IBLOG SPACE

There’s quite a few skin and case-making groups out there these days, folks, the mobile world doing more than a favor for the people behind these groups making what amounts to a fabulous accessory for already amazing devices. What Skinit does that essentially noone else is doing at the moment is offering up not just customizable skins for your smartphones, tablets, laptops and more, they’re bringing their high quality name to a full accessory line of covers, cases, and tough screen protectors as well. Customize yourself a case and be the talk of the town! You’ll be able to work with Skinit.com’s Customizer tool to quite easily bring you in on the action with your device of choice and the image you want to apply to it. Not only laptops, mobile phones, and tablets are included, mind you. You can also customize the look if your gaming system and medical device as well – strange and awesome! There’s also, of course, a big selection of pre-made skins with licensed images including everyth

Like the passing of a very, very old uncle after he’d been telling you he didn’t have one whole heck of a lot of time left on this earth for so very, very long, the fifth oldest tree on the planet burned from the inside this week, falling not to any sort of arson on the part of a human body, but mother nature herself, deciding it was just time for The Senator to go. This titanically gigantic piece of forest was known as “The Big Tree” or, again, The Senator, and is survived by his wife, “Lady Liberty,” a 2,000-year old tree in the same Longwood, Florida park. Though we rarely report on non-gadget news here at SlashGear, there comes a time when we must appreciate how the whole world can connect and respect one of the world’s oldest natural living things, all together because of the web we’ve created. What a lovely thing. The Senator was more than 3,500 years old when he passed. The bald cypress’ death and collapse happened after its hollowed-out center was affected by a “curious confl

With growing opposition against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an imminent blackout protest to kick off tomorrow, and a postponed vote on the legislation, it seemed as though SOPA was close to being dead. But that’s not the case, reminds the legislation’s creator and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith. In a press release today, Smith said he expects the committee to continue marking up the bill in February. The temporary hold up on SOPA is partially due to the upcoming Republican and Democratic retreats, which will take place over the next two weeks. Markup on the bill will resume in February to move it out of committee and into the House and Senate. The most controversial part of the bill, DNS blocking of rogue sites, will be removed. The announcement comes just hours ahead of a major blackout digital protest that will include Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, BoingBoing, and Google, among others. Wikipedia announced yesterday that its English site will shut down for 24

Yahoo has announced that co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has resigned from its Board of Directors. Yang has also resigned from all other positions with the company, specifically from the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba. The resignation is effective today and sees Yang leaving the company he co-founded nearly 17 years ago. Yang co-founded Yahoo with David Dilo back in 1995 and has since been on the board and has also served as CEO from 2007 to 2009. The company fired Carol Bartz from the CEO post last September, replacing her with Yang and most recently inserting former PayPal president Scott Thompson as CEO. In a letter to Roy Bostock, Yahoo’s Chairman of the board, Yang wrote: “My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the app

We’ve been seeing a lot of massive multitouch displays recently, from Samsung’s SUR40 40-inch tabletop model with Microsoft’s Surface 2.0 to HP’s 132-inch VantagePoint system, and now Ideum is releasing its 65-inch MT65 Presenter. The Ideum MT65 Presenter features a multitouch screen with an integrated computer, built-in audio, and webcam all packed into a 4-inch deep hardened aluminum frame. The MT65 Presenter display is Full HD with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, supports 3D, and offers up to 32 simultaneous touch points. The LED backlit screen is rated for 50,000 hours and is protected by 3mm thick ultra-clear tempered glass. Inside, the MT65 Presenter packs a quad-core Intel Core i7 2720QM processor with 8GB of RAM, 256GB SATA SSD, and a discrete GeForce GTX 460 GPU. It also has built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet connectivity along with stereo speakers, stereo microphone, an HD webcam with Carl Zeiss optics, and HDMI port. Although the MT65 Presenter would be awesome to ha

There’s a new USB in town, and with it you’ll see the oncoming wave of devices made to slot in with it for speeds never before associated with those three letters: Sony brings with it this week its Micro Vault MACH USB 3.0 Flash Drive. This sleek ninja of a memory stick comes in 8GB, 16GB, and 64GB capacities and is able to hit 120 MB/s read / 90 MB/s write for transfers. This device has an aluminum body on the outside, retractable USB connector on one end, and LED indicator on the other. This little monster might not seem all that fabulous to you if you’re not someone who uses such devices on the regular, but what it contains for those of us who need to transfer information back and forth quickly is the most massively awesome little bit of aluminum and contained board capable of holding all the music in the world ever! Think of how many movies you could hold on a 64GB USB stick, for goodness sake! Each drive also comes with a five-year warrantee so you never get fearful of the worst

Apple is expanding its iTunes Match music service to 19 new countries throughout Latin America and Europe. The service first launched in the US last November, spreading to a few other countries, including Australia, Canada, and the UK, in December, and most recently launching in the Netherlands. The 19 new countries to get iTunes Match, include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Latvia, Lithuania, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Most of these countries have just recently received the iTunes Music Store and this brings the total to 37 countries now with access to iTunes Match. The iTunes Match service lets users access all of their music via the iCloud, including songs not originally purchased from iTunes. The service scans your collection and matches those songs to those existing in Apple’s massive library. If a match is found, it will stream those songs at an upgraded 256kbps qu

Das Keyboard is preparing to offer Mac users its Model S Professional mechanical keyboard, which promises to deliver the ultimate typing experience, especially for those nostalgic of the legendary Apple Extended and Extended II keyboards. The Model S offers the same great clicky feel but with more advanced features and a slick new design. The Das Keyboard Model S Professional keyboard for Mac is built using gold-plated mechanical key switches designed to withstand 50 million strokes. There are 104 keys with special shortcut keys for media controls as well as Mac’s Command and Option keys. It also offers 6-key rollover, which allows the keyboard to recognize 6 keys pressed simultaneously. The keyboard offers two USB 2.0 ports for syncing and charging devices such as your iPhone, iPad, or iPod five times faster than you would with other keyboards. It’s also KVM switch compatible, meaning you’ll be able to control more than one computer, be it Mac or PC, via the keyboard. Pre-orders

This week the folks at IHS Screen Digest Mobile Media Intelligence Service have shown that given the information they’ve got on in-app purchases for app sales revenue verses in-app revenue, that the latter will be dominating the market in no time. In-app purchases, they say, will rise to 64 percent of the total market revenue for apps in 2015, this up from an already whopping 39 percent in 2011. Revenue itself from in-app purchases will rise to $5.6 billion USD in 2015 from a comparatively tiny $970 million in 2011. Time to fire up those free apps, people! As this trend continues, it’ll be quickly apparent to app developers that giving away a free application with a choice to upgrade inside that app will be the only way they’ll be able to cash in. The only way, that is, unless they can turn things around with a new way of selling, the same way these current kings of in-app purchases did over the last year. This in-app purchase model is called “freemium,” just so you know. This free

If you’ve been waiting for the third installment of the Max Payne series, you’ve been tearing your eyeballs out for over eight years – what’s a few more months going to do to your precious peepers? That’s what Rockstar Games is saying you should do, or if you’ve not known the game was coming out in the first place – surprise! It’s May that you’ll be able to play this awesome looking brand new game on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC! This “gritty action experience” will allow you to work with the New York City detective known as Max Payne, he being a drunkard from many years back, addicted to pain pills and in no condition to get up and drink a cup of coffee much less go capture some terrorists – but lo! He must! Thusly there is Max Payne 3, with our hero on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, taking an odd job with a real estate mogul by the name of Rodrigo Branco to save his own fortune and family. But all that aside, there’s some new effect to be had. You’ll be working with a new v

Apple is about to have an event in NYC, and by all looks and whispers, it appears that it’ll be surrounding something like a “Garage Band for Texbooks” – that sounds pretty darn interesting – let’s talk about what it’ll really be. I don’t pretend to have any inside lines with Apple, nor do I have any tip that should lead you believe that I’m quoting someone else – instead what you’re about to read is completely built on my own experience with Apple’s past and how I and my former and current student colleagues interact with books. Apple will not, if my mind is cranking out right and telling me the right answers, be revealing a new device, but a new environment where students and colleges can connect to writers in a way that’s been possible but not entirely realistic up until now. At many large universities across the country now, classes are hooked up to the publishers directly already through student fees [tuition] and are able to access articles through the web instead of having to

All eyes were on Samsung’s ultrabook drive at CES last week, so attention-grabbing we managed to miss a canary-yellow gaming notebook. The Samsung Series 7 Gaming Laptop wears its abilities on its (brightly colored) sleeve, the lurid shell hiding an Intel Core i7 quadcore processor paired with up to 2TB of storage space and up to 16GB of memory. There’s also a 17.3-inch Full HD LED-backlit display, and a backlit keyboard for those late-night gaming sessions. Samsung is readying both 2D and 3D models, and there’ll be both AMD and NVIDIA graphics options too. A 5,900mAh battery probably can’t be expected to last all too long if you’re hammering the Series 7 for gaming purposes, but the onboard optical drive and that expansive display means it’ll probably be a solid multimedia notebook too. Samsung expects it to land at the equivalent of $2,228 for the 2D version and around $200 more for the 3D version in Korea, though US pricing is tipped to be from $1,799

The big red envelope at Netflix is about to be full of court-related documents as angry investors have hit them with a class-action lawsuit saying they’ve withheld information from them just prior to a stock fall late last year. This lawsuits is being filed down in Northern California in U.S. District Court by the City of Royal Oak Retirement System, and is being filed on behalf of “all plaintiffs similarly situated.” What they’re saying, essentially, is that the Netflix senior management staff didn’t let known to their investors that quite a few contracts surrounding online streamed content would be renegotiated at much higher costs than they’d been worked out at before. If you’ll recall back around those faithful days as early as July, there were some rather disturbing numbers being dropped down. July 12th, for example, as paidContent outlines, had Netflix trading at $291.27 per share the day before the group announced separate charges for its DVD and streaming content, this increa

Scientology is known for being one of the more unusual – and secretive – religions, but we almost feel like signing up ourselves having seen that practitioners at the new Super Power Building will get access to an “infinite pit” and an “oiliness table.” Details of the $100m “Flag Mecca” facility in Clearwater, Florida leaked to The Village Voice, spilling hints at some of the more esoteric equipment being installed. According to the plans, there’ll be everything from a wall made of water to an “Electric Fields Generator.” Unfortunately, while the plans are detailed, explanations of what exactly most of the kit does is in short order. The “oiliness table” for instance is part of a room-filling installation consisting of a “friction table”, “heat station”, “cold station”, “pressure station” and “pain station”, the latter outfitted with an array of spiked plates. A huge dome on the sixth floor of the building will cover a massive, echoing running room, centered on a glowing pillar, wh

Apple CEO Tim Cook may have to work hard to achieve that CEO bonus, with speculation that senior vice president of iOS software Scott Forstall is not only eyeing his job but already shoring up influence within the Cupertino company. Detailed in a new book by Adam Lashinsky – Inside Apple - Forstall apparently “blatantly accumulated influence in recent years” Fortune reports, even while Apple founder Steve Jobs was away on medical leave. “If there’s a knock on Forstall it’s that he wears his ambition in plainer view than the typical Apple executive. He blatantly accumulated influence in recent years, including, it is whispered, when Jobs was on medical leave” Adam Lashinsky, author, Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired – and Secretive – Company Really Works Lashinsky’s book is set to go on sale next week, and is already being seen as a counterpoint to the official Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. Whereas Isaacson had official access to Jobs, Apple execs and others, Lashi

When the going gets tough, the tough sell out to Samsung, or at least that’s what Research In Motion’s investors seem to be hoping will happen now that BlackBerry is in a downward spiral the likes of which have never been seen in the mobile industry before. A source trusted by Jonathan Geller of BGR has reportedly tipped off some inner workings of the RIM team saying that amongst the many possible buyers looking into purchasing RIM outright, Samsung is the current front-runner. What on earth Samsung would do with a massive set of business users tapping away only because their bosses wont allow them to move over to Androids, it’s not quite clear. The same source appears to have tipped that RIM is looking for one whole heaping helping of cash, the prices quoted being one of the biggest reasons they’ve been unable to let loose up until now. Between $12 and $15 billion USD is what they want, that being right around $25 a share. This might be a bit confusing to those of you that know that

HTC has confirmed that it is removing any lingering trace of Carrier IQ from its CDMA handsets, including the HTC EVO 3D, as it moves to address the PR nightmare of the usage-tracking system. Furore over Carrier IQ broke late last year, when it was suggested by privacy advocates that some carriers and device manufacturers were preloading tracking software that periodically sent back user-information. “HTC can confirm that we’re working with Sprint to provide maintenance releases that will remove Carrier IQ and provide security enhancements and bug fixes beginning in January” the company said in a statement to The Verge today. No specific devices were cited, but the EVO 3D is believed to be one of the handsets affected by Carrier IQ tech. Although initial outrage centered on the idea that Carrier IQ was sending private message details and other personally-identifiable information back to network operators, it eventually became clear that the truth was somewhat more complicated. Carr

Google has added meme creation tools to Google+, allowing users to easily add text to their images. Set to roll out over the coming days, according to senior software engineer Colin McMillen, the new tool simply involves uploading a picture to the sharebox on Google+ and then typing in some suitably comedic words over the top. While we’ve a feeling the output of the new tool could get very tiring, very quickly, there’s no doubting that Google has its finger on the pulse when it comes to photo memes. As the Know Your Meme data base shows, there’s no shortage of funny pictures with text ranging from the hilarious to the mundane overlaid on top. The meme creator – or “Adding funny text to photos” tool as Google+ seems determined to refer to it – is the latest in a number of tweaks Google has been introducing to its social network. Earlier this month, video Hangouts were boosted with larger displays and the ability to screen-share, features which could make it a challenge to traditiona

A sensor-packed wireless wristband could individually control home and office HVAC systems and, one day, act as a motion-sensing interface between humans and machines, if researchers have their way. Part of MIT’s MediaLab responsive environments research, WristQue is 3D-printed band containing a CPU, sensors for temperature, humidity and light, and a UWB radio used for communicating with home automation systems as well as pinpointing the wearer’s location. There are also three buttons, two of which currently allow the wearer to indicate whether they are too hot or too cold, and a third to activate motion control. If the temperature controls are pressed, the automation system can activate heating or cooling systems, or open windows; when more than one person is present in any one room, an average of the comfort levels is established. As for motion gestures, they can be used for more precise control over things like TVs and computers. While motion-tracking systems have been implement

Microsoft’s hardware requirements for Windows 8 devices, including tablets and notebooks, have been detailed, including the rebirth of CTRL+ALT+DEL and how NFC touch-points should be highlighted. Outlined in the recently published Win8 device documentation, Microsoft mandates that tablet PCs and convertible PCs should have at least a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 and a digitizer supporting at least five-point multitouch. x86 machines, meanwhile, must resume in two seconds or less. Interestingly, that resume time limit isn’t applied to ARM-based Windows 8 computers, at least not at present. Still, all must have a fair array of sensors – including ambient light, a digital compass, 3-axis accelerometer and gyroscope – together with five specific hardware buttons, for power, rotation-lock, volume up, volume down and finally a Windows key. The latter must be at least 10.5mm in diameter, but manufacturers are free to make it circular, square or another shape. It’s clear Microsoft has b

Facebook and its partner developers are readying the first batch of Open Graph apps that will “frictionlessly” integrate third-party services into your social stream, according to sources. The initial apps will arrive at an event this Wednesday, AllThingsD‘s insiders claim, ahead of a mandatory switchover to Facebook Timeline that could begin as early as this week. The exact identity of those third-party developers who have been preparing Open Graph apps for reveal tomorrow is unknown. However, Facebook has said previously that it is working with online news sources such as the WSJ and The Guardian, media sites like IMDB, and other services like Runkeeper and Netflix. Announced at f8 2011 last September, Open Graph ties the information already shared on Facebook – and presented chronologically in the new Timeline format – with that of external services. Facebook will use a whole new set of verbs alongside “like”, for instance “run”, “cook” or “purchase.” For those cautious abo

Apple and Samsung are back at each other’s throats today, with Apple filing ten injunctions against the Korean company’s smartphone range in Europe, while Samsung is demanding access to Apple’s contract with Qualcomm. Samsung has been accused of violating Apple design patents with ten handsets and five tablets, the Dusseldorf, Germany court confirmed to Bloomberg today, with the Cupertino company hoping to block all fifteen devices from sale in Europe. Meanwhile, Samsung has filed a request with the US District Court in California to gain access to documentation detailing the nature of Apple’s agreement with Qualcomm, the company that provides several of the chipsets and radios in a number of iOS devices. “We need all agreements pursuant to which Qualcomm supplies or supplied ‘Qualcomm MDM6610’ chipsets to any person of entity and all documents that evidence, reflect or refer to the use by Apple of Qualcomm chipsets in iPhones or iPads” Samsung’s court documentation acquired by The K

SpaceX has been getting the Dragon capsule ready to head to the ISS for a while now. Today, the company has announced that the launch of the Dragon to the ISS has been delayed to allow the company more time to get the capsule ready to go. The delay was announced yesterday, and the launch was originally set for February 7. SpaceX says that the delay will allow it to run more engineering tests on the capsule. A new launch date has not yet been set. NASA, and SpaceX are working together to set a new date. SpaceX spokeswoman Kristin Grantham noted that the company thinks the Dragon will benefit from more tests on a “few areas.” The areas needing attention aren’t specified.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has defended the online encyclopedia’s decision to stage a global blackout in protest of SOPA and PIPA this week, arguing “US law, as it impacts the internet, can affect everyone.” Wales hopes the blackout – which will see the English-language version of Wikipedia replaced with an open letter encouraging US citizens to contact their Representatives and voice their concerns with the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act – will prompt even those outside of the US to contact friends and family living there and encourage them to speak up on the proposed legislation, he told the Telegraph, as “a broad global message” about censorship. “As for me, what I am hoping is that people outside the US who have friends or family who are voters in the US, will ask them to make a call to their senator or representative,” Wales explained, “and I hope we send a broad global message that the internet as a whole will not tolerate censorship in response

Growing up I really liked movies that had mythological creatures in them and Greek mythology in general. I was particularly fond of the idea of strange creatures like the centaur and the Cyclops. If you have a fascination for mythological creatures like flying lions, horse/men, and one-eyed giants and live in Tucson, Arizona, you need to check out the exhibit at the International Wildlife Museum. The exhibit is part art display and part science with the bones of these mythological creatures put on display for people to check out as if they were real. The centaur skeleton you see in the picture here is called the Centaur of Tymfi. There is also a skull of a griffin on display along with a skull of a cyclops as well. The centaur skeleton was designed by Bill Willers from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. Willers is a zoologist and sculptor. Museum director Richard White says that the exhibit looks at how folklore could possibly hide scientific stories.

RIM has two more BlackBerry PlayBook tablets in the pipeline for 2012, according to a roadmap leak, including a 10-inch LTE-enabled model targeting late holiday sales. Despite the poor reception of the first-gen PlayBook – recently slashed to just $299 apiece – product information leaked to N4BB indicates a new 7-inch “3G+” PlayBook is expected in April, with a 10-inch LTE-equipped PlayBook due in December. There’s also word on when we might expect to see the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones; more after the cut. Hardware details on the two new PlayBook models are uncertain. The 3G+ of the new 7-inch version is apparently a chipset limitation, preventing LTE being included. However previous leaks of PlayBook OS 2.0 revealed LTE iconography and support for 1280 x 800 resolution, which could indicate one or both of the new models are stepping up to a more pixel-packed screen. The first BlackBerry 10 handset isn’t expected until September this year, according to the source, in keeping w

China is the most heavily populated country on earth with over 1.3 billion people living there as of 2010. By comparison, the US has over 307 million as of the census conducted in 2009. China has more people that use the internet than live in the US. The astonishing part is that China has over 200 million more people using the web than the entire US population. China has now reached 513 million internet users according to an industry group. Many web users in China access the internet on mobile phones and the number of people that use handheld devices for internet access in the country has grown 17.5% since last year to 365 million users. China is notorious for blocking access to sites the government deems inappropriate. However, Chinese citizens are apparently encouraged to use the web for education. The total number of mainland China web users is up 12% compared to last year according to a study compiled by the Chinese government. I am sure once Chinese citizens can get their iPho

Samsung is apparently bringing the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD to the UK, as the Galaxy S II HD, a version of its best-selling dual-core smartphone packing a 720p HD capable Super AMOLED HD display. Although not yet officially confirmed by Samsung itself, the non-LTE smartphone briefly cropped up with UK retailer MobiCity where it was spotted by MoDaCo, though no UK pricing, release date or product page are currently available. However, based on the US and South Korean variants, along with a product page from the retailer’s Australian division, we have a good idea what the Samsung Galaxy S II HD will offer. In short, it’s just the Galaxy S II we were hoping for: gone is the WVGA display, which although color-rich and with broad viewing angles, was looking short on pixels in comparison to qHD and 720p rivals, replaced by a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 panel that we’re guessing is the same as on the Galaxy Nexus. There’s also a 1,850 mAh battery to keep that display – and the 1.5GHz dual-core S

If you took a big box of ugly and used it to design a green car, the Sim-Lei is exactly what I would picture the final product coming out as. This has to be the ugliest green car in the world. I don’t get why green car designers make the cars so unattractive so frequently. It’s not like ugly and green have to go together, look at the Tesla Roadster or the Fisker Karma to see green cars that look good too. Apparently, 34 different Japanese companies signed off on the green auto design horror. Geeks from the Japanese Keio University were also involved in the project. Someone at some point had to look at this car and realize the design left something to be desired. Ugly aside, the car has some decently impressive specifications.

Samsung sinking $1bn into its Apple chip facility is only the tip of the iceberg for the Korean company’s 2012 investment plans, with a whopping $41.4bn expected to go into incubating new tech and streamlining existing production. Samsung Group will most likely pitch the biggest chunk of its fund into system chips for phones, tablets and digital cameras, Reuters reports, along with OLED displays such as the panel used in the 55-inch Super OLED Smart TV the company demonstrated at CES last week, and which is expected to go on sale by the end of the year. The range of investments will span everything from building factories to R&D, as well as mergers & acquisitions and hiring new staff. Samsung expects to take on around 26,000 new team members in 2012, potentially bringing its global total to as many as 376,000. 80-percent of the investment will go through Samsung Electronics, particularly Samsung Semiconductor and Samsung Mobile Display. Analysts predict the company will boo

Hacking has been growing at a rapid pace over the last year and while many of the big attacks have come in the US and Europe, those countries are not alone in facing the hacker threat. The Middle East has become a big target for hackers. A hacker going by oxOmar hacked into a credit card database and posted the details on 20,000 credit cards of Israeli citizens not long ago. The same hacker sent out a message overnight that he, and his hacker group called Nightmare would be bringing down the sites of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and national airline Al El. The attack against the sites was a simple DOS attack. The sites were reportedly able to recover from the attack in hours and neither airline flights, nor the economy in Israel was harmed.

AMD‘s challenge to Intel’s Ultrabook push, the AMD Trinity series of APUs, will drop in June and undercut its rival by as much as 20-percent, according to information from notebook manufacturers. The new models – of which around 20 AMD-based ultrabook-equivalents are expected this year, claim DigiTimes‘ sources – will be $100-$200 cheaper than comparable Ivy Bridge notebooks. ASUS, Acer and HP are all tipped to be throwing in with AMD and building new ultrathins based on Trinity, though none of the manufacturers are confirming anything at present. Trinity was last shown off in June 2011 at the AMD Developer Fusion Summit 2011, as a preview of what the 32nm chip could do. AMD gave a surprise preview of Trinity at CES last week, promoting the APUs’ performance and power improvements over existing Llano chips, as in the following demo video filmed by AnandTech. Power consumption is expected to drop significantly, with AMD claiming a 17W Trinity is equal in capabilities to a curren

Social networking and microblogging on twitter are constantly growing it seems. A new stat has surfaced about twitter that is a little mind-boggling if you stop and think about it. TheNextWeb reports that Twopcharts has offered up a handy dandy chart showing Twitter is gaining 11 accounts every second. Twopcharts is a third party twitter app that looks at metrics and such. The app shows that as of now there are 465 million accounts, a 65% increase since May when the figure was 300 million. With the gain of accounts at 11 per second, it looks like the 500 millionth accounts may come online in February. That is a significant milestone. While twitter may be nearing the 500 million mark for accounts, most of those are not active users.

Someone hiding behind a range of Google IP addresses in India has been up to no good. Allegedly, the person or persons behind the range of Google IPs have been accessing the open-source map project called Open Street Map and using tools there to vandalize maps of major cities. The vandalism has included things that could get some users of the map into danger. ReadWriteWeb reports that the vandals have moved and or deleted some map details and has changed the direction of traffic flow on one-way streets. This is the same range of IP addresses that were busted stealing data from a database owned by Mocality. The data in that case was used to call and offer paid placements in a deal said to be with Google and Mocality. Google is investigating the allegations, and I am sure we will hear more on this. Google can’t be happy that someone is using its IP addresses to commit these acts. Open Street Map has found two accounts that have modified streets in New York, London and other cities si

Evidence of Apple’s next-gen iPad has been spotted again in iOS 5.1, with beta 3 mentioning two new “J” third-gen models along with hints of potential future Facebook integration. The J1AP and J2AP variants are believed to be the WiFi-only and WiFi + 3G iterations of the iPad 2, iMore reports, the two codenames resurfacing again after having been spotted with “Retina Display” indications back in November. The high-res displays have been a frequent rumor around the next-gen iPad, with Apple tipped to be shifting to a 2048 x 1536 panel for smoother graphics and text. Just last week, sources suggested Apple was preparing a tablet with a high-resolution panel, quadcore processor and 4G LTE connectivity for high-speed internet access on the move. As for Facebook, the tidbits indicate the social network could be pulled into the contacts, just as iOS 5 currently does with Twitter. However it’s unclear if these references are leftover code from earlier plans to integrate the social network

If you are using gmail for your personal or business emails and have had the need to access the site on a public computer, you may have felt a bit uneasy about that. Having someone else access your account is a big problem for a lot of us. Google has unveiled a new method of accessing your account that is more secure and involves your smartphone. Google has had a safer login process uses a two-form identification process for a while. The trusted device is your smartphone in this system, and it generates a short code needed to log in. The new system allows you to log into your Gmail account on the smartphone and then automatically logs you into the Gmail account on the computer. You never had to enter your password details on the public terminal eliminating the worry about key loggers. Apparently, the public terminal generates a QR code on the screen that you scan with the smartphone, and then you are logged in. You will need a QR code reader for your smartphone to use the system an

Sony has tossed a very strange video up on YouTube that shows someone using a Xperia smartphone to hit a round button on the screen. As they walk down a path with various devices on tables and press the circle on the touchscreen, the devices randomly come on and do their thing. It’s strange, and you can see the video below. The video teases the date 2-21-12, so presumably we will know what the video is talking about then. The stuff on the table is so varied and random it’s hard to figure out what Sony is teasing. The yellow circle turns on an old record player, a Sony TV, and then some robotic confetti blower thingies. The final object is a robot arm that removes a dome from a tray and gives us a glimpse at a box with a similar circle on it. I notice as the walk down the path progresses that a round blue light comes on as the devices engage and the robot arm table has what appears to be a smaller version of the box under the dome sitting there. I am going to guess this is some sort

Samsung is hunting $1bn in investment to boost production at its Austin, Texas facility, the line believed to be responsible for supplying Apple’s A5 processor and next-gen A6 chipset. Samsung has contacted banks regarding bonds to be issued by its US division, the company confirmed to Bloomberg, taking advantage of favorable borrowing costs and looking to predicted huge demand for future Apple gadgets running the ARM-based chips. Speculation about the $3.6bn Texas production facility began last month, with reports indicating that it was responsible for 40,000 silicon wafers per month. Although supply to Apple began earlier in 2011, it’s believed, the line – with a footprint equal to around nine football pitches – only began working at its maximum rate in Q4 2011. Samsung isn’t believed to be short of cash in the bank, despite looking for external sources. The company is tipped to have the equivalent of around $19bn in cash and cash-equivalents as of mid-Q3 2011, and analysts indic

Apple is preparing an interactive digital textbook creation toolkit described as “GarageBand for eBooks”, reports have suggested ahead of the company’s education-focused event later this week, with the project supposedly occupying Steve Jobs for several years before his death in 2011. Rather than the currently complex portfolio of tools required to author a truly interactive digital book at present, Apple is set to unveil a straightforward multimedia creation platform, Ars Technica‘s sources tell them, along with an upgraded distribution system that would position the iPhone and iPad as a student’s best friend. Although digital textbooks can be as simple a matter as static ePub versions of print books, Apple’s plans are apparently far more ambitious. Just as GarageBand makes constructing multi-part audio tracks easy, the new textbook tool will supposedly support video, 3D graphics, interaction with charts and timelines, audio, and other content. Given the rise in digital magazines on

ASUS has confirmed that the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the original Eee Pad Transformer is imminent, with Google giving the final package one last glance-over before it can be released. Questioned as to the company’s release roadmap on Facebook, ASUS North America described the new ROM as “in the process of being approved by Google.” “Once that is done” the social media team continued, “we will be able to push it out to you guys.” ASUS has already begun shipping versions of the newer Transformer Prime running Android 4.0 ICS natively, as well as offering an upgrade for existing Transformer Prime owners to get their Tegra 3 slate up to speed with the new version. Although the Galaxy Nexus debuted ICS late last year, Android device manufacturers are generally still working on getting their existing range upgraded. So far there’s ASUS’ Prime that has been modified, but smartphones and other tablets remain works-in-progress. In fact, even new devices running Android 4.0 are thin on

The desktop market is a little quiet as of late, but there will always be room for hardcore PC gamers, and those who are more than willing to relieve them of their excess cash. To that end, Asus showed off two new high-end motherboards in its Republic of Gamers line at CES 2012, both of which use Intel’s X79 chipset. We got some hands-on time with the Rampage IV Formula and the Rampage IV Gene in a meeting with Asus, and came away impressed. The Rampage IV Formula uses a full ATX board to inlclude all the bells and whistles: second-generation Intel Core i7 support on the LGA 2011 standard, quad-channel DDR3 2400 RAM DIMM slots with a maximum of 32GB of memory, and support for up to four (count ‘em, four) Nvidia or ATI cards in SLI or CrossFireX configurations. As far as ports go, you get four USB 3.0 with an extra six USB 2.0 ports, the standard 5.1 audio interface, gigabit Ethernet, and two eSATA ports. For those of you who can’t let go of your IBM Model M Keyboard, a standard PS/2

Microsoft has successfully sought royalty payments from a number of Android device makers and the next company that will likely pay up is Pantech, South Korea’s third largest handset manufacturer. According to Yonhap News, Pantech is currently in talks with Microsoft regarding the patent usage in its Android smartphones but the details have not been finalized yet. Pantech will likely sign a royalty agreement with Microsoft that will involve paying $5 per Android device sold, a fee that other Android OEMs have been rumored to pay, including HTC, Samsung, and LG. Samsung had agreed to pay Microsoft in a deal signed last September and LG, the second largest South Korean handset maker, had just signed a deal last week. Microsoft is now collecting fees from nearly 70 percent of Android device makers and the animosity between it and Google are apparent in their public spats via Twitter and blog posts. Microsoft is currently suing Motorola over similar Android patent issues, but Motorola

If you’re listening to HyperJuice in any one of their many outlets for advertisement, you’ll know that they are, indeed, the only external battery for the MacBook, working for any laptop in the Apple line, branded and shaped as such as well. What we got to see this year at CES 2012 was their current 2012 line of batteries sized at 150Wh, 100Wh, 60Wh, and the massive 222Wh. This group has one excellent value proposition for those of you out there in the field relying on the power of your MacBook with worries of a lack of battery hours and a need for a fashionable tote-along that matches the goods. These batteries are able to power up your MacBook, your iPad, your iPhone, and whatever other USB-powered devices you’ve got on hand. They’re made specifically for every different Apple mobile product under the sun, again moving in a way so very similar to the design language of the Mac that they’re using the same white font for the device itself. This name in batteries has been around long

The Steve Jobs action figure that was originally set to be released in February by Hong Kong-based company, In Icons, has now been canceled. The company explains that its decision to cancel the action figure is due to “immense pressure” from both Apple’s lawyers and Jobs’ family. In Icons first announced the Jobs action figure early this month and was quickly and inevitably slapped with threats of legal action. The company explains that it had originally set out to create the doll as a way to commemorate Jobs and was in no way attempting to overstep copyright and trademark rights. Besides the legal threats from lawyers, In Icons says that it is the “heartfelt sensitivity to the feelings of the Jobs family” that led to the decision to cancel the action figure. The company apologizes to Jobs fans and promises to refund pre-orders.

That Windows Phone lacks a Skype app is, like Apple’s fixation on the word “Magical” and the rampant popularity of Justin Bieber, one of life’s great conundra. Microsoft is desperately seeking “must have” apps to showcase its smartphone platform, and yet it already owns a VoIP company putting out what could legitimately be described as just that on iOS and Android. Delivering Skype for Windows Phone would certainly answer one great criticism of the OS, and cross a further reason off the wait-and-see list for many buyers. Still, it’s the promised deeper integration of Skype into future iterations of Windows Phone, however, that could signal the turning point for the “third platform.” Details on just how embedded Skype will eventually be are in short supply, bar the fact that it’s in the works. Skype CEO Tony Bates confirmed the consolidation this past week, suggesting that it would follow on from a more typical standalone app as is available on other platforms. It’s no great surprise,

Wikipedia has decided to join the protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act by shutting down its English site for 24 hours on Wednesday, January 18. It will be joining companies like Reddit, which had announced last week that it would go offline for 12 hours on Wednesday. Both sites will temporarily shutdown and display only a message urging against the SOPA and PIPA legislation. “This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know,” tweeted Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales this morning calling the move a decision made by the Wikipedia community. The announcement, however, follows Congress’ decision earlier today to shelve the SOPA vote until there is consensus on the bill. Nonetheless, companies are going forward with the blackout and note that the bill could still be resurrected and that PIPA is still being actively considered. “We have no indication that SOPA is fully off the table,” said Wales

The Samsung SUR40 multitouch table, first unveiled last CES and once again this past CES 2012, is now finally ready to ship. The tabletop features a massive 40-inch Full HD 1080p LCD display protected by perhaps the world’s largest piece of Gorilla Glass. It runs Microsoft’s second-generation platform called Surface 2.0 along with Microsoft’s PixelSense touchscreen technology. The SUR40 with Surface 2.0 tabletop can be placed horizontally on table legs or mounted vertically on a wall as it no longer uses cameras underneath the table for recognizing finger-touches. Instead, it now uses PixelSense, which allows more than 50 simultaneous touch-points on the surface. Inside, the table is powered by an AMD-based Windows 7 machine running Microsoft’s Surface 2.0 platform. The Surface 2.0 SDK will allow developers to create custom apps for the table, although not many folks will be able to afford the table itself, which is priced starting at $8,400 for the tabletop only and $9,049 if purc

There’s a brand new little ultra-simple fabulously powerful speaker on the block, and it comes in one whole heck of a lot of different colors: SuperTooth’s Disco 2, our hands-on experience with it right here before your eyes! This device is the next generation after the awesome original Disco we’ve already reviewed over a year ago, and the time is ripe for the second round to be a-launching! Let’s get this sound-blasting experience on the road! Audio specialist SuperTooth rings this device in with one less knob than its predecessor and a few more buttons, making your whole experience slightly more intuitive. One thing we’re excited about on this model is the lack of a bright “breathing” set of lights, the last Disco’s system getting just a BIT annoying as it sat on standby for months on end. The good bits are all here, working with your bluetooth-enabled devices to bring you high-fidelity sound with a teeny, tiny footprint in your living space. This SuperTooth Disco 2 unit is set