Facebook Phone Not Coming Anytime Soon

 Facebook Phone Not Coming Anytime SoonMark Zuckerberg has officially laid the smack down on rumors circulating around that Facebook is working on a smartphone of their own. Sure, such rumors are more or less guaranteed to drive traffic to any site, but the Facebook founder claims that nothing of that sort is going to happen anytime in the near and immediate future. In fact, at a recent earnings call, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said, “We’re not going to build a phone.It’s not the right strategy for us to build one integrated system…Let’s say we sell 10 million units — that would be 1 percent of users. Who cares for us?”

Well, do you think that Zuckerberg is correct in his analysis? After all, the company has already gone public, and its stock price has not been doing gangbusters as expected. Perhaps investors think otherwise, but it cannot be denied that it would require a mighty effort for Facebook to come up with their very own hardware from scratch without enlisting the help of other seasoned players in the market. Status quo seems about right at this point in time.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony Xperia SP And Xperia L Hinted In Postel Filing, Samsung Galaxy S4 Rumored For Possible April Launch,

MacBook EFI Updates Bids Adieu To Battery Issues

macbook air review 03 hero MacBook EFI Updates Bids Adieu To Battery IssuesApple has released a bunch of firmware updates in order to fix a rare issue which plagued systems which rely on excessively used batteries, where it involved the affected device to be unable to boot up. This bunch of EFI firmware updates should bring an end to systems affected that will sometimes see the unexpected shut down or having the machine simply freeze.

Apple has long determined battery health via the number of charge cycles which said battery has gone through. A solitary charge cycle is a sum of partial charges which equates to one full charge, and has claimed that batteries ought to last anywhere from 300 to 1,000 charge cycles. Needless to say, Murphy has struck as a relatively rare issue in select systems resulted in a non-functional machine whenever the system detects that it has already passed the 1,000 charge cycles mark.

A trio of EFI firmware updates for the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook ought to fix this issue for good, and they can be obtained via the Software Update section, although you can also head towards these links: MacBook SMC Firmware Update 1.5, MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update 1.6 and MacBook Air SMC Update 1.8 and perform the updates manually yourself.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: This Tiny Mac LEGO Replica Is Plenty Cute, Best Buy Discounts MacBook Air Starting At $799 Today And Tomorrow,

New York Times repeatedly attacked by Chinese hackers

The New York Times has revealed that over the last four months, Chinese hackers have repeatedly attacked the company’s computer system, something it says coincides with an investigation it published on Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s relatives. With the aid of security experts, the company has stopped the attackers, but not before they managed to get data on reporters and employees.

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The security personnel hired by the New York Times identified that the attacks were originating from China, and that they were similiar to those that have been linked to the nation’s military. The attacks were pushed through breached universities throughout the U.S. in an effort to hide where they were originating from. The breach on the Times’ computer system was achieved via malware.

Once access to the computers was achieved, the hackers then gathered passwords for all Times’ employees, and via those managed to gain access to 53 personal computers. At the end of it all, the hackers then gained access to the email accounts of David Barboza, the New York Times’ bureau chief in Shanghai, as well as Jim Yardley, its previous bureau chief in Beijing. The hackers were not successful in accessing any data that was of a sensitive nature about the Wen family investigation, however.

The investigation in question concerns information showing that the Prime Minister’s family has a several billion dollar fortune that it has amassed via “business dealings.” Customers don’t need to worry, with the Times reporting that security experts say only information related to the Wen family investigation was sought. When questioned, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense called the accusations unprofessional, and said that such activity is against Chinese law, completely avoiding a straight “no” response.

[via New York Times]


New York Times repeatedly attacked by Chinese hackers is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

BlackBerry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief debut

Blackberry Q10 flashes pearly whites in brief sortie

A previously unseen BlackBerry Q10 in alluring white made a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it appearance at last night’s BlackBerry 10 Experience event in New York. Crackberry was on hand to snap a few photos before the 3.1-inch, dual-processor toting device went back into the pocket of BlackBerry CMO Frank Boulben. The color certainly lends it a heaping dose of James Bond-esque elegance, to our eyes — as for our other thoughts on the physical-key toting handset, check our recent hands-on.

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Source: Crackberry

What We Thought the Year 2001 Would Look Like Back in 1967

The godfather of news, Walter Cronkite, had a regular show on CBS called “The 21st Century” that showed off technology of the future. One episode that aired on March 12, 1967 showed off what a home would look like in 2001: 3D TV, videophones, some gigantic machine that sounds a lot like Twitter, robot servants and more. More »

Nintendo’s Iwata acknowledges slow Wii U sales, but no price drop is coming

Nintendo's Iwata acknowledges slow Wii U sales, but no price drop is coming

Yesterday Nintendo revealed its new Wii U console was selling more slowly than it had anticipated, and today company President Satoru Iwata explained the issues to investors in more detail. What he made clear immediately, is that unlike the launch of its 3DS in 2011, Nintendo will not attempt to boost its sales by cutting the price anytime soon. So, how can the Wii U’s fortunes be turned around? According to Iwata, the problem is a software lineup that has “not yet fully communicated the value of our product.” The system updates we’ve already heard were in the works are expected to help in the short term. The plan is to earn 100 billion yen or more in the next fiscal year, with the 3DS already selling at a profit he hopes to return to a pattern of “Nintendo-like profits.”

As far as the Wii U, the plan is to strengthen its software lineup throughout the spring and summer, with more system exclusives arriving later in the year (announced last week on Nintendo Direct). The delayed Google Street View-powered Wii Street U update is expected to arrive in mid-February, and other demonstrations are planned for GDC in March as Nintendo attempts to capitalize on an internet connection rate of 74 percent. He also referenced the planned integration of its handheld and console divisions, intended to make software and apps more portable between devices.

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Source: ABC, Nintendo

‘Law & Order: SVU’: Nia Vardalos Says ADA Barba ‘Should Be Taken Out And Shot’ (VIDEO)

Nia Vardalos made a guest appearance on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” as a very aggressive defense attorney squaring off against Assistant District Attorney Barba. She made it her mission to turn the jury against Barba, but did she take it too far?

At one point she said, “What am I thinking right now? That I wish I’d had a second cup of coffee before court this morning? Or that Mr. Barba’s prosecution is so wrong, that he should be taken out and shot?”

Even the judge thought that last line was a bit much, warning Vardalos’ character to watch herself.

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Olympus unveils the Stylus XZ-10 compact point-and-shoot camera

Olympus has unveiled its Stylus XZ-10, a compact camera with a sophisticated, classic design that is sure to appeal to many photographers. The point-and-shoot comes with fairly standard features, as well as support for FlashAir wireless image transfer, making it a solid mid-range compact model. You can check out the camera in all its colors and designs after the jump.

XZ-10_1

The Olympus Stylus XZ-10 features a 5x, f/1.8 – 2.5, 26mm to 130mm i.ZUIKO Digital optical zoom lens. The lens is treated with what Olympus calls its ZERO – which stands for ZUIKO Extra-low Reflection Optical – coating. This coating is inteded to reduce both flares and ghosting by halfing reflectivity. There’s a 3-inch, 920k TFT display, dual image stabilization, 5x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, and a 12-megapixel sensor.

There’s a Super Macro mode that allows macro images to be taken as close as 1 centimeter, as well as an ND filter for exposure control. Videos can be recorded in slow-motion at 240fps/432 x 324 resolution, in 720p at 120fps and 720p widescreen at 30fps, and full 1080p HD at 30fps. Videos are recorded in MOV format (H.264 MPEG).

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In the age of smartphones and Instagram, it’s not surprising that Olympus has also included both filters and what it calls Photo Story on the XZ-10. Photo Story allows users to take several images and combine them into one, hence telling a story with images. The photo filters include 5 art effect and 11 art filters. As can be seen in the image above, the camera will also be available with a vine-like design, presumably also aimed at the artistic among us.

The Stylus XZ-10 will be available in late February in black, white, and brown; price not yet specified.

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XZ-10_2
XZ-10_1

[via Olympus Global]


Olympus unveils the Stylus XZ-10 compact point-and-shoot camera is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

‘Chicago Fire’: Severide Must Decide Between Renee And Experimental Back Surgery (VIDEO)

Oh no, it was just false hope! Things were looking good for Severide and Renee (Sarah Shahi) on “Chicago Fire.” He was sidelined from the job for a while and had decided to move to Madrid with her. But apparently that wasn’t to be. Instead, he made the call this week to stay in Chicago and get an experimental surgery for his back.

Can’t have one of television’s hottest firefighters off the job for that long, can we?

Perhaps it was inevitable, but it was fun to speculate how “Chicago Fire” would handle its star being in Spain. TV Fanatic said the decision wasn’t shocking for that very reason. The star of the show needs to be in Chicago.

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How To Remain Calm When You Don’t Want To

By Sam Ferrigno for HooplaHa.com

Often, when we have an outburst, no one thing is solely responsible. It’s a culmination of things that get us going bit by bit until some lady who bumps into us in line for coffee gets a face full of obscenities because she just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s awkward because now she’s covered in sugar and you’re holding an empty jar, the lid ripped off, the rest of the sugar scattered between the two of you. As everyone stares with their mouths agape, you think, this might have been an over-reaction.

You’re right! It was!

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