IBLOG SPACE

Worry not, gamers; the PlayStation Network downtime today is Sony’s intended maintenance, not the signs of something nefarious. The scheduled inaccessibility for PS3 and PS Vita gamers is set to last fourteen hours solid – from just after noon Pacific until approximately 2am Pacific on Monday, March 5 – during which time any users signed in will be kicked out, and no new sign-ins will be allowed. That means no PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, Account Management or online gameplay. Sony’s own PSN-enabled websites will also not be working, including the official PlayStation Blog; the company says to keep an eye on its PlayStation Twitter feed for news on when the PSN is back up. This particular maintenance is slightly overdue, with last Thursday’s scheduled session being postponed and held over until today. It could be completed earlier than Sony’s estimate, however. It’s the ideal opportunity to play some local games – or, dare we say, check out the heaps of Mobile World Congress co

Apple’s official iPad 3 reveal is this coming Wednesday, but with so many leaked components floating around in the wild, it’s surprising its taken this long for an unofficial Frankenstein’ iPad to be pieced together. M.I.C. Gadget has done the honors, for the outside of the third-gen tablet at least, plus apparently confirming thatdespite speculation to the contrary there will be a physical home button. More in the video after the cut. The absence of that button – something we’ve been used to seeing on iOS devices since the first-gen iPhone – has been rumored for some time now, with Apple expected to shift to a touch-sensitive bezel or gesture-based navigation system. The angled shot of the iPad 3 in the Apple invite fueled that speculation, seemingly not showing a button where a button should be. However, the physical key is still found on what’s said to be official casing components. Interestingly, the site also says its sources are throwing cold water on integrated LTE connectivity,

Mahela Jayawardene is confident Sri Lanka can take plenty of positives from the tri-series even if they fail to beat Australia at the MCG and qualify for the finals. However, the Sri Lankans have by no means given up on the tournament, despite a loss to India in Hobart that could have left them demoralised. In his first series back in the captaincy, Jayawardene has the chance to guide Sri Lanka in to the best-of-three finals against Australia. To get there, they need either to beat Australia or share the points through a tie or an abandoned match, and while there will be showers in Melbourne on Friday it is unlikely there will be enough to force a wash-out. Jayawardene said the loss on Tuesday, when India picked up a bonus point and stayed in contention by chasing 321 within 37 overs, was less a result of poor Sri Lankan bowling than wonderful Indian batting, which was a good sign for his side. And with two wins from their last two games against Australia, Sri Lanka have a strong chanc

Google doesn’t like to be one-upped by Apple, but by any account that’s sort of what happened when the Siri voice recognition platform was introduced. The technology, currently available only on the iPhone 4S, is likely to be heading to other impending Apple devices and is already one of the big trends to watch in 2012. Google wants a piece of that action. The search giant is planning on beefing up its voice-centric technologies to launch a full-fledged Siri rival. Called Google Assistant, it has three ambitious tasks – pack in as much information as possible, make the presentation or output of data as personalized as possible, and use those elements to create an algorithm that goes beyond a “search engine” look and feel. It’s the last part that could set Assistant apart from Siri. Siri’s goal is to answer questions and perform system functions. So you can find out where the nearest McDonald’s is, or schedule a meeting on your iPhone calendar. However, it doesn’t really have a social c

Sony is all set to release their latest Android tablet to the world. That comes in the form of the unique clamshell designed Sony Tablet P dual-screen Honeycomb tablet. Complete with Sony Playstation certification and plenty of games we wonder if it can compete with the PS Vita, or end up just another Android tablet on the market. Read on below for our initial impressions and hands-on video. The Sony Tablet P is a full experience in more ways than one, but will it be enough is the question. With full access to all of Sony’s suits such as Playstation certification, Sony Music and Video Unlimited and more it has tons of potential. Add in Android 3.2 Honeycomb (sadly no Android 4.0) and a dual-core processor it could gain some traction. We received our first hands-on with this tablet almost 8 months ago back in August and it was still only a prototype, and something we weren’t sure would ever come to the US. Now it is finally here and available starting tomorrow (March 4th) on AT&T wi

Nikon recently unveiled one of its most sophisticated and high-end cameras to date, but there was a problem in the teaser video that it used to help showcase its power to consumers. Footage in the video wasn’t actually from the camera it was advertising. Actually, as a matter of fact, it wasn’t even from a Nikon camera. Can you say, “Oops”? The Nikon D800 has an incredible 36.3-megapixel CMOS sensor and full HD video recording capabilities. In the video, seen below, there are time lapse videos, fast-moving sports action, and other impressive visual demos. Apparently, Nikon pilfered some of this content from a video production company without its consent. Maybe it didn’t expect the company to notice. Oh but it did. TSO Photography posted on its Facebook page, “A bit surprised to see Nikon using some of my video clips in the world launch of the Nikon D800 camera … without contacting me. Especially since Canon is one of my sponsors, and I use a 5DII.” So not only did Nikon use footage tha

As I was sitting at my desk earlier this week checking out the stories surrounding Microsoft’s Windows 8Consumer Preview talk at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I was struck by something: the press event was very long and very boring. I then thought back to the many, many Apple events I’ve covered. Nearly all of them, with the exception of iOS- and Mac OS X-focused events, are compelling and deliver news from beginning to end. More importantly, they effectively convey the single message that has made Apple so popular: “we’re cool and we know it.” Microsoft, though, isn’t cool. And I’m starting to think the Windows maker knows it. Whenever Apple holds a special event, like the one on March 7 to introduce the iPad 3, the company makes it an experience. Music is blaring before the show starts, and when it kicks off, the company gets down to business. Within minutes, there’s something that will make a headline. Microsoft’s events, though, take an inordinate amount of time to get going.

Apple has passed the 25 billion downloads mark in the App Store, thanking users of its iOS devices for helping the company – and the legions of iOS developers – for helping them reach the software milestone. Tipped as imminent in mid-February, the news confirms the App Store as the most active of the current software download portals. As for the winner of the 25bn downloads competition, Apple will announce who gets the $10,000 App Store gift card imminently. That $10,000 prize – which will be given to the person who downloaded the 25 billionth app, or submitted one of Apple’s online entry forms at the appropriate point – can be spent not only on App Store items but in the iBooks Store and the iTunes store. Sadly there’s no cash equivalent. Apple’s approach to software has been both copied and criticized in the years since the App Store was launched. The download center has been critiqued for its stringent submission guidelines, which weed out content the company deems inappropriate for

Ultrabooks were all the rage at CES 2012 last month, and if one model rose above the rest, it was the XPS 13 from Dell. The latest in a long line of powerful portables, the Ultrabook version of the XPS 13 wowed onlookers with a combination of a metal, plastic and carbon fiber body and incredible slimness, not to mention a tiny overall footprint – Dell claims that it’s crammed a 13-inch screen into a body size mostly reserved for 12-inch laptops. You can pick one up from Dell now starting at $999, but you might want to read our initial impressions first. I’ve owned quite a few Dells in my life, and while they’ve been generally reliable and always good value for money, the new XPS blows them all out of the water when it comes to style. The only thing that the company has that comes close is some of their executive laptops, and those are more attractive thanks to their tank-like qualities, where the XPS is svelte. An impressively light weight of just 2.9 pounds combines with a .71-inch th

There’s no denying that switching from any other version of a Windows operating system to Microsoft’s new Windows 8 is a big jump in its user experience. What’s not quite as clear from the outset, if you’ve never used the operating system in person that is, is that this operating system makes the entire computing experience as entertaining as it was when the iPad was first released. It’s that big of an improvement in the entertainment department. When you first open up a clean install of Windows 8, you see the word Start in the upper left-hand corner, the name of your device or your chosen profile name in the upper right alongside your chosen icon, and a series of smart tiles reminiscent of Windows Phone 7 and above. In other words, if you head out to the store today and look at a Windows Phone smartphone today, you’ll see setup very similar in aesthetics and functionality to the Windows we’re seeing here today in Windows 8. Included in the basic build is an app store simply titled Sto

Even high-tech NASA isn’t impervious to hackers. The space agency reported to Congress this week that it had been hacked a total of 13 times last year, including one China-based attack that gained complete access and control of mission critical systems as well as employee accounts. The revelation comes as Congress debates two competing cyber-security bills to boost the government’s defenses against cyber attacks. “Some NASA systems house sensitive information which, if lost or stolen, could result in significant financial loss, adversely affect national security, or significantly impair our nation’s competitive technological advantage,” said NASA’s inspector general, Paul Martin, in a testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Martin revealed that of the $1.5 billion annual IT budget earmarked for cyber security, NASA spends only $58 million. He said that a November breach involved Chinese-based hackers that broke into NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory a

A device developed in Japan over the past year and revealed this week to the public has the ability to “jam” the words of a real human being. This device goes by the name of SpeechJammer and takes the words of a speaker, playing them back to the speaker with 0.2 seconds delay. This process creates what’s called DAF, the Delayed Auditory Feedback effect, and almost immediately causes any human to find themselves incapable of speaking coherently. The report on this technology is titled “SpeechJammer: A System Utilizing Artificial Speech Disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback” and is written up by Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University. What you see above is a prototype of said technology, complete with a basic guide of what the different bits do in turn. As Kurihara and Tsukada note in their report: “This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears immediately.”

A Google patent application surfaced today, revealing the company’s plans for lowering the cost and speeding up the deployment of its Google Fiber broadband network. The patent filing illustrates the use of a flat and flexible housing to carry the fiber-optic lines to houses. The idea also aims to reduce the environmental impact of installing the network. Google has chosen Kansas City as its first trial city for Google Fiber, an ultra-fast 1-gigabit fiber optic broadband network that will provide internet connection speeds 100 times faster than current average connection speeds. Google is on track to deploy the new broadband network in Kansas City later this year. The use of a flat, flexible molding strip means less need for digging, which in turn produces less damage to property and the environment. The molding can run along driveways, along a crack, pressed into the ground or buried in a shallow trench cut in the ground. This method can significantly reduce the amount of time and cos

There’s a good chance that the next version of Android will be code-named Jellybean, that we already knew – now what we’re hearing from ASUS is that they’re quite likely to be on the list to be first on the market with said operating system. Generally Google chooses one manufacturer to work closely with them to create one of what they call their “Nexus” line of devices to demonstrate a “vanilla” or “virgin” version of their newest operating system. As ASUS now has a close relationship with Google, so says their corporate vice president, they’ll likely be amongst the first to release a device with the update right out of the box. It’s unclear whether the quote, which comes from TechRadar, really truly does confirm the code name for what we must assume is Android 5.0, one version higher than the current Android 4.0 code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, but it’s a very juicy set of words all the same. Have a peek at what Benson Lin (ASUS corporate vice president) said this week: “ASUS is very cl

This week the automotive group Audi is showing off their Visions OLED lighting concept for ultra-impressive arrays of interactive lights across both their R8 and Q7 model vehicles. The video you’re about to see might set your face on fire with how awesome it is, so Pimp My Ride lovers beware. Stephan Berlitz, head of lighting technology and electronics at Audi noted that the homogenous visual effects you’re about to see in the video would not have been possible with simple LEDs, “hese are individual points of light that need additional optical devices – reflectors, optical conductors or scatter optics.” Have a peek at this masterpiece for yourself, if you dare. Organic Light Emitting Diodes are at work here, otherwise known as OLED lights, and what you’ve got going on is a set of pieces of hardware that are so tiny that they can all be transparent, and activated can create several layered effects for mixed colors. Four small red OLED plates are aligned next to one another in the Audi Q

T-Mobile will be refreshing its popular line of myTouch Android smartphones and this time around the devices are set to be made by Huawei. As usual, the new lineup will include two versions of the device, one with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and one without. The duo are expected to arrive sometime in late Spring. When T-Mobile first introduced the myTouch line back in 2009, HTC was the main manufacturer up until last year when LG swooped in for the latest iteration. Now T-Mobile is switching it up again, giving an opportunity to Huawei, which has increasingly become the go-to manufacturer for carrier-branded phones and tablets. The Huawei-made myTouch phones will have model numbers U8680 and U8730. They are expected to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and feature WVGA 480 x 800 resolution displays, but apart from these details little else is known. They will certainly be affordable though and will likely arrive by the end of May.

The 2012 Ford Focus Electric has been crowned the most efficient five-passenger car in America, receiving its official EPA ratings of 105MPGe, the electric equivalent to miles per gallon, with 110MPGe in the city and 99MPGe on the highway. The vehicle has also been rated with a 76-mile range on a single charge. Ford celebrated the news today and made it clear how superior its Focus Electric is to rival Nissan Leaf. The Focus Electric’s MPGe rating is 6MPGe greater than that of the Leaf in both city and highway driving, while Ford’s faster charging technology takes about half the time to recharge. The Focus Electric also boasts more passenger room and offers a 76-mile range on a single charge, which is greater than the Leaf’s 73-mile range. However, depending on driving style and other conditions you may not sense the 3-mile difference in real-world driving, but what you will notice is that the Focus Electric costs an extra $4,000. The Leaf starts at $35,200, while the Focus Electric st

Trying to keep track of all the different pieces of add-on content to Modern Warfare 3 is akin to the job of museum curator. Everything is scattered through different channels, and availability is different depending on how much you’re paying for the game and what platform you have. But for those who have Modern Warfare 3 and Xbox Live Gold, without a Call of Duty Elite membership, here’s some news for you. So, Call of Duty Elite is a new program launched with Modern Warfare 3 that gives players access to exclusive content in exchange for a monthly fee. This content is not available for anyone else who owns the game, and is above and beyond the official downloadable content (DLC) packs released through Xbox Live or the PlayStation Store. Now, that content is making its way to the Xbox 360. All the exclusive Elite content has been compiled into a downloadable add-on called Content Collection #1, and it will be available to Xbox Live Gold members on March 20. Now, this same content is al

As the personal technology landscape advances at a rate that’s undeniably fantastic, we move beyond our obsession with the slightly lower-tech character Batman and advance to the top of the line equivalent Iron Man, as evidenced by the massive success of the most recent film series. Throughout the 1990s we saw a selection of high-cost Batman films and a fantastic Batman cartoon series well received by the public at the time because of their ability to connect with us on a non-super level, there’s also almost always been some sort of representation of Batman on the small screen as well, no matter what year it is. Batman has always been a fantastic character for the average person to relate with because he’s always using tools and technology to help him – he doesn’t actually have super powers, so to speak. There’s another character out there by the name of Iron Man that’s also been around for several decades and represented in a series of cartoons, certainly, but up until now we’ve not h

Following criticism that Apple was offshoring too many jobs, the company has responded with a new promo page, touting that it has created or supported 514,000 jobs in the US. This half-million figure includes those jobs not directly employed by Apple, but by other companies in the various industries dependent on Apple. A study done by Analysis Group found that Apple has directly or indirectly created 304,000 US jobs that range from engineering to manufacturing to transportation. Apple explains that these jobs include workers in Texas who manufacture processors for iOS products, Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who create the glass used for the iPhone, as well as the FedEx and UPS employees who ship Apple’s products. Citing a 2012 study by TechNet, which revealed that 466,000 mobile app development jobs were created in the US, Apple said it found that 45% of those jobs were specifically tied to developing apps for the iPhone. Hence, the company claims to have fueled 210,000 jo

This week sites appear to be finding a new operating system popping up in their access logs, these logs showing not just an unknown iPad version with iOS 6.0 and a new version of a web browser. This version of the iPad has been said more than a coincidental amount of times to be having a high definition display and an improved set of hardware to support it, as well as a slightly less likely ability to run on 4G LTE networks across the nation. Signs in access logs today suggest that this device will be running a new version of the iOS Apple mobile operating system along with a version 535.8 of the web browser that comes with the operating system. The next version of the iPad is set to be shown off on the 7th of this month, having been officially teased just this past week in an image invite. This invite is set to bring in the press to an event that’ll show the tablet off with both an HD display as well as a possible button-less piece of hardware. Have a peek at the post tossed up just y

It appears that even requiring users to implement hard-to-hack password requirements doesn’t prevent them from being as generic as possible. In a study of more than 2 million systems, Trustwave found that, not surprisingly, the most common password was “password,” or some variation thereof. And among systems that required an upper-case letter and a number, Password1 was the top choice. The study was released to highlight one of the most glaring problems with cyber security today – it doesn’t matter how many firewalls or hacking-protective methods you put into place if someone is able to actually log in with verified credentials. The company noted that out of the 2.5 million passwords it looked at, 5% contained some form of the word “password,” which makes it easily guessable by an automated password cracking software, or even an actual human being. In fact, with only a $1,500 computer and a specialized program, Trustwave was able to mine 200,000 verified passwords from its pool of mil

Ubisoft had just revealed the official cover art for Assassin’s Creed 3 yesterday, and now five more images purported to be screenshots of the game have surfaced on Reddit via imgur. There’s no way to verify the authenticity of these images, but they look very convincing and provide more hints at what elements of gameplay to expect. This latest iteration of Assassin’s Creed is set during the American Revolution, rumors of which initially stirred concerns that the new game would lack its trademark scaling of city landmarks. However, from the images we’re seeing, the dense forests of colonial America can provide its own unique gameplay experience. Our protagonist, the hooded assassin with his tomahawk, bow, and hatchet knife, among other weaponry, is shown sneaking around the woods, hunting an elk, and entering a colonial settlement. He’s also seen charging with tomahawk in hand behind a man he’s about to clobber. More details of the game will come direct from Ubisoft on Monday, March 5.

HTC is really taking it to the next level with its new HTC One series of smartphones unveiled at Mobile World Congress this past week. Beyond the powerful speed and performance of the next-gen lineup, the company has also introduced a new ImageSense technology that will bring advanced camera capabilities. To get a taste of what awaits you with the new cameras, take a look below at the sample images taken with an HTC One smartphone. The ImageSense technology involves a whole new camera setup for the next-gen HTC devices that include a f/2.0 aperture, 28mm lens, BSI Sensors, and smart LED flash with five levels of brightness. There’s also now a dedicated HTC ImageChip that will make super-fast shooting possible with a 0.7-second shot time and a 0.2-second autofocus. With the f/2.0 lens, HTC One smartphone cameras can capture 40% more light than the f/2.4 lenses on other high-end smartphones, providing improved image quality in low-light conditions. The HTC One also includes HDR, which wi

Aereo, a company that surely knew it was on shaky legal ground before its founders even created its name, has responded to lawsuits that have been filed by every one of the major television networks. Aereo’s business plan is to make over-the-air TV available streaming for free, but networks claim that amounts to stealing their content. Template Yesterday, Fox, Univision, PBS, and a couple local New York City affiliates filed suit against Aereo, and today a separate one was filed on behalf of ABC, NBC, and CBS. In other words, all the major networks are suing this one startup. To say it will be a David vs. Goliath fight, which is the usual metaphor for an extraordinary fight where all the cards are stacked against someone, isn’t even a strong enough statement. And yet, Aereo believes it can survive. The company has received $25 million in funding and won’t go down without a fight. Today the company released a statement saying, in part, that over-the-air TV content is meant to be free a

The Apple App Store has more than 578,000 apps. That’s awesome. That is, except for the fact that if you’re just browsing through to find an interesting app, you’re likely to be overwhelmed and will never be able to find everything. The answer to that problem, according to a new company called Iddiction, is to create a daily deal platform. Sites like Groupon have become exceedingly popular, and they’re really built on a win-win platform. It’s a win for consumers because they get to see new and interesting local spots, and save a lot of money while doing it. It’s a win for merchants because they get exposure and the number of people who buy a deal and never redeem it help outweigh the lost profit. And it’s a win for Groupon because it gets a cut of all deals, regardless of whether or not they’re redeemed. Since that’s such a great business model, Iddiction is bringing it to the app world. Its new platform, App-o-Day, will scour the App Store to “find the best. We’re interested in showca

Apple and Samsung each had a patent suit dismissed today in Germany’s Mannheim Regional Court. One of two slide-to-unlock claims brought against Samsung by Apple was rejected as was the third 3G essential patent brought against Apple by Samsung. However, Florian Mueller of Foss Patents believes that Apple was still ahead this week in winning several other complaints and probably would have used FRAND on the 3G patent claim had it not been otherwise dismissed. Samsung has launched a slew of patent claims against Apple around the world since that fateful day Apple first lit the fuse by attempting to ban Samsung’s Galaxy line of products. Unfortunately, the South Korean electronics manufacturer has yet been able to enforce any of its IP. Apple has been a bit more successful with its claims although several of the rulings were later lifted. Both companies will likely file an appeal for the dismissed cases. This is especially so for Apple, which had recently won against Motorola with the sl