Section: Web  Facebook is great for many things: finding your old high school friends, talking to them, and then realizing how little time they spend doing other things. But it is also great for building groups of people with the same interests. Sometimes, those interests might not be all that they seem. Earlier today, I saw a post about a group that has 133,000 members, claiming that Facebook will be starting to charging $4.99 per month. But there are absolutely no wall posts or even admins. And the only link on the page leads to malware, porn, and then tries to install 25 items to your hard drive. And the group now has 155,000 members. "WE'RE AGAINST THE 4.99 A MONTH CHARGE FOR FACEBOOK FROM JUNE 30TH 2010.″ Of course this entire page is a scam. There is no $4.99 charge starting in June. But this is a statement as to how easy it is for someone with harmful intentions to get into your computer without you even knowing it. It also shows how slow Facebook’s response to these issues are. Facebook will block the page eventually but who knows how many infected computers that group will have caused. Hopefully this is one of those groups that people join because the title looks cool but will never bother to check it out. Hopefully. Read [The Next Web] Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Computers, Software / Applications, Web, Web Browsers The most popular open source web browser, Firefox, looks to have a bit of a change of plans. Mozilla had originally intended to release the next major update, Firefox 3.6 before the end of 2009, and now it looks like that won’t be happening. The delay in 3.6 seems to have also pushed back the next major update, Firefox 4.0. Firefox 3.6 is currently in the final stages of beta, and is scheduled now to be released in the first quarter of 2010. That short delay is pushing the next big update, 4.0 into late 2010 or early 2011. Firefox 4.0 will move the browser to being more like Chrome. The interface as of now is on track to be changed to mimic that of Google’s browser. It wil also feature an update to the Gecko rendering engine that will bring greater HTML5 and CSS3 support. Jetpack and possibly Weave will also be built into Firefox 4.0, as well as a new project called Electrolysis. Electrolysis will give each aspect of the browser a different process, making it so individual tabs will not crash the browser just like Chrome. With the introduction of Chrome, and the steps Mozilla is taking for Firefox 4.0, the new browser wars look to be quite exciting. Google seems to be pushing the others into doing improving their browsers in a variety of ways. Multiple processes for multiple tabs can be a great idea so you don’t lose anything inside a tab that isn’t causing the problem. Hopefully Apple and Microsoft can update their browsers in much the same way and provide browsers that are as nice as Firefox 4.0 could be and Chrome is. Read [WebMonkey] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Business News, Gadgets / Other, ebooks, Trade Shows, CES  The Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, and the Sony Reader all had impressive showings during the holiday rush. Many devices were purchased and a lot of revenue was generated. While there are already a few notable big players in the market, many analysts predict that CES 2010 will unveil multiple other eReaders that look to take center stage.
First, let’s see how eReaders fared this holiday season and what kind of predictions there are for upcoming years. eReader sales were about 1 million in 2008, but are predicted to hit 32 million in 2014. The reason being the price will have come down, there will be more devices available, and the general public will be more welcoming towards this new technology. In terms of revenue, Amazon generated about $624 million in 2009, yet the Credit Suisse report predicts revenue to reach an astounding $1.8 billion in 2014. Even Google is getting into the game by building up their online eBook collection. Since CES 2010 is right around the corner, you can bet some companies will have on display their latest eReader. In fact, Plastic Logic and Spring Design will have their own products called the Que and Alex, respectively. The Que measures at 8.5 x 11 inches, download eBooks from Barnes & Noble, and can display PowerPoints, PDFs, spreadsheets, and other documents. The Alex by Spring Design is a dual screen device, one being a six inch screen for normal, anti-glare text reading, and the other screen runs on Google Android to surf the web and watch YouTube videos. Lastly, there are many rumors swirling about the possible Apple Tablet. And Yair Reiner from Oppenheimer & Co thinks Apple will produce a 10 inch Tablet priced around $1000, which could be a major player in the eReader department. Via [Chicago Tribune] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Web  Avatar has no doubt become a phenomena around the world. The hype surrounding the movie that James took 15 years to create, has taken theaters by storm. But it has also created its fair share of spoofs. This one pokes fun at the dramatic making of videos that have hyped Avatar. But this time a little twist has been added: This “technical genius” of the making of the bootleg version of Avatar gave me a few laughs today. Hopefully it will make you smile as well. Full Story » | Written by Hunter Clarke for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Email / IM, Mobile Its become almost accepted now that the more we rely on technology, the more our privacy is compromised. Its also generally accepted that law will take a long time to catch up with current technology. Not so with a new ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court regarding cellphones. The ruling, a 4-to-3 vote, has ruled that police need search warrants to search anyone’s cellphone. The ruling comes because the court recognized that, especially with smartphones, cellphones are “capable of storing a wealth of digitized information.” Because of that, phones should be considered private and not just closed containers on a suspect as they have been before it seems. While the ruling seemed to cite just smartphones as the reason, it ruled that all phones apply, which is good so its not just a guess at who’s phones are protected. Either way, any sort of information stored or sent from a cell phone is now a bit more protected. It is nice to finally see some of privacy protection for our gadgets. While it is only the Ohio Supreme Court, it shows that there are some out there who do understand that we need more protection on our digital information. One could hope that we might eventually see some sort of national movement to declare cellphones private, and require a warrant to search them. One thing is definite with this ruling: the EFF must be quite happy. Read [NYTimes] Via [Gizmodo] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile Android seems to be popping up everywhere lately, from a number of different carriers and manufacturers. The latest leak pointing to Android looks to bring the open source OS to Sprint for the third time. This time the phone looks to be from LG. The leak comes in the form of a picture of a Sprint computer system that lists “LG LS680 ANDROID HANDSET.” There have been rumors of an LG and Sprint event at CES, which could be the official announcement of whatever the LG LS680 is. Although, given the most recent Android phones, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a huge touchscreen and possibly even a physical keyboard. All we do know, however, is that the phone exists and will be another CDMA Android phone. It will be interesting to see what LG does with the Android platform, though it might just be a stock Android with decent hardware. Either way, new Android phones are always a good thing. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see a few new ones pop up at CES. Read [Boy Genius Report] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Computers, Netbooks  It looks like the specs for Google’s Chrome OS based netbooks have leaked, and assuming that these are accurate they are something to look forward to. The details are coming courtesy of IB Times who have stated it pretty nicely when they wrote that “if all of these are true, it’s like getting a Ferrari for the price of a Mini Cooper.”
All I can really say is, true enough, and now getting back to those specs; - 10.1inch TDT HD-ready multi-touch display
- 64GB SSD
- 2GB RAM
- 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB, 3.5mm audio jack
- Built-in webcam and card reader
Additionally it was also noted that it will be sporting the Nvidia Tegra platform with an ARM processor. Finally, putting the hardware aside, and as you would expect, the netbook will come fully equipped with Google apps to include Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Maps, Docs and Search by Voice. It was further noted that the netbook is expected to launch in the “holiday season of 2010” and it will come with a subsidized “sub-$300” price tag. Read [IB Times] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Wireless, Reviews, Peep Shows, Features I was recently given the opportunity to play with a Nokia N900 for a few weeks and have to say that it is quite the powerful device. In fact I was much happier using it than I could have expected. But I will say that it sort of felt more like a small internet device as opposed to a phone. Honestly, at times I forgot it even had phone features. Of course that is not to say the phone functionality was bad in any way, actually it was quite the opposite. Anyway, I had to ship the N900 back this morning but I did take a bunch of images to share with the Gadgetell readers. So please enjoy the images while I begin to put my Nokia N900 thoughts down in a logical format. Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Computers, Mobile Computers, Laptops, Netbooks The FCC has revealed yet another device, and this time its the Gateway EC18T convertible tablet. Unfortunately, like all FCC listings we are still not sure when this will be available for purchase, but given this listing and the leaks that we originally saw back in October it appears like that release date may be coming up. Anyway, the Gateway EC18T looks like it will be featuring a 1.2GHz SU2300 Core 2 Duo processor, GMA 4500MHD graphics and an 11.6-inch display. Other details note that it will have support for up to 8GB of RAM and 500GB of storage. Given those specs, it looks like it may be a nice option to consider once available—of course that just depends on the final price. In addition to being sold as the Gateway EC18T, it looks like we will see the same model further branded by Acer as the Aspire Timeline 1420P and also under the Packard Bell name. Read [FCC (PDF link)] Via [New Netbook Reviews] and [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks  According to a recent report over on TechCrunch, it looks like Barnes & Noble is expecting to ship 60,000 Nook ebook readers this year. And keep in mind this is just the units that are expected to ship, there was not any estimate given as to how many additional orders were placed in 2009 and are still sitting and waiting shipment sometime in early 2010. That said, it is also being estimated that Barnes & Noble is expecting to sell “half a million Nooks in the first three months of 2010.” All things considered, it seems the Kindle may have found a rival, and just for reference the Kindle sold about 400,000 units in the first year.
Read [TechCrunch] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile While the rumor mill surrounding the Nexus One has calmed down quite a bit, we still have a few tidbits to mention. First up is a new FCC listing which is showing off a Bluetooth dock that appears to be going by the model number of CR B410. And in addition to the dock itself, the FCC listing is showing that the dock is sporting Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, which would be a little strange considering the Nexus One will also be sporting Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. But that aside, we were also given the diagram (seen above) that is showing the Nexus One docked and connected to a DVD player, which is further connected to an external speaker. Sounds like the Nexus One could be poised for an all around device. But moving on, we also have a few images that were spotted on Picasa showing off a pretty nice car clip. The images, which pretty much speak for themselves can be seen below. Read [FCC] Images [Picasa] Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile  Though we still have not yet heard anything official come from Palm, according to the Sprint support website, Palm Pre owners will be getting a holiday gift at some point today. Yup, it looks like webOS version 1.3.5 is going to be rolled out later today.
According to the Sprint support site, webOS 1.3.5 will include a few updates, one of which will be especially nice for those living on the outer boundaries of coverage areas. This update includes enhancements to the following: - Improvement in battery life optimization when in marginal coverage areas.
- QCELP capability fix to allow play and audio of video sent via MMS.
- Launch Google Maps or Sprint Nav when tapping an address from contacts.
- Minimized package of MR size through binary difference. Customers can now download over 2G connections if necessary.
Read [Sprint Support] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Video, Portable Video The new M6HD PMP by iToos comes with some pretty nice features at an affordable price. The main selling point here is the HD video output and its $58 retail price. Although, the only store price we have seen is by Ownta for $87. The 4.3 inch TFT screen features a resolution of 1360 x 768, contains a 4GB hard drive, which is expandable via SD card, FM radio, and outputs HD video with an HDMI cable. In addition, it supports many formats including H.264, MKV, VOB, RM/RMVB, AVI, and DAT. While the specs aren’t drool worthy, and the onboard memory could be higher, it certainly fits the price for anyone looking for a decently spec’d and priced PMP. Via [PMP Today] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 
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