 The Motorola Droid 4 was originally going to launch on December 8th with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and then again on December 22nd just in time for the Holidays, but both dates passed without the Droid 4 available in stores. Verizon Wireless has yet to officially announce the 4G LTE QWERTY slider phone, so it’s anyone’s guess as to when the Droid 4 will actually launch, but the latest rumors suggest February 2012.
In any event, it looks like Verizon’s marketing team had DroidDoes.com all prepped for a Droid 4 launch as six different audio clips about the Droid 4 recently surfaced. The audio clips, unfortunately, do not provide any information about launch or pricing information, but it does confirm the specs and provide more evidence the phone was/is ready to go. The audio clips can be found in the source link below, but if you’re anxiously holding out for a powerful 4G LTE slider on Verizon Wireless, the audio clips will just serve as a tease. Via [Droid-Life]  
U.S. Cellular, a regional carrier in the United States, seems on the precipice of launching two highly anticipated Android devices — the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. According to a recent leak of U.S. Cellular’s internal ESN database, the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1 are going to be the latest 4G offerings by the regional carrier. Unfortunately, pricing and availability information is hard to come by at this time, but we expect both devices to launch together sometime in early 2012. When U.S. Cellular finally gets around to announcing these devices, I’m sure we will learn about the price point and launch date. Via [Android Central]   If your brand new Samsung Galaxy Nexus (or any other Verizon 4G LTE device) is having a hard time accessing Verizon’s 4G LTE network, then don’t fret because it is not your phone. Verizon Wireless has publicly confirmed that there is an issue nationwide with Verizon’s 4G LTE network, with many of the outages coming from the Northeast region of the United States.
Verizon’s network, while advanced in terms of speed, is certainly not immune to these types of outages. Hopefully, Verizon will be able to remedy the situation quickly and efficiently because their customers pay a premium in order to operate on Verizon’s highly touted network. Their statement can be read below: "We are investigating reports of some customers experiencing trouble accessing the 4GLTE network. The network itself continues to operate and all customers continue to be able to make calls, send text messages and utilize data services. 3G devices are operating normally."
Via [BGR]   We’re going to file this story under “another cool thing Japan has that the United States doesn’t.” Beverage proprietor Asahi Soft Drinks introduced the first of many vending machines with Wi-Fi capabilities. Asahi Soft Drinks expects to have 1,000 of these machines available in 2012, and plans to have 10,000 more in the wild within five years.
There’s really no catch to accessing Wi-Fi from these vending machines. You don’t have to purchase any beverage or even register an account. Users just have to be within the machine’s 50m Wi-Fi radius in order to connect. There’s also a 30-minute time limit attached to each user. It doesn’t mean much because they can just re-connect after their time is up. The machines also protect user information with a WPA2-PSK encryption. The Wi-Fi dispensing Asahi Soft Drinks machines will not only make potential customers seek out the machines, but they’ll also see learn about local attractions and businesses after logging in. Via [Asahi Soft Drinks] (Japanese) Read [TechCrunch]  
Boondoggle has taken it upon itself to help solve one of the most common problems people face every year. Every winter, the snow and ice prevents many employees from making it to work on time. How many times have you woken up, looked out the window and was shocked to see your car buried in snow? While you can’t stop Old Man Winter, you can certainly prepare for his arrival with Winter Wake-Up. Winter Wake-Up is a free app for iOS and Android. It’s a very simple and practical application. You set it up like a normal alarm clock, but you specify how much earlier you want to be woken up in the event of frost or snow. This way, you’ll avoid Winter shock, and have a better chance of making it to work. You can also tell the app to not wake you up if you know the weather is going to be very bad in the morning. Winter Wake-Up uses your location and weather services to determine if it’s appropriate to wake you up or not. I’m wondering how much frost or snow will prompt Winter Wake-Up to activate. Where I’m from, a few inches of snow is no big deal. I think some testing is in order. Download [iTunes] [Android Market]  
Samsung originally said it was not going to update the Galaxy S and the original Galaxy Tab to Ice Cream Sandwich due to its TouchWiz user interface. This did not go over well with customers at all. Their reactions caused Samsung to reconsider its stance on updating the two devices. Just as soon as that glimmer of hope appeared, a new report is threatening to eliminate an authentic ICS experience on both devices. According to a Korean website called Daum, Samsung is not going to provide the Galaxy S or Galaxy Tab with ICS after all. Instead, Samsung may update the Galaxy S with a Value Pack that mimics some of the features introduced in ICS. The Galaxy Tab may get this update as well. The Value Pack will supposedly increase web browsing speeds, enable multi-tasking and will add video stabilization while recording. New widgets and a new camera app designed with ICS in mind are also expected be a part of the update. While this move may not satisfy customers, it may be the only option they’ll have. Via [Daum] (Korean] Read [Sammy Hub]  
Based on some recently released comScore numbers, it looks like Netflix is getting about twice as much viewing time as Hulu. That being said, the numbers break down as follows; users spent about 1 billion minutes on Netflix as compared to about 480 billion minutes on Hulu. And despite Netflix and Hulu being among the two most popular streaming video services, it is sort of hard to argue that these numbers are surprising. Just to begin with, we see much more talk and chatter in terms of Netflix. Not to mention, Netflix is a service that many know and use while Hulu is a service that still seems more known in the geek and internet community. Of course, we do argue that Hulu is gaining some traction, if for no other reason than we are beginning to see the Hulu Plus app show up pre-loaded on more and more devices. But that aside, at least for the moment — Netflix appears to be twice as popular. Or maybe that has something to do with the fact that people come to Netflix to watch movies and television shows, while people tend to visit Hulu for television shows — you know, Netflix having the content that keeps you sitting for roughly 1.5 to 2 hours while Hulu has the content that keeps you sitting for about 30 minutes. Via [TechCrunch] 
 
Acer has recently begun rolling out a software update for the Iconia Tab A500 tablet. Except this latest update is actually arriving as not one, but two separate updates. The first being version 7.014.01 with the second being — you guess it, 02. Or more specifically, the second arrived as 7.014.02. Neither update is bringing any Ice Cream Sandwich and they are both relatively small in size. In fact, both updates as said to have measured in at less than 10MB files. That being said, while it would have been much nicer to report large updates with lots of new features and changes — these are both relatively simple. Needless to say, we are under the belief that any update is a welcomed update. With that being the case, these updates brought along some improvements to the speed of the user interface along with version 3.4.4 of the Android Market. And just to clarify, that latter part also included the widget. Via [IntoMobile] and [AndroidCentral]  
Apple issued a recall on the 1st generation iPod nano back in mid-November and while many had probably requested a shipping box almost immediately, Apple appeared to be taking some time in getting those boxes sent out and the replacement units sent back. But that aside, we can now say with certainty that Apple is still replacing those 1st generation models with current 6th generation models. I had requested my replacement back when the recall was first issued and while it took Apple a few weeks to get a box shipped out, my 1st generation iPod nano was sent in and has officially gone through the process. Bottom line here, while the replacement iPod nano is still in the delivery phase, Apple has sent an email with the tracking number as well as the serial number for the old device and the new device. And in short, the serial number for the replacement device is for an “iPod nano (6th generation)”. I guess this is one time when it was beneficial to keep that old device.  
It looks like Asus has begun rolling out a software update for the original Eee Pad Transformer. And while that should come as good news for anyone still rocking that device — we should also point out right in the beginning that this is not an Ice Cream Sandwich update. That aside though, this latest update will bring the tablet up to version 8.6.5.21 and includes only a few minor tweaks and bug fixes. In other words, it should be welcomed, but maybe not something over the top exciting to see. Otherwise, the remaining details for this update break down as follows; Android 3.2.1 with Kernel version 2.6.36.3-00001-g9a21fc1android@Mercury #1 and Build number HTK75.US_epad-8.6.5.21-10221216. Via [Droid-Life]  | 
