Apple and Samsung in patent fight over Galaxy Nexus

Well we all know when it comes to patent disputes there is no love lost between Apple and Samsung, and it appears that Apple is again targeting old Sammy in the patent law courts, this time the iOS company is suing Samsung over the Samsung Galaxy Nexus using their “slide to unlock” patented feature.

According to the guys over at iDownload Blog by way of AllthingsD, the word is Apple has filed a lawsuit against Samsung over that “slide to unlock” tech on the Galaxy Nexus in Germany.
Back in October 2011, Apple was granted the patent for the “slide to unlock” feature in their iOS devices, and several Android makers have already use the feature on Android handsets, so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Apple has got their legal team onto the matter.
This is also the first time Apple has targeted the Android Ice Cream sandwich packing smartphone as a patent infringing device.
Of course Apple could well have a legitimate case here as there are other ways of unlocking a device that doesn’t require sliding to the right, but as the Galaxy Nexus does use the slide to unlock feature perhaps Sammy will come to some licensing agreement with Apple for its use.
If not, well no doubt we can expect Samsung and Google to put up a hefty fight against Apple as it would appear Apple is dead set on going after anything used by Android, and no doubt this new fight will continue for quite some time yet.
Thus it would appear that the Apple against Android fight continues and no doubt we will be seeing more battles in the future.
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Twitter with Siri via Sireet tweak

There are many jailbreak tweaks out there, and one thing that iPhone 4S Siri cannot do it Tweet, well you can but you have to go all around the house for it to work, you have to go through a long process of setting up twitter in your contacts etc, learn more about this here.

Good news for those that have jailbroken their iPhones, you can now Twitter with Siri via Sireet tweak. It did not take long for someone to sort this out, now you can do it directly using Siri rather than the cumbersome set-up.
iDB reported about this new jailbreak tweak but did not know the name, but then they recently updated saying that it is called Sireet. They mention that the tweeting is accurate using Siri, below you can see a video of it in working order.
Sireet is now available to download via the MMI repo, and you will be happy to know it is free.
Personally we believe that Apple will have deep integrated Twitter within Siri, they just need to shake hands and make the deal happen, it is what customers want and both parties will be laughing.

PlayStation Vita launch day lineup and accessory pricing revealed

Sony's new handheld gets its ducks in a row ahead of its February debut

While Nintendo's 3DS will have the 2011 holiday season to itself in the portable gaming market, many gamers are eagerly anticipating the February 22, 2012 launch of Sony's new PlayStation Vita. Now, almost as if to say "Save those gift cards until February," the company has shed some light on the games and accessories we can expect to see alongside the new system when it finally debuts.
One of the biggest complaints consumers had when the 3DS launched was the lack of quality titles. Sony hopes to capitalize on Nintendo's misstep — and subsequent drop in sales — by offering a ridiculously beefy game lineup available from day one. So far, a total of 25 games — priced between $9.99 and $49.99, though each title wasn't specifically tagged — are slated for a launch day release. And these aren't just throwaway, I'd-rather-be-playing-Angry-Birds titles either; names like Uncharted, Wipeout, and Rayman are sure to pique the interest of the gaming populous. Check out the full list of launch day titles below.

• Army Corps of Hell
• Asphalt Injection
• BEN10 GALACTIC RACING
• Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND
• Dungeon Hunter Alliance
• Dynasty Warriors Next
• EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer
• Escape Plan (PSN downloadable titles)
• F1 2011
• Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
• Hustle Kings (PSN downloadable titles)
• Little Deviants
• Lumines Electronic Symphony
• Michael Jackson The Experience
• ModNation Racers: Road Trip
• Plants vs. Zombies (PSN downloadable title)
• Rayman Origins
• Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen
• Super StarDust Delta (PSN downloadable title)
• Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN downloadable title)
• Touch My Katamari
• Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
• UNCHARTED: Golden Abyss
• Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition
• wipEout 2048

On top of that already impressive list, a further 10 titles are on deck for a "launch window" release, which means they should appear on store shelves in the days immediately following launch. Browse that list below.

• Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
• Gravity Rush
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• MLB 12 The Show
• NINJA GAIDEN ∑ PLUS
• Reality Fighters
• Ridge Racer
• Silent Hill Book of Memories
• Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted
• Unit 13

As we already knew, the system itself will carry a $250 price tag, but up until now the pricing of its storage cards and other accessories were a mystery. Many thought the system's memory cards would cost upwards of $130 for 32GB, but thankfully that's not the case. The official list of release dates and pricing for PS Vita add-ons can be seen below.

4 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$19.99
8 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$29.99
16 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$59.99
32 GB Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$99.99
Starter Kit with Memory Card	February 15, 2012	$39.99
In-Ear Headset	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Carrying Case	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Travel Pouch	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Protective Film (2 pack)	February 15, 2012	$9.99
Card Case	February 15, 2012	$5.99
Cradle	February 15, 2012	$19.99
Portable Charger	Spring 2012	$49.99
AC Adaptor	February 15, 2012	$14.99
Car Adaptor	Spring 2012	$14.99
USB Cable	February 15, 2012	$14.99

We went hands-on with the Vita during E3, and were mighty pleased with what we saw. While Sony's pricing scheme for memory — crucial when downloading games, movies, and music — is a bit higher than we had hoped, it's not entirely unreasonable, and we're still very much looking forward to February 22.

Physicist builds Lego Large Hadron Collider

9,500 piece model took Copenhagen-based researcher weeks to construct

As scientists at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland continue their search for the elusive Higgs boson "God particle," one physicist has built a tribute to their work entirely out of Lego bricks. Sascha Mehlhase, a researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, spent more than 80 hours designing and constructing a model of the supercollider's intricate ATLAS detector.
Mehlhase, who is part of the institute's high energy physics group, spent about 48 hours modeling the ATLAS on his laptop in Lego's Digital Designer software. He used the application's ability to generate a custom construction manual, but decided to simply eyeball most of the work after seeing the 4,500-page tome it spit out. With some help from his wife, Mehlhase spent 33 hours over the course of several weeks assembling 9,500 bricks to reproduce even the smallest details.
The final model stands nearly two feet tall and is 1:50 scale — or actual size, if you're a little Lego person. In fact, Mehlhase even chose jumpsuit-wearing Lego minifigs to represent the CERN scientists and recreated the passageways they use to access the inner areas of the ATLAS experiment. The total cost for the project was almost $2,600 in Lego bricks, which had to be custom ordered from the Danish toymaker.
Mehlhase hopes to eventually publish a construction manual online and intends to showcase the finished model at the Niels Bohr Institute for visitors and students to marvel at. You can see more images of it at the University of Copenhagen's site.

Illegal immigration statistics show border arrests down to 1970′s levels

Only 327,577 people were caught crossing illegally from the Mexican border last year--a number that hasn't been so low since the days of Richard Nixon's presidency, according to the Washington Post.
The Department of Homeland Security says total border apprehensions for fiscal year 2011, which ended last September 30, are down 53.5 percent from 2008.
In 2000, when far fewer Border Patrol officers were stationed on the Southern border than today, a record-breaking 1.6 million illegal immigrants were caught trying to cross. Experts say three major factors are slowing illegal border-crossing: the stagnant American economy; a border that is manned with more officers and better technology; and the new hazards associated with crossing illegally since drug gangs have seized control of human smuggling routes.

Douglas S. Massey, co-director of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton University, told the New York Times in July that "net migration" from Mexico is at about zero for the first time in 60 years. Mexico is wracked by drug violence, but economic opportunities have been increasing there, as well. Average family income has increased by more than 45 percent since 2000 as the birthrate has plunged to an average of two children per woman, the paper reported.
As the potential economic benefit of crossing into America has decreased, it's become more dangerous to do so. In the past year, pits of human remains have been found near the U.S. border, and authorities say the bodies had been immigrants either captured by drug cartels, or double-crossed by cartel members who promised to guide them into America. As we reported last year, human smuggling is now completely dominated by drug cartels--a marked departure from the earlier immigration routes controlled by freelancing coyotes. The beefed-up presence of the  U.S. Border Control has also pushed illegal immigrants to dangerous Arizona crossings, where hundreds each year die of dehydration.
Even with immigration on the downswing, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that there are about 11.2 million adult illegal immigrants in the country right now. Of the 10.2 million who are 18 or older, 35 percent have been in the country for 15 years or more, while another 28 percent arrived 10 to 14 years ago. The share of illegal immigrants who arrived in the country five or fewer years ago has dropped from 32 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2010.
The number of agents on the Southern border is 18,152 today--nearly double what it was in 2004--but most of the border is still not under full control. The U.S. Border Patrol says it has about 873 miles, or 44 percent, of the border under "operational control," according to the AP--meaning that Border agents can detect and respond to all illegal activity there. Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have all vowed to build a full 1,950-mile fence along the border if elected president.

Xbox 360 mashes up games, live TV, social media, and more in a major update

Summary: New Xbox 360 dashboard software update further blurs the line between games, television, and social networking

Starting this week, Xbox 360 owners will get a new version of the game console’s dashboard software pushed to them, and this fairly radical update further blurs the line between games, television, and social networking. I’ve been checking out the beta version of the update for several days, and there are some interesting gamification developments in there.

It’s odd to think of the video game company or device having to ‘gamify’ part of itself, but this is the latest step on a long road for the Xbox 360 (and indeed the entire current generation of living room consoles). Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are already part of Xbox Live, and there’s no better example of competitive badge-earning than the points and awards that come from the console’s ‘achievement’ system.

It just so happens that one currently earns these achievement badges on the Xbox for playing games, but it could just as easily be for downloading music videos, buying virtual goods, or exercising with the Xbox’s Kinect camera via a personal trainer program.

This new update, besides radically overhauling the visual look of the Xbox dashboard (and actually going back to a horizontal orientation after a couple of years of a vertical menu bars), adds new TV and video services, and a Bing-branded search engine to connect them all.

The most interesting part, from my point of view, is the upcoming implementation of a new UFC app (that’s the Ultimate Fighting Championship league, if you’re not familiar). Essentially a combination of live streaming events and on-demand video content, there are also some potentially very interesting interactive features for anyone curious about how to gamify the TV-watching experience.

Through an “Interactive Fight Card,” you’ll be able to check out upcoming matchups and pick who you think the winners will be. These choices will be up loaded to leaderboards so you can compare with friends and the global audience. Especially for sports fans, this seems like a great way to engage viewers in a game-like experience, and it could be a great foothold for the Xbox 360, or other game consoles, to fulfill their long-time dream of replacing your cable box.

It’s also much more viewer-friendly than those TV news or sports polls Time Warner and other cable companies trot out occasionally using colored “vote” buttons on your remote control (In NYC, the local news station NY1 does this almost daily).

Check back for a hands-on take of the UFC interactive content and some of the other Xbox 360 dashboard updates.

NASA plans first space washing machine

Space washing machine will allow astronauts to change underwear more than once a week

Have you ever wondered how astronauts in the International Space Station deal with their laundry when they stay there for months at a time? With no easy way to wash clothes or get them delivered, astronauts spend up to a week wearing the same underwear, and even longer than that for other articles of clothing. In order to make their lives a bit more hygienic, NASA has commissioned a washing machine design that can work in zero gravity.
NASA contracted Oregon-based UMPQUA Research Company to create a prototype of a low-power washing machine that uses a very small amount of water. To be more precise, part of the contract reads: "Flight Hardware for long duration human missions beyond low Earth orbit...The system is suitable for use in any long term space mission where resupply logistics preclude routine delivery of fresh crew clothing and removal of disposable clothing articles. While the proposed laundry system is microgravity compatible, the system will be completely functional in reduced gravity environments."
UMPQUA proposed a machine that uses not only jets of air and vapor but also microwave rays to clean clothes. The company claims its system achieves "greatly enhanced softness" compared to other low-water laundry tech. Once the machine is deemed viable for use, astronauts can stop the current practice of sending their laundry on unmanned capsules to burn on the Earth's atmosphere, and using their soiled underwear to grow plants in. The futuristic washing machine may be designed for outer space, but the company believes it could also be used on ships, military outposts, and Earth-bound research stations.

Apple official statement: Siri’s lack of abortion info isn’t intentional

Omission of clinics doesn't indicate an anti-abortion stance, says Apple

Siri, the iPhone 4S's new voice assistant, can be incredibly helpful and incredibly silly, but one of the things it can't do is causing an uproar among abortion and women's rights activists around the country. The accusations have been flying around the internet for the past few days, as people point out that Siri will help you find a hooker or the closest bar, but asking it to find an abortion clinic or birth control will give you a big fat zero. Is Siri pro-life, people asked?
Not surprisingly, Apple has now steadfastly denied any claim that Siri has any opinion on the subject. The voice assistant, Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris points out, is still in beta release, which means that it still has many bugs to be worked out. "These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone. It simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better, and we will in the coming weeks," she said.

RIM writes off value of tablet inventory

NEW YORK (AP) — Research In Motion Ltd., the struggling maker of the BlackBerry phones, is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets, since it has to sell them at a deep discount.

The Canadian company on Friday said it's taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million in the just-ended quarter to account for the declining value of the tablets. The model originally priced at $500 now costs $200.
A year ago, co-CEO Jim Balsillie said pent-up interest in the PlayBook was "really overwhelming." Companies are looking for an equivalent of the iPad of corporate use, he said.
In March, Balsillie said "The launch of the PlayBook may well be the most significant development for RIM since the launch of the of the first BlackBerry device back in 1999."
But when the tablet went on sale in April, reviewers puzzled over the lack of email software, saying the device seemed half-baked. RIM now promises updated software in February.
RIM said it shipped 150,000 PlayBooks to stores and distributors in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 26. "Sell-through," or the number actually bought by users, was slightly higher, reflecting sales of tablets shipped earlier. It shipped 500,000 in the first quarter and 200,000 in the second.
Apple Inc., meanwhile, sold 11.1 million iPad tablets in its most recent quarter, which ended Sept. 24.
RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said RIM is still committed to the PlayBook, despite its issues.
RIM also said it sold 14.1 million BlackBerrys in the third quarter, slightly better than analysts expected. It then expects sales to fall slightly in the current quarter, roughly in line with analysts' expectations.
The company provided preliminary revenue and profit figures for the third quarter that were lower than it previously projected, but not a surprise to analysts.
RIM said it expects earnings at the "low to mid point" of the $1.20 to $1.40 per share it previously forecast. Analysts polled by FactSet have on average been expecting $1.18 per share.
The company expects revenue slightly the below the $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion in its previous forecast. Analysts had been expecting $5.27 billion, on average.
RIM shares fell $1.81, or 9.7 percent, to close Friday at $16.77. The stock hit a seven-year low of $15.98 last month.
The PlayBook charge comes as analysts have started to conclude that RIM's management has no chance of really righting the ship. They've started to value the company not on its future prospects, but on how much it would be worth if acquired, broken up, or simply run down while keeping BlackBerry service going.
The company is also taking a charge of $50 million for an embarrassing October outage of email and Web services that lasted days for millions of overseas BlackBerry users. It briefly spread to the U.S. and Canada before the company was able to contain the damage.
RIM reports fiscal third-quarter earnings on Dec. 15.
RIM's announcement is the latest in a string of bad news for the company. A widespread outage frustrated tens of millions of BlackBerry users in October. On Thursday, RIM suspended two employees after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver.
RIM has also delayed the launch of new phones with the company's new QNX operating system for several months. RIM disappointed many in October when the company didn't announce a clear timeline for when it would release phones with the new software which is now called BBX.
The Waterloo, Ontario-based company continues to have success overseas but has increasingly lost market share in North America. Many U.S. users have moved on to phones with big touchscreens such as the iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software.

Zynga hopes to raise about $1 billion in IPO

NEW YORK (AP) — Hoping to harvest some fresh cash, the online game company behind "FarmVille" said Friday that it plans to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering of up to 100 million shares.

Zynga Inc. is the latest in a spate of IPOs by Internet companies this year, ranging from professional networking service LinkedIn Corp. to the online deals site Groupon Inc. They're all precursors to Facebook's public debut expected sometime after April next year. Facebook could fetch as much as $10 billion in its offering.
Zynga, whose games are played mainly on Facebook, plans to sell its shares at $8.50 to $10 each. If the shares are priced at $10, Zynga will be valued at $7 billion based on the number of its total shares. That's a smaller valuation that the company's shares have traded recently on SharesPost, a secondary stock exchange used to trade the stock of privately held companies. There, a recent trade valued Zynga at $11.7 billion.
The company expects to sell 14.3 percent of its available stock, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That's a relatively high "float," which could give investors confidence that the company isn't trying to artificially inflate its value. Groupon raised some concerns when it sold just 5.5 percent of its outstanding stock. Though not unprecedented, the amount was below that of many prominent tech companies, such as Google (7.2 percent), Amazon (12.6 percent) and LinkedIn (8.2 percent).
The offering gives investors the option to buy an additional 15 million shares to cover over-allotments, bringing the total number of shares for sale to 115 million.
Newly-public tech companies aren't always a hit after their initial offering. Shares of Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc., are trading below their IPO price and Groupon is slightly above and has fluctuated wildly. Unlike those two, however, Zynga is profitable. The company makes most of its revenue by charging small amounts of money for virtual items in its games. Players pay for new crops in "FarmVille," for example, or new buildings in "CityVille," its most popular game.
The company plans to use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes such as game development, marketing and other expenses. It also plans to use part of it for its philanthropic venture, Zynga.org.
Zynga has about 2,300 employees. It was founded in 2007 by CEO Mark Pincus. Following the IPO, Pincus will continue to be the sole holder of Zynga's Class C stock, each share of which carries 70 votes. After the offering, Pincus, 45, will control about 36.2 percent of the total voting power at Zynga through Class B and Class C shares he owns.
Companies often split their stock into different classes to keep control of the decisions about the company in the hands of founders and early employees. But having a class of shares carry 70 votes is unusual — about 10 is more common.

Smoking hot: iPhone spontaneously explodes on domestic flight

APPLE'S iPhone is the world's hottest smartphone - and one iPhone in Australia appears to be the hottest of the bunch as it spontaneously began smoking last week.
Regional airline Regional Express described the "mobile phone self combustion" in a statement, saying an iPhone belonging to a passenger started glowing red and expelling a "significant amount of dense smoke" after a flight from Lismore landed in Sydney on Friday.
A photo accompanying the statement showed the shattered, warped back of a recent-model black iPhone.
The airline says a flight attendant extinguished the glow and nobody on the plane was hurt.
Regional Express reported the incident to authorities in Australia.

Apple says it will co-operate with any investigation.