Robot Venus flytraps could eat bugs to fuel Ecobot

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Robot Venus flytrap" class="size-full wp-image-93950 aligncenter" height="271" mce_src="http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/7868/06robotvenusflytrap1.jpg" src="http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/7868/06robotvenusflytrap1.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Robot Venus flytrap" width="300" />A while ago we wrote about the Ecobot – a robot that can digest insects, food scraps, and sewage to power itself. Unfortunately the robot lacked the means to feed itself, until now. Some scientists have created a new robot that could possibly be used to power the EcoBot: a robot Venus fly trap.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Using shape-memory metal spring and a clamshell-shaped piece of carbon fiber, they’ve managed to create a robot that snaps shut when an insect lands on its “leaves”. When a current is applied to the spring, it resets the trap, and it’s good to go again. When these flytraps are combined with the Ecobot, they can create a self-sustainable fly killer. A viable and greener alternative to UV lures that waste power when turned on all day.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=6-sQYqhwV1o:bPkIOeOi78k:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=6-sQYqhwV1o:bPkIOeOi78k:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5145/14576513.gif" src="http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5145/14576513.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=6-sQYqhwV1o:bPkIOeOi78k:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=6-sQYqhwV1o:bPkIOeOi78k:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5483/10049093.gif" src="http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5483/10049093.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=6-sQYqhwV1o:bPkIOeOi78k:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=6-sQYqhwV1o:bPkIOeOi78k:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6288/20226008.gif" src="http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6288/20226008.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> </div>

Robot Venus flytraps could eat bugs to fuel Ecobot

A while ago we wrote about the Ecobot – a robot that can digest insects, food scraps, and sewage to power itself. Unfortunately the robo...

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Sony Out of Samsung LCD Joint Venture

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63060" height="279" mce_src="http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5213/sonynewbraviatv.jpg" src="http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5213/sonynewbraviatv.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="sony-new-bravia-tv" width="372" />Sony is reportedly selling some or all of its share of the Sony-Samsung LCD joint venture, which started years ago, when LCD was booming. Both companies started working together in 2004 as Sony realized that Samsung had advanced manufacturing and great intellectual property in that field. Sony brought cash that was crucial to build more and more advanced plants optimized for large TV displays. Each company contributed $1.8B to the venture.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=Lpu1g78Tsvw:EeEBALNyMVc:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=Lpu1g78Tsvw:EeEBALNyMVc:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4134/36407604.gif" src="http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4134/36407604.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=Lpu1g78Tsvw:EeEBALNyMVc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=Lpu1g78Tsvw:EeEBALNyMVc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6103/11419099.gif" src="http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/6103/11419099.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=Lpu1g78Tsvw:EeEBALNyMVc:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=Lpu1g78Tsvw:EeEBALNyMVc:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/3065/92301652.gif" src="http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/3065/92301652.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> </div> </div> </span></div>

Sony Out of Samsung LCD Joint Venture

Sony is reportedly selling some or all of its share of the Sony-Samsung LCD joint venture, which started years ago, when LCD was booming...

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Panasonic GX1 camera spotted in the wild

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Panasonic GX1" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-93930" height="288" mce_src="http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/4231/09panasonicgx1.jpg" src="http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/4231/09panasonicgx1.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Panasonic GX1" width="384" />Interested in checking out Panasonic’s upcoming GX1 camera? Well the folks over at Mobile01 (a Chinese tech site) recently got their hands on some photographs of the camera and have shared them with the world. Judging by the photographs, the camera does look pretty sweet, giving off a retro vibe yet is chockfull with today’s technology i.e. fullHD video recording.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The GX1 is the pro version of Panasonic’s GF line and is said to pack a 16-megapixel sensor, a new image processing engine, high ISO at 12800, a touchscreen display panel, an LVF2 external viewfinder with 1,440,000 dots and a Lumix GX 14-42mm kit lens. The camera has yet to be officially announced, so until then, you’ll just have to feast your eyes on these photographs. Hit the source link to check out the complete gallery.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YBEUteJozuI:95HIgh5enkc:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YBEUteJozuI:95HIgh5enkc:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5733/59259557.gif" src="http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5733/59259557.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YBEUteJozuI:95HIgh5enkc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YBEUteJozuI:95HIgh5enkc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3694/76775861.gif" src="http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/3694/76775861.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YBEUteJozuI:95HIgh5enkc:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YBEUteJozuI:95HIgh5enkc:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3713/36002902.gif" src="http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3713/36002902.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> </div>

Panasonic GX1 camera spotted in the wild

Interested in checking out Panasonic’s upcoming GX1 camera? Well the folks over at Mobile01 (a Chinese tech site) recently got their han...

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$99 HP TouchPad officially sold out, but still available from Best Buy

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="HP TouchPad" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-93918" height="203" mce_src="http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2540/13hptouchpad.jpg" src="http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2540/13hptouchpad.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="HP TouchPad" width="343" />Well, it looks like the availability of the $99 HP TouchPad has come to an end. HP has finally sent out notices saying that it is officially out of TouchPad tablets, so for those of you who didn’t manage to pick one up the second time around, you’re out of luck – at least if you’re looking to purchase it from HP. On the same note, Best Buy has announced that it will be offering the 32GB TouchPad for $149.99 – provided you purchase an HP or Compaq laptop, desktop or all-in-one computer from them.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Sure, that might seem a little pricey, but if you were thinking of getting another computer anyway, I guess wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to pick up the tablet as well. Then again, eBay or Craigslist is always there for you. How many of you managed to buy the HP TouchPad when its price first dropped to $99?<span mce_style="line-height: 19px;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=F8ipn3Doa9A:5a_C0qIYouQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=F8ipn3Doa9A:5a_C0qIYouQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7863/15277803.gif" src="http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7863/15277803.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=F8ipn3Doa9A:5a_C0qIYouQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=F8ipn3Doa9A:5a_C0qIYouQ:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1474/81564415.gif" src="http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1474/81564415.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></span></div> </div> </div>

$99 HP TouchPad officially sold out, but still available from Best Buy

Well, it looks like the availability of the $99 HP TouchPad has come to an end. HP has finally sent out notices saying that it is offici...

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Powder Monkeys offers challenging fun for young gamers

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="203" mce_src="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7778/powdermonkeysbattle.jpg" mce_style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" src="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7778/powdermonkeysbattle.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="270" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Powder Monkeys from XMG Studio (US$0.99, universal) is a big, varied game for the iPhone and iPad with enough going on to entertain kids and adults alike. Its good looks, many quests, game mechanics and upgrade opportunities increase longevity and keep players coming back for more. Plus, who wouldn't want to help monkey pirates battle enormous bugs on the high seas? Here's our look at Powder Monkeys.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Way back in the 17th century, a "powder monkey" was a member of a warship's crew. It was his job to deliver bags of gunpowder to the gun crew, and keep the fight alive. XMG has had a bit of fun with the term, casting animated monkeys as its seafaring heroes, sworn to defend their turf against evil, enormous bugs. As the player, you must aide the monkeys by completing quests, surviving battles, upgrading your weapons and more. Before we get to that, let's take a look at the game itself.</div> <h3 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> UI</h3> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Powder Monkeys features big, chunky "cartoonish" illustrations that look fantastic on the iPad as well as a less detailed overview of your character's position on the sea. Other elements are easily identified, like treasure chests, islands of interest and enemy ships. There's not a lot of reading to be done, either, which benefits younger players (both my 6-year-old and 8-year-old tested out Powder Monkeys for me).</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Gallery: Powder Monkeys</span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <a href="http://localhost/1/wp-admin/post.php?post=6500&action=edit&message=1" mce_href="http://" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Repair your ship" mce_src="http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/4647/img0033thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img573.imageshack.us/img573/4647/img0033thumbnail.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Repair your ship" /></a><a href="http://localhost/1/wp-admin/post.php?post=6500&action=edit&message=1" mce_href="http://" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Sailing around" mce_src="http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6339/img0034thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6339/img0034thumbnail.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Sailing around" /></a><a href="http://localhost/1/wp-admin/post.php?post=6500&action=edit&message=1" mce_href="http://" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Spin the wheel!" mce_src="http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9073/img0035thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9073/img0035thumbnail.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Spin the wheel!" /></a><a href="http://localhost/1/wp-admin/post.php?post=6500&action=edit&message=1" mce_href="http://" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Overhead view" mce_src="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/9703/img0036thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/9703/img0036thumbnail.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Overhead view" /></a><a href="http://localhost/1/wp-admin/post.php?post=6500&action=edit&message=1" mce_href="http://" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="Choose your character" mce_src="http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/9665/img0037thumbnail.jpg" src="http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/9665/img0037thumbnail.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Choose your character" /></a></div> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As you sail around the environment, seeking adventure, a large ship's wheel appears, though you only really need to drag to move. If you're on a quest, an arrow points you in the right direction.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Other elements, like the store (for buying ammo, coins and upgrading equipment) repair shop and quest log are also attractive and legible, and a badge identifies the number of open quests you've got.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Finally, two badges in the lower right-hand corner of the screen monitor your inventory.</div> <h3 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Gameplay</h3> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The real advantage here is the variation. This could easily have become a game of repetitive shooting, which gets old fast. Instead, XMG has included asset management, travel and some puzzle solving, which keeps the games interesting.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> You begin by sailing into a cluster of islands and receiving a quest to visit one in particular. Of course, the bugs are waiting! Engage in your first battle.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Battle mode begins as two ships line up side-by-side. Each ship has four canons and various "bullets," including watermelons, darts and, if you're desperate, cutlery. Load a canon by tapping the type of ammo you'd like to load and then tapping the desired canon (bullets will destroy incoming bullets mid-air). A shot is fired and health decreased. The first player to run out of XP loses.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Fortunately, you've got powerups at your disposal. These special, upgradeable attacks will slow down the action, erect a defensive shield or increase your rate of attack, among other things. They're all handy when your enemy's vessel is superior to your own. If you win, a barrage of coins appear. Pick them up with a tap.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Pick up additional quests by traveling from island to island. One required me to navigate a maze filled with superior ships. Another had me escort a companion across dangerous seas. Again, the variation keeps it interesting.</div> <h3 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Other elements</h3> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Gather coins by winning battles and completing quests. You'll also need wood, iron and special Banana Coins. These can be obtained by completing quests, opening treasure boxes (found floating in the sea) or spinning the wheel! Some treasure boxes contain goodies, while others offer a Wheel-Of-Fortune type spinner, lined with various assets. Tap anywhere to stop the spinner and see what you've won.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Coins are used to buy additional ammo, powerups and upgrades via the "store." Additionally, changes to your ship's hull, canons, rigging and armor also require wood and iron.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The all-important Banana Coins can be found in the game or purchased with real money via an in-app purchase. My 6-year-old was tempted to put dad's hard-earned cash down on a pretend coin, but I put the kibosh on that (big meanine). Plus, the app required my Apple ID (as you'd expect) which he does not have.</div> <h3 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Conclusion</h3> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> My only complaint is with the overhead map. You can zoom out at anytime to get an overview of your location, but must zoom back in to move. This probably defeats the sense of adventure, but I'd like to be able to move while in the distant, overhead view. Plus, the tiny island icons are tiny indeed on the iPhone.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Other than that, Powder Monkeys is a winner. It feels much deeper than you'd expect from a 0.99 app, with all the questing and upgrade options. Game Center achievements are also supported. It's just as comfortable on both devices and just plain fun. Plus, I dare you to get that Caribbean theme song out of your head.</div> </div> </div>

Powder Monkeys offers challenging fun for young gamers

Powder Monkeys from XMG Studio (US$0.99, universal) is a big, varied game for the iPhone and iPad with enough going on to entertain ki...

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Pannous Voice Actions gives iOS users an alternative to Siri

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Pannous Voice Actions" class="size-full wp-image-92150 aligncenter" height="211" mce_src="http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/180/14pannousvoiceactions.jpg" src="http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/180/14pannousvoiceactions.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Pannous Voice Actions" width="140" />Now that the iPhone 4S has been released, one of its most impressive features – Siri voice assistant, is available for people to use. But what about all the previous generation of iPhone users who don’t get it even with the iOS 5 update? Well, good news for you – because there are quite a number of apps available on the Apple App Store that provide an alternative to Apple’s official speech-activated helper.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> While they aren’t as fully-integrated as how Siri is with the iPhone 4S, most of them are touted to be just as useful. Pannous’ Voice Actions happens to be one of the apps in this category. While I have yet to try it out, it does have an impressive feature list that sounds like what Siri can do. Send emails and texts, set alarms and reminders, answer your voice based questions and searches, voice dial your contacts, translate your spoken words/sentences and more.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Unfortunately it’s not free ($6.99) but hey – that’s much cheaper than forking out the money for a 4S just for Siri, right? Check it out on the Apple App Store if you’re interested.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=PhOxWMsSpaE:ncMJ4TZoSzc:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=PhOxWMsSpaE:ncMJ4TZoSzc:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/23/80266651.gif" src="http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/23/80266651.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=PhOxWMsSpaE:ncMJ4TZoSzc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=PhOxWMsSpaE:ncMJ4TZoSzc:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3562/80990029.gif" src="http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3562/80990029.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=PhOxWMsSpaE:ncMJ4TZoSzc:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=PhOxWMsSpaE:ncMJ4TZoSzc:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7959/89300836.gif" src="http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7959/89300836.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> </div>

Pannous Voice Actions gives iOS users an alternative to Siri

Now that the iPhone 4S has been released, one of its most impressive features – Siri voice assistant, is available for people to use. Bu...

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Samsung Nexus Prime might not be the only stock Ice Cream Sandwich phone launched this year

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Ice Cream Sandwich" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-92169" height="197" mce_src="http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4493/15icecreamsandwichj.jpg" src="http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4493/15icecreamsandwichj.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Ice Cream Sandwich" width="270" />According to @Black_Man_X, a tipster who’s well-known for his accurate predictions, Samsung might not be the only company to release a stock Android phone this year. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Google uses “Nexus” to describe its flagship Android phones that carry the pure Android experience. No added bloatware or manufacturer/carrier customizations – just plain Android. So far there have been two Nexus phones – the Nexus One and the Nexus S, with the upcoming Nexus Prime from Samsung being the third.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Well, according to a recent tweet from @Black_Man_X, he hints that there will be other stock Android Ice Cream Sandwich phones launched before the end of the year. There was no mention of which manufacturers will be on board or when they will be announced, but it’s good to know that we’ll have options other than a Samsung phone if we want stock ICS. As usual, take this rumor with a pinch of salt but we’ll keep you posted on any new developments.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=f05fGrWfCKc:3-xsVS2liUM:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=f05fGrWfCKc:3-xsVS2liUM:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/2349/14711211.gif" src="http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/2349/14711211.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=f05fGrWfCKc:3-xsVS2liUM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=f05fGrWfCKc:3-xsVS2liUM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8233/91001197.gif" src="http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8233/91001197.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=f05fGrWfCKc:3-xsVS2liUM:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=f05fGrWfCKc:3-xsVS2liUM:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8150/89632623.gif" src="http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8150/89632623.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> </div>

Samsung Nexus Prime might not be the only stock Ice Cream Sandwich phone launched this year

According to @Black_Man_X, a tipster who’s well-known for his accurate predictions, Samsung might not be the only company to release a s...

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RIM pacifies customers with free premium apps

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-92186 aligncenter" height="124" mce_src="http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8434/bbrewards.jpg" src="http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8434/bbrewards.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="bb-rewards" width="140" />Remember the 3-day outage that BlackBerry users suffered just last week? Research In Motion (RIM) wants to kiss and make up by offering free premium apps to those who were affected by the services interruptions. The whole range of premium apps will be worth a total of over $100, and this olive branch is a sign of RIM’s appreciation for their customers’ patience.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> These apps will make their way to affected customers in the coming weeks via BlackBerry App World, and will be there until the end of the year. RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis had this to say, “Our global network supports the communications needs of more than 70 million customers. We truly appreciate and value our relationship with our customers. We’ve worked hard to earn their trust over the past 12 years, and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect, today and in the future.”</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> The whole works of premium apps can be downloaded from October 19th onwards, where among them include Sims 3, Bejeweled, N.O.V.A., Texas Hold’em Poker 2, Bubble Bash 2, Photo Editor Ultimate, DriveSafe.ly Pro, iSpeech Translator Pro, Drive Safe.ly Enterprise, Nobex Radio Premium, Shazam Encore and Vlingo Plus amongst others. I would say the games would be the fastest moving out of the lot – what about you?</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YPGP9a_jKWE:ITwZS5U_cnw:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YPGP9a_jKWE:ITwZS5U_cnw:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8438/66383761.gif" src="http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8438/66383761.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YPGP9a_jKWE:ITwZS5U_cnw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YPGP9a_jKWE:ITwZS5U_cnw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1060/51745240.gif" src="http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1060/51745240.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YPGP9a_jKWE:ITwZS5U_cnw:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=YPGP9a_jKWE:ITwZS5U_cnw:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1705/94838905.gif" src="http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1705/94838905.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> </div>

RIM pacifies customers with free premium apps

Remember the 3-day outage that BlackBerry users suffered just last week? Research In Motion (RIM) wants to kiss and make up by offering ...

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Transformers: Dark of the Moon gets Blu-ray 3D version

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-92188 aligncenter" height="184" mce_src="http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/9643/transformersbdjapan.jpg" src="http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/9643/transformersbdjapan.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="transformers-bd-japan" width="140" />Have you watched Real Steel? I half expected Hugh Jackman to do a Wolverine on Zeus by popping out his claws, severing the head of robots just like how he treated Sentinels in the X-Men comics. Good thing the story did not turn out that way, as Real Steel sported far more soul despite having less robots compared to the loud Transformers franchise. For fans of the latter, you will be pleased to hear that a Blu-ray 3D version of Transformers: Dark of the Moon is coming your way – although it will hit Japan first on January 20th next year, boasting English and Japanese soundtracks.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=lethgQSpVpU:-0xlIVhVtuM:qj6IDK7rITs" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=lethgQSpVpU:-0xlIVhVtuM:qj6IDK7rITs" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4282/84788068.gif" src="http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4282/84788068.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=lethgQSpVpU:-0xlIVhVtuM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=lethgQSpVpU:-0xlIVhVtuM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4096/25972110.gif" src="http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4096/25972110.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=lethgQSpVpU:-0xlIVhVtuM:V_sGLiPBpWU" mce_href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ubergizmo?a=lethgQSpVpU:-0xlIVhVtuM:V_sGLiPBpWU" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" border="0" mce_src="http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4734/39776215.gif" src="http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4734/39776215.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> </div>

Transformers: Dark of the Moon gets Blu-ray 3D version

Have you watched Real Steel? I half expected Hugh Jackman to do a Wolverine on Zeus by popping out his claws, severing the head of robot...

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HTC Jetstream review via SlashGear

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="216" mce_src="http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/8473/head540x360.png" src="http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/8473/head540x360.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="324" />The HTC Jetstream got its fair share of ink when it was announced, but not in the way AT&T might have hoped. People have been excited to get their hands on a full-sized HTC tablet for a while now, but that $700 price and a two-year wireless data contract is a deadly combination. But enough proletariat whining: does the Jetstream deliver? SlashGear ripped open the packaging for a full review.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As expected from an HTC flagship device, the hardware is fantastic in both raw power and build quality. Big props go to the metal housing, best-in-class 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and a long-lasting 7300 mAh battery. The Jetsream will reportedly last for more than a full day’s use, no matter <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">what </span>you do with it. The first implementation of HTC’s Sense UI on a Honeycomb tablet gets a lot of praise, with the exception of the newer ring lockscreen – it’s hard to slide it with one hand on such a large device.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> But at the end of the day, it all comes back to that big price tag. $700 for a tablet is just too much when saddled with an expensive carrier contract, and according to the reviewer, it’ll be surprising to see this thing go through the end of the year without a significant price drop. If you’re itching for the best Honeycomb tablet out there and price is no option, the HTC Jetstream might just be fore you. If not, look to alternatives from Samsung, Acer and Asus.</div> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="backoffwtmk" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1920/backoffwtmk150x150.jpg" src="http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1920/backoffwtmk150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="backoffwtmk" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="head" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/6484/head150x150.png" src="http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/6484/head150x150.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="head" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="IMAG0023" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2397/imag0023150x150.jpg" src="http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2397/imag0023150x150.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="IMAG0023" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="jetstreampilewtmk" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/8878/jetstreampilewtmk150x15.jpg" src="http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/8878/jetstreampilewtmk150x15.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="jetstreampilewtmk" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="ring-580x362" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6755/ring580x362150x150.png" src="http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6755/ring580x362150x150.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="ring-580x362" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="speakerback_alternatewtmk" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/5731/speakerbackalternatewtm.jpg" src="http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/5731/speakerbackalternatewtm.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="speakerback_alternatewtmk" width="150" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> Device Specifications and Information<a href="http://androidcommunity.com/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></a></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Device Info</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Device Name</span> : Jetstream</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Manufactuer</span> : HTC</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Carrier</span> : AT&T</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Announced Date</span> : August 31, 2011</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Release Date</span> : September 05, 2011</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Also Known As</span> : HTC Puccini</ul> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Display</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Screen Size </span>: 10.1 Inch</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Resolution </span>: 1280x768</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Screen Type</span> : LCD</li> </ul> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Dimension & Weight</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Height </span>: 9.87 Inch</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Width </span>: 7.00 Inch</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Depth </span>: 0.51 Inch</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Weight </span>: 709 Grams</li> </ul> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Battery & Power</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Battery Type</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Lithium Polymer</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Battery Capacity </span>: 7300 mAh</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Talk Time </span>: NA</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Stand By Time </span>: 900 hours</li> </ul> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Software</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Android OS</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">3.1.x</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Video Playback</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">h.263</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">h.264 / AVC</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">MPEG-4 (MP4)</li> </ul> </div> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Hardware</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">CPU </span>: Qualcomm APQ8060</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">CPU Clock Speed</span> : 1500 Mhz</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Core </span>: 2</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Ram </span>: 1024 MB</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Internal Storage </span>: 32 GB</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Front Facing Camera </span>:<img align="middle" alt="" height="16" mce_src="http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/1531/acwyes.gif" src="http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/1531/acwyes.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="16" /></ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Camera Resolution </span>:8 MP</ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">External Storage</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">MicroSD</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">MicroSDHC</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Camera Features</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Auto focus</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Flash</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">1080p Video Recording</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Sensors</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Accelerometer</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Ambient light</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">QWERTY </span>:<img align="middle" alt="" height="16" mce_src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2964/acwno.gif" src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2964/acwno.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="16" /></ul> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Cellular Network</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Network Technology</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">GSM</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">GSM Band</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">850</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">900</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">1800</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">1900</li> </ul> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Device Connectivity</span><div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Wi-Fi</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">802.11a</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">802.11b</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">802.11g</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">802.11n</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Bluetooth</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Bluetooth 3.0</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Location Features</span>:<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Compass</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">GPS</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Cellular location</li> <li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;">Wi-Fi location</li> </ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">FM Radio </span>:<img align="middle" alt="" height="16" mce_src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2964/acwno.gif" src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2964/acwno.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="16" /></ul> <ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 24px; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">NFC </span>:<img align="middle" alt="" height="16" mce_src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2964/acwno.gif" src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2964/acwno.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="16" /></ul> </div> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"> <a href="http://androidcommunity.com/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"><img alt="" mce_src="http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2915/acwloader1v.gif" src="http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2915/acwloader1v.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" /></a></div> </div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> )</div> </div> </div>

HTC Jetstream review via SlashGear

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Daily iPad App: Kitty

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br /> <div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;"> <div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="224" mce_src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/2813/screenshot20111007at928.jpg" src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/2813/screenshot20111007at928.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; height: 186px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 8px; max-width: 640px; width: 225px;" width="271" /></div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Kitty is a US$4.99 virtual cat. Developed by Alex Komarov (that same guy who created that marvelous accordion application demonstrated at the iPad roll-out), Kitty provides an interactive virtual pet-ownership experience.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I am clearly not the target audience for this app. I have a daughter though, who loves cats and loves apps. I decided to test it out with her.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> After spending a while exploring the app, my gradeschooler was quickly looking for some other game to engage in.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> "It's a little annoying," she explained to me. "I don't like her purring. She just won't stop the [<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">raspy gagging sound</span>]." When I asked her to elaborate, she said, "At first, she really just seemed to hate me. She kept making [<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">angry rawr sounds</span>]. And then, it's kind of hard to wake her up."</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> In other words, the cat was acting like a cat.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> This application is huge. It takes up 108 MB on your iPad, and works far better on the faster iPad 2 than the original version, as we discovered.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> It also worked better for me as a tech demo than an actual application. The graphics are phenomenal -- your touches seem to interact with the fur, you can see Kitty breath in and out.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Unfortunately, the cat is a bit too realistic. Wake her from her nap and she gets pretty cranky. Unlike a puppy, she has absolutely no interest in socializing, being petted, or otherwise playing.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> I suspect the target audience for this app is going to be quite small children, who don't mind that Kitty presents an interaction challenge.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> As for this adult, my patience wore thin really quickly.</div> <div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;"> Love the accordion. Gonna pass on the cat.</div> </div> </div>

Daily iPad App: Kitty

Kitty is a US$4.99 virtual cat. Developed by Alex Komarov (that same guy who created that marvelous accordion application demonstrated...

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