According to reports, AT&T has commenced the effort to enable Apple FaceTime support and Google+ video chat for all customers on its cellular network, not just those on a capped mobile sharing plan. The move starts to fulfill a promise the company made in May to allow customers even on grandfathered unlimited internet plans to use the service.
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HighPoint, an industry leading Storage HBA and solutions manufacturer, has launched a new selection of cost-effective hardware RAID HBA’s for PC and Mac Platforms -- the RocketRAID 362x series. The new line of PCI-E RAID cards are ideal for large-scale configurations of 6Gb/second SATA hard drives, and were designed specifically for I/O intensive business and media applications that require data redundancy coupled with consistent transfer rates.
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6 hours ago | Posted in: iPhone, Apple
Shortly after the publication of what is purported to be an "iPhone 5S" bare logic board that hadn't yet had any chips attached to it, a repair company called iHeart Repair in Florida has revealed new images of what is said to the be the display assembly of the forthcoming iPhone revision. Though the images do not reveal any huge changes, the alternation of where a pair of flex connectors is situated matches the logic board, meaning the parts would fit together correctly if mated and supporting their legitimacy. Why Apple may have made the change isn't clear.
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Oculus VR, Inc., Oculus Rift VR headset developer, today announced that it has closed a deal for $16 million in funding. The round was co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. Santo Politi, Spark founder and general partner; and Antonio Rodriguez, entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix, have joined the company's board of directors. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of virtual reality hardware, software and services, ultimately creating commercially available virtual reality platform.
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According to reports, US wireless carrier Verizon is investigating the purchase of Canadian cellphone carrier Wind Mobile. One source noted by The Globe says that Verizon is "definitely taking a hard look right now." AT&T, Vodafone, and the Telenor Group of Norway are all potential suitors, according to sources for the Globe. The Canadian government is stalling or blocking VimpelCom's attempt to sell its share in the company at auction, with a seeking price of more than $500 million. VimpleCom's CEO claims that it will take a billion-dollar investment in Wind to have the infrastructure to turn a profit.
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8 hours ago | Posted in: computers
An official Google blog post has noted the expansion of Chromebook sales to additional venues in the US and in Europe. Starting today, Walmart will be selling the Acer Chromebook, and starting this weekend, Staples will be carrying an assortment of makes and models from three different manufacturers.
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Two more anonymous patent re-examination requests for Apple patents have been filed with the US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). The two patents, involving Apple's visual voicemail and autocorrect features are both at stake in the ongoing legal maneuvers between the Cupertino manufacturer and Samsung.
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9 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
The Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple is entering its final four days this week, according to Fortune. The original orchestrator of Apple's publisher deals for the iBookstore, Eddy Cue, is resuming court testimony today, having last testified on Thursday afternoon. Today's topics are expected to include a dinner Cue had with Macmillan's CEO, and disputed emails written to Cue by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
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Sprint has expanded its 4G LTE coverage in the United States. The addition of LTE to 22 more markets means that Sprint now covers a total of 110 areas, with the carrier also naming other locations that will have LTE access in the coming months, bringing it closer to its goal of covering 200 million people with its LTE network by the end of this year.
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11 hours ago | Posted in: security
The Wikimedia Foundation has not been compromised under the PRISM spying program, and has not been asked to collect data on behalf of the National Security Agency (NSA), according to a statement released over the weekend. The foundation is also asking for feedback about what it should do about the threat to the privacy of its users and contributors.
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Microsoft-owned Skype today announced that its Video Messaging feature has left the preview stage and should now be available in most of its native client apps. Desktop support includes OS X and Windows/Windows 8. Compatible mobile platforms, meanwhile, include iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry.
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Ford will be reverting back to offering in-car systems with physical controls rather than touchscreens and voice recognition, according to a report. The move will remove some of the added complexity of its Sync and MyFord Touch systems, in favor of the buttons and knobs that drivers are used to adjusting while driving.
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13 hours ago | Posted in: iPhone
A Japanese parts company, Moumantai, says it has obtained a logic board for Apple's next-generation iPhone, commonly expected to be called the iPhone 5S. The board is similar in design to the one for the iPhone 5, but shows some significant differences in the layout of its chips, circuitry, and holes. While no chips are actually attached, the space for the main processor hints that Apple's next A-series chip will be larger than the A6, which is currently used in the iPhone 5.
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A new photo shows what is claimed to be one of Logitech's upcoming MFi-certified game controllers. The image, obtained by Kotaku, depicts a gamepad with a D-pad and four action buttons; a fifth button's purpose is unknown. The hardware appears designed to fit an iPhone 5 or a fifth-generation iPod touch.
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Samsung hopes to be the first smartphone manufacturer to launch a smartphone with LTE-Advanced connectivity, according to head of mobile business JK Shin. The high-speed smartphone will be another variant in the Galaxy S4 range of devices, and could be shipping to customers in South Korea before the end of this month.
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15 hours ago | Posted in: security, Apple
Apple has issued a rare follow-up public statement on the ongoing crisis over the National Security Agency's PRISM spying program. Reports revealed that the NSA is using PRISM to collect communications data from internal servers at major technology companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. All of the companies have denied providing a government backdoor; Apple in particular was quick to claim that it had "never heard of PRISM," even though the Washington Post says the company fought against joining PRISM for five years before finally participating. Apple added that it doesn't "provide any government agency with direct access to our servers -- and any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order."
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