Lenovo has been busy working on Android smartphones and tablets, but they’re going to start putting ARM to work on another mobile platform: Windows Phone. Leaked images first appeared about a month ago, showing what looked like a Lenovo LePhone S2 — an Android device — running Windows Phone 7.5. At the time there had [...]
Something happened the day the Droid X came out. The popularity of the device, and the trend in market towards larger screened devices, lead their design team to the conclusion that they needed to push this design as far as possible. So, it began a rapid evolutionary path across their development. The Droid X2 tried [...]
Releasing a demo of a game has gone through a number of changes over the years. It used to be the case you’d just release a demo to get gamers interested before release. But then retailers started charging for them with the gamer getting the money back as a discount on the full game purchase. [...]
The hack that enables Siri dictation on jailbroken iOS devices has been pulled from Cydia. The app’s developer withdrew his app, Siri0us, in order to find a voice recognition service that he can use legally. Siri0us connects to Naunce’s voice recognition servers, also believed to be Siri’s source. The hack was using the service illegally, [...]
Last week we were told that a Spotify event would be held today. The invitations teased of a new direction for the company, and some speculated that it would add an MP3 store. The event has come and gone, and there is no store; instead the company announced the opening of its platform to third-party [...]
On the eve of the iPhone 4S announcement in October, LG announced a high-end smartphone of its own, the Optimus LTE. It was originally only slated for Korea; later it was branded in Canada as the Optimus Eye. Yesterday AT&T announced their own version, the LG Nitro HD, which will be hitting stores on December [...]
New research from Korea is suggesting that you can self-diagnose yourself with your smartphone with a push of a button. Yes, you no longer have to trust Google or WebMD to tell you, your phone will simply read it off your spit to tell you that you have the flu, or food poisoning.
Skyrim is a huge game that you could potentially never run out of things to do in due to its infinite quest system. Anyone whose spent double digit hours playing has probably made a few notes and forgotten where they found X a few times on in the expansive landscape. Now there seems to be [...]
Research in Motion has been a respected player in the corporate IT world for quite some time. The company’s position has slipped more recently as Android and iOS gained footholds in enterprise settings, but RIM is still a force to be reckoned with. Now it has announced BlackBerry Mobile Fusion — a smartphone and tablet [...]
The tablet that is in the middle of a patent war between Apple and Samsung - The Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Image: Samsung)
UPDATED: Apple’s injunction against Samsung has been overturned by the Federal Court of Australia, meaning that the South Korean electronics company can now sell their Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia.
On the eve of the iPhone 4S announcement in October, LG announced a high-end smartphone of its own, the Optimus LTE. It was originally only slated for Korea; later it was branded in Canada as the Optimus Eye. Yesterday AT&T announced their own version, the LG Nitro HD, which will be hitting stores on December [...]
It’s been almost a month since security researcher Trevor Eckhart approached me with a very complicated question. He had stumbled across what seemed like evidence that data was being recorded from his phone and sent to a company that was neither his carrier, Sprint, or his hardware manufacturer, HTC. It was a significant volume of [...]
The hack that enables Siri dictation on jailbroken iOS devices has been pulled from Cydia. The app’s developer withdrew his app, Siri0us, in order to find a voice recognition service that he can use legally. Siri0us connects to Naunce’s voice recognition servers, also believed to be Siri’s source. The hack was using the service illegally, [...]
I think we all knew that YouTube was king of streaming videos on the web. No other video service comes close, but it’s still eye opening to see just hoe much traffic the video service has to cope with every month. In the latest statistics released by comScore for October, YouTube accounts for 49.1% of [...]
When you’re paying for a capped data plan, why do you need to pay more to share that data with another device? The question baffles smartphone owners every day, but wireless carriers continue the illogical — but profitable — practice of requiring a tethering plan. For a brief window of time, iPhone owners were able [...]
Update: Google has officially announced the changes on their blog and the new bar will begin rolling out now.
Original: While Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and a number of other Google services have been given a fresh coat of Google+ paint, each service still uses the same old top bar from when these services were first introduced, apart from it being black now.
The past two Elder Scrolls games have taken the sandbox gaming concept to new levels by allowing their passionate community members to create modifications that add to the gameplay experience. While both games touted spectacular visuals, community-based modders have found ways to make the titles even better… all with Bethesda’s blessing. Of course any game [...]
Next year, Windows 8 will be arriving in stores — and so will Windows 8 tablets powered by ARM processors like the Nvidia Tegra 3 and Qualcomm Snapdragon S4. But according to some industry sources, laptops running Windows 8 and ARM won’t show up until the middle of 2013. If you find that news a [...]
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime - the tablet that Acer and Lenovo are trying to compete against. (Image: ASUS/Supplied)
A new report is claiming that Acer and Lenovo are ready to launch their quad-core tablets in the first quarter of next year in order to compete against ASUS’ quad-core tablet offering, the Eee Pad Transformer Prime; and Samsung.
The home speaker could use a refresh. Partly because of iPod docks, and partly because it gets the job done, the classic speaker has remained largely unchanged through the years. Connecting a smartphone or MP3 player to a supersized black box is awkward, yet few alternatives offer a better solution. Enter the transparent speaker: it’s [...]
Less than six months after the Droid 3 saw a release, Verizon and Motorola are pushing out the Droid 4. It’s basically a Droid Razr with a keyboard and smaller display; you can pick one up in stores within weeks. Smartphone shoppers wondering how it stacks up next to the Razr and the Galaxy Nexus [...]
The iPhone 4S is a very desirable smartphone, not only because of the access it allows to the App Store and iTunes, but also because it is such a sexy-looking device. While it looks great on the outside, the internals are quite impressive too. iFixit has decided that those internals shouldn’t be hidden behind a [...]
Nine months in the Nintendo 3DS is finally hitting its stride. Super Mario 3D Land was an excellent — and much needed — release for Nintendo’s handheld, and the first-party hits keep coming with the release of Mario Kart 7. These are exactly the sort of games the 3DS needs to be successful and they [...]
IN BRIEF: It appears my Twitter feed has been a flurry with this story, but I always love a story that screams “Apple hater”. The story: An iPhone 4 self-combusted during a Regional Express flight from Lismore to Sydney on Friday.
Google has now infiltrated every single space that Apple and Amazon have been dominating for years. With their foot in the door, Google hopes to bring users away from the content serving powerhouses of iTunes and Amazon.com and over onto the Google-branded products. Rent a movie with Google Videos on your tablet, grab the latest [...]
The power consumption of electrical devices is always up for discussion as the price of energy rises. While the amount of energy required to power flat screen TVs and monitors has reduced significantly over the past few years (mainly due to the use of LEDs), one sticking point remains: standby mode. When you turn a [...]
Last week a Microsoft exec made headlines by dismissing Apple’s Siri as good marketing, claiming that Windows Phone has had the same functionality for over a year. The statement is easy fodder for flocks of Apple fanboys, but even the Android faithful and mobile agnostics agree that it’s an inaccurate statement. Now, pouring salt on Microsoft’s wounds, [...]
A new version of the popular Kinect device from Microsoft is in the works. A report, citing anonymous sources, is claiming that it will be bundled in future Xbox consoles and is said to be so accurate that it can lip read.
If the HP TouchPad taught the world anything, it’s that people suddenly become a whole lot more interested in non-iPad tablets when they’re sold off at dirt-cheap prices. Now that RIM has done the same to the BlackBerry PlayBook, dev interest is picking up — in fact, hacker Chris Wade has already rooted his PlayBook. [...]
US retail prices for the PlayStation Vita‘s proprietary memory cards have appeared on the website of game retailer GameStop, and they look to put the hurt on players who were initially attracted to the upcoming handheld’s otherwise attractive base price tag. The prices start at $29.99 and go all the way up to $119.99 – [...]
Cyber Monday is, in many ways, an outdated term given how prolific online shopping is these days, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t great deals today. Below is a list of some of the top deals on Logic Buy, our deals-focused sister site. We’ll run through the deals below and point out some of our [...]
So, you’re looking to boost interest in a nice piece of hardware that’s been overlooked because of a competitor’s product? Just cut its price by 60%, like RIM has done with the BlackBerry PlayBook. Still not satisfied with the results? Why not get the people who work for you to help evangelize the darn thing and [...]
Image: Tom Solari/TECHGEEK.com.au
Social networking giant Facebook could launch its initial public offering of its stock somewhere between April and June of next year. This is according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal, who cites “people familiar with the matter” as their source.
Ah, the joys of buying a new smartphone. Making a decision on which shiny, new device you want to purchase can be a real pain. The iPhone 4S has Siri. Android phones are highly hackable. Windows Phone offers that snazzy, tiled interface. How do you pick? If you’re willing to head to China — and tell [...]
The Kinect motion controller for the Xbox 360 has been a huge success for Microsoft, probably above and beyond what the company ever expected the peripheral to achieve in the short amount of time it has been available. Removing the need to hold a controller clearly does work for consumers and gamers alike. Even though [...]
Most of us take it for granted that when we purchase a new gadget that uses a rechargeable battery, it isn’t going to explode, melt, or cause any kind of fire hazard during its lifetime. But all it takes is a faulty or damaged battery, and bad things can happen, hopefully not while the device [...]
Those kooky people at Valve have done another tie-up to bring another game to Team Fortress 2, and this time it’s the indie sensation Minecraft. This character upgrade is just a little bit more exclusive than the typical TF2 add-on. Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson has his very own hat, and it’s one of a [...]
When it first released, the MacBook Air was all portability, no power. Like many first generation Apple products, it had limited functionality but paved the way for the future. Now that has changed — the latest MacBook Air rivals its big brother, the MacBook Pro, and it just lacks an optical drive. The engineer behind a [...]
There are many reasons that adults give to their children to comfort them during a thunderstorm as to what causes the flashes of bright lightning and the deep bass like booms of the thunder they are experiencing. Everything from Zeus hurling his legendary thunderbolts to heavenly beings playing a rather raucous game of bowling. The [...]
Is the MacBook Air going to get an upgrade soon?
Here’s a double whammy of Apple rumours to drool over. A report is claiming that the MacBook Air could have another redesign in the first-half of the year to compete with the new “ultrabooks”; while another is claiming that the iPhone could have a larger, 4-inch screen.
Ever since the MacBook Air was released, no one has really been able to match it in the thin and light category of laptops. Apple’s super-thin design, coupled with solid performance and decent battery life has seemed unbeatable so far. New competition is about to appear though, in the form of the Ultrabooks Intel is [...]
iPhone 4 and 3GS owners, this may be your lucky day. One of the iPhone 4S’s selling features, Siri dication, can now be yours. Jailbreak developers have released their version of the voice recognition service, compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and 4th generation of iPod touch. The hack, Siri0us, enables the voice transcription [...]
Cyber Monday may not incite hysteria quite as much as Black Friday does, but the online shopping day can still bring steep discounts on popular products. If you’re curious what the biggest online retailer has in store this year, these are the highlights from Amazon’s Cyber Monday deals. Xbox 360 holiday bundle w/Fable III and [...]
Here in North America, RIM has had a bit of a rough year. The PlayBook struggles to compete against the iPad (even at $199) and BlackBerry phones have steadily lost share even in the business world where they once dominated. There was also that black-eye of a service outage, which led the company to offer [...]
I regularly frequent personal tech blogs of various tech heads around the world. A couple of days ago I stumbled upon quite an interesting article discussing the feasibility of a ‘Dark-net’ powered by a wireless mesh network that would be community operated as a method of circumventing censorship.
Having a Secret Santa in the office? Or are you just looking for a cheap gift to give to a co-worker? Next up on our Holiday Gift Guide, we’re taking a look at Stocking Stuffers that are all under $100. Yes, because we’re all cheap bastards as well. Why not take a look.
Yahoo7 has revealed its 2011 search results and with no surprises. The year was dominated with natural disasters, the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, and the internet fad known as planking.
Julian Assange and his organisation WikiLeaks have won a Walkley Award for their role in releasing controversial leaks such as the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs and the game-changing US State Department Diplomatic Cables.
Motorola’s upcoming Droid 4 has just gotten a little more official. Thanks to newly-leaked images, we’ve got a full spec sheet and a good look at its RAZR-esque styling. While previous images had shown off the Droid 4′s face and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the back had yet to be revealed. As you can see now, [...]
Photo: Kainet/Flickr (Creative Commons)
The cost to build Labor’s National Broadband Network could top $50 billion by 2028, with a report by the government’s own advisers noting that slow take-up of potential services could “adversely impact” the NBN’s use and its revenue.
If you were one of the lucky 3,000 people to get your hands on the limited edition StarCraft 2 Battlecruiser offered by Mega Bloks at BlizzCon this year, you know how long it took to put that sucker together. There have been reports that it takes anywhere from three to six hours to build the [...]
Are you avoiding hitting the slopes this winter, preferring to live vicariously through other skiers? If so, the latest Street View locations from Google might get your attention. The company’s mapping service has been updated with views from four ski slopes. The ski and slope editions of Google Street View have the standard Street View interface. You [...]
Before pressing play on the video above, scroll down and look at the completed illustration below. It’s a stunning piece of artwork created by Dei Gaztelumendi for the cover of Xabiroi Comic Book Magazine. Dei says that the magazine gave him complete control over the subject matter, so he decided to title it Post-Apocalyptic Kids. [...]
Are you not really into hitting the slopes this winter, and would rather live vicariously through other skiers while sipping a mug of hot chocolate? If so, the latest Street View addition from Google might get your attention. The company’s mapping service has been updated with select ski and snow locations. As you might expect, the ski [...]
If you were an early adopter of the hot-selling iPhone 4S, you might be sorely missing a jailbreak by now. There is currently no such hackery available for the handset, either tethered or untethered. One of the most-missed jailbreak tweaks could be SBSettings, which allows you to access common system settings with just a single [...]
HTC needed to separate themselves from the rest of the Android manufacturers. With news of Motorola being bought by Google, and Samsung clearly a favorite for the Nexus device two years in a row, there needed to be something that allowed HTC to stand out. Sense UI, the visual overlay to Android that HTC deployed [...]
After three weeks, we’re back. Facebook infected with porn, the land of the free is trying to restrict your internet freedoms, and is Microsoft looking to buy Yahoo? All this and more on this week’s edition of TECHGEEK Weekly.
With smartphones rising in popularity – thanks to the iPhone and the wide-range of Android phones – there are also some who also don’t like the fact that they have to be tethered to a 24-month plan. In our first Holiday Gift Guide for the year, we’ve collated the best smartphones that are available on pre-paid plans from all three major carriers.
Not everyone can afford an iPad, even the $200 Kindle Fire is going to be out of reach for many cash-strapped individuals. But one student in China has demonstrated you only need $125 and a bit of DIY to create your very own device. Wei Xinlong wanted to get his girlfriend Sun Shasha a tablet [...]
Google figures your web browser should do it all, and that includes playing games. According to developer advocate Paul Kinlan, early next year Chrome is going to offer an even better gaming experience: by adding plug-and-play support gaming controllers. Now, there’s already a good chance that your operating system might know what to do with [...]
Did you take Amazon Wireless up on their Black Friday deal to get the Droid Razr for a penny? Are you now wondering how to root that bad boy? We have you covered. Fortunately, this is one of the simpler hacks you’re going to see. It’s a one-click root, and it isn’t necessary to install [...]
It’s not often you see Apple discount its products, and when they do you won’t ever see any 50% off stickers. The percentage cuts are small, but they are better than nothing, right? With that in mind, the Black Friday deals are now live on Apple’s online store, and they are pretty much in line [...]
Microsoft has been enjoying a growing amount of income from the Android platform purely through license deals and royalty payments from companies who actually use the mobile operating system. In fact, it seems to have become a bit too easy for Microsoft of late. They wait for a hardware manufacturer to release an Android device, [...]
Apple’s Black Friday deals are here, and the discounts on Apple products are pretty small. However, while you may be disappointed at the fact that the iPad got a measly price cut, Apple does also sell accessories and the discounts are huge for them (I wonder why?). So, we’ve collated the best discounts for the accessories we’ve found, and you should get them NOW before the day ends.
For those of our readers that have a DIY streak in them, and like to save money, this is an interesting little project that when finished will give you a ‘ghetto-iMac’ to enjoy. All that is needed is a Mac Mini, a flatscreen display, and a few easily attainable accessories to create your very own [...]
It’s not exactly an easter egg, but Bethesda’s Skyrim does have a crazy graphics option that makes the game look completely different. If you turn the texture detail all the way down, the game takes on a much more cartoonish look and feel. A video posted on YouTube, and embedded below, is accompanied by the [...]
If the holiday season has started to stress you out, we have just what the doctor ordered. The above time-lapse, by David Coiffier, is a great example of travel videography, with multiple awesome location shots stitched together into a single video. Some of the locations featured in the lapse include Paris (the most obvious one) [...]
Kinect has been a runaway success for Microsoft, and it’s a big reason the Xbox 360 has been the top-selling console on the market ever since the sensor first landed on retail shelves. But now Microsoft is ready to move beyond the 360: Kinect is coming to PCs, and possibly television sets as well. In [...]
With mobile phone privacy in the forefront of our minds, it was a bit disconcerting to hear that this holiday season (Black Friday through New Years) certain malls will be tracking shoppers’ phones. Right now, just two US malls have said they will be anonymously tracking visitor’s phones, the Promenade Temecula in Temecula, California and [...]
Those of you who plan on picking up a top-shelf Android phone come early December will have one other option besides the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Verizon will also be launching Motorola’s Droid 4 — in fact, they’re hitting shelves on the very same day. On Thursday, December 8th, Big Red will offer both the Ice [...]
After the release of Dance Central, and being critiqued as not only the best Dance game but the best Kinect game of 2010, Harmonix has released Dance Central 2 with amazing new tracks and features. With new Crew Challenges and refined Break it down mode will Dance Central 2 be as good and successful as the first game?
Update: Looks like we made a mistake with this one. The screenshot containing Shephard’s name is actually from an old Mass Effect 3 reveal as Mark rightly points out in the comments. We’re still hoping for some kind of Mass Effect spin-off title, but are a lot less sure that will happen now. December 10th [...]
There are simply no words to describe the raw chaotic energy of a shopping crowd at a high-traffic mall in the height of Black Friday. Keep your head down, push your way to where you need to go, and make your way to the checkout line. Or, if you are just looking for a good [...]
Microsoft is looking at Yahoo’s financial statements after it signed a non-disclosure agreement, according to the New York Times. However, is this a sign of a possible acquisition of Yahoo again, failing to do so in 2008?
Valve never misses an opportunity to have a sale on Steam, and Thanksgiving weekend is no exception. Today, the digital games service has kicked off its Autumn Sale, promising to bring huge discounts to a range of popular games and publisher back catalogs. In other words, it’s the perfect opportunity to pick up a few [...]
Steam always has great holiday sales and its Autumn Sale is no exception. Every day for the next 5 days there will be different games on sale and today is a cracker:
Batman: Arkham City is getting some positive buzz around the gaming world. But how about getting it cheaper than the asking pricetag of $100 for the game. Well, we’ve found a couple of places that are selling the latest Batman game for around $80.
If you’re curious about the upcoming Hollywood adaptation of the landmark biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, the gossip just keeps on coming. The most recent story has accomplished screenwriter Aaron Sorkin saying that he has been offered the chance to write the screenplay, and is “strongly considering” it. This wouldn’t be Sorkin’s first foray into [...]
If you caught our roundups of Black Friday deals, you may have noticed that there hasn’t been anything listed from Apple yet. Have no fear, for the company has placed a teaser banner on its website which promises Black Friday deals. Additionally, the details of those deals have leaked. The discounts will be for Friday [...]
Struggling to find a gift? We might be able to help. If the recipient is a book reader and wants an easier way to read his favourite books, then a good gift is to give them an eBook reader. While there are so many to choose from, we can only suggest one – and that is the Amazon Kindle.
Whether you’re a fan of Siri or not, few of us would claim that any non-Apple platform has anything quite like it. The Android loyal will correctly point out that their OS has had voice commands and dictation for ages, but even the most hardcore fanboy will acknowledge that it lacks the conversational AI element [...]
Image: Esther Dyson/Flickr (Creative Commons)
According to a London newspaper, Chief Executive of News Corporation’s UK arm, News International, James Murdoch has resigned as a directors of the two companies that publishes News Corporation’s papers in the UK.
Recently, we asked a very serious question. Do we really know what is happening on our own phones? Security researcher Trevor Eckhart revealed some of the deeper functions inside many phones today that shows how information is searched, recorded, and transmitted to the clients of CarrierIQ, a mobile data analytic company, for their use. CarrierIQ [...]
Some retailers, like EB Games, are selling this game for $99.00 or even more. But in another Bargain Hunter post, we’ve found the very same game on sale for a cheaper price than what EB Games are selling it for. How about $88.00, or even better $59.95?
The image you see above is Lenovo‘s IdeaCentre Q180 desktop PC. It’s tiny. So tiny in fact, Lenovo is claiming this is the world’s smallest desktop PC. The Q180 measures just 155 x 192 x 22mm, but inside you’ll find quite a healthy combination of hardware. At its core is an Intel Atom D2700 dual-core [...]
Of the many things that are said about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Nexus, possibly the single most highly criticized feature is the camera. In a world where competing devices like the iPhone 4S and the HTC Rezound are coming in at 8 megapixels for the rear facing camera, the Galaxy Nexus sports what many considered to be an out-of-date [...]
The source code for Doom 3 has been promised for a while now, but got a final hold up in the form of nervous lawyers at Zenimax. Carmack’s Reverse was the sticking point, as Creative Labs owns a patent relating to it. That could have meant months of delays through talks and agreements, but Carmack [...]
The long wait for an updated look and feel to your Xbox 360 dashboard is almost over. Microsoft has announced the new Metro dashboard will go live on December 6th, and will be free for all users to install. Along with the improved visuals, there are some new goodies being included in the update, especially [...]
HTC doesn’t build notebooks, but it does build tablets — and now it’s pondering some sort of mashup of Android and Chrome OS that will power future “Internet access devices.” If you’re going with Google’s definition of what such a device would be, it’s probably something like the Asus Transformer Prime: a tablet with a [...]
Have you snatched up a Kindle Fire, and are wanting to fully unleash your tablet’s power? Say no more. These detailed and simple instructions will have you rooted, using the Android Market, and installing apps to your heart’s content. These instructions are only friendly with Windows. Mac users can root by hopping on a [...]
As we get ever closer to Black Friday the sales continue to appear. I expect to see a lot more online stores offering deals, and in particular digital games services cutting their prices, but the Humble Indie Bundle is one of the first to show its cards. For the next 13 days a new bundle [...]
The Google Doodle for today celebrates the Polish author Stanislaw Lem who died in 2006 aged 86. It’s also one of Google’s most ambitious doodles, and certainly one of the longest. If you’re searching your memory banks trying to recognize his author’s name from something you’ve read or watched, then the most likely thing you’ve [...]
No, we’re not joking. Sony has just announced Motorstorm RC for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita downloadable via PSN, a game that will replace the real cars from regular Motorstorm games with virtual remote control cars. Is the release also April 1? Trailer after the break.
3D is a fad that just won’t die. The technology has popped up in numerous forms for much of the last century, and recent advances have only guaranteed that it will be pushed even harder on us. Hollywood studios, HDTV manufacturers, and gadget makers are all betting that it’s going to catch on one of [...]
After waiting for so long, and getting a little sneak peak in July, we get our hands on the Nokia N9. It has a glorious design and an intuitive way of navigating. However, it is the first (and now, only) phone that will run its MeeGo OS. Does MeeGo fix the problems of Symbian, or will it make Nokia still irrelevant in this age of the Android and iOS platforms? In addition, with a single-core processor, can it outperform the dual-core processors of its rivals?
$1 billion is a lot of money to spend on producing a product that never makes it to market. Which is why Qualcomm must no doubt be relieved that its Mirasol color e-Ink display has finally landed in a commercial produced gadget: the Kyobo eReader. Mirasol displays promise the best of both worlds: the energy [...]
Your number two tablet - the HP TouchPad (Image: HP)
Yes, turns out HP is the new second-place winner in the tablet market, beating Samsiung with a small margin. This is according to a new NPD report for US non-iPad tablets sales between January and October, which saw 1.2 million non-iPad tablets sold.
Unannounced smartphones get leaked in all kinds of ways. For the slick Asus Padfone — the Android smartphone that can dock in a 10.1-inch tablet — it’s a benchmark site that has spilled the beans. A quick trip to the system information tab reveals that the Padfone a community user was benchmarking utilizes Qualcomm’s hot [...]
If you snagged a Nook Tablet for the sole purpose of hacking it, then one of the most important steps has been taken care of. Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color sequel has been rooted and, unlike a previous temporary root, this one is permanent and will last beyond a reboot. Keep reading for our instructions. [...]
With the PlayStation Vita launch in Japan just a few weeks away and the Australian launch just a few months away Sony has finally announced the complete launch line-up for Europe/Australia/NZ.
Working for Microsoft or Google is a dream for a lot of people. They pay well, they offer great on site services so you never want to/have to leave, and you’re probably going to end up working on some very cool projects. The problem is, both companies are vying for employees from the same talent [...]
Depending on where you live in the world, wireless data transmission is limited to either 3G or 4G speeds. If you are lucky enough to have an LTE capable device and connection, then the upper limit of your transfer speeds is 300Mbps. That’s fast by today’s standards, but won’t always be. As the years go [...]
Image: sticviews.com/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Google has continued to refine its service lineup today with the announcement of a new “off-season spring cleaning”, the third mass shutdown of services to date.
If you have ever seen Terminator 2, you are familiar with the cool cutscenes showing the audience what Arnold is seeing realtime as he scans the area. We don’t know about you, but in our secret geek place that resides in our brains, we have wanted to be able to look upon the world with [...]
At five inches, it’s hard to call devices like the one you see above a phone or a tablet. Whichever label you prefer, Lenovo’s working on one to pair with its recently-leaked 10.1-inch, Tegra 3 quad-core Android slate. Unfortunately, this time around there aren’t many (or any, really) details to go with the photos snapped by [...]
Every day an enormous number of people perform the exact same act, right around the same time. They sit down on their favorite comfortable thing in the living room and watch something on television. The details beyond this point are varied, but a significant subset of those people also have a smartphone, laptop, or tablet [...]
If you’ve been looking at the Chromebook as a good Christmas gift for youself or someone else you might want to look elsewhere. Samsung yesterday tweeted to me that they, despite previous plans to release a Chromebook in Australia, now have no plans to do so “at this stage.” This basically means no.
If your knowledge of the tablet market came solely from retailer advertising, you might think that there’s been a competitive tablet market during the last year. With all of the “iPad killers” that have launched, you may walk away with the impression that it’s a cutthroat battle with Galaxy Tabs and Xooms going toe-to-toe with the iPad 2. [...]
Do you remember when gamers started playing Rage and discovered the Easter eggs from earlier id games? They included areas from Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake and went down well with long-time id Software fans. It seems Bethesda had a similar idea, but not in the form of an Easter egg, and on a much [...]
There are many areas of robotics that leave an impression. The standout ones include robots that walk, those that look and talk like humans, and any robot that is capable of precise and delicate object interaction. But there’s also the fun side of robotics such as the soccer championships, Robot Wars, and a new entry [...]
Everyone loves a good video game. There’s nothing like being presented with a visually-appealing challenge — complete with clear sets of objectives, obstacles, and actions. Even if only in your imagination, games can let you become a superhero plumber, a Greek God, the Dark Knight, or a flock of pissed-off birds. Well now you can [...]
If you have been wanting to get your hands on one of Google’s “nothing but the web” Chromebooks, but couldn’t justify the expense, it may be time to reconsider. Google announced yesterday that it has been working with both Acer and Samsung to lower prices on current models of the Chrome OS webtop computers. Instead [...]
Ever since Blizzard launched World of Warcraft other developers and publishers have struggled to establish and keep a gamer base for competing MMOs. Blizzard were obviously very happy about this as it generated a lot of revenue, but it did force others to rethink how to make money from online games, with the result being [...]
Consider this article an intervention of sorts for a certain type of gamer. You know, the ones who travel to Best Buy to pick up the must-have game of the year, planning on getting in and out quickly so they can spend the rest of their day enjoying the new hotness; only to find themselves [...]
What’s next for Spotify? That’s the question posed in an invitation that was sent out today for an event slated for next Wednesday. It mentions “a new direction for the company,” but details are thin beyond that. While it may be a longshot, what if a Spotify music store is on its way? This may [...]
Anyone who wants to game on the go has a number of choices. There’s the Nintendo DS and 3DS, the PSP or the upcoming PS Vita, and then the growing competition from App Store and Android Market games running on smartphones or media players. Is there room for yet another platform? GameGadget hopes there is. [...]
Most iPad users simply use Safari when it comes to searching the web. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it has all of the functionality you could hope for. However, Google has been offering a dedicated search app for some time now. That app just became a slightly more appealing option with a significant update today. [...]
When you think of Samsung all sorts of gadgets come to mind like televisions, smartphones, cameras, and laptops. If you know more about the company than the typical US consumer though, you might also think about memory, semiconductors, LCD panels, processors, and solar panels. As of today, you can add consumer LED bulbs to that [...]
While the image above is just a modified photo of the HTC Wildfire, you may be seeing something similar in stores within the next couple of years. Those old rumors that Facebook was working on their own handset have returned, this time sounding much more legit. The report says that the social network is [...]
Mark this on your calendar, Apple’s annual Black Friday sale is on again. The company has announced quietly on its Apple Store online that it will hold a “special one-day Apple shopping event” on November 25 – which is Black Friday.
Dance Central 2 users will be pleased to know that downloadable content is now heading their way. Microsoft has announced that it will add more songs from Lady Gaga and Rihanna to its long list of songs via downloadable content.
Amazon has already sold a boatload of its original Kindle Fire tablets, with pre-orders surpassing the quarter-million mark within a few days. Now an 8.9-inch second-gen Kindle Fire is being reported, and it could begin shipping in the middle of 2012. In mid-October, we caught wind of the next Kindle Fire which was purportedly being [...]
We’ve already covered several 2011 Black Friday offerings from retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and GameStop — but what about online retailers? The biggest of them all, Amazon, has now leaked some of their upcoming deals. Some of these deals are already active, so be sure to check the site now if any of [...]
It’s a safe bet that anyone manning the airport baggage security scanners over the holidays is going to see a growing number of e-readers inside carry-on baggage. The devices are perfect for reading while traveling, and easily slip into the side pocket of your shoulder bag. There does seem to be one issue with passing [...]
While its been known for some time now that AT&T would supply 3G coverage in the US and that NTT DoCoMo would provide it in Japan, Sony has been quiet on details for Europe and Australia. But today Sony has announced that the PlayStation Vita 3G version will ship with a Vodafone SIM and provide 3G connectivity via the Vodafone 3G network. Vodafone has also announced that it will be selling the Vita through its retail stores and online.
The electronic contraption above isn’t some sort of high-tech server blade or insanely powerful graphics processor, it’s 16KB of memory circa 1970. More precisely, it’s a 16- by 11.5-inch core memory module. Core memory, in case you were wondering, is a technology from a bygone era where wires and metal rings stored bits of information [...]
With Adobe killing off mobile Flash this month, HTML5 is officially here to stay. You might think, then, that the two newest tablets on the block would be going out of their way to optimize HTML5 performance, right? Wrong. This holiday’s two hottest arrivals — the Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire — are reportedly getting [...]
With the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda has not only crafted an RPG that sets the bar even higher for the competition and inevitable 6th game in the series, but it also sees the game engine receive a major overhaul. Skyrim‘s engine is notable for two reasons. The first is how little [...]
That Amazon expects to make the bulk of its profits off the Kindle Fire after the original transaction is no surprise. Its tight integration with Amazon’s music, video, and ebook stores — as well as the Amazon.com shopping experience — is apparent as soon as you turn the tablet on. With a bill of materials [...]
The quad-core Android devices are on their way, and it shouldn’t be long before Samsung joins the party. Talk is heating up that their upcoming Galaxy S3 will be packing the Samsung-built Exynos 4412 processor, and it’ll be the company’s first quad-core monster. Its quartet of ARM Cortex A9 cores would be quite the update [...]
One big advantage of Android over iOS that’s been trumpeted in the past is its “full web experience,” made possible by the Adobe Flash Player plug-in. Now, however, Google’s own flagship phone — the Galaxy Nexus — is shipping without Flash, just like the iPhone always has. How is it that the company’s first Android [...]
Remember when Microsoft got hauled into court due to anti-competitive behavior all those years ago? Well, we may see security vendors attempting to get Microsoft back into court after the revelation that Windows 8 will ship with an anti-virus solution built-in and as a standard feature. It is thought Microsoft has decided to combine the [...]
Have you been sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting to hear more about the Xoom 2? No?? Well, we have some news on the subject nonetheless: the sequel to the Titanic of tablets will be called the Droid Xyboard, and apparently that image above is a leaked promo shot of the slate. Going [...]
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Despite universal acclaim, Bethesda’s amazing game Skyrim still has bugs, some of which range from funny to frustrating. But Bethesda’s VP of PR and Marketing, Pete Hines, has tweeted good news, saying:
3D printing is gaining in popularity and brings with it the promise of making your own physical stuff at home out of plastic. The problem is, it’s still quite expensive to get your own 3D printer at home, and constructing one from a kit can be quite complex and time consuming. Examples of 3D printers [...]
Steve Jobs, the biography about the influential man himself by Walter Isaacson, reveals the intricate details about the man behind the iPod, iPhone and iPad – three devices that have revolutionised the way we interact with technology. And it is one of the most-have gifts for techies, if they already haven’t gotten their hands on the book.
I'm on a horse
Steve Jobs biography, written by Walter Isaacson, has detailed a number of details of Steve Jobs’ life, work and achievements, occasionally showing a darker side to the man who brought such innovative products to the world. But Isaacson has revealed to the New York Times that he had left out some of the upcoming Apple products details out of respect for Apple and Jobs.
It’s BACK! TECHGEEK.com.au’s annual Holiday Gift Guide is officially starting today. Until December 24, our editors will be suggesting holiday gift ideas, select the best gadgets and games that you should give as a present and finding those ever popular deals from Australian, and now international, retailers so you don’t break the bank.
Oh look at that, we’ve changed our look – again? I know what you would be thinking: “Didn’t you launch like a major redesign like six months ago?” Well, yes. However, we’ve decided to use this time to be a bit radical and up heave the old design and replace it with this.
If you have been one of the unfortunate people who has dropped their iPhone 4 only to have the screen crack, this story may bring you some comfort for future iDevices. Apple, as you have probably guessed, is fully aware of the perils of people caring around a glass-clad device and is brainstorming some ways [...]
Stop-motion seems to be a popular choice for music videos lately, which is surprising as they may be cheap to make, but take months of painstaking work to bring together. A couple of weeks ago we got to see the incredible stop-motion music video created with 288,000 jelly beans. It was for Kina Grannis’ latest [...]
Landsat-7 and Terra EOS satellites Hacking is becoming a growing problem on Earth. It may seem strange to mention Earth, as there’s not much to hack outside of our planet’s atmosphere unless you count satellites. Even then, how feasible would it be to gain access to the systems running such devices? Well, China not only [...]
Have you ever wondered what would happen to an egg if you cracked it deep underwater? Yeah, we haven’t either. Leave it to a pair of Aussie divers to jump in and try it out to see the results. Two instructors from Go Dive Brisbane dove into 32 meters of water with a half dozen [...]
Domain name registrations are big business. Any time a new top-level domain has debuted, prospectors and companies have lined up to snag premium names — which has driven prices up to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases. That’s precisely what happened when .XXX hit the web, and now porn industry giants have [...]
While conventional cases and even bumpers offer some protection they don’t make your iPhone rugged. To do that you need something more, something like Case-Mate’s Tank case. At $60 it’s not cheap, but the company believes that it offers serious protection for your iDevice. And it makes perfect sense — the popularity of the iPhone [...]
We’re all used to hearing of über-rich gazillionaires donating to charitable causes like finding cures for diseases and feeding hungry children in Africa. But what about websites? Now you can say that you’ve heard that too, as Google co-founder Sergey Brin has forked over $500,000 to Wikipedia. The donation is actually from Brin’s charity, the Brin [...]
Throughout their history, Google seems to have made it their job to occasionally slip some fun into the often monotonous task of hunting information down online. Be it random little Easter Eggs like the Barrel Roll, or their increasingly interactive Doodles on their homepage (I am still to this day ashamed of how much time [...]
We aren’t ones to typically indulge in Hollywood gossip, but this one is hard to ignore. You have probably heard by now that Walter Isaacson’s landmark biography Steve Jobs is being made into a movie. We can think of a handful of film actors who would be ideal for the role of the late Apple [...]
Well that was nice while it lasted. The last couple of months have provided a much-needed break from the whirlwind of Apple rumors, but it looks like we’re back in the saddle again. An alleged inside source is claiming to have the scoop on three major Apple releases — the next iPad, iPhone, and MacBook [...]
Netbooks used to be all the rage. Then it was thin-and-lights. Now, it’s all about the Ultrabook. Intel’s newfangled laptop sub-segment has found its way onto retail shelves courtesy of manufacturers like Acer, Lenovo, and Toshiba. And next year, there are going to be a brand new wave of Ultrabooks flooding the market. According to [...]
We’ve already taken a look at Best Buy’s, Walmart’s and Target’s Black Friday leaks, and that brings us to GameStop. While many gamers have sour feelings about the store’s trade-in prices and pre-order pushiness, any deals that they offer on Black Friday may still be worth paying attention to. For starters, there will be no [...]
In the past, we have seen an enormous gap between the marketing for Android products and Apple’s iOS devices. Earlier this year, Verizon ran an Android tablet campaign, which was laden with terms like dual-core Tegra-2 processors and 4G-LTE upgradability. While we the tech crowd tend to throw around these terms, the ads looked laughable [...]
John Carmack is not only one of the best programmers in the world, he’s also more than happy to share the source code for older games and engines released by id software. That has already happened for the first three Quake games, and first two Doom games, and the Doom 3 code was expected to [...]
Pacific Missile Range Facility The Department of Defense has created a new weapon that is so fast it could travel once around the Earth in just 5 hours, and that’s a low estimate. It is called the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW), and has just completed its first successful test flight. The AHW can reach speeds [...]
In September, physicists were scratching their heads at CERN when neutrinos were recorded as traveling faster than the speed of light. That shouldn’t happen unless Einstein turns out to be wrong. The experiment is part of the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus (OPERA) project, and saw neutrinos fired 732km from CERN to the Gran Sasso [...]
Next month we see the first release of the Raspberry Pi $25 PC in kit form. The final units will follow in 2012. They aren’t the only ones developing a tiny PC though, and competition is starting to appear that could equal it on size and outperform it in the performance stakes. One such competitor [...]
So even at $199 you’re still not interested in buying a BlackBerry PlayBook? Are you sure about that? Because thanks to the native development kit, you’re going to start seeing some pretty kick-ass homebrew for it — like DOSBox, which has just been ported. DOSBox is an x86 emulator that allows users to fire up [...]
Good Old Games (GOG) has become a very popular online destination for gamers due to its unique offering of old games. Collecting all the classic titles from the past few decades of gaming, and offering them up DRM free for a few dollars each is a fantastic resource to have available. Older gamers get to [...]
The inventive uses of Microsoft’s Kinect device continue, this time in the form of a four-legged robot from Japanese manufacturer NSK shown at this years International Robot Exhibition. Built to be a mechanical replacement for seeing eye dogs used to help blind people get around, the robot companion has wheels on each leg, and can [...]
The latest tablet to join the ranks of the defeated devices lying in the wake of the iPad has finally had its price cut dramatically. Selling only 200,000 units, the BlackBerry PlayBook has fallen well short of expectations, forcing the company to cut its losses and give consumers a deep discount in an effort to [...]
If you thought that buying the Galaxy Nexus would give you the Pure Google Experience that it’s marketed as, you would only be mostly right. While you will indeed get an unskinned version of Ice Cream Sandwich without any Let’s Golf 2 or NASCAR apps tagged on, Verizon apparently couldn’t resist the urge to add [...]
Back in January, Microsoft used CES 2011 to unveil the next generation Surface interactive display. This time they’ve collaborated with Samsung, with the official name for the new device being the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface. I’d prefer Surface 2. The first generation Surface had bags of potential, but was so bulky it could only [...]
If you saw our feature on how to root the Kindle Fire and followed suit, you may have noticed some problems afterwards. Namely, Amazon Video — your hub to Amazon Instant rentals and purchases, as well as Amazon Prime streaming — will be non-functional. Fortunately, there’s no reason to avoid rooting as there is already an [...]
Anyone who has purchased Skyrim for the PS3 should consider waiting for Bethesda to release a patch before getting too far into the game. Players are reporting that the game starts to demonstrate more and more lag as you make progress and log more hours playing. The lag can get so bad you have to [...]
Sharp’s new A71GJ-B Galagpagos tablet might look like just another Android tablet — but it’s not. It’s a brand-new eight hundred dollar Android tablet. And it’s only a 7-incher. At one point, Sharp had given up on its Galapagos Android tablets, all but admitting they couldn’t compete with Apple (and didn’t want to). The original [...]
Did you pick up a Kindle Fire, and find that you’re enjoying it so much you wish Amazon would expand its hardware lineup? You may be in luck, if a new prediction by a research analyst has any legs. Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney is speculating that Amazon will jump into the smartphone market next year with [...]
