News Archive

Verizon Wireless and LG are teaming up to offer the new Spectrum 2. This smartphone features a 4.7-inch True HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass for added durability. The Spectrum 2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and runs on Android 4.0. Other key specifications include 16GB of internal storage,...

ARM debuted its new 64-bit microarchitecture today and announced the upcoming launch of a new set of Cortex processors, due in 2014. The two new chips, dubbed the Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57, are the most advanced CPUs the British company has ever designed, and are integral to AMD's plans to drive dense server applications beginning in 2014....

As if you needed another reason to camp out at Starbucks and write your novel or do homework dink around on Facebook, the coffee chain is rolling out a trial of Duracell Powermat wireless charging stations in 17 Boston-area stores. "We're building the Powermat technology into some of the tabletops, just to get a sense for how our customers...

So far, Hurricane Sandy has been about as brutal as predicted; millions are without power, and dozens are dead. It’s also taken a toll on the Internet community. This morning, several major media news sites were down, including Gawker, Gizmodo, Mediate, and the Huffington Post. (HuffPo is back up as of now, but the others are currently...

The 4th generation iPad wont be available for a few more days, but in the meantime, benchmarks are starting to pop up on the Web. Fair warning: If you recently purchased a 3rd generation iPad, you may want to stop reading, or at least brace yourself for some bad news. Ready for it? As it turns out, the upgraded A6 chip Apple plopped into its...

It’s no secret that tablet sales are booming, but there are still surprises here and there, such as Asustek Computer’s Q3 earnings of 229.1 million, up 43% from the same period in the previous year. According to the Wall Street Journal, research firm Gartner is pointing to the Asus Nexus 7 tablet and similar devices as being...

Barnes & Noble has some good news to share with those of you who previously pre-ordered a new Nook HD (7-inch display) or Nook HD+ (9-inch display) tablet. Those initial pre-orders, placed online at Nook.com or in a Barnes & Noble store, will start shipping out this week and arrive to customers sometime next week, depending on method...

We don't know if this will end up going viral or not, but a new YouTube video mocking the recent iPad mini launch offers up a pretty funny reflection of the marketing genius Apple possesses. Heavy on sarcasm, the video, which was produced by John Elerick, who is "probably the smartest person you know, probably," according to his Twitter account,...

For whatever reason, Nokia seems to have gotten into the habit of announcing new products without revealing launch dates, leaving it up to the Internet to dig up rumors and speculate. That's been especially true of Nokia's Windows Phone 8 devices, so it's nice to see the Finnish phone maker finally breaking its silence. Here's what we now...

With so much riding on the success of Windows 8 -- both for Microsoft and the PC industry as a whole, the latter of which is in a slump of sorts -- it'd be interesting to know how many copies of the touch friendly operating system (OS) the Redmond company was able to move since launching to the general public four days ago. Unfortunately,...

Let’s face it; your inbox is cluttered, and even if spam filters are keeping out almost of all the junk emails, there’s seemingly no end to emails that are a low priority for you. Between daily deals from coupon sites; hot sales from the stores you frequent; emails from groups you subscribe to; notifications from social media sites...

Windows Phone 8 is looking to make a major splash this holiday season, but unlike Windows Phone 7, this iteration will have a major product on its side: Skype. The hugely acclaimed VoIP app has become a fully integrated part of Windows Phone 8, which shouldn't be a surprise given that Microsoft is now Skype's parent. That said, Skype for Windows...

Well, Apple is seemingly sheltered from doing wrong when it comes to profits, but close followers of the company know better. The company, like any company, has its low points as well, and both Siri and Maps are certainly under that classification. And now, heads are rolling for past sins. Apple chose a day where the NYSE was closed in order...

AMD CEO Rory Read has announced that the company intends to develop dense computing platforms based on the 64-bit ARM architecture today. This is the second major collaboration between AMD and ARM; Sunnyvale announced earlier this year that it would integrate an ARM core to provide additional hardware-level security on future APUs. The meat...

Valve is getting into the Halloween spirit by serving up some monster savings on spooky titles through its Steam portal. Select scary and creepy titles have been marked down with big discounts as part of Steam's Halloween Sale, which features titles like The Walking Dead, Bioshock, Left 4 Dead 2, and many others at up to 75 percent off. In...

Intel is now shipping its next-generation client/consumer SSDs, the Intel SSD 335 series, which are built using 20nm NAND flash memory, which Intel developed in tandem with IM Flash Technologies. The 20nm NAND uses a planar cell structure and Hi-K/metal gate stack integration to beat the scaling constraints of the traditional NAND floating...

Well it wasn’t quite the glamorous announcement in New York City that we were expecting thanks to Hurricane Sandy, but Google did decide to unveil the new spate of products that it was (presumably) going to talk about at today’s cancelled event. The big news is that, as expected, Google has a Nexus 10 tablet and Nexus 4 smartphone....

Watch out Pandora: You may soon have some serious competition. Reports claim Apple is planning to launch its own Internet radio service early next year. Supposedly, Apple is already in talks with major music labels including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony’s music division to start an ad-supported streaming radio...

As we noted earlier, Valve is digging into a Linux version of Steam and the Source engine. Rather than open the Beta to everyone, the software publisher is looking for a small pool of players to test the new platform. Understandably, Valve wants experienced Linux users and has previously stated that people who are considering getting...

The One Laptop Per Child organization has taken on an interesting experiment in two remote Ethiopian villages: Earlier this year, the organization dropped off closed boxes that contained tablet computers. These tablets have preloaded educational programs. The goal behind the experiment is to see if illiterate kids who have no experience with...

Calling the Alienware M18x R2 a laptop is like referring to a Harley Davidson as a bicycle. Both have handlebars and ride on two wheels, but when the rubber hits the road, the Harley's going to leave a Schwinn in the rear-view mirror. So it goes with the Alienware system we abducted from Dell. Technically, it's a gaming laptop, but more accurately,...

Video game trailers are meant to make your trigger finger itch, but Ubisoft is taking things a step further with its new Assassin’s Creed III trailer. Ubisoft opted for a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style trailer that has you playing a big role in what you see and the outcome of mini flick. If you’ve been impatiently awaiting...

Hurricane Sandy has forced hundreds of thousands of people living along the Eastern Seaboard out of their homes, stranding others who ignored the evacuation orders. According to reports, some 60 million people live in the path of the 900-mile storm, which has been pushing 85 MPH winds and waters up to 11 feet tall. "This is the most catastrophic...

Finnish phone maker Nokia announced today that its Lumia 822 handset will soon be available on Verizon Wireless' network. The Lumia 822 is a Windows Phone 8 device with 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) baked in, making it a natural fit for Big Red, which is quick to point out that it has the largest 4G LTE network in the U.S. "Bringing the Nokia...

A year after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away from pancreatic cancer, the custom yacht he helped design has finally been completed and is ready to set sail. The yacht, christened "Venus" after the Roman goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory, is 260 feet long and looks remarkably close to as described in the...

Trying to decide between a Kindle Fire HD or an iPad mini? Amazon is all too happy to assist. Marking what might be the beginning of a tiny tablet war, Amazon over the weekend posted a giant advert on the top of its main website comparing the two devices, and you can guess which one came out on top. Preceding the ad's side-by-side comparison...

For both simple and in-depth information, Wikipedia has become a go-to spot for many. While fact-checking is recommended for important information you may come across, the fact that the online service stores millions of articles tackling almost every possible subject makes it an amazing resource. But what about the abundance of information...

Nvidia has finished work on a new supercomputer at Oak Ridge that showcases the company's K20 Tesla GPUs. The new cluster, dubbed Titan, is expected to break the 20 petaflop barrier. The system is a major upgrade to the Jaguar supercomputer that proceeded it (Jaguar was prominently upgraded last year to AMD's new Bulldozer CPUs after utilizing...

Apple is understandably proud of moving 17 million iPhones in its latest quarter, but Samsung has some even more gaudy numbers. The electronics giant just released its Q3 2012 earnings, and they're huge. Really huge. The company posted record operating profits of 8.12 trillion won on consolidated revenues of 52.18 trillion won, which coverts...

If a giant, 5.5" phone sounds like the ideal device for you, Sprint's now offering the Galaxy Note II. The second major iteration of the 'phablet' is now available on The Now Network, for a pricey $300 on a 2-year agreement. That's the going rate for supersized phones with LTE, but still -- you can get some pretty stout phones for $200 or...

Well, at least you can dream about what would have been announced had Hurricane Sandy not forced Google to postpone its October 29th Android event. The Nexus 10 looks to be legitimate, with the company's own Senior Vice President of Engineering, Vic Gundotra, shooting images from its rear-facing camera in some tropical location. Furthermore,...

Netflix investors are apparently keen on the idea of a Microsoft takeover. How so? Following online chatter that Microsoft may be making a move to acquire the video streaming and DVD-by-mail rental service, shares of Netflix jumped by more than 13 percent. The spike in share price, which sits at $69.58 heading into the work week, comes less...

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East coast, at least one company isn’t taking any chances. Google has cancelled its Playground event in New York, as the governor has declared a state of emergency. The event will be rescheduled at some point soon, and we’ll let you know when that is as soon as Google tells us. Until, then,...

If your kids, grandkids, nieces, and nephews aren't already into the whole GameStop scene, they might be by the time the holiday shopping season concludes. That's because the new and used gamer retailer plans to open around 80 'GameStop Kids' holiday store locations in select malls throughout the U.S., the company announced. The kid friendly...

For Windows 8 to be any kind of success, Microsoft needs to flesh its Windows Store with a robust selection of apps, and it needs to do it quickly. That's exactly what's happening. On the Windows 8 launch day (October 26, 2012), the Windows Store contained a little over 9,000 apps, which doesn't come close to Apple's App Store or Google Play,...

Samsung's silicon advancements have been pretty impressive as of late, and it's keeping that alive with a new $250 Exynos 5-based Arndale community board for app developers. It's based on the ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore processor and the quad-core Mali-T604 GPU. It's aimed at new developers looking to program for mobile, and it's shipping immediately....

If the Windows 8 launch has been able to prove one thing, it's that Microsoft's fanbase isn't nearly as faithful as Apple's. When Apple releases a new product, it's become a given that people will be lined up outside of their local Apple Store for hours - or potentially days - prior to the release. It's become such a stature, in fact,...

Google continues to improve upon its Google Maps; earlier this week it announced that Googlers were mapping the Grand Canyon with backpack-mounted cameras, and now the company has added layers to its maps that show the terrain, color gradation indicating vegetation, and additional labels that show natural land formations. This is all an effort...

Decades from now, generation delta-zeta squared, or whatever it will be called, will giggle at your stories of how you used to purchase items on the Internet and wait several days for delivery. When you think about it, online shopping is still in its infancy, and the lack of instant gratification -- being able to purchase an item and use it...

We thought we saw the last of extraordinary long rabbit ears when flat panel televisions supplanted bulky CRTs and cable/satellite service became ubiquitous. Boy, were we wrong. They're back, and they're the secret sauce in Asus' recipe for a wireless router, access point, and range extender all rolled into one device. The new Asus RT-N12HP...

If you've recently picked up a copy of Windows 8, or a new machine with Windows 8 onboard, you may be missing something: Google. Microsoft's Windows 8 makes certain that Internet Explorer and Bing are front-and-center, shoving Google, Mozilla, and the rest of the browser / search crowd out of the door. But Google's making sure that it's easy...

With the Surface RT tablet and the iPad mini hitting at just about the same time, this was bound to happen: executives throwing lyrical dagger at one another. Apple CEO Tim Cook already called Microsoft's new Surface a "confusing and compromised" product, so now it's Microsoft's turn to return the favor. Steven Sinofsky, who is leading the...

After its conference call last week, AMD is jonesing for some positive news to toss investors and is planning a major announcement on Monday to that effect. Rumor suggests that a number of statements may be coming down the pipe, including the scope of the company's layoffs, new parts based on Piledriver Opterons, and possibly an ARM server...

AT&T will begin offering the Sony Xperia TL on November 2nd. This new phone will be available for $99.99 with a two-year contract. Exclusive to AT&T, the Xperia TL will be featured in the upcoming James Bond film Skyfall. The Xperia TL features a 13-megapixel camera that is ready to capture an image in 1.5 seconds after the phone resumes...

Sprint is the first wireless carrier in the US to offer the Android 4.1.1. Jelly Bean update to Galaxy S III customers. With the update, users will get new and enhanced TouchWiz features as well as the expanded functionality of Jelly Bean. The update is now being delivered to devices automatically over the air; users will be prompted to install...

Microsoft Outlook has been the industry standard for desktop email for years, and although that likely isn’t changing any time soon—see the Outlook 2013 Preview as evidence—Microsoft believes that leveraging the incredible power of the cloud to provide powerful web-based email is just as if not more important. After starting...

If your idea of a rip-roaring good time involves swapping weather forecasts with friends on Facebook, Google+, or practically any social platform, then boy-oh-boy are you in luck. The relatively new (and recently updated) AccuWeather app for Android takes talking about the weather to a whole new level. So, what's new in the 2.1.6 update? The...

With the launch of Windows 8 to the general public taking place to today, you can expect to see an avalanche of product releases and announcements in the coming weeks and months. In the thick of it all is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which announced it's been collaborating with Microsoft for more than 125 Windows 8-based PC designs from big-name...

As the most valuable company in the world, Apple may on occasion have trouble living up to the lofty expectations of investors and market analysts. Such was the case during Apple's fourth quarter financial report. Specifically, it was Apple's forecast for the first quarter of 2013 that worried investors. "Looking ahead to the first fiscal...

For Windows 8 to be successful, it needs a robust selection of apps. The very nature of Windows 8 demands it. As Microsoft is quick to point out time and again, its new operating system is Windows re-imagined, and a big part of the re-imagining is the Windows Store. It's a place where desktop and Surface users can go and download apps for...

For the first time in a long time, Apple may be feeling threatened by the competition. Windows 8 launched to the public today, and with it, so did Microsoft's 'Surface with Windows RT' tablet, Redmond's consumer oriented device and answer to the iPad. But is it a good enough answer? Predictably, Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn't think so. What's...

On the eve of Microsoft’s big Windows 8 and Surface announcements, company CEO Steve Ballmer sat down with the BBC and stated that Microsoft would indeed be making more hardware and devices in the future. This jibes with earlier reports that Microsoft would be focusing more on hardware and services and that it may actually have a handset...

If you’re worried about finding room in your house for LG’s monstrous 84-inch Ultra HD LED TV, don’t be; anyone who’s wealthy enough to drop $19,999.99 on a television probably has space for it somewhere. Indeed, LG has announced the 84-inch LG 84LM9600, and it’s most important feature (seriously, being 84 inches...

With Microsoft trotting out Windows 8, Apple is trotting out some huge, huge numbers in a bid to steal back some of that spotlight. The company's Q4 2012 earnings report just came out, and while some of the figures missed Wall Street's debatable inflated expectations, it's hard to argue with what it has going on. It managed to record revenue...

The movie rental market couldn't be hotter. From digital distribution to Redbox, it's a booming market, and movie studios are still struggling to figure out how to best approach the growth. Redbox and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have inked a new multi-year agreement to bring Warner Bros.' Blu-ray Disc and DVD titles to Redbox kiosks 28...

Apple fans have long ooed and ahh’d over the fine details in Apple products, and Steve Jobs famously obsessed over every design and manufacturing tidbit, but Microsoft rivals that level of detail with the Surface, which use over 200 custom components. Panos Panay took the stage to demo the Surface at a press event today, and the theme...

If the Razer mouse mats announced earlier this week aren't quite what you are looking for, Corsair has a few new options for you to consider. First up is the new Vengeance MM200 which features a glide-optimized textile surface that is designed to provide consistent tracking with any gaming mouse sensor. The MM200 features fray-resistant edges...

In his opening remarks at today’s Windows 8 press event, Steve Sinofsky noted that it’s been almost exactly three years since Microsoft launched Windows 7; it’s been nearly that long that consumers and businesses alike have been awaiting Windows 8. After midnight tonight, Windows 8 and all the goodies that go with it will...

Woe is you if you just purchased a 3rd generation iPad device from Apple, because it's already out of date. At a press event earlier this week, Apple didn't just announce an iPad Mini, it unveiled a handful of other products, among them a 4th generation iPad with a faster A6X processor and that newfangled Lightning port. Other than that, it's...

Corsair announced a new version of its Hydro Series H60 liquid CPU cooler as well as the new Hydro Series H55 liquid CPU cooler. The Hydro Series H60 features a new cold plate and manifold design. It also uses larger diameter tubing to increase the coolant flow rate. This cooler makes use of new composite rubber tubing, thereby providing for...

A laptop isn’t just a laptop anymore; it’s your right arm, an extension of your brain. These days, we’re always connected even when we’re out and about, and smartphones facilitate that better than any device in history. However, it’s not enough to just be able to fire off a text or field a phone call whenever...

The value of Google Maps has been highlighted in recent weeks after Apple launched its own maps app, soliciting a collective “boo” from most users and generating a slew of (somewhat unfairly over-the-top) Internet jokes and memes, but Google is not content to sit on its laurels. The company is taking mapping just about everywhere...

After re-imagining Windows 8, Microsoft desperately needs for its next generation operating system to be a success, and there are some early indications that it's headed down that road. Make no mistake, Windows 8 is heavily focused on the mobile crowd, and that's where Surface comes into play. Surface represents Microsoft's first foray into...

Underscoring the explosive growth of mobile devices, research firm Gartner predicts that Google's Android install-base will eclipse that of Microsoft's Windows platform within the next four years. By the end of 2016, Gartner says there will be 2.3 billion PCs, tablets, and smartphones all running Android, enough to edge out the 2.28 billion...

Nokia's made no bones about the fact that it's gone all-in with Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, hence it's not all that shocking the handset maker decided to launch a Windows Phone 7.5 device with Windows Phone 8 on the horizon. The new Lumia 510 thus takes its place as Nokia's new entry-level Windows Phone, picking up the slack at "lower...

Steve Jobs wanted nothing to do with a 7-inch tablet, calling such devices "tweener" gadgets that sit uncomfortably between a smartphone and larger size slate. He was wrong, of course, and Apple eventually came to the conclusion that it too needed a tweener device to compete with the popular Kindle Fire HD (best selling product on Amazon)...

Got a tablet? Looking to latch it onto Sprint's mobile network? The Now Network would like you to know that it now has new tablet rate plans, starting on November 11th. From then, it'll allow a variety of new, aggressively priced rate plans for 4G LTE-enabled tablets that offer customers up to 20 percent more data than Verizon or AT&T...

LaCie has always had a thing for Apple users, and the company's products have always seemed to fit nicely alongside Mac computers. This week, LaCie is introduced a thinner, faster Porsche Design drive for Apple users, the P'9223 Slim SSD. It's being called the quickest LaCie USB HDD to date, combining USB 3.0 speeds with an optional SSD. The...

Anyone who has tried pre-release versions of Window 8 can tell you that navigating the OS with your mouse is completely doable – but you’re going to find yourself wanting to touch those Live Tiles. To that end, Dell took the veil off a new multi-touch monitor aimed squarely at users who are upgrading their desktops to Windows 8...

The original Samsung Galaxy Note was a bit of an oddity. When it was first introduced, many reviewers, analysts, and industry pundits scoffed at the device’s relatively large form factor. The 5.3” screen on the original Note looked simply gargantuan next to anything else available on the market at the time, leading many folks to...

Nintendo's third-quarter sales came in below expectations today, as the company struggled with lower-than-anticipated demand for its 3DS handhelds and a generally weak console market. In April, the company predicted it would sell 10.5 million Wii's by the end of its fiscal year; that's since been slashed to five million. 3DS sales were also...

Perhaps serving as further proof that Microsoft is supremely confident in Windows 8 and expects nothing less than for it to be a raging success, it's being reported that Windows 7 will not see a second Service Pack. Windows 7 proponents will be quick to point out that their OS of choice hardly needs one, and while there might be some truth...

Nikon added the Nikon 1 V2 to its Nikon 1 System lineup. This camera is designed to strike a balance between portability and performance, giving users both automatic and manual controls. The V2 features a new grip, built-in flash, and the addition of a Command Mode Dial. The Nikon 1 V2 uses an Advanced Hybrid Autofocus system with a 73-point...

When we reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S III back in June, we had a chance to look at a cool use of NFC technology using Samsung's TecTile programmable NFC stickers and the corresponding TecTile Android app. Now, Samsung is updating the TecTile application to version 3.0. This new version is available just in time to be used with Samsung's latest...

Apple on Tuesday formally introduced the iPad Mini, a miniature sized iPad tablet with a 7.9-inch display rather than the 9.7-inch found on the full size iPad. Pricing for the iPad Mini starts at $329, quite a bit higher than the entry-level Kindle Fire HD (Amazon) and Nexus 7 (Google) devices, both of which begin at $199. Apple's quick to...

The European Commission doesn't mess around when it comes to antitrust law, nor is it afraid to hit companies with large fines for not playing by the rules in the European Union (EU). As such, Microsoft now finds itself in hot water for inadvertently breaking a promise to offer Windows users living in Europe a choice of Web browser rather...

Times are tough all around, and that includes the Mushroom Kingdom where gold coins aren't as prevalent as they once were. Sitting on a throne from afar, Nintendo cut its full-year profit forecast by 70 percent, saying it now expects to rake in 6 billion yen (or US$75 million) by the end of the year, compared to the company's previous forecast...

Wireless outfit AT&T, once the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone device in the U.S., sold 6.1 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2012, compared to 4.8 million in the same quarter a year ago, the company revealed today. Of those, 4.7 were iPhones, which works out to more than 77 percent of its total smartphone sales. AT&T...

As facial recognition technology begins to look like something that’s actually quite useful and powerful, the FTC is trying to stay out in front of it by developing a set of best practices for commercial applications. Why is the FTC so proactive about addressing facial recognition technology? This passage from the agency’s Facing...

It’s no secret that Netflix believes that its DVD rental-by-mail service will vanish one day soon as more and more households switch to streaming-only subscriptions, so the suits were certainly pleased at some of the Q3 numbers Netflix posted. The company added almost 2 million new streaming subscribers in Q3 alone, bringing the total...

Sometimes, technology is more than just a boost in processing power or an increase in capacity. Sometimes, it's about the people. Qualcomm has just unveiled some pretty radical stuff through its Wireless Reach initiative, and in cooperation with Project RAY. Project RAY designs accessibility tools for blind and visually impaired people, and...

If a "normal" smartphone just feels too small, AT&T will soon be offering the Galaxy Note II. The second iteration of Samsung's famed phablet is upon us, with AT&T customers able to pre-order it starting on October 25th. The price will be a steep $299.99 with a two-year agreement, with shipments expected to start on November 9th. If...

For those of you who missed it, Apple earlier today introduced a brand new version of its iMac all-in-one (AIO) desktop with an exceptionally skinny profile and upgraded components throughout. Despite the ultra-thin profile of the new iMac systems, the hardware Apple crammed inside makes them up to 60 percent faster than last year's models,...

If you've been waiting for the other shoe to drop in the tablet market, today is the day.  We're a few days ahead of Microsoft's Surface and Windows 8 launch on October 26th but the folks at ASUS (and other OEM partners) have been given the green light to let fly with their Windows RT tablet offering today. Microsoft is allowing the wraps...

Asus introduced its Windows 8 product lineup today which includes notebooks, tablets, and all-in-one PCs. The ASUS TAICHI is a slim, stylish notebook that features a dual-screen design with 1080p IPS displays. When used in standard mode, the TAICHI functions as an ultrabook. In tablet mode, the TAICHI gives you multi-touch capabilities that...

Blink twice and take a deep breath; there’s more to mention from Apple’s big press event today besides the iPad mini, next-gen iPad, and iMac revamp. There’s a new MacBook Pro on the block, and it’s a 13-inch model sporting a Retina display. Under the hood, the new slim and trim (measuring 0.75 inches thick and 3.57...

Apple brought its A-game to its much anticipated press event this afternoon, the one in which the world waited anxiously for confirmation of an iPad Mini device, but before unveiling the smaller sized tablet, the Cupertino outfit detailed a completely new iMac. The new generation iMac makes the previous version look downright chunky by comparison,...

Back when the iPod touch came out, we thought that it was one of the best things Apple ever came up with; it was inexpensive, incredibly thin and lightweight, offered WiFi, and still ran apps a plenty on iOS. With the announcement of the long-awaited and oft-rumored iPad mini, the iPod touch has a spiritual successor--it’s a device that...

Though PC sales have stagnated as of late, worldwide IT spending is in great shape and forecast to surpass $3.7 trillion in 2013, according to the crystal ball readers employed by Gartner. That would represent a 3.8 percent bump from projected spending of $3.6 trillion in 2012, but what's even more telling is the amount of IT jobs opening...

The good news for Amazon is that its Kindle Fire HD devices are apparently selling like gangbusters. Since going on sale a little over a month ago, Amazon reports the Kindle Fire HD is the best selling product on the company's entire site, which is saying something when you consider the number of items Amazon sells. So what's the bad news?...

Reiterating that it's ready for the release of Windows 8, which Microsoft will make available to the general public in just three days on October 26, Dell today announced an overhauled portfolio of business and consumer PCs designed to take advantage of the upcoming OS's many new features. Dell will have plenty on tap for the Windows 8 launch,...

Custom gaming rigs are often a thing of beauty, but they’re also usually quite large; not so with Digital Storm’s Bolt gaming PC, which measures just 3.6 inches wide and about 14 inches square. In truth, it looks more like an HTPC than anything else, but it has the guts of a gamer. Inside that lithe custom-built chassis is (up...

Samsung's new ARM-based Chromebook is said to be "for everyone." Perhaps it's the $249 price point, or perhaps it's the 100GB of Google Drive storage that's included. Or, maybe it's a combination of excellent hardware, a slick design and a price that's just $50 more than a Nexus 7 tablet. Either way, the company's most convincing Chromebook...

Google Wallet was no doubt a crazy initiative. It takes a hugely ambitious company to pull off something of that scope and scale, and it's no surprise that Google rose to the challenge. But gaining traction in a market place that isn't quite as innovative has proven to be tough. A world without credit cards is surely in the cards, but how...

Even before AMD officially released its Bulldozer-based FX-Series of desktop processors last year, the company was already talking about the follow-on microarchitecture codenamed “Piledriver”. In fact, in the conclusion of our launch article featuring the AMD FX-8150, we posted an AMD-provided slide that showed Piledriver was already...

Guess what? With Windows 8 on the horizon, companies everywhere are updating their apps to work with Microsoft's latest desktop operating system. Take Hulu, for example. A pioneer in online video, the company has just revealed that Windows 8 will be supported by the time you can get your hands on a new machine. The Hulu Plus app will be the...

Mac users need backup love too, don't you know? All kidding aside, Seagate has added a new hard drive to its collection today with the unveiling of the Backup Plus Storage for OS X. In order to cater to newer Macs with USB 3.0 built in from the factor, the new Backup Plus Portable for Mac and Backup Plus Desktop for Mac drives will support...

Razer announced its 2013/14 line of Razer mouse mats. The lineup includes four new mouse mats: the Razer Invicta, Razer Manticor, Razer Destructor 2, and Razer Megasoma 2. All four of these mats are treated with new performance-boosting sensor-reactive surface coatings. Razer takes its mouse mats seriously and has made sure each of these new...

You may have noticed that Apple and Samsung don’t get along anymore. At all. There was a time when the two companies actually did brisk business together, even as they competed in the market, but now that has Apple successfully sued Samsung for over a billion dollars and blocked some its sales, any semblance of a marriage is over. Apple...

Sprint is racing to catch up to other carriers who already have extensive 4G LTE rollouts. Today, the wireless carrier announced another rollout of its 4G LTE network. Including today's new markets, Sprint now offers 4G LTE service in 32 metropolitan areas. In the coming months, Sprint plans to offer service in more than 115 additional cities....

The iPad Mini is still technically a rumor, but it’s all but been confirmed from various inside sources to any numbers of news and rumor outlets. We’re fairly certain that Apple will announce the device in short order, and among the likely true reports are that this smaller iPad will have a 7-inch (or so) form factor and will cost...

With the Windows 8 launch right around the corner, Microsoft has begun encouraging businesses to plan out their OS migration path. At the same time, the company really encourages those businesses still rocking out to Windows XP to accelerate their migrations, as official support for the OS ends on April 8, 2014. That may be a good while...

“Surface is an unbelievably great product,” says Bill Gates in an interview with Microsoft’s Steve Clayton. It’s not surprising that the former Microsoft CEO is excited about the Surface and other upcoming Windows products, but he has more than enthusiasm to share. Gates goes into some detail about his own experiences...

With the Windows 8 launch only days away, Microsoft made official something that has been widely known unofficially for months: Skype is built into Windows 8. The move is part of Microsoft’s push to put communication center stage in the newest, heavily revamped version of the Windows operating system. The first thing you’ll notice...

For whatever reason, HTC and Nokia unveiled their respective Windows Phone 8 devices without disclosing any pricing information, making it unnecessarily difficult to speculate how well they'll sell amid a sea of Android and iOS smartphones. Thanks to electronics retailer Best Buy, now we know. Best Buy tossed up a couple of pre-order pages,...

It's not unusual for a company's profits to come up short of analyst expectations, but what's interesting in Acer's case is fact that its performance in the third quarter of 2012 versus what the market experts were anticipating ended up being miles apart. Acer's net income in Q3 reached NT$68 million (about US$2.3 million), the second largest...

The display format previously known as 4K will now and forever be referred to as "Ultra High-Definition," or Ultra HD for short. So says the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which has bestowed upon the next-generation format its official consumer designation, approved via a unanimous vote by the organization's Board of Industry Leaders....

Despite the positive spin Microsoft tried to put on its latest financial report, it was a tough quarter for the Redmond outfit, which saw profits dip 22 percent. The cold hard truth is that the PC market is in a slump, and as computer sales stagnate, so too does Microsoft's business model, which is largely focused on software designed for...

Motorola Mobility, now a division of Google, has been on a tear as of late, releasing potent new Android superphones to the market, in competition with the iPhone 5, Samsung's Galaxy SIII and many others.  Not long ago we gave you a look at the recently released RAZR M, the 4-inch little brother to the hot, new device that just showed...

The practice of bundling games with video cards dates back to the earliest days of the 3D business, when partnering with board vendors was the best way of ensuring that the customer would have at least one game that took advantage of the shiny new card. Much of the time, the question of what game publisher to work with is left to the individual...

Although a number of Android users are still noshing on Gingerbread (Android 2.3) and have not yet tasted their Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) or handful of Jelly Beans (Android 4.1), there’s widespread speculation that Google will be announcing yet another dessert-themed Android version at an event in New York City on October 29th....

You probably wouldn't attempt walking down the street waving a handful of hundred-dollar bills around, yet when you think about it, that's exactly what every person does who owns a smartphone. Off contract, many smartphones cost upwards of $500, and that makes them attractive items to robbers who have grown tired of snatching purses. Try this...

A new iPad Mini line and a 13-inch MacBook Pro sporting a Retina Display might not be the only things Apple has on tap for its upcoming press event on Tuesday. Traveling all the way from the U.K. is a rumor that Apple will refresh its full-size iPad tablets with a handful of upgrades. Apple's primary motivation, if The Guardian's "industry...

Mobile payments may be the wave of the future, but NFC may still have some maturing to do. Meanwhile, physical card reading products like Square seem to be hitting the sweet spot in the here and now, and PayPal's not going to let the opportunity pass it by. PayPal's version of the Square reader, dubbed Here, is now on sale on AT&T stores....

Google has recently opened up the covers on how a lot of its magic behind the scenes work, at least from a server farm standpoint. Most of it is laden with techobabble, thrilling only to nerds that follow the company. But given that you're here, we figured we might as well pass along some other relevant information. The company has recently...

On Sunday at midnight, Activision Blizzard will release “Skylanders: Giants”, the sequel to the successful “Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures”, and the company is hoping to strike gold with the kid’s game this holiday season. It certainly needs to, as Activision Blizzard has reportedly sunk tens of millions...

It was only a matter of time before someone actually hacked the weather, but before you run outside in a panic and make a mad dash for your storm shelter, understand that your city's forecast remains unchanged, save for the typical unpredictability of it all. Hackers haven't gained control of the Sun or storm clouds, though they did break...

Remember the Droid X2 from Motorola? Released last year, it was the first dual-core 1GHz smartphone available on Verizon Wireless' network, and it boasted some pretty impressive specs for its generation. Unfortunately for Droid X2 owners, it's one of more than a dozen smartphones Motorola revealed will NOT be receiving an update to Android...

Believe it or not, but Macs are susceptible to security vulnerabilities too, and perhaps erring on the side of caution, Apple has begun removing dated versions of Oracle's Java software from OS X when Mac users upgrade to the latest release. "Java for OS X 2012-006 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java...

It won't be long before "BlackBerry" refers to a phone that boomed in 2008, and fell completely flat by 2012. That is, unless RIM can somehow turn things around in Q1 2013 with the launch of BlackBerry 10. The company is fighting an uphill battle; iOS and Android have leapfrogged it in terms of market share, and even Windows Phone is quickly...

Things aren't looking too great over at Sony. Despite being one of the world's largest and most notable consumer electronics companies, Sony's recent years have been tough. There's no Walkman around to keep the funds flowing like yesteryear, and the competition is tougher than ever. The company announced some while back that it would be forced...

Well, we can't exactly act surprised. With Windows 8 and Windows RT just around the bend, you may have wondered if Microsoft was going to try and integrate Skype into the fabric of those operating systems, much the same way FaceTime is integrated into OS X. With Microsoft paying a princely sum for Skype, it seems that the VoIP app will not...

Usually, if a company sees its yearly net income drop 22%, things get pretty tense around the office, but Microsoft is shrugging off its relatively dismal quarterly financial report. Despite the loss of net income, essentially flat sales numbers, and a sluggish overall PC market, the company indeed has reason for optimism--it’s about...

We’ll be honest, when pondering Ubuntu’s naming scheme, we were quite curious what Canonical was going to use for “Q”. Well, here it is: Quantal Quetzal, the code name for Ubuntu version 12.10, and it’s now available. One of the main focuses of Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal is the integration of the desktop and...

If you're a university or college student who wants to get your hands on Office 365, Microsoft has some good news for you: A special version of Office 365 called University will be available in the first quarter of 2013. This version will include Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. Office 365 University...

The general availability of Windows 8 is getting closer and closer. Even though Microsoft is focused on this new OS, it hasn't forgotten about users who won't upgrade right away. Windows 7 users who want to get their hands on IE10 will have the option to do so: Microsoft plans to release a preview of IE10 in mid-November. Final availability...

Apple is expected to announce the oft-rumored iPad Mini at a press event next week, which will likely then go on sale on or around November 2nd, well in time for the holiday shopping season. That time frame has analysts wearing out their calculators as they crunch numbers trying to determine how many iPad Mini devices are likely to be sold...

Google's been making an especially concerted effort lately to beef up its Google Maps software for desktop and mobile, and the latest addition entails constructing 25 million new building footprints in some of the larger cities and metropolitan areas scattered throughout the United States. These locales include Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago,...

There are few things more annoying than rushing to answer the phone at the most inopportune time only to find out that the caller is just a prerecorded message. These so-called "robocalls" have become the bane of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), especially as advances in technology make it easier for telemarketers to get around the current...

The open source mavens at Mozilla are busy putting the final touches on "Firefox Marketplace," a place where Firefox users will be able to download Web apps similar to Google's Web Store for Chrome. It isn't quite finished yet, though it is now available in the Android Aurora channel, meaning it's essentially in alpha (pre-beta) form. "The...

Games don't get old, they just get nostalgic. Good Old Games, known for distributing some of the world's best games from yesteryear, has now opened up to the world of Mac. Much like Valve and plenty of others in the post-PowerPC universe, GoG is now bringing a huge catalog of classics to Mac, tarting with an impressive 50+ titles for Mac gamers...

There's a new sub-$250 notebook in town, and it doesn't run Android nor Windows. It's the "new Chromebook," built by Samsung and ushered into existence by Google. While Chrome OS has existed on machines in the past, never before has a brand new machines launched at such a delightfully low price point. The $249 (or 229 Pounds in the UK) asking...

Grim tidings abound at AMD this quarter, confirming some of our worst fears and raising serious questions about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. Revenue for the quarter was $1.27 billion, a decrease of 10% sequentially and 25% year-on-year. The company reported a net loss of $157M and has announced a new restructuring...

Acer announced the new Aspire ME and XC Series, both of which feature Windows 8. The Aspire ME Series micro towers are available in two sizes. This series targets users who want a power-packed system along with plenty of upgrade options. The Acer ME Series desktops offer Intel Core i7 or Core i5 processors, up to 10GB DDR3 memory that can...

Verizon Wireless has been collecting information about its customers' geographical locations, app use, and Web browsing activities. Now, the wireless carrier is looking to sell that information to marketers with its Precision Market Insights initiative. Verizon Wireless has also said it may link the data it has collected to third-party databases...

If a tree rejoices in the forest but nobody is around to hear it, does it still sound like jubilation? We may never know the answer, but we imagine there are several of them hootin' and hollerin' to the news that Newsweek is abandoning its print business model and transitioning to all-digital format in "early 2013." Newsweek made the announcement...

Apple may have won its case against Samsung in the US this past August, but in the UK, things haven't proven to be so successful. In the US case, which took much of Samsung's portfolio into question, it was deemed that the company did in fact mimic many of product design choices Apple itself had made well before Samsung. In the UK, it's only...

Smartphones, tablets and computers are constantly consuming (and creating) more and more content. And with that comes massive amounts of data consumption. The amount of sharing that takes place on today's smartphones and tablets is astounding, and every instance of that requires data -- and storage. Lately, it seems as if companies are...

Scientists have been puzzling over cosmic acceleration – the ever-faster expansion of the universe – for decades. Now, they have a new tool that may help them solve the mystery: a 570MP camera that is being used by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) group to snap images of galaxies that are millions and even billions of light years...

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon, is fed up with the patent system as it's currently implemented, and he's calling for change. It's an important topic in the field of technology, as Samsung can attest after losing a high-profile legal battle to Apple, in which it was slapped with a billion dollar fine for essentially...

There are plenty of perks to working at Google, such as financial support to the spouse of deceased workers, discounted legal services, travel insurance, game tables (like foosball) found in several buildings on Google's campus, and the list goes on. At the end of the day, it's still all about the almighty dollar, which just happens to be...

IBM isn't afraid to spend big bucks acquiring companies of all shapes and sizes, hence it should come as no surprise that Big Blue is reportedly close to striking a deal for Red Bend Software, an Israeli firm that deals with mobile software management technology. According to Reuters, the potential deal could be worth anywhere from $200 million...

We're not ones to begrudge a company that wants to get jiggy with its latest product, and if you're into the whole flash mob scene, Microsoft's Surface tablet may be just the thing for you, or at least that's the impression Surface's first ad spot gave. There is, of course, much more to Surface than that, like the fact that it has a USB port...

Although there’s so much hubbub over the avalanche of Windows 8 tablets that are coming later this month, there are still plenty of tablets running Android, and Acer has announced an inexpensive 7-incher called the Acer Iconia Tab A110. The Iconia Tab A110 is technically a budget-level tablet, but it wants not for impressive specs; the...

The news has been a little mixed for Steam in the last few days, but there’s still plenty of good stuff from Valve on the topic of Steam Greenlight. We mentioned Steam Greenlight earlier this week because the project, which allows the user community to help decide which games will debut on the platform, debuted 20 new games on Monday....

Amazon's Kindle ecosystem is growing at an alarming rate. The company's cloud services are obviously catching on, and with Amazon's prowess in hosting files for everyone else in the world, it makes sense that they'd flex that muscle internally, too. The newest initiative is Whispercast for Kindle. It's described as a free, self-service tool...

It's October, and that means one thing in particular: Windows 8 has arrived. Or, it will soon. And Microsoft's OEM partners are ushering in all sorts of new machinery to celebrate the occasion. Toshiba is the latest company to announce that its Windows 8 machines are now up for pre-sale, with new Satellite laptops, Ultrabooks and all-in-one...

Motorola Mobility, now a division of Google, has been on a tear as of late, releasing potent new Android superphones to the market, in competition with the iPhone 5, Samsung's Galaxy SIII and many others.  Not long ago we gave you a look at the all new RAZR M, the 4-inch little brother to the hot, new device that just showed up here in...

IBM's Watson is soon to hit a major milestone: it'll begin to deal with real patients. You might recall that this is one of the major goals IBM laid out for Watson back at its inception. As a "learning" computer, Watson has the ability to peruse information, understand it to the best of its ability, and then develop algorithms based on the...

Normally, we cover conference and earnings calls from major companies by hewing pretty strictly to the number and discussing factors that directly relate to them. Today, we're going to break with that format a bit, and examine what Intel's Q3 earnings tell us about the larger PC market, what to expect from AMD when its own conference call...

A new research report on Valve's Steam has highlighted how the program can be used to launch malicious code attacks, thanks to flaws in how browser commands are passed between Steam and browsers like Chrome, IE, Opera, and Firefox. First, it's important to understand that Steam itself isn't the (S)ource of the vulnerability. As Figure 1 illustrates,...

Sprint customers will be able to get their hands on the new LG Optimus G smartphone starting November 11. Preorders for the phone will begin November 1. This new "superphone" features an advanced 13 megapixel camera as well as 4G LTE connectivity. In addition to a high-resolution sensor, the Optimus G's camera comes with unique features such...

Like many companies, Google goes to great lengths to protect its data centers and the information that resides within them. To help maintain security, Google allows only a small number of employees access to its server floor and other areas of its data centers. While you won't be able to take an in-person tour of a Google data center anytime...

Samsung's Galaxy S III is widely considered to be the best Android smartphone currently available, if not the best smartphone regardless of platform (iPhone 4S and 5 owners might have something to say about that), and so it almost seems criminal that it's not rocking the latest and greatest version of Google's open source operating system,...

Want to know what we love about the concept of a beer keyboard? Absolutely everything! Sure, they make an unlikely couple, but don't tell that to the folks at Robofun who went out and actually built a working keyboard out of beer cans and other parts. "Yup, we’re talking about a keyboard that has beer cans instead of keys. All you have...

Microsoft's big gamble with Windows 8 is that the masses are going to accept a unified interface that's heavily invested in touch computing. The idea is that the experience on your tablet should be the same as it is on your Windows Phone, your laptop or Ultrabook, your all-in-one system, your traditional desktop, and so forth. But is the world...

With so much attention being paid Ultrabooks, now and for the foreseeable future, Patriot Memory figured it might as well launch a memory line specifically for these types of systems. Hence today's unveiling of the company's "Memory for Ultrabook" line, which consist of ultra low power (ULP) SODIMMs compatible with Intel's 3rd Generation Core...

We’re glad we don’t spend too much time in the terrifying world of cyber security, and we’re even more happy to see that there are others who do. Eugene Kaspersky is one of those people, and his Kaspersky Labs is currently building a secure operating system designed to protect the industrial control systems (ICS) in industry...

It seems like every company is producing tablets these days, and Best Buy is taking the plunge as well with the 9.7-inch Insignia Flex. Announced on Friday via Facebook, the Flex is coming to Best Buy stores on November 11th. Only a few specs were listed on the Facebook announcement, including that the Flex will have a dual-core 1GHz processor,...

Cloud storage is absolutely all of the rage these days, with everyone from Apple to Google to Microsoft (and even the little guys) hopping on that bandwagon at some juncture. iTwin, a company quite familiar with cloud file transfers, has just introduced the newest edition of its portable device, the iTwin SecureBox. It brings hardware-key...

Looks like Apple's going to keep the new stuff flowing this fall. After introducing and subsequently shipping the iPhone 5, the product teams at Apple are cranking up enough new stuff to warrant yet another event. It's unlike Apple to pull two of these in one season, with the latest invite suggesting that "a little more" is en route. "Little,"...

That’s one more cut cord. Logitech announced its new Broadcaster Wi-Fi Webcam today, which it’s targeting at people who want to stream video live or need to place the Broadcaster in a location that a corded webcam can’t reach. The Broadcaster supports Ustream live streaming and can do some neat tricks with your MacBook...

It probably goes without saying that one of the most-sought after products this holiday season will be Google's Nexus 7 tablet. Since its release this past July, the Nexus 7 has become a bit of a de facto tablet for those looking to get in on the tablet craze for an accessible price, or those looking for an extra tablet to keep around the...

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has long sought to demonize file sharers who download, trade, and share songs illegally, noting that the cumulative impact of their deeds  -- obtaining millions of songs illegally -- is nothing short of devastating. But is it really? A new study throws a wrinkle in the RIAA's argument....

Security outfit Avast Software has partnered with Facebook to share its Virus Lab data with the social networking service. In doing so, Facebook now has access to Avast's real-time cloud database, which it will use to block malware from being shared unwittingly by its users. When you click on a link within Facebook, the URL checked in the...

One of the questions that's been kicked around since Microsoft debuted Surface last summer is how much Redmond would charge for the systems. Rumors have ranged from the ridiculously low ($299) to $1200 or more. Microsoft briefly posted prices on its own store, and while the numbers and listings have been pulled, the price targets were extremely...

When considering a new storage solution, most users try to find the right balance between speed and capacity. SSDs are super fast, no doubt about it, but an HDD spinning at 7200RPM or 10,000RPM will still offer solid performance, and you have access to dramatically more storage capacity for a far lower cost per GB compared to an SSD. Western...

Boxee has yet another device it wants you to know about. It's called Boxee TV, a sort of do-everything set-top box that combines Live TV, Internet apps, and a "first-of-its-kind Cloud DVR" into a single package that costs $99. "With Boxee TV you’ll be able watch live TV broadcasts in beautiful HD from channels like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC,...

You know you have some interesting technology on your hands (well, fingers) when you manage to make Minority Report look outdated. Engineers at Autodesk Research are showing off a proof-of-concept Magic Finger, which is a tiny device that turns virtually any surface into a touch pad. The Finger uses a micro camera and an optical flow...

The last thing Foxconn needs right now is more negative publicity over working conditions at its factories in China, but it seems the iPhone manufacturer just can't seem to help itself. Foxconn's self-inflicted black eye this time around comes from fessing up that it hired underage interns at one of its facilities, some of which were found...

The holiday shopping season is just around the corner, and with it comes a flurry of temporary job openings. Even online companies are looking to bring workers into the fold. Case in point is Amazon, the mega e-tailer with warehouses spread across the nation. Anticipating a busy shopping season, Amazon plans to hire more than 50,000 seasonal...

ASUS announced the successor to the PadFone, the aptly named PadFone 2, at an event in Milan. The 4.7-inch (1280x720 HD) phone--which is close to being a phablet by itself--docks in the PadFone 2 Station to become a 10.1-inch tablet. The PadFone 2 sports a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip, an impressive 2GB of RAM, and a 13MP camera...

Samsung is the latest OEM to out its lineup of Windows 8 machines, and it certainly seems as though the big trend is toward laptop/tablet hybrids. According to VentureBeat, Samsung is calling its hybrid models “Smart PCs”, and two are slated to launch with Windows 8 on board. The ATIV Smart PC 700T will cost $1,200, while the ATIV...

LG's Optimus G is undoubtedly the company's flagship Android phone for the moment. We say "for the moment," because that may change if LG introduces the new Nexus phone. At any rate, the superphone will soon be hitting Sprint and AT&T, and both carriers will be selling it for $199.99 on a 2-year agreement. One of the hallmark features...

Microsoft's Surface launch is getting reach to happen, and it's all coming together with a massive, massive advertising campaign. Microsoft hasn't had a year this pivotal in years, with Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, Windows RT and the Surface tablet range all shipping in 2012. That's a lot of new material, and it's going to require a lot of...

Valve has been hitting on all cylinders lately, rolling out loads of updates, new features, and new titles on its Steam platform. One of the most intriguing features of Steam is Steam Greenlight, which allows the user community to help decide which games will debut on the platform. Developers can post information about a given game, including...

Most of the PCIe SSD cards on the market today, with the exception of products from Fusion-io, still rely on SATA or SAS-based NAND controllers to interface on the backend of the device to the NAND array. PCIe cards from OCZ, Intel, LSI and others use controllers from LSI SandForce or the like.  Fusion-io was the first company to introduce...

The latest news on the growing Apple/Samsung split confirms that the two companies are pulling away from each other. Reports now indicate that the A6, Apple's first custom CPU design, was built entirely without input from Samsung. Up to this point, the two manufacturers have been vital partners, even as they attacked each other in courtrooms...

LG's Nexus 4 smartphone hasn't exactly been kept a secret. Last week, the phone appeared in U.K. retailer Carphone Warehouse's inventory system. The phone has also appeared on a Web site in Belarus which claims to have obtained an LG Nexus 4. Now, thanks to pictures posted on Google +, the name has all but been confirmed as well. Over the...

Logitech expanded its keyboard lineup with the addition of the new Logitech Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard K810. This new keyboard is compatible with Windows, iOS and Android devices and features a layout designed for Windows 8. As you should expect from its name, this keyboard uses Bluetooth to connect to up to three of your favorite devices...

A little bit of perspective never hurts every once in awhile, and Saturday Night Live provided plenty of it in regards to the plethora of complaints related to Apple's recently launched iPhone 5 device. The general consensus is that the iPhone 5 is another winning product from Apple, but it's not without its flaws, including the fact that...

Windows 8 is so touch-oriented that using it on computer without a touchscreen is – while possible – not nearly as much fun or efficient. PC makers have been scrambling to get touchscreen systems ready for the Windows 8 launch, so it’s no surprise that Acer’s new All-In-Ones have touch screens. Acer also announced touchscreen...

With Nintendo getting ready to roll out its next generation Wii U console on November 18, 2012, the company decided now was a good time to cut the price of its existing Wii hardware, or at least to announce it. Effective October 28, you'll be able to snag a black Wii bundle for $130 (MSRP), down $20 from the previous price. To sweeten the...

Apple wasn't fooling anyone when it neglected to give its 13-inch MacBook Pro model the same Retina Display facelift that the 15-inch model received. Let's face it, Apple loves staggered release schedules, partly to build up hype to a particularly product or technology. We all know it's only a matter of time before the 13-inch model gets the...

The tiny Raspberry Pi mini PC got a major performance boost today, thanks to a RAM upgrade. The super-inexpensive computer now has 512MB of RAM instead of 256MB – at the same $35 price. And with the initial shipping hiccups behind them, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and its distributors are proving to be pretty flexible:...

CyberPowerPC's system lineup just grew by three today with the introduction of its Zeus Storm series of desktops, which is represented by a trio of gaming systems that swing whichever way you do (AMD or Intel processors; NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards). The least expensive of the three is the Zeus 1000, an AMD-based system that starts at $1,429....

It's said that one's man trash is another man's treasure, and while it appears Texas Instruments wants to rid itself of its mobile division, mega e-tailer Amazon sees the situation as a potential goldmine. To wit, Amazon is reportedly close to striking a deal to buy TI's mobile chip business, which incidentally is where the processors for...

It's pretty much a done deal, says CNBC. The financial news outlets has confirmed that Sprint will soon have a new majority owner: Japan's own Softbank. The Japanese mobile carrier is reportedly ready to pay $20 billion (yes, with a B!) for a 70% stake in Sprint, which is currently America's third-largest carrier. In what perhaps showcases...

Welp, here comes another major player in the music industry. Microsoft has just shown its much-rumored cards, officially unveiling plans to launch Xbox Music. The company isn't downplaying the service's significance, calling it the "ultimate all-in-one music service, featuring free streaming on Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets + PCs." The...

It’s no secret that the USPS has been struggling financially. Last year, about 3,700 post office around the country faced the threat of closing, and most were eventually be spared by having their operating hours slashed considerably. Even so, there seem to always be rumblings about the USPS dropping Saturday mail delivery. Further, other...

Extrapolate from this what you will, but when it comes to browsing the Web, Apple's iPhone 5 device is generating more traffic than Samsung's Galaxy S III, according to data collected by Chitika Insights. The research firm says it conducted a "user agent analysis on millions of mobile ad impressions," and did so for a week straight (October...

There have been more iPad Mini rumors lately than you can shake an Apple tree at, but rest assured, it will all soon be over. No, Apple hasn't confirmed the existence of a shrunken iPad tablet, however the Cupertino company is reportedly holding a press event on October 23rd, where it will almost assuredly launch the device. The invitation-only...

October 26th sure is creeping up quickly. And with that comes Windows 8. While Microsoft's new operating system has already hit pre-order status, and a slew of OEM partners are getting ready to showcase their own Win8 machines later this month, it looks like Microsoft's retail partners are getting into gear as well. Best Buy locations across...

When it comes to checking companies on their green claims, particularly in the consumer electronics space, there are few outlets that are scrutinized more highly than EPEAT. Particularly after Apple's in-then-out episode earlier in the year, EPEAT's updates are being watched like a hawk. Not only to see who gets in, but also who drops out....

It's been proven time and time again that Apple and Samsung are not on the best of terms, but despite that, Apple has still relied on Samsung for certain production up to this point. That Apple A6 under the hood of the latest iPhone (which we reviewed here)? It's built by Samsung, using its High-K Metal Gate process. As switching fabs...

It’s just a matter of days until Microsoft’s latest and (purportedly) greatest operating system is officially released on October 26th, but you can now preorder a Windows 8 Pro DVD upgrade pack for $70. The upgrade pack is available from a number of outlets, including Microsoft, Amazon, Staples, Office Depot, Best Buy, and more....

Google Play is about to become a safer place to download apps. It sounds weird to say that after all this time, but it's not terribly uncommon to find malware laying in wait -- just ask the 80,000+ users who downloaded a fake copy of Bad Piggies. With the latest update to Google Play, it's been discovered that Google has introduced a built-in...

Now that Mozilla has addressed the security flaw in Firefox 16 that prompted the developer to pull the build offline (it's now back online and ready for download), the focus has shifted to Firefox 17, which you can already snag via the beta channel. One of the things that's different with Firefox 17 is that it introduces preliminary support...

For a company that knows how to dish out the lawsuits, it's pretty funny to think what would happen if the tables were turned. Of course, it doesn't look like it's coming to come to that in this particular case. Shortly after iOS 6 hit the iPad, Swiss Federal Railways recognized that the clock icon in the new Clock app looked a lot like a...

It took Sprint a long time, and WiMAX will forever be remembered as a sore first shot at introducing true 4G to America, but the carrier is finally getting around to pushing LTE to the masses. The company, which is in talks with SoftBank for a possible tie-up, will be launching 4G LTE in 20 new cities "in the coming months." San Francisco,...

For our latest End-of-Summer giveaway, we partnered up with our good friends at ZOTAC and planned to give away a full-featured, ultra small form factor HTPC / mini-PC! This time around, you could have won a ZOTAC ZBOX nano AD12 Plus, complete with a dual-core APU and AMD Radeon HD 7340 series graphics, all wrapped up in...

When word hit the wire last fall that Microsoft's Windows 8 certification could prevent Linux from being installed to a PC, it caused ripples throughout the open-source community. While it's clear that Microsoft would love for its competition to cease to exist, this marked the first time in history where the company actually held the power...

Dell announced the new XPS 12, XPS One 27, and Inspiron One 23 today. All three of these new systems are built for Microsoft Windows 8 and are currently available for preorder. Dell's XPS 12 is a convertible laptop that can also function as a tablet thanks to its flip hinge touchscreen design. In tablet mode, the display completely covers...

Mobile data plans have significantly evolved over the last few years, especially in the US. When smartphones initially hit the scene, they were much more expensive and mostly incapable of using significant amounts of data due to numerous inherent limitations of the devices and available content. Wireless carriers knew this and attempted...

Apparently taking a billion dollars from Samsung wasn't enough, Apple wants its rival's engineers, too. It's getting one in Jim Mergard, who previously served Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for 16 years as vice president and chief engineer before accepting employment at Samsung. Now he's going to work for Apple. It's not unusual to see top level...

The coding and testing phase of Microsoft's next generation Office productivity suite -- Office 2013 -- is complete, with the focus now shifting to distribution. It starts with pushing the software out to RTM, or Release to Manufacturing, which means it's available to OEMs and business partners. "This is the most ambitious release of Office...

If you're afraid of snakes, find a place to hide because the new Fang Taipan that just slithered into CyberPowerPC's lineup is every bit as potent as we've seen from a gaming a notebook. Exactly how potent depends on your budget, and if money's no object, you can deck this thing out with dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M GPUs, gobs of RAM, and...

Will there or won't there be an iPad Mini? And if Apple is planning to launch a smaller size tablet, when will it launch? Those are both good questions, and unfortunately all we have to go on are rumors and speculation. One thing we can tell you, however, is that original iPad owners are the most likely to purchase an iPad Mini device, while...

It's long been suspected that Amazon either sells its Kindle hardware at cost or at a loss, choosing instead to price its mobile devices aggressively and rake in the profits through content sales, such movies, music, and apps. With regards to the new Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite models, Amazon isn't taking a hit on each sale, but it isn't...

Microsoft has high hopes for Windows 8, its next generation operating system that represents perhaps the biggest change to the Windows ecosystem since Windows 95. Intel would call this release a "tock"; Microsoft calls it the future of computing, one in which mobile and stationary products are unified with a touch-friendly front-end that's...

The advent of the DVR was a life-changing innovation--it sounds shallow to say, but admit it, it’s true--and now DIRECTV believes it’s taken the technology to new level with its DIRECTV Genie. The DVR lets you record up to 5 shows simultaneously, and playback is nearly as powerful; a single Genie DVR serves up to three additional...

You have to give Sony credit for trying new things; the company announced a gaggle of new T series, E series, and S series computers, but more notable is a tablet/notebook hybrid called the VAIO Duo 11 Ultrabook and the VAIO Tap 20, a tabletop PC designed for families. The Duo 11 is an interesting take on the promising tablet/ultrabook type...

There are quite a few names when it comes to rugged gear, but few speak volumes the way Panasonic does when it comes to rugged laptops. The company's newest Toughbook is out and about, with the SX2 looking as mighty as ever. The new machine offers up 14.5 hours of battery life and uses an Intel Core i5-3320M vPro CPU, a magnesium alloy body,...

After all of these years, there's still a time and a place for PowerLine networking. When routers just won't reach, and you really don't feel like running 100 feet of CAT5 cabling through your living room, D-Link's new PowerLine AV+ Mini Adapter kit is en route to the rescue. The company claims that the kit, which acts to extend your Internet's...

You have to love the ideas that spill forth from a good futurist such as Ray Kurzweil, who recently remarked at an event that the cloud is potentially capable of expanding human brain capacity. The “cloud” is a computing revolution (or evolution, or devolution, depending on who you ask) wherein data, programs, and more are decentralized...

On October 18, Verizon Wireless will launch two additional DROID RAZR smartphones: the DROID RAZR HD and DROID RAZR MAXX HD by Motorola. Both new phones are exclusive to Verizon Wireless.   Verizon Wireless touts the new DROID RAZR HD as the most compact 4.7-inch smartphone. This phone features Corning Gorilla Glass and DuPont KEVLAR...

In the dogfight between the mobile industry’s two titans, Apple and Google, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the fact that although the iPhone and iPad dominate on the hardware side, the Android operating system is used on far more devices. Actually, according to Reuters, Google CEO Eric Schimdt believes that there are four times...

Given all the frenzy around ultrabooks, Microsoft's Surface, and the low power potential of future chips like Haswell, you might think that desktop replacement-class laptops had fallen out of favor with modern laptop manufacturers. iBuyPower's CZ-17 "Valkyrie" is proof that they haven't -- and while its size and weight won't appeal to road...

Add this to HP’s long list of woes: the world’s No. 1 computer maker – isn’t. According to research firm Gartner, HP ceded the top spot to Lenovo (if only barely) in recent months. HP is still tops in the eyes of other research firms, but Lenovo is threatening its lead there, too. HP’s drop from the No. 1 position...

One of the downsides to Mozilla's rapid release schedule for Firefox is that new updates are at risk of being rushed to the public before they're ready for prime time. We're not sure if that's what happened here, but we do know that Mozilla yanked Firefox 16 from the web just a few hours after posting the download link, and it was because...

Samsung has begun sending out invites for its Galaxy Note II press event in the U.S., which will take place in New York on October 24, just under two weeks from now. The Galaxy Note II, or "the next big thing," as Samsung likes to refer to it, is hardly a secret at this point, but what remains a mystery are pricing details and specific carrier...

In what amounted to a bold move, Amazon took the unusual step of announcing a new product -- Kindle Fire H 8.9" 4G LTE Wireless -- without first receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Amazon was gambling on the fact that the FCC would eventually approve the 4G LTE radio plopped inside its flagship Kindle device,...

Google's team of photography ninjas have been working overtime to add even more locales to the search giant's Street View technology in Google Maps. The result of all that hard work? Google Maps is now more robust and fleshed out than ever before, having today rolled out an update that effectively doubled the number of special photo collections...

A self-proclaimed security enthusiast has exposed a major flaw in Facebook, one in which nearly every user's phone number can be used to view their personal information. His name is Suriya Prakash, and his method of cultivating numbers involves using Facebook's mobile site to bypass security limits imposed on the social networking site's regular...

Acer announced the new Aspire M5 Ultrabooks and Aspire V5 series notebooks. Both of these new lines feature Windows 8. The Aspire M5 Ultrabooks will be offered exclusively in Best Buy stores while the Aspire V5 series notebooks will be available at several retailers. The Aspire M5 Ultrabooks are designed to provide a combination of portability...

It's not a new concept, throwing iPads into seats at eateries. There's an entire wing of LGA airport in New York where those dining can order on an iPad, but that's not too shocking; after all, it's an airport. It needs iPads to help you forget about the pain of air travel these days. But a place like McDonald's seems like the last place on...

Communication can be hard, particularly if you and the person you're trying to speak to don't speak the same language. Google's language tools have been making it a little easier for years, but now some of that translation magic is sliding over to Gmail. The company has just added over 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration and IMEs—collectively...

The Motorola DROID RAZR M is billed as a mainstream DROID variant that's aimed at consumers looking to spend less than $100 on a new smartphone. With many Android-based LTE phones selling for $199 to $299 on-contract, having a $99 entry point is a pretty big deal. Perhaps more impressively, Motorola has managed to include a rather stout list...

In his annual letter to shareholders, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer indicated the company is headed in a new direction and will have a greater focus on hardware and online services in the future. "To best understand what we are about to deliver and what we're building toward, it's important to recognize a fundamental shift underway in our business...

Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky announced that there’s a new update available for Windows 8, and it offers some reliability and performance updates including better efficiency for improved battery life, performance improvements to applications and the Start screen, better audio and video playback, and improved application and driver...

When AMD launched its Radeon-branded memory last fall, it came as a bit of a surprise. In fact, in some ways it felt like AMD was trying anything in order to not keep all of its eggs in one basket, given the company's obvious struggles these past few years. Some thought that launch would be the end of it, that we'd never hear of AMD memory...

It’s likely that there are more than a few OEMs that are concerned about Microsoft’s sudden entry into the mobile hardware market with the Surface tablet and rumored Microsoft smartphone, but don’t count Lenovo among them. “Our products are very distinguishable, so I don’t see that there’s any conflict there...

Logitech introduced the new Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650, Logitech Touch Mouse T620, and Logitech Zone Touch Mouse T400. All three of these new products are designed to work with the Windows 8 touch interface. The Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650 features a large touch area with a glass surface that works with...

Twitter co-founder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey confirmed on Tuesday that he's accepted a reduced role at the microblogging service he helped create, but denied a report by the The New York Times that it had anything to do with employees complaining that he's "difficult to work with." According to the initial report, employees were frustrated...

Lost in the hubbub of the iPhone 5 launch and all the recent iPad Mini rumors is the fact that Apple also updated its iPod touch line. Like the iPhone 5, the new iPod Touch devices sport a larger Retina display that's now 4 inches, better hardware, Siri support, and for the first time an assortment of color options. They're also finally shipping...

The Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio sparked a controversy when it rolled out its "Student Locator Project," which requires students to wear ID badges with embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) chips on a lanyard around their neck. Students are required to wear the tracking badges at all times during school...

Over 82,000 Google Chrome users were duped into installing a malicious browser plug-in from the Chrome web store when what they thought they were downloading was a free copy of Bad Piggies, Rovio's latest title in the Angry Birds franchise. How could such a thing happen? A search in the Google Chrome web store for "Bad Piggies" turns up a...

Verizon Wireless already boasts the most robust 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in the United States, and now it's announcing plans to expand to new territories well ahead of schedule, further distancing itself from the competition. On October 18th (a week from tomorrow), Big Red will flip the 4G LTE switch in its 400th market, at which...

There's a new Slingbox. Believe it? You better. After almost four years, Sling Media has finally introduced two new pieces of hardware this week. The Slingbox 350 and 500 are the new boxes on the block, with the 500 being the one to snag for those who need Wi-Fi built right in. The company's prior boxes required a direct hardwire Ethernet...

E-readers are a dime a dozen, but they aren't quite a dime in cost. But it's getting close. While e-reader prices overall have been sinking lately, this sets a new bar. A new low bar, that is. The new Txtr Beagle is said to be the world's smallest e-reader, and perhaps the cheapest as well. It doesn't require any cables or chargers, and is...

The creative folks at Lenovo are ready to hit the ground running when Windows 8 ships on October 26th. In preparation for "Windows 8 Day," as we'll call it, Lenovo is debuting this evening four funktastic looking convertible notebooks, each with their own twist on the flexible form factor, including one device aptly named "Twist." We'll go...

Logitech announced the latest addition to its G-Series line in the form of the new Logitech G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard. This keyboard features high-speed, low-noise mechanical keys and adjustable dual-zone backlighting. Logitech realizes rapid command entry is important to gamers so the G710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard features...

Sprint is expanding its lineup of 4G LTE devices with the addition of two new smartphones, a tablet, and a USB modem. First up is the new LG Optimus G smartphone which features a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera along with unique camera features and controls. This smartphone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU quad-core processor. The...

Love 'em or hate 'em, CAPTCHAs remain one of the most valuable tools for website owners to help keep comment spam to a minimum. While figuring out exactly what a CAPTCHA is trying to tell you can be frustrating as a user, the alternative is to peruse a comments section littered with spam, scams and other garbage. That's not to say that the...

Wearable computing is fascinating, both for the many practical challenges designers must solve before a device is functional and convenient and for the wonderful possibilities of it all. Google Glass is definitely currently one of the more high-profile endeavors in that regard, but Microsoft is at it, too. Microsoft Research has been developing...

The U.S. Congress may not be so keen on China’s ZTE, but if European consumers like what they see from the company, ZTE set-top boxes for 3D TVs may be populating living rooms soon. According to a report from Bloomberg, ZTE will release set-top boxes running the Android operating system that will offer video calling and support HTML...

It’s not clear how many jobs will be lost, but according to a Reuters report, at least a small percentage of Intel’s McAfee security division will be getting the pink slip soon. McAfee has about 7,100 employees, so even a “small percentage” could be a lot of people. McAfee is best known for its desktop PC security software,...

Amazon is in the unique position of being able to transform its business model to stay current with the times. For example, with demand for DVDs giving way to streaming options, Amazon has decided to be aggressive with its Prime Instant Video service by offering cable network Epix a deal it simply couldn't refuse. Citing an "executive directly...

Nokia can ill afford to lose hired talent at this point as the company tries to reestablish itself as a major player in the handset market, but even so, it will have to forge ahead without Ilari Nurmi, who served as vice president of product marketing. After 15 years of service, Nurmi has left the building. "I have left Nokia. I am thankful...

NVIDIA has been on a tear as of late, releasing a constant stream of GPUs over the last few weeks. In mid-August, the GPU giant released the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and less than a month later, followed up with the GeForce GTX 660 and GeForce GTX 650. Here we are now, less than a month since that release and NVIDIA is at the ready again with yet...

The incredibly fast growing Windows 8 market just got a little bit bigger today with the unveiling of Acer's Iconia W510 tablet PC. Billed as a "triple threat convertible," the W510 can be used in three different ways: as a full-fledged notebook, conventional tablet PC, or a presentation device when rotating the keyboard dock to function as...

When it comes to game currency, the points system sucks, can we all agree on that? Converting dollars into points that are only available in certain increments inherently causes you to overspend, and it does it in a number of ways. For one, you may buy a bigger block than you would otherwise need if you could just pay with real money. It's...

More good news for Windows Phone users. Those hoping to snag an upcoming Windows Phone 8 on T-Mobile USA will be able to look to the Lumia 810. It'll be exclusive to the network's airwaves, offering access to HSPA+ data, a 4.3" OLED WVGA Clear Black display, an 8MP camera on the rear, 1.2MP camera on the front, and a slew of exclusive Nokia...

Android's making some serious moves, and even LG is jumping at the chance to partner up with Google and T-Mobile USA. The company's new Optimus L9 was just announced for America's fourth-place carrier, boasting a 4.5" qHD display (using Gorilla Glass 2), a 2150mAh battery, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1080p...

AMD is launching its first tablet-optimized APU today, in a bid to challenge Intel's de facto dominance of the Windows 8 tablet market. Dubbed Hondo, the new Z-60 draws less power than any Brazos-based part AMD has launched before. Some of you may remember that AMD launched a tablet processor last year, but the Z-01 -- codenamed Desna -- was...

Here’s your number of the day: $20 billion. That’s how much cash was crapped away on patent lawsuits and litigation over the last two years--just in the smartphone industry, according to the New York Times. Even more sad is that for the first time, Google and Apple spent more last year on patent lawsuits and acquisitions meant...

Quick, how many phone numbers do you actually know off the top of your head? Ask anyone under 40 and you’ll probably get the same answer. They know their own for sure, and their spouse’s cell, and probably their parents’ home phone number as well because they’ve had the same one for the last couple of decades. But that’s...

According to new research sponsored by HP, the cost and frequency of cybercrime has increased for the third straight year. The third-annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study shows the occurrence of cyberattacks has more than doubled since 2010. The cost of the attacks has increased by nearly 40 percent over the same three year period. The study was...

ViewSonic announced the new TD2220 touch enabled LED. This 22-inch monitor features dual point optical touch technology and a scratch resistant surface. The TD2220 supports Full HD 1080p resolution and offers DVI with HDCP and VGA inputs. The monitor offers a 20,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and a response time of 5ms. The TD2220 also features...

Tensions with China's government are already at an uncomfortable level, but who would have guessed that they would trickle into mobile? Yet that's exactly what's happening, following an investigation by a congressional panel into Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE. According to the resulting House Intelligence Committee report, the two firms...

The Start button in Windows has changed in form over the years, but we could always count on it to function as a convenient launch pad for all our programs, applications, and tasks. So what does Microsoft do now that we're all addicted to using the Start menu? It removes the item in Windows 8, of course, hoping to nudge users into sticking...

Cord cutting is still pretty painful. You can get some content through Hulu Plus, a bit through Roku, and a lot via Netflix or Amazon. But live sporting events and certain dramas are still locked away in the pay-TV word, far away from those using the Internet to get their content fix. But YouTube is moving in a direction that may one day make...

There's a certain moment when most franchises realize that they've "arrived." And that moment could be when you manage to get a Star Wars license. Angry Birds, the ever-popular game from Rovio, will soon be launching a Star Wars-braded version. Make no mistake; this is no knockoff. This is a legitimate Star Wars branding, so get ready to see...

It's a little bit ironic that Zynga is having a tough time adjusting to mobile. Or perhaps it's fitting. Like Facebook, the social platform that was so pivotal in fueling its success, Zynga hasn't been doing so hot as a publicly trade company. Just a few days ago, Zynga warned that it expects to post a net loss of between $90 million and $105...

Today kicks off another work week, and that inevitably means another round of iPad Mini rumors, a common occurrence the past month or so. The latest unofficial chatter relates to the iPad Mini's production and launch date, which is expected to be available to purchase in early November. Indications up to this point suggest Apple will hold...

It wouldn't be an iPhone launch without some kind of controversy, it just wouldn't. (Un)luckily for Apple, the iPhone 5 is no exception. It has a tendency to scratch way too easily, and is also prone to mucking up brightly lit photos with a purple haze. In a private email exchange with one of its iPhone 5 customers, Apple called the built-in...

It's official, folks -- I will not be running for President or any other political office. I don't have a grand desire to enter a life of politics anyhow, but if I did, my past (and present) would come back to haunt me. You see, I'm a thief and a damn good pickpocket. Probably one of the best in all of Tamriel. I've killed, maimed, and even...

The digital shopping world is firmly upon us. Target is making the lives of parents a little easier this winter, with the addition of QR Code shopping. The company is planning to prop up 20 popular toys in a special section of the store in the weeks leading up to the holidays, with each of them boasting QR codes. The company will let parents...

It's no secret the biggest downside to Android is fragmentation, the dirty F-word that comes with the territory of playing in Google's open source playground. Fortunately for Android fans, Google's mobile platform has tremendous upside, but it doesn't help when handset makers highlight the negatives, as Motorola recently did by reneging on...

These days, retail companies are moving in all sorts of interesting new directions in a bid to remain interesting. Just look at Toys R Us, which is not only offering a tablet this holiday season, but will also be launching a new family-friendly digital entertainment service. The program is called Toys R Us Movies, which will be accessible...

While Apple’s maps app came up far short with consumers, Google Maps maintains its popularity as the watermark to target, while competitors elbow for market share. Another serious, mostly unsung contend in the maps market, squarely aligned with the Windows Phone platform, is Nokia. Nokia, with its many recent woes, has an impressive...

Despite the fact that 802.11ac products have barely even penetrated the market up to this point, we now have another standard to keep our eyes on: 802.11ad. No, that's not some odd date format talking about the year 802, but rather an upcoming wireless standard that's said to be more revolutionary than evolutionary - the latter of which 802.11ac...

It's been a nice, long ride for the conventional PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot, but with the introduction of Intel's game-changing Haswell platform, the Santa Clara chip maker is reportedly doing away with support for the legacy ports. If you've been holding onto an earlier model Sound Blaster card or any other peripheral still...

Paul Allen is about to richer with a single transaction, if you can imagine that’s even possible; the Microsoft co-founder and Seattle Seahawks owner’s investment group, Vulcan Inc., owns a huge swath of office space--1.8 million square feet--in Seattle’s South Lake Union area, and Amazon is looking to buy it. Amazon is reportedly...

There's big trouble brewing at Foxconn's Zhengzhou factory in China. According to local reports, as of yesterday afternoon, between three thousand and four thousand workers went on strike at the plant, which produces iPhone 5 devices for Apple. Foxconn is often the topic of unfair working conditions, and that's what this work stoppage is all...

Well that was fast. For those of you who purchased (or are considering the purchase of) a Kindle Paperwhite ebook reader from Amazon, you can already jailbreak the device. The modded code is "heavily based" on a previously known hack for the Kindle 4/Touch, updated with a handful of tweaks and a new delivery method. It's a fairly simple process,...

Roku's Streaming Stick is about to get even more powerful. The USB thumb drive, which plugs into an MHL port and gives your television all sorts of new abilities, will soon be able to plug into something else: a 3M projector. It's the first product announced to truly work in concert with the Streaming Stick, dubbed the "3M Streaming Projector."...

Sad days for Blockbuster. The once mighty video rental chain has fallen on hard times in a world where Netflix, VUDU and other video streaming services are proving more affordable and convenient. There was, however, a glimmer of hope. Charlie Ergen had planned to have Dish Network acquire Blockbuster from bankruptcy in April of 2011, and then...

The smart watch is one of those devices that usually sounds much more exciting than it turns out to be, but this time, things might be different. For one, the industry has been building smartphones and other tiny-but-high-tech devices for years, making a smart watch not as much of a technological jump as it has been in the past. For another,...

Just in time for some last-minute testing, Mozilla has released the first preview of its Firefox Web browser built for Windows 8's 'Modern UI' interface. Admittedly, 'Modern UI' doesn't quite roll off the tongue like 'Metro', so Mozilla has decided to stick with the term despite Microsoft's opposition to it. 'Firefox Metro Preview' can...

Talk about ending the work week on a high note. Microsoft and 343 Industries today posted the first episode of the Halo 4 live-action webseries designed to introduce the Halo franchise to people new or otherwise unfamiliar with the game. Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn is a 20-minute clip, which we've embedded below, available in Full HD 1080p on...

Rovio may have learned how to wield the Force. According to the company's Angry Birds Tumblr page, a Star Wars tie-in to the highly popular game is in the works and will be unveiled on Monday in Times Square, New York. Whether that entails a new game remains to be seen, but whatever it is, it appears those PO'd birds are going with the Dark...

Starting in early November, coffee drinkers will be able to use the Square Wallet app on their iPhone or Android smartphone at Starbucks. This is the first national chain for Square’s new app, and it’s a big win for the company as it expands its mobile payment business. Still, with many Starbucks customers already using...

To help make sure that Windows 8 is as polished as can be when it launches on October 26th, Microsoft will tomorrow being rolling out updates for the OS' built-in apps - more specifically, those inside of the 'Modern UI' interface. A couple of days ago, we relayed the thoughts that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had regarding the OS,...

Samsung owes Apple in the neighborhood of a billion dollars after a jury found the company guilty of copying the look and feel of Apple devices and running afoul of several design patents. The high profile trial was rarely without drama, often times at the dismay at Judge Lucy Koh, who warned both companies on numerous occasions to shape up...

Less than a month after it launched, Sony has reportedly stopped selling Xperia Tablet S devices due to a design defect that could let water into what's supposed to be a water resistant device. It was discovered that some units being sold had a tiny gap just wide enough between the display and chassis to let water inside, which might not have...

Steve Jobs is gone, but certainly not forgotten. As hard as it is to fathom, he's been dead for exactly one year, having lost a hard fought bout with pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011. He passed away in his home in California, though he left behind a consumer culture for Apple products that doesn't exist for any other company or product...

Get ready to make room for one more mobile OS; Finland’s Jolla announced that it will unveil its Sailfish OS on November 21-22 at the Slush conference in Helsinki. Don’t expect much in the way of hardware, mind you, but the company will show off the UI and talk shop about the SDK and application ecosystem. The company is indeed...

Earlier today, it looked like a marriage of T-Mobile and MetroPCS was all but a formality, but we suppose that’s why they have the ceremony, as a late-breaking report indicates that Sprint may be planning to make a bid of its own for MetroPCS. According to Reuters, Sprint’s big cheeses will meet on Friday at noon to decide whether...

Microsoft likes to read too, you know? If not, you do now. Barnes & Noble has today announced the completion of their previously announced strategic partnership in NOOK Media LLC, a recently formed Barnes & Noble subsidiary that relies on a partnership with Microsoft. The new company is being established in order to further embrace...

Subsidized netbooks didn't last too long on major cellphone carriers, and while tablets have fared somewhat better, they've hardly been marketed like the flagship phones. That may soon be changing once Windows 8 comes to tablets. AT&T has this week announced that two major Windows 8-based slates will be on its shelves in the near future....

Do you ever take a picture with your phone’s camera simply because it’s easier to put it on Facebook from the phone than it would be with your full camera? If so, you’re the kind of person AT&T would like to talk to. The mobile carrier and Samsung announced a new Android-based camera that boasts a 4G connection. And with...

They’re calling it “anticipatory computing”, and it’s a big step forward in the way we’ll interact with our computing systems, or at least that’s what Expect Labs will be working on with the $2.4 million it received in investor funding today from Google Ventures and Greylock Partners. MindMeld, which was...

Well, it finally happened: Facebook has cracked the 1 billion user mark. This was an eventuality that was obviously coming, but it’s nevertheless a staggering thing to behold. In typical Mark Zuckerberg fashion, the Facebook founder posted this understated note this morning: This morning, there are more than one billion people using...

Users frustrated with Apple’s built-in maps app in iOS 6 have another option: use Google Maps in the Safari mobile web browser. Today, Google announced that its the mobile web-based version of its maps service was getting even better with the addition of Street View on mobile web browsers. Using Street View on your mobile device is the...

Navigating from Point A to Point B can be tricky, especially these days when you never know if you're going to run into an Apple user wandering aimlessly using the broken Maps program in iOS 6. Fortunately for them, they have options, including the TomTom Navigation app. As luck would have it, the same app is now available to Android users...

As we inch closer to the Windows 8 launch, taking place on October 26th, it's becoming ever-more clear that Microsoft has one seriously ambitious day on its hands. Not even taking into account the fact that Windows 8 is a major shift for Microsoft's OS, the company and its legion of partners will be unveiling the first-ever consumer Windows...

Do you know who's cooler than the girl with the dragon tattoo? Megan Orsi, a former student at the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts who's currently a wife and mother to an 18-month-old son. Orsi's also a Photoshop user and is so passionate about the program that she had a Photoshop toolbar tattooed on her arm. She's...

Former Ebay CEO and current chief of Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman, inherited a company that was (and remains) on top of the PC pile, but also one that was struggling to find direction. She replaced Léo Apotheker, a software guy who wanted to exit HP from the PC business and focus on software and printing, a strategy that didn't mesh...

For those of your rocking a PlayBook tablet, be advised that Research In Motion (RIM) has now made available a new version of its mobile operating system, PlayBook OS 2.1. There are three main things RIM has chosen to highlight in this latest update, not the least of which is improved Android application support. On that front, PlayBook OS...

Most economists will agree that you have to spend money to make money, but the trick is not to go overboard with the former. It's a balancing act Sony finds itself in at this very moment, having spent $1.8 billion in just the last three months acquiring companies and assets, such as buying a 51 percent stake in Olympus for $645 million just...

Hot on the heels of the Windows 8-based Aspire S7 series of ultrabooks comes the Acer Iconia W700 tablet PC. The tablet runs Windows 8 on an 11.6-inch 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen and includes a cradle and keyboard so you can use the tablet as a notebook when you need to type on a full keyboard. The Iconia W700 includes a 1.8GHz Intel...

Samsung and HTC have been knocking it out of the park when it comes to Android-based flagships, but what about LG? It's getting a bit of help this week with the support of AT&T, which has just announced that the high-end LG Optimus G will be coming to its airwaves soon. The 8.45mm phone boasts a 4G LTE radio, a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core...

And just like that, it's a done deal. T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS are going to be one, assuming the governmental approvals go through. Not long after the AT&T / T-Mobile marriage fell apart at the doorsteps of the chapel, it looks like this one's going to stick. Even combined, the two carriers won't jump Sprint, Verizon or AT&T in terms...

Logitech has dedicated itself to developing one remote to rule them all, as it were, and today the company announced its latest effort, the Logitech Harmony Remote. The device’s premiere feature is the touchscreen nesting in the middle of the remote. Using the bright, 2.4-inch screen, you can add and scroll through up to 50 saved favorite...

For as firmly as Intel appears to believe in its ultrabook form factor, the same apparently can’t be said for the buying public. Although ultrabooks do offer plenty of tantalizing features for consumers looking for power, performance, and portability in the same package, the things just cost too much right now. At least that’s...

When Microsoft unveiled its own tablet, the Windows maker raised a bit of ire with its tablet hardware partners that we were also building tablets to run Windows 8 and Windows RT, and there were likely concerns among those same companies that Windows might develop its own phone, too. That prospect was no doubt especially disconcerting for...

HTC finally saw fit to formally introduce its One X+ smartphone, which is the successor to the popular One X. The refreshed version looks pretty much identical to the original, but on the inside, it sports upgraded hardware, including a 1.7GHz Tegra 3 processor from NVIDIA and a faster clocked GPU that runs at 520MHz. According to HTC, the...

Apple upped the ante in the tablet market with its Retina display found in the third-generation iPad, which offers a resolution of 2048x1536. Since then, some Android tablet manufacturers have followed suit by increasing screen resolution and providing a better display overall. Acer's latest Iconia Tab A700 is one such tablet that aims to...

It appears as though Samsung is prepping a smaller size Galaxy S III device to launch a little over a week from now. The company's German division has been sending out press invites, and while it doesn't come right out and confirm the existence of a Galaxy S III Mini, it strongly hints at it. Translated via Google, the text reads: "As large...

If you’re still buying paper books at the bookstore, you might have a hard time with this one: athlete autographs are going digital. That’s right, trying to catch your favorite player’s attention is no longer the only way to get him to sign memorabilia. Start-up Egraphs.com is offering digital autographs from MLB players...

We had the absolute pleasure of attending Maker Faire 2012 in New York last weekend, where we got to see first hand the hubbub surrounding 3D printing, a promising technology that's been receiving so much attention lately, and rightfully so. It's clear to us and to many others that 3D printing isn't a passing fad, but perhaps an evolutionary...

The web is a dangerous place, and one of the threats that emerged in 2011 was that of malnets, or malware networks, which are just what they sound like. These infrastructures are designed to last beyond a single attack and allow cybercriminals to adapt to new vulnerabilities and launch malware attacks over and over again. Malnets grew in popularity...

Oh brother, here we go again. Quick history lesson before we dive into the hoopla surrounding the iPhone 5. When the original iPhone 4 model launched (not the iPhone 4S, mind you), users reported issues with dropped calls, spotty connections, and weak signals when talking on the device. It turns out the internal antenna was poorly placed,...

Don't particularly enjoy some of the design decisions Microsoft has made with Windows 8? You're in good company - even Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen finds things to complain about, especially with regards to multi-monitor usage. One of the more common complaints about Windows 8 made by the general public is that it's "made for a tablet",...

Ever heard of outsourcing? What about the reverse of that? While most PC makers have been shipping manufacturing to foreign lands for years, it's a Chinese-based company that's looking to bring some of those jobs back to America. Go figure. Lenovo, the company responsible for ThinkPad notebooks, has announced that it'll start producing PCs...

My, how the tables have turned. It seems like ages ago when AT&T and T-Mobile were set to merge, and then, that fell all to pieces. But it seems as if T-Mobile just can't solder on as a solo outfit. This week, MetroPCS -- one of the larger prepaid carriers in America -- confirmed that they are in talks with T-Mobile's parent company (Deutsche...

Valve said that it was launching a spate of non-gaming software titles on its hugely popular cloud gaming service Steam, and today the company made good on its promise by introducing six of them. In a press release, Valve stated that “many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features such as easy installation,...

The original Nest has been improving the reputation of the home thermostat for less than a year, but a new model is already out. The second-generation Nest has a more streamlined build and better software for keeping your home at the appropriate temperature throughout the day. You can pre-order today or pick up a Nest at a retailer in mid-October...

Will there or won't there be an iPad Mini device in Apple's future? That's the million dollar question that no one seems to know for sure, except for all those unnamed sources who all claim to have the inside scoop, some of which are now saying the iPad Mini will be unveiled this month. Take this with a grain of salt, but CNN Money says a...

Box, which has become in some ways the enterprise-class version of cloud storage provider Dropbox (even though they’re in no way related), is continuing its quest to entice businesses with its portfolio of cloud storage solutions. Months after boosting its performance by a purported factor of 10 with the Box Accelerator, Box has developed...

Renowned overclocker Andre Yang is no stranger to breaking clockspeed records, such as the time he pushed an AMD Bulldozer processor to 8.58GHz just four days after he already broke the record using the same chip. Now he's turned his attention to Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture, and with the help of an Asus Maximus V Extreme motherboard, Yang...

3D Printing is without a doubt one of the most intriguing emerging technologies--just check out our coverage of the recent Maker Faire in New York--and it was only a matter of time before the (well, any) new technology clashed with current laws and ideals. Second-year law student Cody Wilson runs a site called Defense Distributed whose purpose...

If you use LinkedIn much at all, you’ve seen prominent role people’s status updates are taking in spurring conversation at the professional networking site. LinkedIn is looking for ways to improve that communication, so it’s launching what amounts to a panel of industry influencers who will be providing frequent and...

The summer may be coming to an end, but it’s just the beginning of our latest giveaway here at HotHardware! For our latest End-of-Summer giveaway, we’ve partnered up with our good friends at ZOTAC and are giving away a full-featured, ultra small form factor HTPC / mini-PC! This time around, you could win a ZOTAC...

If you previously scratched Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 device off of your holiday wish list following a temporary court-ordered sales ban in the U.S., you can go ahead and put it back on. A U.S. court has now removed the injunction, and though the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is no longer Samsung's flagship tablet, it could rake in some additional dollars...

At the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) 2012 convention in Japan this morning, Sharp gave attendees a glimpse of its new 5-inch Full HD 1080p LCD panels for smartphones. That's right -- while the majority of Ultrabook makers struggle to cram 1080p displays into thin and light laptops, Sharp is getting it done on smartphone-sized...

Another month is in the books (September), and that means it's time to examine the state of Android. What did we find? Well, according to data posted on the Android Developers blog, Gingerbread (Android 2.3 to 2.3.2) is still the most widely used version of Google's mobile operating system and is installed on more than half of all active Android...

The slim and light are getting slimmer and lighter. This morning, Acer announced the Aspire S7 Series of ultrabooks, the smallest of which has an 11.6-inch IPS touch screen at the full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The 11.6-inch Acer Aspire S7-191. The Aspire S7-191, which has the 11.6-inch display, is 0.47 inches thick and...

If it's good enough for James Bond, surely it's good enough for you, right? Sony and AT&T are hoping so, as the phone showcased in the upcoming Skyfall flick will be heading exclusively to AT&T in the U.S. The company's Xperia TL will offer a 13MP camera, integrated NFC, 4G LTE radio, and a 4.6" 1080x720 resolution display, which is...

Edge-to-edge glass is the new "in" thing, as witnessed on such beautiful devices as the Motorola RAZR M. ViewSonic's hoping to grab a little bit of that attention with its new VX70Smh-LED series of LCDs. The company just introduced the 27" VX2770Smh-LED, 23" VX2370Smh-LED and 22" VX2270Smh-LED, all of which boast a frameless bezel, SuperClear...

Late last week, we posted a glimpse of what AMD had in store with their latest A-Series APUs for desktop systems. In that article, we were able to officially unveil the Virgo platform and discuss speeds and feeds, GPU performance, and power consumption characteristics. However, we weren’t able to disclose any CPU performance numbers,...

Not every superstar has a great singing voice, so Simon Cowell and Will.i.am are starting a project that will highlight heroes who are more at home in a lab or a garage than on stage. So says Will.i.am, who described the new TV show as a place where young people can express themselves and cited mathematics and sciences as ways people might...

If you don’t know what Netflix’s “Just For Kids” is all about, just turn to the closest parent and ask. For them, it’s one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century, a cornucopia of streaming kids’ programming that includes the likes of “Dora the Explorer”, “Shaun the Sheep”,...

The best way to save on your cell data usage is to switch your smartphone over to WiFi whenever you’re around a hotspot--unless you have a new iPhone 5 and are a Verizon Wireless customer, in which case a glitch apparently caused some phones to burn through the customer’s data allowance when it was supposed to be connected to a...

So here it is, the mid-2012 refresh of Apple's trend setting MacBook Air line.  In all likelihood, the MacBook Air inspired Intel's Ultrabook specification, created so that Windows users would have access to the same overall experience on their platform of choice. The MacBook Air is the real McCoy, so to speak, and though technically...

While we spent Sunday watching the Patriots beat up on the Bills, Linus Torvalds was busy putting the final touches on the Linux 3.6 kernel, which he released in final form to the public yesterday afternoon. He had previously contemplated building one more Release Candidate, which would have been the eighth, but after a week since announcing...

Think your week was rough? Trying running security for a U.S. bank, many of which were hammered with non-stop cyberattacks for more than seven days. According to reports, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and around half a dozen banks in all saw significant traffic surges and suffered disruptions in service, which are typically telltale...

For a police officer, an injury can change your career. Get hurt, and you might not be able to complete the physically demanding tasks your job requires each day. Jeremy Robins, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves, has figured out a way for disabled officers to bring their training and experience back to the job: telebots. As...

Rovio's wildly successful Angry Birds franchise needs no introduction. But Bad Piggies? That one needs some explaining. Looking to, um, piggyback on the success of Angry Birds, Bad Piggies is what Rovio hopes will be the company's next mega hit. While the main characters look familiar, don't expect the same type of game play. Your job in the...

As any parent will attest, it's usually your kids that make you feel old, as all their little (and big) milestones are constant reminders of how quickly time truly does fly. In this business of covering all things technology, where things move at a feverish pace, iconic websites that stand the test of time have the same effect. So it goes...

Well here's a bit of promising news. According to a survey conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights for the United Parcel Service (UPS), around 85 percent of technology executives polled in the U.S. believe President Obama will successfully achieve his goal of doubling exports within the the next three years. Going back to 2010, only 40 percent...

It isn't the most beautiful desktop, but it's also not designed to be a showpiece. Instead, the Lenovo ThinkCentre M78 is designed to be a business workhorse, engineered to serve medium and large businesses with an AMD A-series APU. It'll support up to 32GB of DDR3 memory, and it's available in a traditional tower or small form factor. You...

Who says HP's not in the tablet business? While the original Windows-powered HP Slate feels like it was introduced (and soon left to be forgotten) ages ago, the new ElitePad 900 is hoping to dodge that same fate. It's a business-centric tablet, notably sidestepping comparisons with the consumer-friendly iPad, boasting a 10.1" diagonal touch...