IBLOG SPACE

Data from the latest Net Applications market share report was highlighted for the metric change that negatively affected Google’s Chrome desktop browser ratings, but something also interesting to note was the widening gap between iOS and Android when it comes to the mobile space. Safari may be behind Chrome on desktops, but in mobile it is by far the most used browser. Net Application’s February data had revealed that Chrome for desktop dropped from 18.94% to 18.90% due to the exclusion of counting “unviewed vists” generated by the browser’s unique pre-rendering technology. Apple’s Safari browser managed a measly 5.24% of desktop browser share, trailing quite distant behind Chrome. However, when it comes to mobile web browser usage, as in phones and tablets, the ratings are dramatically different. Safari usage on iOS continues to climb, now reaching 61.2% of mobile web browser share, up from 54.9% in January. In contrast, the distant second, Android, has only 18.6% share, followed by O

There are woefully few mobile phone games that rise to the same kind of vintage, classic value in the way that Pong, Tetris, and Mario have in other gaming segments. But one of the few titles that do have historic mobile roots is the Nokia game Snake, and now it’s making a comeback in a truly larger-than-life way. A group called Mobile Projection Unit has recreated the classic game so that it can be played with you as the controller, and the windows, doors, and signs around you as the obstacles. In Tron fashion, multiple players can join in together, and create dead ends for their opponents. The project is called Snake the Planet, and involves a camera, a projector, and a computer. It’s all mobile and can be set up on the spot. It’s really part game, part technological showmanship, and part social experiment. “Culture is as much about the feeling of experiments as it is about the council sanctioned public sculpture, so it’s kind of why were really excited to be able to take all these l

Google’s Chrome browser took a small hit in the ratings recently, not due to any decrease in popularity but to an adjustment in the way that usage is measured. Market research firm Net Applications said that the pre-rendering technology used in Chrome had been inflating its usage share. The technology speeds up browsing by pre-loading web pages in the background that it predicts users will visit. The technology has only been used by Google and was implemented in Chrome 13 and is even more aggressively used in the latest Chrome 17. Using a special algorithm, Chrome predicts the likelihood of a search result link to be selected by the user. It then pre-loads the page of that link so that it appears instantly if a user clicks through. However, a user may not end up visiting the link at all, which Net Applications believes creates “unviewed visits.” Net Applications believes that these unviewed visits should no longer be included to measure Chrome’s usage share, which is what has slightly

If Yogi and BooBoo were to relocate from Jellystone to Banff or Yoho National Park in Canada, the ranger would be able to see exactly where ther picnic-pilfering adventures took them. In the real world, the parks department in Canada has announced it plans to tag grizzly bears with GPS collars. The organization has cited safety concerns. Safety, that is, for the bears. There have been a number of cases where bears outside the two aforementioned parks were killed by trains on nearby tracks. By collaring the animals and monitoring their locations, they can help prevent them from wandering in that direction again. The plan calls for around a dozen bears to be collared, whose movements will be tracked for four years. This comes as a direct response to a joint initiative between Parks Canada and the Canadian Pacific Railway. They’ve devoted $1 million to curb the unfortunate bear deaths. “Fine scale GPS data provides detailed patterns of use that can answer specific questions about how and

Apple’s much hyped iPad 3 may actually be named the iPad HD, according to parts listings from iPad accessories manufacturer Griffin. Despite Apple’s simple approach towards device names, it’s never been an easy task guessing what the company’s next hot product will be called and the next-gen iPad is no exception. We’ve definitely heard of the iPad HD name before when rumors first spread about the upgrade to a Retina-like HD display. Michael Fonfara tweeted early this morning an image allegedly of Griffins parts listing, which showed three case accessories designed for a new “iPad HD” with the “3″ in parentheses. In addition to the purported evidence, Fonfara also claims to have confirmed with Belkin on the new iPad name. With only a few short days ahead of the actual unveiling event on March 7, large manufacturers would likely know what to expect, although there’s still the possibility that they’re also guessing. Plus, the iPad HD name has circulated before so it’s not a huge revelatio

Samsung will launch the Galaxy S III in April, a Samsung-affiliated marketing executive has apparently confirmed, with a UK campaign tying the much-anticipated smartphone into the 2012 Olympics tipped. An April release had been tipped previously, but according to ZDNet Korea the Chiel Worldwide marketing agency has confirmed that a huge promotion will kick off that month for the Android device. According to the marketeers, Samsung is pushing ahead with an NFC payments system using the Galaxy S III as its flagship device. A collaboration between Samsung, VISA and the Olympics had already been announced, with a special “Samsung Olympic and Paralympic Games mobile handset” promised. NFC is just one of the elements tipped for the new Galaxy S III. The smartphone is also tipped to have a 1.5GHz quadcore Exynos processor of Samsung’s own creation, along with a 4.8-inch display tipped for either 720p or 1080p HD resolution. There’s also expected to be an 8-megapixel main camera with Full HD v

Stock of the existing Apple TV continues to grow short, insiders at Apple Stores have revealed, with new availability apparently set for March 7, the same day a third-gen model is rumored to be launched. Multiple Apple Stores have no on-hand stock of the Apple TV, The Verge has been told, with those locations still having units being “the exception, not the rule.” The shortage follows dwindling availability at third-party retailers throughout last month. Best Buy, Target and Walmart are all among the retailers listing the Apple TV out of stock, with insiders at Best Buy saying that they’ve also been unable to re-order replacement stock. Until now, though, Apple’s own stock has been reasonably stable, something that appears to be changing the closer we get to the rumored refresh next week. Although the March 7 event is expected to focus on the iPad 3, Apple’s next-gen tablet, the new Apple TV is believed to be the “One more thing” at the end. The updated STB could use either the Apple A

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have programmed a band of tiny robot quadrotors to play the James Bond theme song. What’s the point? The accomplishment is that the scientists managed to prevent the flying robots from crashing into obstacles or each other. Plus, it’s pretty darn cool. The performance includes each of the several quadrotors performing a specific task, whether it’s plunking a note on a keyboard, strumming a guitar, or hitting a cymbal. They all operate autonomously based on programming code they received. The project involved sophisticated processes like syncing up all the robots so they performed their functions at perfectly precise times. In the room where the performance took place, there were infrared cameras and lights spread throughout. “The nano quads all have reflectors on their struts, which allows the camera system to plot their exact positions and relay that information wirelessly to each unit. Lab members can then assign each unit a series of way

Qualcomm has dismissed NVIDIA’s much-trumpeted five core Tegra 3 chipset as mere spec-sheet bragging, arguing that the company is unconcerned by HTC’s defection from solely using Snapdragon cores. “No one company can stick to one supplier forever” Sy Choudury, director of product management at Qualcomm told us in an interview at Mobile World Congress this week. As for the HTC One X, the smartphone which will use Tegra 3 at least in non-AT&T form, Choudury argues the 4+1 chipset is more about marketing than actually delivering usable performance. “There’s a difference between building devices to suit typical uses, and building for spec-sheet bragging” he said. At the heart of Qualcomm’s argument is the current nature of smartphone and tablet usage. “There’s really not enough threads in a typical smartphone use-case to warrant even a third core” Choudury believes, suggesting that in fact the same is true with notebooks and desktops. Qualcomm’s own software engineers use the same lapt

There aren’t many AAA licensed sports video games that are published by a first party, but Sony’s MLB The Show franchise is one of them. As one of the company’s most prestigious series, it’s going to be the guinea pig for a new idea – buy the same game on both a console and a handheld platform, and get a discount. Non-diehard baseball fans need not apply. The PS3 version of MLB 12 The Show has a retail price of $60 while the Vita version goes on sale for $40. However, customers who buy them together in the same purchase will only need to pay a total of $80. This offer is made available through a handful of retailers, but it’s officially sponsored by Sony. This is a chance for Sony to demonstrate the cross-platform functionality that exists between the PS3 and the Vita. “On either your PS3 or Vita, you can transfer your Season, Franchise, or Road to the Show mode save files between your PS3 and PS Vita anywhere at any time through the PlayStation Network. We want as many of our consumer

NASA’s budget has been slashed dramatically for 2012 in an effort by the US government to save money. NASA is working with that reduced budget and trying to keep all the programs it had planned to pursue in the works. One of the programs that saw money significantly shrink the budget cuts was NASA’s Mars exploration program known on budget documents as Mars Next Generation. NASA has retooled the mission and has rounded up $30 million from other programs to help fund the Mars effort this year. The $30 million collected was taken from funds that had been allotted to work on other missions to the outer planets. NASA’s plans to spend about $700 million total on the Mars mission with tentative launch date in 2018 or 2020. The Mars exploration plans changed after NASA was forced to exit the joint ESA and Russia program called ExoMars. That mission was intended to send a probe to Mars and return samples. Those missions are continuing without NASA’s help and are slated for 2016 and 2018. $20 m

It took less than 24 hours for the tally of Windows 8 consumer preview downloads to hit the 7-figure mark. A message on the official Windows 8 Twitter account confirmed, “one day later…one million downloads of the consumer preview,” which referred to the public download that went live on Microsoft’s website yesterday. So if it wasn’t already clear, there is a lot of excitement building around Microsoft’s new operating system. The reason for that enthusiasm is that Windows 8 is a completely rebuilt platform; it looks nothing like Windows 7 and has been redesigned to fit in with today’s tablet-toting, smartphone-loving consumer. The Metro UI is a completely different look for Windows, and people are intrigued by it. Obviously that one million number reflects downloads, not unique users. So if even a small percentage of people downloaded the preview for multiple computers, the actual number of people who are running the Windows 8 preview will be significantly less. Regardless, though, tha

Sony has outed a new digital camcorder, the Handycam GW55VE, offering waterproofing for up to 5m submersion along with Full HD video recording for those not entirely wedded to their 1080p-capable smartphones. The GW55VE pairs a 20.4-megapixel capable Exmor R sensor with optical image stabilization and a 10x optical zoom, plus a 3-inch touchscreen and integrated GPS for geotagging your photos and video. There’s also a new Intelligent Sweep Panorama mode, allowing you to create large photos by holding down the button and panning the Handycam around. Sony uses face and motion detection to avoid moving people and objects from showing up blurred or doubled in the final frame. The same face detection is used for self-portraits. There are a frankly ridiculous 99 scene presets, happily selected between via an intelligent auto mode, and an Underwater mode for more natural colors when you’re splashing around. Storage is courtesy of either Memory Stick Micro or, happily, MicroSD/SDHC card. Meanwh

Sometimes lawsuits are so stupid all you can do is sit back and laugh. I think the suit filed by a Frenchman against Google after the search giant’s Street View vehicle caught the man urinating in his front yard certainly falls under the silly category. While the man’s face was blurred, he alleges that fellow residents of his village of about 3000 people in the Maine-et-Loire region of France recognized him anyway. I wonder if the residents of the village recognize the man because of his apparent penchant for public urination more than a photo of him with a blurred face on Google Street view. The man is suing for €10,000 in damages working out to $13,300. The man says he believed he was hidden from view by a closed gate as he urinated in his yard in November of 2010. The man claims that the high point of view of the Street view camera was able to see over his fence and snapped this picture. A French court in the city of Angers, which is rather appropriately named, is going to deliver a

HTC is opening up the Beats Audio tech in its Android devices to third-party developers, among other exclusive features, in its ongoing attempt to court more coders onboard. The new Beats Audio API is part of the latest update to the HTC OpenSense SDK, and will be joined by an HTC MediaLink HD API for streaming video to the new wireless HDMI dongle. There’s also a Lockscreen API, allowing developers to integrate access to their apps from the Sense lockscreen, and a Mobile Device Management API. However, it’s the Beats and HDMI functionality that could hold the most potential; in the new HTC line-up, the One X, One S and One V, Beats Audio support has been extended to any native sound-related part of the system, and now third-party apps can have the same access to. The HTC MediaLink HD API, meanwhile, will enable dual-screen support to be integrated into apps. HTC Watch is an example of the native dual-screen support, allowing users to stream video purchased or rented through the app to

There are people all around the world that have dreamed of a car that they can drive on the streets and park in the garage at home, which can turn into an airplane and fly. A company called Terrafuiga created the first practical flying cars that could turn that dream into reality. The company calls the flying car the Transition. The Transition will be shown off at the New York Auto Show this coming April. The prototype is described as a “roadable aircraft” and it was cleared for production last July by the National Highway Safety Administration. At the show, the company will be showing off the car and letting people see the Transition change from car mode to flight mode. You can check out the video below to see the transition to flight mode occur. It’s very cool how the wings fold for clearance when driving or parking and unfold easily when it’s time to fly. When in flight mode, the aircraft is powered by a small propeller behind the passenger cabin. The vehicle that will be shown at t

With Facebook planning its IPO soon, some early employees are looking at becoming very wealthy and possibly owing some significant taxes. Sources are claiming that Facebook plans to increase its $2.5 billion credit line to help cover taxes when employee stock vests six months after the social network goes public. The tip comes from two different sources claiming to be familiar with Facebook’s plans. Facebook previously announced that it plans to pay the taxes on employees’ restricted stock units after they vest six months post IPO. The taxes on those restricted stock units are expected to be billions of dollars, and will depend on the stock price at the time taxes are due. Reuters reports that paying the taxes on restricted stock units is unusual and means Facebook is taking on a big tax obligation that could get even more expensive if stock prices soar. To have cash on hand to meet those tax obligations, Facebook needs more credit available. Facebook’s IPO filing noted that the social

Redbox and Universal Studios have announced that they have signed a new multiyear agreement to last through August of 2014. The new agreement will see red box and Universal maintain the existing 28-day delay between the new DVD or Blu-ray launch and the title being available in Redbox kiosks. Apparently, Universal Studios didn’t push for a longer delay between DVD and Blu-ray launches and availability for Redbox. Warner Bros. previously pushed for a longer 56-day delay between the launch of its new films on DVD and Blu-ray and availability inside Redbox kiosks. However, Redbox stuck to its guns and refused to sign the Warner Bros. deal. That meant red box loses access to wholesale movies directly from the studio, but the delays on Warner films are no longer an issue for Redbox. In a way, I wish Redbox chose to terminate its agreement with Universal Studios. I think Redbox would be a much more appealing choice for movie rentals if there were no delays and you can get the films the day t

Kodak was once a photography giant in the days of film and photo processing. Today, the majority of the world has moved beyond film to digital photographs rendering much of Kodak’s offerings obsolete. Kodak has filed bankruptcy and is selling off assets to pay creditors. Shutterfly has stepped up and is plunking down $23.8 million to buy Kodak’s online photo sharing platform called Kodak Gallery. The terms of the deal will have Kodak transferring all Gallery customer accounts and images from the US and Canada to Shutterfly. Users of Kodak Gallery could create public or private galleries and upload photos to the service. The Kodak service has 75 million users today and customers who don’t want their photos transferred to Shutterfly will have that option.

A few weeks back a new subscription TV service called Aereo was announced to help you cut your cable connection and free the shows you like to watch to go where you want to watch them. The company planned to use thousands of tiny antennas that were connected to the web to stream the OTA content. The company hopes to launch on March 14 streaming free over the air content to phones, tablets, and computers for $12 a month. The service also has cloud-based DVR that gave viewers the ability to pause shows. I don’t think any of us will be surprised to hear that broadcasters are suing to stop the service from launching. The suit was filed in a Manhattan court by Fox, Univision, and PBS. The broadcasters claim that Aereo is infringing on copyrights that they hold. Broadcasters were certain to fight the new service since they have worked to squeeze fees out of cable channels broadcasting their content for years. Aereo says that it has a plan to get around legal challenges. That plan hinges on a

Canon has released photo and video samples from its new EOS 5D Mark III DSLR, demonstrating the camera’s low grain, high ISO support and more. The new shots show the range of talents the freshly-revealed EOS lays claim to: Canon is positioning it not only as a great portrait camera but as ideal for landscape photographers and more. In the gallery below, you can see two versions of the same aurora scene, one shot with an 8s shutter speed and at ISO 800, while the other uses a 0.6s shutter speed and ISO 6400. There are also sample portrait frames, other landscapes and fast-moving animal photography. Canon EOS 5D Mark III overview: Canon is working up to releasing more stills and video – you can find the full line-up here - but already photographers are drooling at the quality of the shots coming out of the 5D Mark III. The camera uses a new 22.3-megapixel CMOS sensor paired with Canon’s DIGIC 5+ image processor, with the same 61-point autofocusing system as introduced on the flagship EOS

If you’ve been following the drama centering around Megaupload, the founder of the site, Kim Dotcom, has given his first interview since he was arrested over alleged copyright infringement. Dotcom is facing a litany of charges by the FBI in the US that include copyright infringement, money laundering, and racketeering. The man still maintains that he’s no piracy king, and that he will win in court. I can’t help but feel a win in court is unlikely. Dotcom describes the whole situation as “a nightmare” that has been horrifying for his family. He also maintains that the entire legal drama and arrest was totally unexpected. He claims that in the seven years Megaupload has been in business it has only been sued once and that he and his legal team believed the website was protected by the DMCA law that protects likes of Google and YouTube. Dotcom also claims that each time a copyright holder made a claim on a file hosted on the service, the file was removed. He also said that the website was

Google ‘s tablet plans could be for a so-called Google Play slate, if a clutch of new domain acquisitions are anything to go by. Naming for the upcoming tablet – believed to be a 7-inch model, and the first to be explicitly sold under Google’s own brand – has been hinted at by registrations of googleplayapps.com , googleplaygames.com and other terms, though details of the registrant itself have been masked. The domains – the full list of which is below – have been registered by brand-shielding firm MarkMonitor. Google – and others – use MarkMonitor to cut down on speculation from URL observers hoping to get an early insight into product naming. Still, if this is a Google domain grab rather than a third-party’s attempt to pre-empt, it gives an indication of what the upcoming Google tablet might offer. Apps, books, games, magazines, newspapers, music, movies, TV and videos are all mentioned, though Google doesn’t own googleplay.com. According to other leaks, the tablet will have a 7-inc

The NSA (National Security Agency) has reportedly developed its own custom Android smart phone to support secure conversations for top-secret calls. The phone the NSA built is said to be constructed using off-the-shelf components and the devices are called Fishbowl phones. The NSA has reportedly built about 100 of the devices and distributed them to staffers who need the ability to speak securely about top-secret information. The smartphones were designed to conform to the strict NSA information security rules while being as cheap as possible to build. NSA division head Margaret Salter says that the specifications have been published online and anyone can construct the device because it uses normal off-the-shelf components. According to Salter before the secure phone was available, top-secret calls required users to speak in code when using a commercial device. The Android phones also support defense applications that can be downloaded from an enterprise app store ran by the US Defense

Apple‘s subscription TV streaming ambitions include launching a service by the end of 2012, according to insiders, though the company faces ongoing struggles with content owners balking at its terms. ”We decide the price, we decide what content” is Apple’s one and only offer, according to sources familiar with the negotiations speaking to the NYPost; “They want everything for nothing” an unnamed media executive said of the Cupertino firm’s ambitions. Apple’s control-freak approach to its products is apparently causing headaches among media firms, something that’s believed to have happened before around negotiations for iTunes purchase and rental content of music and video, and ebook licensing. “They want to create the interface, and they wanted to work with the cable guys to manage bandwidth across the TV and broadband pipeline” a media exec says of the TV plans. This isn’t the first time Apple has been tipped to be harboring cable-rivaling intentions. The company supposedly first broa

Apple is having its iPad event next week where three versions of the iPad 3 are expected to launch. The big feature of the new iPad is expected to be a retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. It sounds great, but what many may not have thought of is applications designed to take advantage of that high-resolution screen will certainly be larger downloads. That could spell trouble for people who like to grab new apps on the go. The file size limit right now is 20 MB over 3G from the App Store. App developers who want to take advantage of all the resolution the new iPad will have to offer have to include “@2x” graphics, which are high-resolution image files. The problem is the inclusion of these high-resolution image files will certainly push file sizes on some apps over the 20 MB limit meaning there will be more apps that users will not be able to download to the iPad 3 over a 3G connection. A good example is the Bjango app Consume, which was 18.3 MB for the current iPad

Archos has revealed its latest tablet, the Archos Child Pad, targeted at kids looking for a tasty slice of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The $129 slate runs Android 4.0 on an unspecified 1GHz processor, with a 7-inch screen and 1GB of RAM. More important than the hardware, though, is the software, which Archos has locked down to be child-friendly. So, there’s an AppsLib-powered Kids App Store, which allows youngsters to pick from child-suitable titles split into 14 categories. Contents include 10,000 apps made up of games, multimedia, comics, sports, ebooks and more. The Child Pad’s UI has also been reworked from the Ice Cream Sandwich norm, with more colorful iconography, and homescreen folders for keeping games and other apps neatly accessible. Archos will preload 28 apps including Angry Birds. Browsing, meanwhile, complies with both CIPA and COPPA regulations, using the Mobile Parental Filter tech from Editions Profil. Obviously leaving kids unsupervised with tech still isn’t advisabl

It’s not just the new EOS 5D Mark III that Canon has today, the photography company has also outed a range of new accessories for the DSLR including the first wireless-enabled pro Speedlite. The Sppedlite Transmitter 600EX-RT uses Canon’s new radio-based wireless flash tech, and can control up to five flash groups from up to 30m away. Meanwhile, there’s a new battery grip for the Mark III, a WiFi file transmitter, GPS puck and more. The Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT allows Wireless E-TTL to control up to 15 Speedlite 600EX-RT “slave units”, used off-camera up to 98.4 feet (30m) away. They can be triggered from the camera unit itself, or from the new Speedlite Transmitter ST-E3-RT remote. It’s also possible to use them the other way around, triggering the Mark III to take a photo from the remote. As for the Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E7A, that supports WiFi a/b/g/n along with Bluetooth and hooks up via USB to the Mark III, offering both wireless and gigabit ethernet connectivi

Canon has officially revealed the hotly anticipated Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR, bringing a new 22.3-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor and DIGIC 5+ Imaging Processor to the high-end digital camera party. Packing 61-point High Density Renticular Autofocus and up to 6fps continuous shooting, the EOS 5D Mark III also steps up its HD video game, capable of capturing 1080/24p, 25p and 30p as well as 720/60p half hour long clips with H.264 compression and a headphone jack for real-time audio monitoring, a first for an EOS model. The new CMOS sensor is the star of Canon’s show here, the 22.3-megapixel resolution making the 5D Mark III the highest res model in the company’s DSLR history. Lower noise and higher sensitivity are promised from a gapless microlens design, with an eight channel readout doubling the speed the sensor can shuttle data to the imaging processor. The end result is better quality RAW, JPEG and movie output compared to the Mark II. The 61-point AF has been brought down from C

Gaming mice range from the simple to the ridiculous, though they tend to unite on at least one aspect: “expensive”. In the world of gaming hardware, novelty is a constant struggle, and boutique manufacturer SteelSeries has something up their sleeves that certainly qualifies. The company posted two photos to their Twitter account today, showing off what appears to be the tail end of a gaming mouse with an integrated screen of some kind. Thousands of PC gamers’ wallets are already feeling lighter. Of course, the purpose of a screen on a mouse wouldn’t be to display anything overly rich – for one thing, your palm would cover it most of the time, and for another, these screens (if that’s what they are) seem way too low-resolution to be of any use there. No, I’m betting that they’re a method of visually confirming polling and refresh rates. Most high-end gaming mice allow players to actively change the refresh rate of the optical or laser sensor, making for a tighter or looser control. Prev

Flying autos may still be something of a pipe dream, but letting you car handle your morning commute is coming closer and closer to reality. California legislators seem as eager to embrace this future as we are: a new bill has been introduced in the state legislature to formally legalize driverless cars and the testing of same on California roads, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The bill entered the state senate on the same day that the neighboring Nevada is beginning to allow companies to apply for a permit to test out self-driving cars on the open road. The bill is sponsored by State Senator Alex Padilla, who is a trained mechanical engineer. One of the more tricky hurdles that innovators have to jump is the unsure legal situation – in the United States, anything that isn’t explicitly illegal is usually fair game, and firms like California’s own Google have been using this fact to test self-driving cars on public roads with humans riding along as fleshy backups. Google’s au

A Japanese research team has developed a device that can compel the overly talkative to shut their mouths and let somebody else get a word in edgewise. Before you start pulling out your pocket Bill of Rights, understand that researchers Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada haven’t developed a weapon, it’s more of an etiquette enforcer – with extreme prejudice. Their device processes the speech of an overly loud person, then computes and adjusts the frequencies and sends their own words back at them, modulated in such a way that they become instantly confused and therefore more likely to shut their traps already. Their “SpeechJammer” device uses a phenomenon known as delayed auditory feedback, sending someone’s own recorded voice back at them in a strategic gap that causes most people to pause in their speech. If you’ve ever been on as phone call where you can hear your own voice in the receiver a second or two late, you know what that feels like. The researchers developed the tool to gen

Earlier this week, it was uncovered that iOS apps had a glitch that gave app developers access to users’ photos once they allow an app to access their location information. Now a new investigation launched by the NY Timeshas discovered that a similar snooping can happen on Android, where third-party developers also have access to users’ photos without explicitly asking for permission. However, the situation may be worse on Android because any app on the platform that has the right to connect to the Internet, can access a device’s photos and upload them to a remote server without any notice or permission requirements. It’s not clear if any current Android apps are actually doing this, but the capability to do so is there. But according to Google, this feature on Android was intentional and a relic from when images were more commonly stored on SD cards. The Android photo file system was originally designed to be similar to other computing platforms like Windows and Mac OS, but as phones

With all the talk surrounding the Apple TV dominating discussions around Cupertino, I thought it’d be a good time to think about some of the features reportedly making its way to that set. Chief among them is Siri, Apple’s virtual personal assistant. According to the latest reports, Siri would allow Apple TV owners to give all kinds of voice commands, including change the channel, modify volume, open applications, and more. By all measure, it would be like having the same iPhone-based Siri experience on a big television in your living room. Apple isn’t alone. Samsung has doubled down on voice-recognition, delivering sets this year that will include support for both voice commands and gestures. And for good measure, LG has unveiled its new Magic Remote, which supports voice commands. It’s a loud, vocal world out there in the television market. But I couldn’t care less. In fact, I’ll likely be one of the few people out there that won’t even consider using voice technology to control a te

Value-minded Nokia Lumia 710 customers that recently picked up the Windows Phone from T-Mobile for free now get to take advantage of another freebie. Nokia has announced that it will be upgrading customer purchases by offering Xpress-on color covers to Lumia 710 customers for free. The covers are available starting today in the colors white, cyan, fuschsia, and yellow. To claim your free Xpress-on color cover, you can go to this Nokia portal to submit a request and select the color you desire. Your Lumia 710 purchase must have been made sometime between January 11 and March 31 to qualify. You will need your original sales receipt showing the price, date, and store as well as the unique 15-digit IMEI of your device. You’ll also need to send in one mailing envelope containing the Online Submission Form, the original sales receipt, and the original UPC and barcode panel from the packaging, which hopefully you haven’t already tossed. Once you send all that stuff in, Nokia will ship you the

Taking our expectations from last year and once again knocking them out of the park with a gigantic Android-controlled cannon, Google has presented another “Google Pod” worthy of remembrance this year at Mobile World Congress 2012. They had everything from developers of games to free Android-version-flavored smoothies and back to the cult-classic Android pins promotion. There was even a robot making gemmed-up Galaxy Nexus battery covers for the most hardcore of shiny Android accessory lovers! Have a walk down Google way in our video tour for MWC 2012! This tour will start at the front desk where you’d be lucky to find an Android pin without being extra excellent at timing and charm. Next there’s the gigantic television screen playing loops of the Galaxy Nexus floating through space, this above a cove of sorts designed by Mr Brainwash brand graffiti, this area promoting Google Music almost exclusively. Also in this room was one of two Android claw machines which anyone could win a plush

Audi will be entering two super hybrid racecars into the 24-hour Le Mans endurance challenge this year. The first is the Audi R18 e-tron quattro, a four-wheel drive diesel hybrid, and the other is the Audi R18 ultra, which uses a super lightweight design to accommodate a heavier hybrid drive train. Both were developed in parallel in only 18 months, a relatively short period of time for a technology that’s never been tested before in motorsports and still doesn’t exist in production. The Audi R18 e-tron quattro will debut first at a 6-hour Spa-Francorchamps race on May 5 before heading to the Le Mans on June 16 through 17. It features a next-gen four-wheel drive in which one axle is powered by a conventional 510 horsepower V6 TDI engine, while the other is powered by an electric motor. Kinetic energy is recovered from the front axle during braking and is fed as electricity into a flywheel accumulator before being retrieved when accelerating above 75mph. As for the twin brother, the Audi