IBLOG SPACE

Toshiba has revealed its latest 3D gaming laptop, the Qosmio X870, toting a 17.3-inch Full HD display and “next generation” NVIDIA GPUs. Packing Intel Core Sandy Bridge processors and up to 2TB of HDD or hybrid SSD storage, the Qosmio X870 is aiming its gaudy red and black color scheme at the dedicated gamer, with the promise of Resolution+ upscaling to turn lower-res content HD and convert 2D to 3D. There’s a choice of Blu-ray or DVD drives, along with Harmon Kardon stereo speakers with virtual 3D sound support. Connectivity includes four USB 3.0 ports – two of which remain powered when the notebook is shut down, to recharge your gadgets – along with HDMI, gigabit ethernet, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. It’s also possible to continue to play music through the headphones socket while the notebook is in sleep mode. The full-sized keyboard is backlit in red, as is the Qosmio logo on the lid, just in case you forget the branding. A full HD webcam – supporting face recognition – is include

Time to reticulate some splines: SimCity 5 has been confirmed, with EA and Maxis announcing today that the much-anticipated title will arrive sometime in 2013. Powered by Maxis’ own proprietary GlassBox Engine, the game promises hitherto-unseen degrees of detail and minutiae, along with more social integration that means decisions one player makes about his city will impact on the running of his friends’ elsewhere in the virtual world. “Together, players will address real global challenges such as climate change, the search for renewable resources and natural disasters” Maxis says of the new functionality. “It’s up to the players to decide whether to compete or collaborate to shape the world of tomorrow – for better or for worse.” Although previous iterations of the game ramped up the amount of individual autonomy elements of the city and its inhabitants could have, SimCity 5 looks likely to blow them out of the virtual water. Each Sim character will be able to have a job – or be fire

Wallit is an ambitious little app. It wants to be part Foursquare, part Facebook, part instant messaging, and part augmented reality. The final product is something that is genuinely unique in its own right. The app, which launched for the iPhone and iPad today, lets users create posts on a “Wall” of a stadium or other location, but only if those users are at said location. So here’s how it works – you take out your iPhone at your favorite sports arena or whatever venue it happens to be, and by pointing the camera at various locations throughout the venue, you’ll see posts and comments made by other users who are there. The app is called Wallit, and the CEO of the namesake company Veysel Berk was quoted as summing up the experience by saying, “We are trying to socialize augmented reality experiences.” He said, “With location at the center of our system, augmented reaity is just the natural extension of that.” Essentially, it’s like Foursquare but with the social aspect taken to a much

Fictional robot Bender, known as a goofy and aloof character in the animated series Futurama, has won a Washington DC election to determine the new head of the city’s public school board, thanks to a hack performed by a group of graduate students. By the way, it wasn’t too difficult to hack into the system. All they had to do was guess “admin” as the user name and password to gain credentialed access to the server. As such, the hackers didn’t even need to be in the proximity of the DC area. In fact, they were from the University of Michigan. Okay, so by the way, this wasn’t a legitimate election. The city decided to open up a mock election and invited hackers to try to break their way into the system. But all the processes were put into place exactly as they would have been if a real contest were held today. It only took the grad students a few hours to successfully infiltrate the servers. This situation brings to light the very real dangers that exist with electronic voting, a system

Valve has decided to axe the ability for PC and PS3 players to compete head-to-head in the upcoming game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, just weeks after it said the feature would be one of the defining parts of the game. The problem, according to the company, is that allowing cross-platform play would mean the PC version wouldn’t be able to get continuous patches and updates. If the two platforms had to talk with one another, they’d both need to always be running the same version of the game. The problem with that is that if Valve needs to release a game update, it can push it to PC servers immediately, but on the PS3 it has to go through a lot of Sony bureaucracy. As a result, Valve said it just wasn’t worth the inconvenience it would have to place on PC gamers. Cross-platform play between console and PC sounds great on the surface, but the technical details have always made it a challenging proposition. In addition to the update problems cited by Valve, there’s also the issue of p

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has said he doesn’t want to compete with traditional cable companies; he wants to compete with HBO. Not unintentionally, HBO has also been a target of traditional cable companies (with the exception of Time Warner Cable, whose parent company owns HBO). So a partnership between Netflix and satellite/cable broadcasters may very well be inevitable. Obviously, HBO will not provide its content to Netflix and as a result, many consumers end up choosing to pay the monthly fee for HBO, or for Netflix. HBO’s “Go” streaming platform has added fuel to that fire. At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference last week, Hastings was quoted as saying not to expect Netflix integration with your Cablevision box “in the short term, but it’s in the natural direction for us in the long term.” But according to a Reuters report, that long-term verbiage may be underestimating the progress that Netflix is already taking. According to the report, he has already been

It’s been a trending story for years that employers have been known to look at the public Facebook profiles of applicants as part of their decision process. Now, though, it seems the new trend is taking that a whole step further, as some employers and even colleges are asking for completely unfiltered access to the entire account. Such was the subject of an expose on MSNBC.com, which found that, as an example, the Maryland Department of Corrections asks potential new employees to log into their Facebook account during in-person interviews. In fact, the department used to ask for usernames and passwords before meeting anyone in person, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) leveled a complaint that forced that process to stop. But that’s not the only example. Apparently it’s also becoming the norm for college athletes to “friend” their coach so he can see everything that the student is up to. Just how far will this go? Well, that may depend on legislation. Maryland and Illinois h

“Hey, bartender; I’ll have a Jack and Coke. And put it on my PayPal account.” That’s the reality of a new partnership between Ebay’s digital payment platform and an Austin, Texas-based startup called Tabbedout. The nascent company has a namesake app that allows customers to settle their bar taps from their phone without needing to wait for the waiter or bartender. It’s still getting off the ground, but Tabbedout is currently available in around 400 establishments throughout the country, many of which are in and around the Austin area. Previously, it only allowed users to pay with a debit or credit card. The addition of PayPal functionality, though, takes it beyond a simple convenience to an entirely new way to pay. Who would have thought you could pay for a beer without cash or a credit card? PayPal’s expansion into the world of physical point-of-sale has been strong already this year. Last month, it expanded a pilot program with Home Depot to bring PayPal integration to virtually all

The micro-blogging site that has been credited with not only helping users keep in touch with one another but also jolting major political uprising, is now accessible to citizens in some of the most problematic areas of the world. The site has added language support for regions that include the Middle East, North Africa, and oppressed areas of Central Asia. The new languages that Twitter now supports are Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, and Urdu. The tweeting platform had to find a way to support character sets that hadn’t previously been introduced, as well as a robust system for allowing users to read and write in a right-to-left fashion, which Twitter translators were previously unable to do. That project began in the beginning of the year. “Among those who donated their time and translation skills to make right-to-left languages a reality on Twitter [are] a Saudi blogger, Egyptian college students, a journalist at the BBC, IT professionals in Iran and Pakistan, an Israeli schoolteacher, the

At tomorrow’s iPad 3/iPad HD unveiling, it’s expected that Apple will also introduce fans to a revamped version of the Apple TV. And if you want something substantial to back up that rumor, how about this – the current iteration of the Apple TV is only available at around 2% of all Apple Store locations in the US. That’s got to mean the company is planning to replace it with something. Apple’s official retail channel isn’t the only place where Apple TV boxes have become scarce. Best Buy pulled the product entirely from its website last month, leading to rampant speculation that Apple was planning a refresh. If there is a new Apple TV announcement tomorrow, the question is exactly how much attention it would get since it’s sure to be overshadowed by the iPad. Nevertheless, the Apple TV isn’t one of Apple’s big guns. In fact, the first version of it was considered one of the biggest flops in the company’s recent history. But now, the climate is such that people really no longer want thei

Logitech today unveiled the first set of earbuds qualified as Optimized for Microsoft Lync, which is a clear indicator that the product means business. Indeed, the Logitech BH320 USB Stereo Earbuds are designed specifically for the business user, providing subtle style and a full set of in-line controls for those requiring a comfortable headset for voice or video calls on their PCs. The BH320 USB Stereo Earbuds uses five-band parametric equalization that optimizes the sound quality on both the microphone and speaker to create the experience of normal speech in the same room. Echo cancellation technology helps make speech even more clear to those on the other end of the line. The earbuds come in a sleek black finish with brushed aluminum accents and weighs just over one ounce. It has a six-foot cord and can be stored in a complimentary travel pouch. In-line controls include volume up, volume down, mute, call answer, and call end, eliminating the need to even touch the keyboard or mouse.

Mobile payment pioneer Square has revealed its design for custom-fitted iPads that will sit in the back of New York City cabs to allow for users to pay with credit cards. In addition, the devices are equipped with special software that shows current location information and the current fare amount. It’s part of a pilot program to introduce competition for in-taxi credit card payments. Currently, cab drivers face the problem of high charge fees whenever a rider pays for their trip with a credit card, but Square wants to drastically reduce those fees. The company has been given the green light from the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission to put the custom iPads in 30 taxis. If it’s successful, rollout will be expanded in a big way. There are thousands of licensed cabs in NYC. Right now, every yellow can in New York City has a TV for passengers to watch, but it’s a loop of the same several minutes of content over and over again. And many riders don’t even realize the TV is touch

Intel has launched its Xeon E5-2600 server chips, which are designed to tackle web-based cloud computing. This market is estimated to have an annual growth of 33 percent through 2015 thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, for accessing the internet or otherwise requiring internet connectivity for cloud-based services. Featuring Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E architecture, the Xeon E5-2600 family can handle a full eight cores per processor and as much as 768GB of system memory. The additional cores along with a smaller 32nm architecture, as opposed to 45nm, will make the processor 80 percent faster and 50 percent more efficient. It will also be the first server processor family to integrate PCI Express 3.0 support and I/O controller directly into the microprocessor. Intel aims to address the growing server needs of a more connected world, forecasting at least 3 billion connected users with 15 billion connected devices by 2015. The new server chips have a

Dell has a reputation, deserved or not, as being a reliable, economical and (not to put too fine a point on it) dull choice when it comes to PCs. There have been many attempts to change rectify this; the first in recent memory was coincidentally titled the XPS 13. Various incarnations of this machine and others like the Adamo line have again and again tried to break this perception, and while admirable efforts, they’ve fallen mostly on deaf ears. Enter the XPS 13 Ultrabook, which utilizes Intel’s vague set of standards to hopefully stand above the crowd. Hardware Equal parts style and substance, Dell has crammed a commendable amount of technology and no small bit of innovation into its chassis. As the owner of several Dell laptops and desktops in the past, I can say with some authority that the XPS 13 is the most stylish machine they’ve ever produced, with the possible exception of the original (and admittedly flawed) Adamo. Between the premium construction, tiny screen bezel, soft-tou

In just three months it appears that Spotify’s own Spotify Apps platform has sprouted up some undeniably successful offshoots including such gems as their own versions of Soundrop, Tunewiki, and SpotOn Radio, and the report coming in today is that there’s some impressive numbers to go with the tunes! First Moodagent, an app we checked out when the Spotify Apps platform was first dropped – it’s boasting a cool 3.5 million playlists a week now, each of them inside their own “playlists to match your mood” umbrella with “Happy Quick” taking the crown over the now not as heavy “Angry” mood. Then there’s no less than everyone’s favorite SpotOn Radio – this app was built directly on Spotify’s mobile platform as all great Spotify Apps applications are, and its claim to fame this week is that in these first three short months since birth it’s already gone to the number 6 spot for the iPhone app store! That’s number 6 in the Swedish iPhone app store, but still! Next there’s Tunewiki, an app with

New details continue to surface on Apple’s iPad 3, or iPad HD, ahead of its unveiling event tomorrow. Sources now claim that the next-gen iPad will be launching for both Verizon and AT&T with different LTE versions for each carrier. The device is expected to include more RAM and will be sporting an advanced dual-core A5X processor instead of the rumored quad-core A6. Refreshed Apple TVs compatible with the next-gen iPads and OS X Mountain Lion are also expected to be announced. Verizon’s cryptic “Something is Coming” teaser below may be referring to the iPad 3. According to The Verge, its sources say that the next-gen iPad will definitely be announced with LTE for both the Verizon and AT&T networks tomorrow. There will be two distinct models, one for each carrier, while a third international model will double duty on 3G with a CDMA/GSM radio chipset. The sources were also adamant that the iPad 3 would be equipped with a dual-core A5X processor instead of a quad-core A6, which w

Today the words are being skewed, accusations are being tossed around, and there’s no knowing exactly what’s gone on in a case that seems to have suddenly torn the hacker group LulzSec asunder. As the story goes, former top LulzSec man Hector “Sabu” Xavier Monsegur was until last year working with the loosely organized group of hackers and pushing their agenda on the world, no quarter given. Now it seems that his arrest this past June has turned into a guilty plea revealed today in an unsealed court document that points toward the idea that Sabu may have worked with the FBI to lessen his own sentence in exchange for giving up information that lead to the arrest of several of his former compatriots – but it’s not that cut and dry. The actual document that says Sabu worked with the FBI rather than just having been questioned by them was released by an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles by the name of Stephanie Christensen. The reason this should send up a flag for you is that the doc

DARPA has released a video showing its Cheetah quadruped robot running at speeds up to 18mph, which shatters the previous record of 13.1mph set by MIT’s Planar Biped robot in 1989. The Cheetah is developed by Boston Dynamics, who won the contract just over a year ago. The company is also responsible for the AlphaDogor LS3 pack mule robot and the Atlas humanoid robot. The Cheetah robot is modeled after its real-life counterpart, which is also the land speed record holder for animals. And like the actual cheetah, this quadruped robot can flex and un-flex its back with each step to increase its stride and speed. You can see this in action in the video, which shows the Cheetah galloping on a treadmill. Currently, the Cheetah is still attached to an off-board hydraulic pump and isn’t completely autonomous, lacking sensors to detect its environment. However, DARPA intends to test out a free-running prototype, similar to what we’ve seen with the LS3, later this year.

What we’ve got here is a pair of wireless headphones by the name of Sync by 50, made by SMS audio and sent out in the first wave of headphones approved and tuned personally by 50 Cent and crew. This model is the shiny white version of these bluetooth-enabled phones, a black version also available in stores now – both of these models lit up by the “S” logo on either ear and connected to your bluetooth devices with a dongle about half the size of a pack of gum, and twice as fat. Are these massive and massively flashy headphones worth their equally massive price tag at $399.95? Let’s find out! The folks at SMS audio are not known for messing around with low quality products, and 50 Cent, despite his status as a celebrity and therefor one who has the unspoken approval of the masses to release sub-par products, actually doesn’t have a record for doing such a thing. 50 Cent makes big music hits, number one singles, and with SMS audio, he’s made a pair of high quality headphones also. What we

Apple has reportedly proposed accepting royalties to end its patent war against some Android rivals, namely Motorola and Samsung. According to multiple sources of the Dow Jones, Apple is asking between $5 to $15 per phone or about 1% to 2.5% of net sales per device. Although this seems fairly common in the game, thinkMicrosoft’s patent deals, it’s a bit unusual for Apple, which has been especially opposed to licensing its patents in favor of seeking injunctions against rivals instead. Apple first launched its patent attacks against Android under former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, who died last October. According to Jobs’ biography, he was willing to “spend every penny” of Apple’s money to fight against copycat competitors, making Apple’s patent war a very ideological one. He had harsh words for Google’s then-CEO Eric Schmidt, calling Android a “stolen product” and promising “thermonuclear war” against Android until it’s destroyed. Unlike other rivals that have partaken in the patent

For those of you looking to get the closest look at the device we’ve been obsessing over for days, weeks, and even months, we’ve whipped up a new comprehensive guide for the detail oriented. What we’ve got here is not a guide for what the iPad HD is, but what it’ll be revealed as being tomorrow at the main event – also known as the iPad 3 event. This device is the third generation iPad unit to have been revealed by Apple, and has also been known thus far as the iPad 2S, right along the same lines as the newest upgrade to the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S. This device will more than likely come in one size, with rumors ranging from one to three models being released inside a month after the big announcement tomorrow. The iPad HD would be the most high-definition of the triad and is the most likely candidate for an actual real-world product. There’s also an iPad mini in the rumor mill with a 7-inch display as well as the iPad 4S which would be released as a slight upgrade to the iPad 2 while t

Nearly the entire line of Android devices have been listed in one massive post made by Verizon this week detailing which of them will and which of them will not get an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. For those of you wondering why it’s Verizon, the carrier, and not the manufacturers of the devices themselves that are announcing this, it’s simply because it’s Verizon who has to work with the manufacturer to get the update pushed to the devices because each of these devices has a special Verizon-branded build inside them – that meaning apps for the most part – and no manufacturer is free from such a bond. Have a peek if your Verizon-branded device is amongst the lucky to be getting an Ice Cream Sandwich update soon. Each of these groups has several devices in the mix with Verizon, and in the cases of Samsung and LG, they’ve either only got one or two devices in the current market with the carrier or they already have the hero device for the OS (Samsung Galaxy Nexus) and so wil

The development team at Qualcomm are happy to announce the expansion of their Snapdragon GamePack through the Snapdragon GameCommand app and interface, four new high-profile games spewing forth from the fountain of abundance today. To find out more about GameCommand before you dive in here, head back to our original hands-on with the app from its launch week all the way back at CES 2012. That said, Qualcomm is glad to show of The Reem, Reign of Amira, The Ball, and Virtua Tennis Challenge for release this week! The first of these games, The Reem, is a mixed martial arts game in which contenders are fighting between one another with such high-powered masters of MMA as Alistair Overeem. This game will be working with the proximity-based, peer-to-peer application development framework known as AllJoyn and will be released in early April exclusively on Snapdragon-toting devices for a total of one year. Have a peek at a similar setup here with another game containing Alistair on a set of Qu