In Other News: 22/04/2013.

• Google's Eric Schmidt said that Google's Glass project is probably a 'year-ish' away from being ready for general release in an interview with BBC Radio 4!
  Via TheVerge.

• Sony Mobile today tweeted that they are in the final stages of prep-ing updates for the list of device which you see in the tweet below!

Just a quick update to say we hear you re: JB 4.1 for Xperia P & Go, (S, SL, acro S and ion). Work's in v. final stage - more news next week
— Sony Xperia News (@SonyMobileNews) April 19, 2013

• Twitter have signed a deal with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) to bump up advertising on the social platform. As part of the deal Twitter will display ads from people like Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, something which analysts believe could see Twitter's profits double!
  FT Via Twitter.

• T-Mobile and LG have announced that a 350MB update will be arriving on your Optimus L9 OTA soon which brings an update to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. There's a few more details on T-Mobile's support page, but not too many!
  Via AndroidCentral.

• Daft Punk have smashed Spotify's streaming records in both the UK and USA with the launch of their new song 'Get Lucky' which crushed previous streaming figures for the first 24 hours of a songs availability!
  Via Slashgear.

• Tumblr have announced that they have rolled out mobile ads to their iOS and Android apps and you can see up to four ads per day from ABC Entertainment and ABC Family, GE, Pepsi and Warner Bros. You can read full details of the move on Tumblr's blog here!
  Via TheVerge.

• Google had been fined 145,000 Euros for collecting data for Wifi hotspots in Germany and subsequently violating data protection laws. Apparently the largest fine available for this offence is 150,000 Euros but the judge wanted to fine them considerably higher for what is regarded as a serious violation.
  Via PhoneArena.

• The update to Android's Play Store which has quite a redesign is currently rolling out to users and if you're particularly impatient you can get it at the source link below!
  Via AndroidPolice.

• Samsung have released the source code for three variants of their Galaxy S4! Again you can find them at the source link embedded below!
  Via PhoneArena.

• Digitimes is reporting that Intel is encouraging people to make All-In-One PCs with batteries built in! There's a lot more details too so check out Digitimes here for all the goodies!

• There's a new one-click tool which lets you root your HTC One available on XDA Developers! If you're interested head to XDA here, but remember we can't be responsible if your lovely new phone becomes an expensive paperweight!
  Via PhoneArena.

And finally, if you were wondering if Gorilla Glass 3 on the Samsung Galaxy S4 would protect your phone well enough without a screen protector, then check out the video below! It's a little crazy, but this should be a good example of how it'll perform!

Via CNet.

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Twitter launch their #Music service!

   The last few weeks seem to have been dominated by rumours! We've already seen the rumours of Archos smartphones be confirmed and it seems Twitter's much discussed music service has sprung into life too!

   The new service is called "Twitter #music" and it can be used online and via a new iPhone app (which you can get here). The whole idea of #music is to allow you to find new music which is popular on Twitter and to find new songs from bands which you already follow on Twitter.

Screenshot of the 'Popular' tab on the
iPhone app.

   Twitter  took a good decision to integrate the #music features with the streaming services Rdio, Spotify and iTunes. This means that if you have a Rdio or Spotify account you can listen to the whole song for free, but those of you with iTunes can only hear a snippet!

   According to ABC News the app for iPhone has a nice "clean and polished design," which features four navigation tabs; Popular, Suggested, Emerging and #NowPlaying. Popular obviously
gives users an overview of what's erm popular, Suggested offers you recommendations based on people you follow, Emerging gives you an overview of people which are undiscovered and #NowPlaying lets you see what  friends are listening to or posting on their twitter feed.

   Twitter announced that both the iPhone app and online service will be available today in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. An Android app is reportedly in the works, as is wider country availability!service will expand to Android as well as to more countries later on.

   This all seems to be well thought out, but what do you guys think? Is this the sort of thing the music industry needs or what you need? Let us know in the comments below! If you want to check out the online version of the service then head here!
Via PhoneDog.

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In Other News: 12/03/2013.

Image Credit: Android Guys.

• Intel's Android project is slowly getting bigger and one of the best ways to ensure people choose Intel's processors is a good update history! Today Intel have announced the release of  a pre-alpha build of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean which is optimised for their processors! Intel's Open Source Technology Center devs have now added support for the Linux 3.8 kernel, a new interactive installer, as well as Windows 8 dual-booting!
  Via Phandroid.

• Spotify has announced that they now have over six million paying subscribers and more than twenty four million active users!
  Via TechRadar.

• Google Glass just got a heck of a lot better for people who wear prescription glasses! Project Glass confirmed, via their Google+ page, that their creations' "design is modular, so you will be able to add frames and lenses that match your prescription"! You have to admit that is pretty cool!
  Via Engadget.

• Google is supposedly working on Google Now support on their Windows and Chrome OS browsers! The feature probably won't go public for a little while, probably not until Google I/O, but it looks to be landing soon!
  Via TheVerge.

• The French regulator, Arcep, is demanding that Skype register themselves as a telecommunications operator! This move would mean Skype would have to comply with obligations of other phone services, so there would bee the need to carry emergency calls and create a legal wiretapping system! It all seems a bit excessive to us, but we don't know the motivations for this move!
  Via Slashgear.

• Acer have announced a new Chromebook. The C710-2055 is an 11.6-Inch lappy which retains the Intel Celeron Processor, but bumps the RAM up to 4GB of the DDR3 variety, there's now a 320 GB Hard Drive, Intel HD Graphics and a bigger, beefier battery which is rated for 6 hours! This new computer will set you back $280 dollars and if you're interested you'll probably want to bookmark this page on Amazon!
  Via Engadget.

• SamMobiles has speculated that Samsung will opt for a LCD display on the next Galaxy Note because LCD displays play much more nicely with the S-Pen then OLED displays do!

• Sony Mobile has announced that they will be holding an event in Russia on the 18th of March! The Xperia Blog has speculated that there will be some new hardware on show at that event! We'll keep our eyes peeled!
  Via XperiaBlog.

• It's currently being rumoured that Tizen will received a bit more backing in 2014, with Fujitsu and NEC both rumoured to be developing hardware for a release next year!
  Via UnwiredView.

And finally, Blackberry have confirmed today that BBM Voice will be coming to phones which run BB OS 5! You can find more details on the official Blackberry Blog here!

Via:

Big news for #BlackBerry OS 5.0 users: #BBM Voice Chat is now available. Read more here: blck.by/WZslmo ^DH
— BlackBerry (@BlackBerry) March 11, 2013

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04/01/2013: HTC blame poor advertising for poor sales, Spotify suspends song downloads, Corning tease Gorilla Glass 3 and much more!

HTC's Peter Chou blames lack of advertising for poor sales.

   HTC's chairman, Peter Chou, spoke to the Wall Street Journal yesterday and said that he thought his company's poor performance last year was down to a lack of marketing and advertising budget.

   He specifically outlined his challenges of competing with the "strong and very resourceful" marketing of his competitors, presumably he means Apple and Samsung, who have to ability to pou "lots of money into marketing." 

   Chou continued. "the worst for HTC has probably passed. 2013 will not be too bad/" Interestingly he didn't say good either, so he's realistic about the challenges which his company faces as they try to go toe to toe with the behemoths from Cupertino and Korea. The best way HTC see of challenging this pairing is to offer "unique products" and presumably offering the first 1080p phone, the Droid DNA, was a start on this path. 

   We're not sure whether HTC will stick religiously to a 'hero phone' strategy like they tried to to last year with their One series, but we'll have to wait and see what they bring to CES next week! Naturally you'll be able to get all the important news from each day right here!
WSJ Via Engadget.

Spotify suspends music download options!

   If you're a Spotify member and you try to download a song to keep today you'll be greeted with this message: "We're no longer supporting new download purchases on Spotify." Instead this will direct you to a a lovely FAQ page on the company's site.

   For the moment the songs you have already downloaded will still appear in your library and will play despite the current embargo. At the moment no one is sure but once the song meets its expiry date it will likely not be able to play any more.

   Spotify's FAQ page, on the matter, currently reads, "We’re currently not offering new download purchases on Spotify. You can still use downloads you’ve already purchased" and "even though it’s not possible to buy downloads using Spotify Desktop, you’ll still be able to use your Spotify gift card, as long as it’s one of the cards that features 'Downloads' as an option." Which is good news for those of you who just got a lovely Spotify giftcard for Christmas!
Via PocketLint.

Corning have teased Gorilla Glass 3: Arriving at CES?

   Corning's Gorilla Glass is one of the most popular options amongst manufacturers for offering you strong and long lasting screen protection on your mobile phone and it's employed on both the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3 amongst other devices. Both of those phones use Gorilla Glass 2 which is very good in itself! 

   Corning wasn't going to rest on their laurels though and they've teased the arrival of 'something tougher' and in this case it'll be Gorilla Glass 3 which is said to be three times stronger than Gorilla Glass 2! Other enhancements include 40 per cent less scratches than the last version and 50 per cent better shock resistance, both of which will make Gorilla Glass 3 the new standard for tough phone and tablet displays! We expect to see this screen launch on some of the devices manufacturers bring to CES next week! We're starting to get excited!
Via T3.

In other news:

• Twitter has received a valuation from Forbes that Twitter has been valued at $11 billion (£6.8 billion) in some recent trades an increase of $3 billion since August of 2011 when it was valued at $8 billion (£4.9 billion).
  Via Wired.

• The Nexus 10 is currently back in stock in the UK Play Store. The 16GB is the only available option at the moment and you can pick it up for £319 here!

• Talking of tablets Microsoft's Surface Pro tablets will be arriving on January 26th if CNET's calls to US stores turn out to be correct!

• Acer's Iconia B, or B1 as we used to know it, looks to be all but set for it's release after CES! A couple of days back it was spied on Acer USA's website and it is set to go on sale in India RS $7,999, which is equivalent to $147 USD. That money buys you a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, a 7" 1024x600 resolution display, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and Android 4.1! We're not sure whether this will be coming to the whole world, but with a US version of the site having been published we'd be surprised if it wasn't!
  Via PhoneArena.

• EE is now offering Femtocells to their customers and they go by the name of the EE Signal Box. Unfortunately the devices only give you 3G signal through your home broadband but if you're struggling for signal we're sure you won't mind not getting your 4G connection! You can check the device out here and we're not sure about the cost at the moment but we assume EE will just lend you one if you're out of range of their network!
  Via Coolsmartphone.

• In the last couple of years there's been a lot of fines issued from countries around the world to Samsung, LG and four Taiwanese firms for their parts in the LCD screen price fixing issue which happened a couple of years ago. Today we've seen a fine of £35m come in from Chinese trade regulators for this crime, which compared to the £357 million fines issued in America this one seems like a bit of a let off!
  Via BBC.

And finally, LG has released a little CES teaser that hints at what is coming in the next week. Now the video doesn't give much away, but it looks like LG could be offering up some interesting devices! Many people believe there's a small glimpse of the Optimus G2 which is rumoured to include a 5.5-inch display with a 1080p resolution as well as a 13-megapixel camera, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and possible a bump to 3GB of RAM.

Via Recombu.

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10/10/2012

Galaxy S3 Mini details leaked?!

   The immanent release of the new Samsung 'Galaxy S3 mini' has had people excited about the possibilities of the Galaxy S3's power and a more manageable 4" form factor. But, the guys over at MobileGeeks may have got some information which could scupper your purchasing plans!   

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