House kills Facebook password bill — but the controversy wasn't a big deal, anyway

As those of you who watch our DT Daily Web show already know, the House of Representatives this week voted against a bill that would have prevented overreaching employers from demanding that job applicants hand over their Facebook passwords. The controversy arose last week, after the Associated Press reported that this troubling practice was becoming a common request of job-seekers. But later reports suggest that the whole thing just got blown out of proportion. The Hartford Courant reports that the AP article included only a single case in which...

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Great Deal: TurboTax for Android tablets free through April 1 (normally $30+)

The big tax deadline is only a couple weeks away, but if you’re like me, you probably haven’t done your taxes yet. Despite a prevalence of app creators and a booming Internet development community, TurboTax remains the best service to help you do your taxes online and now it has fully functional tablet and smartphone apps out on Android and iOS as well. Today (3/30) through Sunday (4/1), anyone can file taxes for free on the TurboTax Android tablet app. To get the deal, you have to have a tablet running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or Android 4.0 (Ice...

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World's biggest Apple store coming to China, scuffles already started

The world’s largest Apple store is set to open in the city of Dalian, north-east China, as the Cupertino-based tech giant works to increase its presence in its fastest growing market. The exact date of its opening hasn’t been announced. According to a MIC Gadget report, a banner inside the city’s upmarket Parkland Mall gives notice of the upcoming Apple store, announcing that it will be the world’s biggest to date. Apple’s current largest store is in New York’s Grand Central Terminal and covers around 23,000 square feet of floor space. The new...

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Google to sell its own tablets in 2012: WSJ

Google may start selling Google-branded tablets in 2012 in a bid to boost Android-powered tablet sales in a market that is dominated by Apple’s iPad. “The Internet search company will sell co-branded tablets directly to consumers through an online store like rivals Apple and Amazon.com Inc.,” said The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. “The move is an effort to turn around sluggish sales of tablet computers powered by Google's Android software.” While Google’s brand name will feature prominently on the “Google” tablets,...

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Massive Angry Bird poised to launch from Seattle’s Space Needle

The giant inflatable bird is an advertisement for Rovio's new Angry Birds in SpaceDream of playing a real-life game of Angry Birds? You may have missed your chance when they had amassive game in Barcelona, Spain, but this is a pretty cool consolation prize: The makers have turned the Space Needle into a makeshift Angry Birds slingshot, complete with a giant inflatable angry bird. The large red angry bird is part of a Seattle promotion for the game Angry Birds Space, which was released yesterday for iOS and Android phones, as well as for PC and...

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Microsoft, TiVo drop suits against each other

Digital video recorder pioneer TiVo Inc. said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with software maker Microsoft Corp. for the companies to drop lawsuits against each other following TiVo's settlement with AT&T Inc. Microsoft had sued TiVo in 2010, alleging that the Alviso, Calif.-based company violated its patents related to an on-screen TV guide. TiVo later countersued. Microsoft software is used in set-top boxes provided by AT&T to subscribers of its U-verse TV package and the suit was a way for Microsoft to support AT&T's own...

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Apple: 3 million iPads sold since launch

In a press release this afternoon, Apple announced that it hit the three million unit mark for iPad sales since Friday's launch of the device, presumably including pre-ordered iPads. That's the strongest launch for any version of the device, according to Apple's Phil Schiller (although it should be noted that the new iPad was available for pre-order, while the iPad 2 was not). On this morning's financial analyst call regarding Apple's new dividend and stock repurchase plan, Tim Cook allowed that Apple had a "record weekend" of sales, but likely...

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Apple could up China investment as Tim Cook visits

Apple has indicated it will consider higher investments in China, as Chief Executive Tim Cook visited Beijing to meet Chinese officials China is very important to us and we look forward to even greater investment and growth here," said Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based Apple spokesperson. The company did not provide details on the meetings. This is Mr Cook's first trip to China since becoming CEO in August after the death of founder Steve Jobs. The visit comes with Apple embroiled in legal battles in China over intellectual property rights. The...

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AT&T to sell Nokia Lumia 900 for under $100

Dreams do come true. AT&T plans to sell the Nokia Lumia 900—flagship of Nokia’s U.S. Windows Phone lineup—for just $99.99 with a standard two-year contract. This is an astounding deal, especially considering the slew of awards the handset has already collected, including the coveted Best of CES 2012. The phone hits stores across the country on Sunday, April 8. You can preorder the phone starting March 30 by visiting any company-owned AT&T store. Black, cyan and whiteThe phone, which supports AT&T’s blazing fast 4G LTE network, ships...

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TORONTO -- BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. said Thursday that new phones deemed critical to the company's future will be delayed until late 2012. Mike Lazaridis, one of the company's co-CEOs, said the BlackBerry 10 phones will need a highly integrated chipset that will not be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect them to ship late in the year. He disclosed the delay on a conference call with analysts. Analysts say RIM's future depends on the new software platform. RIM needs to come up with a compelling BlackBerry...

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FastAccess facial recognition software—serious data security that’s easy to use

What did you do on your computer today? Pay bills? Check your account balances? Send e-mail? How many password-protected sites did you visit?  When your life is on your laptop or desktop, you need help to protect it. But security programs can be a hassle, taking time to install and use—and adding complications to your already busy life.   Want a better way? We hear you.   Logitech has teamed with Sensible Vision to offer a free 15-day trial of FastAccess™ facial recognition software.* It’s simple.How does it work? We’re glad...

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Why Jobs Kept The Development Of The Apple iPad Secret

New details have emerged regarding the development of Apple’s iPad and how Steve Jobs kept such details about its development from Apple board member Eric Schmidt due to Schmidt’s connection to Google.In his book In the Plex, Steven Levy describes how Jobs was furious when he saw pinch-zoom features on an early model Android phone during a trip to Google’s main office. Jobs felt that in order to protect his product, he had to hide the development of the iPad from the Google Executive Officer, even though Schmidt was also on the board at Apple. Of...

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Microsoft launches Kinect for Windows gesture sensor

To work with Windows-based PCs a version of Kinect, a motion sensing input device, has been launched by Microsoft Corporation. According to Microsoft, the American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, the new version of Kinect features a “near mode” which helps track movements as close as 40cm away. Craig Eisler, Kinect for Windows’ general manager told “It’s been just over a year since we launched Kinect for Xbox 360, and we’re only starting to scratch the surface of what’s possible with Kinect,” said Craig Eisler,...

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Samsung Electronics board approves LCD unit spin-off

Samsung Electronics has moved a step closer to spinning off its Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) unit after its board of directors approved the plan.The firm said it will launch the spun-off unit, Samsung Display Company Ltd, as a new corporation on 1 April.The move, which still needs shareholder approval, comes amid slowing demand and falling profits for LCD products.Samsung said it was planning to focus on new technologies to maintain its edge over the competition."The spin-off will allow us to make quicker business decisions and respond to our clients'...

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Real-time face recognition comes to your iPhone camera

Tagging friends after you snap a photo of them and posting it to Facebook is so last week. A new smartphone application allows you to point an iPhone camera at a friend and tag that person before you even hit the shutter button. Called "Klik," the iPhone app automatically displays your friends' names in real time when they appear in view of your iPhone's camera. After Klik detects a face, it instantly connects to your Facebook account and scans your friends' photos to identify the person in view. It also scans your iPhone for photos you've tagged...

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BlackBerry PlayBook review

With a name that sounds like something you'd use at a sporting event, the BlackBerry PlayBook is the latest – and most unique – Apple iPad 2 challenger. Running a new OS called QNX, with quirky features like bridging to a BlackBerry phone for secure email and an oddly confusing initial setup, the PlayBook is a stark departure from the more iPad-like Motorola Xoom. Business-minded features such as built-in viewers for spreadsheets and word processing files are welcome, and the PlayBook gets extra credit for being fast and nimble on a dual-core...

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The New Glasses-Free 3D TV From Toshiba That ‘Follows Your Face’

Consumers in UK are able to pick up a 3D TV set that does not require any special glasses for viewing the 3D images. The set has a feature by which the viewer’s faces are tracked. The 3D TV from Toshiba has a screen dimension of 55 inches. This happen to be the first glasses free 3D TV of the large screen variety that is available coming at a cost of £7000. The picture is adjusted depending on the viewer much like it happens in case of a digital camera. The set after having fixed the viewers location sends images meant for the left and right eye...

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Sony unveils 'floating interface' touchless display

A smartphone that allows users to browse the web by hovering a finger above links they would normally touch has been unveiled by the Japanese electronics giant Sony. The firm describes the technology as a "floating touch" user-interface. The Xperia Sola handset is due to go on sale in the second half of 2012. But some mobile phone analysts question whether the feature will be practical or popular. Touchless worldA number of firms around the world have been exploring gesture control possibilities for quite some time. Giants such as Apple, Microsoft...

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New iPod touch: cheaper, iOS 5, and now in white

Apple announced a new iPod Touch today at their “Let’s talk iPhone event”, an updated version of their most popular iPod. The new Touch will support iOS 5 features, like Game Center (it’s currently the most popular game player in the world, according to Apple, so that makes sense), iCloud, and iMessage. Using iMessage, the iPod touch can basically send free, unlimited text messages, videos, and photos over WiFi to other iOS 5 users on iPod touches, iPhones, and iPads. iCloud will also give iPod touch users access to their music, books, and documents...

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Intel Core i9: Six Cores Of Speed

Intel's Core i9 chips won't hit the market for a few more months, but that hasn't stopped Polish site PCLab from putting the new 32-nanometer processor through its paces in a recent series of benchmark tests. While testing the pre-release 2.8 GHz Gulftown chip, PCLab found a significant speed increase with certain applications. According to their report, certain resource-intensive tasks, such as editing video or 3D modelling, perform up to 50% faster than Intel's current Core i7 chip. Unfortunately, the chip didn't shine in all areas; its performance...

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Introducing Android 4.0

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is the latest version of the Android platform for phones, tablets, and more. It builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing. Simple, Beautiful, Useful Refined, evolved UI Focused on bringing the power of Android to the surface, Android 4.0 makes common actions more visible and lets you navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. Refined...

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Apple iPad 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Introduction: Now that the iPad 2 has made way for its successor in the new iPad, it’s only fitting to pit Apple’s latest baby against the horde of competition that are already littered across the tablet landscape. Rising above most  other things, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE comes to mind as a dubious competitor since it’s regarded as the best of the best from Samsung’s camp. On the surface, both are very similar with their options, which is hardly a surprise, but as we’ve come to expect, there can only be one that will ultimately prove...

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