The release notes for the build do not give any specific information on what new features are in the beta. However, there has been mention of “iPad 2,4″ found in the code, and this could be a sign of a 3G iPad 2 that will work on Sprint’s networks in the U.S., seeing as how Sprint is the latest carrier to get the iPhone 4S. Currently, the iPad 2 3G is only compatible with AT&T and Verizon.

It was previously believed that the next update to come before the year’s end would be 5.0.2, which was to further fix the battery performance that seems to be affecting many users. Seeing as how the 5.1 beta has now been released, it seems likely that Apple is solely focused on this update, and not another minor patch like 5.0.1. Apple has a pattern of putting out two or three developer betas before an update is completed, so it will probably be a few weeks before 5.1 is available for users to download.

[via Cnet]

Co-developed with Planar, the two existing prototypes come in sizes of 21.9″ by 33.9″ with an aspect ratio of 1:1.5 and 48″ by 27″ with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Much like tablets, the displays have ambient light sensors and also sensors for motion, meaning they have the ability to turn on and off by themselves, conserving power. Also borrowing from our tablets is Samsung’s goal of bringing a market-like service to the panels where users could search for new art to display and purchase it right from the device.

Samsung intends for this to be a new market of displays. They claim artist are eager to start making works with the new technology, and their goal is to develop this into a new medium. There is no information on pricing available at this time, however it’s safe to assume it will be much pricier than a standard LCD TV set. Samsung says the first SM’ART Gallery Panels will be available sometime in mid-2012.

[via Chip Chick]

When digital content makes it’s way from a secure source, like a Blu-ray player, to the screen, it travels along Intel’s protected system. A central piece of the encryption code was briefly leaked online last year, and it sparked Prof. Dr. Ing. Tim Güneysu’s, of Ruhr-Universität Bochum, interest. His intent was not to make it easier to make illegal copies of media, but to actually test the strength of Intel’s encryption. The professor’s concern is over the implications this could have to the military or other institutions where security is vital.

The encryption is tapped into between the media source and it’s destination, and then sending it to another location. Güneysu says “We were able to tap the HDCP encrypted data streams, decipher them and send the digital content to an unprotected screen via a corresponding HDMI 1.3-compatible receiver.” He explains further, “We used the commercial ATLYS board from the company Digilent with a Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA, which has the necessary HDMI interfaces and a serial RS232 port for communication.”

The scientists full results will be presented at ReConFig 2011 in Cancun, Mexico next week.
Güneysu believes the problem will remain in the years to come, because although Intel has already released HDCP 2.0, it features backward compatibility, meaning the security hole is still present.

[via Physorg]

It’s clear that is has the standard set of Android app icons, but it’s unknown at this time what version of the Android OS it’s running or what it’s specs might be. Design wise, it seems to be keeping in line with it’s older sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S, however in a smaller screen size and with a lower resolution screen. With the naming scheme for Samsung running from Y to M to S as announced earlier this year, we’ve got to guess that this’ll end up closer to the Young side.

Here in the USA, we might never see such a device as we’ve already got such gems as the Samsung Dart, but you never know! What fabulous magic does this tiny handset hold? It appears to have a camera with flash, but it’s defining features/characteristics are still a mystery. We’ll find out soon!

[via Sammy Hub]

Best Buy‘s sale has a big selection of laptops under $500. The cheapest laptop on Best Buy’s Cyber Monday special is the Toshiba C655D-S5302 AMD E-Series based Laptop at $279.99. Best Buy also has deals on Apple 13″ MacBook Pro which is discounted by $150 at $1,049.99, and the 15″ is priced at $1599.99.

Those who are wanting Amazon’s Kindle, now is the best time to head over to Amazon‘s page. They have the Kindle DX 9.7″ 3G marked down from $379 to $259!

Dell has a section of their Inspiron notebooks discounted by at least $50; with Inspiron 14R starting at $399.99. Monitors, and accessories like cameras and TVs also marked down for a limited time. Dell has a Wii bundle with new Super Mario Bros for only $134.99.

Verizon Wireless has the Motorola Xoom 4G LTE tablet marked down to $299.99 only online. Also marked down is the LG Revolution at $99.99, and the Motorola Droid Pro and Samsung Illusion are both free with two year contract.

If you found great deals around the web for Cyber Monday, feel free to share on the comment below.

DS-5 Community Edition’s purpose is to make life easier for Android application developers. The toolkit allows one to see processor information, as well as allowing the development of Java and C/C++ code. It also includes an integrated graphical debugger.

The toolkit features the ARM Streamline Performance Analyzer, which captures information on system performance and makes it easier for developers to see problems in their code and make it more efficient. Support for Streamline can be added with an open source driver from Linaro.

The goal is to help developers create amazing user experiences with their applications. John Carnish, ARM’s executive vice president and general manager, system design division says “ARM DS-5 Community Edition offers developers an easy to use environment for debugging and optimizing C/C++ code. This allows them to take full advantage of ARM processor technology using native code to deliver the performance and functionality that consumers demand.”

More information is available at the DS-5 CE website.

Plex is a software that will play local and online media. When connected with a TV, Plex will receive user commands from SiriProxy. The video shows verbal commands taken from Siri used to select and play media on the Plex connected TV. Not only are instructions received almost immediately, but you can say more than just to play a show. The user gives instructions to play the latest episode of a show, as well as specifying an episode number within a particular season.

This could be a real indicator of what’s to come with Apple’s future TV plans. In what other ways/devices could Siri be successfully implemented beyond just iOS? Will we soon be using Siri to control everything from our microwaves to our automobiles to our electric toothbrushes and more? We shall see! Also don’t forget to check out our full review of the iPhone 4S, currently the only place where you can get Siri without hacking!

[via TiPb]