Device tear down videos are as frequent practice as device boxings even so, tear down videos serve a greater good. That of course getting, need to you ever occur to require to fix your device or replace parts, you can do so with a visual guide for reference. The folks over at Directfix have taken apart a BlackBerry Bold 9900 for us all, although — we hope you never need to make use of it. But either way, excellent to know it’s there ought to you ever need it.

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. DirectFix tears down a Blackberry Bold 9900 for the greater very good

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Ever considering that Google told use that they were planning another Nexus device to pilot Ice Cream Sandwich, we’ve waited patiently (feel: spamming F5 on Google’s weblog every 5 minutes) to see what’s in store for us next. Rumor has it that Google has narrowed it down to just a couple of large players, which includes one “big surprise”. And what a few large players they are.

We continue to see a few devices rise from the dozens, so we have to assume that there is at least some truth to the rumors. Among these supposed prototypes are a Samsung device with a dual-core 1.5GHz OMAP4460, and HTC with dual-core 1.8 Ghz Krait Snapdragon MSM8960 (/drool), a Sony Ericsson with dual-core 1.two GHz Scorpion MSM8吸, and an LG with dual-core 1.five GHz OMAP4460. Rumor also tells of a “rather svelte” “really large surprise” with an Intel CPU, which is intriguing simply because it would be Intel’s 1st foray into the Android market. That said, could they be any a lot more vague?

Still, any one of these devices would make for an outstanding telephone. This author has his eye set on the HTC device for a lot more than a few factors, the largest of which getting its unreleased Krait Snapdragon processor. This CPU delivers up to twice the density of any chip previous to it, although its 28nm draw does far more with much less power. Many would argue that these processors won’t be prepared in time for a release this year, but sources tell us that HTC is working about-the-clock to make this a reality. Definitely, a device such as this has the prospective to be the next “developer telephone”, a la the Nexus One. HTC’s stance on rooting just makes it all the much more appealing.

As to the “big surprise”, it had much better be a doozy. We’ve observed Android released on so several devices (phones, watches, Television’s, etc), that Google would have to release an iPhone to genuinely catch this author off-guard.

Google Down to the Last Few: Samsung, HTC, and one “Big Surprise” all Possibilities for the New Nexus Prime

Android News, Rumours, and Updates

I’m sure many people are going to read the title of this article and say, “Duh.” We all know that the Galaxy S II is a very powerful device, fit to be reckoned with. However, it may go even beyond that. Research firm ABI Research has begun a new aptly titled Teardown Research Service, in which they take apart various electronic devices and analyze every chip and component even beyond what your normal super geek would. As part of this service, they have deconstructed and taken a look at the Samsung Galaxy S II and what they found goes apparently even beyond our conceptions of the device. For the details of their findings, join in after the break! Read More…

Samsung Galaxy S II Torn Down, Analyzed, and Found To Be Top Tier

Android News, Rumours, and Updates

I’m sure many people are going to read the title of this article and say, “Duh.” We all know that the Galaxy S II is a very powerful device, fit to be reckoned with. However, it may go even beyond that. Research firm ABI Research has begun a new aptly titled Teardown Research Service, in which they take apart various electronic devices and analyze every chip and component even beyond what your normal super geek would. As part of this service, they have deconstructed and taken a look at the Samsung Galaxy S II and what they found goes apparently even beyond our conceptions of the device. For the details of their findings, join in after the break! Read More…

Samsung Galaxy S II Torn Down, Analyzed, and Found To Be Top Tier

Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Android Activations and How They Break Down originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Steve Jobs finally got to demolish his house, there’s photographic proof he met (again) with President Barack Obama, and Apple’s filed some more interesting patents.

View full post on Macworld

The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to overturn proposed rules that bar Internet service providers from blocking legal content, a rule called “net neutrality” that carriers generally oppose and content creators and consumer advocates generally favor.

An identical measure was introduced in the Senate by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

Communications subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) offered the amendment, which passed in a 244 to 181 vote.

“However, the amendment is simply a stop gap measure while we work towards passing a more permanent solution,” Rep. Walden said. “I would encourage everybody who cares about keeping the government out of the business of running the internet to cosponsor the Resolution of Disapproval, H.J.Res. 37, which would nullify the rules themselves.”

The FCC passed net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote in December, to the dismay of large telcos like AT&T and Verizon Communications. Verizon filed suit against the action by arguing the FCC doesn’t have the legal authority to implement the rules. MetroPCS also filed a lawsuit against the FCC.

Jeffery Brown on the News Hour reviewed the December FCC decision.

Today’s resolutions to eliminate the Net Neutrality provisions were introduced on the same day that all five FCC members appeared before Walden’s subcommittee to defend their party-line vote in December approving the rules, which are aimed at barring broadband providers from discriminating against Internet content, applications or services.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said (pdf)

“However, the amendment is simply a stop gap measure while we work towards passing a more permanent solution,” Rep. Walden said. “I would encourage everybody who cares about keeping the government out of the business of running the internet to cosponsor the Resolution of Disapproval, H.J.Res. 37, which would nullify the rules themselves.”

In debate on Thursday, Republican Representative Steve Scalise said the rule would stand in the way of innovation and kill jobs.

“We think the FCC overstepped their boundaries,” he said. “This is something that should be done and solved in the halls of Congress.”

But Democratic Representative Edward Markey said killing the rule would squash innovation. He said regulators have in the past stepped in to ensure competition — as they did when AT&T fought the sale of telephones made by other companies to replace their black rotary telephones.

The amendment was attached to H.R. 1, the continuing resolution that defines how the federal government will spend its money during the fiscal year. After the Republican-controlled House has passed H.R. 1, it will go on to the Democrat-controlled Senate, which could reject Walden’s amendment. Differences between the House and Senate versions of the spending bill will need to be resolved before it goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.

View full post on dailywireless.org

 

Having issues with logging into BlackBerry App World today? You’re not alone. Many users have been reporting seeing the above error when logging in today or some other variation of. We’re not positive as to when it started or when it will be back up. Although, at some point it did seem as though it was back then it went down again. We’ll keep you all updated on this when it does come back up. In the meantime, check the CrackBerry App Store instead for your app needs. Thanks to everyone who sent this into us!

*Update* – Looks like it’s coming back online for most people now

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. BlackBerry App World down for you? You're not alone

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

In breaking news, Eric Schmidt has announced he is stepping down as the CEO of Google, leaving Larry Page in charge of the massive company. Eric Schmidt will stay with Google, but, as of April 4th, Larry Page will take over the day-to-day operations. Schmidt’s new role in Google will be Executive Chairman, where he will focus on things like tech partnerships and tech thought leadership.

Read More…

Breaking News: Eric Schmidt steps down as Google CEO, to be replaced by Larry Page

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Modu, a manufacturer of small-form-factor Android devices (among other types of phones), has been forced to close down their doors, sell of stocks, and try to make enough money to pay off their employees. Unfortunately, according to Israeli sources, the company isn’t even able to sell off enough assets to do that.

The company made these small devices that would plug into “jackets” to extend out their functionality. Modu never really had a big name here in the states, but nonetheless, it’s sad to see them go. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Little known Android device maker Modu forced to close down

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

T-mobile has yet to officially announce the date in which the Dell Streak 7 will launch by saying “in the coming weeks”, however now T-Mobile has put up a splash page allowing you to put in your email address to get notification when the device is released. You can check out the full page here.

Now, why don’t we take a look at this puppy being torn down? Check out the video below on the Dell Streak 7 getting torn down piece by piece to unveil all it’s inner parts.

Via: Engadget

View full post on AndroidSPIN

Wireless pioneer Craig McCaw, the chairman of Clearwire, has decided to resign from his position effective December 31, the company said in a regulatory filing late Thursday.

Clearwire, the first U.S. operator to offer “4G” services, launched WiMAX in 2008 in Baltimore. The company currently offers WiMAX broadband wireless services in 68 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia. It had 2.8 million subscribers by the end of September and predicts it will have 4 million by the end of the year, twice as many as initially expected, says Business Week.

Clearwire is majority-owned by Sprint Nextel. It is backed by Intel, Comcast, Google and others who pumped $3.2 billion into the company in 2008, to create the nation-wide 4G wireless network.

The company said McCaw’s decision to resign is not due to any disagreements with the company on any matters relating to the its operations, policies, or practices.

In November, Clearwire cut 15 percent of its staff amid financing challenges. Earlier this month it completed a $1.33 billion debt offering and said it will use the proceeds for general corporate purposes including capital spending.

McCaw was nominated to the position by Eagle River Holdings, one of Clearwire’s biggest shareholders. Eagle River has the right to nominate a director to replace McCaw and intends to choose Ben Wolff, according to the filing. Wolff, who was a co- chairman of Clearwire until early 2009, is chief executive officer of ICO Global Communications Holdings Ltd.

The company is facing new competition from Verizon’s LTE service on the 700 MHz band, along with AT&T which will begin 700 MHz LTE operations in the second half of 2011 and T-Mobile which is using an enhanced HSPA+ technology they say delivers equivalent speeds.

Craig McCaw made his fortune with cellular telephony. He was the first to stich together a disparate group of mom and pop cellular operators to create the first nationwide network – Cellular One, which he
sold to AT&T for in 1994 for $11.5 billion.

In 2003-2004, Craig McCaw stitched together a nationwide 2.6 GHz network right under the eyes of AT&T and other telecommunications giants.

Clearwire may be cash poor, but it spectrum rich, owning some 120 MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum in major cities throughout the United States.T-Mobile paid $4.2 billion for 20 Mhz of nationwide AWS spectrum (1700/2100 MHz) in 2006.

Clearwire is conducting LTE tests this winter and throughout early 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona (see DW: Clearwire to Test LTE ). During the trials, Clearwire will collaborate with Beceem, and other partners, to determine the best methods for enabling end-user devices to take advantage of a potential multi-mode WiMAX/LTE network.

Craig McCaw’s satellite venture ICO, in the 2 GHz band, launched ICO G1 in April 2008, the largest commercial satellite ever launched at the time. But ICO’s business plan of providing multimedia to vehicles never panned out, and now the company is in the process of emerging from bankruptcy as DBSD Satellite Services.

Related Dailywireless articles include; Clearwire to Test LTE, Qualcomm Sells MediaFLO Spectrum for $1.93B, MSS: Stuck in Space, Technical Knockout for 4G?, End Near for Indian WiMAX?, Yota Dumps WiMAXThe 700 Mhz Club , TerreStar Genus: Can Anyone Hear Me?, Clearwire + T-Mobile?, Clear Puck: Hat Trick?, Phoney Spectrum Scarcity, US Wireless Business: Good Margins, Clearwire to Test LTE, Cheat Sheet for Cellco Financials, Clearwire’s $900M Payday, Mobile WiMAX: The Attack Plan, Mobile WiMAX: It Begins, ClearWire Launches Pre-WiMax, Clearwire’s Launch Party in Portland , Intel Inside Clearwire , BellSouth Expands WiMAX, VeriLAN’s Portland City Cloud, First Commercial 802.16a Switched On

View full post on dailywireless.org

Good news Delicious fans — Yahoo has finally made something of an announcement, saying that the bookmarking service will not be shut down, but sold off.

Despite a leaked, internal image that listed Delicious and other services in a “sunset” category, Yahoo denies it is planning to shut the bookmarking service down.

The Delicious blog says the service is looking for “a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service and our users.”

According to the same announcement, the tech press is to blame for assuming that “sunset” meant shut down. More likely, Yahoo simply wasn’t ready for the level of backlash that rumors of Delicious’ demise brought about, and now the company is backpedalling.

Yahoo also hasn’t made any announcement regarding MyBlogLog, Yahoo Buzz or any of the other services listed as “sunset” in the leaked graphic that circulated last week.

Presumably, in some cases, sunset does in fact mean “shut down.”

Still, the word that Delicious will live on in some form is good news for the millions of users and bookmarks the service currently hosts. Unfortunately, Yahoo has not denied that it has laid off the engineers and technical staff behind Delicious.

See Also:

• Yahoo Plans to Kill Off Delicious Bookmarking Service
• Xmarks Lives: LastPass Buys Downtrodden Bookmark Syncing Service
• Geocities Lives On as Massive Torrent Download
• Geocities, Identity and the Problem With Disappearing Web Services

View full post on Webmonkey

FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, offered a sneak preview of their upcoming Net Neutrality Order on December 1.

The rules will bar “unreasonable discrimination” on wired networks, but wireless operators get a free pass, as long as they tell everybody what they’re doing and don’t throw a total block in front of traffic, notes Ars Technica.

That’s not enough for Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who told the Practicing Law Institute’s annual telecommunications summit that she “still has many questions” about the proposal, particularly whether it adequately covers wireless broadband.

“While I recognize that there are distinctions between wired and wireless networks, I think it is essential that our wireless networks—those of the present and future—grow in an open way just as our wired ones have,” she said.

“We should ensure that, while there are two kinds of networks, we don’t cause the development of two kinds of Internet worlds,” Clyburn warned. “Aside from technical differences, the basic user experience should be the same.”

CTIA signaled that it may sue the commission if it tries to add any more of the regulations beyond transparency and no-blocking, which they reluctantly agreed to as part of the compromise order.

Senator Maria Cantwell and Rep. Jay Inslee, both Washington state Democrats, also wrote FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Friday to urge him to take strong network neutrality action.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps has indicated he would like to see the rules applied to both. He and the other commissioners are currently working on edits and input on a draft order, which is scheduled to get a Dec. 21 vote.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Recently, Distimo has released their November 2010 report that helps companies, and individuals, gain a better grasp on the analytics of the mobile app ecosystem. If you aren’t familiar with Distimo, the company provides in-depth coverage of emerging trends within the mobile application industry. The services that Distimo offers include the monthly Distimo Report, which covers the following mobile application stores:

• Apple App Store – iPhone
• Apple App Store – iPad
• BlackBerry App World
• Google Android Market
• Nokia Ovi Store
• Palm App Catalog
• Windows Marketplace
• Windows Phone 7 Marketplace

They also offer a monitoring service for developers; which allows them to see daily downloads and revenue, as well as review their app ranking and the ranking of the competition. Within the free monthly reports, readers can compare the top free and paid applications from all of the app stores above listed; as well as view price point comparison. While this report does focus more on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, there are still some interesting facts to be seen from BlackBerry App World.

read more

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Distimo monthly report breaks down BlackBerry App World

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Turkey, cranberry, stuffing, mashed potatoes, don’t forget the pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving is all about the food. What we would rather not have it be about is all the calories we take in during a typical Thanksgiving dinner. So after the leftovers have been tucked away and our bellies our stuffed to the point where moving seems impossible, it’s good to know that WorkSmart Labs, makers of CardioTrainer, have come up with a fun way to ease our minds (and out waistlines) with Burn the Turkey.

Burn the Turkey is a homescreen widget that links up to CardioTrainer and tracks as you shed the 3000 calories typical of a big Turkey Day feast. Watch the meat fall off the bones, and the calories tick off as you work towards your goal. It’s a fun little app with a good purpose, and with it staring at you every time you light up your phone it might just provide the motivation you need to burn off that turkey.

View full post on Android Phone Fans

As quickly as we saw the HTC Merge in 360 view, it was taken from us! Verizon pulled it down shortly after it was visible on their site, but someone managed to get a video of the 360 view regardless, just for all of us to get the chance to see it if you happened to miss it online.

Have a look for yourself below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

HTC Merge 360 View Video after Verizon Pulled It Down

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

We’ve had Kinect for a while now and have tried all three dance games – the hardcore favorite Dance Central, the club focused Dance Masters and the Hawaiian themed Dance Paradise. But the question is which of these games are best for a family? Well, for our family here’s how they each got on:

Dance Central

Dance Central has a steep learning curve and demands accurate moves from the player. To offset this it has a very good Break it Down tutorial mode to take you through each step. If you are serious about learning to dance properly this is a good bet. Dance Central also has the most family friendly dancers, and presents more of a hip-hop vibe.

Dance Central’s multiplayer modes are only turn-taking though, which means that this is not so good for family groups. Other dance games enable you to dance simultaneously with another player.

Dance Paradise

Dance Paradise uses the Xbox 360 avatars well. You can see yourself in avatar form on the screen dancing in real time – although this isn’t a one-to-one mapping. The dancing itself is more technical than the other Kinect dance games, and takes a bit of getting used to the “lanes” system. Once you master it though it is actually the easiest game. Dance Paradise does includes the original music videos to each song that make it less suitable for younger children.

Dance Paradise offers a good range of multiplayer modes that are good for families. For larger groups there is also a ten player mode where each person takes a turn on the dance floor.

Dance Masters

Dance Masters places a video image of the player on the screen so they can see themselves in real time. The moves are fast and frantic and the tutorial is not as in depth – or song specific – as Dance Central. There is a lot of footwork involved in each dance, perhaps reflecting its roots in dance mat games. Dance Masters also has more scantily clothed dancers and has a grown-up club feel to it.

Dance Masters also has a good simultaneous two player mode that also has the novelty of seeing each player on screen.

Which Kinect dance game fits for your family depends how old your children are, and what you are looking for. If it’s serious dancing then Dance Central is hard to beat and if you have older kids then Dance Paradise is a lot of fun. For teenagers who want to recreate the club vibe at home there is Dance Masters. But if you want some casual dancing fun like we do there is still a lot of mileage back on the Wii with Just Dance 2.

View full post on GeekDad

Last week Nokia made a couple of important announcements that I meant to cover and just became too busy to focus on what was said. One announcement was on the steps to accelerate its transfomation that unfortunately includes laying off 1,800 employees. The other announcement was very encouraging as Nokia refines its development strategy and does away with the Symbian^3 and Symbian^4 distintion and more. There are some extremely important bits of information in these announcements that should encourage all of us Nokia fans for the future, including the possibility that our wonderful Nokia N8 devices will be upgradeable for quite some time.

When it comes to Nokia strategy and their future, I look to my good friend Rafe Blandford for answers since he is the most knowledgeable person about Nokia and Symbian that I have ever met in my life. I highly recommend you go read Rafe’s article on the future of Symbian. I think you will come away from it as encouraged and excited as I am about the future of Nokia and Symbian.

View full post on Nokia Experts

Three random news outlets agree: Apple’s talking subscription music services. Also, Apple’s working on a bug fix for Down Under and Verizon’s got a fix on the party line.

View full post on Macworld

Twitter’s CEO, Evan Williams, is handing over the reins to Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo.

View full post on Macworld

Qualcomm is in the process of shutting down its mobile broadcast FLO TV service. After hesitantly entering the direct-to-consumer side of the space just a couple years ago, Qualcomm is now cutting its losses on that front and is in the process of shutting down FLO TV.

Wholesale customers, such as those on AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, will not be immediately affected. The white-label service, which is resold by both carriers, will continue running as is for the foreseeable future. But that is likely to change down the road.

The news, which was first reported by paidContent, has now been confirmed by RCR Wireless News.

View full post on dailywireless.org

Product: GX660

Manufacturer: MSI

Wired Rating: 5

The only explanation I can guess at for why the MSI GX660 looks the way it does is that someone made a bet with an MSI engineer, challenging him to design the most horrendously ugly computer possible.

This engineer has succeeded admirably. Not since the original Dell Inspiron XPS has a computer this fugly been unleashed upon America.

It is a throwback to an era that has never actually existed except in the minds of ’70s sci-fi enthusiasts, with harsh angles, weird textures, and a combination of automotive inspirations and goofy octagonal designs attempting to live together.

It’s like someone saw a Battlestar Galactica highlight reel and just didn’t get it. Even the Windows desktop wallpaper is hideous.

And MSI, known for its dirt-cheap yet capable machines, wants to convince you to fork over $1,750 for this monstrosity.

Pushing past the design aesthetic, here’s what MSI is giving you for your investment: a high-res, 1920 x 1080-pixel, 15.6-inch LCD; a 1.73-GHz Core i7 Q740 CPU; two 320-GB hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration; 6 GB of RAM; and an ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card. Hey, looks pretty good.

Designed as a gaming laptop (complete with arrows on the WASD keys), the GX660 is powerful, but hardly a record-setter. Benchmarks were on target for a high-end machine, but we’ve gotten better numbers on both general apps and games out of a ThinkPad.

Props to MSI for at least putting a real battery in the system. With 1 hour, 51 minutes of battery life, the MSI is genuinely portable in ways that few gaming rigs are. Its mere 7.6-pound weight is positively gossamer for this category, too.

We also liked the MSI’s touch-sensitive control panel along the top of the base. These seem to be all the rage, but most barely work. The MSI’s icons are actually easy to comprehend, and they perform as expected.

We were less thrilled with the much-touted Dynaudio speaker setup, which puts very visible, oversized speakers on both corners of the base. They’re nothing to write home about. In fact, it would have been nice if they’d been even louder, so as to drown out the jet-engine–class fan that’s installed to cool the dang thing.

WIRED Quite affordable for a gaming notebook — it’s just too bad the performance isn’t top-notch, too. Dual USB 3.0 ports. Light and long-lived, considering the category.

TIRED So ugly you’ll keep it in a paper bag. Weak keyboard, with boneheaded numeric keypad layout.

View full post on Wired Product Reviews

The free, cross-browser, cross-platform bookmarking sync service XMarks is shutting its doors. Despite some 2 million users, the company has never found a way to make money and can no longer afford to continue.

XMarks will continue to function for another three months — until January 10, 2011 — after which the service will pull the plug, the company says in a blog post. There is no real replacement for XMarks, though the company has set a up page to help users migrate away from from XMarks which lists a few suggestions, like Evernote and Sugarsync.

XMarks started as a Firefox extension for syncing bookmarks between your various Firefox installations. The company then expanded to work with Google Chrome, IE and Safari, keeping all of those browsers in perfect sync.

Earlier this year the company added another very useful feature that syncs your open tabs between browsers (and even your phone, thanks to the web-based interface).

Unfortunately, despite an incredibly useful set of features, XMarks never found a way to make money. Todd Agulnick, co-founder and CTO, writes on the company’s blog that XMarks was always “predicated on the hypothesis that a business model would emerge to support the free service.”

Agulnick recounts several of XMarks attempts to make a profit, including a smart search tool based on anonymized data from the over 100 million bookmarks stored on its servers. While the search tool “turned out amazing results” writes Agulnick, it only worked well for certain types of queries and was “terrible at finding facts.”

Sadly, a business model for XMarks never emerged and, faced with rising hosting costs and expenses, XMarks has decided to shut down.

Perhaps part of the reason for XMarks demise is that Firefox and Chrome have both added their own bookmark syncing systems to the browser itself, eliminating the need for an add-on. Mozilla has built its Sync service directly into the latest versions of Firefox (including the nascent mobile version) and Google Chrome can now sync your settings to any installation of Chrome using your Google account. Safari’s syncing is handled by MobileMe.

Now, if XMarks were to try charging for its services, it would be competing against free tools that don’t require any effort on the users part.

Of course, no browser vendor makes a syncing tool that syncs data between web browsers like XMarks did. That’s a feature, for those of us that used it heavily, that will be sorely missed.

See Also:

• Xmarks Syncs Open Tabs Across Browsers, iPhone
• Mozilla Gets Ready to Weave Syncing Into Firefox
• New Firefox Designs Rethink Browser Bookmarks
• Opera Link Connects Your Bookmarks Across Browsers

View full post on Webmonkey