iPad 2 Announcement Boiling

There have been rumors circling around about the near future announcement of the next generation Apple iPad, dubbed the iPad 2. We have all read about various reports about the new features of the upcoming iPad 2 like front facing camera, rear speakers and SD card slot to name a few. Now a new rumor has surfaced that the iPad 2 will be announced on March 2 in where else, San Francisco California!

Besides that, we are expecting a new lineup of MacBook Pros to be revealed by Apple this coming Thursday. The MacBook Pro lineup is long due for an overhaul to add some refreshments to it, something which they have done over the time for the successful Apple iPhone. New MacBook Pro will be another shot in the arm for Apple. And we’ll see if there’s any surprise from the iPad 2 to recapture some of the tablet market share taken away by the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Also noteworthy is that Samsung has already announced its 2nd gen tablet to rival the iPad (well, they are actually targeting iPad 2) with an improvement which drives the screen size to 10.1 inch from the previous smaller-than-ideal-for-tablet 7 inch.

2011 F1 Bahrain GP Cancelled Amid Gulf Unrest - Delay or Postponeme​nt Possible

It’s official. The cancellation of the 2011 Formula 1 (F1) season opener of the Bahrain GP has been expected by many due to the unrest encircling the Gulf region. The crown prince has decided to put a stop to the Bahrain GP for the sake of the nation’s political stability. It is safe move taking into consideration the calculated risk of negative exposure Bahrain may receive in the event of any unwanted incidents during the Bahrain GP weekend which was scheduled to take its stage on March 11 2011. They obviously do not want to show the world what they’re incapable of under the scrutiny of Bernie Ecclestone. Imagine viewers from all around the globe seeing a disruption to the F1 race or worse still, military force being exerted to control the situation.

So now teams will have to wait 3 weeks longer to strut their new machines and pit against each other for a head start early in the season. Looks like we’ll have to wait for March to see how does Ferrari’s F150 cope with Red Bull’s RB7 and McLaren’s MP4-26.

Also noteworthy is the match up of Lotus vs Lotus in Lotus Racing vs Lotus Renault as the damaging impact of the ongoing legal battle between Lotus Racing’s owner Tony Fernandes and the Malaysian automaker Proton who has a controlling stake of Lotus. Neither would budge on the issue; Proton doesn’t want to see its Lotus brand exploited by Fernandes’ Tune group while Fernandes is not willing to step down from the challenge because he doesn’t need to be bullied out on this fight. Tony Fernandes had bought the rights to Team Lotus from David Hunt, brother of former F1 World Champion James who had bought the defunct team some 13 years ago and Proton claims that they should have the rights to the Lotus name.

Samsung Galaxy Tab II - 10.1" Screen with Android 3.0 Honeycomb and 1GHz Chip

Samsung is about to unveil the latest update to its iPad-rivalling Samsung Galaxy Tab II at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The new 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab II will run Android 3.0 Honeycomb at 1280 x 800 resolution and on a 1GHz processor. Also rumors are saying that it'd have an 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording as well. Looking at the pre-official event photo, it seems to be bridging the gap between the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Apple iPad, at least appearance wise.

Looks like Samsung has taken Steve Jobs' comments pretty seriously. The Apple CEO previously condemned the Samsung Galaxy Tab I because of its size, claiming at 7", it's too small. Now we'll need to see how the market responds to the Galaxy Tab II powered by Android 3.0 Honeycomb and whether it can compete with the iOS experience.

First PS3 Custom Firmware is Released!

The PS3 jailbreak scene was kicked off with the release of PS3 jailbreak on USB dongle which did not require any hardmod (hardware modification) and done via the PS3’s USB port. It prompted Sony to file for an injunction in Australia court to ban the sale of the PS3JailBreak USB dongle while they work on their firmware update to close the loophole from firmware version 3.5 onwards.
And today, I saw a post about the first PS3 custom firmware being released. One can enable homebrew and in most cases play backup copies of your games right from the flash memory or disk memory instead of reading from DVD for improved read time when one installs a custom firmware in place of the original or official firmware from the manufacturer. Manufacturers have always been against the homebrew in fear of game piracy, which affected the previous PlayStation generations (PS1, PS2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox360, Wii, etc.) It has been reported that game piracy costs the industry billions of dollars every year.

PS3 jailbreak has already been confirmed doable for PS3 consoles with firmware version 3.41. Do a quick search on PS3 Jail Break on a search engine or the popular video streaming site should yield many usable results if you like to get more details or proof of its existence. Of course, homebrew fans would argue that Sony broke their promise when they launched the PS3 by blocking the installation of Linux. Nevertheless, homebrew is an area of interest because it enables the hidden capabilities of the console which are not put to use by the manufacturer through the official firmware. I’ve previously had CFW on my PSP and installed custom ROM on my Windows Mobile smartphones and I believe the idea of getting all the juice out of that internally powerful gaming console of PS3 or Wii sounds pretty tempting if the CFW is stable and reliable.

New Mario Wii Game - Mario Sports Mix (Feb 7 2011 Release)

Mario™ has a long history as a sports fan. Throughout his storied career he has pursued an interest in golf, tennis, baseball and go-karting, to name just a few. Now Mario’s tackling four different sports at the same time, all of them included on one disc for the Wii™ console. The game MARIO™ SPORTS MIX lets players jump into games of hockey, basketball, volleyball or dodgeball. The game launches on Feb. 7.

Mario Sports Mix presents these four familiar sports – but with a Mario twist. Players can choose from a variety of playable Mushroom Kingdom characters and can even challenge Mario and friends directly by playing as their own Mii™ characters. Each game contains a number of Mushroom Kingdom power-ups that can turn the tide of a game in an instant, such as banana peels, green shells and even mini mushrooms. In over-the-top Mario sports fashion, each character can unleash his or her unique special move that ranges from Mario’s fire dunk in basketball to Yoshi’s rainbow attack in dodgeball.

Players can also elect to hold their matches in a number of interesting venues. For example, the Wario Factory has conveyor belts that affect how the players move on the court, while in Peach’s Castle, fountains go up and down to block certain areas of the net in Volleyball.

Up to four friends who are in the same room can join in the fun, while up to four players (one or two at each location) can compete over a broadband Internet connection via Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection. Players can play online against friends with whom they have traded friend codes, or anonymously against other opponents. Multiplayer modes require additional controllers, which are sold separately.

Samsung Tab, RIM PlayBook Looking to Challenge Apple Ipad Dominance. Now Acer Joins the Race of Tablets

RIM is rumored to enter the touchscreen tablet market with their PlayBook at $100 less than Apple’s iPad for the entry level version (8GB with WiFi). The PlayBook was rumored to be 3 times faster than the iPad, a counterstatement to Steve Jobs’ comments that devices like the PlayBook are dead on arrival because their 7 inch screens are too small for a desired user experience.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab has shown potential to rival iPad’s dominance as it recorded 600,000 units sold in the first month. Apple sold 1 million iPads in its first month. Those figures really show some seriously significant information on the touchscreen tablet market and begs the question of how much market is still left out there untapped. No wonder more and more companies are tapping into the touchscreen market to gain a share of the pie now kept by Apple.

Taiwan maker ACER has launched its own quest to challenge Apple’s iPad by introducing 3 models of touchscreen tablets for release next quarter. 2 of them will be powered by, guess what, Android and 1 more will use Windows. The iPad opened the door and led the way, now can the others surpass it or just merely play catch up. Can iPad continue to be ahead of the pack when iPad 2 comes out? Many will bet it will.

Apple iOS 4.2 Update Release for iPad (Also for iPod and iPhone)

The much-awaited update of iOS 4.2 from Apple is finally available to the public officially. Now you can fire up your iTunes and get the [number] MB update. This update will bring the much awaited multitasking feature to the iPad which disappointed Apple fanboys after the initial OS of the iPad, iOS 4.1 does not support multitasking even though it has been presented in the keynote by Steve Jobs during the unveiling of the iPhone 4. This iOS 4.2 update will bring the iPad closer to the purpose of a netbook replacement. Other features brought onboard by iOS 4.2 are folders, unified inbox, AirPlay wireless streaming and AirPrint wireless printing.

Steve Jobs said this update “makes the iPad a completely new product.” Apple pre-dominated the tablet market with iPad beginning April 2010 before other competitors started coming out with their own versions of touchscreen tablet to cash in on the hype, popularity and uptrend generated by the iPad. South Korea's Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab which runs on Android and has a smaller 7 inch screen and Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) who makes the Blackberry, are going to launch a version of theirs in the PlayBook.

Many of the features in iOS 4.2 were already available for the latest versions of the iPhone and the iPod touch but not for the iPad. So the victors are the iPad owners. With multitasking, iPad users can now switch between applications instantly and run multiple apps in parallel, something which the iPhone 4 users have been enjoying. Applications can now be organised into folders with a drag-and-drop feature. E-mail features a unified inbox for users with more than one account while Game Centre lets users of the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch play against friends or other opponents and discover games that others are playing.

A new feature called AirPlay streams music, video and photos wirelessly from the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to a television set equipped with Apple TV, Apple's TV set-top box.AirPrint allows an iPad owner to wirelessly print documents or photos to AirPrint-enabled printers.
Apple said that 40,000 applications have been created for the iPad and 300,000 for the iPhone and iPod touch. It would be difficult for the other makers to match the iPad’s popularity, so look forward to more dominance by the Cupertino giant.

Google Voice App is Coming to Your iPhone

The Google Voice app is finally approved for iPhone. Google Inc.'s Voice application has won approval to be on the iPhone after more than a year of haggling with Apple Inc. where the FCC inquiry of both Apple and AT&T were trying to prevent Google's popular app from competing with them. Google's Voice application has the edge in terms of cheaper rates on international calls and voice mail. The free app already has been available for Blackberry phones and devices running on Google's Android operating system. It now joins the more than 300,000 apps currently available on the App Store.

The FCC sent letters to Google, Apple and AT&T asking why Google Voice had not been approved for the iPhone during which Apple replied that it was blocking the app because it duplicated some of the iPhone's built-in features. AT&T initially only allowed Internet calling services through WiFi but later on started allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services on its 3G network.

33% of People Waiting for GT5 Do Not Own a PS3

If you’re reading this site, you probably know Gran Turismo 5 is a big deal for the PlayStation brand, but we can’t often quantify that into numbers. Data collected by marketing research agency OTX GamePlan, however, gives a peek into stats you know Sony is taking into careful consideration. According to their latest survey, 33% of people who plan on purchasing GT5 don’t yet own a PlayStation 3 console to play it on. In other words, if GT5 sells anywhere close to GT4’s 10.9 million copies, there will have to be several million consoles out the door along with it. For a system that sells around 10 million units per year, that would be healthy increase. Without a solid release date for the game, though, those consoles could be sitting on the shelf for a while…

Boss, the iPhone Alarm Was Late

There is a software glitch which will make iPhone alarms late this Monday. Apple iPhone users in the United States must remember to delete and then reset their phone's alarm clock -- otherwise they may say the above line on Monday morning -- for being an hour late for work.
This glitch in the iPhone's operating system will cause recurring weekday alarms not to ring on time on Monday morning because of the end of Daylight Saving Time, which occurs at 2 a.m. on Sunday in the United States.

The phone's alarm app doesn't recognize the time change and will ring an hour late if left as it is.
If you depend on the iPhone for your wake up call, then you should create a one-time alarm specifically for Monday morning! Similar event affected users in Europe on Nov 1 2010. Later this month, Apple will release an updated version of its mobile software, iOS 4.2, which will fix the problem.

If you're in the United States and want to create an iPhone alarm that will work Monday, follow these steps:

1. Open the Clock application.
2. Click on the Alarm icon at the bottom of the screen.
3. Click the "plus sign" icon in the top right corner.
4. Create an alarm and make sure you have the "repeat" option set to "never." (The glitch only occurs with repeat alarms, such as those workers set to wake them up at the same time each weekday).
5. Select the appropriate time and sound, and click "save."
6. After November 7, you can again create repeat alarms without trouble, but you should delete any recurring alarms that you set before that date.