TecHnooGuide

Go chic line, Samsung released several USB 3.0 external storage devices

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 16:20:00 +0000

Today, Samsung (SamSung) released a variety of external storage devices, including portable drives and M3 C2/M2 desktop drive, and they are connected with USB 3.0 interface, can be completed in just four minutes 25GB high-definition television transmission.

Samsung C2/M2 portable drives are used corrugated grid design, with USB 3.0 interface (compatible with USB 2.0). M2 which 1TB external drive capacity hard disk can be upgraded to provide brown-black, elegant beige, gray and orange clay in four colors.

Desktop drive is the M3 style with rounded corners not only look beautiful and feel good. It also uses USB 3.0 interface, providing brown-black and beige two options noble, hard disk capacity can support 1/1.5/2TB. Management software with a Samsung drive, user data processing; addition, it provides SecretZoneTM software for users of various operations, such as creating a virtual drive, automatic generation of backup and format the disk and so on.

Samsung side said the new external drive in the second quarter will be listed in the regions in which M2 Series portable drive shelves in mid-April, while the C2 M3 portable drives and desktop drives will have to wait until the May frame.

Windows 7 Catches Up Market Share in US

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 14:03:00 +0000

It was recently revealed that after about 5 monthes of AT&T and T-Mobile phones running the OS, its market share has grown to almost 2%.It was recently revealed that after about 5 monthes of AT&T and T-Mobile phones running the OS, its market share has grown to almost 2%.

December is generally a more active sales month than November, and that might have fuelled the growth. This might seem a good figure to most, but not to Ross Rubin, who points out that webOS and Android did significantly better in their launch quarters, despite not being a full quarter. webOS and Android managed figures of 4% and 9% respectively.

This might be attributed to the changing competitive environment and lack of stand-out features in the first batch of devices. However, the partnership with may change all this and more, as the company would invest very heavily in the success of the OS, unlike others like Samsung and HTC.

Windows Phone 7 didn’t have a dream launch by any standards, but the recent Nokia deal and Microsoft Mobile World Congress announcements have given it the necessary impetus to go ahead with. IDC has even gone to the extent of predicting that the OS would hit 20.5% market share in 2015. The OS has seen strong growth in US, with its share of installed base growing 350%.

Viewsonic GTab Overclocked to 1.6 GHz [Let's Race!]

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:36:00 +0000

So a few minutes ago we were going ahead with some benchmarks of this brand new T-Mobile LGx and what did we find sitting right next to our result on MANDRO bench? That pesky Viewsonic G-Tablet! So we went hunting to find out more and what do you know? Those mad maniacs over on XDA developers have been at it again, overclocking their devices until they explode, and this time it’s the Viewsonic GTab. XDA user pershoot played around with the kernel until his device set its rockets for stunning and blasted off into outer space – GTab style!

This developer had the throttle at full, hitting a whopping 1.6 GHz – it was scaled down because of UV being applied to 1.4 GHz, but hey! That’s still pretty sweet, eh? First benchmarks have added up to be 57.657 on Linpack, 3088 on Quadrant, and 4433 on Smartbench. Sound pretty sweet? Run the kernel yourself!

But remember, this kind of stuff can really mess your beloved device up, royally. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re probably going to make it explode, or worse, brick. Take a peek back at the original thread to get all the info you need on making this masterpiece float.

[via XDA developers forum]

Let Me Goo.gl These New Features For You

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:23:00 +0000

Back in September, Google formally launched goo.gl, the official URL shortener from the tech giant. The service first went into operation late in 2009 and was tied to Google’s own products, like Google Toolbar, but now it’s a direct competitor to the myriad consumer-focused shorteners, the most famous of which is bit.ly. Today, goo.gl has announced a handful of new features that should make fans of the service happy.

First up is easier copy and pasting — after you submit a link, Google will automatically highlight the resulting shortened URL, which means you can immediately hit Control-C to copy it. No, not a huge deal (and rivals like bit.ly already do the same thing), but if you use this as part of your workflow, you’ll appreciate it.

Next, you can now remove URLs that are shown on your dashboard. Again, another minor feature — but one that comes in handy if you’re a big Goo.gl user. As you use the service, it builds a list of URLs you’ve generated and displays how many clicks each has received. But that list got cluttered fast if you frequently used it. Now you’ll be able to highlight your most important links while hiding the ones that you don’t care so much about.

Google also goes out of its way to say that it has had zero downtime since the service launched in September, which is notable because URL shorteners are often criticized for adding additional latency and points of failure to the web.

Finally, you can now report spammy links. Hooray!

Beautiful Widgets now supports tablets, looks great on Xoom [Mini Review]

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:23:00 +0000

Beautiful Widgets by LevelUp Studios has been one of, if not the most downloaded app for Android other than some games. Everyone that doesn’t have HTC Sense seems to use Beautiful Widgets. They have now updated the widget pack to support Android tablets and the new look and interface for my Xoom sure looks like. I have some pics for you all to enjoy. It just recently finished it’s BETA.

They have completely redesigned the layout, and menu’s and what not to be fully compatible with Android 3.0 Honeycomb and I must say, they did a good job. It works great, it’s smooth, and the new Moon phases sure are cool. I have Weatherbug for Honeycomb but the widget disappears every 3 minutes, very irritating when you can’t see it to remove it. So for now I’d have to recommend Beautiful Widgets.

On screen look of Beautiful Widgets on my Xoom, this is one of many different looks, you can make it completely custom, change colors, font, opacity and everything.

Next up is inside the app when you touch the sun, or the clouds. the animation into full-screen is smooth and clear and you can still see the home screen under it, me likes.

Here we have the new Moon Phase option, it is really cool and I’ve used it for the last few days just to check it out. It is really neat to see the different phases. Nice touch levelup, nice touch. They use honeycomb’s context menu on the top right of course.

Now to keep this short I’ll just show one of the settings tab, You can go in and change whatever is needed. Here is a screenshot of me changing the widget from showing weather and the sun, to my battery life instead. Options, and more options are what we get with Beautiful Widgets. That is why they are so popular.

I told you I would keep it short, and I really tried. They have just done a great job making the widgets and animations smooth and well, beautiful. So I had to show a few screenshots and what not for you all. I’m sure more updates and options will come as they tweak it for tablets, as the phone version sure has tons and tons of options. I’ve downloaded a few skins and made it look pretty funky so far, but for now I’m going to keep it simple. Go ahead and get Beautiful Widgets in the Android Market now and enjoy it, I’ve used it since my G1 days. Thanks for reading, don’t forget to click the gallery below for larger pictures.

T-Mobile to offer Unlimited everything plans on and off contract

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:37:00 +0000

Looks like T-Mobile has decided to get in a little closer with the competition. They have now unleashed their new Unlimited Everything plans, sadly they aren’t truly unlimited but more on that below. They are offering two unlimited packages, one being on contract, and the other is contract free.

The Even More plan is $79.99 per month and requires a two-year contract, then the Even More Plus plan is $59.99 per month with no annual contract required and is geared towards the month-to-month prepaid customers. Both of these are for a limited time only so we suggest you hurry in and get a shiny new Sidekick 4G, or wait a few days and get the LG G2x.

Sadly we have heard some news that makes these exciting plans not all that exciting after all. Yes everything is unlimited but if you go over 2GB on your data T-Mobile will start to slow down and throttle your speeds, basically to a crawl. T-Mobile has said that all you facebookers and mobile data consumers use on average about 1GB a month of data, well they said that the “average” customer uses this amount. I know that I use anywhere from 3GB-5GB a month right now, but I’m more of a power user when it comes to Android. So those plans are a no go for some of those more power users, or those that use lots of data. I am glad to see they are lowering prices, and not increasing them now that data is being used more and more, but unlimited data that is actually capped, and slowdowns are a few things I’m not to happy to see. What are your thoughts? Full press release below:

T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced that new, single-line unlimited plans are available starting tomorrow for just $79.99 per month, with an Even More™ plan and a two-year contract, or $59.99 per month, with an Even More Plus™plan with no annual contract required. Available for a limited time, the new plans offer great value for new and existing customers with unlimited nationwide calling, texting and data on America’s Largest 4G Network™.

“Consumers today are looking for even more value and flexibility from their wireless plans,” said John Clelland, senior vice president, marketing, T-Mobile USA. “While data plans for many of our competitors continue to be very expensive, T-Mobile is lowering the price of our unlimited plans and offering more options, making it easier than ever for customers to step up to a richer mobile data experience on our 4G network.”

Combined with an extensive lineup of affordable smartphones, T-Mobile’s new Even More unlimited plan allows customers to save more than $350 per year on an unlimited smartphone plan, compared to similar plans from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint1. Customers have the flexibility to purchase any phone in T-Mobile’s lineup and sign up for an unlimited rate plan – with or without a contract term commitment.

In contrast to some competing offerings, T-Mobile’s new Even More unlimited and Even More Plus unlimited plans enable customers to use mobile data on their smartphones without incurring any overage charges. Consumers exceeding 2GB of usage in a billing month will still have access to unlimited data at reduced speeds until their new billing cycle starts. On average, T-Mobile 4G smartphone customers consume about 1 GB of data per billing month.

In addition to its unlimited plans, T-Mobile continues to offer one of the industry’s most affordable entry-level data plans, starting at just $10 for 200 MB per billing month. The company also strives to help customers on these data plans avoid surprise bills with SMS alerts when they are reaching their data limit.

The new $79.99 Even More unlimited and $59.99 Even More Plus unlimited plans are available starting tomorrow for qualifying customers. To find the T-Mobile plan that best fits their needs, customers can visit http://www.t-mobile.com.

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G network not available everywhere. See coverage details at T-Mobile.com.

Tyfone putting NFC in MicroSD Cards

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:35:00 +0000

Wow, this sounds like a great idea, Tyfone has developed a system and are now putting NFC chips, controllers, and antenna’s into Micro SD and SD cards. This makes it possible for mobile phones and other PDA like devices to easily add NFC capabilities to their device just by simply changing the SD card they are using. Sounds like a great plan, don’t have a Nexus S, just get a Tyfone MicroSD Card.

According to them the first field trials of Tyfone’s u4ia Secure Memory Card (SMC) technology are now expected to take place during the first half of this year, following successful internal testing at 21 organizations around the world. Tyfone’s u4ia (pronounced ‘euphoria’) has some serious potential to be very popular, especially with how NFC has been taking off lately, not to mention Google jumping into NFC head first as principle member.

Tyfone’s u4ia Secure Memory Card would be able to break free the handset availability problem and allow any device with a SD slot to have NFC. This goes for most cell phones these days, as well as camera’s and GPS systems and more. For more information on what Tyfone’s cards contain see below:

* An industry standard, GlobalPlatform-compliant multi-application contactless smart card chip
* A memory card controller that includes Tyfone IP that enables the SMC to work with any SD slot equipped device
* A miniaturized antenna, developed by Tyfone
* Flash memory, available in standard SD and microSD card capacities (Tyfone’s NFC additions don’t reduce the size of memory available)

Even though we welcome as many phone manufactures as possible to integrate NFC into mobile handsets because of the possibilities it holds, Tyfone’s solution looks to be a very good one. We will report back with more on this as we hear it.

[via NFC World]

Andi-One Android universal remote surfaces

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:29:00 +0000

A company called Conspin has announced a new and really cool looking universal remote control that runs the Android operating system. The remote has an interesting charge base and a big touchscreen for use. The remote is called the Andi One and will support over 5,000 brands of devices.

The company says out of those 5,000 brands the remote will work with up to 10,000 different devices. The operating system that the remote runs is Android 2.1. The remote will connect to devices via IR, RF, and WiFi and can be used as a WiFi phone as an option.

The touchscreen is a 3.5-inch unit with a resolution of 320 x 480 and the remote will run Android apps. The battery inside is a 1500mAh unit and it will last for up to 20 hours per charge. Pricing and availability on the Andi One are unknown at this time.

[via Conspin]

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Hands-On and Unboxing

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:32:00 +0000

Looks like we’ve got the brand new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G in today for our ultimate pleasure and handson-edness! Not only do we have this lovely handset here in full working order, activated, shiny, perfectly lovely, we got the pink edition! Hooray forever! Now let’s take a look at what it’ll be like for all the consumers of the earth to be unboxing this lovely little beast, piece by piece. Looks like quite the hipster machine to me.

We have had an opportunity to take a peek at this device when we were back at CTIA 2011, clicking about here and there and photographing our eyes out, but nothing beats the ability to carry it around in your pocket. That’s what we’ll be doing for the next few days and weeks so we can get a good idea on how this device is going to be faring out in the field. Watch out for the custom user interface – heavy scrutiny ahead!

See the video here and the close-up photos below, keep tuned to Android Community’s front news feed here and our Facebook page at http://facebook.com/androidcommunity.com/ for unique content on this device from each! Then head back to our T-Mobile Sidekick 4G portal for all the coverage your eyeballs can handle!

Exxon Mobile unveils new app to help you locate stations

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:22:00 +0000

I have a couple gas stations that I will use because the quality of the gas is better and my car runs better as a result. I know some people that only like to use certain stations because they get cash back on credit card purchases of fuel too. If you want to specifically use an Exxon Mobile station the company has a new app to help you find one.

The new app is called Exxon Mobile Fuel Finder and runs on Android devices. The app uses the GPS tech inside your smartphone to find where you are and show you the closest Exxon station near you. The app will also tell you what features the station has like a car wash or SpeedPass capability.

The stations can also be filtered by hours of operations and more. Once you find a station that will work the app will route you from wherever you are directly to the station. This app has been available for iOS devices since last year.

Sony Ericsson Launches Channel on Android Market

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:32:00 +0000

Today it seems that Sony Ericsson has become the first manufacturer to launch their own channel on Google’s Android Market. This channel is open now, and is dependent on which carrier you’re on, but they say it’ll be open to “most” Android users across the USA (and the world?) This feature will be replacing your “My Apps” section on the main bar (next to apps and games) moving, but not REmoving, that feature from the market. If you see the Sony Ericsson button in the market and want to instead head to My Apps, all you’ve got to do now is press your menu button to find it.

But wait a second, says basically everyone in the world, the “My Apps” button is the one I use the MOST! Sony Ericsson will have quite the time, we estimate, making this section valuable enough for people to stop complaining about how it’s changing their experience for the worse. That said, this channel will provide an area where Sony Ericsson will be able to send out the games and apps they feel best work with the phones they’re producing. For the better? Or for the brand?

Have a peek at a few futures of this new channel below, and let us know if you’re excited to see it show up on your Sony Ericsson phone:

- Provide recommendations to help you find the best games & apps that enhance your Sony Ericsson ‘most entertaining’ experience.

- Provide a way to easily find original apps from Sony Ericsson such as Timescape plugins etc.

- From time to time offer exclusive games & apps only available in this channel.

- Help our developer partners promote their apps & games giving them a highlighted market space to our consumers.

[via Sony Ericsson]

LG Thrive, IE 10 & Final Cut Pro X Unveiled: This Morning’s Top Stories

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:20:00 +0000

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.

AT&T Launches First Prepaid Smartphone

AT&T and LG have launched LG Thrive, the first Android smartphone to be available as part of AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid plan.

Microsoft Unveils Internet Explorer 10 Preview
Microsoft has released the first platform preview for Internet Explorer 10, less than a month after the launch its much-hyped Internet Explorer 9 browser.

Apple Announces Final Cut Pro X

Apple has unveiled Final Cut Pro X, the newest version of its popular video-editing software.

Further News

Cisco is discontinuing its line of Flip video cameras, the company’s CEO announced.
A group of volunteer bloggers has filed a class-action suit against The Huffington Post, its founder, Arianna Huffington, and AOL, which acquired the digital media company for $315 million in February.
Flock, the 5-year-old social web browser, is also going out of commission. Support for the browser will be discontinued on April 26.
Walmart-owned movie streaming service Vudu is now accessible from web browsers.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

Motorola And Huawei Settle Patent Lawsuit

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:18:00 +0000

In case you hadn’t heard, Motorola Solutions and Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies have been embroiled in a nasty patent lawsuit. In January, the Chinese company has filed a lawsuit to prevent Motorola from giving Nokia Siemens (which acquired Motorola’s wireless network for $1.2 billion last year) Huawei’s IP information. Today, Motorola and Huawei have issued a joint statement announcing that the two companies have settles all litigation. Both parties have agreed to withdraw and dismiss their claims from the courts.

Huawei has actually entered an agreement with Motorola Solutions and Nokia Siemens that allows Motorola Solutions to transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei for a fee, and allows Nokia to receive and use Huawei confidential information revealed to Motorola. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. And Motorola is also dismissing a prior complaint filed against Huawei, which alleged that the Chinese company was conspiring to steal trade secrets from former Motorola employees.

The backstory is that Huawei was claiming that because Motorola and the company has a previous licensing relationship (worth $880 million), Motorola’s wireless networking unit was provided with details on Huawei’s confidential intellectual property. Huawei was trying to ensure that Motorola does not transfer this confidential information to Nokia. Motorola, Huawei contended, did not provided any assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that IP information to Nokia and if this transfer of information did happen, Huawei would suffer from this.

It appears that Motorola ponied up the funds to pay off Huawei in this suit. In February, Huawei won a court order preventing Motorola from transferring the Chinese telecom-gear maker’s intellectual property to Nokia Siemens.

Greg Brown, President & CEO of Motorola said in a statement: “We regret that these disputes have occurred between our two companies. Motorola Solutions values the long-standing relationship we have had with Huawei. After reviewing the facts, we decided to resolve these matters and return to our traditional relationship of confidence and trust.”

Former OfferPal CEO George Garrick Joins SocialShield

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:17:00 +0000

SocialShield, a startup that helps parents monitor their kids’ online behavior without violating kids’ privacy, is announcing a new CEO today, George Garrick.

Garrick, who was an investor in SocialShield, is a seasoned technology exec that was most recently the CEO of Offerpal (which is now TapJoy) as well as Mochi Media. Garrick was also previously the CEO of Jingle Networks, Wine.com, PlaceWare (which was acquired by Microsoft), FlyCast Communications, Information Resources and A.C. Nielsen.

Founded by Noah Kindler and Arad Rostampour, SocialShield gives parents high level visibility into what kids are doing online and on social networks, and who they’re interacting with online and via mobile phones. SocialShield, which requires that both parents and children opt-in to the service, monitors kids’ picture sharing, social gaming and other social activity on networks that kids use the most (currently Facebook, Myspace and Twitter). Rather than giving parents access to kids’ accounts or copies of their online communications, Social Shield sends parents alerts when activity indicates potential danger.

The startup, which raised $10 million in funding and inked a licensing deal with AOL, was also recently invited to The White House to participate in a Presidential Summit on CyberBullying.

HANNSPAD SN10T1, SN10T2, and SN10T3 tablet specs and prices revealed

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:15:00 +0000

The geeks over at Notebookitalia attended a meeting where the pricing details and specs for some new Hannspree tablets were offered up. The new tablets include the SN10T1 for Q1, the SN10T2 for Q2, and the SN10T3 for Q3. All three of the tablets sound interesting and they will share a few of the same specs.

The SN10T1 will sport a 10.1″ screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600. It will use the Tegra II processor with 16GB of storage and run Android 2.2. The tablet will feature WiFi and Bluetooth for €349. The SN10T2 tablet will have the same 10.1″ screen, use a T1 processor and have 8GB of storage. It too will run Android 2.2 and will have WiFi, Bluetooth, and a camera for €299.

The last of the new tablets will land in Q3 and is called the SN10T3. This tablet has a 10.1″ screen but that screen has a resolution of 1280 x 600. It will run the Tegra II processor and have 16GB of storage. The operating system eon this tablet will be Android 3.0. It will also pack in WiFi, Bluetooth, and a camera for €449.

[via Notebookitalia]

Dailyplaces Turns Ups The Social, Adds Realtime Chat To Locations

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Dailyplaces, the social recommendation service for places, has upped the social today by adding realtime chat to its iPhone and Android apps.

Dubbed ‘Places Chat’, users can communicate directly and in realtime with other users that are checked-in at the same location. Additionally, it’s possible to chat with other users that aren’t nearby via a user’s friend-list. The thinking behind the feature is to enable users to converse with each other around locations so that they can ask about the place, give recommendations or even book appointments, says the Frankfurt, Germany-based startup.

Read the rest of this entry »

Was the Charlie Sheen Tweet a Win for Internships.com?

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:29:00 +0000

The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb’s free whitepaper, “The Bloody Truth about Social Media.”

When it comes to brand building, there are basically two schools of thought: “Build it and they will come” and “brainwash the masses.”

The latter is based on the belief that any publicity is good publicity. If you get your name out there, the rest will fall in to place. A good example of this philosophy is GoldenPalace.com, which recently bought Justin Bieber’s hair, and in the past has purchased William Shatner’s kidney stone for the free publicity.

At the moment, Internships.com fits the latter category as well. If you’ve heard of the brand, it’s most likely due to a single effective marketing campaign: An endorsement by Charlie Sheen via Twitter.

Internships.com, Charlie Sheen & Ad.ly

When Sheen joined Twitter on March 1, it’s safe to say he wasn’t a great fit with a lot of brands. Sheen had just had a major falling out with Chuck Lorre, the producer of Sheen’s hit show Two and a Half Men and gave a series of bizarre interviews. It was clear that the star was something of a train wreck, and, to many, a fascinating one at that. Sheen became a trending topic on Twitter and, when he joined, set the Guinness World Record by getting 1 million followers in about 25 hours.

That combination of public pariah and social media star had appeal for a brand that was chiefly concerned with creating awareness. But Internships.com and Sheen needed a matchmaker.

That’s where Ad.ly came in. Founded in 2009 by Sean Rad, Ad.ly sought to link celebrities with social media endorsements. The firm first came on a lot of people’s radars when it arranged for client Kim Kardashian to receive $10,000 per tweet for spreading the message about Carl’s Jr., a fast food chain. By now, Ad.ly claims more than 1,000 celebrities, who make endorsements on behalf of some 150 brands.

About the Internship

As it so happens, Internships.com’s CEO, Robin Richards, sits on Ad.ly’s board. Nevertheless, the year-old company — which connects internship seekers with companies offering internships — had some stipulations for working with Ad.ly and Sheen. “There were two things we needed to make sure of,” says Kat Garcia, a rep for Internships.com. “We needed to make sure this was a legitimate internship and it was a paid internship.”

The eight-week internship is real, but it’s a little odd — the winner gets to manage Charlie Sheen’s social media operations. It also pays — $10 an hour.

With those specifications in place, Sheen gave his tweet/plug on March 7: “I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here – http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad.”

A Win For Internships.com?

The response to Sheen’s tweet was immediate. Within the first hour, the tweet got 95,333 clicks. A week later, the offer got more than 82,000 replies. “It’s been overwhelming in a positive way,” Garcia says.

While the promotion was undeniably successful in getting responses to the internship, it’s not clear that Internships.com can build a brand off of it. The company, which had previously only run paid search advertising and the occasional print ad, is now known to most people as an extension of the Charlie Sheen brand.

Rob Frankel, a Los Angeles-based branding expert, says that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but that this appears to be nothing more or less than a publicity stunt. “Awareness for awareness’s sake never works,” he says. “Cancer has a high awareness, but how many people want it?” Frankel says he believes that an attention-getting strategy is fine as long as it ties in with what the brand is offering — for him, the fact that the promotion is around a Charlie Sheen internship doesn’t cut it.

When asked if there are potential downfalls to being yoked to Sheen — what if he dies for instance? — Lindsay Plotkin, another rep for Internships.com, sidestepped the question, focusing instead on what the promotion has meant for Internships’s brand. “It kind of propelled us from maybe not being as well known to being a contender in this space,” she says.

Potential concerns aside, Internships.com still has control of some of the message. One of the cleverer aspects of the campaign is that a single tweet launched a story arc for Internships.com. After narrowing down the field, the winner of the contest should be announced in a few weeks, no doubt providing more free publicity. After that, it will be up to Internships.com to plan what it will do with its newfound awareness. When asked, however, if anyone has successfully built a brand with publicity stunts, Frankel thought for a second. “I can’t think of anyone that has,” he said. “That should tell you something.”

Series Supported by Oneupweb

The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, an award-winning agency specializing in search marketing, social media and design for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Download Oneupweb’s free whitepaper, “The Bloody Truth about Social Media” to learn how to cut through the clutter and be sure to catch up with them on Facebook and Twitter.

LG Thrive: Meet AT&T’s First Prepaid Smartphone

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:14:00 +0000

AT&T and LG have launched LG Thrive, the first Android smartphone to be available as part of AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid plan.

LG Thrive is a 3.2-inch device with a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and 160 MB of memory expandable via SD memory cards up to 32GB. The device will be powered by Android 2.2, and while it cannot compete with the top Android phones such as the Motorola Atrix or Samsung Galaxy S, it is the most powerful device on the GoPhone plan.

Customers who choose the Smartphone $0.10/min Plan or Smartphone $2/day Unlimited Talk and Text Plan Data will be able to choose between the following data plan options: $5 for 10MB, $15 for 10MB as well as $25 for 500MB.

The device will retail for $179.99 and is expected to hit the market April 17. On that same date, AT&T also plans to launch LG Phoenix, which is the same device as the Thrive but with a dark blue case, a price tag of $49.99 and two-year service agreement requirement.

Apple Announces Final Cut Pro X At NAB

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 07:19:00 +0000

It’s NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters conference) in Las Vegas, that means lots of new camera and video stuff. It’s more pro gear than consumer stuff, which is probably why Apple took over the Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet there to unveil the newest version of their professional video editing software. They’re calling it as revolutionary as the original Final Cut released back in ’99. Guess the rumors were right.

After a preamble where they described FCP has having over 2 million users and teasing the competition, they launched into the new features. They’re still in the middle of the presentation, but so far it appears we have 64-bit, a revamped UI, and a ton of automatic clip-optimization going on in the background by utilizing Grand Central Station.

Read the rest of this entry »

Honeycomb Bits Already in Android Open Source Project Repository

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:26:00 +0000

That’s right race fans, start revving your engines if you haven’t already, Honeycomb is getting closer and closer to being released to the public via Google’s AOSP repository. We’ve recently had some unmentionables hit the fan over the fact that Google was holding back the source for Honeycomb, people flipping out over how they though this meant that Android was moving away from open-source. In fact Google was just waiting, watching, thinking, twiddling their thumbs, and the time is soon approaching – a couple bits are already out!

Our excellent friends over at Android Guys have published the path back to Al Sutton who appears to have pieced together a puzzle that’s lead to the discovery of both references to Renderscript as wells a few new build options. As you may well know if you’ve taken a look at our gigantic Honeycomb guide, Renderscript is a relatively new function to be found only in builds post-Honeycomb. That means Honeycomb and possible Ice Cream, if that is indeed what Google intends on calling it.

Right after Al Sutton posted his findings, mister Jean-Baptiste Queru, a fellow who works for Android down in Silicon Valley, said that he added the bits Sutton found “last week,” and that what Sutton was looking at is “just a current snapshot of master, in case incompatibilities develop over time.” The best part about this whole thing? Bits of Honeycomb have been in the AOSP repository for months:

[via Android Guys]

New Xperia Play Backstab game Ad pops up [Video]

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:21:00 +0000

Imagine if the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed took place during the 18th century in the Caribbean. That’s the vibe behind Gamaeloft’s
“Backstab,” which we reported last month was coming to the Sony-Ericcson Xperia Play exclusively for the first month or so. A new video of Backstab’s game play has surfaced telling more about the back story. Backstab casts the gamer as character Henry Blake, a former British naval officer unjustly imprisoned for treason and has escaped to go on a mission of vengeance.

Gamers have to escape the Caribbean Prison and then proceed to wreak havoc around the island. There’s a lot of swordplay and I really dig the blue glow of the blade as it swings. But it seems the main goal of the game, cool as it is, is just to kill. There’s no secret to uncover or treasure to find. Just vengeance, blood and death.

It’s certainly going to be popular with the teen crowd looking to kill a few hours as an excuse to avoid doing their homework. But will it have legs beyond a few hours of hack and slash? Only time will tell. Backstab will be exclusive to the Xperia Play, for about a month or so, starting April 18th. Then, it’ll move on to other Android platforms, as well as iOS.

Motorola XOOM Gets SD Card Activation Early via Tiamac Kernel

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Behold a fabulous kernel that’s been modified to allow YOU usage of the SD card slot on your Motorola XOOM. It’s called Tiamat, and word on the street is that the dude who’s one of the main creators of this lovely beast has used bits and pieces of code from the Asus Eee Pad Transformer to push the Motorola XOOM another step closer to perfection. Perfection, I tell you!

Now you’ll be able to take that XOOM that you got completely free and clear from us here at Android Community and the fine folks over at NVIDIA, and you can use that slot to load all your favorite oddities. You’ll be loading this and that and whatever you like with all the ease in the world. On the other hand, everyone knows that rooting and booting kernels and all that good stuff isn’t for everyone, so perhaps this isn’t the solution for you.

If you ARE the kind of person who likes to live in the wild side and wipe their systems clean and buff out the insides for a chance at eternal hacking glory, consult the oracle. The oracle in this case is bigrushdog, a fellow who’s sitting pretty over at XDA Developers just waiting to provide you with Tiamat for your goodness. Use caution! And don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Also note – you need to reboot once you put your SD card in for it to show up, so it’s not PERFECT, but it works!

[via XDA Developers Forum]

Vodafone confirms HTC Sensation: 1.2GHz dual-core and qHD display

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:30:00 +0000

Vodafone UK has prematurely announced the HTC Sensation, the device formerly known by its codename of HTC Pyramid, and not expected to make its official debut until HTC’s event later on today. Confirmed is the 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch 540 x 960 touchscreen and 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and dual-LED flash.

There’s also a front-facing webcam, 3G, WiFi b/g/n and GPS, along with a unibody-style chassis. We can spy a microUSB port too, and Vodafone says there’ll be 4GB of internal storage and an 8GB microSD card bundled in the box.

No word on pricing or availability – all Vodafone say on that point is that the HTC Sensation is “coming soon” – but we expect to hear more later on today at the event-proper.

Flash Exploit can nail early versions of Android

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:16:00 +0000

Adobe has announced a critical vulnerability in Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier versions which may, and we do underscore MAY, affect early versions of the Android OS. The vulnerability causes a crash and could also allow a savvy attacker to take control of affected systems. It is usually triggered by an infect .swf file embedded into a Microsoft Word document delivered as an email attachment. Now, granted, this is going to be rare for the Android platform but Adobe felt it important enough to mention that early versions of the Bot OS may be affected.

So if you have an old G1 that you’re hanging onto, you may want to steer clear of using Flash until adobe gets a fix out, which is currently scheduled for June 14, 2011 as part of their quarterly security update schedule. Yeah, June. You’d think if Adobe though this was important enough to mention, and exploits always are, that they’d have a regular update schedule like Microsoft does with Windows. I mean, QUARTERLY?

Then again, if you are still using an G1 or early model Android handset, you’re probably WAY due to upgrade anyway. There’s plenty of great handsets out there and many are free. I mean, we know the G1 was the first and all, but come on, get with the program! Seriously, this likely much ado about nothing for your average AC reader, but its always a good idea to keep up on what attackers are trying to do in case something pops up that nobody saw comin.

Security Advisory for Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat

Release date: April 11, 2011

Vulnerability identifier:APSA11-02

CVE number: CVE-2011-0611

Platform: See “Affected software versions” section below for details
Summary

A critical vulnerability exists in Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier versions (Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.25 and earlier for Chrome users) for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, Adobe Flash Player 10.2.156.12 and earlier versions for Android, and the Authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

This vulnerability (CVE-2011-0611) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Word (.doc) file delivered as an email attachment, targeting the Windows platform. At this time, Adobe is not aware of any attacks via PDF targeting Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Adobe Reader X Protected Mode mitigations would prevent an exploit of this kind from executing.

We are in the process of finalizing a schedule for delivering updates for Flash Player 10.2.x and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris and Android, Adobe Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh, Adobe Reader X (10.0.2) for Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.4.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh. Because Adobe Reader X Protected Mode would prevent an exploit of this kind from executing, we are currently planning to address this issue in Adobe Reader X for Windows with the next quarterly security update for Adobe Reader, currently scheduled for June 14, 2011.
Affected software versions

* Adobe Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris operating systems
* Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.25 and earlier for Chrome users
* Adobe Flash Player 10.2.156.12 and earlier for Android
* The Authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems

NOTE: Adobe Reader 9.x for UNIX, Adobe Reader for Android, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x are not affected by this issue.
Severity rating

Adobe categorizes this as a critical issue.
Details

A critical vulnerability exists in Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier versions (Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.25 and earlier for Chrome users) for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, Adobe Flash Player 10.2.156.12 and earlier versions for Android, and the Authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

This vulnerability (CVE-2011-0611) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Word (.doc) file delivered as an email attachment, targeting the Windows platform. At this time, Adobe is not aware of any attacks via PDF targeting Adobe Reader and Acrobat. Adobe Reader X Protected Mode mitigations would prevent an exploit of this kind from executing.

We are in the process of finalizing a schedule for delivering updates for Flash Player 10.2.x and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Solaris and Android, Adobe Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh, Adobe Reader X (10.0.2) for Macintosh, and Adobe Reader 9.4.3 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh. Because Adobe Reader X Protected Mode would prevent an exploit of this kind from executing, we are currently planning to address this issue in Adobe Reader X for Windows with the next quarterly security update for Adobe Reader, currently scheduled for June 14, 2011.

Users may monitor the latest information on the Adobe Product Security Incident Response Team blog at http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt or by subscribing to the RSS feed at http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/atom.xml.

Adobe actively shares information about this and other vulnerabilities with partners in the security community to enable them to quickly develop detection and quarantine methods to protect users until a patch is available. As always, Adobe recommends that users follow security best practices by keeping their anti-malware software and definitions up to date.

Acknowledgments
Adobe would like to thank Mila Parkour (http://contagiodump.blogspot.com) for working with Adobe on this issue to help protect our customers.

Skype with Video for Android Mini Review [Pre-Release]

noreply@blogger.com (ADMIN) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:21:00 +0000

The only reason I call this app review a mini review is because there’s simply not that much to say about it. It appears, from here, and this far into the app, that this Skype with Video chat does exactly what it says it does and it does it well. Remember back when we took a look at the app called Tango – another video chat app? Believe it or not, this iteration of Skype is VERY similar to that, only Skype has a big bonus : it’s Skype.

The source of the APK we’re using for this mini review comes from our awesome friends at Droid Life. Before we continue, just incase you’d like to follow along while we review, let’s take a look at some downloads from several sources and a QR-code that’ll lead you to a Megaupload:

Download: com.skypevideo.apk [mirror] [mirror]
Download: [zipped version] Just a zip file.

Now, on with the review. This app how four main tabs: contacts, call, my info, and events. You’re able to call people with voice only, via instant message, or with – yes! Video calls. If you’ve got a Skype account already, you’re in luck, because just like you get the full Facebook experience when you use a Facebook app, you get your whole list of contacts from your Sync account from your desktop version of the app.

You can access all the information the people you have on your contact list wish you to be able to see. You can contact them via your contacts list in a way that makes you (and me, doing this review) feel comfortable and “at home” if you know what I mean. Calls sound great between phone and phone as well as between phone and computer, (that’s what you’re seeing in the photograph above,) the same goes for video. Video isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it’s certainly as good as Tango.

Now that Skype is coming out with video calling over Android, does Tango have a chance to survive? Does Digg survive even though there’s Reddit to fight? Do some people own both a Motorola XOOM and an iPad as well as a few smaller devices that can now run Skype with Video? Sure, why not?

All the images you see below are either photographs of a conversation between a MacBook Pro and a HTC ThunderBolt OR screenshots of the Skype with Video app in action – there’s no screenshots of the video conversation in action because screenshots refuse to pick up the images behind the call button. Harsh! Best way to see the video quality here is to try it out for yourself. If you do, be a real pal and let us know (in comments below) how it went installing on your device (and which device it was you were using.)

Thanks a bunch!