Technology Effect

Snaps and specs for what is purported to be an Amazon branded Android phone have surfaced online, a matter of days after the online retailer took its first steps in the burgeoning smartphone apps market. Unearthed by Android Police, the handset sounds more than a match in the power stakes for the crop of next-gen handsets running Google’s OS, thanks to a 1.2 GHz dual core Snapdragon processor courtesy of Qualcomm and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) out of the box. Elsewhere, the phone, reportedly codenamed the Blaze, is home to a rear-mounted five-megapixel camera and a secondary front-facing snapper for video calls, as well as an energy efficient 4.3-inch Mirasol screen that’s apparently easy to read even in direct sunlight. According to the chaps at the Android fansite, the Blaze will mark the first appearance of Amazon’s custom skin, also dubbed Blaze, that offers full integration with the online retailer’s services and features a solar panel on the rear. The apparent lea

Cellular South announced availability of the MOTOROLA XOOMTM Wi-Fi tablet to consumer and business customers. “When paired with our Novatel MiFi hotspot, this tablet will give our customers unparalleled access to their personal content and work files over our industry-leading mobile broadband data network.” The award-winning MOTOROLA XOOM, which was selected as “Best of Show” at CES – the world’s largest consumer electronics show – earlier this year, is the first device operating on AndroidTM 3.0 Honeycomb, designed especially for tablets. In addition to widgets, true multi-tasking, browsing, notifications and customization, the tablet also features the latest Google™ Mobile services, including Google MapsTM 5.0 with 3D interaction and delivers access to over 3 million Google eBooksTM and thousands of apps on Android MarketTM. Featuring a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1 GB of RAM, the 10.1-inch widescreen HD tablet gives Cellular South customers a new type of mobile comput

That’s not new for most of us that there are so many countries where government controls the internet and don’t allow their peoples to use internet without censoring specific or some contents. Every country has different content to censor but some of the most commonly censored contents are Pornography, Social Networks, Wikipedia, Wikileaks, Political Blogs, Religious Websites and Video Streaming Websites. They use advance internet monitoring and censoring technology to stop their nation for using the censored content. In this post, you can find below is a well designed and easy to understand example of infographic that show the current state of freedom on the internet to find who and what are censoring by which countries. The credit goes to yuxiyou.net who compiled these stats into an amazing infographic. We would love to know what you are thinking while viewing this infographic. Do you want to be the first one to know the latest happenings at SmashingApps.com just subsc

  The Acer Aspire One 522 is the first netbook to ship in the US with a 10.1 inch display and an AMD C-50 processor with Radeon HD 6250 graphics. If it weren’t for the high resolution 1280 x 720 pixel display, you’d probably have a hard time telling this mini-laptop apart from any other netbook. It’s about the same size, weight, and even price as other offerings from Acer. But when it comes to performance, things get a little more complicated. The AMD C-50 chip is a 1 GHz dual core processor with the CPU and graphics components on the same chip. AMD called this sort of system-on-a-chip an APU, or Accelerated Processing Unit. Intel is also producing System on a Chip processors, but Intel lags behind AMD in the graphics department, thanks to AMD’s purchase of graphics card maker ATI a few years ago. The end result is that while the AMD C-50 chip uses almost the same amount of power as Intel’s latest Atom chips and offers similar day to day performance, it offers f

  As much as I use and enjoy Twitter on my mobile devices, the constantly scrolling list of tweets is getting old. Maybe that’s why Different Tack, a Twitter app for Symbian , jumped out at me this morning. Instead of the standard list approach, Different Tack offers a multi-colored scroll wheel to quickly navigate through tweets. The free software is available now in the Ovi Store, but Fluid Interaction , the company that developed it, says versions are in the works for Google Android and Apple iOS devices. The navigation wheel is used to scroll through tweets, which appear prominently on the top half of the display. You only see one tweet at a time, which brings focus. And the whole point of the wheel interface is to keep your eyes focused on the content. However, the wheel also provides information at a glance too: who’s tweeting, how many retweets (the bluer the tweet, the more popular it is), and if a tweet contains a link. Given that Different Tack is a highly visua

Viber is the product of a small Israeli startup, Viber Media Inc . They launched the first version of their VoIP app back in December of last year to rave reviews. Much like Skype, Viber makes free phone calls over Wi-Fi and 3G to other users with the Viber client. Unlike Skype, there’s no need to create an account. The typical process for making calls with 3rd party applications can be tedious. Signing up for accounts, verifying email address, and setting up contact lists are usually involved when using Skype or similar services. Viber made some waves with their no-username policy, and is set to do so again with the app’s latest update … Posted March 31st, Viber 2.0 brings free text messaging . Free SMS messages can now be sent between Viber clients. While other applications have had this feature for quite some time, it was certainly missing from Viber’s initial release. Free SMS was a much needed addition if Viber Media really wanted to eat into Skype’s massive market sh

The details keep coming together for Apple’s next-generation smartphone. The device that is set to sell over 100 million units is certainly one of the most popular topics for tech blogs for several reasons. Apple products in general tend to garner more attention; both for their secrecy, and their history of changing the industry. It’s hard to separate rumors from facts. To be honest, until somebody like a Steve Jobs or a Tim Cook makes the announcement, nothing should be considered fact. It gets even tougher to tell the difference when you have major corporations dishing out the gossip. 9to5 Mac is reporting that Sony’s CEO, Howard Stringer, just dropped a major bombshell during an interview with Walt Mossberg yesterday… Whether it was an intentional leak or a freudian slip, Stringer definitely confirmed that Sony was indeed providing camera sensors to Apple for their products . This would fall in line with previous reports that the two companies would become an unlikely pai

01 / Zynga >> For dominating--and monetizing--the social-gaming industry. The largest social-games developer in the world touts hundreds of millions of monthly active users on FarmVille, Treasure Isle, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars, and more. But what's truly innovative is its all virtual-goods revenue model: By creating immersive, addicting games, Zynga has roped gamers into paying real money for make-believe "virtual" goods that let them move up in the games or to give their friends gifts. Although small, those numbers add up: Zynga is already profitable, and it's valued at more than $7 billion. 02 / Apple >> For developing the year's most successful new gaming platform: the iPad. The tablet has not only sold more than 7 million units since its April debut (and will generate countless more with this month's iPad2 launch), but also fostered all sorts of new mobile-gaming innovation: Doodle Jump, Angry Birds, Enigmo, etc. Apple also made

There have been rumors for quite a while that Windows 8 will have a second, tile-based shell for tablets. More recently, Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott have revealed the logon screen for this shell, over at Within Windows. They posted it on April 1, 2011. Given their history and level of credibility, however, I'm inclined to believe it when they say that it is not an April Fools' day prank, especially given that Microsoft has started pushing Windows 8 builds on Microsoft Connect. The screenshot clearly shows a Metro-inspired logon screen. For those not in the loop, Metro refers to the design style used on Zune and Windows Phone. The screen shows the time, day of the week, the date, icons for power management, and an ease of access icon. The logon screen will be of course at least partially configurable, including being able to change the background image (this is probably pulled from the current Windows theme). Microsoft will reportedly build on this logon screen

So, it’s time to upgrade your cell phone .  You’ve done some research, and decided that you want a BlackBerry smart phone.  But with all the options to choose from, which one is right for you?  Here are the main things to consider when choosing a BlackBerry. Who’s Your Carrier? If you plan to stick with your current carrier , your choices may be limited to what that carrier offers.  If all your options are open, do some basic research on factors such as a) coverage in the areas where you’ll be most often; b) available plans (minutes, data, text, and cost); and c ) terms of contract or service agreement. Check Your Timing Before buying a phone, check BlackBerry forums online (such as Crackberry.com) for new product announcements.  A new model with advanced features may be introduced in a few weeks, and you may decide to wait for it. On the other hand, technology is advancing so quickly that there ’s always going to be a new and improved model coming “soon”.  So if the mod

The latest Internet Explorer news is both good and bad for Microsoft. First, the good: IE9, the newest version of Redmond's browser, seems to be gaining favor with Web users. A post yesterday on Microsoft's Windows Blog cites usage-tracker Net Applications' latest browser statistics, which show IE9 with 3.56 percent of worldwide market share for March. For a browser that officially launched just over two weeks ago--albeit one that's been available in beta form for months--that's not too shabby. "It's obviously very early but we are pleased with the reception," writes Microsoft's Ryan Gavin in a blog post. "The adoption rate of IE9 is about five times higher then what we saw for Internet Explorer 8 in the same time frame." A big-picture view of Net Applications' data, however, paints a less rosy picture for IE. The firm's over 60 percent for the same month a

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Have you heard the scary news about 'LizaMoon,' a malicious code attack that has already infected more than a million websites? Don't panic. This particular bit of hacker mischief is setting off alarms among online security watchdogs for its speed and scope, but built-in software safeguards mean few actual users will end up suffering. The exploit drew headlines because it's affecting a surprisingly large number of websites -- nearly 4 million so far -- and because some of those sites feed into Apple's iTunes platform. Websense, the security software vendor that first broke the news about LizaMoon in its blog, played up the iTunes connection in its first warning about the attack. But Apple ( AAPL , Fortune 500 ) has iTunes designed to automatically neutralize this kind of threat. That means there's zero risk of an iTunes user's computer actually getting infected by this bit of malware. Websense acknowledged that in its l

With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creative remote control these days... but how many can open-source an HTML5 web app that'll do the deed from any tablet, phone or PC? Gaurav Manek crafted just such a thing, and he'll demonstrate it for you on an Apple iPad in the video immediately above. What's more, he's also got a Kinect hack that uses Microsoft depth camera (with Code Laboratories' NUI SDK) to control the very same with the wave of a well-placed hand -- we're already envisioning fisticuffs should he and a lab partner try for some head-to-head racing action. That said, you don't need to wait for an illustrious creator to have all the fun. Why not download his source code at our links below and give it a go yourself? Hack A Day Gaurav Manek

The hack last month at RSA Security has been shrouded in mystery. How did a hacker manage to infiltrate one of the world’s top computer-security companies? And could the data that was stolen be used to impair its SecurID products, which are used by 40 million businesses that are trying to keep their own networks safe from intruders? The division of the EMC Corporation is staying mum about what exactly was stolen from its computer systems, aside from that is was data related to SecurID. But on Friday RSA shed some light on the nature of the attack. In a blog post titled “ Anatomy of an Attack ,” the company’s head of new technologies, Uri Rivner, described a three-stage operation that was similar to several other recent prominent attacks on technology companies, including a 2009 attack on Google that it said originated in China. In the attack on RSA, the attacker sent “phishing” e-mails with the subject line “2011 Recruitment Plan” to two small groups of employees over th

WWDC. It’s like Christmas for OS X and iOS developers. Each year, they flock to San Francisco’s Moscone Center, anxiously awaiting the pair of gifts that Apple annually bestows: the new iPhone, and a bundle of new features upon which they’ll build their next big thing. If whispers and hearsay hold true, this year’s WWDC will only feature the latter; the iPhone 5, says the rumor mill, won’t be showing its face until Fall. Instead, this show is purportedly going to be all about iOS and OS X. While Apple doesn’t come right out and say it, it’s pretty safe to assume that by “iOS” they mean “iOS 5″. Given that we’re writing about iOS on a regular basis and talking about it with readers and friends even more, we’ve got a pretty finely-tuned wishlist for iOS 5. We also happen to know that a heaping handful of Apple folk read TechCrunch regularly — and with the feature lock stage of iOS 5′s development cycle (wherein they absolutely refuse to add anything new and just focus on

The lads here, mostly Devin and Matt, were talking about Everyday Carry , a website dedicated to the things we carry in our bags, pockets, and purses. Most of the EDC gear looks pretty heavy-duty – many EDCs include guns and long stickin’ knives for, you know, those times when you need to stick stuff ( Merlin Mann’s is particularly interesting, for example) – and from the looks of the site it seems lots of people have totemic items, items of power that they carry to get things done. You’ve got Leathermen and diving watches. Little Moleskine notebooks. Pocket cameras and Space Pens . I remember my first totemic item, a fat Wenger 30-tool Swiss Army Knife my father bought me when I turned eleven. My dad picked it out for me at Lev’s Pawn Shop on Main Street in Columbus, Ohio, and that knife held great power to me. I carried it everywhere, used it on my “projects” and learned how to take care (or not take care) of good things by learning to care for that knife. I still ha

How long did it take you to get to this ToT web page? Perhaps half a second? Perhaps as long as a second, if you're on DSL? (Stupid Qwest.) Perhaps even longer, if you're the Unabomber and live in a shanty in the mountains and still use a dial-up Internet connection. But still, I think we can all agree that that brief, momentary pause between your mouse click and when this page actually loaded was unacceptably, inexcusably long. Am I right? The government of South Korea agrees. That's why, by the end of next year, South Korea has pledged to deliver 1 Gbps Internet speeds to every single household in the country. According to an in-depth write-up about this news in the New York Times , that would be about 200 times faster than the Internet speed enjoyed by most Americans. Let's pause and think about that for a second. 1 Gbps stands for 1 GIGABYTE PER SECOND. In comparison, Americans typically access the Internet at around 2 Mbps. In fact, here's a han

I just got an iPad 2 for my birthday and first thing I did is setup my mail. I get bunch of emails every day and out of 100-200 per day I delete probably 20% of them. See the thing is that with original iPad mail app you can delete, archive emails and things like that. But to mark them as read even if you didn’t open email, oh well that option does not exist. So I went to app store and downloaded bunch of gmail apps for iPad but no app really had an option to select and mark emails as read. Well I went to gmail.com With my iPad and to be honest it’s the best way to check and manage gmail account. What I love the most is that I can actually make gmail.com as app by simply clicking on bookmark button and add it to home screen (sorry no images today, am writhing this article via iPad for the first time, and I am not happy with it at all. Anyway, I just wanted to share tht sometimes mobile paged are way better than an actual iDevice apps. Try it. If you have tablet, which app d

  Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony, accidentally told everyone in the world that his company will be supplying image sensors for Apple‘s iPhone 5. In an interview late Friday with the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, the Sony chief was talking about earthquake damage to 15 of the Sony’s factories in Japan, and inadvertently mentioned that a camera sensor made in one of those plants is on its way to Apple, and that sensor would be delayed because of the quake and tsunami. Stringer didn’t specifically say that Sony is building an 8-megapixel image sensor that will go into the iPhone 5, but since Sony is currently not manufacturing any image sensors for Apple, this confirmed that Sony plans to supply components of the iPhone 5. This points to the distinct possibility that in the iPhone 5, Apple will no longer be using those OmniVision 5-megapixel image sensors currently inside the iPhone 4. This is supported by an analyst’s report from February of this year saying that

  Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others have their eyes on the NFC mobile payment market, setting the stage for a potentially brutal battle over the future of payments. NFC, or near-field communication, allows for wireless transfer of data over short distances between two devices. This makes it an ideal technology for financial transactions between a phone and a device at a brick-and-mortar store. While NFC is still in its infancy in the U.S., it is prevalent in Japan, where you can pay for almost anything by simply swiping your phone . There’s no need for credit cards, cash or even ID. Your smartphone is your wallet . A lot of companies are betting that 2011 is the year NFC takes off in the U.S., and are working on their own NFC payment solutions. This list includes some very big players: Google: The search giant may be the farthest along of the big companies. Android already includes NFC support, but most Android phones don’t yet carry NFC chips. This hasn