The Mirror

Should Techies Trump All Others In Immigration Reform?

theodp writes "In an open letter on TechCrunch, Vivek Wadhwa calls on Congressman Luis Gutierrez to lift his 'hold on Silicon Valley' and stop tying immigration reform for highly-skilled STEM immigrants to the plight of undocumented immigrants. So, why should the STEM set get first dibs? 'The issues of high-skilled and undocumented immigrants are both equally important,' says Wadhwa, but 'the difference is that the skilled workers have mobility and are in great demand all over the world. They are getting frustrated and are leaving in droves.' Commenting on Gutierrez's voting record, Wadhwa adds, 'I would have voted for visas for 50,000 smart foreign students graduating with STEM degrees from U.S. universities over bringing in 55,000 randomly selected high-school graduates from abroad. The STEM graduates would have created jobs and boosted our economy. The lottery winners will come to the U.S. with high hopes, but will face certain unemployment and misery because of our weak economy.' So, should Gutierrez cede to Wadhwa's techies-before-Latinos proposal, or would this be an example of the paradox of virtuous meritocracy undermining equality of opportunity?"

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Open Spectrum Does Not Mean Free Internet

CowboyRobot writes "FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recently proposed making RF spectrum publicly available, and many in the media (including the Washington Post) have been mistakenly conflating open access to WiFi signal with free Internet access; anyone can put up a wireless access point but that doesn't give them access to the Internet. The proposal will probably mean more attempts at providing free Internet access to specific neighborhoods or municipalities, but as Larry Seltzer at NetworkComputing points out, these programs also usually forget that access to signal is not the same as access to the Internet. After getting the funding to wire a city, these isn't money left to pay for the actual bandwidth usage."

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When 1 GB Is Really 0.9313 Gigabytes

An anonymous reader writes "When it comes to RAM, as every geek knows, 1 GB does not mean 1 billion bytes.. it means 2**30 (1,073,741,824) bytes. However, several decades ago "they" decided that GB, MB, and KB would be interpreted differently when it comes to disk drives; 1 GB means exactly 1 billion bytes. Ed Bott points out that Microsoft's marketers and Windows kernel developers aren't on the same page when it comes to these units: the marketers use the more generous decimal interpretation, while Windows measures and reports capacity using the binary (2**30) measure. Careful customers who bother to check what they've got have been known to get peeved by the discrepancy."

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How To Sneak Into the Super Bowl With Social Engineering

danielkennedy74 links to an instructive story captured on video introduced with these words: "Sneaking in near press/employee access points without going thru them, zigzagging through corridors, and once carrying a box so someone opens a door for them, two jokers from Savannah State University social engineer their way into Super Bowl XLVII for the most part simply by looking like they belong." USA Today has a slightly longer article.

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Australian Govt Forces Apple, Adobe, Microsoft To Explain Price Hikes

An anonymous reader writes "Live outside the U.S.? Tired of paying huge local price markups on technology products from vendors such as Apple, Microsoft and Adobe? Well, rest easy, the Australian Government is on the case. After months of stonewalling from the vendors, today the Australian Parliament issued subpoenas compelling the three vendors to appear in public and take questions regarding their price hikes on technology products sold in Australia. Finally, we may have some answers for why Adobe, for example, charges up to $1,400 more for the full version of Creative Suite 6 when sold outside the U.S."

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Widespread Compromise Of Yahoo-Backed Email In New Zealand

First time accepted submitter Bitsy Boffin writes "Xtra, the largest ISP in New Zealand, which outsources email provision to Yahoo, has in the last two days been subject to a widespread email compromise, causing potentially thousands of accounts to send spam messages to every address in their webmail address books. Discussion at Geekzone centers around this potentially being a continuation of the Yahoo XSS exploit. While Telecom NZ, the owners of Xtra internet service provider indicate that the problem was "resolved", reports of spam from its members continue unabated. Telecom NZ are advising those affected to change their passwords."

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Mega Vulnerability Reward Program Starts Payouts: 7 Bugs Fixed In First Week

An anonymous reader writes "If you're a hacker or a security researcher, this is a reminder that you don't have to take on Google's or Mozilla's software to get paid for finding a bug. In its first week, the Mega vulnerability reward program has already confirmed and fixed seven bugs, showing that Dotcom really does put his money where his mouth is. Although Mega hasn't shared how much money it paid out in the first week, how many bug submissions were made, or even who found which bugs, the company did briefly detail the discovered security holes. It also confirmed that the program is here to stay and urged those participating to find more severe bugs."

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Surface Pro Sold Out; Was It Just Understocked?

TechCrunch is one of the many outlets to report that Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet computer sold out on its first day of wide availability. Business Insider points to Reddit threads complaining that "selling out" was largely a product of not having all that many in stock to begin with, in some cases not even enough to cover pre-ordered devices.

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Apple Said To Be Working On a 'Watch-Like Device'

The WSJ reports that Apple is "experimenting with designs for a watch-like device that would perform some functions of a smartphone, according to people briefed on the effort." An excerpt: The company has discussed such a device with its major manufacturing partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., one of these people said, as part of explorations of potentially large product categories beyond the smartphone and tablet. Apple's efforts come as companies have introduced various kinds of wearable gadgets, mainly designed to measure physical activity. More sophisticated devices face big technical challenges, but also are attracting investments from large technology companies. Foxconn, as Hon Hai is also known, has been working on a spate of technologies that could be used in wearable devices, one of these people said. In particular, the Taiwan-based company has been working to address the challenges of making displays more power-efficient and working with chip manufacturers to strip down their products."

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Corn Shortage Hampers US Ethanol Production

drdread66 writes "A nationwide corn shortage brought on by last year's drought has started to curtail ethanol production. While this shouldn't be surprising to anyone, it raises public policy issues regarding ethanol usage requirements in motor fuel. Given that the energy efficiency of ethanol fuel is questionable at best, is it time to lift the mandate for ethanol in our gasoline?"

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Should the Start of Chinese New Year Be a Federal Holiday?

First time accepted submitter CarlosF writes "Does Lunar New Year belong alongside those other red-letter days? Efforts to recognize Lunar New Year at the state and local level have been afoot for years. In 1994, San Francisco decided to close public schools on Lunar New Year, but this was largely a response to demographic reality rather than political pressure."

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Over the Antarctic, the Smallest Ozone Hole In a Decade

hypnosec writes "The ozone layer seems to be on a road to recovery over Antarctica; according to Europe's MetOp weather satellite, which is monitoring atmospheric ozone, the hole over the South Pole in 2012 was the smallest it's been in the last 10 years. The decrease in size of the hole is probably the result of reduction in the concentration of CFCs, especially since the mid-1990s, because of international agreements like the Montreal Protocol."

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What To Do When an Advised BIOS Upgrade Is Bad?

Bomarc writes "Twice now I've been advised to 'flash the BIOS to the latest,' once by a (major) hard drive controller maker (RAID); once by an OEM (who listed the update as 'critical,' and has removed older versions of the BIOS). Both times, the update has bricked an expensive piece of equipment. Both times, the response after the failed flash was 'It's not our problem, it's out of warranty.' Given that they recommended / advised that the unit be upgraded, shouldn't they shoulder the responsibility of BIOS upgrade failure? Also, if their design had sockets rather than soldering on parts, one could R/R the faulty part (BIOS chip), rather than going to eBay and praying. Am I the only one that has experienced this type of problem? Have you been advised to upgrade a BIOS (firmware); and the upgrade bricked the part or system? If so, what did you do? Should I name the companies?"

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Facebook Sued By Rembrandt IP For Two Patent Violations

An anonymous reader writes "Ars is reporting that the patent-holding company, along with the heirs of Dutch programmer, Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer (deceased 2004), have filed suit against Facebook for violating two patents relating to social media web sites. The two patents in question were filed for back in 1998, a full four years before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first entered university at Harvard. Among the claims made in the lawsuit is that Facebook's "Like" button violates one of Van Der Meer's patents. Facebook even cited one of Van Der Meer's patents in one of their own filings later on. The suit seeks unspecified damages."

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Six Months Without Adobe Flash, and I Feel Fine

Reader hessian six months ago de-installed the Adobe Flash player on all of his browsers, probably a prudent move in light of various recent vulnerabilities. "This provoked some shock and incredulity from others. After all, Flash has been an essential content interpreter for over a decade. It filled the gap between an underdeveloped JavaScript and the need for media content like animation, video and so on." But it turns out that life sans Flash can still be worth living. Are there things you rely on that make Flash hard to give up?

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GNU Hurd To Develop SATA, USB, Audio Support

An anonymous reader writes "Hurd, the GNU micro-kernel project that was founded by Richard Stallman in 1983, may finally be catching up with Linux on the desktop... Plans were shared by its developers to finally bring in some modern functionality by working on support for Serial ATA drives, USB support, and sound cards. There are also ambitions to provide x86-64 CPU architecture support. GNU Hurd developers will be doing an unofficial Debian GNU/Hurd 'Wheezy' release this year but they hope for the Debian 'Jessie' release their micro-kernel in Debian will make it as part of some official CDs."

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Rapiscan's Backscatter Machines May End Up In US Federal Buildings

McGruber writes "The Federal Times, a weekly print newspaper published by Gamnett Government Media Corp, is reporting that the Rapiscan Systems 'backscatter' passenger screening machines used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration will likely be redeployed to federal buildings. Rapiscan System's backscatter machines have exposed passengers to radiation since they were first installed. As previously reported on Slashdot, TSA decided last month to stop using the machines because the manufacturer was unable to make changes to the machines that were mandated by Congress. Now TSA is attempting to sucker another federal agency into taking the nude-o-scopes."

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Eric Schmidt To Sell Up To 42% of Stake In Google

derGoldstein writes "AllThingsD reports that Eric Schmidt 'plans to sell up to 3.2 million shares of his class A common stock in the company,' according to an SEC filing. 'The amount is equal to approximately 42.1 percent of his overall stake in Google.'"

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Brookstone Rover 2.0 SpyTank Teardown

An anonymous reader writes "Like the Roomba and other hackable consumer electronics, the Brookstone Rover 2.0 looks like a great value for hackers and robotics experimenters. Check out this teardown and another link within for lots of pics and info."

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Judge Invalidates 13 Motorola Patent Claims Against Microsoft

walterbyrd writes "Microsoft scored a victory against Google-owned Motorola Mobility this week after a judge scrapped 13 of the latter party's patent claims in a years-long dispute over H.264-related royalties. Waged in U.S. and German courts, the battle involves three patents (7,310,374, 7,310,375, and 7,310,376) that Motorola licenses to Microsoft for several products, including the Xbox 360, Windows and Windows Phone. PJ is commenting on the case over at Groklaw.net."

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John E. Karlin, Who Led the Way To All-Digit Dialing, Dies At 94

First time accepted submitter g01d4 writes "Who was John E. Karlin? 'He was the one who introduced the notion that behavioral sciences could answer some questions about telephone design,' according to Ed Israelski, an engineer who worked under Mr. Karlin at Bell Labs in the 1970s. And you thought Steve Jobs was cool. An interesting obituary in the NYT."

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How a Chinese Hacker Tried To Blackmail Me

An anonymous reader writes "Slate provides the first-person account of a CEO who received an e-mail with several business documents attached threatening to distribute them to competitors and business partners unless the CEO paid $150,000. 'Experts I consulted told me that the hacking probably came from government monitors who wanted extra cash,' writes the CEO, who successfully ended the extortion with an e-mail from the law firm from the bank of his financial partner, refusing payment and adding that the authorities had been notified. According to the article, IT providers routinely receive phone calls from their service providers if they detect any downtime on the monitors of network traffic installed by the Chinese government, similar to the alerts provided to telecom providers about VoIP fraud on their IP-PBX switches. 'Hundreds of millions of Chinese operate on the Internet without any real sense of privacy, fully aware that a massive eavesdropping apparatus tracks their every communication and move...' writes the CEO. 'With China's world and ours intersecting online, I expect we'll eventually wonder how we could have been so naive to have assumed that privacy was normal- or that breaches of it were news.'"

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Egyptian Court Wants To Block YouTube For a Month

First time accepted submitter rogue-girl writes that a "Cairo Administrative Court announced earlier on Feb. 9 that a ruling has been issued to block YouTube within the country for 30 days. This decision comes after a lawsuit was filed back in September 2012 during the turmoil caused by the infamous trailer 'The Innocence of Muslims' spread through the popular video platform. The Court has also asked for all websites having published parts or the entire trailer to be banned for 30 days."

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Canadian ISP Fights Back Against Copyright Trolls

An anonymous reader writes "Distributel, an independent Canadian ISP, has fought back in a file sharing lawsuit by opposing a motion to disclose the names of subscribers alleged to have engaged in file sharing. The company did not oppose a similar request in November 2012, but says in court documents filed on Friday that several factors led to a change in position after it received another request for more names. Those concerns include evidence of copyright trolling, privacy issues, and weak evidence of actual infringement by its subscribers. The decision to fight back points to mounting ISP frustration in Canada with file sharing lawsuits that come after the Canadian government sent clear signals that such actions were unwelcome."

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Samsung Laptop Bug Is Not Linux Specific

First time accepted submitter YurB writes "Matthew Garrett, a Linux kernel developer who was investigating the recent Linux-on-Samsung-in-UEFI-mode problem, has bricked a Samsung laptop using a test userspace program in Windows. The most fascinating part of the story is on what is actually causing the firmware boot failure: 'Unfortunately, it turns out that some Samsung laptops will fail to boot if too much of the [UEFI] variable storage space is used. We don't know what "too much" is yet, but writing a bunch of variables from Windows is enough to trigger it. I put some sample code here — it writes out 36 variables each containing a kilobyte of random data. I ran this as an administrator under Windows and then rebooted the system. It never came back.'"

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Europees breedband sneuvelt in bezuinigingsdrift

Eurocommissaris Neele Kroes kan haar ambitieuze breedbandplannen wel vergeten. Kroes krijgt in het gekorte EU-budget slechts 1 miljard euro van de meer dan 9 miljard die ze wilde.

Bedrijven blokkeren iOS na Exchange-problemen

Een bug in de nieuwe versie van iOS leidt tot verstopping op Exchange-servers. Bedrijven zijn daarom overgegaan op het blokkeren van iPads en iPhones om getroffen servers te ontlasten.

Intel: 'packet of death' komt door moederbord

De 'packet of death' die een bepaalde Gigabit-controllerchip van Intel platlegt, is niet te wijten aan die fabrikant. De oorzaak is volgens de chipmaker het gebruikte moederbord.

Asus geeft Windows 8 rug-aan-rug scherm (foto's)

Asus komt met een combinatie tablet-Ultrabook die is uitgerust met een dubbel scherm. De Taichi21 kan daardoor van twee kanten bekeken én bediend worden.

'Cook was tegen Jobs' Samsung-oorlog'

Apple-ceo Tim Cook wou Samsung niet aanklagen, wat zijn voorganger Steve Jobs wel heeft gedaan. Cook deinsde terug omdat Samsung een kritieke componentenleverancier is.

Google waarschuwt in Myanmar voor staatshackers

Google waarschuwt een groep journalisten die actief zijn in Myanmar dat hun e-mailaccounts aangevallen worden door staatshackers.

Java krijgt tweede lading kritieke patches

Java krijgt komende week een tweede lading patches voor kritieke beveiligingsgaten. Dit zijn de oorspronkelijk geplande patches, die zijn uitgesteld door noodpatches.

Ook Windows struikelt over UEFI-bootfout Samsung

Samsungs implementatie van BIOS-opvolger UEFI levert niet alleen Linux problemen op. Ook met Windows kan een Samsung-notebook worden gebrickt.

KORT: 'Surface Pro uitverkocht door beperkte oplage'

In het kort: De Surface Pro is uitverkocht, negatief advies omtrent iOS 6.1 en Australië eist uitleg van Apple, Microsoft en Adobe.

Yahoo pusht Java uit 2008 naar websitebouwers

Yahoo pust een sterk verouderde Java-versie naar websitebouwers die de tool SiteBuilder willen gebruiken. De dienst vereist Java 6, update 7 uit 2008, ontdekte beveiligingsonderzoeker Brian Krebs.

Hackers whitelisten malware met certificaat van beveiliger

Hackers hebben bij een aanval op het netwerk van beveiligingsbedrijf Bit9 één van de certificaten van het bedrijf in handen gekregen. Daarmee is vervolgens malware gesigneerd.

Nederlandse familie daagt Facebook in patentzaak

Een Amerikaanse patentopkoper en het Nederlands softwarebedrijf en familie van de overleden ontwikkelaar Jos van der Meer eisen erkenning en eventueel geld voor gepatenteerde sociaal netwerkprincipes.

Eric Schmidt verkoopt 42 procent van zijn Google-aandelen

Google-topman Eric Schmidt verkoopt 42 procent van zijn aandelen in het internetbedrijf.

Geheime dienst VS onderzoekt hack mail familie Bush

De Secret Service doet onderzoek naar de hack van mailboxen van gezinsleden van de ex-presidenten Bush. Daardoor lekte onder meer een geschilderd naaktportret van George W. Bush uit.

Nieuwe phishing met html-mail gericht op ABN Amro-klanten

Een nieuwe phishingaanval richting ABN Amro-klanten werkt via een html-bijlage met een formulier om gegevens in te vullen.

Geen login meer nodig voor bewerken Skydrive-documenten

Documenten die via Skydrive worden gedeeld zijn voor ontvangers voortaan ook zonder inloggen op een Microsoft-account te bewerken.

Nederlandse pc-markt krimpt sneller dan wereldwijd

De Nederlandse pc-markt is in 2012 met 11 procent gekrompen. De daling gaat in ons land flink sneller dan het wereldwijde gemiddelde van min 3,5 procent.

5 reddende Microsoft-investeringen

Ophef over Microsofts miljardenlening aan Dell om de beurs te verlaten op zoek naar strategische groei. Maar Microsoft heeft vaker strategisch zijn chequeboek getrokken. 5 verrassende investeringen.

Digitaal examen straks ook op de Mac mogelijk

Examens maken op de Linux en de Mac wordt binnenkort ook mogelijk voor scholieren in het voortgezet onderwijs. Het huidige computersysteem voor het afnemen van examens wordt dan vervangen.

'Google moet alle Europese uitgevers compenseren'

Nu Belgische en Franse uitgevers geld krijgen van Google moet de webgigant ook over de brug komen bij andere uitgevers. "Alle aggregators zoals Google moeten betalen."

PRX Relaunches Its iPhone App, Now Lets You Download All Your Favorite Public Radio Programs

The Public Radio Player app for the iPhone has been a round for a while now, but today, Cambridge-based Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is relaunching the app with a revamped visual design, new interface and, maybe most importantly, the ability to download episodes of shows so you can listen to This American Life, Radiolab, Car Talk or any of the other more than 1000 public radio programs and podcasts offline.

Hearst Is Revamping All Of Its Online Magazines With A Responsive, Personalized Design

Over the next few months, all of Hearst Digital Media's titles are getting a new look. Tom Smith, Hearst's vice president of technology and strategy, told me that the whole company is switching to a new publishing platform, which incorporates both responsive design and personalization. The first two magazines to make the switch are RoadandTrack.com and TownandCountryMag.com. (Other Hearst titles include Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, Good Housekeeping, and Esquire.)

DISH’s Hopper With Sling Whole-Home DVR Now Available Nationwide, Following CES 2013 Awards Controversy

DISH today formally announced the nationwide launch of its Hopper with Sling DVR device, which allows users to record their favorite shows for later viewing, skip ads and also download DVR'd content to their iPad for offline viewing. The Hopper, which incorporates technology from partner Sling Media, Inc., was recently at the center of a controversy around the 2013 CES "Best of Show" Awards.

Nomi Raises $3M To Help Retailers Understand Their Customers, Online And Offline

Nomi, a startup led by former executives from Salesforce.com and Buddy Media, has raised $3 million in seed funding led by First Round Capital. Additional investors in the round include Greycroft Partners, SV Angel, Forerunner Ventures, Ralph Mack, Dave Tisch, Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn, and Mass Relevance CEO Sam Decker.

After Growing Revenue 270% Last Year, Personalization Startup Sailthru Raises $19M From Benchmark, Adds Bill Gurley To Board

Personalization startup Sailthru has been growing rapidly, with revenues increasing 270 percent over the last year. With that in mind, the company has raised $19 million in new Series B financing led by Benchmark. Along with the funding, the company is adding Benchmark general partner Bill Gurley to its board of directors.

Online Education Is Replacing Physical Colleges At A Crazy Fast Pace

Educators knew the online revolution would eventually envelop the physical classroom, but a torrent of near-revolutionary developments in the past month are proving that change is coming quicker than anyone imagined. In just 30 days, the largest school system in the U.S. began offering credit for online courses, a major university began awarding degrees without any class time required, and scores of public universities are moving their courses online. The point at which online higher education becomes mainstream is no longer in some fuzzy hypothetical future; the next president's Secretary of Education will need an entire department dedicated to the massive transition.

With Dual Mice And Collaboration In Any Window, YC’s Screenhero Gives WebEx And Screen Sharing Apps A Run For Their Money

We all love the idea of being able to connect and work with people in our always-online day and age, but ironically, when it comes to document collaboration, a lot of the software designed to aid in that -- WebEx, GoToMeeting and the rest -- is actually more geared to presenting rather than actually letting people work together on things, in real time, or focused on documents within a particular platform, like Google Docs. Enter Screenhero. Part of the current batch of Y-Combinator startups, Screenhero is launching with a way of letting two (and potentially more) people work on documents, or even each other's computer desktops, in possibly the easiest way to date, by simultaneously giving each collaborator an independent cursor and mouse, and complete control over a document, as if it were his or her own.

Cars.com And BP-Owned Castrol Put $13M Into Online Marketplace For Auto Repair, RepairPal

RepairPal, a marketplace for auto repair, has raised $13 million in funding led by Cars.com and Castrol innoVentures, the venture arm of Castrol, BP-owned developer of lubricants for engines and machines. This is the first technology investment for Castrol. RepairPal has raised $20 million to date.

Video Distribution Startup Rightster Buys Content Marketing Platform Preview Networks To Push Its YouTube Services Across Europe

A spot of acquisition news in Europe's digital video distribution space. Rightster, a U.K. video distribution and monetisation startup has made its first acquisition -- buying European content marketing platform and movie trailer distributor, Preview Networks, for an undisclosed sum. Rightster said the acquisition will bolster its global YouTube Multi Channel Network footprint.

Swrve Launches Targeted In-App Messaging To Get Games Players Reaching For Their Wallets

Dublin and San Francisco-based Swrve, which offers an in-app direct marketing platform aimed at mobile games developers or anybody making or responsible for marketing an app, has launched SwrveTalk to enable in-app marketing messages to be sent to users on a targeted and measurable basis. It can be employed to do things like cross-promote other titles in a portfolio or to improve conversion of time-limited in-app purchase offers, and so on.

Magma Venture Partners Completes $100M+ Third Fund Fundraising — Taking Its Total Fund Size To $300M+

Israeli early stage high-tech startup VC fund Magma Venture Partners, whose current portfolio includes online video-editing software developer Magisto, mobile analytics company Onavo, and navigation app maker Waze to name three, has completed fundraising on its third fund -- Magma III -- exceeding its target of $100 million. Magma said it manages more than $300 million to-date.

Yardsellr, The “eBay For Facebook,” Becomes The Latest Casualty In Social & Local Commerce

In the fall of 2011, we caught up with social commerce startup, Yardsellr, which the founders claimed at the time had grown into a community of over 5 million people. The Facebook-based social commerce platform was listing 6K new items for sale each day (at the time) and had over 120K items for sale in total. This, by the way, came after the company raised $5 million from Accel in 2010. However, at the time, only 175K of its 5 million users were active on the site each month -- a number, which in retrospect, might have rung a bell. Last week, in a blog post, Yardsellr announced that it would be shutting down operations in the next 60 days.

The Top Mobile Games Are Grossing More Than 4X What They Were A Year Ago, GREE’s Dharni Says

After a couple early stumbles in building out a mobile gaming platform in the West, GREE did a bit of a pivot with its San Francisco office over the last year. Initially set up after the $104 million acquisition of mobile gaming network OpenFeint, the office is now entirely geared toward building first-party games. It’s a turnabout for the $3.5 billion Japanese gaming company, which built its business in astonishingly short eight years through being a major feature phone gaming platform. (Yes, eight years is short in Japan where the culture can be averse to risky, new entrepreneurial ventures.) They aimed to replicate that success as a dual game developer and platform in the West with a few big-ticket acquisitions. But now it appears that the U.S. arm is just doing games for now. “We’re pretty singularly focused on content,” said Anil Dharni, GREE’s senior vice president of studio operations, in an interview from the company’s Mission Bay offices. “The platform — whenever it’s ready for the U.S. market — will get integrated later. The produce spirit and guidance had to happen from Japan.” Dharni was one of the co-founders of Funzio, which GREE bought last year for $210 million. That change was a bit of a difficult one, with layoffs for several U.S.-based platform focused employees. More senior GREE managers who came over with the OpenFeint acquisition like Eros Resmini recently left to pursue other opportunities. It came around a tough earnings quarter for GREE, which saw net profit actually decline year-over-year on the back of a tougher regulatory environment around game mechanics in Japan. Dharni said that all of Funzio’s four founders are still working at GREE. (That’s unlike what happened with OpenFeint, which saw its original CEO Jason Citron leave not long after the acquisition closed to work on other projects.) “Even if you look at the attrition rate from the ex-Funzio guys, overall it’s gone really well,” Dharni said. “All four founders are here and they have pretty significant chunks of responsibility in terms of product.” Some Funzio employees were affected by the recent layoffs however. Like many other game developers on the iOS and Android platforms, GREE is trying to prove that it’s not so vulnerable to the hits-driven nature of the business by having a network of users that’s so large that it can cheaply distribute games of its own or of other developers.

Apple, Microsoft, Adobe Called By Lawmakers To Defend Higher Prices In Australia

Three American companies-Apple, Microsoft and Adobe-have been summoned by the Australian Parliament to explain why they charge higher prices Down Under than in other countries.

Using Antonyms To Understand The Difference Between The Cloud And Everything Else

The difference between new and not-so-new technology has a way of revealing what is elastic and dynamic compared to what is rigid and static. It's not a measure of which technology is considered good or bad. It simply represents the progression from client/server technology to the Internet-scale, data-driven services that are gaining such momentum.

Visual How-To App Snapguide Passes 1M Uniques, Snaps Up YouTube Designer, And Gears Up For Growth

Daniel Raffel says that when he started work on the app that eventually became the how-to platform Snapguide, people advised him to make a “food guide” app (he has worked as a chef so might naturally gravitate to that vertical). He resisted, possibly because he had a bigger ambition in mind: “My goal is to inspire people to make things that they might otherwise buy,” he told me in a conversation earlier this week. In an online/offline world filled with lots of ways to consume just about anything you want, wherever and whenever you want, Snapguide is one of those places that runs counter to that, and its flavor of DIY -- delivered via a series of mobile-friendly, photographic and video-led how-to guides covering everything including crafts, makeup, cars, and -- yes -- food, is growing.

Menlo’s Shervin Pishevar And Goldman’s Scott Stanford Leave Their Day Jobs To Do Something Really Vague, By Design

Menlo Ventures' Shervin Pishevar and Goldman Sachs managing director Scott Stanford have left their day jobs to build a new venture called Sherpa. The creation of the firm, which was first reported by AllThingsD, is designed around a new model for building and creating companies through a mix and match of strategic corporate partnerships and working with well-known entrepreneurs.

A Dell Was Gotten, Dude

The year was 2004. I had just graduated college and my old Gateway mini tower PC was on its last legs. I was about to move out to California to begin my life. My parents asked what I wanted as a present before I left. But they already knew the answer. Dude, I was getting a Dell. I went online and customized the hell out of an Inspiron 8600. The price tag was well over $3,000. The thing was a beast. If computers came with hemi engines, this would have had one. When the fans kicked on it sounded like a space shuttle launch. It was thick enough to stop a bullet. It just about as portable as a Microsoft Surface — the original kind. It had a retina-searing red cover. I was in heaven.

The Future Of Fractional Ownership

The sharing economy is great, but if we're talking about true efficiency, it seems to me that we're going to need to go a step beyond just the owner-renter model for the collaborative consumption market, and into an area that's based on fractional ownership of goods.

Apple Reportedly Developing A Curved Glass Smart Watch

Both The New York Times Bits blog and the Wall Street Journal have reported that Apple is currently developing a smart watch. According to anonymous sources, the company is experimenting with "wristwatch-like devices made of curved glass" that would operate on Apple's iOS platform in its Cupertino headquarters.

Mood lighting to cook by

The Faber Arkea range hood features internal LED lighting that can bathe the kitchen in a different light.

Charge your phone with a cold beer

The Epiphany One Puck project on Kickstarter is looking to charge up your phone by harnessing the power of hot and cold drinks.

Originally posted at Crave

Hamilton Beach Bowl Scraper Food Processor lends a hand

The Hamilton Beach 70730 Bowl Scraper Food Processor features a quick and easy mechanism to help cooks get consistent results.

Dyson's new $1,500 Airblade Tap tested in hands-on video

CNET UK's Luke Westaway gets his mitts washed, and then dried, by Dyson's fancy new bathroom tap.

Originally posted at Crave

The beverage pitcher that works for you

The Primula Flavor It Beverage System 3-in-1 Infuser Pitcher is designed for relaxing. The slow-moving kitchen gadget does all the work.

Breakfast sandwich maker puts it all together

The Hamilton Beach 25475 Breakfast Sandwich Maker cooks popular favorites like egg, ham, and cheese English muffin sandwiches. The kitchen gadget features a sliding mechanism for automatic construction.

Toaster tries to go in a new direction

The Adjustable Bread And Sandwich Toaster looks like an ordinary toaster. The included sandwich basket makes it different.

Peanut butter on the kitchen countertop

The Nostalgia Electrics NBM400 Peanut Butter Maker is a fun and easy way to make homemade peanut butter.

Stay connected with your Zuvo Stratus kitchen faucet

The Stratus by Zuvo Water combines a water filtration system and specially designed faucets with a smartphone app.

Cook fast or slow at the push of a button

The Breville BPR600XL Fast Slow Cooker is designed for slow cooking or pressure cooking. The device streamlines cooking processes with a simple-to-use interface.

Mouse Maker Scurries Away From PCs Toward iPad Future

Logitech will rely on design and speed to make the transition from the PC world to one dominated by tablets and smartphones.

Touch Me I'm Carbon

With the rather obviously named ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch, Lenovo brings its flagship ultrabook into the Windows 8 era, adding a touchscreen to the package but leaving most of the rest of the device unchanged.

Shapeways' 3-D Printing Factory Tour Reveals the Handmade Future

When we talk about 3-D printing, we emphasize its seamlessness and ease of use. It's easy to overlook the number of steps between sending in a CAD file and getting the result delivered to your home. We'd like to show you how Shapeways makes ideas real.

Alt Text: Chinese Hackers Are Responsible for Everything Wrong With My Life

Nobody is safe from the barrage of attacks from Chinese hackers, who are surely to blame for everything currently going wrong, including this article.

Homeland Security Delays Plan to Place Sensors on U.S.-Mexico Border

The U.S. government's plan to spend millions on advanced new ground sensors at the Mexican border has been delayed, as the sensors have bandwidth and frequency problems the feds haven't resolved.

Solving Parking Woes, One App at a Time

Smartphone apps have given us an arsenal to make our lives easier, but they have yet to conquer the most stress-inducing, wallet-draining, and logistically complex ailment any urbanite with a car faces ? parking.

Google X Head on Moonshots: How 10X Is Easier Than 10 Percent

Here is the surprising truth: It?s often easier to make something 10 times better than it is to make it 10 percent better. Yes ? really. Here?s how.

Things We Love: Valentine Edition

Every once in a while, something comes a long that ingrains itself into our lives until we can't imagine how we got along without it. Here are 12 such items.

150 Boom Boxes and the Best Dance Party You've Never Been To

150 synced boom boxes plus one backpack FM transmitter plus six guys in banana suits plus one Canadian plus one "Tom" equals the best party you've never been to.

Wired Science Space Photo of the Day: Wings of the Seagull Nebula

This image shows the intricate structure of part of the Seagull Nebula, known more formally as IC 2177. These wisps of gas and dust are known as Sharpless 2-296 (officially Sh 2-296) and form part of the ?wings? of the celestial bird. This region of the sky is a fascinating muddle of intriguing astronomical objects ? a mix of dark and glowing red clouds, weaving amongst bright stars. This new view was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO?s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Indie Game Devs Delight Pirate Bay and Reddit With Disappearing Torrent

Over the weekend a torrent of a new game was uploaded to The Pirate Bay and to the delight of observers was greeted with a positive attitude from its creators. One of the guys behind 2D game Anodyne cheerfully posted free codes to his creation and as a result received upvotes on Reddit and votes for inclusion on Steam. As the news spreads today, nobody seems to have noticed something very unusual. The torrent has mysteriously disappeared.....

Source: Indie Game Devs Delight Pirate Bay and Reddit With Disappearing Torrent

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

The top 10 most downloaded movies on BitTorrent are in again, 'Wreck It Ralph' tops the chart this week, followed by 'Gangster Squad'. 'Skyfall' completes the top three.

Source: Top 10 Most Pirated Movies on BitTorrent

Music Pirates are Cheapskates, Some of Them

New data on actual music spending in the UK shows that on average music pirates spend less than regular buyers of digital music. The figures are being touted by the UK music industry to show that file-sharers are cheapskates, but those who take a careful look at the numbers will notice that the labels forget to make an important reservation. Let's lift the curtain of spin to see what's really going on.

Source: Music Pirates are Cheapskates, Some of Them

Is ‘Pirate DRM’ Really the Best Response to Bulk DMCA Takedowns?

Over the past few months there has been greater and greater pressure applied to Usenet-related sites and services, with some being forcibly shut down and others closing out of fear. Some have closed their doors to new members in an attempt to improve security but now another phenomenon is raising its head. In order to hinder bulk anti-piracy takedowns, some communities have resorted to techniques that feel a bit like DRM.

Source: Is ‘Pirate DRM’ Really the Best Response to Bulk DMCA Takedowns?

FBI Employees Download Pirated Movies and TV-Shows

BitTorrent is used by millions of people every day, even in places where you wouldn't really expect. New data suggests that employees at the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division are sharing movies and TV-shows with the rest of the world. Is the FBI gathering information on BitTorrent users, or could it be that the feds harbor in-house pirates?

Source: FBI Employees Download Pirated Movies and TV-Shows

Pro File-Sharing Professors ‘Hunted Down’ by the Copyright Lobby

When professor of multimedia Roger Wallis took the stand during The Pirate Bay trial in 2009, he had to endure several personal attacks. Movie and music industry lawyers did their best to discredit Wallis' reputation and research. In the Pirate Bay documentary TPB AFK the professor says that these attacks are not unique, and that pro-file-sharing researchers are "hunted down with a whip" by pro-copyright forces.

Source: Pro File-Sharing Professors ‘Hunted Down’ by the Copyright Lobby

TPB AFK: Watch and Download The Pirate Bay Documentary NOW

TPB-AFK, the documentary about The Pirate Bay and its founders, is finally out. The film has been in the making for four years and follows the lives of the three Pirate Bay founders during their trials in Sweden. TPB-AFK is the first film to premiere both online and at a major film festival, and can be downloaded and shared for free.

Source: TPB AFK: Watch and Download The Pirate Bay Documentary NOW

Hollywood Asks Kiwi Prime Minister for Better “3 Strikes” Anti-Piracy Deal

A briefing has revealed that Hollywood summoned New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to meetings in the United States to discuss his country's "3 strikes" anti-piracy law. The system is currently operational but after lobbying hard for its implementation the studios have refused to use it, claiming that the costs of sending notices to infringers are too high. They told Key that although they have great respect for the scheme, they now need a discount to make it work.

Source: Hollywood Asks Kiwi Prime Minister for Better “3 Strikes” Anti-Piracy Deal

Warner Bros. Targets Kim Dotcom’s Mega With Bogus DMCA Requests

In a bogus DMCA request Warner Bros. has asked Google to remove several links to Kim Dotcom's cloud hosting service Mega. Not only did the movie studio send in the wrong URLs, they also failed to note that Mega download links aren't indexed by Google to begin with. Adding to the controversy, Warner Bros does not appear to have sent Mega a direct takedown request for the infringing content in question.

Source: Warner Bros. Targets Kim Dotcom’s Mega With Bogus DMCA Requests

Annoy Apple With a Torrent Client For Your Jailbroken iPhone or iPad

Earlier this week the Evad3rs dev team pleased the Apple world by releasing their most complex jailbreak yet. Their amazing and super-simple tool allows anyone to run unsigned code on their iOS6 firmware in a matter of minutes, smashing Apple's control over what can and cannot be installed on their devices. BitTorrent apps are completely outlawed by the Cupertino outfit, but a new version of a torrent client released this week bypasses those restrictions.

Source: Annoy Apple With a Torrent Client For Your Jailbroken iPhone or iPad

Google sluit YouTube-deal met Freesat

Google heeft een overeenkomst gesloten met de free-to-air-satellietaanbieder Freesat voor het aanbieden van YouTube. Hierdoor kan de zoekgigant YouTube-content gaan aanbieden via Freesat-settopboxen met een netwerkaansluiting.

Ouya begint eind februari met beoordelen apps

De op Android 4.1 draaiende gameconsole Ouya, die vanaf juni te koop moet zijn, krijgt een onlinewinkel voor games. Vanaf eind februari beoordeelt Ouya games die door ontwikkelaars aan de winkel worden toegevoegd onder meer op inbreuk op intellectuele eigendom.

Epic sluit Kingdoms of Amalur-ontwikkelaar Impossible Studios

Ontwikkelaar Epic Games sluit Impossible Studios. Bij Impossible Studios werkt het grootste deel van het personeel van Big Huge Games, de studio die in 2012 rpg Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning afleverde. Die opzet werkte niet voor Epic, stelt oprichter Tim Sweeney nu.

ADV: IT'ers willen sneller groeien

Wil jij werken in een omgeving waarin jouw snellere groei centraal staat? Bij Accenture werk je samen met de meest getalenteerde collega's met 'cutting edge' technologieën aan uitdagende projecten voor de top van het (internationale) bedrijfsleven. Stuur je LinkedIn profiel naar Accenture en ontdek jouw mogelijkheden.

MAME is beschikbaar in de App Store

De iOS-app Gridlee, een port van een MAME-game uit 1982, blijkt een volledige emulator te herbergen. Apple weert emulators normaal gesproken uit de App Store, maar in dit geval blijkt de vermomming te hebben gewerkt.

Nederlanders klagen Facebook aan om patentschending

De nabestaanden van een Nederlandse internetpionier hebben een Amerikaanse patentbureau in de arm genomen om Facebook aan te klagen. De sociale-netwerksite zou twee patenten hebben geschonden, waarvan er een betrekking heeft op een 'digitaal dagboek'.

W. Axl Rose verliest zaak tegen Activision om Guitar Hero III

In een voorlopige uitspraak stelde een Amerikaanse rechter Guns N' Roses-zanger W. Axl Rose al in het ongelijk. De eis van de zanger is nu definitief afgewezen. De zanger eiste 20 miljoen dollar van uitgever Activision, maar diende zijn eis te laat in, oordeelde de rechter.

Aanwijzingen voor nieuwe Wolfenstein-game komen online

In de cv van geluidsman Julian Beeston stond dat hij bij ontwikkelaar MachineGames aan een Wolfenstein-game heeft gewerkt. De studio is in 2010 gekocht door ZeniMax Media, het moederbedrijf van id Software, en werkt aan een game op basis van id Tech 5.

Microsoft wil Windows 8-apps laten draaien op Windows Phone

Microsoft wil Windows 8-applicaties in de toekomst zonder porten laten draaien op Windows Phone-toestellen en Windows Phone-apps moeten zonder aanpassingen draaien op Windows 8 en Windows RT. Dat blijkt uit een vacature van Microsoft.

'Privacy elektronisch patiëntendossier is niet gewaarborgd'

Onderzoekers van het medisch-onderzoeksinstituut Nivel, dat patiëntendossiers verzamelt voor onderzoek, krijgen daarbij zoveel privégegevens binnen dat de dossiers naar individuele personen kunnen worden herleid. Dat schrijft De Telegraaf.

ADV: IT-NEXT is terug

Het TV programma IT-NEXT is terug voor het derde seizoen. Deze keer laten we zien hoe het overstappen naar een cloud-platform, bedrijven gereed maakt voor de toekomst. We gaan op bezoek bij de gemeente Breda, Winvision, Saasplaza en Talpa. Vier bedrijven die allemaal de eerste stappen gezet hebben richting de cloud. >>

Australië eist uitleg over dure producten Microsoft en Apple

Het Australische parlement heeft Microsoft en Apple opgedragen uitleg te komen geven over de prijzen die de bedrijven in dat land rekenen. Ook Adobe moet om die reden uitleg komen geven. In Australië betalen klanten veel meer dan in de thuislanden van de drie bedrijven.

Mega brengt Firefox-extensie uit

Cyberlockerdienst Mega heeft voor de Firefox-browser een add-on uitgebracht. Met de extensie zouden Mega-gebruikers sneller kunnen downloaden en zijn er niet langer beperkingen aan de maximale bestandsgrootte.

Second Sight brengt oogimplantaat op de markt

Het bedrijf Second Sight heeft zijn oogimplantaat dat werkt met elektrische stimulatie een prijskaartje gegeven. Het apparaatje gaat per patiënt 73.000 euro kosten en is in Europa inmiddels beschikbaar.

Bethesda stelt toolkit voor Rage beschikbaar

Developer id Software heeft voor de game Rage een officiële softwarekit voor modders uitgebracht. De omvangrijke ontwikkelkit is beschikbaar via Steam en is bedoeld voor 'avontuurlijke en technisch onderlegde' game-modders.

Pluto moon names to be selected by public voting, we talk to astronomer Mark Showalter

P4 and P5 aren't the sorts of names that impart the manner of excitement space exploration companies and organizations are looking to inspire in the next generation of enthusiasts (nor the customers, philanthropists and tax payers destined to fund those explorations). The SETI Institute, a private non-profit, best known for its ties to the eponymous search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, is looking to add a little bit of audience participation to the act of naming Pluto's newly discovered moons, which sport those rather uninspired alphanumeric designations.

Beginning today, SETI will open up an online contest to name the moons, both of which were discovered via the Hubble Telescope fairly recently. As with the rest of the dwarf planet's moons, the organization's asking that the names be associated with Hades (the underworld), with ties to Greek or Roman mythology. SETI will pre-select candidates and is also allowing for write-in candidates (though it's retaining editorial discretion here, so, for better or worse, we're not likely to see a Baba Booey moon in the near future).

On a recent trip to the Bay Area, we had the opportunity to speak to Mark Showalter, the senior research scientist at the organization's Carl Sagan Center, an astronomer who played a key role in the discovery of the celestial bodies. You can check out that interview just after the break, before heading off to vote. Showalter is also co-hosting a Google+ Hangout with astronomer Hal Weaver today at 2PM ET.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: Pluto Rocks

Samsung-branded Qi wireless charging pad stops by the FCC for a dismantling

Samsung may be trying to usurp Qi's wireless-charging dominance, but for the moment it still has to play along with the de-facto industry standard. That's why the company has pushed this Qi-compatible wireless charging plate onto the green baize of the FCC's poker table, likely in preparation for a commercial release. Peel away the plastic and you'll find a beefy arc reactor electromagnet nestled at the heart of the device -- and since the Commission was kind enough to publish some pictures, we've thrown them into the gallery below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Samsung

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Source: FCC

Solavei becomes first US carrier to ship BlackBerry Z10, charges $999 for the privilege

We're pretty sure you've heard of the BlackBerry Z10 by now, but have you heard of Solavei? Let us jog your memory: Solavei is a virtual operator (MVNO) here in the US which rides atop T-Mobile's GSM / EDGE / UMTS / HSPA+ network and offers unlimited voice, SMS and data for $49 a month, contract free. The company further sweetens the deal with discounts when you sign up friends. As for the Z10, you probably know that it's already on sale in the UK and Canada but isn't supposed to land on US carriers until mid-March. Well scratch that, because starting today Solavei is teaming up with GSM Nation to bring Blackberry's flagship to its customers. We've confirmed with Solavei that pricing for the handset is a hefty $999 (unsubsidized, clearly). The company currently offers the ATIV S for $605, the Galaxy S III for $575, the Nexus 4 for $405 and the Ascend P1 for $391, to name a few. It also welcomes unlocked phones. Full PR after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Source: Solavei

Hasbro's Toy Fair 2013 booth tour: Transformers, Furby rockers, Iron Man and more

Oh, the wondrous experience that is Toy Fair. And that particular experience, as you may know, includes anything from NERF hoop games and foam fusillades, to boxing robots and itty-bitty, tinkering novelties. To make things even better, though, Hasbro was kind enough to invite us over to its 2013 showcase in NYC, where the prodigious toy maker was exhibiting some Furby amigos known as Party Rockers, Iron Man's Sonic Blasting figurine and Arc Fx Mission life-sized mask, a Sesame Street play-and-learning system for toddlers, as well as a Transformers Rescue Bots Beam Box which enhances the experience by allowing the toys to mesh into a game that can be played on a TV set. There was also a little Star Wars and Star Trek action, of course -- and the good news is you, too, can see it all, just head past the break to take a look at the vast gallery and a quick video showing off a few of Hasbro's new toys.

Filed under: Misc

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Source: Hasbro

YouTube channel coming to on demand Freesat party in March

Google's signed a deal to bring YouTube to Freesat, liberating users of the subscription-less service from the tyranny of needing an additional device. The BBC / ITV joint venture already has 60-odd channels and has now sold over 3 million boxes to 1.7 million viewers, who will be able to access the official YouTube addition through the main programming guide by the end of March. While details are scant, it'll presumably join ITV's player and the BBC iPlayer in the on-demand channel list, which require a compatible Freesat box (see coverage link below) and an internet connection. We're not sure how it'll look in the final guide, but the fanciful image above shows our best guess.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Google

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Via: TNW

Source: The Telegraph

Grammy Awards 2013 ads see Google and Microsoft go head-to... foot (video)

This year's Grammy Awards weren't as packed with gadget advertising -- gadvertising* -- as the Super Bowl, but Microsoft and Google still coughed up to hawk their wares. The former wanted to demonstrate the productivity chops of the Surface Pro with a commercial that implies the device will cause your employees to breakdance involuntarily. Google, on the other hand, wanted to show off the powers of the Nexus 4 and Google Now to help you distinguish between fish and vegetables, in case the smell isn't enough. Curious to know more? We've stashed the clips after the break.

* A term we just invented. Hollywood, call us.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Microsoft, Google

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Mahogany art deco 'heater' houses Intel Ivy Bridge fanless home theater PC

If you have certain interior design tastes, some types of PC case mods may not quite suit your decor. That's where Jeffrey Stephenson comes in, this time with a fanless home theater PC featuring an art-deco style Mahogany shell that slides right over the aluminum chassis. Inside, there's an Intel Core i3-3225 processor running Windows 8 with 8GB RAM, an Intel Cherryville SSD, 150W Pico PSU and Silverstone HE02 passive heatsink. While able to handily perform most media chores (and generate a little heat!), it stays in keeping with his other tasteful, retro designs for those of you who eschew Thermaltake Level 10-type PC cases. Or, almost all of you, anyway.

Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment, Intel

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Via: Fanless Tech

Source: Jeffrey Stephenson

Curiosity rover drills into Martian rock, looks for more evidence of water

NASA scientists won't have to wait until InSight's 2016 drilling mission to see what lies beneath the surface of Mars -- Curiosity is already on the case. After developing a taste for Martian soil late last year, the intrepid rover has started exploring the red planet's bedrock, drilling a 0.63 inch (1.6 cm) wide hole 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) deep into Mars' surface. Curiosity will spend the next several days analyzing the resulting powder in hopes of finding evidence of a once-wet planet. The shallow hole marks the first drilling operation ever carried out on Mars, and getting there wasn't easy. "Building a tool to interact forcefully with unpredictable rocks on Mars required an ambitious development and testing program," explained Louise Jandura, the chief engineer of the rover's sample system. "To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth." The Rover tested its drill by creating a shallower hole earlier this month, though samples will only be used from the second, deeper cavity. Check out the source link for more images of the operation, including an animated GIF of the drill in action.

Filed under: Misc, Transportation

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Via: Bloomberg

Source: NASA

How would you change Acer's Iconia Tab A700?

When we handed Acer's Iconia Tab to our tame tablet reviewer, they were bewildered by its 1,920 x 1,200 display. While it may have been easy to use, quick and lovely to look at, it was also a bit on the hefty side, with its meager battery not helping. So then, six months down the line, we're asking you to sound off about what you liked and loathed about this device, because we're fairly sure the Acers of this world are listening.

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Refresh Roundup: week of February 4th, 2013

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Updated: MWC 2013: What to expect

February is always the most exciting month of the year for mobile phone fans, as it's when the entire phone industry has a big, boozy party somewhere in Europe and shows off the new phones and tablets it'll be launching over the spring and summer.

The show has been dominated in recent years by the vast number of new Android models that continuously swamp the market, with the big players like HTC, Samsung and Sony using the event to thrill punters with their newest ranges.

Last year saw HTC unleash its impressive One series, LG debuted the Optimus 4X HD and even Nokia decided to go large at the tech event for once, showing off its bonkers 808 PureView model complete with 41MP camera.

In short, if you care about the mobile arms race, MWC is the most exciting time of the year.

Previously held in Barcelona's palatial Fira Montjuic halls, this year's MWC is switching venue to a less glamorous (but more convenient for stressed journalists and marketing managers) spot a little nearer the city's airport. And in a building twice the size. Imagine how many cheap Android tablets it'll be able to contain this year.

MWC 2013 kicks off on 25 February. We'll be there, sobbing into a laptop in an unlit corner somewhere. Here's what we're expecting to see from the big names of mobile.

LG

Back at MWC 2012, LG wowed attendees with the Optimus 4X HD, a powerful 4.7-inch phone that helped signal the start of the race to stick quad-core processors in mobiles.

It also showed off the Optimus 3D Max and the oddball Optimus Vu, but the less said about those the better, as with 2011's reveal of the original Optimus 3D.

As for 2013, LG's already carried out a bit of teasing, with an updated Optimus G expected to be shown at some point, and the maker using the recent CES event to announce plans to show off a "tier one" smartphone at MWC 2012.

Given that the original Optimus G was a quad-core monster that LG soon rebranded as the Nexus 4, any sequel arriving so soon is unlikely to be much of a leap above the first phone, as even in 2013 we'd still be impressed by a quad-core phone with a 4.7-inch display.

But has the Nexus 4 done enough to make LG a respected brand name and a major player?

Regardless of whether LG has done enough, the Korean firm is promising a "breakthrough will be made at MWC 2013", where a new range of devices will be announced.

There's not a huge amount to go on in regards to the new handsets, but rumours seem to suggest a reboot of the Optimus G (possibly the 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro) and some dual-SIM L-Style devices are on their way.

Sony

Sony's just announced a new flagship model at this year's CES tech show, so it's unlikely to have anything hugely new and exciting at MWC. But it will give the media a chance to play with its new Xperia Z, the exciting, quad-core, 5-inch monster the hardware maker is set to launch this March.

• Sony Xperia Z release date: when can I get it and where?

In fact, it looks like Sony's following the same hardware launch plan as last year. In 2012, the Xperia S was announced at January's CES event prior to MWC, with Sony using MWC to launch the Xperia P and U, a couple of smaller models based on the same design.

So pick a couple of letters of the alphabet Sony hasn't used yet (F and R are free), take an inch off the Xperia Z's screen size, and that's a good bet as to what Sony will have at MWC 2013.

HTC

HTC unleashed the One series of phones at last year's MWC, showing off the One V, One S and the glorious One X as it tried to reinvigorate its line up.

But in 2011 it disappointed us a little, showing minor upgrades of its old HTC Desire range, the awful Wildfire S and the niche Salsa and ChaCha models to a very, very quiet fanfare. In fact, it wasn't even a fanfare, just a mouse playing Three Blind Mice on the recorder.

2013, however, looks like being another good year for HTC, as we've already seen fairly concrete details of one of its new models leak.

We expect HTC to bring along its HTC M7 mobile, which, as we've previously seen, is believed to be a quad-core device with a 5-inch 1080p display and 13MP camera.

Loads of companies will be showing phones of a similar size and power level, but we'll always have a soft spot for HTC's lovely old Sense interface.

While the M7, now thought to be called the HTC One, will probably be at MWC 2013 the handset looks set to be officially launched beforehand on February 19.

Samsung

Samsung disappointed the nerds of the world last year, when it opted to announce its flagship Galaxy S3 model a couple of months later at its own private event. But even if it repeats that trick this year and doesn't show off the Galaxy S4, it's guaranteed to be bringing along plenty of other Android phones.

Last year Samsung underwhelmed us all by using MWC to announce the Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi, a Galaxy S2-styled media player, plus the rather odd and niche Galaxy Beam, complete with integrated media projector.

So either we see the Galaxy S4 and Samsung has a stormer, or it brings along some cheaper models and we write it off.

However, there's a small chance we may see something really exciting. Samsung's working on hardware powered by the new Tizen OS, a supposed Android rival that Samsung claims it'll be bringing to market some time in 2013. Good luck with that.

The latest news from the Samsung rumour mill is that we'll see a new tablet which will slide into the Note family, currently made up of the Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 10.1.

Reports suggest that the slate in question is the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, which will feature an 8-inch Super Clear LCD screen, 2GB of RAM, a 5MP camera and a 4,600mAh battery.

It looks like Samsung may be planning on going a bit tablet crazy at MWC 2013, with other reports suggesting it's readying a new range of slates to fall under the Galaxy Tab 3 banner.

We could see three tablets slide into this new family, with 7-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch models all making an appearance as the Korean firm looks to solidify its offering across the market.

Nokia

Nokia's had a wide selection of phones at last year's MWC, showing off the bonkers Nokia 808 PureView and its 41MP sensor, alongside the rather less exciting budget Windows Phone powered Lumia 610 and the high-end Lumia 900.

One Nokia-based rumour claims it's working on a slimmer update of the Lumia 920, which would use an aluminium body to reduce the weight of its hefty flagship phone. Nokia's traditionally preferred to show phones off at its own events, so it's hard to guesstimate whether it'll have new stuff at MWC or not. It's a maverick. It makes its own rules.

More rumours are pointing towards the famed 41MP camera landing on its first Lumia handset which is apparently code named Eos.

Huawei

Huawei's really made a name for itself in the UK over the last year, thanks to its winning budget Ascend G300 and the recent Ascend G330 update, plus the powerful Ascend P1.

At last year's MWC it announced the impressive looking Ascend D Quad, a 4.5-inch model in a slim 8.9mm case, alongside a 10.1-inch version of its MediaPad tablet. Neither of which made it to the UK officially, so we were left a bit disappointed by its commitment levels.

Huawei's also just announced a tasty pair of smartphones at CES in the form of the Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate, so it's likely to elaborate more on these at MWC 2013 rather than announce many new phones. It's recently stated "we will be launching two more exciting innovative products at MWC 2013," according to CEO Richard Yu.

It's likely to be the Huawei Ascend P2 if the leaks are to be believed, with a five inch phone and a quad core processor on the cards - or is that an octo-core processor instead?

RIM

MWC 2013 is going to be absolutely critical for RIM. The troubled BlackBerry maker is revealing its BB10 hardware and software at a standalone event at the end of January, so MWC will be a chance for the masses to properly fiddle with the new OS and the two phones it'll initially be running on.

Last year's MWC was a bit of a disaster for RIM. All it managed to show was the BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 OS update for the super-flop tablet. This year it ought to have significantly more buzz surrounding its presence, although it should have already announced the phones that will be running BB10 by the time we stumble off the plane onto Spanish tarmac.

ZTE

MWC 2013 should be another good year for the budget makers, as we're expecting to see bigger screens and more powerful processors hitting the cheaper end of the market.

Last year ZTE announced the ZTE PF112, a 4.5-inch device said to be running on the dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, but that pretty much sunk without trace and is yet to go on sale.

And the ZTE Era, a promising 4.3-inch quad-core model, is also missing presumed never to hit the UK.

One MWC 2012 phone that did arrive was the Mimosa X, which ZTE renamed the Grand X for the UK. It was a bit of a disappointing mid-range model that undid much of the maker's hype.

So don't get too excited by what the ZTE man is waving around, it might just be a balsa wood model that'll never see the light of day.

In fact, ZTE's started making its pledges for 2013 already, with the promising ZTE Grand S just announced at CES. It's another member of the 5-inch / 1080p / quad-core club, which ought to be a big winner... if it ever appears on the shelves.

It seems ZTE may have given the game away though with a couple of revealing hashtags which accompanied its press invite; #ZTEGrandMemo and #ZTEMozilla.

Rumours suggest the Grand Memo will be the Chinese firm's answer to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Huawei Ascend Mate, while the ZTE Mozilla could be the first handset to run the HTML 5 based Firefox OS.

Acer

Niche smartphone maker Acer always has a packed show stand, with the company using MWC 2012 to announce its Liquid Glow models, which were a vast improvement on the Liquid E and Liquid MT it took to MWC 2011.

Since then, Acer's launched a few decent mid-range Android models, like the CloudMobile and Liquid Gallant, although we'd expect to see it make more of a deal about its tablet ranges at MWC this year, seeing as that's where the Android hot money is going these days.

Asus

Last year's MWC was a big winner for Asus, which updated its winning Transformer tablet range with a couple of impressive quad-core models.

• 10 best tablets in the world today

But now, in 2013, flush from its success making the Nexus 7 for Google, we expect Asus to reveal something a little cheaper. Plenty of rumours have suggested it's planning a "$99" Android tablet, which may or may not end up on sale in Europe.

Asus also made a big deal of its PadFone hybrid at MWC 2012, which teamed a 4.3-inch phone with a bizarre 10-inch docking tablet display. Given the lukewarm reception that oddity received, we'll eat this crusty Dell keyboard if any more phone/tablet hybrids appear this year.

Keep it safe, Asus. People like safe.

Predicting the future with Facebook: Minority Report another step closer

A US security company has developed a product that mines data from social networks to secretly monitor any citizen and predict their movements, Minority Report style.

Raytheon is the multinational firm behind the Rapid Information Overlay Technology (RIOT), which uses information gleaned from Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla, among other networks.

In a video demonstration, the company's principal investigator Brian Urch showed how easily the software can analyse your past movements and use them to predict future ones.

Evil Google

Firing up a browser page that looks like an evil Google, he tapped the name of a staff member into the Riot browser, returning a host of social network-based results.

He then pulled out the staffer's check-ins which were instantly plotted on a map. Urch also explained that the software can plot locations pulled from uploaded photos' EXIF data.

Using RIOT, Urch told us that the best place to find this particular staff member was at the gym on a Monday morning, around 6am.

As well as location and photographical data, RIOT analyses your connections across networks and displays them in handy graphical format.

I predict a privacy riot

While Raytheon says it hasn't sold the RIOT program to anyone "yet", it did concede that the US government "and industry" have seen RIOT.

"Riot is a big data analytics system design we are working on with industry, national labs and commercial partners to help turn massive amounts of data into useable information to help meet our nation's rapidly changing security needs," Jared Adams, a spokesperson for the firm told the Guardian.

"Its innovative privacy features are the most robust that we're aware of, enabling the sharing and analysis of data without personally identifiable information [such as social security numbers, bank or other financial account information] being disclosed."

While the company positions itself as allowing a kind of "private" monitoring for the greater defensive good, it will no doubt leave many people feeling exposed.

Time to delete that Foursquare account?

Updated: 14 best graphics cards for every budget

AMD or Nvidia? Which is right for you?

These things can take time, but at last this generation of graphics cards has been pretty much finalised. AMD did its part early on, having almost its entire lineup sorted before the summer, while Nvidia has been dragging its heels like a schoolboy who's forgotten his homework.

The release of the GTX 650 Ti, though, marks the completion of this generation of cards, and despite the fact it's taken nearly an entire year to get to this stage, things have never looked so good for the consumer.

It's somewhat inevitable that every generation offers more power for less cash than ever before, but it's still surprising that a card you can buy for less than £100 will be able to deliver more than 30fps on average at full HD resolutions in the latest DX11 titles.

It's strange, then, that people are calling these the end times for the discrete graphics card, what with all the advances in integrated CPU graphics performance. For the end user though, us PC gamers, our rigs have never looked so sprightly.

• Why now's the time to go SSD

Being able to pick up mid-range cards with the sort of performance the high-end cards of the past few years could only wish for, is making our gaming experience the envy of the slavering console hordes.

Just look at the gaming shows of the past year, GamesCom and E3 especially. All the best-looking titles were being demoed on high-end PCs. Why? Because there's no way to get the games looking as good on the current generation of consoles.

With the next generation of those limited tech bricks not arriving until the tail-end of 2013, the PC has an entire year of even greater gaming dominance. And by then, chances are it's still going to hold the technological gaming advantage.

But what of right now? Who are the winners and losers in the great graphics arms race? We've lined up the full range of gaming-capable graphics cards of this generation and we'll tell you where the smart upgrade money should go.

2012 was a rather strange year in terms of graphics card releases. It all kicked off in a rather bizarre way just before Christmas 2011 when AMD 'launched' its HD 7970 - despite only actually having stock in January.

We could have understood AMD's desire to get the card in front of the tech press before Christmas if Nvidia was likely to have its brand new card out soon after, but the green team was a long way behind with its new GPUs - but we'll get back to that later.

Still, the new top-end card arrived and it was - somewhat inevitably given the lack of Nvidia competition - the fastest GPU around. But it was a brand new GPU architecture, in a year when AMD had also released a new CPU architecture with limited success.

That new architecture represented a strange flip in terms of the focus of each side's graphics card design. Rather than looking to continue with its standard, one-trick method of hitting gaming frame rates, AMD was now, with the Graphics Core Next chips, focusing on nailing compute performance. That had been Nvidia's route with the previous generation Fermi cards and now AMD was creating a very similar architecture to cope with the graphics engines of the day.

And then in March, Nvidia dropped the K bomb: Kepler hit the streets with the GTX 680. It's new 28nm architecture had almost switched sides with AMD - the Kepler GPUs focused more on raw graphics performance than the general compute-focused Fermi cards that came before it.

Where's my compute?

Nvidia has left a lot of the compute power out of the consumer-focused cards then, preferring instead to jam the extra silicon necessary for such general-purpose calculations into the Tesla series of professional cards.

That space-saving silicon design means the top consumer Kepler chip is an incredibly power-efficient graphics processor, with a TDP of just 195W compared to the 250W TDP of the competing Radeon HD 7970. Nvidia's Kepler GPU also introduced the Intel-aping GPU Boost, which dynamically ramps the GPU clock speed depending on the power usage and thermal envelope.

Now it was AMD's turn to play catch-up as it introduced the PowerTune Technology with Boost - which more or less did the same thing for its GPUs - later in the summer. In terms of raw graphics performance, the top two tiers of graphics cards - GTX 670/680 and HD 7950/HD 7970 - are much of a muchness, trading performance leads in different game benchmarks.

At the top, then, it pretty much comes down to which card's feature-set you prefer and which plays best with your favourite games. Things have become a lot less equitable in the lower echelons of the graphics card market. While AMD had released its full HD 7900, HD 7800 and HD 7700 series of cards into the wild by the end of March, Nvidia would take another seven months to actually flesh out its Kepler lineup.

That meant AMD could keep its prices high while it was the only new kid on the block, and then take an axe to its GPUs' price tags when Nvidia's rival cards finally touched down. We will probably never know the real reason for Nvidia's tardiness on its lower-end cards, but rumour has it that low silicon yields on its 28nm process had something to do with it.

Nvidia just claimed to be waiting for the wealth of big games titles coming out at the end of the year. Whatever the truth of it, AMD is winning the price battle, and has better cards available at every price-point in the sub-£250 market.

One of the big problems, though, is the fact there are few games out there at the moment that will really tax a modern GPU. If you've bought a card in the past couple of years and are still sitting on a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, or lower, then there's really not a compelling reason to upgrade. Chances are you'll still be hitting reasonable frame rates in the latest games and that means the upgrade market is a little flat.

If you are looking for a new graphics card, though, there has never been a better time to make the move because you can pick up an inordinate amount of pixel-pushing power for very little cash these days. But are you still going to need a graphics card in your next PC?

Both AMD and Intel are making great strides in the integrated graphics market with future generations of chips. AMD, though, is segmenting things, leaving its top consumer chips, the FX range without any graphics on die. Intel, on the other hand, is resolutely sticking its iGPUs in every chip it throws out, bar the crazy £800+ Sandy Bridge E side.

Discrete days numbered

With the processor upgrade to Haswell next year, Intel is predicting a doubling of its graphics performance in Ivy Bridge. In terms of gaming on the desktop that still isn't going to give you the frames per second you'll need to get the most out of Star Citizen, but on the mobile side it's talking up the capabilities of the GT3E Haswell graphics.

Speaking to the graphics guys at IDF this year, Intel seems to think it will be making dedicated gaming laptops without dedicated graphics cards a reality in the next generation. With the next generation of AMD's APUs looking to include the proper Graphics Core Next architecture as the GPU component, its new lineup could also make things sticky for the dedicated graphics side.

With no concrete news yet of Nvidia's Project Denver - it's own ARM-based gaming CPU with a full-fat GeForce graphics part - the green side of the graphics war is looking a little ill-equipped for the coming battle - at least on the PC.

The next generation of both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards will simply be building on the advances of their respective first 28nm parts, so we don't expect a lot of particularly interesting new tech next year, just a little faster and a little more efficient. So that makes this generation even more interesting.

These cards will consistently drop in price up to the launch of the slight upgrades of the HD 8000 and GTX 700 series of cards, and with the next generation of consoles not arriving until the tail end of next year, right now this is all the card most of us need. But which one is best for you? Let me show you…

Graphics cards on test

1. EVGA GTX 680 Signature 2

The GTX 680 is still an impressive piece of technical engineering this far down the line. Released back in March, Nvidia's current flagship card is still at the top of the graphics tree, duking it out with AMD's HD 7970 for GPU supremacy. That's impressive given the fact that its GK104 is a far simpler bit of silicon compared to the Tahiti XT behemoth in the AMD card.

The GK104 is a 3.5bn transistor chip verses the 4.3bn transistor Tahiti XT core, and as such is smaller and more power efficient. That's quite a change compared to the Fermi generation where the top GTX 480 and GTX 580 housed massive, power-hungry GPUs chock-full of CUDA cores and SM units.

Read the full EVGA GTX 680 Signature 2 review

2. Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X

The HD 7970 GHz Edition is the fastest consumer graphics card, and the best news is it's not the most expensive. When Nvidia released the GTX 680, AMD was able to counter with the upgraded GHz Edition of its HD 7970, upping the clockspeed to cope with the new kid on the block and retain its top-GPU crown.

This is the card to get if you're powering a hi-res screen or three. It's got the graphics processing chops to run pretty much any game at 2,560 x 1,600, on the highest settings, without batting a silicon eyelid. It may only be a little faster than the GTX 680 in most tests, but in the compute-heavy titles, such as the lighting-intensive DiRT Showdown, it has a clear lead.

Read the full Sapphire HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X review

3. Asus GTX 670 Direct CU II

Featuring an only slightly cut-down GK104 GPU compared to the top-end GTX 680, we were big fans of the GTX 670 when it first tipped up. It was only a little slower than the top GeForce card and was much cheaper. It also had a performance lead on the HD 7950 and was on par with the original HD 7970.

Time hasn't been kind to the GTX 670 though and with prices staying relatively high since launch, its relevance has diminished. The new GHz Edition of the HD 7970 put it out in front of both top Kepler cards and the Catalyst driver optimisations, and more compute-oriented game engines have made the HD 7950 a rather tantalising prospect in comparison.

Read the full Asus GTX 670 Direct CU II review

4. Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II

There's a tremendous sense of value when you get this Asus version of AMD's HD 7950 out of the box. It really is rather massive. The triple-slot cooling array, means that you're going to have to think long and hard about whether you've got enough space inside your PC chassis to house such a behemoth of a card. That said it's not a bad little performer, especially at this price point.

AMD has managed to be incredibly aggressive on pricing as new Nvidia-shaped competitors have hit the streets, and to have this sort of performance for much less than £300 is impressive.

This card swaps performance leads with the more expensive GTX 670 across our benchmarking suite, showing that it has the chops at both hi-res and in the more compute-oriented games/lighting engines we've started to come across.

Read the full Asus HD 7950 Direct CU II review

5. EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked

When we first saw the GTX 660 Ti from EVGA it was hovering around the £260 - £270 price mark and was then bumping heads with the HD 7950 and that was a battle it was never going to win. Unlike a lot of the other Nvidia cards, though, this has had a little price cut in recent times.

Now it's available for just under £230 and that makes it much more of an interesting proposition. At this price it's smack bang in the middle of the HD 7950 and HD 7870, and in performance terms too that's exactly where it ought to be.

Broadly speaking it's a quicker card than the HD 7870, even the overclocked Gigabyte version we're looking at in this test. There are a couple of instances where it suffers by comparison, but then only very slightly. Interestingly it's actually quicker than the HD 7870 in the traditionally AMD-centric DiRT Showdown.

Read the full EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked review

6. Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC Edition

When the HD 7870 first tipped up in March we weren't that fussed about it. Sure, it delivered decent numbers in the benchmarks, but at about £260 it was way overpriced and left us feeling rather cool towards this mid-range Radeon card.

Thanks to Nvidia finally getting its act together with its own mid-range cards, AMD has started aggressively pricing and now the HD 7870s, and even this overclocked edition, are sitting below the £200 mark. At this price there really isn't anything Nvidia can do to compete.

Now the GTX 660 Ti's prices have come down, though, it does represent a little more competition for AMD's mid-range master. Still, the Pitcairn XT is pretty much all the GPU you need for your 1080p screen - it will throw polygons around at impressive speeds in any game you care to throw at it.

Read the full Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC Edition review

7. EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked

When Nvidia finally got the GTX 660 out of the door it was all set to go head-to-head with AMD's HD 7850. And that would have been completely right - both offer similar performance figures. Among the Nvidia-favouring titles it does better, and vice versa with the AMD-centric games.

Had the situation stayed static then Nvidia's cards would've had their own place in the world. Yay. But AMD held its pricing at a level before Nvidia's mid-range hit the streets and thanks to its cards being out for a good while longer, AMD's been able to slash its price tags. That means the straight GTX 660 is now going up against the vanilla HD 7870.

Despite the overclocked nature of this EVGA card, it still can't beat the stock-clocked Radeon. Even on the Nvidia-sponsored games, like Max Payne 3, it's second best to the current mid-range king.

Read the full EVGA GTX 660 Superclocked review

8. Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB

The performance of the HD 7850 when it first came out, combined with its relatively low price tag, made for a very enticing mid-range card. That impressive start has only gotten better as time has moved on and the price has dropped ever lower. Once it dropped below £200 it was hard to really recommend anyone with a 1080p screen spending more.

Now it's sub-£200 graphics card crown has slipped as its HD 7870 big brother has usurped the HD 7850's place by making itself a whole lot cheaper than it used to be. Still, at £150 you'd surely expect us to still be pretty taken with the HD 7850.

And while it's still a great mid-range card, there has been one other sibling to make us take a second look. And that's the 1GB version of this GPU. You might expect the extra gigabyte of graphics memory to push this graphics card significantly ahead in the high-res benchmarks - but you'd be wrong.

Read the full Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB review

9. Zotac GTX 650 Ti AMP!

So, you thought things looked bad for the HD 7850 in standard 2GB trim when the 1GB version came out, but spare a thought for the poor ol' GTX 650 Ti. Bless its little silicon socks, it's really trying.

Throwing off the shackles of the GK107 GPU, Nvidia decided to lumber the standard GTX 650 with this Ti version, which is rocking the same pumped-up pixel-pusher as the GTX 660. That means it's actually much more of a reasonable gamer's graphics card than the standard version. Were it simply going head-to-head with an equivalently priced HD 7770 then it would have beaten the AMD card hands down.

Sadly it's all shifted around and this AMP! edition of the GTX 650 Ti sits in between the 1GB and 2GB versions of the HD 7850 - and suffers by comparison with each of them.

Read the full Zotac GTX 650 TI AMP! review

10. MSI HD 7850 1GB

We have to admit this was a bit of a surprise. We wanted to get the 1GB version of the HD 7850 to test it against the HD 7770 more than anything else - assuming this would be the card it'd be going up against. After all, the 2GB frame buffer of the stock HD 7850 must be partly responsible for its impressive showing at hi-res, right?

And that's putting post-processing such as anti-aliasing in the mix. How wrong we were. It seems that the bottleneck to the Pitcairn Pro's performance is not the memory at all - the GPU itself bottlenecks performance well before the memory gets anywhere near making things crawl.

What does that mean though? Well, it means the 1GB version of the HD 7850, especially the slightly overclocked version supplied by MSI, is more than able to keep pace with the stock 2GB version of the Pitcairn Pro card.

Read the full MSI HD 7850 1GB review

11. MSI HD 7770

This is as good as it gets if you're looking for a genuinely gaming-capable card at the sub-£100 level. Granted, it's only just under £100, but compared with the competing GTX 650, at this price point it's the gamer's only real option.

Heaven is a great metric for comparing GPU performance in isolation of any marketing nonsense, or any company specific extras, and the figures don't lie. The HD 7770 is considerably faster than the GTX 650 in Heaven 3.0 with only Batman: AC actually giving any parity of performance between the two cards. Across all the other benchmarks, whether at 1080p or 2,560 x 1,600, the AMD graphics card has a pretty significant advantage. When you look at the different GPU architecture it's easy to see why.

Read the full MSI HD 7770 review

12. PNY GTX 650

What both iterations of the GTX 650, in either this or the speedier, pricier Ti-trim, have going for them is their diminutive size. They're both pleasingly small little graphics cards, ideal for the wee PC. Well, ideal for the wee PC that you don't really have any interest in getting decent gaming frame rates from in any case.

Okay, that's a little unfair - the traditionally Nvidia-lovin' Batman: AC will still let you top 40fps at 1080p at the top settings. Elsewhere, though, you're going to have to seriously tighten your graphical-pretties belt in order to make sure you're getting decent frame rates.

This is the same GK107 GPU that we've seen in a number of laptops recently - that twin SMX GPU being perfect for the power- conscious mobile crowd - and if you're running a 720p screen, at 1,366 x 768 or similar, then you're going to be able to get some decent gaming speeds.

Read the full PNY GTX 650 review

13. Sapphire HD 7750

This far down the pecking order of graphics cards you will really struggle to get anything close to decent gaming frame rates out of a normal 1080p screen. With the Sapphire HD 7750 you're not going to be pushing much past 20 frames per second in most games without seriously knocking back the graphics settings or resolution.

This version of the HD 7750, with the 2GB of relatively slow DDR3 video RAM, is almost irrelevant in gaming terms. That said, though, you can pick up a low-profile version which could go into a small machine to stick under your TV.

With Steam's TV mode, and a drop in resolution, you'll be able to get almost gaming-capable speeds at 720p on your telly. For another £20, though, you can get double the gaming performance with an HD 7770, and £50 extra will get you the awesome HD 7850 1GB.

Read the full Sapphire HD 7750 review

14. Zotac GT 640 ZONE

The main, indeed probably only, selling point of the GT 640 Zone is the fact that it's completely silent. With a chunky passive cooler sitting atop the GPU and memory chips, there are no spinning fans whirring away like a mini-turbine inside your PC. That means that despite its standard card height it would make a pretty decent media centre GPU.

Like the HD 7750, you'll struggle to get any decent gaming frame rates out of the card at standard 1080p resolutions and top settings, but lower your expectations and you'll be able to hit reasonable gaming speeds.

Nowadays, lower settings in current games don't make them look much worse than their console counterparts but, still, for an extra £20 you can pick up much more bona fide gaming cards.

Read the full Zotac GT 640 ZONE review

Benchmark analysis and winner

Given our penchant for high-performance components it might seem strange that we've gone all gooey over a £120 graphics card which is easily outperformed by a good chunk of the cards on test. But a quick scan of the benchmarks on these 'ere pages should show you why we're so taken by the HD 7850 1GB.

It beats the other cards in its class in pretty much every test and gives much more expensive cards a run for their money. In fact, as the two value tests prove, it offers the most performance for your dosh of the lot - and you can't ask for much more than that.

At the top of the tech tree, the HD 7970 and GTX 680 inevitably fight it out, each taking it in turn to top the test. Except when it comes to price performance - in both tests the Sapphire offers far better value than the EVGA.

And the winner is… MSI HD 7850 1GB

We've been accused in recent times of being AMD fan boys here at PCFormat. That's a rather ridiculous accusation considering that we get to test every single card on the market and we don't have to make decisions on what graphics cards to jam in our machines based on tribal loyalties.

What we do base our decisions on is a combination of gaming performance and the cost to you, our beloved readers. In this generation it's been an almost complete whitewash for AMD in terms of performance per pound, and actually in outright straight-line gaming speed too.

Most of this is down to Nvidia's tardiness in releasing the new Kepler architecture into the wild, giving AMD the time to harvest its cards at the high initial price tags and then the option to slash prices when the competition finally comes around.

At every pairing AMD comes out on top. At the top-end, the HD 7970 has held on to the performance crown thanks to the release of the GHz Edition, even the pricey, overclocked EVGA GTX 680 Signature 2 can't maintain a consistent performance lead over the AMD card. The price cuts have also allowed the HD 7950 to carve out an excellent little niche for itself, sitting between the GTX 660 Ti and GTX 670.

The GTX 660 Ti has become a little more relevant thanks to some price chopping on the part of Nvidia for a change. It's got enough about it to take on the HD 7870 and make a real fist of it.

The truth of it, though, is that Nvidia actually hasn't had to make a fight on the pricing front. It has been happily selling its Kepler cards thanks to existing goodwill among its user base, and that tribal loyalty sometimes outweighs the actual performance. If Nvidia is still selling at its current pricing then there's really no reason to get any more competitive on cost.

That's where AMD really has to fight its corner, after all, a quick check of the Steam hardware survey shows that Nvidia still has the advantage in numbers out in the real world.

The real star of the show, though, has to be the incredible HD 7850 in lightweight 1GB trim. We really didn't expect this MSI card to be quite as impressive as it is. We ostensibly got the card in to go up against the HD 7770, but as it turned out it made things uncomfortable for the 2GB version, and for both the GTX 650 Ti and the GTX 660.

In fact, for the gamer on a budget, the HD 7850 1GB is the perfect 1080p graphics card - it's got some impressive performance chops in high-resolution trim too. We've had a play with a pair of these in CrossFire too, and at £240 you're getting performance that is right up there with the GTX 680 and HD 7970.

The vagaries of multi-GPU systems in terms of playing nice with modern games mean it's still not an absolute must-buy pairing, but it's getting pretty darned close.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 release date, news and rumours

We've got the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 10.1, but there's a smaller sized tablet missing in this line up: enter the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0.

Apparently developed under the codename "Kona", the Galaxy Note 8.0 seems set to be the name the tablet will go to market with.

Although not yet officially confirmed there's an awful lot of talk on the web that Samsung is readying a new, S-Pen wielding slate to slip between the two devices currently making up the Note family.

In fact Samsung's Head of Mobile, JK Shin has apparently confirmed that the Galaxy Note 8.0 will indeed arrive at MWC 2013 in Barcelona.

Although Samsung already has the Galaxy Tab 7.0 and Galaxy Tab 7.7 on the market, it may be that the company sees the Galaxy Note 8.0 as it's best chance of directly competing against Apple's 7.9-inch iPad mini, given its unique styus-based spin.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 release date

Everything seems to point to an MWC 2013 unveiling for the Galaxy Note 8.0, with Samsung's Head of Mobile even reportedly confirming a Barcelona launch.

MWC 2013 kicks off during the last week of February, but don't go thinking you'll be able to lay your hands on the Galaxy Note 8.0 anytime soon, as it will probably take a month or two to reach stores.

That means we'll probably see the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 release date set for around April - watch this space.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 price

We'd expect to see the Galaxy Note 8.0 carry a healthy price tag as it will be competing more with the iPad mini than the likes of the budget focussed Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD.

The iPad mini starts at £269/$329/AU$369, so in true Samsung fashion the Galaxy Note 8.0 will probably look to undercut its Cupertino-based rival in an attempt to pull customers away from Apple.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 screen

Unsurprisingly the Galaxy Note 8.0 will sport, yes, you've guess it, an 8-inch display, with early reports suggesting it will pack Super Clear LCD technology and a decent 1280 x 800 resolution.

If true it would mean the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 would have an ever-so-slightly better display than the iPad mini, but there's not a lot in it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 operating system

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 will almost certainly come running Android Jelly Bean out of the box, but whether it will be version 4.1 or 4.2 is still up for debate.

According to SamMobile the Note 8.0 will indeed ship with the very latest version of Jelly Bean - Android 4.2 - which would be excellent news for anyone interested in picking one up.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 specs

There have been a couple of specification leaks regarding the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 recently, both of which come via SamMobile.

As well as the 8-inch display and Jelly Bean OS the Galaxy Note 8.0 will apparently pack 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, microSD slot, 5MP rear camera, 3G option, 4,600mAh battery and of course the famous S-Pen stylus.

A second set of specs turned up a few days later claiming to be from Spanish marketing material for the Galaxy Note 8.0.

This leak revealed that the slate is likely to pack a 1.6GHz quad-core processor alongside the 2GB of RAM and 5MP camera, but this report suggests you'll only get 16GB of internal memory.

Samsung could well offer the Galaxy Note 8.0 in both 16GB and 32GB variants, as well as having the option to throw in 3G connectivity if you so wish.

If you require a web connection on the go then the portable Galaxy Note 8.0 should have you covered, with details appearing online about three variants of the tab.

Apparently you'll be spoiled for choice when it comes to selecting the right Galaxy Note 8.0 for you, will the tablet set to come in Wi-Fi only, Wi-Fi + 3G and Wi-Fi + 3G + 4G guises.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 image leaks

The first glimpse we potentially got of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 came via SamMobile; the site was sent a snap of a Spanish listing for the tablet revealing some specs alongside photos of the front and back of the tablet.

In terms of looks the Galaxy Note 8.0 looks to be an upscaled Galaxy Note 2, instead of a down sized Galaxy Note 10.1.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 design is reinforced in our second set of photo leaks, this time showing the Galaxy Note 8.0 taking a ride on public transport.

Interestingly in these sanps the Galaxy Note 8.0 is sporting a physical home button flanked by touch sensitive back and menu keys, as found on the smartphone and it's something which didn't feature in the image above.

Last up, for now anyway, is a snap found by French site FR Android which sees the supposed Galaxy Note 8.0 sitting beside the Galaxy Note 2.

The famous Samsung button set up from its smartphone range is present once again on the front of Galaxy Note 8.0 making it look more like a phone than a tablet.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 touted with a trio of options

There's a lot of talk surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 and the latest report suggests the tablet will be available in three different variants.

According to Bluetooth SIG, Samsung is planning to produce the Galaxy Note 8.0 in Wi-Fi only (GT-N5100), Wi-Fi + 3G (GT-N5110) and Wi-Fi, 3G + 4G (GT-N5105) variants.

All three models will apparently make their way to Europe, with availability in other regions currently unknown.

Rumours suggest the Galaxy Note 8.0 will launch at MWC 2013 sporting an 8-inch 1280 x 800 display, quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 5MP rear camera, S-Pen stylus and come running Android Jelly Bean.

But wait, there's more!

There's also word that Samsung is planning a new range of Galaxy Tab 3 slates and further fuel has been added to this fire with user agent profiles for three new tablets appearing on the Samsung Mobile site.

In the profiles three screen resolutions are listed under three separate model IDs, with what is expected to be the entry level slate - potentially a 7-inch offering to rival the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD - noted as the GT-P3200 with a 1024 x 600 display.

Next up is the GT-P5200 sporting a 1280x800 screen which could rival the Galaxy Note 8.0 above and the 7.9-inch iPad mini, while the full HD GT-P8200 will probably go head to head with the likes of the iPad 4 and Google Nexus 10 thanks to its 2560 x 1600 resolution.

TechRadar will be out in force at MWC 2013 in Barcelona to bring you all the latest from Samsung and any new tablets it may be wheeling out.

Can BlackBerry 10 win over business buyers?

BlackBerry says its new Z10 smartphone, the first using its BB10 platform, is selling "close to three times our best in first week sales", and stores have reported that some businesses are buying up to 10 at a time.

It had a bad year before the launch, but its heritage is in the business market where it pioneered push email and long battery life. Is BB10 going to help BlackBerry reassert its top position in the business smartphone market?

The touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 is out now, and the BlackBerry Q10 with its physical keyboard and longer battery life (thanks to the larger battery and smaller screen using power-saving OLED technology), is due to arrive in April.

BlackBerry understands that individual users are increasingly making their own choices of business device, which means its new offerings will have to appeal to users who want a big screen, a powerful processor and excellent gaming support. But business functions will still be a crucial factor in whether BB10 proves a long term success.

Among the assets visible on the Z10 smartphone is the powerful predictive text on the touch keyboard (almost as good as Windows Phone 8 Word Flow in our tests), and the standards-compatible browser, which will be useful in dealing with email and intranet sites.

Larger businesses can use the HTML5-based WebWorks tools to build their own dashboards and scorecards for monitoring key information, using the web technologies with which they're increasingly familiar, or port an app already written in Adobe AIR. The browser in BB10 even comes with a Flash plug-in.

The advantages of BlackBerry Messenger are familiar: knowing when your message gets to someone and if they've read it is an asset when messages are part of an existing workflow or contribute to meeting service level agreements. That can be built into applications, for receipts and to send push notifications, so you're not relying on workers remembering to check a portal or log in to a website to see if there's something they need to know.

Often the information you want to push out to workers lives behind your firewall rather than out on the internet. That means deploying and supporting virtual private networks (VPNs) for iPhone or Android, and setting up DirectAccess or SharePoint for Windows Phone (which does not support VPN access).

But it can be more straightforward with BB10 if you have BES 10, the latest version of the BlackBerry management server. This enables you to get information from internal servers and applications and send it directly to apps on BlackBerry handsets without a VPN connection. Also, unlike many simple web apps, even BlackBerry WebWorks applications can cache the data and make it available when users are offline.

BES 10 connects to servers behind the firewall using standard http protocols, and you create the notifications to send to a BlackBerry using standard http post commands. But they're delivered over the encrypted (and compressed) connection from the BlackBerry cloud service to the phone, and go to an app that lives in a secure work partition that the company can manage.

You can manage any Android or Apple smartphone (with your choice of mobile device management tools, including BES 10) as long as the user doesn't mind that an administrator can see what apps they're running. You can also block any apps that the company decides are a problem, force users to tap in a complicated PIN even when they're just sending a message to a friend, and erase all their personal photos if the phone ever gets lost.

That could cause problems, as it would be widely acceptable on a work phone issued as part of the job, but less so when someone is using their own phone for work.

Other significant features include BlackBerry World for Work for managed handsets, through which a business can highlight apps from the main BlackBerry World or those it has written internally or licensed from an independent software vendor. This is similar to the company hubs that are found for Windows Phone 8 using Intune 4, as well as the various private Android app stores.

Also important is the BlackBerry Balance technology for separating work and personal information, using the secure architecture of the QNX system on which BB10 is built. Together they promise to give the Z10 and Q10 split personalities that could suit businesses and individual users.

One advantage is that apps, email, documents and screenshots for work can be stored in a separate, secure, managed area of the device that BlackBerry refers to as a perimeter. As BlackBerry's app platform manager Tim Neil explains it, nothing in the personal perimeter can be used with work information.

"If someone emails you a picture to your work account, you can't save it into BBM," he says. "You can't cut and paste from work email into your personal perimeter and you can't accidentally send a message form your work account to look like it's from your Gmail account."

Although an administrator can remove applications or wipe information stored in the work perimeter, they have no access to the personal section of the phone.

This could be important in ensuring that the new BlackBerry smartphones retain their appeal to individual users. In turn, that could make BB10 a great asset for business.

Government urges SMBs to join IT consultation

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has called on small and midsized businesses to take part in a consultation on the information economy.

It says on the gov.uk website that it wants views from companies in the sector, both technology based and otherwise.

The consultation is intended to influence government policy towards the development of the IT industry. The common theme is that software, IT services and telecommunications services can play a significant role in promoting future economic growth.

BIS has published a consultation document that says it will focus on smart cities, cloud computing, the "internet of things" (in which physical objects become part of an information network), big data and e-commerce.

It defines the information economy as "the part of the economy where digital technologies and information combine to drive productivity and create new growth opportunities across the whole economy".

The document says: "The information economy sector is a significant enabler of other sectors.

"The use of digital technology and information is a key element of most parts of the economy which means the strategy has the potential to make a real difference, not only in the UK's IT sector but across the whole economy."

The consultation will run until 15 March.

Review: Sapphire HD 7750

This far down the pecking order of graphics cards you will really struggle to get anything close to decent gaming frame rates out of a normal 1080p screen.

With the Sapphire HD 7750 you're not going to be pushing much past 20 frames per second in most games without seriously knocking back the graphics settings or resolution.

This version of the HD 7750, with the 2GB of relatively slow DDR3 video RAM, is almost irrelevant in gaming terms. That said, though, you can pick up a low-profile version which could go into a small machine to stick under your TV.

With Steam's TV mode, and a drop in resolution, you'll be able to get almost gaming-capable speeds at 720p on your telly. For another £20, though, you can get double the gaming performance with an HD 7770, and £50 extra will get you the awesome HD 7850 1GB.

If you're finding your budget stretched for a new graphics card you would be better off saving up for a little longer and paying a little more. The rewards for just that £20 investment are pretty big in gaming terms.

At this low level the Nvidia competition is the GT 640, a graphics card that's not even permitted the GTX moniker. There is pretty much nothing between AMD and Nvidia at this range, so it would just be a case of choosing whether you might want a low-profile HD 7750 instead of the standard height Nvidia cards on offer.

It is possible to get gaming frame rates at this price point, but the sacrifices to graphical fidelity might mean it's not really worth it.

Review: PNY GTX 650

What both iterations of the GTX 650, in either this or the speedier, pricier Ti trim, have going for them is their diminutive size. They're both pleasingly small little graphics cards, ideal for the wee PC. Well, ideal for the wee PC that you don't really have any interest in getting decent gaming frame rates from in any case.

Okay, that's a little unfair - the traditionally Nvidia-lovin' Batman: AC will still let you top 40fps at 1080p at the top settings. Elsewhere, though, you're going to have to seriously tighten your graphical-pretties belt in order to make sure you're getting decent frame rates.

This is the same GK107 GPU that we've seen in a number of laptops recently - that twin SMX GPU being perfect for the power-conscious mobile crowd - and if you're running a 720p screen, at 1,366 x 768 or similar, then you're going to be able to get some decent gaming speeds.

On a desktop monitor though, dropping out of the native resolution will leave you with rather muddy textures and HUD elements really encroaching on your gaming environment with tough-toread text.

The HD 7770 then is a much better bet if your wallet, or better half, is limiting you to a £100 maximum for your next GPU purchase and you're looking to stick to the native res of your current screen.

You're going to have to make fewer graphical sacrifices to the gods of pricing with the AMD card than you will with this diminutive Nvidia GPU sat at the heart of your rig.

Review: MSI HD 7770

This is as good as it gets if you're looking for a genuinely gaming-capable card at the sub-£100 level. Granted, it's only just under £100, but compared with the competing GTX 650, at this price point it's the gamer's only real option.

Heaven is a great metric for comparing GPU performance in isolation of any marketing nonsense, or any company specific extras, and the figures don't lie.

The HD 7770 is considerably faster than the GTX 650 in Heaven 3.0 with only Batman: AC actually giving any parity of performance between the two cards. Across all the other benchmarks, whether at 1080p or 2,560 x 1,600, the AMD graphics card has a pretty significant advantage.

When you look at the different GPU architecture it's easy to see why. The Cape Verde XT GPU of the HD 7770 has far more shaders on offer than the GK107 GPU at the heart of the GTX 650. Despite the fact they both have the same size frame buffer, similar clockspeed and number of ROPs, the extra Radeon Cores of the Cape Verde XT push its gaming performance numbers far ahead of the competition.

The HD 7770 is such a capable performer it's knocking on the door of the GTX 650 Ti, even the AMP! edition we're featuring here from Zotac. That's probably where Nvidia saw the matchup in the first place, but pricing and AMD have conspired against it.

While you're not going to be topping 30fps at 1080p on the top settings, you won't have to sacrifice too much of the pretties to be able to hit that magic frame rate.

Lava launches its first Jelly Bean tablet, the ETab Xtron for Rs 6,499 ($125)

Lava recently announced the latest addition to its Etab series, the ETab Xtron, the company's first Android 4.1 Jelly Bean tablet, priced at just Rs 6,499 ($125).

Raspberry Pi’s 5MP camera module coming soon for $25

Better start thinking of more ways to use the Raspberry Pi, as the Foundation has announced that it will be releasing a 5MP camera add-on for the tiny computer.

‘Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal’ petition needs 38,000 votes, with 12 days left to go

A White House petition asking the Obama administration to "Make Unlocking Cell Phones Legal" needs 38K more votes in the following 12 days to go through.

With decisive year ahead, Intel invests in wireless patents and fabrication

As the PC market continues its decline, Intel needs as many smartphone design wins as possible. To achieve mobile success, the Santa Clara-based company has been buying wireless patents, while also beefing up investment in fabrication.

Sony Xperia Z gets pitted against HTC Butterfly, wins the benchmark battle

There’s plenty of 1080p competition for the HTC Butterfly (aka J Butterfly, aka Droid DNA), but it’s obvious the battle for supremacy will be carried against Sony’s Xperia Z.

Samsung Galaxy S3 gets second price-cut in India, now available for Rs 29,480 (~$560)

If you're considering buying a Samsung Galaxy S3, now would be the best time to do so! After receiving a second price cut, the device is now available for Rs 29,480.

Blackberry has returned. What does that mean for everyone?

As far as competing operating systems are concerned, there’s no reason to worry, that is, if you’re Samsung or Apple. That said, Blackberry’s return into the field should alarm the likes of HTC, Sony, LG, ASUS, and perhaps Motorola.

Asus launches the 10-inch Memo Pad Smart tab in Thailand for $365

It sure took Asus long enough, but the Taiwanese finally introduced its affordable 10-inch Jelly Bean tablet, the Memo Pad Smart, in Thailand last week.

LG Optimus L3 II fuzzy images leak, L5 II and L7 II get benchmarked

LG has started teasing the new Optimus L series with an “unexpected distinction” last week, but, with MWC still a little ways down the road, we wouldn’t have expected to hear a whole lot about the phones so soon.

Would Google merge Chrome OS and Android?

All this fun talk lately about the Chromebook Pixel seems to lead to more questions than it answers. Is it real? When will we get it? will it run Android apps? The last one seems to interest us the most. If we could run Android on a Chromebook, would we want to? Is that smart for Google?

Weird Science rolls its dung while staring at the stars

And mad scientists create a turduck, but using a turtle.

About time—Apple now experimenting with a watch-like device

Little is known, but NYT, WSJ both report using anonymous sources.

At Facebook, zero-day exploits, backdoor code bring war games drill to life

How do companies prepare for the worst? By exposing workers to lifelike crises.

Re-re-re-thinking the rise of mammals and death of the dinosaurs

Placental mammals may have waited for the asteroid to hit after all.

Smart TVs have a serious communication problem

And it's a major reason why they have yet to catch on.

New nanotech promises nothing will ever get wet—so how should it be used?

Ultra Ever Dry video demos a "super hydrophobic coating" that repels everything.

Get it done: reader-recommended Android apps for staying on task

Last week Ars asked; now you've suggested apps that are actually useful.

Seven vulnerabilities found through Mega’s security bounty program

Site reveals what fixes are—but doesn’t mention payout, individual hacker info.

Wind tops US sources of new electricity generation in 2012

42 percent of all new generating capacity came in the form of wind turbines.

Review: Who needs Windows RT? Acer's Iconia W510 runs the real thing

There are some issues, but Intel's Atom delivers the full Windows 8 experience.

Iconic 'Batman' art turned into jaw-dropping GIFs

DC Comics' Death of the Family has been one of the best-received Batman series in recent memory, not least because of Greg Capullo's fantastic art work. The artist ABVH has created some expertly-animated GIFs based on a selection of illustrations from the series by Capullo and Patrick Gleason.

ABVH has made a name for himself animating famous works of art. His Animated Banksy series, which saw some of the famous street artist's best works turned into GIFs, got exposure on a number of art sites. As the files are quite large, we'll hold off sharing more GIFs, but you can find the full collection in the source link below.

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What Wikipedia's most popular pages say about us

Wikipedia member West.andrew.g has spent more than three years downloading and analyzing data on traffic flows across the site's English-language pages, as part of an ongoing research project. Last week, he and another member published some of their insights in The Signpost, Wikipedia's community-managed newspaper, providing an overview of the most popular pages in both the long- and short-term. Those in the former category include Facebook, Google, and YouTube, while those in the latter are typically driven by isolated events that result in sharp traffic spikes — celebrity deaths and Super Bowl halftime shows, specifically.

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Shirtless Justin Bieber tries to upstage Grammys, takes down Ustream instead

Video streaming glitches scuppered Justin Bieber's efforts to outshine the Grammy Awards tonight. Bieber had planned to hold a live video stream to coincide with the start of the Grammys — which he failed to earn a single nomination for — where he would play new music and answer questions. But capacity problems caused by an army of Beliebers forced the star to jump from service to service in an attempt to connect with his fans.

Initially, Bieber expected to use Livestream, and tweeted a link six minutes before the show was set to begin.

6 minutes (@justinbieber live on twitcam.livestream.com/cg7qz)

— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) February 11, 2013

But with that announcement getting over 45,000 retweets, the Livestream...

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Apple and Microsoft called to testify before Australian Parliament in pricing investigation

Members of the Australian Parliament have been looking into whether residents of the country pay an unfair premium on electronics and related services since last year, and now two of the biggest names in technology have been called to testify on the issue. The Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications in Australia's House of Representatives released a memo today stating that it had called Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe to speak at a public hearing on March 22rd. Apple reportedly provided testimony on the matter in a private hearing last year, while Microsoft provided a written statement during the same timeframe pointing to regulations, supply chain costs, and the "relatively high cost of labor and rent" as reasons for the...

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Google Now takes a trip around the world in Grammys commercial

The Super Bowl's not the only venue for commercials: Google just aired an ad for the Nexus 4 during the Grammys. Titled "Live in the Now," the spot focuses on Google Now, with people in different cities around the world using the service to check weather, public transportation information, and get a little help with a foreign language translation. Take a look below.

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Share your photos of what the blizzard left behind - Verge Forums

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MAGFest remembers game music's glory days as 'Journey' goes for Grammy gold

With a game soundtrack going up against the works of orchestral juggernauts like John Williams and Hans Zimmer for the first time at tonight's Grammy Awards, 2013 is looking to be a promising year for video game music. Though for the true believers, events like MAGFest — a video game music festival just outside of Washington, D.C. — seem to grow almost exponentially each year, mainstream approval or no.

Celebrating its 11th year last month, MAGFest is a strange beast of video game-related revelry. To the untrained eye it has all the trappings of your typical “Con”: the cosplay, the panels, the crowds of nerds cramming into elevators. But if anything, MAGFest more closely resembles a kind of debauched ritual; a communal 72 hour...

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'Room 237' explores 'The Shining' and the conspiracy theories it spawned

IFC Midnight this week released a new trailer for Room 237 — the forthcoming documentary about Stanley Kubrick's 1980 masterpiece, The Shining. Directed by Rodney Ascher, the movie was released to largely glowing reviews at last year's Sundance Film Festival, and will be released in theaters and on iTunes on March 29th.

According to the film's website, Room 237 isn't so much a behind-the-scenes movie as it is a survey of wide-ranging conspiracy theories. Since its release more than three decades ago, The Shining has spawned countless theories about its symbolism and thematic overtones, ranging from the plausible to the grandiose. Michigan-based history professor Gregory Cocks, for instance, claims that the film is a metaphor for the...

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Fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner pursued by police, drones, and online fans

Christopher Dorner has used his training as a veteran of the US Navy and Los Angeles Police Department to avoid capture in the week since he allegedly shot and killed his former police chief's daughter and her boyfriend in a California parking lot. This includes two firefights with police officers, in which he reportedly killed one officer and wounded two others. After days spent combing over the San Bernardino Mountains to no avail, authorities have reportedly turned to surveillance drones in their pursuit of Dorner. “The thermal imaging cameras the drones use may be our only hope of finding him," an anonymous senior police official told Express. "On the ground, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Why are police going...

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Dinosaurs really were destroyed by an asteroid, study shows

Scientists have long theorized that the dinosaurs met their demise at the hands of a giant asteroid, but the circumstances of such an event have thus far remained murky. Now, a team of American and European researchers have shed new light on the incident, lending extra weight to an already widely-adopted theory.

Researchers have spent years trying to find a direct connection between the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event (K-T, for short) and cosmic collision. They found a lead in the late 1970s, when geophysicist Glen Penfield discovered a giant prehistoric crater near the town of Chicxulub in Mexico. At more than 110 miles wide, the crater provided evidence of an utterly massive impact — one that would have released an explosion...

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