Future iPhone to be Powered by Hydrogen Cells

Sometime in the future, Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and MacBook might work longer than ever on a smaller and lighter battery pack. How is this possible? By using hydrogen fuel cells, which convert oxygen and hydrogen into water, heat and electricity.

The US Patent & Trademark Office has recently published two Apple patent applications, detailing how fuel cells might power smartphones, laptops and tablets of the future.

Hydrogen fuel cells aren't exactly a new technology; they've been used to power Honda cars, for example, and they bring their own set of problems, especially in the context of smartphones or laptops. "It is extremely challenging to design hydrogen fuel cell systems which are sufficiently portable and cost-effective to be used with portable electronic devices," admits Apple.

But Apple might have a solution. One of the patent applications describes a "fuel cell system which is capable of both providing power to and receiving power from a rechargeable battery in a portable computing device. This eliminates the need for a bulky and heavy battery within the fuel cell system, which can significantly reduce the size, weight and cost of the fuel cell system."

And for how long these fuel cells could power a smartphone or a laptop? The answer is "days or even weeks without refueling," according to Apple. This sounds like a dream to owners of most modern smartphones, which barely last a day of heavy use.

We'll probably have to wait a while until fuel cell-powered iPhones and MacBooks hit the market, but a big breakthrough in battery technology is something we've been waiting for a long time, and it might change the face of the market forever.

Apple top smartphone manufacturer, Android top OS

Market intelligence firm Nielsen has named Apple the top smartphone manufacturer in the US in its end-of-year recap.

Apple may have triumphed over rival smartphone makers such as HTC and Research In Motion (RIM) in 2011 but its iOS platform was no match for Google’s Android platform in terms of mobile operating market share, said market researcher the NPD Group.

NPD found that Android had grown to command 53 percent of the smartphone market in the US in the period from January through to October 2011 while Apple’s iOS platform represented 29 percent of all smartphone operating systems on the market.

Apple’s iPhone accounted for just under one third (29%) of new smartphone purchases in the US from August to October, said Nielsen.

A further 21 percent of mobile phone users who recently purchased a new smartphone in the country opted for a device made by HTC. RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones commanded a 17% share of new smartphone purchases in the US, putting the smartphone maker in third place, and Samsung and Motorola were tied for fourth and fifth with 11% percent of the market each.

With both the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Mobile World Congress (MWC) on the horizon in 2012, most smartphone makers are gearing up for a season of high-profile handset announcements and mobile operating system updates.

LG to unveil 84-Inch 3D TV at CES 2012

LG Electronics appears poised to make a major push at the Consumer Electronics Show. The company has been offering a slew of announcements this week, with the latest being an 84-inch 3D Smart TV with ultra definition display technology.

Havis Kwon, president and CEO of the LG Electronics Home Entertainment Co., said LG is pushing the limits of home entertainment innovation with this 3D UD TV, on display at CES in Las Vegas Jan. 10-13.

"We are bringing together all our Smart TV and 3D knowledge in the 3D UD TV in order to demonstrate to the CES audience that LG is committed to being the world's leading brand for immersive home entertainment in 2012 and beyond," Kwon said.

High Resolution Advances:
LG's 3D UD TV, at 3740x2160, offers 8 million pixels. That's four times the resolution clarity of existing full HD TV panels. The new model offers a slim, narrow bezel design, 3D depth control to let viewers customize their viewing experience by controlling the 3D effect, and 3D Sound Zooming to offer 3D sound a la home theater systems.

With the new model, consumers access LG's Smart TV ecosystem, which offers more than 1,200 apps and gives users access to a growing range of premium content services. At the 3D Zone, for example, viewers can select from a wealth of 3D movies.

LG said the embedded 2D to 3D conversion engine expands the availability of 3D content. Users can browse and navigate the Smart TV ecosystem using LG's new, ergonomically designed Magic Remote, which recognizes four types of command input: Voice Recognition, Wheel, Magic Gesture and Point.

Cinema TV and 3D Glasses:
In other innovations, LG plans to introduce the LW6500, a Cinema 3D TV, at CES. The new model doesn't require shutter glasses, so images displayed on the set are free from flicker. Without the flicker, 3D viewing is more comfortable and less likely to cause a viewer's eyes to get tired.

For models that need 3G glasses, LG is rolling out a new collection, including a pair designed by eyewear designer Alain Mikli. LG said the new collection is lighter and more comfortable to wear and offers upgraded features like curved lenses and a clean frame structure.

"Compared to active shutter glasses, LG's 3D glasses are far more comfortable to wear and much more affordable, making it possible for large groups and entire families to watch 3D programs and movies together," Kwon said. "LG is addressing two of the biggest barriers to 3D acceptance head-on and we're confident consumers will react favorably to our strategy in the coming year."

LG announces World's Largest OLED TV Panel

LG's upcoming OLED TV panel measures 55 inches and comes with a contrast ratio of over 100,000:1, the company has announced.

The panel is also just 5 mm thin and has a color gamut that is "wider" than that produced by LCD panels. All of these characteristics make it a candidate for bringing OLED TV technology to the masses in a market that's still dominated by LCDs.

"Although OLED technology is seen as the future of TV display, the technology has been limited to smaller display sizes and by high costs, until now. LG Display's 55-inch OLED TV panel has overcome these barriers," said Sang Beom Han, CEO and Executive Vice President of LG Display.

We'll hear more of this panel at the next CES, along with those WiDi-supporting CINEMA 3D Smart TVs LG has announced earlier this month.

Sony, Samsung dissolve panel joint venture

Japan's Sony and South Korean rival Samsung are dissolving their joint venture in liquid crystal display panels as Sony tries to stanch years of losses in its TV business.

Samsung Electronics Co. will buy all of Sony's shares in the joint venture for about 1.08 trillion Korean won ($935 million) subject to a final agreement, Sony Corp. said.

The joint venture called S-LCD was set up in 2004. Sony, which fell behind in flat panel TVs, invested in a Samsung panel factory to ensure a steady supply of panels for its LCD TVs.

Sony's TV operation has lost money for seven straight years and the company is straining to return that key business to profit.

The prices of TVs as well as panels have been dropping so it makes more sense to buy panels at the market rate than to invest in production.

Sony, which makes Bravia TV sets, does not make its own LCD panels.

It said it will enter a new partnership with Samsung to buy panels, and will also continue buying panels from other manufacturers.

Sony said it will suffer a loss of 66 billion yen ($846 million) for the third quarter of this fiscal year, which ends later this month, because of the declining value of investment in S-LCD.

Getting out the production venture will produce substantial savings after January 2012, when the deal is completed, according to Sony.

Xinhua website to offer $158 million IPO

China's state news agency Xinhua plans to list its online portal in a 1 billion yuan ($157.8 million) stock market offering in Shanghai with China International Capital Corp underwriting the deal.

The exact timing of the initial public offering of Xinhuanet.com has not been fixed.

"It's around 1 billion yuan", said a source.

Other state news outlets are also looking to list their online operations. People.com.cn, the online news portal run by the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party - the People's Daily - is looking to list in Shanghai.

Google activating 700,000 Android devices daily

Google says that it’s approaching a total of 250 million activated Android devices worldwide. That’s getting close to the entire population of the United States, represented in Android users.

TechCrunch reported that Google has sized up the number of Android devices it says are being activated daily to 700,000. Back in June, the number of Android devices activated each day was 500,000. Not only is Android sweeping into expanding smartphone markets all over the world, it’s even increasing the speed of its growth.

Android is seeing some big growth in Europe and emerging markets in Asia; an analysis from Gartner last month found that Android devices accounted for about 53 percent of all the smartphones sold in the third quarter of 2011. The company also announced recently that its Android Market had hit 10 billion app downloads, showing that all those Android phones floating around the world are converting to app sales, as well.

Though Apple and Google are constantly battling for supremacy in one arena or another when it comes to the mobile sphere, at least in the growth category, Android is still leading by a considerable margin.

BBM Canada sues RIM for BBM trademark

Research In Motion, the BlackBerry maker has received more bad news - this time on the legal front. RIM may have to spend more money trying to ward off yet another trademark dispute.

Indeed, even as RIM is reeling from the forced name change of its next-generation operating system from BBX to BlackBerry 10, a Canadian company has taken issue with the name of its long-popular instant-messaging platform.

BlackBerry Messenger has been a RIM favorite, allowing BlackBerry users to send each other text messages and pictures through the RIM network and get delivery and read confirmation. Many users just call the service BBM for short, but BBM Canada is looking to Canadian federal court for a remedy.

BBM Canada Willing to Deal:
BBM Canada, a company somewhat like Nielsen in that it measures radio and television audiences, plans to argue its case against RIM in February. Jim MacLeod, BBM's CEO, said he wants RIM to stop advertising the BBM name. But MacLeod also suggested he would be willing to change BBM Canada name - for a price.

"We have to be practical, they operate worldwide, we don't. But we're not prepared to just walk from our name," said MacLeod. "I'm sure to a really big company this looks like relatively small numbers, but to us it's a big deal. It's a trademark they don't even own, it's ours."

The timing is noteworthy. BlackBerry has been offering BBM for many years, but recently made a big splash in the RIM world when it rolled out BBM Music. BBM Music is a cloud-based music service for BlackBerry users.

HTC testing new phone models

HTC Corp has begun testing new phone models that work around technology cited in a patent lawsuit won by arch-rival Apple Inc, and HTC's chief executive voiced optimism over the company's ability to meet challenging market conditions.

Speaking to media at the company's Taiwan headquarters alongside Google Inc's senior vice president of mobile, Andy Rubin, CEO Peter Chou said that the company would be working with Google to protect itself from "unfair" means to stop innovation.

"This industry should not allow one company use its powerful weapon to stop other innovation and take it all...this is not fair," Chou said.

The patent suit between HTC and Apple was widely seen as a proxy for a larger fight between Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS. Android phones dominate Apple in the Asia-Pacific region.

The result, in which HTC was found to have infringed one of four patents Apple had centered its case on, leaves the way open for both camps to continue their competition in the courts.

Rubin said, "This is just the beginning. It will play out in the next couple of years," he said, but added that he was optimistic there would eventually be "patent peace."

The company slashed its fourth-quarter revenue forecast last month and earlier this month reported a 30 percent drop in November sales from the previous month and a 20 percent fall from a year ago, the first annual sales decline in two years.

That triggered concerns over its ability to cope with stiff competition from Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy range and accelerated a fall in its shares, which now stand at about half of their peak for the year.

Amazon rolls out Kindle Fire 6.2.1 update

Amazon has started rolling out version 6.2.1 of the Kindle Fire software. Much of the user interface has been tweaked to become more responsive to screen tapping and navigation of content is much more fluid. The Silk browser is also smoother when moving through different Web pages and loading content. The update brings customization to the tablet allowing users to hide items that appear on the carousel as well as the ability to password protect Wi-Fi access. By using a password on the device, tablet owners can prevent other users from purchasing content while browsing movies, books or other media.

To update your Kindle manually, connect to a Wi-Fi network and tap the Quick Settings icon in the upper right corner to find the “Sync” option.

According to Engadget, this update also removes root privileges on tablets that have been rooted to replace the operating system with custom firmware. If a user is still using any Amazon software on a rooted tablet, they are susceptible to automatic updates when the device connects to any Wi-Fi network. Replacing the stock Amazon software with most forms of alternate software may void the warranty of the tablet and users are also likely to lose access to Amazon apps such as Amazon Instant Video and the Lending Library feature.

However, many developers creating software for rooted versions of the tablet have found the Kindle Fire relatively friendly when it comes to application development.

According to a press release from Amazon, the Kindle Fire has been flying off the shelves and the company has sold about one million tablets per week during December.

Google to develop solar energy farms

Online search and advertising giant Google is teaming with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. to develop four solar energy farms serving the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California.

Google said on its Green Blog that it will spend $94 million on the projects and work with KKR and solar developer Recurrent Energy, a division of Sharp Corp., on the projects.

Construction on three of the projects will be complete early next year, and the fourth will come on line later in the year.

The projects are expected to provide electricity to power more than 13,000 average U.S. homes. Electricity produced by three of the projects is contracted for 20 years with the utility district.

It's the latest in a series of renewable energy investments for Google, which has said it is disappointed that it can't buy renewable electricity for its power-hungry data centers and wants to invest to help renewable power expand in scale.

Google earns what it describes as attractive returns on its investments by capturing local and federal renewable energy tax credits and charging interest on the money it supplies for the projects.

Google said it has invested more than $915 million in clean energy projects, including $800 million this year. Google has invested in wind farms in North Dakota, California and Oregon, solar projects in California and Germany, and a project off the East coast of the U.S. meant to help make offshore wind farms possible.

In September, Google announced it would set up a $75 million fund to help local installers offer special financing deals to homeowners who want to put solar panels on their roofs. In June, the company announced a $280 million deal with installer SolarCity to help it offer similar deals.

Google's Sacramento solar deal represents its first U.S. investment in a large-scale solar project that generates energy for a grid, rather than rooftop systems that provide power to homes or businesses.

KKR said the project is its first U.S. renewable energy investment. It has invested in a French wind farm operator and a Spanish solar energy company.

Prices of solar panels have fallen dramatically over the last year as more solar manufacturing plants have been built, raw material costs have fallen, and renewable energy subsidies in Europe, solar's biggest market, have dried up.

This has been a boon for installers, utilities and homeowners. Solar installations are on pace to double in the U.S. this year for the second year in a row. MidAmerican Energy, the Iowa utility owned by Berkshire Hathaway, announced investments in two enormous solar farms this month, one in Arizona and one in California.

AT&T drops $39B T-Mobile bid

AT&T Inc. is hanging up on its $39 billion bid to buy smaller wireless provider T-Mobile USA, nearly four months after the U.S. government raised concerns that it would raise prices, reduce innovation and give customers fewer choices.

The long-expected announcement left AT&T grumbling about a shortage of airwaves to expand its services, while scrappy competitor T-Mobile remains up for sale by German parent Deutsche Telekom.

The formal end of the deal was heralded by critics. No. 3 carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. had feared "an undeniable duopoly" between the proposed new entity and current leader Verizon Wireless. The two companies would have controlled almost 80 percent of the cellphone market had the deal gone through.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett said the announcement was "a bit of an anticlimax."

"This is like receiving the divorce papers for a couple that's been separated for years," he said.

AT&T's purchase of fourth-ranked T-Mobile, announced in March, would have made it the largest cellphone company in the U.S. AT&T is now the second-largest wireless carrier, with more than 100 million subscribers, behind Verizon Wireless, with 108 million. Sprint has 53 million, followed by T-Mobile at 34 million.

T-Mobile endured without much investment from its parent company and without the highest-end devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone. It offered value packages to customers who brought phones from other carriers. Regulators feared the loss of T-Mobile as a competitor would hurt consumers.

AT&T will now have to pay Deutsche Telekom $3 billion in cash as a breakup fee and give it about $1 billion worth of airwaves, known as spectrum, that AT&T doesn't need for the continued rollout of its high-speed "4G" network.

It will also enter into a roaming agreement with Deutsche Telekom so that AT&T's and T-Mobile's customers can use each other's networks.

AT&T will take an accounting charge of $4 billion in the current quarter.

The company said the deal would have solved that problem for a time, and without it, "customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled."

AT&T said it will continue to invest, and it called on the government to quickly approve its purchase of unused spectrum from Qualcomm Inc. and come up with legislation to meet the nation's long-term needs.

Besides such an auction, AT&T could also buy spectrum from satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp., which could require an FCC waiver because it is licensed for satellite use.

Besides missing out on many of the hottest smartphones, T-Mobile has stuck to updating its existing 3G network to achieve 4G speeds.

By contrast, competitors have moved to all-new networks that use LTE, or long-term evolution, technology specifically designed to carry data. Both AT&T and Verizon are building LTE networks, and Sprint intends to use the technology, too.

Apple and Google developing wearable smartphones

Some of us are quite attached to our mobile devices, much to the chagrin of anything and anyone that isn’t a smartphone screen. Apple and Google are reportedly looking to change that. They want to integrate smartphones into daily life better by developing wearable mobile devices that act more like a window to the real world, rather than a screen.

According to the New York Times, Apple has been secretly working on a wearable computer, much like the wrist worn iPod Nano, which will integrate Siri. The sources say that a small number of Apple employees have been rounded up for “conceptualizing and even prototyping some wearable devices.” One device the company is toying with was described as a wrist worn “curved-glass iPod.”

On the Google end, the search giant has been tasking researchers at the secret Google X labs to develop devices that relay information to Android powered smartphone. Google has reportedly been hiring a slew of engineers who specialize in wearable computers from engineering universities or places like Nokia Labs and Apple.

According to a 9to5Google, this project the search company is working on is a pair of augmented reality glasses, which will plug users into realtime search results based on what they are currently viewing. The device would be unobtrusive, and would look like a pair of normal thick-rimmed glasses with a few buttons on the side. 9To5Google says that that the device “communicates directly with the Cloud over IP,” though it speculates that Google glasses would connect via GPS or Android’s Internet using WiFi or Bluetooth.

Sony Ericsson releases alpha ROM for developers

With Android Ice Cream Sandwich only officially available on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, there are sure to be plenty of Android fans who want to get a glimpse of the new version running on a different phone. Sony Ericsson has come to the rescue with this demonstration video, showing an early build running on an Xperia Arc S.

The company recently announced they would be releasing an Ice Cream Sandwich update for their 2011 range of Xperia-branded devices, however it’s a lengthy and complex process and with the source code only a few weeks old, owners still have to wait before it officially arrives.

Rather than work away without input from users, Sony Ericsson has released an “alpha build” ICS ROM to accompany the video. It’s compatible with the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, the Xperia Ray and the Xperia Neo V, and provided they have an unlocked bootloader the ROM can be installed.

But before downloading it, one should know that the ROM is designed for developmental testing, and not for everyday use. Sony Ericsson wants to get as much feedback as possible, and has therefore disabled the modem, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the FM radio and the antenna inside the ROM.

Yes, they’re spoilsports, but the alpha ROM still does a great job of showing how Ice Cream Sandwich looks and performs on devices other than the Galaxy Nexus. If you’re confident to start messing around with your Xperia phone, Sony Ericsson provides full instructions on how to apply the ROM on their developer site, and even recommends to join the XDA community afterwards to converse with like-minded hackers.

iPad mini with 7.85 inch screen in 2012

Rumors have once again surfaced regarding a so-called ‘iPad mini.’ The folks over at DigiTimes said that a 7.85-inch iPad is “likely to launch” at some point in the latter half of 2012, with the iPad 3 believed to be coming in the early part of next year.

The smaller sized iPad is said to be coming in response to increased competition from devices such as Amazon’s recently released 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet.

The release of an increasing number of large-sized smartphones is also cited as a reason, though it’s thought the iPhone 5 will, when it’s released, be sporting a screen larger than the 3.5-inch one found on the iPhone 4S.

The DigitTimes report goes into more detail, saying that the Cupertino company will be buying 7.85-inch panels from LG Display and AU Optronics (AUO), with the mini iPad tablet going into production at the end of next year’s second quarter.

Rumors of an ‘iPad mini’ last surfaced back in October, with suggestions that such a device could be priced at around the $200 to $300 mark.

With Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire seemingly flying off the shelves, perhaps the mini-tablet market is proving too hard to resist, despite Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs last year calling 7-inch tablets “tweener” devices – too small to be tablets and too big to be smartphones. It seemed that with Jobs at the helm a mini iPad was out of the question, but with Tim Cook now running the show, and rumors of such a device increasing, it’s possible that a smaller-sized iPad could yet see the light of day.

Dell not to make Netbooks anymore

They once roamed coffee shops and college lecture halls, now it looks like the netbook is heading to that scrap heap of old, unwanted technology. The company has decided at the end of 2011, that it won’t be making any more netbooks.

The folks at the mydellmini.com forums first noticed Dell quietly pulling the small and inexpensive notebooks from the online store.

The folks over at the Verge received confirmation from a Dell representative that Inspiron netbooks are not in the company’s future, though the Latitutde netbooks are still available for businesses. It’s not just old netbooks getting the axe either, Dell says it has no plans to release any netbooks in the future. However, its hybrid Inspiron Duo netbook will be back in stock next year.

It seems like Dell may instead be focusing its energies on developing Ultrabooks. The representative further said: “Thin and powerful is where it is at for us.” And while that doesn’t necessarily spell out Ultrabooks, Acer recently made a similar announcement, cutting out “cheap, unprofitable” products, and changing its focus to super-thin Ultrabooks.

Earlier this year, Dell slimmed its inventory by cutting production of two tablets: The Streak 5 and the Streak 7. Companies will definitely need to be efficient with their resources as the future Ultrabooks market is looking like it will be quite congested. 50 Ultrabook models are expected to debut come January at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show.

Google acquires Clever Sense

Google has acquired Clever Sense, a Mountain View-based start up that provides a free app for Apple and Android devices called Alfred that provides curated, localized recommendations for restaurants and other services.

"Today, we are excited to join Google and start a new chapter in curating the world around us! Together with the Google team, we will accelerate our efforts toward this shared vision. Google helps local businesses connect with potential customers, and its worldwide presence can bring the value of Clever Sense to a much larger audience," said Clever Sense on its Web site.

Apple launches iTunes store in Brazil

Apple has launched its iTunes store in Brazil as well as in 15 other Latin American countries.

The iTunes Store in Brazil offers a catalog of more than 20 million songs, including from top Brazilian stars Ivete Sangalo and Marisa Monte.

Also available for purchase and download are a broad selections of international artists such as the Beatles, Rihanna and Coldplay.

Most of the songs are priced at 99 US cents and most albums at $9.99.

Apple said it was also bringing the iTunes Store to 15 other Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.

Apple's App Store offers more than 500,000 apps to hundreds of millions of iPad, iPhone and iPod users in 123 countries.

Nintendo to release high profile titles for 3DS and Wii

The gaming company, Nintendo has plans to release two high profile first party titles as well as a new hardware accessory for the 3DS handheld gaming system. On the 3DS, Nintendo scheduled the launch of Kid Icarus: Uprising for March 23 as well as the Circle Pad Pro, an accessory that provides a second control pad for the right side of the device as well as shoulder buttons similar to a PlayStation 3 controller. Nintendo mentioned that third party companies Capcom and Konami are planning to release Resident Evil Revelations on February 7 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on an undetermined date during the first quarter of 2012. Other third party titles coming out during early 2012 include TEKKEN 3D Prime Edition, Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Rayman® Origins and Pro Evolution Soccer 2012.

Nintendo is also planning on rolling out several titles for download on the 3DS through the Nintendo eShop. These games include Dillon’s Rolling Western, VVVVVV, Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, Mighty Switch Force, NightSky and Mutant Mudds. Over on the Nintendo Wii, the company plans to launch the title in the popular Mario Party series on March 11 which is going to include vehicular travel and boss battles within various stages of the game. Other first party Wii titles launch during early 2012 include Rhythm Heaven Fever, a package that contains over 50 rhythm mini-games, and PokePark 2: Wonders Beyond, a game where the player takes control of Pickachu to explore the PokePark.

Nintendo is also continuing to prep the Wii U for launch and will likely be showing off the new gaming platform at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo during June 2012. Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata recently mentioned that the Wii U would not be launching during the 2012 fiscal year which means the console wouldn’t launch prior to April 2012.

Apple to buy Anobit for $500 million

Apple Inc is in talks to buy Israel's Anobit, a maker of flash storage technology, for as much as $500 million.

The Calcalist financial daily said Apple is in advanced negotiations to buy Anobit for $400 million to $500 million.

Anobit has developed a chip that enhances flash drive performance through signal processing. The chip is already incorporated in Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad and the MacBook Air.
Anobit is also examining a large financing round with a leading Asian flash memory manufacturer.

If the deal goes through, it would be one of Apple's largest ever acquisitions and its first in Israel. Apple also typically buys software firms and not hardware.

Calcalist said Apple is interested in Anobit's technology to increase and enhance the memory volume and performance of its devices. The chip may as much as double the memory volume in the new iPads and MacBooks.

Among Anobit's key clients are flash memory manufacturers such as Korean based Samsung and Hynix. Hynix recently become the main flash memory supplier for Apple's iPhone 4S. Anobit's chip is incorporated into Hynix's flash drives and enhances the device's memory.

Amazon to update Kindle Fire in two weeks

While Amazon’s Kindle Fire Android tablet might be receiving some mixed reviews from the tech community, the 7-inch tablet seems to be a success among consumers.

But the device isn’t without criticisms, most notably, from users complaining that its performance is leaving something to be desired. Users have trouble with the touch interface on the device, which is reportedly too small and results in tapping the wrong thing a little too often. The device’s web browser, which uses Amazon’s cloud-based Silk feature to help speed its performance, is also still slow enough that it has users complaining. Amazon is addressing those concerns, though, and says it plans to roll out some software updates for the device in the coming weeks.

The enhancements coming to the tablet will fix up a variety of things about the tablet, in areas like its web browser and touchscreen navigation responsiveness.

The over-the-air update to the Kindle Fire is due in less than two weeks, Amazon says. It’ll also give users the ability to choose what appears on the device’s navigation carousel and generally improve performance everywhere.

Amazon still isn’t saying just how many Kindle Fires it has sold, but it has said the number is “millions” and that it’s the most successful product the company has ever launched. It says it’s also building more to tablets to meet continued demand. The Kindle Fire is a cheap alternative to other Android tablets, and recently overtook the iPad to become Best Buy’s best-selling tablet.

Regardless of the reviews, the Kindle Fire has a lot going for it including its affordable price tag of $199, which undercuts almost every other tablet on the market by a couple hundred dollars. It also has a lot of brand recognition and the leverage of Amazon’s entire retail empire behind it, making it a solid way to consume media sold by Amazon.

It seems that Kindle Fire users are mixed on the tablet, but that’s apparently not slowing down sales. If Amazon can address some of the more fixable user-experience concerns, like the interface troubles and the browser speed, it seems likely that the Kindle Fire could become even more popular. Amazon has opened a door with the tablet, now it needs to keep that door open by patching the software and keeping customers happy.

Nokia to sell luxury phone line Vertu

As it moves to realign its business to compete with Apple and Android, Nokia is reportedly selling off its luxury phone unit. Although Nokia has not confirmed or denied the rumors, the Financial Times is reports that the Finnish handset maker has hired Goldman Sachs to broker the sale of Vertu.

Nokia launched Vertu in 1998. The company sells phones that cost upward of $5,000 and as much as $315,000, rivaling exotic car brands and fine watches. The phones are made by hand, and often include diamonds and hand-stitched leather.

Functional Art:
Indeed, Nokia doesn't offer specific earnings for Vertu in its quarterly reports. But the Financial Times reports the unit drives between $268 million and $402 million annually. Vertu has flagship boutiques in London, Paris, Milan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and Las Vegas. The phones are sold in more than 50 countries.

Vertu has relied on exclusivity - along with celebrity endorsements from the likes of songwriter Seal, actress Michelle Yeoh and chef Alain Ducasse - to demonstrate its appeal to the uber rich. One of the key features of Vertu phones is the Concierge, a personal dedicated lifestyle assistance service that's available 24/7 in any language. When users press a dedicated button on the phone, the concierge answers and provides anything from gift ideas to restaurant reservations.

"Vertu not only doesn't follow the trends and it has fairly clunky handsets with very limited functionality. But Vertu has come out with limited editions phones in sets of six," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "People would buy all six of them at $8,000 or $9,000 a pop as a collection. It's important to note that Vertu phones are a functional piece of art."

Vertu's Fate:
Vertu is catching up with the times, though. The luxury handset maker introduced the Constellation Quest a year ago. Constellation is a QWERTY device that offers the latest business tools. The home screen is minimalist, displaying only the essentials users hand pick. A Vertu design signature analogue clock automatically adjusts for the world traveler.

Vertu boutiques offer Apple-like customer service, helping customers configure their phone settings to suit individual preferences, including e-mail accounts, information feeds and social networking. The phone also comes with a cadre of other services aimed at affluent consumers, like a global digest and language-specific content feeds, as well as ongoing tech support.

It's possible that Vertu can continue being successful just selling devices that only make phone calls because the phones are personal accessory status symbols.

HP to offer webOS mobile software to developers

Hewlett Packard Co has decided to open its webOS mobile operating system to developers and companies, potentially taking on Google Inc's free Android platform that is popular with handset makers.

HP, which acquired webOS in a $1.2 billion purchase of Palm in 2010, had been trying to figure out how to recoup its investment after a failed foray into the smartphone and tablet market.

HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman said the company looked at a number of options for webOS, including a sale and shut down of the division.

The technology giant will make webOS available under an open source licensing agreement, but it has still not hashed out the terms of the licensing deal it plans to offer.

There are a number of open source projects that can be used as examples for deciding the structure of licensing, including Android and browser Mozilla.

The company plans to solicit ideas from developers before deciding on the licensing terms, Whitman said.

Whitman also said HP may get back into the consumer tablet market in 2013 but it will not be making any more smartphones.

The future of webOS had been in limbo since August after HP killed its flagship webOS-based TouchPad tablet following poor sales.

While Google has the world's most-used mobile system with over 550,000 devices activated every day, HP's webOS could be an alternative to companies apprehensive that the Web search giant may compete with them directly in the smartphone handset market through its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility.

The webOS platform, which had been HP-only software, is widely viewed as a strong mobile platform, but has been criticized for having few applications - an important consideration while choosing a mobile device.

Most developers prefer to work on Apple Inc's iOS or Google's Android because both are on millions of devices - unlike webOS.

HP has not revealed its plans for any mobile hardware after the TouchPad was killed.

Adtran to buy NSN Broadband Access unit

Struggling telecom network equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks has agreed to sell its fixed line Broadband Access business unit to U.S. firm Adtran as part of a revamp of its operations.

The sale is one of the first divestments for loss-making NSN since it announced plans last month to sell units and axe 17,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its workforce.

The price of the deal - which includes technologies, intellectual property and the existing customer base - was not disclosed.

The companies said in a joint statement the deal was expected to close by the end of April 2012 and some 400 NSN employees would transfer to Adtran.

Adtran said the acquired business would be neutral to diluted earnings per share for the first full year after the deal closed and accretive thereafter.

NSN, which has struggled to make a profit since being set up in 2007, was formed by Finnish cellphone maker Nokia and German conglomerate Siemens in the hope of building enough scale to lead an industry dominated by Sweden's Ericsson and, increasingly, by Chinese entrants.

It has faced aggressive pricing from rivals and an economic downturn that has forced telecoms companies to cut spending.

Samsung's Next Tablet to have Retina-Beating Display

Samsung is developing an 11.6-inch tablet with a 2560x1600 pixel display, which might put the display of Apple's next generation iPad to shame.

The tablet will reportedly run Android 4.0 with a 2 GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 CPU, and it's likely to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in February 2012.

This latest rumor goes hand in hand with rumors of Apple's next generation iPad. Its A6 CPU will reportedly be very similar to the one in Samsung's upcoming tablet.

As far as display resolution goes, the iPad 3 is rumored to have a 2048 x 1536 display, which would make Samsung's rumored tablet superior in terms of pixel density.

For comparison, the pixel density in iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S Retina display is 326 pixels per inch on a 3.5 inch screen. It's been matched by a few competitors - namely the HTC Rezound and the LG Optimus LTE - but it happened over a year after iPhone 4 first hit the market.

If the rumors are true, unlike the iPhone 4 at its launch, Apple's next-gen iPad might not have the distinction of having the most advanced display on the market.

University spends $3000 on XXX Domain Names

The University of Kansas has bought .xxx domain names, such as www.KUgirls.xxx and www.KUnurses.xxx, hoping to prevent its name from falling into the hands of pornographers. The school, as well as dozens of others, has reportedly purchased $3,000 worth of ".xxx" domain names since they went on sale.

The flagship state university plans to sit on the websites and do nothing with them.

The recently launched .xxx web suffix is intended for adult-only content and are a way to more easily sort mature web material. The sites went on public sale for the first time this week, after opening up to companies in September. Some 80,000 pages were reportedly purchased during the pre-sale phase, including Nike.xxx, Pepsi.xxx and Target.xxx.

The AP also says Indiana University, Purdue University and Ball State University have snatched up their self-titled .xxx territory.

Galaxy Nexus debuts in Canada

The Galaxy Nexus has finally launched in North America, though Android fans in the U.S. are still waiting to get their hands on Samsung's new flagship device, which runs the newest Android 4.0.1 platform, known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus took its inaugural bows in the United Kingdom last month, and is now available from Canadian network operators Bell and Virgin Mobile. Fellow wireless carrier Rogers also tweeted that the Galaxy Nexus would debut on its Canada-wide network in January.

"Samsung's ongoing collaboration with Google has resulted in a next generation smartphone that has both superior functionality and a stunning user-experience," said Samsung Electronics Canada Vice President Paul Brannen.

Verizon Wireless announced last October that the Galaxy Nexus would be coming to its superfast 4G LTE network, and just last week said the "anxiously awaited" smartphone would be "coming soon." The device will be the first Nexus smartphone model offered by Verizon Wireless.

Panasonic to launch smartphone next year

Panasonic Corp will launch a smartphone in Europe next year, the latest Japanese maker to tiptoe late into a fiercely competitive market dominated by Samsung Electronics and Apple.

The move comes six years after Panasonic abandoned overseas sales of its feature phones, and weeks after its president, Fumio Ohtsubo, said he was slashing television production in a bid to speed up the ailing firm's planned shift from consumer electronics to environmental and energy technology.

Panasonic will launch a new Android model in Europe in March, later expanding to the United States and Asia, with a view to selling 15 million units in the year to March 2016, 9 million of those abroad, the company said.

"We are well aware of our powerful competitors," said Toshinori Hoshi, head of the company's mobile communications unit. "However, market shares are changing dramatically and if we launch into this fast-changing market, we believe we have a chance of a hit."

The company is targeting only a tiny percentage of a market that research firm IDC expects to grow 55 percent to 472 million units this year and hit 982 million units in 2015.

Despite such robust market growth, even heavyweights such as Taiwan's HTC Corp, the world's No.4 smartphone maker, are struggling to compete, while South Korea's LG Electronics Inc last month announced a $945 million rights issue to fund a revival of its own loss-making smartphone business.

A force to be reckoned with in mobile phones when the domestic market was booming, Panasonic admits it failed to spot the market potential for smartphones at first. It did not launch its first smartphone models in the domestic market until this year.

"It's not a surprise that they're going overseas, but their presence is weaker than it was a few years ago in mobile phones and the whole company is not as strong as it once was," said analyst Keita Wakabayashi of Mito Securities in Tokyo.

Rival Sony Corp is also stepping up its efforts to build share in smartphones, buying out Ericsson's half of their phone joint venture for 1.05 billion euros, and is seen as having a better chance of success.

"They (Sony) can just about claim they are a global player, although they're the smallest, which is something no other Japanese phone manufacturer can say," Wakabayashi said.

Panasonic's new phone, featuring a 4.3-inch OLED screen, has yet to be named, the company said. It will be aimed at businesspeople aged in their 30s and 40s, it said.

Verizon to roll out 4G LTE Droid Xyboard Tablets

Verizon Wireless said that it will be rolling out two high-speed tablets from Motorola Mobility for use on its 4G LTE network later this month. Called the Droid Xyboard 8.2 and Droid Xyboard 10.1, the new models are less than 9mm in thickness and weigh 13.9 oz and 1.3 lbs, respectively.

Sporting magnesium-reinforced bodies and aluminum housings, the 8.2-inch and 10.1-inch Droid Xyboard tablets will first ship with Android 3.1, also known as Honeycomb. The tablets will be upgraded next year over-the-air to Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

The other good news for Verizon's enterprise-class customers is that both Xyboard tablets integrate a number of business-friendly features. Among other things, the tablets feature "device encryption, VPN, remote device management and feature blocking," said Motorola Mobility spokesperson Kira Golin.

"This is also the first tablet with 3LM software, which enables a powerful level of control and security over the device," Golin said.

Tablet Features:
Both of Motorola's tablets ship with Active Sync for work e-mail, contacts and calendar. The mobile devices also will arrive with apps aboard that are squarely aimed at business professionals, such as Quickoffice HD for document editing and creation, Citrix GoToMeeting for collaboration and productivity, and Google Talk for videoconferencing.

The Droid Xyboard 10.1 also has been optimized for use with a stylus that ships with the device to enable business professionals to make notes or mark up documents by writing directly on the device's screen. A wide range of accessories such as multiple docking options and a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard with integrated track pad make it even easier to work while on the go.

The Droid Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1 are equipped with high-definition, 1080-pixel displays protected by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass as well as a coating of water-repellent nano-particles.

Under the hood, both devices integrate 1.2 GHz dual-core processors, 1 GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera that doubles as an HD camcorder and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera in support of two-way enterprise videoconferencing.

Beyond offering a full range of cellular radios from standard GSM to 4G LTE, the Droid Xyboard sports Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1 radios, together with an infra-red transmitter. Wired connectivity options include separate MicroUSB and USB 2.0 HS ports as well as a HDMI connector for interfacing with compatible high-definition displays and other home entertainment gear.

Entertainment Options:
For prosumers who wish to use their tablets for both work and play, the Droid Xyboard tablets also offer a range of multimedia entertainment enhancements. For example, both devices arrive preloaded with a universal remote control app called Dijit.

On the audio side, Motorola's new tablets deliver a virtual surround sound experience. Also on tap is MotoCast - an app that will enable users to remotely access the non DRM-protected music, photos, videos and documents stored on their hard drives at home or work.

Verizon's Droid Xyboard 8.2 models with 16 GB and 32 GB of storage will be priced at $430 and $530, respectively. Verizon will also offer three Droid Xyboard 10.1 models with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB storage priced at $530, $630 and $730.

All five Droid Xyboard offerings require two-year Verizon service commitments. Moreover, buyers will need to subscribe to one of Verizon's Wireless Mobile Broadband data plans, which range upward from $30 per month for 2 GB of data.

However, prospective buyers should keep in mind that it won't take them long to run through 2 GB of data on Verizon's 4G LTE network. According to the carrier, users can expect web browsing speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps.

US court bars RIM from using BBX trademark

Software company Basis International Ltd said a U.S. federal court in Albuquerque has granted a temporary restraining order against Research in Motion, barring the BlackBerry maker from using Basis' BBX trademark.

The court decision bars RIM from using the BBX trademark at its Asian DevCon conference on December 7-8 in Singapore.

However, RIM appeared to backtrack on using the trademark.

"RIM doesn't typically comment on pending litigation, however RIM has already unveiled a new brand name for its next generation mobile platform. As announced at DevCon Asia, RIM plans to use the 'BlackBerry 10' brand name for its next generation mobile platform," RIM said in a statement.

BBX, the operating system that Research In Motion is counting on to revive its BlackBerry franchise, has run into trouble even before the company could install the system in its smartphone line.

Albuquerque-based Basis International claims the "BBX" name is protected by trademarks it holds and had earlier threatened to take legal action against RIM unless it stopped using the moniker.

Basis said RIM had refused requests to stop using the moniker at the DevCon conference, which resulted in the company filing for the temporary restraining order.

Verizon Wireless to block Google Wallet in new phone

Verizon Wireless is blocking Google's new flagship phone from supporting Google's attempt to make the smartphone the credit card of the future.

In blocking the Google Wallet software from running on the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Verizon Wireless said that it was waiting to provide a wallet application until it can offer "the best security and user experience." Verizon and rivals AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA are part of a consortium called ISIS that is planning its own payment system.

Google confirmed that Verizon had asked it not to include the wallet function in the Galaxy Nexus phone, due out soon.

The new smartphone is the latest iteration of the Nexus line, which showcases new features and capabilities for phones running Google's Android software. In this case, the phone is the first to run a new version of Android, called "Ice Cream Sandwich."

The previous Nexus phone, sold by Sprint Nextel Corp., is the only phone yet to work with the Google Wallet application. That means the phone can be used to pay in some stores, by tapping it to payment terminals. Sprint is not part of ISIS.

Phone companies have generally had veto rights on the features sported by the phones they sell. Because of the clout Apple Inc. has gained by making the world's most popular smartphone, it has been able to dictate terms to them. Google doesn't have the same leverage.

Examinations by Wired and other publications reveal that the international version of the Galaxy Nexus has the "Near-Field Communications" chip necessary to run Google Wallet. It's unclear whether the U.S. version will be lacking the chip or whether it will simply be blocked from running the Wallet application. Samsung Electronics had no immediate comment.

Google and Verizon Wireless united in 2009 to push Android phones as the major alternative to the iPhone. Verizon Wireless' "Droid" advertising campaign set the tone, to the extent that many people still call all Android phones "Droids." The Google-Verizon Wireless relationship has cooled this year, as the carrier started selling the iPhone.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

RIM devalues Playbook Inventory by $485 Million

Research In Motion said that it will record a $485 million charge on the inventory valuation of the company's BlackBerry PlayBook tablets when it reports results for its third business quarter later this month. "A number of factors have led to the need for an inventory provision in the third quarter," said RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

However, RIM has no intention of emulating HP, which quickly sold off its remaining TouchPad tablet inventory and abandoned the market last August. The BlackBerry maker's goal is to dramatically increase the number of PlayBooks in the hands of more customers by cutting prices.

The PlayBook inventory write-down is merely the first page in RIM's new playbook for more effectively competing with lower-priced tablet models such as Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire and the new $249 Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble. RIM is also aware that delays in the release of the new PlayBook OS 2.0 software featuring more advanced capabilities has hindered the BlackBerry tablet's immediate sales prospects at the old price.

Lazaridis said RIM remained committed to the PlayBook platform and believed the tablet market was still in its infancy.

"We believe the PlayBook, which will be further enhanced with the upcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 software, is a compelling tablet for consumers that also offers unique security and manageability features for the enterprise," Lazaridis said.

By reducing the PlayBook's retail price, RIM hopes to drive the development of a vibrant application ecosystem in advance of the launch of its upgraded BlackBerry smartphones. However, the PlayBook's sales prospects - even at sharply reduced prices - are limited because of the relatively few applications and multimedia entertainment options available for the current PlayBook platform.

Even with the special promotions, RIM said that it only sold 150,000 PlayBook units to retailers and distributors during the business quarter which ended on Nov. 26. On the other hand, RIM said its own internal numbers indicate that the actual sell-through to consumers was even higher as distributors presumably moved to clear their store shelves.

Still, it remains unclear whether RIM's new PlayBook strategy will put into play enough units to encourage software developers to create more apps for the company's PlayBook OS 2.0 platform, which is expected to launch in February.

iPhone gets banned in Syria

Syrian authorities have targeted the iPhone in their latest efforts to block protestor’s ability to communicate. The Apple smartphone has officially been singled out for a countrywide ban.

Pro-democracy activists are being served with notices by the Syrian Finance Ministry’s Customs Department which state: “The authorities warn anyone against using the iPhone in Syria,” according to a Lebanese news service named Al Nashara. Owning as well as importing iPhones is banned and the penalty is confiscation and prosecution.

An activist said, “It is enough for any tourist or guest visiting Syria to own an iPhone to be a spy suspected.”

The Syrian government hopes to prevent activists from recording government violence against protesters. Foreign media have already been banned from covering events in the country since March. It’s not clear whether the ban extends to other smartphones with cameras, but Macgasm proposes that the iPhone was targeted due to a new application named Souri Wa Bas that helped connect and boost morale among regime fighters.

The protests in Syria began early this year, escalating into a full blown uprising in March. The people are asking for a regime change, democracy and wider freedoms including speech and assembly. According to the United Nations, since March more than 4,000 have died in relation to the protests. Syrian authorities have since used a variety of tactics to suppress the discontent electronically, including a counter Facebook propaganda movement and going so far as to enact a countrywide internet black out.

“Steve Jobs must be turning in his grave on learning that his iconic device is banned in his home country,” an activist pointed out, though the Apple co-founder was born in California. However, Jobs’ biological father, Abdulfattah “John” Jandali, happens to be Syrian born. Jandali has uploaded a video to YouTube in support of the Syrian people.

Zynga to raise about $1 billion in IPO

Hoping to harvest some fresh cash, the online game company behind "FarmVille" said that it plans to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering of up to 100 million shares.

Zynga Inc. is the latest in a spate of IPOs by Internet companies this year, ranging from professional networking service LinkedIn Corp. to the online deals site Groupon Inc. They're all precursors to Facebook's public debut expected sometime after April next year. Facebook could fetch as much as $10 billion in its offering.

Zynga, whose games are played mainly on Facebook, plans to sell its shares at $8.50 to $10 each. If the shares are priced at $10, Zynga will be valued at $7 billion based on the number of its total shares. That's a smaller valuation that the company's shares have traded recently on SharesPost, a secondary stock exchange used to trade the stock of privately held companies. There, a recent trade valued Zynga at $11.7 billion.

The company expects to sell 14.3 percent of its available stock, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's a relatively high "float," which could give investors confidence that the company isn't trying to artificially inflate its value. Groupon raised some concerns when it sold just 5.5 percent of its outstanding stock. Though not unprecedented, the amount was below that of many prominent tech companies, such as Google (7.2 percent), Amazon (12.6 percent) and LinkedIn (8.2 percent).

The offering gives investors the option to buy an additional 15 million shares to cover over-allotments, bringing the total number of shares for sale to 115 million.

Newly-public tech companies aren't always a hit after their initial offering. Shares of Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc., are trading below their IPO price and Groupon is slightly above and has fluctuated wildly. Unlike those two, however, Zynga is profitable. The company makes most of its revenue by charging small amounts of money for virtual items in its games. Players pay for new crops in "FarmVille," for example, or new buildings in "CityVille," its most popular game.

The company plans to use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes such as game development, marketing and other expenses. It also plans to use part of it for its philanthropic venture, Zynga.org.

Zynga has about 2,300 employees. It was founded in 2007 by CEO Mark Pincus. Following the IPO, Pincus will continue to be the sole holder of Zynga's Class C stock, each share of which carries 70 votes. After the offering, Pincus, 45, will control about 36.2 percent of the total voting power at Zynga through Class B and Class C shares he owns.

Companies often split their stock into different classes to keep control of the decisions about the company in the hands of founders and early employees. But having a class of shares carry 70 votes is unusual - about 10 is more common.

Sharp to bring world’s thinnest 12.1 MP CMOS camera

The race to pack as many megapixels into the most pocket-friendly products has been heating up for awhile. While camera manufacturers have their work cut out for them, the smartphone industry has also taken notice. Picture quality has become important to smartphone users, which makes sense given that the iPhone 4 is one of the most popular cameras on Flickr.

And now Sharp has fueled the fire with the announcement that it has developed the world’s thinnest 12.1-megapixel CMOS camera module. The RJ63YC100 measures in at 11x11x5.47 millimeters and packs image-stabilization, a backlit sensor, standard AF, and full 1080p HD video capture.

The best part is we don’t have to wait: this isn’t some product that Sharp is testing and is simply showing off. Mass production of 100,000 units a month will begin in January.

One of the largest hardware pieces in smartphones is the camera module, and if Sharp’s product is as capable as it sounds, we could easily be seeing thinner phones in the near future. According to some new rumors, Apple and Sharp could be striking a business relationship for manufacturing parts. While this speculation was specific to the fabled iTV, it could spill over into iPhone camera parts.

Sony Bravia TV goes social with firmware update

Released within a firmware update for Europe and Asia, Sony added widgets that enable Bravia TV owners to check updates on Twitter and Facebook as well as improve the quality of YouTube videos. With the new Facebook widget, Bravia owners can log into an active Facebook account and pull up a feed similar to the design of Facebook Mobile on a smartphone or other mobile device. Besides scrolling through various status updates from friends, users can view photos and videos in high definition in addition to opening URL links, posting status updates and sending messages to friends.

Bravia owners also have access to the Twitter Ticker in the new update. Similar to a ticker on a national news network like CNN, Twitter updates from followed users scroll across the bottom of the screen while watching television. The widget also ties into the Track ID function built into Bravia televisions. When a user hears a song they would like to identify and press the Track ID button on the remote control, the track title and artist is identified and the user has the option of sharing the track with Twitter followers.

The YouTube improvement allows Bravia owners to watch the high definition version of YouTube videos and Sony claims to have included image-enhancing technology to clean up the video quality.

Another addition includes a program called “Remote Keyboard Lite” that allows users to enable a PC to control actions on the television screen. For instance, a Bravia owner could use a laptop to type out a Facebook status update while watching a movie. While no date has been announced for these new features to reach all Bravia owners in the United States, customers in Europe and Asia can download the update through an Internet connection on the television or download the update on a USB drive to load manually onto the Bravia television.

Google working on Amazon Prime challenger

Rumor is spreading about a move Google may be making into Amazon’s realm. The search giant supposedly wants to set up a service that would allow customers to receive products bought online within the same day. The service would charge a low fee.

WSJ cites that big retailers such as Macy’s, Gap and OfficMax have already been approached. A Macy’s spokesperson acknowledged Google’s pitch to the company, but declined to state whether those in charge had made any decisions. Some retailers have expressed interest in the idea.

Google reportedly plans on attaching this new quick-shipping service to Product Search, a comparison shopping feature which aggregates deals and directs shoppers to retailer websites, rather than selling the products directly to consumers. The speedy shipping would be made possible using the information on inventory which retail partners already share with Google. Product Search would allow shoppers to see whether a product is in stock nearby and whether that product could arrive in the same day or the next. Supposedly, Google has approached UPS and other courier companies to partner with them on the project.

This move would definitely be a challenge to Amazon and its Prime product, which is a service charging $79 annually that offers fast shipping for Amazon shoppers. Prime has been very good to Amazon, boosting its sales by 42% this year. Not only would Google be venturing into Amazon’s Prime space, Google has its eye on the ad revenue lost to Amazon’s product search domination.

According to WSJ, the shipping service may be launched in the next year. Google hopes the move will garner more ad-money earned from its Product Search feature, but critics believe the venture may be too expensive. The Product Search feature was recently updated, adding more information to products and offering an easier, more intuitive experience to online shoppers.