Hasta La Gadget!

Last week, we told you that the iPhone 5 comes with a special little bonus if you’re buying from Verizon. The massive carrier’s version of the iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked, meaning that users could potentially pop in a SIM card from another carrier, say AT&T for example, and use the phone on its network. This feature will definitely be appreciated by travelers, and today we have even more good news to share: Verizon says that it has no plans to lock down its iPhone 5.

Verizon’s version of the iPhone 5 can work on many carriers other than AT&T, and ABC News points out that offering an unlocked iPhone 5 is a win for consumers in more ways than one. For instance, once your contract expires, you could potentially take your iPhone 5 to another carrier and sign up for service there. In doing so, you can net service without having to be tied down by a contract, which is always a major plus if you can swing it.

Indeed, it seems that consumers are very happy with the fact that Verizon’s iPhone 5 is GSM unlocked, and Verizon may just be able to score a few more iPhone 5 sales as a result. Still, at the moment, there isn’t much reason to look for iPhone 5 service from anywhere but Verizon if you’re planning to use the handset’s 4G LTE capabilities often. While AT&T offers “4G” service, it definitely isn’t as fast as Verizon’s network, so for now, the only big reason to take your Verizon iPhone 5 to a different carrier is to get a less expensive monthly bill. That’s bound to change soon though, as a number of major carriers will be boosting their 4G networks in major ways during the coming months.

Unlocking phones is nothing new for Verizon, as the company has done so in the past for those who are traveling to other countries. Selling a phone, especially one as big as the iPhone 5, that’s unlocked from the get go is a first for the company, however. Perhaps this is a little experiment on Verizon’s part to see if selling a phone that comes GSM unlocked ultimately leads to more sales? If it is, the experiment seems to be working, at least as far as consumer disposition toward Verizon goes. Stay tuned.

iPhone 5 to remain GSM unlocked at Verizon is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Technology is increasingly becoming incorporated into every single aspect of human life. And it has been of immense help and use in many areas. For instance, advancement in robotics has enabled us to speed up the manufacturing and other industrial processes. Moreover, robots can also assist humans in an individual capacity.

For instance, Toyota has unveiled a new robot called Human Support Robot (HSR) which is meant to help the disabled persons around their home, aiding them in common tasks. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Toyota unveils Coms super small single-seater electric vehicle, Toyota Prius cooks dinner for you,

Every Apple launch has a sting in the tail, and for iPhone 5 and iOS 6 it’s Maps. Ditching Google Maps and instead turning to a self-made alternative makes sense in terms of longevity, but it meant hitting reset on what had come to be relied upon as a solid and predictable user experience. Apple was going to have to take a PR hit at some point, there was no escaping it. The step back in detail from Google Maps, which has had years of refinement, to the first-gen Maps app of iOS 6, is unavoidably obvious, particularly to those outside of US cities.

Sites such as “The Amazing iOS 6 Maps” highlight the more extreme examples; for everyday users, it’s more likely to be a case of a few confusing directions or mis-labeled locations that introduce a hiccup into their navigation. Turn-by-turn navigation assuages some of the pain, but it only takes one or two bad experiences with moldy data to leave users unconvinced that an app can do the job.

Obviously Apple has to address its patchy data and poor merging of map, satellite, and points-of-interest. What will be interesting is how it chooses to do that. Google has been relatively self-sufficient in its map development, sending out a fleet of Street View cars for instance, but Apple could easily augment its own data gathering with its army of iPhone owners.

Don’t underestimate the loyalty of iOS users and the potential for crowd-sourced data to flood Apple’s servers – if, that is, the company can make it easy enough. There’s already the ability to report errors in Maps’ data from within the app, flagging up wrong street labeling or missing locations, but Apple could build on that with more proactive location-gathering tools. Meanwhile, Apple’s new Panorama feature in the camera app – pumping out high-resolution, seamlessly-joined scenes – could, if suitably geotagged, be repurposed to create Google Street View-rivaling sidewalk level imagery. It would take a huge quantity of data to actually fill in all the gaps, but there are a whole lot of iOS users out there.

“Apple could rely on platform zealots and mercenary interest”

OpenStreetMap is an example of how crowd-sourcing data can come to rival “traditional” business plans. Apple, meanwhile, is in a position to rely not only on enthusiastic platform zealots but somewhat more mercenary interest too: free iTunes credit, perhaps, for those who submit the most new Maps data, or who make the most accurate edits, or who generally contribute the greatest value to the product each week or month.

There’s a lot you can do by passively watching how people move about with their smartphones. Figuring out the most popular routes, for instance, or identifying points where the physical road doesn’t quite match up with where your map data thinks the road is. Conversely, you can spot where that map data might have confused a road with, say, a train track – something iOS 6 Maps has been accused of – based on infrequency of use. Bake in some location ID – checking-in with FourSquare, for instance, or similar services – and you’ve got point-of-interest refinement too.

Apple is playing catch-up. That’s not a position the company is unused to, however, and it has a track record of learning from rivals and delivering a solid and appealing alternative in its own right. What could make the difference from existing mapping services is how much Apple leverages the dedication and ubiquity of its own users, harnessing them into a cellularly-obsessed workforce both contributing to, and benefiting from, a crowd-sourced location system that Apple alone controls.

The iPhone 5 crowd could help Apple Maps find its way is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A lot of people think that the next PlayStation and the next Xbox are right around the corner. You likely already know that if you keep up with video game news, but so far, two major players have been silent on the next generation: Microsoft and Sony. Despite the absurd number of rumors, both companies have maintained that they’re focused on their current generation consoles for now, and in a recent interview with GameSpot, Sony reiterated its intention of supporting the PS3 for the next few years.

“A lot of great content is coming,” said PlayStation VP of hardware and marketing John Kollar. “And over the next 2-3 years, the PS3 has got an incredible lineup.” When he was asked if that means Sony will continue to support the PS3 for the next three years, Kollar replied with “Absolutely.” He went on to say that Sony will continue to support the PS3 as long as there are developers that are interested in making games for the console.

Sony has done the exact same thing with the PlayStation 2, which was incredibly popular for the first few years of the PS3′s life cycle and isn’t quite dead yet. The PS2 still occasionally gets new games to this day, so it makes sense that Sony is hoping for a repeat with the PlayStation 3. It isn’t any surprise that Microsoft wants the Xbox 360 to be the next PS2 as well, offering consumers more than just a box to play games and making similar commitments to supporting the console.

When Sony and Microsoft reiterate these commitments, as both have done time and time again, consumers sometimes take those statements as indications that the next PlayStation and Xbox aren’t arriving until 2015 or later. That probably won’t be the case, as the ideal situation for Sony and Microsoft would be to offer their next generation consoles alongside current gen machines, instead of as replacements for current generation hardware. In other words, even though Sony is committed to supporting the PS3 through 2015, the PS4 might still be coming up soon. Stay tuned.

Sony reiterates commitment to PS3 through 2015 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook has frequently been at the receiving end of criticism when it comes to guarding user’s privacy. Although the social network has strived hard over the years to ensure user privacy, every few days a new issue pops up which pins the blame squarely at it.

Now, for instance, reports from a number of Facebook users are trickling in, suggesting that they are able to view private Facebook messages being publicly displayed on their Facebook Timelines. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Facebook “Registered to Vote” Timeline event now available, Facebook allows users to delete search history,