News Archive for 12/05/17
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One of the defendants dealing with multiple antitrust lawsuits has settled the overall complaint filed by many states' attorneys general. As a result, Judge Denise Cote granted a motion on Tuesday to dismiss Simon & Schuster from the federal complaint. The terms of the settlement have not been provided.
Toshiba has launched its Regza tablet line for the Japanese market, releasing four tablets ranging between 7.7 and 13.3 inches. All four offerings will launch running Android 4.0, and come with 1GB RAM, a two-megapixel front camera, and a five-megapixel rear camera. All models will also have Wi-Fi capability, Bluetooth compatibility, USB2, and an SD card reader.
Amazon is preparing to release a front-lit version of its Kindle e-reader and a new, bigger version of its Kindle Fire tablet, a source tells Reuters. The source claims to have seen prototypes for the devices, and says they will likely be released in July. A front-lit Kindle e-reader would allow users to read in the dark without the need for an external light attachment.
On the heels of similar offers from Target and Radio Shack, chains Best Buy, Sam's Club, and Sprint have succumbed to peer pressure. Best Buy and Sam's Club have reduced the price of the iPhone 4 8GB model to $50 with a new two-year contract. As reported earlier, Sprint is offering "at least" $100 off a new contract on an iPhone 4S with the exchange of any prior iPhone.
The US District Court of Delaware has ordered Apple and HTC to enter settlement discussions. Judge Sherry Fallon will be moderating the talks, which follow the import ban that has stalled HTC's Evo 4G LTE and One X from entering the US, reports Florian Mueller.
Accessory maker iHome announced a new product in its growing line of home audio accessories. The new iP76 is a LED color changing tower stereo speaker system. Audio sources can be provided by an iOS device, other wireless devices with Bluetooth version 1.2 compatibility, or any device with a line out jack.
Virgin Atlantic is the first British airline to offer in-flight mobile phone calls, text, and data usage. The service powered by AeroMobile will start being used on flights from London to New York, but will expand to 17 planes on at least ten routes by December. Competing airline British Airways already allows passengers to text and go online whilst mid-flight between London and New York, but does not allow for in-flight calls to take place.
Facebook sold 421.2 million shares at $38 each today, Bloomberg reports, raising $16 billion in the largest initial public offering by a technology company in history. The offering caps a storied past few weeks that saw representatives from the social network attempting to build investor confidence, even as reports emerged from other sectors that could well have undercut confidence in the company.
The Video Standards Council has become the UK's sole statutory video-games regulator, administering the PEGI rating system. The changes now mean age checking for the sale of any game rated PEGI 12, 16 or 18 would become enforceable under UK law. Previously, the system was in an advisory capacity and not legally enforceable, with PEGI games rated 15 or higher also being rated by the BBFC for content.
Microsoft filed a recently uncovered patent application in November 2010 for a service allowing users to transfer apps and app data between devices, even if those devices run on different operating systems. The technology could prove to be a selling point as Microsoft looks to draw users away from iOS and Android.
Before his death on October 5th, one of the things Apple co-founder Steve Jobs wanted to build was a so-called "iCar," according to company board member and J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler. "Look at the car industry; it's a tragedy in America," he said during a Fast Company conference this week. "Who is designing the cars? ... Steve's dream before he died was to design an iCar."
HP is reportedly preparing to reduce its workforce by 10 to 15 percent, displacing approximately 30,000 existing employees, unnamed sources have told AllThingsD. The layoffs are said to be a core element of a restructuring plan that will affect all of the company's divisions.
Apple's large-scale datacenter in Maiden, North Carolina will run entirely on renewable energy by the end of the year, the company has announced. Currently Apple is in the middle of buying equipment from Bloom Energy and SunPower Corp. to build not one but two solar arrays in the Maiden area; previously, only one was known to be in development. Once the equipment is in place, it should generate 84 million kWh of energy per year. Apple's fuel cell farm should be finished later in 2012.
Researchers from Rice University and other institutions have unveiled an "inexact" computer chip that is built to allow for errors. The design forsakes 100 percent accuracy in an effort to save power; in its current form, the chips are claimed to be up to 15 times more efficient than current technology.
NTT DoCoMo has announced that the Sharp Aquos SH-07D, SH-09D, and SH-10D smartphones will be appearing on its network this summer. The three phones, each running Android 4.0, will debut separately on the network in a variety of colors.
LG has unveilled the Optimus LTE II in Korea. Successor to the Optimus LTE and other Optimus variants, the handset claims to be the world's first smartphone to be released with 2GB of RAM, shortly before the Samsung Galaxy S III reaches Japan in its own RAM-boosted state.
For a brief time on Thursday Apple was censoring appearances of the word "jailbreak" on the iTunes Store, reports note. One example included the Thin Lizzy album and song of the same name, which were suddenly renamed "J*******k." Other instances of the word, though, are said to have remained unaffected. By Thursday afternoon Eastern time, the extra censorship is observed to have disappeared.
More troubling news has emerged in the run-up to Facebook's $100 billion initial public offering, as an AP-CNBC poll of Facebook users found only four percent of respondents often clicking on ads from the social network. The poll also found that a solid majority of respondents doubted the safety of purchasing goods and services through Facebook.
T-Mobile has announced that it is changing its prepaid mobile broadband offerings to include several additional data caps and a new pricing structure. The one-week pass has jumped from $10 to $15, however customers will be able to utilize 300MB of data instead of 100MB for the seven-day span.
Sony has just revealed it will allow PlayStation Network (PSN) users to buy and download games before they're released, but they won't be able to play them until their on-sale date. The move mimics the way Steam distributes its game titles. The option should appeal to hard-core gamers who don't want to wait for the download on the release date.
Beginning tomorrow, Sprint is planning to offer "at least" $100 for older iPhones traded in towards an iPhone 4S, a leak claims. A graphic provided by a source identifies the promotion as running through June 30th, and also requiring the activation of a new line of service. What it might take to get more than $100 for an old iPhone has not been mentioned.
NEC LCD Technologies (NLT) has demonstrated a new prototype display that has six viewpoints and creates a 3D image to the naked eye. It uses low-temperature polycrystalline silicon and new HxDP (Horizontally times Density Pixels) technology to retain full resolution, however, unlike LCD displays that achieve a glasses-free 3D effect, Tech-On reported. It has six viewpoints and is just 3.1 inches in size, sporting a 427x240 resolution.
Apple has managed to win the contested rights to iphone5.com, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization website. The case has been updated to "Terminated," and visiting iphone5.com currently displays a blank page, rather than a forum that used to be in place. Apple applied to take control of the domain earlier this month, hoping to wrest it away from a protection agency identified as the Corporation Service Company.
Yahoo lawyers accusing Facebook of fraudulently filing patents, as part of an ongoing lawsuit, may have been quickly proven wrong. Facebook, accused of deception, appears to have not only proved the Yahoo legal team wrong by producing the required evidence, but also discovered that there were no previous requests for the relevant document in the first place.
Acer has just taken the wraps off its 24-inch B243PWL monitor for business users. The screen uses LED-backlit IPS technology for delivering viewing angles of 178 degrees. It has 1080p resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate, along with a 100 million to one dynamic contrast ratio and 14ms response time.
At a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Toyota showed off its upcoming Estima Hybrid minivan. At the same time, equipping the van with an aftermarket Smart Navi NSZT-W62G GPS head unit will let a Nintendo DS control the GPS system of the car, 4gamer reported. The DS needs to have a Kuruma de DS (meaning Use DS in the car) cartridge inserted, which allows the portable games console to communicate with the head unit over Bluetooth.
Two companies, LG and AU Optronics, have been certified to supply LCD panels for Apple's rumored 7/7.85-inch iPad, says the Taiwanese publication Liberty Times. The firms are claimed to be aiming toward a product launch sometime in the second half of 2012, and an initial run of 6 million iPads. Liberty adds that TPK is expected to produce 4 million backlight modules, while Chimei Innolux will build 2 million; Nissha Printing will allegedly produce the touch film sensor.
Samsung has just released a new Android app called Cares (Google Play) that aims to improve the customer service experience. It will allow users to check out FAQs, How-To guides, tutorial videos, and troubleshoot issues with their Android 2.1 and newer Samsung devices. Not all devices are covered, however.
Viacom and Time Warner Cable have agreed to drop lawsuits against one another over the latter's TWC TV app for iOS, according to a joint statement. "All of Viacom’s programming will now be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers for in-home viewing via internet protocol-enabled devices such as iPads and Time Warner Cable will continue to carry Viacom’s Country Music Television (CMT) programming," the release reads. "In reaching the settlement agreement, Time Warner Cable and Viacom were also able to resolve other unrelated business matters to their mutual satisfaction. Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment."
The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S III for Japan has been fitted 2GB of RAM, versus the standard 1GB of RAM for most other international markets. The Japanese variant of the GS III also runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 ‘Krait’ dual-core SoC, which is compatible with Japan’s NTT Docomo 4G LTE network. The inclusion of the additional RAM is likely to help support Japan-only features such as 1 seg TV tuner without bogging down overall system performance.
Suggestions that Samsung may have delayed the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in order to leapfrog the dual-core (quad GPU) A5X processor in the new iPad with a quad-core processor have gained momentum with leaked benchmarks spotted. The South Korean company had revealed a version of the forthcoming Galaxy Note 10.1 at the Mobile World Congress in February running the same dual-core processor as its 5.3-inch Galaxy Note stable mate. The leaked benchmarks show a Samsung tablet with a 1280x752 resolution running the 1.4GHz Exynos 4412 quad-core processor paired with Mali-604T graphics.
In more new Alpha camera news from Sony, the company has added the Alpha SLT-A37 to its line-up, which is also joined by a new telephoto lens. The camera uses Sony’s proprietary translucent mirror technology to deliver faster shooting, non-stop phase detection auto-focus and continuous live image preview even when shooting in 1080p video. To help keep action shots focused, it uses a precision 3-cross 15-point autofocus system.
Data from research analysis firm Gartner has revealed that Apple has managed to capture almost eight percent of the global market for mobile phones of all types -- both feature phones and smartphones combined, The Mac Observer reports. This makes the company the third-largest mobile phone maker in the world, behind Nokia and Samsung. Apple has doubled its share of the global cell phone market in only a year.
In an industry first, peripheral maker Genius announced a 1080p 120-degree ultra wide angle USB2 web camera. The Widecam F100 shoots video for web chats in 1080p and is compatible with Skype, FaceTime, Logitech Vid HD, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. An integrated stereo microphone rounds out the features of the new camera.
Following a series of leaks, Sony has made the NEX-F3 official. As with the NEX-7 the NEX-F3 includes an in-built pop-up flash, while retaining the option to attach a professional quality flash. In a first for the NEX line, it includes a 180-swivel LCD display allowing for easy self-portrait taking.
Storage solution provider Iomega announced a new flagship product today, the Iomega StorCenter px12-450r Network Storage array, a networked data storage system incorporating an Ivy Bridge processor from Intel. Iomega also announced the addition of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise to all Iomega StorCenter PX series products. Iomega's new storage option would appear to be the first non-computer product to feature an Ivy Bridge processor.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has released its latest findings on the state of US consumer satisfaction in the areas of cellphone manufacturers and wireless carriers. For the former, there was one runaway winner -- Apple. For the latter, Sprint was able to score a win among a tight field. Overall satisfaction was up an incremental 0.1 percent to a 75.9 score out of a possible 100.
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