LG launches LG Cloud

Four days before the purported launch of Samsung's cloud service, Korea's other technology giant has unveiled LG Cloud. The eponymous service offers 5GB free space as standard, while owners of LG's Smart TVs or smartphones will get 50GB free for six months. It'll push content between your devices, appropriately compressed for the medium, so high definition images on your TV will be slimmed down to save your phone's data cap. The free beta begins in South Korea and the US from May 1st, with a global rollout pencilled in for next year.

Microsoft Invests $300 Million In Barnes & Noble

Microsoft and Barnes & Noble on Monday announced the formation of a new partnership that will spin the bookseller’s digital Nook and College businesses into a new unnamed subsidiary. Microsoft’s investment of $300 million will bring it a 17% stake in the newly formed business, which is valued at $1.7 billion, and Barnes & Noble will own approximately 82.4% of the new company. “The formation of [this new subsidiary] and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.” Share of Barnes & Noble stock surged 80% in pre-market trading on the news.

Is This RIM's BlackBerry 10 Development Device

Grab yourself a spoonful of Morton's and get ready for another supposed leak of a gadget. This time around, you're looking at what's said to be one of Research In Motion's BlackBerry 10 "Development Alpha" devices that are set to be handed out during next week's BlackBerry Jam -- just like the company promised a month ago. Images of the device first surfaced over at Crackberry's forums and, as the site points out, the touchscreen candy bar seems to share its design DNA with the PlayBook. Keeping in mind that it's likely to remain a testing device for devs, don't bank on it ever hitting store shelves. That said, we're now curious how pivotal a roll RIM's famous tactile keyboards will play on its next-generation phones if any.

Presentation Shows Off HP’s First Windows 8 Tablet

Windows 8 isn’t expected to drop until the end of 2012, but HP may already be preparing to shop around one tablet equipped with Microsoft’s upcoming OS. An internal slide cleverly titled “The Right Business Touch” acquired by Neowin reveals what appears to be a device quite clearly aimed at the enterprise crowd, touting security features that include HP ProtectTools and support for HP’s Computrance.

In addition, the alleged HP Slate 8 will integrate with Windows 8 Professional and come with both multi-touch and stylus support. Other information includes a 9.22mm frame (thinner than the iPad) and an 8-10 hour battery life.

HP CEO Meg Whitman previously said back in February that the company “has big plans to get back into the tablet market,” with Windows 8 being HP’s preferred OS. Whitman also said the device would run on an x86 chip and, wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what Neowin claims the device above will have.

While this is most likely just a render, if the information being reported turns out to be true then HP certainly does have big plans indeed.

Apex Launcher Pro Hits The Google Play Store

  

Back in the Gingerbread and even Froyo days, there was this original battle between top launchers that we followed ever so closely. For a lengthy period of time, you were either a LauncherPro guy or an ADW EX guy. Both were amazing launchers, but you couldn’t deny that each had their die-hard base of users. After a while, we saw new players enter the market such as GO Launcher and a few others, but for the most part, those two dominated the field. Now with Ice Cream Sandwich, we are seeing a similar battle play out in front of our eyes. You are either a Nova Launcher user or an Apex Launcher user. For fans of Apex, today is a great day as the “Pro” version has been released to the Google Play Store.

Almost 2 weeks ago, the newest beta of Apex was released and included many of the features that would become exclusive to the pro version. So if your beta expired (and it should have), your best chance to keep current is going to be through this new release. At $3.99, it’s not cheap, but it’s also not expensive. Devs who do this high quality of work need to be rewarded. 

The pro version features:

• Multiple configurable drawer tabs
• Unread count notifications
• Dock swipe gestures
• Two finger gestures
• More transition effects
• Batch add option for folders
• Option to merge folder contents
• Widgets in dock (1×1 only)
• Overlapping widgets
• More features on the way!

Google Play download link

Ice Cream Sandwich Leaks For Motorola Droid RAZR/RAZR MAXX

A new Ice Cream Sandwich build for the Motorola Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX has surfaced, and sings point to it being an official release for the Verizon Android duo. The leak bears software version number 6.14.84 and measures in at roughly 343MB, matching the file size listed on a recently exposed Verizon update schedule. Further suggesting that the build may represent a nearly final form of Android 4.0 for the RAZR series is the fact that it requires the most recent 6.12.181 Gingerbread update in order to install. The file should be going public via the folks at DroidRzr by the end of the day.

According to the above mentioned release schedule, the update for the RAZR and RAZR MAXX recently entered testing and is expected to go live towards the end of May.

Software Update In The Works For Reported Sprint Galaxy Nexus 3G Connectivity Issues

The Sprint Community forums have been receiving complaints of connectivity issues with the recently released Samsung Galaxy Nexus — aside from the fact that no 4G LTE network currently exists for the device to connect to, that is. Users are reporting that the Galaxy Nexus on Sprint is having a hard time acquiring a connection to the carrier’s 3G data services. Some have returned their device to be issued a replacement, but others have been turned away as a software fix is apparently in the works.

A moderator on the forum says that Sprint and Samsung “are trying really hard to get the update released early next week,” but could not commit to an official date.

Apple In Talks To Stream EPIX Films To Apple TV

Apple is reportedly in talks to stream films owned by EPIX — a joint venture among Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate — across a variety of devices, including the long-anticipated iTV, according to a report from Reuters. Two people with knowledge of the negotiations told the publication that the talks are in the preliminary stages and no agreement is considered near. The Cupertino-based company is reportedly looking to beef up the content offered through its Apple TV set-top box and upcoming devices. An agreement could prove troublesome, however, due to EPIX’s $200 million agreement with Netflix, which gave the company exclusive streaming rights through September.

Best Buy Connect To Disconnect On June 1st

It is just short of two years since Best Buy launched its mobile broadband service, Best Buy Connect. Apparently, Best Buy has decided to abruptly pull the plug on the service completely.

New activations will cease effective immediately and the service will be shut down completely on June 1st.  Obviously, all early terminations fees will be waived. WiMAX 4G customers will have the option to transition their service to CLEAR.

Existing customers whose accounts are in good standing will receive a $125 or $150 gift card, depending on their service, by email on April 27th to help offset the cost of finding a new provider. Those with overdue accounts that address the balance will receive their gift cards on June 20th.

Best Buy simply states that it feels it “can achieve greater growth by delivering mobile broadband support in ways other than an exclusive Best Buy-branded service.”

HP Updates Enyo 2 And Opens Up Ares 2

With the runway from April showers into May flowers growing short, HP is closing out the week by making good on their April code commitments for webOS. What can you expect to find in HP's various GitHubs today? How about the beginnings of Ares 2, an update to Enyo 2, and the Node.js JavaScript platform? Yeah, that'll do (and it matches up with what the roadmap said to expect).

First things first, let's tackle Ares 2. While just a bullet point on the roadmap, Ares 2 is the next generation of Palm's in-browser app builder, and it's now fully paired with Enyo 2 (whereas the original Ares was built for Mojo and Ares of the original variety). Ares 2, unlike its predecessor, is built off of Node.js (more on that later), which will enable developers to use it locally on their own machines or up in the cloud - all with a "pluggable, decentralized approach to file storage" to give developers even more flexibility. Ares 2 isn't yet complete - it's described as being "still in the early stages" - though that isn't stopping HP from turning public the GitHub for the project. But hey, you'll be able to easily build Enyo 2 apps that work across all web-compatible platforms, so that'll eventually be cool.

A number of other webOS components are seeing their release into open source today. There's an updated build of Enyo 2, bringing significantly-improved mobile scrolling performance and a "highly-optimized cross-platform virtual list control" widget. the Node.jsevent-driven Javascript services platform is also going open source, and in an April surprise, the System Manager Bus (otherwise known as Luna-service2) is going open source three months earlier than planned. The Node.js-reliant System Manager Bus manages the inter-process communications mechanism for Open webOS and includes monitoring and debugging utilities. You know, for when we have enough components to build a functioning operating system; we're getting there, we swear.

So there you have it, April's Open webOS code commitments are here. Coming up in May… well, actually, there's nothing on the roadmap for May or June. Could be a quiet few months, or HP could surprise us and release some other components to open source early. We wouldn't mind that one byte.

Leaked T-Mobile Roadmap Outlines New Devices And Updates

Our friends over at TMoNews have unearthed a roadmap with some tasty morsels of info about what's coming down the pipe from T-Mobile USA in the next few months. Of course, none of this is set in stone or even confirmed, so take it with a grain of salt.

Most interesting is a pair of dates for Ice Cream sandwich updates, with Magenta's Galaxy S II slated to receive Android 4.0 on May 14th, followed by the Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G getting ICS (with Sense 3.6, presumably) on June 16th.

A bunch of device launches from Samsung and Huawei round up the list of dates, with no sign of HTC's One X, Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S III, or T-Mobile's rumored Galaxy Note variant. Sadness. Check out the entire bounty below.

• May 9th: Huawei Astor (low-end phone for 7-Eleven)
• July 11th: Huawei Buddy and Phoenix (myTouch QWERTY and slate, respectively)
• July 11th: Samsung Gravity TXT (new color)
• Aug 1st: Samsung T159 Cacao (low-end handset)
• Aug 15th: Samsung Apex Q (mystery device)

Apple Discontinues Chomp For Android

Apple in February acquired the San Francisco-based company Chomp, a startup that develops application search and discovery software. Apple went forward with the acquisition in an attempt to improve the application search and discovery features within its App Store — the company’s Genius recommendations are a little half-baked. The service was previously available for both Android and iOS, but a recent visit to Chomp’s website has revealed that you can no longer search for Android applications. The app has also been removed from Google’s Play marketplace. It is unclear what will become of Chomp’s earlier partnership with Verizon, which used the service to powering its own app store marketplace.

Sony Begins Rollout Of Android 4.0 For Tablet S

Sony is bringing it’s first Android tablet into the Ice Cream Sandwich age, announcing via the company’s blog that Android 4.0 is now making its way to the Tablet S. Sticking with a stock ICS experience, Sony gives us a rundown of what we can expect in the video below. The clamshell Tablet P should also receive Ice Cream Sandwich, but now is not its time.

If the idea of Android 4.0 on Sony’s tablet is intriguing, the Tablet S is being offered with a $50 instant rebate and free cradle through May 12th. The 16GB model starts at $349.

Clearwire Launching TD-LTE In Early 2013

Clearwire is preparing to upgrade its 2.5GHz WiMAX network to support a variant of LTE, TD-LTE, that it's co-developing with China Mobile and the broadband wholesaler has just announced that it'll kick off that upgrade in 31 "hot zones" where wireless service is most crunched. Most of those markets have yet to be announced, but it has teased five today: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle, all of which are expected to start going live in early 2013; "remaining markets" will come online by the middle of the year.

Sprint, which owns a significant chunk of Clearwire, is underwriting a portion of the company's LTE upgrade costs and is expected to take advantage of the service once it's available. In the meantime, it's using both 1900MHz and freed 800MHz iDEN spectrum for its initial LTE deployment (which is using the more common FDD flavor shared by Verizon, AT&T, and others).

The news comes as Clearwire has announced its Q1 2012 earnings which tell a mixed tale it wasn't long ago that the company nearly missed making interest payments on its debt, and it's got a long way to go to become a profitable organization. Revenue is up 36 percent year over year to $322.6 million from 11 million subscribers, up from 6.1 million a year prior; that's good, but revenue is actually down about $39 million from Q4 2011. Overall, it chalked up an operating loss of some $422.9 million, slightly better than last quarter's $433.1 million. Importantly, cash on hand is on an upward trend: it's now at $1.433 billion between cash, cash equivalents, and investments, likely thanks in no small part to a capital infusion from Sprint.

Opera 12 Beta Available Now

Opera Software announced the beta version of Opera 12 today, codenamed “Wahoo”. The company says that Opera 12 is “smarter and faster” than older versions, and introduces some new features.


First, the team have added the ability to add themes to the browser. Opera will be offering a whole host of themes via its website, and the company says that they’re easy to create as well. Plug-ins are now hosted separately, so if they crash they won’t take the browser with it. It’s the same functionality that Chrome and Firefox have had for a while now, but it’s nice to see it make an appearance in Opera too.

Opera also say that thanks to SSL and tab optimizations that the browser is faster than ever, and the team has added an API that can tap into your computer’s webcam. That gives developers something to play around with, and Opera has created some demos for them to test out the API, such as a Photo Booth.

There are a few other minor additions too, like 64-bit browsers for Mac and Windows, plus support for the Do Not Track header, and HTML5 Drag and Drop support. The Opera 12 beta is available to go test right now from the Opera website.

Canonical Releases Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS has landed today, offering enterprise users a secure and stable Linux operating system for their work environment. LTS stands for Long Term Support, with five years of guaranteed updates for the OS, as well as the option to purchase commercial support. The latest version of Ubuntu brings support for Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol 7.1, plus desktop virtualization for Citrix and VMWare.


That gives enterprise users flexibility for office productivity. They can use desktop applications remotely, use browser-based solutions such as Google Docs, or use the pre-installed LibreOffice which is compatible with Microsoft Office formats. Canonical believe Ubuntu makes a good choice for those faced with expensive Windows 7 upgrades.

There’s also a new menu-based search option, tweaks to the login screen, but most importantly improved performance and power management. Ubuntu has suffered from draining batteries far too quickly in the past, and Canonical says they’re working to fix that with the newer versions of the OS.

What about if you’re running Ubuntu 10.04? Canonical say there will be an easy migration to 12.04, and that the company is looking forward for users to experience the upgrade for themselves. If you’re eager to get downloading, head on over to the Ubuntu website where you should find a torrent waiting for you.

Google Sells SketchUp 3D to Trimble Navigation

Google sold its SketchUp 3D modelling platform to Trimble Navigation today for an undisclosed price. SketchUp is a popular application for creating quick 3D models through its intuitive interface for both beginners and professionals. It was purchased by Google back in 2006 and is available in a free version as well as a more advanced paid version. It is also used for 3D models within Google Earth.

Trimble specializes in surveying, mapping, and marine navigation equipment and hopes to expand its field presence with SketchUp. The company will partner with Google to continue developing SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse, which is an online repository of 3D models created and shared by users.

When Google purchased SketchUp back in 2006, it was just a tiny start-up. It now has millions of active users with over 30 million activations in just the last year. The acquisition by Trimble is expected to close later this spring and the company assures that the free version of the SketchUp software will continue to be available to users.

Nintendo Wii U With Android Tipped For launch

Today Nintendo‘s next gaming console Wii U has been tipped to be running Android applications right out of the box. This situation is not unfounded, as Android apps have been integrated into other systems, sort of, in the past, but this time it could be much more simple than what we’ve seen before. Where before we’ve seen systems such as BlackBerry attempt to integrate Android by making the process to port apps over to their system appear relatively easy, this time Nintendo may be building Android into their system, for real, to work right alongside their own user interface and software.

Samsung Galaxy S III Leak Provide New Specs

The Samsung Galaxy S III is easily the hottest upcoming Android device, and the leaks continue to flow out at an amazing pace. Part of me thinks all these leaks are controlled to keep generating buzz, but we keep sharing them and y’all keep eating them up. This week we saw a trio of leaks that provide several conflicting specs.

Last night Samsung announced the 1.4 GHz Exynos 4 Quad, that is said to power the next Galaxy. We think there is a good chance that this will be the final processor found inside the Galaxy S III, but that could vary by region and carrier.

Yesterday we saw a leaked benchmark result that said the Galaxy S III was using the Exynos 4212 processor. This chip features dual Cortex-A9 CPU cores running at 1.5 GHz. Another leaked service manual for the GT-i9300 (that we believe to be the Galaxy S III) said the device would use a 1.5 GHz quad-core CPU.

The leaked benchmark said the device would feature a 4.7 inch display, while the leaked manual said it would be 4.8 inches, and other leaks have showed a 4.6 inch display. Camera specs have also been conflicted. One leak shows 8 megapixels and another shows 12 megapixels.

Open webOS Build Scripts Sneak Out Onto GitHub

Build scripts for the desktop version of Open webOS have managed to sneak out onto the Github code repository belonging to webOS Engineering team member Anupam Kaul. Before you get too excited, these scripts don't actually do anything yet, primarily because the majority of the source code for Open webOS hasn't yet been released. The actual code to run the webOS UI and many other underlying components are't expected to be released until July. Still, it is interesting to see these build scripts come out at this time, given that Open webOS is not yet released in full and is very much a work in progress.

On the GitHub repository there are build scripts for db8, a component that manages certain types of application databases used throughout webOS and that was released in March, as well as build scripts for cjson, luna-service2, and pmloglib. Some of the components, namely luna-service2 which powers Node.js-based services, and pmloglib (which is responsible for on-device debugging logs), are webOS-specific components and are part of the Open webOS release plan. The remaining component, cjson, is a popular open source JSON library for C code required for many components of webOS.

We chatted briefly with Kaul about the project and he confirmed that this is a personal project of his, and that though these scripts along with the Linux Standard Kernel would help it booting webOS onto a desktop, there's still a lot of work that will have to be done with as-of-yet unreleased components to make webOS cursor-friendly. Until then, the code on GitHub is simply waiting for the day to come where it might be pushed out to the larger Open webOS project.

It's interesting to think back a year ago to Think Beyond, when HP first unveiled their plans to put webOS onto all of their computers by the end of this yar. My how times change. Although the practicality of using webOS on a computer is still debatable, we do look forward to the day when we can do just that. Until then, we have got no option but to sit and wait patiently.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Acknowledges BlackBerry Data Efficiency

Last night, while covering the Apple Q2 results for iMore, I heard Tim Cook say something that I don't ever quite recall anyone from Apple ever saying before.

In response to a question about carrier subsidies on iPhones, and potential pressure, Cook said the following as part of his reply:

"Our engineering teams work extremely hard to be efficient with data and differently than some others. And we believe as a result of this iPhone has far better data efficiently compared to other smartphone that are using sort of an app rich ecosystem. Finally, and this is most important, iPhone is the best smartphone on the planet to entice a customer who is currently using a traditional mobile phone to upgrade to a smartphone. This is by far the largest opportunity for Apple, for our carrier partners and its a great fantastic experience for customers. So its a win win win there"

Sure, he didn't actually say "BlackBerry" anywhere. But his wording was carefully chosen, as usual. He said Apple is more efficient than other "app rich" ecosystems, meaning Android. By saying this, he clearly recognizes BlackBerry is more efficient.

But what surprised me even more was how he even acknowledged the importance of data efficiency at all. In some ways its nice to see Apple acknowledge the importance of something that RIM has been so good at for so long. But it's also clear that consumers don't really care that much about data efficiency.

Samsung Announces Samsung Made 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad-Core Processor

Looking for something a bit more solid than a third-party benchmark? We can do that. "Already in production the Exynos 4 Quad is scheduled to be adopted first into Samsung's next Galaxy smartphone that will officially be announced in May," the horse's mouth reveals. Samsung boasts that the new 32nm 1.4GHz quad-core processor flaunts twice the processing power over its predecessor, thanks to its High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power technology. The net energy savings? About 20-percent. "The application processor is a crucial element in providing our customers with a PC-like experience on mobile devices," explains Hankil Yoon, Senior VP of Product Strategy Team at Samsung, "Samsung's next Galaxy device, which will be officially announced soon, offers uncompromised performance and ground breaking multitasking features, thanks to Exynos 4 Quad's powerful performance and efficient energy management technology." Sammy says it's shopping the new processor around to other handset manufacturers (like Meizu), noting that the Exynos 4 Quad is pin-to-pin compatible with the Exynos 4 Dual (the brains behind the Galaxy S II and Note), which gives designers the ability to update product designs with minimal costs.

RIM Redesigns BlackBerry Beta Zone

Research In Motion today announced that it has redesigned its BlackBerry Beta Zone based on the feedback from Beta Zone users. According to RIM, the Beta Zone has a brand new user interface that it believes is more engaging, intuitive, and interactive. Beta Zone has also been split in two, with consumer and enterprise apps clearly separated with their own Beta Zone URLs. The Beta Zone site now has a blog that accepts user feedback and comments. Last, the Beta Zone's mobile site has been improved with a revised layout and simplified download process. BlackBery Beta Zone is free to join, and lets BlackBerry users test beta software and provide feedback to RIM before final release.

Sprint To Extend WiMax Device Roster To Boost And Virgin

Sprint said today during a call with reporters that it intends to offer its WiMax 4G network to its Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA pre-paid businesses. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that the service would launch for Boost and Virgin later this year, though he didn't provide specific details regarding timing nor the handsets involved. Sprint has a number of WiMax handsets still in service while it transitions to LTE 4G. Sprint has already made several LTE-capable handsets for sale, though its LTE network isn't expected to launch until mid-year. Sprint mentioned earlier this year that it will no longer sell WiMax handsets to its own customers.

Angry Birds Space For The BlackBerry PlayBook Now Available

Yes you read that right, and this time we're serious. Unlike the botched psuedo-release a few weeks back, Angry Birds Space is now officially available for the BlackBerry PlayBook. The latest in the Angry Birds series brings you to outer space where you have to fight gravity in addition to the green pigs. Features include:

• 60 interstellar levels!
• Regular free updates!
• Brand new birds!
• Brand new superpowers!
• Zero-gravity space adventures!
• Trick shots using planets' gravity!
• Hidden bonus levels!
• Beautifully detailed backgrounds!

Angry Birds Space is available now for $2.99 in BlackBerry App World. Head to the link below to download.

Google Ups Free Gmail Storage To 10GB

Google on Tuesday unveiled its new “Google Drive” cloud storage solution, taking direct aim at Microsoft’s SkyDrive, Dropbox and other similar services. The new offering includes 5GB of free cloud-based storage and allows users to store, collaborate on, and share documents and other files. At the same time as its new Google Drive service was rolling out across the Web, Google also quietly gave Gmail users a capacity boost of more than 35% according to reports. Gmail launched in 2004 with 1GB of free storage and that figure has been increasing steadily to just over 7GB as of earlier this week. On Tuesday, Gmail’s free storage climbed to 10GB according to a report from Engadget. We haven’t seen the storage boost hit our inboxes yet, but a number of users reportedly have. Google has not formally announced the update.

Google Drive And Android App Go Live

Google Drive is no longer a secret, as the Google Drive Android app is now live in the Play Store and the description gives us a great idea of what to expect.

As expected, Google Drive will be a Dropbox and Box competitor, as you’ll get some free cloud storage space to store your files. The official announcement went live a few seconds ago and it offers 5 GB of storage for free. You can also buy additional storage for a fee and this includes 100 GB for $4.99 a month, dramatically cheaper than the competition.

The app’s description also gives us some solid details. This is an evolution of Google Docs, so you can collaborate on the files in your Google Drive account. You can also open up multiple file types (including video) in a browser. Naturally, you’ll also have strong search capabilities including the ability to search through scanned documents with OCR technology.

Keep everything. Share anything.

*** Google Docs is now a part of Google Drive! ***

* Keep everything. Share anything.
* With Google Drive, you can store all your files in one place, so you can access them from anywhere and share them with others
* Use the Google Drive Android app to access your photos, documents, videos and other files stored on your Google Drive
* Upload files to Google Drive directly from your Android device
* Share any file with your contacts
* Access files others have shared with you on Google Drive
* Make any file available offline so you can access them even when you don’t have an Internet connection
* Create and edit Google documents with rich text formatting
* Edits to your Google documents appear to collaborators in seconds
* Make quick changes to spreadsheets
* View your PDFs, presentations and more
* Upload and convert files to the Google Docs format
* Take a photo of printed text and convert it to a Google document
* Optimized experience to take advantage of larger screens for tablet users, Honeycomb (Android 3.0+)

The Google Drive service is live at drive.google.com and you can download the Android app here. Google also says that an iPhone and iPad version are coming soon.

Motorola DROID RAZR, RAZR MAXX Update Being Pushed By Verizon

It looks like the 6.12.181 upgrade is now making its way out to customers. The 6.12.181 update includes tweaks for improved device stability and enhancements to help extend battery life, among a number of other changes, so this definitely looks like something that RAZR and RAZR MAXX owners will want to check out. If the update has yet to make its way to your neck of the woods and you just can't wait for it any longer, you can check for it manually by heading into Menu > Settings > About phone > System updates.

Facebook Promises Huge Update For Windows Phone App

Facebook took to its own Facebook page for Windows Phone to announce a forthcoming update to its Windows Phone app. The revised app (v2.5) will include significant changes, such as threaded messaging, the ability to tag friends, the ability to delete posts and comments, active links in posts, an overhauled photo comment tool, and the ability to "Like" comments. Facebook said that the app is in the final stages of testing and will be delivered to Windows Phone handsets soon.

Unlocked Galaxy Nexus Available From Google For $399

Google today made the GSM variant of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus available for purchase directly through the Google Play Store for $399. The device is being sold unlocked and without a carrier contract. The GSM version is compatible with the networks run by AT&T and T-Mobile USA. It is listed in a new section of the Play Store labeled "devices."

webOS 2.2.5 And 3.0.6 Caught In Testing Logs

After HP announced that webOS would be going open source way back in December we honestly thought we would never see another webOS update until the planned September release of Open webOS 1.0. Then, to our surprise, webOS 2.2.4 and 3.0.5 said hello to the world. It wasn't much of an update for Pre3 owners, but Pre 2 users finally received Bluetooth messaging support and Skype voice calling to add to their device's capabilities. Meanwhile the TouchPad gained faster view switching in calendar, IM presence indicators in Email, support for HTTP video streaming, an easy on/off toggle for auto-correct, the ability to insert a period when double-tapping the space bar, and a fistful of bug fixes. Sadly the Veer was still left in the cold and disappointed many owners longing for some Touch-to-Share action.

So we revised our expectations, 2.2.4 and 3.0.5 to be the last updates before Open webOS hits and we maybe see something new pushed over-the-air from HP. Leave it to some Metrix logs to prove us wrong. Our very own Arthur Thornton, of Sparrow and Voice Memos fame, decided to check his logs since he had neglected to do so for a while. And what did he find while checking those logs? Why, four devices using webOS 2.2.5 accessed Voice Memos, two of which turned out to be Pre3s (the other two are unknown at this point). Curiosity piqued, Arthur checked his Metrix logs for Sparrow, discovering that at least one device running webOS 3.0.6 has used the app. Interesting, no?

We've heard nothing from HP to indicate that webOS 2.2.5 or 3.0.6 would ever be coming, but that they're showing up in app logs - even relatively new apps like Sparrow, has us hopeful that they might see a release soon. webOS smartphones and TouchPad are decent with their current OS versions, but we wouldn't say no to the usual bug fixes and speed and battery improvements that are par for the course for a x.x.1 update. And we're sure Veer owners wouldn't mind having Touch-to-Share enabled nearly a year after the phone was released. So keep your fingers crossed webOS faithful, there might be at least one more update to be had from our beloved devices before Open webOS is upon us!

Verizon Shows Off Droid Incredible 4G On Droid Does Site

Verizon Wireless today revealed the HTC Droid Incredible 4G through its Droid Does web site. As the name implies, the Incredible 4G is an Android 4.0 smartphone that supports Verizon's LTE 4G network. The Incredible 4G runs HTC's Sense 4.0 user interface, and is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. It features a 4-inch qHD display, 8-megapixel main camera and VGA user-facing camera, Beats Audio, mobile hotspot for up to 10 devices, support for 32GB microSD cards. The HTC Droid Incredible 4G costs $299.99, but availability was not immediately announced by Verizon.

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Skype For Windows Phone Sheds Beta Title

Skype's fledgling Windows Phone app broke out of beta today, adding contact searching and landline calling to it's VOIP repertoire. The update comes just shy of two months of the Beta's introduction in February, and boasts a handful of minor improvements that should keep your calls connected. You'll still be making those calls yourself, however, as the full version doesn't yet have support for receiving calls in the background -- if the app isn't running, your phone isn't ringing. Hit the source link below to update.

T-Mobile’s New myTouch To Be Manufactured By Huawei

Huawei becoming the third manufacturer of T-Mobile’s myTouch line of phones in a year (after HTC and LG)  has pretty much been confirmed in these FCC documents found earlier today posted below. The FCC has approved the Huawei U8680, which has in several places been referred to as the T-Mobile myTouch.

Samsung Countdown Teases Next Galaxy Phone

Samsung's latest marketing ploy kicked off with a string of nonsense that could just as easily have come from the Sunday morning jumble: "Destination: tgeltaayehxnx," declared the Samsung Mobile Twitter account. Anagram wizards will read that as, "the next Galaxy," and wouldn't you know it, it's also the URL for a auspicious countdown clock. Sammy promises to let visitors take "the next step" in about 17 hours and counting. Bonafide internet sleuths can find an extra carrot strung up in the site's source, reading, "discover how Samsung is about to challenge the way you view the Galaxy once more." Is Samsung about to break its own May 3rd unveiling? We'll let you know in 16 hours and change.

RIM Hires Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP

Over the past few weeks there have been plenty of talks surrounding the future of RIM and what exactly to do about their current situation. Many reports suggested that RIM was seeking financial council on how to further proceed and today Reuters is reporting they've now taken on council from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP to help oversee a potential restructuring plan, possible selling of assets, licensing of patents and joint ventures.

Reports previously suggested that RIM was working with some of the world's larger carriers to create a system that would open up their network to them, essentially allowing non-BlackBerry devices and their data to be routed through the RIM NOC and offering some of RIM's added value services to those devices such as BlackBerry Messenger. These ideas were originally brought forth by former Research In Motion co-chief executive Jim Balsillie and said to of have been shot down internally by RIM's board due to fear of dilution of the BlackBerry brand.

With the news of RIM now taking on council from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP it seems as though those plans may once again be rising from the inside, for better or worse. Realistically, the ideas that Jim Balsillie had weren't all that bad -- they made sense and would certainly help keep RIM from going any further into the red if adopted. Whether or not those plans will be put into action remains a mystery though as RIM may choose a different path.

webOS Homebrew Developer Builds New Google Maps App

Last year HP rolled out a new version of Maps for webOS devices that was powered by Microsoft's Bing. A homebrew developer named Jan Herman didn't love the change — nor did he find the languishing official Google Maps app to his liking — so he rolled his own, and it looks like it may be better than either of the other two offerings. webOS Nationreports that Herman's app, simply titled Google Maps, features multiple viewing options, directions, live search suggestions, current traffic conditions, and even Google Maps Street View. It's actually Herman's first webOS app, built initially for his own Pre Plus, but in the weeks since debuting an early version he has been iterating at a rapid pace, adding a number of new features and ensuring compatibility with all devices running webOS 1.4.5 or higher. There are a handful of known issues, particularly on the Pre3, and Herman still has a long list of features he plans to add to the app. At the rate he seems to be going, however, both should be taken care of sooner rather than later. If you're a webOS user and would like to try his handiwork out for yourself, the app is available for download now.
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