Iran's defence technology

Iran is much more developed their defense technology. Watch it....

The iSlate: What Apple doesn't want u to know

The iSlate: What Apple doesn't want u to know........
 

Sony X-Series laptop review

The Sony X-series laptop is a sleek, stylish device that delivers on both looks and performance. Pity about the high price...

Army of Two: The 40th Day: Video Game Review

Army of Two: The 40th Day may be shallow and derivative but it is nevertheless a fun, full-throttle shooter

Formats: Xbox 360 (tested), PS3, PSP
Developer: EA Montreal
Publisher: EA
Released: 15 January 2010
Score: 7/10

Dark Void video game review

Dark Void has all the right ingredients for an engaging tale of high adventure, but it's let down by bad design and lousy presentation.

Format: Xbox 360 (version tested), PS3 and PC
Developer: Airtight Games
Publisher: Capcom
Released: 22 January 2010
Score: 5/10

Top 5 Nexus One Apps

To see top 5 Nexus One Applications CLICK HERE!

iPhone 4G Rumors Heat Up

It's been less than a year since the iPhone 3GS launched, and the rumor mill is already churning out speculation about an upcoming iPhone 4G, expected as early as May.
New rumors have been circulating over the past couple of days, saying a new Apple iPhone 4G will be available by June, or even as early as May. Besides the earlier-than-expected launch date (new iPhone models traditionally come out in June or July), potential new features are in discussion as well, such as a better camera, an OLED screen, a removable battery, and different casing.

A Bloomberg/BusinessWeek report quotes an analyst from the Goldman Sachs Group saying the iPhone 4G would have a better camera than the 3-megapixel shooter found on the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 4G's camera could offer up to 5 megapixels, which would put it on the par with the camera in Google's Nexus One.
The story also speculates that Apple is working on an updated version of the iPhone OS with an overhauled App Store. The analyst in the Bloomberg story did not identify who gave him the information, but speculates the iPhone 4G will go into production as early as April, with availability expected sometime in June or July.
Derailing from the usual July/July launch timeframe though, is a report originating from a French Web site, which claims we are likely to see the next generation iPhone in May. The report says Apple targeted May because it thought that's when Google would release their Nexus One Android smartphone. Actually, the Nexus One was unveiled earlier this month. Is it like that Apple would move up the release of a new iPhone to compete with Google? Maybe. But it doesn't seem likely that Apple would misjudge Google's launch date by several months.
Also this week, a report from Korea Times quoted unnamed mobile executives claiming the iPhone 4G will have an OLED screen and support for video chat. Most surprisingly, it claimed that the upcoming iPhone would feature a removable battery - though the chances of this happening are slight (Apple refused to use removable batteries in all three generations of iPhones and its latest laptops also sport non-removable batteries).
All-in-all, some of these rumors are plausible, such as the OLED screen and a better camera, though earlier launch dates as soon as May might seem a bit far-fetched, as Apple usually refreshes products in a yearly cycle.

SOURCE: PCWORLD

Nexus One: Too Much Hype, Not Enough Marketing

Poor Nexus One. Despite earning mostly positive reviews and becoming an obsession in the tech blogosphere, the Google phone reportedly sold just 20,000 units in its first week. That's just 10 percent of the Motorola Droid's debut sales.
If those figures are correct -- they're not official, but calculated in a roundabout way by market researcher Flurry -- there a few takeaways as to why the Droid had better early commercial success than the Nexus One. You could argue that in-store Droid sales trump the Nexus One's online-only distribution, or that Verizon Wireless is a bigger carrier than T-Mobile, translating to more potential customers.
But even if you could buy the Nexus One in stores, and on Verizon Wireless, Google's marketing would still be problematic. Google plans to focus its marketing efforts online, within its own pages, the Wall Street Journal reported. That includes Google home page promotion (though I don't see any at the time of writing this), search ads and a Nexus One channel on YouTube. It's a very Google-like outlook on advertising, where all you need is a little online message here and there to make an impression. Verizon, meanwhile, relentlessly used the Droid to bash the iPhone, and AT&T. It approached the stage with the cockiness of a professional wrestler And it worked.
Google's approach just doesn't stack up. Phones are more than just a purchase. They're your constant companion, probably for two years, and like it or not, they convey a message and a lifestyle. The Droid's lifestyle is that of a manly man who favors function over form, unlike that pretty princess iPhone. The iPhone's image is one of smug satisfaction: Can your phone do this?
Google's in a tough position with the Nexus One, because it can't really knock either of those phones. Obviously attacking another Android phone makes no sense, and iPhone-bashing probably isn't in Google's best interests, because so many Google services -- Search, Maps, YouTube -- are tied up in the iPhone. Verizon can get away with an anti-iPhone campaign, but Google, which is selling the Nexus One directly, cannot.
There's hope for the Nexus One. Perhaps Google's online marketing strategy will be a slow burn, sinking in over many months as word of mouth spreads. Verizon Wireless took the shortcut by bashing the iPhone, but the Nexus One has a long road ahead.

Source: PCWORLD

Hey Google, Anybody Home?

Google’s celebrated algorithms may power the Web’s most popular search engine, but they have not yet been programmed to answer a call when a customer has a problem.
New owners of the Nexus One, the latest touch-screen smartphone to run on Android, Google’s mobile operating system, have found themselves at a loss when it comes to resolving problems with the handset. They cannot call Google for help, and the company warns that it may take up to 48 hours to respond to e-mail messages.
Unlike other phones that run on Android, like the Motorola Droid or the T-Mobile G1, the Nexus One was developed and branded by Google and is sold directly by the company to customers.
But ever since the phone went on sale Jan. 5, customer forums have been filled with a cacophony of gripes about the Nexus One. And Google, more accustomed to providing minimal support for its free services, has been unprepared to deal with the higher service expectations of customers who are paying as much as $529 for its high-end smartphone.
Early buyers of the device, like Kiran Konathala, a 27-year-old database programmer in Long Branch, N.J., have complained of dropped calls, plodding download speeds and connectivity snags. “The hardware is great, but the software is a mess,” he said. “It’s not been a happy experience so far.”
The phone presents a puzzle for users like Mr. Konathala: Who do you call when you have a problem?
Most people use the phone on T-Mobile’s network, which offers a subsidy if a customer buys a contract, and the phone is made by HTC, a major Taiwanese manufacturer. But it is sold exclusively by Google through a special Web-based store.
Despite its central role in the process, Google does not appear to have built a significant infrastructure to provide customer support. There is no phone number for support, for example, and customers who send an e-mail message may wait for days to hear back.
“So far, I have yet to hear from an actual person,” said Mr. Konathala, who first contacted Google for help on Jan. 6. “All I’ve gotten are canned replies.”
Katie Watson, a Google spokeswoman, said no one was available to speak about the service problems. But in an e-mail statement, she said, “Solving customer support issues is extremely important to us.”
She added that Google was working to address problems quickly. “We’re flexible and prepared to make changes to our processes and tools, as necessary, for an optimal customer support experience,” she wrote.
Andy Rubin, Google vice president for engineering in charge of Android technology, acknowledged last week that the company needed to improve. “We have to get better at customer service,” Mr. Rubin said during an on-stage interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Instead of taking three days to respond to e-mail messages, he said, “We have to close that three-day gap to a couple of hours.” But Mr. Rubin said that the release of the Nexus One had gone smoothly.
Some analysts said that Google appeared to have misjudged the service demands that come with being in the business of selling sophisticated gadgets.
“They may have been clouded by their own personal experience and way of thinking about how they deal with technology,” said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. “They’ve got a long way to go in terms of understanding all the components of the retail process — not just selling phones but the after-sales care — to be as skilled in this endeavor as they are in the rest of their endeavors.”
A spokesman for T-Mobile, David Henderson, said that although the Nexus One was not being sold through T-Mobile retail stores, sales representatives knew enough about the family of Android-powered devices to help customers with some questions.
T-Mobile, which addressed the connectivity problems in its support forums, said it was working with HTC and Google to determine the root cause of the problems some Nexus One users were reporting.
Google is not unfamiliar with the business of charging for products. More than a million businesses pay to place ads on Google’s search engine or on Google’s vast network for publishing partners.
But the Nexus One is Google’s first foray into selling hardware directly to consumers.
Relying heavily on automated responses and Internet forums to handle customer service queries may not be sufficient for that kind of device, said Soumen Ganguly, a principal at Altman Vilandrie & Company, a Boston consulting firm that specializes in the communications industry.
“Selling someone a piece of consumer electronics is a very different ballgame,” Mr. Ganguly said. “If you’re a cellphone user and this is your primary phone, waiting one to two days for a response is a long time.”
With the Nexus One, Google aims to extend the reach of its Android operating system for mobile phones. And it hopes to eventually change the retail model of the cellphone market in the United States by becoming a major seller of Android phones made by various manufacturers.
But if that is the goal, it will need to impose a better customer support strategy, Mr. Ganguly said. “Right now, they’re leaving troubleshooting up to the customer,” he said.
Some analysts said the early missteps were fixable. But a black eye from customer complaints could hurt Google’s longer-term goals.
“Having a consumer backlash because of their lack of customer support is not going to help its cause,” said Youssef Squali, an analyst with Jefferies & Company.

Source: NYTIMES.COM

'Roxxxy', world's first sex robot introduced

New Jersey company TrueCompanion and Hines has developed the world’s first “sex robot”. The robot called ‘Roxxxy’ has different personalities and responds to the sense of touch.
Roxxxy, is a female robot which acts as a life partner or mate for those who can’t find the 'real thing'. TrueCompanion claims Roxxxy “can carry on a discussion and expresses her love to you and be your loving friend. She can talk to you, listen to you and feel your touch.”
TrueCompanion introduced its first robot, Trudy, in 1993.

Google Nexus Two is Coming

Google executive Andy Rubin has claimed the next version of the Nexus One will be aimed at enterprise users and could feature a physical keyboard.

Techtree writes that the follow-up to the Google Nexus One will feature a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, which was the most conspicuous omission from the Nexus One’s design. While it makes sense that Google’s first Android phone ditched the Qwerty – phones without them are a lot easier to keep slim and ‘sexy’ – we always expected that later phones would offer a physical keyboard.

Modern Warfare 2 exclusive DLC deal explained

Microsoft reconfirmed it had the exclusive on the first two Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 download packs due this spring. "This spring, the first Modern Warfare 2 content packs will be available exclusively first on Xbox Live.” alleged Major Nelson. Aaron Greenberg has explained at CES "I think about it like a sports team, when you sign a star athlete for your team... when you sign that free agent, I think it makes your team better. At the end of the day, we want to turn as many people as possible into Xbox 360 fans."

Google Nexus One Vs. Apple iPhone

Promoting and directly marketing HTC's latest new Android phone under its own brand, Google has taken the fate of its Android smartphone platform into its own hands. How does the new "superphone" mass up to last summer's iPhone 3GS?

AppleInsider has presented a series of articles on how Android stacks up against Apple's iPhone OS as a platform in general terms. In this article, we'll consider the hardware specifics of the latest offering from Google's partner.

Meet your maker

While the tech press likes to say Google designed the Nexus One "with HTC," Google executives clearly gave all the credit to HTC at its introduction, saying "It’s inaccurate to say Google designed the phone. Peter [Chou] and his team [at HTC] built and designed the phone. Google is just marketing and selling the phone."

The phone is nearly identical to what HTC itself sells under the name Bravo in Europe, apart from the placement of its buttons. Google's impact on the Nexus One's specs is far less significant than even Microsoft's original Zune, which while being based on the Toshiba Gigabeat, was at least given a design update and noticeably different software that rendered it incompatible with other PlaysforSure MP3 players. In contrast, the Nexus One is very clearly a Google-branded HTC phone, and there are no intentional, artificial compatibility barriers with other Android platform devices.

HTC has a history of building higher-end PDA-style phones, often with physical keyboards, large screens, and envelope pushing hardware features. Most of its phones have been designed to run Microsoft's Windows Mobile, and are therefore targeted at that platform's core market of IT staff and gadget enthusiasts. HTC has served as Microsoft's primary licensee, building 80% of the Windows Mobile phones to reach the market (although many of these were sold under different brand names, just as Google is now doing with the Nexus One).

The company also built previous generations of PDA-style phones sold by Palm, prior to the debut of the new WebOS-based Pre. But HTC's history as the leading maker of Windows Mobile phones is what positioned it to be the first major manufacture to launch an Android phone, because Google targeted its relatively new Android operating system at hardware reference designs running Windows Mobile, in much the same way that popular desktop distributions of Linux are geared to run on Microsoft's reference design for Windows PCs.

Magic, Dream, Hero, Passion

Google launched Android 1.0 in October 2008 with HTC's Dream (sold as the T-Mobile G1), then followed up with HTC's second generation Magic (the T-Mobile myTouch) last summer, and then the HTC Hero (also sold with slight modifications as the Verizon Droid Eris) last fall. It's therefore nothing out of the ordinary that the newly released Nexus One running Android 2.1 is also being sold under other HTC names in other markets.

Unike earlier HTC models, the new Nexus One does not pair the stock Android OS with HTC's "Sense UI," a user interface theme HTC added to the stock Android both to differentiate its offerings and to solve some rough edges in the Android interface, such as the look of its virtual keyboard. HTC also applies Sense to its Windows Mobile phones which makes HTC's Android phones look and feel more similar to the company's other products than to those of other Android makers, including Motorola's Verizon Droid and the upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.

Overall, this fractionalization has resulted in making the Android platform less similar to commodity Windows PCs and more like PlaysForSure devices in terms of being unique to their manufacturer rather than offering a largely identical experience between vendors. With Android 2.1 however, Google seems to be signaling the intention to fold in many of HTC's Sense improvements into the standard OS, which should help streamline the platform at the expense of HTC's differentiation.

The Android balancing act

It remains to be seen whether Google will continue to work to neutralize the differentiation efforts of its partners in order to strengthen the Android brand, or whether it will continue to encourage vendors to create their own look and feel independently, as Motorola did with Blur and Sony Ericsson is expected to do with its upcoming phone.

On the other hand, it is in HTC's interests to create reasons for customers to pick its phones over those of other competitors. The company already advertises its Android and Windows Mobile devices under the same ad campaign, direction attention to its own brand rather than to either licensed operating system. Further, at CES the company unveiled a new initiative to release a series of lower-end smartphones based on BREW, Qualcomm's proprietary alternative to Java.

That indicates that despite its shift from Windows Mobile, HTC isn't betting its future on Android. Additionally, it shows that Android itself doesn't do enough to allow phone makers to hit low price points. Successful Android phones require a fast processor and significant RAM and other system resources to be taken seriously.

Finding one operating system to span from the bargain bin to the high end has similarly been a challenge for Nokia, which uses its own simple Nokia OS, the more sophisticated Symbian, a full distro of Maemo Linux in its Internet Tablets, and Windows on its netbook. Samsung has also announced plans to juggle Windows Mobile, Android, and its own Bada platform. Most other makers also have a variety of operating systems, leaving Apple, RIM, and Palm unique in pushing one single OS.

Motorola has announced an intention do to this with Android, but is already facing a rather direct blow from Google and its new branding partnership with HTC. On the other side, Google is also planning to add its new Chrome OS into the mix as a way to enter the significantly different netbook market, which will splinter efforts by its current licensees who already have Android netbooks and tablets under development.

The company has also announced a clear intention to turn its hardware partners into commodity manufacturers, leaving Google with control of all the value across their products, much as Microsoft did to PC makers in the 90s. This is all a precarious balancing act challenge Apple doesn't face.

Android super-Hero

Unlike most of its Windows Mobile phones, which nearly always supply a physical keyboard, HTC's Nexus One builds upon the previous Hero/Droid Eris form factor to deliver something that's closer to the iPhone, but which still supplies a trackball pointer rather than relying on ubiquitous multitouch for navigation. The result is a something of a middle ground between the gadgety PC experience of Windows Mobile and the slick and refined appliance experience Apple provides.

In many ways, the Nexus One is HTC's answer to the Motorola Verizon Droid, which stole the spotlight this winter as Google focused on it and left HTC's Hero (Verizon Droid Eris) to serve as a runner up to be given away for free with Droid purchases. HTC's Hero was also relegated to running an older version of the Android OS, as Google launched Android 2.0 on the Droid exclusively.

As with the Droid, the Nexus One's hybrid design of being an iPhone-like touchscreen but still sporting a Windows Mobile-like array of touch sensitive buttons and a physical trackball results in the problem of making it easy to inadvertently fall back to the home screen while attempting to type. "we found ourselves consistently accidentally tapping them while composing an email or text message," Engadget complained. That review also said the unit's "[trackball] placement feels a bit awkward here, and there's literally nothing in the OS that requires it." In contrast, the iPhone 3GS uses a recessed home button that is difficult to hit accidentally.

The Nexus One now brings the Android 2.x platform to HTC's product lineup, although existing Hero/Droid Eris users will have to wait as long as this summer before they can obtain the latest update from their mobile provider. Apple regularly releases updates that all iPhone users can install as soon as they become available. Again, the layers of differentiation that Android partners are adding (like HTC's Sense, Motorola's Blur, and support for unique hardware) tend to complicate and slow the propagation of Android updates for users.

New Features

The Nexus One carries forward the basic iPhone-like design of the earlier Magic and Hero, adding a suite of new features such as a fast new processor, noise canceling audio, a better camera supporting 720p HD capture and playback initial reviewers have noted that HTC's camera works much better than the Droid's, which was plagued by focusing issues), a higher resolution screen, and a new OLED display like the Zune HD.

The display resolution of the Nexus One now almost matches the Droid, although it does so using an OLED screen. This may be why it uses a 480x800 resolution rather than the Droid's 480x854, adding some extra complication for Android developers who now have three different popular resolutions to account for on the platform (earlier models use the same 320x480 resolution of the iPhone).

As we noted in regard to the Zune HD, OLED technology results in a screen that promises to save power and which looks exceptional in low light. However, reviewers have actually reported that, like the Zune HD, the Nexus One's screen is terrible to the point of unusable in bright light, with Engadget writing, "Oh, and using this thing in daylight? Forget about it. Like most screens of this type, the Nexus One is a nightmare to see with any kind of bright light around, and snapping photos with it on a sunny day was like taking shots with your eyes closed."

At the same time, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, who has been using the phone for weeks, complained that he "found battery life to be woefully brief," and that users should "be prepared to keep this phone near a charger at all times," regardless of its rated battery life and the energy saving potential of its new display.

Google's Zune

In addition to OLED, the Nexus One also shares other engineering choices with the Zune. Unlike the iPhone and the iPods before it, which are all designed to power down the screen as quickly as possible the moment you stop interacting with it, the Nexus One debuts Zune-like flashy effects that assume you'll be staring at the screen even while listening to music. These include new interactive graphic background effects and music visualizers which require the screen to be on in order to notice them, an engineering decision that, like Microsoft's Zune, indicates more interest in delivering Vista-like sizzle than the practical, functional utility that Apple trends toward.

For Apple's products, anything that distracts from core features or doesn't add tangible value is a potential casualty. The company canned the latent audio recording features on the first iPods and initially delivered a simple black and white screen. The iPhone's user interface is rich with animation effects, but they are all targeted at enhancing its navigation and overall feel, not to decorate the screen with superfluous candy.

There are also more practical features the Nexus One holds over last summer's iPhone 3GS: the camera has an LED flash, which is handy when taking close ups in dim lighting; the camera also has a higher rated resolution, but that isn't necessarily an improvement when you're using a tiny CCD chip, as packing more pixels into a tiny sensor can result in more grain noise and greater file sizes without actually improving the shots you can take. The noise cancellation feature sound promising and valuable, and there's also a novel speech recognition feature designed to serve as an alternative to the virtual keyboard. Engadget called it "marginally successful."

The phone is also faster; it's rated to be significantly faster than the Droid, but only slightly faster then the iPhone 3GS when loading web pages. In JavaScript rendering, the iPhone 3GS actually came out ahead in some tests. One would expect that the very latest Android phone using the most advanced ARM processor available would perform significantly better than last summer's iPhone 3GS and just narrowly better than the Droid.

This indicates that Apple's software provides significant performance optimization, something that last year's Palm Pre also demonstrated. That model used the same chip Apple put in the iPhone 3GS, but failed to achieve the same performance. This does not bode well for competitors once Apple debuts its own optimized ARM cores under development within the company's PA Semi subsidiary.

Missing Features

Despite being almost a year ahead of the iPhone 3GS in an industry where performance and capacity can often double on an annual basis, the Nexus One doesn't do a lot of things Apple's phone did last year. Like the Droid, the Nexus One doesn't do hardware encryption, meaning that most Microsoft Exchange shops will refuse to support either model (unless you can convince your company to downgrade its default security policy). The iPhone 3GS does support Exchange's default policy settings, which require device encryption.

The Android OS also can't handle moving purchased software titles from Android Market into the devices' Flash RAM storage (which on HTC and Motorola devices, like other phones developed for Windows Mobile, is provided primarily on removable SD RAM cards). This results in a significant limitation for developers and for users who want to run sophisticated mobile apps such as games. Google as been aware of this issue for a long time, but only commented that it has plans to address it at some point in the future.

Until that happens, growth of the Android Market will be artificially handicapped as Apple's App Store juggernaut further establishes itself as the best way for developers to make money and for users to find the latest, richest, and most regularly updated games, serious applications, and software-integrated hardware peripherals. Speaking of which, the Nexus One doesn't have anything comparable to the iPhone's Dock Connector, which has given birth to an ecosystem of iPhone and iPod related peripherals. Instead, the Nexus One only provides a mini USB connector.

Microsoft copied Apple in creating its own hybrid connector supplying power, USB, audio, and video signals for the Zune, but also demonstrated how difficult it was to build momentum behind such a standard. Google, partnered with a variety of hardware competitors under Android, neither created a standard hardware connector for Android nor one for its own branded version of the HTC Passion/Bravo. There is a docking mechanism of some sort, but no details on when the dock will be made available and what capabilities it will have in the absence of a hybrid connector.

The iPhone 3GS also supplies a consistent multitouch user interface that is used throughout it bundled apps. Google has only added limited support for this in the Android OS, and apps that can make the most use of "pinch to zoom" type features don't consistently offer it to the user. That includes Google's own web browser, which has become a primary feature of smartphones. The Nexus One also lacks the iPhone 3GS' automatic focus, white balance, and exposure set by the user's touch.

The Network

It's often said that the biggest problem with the iPhone is its association with AT&T, at least in the US. That being the case, it's hard to see how the Nexus One improves upon things by either limiting users to an even less complete network on T-Mobile (which suffers from serious problems both due to its less penetrating higher frequency radio spectrum as well as its much smaller network, primarily concentrated in urban areas) or asking them to revert back to 2007 and forgo 3G service completely to use the phone unlocked on AT&T.

Google promises a Verizon version to follow, but hasn't said when, hinting only that it is likely around the same time Apple is expected to bring the iPhone to CDMA carriers using either a worldmode or separate CDMA chipset. The reason behind this vagueness is likely related to Google's efforts to balance its love between carriers and hardware partners. Users interested in the Nexus One but wanting a Verizon phone are directed to the Droid.

Of course, the iPhone is also limited to working on AT&T or in EDGE-only mode on T-Mobile (if users incur the risks involved with cracking the carrier lock). It remains to be seen whether Google can keep users satisfied with T-Mobile's network and avoid the same criticism Apple gets for partnering with AT&T. If it can, Apple may be more likely to offer a new version of the iPhone that works with both AT&T and T-Mobile's 3G networks.

Reception

When Apple debuted the iPhone 3GS last summer, it all but silenced any talk out the Palm Pre, which up to that point had stoked lots of enthusiastic anticipation. Observers immediately shifted their attention to other potential rivals to the iPhone, and Android began receiving much of that attention. The Hero and then the Droid took turns basking in the Android spotlight last winter, and have now been eclipsed by the Nexus One, with general consensus being that this model is the "Droid-killer."

At the same time, Apple has continued selling its iPhone 3GS, shifting focus only slightly to the complementary iPod touch. Now Apple is stoking hype surrounding its expected Tablet launch, while continuing to sell and promote the same iPhone model. This pattern of Apple conquering new territory with blockbuster releases that occur only once a year while rivals throw handfuls of new models under its tank treads appears to be continuing with Android.

Google appears to be purposely fractionalizing its brand by pitting itself against each of its hardware rivals while also assigning Android credibility to Verizon with the "Droid" brand, and associating "with Google" to anyone who agrees to put its apps on their phone. While the iPhone brand has remained globally famous for going on three years now, Google is making Android an umbrella term that doesn't necessarily mean anything really good or bad while its partners also pick a variety of model names that will only apply to specific markets and or providers.

But the point of a brand is to associate a name with a strong reputation and consistent level of quality. It's not clear how Nexus One will do that for Google, no matter how much success it can generate before Android's attention spotlight shifts to another model. Additionally, by launching the marginally new HTC model with the hubris of "superphone" attached to it, Google risks associating itself with an embarrassing failure that will impede its ability to grab legitimate attention in the future, another similarity it shares with Microsoft's Zune.

Source: AppleInsider

Google Nexus One Specifications & Features

Sony's PS3 enjoys late jump in sales

Since the company revealed that it had sold 3.8m of the games consoles worldwide in the final five weeks of 2009, a bulky price cut and a new model PlayStation3 appeared to have paid off for Sony. This is a 76% increase on last year and the best holiday sales the PS3 has had.

Sony said that its PlayStation Network, the online gaming service that can be accessed from the PS3, PlayStation Portable or by personal computer, now has 38m registered accounts. The message comes a day after rival Nintendo said that it had sold more than 3m Wii consoles in the US in December, a 40% increase on the earlier year. The sales figures alleviated doubts that games console companies were set for a lackluster Christmas as the console market matures.

Sony's figures repeated research from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, the UK industry body, which found that the PS3 console was the star performer of 2009, increasing unit sales in the UK by 2%.

The PS3 which was launched in November 2006 had been slow to build sales, in part because it was priced much higher than its rivals. Though, last August, Sony unveiled a new, slimmer version of the games machine, priced 25 % lower than the original. The price is below the crucial $300 level in the US, €300 in Europe and £249 in the UK to make it more reasonable for a mass market.

"On the back of the PS2 Sony has built up huge brand equity and there are a lot of people out there saying they would love a PS3 but it's been just too expensive," alleged Ed Barton, analyst at Screen Digest. "Now we are hitting the threshold of the mass market."

The PS3 is now closer to the $199 price of an entry-level Microsoft Xbox 360 and the $199 Nintendo Wii.

Nevertheless, the PS3 has further to go to catch up with sales of its rivals.

The Wii had sold more than 56m units by last September, while the Xbox 360 had sold 34m units by October. The PS3 had sales of 27m to the end of September.

Sony has also added a number of online features to the console, including a video downloading service and links to internet television platforms such as the BBC's iPlayer, in order to increase the appeal of the device.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Sony repeated plans to upgrade the PS3 consoles so that 3D games and films could be played.

It also plans to introduce a new motion controller for the console, a move aimed at countering the threat from Microsoft, which is this year planning to put huge resources behind the launch of its Natal system, which lets gamers control a console through gestures and voice commands alone.

"Of all the console makers, Sony appears to have the best momentum now, but the biggest threat might be the launch of Microsoft's Natal," Mr Barton said.

MSI launches two new Gaming notebooks-Bringing advanced processing technology to your notebook

Laptop specialist MSI launched its two latest GX series notebooks at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, purpose-built for gaming addicts on the move. The new GX640 and GX740 machines come equipped with a high-specification designed to run the latest gaming titles smoothly and with the portability of a notebook.

"In the months leading up to CES we've seen huge advances in software and hardware, including Windows 7 and the new Intel Core i5 Arrandale processor and Calpella platform.” At the world press launch MSI's president Joseph Hsu alleged, “We're extremely proud to announce notebooks that make full use of this technology to significantly outperform their predecessors."

The Taiwanese manufacturer's notebooks come with MSI's own Turbo Boost technology which diverts system resources, using Intel's own Hyper-Threading system, for the fastest gaming experience, no matter what background operations are running.

Machines Features:

• Built-in with Intel Core i5 Arrandale,
• Built-in with Window's 7 operating systems,
• Latest Graphics Media Accelerator HD system to run the latest PC games smoothly,
• ATi's Mobility Radeon HD 3D graphics card,
• Radeon HD 3D graphics card supports DirectX11 and renders game graphics in spectacular definition,
• 25.6" LCD screen,
• Five speakers, two above the keyboard, two along the front and a woofer to bring to life deep explosions in the base,
• GX series notebooks promise to make your games sound great despite the machines ultra slim proportions,

The notebooks shouldn't cause any humiliation if you flip one open in a trendy cafe having scooped Germany's iF Product Design Award - the design equivalent of an Oscar.

The W, A, S and D keys - vital for game controls - have been highlighted in red to make them easier to spot and a luminescent touch sonsor control panel and independent number pad also improve game control.

The MSI GX640 and GX740 notebooks will be available in the UK from March 2010 and prices start from £999.

CES 2010: The Year of the Tablet PC

Apple’s iSlate

Ah the illusive iSlate! Like most new Apple products we haven’t seen it, we’ve just heard of it—and the lack of details is driving us crazy. Apple did not (does not ever) attend CES, so there was no debut of the iSlate, but the company did set a press conference date for late January.

HP Multitouch Tablet

This unnamed HP tablet was announced at CES by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer. The nameless tablet was runs Windows 7 supports multitouch gestures, and is due out in mid-2010 for under $500. HP-slate

Dell Android Tablet

Dell’s “tablet concept” features a 5-inch display, a 5 megapixel camera and is an Android-powered device. Dell’s being very hush-hush about any other specs and details concerning its new tablet. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Archos 9 PC Tablet

This poor guy was overshadowed by all of the “newer” tablets, like HP nameless one, because it technically came out in mid-2009. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer announced this tablet as well during his CES keynote. The Archos tablet sports a 1.1GHz Intel Atom Z510 processor, a 60GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, and offers networking via 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and 100-mbps Ethernet. Archos-9-PC-Tablet

Lenovo IdeadPad U1 Hybrid

Tablet or notebook? How about both—Lenovo’s new Ideapad U1 starts out as a lightweight, Windows 7 laptop running on a Core 2 Duo CULV processor and a 128GB solid-state drive, but if you remove the 11.6-inch display you’ve got yourself a stand-alone Linux tablet PC, powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon ARM processor with 16GB of flash memory. ideapadu1hybrid

Freescale Tablet

This year’s affordable tablet PC—the $199 Freescale Tablet. The Freescale tablet includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and also features a 3D desktop framework with touch screen/QWERTY keyboard support. The company says this $199 tablet also boasts a power-efficient ARM processor: the i.MX515 chip based on ARM Cortex-A8 technology.

Pegatron Tablet

Another highly overshadowed tablet PC—also announced by Ballmer during his keynote—doesn’t even have any glamour shots. Pegatron—spin off of AsusTek Computer—didn’t release many detail either. Neowin described the tablet as having thesespecs: An 11.6-inch touchscreen display, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage, a Webcam, and HDMI-out.

Innovative Converged Devices’ Ultra and Vega Tablets

ICD has revealed a pair of Android 2.0 tablets, the Ultra and the Vega. The Ultra was on display at both Verizon and Nvidia’s CES booths since the two companies teamed up on the tabletsmodem and processor. The Ultra tablet has a 7-inch touchscreen and is powered by a 1GHz nVidia Tegra T20 processor, which lets you watch smooth 1080p video; the device also includes 4GB of on-board storage space, as well as a MicroSD card slot for further expansion.  The ICD Vega, has a 15.6-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel touchscreen and a 32GB solid-state drive.

Dell is serious about its Tablet

Dell gives the impression to be very solemn about its Android laden devices. After its initial push into the Android side of things with the Mini 3 smartphone, it has organized this MID that shows off of a 5 inch display and is all set to arrive on one of the U.S.-based leading networks. Dell, at the ongoing CES 2010, said this is just a concept as of now.

Whereas Dell hasn't discovered the specifications of this MID, official pictures have already been released. The only other thing that we know about this MID other than it being Android based and having a 5 inch screen is that there is a 5 megapixel camera too at the rear of the device. Oh, and it's has a SIM card slot as well thereby making it a cellphone - one of the biggest you will ever come across.

There is no word as to when one of these would be released for consumers around the world. One thing that's certain would be the fact that this would be one expensive gadget.

Nexus One will struggle

Nexus One; the search giant's first branded mobile phone unveiled. Then Google confirmed that Nexus One, and all subsequent Google phones sold via the company's online store, will be available unlocked for use on every participating carrier. Microsoft has weighed in on this development, specifically where Google is both offering Android to its partners and allowing one partner to benefit from having a Google-branded phone, concluding that it is a faulty strategy. The software giant says that Google will have a hard time attracting partners to its mobile operating system after introducing its own handset, even if it is developed by HTC.
In the stir of the opening of Google's Nexus One smartphone, Microsoft has attacked the company's mobile strategy. Google’s Android mobile phone software will struggle to make a key impact in the market now that the company has launched its own mobile phone, the Windows manufacturer has claimed.
Robbie Bach, the President of the company’s entertainment and devices division, said that so long as Google makes its own handsets, such as the new Nexus One, other phone manufacturers would hesitate to work with the Android mobile software platform because they would fear that they would never be a top priority for the search company.  “Doing both software and hardware in the way they are trying to do both is actually very, very difficult,” Bach said in an interview yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “Google’s announcement sends a signal where they’re going to place their commitment.”
Google may have a hard time convincing their licensees that they're not in competition with them. Still, Google has at least one advantage over Microsoft: Android is free for licensees to put on their devices. If Google started off by launching the Nexus One and then began distributing Android, it would be a big problem. Since it's the other way around, we must remember that gratis is an addiction hard to drop once you've had it for a few months.
When Google launched the Nexus One on Tuesday night, however, both Motorola and the phone’s manufacturer, HTC, joined the search giant on stage. Motorola Chief Executive Sanjay Jha confirmed that his company was already working on a range of new Android devices, even though many in the industry consider that the new Nexus One has largely stolen the thunder of the Motorola Droid handset.
Mobile network operators around the world, too, are apparently keen to get their hands on the Nexus One. Vodafone have confirmed that they expect to be the first to bring a Nexus One-subsidizing tariff to the UK market, although T-Mobile, which is already partnering with Google in the USA, has also held advanced talks with the company in Europe.

3 Reasons The Google Nexus One Won't Live Up To The Hype

Google played it smart unveiling the Nexus One smartphone, the latest Google  Android offering, while CES is in full swing in Las Vegas. Why not take the opportunity to steal a little thunder away from all of the other device makers looking to make a splash on one of the world's biggest consumer technology stages?
And it worked. The Web and tech news outlets exploded with word of what the Google team had hatched with the Nexus One smartphone.But here's the rub: The Google Nexus One smartphone is a flavor of the week. They hype is going to die and the device, despite how cool and powerful, will crawl back under the shadow of the all-encompassing Apple iPhone.
Why will the Google Nexus One fail to live up the hype? Here are three reasons:

1. T-Mobile will be the Nexus One's first carrier. T-Mobile has fallen to No. 4 behind the big three carriers -- AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. And, despite T-Mobile recently completing upgrades to its 3G network to boost speeds to up to 7.2 Mbps, its network coverage through the U.S. isn't as pervasive as its competitors. The network can be the fastest in the world, but if you can't catch a 3G signal, all the speed in the world won't help. Granted, the leap to Verizon that the Google Nexus One smartphone is expected to make a few months after launch will help, but by then its time on T-Mobile may have worked against it. And, yeah, for a few extra bills an unlocked version is available, but that's a spicy meatball for an as yet unproven device.

2. Google Android isn't quite there yet. Google Android has made great strides since it made its October 2008 debut in the T-Mobile G1. A host of hot Android phones have since hit the market, most recently the Motorola Droid, which has captured the hearts of Google Android lovers everywhere. But Android hasn't evolved enough to reach the iconic status the Apple iPhone has reached. Despite Android phones getting slicker from a hardware standpoint, the software hasn't kept up. While the Nexus One is coming equipped with Google Android 2.1, so far Android hasn't proven itself as a strong enough contender in the OS race. That could all change, but right now Google Android is still a "me too" play.

3. Potential buyers are already suffering Google Nexus One fatigue. This smartphone has been inescapable. Everyone thought Apple went overboard with its product placement, advertising and marketing for its initial iPhone launch, which has been scaled back with each subsequent iPhone release. But Google is beating the proverbial dead horse. Granted, all of the media attention is part of the problem too. But take a look at the main Google search page today. Do you see it? Yup, there it is. Just under the "Google Search" and "I'm Feeling Lucky" buttons it reads: "Experience Nexus One, the new Android phone from Google" with a thumbnail-size image of the Nexus One and a link to more information. While a brilliant placement and marketing ploy, users will grow tired of being bombarded with Nexus One branding and consumer fatigue can often hurt sales.

Source: CRN.COM

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Nexus One review

While Google’s Android has powered other phones, this is the first one where the search giant has specified the design. The pencil-thin Nexus One is built to feel like a genuine object of desire.

And the Nexus One offers features the iPhone lacks, too – the camera’s resolution is 5mp, compared to Apple’s 3mp, there are satnav capabilities built in that cost Apple users extra, and a fast processor means the Nexus One operates quicker than any phone currently on sale in the UK. Web-browsing is impressive, although in the UK is likely to lack the multitouch capabilities that have been available on previous versions of Android. Automatic online synchronization of camera photos is also impressive. It’s effective voice operation, for controlling the phone and writing emails, however, that is the most surprising feature. This is the first time I’ve seen a version of that technology that is genuinely useable.

In the burgeoning market for additional applications, however, Apple’s iTunes Store offers 115,000 compared to the 20,000 or so in Google’s Android Marketplace. That means that there are currently far more games, tools and clever tricks available to iPhone owners. As more phones start to adopt Google’s operating system, however, Android is likely to catch up fast. And while Android can run a number of Apps at once, the iPhone can’t.

Does the Nexus One feel quite as well put together as the iPhone? No, although it’s close enough to make no meaningful difference. What Android handsets can’t do, however, is plug in to your music collection as seamlessly as an iPod or an iMac. And that’s the biggest problem Google faces – an iPhone is a web-browsing, every song in your pocket, phone call making pleasure to own. It’s part of an entire ecosystem, with accessories, covers, speaker systems and even ties that are built to house iPods.

But the Nexus One does plug in effortlessly to the web, social media, email, calendar, search and contacts functions; perhaps the company that dominates web search should simply start making the computers as well.

Five New Planets: The Kepler Telescope's on a Roll

A NASA space telescope Kepler has discovered five planets outside of our solar system. NASA said the planets are dilapidated. Because, in these planets temperatures hotter than molten lava.

Borucki heads the Kepler Mission, a space-based planet-hunting telescope that went into solar orbit last spring to search for isolated worlds like our own. While the first five worlds detected are nothing like Earth, nobody expected them to be. What's important, Borucki declared, was that "these five new exoplanets come from the first six weeks of data." An additional eight months of Kepler observations are already in the can and awaiting analysis, meaning many more planets are undoubtedly lurking on hard drives at the NASA Ames Research Center in California, where Kepler is headquartered. "We're going home to lots of presents still unopened," says Natalie Batalha, a San Jose State University astronomer on the Kepler team. "These observations contribute to our understanding of how planetary systems form and evolve from the gas and dust disks that give rise to both the stars and their planets," alleged Borucki. "The discoveries also show that our science instrument is working well. Indications are that Kepler will meet all its science goals."

NASA launched the Kepler space telescope in March, 2009. The craft is on a six-year mission to find Earth-like planets and carrying a telescope and multiple computers. “NASA scientists expect Kepler to find large planets during its first several months in space” Kepler program manager James Fanson alleged Last year. “And in two to three years, the craft should begin to spot planets closer to the size of Earth” Fanson added.

The Kepler spacecraft is designed to study between 100,000 and 170,000 sunlike stars and find Earth-like planets orbiting them. The telescope onboard the spacecraft will measure the brightness of those stars every half hour, allowing scientists to detect any dimming that would be caused by orbiting planets passing in front of them.

Scientists anticipate to receive enough figures from Kepler to find out not only the size of a planet but to be able to detect whether it has a solid surface and if there's the potential for it to have water, which is crucial to the formation of life.

NASA reported this week that Kepler spotted its first five exoplanets, which are planets outside of our solar system.

The planets range in size from smaller than Neptune to larger than Jupiter. These exoplanets have temperatures reading between 2,200 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA.

"It's gratifying to see the first Kepler discoveries rolling off the assembly line," alleged Jon Morse, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division. "We expected Jupiter-size planets in short orbits to be the first planets Kepler could detect. It's only a matter of time before more Kepler observations lead to smaller planets with longer period orbits, coming closer and closer to the discovery of the first Earth analog."

Apple tablet could land By March

Apple Inc. plans to unveil a long-awaited tablet computer this month which may begin to ship in March. A Taiwanese components supplier has notified longtime Apple analyst Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray that it is "likely" the tablet could be available by late March. Munster says he has not been briefed by Apple on the product.

Munster and other analysts have speculated the tablet — expected to be introduced in late January — will come with a 10-inch touch display that lets consumers read newspapers and books, watch movies and TV, play games and use the Internet.

"It's a combination of e-book reader/Web-surfing device/e-mail/video player," Munster says. Third-party applications, which are so popular on the iPhone, will extend the tablet's functionality and "really let it rip," he says.

Published reports have speculated the tablet could cost $1,000 and could include a Wi-Fi subscription. USA TODAY could not independently verify the reports. Apple declined to comment.

An Apple tablet that is bigger than an iPhone and smaller than a laptop "is likely to be a terrific product, but unless it meets some need not currently met by a netbook or iPhone, it's a limited opportunity," says Charles Wolf, a longtime Apple analyst at Needham & Co. Still, Apple's entry could significantly perk up the $950 million U.S. market for tablets. Sales declined 25% in 2008 and were expected to drop again in 2009. "It has been a disastrous market because there has been no champion," says David Daoud, an analyst at IDC.

Munster expects Apple to sell about 2 million tablets in its first year. The company has approached some book publishers with proposals to distribute content, he says.

The product already has commanded attention ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, where several tablets are expected to be unveiled, including one from Notion with paper-quality screen graphics for easy reading outdoors.