Droid Razr teardown reveals impressive guts

iFix has voided yet another warranty in order to show us exactly what makes the new Droid Razr tick. To open the phone, they begin to saw the unit apart with a dozuki, but quickly realized a spudger and plastic opening tool were also reasonably effective.Motorola has been making a come back after being set aside for years by other companies that have had a seemingly endless stream of hipper smart phones. About two years ago though, the company introduced the Droid, which turned out to be a very successful smartphone series. Back in action, the company is betting its super-identifiable Razr namesake and styling will bring back the same "wow" factor as it did in 2004. Be sure to check out our hands on review, if you have...

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Intel Sandy Bridge-E Debuts: Core i7-3960X Reviewed

Intel kick started 2011 with the release of their 2nd generation Core processors as they unleashed the Sandy Bridge architecture for the first time. Initially there were five processors, which included the popular Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K. Enabling these new processors was the LGA1155 platform, which brought about three new chipsets. Two of these, the H67 and P67, went on to spoil what would have otherwise been perfect execution by Intel. Plagued by a SATA 3Gb/s bug, this put the entire platform on hold for numerous months until Intel could ramp up production of working B3 stepping chipsets to replace the defective models, effectively costing Intel a billion dollars or thereabouts.By March the company was on the mend and before...

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Amazon increases Kindle Fire production again to 5 million units

Amazon has increased production output on its Kindle Fire tablet for the second time to the tune of 5 million units by the end of the year. The company is betting big based on strong pre-orders, according to sources from upstream component suppliers as reported by DigiTimes.                                         This is the second time that Amazon has ramped up production on the 7-inch tablet ahead of its public launch. In the middle of the third quarter, the Kindle maker called for 4 million units to be produced, up from the original 3.5 million when the tablet was announced.These rumors fall in line with similar statements...

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Xbox.com getting Metro UI ahead of Xbox Live dashboard update

Microsoft will be making some changes to Xbox.com in the coming days in anticipation of the next Xbox 360 dashboard update. The familiar “My Xbox” section will be replaced by a forward-thinking “Social” area, complete with Metro UI styling.Social builds on the current My Xbox by allowing you to see more detailed information regarding what your friends are doing. One new feature is called Beacons which lets you to mark games you wish to play with others on your friends list.Your friends will see the Beacon and can decide if they also want to play the game, rather than you having to send multiple game invites or arrange playing together through traditional means. You can have up to three Beacons active at a time and you can optionally...

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Motorola Droid RAZR hands-on impressions

While we work on the full written review of the Motorola DROID RAZR, I thought I'd at least share some of my gut feelings and impressions of the device, now that I've been using it for a short while.To start with, Motorola really hit it out of the park with the hardware. The 7.1mm thick body is super tough thanks to its Kevlar back cover, Gorilla Glass up front, and a steel internal frame. You might lament the lack of a user replaceable battery, but you'll love the qHD resolution Super AMOLED display, speedy dual-core 1.2GHz processor, and fine 1080p-capable 8 megapixel camera. You simply can't argue with the results.The software is surprisingly good, too. The Motorola user interface is mostly unobtrusive and workable, and the new Smart...

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Mozilla Thunderbird 8.0, Lightning 1.0 released

he Mozilla Foundation has officially released Thunderbird 8.0 and Lightning 1.0, their full-featured email and calendar clients, respectively. Mozilla added Thunderbird to their rapid release schedule awhile back, so users will continue to get frequent, periodic updates.While Firefox 8.0 will probably be enjoying most of the spotlight, Thunderbird 8.0 is a substantial upgrade from its previous iteration.                                                     Download: Thunderbird 8.0, Lightning 1.0, Firefox 8.0Thunderbird 8.0 highlights (more)Improved speed and responsiveness! Thunderbird is...

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New carrier offers unlimited service, no contracts or overages for $19/mo

Tired of restrictive contracts and costly overages? Republic Wireless is too. The newcomer has busted onto the scene with a service that is currently unmatched by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. For only $19 a month, the company says it can provide smartphone users with unlimited voice, data and text without lengthy commitments and hidden fees. The catch? For most users, there isn't one.To eliminate the expense of maintaining pricey cellular networks, Republic Wireless utilizes a hybrid calling technology that sends communications over Wi-Fi whenever possible -- and that's pretty often. The company reports that mobile users are around Wi-Fi about 60% of the time. If you happen to be outside the range of Wi-Fi, your handset...

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Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime detailed, launching in December

Asus has announced that their Eee Pad Transformer Prime 'hybrid' tablet will be available for purchase worldwide in December. The tablet will be the first to launch with Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor, codenamed Kal-El.                                         We had our first glance at the Transformer Prime last month when Asus chairman Jonney Shih briefly showed the tablet during an interview at conference AsiaD. Specifications at that time were limited but we now know all of the juicy details.Nvidia’s quad-core (technically it has five cores) Tegra 3 SoC will indeed power the unit, a chip that Nvidia says is...

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Kindle Fire early adopters to have access to thousands of apps

Amazon has announced that their upcoming Kindle Fire tablet will launch with several thousand apps available for download in addition to Amazon’s own feature programs. All apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire and will be available exclusively though the Amazon Appstore.Amazon started talking with app developers the same day they introduced the Kindle Fire and they claim the response has been overwhelming. All of the industry-leading social and music networks will be available – Facebook, Twitter, Pandora and Rhapsody, just to name a few.                                             Netflix has also developed an app for...

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Get a Motorola Droid Razr for $111.11 at Amazon Wireless

Motorola has launched their Droid Razr smartphone today via Verizon Wireless but it’s Amazon Wireless that is offering the best deal to new subscribers. To celebrate today’s date (11-11-2011), Amazon is selling the Droid Razr for only $111.11, down from the regular price of $299.99.                                                          As with most good deals, there are a few restrictions you need to be aware of. First, the deal only applies to new Verizon Wireless customers. Existing customers eligible for an upgrade are reportedly being offered the phone for $249, although we haven’t been...

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Lenovo readies 10.1" Ice Cream Sandwich tablet with Tegra 3

So far Asus remains the only company to officially announce a Tegra 3 based tablet but it looks like Lenovo will be joining the fray soon. According to a report on Engadget, the Chinese manufacturer is readying a new 10.1-inch tablet equipped with Nvidia's quad-core processor as well as Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.The yet-to-be-named device will reportedly sport 2GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM, a standard USB host socket covered by a pop-out flap, a back-facing camera of unknown resolution with an LED flash, a "Special Fusion-Skin Body" and a fingerprint scanner on the backside that apparently doubles as an optical joystick. There's no information the dimensions and weight of the new tablet but Engadget speculates it will be significantly...

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Google giving away 10 Galaxy Nexus smartphones on Twitter

Google has launched a contest on Twitter to give away 10 Galaxy Nexus smartphones in 10 days to promote the phone’s pending release. The promotion started on Saturday and will run until Monday, November 21.                                      To enter, you must first have a Twitter account and follow @googlenexus. Each day Google will post an essay question or puzzle for hopefuls to answer. To submit a solution, reply to Google's tweet and include the #googlenexus hashtag.To give you an idea of what to expect, the first challenge presented contestants with an image and asked them to decipher a code to finish the following sentence:...

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Secret "Google X" lab reimagines our future

Many large enterprises are known to tinker with blue-skyprojects from time to time. Google is certainly no exception but the blue sky itself may be no limit for the search giant, a company run by two young idealists, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.Word of Google's clandestine facility first oozed its way into public eyes this summer. Dubbed "Google X", only a handful of people actually know where the facility is located. Very little is known about the lab itself or the people involved, but you can bet Google has been working on some fascinating concepts behind its closed doors. When Google employees were asked about the project, very few know anything at all. Even fewer know more than it just exists, the New York Times reports,...

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HP X7000 Wi-Fi Touch Mouse has dedicated Facebook button

HP has quietly launched their X7000 Wi-Fi Touch Mouse, combining wireless connectivity and touch-sensitive technology into a slick looking pointer. The unique curved shape which arcs to the right, however, means left-handed users need not apply. We looked at HP’s Wi-Fi Mobile Mouse earlier this year and despite a poor click zone on the primary left and right click buttons, the mouse worked flawlessly. HP has brought that same Wi-Fi technology to the X7000 which means that instead of pairing it with a Bluetooth adapter or a USB dongle, the mouse connects directly to your notebook’s wireless connection.                                       ...

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Bulldozer Arrives: AMD FX-8150 Review

It's been a long and arduous past few years for AMD’s processor division as they've constantly been one step behind primary competitor Intel. The pain started back in 2006 when Intel launched its Core 2 Duo series, which disposed of the ill equipped Athlon64 X2 range. With no immediate answer, AMD moved the Athlon64 X2 architecture to the 65nm design process, where they ended up with the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ clocked at 3.1GHz. However just as the Athlon64 X2 architecture was meeting the end of the road, AMD unleashed their long-awaited Phenom processors. By that time AMD was doing battle with a hardened Core 2 Quad range.AMD struggled again as the new Phenom X4 processors didn't perform up to expectations. Yet this was the least...

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Tuesday tech deals: 46" Sony Bravia for $600 + free shipping

Tiger Direct offers the Sony BRAVIA 46" 1080p LCD HD Television, model no. KDL-46BX420, for $659.99. Coupon code "HYO48241" drops it to $599.99. With free shipping, that's $98 under a deal from three days ago and it's $48 less than the lowest total price we've seen for any new 46" Sony BRAVIA LCD HDTV. (We've listed refurbs for as low as $550 shipped.) This TV features a 1920x1080 (1080p) native resolution, USB port, two HDMI inputs, and VGA and other video inputs. Deal ends November 19.83 Lenovo ThinkPad Dual 2.5GHz 14" Laptop, $100 credit for $799 + free shippingMicrosoft Store offers the Lenovo ThinkPad T410 Intel Core i5 2.53GHz 14.1" Widescreen Notebook, model no. 2518-QBU, with a $100 Microsoft Store Coupon for $799 with free shipping....

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Rumor: Ultra-thin 15-inch Macbook coming Q2, 2012?

News of an ultra-thin, 15-inch Macbook has been circulating for awhile now. A couple of weeks ago, we reported that Apple was rumored to have completed development of a LCD test component. There are now reports that Apple's suppliers are shipping low volumes of other components suitable for a newer, skinnier Macbook.                                          Digitimes reports that sources upstream from Apple's supply chain claim the new Macbook should appear as early as Q2, 2012. Although Digitimes often proves to be a good source for what is going on in China, predicting the release date for Apple products has proven to be...

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Study: Banner Ads on Mobile Devices See Higher CTR Than On PCs

There’s been a lot of debate regarding CTR for banner ads on mobile devices.  Many argue that mobile users click on banner ads by mistake and therefore can’t compete with traditional banner ads viewed on PCs.  A new study out by MediaMind, however, aims to debunk this myth.                                           The company analyzed 230 million impressions of the same banner ads on both mobile devices and traditional browsers and found that the average CTR for mobile ads was .61% compared to .07% for browsers.  MediaMind disagrees with the notion of errant clicks on mobile devices and instead says that mobile is simply...

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European Telecom Chief Leaks iPhone 5 Release Date?

In what potentially comes as the most compelling information released to date surrounding the forthcoming launch of the iPhone 5, Stéphane Richard (CEO and Chairman of France Telecom-Orange) has “accidentally” revealed that the 5th generation iPhone will be released on October 15 in France and throughout much of the European continent.                                      This revelation sparked an almost universal consensus among industry experts (at least those who weighed in on the matter) that the iPhone 5 will first reach U.S. consumers on or around October 7th. Given that Apple products are commonly released in the United States one week prior...

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T-Mobile Executive Reportedly Cans iPhone 5 Rumor

The iPhone 5 is not coming to T-Mobile USA this fall, according to a provocative new report that casts doubt on a longstanding mobile rumor that has persisted for nearly ten months.                                  TmoNews has obtained information suggesting that T-Mobile USA Chief Marketing Officer Cole Brodman has confirmed that the carrier will not debut the iPhone 5 on its mobile network – at least not for the remainder of 2011.“Our business is working very hard to improve performance over the last couple of years and we’ve had some great success,” Brodman said, adding that “new products and value plans are fueling customer respons...

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Mobile Devices Claim 10% of All YouTube Downloads, Says Google

YouTube is a popular destination for mobile users. According to YouTube director of global platform partnerships Francisco Varela, mobile users are responsible for about 10% of all videos downloaded from Google’s ultra-popular video sharing platform.                                                Coverage from Mobile World Live at the Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2011, where Varela spoke, revealed that YouTube subscribers are using mobile devices to create content at a rapid pace..More than two hours of video is uploaded from devices every minute, Google revealed, with Varela adding that Google and...

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Google Adding +1 Buttons to Mobile Web, Mobile Display Ads

It was announced today that Google will begin adding +1 buttons to their Web and mobile display ads in early October, adding user photos and recommendations to the ads themselves.  The buttons were recently added in the same way to Google search results.                                On its “Inside AdWords” blog today, Google said that +1 buttons have been installed on over a million Websites across the Web with more than 4 billion daily impressions.  By adding the buttons to display ads across both the Web and mobile, advertisers have the ability to run social-enabled ad campaigns that work across millions of sites on over 40 countries around...

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Intuit’s Mobile Efforts Look to Make Big Splash on The Small Screen

Intuit’s dominance in the realm of mobile solutions for business owners is growing at a rapid pace.                                    Late last week, the venerable name in business and financial management solutions, raised the curtain on its next generation of mobile products that will expand its portfolio of connected services.According to Intuit, these range from innovations that will make it easier for the smallest of businesses to accept credit card payments, to others that will help doctors and patients communicate quickly, to a banking application that allows consumers to deposit a check from anywhere with just their mobile pho...

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Sprint Joins the iPhone 4S Club with AT&T, Verizon Next Week

In the world of smartphones, there’s an exclusive club of carriers in the US, much like the exclusive stable of actors who have played James Bond on the silver screen.On Tuesday, Sprint earned its “license to thrill” by welcoming the iPhone into the Sprint family.                                   Beginning October 14th, when Apple’s iPhone 4S goes on sale, Sprint will join AT&T and Verizon as the only US carriers to offer the iPhone.Despite what would otherwise seem to be positive news for both companies, shares of Apple and Sprint fell sharply after the announcement of the iPhone ...

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