Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s online movie business is just a tenth the size of Netflix, says a Gleacher analyst, who suggests that an acquisition would be smart business for Apple.

Originally posted at News – Apple

Wasn’t long ago that we found hard evidence of a WiMAX-capable MiFi from Novatel in the FCC — and now, we might have the first press shot of it. Of course, press shots are always prettier than the actual devices, but even if you beat this image with the ugly stick for a minute or two, we’re pretty sure it’d still be a good deal more handsome than the first-gen 3G MiFi that Sprint, Verizon, and others are using currently. No word on when this might launch, but with FCC certification under its belt, it’s plausible that we’ll see it next week at CES — probably without the tipster’s own professionally-Photoshopped status light below the battery indicator, we’d bet.

[Thanks, r0fl]

Sprint’s 3G / 4G MiFi 4082 revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s iPad competitor hasn’t even made its way into the hands of reviewers yet and it’s already starting to get poor marks. According to those familiar old unnamed sources, the business-minded tablet has a battery that only lasts “a few hours,” far shorter than that of its chief rival, Apple’s iPad (Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, meanwhile, claims six).

Research in Motion, the sources continue, had to push the product back to 2011 from a planned September 2010 release, due to the aforementioned issues. RIM, for its part, is firmly denying the battery problems, chalking any reported issue up to incomplete versions of the hardware.

Says the company, “Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented.”

Expectations aren’t particularly high for the forthcoming device, with most analysts predicting that the Playbook will sell a fraction of what Apple moved in the iPad’s first year.

It’s an open secret at this point that HTC is almost certainly working on one or more tablets for introduction in 2011 — and with heavyweights like Samsung, Motorola, and LG all playing the game (or about to play the game), really, how could they not? PocketNow has unearthed a very fresh trademark filing with the US PTO — filed this past Sunday — for “HTC Scribe,” described as a “handheld wireless device, namely, a tablet computer.” Doesn’t get much more definitive than that. Of course, companies file for marks that they don’t ultimately end up using all the time — from their perspective, it’s better to shoot first and ask questions later — so it’s not a slam dunk, but when you think about it, Scribe could actually be an awesome name for a little Honeycomb tablet. Only question is, are we going to see this stuff next week at CES or in February at MWC?

HTC Scribe turns up in US trademark filings, could be a tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android owners–be afraid. A new botnet-lke bit of malware for Google’s open mobile OS has been discovered in China–and it ain’t pretty. The Trojan, named “Geinimi,” has been called “the most sophisticated Android malware we’ve seen to date” by security firm Lookup.

According to the firm, Geinimi can “receive commands from a remote server that allow the owner of that server to control the phone.” The malicious little bit of software sneaks onto phones by being “grafted” on to games and other non-malicious mobile apps.

“The affected applications request extensive permissions over and above the set that is requested by their legitimate original versions,” says Lookup. “Though the intent of this Trojan isn’t entirely clear, the possibilities for intent range from a malicious ad-network to an attempt to create an Android botnet.”

Lookup recommends that users download from trusted app stores, check permission requests on apps, monitor suspicious activity on their handsets, and download a mobile security app to help avoid the wrath of Geinimi.