Samsung has succeeded in its request to see details of the recent licensing agreement between rival manufacturers Apple and HTC.
The Korean giant had appealed to the court presiding over its own dispute with Apple, claiming the settlement with HTC could have a profound effect on whether sales bans are imposed on Samsung devices.
Samsung's motion was centred on the notion that; if Apple was willing to license out its patented technology to a rival like HTC, then it too could figure out a cash-only settlement with Apple.
This claim is strengthened, Samsung said, by the company's conviction that some of the Apple patents licensed by HTC overlap with those Samsung was found guilty of infringing upon, back in August.
Granting the motion
In granting Samsung's motion to the court: US Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal wrote: "Although the court is more than a little skeptical of Samsung's arguments regarding the financial terms, Rule 26 supplies a broad standard of relevance.
"Samsung's motion to compel production of an unredacted version of the settlement agreement is granted.
"Apple shall produce the unredacted document without delay subject to an Attorneys-Eyes-Only designation under the protective order already in place in this case."
Following the ruling, the Apple-HTC settlement is likely to be taken into consideration when Samsung and Apple return to the courtroom on December 6 to tie up the loose ends of the tech trial of the century.
Apple plans to seek the aforementioned sales bans on offending products, while Samsung wants the case thrown out completely.
Apple has posted two new iPhone ads on its YouTube page in the hope of grabbing the attention of consumers and making a few extra sales this holiday season.
With the holiday shopping season about to kick off in earnest, Apple has rolled out two new ads featuring the iPhone 5 in the hope that it can persuade even more consumers to send their hard-earned cash its way.
The first ad (below), called ‘Turkey’, extols the virtues of Photo Stream, a feature of iOS 6 that allows users to easily share photos. “It’s picture-taking season. Share all the photos you want with just the people you want,” the narrator says in the 30-second Thanksgiving-themed ad, finishing off with the not altogether unexpected line, “It’s as easy as pie.”
For its second ad (below), titled ‘Orchestra’, the Cupertino company focuses on the iPhone 5’s noise-canceling ability, perhaps in anticipation of some rather boisterous family gatherings in the coming days. The producers of the ad secured the services of a small orchestra to illustrate this particular function of the phone, which “picks up the sounds around you and helps turn them down, so when the world gets noisy, calls sound better.”
With American shoppers predicted to spend an average of around $750 this holiday shopping season, we can expect to see tech giants like Apple roll out more ads in the coming weeks as they fight frantically for a piece of the consumer pie action.
Definitely ideal for anyone that carries several mobile devices, the Phorce smart bag will keep you powered without having to find an electrical outlet.
With a third of the funding goal already raised on Kickstarter, a group located in Amsterdam has developed a “smart bag” that allows users to charge their gadgets when on the go. Called the Phorce, the bag can charge up to three devices through USB at the same time and it can be used as a messenger bag, briefcase or backpack. For instance, a Phorce owner could charge a laptop, smartphone and digital camera all at the same time.
When the 54Wh battery is at full capacity, it can charge an iPhone 5 completely up to eight times and the Samsung Galaxy III up to six times. Regarding tablets, an Apple iPad Mini can be charged twice and a fourth generation iPad can be fully charged once. A GoPro video camera can be fully charged eleven times and a typical set of noise-cancelling headphones can be charged up to sixty times.
When it comes to laptops, the creators are offering details in regards to how long the battery will be able to charge specific Apple laptops. For instance, the MacBook Pro with the 15-inch Retina display can be charged for 3.5 hours. However, the MacBook Air in either screen size can be charged for seven hours. The creators are developing a version of the smart bag that specifically increases MacBook charging time.
The laptop pocket within the standard bag can store Windows laptops up to 14 inches and the Phorce bag for Mac users can store the 15-inch MacBook Pro. There is foam padding throughout the bag to protect devices and the fabric has been designed to help clean electronics like tablets and smartphones in order to keep the mobile devices fingerprint free. The outside of the bag is completely waterproof to keep expensive electronics completely dry.
In order to see the remaining power left within the Phorce smart bag, the creators have developed a smartphone application for the iOS and Android platforms. Linking to the bag over Bluetooth, a Phorce owner can view the remaining power left within the bag as well as how the power can be used to charge your gadgets. In addition, the user can turn on notifications that indicate when the battery within the smart bag needs to be recharged.
Interestingly, pairing the Phorce smart bag to a smartphone also enables a handy security feature. If a Phorce owner is in a hurry and happens to leave their bag behind by mistake, a notification will appear on the smartphone as soon as the phone leaves the range of the smart bag.
To date, the creators of the Phorce smart bag have raised approximately $55,000 of the $150,000 goal to get manufacturing up and running. If the Kickstarter campaign happens to hit $750,000, the creators have promised to increase the battery capacity by ten percent without increasing the overall weight of the smart bag.
The standard version of the bag is currently priced at $219 on the Kickstarter page, but will eventually retail for $349. The version of the bag for Mac users is currently priced at $299, but is expected to retail for $449. According to the timetable, the bag will be delivered to Kickstarter backers by May 2013.
Samsung has succeeded in its request to see details of the recent licensing agreement between rival manufacturers Apple and HTC.
The Korean giant had appealed to the court presiding over its own dispute with Apple, claiming the settlement with HTC could have a profound effect on whether sales bans are imposed on Samsung devices.
Samsung's motion was centred on the notion that; if Apple was willing to license out its patented technology to a rival like HTC, then it too could figure out a cash-only settlement with Apple.
This claim is strengthened, Samsung said, by the company's conviction that some of the Apple patents licensed by HTC overlap with those Samsung was found guilty of infringing upon, back in August.
Granting the motion
In granting Samsung's motion to the court: US Magistrate Judge Paul S. Grewal wrote: "Although the court is more than a little skeptical of Samsung's arguments regarding the financial terms, Rule 26 supplies a broad standard of relevance.
"Samsung's motion to compel production of an unredacted version of the settlement agreement is granted.
"Apple shall produce the unredacted document without delay subject to an Attorneys-Eyes-Only designation under the protective order already in place in this case."
Following the ruling, the Apple-HTC settlement is likely to be taken into consideration when Samsung and Apple return to the courtroom on December 6 to tie up the loose ends of the tech trial of the century.
Apple plans to seek the aforementioned sales bans on offending products, while Samsung wants the case thrown out completely.
This time next year, an Apple TV may take over your living room
Twelve months from now, you could be staring into an Apple TV display if the predictions of one analyst are accurate.
This all-in-one Apple TV's release date will be Nov. 2013 in the eyes of Piper Jaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster in a note picked up by Business Insider.
Munster also forecasted that the Apple TV price will fall between $1,500 and $2,000, and its screen sizes will range from 42 inches and 55 inches.
Later than expected Apple TV release date
The Nov. 2013 release date prediction from Munster is actually several months later than an earlier Apple TV projection.
Six months ago, the analyst had prognosticated that Apple would announce its first line of televisions in December, then debut the Apple TV in the first half of 2013.
Of course, Munster might not have been wrong at the time.
Between then and now, talks between Apple and cable provides have reportedly been stalled, delaying Apple’s effort to reinvent the TV.
Survey says Apple TV wins in a feud
In turning its Apple TV box from being just a hobby to everyone’s next television, Apple faces fierce competition.
Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Philips and LG all offer widget-enabled 42-inch televisions well under the forecasted $1,500 and $2,000 Apple TV price range.
Still, recent survey results from Munster indicated that almost half of the people questioned said that they would be interested in buying an Apple TV set.
Other interesting release date notes
Besides predicting the Apple TV release date, Munster sees an iPad Mini with Retina Display and Apple TV box App Store, and an iTunes radio product for March 2013.
WWDC in June should give everyone a first look at iOS 7 and OS X 10.9, plus more Retina Displays, this time for MacBook Airs.
Finally, an iPhone 5S release date and a redesigned iPad should join an iPad mini with a specs bump in September, two months before the Apple TV makes it debut.
A new report from Korea says that Samsung is currently working on eight-core processors for its upcoming devices, hinting that users could see this tech in its Galaxy S4.
Samsung is rumored to unveil its next-generation handset, presumably the Galaxy S4, at 2013’s Mobile World Congress in February. However, even more interesting than when the smartphone may launch is the significant spec bump it could see.
The Galaxy S3 successor may feature eight processor cores, according to EE Times. This is double the amount of processors featured in high-end smartphone such as the Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 and S3 handsets, which are based on quad-core chipsets.
The Korean news source recently reported that Samsung is crafting a new processor that could expand on the companion core build found in Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chipset. Rather than packing a quad-core processor and a fifth core unit for background processing, Samsung could be planning to sandwich two quad-core chips into one offering, allowing for double the power.
The processor would also be the first chipset to use ARM’s big.LITTLE technology, which combines high performance with power efficiency to extend battery life.
Specifically, Samsung is believed to pair four Cortex -A15 cores with four Cortex-A7 cores. These higher-powered A15 chips are expected to perform the more demanding and daunting operations of a smartphone. The lower-powered Cortex A7s, however, would deal with daily tasks that do not require much battery power, the report says.
Back in August, it was reported that ARM already had two eight-core chips in the works: the T628 and T678. But what does this mean for mobile device users? These processors are said to be 50 percent more powerful than their predecessors without draining any additional power. These eight-core processor chipsets could even feature the potential to boast “console class gaming” for smartphones and support video workloads of up to 4K and 8K.
In addition to speculation about the processing power, Samsung may pack into its Galaxy S3 successor, rumors have also indicated that it could come with a 13-megapixel camera. Back in September, the Korea Times reported that Samsung will be unveiling a 5-inch Galaxy S4 at the Mobile World Congress in February, but Samsung later denied these rumors via Twitter.
“Please note that some media reported speculation that the Galaxy S’s subsequent models will be released,” read the tweet, which called the report “a simple rumor [that] is not true.”
Despite whether or not Samsung decides to release any new smartphones this spring, the development of eight-core processors is likely a sign of what’s to come for mobile tech.
Lenovo may become the number one smartphone manufacturer in China's market come 2013, ending Samsung's reign.
PC maker Lenovo is currently the number two player in the Chinese smartphone market, but that may change very soon. A report by Gartner claims that, by 2013, Lenovo is projected to become the top handset manufacturer in its home market of China. The research firm released a statement on Wednesday outlining Lenovo’s advantages in the Chinese smartphone industry that could boost the manufacturer to snag Samsung’s throne.
“It is the only local smartphone player that can compete with top global brands in China, thanks to its household brand recognition, nationwide distribution, strong portfolio and reasonable pricing,” Garner said in its statement.
The company is currently placed ahead of Apple in China’s handset market, and its target consumer audience will be one of the factors that could drive it to the top.
“The brand is positioned at the mid-to-lower end which will drive much of its future growth, and this is where global brands are less competitive,” the statement read.
It’s worth noting that Lenovo’s smartphone products have gained significant traction in China over the past year, as its market share has risen from 1.7 percent in the third quarter of 2011 to 14 percent in this year’s third quarter. Apple, by point of comparison, claims 6.9 percent of the smartphone market share in China. Samsung accounts for 16.7 percent, putting it ahead of Lenovo by a mere 2.7 percent.
But Lenovo isn’t the only company expected to see a growth come 2013. Next year, China’s entire smartphone market could double that of the United States. According to data from China-based startup incubator Innovation Works, factors such as the availability of 3G networks and the decrease in smartphone prices could greatly increase China’s smartphone market. Broadband wireless coverage is now available in 58 percent in China, and the cost for an “acceptable Android phone” has fallen to about $100.
“Smart phones are now spreading like wildfire,” writes Kai Fu Lee, CEO of Innovation Works, whose report was published on LinkedIn and Business Insider.
About one year ago China saw less than 50 million smartphone users in its market, according to the data. This year, however, is expected to reach an installed base of 250 million active smartphones. That number could double to 500 million next year, Lee writes.
Interestingly enough, Innovation Works does not mention Lenovo as one of the major players that could benefit from the expansion of China’s smartphone market. Lee predicts that Apple will “take a healthy and lucrative minority share” and mentions that some chipset and phone manufacturers will “have a field day,” but does not specify any particular companies.
Libon, a voicemail integrated VoIP app launching on Monday in the Apple App Store, has every feature that you'll need to make phone calls, and more. Read our full hands-on impressions and interview with its creator.
It’s not often that you’ll find a corporation willing to dive head first into developing a technology that competes with its own core business, but that’s just what one European ISP is doing. French mobile network operator and Internet service provider Orange is taking a chance and launching a voicemail integrated VoIP app in the United States and Europe.
Orange Group, first founded in 1993, services over 180 million mobile customers. Giles Corbett, Head of Libon and CEO of Orange Vallée, a research and innovation arm within Orange Group, and his team came up with the idea when customers were demanding a product that was more comprehensive than the Over-the-top (OTT) voicemail platform called “ON Voicefeed” that Orange launched last year. Based on feedback, Corbett told us that Orange embarked on developing, “an app that would give [customers] all the benefits of VoIP in terms of quality and cost, but on top of that would have the use of a normal phone.”
The app, named “Libon,” was designed to make VOIP as close to what it’s like to answer a real call as possible. When you place a call to another person, a notification appears on the receiver’s phone and rings like a standard call over the cellular network. But much like Apple’s iMessage, Libon has the ability to recognize whether or not the phone has the app installed. If the phone doesn’t have Libon, users can still make calls at a discounted rate.
Intriguingly, Libon started its life as a voicemail app, and still has a few features in it that make it easy to customize voicemail greetings. You can tailor voicemail greetings based on a contact’s relationship with you. You can set the generic “I’m not here right now…” greeting specific to your professional contacts. But for your significant other or family members, you can set a more personalized greeting. If you’re too busy to listen to your voicemail, Libon can transcribe your voice messages and deliver them as text messages.
Corbett explained to us that Libon was built with a completely different architecture than Skype and claims to boast superior call quality. “It’s something that you can just use reliably and know that the call quality is going to work. The quality is usually much better than a standard mobile call, and better than other VoIP services.”
When we tried out the beta version of the app ourselves, the interface was unremarkable, but intuitive. Libon comes with a basic messaging feature as well, but it’s not as robust as Whatsapp, LINE, Kik, imo.im, or other texting alternatives. The calls were crystal clear, but did drop on occasion. Corbett told us that this could be because though the calling platform was switched on in Europe, which is necessary for uninhibited and clear calls, it wasn’t yet to be activated in North America (where we’re located) until its launch this Monday. Hopefully, by then, call dropping will be a non-issue.
If AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile had the gusto to develop their own applications and not be so concerned about maintaining their bottom lines by providing outdated services, the tech world would be a better place. Orange isn’t concerned with cannibalizing its own business. Instead, it’s looking forward and recognizing an opportunity. Corbett said that the company has kept an “open mind” about its own industry.
Libon is launching to 80 countries including the United States. This Monday, it will launch in the Apple App Store and it should come to the Google Play Store before the end of December. If you’re interested in this app, Orange is offering a promotion for those of you that have a loved one or friend staying overseas. For one hour per month, users can make phone calls using Libon to any international phone (even if they don’t have the app) at no cost.
A group of former Nokia employees are working to revive the abandoned MeeGo operating system, now resurrected as Sailfish and teased it on the company's website this week.
In a YouTube video posted Wednesday, Finnish startup Jolla introduced the world to Sailfish, a new mobile operating system created from the ashes of MeeGo.
The minute-plus video offers the first peek into the company's slick new user interface, which attempts to blend the best elements of Windows Phone and Android, with a dash of BlackBerry 10 style thrown in for good measure.
The familiar Android icon also makes a brief appearance in the video - Sailfish includes a standalone app allowing it to run Google's open source platform on top of its own.
Like a phoenix
The brainchild of Intel, Nokia and Samsung, MeeGo was unceremoniously abandoned by Nokia following the release of its N9 handset, the only device ever launched with the mobile OS.
Jolla then picked up where Nokia left off, raising an impressive €200 million (US$258, AU$252.8, UK£160) last summer from a Hong Kong-based alliance to make its mobile ambitions a reality.
According to the video, Jolla plans to officially take the wraps off Sailfish in 2013, with the Sailfish Software Development Kit now available for interested developers.
Jolla faces the same uphill battle that MeeGo did against iOS and Android, now further complicated as Nokia gains traction with new Windows Phone 8 handsets and the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 attracts interest from carriers.
The Meizu MX2 has appeared in a fresh batch of leaked images. This time the pictures are clearer than before and we can get a good look at the front.
The device looks sleeker than its predecessor and appears very thin. The front is entirely covered in glass with what looks like a front facing camera at the bottom (or possibly a LED or home button).
We already know for a fact that the Meizu MX2 will be unveiled on November 27. We hear it will boast a 4.4" screen possibly having a 1280 x 768 resolution. There should be an 8 MP camera on the back. The MX2 should be running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from the box with the custom Flyme 2.0 UI on top.
A newly released detail is the price - previously the MX2 was rumored to cost 2.999 yuan (about $481/€375) but now it looks like it could launch for 2.499 yuan (around $402/€313). This is yet to be confirmed.
One of the two men responsible for revealing a massive security hole in AT&T's system and exposing the email addresses of more than 100,000 iPad owners faces up to 10 years in jail. But a closer look at the situation shows that his problem is our problem, too.
The security researcher responsible for exposing a hole in AT&T’s website that revealed more than 100,000 iPad owners’ email addresses and unique device IDs was convicted today on federal charges. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars and fines of up to $500,000. Why is this a big deal for the rest of us? He didn’t actually “hack” AT&T’s system any more than you are “hacking” this website right now.
The AT&T iPad hack
Andrew “weev” Auernheimer, 26, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to gain access to a computer without authorization, and one count of identity theft, in a federal court in New Jersey today. Wired reports that the jury only took hours to reach a verdict.
Auernheimer’s case goes back to 2010 when he and fellow self-described security researcher Daniel Spitler, 26, discovered that AT&T’s website would reveal the email address of iPad owners who used the wireless provider’s 3G network. And it would do this without requiring any passwords or code-breaking. Instead, all AT&T’s system needed was something called an ICC-ID, which is a unique ID number assigned to each iPad. Input the ICC-ID into AT&T’s website, and it would spit out a registered iPad user’s email address.
So Auernheimer and Spitler decided to investigate how deep the hole went by writing a program called “iPad 3G Account Slurper,” which would automatically input ICC-IDs, and collect the revealed email addresses. The result: More than 120,000 email addresses revealed, according to authorities, including those of high-profile figures like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and ABC News’s Diane Sawyer, among others.
The pair then leaked the data to Gawker, which published a story about the security hole in AT&T’s system. AT&T then confirmed the “breach,” and the FBI launched an investigation. Auernheimer and Spitler were charged by January 2011. Spitler pled guilty to the charges, and later settled. Auernheimer fought the charges, and lost today. In a tweet posted after the verdict came in, Auernheimer said he “went in knowing there would be a guilty [verdict] here,” and he’s “appealing of course.”
What Auernheimer and Spitler (really) did wrong
Official charges aside, the main problems for Auernheimer and Spitler arose from their apparent “trolling” of AT&T. In chat logs published by Wired, the pair admitted to discovering the breach, and joked about plans to use the security hole to make AT&T look irresponsible. Later chat logs with other individuals showed some floated plans to short AT&T’s stock ahead the Gawker article on the assumption that it would cause the company’s shares to fall. (They did – though neither Auernheimer nor Spitler took part in any short-selling.)
Furthermore, AT&T said that the pair did not contact AT&T directly about the security hole, which is standard practice for security researchers. Lastly, the Auernheimer marketed himself and Spitler to the media as “Goatse Security” (a play on the infamous goatse shock website), but were in fact just two guys, not a legitimate cyber security organization.
In short: Auernheimer and Spitler were massive jerks to AT&T and the customers whose data they collected, and made a name for themselves by doing so.
Why this is bad for the rest of us
As tempting as it may be to argue that Auernheimer and Spitler got what they deserved, one must also recognize that Auernheimer’s prosecution highlights a massive flaw in the law under which he was convicted.
Known as the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, or CFAA, the law states that it is illegal to have “knowingly accessed a computer without authorization.” It also prohibits garnering “information from any protected computer.” Problem is, CFAA was written in 1986, before the Web existed, at a time when accessing most computers or networks required a password. That is no longer the case: Every time you visit a website, you are in effect accessing a computer without explicit authorization to do so.
“Everybody here accesses a protected computer by the definition of the law,” said Auernheimer while the jury was deliberating, according to TechNewsDaily. “The ‘protected computer’ is any network computer. You access a protected computer every day. Have you ever received permission from Google to go to Google? No. Nobody has …”
While Auernheimer’s example is simplistic, it perfectly explains his bind: All he and Spitler did was access AT&T’s website and gather information from it – no system breach took place since anyone could technically access the same information.
A well-known legal phrase is ‘ignorance of the law is no defense.’ But that doesn’t really apply here. You know the law exists. You may have read it in detail. You may have even consulted your lawyer. It’s just that nobody can tell precisely whether this act as crossed the line between ‘authorized’ and ‘unauthorized’ access. We won’t know until if and when somebody tries to prosecute you.
Let’s say that instead of trying to profit from your accidental discovery, you simply post it to your blog, saying ‘look at what these idiots have done.’ As a Fortune 500, the FBI takes notice, searches your home, confiscates all your computers, arrests you, and successfully convicts you under the CFAA.
As Graham later explains, the vagueness of CFAA, and today’s prosecution of Auernheimer, gives cybersecurity researchers a disincentive to find security flaws, which in turn makes the rest of us less safe on the Web.
“For cybersecurity researchers like me, this creates chilling effect. In order to fix security we have to point out when it’s broken,” he wrote. “When we see [a security flaw], what do we do? Do we keep our head down, or do we speak up? Even if we’ll probably be found innocent, why take the risk? Better to keep quiet.”
A group of former Nokia employees are working to revive the abandoned MeeGo operating system, now resurrected as Sailfish and teased on the company's website this week.
The minute-plus video offers the first peek into the company's slick new user interface, which attempts to blend the best elements of Windows Phone and Android, with a dash of BlackBerry 10 style thrown in for good measure.
The familiar Android icon also makes a brief appearance in the video - Sailfish includes a standalone app allowing it to run Google's open source platform on top of its own.
Like a phoenix
The brainchild of Intel, Nokia and Samsung, MeeGo was unceremoniously abandoned by Nokia following the release of its N9 handset, the only device ever released with the mobile OS.
Jolla then picked up where Nokia left off, raising an impressive €200 million (US$258, AU$252.8, US£160) last summer from a Hong Kong-based alliance to make its mobile ambitions reality.
According to the video, Jolla plans to officially take the wraps off Sailfish in 2013, with the Sailfish Software Development Kit now available (PDF link) for interested developers.
Jolla faces the same uphill battle that MeeGo did against iOS and Android, now further complicated as Nokia gains traction with new Windows Phone 8 handsets and the forthcoming BlackBerry 10 attracts interest from carriers.
As the market for mobile video continues to expand, we go hands on with video app Vodio's latest Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube integrations.
With Vodio’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube integration announced just days ago, we decided to dig a little deeper into what many are calling Flipboard for video — and based on our experience, it certainly earns itself a spot among apps like Zite, Pulse, and Flipboard, and the myriad other content aggregators out there. Let’s jump in and see what Vodio is all about.
When you first open Vodio, you have the option to add up to five different topics (Vodio calls these “Channels”) including Tech, Entertainment, Viral, and others that will determine the types of video content that’s delivered to you. But if you’re a heavy consumer of content and five categories won’t suffice, additional channels and subchannels can be added via the + button on the app’s navigation bar at the bottom of the page. If you’re a fan of comedy and enjoy content of the America’s Funniest Home Videos variety, the subchannel “Fail” (no further explanation needed) might be right up your alley. Or you might want to watch videos exclusively from certain publications, YouTube channels, or celebrities.
Vodio’s newest update deeply integrates the app with Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Based on our experience, when you connect these three social networks to the app, you’ll begin to see videos shared by friends and brands that you’re following. But Vodio works behind the scenes, using your social graph and video viewing habits to recommend content that its algorithm thinks you’ll find valuable.
You’re missing out on a lot of shared content that gets buried on your Facebook News Feed, Twitter dash, and YouTube subscriptions, and it’s impressive how much of this Vodio surfaces. After all, these platforms are constantly flooded with new videos, and there’s simply no way for you to get eyeballs on everything posted because of their respective filters.
I found myself sitting and watching all the videos pulled from my Facebook News Feed until there were no more left to watch. With the way it’s designed, and because videos are played in immediate succession, it’s encouraging to watch multiple videos in just one sitting – something I wouldn’t normally do on Twitter or Facebook.
If you’re in the mood for a different subject altogether, the newly introduced search button (accessible from the navigation bar) makes it easy to find other types of content. Based on your search, Vodio will recommend channels from four different outlets: Vodio’s “Recommended Channels,” Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Essentially you’re able to watch any type of video from specific YouTube channels, Twitter accounts, and Facebook Pages without clicking on “Subscribe,” “Follow,” and “Like.”
On the iPhone, swiping horizontally scrolls through the different topics that you’ve elected to add to your Vodio dashboard, while scrolling vertically shows all relevant content related to the topic. And all features are, for the most part, accessible in just one or two clicks.
Selecting a video on the Vodio dashboard immediately opens and begins playing the video. At the bottom of the same page, you’ll see buttons for sharing the video, watching it later, and liking or disliking. The latter feature helps Vodio better recommend more relevant content to its users. The user experience couldn’t be more intuitive, and the videos play keep on rolling without a hitch. Video quality hasn’t suffered either, and we rarely encountered any buffering even on a 3G data plan.
Overall, Vodio is a robust service for keeping up with the latest news, viral videos, or random tidbits that the app thinks you need to know, or that your friends are sharing. Video apps of many varieties are a hot commodity these days, and the competition is thick — everyone wants to either bank on video aggregation or earn the prestigious “Instagram for video” label. Jury’s still out on how exactly users want to consume and create videos via mobile devices, but Vodio is certainly an interesting and compelling strike in the market.
It certainly feels like Samsung is taking over the world right now – at least, the Android world. There's no doubt that last year's Galaxy S2 was arguably the phone of the year.
And not in recent times, discounting Apple of course, can we remember the anticipation and expectation of a phone as much as the Galaxy S3.
If you needed a barometer of this, just look at how it was unveiled. Not at MWC like lots of others, but its own event. Yep, the Galaxy line has reached the level where it can guarantee hoards will come just for an unveiling. Very Cupertino.
But despite the whooping masses and the queues on launch day, it wasn't the five star phone we hoped it would be... there's still very much room for improvement. So here's what we'd like to see for next year's SIV.
Samsung Galaxy S4 screen
This was the main source of criticism. The Galaxy S2 had an amazing Super AMOLED Plus display – and boy, was it vibrant. The S3 upped the screen size from 4.3-inches to 4.8-inches and the pixel density went from 217 to 306 to take a run at the iPhone's Retina Display.
But, Samsung also opted for a PenTile approach, to the chagrin of geeks. What does that mean for the end user?
Well, the screen looks great but you can make out pixels if you really, really strain. And some of the vivacity and colour saturation is lost. On the plus side, Samsung reckons the screen will last longer – but we'd rather see a much more S2-like screen with a sharper resolution - and given that's now appeared on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, we're pretty hopeful we'll get it on the Samsung Galaxy S4 too.
There seems a much more likely option in the shape of the 5-inch 1080p screen that could offer up an eye-splitting 441ppi, making it easily the highest res out there. It would probably need to be shrunk down a smidge to fit into the palm, or Samsung could actually just make the phone even closer to the edges of the screen. Dare we dream of an edge-to-edge display like on the 9000 series TVs?
However, the bad news is that due to reported manufacturing issues these may have been delayed... does that mean the phone will have to be pushed back as well?
Samsung Galaxy S4 release date
It seems more than likely that Samsung will eschew MWC 2013 once more for the release of its top handset, instead focusing on the launch in May 2013, which we'd really like to see.
This makes sense for a number of reasons: time to allow the current customers to buy the S3, being able to scoop up all the customers about to come out of contract from the S2 and also not making its fans feel like its throwing out a new flagship phone every three seconds.
However, that didn't stop the rumour mill deciding that the Galaxy S4 launch was set for March 2013, based on something a Samsung 'representative' said to the media. The brand quickly took to Twitter to discredit the rumours, so it looks like the middle of the year launch is still firmly on the cards.
Samsung Galaxy S4 specs
There's not a lot around about specs at the moment, but the rumours emanating from the good ol' internet rumour mill are certainly enough to make us excited.
The first is that the S4 will have a quad-core chip, which might sound a little 'last gen' to many. However, it will be based on ARM's A15 architecture, bringing with it a big boost in power for all those resource-intensive tasks we love to do all the time.
But then again, that's not Samsung's way really, is it? We want to see bigger, bangier and faster, so doubling it again to an OCTO-core would be the way to go.
Rather than just making it super powerful though, the eight core innards would split into two groups: A15-spec chips for the big stuff, and A7 when things need to get a little lower power, bringing with it the best of both worlds.
The other big news that we think should be on our wish list is the fact that Samsung's internal storage bods have been hard at work bringing the flash memory down in size and up in speed... so think even thinner phones with higher capacity that can be written to up to 10x faster. We're now looking forward to the S4 even more now.
Beam and beam again
Samsung may be setting up its Galaxy Beam smartphone as an individual entity but we'd love the ability to be able to beam stuff straight from our S4 onto a wall and truly show off the eight-core and Super HD capabilities. Imagine the faces of iFans when it's a spec-off and you shine THAT (literally) in their faces.
The fact of the matter is that the S3 has the processing power to run graphically-intense offerings and the Google Play store lets you download movies. As long as there was some way of also booming out the sound, we think this would be a great addition
Samsung Galaxy S4 battery
Ok, we admit we always want more. The S2's 1,650mAh was manageable and the S3's 2,100mAh blows that out of the water. But it's still only OK.
You can get by on a day of moderate use but if you use this phone heavily (and we're talking watching TV shows on the morning and evening commute alongside your normal tinkering), this handset will still want a plug in at some point.
Motorola has proven it can be done by whacking a 3,300mAh power pack into the RAZR Maxx which can still be considered a skinny Minnie. Something of that size – along with ICS and Samsung's power management abilities – would really be the icing on the Ice Cream Sandwich.
Samsung Galaxy S4 design
We've lost count of the amount of people we've shown our device off to who've replied with the words: "Yeah, it's great but looks like a bit of a toy." It's a double-edged sword: the plastic is used to keep this handset nice and light, but does detract from what should be a premium device.
A bit of glass wouldn't go amiss. Android users, say what you like about the iPhone 4/4S (and we know you won't be short of words), but aside from being smash-tastic, the glass really adds that premium and expensive feel that the S3 just doesn't have.
Forget what your mum told you – it's what's on the outside that counts too, so the Samsung Galaxy S4 needs to step it up in the design stakes.
Better S-Voice
S-Voice just isn't there. At least Siri had the nous to call itself a BETA so that it could be excused for not getting things right at times. The problem we have with S-Voice is it just doesn't seem to be able to do much.
Sure, it can tell you what the weather is like if you really can't be bothered to look out the window. And it'll save you 10 seconds by setting an alarm.
But it's just not powerful enough - and is, frankly, awful for something that's supposed to be a headline feature on one of the world's best smartphones.
We've actually been using Speak To It Assistant far more often because it's superior. Samsung could do worse than buy a company like this to give the Galaxy S4 a real chance of being the best voice-controlled mobile out there.
Better Mac support
Yep, we know many consumers believe Mac users account for only 0.000001% of Android owners (why wouldn't they just buy an iPhone, right?)
But there are lots who like Apple computers as well as Android devices. And up until the S3, they got on famously.
But Android has changed the rules and how storage works so that it follows the MTP Protocol which plays along brilliantly with Windows but can't stand Macs.
Yes, we know this is a Google issue and not something that Samsung can be blamed for. But having said that, the HTC One X also runs Ice Cream Sandwich and it has managed to tweak the code enough for there to not be a problem.
Please Samsung – don't shut them out. Ice Cream Sandwich may be frozen – but we shouldn't be, so when you bring out the Jelly Bean or Key Lime Pie-powered Galaxy S4, let's get some support.
Samsung Galaxy S4 accessories
Samsung unveiled the SIII alongside a raft of accessories – the usual things like cases were complimented by the C-Pen (like the Note 2's S-Pen but smaller) and the dongle for connecting to your TV to stream stuff.
The problem is, they're all so expensive: £20 for the C-Pen and the best part of £70 for the AllShare Dongle. They're not mainstream accessories – and little wonder.
If Samsung made these cheaper – or even threw them into the box for the Galaxy S4 (highly unlikely, but we can dream) then it would make for a much happier customer.
Perhaps a premium package where you spend a little more but get the accessories at the same time would work... people like to get the most out of things when they get their shiny new device.
Better charging
Plug it in and charge until it's full. That's always been the way. But we'd love to see a more advanced version of charging - ditching the wires should be more prevalent.
Maybe something similar to the conductive methods used by Palm in the Pre which never really caught on. The idea being that you don't have to plug the phone in to charge, just place it on a particular mat or place and it does it automatically.The S3 has that functionality, but it's hardly been well-publicised since launch.
The likes of Nokia with the Lumia 920 have been banging on about the amazing world of wireless charging for ages now, with a range of accessories too. Given that it will all be based on the Qi wireless charging standard, we'll soon see reams of coffee shops and airports with these charging stations littered around - just don't forget to watch your phone.
Or how about something really radical – like a battery that can also charge kinetically on the S4. Sure, it would be slow but wouldn't it be great if you could go for a run and manage to gain an extra 10 or 20% just by doing so to get you through the day? Radical – yes. But Samsung is known for its innovation.
Improved speakers
As beautiful and wonderful as the S3 is, the speaker still sounds tinny. Ringtones sound cheap and when it is on its back, they're also muffled. At least the iPhone has a bit of bass.
But what about going a bit further? Have three or four powerful but small speakers around the rim so when you play music, it comes out loud and with a bit of bass.
Hell, even make it so strong that it negates the need for a travel dock so you can play music at a decent volume when you nip away for the weekend or are sitting on the beach. That'd be a real selling point.
Better media offerings
The range Samsung has in its various hubs is admirable - the Music Hub has a lot of functionality with streaming and radio recommendations, and the Video Hub... well, it has some videos. But it's bitty and on top of that you've got all of Google's media offerings too. This is one of Apple's strengths – it just all works as one ecosystem.
Maybe Samsung could look at teaming up with Google or even Amazon to create a 'super media store' that would really knock the socks off Apple when it launches the S4 - imagine a service where you got unlimited movie streaming each month as part of your contract.
But even if it's just incorporating a Samsung Galaxy Store, open to all, into Google Play, that would at least be an improvement. Some say Android is fragmented. Why not lead the way, Samsung, and end that by pushing to have it all in one place?
The holidays are upon us, and that means tis the season for cooking unreasonable amounts of food. If you need a little help in the kitchen this Thanksgiving, these apps will help you plan, prepare, and perfect your meal.
In case you hadn’t heard, Thanksgiving is tomorrow. While the holiday is being quickly overtaken by the surge of Black Friday deals (which is really a misnomer given its entire consumption of the entire week), there are purists among us for whom tomorrow’s meal still takes the spotlight.
Whether you’re preparing to wake at the crack of dawn to get the bird ready or figure you’ll wing it (pun intended), these apps can help keep your kitchen chaos free. We can’t promise they’ll do as much for the rest of your holiday, but take what you can get.
Chow made our round up last year and makes another appearance for good reason. It’s one of the most comprehensive and specific Thanksgiving dinner apps out there, made specifically with all your traditional dishes in mind. The app collects your recipes, keeps a shopping list (which you can cross items off with a simple finger swipe), display total cooking times, and runs you through the entire process.
This is another holdover from last year, and one that often makes food and cooking app roundups. Food on the Table (which there’s also a Web app for) allows you to make weekly menus and then budget for them – entering your location will also surface grocery store sales. Using the app in-store, your grocery list will organize itself by category as well, so you don’t have to wander from the produce section back to the bakery multiple times.
We’re not going to lie: The first reason we noticed this app was because it’s so damn good looking. Food porn addicts rejoice, because this is the cooking app for you. The Photo Cookbook displays gorgeous photos of food as well as their ingredients, portioned and laid out in front of your eyes so you can see exactly what’s going into the amazing end creation. Sure, there are more than enough pictures of food out there, but this app injects some much-needed practicality into them. It’s also a nice option for visual learners who’d rather see step-by-step instructions drawn out for them.
If you’re looking for holiday recipe ideas, look no further. What’s great about this app is that in addition to your standard fare, there are some unique twists on old favorites – like a cider roasted turkey, or Christmas pudding cake pops. You can save favorites and turn them into shopping lists as well. The app also includes a timer function.
While the previous app might come with a timer feature, not every cooking app does (which is sort of baffling, but what are you going to do?). If your favorite app doesn’t sport this necessary element, Timegg has absolutely everything you need. You can set up to eight different alarms, which some cooks may actually need come Thursday, and create preset timers if you know you’ll be using specific ones repeatedly.
This sleek and stunning app has prepared for Thanksgiving with a price cut and 18 new festive recipes. Appetites pairs you with individual chefs, who take you through cooking classes instead of just throwing up a pretty picture, a listed recipe, and leaving you to your own devices (or destruction). Videos are short and focus on individual steps, so you can progress through a recipe at your own speed. Note, however, that while the app is $0.99, there are in-app purchases for certain recipes – though it comes with a collection of 30 videos to start with.
Kitchenator provides a simple but necessary epicurean need: measurement conversion. If you’re working from specific recipes that aren’t translated to your appliance needs, simply whip out this app and let it do all the work for you. It’s a nice tool to have on hand just in case, because links can get dicey if you don’t pay attention to your ingredients.
For those of us who either don’t know much about wine, don’t care to learn, but would like something that … you know … tastes good and complements dinner, Blush could not be an easier option. You can keep things incredibly simple asking for recommendations based on the meal, the price, or just personal taste. And for those of us who answer with a color when someone asks us what we want to drink, the app even lets you start off by choosing if you want red or white – it definitely looks out for the noobs among us.
If you’re a classic procrastinator who left Thanksgiving to the last minute, you might want this app in your arsenal. If you’re in charge of bringing a side dish to this year’s meal, the app first asks you what type of food you’re making, how much time you have, and then gives you a recipe you can complete in that amount of time. Now if you were supposed to be cooking the turkey, you might be in trouble – otherwise, it could save you the embarrassment of bringing potato salad from the deli. Again.
The HTC DROID DNA, the manufacturer's first US smartphone with a 1080p screen, has become available through Verizon Wireless online and retail stores today, just as promised.
The device will set you back $199 on a two-year contract or you could opt to get it commitment-free for $599. It's available starting today from both Verzion's website and its brick and mortar stores at the same price so it's up to you to decide how to get it.
The DROID DNA comes with a Super LCD3 screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and the impressive 440 ppi density. On the back there's an 8 MP snapper and the whole device is built into a polycarbonate unibody shell. On the inside there's a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro with 4 Krait CPU cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and 2 gigs of RAM.
The international version of the DROID DNA is codenamed HTC Deluxe. We saw it in a press image but can't say when it will become available.
We're en route to post our HTC DROID DNA review later today so stay tuned!
An independent battery test on the HTC Droid DNA has shown the device's 2020mAh cell may not be quite as underpowered as feared, as the device compares favorably with the competition, but with one or two caveats.
The 2020mAh battery installed inside the HTC Droid DNA, announced in conjunction with Verizon last week, did put a bit of a downer on the whole affair. Few thought such a weedy cell could adequately power a device with a 5-inch, 1080p screen and a quad-core processor.
Things looked bleak when one compared the Droid DNA with the competition, as not only does the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 beat it with a whopping 3100mAh battery, but the Galaxy S3 smartphone — with a smaller, lower resolution screen — does too, as it hides a 2100mAh battery behind its rear cover.
The chance of the Droid DNA lasting a day before needing a trip to the charger were looking slim, and many had begun to doubt the device would be worth investigating further.
Now though, proving again we should never judge a phone by its spec sheet, GSMArena.com has published its independent Droid DNA battery test, and it’s ability to power the phone nowhere near as terrible as we feared.
The site gave the Droid DNA an endurance rating — which is the expected amount of standby time with an hour of calls, browsing and video playback — of 49 hours. The Galaxy S3 managed 50 hours, the HTC One X+ achieved 44 hours and the Apple iPhone 5, 51 hours. The Galaxy Note 2 steals the show with 69 hours.
Comparable to the Galaxy S3
Breaking its performance down, the test shows the Droid DNA achieved just over 11 hours of 3G talk time, 6 hours 40 minutes of web browsing and finally, 7 hours 30 minutes of video before expiring. HTC has clearly worked hard to optimize its Sense UI and Android to work well with a smaller battery.
Looking at previous results, the Droid DNA outperforms the Galaxy S3, the HTC One X and the iPhone 5 in the talk time charts, but can’t get close to any of them in browsing or video tests. Unsurprisingly, it’s blitzed by the Galaxy Note 2 in each category, but overall, it’s performance is very similar to the Galaxy S3.
So, on the positive side, millions use the Galaxy S3 everyday, but then anyone who does so knows it struggles to see the day out with heavy use. The big advantage with the S3 is the battery can be swapped out, something that can’t happen with the sealed Droid DNA. There’s another problem too, as 4G LTE wasn’t covered in the test, so expect another drop when that’s enabled.
However, anyone considering a 4G LTE phone knows it’ll consume more power, and it’s hardly a secret the Droid DNA has a battery that can’t be swapped out either. While the 2020mAh battery is anemic, its performance could have been a lot worse, and is really in-line or better than many other high-end smartphones already found in plenty of pockets. Whether that’s acceptable or not is down to you.
Samsung's next flagship device could sport not four, not six, but eight processor cores if the Korean firm's latest chip is anything to go by.
According to EETimes, Samsung is working on a new processor using ARM's big.little techology, as it looks to expand on the companion core ideology used in Nvidia's Tegra 3 chipset.
Instead of packing a quad-core processor with a fifth core tasked with minor background processes, Samsung plans to sandwich two quad-core chips into one offering.
High and low
It's thought that Samsung will pair four Cortex-A15 cores with four Cortex-A7s, with the higher powered chips used for highly demanding operations.
The lower-powered Cortex-A7 chips will kick in when the load drops, turning off the more powerful cores and letting the less battery-dependent processors deal with day-to-day tasks.
There's no word on when we'll see this eight-core monster land in a phone or tablet, but Samsung are expected to announce details of the processor in February at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference.
It may be cutting it fine to see the eight-core processor land in the Samsung Galaxy S4, due to launch towards the middle of 2013, with some suggesting its more likely to feature in a tablet first.
Enough with the Facebook phone speculation, internet
Orange has signed a deal with Facebook to offer users a 'social calling' service that allows you to call friends from within the social network.
You'll be able to do this through Facebook in the web browser as well as through its mobile apps, with the whole thing working quite a lot like Skype.
It means that you won't need to know all your contacts' phone numbers before you can speak to them, and you'll also be able to hold 'group calls' for when one friend at a time just isn't enough.
The service will be free if you're calling mates who also use the service, so the likes of Skype and BlackBerry's new BBM Voice offerings may need to watch out.
Bonjour
Unfortunately, the calling element isn't quite ready to go – it's set to launch in summer 2013, with France first to get the Skype-alike service.
Orange is powering the whole shebang using the same tech found in Libon, its new internet-calling and messaging app currently on iOS (an Android version is launching next year).
That app works in 95 countries around the world, which bodes well for Facebook-calling expansion.
TechCrunch also cites anonymous sources who claim that this is just the next step of Facebook's thrust into phone-based-offerings after it introduced video calling last year.
Some have hinted that the long-rumoured, much-disputedFacebook phone is still on the cards with Orange on board for that project – but that's all pie in the sky for now.
The guys from Jolla held an official launch event for their Sailfish mobile OS and showcased the platform to the general public. The company has already signed deals with ST-Ericsson for the chipsets that will power its future smartphones, and with the Finnish carrier DNA, who will be offering them.
The successor of Meego promises unrivaled multitasking capabilities, and packs quite a few cool new features. We’ll start off with the official promo video, which shows the cool looks of the platform.
You should also check out this link for a hands-on demo video that demonstrates the impressive multitasking interface, as well as the unique Ambience feature.
Jolla has also found a clever way to tackle the app shortage issue that each new platform inevitably faces - the upcoming Sailfish OS is said to be compatible with most Android apps without any extra modifications.
It all looks very promising and we are hoping that we'll soon see actual hardware powered by Sailfish.
The hotly-rumoured BlackBerry L-Series handset has appeared again, showing off its slender frame and large touchscreen.
Also known as the BlackBerry London, the smartphone is one half of a flagship duo tasked with launching RIM's revamped mobile platform BlackBerry 10.
The images in question popped up on the CrackBerry forums, and apparently show the L-Series smartphone in hand and up against the smaller, yet fatter BlackBerry Bold 9700.
Getting the London look
RIM has not confirmed which handsets it will be launching at the end of January, although we do know there will be one fully-touchscreen device and one sporting the firm's famous physical keyboard.
The L-Series device which appears in these photos and has cropped up in previous leaks, looks very similar to the Dev Alpha B device handed out to thousands of developers to encourage them to build apps for BB10.
RIM has scheduled an event for January 30 2012 where the Canadian firm will unveil the BlackBerry 10 platform, with handsets expected to go on sale in February.
EE could be about to piggy back on London underground's Wi-Fi network, which is controlled by Virgin Media.
A tweet apparently appeared on the official EE Twitter account, dropping a heavy hint that the 4G network was readying a deal in the new year, but it has since been deleted.
According to Pocket-Lint, the tweet read: "Travel on the tube? From early 2013, EE customers will be able to get WiFi access on the London Underground at no extra cost. Details soon."
Free for some
Virgin Media's underground Wi-Fi network is currently free for everyone to use, but the firm has said a pay wall will go up in early 2013 with only Virgin Media customers still eligible for free access.
A spokesperson for Virgin Media told TechRadar: "We always planned to wholesale the service to other providers", but were unable to provide any further comment at this point.
This makes a potential deal with EE even more likely, as both firms remain cagey on the topic.
If the deal goes go ahead it will be a sweet offer for EE customers, who already have free access to hundreds of BT Openzone hotspots around the country coming soon.
We've contacted EE to find out more information and we'll update this article once we hear back.
S-Voice just isn't there. At least Siri had the nous to call itself a BETA so that it could be excused for not getting things right at times. The problem we have with S-Voice is it just doesn't seem to be able to do much. 
