Category: News

Lil Wayne’s Twitter account was hacked yesterday. The username was changed from @liltunechi to @lilchinetu and the hacker began having a little fun at the expense of Wayne’s 1.2 million followers. The hacker also took the time to slam some of Wayne’s celeb colleagues. In one instance, he attacked Atlanta entertainer Soulja Boy:

“I sent a donations to your paypal, check it, I heard you got 13,000 sales lil homie, i feel bad for you! #DamnSoulja”

At this time, reports have come out that Wayne has regained control of his account, but I’m skeptical. The original account, @liltunechi, has been suspended. The account used to hurl insults, @LilChinetu, repeatedly claims to be the real Weezy and even has a Twitition floating around. This account has also posted that @LilTuneChi_Real (a protected account) is an alternate account for Wayne, which makes no sense.

Another account, @LilTunechi_YM, claims to be the backup account for @LilTunechi (Weezy’s original Twitter handle), which also makes no sense.

At the time of this writing, none of these accounts carries the Verified label that might suggest the account is official.

via AllHipHop.com, HipHop DX, The BoomBox

According to inside sources, the next iteration of the iPhone will be a complete rethink of the popular multi-touch smartphone. At its core, the device will feature a new processor and chips which will support most wireless carriers worldwide.

To start, the iPhone 5′s internals will be different – the device will run on a new, combined CDMA/GSM/UTMS chipset from Qualcomm, which will support both AT&T and Verizon here in the U.S., as well as other carriers worldwide – perhaps even an expanded lineup, as would now be possible. Along with the iPad 2, this chipset change represents the transition away from Infineon as the iPhone and iPad chipset maker. Going forward, Qualcomm will make the chips for all Apple mobile devices.

Striking about this launch will be the absence of Steve Jobs, who will be out on medical leave. Some wonder if his team can pull off the launch, which should be some time this summer, without their leader. While Steve will be taking it easy, I sincerely doubt the visionary and control-freak behind devices like the iPhone and iPad won’t still be pulling all the strings.

Details on the iPhone 5 are scarce, but it’s rumored it will launch with NFC. This is the same technology featured in the latest Android Gingerbread devices that allow for mobile payments. Apple also acquired Siri, a personal mobile assistant company that has been merged with Wolfram Alpha and a slew of social media services which should make the iPhone 5 competitive with Android’s Voice Search and Voice Actions. Lala is another acquisition that could mean major changes for iTunes. Could we finally see a cloud-based iTunes integrated into the iPhone 5?

more details at ReadWriteWeb

According to a letter sent to all Apple employees today, CEO Steve Jobs will go out on medical leave to focus on his health. His leave has been granted by the board of directors. Tim Cook will handle day-to-day operations at Apple, but Jobs will continue to handle “major strategic decisions.”

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day
operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the
executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting
plans we have in place for 2011.

It is not known why Jobs needs a leave of absence at this time. It is well-known, however, that he has had pancreatic cancer and had a liver transplant in the past.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the
meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our
privacy.

Apple’s quarterly earnings report is scheduled for tomorrow. It’s doubtful that we will learn more from Apple about Steve’s health as they have not been very open on the subject before.

via RWW

VLC Removed from Apple App Store

VLC, a very useful multi-format and Open Source media player, was removed from Apple’s App Store due to licensing issues. Usually, Apple is at fault in situations like this, but the situation here is a bit more complex. A Nokia employee by the name of Rémi Denis-Courmont basically twisted the rules a bit in order to get the free and open source VLC app removed, saying that the GNU General Public License that is tied to VLC conflicted with the terms detailed in Apple’s own App Store licensing.

Before anyone grabs a pitchfork and/or torch and starts marching toward Cupertino, it’s worth noting that VLC’s removal from the App Store has nothing to do with Apple’s preferences. Rather, it’s a direct result of one man’s misguided crusade… a man who, (perhaps) coincidentally, is an employee of Nokia, one of Apple’s competitors in the mobile space.

Even though VLC has been removed from Apple’s App Store, you can still get it on Cydia if you have a jailbroken device.

via Obama Pacman, TUAW

MySpace Lays off 47 Percent

Struggling to find themselves, MySpace has recently made major changes in direction and focus. The goal is to become an entertainment destination for Gen Y. CEO Mike Jones says this tighter focus also meant a “tighter ship with a smaller, nimble crew.” Jones added that MySpace will enter into strategic local partnerships in the U.K., Germany and Australia to manage advertising sales and content. On January 11th, MySpace cut staff by about 500.

via All Things Digital

Twitter Challenges Secret WikiLeaks Order

The U.S. government recently got a court order demanding that Twitter turn over information about a number of people connected to WikiLeaks: founder Julian Assange, accused leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, former WikiLeaks spokeswoman Birgitta Jonsdottir, and WikiLeaks activist Jacob Appelbaum. Attached to the records request was a gag order, a routine practice by law enforcement. Standard procedure for companies like Twitter and Google would be to notify a user before giving up their information, giving them a chance to protect themselves. The attached gag order would prevent them from exercising this policy. Instead of simply giving up the goods, Twitter successfully overturned the gag order and notified its users of the request. Wired writes that Twitter’s response should be the industry standard.

Google Drops H.264 Support From Chrome

Google has decided to remove H.264 support from the Chrome web browser. This has ignited a firestorm of comments from users speculating why they would make such a move. Others say that, since Google is citing “openness” as one of their motivations, they should go ahead and dump Flash as well. In dropping H.264, Google is attempting to put the focus on WebM, a video spec they can actually control. This is not really an immediate win for Google but, more likely, an investment into the future of web video.

So why did Google do it? One theory is to take a shot at Apple. But this announcement seems like a precursor to a very expensive exercise for Google itself: If Google is really serious about WebM, which this seems to indicate, they will have to transcode all their YouTube assets to the new format, and start building support for this into their other products, like Android. Seems too much like “Cutting off the nose to spite the face” kind of action.

A commenter on Reddit summarizes the situation very well:

In the short term. This is a power play. The market is fragmented (e.g., no Flash on iPhones) and things will eventually coalesce, and Google doesn’t want them to coalesce into video tag/H264. They’re gambling that they can use their position (the most-used browser by techies, plus the most-used smartphone OS in the world) to force everyone to move off of H264 and onto open codecs.

via ArpitOnline, Google

The latest beta of the upcoming Firefox 4 web browser has been uploaded to the official Mozilla FTP servers. Firefox 4 Beta 9 brings the inclusion of the IndexedDB web standard “for the storage of significant amounts of structured data in the browser and for high performance searches on this data using indexes.”

Only a couple of days ago, Mozilla’s senior director of platform engineering Damon Sicore wrote, “Team, we’ve worked tremendously hard on Firefox 4, and it’s time to ship it. I’m seeing the same burst of excitement and activity that we’ve seen in the endgame of every release. We must press hard now.”

Firefox 4 is expected to officially arrive in February, with at least one more beta release coming before then as developers work to stomp the last of the bugs. While it will feature speed increases in Javascript and tweaks under the hood, one of the main focuses for Firefox 4 is ease-of-use. You can get the latest Firefox 4 beta from official mirror servers. More info on Firefox 4 at the Mozilla Blog.

via PC World, Ghacks

According to James Choi, marketing strategy and planning team director of LG Electronics, the Windows Phone 7 didn’t do as well as expected. “From an industry perspective we had a high expectation,” Choi tells Pocket-Lint, “but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected.”

“LG has been closely collaborating with Microsoft from the beginning. What we feel is that it is absolutely perfect for a huge segment out there. What we feel is that some people believe that some operating systems, mainly Google, are extremely complicated for them. But Windows Phone 7 is very intuitive and easy to use”, explains Choi when we asked how it was all going.

Choi says that LG believes there is still a market out there for Windows Phone 7. At this point, it’s only available on a higher tier because of hardware requirements. Once mid and low-tier devices start showing up, the market share should grow.

Choi didn’t comment on when we might see new LG Windows Phone 7 handsets, but the Mobile World Congress is coming in February. Microsoft is also expected to release a major update to the Windows Phone 7 platform (Mango) some time in the summer.

via Pocket-lint

BGR has got their hands on a photo of the BlackBerry Dakota. As they put it, it’s “the device that’s going to sit right at the head of the BlackBerry family dinner table.” The Dakota records video in HD, features 3G Mobile Hotspot, and NFC.

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri-band UMTS
• 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording, flash, and image stabilization
• 4GB of built in storage, 768MB of RAM
• 2.8-inch VGA 640×480 capacitive screen
• WiFi b,g,n on 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies
• 3G mobile hotspot
• MicroUSB port
• Bluetooth
• NFC
• Magnetometer
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• 10.5mm thin
• Launches with BlackBerry OS 6.1

For BlackBerry fans, this is exciting news. The Dakota blends the BlackBerry keyboard you may be used to with many of the features in the latest Android and iOS devices. The question is, will it be too little too late for RIM?

via Boy Genius Report

Everyone rejoiced as the Verizon iPhone was announced earlier this week, especially Jon Stewart. While there is definitely room for celebration, there are some things that were not announced that will have an impact on current and future Verizon subscribers. Verizon will kill their New Every Two perk and is getting strict on early upgrades.

With the New Every Two perk, a longtime customer with a $100 credit could get the iPhone4 for $99.99 – half off its new-subscriber price of $199.99. When the program ends, new subscribers will no longer be eligible for those discounts. Existing customers will lose the perk when they renew their contracts (unless they renew before Jan. 16—but that date is well before iPhone orders will be taken). And with the end of the early upgrade program, customers who were previously eligible for discounted phones as early as 13 months into a two-year contract will now have to wait 20 months to get a new phone at the promotional new-customer price instead of retail (for the iPhone, that’s currently a difference of $400).

WSJ speculates that Verizon could be the catalyst for sweeping changes in how upgrades work across all carries. Consumers are hungry for the latest and greatest and Verizon, given their size and reputation, could get consumers to accept growing costs “without much of a fight.”

For those who may balk at rising costs at Verizon, there could be yet another iPhone game in tone. As we reported previously, the Verizon iPhone is a non-exclusive deal and uses the same CDMA technology as Sprint and other carriers. Coincidentally, Sprint has sent out invitations for a “splashy press event” in New York on February 7th.

According to the event invite, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse will act as MC. The invite also says that Sprint will show that “the impossible is possible.” Magician David Blaine will be on hand to do some slight of hand. Well see if Sprint can make iPhones disappear from the shelves as successfully at AT&T has.

Fan of David Blaine or not, Sprint customers across the nation will be cheering for him if he makes a Sprint iPhone appear from thin air.

via WSJ, PC World

On January 11th, 2011 we witnessed the return of The Game. The show was cancelled by CW back in 2009 and, after two years in syndication, was eventually picked up by BET. Its return saw the show as the #1 ad-supported sitcom telecast in cable TV history. 7.7 million total viewers tuned in with a 4.87 coverage rating according to the Nielsen Company. The premier also ranks as the #2 telecast in BET history, right behind the ‘09 BET Awards where celebs paid tribute to the late and great Michael Jackson.

“We are thrilled to see our audience respond so well to THE GAME and LET’S STAY TOGETHER,” said Debra L. Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET Networks. “It is clear these two shows are real game changers for the Network and the proven success of last night tells us that our viewers are not only passionate about the types of programming that we offer, but continue to crave on-air programming that reflects and respects our voices.”

Loretha Jones, President of Original Programming at BET Networks, said “as we look forward to our development pipeline, it’s clear scripted will continue to play an important role in our original programming slate to tell more of our stories that truly resonate with our audience.” Interestingly, much of that that audience seems to also be active in social media.

In addition to its incredible on-air performance,THE GAME had the highest amount of social media buzz of all other prime time television shows, according to Trendrr’s Prime Time Television Activity Chart for Tuesday, January 11. At one point, commenting on THE GAME Facebook page averaged 893 likes per minute, and 750 comments per minute, after the question “What did you think about tonight’s episode?” within the first 28 minutes after the post.THE GAME-related topics dominated Twitter with 9 out of the top 10 trending topics 30 minutes into the program.

That is a lot of Likes, Comments, and Tweets. One can’t help but wonder if there is some truth to this whole black people running Twitter, thing. I got hooked on The Game watching reruns and tried to keep up with #thegame on Twitter, but it was almost impossible to follow. I also noticed friends and family on Facebook asking questions about the show because they couldn’t figure out what everyone was talking about. It will be interesting to see if The Game will remain dominant in the social media space.

Microsoft has made moves to block Apple from trademarking the phrase “app store.” Apple filed for this patent on July 17, 2008 and Microsoft has motioned for a summary judgement to keep the phrase “app store” free for all to use.

“An ‘app store’ is an ‘app store.’ Like ‘shoe store’ or ‘toy store,’ it is a generic term that is commonly used by companies, governments, and individuals that offer apps,” said Microsoft’s Russell Pangborn, Associate General Counsel of Trademarks. “The term ‘app store’ should continue to be available for use by all without fear of reprisal by Apple.”

In their motion, Microsoft argues that “terms that combine the generic name of a product with the generic designator ‘store’ or ‘warehouse’ are generic and unregistrable for retail store services featuring the product. THE COMPUTER STORE, for example, was held generic for stores selling computers.”

Seems to make perfect sense. While many people think of Apple in relation to the phrase “app store,” it’s not universal. While Google and Microsoft chose to go with “Market” and “Marketplace” when naming their app stores (see? I just used it without referring to Apple), many other brands have kept it simple.

Jobs himself said in an interview, “Amazon, Verizon and Vodafone have all announced that they are creating their own app stores for Android. There will be at least four app stores on Android.” This quote is also included in Microsoft’s motion. Even Foursquare has an app store.

Apple has gotten some sweet patents over the years, but this one seems a little extreme. What do you think?

via PCMag.com

Formspring, the social website that has everyone saying “Ask me anything,” has just closed an $11.5 million round of funding. In addition, they’ve added a new “respond” feature for publishers. The website has blown up since becoming a sensation last year behind CEO/Founder Ade Olonoh.

Formspring currently has 20 million registered users posting 10 million responses every day. Since their launch last year, they’ve hit 2 billion responses. The $11.5 million in funding comes from a group of investors led by Redpoint Ventures.

The Respond feature is interesting, primarily because it doesn’t work as some expect:

To kick off the new year, and show a bit of what is ahead, we’re also releasing a new product today: the Formspring Respond button. The Respond button takes the natural & personal responses people are already sharing with friends on Formspring and extends this experience to the entire Web. This means any Formspring member can respond to any content online, whether it’s an article, a product or a photo.

Basically, you can attach a question to content you post online and readers can answer or respond to that question via Formspring. The weird bit is that responses only show up on that readers Formspring profile.

Rather than using the responses to build a discussion around the content itself, the idea seems to be to draw traffic to the content by leveraging each reader’s social graph. Your responses will show up on Formspring.me and optionally on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.

via Formspring, TechCrunch

The moment you’ve been waiting for is here. Apple’s iPhone is finally available on a network other than AT&T. Not only that, but it’s coming to Verizon, “America’s most reliable network.” At a press event today at 11am EST, Verizon finally spilled the beans. You can already check out Verizon’s website for more info on how to get your very own Verizon iPhone.

The phone will be officially available early in February. If you’re already a Verizon customer, you can pre-order your iPhone 4 for February 3rd. The Verizon iPhone becomes available to everyone else on February 10th. You can get a 16GB for $199 with a 2yr contract and a 32GB for $299.

Verizon says they have been working with Apple for a long time on this. They have beefed up everything from their network to their inventory systems. It remains to be seen if Verizon can handle the demand for the iPhone and its data-hungry users. Verizon says they look forward to working with Apple in the future, which probably explains the “It Begins” wording on the pre-order site. Also we can probably expect a 4G LTE version some time in the future, but they refused to make an official comment on such a device.

Are you getting a Verizon iPhone?

Update: This is a CDMA device, so you cannot talk and surf the web at the same time just as with other CDMA devices. This is one of the points of attack we will probably see from AT&T as they battle it out with Verizon. On the same note, AppleInsider reports that this CDMA iPhone is a multi-year, non-exclusive device for Verizon. This means that Apple could offer it to other CDMA carriers. Sprint, for instance.

The Verizon iPhone is pretty much identical in features to the existing iPhone 4. The killer feature being pushed is the ability to use the phone as a WiFi hotspot to connect up to 5 devices.

via Verizon Wireless

A rumor is circulating across the web that Facebook is shutting down on March 15th. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg “wants his old life back,” and desires to “put an end to all the madness.” Mashable was able to get in contact with the Facebook Director of Corporate Communications:

We have official confirmation from Facebook Director of Corporate Communications Larry Yu that the rumor is false. We asked him via e-mail if Facebook was shutting down on March 15, to which he responded, “The answer is no, so please help us put an end to this silliness.” He added, “We didn’t get the memo about shutting down and there’s lots to do, so we’ll just keep cranking away like always.”

It makes absolutely no sense for Facebook to shut down after just closing $500 million in funding from Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies. They’ve also been valued at $50 billion.

It’s amazing how quickly these rumors spread across the web, no matter how ridiculous they may be. Even if Mark Zuckerberg were to decide to throw in the towel, I doubt he’d be able to just shut off the lights and close the doors at Facebook without a fight.

Ford just unveiled the Focus Electric at CES 2011, making industry history by being the first major auto manufacturer to ever do so. It’s a cute looking little car that can be recharged on a 240 volt outlet in four hours or less. Ford says it has a range of 100 miles and an MPGe rating of the Volt and comparable to the Leaf.

The Focus Electric features the latest MyFord Touch interface on an 8-inch touchscreen in the center stack. It will be the first car to offer the MyFord Mobile integration, allowing you to monitor your car’s charging status and climate settings.

The car also critiques your driving habits, using a rather novel approach: “the more butterflies there are, the greater the range” says Ford — and the happier the bunnies frolicing through the fields.

Very cute, possibly annoying, but at least it’s energy-efficient and helps save the environment. According to Ford, it also drives like a real car. The all-electric powertrain and single-speed transmission provides “immediate responsiveness and smooth acceleration” when putting the pedal to the metal, up to a blistering 84 mph.

“More than any other electric vehicle on the market, Focus Electric loses none of the dynamics and quality of driving a traditional car,” said Sherif Marakby, director of Ford’s electrification programs and engineering. “It shares many of the same premium components and features as its gasoline-powered counterpart, while delivering distinct efficiencies and a uniquely exciting driving experience.”

Never thought of getting an electric car, but this thing looks pretty slick. What do you think?

via Engadget

Quora is definitely growing at a fast pace. I know this because of the sudden deluge of follows I’m getting in my email. As Quora becomes more popular and gains users, the fear is that the quality of questions and answers on the service will decline.

The site depends on high-quality answers, and has deliberately kept things small in order to cultivate a knowledgeable community. But can it keep those virtues when membership is exploding and not everyone wants to play by the rules?

Quora is attempting to keep things clean by requiring real names for signups and allowing the community to police the site using the built-in ratings system. This has problems all its own.

On one hand, you’re getting access to insight from some very intelligent a prominent figures. Where else can you get answers to your questions from a Facebook co-founder, Foursquare’s head of business, and the Google Images product manager?

On the other, there is a lot of room for error here as the community grows. Lucretia Pruitt posted what amounts to a Quora etiquette guide which many voted up as useful. Others who took offense or disagreed felt attacked both by the post and the community as their “negative” responses were voted down.

Either the community will be able to keep some level of quality as the site grows, or they will completely alienate new users who want to participate. I remember a similar situation not too long ago with a site called FriendFeed and a guy named Michael Arrington, who felt he was attacked by an online mob.

At this stage, I find Quora very interesting. I like answering questions and learning from smart people. The site hasn’t yet been flooded with questions that begin “DO ANYBODY NO” (yes, with the caps), so it’s definitely still worth a look. Make sure you find me there.

What do you think about Quora?

via GigaOM