Apple's iPad 3 to usher in pixel-packing tablets

Pixels per inch will jump to an average of 200 in the second quarter of 2012.(Credit: DisplaySearch)iPhone 4S' retina display.Apple's next-gen iPad won't be the only new tablet design with lots more pixels. Market researcher DisplaySearch said today that the average pixel density of tablets will surge next year.The forecast calls for the average resolution of tablet displays to grow to more than 200 pixels per inch (PPI) in the second quarter of...

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Apple selling unlocked, contract-free iPhone 4S

iPhone 4S buyers looking for an unlocked version of the new phone can now grab one directly from Apple.The company has just started selling an unlocked and contract-free version of its new phone. In a nutshell, that means you can use the iPhone 4S without shelling out money for the usual two-year carrier contract. You can then jump from one network to another by picking up and inserting a micro-SIM card, which is available from each supported carrier.An...

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iOS 5 on almost 40 percent of iPhones

(Credit: Apple)Just a few weeks after its debut, iOS 5 finds itself nestled on almost 40 percent of iPhones, according to stats from online ad network Chitika.Analyzing iOS traffic on its own mobile network from October 22 to October 28, Chitika broke down the percentage of iOS 5 upgrades among Apple's three major mobile devices: the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.The iPhone came in first, with 38 percent of users having already updated their phones...

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Android 4.0 due in early 2012 for 7 HTC phones

The new HTC Rezound is among the phones that will get Google's Ice Cream Sandwich release of Android in early 2012.(Credit: HTC)HTC, which rose to smartphone prominence with Google's Android operating system, will begin offering the new Ice Cream Sandwich version in "early 2012," the company said today.Expect Android 4.0 on some, but not all devices. HTC offered this preliminary list on its Facebook page: HTC knows how excited our fans are to...

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Motorola Motokey Social Finally Official

The Motokey Social has a dedicated Facebook button to access and share via the social network on the go.Budget handsets are always a huge hit in the market. While most major brands like Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Nokia have more or less cemented their position in the entry-level smartphone segment, there's always room for more additions to the list. Now, since Facebook is an integral part of the youth culture, companies are more inclined towards...

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Motorola launches Xoom 2 tablets

Motorola is hitting the market with all new Xoom tablets.Dubbed the Xoom 2, the new Android tablets are making their initial debut today for consumers in the U.K. and Ireland. The tablets come in two flavors--a traditional 10-inch Xoom 2 with built-in options for business users and an 8.2-inch Xoom 2 Media Edition.Both tablets are powered by dual-core 1.2 GHz processors, run Android 3.2 Honeycomb, and offer Wi-Fi connectivity. The displays are strengthened...

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Ice Cream Sandwich makes tough security taste better

There's more to Ice Cream Sandwich than just better camera controls, near-field communication support, and the redesigned interface. Google has also been working on making the latest version of Android the safest yet, and several of the features are mighty sharp for a melty brick of ice cream.The biggest of them all is that you'll be able to fully encrypt your ICS device. This means that all your data will be on lockdown, inaccessible even to you...

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Verizon's iPhone 4S vs. Android? (Ask Maggie)

It was only a few years ago when Verizon Wireless customers complained they didn't have enough choices when it came to cool new phones. Now it looks Verizon is the place to be for the latest and greatest in smartphones.But what's an average smartphone consumer to do? It seems like every week, Verizon is adding a new "flagship" device to its offering. While Verizon representatives say they are simply trying to offer customers more choice, they're...

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Nokia to unveil first Windows phone this quarter

Nokia is promising to launch its first Windows Phone during the current quarter.CEO Stephen Elop made the announcement yesterday at a technology event in the company's home base of Helsinki, Finland, according to Reuters and other news sources. Nokia has been eyeing a 2011 launch for its first Windows Phone devices since this summer, so it has little choice but to hit the market this quarter to reach that goal.The first handset could come as early...

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Mozilla loses strategy exec Mike Shaver

Mike Shaver, vice president of technical strategy at Mozilla and an influential Firefox executive, is leaving the non-profit that develops the open-source browser.Shaver had worked directly for Mozilla for six years, though he worked longer before that as part of the volunteer community around the software project. He announced the departure on his blog yesterday: I've decided that it's time for me to move on from the Mozilla Corporation, where...

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Facebook plans artsy photo filters? Groan.

Hipstamatic is one of many applications that let people use filters to add effects to photos. (Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET) I'm probably going against the will of the people here, but sighed heavily this morning when I read in the New York Times that Facebook plans to release filters to give photos artsy effects. You know what I'm talking about--the shots with the heavily darkened corners that old cameras produced, the desaturated...

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New Aurora 8 works on memory, guts, and add-ons

Mozilla upgraded its developer's edition of Firefox today to version 8, including changing how forced third-party add-ons are handled and debuting a series of under-the-hood tweaks that continue a renewed assault on performance gains made in Firefox 7 Beta. Firefox 8 Aurora can be downloaded for Windows, Mac and Linux, and it marks the first release of Aurora for Android. Firefox's new add-on confirmation window, debuting in Aurora 8. (Credit:...

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Apple to face fast Android tablets

 around the CES 2012 timeframe," Nvidia said in a statement to CNET on Friday. It's safe to presume that Nvidia isn't just blowing smoke. Its processors today power all of the most popular Android Honeycomb tablets, including the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Toshiba Thrive, and Acer Iconia Tab A500. Future Sony tablets will use Tegra too. Nvidia claims its upcoming quad-core processor will offer higher performance while being more...

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Amazon cloud outage downs Netflix, Quora

Amazon Web Services' cloud-computing infrastructure experienced a brief network outage this evening that knocked offline popular sites such as Netflix, Quora, Reddit, and Foursquare. The network connectivity issues struck Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) at Amazon's northern Virginia site, which handles AWS operations for the U.S. East Coast at 7:39 p.m. PDT and were resolved about 25 minutes later, according to the Amazon Web Services Health...

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Vizio launches 8-inch tablet for $299

The 8-inch Vizio tablet costs $299. (Credit: Vizio) Vizio has launched its 8-inch tablet at a price that could make it a key player in the Android tablet space. Customers looking to get their hands on the device can head over to Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, Costco, and Amazon, among other retailers, and pick up the tablet for $299. Vizio's decision to drop the price of its tablet to $299 comes as a surprise. In June, reports surfaced, claiming Wal-Mart...

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Apple sued over speedy Mac OS X startup

                     Mac OS X is being cited in a new suit against Apple.                    (Credit: Apple) Apple has been sued for the Mac OS X startup process. Operating Systems Solutions, a Florida company, recently sued Apple in the U.S. District Court...

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Apple launches sub-$1,000 iMac

Is a new, cheaper iMac launching next week?(Credit: Apple) Apple has quietly launched a cheaper iMac more than a week before earlier reports expected. Apple's new offering costs $999, and comes with a 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 processor and a 250GB hard drive. The computer is running the AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics card. The cheaper iMac is designed for education institutions only, which means individuals cannot purchase the computer at...

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Apple iPhone tops smartphone charts in 2nd quarter

Apple reigns supreme in the second quarter, according to IDC. (Credit: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker) In one short year, Apple has toppled Nokia and taken control of the worldwide smartphone market. According to research firm IDC, Apple's sales of 20.3 million iPhones worldwide during the second quarter of 2011 helped the company secure 19.1 percent market share and lead all other vendors. The company's shipments grew 141.7 percent compared...

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