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ASUS has released the promised official bootloader unlock for its Transformer Prime tablet. It took the company nearly two months to do so, but is still one of the few to allow bootloader unlocks on tablets. The APK file can be downloaded from ASUS' support site, though ASUS warns of some consequences.
Plans by India's government to roll out the $35 Aakash tablet were thrown into turmoil Wednesday after the country's Human Resource Development Ministry cast doubts on whether the Android device would survive the second wave of adoption. Despite hopes of providing a rough equivalent to the iPad for education, contracted supplier DataWind was no longer guaranteed to move on to a second phase of production after a research institution raised major complaints about the Aakash's quality. Early users complained about low battery life, sluggish performance, and an unworkable resistive touchscreen.
With the full launch of the PS Vita in the US on Wednesday, Sony has released a number of new games and apps in the online PlayStation Store. Users can now download the free Flickr, Live Tweet, and Netflix apps. Flickr is a photo-sharing site that lets users join groups and make personalized photo streams.
Fujitsu now plans to bring its quad-core Arrows smartphone to Mobile World Congress, and release more information about, perhaps including shipping and prices. We saw the phone at CES behind glass, and now the Japanese company has revealed its major specs. The phone will be powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 chip, which is capable of 1.5GHz clock speeds.
Adobe on Wednesday published a roadmap (PDF) giving a peek at the long-term future of Flash. Having dropped the mobile version, it's now focusing on games and video on the desktop and now agrees that HTML5 and other web standards are more suited for animation. Accordingly, the imminent 11.2 update would improve hardware graphics acceleration, multi-core video processing, and support for right clicks when using mice.
The European Commission reacted to mounting pressure Wednesday by at least temporarily halting plans to ratify the ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) proposal, choosing to pass it to the European Court of Justice for inspection. The continent's high court will decide if ACTA violates fundamental EU rights. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht took a balanced position, wanting neither to accept media labels' views at face value nor act based on preconceptions held by some of those protesting the measure.
Verizon's data growth problems resurfaced on Wednesday after it confirmed another nationwide outage. Officially, only 4G LTE access is down and preventing the fastest possible data. It didn't yet have an estimate for when 4G would be restored.
T-Mobile USA has urged the FCC to block the $3.9 billion sale of wireless spectrum by cable companies to Verizon Wireless on Tuesday. Possibly frustrated after its own deal with AT&T was denied, the provider argued the deal between Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, and Cox Communications would give Verizon an "excessive concentration" of wireless spectrum. Verizon is already the biggest cellphone company in the US, while T-Mobile is fourth largest.
Underage Foxconn workers were transferred to other departments or not scheduled to work overtime in advance of inspections by the Fair Labor Association, an activist group tells AppleInsider. Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior project officer Debby Sze Wan Chan says that last week, she heard from two Foxconn workers in Zhenghou who said the company prepared itself before the FLA arrived. "All underage workers, between 16-17 years old, were not assigned any overtime work and some of them were even sent to other departments," Chan claims.
Nike expanded its Nike+ mix Wednesday with two combinations of shoes and apps that go beyond its traditional focus on running. Both Nike+ Basketball and Nike+ Training can track jump height and other factors besides horizontal distance. A new Pressure Sensor integrated into the shoes themselves contributes to the existing motion tracking to reveal details that were previously impossible to follow in the Nike+ system.
Computer chipmaker AMD will turn to Cyclos Semiconductor for its resonant clock mesh technology in its upcoming Piledriver-based chips. They will replace the Bulldozer-core chips introduced in the fall of 2011. The new technology will reduce the chip's clock distribution power.
SanDisk's NAND flash lineup may have set a record Wednesday after the company claimed to have the world's smallest 128-gigabit (16GB) memory chip. The 19 nanometer, three-bit-per-cell storage has a footprint of about 170mm square (0.26in square), or less than that of a penny. It's also relatively quick for its capacity and size at 144Mbps (18MB) per second.
Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner in a posting confirmed company was echoing Apple's strategy and filing a formal complaint against Motorola with the European Commission. The new dispute, like Apple's, alleges that Motorola is abusing standards-based patents by trying to charge unreasonable rates to license technology. Microsoft's case centered around elements like the H.264 video codec and Wi-Fi that are at the heart of Motorola's lawsuits both in Europe and the US.
Lawyers for Apple and Proview exchanged heated words today in a Shanghai court hearing, according to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters. Proview is seeking a ban on iPad sales in the city as a part of its ongoing trademark dispute with Apple. "Apple has no right to sell iPads under that name," said a lawyer for Proview Shenzhen, Xie Xianghui. Proview once sold a product called the IPAD, or Internet Personal Access Device.
Hitachi staked out a claim as the top builder of thin hard drives on Wednesday through a 500GB version of the Travelstar Z7K500. The drive is the first to hit a half-terabyte at the slimmer 7mm height while keeping a full 7,200RPM spin speed and just one drive platter. Along with being the first to have both a 6Gbps SATA3 connection and a 32MB buffer, it's billed as being not just faster than other 7mm drives but faster than many regular 9mm drives as well.
Apple took advantage of its current exclusive on The Beatles (iTunes Store) with the first-ever availability of ringtones from the band on iTunes. The initial batch involves ringtones cut from the singles highlight album 1. Picks range from the very earliest songs, such as "Love Me Do," to "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and the very tail end of the band's career.
The HTC One X, also referred to as the Villehas been spotted in an apparent screenshot from a T-Mobile inventory. On this occasion, it has surfaced with the name Ville intact. Also making an appearance on the same inventory is the just announced for late March, Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, helping to give the leak further credence.
The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze, first teased in early January has been confirmed by T-Mobile to be landing on the network in ‘late March’ for $150 on a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate is applied. The device is powered by a dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor clocked at 1.5GHz. It supports 42Mbps HSPA+ speeds, which T-Mobile claims is faster than the average home Internet2 broadband connected to a home.
LG continued a run of new smartphones as part of the lead-in to Mobile World Congress by introducing the Optimus 3D Cube, also known as the Optimus 3D Max. A direct sequel to the original, the device formerly codenamed the CX2 can now edit, not just play back, 3D video. The hardware is also noticeably slimmer at 9.6mm (versus 10.9mm) and bumps up the dual-core processor from 1GHz to 1.2GHz.
Intel may make up for its Ivy Bridge processor delay by selling at substantially lower prices. New rumors from part suppliers claimed to Digitimes that processor prices would typically be $60 to $70 lower, presumably relative to the current-generation Sandy Bridge-era chips. The move could lead to faster processors at similar prices or, more likely, less expensive systems overall.
Samsung has introduced a new platform to support its Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 dubbed Learning Hub. The fresh service looks set to counter Apple’s renewed emphasis on iTunes U and will offer users educational content including 6,000 textbooks and video titles from 30 different education service providers. The company has only revealed some screenshots so far, but more information about its availability and any charges are expected to be revealed at the World Mobile Congress.
Lenovo has climbed to the top of Rescuecom's computer reliability ratings for the beginning of 2012, achieving a significantly higher score than its competitors. Apple has fallen to fourth in the lineup, despite maintaining a stronger rating in past years and achieving a surge in overall market share, with a score that is just over half of Lenovo's rating.
After teasing the Eluga smartphone early this week, Panasonic is reportedly set to introduce yet another Android-based handset next week at Mobile World Congress. Unnamed sources have told Pocket-Lint the company will announce a higher-end device with a larger touchscreen dual-core processor and a front-facing camera.
Social networking service Twitter has updated its client for iOS and for Android to return the much-requested "swipe shortcut" that allowed users to swipe a tweet and be offered options including reply, re-tweet, mark it as a favorite, share it or view the posting user's profile without leaving the user's own timeline. Those on iOS can now change font size among other features, and the Android version now supports more devices.
After rejecting details in a recent leak surrounding Office for iPad, Microsoft suggests that the issue will be clarified soon. In a Twitter post from the official Microsoft News account, the company reiterates its stance that someone gave The Daily "bad info," but hints that evidence supporting its accusation will become "clear in the coming weeks."
Makers of the Arc hand-held stabilizer case and arm for the iPhone, iSteady Shot has now added the M-27 action camera mount to its lineup. Featuring aircraft-grade aluminum, hand grips or tripod mounts and a 37mm wide-angle lens, the M-27 is intended to give the iPhone 4 or 4S a further nudge up the scale towards the quality of a dedicated wide-angle camera or camcorder.
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