Technology Round-Up (08/16/11)

Thanks to Chad for putting this together:

Technology Round-UpPoll

A new study indicates that approximately 30% of adults between the ages of 18 and 29 have faked a phone call in public. Have you ever done this? [Poll]

Apple

Apple and Exxon are currently battling it out for the most valuable company on Wall St.

Check out Apple's plans for a fancy new spaceship campus which would be larger than the Pentagon.

Apple apparently falsified evidence in its patent claims against Samsung.

One of the major cell phone carriers may be testing a 4G LTE-enabled iPhone 4.

Apple has announced a buyback program wherein customers can trade in their old iPhones, iPads, and Macs for gift cards of varying value.

The official Steve Jobs biography will arrive this November.

The iPad 3 will apparently not arrive this year due to manufacturing restraints on the high-resolution displays.

Apple may integrate driver-free printing for iOS and OS X.

Apple is now selling OS X 10.7 Lion for $69 on a USB flash drive.

This 40-inch white iPhone 4 tabletop may not be the most convenient to talk on, but it's still pretty cool.

Internet

A Canadian judge has ruled that domain names are property not a license. Now you know where to go to buy your important domain names!

Verizon has lost a $115 million patent infringement to ActiveVideo, and the company is seeking an injunction to shut down FiOS.

Facebook has gotten a new valuation of $65 billion.

Remember remember the fifth of November...the day when hackers will try to take down Facebook.

A woman will stand trial after trying to hire a hitman from Facebook to kill her boyfriend.

RIM's Blackberry mail servers can be hacked using an image file.

Wal-Mart will close its MP3 store at the end of this month. Speaking of Facebook, California inmates are no longer allowed to be members of the site.

Firefox 6 is now available. Also, Mozilla will stop making Firefox version numbers plainly visible to users. More innovation from the Chrome--er--Mozilla team.

Google

Google has asked the U.S. Patent Office to re-consider some of Lodsys's patents.

Google+ is getting games. Just when you thought you could escape Farmville...

Google TV may benefit from the Motorola purchase.

Netflix users can now stream TV shows and movies in Chrome OS.

Google is designing new sign-in pages for all its web apps.

Electronics

Circuit pioneers have developed "temporary tattoos" that function as body-monitoring electrical circuitry.

The Mercedes F1 team has developed the most advanced bionic hand in the world for a teenage boy.

Some fortunate people will be able to test-drive the Tesla Model S this October.

A new all-electric bike has set the speed record at 206 mph.

HTC has invested $300 million into Beats Electronics. Would integrated Beats Audio be a factor in your purchasing a cell phone?

Watch 3D content on an airplane or wherever else your heart desires with the Vuzix Wrap 1200 glasses.

TiVo's quad-tuner Premiere Elite will not support over-the-air broadcasts.

Mobile

Google has purchased Motorola's mobile division for a cool $12.5 billion. Cnet speculates that this may lead to a very pleasant phone experience. However, the buyout might not fly with the U.S. DOJ. Fortunately for Motorola, Google will still pay them $2.5 billion if the deal falls through. Rumor has it that Microsoft was also interested in Motorola.

T-Mobile's customers with 200MB data plans will be charged overage fees rather than getting speed caps.

Motorola plans to start collecting Android intellectual property royalties from other manufacturers.

AT&T claims that full LTE coverage would cost the company an additional $3.8 billion. Meanwhile, the AT&T/T-Mobile merger may not happen after all.

A driver in the U.K. has received a year-long ban from driving after being caught driving 70 mph while talking on one cell phone, texting on another, and steering with his knees.

Verizon wants to pay customers still using old phones $100 to upgrade to a smartphone.

Cyanogen (of CyanogenMod) has been hired by Samsung, but he will still work on CyanogenMod on the side.

Pictures of Android Ice Cream Sandwich have leaked.

The Samsung Galaxy S II might be announced for T-Mobile on August 29.

The Samsung Hercules and HTC Ruby will apparently be available for T-Mobile on October 26.

The Xiaomi Phone will feature a dual-core 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz processor and the MIUI (Android-based) OS.

Details about the Motorola Defy+ have been released.

Check out pictures of the Droid Bionic.

Check out a review of the Motorola Photon 4G.

HTC has released the official procedure for the Sensation unlocked bootloader.

AT&T's 4G Blackberry Torch 9810 will cost $49.99 with a contract extension. Check out a review of the device.

Check out a review of the Blackberry Bold 9930 and the Torch 9850.

Apps

Facebook has launched a standalone messaging app for iOS and Android. Google+ users are already familiar with this concept since they have had Huddle for a couple weeks now.

Cinemax's new iOS apps may violate Apple's no pornography clause.

The Google+ app is now available for the iPad and the iPod Touch.

Android users should beware of a fake Google+ app that actually logs calls and texts.

Since Apple has changed its App Store policies to block the Kindle app, Amazon has released a cloud reader.

Download files easily on iOS with Meteoric Download Manager.

TinyChat has released an app that allows 12 Facebook friends to chat simultaneously.

Amazon Student allows iOS users to quickly buy and sell textbooks.

McAfee has launched a data protection app for iOS called WaveSecure.

Symantec is now offering a light version of its mobile Norton platform.

Computer/Tablet

Sprint and RIM will not be releasing a Blackberry Playbook 4G.

Despite Apple's attempts to block sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the device is available in all parts of Europe except Germany.

Samsung is temporarily halting over-the-air tablet updates including Touchwiz UX while they fix issues with customers' devices getting bricked.

The Viewsonic Viewpad 10pro can dual-boot Android and Windows 7.

Check out a review of the Acer Iconia Tab A100.

Hitachi and LG are developing a stone-like disc that is compatible with DVDs and will last forever. The discs can even survive a dip in liquid nitrogen followed by boiling water.

Check out Acer's Windows-7-based version of the MacBook Air.

Tips/Tricks

Being vague about your goals may actually help you achieve them.

Control Facebook app permissions with FBSecure.

Send a bundle of links to friends with Tabulate.

Use an iOS jailbreak tweak to launch apps from the lockscreen.

Another iOS jailbreak tweak puts contact photos on text messages, calls, and contact lists.

If you don't care about celebrity gossip, remove celebrity news from your news feeds with the Silence of the Celebs extension.

Parents can access a kid-friendly version of YouTube with Kido'z TV.

Use duct tape to remove a finicky light bulb without breaking it.

Miscellaneous

The U.S. Government has invested $175 million into 40 new projects that research advanced methods of reducing auto fuel consumption.

Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds and other games, is seeking a valuation of $1.2 billion.

The Dutch Government plans to start taxing drivers based on how much they drive. Perhaps a system like this would finally encourage U.S. citizens to carpool more.

Goodyear has new self-inflating tires that may improve gas mileage.

Putting caffeine into sunscreen may help protect from skin cancer.

Bottlenecks in the brain limit our ability to multitask.

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Contributor: CyberInferno (Chad)