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Motorola Droid Bionic launch date rumors: August or September?
Mac OS X Lion password PSA: disable automatic login now!
Electronic Arts first quarter profits soar 130 percent thanks to FIFA 11
Intel ultrabooks begin mass production this September: Are the days numbered for the MacBook Air?
Samsung Galaxy S II shatters sales records, reaches five million mark in just 85 days
HTC EVO 3D and Vodafone part ways, delays to blame
Banksy iPhone app maps out his masterpieces
Chrome gets OS X Lion gesture update but it’s backwards
Amazon Android tablets: Kindle labs seek browser guru
Windows Phone 7 Mango is ready but hitting Japan first

Motorola Droid Bionic launch date rumors: August or September?

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 09:23 AM PDT

The Motorola Droid Bionic has seen a long and windy road since its arrival at CES in Las Vegas. As we near seven months since first handling the only smartphone with superhuman strength, we’re now hearing that an August release is out and early September is in. Does Motorola really want to go head-to-head with the iPhone 5?

Apparently Motorola has a bad case of the Pre’s. Palm has become notorious in announcing devices and then taking over six months to launch; the Droid Bionic is now playing the same game. First a delay, then a redesign and now another delay, so what gives?

According to Droid-Life, the display on the Droid Bionic has far less ghosting than that of the Droid X2 or Droid 3. Also, the bump in RAM and noticeably lighter weight compared to Motorola’s current product portfolio took longer than expected.

In any event, regardless of why it has taken Motorola so long to finish the Droid Bionic, September will reportedly play host to Apple’s iPhone 5. The fifth generation iPhone or the Motorola Droid Bionic — how will you decide?

via Droid-Life

Mac OS X Lion password PSA: disable automatic login now!

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 08:58 AM PDT

Mac OS X Lion’s “automatic login” feature may have a dirty little secret. According to Passware, a leading password recovery firm, “automatic login” leaves OS X Lion passwords ripe for the picking via the direct memory access associated with the Mac’s FireWire port. Here’s what you need to know.

By enabling the “automatic login” feature instead of the default method which asks for a profile and password, the FireWire port on your Mac opens the door to unauthorized password recovery. The solution is simple: disable automatic login and spend the extra few seconds typing in a password each time you start your machine.

It should be noted that OS X Lion is not alone in its vulnerability, Snow Leopard is also susceptible to the hack. In fact, Passware has used the same technique to decrypt hard drives encrypted with Windows’ BitLocker and TrueCrypt.

If you’re dead set on keeping automatic login enabled, Passware advises that you disable your Firewire ports.

via Cnet

Electronic Arts first quarter profits soar 130 percent thanks to FIFA 11

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 08:12 AM PDT

Maybe Electronic Arts should consider licensing LG’s slogan because without a doubt, life’s good. The company just recorded first quarter profits of $221 million (£134 million), up 130 percent compared to the $96 million (£58 million) from the year ago quarter. With Star Wars: The Old Republic breaking the company’s pre-order records and Battlefield 3 pre-orders nearly ten times that of its predecessor, the studio has a serious case of winning.

Fueling the substantial growth in profits this quarter were sales of £608 million (up from £496 million). Helping reach these numbers were two million in sales of Portal 2, Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age 3. Crysis 2 also played a big role with three million units in sales. With the download age taking over, the breakdown of the £608 million in sales might surprise you.

Over 60 percent of sales came from packaged goods (£394 million). Meanwhile distribution of boxed product hit £73 million, up from £32 million. On the digital front, sales reach £141 million, up from £107 million. Now it’s time for the heavy hitters:

FIFA 11 has now sold 11 million units across all platforms and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has sold nine million. These two games are now the bread and butter of EA’s portfolio until the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic and Battlefield 3.

via GameIndustry.biz

Intel ultrabooks begin mass production this September: Are the days numbered for the MacBook Air?

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 07:36 AM PDT

The 2011 MacBook Air line will face stiff competition from Acer, Asustek, Dell and Lenovo very soon according to a report from DigiTimes. The industry insider has confirmed mass production of Intel-powered ultrabooks are scheduled for September. Leading the charge will be the Asus UX21 with its Core i7 processor and SanDisk SSD.

Since the Asus UX21 will be the first Intel ultrabook to come to market, it’s only fitting that we retouch its highlights. The UX21 features a second generation Intel i7 mobile processor, the same chip offered as an optional upgrade on the new MacBook Airs. It also features a 13-inch display, USB 3.0, weighs 2.4 lbs and is 17mm at its thickest point. Like the MacBook Air, it lacks an optical drive and uses a SSD for instant on and speedy boot times.

The biggest obstacle standing in the way of ultrabook mass production this September is “low yield rates over panel production.” For the second half of 2011, Acer has placed orders for 400,000 to 450,000 ultra-thin notebooks each month with 100,000 units being ultrabooks. Unfortunately because of the low yield rates over panel production, both the production volume and schedule may be delayed.

On paper the Asus UX21 and other ultrabooks from Acer, Dell and Lenovo sound promising. Their success largely depends on price and whether production volume allows for a timely release. If given the choice between the UX21 and the 13-inch MacBook Air, assuming both offered i7 chips and were equally priced, which would you choose?

via DigiTimes

Samsung Galaxy S II shatters sales records, reaches five million mark in just 85 days

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 07:04 AM PDT

There’s no doubt about it, the world loves the Samsung Galaxy S II. Global sales of the smartphone hit the five million unit mark on July 22nd, just 85 days after its release. This is 40 days faster than its predecessor, the original Galaxy S. You are now looking at a smartphone which commands 56 percent of Korea’s mobile phone market.

The Samsung Galaxy S II tops more than 10 European countries’ sales charts, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Though five million units sold is impressive, what’s more impressive is that Samsung has managed to do this without launching the device in Latin American, China or the US. Once launched in this regions it won’t be long until the S 2 hits the ten million mark.

Late last week, Digital Versus reported that Samsung had sold six million units in less than there weeks. As we now know those figures were greatly exaggerated, but today’s news is impressive nonetheless. Samsung has a winner and the Galaxy S II train is looking unstoppable. Apple better hope Denzel and Chris Pine are aboard.

via Android Police

HTC EVO 3D and Vodafone part ways, delays to blame

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:41 AM PDT

If you were hoping to get your hands on the HTC EVO 3D this summer, we’ve got a bit of bad news. Vodafone has decided to scratch the launch because of a series of “delays to bring the phone to market.” There will be no 3D love from HTC hitting the UK after all.

The HTC EVO 3D has seen a particularly unusual transition from CDMA to GSM. After launching in the US on Sprint’s network, the EVO 3D was quickly addressed overseas with the release of the LG Optimus 3D. To date, neither device has captured the level of interest of the 2D handsets they’ve replaced.

Now for the official word from Vodafone,

“We can confirm that due to delays in the launch of the HTC EVO 3D, we no longer intend to include the device in our smartphone range. We'll be contacting any customers who registered their interest shortly.”

Do you think that Vodafone cancelled the HTC EVO 3D strictly based on delays or is there more to the story? Let us know in the comments section below.

via Android Central

Banksy iPhone app maps out his masterpieces

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 03:35 AM PDT

Hunting down Banksy pieces in the wild was once a matter of dumb luck or just living in the right bit of London. No longer! The Banksy Locations iPhone app has arrived in the App Store with a huge gallery of his work with their locations plotted out on Google Maps. Tap your current location and the app will show you how close you are to daubings by the mysterious paint can wrangler.

As well as giving you directions to Banksy art, the app includes videos and news updates. We’re not entirely sure how involved Banksy himself was with the creation of the app (we suspect not at all) but if you’re wondering whether he’s been drawn to your manor, it’s a handy way to find out. Once you’ve found a Banksy you want to see in the flesh, the app will give you directions right to it. Just think of it as a graffiti-obsessed tour guide.

Out now | £1.49 | iTunes

Chrome gets OS X Lion gesture update but it’s backwards

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 03:07 AM PDT

Here’s a situation we’re bound to see repeated a lot in the next few months. Google has kicked out a Chrome for Mac update to its developer channel in the wake of OS X Lion and things have got a little confusing. As well as removing window scrollbars by default and making them appear only when you’re scrolling, which mimicks the look of other Lion apps including Safari, Google has returned gesture controls to the browser. But there’s a slight problem.

In OS X Snow Leopard, Chrome let you flip through pages with three-finger swipes but that was broken when Apple took that gesture for moving between desktops and full-screen apps in Lion. Google has replaced the gesture with two-finger swipes but they’re now effectively backwards in Apple’s new world of inverted scrolling.

Since this version of Chrome is just a developer build, we’re sure Google will add the option to reverse the gestures in the full release but this definitely once again flags up the issue with Apple suddenly changing the conventions!

Out now | £free | Google (via Techcrunch)

Amazon Android tablets: Kindle labs seek browser guru

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 02:34 AM PDT

It’s been a couple of weeks since we had any chatter about the much-discussed Amazon Android tablets to chew on but now an interesting job ad has popped up from the company’s hardware division. Lab126, home to the Kindle and Amazon’s other more secretive device projects, is recruiting a browser expert.

That could just mean it wants to soup up the rather basic browser included with the current Amazon Kindle but the posting suggest it’s planning something bigger. Read on for a look at the clues…

The Lab126 job listing is for a WebKit development engineer. WebKit is the framework behind Safari and Chrome but it’s also the basis for the browser included with the third incarnation of the Kindle which Amazon called “experimental”.

The ad also asks for experience with designing and implementing software solutions in consumer electronics devices and namechecks Android beside iOS and webOS.

Though anyone recruited into Lab126 is obviously likely to be working on future versions of the Kindle, the details of the ad really do suggest that Amazon is planning to push the browser much further than you’d expect to find on an ebook reader.

To compete with the iPad and the growing selection of rival Android tablets, any Amazon Android tablet would need a great browser and the job opening is seeking exactly the sort of person Lab126 would need to build it.

Out TBC | £TBC | Amazon (via Business Insider)

Windows Phone 7 Mango is ready but hitting Japan first

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 02:06 AM PDT

Good news! Windows Phone 7 Mango, the first major update for Microsoft’s smartphone OS, has reached a major milestone. The company has announced on the Windows Phone Blog that the Mango has hit the Release To Manufacturing (RTM) stage which means it’s now in the hands of carriers and phone makers including Nokia, HTC, LG, Samsung, Dell, ZTE and Fujitsu.

The move means Windows Phone 7 Mango, which Microsoft previewed back in May, is still on course to arrive in the autumn. The Fujitsu IS12T has also been confirmed as the first phone in the world arriving with Windows Phone 7 Mango. It’ll get a Japanese launch in September. While we’re unlikely to get our hands on that phone, expect to see lots of details on new Windows Phone 7 Mango devices leaking over the next few weeks.

Check out our Windows Phone 7 Mango preview for a rundown of all the new features.

Out Autumn | £TBC | Windows Phone blog