IBLOG SPACE

We’re at a point in our mobile device history where little things like how our finger moves across the display become important, this becoming rather clear here in an application for a couple of swipe of the finger gestures at the US patent office written up by Apple for iOS. What the patent application is titled is “systems and methods for displaying visual information on a device,” and its two proposed gesture types are “hold then swipe” and “swipe then hold,” both of them made to move in and out of images with ease and grace. What these gestures will alleviate, if they make it to devices, are the many multiple times one has to pinch to zoom on an image or a map, such as it is, when they want to get very very close or very very far away. What you’d do is one or the other, swipe then hold your finger, or hold your finger then swipe, these gestures speaking with, for example, your accelerometer, telling it how fast it will be moving when it speeds in or out of an image. You could also

MadCatz has begun shipping the Trigger stereo gaming headset that will delight budget-minded gamers. At only $50, the Trigger features much of the same high-quality professional audio gamers expect from pricier models. The Trigger is the second of four co-branded Tritton and Xbox 360 headsets the company plans to release and was first announced back in June at E3 2011. The Trigger features 40mm diameter neodymium drivers for high quality audio with crystal-clear highs and a deep bass. Its ergonomically designed over-the-ear cushions provide extreme comfort and its flexible performance mic can be adjusted to align with your mouth perfectly. The in-line audio controls lets you separately adjust game volume versus in-game chat volume. The headset is designed with everything you need to connect to your Xbox 360 and includes all the necessary cables and adapters, including HDMI and VGA to ensure that it will work with either legacy or current-gen consoles. The Trigger stereo headset is pric

This week the folks at Marshall Headphones have introduced their newest pair, the Major FX, complete with Apple certified microphone and remote with units to be sold in Apple Stores across the USA and Canada immediately if not soon. For those of you that don’t know, having a product so nicely constructed the Apple carries it in their physical store and in their online store means you’ve got a big hit on your hands right out of the gate, and with the Marshall name as well as Apple support, the MAJOR FX set are over-ear headphones, while the MINOR FX are earbuds with essentially the same sound quality, build quality, and fashionable look.

Russound announced today its AirGo Outdoor Sound Station that’s the first outdoor speaker system to tout Apple’s AirPlay music streaming technology via the attachment of an AirPort Express device. Usually we see speaker docks with AirPlay integrated, but the AirGo has, instead, a weatherproof compartment where an AirPort Express unit can be stowed. The AirGo Outdoor Sound Station can be used as a permanent outdoor speaker system unlike other shiny AirPlay-equipped systems we’re used to seeing that are meant to sit pretty indoors. The AirGo provides a powerful amplifier and wide soundstage perfect for your deck, patio, lawn, or driveway. You can stream music from your iTunes collection on your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac or PC. And since the AirGo uses an AirPort Express for its AirPlay connectivity it can also help extend your home WiFi network and act as a portable WiFi hotspot. This specialized speaker system, however, doesn’t run cheap and is priced at $399.

Earlier this week it became apparent that there was an exploitable hole in the app development and distribution process discovered by now-excommunicated coder Charlie Miller – what we’re to understand today in the update to iOS 5.0.1 is that this exploit has been completely done away with. The story surrounding this exploit hit the fan when Miller was kicked out of the iOS Developer Program after telling Apple (and the rest of the world) about the issue. Today the story is closed (for everyone but Miller) due to a line of confirmation in the iOS 5.0.1 security update log – so everyone can sit back down and stop tossing hands left and right wildly. Do be sure to check out that story on Miller and have a chat with him if you will, certainly because there must be more to the story than what’s stated if Miller was kicked for doing what he’s good at – finding and flagging security holes. But what you, the average user, should note for now is that the hole he discovered in iOS 5 and the App

Verizon has announced today that it will be lighting up a new batch of markets with its 4G LTE coverage on December 15. The carrier has been rolling out its blazing fast network at a breakneck pace and will already be surpassing its year-end target of 175 markets by November 17, when it has scheduled another set of new LTE markets. The areas to get lit up on Verizon’s 4G LTE coverage map on December 15 include Findlay, Tiffin, Warren, and Youngstown in Ohio; Indiana, White Twp., Homer City, and Blairsville in Pennsylvania; as well as St. Cloud and Duluth in Minneapolis. Since each region is being announced separately, there may be more than those markets scheduled for next month. And if your market has gotten 4G LTE coverage already then you can take advantage of the increasing lineup of 4G LTE smartphones on Verizon’s network. Those now include the LG Revolution, the HTC Thunderbolt, the Samsung DROID Charge, the DROID Bionic, and the DROID RAZR.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is on store shelves. And as expected, it has proven wildly popular around the world. Even better for Activision, the game’s publisher, it was able to succeed just weeks after its chief competitor, Battlefield 3, hit store shelves. As with previous years, Modern Warfare 3’s success is being touted as an entertainment industry marvel. And the vast majority of industry critics have given it high marks, thanks to its outstanding visuals, solid gameplay, and top-notch multiplayer experience. But I, for one, am not happy to see Modern Warfare 3 succeed. In fact, I think the game is what’s wrong with the gaming industry. Worst of all, it’s not alone. We’re currently in the middle of what is the most important shopping season of the year. And historically, the top games are released around this time. As expected, this year is no exception. During the last three or four months of 2011 alone, the following titles have either been released or will be released: Gears

There’s this fellow by the name of Josh Buckley out there, ladies and gentlemen, he’s a developer of games, webpages, and environments who’s done so much in the position he’s in that he’s been called “the Harry Potter of startups” by Paul Graham – and now he’s coming for you, Nintendo, and he’s got your little monsters in his sights. This Buckley fellow has apparently been making games and online-based communities since he was in his early teens, having made his first 6-figure sell of a webpage he’d created when he was just 15. He’s since started a game environment by the name of MinoMonsters with his partner TJ Murphy and plan on filling the space left by the absence of massively popular Nintendo-based game Pokemon with said game starting December the 6th.

Today is the day when all you iOS users on your iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPod Touches and the rest get your updates to the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 5.0.1, this update a fix for several bugs that have been plaguing a collection of users since the launch of 5.0. This update brings first and foremost the battery fix to the issue we’ve been having over the past few weeks. Next there’s an update for iPad (the original) where you can now use the same gestures you’re able to on, for example, the iPad 2. These and more can be found below along with how you’ll get the update for yourself.

For the brand new DROID RAZR, Motorola and Verizon’s newest hero device, ad spots appear to be continuing the trend of sparing no expense for high theatrics and above average action and adventure stylings. What you’re about to see are two ads, one of them showing off how undeniably thin the device is as it cuts through the urban environment, dicing everything it flies directly through. The other, having just been released this week as we come ever so close to the 11.11.11 release date, emphasizes the tagline for the device “Too Powerful to Fall Into the Wrong Hands” and makes it clear that this smartphone is so awesome, only kung-fu Batman James Bond-type character is worthy of stealing it from the set of black-van drivers that possess it (we must assume that these vans represent either Verizon or Motorola, not sure which.) Have a peek at these advertisements first of all, and take note of what they’re really letting you know about the device. Of course it’s not just one whole heck of

With less than a week until pre-orders hit customers’ hands, Amazon is polishing its Kindle Fire proposition with a new update to its Appstore for Android download platform. The refreshed app store began prompting existing Android smartphone and tablet users to download the update earlier today, bringing the UI in line with that of the Kindle Fire. That means plenty of grey and the occasional splash of Amazon orange, along with a layout that’s suited to a 7-inch 1024 x 600 screen as on the Kindle Fire. The retailer announced its launch lineup of apps earlier this week, making specific mention of Netflix; that was generally considered a pre-emptive strike at the NOOK Tablet, also announced this week, and one of the key selling points of which is a deal between Barnes & Noble and Netflix for streaming media. The Netflix app itself is not yet present in the Amazon Appstore for Android, so it could be that the two companies are holding it back just for the Kindle Fire. Amazon’s model u

If you are a big fan of the Opera desktop browser there is a new beta version for you to check out if you are into beta testing. The new version of the browser is 11.60 and it adds in some interesting features that some people will really like. The new version of the browser has a new HTML5 parsing algorithm that is Opera’s own implementation. The new beta version also adds CSS3 radial gradients to the mix allowing the web page designer to design ellipses and even double rainbows that the 11.60 version can render. The browser is also supporting ECMAScript 5.1, which is the latest version of JavaScript standards. The browser also has some other interesting HTML5 support. 11.60 is the first browser to support HTML5 microdata. That microdata is used by search engines to help enhance the search results returned for phrases. You can grab the beta 11.60 browser right now at Opera.com.

AT&T and Nokia are collaborating on a variant of the Lumia 800 Windows Phone with LTE support, insiders suggest, with the Finns planning to storm the US with 4G in their sails. The US launch for Nokia Windows Phones is already pencilled in for early 2012, with the first models likely to debut at CES 2012 in January, and according to The Verge‘s sources AT&T will have a customized Lumia 800 for its LTE network as the flagship device. Microsoft has not hidden the fact that LTE is in the pipeline for Windows Phone. Division chief Andy Leesconfirmed last month that LTE would be supported in a future version of the platform, but argued that existing implementations of 4G had led to oversized and under-performing devices. “The first LTE phones were big and big [users] of the battery,” the exec highlighted, “and I think it’s possible to do it in a way that is far more efficient, and that’s what we will be doing.” Support for LTE is expected to be added as an incremental update to Wind

NuForce has unveiled a new digital amplifier for digital audio and streaming devices called the NuForce Dia. The new amplifier promises clear sound without having to be overly complex. The amp delivers 24-bit/192kHz D/A converting and a 24W stereo amp. The design of the device is to connect to your TV components like DVD players, HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and Apple TV boxes among other things. NuForce says the sound card inside is audiophile grade. It will also support streaming devices like the AirPort Express as well. The amp bypasses the internal digital to analog converters inside your components for better sound. The Dia is made to work with all sorts of different setups. For instance, it can hook to your TV and then power a 2.1 speaker system and lots more. It has two TOSLINK ports and a single RCA coaxial port for inputs. The outputs include a line out for subwoofer and speaker outputs. The frequency response of the device is 20 to 20kHz +- a decibel. NuForce ships the amp with a

Synology has unveiled a new consumer focused NAS server for the home user that needs some storage for all of their files. The new device is called the DiskStation DS212j and it is a dual bay NAS server. Synology says the device is budget friendly and very easy to use. The enclosure is designed to be attractive to the consumer and it has two side ventilation openings. The rear fan is also larger at 92mm to help move more heat. Synology spent time making the new NAS device quiet so it won’t bother people in the home. According to the firm, the device puts out 18.3dB of sound. It is also looks to be greener with power consumption of 17.6W under full load and when in hibernation mode it uses 5.5W of power. This new version of the device uses DiskStation Manager 3.2 as the OS. This is a new versions of the OS made for ease of use and to be intuitive with a web-based interface. The device can also stream video to game consoles and more. The DS212j is shipping globally right now.

New details on Intel’s Haswell, the “Shark Bay” platform set to replace Ivy Bridge in 2013, have been revealed, suggesting up to four 22nm trigate cores will be on offer, along with NFC support for mobile devices and significantly reduced boot times. The specs, detailed on a set of internal slides discovered by Chiphell, outline a single “Shark Bay” platform that will cover both desktop and mobile processors, with three levels of Intel integrated graphics – GT1, GT2 and GT3 – with the possibility of HD-to-HD video transcoding in realtime. There’s also a change in strategy around Intel’s ultra-low voltage versions of the Haswell chips, which will apparently be harmonized into a single line. They will be paired with more power-efficient idle states and configurable TDPs. A minimum of three mobile SKUs are indicated, ranging from the ULT low-voltage version (with a 15W TDP), a mid-tier dual/quad version with up to GT2 graphics support, and a high-end version with four cores and GT3 graphi

Researchers at North Carolina State University have invented an interesting process that might be applied to manufacturing of packing materials and other uses in the future. Anyone that has ever taken an IQ or achievement test will recognize the open pattern and having to figure out what the closed pattern will look like should recognize the patterns here. This is what 2D boxes and shapes look like before they are folded into 3D. The team of researchers took a type of pre-stressed plastic sheeting and ran it though a standard ink jet printer to print black lines on the material. Thos black lines were the folding points. The team then put the cut out shape under an IR heat lamp and exposed them to the light. The black lines on the shapes absorb more heat than the rest of the shape. That makes the shape start to close up into a 3D shape from the flat 2D shape. The team found that making the lines thinner or thicker changed the way the lines fold. Using that technique the team was able to

Nokia is particularly proud of its Lumia 800 design – unsurprisingly, considering most began praising the hardware aesthetic from the N9 onward – and has pushed out a new video describing exactly how the company’s first Windows Phone was born. The design language itself is somewhat cringeworthily named “fabula” but the path from sketches to wax model (shown here) to production device is certainly worth watching. The Lumia 800′s casing is made from a single piece of polycarbonate plastic, which Nokia puts through a CNC machine to mill out the necessary spaces and perforations. That’s paired with a 3.7-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display, with a curved fascia the bezel of which blends almost seamlessly into the chassis. There’s also the promise of more Windows Phone magic to come, including the potential for greater customization to further differentiate Nokia’s phones from those of other WP7 licensees. “We’ve only just begun to witness the tremendous result this collaboration with Microsoft

Most of us would expect if a major movie studio is issuing take down notices using the DMCA to stop people that post its copyrighted content that someone would have looked to be sure the demands that they make on infringement is legit. As it turns out Warner Brothers did nothing like that. The company apparently used a scraper to look for keywords and the send automated take down requests. The software the company used looked for keywords like “The Box” which is a title of a movie WB owns from 2009. The software issued take down requests on any content that had the two common words listed. That means that WB issued takedowns for books and all sorts of stuff it didn’t have the copyrights to. It also means that legitimate content was taken down for no reason from the website Hotfile. Hotfile and Warner Brothers are in a suit right now alleging that Hotfile assisted in copyright infringement and violated the DMCA. Hotfile is now accusing WB of violating DMCA by asking for takedowns of con

There are lots of MacBook geeks that are wishing for more storage space. There is a relatively easy way to get more storage for your MacBook if you don’t mind shedding your Superdrive optical drive. Many people don’t mind giving up that optical drive. In fact, there is a rumor going around that by Christmas the MacBook Pro notebooks might give up the optical drive altogether. If your current machine has an optical drive inside and you want to pull that drive out to add a second HDD or a SSD you can still use your Superdrive. A new external enclosure for the Superdrive has been offered up by Macway. It looks very Apple-like with similar style as a Mac mini. The enclosure will use the SATA Superdrive from a MacBook or MacBook Pro unibody notebook. The finish is plastic on the case, but it looks like aluminum. It uses a USB 2.0 port for power and connectivity for the optical drive and is still bootable. The enclosure measures 142 x 139 x 18mm and weighs 125g without the drive inside. The

It’s no surprise to any of us that Microsoft would be working on the next generation of its gaming consoles the Xbox. The current Xbox 360 has been around for a very long time now and is due for a replacement. Other console markers are set to launch next generation consoles soon. We have previously heard the rumor that the Xbox 720 will be unveiled at E3 2013. Naturally, that is unconfirmed by Microsoft. A new rumor is swirling today that claims the codename for the next generation Xbox console is Loop. That is an odd codename, but opens the chance to make some funnies at Microsoft’s expense I guess. According to the rumors, the Loop will pack a custom ARM-based processor that is a modded Win9 core. The processor is supposed to have assistant cores as well for graphics, AI, physics, sound, encryption and other core services. The new console is supposed to be smaller and cheaper than the current console. I wonder if that will make it cheaper by consumer purchase price or just cheaper to

T-Mobile USA has announced Q3 2011 revenues of €3.7bn ($4.995bn), down over 11-percent from a year ago, though profits were rescued by a surge in prepay subscribers. The US carrier made €976m ($1.3bn) in profit after securing 312,000 new prepay users, despite also losing 186,000 postpay users, while data revenue was up 13-percent year-on-year and smartphone users rose to 40-percent of all subscribers. The US carrier’s European owners, Deutsche Telekom, blamed a weakening dollar for the bulk of the revenue decline, an excuse which is unlikely to leave investors particularly reassured. In Europe, half of all subscribers are now using smartphones, up from 30-percent in the same period in 2010, while net profit increased by 14.6-percent to €1.1bn ($1.49bn). Factor in the US performance, however, and you can see why Deutsche Telekom is so keen to sell T-Mobile USA to AT&T. Taken into account, revenue was down 6-percent (compared to 4.1-percent) despite US subscribers rising for the firs

Having used both Android and iOS smartphones over the years, I have some experience with the autocorrect systems on both devices for typing. The common theme is that both autocorrect systems seem to be out to make us look like idiots much of the time. If you prefer the look of the Android autocorrect bar to the one in iOS, you can turn on an Android-style version on your iOS 5 smartphone. The autocorrect bar does look a lot like the Android one when enabled, so much so that I half expect a massive lawsuit to pop up. To enable the alternative correction bar you need to download iBackupBot and then backup your device in iTunes. Then you use iBackupBot to find and load that backup you just made. Then go into library/preferences/com.apple.keyboard.plist and open the file up. Then you need to add in a bit of code that reads KeyboardAutocorrectionListsYES. After that you restore from your tweaked backup and you should have the new bar. Let us know if this works.

ARM is huge in the mobile world with its chips powering the majority of smartphones and other devices on the market today. The reason ARM has been so successful is that its designs are very power efficient and they offer good performance as well. ARM has announced a new GPU that will find its way into future mobile devices and Smart TVs. The new GPU is the Mali-T658. The new GPU is a Midgard Architecture-based GPU that is for high performance devices. ARM claims that the new GPU has ten times the graphics performance of the Mali-400 GPU that is in a bunch of tech products today. The GPU also has four times the GPU computer performance of the Mali-T604. ARM says that compute performance makes the GPU appropriate for computational photographic, image processing, and augmented reality. ARM says that its leading partners are planning to support the new GPU including Fujitsu Semi, LG Electronics, Samsung, and others. The GPU will also find its way into car infotainment systems and other dev

We talked a bit about the PlayStation Suite program back in September when we first caught wind of the new dev program. The point of the PS Suite program is to allow the developers to make games and other apps that will run on the coming Vita portable console as well as Android devices. The PlayStation Suite SDK will allow the games to be played on Android devices that aren’t Sony branded as well. Sony has now announced that the dev program for the PlayStation Suite is accepting apps for the closed beta testing period. The SDK will use the C# programming language and will run on a C# virtual machine inside PS Certified devices and the PS Vita. The beta program goal according to Sony is to get a limited number of users into the program to get feedback to improve the SDK. Apps are being accepted for the beta from both corporate and individual developers. Sony says not all applicants will be allowed to join the program. Apps for developers in the UK, Japan, and the US will be accepted in

With the holiday season coming, the best gifts to give folks that you don’t see that often might be a digital photo frame. These are some of the most popular gifts each holiday season so naturally each year about his time new versions start to hit the market. Sony has unveiled a pair of new digital photo frames in Europe called the S-Frame WA700 and the W700. Both of these new frames have 7-inch screens and both of them have integrated WiFi connectivity. They are the first S-Frame models from Sony that can connect to WiFi networks. That connectivity allows the frames to hook to the web to show photos directly from an email address and from the Facebook accounts of your friends. If your Facebook friends are like mine, you might want to skip allowing the frame to upload any pics. Each of the models has 1GB of storage and can display weather forecasts. Pics can also be displayed on the frames directly from a flash drive. The difference in the two frames is that the WA700 supports vTuner I

Nokia Research loves its concept phones – the flexible Kinetic concept was one of our favorite things at Nokia World last month – and for the team’s 25th anniversary they’ve produced this, the Nokia GEM. Built around the idea of the entire phone’s surface being a touch-sensitive display – front, sides and back – GEM learns from your most common tasks and adapts its default appearance to suit, so if you play games most of the time the phone will usually look like a gamepad. However, there’s also the possibility of resizable QWERTY and numeric keypads, which can be pushed – along with the ongoing IM conversation – around to the back of the phone while you look up details on the front. The flared upper edges work as an app carousel, shuffled around with a thumb and then dragged to the main display to launch them, and everything is resizable. Because so much of the body is given over to screen, when you run an app – say, triggering the camera with a circle gesture shortcut – the whole

Intel and Toyota have announced that they are working together to develop the next generation of in-vehicle infotainment systems. The two firms are studying and investigating multiple items for use in cars including new usage models for device connectivity in the car. Among the things that Toyota and Intel are investigating are new interface mechanisms like touch, gesture and voice. The connected car is a big deal it seems, Intel lists the connected car as the third fastest growing tech device with smartphones and tablets taking the first and second place sports. The research involves ways to integrate more technology into the car without causing driver distraction. The goal to getting more tech into the car according to Intel and Toyota is to allow the driver to use the tech more intuitively, leading to less distraction. The platforms the two firms are looking at are going to be powered by Intel Atom processors. Neither company is offering up any in indication of what specifically the

Adobe isn’t just axing Flash Player for Mobile, but refocusing its approach toward smart TV as well, pushing native apps rather than Flash compatibility. Although the company will continue to support existing licensees of its Open Screen Project, an Adobe spokesperson told GigaOM, it now believes “the right approach to deliver content on televisions is through applications, not a web browsing experience.” Meanwhile, RIM has confirmed that it will independently develop Flash for the BlackBerry PlayBook, telling AllThingsD that it has licensed Adobe’s source code. Of course, just because it doesn’t believe Flash is best for connected TVs, doesn’t mean the company is leaving the segment entirely to rivals. Instead, it will push Adobe AIR apps as part of its recently announced smart TV port, with developers already using the technology to create software for Samsung sets. AIR apps can also be used on mobile devices and on the desktop, but are standalone code rather than living in the brows

One of the original voice actors Apple used for its Siri service has spoken of his surprise at hearing of his involvement, only discovering he was the UK voice default when he saw an Apple advert on TV. Although Jon Briggs was asked by Apple not to discuss Siri, the voice actor agreed to talk text-to-speech with UK paper The Telegraph as he isn’t under contract with the Cupertino firm; his recordings, performed 5-6 years ago, were done for Scansoft, a company that later merged with Siri-powering Nuance. Scansoft’s UK TTS voice is known as “Daniel” and has been used in dozens of products and by multiple companies, including public transport stations, satnav voices and TV shows. The bundle of recordings was initially created by Briggs reading out around five thousand sentences, in an even and flat tone, which were then pulled apart into the individual phonics making up the words. Those phonics can then be repackaged to create words and sentences that Briggs never originally recorded. Sti

Amazon has ramped up Kindle Fire tablet production to in excess of 5m units before the year is out, supply chain sources have revealed, amid continued strong pre-order demand for the 7-inch ereader slate. Original production estimates were around 3.5m units in 2011, DigiTimes highlights, with that figure already being bumped once, mid-Q3, to 4m. However the loss-leading risk of the ebook retailer’s advertising and media-sales supported model has been highlighted by a new teardown of the $79 Kindle that suggests Amazon loses more than $5 on every sale. Amazon is strongly pushing content on both its traditional Kindle models and the new Kindle Fire, stomaching lower cash upfront on device sales on the expectation that ebook downloads, along with music and video rentals and purchases, will offset that. That strategy will need to pay off if Amazon is to survive the strong demand for the Kindle. Analysts iSuppli did the bill-of-materials math and suggest each of the ad-supported Kindles

Nokia has confirmed that developers in its Launchpad project will be automatically receiving one of the 25,000 free Windows Phone 7 handsets the company has promised to coders in recent weeks, following up on the original free phone offer back in February. Launchpad members – who also got a free E7 - join Nokia Developer Champions in receiving either a Lumia 80 0  or Lumia 710, as well as a rebate on Microsoft’s App Hub membership fee. “If you received a Nokia E7 back in February when we announced our new smartphone strategy, you’ll automatically receive a Windows Phone device.  If you are currently a Nokia Developer Champion or a Nokia Launchpad member, you are already eligible, and you will soon receive an e-mail to explain how to get your new Nokia Windows Phone” Nokia App Hub membership – which is required if developers want to distribute their apps through the Windows Phone Marketplace – usually costs $99 per year, but active Nokia developers will receive emails this month telling

The new Samsung Focus Flash may not be the most impressive device we’ve seen lately, but it does offer an overall decent value and comes in at a fair price. Announced back in September and available now the Focus Flash has a lot to offer like its bigger brother in the Focus S, but can it deliver with that small screen and mediocre camera? Find out below and enjoy some photos while you’re at it.

Thanks to the iPhone 4S teardown at iFixit, there may now be an explanation for why Apple restricts the Siriintelligent assistant feature to the iPhone 4S. Apparently, it is indeed a hardware related issue, or at least partly, as the iPhone 4S uses a new infrared LED proximity sensor specifically designed to work with Siri. Since Apple launched Siri last month as an iPhone 4S exclusive, many have been questioning the motivations behind that restriction. It didn’t help that hackers were able to tinker around to get Siri working to some degree on both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. But now, there’s at least one good hardware reason why Apple would not want Siri on older devices. The iPhone 4S uses a new proximity sensor that seems to be constantly active. In contrast, the proximity sensors on older iPhones only switched on during calls. This may have something to do with Siri’s “Raise to Speak” feature that lets you raise your device towards your face to initiate Siri queries. This would r

Today there was a rather important announcement made by Adobe regarding the amount of Flash that’ll be found on mobile devices in the future: zero – and now that the public and the former leaders of Adobe have gotten full wind, the results aren’t good. Of course it’s been a point of contention whether or not flash should be on mobile devices for just about as long as there’s been a concept of a smartphone, so the markets were bound to react to any sort of big change in the waters here in this situation, and it appears that Adobe really couldn’t have gotten much worse of a reaction from stockholders. In addition to the generally negative set of comments found around the web today, former Adobe executive Calos Icaza let the world know through Read Write Web’s Dan Rowinski that he’d been pushing for Adobe to focus on flash for touchscreen displays since all the way back in 1997, and is now feeling a bit like he had the right idea. The situation back then eventually lead to him leaving

Nissan will be showing off its latest electric vehicle concept called the Pivo 3 at next month’s Tokyo Motor Show. But ahead of the major event, the company has released some photos and videos this week of the third-generation Pivo and it’s looking much closer to a realistic production vehicle than ever before. The Pivo 3 zero-emission three-seater has evolved quite a bit in design from the Pivo 1 and 2, which resembled cartoonish bubbles on wheels. But it still retains many of its quirky features, including the driver’s seat being located at the center position rather than towards the left or right side of the vehicle. It’s wheels no longer turn completely sideways, but still maintain a large range of rotation, allowing for a tiny two-meter turning radius that makes the vehicle extremely easy to maneuver in tight spaces. Parking the vehicle is further simplified with an Automated Valet Parking system that lets the Pivo 3 park and recharge itself in specially equipped parking slots.

We’ve had a poll up on the front page of SlashGear since the official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in Hong Kong on the 18th of October, and from what the 16,700+ of you voters have said, it looks like this device is going to be a big seller! Of course the second in line option for this poll was “No, I don’t like Android,” this leading us to believe that you iPhone users out there aren’t about to switch over to the other platform, even IF it’s the next-generation hero for both Google and Samsung. The rest of you participants have got your reservations, seeking one of four options as far as why you’ve either got no Nexus in your future or need a bit more information on the release. While it’s important to note that this poll is only so accurate as the real-life people participating in it, the results show quite clearly that more than HALF of the participants have one strong opinion on the device or essentially the opposite, though as it’s 31% of the full total what says “Defi

According to new data from mobile analytics firm Flurry, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android devices have now taken command of the US portable gaming market. Together, they control 58 percent of the industry’s revenue in 2011. That’s a huge jump from just two years ago when the Nintendo DS held 70 percent of portable gaming revenue. Gaming on mobile devices has been on the rise, but this is the first time that gaming revenue from iPhones and Android smartphones have overtaken dedicated portable gaming devices such as the Nintendo DS and the Sony PlayStation Portable. “We see, for the first time, that smartphone revenue in the U.S. has leap-frogged portable game revenue,” said Flurry’s vice president of marketing Peter Fargo. “The disruption has been downright brutal.” With ever faster mobile processors as we’ve seen with the recently launched iPhone 4S and the upcoming Tegra 3 chips for Android tablets, smartphones will increasingly be able to play console-quality games, making the future

It appears that there’s some bit of strangeness going on in Verizon’s shipping, stocking, and sales departments and clubs because even though the HTC Rezound’s launch date is supposed to be November 14th, there’s at least one fellow out there who’s certainly gotten his order in early. What we’re finding out today is that some people around the country were able to call in with their local Verizon representative and request overnight shipping – or something to that effect – to get the phone a full five days early, having the phone on their doorstep today. Have a peek at the video of the joy in one fellow heart at being the first with the device. This device, for those of you that don’t know, has a 4.3-inch display at 1280 x 720 pixel resolution and has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor under the hood. This device also has Verizon’s 4G LTE connectivity active and is the first smartphone in the USA to feature hardware and software enhancements from Beats by Dre. Also the capacitive buttons on

This week we’re seeing the 2012 CES Innovation Awards being handed out and newsletters to those attending the conference in the first month of next year are privy to some product launches a bit early in some cases – LG’s HDTV range and a lovely cubical iPhone dock are just two examples. What you’ve got in the televisions are some massively impressive looking models in the LG 55LM8600, the 55LM9600 and the PM9700 Plasma 3D Smart TV, the first in this list being a 55-inch display toting LG’s proprietary Nano Full LED technology and an ultra-thin bezel. Next the 8600 model looks to be nearly the same set but without the special Nano Full LED tech, this meaning in the short run a slightly wider bezel around the whole rim. The PM9700 model is a plasma style set of course with Smart TV platform aboard – this means apps galore and no less than the manufacturer’s full attention when it comes to giving you hero-level support. Have a peek back at our review of the just as massively excellent Sam

Amazon may have quietly snapped up a voice-to-text and speech recognition software company called Yap that could help it keep pace with Apple’s Siri intelligent voice-controlled assistant feature. Although the purchase was made back in September, neither Amazon nor Yap have made any announcements. The purchase was revealed in an SEC filing that surfaced today. Although the filing doesn’t name Amazon directly, it shows that Yap had merged with a company called “Dion Acquisition Sub” that also happens to be headquartered in Amazon’s Seattle building. Yap seemed to have been doing quite well with its voicemail-to-text service and owned a good chunk of speech-recognition intellectual property that has been in development since 2006, further fueled by a $6.5 million Series A round of R&D funding in 2008. Amazon will be launching its Kindle Fire tablet this month and although it’s not considered to be in direct competition with Apple’s iPad, it is expected to reach more consumers than an

This week we’ve already seen one tablet that’s set to be nearly indestructible AND able to run Android in a single bound, now here’s another – this one goes by the name Fujitsu Arrows LTE Tab and is able to be submerged under water completely, not just sprayed a bit in the face. It’s a 10.1-inch display having 1280 x 800 pixel resolution toting Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet at the moment, and inside you’ll find Tegra! Not Tegra 3, unfortunately, that honor is thus far reserved for the ASUS amongst us.  UPDATE:  There’s been some confusion about the chip inside this device – though the video below says NVIDIA, inside this tablet is actually the lovely Texas Instruments OMAP4430, seen in quite a few excellent Androids as of late – take note! Also inside this tablet is 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot able to utilize up to a 32GB card. This device has a microUSB port, a microHDMI port, and of course is able to be dunked. You’ll see a video of this happening below,

"Ready" is a romantic-comedy set in Mauritius. It is a story about Prem (Salman Khan) and Sanjanna (Asin) who fall in love amidst a twisted plot of greedy uncles who want to gulp down Sanjanna's family inheritance and Prem's crazy family who always form a part of their only son's plans. Comedy is essentially a part of the various schemes and conspiracies both parties plan to teach each other a lesson. But what happens when Sanjanna's family find out they've been tricked? Revenge takes over their minds which lead to yet another series of plotting and adventures for both families. On music front Ready has some amazing songs like Dhinka Chika, Character Dheela & many other grooving numbers.Music of the film is from bollywood hit machine Pritam.

Who is the president of India? To know the answer watch this video. Enjoy this comic clip from movie ready

Sudesh Lehri is India's one of the best stand up comedian. watch him doing Jungle Mein Mangal with Salman Khan & Asin.

You loved movie Ready, here is the full video song of one of the most loved movie of 2011. The song name is Character Dheela featuring Zarine Khan & Salman Khan.