Wii U controller to pack NFC, says Iwata, create new gameplay options

Aching for more details on Nintendo's elusive Wii U console? Let Satoru Iwata scratch your itch -- quarterly reports aren't just for reporting losses and announcing new networks, after all. Boss hog Iwata told investors that Nintendo is spicing up their next console's tablet-esque controller with a little NFC magic. Nintendo's President briefly entertains the possibilities of a console controller rocking near field communication, suggesting that Skylander-like figurines or NFC enabled cards could be created to present a "new play format in the video game world." He even says the technology might be used to implement micropayments. Sounds neat -- but will you be able to buy DLC with your Google Wallet?

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February 14th is Valentine... Angry Birds day

Forget poking: from February 14th, show you love someone by flinging a mis-tempered avian toward them. It's Valentines Day that Angry Birds will finally arrive on the ubiquitous social network -- just in time to ensure half the coupled population of the world misses its dinner reservation, in order to get past one more level. The basic game will be free, but upgrades like the Mighty Eagle, double-sized birds, an earthquake weapon and a max-strength catapult will cost you. It'll be launched in Jakarta around the same time you offer up that heart-shaped box of chocolates, so if you want to ensure the day remains romantic, we'd suggest waiting until the 15th before installing......

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German court rejects Samsung's second 3G patent complaint against Apple

About a week after suffering a legal setback in Germany, Samsung received another bit of bad news this morning, when the Mannheim Regional Court rejected the second of its patent infringement claims against Apple. As with last week's ruling, today's decision addresses one of Samsung's arguments that Apple's 3G / UMTS technology infringes upon its patents. Judge Andreas Voss officially shot down these claims early this morning, though he didn't offer an immediate reason for his ruling. As FOSS Patents points out, however, these initial decisions against Samsung may be based on the validity of the specific patents themselves, and would therefore have no bearing upon the outcome of the Korean manufacturer's three other claims -- all of which are based upon different 3G / UMTS patents. In addition, the company is pursuing two lawsuits based on patents not related to 3G standards, including one, apparently, that details a way to type smiley emoticons on a mobile handset. We're still awaiting more information on today's outcome and will update this post as soon as we hear more.

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Logitech's Q3 2012 report confirms Revue is sold out, Harmony remote refresh 'in the coming months

Logitech's Q3 earnings for the 2012 fiscal year don't have many surprises since the company already revealed it was dropping out of the Google TV team. In prepared remarks, company management confirmed it is completely sold out of new units, closing the door on any users still trying to nab a $99 Revue (who shouldn't be too heartbroken, since Vizio is promising a second gen unit is on the way at the same price). There is promise however, if you're looking for a new Harmony remote model, while interim CEO Guerrino De Luca says the company is late in providing a successor to the best selling Harmony One and other models, resulting in a 30 percent drop in sales, it plans to strengthen the lineup "in the coming months.

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Dutch court rejects Apple appeal, says Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is legal.....

A court in the Hague has just cleared the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for sale in the Netherlands, rejecting Apple's requests for a nationwide ban. As NU.nl reports, a different Dutch court had already issued a similar ruling in October, which Cupertino promptly appealed, claiming that Sammy's slate was too similar to its own iPad 2. Today, though, the Court of the Hague shot down Apple's arguments, determining that there are enough differences between the two products to legally justify their coexistence. Granted, this is only one of many patent battles that the two companies are currently waging, but for today, at least, it looks like Samsung has come out on top.

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PlayStation 3 video editor to hit Europe in Q1, 10 Euros at launch....

While Mr. Blurrycam already spotted the upcoming PlayStation 3 video editor at CES, he was unable to divulge any details on release dates. We were similarly unable to wring out much more when we hit the show floor ourselves. Now, Sony has finally outed a few key tidbits, including the fact that Europe can expect it to arrive by the end of Q1 and that you'll have to fork out for the pleasure -- priced at around €10 ($13). According to Electricpig, the Play Memories Studio will offer up cropping and zooming tools, slow-mo, and a medley of sound and visual effects. Incoming versions of the movie editor for iOS and Android, however, will still arrive gratis. Are you willing to stump up to get your Spielberg on? While there's nothing concrete on a US launch date just yet, we'd expect to see the editor to make a similar appearance over the next few months

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Digitize Film Movies on your iPhone Using the LomoKino Adapter.....

Man, this gadget has to be the niche-est of niche gear we’ve seen in a while, but it’s certainly neat enough to get a mention. It’s the LomoKino Adapter, and it helps you digitize film movies with your iPhone.
That actually sounds pretty handy, until you realize that it requires you to have both an iPhone 4/S and Lomo’s LomoKinoscope to use it. And seeing as the LomoKinoscope is an accessory designed to playback movies shot on the LomoKino movie camera, you can see that you’ll have to amass quite a bit of gear just to get started.
The LomoKino, you’ll remember, is a $79 movie camera which captures 50 seconds in 144 frames on a single roll of 35mm film. It offers Lomo’s trademark crappy image quality, and requires you buy film and then get it processed.
You then play this movie back in the hand-cranked LomoKinoscope, and use the new LomoKino adapter to marry it up to your iPhone. Got it?
Then, finally, there is a simple step: Fire up the camera app and hit record. Or you could just ditch the whole pain-in-the-ass analog part of this charade and just buy a 99-cent grunge movie app for the phone. Cheaper, faster, easier and you won’t be left with a stack of plastic tat at the end of the day.
For those old-school masochists out there, thought, Lomo has one bone to throw you: There’s a bundle which lets you buy everything you’ll need at the press of one shopping button. Separately, the LomoKino Adapter costs just $25. The comprehensive kit will run you €99, or around $130.

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Tablet, e-reader ownership nearly doubled over the holiday season..

The number crunchers over at the Pew Research Center have released another batch of market statistics today, this time, with a focus on tablets. According to the Center's latest survey, 19 percent of all adult Americans now own some form of tablet, marking a nearly twofold increase over figures from a poll conducted in mid-December. E-reader ownership, meanwhile, increased by exactly the same margin over this period, jumping from 10 percent to 19 percent. These numbers also signal a healthy acceleration from the middle of this year, when the slate and reader markets apparently stagnated, ahead of the holiday shopping rush. Overall, about 28 percent of US adults own either a tablet or an e-reader, up from 19 percent last month. You can find more stats and breakdowns at the source link below.

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Asus Transformer Prime is to be launched in UK soon...

After the official announcement of Asus’ new product,
the Transformer Prime tablet, many people wanted to
get their hands on it. But unfortunately for the people of United Kingdom they
couldn’t get one even after the release date.
This caused many disturbances from disappointed
customers. Last Friday Asus have posted an official
statement on its Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ASUS

"Sorry for the delay in response.
ASUS have been working all day with our retailers to
try and fulfill back orders. Unfortunately due to high
demand this has not been possible. However we are
shipping more stock over the coming weeks.
Please contact your retailer for dates. We apologize
for any inconvenience caused."

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Leaked Sony image: Is this the ST25i Kumquat?

What's this? If this is true, it looks like one of
the jilted partners in the Sony Ericsson split is
doing all it can to ruin the nice surprises planned
for next month's MWC. An image has appeared at
Xperia Blog that purports to be of the ST25i Kumquat,
which, if you've been paying attention is the cheapest
of the three phones due in April listed on the leaked
road-map from a few days ago. The design language
matches the Nozomi and the Xperia S we played with at
CES, but the on-screen icons are clearly bigger:
pointing us in the direction of this having a cheaper
display (with a worse resolution) than its brothers.
Don't let that Sony Ericsson logo fool you either,
the company's producing versions that bear both
branding, at least for this set of releases.
We're off to grab a microscope and see if we can't
glean any more facts from the snap.....

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Switched On: Connected Electronics Show....

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.Compared to CES 2011, which featured an explosion of tablets and high-powered smartphones poised to jump on emerging 4G networks, this year's edition of Gear and Gloating in Las Vegas was a more muted affair when it came to mobile devices. Sure, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile trotted out a few devices and there were even a few standouts, such as the Transformer Primesque Lenovo IdeaTab S2 with its its docking keyboard as well as the heavily promoted Galaxy Note, coming soon the U.S. after launching in Europe. To promote that device, Samsung employed caricature artists to make drawings of booth attendees (and even put them on T-shirts), which cleverly highlighted the "S Pen" that docks into the device, and used the portmanteau "phablet" to describe its pocket-packing screen, which less cleverly highlighted that it's a big phone...

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Sony VAIO series get minor processor refresh, Z series grabs LTE option on the way.

Ahead of any possible Ultra-book announcements, Sony's looking to give its existing VAIO catalog a (relatively underwhelming) shot in the arm with a bundle of hardware re tweaks. The Z series looks to gain the most out of the Spring refresh, with a new off-white Carbon Fiber Silver color option set to be offered up alongside an optional LTE modem. The series also gets a processor step-up, with new Intel Core i5 and i7 options rounded off with the choice of SSD storage. Including the connectable drive, prices for the series refresh will start from $1,950. Meanwhile, both the S (13-inch, $800, 15-inch, $980)and E series will get a similar bump to Core i7 processors, with both the S and aforementioned Z series able to lock into an extended sheet battery accessory. If minor processor improvements, more battery options and LTE connectivity enough to fork over your cash, you can expect the revitalized units to arrive early next month.

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Scosche cellControl locks your device while driving, tattles on your text habit .

 

 

Trying to keep the points off your record, but just can't resist the urge to tweet, text and talk behind the wheel? Maybe it's time you gave up on that whole "self-restraint" schtick and leaned on technology to keep your cellular inhibitions in check. Scosche's cell Control might do the trick, it pairs bit of Bluetooth-enabled automotive hardware with a feature-blocking smartphone app to keep your handset under lock-down when you're on the go. It even rats you out if you deactivate or uninstall the system -- automatically sending a text message or email to a "designated administrator," just in case you fall off the wagon. The system boasts compatibility with over 1200 devices across Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile 5 and 6. Artificial restraint will set you back $130, you know, in case self-control and other distracted driving apps aren't doing the trick. Hit the break for the system's official press release.

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Acer's Aspire One 722 kitted with HSPA+, sold by AT&T

Sleek and svelte Ultra-books and tablets might have stolen the limelight from ye old netbook, but that doesn't mean the less glamorous category is completely bereft of all signs of life. Take for example, Acer's Aspire One 722. Sure, the 1GHz AMD C-50 powered, Radeon HD 6250 wielding netbook's internals got more pizzazz in an updated Europe-only edition, but that didn't stop AT&T from taking the original and giving it a new beginning thanks to shiny new internal WWAN module. Up-to-date silicon it is not, but it could be yours for just $40 a month -- provided you sign your life away on a two-year, 3GB per month, contract. Or alternatively, the HSPA+ redux can be had for the unsubsidized price of $450. Decisions, decisions. Pull the trigger at the source link below.

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Airtel Easy Recharge (ERC)

Easy Recharge (ERC)

Airtel introduces Easy Recharge (ERC)). This is a service that gives our valued customers the unique opportunity to top-up their phones, or that of friends and family virtually without using a scratch card. ERC is denominationless (flexible) and any value from N50.00 can be purchased.

Benefits to customer

• Convenience, no scratching necessary
• Wide, Convenient recharge availability
• 24 hour availability
• Flexible value recharge (denominationless)
• Top up on behalf friends or family member

Easy Recharge is available through the following channels; Retail Partners nationwide ATMs Online How it works? Purchasing from Retail Partners nationwide Approach a ERC vendor/retailer. Point of sale materials like posters & stickers will indicate to you the authorized vendors/retailers in your neighborhood. The vendor/retailer will request for the mobile phone number to be topped up and then initiate the request on your behalf for the line to be recharged. Within seconds recipient will receive the SMS notification of recharge stating amount of recharge and your current credit balance. Purchasing from ATMs/POS terminal Customer visits an ATM Selects ‘Recharge’ Selects ‘Airtel’ Key in your phone number Selects the recharge denomination or key in preferred denomination   Purchasing Online Customer visits Airtel’s website Go to ‘phone services’ in the menu Selects Easy Recharge (ERC) Follow the instructions

http://www.quickteller.com/Airtelmtu

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