FROM HOMETECHTELL - At long last, Star Wars is arriving on Blu-ray, a full two years into the format sooner than with DVD. Containing 9 discs of material, many of which is all new or never before seen. While it’s not mentioned, it’s reasonable to assume that all of the content from the… MORE » Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Apple, Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, GPS/Navigation 
Just a week after promising the update, Apple has delivered iOS 4.3.3. The update fixes issues and bugs relating to location tracking.
The update is available now for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Apple only identifies three changes in the change log for iOS 4.3.3, all in regards to the location tracking database cache. First is the fact that it reduces the size of the cache on the device. Second, the location database cache is no longer backed up to iTunes. Finally, the cache is wiped out completely if Location Services are disabled. If you’re using a Verizon iPhone 4 a similar update is available, but it’s called iOS 4.2.8. So, the update does everything Apple promised, and seemingly nothing else. Hopefully this location tracking story can go away now. Read [BGR] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Communications, Cellular Providers  When the news of a possible AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile hit the news, we were told the approval process could take over a year. A deal of this magnitude requires the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission’s blessing to go through. There is a lot at stake here. AT&T and Verizon could be the two major players in a possible duopoly of the cellular phone market in the United States. If you’ve been hesitant to renew your contract with T-Mobile, you can rest easy for now. The U.S. Justice Department has extended the time it needs to review the proposal.
According to Bloomberg sources, the Justice Department also sent “civil investigative demands” to two of T-Mobile’s and AT&T’s competitors. Though it isn’t confirmed, we’re guessing those competitors are probably Verizon and Sprint. The Justice Department wants those two companies to describe how their businesses could be affected if this merger were to happen. Sprint hasn’t had any problems speaking out against the acquisition. Sprint feels this deal could seriously hinder competition in the marketplace. Other critics believe a merger will result in fewer phones, higher prices and poor customer service. AT&T sees this as an opportunity to bring coverage to more residents who live in rural areas. Via [Bloomberg] Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Apple, Computers, Software / Applications, Imaging  Snapbucket is a new application for Android and iOS devices that lets you customize pictures you take. It’s a free application for both platforms. However, at the time of this writing, Snapbucket is still awaiting approval from Apple. Snapbucket was created by Photobucket and all of your saved photos will be uploaded to your Photobucket account.
Snapbucket will remind many of Instagram because of the variety of image filters it uses. Android users don’t have access to an official Instagram app, so Snapbucket could be the next best thing. Unlike Instagram, Snapbucket does not have a built-in social network in which you can add friends and comment on their photos. Snapbucket also doesn’t have a companion app like Postagram that lets you send customized photos in the mail. To its credit, Snapbucket does have a lot more customization options. You can choose to apply different filters, frames, vignettes and effects to a single photo. You can even save customized sets that you create. Snapbucket also has special effects that can only be unlocked through continuous use of the app. Sharing your final image through Twitter, Facebook and email is also possible. Download [Snapbucket for Android] Site [Snapbucket] Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile 
AT&T has just announced that the HP Veer 4G, which runs on the latest webOS version, will be available exclusively from the carrier on May 15. In case you already forgot, the HP Veer was previously launched sometime in February. If you’re planning to get a new AT&T phone and size matters so much to you, you’ll definitely like the HP Veer 4G. This phone is almost the same size as an ordinary credit card and less thick than a deck of cards. In fact, it could perhaps be the smallest full-featured HP webOS smartphone so far. Technically, the HP Veer is a quad-band GSM/EDGE phone with 800Mhz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2.6-inch multi-touch display screen, slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, aGPS, a 5MP camera with extended DOF, geotagging and video capture features, 8GB of internal storage, and up to 5 hours of talk time or 300 hours of standby time. Incidentally, the HP Veer also happens to be AT&T’s first smarthpone running the latest webOS version. The HP Veer will be available in black or white and will set you back for $99.99 with a two-year AT&T contract. via [AT&T] Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Video, Content, DVD/DVR/Blu-ray, Video Providers 
As previously hinted, today is Star Wars Day for LucasFilm as more information about the upcoming Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray disc was just revealed. May 4 will now also be forever marked to the minds of the millions of Star Wars fans as this is the day that we have learn what’s in store for us should we decide to purchase the complete discs set of Star Wars on Blu-ray. Before that, be reminded that Star Wars: The Complete Sage is scheduled for international release on September 12, 2011 and in the US on September 16, 2011. So, what are the goodies to be included in the complete Star Wars Blu-ray disc collection? Quite a lot actually. For one, it’s going to be a nine-disc set with the first six containing each of the Star Wars episodes. I don’t think I need to enumerate these one by one as most of us know what these six episodes are. As for the remaining 3 discs, no. 7 will contain Star Wars Archives: Episodes 1-III, no. 8 will have Star Wars Archives: Episodes IV-VI and no. 9 will have new documentaries some of them never before shown or perhaps known to exists by the public. Summing up the no. of hours of special feature to be brought in by the complete set will amount to 40. Read [maythe4th.starwars.com], via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Audio, Home Audio, Portable Audio, Satellite / HD Radio 
If you love Pandora for streaming music, there’s a new reason to love the service: comedy. The content provider is adding comedy from over 700 comics to its offering. Pandora says over 10,000 clips will be available starting today. Pandora is one of the darlings of the tech world. You can find Pandora on TVs, boxes like TiVo and Roku, smartphones and of course computers. Despite this, the company reported losses of $1.7 million the past year that ended January 31. The new comedy service attempts to apply similar logarithms to analyse music now with comedy. Similar comedy styles will be grouped together in much the same way similar music artists are with Pandora’s streaming music service. Will it make you laugh? Read: [Pandora] via [New York Times]
PANDORA DEBUTS PERSONALIZED COMEDY • Just like music stations on Pandora, comedy stations can be personalized to each individual’s taste
• Powered by the Comedy Genome Project™
• Listeners can create comedy stations based on their favorite comedians, or on popular genres such as political comedy, working class comedy, PG comedy, or comedy from the 2000s, 60s and 70s, or 80s and 90s OAKLAND, Calif. MAY. 4, 2011 - Pandora, the popular internet radio service, today announced that comedy is now available on the service where radio stations can be created and Personalized. Pandora, known for pioneering personalized music listening and discovery, is broadening its array of content to include comedy in order to meet the requests of its listeners. A team of Comedy Genome Project analysts at Pandora has analyzed thousands of performances to capture their comedic style and content. Additional comedic material is being analyzed daily. Pandora Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Tim Westergren said, “Pandora is about creating a great, personalized radio experience. Comedy is a natural part of that experience, and it’s something our listeners have been asking us to deliver for a while. We are delighted to now be able to give people a mix of familiar and new comic material that they’ll love to listen to.” Starting today people can listen to comedy on Pandora in the same manner that they listen to music: by choosing a favorite artist or genre as a seed to start a station and then giving thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback to shape the station to their individual taste. Like music stations on Pandora, comedy stations will play the seed artist and related material. John Hyde, Vice Chairman of Image Entertainment, Inc. said, “Everyone knows Pandora - it’s unique in the entertainment industry for personalizing the radio experience for listeners and enabling talented artists to discover audiences that will love their music. Image is delighted that our comedy content is being included in the Comedy Genome Project and believe that Pandora’s reach with so many listeners offers an unprecedented opportunity for all comedians. It’s going to be fascinating to see how personalized radio tackles the comedy listening experience, it’s a new frontier and we’re excited to be a part of it.” Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Video, Video Providers  VUDU, the steaming video service announced on Tuesday that it is now streaming a variety of new television programs. VUDU now provides access to past seasons of popular programs such as Modern Family, Glee and The Walking Dead.
The episodes come at a cost of $1.99 each. These episodes can only be purchased, but season passes are also available. When seasons are purchased, new episodes will be immediately available to watch as soon as they hit the service. Since VUDU streams all of its content, viewers won’t have to wait for anything to download. VUDU also provides new episodes of Gossip Girl the day after they air on the CW. VUDU is facing some stiff competition from iTunes, Hulu, Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon. To its advantage, VUDU is available on a number of devices including the PlayStation 3, Blu-ray players, television and computers. Below you’ll find examples of television shows available on VUDU. - Modern Family
- Glee
- Weeds
- The Walking Dead
- Gossip Girl
- Nurse Jackie
- Spartacus
- Human Target
- 24
- Bones
Site [VUDU] Read [LA Times] Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers, Hardware, Software / Applications 
ViewSonic has just announced its dual-OS tablet, the ViewPad 10 are now shipping with Android 2.2 together with Windows 7. Previously, the said tablet ships with only Android 2.1 and Windows 7 preloaded. So, if you’re getting the ViewPad 10 only now, you’re in luck because you’ll be getting the tablet with Android 2.2. While for those who got the ViewPad 10 earlier will have to update their OS manually. The good news is that updating can be done easily as it consists only of several steps. To update your ViewPad 10 tablet, you’ll need a 1GB USB Thumb Drive loaded with UNETBOOTIN App for creating a bootable USB drive from an ISO file, the Android 2.2 ISO file for ViewPad 10. Once you have all those requirements ready, you can begin updating your ViewPad 10 by following these instructions: Creating a USB Root Drive 1) Download the UNETBOOTIN and the ViewPad 10 Android 2.2 ISO files
2) Insert your USB Thumb drive to an open USB Port
3) Run UNETBOOTIN and select Diskimage and ISO
4) Click the browse button and select the ISO file you downloaded.
5) If your USB drive was properly detected, the Drive letter should have been entered automatically. If the
drive letter is incorrect, click the down arrow and select the correct drive letter assigned to the USB drive Updating the OS 1) Insert the USB Drive and a USB Keyboard to the ViewPad 10. Make sure that the AC Adapter is connected
to prevent sudden loss of power.
2) Turn the ViewPad 10 on and click F11 on the keyboard when the splash screen comes up.
3) Select your USB Drive on the next screen and hit Enter.
4) On the Android install screen, select the last item (Install to Hard Drive)
5) Select SDA1 Linux
6) Select format EXT3
7) Select Yes on the next screen prompts.
8) Reboot when done. That’s it. You can now enjoy your ViewPad with all the nice features of Android 2.2. Too bad it’s not Gingerbread though. via [Market Wire] Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Mobile, Computers, Desktops, Software / Applications, Gadgets / Other, ebooks 
Over at BlackBerry World 2011, Kobo is demonstrating its new eReading app for BlackBerry smartphones. The said app which is also touted as a social reading application uses the new BBM Social Platform curerntly available in beta. The said platform was put out by RIM to allow developers to build apps that take advantage of BlackBerry smartphone’s social features as well as the push architecture of the BlackBerry platform. The Kobo eReading app for BlackBerry specifically will allow you find out which of your BBM friends have the book that you are planning to buy, chat with friends in real-time about books you have in common in your digital libraries, browse friends’ libraries to discover books that may be of interest to you and control privacy and visibility settings to determine who gets to see your digital library. Todd Humphrey, EVP of Kobo Business Development arm said that the BBM Social Platform fits perfectly into Kobo’s strategy to ignite social interaction among readers. "Our integration with BBM is a powerful new way for consumers to share their love of reading with friends, their extended families and everyone in their BBM social network. It gives readers a fun, easy and exciting way to dive deeper into reading,” said Mr. Humphrey.
The new Kobo social eReading app also supports the BlackBerry PlayBook, In fact, the app comes preloaded on new units of the BlackBerry PlayBook so you can experience social ereading as envisioned by the folks at Kobo. via [Kobo] Full Story » | Written by Arnold Zafra for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Communications, Cellular Providers, Web, Websites  AT&T is going to be entering a very competitive field next month when it starts its own daily discount site. The initial deals will be for goods and services located in Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta and Los Angeles. This particular market is occupied by the likes of Groupon and LivingSocial. It’s going to get even more crowded once Google Offers and Facebook Deals expands across the country.
The deals will take advantage of the Yellow Pages brand. By signing up for deals between now and May 22, subscribers will get a $10 credit towards the first Deal of the Day they decide to take part in. AT&T will also leverage its mobile phone business by offering daily deals on its phones. It may seem like AT&T is jumping on the bandwagon here, but there is a lot of money to be had in the daily deal business. According to Bloomberg, this market is expected to make $3.93 billion within four years. AT&T also has tons of potential customers from its mobile business alone. Should the acquisition of T-Mobile win the approval of the FCC, AT&T could push deals to tens of millions of customers in the United States. Via [Yellow Pages] Read [Bloomberg] Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
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