Apple rebrands LTE iPad, now known as 'iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular'

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | May 14, 2012 2:24 AM CDT

Apple have found a fix for their LTE or "4G" connectivity advertising in their third-generation iPad, where they've misled customers outside of North America.

The Curpentino-based company has started to change the names of their LTE iPad model to 'iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular' in its online stores, US and Canada. The change also seems to have rolled out to other stores in the UK and Australia.

This should help those who were wanting a 4G-capable iPad outside of the US, as the new iPad was previously advertised as 'Wi-Fi + 4G', that is, until authorities in the UK, Australia, Sweden and other countries threatened Apple with investigations into misleading advertising. Apple then edited a video and altered the UK website in response to complaints from UK advertising standards authority, and even offered refunds in Australia to those who complained about the lack of "4G" functionality".

Continue reading: Apple rebrands LTE iPad, now known as 'iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular' (full post)

Diablo III is nearly here, are you prepared?

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 14, 2012 1:12 AM CDT

We here at TweakTown hope to really embrace Diablo III, so you should see some more Diablo III-related content over the coming months, and more. But for now, you should be preparing for the release, if you haven't already purchased it!

If you haven't, then head down to your local retailer now, or if you're like me and love digital games, then you should scoop up the game directly from Blizzard as a digital pre-sale. Next up, you will need to create your BattleTag. This is a requirement of Diablo III, and displays both in-game and on the website, so choose wisely.

Next up we have launch times! The launch time of Diablo III has had Blizzard break down the launch time of the game per region. The Americas (US, Canada, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia) servers all open at 12:01am PDT, May 15.

Continue reading: Diablo III is nearly here, are you prepared? (full post)

First pictures of Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, turtle neck and all

Anthony Garreffa | TV, Movies & Home Theatre | May 14, 2012 12:27 AM CDT

Just over a month ago it was confirmed that That 70's Show and now front runner for 2 and a Half Men star, Ashton Kutcher, would be playing the role of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in two biopics of Jobs' life.

TMZ have posted the pictures online showing off Kutcher as Jobs on the set of the tentatively-titled film 'Jobs: Get Inspired". Kutcher dons the black turtleneck and faded jeans, the signature Jobs' clothing.

Mark Holme, the films producer, spoke to Neowin about the casing of Kutcher and the theme of the film:

Continue reading: First pictures of Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs, turtle neck and all (full post)

Chinese researchers teleport photons over 60 miles

Anthony Garreffa | Science, Space, & Robotics | May 13, 2012 10:33 PM CDT

The Chinese have beamed up Scotty. Starting in 1997, researchers have been able to quantum teleport photons, where a record was set by researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai.

Two years ago, this team successfully transported a photon over 16km. This same team has just released some new findings, where they've claimed to have teleported photons nearly 100km, or over 60 miles. Incredible!

How the process works is when a photon is teleported, they aren't physically transporting the proton, but instead the information that is contained in it through quantum entanglement. The second photon at the end of the teleport then becomes the first one, or the identical qubit of information. This means that information is exchanged, all without any physical movement.

Continue reading: Chinese researchers teleport photons over 60 miles (full post)

Nokia Lumia, Apple iPhone are at odds about which smartphone is best, each recommends the other

Trace Hagan | Mobile Devices | May 11, 2012 11:21 PM CDT

As a great way to end the week, we share a story with a bit of hilarity. Many news outlets ran stories today about how, when asked what smartphone is best, Siri recommends the Nokia Lumia 900. While hilarious, it's understandable due to how Siri works. Siri uses Wolfram Alpha for most of its computational knowledge, so it isn't exactly a fair answer since it only uses a few reviews to draw this conclusion.

That little fact didn't stop Microsoft from posting about it on their blog, but, as others have pointed out, it doesn't really mean much. It is still funny, as you would think Apple would have thought about it, considering all of the other stuff they have thought about and programmed into Siri.

Even funnier is that when The Next Web asked a Nokia Lumia 800 what the best phone is, it disagrees with Siri. The Lumia 800 uses Microsoft's TellMe service combined with Bing and returns an article with the headline: "Yes, The iPhone Is Still The Best Smartphone You Can Buy." So, apparently the two devices can't decide which of them is better. Both feel the other is.

Continue reading: Nokia Lumia, Apple iPhone are at odds about which smartphone is best, each recommends the other (full post)

Xbox 360 to receive Internet Explorer 9, oh and Kinect support

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | May 11, 2012 10:00 PM CDT

Microsoft kinda wants to turn the Xbox 360 into a PC, but kinda doesn't. Today's "kinda does" includes news that the OS and gaming giant will release Internet Explorer 9 to the Xbox 360, which would include Kinect voice and gesture support.

The Xbox 360 already sports voice search functions with Bing, but the results are limited to just media only. Having Internet Explorer would give the Xbox 360 a full-on web browsing experience, in an unrestricted environment. The Verge is reporting this, so it gives the news some big credit.

If the Xbox 360 owner has the Kinect motion-sensing device, they could use it for voice and gesture control within Internet Explorer. This would be a pretty nifty thing to have on the couch, and would really give credit toward Kinect being a huge feature for the next-generation Xbox. Because text can't be easily entered in with a console controller, voice control makes perfect sense. E3 isn't too far away, and I have a feeling we should see and hear about it then.

Continue reading: Xbox 360 to receive Internet Explorer 9, oh and Kinect support (full post)

Upstart FreedomPop iPhone case offers free 4G data, mobile hotspot, extra battery life

Trace Hagan | Mobile Devices | May 11, 2012 5:31 PM CDT

Have an iPhone? Use less than 500MB of data a month? Live in a select few regions? Then do I have some good news for you! A new upstart company based out of LA announced the launch of a preorder process for a new iPhone case which comes with a few perks. FreedomPop's iPhone case comes with 500MB of free 4G data using Clearwire's WiMAX network.

Not only will the iPhone case provide 500MB of free data for your iPhone, it can also boost the battery life of your device or share the connection through Wi-Fi hotspot functionality. The case will retail for $99, so if you cancel your data plan, the case will be paid for in just a few months. Even if you exceed the 500MB, each additional MB is just $0.01, or $10 a Gigabyte.

At this price, it is pretty much in line with what the carriers charge, so it's really a no-risk proposition. Additionally, users can earn up to 500MB extra for free through referrals and other programs. According to FreedomPop VP of Product Mauricio Sastre, "The timing couldn't be better for our product. Carriers are throttling data and increasing prices and users are desperate for affordable alternatives. As the mobile industry flexes its joint oligopolistic power, we want to ensure that we are keeping them honest."

Continue reading: Upstart FreedomPop iPhone case offers free 4G data, mobile hotspot, extra battery life (full post)

Ivy Bridge's heat problem is indeed caused by Intel's TIM choice

Trace Hagan | CPU, APU & Chipsets | May 11, 2012 1:31 PM CDT

There has been a lot of debate back and forth about whether or not Ivy Bridge's "slight" heat problem is caused by Intel's choice to not use solder to attach the IHS to the core. Originally, people were blaming the higher density of the transistors, due to the 22nm process, for the heat issue. Then, someone decided to de-lid the chip and found TIM instead of solder.

First, let me recommend you not remove the IHS from your chip as it could damage your chip, not to mention it voids your warranty. Besides, someone else has already done it for you along with the testing needed to prove that the heat issue is due to the TIM used by Intel. Impress PC Watch wiped off Intel's TIM and replaced it with OCZ's Freeze Extreme and Coollaboratory's Liquid Pro to see the difference.

The results? As you can expect from the title of this news post, the TIM choice that Intel made did in fact yield higher temperatures. Load temperatures at stock settings results in an 8*C and 11*C drop in temperatures which is a pretty big change. Overclocking the chip to 4.6GHz resulted in even bigger differences: 15*C for the OCZ TIM and 20*C for the Coollaboratory TIM.

Continue reading: Ivy Bridge's heat problem is indeed caused by Intel's TIM choice (full post)

NVIDIA reports first quarter financial results, less profit than last quarter, still in the black

Trace Hagan | Business, Financial & Legal | May 11, 2012 11:31 AM CDT

NVIDIA's first quarter of fiscal year 2013 is now over and the results are slightly lackluster. Don't get me wrong, NVIDIA still made money, but they made quite a bit less than last quarter. Revenue fell a few percentage points and overall net profit fell by nearly 50% to settle in at only $60.4 million.

I would blame this lackluster performance on the fact that they didn't get a Kepler GPU out until the middle to end of the quarter. As such, their products couldn't really compete with AMD's, so it's unlikely that as many people were purchasing them. NVIDIA still sounds positive, however, as this is what Jen-Hsun Huang, , president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA, said:

Continue reading: NVIDIA reports first quarter financial results, less profit than last quarter, still in the black (full post)

Flipboard to soon have more downloads in China than the US

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | May 11, 2012 2:24 AM CDT

Flipboard CEO, Mick McCue has revealed that the apps number of downloads in China will "easily surpass" what they're seeing in the US in the near future. The company is also looking to create a Chinese base of operations, too.

The company launched a Chinese service last December, which even included a dedicated editorial team. March of this year saw an iPhone app, and just yesterday we saw the app hit the Samsung GALAXY S II. McCue has said that the number of downloads of Flipboard in China is already equal with those in the US.

Flipboard is looking at 5 million downloads in China by the end of 2012, and in order to help that growth, McCue has revealed that an official Android-based application will hit the country. This is a good move, as Android represents 68.4-percent of smartphone sales in China, according to Analysys research.

Continue reading: Flipboard to soon have more downloads in China than the US (full post)

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