IBLOG SPACE

Today it was announced that come November, the Grammy award winning Kronos Quartet will be the first to do a a concert both composed for and performed with a bluetooth sensor bow. The bow in question is K-Bow, designed by Berkeley based Keith McMillen Instruments, aka KMI, and the quartet will be playing “Polar Suite” as composed by Douglas Quin as Syracuse University at the College of Visual and Performing Arts. This event will be part of a weeklong residency by the group and the K-Bow event will take place November 9, 2011, at 8PM. This tool, or I suppose I could still call it an instrument, known as K-Bow is rather interesting. In this “Polar Suite”, you’re going to hear traditional instrument sounds “processed with captured sounds all controlled by movements [of the K-Bow].” This instrument is made of Kevlar and graphite and it works with sensors and CPUs “with the feel of a traditional violin bow.” So what you’ve got is a tool that people already know how to use that can be mad

Google has officially launched its Google TV 2.0 update, promising that those with Sony Google TV hardware should see the upgrade early next week and those with Logitech’s Revue “shortly thereafter.” The new version, now based on Android 3.1 Honeycomb, brings a simplified interface to the smart TV platform, along with boosted search and YouTube playback, in addition to the long-awaited Android Market access, albeit with some caveats. Meanwhile, Google also says it has new hardware news incoming, including broader chipset support. Those expecting the surfeit of apps available on their Android smartphone will be disappointed, given the limitations of the sort of hardware Google TV boxes are hooked up to. Those demanding telephony, a touchscreen or GPS won’t show up, and so there will be many omissions; however, Google says 50 developers have prepared titles to seed the store from the offset, and the tools to port existing apps – or, indeed, code new ones specifically for smart TV func

Samsung Italy has reportedly confirmed which of the Korean company’s Android devices will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update, with models such as the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 each supposedly in line for a 4.0 upgrade. The Italian arm of the firm listed the GSII and the Tab 10.1, HDBlog claims, along with the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Tab 7.7 and Tab 7.0 Plus as all being eligible for a tasty frozen treat. However, don’t expect it any time soon. According to the report, the updates won’t begin until Q2 2012, potentially six months after Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus goes on sale. Samsung confirmed to us last night at the kick-off of the Galaxy Note European Tour that the oversized smartphone would get Android 4.0, as reported in our Galaxy Note vs Galaxy Nexus hands-on, but said that, since the company had been working closely with Google on ICS, they expected to beat competitors to the market with upgrades for existing devices. That could suggest that general Android 4.0 u

Barnes & Noble is tipped to be readying a new NOOK Color model for launch on November 7, with company employees suggesting the retailer is preparing eye-catching “NOOK boutiques” in its stores to push the new ereader. Multiple sources speaking to The Digital Reader have supposedly confirmed the early November launch, a timeframe which would see the new NOOK Color make its debut shortly before shipments of the Amazon Kindle Fire begin. Amazon’s ereader tablet ships on November 15, with estimates suggesting well over a quarter of a million preorders have been placed. Historically, Amazon has lacked an in-store presence, but that ceased to be the case back in June 2010 when Target became the first retailer to offer the Kindle in its physical shops. Exactly what the new NOOK Color might look like, and what its specifications could be, remains a mystery. The original model became popular with Android hackers, who discovered it was relatively straightforward to gain access to the und

Apple has made its Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) open-source, the company’s codec for compressing audio files without losing data – and hence music fidelity – along the way. Introduced to OS X back in 2004, and now supported on Macs, in iTunes, on iPods, iPhones and iPads, ALAC is also used in AirPlay on the AirPort Express. The company claims files using Apple Lossless will require “about half the storage space” of the originals, though the exact amount of compression depends on the type of music involved. The files are DRM-free, and several third-party projects have adopted the standard, including Plex, VLC, Boxee and XBMC. While a welcome move by Apple, many music fans are still hoping the company will broaden its codec horizons and add FLAC lossless support to iPods and other devices. More details on using ALAC now that it’s distributed under the Apache license here at MacOSForge.

RIM quietly set up a Mumbai data center, so as to allow the Indian government easier surveillance of BlackBerry users’ messages, according to sources, though official demand for access continues to outstrip what the Canadian company offers. Facing threats of deactivating BlackBerry service nationwide, RIM supposedly established a small facility to specifically deal with disclosure requests, the WSJ‘s sources tell them; the Indian government must follow a set, legal procedure demanding message decoding on a person by person basis. “India can submit the name of a suspect its investigators want to wiretap, and RIM will return decoded messages for that individual, as long as it is satisfied the request has legal authorization, according to the people familiar with the matter” WSJ However, while RIM says it “continues to work very well” with the government in India, according to the insiders the security services there still aren’t content with the degree of access they’re allowed. Thei

Chimei Innolux (CMI) has revealed a new 4.3-inch smartphone display, offering glasses-free 3D as well as 720p HD resolution support. The new screen combines a CMI TFT panel running at 1280 x 720 resolution with Cell-Matrix Parallax Barrier technology from MasterImage 3D, the specialist 3D company that Samsung invested $15m in back in March. “The technology provides brighter images, reduced moiré effects (or rippled appearance) and the ability to work in any orientation – portrait or landscape” CMI claims, in a package ideally sized for a large smartphone. CMI isn’t the first to offer a 720p phone-scale display – the Galaxy Nexus uses Samsung’s 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD panel, for instance – but it’s the first time that resolution has been paired with glasses-free 3D. It’s unclear when the new panel might be in production and ready for commercial devices, with CMI only showing off this demo version at FPD! International in Yokohama, Japan this week. Mobile 3D remains something of a

LG has confirmed that the Optimus 2X, aka the T-Mobile G2X outside of the US, will not be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, frustrating early adopters who jumped on board the first dual-core smartphone to reach the market. “We will not be introducing Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich updates on LG Optimus 2X P990″ the company admitted on its Indian Facebook page. The news is unlikely to be either welcome or a surprise to most Optimus 2X owners, who are still waiting for an official Android 2.3 Gingerbread update. T-Mobile USA announced back in April that Gingerbread was in the pipeline, but since then all has been quiet aside from the increasingly loud complaints from users themselves Correction: The G2x update did get pushed out by T-Mobile USA, though the 2X remains on Froyo. Ironically, one of LG’s loudest boasts at the Optimus 2X’s launch was that the handset was “proof of LG’s commitment to high-end smartphones in 2011,” something which now seems more than hollow. Back

Nokia’s Kinetic flexible smartphone concept could hit the market in less than three years, the company has confirmed, offering not just a bendy screen but an entire device that can be twisted and squeezed. Shown off at Nokia World earlier this week as part of the company’s research drive, the Kinetic concept would simply require putting together existing technologies Head of Design, Technology Insights Tapani Jokinen says. When we played with the Kinetic prototype, Nokia was keen to point out that a rubberized casing and twist-friendly display are only two of the necessary elements. You also need a battery and mainboard that can stand up to distortion; the Kinetic currently does its processing on a separate, cable-tethered PC. Still, it’s a compelling device. Nokia’s custom UI – which Jokinen told us was basically platform agnostic, and could sit on top of any OS around today, whether Symbian, Windows Phone or something else – handles music and photo gallery navigation and control,

Apple’s television plans are a case of “when” not “if” the latest rumors insist, with Steve Jobs’ well-quoted “I finally cracked it” comment believed to be referring to Siri replacing the traditional remote control rather than the TV hardware and design itself. ”Steve thinks the [TV] industry is totally broken” a source told the NYTimes, one of several who apparently confirmed that Apple was experimenting with TV hardware and software. ”Absolutely, it is a guaranteed product for Apple” was the message, with execs supposedly knowing the true Apple TV was on the roadmap as far back as 2007. To successfully carve out a gap in what has become a hotly-contested, low-margin segment, however, Apple needed not only its coveted design but to polish the user experience. That supposedly began with replacing one of the mainstays of the current living room setup, the remote control. Siri – which was launched on the iPhone 4S and reacts to naturally-phrased spoken commands – is Apple’s solution, i

Samsung has reiterated plans to launch smartphones using flexible displays next year, with twistable tablets and other devices following on. “The flexible display, we are looking to introduce sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier part” Samsung spokesperson Robert Yi confirmed during the company’s financial results call, PC World reports, going on to detail that “the application probably will start from the handset side.” Samsung’s intention to use flexible screens in 2012 was first revealed back in June, when the company confirmed that it would begin mass production of the OLED panels next year. The actual displays themselves have been floating around in prototype form since 2010, with Samsung showing off a variety of concepts that could potentially benefit from the technology. More recently, the company revealed a foldable phone/MID prototype that squeezed an AMOLED panel into a clamshell casing. It’s unclear, at this stage, what format Samsung’s devices will take. Clamshells ar

ITG, maker of the xpPhone - putting Windows XP into a smartphone-scale chassis - has returned with the successor, the xpPhone 2, and thanks to Windows 8‘s new Metro homescreen it looks a whole lot more usable. Fronted by a 4.3-inch display and measuring 140 x 73 x 17.5 mm, the xpPhone 2 is expected to go on sale in 2012, running a full desktop OS rather than something mobile-focused like Windows Phone or Android. According to ITG, the xpPhone 2 will have a 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and up to 112GB of storage, and be capable of up to a whopping 18.5hrs of talktime on a single charge. No other specs have been confirmed – nor what exact processor ITG is using, though we’re guessing an Intel Atom chip – and unlike the original xpPhone there’s nothing showing a slide-out physical keyboard. Smartphone sized PCs have struggled to find a place in the market to-date, not least because Intel’s processors have invariably had difficulty keeping up with more frugal ARM chips when it comes to

Garmin has unveiled its latest wrist-worn GPS marvel for those who don’t treat exercise as a dirty word, the Garmin FR70 Fitness Watch. A reasonably low-profile half inch thick, the FR70 uses ANT+ to talk to other exercise equipment, such as the bundled heart rate monitor. That way, it can track the time you’ve been working out, along with your heart rate and how many calories you’ve burned. Pair the FR70 with an optional Garmin foot pod, however, and it can track your speed and distance while walking, jogging or running. There’s also a speed and cadence sensor that will work on your bike, or you can use ANT+ to wirelessly connect to compatible treadmills, spin bikes, elliptical trainers and other gym equipment that want to tattle on your performance. However, there’s no GPS integration. Meanwhile, used with Tanita’s BC-1000 body-composition platform – basically a very fancy set of scales – your weight, body fat, body water, muscle mass, metabolic age, bone mass, visceral fat and

Nintendo has warned that gamers shouldn’t expect to see the Wii U any time soon, with president Satoru Iwata confirming that the final version of the next-gen console isn’t expected to go on show until E3 in June next year. “Based on the bitter experiences we have had with the Nintendo 3DS, we are making every effort to prepare so that the Wii U will not stumble during its launch” Iwata said following the company’s dreary last-quarter financial results. The assumption is that the Wii U will get a post-Summer release, ahead of the all-important 2012 holiday shopping season. Nintendo needs to get the console into as many markets as possible, to replace the aging Wii and prevent its current hardware line-up from looking increasingly dowdy in comparison to rival devices from Sony and Microsoft. As for holiday 2011, Iwata has said he is hopeful that a strong portfolio of new 3DS games will rescue the company’s finances, as well as help offset the dramatic price cuts applied to the 3DS c

Microsoft has confirmed that all “eligible” Windows Phones are now having the Mango update pushed out to them, bringing each up to speed with the new version of the platform preloaded onto handsets like the freshly unveiled Nokia Lumia 800. According to Microsoft’s useful “Where’s my update?” site, both US and international carriers across the board are now pushing out Windows Phone 7.5, albeit with one or two lingering exceptions. Those exceptions are the Samsung Omnia 7, Samsung Focus and Dell Venue Pro, which still seem to be causing some carriers headaches. In the US, AT&T is still slicing and dicing Mango for the Focus, with the update currently in testing, while the Venue Pro update is still listed as in the “planning” stage. Internationally, meanwhile, Telefonica in Spain and T-Mobile in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, Netherlands and the UK are apparently still working on the Omnia 7 update. Telefonica’s is in testing currently, while T-Mo

Samsung has announced its Q3 2011 financial performance, and while overall profit has taken a hit, the Korean company’s smartphone sales have soared. Huge demand for the high-spec phones saw record quarterly sales and operating profit in Samsung’s telecoms division, with Strategy Analytics estimating Samsung shipped 28m smartphones in the three month period and thus overtook Apple to take the number one spot in the segment. Overall in the quarter, operating profit was 4.25 trillion won ($3.85bn), down 13-percent on the same period last year, while net profit was 3.44 trillion won ($3.1bn), down 23-percent. Q4 is expected to be more buoyant, with telecoms and semiconductors being the key focus. Mobile sales rose 39-percent year-on-year to 14.42 trillion won (£13bn), up from 10.38 trillion won in the previous quarter. Sales overall – including Samsung’s semiconductor, display panel, and digital-media & appliances businesses along with mobile amounted to 41.47 trillion won ($37.5b

Motorola Mobility reported its Q3 earnings report today and revealed a gloomy future for its Motorola XOOM tablet. The company had shipped only 100,000 units of the tablet in this last quarter, which is far less than the 440,000 units shipped in the quarter before as well as the 250,000 units shipped in the quarter of the tablet’s launch. It must also be noted that this is the number shipped and not necessarily the number actually sold. In contrast, Apple’s iPad shipped 11.1 million units during the same period, far ahead of all Android tablet competitors. Despite this, Motorola is expected to announce a successor to the XOOM sometime soon and has recently begun 4G LTE upgrades for the current XOOM tablet. The upgrade requires customers to ship in their tablets to have a hardware component installed. We’ve seen leaked photos of the Motorola XOOM 2 tablet earlier this month alongside what we now know to be the Motorola DROID RAZR. The XOOM 2 is expected to sport a smaller 8.2-inch s

Google unleashed three major new features for its Google+ social network today that include popular posts, analytics, and photo-editing capabilities. The company also finally opened its doors to Google Apps enterprise users, who have not been able to join Google+ via their accounts until now. First up is “What’s Hot on Google+,” a popular posts feature that will bring you interesting and unexpected content from those on Google+ that may not already be in your Circles. The feature shows up in your main stream just after the new posts and also can be found in its own separate stream. Second, is a still experimental feature called Google+ Ripples, which is an analytics and visualization tool that lets you see easily see who has shared your posts and how your posts have flowed across the Google+ network. Like the “What’s Hot” feature, this works mainly for public posts and comments. And third is the Google+ Creative Kit that lets you have fun editing your photos on Google+. It has th

In a move that can only be described by Punjab-esque, your Annie (1982) hero’s ability to make aircraft fly with his mind is one step closer to reality now that researchers, led by Dr. Bin He of the University of Minnesota, have created an EEG-based interface that allows users to navigate a virtual helicopter with their mind. The interface is a completely noninvasive brain-computer hookup that allows the user to tell the helicopter where to go by willing it to do so. You can access the original write-up of the project on PLoS One, a repository for “accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science.” Open access, everyone! The write-up is a documentation of some tests performed to show the accuracy of the system. User attached the apparatus to their cranium and were asked to navigate a helicopter through three dimensional space. According to the results, users were able to reach targets with the helicopter 85% of the time. So probably we won’t be controlling REAL helicopters with

ARM announced today its very first 64-bit microprocessor architecture called the ARMv8. This new chip architecture will help ARM expand beyond mobile devices, putting it in more direct competition with Intel and AMD in the PC and server space. The company’s current 32-bit ARMv7 chip architecture and the lack of enterprise software support have hindered its efforts so far. The ARMv8 will allow chips built on this architecture to handle more data and memory, resulting in overall faster performance. It will also now be able to support platforms like Microsoft’s Windows and Apple’s Mac OS, which are both 64-bit. Additionally, Microsoft has already announced that it is developing Windows 8 versions that will be compatible with the new ARM 64-bit chip architecture. However, it may be awhile before ARM partners start incorporating the new chip architecture. Specifications have already been made available to manufacturers with details of full-scale ARMv8 processors due in 2012. Actual ente

New packaging for the Logitech Revue has leaked and it now sports a sticker claiming that the Google TV set-top box now comes with Android 3.1 Honeycomb and Android Market. This along with the recently leaked screenshots of the new interface suggests that the long promised Google TV update should be just around the corner. However, following this leak, Logitech clarified that the new packaging is not meant to hit store shelves until the update is released, adding that if any retail stores are selling these newly packaged boxes that they are doing so prematurely. Furthermore, Logitech revealed that the product remains unchanged and that the new packaging is merely a sticker added to existing boxes. Google announced back at I/O 2011 that Google TV would be getting a major update that would bring Android 3.1 Honeycomb along with Android Market, making apps available to Google TV as well as allowing developers to create apps specifically for the TV interface. The update was set to hit

After several months of deliberation, it’s been announced today that HP will keep its Personal Systems Group business, this PC Unit to stay in the family for the time being. Just this past August it was announced by HP that the possibility of spinning its PC business off was a real one, but just today it was noted by CEO Meg Whitman that HP will keep all ties to their PSG section as she stated “together we are stronger.” Having toured the Houston HP campus where PCs are tested for quality assurance just a few weeks ago, I can personally say that the force is strong with this one, as it were. Of course there’s no knowing what a company will truly do when dire times hit, but the strength and dedication of what once was known as Compaq certainly showed itself to be burning the midnight oil when your humble narrator visited this summer in Texas. Today’s announcement confirms that HP has both evaluated the situation and will be keeping things as they are. HP CEO Meg Whitman had the follow

While we’re all familiar with Corning’s Gorilla Glass as it’s become standard on high-end smartphones, the company recently announced a new display material for LCD and OLED screens called Lotus Glass. This new glass can withstand higher temperatures, offering greater thermal and dimensional stability to allow for attaching high-resolution displays and enabling tighter design rules. The Lotus Glass has a high annealing point, meaning that it’s heated to much higher temperatures and then allowed to slowly cool. This process removes internal stresses and makes for a much tougher product that can remain stable during high temperature production processes. In addition to being able to offer higher resolution image quality, the new glass is also said to increase response time and cut down battery usage. The glass is currently in production, but the company has not revealed yet which manufacturers will be among the first to incorporate the glass. The recently launched Apple iPhone 4S and

Samsung has just given the Galaxy Nexus its European unveil, along with the white Galaxy Note, and we couldn’t resist putting these two rare Android smartphones up close for a video comparison. Both have their distinct appeal: the Galaxy Nexus is the first Ice Cream Sandwich device, of course, bypassing TouchWiz for the pleasures of Android 4.0, while the Galaxy Note has a tablet-aping, 5.3-inch display with a stylus using Wacom technology for perfect digital inking. Check out our hands-on, including video, after the cut. White can be a tricky color to get right: you run the risk of making your smartphone look oversized or, worse still, tacky. Samsung has nailed it with the Galaxy Note, however: the super-skinny bezel around the Super AMOLED HD display – running at a crisp 1280 x 800 resolution – and the 9.65mm thick chassis make for a device that looks distinctive rather than cheap. The matching white pen, with a discrete Samsung logo, is a nice touch too. We were impressed by the

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Nexus will go on sale across Europe on November 17, having given the Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone its European debut in London, UK today. The phone – which was officially announced earlier this month in Hong Kong – will also go on sale in the US sometime in November, as a Verizon exclusive, though the carrier is yet to confirm exactly what date. In Europe, the Galaxy Nexus will include HSPA+ connectivity, unlike the US version. Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus will get a 4G upgrade, supporting LTE for high-speed data. There’ll be an impact on phone bulk, however, with the LTE model slightly thicker than the HSPA+’s 8.94mm; neither Samsung nor Google have said exactly how thick the LTE Nexus is. For more on the Galaxy Nexus, check out our hands-on from the launch. There’s also our Ice Cream Sandwich full hands-on preview to whet your appetite for Android 4.0. Amazon UK has listed the Galaxy Nexus at £549.99 ($885) SIM-free and unlocked.

Hasselblad has announced a new medium-format camera body called the H4X following its release of a series of H4D cameras in recent years. The H4D-40 camera unveiled early last year offered a whopping 40-megapixel CCD sensor, but it also came with a huge price tag just shy of $20,000. For those Hasselblad fans that already own previous generations of H1, H2, and H2F bodies, they can now upgrade to the H4X instead at a relatively more affordable price by trading in their existing gear. The H1, H2, and H2F bodies were introduced between 2002 and 2007 and since then Hasselblad has come out with the H4D integrated camera system. To encourage users to upgrade, Hasselblad is making the H4X available only through a trade-in program. The H4X camera will work with most digital and film backs as well as third-party lenses. It will also sport the new features introduced with H3D and H4D, such as the True Focus technology. The H4X is built on the H4D camera body, but features a DRIVE button ins

You Back to the Future lovers out there should be having a heart attack right about now as the brand new electric version of the DeLorean hits the test track, this putting the limited-production new-age car one step closer to production. We wrote about this car, now dubbed DMCEV-12, back on October 17th (this month), as it was first announced. Now wouldn’t you know it, it’s much further along the line towards being released than we expected, appearing now at the Houston Motorsports Park for some test-driving action by Cameron Wynne of the newest version of the DeLorean Motor Company. This video was recorded, believe it or not, on an iPod Touch by a fellow who was at the events that took place earlier this month. The fellow behind the wheel is no less than the son of the current owner of the DeLorean brand, Stephen Wynne. It’s not exactly the most engaging video in the history of automotive, but it IS interesting to see this car running smoothly across a test track, this indicating on

While it might seem rather terrifying to think about anyone being able to hack into satellites thousands of miles away hanging precariously above our collective heads, it was back in 2007 and 2008 that this reported incident actually took place. It’s just today though that the report has surfaced via Bloomberg who state that a congressional commission annual report (to be released next month) has outlined the interference which took place two times, once in 2007, and another inside 2008. China has reportedly denied any involvement. The first incidents at hand took place via a ground station in Norway and connect to a Landsat-7 earth observation satellite system. This unit experienced “12 or more minutes” of interference once in October of 2007 and once in July of 2008 according to the report. In addition, or perhaps in a completely related set of events, the report outlines two more incidents in which hackers interfered with a Terra AM-1 earth observation satellite. These two hacks t

Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Note S Pen SDK, the toolkit to allow developers to code apps for the pen-enabled phone/tablet hybrid, will be released in December. Meanwhile, the company has also revealed a selection of new pen-enabled third-party apps for the Note: OmniSketch, ComicBook! and Sooner Workplace. OmniSketch is familiar from the iPad, of course, a drawing and sketching app that has impressed artists with its flexibility and precision. Samsung will allow for basic editing and annotation in the native Gallery app on the Galaxy Note – permitting annotation on both photos and video – but OmniSketch will take those capabilities one step further. As for Comic Book, that’s a more humorous art tool, also familiar from the iPad, allowing users to create their own comic books complete with box-outs, speech bubbles and effects. Finally, Sooner Workplace takes the Galaxy Note into the enterprise, with pen-enabled support for communal documents and document editing. It’s un

Samsung kicks off its Galaxy Note European tour in London, UK, today, showing off the 5.3-inch Android smartphone-tablet-hybrid on the eve of its European release. The company has also whipped out a surprise, in the shape of a white Samsung Galaxy Note, rather than the black version that debuted at IFA 2011 last month. Aside from the new color option, the white Galaxy Note is functionally identical to its black sibling. That means the same dual-core processor, and the same 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD screen running at 1280 x 800 paired with a digital S Pen for handwriting, annotations and sketching. Samsung kicks off its  Galaxy Note  European tour in London, UK, today, showing off the 5.3-inch Android smartphone-tablet-hybrid on the eve of its European release. The company has also whipped out a surprise, in the shape of a white Samsung Galaxy Note, rather than the black version that  debuted at IFA 2011  last month. Aside from the new color option, the white Galaxy Note is functi

This week Facebook is updating its security options and amongst the fray is a feature which may well be the most interesting offered by Facebook since its inception: spare keys. These keys come in under new “Trusted Friends” options on the social network which gives three to five friends the ability to access a special code which will allow you to unlock your account if you’ve forgotten your password. This of course will also come in rather handy if your account has been compromised by an ex-boyfriend who just so happens to be messing with you after you foolishly forgot to change your password after your amicable separation. While Facebook is promoting this new feature as something similar to giving a spare key to your trusted neighbors or handing a key to your friend who will take the dog out to pee while you’re away on business, we’ll be calling it something like citizen soldiers or hood police. The Trusted Friends option will be popping up in your Accounts Setting page inside the

It’s time for Nintendo to announce another loss, and we weep for the falling giant, as this Thursday the gaming group reports a net loss of $925 million net loss for six months through September of this year. Nintendo reports that it’s slashed its full year through March forecast to a $263 million net loss – though just this July they’d predicted an annual net profit of essentially that same size. Is this the mobile age of gaming coming to crush the group that essentially started the trend with the original GameBoy? Or is Nintendo just losing touch with the market that they’ve held strong for the vast majority of your humble narrator’s lifetime? I was just a lad when my uncle first brought my sister and I our first Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was then that we first learned that to make the game work, one simply had to blow on it. The same does not appear to be true for the greater Nintendo business as overall sales during this half-year period have fallen 41% to $2.8 billio

You may remember back in the middle of October when it was announced that Grand Theft Auto 3 would be coming back for a 10th anniversary edition that’d work with both Android and iOS – now it appears that NVIDIA is getting in on the action with Rockstar, providing their next-gen Kal-El (aka Tegra 3) quad-core processor-toting Android tablet to the group so that they can optimize the game for ultimate supremacy. Word comes this week from Adam Rosenberg who this week had the opportunity to check the soon to be released game out on the unnamed Kal-El NVIDIA tablet, an iPad 2, and an iPhone 4S. With the Kal-El tablet came the biggest surprises, both in that the game was running not on the tablet itself but through its TV-out connection, and secondly that Android’s ability to work with USB controllers is programmed into the game so that an Xbox 360 controller works perfectly well! Having found himself in the Rockstar offices for an early look at Grand Theft Auto 3′s 10th anniversary editi

So you’ve got a business in the works that needs to share files that are potentially gigantic across the ocean and through the woods, but you don’t exactly want to be transferring these files by mailing iPods back and forth – what do you do? How about Dropbox for Teams? That’s what Dropbox is essentially saying this week as it launches the new service which has plans starting at $795 for a total of five users. The differences between this and Dropbox’s free service might seem slight to the lay user, but for the small business owner – features here are great. There’s a new central set of controls made specifically for IT administrators, and Dropbox is now offering phone support as well as centralized billing to cover all users on the Team. The initial cost of nearly $800 will cover a full year for five users, while each additional user will tac on another $125. That $795 basic plan includes one full terabyte of shared storage between all users, while each user added beyond the first f

It appears extremely likely that the photos and specifications you’re about to see belong to none other than the fourth in the basic-named DROID line from Verizon and Motorola. This is the DROID 4, if I may be so bold, ladies and gentlemen, and it looks rather similar to the rest of the very recent stylings of the Motorola family, having the same bent-in corners, dual ports (microHDMI and microUSB), and overall look of both previous DROID models and the ATRIX 2, the DROID RAZR, and the unconfirmed next-level XOOM tablet. This device has a similar keyboard to what we’ve seen in the DROID 3, though now with slightly more raised centers on the keys and a a bit more space around the board. The display is said by a source speaking with Droid Life exclusively to be 4 inches and they’ve decided it’s likely that it’ll be Super AMOLED Advanced. The keyboard, they say, will not just be what we’re used to from Motorola and their past QWERTYs, instead it’ll be “illuminated” – lights! Like the DR

I hardly think a cool design is going to be enough to lure people back to the Blackberry smartphone from more popular devices like the iPhone. We mentioned the Blackberry Porsche Design smartphone a few weeks ago when the first details of the device started to surface. The device was said to be coming on October 27. Today being the 27, RIM did in fact offer up some of the details on the Porsche Design smartphone. The phone gets the official name Porsche Design P’9981 and is hailed as the first luxury smartphone from RIM. The phone has a forged stainless steel frame, a hand wrapped leather back cover, a sculpted QWERTY keyboard, and a touch display. The smartphone uses a custom designed Porsche Design UI and has a Wikitude World Browser augmented reality app onboard. The hardware inside includes a 1.2GHz processor, HD video recording capability, 24-bit graphics, and advanced sensors to help the phone enable augmented reality tech. Onboard storage is 8GB and the phone has a microSD c

I don’t know about you, but I had no idea that every moon rock in the country was considered to be government property. I can recall as a kid the local planetarium selling what they claimed to be moon rocks for $5 each. One elderly woman apparently tried to sell a chunk of moon rock her husband left her when he died and ended up the target of a NASA and law enforcement sting. The sting was made in a southern California restaurant. The 73-year-old woman was the target of a sting with the goal of catching the woman selling government property. The woman is Joann Davis who was trying to sell the stone to leave an inheritance for her kids and help her sick son. The tiny piece of moon rock was said to be smaller than a grain of rice and encased in what appeared to be a paperweight. Davis says that Neil Armstrong gave the tiny piece of rock to her husband, who was an engineer for North American Rockwell in the 60′s. She maintains that the rock was her legal property though NASA says that

Google has offered the numbers it paid for two of its more recent purchases in a regulatory filing this week. The two purchases are the buy of Zagat Survey LLC and Daily Deals GmbH. According to the filing, the purchase of Zagat cost Google $151 million. That is a lot of money for a restaurant review service. Google plans to integrate the data into its Google Maps results. With the Zagat details, the user of Google Maps can find places to eat while traveling and see the Zagat reviews right along with the map details. Google has also purchased Daly Deals, which was previously a privately held company. There are only two of the purchases Google has made in 2011. So far, the company has spent $1.44 billion on acquisitions in 2011. Bloomberg reports that Google has made 57 acquisitions and purchases of other assets so far in 2011. The biggest purchase so far was the ITA Software buy for $676 million in cash. The purchase of Motorola Mobility will dwarf that amount thought when it compl

The Blackberry PlayBook has been a sales disappointment for RIM since it was launched. Consumers simply didn’t buy the tablet and those that did aren’t happy that the Playbook lacks the basic features that you expect in a tablet like email and others. RIM recently confirmed that the Playbook OS 2.0 wouldn’t come until February 2012 bringing email and Android app support to the tablet. To help spur the purchase of the Playbook by consumers retail partners have been hacking significant amounts off the price to lure buyers away from other tablets. The Register reports that in the US, prices had as much as $200 chopped off and sellers in the UK are offering £150 discounts. Despite the significant discounts, RIM still hasn’t been able to get consumers to purchase the Playbook. The discounts did spur a slight uplift in sales, but overall sales are still disappointing. Perhaps sales of the Playbook will pick up early next year when the 2.0 OS lands and the tablet gets some of the basic fe

When you have a giant server farm that handles tons of traffic like the ones Facebook operates, the cost of keeping all that hardware cool is massive. Facebook has plans to build its latest massive server farm a mere 62 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The giant server farm will reportedly be installed in a facility located in Lulea in northern Sweden. The reason the chilly location was chosen is one of cooling and money. The cold climate will allow Facebook to chill its servers using nothing but forced air. The average temperature in the city is 35.6F and hasn’t gone over 86F for more than 24 hours since 1961. The Facebook server farm will be gigantic. Telegraph.co.uk reports that the massive facility will be built in three buildings covering an entire area the size of 11 football fields. I would assume that since Telegraph is a UK site, they mean soccer fields as far as Americans are concerned. The cold air in the city will help keep costs down, but the costs of running the faci