Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
Microsoft [MSFT] has announced that the new Internet Explorer 9 browser will have tracking protection built in. What tracking protection will do is prevent web servers from tracking information about you visiting websites.
“Tracking Protection is the new privacy feature in Internet Explorer 9 designed to help keep third-party websites from tracking your Web behavior,”
We have heard of a few release dates for the Sony PlayStation phone, one of which was this week (which isn’t correct) and another that says February.
We now hear that the PlayStation Phone release date will now be sometime in March 2011. The February date mentioned previously is apparently the unveiling date over at Mobile World Congress. [Read more…]
Android 2.3 was announced a few days ago, and pushed out to the Nexus One that very same day. However, any other Android device will need to wait a little longer as Google is yet to push out the requirements and documentation to device manufacturers.
With that in mind, you can actually now download what’s called the Gingerbread Launcher on your Android 2.2 device. What this does is brings the UI to the Android 2.2 operating system. Of course, a lot of features are missing but what you do get is the basic skin so you can see how it will look when you eventually get the 2.3 update pushed out to you. [Read more…]
Yesterday, LG published a Facebook update (now deleted) that said Android 2.3 Gingerbread would not land on the Optimus line of smartphones due to it requiring a 1GHz processor to run it. Optimus smartphone use a 600MHz processor.
Shortly after that, @morrildl tweeted a “random note” as he called it and said that Gingerbread had no hard minimum processor requirements. [Read more…]
When Apple [AAPL] launched the new MacBook Air models recently, it was quickly reported on forums that the displays had a problem in some cases, with flickering. The temporary fix was to just close the lid down and reopen the lid which either put the MacBook Air to sleep, hence reloading it back up, or rebooting it. This kind of fix was just a temporary measure till Apple could get the drivers right.
Those drivers are now ready in an update and once installed, should fix those instances (perhaps rare instances) that this happens to your MacBook Air. [Read more…]
It looks like the Spotify US release date has been moved to 2011 now due to no licensing agreements being signed between the company and major music publishers. The release date was expected to squeeze in before the end of the year although it seems like this wont happen now.
Spotify currently runs in Europe and allows those users to either use a free version filled with ads, or pay £10/month (UK price) and listen without ads to almost any music track they want. [Read more…]
Eldar Murtazin managed to somehow get hold of a Nokia X7. The Nokia X7 was first leaked a few weeks ago and at that point, it was revealed that it has four speakers and with it being in the XSeries of devices, it is also geared towards media.
Eldar wasn’t kind on the X7 it seems as the machine translation of some of his words converts to… “I do not like this device”. Other observations made, include the AT&T logo at the top of the device. [Read more…]
Today we hear that the MobileMe service from Apple [AAPL] is expected to get a lot better in 2011. The information comes from a user who emailed Steve Jobs asking about the reliability of the service and making comments that he had experienced problems over the year or 2 of using it…
Q: I love my iPad and iPhone4 and am a huge fan of yours and all that Apple does. I desperately want to stay inside of Apple’e ecosystem as much as possible.
However, MobileMe is making it very difficult for me to do so. Unreliable/unpredictable syncing, creating duplicate entries (sometimes scores of them), etc. It’s almost unusable.
And I know from forums (including Apple’s own support boards) that I am not the only one experiencing these very real and frustrating problems.
Please tell me it will get better, and soon?
A: Yes, it will get a lot better in 2011.
Sent from my iPhone
Google [GOOG] has announced the first official Chrome OS netbook. The new Chrome netbook is to be called the Cr-48 and will be launching as part of a Pilot program in limited numbers prior to the official launch in 2011.
The Google Cr-48 is only available to a select amount of users which includes those who took part in a survey on Facebook, those who register their interest who are US based (these might get one) and all those that attended the Chrome OS event last night. [Read more…]
webOS 2.0 has references to a Virtual Keyboard within its code. With webOS 2.0 being available now, it now emerges that the virtual keyboard reference is more than just a reference. Instead, there’s a fully available virtual keyboard that can be “hacked” open on the Palm Pre 2.
To get it working requires that you make a change to the internals and specifically the line that says “VirtualKeyboardEnabled=true” needs to be modified to say just that. Once done, you get a keyboard on-screen. [Read more…]
Google Maps 5.0 is launching for Android based smartphones. New features that Maps 5.0 brings to the smartphone is 3D buildings, faster load times as well as an offline mode. The compass also plays a part in that the map can rotate to the direction you are currently facing.
Google [GOOG] managed to get the 3D buildings and realtime renderings thanks to using a far smaller file size. The buildings are drawn in vectors and overall, the data is about 100 times smaller which allows for faster loading and smoother scrolling. [Read more…]
Fring has introduced a new technology to its services called DVQ. DVQ means Dynamic Video Quality, and by adding this service it allows for users making video calls to get the best possible video quality for the quality of connection they have at the time.
DVQ technology automatically, and continuously during a call, adjusts your video call quality to match your internet bandwidth at all times, giving you the best video and audio quality possible for your connectivity.
That means that rather than ‘making do’ with a basic, fixed video quality call, you get an optimized video quality that matches your calls’ available bandwidth. In math terms, our dev guys have gone from ‘lowest common denominator’ to best possible– wherever you are’.
