Apple CEO Tim Cook makes shortlist for TIME's 2012 Person of the Year

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 19, 2012 4:23 AM CST

I don't quite see what Tim Cook has done for the world to win the award "Person of the Year", but TIME have unveiled their shortlist of people up for the award. Apple CEO Tim Cook is on the list, and so is Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer.

Apple CEO Tim Cook makes shortlist for TIME's 2012 Person of the Year | TweakTown.com

The Person of the Year award is given to "a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine" that has "for better or worse done the most to influence the events of the year". At the end, TIME's editorial team decide the winner. Also making the list, are Malala Yousafzai, who was the young Pakistani activist who suffered a head wound after being shot by the Taliban, second-term US president Barack Obama, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as the three scientists behind the discovery of the Higgs Boson.

Why can't we see something different on the list? Maybe the whole 2012 Doomsday phenomenon, after all that is an "idea" of what could happen and has captured the world over the last few months as we get closer to December 21. I just think that someone who falls into a position like Cook, and has thousands of engineers, marketers and hundreds of departments under him doing most of the actual work, shouldn't win an award with a title of "Person of the Year".

Continue reading: Apple CEO Tim Cook makes shortlist for TIME's 2012 Person of the Year (full post)

PayPal update provides new features, includes landscape support

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Dec 19, 2012 1:32 AM CST

PayPal has just been updated and includes a nice new feature: landscape support. Now you can turn your phone sideways and enjoy landscape PayPal, if that's something you'd like to see. There's also the ability to set a payment preference for specific stores.

PayPal update provides new features, includes landscape support | TweakTown.com

This ability can come in handy if you'd like to use a particular card at one store, and another for something more simple like a coffee shop of McDonald's. The change log also states that PayPal have improved the performance of check scanning, as well as the usual bug fixes.

The app sports improved security and a few UI fixes, and you can get the app right here from the Google Play Store.

Continue reading: PayPal update provides new features, includes landscape support (full post)

RumorTT: Nokia working on a 10-inch, Windows RT-based tablet

Nokia aren't doing huge things in the market these days, and while they've launched their latest Lumia devices, they aren't touching the sales of the iPhone or Galaxy devices. This latest rumor is sparking some interest, where the talk is that the company have entered into an agreement with ODM Compal, Microsoft and Qualcomm for a 10-inch tablet.

RumorTT: Nokia working on a 10-inch, Windows RT-based tablet 09

This 10-inch slate would run Windows RT and would be exposed to the world at Mobile World Congress in February next year. The above image shows off a mockup that Nokia Lumia Tabs showed off in 2011, and there have been reports from DigiTimes that Nokia wanted to release a 10-inch tablet this year, but had to push these plans into 2013 because of Microsoft's Surface RT slate.

With Qualcomm being involved, we should expect the Snapdragon S4 Pro to be the SoC of choice in the Nokia 10-inch tablet, which should give it some powerhouse performance. If Nokia can make it look great, perform well, and most of all - price it very, very competitively, Nokia could be back in the game in no time. If Nokia were to release it at, let's say, $399, it would be a huge contendor to the iPad and Nexus 10.

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NEC unveils ultra-thin 15.6-inch Lavie X Ultrabook, sports 1080p IPS screen

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | Dec 18, 2012 9:30 PM CST

Ultrabooks have been here for a while, but they can be thinner, right? Well, NEC have added another member to their Lavie notebook family with a new premium system that is said to be the thinnest of its kind. At its slimmest point, NEC's new 15.6-inch Lavie X Ultrabook is only 0.5 inches thick, which is quite amazing.

NEC unveils ultra-thin 15.6-inch Lavie X Ultrabook, sports 1080p IPS screen | TweakTown.com

In order to get it down to this super-thin design, NEC required ultra-thin internal components that measured less than 3.5mm thick, as well as a specially engineered keyboard that took 1mm off the design. There is, however, two fans that measure 5mm in thickness in the Lavie X. It doesn't weigh too much, either, at just 3.5lbs (1.59kg) - compared to the 13.3-inch Lavie Z which is 1.92lb (0.87kg).

At 1.59kg, you're receiving the 15.6-inch 1080p IPS screen, 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor, 4GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, two USB 3.0 ports, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS, HDMI-out, an SD card reader and 2-megapixel webcam. NEC's Lavie X offers up to seven hours of run time and its battery can be rapidly recharged to about 80% of its total in just a single hour.

Continue reading: NEC unveils ultra-thin 15.6-inch Lavie X Ultrabook, sports 1080p IPS screen (full post)

Top 5 mobile apps that have been brought to real-life in the form of games

Trace Hagan | Roundups | Dec 18, 2012 8:27 PM CST

That's right, folks. I was on a recent shopping trip to Target (you know, the up-scale Walmart?) and aimlessly walked through the toy department when my eye spotted the new game arrivals. Let me tell you, I'm a bit of a sucker for board games and the like, so I was really tempted to buy these. Something tells me, however, they are better on my phone.

Top 5 mobile apps that have been brought to real-life in the form of games 5

That's right, I've compiled a list of my favorite mobile apps that have been turned into physical versions of the games. (I really hope you can detect the sarcasm!) These apps, some of which already existed in board game form, have been brought out of the digital age so that you can play them by candle light when the power goes out.

Number 5: Cut The Rope

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Penguin Books settles with DOJ over e-book price fixing

Trace Hagan | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 18, 2012 7:34 PM CST

Penguin, along with several other publishers, and Apple were accused of fixing prices on e-books. Penguin is the latest to join the group of publishers who have settled with the DOJ, leaving just Apple and Macmillan to fight the DOJ's allegations of price fixing. The lawsuit was originally filed last April and accuses Apple and five book publishers of conspiring to raise prices.

Penguin Books settles with DOJ over e-book price fixing | TweakTown.com

Penguin's statement regarding the settlement:

Penguin confirms that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle claims relating to the establishment of agency pricing agreements in 2010. Penguin has always maintained, and continues to maintain, that it has done nothing wrong and has no case to answer. Penguin continues to believe that the agency pricing model has encouraged competition among distributors of both e-books and e-book readers and, in the company's view, continues to operate in the interest of consumers and authors. But it is also in everyone's interests that the proposed Penguin Random House company should begin life with a clean sheet of paper.

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Instagram offers an update regarding its change in Terms of Service, says they aren't planning to sell your pictures

Trace Hagan | Software & Apps | Dec 18, 2012 4:55 PM CST

Instagram has caught a bit of flak over the past couple of days after releasing updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy documents. The reason? Inside the new documents there seemed to be a bit of text that indicated Instagram was planning on selling users' pictures without any sort of compensation.

Instagram offers an update regarding its change in Terms of Service, says they aren't planning to sell your pictures | TweakTown.com

Instagram has now apologized for the text that was "confusing" and says they are working on updating it to be more clear. They say the bottom line is that "it is not our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated language in the terms to make sure this is clear."

Instagram offers the following regarding ownership rights and privacy settings:

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It's official: an Android botnet has been found on all major US carriers

Trace Hagan | Hacking, Security & Privacy | Dec 18, 2012 4:26 PM CST

Mobile security firm Lookout has found a botnet as of December 3, which it is calling SpamSoldier. The threat was detected with the help of one of Lookout's carrier partners, though which has not been said. The botnet spreads through text messages and has not been detected on any major app store.

It's official: an Android botnet has been found on all major US carriers | TweakTown.com

Two, of many, spam campaigns are shown below:

You've just won a $1000 Target gift card but only the 1st 1000 people that enter code 7777 at hxxp://holyoffers.com can claim it!

Continue reading: It's official: an Android botnet has been found on all major US carriers (full post)

Apple is refused a sales ban by Judge Koh on grounds the infringing aspects aren't what sell Samsung's devices

Trace Hagan | Business, Financial & Legal | Dec 18, 2012 2:35 PM CST

Apple has been refused the sales ban they were seeking on 26 of Samsung's devices. Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Apple did not prove that consumer demand for Samsung's products was directly related to the technology owned by Apple. In other words, people weren't buying Samsung's devices because of the rubber-band effect or other patents it is said to be infringing upon.

Apple is refused a sales ban by Judge Koh on grounds the infringing aspects aren't what sell Samsung's devices | TweakTown.com

"Samsung may have cut into Apple's customer base somewhat, but there is no suggestion that Samsung will wipe out Apple's customer base, or force Apple out of the business of making smartphones," Koh said. "The present case involves lost sales -- not a lost ability to be a viable market participant."

A sales ban wouldn't have even hurt Samsung very much, since only three of the devices, out of the 26, are still being sold. A new trial, which contains updated devices, such as the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III, is set to go in front of Judge Koh in a trial scheduled for 2014.

Continue reading: Apple is refused a sales ban by Judge Koh on grounds the infringing aspects aren't what sell Samsung's devices (full post)

NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor details leaked: 4-plus-1 cores, 28nm, six times the power of Tegra 3

Charles Gantt | CPU, APU & Chipsets | Dec 18, 2012 7:49 AM CST

NVIDIA's next mobile processor the Tegra 4 (codenamed Wayne) has been leaked and it packs a punch powerful enough to possibly deliver a knock out punch to its Snapdragon rival.

NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor details leaked: 4-plus-1 cores, 28nm, six times the power of Tegra 3 | TweakTown.com

Built on a 28nm process, the Tegra 4 will feature a 72 core graphics setup which will be able to support a resolution of 2,560 x 1600 with 1080p output at 120Hz.

Unfortunately the Tegra 4 will not see a gain in CPU cores, as it will be keeping the current 4+1 setup. A move to ARM's new Cortex-A15 is all but certain though. One major improvement is the move to USB 3.0 and will be NVIDIA's first mobile chip to do so. Rounding things out is dual channel DDR3L memory which will definitely speed things up. Expect release sometime in early 2013.

Continue reading: NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor details leaked: 4-plus-1 cores, 28nm, six times the power of Tegra 3 (full post)