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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
HTC To Announce New Smartphones February 26th
We have seen a couple of leaked HTC smartphones over the last few months and now we have an actual date on when HTC will be unveiling its latest Android smartphones as well as other smartphones and devices.
HTC has sent out invites to a special event on then 26th of February 2012, which is the day before Mobile World Congress starts in Barcelona on the 27th of February.
We are expecting HTC to unveil a number of new devices, which will include the leaked HTC Ville, the HTC Primo, and a number of other new HTC devices.
We suspect that we will probably get some more details on HTC’s new range of smartphones and tablets before they are officially announced next month, as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.
Facebook Timeline Coming To All Users Over The Next Few Weeks
Facebook has announced that it will be rolling out its new Timeline feature to all of its 800 million users around the world, and all Facebook users will be migrated to Timeline over the next few weeks.
Facebook users will be notified seven days before their profile is changed to the new Timeline, which should give users enough time to setup the Timeline the way they want.
Last year we introduced timeline, a new kind of profile that lets you highlight the photos, posts and life events that help you tell your story. Over the next few weeks, everyone will get timeline. When you get timeline, you’ll have 7 days to preview what’s there now. This gives you a chance to add or hide whatever you want before anyone else see’s it.
You can find out more details about the roll out of Timeline to all Facebook users over at the Facebook Blog.
Sony Tablet S And P To Get Android 4.0 ICS Update This Spring
We recently heard that Sony would be updating its two new tablets, the Sony Tablet S and the Sony Tablet P to the latest version of Google’s mobile OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
And now Sony has confirmed to the guys over at The Verge that the android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Tablet P and Tablet S will be released this Spring.
Sony didn’t give a specific launch date for the Ice Cream Sandwich update for both devices, although the guys from The Verge noted that it should roll out at the same time as Android 4.0 for Sony’s new Xperia smartphone range which include the Sony Xperia S.
Sony is apparently testing out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on both devices internally, and we should see the update available some time within the next couple of months.
New Sony VAIO Laptops Get Hardware Upgrade
If you’re waiting for Sony’s VAIO refresh, here’s something to tide you over while awaiting its release. The company noted on its blog that its Z, S and E series will have their CPUs upgraded along with other component changes. The C series, meanwhile, will sport the same internals specs-wise but will have changes on its exterior.
Sony made sure its Z series will have all the bells and whistles, and more, making it at par or even abpve its counterparts.
Some notable changes on the Z series are the built-in LTE mobile broadband and the use of 2nd generation Core processors from the Intel Core i5 up to Core i7, making these machines a serious operator. It will also be equipped with RAID 0 solid state drives. The Z series will have a starting price point of $1,949.
Aside from the hardware bump, the upcoming models will also feature Sony’s Media Gallery 2.0.
YouTube Hits 4 Billion Video Views A Day
Google has released some new figures on just how popular their only video service YouTube is, according to a recent report by Reuters, YouTube is now streaming a massive 4 billion video views every day.
On top of that we also get some information on how many videos are uploaded to the site every day, over 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
Google has also said that the company is generating around $5 billion a year from adverts that are shown on YouTube, although according to the report the majority of the 4 billion videos that are streamed each day do not actually make the company any money.
Google shows around 28 billion videos per week, and out of those the company is making money on just 3 billion of them per week, obviously they will be looking at ways to generate revenue from the other 25 billion videos a week.
Gmail Experimental Options Added In Ice Cream Sandwich
Even though Google has been honing and streamlining its products by shutting down a multitude of experimental services within its portfolio over the last months. It’s been discovered that Google is still looking to experiment and has added a new experimental options section to its Gmail running on its Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.
The new Gmail experimental options allows aren’t just limited to Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich, but are exclusive to the latest 4.0.3-239410 of the Gmail Android app. Making it still a little tricky for everyone to access.
But don’t be too dismayed if you’re not running the required version, as even though it’s a new section there is very little to see under the heading at the moment. The new section currently contains 2 optional features, one of which will allow Gmail to index the text in your messages in order to provide you with a more comprehensive locally based text search. Together with another which enables the drag-and-drop feature for Gmail’s and ICS “contact chips”.
The new experimental menu option was uncovered by Computerworld’s JR Raphael, while he was tinkering with the Android 4.0 upgrade on the new Asus Transformer Prime.
Google Music App Gets Updated
Google has released a new version of their Google Music application for Android, and the latest release of Google Music comes with a number of bug fixes as well as some new features.
The latest bug fixes in Google Music for Android include a fix related to the shuffle mode and multiple accounts as well as some other minor fixes.
Google Music gives you the ability to store up to 20,000 of your personal music tracks on Google Music, which can then be streamed direct to you Android smartphone or tablet.
You can also share music that you have purchased on the Android Market with your friends over Google+, the latest version of Google Music for Android for free over at the Android Market.
Nokia Lumia 910 With 12 Megapixel Camera Coming To Europe In May?
Earlier today we heard that the Nokia Lumia 900 would be available in the UK in June, the news came after the device appeared on a retailers website, the page has since been pulled.
Now according to Eldar Murtzain, the device will be the Nokia Lumia 910, which is the European version of the 900, and it will come without 4G LTE and will feature a higher specification camera than the Lumia 900.
The Nokia Lumia 910 is reported to feature a 12 megapixel camera, and the device will share similar specifications with the Lumia 900 which will include a 4.3 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango and a single core 1.4GHz processor.
We previously heard that another version of the Lumia 900 with a 12 megapixel camera would also be headed to the other US carriers after the exclusivity with US mobile carrier AT&T runs out.
Evi To Take On Siri On iOS And Android (Video)
Apple’s voice activated virtual assistant is only available on the iPhone 4S, but now it would appear that Siri may have a competitor in the form of an iOS and Android app called Evi.
Evi works in a similar way to Siri, you press a button on the app and ask it a question, it will then respond to you with an answer, and it works in a similar way to Apple’s Siri.
Evi is compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch running iOS 4 and above, and the app is also available for a number of Android devices, have a look at the video of it in action.
We have just tried out Evi and form our initial test it seems pretty good, in many cases it is able to answer some of the questions that Siri couldn’t.
The fact that the app is available for both Android and a number of different iOS devices, whilst Siri is only available for the iPhone 4S means that Evi could end up being a popular app.
You can find out more details about Evi for iOS over at iTunes, and Evi for Android over at the Android Market.
Boxee Live TV And 1.5 Update Now Available (video)
Today Boxee has rolled out its highly anticipated new Boxee Live TV Dongle which it confirmed was arriving back in November. The new Boxee dongle has been design to a USB and adds a “Live TV” option to the Boxee user interface.
Once installed users can then browse through free-to-air channels, complete with program guides. But unfortunately cannot pause or record any live TV content as yet. Watch the promotional video after the jump to see the new Boxee Live TV feature in action.
The new Boxee Live TV dongle does however provide additional social networking integration within the Boxee the channel guide. Enabling users to be able to see what friends are watching, and integrates into the new Facebook Timeline app for Boxee allowing you to share the TV you have watched on your Facebook wall if desired.
Boxee Live TV has rolled out with a new version 1.5 of the Boxee Box operating system. Which brings with it a new user interface and advanced search, together with enhanced filtering in the streamlined library.
As well as integration with Rotten Tomatoes reviews, and control over social account integration. The new Boxee 1.5 update is being rolled out automatically to Boxee users over the next 72 hours, although you can force a manual update if you can’t wait that long.
Google Sky Map Goes Open Source (video)
Over the weekend Google has announced that their Google Sky Map which was launched for Android smartphones back in 2009 and was created by a number of Googlers from the Pittsburgh office during their 20% development time. Will now be moving into the community of open source in a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University who will further development Sky Map in a series of student projects.
Google’s Sky Map’s development will now be driven by the Carnegie Mellon University students, with Google engineers remaining closely involved as advisors. In addition Google has also open-sourced the app so that other astronomy enthusiasts can take the code and augment it as they wish.
The Google Sky Map application is great for anyone wishing to learn more about the night sky. Simply install the application from the Android Market and point your phone at the sky.
Google Sky Map will show the stars, planets, constellations, and more to help you identify the celestial objects in view. You can also browse the skies in manual mode. Search the night sky for your favourite planet, Messier object, and more by moving your smartphone in the direction of the arrow to find it in the night sky. Enjoy! Star Walk is a similar application available on iOS.
