SlashGear Week in Review - Week 12 2011

Another week in the history books and another Week in Review for you to check out. We started the week last week with the alarms not working on older OS versions of the iPhone. At least the alarms were an hour early and not an hour late. The only fix for me was updating to the latest version of the OS. Terminix and its ad agency created a billboard in Dallas last week using thousands of live roaches. The board was designed to warn people of the germs roaches carry and to set an example to all the roaches watching of what can happen if they come into your home.

Analysts claim that Apple sold a million iPad 2 tablets last week. Best Buy is said to have sold out in ten minutes. The Japanese market Prius will get an option for lithium ion battery packs. A cheaper model will continue to use the nickel metal hydride batteries that all other markets have no other choice over.

AT&T announced intentions to put data limits on its U-verse and DSL plans for home users. The limits are 150GB for DSL and 250GB for U-verse. Time Warner Cable launched a new iPad app that is the first ever to play live TV. The app launched last week for subscribers only and it will only work in the home.

We went hands-on with the iPad 2 and unboxed it on Monday. Burns tried to set a world record for waiting the longest to open his and couldn't last. An awesome DIY pinball machine using dual LCDs and some other tech surfaced. The emulator software lets you play all sorts of old school pinball machines.

Apple is taking peoples old iPads and donating them to Teach for America. You get no money for your donated tablet, but you may be able to take it as a tax deduction. A cool bottle opener concept turned up mid-week that has a handle that is a bottle and holds the caps after you pop them off your frosty beverage. Who knows if it will ever hit the market.

Some hints at the price of the Sony NGP turned up this week thanks to an Ubisoft sponsored survey. The 3G version was pegged at $350 and the WiFi only at $250. The iPad 2 was gifted with its inevitable Will it Blend treatment this week. Naturally, it would blend.

An EA boss has hinted that we might see a new Wii 2 at E3 this year. E3 isn't that far away and this is the first hint we have heard of the console so I think this is dubious. On the other hand Nintendo is hurting on the profit side and a new console would help them greatly, so who knows. The military has some apps for Android and iOS devices in the works that will allow soldiers on the ground to control the camera on a drone in the air. The apps would allow the solider to see where enemies are and to find weapons caches more easily and safely.

Pepsi showed off a new green bottle that will go into testing soon. The bottle is made from plant material that would have otherwise been thrown away. Western Digital offered up a new and massive capacity My Book Studio Edition II External HDD. This drive has a massive 6TB of storage inside.

Apple tweaked it stock system in retail stores according to some reports. The tweak allowed workers to tell people that the iPad 2 was out of stock even if it wasn't so they would have tablets to sell the next day. We have now heard that the iPhone 5 will have NFC tech and that it won't have NFC tech. I think that we won't know until Steve pulls the thing out of his pocket in June.

Scientists studying Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, have found evidence of heavy precipitation on the moon. Rather than water, it's raining liquid methane on Titan. A geek found Friday that the magnets in the iPad 2 SmartCover were strong enough to stick the tablet to his fridge. I would worry constantly that it would crash to the floor. A new Samsung LCD for computers with a 27-inch screen turned up this week. The screen uses UWB tech needing no wire between the computer and the screen for video.

Optometrists have approved the Nintendo 3DS for use by kids under six. Nintendo had previously stated they should not play the console for long periods because it could damage their young eyes. It surfaced this week that way back in 2000 the Google founders wanted Steve Jobs to run the show as CEO. Jobs was at the time just back to Apple and hard at work in the iPod so Google went with Schmidt instead.

Friday we posted up our review of the HTC Thunderbolt. We found that the smartphones performance was sub-par thanks to its weaker dual-core processor. Did you see the gigantic moon last night? We mentioned yesterday that it was the moons closest position to the Earth, which is why it looked so gigantic. Thanks for reading this week's edition, see you next time!