IBLOG SPACE

Apple has quietly activated TV show purchases on the Apple TV for owners in Canada, the UK and Australia, adding outright buying options to the existing iTunes rentals. Until now, Apple TV boxes outside of the US had only been able to stream TV show rentals bought through iTunes; now, there are reports from Canada, the UK and Australia that those limitations have been lifted. However, you’ll still need an internet connection to watch the shows. That’s because the Apple TV only has limited onboard storage – just 8GB according to what was found in the teardown - and so relies on Apple’s iCloud servers to actually store any purchased content. Bought shows and movies are streamed over your broadband connection on-demand, rather than saved directly to the STB as is the case with the iPad and iPhone. There’s no official word from Apple on the new functionality, only reports from owners waking up to find their Apple TV has a new skill under its belt. The STB has been one of the Cupertino comp

Nokia has announced that over the course of the next two weeks it will be rolling out a new software update for the Nokia Lumia 800 to fix the battery issue among other things. The update is starting that staggered 2-week roll out today in the countries where the phone is available. The update adds in things other than that battery fix too. Nokia says that the number of downloads at a time is fixed, which is why the update is staggered. The update adds charging improvements to the Lumia 800 and voicemail notification improvements. Replying to email is improved for Microsoft Exchange 2003 users and the display switching in bright light has been improved. In addition, the update tweaks audio quality on the smartphone. Nokia says that the update will be through Microsoft Zune. Another update is being planned for early in 2012 that will deliver other improvements to the software on the phone. The most welcome part of the update will be the battery and charging tweaks. The Nokia support for

Apple could ease itself into the TV market by integrating Apple TV and iCloud functionality into an iMac-style all-in-one, one analyst has suggested, using a hybrid TV/computer in 2012 as a bridging step before its true Apple Televisions go on sale. The existing 27-inch iMac is a likely launch point, Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair wrote in a note this week, with the suggestion that “Apple’s redesign of the iMac in the first half of 2012 will likely usher in some … TV capability into the iMac offering first,” AllThingsD reports. The Cupertino company will take “the high end and larger screens of the iMac line and pushing it toward the TV market by integrating Apple TV and iCloud features into a slimmer all-in-one PC,” Blair reckons. Although third-party TV tuners are available for the iMac, Apple is yet to offer either a tuner of its own or an integrated TV option. “Apple could effectively start with what they already have on the manufacturing line and slowly push their offering fro

For years if you needed help with you Mac all you had to do was walk into your local Apple store and hike over to the Genius Bar. Those guys could help you with your issues and send you home fixed up. Microsoft Windows PC users haven’t had a way to get fixed like that. The only option if you had OS issues was to go somewhere like Geek Squad. Microsoft is looking to change that with a new premium tech support offering called AnswerDesk.com. At the AnswerDesk.com website, users will be able to get with an Answer Tech that can help them with PC issues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week every single day of the year. Apparently, the Answer Techs even work holidays. The Answer Techs that are available to speak about issues will have a profile with their expertise and a profile. I wonder if the profiles have a photo. I can only imagine the workload the hottest Answer Techs will have to carry when lonely geeks call. The retail Microsoft Stores will also have an Answer Desk inside. This will allow y

RED looks set to show off its much-rumored 4K laser projector in its first public demo, with the camera company’s RED Studios Hollywood running a demo reel on the new kit for a military-themed “RED Ops Night.” Described as an event “to educate and expose the most cutting edge Red technology to military personnel involved in all areas of media and public relations” the show takes place in Los Angeles tonight. “We will be showing an Epic reel on our 40 foot screen from our 4K projector including a recent military themed demo reel shot on Red cameras” the company promises, though gives no further technical detail about the anticipated setup. According to the few details shared by RED’s Jim Jannard back in September, the projector is targeted at home users as well as theater use, uses a laser light source and offers passive 3D. Combined, that was all good enough to make one lucky viewer of the 4K projector prototype to claim it had “generated the best color, best dynamic range and best ima

SSD manufacturer Super Talent has launched a new, high-speed drive capable of over 500 MB/s read and write rates, targeted at hardcore users. The Super Talent TeraNova offers up to 480GB of solid-state capacity, paired with a modified SandForce 2200 controller in a 2.5-inch form-factor, making it suitable for performance desktops or notebooks. There’s a SATA III 6Gbps connection, and speed-freaks should probably opt for the 240GB model if they want the best combination of performance. As the following table – using Super Talent’s own data – suggests, that model leads the TeraNova pack with a 540 MB/s sequential read rate and 520 MB/s sequential write rate. Still, even the lowest write rate is a healthy 480 MB/s. All that speed will come in handy not just for booting up and shutting down your system – though it’s worth noting that an SSD-equipped notebook can be dramatically faster to load than an HDD-based counterpart – but for storage-intensive apps. Video and audio processing, image

Reports that Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto was step away from game development are false, the Japanese company has insisted, saying the well-respected exec “has no intention of stepping down.” Claims of Miyamoto – responsible for starting the Mario, Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda franchises, among others – retiring had been spawned after a Wired interview in which the developer apparently indicated he was keen to take on a “smaller project”; Nintendo’s share price was hit strongly, dropping 2-points – more than double the Nikkei average – and forcing the company to issue a clarification. “There seems to have been a misunderstanding” a Nintendo spokesperson told Reuters, “this is absolutely not true.” Referring to Miyamoto’s suggestions that he would like to work with a new generation of game developers, Nintendo said that was nothing new and would no impact his current role at the company. “He has said all along that he wants to train the younger generation [however] he has no inten

OnLive has launched its smartphone and tablet cloud gaming apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, bringing console-class gaming to WiFi and 3G/4G mobile devices with an optional wireless controller. This updated control pad uses what OnLive calls “adaptive wireless” to automatically find the best connection with your TV, PC, Mac, Blu-ray player, smartphone or tablet, and will go on sale on December 9 at $49.99/£39.99. Check out the video demo after the cut. The iOS and Android apps themselves are free, though you’ll of course need to pay OnLive for the privilege of using the games. If you’re on a budget, though, you can bypass the wireless controller and just stick with the touchscreen on your phone or slate, though only 25 titles actually support that method of input; if you want to use most os OnLive’s near-200 games, you’ll need that controller. Up to four controllers can be paired with a PC using a bundled USB adapter, along with a Bluetooth headset for in-game voice communication. It’

Arch geekwatch manufacturers Tokyoflash have revealed their latest special edition, the Kisai Rogue Touch Pocket Watch, ideal for the distinguished systems engineer who prefers a Saville Row suit rather than a Star Wars t-shirt. Based on the existing Rogue Touch but trading the strap for a pop-open glass cover and a fetching chain, the digital display uses Tokyoflash’s usual odd combination of chips and dots to show the time in two different timezones. Operation is via touch and swipe, with a side-swipe unlocking the touchscreen and then tapping the corner points to access the alarm and the settings. Scrolling your finger around clockwise sets the time in either of the two zones, or the alarm. There’s also room to show the date. Three LCD colors are on offer – red, blue and green – with optional backlighting and an animation mode for when you want to mesmorize someone. If you think the rest of your Steampunk-inspired outfit can live up to the Kisai Rogue Touch Pocket Watch, it’s on sal

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has become the unofficial chief bearer of good news for his company at the LeWeb Conference in France this year, in his onstage interview just today. Known for lofty predictions (such as his anticipations for self-driving cars and semantic search engines) when he speaks at conferences, Schmidt spoke about his big plans for Google TV, which he believes will embedded in the majority of new television sets by the summer of 2012. That’s quite a prediction to make, even for the Google Chairman, especially since not much ground has been broken by Google TV, at least at the moment. “By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it,” Schmidt said onstage at the LeWeb conference, although the optimistic claim seems to contradict the current standing of Google TV, which isn’t something users rave about these days, has faltering reported sales numbers, and stands to face with rising competition in th

Facebook just launched their updated Facebook app for Android, which the social networking giant claims is “now quicker and easier to view photos, get messages and navigate around the app”. What does this actually mean? Basically put, it’s inherited the interface from the recently updated iPad and iPhone versions of the app. The UI has also been redone for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with the upper-right drop-down menu instead of the previous hidden menu interface. From what Facebook says, photos and albums are up to twice as fast than the previous Android app (not surprising, for those of you who’ve used the old app, it’s nowhere near as smooth of an experience as on, say iOS or Windows Phone 7). Sharing photos, viewing comments and editing captions on the go have all been made easier, too. As long as everything is faster, than I think users will be content. The Facebook app on Android at the moment is incomparable in terms of overall user experience to the one on the iOS app. The

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom finally confirmed at the LeWeb conference today that the Android port of the massively popular photo-sharing app on the iPhone was coming soon. Systrom told LeWeb attendees that the photo sharing app had two engineers onboard to accomplish the task. Though currently, there isn’t a set release date for when the Android app would be finished, the popularity of Instagram on the iOS platform has spawned a number of photo-sharing app clones on Android, and it’d do Instagram good for them to release as soon as possible. Systrom stated that they initially started on the iOS platform because “the screen and the camera on the iPhone 4 really was a turning point. It was really disruptive. Somebody had to come along and take advantage of that disruption.” And the iPhone 4′s huge leap in camera quality last year, along with the inclusion of the stunningly, seemingly pixel-free Retina Display both added more value to the app itself. Instagram’s future release of its Andr

So it turns out that Verizon’s 4G LTE network isn’t only down in the Midwest region only, as we originally reported. Verizon has confirmed that 4G LTE is undergoing a nationwide outage at the moment, and that their engineers are working on the outage as we speak. Calls, texts and 3G should be working for the time being for some areas, although 3G is “limited”, as some customers have reported their devices operating on either 3G or having no data service at all. It’s kind of a bummer for what boasts the fastest network speeds in the nation. We can confirm that 4G LTE coverage has been down in the Midwest, specifically users in and around Chicago, lower parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, have been all undergoing connectivity problems with their data service on smartphones, tablets, and Wi-fi hotspots. Also, I can confirm that LTE coverage has been down the whole day since the morning in Northern California, and 3G service has only been rolling in a couple hours ago – hope 4G is bac

It’s a risky business you enter in when you purchase a product, and not just when you’re rolling with NIKE with their child labor-made shoes or that lovely diamond you’ve got around your neck mined by an enslaved people in Africa – what we’re now to understand is that its possible, though not confirmed, that the vast majority of the top-name manufacturers your gadgets come from are involved in, in one way or another, the “conflict materials” trade. You may know this term from the movie Blood Diamond, released a few years ago starring Leonardo Dicaprio and Djimon Hounsou, or Kanye West’s song “Diamonds” from right around the same time as the release of that movie – the absolutely evil conditions you saw or heard in those bits of media are very likely continuing through to the bits that make up your favorite MP3 player, speakers, and tablets you’re using right this second. What several sources including the Enough Project’s Raise Hope for Congo campaign, actress and activistRobin Wright,

Song~ Dushman Mera Movie~ Don 2 Starcast~ Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Kunal Kapoor, Om Puri, Boman Irani Music On~ T-Series "Don Ke Dushman Ki Sabse Badi Galti Ye Hai Ki Woh Don Ka Dushman Hai". Watch this new video song from Don 2 featuring Bollywood's ultimate king Shahrukh Khan and sizzling Priyanka Chopra.

When three magicians come together, they not only create magic but also create magic in heaven. Watch the work of bollywood's three super talented personalities i.e. A R Rahman, Imtiaz Ali, Mohit Chauhan for their film Rockstar starring India's hearthrobe Ranbir Kapoor & gorgeous Nargis Fakhri in lead roles. Watch this uncut version of Jo Bhi Main Kehna Chahoon & share your views with us. Enjoy & Play exclusively on T- Series Song: Jo Bhi Main Singer: Mohit Chauhan Lyrics: Irshad Kamil Music Composer:A R Rahman Music Label: T-Series

Song~ katiya Karoon Movie~ Rockstar Starcast~Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri Music~ A R Rahman Music Label~ T-Series

KANTH KALER needs no introduction termed as "King Kaler" he is truly undisputed king of melodies. There are nine tracks in this album penned down by Billu, Vicky Morawalia, Bindi Senabadi, Dhurkotia Sahota, Abdul Gani, Mangi Chak Muglani, Jella Sekhupuria, Manjit Kang & Bittoo Patadawala, the lyrics really touches your heart. An absolute treat for the soul. Song~ Tere Bin Album~ Tere Bin Artist~ Kanth Kaler Music On~ T-Series

The popular console and PC game, Batman Arkham City, is getting an iOS version for Apple’s iPhones and iPads. The iOS version is called Batman Arkham City Lockdown and is powered by the same Unreal Engine behind the graphic-intensive Infinity Blade 2 iOS game, which we’ve positively reviewed before. Warner Brothers quietly released the game today on Apple’s iTunes App Store in New Zealand with the game likely to roll out to other parts of the country very soon. The game is a one-on-one fighter developed by Mortal Kombat’s NetherRealm Studios that will have you beating up the Joker, Two-Face and more, as well as the Batman Arkham City Lockdown exclusive character Deathstroke. You’ll also be able to choose from several Batman skins and power-ups as you fight to clean up Gotham City of the escaped inmates and iconic villains. Although it will likely not be as intense as the full console and PC versions, it’s graphics so far look rather impressive from the screenshots. The game is priced a

Back a little less than a year ago when the first Verizon LTE-laden Android smartphone was released, that being the HTC ThunderBolt for all you kids out there, it had an awesome optional extended battery that you could pick up to extend the battery time to a plausible amount of time – this being more than the 4 hours of regular time you got with LTE back in the day. Now we’ve got another device, the Galaxy Nexus, with an extended battery appearing for it, and though this this isn’t the only other extended battery of its kind, it does remind me of the whoa I felt at the hands of the rogue FedEx delivery man I was subject to back then the day before CTIA, spring 2011. I had to wait, and wait, and wait for that delivery man to bring the ThunderBolt to my then ghetto-situated apartment building, and when he did get there, he went to the door without a ringer on it. Because this delivery man, again rogue, mind you, saw such a situation, he did not look at the rest of the doors, all of which

For those of you experiencing difficulties with your Verizon data-laden products this afternoon, specifically with LTE devices such as the DROID RAZR or the BIONIC up in the Midwest part of the United States, Verizon has confirmed that they are working on the problem as we speak, though there appears to be no ETR (estimated time of resolution) at the moment. We’ve been hearing for a few hours now in some cases that users in and around Chicago, lower parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa are all experiencing troubles with their data on smartphones, tablets, and Wi-fi hotspots. If you are one of these people, please feel free to comment below and we’ll forward the information to Verizon so the scope of the problem can be assessed. Comments such as “Yes, we do have a reported issue in that area. It is being worked on right now! ^DGM” and “Hi! I feel your pain. We’re aware of issue & working diligently to resolve as soon as possible. I apologize for inconvenience ^AC” and of course “

Microsoft has just released its Xbox Live app for Apple’s iPhones and iPads, shortly following its release of theWindows Phone 7 version and its announcement of rolling out the new Xbox Live Dashboard today. Although not as extensive as the Windows Phone 7 app in being able to fully control an Xbox 360 console using the app, this iOS version does allow you to access plenty of Xbox Live features. The iOS app is called “My Xbox Live” and features a sleek Windows Phone 7-styled interface. Through the app, you can change your 3D avatar’s appearance, edit your Xbox Live profile, read and send messages to your Xbox Live friends, as well as keep track of your Xbox Live achievements. The interface is split into three main categories of Home, Social, and Games. On the Home screen you can access news and videos, such as featured stories and trailers, while the Social screen is where you can interact with your friends, send out beacons, and edit your avatar. The Games section lets you browse thro

T-Mobile has confirmed via Twitter that the white version of its Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone will be launching on December 14. The white variant was first announced back in November, but a release date was not given at the time. Although the buzz is now centered around Google’s Galaxy Nexus launching on Verizon, the white Galaxy S II is probably still high up on the wishlists for T-Mobile users this holiday. The Galaxy S II on T-Mobile features a 4.52-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 1080p Full HD video capture, and support for T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ data speeds. The device is expected to come running Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. The white Galaxy S II will be priced the same as the original black version at $229.99 with a new two-year service agreement and after a $50 mail-in rebate. However, it appears that the white version will be available only through T-Mobile’s  online store .

You would think with all the buzz and cult following that Apple generates it’s brand value would be leading in the rankings, but that’s not the case. According to consulting firm Interbrand’s recently released top 100 Global Brands list, Apple is actually ranked number 8, behind Microsoft, Google, and Intel. And this is an improvement from its previous year’s ranking. Taking the number one spot is the sugar-water giant Coca-Cola, which has an estimated brand value of $71 billion. Following close behind is IBM at $70 billion, then Microsoft at $59 billion and Google at $55 billion. GE and McDonald’s take the next two slots ahead of Intel at $35 billion and finally Apple at $33 billion. The ranking is based on three criteria, including the financial performance of the branded products, the degree to which the brand influences customer decisions in purchasing the company’s products, and the brands ability to meet future earnings expectations. The top 10 is dominated by tech companies, but

HP is preparing another fire sale for its HP TouchPad tablets just in time for the holidays. The limited time sale will begin at 6:00PM Central time on Sunday, December 11, and is only available through HP’s eBay store. Both the 16GB and 32GB models will be available, but quantities are limited. Also, this time around, the tablets offered will be refurbished models and there is a limit of two per customer. Sales are final and there is only a 90-day warranty. The 16GB model will be priced at $99 while the 32GB model will be priced at $149. An additional 3-piece accessory bundle will also be offered that includes a case, charging dock, and wireless keyboard for $79. The HP TouchPad sports a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 10-inch 1024 x 768 pixel resolution display. It comes running the now defunct webOS 3.0 platfom, but some folks have managed to port Android to the device. For more details on getting Android on the HP TouchPad, make sure to check out

When you’ve got something so utterly groundbreaking as a lamp that projects an image onto the ground beside your car, you know you’re about to change the industry – or at least that’s what Ford hopes will happen with the 2013 model of the Mustang, complete with running horse under the side mirror. When you head to your car and drop the key in the lock, before you open the door you’ll be able to admire nothing less than the classic steed galloping along the ground (not animated, just still) in a projected light image emanating from under your side mirror. Of course there will be other features on the vehicle that you’ve never heard of before – but who cares when there’s awesome lamps to be had?! While this easter egg may seem to an outsider to have been a simple enough task to implement on a vehicle over a year out of the box, apparently this was no pie when it came to making it a reality. The tiny projector lamp solution came after six or seven attempts at the shiner, the final look ap

Next week there’s an event going down that’ll be a team-up between Nokia and T-Mobile, a mobile event to be sure, in New York for certain, the possibility that we’ll see a Lumia device still a mystery. Last month we saw both the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710, Nokia devices the both of them, each working with Windows Phone Mango right out of the box. Both Nokia and T-Mobile are betting on wins here in the near future, both because the carrier’s been shut out of the iPhone market and because the manufacturer has just recently started their partnership with Microsoft for Windows Phones shot out across the earth. We shall see what this event brings soon enough. When you’ve got a device so lovely as the Lumia 800, for example, running an operating system that’s not exactly caught up to its competitors since its launch a bit over a year ago, you’ve got to think that something magical is about to happen – or that the creators and developers on all sides of the equation certainly hope something

If you’re in to the whole sharing of your entire life, no holding back, and you love music, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to like the app known as SoundTracking — and with their announcement today that not only would they be releasing an Android version of the app, but instant integration with both RDIO and Spotify, you’ll be well on your way to a full share and listen experience in no time. What you’re working with is an app that was originally just for iOS, but now works perfectly well in the Android world. Snap up a sound byte of the song your listening to to identify it, share it via Twitter or Facebook, and your friends will be able to listen to it instantly – it’s as simple as that! Of course if your pals don’t use RDIO or Spotify, they’ll just have to listen to the sample version of the song you’ve shared via their own interface, but still, cool beans! Have a peek at the app right this second over at the Android Market listing for SoundTracking and download thusly. Y

Here at the end of 2011 it seems almost strange that this didn’t happen already on multiple carriers: that family plans would spring up not just for calls and text, but for data as well – this is going to be a reality inside 2012 according to Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam. This week at at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, McAdam noted that of course it makes sense for families with several screens to deal with, not wanting to pay for each of them on a different bill – Verizon not wanting to deal with that if they don’t have to either. Verizon isn’t the first to hint at such plans, but this is the closest we’ve gotten to confirmation that such plans will start rolling out on carriers across the USA inside the next few months. What McAdam did confirm wasn’t a set of specifics on when the family plans would roll out or how they would work exactly, instead just noting that they’d been working on a solution for some time now. “I think in 2012 we will see it,” sa

What we’re looking at here is the first image of the BlackBerry Milan, a slide-up QWERTY keyboard revealingBBX (aka BlackBerry 10) device that shows the future of RIM-made smartphones in several clearly new features both in image and in rumor surrounding the device. The image is from CrackBerry where writer Kevin Michaluk notes he also has a set of tips on the device that make it a good indicator of what’s to come from RIM in 2012. Rounded corners looking like the PlayBook and a higher density pixel array through the display are but two of the innovations coming down the chute. On the bottom of the device you’ll find slightly sharper corners looking much more like what we’ve heard about the “BlackBerry London” and the whole device is set to rack up what very much appears to be the tallest smartphone on earth award — though they might be in contention with the Samsung W999 clamshell – watch out for the taller than pockets smartphones of the future! The absurdity doesn’t stop there, with