Tablets crowd gadget show, chasing iPad's tail

 Tablets crowd gadget show chasing iPad's tail

LAS VEGAS – Big tablets and small tablets, white ones and black ones. Cheap ones and expensive ones. Brand names famous and obscure at the starting line of a race where the iPad is already a speeding dot near the horizon.

It's impossible to walk the floor at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show without stumbling across a multitude of keyboard-less touch-screen computers expected to hit the market in the coming months. With Apple estimated to have sold more than 13 million iPads last year alone, the competition is clearly for second place, but even that prize is worth pursuing.

Google to fix phone bug that misdirects text messages

 Google to fix phone bug that misdirects text messages

Google says it will fix a mobile phone bug that mistakenly sends text messages to the wrong people.

The glitch, which has hit a small portion of the company's Android mobile phones, first emerged last year.
Those affected say some of their texts have ended up in the hands of random recipients.

After investigating the issue, Google said it had "developed a fix" and would be rolling it out soon.
It is nearly a year since the problem was first reported, although the number of incidents appeared to increase last summer.

WikiLeaks US wants Twitter account info

WikiLeaks US wants Twitter account info

WIKILEAKS says its Twitter account details have been subpoenaed by the US government and that it hopes to fight the order. 
 
WikiLeaks said today that US investigators have gone to San Francisco-based Twitter Inc to demand the private messages, contact information and other personal details of Julian Assange and three people associated with the secret-spilling website. The popular micro-blogging site has declined comment.

Tablet-mania at Las Vegas gadget show

 Tablet-mania at Las Vegas gadget show

LAS VEGAS (AFP) – Electronic book readers were all the rage at last year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as companies raced to come out with rivals to Amazon's popular Kindle. This year they're all chasing the iPad.

CES, which opened on Thursday, has been hit by tablet-mania.
Dozens of companies -- from the best known brands in the industry to total unknowns -- are displaying touchscreen tablet computers or prototypes in a bid to take a bite out of a fast-growing market dominated so far by Apple.

TV makers get ahead of themselves as customers go slow on 3D sets

 TV makers get ahead of themselves as customers go slow on 3D sets

PEOPLE are buying a lot of televisions but mostly passing on 3D, according to a report released this week.

According to the research group DisplaySearch, TV manufacturers sold 247 million TVs worldwide in 2010 — a 17 per cent increase over the previous year, when the world was embroiled in the worst of the global downturn.
But while TV sales were strong in Europe and Japan, in the US consumers remained too spooked by the recession to splurge on a new set for most of the year.
"As unemployment remains high and consumers remain sensitive to price, budget-conscious consumers have been surprised by limited price declines," said Paul Gagnon, director of TV research in North America at DisplaySearch.
Mr Gagnon added that manufacturers chose to add premium features such as 3D displays and internet connectivity instead of slash prices.

SEC rule likely to trigger Facebook IPO in 2012

 

SAN FRANCISCO – With so many investors becoming fans of the company, Facebook will be legally required to begin sharing more information about its finances and strategy by April 2012, according to documents distributed to prospective shareholders.

Some of the numbers that began trickling out Thursday were eye-popping — most notably a net profit margin of nearly 30 percent, much higher than most people had previously speculated.
The owner of the world's largest Internet social network, privately held since it started in a Harvard University dorm room seven years ago, will be forced to open its books because it expects to have more than 500 shareholders at some point this year, according to a person who has reviewed the documents handed out Thursday. The person asked not to be identified because the documents are only being given to an elite group selected to buy a stake in Facebook through a fund packaged by the company's newest investor, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Motorola, Samsung Sharp reveal iPad challenge

THREE electronics giants revealed tablets that could outshine the market-leading Apple iPad yesterday, including tablet computers with slide-out keyboards, powerful processors and cameras front and back. 
 
Motorola, Samsung and Sharp all jumped on board the tablet bandwagon at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday, just one day after ASUS showed off four models to go on sale later this year.
Even more tablet computers are expected to be revealed today, including offerings from Dell and BlackBerry, in the wake of the Consumer Electronics Association prediction that consumers would spend “close to $30 million” on the technology in 2011.
Motorola’s newly unveiled 10.1-inch tablet, called XOOM, is the most powerful tablet to date, featuring a dual core processor more commonly seen in full-size laptops.
It will also be the first to feature Google’s Android Honeycomb software designed for tablets, rather than phones, and it will come with two cameras and a high-definition screen.

Why Is This News – Live NYE Spotify US Launch Countdown Edition!

 Why Is This News – Live NYE Spotify US Launch Countdown Edition!

It’s fair to say that, of all of the writers at TechCrunch, we’re the ones who have been most skeptical about Swedish music startup (and newly-minted verb) Spotify.

And for what reason? Because the company lied to us on multiple occasions? Because they routinely brief journalists with off the record half-truths, and then later deny those same reports? Because CEO Daniel Ek (pronounced “Eek” – he’s Swedish) still refuses to go on the record with us? Sure, those are all good reasons. But really our most consistent beef with Spotify has been the company’s inability to launch in the US, despite briefing reporters for the past TWO YEARS that such a launch is imminent.

    “Spotify… aims to start U.S. operations in the third quarter. The Stockholm-based company, which has 7 million users in Europe, is in talks with unidentified U.S. Internet and mobile-phone service providers about partnerships, Senior Vice President Paul Brown said in an interview yesterday.” – Bloomberg (March)

    “Spotify‘s SVP of strategic partnerships Paul Brown is to leave the music streaming service this week for a new startup outside of the digital music space.” – TechCrunch Europe (August)