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Apple took top place in the worldwide smartphone charts in Q4 2011, new stats have suggested today, clinching the overall number one position for the year with 19-percent of the market. iPhone sales made up almost a quarter of smartphone purchases worldwide in the three months leading up to the end of 2011, Gartner claims, with Samsung taking the number two spot. In cellphones overall, Nokia remains on top of the charts but with a sliding market share, 23.8-percent of the worldwide market in 2011 but down over five points from 2010. Nokia has already warned that such a slump is likely to continue through 2012, with interest in Symbian devicesfading faster than previously expected. Meanwhile the company is pushing ahead with Windows Phone, though Microsoft’s platform only had 1.9-percent of the worldwide smartphone market share in Q4 2011. Android held the Q4 smartphone OS top place, with 50.9-percent of the market worldwide, while iOS had less than half that amount at 23.8-percent. Bot

Apple CEO Tim Cook offered up details on how iCloud is doing at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. iCloud was one of several topics Cook talked about during the conference. He also talked about working conditions at factories building Apple products in China along with the philosophy of Apple. Cook gave up a few tidbits about iCloud that were very interesting. He announced that the cloud based syncing service has over 100 million users currently. Last month Cook announced the service had 85 million users. Simple math shows that in the 21 days since Cook announced the 85 million number, Apple has added 15 million new users to iCloud. Apple considers the cloud service to be a long-term strategy for the future. Cook calls iCloud a “strategy for the next decade” for Apple. Clearly, Cupertino has big plans for the future that involve the cloud service. iCloud is deeply integrated into Apple iOS 5 and is compatible with the iPhone starting with the 3GS. What do you think t

HTC could take on Spotify and Pandora with a streaming music service for its mobile devices, sources indicate, building on its Beats Audio investment with more unique features to differentiate its smartphones. The company is working with music producer and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine on the unnamed streaming service, GigaOm‘s sources claim, in addition to new music-centric hardware such as Bluetooth-connected speakers that might debut as soon as Mobile World Congress later this month. The company already offers Bluetooth speakers with the HTC Rhyme, but according to the tipsters and more substantial “wireless boombox” is in the pipeline. That would use Bluetooth to stream audio from HTC phones and tablets, as well as presumably offering some degree of remote control over playback. HTC has apparently been in talks with Spotify previously, as well as other streaming music providers, around powering a service for HTC devices, but the negotiations failed to go anywhere. Instead, Iovine i

The LCD industry is facing some very tough times as profits for some of the largest companies are shrinking, making the future of the LCD industry murky at best. Samsung is one of the largest names in the LCD industry and the world’s largest TV and flat screen maker. The problem for Samsung is its LCD arm saw profits fall more than 10% in 2011 with demand for LCD panels softening. With softening demand, sales prices of screens have declined, hurting profits. The tough road in the LCD panel market is affecting more than Samsung; it’s also affecting Samsung rivals LG and Sony. Some analysts place some blame for the soft market and falling prices on the panel makers themselves for continuing to produce screens over and above market demand. By producing too many screens, panel makers have forced themselves to slash prices to sell the excess production.

Google has reopened its Google Wallet mobile payments service to prepaid cards, having slammed the door on new additions after the discovery of a potential hack, while also delivering a fix that it claims will make the system more secure for users. No evidence of actual abuse has been identified as a result of the hack, the company’s commerce team insisted, which allows the Google Wallet PIN to be revealed on Android devices that have been rooted. The fix prevents existing prepaid cards from being swapped from one user to another, something Google says it believes will help tighten up Wallet security overall. As for the temporary lock-down, Google reckons that – despite there being no evidence of real-world hacks – it took the step merely as a precaution. “Yesterday afternoon, we restored the ability to issue new prepaid cards to the Wallet. In addition, we issued a fix that prevents an existing prepaid card from being re-provisioned to another user. While we’re not aware of any abuse

Subscription TV service Aereo wants to cut your cable connection, and it plans to use thousands of tiny antennas hooked up to internet connections to do it; that is, if broadcasters don’t litigate it to death first. Set to launch in New York City on March 14, streaming free-to-air content to your phone, tablet or computer for a $12 monthly fee, Aereo also offers a cloud-based DVR and the ability to pause live TV. Rather than snap a TV tuner onto your iPad, however, Aereo clusters antennas together in individual data center blocks. So, unlike the FilmOn AIR tuner or the Elgato EyeTV, each of which can tune into free-to-air TV using a tuner physically connected to the device, each Aereo subscriber gets their own tiny antenna in one of the company’s centers. Those antennas can pick up HD-quality transmissions, assuming they’re available, and offer content from over twenty channels including shows from ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. Aereo Official Intro: Your individual tuner streams the channel t

Enacting a full import ban on the iPad 2 in China is likely too difficult to achieve, litigious trademark holder Proview says it has been warned by customs, leaving the company hinting it would accept a payoff from Apple. Having won its legal challenge against Apple in China last year, convincing courts that it, not the American company, holds the iPad trademark, Proview has now discovered that implementing a sales ban against the coveted tablet may be even more troublesome than the Cupertino legal team. “The customs have told us that it will be difficult to implement a ban because many Chinese consumers love Apple products” Proview Technology chairman Yang Long-san told Reuters. “The sheer size of the market is very big.” Instead, the company is chasing piecemeal blocks at a local level. ”We have applied to some local customs for the ban and they’ll report to the headquarters in Beijing” Yang confirmed. Earlier this month, some evidence of that strategy had been seen in Chinese retail

Bad news if you’ve been waiting for the 32GB version of the GSM Galaxy Nexus, as according to retailers Samsung has cancelled plans to release the larger-capacity model. Already stung by delays, the 32GB HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus has now been dropped from production by Samsung altogether, according to a spokespersonfrom retailer Expansys, and “at this time it looks like they will not be releasing it.” Meanwhile, the retailer’s pre-order page for the 32GB Nexus – which had initially been promising deliveries in early January, based on Samsung’s own timescales, but was then pushed back to February and subsequently into March – has been updated to show the phone as discontinued. The alternative suggestion is the existing 16GB model which went on sale last year. The decision by Samsung is made all the more frustrating because the Galaxy Nexus’ storage options are more limited than most Android devices. While in many cases onboard capacity is less important, as there’s a microSD slot to augment it

After the constant bombardment at CES last month, it’s hard to deny that Intel’s Ultrabook spec hasn’t hit its stride. And while most are hitting the $1000 mark (for base models, and with a few exceptions) the valuable perks they add in portability and battery life have made them a few fans – including us. Unfortunately, they aren’t likely to budge on the all important sticker price for at least another year: DigiTimes reports that ultrabook hardware suppliers are having a hard time lowering the price of components, and the total cost for the skinny laptops is unlikely to shift significantly until 2013. The primary culprit is SSD drives, which remain pricey even as traditional hard drives offer greater capacities as lower prices. Solid-state drives continue to offer comparatively huge dollar to gigabyte ratios, and their speed and power advantages are unlikely to win over the consumer market, which tends to focus on raw storage. Thin display panels and expensive metal chassis aren’t he

Today it appears that the FCC has laid down their final (or near-final) judgement of the LightSquared ruling, this judgement saying that because LightSquared’s method for transmitting broadband internet interfered with GPS signals across the USA, they would not be allowed to operate. LightSquared has of course again contested the ruling saying that the testing done by the FCC was “severely flawed” and that they “profoundly disagree” with the results, equating the GPS market with “too big to fail” companies of early 2011 – bailout-receivers like the auto industry here in the USA. In calling the GPS industry too big to fail, the folks at LightSquared have noted that instead of improving their devices to avoid LightSquared’s frequencies, they’ve simply had the government outlaw LightSquared’s usage of the seemingly completely legally usable frequencies. Jeff Carlisle, LightSquared’s executive vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy, wrote the following on the matter: “GPS

If you head to a Verizon Wireless store today looking to purchase an Android smartphone, you’re very likely going to be inundated by offers to purchase Verizon’s own unique DROID line. I’m here to tell you that the current top choices for these Motorola-made smartphones aren’t necessarily your best choice for Android or 4G-laden devices – in fact they’re not even really your best choice for Motorola-made devices on Verizon. Instead, have a quick glance at some comparisons to some lesser-advertised devices sitting right next to these hero phones to gain a better understanding of what Verizon really has to offer. Instead of giving you a specifications run-down, what I’m going to do here is give you my “total package” view of what each device has to offer to you, the everyday user. I’ll speak about the displays, the buttons, the keyboards, and the version of Android they hold, sure, but it’s that one phone you’ll be purchasing, so it’s that one phone on its own that we’ll have a chat abou

HP rocked the stripey ties off the high-powered workstation world today when they unveiled the Z1 Workstation, the first all-in-one form factor computer that incorporates workstation-class hardware. This impressive machine targets corporate customers from small graphics shops to medical imaging customers to high-end Hollywood 3D rendering. SlashGear was on-hand to check out the hardware, and we came away with some impressive first looks. While significantly larger and heavier than a standard all-in-one machine, the fact that HP’s managed to cram full-sized processors, storage, RAM and Quadro (mobile) graphics into the Z1 is astounding. Even more so is the engineering that’s gone into the folding, flipping design, which allows end-users access to the components by folding the unit flat and opening the screen module. The hinge and piston mechanism allows for quick and safe opening of the 27-inch screen. Once open, you’re greeted with a sight that’s familiar to anyone who’s used a full-si

The device you’re about to see is a tiny piece of technology that plugs into the 30-pin port on your iPhone, your iPod Touch, or your iPad. What you’ll get when you connect to the application that comes free from the iTunes App Store is a universal remote for essentially any television-connected device you’ve got in your living room. We’ve got the original release of the VooMote Zapper here, and what you’ll see is only the beginning of your VooMote experience. To connect your VooMote to your television box (or straight up to your television, as it may be), you’ve only got to select the model from the vast list of devices the VooMote application has pre-configured. If your device is not in the VooMote library, you have only to take the time to connect the buttons on the remote control you use now to the digital remote control you’re about to use on your iPhone. This process can be a bit of a hassle the one time you’ll have to go through it, but once you’re connected, you can go ahead an

It’s hard not to be amazed by the advancements that have come to the niche 3D printing market in the last year or so, but one scientist has invented a technology that is mind-boggling to say the least. Current 3D printers require users to download special software, sometimes requiring sophisticated design skills to create the object in question. But Balaji Tammabattula has something different in mind – what if you could just take a picture of something and watch as that thing was suddenly replicated as a 3D model before your very eyes? That’s exactly what Tammabattula has created. The only catch is that the picture needs to come from a 3D camera. “All 3D printers require the item to be made from an intricate and complicated digital wireframe file. Naturally, you need a great deal of technical knowledge in order to produce these. My invention does away with this, instead printing directly from a photograph, by means of a 3D camera,” he said in a press release. His creation has not yet b

Sometimes the most seemingly minimal updates can lead to the greatest user satisfaction and peace of mind. Take for example that latest change to Google Maps. How many times have you searched for directions to the same place more than once? It might not seem like something you do all the time, but think about it. You get, say, a job interview at a place downtown. You Google it immediately. Then when it comes time to actually head down there, you need to look it up again. Well, instead of digging through your inbox or your notes, or more embarrassingly, calling up the potential employer and asking for the address again, Google will do the remembering for you. And don’t worry – you don’t even need to have the presence of mind to save it or “star” it or anything like that. The search giant caches the data to your Google account so even if you access it on your work computer and need to look it back up on your home PC, you’re good to go. And if you’re the kind of Googler who customizes you

Do you know how many iPads have been sold since the brand’s inception just a couple years ago? Tim Cook does, and he revealed at today’s Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference that the number is around 55 million. It took three years for the iPhone to sell that many units, and a whopping 22 years before that many Mac computers were sold. Cook drew the same kind of conclusion that any casual observer could have – although the iPad was the first device of its kind to the market, it came fully backed with all kinds of support and content from the products that preceded it. “The reason the iPad’s ramp has been so large in my view is that the iPad has stood on the shoulders of everything that came before it — the iTunes store, the iPhone,” Cook said during his speech. Today’s event has been one of the biggest tests for Cook since he took over Jobs as Apple CEO last year. He has yet to truly demonstrate his showmanship, but today he has managed to make headlines about his firm stan

Today in an interview / keynote speech with investors at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference 2012, Tim Cook answered many questions on Apple, including on his position in the company. What Cook has done and will do in the very near future was spoken about and explained in short, Cook coming across very much as the man who’s not only in charge of Apple, but in love with its culture as well. Cook would not, as it said “permit the slow undoing of it” simply because that wasn’t a possibility because Apple is a company he believes in so deeply. When the final question was laid down Apple today it was regarding Cook and his position in the company: “As CEO you’ve stated that you want to focus on preserving Apple’s culture, Apple’s strategy. When you look back at CEO changes historically – every CEO leaves their mark on a company’s strategy and on their culture. Can you walk us through, in your opinion, what you’re really determined to maintain?” Cook’s answer was more than j

Jenji Kohan, the creator of the popular and successful premium cable TV series Weeds has created a new comedy show, but instead of turning to a traditional TV network, the new series will be going to Netflix. It is a major step forward for the leading video streaming service as it tries to position itself as more than just a provider of everyone else’s content. Netflix has been trying to mount a serious content competition with HBO. Last year, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was quoted as saying that HBO’s on-demand video service HBO GO was “the competitor we fear most.” The new comedy series, titled Orange is the New Black, centers around the story of a communications executive who has a sordid history with drugs. The initial order is for 13 episodes of the off-color comedy. In addition to this latest show, Netflix has also managed to score exclusivity for shows like House of Cards, Lilyhammer, and new episodes of the cult hit Arrested Development. After it experienced its first-ever net su

Apple represented themselves with Tim Cook speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference this week, he speaking of the Apple TV saying that he simply cannot imagine life without it. In addition, Cook addressed the fact that he’d previously called the Apple TV a “hobby” saying that yes, it is a hobby, but that Apple doesn’t do hobbies – saying that it’s only considered a hobby because it’s part of such a small market compared to the Mac and iOS markets. Mobile and desktop still reign supreme, ladies and gentlemen. Apple does have an Apple TV box at the moment and there are rumors that there will be some sort of iTV in the future, but it’s become apparent especially today that Apple does not have the same amount of power pushing into the smart TV world as they do the mobile and desktop world – it only stands to reason, of course. As Cook noted today: “Apple doesn’t do hobbies as a general rule. I can’t live without [my Apple TV] – we’ve always though there was somethin

Today you’ll be hearing more than a couple stories from the Apple world coming from Tim Cook as he speaks at a Goldman Sachs Conference for investors. This talk is being streamed live via QuickTime from Apple’s own Investor website for anyone who’d love to take a listen to do so. This talk has covered supplier accountability, products, and the fact that Cook cannot live without his Apple TV. This talk covers many topics we’ve been speaking about over the past few weeks, namely the first and foremost on many people’s minds: what will Apple do about the suggestions that they’ve got bad working conditions in supplier plants around the world? This of course was the first thing answered by Cook as he started the conference, assuring the world that it was no small subject for Apple and that they’d be taking measures above and beyond the call of duty. Have a peek at the feed right now at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/conference/ and listen along with us as we continue to report the news from

This week Apple’s own Tim Cook is speaking at Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference and has addressed the Foxconn and additional working conditions reports with an assurance that monthly reports will be given from here on out. As he spoke on the measures they will be taking in the near future, he also reminded the audience that the Fair Labor Association audit is still taking place. Amongst assurances for the future are working hours being managed on a “very micro basis” and the complete destruction of underage working as their top priority. Tim Cook spoke of how he has “spent a lot of time in factories personally, and not just as an executive,” noting that Apple does and always has taken its working conditions “very, very seriously.” Be it in Europe, Asia, or the United States, “we care about every worker” said Cook, continuing on that “in terms of problems we’re working to fix, you can read the details on our website, but I can tell you that no one in our industry is doing

When they’re not making scientific advancements in maple syrup, Canadians generally turn their attention to hockey. Okay, that’s all for this round of stereotypical news headlines, but seriously, researchers in Canada have taken the time to create an autonomous humanoid robot that can play hockey. The robot, named Jennifer, is capable of maneuvering around ice and shooting pucks with precision into a goal. In other words, she’s more athletic than me. The robot, named after Canadian female hockey star Jennifer Botterill, was developed at the University of Manitoba, and will be in a robotic competition in St. Paul, Minnesota later this year. Hockey is well known for being a full contact sport, but in a world where we expect to see robots duking it out in battles to the death, this seems pretty tame in comparison. In fact, it might even make people outside of Canada somewhat interested in hockey. Maybe. This isn’t the first time university researchers in Canada have created a hockey-playi

Up until now, the social network known as Google+ has had two separate application fronts – one for Android, the other for iOS. The only real difference between the two was in one of the biggest draws for the platform as a whole: Android’s ability to access your Photo Gallery and instantly upload every bit of media you own. Chin up, Apple users, the iPhone version of the Google+ app has just been updated, and the Instant Upload feature is in full effect. This update will allow you to upload your photos to your Google+ account (then accessible through any other web browser or Google+ app, of course) and asks you how you’d like this to be accomplished. The options are through Wifi or your 3G connection, through Wifi only, or not at all. If you’re not one of the few left on the planet with unlimited data, we’d suggest the Wifi option, as this function can rip your data bills to shreds. After that it’s all automatic – to a degree. Again the iPhone version of this app does not quite have th

Whether you’re a master wordsmith or you’re the kind of person who thinks about punching in random words on the popular social game Words With Friends, there’s one word that is combining more players than you might think – sex. In honor of Valentine’s Day, Zynga surveyed 100,000 active Words With Friends players and asked them if and how the game has become part of their love life. Perhaps it sounds ridiculous at first glance, but believe it or not, 10% of them said playing the game “has led directly to a hookup.” Meanwhile nearly half say they have a crush on at least one of their friends that they’re playing against. Is Words With Friends really an aphrodisiac, though, or is it just more likely that people who connect with one another on a social game are going to have a spark from the outset? To answer that question, Zynga asked players if they would be more willing to hook up with someone after finding out they’re good at Words With Friends. 38% said yes. Moreover, 24% said that th

There’s a brand new Sapphire Technology computer coming out soon, and its full up with AMD Fusion to keep your party pumping. Up until now we’ve seen Sapphire Edge-HD devices coming out with Intel Atom processors and NVIDIA ION graphics, now this beast is popping up with a feature unique to its line: AMD Fusion under the hood. This PC line is know for its ultra tiny footprint and its ability to look rather inconspicuous while it jams out the graphics and the computing power – is AMD the key to your heart? This device showed up at the FCC just this past week and has been revealed by Sapphire today, it coming complete with an AMD E-450 dual-core processor and Radeon HD 6320 graphics to keep you warm at night. This computer has the ability to support 4GB of RAM, has its own 2.5-inch hard drive bay with support for up to a massive 500 GB of hard disk space. Inside you’ll get Edge-HD3 or FreeDOS software out of the box, but you’ll be able to load Windows 7 or any other comparable operating

The fact that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 pulled in more money than any other video game in 2011 is not a surprise. Anyone could have seen that coming. But the title that managed to score second place is rightfully turning some heads. The latest entry in Bethesda’s epic Elder Scroll franchise, Skrim, outsold all the others in the race to become the top non-Call of Duty title of the year. This comes despite a backlash after some PS3 users found game-crippling lag problems when playing through the open world adventure. The problem, which existed on PS3 only, was attributed to a glitch in the way save files were created and caused them to grow into uncontrollable sizes that prevented the game from running properly. The issue has recently been fixed with a patch, and now Bethesda is clinging to brighter news. Even games like Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, or the new Uncharted game were not as successful as Skyrim. The Elder Scrolls series has long been regarded as one of the most master

Microsoft must have known that Nokia was going to come out of the gates strong with their mobile OS Windows Phone when they first signed the contracts all those months ago, as Mobile World Congress 2012 appears to be shaping up to be a whole new wave of Nokia beasts hot off the blocks, each of them with Windows Phone Tango equipped! The newest device being tipped as coming at the end of this month is the Nokia Lumia 610, a smartphone made to take out the lower-tiers of the smartphone world with its ultra-inexpensive cost and aesthetically pleasing body. The tip comes in through TechRadar who have an exclusive on the details behind this mystery device. What they’re hearing is that the Windows Phone platform will be getting its least expensive entry yet with the Lumia 610, it looking to be a pay as you go device, costing just under 200 pounds in the UK with carrier O2. Is £199.99 on PAYG with O2 enough to make you switch from an Android or an iPhone? Probably not – but how about switchin

In what is nothing short of an embarrassment for telecommunications giant Nortel Networks, it has been exposed that hackers in China have been accessing sensitive company information for nearly 10 years. It was hard to notice anything was wrong because these hackers seemed to gain access to proprietary company websites legitimately. All they needed to do was figure out the passwords of company executives. The widespread and long-lasting intrusion was exposed by the Wall Street Journal, which received information from former Nortel employee Brian Shields. According to the report, the hackers have been gaining access to sensitive information – technical papers, R&D report, employee e-mails, and business plans – since the year 2000. Nortel did not return the publication’s request for comments. When the intrusion was finally noticed, the executives changed their passwords and an investigation was launched, but it seems like little was done to fully track down the source of the problem.

Apple has tossed a brand new wrench into the gears of your iDevice hacking dreams, this time cutting out all devices from using Siri and her servers if you do not have the iPhone 4S. This device is currently the only device approved by Apple to use Siri, but as thousands of Siri-hungry Apple fans out there will tell you, they want it everywhere! Apple has released a brand new stopper for this situation so that the iPhone 4S is the only device that can Siri the night away, it being a simple token in the software that detects your device in so many words – on the other hand, this “fix” could just be to allow in the upcoming iPad 3. While there are ways to get around this brand new “SetActivationToken”, the bigger issue is what we want to talk about: why does everyone want Siri so badly? There are a hundred alternatives to Siri on the iTunes App Store alone, not to mention the large line of Android-based solutions outside the original Siri that can be used completely without cost. Is it t

Without so much as a “gang-way!” you’ll find the Big Box Edition 1 set of Android toys in stores this week, with Android Bell himself having had little to no warning of their release. They’re all official, indeed they are the real deal and made by Bell himself, but sometimes distribution lines can do odd tricks in the background, you know? These Big Box Edition toys will not be part of the limited edition lines you’ve seen thus far, nor will they be part of the special edition lines – and they’re not blind boxed! These toys have been sweeping the Android fan lines for over a year now, with the second set having been released right after Mobile World Congress 2011. Now we’ve got this unlimited set for all you wanters of an Android but no big need to have the super secrecy in which design you’re going to grab. This set will have more than seven unique paint jobs for you to choose from, each of them simply cute. This edition will be available in stores such as Urban Outfitters starting th