Amazon Appstore's free app of the day, 3/30/2011: Soundhound Infinity

Amazon.com has promised a free app every day in the Amazon Appstore, and today's app is Soundhound Infinity, a sound recognition app. There is a free version, as well, but the Infinity version has a widget you can put on your home screen for one-click access to the music recognition feature of the app.

[Users need to remember that at least for now, at the time of this writing, if you move the app to SD, widgets for that app will not work. This is a platform limitation.]

The free app on the launch day of the Amazon Appstore was Angry Birds Rio, which is exclusive to the Amazon Appstore for now, and which remains free for a unspecified limited time. It will carry a $0.99 price when that time passes.

Soundhound Infinity is $4.99 in both the Android Market, and normally is priced the same in the Amazon Appstore (as noted previously, the two marketplaces sometimes have differing prices).

It is described as follows:

SoundHound Infinity is instant music search and discovery, with the world's fastest music recognition. It is the ultimate music app, ad-free with unlimited usage and premium features.

Say it, tag it, sing it, hum it, or type it -- SoundHound Infinity offers every gateway of music search. Boasting the world's fastest music recognition, the world's only sing and hum recognition, and voice-directed search, it lets users find and explore music faster than ever before with rich content including cover art, videos, lyrics, song previews, recommendations, tour dates, and more, all with one tap access.

View lyrics, search for videos, or buy the MP3
SoundHound Infinity's Android home screen widget, included only in the paid version, allows you to put the SoundHound widget on your homescreen, giving you immediate, one-tap launching of the music recognition feature. A heavily requested feature by Android device users, the SoundHound widget is the fastest way to ID a song. Even if the song is about to end, you may still capture it!

Key Features

• Blazing fast music recognition: name tunes playing from a speaker in as little as 4 seconds
• The world's only viable singing and humming recognition
• Voice recognition music search: just speak a title or band name to check it out
• Lookup song lyrics
• Song previews allow you to listen and sample tops hits and new discoveries
• Buy link for instant music downloads, including Amazon MP3
• Song mapping allows you to see where you discovered your songs on a map, and can be viewed later in your History
• Social sharing: it's fast and easy to share your song IDs via Facebook, Twitter, SMS, and e-mail
• Optimized for both phones and tablets, including Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab

Soundhound Infinity has 9,093 ratings for a 4.5 average out of 5 in the Android Market. In the Amazon Appstore, it has 30 reviews, and is in the 4.5-star range.

That's a change from the normal Amazon Appstore critics: most of the apps that have been "set free" were much more critically judged in the Amazon Appstore than in the Android Market. In fact, Monday's Farm Frenzy was removed in favor of Newsweek Mobile after a furor over app permissions.

The Amazon Appstore requires sideloading, which means that for now AT&T devices can't use it. As we noted before, however, there is a way to at least "reserve" these free apps for installation later, when AT&T corrects the issue, as it has promised.

Amazon opened up the Appstore despite a lawsuit by Apple, which has previously trademarked the term "App Store." Microsoft has filed an appeal against that trademark, saying the term is too generic.

Missing Bronx Zoo cobra taunts zookeepers via Twitter

Last Friday afternoon was the last time a 20-inch Egyptian cobra was seen in its exhibit at New York's Bronx Zoo. It's been missing since then, but perhaps its keepers should have been looking at Twitter posts instead of in the reptile house.

It seems the venomous reptile, or some anonymous stand-in has been Tweeting as BronxZoosCobra since Monday. Even with the account around a day old, it already has nearly 100,000 followers. The Tweets are all coming from the Web, which means that the Bronx Zoo could simply contact Twitter to find out where the IP address of the cobra is located. His first Tweet:

I want to thank those animals from the movie "Madagascar." They were a real inspiration.

He, or she, is apparently having trouble getting his account verified by Twitter. As we noted earlier, Twitter is out of the verification game, and won't do it any longer except in special cases. The cobra Tweeted:

Hey @piersmorgan, @jack and @biz, What does a snake have to do to get this account verified?

In fact, an Egyptian cobra is extremely venomous, with a neurotoxin that is believed to have taken out Cleopatra. Zoo officials believe the cobra is hiding out in its enclosure in the reptile house, ensconced with a laptop, it appears.

Why Amazon leaped into the cloud without licenses: 'users acquired early usually stay put'

Although Amazon.com reportedly took a very strong stance with regards to its new digital music locker service, including both Cloud Drive and Cloud Player, it's reportedly looking into licensing the music uploaded to its music locker post-launch. Why then, would it take the aggressive step of launching before it reached that stage?

The answer is easily, when you think of things: to be first.

Earlier, Amazon.com portrayed its Cloud Drive service as just another storage medium. Craig Pape, director of music at Amazon, said,

"We don't need a license to store music. The functionality is the same as an external hard drive."

That said, it's well known that both Apple and Google are investigating similar services, and are entrenched in negotiations over rights and licenses for the uploaded music.

However, C|Net reported the key to Amazon.com's decision to beat both of the other companies to the punch:

One studio source told me recently that research has shown digital-lockers users may be reluctant to switch after going to the trouble of uploading their media. The source said the studios saw the same thing with iTunes. People don't typically leave. That means any service that acquires a user first stands to keep him or her.

Since it was reported earlier last week that Google has begun testing Google Music internally, and it was reported earlier this month by Bloomberg that Apple is in the midst of negotiations with labels over licensing, Amazon.com saw the writing on the wall.


It made the decision to leap past Google and Apple, perhaps into lawyer-infested waters, but also, by being first, perhaps acquiring users it wouldn't (possibly) lose later.

[It's true that Apple's iDisk feature of MobileMe has similarly enabled users to manually upload their music (and other files) to the cloud for streaming playback, but manually. Apple also has not been publicizing this, perhaps because of negotiations for a more far-reaching program.]

What's next for the music labels? Legal options are always there, but the labels were apparently surprised by Amazon.com's actions. One spoke to Reuters:

That executive called the move "somewhat stunning" and noted that some within the media industry said the service might be illegal.

"I've never seen a company of their size make an announcement, launch a service and simultaneously say they're trying to get licenses," said the executive, who requested anonymity because the discussions were not public.

Scalpers' prices: WWDC 2011 tickets sell on eBay for as much as $3,550

WWDC 2011 sold out in hours. That said, you might expect to see some eBay scalping, and you'd be right.

At the time of this writing, there are 9 auctions for WWDC tickets on eBay. To be clear, the official price for a single ticket was $1,500.

One auction has a bid of $1,100, with a BuyItNow price of $3,900. Ah, but there's free shipping. Another is at $1,725, with a BIN price of $4,599, but once again with free shipping.

Among the others which have bids are ones with bids of $2,125; $3,000; and $3,250.

Before anyone assumes that Apple will step in to halt these auctions, it doesn't appear that will be the case. A number of auctions have completed, including this one for $3,550.

We haven't looked at Craigslist, but it would be interesting to see what's going on there.

Frisbee Forever game to float into iOS App Store in May

The Wham-o Frisbee is about to fly from your fingertips into the App Store. Indeed, that fabulous flying disc will launch with an iOS app in May.

The app is being developed for Wham-O by software developer Kiloo. The Frisbee Forever app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is said to offer iOS gamers "unique challenges and obstacles in a rich complete 3D environment." What exactly that means is shrouded in mystery.

The only details released via the press release (below) is that Frisbee Forever will offer gamers 100 levels in "lush, colorful worlds" along with 100 different Frisbee disc models. At least it sounds like the game won't involve throwing your iDevice around.

It's unclear if or how much the app will cost. More details when it launches in May, full press release below.

Wham-O® Frisbee® Flies from Backyard to iPhone with New Frisbee® Forever App by Kiloo

AARHUS, Denmark & WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kiloo, an award-winning mobile app development company, is announcing Frisbee® Forever - a fast-paced flying game experience for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

"We're absolutely thrilled to bring a worldwide renowned brand like Frisbee® to the millions of fans in the Apple App Store"

Originally dubbed "Pluto Platter," the Frisbee® was created by Fred Morrison in 1955, and over 300 million have been sold since. It has been used in both play and sport and is now available in digital form. While playing Frisbee® Forever, users will be able to flick their favorite Frisbee® and steer it through Pirate Waters, the Wild West and a Sunny California Theme Park. The app features different unique challenges and obstacles in a rich complete 3D environment.

"We could not be more excited to work with a company like Kiloo in bringing a new type of innovation to the flying disc industry," noted Kyle Aguilar, CEO of WHAM-O.

"We're absolutely thrilled to bring a worldwide renowned brand like Frisbee® to the millions of fans in the Apple App Store," said Jacob Moller, CEO at Kiloo.

With over 100 levels in lush, colorful worlds and 100 different Frisbee® disc models to choose from, users will have plenty of excitement as they work toward the multitude of available achievements, collectables and trophies. Frisbee® Forever will be launched early May.

Some users report wi-fi issues with iPad 2 and iOS 4.3

Have you been seeing issues with your iPad 2, in terms of wi-fi connectivity? You may not be alone.
There's a thread running over at the Apple support forums
with just that complaint. The thread lasts for some 10 pages (at the time of this writing) so it seems at least a few people are experiencing problems.

Additionally, there's a different linked thread that seems to point to it being an iOS 4.3 issue, not just iPad 2 related. Of course, Apple released iOS 4.3.1 on Friday, but no mention of wi-fi issues was made.

Ourselves, we've noticed that our iPad 2 wouldn't connect to our local Starbucks when we were in the the store next door. You might wonder why that matters, except the iPad 1 we used previously had no issue at all with it.

Fortunately, we now have an iPad 2 with 3G, unlike our prior iPad 1 wi-fi only. How about you readers? Are any of you seeing issues?

Convert MP3 files into an iPhone ringtone for free; no extra software required

It's possible, but Apple doesn't want you to know that you can easily make any song into an iPhone ringtone. After all, that would dissuade you from buying ringtones, wouldn't it? However, you can easily do so, and with only your iPhone and something you have to have if you have an iPhone, anyway: iTunes.

Assuming that the song you want to use is already in your iTunes library, here's all you need to do to easily convert a song into an iPhone ringtone:

1. Open iTunes.
2. Find the song (it needs to be an MP3 file, not an already existing AAC file)
3. Find the section of the song you want to use. iOS limits the length of a ringtone, and you won't be able to set a ringtone if you choose too long a segment. You are going to have to trim the song to 30 seconds in length, maximum. Keep the start and stop times of that clip.
4. Right-click the song; select "Get Info."
5. Click the "Options" tab.
6. Type in the start time of your ringtone in the "Start Time" box in the format minutes:seconds (e.g., 2:01).
7. Type in the stop time of your ringtone in the "Stop Time" box in the same type of format as the start time. Once again, the length must be no more than 30 seconds.
8. Click "OK."
9. Right-click the song again; select "Create AAC Version." (In order for this setting to exist, you must make sure your iTunes import settings are set to AAC. To do so, go to Edit, Preferences, General, Import Settings, and set it to AAC Encoder).
10. Drag that version out of iTunes and into a separate folder or the desktop.
11. Delete the converted version from iTunes; additionally undo the Start and Stop Time changes you made to the original file.
12. Find the AAC file you dragged out of iTunes, then change the file extension from .m4a to .m4r (.m4r is, simply put, a ringtone for an iPhone). Double-click the file and it will be added to the iTunes ringtone library.
13. Then sync iTunes with your iPhone (and ensure that ringtones are set to be synced, a step many omit).
14. Once that's done, you should be able to choose the newly synced file as a ringtone in your iPhone's settings.

To be clear, this precise set of instructions assumes iTunes 10.2.1 and Windows.  Mac OS X instructions will be similar, but not 100 percent identical.

The Amazon Appstore: one-click ordering could cost you

We have one-click ordering turned on for our Amazon.com, as we frequently buy from Amazon.com. We also troll the Amazon Appstore every day, since Amazon.com makes an app free daily. That combination may not be the best idea.


So far it's only been four days since the Amazon Appstore opened, and we were interested in three of the four apps. However, we "bought" all four of them. How did that happen? Well, with one-click ordering turned on, we managed to accidentally buy the fourth one, by clicking on it accidentally.

That's all well and good, because it was free, anyway. What, however, if it was a paid app? You'd be stuck, that's what.

While the Android Market has a 15 minute period (down from 24 hours) in which you can get a refund, there are no refunds in the Amazon Appstore. Of course, there are no refunds per se in Apple's App Store, but if you jump through enough hoops, you can sometimes get one (doubtless if you are a good customer and make a big enough stink, you might be able to get a refund in the Amazon Appstore).

One-click ordering is great in the regular Amazon.com store, because if you blow it, you have time to cancel the order. Not so in the Amazon Appstore, so be careful where you click, or turn off one-click ordering.

Facebook group created that ranked teens in order of sexual experience

Cyberbullying isn't new, but this new "smut list" idea on Facebook takes the old "call so-and-so for a good time" from the restroom to the Internet. A Facebook group page named the "Westchester SMUT List" listed 99 girls by their first and last name, ranking them by their purported amount of sexual experience. It gained more than 7,000 fans in one day, before being removed.

It is believed that the word "smut" was used instead of "slut" because of Facebook terms of service rules, that would have resulted in a much quicker pulldown, or even an inability to create the group. Nearly all of the students on the list are younger than 18 and some are as young as 14 years old.

This particular list originated in the Westchester, NY area (which makes sense given its name), and encompassed students from several school districts.    It was first publicized late last week.

The bad thing about such a list is that its easy to spread, and spread quickly. The good thing about such a list is that usually cyber-fingerprints are left so authorities can track down the miscreants. Dr. James Ruck, the principal of Harrison High, which was one of the schools with students in the list, said,

"For any youngster that was involved in doing it, you deserve the consequences that are coming to you. I can tell you, if it is someone in this school, we will press it to the fullest extent."

One of the most famous cases of cyberbullying is that of Megan Meier (above). She killed herself after a MySpace romance went bad. It was eventually discovered that the mother of one of their daughter's friends, with whom Meier had a falling out, had created the "Josh Evans" account. Lori Drew was eventually indicted on the matter, but in 2009, she was acquitted.

Watch a Today Show interview with one of the girls named on the list, below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Google accuses China of hacking Gmail, again

In 2010, Google bolted from the Chinese market, after what it said were attempts to hack into Gmail accounts of some Chinese dissidents. On Monday, Google again accused China of attempting to hack into the popular email service.

At the same time, however, apparently China is trying to diss Google by making it appear an issue with the service itself. Google said,

"There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail."

After the fallout from 2010, when Google stopped censoring its results in response to the hacking at that time, by diverting users of its .cn page to the uncensored .hk page, relations between Google and China have been tepid at best.

In July, Google announced that it had seen its Internet Content Provider (ICP license renewed by Beijing. It was a close call, as Google had been in danger of losing that license. In late June, Google made changes to its Chinese search page, no longer automatically redirecting users to Hong Kong (and uncensored search results) in a move to appease Chinese authorities.

China's efforts to prevent its citizens from accessing parts of the Web has been dubbed the "Great Firewall of China." It extends far beyond just Gmail, with other services like YouTube being blocked.

This slowdown with Google services has apparently been going on for weeks, with one source in Beijing saying that "Gmail has been slower, definitely. By far. Sometimes we've been unable to connect, and many times unable to use GChat."

Wife says no to iPad 2, but Apple execs say yes

Apple has reached out to customers before who had issues with buying iPads, but never in this way. Assuming this is correct, the wife said no, but Apple said yes.

It's something that smells of an even Snopes needs to look into. According to the story, a man returned an iPad 2 to an Apple store, saying "Wife said no."

According to the report, some Apple VPs got wind of it, as the story was circulated as a humorous tidbit, and they decided to get some good PR out of it.

[Apple's] focus this week has been to troubleshoot all the iPad 2s that customers are returning to the stores. One iPad came back with a post it note on it that said "Wife said no." It was escalated as something funny, and two of the VPs got wind of it. They sent the guy an iPad 2 with a note on it that said "Apple said yes."

Whether or not this is true is unclear. If it is true, we'd guess that the objection the wife had was price.

Google launches YouTube Channel to help Japan quake victims and families communicate

Google has created a YouTube Person Finder Channel, similar to its already released Google Person Finder for the Japan Earthquake, AKA the Great Tohoku Earthquake.

The Google Person Finder allows users to search for information on people who are missing, and to provide it, as well. The YouTube Person Finder allows communication back-and-forth between people who are searching for each other.

Earlier, it was reported that at least one person, prior to this new Channel, learned of their family's survival via a YouTube video that showed one of her relatives waving a sign from a balcony saying the family was OK.

It is unclear if Google heard of that incident, and decided to add this Channel, or if the idea came to Google on its own.

You can watch one of the videos below.

Sprint to sell Nexus S 4G; will integrate Google Voice into all phones, will

On Monday, Google announced the Samsung Nexus S 4G was coming to Sprint, but that's not the biggest announcement involving Google and Sprint. Sprint will fully incorporate Google Voice into its handhelds, meaning that for the first time Google has managed to convince a wireless carrier to fully opt-in to Google's "call one number, ring all" service.

The Samsung Nexus S is a vanilla-flavored stock Android phone: it carries Android 2.3, but has no UI layer on top of the OS, meaning no Sense UI, TouchWiz or MotoBlur. Earlier, Google released a version on T-Mobile, but this new version will support Sprint's $g WiMax service.

Hardware-wise, aside from the WiMax capability, Sprint's version will be identical. The Nexus S features a 4-inch Contour Display with a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, 16GB of internal storage, and NFC (near field communication) hardware.

Meanwhile, the more significant announcement is the Google Voice integration on Sprint phones. Google Voice is a service that allows a user to give out his GV number, and then have one or more phones ring, or even have the call go straight to VM based on "rules" set up in your GV account. Using a Google Voice app, you can also dial from your handset and have the number appear as your GV number, not your handset's number.


Recently, Google introduced number portability: you could port your handset's number to GV, in case you had a favorite number attached to your cell phone and wanted to use that as your GV number. That sort of porting causes some issues, however, as it means that your current service is terminated, and that could cause an Early Termination Fee (ETF). It also means that to re-establish service on your handheld, you have to get a new account on your handset.

The new Sprint integration means all of that is avoided. You simply accept an agreement and viola, your Sprint number is your GV number. If you already have a GV number, you can simply configure your Sprint phone to use that number on outgoing calls and text messages. In addition, this integration means that Sprint feature phones, not just smartphones, will be able to take advantage of GV integration.

Among the additional features that GV will give Sprint customers is transcribed voicemail messages available online and sent via email or text message. In addition, Google touts GV's inexpensive International calls and there are all those other features that can be enabled by setting up rules for your GV account, such as personalized voicemail greetings based on caller ID, call recording, blocking unwanted callers and still more.

In addition, Google has been pushing Google Voice "education," as it rolls it out in an integration form in more apps. Google integrated Google Voice into Gmail last year, and they also began rollout out "phone booths" with Google Voice integrated into them.

The announcement comes at a good time for Sprint.  Sprint was reportedly courting Deutsche Telekom to acquire T-Mobile USA, but AT&T apparently outbid the nation's No. 3 carrier for the nation's No. 4 carrier.

You can watch a video on the integration below.

No hope for a T-Mobile iPhone, despite AT&T deal

If you were hoping that AT&T's planned acquisition of T-Mobile means T-Mobile subscribers can expect an iPhone soon, the answer is no. That answer comes straight from T-Mobile, as well.

The companies involved, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, and T-Mobile USA expect the acquisition to complete in about 12 months, assuming regulatory approval. If that seems like a long time, it is, but considering that there will probably be regulatory hurdles because of the magnitude of the purchase, that's probably a good estimate.

T-Mobile has commented, officially (in an FAQ), as follows:

"T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G."

With the deal still a year out, this all makes sense. The reason is that the 3G frequencies on AT&T and T-Mobile differ. If Apple wanted to produce a T-Mobile version of the iPhone, it would require another change to the iPhone, not quite as radical as GSM to CDMA (AT&T to Verizon), but it would require another change.

Additionally, the next iteration of the iPhone, per its annual refresh cycle, is in only a few months. After that, it would be an additional year, and by then the AT&T - T-Mobile USA deal and infrastructure changes "should" be all fleshed out.

Via: Engadget, T-Mobile

HTC makes the Thunderbolt tough to root, but developers prevail

Times are getting tougher for those attempting to root Android phones. While originally thinking that rooting the HTC Thunderbolt (Verizon's first LTE smartphone) would be a snap, it didn't turn out that way: HTC locked it down with a signed kernel, signed recovery image and a signed bootloader.


It's reminiscent of what Motorola has been doing of late with its smartphones. That doesn't mean that the developers involved were unable to root the devices, but it does mean that, at least for now, there's no chance of custom ROMs.

On the other hand, if all you want is access to SetCPU and Titanium Backup, root is all that's required. Read through the long instructions at Android Police below, and remember that a) it will void your warranty, and b) you might brick your device.

Via: Android Police

ICANN approves new .xxx top-level domain names

It was made official by the Guinness Book of World Records earlier, that the sale of the sex.com domain name was made at the highest sales price for any domain name in history. What do you think the domain name sex.xxx might sell for?

The world might soon find out, as the ICANN Board of Directors has approved a new .xxx domain name. ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, oversees the top level-domain names on the Web, meaning .com, .net, and so forth. The idea for a .xxx domain name has been around for nearly a decade, and was even approved briefly in 2005, before ICANN reversed itself a few years later.

Naturally, .com is still the predominate domain name for businesses, and adult entertainment sites needn't use the new domain name, but frequently, to prevent cyber-squatting, many companies buy up alternative domains, and this could cost them a pretty penny, being a higher-priced domain name at around $60. In fact, the Free Speech Coalition, which represents some businesses in the adult industry, opposed the .xxx domain for just that reason.

ICM Chief Executive Stuart Lawley said in a statement that “For the first time, there will be a clearly defined Web address for adult entertainment, out of the reach of minors and as free as possible from fraud or malicious computer viruses,” ICM Registry first proposed the top level domain in 2004.

Meanwhile, both FSC and Southern Calfornia-based Vivid Entertainment added that in addition to clearly defining a section of the Internet for adult entertainment, the .xxx domain name might actually create a stigmatized portion of the Web, sort of a District 9 for the Internet.

There is, of course, no reason that a hostname such as sex.com could possibly be stigmatized, it appears.

Via: Domain Name Wire

AT&T puts 3G iPad 1s on sale, for as much as $300 off

If you are willing to take last year's model you can --- if you hurry --- get a 3G version of the iPad 1 for as much as $300 off its original price.


AT&T, while obviously pushing the iPad 2 as much as it can, given supply constraints, is selling the iPad 1 3G version (the only version it sells) for $429, $529, and $529. You are reading that correctly: the iPad 1 3G is $429 for 16GB, and $529 for both 32GB and 64GB. At that price, why bother with the 32GB model, if you can get the 64GB model?

These are not refurbished models, but are brand new, and are only available while supplies last.
AT&T is also waiving the activation fee, and shipping is free. That means a buyer can get a iPad 1 wi-fi + 3G model for as much as $300 off its original price ($629, $729, $829 for 16GB, 32GB, 64GB).

Those original prices are the same for the new iPad 2s at the same data storage tiers. However, will possibly saving a considerable amount of cash, iPad 1 buys will miss out on several new features, such as front- and rear-facing cameras, a faster dual-core processor, more RAM (512MB vs. 256MB) and a few other tidbits. However, considering current supply woes, you might just want to take what you can get.

Many have called the iPad 2 an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, update to the "magical" Apple tablet. Many others see the iPad 3 as a more extensive upgrade, worth waiting for.

Adobe Flash player 10.2 to hit Honeycomb today

Adobe has promised Flash Player 10.2 to hit the Android Market on Friday, March 18, and that is still the plan. A quick look in the Android market, either from our Droid X, Motorola Xoom, or market.android.com shows it's still not there, but Adobe says it's still coming.

The 10.2 release adds a number of improvements, but for Motorola Xoom users who were promised Flash support on their devices, it adds just that: Flash support. The world's first Honeycomb device shipped unfinished, some said, with no Flash support, despite it being widely publicized as one of the advantages of the Xoom over the iPad (and iPad 2).

Flash support allows access to things like Web games and other functionality or video embedded in Web pages.  iPad and iPhone users note the absence of Flash support on their devices, which the company has vowed to forever eschew, by various blank areas on Web browser renderings of some pages.

Apple is pushing HTML 5 as an alternative to Flash, and has pointed to bugs, performance, and other reasons as reasons for avoiding implementation on iOS.

All three of the latest Android releases (2.2, 2.3, and 3.0, or Froyo, Gingerbread, and Honeycomb respectively) will get the 10.2 treatment. 10.2 promises performances for 2.2 and 2.3. However, as noted, the Xoom and any 3.0 brethren are still seeing a beta version, so there are issues such as the tablet having difficulty rendering 720p video since hardware acceleration is actually turned off right now.

When all is coded, the full 10.2 release on Honeycomb, as opposed to the beta coming today, "will bring 720p playback to a really smooth, enjoyable level." Let us know in the comments when you see the update hit your phone (or Xoom).

Update: just hit tour Droid X and Xoom.

Netflix confirms deal for 'House of Cards,' first 'original' series

It's now been confirmed that Netflix has acquired the series "House of Cards" for an exclusive "airing" or rather, streaming. The series will show up on Netflix's Watch Instantly in the U.S. and Canada before anywhere else.

It's an interesting gamble by Netflix. The service did downplay the change, somewhat. Rather than explicitly producing the series itself, what Netflix has done here is licensed the content before it was already produced by another party, and with exclusivity, as well. Netflix has also signed on for "at least" 26 episodes.

Here's what the Netflix blog post said, in part:

We’re delighted to tell you that in late 2012 Netflix will be bringing to our members in the U.S. and Canada exclusively “House of Cards,” the much-anticipated television series and political thriller from Executive Producer David Fincher and starring Kevin Spacey. We’ve committed to at least 26 episodes of the serialized drama, which is based on a BBC mini-series from the 1990s that’s been a favorite of Netflix members. Originally written as a novel by former UK Conservative Party Chief of Staff Michael Dobbs, “House of Cards,” explores the ruthless underside of British politics at the end of the Thatcher era. Reset against the backdrop of modern-day U.S. electoral politics, this new one-hour drama follows Spacey as an ambitious politician with his eye on the top job. Fincher, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Social Network” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” will direct the pilot written by Beau Willimon (“Farragut North” and the upcoming George Clooney-directed “The Ides of March.” )

The TV shows and movies that you are able to watch instantly are licensed from movie studios, TV networks, distributors and sometimes directly from the producers of the films and TV shows. “House of Cards” is unique, as it is the first exclusive TV series to originate on Netflix. Typically, we license TV shows the season after they run on a broadcast network or cable channel and occasionally, we have episodes from a current season, as is the case with “Saturday Night Live” from NBC, “Spartacus” from Starzplay and “Wizards of Waverly Place” from Disney Channel. In all of these cases, the shows are produced before we bring them to Netflix. “House of Cards” represents a slightly more risky approach; while we aren’t producing the show and don’t own it, we are agreeing to license it before it is successfully produced.

Deadline Hollywood was the first to report on rumors of the story, earlier this week. For regular media sources such as HBO and SHO, they can take small comfort in knowing that Netflix's first series won't be available until late 2012.

AT&T begins cracking down on tethering scofflaws

iOS 4.3 includes new mobile hotspot capabilities, but users of jailbroken iPhones have for some time been able to use such service, via apps such as MiWi. Unlike the built-in app, which made sure you had a tethering plan on your contract, MiWi bypasses that. Those who felt that AT&T simply didn't notice, or didn't care, are getting a surprise.

AT&T has begun cracking down on such scofflaws. Or at least, it has begun cracking down on those who it believes are such scofflaws.

The company has begun sending letter to those it believes are guilty of tethering without paying for it. According to the company, such users have until March 27 to stop using tethering, or AT&T will enroll them in a tethering plan automatically.

What's interesting is that such a plan would eliminate the "unlimited option" for those who are grandfathered into the plan. In other words, if you are already the lucky ones who hasn't had to move to AT&T's new capped data plans because you were grandfathered in, you will lose that once this happens.

Naturally AT&T's crackdown would ensnare non-iPhone users, as well.

Arguments have been made before that if a person paid for 2GB of data (AT&T's $25 plan) he or she should be able to use it in any way they deem. That argument hasn't gone over well with wireless carriers, though. Here are the details of the plan:

DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering

• $45 per month (this gives you 4GB in total, combining both your smartphone data plan for $25 and the tethering feature, $20)
• $10 per each additional GB thereafter, added automatically as needed
• Mobile Hotspot capabilities are included for compatible Smartphones

How does AT&T know what traffic passing through your smartphone is tethered, and which is not? Most likely, it's the simplest method: noting that the browser ID of a connection might is not attributable to the type of the device tied to the service. In other words, if they expect to see mobile Safari and they see IE, they know something is up.

Of course, that's just a theory, but it makes sense.

Via: AppAdvice

Social media loopholes in their paywall mean most can have unlimited NYT access

On Thursday, the New York Times detailed its plans for the new paywall it is raising starting March 28. After 20 stories accessed via its website, users will be forced to subscribe, unless they use one of the holes in the wall easily available.

Internet users are used to everything on the Web being free. In general, that is the case, but there are exceptions, such as the Wall Street Journal. That site also has a loophole: while not all WSJ stories are behind the paywall, those that are can be accessed via Google, as long as your are able to search and find it.

That will also be the case with the New York Times' paywall, but they will limit the number of such Google redirections to 5 per day. Other engines, such as Bing, will not be restricted.

Also not restricted will be users redirected from Twitter and Facebook. Those coming from those sites will be able to access the full story content, unrestricted.

What does it mean? It means that, unless you are using a mobile app such as on the iPad, the ability to reach NYT stories will be unlimited for those savvy enough to work around the paywall. It could also mean that the NYT things free access via Google as more of a "threat" to revenue that Twitter and Facebook.

On the other hand, since it is well known that the NYT wants to limit the backlash from users used to unrestricted NYT access, it could also mean that the NYT has recognized the importance of Social Media in news. LinkedIn showed it certainly is thinking along those lines, when it launched LinkedIn Today earlier.

In any case, there are plenty of ways around the New York Times paywall, so most tech-savvy users, such as those reading this, will probably not end up subscribing.

Apple stock continues its plunge over quake-related iPad 2 supply issues

Apple stock has been hammered all week, in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake, and that trend continues on Friday, in early morning (PT) trading. Why would Apple stock drop in the wake of an iPad 2 hit?   The reason: Apple already has iPad 2 supply problems, and the Japan earthquake is expected to exacerbate the issue.

In fact, on Thursday, iSuppli posted a press releaseindicating that the iPad 2 may indeed face such supply problems, based on iSuppli's earlier teardown.

iSuppli typically tears down hot devices, so that it can estimate the cost to the manufacturer, and thus determine the profitability of a device. It recently tore down the iPad 2, and as such, has a keen insight into the iPad 2's parts.

iSuppli's teardown of the iPad 2 has identified five parts that Apple sources from Japanese suppliers: NAND flash from Toshiba (used for storage), dynamic random access memory (DRAM) made by Elpida, an electronic compass from AKM Semiconductor, the touch screen overlay glass likely from Asahi Glass Co. and the system battery from Apple Japan. iSuppli notes that there are potentially other parts that might be sourced from Japan, as not all parts can have their manufacturer of origin IDed in a teardown.

Note that the key word in the press release is "potentially." For example, the NAND flash can obviously be sourced from other manufacturers, such as Korea's Samsung and the U.S.' Micron. In fact, given Apple's hold over global NAND flash supply, this might affect other device manufacturers such as Motorola more. Similarly, the Elpida DRAM component can be alternatively sourced from Samsung and others.

The compass, the glass, and the battery itself may pose greater problems for Apple. Compasses are not interchangeable in the way that NAND Flash is, for a variety of reasons. And, while the supplier of the iPad 2's display glass was not confirmed by iSuppli with certainty, speculation is that Asahi may be the supplier. Asahi Glass reported damage to three of its facilities.

The lithium-ion polymer battery in the iPad 2, although it says "assembled in China," is also manufactured in Japan, according to iSuppli. The battery itself is made by Apple Japan, which is an Apple subsidiary.

Additionally, it's not just about the manufacturer of a particular component of the iPad 2. It is als about these manufacturers' ability to get the raw materials for their parts. Logistics, meaning the ability to obtain these materials and transport them to and from the facilities, is as important as the health of the facilities themselves.

In early morning PT trading on Friday, Apple had dropped about $25 from Monday's price, all the way to $331.87. 

No conspiracy here: Apple confirms differences between UIWebView API, Safari

Apple has admitted that the embedded Web viewer used to execute Web applications saved to the iOS home screen does not include optimizations made to the Safari with the iOS 4.3 release. This also affects native apps using the platform's UIWebView API.

The admission by Apple means that conspiracy talk can be halted. Since Web apps are a popular way "around" rejections from the App Store (e.g. the official Google Voice app before Apple relented, Readability), some developers theorized that Apple was slowing Web apps on purpose.

This also means that the browser performance tests run by Blaze Software and released on Wednesday were in fact flawed. The site, which offers a free service for measuring mobile web performance, ran a test comparing Android and iOS browsing performance. However it used custom apps for both Android and iOS, and the iOS version used theUIWebView API, which Apple said was lacking in the performance improvements in Safari in iOS 4.3.

The improvements in iOS 4.3 for Safari include the Nitro Javascript engine as well as "certain Safari caches and the browser's 'asynchronous' rendering mode."

Flawed or not, the statements by Apple admitting the differences between the two are likely a response to the report, so that is a good thing. Apple has responded in defense, with Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for the Cupertino, California-based company saying that:

“[Apple] regards the tests as flawed because Blaze used its own proprietary application that doesn’t take advantage of Apple Safari browser’s Web-performance optimization. Despite this fundamental testing flaw they still only found an average of a second difference in loading Web pages."

Now that Apple has admitted the differences, there may be changes going forward that will equalize the two ways of accessing the Web on iOS.

Meanwhile, Blaze is defending its results. Although it is in fact true that the company was not running a Javascript test, but in fact was running a test against website load times, so in fact a majority of its tests may in fact be valid, the company will not stop being criticized until and unless it can re-run the tests optimally.

Meanwhile, a local test of SunSpider 0.9.1 (in the browser) against an iPad 2 and a Motorola Xoom showed a score of 2056.1 for the iPad 2 and a score of 2062.1 for the Xoom. Lower scores are better, but that is a single pass and most likely means a dead heat.

iPad 2 microphone performance varies from model-to-model because of antenna housing: report

In general, it's thought that the wi-fi only iPad 2, just as the iPad 1, would be identical in performance to the Verizon and AT&T versions with the exception of the CDMA or GSM connectivity. iLounge seems to have found a little discrepancy in the iPad 2.

It is not because Apple used a different part. Instead, it's because of the fact that on the iPad 2, the microphone has been moved to dead center in the top of the iPad 2 case. If you draw a straight line up from the FaceTime camera, you'll hit it.

What difference does it make? On the iPad 2 wi-fi, the microphone sits in a metal housing. On the Verizon and AT&T models, it sits in a plastic housing. That difference reportedly causes differences between the models. In fact, for some reason, even the AT&T and Verizon versions are not identical (that plastic strip houses part of the antenna system). Reportedly, the order of the best to worst microphone performance is wi-fi (best), GSM, CDMA.

The microphones in the 3G versions seem to provide muffled sound, the report said, with the CDMA version the worst. Additionally, the sound is the worst when held in the most likely way: camera facing an end user, as you might tend to use it with FaceTime.

How could something like this slip past Apple? As was witnessed with the Antennagate issue from last year, sometimes Apple makes decisions that affect a device because it looks 'cool.' Since the issue is somewhat related to the antenna housing, it could in fact be said to be Antennagate 2.

Apple's veil of secrecy may have something to do with this oversight, as well. The company generally eschews any market unit testing. Often that type of testing will pick up things that those closest to a product might miss, simply because they are too familiar with it.

Apple's new 'If you don't have an iPhone' ad chides non-iPhone carrying slackers

If you don't have an iPhone, you should watch these new Apple ads. At least, Apple believes you should watch these ads.

The idea of all these ads is that if you don't have an iPhone, you are missing out. Posted on YouTube, as well, they say:

• If you don't have an iPhone, you don't have an iPod in your phone. And you don't have iTunes on your phone, the world's number one music store.
• If you don't have an iPhone, you don't have the App Store, with the world's largest selection of apps.
• If you don't have an iPhone, you don't have iBooks on your phone, where a good book is just a tap away.

Of those, the first one is the most correct. The second one is true, as well, but it's not as though the Android Market doesn't have six figures worth of apps, as well, as has most of the same "essential," non-fart based apps that the App Store does.Meanwhile, the last one is a little hyperbolic. "A good book is just tap away," but only if that book is in the iBook store. That selection of e-books is far, far behind that of the Kindle store.

Still, watch the videos below, if you don't have an iPhone.