Archive for February, 2011

HP Veer, Pre 3 and TouchPad leaked on HP’s site

Posted in HP by Conner Flynn on February 9th, 2011

HP’s webOS event is going to unveil more than one webOS device. We know this thanks to HP’s online shopping page, which has leaked some product names, like the HP Veer, Pre 3 and the TouchPad. Looks like these devices will offer the webOS experience in “S, M and L” flavors.

The lineup sure looks interesting. In their excitement somebody must have published the info a tad early and leaked these devices. We will know more soon.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play to launch on Verizon?

Posted in Sony Ericsson by Conner Flynn on February 9th, 2011

According to Wirefly, the upcoming “PlayStation Phone” aka the Xperia Play from Sony Ericsson will be sold by Verizon when it arrives in the US. If that is accurate, Verizon customers have some tough choices to make. There’s the iPhone 4, Thunderbolt and now the Xperia Play all arriving on their network.

Decisions, decisions. This one does have a slide out gamepad, Android 2.3 and the PlayStation Suite. Which one do you get?

Sony releases Filmy movie viewing app for the PlayStation 3

Posted in PS3 by Conner Flynn on February 9th, 2011

Sony has just released a PS3 app for those people who watch a lot of video using the PS3. The new app is called Filmy and is designed to organize and play videos recorded in the AVCHD (H.264) format and can be accessed from the PS3’s hard drive or from a device attached through a USB cable.

If the videos are geotagged, users will be able to see where they were taken and sort them by date. The Filmy app is available in the media section of the PlayStation Store. The trial version is free, but it will only be fully functional for 15-minutes, after which you’ll need to pay $5 to access the full features.

Marvel Versus Fighting Pad

Posted in Xbox 360 by Conner Flynn on February 9th, 2011

PDP, a company known for all kinds of gaming gear, has unveiled the Marvel Versus Fighting Pad. It’s a wired joypad with micro-switches for the thumb stick and six front-facing buttons. Hopefully it will improve your game.

It will be available on February 14 for $40. They only have an Xbox 360 model planned right now, but if it sells well, they will be offering a PS3 version. That artwork you see is an actual panel from a Marvel comic.

BBC iPlayer app coming to Android and iPad this week

Posted in Android by Conner Flynn on February 9th, 2011

The BBC has made its iPlayer app plans a bit more official by announcing that iPad and Android-specific versions of its software will be arriving by the end of this week. The iPlayer is a free TV catchup service hosting the best and most popular from the BBC’s catalog of recent programming, and the new native apps will let you watch on your portable device in a touchscreen-optimized format.

The finishing touches are being applied to the app right now and the apps should be available before the end of the week.

Dell discontinues Adamo laptop

Posted in Dell by Conner Flynn on February 9th, 2011

Sad news for the Dell Adamo today. After aggressively discounting the Adamo 13 over the holidays and then again in the new year, Dell has given up on its stylish ultraportable. The Adamo’s biggest problem was its price-to-performance ratio, but it did sport some amazing design.

Hopefully Dell has something just as eye-catching coming soon, but if you still want the Adamo, you should still be able to get one for a bargain price at Dell’s refurbished outlet. However, I would hurry.

iFrogz announces that some cases are compatible with Verizon iPhone

Posted in iPhone Accessories by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

If you have been using the iPhone 4 on AT&T and are ready to move to Verizon, you have to be aware that your case may not fit the Verizon iPhone. That’s because the iPhone 4 for Verizon has the buttons on the side lowered a bit, which makes some cases not work.

The good news is that iFrogz has announced that several of its cases will work fine for both the Verizon and AT&T iPhone 4 phones, which saves you some hassle. Some of the cases that will fit the Verizon version are the Luxe original, Luxe Lean, Treadz, Wrapz, and the Soft Gloss.

iPod classic stock dwindling

Posted in iPod by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

The iPod classic’s popularity has been on the decline for some time. After all, wouldn’t you rather have an iPod Touch? Well, it’s popularity continues to decline daily more and more as reflected by its stock at several retailers.

On Apple’s online store, the silver iPod Classic will ship in one to three days, compared to 24 hours just last week. Best Buy’s website notes that the same color has gone from one-day shipping last week to being backordered by one to to two weeks. That says a lot. It says that very soon the device will be left alone to completely rest in peace. Obviously the iPod classic line will be phased out very soon. It’s sad really.

Gadget uses electric vibrations to straighten your nose

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

Women who can’t afford nose jobs in Japan have at least one more option now, thanks to the Electric Beauty Lift High Nose. The idea is that it will straighten your nose. And if you believe that, I have some swampland to sell you.

The Electric Beauty Lift High Nose supposedly uses electric vibrations to straighten your nose, while making you look ridiculous at the same time. Anyway, if this worked, there would be no crooked noses in the world.

Huawei shows off Ideos X3 phone, S7 Slim tablet

Posted in Mobile Phones by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

Huawei is showing off two of the mobile devices it will bring to the Mobile World Congress show in Spain next week. The Ideos X3 smartphone and a new Ideos S7 Slim tablet. Both use the Android operating system. It looks like the hardware button from the face is gone, replaced with touch buttons. Otherwise, the seven-inch tablet looks nearly the same as the current one. The preloaded OS should be Android 2.2 or maybe even 3.0 rather than 2.1.

We don’t yet have any specs to go with the photos, but we do know that the Ideos X3 smartphone will also sport front and rear cameras and be available in at least four colors: red, blue, silver and black.

iControlPad is finally available

Posted in iPhone Accessories by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

The iControlPad has been under development for a long time, but now it has finally started shipping and it’s available to buy for $75. It will make your smartphone games a lot more enjoyable, making it feel more like a traditional handheld console.

The iControlPad began as a simple adapter with a dock connector that allowed you to connect to smartphone emulators, but now it connects via Bluetooth and opens the doors to other devices like the Motorola Backflip, Blackberry Touch, and G1 as well as the iPhone.

LG wants the PS3 taken off store shelves

Posted in PS3 by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

Lawsuits. It’s how large companies throw punches at each other. In the latest lawsuit news, LG has asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to block the sale of PlayStation 3 consoles in the US due to a patent dispute.

According to LG, many of Sony’s BRAVIA TVs, Blu-ray players, and the PS3 itself infringes on four patents held by the Korean company. The complaints about the PS3 have to do with “a way of dealing with multiple data streams, such as different camera angles, as well as a system to reproduce data that’s stored on a read-only device.” If the ITC finds in LG’s favor, it does have the power to bar the PS3 from sale in the United States, though this is rarely enforced in such cases.

HTC 7 Pro arrives in the UK

Posted in HTC by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

Last month we heard that the HTC 7 Pro would be available in the UK in February, and right on schedule, UK retailer Clove has just started selling the HTC 7 Pro, since it is listed as ‘in stock’ on their website. The HTC 7 Pro is a Windows Phone 7 smartphone that features a 3.6 inch WVGA display, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, and the 3.6 inch display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels.

Some other features include a 1GHz processor, a five megapixel camera, and 16GB of built in storage. It also has Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR and 802.11 b/g/ WiFi.

Verizon sold more than 500,000 iPhones in first pre-order day

Posted in iPhone by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

We recently heard through an official statement from Verizon that the launch of the iPhone 4 broke all of the companies previous first day sales records, although we don’t have any specific numbers. Now according to analyst Phil Cusick from JPMorgan, it looks like Verizon may have sold as many as 500,000 iPhone 4′s on the first day when it was made available to pre-order to existing customers.

The previous record holder for first day sales at Verizon was the Motorola Droid, which sold 100,000 units on the first day. For now we should take this with a grain of salt since these 500,000 iPhone 4 sales are based on analysis rather than facts from Verizon, but it sounds reasonable to us.

Kenwood outs C-414 iPhone/iPod Compact Audio System in Japan

Posted in Kenwood by Conner Flynn on February 8th, 2011

Kenwood has introduced a new Compact Audio System in the C-414 Series, which features an FM Radio tuner, CD player and a dedicated iPhone/iPod dock. The dock comes packed with DTS Envelo Technology, which allows direct access to your music library.

This dock will also play music through an SD card or USB port. You can expect it to arrive on the Japanese market in your choice of silver, pink and white for $329. Looks pretty sweet.