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 an employer asked for a Facebook login. The article’s lead writer, Manuel Valdes, sought to find more people who had similar experiences. To do so, he turned to Reddit, where things of this nature pop up all the time. According to the Courant, only about 10 people said they’d been asked to hand over their Facebook credentials. And few of those anecdotes made it into the AP article.

Still, the practice is likely to become popular. Not only did the House consider a amending the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012 to stop such requests, Facebook also pulled out the big guns, threatening employers with potential legal action. Of course, the American Civil Liberties Union, and countless concerned rights groups and citizens chimed in to voice their dissatisfaction.

So even though the House failed to make such practices against federal law, it will be difficult for any employer to make such a request without finding their name plastered all over the Web, as an enraged public gathers its torches and pitchforks.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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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 Cream Sandwich). If you can’t tell, just ask in the comments below and tell me what model your tablet is. Generally, if it’s a 10.1-inch tablet or came out in the last year, it will run Honeycomb. Just start a tax return before the deadline is up and you’ll get to file for free. Normally, it costs $30 or more. The deal is not compatible with the Android phone version of the app, according to a representative.
Here’s a link to TurboTax on the Google Play store.
If you guys know of any other, or better, apps for filing taxes, let me know. We’ll be compiling some items for tax season in the week ahead.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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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 record-breaking store will be located in Dalian’s affluent Century City shopping district. But even before it’s had a chance to open its doors to paying customers, it appears to be causing some problems with businesses already operating in the area.
It seems that Apple barricades erected outside the store have angered some traders, who believe they are having a negative impact on their own businesses. Security officers from a nearby establishment apparently attempted to remove the barricades, clashing with Apple security officers in the process. Police were called to help deal with the situation.
It’s not the first time a scuffle has taken place outside an Apple store in China, but it could be the first time it’s happened before it’s even opened for business. In May last year, scalpers caused a riot outside a store in Beijing as people lined up for the iPad 2, while in January trouble ensued outside the same store as an impatient crowd waited to get its hands on the iPhone 4S on its first day of sales in the country.
It may surprise some that Apple’s largest store, its sixth in China, is opening in a location few will have heard of, rather than in the capital Beijing or even Shanghai. But Dalian — population 3.5 million — is popular with domestic tourists, as well as those from South Korea and Japan. It is also a large seaport and financial center.
News of Apple’s forthcoming largest ever store comes as Apple CEO Tim Cook visits the Asian nation, meeting government officials and attending an iPhone production facility, as well as visiting an Apple store in Beijing — in altogether calmer circumstances, one assumes.
[Source: MIC Gadget, MacRumors]

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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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, the company is not expected to design and produce the hardware in-house. Various manufacturers including Samsung Electronics Co. and AsusTeK Computer Inc. will be responsible for the hardware on the devices, said The Wall Street Journal. 

The tablets will not be Google’s first foray into the consumer device market. In 2010 Google launched the HTC Corp.-made Nexus One smartphone under its own brand and started selling the device contract-free online.

Rumors of a Google-made device started circling back in December 2011 when former Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealed to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, “in the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.”

Online retailer Amazon is also reported to be beefing up its tablet arsenal in the coming year, following on from the success launch of its Kindle Fire tablet.

In a March 29 report Taiwanese IT industry English-language newspaper DigiTimes said that “Amazon will launch at least two tablet PCs in 2012, with a possibility that the number may increase to four, according to industry sources. Shipments of a 10.1-inch model are expected to begin in July."

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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 Space
Dream 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 Mac. The game uses gravitational physics like the original game, but with the addition of large celestial bodies that can attract objects by gravitational force.
Though the bird is connected to the top of the tower by a slingshot, don't get too excited — this bird isn't spacebound. After some initial excitement that a launch was imminent, it's been confirmed that this bird is firmly anchored to the ground with a set of cables.
[Image credit: architecturegeek]
(Source)
This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca
More from Tecca:
•Angry Birds Guide: Everything you need to know about bird-flinging and beyond
•Man trapped for 3 days survives by playing Angry Birds
•Angry Birds Space expansion demoed (in space)
 View the original article here

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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 legal battles with TiVo.
But AT&T agreed to settle with TiVo in January by paying at least $215 million through 2018. That made Microsoft's supporting suit less relevant.
TiVo said that dropping the litigation did not mean it is granting any patent rights to Microsoft.
TiVo shares rose 14 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $11.70 in afternoon trading Thursday. Shares of Seattle-based Microsoft were up 9 cents at $32.

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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 he was waiting for the point where Apple could release a nice round number before giving any figures.

Lumping in pre-ordered devices and assuming that the count went from 8 am ET Friday to 4 pm ET today, that's a total of 80 hours of sales -- 4,800 minutes. Some quick arithmetic shows that worldwide, Apple averaged a transaction rate of six hundred and twenty-five iPads per minute, or more than ten iPads sold every second. If we could drop out the pre-orders from that, the rate would go down... but still. Wow.

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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 company is currently fighting a legal dispute over the trademark for its iPad tablet computer in China.
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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 white
The phone, which supports AT&T’s blazing fast 4G LTE network, ships in a beautiful, eye-catching cyan as well as matte black. A new high-gloss white version will also be available beginning April 22. The Lumia 900 boasts a big 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED screen, 16 gigabytes of storage, and an 8 megapixel camera with an exclusive Carl Zeiss wide-angle lens (f2.2/28mm).The camera also shoots high-res 720p/30fps video. The one megapixel wide-angle front-facing camera is perfect for video chats.

And as if you needed any more reasons to grab it, you’ll also have access to a bunch of Lumia-exclusive apps like Nokia Maps, Drive, and Transport. And the one I can’t wait to get my hands on: Nokia Creative Studio, a slick photo app that arrived in the Windows Phone Marketplace earlier this month.

Titan II also coming April 8
The Nokia Lumia 900 isn’t the only Easter Day surprise from AT&T. The HTC Titan II will also go on sale that day for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

Like its popular predecessor, the HTC Titan II sports a massive 4.7-inch WVGA touchscreen (largest of the Windows Phone devices). It’s also 4G LTE ready. But to me the standout spec is the phone’s whopping 16-megapixel rear camera – the highest megapixel camera on any smartphone at AT&T.

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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 as U.S. users have moved on to flashier touch-screen phones such as Apple's iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software.
Earlier Thursday, RIM said BlackBerry sales will fall sharply in the holiday quarter, providing further evidence that it is struggling to compete. It also has been having a hard time finding a niche in the tablet-computer market, which is dominated by Apple's iPad.
RIM continues to enjoy success overseas, but market researcher NPD Group says RIM's market share of smartphones in the U.S. has declined from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent this year.
The company's stock fell 7 percent in extended trading Thursday.
The delay in BlackBerry 10 phones is the latest in a series of setbacks for the once-iconic Canadian company. Its PlayBook tablet computer hasn't been selling well, forcing the company to sell them at a deep discount. A widespread outage frustrated tens of millions of BlackBerry users in October. RIM fired two executives after their drunken rowdiness forced the diversion of an Air Canada flight. The head of its operations in Indonesia faces charges related to a stampede at a recent promotional sale where dozens of consumers were injured.
RIM said its net income sank 71 percent as revenue fell and the company took a large accounting charge on the PlayBook, which uses the same operating software that RIM's new phones will use.
"We ask for your patience and confidence," Lazaridis said.
RIM earned $265 million, or 51 cents per share, for its fiscal third quarter that ended Nov. 26. That compares with $911 million, or $1.74 per share, a year ago. The company said revenue fell 6 percent to $5.2 billion. The PlayBook charge was $485 million before taxes.
The company shipped 14.1 million BlackBerry smartphones during the third quarter and 150,000 PlayBook tablets, but its fourth-quarter guidance was what investors focused on because it had warned about the third-quarter results earlier.
Although RIM has said it would sell fewer BlackBerrys in the current quarter, the forecast given Thursday appeared worse than expected.
RIM said it would only ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerrys in the fourth quarter compared to 14.8 million in the previous fourth quarter.
RIM also said its fourth-quarter earnings would be in the range of 80 to 95 cents per share on revenue in the range of $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $1.15 a share on revenue of $5.04 billion, according to FactSet.

Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York, said earlier that if RIM reveals that it will ship no more than 12 million BlackBerrys in the current quarter, then the company needs to get its new phones out fast. Otherwise, RIM could lose money in future quarters as it continues to struggle to sell the current, stopgap models.

Misek said late Thursday the BlackBerry 10 phones will now be released three to nine months later than people believed.

BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said the guidance was terrible and wondered if it was the start of a collapse.

"If consumers abandon this platform it can happen pretty quickly," Gillis said. "Don't think this is the bottom."

Jim Balsillie, the other co-CEO, said the last few quarters have been among the most challenging times in the company's most recent history. He said executives are working to turn it around, but said it may take time.

"We are not satisfied with the performance of the business in the United States," Balsillie said.

Balsillie said he and Lazaridis have reduced their cash salary to $1 per year, though they will continue to earn stock options and other compensation.

RIM's stock fell $1.15 to a new seven-year low of $13.98 in extended trading Thursday after the results were released.

The stock has lost about 75 percent of its value this year. A company that was worth more than $70 billion a few years ago now has a market value of around $8 billion.

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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 you asked.
Setup is a snap when you have a Logitech webcam.
Just download the software*  then start using your computer. (Make sure your webcam is plugged in.) After you’re set up, your webcam automatically scans your face and enters your password for Windows® or websites. The FastAccess software can learn what your face looks like under different use and lighting conditions—so the process goes faster every day.
It's smart.
FastAccess also lets your Logitech webcam detect when you leave your computer and can automatically lock your computer to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to your data.
 The best part: It happens so seamlessly, you won’t even know it’s running. But you’ll have the confidence that comes from using a strong security program.

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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 course, former Engadget editor Nilay Patel has a bit more to say on the subject over at his blog, notably this great breakdown of the situation based on his knowledge of how it happened:
“But I don’t think it’s as simple as all that — it feels like there’s a little media conflation going on. First, Android very famously shipped on the G1 in October 2008 without any pinch-to-zoom support at the system level at all, which of course sparked rumors that Apple had threatened patent litigation, but as far as I can tell Apple didn’t really have any PTZ patents until October 2010. Just over a year later, the Android 2.0 Droid launched with multitouch support at the system level but no pinch-to-zoom enabled at the apps level, an omission that prompted much hand-wringing, several hacks, and yes, yet another thrilling patent editorial by yours truly.”

What I don’t understand about all of this is why Levy would misrepresent the situation in his book if what Patel wrote above is contextually relevant to the situation? Why would Levy not devote some time to explaining the situation as Patel does so eloquently in his own blog post.

What is interesting to me is that Jobs would say something like ‘I don’t understand why Google is getting into phones; Apple isn’t getting into search engines.’ It’s as if he doesn’t understand Google’s mission of providing information and media as efficiently and effectively as possible to consumers. If you consider that mission, then it makes perfect sense for Google to take this next step.

Of course, Jobs did do a relatively smart thing to try to protect his product; however, to question Google on its business decision seems to be a bit lacking in common sense. Certainly there is some tongue-in-cheek tone to that remark, but all the same, no one is surprised at Google’s move.

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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, general manager for Kinect for Windows.

“By offering hardware and software that’s designed specifically for Windows applications, we hope to inspire visionaries around the world to create transformative breakthroughs with Kinect—taking its gesture and voice capabilities beyond the living room into other industries such as education, manufacturing, healthcare, and retail,” added Mr Eisler.

The updated device costs $249.
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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' needs more swiftly," said Donggun Park, executive vice president and head of Samsung's LCD business.
"Through enhancements in business competitiveness, we will continue to provide superior products and services for the market," he added.
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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 on your phone.
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When a user snaps the photo, the subject is automatically tagged, and the photo can either be stored on the device or uploaded to a social network.
The app was released on March 7 by Internet facial recognition service provider Face.com. The Israeli startup improved upon its "Photo Tagger" software, which finds friends' faces in photos and automatically suggests nametags for them -- a solution that Facebook adopted in its Photo Tag Suggest feature in late 2010.
With Klik, facial recognition can now be done in real time.
Face.com calls the Klik app "magical," but the software is by no means perfect. In field tests, it was only able to identify about a quarter of test subjects, even though they were connected to me on Facebook. In many cases Klik identified those people incorrectly. It had an easier time identifying photos, but that's kind of missing the point.
Face.com admitted to "a few bugs," which it hopes to have sorted out for this week's South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
A spokesman for the company said that users can teach the app to recognize people by tagging them manually. He said some people are also using that feature to create private collections of tagged photos of people that are not connected on Facebook.
Klik has a certain level of privacy built in, as the app will only identify people a user has previously tagged or people in a user's social network who have already agreed to connect and share with the software's owner -- presumably people the user already knows.
Still, real-time facial recognition represents a direction of that is worrisome to privacy advocates.
"Currently applications such as Klik tell you not to worry because it's through consent and just with your friends,' said Alessandro Acquisti, professor of IT and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College. "But in the long-run, there will be no technological barriers that would prevent something that could do this not just with your friends but anyone out in the wild."
Today's technology is not quite robust enough to snap a photo of someone on the street and instantly know who they are. Computer processors aren't fast enough to scan across billions of images in real time to match an offline face to an online photograph. To match two photos of unconnected people in the United States in real time would take four hours, according to Acquisti.
There are other hurdles as well, including the fact that computers have difficulty identifying faces in low light or from far away distances. Current face recognition technology also offers up too many false positives, evidenced by our field tests of Klik.
Acquisti said those technological barriers will be overcome within the next 10 to 15 years. As processing speeds improve, face recognition experts believe apps like Klik will someday be capable of identifying most people in real time -- regardless of whether they're connected to you or willing participants.
"In my opinion, this is one of the most problematic aspects of the trajectory we are clearly on," Acquisti said. View the original article here

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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 1GHz processor.
Throw in a 3MP front-facing camera, a 5MP rear-facing one, a bright and crisp 1200x600 resolution screen, a light 425g body and all the typical gyro, accelerometer and GPS sensors and you have the makings for a powerful 7-inch tablet.
As we discovered in our first hands on test, the PlayBook is sorely lacking third-party apps, but does show promise.
The powerful multi-tasking, where you can run a video in one window and play a game in another with both apps running concurrently, is a first of its kind for a mainstream tab.

File storage capabilities, support for an HDMI connection for playing 1080p video and a slick interface make the PlayBook an interesting anomaly. Unfortunately, the overall experience can't compete with either the iPad 2 or the Xoom, and even falters compared to the original Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Yet, we're still hopeful that Research in Motion (RIM) will keep working with developers (it gave them free PlayBooks if they created an app) and boost the device out of niche territory.

At $500 (£300) for the 16GB model we tested (there are also 32GB and 64GB versions available), the PlayBook is the same price as the entry-level 16GB Apple iPad 2.
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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 and this creates the 3D illusion.
The previous 3D sets that did not need any special glasses, were launched in Japan in 2010 and had screen size between 12 and 20 inch.
Picture quality was not so good in these sets and that specially so when viewing the set from an angle.
At the Consumer Electronics Show held this January, Sony too had displayed such a glasses free 3D set. It can therefore be expected that the battle for spec free 3D sets is going to be hot soon.

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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 world

A number of firms around the world have been exploring gesture control possibilities for quite some time.
Giants such as Apple, Microsoft and US mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm, as well as several small start-ups, are currently developing camera-based touchless technology.
Their aim is to let users perform tasks such as answering the phone, navigating the web and flicking through photos using gestures - for instance, snapping fingers in front of the screen.
Sony's new "floating interface" is different.
A user's finger will essentially act as a mouse cursor, highlighting a link. Once selected, it can be activated it with a single tap.
Calum MacDougall of Sony Mobile Communications called the phone's technology "a sense of magic".

Wet hands

But not everyone is that optimistic.

Chris Barraclough, devices editor at Mobile Choice magazine, said that it was unclear how popular and practical the feature would be.

"It is certainly an original piece of technology, and may be useful, for instance, when your hands are wet, but we still need to see other practical implications of it," he said.

Although it may seem that the feature could help users eliminate fingerprint smudges that inevitably cover any smartphone screen, Mr Barraclough thinks otherwise.

"I don't think it will really help - just pulling your phone out of your pocket already leaves lots of smudges," he said
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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 anywhere they have WiFi access. Combined with its previous ability to run FaceTime, these features help blur the lines between the Touch and iPhone a bit.
Most importantly, it now comes in white! The previous iPod touch cost $229 for the 8GB model, but it’s been lowered to $199. The 32GB model will be $299, and the 64GB model $399. The new iPod touch will be available on October 12, the same day as iOS 5 and iCloud
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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 is similar to that of older Core i7 chips when handling less demanding general activities.
However, the Core i9 CPUs fared well when it came to power usage, using less power and running cooler compared to older chips.
These results, which you can read in full here, could change before the Core i9's release in the first quarter of next year, so
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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 animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting. An entirely new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface.

Virtual buttons in the System Bar let you navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing. You can access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the screen.

Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets you jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar. The list pops up to show thumbnail images of apps used recently — tapping a thumbnail switches to the app.
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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 itself to be the sole standout hit. Before diving in, it’s worth noting that the Apple iPad 4G LTE’s price starts at $629.99 for both AT&T and Verizon variants, whereas the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE is a bit more at $699.99 through Verizon only.

Design:
From a distance, the two look similar to one another, but once we’re able to grasp both in our hands, the new iPad is able to deliver the impactful wow factor thanks to its premium feel. Well, it’s not to say that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 isn’t a bad looker, especially when it’s the lighter and slightly thinner tablet, but its all-plastic body doesn’t have the allure to match the impeccable industrial design of the iPad. Indeed, the new iPad’s appearance might not bring anything fresh to the table, especially when its design is a recycled one, but nonetheless, its iconic look combined with its premium construction still hits the high marks in our books.No doubt we dig the responsiveness exhibited by the physical buttons available on both tablets, but the ones on the iPad are raised higher to offer better distinguishability with our fingers. As for charging and data connectivity, both resort to using proprietary 30-pin connection ports, which is also the way they’re able to gain video-out functionality with the aid of optional accessories. For all of you audio buffs, the iPad has a single speaker located of the bottom left corner of its rear, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 boasts stereo sound thanks to its two speakers
In terms of cameras, there’s plenty to like since the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is outfitted with a 3.2-megapixel snapper with LED flash. Conversely, there might not be a flash on the new iPad, but rather, it’s impressiveness is found with its 5-megapixel iSight camera, which features an F2.8 aperture lens and sensor with backside illumination. On the other hand, front-facing cameras are naturally available with both, as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 packs a higher count 2-megapixel camera, versus the paltry VGA snapper on the iPad.

 Display:

Absolutely, if there’s one reason why the new iPad is such a feared competitor, it has to be none other than the crisp and super detail Retina display it’s bringing to the tablet. Comparing the two, the numbers seemingly do all the talk as the iPad boasts a mind-bending resolution of 2048 x 1536, which blows away the 1280 x 800 resolution of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Although it’s hardly noticeable to visually see the superiority of the iPad’s Retina display from a far distance, it’s evident once we take a peek at our web site at a full zoomed out view. At times, the iPad’s display is simply surreal with its stunning visuals. Details aside, both offer wide-viewing angles, high contrasts, and natural looking colors – though, the iPad’s display tends to come off warmer looking. When it comes down to it, however, the iPad has the eye candy to pique anyone’s interest from afar.

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