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US Update: SwiftKey Tablet, HTC Metal, Sandy Bridge
Samsung and HP to refund Sandy Bridge PC buyers
Game studio report: Capcom profits surge 300 percent, THQ falls
HTC Metal: the perfect Android slider concept
Download Epic Games Call of Duty parody: Duty Calls
SwiftKey Tablet: holographic keyboard exclusively for Android Honeycomb
Android Honeycomb 3.0 gallery: Walkthrough in pictures
Android Market Web Store goes live!
The Daily: Everything you need to know
The Daily: watch it announced live!

US Update: SwiftKey Tablet, HTC Metal, Sandy Bridge

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 07:00 PM PST

The week is flying by, but that can't stop the world of gadgets. In today's daily dose of tech, better known as the US Update, we introduce you to the holographic keyboard coming to Android Honeycomb, have some laughs with Epic Games Call of Duty spoof, unveil the latest HTC smartphone concept and more.

SwiftKey Tablet was announced today at Google's HQ in Mountain View, California. As one of the first apps to be designed natively for Android Honeycomb, this holographic keyboard will be first featured on the Motorola Xoom tablet. Are you ready to see the future of keyboards on Android?

Looking for a laugh to start your day? Look no further than Epic Games Call of Duty parody: Duty Calls. The free demo looks to poke fun at the Call of Duty franchise and we must say, it is pretty clever.

A new HTC smartphone concept has been released, HTC Metal. Equipped with a slide-out mechanism similar to the original Sidekick, we are hoping HTC takes note and turns this into our dream Android smartphone.

Capcom and THQ have released their latest financial statements, but their results couldn't be more different. Capcom profits soared 300 percent while THQ saw a loss of $14.9 million. Will THQ be able to bounce back in 2011?

Last up this morning is an update on the Sandy Bridge flaw. HP and Samsung have released statements that they will offer full refunds or exchanges to any customer who purchased one of their computers using the chipset. How's that for customer service?

That wraps up your daily dose of tech news. As always, I'm Nick Marshall and I'll see you tomorrow as we break the latest and greatest from my side of the pond.

Samsung and HP to refund Sandy Bridge PC buyers

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 06:00 PM PST

Yesterday we told you about the Sandy Bridge flaw which gradually degrades the performance of the SATA ports over time, eventually affecting the speed of hard drives and optical drives. Today, Samsung and HP have made announcements that they will refund Sandy Bridge PC owners worldwide.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung will offer a full refund (or exchange) to anyone who purchased one of their PCs running Intel's Sandy Bridge technology. Even more interesting is that the actual refund will not come from Samsung, but instead Intel will fork over the cash.

Following Samsung's announcement, HP released their own statement giving customers the choice to return their PC and either "choose a comparable product" or receive a refund. According to the manufacturer, only a small fraction of PCs sold or ordered since January 9th were affected.

In other Sandy Bridge drama, Dell said that four of their products were affected: XPS 8300, the Vostro 460, the Alienware M17x R.3 and the Alienware Aurora R.3. If you purchased any of these models, Dell recommends that you contact their online customer support to begin the return process.

Overall, the Sandy Bridge flaw looks to be quite a pain for Intel. For all of the positive press they received following CES 2011, this week's coverage has quickly overshadowed the impressive benchmarks. However, they are certainly doing right by their customers and refunding products so quickly is a stand up effort.

Now that we've sorted through the plan of action for HP, Samsung and Dell, how many of you out there will be returning your Sandy Bridge products? Personally, I'm still onboard with Sandy Bridge and I can't wait for this flaw to be behind us.

Out Now | Intel

Game studio report: Capcom profits surge 300 percent, THQ falls

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 05:00 PM PST

Hot on the heels of the successful release of Monster Hunter Freedom 3, Capcom profits are up 294 percent to 6.83 billion. Meanwhile, Red Faction publisher THQ has recorded a loss of $14.9 million for the third quarter.

The highly anticipated release of Marvel vs Capcom 3 will be another notch on Capcom's belt of success. The company announced its financial results for the nine-month period ending December 31st and the figures were staggering. Net income jumped 294.8 percent to $83.8 million from the $21.2 million the previous year.

Leading the exponential growth in revenue was Monster Hunter Freedom 3 for the PSP which sold 4.1 million units since it debuted December 1st. Also topping the sales charts was Dead Rising 2 which sold 2.2 million units worldwide, Super Street Fighter IV with 1.6 million and Lost Planet 2 with 1.5 million units.

The third quarter was not nearly as kind to game studio THQ as it was a year ago. The reported $14.9 million (£9.2m) loss is in stark contrast to the $542,000 in profits for the same period last year. With the UFC Personal Trainer game being delayed, THQ sales projections dropped from $295 million to $245 million.

The real question at this point is whether the next installments in the Saints Row franchise, Red Faction Armageddon, MX vs ATV Alive and Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine will bring their financials out of the red and into the black.

via GameIndustry.biz

HTC Metal: the perfect Android slider concept

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 03:50 PM PST

Often times I dream of the days when the Sidekick (Hiptop) was my handset of choice. Today, a similar slider design can be seen in the latest concept phone: the HTC Metal. Tucked beneath a beautiful 3.7 inch AMOLED display could be the perfect Android slider.

Back in 2002 when the original Hiptop was released, the slide out screen was something of a phenomenon. In the years following, a series of Hiptop devices were released, each improving the design and inspiring innovation. The idea of an always-on data connection was not just a novelty, it was a reality for Hiptop owners. Instant (push) email was standard, and quite honestly the Hiptop was far beyond its time.

Today, Android touts an incredible percentage of smartphone market share and dozens of handsets. Unfortunately, the perfect slider inspired by the flip-out Hiptop keyboard has remained elusive. In order to fill this void, concept phone designer Long-Nong Huang has come to the rescue of Android users worldwide with the HTC Metal.

The HTC Metal features a 1 GHz processor, a 3.7-inch AMOLED display and an 8-megapixel camera. On the right side of the phone are the traditional hardware Android keys and a trackball, similar to the original Google phone, the G1. The four-row QWERTY keyboard looks to draw inspiration from the HTC Touch Pro2, recessed beneath the screen.

As much as I love a beautiful slate, touchscreen-only smartphone. I would be remiss if I didn't express my inner desire to return to a hardware keyboard. There's just something about the tactile feedback, the ability to pound out emails with ease and convenience of not having to look at the screen while typing. If the HTC Metal materializes in an Android product launch, who else is with me?

via concept-phones

Download Epic Games Call of Duty parody: Duty Calls

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 03:21 PM PST

The Call of Duty: Black Ops craze has swept the globe, but now it's time to have a bit of fun with our favorite first-person shooter (FPS) franchise. Introducing Epic Games latest creation, Duty Calls: The Calm Before the Storm, now available to download free.

The game parody does a great job at mocking the serious, military-style FPS. Fire up the demo and you'll be spawned, ready for action. A voice over the radio will provide your orders and objective, "blah blah blah blah secret base. Blah blah blah blah plan. Blah blah blah nuclear missile bomb. Blah blah blah counting on you. Utmost importance. Win. Good luck.”

If you're ready to give Duty Calls a go, head on over to the official website thedutycalls.com, enter your age and you're off. You'll need to be running Windows XP SP2+, Vista or 7, a 2.0+ GHz single core processor, 512MB of RAM, Nvidia 6200+ or Radeon 9600+ video card, 8GB of hard drive space and DirectX 9.0c. No support for Mac OS is available at this time.

Out Now | Epic Games | Free

SwiftKey Tablet: holographic keyboard exclusively for Android Honeycomb

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 12:19 PM PST

At Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, one of the first apps to be designed natively for Android Honeycomb was unveiled — SwiftKey Tablet. Designed in partnership with Google and Motorola to coincide with the launch of Motorola Xoom, this holographic keyboard pairs nicely with the futuristic look of Honeycomb.

This is not the first time we've heard of SwiftKey, in fact it quickly became the top keyboard on the Android Market after launching last summer with over 700,000 downloads in its first six months. Unlike the existing version, the new build will be designed exclusively for Honeycomb.

The app is powered by TouchType's patent-pending Fluency Prediction Engine. Fluency applies patent-pending AI technology to predict around a third of words before a single character is entered. This is boosted by learning algorithms that observe how you write your email, blog, Facebook and Twitter updates, and these continually adjust as you type to become more accurate.

SwiftKey Tablet will ship with keyboard layouts specifically designed to enhance the text entry experience within Honeycomb on a Motorola Xoom, with a holographic theme, custom skinning and a 10.1 inch ‘thumb layout’ to make two-handed typing easy.

We've received confirmation that SwiftKey Tablet will be on display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, so we hope to get some hands on time with the keyboard skin then. For now, enjoy the video and let us know what you think about SwiftKey Tablet.

Coming Soon | SwiftKey | TBD

Android Honeycomb 3.0 gallery: Walkthrough in pictures

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 11:13 AM PST

Android Honeycomb 3.0 was the subject of Google’s press conference in San Francisco today, and we got a good look at what to expect when it debuts on the Motorola Xoom and other Android tablets in the next few weeks and months. Check out our walkthrough right here of what’s new, and will make iPad and Galaxy Tab owners alike jealous.

Google’s Hugo Barra took the stage to walkthrough the new features of Android Honeycomb 3.0, from a new homescreen UI to video chat. Click through the gallery to see them all, complete with descriptions.

Out Spring | £TBC | Google

Android Market Web Store goes live!

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 10:36 AM PST

UPDATE: The Android Market Web Store is live at market.android.com. Check it out!

BREAKING: An Android Market Web Store for browsing the Android Market on a desktop computer has just been announced at Google’s Android Honeycomb press event. It lets you buy apps and push them to your Android phone from the browser – about time eh?

We’ve long bemoaned the lack of an official Android Market website that can be viewed on any PC, not just an Android phone. Today, two and half year after the first Android phone went on sale, this finally happens. Google’s enginnering director for cloud services on Android demonstrated the ability to buy an app through the Android Market Web Store, triggering a push over the air download and installation of the game Zenonia 2 on his Google Nexus S Android phone. It worked seamlessly.

The best Android apps of all time: Top 100

The Android Market Web Store also offers a tweet function to recomment Android app download pages as short URLs over Twitter – on a desktop browser this will take you to the Android Market Web Store, but on an Android phone the same URL will simply launch the page on the Android Market.

We’ve checked out the Android Market Web Store on our MacBook Pro, and honestly, it’s simply what you’d expect: a fairly clean design reminiscent of the Ovi Store, and all the apps available on the Android Market. But this finally fixes a major flaw with the Android Market, so we’re still pleased.

Google today also announced that developers would be able to set prices specific to regions, so that American apps won’t fluctuate with exchange rates in the UK Android Market. The search giant also revealed plans for in-app purchasing, demonstrating an Android version of the popular iPhone game TapTap Revenge which lets you buy individual tracks to prod along to. Between this and Sony’s Android PlayStation plans, this could revolutionize Android as a gaming platform.

The Android Market Web Store is live right now.

The Daily: Everything you need to know

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 09:13 AM PST

We’ve been locked into The Daily live launch this evening, getting an eyeful of Murdoch’s latest venture, The Daily. Click through for our screenshots, plus images from the webcast, and all your questions about The Daily answered.

UPDATE: More screenshots and images just added!

How much is The Daily?
The Daily costs $4.25 per month, 99c per week, or 14c per issue, for 100 iPad pages per day. There’s no new delivery mechanism, you’re just billed automatically, weekly or yearly.

Is it available online?
The Daily also has a website, and a Tumblr. Content is mirrored on the web, but because of touch gestures not everything you can do on the iPad can be replicated on the web. But text and image content will have HTML mirrors on The Daily website.

Will it be available in the UK?
It isn’t available in the UK at launch unless you’ve got a sneaky American iTunes account. If it’s a success, Murdoch will be itching to get a UK version of The Daily set up over here, probably as his second port of call.

How and when will it be updated, and can I look at back content if I’m a subscriber?
This is not a once a day static product – we can drop in a new front page any time we want, we can add a new page any time we want, but we’re not going to be updating every five minutes.” Saved articles is the best way to find previously published content. Archives will be on the Web. Working toward archiving and internal search but it’s not there at launch.

Will other magazines use the tech that pushes The Daily to my iPad?
Apple said “You’ll hear an announcement from us very soon about other news publications,” although there’s no specifics yet. It sounds like an appealing proposition though, Murdoch stated that it costs less than half a million dollars a week, without advertising or subscribers, which is amazingly cheap.

What will the content and tone be like?
Editor in Chief Jessie Erzo said: “We want a new voice. We are patriotic, we love America, and we are going to say what we think is right for this country,” although he didn’t specify a political stance, but it will be concerned largely with. When asked about whether Like any news organisation we’re going to break stories. how much long term investigative journalism – read it and you’ll find out. Rupert said that the target market is “everybody”. There’s an apps and gales section that goes straight through to the app store.

It can carry 360-degree photographs, images that respond to your touch. There’s a video anchor, professional audio voiceovers, shuffle features, and a carousel format to the stories. You can share articles on Facebook and Twitter, and content links out to the wider web too.

Most importantly: Does Steve Jobs like it?
Murdoch said that he’d received a call from Steve Jobs, and said “He believed that the app was really terrific, he was extremely flattering”, although didn’t go into much detail.

Do you want The Daily in the UK? Shout out in the comments!

The Daily: watch it announced live!

Posted: 02 Feb 2011 07:17 AM PST

The second of today’s live webcasts is Rupert Murdoch’s announcement of the iPad-only newspaper The Daily. Step up to get a glimpse of what it looks like when two of the world’s most successful companies climb into each other’s pockets. Along with News Corp., Apple will also be presenting the event, with Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services at Apple stepping up to the plate, presumably to explain some of the wizardry that goes into pushing The Daily to your iPad in the morning.