The Crisis at Half-Life

After Some Encouraging Momentum Built Up in the First Half of 2010, Russian Consumers Have Grown a Tad More Cautious as Household Disposable Incomes Keep Shrinking   Household disposable incomes in Russia dropped 5.5 percent in January of this year compared to the same time last year, in the latest sign that Russian families still face widespread economic troubles as the economy struggles to recover from the worst financial squeeze since 1998. Disposable personal income, or take-home...

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Samsung Galaxy S getting Android 2.3 Gingerbread update in March

Adding to the Android update drama, it looks like the Galaxy S is now supposed to get Android 2.3 Gingerbread, sometime in March. Those of you who are familiar with the case, know that there are plenty of Galaxy S smartphones still running Eclair and not getting their share for Android 2.2 Froyo — although it was meant to be available since last autumn. And now they tell us Gingerbread will be available in less than a month. For some reasons, I find it very hard to believe. Our source is a Twitter...

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Nokia N950 set to be the first MeeGo mobile: End of the road for Nokia N9?

The N9 looked like a very impressive handset with the rumored 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM and a 12-megapixel camera and more. Now it seems like this much talked about and highly anticipated handset will never be out in the open. At the recent developer’s conference Nokia made it clear that the N950 will be the first MeeGo mobile that they will be able to get their hands on That is a bit disappointing considering we were really looking forward to seeing the N9 become the flagship mobile of...

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HTC Merge Spotted at FCC Gates; Verizon User Manual in Tow

Ever since first details of the HTC Merge had started trickling down into our midst, we have been covering the device with much enthusiasm. Ever since last September, the grapevine Now, with the device having seen knocking at the FCC gates and successfully passing through, the enthusiasm has grown manifold. The last we heard from the Merge stables is that the device will arrive this Spring on multiple carriers. No specific names had been revealed then, but now while the device was passing through...

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Samsung Galaxy S 2 Smartphones Have Nvidia Tegra 2 Inside; At least Some of Them

Dope on the Samsung Galaxy S 2 never seems to cease. Every time you think of the device, there’s something new to chew on. The latest comes in the form of a confirmation from Nvidia, who has nodded to grapevine talk that the smart handsets have opted for the powerful Tegra 2 SoC. Don’t jump in excitement yet – Samsung has made only a partial adoption of the Tegra 2. And, that means only some those handsets Nvidia will have Tegra 2 inside. This is just technical info, and nobody knows which phone...

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RIM To Release BlackBerry Messenger For iOS And Android Smartphones? 0

I have some interesting news for you, especially for BlackBerry lovers because rumors say that RIM is planning to launch its BlackBerry Messenger application and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. It seems that RIM has not yet finalized details regarding timing or pricing, but we heard that they might make it free to all consumers. RIM may end up charging users a one-time fee or even a recurring fee for access to its BBM service on third-party platforms The company is getting ‘angry’...

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Top 10 Best Android Boot Animation Screens

As I like to say, customization is the mother of originality. You express your personality using every object at hand, including a phone. Therefore, we hereby declare our first Android smartphone customization campaign. And why not start with the first thing you see when you power on the phone. Yes, you’ve got it. Today we are going to present you a list of the best Android boot screen animations, our own top 10. These choices are free to use and were hand-picked by our staff. The following list...

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New MacBook Pro, MacBook Air & MacBook Coming Out in April

Just earlier today we were toying with the idea of a MacBook Pro capable to double as a pico projector and now we find out that Apple might be finally launching the new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and MacBook models in April. The news comes all the way from Taiwan, where a local newspaper spilled the beans on Apple’s intentions. Of course, if all this proves to be right, Apple could always get mad and postpone the launch just a few more weeks. After all it’s not like they’re losing money, is it? If that was the matter maybe the company would have...

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The Crysis 2 PC Demo Gets A Spec List

Anyone else remember that Penny Arcade comic where Tycho goes off to rebuild his PC in advance of Crysis’ release? Well, the necessary specs to run the Crysis 2 demo on PC have only recently emerged, and while you won’t be needing any “hyperconductive thinking aluminum” or “denimite mem-shards” like Tycho did, oddly enough, you won’t even be needing a particularly potent computer to run Crysis 2. Here’s the rundown: you’ll be needing Windows XP, which pretty much everybody has by now and many even...

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StarCraft II Coming to Macs in Beta Form; You Should Buy Additional Pylons!

Who knew that the gamer in me was going to be awaken by such nonsense babble? You definitely have to agree that Blizzard’s upcoming StarCraft II is absolutely the game to buy this year whenever it might hit. Call me a fool or an idiot but I’d happily pre-ordered it right now if only I knew when Blizzard was going to launch it. We might not have launch dates for the sequel of one of the most popular games known to mankind but we do know that Blizzars is working on a beta version for Macs. Because...

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Mortal Kombat Demo Coming Next Week For PlayStation Plus Subscribers

If you’ve been waiting patiently to beat the snot out of Johnny Cage (seriously, does anyone like that guy?), you only need to wait a little bit longer before you can get your hands on a demo of NetherRealm’s upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot – that is, if you’re a Playstation Plus subscriber. The demo will become available to all PlayStation Plus subscribers next week, on March 8th, and then to all PSN users on March 15th. At the moment, there isn’t any word on when the 360 version will go live on...

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Epic ‘Would Love’ To See Gears Of War Come To PS3

Gears of War has long been a Xbox 360-only franchise, but according to Epic Games, the series may one day make its way to the PS3. During an interview with Industry Gamers at GDC, Epic President Mike Capps said that he would love to bring the franchise to PS3. “Do we wish we could take all those Killzone [players] and Resistance fans on PS3, and get them to say ‘Gears is awesome’? Yeah, sure I’d love to ship the Gears trilogy on PlayStation. That would be fun. I want to be there; I want to be everywhere,”...

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Confirmed: Bungie’s Next Game Will Be An MMO

Wow. Bungie’s Lead Network Engineer, David Aldridge, just confirmed at a Game Developers Conference panel that Bungie’s next game will be a massively multiplayer game. Weren’t expecting that, were you? It certainly explains some of the strange wordage that was attached to the Bungie-Activision deal and also clears up some of the strange rumors we’ve seen around in the past few weeks. When the Bungie-Activision deal was announced, it specifically mentioned that it was for 10-years. A game studio...

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iOS 4.3 GM Released to Developers & Already Jailbroken Via PwnageTool

As you already know Apple is going to launch iOS 4.3 on March 11, on the same day the iPad 2 will become official. We’ve seen the iOS previewed on stage at the official next-gen iPad 3vent and we already started asking questions about whether the future iPad 2 with iOS 4.3 on board will be jailbreakable or not. Apple decided to release the iOS 4.3 Golden Master to developers already, a full week before the new iOS version is supposed to come out officially, but you’ll have to register a developer...

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Android Winning the Smartphone OS Battles, but Apple & Blackberry Are Biggest Brands

Android has shaken up the smartphone market ever since it took off a few years back. We earlier heard that Android is now leading the game in terms of new purchases and market share. But seeing it as a visual is many times better. According to a Nielsen study conducted late 2010 to January 2011, Android has the biggest smartphone OS share at 29%. Meanwhile, close in competition are Apple iOS at 27%, and Blackberry likewise at 27%. Trailing the big three are Windows, webOS and previous market-leader...

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Samsung Going Back To The Drawing Board In Terms Of The 10.1″ Galaxy Tab Pricing

Saying that pricing is important when it comes to gadgets is a understatement. And for better or worse, at this time in the tablet space everything seems as if it is being compared to the iPad. The comparisons are sometimes a little undeserved, but at the same time, Apple did take quite a lead and therefor set a standard of sorts. That said, it looks like Samsung will be reconsidering some things in terms of the 10 inch Galaxy Tab after seeing the iPad 2 announcement earlier in the week. Of course,...

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RIM Confirms PlayBook Release Will Be Before “End Of Q1″ For US Market

The BlackBerry PlayBook is no stranger to rumors, however we have some non-rumor information that has come available this time. The details are involving the release of the tablet and it looks like the April 10th date was not accurate. Sadly though, before anyone gets super excited, RIM has yet to confirm an exact release date for the US or anywhere in Europe. The good news here is that assuming things go according to plan and nothing changes — the BlackBerry PlayBook should be available fairly...

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Coda Automotive Means To Sell 50,000 Electric Cars By 2015

The United States hasn’t exactly been a huge market for electric vehicles. Between the “happy motoring” past which evokes images of fuel-sucking muscle cars roaring into the night or a gigantic 1953 Ford Colossus ambling down the road on a sunny Sunday at a whopping 3.1 miles per gallon, and the various problems that electrics would face in, say, winter (the thought of some lightweight car on icy roads fills me with a dread colder than the ice on the road), it’s not exactly conducive to sales here...

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The Top Seven Things Missing In The iPad 2

It was a downright historic week this week in terms of computers, folks–seeing the iPad 2 release was a real thrill, and yet another colossal shakeup to the entire computing landscape. And while I was satisfied, for the most part, with the specs on the iPad 2 as they were stated, I couldn’t help thinking, hey…this is Apple. These are the guys who really shake things up. And so, I set out to make a list, as I often do on Fridays around here, and came up with the top seven things I wished I could...

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Motorola Xoom 3G Goes On Sale In UK

While Carphone Warehouse is usually happy to sell you a phone with a contract and subisdy, they’re actually selling the Xoom only contract-free at the moment, so you’re getting no price for the £600 price tag. Other than that, the device seems to be the same as the American version. It’s also worth noting that this one of the first places we’ve seen a GSM version of the Motorola Xoom. Verizon, as many readers will know, uses CDMA technology in their devices, making a VZW Xoom only useful in America...

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How to Best Use Collaboration IT

Limiting collaboration software to small teams and short time periods works best, a scholar of "knowledge workers" says. Online social networks are booming, but companies are still trying to figure out how their employees can take advantage of constant connectivity to collaborate without becoming overwhelmed or distracted. One answer is to ask small groups of employees to collaborate online for limited periods of time, says Tom Davenport, a professor of information technology and management...

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Will the U.S. get an Internet "kill switch"?-must read

In the past few weeks, we've seen two countries try to "turn off" the Internet. On January 27,Egypt, which had previously known few restrictions on Internet access, stopped delivering bits to the subscribers to nearly all its ISPs, even though data passing through Egypt kept flowing normally. Since February 19, Libya has experienced irregular nationwide outages lasting anywhere from a few minutes to seven hours.This is nearly unprecedented—only brief incidents in Nepal and Burma,...

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