Avid is in the final stages of selling its M-Audio hardware line to InMusic, an umbrella company that already owns Ion Audio, Numark, Alesis, Akai, and MixMeister. This is part of today's $17 million deal that rids Avid of most of its consumer audio production tools including its Avid and...
Disappointing news for Avid musicians
As prophesised by the Nikkei, Sony's Music Unlimited service went live in Japan today, bringing the joys of premium streaming apps to the country. Japan has been largely left out of the party until now, with services such as Spotify, Rdio, and...
While we were hoping for RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 device, codenamed London, to appear sometime before the new year, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins revealed that we won’t be seeing any devices with the new operating system until 2013. Now, BlackBerryOS is posting what appears to be a leaked product roadmap indicating that two devices will be launching in the first quarter — the aforementioned...
The Android Developers site is posting some new numbers showing the distribution of Android versions on devices accessing Google's Play store, and while Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich showed growth of more than 50 percent over last month’s figure, it’s still only on 10.9 percent of devices. The increase can likely be attributed to a few factors including a steady pace of ICS updates and flagship Android 4.0 releases like HTC’s One X and Samsung’s Galaxy S III.
The overall share of Android 2.3 Gingerbread devices actually fell for the first time — from 65 to 64 percent, and version 2.2 Froyo continued its decline, dropping nearly 2 percentage points over the month. The big takeaway is that it’s taken carriers and OEMs 8.5 months to get the newest version of Android on a tenth of the devices in the market. And judging from...
Just as the clock starts ticking for Jelly Bean
Electronics and water don't usually mix too well, but Panasonic has been infusing some of its new products with various vapors of late. Last month we saw the nanoe air-purifying CF5 TV, and now here's the Memoto Este ES-SW50 — a visor-style device that uses warm steam to soothe and moisturize the eye area. It uses a rechargeable battery that lasts for around 12 minutes, and like a massage...
Was the Eluga's screen really that bad?
A bankruptcy court in New York has given Kodak clearance to sell off its digital imaging patents, despite objections from Apple and FlashPoint Technologies. Apple and FlashPoint initially challenged Kodak's patent auction back in January, claiming ownership over ten of the patent assets up for sale. Kodak finally responded to these claims last month, filing a lawsuit against the two companies...
Verizon filed a brief with a federal court on Monday, as part of its ongoing litigation against the FCC's net neutrality rules. In its brief, Verizon argued that the agency's regulations are not only unconstitutional, but "arbitrary and capricious." The carrier also claimed that the FCC exceeded its authority by adopting the rules in 2010, writing that the Commission has "acted without statutory authority to insert itself into this crucial segment of the American economy, while failing to show any factual need to do so." MetroPCS is also challenging the FCC's regulation, and joined in many...
Following Google’s lead, Twitter is posting the first in a series of transparency reports showing which countries' governments are requesting user info and what the company is doing about it. The data takes into account all information and removal requests launched between January 1st and June 30th, 2012, and the numbers will be updated semi-annually going forward. While it’s certainly no surprise that the United States is at the top of the list for information requests, the size of the discrepancy between it and the rest of the nations named is striking. While 19 out of 23 countries — a majority including Italy, Spain, Indonesia,...
FeatureInterviewVideoExclusive
At Google I/O, we sat down with Android's head of user experience, Matias Duarte, to talk about Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Nexus 7, and the premiere Google Now feature. It was a casual conversation where Duarte gave us the skinny on Google's philosophy behind its new products this week. It's...
If you've been having trouble searching with Google Chrome today, know that you're not alone. Many of our staff have been experiencing an issue where entering searches from the omnibox (the combined address bar and search field up top) returns nothing more than a blank white page, and judging by...
In a recent change, Facebook is allowing same-sex newlyweds to celebrate their unions with more appropriate cake topper icons. Previously, the icon was an immutable bride-and-groom design, but now, male Facebook users choosing male partners in the...
Italy accused Apple late last year of selling AppleCare extended warranties in lieu of informing customers about the country's two-year warranty policy, and after paying a $1.2 million fine, Apple agreed to change its ways. Today, the Italian Antitrust Authority says Apple...
We don't often report on startups without a physical product to their name, but when you've got sponsors like Ouya does, it's hard not to pay attention. According to a posting on AngelList, Ouya has recruited the talents of Yves Behar to build a $99 Android game console that you can connect to a...
HTC's flagship 2012 phones were delayed from gaining entry into the US last month thanks to US Customs holding shipments while the International Trade Commission investigated whether HTC had violated Apple patents. Luckily for HTC, the ban was lifted after a short time, but Apple countered that HTC's claims of compliance weren't up to snuff and the devices should be banned again. Today, the ITC told Apple no dice,...
Samsung's ChatOn messaging app is already available across multiple platforms, but it faces stiff competition from similar services such as Kakao Talk, which remains hugely popular in its native South Korea. Samsung could be stepping up its game...
Reports are coming in that T-Mobile users are unable to get data on the network. Users on T-Mobile's support forums and on Twitter say that they've been unable to service across the country, a situation that appears to have started about around 9:00PM ET. It doesn't appear to be universal, but...
Android tablet users with a penchant for HBO programming have been in a bit of a bind recently: the HBO Go streaming app didn't support any Android...
We knew that Rakuten was going to be bringing the Kobo Touch e-reader to Japan in July, and now we have an official date and a discounted price. The device will be shipping on July 19th, priced at...
A recent criminal court ruling in Manhattan makes it harder for both users and web companies to contest legal requests for messages and user information after they have been made public. In May,...
While over-sharing online typically involves annoying-but-harmless pictures of food on Instagram, it's interesting to consider whether compulsive social media use or sheer thoughtlessness is to...
The DeLorean may have been the most iconic part of Back to the Future's time machine, but it couldn't have worked without the segmented LED clock controlling it. Adafruit Industries has now...
Google's Search by Image, the TinEye-style reverse image search tool that's been around since last year, is getting a few new features. In a blog...
Sony will use Gaikai's cloud-gaming streaming service on its gaming machines, but has not ruled out expanding its technology to other products, according to Sony Computer Entertainment's President and Group CEO, Andrew House.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Andrew House said that expanding Gaikai's technology to products outside of gaming was "absolutely within the frame".
While...
The Weather Channel has acquired Weather Underground in an effort to expand its variety of online offerings. Weather Underground, which currently offers its own web site and weather-related services, will be sharing its features with The Weather Channel; its interactive weather map WunderMap as...
