IBLOG SPACE

The folks at NVIDIA have today announced that they’ll be part of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center’s next new hybrid supercomputer, complete with NVIDIA Tegra ARM CPUs and high-performance NVIDIA CUDA GPUs galore. Today’s most efficient systems will be outdone in the energy efficiency department by the first large scale systems based on this technology, the first examples being shown off this week in Seattle Washington as the SC11 Conference (at book #235, if you’d like to know.) Fifteen to thirty times less power consumption than current supercomputer architectures on a exascale-level performance machine? Yes please. This project is known as the EU Mont-Blanc Project and will otherwise take part in developing a portfolio of exascale applications that work well on the technology now being developed with NVIDIA. Sound familiar? The leader of this Mont-Blanc project mister Alex Remirez, notes that while current systems need to give the “lion’s share” of energy to the CPUs, 40 percent o

Pogoplug has launched a cloud storage service, Pogoplug Cloud, offering 5GB of free online storage space and seamlessly integrating with the company’s personal cloud storage devices. The new online store – available through the desktop as well as via iOS and Android apps – can be used to stream photos, music and video from, create shared document folders, or act as an automatic backup of photos and video filmed on your smartphone. Those wanting more capacity can either pay for a bigger space on Pogoplug’s servers or throw in a home unit instead. Pogoplug charges $9.95 per month for 50GB of cloud storage or $19.95 per month for 100GB. Alternatively, pick up a  Pogop lug or Pogoplug Mobile - for $79 or $99 respectively – and plug in your own choice of hard-drive, and you can host a companion cloud from the home or office that sits alongside the one on Pogoplug’s servers. “To get 2 terabytes of storage in the cloud with other companies costs hundreds or thousands of dollars” Pogoplug poin

Microsoft Windows 8 in tablet flavor is expected to hit market in Q3 2012. Along with that version of the new OS will also come a hoard of embedded versions for different uses. Microsoft is talking about some of those Windows 8 flavors for embedded devices today. There are multiple embedded flavors of Windows for different needs and footprints. Versions that will be coming include Windows Embedded Enterprise for things like ATMs and kiosks. This version is set to land a quarter after the desktop version of Win 8. Embedded Standard will be offered in Community Technology Preview form in Q1 2012 and is designed for various devices. General availability is said to be coming three quarters after the PC version. Windows Embedded Compact is for small footprint devices and will come in H2 2012. It will support ARM and x86 processors. There is no detail offered on Windows Embedded Server right now. Windows Embedded Handheld 7 was killed earlier this year.

Intel and MasterCard have announced that they have teamed up for tap to pay for Ultrabook users. The idea is to allow the user of an Ultrabook with a smartphone to tap for paying for online shopping purchases. The idea is to make online shopping safer and easier for consumers. The tech used for the system will include MasterCard PayPass and Intel IPT. Together the two technologies allow the user to take advantage of a two-factor authentication process and hardware display protection. That helps protect from malware that might be out to steal credit card data. To be able to pay for online shopping purchases the user will need an Intel IPT enabled reader and then tap to pay will work. It seems that the system would make checking out faster too since you wouldn’t need to enter credit card details. Most card readers for the computer also encrypt that card data as soon as it is tapped so malware infected PCs would have no chance of stealing unencrypted card details.

If you are a PC gamer and are looking for a new PC that you can use to play all the cool new games that have landed this year Digital Storm has something for you. The company has announced that it is now putting new Intel hardware into its ODE line of gaming PCs. The gaming PCs use the Intel X79 chipset and can be had with that new Core i7 3930K CPU that debuted today. The processor has been factory overclocked to 4.6GHz for the ODE Level 4 gaming PC. The computer can be fitted with quad channel RAM kits in up to 16GB capacity. They can also be packed with multiple graphics cards with up to three NVIDIA GTX 570 video cards available. The ODE Level 4 gaming PC sells for $3,399. It has the X79 mainboard and 3930K CPU inside along with 16GB of RAM. The PSU is a 1050W Corsair Pro 1050H and it gets a 120GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. The three video cards are standard at that price and it has red chassis lighting inside the white case.

Corsair has announced that it has a new family of RAM for geeks that are adopting the new Intel family of processors like that Core i7-3960x Extreme we mentioned this morning. The new RAM comes in several kit sizes and is made for the socket LGA-2011 processors. Some of the new RAM kits are made from screened RAM and use the Corsair DHX+ heatsink tech. All of the kits support the Intel XMP 1.3 profiles that allow the user to tune the RAM for performance. The Dominator kits come in 32GB and 16GB capacities and they have two different kits per capacity. There is a 32GB kit running at 1866MHz with latencies of 9-10-9-27. The other 32GB kit runs at 1600MHz with latencies of 10-10-10-27. The 16GB kit runs at 2133MHz with latencies of 9-11-10-27. The second 16GB kit runs at 1866MHz with 9-10-9-27 latencies. Corsair also has Vengeance with 32GB, 10-11-10-30 1866 MHz kit, and a 32GB 1600 MHz kit at 10-10-10-27. The 16GB kits are both at 1600MHz with 9-9-9-24 and come in green or black. Vengean

Windows Phone 7 has apparently overtaken RIM’s BlackBerry OS to be the third most interesting platform for app developers, according to new research, with Microsoft’s partnership with Nokia a key driving factor. Apple’s iOS remains in the top spot for developer attention, Appcelerator‘s Q4 2011 report suggests, with 91-percent of those coders questioned reporting that they were “very interested” in creating iPhone apps; in contrast, 38-percent said the same about Windows Phone 7, with 28-percent saying they were keen to code for the Nokia Lumia 800 in particular. Android sits sandwiched in-between, though both smartphone and tablet developer interest dropped in the three month period. 83-percent of developers said they were “very interested” in producing apps for Android phones, and 68-percent for Android tablets (versus 88-percent for the iPad). Apple’s iOS 5 release was deemed the most important news of the quarter, followed by Samsung taking the smartphone top-spot. RIM’s results ar

A bunch of the stuff in your entertainment center probably has has the ability to type for searches and other things. The catch is that most of us lack a remote control that has a keyboard and if you have a bunch of components, you may have a bunch of remotes too. A new device on Kickstarter is aiming to control just about everything with one controller that also has a keyboard. The controller is called the Bridge and it has a smartphone style keyboard that looks like something off a Blackberry. It also has all the buttons you need for controlling your TV, audio, and video playback. The device is in the development phase right now and that is why it is landing on Kickstarter. The guys behind the device are seeking $50,000 to get the product made and to stores. The Bridge has buttons on the top for controlling things and looks a lot like a PS3 controller to me. The team has 47 days to go to fund the device making the support pledges end on December 31. Right now, they have 48 backers at

Kobo is trying to make its eBook readers a bit cheaper and is taking a page out of the Amazon book to do it. Kobo is adding new ad-supported versions of its eReaders like the Touch that are ad supported like some of the Amazon Kindle readers. Just like the Amazon ad-supported eReaders, the discount isn’t huge. If you pick up the Kobo touch with Offers it will cost you $99, $30 off the normal price. Offers are otherwise known as ads. The ads on the Kobo Touch with Offers are on screen savers when the reader is off or in sleep mode. The ads also pop up on the bottom of the home page. The good news is that there are no ads on the eBooks you purchase. This is identical to how the Kindle with Special Offers works. That Kobo Touch us an eReader with a 6-inch screen using infrared touch technology. It packs 2GB of storage inside and has a microSD card slot for when you run out of space. It has WiFi only and can surf the web. The Kobo Touch supports most common eBook formats. The device is off

It’s often not easy to collaborate with someone while you are talking to them on your mobile phone the problem is that not all devices allow you to use the touchscreen while on a call. Even if you can use the touchscreen, it’s usually too small to make for comfortable work. Researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen have an interesting and bulky concept device that makes collaboration using your phone easy. The phone has a pico projector integrated into it and the projector beams a screen that appears to be the same size as two tablet screens. One of the screens would be the user’s smartphone and the other is the other persons screen. It seems you can drag things from one screen to the other for sharing or working. The prototype is bulky and not something most folks would use in the real world. However, we have seen patent apps and pics of phones already that have tiny projectors inside. I can see this coming to market at some point and it would be cool. Apple is the company on

Lenovo is reportedly readying an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet for launch by the end of 2011, running Google’s new platform on NVIDIA’s 1.6GHz Tegra 3 quadcore chipset. The mysterious new 10.1-inch slate offers 2GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, Engadget‘s tipster claims, along with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner intended not only for biometric security but also to double as an optical joystick for navigating lengthy webpages and ebooks. There’s also a rear-mounted camera with an LED flash – resolution of which is currently unknown – and a USB Host socket for plugging in peripherals like keyboards and mice, as well as external storage. Lenovo has supposedly clad the whole thing in a “Special Fusion-Skin Body” which is similarly lacking in detail; however, we’re guessing it’s some sort of easy-grip coating that cuts down on scratches. No information on potential price or name has been released, though Lenovo has targeted both consumers and enterprise markets with previous tablets

Google has been working hard to get the major record labels to sign an agreement to allow Google to start a download music service that will sell tunes to Android users. Google is having a press event soon to unveil the download service that will have Spinal Tap on hand to play some tunes presumably. The music service is launching two of the major labels according to CNET. Sony and Warner have so far not agreed to allow Google to sell their artists recordings in a download music store. CNET has reported that Universal Music Group will be on hand at the press event. It’s not known at this point if EMI will be participating in the event. Part of the reason negotiations are tough for Google with major music labels is that Google has had issues in the past with some publishers over allegedly helping people to infringe their copyrights with services like YouTube. Apparently, negotiations with the labels have been tense. Part of the reason is that Google apparently wants the music service to

Google could release a fleet of autonomous data collection robots, supplanting its current Google Street View cars insiders suggest, using robotics and AI research from the search giant’s mysterious Google X incubator labs. The high-tech exploratory ‘bots – which would build on Google’s self-driving cars - are one of several outlandish projects currently underway among the company’s more prophetic engineers and developers, according to an NY Times piece on the clandestine R&D facility. Other avenues apparently include space elevators and the “web of things” where meshes of network-enabled objects, potentially as mundane as tableware, can communicate online. Google itself consistently declines to comment on the Google X lab specifically, though its spokespeople confirm that some of the R&D budget goes to projects that might be seen as outlandish. Much of the momentum of Google X – which employs engineers from such illustrious backgrounds as Microsoft, MIT and Nokia Labs – is app

You never know where you will find the latest details on new products coming from manufacturers we all know. You might find some leaked documents, you might find mentions of unreleased kit in OS updates, and sometimes the code on websites gives away little details. Some code has turned up that points to the Acer A511 tablet and gives a few details about the device. The code points to the A511 and shows that the tablet will run Tegra 3. That is the new quad-core NVIDIA chipset we’ve been hearing so much about for a while now. The details also show 32-bit color and a resolution of 1280 x 800 for the screen. There are also some other rumored details along with this that claim that the A511 will sport 3G connectivity and WiFi. Another model of the same tablet called the A510 is also said to be landing that has WiFi only. There is no mention of what OS the tablets will be running or when the tablets will land. It would be a good bet that the OS will be Ice Cream Sandwich and the first time

Talk about your morning weird. Some people studying Google Earth for some reason managed to run across some very weird patterns in the Chinese desert that have a bunch of folks stumped. The patterns look like stripes that were etched or dug over the top of the landscape in the area. Some of the lines appear to be made from a silver/white material. Considering these can clearly be seen from orbit the formations are raising some eyebrows with geeks trying to figure out what exactly they are for. Are these some sort of alignment or targeting grids for space weapons or what? In one of the photos, you can clearly see a grid of structures with three of them either destroyed or partially standing as if they were for target practice. The strangest one is the intersecting grids lines; the structure covers 18 miles of space. The other pattern that looks like some sort of targeting grid is set up with concentric rings of what appear to be structures with straight spokes radiating out from the cen

O2 has launched its first 4G LTE network in the UK, kicking off a trial of the high-speed service in London that will offer testers up to 100Mbps. The scheme will run for nine months, with 25 sites going live in November and that being ramped up until a total combined area of 40km gets service. However, participation in the trial will not be generally available. Instead, O2 is targeting businesses and entertainment venues, such as retailer John Lewis and the O2 Arena. They’ll give performance and usability feedback to the carrier, which will be used to shape O2′s bid for spectrum when the UK bands are put up for license in 2012. The trial will use the temporarily licensed 2.6GHz frequency, which O2 claims is capable of supporting up to 150Mbps downloads. Samsung’s B3730 is O2′s modem of choice for the test run, a USB stick which also supports 2100MHz WCDMA and dualband GPRS/EDGE for when users are outside of LTE coverage. “The time to download a 500MB file could be as fast as under one

HTC is preparing a quad-core Android tablet for launch in February 2012, according to the latest rumors, along with at least two Android smartphones. The new HTC slate will use NVIDIA’s freshly announced Tegra 3processor, China’s Commercial Times claims, and be revealed at Mobile World Congress 2012, with the paper suggesting that it could be HTC’s only Android slate of the year. Instead, HTC is tipped to be aiming to get its tablet to the market before rivals running Windows 8 are released, that expected to take place sometime in Q3. It’s unclear whether HTC is also preparing a Windows 8 tablet of its own, though rumors earlier this month suggested the company was planning to use the ARM-specific build of the upcoming Microsoft OS on a product of its own. It’s not the first time we’ve heard talk of HTC and Tegra 3. The company is also tipped to be using the quadcore processor in its HTC Edge smartphone, a supposedly 4.7-inch Android handset with greater pixel density than the iPhone

AMD has revealed its latest Opteron processor line-up, offering up to 16 cores and 84-percent more performance than rival chips, while also previewing its 2012 compact server offerings for smaller, more energy-efficient data centers. The new AMD Opteron 6200 and 4200 Series have their focus resolutely set on new cloud implementations, demanding half the power per core of their predecessors and cutting price and space by a third. Up to four memory channels – with support for up to 1600MHz memory – are on offer, with up to 12 DIMMs per CPU available for a somewhat ridiculous potential total of 384GB memory per processor catered for. AMD is also pretty keen to point out that the new Opterons are the only x86 chips to support ultra-low voltage 1.25v memory, adding to the platform’s energy frugality. “The AMD Opteron 3000 series offering is designed for hosting customers who require dedicated servers for their customers. These cloud and web hosting customers appreciate the cost savings asso

LG is readying its first Google TV for launch in January 2012 at CES, insiders claim, as Google prepares its second attempt at the smart TV segment. Specifications for the new LG are unclear, with Bloomberg‘s pair of sources “with knowledge of the product” only confirming that it will be a TV set with Google TV functionality integrated. It will be one of the first to use Google TV 2.0, which offers third-party apps and a redesigned interface. LG was tipped to demonstrate one or more Google TV products back in January, at CES 2010, but the company reportedly froze production plans at Google’s own request. The search giant, so leaks suggested at the time, was looking to refine its smart TV experience based on poor feedback from reviewers and users. That poor reception has continued, to the point where Logitech – one of Google’s original launch partners for Google TV – has decided not to replace or further produce its Revue set-top box when existing supplies run out. Although initially co

Intel  has outed its latest high-end processor, the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition, along with a new chipset, the X79 Express, and manufacturers are already jumping all over the performance pair. Maingear has updated its SHIFT, F131 and Quantum SHIFT desktop PCs to use the Core i7-3960X chip, which runs at 3.3GHz but can be overclocked to a huge 5.6GHz thanks to it coming unlocked, as well as 3.9GHz using Intel Turbo, packs six cores and 12 threads, and has 15MB of cache. Upgraders hoping to use the new processor may be frustrated by Intel’s new LGA 2011 socket, however. ASUS has a range of new motherboards using the X79 Chipset and the LGA 2011 socket, intended to be used with the Core i7-3960X and its more affordable 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K hexacore and 3.6GHz Core i7-3820 quadcore siblings (which have 12MB and 10MB of cache respectively, and can be Turbo boosted to 3.8GHz and 3.9GHz respectively). The ASUS P9X79 Series ‘boards aim for user-friendliness, with features like SSD caching, w

This week we’ve gotten the opportunity to take a peek at a game that’ll be released on the Android Market and through the Tegra Zone – Zen Pinball THD, exclusively for Tegra 2 dual-core processor-toting mobile devices. This is a game that allows you to take your love of pinball and apply it to a handful of utterly fabulous tables, both branded by the developers behind the game and developed inside other universes such as Marvel Comics with the Fantastic Four and Spiderman. Have a peek at a couple of tables in a very early build of this game here! This game is one in a series of games made by developers working directly with the team at NVIDIA to create masterpieces optimized specifically for the NVIDIA Tegra processor family. Have a look here at a bit if information on how NVIDIA worked with Zen Studios’ Creative Director Neil Sorens – this bit comes from a short interview done with Sorens posted in the Tegra Zone all the way back this summer in July: “ How easy was it to port your gam

A technology Web site, PhoneDog.com, and one of its former chief editors, Noah Kravitz, are embroiled in a legal battle that could have fascinating repercussions for social networks. Kravitz is suing PhoneDog over contractual issues, but it’s the counter-suit that really has my attention. PhoneDog is suing Kravitz over the use of his Twitter handle. They claim that he improperly kept the Twitter name after he left the company, and that he owes them damages of $2.50 for each Twitter follower he took with him, for each month he held them after he left. At 17,000 followers when he left, and 8 months since then, that starts damages at $370,000. So, that’s not even the full value PhoneDog puts on the Twitter account, but rather the value that Kravitz took with him when he left. PhoneDog essentially believes a key Twitter account is worth half a million dollars per year.

This week Apple has officially made public a recall program for its original iPod nano model here in the USA citing a rare overheating problem that has recently posed enough of a risk that full replacements will be offered on the whole generation. This isn’t the first iPod nano 1st generation recall on earth, but it is the first inside the USA. Apple is recommending that users discontinue using their devices immediately and follow along with one of the methods they’ve got available for replacing the device with another model for free from Apple. This issue is, again, a battery issue, and does not affect any other model iPod or iPod nano from any generation. You’ve got a couple of options as far as replacing your model with Apple, the first being online with Apple’s[replacement form.] You’ll notice a list of countries that you’ll be able to get the recall in, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands,

This week its appearing quite possible that regardless of doubts in its success and the whole price slashsituation, the Nintendo 3DS may well surpass its DS predecessor’s first year sales. It is important to note first of all that even though the price cut didn’t make everyone on the streets happy, sales did rise significantly. Sales started to soar come August of this year, and now according to the NPD Group the system has passed the 1.65 million units sold mark in the USA putting the device right on track to beat out the original in the same span. Have a peek at the 50 million DS units sold since launch and note again that this isn’t a race between final totals, (or it isn’t yet,) instead it’s a comparison between the first year’s sales for both the DS and the 3DS, the newer handheld model. This will be quite the feat and a gigantic win for Nintendo as the original DS is still the best-selling game platform in US history. The DS’s first-year sales in the USA were 2.37 million units w

Over the last several months, there has been an increasingly bitter debate surrounding Sony’s decision to keep its television business. There are some folks that say the time has come for Sony, which has watched its market share continue to trail far behind the leaders of the pack, Samsung and Vizio, finally spin off the operation. Sony, on the other hand, has argued that such a strategy makes little sense, and what it needs to do now is hunker down and turn things around. Oh, how wrong Sony is. Sony’s television business is a mess. Aside from its dismal market share, Sony chief Howard Stringer said recently that his company loses money on every single TV unit it sells. And the tech giant’s recent decision tobreak the TV unit into three, allowing it to allocate investment dollars more effectively and find out which division isn’t keeping its end of the bargain, makes little sense. After all, no matter how many divisions a single unit is broken up into, if consumers don’t care, there’s

This week we both saw the official announcement of the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor that would power it – and today we get a special treat from ZTOP: a hands-on treatment complete with a size comparison to the comparatively hefty iPhone 4 (or the iPhone 4S). What kind of comparison is that, you might ask, why compare a tablet to a smartphone? Because the iPhone was sitting on the guy’s desk and he had an ASUS Transformer Prime to take some photos of, that’s why. Also behold a couple of videos from the device which show off some new apps as well. The videos you’re about to see are magnificent, one of them showing off a game we’ve seen before on the Tegra 2 dual-core processor: Shadowgun. This game is currently only available for devices running the NVIDIA processors Tegra 2 and Tegra 3, and the version you’re seeing here below of course isn’t even officially out yet since the processor isn’t supposed to be in the wild yet. Get wild! The other

Polaroid announced a new digital camera this week called the Z340 Instant Digital Camera that can print photos on the spot, much like classic Polaroid Spectra cameras of the 80s. But this new take on the retro form packs in a 14-megapixel sensor and includes a 2.7-inch LCD image viewer among other new digital functions. The Z340 Instant Digital Camera is fairly bulky at one-pound, seven ounces, due to its integrated Zink zero-ink printer. But sleek style certainly won’t be why you’ll be interested in this nostalgic device. It prints 3- by 4-inch photos on demand and since its digital now, you can preview the images on the 2.7-inch LCD display before you print. Not only can you be more selective now about which photos you print, you can even make some edits to the images beforehand. For instance, you can crop and choose between Polaroid’s classic white border or other frame styles from design libraries stored on the camera. The camera also comes with an SD card slot and can print up to

Sony announced two new hardware bundles for the PlayStation 3 that will be hitting retail stores next week just in time for the holiday season. With all the holiday feasting and gatherings coming up, the bundles will be arriving at a good time, packing in PlayStation Move accessories and titles that will get you dancing or playing sports in your living room to burn off all those excess calories. One bundle features the Everybody Dance title and comes with the 320GB PlayStation 3 console plus one DualShock controller, a Move controller, and a PlayStation Eye camera, all for $299.99. That’s about the price you would normally pay for just the console itself. This bundle will be sold exclusively at Target. The second bundle may suit you better if you already have the PlayStation 3 console, as it only comes with the Move accessories and two game titles. The games are Sports Champions and Medieval Moves Deadmund’s Quest. This bundle goes for $99.99.

Honda will be occupying the largest booth at next month’s Tokyo Motor Show and it’s got plenty of production and concept vehicles to fill up all that space. The company released a preview of its entire lineup today, which includes several automobiles and motorocycles as well as home power generation technology. Two electric vehicle concepts called the AC-X and the Small Sports EV stood out with very Tron-esque renderings. The AC-X is the more practical of the two and is a plug-in hybrid designed for both short and long commutes. It can be driven purely on a charge of its onboard battery or can switch to engine mode, allowing it to take on much longer trips than can be achieved on an electric-only vehicle. The Small Sports EV concept, on the other hands, is aimed at “fun” driving and looks to be a two-seater with a convertible top. Both models have only been revealed in renderings with Honda likely saving the big unveil for the show in Tokyo next month. Honda will also be showcasing a n

Apple’s long promised iTunes Match feature may finally be nearing launch after the company missed its end of October deadline. Developers received notice today that Apple will be resetting and erasing their iCloud libraries on November 12 at 10AM PST so that the company can prepare for the launch of iTunes Match, although it did not specify when the service would publicly debut. iTunes Match was first announced back at WWDC 2011, when Apple also revealed the iCloud and iOS 5, which were all set to launch this fall. The iCloud and iOS 5 have both been released last month along with the iPhone 4S, but the iTunes Match feature has remained in developer beta testing since the end of August. The service costs $24.99 a year and is designed to be an optional feature that allows users to stream via the iCloud both iTunes music as well as songs that they’ve purchased or acquired elsewhere. iTunes Match will attempt to find the song in Apple’s vast music library and if it’s already there, the se

This week we’re to understand from a press release sent out by the lot of them that Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, and slightly lesser known X6D Limited (of XPAND 3D fame) has started up its licensing program by the name of“Full HD 3D Glasses initiative” which is attempting to standardize the use of 3D active shutter glasses for consumers. It’s sort of like Foreigner but with less music and a whole lot more wild and crazy flippy flappy glasses to make your eyes feel like they’re in a whole new world, if you know what I mean. Does this seem like a good thing to you? Of course it’s awesome when technology is standardized, just so long as its the best option for consumers. One example of this going RIGHT, if I do say so myself, is when it was decided that microUSB seemed like the best idea for Smartphones. Another example, this time when things went wrong, is when video cassette was chosen over Betamax, the latter being the CLEAR superior if you ask me. Now what we’ve got here is the pushing o

Earlier this week the LG Optimus LTE was confirmed for Bell Canada and now it turns out that the device will be heading stateside to AT&T as well. Since both carriers operate on the same spectrum, the hardware for the device will remain the same, but AT&T’s version will be rebranded as the LG Nitro HD. Like the LG Optimus LTE, AT&T’s LG Nitro HD features a 4.5-inch 720p HD resolution display, making it one of the first smartphones in the US along with the HTC Rezound and the upcoming Galaxy Nexus to feature such a high-resolution screen. Inside, the device is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage, expandable via a microSD card slot. It will feature an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera along with HDMI output, Bluetooth 3.0, DLNA support, and a large 1830mAh battery that’s expected to provide a longer battery life. The device will support AT&T’s fledgling 4G LTE network and should come running Android 2.3 Ginge

This week we’ve gotten word via a lovely invitation from the big G that a Google Music event will be coming this month. This event’s title suggests that it will somehow relate to none other than everyone’s favorite fake shock rock group, aka England’s Loudest Group, Spinal Tap, what with the “These Go To Eleven” note right up at the top. Will we see some purchasing of music coming to our doorstep soon? This event invite reminds us of an announcement just this past month from Google that Google Music would indeed by coming soon with an update that would be “a twist.” On the other hand, this new vision might come in the form of a piece of hardware, but software seems much more likely. Let’s see some dipping into the streaming music business, Google, perhaps a bit of the ol’ purchasing of tracks to mix things up. This even is of course one that we’ll be covering live as it goes down on November 16th, 2011, that being a Wednesday, at 2PM PST. You can also follow along with us at the livest

The numbers are finally in from sales of the new Call of Duty game Modern Warfare 3, and as predicted, its Tuesday launch broke the record for opening day sales. On its launch day between the U.S. and Great Britain, Call of Duty’s newest installment sold 6.5 million units in one day, that breaking the record with $400 million worth of retail sales. The previous record holder was, you guessed it, the last version of Call of Duty, this one called Black Ops and having generated $360 million in sales on its first day. Note here that these prices are not being bumped by the cash it takes to purchase one of these games, as each of the last few entries in the game history have all cost $60 a unit. What’s more, there’s another record on the line with the same two contenders: the five day video game sales record is on the line, and Call of Duty can’t lose! Are you amongst those millions of purchasers of the game? Or is it foolish to ask since everyone who has the game is undoubtedly still playi

All you lovers of the Angry Birds brand can rest easy knowing there’s an Angry Birds-centric store headed your way soon, as the first shop has officially opened its doors for business in Helsinki, Finland. Of course Finland is the birthplace of Angry Birds and still where Rovio, the developer of said game resides, so of course the first store should open in such a place. Of course we’ve got to wait and see how well it does before more shops open nationwide and worldwide, but for now, we’ve got our own versions in just sections of stores such as the one you’ll see a bit later in this post, complete with hookahs. Of course the real Angry Birds store would never have smoking apparatuses, but that’s just what our palSIMMS22 from the Android Community forums found this past week whilst bumming around New York City. And we’re SURE the Mighty Eagle would not approve of such debauchery. These displays are becoming more and more common as Rovio ramps up production of their iconic birds made int