Latest News - Page 3023

Google and Samsung's $249 Chromebook did well. It sold out of the Play Store quite quickly, so what better way to follow it up than by releasing a cheaper version? Well, that's just what Google has done with the Acer C7 Chromebook that was announced today. Google has said it will go on sale Tuesday for a mere $199.

For that $199, you'll get the option to buy it on either Google Play or Best Buy's website, an 11.6-inch screen capable of 1366 x 768, 100GB of free Google Drive storage, a 320GB internal drive, and 3.5 hours of battery life. The specifications certainly aren't amazing, but the price doesn't allow for them to be.

Now the question remains: will this even cheaper Chromebook see as good as or better success than the Samsung Chromebook that Google released last month? I guess we'll have to wait until later this week to find out.

If you ever attend a convention like a Comic-Con, one thing that will definitely get you the ladies is cosplaying as different characters. After watching Stealth Cosplay's video of his War Machine costume, I can tell you if he didn't already have a girlfriend, women at Comic-Con would be throwing phone numbers at him as if he was the guest of honor at a ticket-tape parade.

The suit took approximately one month to complete from start to finish that features the ability to open & close its face mask, blinking lights on the inside of his arms to simulate War Machine's machine guns and his shoulder-mounted mini-gun that spins when in use.

Sure, Iron Man gets all of the love at Comic-Con, but you gotta respect a guy who takes the time to create a War Machine costume as a wingman is never a glamorous job, but one everyone appreciates. It also helps his costume is really, really cool.

Laina's "Overly Attached Girlfriend" character made its debut this summer, and it seems like she's already started to sell out the character to companies who are willing to pay her to look all crazy while adding her own lyrics to karaoke tunes. One of the first "commercials" I've seen for the character just hit YouTube today promoting Samsung's SSD 840.

The video starring Laina's "Overly Attached Girlfriend" character has her speaking on behalf of your computer. It's been a long time since you've layer your Doritos-covered mitts on your computer and it wants you back. Bad. And it's willing to do anything to get you back, like threatening to release all of those quarantined viruses onto your system or deleting all of your pirated music downloads.

After threatening you for over a minute, the Laina, speaking on behalf of your computer, then suggests you buy it the Samsung SSD 840 in order to keep it "perkier, more able" and to show your computer you love it.

One of the biggest disappointments for me in iOS 6 hasn't been Apple's Maps application, although it comes to a very close second. It's definitely Apple's Passbook application as, for the life of me, I have yet to figure out what exactly I should be doing with it. I mean, do I have to download the Fandango application in order to have my ticket show up in my Passbook. Why don't I just use the Fandango app in order to show my ticket instead of Passbook?

Aside from my own personal frustrations with Passbook, Apple has announced today that it will be making their Apple gift cards compatible with its Passbook application.

The process isn't too difficult, but it does require more than fifteen steps to complete. OK - that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it's still way more steps than just buying an Apple Store gift card from your local pharmacy and handing it to the Apple fanboy in your life.

My iPhone 5 has yet to get the smell of "new" off of its body, and already Apple is starting to ramp up production of its iPhone 5S according to reports from Chinese newspaper, Commercial Times.

According to their report, Apple will begin manufacturing a trial batch of its "iPhone 5S" starting next month which will produce 50,000 to 100,000 units. Once the trial batch meets all of the requirements Apple has set for its products, full production will begin sometime in early 2013.

Apple's iPhone 5 has been a hot item ever since it was released in September, which is why the company has been having trouble keeping up with its supply. Commercial Times reports this is exactly why Apple wants to start production of its "iPhone 5S" in order to meet the upcoming demand for the device.

It looks like China is taking off to the stars next year, with a new manned space mission locked in for June 2013. A senior official in charge of the manned space programme has said that the three-person crew would consist of two men and one woman, reports the BBC.

China is the third country to independently send a person into space, second only after Russia and the United States. The new plan follows the flight of the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, which returned to Earth in late-June. The Shenzhou 9 was part of China's first manual space docking mission, which was a huge milestone in China's ambitious space programme.

The mission also saw another milestone: carrying China's first female astronaut, Liu Yang. Next year's mission could happen as early as June, but there are back-up launch windows slotted in for both July and August, according to Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the manned space programme.

Uh oh, a group of US Navy SEALs have been disciplined over leaking out secret practices to Electronic Arts earlier this year. At least seven members of SEAL Team Six, an elite special forces group, have reportedly worked as paid consultants for EA over a two-day period this past spring and summer.

Four members have since left the unit, and are also under investigation. The soldiers reportedly talked to EA and their work in special missions, all as data for Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The report states that the SEAL members used classified information that may have been given to them by the Navy and that they voluntarily violated the understanding that SEALs are silent warriors that don't like the public spotlight.

But, given that SEAL Team Six were involved in the raid that assassinated Osama bin Laden last year, that whole "we don't like the public spotlight" thing, has been kinda hard. Hollywood have two movies locked and loaded, one regarding the rescue of the captain of a container ship that had been kidnapped by Somali pirates, and the other centered on the raid itself on bin Laden.

We kinda knew this was in the works, and I think we're going to see Half-Life 3 rolled out with it. But, during a visit from 4chan.org's /v/ board for his birthday, Valve boss Gabe Newell received some presents from some randoms from the Internet.

He had to pay $2.50 to unlock a real-life Mann Co. crate that included a TF2 Soldier hat inside, and he hung around to talk to fans of his, and his games, that came from all across the United States. The first question asked, and paraphrased from the above video, "Is Valve working on a new Source engine?"

Newell replied with "We've been working on new engine stuff for a while", adding "we've just been waiting for a game to roll it out with". Someone then follows that question up with "is it more than just an extension to Source? Like, is it an entirely new engine?" Newell, the hero that he is, replies with "yeah."

Put your hand up if you're one of these people - throws hand in the air - yes, I admit it, I have the least patience when it comes to buffering a video. Well, a professor has now analyzed data from 6.7 million unique visitors, and has bashed his fingers on that calculator.

According to a paper published by professor Ramesh K. Sitarman of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, viewers begin to leave a video after a two second delay, with 6% leaving per second thereafter. The professor took into consideration videos under 30 minutes as "short", where I would consider a short video 1 minute, so your results may vary applies here.

But, his data does add up, with twice as many viewers leaving a "short" video, compared to long ones after a ten second startup delay. The report also finds, most obviously, that users' impatience with Internet speeds looks like an unwinnable battle. Viewers with higher-speed Internet connections had a much weaker tolerance for delays when compared to those with slower, or mobile data connections.

It looks as though Apple aren't having much luck in court rooms outside the United States, as the Court of Appeal of England and Wales has ordered the Cupertino-based company to pay the legal fees of Samsung on an 'indemnity basis' after the company published a "false and misleading" notice in the aftermath of a patent lawsuit over the iPad.

The judgement looks to embarrass Apple, requires the iPad maker to pay for all expenses associated with Samsung's legal defense, with any disputes over the exact amount likely be to resolved in Samsung's favor - ouch.

After losing an appeal in October, Apple were ordered to publish a notice on their front page of their UK website which has been deemed inaccurate. Apple complied with the court's wishes, but were sly and added some statements which according to the court were "calculated to product huge confusion". Included in these statements were a reference to a separate US verdict that saw Apple awarded more than $1 billion in damages.

Well, what's going on here you ask? Apple and HTC have come out over the weekend announcing that there's been a settlement agreed to, that resolves all of their existing patent disputes - yes, Apple have settled a patent agreement nicely for once.

The agreement is a "global settlement", dismissing all currently Apple and HTC complaints under a new ten-year license agreement, covering current and future patents held by each company. Both companies have said through a press release that the terms of the settlement are confidential.

HTC rep Jeff Gordon told The Verge that the company "does not expect this license agreement to have any adverse material impact on the financials of the company", this means that it won't cost HTC an arm and a leg. We're seeing HTC have some wins here, as they can now use some features that Samsung can't, such as slide-to-unlock, universal search and other disputed features.

MasterCard have worked with Standard Chartered in a new credit card that sports a built-in display and touch-sensitive keypad. The card itself is being touted as an interactive payment card, or security token card, featuring the credit card company's Display Card technology.

The display and keypad will allow the cardholder to generate a one-time password that can be used as an authentication security measure. MasterCard have said that future revisions will be capable of displaying things like available card balance, loyalty and reward points, recent transactions and other interactive information.

The card will become a standard issue item for all Standard Chartered Online Banking and Breeze Mobile Banking users starting January 2013. The card will become very useful for high-risk transactions such as payments or transfers above a certain amount of when adding third-party payees.

Lenovo has announced today that they are planning on sharing their proprietary battery design technology with the PC industry "in the interests of public safety and improving the level of engineering in notebook personal computer designs worldwide." This is more likely a ploy to get good will, but it will surely be appreciated by end-consumers who should receive better products.

"Battery design is an issue of crucial importance to business and computing," said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, Lenovo notebook business unit. "As the personal computer business examines standards and design criteria for the best use of lithium ion batteries, Lenovo is contributing its engineering and design leadership. No make of battery is 100 percent immune from failure, but Lenovo strongly believes in safety first. These engineering specifications show our approach to battery management, and we believe they will move the PC industry as a whole toward safer battery standards."

The shared information will include redundant protections, failure detection, thermal conditions and protection, charging methodology, voltage protection, and mechanical design. The information will be shared with industry standards organizations so that other manufacturers may take advantage of advancements that Lenovo has made.

Apple is at the receiving end of another lawsuit. This lawsuit is another brought by VirnetX, who recently won $368 million from Apple after a jury ruled that Apple was infringing on patents owned by the company. The new lawsuit is a very similar lawsuit to the last, in that it is dealing with the same patents.

The new lawsuit is suing over the iPhone 5 and iPad mini, which were not released during the last lawsuit's time period. This means that VirnetX did not get any sort of award for these devices, and they feel they should. "Due to their release dates, these products were not included in the previous lawsuit that concluded with a Jury verdict on November 6, 2012," VirnetX said in a statement.

With the first case hardly settled, Apple has not issued a formal response to the latest lawsuit. Apple is widely expected to appeal the former lawsuit, and fight this one tooth and nail. Since the lawsuit is basically the same, at least in terms of patents and how Apple is infringing, one would expect Apple to lose this case as well. But with a new jury, the results could be widely different. It will be an interesting case to watch.

When a person decides they'd like to purchase an iPad, they have a number of options as to where they can acquire their new tablet. They can shop both online and offline directly with Apple, or choose to buy it at retailers like Radio Shack, Best Buy, Target or Walmart. The last thing someone wants to experience when they finally get their purchase home is a damaged product, which is exactly why you should think twice before shopping at Walmart.

A video from YouTube user "Anon Ymous" shows what exactly goes on behind the scenes when merchandise is being sorted. At a Walmart in Pikeville, KY, an employee decided to make a little video on why exactly customers should expect broken merchandise, like the iPad, to probably be damaged if someone decides to buy it from their store.

The Walmart employee behind the camera calls out to one of his co-workers, Cody, and films the back room shenanigans as iPads can be seen being tossed from one side of the room to another. The Walmart employee behind the camera says, "See, we like to throw s***" and goes on predict the next iPad will "hit the ground." His prediction comes true as Cody spikes the iPad to the ground, picks it up, and flings it at another co-worker who drops it as well.

When iOS 6 was first announced, one of the features most people were very excited about was finally being able to make FaceTime calls over cellular service as Wi-Fi connections aren't always available, especially to those on the go. Almost immediately after Apple had made its announcement, AT&T announced it will be supporting the over-cellular FaceTime calls, but it would most likely charge its users for the feature to be used over its 3G connection, which turned the Internet upside down.

With LTE iOS devices now available, AT&T is now in the spotlight again in regards to its restrictions of FaceTime calls as it will be making them available to iPhone 5, third and fourth generation iPads. As is expected, there's a catch. The only way LTE iOS users will be able to make FaceTime calls is if they have a tiered data plan which leaves those with grandfathered unlimited data plans unable to make FaceTime calls.

The feature won't be available to AT&T customers for another eight to ten weeks and the company expects FaceTime calls over cellular to be rolled out to customers with other data plans to roll out in the near future.

Some new details on Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto V have been released thanks to a Game Informer feature detailing a lot of previously unknown information regarding Rockstar's next open-world title.

One of the first things detailed is the main character in Grand Theft Auto V, or rather, main characters as the game will feature three playable characters who will be switchable by a simple button press which will allow players to experience the same mission through a different angle. Each character has their own back story, skill set and even their own friends who players will be able to interact with.

Heists will play a big role in Grand Theft Auto V as each playable character will have their own job to do during a heist. For example, one heist can have one character rappelling down the side of a building, another character with a sniper rifle in another building to provide support while the last character flies a helicopter for the sake of flying a helicopter.

Have you been keeping tabs on the latest Wii U news, but have yet to pre-order the console and live near New York City? Seeing as how pre-orders for the Wii U are going fast, it might be in your best interest to attend Nintendo's midnight launch event at Nintendo World.

The launch event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 17th at 6 p.m., but if I know one thing about New Yorkers, it's the fact that they tend to wait in line for things way earlier than people expect. I wouldn't be surprised if there were people waiting in line at Nintendo World days, maybe even a week before the Wii U launches.

Aside from being one of the first to purchase a Wii U, Nintendo of America's President Reggie Fils-Aime will be there to count down the launch of the company's next console and hand off a Wii U to the first person in line. Not only that, but Nintendo will have New York-themed T-shirts with Mario's image on it for sale at the event, whose proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross to support Hurricane Sandy victims.

The closer we get to the holiday season, the more people are going to start looking at deals so they don't break their bank account buying presents for their loved ones. One item that will most likely be on most people's holiday list this year, and every year for that matter, is the iPad. But one place you should never buy an iPad is at a gas station in Arlington, Texas.

Jalonta Freeman was pumping her gas at an Arlington gas station, when a man approached her saying he has iPads and laptops for sale. Jalonta, being the savvy consumer, thought she would take advantage of the opportunity by purchasing an iPad from the gentleman, which normally retails for $800, for only $200.

Once the transaction was complete, the man was in a hurry and drove off before Freeman could inspect what she just purchased. As you could assume, the deal didn't go quite as planned as it turned out Freeman purchased a fake iPad.

I'm based in Australia and I'm completely against mandatory filtering by my ISP - sure, they probably already do it (I could place bets on this), but the Australian government have stepped up and announced they're dropping their plans of a mandatory ISP filter:

But - come on, you knew there'd be a but - they still want Australian Net feeds to be filtered: