Google started implementing its 2-step verification process early in 2011 to help combat phishing attacks and fraudulent logins. With the system, a user is required to enter one’s password on a PC (or mobile web browser), and input a short code sent to a verified mobile device via SMS or other means. This way, the system can better determine if it’s indeed the user who wishes to gain access.

This could sometimes prove cumbersome, but given the spate of username and password thefts that malicious hackers have perpetrated of late, it’s one way to protect one’s online data and identity, especially if using public computers. With the new QR-based login, a user will have to scan a QR code onscreen before Google grants access. The system is still being tested, but the steps involved are as follows:

• A user goes to http://accounts.google.com/sesame, which will generate a QR code onscreen;
• User takes a snapshot of the QR code with a compatible Android or iPhone app;
• The smartphone opens the resulting URL on the mobile browser;
• If the smartphone user is currently logged in to one’s Google account, access is then granted. If not, he or she will have to key in the correct username and password combination;
• The next page will warn users to only proceed if one has scanned a barcode from “google.com.”
• User can then choose to start with Gmail or with iGoogle by tapping the appropriate button on the smartphone screen;
• The web browser will automatically refresh to reflect the user’s choice.

I tried the new system with my Android smartphone, and it worked. But, since I had two-step verification enabled, the post-login page from the smartphone prompted me to key in the verification code, which was sent to me via SMS. But after that, login proceeded without a glitch. Assuming you’re already logged in on your mobile web browser, it’s a matter of clicking which page to open — Gmail or iGoogle. Either way, this system certainly makes it more secure to login to a public terminal, especially with the risk of keyloggers taking password information physically from the keyboard.

In case you’re wondering — we’re curious about the use of “sesame,” too. Perhaps Google’s next login system will involve the user yelling “Open, sesame!” for Gmail access.

As data and media become bigger and bigger (think high-definition movies), there is need to improve data transfers among devices. This is especially a concern when using mobile devices, particularly since tablets and smartphones are increasingly being used to watch media, or stream these to bigger screens. Intel has worked closely with Apple in building the Thunderbolt spec, with Apple already marketing the technology in its notebook computers.

Recent patent applications unveiled by Patently Apple suggest, though, that Thunderbolt might also be coming to iOS devices soon. In particular, the patent applications involve three technologies that strongly suggest Apple is working on bringing Thunderbolt to mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. One patent application states that “a connection may be provided between a portable media player and a display, a computer and a portable media player.”

It’s likely that the Thunderbolt implementation in iOS devices will include display output, data syncing and charging. Apple explains that DisplayPort is the “legacy standard” in Thunderbolt, which works alongside the newer PCI Express technology. Additionally, Apple is likely to use Thunderbolt for charging, which might result in faster charge times than current USB standards. In particular, a “higher voltage may provide an increased amount of power to the device, and it may allow for faster charging of a battery.”

Apple’s specifications also call for better EMI shielding, which will allow the cable to provide a fast connection without contributing to wireless network signal loss.

The patents were submitted in February and June 2011, and the USPTO published these only recently. The question here is whether Apple plans to implement these patents soon, and how. Will iOS devices feature a different port in the future, or will Apple provide an adaptor for the existing port?

The Sydney Morning Herald calls her “Little Miss Tablet,” although Cult of Mac calls her a turncoat for seemingly switching over from Apple to Samsung. Either way, most who have watched the TV ads the little girl has featured in so far say she’s cute. But the fact that she has appeared in both Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE and Apple iPhone 4S ads has caught the attention of both Apple and Android fans alike.

Said actress is unnamed, although her features are distinct, and one can clearly see it’s the same girl in both commercials. Apple’s iPhone 4S ad (pictured to the right) highlighted the new smartphone’s camera capabilities, and currently airs worldwide. Meanwhile, Samsung’s ad for the LTE variant of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 (pictured left) has aired in South Korea, and is available on YouTube. But when Samsung learned of the apparent slip-up, the ad was pulled out of Samsung’s own website. Thus, there is question whether the use of the same actress was mere coincidence or deliberate on Samsung’s or their ad agency’s part.

Apple and Samsung have been locked in legal battles in at least 10 countries, with Apple suing Samsung for design patent infringement. Meanwhile, Samsung has also sued Apple for alleged infringement of technology patents relating to cellular phone technology. Either way, both companies have sought sales bans on the other’s products, with Apple successful in getting temporary Galaxy Tab bans in Australia and Germany, so far. What’s next? Will Apple also seek a ban of the ad because of the same endorser?

You can check out both videos below. Which product would you buy? Maybe we can ask the little kid which she prefers — the Apple iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 inch with LTE.

Here’s Apple’s ad:

Here’s Samsung’s ad:

We earlier reported on Mozilla’s woes this year, with its search partnership with Google expiring in November. Add to this the fact that Google’s own browser, Chrome, has overtaken Mozilla Firefox in terms of traffic popularity. Mozilla took these in stride, though, in its last conference call with investors, in which the company was confident Google would extend its search partnership, from which Mozilla got 80 to 85% of its $123 million earnings in 2010. In fact, Mozilla just launched Firefox 9, with Google as the default search engine.

In a recent update, Mozilla and Google have confirmed to have extended their partnership, amid the fact that the two are rivals in the browser market. Google is reportedly paying Mozilla $300 million each year for the next three years, in a deal that will sum up to almost $1 billion.

What’s Mozilla’s secret? The foundation apparently opened up the default search partnership to other search providers, as well, such as Yahoo! and Bing, Kara Swisher of AllThingsD reports. This is a big improvement from the previous years’ partnership, which netted Mozilla about $100 million per year. And even so, this is just a minimum revenue guarantee. Firefox could fetch Mozilla more money for delivering search queries paid via Google’s search advertisements.

Sources say that Google’s main rival in the bid was Microsoft, with Bing running both their own search engine and Yahoo! search. Microsoft was reportedly spending a lot of money to market Bing, and a bid to be the default Firefox search engine might help boost the popularity of their service. Yahoo! was likewise making a push for a deal, which could help boost its brand among Firefox’ millions of users worldwide.

Microsoft actually has a deal with Firefox, with Firefox with Bing, although this is not the default option for Firefox downloads, and Firefox’ Bing users are considered a minority. But Google beat them to the punch, tripling its Mozilla partnership offer. And so, even with Chrome on its way to eventually dominating the web browser market, the folks at Mozilla are not likely to complain.

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh has decided to deny Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung. In the ruling that was made late this Friday, the judge says that there is doubt whether an injunction will have any bearing on Apple’s commercial interests in the country.

“It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed,” Koh stated.

Apple and Samsung have been in legal disputes in 10 countries in 4 continents around the world. Apple claims that Samsung has violated its intellectual property by incorporating design elements from the iPhone and iPad line in Samsung’s own Galaxy smartphones and tablets. “Blatant copying is wrong,” Apple has previously said.

However, Samsung announced that it is pleased with how the turnout is going, so far. “This ruling confirms our long-held view that Apple’s arguments lack merit,” said the company’s spokesman Jason Kim.

Still, it’s not over for Samsung, nor is it a done deal for Apple. There are two things that Apple will need to do at this point. First, is to prove that Samsung has infringed on its design patents for the iPhone and iPad. Second, Apple has to prove that these patents are actually valid.

So two things: infringement and validity.

The burdens of proof and evidence now lie with Apple. From the judge’s ruling, it is likely that she will agree with Apple on the infringement part of the lawsuit. However, there is doubt as to whether the actual validity of Apple’s patent will sit well with court. Judge Koh has said that “Apple has established a likelihood of success on the merits at trial.” Apple is also likely to prove that Samsung infringed on at least one tablet-related patent. But Apple will have a hard time overcoming Samsung’s challenge to these patents.

The news comes from Asia where DigiTimes has found out that Samsung, LG and Sharp will have shipped 3 million iPad 3 displays by the end of November:

Samsung Electronics, LG Display and Sharp reportedly shipped a total of one million units of high-resolution flat panels for next-generation iPads to Apple in October and will ramp up shipments to two million units in November, according to industry sources.

The report also suggests that Apple is expected to start producing new iPads in January of next year. Earlier today we read a different report that claimed Apple may announce the new iPad 3 models as early as January and launch it at some point in March.

These are 9.7-inch displays apparently although DigiTimes reminds us that AU Optronics and LG Display have also sent 7.85-inch display samples that Apple could use for a smaller iPad.

The publication doesn’t tell us anything about the quality of the iPad 3 displays, so we have no idea whether Apple is going forward with Retina Display plans for the iPad 3, as previously rumored, or whether it’s sticking with the same iPad and iPad 2 resolution. We’ll remind you that the iPad 2 was also rumored to sport a Retina Display, but that turned out to be just wishful thinking.

Of course when we talk about increasing the number of pixels the tablet will have to offer we also have to take into account what that really means: better processor, increased graphics power and more RAM in order for the device to actually be able to offer the Retina Display performance Apple craves.

We’ll be back with more iPad 3 rumors and reports once we have them, so stick around for more iPad news in the coming weeks.

The complaint was filed by New Mexico company Basis International which has a 26-year-old product called BBx which is a software language used on Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems.

Basis Chief Executive Nico Spence says,

Our patent attorney has sent them a cease and desist letter, invoking the U.S. trademark act … requesting a response by October 31.

RIM, on the other hand, is confident that nothing will come out of the other company’s complaint. RIM’s official statement reads:

RIM has not yet received a copy of the legal complaint described in Basis International’s press release, but we do not believe the marks are confusing, particularly since our respective companies are in different lines of business.

This may or may not affect RIM in the long run, but only time can tell.

The first press image of the device was leaked on the internet recently, and it’s looking like the usual device that comes out of Samsung’s labs. The Samsung Galaxy W has a 3.7-inch WVGA display, 1 1.4 GHz single-core processor, and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera to take photos and videos. A noticeable difference between the American version of the Samsung Galaxy W and the original Korean version is the lack of a home button of the former.

This is mostly likely due to the numerous ongoing requests for preliminary injunction by Apple against Samsung in various countries all over the globe. The Home button was replaced by the Search key, which isn’t really that bad at all.

Therefore is only natural to wonder how the next Nexus phone, the one Samsung is expected to announce at a joint press event with Google at CTIA on October 11, is going to deal with crapware. Will Verizon have its own apps installed on the device? According to MyDroidWorld that won’t happen.

In fact there’s a full list of apps that will be available on the Galaxy Nexus / Nexus Prime from the moment you take it out of the box, and they don’t seem to include any Verizon-made apps:

• ApplicationsProvider.apk
• BIP.apk
• BackupRestoreConfirmation.apk
• Bluetooth.apk
• BooksTablet.apk
• BrowserGoogle.apk
• Calculator.apk
• CalendarGoogle.apk
• CalendarProvider.apk
• CameraGoogle.apk
• CertInstaller.apk
• ChromeBookmarksSyncAdapter.apk
• Contacts.apk
• ContacsProvider.apk
• DefaultContainerService.apk
• DeskClockGoogle.apk
• DownloadProvider.apk
• DownloadProviderUi.apk
• DrmProvider.apk
• EmailGoogle.apk
• ExchangeGoogle.apk
• FaceLock.apk
• Galaxy4.apk
• GalleryGoogle.apk
• GenieWidget.apk
• Gmail.apk
• GoogleBackupTransport.apk
• GoogleContactSyncAdapter.apk
• GoogleEarth.apk
• GoogleFeedback.apk
• GoogleLoginService.apk
• GooglePackageVerifier.apk
• GooglePartnerSetup.apk
• GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk
• GoogleServicesFramework.apk
• GoogleTTS.apk
• HTMLVierwer.apk
• HoloSpiralWallpaper.apk
• IMSFramework.apk
• KeyChain.apk
• LatinIMEDictionaryPack.apk
• LatinImeGoogle.apk
• Launcher2.apk
• LiveWallpapers.apk
• LiveWallpapersPicker.apk
• Maps.apk
• MarketUpdater.apk
• MediaProvider.apk
• MediaUploader.apk
• Microbes.apk
• Music2.apk
• MusicFX.apk
• NetworkLocation.apk
• NfcGoogle.apk
• NoiseField.apk
• OneTimeInitializer.apk
• PackageInstaller.apk
• PhaseBeam.apk
• Phone.apk
• Phonesky.apk
• PlusOne.apk
• SDM.apk
• Settings.apk
• SettingsProvider.apk
• SetupWizard.apk
• SoundRecorder.apk
• Stk.apk
• Street.apk
• SyncMLSvc.apk
• SystemUI.apk
• TagGoogle.apk
• Talk.apk
• TelephoneProvider.apk
• Thinkfree.apk
• UserDictionaryProvider.apk
• VZWAPNlib.apk
• VZWAPNService.apk
• Videos.apk
• VisualizationWallpapers.apk
• VoicDialer.apk
• VoiceSearch.apk
• VpnDialogs.apk
• YouTube.apk

Naturally, there’s no way to confirm the list yet, and we’ll just have to wait for Google and Samsung to announce the handset, although it’s only on launch date that we’ll actually see the device in the wild, including its originally preloaded apps.

Since the Galaxy Nexus / Nexus Prime is going to be a Google phone, we expect it to offer a vanilla Android smartphone experience, just like its predecessors did. That means no customized user interfaces built on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and no carrier crapware.

Are you buying the new Samsung Nexus phone this winter, or will you purchase a different smartphone instead, you know, the one that has a fruity logo on the back?

One of the selling points for all these devices, as we have already shown you, is their starting price. From $79 to $199, you have four devices, all ready to offer you at least a nice eBook reading experience, if not a lot more, in case of the tablet.

But Amazon’s Jeff Bezos forgot to add that these new devices, except for the Kindle Fire, are more expensive if one opts out of the “Special Offers” deal. What are those special offers? They’re ads, displayed on your device when you’re not reading, not that this is a feature you really need on a device that’s meant to provide fast access to your favorite books.

Here’s how the “Special Offers” are explained on Amazon’s site:

Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers
You’ll receive special offers and sponsored screensavers directly on your Kindle. Examples of past special offers include:

$10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
Save up to $500 off Amazon’s already low prices on select HDTVs
$1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books

Your offers display on your Kindle’s screensaver and on the bottom of the home screen—they don’t interrupt reading. You have control over your offers experience: you can set your personal Kindle Screensaver Preferences to give us hints on the style and types of sponsored screensavers you’d like to see.

Kindle e-reader: example sponsored screensavers
Kindle with Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers is only available in the U.S.

Notice that last line? It basically says that nowhere else in the world will customers be able to buy as cheap a Kindle as U.S.-based customers. Even so, opting out of the advertisements package means that you’ll have to pay an extra $30 or $40 for the device of your choosing as follows:

• Kindle – $79 with Special Offers – $109 without
• Kindle Touch – $99 with Special Offers – $139 without
• Kindle Touch 3G – $149 with Special Offers – $189 without

How much will international customers have to pay for the devices? So far only the new Kindle is available for pre-order and it’s being featured only on the front-page of the UK and Germany stores while other Amazon local retailers, in Canada, Japan or France, do not list the new devices yet on the front page of the websites. Here are the prices available so far:

• UK: Kindle – £89 or $139
• Germany: Kindle – EUR99 or $135

So, as you can see, a $79 Kindle sounds too good to be true because, at the end of the day, such discounts aren’t really free. Will the Special Offers bother you in any way?

What new Kindle device are you buying? Kindle Keyboard, Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G or Kindle Fire (vote in our poll)?

Back in July this year, an iPad native Facebook application was found to be hidden underneath the official Facebook app for the iPhone. But while Facebook had promised to actually release the final version in a few weeks’ time, they ended up blocking access from hacked versions, making users wonder whether the app would be launched at all.

Those two weeks turned out to be months, and after a long silence, a low-key blog post from the developer who supposedly led the creation of the iPad app explains what happened. But the explanation isn’t really an official one, because Jeff Verkoeyen has already left Facebook to work for Google. He explains that he worked on the app for months, only to find it being shelved.

It is now nearly five months since the app was feature complete and I haven’t seen it released. Needless to say this was a frustrating experience for me. The experience of working on this app was a large contribution to the reasons why I left Facebook.

At the time of the leak, the iPad application was supposed to have been “feature complete,” which means it was only a step away from a public beta test. But what happened within Facebook that prevented the supposed launch of the app to the public? Sources say it was infighting between Facebook and Apple in for dominance the social networking sphere, or at least within the iOS ecosystem.

While Apple and Facebook had successfully worked together on a number of applications — such as the iPhone app — their relationship took a turn for the worse when Apple launched Ping. The service enabled iTunes users to connect with their Facebook friends via an API that was later on pulled out by Facebook. Then, when Apple announced iOS 5 earlier this year, they highlighted tight integration with Twitter, but did not even mention Facebook.

Will Facebook ever release a native iPad application? There’s nothing definite for now. But it seems that both companies are not exactly in good terms with each other. Apple is reportedly afraid that Facebook’s web-as-a-platform strategy will soon make mobile platforms obsolete. Meanwhile, Facebook isn’t doing well with mobile services. but Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says they’ll eventually release an iPad application, although there is no commitment as to when that will be.

Apple is reportedly blacking out a few days in the second week of October from vacation leaves, which means the company needs to beef up staffing and support during these days. This will usually point out to a product launch, when heavy demand is expected, and when Apple employees are expected to take care of orders, purchases and after-sales inquiries.

In particular, sources cite some locations banning their employees from taking leaves during the following days: October 9 to 12, and October 14 to 15. But what could these dates mean?

The first set of blocked-off dates could indicate the launch of the upcoming iOS 5 for existing iPhones, iPads and iPods. AppleCare divisions have been reportedly told to prepare for an influx of inquiries on iOS and updating on these days. Meanwhile, during these days, Twitter has reportedly scheduled a developer conference, with the topic focusing on tight integration with iOS 5. While these companies are often limited by NDAs on what they can share with the press, a public meeting discussing iOS 5 APIs and technologies will mean that the OS would have been released by then.

AppleInsider also cites the release timing of previous iOS updates, which preceded iDevice launches by a few days. Thus, if Apple were to launch iOS 5 by October 9, The second block of dates might be when Apple will launch the iPhone 5. And with Apple reportedly announcing the next-gen iPhone by October 4, they will then have 10 days or so to handle pre-orders before an actual launch.

With only two weeks, this is bound to be an exciting time for both iPhone users and for industry observers interested  in all things Apple.

First of all, Instagram now has live filters. This means that users can now see the filtered results before taking the photo. They’ve also added several new filters:

• Amaro
• Rise
• Hudson
• Valencia

Post-picture taking filters have been sped up shortening the waiting. Finally they’ve introduced higher resolutions (up to 1936×1936 for the iPhone 4).

Instagram is a company that has grown so fast since its inception that the growth itself created buzz. They acquired 100,000 users in the first week and 1,000,000 in only a few months. Being able to keep up to scale and periodic upgrades like this will almost certainly keep Instagram as popular as ever.

At the BUILD conference, Microsoft executives are showcasing the capabilities and features of their latest operating system. Microsoft seems to be moving past its old reputation of increasing hardware requirements excessively at each OS release. Take for example Windows 7, which is considerably more resource-friendly than its predecessor, Vista. Now that Windows 8 is ready to be released as developer/beta preview, users and developers are getting excited about the quick bootup time, touch-friendly interface, and other features.

But while these features are all interesting on their own, it’s the platform’s device support that’s something we can all look forward to. Windows 8 is built not only for PCs, but also for mobile devices like tablets and even smartphones. In short, Windows 8 brings in convergence that no other platform has brought about, and is said to usher in the “post-post-PC” era.

Platform Convergence Across Device Types

Sure, tablet computers and mobile phones have existed before. But  Apple brought about the “post-PC era” by popularizing the platform and giving it an interface that’s appropriate for a portable touchscreen device. The iPad did away with attempts to put in a clunky desktop-like interface into tablet form and Apple went laughing all the way to the bank after capturing 80 to 90% market share. However, Apple still uses a different operating system and interface for its desktop devices. OS X Lion gets a few iOS-like features, like LaunchPad, App Resume and auto-save. But Windows 8 will be available on both mobile and desktop platforms, which gives us true convergence.

With Windows 8, desktop computers and tablets will essentially have the same capability. For instance, a tablet device will be suitable for mobile use. But plug in a monitor, mouse and keyboard, and you get the same interface and usability as with a desktop or notebook computer. Windows 8 is reportedly compatible with both Intel x86 and ARM platforms, which means a huge possibility in terms of hardware support.

While OS X has been gaining market share, Windows is still the dominant operating system throughout the PC world. With Windows 8 potentially getting installed on majority of these systems (old and new), will Microsoft also get a chance at dominating the tablet and smartphone industry as well?

It’s not just the ability to rate and review restaurants that make sites like Zagat popular, though. Even before location-based services in smartphones were common, Zagat focused on the local aspect of being social. This gave Zagat the advantage of giving context to its reviews. After all, when you want to eat out, you would want to go somewhere near, and not that great pizza place two states away.

And so Google has announced its acquisition of Zagat, being a pioneer in user-generated content.

ZAGAT, a “pioneer in user-generated content” and creator of the world’s most “influential” and “trusted” consumer reviews, has been acquired by another “renowned innnovator”, GOOGLE; by combining their content, resources and platforms, this “dynamic duo” plans to optimize the potential of the ZAGAT brand while offering “new ways” for consumers to “express their opinions” and “make informed decisions”; “thanks to the millions of people” who have generously “shared their experiences” with ZAGAT over the years — we’re confident they will enjoy the “next course.”

Zagat was founded by Tim and Nina Zagat more than three decades ago, and the brand actually started out by gathering restaurant recommendations by word of mouth. This makes them a social medium even before social media as we know it came to prominence. Neither party has disclosed the acquisition price, it’s definitely less than $66 million, any higher than which automatically results in an FTC antitrust review. Even with top dollar like this, Zagat was previously trying to find a new owner for $200 million right when social media was peaking in popularity, so the owners have likely settled for less than what they were aiming for.

Google says they plan to closely integrate Zagat content into Google, which likely means that location-aware recommendations might be integrated into the Google+ social network, Google Places or even within Google search itself. But with a popular mapping service like Google Maps and Google Earth, and close integration with mobile devices, Google might just have a winner here, if only to better-compete with other content-rich sites that offer location-based recommendations.

Nokia might have lost its lead in the smartphone market, and OVI is said to be on its way out, too. But even with the dominance of the iTunes App Store and Android Market in terms of giving users a choice in the apps they want to download, it seems “big” is not necessarily better. At least this is from the point of view of application developers.

Germany’s Research2guidance recently crunched some figures relating to mobile ecosystems and have found out that apps from Nokia’s OVI store, Windows Marketplace and Blackberry App World get more downloads on average than iOS applications:

• Nokia apps are 160% more likely to be downloaded
• Windows Phone apps: 80%
• Blackberry apps: 43%

Research2guidance says Symbian still has a considerable user base, but with far less competition in terms of application availability, app developers can expect a bigger audience. As a corollary, ecosystems with a bigger number of apps and developers, and a smaller potential for new users, will see lower download levels. The data shows the following:

• Android Market apps are 5% less likely to be downloaded than the average iOS app
• Samsung Apps: -20%
• LG: -64%
• webOS App Catalog: -95%

Android Market has a big user-base, but likewise a big number of apps in the ecosystem. Meanwhile, some platforms just have too small a user-base, that even with a small number of available apps, developers are still competing for users.

Of course, having better chances of being downloaded will not automatically guarantee long-term success. Nokia is shifting to Windows Phone, and we can only guess where HP will be bringing the webOS platform. Perhaps the best way to ensure user support is to set one’s application apart through great marketing, good branding and a unique user experience. Maybe this is why apps like Angry Birds are making an appearance on different platforms, aimed at different markets.

And as we have seen from some of the Windows Phone television commercials — the ease of use and quickness in terms of accessing the camera is important. That being said, it looks like that will remain just as important, however Mango will bring more goodies such as making the images easier to share and perhaps a bit more important — making them look better with a feature called autofix.

Breaking this down into what it is, the camera and then the pictures, we can begin things with the Camera features. In addition to the autofix, there will also be the ability to have your favorite settings be saved, the ability to mute the shutter sound, touch focus and improvements made to how you will review your just captured images.

Camera:

• Autofix—Apply some common photographic fixes to a picture, on your phone, in one tap.
• Touch focus and capture—Tap any spot on the screen to focus there and take the shot. (This varies according to hardware—some phones will have tap-to-capture but will still automatically center focus.)
• Sticky settings—Save your custom camera settings for next time.
• Ability to mute the shutter sound—Good for taking pictures at those school holiday pageants (not available in all countries and regions).
• Review pictures above the lock—Snap a photo when your phone is locked, then take a peek at it above the lock. You’ll only be able to get to photos you just took—better for security.
• Changes for portrait orientation—Now, when you take a picture in portrait orientation, you’ll see it in portrait orientation when you review it.

In terms of the Pictures, some of the biggies here appear to deal with sharing whether it be on Facebook, Twitter or your SkyDrive. There is also more options to personalize your images as well as pin individual albums to the Start and more. Breaking each of these down a bit more and they come as follows;

Pictures:

• Video sharing—Send your vids in email or post them to Facebook or SkyDrive.
• Twitter integration—Tweet your pics!
• Easy picture tagging on upload to Facebook or SkyDrive.
• View and add tags on your friends’ Facebook and SkyDrive pictures.
• Integration with the People Hub—View your friends’ albums on their contact cards and on Group cards.
• People view—See snapshots and albums from your favorite contacts in the Pictures Hub.
• Personalize—Tag some favorites and choose Shuffle background in the Pictures Hub, and you’ll see your favorite photos on the Hub and on Start.
• When you choose a photo from within an app, you can now pick from online albums on Facebook or SkyDrive, not just pictures saved on your phone.
• Quick access to the Camera Roll—Before, it took two taps in the Pictures Hub to get the photos you’ve snapped. Now it’s front and center.
• Apps pane—Developers can register their photo-related apps to show up in the Pictures Hub for easy access.
• Autoshare to SkyDrive changed to Automatically upload to SkyDrive, which you can turn on to upload a lower-res version of every picture you take to a private location on SkyDrive.
• Pin any album to Start, including Facebook albums.

Bottom line here, we often here talk about how the best camera is the camera that you have with you — and for many that is 100 percent accurate. But more to the point here, we are seeing more and more casual photographers using nothing more than their mobile phones to take and share images. That being the case, Microsoft seems to be gearing up nicely in the ‘people who want a good and easy to use camera on their smartphone’ category.

Turns out HP cares about its customers – the company is offering either full refunds or price-difference refunds to those who want to keep their TouchPads. If you bought your TouchPad from HP’s web site, just call them up to process a refund – you even get an additional $10 off sales tax if you should choose to keep your device and just be credited with the pre-sales difference. No word yet on which retailers offer the same type of deal, but HP seems to have already touched base with some to put the refunds into effect.

The $99 TouchPads sold like hotcakes. As of this writing, Best Buy’s online store is out of stock, while Amazon’s pricing of the TouchPad 16GB is back to $250.

Foursquare partnered with ESPN, Movietickets.com, and Songkick for sports, movies, and concert events respectively. ESPN will not only provide the event details, but also information relevant to the game. Likewise, MovieTickets.com is providing summaries of movies. Each event included in the itinerary (as not every event one earth could be added, of course) will pop up on the app a couple of hours before the event starts.

Says Foursquare:

All told, that means hundreds of thousands of events at more than 50,000 venues in the next few months (each event appears in the app a couple hours before it starts). Now, when you check in to a place with one of those things happening, you’ll be able to check in to the event, too. It’s a great way to include big events and save the shout-typing time, without creating too much clutter in our UI. And we’re looking at ways to expand that further.

Foursquare folks say they’re studying the possibility of allowing users to input events, but as the feature is young, they’re giving it time, as they want to make sure they do things right.

As the two clashing boulders of social networking are involved, people are quick to speculate that Facebook must have done it purpose. But there are opposing views, of course. And one popular belief among the incident naysayers is that Google is killing two birds with one stone. This is a smear campaign against Google and a marketing tactic to promote Google+, they say. Which may or may not be true, of course.

Facebook maintains that it has never tweaked its algorithms to filter out Google+ invites. Facebook is just designed to block spam, so if similar links are posted on one’s wall over and over again, your friends’ walls will filter out your posts. H0w about you? Have you been experiencing similar Google+ invite problems lately?

Microprocessor chips to date have hard-wired circuitry that essentially remains the same whatever process is being done. But a biological brain consists of synapses that can form and break interconnections based on the need. IBM’s new SyNAPSE processor mimics a brain in this way. While it doesn’t necessarily have the capability to create new interconnections between nodes, the processor can vary the strength between the connections and remember this across processes. Thus, interconnections that are deemed more important to a process will be stronger, and those that are not so important can be scaled back.

SyNAPSE was actually started in 2008, and the team has already built a chip with 256 cores, 262,144 “synapses” and 256 “axons.” While it’s not anywhere near the human brain’s 1 billion neurons with 10 trillion synapses, we’re getting there. The ideal scenario would be for IBM‘s system to be a learning computer, which can from the environment and interact with the world around it. So for instance, with SyNAPSE, IBM’s supercomputers won’t be limited to playing chess with human Grand Masters or Jeopardy with actual contestants through a programmed set of problem-solving principles, but will actually learn from scenarios and events in its environment.

SyNAPSE is part of the Defense department’s DARPA and is currently funded by $21 million in agency funds.

A Motorola investor has filed a complaint against Google and Motorola, citing that the $12.5 billion deal is not good enough for investors. In particular, John Keating says Motorola Mobility’s value is actually higher than the offered $40 per share.

The offered consideration does not compensate shareholders for the company’s intrinsic value and stand-alone alternatives going forward, nor does it compensate shareholders for the company’s value as a strategic asset for Google.

Keating, acting on behalf of Motorola Mobility shareholders at large, has cited Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha, nine of the company’s board members and even Google in his complaint. Keating is actually looking into a class-action lawsuit, and will have to convince a good number of his fellow shareholders that the 63% markup offered by Google on Motorola stocks is not generous enough.

Google has declined to comment on the matter. While the potential class-action lawsuit might be a hindrance to the Google-Motorola deal finally pushing through, it will still depend on how much support Keating gets from fellow shareholders and the legal system itself. Some even speculate that Google’s competitors might be behind the lawsuit.

For $479.99, you can already buy the Lenovo Thinkpad by August 23. The ThinkPad tablet is designed for business use, with its enterprise-friendly features, particularly the data encryption and input methods that it offers. The Thinkpad tablet’s 10.1-inch screen outputs a crisp 1280×800 resolution on an IPS Gorilla Glass touchscreen. The tablet is powered by a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor running at 1 GHz.

What sets the Thinkpad tablet apart from other tablets to date are three features. For one, the tablet comes with an active digitizer, which will come in handy for more precise input. It also has data encryption for both internal storage and the SD card, which is ideal for business users. Lastly, the Thinkpad comes with a full-size USB port for peripherals (a feature that only a few other Android tablets share).

The 32GB model with WiFi will retail for $589, and a portfolio carrying case with built-in keyboard will be available for $99. The Lenovo Thinkpad tablet will also ship worldwide by 3rd quarter of 2011.

And interestingly enough, by finding this little Google+ tip, I also found out something about Picasa. Something that, as a Picasa user, you would have thought I would have known. Needless to say, Picasa apparently allows you to upload images up to 800 x 800 and not have them count towards your 1GB of free storage.

That being said, if you upload your images using Google+ you will be able to have images up to 2048 x 2048 in size. And to clarify that, the images up to 2048 x 2048 will not count towards your 1GB of free storage. In addition, you can also upload videos up to 15 minutes in length. Though, to clarify, the video size limit is the same regardless if you are a Google+ user of not.

And for those worrying about having to resize a bunch of images just to get free storage, worry not because they will automatically be re-sized. According to the Picasa Web Albums article;

All photos uploaded in Google+ will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge) and won’t count towards your free storage quota.

All photos uploaded  to Picasa Web Albums over the free size limit will count towards your 1 GB of free storage. When you reach your storage limit, any new photos you upload to Picasa Web larger than the free size limit will be automatically resized to 2048 pixels (on their longest edge).

With that, it looks like I found another reason to be excited about using Google+. After all, I have already been uploading images to Picasa at 1600 (wide) and have been satisfied with the viewing quality.

How is that possible you ask? Well it looks like a black MacBook Air has been considered by Apple, and such a model has been built and tested around campus. But Steve Jobs scrapped off the project, for now at least, as that black coat of paint wasn’t really compatible with our greasy hands. Macrumors believes the tip to be pretty genuine, and after reading the anonymous email below you’ll see that indeed all of the above does seem pretty plausible:

The rumors that the next iteration of the MBA’s will have an optional black finish is grounded in truth.

We tried to powder coat the Air’s (and Pro’s for that matter) in black as a test run. There are more than a few floating around campus.

The coating looks good and holds up well, but it also soaks up body oils, making the palm rest look pretty gross. Ultimately that is the reason that the top brass (Jobs) killed the idea… it was just too easy to make the computer look like crap.

At some point we may offer a black coating, but it won’t be powder coat, and it won’t be anytime soon.

We don’t expect Steve Jobs or anyone else in Apple’s PR army to confirm or deny such a black MacBook Air, but I believe we’ll have to wait a while until we see new black MacBooks hit Apple stores. And I can’t help to remind you that Apple clearly seems to having some issues with painting products in different colors, whether it’s white for iPhones or black for MacBook Airs.

Based on what we have seen up until this point, it does not look like you will be able to place a pre-order with Radio Shack online. In fact, it does not even appear as if you will be able to do so in-store unless you specifically ask about the phone. You see, this seems to be an unadvertised pre-order. Coming from the information that was revealed by way of a screen capture from an internal Radio Shack system;

“Unlike other pre-orders, the HTC EVO 3D pre-order can ONLY currently be taken if the guest inquires about it. Because this handset’s official details cannot be made public, this pre-order should NOT be advertised or proactively offered to any customer at this time.”

That said, those itching to make a purchase will be able to place a pre-order simply by asking. Nonetheless, given the nature of this pre-sale we suspect that your mileage may vary depending on the person you speak with. Anyway, if you feel as if you cannot wait any longer, you will need to head on over to your nearest Radio Shack and purchase a $50 Radio Shack Gift Card in order to reserve your EVO 3D.

Otherwise the only other bit of information that we can pass on is that the person ringing up your $50 gift card purchase will need to use the recently added “EVO 3D pre-order SKU” so you will get proper credit. Now that just leaves the final question, when is HTC and Sprint going to make the official announcement?

That other is Microsoft who have offered a bit of detail on what they store and what they do not store. According to a statement received by PCMag, “phones running Windows Phone 7 do not store location history.” Of course, some will immediately wonder how an app such as Find My Phone will work without any location history.

Well, truth be told, Microsoft does store some location data — they kind of need to for a location based app such as Find My Phone to work. As it turns out, Microsoft only stores the most recent location of the phone. Basically, they store one location as opposed to the location history, with history (as in all of the past) being the key word.

That said, if you are looking to use a smartphone you have a few options — either accept the fact that the phone knows quite a bit about you and where you have been or maybe consider a switch to Windows Phone 7. Personally speaking, I am not sure what all the fuss is about, sure there are some privacy issues, but with all the other ways to discover where I have been such as social media check-ins, Twitter and/or Facebook postings and even geotagging of images this is not all that much of a secret anyway.

In addition, Microsoft also reiterated that Windows Phone 7 users can disable all location services with a feature called “global switch.” But then again, when you lose your phone that will work to your disadvantage.

There, Apple will want to prove that Samsung used the iDevices as models for the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab families of smartphones and tablets. And there, we now hear, Samsung will not go down without a strong fight. Samsung could go ahead and launch a counter suit since it’s fashionable to sue each other in the mobile world.

But what will Samsung claim here? That Apple’s devices are just too easy to copy? (Well actually Samsung will go after Apple for alleged wireless patents violations.) This time around you probably have noticed that Apple is not exactly going after Google’s Android smartphone or tablet operating system. This lawsuit is apparently based on the actual design of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab devices (still trademarks and patents yes), and you can’t blame Cupertino for at least trying. I could submit a bunch of pictures to show you how similar the iPhone 3GS and the Samsung Galaxy S look, but what good would that do? The same thing goes for the iPad 2 vs Samsung Galaxy 10.1 (the one Samsung specifically shrinked and made public at CTIA 2011 to match Apple’s tablet). But again, what good would that do? Will it stop people from liking those products and buying them off the shelves?

After all, at the end of the day, Apple can’t really argue that it invented the touchscreen interface, the home button on a phone or any specific physical external buttons or touchscreen interface buttons on a device. Not to mention the tablet that was around for a few years before the iPad was unveiled. All it can say is that Samsung used certain design lines that remind the user very much of an iOS device and Samsung will have a tough time arguing against that point. In Samsung’s aid I will say that the moment it was clear the future would be all about touchscreen-based phone designs all companies started to make their own touchscreen handsets. But, and this will surely be pointed out in courts by Apple, other companies developed their unique designs, which, at the end of the day, are all somehow based on the first iPhone design but they’re also bringing some of their own “style” into the mix.

What’s interesting about this whole new conflict is that Apple and Samsung are partners as the latter is supplying all sorts of parts to Apple for its iDevices. In fact, Apple paid about $5.7 billion to Samsung for these supply parts in 2010, and we’re yet to see whether this side of their relationship will be hurt by the coming lawsuit(s) or not. We’ll be watching this one closely, folks, so stick around!

Apple filed to trademark the name “App Store” on July 17th, 2008. You may remember that the first iPhone came without the ability to use any sort of third-party apps and Jobs told us that we would use web apps for everything. For those of us who were coming from BlackBerrys and Palm Treos – the idea of not using third-party apps was prehistoric, but I digress. As mentioned, Apple and Microsoft recently clashed over the trademark. Microsoft said it was too generic, and Apple came back by saying that Microsoft’s key product trademark – “Windows” was also pretty generic. Ouch.

According to an Apple spokesperson, Apple sent three cease & desist requests to Amazon asking them to stop using the name “Appstore”. They claim to first have noticed the app store use when Amazon started asking for developers to sign up for the “Amazon Appstore Developer Portal” back in January. Amazon also wants to have the app store on Android phones, just like the App Store on iPhones – so you can see why Apple is getting upset over this (alleged) trademark infringement.

Both Amazon and Apple have teams and teams of legal. (Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, but) It looks like Amazon will possibly take Apple to court on this, and try to get a ruling that the “app store” name is too generic to trademark.

Do you think Apple should be able to trademark the term “app store”? Or is it too generic? Tell us what you think in the comments.

And strangely, the device is still being called the Toshiba Tablet. In fact, the Amazon listing has it noted as being the “Toshiba 10.1-inch Android tablet.” And well, regardless of name, after checking out some of these images we do have to say it looks rather nice.

Anyway, in terms of specs, the Toshiba tablet will feature a;

• 10.1 inch LED backlit (1280 x 800) display with Adaptive Display Technology
• Dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
• Rear facing 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• Front facing 2 megapixel camera
• Stereo speakers with Toshiba sound enhancements
• GPS
• Wi-Fi Wireless-N
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Bluetooth
• User-replaceable prismatic lithium battery

Other goodies include USB, mini-USB, HDMI and a full-sized SD card reader as well as a Gyroscope, Accelerometer, e-Compass and Ambient Light sensor. In terms of what the Toshiba Tablet will be running, unfortunately that was left simply as Android, though it is expected to arrive with Honeycomb.

In addition to the specs, the exterior case also features a nice flip-out cover that protects the USB, mini-USB and HDMI ports. And then moving toward the back cover, this is described as being interchangeable and available in a variety of colors. Though, most likely the standard will be black. Otherwise the tablet has a soft-touch “Easy Grip” surface and will have a variety of accessories available including a docking station.

And lastly, the tablet will come with access to the Toshiba App Place as well as the Android Market. With that, things are looking positive in terms of the Toshiba Tablet, now if they could announce the price and release date. Plus, maybe give us a better name than the “Toshiba Tablet.”

That said, we obviously still need those previously mentioned details, however it looks like the Bell employees have begun their device training and that generally means a release will follow fairly soon. Nothing like a bit of good news for those hoping to get a higher end Android device with Bell. Of course, that is not to say that Bell does not have any decent Android handsets at present, but this would be something new. In terms of the current Android lineup with Bell, that includes the HTC Desire Z and Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant as well as other lower end devices including the Motorola Dext, Samsung Galaxy and Optimus Chic.

As far as the Atrix, this model will arrive with features to include a 4 inch display, a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB RAM, 5 megapixel rear facing camera, VGA front facing camera and microSD card slot. Plus, the multimedia and laptop docks will also be coming along with the handset itself. That said, we are going to cross our fingers and hope Bell does a little better in terms of the laptop dock pricing. Or at least a little better as compared to what AT&T did in the US — $499.99.

Otherwise, it is sort of hard to speculate with pricing, Bell has the Galaxy S Vibrant priced at $99.95 but the Atrix is likely going to come in a bit higher than that. A fair guess would be $199.95 on a three year agreement, but that is just that, a guess. Time will tell just how accurate that will turn out to be, but in the meantime, count on the crew here at TFTS to let you know when Bell makes the official announcement.

Toyota says they will be selling two different kinds of chargers and will also be available for cars that are not Toyota cars and will come as either a kind of charger that would extend from the exterior of the wall and the other would basically be a standalone that works out of the garage. The company expects to sell 20,000 to 30,000 units in the first year when they hit the market. The chargers are expected to cost around $2,400 per charger and that also includes any installation costs that come along with the charger.

As far as the specs, the Echo is running a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Android 2.2 (No 4G!). Each screen by itself is about 3.5-inches (aka iPhone size), but when you’ve got the second screen popped out – it makes it a total of 4.7-inches, which Sprint is promoting as “the biggest phone display from Sprint yet.” Sort of a technicality, as it’s not just one big screen.

Sprint’s webpage is promoting these as the “four modes” of the Echo:

• Single-screen Mode: The phone is closed. You’re using just one 3.5-inch screen, like a regular Android phone.
• Tablet Mode: The phone is open, and you’re using both screens like one 4.7-inch tablet. Well, one with a hinge in the middle.
• Simul-Task Mode: You can run two apps at once. I guess this is like real multitasking (Sprint has trademarked the term “Simul-task”) but the functionality of this mode has already been questioned.
• Optimized Mode: This is what I’ll call “Nintendo DS” mode. Apps will use the two screens to their advantage. For example, in the press images released by Sprint, they show a YouTube app. The top screen is showing the video while the bottom screen is showing all the YouTube menus like “next videos” and “related videos”, etc. This could be the most promising from a user’s perspective.

What do you think about the phone? Initial reaction on Twitter and Android fansites by my count seems to be overwhelming negative. The hinge is awful design in the year 2011 (Remember the BlackBerry Style? Yeah, Sprint had that phone too.) Tablet mode, in my opinion (without having tried the device – we’ll ask Sprint for a review unit) is completely useless with the hinge cutting through the screen. How could you play games like Angry Birds like that?

Anyway, the phone is coming for $200 on a two-year contract. No exact release date except for “Spring 2011″. Sprint does have a mailing list up on their site, so you can pop in your e-mail if you’d like to be informed as soon as they start pre-orders for this phone.

What do you think? Tell me you take in the comments.

(Image Credit: Engadget)

OpenLeaks has claimed that when they choose to leak information they will actually give the whistleblowers more control over exactly what is leaked, in particular the whistle blowers will be able to pick and choose what news organizations they want the information leaked to. OpenLeaks also hopes the fact that instead of releasing the information themselves, they will be a go-between for the leakers and news outlets will make the company less of a target.

The president of OpenLeaks said that he’d “like to work with media outlets that have an interesting in informing the public.” Using this approach Daniel Domscheit-Berg knows that the impetus is on the news organization rather than his site.

Completing these minigames will unlock certain multiplayer game content and there’s even a feature allowing you to pre-order the game from Amazon, regardless of the fact that doing it from your phone would probably take less time and be more convenient. But doing it from your phone wouldn’t net you an imaginary non-functional jetpack for your avatar, now would it? Although if I were Sony, I’d have just dropped a giant flea in the Home plaza and been done with it.

That said, while we know the iPhone 4 will be available for all on February 10th, it is going to be available for current customers to pre-order on February 3rd. That by itself sounded like great news, after all, I am a current customer and want an iPhone. But after reading a bit further down the disappointing news came.

Will Verizon Wireless be offering an early upgrade promotion?

No, Verizon Wireless is not offering any early upgrade promotion at this time.

And as if that was not clear enough, they stated it again just a few questions later.

Can I upgrade to an iPhone even though I am not eligible to upgrade?

If you are not eligible to upgrade, you cannot upgrade at promotional pricing today, but you can pay full retail price and upgrade your phone if you would like to.

Of course, there is the self pity factor in this post, however I am remembering back to the launch of a few Android devices with Verizon, notably the Droid X and the Droid 2. And for those who may have overlooked or forgotten, Verizon allowed anyone with a contract ending in that calendar year (2010) to upgrade at launch.

Bottom line, if you are a Verizon customer and do not have a line that is eligible for upgrade — your are either going to have to wait or add on another line of service if you want your iPhone now.

2011 will bring us the next-gen tablet, the iPad 2, a device that’s already being mentioned by plenty of leaks and rumors and analysts see Apple making quite a lot of cash off of iPad and iPad 2 customers this year.

According to a recent report by Robert Cihra from Caris & Co. Apple will sell no less than 36 million iPads this year, which represents an impressive 250% year over year growth. Of course we’re looking at analysts’ prophecies here, and they aren’t always right. But the fact still remains that Apple is the company to beat in the tablet and smartphone niches in 2011.

Unlike 2010, a year when the competition was caught by surprise by Apple’s iPad, this year will bring us not one but quite a few interesting tablets from makers like Motorola, HTC, RIM, Samsung, Acer, Asus, Palm, Microsoft and more. Everyone will try to come up with an iPad- and iPad 2-killer but, just like with the iPhone before, (although some may say that an iPhone-killer already exists in the wild) this challenge could prove to be a pretty tough one.

The iPad 2 will most likely be announced in late January and hit stores at some point in April. Until then Apple will still sell current versions of the iPad, and we’ll certainly be interested to check out those quarterly earnings reports that will show us exactly how many tablets the company is selling and whether iPad sales affect MacBook sales or not.

What about you? Are you going to purchase the iPad or the iPad 2 and become one of those potential 36 million iPhone owners or are you going choose something from the competition?

Designed by researchers at MIT, Who Gives a Tweet is an anonymous feedback program that allows people to weigh in on your tweet with either a rating of ‘Not Worth Reading’, ‘OK’ or ‘Worth Reading’. This particular program can be used either by your friends to try and help you polish your twitter skills or it can be used by perfect strangers who have happened along your tweet using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

The point of the program, according to its creator Michael Bernstein is that by analyzing the responses to certain tweets people will be able to better measure the accepted norms in these new type on online communication and social media sites.

Of course the Sleipnir also features a nice browser interface with a tabbed browsing look that hasn’t been seen in most of the other browsers that may allow users to feel as though their browsing is a little more organized than usual. Sleipnir is a relatively new iOS browser and one can only expect that the browser experience on the iPhone or iPod Touch will eventually be updated so that it can be fully enjoyed on the iPad as the cloud syncing of the bookmarks will be a welcome feature to anyone who uses their iPad as their second computer would enjoy.

inClass allows a student to separate their schedule into terms, classes and notes for each class. The app even allows students to keep both text and audio notes for easier organizing. There is also a spot where students can enter contact information for any teacher they might have in order to find that information later at the touch of a button. In addition students can enter their specific class schedule and the homework feature allows you to categorize right down to whether the assignment is a paper or essay or simply reading a few chapters.

inClass was just updated to allow high resolution photos as well and the developers say they are always listening to feedback from users. The app is completely free on both the iPhone and iPad as long as you can put up with some ads. Pay $2.99 and you will be rid of those.