I haven’t had any issues with the OS. Still, vast hoards of people and businesses skipped Vista and stuck with XP for a long time and that is finally starting to change with Windows 7 selling very well. Metrics firm StatCounter has announced that Windows 7 has now for the first time overtaken XP in global usage statistics. Right now Windows 7 accounts for 40.21% of the global desktop operating system usage around the globe. Windows XP has slipped to 38.64%. Those metrics are from the month of October. This is the first time since the Windows 7 launch that it has pulled ahead of XP. Windows 7 sold over 240 million licenses in its first year of sales. According to Gartner 42% of all the computers in the world are going to be running Windows 7 by the end of the year. Microsoft is looking to keep the

Last week Nintendo was showing off a new Wii bundle for Europe in a cool blue color with the Mario & Sonic at the 2012 Olympics. That bundle wasn’t going to come to the US and has no GameCube support integrated. Nintendo has announced that the US will be getting its own black Wii console bundle. The bundle is set to land on October 23 and will include the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game title. Other than the game, the bundle will also include the soundtrack to Super Mario Galaxy. The console in the bundle is glossy black and includes a glossy black nunchuck and Wii remote. The new bundle will be offered for $149.99 making it cheap and aimed at the new buyer of a Wii console. The game supports up to four players, so if everyone wants in on the Mario action you will need three more remotes and three nunchucks. If you are new to the Wii market, the current bundle that offers the Wii in white or black along with the nunchuk and Mario Kart will still be on the market for $149.99. If

Samsung has issued a press release to talk up its latest milestone in the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone range. The original Galaxy S smartphone has been around since last June and according to Samsung has sold 20 million units. In the few months that the follow-up to the original Galaxy S has been on the market, it has sold half the number of devices already that the original S has sold. The Galaxy S II has now moved about 10 million units according to Samsung. Together the Galaxy S II and Galaxy S smartphones have moved 30 million units around the globe. That makes this one of the most popular smartphone series anywhere. The sales numbers continue to grow for the S II as well with Android fans still flocking to the high-end device. Samsung attributes the success of the S II to the Super AMOLED screen and speedy APU. The S II is apparently the second most popular smartphone in Korea and is the most popular device in at least ten other countries. How long do you think it will take the

RIM has announced its compensation package for BlackBerry users affected by last week’s outage, and if you were hoping for a refund then you’re going to be disappointed. Instead, RIM is offering a bundle of twelve apps – usually collectively priced at over $100 from the BlackBerry App World – free, including titles such as SIMS 3 and Vlingo Plus, while enterprise customers will also get a month’s free Technical Support. If enterprise users already have a Technical Support contract, they’ll find an extra month’s service tacked onto the end of it. Those without will be offered a standalone free month of the enhanced services, with no obligation to continue. Everyone else will have to wait for RIM to begin to roll out the free apps, which the company says will happen “over the coming weeks” and run until the end of the year. “We are grateful to our loyal BlackBerry customers for their patience,” RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said in a statement. “We have apologized to our customers and we

Samsung has renewed its attack on Apple today, launching a legal bid to have the new iPhone 4S yanked from store shelves in Japan and Australia. The Korean firm filed for preliminary injunctions in both countries this morning, the WSJ reports, claiming Apple had infringed several of its patents such as UI, wireless telecoms standards and other technologies. In Japan, Samsung also requested that Apple’s iPhone 4 and iPad 2 be blocked from sale. “We are now counterattacking Apple again” a Samsung spokesperson confirmed today. In a statement released by the company, it alleged that “Apple has continued to violate our patent rights and free ride on our technology” insisting that “we will no longer stand idly by and will steadfastly protect our intellectual property.” The spat is the latest in an ongoing legal war between the two firms, joined closely by the significant component supply deal that helps Apple actually make its iPhone and other products, but pushed apart by antagonism ove

T-Mobile USA has announced its latest Android smartphone, the LG DoublePlay, a QWERTY slider that pairs twin touchscreens with Gingerbread and a 5-megapixel camera. Set to go on sale in time for the holidays, the DoublePlay has a 3.5-inch main display upfront, with a smaller, 2-inch sub-display nestling between the split keyboard. On the back, meanwhile, is a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash and support for 720p HD video recording. A 1GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor keeps Android 2.3 moving, and LG has customized the software so that the two displays can be used either in tandem, showing different elements of the same app, or independently, allowing you to monitor two apps simultaneously. LG Cloud Text and Group Text handle communications, with support for cross-platform chat between the DoublePlay and LG’s tablets. Connectivity hasn’t been exactly confirmed, but judging by the 4G icon on the display above we’re assuming T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network is supported; WiFi

If you’ve been paying attention to the monthly sales reports from research firm NPD, you know that Nintendo is having some trouble. The game company, which not long ago dominated the gaming space, is now an after-thought for many consumers. And in turn, the company’s financial performance is slipping. For its part, Nintendo has kept a brave face, saying that it believes good times are ahead. The company points to increased interest in the 3DS, solid titles launching for that platform, and next year’s launch of the Wii U to make its case. But those of us who have been watching Nintendo over the last year or so know better: the company is in deep trouble, and its prospects for future success in the game business are not nearly as great as the company would have you believe. Simply put, times are tough at Nintendo. But is there a quick fix in sight? Some might say that the Wii U is that fix, but I just don’t see it. As far as we can tell so far, the Wii U looks to be a fine compet

Up until this point with Android, I’d have said that this application was “enhanced for Honeycomb” as that’s the current operating system made specifically for tablets – but as that’s all about to change this week in Hong Kong, I’ll just say “for tablets.” This is ASTRO File Manager, an awesome little app that’s made a big splash in both the worlds of Android hackers AND normal humans who just want to move their files around on their Android devices with the greatest of ease. It’s all gotten a little bit easier this week with an update that utilizes your entire giant display. Updating to the newest version of ASTRO File Manager, that being version ASTRO_3.0-203-std, will bring you split-screen selections, folders with lovely previews including thumbnails for photos and filetypes for others, and one-touch pop-up menu options all around. You can now drag and drop items inside the app instead of having to select Move or Copy and Paste from your menu, and the entire app has a new set of

It’s time, ladies and gentlemen, the first full year of Angry Birds having a whole separate game dedicated to seasons is done, and your question has been answered: yes, Rovio will make a new Halloween expansion each year, not just the first! For those of you out there not having followed Angry Birds since the beginning, there was originally an Angry Birds standalone game and an Angry Birds Halloween standalone game. Once the Halloween game became nearly as popular as the original, Rovio got wise and continued the holiday theme, eventually combining them all into one single collection called Angry Birds Seasons – that tradition continues here with the expansion that started the whole thing: Halloween. What you’ll be able to see here is several of the speedy tiny blue birds dressed up in classic Halloween costumes heading for a hill that sounds like its full of monsters. They seem all freaked out at first, then laugh with one another because they know they can handle the danger, no big

It’s time for the newest and hopefully last date change for the release of the Star Wars MMORPG – The Old Republic. This is a game that, for the lay person, will be comparable to World of Warcraft in its scope, allowing players to create their own character with whom they’ll be able to experience the entire Star Wars universe as it unfolds before them. Have battles, accomplish missions, swing some lightsabers around, the whole shebang. The newest word on this upcoming game is that there will be a global launch – with North America and the European territories on the list thus far and no sign of greater Asia – on December 20th, 2011. As those of you who’ve been waiting for this game for many years know already, this game was set for the end of 2012 already, originally set to release somewhere around when Diablo III would be dropped – instead D3 was delayed until 2012 and Star Wars is now free to become the biggest MMORPG release of the season. Once The Old Republic is released, global

EXPECTATIONS At the very onset, there aren't many expectations that one has from the music of  Be-Careful . There isn't much that has one heard about the film and buzz is yet to be built around it. The film's release is a mere 10 days away and its songs haven't bombarded the music channels. With hardly any awareness been created for the film's music so far, one plays on  Be-Careful  which has music by Siddhartth-Suhas and lyrics by Kumaar.  MUSIC It's a hip-hop beginning for  Be-Careful  with ' Love Technology ' being the first to arrive. Leave aside the lyrics that make one wonder whether it is indeed Kumaar who has spun an entire song around 'Technology', 'Astrology' and 'Biology' amongst other words, the song by itself does make for a decent listening. With Shahid Mallya at the helm of affairs and Sasha Tirupati doing a good job as a supporting vocalist, ' Love Technology ' is the kind of song that one typically asso

EXPECTATIONS You expect a fun outing with  Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge . For a young set up like this, you do look forward to what's is in the offering even though you are sure that it won't be a quintessential Bollywood outings since Y Films has a different grammar of filmmaking in mind. Also with social networking as a crux of affairs, you do wonder if the album may just take an altogether tangential route. With Raghu Dixit making his debut as a composer for a Hindi film and Anvita Dutt Guptan spinning lyrics, you play on  Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge  and check out what those five songs out there have to offer.  MUSIC It's a thumping start, well literally so, to the album with ' Dheaon Dheaon ' opening the album and making an instant connect. A dance number that carries forward the theme of the film and conveys the party scene amongst the youngsters, it has a sound different from other routine club songs that one hears in practically every second film. The dist

EXPECTATIONS There are decent expectations from the music of  Miley Naa Miley Hum . After all the film looks like a quintessential romantic entertainer, has a good look to it, comes with promise of some easy-on-ears melodies and has Sajid-Wajid as the composers with Javed Akhtar as the lyricist. With such a team, you do feel that the music would have something good to offer despite the fact that amongst actors it is only Kangna who is the most notable of them all.  MUSIC Miley Naa Miley Hum  begins on a positive note with ' Haan Yahi Pyaar Hai '. Okay, so it is clichéd, routine and predictable but these are the very factors that have ensured that Bollywood music continues to have its own identity for over 50 years. With the kind of sound that one does associate with a young melodious track, ' Haan Yahi Pyaar Hai ' has Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal coming together to croon a lovey-dovey song that seldom fails. No, there isn't anything extraordinary in the song's pr

EXPECTATIONS There are tremendous expectations from the soundtrack of Rockstar. Reasons are aplenty. This is more than a decade after Taal that A.R. Rahman is composing for a full fledged Bollywood musical. The film is directed by Imtiaz Ali whose Love Aaj Kal and Jab We Met have created waves when it comes to music (composed by Pritam). Moreover the young man in the title role is Ranbir Kapoor who is expected to be a true 'rockstar' in the title role. With ever-so-reliable Irshad Kamil as the lyricist, one expects nothing less than something extraordinary from Rockstar. Moreover, due to the film's genre, you do want the album to throw at least 3-4 chartbuster tracks that would play for many more months to come, if not years. With as many as 14 tracks in the album, one is obviously led to believe that your wish would indeed come true. MUSIC Write your own music review of Rockstar As it turns out, Mohit Chauhan is Ranbir Kapoor's voice in the film, what with the si

Banner Wide Frame Pictures Viacom 18 Motion Pictures Status Under Production Color C Release Date March 2012 Language Hindi Genre Comedy Producer Abhishek Pathak Kumar Mangat Pathak Director Supavitra Babul Lyricist Kumaar Music Director Raghav Sachar Cinematography Manish Bhatt Editor Abhishek Seth Screenplay Gautam Mehra Sound Baylon Fonseca Dialogue Gautam Mehra