BGR has posted screenshots on iPhone 3.0 beta firmware showing previously unknown features. The first image shows video recording and viewing capabilities. The text in the image says “No Videos” and “You can take videos using the camera”. This feature is only available if you change the system preference files for camera in iPhone 3.0 and is not directly accessible. Read More
Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc said recent data from NPD shows that Windows share of the US netbook market has grown from less than 10 percent in first quarter of 2008 to 96 percent in February 2009. Brandon claims that this sudden growth in netbook market is driven by consumers’ desire for a netbook computing environment that mirrors their full size PC. Read More
Fusion-io says that it has achieved extremely high data transfer speeds in solid-state drives on HP servers. Fusion-io and HP built a system using five 320GB ioDrive Duos and six 160GB ioDrives in a single HP ProLiant DL785 G5 server, running with four quad-core Opteron processor. The System was able to achieve 1 million input/output operations per second (IOPS). Read More
After seeing slight drop in February, Apple’s web browser and OS market share continued to increase in March 2009. According to latest statistics from Net Applications, Apple’s Mac OS X market share reached 9.77 percent, whereas iPhone OS reached 0.49 percent and iPod touch OS reached 0.11 percent. Windows market share continued to fall and it dropped from 88.41 percent in February to 88.14 percent in March. Read More
AppleInsider has revealed that iPhone 3.0 beta firmware contains information about wireless radio that next gen iPhone will use. The firmware shows that Apple will be using Broadcom BCM4329 wireless chipset in place of BCM4325 that brought WiFi and Bluetooth support in present generation iPhone. The new wireless chipset adds 802.11n support along with FM receiver and transmitter to previous generation chipset. Read More
Microsoft has released another ad in their Laptop Hunters series. This time it is a recent college grad Giampaolo, who claims that he is technically savvy and wants a computer that he can customize. He is looking for a laptop that is portable, has great battery life and is powerful for under $1,500. Like the previous Laptop Hunters ad featuring a girl named Lauren, Giampaolo also first looks for a Mac. He looks at a MacBook calls it “So Sexy” and then adds “Macs are more about aesthetics than computing power.” After looking at few other laptops he finally decides to buy HP HDX 16t that weighs 7.06 pounds, has around 2 hour battery life and comes with 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T6400 processor. Is this a portable system with great battery life and powerful processor? Actually, a $999 MacBook has better processor and is lighter with way better battery life. And as an added bonus it looks way sexier than the HP laptop.
AT&T is rushing to rollout updated 3G network as the company expects tenfold increase in traffic from new iPhone hardware that Apple is expected to release in June 2009. AT&T will be making most of its 3G network 7.2Mbps capable by May end with aim to further increase network speed to up to 21Mbps within a couple of years. Read More
DigiTimes is reporting that OmniVision has received orders for 3.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor from Apple for next generation iPhone. The company has also received orders for 5-megapixel sensor for another unknown Apple product that will be launched later this year. According to DigiTimes, STMicroelectronics and Aptina were the other two contenders for Apple’s camera orders but they lost the deal to OmniVision. Read More
Precentral has posted 3rd party app video walkthrough for upcoming Palm Pre. The video above shows applications like Fandango, SprintTV, Nascar, updated Google Maps and PalmOS emulator Classic. The apps on Pre are looking good and switching between applications is also fast. Read More and Watch Video
NVIDIA demoed their new all-in-one Tegra chipset that integrates CPU, GPU, Northbridge, Southbridge, memory and input/output connections on a single chip. According to NVIDIA, this ARM based component will be capable of 1080p video output on a mobile phone and powerful enough to run netbooks. However, the biggest achievement of the Tegra chipset will be that it will do all this while sipping just half watt of power. To achieve higher power efficiency NVIDIA utilized efficient processors and optimized the resource allocation. Read More
NPD groups is reporting that iPod shuffle sales grew 51 percent in the week of March 21st, the first full week the third generation player was on sale. Next week iPod shuffle sales added another 10 percent rise and continued gaining momentum till beginning of April. Read More
Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg has posted first impressions of the new BlackBerry App Store that was launched today morning. According to Mossberg, RIM’s store is clumsier to use than Apple’s, but it works. The selection at launch is decent, but with some surprising omissions. App Worlds selection is broad and on first day, it offers 166 games, 99 productivity and utility apps and 69 reference and book apps. Read More
Nokia has introduced a new innovative Point & Find service that will enable people to access relevant information and services on the Internet by simply pointing their mobile phone camera at real life objects. The service is in beta version, focusing on movies and is available now to Nokia phone owners in UK and US. Read More
Lazard Capital Markets Analyst Daniel Amir wrote in his research note “Our checks confirm that two versions of iPhones will be introduced this year. Production of the new phones should start at beginning of April and will ramp in May.” He further added that both models would likely be introduced in June 2009. Read More
RIM today launched its answer to Apple’s App Store – BlackBerry App World. The on-device and online application store for BlackBerry smartphones brings together a broad mix of personal and business applications for users. BlackBerry users can download the BlackBerry App World application to their smartphone by visiting BlackBerry’s App World website via the web browser on the their handsets. Read More
The much awaited application Skype for iPhone is finally available from download on iTunes App Store. The Application is free and weighs in at 2.7MB. The system requirement for Skype is iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 2.1 installed. Skype will definitely add more functionality to the iPhone, but it is the iPod touch that will benefit more, as it will give iPod touch owners phone functionality whenever they are near WiFi network. Read More
AT&T has announced six new phones with focus on texting and emailing. The lineup includes Nokia E71x, Samsung Propel Pro, Samsung Impression, Samsung Magnet, LG Xenon and LG Neon. All the phones announced for spring season will be arriving in AT&T stores and online at wireless.att.com in the coming weeks. Read More
RBC analyst Mike Abramsky claims that Apple will unveil a new and improved version of iPhone in June, he calls the new model iPhone 3G Pro and it will include a number of improvements:
Faster 3G, using the HSUPA standard, versions the current HSDPA
Amazon is offering the Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Earpiece for just $49.99 with free shipping. The suggest retail price of the 925 Bluetooth earpiece is $149.95. The main features of Discovery 925 earpiece are distinctive VFrame design, case with integrated battery for recharging earpiece, AudioIQ adaptive noise cancellation, Multipoint technology to connect 2 Bluetooth phones at the same time and 5 hours of talk time. The sexy Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth is only available today for $49.99 on Amazon.
Intel’s Tom Forsyth, a software and hardware architect working on the upcoming Larrabee Graphics Chip, discussed the design details and inner working of Larrabee at GDC. Intel has been working on Larrabee chips for past few years and expects to announce a working chip by end of 2009. Intel is also consulting various developers on design of the Larrabee chip. Read More
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