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Sprint iPhone could launch before Christmas, analyst says

Posted on July 7, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

On Wednesday, Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin said that an iPhone launch on Sprint is ever more likely since Verizon Wireless’ announcement that it will move from unlimited data plans to tiered data pricing on July 7th. According to Barron’s, Yin believes that Apple will be more compelled than ever to launch a device on Sprint, given that it’s the last remaining of the big four U.S. wireless carriers to offer a truly unlimited data option. “We believe Sprint could capture more than its fair share of iPhone sales, especially if it gets the new model at the same time as AT&T and Verizon.” Yin explained. “We see little reason for Apple to hold back,” he argued, noting that Sprint most likely would attempt to launch the device before the holiday season this year. “[Sprint] could offer an attractive proposition for more price-conscious users (a demographic we think is increasingly important to Apple following the rise of Android,” he said. “[It] could be a relatively stronger seller than the Verizon iPhone.”

via Sprint iPhone could launch before Christmas, analyst says.

Posted in Breaking News, Interesting, iOS | Leave a comment

Facebook announces Skype-powered video chat

Posted on July 7, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Facebook on Wednesday took the wraps off of the latest major addition to the world’s most popular social network: video chat. Through a partnership with Skype, Facebook video users will now be able to video chat with each other through the company’s new service… for free. The service works just like Skype’s standard video calling service, but video calls can be initiated right from within the Facebook website with a simple click. “A few months ago, we started working with Skype to bring video calling to Facebook,” Facebook wrote on its blog. “We built it right into chat, so all your conversations start from the same place. To call your friend, just click the video call button at the top of your chat window.” Facebook video calling will roll out to all users over the next few weeks.

via Facebook announces Skype-powered video chat.

Posted in Breaking News, Interesting | Leave a comment

Diet Soda May Be As Bad For You As Regular Soda

Posted on July 6, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Kelly Hodgkins —Oh noes, a study presented at the American Diabetes Conference suggests diet soda is as bad for you as regular soda. It can make you fat and put you at risk for diabetes, stroke and heart disease. Flipping fantastic. The statistics from this study are depressing. The researchers followed 474 diet soda drinkers for ten years and found that their belt size expanded 70% more than those who avoided diet soda. Even as little as two diet sodas a day caused the waistline of the soda drinkers to grow 5 times more than the non-drinkers in the study. Why do you get so fat when the drinks are calorie free? Sharon Fowler of the UT Health Science Center at San Diego says it may involve artificial sweeteners and how they trigger your appetite. Drinking a diet soda could make you hungry, but without the sugar, you dont get any satisfaction from the drink. Artificial sweeteners could also interact with your brain and prevent you from feeling full. Alone or combined, these effects could cause you to eat more than your should. The only solution to this diet soda dilemma is to drink water. Ice cold water and lots of it. [Health Freedom Alliance]

via Diet Soda May Be As Bad For You As Regular Soda.

Posted in Breaking News, Interesting, [ STR ] | Leave a comment

Is Apple So Far Ahead Because They Use Tech From the Future?

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

An anonymous Quora post posited a solid theory as to why the iPhone and the iPad seem to so handily beat out the competition every year. Its because Apple can get their guts literally years before anyone can even respond. Heres what he or she had to say: What Apple does is use its cash hoard to pay for the construction cost or a significant fraction of it of the factory in exchange for exclusive rights to the output production of the factory for a set period of time maybe 6 – 36 months, and then for a discounted rate afterwards. This yields two advantages: 1. Apple has access to new component technology months or years before its rivals. This allows it to release groundbreaking products that are actually impossible to duplicate… 2. Eventually its competitors catch up in component production technology, but by then Apple has their arrangement in place whereby it can source those parts at a lower cost due to the discounted rate they have negotiated with the now most-experienced and skilled provider of those parts – who has probably also brought his production costs down too…

via Is Apple So Far Ahead Because They Use Tech From the Future?.

Posted in Interesting, iOS | Leave a comment

Dilbert Gets Smartphones: Battery Life or Dropped Calls

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

If you’re the tech guy or gal in your workplace you’ve probably been asked “What phone should I Get” more than you can remember. While the Android vs. iPhone and AT&T vs. everyone else competition has gotten better Dilbert nails the eternal Smartphone conundrum.

If you’ve taken on the role of smartphone adviser for friends, family and coworkers you’ve been in the same situation. Unfortunately, too many potential smartphone owners think there is a go-to phone that their favorite geek can recommend. It would be nice if that were the case, but with dozens of Android devices and numerous carrier options and plans, the only easy question is – “Do you want to be angry about your dropped calls or angry about your poor battery life?”

If you do want some help picking a new smartphone, check out our Top 5 Android phones for June and What you can buy instead of an iPhone 5.

Which do you choose?

via Dilbert Gets Smartphones: Battery Life or Dropped Calls.

Posted in Humor, [ STR ] | Leave a comment

Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon — Tech News and Analysis

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Alexander Lukashenko is no fan of the internet. True, the President of Belarus, widely seen as the last remaining dictator in Europe, dislikes many things — democratic opposition, for one. But he reserves a special place for the Web. In the past he’s railed against the “anarchy” of the Internet. More recently The Economist reported that his attitude towards the rebels of the online world leans on familiar stereotypes — he described Internet users as nothing more than deluded teenage rebels: “16 or 17 years old, a cigarette dangling from his lips and a girl under his left arm”.

This weekend, however, Lukashenko took things a step further by cracking down on protesters who organized themselves online, and pushing his statewide ban on Facebook, Twitter and the popular Russian social networking site Vkontakte. Why? Because he is worried that young people are using it to try and give momentum to their political protests. Claiming that opposition to his regime is being run by foreign countries, he told AFP that the opposition in Minsk “is using social networks to call for strikes. I will watch and observe — and then whack them in such a way that they won’t even have time to run across the border.”

via Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon — Tech News and Analysis.

Posted in Interesting, [ STR ] | Leave a comment

Saver for iPhone hits the App Store | TiPb

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Alex Solonsky’s new expense tracker, Saver, has just hit the App Store.

Beautifully designed, intuitive user interface
Make entries on the go with big, easily-accessible buttons and fields
Choose from 15 most useful categories
Specify your entries by using built-in or custom tags. Attach notes and photos
View, edit, and search with ease. Search results can be filtered and sorted
Check detailed spending history per week, month, or entire year
Visualize your expenses via beautiful graph-report
Full calendar for easy date selection
“Backup and restore” protects you from data loss
World currencies. See the full list on our website
Works as standalone app. No pricy desktop software required
High-resolution graphics. iOS4 and Retina display friendly
Passcode protection for your privacy

I am a sucker for a stunning UI, and this app does not disappoint. Saver adds a surprising amount of beauty to the hideous and depressing task of tracking my expenses.

Saver is launching at $2.99. Screenshots after the break.

via Saver for iPhone hits the App Store | TiPb.

Posted in iOS | Leave a comment

15 million iPhone 5 units said to be on order for September launch

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Apple has reportedly placed an order for 15 million iPhone 5 units with Chinese electronic manufacturer Pegatron. Pegatron’s plants underwent a major expansion in 2010 and 2011 to accommodate Apple’s supply needs for the current iPhone 4 model, so the company had been seen as a likely candidate to receive orders for Apple’s next smartphone. Referring to the handset as both the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4S, DigiTimes reports that shipments are scheduled to begin in September. The report also states that the upcoming iPhone refresh “does not seem to have any major update from iPhone 4.” Conflicting reports suggest that the next-generation iPhone could either be a major upgrade or an incremental update packed in the same case as the iPhone 4.

via 15 million iPhone 5 units said to be on order for September launch.

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Sony to launch PlayStation 4 in 2012, report claims

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Sony’s manufacturing partners will begin building the consumer electronics giant’s next-generation video game console toward the end of this year, with a launch scheduled for 2012, DigiTimes reports. Details surrounding Sony’s PlayStation 4 are very limited for the time being, but the report states that the new console will feature integrated movement-based controls similar to the Microsoft Kinect controller. Foxconn and Pegatron, the two manufacturing firms charged with assembling Sony’s PlayStation 3, will build the new console according to DigiTimes’ sources. 2012 shipment volume for the PS4 is said to be at least 20 million units. Sony’s PlayStation 4 was not expected to launch until 2013 or 2014, but with Nintendo’s Wii U launching next year and Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox due to be unveiled in 2012 as well, it is possible that Sony accelerated the new console’s development in order to remain competitive. Sony’s current PlayStation 3 console has sold more than 51 million units globally since its launch in November 2006.

via Sony to launch PlayStation 4 in 2012, report claims.

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HP Just Sold a Bunch of iPads

Posted on July 5, 2011 by StevenTorresRamos

Life isn’t fair. We all know that. Or at least we should. For Tablet makers you could argue that it is not just unfair, but cruel and unusual punishment. Apple has such an long lead in terms of its iPad in so many categories, it is almost like they need to need to somehow prohibit Apple from selling the damn things before they have a chance. Wait a minute. I think Samsung tried and failed at that.There are two things at play here. First, everyone trying to play the game is so anxious, and I hope so passionate, about what they have created that they seem to have developed collective blind spots as to what the iPad offers. Second, gadget bloggers and reviewers are doing what comes naturally and writing their reviews comparing new Tablets like HP’s TouchPad with point for point comparisons to the iPad. You can say that is unfair. You’d probably be right. But it is what it is.In reading over a list of reviews this morning the biggest conclusion I can draw is that HP just unwittingly sold a bunch of iPads. The reviewers pretty much unanimously have said that this first webOS Tablet doesn’t stack up or can’t be recommended by comparison. But HP, like others, had its own hand on the trigger of the gun pointed at its foot.