IBLOG SPACE

What’s this, a game that gets 240 million logins a month that isn’t actually named Farmville or World of Warcraft? And was just barely fully released this weekend? That’s, drum roll please, the block-building Minecraftfor you. Since the official launch of Minecraft’s 1.0 release candidate this weekend, the game has seen an astounding 4000 logins per second, and over 240 million logins every month. If you do some math, that’s 240,000 logins a minute, and roughly 14 million logins an hour. Now that’s what I call a popular game. And a very smart developer, Mojang. For all you bean counters out there, here are the more specific statistics for all things Minecraft; there are 241,920,000 logins per month, around 1,000 players login per hour on average, with 4,000 players or so logging in per second after the official 1.0 launch. Two billion files have been downloaded by the launcher. And last but not least, 11,000 in-game skins are being downloaded per every second. And at the current moment

Facebook begun letting a limited group of users to download and try out a new Facebook Messenger for Windows 7 desktop client (much like in the way they started off with their newly-revamped Facebook Timelineuser interface, which still hasn’t rolled out to all users yet). Apparently, the new desktop client provides access to Facebook Chat, the Ticker feed, and update notifications. From what it looks like, the social networking company is trying to gauge user interest in desktop client access to these real-time features that could keep users engaged all day without the need of having to keep a browser window open for the Facebook website itself. If I say so myself, such a client could become instantly popular, especially since Facebook is essentially the largest contact list for most people these days, the author included. TechCrunch has confirmed the client’s limited beta launch with Facebook, and has stated that the fraction of the entire Facebook user base chosen to participate rand

With all the Android news that has been hovering around today, here’s an announcement from the other side of the mobile fence, all the way in Cupertino, California. Apple has now begun putting up banners on its online store website for its “one-day shopping event” (the upcoming Black Friday holiday sale, no doubt) next Friday, November 25th. This is looking to be a worldwide event, so for all our non-US readers out there, you can breathe a little easier come this Black Friday. Though the banners as of yet are only appearing in the UK, Australian, and Italian online stores, it should be rolling out to the US store shortly (hence the emphasis on it being a worldwide sale day for Apple). Unfortunately, at the current moment, We don’t know what exactly going to be on sale, or how much, but rest assured, we’ll have updates once we get more information. Until then, here’s all we have, including apparently the iPad, iPod, and various Mac models “for everyone on your list”: Mark your calendar

Well then, readers, take a good, close look at this. It appears to be that we have an end-of-the-month Best Buy catalog leaked with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, um, scratch that, the Samsung Nexus Prime? Wow, what on earth is going on? Seems like Verizon may have made some eleventh-hour changes on the rebranding whiteboard with the Galaxy Nexus, with what looks like a Verizon-exclusive name. And from this point on, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus may very well be officially christened the Nexus Prime. Now that you’ve seen the leaked Best Buy catalog photo, zoom in on the first line and it says in black and white fine print (thank you Best Buy for making us squint even more than we have to), “prices good for all best buy mobile stores from 11/27/11 to 12/25/11″. Readers, could it be true? Will you be in line starting next week for the newly redubbed Nexus Prime? What other phones are you putting off buying for the Nexus Prime? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. If you haven’t seen

Kyobo Book Centre and Qualcomm have revealed the world’s first ereader to use a mirasol color e-paper display, the Android-based Kyobo eReader. On sale in South Korea today, priced at the equivalent of $310, the Kyobo eReader is targeted at education customers rather than would-be iPad buyers, and runs Android 2.3 with a locked-down custom UI on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 processor. We’ve been tracking mirasol for several years now, Qualcomm’s color display technology that promises color, video-capable e-paper with battery life akin to monochrome E Ink screens. This particular panel is a 5.7-inch, 1024 x 768 display using Qualcomm’s front-light technology that uses LEDs to make the eReader usable in darkness. There’s also a projected capacitive touchscreen, as on the NOOK, and WiFi, though no 3G. Kyobo – Korea’s leading bookstore – will offer 90,000 ebooks for the mirasol eReader, as well as video education content, integration with social networking services and English text-to-spe

A new Nexus is a big deal in Android land, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has plenty to live up to. As close to an official Googlephone as we ever get, they demonstrate not just how Android’s creators think smartphone development should progress, but set the benchmark by which the platform as a whole is compared to rivals like the iPhone. The Galaxy Nexus brings with it Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and some of Samsung’s finest hardware: do the two add up to the best smartphone on the market today? Read on for the full SlashGear review.

HP released its Q4 2011 earnings report today with results that were just slightly ahead of expectations. The company had a rough year with the WebOS mishap and the ousting of former CEO Leo Apotheker, but it managed to post earnings per share of $1.17, four cents ahead of the expected $1.13. Revenue for the quarter came in at $32.1 billion, dropping 3 percent from revenue in the same period in 2010, while operating profit came in at $9.7 billion, down 10 percent from the year before. Its GAAP diluted earnings per share, however, is $0.12, down 89 percent from the same period last year. Overall net revenue for the fiscal year 2011 came in at $127.2 billion, up 1 percent from last year. However, HP’s guidance for 2012 appears weak with earnings per share set for at least $4, which is well below expectations of $4.56. Following the earnings report, HP’s shares dropped more than 4 percent, closing at $28.84.

A new rumor claims that Apple may be switching back to using NVIDIA graphics processors for its 2012 MacBook models. According to  sources  for SemiAccurate, the return of NVIDIA GPUs is believed to start next spring when Apple’s notebooks are also expected to be refreshed with Intel’s next-gen Ivy Bridge chips. Apple had booted NVIDIA about three years ago in favor of AMD chipsets, but the recent issues with AMD Llano supply capacities and the failed attempt at implementing them in the latest MacBook Airs have forced Apple to switch back. Despite Apple allegedly swearing off NVIDIA, there’s really no other alternatives in that arena. The switch will mainly be for Apple’s larger notebooks that haven’t transitioned into an all-Intel solution with integrated graphics. It’s been rumored that Apple has been working on a new MacBook Pro for 2012 that will feature a redesigned chassis that will be thinner and lighter, similar to the MacBook Air lineup.

When we talk about gigantic releases of smartphones, the hero phone line for Google’s mobile OS Android, otherwise known as Nexus, has its name up there with the iPhone – and now the newest family member, theGalaxy Nexus, has had its heart unlocked with a full permanent root, its body now ready for hacks galore. There are methods for rooting a device (known as jailbreaking on iOS) that are not permanent, going away once the device is restarted, but this is the good kind – this kind sticks. This is the second of two methods that have been revealed thus far to the public by your kind and gentle developer underground, this one much easier than the first, especially for those of you who’ve never before done such a thing. What you end up doing here once you get the device in your hands is to grab a few files, place them on your phone, and launch into your bootloader. This is an alternate way of entering into the guts of your device rather than the main launch screen as you normally would, t

We’ve seen plenty of fun iPhone camera lens attachments and accessories from Photojojo before and now the company has unveiled a new case for the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S called the iPhone Lens Dial. The case features three lenses on a dial that easily rotate into place for immediate photo effects. The iPhone Lens Dial offers a telephoto, fisheye, and wide-angle lens, a perfect trio for most of your casual phone photography needs. The 1.5x telephoto lens is great for long-distance shots while the 0.7x wide-angle lens takes in a lot more scenery into your frame for nice panoramic shots. And the 0.33x fisheye gives you those fun concave-looking creative shots. The lenses are all made from “optical-quality” coated glass while the case itself is slim and made from aircraft-grade aluminum. It also features two tripod mounts to work in either landscape or portrait mode. The Photojojo iPhone Lens Dial is available now for $249.

Microsoft revealed some details on the progress of its Windows 8 development today, specifically related to designing an improved setup and upgrade experience. The company had commissioned a study where it found that many users chose not to upgrade because the process of doing so was difficult. Hence, Microsoft intends to address the upgrade and setup issue for Windows 8 to ensure a smooth experience for customers. One of the ways in which the process will be enhanced is with a web setup option. Users will be able to download and install Windows 8 directly from a web page, which eliminates the need for the customer to enter a 25-digit product key, as it will have already been pre-keyed. Microsoft will scan a machine first to determine what it can and cannot run and then provide an integrated download manager that checks which Windows 8 version will be compatible with the system as well as the language version. When the download is done, users will be prompted to either continue install

The Fujitsu Arrows F-07D has just passed through the FCC and will likely become the next thinnest smartphone in the world when it hits the market early next year. The DROID RAZR currently boasts that title, measuring in at 7.1mm thin, but the Arrows F-07D gets even leaner with only 6.7mm in thinness. Stylishly starved, the Arrows F-07D does have to forgo some on the specs, packing in a moderate single-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 512MB of RAM. But it otherwise features a large 4-inch 480×854 display covered by Gorilla Glass, sports 1GB of internal memory, offers a 5-megapixel camera, and manages to squeeze in micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports. Plus, the Arrows F-07D doesn’t cheat with a large hump on the backside like the DROID RAZR and other ultra-thin smartphones. This one’s uniformly thin, varying less than 2mm between its thinnest and thickest sections. The device is expected to launch on NTT DoCoMo in 2012. There’s no word on pricing yet.

Google today released a major revamp of its Search app for iOS devices with major interface enhancements designed for the iPad. The update brings a slick new UI, which Google has been steadily rolling out to all its services since the new styling was launched with the Google+ social network back in June. But beyond the new look, the update brings several new features that make the interface more visual and gesture-driven. The update integrates Google Instant for faster navigation without needing to press the search button. Once you select a search result, it now slides in as a pane from the right and you can slide it back to the right to return to your search results for a convenient gesture-driven search experience. This fully takes advantage of the iPad’s large screen, especially nice for landscape mode. Viewing image results is also more visual and gesture-driven. Tapping on any new image brings up the image carousel where you can easily swipe to browse through similar images. Likew

Now that the Galaxy Nexus is out and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is released to the open source community, we’re seeing the first iterations of the system being crafted into specific device-worthy builds – what we’ve got for you here today is a look at Google’s newest mobile OS on none other than the Samsung Galaxy S II from AT&T. What we’ve got loaded here is a very alpha build, this meaning that essentially none of the pieces of the puzzle that require connections of any kind are able to work, this including the camera, NFC, Bluetooth and internet. Other than that, there is certainly a lot to see, and a speed at which this setup operates that’s lovely to behold! Much of what you’re about to see is covered in our first two  extra explorations  of the  inner depths of Ice Cream Sandwich , so what you should really be intending to look at here is how fast the system appears to be working with this device that Google and Samsung don’t really intend to have Ice Cream Sandwich runni

This past month or so we’ve seen heavy coverage of several smaller-sized tablets bent on providing users with no less than a full cloud-based media experience, the most recognizable of which is the brand new Nook Tablet – and today we get to see right down deep into its guts! The fine bust-up team at ifixit have done it again with the next-generation Barnes & Noble reader device, this one the direct decedent of the NOOK Color, a device we spent a full week reviewing piece by piece when it was revealed last year at around this time. Now with the Nook Tablet popping up in stores just in time for the holiday season 2011, what better way to celebrate than chopping it to pieces? What the folks at ifixit seem the most interested in here in this teardown they’ve done is actually one of the features you can see plainly from the outside: the carabiner clip. This little loop is one of the most unique features on the device, it meant to “represent a turning page” as we were told by Barnes and

Over at MIMOmonitors headquarters they’ve released information on a brand new product by the name of Mimo Magic Touch, otherwise known as the world’s first USB-drive capacitive touchscreen monitor. This oddly enticing piece of equipment has a 10-inch touchscreen, connects simply with one single USB cord for both image and power, and is available in 2 models soon! You can use this device as a tiny television that taps or as a tethered tablet for home entertainment control – whatever you like – including turning your PC into a touch machine. Pre-orders for this little set of beasts starts tomorrow (Tuesday, the 21st of November), and will be available with shipping guaranteed for pre-Christmas delivery. There’s the Mimo Magic Touch and the Mimo Magic Touch Deluxe, the latter adding a 2 port mini-USB hub as well as separate AC power adapter to recharge separate devices whenever you want. What you’ll almost certainly want to do with this little superstar is to plug it in to your PC and loa

This week the folks at Samsung have revealed their intent to bring their lovely line of Advanced LED Light Bulbs to the USA for both energy efficient and natural-looking light. Dissatisfied with those old classic-looking bulbs with their burning out over a few months and their uncomfortable yellow glow? No more, says Samsung, no more indeed! Samsung’s initial offering will be through popular hardware store Lowe’s in a lineup set to immediately replace your standard incandescent, halogen, and CFL bulbs throughout your whole home. Get lit up now! What Samsung is aiming to bring is three sets of bulbs here at the outset, the A19, the PAR, and the MR16, each of them with a specific intent. As the company notes: “A light bulb is no longer just a light bulb. It’s a digital technology made up of LED chips, drivers and electronics—familiar turf for Samsung.” We’re looking for natural light with an energy-efficient future ahead on all bright fronts – can you bring it, Samsung? A19 Bulbs: These

Google’s Chromebook project hasn’t exactly taken the mobile computing world by storm, but the search giant is hoping a software update along with a WiFi-only version of the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 will change that for the holidays. The login process has been streamlined, Google has revealed, along with some tweaks to the New Tab page that should make users feel more at home as well as highlight potential multimedia and gaming. There’s now a shortcut to the File Manager on the New Tab page, in addition to links to music apps and games in the Chrome Web Store. That store had a refresh recently too, with the aim of making discovering content more straightforward. As for the new Samsung Chromebook, the WiFi-only Series 5 model will be available in piano black and priced at $349. It keeps the 12.2-inch display, 6hr battery, dual-core processor and twin USB ports of the 3G-enabled model we reviewed back in September, but cuts out the monthly data fees for 3G connectivity. If you’re despe

Spotify is teasing “a new direction” for its streaming music service, announcing a November 30 press event to be held in New York. The “global” launch is shrouded in secrecy, beyond “some exciting news to share” and the presence of CEO Daniel Ek, but Spotify did tell AllThingsD that the topic would be a mysterious “new direction” and “the latest major development” from the company. What exactly that new direction could be is now the topic of no small amount of discussion. Spotify’s service only launched in the US relatively recently, and as such it lacks some of the functionality the company offers in Europe: that includes MP3 downloads, for instance. However, adding those to the US app would hardly warrant a “global” event. Another possibility could be video, though that would put Spotify up against established outfits like YouTube, as well as be something tricky to monetize through the company’s existing subscription model. Most recently, the company has suffered a few semi-embarrass

A Charlie Brown Christmas was around for a long time before I was. I still watched it every year growing up, and watch it each year with my kids. The cartoon special is one of those things that is a classic and will continue to be watched for years to come. If you are a fan of the cartoon that comes on TV, a new app is available on the app story you will want. The app is called a Charlie Brown Christmas and is made by Loud Crow Interactive. The app gives the impression of a pop-up book on the Apple tablet and according to Mashable; the app captures the feel of the classic cartoon very well. There is more to the app than a digital book for kids too. The app has little games that let the user make and catch snowflakes. It also has a finger painting app. Kids and adults that play the app games can unlock other decorations to use on their digital tree. The app also has music from the cartoon and a lot more. The app is availed now for $6.99 and Android fans can buy it as well on the Android

Back in 1994, Novell alleged that Microsoft had a monopoly and was undermining the WordPerfect program that competed against Microsoft Word. This is certainly not the first and likely, not the last time that Microsoft is accused of monopolistic behaviors. Apparently, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is going to have to testify in the case. Gates may even face cross-examination. Bloomberg reports that this legal case comes from the suit that the US brought against Microsoft and eventually settled eight years ago. That was the case that did in fact declare Microsoft had a monopoly. According to the legal team for Novell, Gates even said that Word could not compete without anticompetitive conduct. The case was brought back from the dead by an appeals court in May of this year. It had previously been dismissed by a lower court. The appeals court ruled that Novell didn’t give away its rights to the suit by selling WordPerfect to Caldera Inc in 1996. Novell alleges that WordPerfect had historica

If you are a big fan of the Modern Warfare 3 game and play online, you have probably noticed that there are a bunch of people paying the game that cheat. Cheaters never win, even if they do on occasion pwn the legit players in the online gaming world. The cheating has caught up to 1,600 people that play MW3. The bans were handed out to gamers that had found glitches in the game and were taking advantage of them to beat other players. The tip that gamer had been banned came from a tweet from Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling. He called out the number of bans so far and says that an update to fix the glitches is in the works. Bowling also called on gamers to continue to report those that are cheating. The update is apparently in the works for both console and PC versions of the game with bans being handed out to PC players as well. MW3 is hugely popular with  $775 m illion in copies sold in the first five days.

If you are thinking about getting a Drobo storage device like the Drobo S v.2 or already own one, you have some free cloud storage coming your way. Drobo and Pogoplug have announced that they have teamed up for a deal that will offer Drobo users 10GB of free Pogoplug cloud storage. The Drobo owners will also get a custom version of the Pogoplug software to make the Drobo accessible from anywhere in the world. The free version of the software will allow the Drobo owners to access their Drobo device from anywhere in the world, but won’t allow audio and video streaming. Users that want to be able to stream video or music from their device to any computer in the world need to license the software for $29. The software is unlimited and can be put on as many computers as the user wants. There are no file size restrictions or limitations with the Pogoplug software. This turns the Drobo devices into little personal cloud storage systems. The new feature will also allow the user to automaticall

Nintendo is gearing up for Black Friday with a couple new 3DS bundles that it hopes will lure the shoppers in for Christmas giving. Two new bundles will be offered starting November 24. The first bundle is a red 3DS that comes with the Super Mario 3D Land game in the box. The red color is called flame red. The second bundle is a Cosmo black console that has the Hyrule emblem on the top in gold. The bundle comes with the Ocarina of time 3D video game, which is the latest in the Legend of Zelda series. Each of the bundles will be offered for $199.99 in the US. Nintendo will also have displays set up in malls in some areas. The displays will be in one of two dozen different malls around the country and Nintendo will have the 3DS and the most popular games for the holidays on display from November 21 to December 18.

In many places like Europe and the US, we are used to being able to say and do what we want on the phone and in public. In some countries in Asia and the Middle East, that freedom of speech and texting isn’t the same that we enjoy. In Pakistan the government has implemented a ban on what they feel are offensive words. The list of banned words can’t be used in text messages and there are 1,600 words on the list in total. The blacklist was worked up by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. There are 1,109 English words and 586 Urdu words on the list. Many have sexual connotations, but not all of them do. Among the banned words are condom, intercourse, breast, hostage, period, and monkey crotch. Other banned terms include flatulence and even Jesus Christ is on the banned list. Mobile carries in the country will be screening messaged starting on November 21. It’s not clear if the words are simply being filtered or if the carriers are monitoring the texts for these words and turning in

Adobe will deliver a version of Flash Player mobile for Android 4.0 by the end of the year, the company has confirmed, meaning smartphones like the Galaxy Nexus will be able to play Flash games and animations in the browser. Flash Player’s current incompatibility  with Ice Cream Sandwich was spotted shortly after the Galaxy Nexus’ launch, with Google only saying that “it expected” Adobe to release an updated version. However, Adobe also confirmed to Pocket-lint that this new version will be its last for the platform. “Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0, and one more release of the Flash Linux Porting Kit – both expected to be released before the end of this year” a company spokesperson revealed. Beyond that, any further releases will be nothing more than “critical bug fixes and security updates” with the expectation that HTML5 will become the dominant mobile standard instead. Adobe announced that mobil

If you are a Canadian fan of the speedy new Android smartphones that happens to like the Bell network a new device is inbound. Bell has announced today that the Galaxy Nexus  will be coming to its network on December 8. The Galaxy Nexus is a device that we are very familiar with having been hands on with the smartphone recently and laid down some benchmarks. The device packs a 1.2GHz processor and a bright HD Super AMOLED screen. When we benchmarked the smartphone, we found that the thing was very close performance wise to the Galaxy S II smartphone in some aspects. The smartphone did well in the benchmarks. In Canada, Bell will charge $159.95 with a 3-year contract for the smartphone. On a 2-year contract buyers will fork over $599.95, a 1-year contract brings the cost up to $624.95, and a no contract price is $649.95. Anyone that buys that one-year contract is crazy it only a bit under the price of the no contract offering.

I think with the recent death of tech legend Steve Jobs and the fact that his biography is on the best sellers list we all knew a film was coming. The word is that the flick planned to start production next year is looking for its lead to play Jobs. According to The Register, the person who is leading the running to get that lead role is George Clooney. I can see Clooney as an older Jobs, but I think Clooney would have a hard time pulling off a younger Jobs. Another actor that is said to be vying for the role is Noah Wyle. Wyle would seemingly be the better choice since he is still young enough to play a young Jobs and could pull off the older Jobs too. Wyle also has the feather in his cap of having played Jobs already. Wyle was Jobs in the flick Pirates of Silicon Valley. Jobs even invited Wyle to Macworld in 1999 to play him in an opening keynote. Who do you think would be the best actor to play Jobs in this movie? That nerdy looking kid that played in The Social Network would be dec

The in-app purchase feature that Apple added to the App Store long ago made it easier for the app makers to make money off the apps they sell. The in-app purchases let you buy things to add to your games and such. Pirates can steal apps and put them up on the web for people with jailbroken devices to get for free. The thing with in-app purchases is if the game was free but they needed in-app purchases to operate or add items needed the pirates were foiled to some extent since they had to buy the add-ons to extend their game. UK developer Mobile Pie has claimed that the in-app purchase option for £26.99 on its My Star game had a 93% piracy rate in October. The finger is pointed at a new hack tool called iAP Cracker. The iAP Cracker lets pirates game the system and presents a really issue for devs that have relied on in-app payments for their income. Mobile Pie creative director Will Luton has offered a link to a website that shows how iAP Cracker works and then a link to a Google Doc sp

It seems that the folks that run around testing out unreleased handsets can’t resist taunting those of us that don’t get to see the devices until they launch. Often we catch little glimpses of the devices in spy photos and in benchmark databases as well. The GLBenchmark database has offered up some goods on a new version of theAsus Padfone. This little smartphone slips into the tablet dock we covered back in May. The new device that has surfaced in the benchmarks is a Padfone that has a new processor inside. According to the benchmark page for the device, this version is packing in a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8060 processor. The reference in the benchmark database about the MSM8960 is thought to be the Snapdragon S4 platform. If that is accurate, the Padfone will be one of the first smartphones to hit using the new Qualcomm platform. The benchmarks for the smartphone were said to be very good. It’s not clear if the Padfone will slip right into the existing tablet sleeve to upgrade the tab

France has imposed a new tax that is going to charge ISPs a tax on the internet. The money raised with that tax will then be used to fund the CNM or Centre National de la Musique. This is a French organization that provides opportunities for funding music and cultural events. France is big on taxing things to pay for public access and already taxes TV for public access channels. Presumably, the tax will result in increased costs to all subscribers whether they listen to music online or not. Apparently some in the French government think that the internet firms making money off the French market should be paying part of what they earn in taxes to the French government. The government isn’t alone in wanting part of the money the music industry is making, many ISPs around the world would love to earn some of that money since music takes up a lot of bandwidth. The French tax is said to be similar to a tax in the UK that funds the BBC. In France, the Union des producteurs phonographiques fr