Samsung ''Nexus Two'' Gets Its First Hands-on

A mystery source goes hands-on with Samsung's upcoming Nexus Two.
So we've heard rumors that the Nexus Two will be made by Samsung, and we've also heard reports that Motorola will produce the device. Considering Samsung already has an Android event planned for November 8, we were more inclined to believe the Samsung reports, and it looks like our inclinations were correct.

Gizmodo reports that the Samsung Nexus Two is real and says they've spoken to someone who got a hands-on with the device. The Nexus Two is said to be quite similar to the Galaxy S and though tapering around the edges makes it feel slimmer, Gizmodo's source says it's probably the same thickness.
Specswise, this person didn't get much details but he or she believes they saw a 4-inch AMOLED display on a slightly curved body with a front-facing camera. Though the device appeared to be running a stock version of Android, the front-facing camera could be indicative of Gingerbread, considering video chat is one of the features being talked about. Still, it's also possible that the Nexus Two may launch with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Google will release a Gingerbead update once 2.3 is finished.
There's just over a week until Samsung's event so I guess we'll know for sure one way or another on the 8th. In the mean time, check out the full details of the Gizmodo source's hands-on.
*Image is a mockup by Gizmodo

PSP2 Will Pack More Horses Than Xbox 360

Sony's rumored PSP2 will supposedly pack more horses and RAM than Microsoft's Xbox 360 stable.

As if to completely annihilate any theories that the PSP2 and PlayStation Phone could be the same device, new rumors have surfaced indicating that the PSP2 will pack more  processing power than Microsoft's current Xbox 360.

There's good reason why the PSP2 is a hot topic--it could pose as a serious threat to Apple's iOS platform. As reported Thursday, the PSP platform is backed by Sony's PlayStation Network service offering games, movies, and television shows. The only thing it lacks is music, productive apps, and a device that can access the store anywhere.
Friday's rumors surrounding the PSP2 centers on three factors--that it won't feature a UMD drive (even though Sony said it wasn't abandoning the format), the device's alleged codename "Veta," and hardware specs that will supposedly rival the Xbox 360 console in terms of pure processing.
As a comparison, the PSPgo and PSP 3000 use a MIPS R4000 CPU clocked up to 333 MHz and a mere 64 MB of RAM. The Xbox 360 features a 3.2 GHz CPU and 512 MB of RAM. The upcoming PSP 2 handheld will supposedly feature 1 GB of RAM-- that's just insane when compared to the previous model's specs.
Right now Sony is supposedly deciding over how PSP2 owners will store games. Without a UMD drive, the install load should be massive at best-- single layer UMD discs contain 900 MB whereas the dual layer discs contain 1.8 GB. New PSP2 games should require significantly more storage space, possibly around 5 GB or more (that's a guess). There also needs to be room for movies, TV shows, digital comics and whatever else Sony plans to throw on the PlayStation Network.
Could the PSP2 and PlayStation Phone still be the same device? At this point it's still possible. The phone is slated to feature a 1 GHz Qualcomm CP

Publish Post

U, 512 MB of RAM, 1 GB of internal storage, and an HD-capable screen ranging from 3.7 to 4.1-inches. The lack of a UMD actually works in this theory's favor, however the CPU aspect just doesn't pan out, especially if the new Sony unit will surpass the Xbox 360.
Then again, there are reports that two form factors were shown during the Tokyo Game Show. Perhaps Sony plans to offer two versions with the same base smartphone features--one that plays the new PSP2 games (long form factor) and one that doesn't (slide-out form factor), offering only "minis" on the gaming side.
Still, if the PSP2/PSPhone device is more powerful than the Xbox 360, wouldn't that diminish the value of Sony's other platform, the PlayStation 3? Where's Mystery, Inc. when we need them? Jinkies!

Happy 10th Birthday, PlayStation 2

You're a classic, PS2.

Sony has always boasted that its PlayStation 2 had a 10-year lifespan. This was a bold statement when consoles typically hang around for five years before fading into obsolesce.

The PlayStation 2 hit North American stores in October of 2000.
A decade later, the PlayStation 2 still on store shelves in a very slim form factor for $99. It still has one of the best game libraries, which cater to more than 140 million of them around the world today.
Then tell us what your top 3 favorite PS2 games are in the comments below!

Google Staff Can Get Laundry Done for Them

Google was just named the number one place to work in America, and really, is it any wonder when they have people cleaning employees' apartments and doing laundry?

Between 20 percent time projects, fantastic cafeterias and scooters to get around the building, it's easy to see why the work environment at Google is envied by many. And, if you thought you were green with envy before, how about we turn you into a green-eyed monster with this next one? Google has teamed up with TaskRabbit, an online service that brokers odd jobs in selected major cities around the country, to do employees' chores outside the office. Tasks they'll do range from assembling IKEA furniture, doing your laundry and walking your dog. Having someone do your odd jobs couldn't be easier. You just pick a task and state how much you're willing to pay to have it done. Then, one of TaskRabbits 'runners' accepts the job, and you pay once they're finished. Easy-peasy!
However handy this service may be for individuals, Gawker reports that Google is using it in a whole new way: as a perk for employees. Yes, the search giant is apparently awarding staff TaskRabbit credits. Founder Leah Busque spoke to Gawker and while she didn't go into details (such as how much Google is paying for jobs), she did confirm that they have a partnership with Google to provide staff with this perk and said Google isn't alone in offering this service to employees.
"We are working with other companies to roll out the deal to their employees as well," Busque told Gawker. "The perks are obvious - employees get the extra help they need and some work life balance, while companies get happy and loyal employees that are more focused on their work (without the stresses of the 'little' stuff)."
And I thought I had it good because working from home means I can do laundry at lunch. Guess I'll just have to console myself by napping at lunchtime instead.

Desk Lamp Fashioned from Old Pipes

It's time to shed some light on your indoor plumbing.
Some things just don't warrant recycling. Old metal pipes come to mind. Sure, they can get melted down for scrap, but that's a bit too much effort just to minimize landfill space. One artist has come up with a solution: fashion the pipes into something else entirely. In this case, he used them to bring a little light into this world.

The lamp pictured here is a part of a series of light fixtures constructed entirely out of old metal pipe. The use of indoor plumbing gives it a rather unique industrial look. Sadly, aside from these marvelous looking pictures, there's little else to tell. The artist hasn't put up any of these creations for purchase. Hopefully we can get more information down the (what else?) pipeline.

Razer Says It Has ''World's First' MMO Keyboard

It's a keyboard designed with MMO gamers in mind.

Tuesday Razer revealed the "world's first" MMO gaming keyboard called the Razer Anansi. The company said that the new keyboard shares the same design philosophy as its Naga gaming mice line, cramming a load of MMO-specific functions and features into the peripheral including dedicated thumb modifier keys and macro capabilities.
Obviously this isn't be your typical PC keyboard, offering gamers over one hundred programmable "Hyperesponse" keys with on-the-fly macro recording. Seven thumb modifier keys allow users to perform seven times more commands and abilities than the current twelve ability keys assigned to the average keyboard. Users can even store up to twenty profiles and shift through them using a one-button profile switch.
"The Razer Anansi gaming keyboard is the new weapon of choice for MMO gamers," said Robert "RazerGuy" Krakoff, president, Razer USA. "Let's face it, the regular keyboard that came with your PC was designed and built for typing, not for MMO gaming. With its revolutionary seven thumb modifier keys, every key combination that you had before is now multiplied by seven times. The Razer Anansi allows you to use every spell, ability or custom macro in your arsenal--both instantly and in complete comfort."
Razer's Anansi sports other features including sixteen million color backlight illumination, five additional gaming keys, an option to deactivate the Windows key, minimized ghosting and more. The keyboard was also designed to be used seamlessly with the twelve-button mouse keypad on the Razer Naga and Naga Epic MMO gaming mice.
The Razer Anansi is expected to go retail in December for $99.99 here in the States and euro $99.99 over in Europe.

Looks Sick!

Seagate Says Future is Hybrid HDD, Not Pure SSD

Seagate's placing bets that people still want big, capacious HDDs, not just pure SSD speed.

When Steve Jobs debuted the new MacBook Air laptops last week, he said that the new products were what Apple felt were the future of the notebook. Likely he meant that laptops would be shipping with SSD rather than HDD storage.
We love SSDs and we think that they're quite at home inside mobile computing devices, but Seagate doesn't see the industry moving to full solid-state storage.
During a Seagate conference call, CEO Steve Luczo, said that he doesn't see SSDs as being the future. While that sounds funny coming from the leader of a storage company, remember that Seagate isn't heavily invested in SSD technology as some other companies who have feet deep in flash memory.
Luzco also said that he owns a previous-generation MacBook Air with an SSD, but he's frustrated at the lack of storage capacity inside the machine.
Check out the Seeking Alpha transcript for the full call.

Well look, I mean obviously Steve sits in a position that only Steve sits in, in terms of the offering that they provide to their customers and its obviously pretty [compelling]. I would say though that from what we know of the offering for example Apple, the percentage of their units that they sell with SSDs versus HDDs is a tiny fraction. I think it’s under 3%, certainly under 5%. Obviously this isn’t the first product that they’ve had. I have an Air book with an SSD unit that I’ve had for I guess a year and half now. And I think, there are certain things that are certainly very nice about it. And other things that are little bit frustrating and a little bit frustrating parts are the cost and the lack of capacity.
I spend a lot of time cleaning out files so I can make room for not a lot of content to be honest with you. I think are there some users that can operate net environment and be happy, I think the answer is yes but I think as Seagate introduced hybrid drive last quarter, you get basically the features and function of SSD at more like disc drive cost and capacity. And in fact with the additional layer of cashing we believe that, downstream from a product perspective there will be performance advantages to SSD whether or not that has to do with instant on or application load or what a load looks like year or two after you, you have your product versus that day you buy it.
I can tell you that my SSD drive takes about 25, 30 seconds to boot now versus the 12 seconds when I bought it. And that’s just an issue more related to OS than it is specifically to the technology but again with the hybrid there is things that you can do it alleviate that so your boot times are actually as compelling one and two, three and four years down the road.
So I think that’s where mainstream notebook computing is going if that’s what your question is no I don’t, do I think that Apple will be [successful] with that product absolutely, because Apple is successful with all their products. And so it’s a very compelling company and a compelling value proposition within their value chain. But again we just view it as more devices that are computing in eating data and if they’re low capacity on the edge that means they need a lot of storage pipe and down close to the edge and whether not that’s in a mash box or code in the cloud or in a local cloud. Those are all markets that we serve. So the more that people do creative things with computers and devices were all four and Steve certainly at the forefront of that.

I Think this disk have too small SSD capacity...U?

Firefox Add-On Can Hijack Facebook, Twitter

A freelance software developer has created a Firefox plug-in that allows the user to scan a network and steal cookies for hijacking user accounts.

Monday at the ToorCon 12 security conference, Seattle-based freelance software developer Eric Butler a announced the release of Firesheep,Firefox plug-in that allows a user to scan a Wi-Fi network and hijack another user's access to Twitter, Facebook and many other websites.
According to Butler, the plug-in was created to show how popular websites still leave users exposed despite their "privacy" feature upgrades.
"It's extremely common for websites to protect your password by encrypting the initial login, but surprisingly uncommon for websites to encrypt everything else," he said. "This leaves the cookie (and the user) vulnerable. HTTP session hijacking (sometimes called "sidejacking") is when an attacker gets a hold of a user's cookie, allowing them to do anything the user can do on a particular website. On an open wireless network, cookies are basically shouted through the air, making these attacks extremely easy."
Butler suggested that it was pointless to roll out new privacy features when someone can take over the account by accessing cookies. He said that the only real way to resolve the issue is for Facebook and other sites to offer full end-to-end encryption via HTTPS or SSL. "When it comes to user privacy, SSL is the elephant in the room," he added.
Firesheep appears frighteningly simple. After the initial installation, users will see a new sidebar in the Firefox browser located to the left. This area provides a "Start Capturing" button they can press after connecting to an open network. Once another unsuspecting network user accesses a known insecure website, the plug-in will display their name and photo under the button. The Firesheep user can then click on the name and log onto their account.
Currently Firesheep can be downloaded here for Windows and OS X, however Windows users will need to install WinPcap first.
Tuesday Butler said that Firesheep had become the #10 trending search on Google in the U.S. The plug-in has also been downloaded 129,000 over the past twenty-four hours and has become one of the “Top Tweets” on Twitter. "I’ve received a ton of great messages from people who are happy that this issue has finally received widespread attention, so after day one I’m happy with the result," he said.

Google Snooped Emails & Passwords From Cars

They got away with more than just a view of your street.
Canadian privacy watchdogs last week confirmed that Google had stopped collecting wireless data in its Street View cars. The issue was of much debate as the cars were previously sponges for wireless data.
While Google is no longer tapping into wireless signals, the company admitted that the information collected was more detailed that originally thought. Google wrote in a blog post that it had also collected entire emails, URLs, and even passwords that were flying around the Wi-Fi networks.
Alan Eustace, Senior VP, Engineering & Research at Google wrote:

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to update one point in my May blog post. When I wrote it, no one inside Google had analyzed in detail the data we had mistakenly collected, so we did not know for sure what the disks contained. Since then a number of external regulators have inspected the data as part of their investigations (seven of which have now been concluded). It’s clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords. We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and I would like to apologize again for the fact that we collected it in the first place. We are mortified by what happened, but confident that these changes to our processes and structure will significantly improve our internal privacy and security practices for the benefit of all our users.

This admission could have privacy folks even more skeptical of what happens at Google.
"We work hard at Google to earn your trust, and we’re acutely aware that we failed badly here," Eustace said.

All Apple Products Forbidden in Bill Gates' Family

All Apples are bad Apples, according to the Gates family.

Even though Bill Gates is no longer the CEO of Microsoft, he and his family are still attached to the legacy of products that he helped bring to the market are the company that he founded.
One of Bill's new focuses is with his wife in work on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The New York Times had a chance to briefly talk with Melinda Gates, and one of the topics she was asked about was whether or not Apple products exist inside the Gates' household. In a word, the answer is a stern "No." Here's the entire exchange:

Do you own an iPod, which is made by Apple?
No, I have a Zune.
What if one of your children says, “Mom, I have to have an iPod?”
I have gotten that argument — “You may have a Zune.”
Do you have an iPad?
Of course not.
Is it true that Bill works on an Apple laptop?
False. Nothing crosses the threshold of our doorstep.
Isn’t there room in this world for both Apple and Microsoft?
Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh. Go talk to Bill.

We don't expect there to be any Windows PC products inside Steve Jobs' home, so this isn't all that surprising.

12-Year-Old Hunts Firefox Flaw, Gets $3,000

This is way better than mowing lawns.

When most of us were 12, we'd be doing small manual labor jobs for some spare cash. Maybe it was mowing the lawn or shovelling snow, but seventh-grader Alex Miller isn't your typical 12-year-old.
He's just taken a check from Mozilla for $3,000 after collecting one of the bug bounties. Miller found a security flaw in Firefox that Mozilla deemed valuable enough to reward with a $3,000 bounty – a sum that's up from the previous amount of $500. (Mozilla said that it has increased the bounty amount to reflect the change in the economy… but I'm still waiting for my salary to go up six-fold.)
Alex found the bug and sent in a report to Mozilla, but that wasn't enough to qualify for the money. He had to dig deeper. So, he spent 90 minutes a day for 10 days until he found the bug in the memory.
The 12-year-old said that he was "really, really, really, really, really happy," when the check came in.
His first use of his money? It was a donation of $100 to his neighbor's nonprofit organization of Unconditional Love Animal Rescue.

Nvidia Releases 3DTV Play Software

Now consumers can connect their 3D Vision-ready desktops and laptops to a 3DTV.
Nvidia Announced Thoursday that its Nvidia 3DTV Play software is now available for Nvidia 3D Vision-enabled desktops and notebooks. The software will allow users to connect their rigs to HDMI 1.4 3D HDTVs "for the ultimate high-definition, big-screen entertainment experience."

The software can be acquired in a variety ways—as a free upgrade to current Nvidia 3D Vision PCs via the latest Release 260 GeForce desktop drivers and Release 260 Verde Notebooks drivers, and as part of pre-configured PCs and notebooks including models from Dell, ASRock, Zotec and more. Consumers can also purchase the software in November as an upgrade for existing PCs with GeForce GPUs and windows7.
"3D Games, video and photos on a big screen 3D HDTV is an amazing experience," said Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision at NVIDIA. "GeForce PCs with 3DTV Play software enable users to play nearly 500 games on a 3D TV. That's far more than any other platform."
In addition to native HDMI 1.4 support, Nvidia’s software package is compatible with 3D glasses from all major TV manufacturers. "With the addition of compatible playback software and A/V receivers,
Nvidia Fermi architecture-based GeForce GPUs users can experience HD 24-bit multi-channel audio at up to 192 KHz, or lossless DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD audio bit streaming," the company added.
Nvidia has uploaded a list of 3D HDTVs and A/V receivers that are compatible with the new Nvidia 3DTV Play software which can be accessed here. Additionally, Dell announced ane family of XPS DELL LAPTOPS that come bundled with Nvidia’s software, allowing owners to watch 3D Blu-ray movies, play 3D games, and browse 3D photos and more by connecting to a 3D HDTV.

Microsoft Making New PC Games DL Marketplace

A Steam competitor?
                                                
For PC gamers, the most popular way to buy games digitally is through Steam. And where there's action, Microsoft wants to be there.
Microsoft today announced the overhaul of Games for Windows Marketplace, which will have Games on Demand online distribution. Launching Nov. 15, the Games for Windows Marketplace will sell

PC games,and like the Xbox Live Marketplace, will have recurring specials such as Deal of the Week.
"With Games for Windows Marketplace, we set out to create a digital store built for PC gamers end-to-end," said Kevin Unangst, senior global director, PC and Mobile Gaming, at Microsoft. "And by integrating with our existing Xbox Live and Windows Live services, we've made it easier than ever for millions of gamers to see for themselves how easy buying PC games can be."
Logging into Games for Windows Marketplace requires any form of Windows Live ID, such as Windows Live, Xbox Live, Games for Windows – LIVE or Zune account. The new store also supports Microsoft Points, as well as credit card purchasing.

2,500,000 PlayStation Moves Sold Already

PlayStation Move may look a bit strange, but looks aren't everything and it seems people are flocking to stores to buy the device.


                         
Sony's motion-sensing peripheral was launched a little over a month ago, on September 19, and in the month since launch, the company has sold one million units in the Americas. Reuters cites Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, as saying the company does not expect to have the supply to meet demand until February 2011.
"We had to go back and increase production twice, we're absolutely maxed out right now," he said.
However, Move isn't just selling well in the United States and Latin America. No, European gamers are loving it too. According to Reuters, the first month of sales saw 1.5 million units shifted in Europe.
We were never really that impressed by Move, but it seems Microsoft will have its work cut out when it comes to selling Kinect for Xbox 360. The Kinect launch is scheduled for November 4 and Reuters reports that Redmond hopes to sell 3 million before they ring in the new year. This means Microsoft needs to see Kinect sell as fast as Sony is selling the Move to meet its target.
Did you buy Move? Or are you holding out for Microsoft's Kinect? Let us know in the comments below!

Nintendo Sees Red for 25th Anniversary Consoles

Red consoles should be the standard color.
It's the 25^th anniversary of Nintendo's entry into the North American market, and the video game company wants you to see red.
Launching next month are red-colored versions of the Wii and DSi XL, and we'd have to say that they look pretty spiffy.

The Red Wii Bundle celebrates the 25^th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros. game. The bundle includes New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a new red Wii Remote Plus controller, in addition to all the other included items, like Wii Sports and a red Nunchuk controller. It will be available while supplies last at a suggested retail price of $199.99.

For portable gamers looking for the biggest DS they can get, there will be a Red Nintendo DSi XL Bundle that's branded with iconic Super Mario Bros.-themed graphics. The bundle comes with Mario Kart DS and will be available while supplies last at a suggested retail price of $179.99.
Nintendo also announced that the new Wii Remote Plus with built in MotionPlus will be available from now on in all Wii hardware packages and bundles, as well as sold separately at a suggested retail price of $39.99. Nintendo will also have a bundle for the new Wiimote as well, packing in FlingSmash for $10 more to a price of $49.99.

Android 3.0 Sample Tablets Available by Dec. '10

If these rumors are to be believed Android 3.0 is all but finished and we'll see tablets running the OS at the beginning of January.
We already know that Android 3.0, AKA Gingerbread, is supposed to hit before the year is out, but other than that, we don't know much else. This week Phandroid changed all that, revealing that users can expect built-in support for video calling; increased speed; a cleaner, greener (in color) UI; improvements to Google Apps, which should make them feel more like an extension of the OS rather than just apps; and the Google Voice app is getting SIP support so you can receive calls to your Google Voice number over WiFi and cellular data.

That all sounds very wonderful, but Phandroid's sources gave no indication as to when we would actually see Gingerbread. However, Digitimes seems to believe Gingerbread samples will hit by December.
The Taiwan-based site today cites sources from notebook vendors who say Google has notified its partners that Android 3.0 will be finished and engineer sample tablets will show up in December. It's with this time frame in mind that several major electronicsmanufacturers are planning to launch their Android 3.0 tablets at CES 2011, in January. According to Digitimes we'll see Android 3.0 devices from Acer, Asus, MSI, HTC and Motorola. Also expected to make an appearance is an Android 3.0-updated Galaxy Tab from Samsung.
That's all they had to say about Android 3.0, but they also mentioned that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream) would hit in the second half of 2011, something we didn’t know before. Digitimes sources say they think the OS will be able to gradually increase its marketshare in the tablet market once Android 3.0 is launched.