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RIM has pushed out the first of its free BlackBerry apps, part of the company’s apology to frustrated subscribers affected by the outage last week. In total, RIM plans to make twelve titles free to download – collectively priced at over $100 normally – including a mixture of games and utilities. The first app to go up for grabs is iSpeech DriveSafe.ly Pro, which usually retails at $19.99. “DriveSafe.ly 2.0 reads your text messages and emails out loud so you can concentrate on the road. Eliminate the temptation to reach for your phone by letting DriveSafe.ly read to you and automatically respond for you. DriveSafe.ly 2.0 Pro allows you to send text responses by voice and use other voice commands such as replaying the message or calling back the sender.” The remainder of the twelve apps will be pushed out over the next four weeks, RIM tells us. However, availability may vary depending on what version of BlackBerry OS your phone is running and whereabouts you live; still, RIM says i

Logitech has announced the availability of two custom themed peripherals for PC gamers that are fans of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game that will be launching soon. The first of the peripherals is a version of the G9x gaming mouse and the other is a custom version of the G105 gaming keyboard. Both of the peripherals have special COD graphics on them. The G105 gaming keyboard has green backlighting to help you see the keys in the dark. It also has six “G” keys that the gamers can bind macros and commands to if they want. The keyboard has anti ghosting tech to keep keys from continuing to make the character on screen move around after they are released. The keyboard supports five key presses at one time and it has a bunch of instant media access keys. The keyboard is available for $79.99. The G9x gaming mouse is available now for $99.99 on pre-order. It has adjustable weight and on the fly sensitivity adjustment, it is good for sensitivity up to 5700dpi down to 200 dpi. The m

If I had to pick my single favorite film of my youth, it would be Cannonball Run. I loved that flick and it is the movie that first got me interested in cars and hot chicks in shiny purple jumpsuits. I will never forget that opening scene with the Lamborghini wailing away as it runs from the police. A rumor is making the rounds that GM might be backing a remake of the flick. This is good and bothers me a bit at the same time. I would love this movie to be remade, but you can bet if GM is involved, all we will see in the flick are GM cars. I can see the Corvette and Camaro in any remake, but this film was always about the exotics for me. It would have to have some Lamborghinis and Ferraris. You can also count on GM using Ford products for the bad guys too. Just watch Hawaii 5.0 and you see that all the bad guys drive Ford’s while the good guys roll Chevy products. The rumor comes from some gossip site, so take it all with a grain of salt. Apparently, rather than racing across the US

Buffalo Technology has been making all sorts of external storage devices for a long time that span the range from small and portable to larger solutions designed to be left in the office. The company has new storage product that it has announced today called the MiniStation Extreme. This external storage solution uses fast connectivity and software to get data security and fast transfer rates. The Extreme has a USB 3.0 connection for your computer and uses Buffalo TurboPC EX software to enable data transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps. That gives plenty of speed for transferring and sharing video and other large files and media. Inside the external enclosure, the HDD is placed inside a highly shock resistant body and has rubberized elements for additional protection. The shock protection features meet MIL-STD-810F Procedure IV and have passed free-fall drop tests from up to 2.3m. The storage device will come in piano black, red, and silver colors and has an integrated USB cable that snap

Does your landline phone need a touchscreen? German DECT phone manufacturer Gigaset reckons so, and the SL910A is the end result: a 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen in a digital cordless phone. Packing Bluetooth, Outlook sync, text messaging and PIM functionality, along with an integrated digital answerphone, the Gigaset SL910A borrows plenty from what we’d expect from a modern cellphone. We grabbed some hands-on playtime to see if it’s really the next generation of landlines or simply overkill. As a DECT handset, the SL910A is reasonably straightforward. A single connection to your landline, support for up to six handsets paired to the same base-station (and GAP compliance so they needn’t all be from Gigaset), 55 minutes of digital voicemail recording (plus the ability to record live calls to that memory, though not then offload them to your computer) and an integrated phonebook for up to 500 entries. Rather than punch them all in via the touchscreen you can hook up via USB or B

Samsung has admitted that the new Galaxy Nexus was designed specifically with bypassing Apple patents in mind, mobile president Shin Jong-kyun saying that the company “will avoid everything we can.” Talking to Yohhap News, Shin said Samsung “take patents very seriously” but due to the complexity of intellectual property there was no guarantee that the Galaxy Nexus would be immune from ligitation. “We will see if [the new phone] will be 100 percent free” he conceded, describing the ongoing legal saga between Samsung and Apple as “just the start” of a lengthy and unrewarding process. “I don’t think there is much gain” Shin admitted, “what we are losing is the pride in our brand.” That hasn’t stopped Samsung from attempting to fight back, filing motions for preliminary injunctions against the new iPhone 4S in Australia and Japan, France and Italy. Samsung Galaxy Nexus hands-on: Rumors surfaced last week that Samsung and Google’s original plans to launch the Galaxy Nexus at CTIA had

Google is readying a music download store described by Android boss Andy Rubin as having “a little twist” to the concept, as the search giant continues to challenge Apple and Amazon. The upcoming music service will not only have the support of the record labels but “will have a little twist … a little Google in it” Rubin teased. “It won’t just be selling 99 cent tracks.” Speaking to AllThingsD, Rubin characterized the challenges of getting piracy-cautious music labels to agree to cloud services as one of sufficiently communicating exactly what Google had in mind. “Google is in the very very early phases of adding consumer products to our portfolio,” he highlighted, going on to suggest that “the media industry didn’t see us as that. They saw us a search company.” Google already has its Google Music cloud streaming system, launched in beta earlier this year, but so far doesn’t offer users the chance to buy tracks. Instead, they can upload their existing music to the service and then

Ice Cream Sandwich should begin appearing on existing Android smartphones “a matter of weeks” after the Samsung Galaxy Nexus goes on sale in November, Google’s Andy Rubin has confirmed. Rubin didn’t specify which Android OEMs were expected to push out v4.0 first, while speaking at AllThingsD this morning, but did suggest that the delay between the first official Ice Cream Sandwich Googlephone and others getting to enjoy the new platform would be minimal. If the OEMs play ball, that’s a marked improvement over previous releases of Android upgrades which have, in some cases, taken months to filter through to consumers. Part of the delay has always been down to modification and testing; manufacturers introduce their own customizations to differentiate the OS, and then they need to be tested, before the ROMs are handed to carriers for them to do their own testing. That checking process is unlikely to be any quicker this time around, but it seems Google is more on the ball with releasin

Google Android chief Andy Rubin has revealed that there are six million Android tablets in the wild today, though highlighted that the figure only counts those slates running Google services. The stat was confirmed during Rubin’s appearance at the AllThingsD conference, and is significantly higher than previous estimates of Android tablet sales. Last week, back-of-envelope calculations suggested that around 3.4m Android Honeycomb tablets were in the wild, based on Google’s own Android activation figures and the company’s platform version stats. However, it’s unclear whether Rubin’s 6m number counts solely Honeycomb slates or includes tablets that offer Google services but run smartphone versions of Android rather than Honeycomb, such as the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab. “Six million is pretty healthy but it is not 30 million” Rubin conceded, suggesting that “obviously we need to get there.” First step of the renewed Android tablet offensive will be 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the new bui

ASUS has kicked off a new teaser campaign for the next-gen Eee Pad Transformer 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the company’s original Transformer. Although the tablet is only shown in snippets, there’s still plenty to take away from the short video (which you can see after the cut): like before it docks into a keyboard base section, and has a rear camera now packing an LED flash. The keyboard itself has had a redesign, but still includes USB connectivity. We’re guessing the memory card reader and integrated battery are still present as well. The whole thing is slimmer than the first-gen Transformer, though, a welcome change, and it seems ASUS has moved away from plastic and instead gone for a metal chassis similar to the ASUS UX-series of ultrabooks. Earlier this month, ASUS CEO Jerry Shen confirmed that the Transformer 2 would be arriving imminently, priced at $499. There were also hints that it might run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the new OS unveiled by Google just a few h

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is known for his sweaty on stage antics and for his comments about competitors’ products. Ballmer is back at it again and is blasting Android on usability and saying that consumers need to be a computer scientists to figure out how to use an Android phone. The off the wall comments by Ballmer came from the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco when the Microsoft CEO was asked to compare the appeal of a Windows Phone to an Android phone. While Ballmer was harsh on the Android devices he was more reserved on the iPhone and especially the Siri assistant voice software that the latest iPhone 4S offers. Ballmer still contends that the Windows Phone is better than Apple for putting the needs of user’s front and center in the phone experience. Ballmer noted during the conference that Windows Phones needed to compete better on price with Android devices and that Microsoft needed to start supporting cheaper models. Telegraph notes that Ballmer denied that Microsoft wou

Apple has announced the financial data for fiscal Q4 2011 that ended on September 24, 2011. Apple had the highest September quarter revenue and earnings in the company’s history, but still fell short of expectations. Apple CEO Tim Cook is blaming the underperforming Q4 results that didn’t meet analyst predictions on rampant speculation later in the quarter. That speculation drove iPhone 5 rumors to a fevered pitch and resulted in less sales of the iPhone 4 as consumers waited for the next iPhone to debut according to Cook. While on the one hand Apple is fighting less than expected sales and profits, it still had an excellent quarter with revenue of $28.27 billion and a net profit for the quarter of $6.62 billion working out to $7.05 per diluted share. In the same quarter last year, Apple posted $20.34 billion in revenue and $4.31 billion net quarterly profit. Apple says that it sold 17.07 million iPhones in the quarter for a 21% unit growth compared to the same quarter in 2010. The

This week Synology America Corp announced the official launch of the successor to the network attached storage unit DS710+ with the new DS712+. This NAS server is a storage solution for high performance requiring individuals, a PC file server replacement made specifically for business users. This unit when coupled with the DX510 expansion module will be able to scale out to seven drives, equalling up to 21TB, on the fly – presenting Synology’s “most powerful business storage solution at this price point.” This new unit will be just under $500 USD and with the ability to begin with any amount of storage, scaling up an option as a person’s usage grows. The DS712+ allows you multiple redundancy options and the two-bay server will support RAID 1 or Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) for single disk redundancy. Dual NICs will allow for inexpensive MPIO support, SHR will allow users scaling their storage to do so quickly when adding disks in the DX510, and the entire DS712+ runs DiskStation Manage

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced that it has talked openly with Amazon about privacy with the new Silk browser that will ship on the Kindle Fire tablet that was announced not long ago. The EFF wanted to find out since the browser on the Fire was new to the market how it was handling privacy. One key element of the browser that is different from most browsers on the market today is that rather than using the HTTP protocol, Silk will use the Amazon cloud servers and the SPDY protocol as well. The cloud servers and SPDY will be used to route most webpage elements through the cloud servers to speed page downloading. The privacy fears came in that when in cloud mode the user would be trusting Amazon with a lot of information that could be used to track the browsers habits online. Amazon tells the EFF that cloud mode will be the default setting, but it can be easily turned off. Amazon also notes that it will not intercept SSL traffic. Requests from the browser for SSL tra

Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is only – officially, anyway – a few hours old, but already carriers and retailers are queuing up to offer the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone. In the UK, carriers Vodafone and Three have both confirmed that they’ll be offering the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus when it begins to go on sale from next month. There’s no word from the other carriers – O2, Orange and T-Mobile UK – at this stage, though that could change as the UK wakes up later today. Still, if you want the Galaxy Nexus on a different network, retailer Phones 4U has confirmed it will be offering the handset as well. In the US, of course, Verizon is confirmed to be offering the LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus, for even higher potential data speeds. Not much use in the UK, though, where LTE is yet to land. The new Nexus has a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 touchscreen, dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1080p HD capable 5-megapixel camera, all in a “Contour” curved chassis. Check out our hands-on

Among the slew of new features announced today for the Galaxy Nexus smartphone and Android Ice Cream Sandwich is a native app called Android Beam. This feature uses the built-in NFC on the Galaxy Nexus to allow users to easily share files between two Ice Cream Sandwich devices by simply tapping them together. NFC has mostly been talked about in recent months in regards to its use in mobile payment systems, such as Google Wallet. However, the technology has many other applications and has been used in third-party apps, such as DoubleTwist, to share songs. Now, Google is about to make a lot more use out of the technology with Android Beam on Ice Cream Sandwich devices. With Android Beam, users can tap-to-share a variety of information, including files, contacts, YouTube videos, maps, and links to websites and Android Market apps. Developers can also take advantage of the API so that Android Beam can be used to start group chats, multiplayer games, and more.

As far as versions of mobile operating systems go, Google has been rather up front with the names for Android, each of them sticking to a kind of delicious food – this week in Hong Kong we’ve confirmed that no longer will the treats Honeycomb and Gingerbread rule the separate worlds of Tablets and Smartphones – there will be one, Ice Cream Sandwich. This version of Android is numbered 4.0 and the name, Ice Cream Sandwich, has two meanings when it comes down to it – As you may recall from all the way back at Mobile World Congress 2011, there was an event we were at where Google’s Eric Schmidt first told us of a future with one Android OS. Schmidt first foretold of this future at MWC 2011 directly after outlining the idea that Google Chrome OS was for keyboard machines while Google Android OS was for touchscreens. As you know, Android was split some time ago with the creation of Android 3.0 Honeycomb for tablets while Android 2.3 Gingerbread remained the most advanced version of the mo

The Galaxy Nexus site is now live following the Google and Samsung joint announcement of the device along with the unveiling of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The smartphone is the first Google LTE handset to run this next-gen platform and the combo touts a slew of new features nicely recapped on the slick new site. Google also posted a fun new video for Ice Cream Sandwich on its Android site, which we’ve included after the cut. Some of the new features you can expect from the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich powered Galaxy Nexus S include a refined interface with improved notifications, lock screens, widgets, and a multitask app manager. There’s also a Face Unlock feature that uses facial recognition to unlock your device as well as an Android Beam app that uses the built-in NFC for easy sharing of contacts, websites, apps and more with others nearby. For more details on the Galaxy Nexus, make sure to check out our coverage of the Google-Samsung event and stay tuned for our hands-o

Google has just finished unveiling the Galaxy Nexus smartphone and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at their press event in Hong Kong moments ago and now the SDK for the next-gen platform is available to developers. This new platform brings a refined and unified user experience that will work on smartphones, tablets, and more. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has been revamped on the principles of making it a platform that’s enchanting, easy to use, and powerful. Among the many new features, includes an improved notifications system, lock screen, and multitasking app management. It also has interface enhancements including a better soft keyboard, spell-checker, and instant voice input. Developers wanting to get a head start on optimizing their apps before the full launch in November, can get the SDK here. For more details on the new platform and the new Google Galaxy Nexus handset, make sure to check out our coverage of the event here as well as our upcoming hands-on with the device.

We are live at Google and Samsung’s major Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus unveiling event in Hong Kong. In revamping this next-gen Android operating system into the ultimate uniting platform Google really rethought the image of Android and summarized it as three principles based on what people want Android to do: “Enchant me, Simplify My Life, and Make Me Awesome.” The first of the improvements to come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is an improved home screen that is even easier to customize and more intuitive in accessing what you need. It lets you put all your most common actions front and center and you can easily swipe around to explore this space. The widgets tab is easy to find and add. You simply pick them up and drag and drop them to the home screen you want. They’re also now resizable. Folders now work with simple drag and drop as well. Just drag one app on to another to create a new folder and you can move apps around within a folder also by dragging. But

You’ll be running around easily through the web with many new features added to the newest version of Google’s built-in browser for Android. This browser allows you to use tabs, tabs that sit in groups, and vertical collections of links for easy navigation. You’ll be able to swipe through saved sites, get rid of them easily, and see your most viewed sites without effort. Full touch-screen interaction allows you to easily move through large images, and the entire system has a new aesthetic for a hands-off look. Gmail has been updated to allow you to easily move through messages by, first, allowing you to swipe back and forth through messages left and right just like you can on your home screens. Offline search works now, this working with your last 30 days of email out of the box – and that amount of time can be adjusted to whatever you like. Names will be inserted with new squares similar to what you see in Google+, and the entire system is integrated with your address book for simpl

Kim Titus of Samsung started off the Galaxy Nexus event by introducing the head of Samsung Mobile Communications, JK Shin, who began the show with the announcement that they’d be releasing the world’s first Ice Cream Sandwich device. This device would have their very popular Super AMOLED display brand, LTE connectivity, and Google+ integration right out of the box. This was of course the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Shin handed the show off to Andy Rubin of Google who continued to illustrate the device and the ecosystem as one that can “do things you never thought of before.” Then came the video of the Galaxy Nexus, a short video showing off the device flying through the air, this complimented by Andy Rubin and JK Shin then stepping back onto the stage for a photo opportunity holding the device aloft. Kevin Packingham of Samsung was up next, there to speak about the innovation in the device. Speed The Galaxy Nexus will be launching in both LTE and HSPA+ versions, both of them with the s

The PlayStation Vita will go on sale February 22, 2012 in North America and Europe, Sony has confirmed, two months after the console arrives in Japan. The handheld – which features a 5-inch OLED touchscreen – will be priced at $249 for the WiFi-only model, and $299 for the 3G/WiFi version. Of course, a new console is no use if there aren’t any games to play on it, but Sony reckons it has that wrapped up too. The company has over 100 games in development for the PS Vita, including Sound Shapes, Resistance: Burning Skies, Uncharted Golden Abyss, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Assassin’s Creed, FIFA and Call of Duty. There’ll also be social networking support baked in, including Facebook, foursquare, Skype and Twitter. The PS Vita also gets an unusual rear-mounted touchpad for game navigation, twin analog sticks and dual cameras.

Today the GALAXY Nexus has been revealed in Hong Kong to the world as the first device on earth to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This device has a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display with no less than 720p resolution, and it has a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP processor from Texas Instruments. The GALAXY Nexus is the first running what Google calls an entirely new look and feel to Android in Ice Cream Sandwich, along with multi-tasking, NFC support, a new notification system, and what they’re calling “Software Navigation Buttons”, this meaning that the physical Android home row of menu buttons are no more, everything is now right there inside the display. The entirety of this device has been revealed to us in Hong Kong before the event, and here we get to see it officially for the first time. You’ll see soon that there’s a brand new People app, a wholly redesigned camera interface, and “zero shutter lag” – whether that’s in Ice Cream Sandwich or on the phone, we’re not sure what’s implie

It appears that there must have been nothing the team at Samsung.com could have done to avoid an early outing of the search results for “Galaxy Nexus” as the listing has appeared for all to see just hours before its official unveiling in Hong Kong. Anyone who might have a try can right this minute search for either “Galaxy Nexus” or “Nexus Prime” over at Samsung and the “Best Match” result will be the “Galaxy Nexus from Verizon.” Oh what’s that? Verizon, there you are! The other new bit you can glean from this early outing is the fact that the back of the device looks QUITE similar to what we’ve seen recently on the Galaxy S II versions here in the USA and that the Ice Cream Sandwich build might well be coming with the Google+ app right out of the box. Will we start seeing the Google+ app in all future Google-certified Android builds? I think anyone asking foretellers of the future might well be getting the answer yes, mark my words. This is the first time we’ve seen this stack of

A few months ago we began hearing rumors of a device by the name “Nexus Prime”, a device that was supposed to do many things, amongst them run Android Ice Cream Sandwich, what we’re to understand now is that the CyanogenMod 7 crew made the whole thing up. This device was supposed to be a Verizon exclusive, made by LG, and contain an NVIDIA quad-core processor, all of these details, including the name Nexus Prime, are now said to have been made up by CM7 team members chosen to work closely with Google on the device that will be revealed tonight, a device by the name of Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The image you see above was included in a post on Google+ made by people that’d been in a G+ Hangout with a CyanogenMod worker last night. In this chat, apparently, this team member was part of a group working with Google closely over the past 2 months to help develop and design the device we’ll likely see tonight in Hong Kong. The funny thing about this situation is now that the CM7 crew may well

On the same day that Apple posted its somewhat disappointing Q4 earnings results, Intel is reporting the opposite with record-breaking Q3 earnings. The chipmaker surpassed the $14 billion revenue mark for the first time, reporting $14.2 billion in GAAP revenue, which has increased 28 percent from the year before, up $3.1 billion. Its net profit came in at $3.5 billion, up by $513 million or about 17 percent year-over-year. This is the sixth consecutive record-breaking quarter for the company, revealing strong double-digit growth in notebook PCs. The PC Client Group revenue was $9.4 billion, up 22 percent from the same quarter last year. The continued growth in data centers for mobile and cloud computing has also fueled Intel’s sales with the Data Center Group revenue at $2.5 billion, up 15 percent year-over-year. McAffee and Intel Mobile Communications contributed revenue of $1.1 billion while Intel’s other architecture group experienced a 68 percent year-over-year revenue growth.

A leaked screenshot of Verizon’s product release schedule reveals the tentative launch dates for a slew of upcoming Android smartphones, including what could be the just unveiled Motorola DROID RAZR as well as the soon to be unveiled Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The latter of which we’re expecting to see tonight at the Android Ice Cream Sandwich event hosted by Google and Samsung in Hong Kong. Reminder: we’ll be there to cover it live at 10pm EST, so stay tuned! When the Motorola DROID RAZR was announced today, pre-orders were said to start on October 27 with the actual in-store availability set for sometime in November. The leaked screenshot could a be a bit old as it still lists the DROID RAZR as the DROID HD, but reveals that the expected launch date is November 10. It’ll be the very same day that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will go on sale. Both will be 4G LTE devices and probably have comparable specs, but one will run Google’s latest Android build. Also worth noting from the leak is th

Apple has just reported its Q4 2011 earnings results and for the first time in a long time, the company has fallen short of Wall Street’s expectations. Despite this, the numbers are still Apple’s highest quarterly revenue and earnings and the company had record sales for its iPad and Mac products. Its Q4 revenue was $28.3 billion, missing the $29.41 billion estimate. The company posted a net profit of $6.62 billion or about $7.05 per diluted share, which fell short of the $7.26 expected. iPhone sales also missed the mark with 17.1 million units sold instead of the expected 22 million, while iPods sold 6.62 million, falling short of the 6.9 million estimate. The results initially dropped Apple stock down by 7% but it has since bounced back, now down by about 3.6%. Apple has a strong guidance for next quarter, putting a lot of pressure on iPhone 4S sales, which have started off very strong. The device has sold more than 4 million units over the past weekend. However, iPads sold 11.

According to the WSJ, two sources familiar with the situation revealed that Apple will be briefly closing down some of its retail stores on Wednesday during the company’s internal Steve Jobs memorial ceremony scheduled for the morning of October 19. The ceremony is open only to Apple employees and will take place at the outdoor amphitheater on the Infinite Loop campus. Jobs had passed away on October 5, just a day after the iPhone 4S announcement, and was laid to rest in a small private funeral on October 7. The ceremony was first announced to employees through an email from Apple CEO Tim Cook, who said that the event was meant “to take time to remember the incredible things Steve achieved in his life and the many ways he made our world a better place.” The temporary closing of Apple retail stores, however, was not announced via an internal memo, according to the sources. Instead, some retail employees were told about the plans over the phone and one employee claims that the event

Microsoft detailed how search would work on Windows 8 and released a video demoing the ease of the new search feature when used with the Windows 8 Metro UI start screen. The focus of the search feature, however, is more focused on finding and launching apps rather than simply files, as Microsoft’s studies show that people search for apps three times more than files and the company expects users to be installing a lot more apps with the new platform. From its metrics, the company found that 67% of searches performed on Windows 7 were for launching apps. Only about 22% of searches were for files, while 9% were for control panel items. Hence, with Windows 8, Microsoft is building on this pattern of search by providing search results in a unique three group view of Apps, Settings, and Files. The Apps group in search results is front and center, but can be easily switched to see Settings and Files search results. Alternatively, shortcut keys such as WinKey+W can be used to go directly t

Google announced today that it will be stepping up security on its search feature for signed-in users. These users will now get an SSL encrypted search experience by default, which means that their search terms and results can’t be intercepted by hackers or nosy network admins. This will be especially important for those that often use public unsecured internet connections, such as WiFi hotspots at cafes. SSL encryption was introduced to Gmail back in January of last year and Google has already been offering https://encrypted.google.com as a beta service. Encryption has also been available as an option for other major platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. In Google’s search implementation, it will encrypt both your search queries as well as the search results page. The change should take effect within the next few weeks, where you may notice a redirect to https://www.google.com. The “https” versus the original “http” indicates the secure connection. However, this will have an eff

Timed perfectly, the Motorola DROID RAZR’s FCC approval papers showed up just after the big unveiling announcement today in NYC. The FCC filling reveals that the DROID RAZR packs support for not only Verizon’s CDMA, EVDO, and LTE frequencies, but also global GSM 850 and 1900 bands as well as WCDMA II and V bands that could potentially make it the first Verizon LTE device to support worldwide roaming. The device will be known as the Motorola DROID RAZR here in the US, but will be available worldwide as simply the Motorola RAZR when it launches sometime in November. Pre-orders for the phone will start on October 27 here in the states and it costs $299 with a new two-year service agreement. The global GSM radios will be locked down by its firmware here, but the device could be sold unlocked overseas. The DROID RAZR has been teased as a smarter, thinner, stronger, and faster handset and indeed it packs some powerful specs in the what’s currently the world’s thinnest smartphone chassis.

The Doxie Go was announced today as a new portable scanner that can scan documents without being attached to a computer. Instead, it stores scanned files internally, operates on a rechargeable battery, and only needs to be attached via USB to either another computer or a flash drive when you’re ready to transfer the files. The portable scanner isn’t completely wireless, as you can’t wirelessly transfer a scanned document directly from the scanner to your computer or smartphone. But, it’s still pretty handy for road warriors that need reliable scanning while on the go and can scan a full color page in less than 8 seconds. It can store up to 600 scanned pages before you have to transfer the scans to your PC or Mac via a USB cable, USB flash drive, or an SD card. The Doxie Go is priced at $199 and will be available sometime in November. It will be getting an optional $39 accessory in December that will allow it to scan directly to your iPhone or iPad. The Doxie 2.0 software it comes w

The just unveiled Motorola DROID RAZR gets preloaded with the MotoCast app that lets you easily stream and sync content in your own little personal cloud. Unlike the iCloud, which stores your data and files on remote servers, the MotoCast simply streams and syncs content to your DROID RAZR wirelessly from what’s stored on your own computer. The MotoCast app creates a private cloud that lets you stream music, photos, and videos from your computer to your smartphone so that you can easily access those files without them having to hog a bunch of memory on your device. It streams over WiFi as well as 3G or 4G cellular networks, and in this case with the DROID RAZR, you’ll get to take advantage of the blazing fast Verizon 4G LTE network. Your Motorola DROID RAZR with MotoCast will work with either your Mac or Windows computer. The app can sync both iTunes and Windows Media Player playlists and lets you backup your device photos and videos to iPhoto and iTunes. The below video shows Moto

Motorola’s DROID RAZR wasn’t the only new Android device the company announced today; there’s the MOTOACTV packing Google’s platform too. It’s a brave move, launching a smart-watch, given the reception to the existing products that have attempted the market, and we’re not entirely convinced that the MOTOACTV will clinch things for Motorola, either. Check out our hands-on first-impressions after the cut. At 35g it’s certainly light, but it’s also reasonably bulky for a watch (if not for an Android-powered device). There’s no integrated cellphone functionality, of course, but you can pair the MOTOACTV with your Android phone and have text messages and other content pop up on-screen when they arrive. Alternatively there’s the MOTOACTV’s own abilities, including media playback and location tracking. The touchscreen is bright and responsive, though we’ll need to see how it copes in direct sunlight; an important consideration for a gadget intended to be used outdoors. The UI has been mod

Motorola just officially unveiled the DROID RAZR and not only does the phone pack powerful internals, but it also comes with a whole host of optional external accessories that further extends its capabilities. One of these accessories is the LapDock along with Motorola’s webtop app that turns your DROID RAZR into a laptop when it’s docked, similar to what we’ve seen with Motorola’s Atrix and the Atrix 2. The DROID RAZR is compatible with Motorola’s Lapdock 500 Pro or Lapdock 100. Both feature a slim laptop form factor that only comes to life when your DROID RAZR is docked. It allows you to use the computing power of your smartphone on the larger laptop-sized screen to watch movies, play games, edit documents, and browse the web via the full desktop version of the Firefox browser. The device will also work with Motorola’s HD Dock or HD Station to connect to your HDTV, speakers, and other productivity peripherals or large screen entertainment devices. And when it’s connected, you can

Motorola has picked an exciting time to resurrect the RAZR name, and some pretty darn impressive hardware to pair with it too. Freshly announced this morning, the Motorola DROID RAZR - or the Motorola RAZR as it will be known, off Verizon, in the rest of the world – promises to be a dual-core, LTE powerhouse. Read on for our hands-on first impressions! Hands-on, it’s a surprisingly light device considering what’s packed inside. Slightly heavier than the Samsung Galaxy S II, but considerably sturdier thanks to the less creaky, plasticky casing. Next to the Motorola ELECTRIFY it looks ridiculously slim, but still manages to fit in micro HDMI and microUSB ports. We’re not sure if it’s Samsung or someone else providing Motorola with its Super AMOLED display, but whatever the source it’s a bright, clear and beautifully color-saturated panel. Motorola has picked an exciting time to resurrect the RAZR name, and some pretty darn impressive hardware to pair with it too. Freshly announced th

RIM’s BBX may be in the pipeline, but it’s the Developer Beta of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 that’s here today. Announced at BlackBerry DevCon 2011 this morning, the new OS 2.0 includes the BlackBerry Plug-In for Android Development Tools, which allows coders to use the existing Eclipse Android development environment to make software that will also run on the PlayBook. There’s also RIM’s Runtime for Android Apps which now has an online tool to convert your Android apps into a PlayBook-friendly package. The tool allows developers to test their software for compatibility with the PlayBook – we already know that there will be some pretty broad limitations to what will run and what won’t – either in the online simulator or an actual PlayBook running OS 2.0. Potentially a lucrative market, too: RIM reckons its developers make more money from their apps than their counterparts on either iOS or Android. OS 2.0 also supports Adobe Air 3.0 and Adobe Flash 11, as well as WebGL for hardwa

Motorola has officially unveiled the DROID RAZR smartphone at today’s press event in NYC. It is indeed faster, stronger, smarter, and thinner. The last one, being true to its RAZR name, measuring in at only 7.1mm thin at its thinnest point. The Motorola DROID RAZR is now confirmed to sport a 4.3-inch advanced qHD display, which boasts a high contrast ratio and richer color saturation than the iPhone 4S. The display is fully covered with Gorilla Glass and the chassis is indeed made with Kevlar and splash-proof. It features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p HD video capture. But besides the faster and more powerful specs, the DROID RAZR also boasts smarter power management with Motorola’s “SmartActions” technology that automatically performs certain actions like turning off your Bluetooth settings once you reach home to help conserve battery life. It can be customized to fit your needs and can extend battery life by 30%.

Motorola has unveiled its own interpretation of the smartwatch PMP, the MOTOACTV, a 1.6-inch touchscreen Android gadget that packs GPS and up to 4,000 of your songs. Intended to track your fitness in a similar way to Nike+, the MOTOACTV is sweat resistant and includes both an FM radio and an integrated audio coach that tells you how fast you’re going and how far you’ve run. Meanwhile a companion site, MOTOACTV.com, allows you to plan you route and then monitor your performance over time, setting goals and challenging your friends to beat them. It’s intended to work with Motorola’s SF700 and SF500 wireless Bluetooth headphones, which also include heart-rate monitors to feed info to the MOTOACTV itself. Battery life is up to five hours of outdoor workouts, up to ten hours of indoor workouts, or nearly two weeks of standby. There’s both Bluetooth 4.0 and ANT+ connectivity, all in something 46 x 46 x 9.6 mm and 35g. An FM radio is also integrated. Unfortunately, all this wrist-borne