Photos alleging to be the Blackberry Storm 2 surfaced online Thursday to the site Crackberry. While the images are new, there is not a lot to get excited about. The supposed images of the next-gen Storm appear to reduce any high-hopes of what the actual Storm 2 might deliver.
Google has apologized for yesterday's service outage that left 14 percent of its user base without Google's wide variety of online services for a few hours.
Twitter has yielded to user outrage and reinstated its @reply feature. On Tuesday, Tweeps (Twitter people) around the world were angered when Twitter yanked the opt-in feature that allowed you to see Twitter replies that were sent from people you follow to people you don't. Now, it's back--but in a revised form.
Amazon Wednesday introduced Kindle Publishing for Blogs Beta, a new program that lets anyone sell blog subscriptions to Kindle users through Amazon's Kindle store. All you have to do is sign up for a blog vendor account (your Amazon customer account will not work), point Amazon to your blog's RSS feed, and fill out some basic information about your publication. After that, Amazon takes care of the rest, including formatting, and your blog should be in the Kindle Store within 12-48 hours.
The Watchmen Director's Cut is coming to Blu-ray in late July and will include a feature that allows you to sync your BD-Live buddies and Facebook friends into one list. This means you can use Warner Home Video's live community screening feature (LCS) to simultaneously view the Watchmen with your Facebook friends, no matter where they are located and share comments about the movie within Facebook, according toThe Hollywood Reporter. The catch is everyone who wants to participate in LCS has to own a copy of the Blu-ray disc and have a BD-Live-enabled player with a broadband connection.
Apple yesterday warned iPhone application developers that all apps submitted for iTunes App Store approval must be compliant with iPhone OS 3.0. In an e-mail sent to registered iPhone developers, Apple said all new apps will be tested for approval on the latest beta version of 3.0. Cupertino said it may also remove any apps currently in the App Store if they do not work on the iPhone's new operating system.
Google is running into problems with privacy advocates in Japan and Greece over its Google Maps feature, Street View. Google plans to re-shoot Street View photographs in the twelve Japanese cities currently available in Street View after privacy complaints. At issue was the fact that Google's Street View cameras were mounted so high they were shooting over private fences and into Japanese homes. Google says it will lower its cameras by 16 inches for its re-shoot and for all future Street View photographs in Japan. Street View cameras are mounted on cars and take photographs with 360-degree views of the surrounding area.
Facebook has removed two Holocaust denial groups claiming they violated Facebook's Terms of Service by promoting hate. The two groups in question, "Holocaust is a Holohoax" and "Based on the facts...there was no Holocaust," were removed from the site because messages from members posted on the group's Walls were found to be promoting hate speech.
Thinking of buying an ultraportable laptop or a netbook soon? Check out this list of upcoming portables before you open your wallet.
The natural-language search engine Wolfram Alpha is expected to launch May 18 and more details about the site are emerging. Most notably, Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram Alpha's creator and the brain behind the computational software Mathematica, says his site is not the next Google killer, but an add-on for your Web searches.
Facebook just can't seem to stay out of trouble. The social networking site has landed in hot water again, this time for refusing to shut down Holocaust denial groups.
Forget all those rumors about Apple, Google, Microsoft or anyone else buying Twitter: The company's bosses say Twitter is not for sale. On Wednesday Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams were on ABC's The View as part of Twitter's current media campaign that has also included appearances on Oprah and The Colbert Report. Responding to a question from Barbara Walters about the rumors surrounding an imminent purchase of Twitter by a larger tech company, Stone responded with an unequivocal, "No. We are not for sale."
Developers got an unexpected surprise yesterday after Apple released a new beta of the iPhone OS 3.0 and a second version of iTunes 8.2. This release comes just eight days after Apple released 3.0 beta 4 and the first public version of iTunes 8.2. Apple's typical release schedule for new 3.0 beta versions has been about two weeks. If beta 5's availability signals a faster release schedule, then a near-final version of iPhone OS 3.0 may be just around the corner. That would make sense since it's barely over a month until Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco where 3.0 is expected to make its debut.
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What happens when two super-hyped tech companies collide in the rumor mill? You get a Tweetintosh. That's right folks, the rumor mongers are saying that Apple is in late stage talks to acquire Twitter for as much as $700 million. The Mac maker is reportedly hoping to have a deal in place with Twitter by June 8 in time for Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco.
If you were burned during the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war, hold off on using all those red HD DVD discs as a wall covering. Warner has introduced a new Web site called Red2Blu that lets you trade in HD DVD movies for Blu-ray discs-for a price.
