IBLOG SPACE

Amidst the sound of crackers and aroma of sweets filling up the air, Radio Mantra will be lighting up faces this Diwali. This festive season, Mantra is giving a chance to its listeners to bring the goddess of wealth: ‘Laxmi’ home. Mantra pulled out its repertoire of Diwali specials across it’s network of 8 stations with ‘Diwali Dhan Dhamaka’, where the listeners will take home jewelery vouchers worth Lakhs. Talking about the initiative Kanwar Sameer, National Programming Head, Radio Mantra said, “Its our prerogative to give the audience an innovative and out of the box content and at the same time, make it as lucrative and rewarding too. From fervor to monies, Diwali Dhan Dhamaka has everything one would want for the occasion.

NOIDA, India; October 19, 2011 – Dish TV India Limited (Dishtv) (BSE: 532839, NSE: DISHTV) today reported second quarter fiscal 2012 revenues of Rs. 4,822 million, representing a 48% growth over the corresponding period last fiscal. EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs. 1,218 million, compared to Rs. 503 million in the corresponding period last fiscal. EBITDA margin recorded at 25.3%. Foreign exchange loss hiked net loss by Rs. 304 million. The Board of Directors in its meeting held today, has approved and taken on record the unaudited financial results of Dish TV for the quarter ended on September 30, 2011.

4G LTE network, you may have noticed something new: micro SIM cards running LTE! This factoid might not flare up your interest if you’re an everyday average Joe or Jody, but for those thinking about the future viability of LTE as a network for devices that are getting faster, thinner, and better at not drinking up batteries every day, this change-over has great implications. See here in both the Samsung Stratosphere and the Motorola DROID RAZR the big flip. To have a closer look at the Samsung Stratosphere, also known as the world’s first QWERTY keyboard-having device with LTE, head over to the unboxing post posted by yours truly earlier today. To have a closer look at the Motorola DROID RAZR, I recommend you peek at the column Here’s why the DROID RAZR is the ideal Android for today’s mobile landscape, also written by your humble narrator. Or you could head back to the Motorola DROID RAZR hands-on post for a few more photos if you like. Then take note – the first place the Verizon

A security flaw allowing unofficial access to certain iPad 2 apps, even when the tablet is PIN-locked, has been identified, using Apple’s own Smart Cover to bypass the protection. The loophole, spotted by Apfeltalk, relies on Apple’s Smart Cover unlocking system, which wakes the iPad 2 when opened: when the right combination of button presses and other steps are followed, that can also leave the tablet open to partial use. The extent of the access granted depends on what app you left on-screen prior to locking the iPad 2, as the tampered tablet will allow use of whichever app is currently active. So, if you lock the slate while your Mail inbox is visible, a third-party could browse through your messages and send emails from your account. 1) Lock a password protected iPad 2 2) Hold down power button until iPad 2 reaches turn off slider 3) Close Smart Cover 4) Open Smart Cover 5) Click cancel on the bottom of the screen If the iPad was left showing the homescreen, apps can

Apple has thrown open pre-orders for the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries, keeping to the company’s expansion strategy for the fifth-gen smartphone. However, due to strong demand since the iPhone 4S first hit stores a week ago, online shoppers in the new locations are being warned that their order may not arrive until a week after in-store sales begin. Customers in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland can all pre-order an unlocked, SIM-free iPhone 4S. Both white and black models, in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB are on offer, though estimated shipping times are expected to be 1-2 weeks. That could put home deliveries up to a week past in-store availability, which is set to take place in the 22 new locations on October 28. Apple announced earlier this week that it had seen a record 4m iPhone 4S sales in the first w

Steve Jobs warned his team at Apple not to double-guess “what Steve would have done” after he passed, board member Al Gore has revealed, however the opinionated founder also made sure that design was still top of the agenda in developing new products. ”Don’t ask what Steve would have done, follow your own voice,” Jobs told staff at Apple in the time preceding his death, Gore recalled in interview with AllThingsD. However, according to the previewed Steve Jobs biography, he also made sure that his “spiritual partner” Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design chief, would remain unimpeachable. Ive had “more operation power” than anybody else at Apple bar himself, Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson the Associated Press reports. Nobody else within Apple is capable of telling Ive what to do, he explained, with the design chief’s prominence being ”the way I set it up.” “[Steve] took great pride in cultivating the expertise and commitment to excellence and creativity in the executive team” Gore expl

Working from a laptop is no fun for a couple reasons. One the keyboard is generally too small for my tastes and the second issue is the screens are too small. If you have to work from laptop, but you are tired of the small screen issue the Cinq screen for laptop users is now shipping. This is a little screen that is 10.1-inches that clips onto the side of your laptop. The screen needs a single USB port to connect and get power to operate. It will work with Mac or Windows machines. The screen has a 1280 x 720 resolution and it will support 720p HD content. The screen will rotate the video on it to landscape or portrait depending on how the screen is rotated. The contrast ratio is 500:1 and the screen supports 262k colors. The display weighs 15 ounces. The display also has a SD card reader and comes with a cleaning cloth. It comes in white, black, or orange and they ship free and sell for $249.

Razer has been producing top computer and console peripherals for years now. The last time we talked about Razer was when the firm unveiled the Xbox 360 Ultimate Arcade Stick last month. This month Razer is showing off its new take on storing things on the cloud with Synapse 2.0. Synapse is the programming software that Razer has used for macros and game profiles. Typically the profiles and mappings are either stored on the peripheral or on the local computer. Razer figures that there will be some gamers out there that will benefit from having more profiles than you can fit on the memory inside keyboards and mice. This is the gamer that Synapse 2.0 is aimed at. Synapse 2.0 is up for beta right now and you can apply to test. Using the new software there will be no need for memory on the peripherals any longer. All the settings and storage will be place on the cloud. The only downside I can see is that a loss of web connectivity would seemingly mean no profiles for offline gaming. Th

Nintendo has a new video game called Pokemon Rumble Blast that will be heading to the 3DS in time for the holidays. The game is the first in the Pokemon franchise that was created just for the 3DS. The game puts the player into a toy Pokemon body where they can fight and collect over 600 other Pokemon. The game features cooperative play mode and special StreetPass content. The game will be offered for $34.99. The players fight though a bunch of different levels with giant Boss Pokemon to defeat along the way. The game uses wireless connectivity for the multiplayer aspects. The Pokemon characters in the game include those from Pokemon Black Version and Pokemon White version. The game will sell for $34.99 and will launch October 24.

When I watch shows sometimes, I like to pay attention to the little details to see how far the show takes things. If they flash badge in front of the screen like to pause and read it. This is all thanks to Star Trek: The Next Generation. I watched that show for years before I found out that all the labels on the bridge of the enterprise were nonsensical sayings and quotes. If you like the FX series Sons of Anarchy and have an iPad there is a new app on the App Store you need to download. The app is claimed to be the first interactive shopping app for the iPad. You can download the app for free and install it to your tablet. When you launch the app, it will synchronize with the show as you watch. The app is landing along with the airing of the ninth episode of the season on November 1. As you watch the show and see the shirts and biker style jewelry the app will show the stuff to you and you can add it to your shopping cart on the app to purchase. The entire season 3 Blu-ray is also

SpaceX has announced that it has completed one of the key milestones on its quest to build a ship that can take astronauts into space and to the ISS. The first milestone was a design review of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft’s emergency escape system. This is the first step towards manned missions into space. NASA has approved the design and this is the fourth milestone met so far by SpaceX. The design review was conducted under the Commercial Crew Development program and is part of the push to privatize space. The Dragon spacecraft is designed to carry seven astronauts at a cost of $20 million per seat. The design approval means that SpaceX can now start to build the hardware for the launch abort system. The system has escape engines on the side walls of the dragon that activate in an emergency and eliminate the need for traditional rocket escape towers that have to be jettisoned each time. Eventually the engines on the side of the Dragon will be used for more than emergencies. The e

Verizon has announced its Q3 2011 financial results, confirming that around two million iPhone 4 handsets were activated during the three month period, and revealing that first-day iPhone 4S sales were so strong that the carrier still lacks stock. Of the 5.6m smartphones Verizon sold in Q3, over half ran Android; that contrasts with AT&T’s figures from earlier in the week, where the iPhone continued to monopolize smartphone sales. Verizon failed to reveal exactly how many iPhone 4S sales it had made, again unlike AT&T which announced over 1m activations so far. Apple itself announced sales of 4m iPhone 4S handsets in the opening weekend alone, though that is across the US, UK and other launch territories. Total new connections on Verizon this past quarter were 1.3m, of which 882,000 were retail postpaid customers. That keeps the carrier ahead of AT&T on total connections, which is now at 107.7m, though smartphones account for a smaller percentage of those, at 39-percent

Nintendo has announced that Hulu Plus is headed to the Nintendo 3DS, part of a range of updates for the 3D-capable games console including 3D video recording. Set to arrive by the end of the year – though still demanding a $7.99 monthly subscription – Hulu Plus will allow 3DS owners to watch shows such as Modern Family, Glee and Lost. As for the November system update, which we’ve known about for some time now, Nintendo has reiterated that it will include the ability to record video clips in 3D using the 3DS’ twin camera array. Until now, still 3D image capture has been supported but not videos. Each clip can be up to 10 minutes long, and the 3DS will also support 3D stop-motion animation. Other aspects of the update will include new StreetPass Mii Plaza puzzles and a fresh dungeon to Find Mii, though Nintendo say other tweaks are in the works too. Finally, there are some fresh titles for the Nintendo eShop, the digital download store for the 3DS, and a selection of new 3D animatio

Google added the ability to rent films to the Android Market for Android users in the US back in July. If you were outside the US, the only thing you could do was hack the app that plays the films to allow you to watch. If you aren’t the hacking sort, Google has now announced that movie rentals are officially available in the UK. Movie fans in the UK will have 1,000 films to watch to begin with and they will start at a price of £2.49 each. For that price, the user will get 30 days to watch the film and the movie will be available on any connected device the user logs into. That means the user’s Android smartphone, tablet, and even the computer can be used to watch the movie. Once the user starts watching a film, they get 48 hours to finish. If you don’t finish in the 48-hour window, you will have to pay again. This will let Google fight the new YouTube movie rental program that launched not long ago.

A more precise launch date for the new Intel 22nm Ivy Bridge CPUs is surfacing. Previously the closest we had to a launch date was 1H 2012. The new date comes from a tip originating with motherboard firms reports DigiTimes. Out of the gates, the new processor production will focus on multiple core parts. Intel is said to be starting with dual and quad core processors. The new quad-core CPUs are said to have TDP ratings of 45W, 65W, and 77W. The dual core models will have TDP ratings of 35W and 55W according to the mainboard sources. These same sources are also pointing to the launch of new chipsets to go with the processors. The chipsets are reportedly called the Intel Z77 and Z75. They will replace the existing Z8 and P67 chipsets. Intel has several outer chipsets coming to market as well. Ultrabooks like those from Asus will be one of the first places the Sandy Bridge parts are used.

Apple’s Siri system is one of the flagship features of the iPhone 4S, but a team of Android developers reckoned they could match the voice command system – or at least rival it – with just eight hours work. Dexetra came up with Iris for Android, a tongue-in-cheek reversal of the Siri name, and pulling together Android’s existing voice input and text-to-speech capabilities with some online search and a dash of arch humor. Unfortunately, Iris’ speedy construction means there are still some rough patches, and in a brief trial this morning I had more problems than I did with Siri. It started well: asking “What is Android?” brought back a potted definition from online, read out loud to me; asking what time it was in Hong Kong pulled up the time, though Android’s text-to-speech mangled the numbers (the on-screen version was fine). After that things went downhill. Iris decided that “12 + 3″ came to 144, and when I asked “What is 10 UK pounds in US dollars?” – something that Siri also stru

If you like the way the pirate geeks at PirateBay were thinking when they wanted to purchase that manmade island that was basically a couple pilings into the ocean floor and a helicopter pad way back in 2007, we have a deal for you. An oil company called Statoil has an oil drilling platform for sale. The platform would have to be moved, but it’s big. The thing has 20 bedrooms. The ad the company has reads, “Well kept 20 bedroom platform for sale. Panorama sea view and plenty of room for a helicopter.” Right now, the platform is drilling away in the North Sea in the Veslefrikk field. That field is running dry and will be closed in a couple years. The company is thinking that rather than just scrap the platform, which is still functional, it will sell the thing. This is where the odd comes in. According to Scand Kitchen, the platform can be purchased for 13 pence, but the buyer has to move it. At first, we thought they were serious about the price and this was a bit of a joke on the

Facebook has been accused of building “shadow profiles” on individuals not registered with the social network, gathering information from synchronized phones, email providers, IM conversations and more. The claim, leveled by Europe Versus Facebook as one of several complaints regarding how the popular website collects and stores personal information, suggests that even those people who have chosen not to register with Facebook still have hidden profiles, constructed from all the data the social network can scrape together. Facebook Ireland is expected to be audited by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner next week. Facebook, the complaint reads [pdf link], “is mainly collecting e-mail addresses but it also collects names, telephone numbers, addresses or work information about its users and non- users.” A public profile only reveals a subset of the information Facebook stores about each active user, it’s suggested, with the remainder being used by the site to power its friend sugges

RIM has responded to allegations that a significant number of its enterprise customers plan to defect from the BlackBerry platform in 2012, suggesting that they’re probably unhappy because they’re not using the latest models from its range. The Canadian company has not had a chance to review the EMA findings – which discovered 30-percent of businesses with 10,000 or more BlackBerry users intend to ditch the platform next year – it said, but “would be interested in finding out” whether those questioned were using BlackBerry 7 phones on Enterprise Server v5.0.3. “These are the fastest, most powerful BlackBerry smartphones yet” RIM points out, “and we encourage comparisons with these current BlackBerry smartphones vs earlier models.” The current range includes the BlackBerry Torch 9850, Torch 9810 and Bold 9900, each of which debuted back in August. Newer phones may address user frustration with BlackBerry – the survey found just 14-percent of enterprise users questioned were happy wi

The launch of the PS Vita is getting close and we already know all the details on the new portable game console. We know that the console gets a 5-inch AMOLED screen that is touch sensitive. The console will sell for $249 in WiFi only and $299 with 3G inside as well. We were already not too happy that the PS Vita would require a specific memory card format that would not work with other devices. Now we are learning that despite the fact that the PS Vita has internal storage, some games will require one of the memory cards to save game data. If you had expected that memory card to be overflow storage only to use when downloading content and the internal memory was full, that doesn’t seem to be the case. All of the download games must be saved to a memory card. The number of games that require the memory card is surprising. It seems that you will basically have to get a memory card to play normal games even if you never intended to purchase DLC. It looks like you will need to get the

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich includes native support for smartphones and tablets with a digital stylus Google has confirmed, including pressure recognition, hover tracking and nib-tilt, with differentiation between pen and finger use. A specific stylus API, spotted by Reddit among the Android 4.0 highlights, can differentiate between a stylus, finger, mouse and eraser, as well as support pens with up to three buttons. Previously, devices like the HTC Flyer and Samsung Galaxy Note required custom pen-control systems be created to handle their digital styli. Google expects the new support to be used to improve Android phones and tablets in drawing and sketching applications, as well as boosting precision for gestures. Handwriting and shape recognition are also possible, though currently Android lacks a native handwriting recognition engine. Stylus input, button support, hover events Android 4.0 includes full support for stylus input events, including tilt and distance axes, press

What did Tesla really expect when it lent the Brits over at Top Gear one of its Roadsters for a review a while back? These guys are well known to get some of the facts on a car wrong and they are well known for bashing most things American made. The show is also going to drive the crap out of the car on the track and around the roads it is used on. With an electric car with a range that is very dependent on the way the car is driven, things were stacked against Tesla from the start. Tesla was not happy with the review Top Gear aired so it claimed the test was rigged and promptly filed suit against the show. The case has had its day in court and the British Justice that heard arguments has concluded that Top Gear DID NOT libel Tesla in its review. The ruling was handed down by Justice Tugendhat this Wednesday. This isn’t the end of the legal wrangling though. Tesla is also suing Top Gear’s network BBC for five other statements made during the 2008 review of the Roadster. The same ju

We have already started to hear rumors that the next Xbox game console is in the works. Some Microsoft employees hinted they were on the project not long ago. I think no one is surprised that the next Xbox is under development. I bet Microsoft started the development of the next console not long after the current one was launched. The Xbox is getting long in the tooth and with the next Wii already unveiled; the next Xbox will be coming soon. According to a new rumor, the next Xbox will be unveiled at the E3 gaming show in 2013. That gives us more than a year to wait for the next Xbox to bow in. That said, the tip that the next Xbox will land then is hardly confirmed. The rumor comes from chipmakers and software middleware firms that are part of the project. I wonder if the console will be called the Xbox 720 as earlier rumors had suggested. I wonder when the rumors and hints about the next PlayStation will start, you know Sony has to be working on that as well.

iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users running the iOS 5 beta may find their devices not playing ball, with the preview copy of the recently released Apple platform expiring today. Although Apple targets its iOS betas at developers looking to get their apps up to speed with upcoming software changes, the low cost of entry to developer accounts has seen many regular users jump at the chance for early access as well; those same users may be left holding less-than-useful devices today, when the beta expires. Thankfully there’s an unofficial tool to allow user data to be extracted. The iPhone Dev Team’s MuscleNerd has revealed that the group has produced a “limited-edition b7b” release of the redsn0w jailbreak tool, which will allow iOS 5 beta users to pull data and images from their device before upgrading to the official copy of the platform. Two versions are available, one for Mac and the other for Windows; to use, install the b7b tool, choose Jailbreak and uncheck all of the option boxes

My son loves Hot Wheels cars and has a ton of them that he has collected over the years. He also has more than a few tracks that you can slip together to play with. I will be the first to say that those tracks rarely work as advertised and generally fall apart if the cat farts. The track in the video at the bottom of this is insanely large. I can only imagine how much the parts would have coasted to make the track. It has more of the little dual wheel spinning gadgets that flick the cars around than I have ever seen in one place. The dude made the track in a two story home and it literally goes though every room in the house it seems. Then the car heads outside and around the block before going around the pool and back inside. The entire trip takes over 4 minutes on the video and the video is actually cut choppily leaving room for some cheating with only making certain sections at one time. I would like to think this is real though, what’s the point of faking something like a Hot W

Steve Jobs described Android as a “grand theft” of iPhone technology, promising to “go thermonuclear war” to “destroy” Google’s smartphone platform according to a new biography of the Apple founder. In a subsequent heated meeting with Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Google, Jobs refused to consider any sort of settlement to the lawsuit Apple filed, arguing that his company had “plenty of money” and telling Schmidt “I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that’s all I want” according to a copy of the book obtained early by the Associated Press. “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong … I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this” Steve Jobs “I don’t want your money” Jobs told Schmidt as the two men met in a cafe in Palo Alto early last year. “If you offer me $5 billion, I won’t want it. I’ve got plenty of money. I want you to sto

NVIDIA president Jen-Hsun Huang has warned Microsoft not to position Windows 8 on ARM as PCs, arguing that tablets should be the company’s first focus. The outspoken CEO described his argument as coming from “a finesse perspective” in an interview with AllThingsD, and a hope that Microsoft puts its software emphasis on bringing full Office support to the ARM-based version of the platform. “That would be the killer app,” Huang reckons. Everything else, Huang continued, is on the web. As we’ve already seen, in our preview of Windows 8 on tablets, the platform does a solid job of integrating the browser into the normal workflow, as well as allowing multiple pages to be juggled and simultaneously viewed on a touchscreen-only device. Huang obviously has a vested interest in Windows 8 being tablet-centric from the start. NVIDIA chips are, the exec claimed, currently inside around 70-percent of the non-iPad tablet market, and he said he would definitely be open to powering future Apple iP

Apple’s first TV advert for the iPhone 4S has been revealed, with the focus of the spot being on Siri, the company’s digital personal assistant. The thirty second clip – which you can see after the break – cuts between multiple possible uses of Siri, the voice recognition system being used to find local locksmiths, check weather reports and adjust calendar entries, all by naturally-phrased commands. As you might expect from an Apple commercial, viewers are left to be impressed by Siri’s breadth of functionality rather than have each element pointed out to them. One of the key elements Apple made clear at the iPhone 4S’ launch earlier this month was that Siri didn’t just recognize preset phrases but could fathom out natural speech; that intelligence is shown at several points during the ad spot, such as at the end when a user sadly tells Siri “I’m locked out” and the system recognizes she’s likely to want a locksmith. "“What does a weasel look like?”" The commercial is on

Let me tell you here why Motorola presented the ideal phone for a person like me this week in New York City. And also let me tell you why I’m sad it didn’t come out several months ago. First, the positives – they all begin with the heavy metal that makes up the majority of this device. Then let’s speak about how thin and lovely this device very much appears to be. Then we’ll speak about how even though I will be switching to the Galaxy Nexus sooner than later, you certainly don’t have to. This is the DROID RAZR, the greatest Motorola smartphone ever created and soon to be at once the thinnest and the toughest to break smart handset on the market. The RAZR is two things at once: the thinnest 4G LTE smartphone on the market at 7.1mm at its thinnest point, and it’s got several factors at play that make it tough enough to withstand AT LEAST your everyday rough and tumble usage. The RAZR has Corning Gorilla Glass on the front, KEVLAR along the back the device, diamond-cut aluminum accents

Microsoft has posted more details today on its Building Windows 8 blog, revealing the next-gen operating system’s layout optimizations for portrait and landscape orientations. Up until now, we’ve only seen Windows 8 demoed on tablets in landscape view and those horizontal sweeps of Live Tiles look great. But what happens when you rotate the tablet into portrait orientation? According to a user study, Microsoft found that there isn’t a particular posture, grip, or orientation that’s used most frequently. Instead, they’ve found that “people naturally seek to find a comfortable position and orientation that feels right for what they are ding with the device at the time.” With this in mind, Microsoft aims to design Windows 8 to be ergonomically comfortable in either orientation, with most navigation easily accessible with your thumbs. The Windows 8 keyboard, file picker, and charms have been tuned to work well in both landscape and portrait mode so that both orientations work similarly

Google posted a video to its YouTube account today revealing some of the changes to its upcoming revamp of the Gmail interface. The redesigned UI unsurprisingly carries over the new theme introduced with the Google+ social network and focuses on making Gmail as clean, simple, and intuitive as possible. Overall, the interface is a lot sleeker and more customizable. The new interface can automatically adapt to fit nicely into any size window and you can manually resize Labels and Chat windows. You can also choose the density of the interface to suit your preferences, which affects the amount of white space and how densely components are laid out on the page. And there’s several updated high-resolution themes that you can choose from to customize the look of your Gmail account. Threaded emails now appear in a new conversation view interface that looks similar to what you see with Facebook Messages and includes a profile pic for each person. It’s also easier to go through and read prev

Microsoft’s fiscal year Q1 2012 ended on September 30, 2011 and the earnings results are in. The software giant reported record revenue of $17.37 billion, representing a 7 percent increase from the same quarter the year before. The strong figures were due largely to Microsoft’s business products and especially Microsoft Office, which earned $5.62 billion, an 8 percent year-over-year increase. The company’s Server & Tools division reported $4.25 billion in revenue, up 10 percent from the same period last year, while the Windows and Windows Live Division reported $4.87 billion in revenue, up 2 percent year-over-year. Xbox also did quite well, although the specific figures weren’t posted and neither were numbers given for Windows Phone sales. Operating income came in at $7.2 billion and net income was $5.74 billion, up 6 percent from the same period last year. Diluted earnings for shareholders were $0.68 per share, up 10 percent year-over-year. Starting next quarter, the company’s

A BlackBerry smartphone featuring a unique design and Porsche brand will be making its debut on October 27. The device was leaked back in September in a slew of images along with a video, revealing a highly modified 9900/9930 form factor that’s more angular and sharp. It was called the BlackBerry 9980 prototype in the video but it has also been rumored as the BlackBerry Knight, R47, and the Porsche Proceeding. Although the angular sharp look hasn’t generated very positive reactions so far, the device is intended to be a luxury edition BlackBerry, so for those who do like the look, you’ll probably have to pay dearly for the unique chassis. The device, otherwise, looks to be built similar to the 9900/9930 handset and features BlackBerry 7 OS, WiFi, 3G, and NFC. The full details on the BlackBerry 9980 should be available in about a week as Porsche Design has issued invitations today to an unveiling event on October 27. The VIP event will take place in Dubai to preview an “exclusive co

Microsoft will be hosting several events in the next two months to show off its upcoming Windows Phone 7.5 Mango devices, which include the HTC Titan, HTC Radar, Samsung Focus S, and Samsung Focus Flash. The events are open to all and will be hosted in five major US cities: New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These aren’t stuffy events either. Actually, Microsoft is trying a different vibe, calling these the “coolest” parties for the “hottest” devices. The company is planning to offer cocktails and food from top local chefs as well as live performances from indie bands. Plus, it’s free to get in and open to all, but you’ll have to RSVP quick via the Windows Phone Facebook page because spaces are very limited. The events will kick off first in New York City on November 7 and 8, featuring indie artists Matt and Kim. Following that will be Chicago on November 11 and 12, featuring The Drums, Dallas on November 16 and 17, featuring Young The Giant, Los Angele

Just yesterday, I was listening to the radio and before the DJ introduced the next song, he got into a discussion about Netflix with his co-host. They were discussing the company’s streaming library and said that based on what they’ve found, it’s filled with old movies and in many cases, television shows they’ll never want to watch. Based on that, they said, they had decided to save their $7.99 per month and end their Netflix subscriptions. The discussion and their eventual conclusion took me by surprise. I’ll be the first to admit that Netflix could be better and I would also argue that the service’s selection of movies could be more up-to-date. But to say that the smart move because of that is to end a subscription is just plain nonsense. The fact is, Netflix is loaded with quality content. Right now, I can launch the service to turn on “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” if I’m in the mood to watch some television. If I’m in a movie mode, I can sift through the nearly endless supply

Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage is adding more than 20 new markets today and the company has scheduled another batch of markets to light up next month. In fact, with its next batch planned for November 17, Verizon will already surpass its original target of 175 markets by year-end. In contrast, AT&T’s 4G LTE may only reach 15 markets by the end of the year. It’s hard to keep track exactly how many markets Verizon has lit up so far, as the company issues separate press releases for each market. Some of the new markets officially scheduled for today have already been lit up in the days leading up, but here’s a list of some of them: -Birmingham, Ala. -Modesto and Stockton, Calif. -Fort Myers, Fla. -Bloomington, Elkhart, Evansville, South Bend and Terre Haute, Ind. -Sioux City, Iowa -Hagerstown, Md. -Tupelo, Miss. -Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M. -Buffalo, N.Y. -Asheville, N.C. -Bartlesville, Okla. -Jackson and Martin, Tenn. -Greater Hampton Roads and Richmond, Va. -Green Bay

Between the months of November and January Apple will be re-birthing their Tech Talk World Tour with an iOS 5 focus, tutorials, talks, and more set to fill the global events. There’s a brand new page up at Apple showing off that there will be limited space at each event and that all iOS Developer Program members are more than welcome to attend. Limited space means that Apple will be giving priority entry to those developers who have n app currently available at the iTunes iOS App Store. The first location will be Berlin and will take place on November 2nd, 2011, and the last will be right down at the lower end of the United States in Austin, Texas, on January 23rd, 2012. Experts from all over the iOS world will be in attendance at these events which will be taking place in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. There are three stops inside our home turf here in the USA, one in New York, another in Seattle, and another in Austin. Have a look below to see when you’ll be going, and feel free t

Cambridge-based mobile microchip industry crunching firm ARM has announced its A7 chip and the “big.LITTLE” processing to the world this week, and you already knew that from yesterday. What you might not have known, or perhaps realized, is that with A7 architecture in smart device, ARM is suggesting that a whole new generation of devices is on the way that will be below $100, this allowing large groups of people from the still without-smartphones world to join in on the fun. ARM, are you saying I’ll finally be able to video chat with people who are living under the international poverty level? We learned about the new A7 chip earlier this week and how it’ll provide not only similar performance to the chips currently sitting inside devices such as the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus, but at a much lower cost in both cash to produce and power to run. ARM notes that inside the next two years, high-end smartphones will be bumping up to A15 architecture, this allowing much higher performan

We’re right in the midst of a possible rift in the way smart devices function and act, ladies and gentlemen, and though the functionality has been there for some time, it is Apple that’s brought the idea that the smartphone should be your assistant rather than just your tool for communicating to the forefront. I’d like to concentrate today on a statement made by Andy Rubin (SVP of Google) this week at AllThingsD’s AsiaD conference, he here asking (or telling, rather) whether or not it makes sense for a system like Siri, currently planted on the iPhone 4S, to turn your smart device into a personal assistant rather than just allowing the device to act as a tool for communication. I invite you, the reader and the user, to lay down your opinions as well. This week at AsiaD, Andy Rubin spoke highly of both the iPhone and future Windows Phones by saying “Apple is a good competitor, but a different one. Both [an iPhone and a Windows phone] are going to feel very good in your hand and both g

You didn’t think the portrait-style QWERTY smartphone was dead, did you? No way, Jose, it’s just beginning! Here with the Motorola Admiral, an otherwise mid-range device with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a single-core 1.2GHz processor, and a 3.1-inch VGA touchscreen, is the first time a smartphone is available with Direct Connect. And not only that, the specs are what Motorola is calling “military spec tough.” This device will be available on the 23rd of October for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate via reward card, November 13th in stores — is this your new work phone? This device has the ability to work with Direct Connect, what the first carrier of this device calls its gold-standard push-to-talk capabilities, and meets military standard 810G for dust, shock, solar radiation, vibration, low pressure, and temperatures of all kinds. The display is made of Corning Gorilla Glass – only diamonds, more Gorilla Glass, or really sharp puppy teeth can bust it. What we’ve got to ask here is of

Google has admitted that the Face Unlock feature in its new version of Android could be fooled by a photo of the user, telling SlashGear that the security system is still in its early stages. The Ice Cream Sandwich feature – which logs into an Android 4.0 device by recognizing a pre-registered face, rather than using a PIN code or other credentials – struggled to recognize Google head of user experience Matias Duarte under the keynote lighting earlier this week, but could, we’re told, still be convinced by a snapshot. Google acquired the facial recognition technology used in Face Unlock when it bought PittPatt earlier this year, a startup that was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University. The recognition engine they developed consists of “tools to search images for faces, determine if faces are the same person, track faces in video sequences, and pinpoint constituent landmarks in faces using a straightforward C-language interface” and has already been used to mine Facebook profiles in

We’ve already seen what’s inside the iPhone 4S thanks to the traditional post-launch teardown, but how much exactly do all those shiny parts cost? iSuppli has crunched the numbers and reckons a fifth-gen iPhone costs Apple as little as $188 in components; they’ve also spotted a selection of new supplier parts, some of which occupy space previously held by Samsung. The $188 figure is for the entry-level 16GB iPhone 4S; the 32GB and 64GB versions would have a Bill of Materials (BOM) of $207 and $245 respectively. The analysts estimate manufacturing costs work out at $8 apiece. Interestingly, that makes each version just $0.49 more in components than the iPhone 4. Fresh to the iPhone 4S, however, is Hynix NAND flash memory, where previously Apple used only Samsung or Toshiba chips. It’s likely Apple is using various sources for the flash, however, and that it will vary by individual model. Meanwhile Infineon/Intel is out, with the 4S’ World Phone baseband chip provided by Qualcomm.