When the final question was laid down Apple today it was regarding Cook and his position in the company: “As CEO you’ve stated that you want to focus on preserving Apple’s culture, Apple’s strategy. When you look back at CEO changes historically – every CEO leaves their mark on a company’s strategy and on their culture. Can you walk us through, in your opinion, what you’re really determined to maintain?” Cook’s answer was more than just an talk on his position in the company, but of his company’s position in the world:

“Well I think the most important part of that question is that second part. Apple is this unique company – unique culture that you can’t replicate. And I’m not going to witness or permit the slow undoing of it because I believe in it so deeply. Steve grilled in all of us over many years that the company should revolve around great products, and that we should stay extremely focused on a few things, rather than try to do so many that we did nothing well. And that we should only go into markets where we can make a significant contribution to society – not just sell a lot of products.

And so, you know, these things along with keeping excellence as an expectation of everything in Apple. These are the things that I focus on – because I think those are the things that make Apple this really magical place that really smart people want to work in and sort of do… not just their life’s work, but their life’s best work.

There’s no better thrill than to look out at an audience – I can’t see anything because of these lights – but look at the audience and see people using iPhones, or go to the gym and see people using iPods, or go to Starbucks and see people using iPads.

These are the things that bring a smile to me face.

There’s no replacement or no substitute for that. And so we’re always focused on the future. We don’t sit and think about how great things were yesterday. I love that trait because I think it’s the thing that drives us all forward. Those are the things I’m holding on to. It’s a privilege to be a part of it.” – Tim Cook

Sound like the man you’d like running your largest technology company on earth? It seems as though Apple is in good hands with Tim Cook.

The folks at Huawei are promising to show off their Ascend D1 Q and a brand new 10-inch MediaPad at Mobile World Congress 2012. Apple supplier Pegatron is wondering when their inspection will be announced while iPad import and export has been axed in China via call from Proview. NASA have announced the end of their favorite and very last IBM Z9 mainframe. We took a peek at QuickShot for iPhone 4S.

We’ve finally got Angry Birds on Facebook – finally, finally at long last. There is now such a thing as an OLED inkjet printhead thanks to Konica Minolta. The folks at ACER will be busting their A510 tablet out in March in Europe. HP’s open webOS browser has been released with big downloads in the wings: 40k Enyo downloads to-date.

This release has been confirmed (in so many words) by the folks at The Loop and falls in line with “first week of March” rumors we’ve been hearing now for some weeks. This device will quite likely feature upgrades that number greater than what we’ve heard thus far, but for the most part this appears to be an upgrade of specifications rather than of operating system as well.

The iPad 3 (or the iPad 4S, as some are suggesting) will almost certainly have a much more powerful camera than any iPad before, details appearing this morning pointing at a shooter much closer to the iPhone 4S. Pricing details will appear on the day of the announcement, but will likely end up keeping with the pricing setup Apple has for the iPad 2 while the iPad 2 will have its price reduced as was the case when the iPad 2 was released and the original iPad’s price was cut down.

[via iMore]

The approval was given after an Antitrust Division investigation by the department, each acquisition being found unlikely to substantially lessen competition in the markets these businesses operate in. One point of order though was the continued watching of how the groups handle their newly purchased SEPs – that is, standard essential patents. These patents are the ones that would allow any group owning them to seek legal battles against those who they found infringing on said patents.

“In light of the importance of this industry to consumers and the complex issues raised by the intersection of the intellectual property rights and antitrust law at issue here, as well as uncertainty as to the exercise of the acquired rights, the division continues to monitor the use of SEPs in the wireless device industry, particularly in the smartphone and computer tablet markets. The division will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to stop any anticompetitive use of SEP rights.” – USDoJ

You hear that, companies? No taking these patents and putting your competitors out of business – that’s not just mean, it’s anticompetitive in this case – and it’s illegal. Each of these groups agreed to a noncompete of sorts once the deals took place, each of them also outlined in brief by the USDoJ. Have a look at what these groups agreed to:

“The division’s concerns about the potential anticompetitive use of SEPs was lessened by the clear commitments by Apple and Microsoft to license SEPs on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, as well as their commitments not to seek injunctions in disputes involving SEPs. Google’s commitments were more ambiguous and do not provide the same direct confirmation of its SEP licensing policies.” – USDoJ

So we’ll see how this pans out in the months to come – Google still needs a few approvals around the world before the purchase can be completed. One at a time!

[via Justice.gov]

For it’s truly the everywhere gaming model that Sony is latching onto here, with gamers that want an unending stream of games at their fingertips at the heart of it all. It’s not just gaming on the go that these players desire, Sony has decided, its inexpensive gaming, games that can be downloaded and accessed anywhere, all the greatness of the mobile world that’s been missing in the hardware world. Smartphones and tablets are the opponents of the PS Vita, so says Sony.

The folks at Interpublic Group of Companies group Deutsch’s executive vice president and creative director, mister Jason Elm, spoke with the NYTimes about the campaign they’d whipped up for the current continuation of the worldwide release of the PS Vita. He’s got no qualms with wanting the gamers of the earth to plug in and tune out:

“[This campaign's audience is] very socially plugged in, mobile, out and about, both physically and on the Internet. Gaming is no longer playing alone in a basement by one person with one machine; it’s all networked.” – Elm

The operating system on the device has been suggested as being a viable candidate for additional wireless-data-connected devices as well, with Yoshio Matsumoto, Director of Business and Sony Computer Entertainment SVP, speaking on how this device is just the thin edge of the wedge:

“[Translated:] I’d like to point out that I mentioned the first thing Vita is is a hardware that provides digital entertainment only, and there there is the Vita OS which at the moment is just the OS made to provide it. The OS will continue to provide entertainment of all kinds, and though it’s made here to provide for a portable machine the best gaming experience for game enthusiasts, this is the thing edge of the wedge first.” – Matsumoto

So what we’ve got here is the successes of the mobile world in a smartphone-esque operating system running on a fully PlayStation 3 connected handheld gaming powerhouse. It’s as if it couldn’t possibly fail, yes? We’ll see how the PS Vita fares here in the USA after it’s been out for an extended period – soon!

This device is made to fit in your adult-sized pocket at 2.5-inches wide and 5-inches long. It’s made to work with both microSDHC and microSD (which you’ll see in the hands-on video shortly). You can plug it in to any device with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and the battery that’s built-in to the guts, you’ll be getting sounds blasting for hours on end. Have a peek at the hands-on video here and see for yourself the simplicity:

This unit has not yet powered down and we’ve been using it for a couple days. Not without pause, of course, but still – bring this to your workplace and jam on the tunes for a full 8 hours without any trouble whatsoever. You won’t need to charge this device each night – maybe every other night. That being if you’re using the microSD card or the line-in, though we’re to understand that the line-in will bring you more hours than the card alone. You can also plug it in to the wall via your own miniUSB line for as much up time as you like – whatever you want!

That’s the way you power up the internal battery, too, through the miniUSB port in the side of the device, right next to the line-in. This device provides lovely loud sound good enough for the office or your local skate park, but I’d bring a bigger blaster for a house party. Get an OK idea of how quality the sound is in the hands-on video, or just take my word for it: well worth the price. This device will cost you a cool $29.99 in Satechi’s online store right this minute – available now!

This controller will connect to your mobile device, by it your iPod Touch, your Android phone you iPad, or what-have-you, with Bluetooth. This is an extension of the already popular iCade line created by ThinkGeek, each new bit released by the team creating a cross-over gaming experience that shouldn’t be missed! As ThinkGeek GeekLabs’s oan Ty Liotta notes,

“We’re excited to extend on the success of the original iCADE. And with millions of iOS and Android devices in circulation it only makes sense to widen the field and bring the fun of iCADE to every possible device.” – Liotta

This controller is battery powered and has eight fully fucntional buttons, controlling everything from the original Pac Man to Super Mega Worm to more modern games as well. Developers can get in on documentation for the controller here and start making their games ready for the oncoming of this magical device in full force soon! Games like Box Cat, Muffin Knight, Plum Crazy, and more are already ready to work with the controller before it’s released! This controller has been revealed at the 2012 Toy Fair in New York City and will be available for purchase later this year for $24.99 – we’ll be sure to let you know how fabulous it truly is!

It’s always awesome to hear of a new competitor for the mobile space, especially when that competitor comes from such a giant as Sony. Sony is in a position with the PlayStation Vita to make it such a success that it brings the operating system from it over to new devices in the near future. While its true that it seemed the Sony Ericsson last year did tell the world they’d be sticking with Android, now that Sony has purchased the remaining stock of that mobile venture from Ericsson, Sony’s now just “Sony” sect of mobile can do whatever they please. as Matsumoto spoke with AV Watch just a couple months ago:

“[Translated:] I’d like to point out that I mentioned the first thing Vita is is a hardware that provides digital entertainment only, and there there is the Vita OS which at the moment is just the OS made to provide it. The OS will continue to provide entertainment of all kinds, and though it’s made here to provide for a portable machine the best gaming experience for game enthusiasts, this is the thing edge of the wedge first.” – Matsumoto

Matsumoto went on to speak on how the operating system on the Vita is already receiving rave reviews on its speed and workability, noting how it was made using a mobile telephone network from the beginning. Because its basis is in the mobile world, even though it’s made for games right this moment, the operating system does have a bright future ahead of it, be it mobile, gaming, or both.

“[Translated:] We considered room for development in various directions including OS for smartphones from the beginning. For gaming consoles, the best hardware only must be considered to elicit top performance – but because we wanted the operating system to be scalable, we built this system from scratch with communication functions on mobile telephone networks from the outset. The touchscreen interface elements do not correspond exactly with a smartphone or tablet at the moment, but scalability makes it a possibility in the future.” – Matsumoto

We can’t wait for Sony to expand on not just Android now, but Vita OS (if this is what they keep for the name) in the very near future! Have at the mobile world, Sony, we’re ready for expansion!

Those of you looking for protection for the back of your iPhone, you’re certainly going to find it here. This is a plate, meaning its flat and does not wrap around the edges of your device in any way. These plates are not made specifically for protection, nor do they interfere with any other accessory you might have for the device (to a degree – it’s not invisible, after all,) and will not cut down on your reception in any way at all. These plates are made to make your iPhone into a “sculptured work of art” – and they certainly have no trouble doing that.

Have a look at the application video here and see how simple it is to get one of these mothers on to the back of your iPhone. Here we’re using the iPhone 4S from Verizon, but know this: these plates work perfectly fine for all iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models. The only complaint I’ve had about the plate I have here (it being the Etched Great Wave Steel) is that I get worried that the metal will scratch the OTHER devices I’ve got in my pocket. If you’re not the sort of person who carries around more than one smartphone at a time in one pocket, you’ll be just fine.

At the moment the folks at SkinIt have five different designs for their Etched Metal series: Flourish, Sudden Blush, Millipede, Circles, and Great Wave, and each design has its own set of color options. Each design has Black, Steel, Berry, and Lime color options, while the Wave has Blue instead of Lime, and the metal is actually a different color if you choose steel over any of the other colors. the colors come in behind the metal in a surface that lie between the adhesive and the metal – so you wont be seeing your iPhone’s back color with these plates.

The best part about this whole situation is that all colors and designs are a mere $24.99 each – pick up a batch! These plates are all in stock right this second over at SkinIt’s own online store.

GSM Arena obtained the document, which reveals that the first samples for the Berry Pink Galaxy Note will arrive on the 8th week of this year, with public availability starting in the 9th week, or about three weeks from now. The device will also be available in its standard Carbon Blue and Ceramic White, with which we’ve recently spent some hands-on time.

The new color makes sense since Samsung has admitted to targeting the female demographic with the Galaxy Note. The device’s size is generally too big for comfort in pants pockets, but fine in purses and handbags. Unfortunately, the device just misses Valentines Day, but will likely make a showing at Mobile World Congress later this month.

[via Android Community]

If you’ll take a look back at our first of several posts regarding the Retina status of the future iPad’s display, you’ll find a leaked photo of some iPad 3 components. In this photo you’ll find a three wide ribbon cables as opposed to the two that the previous models had. This extra cable is more than likely in place to carry additional data to the high resolution display. Should the iPad 3 carry a Retina display at the massive 2048 x 1536 pixels that are being rumored, the data transfer of three cables will be needed.

Next there’s a peek at iBooks 2 icons that were released some weeks ago. These icons show the requirements for future apps, the amount of pixels being the same change that’d be in play should the Retina display be in full effect on this next iPad. Retina Display code has been spotted in developer code. This week’s iPad 3 component photo leak suggests a new LCD. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Apple recently updated their requirements for developers sending in screenshots for their apps, as seen here:

When you create or update your apps in iTunes Connect, you must upload screenshots that are high-resolution. We require your screenshots as high-resolution images so that your app is optimized for the Retina display.

The requirements for high-resolution images are 960 x 640, 960 x 600, 640 x 960, or 640 x 920 pixels. Images must be at least 72 dpi, in the RGB color space, and the file must be .jpeg, .jpg, .tif, .tiff, or .png. You can update your screenshot files at any time in iTunes Connect.

This could mean that iPhones before the iPhone 4 are simply being phased out, the same being true of older iPod Touches leading up to new models in 2012, but as MG Siegler says, “[if] Apple allows the iPad to run iPhone/iPod touch apps with the option to scale them up 2x, non-Retina iPhone apps (480 × 320) will undoubtedly look pretty bad on the Retina iPad.” This may very well be happening in desktop and laptop machines as well, the crisp nature of the future being Apple’s to take in this 2012 season.

So developers, heed the call – amp up your graphics, develop with the future in mind!

Both the US DOJ and EC are expected to make their final approvals on Monday, February 13, after which the deal must still seek approval in China, Israel, and Taiwan. It’s possible that the Commission will decide to hold off on approval to open an in-depth investigation, but this is believed to be unlikely.

Google has promised that the massive trove of patents it would acquire from the Motorola deal would be licensed on fair and reasonable terms. It has placed a cap on the fees it would charge at 2.25 percent of the net selling price of each infringing device and has also outlined the conditions under which it would launch patent suits against infringing companies.

[via Reuters]

Before noon we had two products already reviewed in full, one of them the Three Web Cube for transportable internet in a niche market, the other being the Motorola DROID 4 from Verizon. The DROID 4 is also on sale starting today across the nation. As far as the rest of the Android world goes, all eyes are on Samsung Galaxy S II for its Ice Cream Sandwich updates starting in March. Of course HTC’s leaksters wouldn’t want all the attention in one place, so they dropped a White Incredible with Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box!

There’s also an LG Mango device out there and Acer CloudMobile is the smartphone we never knew existed until it won an award across the sea – it’ll have Ice Cream Sandwich too!

Diablo III has been postponed again (until Q2 2012) and water has been reported to be wet. The ultimately awesome Tesla vehicle known as the Model X has been revealed with a touchscreen dash interface and Falcon-Wing doors – CEO Elon Musk is also readying plans to offer his SpaceX program for IPO. WolframAlpha Pro is no longer Beta, entering into its real live full release for all you knowledge seekers. Finally, there is a Wolly Mammoth living in Siberia – or so a trickster with a camera claims.

The tablet we’re looking at here is essentially a rebranded Zenithink C71, a device which in that iteration ran Google Android. In this Spark release, the tablet will be packaged with the ability to run Mer as well as Plasma Active. You’ll see more than just a little bit of lag here and there, as even though the tablet has a 1 GHz AMLogic ARM Cortex-A9 processor with Mali 400 graphics, we’re still seeing less than suitable power for even this relatively small screen.

The display here is a mere 800 x 600 pixels for the entirety of its 7-inches, and inside you’ll find 4GB storage, 802.11 b/g Wifi, and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera. What’s being marketed here is not just the mediocre tablet specs or the software, but the fact that this is the first “truly open” tablet on the market. It has open source software, an unlocked bootloader, and a content store based on the same open sourced platform the OS is on – the store itself can be created and distributed by anyone.

We’ll watch how this project develops and see if the idea spreads to the rest of the tablet / smartphone world. Likely it’ll remain in the wings and “underground” for some time to come. Also check out this demonstration of the Plasma Active interface on a slightly nicer piece of hardware to see its true potential:

[via Liliputing]

That said, this “Not for sale” labeled working unit does appare to have ScanSearch and what PlayTo has been renamed as: SmartShare, both of these previously exclusive the the Optimus 7, so some sort of exclusive business may be going on in the innards of this device. LG has been relatively quiet on the Windows Phone front thus far, bringing such lovely oddities as the LG Spectrum with Android to the market with a whole lot more force, so this could be their play for the center of the ring. The mid-range of the smartphone world is always a great place to make a play when the top tier is overflowing with ultra-similar looking and functioning devices.

This device has been tipped separately as having a 1GHz Snapdragon and a 1GHz Scorpion processor, both of them single-core, while its front-facing VGA camera and back-facing 5 megapixel camera specs seem to have been holding up ever since inception. This device is expected to be announced inside the first quarter of 2012 – carrier remains unknown!

[via GSMArena]

Hardware

The display here is a massive 540 x 960 pixels on 4-inches of space, putting this device at 275 pixels per inch. That’s quite impressive when it comes down to it, it being not quite as rich with pixels as the Galaxy Nexus (at 316 ppi) but certainly ready to contend with the DROID RAZR whose same resolution sits on a slightly larger display, putting it at just 256 ppi. At this close range you wont notice the difference unless you’re holding these devices up next to one another, but the difference is there.

Other than that you’ve got what’s actually a slightly larger device than the DROID 3, this bulk coming from the additional plastic around the edges, seeming to have been added here for stylistic purposes instead of necessity. The device is almost exactly the same height as the previous DROID QWERTY and the keyboard is similar, but quite a bit nicer when you’ve used it for a bit. While the older DROID keyboards did seem excellent when they were first brought forth on the first couple of units, the age started to show harshly on the DROID 3. Here there’s a new amount of space and a sensor-activated light surrounding the keys.

The processor is the same one that’s in the DROID RAZR and several devices that’ve been released in the past few months, that being the Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 dual-core 1.2GHz SoC. This chip will get you where you need to go and will allow you to play essentially any game you’re hankering for on the Android Market without a hitch. Consider these Quadrant Advanced results – Total 2747, CPU: 6957, Memory: 2586, I/O: 3046, 2D: 283, 3D: 862, and note the comparatively powerful results when you consider the rest of the Android devices released with this same OMAP processor very recently – looking quite similar.

Software

Inside you’ve got your regular suite of Motorola, Google, and Verizon apps, no real surprises in the mix, and all of it comes complete with Webtop. Motorola devices released inside the last year have all had their proprietary desktop-like software installed aboard, this working through your HDMI-connected display with the device itself acting as an intermediary. If you’ve got any of the suggested docks you can turn your DROID 4 into a standalone computer with your HDTV as your monitor and a USB-connected mouse and keyboard as your controllers. Alternatively you can use the DROID 4 as a trackpad to control your cursor on the display. Check out a demonstration of how this all works in our review of the Motorola Lapdock 100.

Motorola devices are connected with a series of basic cloud-connected services such as My Music which connects you to your computer at home via the web. This and the rest of the cloud suite on the DROID 4 are connected via MotoCast, a service which connects all of your Motorola devices via an interface you download for your desktop machine at MyMotoCast.com. Also prominent in the apps drawer is an instant link to your MOTOACTV, a device which acts as both a music player and a fitness tracker which you can attach to your arm, your wrist, or wherever else you’d like to carry it.

Camera

Motorola is back to having a decent beast of a camera here with 8 megapixels on the back along with 1080p video capabilities. Though it’s not the most perfect setup we’ve seen with such specifications, it certainly out-does its predecessor. Have a peek at some demonstrations of the DROID 4′s back-facing camera here and behold the loveliness.

Phone and Battery

The battery on this beast is a full 1785 mAh placing it right beside the original DROID RAZR in battery rating and capturing just about as much time in the wild as well. When you’re using this device for streaming video you’ll get a few hours out of it – enough time for about a full movie and a half. If you’re using it heavily throughout the day, you’ll get something like 6-8 hours. If you’re using it lightly, for email and web browsing exclusively that is, you’ll be getting 10 hours or more no problem. One charge a night should be good for most users.

Wrap-Up

The DROID 4 is the bulkiest device on the Verizon network here at its launch, yet at the same time it’s got the nicest keyboard Motorola has ever offered on a smartphone. If you’re so in love with the basic QWERTY DROID line that you’ve sworn off all other smartphones, it’s time to upgrade to this model. If you’re looking for the best Motorola device on Verizon, I’d recommend the RAZR MAXX. It doesn’t have a QWERTY keyboard, but it does have a battery that’ll last you until kingdom come, and you’re working with essentially the same innards as this device otherwise.

This device certainly deserves to have a spot amongst the high-end line of Android devices at its release, but will be forgettable within a few months at the dawn of the quad-core smartphone and the start of the Ice Cream Sandwich having Androids being released in bulk closer to the middle of the year. You’ve got the option of grabbing the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung on Verizon right now as well if you want the newest Android software – DROID 4 is still stuck on Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread – but that would require you to leave your beloved Motorola and go Samsung’s way, a very different beast indeed.

The NY Times says that John Cozen is among the first of AT&T’s unlimited data customers to have reported receiving notice of throttled data speeds, despite having used only 2.1 GB of data. He received an email from AT&T that claimed he was in the top five percent of heavy data users and hence would be throttled until his next billing period.

Cozen argued that it was unfair since his unlimited data plan cost the same as a tiered data plan that offered 3GB of data usage per month. However, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel explained that since last summer, the top five percent of heaviest data users averaged about 2GB or more per month. He also adds that the throttling was decided on a case-by-case basis and that it depends on spectrum availability and the data usage of other customers.

“There’s a very good chance you wouldn’t be slowed,” said Mr. Siegel, adding that in the last month, less than 1 percent of AT&T smartphone customers were affected.

HTC has today confirmed not just their suddenly massive set of Sensation device, but their Evos and their Amazes as well! The full list looks something like this: HTC Rezound, HTC Vivid, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD. Each of these devices HTC says they’ll be upgrading to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich later this year. How late this year these devices will be upgraded is anybody’s guess at the moment.

The announcement from HTC also includes a tip that more updates on Ice Cream Sandwich releases will be dropping in coming weeks – could this mean that such oddities as the HTC ThunderBolt and the HTC Titan might have a chance at ICS? How about the still awesome HTC Jetstream – will there be any love there for tablets? We’ll see soon!

Google will be fully approved for the Motorola Mobility purchase they set out to take last year. Apple is facing some store protests today over ethics violations folks across the USA are saying they’re guilty of overseas. Take a peek at the Lytro camera from the insides out – at the FCC. Have a peek at the already fabulously popular Nokia N9 running no less than Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Once Google owns Motorola, they plan on continuing to run the drive to grab 2.25% of the iPhone in a patent suit. Meanwhile Google may well be opening a retail store in Dublin. Apple’s own iOS 5.1 will be coming on March 9th and insiders have tipped a first week of March iPad 3 event. Kodak has dumped digital cameras and Samsung Galaxy Camera is a tip that’ll bring Samsung phones in to cameras. Finally check out our review of the fabulous Acer Aspire M3 AM3970 and prepare for an Acer Ultrabook later today!

This newest version of Chrome is a stable release, this meaning it’s not a Beta like the mobile version is, and should have absolutely no glitches while you’re using it on a daily basis. This version has Google using their “Omnibox” term again to describe the URL bar, this being because of its ability to also search for items should you type in anything other than a url. Chrome’s newest desktop version here has two steps in the Onmibox:

1. You type in your url and it suggests what you’re likely looking for.

2. Your most likely option is pre-rendered as you continue to type, this giving you an extra few instants of time added to every query!

It’s brilliant! We’re hoping it works out to be as magical as it seems, of course. Chrome browser here also updates Security measures to warn you of malicious downloads. Chrome has for a while not checked on executable files such as EXE and MSI for you PC users, and now if the executable file does not match a whitelist of approved bits, the next step is taken. The next step is Chrome checking with Google for more information on the website you’re using, seeing if its been know to host malicious downloads in the past. You’ll be safe here, folks, safe as you can be!

Updates will be coming to Chrome OS soon as well, but for now everyone using the Chrome web browser on their desktop or laptop machine will be updated automatically or manually through the Google Chrome homepage – get your preload on!

With a 4-inch display, and a body to match plus a sensor that puts the rest of the mobile world in a tizzy, this device could very well be aiming to take the part of the market looking to stick with the odd man out, Symbian, whilst still having the benefits of the iPhone 4S in shape and photo power. There’s no denying that the iPhone 4S still has the photo finesse when it comes to working with millions across the globe, even if comparable devices might contend, but Nokia bringing some fire to the camera department here is good news for everybody. If a dying operating system can work with the world’s best camera, so should everyone else!

This device, the Nokia 803, currently has a time frame of release set for somewhere around May of this year. If this device does pop up with Symbian and the world’s largest camera sensor in a mobile device, you can bet this publisher will be grappling for it. Nothing like a strange operating system to get your juices flowing and your camera finger snapping!

[via BGR]

LG is planning to introduce a mid-range Windows Phone, according to a leak posted by PocketNow. An image of the device has surfaced and it’s reportedly the same handset as the LG Fantasy that was revealed in a leaked roadmap back in December.

The LG Miracle is expected to sport a 4-inch super-bright NOVA display, 1GHz Snapdragon single-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, front-facing VGA camera, and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of 720p video capture.

The Miracle will also support HSPA connectivity and include an NFC chip, which supports expectations for NFC support in the next Windows Phone update. The device will likely be unveiled at Mobile World Congress later this month.

It is California that leads the states with app-related jobs, it holding a whopping 25% of all App Economy jobs in the United States. New York is the top metropolitan area for app-related jobs, but the combined efforts of San Jose and San Francisco California trump New York in numbers. The study held no reservations about how burgeoning the market is in this sector, calling it nothing short of a phenomenon:

“The incredibly rapid rise of smartphones, tablets, and social media, and the applications — apps — that run on them, is perhaps the biggest economic and technological phenomenon today. Almost a million apps have been created for the iPhone, iPad and Android alone. On an economic level, each app represents jobs — for programmers, for user interface designers, for marketers, for managers, for support staff.” – TechNet

Rey Ramsey, president and chief executive of TechNet, decidedly pinned the success on how quickly these developers and the manufacturers behind the hardware they develop for can innovate. Hundreds of thousands of workers here in the United States work in the App Economy, and TechNet pins the start of this economy on the year Apple introduced the iPhone. The iTunes-based App Store now has over 500,000 applications for the iPhone and the iPad combined, and no small amount of workers in the App Economy work for iDevices completely exclusively.

Then there’s Facebook which the study noted contains at least 182,000 app related jobs. Another study done by University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is noted as racking up as many as 235,644 jobs counted working in or around Facebook for the App Economy – these are “more aggressive estimates” of course. Let’s keep this crazy ship sailing forward! Jobs for everyone!

[via AFP]

Some headlines regarding the new report claim that “only” 8.5% of Internet downloads and uploads come from smartphones. From our perspective, though, the word “only” is a complete misnomer. Just look back one year – StatCounter’s version of this same study one year ago found that 4.3% of Internet usage came from mobile, and in 2009 the number was 1.6%. So in the span of just two years, mobile Internet usage has increased more than five-fold. That’s pretty impressive if you ask us.

As for who is responsible for that usage, Nokia remains the leader in mobile Internet access, purely because of the volume of handsets it has throughout the world. In addition, in many of the areas where Nokia has never declined in its ubiquity, like developing countries, much of the population does not haves access to a computer so phones are the primary Internet medium. Second on the list was Apple, for a completely different reason – though it does not have the global reach Nokia does, the customers it does have are far more likely to eat up gobs and gobs of mobile data. Samsung, RIM, and HTC rounded up to the top, in order.

[via PaidContent]

The camera on these glasses is said to be small, likely no bigger than a couple of megapixels strong, and and the HUD part of this equation is not transparent as previously tipped. This iteration of the glasses has a tiny display to the side of one eye and shows what you need to know to navigate your way through an interface. The interface will have head tilting that’ll allow you to scroll and select items, and the tipster has noted that the interface and gestures in this way are very easy to use and adapt to.

These glasses are also said to have voice input and a speaker for voice output, and will have a CPU, RAM, and storage not unlike a smartphone from about a year ago. So we’re talking at or sub 1GHz CPU, not one whole heck of a lot of RAM, and storage of a few gigabytes – 10 or less more than likely. Google is said to be thinking about releasing these glasses in the same way they did the Google Cr-48 Chromebooks last year to a select number of 3rd party users for testing purposes only. Would you like to get in on something like this? We sure would!

ALSO note that earlier today there was mention of a “Solve for X” project coming from Google X, and that one of the original tips for these glasses was also tied to Google X. Coincidence? I think not!

[via 9to5Google]

And everyone knows that Facebook needs more hype, right? For a company that’s already worth billions, it’s hard to imagine any move on their part creating more hype than their mere existence already does – but here it is. Facebook’s mobile ads will likely take the form of an in-feed set of images and text. That means below the gallery of your friends’ cats and above your own status update of “I just ate a scone.” Analyst Zeus Kerravala of ZK Research noted the following on the situation:

“The valuation at IPO is based on basic company fundamentals and hype. Hype can bring in investors that might not typically participate in an IPO, and another revenue stream adds to Facebook’s long-term potential.” Karravala

Of course ZK wasn’t quite so kind when mentioning the potential for the advertisements themselves, noting how users across the Facebook spectrum would likely revolt at any sign of another change to their beloved user interface. Yet Facebook continues to change and Facebook continues to grow. We’ll find out how well this all worked out when May rolls around – will you buy in?

[via ComputerWorld]

Both the hotspot and the dongle being detailed here will upgrade Rogers up until now fastest speeds of 12 to 25 Mbps all the way up to 40 Mbps. That’s quite a jump for those of you out there only cruising at such a speed whist watching your streams of Terrance and Phillip all day long. These devices will also be amongst the first to be connecting to the 2600MHz band, a band that’s not been used by LTE devices thus far.

Both of these devices will be able to run on Rogers HSPA+ network as well, all of these coming in at right around $22.93 Canadian a month. You can get into this deal on a tablet plan for $7.93 Canadian a month, but exact details on the tablet plan have not yet been revealed in full. You’ll be busting out at speeds you never before thought possible in one way or another very soon! Get red with Rogers!

We’ve got a rather lovely feature up now to put a header on your humble narrator’s week with the iPhone 4S: Switching between Android 4.0 ICS and iPhone 4S – check the comments! The first ever 3D printed pirated Pirate Boat has been printed via the Pirate Bay as btJunkie is shut down forever. For those of you in the mobile world, heed this: the Galaxy S III will continue the line’s dive into thinness at 7mm.

Netflix is releasing its first ever original program Lilyhammer this week. We’ve got our own official hands-on look at the brand new Nokia Lumia 800 in white if you’d like to take a look. Meanwhile the AT&T Galaxy Note LTE is up for pre-order – Galaxy Nexus in white is also up for sale on the 13th of February. Samsung is really dishing it out with these numbers here and during the Superbowl with no less than The Darkness itself, complete with white and pink stripes.

HTC is not doing so well on the other hand, even though both iOS and Android are decimating the competition. In two completely unrelated stories, Google Earth has removed Atlantis and teased their soon to be released Solve for X project.

This study is showing off what a bit of number crunching can do to show not only the difference between the two major forces in the industry, but what they’ve been doing to the rest of the environment. There’s a crushing blow to be seen here, folks, and it’s not just that your mind should be amazed by the fact that a former titan like BlackBerry is included in that 9%. Android and iOS are growing, and it says a whole lot for Apple that even though their operating system only sits on a few devices, it’s got a comparable market share with Android, which has the ability to be placed on devices galore.

Have a look back at the rest of the statistics from studies in weeks bast. See the Android and Apple reports and find how no matter what’s found by the various forces that be, both are heading for a non-stop popularity festival through many years to come. Also remember that Windows Phone is included in that 9% as well, and that feature phones are not included in this study at all. It’s a tiny, tiny world we’re living in now, where dominance in smartphone OS versions is clear.

This of course isn’t the first attempt at using phones to break the language barrier. There are several other apps that allow text-based translations, or even allow users to speak something in one language and have the translation read aloud. However, this project from Nokia unique because it actually sends the message between phones. Although, according to Nokia, it isn’t just about sending messages between different languages.

“The team working on the project estimate that the need for speech interactions with work colleagues could be eliminated entirely by 2015,” Nokia boasted in an official blog post. Is that really something to brag about, though? There have been many proposals for how NFC technology will revolutionize the market, but this is the first time we’ve seen someone talk about using it to prevent manking from needing to exchange verbal communication.

[via GigaOM]

During the fourth quarter last year, vendors shipped 158.5 million smartphones, which is a 57% boost from the 101.2 million units sold in Q4 2010. Vendors shipped 120.2 million PCs in Q4, but that number includes tablet PCs. If you take out tablets from the mix, only 93.7 million PCs were shipped.

Leading the pack in global smartphone shipments is Apple, which shipped a record 93.1 million iPhones in 2011, while Samsung came in second with 91.9 million. Nokia dropped to third place with 19.6 million followed by RIM, but the BlackBerry maker’s shipment numbers were not disclosed.

[via Business Insider]

This filing contained 252 devices which each were going to be tested in various locations across the United States. Locations include Los Angeles, Cambridge Massachusetts, and Mountain View New York. The FCC filing itself has a tiny bit of information on what the project will contain, including the note on the Bluetooth and Wifi situation. It reads thusly, word for word:

Google is developing an entertainment device that requires testing outside the laboratory environment. The device is in the prototyping phase and will be modified prior to final compliance testing. … Users will connect their device to home WiFi networks and use Bluetooth to connect to other home electronics equipment. This line of testing will reveal real world engineering issues and reliability of networks. The device utilizes a standard WiFi/Bluetooth module, and the planned testing is not directed at evaluating the radio frequency characteristics of the module (which are known), but rather at the throughput and stability of the home WiFi networks that will support the device, as well as the basic functionality of the device. From this testing we hope to modify the design in order to maximize product robustness and user experience. Utilizing the requested number of units will allow testing of real world network performance and its impact on applications running on the device, so that any problems can be discovered and addressed promptly.

Sounds exciting! Now for how this ties back to what we found at Google I/O 2011 about Android@Home: it’s the same thing! Google Home Control is its alternate name, it including your ability to control various things in your home such as light switches and appliances. There’s a home theater system called Project Tungsten included in this, it able to have you swipe an NFC-enabled CD case in front of it to play the music instantly. This project has Google partnering with LightingScience to create all softs of compatible devices that could be debuting by the end of 2012.

Check this video at around 43:08 to see the Android@Home presentation. Sound like it matches up to you? We’re sure to find out what this is all about soon, with some implementation perhaps by the end of the year! Get connected with Android!

[via 9to5Google]

Corning continues by showing off Electrochomic Glass, this being a type that in the future will be used for windows to insulate houses, shade or become transparent on command, and is of course, durable. Along these same lines is Architectural Display Glass which allows you to move through your hallways with touch-sensitive boxes galore. Automotive Design Glass will be photosensitive like the Elecrochromic Glass, lightweight, and touch sensitive if need be. Wall-Format Display Glass has the gigantic wall ready to move with a professor, touch-sensitive of course, and Specialty Tablet Glass has your future hand-held book-sized displays ready to roll with anti-microbial, scratch, and chemical resistant formulas to bring you the best overall experience.

The video above is just the short format presentation. Corning has also provided a long-format vision for the future in an explanatory segment that’s twice the length. Enjoy with us the vision Corning has for the glass-filled world of tomorrow in A Day Made of Glass 2: Same Day. Expanded Corning Vision. Head to our timeline below as well to check out extended coverage once again with Gorilla Glass and beyond!

This new slightly larger version of the speaker has a model number J2011-03-US and has a 60 inch USB cable and a lovely 3.5mm audio jack included. This device has the same 33 foot range as the original and will “fill up any room with unbelievable sound” just as well as the original. We must assume that this version of the speaker will have more power than the original in one way or another aside from battery life, but you never know!

You can check out our several workings with the Jambox in the past including its updates that’ve come down the pipe since its first release. You’ll want to take a look at the future of this product as well: Jambox is a bigtime awesome speaker system from Jawbone and wont be going away any time soon. Big Jambox or Jambox BIG will be made for the home, where the original Jambox is for mobile – let’s get stationary!

[via Android Police]

What these HHI researchers are doing is working with DASH, or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. This standard works with the LTE standard as it’s quickly replacing UMTS for mobile use around the Earth and will have videos and images made available in various qualities at the same time. Different file sizes will then be available depending on how far away from a strong signal the user is, transmitting stations and the mobile device automatically checking for reception and volume of traffic on the network to choose the best version of the media in question.

Poor reception or a massively overloaded network will result in a diminished quality image or video but judders will be taken out entirely. As connection quality improves, so too does the quality of the media in real-time. Thomas Wirth, Group Manager at HHI noted the following:

“With our mechanism, resources can be optimally distributed, and hence saved. The saved resources can then be allocated to others. This means we can increase the number of users that can be serviced.” – Wirth

In other words, this is great for everybody, including the carriers that distribute the data in the first place. These HHI researchers have already completed a prototype of the brand new Radio Resource Manager and will hopefully be delivering to groups worldwide soon. How would you like a perfect stream of your cat doing a dance in a video you’d usually not be able to view in the Grand Canyon? This is a reality soon!

[via Frauenhoffer]

Verizon isn’t the only company making Super Bowl-watching history this year. NBC, the exclusive telecaster of the big game, will allow users to watch the match on NBCSports.com. It will also be streamed live on NFL.com. For those who want to watch the game on-the-go, you’ll need to download the Verizon Wireless NFL Mobile app, which is available on both the Android Market and the Apple App Store. Customers with a 4G phone get to watch the game for free, but those with a 3G handset must pay $3 on the day of the big game.

MobiTV was beginning to make inroads in the niche market of streaming video to feature phones, but before it could really take off it ended up becoming obsolete in the world of smartphones and apps. The company now works in the enterprise space, striking deals with cable providers and technology companies to offer seamless video integration services. Its name is largely unknown to the general consumer.

[via Multichannel News]

For a company whose tablet was once several hundred dollars, giving these tablets away for free to developers might seem like a move of madness. Of course the truth of the matter is that there’s no better way to get people to love your hardware than to get the greatest creators of software on your side. And there’s no greater way to get a developer to work for your platform than to give them free hardware, right?

Incorrect, ladies and gentlemen, the best way to get a developer to work on a particular bit of hardware is to make that hardware popular on your own. If the user base exists, the developers will come and grab the cash they’ve got burning a hole in their pockets. On the other hand, when you’re in the position that RIM is in right now, the best solution may well be what they’re doing right now. So Android developers, grab yourself a free tablet and play gleefully upon it!

You can get all the tools you need for Runtime for Android apps beta over at Blackberry.com and start tapping away at your future market. Look at how easy it is to get into!

[via Saunders]

According to WMPoweruser, you can pre-order your Nokia Lumia 900 today at Microsoft retail stores by paying $25 upfront and you can choose between the two colors of Cyan and Black. To see if there’s a Microsoft store nearby, you can see all the locations here. Also make sure to check out our hands-on video with the Lumia 900.

The Lumia 900 is expected to feature a 4.3-inch WVGA ClearBlack display, an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss rear-facing camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 512MB of RAM, 1.4GHz single-core processor, 16GB of internal memory, and support for AT&T’s LTE network. Rumors have suggested that the handset will be priced at $99 with a new two-year contract.

Symantec aside, Google is indeed bumping up their efforts to keep the Android Market clean with Bouncer as well as reinforcing through words the security that’s already in place and has been for some time with Android. Bouncer sits at the heart of the Android Market and checks for malicious software once an app is uploaded, checking it for known viral bits as well as codes that show that it was built by a known malicious developer or has hidden codes made to mess with users in any way at all. Each app is run on Google’s cloud infrastructure and actually tested out so that simulations can show how the application really truly works. Google also mentioned that Android malware downloads have decreased between the first and second halves of 2011:

“We saw a 40% decrease in the number of potentially-malicious downloads from Android Market. This drop occurred at the same time that companies who market and sell anti-malware and security software have been reporting that malicious applications are on the rise. While it’s not possible to prevent bad people from building malware, the most important measurement is whether those bad applications are being installed from Android Market – and we know the rate is declining significantly.” – Hiroshi Lockheimer, VP of Engineering, Android

uspicious talk there, ladies and gentlemen! In addition, Google mentions that Android as a software sitting on all of your phones right now has Sandboxing features which keep a malicious bit of software contained in one area of your phone if it does exist, first of all. Second there’s a screen between you downloading and you installing your applications one by one that asks whether you want to give that app permission to touch your device in many different ways – that’s all on you. Third, malware removal is simple on an Android device, from the Android Market being able to remotely remove malware from your device to your own ability to see into the guts of your Android device if need be and take the malicious software out yourself. So stay safe, Android users, Google has your back!

[via Google]

The name Windows Phone 8 does not share the number by accident with the Windows 8 software that’s popping up on desktops and tablets galore this year. Instead we’ll see a setup that will look very similar to those selections in its User Interface and will allow developers to “reuse — by far — most of their code” when they want to port applications from one to the other. The kernel, security, networking stacks, and multimedia support will be heavily overlapping in many ways. Zune’s desktop client will be dropped in favor of a much more dedicated companion application and ActiveSync will be pumped up to compensate.

As far as games go, the Xbox Companion app will be given a partner client in the desktop version of Windows 8. Skydrive will allow you to share seamlessly (FINALLY) between devices, and such examples as a music collection being instantly available on a new Windows Phone without the need for a PC sync – streaming, that is. App-to-app communication will be coming to life in a much more real way, Skype hooking into the operating system allowing for nearly perfect non-VoIP-like telephone action.

The camera on your Windows Phone will have a basic camera application that can be skinned by OEMs or third party groups wanting to make new camera applications. These apps will fall in line and very possibly be better than the camera selection already available in the 100,000 apps that’ll be in the Marketplace at the launch of Windows Phone 8 – we’ll see about that when the time comes. Native code support will be in play as well, this making it easier to make more powerful applications and bring a great ease to the porting of code on the whole.

In the hardware department, scale and choice will be the top words in the environment. Apollo will have support for multicore processors, high resolution displays, removable microSD card storage, and a whole lot more (tailored to finally compete with their biggest competitors in specs, iPhone and Android.) NFC will be supported, tap-to-share will be a reality, and sharing will be a much more integrated experience on the whole. Can’t wait to see what’s really in store!

[via PocketNow]