IBLOG SPACE

Roku has announced its international launch plans, with the company’s streaming set-top boxes set to launch in Canada and the UK in early 2012. The call has been put out for new partners keen to get their streaming services onto users’ TVs to get in touch, though it’s likely that Netflix – which is already operational in Canada, and announced its own 2012 UK launch plans recently – as well as other existing content providers will be onboard too. However, there’ll be region-specific channels on offer, as Netflix secures deals with Canadian and UK providers. There are also casual games on offer on the US models, such as Angry Birds, which is also likely to transition into the newly supported regions. Pricing and specific availability hasn’t been confirmed, but Netflix recently launched its cheapest model to-date, the $49 Roku LT. That will now get a special remote with custom Netflix, Pandora and Crackle buttons, in the US at least, though we imagine services will be queuing up to get de

Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus went on sale in the UK this morning, but retailer Phones 4U’s exclusivity period hasn’t gone entirely smoothly. The first in line this morning to buy the Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone – promptly tweeted out by Samsung UK - actually received a device running what was apparently a test ROM, Engadget reports, and had to return to have his phone exchanged. Meanwhile, Phones 4U has confirmed to us that, while no mention of SIM-free handset sales is made on the company’s site, the Galaxy Nexus is available unlocked and off-contract; in fact, we believe more unlocked devices than contract devices have been sold today. We stopped by the Oxford Street, London, Phones 4U store which has been exclusively selling the Galaxy Nexus since 8am UK time to find out about availability and sales. While Phones 4U PR – and indeed the sales staff we spoke to on the phone ahead of time – told us the unlocked Galaxy Nexus was priced at £549.99 ($868), in-store we were quoted £529.99 ($83

The never clam sea of Apple rumors has kicked up again today. According to sources Apple is now in the inventory control mode for the iPad 2 getting prepped for a new version of the iPad to hit next year. The tightening of inventory by Apple could affect the screen shipment numbers for panel suppliers that make the 9.7-inch screens the iPad 2 uses. Thos suppliers are Samsung Electronics, LG Display, and CMI. According to DigiTimes there are enough parts in the chain for Apple to build another 15-16 million iPad 2s, which would leave about 4-5 million iPad 2 tablets in the supply chain. In October, Apple reportedly cut the supply of screens ordered from Samsung to 2 million units, CMI went from 700,000 expected to 350,000, and LG went from 3 million expected to 2.5 million. The sources DigiTimes cites also claim that at the same time supplies for screens on the iPad 2 are being trimmed, the building of panels for the next iPad are ramping up. The availability of those higher resolution

One of your favorite Android smartphones to land in recent memory has been the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone. There has been a bunch of people hoping and waiting to hear from Samsung on whether or not the Galaxy S II would be getting the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update. We reviewed the S II back in April when it landed and liked it very well. Samsung has now official confirmed via a tweet from its UK arm that the S II will get the ICS update. This is the first official confirmation of the smartphone getting the update we have seen. Previously it was only rumor that pointed to he update hitting the smartphone. Samsung doesn’t offer up a specific time frame when the S II will get the ICS update. My money would be on Q1 2012. That is when most of the devices are going to be getting the update. Samsung UK says that it will update folks again when the date is offered.

Two satellites used by the U.S. Government were the targets of a hack attempt that apparently originated from a ground control station located in Norway. The announcement came from the commander of the U.S. military space operations. The commander noted that they lacked the evidence needed to be able to determine who attempted to hack the satellites. However, the same day that the commander, Gen. Robert Kehler, announced the hack attempts the government of Australia also announced that they did not ask the U.S. before allowing China to access a ground station used in Western Australia that is also used by NASA. The same thing may have happened in the case of the hacking attempts on the two other satellites. Kongsberg Satellite Services owns the ground station in Norway, which in turn is owned 50/50 by a private Norwegian defense firm and a Norwegian state company. Kongsberg Satellite Services denied that any interference with U.S. satellites happened through its ground station. A commi

Panasonic has been making smartphones and offering them to folks in Japan for a while now. There have been no Panasonic smartphones outside its home turf in a while. It looks link that is about to change though with Panasonic looking for a new firm to handle marketing in Europe. The new firm it is seeking will apparently be pimping Panasonic smartphones. It would be an easy guess to have Panasonic working in Android smartphones, the company has already offered up a couple Android tablets. The last time a Panasonic smartphone was sold outside Japan was back in 2005. Panasonic is said to be targeting “several” countries. There is no word on what other countries it will be looking at. With Europe and the US as the main consumers of high-end smartphones, perhaps we will see the brand come back to the US. Panasonic isn’t commenting on the hunt right now, but I am sure once it lands a firm and starts the push we will hear all about it.

I had honestly forgotten all about this legal case that has been running since 2004. Back in 2004, Rambus filed suit claiming that DRAM firms Hynix and Micron conspired to prevent the adoption of the Rambus memory in computer systems. Rambus sued the other companies for $4 billion. That $4 billion could have turned into $12 billion with California treble damages. Luckily for Hynix and Micron the US court that was hearing the case has ruled against Rambus. The jury hearing the case has ruled that Hynix and Micron did not conspire to prevent the Rambus tech from gaining a foothold in the market. Samsung was initially in the case, but dropped out when it agreed to pay Rambus $900 million through 2015. I bet someone at Samsung is kicking themselves right now. Hynix and Micron both denied any claims of conspiracy and said that technical issues and other factors kept Rambus out of the market. I wonder if Samsung will try and get out of paying all the money it promised after the ruling was ha

Nokia has admitted that its primary focus with Windows Phone is not to necessarily challenge other manufacturers using the Microsoft platform to build the “best” device, but to take on rival platforms in the hope of extending WP7′s footprint. ”In the early days our first competitors are the other ecosystems” CEO Stephen Elop confirmed at a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecoms Conference this week, later telling Reuters that only when Windows Phone had picked up pace with users and developers would Nokia look to differentiate itself from its platform compatriots. “You see us pricing the devices so that that we can get what we think will be a good volume” Elop explained of Nokia’s strategy. The company released its first Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 800, on Wednesday this week in the UK, as well as revealing a second, cheaper device – the Lumia 710 - at Nokia World last month. That isn’t expected to go on sale until the end of the year, however, while the first US Nokia phone

If there’s one criticism we’ve always had about laser pointers it’s that only one person can run the risk of blindness at a time; thank goodness for tinkerer Matthew Leone’s DIY Laser Ball project, which opens the door to up to 14 lasers. Leone’s awesome Instructable packs a tennis ball with lasers and a microcontroller to create what’s described as “a cat-toy for humans” or a remote control “first-generation lightsaber training droid.” Basically, the tennis ball – or any other ball, object or lump you may have lying around – is studded with lasers, each individually controlled by the specially programmed Teensy microcontroller (though you could use our old friend the Arduino too). That responds to a remote control, cycling through various patterns of laser light show. Altogether, the components come to $78 or thereabouts, which makes the Laser Ball cheaper than many laser pointers you could buy in stores (albeit likely to cause somewhat more confusing during PowerPoint presentations).

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has gone on sale, with the UK getting the first opportunity to buy the third official Google Phone complete with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Retailer Phones 4U grabbed the exclusive on the 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD smartphone, offering the handset from free with a £36 ($57) per month, two-year agreement. Unfortunately, developers have been frustrated so far in their efforts to secure an unlocked, SIM-free handset on launch day. Phones 4U is only initially offering the Galaxy Nexus with a carrier agreement, while the retailer’s initial exclusivity deal means rival stores aren’t expecting stock in until next week at the earliest. Galaxy Nexus hands-on: Whether that will have a knock-on effect to apps being upgraded to suit Android 4.0 remains to be seen, but it certainly hasn’t done Google’s standing with developers much good. The Galaxy Nexus on sale today has a pentaband HSPA+ radio, though a Verizon version with LTE support is promised by the end of this y

Last mentioned last month, the Fiat 500 Abarth is finally coming stateside, for all you non-European readers out there in the wild known as North America. This is the car that Chrysler calls “the Italian high-performance car for everyday driving.” And that says a lot for such a, well, shall I say, minute car. Are you looking for a more sexier, more vroom-vroom version of a Mini Cooper? Then by all means, take a look at what Fiat has to offer. The Abarth 500 made its inaugural North American debut today at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Italian car manufactuere Fiat’s performance division upgrades the car’s suspension and brakes and hands it optional 17-inch rims (sweet!) and one-of-a-kind Abarth badging. Furthermore, the upgraded little car also manages a impressive 160 horsepower from the Fiat’s 1.4 liter turbocharged MultiAir. And this car just weighs only 2,533 pounds. And goes from 0-60 in all of 9.4 seconds. How do you say “awesome” in Italian? Top Gear calls it “a cheeky little thing

Lo and behold, French electronics company Archos has introduced another new model to its Arnova family (their budget tablet computer line). This newly-debuted member of the Arnova lineup has been christened the Arnova 9 G2. And it’s an Android-running tablet with a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768-pixel IPS display, just like Apple’s iPad. Although, from what the specs are showing at the moment, the similarities pretty much end there and then. The new Arnova 9 G2 tablet comes packed with a 9.7-inch capacitive, multi-touch touch panel, a 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 single-core processor, stereo speakers, a built-in microphone and a forward-facing camera. Moreover, it houses a sturdy 8 gigs of flash storage, a microSD card slot, a USB port & micro USB port, and 802,11b/g/n WiFi wireless connectivity. Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system comes standard on board, as it does on most tablet computers running Android OS these days. In terms of dimensions, the tablet measures a standard-esque 9.4

Most of us know how amazing the iPhone camera is, for a smartphone camera, that is. But noted photographer Annie Leibovitz, who’s widely known for her classic portraits of such individuals as John Lennon, Bill Gates, Sting and Queen Elizabeth II has gone a step further and personally recommended (in a televised interview with MSNBC anchor Brian Williams) the usage of the iPhone as really the “snapshot camera of today.” You can’t really get better advertising than that, eh? In response to a question by MSNBC anchor Williams asking what her answer was to people who asked her advice on buying a camera, the photographer (who’s best known for her Rolling Stones magazine cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono) started talking about the iPhone. In Leibovitz’s own words, “It’s a pencil, it’s a pen, it’s a notebook…” She was also amazed by how the number of people who would show her photographs of their own children by simply pulling out their iPhone like “the wallet with the family pictures.” For m

We knew that Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would sell well when it came out on its infamous launch date, November 11th, 2011. And now we have the official stats from ZeniMax (Bethesda’s parent company)’s CEO himself. 3.5 million copies in 48 hours? You can go ahead and check that box, since Skyrim has reached just those awe-inspiring numbers. We now just have to wait for the first week of sales to finalize in order to see if Skyrim is on track to beat the record currently held by Call of Duty’s newly released Modern Warfare 3. Robert Altman, CEO of ZeniMax (Bethesda’s parent company) announced that “We are grateful for the fans’ response to Skyrim. Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda Game Studios have crafted a very special game. Anticipation for Skyrim has surpassed any game in our company’s history, and we are pleased that sales and reviews have reflected the quality and hours of amazing gameplay it provides.” Kudos to legendary game designer Todd Howard and his team at Bethesd

Remember Pioneer’s announcement of their trio of 3D Blu-ray players back in September? Well, the entry-level BDP-140 is now available for purchase on Pioneer‘s own website for a manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing of $299.99. This latest 3D Blu-ray player from Pioneer includes the ability for audio and video streaming from Pandora, YouTube, and Netflix, as well as having the option to play audio and video from USB and DLNA sources. Now, thanks to Pioneer, you can watch your movies in Blu-ray high-definition AND in 3D. To refresh your memory, the Pioneer BDP-140 Blu-ray Player supports the latest and greatest high-quality formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for crisp movie viewing, and Super Audio CD (SACD) for music playback. Furthermore, the BDP-140 has the ability to upconvert standard definition sources to 1080p resolution for all the full-HD displays out there. The BDP-140 also offers 3D video output with the most up-to-date HDMI 1.4a spec. Last but not least

Cheap, branded Android tablets have come of age in time for the 2011 holidays, and Barnes & Noble is hoping the NOOK Tablet can lead the pack. With a $249 price tag that makes the 7-inch slate half the cost of an iPad 2, Apple’s tablet may not be the specific target but those looking for straightforward email, web browsing, multimedia and, not least, ebook reading could well decide the NOOK Tablet offers everything they need on a budget. Read on for our unboxing and some hands-on first impressions. B&N hasn’t wandered too far from the original NOOK Color for its design inspiration, with the NOOK Tablet getting a slightly lighter finish but otherwise looking and feeling the same. At 8.1 x 5.0 x 0.48 inches it’s an easily gripped, narrow (if a little thick) device, while the 14.1-ounce weight is actually a little less than the NOOK Color. We’re glad to see dedicated home and volume controls remain, while the 7-inch 1024 x 600 IPS touchscreen is bright and has great viewing angles

This week Google announced their new Google Music Artist Hub, a part of the Android Market’s new music sales initiative and part of Google Music’s now public cloud service – it’s here that any artist, signed or not, can create a name for themselves in the very real and very live marketplace. What we’re going to do here is go through the very basic process an artist will go through themselves to create an Artist Page from whens their music (and music videos) will be sold. I’ll be using the pseudo name I use on many projects, A Tiny City, for future reference – don’t expect any magical musical break throughs from me, but see how simple this process can be.

Ferguson Hill is best known for its monumental FH001 and FH002, towering horns of transparent perspex with a similarly mammoth price tag. The company broached the computer/MP3 speaker market a few years back with the markedly more affordable FH007 system, and is back again with the FH009, aiming this time at the music and home cinema market. The premise is a setup both visually and aurally arresting; the price is a not-inconsiderable £795. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Apple’s iPhones and iPads may finally be getting 4G LTE support next year thanks to Qualcomm’s latest mobile device modem (MDM) chips. Qualcomm announced its new Gobi 4000 platform along with its second generation MDM 9×00 series chips that integrate LTE and 3G support while offering improved power efficiency, which is one of the key factors in Apple’s resistance to adapting 4G LTE for its iPhones and iPads. Despite the popularity and buzz around 4G LTE devices, Apple has refused to incorporate the technology. Current generation baseband chips with LTE support are too power hungry and require package size and power requirements exceeding what Apple has designed for its current lineup. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said before that “LTE would force design compromises we’re not willing to make.” However, the new Qualcomm MDM 9×00 series chips are made using a 28nm process that greatly improves power efficiency. Plus, the Gobi 4000 platform is compatible with EV-DO Rev. A and B, HSPA+, and dual-

Google has announced this week a whole new Google Music which will, as they explain, allow music artists to sell their own music at a 70/30 cut, that’s 70% of the profit sent to the artist or band, plus a one-time fee. Artists are able to create their own profile for a one-time $25 fee, and will be able to sell their music directly to fans through this page. Individual tracks and albums will be able to be posted and sold, and all purchases will be able to be shared in the Google+ social network, through Android, and more. You’ll be able to share tracks for free, preview tracks as little or as much for free as you like, and cash in without any label in between. What you, the independent artist does, is head over to music.google.com/artists and you’ll be right on your way. This experience is very similar to how app developers work with Android. For those of you who are unaware of how well developers can do selling apps, note this: Rovio, for example, was barely a business a few years ago

This week we’re hearing all there is to know about the Google Music ecosystem as it exists both in the cloud and in the Android Market, not to mention inside the Google+ social network. What we’re to understand thus far is that Google Music Beta, launched this summer on a limited scale, will now be open and available for everyone (in the USA thus far) for people to keep their music in the cloud completely for free. This ties in with the Google Music part of the Android Market, also open today, where users can purchase tracks and instantly have them both on their device and in the cloud where they can pin them to any device in the future. Announced with this big set of tidbits were three of the top four labels in the USA, EMI, Universal, and Sony Music. Also included in the announcements were the rather important features of sharing and discovery. You’ll be able to share the tracks you’ve purchased on Google+ where everyone will be able to listen to tracks once for free. You’ll be able

This week at the “These Go To Eleven” event in Los Angeles, California, Google has revealed that they will begin digital sales of music through the Android Market with Google Music. This announcement puts Google in what they hope will be direct competition with the giants of online music sales such as iTunes, but places the ability to purchase music right alongside their apps, books, and video sales. This event, mind you, took place at Mr Brainwash Studios, this fellow Mr Brainwash the guy you may know well from the graffiti artist Banksy’s film “Exit Through the Giftshop” – his artwork strewn about the walls. Director of Digital Content for Android at Google mister Jamie Rosenberg started the set by mentioning howGoogle Music Beta was initiated this summer and has been a great success thus far, complete with free tracks from an assortment of artists as they went. The beta program, Rosenberg mentioned, ends today and continues to be free for everybody. Rosenberg took a shot at Apple by

Sony has just announced via its PlayStation Network blog that the online gaming platform will be undergoing a routine scheduled maintenance tomorrow, November 17. However, this one isn’t quite as routine as the system will be offline for almost a full day starting from 8am to 10pm PST. Sony did not detail reasons for the long maintenance period nor what improvements to the platform, if any, can be expected afterwards. Access to the service will be limited tomorrow during the maintenance. Users will not be able to access the PlayStation Store on the PS3 and PSP, the PlayStation Network Account Management, and the PlayStation Account Registration. Users will also not be able to sign in to the PlayStation Network from us.playstation.com. However, some users may still be able to play online during the maintenance. Users can continue collecting in-game Trophies and their profiles will update with the new Trophies once the PlayStation Network is back up. Given the long PlayStation Network o

Google has brought back its official Gmail app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The app was releasedearlier this month but was quickly pulled after a few short hours. Apparently, the app was riddled with bugs and garnered a rash of negative feedback. Now, the company is offering up version 1.0.2 that should work as promised. The version 1.0.2 Gmail app requires iOS 4.0 and above. Users that installed the previous buggy version 1.0.1 are instructed to either uninstall or log out from the app before upgrading. However, the new app doesn’t bring much in new features. It’s meant to be an improvement on the native iOS mail app, allowing users to view Gmail’s threaded conversations and more easily organize using archiving, labeling, starring, deleting, and spam reporting. The Gmail app offers the Priority Inbox feature, notification badges for new messages, attachment support, auto-complete of email addresses from Gmail contacts, and full inbox search. The app also supports up to 28 lan

This week is just full of surprises, the latest being the event which press has been invited to tonight directly following the Google Music event earlier in the day (2PM PST to be exact.) What this newest party is set to play host to is several musicians doing their thing while Google revels in the background from their Google Music update we’re suer to see soon and T-Mobile hangs out on the sidelines. For the most part we expect this to be audio driven, but given that the building you see below sitting on the invite is easily identifiable as Mr Brainwash Studios, we may well see some artwork as well! You may remember Mr Brainwash from his appearance in the Banksy movie “Exit Through the Giftshop” where the graffiti master notes that it was Brainwash that became much more interesting to do a documentary about when it was he himself that was supposed to be the main subject. That said, we’re pretty lost as to why Brainwash’s studio would be the host of such a prestigious event. That said

Samsung has begun selling a tweaked version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany, where the tablet has beenbanned following Apple’s legal victory to block the slate for design patent copy-catting issues. The new tablet is called the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and features a modified exterior that is designed around what Apple can seek to block. A significant part of Apple’s design patent in Europe is the use of edge-to-edge glass for the iPad screen. It appears that Samsung is working around this by adding a slightly thicker frame that wraps around the left and right sides of the Galaxy Tab 10.1N. Other than that tweak and a bump up to Bluetooth 3.0, the hardware should remain relatively unchanged from the previous version of the tablet. It’s not clear whether this revised hardware design will be able to bypass Apple’s design patent claims, but Samsung is certainly testing the waters to find out. However, Apple also has software design claims against Samsung, such as in the US and Australia that ma

A new rumor claims that Apple will be releasing an iOS 5.0.2 update next week to fix the still lingering iPhone 4S battery issues. The report comes from German site Macerkopf.de citing an alleged Apple software engineer, who also claims that Apple will be releasing a major update to iOS 5.1 by year-end that will bring many new changes related to the Siri intelligent voice-controlled assistant app. Apple has already released the iOS 5.0.1 update that was aimed at fixing the battery life issues. However, the problem persists for some users and it’s believed that Apple will release iOS 5.0.2 with the aim of providing iPhone 4S users 40 hours of standby time and 10 hours of active use time. The update is expected to arrive no later than next week. The more significant update to iOS 5.1 is believed to bring many new Siri features to the iPhone 4S. Some of those features include being able to use voice commands to activate functions like taking photos, recording videos, enabling and disablin

The fine folks at Google have sent out invites to their annual Media Holiday Party that’ll be taking place in December, complete with a couple of lovely snowflakes for accent. This event is set to be a fun night of eats and drinks for friends and members of the media in what’s known as an “off the record” event. Whether or not that means there will be devices and services and chatter there that will be newsworthy, we can’t be sure! What we do expect is some gingerbread cookies and a whole load of ice cream sandwiches aside some well-mixed drinks, that’s for sure. This event’s invite is one of a yearly celebration that often ends up being more than just a good time had by all. Since not much else about the party can be said other than it appears blue and white are the theme and that the Google Communications Team is excited to have us, let’s have a quick talk about what will be in play by then: the Galaxy Nexus. Whether or not this device will be up and out this month is still up for de

The past few weeks several games have been released, each of the big names selling record numbers either in their own circles or in the greater scheme of things – what Bethesda Softworks release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s shipping of 7 million copies at launch tell us is we need to know the difference between shipping and selling. Just like a record label, a game developer keeps track of both the shipment numbers and the sales numbers on each of its games. While shipment numbers are an OK indicator of how well the stores across the country expect the game to sell, it’s certainly not a perfect tell. If Skyrim does manage to sell all 7 million copies already shipped inside its first week of sales, it will have beaten Battlefield 3′s five million copies sold in the same time period. Just so we’re clear on who has the biggest sales, now, take a peek at Modern Warfare 3. This game not only broke their own sales record like Battlefield 3 did, it broke the world record, coming in at 12

While not all 4G networks are created equal, each of the top four carriers in the USA do have a network they call 4G, and this week T-Mobile is expanding theirs in 11 more cities, cities that should therefor rejoice and be glad, speed is on the way! The speed of T-Mobile’s 4G network is contained inside what’s called HSPA+, this being theoretically clocked at 42Mpbs down – compared to what we’ve seen with AT&T’s LTE thus far at 20Mpbs, this could be quite the feat! For those of you in select cities in California, Alabama, Illinois and more, the power will soon be yours. This week T-Mobile will be expanding their 4G network in the following cities: Bend, Medford and Corvallis, Oregon, Benton Harbor, Michigan, Bloomington, Champaign–Urbana and Springfield, Illinois, Columbus, Georgia, Hagerstown, Maryland, Montgomery, Alabama and Yuba City, California. If you live in one of these cities and want the T-Mobile 4G speed for yourself, make sure you ask your local T-Mobile representative

This week the folks at Cadence watch company have enlisted the help of Chris Thompson, a fellow known for his creation of the “Math Clock,” to create a new timepiece by the name of Radian Watch — my question for you, readers, is how relevant you find wristwatches in general? What we’ve got here is the assignment of Thompson as a new Creative Director for the Cadence watch company as well as his showing of the Radian Watch which uses equations around the face to show the time. Of course aside from this watch being made with high quality materials, would you consider this relevant to your interests as a gadget and technology reader? This watch is one that’s meant to speak to mathematic geeks and will be produced by the Philadelphia-based Cadence watch company soon. This watch combines the unit circle with the 12 hour dial like you’d normally see, but wait – right there at the 3 position is a 0, and pi sits where you’d normally see a 9. The angle measurements at each of the hours are call

This week the folks at Pioneer have simultaneously revealed and put up for sale their newest stereo system which works with a Airplay on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad! It’s a sleek and fashionable looking device that can sit on your desk and look impressive while you choose to play the music from anywhere in your home or office wirelessly or through its slide-out dock. The dock of course only works with your handheld devices, your iPad will have to sit to the side if you’re working it that way. Could this finally be your ultimate iPod player of choice? This device also has DNLA 1.5, vTuner Internet Radio, and built-in wi-fi connectivity. You’ll be able to see all the action on the integrated 2.5-inch color LCD screen and the whole system is made to work with the free Apple Remote app for ultra-simple control. You can sync your DLNA-certified PCs and hard-drives to work with Music Tap to wirelessly stream music that way, and vTuner Internet Radio will give you access to thousands of

Airport security has always been an issue since airlines became widely used, but it was the events of 9/11/01 here in the USA that brought on such measures as the full-body x-ray scanners being called unsafe this week by airport authorities across Europe. I’ll try not to get too into the theories on how these devices cause cancer and haven’t been tested properly outside what’s presented in the facts here, but DO know this: European authorities have just this week decided that these X-ray machines form a risk to passenger’s health and safety to the point that they cannot be used. USA’s TSA is not pleased. What these scanners do, if you’ve never heard of them before, is employ ionizing radiation to see through the clothes a person is wearing. What the creators of these scanners argue is that a single scan douses the person being scanned in such a small dose that it’s acceptable. Here in the USA, it has been deemed acceptable and the scanners continue to be newly employed throughout the c

Details of an Acer tablet running NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor with a Full HD resolution display have emerged, hot on the heels of the apparent confirmation of the mid-range Iconia Tab A501/A511. The Acer Iconia Tab A700/A701 was spotted in amongst profile documentation on the company’s support site, complete with a pixel-dense 1920 x 1200 WUXGA display and NVIDIA’s new quadcore chipset. The actual size of the A700/A701 is unspecified, though we’re assuming it would come in at around the 10-inch mark otherwise the resolution might end up counter-productive. The A700 is listed as being WiFi-only, while the A701 has a 3G radio integrated, as is Acer’s usual pattern for its tablet line-up. OS could be Android Honeycomb, going by the browser user agent, rather than Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich; still, Acer has promised ICS upgrades early in the new year. Other hardware isn’t detailed, though dual cameras are likely, along with HDMI connectivity and the usual array of Bluetooth and GPS.