Technology Round-Up (07/11/11)

Thanks to Chad for putting this together:

Technology Round-UpPoll

The Highway Safety Association estimates that 25% of car accidents involve people distracted by electronic devices. Have you ever been in an accident in which you were distracted by a mobile device? [Poll]

Apple

Apple OS X 10.7 Lion may be released on Thursday. Gizmodo is not thrilled about the new interface.

Apple is secretly filtering outgoing e-mail.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the iPhone 5 is thinner, lighter, complicated to produce, and has an 8-megapixel camera and Qualcomm wireless chips. Other rumors suggest that two new iPhones may be released in September.

The iPod Touch 5G may have 3G support built-in.

JailbreakMe 3.0 has been released. It can jailbreak any iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS 4.3.3 by simply visiting JailbreakMe.com. Over two million devices have already been jailbroken using the site. Apple has announced an iOS update that will fix the PDF exploit JailbreakMe utilizes.

Apple is working on a method of sharing data among iOS devices.

The Swype keyboard is now unofficially available for iOS.

iTunes may get HD+ (1080p) videos in the near future.

Apple's iTunes service may sell $13 billion of music/videos/etc. in 2013.

Apple has demanded that Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables are unlicensed and will need to be recalled.

Apple has lost an iPod playlist patent lawsuit that will cost the company a whopping $8 million.

Rumors are floating about that Apple may release a higher-resolution iPad 2 later this year. Speaking of the iPad 2, Apple's supplies are good enough that the company can get one from the web to your doorstep in less than a week.

Steve Jobs' autobiography has been renamed Steve Jobs instead of iSteve: The Book of Jobs (yes, that really was the original title).

Internet

Twitter may be worth $7 billion.

Microsoft claims information stored on its U.S.-based cloud servers can be investigated by Americans even if the users are in Europe and other areas. The European Union is not pleased.

The Swedish Government has ruled that file sharing is not a valid religion.

Internet Service Providers in the U.S. may implement a six-strikes plan for piraters.

Spotify may launch this week in the U.S.

Paypal predicts that people will no longer need wallets by 2015.

Sony's PSN network is now back online in Japan.

Primadesk links a dozen cloud services together.

Firefox 7 Aurora will focus on improved memory usage and performance.

ABC's soap opera All My Children is finding a second life online after its cancellation.

Taco Bell will have WiFi in all restaurants by 2015.

LifeHacker has compared Google Apps and Office 365 cloud-based office suites.

Google

Google+ is Google's new social networking service that offers some very interesting features. The service appears to already be a hit among users. In related news, Google has announced that it will no longer allow private Google+ accounts, accounts should not be used for business, and the service accidentally spammed users after the servers ran out of disk space.

Google has blocked the co.cc subdomain from its search index to prevent malware from spreading.

Google has rolled out a Cosmic Panda theme for YouTube.

Up to 10 Google user accounts can now sign in at once on supported sites.

Google Docs now has better mobile device support.

Gmail users can now pick their favorite inbox style.

Electronics

Japan has found rare earth metals used in many devices. Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization has stated that China's exploitation of the rare earth metals violates international rules.

A panel of judges in New Jersey has ruled that using GPS to track a spouse suspected of cheating is legal.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has granted Terrafugia, a flying car manufacturer, a three-year exemption of motor vehicle safety rules for further research.

M.I.T. is researching an algorithm to avoid in-air collisions.

Mitsubishi has announced two newer versions of its all-electric i-MiEV for Japan as well as a U.S. version.

Scion will release an all-electric four-door sedan next year.

While AMD may still lag behind Nvidia in the computer gaming market, all three next-generation consoles will feature AMD GPUs.

Via Technologies has announced it is selling its S3 graphics division to HTC for $300 million. Analysts and investors are as confused as your round-up author by the purchase.

Netflix has launched a $7.99/mo. DVD-only rental program for people who have no interest in the service's (sparse, disappointing) online streaming program.

The Nyko Zoom helps Kinect users with cramped gaming rooms.

Scientists in England have invented a 3D chocolate printer.

Looking for a cool techie gift for your Grandma? Fujitsu is developing a cane that can monitor blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature.

Mobile

Verizon's customers with unlimited 3G can "upgrade to 4G, keep data pack and grab $30 tethering."

Microsoft's patents earn them $5 for every HTC phone and $15 for every Samsung phone.

HTC had record profits again last quarter.

The EVO 3D and Sensation 4G are among the phones that will get officially unlocked bootloaders from HTC.

The Droid 3 ships with a locked bootloader.

The Xperia Arc (4.2-inch screen, Gingerbread) has been released for AT&T. The good news? The device ships unlocked. The bad news? It will set people back $600.

Check out the T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide in action. A dual-core 1.2GHz snapdragon processor and 8-mp camera with 1080p video recording suggest that this phone could be a hit.

Verizon is pushing out a Thunderbolt update that fixes reboot issues but removes the free hotspot app. Proceed with caution.

Android 2.3.4 for the Galaxy S II has leaked.

Rumor has it that the HP Pre 3 will not arrive on Sprint's network.

Apps

A Pokemon game is headed to iOS and Android.

Google Maps users on Android can now cache local maps for offline use.

360 Web Browser for iOS supports Firefox bookmark/tab syncing and Flash video support.

SmartFuel helps people find the cheapest gas and cleanest/safest gas stations.

The Nike+ app will publish your running routes on Facebook and Twitter.

Crayola has a new coloring app for the iPad. Just make sure not to let your child use real crayons.

Computer/Tablet

Microsoft may release a public beta of Windows 8 in September.

IBM's Watson supercomputer is venturing into sales and customer service.

Check out Sony's S1 and S2 Honeycomb-based tablets.

The Toshiba Thrive (Honeycomb, 10.1-inch screen) is now available for $439.

A Czech website has reportedly benchmarked AMD's upcoming Bulldozer processor.

Thunderbird Conversations 2.0 gives all users a Gmail-like conversation view.

Tips/Tricks

Keep your mobile data plan unlimited without breaking the bank.

Learn how to track your mobile bandwidth usage to avoid charges or speed caps.

Following the iOS jailbreak news announcement, here is the guide to jailbreak your iOS 4.3.3 device quickly and easily with JailbreakMe.com.

Install Windows Phone 7 Mango on the HTC HD2.

Add events to Google Calendars quickly with Quick Event Add for Android.

Get access to your Google+ everywhere with Surplus for Chrome.

Try out Windows 8 on a virtual machine.

Use a real physical keyboard with an iPad.

Pick a better time server for more accurate timekeeping in Windows.

Launch OS X applications quickly with Chuck.

Change folder views on OS X without taking your hands off the keyboard.

Miscellaneous

Schools in South Korea will go paperless by 2015. Anyone care to guess when U.S. pupils will become paper-free?

The German Parliament has voted to phase out nuclear technology by 2022. Thoughts?

The popular arcade game Space Invaders is being made into a movie.

Denver, CO has more medicinal marijuana locations than Starbucks locations.

Google, Microsoft, MapQuest, and AOL have been sued for violating a 3D mapping patent.

A new font has been designed to help dyslexic readers.

Since technology folk are often caffeine addicts (your round-up author drinks nothing but Diet Coke when he is not participating in athletic endeavors), the news that "diet soda may be as bad for you as regular soda" is displeasing to say the least. However, if your soda habit isn't making you fat, the article isn't too worrisome.

Researchers have discovered an optical illusion that causes normal photos of people's faces to look abnormal. Pretty freaky stuff.

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Contributor: CyberInferno (Chad)