This is a tecknologi Wireless telecom industries are really worried with Apple’s iMessage. ‘iMessage’ will be released this week and will allow iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners to send unlimited messages for free.

Problem for Telecom Operators
The major corporations in the telecom industry are worried that making money of messages will soon be diluted. This free unlimited messaging will be possible in iOS 5 devices only i.e. only iOS 5 devices can send messages and only iOS 5 gadgets can receive them. Apple which has always known to revolutionize the technology will take another major step this time with the absence of Steve Jobs.

The text messaging makes about $20 billion. Now companies like Verizon, which makes $7 billion from text messaging alone every year, will face challenges.

RIM Messenger’s Effect
Research in Motion’s (RIM) messenger for Blackberry phones is also similar to Apple’s iMessage. RIM’s success in creating a messenger for Smartphone probably led to Apple’s creation. Since blackberry owners are hesitant to move to other phones due to this service, Apple has come up with a similar option as well to help make these conversions.

It is remained to be seen how successful Apple’s messaging service is. If however the iMessage does become popular then all text messages in future could in fact be free.

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Here's a Samsung Galaxy S II and the iPhone 4S can be considered as bitter rivals as these are some of the most superior phones ever create. The Samsung Galaxy S II also created headlines after 10 million units of the device has been shipped worldwide excluding the United States.

In terms of processor, the Samsung Galaxy S II beats Apple iPhone 4S as it sports a 1.2 GHz as well as a 1.5 GHz (T-Mobile variant) dual-core processor while the iPhone 4S only have a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor. As for the camera, both phones have an 8MP sensor although the lens of the iPhone 4S supports a wide aperture of f2.4 which would help in low lighting conditions.

Samsung Galaxy S II has a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen which is a bigger than the iPhone 4S 3.5-inch Retina display. In terms of operating system on the other hand, a lot of people may find the iOS a lot better and attractive as compared with the messy Android interface which then gives the iPhone 4S an advantage here.

May it be the iPhone 4S or the Samsung Galaxy S II, you would be satisfied with any of these two phones as they are spectacular. As of date, you may not find any phone as good as these.

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Here's a Droid-Life again reported leaked information on Samsung Stratosphere phone. Before sometimes, it was Droid-Life that came up with leaked marketing stuffs and manuals on Stratosphere and now they have the news that the phone is going to hit the market on Thursday.

Features of Stratosphere
As given before it is the first 4G LTE phone from Verizon. Along with that it will have QWERTY keywords (5- row sliding feature). It is powered by Android Gingerbread OS (version 2.3) and displays a super AMOLED 4” wide screen. Other specifications include the onboard internal memory of 4GM along with 4GB memory on microSD chip. 512 Mega Bytes of RAM and dual camera (front 1.3 MP and rear 5 MP along with flash) make this gadget a must have.

Voice Dialer as well as Speech-2-Text capability converts this phone into a hotspot. You can use it to connect max 8 gadgets if you are on 4G network or you can connect max 5 gadgets on 3G Network.

Catch it at CTIA
If you have interest in this Smartphone then you should visit CTIA show for wireless trades. It will be held on Tuesday and will continue up to Thursday. The venue is San Diego. Just visit this venue and catch the first glance of this Smartphone. The expected cost of this phone is approx $150 along with a contract of two years.

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As promised back in July, AT&T is all set to release its gaming Smartphone gadget; Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and soon you can get your hands on this device.

Good News for Gaming Lovers

The good news is; it would be available with a price tag of 49.99 with a two-year contract and will hit the markets on September 18. All those who love playing games, this is going to blow you away. It comes pre-loaded with around seven games, including Dungeon Defenders, the Sims 3, Asphalt 6 Adrenaline and Madden NFL 11 makes it worth the investment. There are gaming controls that you are going love to the extreme.

Get your hands on this device

Talking about the technical specifications, it runs Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, supports a 5-megapixel rear facing camera and a front-facing VGA camera. The Xperia Play 4G has a 4-inch display screen with 480×854 screen resolution. The device is powered by 1GHz Snapdragon processor as well as Adreno 205 graphics processor. The best part is; it is compatible with AT&T’s HSPA+ network. Also, AT&T is offering a charging dock and a multimedia dock with the device.

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The PlayStation Portable has been one of Sony’s flagship products with millions being sold worldwide. However, like most electronic products, it has to be replaced with a new product and in this case, PlayStation Portable or better to be referred to as the PSP was succeeded by PlayStation Vita or life in Latin.

At a price of $249, we find that the PS Vita a lot better as compared with the PSP as it features a multi-touch OLED screen which is a lot better its competitors. The front looks similar to the PSP only to differ to a few improvements on the buttons and an additional analog stick on the right side of the device.

In addition to that, PS Vita also has 3G and Wi-Fi capability which allows its users to connect with other gamers from all around the world so that they can compete globally at any time that they feel convenient.

Sony also had released a statement saying that the PS Vita will be launched in Japan as early as December 2011 although those interested to get their hands on the device in Europe or in the United States will have to wait until next year before they can do so.

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Those that are wishing to grab their hands on a Nokia powered by Windows Phone 7 would have to wait until next year before they can do so. Nokia had recently told WP7r.com that there won’t be a phone with Windows Phone 7 on it until Q1 of 2012.

Nokia was another manufacturer that had jumped into the Windows Phone 7 bandwagon along with a few popular names such as Dell and HTC. Nokia’s Stephen Elop also reportedly showed a prototype of a Nokia WP7 phones to a handful of people and called it something “super confidential” as well.

It was allegedly said that the new Nokia phone would look similar to the N9 along with an 8 MP Carl Zeiss lens. In addition to that, it would also feature all the hardware buttons specified by Microsoft so that it would qualify as a WP7 phone.

With Nokia to back Microsoft up on its new mobile operating system, the future of the new OS seems promising. Hopefully, there will be more developers for the OS so that it would be on par with Android and the iOS as well. Until then, WP7 is a bit behind as compared with the two but then again, it is still new in the market.

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Good news for Sony Ericsson fans as the company has recently managed a comeback in the Nigerian mobile gadget market.

Flooding the Market with Sophisticated Mobile Phones

This time, they have unveiled a series of mobile phones which Sony tagged with the experience of Xperia. The range of phones is available in different models including entertainment tools and digital devices for communication so that users can go with the one they desire. Few years back, the company suffered a down time as it lost touch with market realities but at the same time; they strengthened its hold in the Africa’s biggest market.

Company is planning to target 20-30 percent share

All the phones are driven by Google Android operating system and the company is planning to target around 20-30 percent of its market share in the next two to three years. The company says; they are trying their level best to provide what the customers want and come back with the desired results. Sony Ericsson’s Marketing Manager, Younes Cherkaoui said; company’s motive is to increase the market value of the company from 6-7% to 10% in few months time. They are working with future media and local agencies in Nigeria so as to bring the products close to people.

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iBall, world’s renowned computer peripherals maker has recently unveiled its very first Android tablet with a price tag of Rs 13,995.

Specifications

Talking about its technical specifications; the tablet is powered by 1 GHz RM Cortex-A8 processor and it runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. It comes with an in-built memory of 8GB and it can easily be extended up to 32GB with the use of a microSD card. It supports a 7-inch capacitive multi-touch display and it offers upto 6.5 hours of music backup and upto 5 hours of video. iBall Slide has support for Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth for connectivity purposes.

Tablet by iBall is the latest entrant in this succession

As companies like Beetel, RCom, Mercury have recently launched their tablets, iBall is the latest entrant in this gadget category. Also, just recently Bharti Enterprises group company Beetel launched Beetel Magiq which is a low-priced tablet. The approximate cost of this tablet is Rs 10,000 which is a 7” tablet that is powered by Android 2.2 OS. It comes with two 2-megapixel cameras and supports phone calls. It is equipped with a processor of 1 GB speed and supports up to 8GB inbuilt memory and it can also be extended up to 24GB.

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Windows Phone 7 Mango is moments of being released with the RTM version of it already given out to manufacturers. Only time will tell of when users will be able to upgrade their devices to the latest and better version of WP7.

However, some people may still find Mango incomplete in some ways. For example, the calendar does support multiple sub-calendars for certain providers but not for Google accounts. I for example, have 3 to 4 sub-calendars on my Google account but only my personal calendar is shared but not the others. This can be quite troublesome for many as well.

In addition to that, the lack of free and good apps is pretty disheartening. Being an ex-Android user, it is very noticeable as it is hard to find a good app for the Windows Phone 7. Maybe time will tell. Hopefully, games such as Angry Birds and such will be made free like they are with the Android platform albeit with ads.

Multitasking support is also subpar as compared with platforms such as Android and iOS. This is because not all apps have multitasking turned on by default. The developer needs to utilize the feature and update the app before it can be used on a phone running on Mango.

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Those talking about Sprint merging with Verizon have got nothing more to talk about as Sprint faced two major blows. Firstly Verizon added the iPhone 4 gadget and made Sprint the smallest carrier and the only one without iPhone making it weaker. Now Sprint could follow with either of two options: add Sprint iPhone 5 to the mix or get sucked up by the Verizon. And Sprint followed the former one.

Sprint’s Intentions

This is evident from the fact that Sprint subcontractors have started installing the signal boosters near Apple stores. In reference to the Sprint’s proceedings against T-Mobile regarding the future prospects where it believes it is not going to get a fair shot even with iPhone 5 when it comes to competence. But that may perhaps be pretentiousness for Sprint because the carrier ahs got many approaches.

Offering Unlimited Data

Sprint is offering unlimited monthly data which makes it different from Verizon and AT&T to give monthly data caps with the aim of offering customers with huge overage charges which is pretty similar to text message overages they did earlier. Other than this, when Verizon and AT&T could make into 4G, Sprint already has 4G network nationwide. But Sprint will have to face challenges even with iPhone 5 as present iPhone customers are already engaged in the upgrade cycles.

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Some people would want to make their own simple application for their mobile devices such as the Android, Blackberry and iPhone but they do not have the technical skills to do so. However, there is now software that would enable users to create applications without much technical skills. All that is needed is logic thinking to correlate each function of the application.

One software that is worthy of checking is Google’s AppInventor. Basically, it is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) software to create apps for Android devices. It works by dropping blocks to instruct the application on what to do. There are currently a lot of tutorials available on the Internet to produce apps from AppInventor and it can be quite simple as well.

In addition to AppInventor, there is also Red Foundry. This software can create apps not only for Android but also for iOS and Blackberry. Best of all, these applications are free to use and is easy to learn as well. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and give these a try and let us know what happens, maybe we can help you at something.

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Next week, at Microsoft Conference, the Samsung 10.1 Galaxy Tab is going to be powered by the Intel chip, which is currently running on the Android operating system with a Nvidia processor.

Upcoming Features

An early version of Windows 8 version running on Samsung gadgets will be expected to be shown by Steven Sinofsky, Windows chief at the conference of BUILD developers this coming week in Anaheim, Calif.

One version of the Windows 8 tablet based on Intel silicon will be at least shown and distributed to some of the attendees, said a true industry source quite familiar with the device.

In fact, many Windows 8 tablet favor suppliers like Texas instruments, Qualcomm and Nvidia competing on ARM processors. Although, Nvidia has powered leading names like Samsung, Motorola and Sony tablets with its chips to run Google’s Android operating system.

However, it was not sure if other Windows running on ARM processors will be shown at the meeting or not.

Intel’s Strive for Powerful Atom Processors

Intel is trying to bridge the efficiency difference between it and ARM processors, which are more powerful than it. Though, Intel also has a certain power efficient versions like Sandy Bridge Core I series to power “Ultrabook” thin laptops. Moreover, Intel is also developing much power efficient atomic processors.

As compared to Windows 7, Windows 8 will run on both ARM and AMD/Intel chips, will prove a tablet friendly OS.

This story was not commented by Intel and Microsoft, while Samsung did not take its presence.

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It all started off with the HTC EVO 3D which is one of the first mobile phones with stereoscopic 3D, meaning that users will not need to use 3D glasses to view the screen to experience 3D. Now, LG steps up to the plate with the LG Thrill 4G. It also features the same stereoscopic screen much like HTC EVO 3D but it may be a lot better.

First of all, it’s coupled with a 1GHz dual-core processor which is more than enough to make the phone run speedily. In addition to that, it also has a 512MB RAM as well as a battery with the capacity of 1,500mAh. Like the EVO 3D, it also has two 5MP cameras to record both 3D and 2D photos.

However, it should be noted that the LG Thrill 4G doesn’t come with the latest version of Android (Gingerbread) but instead, Froyo. The battery life is also mediocre and would not last very long either. Other than that, the LG Thrill 4G is a great phone.

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3D phones are getting to be very popular among mobile techno-freaks today. Not only have a whole host of new 3D phones come into the market recently, but there are also an equally huge number of customers just waiting to get their hands on them, as and when they are released. So what exactly is this concept of 3D phones and how do 3D phones work?

Are 3D Phones Really Worth It?

3D technology has been around for many years. Only, we so far had 3D movies and then 3D HDTVs came by. But it is only now that 3D has made its foray into the mobile industry. Bringing this technology into a relatively small mobile device is indeed a challenge.

One can easily watch 3D movies using special 3D glasses for the same. But it would seem silly to do the same with a mobile device. Hence, 3D phones have to have a 3D display without the need to use special glasses.

The Technology behind 3D Phones

Normally, when you are watching a 3D movie, the special dark glasses create a different image for each eye, thereby giving you the seeming effect of a live, 3D image. In actuality, the human brain mixes up these two different images and creates a composite, “breathing”, 3D image.

So how is one able to perceive 3D content without wearing these special glasses? Well, an interesting technology called the APB or Autostereoscopic Parallax Barrier is what gives a glasses-free 3D display. Here, a device is kept in front of an LCD and this is what enables the user to get glasses-free 3D content.

The Japanese electronics giant, Sharp, has been working on this technology for quite some time. But they employ it a little differently. They use a “switching LCD”, which can shift between 2D and 3D imaging, without using special glasses. When the switching feature is turned off, you can see normal 2D content. But switching on the parallax barrier creates different patterns for each eye, thereby giving the 3D effect.

Current Issues with 3D Mobile Phones

At the moment, mobile 3D is still in its infancy. There is also a shortage of movies and othe 3D content right now. However, all these problems are expected to be set right in due course of time.

As of now, only 2 major manufacturers are selling 3D phones on a global scale. They are the HTC EVO 3D and LG Optimus 3D. It is rumored that Apple may also soon have a 3D version of its iPhone. Game developers such as Epic have already launched 3D games such as the Infinity Blade 3D, for this future platform.

In conclusion, 3D phones seem to be poised to become the future of mobile phones. Experts are already working round the clock to create better 3D technology and so, one can expect a veritable 3D phone boom in the coming couple of years.

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Motorola Droid Bionic is in news for quite a long time and it has turned up as Verizon Wireless’ most dominant gadget. It seems it is giving a tough fight to Apple iPhone; let’s find out why one should prefer a Motorola Droid Bionic than the iPhone:

• Removable memory and battery - A Motorola Droid Bionic offers you an extended powerful battery along with the wireless charging flip and you can get a second battery as well. Also, the phone’s memory can easily be expanded with the help of a MicroSD card. While in case of iPhone you get Safari as your browser but with Motorola Droid Bionic, Flash is your default browser which means you can play Flash games on the Internet which is amazing!
• LTE - Undoubtedly, Verizon’s high speed 4G network makes surfing Internet so much exciting as it loads web pages much faster. It works ten times faster than 3G and uploads videos better. Webtop, the best part about Motorola is; it lets you transform your phone into a desktop very easily and it makes things more fun.

Now, we will have to see whether iPhone 5 will beat Motorola Droid Bionic and the question is; whether Apple will be left in the slow lane?

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Sony Ericsson promises to update the entire range of Xperia handsets launched in 2011 in Android 4.0 platform (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Sony Ericsson phones list included in the program contains models like Xperia Arc, Xperia Arc S, Xperia Ray, Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Neo V, Xperia Pro, Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro.

Update packages will arrive soon perhaps, the exact date varies depending on the model, but not earlier than November.

Sony Ericsson has issued similar news and shortly after the announcement of the Xperia phone line for 2011, but then it was updated to version 2.3.4 of Android Gingerbread platform.

Ice Cream Sandwich promises to be the first truly universal version of the Google Android operating system, scalable to a wide range of devices, from compact smartphone models and up to the big screen tablets.

Among the features discovered so far in Android 4.0 includes a face recognition and support for selective focus camera, activated by voice recognition function. Improvements list is of course much higher but remain a well guarded secret until the big launch.

On the long list of phones in the new program, we can only appreciate the effort of Sony Ericsson to maintain range of smartphone to date with the latest releases in software. The gesture was sure to be appreciated both for current customers and those who preferred to wait until 2012 for the newest smartphone offer.

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Very few consumers know about the Muve Music service of cricket, however, with the release of Samsung Vitality, the situation is expected to be different. Samsung Vitality, a new range of mobile phone operation would provide multiple accesses to music download and other enhanced features such as ringtones, ringback tones along with Cricket’s all-inclusive talk text and web.

Affordable Services

All these unlimited services are available at much reasonable rate, say for $65. The candy apple shaped red color Vitality has a 3.5 inch touch screen and a 3.2 MP camera and comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Vitality is perhaps the first phone on Cricket’s network to launch with Muve Music.

Pros and Cons

By the end of the month, new gadget would be available in the retail stores as well as online for $199.99. Although the phone provides king size touch screen and Cricket’s signature Muve music plan, the phone does have some drawbacks such as low audio and speakerphone volume which makes the phone harder to talk. The Micro SD card available with the phone has very little space to store photos and videos and the battery life is very poor. However, the phone is definitely going to throw a big challenge to the existing models and is certainly going to be a successful model in future.

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Google+ Native App now Available for iPhone - Finally, iPhone users can access Google+ right through their iPhone gadgets. After a long wait of 3 weeks Google+ has released a native app for iOS platform. When Google+ was launched initially it was not available for iPhone users because of incompatibility of this app with iOS platform. But it had been revealed that the Google is planning to optimize it with iOS version soon.

Free Download Available

The latest app is available free to download if you are a user of Apple’s iPhone. It has joined the league of Google+ for Android app that lets the users to get in touch with the happenings going on at Google+ without having a browser. But the app is still invitation only and the company is representing it as the “Field Trial”.

User Interface

This new application has a user interface akin to Facebook app for iOS. It features a home screen equipped with different distinct features that are well organized and can be easily operated with fingers. Highlighted features include New Streams and Circle – the Contact Manger and Huddle – For group message texting. User interface differs a bit from the general mobile web optimized version of Google+.

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Nokia C3-01.5 – With 1 GHz processor - Nokia has managed to give us over the head with their phone names. When switched from four digits to the simplified taxonomy with a letter we’ve had a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the large number of terminals launched a year led the Finns to throw two digits to the queue name.

Now we are talking about a cell phone named Nokia C3-01.5. But we hope that the rumors are true, and this new terminal will replace the actual Nokia C3-01 Touch and Type from the market.

We’ve heard of their plans to introduce terminals based on the S40 platform with 1 Ghz processor. If Symbian^3 runs on 600 MHz, why would you need one GHz for S40?

Returning to the Nokia C3-01.5, it will provide an additional 512 MB of RAM, increased from 64 MB. Only those from Nokia know why we need so much memory for such a phone. List of future models that could be launched to replace the current phones include: Nokia C2-01.5, Nokia X3-01.5 and Nokia X2-01.1. Also, it also speaks of a future X2-03. We are expecting the official announcement now and hopefully it will not take long. We will keep you updated with the latest information about it.

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Is Microsoft integrating Xbox into Windows 8 - For those of you who have wanted to play your favorite Xbox 360 games on your PC but didn’t want to have to bother with setting up an emulator, you may be in luck!

The upcoming Windows 8 OS is rumored to allow you to play Xbox 360 games on your laptops and desktops! This will be an amazing leap for both of these companies and will surely boost sales for each. There is no word yet if there will be any additional hardware installations needed for your computer to be able to run these games, but I for one am ecstatic about this possible union!

While there are numerous games for the Xbox available for the PC as well, not all of them are, and for many gamers they are limited to their stationary consoles rather than being able to enjoy the freedom of a laptop and multifunctional ability of your desktop computer.

With the new Xbox console hopefully being presented at the next E3 conference, we may see this magical union being announced sometime afterwards as the sales for that console slow down.

The future brings many good tidings!

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Super batteries for Gadgets - What really seems like expect the unexpected? Yes, in this growing technology you imagine and find it a reality. Soon we will have the technology to charge your latest gadgets in just a few seconds. The great personality Dan Li leads this University and said this in a recent indoor ceremony. He is so excited about these super batteries.

Chemical combination:

After a long research, Li found a simple combination of Water and Graphite. This combination will work equally with lithium ion cells. The researchers are using a substance called graphene. Graphene could be used as an advanced and fast power storage system. Once they can properly do, we could charge our mobile or iPhone in few seconds. How it sounds, we can charge our mobile in just a few seconds?

Features and advantages:

The future super battery will be at cheap rate as the used materials are not expensive. The graphene comes out from the graphite normally used in pencils. It is a cheap stuff. We all know well that, graphite is a good conductor of electricity and has an excellent surface. This combination will highly meant for power storage factor. The whole team will shortly disclose this highly awaited application with a perfect device.

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Swiss Flame: A Swiss Army Knife with a Built-in Lighter - Swiss Army knives are a must have for any self respecting boyscout.  Each knife, at the very least, includes a corkscrew, a nail file, a serrated blade, a straight blade, a pair of tweezers and a toothpick.  In terms of survival it was the ultimate tool and the more blades or gadgets your Swiss Army knife sported the cooler it was.  However, and looking back in retrospect, it was missing one major tool.  What’s that you ask?  A lighter.  Enter the Swiss Flame from Victorinox.  But before you get too gitty, you should know that these were discontinued in 2005, despite only receiving a 3 year manufacturing run.  Insult to injury, they were never made legal in the US since they were considered unsafe.  How these are any less safe then a regular butane lighter is unknown, but perhaps it had something to do with sharp blades and fire being contained in pocket friendly package.  Also, let’s not over look 9-11, which must have played into the demise of these super handy tools.

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Bike Fixation: A Self-Service Bike Kiosk Complete with Tools and Pump - Bike Fixatation’s DIY kiosks could easily be mistaken for a Coke vending machine.  And while they do sell snacks and drinks, they’re a fair bit more than that.

They just opened their first location in Minneapolis. It’s a self service bike Kiosks (it accepts coins, bills and credit cards) that features a bike lift with tools, an electric pump and a vending machine that includes not only food and drink, but tubes, lights and patch kits.  Strangely enough we’re hearing that it is only open from 6am to midnight, but that might be more a result of the location than the actual machine.

They’re currently planning to open a second location in Minneapolis, but here’s hoping they make their way to other major cities, such as LA, Boston and New York.

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Battleship iOS Review - The last time I seriously played battleship was at least 10 years ago, with my brother bored one afternoon, the board game having saved the day. At least for a little while…they’re called board games for a reason, but bored out of my mind like an ADHD-riddled child told to read a book instead of watching TV, I had little choice. It was either that or Monopoly, and nobody wanted to sit around for ten hours playing that.

On the iPad though, Battleship is another Yahtzee. That is to say, a 5-minute hero, for one and two players alike.

For those who by some unreasonable happenstance don’t know what Battleship is, it’s a simple board game that requires two players to place five navy vessels on a 10×10 square, and each player must find and sink their opponent’s ships by firing single shots into the abyss. Five ships come in four sizes: 5-spaces, 4-spaces, two 3-spaces, and one 2-space. Ships don’t move throughout the game and can only be set vertically or horizontally, not diagonally. The first person to sink all five of their opponent’s ships wins.

What developer EA Mobile did was provide the classic game in a simple digital format, just like they did with Sudoku. Then they added on two other modes of play, Salvo and Superweapons. The former is the classic mode, except that each available ship fires one shot, so players’ first fire five shots per turn until they lose a ship, then four, etc. Superweapons is a more pragmatic approach where players have three additional weapons to choose from – a choice between 13 weapons from spread shots to instant kills to a mine that seeks out enemy ships. Strategies between all three modes vary so drastically that it can hardly be considered the same game. In fact, the classic Battleship tends to feel old and outdated, and slow, when compared to these two newer modes.

Add onto those three gametypes two-player multiplayer – available via local Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and on the same iPad/iPhone – and you have a real digital boardgame made better through advances in technology. But if you’re playing alone, losing is a rarity because the AI is pretty stupid. The AI regularly makes dumb decisions, like firing where no ship could possibly be, and has no programming for playing strategically – why would it hit every space when looking for a 5-space carrier? – which kills half the fun. Playing with a friend is way better…that, and rubbing in your victory until they don’t want to play anymore, of course.

Games like Checkers or Life may not get better in the digital age because they lack the feel and flow of playing in the real world, but the simplicity and additions that Battleship for iOS has improves on the physical board game, even if that means no more red and white pegs getting lost all over the house and inside couches. Slap Battleship on your iOS device and get sinking.

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Puzzle Agent 2 Review - The first Puzzle Agent was a surprising change of pace when considering the flock of iOS games streaming like an unrepentant hurricane into the App Store. It was charming and fun, with true story and entertainment besides fun puzzle solving. Great puzzles and a flummoxing cast of colorful characters made it a rich, albeit short adventure.

So what the hell happened here?

Puzzle Agent 2 takes place barely after the first, once again following Agent Tethers on a not-so-new adventure. Tethers of the FBI’s Department of Puzzle Research returns to Scoggins, Minnesota, to solve the mystery of disappearing residents. Residents which the small-town folk couldn’t care less about. Residents the FBI find only a nuisance, even though they clearly matter for the “bigger picture”. How’s that for a strong, enthusiastic plot, especially when compared to a presidential eraser factory mysteriously closing down?

Gameplay is identical to Puzzle Agent, requiring players to click on objects or persons to interact with, which in turn activates plot queues for cinematics or puzzles to solve. Little has changed between the first and second Puzzle Agent titles, from the characters (identical plus a few additions) to the setting (same places, same art, same everything) to the way the game is played. Puzzle Agent 2 isn’t a sequel…it’s an expansion pack sold for a ridiculous price as a standalone.

That’s not to say Puzzle Agent 2 isn’t a good…but it certainly isn’t the same fun, entertaining game. Puzzles are simpler and often not really puzzles, just solve-it yourself activities. The few actual puzzles require prior knowledge of some sort (one such puzzle required giving the next number of a sequence, but it made no sense…unless you knew the 6th decimal digit of pi). Most of the puzzles just aren’t fun or thought provoking. They are tedious

The same applies to the plot. Agent Tethers isn’t on some new adventure, he’s back in snow-filled Scoggins. There are no standout characters…the one possible love interest turns into a psychotic conspiracy theorist, only to disappear from the story entirely. There are very few actual lines of dialog to follow. The mystery practically solves itself. In the end Tethers finds the answers he’s looking for and solves the mystery of Scoggins’ disappearing residents, but there is no reward, no climactic moment that makes it all worthwhile. All players get is a final non-sensical puzzle to solve, and plenty of left over chewing-gun (hints) to squander.

Can I fault developer and publisher Telltale Games for this? Absofragginlutely. Puzzle Agent 2 is a trainwreck as a standalone title. I almost expect that Telltale decided to release it full-priced just to see how much they could make with minimal effort. And I emphasize minimal effort, because that’s how much work I put into finishing this game…and how much effort I’ll put into deleting it.

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Custom-built Batmobile with iPad - We’ve seen die-hard fans do some crazy things and go to incredible lengths to collect anything, and everything, from some of their favorite movies, but “Batman” enthusiast and builder, Casey Putsch, pretty much takes the cake thanks to his real-life Batmobile.

Putsch’s creation is molded after the Batmobile from the 1989 version, starring Michael Keaton and was directed by Tim Burton. While many have tried to reproduce this iconic car, few have come as close as Putsch and certainly none have used a real turbine jet engine.

As the man behind Putsch Racing—a company that restores, designs and apprises all things automotive related in Dublin, Ohio—Putsch want more from his custom Batmobile and chose a jet engine from an old Boeing U.S. Navy drone helicopter (which burns jet fuel, kerosene or diesel) into his superhero car. This unique take on an engine pushes out about 385 horsepower. Totally street-legal, the 20-foot long and 7.5-foot wide, 2,800-pound, two-seater Batmobile (that also sports modest trunk space) has been road-tested and functions as any normal car does (traditional features like a gas and brake pedals, an adjustable steering wheel and a shifter, are all standard on this unique vehicle).

But the turbine-powered Batmobile sports more cool and modern features inside, too! Burton’s original version touted a CD player (very advanced and high-tech at that time), but Putsch’s version features a 3G Apple iPad at its core.

Using the iPad as its avionic and GPS systems, this Batmobile is advanced pretty advanced, which is reasonable given Bruce Wayne like to always be ahead of the times, too!

Other features include: an infra-red and visible light spectrum reverse cameras with cockpit monitor; sliding canopy; steel tube frame/monocoque chassis; on board fire suppression system; and all the same styling cues as the 1989 Batmobile.

The entire build took only five months, and obviously, the result is something that Bruce Wayne himself (all versions, actually) would be proud to drive around Gotham and fight crime!

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You Don’t Know Jack iOS Review - There’s something I’d like to talk to you about. Have a seat. Ready? You Don’t Know Jack is back. Yes, you heard me right. You Don’t Know Jack is back. And it’s for iOS, so it’s mobile. I can die happy now.

You Don’t Know Jack (YDKJ) is a beloved gameshow-style trivia game with over a decade of history on the PC with over a dozen titles and a failed TV show. Its popularity stems from non-stop witty banter and insulting monologues by the hosts, and the hilariously random questions that stretch players’ imaginations with questions on pop culture and interesting facts. And the questions are rarely a simple choice…nearly every question itself will be phrased to make you sweat.

here is no other trivia game that will make you yell out like a kid with exasperation at the pop culture references from the last 30 years. That’s not to say it’s a geek’s game. Everyone can play YDKJ and have a good time because the array of questions spans farther than host Cookie Masterson’s giant ego, from Baywatch to lolcats to Red Faction. And I love him for it.

Developer Jellyvision has been working on YDKJ for years, most recently releasing a new title in February and updating their website with new questions weekly. The iPhone and iPad versions – identical yet priced differently, meaning if you buy one you don’t get the other – currently feature 22 “episodes with 11 questions each. Episodes tend to last between 15-20 minutes individually, which makes the full game 6-8 hours of fun.

Gameplay follows a simple process: every episode opens with Cookie welcoming players with an insult, then a brief, witty or catchy animation before Cookie reads the question out loud. Then four answers appear on screen and a 20 second timer counts down, and players have to choose an answer before time runs out. Money is earned (and lost) based on how quickly questions are answered…16 seconds left earns or loses $1600.

What makes YDKJ the best trivia game franchise is how everything is win-win. Answering incorrectly is sometimes funnier than actually being right because it allows Cookie to insult, berate, belittle and verbally molest players into a side-splitting stupor. I absolutely love it. Sometimes it’s fun to lose because being told about how wrong, dumb, and pathetic I am in so many colorful ways is just plain entertaining. It’s like sitting in the front of a comedy show waiting for the comic to pick on you, without the public embarrassment.

Then there’s the trivia, which is outrageously funny. Questions may be straightforward, or word riddles with hilarious connotations or ridiculous references. They may even be read aloud in such a way that players can’t help but chuckle along. From how the question is worded to how it’s said, to just how ludicrous the question is…every little thing in YDKJ has been handled by comic geniuses.

There are only two things that limit the experience. First, YDKJ does not feature multiplayer, the one function that’s made it the famed and loved trivia title over the years. I myself got hooked on the franchise at a party years back, and playing with friends is one of the most entertaining experiences known to man. There are plenty of options for how to make this mobile YDKJ work well on the iPhone and iPad, but none are currently available, and it’s a damn shame. According to Jellyvision however, at least one multiplayer mode is in the works.

The second is bugginess, which attacks without warning. The app won’t crash, but graphical errors will plague the screen. Once a quarter of the screen went black; another time textures just shot out painting my screen like a spider web. Fortunately there is an autosave function after every new question, so even if the battery dies once YDKJ is started, a “continue” button lights up that starts players right back at that question.

Buying You Don’t Know Jack, for me, was an emotional decision. I came in expecting it to be funny and exciting, and 22 episodes later I am thoroughly entertained, and even a tad educated. The price is high at $4.99 on the iPad ($2.99 for iPhone for the same game), though Jellyvision will support the game with new episodes free in future updates. I couldn’t ask for anything more, except multiplayer. Give me multiplayer and the world will be whole, Jellyvision.

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Versetta iPad Bags - iPad bags and sleeves are a dime a dozen.  That’s why it’s refreshing to see the Versetta line of iPad bags.  They offer a few different options in terms of color and layout, but each one features a flap that flips down to reveal an iPad that is held in place and protected from the occasional ding.  We particularly like the Martin Laptop bag, which features a top zipper entry with room for a notebook, some paperwork and a few other road warrior worthy items.  The inside is lined with fabric, which should keep your goods scratch free and all the iPad’s (version one or two) ports are accessible when it’s slotted into place.

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OMA Monarch Speakers - We don’t even know where to begin with the OMA Monarch speakers.  Hidden behind that grill are two 15-inch speakers that are said to deliver bass that “no high end design using small woofers can even hope to match”.  Those large wood baffles are designed to help load the woofers so that you can place them in any part of the room and still enjoy what we can only hope is fulfilling and rich sound.  Lastly, the horns are crafted from a proprietary cast aluminum alloy, and a compression driver covers the midrange and high frequencies.

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Ultimate Ears 350 Review - The Ultimate Ears line by Logitech is known far and wide by professional audiophiles and average consumers alike.  They have a number of products ranging in price from $20, all the way to over $1000 – so there’s something for just about anyone.  This is going to be the first of three reviews on the ear buds they sent me – to be followed by a “Good, Better, Best” comparison.  Today’s review is on the 350 model which are “Noise-Isolating Earphones” – so just how well did they work?

The box of the Ultimate Ears 350 ear buds say that they are “tuned for extra bass”, which I assumed would just be like someone pushing a “bass boost” button on a stereo.  I also assumed that because these ear buds only cost $50, that they would sound cheap and flat.  Well you know what they say about assuming…

I enjoy various musical tastes, so I gave the 350′s a good run to see what sounded the best on them, and while an old live Dead show from ’74 sounded really nice, it was when I was listening to some hip hop and techno that I was able to truly appreciate them.  The bass came through quite crisp, however it didn’t distort or drown out the rest of the spectrum of sounds.

The fact that the design is sweat resistant is quite nice as well, because generally when I’m working out or running I sweat profusely.  I’ve had an extreme time with my A-Stars (the ear buds I used to use) falling out of my ears after about thirty minutes of use, and then about every five minutes after that because I sweat.  With the 350′s, I can honestly say that I haven’t had a single issue with them leaving my ear when I didn’t want them to.

As I said at first, the 350′s are branded as noise isolating ear buds which they do quite well, however there’s a small problem with this.  Now I don’t know about you, but when I’m listening to something on ear buds I generally keep the audio source (iPhone, mp3, player, etc) in my pocket.  When I want to hear what someone is saying, it’s a real pain to have to dig it out and manually mute the volume – for some reason there’s no in-line mute or volume control on these things.  I know they’re not an expensive model, but I would have really appreciated that feature.

Another thing I would have asked for in this model, would be the black memory foam tips that are provided with the other two models they sent me.  It’s just an aesthetic choice, but I don’t like the look of the clear tips – they feel too medical to me – besides that, black would have looked better on the rest of the design.  Something else I noticed while reviewing these (and maybe it’s just from getting a good seal on my ears, maybe it’s because the 6.8mm drivers are so highly tuned), is that for the first time I’ve had to turn down my iPhone while listening to music.  Normally I listen at 100% volume, but anything over 50% was way louder than I’m used to.

Overall, I think the 350′s are a bass-head’s wet dream.  They’re cheap in cost, and extremely effective.  Maybe not so great for classical rock listeners or if you’re listening to pod-casts all day long, but if you want to feel like there’s a sub-woofer strapped to your head then these are for you.  I give the Ultimate Ears 350 by Logitech 4 out of 5 stars.

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GScreen SpaceBook, a new laptop with two 17.3″ screens - This laptop will not sell in large volumes ever, but I know people who would preorder it right now. If you ask what you can do with these two 17.3″ screens with full HD resolution, then you are part of the audience. Many users are often put in a position to have multiple applications open simultaneously. If I have an office document open and I take information from the Internet to insert it into the document, it’s not quite nice to go between office and the browser application with Alt + Tab.

And now enters GScreen SpaceBook, a laptop that you can already preorder. Its horizontal sliding screens display 1920×1080 pixels each. On the hardware part, we have enough performance components. The manufacturer chose the previous generation of Core processors, but the Core i5-560M and Core i7-740M are models that will not let you down. It has 4 GB or 8 GB RAM, these two configurations receive the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M, a 500 GB HDD and a DVD burner.

The price of such a laptop, not quite portable, starts at $2.395 and reaches $2.795 for the model with the Intel Core i7 processor. I am sure that the weight of 4.5 kg will be a minor inconvenience for those interested.

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Working of TiVo iPhone app with TiVo HD, Series 3 DVRs - The most famous TiVo iPad app was released last year. It is among the strongest app for controlling the TiVo Premier. Previously only TiVo iPad work with TiVo HD but now the new researches says that both iPhone and iPad can work with TiVo HD. But still now it is unable to support all the features.

Functioning of TiVo iPhone app with TiVo HD

The functionality like schedule manager, searching content on world wide web, services of broadband and program guide are enjoyed by the people who were the first users of it. The app’s guide, remote control, features of explorer, scheduling and search are used by the users of TiVo 3rd series, HD and also by the users of HD XL DVR. Apart from this these people are still unable to enjoy features like playback, current function performed in the gadget, record management and many more.

Benefit of TiVo iPhone app

With the latest release of this app it becomes compatible with iPhone. Also the functioning of TiVo is much faster than the functionality of Television. You can do scrolling, browsing, searching with the help of this app. Combination of TiVo iPhone with TiVo HD, Series 3 DVRs also provide lots of benefit to the users of iPhone and iPad gadgets.

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The Ultimate Keychain - Men and women, young and old, all have keys of some sort. We have numerous keys, gadgets, and other trinkets on our keychain that just ball up in an ugly mess that jingles with each step. Many people have entirely too many things on their keychains and this can actually cause damage to the ignition switch in a car. So is there a solution? Of course there is!

Keyport is a small device that holds all of your keys, usb drives, has a flashlight, and can be purchased in a multitude of colors for those of you who prefer something other than black. The thing about the keyport is that you need to have your keys cut, but that is barely anything and will save you a lot of jingling and annoyance that your old keychain used to cause.

This is a perfect gift for anyone who needs to consolidate their keys. It is small, lightweight (only weights about 2 ounces), a reasonable price, and can hold up to six keys in each keyport.

Read more: http://www.newgadget.org/electronics-gadgets/the-ultimate-keychain/#ixzz1SUIm388e

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Portable DVD Player Panasonic DVD-LS92 9-Inch Screen - The DVD-LS92 comes with a built-in rechargeable battery that gives you a full 11 hours of playback without having to worry about running out of power on long trips. That's long enough to watch up to possibly six DVD movies on a single charge while flying from New York to L.A. and back, so leave the AC adaptor at home and forget about recharging at your hotel.

When you're in the mood for a movie, this versatile player can play back many different types of prerecorded DVDs, including DVD-RAM/-R/-RW and DVD+R/+RW discs. If you want to give your eyes a rest and listen to some tunes instead, our portable DVD player handles lots of the most popular audio formats around, including CDs, MP3s, CD-R/RW discs and WMA files.

The large 9" widescreen display pivots for free-style viewing so you can adjust the position for optimum comfort and image quality. You can also adjust the screen brightness to get the best view of your DVDs in all kinds of light conditions. You get beautiful images while watching movies on a dimly lit airplane, or when you're relaxing in the sun at a resort or other outdoor spot.

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Blackberry Playbook vs Xoom Tablet Comparison - With the tablet market in India going crazy with the addition of new tablets every day, the latest addition to the tech selves from a renowned manufacturer is Playbook from Blackberry makers RIM and Xoom from Motorola. The main competitor for all the tablet manufacturers is undoubtedly the Apple iPad2, seemingly the competition is getting tougher and tougher for iPad but somehow it has managed to keep its market share on the high so far. Will Blackberry Playbook and Xoom be able to get any closer to beat the iPad in the tablet race or will this prove to be just yet another good try. Let us compare the important features of both these tablets to find out which one has a better chance.

    * The First Impression (Looks and Size)

Blackberry Playbook is elegant, that’s the first impression that you are going to get no doubt. Its sleek and stylish design and excellent finish will certainly be getting your attention first up, before you get into the details of other specifications. With this sleek and stylish design, playbook weighs only 14 ounce and is much lighter than 1.6 pound Motorola Xoom. Now comes the size, with the weighs compared you can expect Playbook to be extremely compact and that’s exactly what the case is, even with so many tablets around it would be hard to beat its 7-inch pocket fit size, again Motorola Xoom has a screen size of 10.1 inch. Both the tablets feature TFT capacitive touch screens with 16M color with Xoom having a higher resolution 800*1280 compared to 600*1024 pixels of Playbook.

    * Camera

Blackberry Playbook comes in with a 5mp camera at the back plus a 3MP front camera. To have a 5MP camera in your pocket size tablet is indeed a big delight. It has the ability to capture high resolution images in all environments and record HD 1080p video. Xoom is not behind on this front featuring a 5Mp front camera and a 2MP rear facing camera. It is capable of recording HD 720p video. So Playbook has a slight edge on the camera battle front.

    * OS

Blackberry Playbook runs a new OS called QNX while Xoom has quickly gained reputation as being the first tablet running on the latest Android 3.0.Both the tablets feature impressive 1ghz dual core processor. Both the devices are available in 16,32 and 64GB versions.

    * Applications

The availability of apps is something that has always kept Apple ahead of the other tablet manufactures. The only other competitor at the moment as far as apps goes is Google Android. Playbook will definitely not be able to match Motorola Xoom on the apps front with its 3000+ available apps compared to well establish Android apps in Motorola Xoom.

    * Email Client And Web Browsing

Blackberry Playbook lacks the email clients for yahoo, hotmail and gmail but provides a better browsing experience being equipped with Adobe flash player that is missing in Motorola Xoom.

Even though Blackberry has tried hard to produce a business oriented tablet with decent entertainment features the more iPad like Xoom is ahead with its Android 3.0 OS.

Blackberry Playbook vs Xoom Tablet Comparison. Blackberry Playbook is elegant, that’s the first impression that you are going to get no doubt. Its sleek and stylish design and excellent finish will certainly be getting your attention first up, before you get into the details of other specifications

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LG Optimus 3D P920 - Recently LG announced worlds first 3D Smartphone that includes dual 5 Mega Pixel camera and large 4.3 inches display. The dual camera of this mobile phone is just simply awesome users can capture full HD 1080p@24fps (2D), 720p@30fps (3D) videos and also high class clarity images, 5 Mega Pixel camera has features like autofocus, LED flash, Stereoscopic photos & videos; geo-tagging and also included video calling camera at front side.

Users can view icons, images, videos quite comfortably in 3D with large 4.3 inches 3D LCD capacitive touchscreen which has 16m colors and 480 x 800 pixels resolution. It display comes LG 3D UI, Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Gyro sensor, Touch-sensitive controls features. The design of this device is very eye catchy, it has dimension of 128.8 x 68 x 11.9 mm and 168 gm weight.
Lg Optimus 3D P920 has multiple connectivity options such are 3G (HSUPA 5.76Mbps), GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, microUSB v2.0, HTML Web Browser, with this service share your images, videos, songs and data with others. Cell phone is also inbuilt with lots of social apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Google Search, Gtalk, pecasa, youtube with this apps users can get connected with there family and friends anytime throuch cell phone and also can share there Photos, Videos, Sounds and other data on web.

Operating System of Optimus 3D P920 is Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo), upgradable to v2.3 and included Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP4430 chipset (CPU) this the advance technology which is used in cell phone now-a-days and it runs device fast when user launch any apps. Device has 8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM internal space and it can increase up to 32GB microSD memory card.

LG Optimus 3D P920 comes with many advanced and impressive features such are HDMI port, Digital compass, MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player, 1080p@24fps (2D), 720@30fps (3D) playback, MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player, Stereo FM radio with RDS, 3.5mm Jack, Loudspeaker, Document viewer/editor, Organizer, 3D Games, Full Flash 10.1 support, Supports Java applications and software etc.

It has Li-Ion 1500 MAH battery which is capable to give talk time of 4 hours and 100 hours standby time.

LG Optimus 3D P920 has multiple connectivity options such are 3G (HSUPA 5.76Mbps), GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, microUSB v2.0, HTML Web Browser, with this service share your images, videos, songs and data with others...

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Google eBooks Device to Debut in eReaders Market Next Week at Target - eReaders and Tablets seems to be the order of the day for the modern electronic manufacturers, and after Apple and Amazon, one another major name entering the Tablet is of search engine giant Google. It’s learned that internet major Google will be debuting into the eReader market next week, when the very first such device will enter the market. The device will run on Google eBooks platform and will be offered on sale at Target.

The iriver Story HD will be having a price tag of $139.99, which is the same price as of the Nook Simple Touch Reader and the Kindle. According to a post from Google, the eReader will go on sale on July 17. The new eReader from Google will be having a black-and-grey screen just like the one that we’ve seen in Kindle, and will be having a QWERTY keyboard. The eReader will have access to more than 3 million free eBooks from Google and several other paid eBooks in the system. This device will be the very first device, which will allow the users to download the eBook titles using a Wi-Fi connection, before this user had to download titles using a PC and then had to transfer them to the eReader.

It should be known that Google ventured into the eBook market in solemn in December with their eBookstore. Since then, Google has been constantly expanding statistical distribution for the format, as of this May, Google already has added their 250th independent bookstore associate.

If you are interested in the iriver Story HD, then its worth mentioning that the eBook will be sold from 17th of July, 2011 at Target.

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EA Acquires PopCap Games For Almost $1 Billion - Though the rumors have been around for quite a long time now, but it has been made official now that the gaming major Electronic Arts has acquired PopCap Games for an astounding $750 million.

The official takeover of EA on PopCap Games will take place in August, but both the companies have agreed on it and the deal is already done. PopCap Games is a prominent game developer, and is known for several games that the company has developed for iPad, iPhone and Facebook, formats. Some of the popular games developed by the company include the likes of the bejeweled series and Plant vs. Zombies.

The press release from both the company reported, John Riccitiello, the EA CEO saying “The combination of EA and PopCap is a compelling coming together”. “The superb studio talent and brawny IP of PopCap, will add superb momentum to EA and also will accelerate company’s accelerate towards the $1 billion digital business. At the same time the global studio and publishing network of the company will also help PopCap fastly enlarge their business to even more digital devices and more channels and more countries.”

Speaking on the takeover, CEO of PopCap, David Roberts said, “We chose EA because they have recast their ethnicity around making superb digital games.” “In collaboration with EA we will be able to scale our services and games in order to deliver even more mobile, social and casual fun to audiences all over the globe.”

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Nintendo 3DS Service Enters Europe and Japan - If you are a gaming console fanatic, then we have great news for you. Nintendo have started their 3DS video service in Japan and Europe. This service will be offering the 3DS users the very first shots of video platforms in 3D. The 3DS video service is a free service and can be downloaded from the 3DS eShop.

At this point in time, the very first piece of content that will be available includes the snips of a children’s curriculum, Disney’s Oscar’s Oasis in addition to another series known as Magic

Tricks for Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo is assuring more content very soon, including the likes of music concerts and movie trailers.

Additionally, Nintendo has also put some light on their joint venture with Netflix. Nintendo users that have an unlimited Network account will be able to stream content on their Nintendo 3DS without paying any extra cost on their 3DS.

In the mean time, the video service in Japan is offering video content from some major TV networks and every day talk shows. The latest video service is scheduled to start in United States later this year.

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