IBLOG SPACE

Digital notetaking and collaboration app Taposé has finally been allowed into the iPad App Store, recreating some of Microsoft’s ill-fated Courier concept on Apple’s tablet. The $2.99 app promises to make journaling and webpage snipping straightforward, with a twin-pane layout for dragging live content between the web and a notebook, along with sketching, mark-up and other tools. Meanwhile a cloud storage system keeps notes updated – with export options to send them over to Evernote and Dropbox – and allows for collaborative work between multiple remote users. It hasn’t been an easy route to market for Taposé, with Apple turning away the app on several occasions. Most recently the company took issue with the dual-window design the notetaking app uses. ”Apple has finally approved Taposé” the company writes. “It only took four months, three rejections, one appeal win and then reversal of said appeal, management UI review, and then one more final review for good measure to get Taposé appr

This year will mark a first for the TV industry with iSuppli predicting the first ever fall for flat-panel TV shipments. If shipments do in fact fall this year it will be the first time growth has declined since the flat-panel TV market started. Forecasts predict a decline to 37.1 million units, which will be down 5% from the 39.1 million units shipped in 2011. Shipments were up a scant 1% in 2011 compared to 38.6 million units shipped in 2010. The flat-panel TV market covers LCD TVs, plasma TVs, and rear projection TVs. iSuppli predicts that the market will decline for the next three years through at least 2015. This is one of the reasons that many flat-panel TV makers have been pushing the move to OLED TVs. A segment expected to grow over the coming years. iSuppli expects TV makers to be very cautious this year after an overabundance of product on the market early in 2011 resulted in steep price cuts later in the year. Those steep price cuts severely damaged profits for all vendors i

Epson America has announced it is now shipping the world’s first Android-based see-through wearable display called the Moverio BT-100. These things look like glasses a high-tech Ray Charles might wear. The glasses use micro projection technology and a track pad that is Android-based to allow the wearer to enjoy video and other digital content on a virtual 80-inch perceived screen. The glasses have integrated Wi-Fi connectivity and an internal rechargeable battery good for about six hours of use. The glasses have a microSD card slot to allow the direct playback of material and 1 GB of internal storage. The most interesting aspect of these glasses is that the projected video hovers over the real world so the user can see what’s going on around them as they watch. These glasses would be perfect for augmented reality. The glasses support Adobe Flash and have Dolby Mobile surround sound delivered to integrated detachable earphones that are included with the glasses were users personal earph

GM has announced that its new Cadillac XT is luxury sedan, which will go into production this spring, is set to get what GM claims to be the industry’s first vibrating car seat offering tactile sensation. The point of the vibrating seat is to warn the driver of crash threats while driving and parking. The seat is called the Cadillac Safety Alert Seat and will generate vibrating pulse patterns on the left and or right side of the lower bolster of the seat. If a threat is in the front or back of the vehicle, the vibrating motors will pulse on both sides of the seat. The seat works in conjunction with other technologies such as visual alerts and presumably audio alerts that are common in vehicles already. The vibrating seats are part of the Cadillac Driver Awareness and Driver Assist packages. The Driver Awareness Package includes a forward collision alert system, lane departure warning, side blind zone alert, and rear cross traffic alert systems. The interesting part of this to me is wit

Samsung has announced five million global sales of the Galaxy Note, the company’s oversized smartphone/tablet hybrid, taking the high demand for the 5.3-incher as a sign that it has successfully created a new segment. The US and European sales – which average out to a million a month across the time the Galaxy Note has been on the market – will be joined by Japanese availability when the Note LTE arrives in stores there next month. However, it’s not entirely clear who has been buying all these so-called phablets. Samsung has found itself in hot PR water before by representing “shipments” as “sales”; the company was forced to backtrack when pulled up on its mistake, revealing that in fact it was counting distribution of its products to resellers rather than to end users. This time around it seems Note sales are being counted, though it’s not specified whether that’s to resellers such as carriers and stores, or to users themselves. Our guess would be the latter, which doesn’t help us fig

Adobe has announced new premium features have been added to Flash Player 11.2 and has announced a collaboration at the same time with Unity Technologies. There is a catch to the new premium features for some developers, which I’ll get to in a bit. The new premium features in 11.2 promise to allow developers to build games with console quality experience that run on the Flash Player. The collaboration with Unity Technologies will allow games developed using Unity technology to be published to Flash Player using premium features directly within Unity tools. Adobe notes that it will also be working with Unity to integrate the future Adobe Digital marketing services and developers into Unity tools to help developers make money off the games. That integration will also help Adobe make money off developers’ games since there are now fees associated with these premium features. The premium features will give developers access to hardware accelerated graphics in combination with the domain mem

If you have a 2012 Shelby GT 500 sitting around, and you want more power, you need to check out the newly announced Shelby 1000. The car will make its official debut at the New York International Auto Show, andShelby American will start taking orders after that official debut. The car starts out as your standard 2012 Ford Shelby GT500 and then Carol Shelby takes the car up several notches. Two versions of the Shelby 1000 will be offered including a normal Street version and the Shelby 1000 S/C off-road track version. The street version runs on normal pump gas and is expected to have about 950 hp. The track oriented S/C version will be rated for over 1100 hp, which is a lot of power for the racetrack. To build a car with such high horsepower output Shelby takes the 5.4L V-8 that comes in the 2012 GT 500, strips the motor down and installs stronger connecting rods, crank, and pistons. The heads are also worked for better flow. The cooling system and the exhaust are upgraded as well. The

ASUS has announced that an update for the Transformer Prime is in the pipeline, though while ASUS US is coy on details, that hasn’t stopped the Italian arm from spoiling the surprise. ASUS US teased “awesome new features” which the Italians promptly detailed, including a March 29 expected release date – for the local market, at least – and support for a new “Prime LAN cable” accessory that will allow the tablet’s USB port to hook up to a wired ethernet cable, making the system even more useful as a laptop alternative. Version 9.4.2.21 of the software will also introduce a new camera firmware update system, which will remove the need to separately update the software for the camera and instead bring it in with regular firmware changes. Other software changes will include the renaming of the Android Market to the Play Store, along with Play Books, Play Music and Play Movies, and ASUS’ Vibe software will go to v2.0 with a better UI and more content. Users will also be able to control noti

Nokia has officially revealed its first CDMA Windows Phones, the Lumia 800C and 610C, and China will be the first country to get them. Variants, as the names suggest, of Nokia’s existing Lumia 800 and 610, the 800C will drop on China Telecom first in April, with the 610C following on in Q2 2012. They’ll come with the usual Nokia Music, Nokia Drive and Nokia Maps apps, exclusive to the Finnish company’s Windows Phones. However, there’ll also be some China-exclusive apps and content, including digital magazine downloads from Trends and 100,000 free downloads of Fruit Ninja and PVZ through Nokia’s own app portal. Lumia buyers will get free access to FHM, Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire, too. Nokia has also kicked off the Be Top developer campaign, in partnership with Microsoft, to find the next big thing in apps for China. Earlier this week the two companies announced their AppCampus developer school plans, with €18m of funding.

Apple will offer refunds to new iPad 4G buyers in Australia frustrated by the tablet’s lack of LTE support, it’s been revealed, along with erecting signs at retailers explaining the 4G limitations, in an attempt to avoid legal action in the country. The 4G-branded iPad came under fire from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) earlier this week, over concerns that buyers were being confused by Apple’s “iPad WiFi + 4G” nomenclature since none of the actual 4G networks in the country were supported. Now, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, Apple has conceded to a workaround, though the case will still be heard in court. Now, Apple must email every new 4G iPad buyer and detail the issue, offering to issue them with a refund if they are disappointed by the wireless limitations. Meanwhile signs reading “This product supports very fast cellular networks. It is not compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks or WiMax networks” will be distributed to all resellers b

The newest downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game based on everyone’s favorite foul-mouthed cartoon characters will launch on March 30. South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge puts players in the shoes of the fictional Colorado town’s young inhabitants as they face off against arch rival Scott Tenorman in various scenes and environments from the show. And yeah, all those classic South Park tropes are included. Among the locations that will be featured in the game are Tynacorp, the Poo-Choo Express, and of course the Trey Parker envisioning of Hell. Players will be tasked with warding off an army of Ginger robots, as well as some of the most iconic creatures from the cartoon series. After all, who can forget Manbearpig? The game features multiplayer cooperative player for up to four players. Players get to select which character they want to use int he game, with each one getting their own unique ability. Cartman, for example, has an exclusive “belly barge” attack. The game will launch at a price of

After being delayed a couple different times, the Ivy Bridge CPU is set to debut on April 29. This after Intel had first pushed back the launch from the first quarter of 2012 to the second quarter, and then announced that it would be delayed even further. But computing enthusiasts are hoping that it will be worth the wait, and if the hype is anything to believed, it will be. There is some good news, though, in that the mobile processors will be released at the same time as their desktop counterparts. It had been believed that the mobile side of things wouldn’t be available until at least June. The Ivy Bridge processors will be announced within a week of that April 29 launch date. Benchmarks and reviews are expected to go live on that same day. More specifically, the following are the ones expected to be announced in the final week of April: mobile Core i7 and Core i7 Extreme families, desktop Core i7, Core i5-3570K, i5-3570T, i5-3550, i5-3550S, i5-3450 and i5-3450S. Prices will range f

Barack Obama may have a busy schedule, but apparently he still has time to pin things. The president has just joined one of the fastest growing new social platforms, Pinterest. “Organizers, infographics, murals, and cake — now pinning all of the above for #Obama2012 on Pinterest,” the president’s official Twitter account posted this week. Will the president’s pinning fortitude help his run for reelection? Okay, so it isn’t actually Obama who’s pinning things. His campaign staff is managing the account, in an effort to showcase the commander in chief’s savvy with the young, connected generation. As of this afternoon, the Obama Pinterest account already had more than a thousand followers and had pinned a couple dozen articles including family recipes and political-themed content. Pinterest could be the next big thing in social media. Last month, the site reported 17.8 million unique visitors, representing a steep climb from previous months and catapulting it to the #3 status on Comscore’

AT&T is rolling out a new program called AT&T Plus to select markets in the United States. The company is evaluating the service to see whether or not customers would be willing to pay extra for exclusive benefits. So far, though, the level of benefits is rather paltry. Nevertheless, it is no doubt something that could bring in additional revenue, something AT&T has been trying to do ever since losing iPhone exclusivity. So far, AT&T Plus has launched in a few big cities like Minneapolis and Houston. For these trial areas, the memership is free but it’s assumed that AT&T would tack on a fee for Plus subscribers if it were to go nationwid. The perks of Plus are include having access to a dedicated customer service phone number and a 25% discount on all AT&T phone accessories, excluding anything branded by Apple. In addition, members can add new lines of service with no activation fees for new devices. And finally, they receive a $10 Starbucks gift card upon joini

Today a local news report from Taiyuan, Shanxi, China has reported that the Foxconn factory in the area is looking to hire 20,000 workers to create the new iPhone specifically. This report from Taiyuan notes that the factory “urgently” seeks this massive amount of new workers to work on their new orders for the production of theiPhone 5. This new device will likely be released this year per patterns laid down by Apple over the past few years with mobile device releases. This next-generation iPhone 5 is said to be ramping up for production in the Taiyuan Foxconn specifically, with the local news source speaking how the recruitment for the plant will be posted across Taiyuan this week. A total of 20 recruitment centers are being reported as being constructed now, and not one whole heck of a lot more is known at the moment about this specific manufacturing location. Meanwhile strikes are taking place at this same location, so it is also very possible that the call to create a new iPhone m

This week it’s been made plain over and over again that the FTC is setting in motion the cogs which will eventually show the “Do Not Track” machine that the public has been waiting for since it became common knowledge that everyone is, indeed, being tracked basically all the time while online. The Federal Trade Commission’s paper also echoes the White House call from a month ago to bring a new law into order which would serve as a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. This bill of rights will be the first giant blow against a vast undertaking created by several of the larger ad-slinging sites on the web which would have the common citizen’s online actions tracked every second of every day in order to provide them with what’s called, again, a “personalized experience.” As MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser spoke about in a TED talk all the way back on the 2nd of May, 2011, we must beware of online “filter bubbles” – this is the message of the FTC this week with this first move by them to

Sony is entering a market that many are competing to grab a stake in right now – the cloud. More specifically, the media cloud. The company is launching a new service called PlayMemories, which will give users 5 GB to store their favorite image and video files. Those files can then be accessed and modified on a variety of devices. What’s different about this versus other cloud platforms is its presence in gaming. PlayMemories is compatible with both the PS3 and the PlaySation Vita. It’s the latest push by Sony in two efforts – first, it’s in an ever intensifying arms race with the Xbox 360 as the two consoles compete to see who can be the best multimedia platform. The PS3 already lets users access streaming video through Netflix, Youtube, Vudu, Hulu, CinemaNow, and other services, along with its own proprietary digital download video store. The other aspect Sony is trying to push is interoperability of services between the PS3 and other Sony devices. The company recently changed the na

This week the folks at Samsung have delivered a torrent of speaker systems to the world, including an all-in-one system code-named HT-E6730W. This system is what Samsung calls the Ultimate in Movie Theater Quality Entertainment in the Home and consists of a 1,330-watt 7.1-channel system with two tower speakers and four additional speakers to fulfill your ultimate 3D Blu-ray entertainment fantasy. Included in this system are swivel speakers mounted to front height speakers allowing you position them in a way that “sounds vertically cascade down onto the listener” – exciting stuff! Samsung’s solution here includes a dual-unit passive radiator subwoofer with rich bass response, two rear wireless satellite speakers for placement wherever you so deem them to be necessary in your room, and right up front and top of the system you’ll see the vacuum tube pre-amplifier, Samsung’s prize. Inside the speakers there are glass fiber cones which of course minimize distortion as they improve sound qua

Samsung has been steadily expanding its audio equipment into the upper echelons of the audiophile range, and today they’re adding to their line with three new pieces of seriously high-end gear. The DA-E750 Audio Dock, HT-E6500W Blu-ray 3D 5.1 Home Theater System and HT-E6730W Blu-ray 3D 7.1 Home Theater System all have impressively styled construction combined with vacuum tube amplifiers for rich, old-school sound production. Of course there’s some new tricks as well: the The DA-E750 can dock with an iPhone, iPod or iPad, as well as Samsung’s own Galaxy S II. The DA-E750 Audio Dock is basically a super-high-end speaker dock, cramming a 2.1 speaker system into the size of a standard amplifier. Though just 100 watts, it includes composite input, woven glass fiber speakers, and a host of newfangled connection options. These include Bluetooth, AirPlay, Samsung’s AllShare standard, and good ol’ USB drive playback for MP3, WMA and WAV files. The DA-E750 Audio Dock will come in either a mahog

HTC might be working on its own verson of the iPod Touch – that is, a device that has almost all the same functionality as a mobile phone but without the actual phone part. So, consumers would be able to have apps and games, but wouldn’t have to worry about paying for data service or a monthly voice plan. Speculation of this move – and that’s all it is at this point, speculation – is coming from a recently unearthed HTC patent application. The patent in question uses the words “handheld electonic device” to dscribe what the gadget actually is. So, it might seem like the patent is heading for boring town, but HTC is no doubt ready to shake up the mobile market in a way that it hasn’t before. Launching the Android equivalent of the iPod Touch could be huge. Android is very popular, but it’s prohibitive for consumers to jump on the bandwagon. Among HTC’s proven successful designs for smarphones are the Evo 3D on Sprint and the Thunderbolt on Verizon, both of which are pioneers in the indu

Samsung has been steadily expanding its audio equipment into the upper echelons of the audiophile range, and today they’re adding to their line with three new pieces of seriously high-end gear. The DA-E750 Audio Dock, HT-E6500W Blu-ray 3D 5.1 Home Theater System and HT-E6730W Blu-ray 3D 7.1 Home Theater System all have impressively styled construction combined with vacuum tube amplifiers for rich, old-school sound production. Of course there’s some new tricks as well: the The DA-E750 can dock with an iPhone, iPod or iPad, as well as Samsung’s own Galaxy S II. The DA-E750 Audio Dock is basically a super-high-end speaker dock, cramming a 2.1 speaker system into the size of a standard amplifier. Though just 100 watts, it includes composite input, woven glass fiber speakers, and a host of newfangled connection options. These include Bluetooth, AirPlay, Samsung’s AllShare standard, and good ol’ USB drive playback for MP3, WMA and WAV files. The DA-E750 Audio Dock will come in either a mahog

`Microsoft’s controversial “Smoked by Windows Phone” promo may not be generating as much converts from Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry as it had hoped and now some Microsoft Stores, or at least one store, is reportedly letting customers swap just about any feature phone for a new Windows Phone. The aim appears to have switched now to targeting first-time smartphone buyers, which is probably a better bet anyways. According to a tweet by tech reporter Dave Zatz, Microsoft’s Tysons Corner store has begun swapping any phone with web access with a Windows Phone. This includes any basic feature phone that may have some web access. And apparently this has been so popular that the store has run out of Windows Phones for the swap and is instead giving away $10 gift cards, which will be honored for new Windows Phones once the next shipment arrives. These first-time smartphone buyers get to trade in their old feature phones for a new Windows Phone without contracts or activations, an offer entici

Recent reports on the growing trend of employers demanding access to job applicants’ social networks have sparked the interest of government regulators. Two US senators, Richard Blumenthal and Charles E. Schumer, are calling on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice for a federal investigation on this personal privacy issue. “Employers have no right to ask job applicants for their house keys or to read their diaries,” said senator Schumer in a statement. “Why should they be able to ask them for their Facebook passwords and gain unwarranted access to a trove of private information about what we like, what messages we send to people, or who we are friends with?” There have been increasing reports in recent weeks of employers asking job applicants for their Facebook or Google+ passwords in order to obtain full access to their social network pages as an additional step in the background check process. After this disturbing practice was publicized in an MS

The folks at Microsoft are bringing the next generation of Kinect for Windows to the forefront this week with a version 1.5 of the software that works with it. This release comes amid a much wider availability for the platform as a whole with 19 new countries in the pipeline for this year. Kinect for Windows version 1.5 will be released at the end of May with such exciting features as “seated” or “10-joint” skeletal tracking, this expanding the abilities of the system further than ever before. Kinect for Windows 1.5′s newest tracking abilities include the ability to track the head, neck, and arms of either a standing or seated person. This new feature will also work with both default and near models – whatever you need! This 1.5 release will be coming with four new languages for speech recognition including Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and French, and will be coming with a slew of new language packs. Language packs released with Kinect for Windows 1.5 will help the system understand lan

When Facebook first announced its Open Graph developer tool that allows users to share activities through Facebook apps, dozens of major brands and services were on board for the launch, including Netflix. However, since then Netflix has released its app to almost every country except the US. And the reason for this exclusion appears to be that an ambiguous privacy law created in the late 1980s could deem the app illegal here in the states. “Unfortunately, we will not be offering this feature in the U.S. because a 1980′s law creates some confusion over our ability to let U.S. members automatically share the television shows and movies they watch with their friends on Facebook,” said Michael Drobac, director of Government Relations at Netflix. The law in question is the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which protects consumers’ privacy in relation to video rentals and does not allow information on what video content a consumer has watched to be shared. However, that law was created

This week the “NEW” identifier on Google’s newly revamped digital content store Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market, has drawn fire from those that would call it Evil. As any Google fan can tell you, one of the original sayings that made Google the company it is today was “Don’t be Evil.” Currently Google keeps this mantra alive in its extended “Ten things we know to be true” philosophy, one of which is “You can make money without doing evil.” Google’s front and center advertisement for their digital content store is being seen as a direct affront to that affirmation. Google’s “thing” about being Evil includes placing ads in their search results only if they’re relevant to the content that was searched for. It also includes noting that advertising “can be effective without being flashy.” Finally, Google lets the world know that they’ll always identify a sponsored link as such in search results. What part of this is being broken down by the PLAY mark in the newest browser-

Google Maps may be the dominant player in the mapping business still, but there’s a rising star in an open-source competitor called OpenStreetMap that’s been heavily backed by Microsoft. Due to the high fees of using Google Maps, some major services, including FourSquare and Apple’s iPhoto app, have already defected to using OpenStreetMap instead. OpenStreetMap is run by the non-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation and works like Wikipedia with all the mapping data provided by volunteers. There have already been half a million volunteers providing mapping data to the service, which can be used by both consumers and businesses for free. But what really helped spur the growth of OpenStreetMap is Microsoft. The software giant has reportedly donated valuable map data along with big dollars to the non-profit. It also uses OpenStreetMap data for its own Bing Maps service. Back in November 2010, Microsoft even hired back OpenStreetMap founder Steve Coast to work as Principal Architect for Bing Mob

This week you can grab a brand new edition of the utterly epic role-playing game for the mobile platform: SoulCraft for Android, exclusively on NVIDIA Tegra-toting devices in its HD form. This game is coming out in two editions, one as high-class as it gets for devices working with NVIDIA’s quad-core processor Tegra 3, the other a more standard edition made for all Android devices. This game is the new Diablo alternative for those waiting for the epic third installment of that beast on the desktop – it’s a must see! This game is next in a long line of epic-quality high definition games for the Android mobile operating system, this a move by not only developers to get noticed on the platform, but NVIDIA’s move to bring light to their quad-core processor situation. This game has both high definition cinematic features and HD gameplay and will surely stave off your need to destroy demons all night long on your Transformer Prime – all night long I say! Have a peek at the trailer for this g

Microsoft has released today as promised an update for Xbox Live that adds Comcast Xfinity, MLB.tv, and HBO Go content to the Xbox 360 console. The Xbox’s abundance of content paired with streamlined navigation, centralized search, and Kinect-powered voice and gesture control shows Google TV how it’s supposed to be done and scoffs at the much rumored and yet to be seen Apple iTV. The update today allows Xbox 360 users who also have a Comcast subscription to easily switch back and forth from playing video games to watching Comcast Xfinity programming all within the interface of Xbox Live. There’s no longer a need to press the input button on the remote, turn off the console, and turn on another set-top box. Everything gets wrapped together for a streamlined experience. The addition of HBO Go brings a similar convenience by giving users easy access to the app for streaming premium content through Xbox Live. Other apps that Xbox Live can already access include Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, Yo

The new iPad has been the subject of several so-called controversies reserved only for a device with such a wide distribution as it, the latest of which has been responded to by Apple today. Speaking with Ina Fried at All Things D, Apple VP Michael Tchao let the world know that what people have been seeing this past week – that being an iPad which appears to charge well beyond it’s “100%” mark, is no more than built-in technology that’s been with iOS for quite a while. In addition to noting how this feature works, Tchao let iPad owners know that regardless of how full of power their iPad was, if it reads 100%, they can expect the 10 hours of work time promised by Apple. Apple’s new iPad has been the subject of scrutiny from several sources in the first few weeks its been out on the market, most of these situations turning out to be founded on less than stable ground. This new battery situation, too, appears to be no more than a value-added situation, believe it or not, built in to iOS

This week one of the most hotly anticipated games in mobile, Temple Run, has finally hit the Android platform. This game has been a gigantic hit already for the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad, and the Android world is reacting with heavy downloads across the nation here in the developers first offering of the game for Google-based systems. Straight from Android Community we’ve got a hands-on look at the game below – see what the fuss is all about! You can currently download this game on Google Play’s App Store and appears to be compatible with the vast amount of devices out there – a feat given the utterly massive amount of different sized screens and form factors included in the Android universe. Without further ado, have a peek at this game as it exists on Google’s current hero device, the Galaxy Nexus, running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich: You’ll be able control this game with swipes, taps, and tilts of your device, and in many ways you’ll be having the same experience here