ICE CREAM SANDWICH SOURCE CODE RELEASED

If you're champing at the bit waiting to get your hands on a nice cool piece of Android 4.0, your wait may soon be over. Pending a final go-ahead from the Android Open Source Project, you'll be able to sync the now available Ice Cream Sandwich source code. Due to the "large push" (presumably because of all the changes), the roll out is going to take some time to complete -- project members will give the final word when things are good to go. If you try to sync prematurely, be forewarned that you'll get an incomplete copy that will be useless. The available flavor is 4.0.1 which will be the version to ship on the Galaxy Nexus, the first ICS device. This release also includes "the full history of the Android Code," signaling the first time Honeycomb source has seen daylight.

AMAZON BRINGING 400 MAGAZINES AND NEWSAPERS TO FIRE ALONG WITH "THOUSANDS" OF APPS

Last week Amazon announced they would be bringing Facebook, Hulu and "several thousand" other apps to their upcoming Kindle Fire tablet. Now, they are announcing that more than 400 "full-color" titles will be available on the Kindle Fire Newsstand, including Us Weekly, The New Yorker and Reader's Digest, among others. Users who subscriber before March 1st, meanwhile, will be able to access a full 17 Condé Nast titles for free, as part of a three-month offer.

APPLE WORKING ON REPLACEMENT PROGRAM FOR FIRST GEN iPOD NANOS DUE TO OVERHEATING ISSUE

Apple has opened up a replacement program for the first-generation iPod nano due to overheating issues. These affected units were sold between September 2005 and December 2006 and include a manufacturing defect sourced at a single Apple battery supplier for the first edition of ultra-small and thin screened iPods from Apple. Apple says the possibility of overheating is small, but since this iPod nano is over five years old, the likelihood of heating is higher than if the battery was younger.

Apple is telling users of the original iPod nano to stop using the product and get it replaced free of charge. The worldwide replacement program can be accessed through a special website that asks users to proceed by entering their iPod nano’s serial number. Replacement units for the original iPod nano are said to ship about six weeks after the replacement page is filled out by the customer and engraved units will be replacement with non-personalized models.

BUG REPORTED IN iOS 5.0.1, BATTERY ISSUE ALSO NOT RESOLVED

A bug that affects the contact list on Apple's iPhone 4S has been discovered after applying the iOS 5.0.1 OTA update. According to users the contact list is fine, however when receiving a call or a text the name does not appear. This might be confined to those on the Verizon network and doing the following procedure has been shown to fix this issue.

1) Open the Phone and dial *228. This is a Verizon over-the-air programming number.
2) When the system answer press 1 for “Program or activate your phone”
3) Wait for the call to disconnect. You should get a prompt stating something like, “Settings updated.”
4) Open the Task Manager (double click the home button) and kill the Phone, Message, and Contacts Applications
5) Wait a few minutes (I waited 3 just to be extra safe)
6) Open the Message App to verify the fix.

Also, a number of users are reporting the 5.0.1 update has not fixed their battery drain issue and in some cases it has made it worse. The 5.0.1 update was specifically deployed to correct the battery issue, however for some users that does not seem to be the case.

NOKIA OWES ROMANIA MORE THAN $10 MILLION, ASSETS BEING SEIZED

Nokia’s local assets were seized by Romanian tax authorities on Friday after it was revealed the company’s Romania-based subsidiary owes the government $10 million, Bloomberg said Friday. “We decided to seize the assets as a precautionary measure to prevent Nokia from selling them before they pay their debt to the state,” head of Romania’s tax authority Sorin Blejnar said. “This won’t affect the activity of the factory.”

Nokia announced in September that it would close its operations in the country, although the origin of the vendor’s $10 million in debt is unclear.

According to Convert News, the debt may be related to bills that Nokia owes for transporting its materials in the country. Nokia has not yet commented publicly on the situation.

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 3 BREAKS RECORDS, EARNS $400 MILLION IN 24 HOURS

Activision Publishing announced on Friday that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which exploded onto store shelves this past Wednesday, has set an all-time sales record with an estimated 6.5 million copies sold in North America and the United Kingdom alone. It also registered more than $400 million in sales. This is the third consecutive day-one launch record for the company, following the releases of Call of Duty: Black Ops ($360 million) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ($310 million).

iOS 5.0.1 WITH BATTERY FIX AVAILABLE NOW

Apple has released the first official update to iOS 5, which fixes the reported battery drain problems.

In addition to fixing bugs related to battery life, the update to iOS 5.0.1 also adds multitasking gestures for the first iPad, resolves some bugs with Documents in the Cloud, and improves Siri’s voice recognition for people with Australian accents.

Remember that with iOS 5 you can now install software updates over the air. So there is no longer any need to wait until you get home, grab a cable, and connect to iTunes on a PC in order to apply the update. Simply open your Settings app, choose General, and then Software Update to initiate the process. The delta update file is less than 40MB, and should only take a couple of minutes to install over WiFi.

STEAM HACKED, USER DATABASE ACCESSED

Valve has taken the Steam Forums offline and Gabe Newell has posted a message explaining that Steam has been hacked.
On Sunday, the Steam Forums were defaced, but remained online. However, further investigation found the hack was more than just for the forum software, the intruder had also gained access to a Steam user database. On that database is the following information for customers of the digital gaming service:

• Usernames
• Hashed and salted passwords
• List of game purchases per user
• E-mail addresses
• Billing addresses
• Encrypted credit card details

Valve is currently investigating exactly what happened and specifically what information was accessed on the database. There is currently no evidence to suggest the user information has been taken, and nothing to confirm encrypted credit card details have somehow been decrypted.
Valve is going to force everyone to change their Steam Forum password when they decide to bring them back online as a security measure. Gabe has also apologized for what has happened and the inconvenience it is causing.
If you are one of the millions of Steam account holders out there, then be cautious and watch your credit card activity. If you shared your Steam Forum password with other services you use, then go change the password on those services immediately.

SONY BUILDING A DIFFERENT KIND OF TV, JUST LIKE APPLE SAYS SONY CEO

All eyes have been on Apple to reinvent the television set, but Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently confirmed that Sony, too, is working on re-imagining the TV. “There’s a tremendous amount of R&D going into a different kind of TV set,” Stringer said during a breakfast hosted recently by The Wall Street Journal. “We can’t continue selling TV sets [as we currently do]. Every TV set we all make loses money.” Stringer said that he has “no doubt” that Steve Jobs had intentions of designing a brand-new kind of television but said that “it will take a long time to transition to a new form of television.”

It has been widely reported that Apple will use its Siri voice control engine on its TV, but Stringer wasn’t specific on exactly how Sony would change the entertainment staple in living rooms around the world. Stringer explained to The Wall Street Journal that he’s ready to take on whatever Apple will offer with a “four screen” approach that includes mobile devices such as tablets and phones, as well as computers and televisions, but connected TVs are hardly unique. ”I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete with Steve Jobs,” Stringer boasted. “It’s finished, and it’s launching now.”

RUMOR: SILVERLIGHT 5 MAY BE LAST AND ONLY WORK ON INTERNET EXPLORER

Could Microsoft's Silverlight soon be following in the footsteps of Adobe's Flash Player for mobile devices? That's still unconfirmed by Microsoft, but ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley is reporting that she's heard from several sources who say that Silverlight 5 will be the last version of the rich media platform, and that it's not clear how long it will be supported after it's released later this month. What's more, another source tells Foley that the final version of Silverlight 5 itself might only work with Internet Explorer on Windows, as opposed to earlier versions that have also supported Chrome and Safari on both OS X and Windows. As ZDNet notes, however, the end of Silverlight wouldn't necessarily mean an end to all of the work Microsoft has done on Silverlight -- we've already heard about a Silverlight-like app framework that's coming in a future Xbox update, and many of the same principles can also be found in the Metro-style apps for Windows 8.

RIM INVESTIGATING MESSAGE DELAYS

RIM acknowledged that many its users have reported delayed message deliveries on Wednesday, although it remains unclear what the culprit might be. “We’re getting reports that some users are experiencing delays,” RIM said on its official Twitter account. “We’re investigating and will update you ASAP.”

This is the second blackeye RIM has suffered since October. A BlackBerry outage affected millions worldwide for several days during October. The downtime resulted in a class-action lawsuit and could cost RIM an estimated $100 million.

AMAZON UPS KINDLE FIRE ORDERS FROM MANUFACTURERS AGAIN

Amazon has reportedly increased Kindle Fire orders with its manufacturing partners, for the second time, following stronger than expected demand for its premier tablet. DigiTimes reports that more than 5 million units are now on order in 2011 as pre-orders for the $199 tablet remain strong; the online retailer took nearly 100,000 pre-orders on the first day of pre-sales availability alone. Amazon had already increased its orders last quarter according to the site’s anonymous industry sources, from 3.5 million to 4 million units. The Kindle Fire will launch on November 15th featuring a 7-inch display, a soft-touch case and deep integration with numerous Amazon services, granting users access to streaming music, streaming movies and of course, a huge library of eBooks.

WARNER BROS. ADMITS ISSUING TAKEDOWN NOTICES FOR FILES IT NEVER SAW AND DIDN'T OWN COPYRIGHT TO

In a Monday court filing, Warner Brothers admitted that it has issued takedown notices for files without looking at them first. The studio also acknowledged that it issued takedown notices for a number of URLs that its adversary, the locker site Hotfile, says were obviously not Warner Brothers' content.

Hotfile has been locked in a legal battle with Hollywood studios since February; the studios accuse the site of facilitating copyright infringement on a massive scale. Hotfile counters that it is immune from liability for the infringements of its users because it complies with the notice-and-takedown procedures established by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But Hotfile has also tried to turn the tables by arguing that one of the studios, Warner Brothers, has itself violated the DMCA by issuing bogus takedown requests.

Warner Brothers also tacitly acknowledged removing a free software title, which it characterized as "software that had been posted alongside infringing Warner content in order to facilitate the rapid downloading of the infringing Warner content." The studio also requested removal of some gaming software, though it insists it did so with the permission of the relevant copyright owners.

The studio also "admits that it did not (and did not need to) download every file it believed to be infringing prior to submitting the file's URL" to the Hotfile takedown tool. That's because "given the volume and pace of new infringements on Hotfile, Warner could not practically download and view the contents of each file prior to requesting that it be taken down."

This is interesting because the DMCA requires a copyright holder issuing a takedown notice to state that it has a "good faith belief that the use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law." It's hard to see how anyone at Warner Brothers could have formed any beliefs—good faith or otherwise—about files it admits that no human being at Warner had even looked at.

REPUBLIC WIRELESS LAUNCHES WITH $19 "UNLIMITED" PLAN

Republic Wireless went live on Tuesday with its impossibly cheap $19 unlimited talk, text and data plan, presenting a service that could potentially save some users a tremendous amount of money each month. “Newsflash: anything a cell network can do, the Internet can do better and cheaper,” Republic Wireless touts on its website. “So we think a truly smart smartphone should make a habit of using Wi-Fi for everything. Surfing. Texting. Sharing. And, yes, even talking.” Read on for more.

Thanks to software technology that offloads voice calling and SMS to Wi-Fi networks whenever possible, Republic Wireless uses Sprint’s cellular network only when Wi-Fi service is not available. When Wi-Fi connections are available, it uses UMA to pipe communications over the Internet.

Unfortunately, the term “unlimited” is apparently entirely unregulated in the wireless space, and Republic Wireless uses the term rather loosely. The carrier employs what it refers to as a “fair use threshold” that defines average monthly cellular service usage. Should a subscriber’s monthly usage regularly exceed that threshold by a significant amount, Republic Wireless will give said subscriber the boot.

“How much cellular usage is too much? It depends,” the carrier explains on its website. “Even assuming 0% wifi usage, for example, you could consume 550 minutes, send 150 texts, and download 300 megabytes of data without crossing the community’s fair use threshold. Everyone’s usage patterns will be different, but we’re confident you’ll be amazed at how little cellular you actually use when you have a phone that makes it easy to leverage the power of your Wi-Fi networks.”

The carrier’s FAQ continues,”What happens if I use more than the suggested guideline? First, you’ll be reminded of the guidelines and to what extent you’ve crossed the fair use threshold. We’ll provide you with tips for reducing your cellular footprint and plenty of opportunity to get back on track. When we contact you about your usage, we’ll let you know how much time you have to correct your problem.” If the problem isn’t corrected within the timeline specified, a subscriber’s service will be terminated.

Republic Wireless currently offers one smartphone, the Android Gingerbread-powered LG Optimus S, for $199.99 contract-free. The carrier has a “beta” label slapped on its service for the time being so outages may be an issue, and subscribers must establish at least one Wi-Fi connection before service can commence.

LEAK: ADOBE HALTING WORK IN MOBILE FLASH; CONCENTRATING ON HTML 5

Sources close to Adobe that have been briefed on the company’s future development plans have revealed this forthcoming announcement:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.

Additionally, the e-mail briefing to Adobe’s partners says "Adobe is Stopping development on Flash Player for browsers on mobile." Adobe will concentrate their efforts on three main areas

• Applications for mobile
• Expressive content on the desktop (in and out of browser)
• Increasing their investments in HTML5 in general

The full content and scope of the announcement is expected to be posted on the Adobe web site in the next day or so.

HUGE UPDATE COMING FOR XBOX'S MY XBOX

In the coming days, the familiar “My Xbox” section of Xbox.com is going away. Fear not: It’s being replaced with a significant update that will make it even easier to see what your friends are doing on Xbox LIVE. My Xbox is being superceded by the new “Social” section, which not only lets you see at a glance what your friends are up to, but also gives you early access to one of the coolest features coming in the next Xbox 360 dashboard update. That’s right: Xbox.com users will be the very first to try the new Beacons feature, which lets you mark games you want to play with others, making it easier to find friends who want to play the same games.

Other site enhancements are on the way, including the ability to search the Zune video catalog and buy/rent movies and TV shows right from your browser.

BARNES AND NOBLE ASKS US GOVERNMENT TO INVESTIGATE MICROSOFT FOR MOBILE DOMINATION

Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) asked U.S. regulators to investigate whether Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) seeks to monopolize the mobile-device market by demanding patent royalties on electronics running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. “Microsoft is embarking on a campaign of asserting trivial and outmoded patents against manufacturers of Android devices,” Barnes & Noble said in an Oct. 17 letter to Gene Kimmelman, the Justice Department’s chief counsel for competition policy. “Microsoft is attempting to raise its rivals’ costs in order to drive out competition and to deter innovation in mobile devices.”

The world’s largest software maker accused New York-based Barnes & Noble of infringing five patents and filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, seeking to block imports of the Nook readers. Barnes & Noble made public four letters and a presentation to the Justice Department in a filing with the commission yesterday.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, contends it owns patented inventions that are used in the Android operating system, and has struck licensing deals with companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. (2498), two of the biggest makers of Android phones.

“All modern operating systems include many patented technologies,” Microsoft said in a statement. “Microsoft has taken licenses to patents for Windows and we make our patents available on reasonable terms for other operating systems, like Android. We would be pleased to extend a license to Barnes & Noble.”

GOOGLE + NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESSES

Finally, Google is now allowing businesses, brands and any non-human entity to participate in its Google+ social network, through new Google+ Pages. Beginning today, and rolling out over the next two days, businesses will be able to create Google+ pages for themselves, using the Create A Page tool (and assuming you already have a regular Google+ account). once you gain access, you’ll be asked to create a page in one of five categories:

• Local Business or Place
• Product or Brand
• Company, Institution or Organization
• Arts, Entertainment or Sports
• Other

At first, whoever creates the page initially will also be the page administrator. No one else will be able to admin that page after them, at first. Nor can that page be transferred to someone else. Multiple administrator support is promised in the near future, but until it arrives, it seems important that if your company has a social media manager, that person should be the one to create the account.

Unlike Facebook, there aren’t “vanity” URLs yet available that use a business name rather than a long string of number. The same issue is true of personal accounts. Google provided no update on when this might change. Don’t like the name of your page? Unlike with Facebook, you can change that at any time. However, if you have verified status, doing this will cause you to lose verification, requiring that process to start again

BARNES AND NOBLE LAUNCHES NOOK TABLET

As TGG leaked earlier, Barnes and Noble has officially unveiled the Nook Tablet. The device runs Android 2.3, has a 7-inch LG “Vivid View” display, 16GB of expandable storage, 1GB of RAM and a dual-core 1GHz processor. It also weighs under one pound and supports up to 11.5 hours of reading time on a single charge. Barnes & Noble said the device will have free access to AT&T and Barnes & Noble Wi-Fi hotspots. The Nook Tablet has the “deepest Netflix integration of any tablet” and is capable of playing 1080p HD video. The device will have access to Barnes & Noble’s new “Nook Cloud” service for free storage as well as free customer support.

Just as Amazon did when it released the Kindle Fire, Barnes and Noble has dropped the price of its ereader to $99. The Nook Color hasn't been forgotten and will receive a free software with "over 100 updates."

VERIZON DOUBLING 4G ALLOTMENT.....FOR A LIMITED TIME

Verizon Wireless will soon offer a promotion that provides its 4G LTE customers with twice the amount of data for the same monthly price. The special will kick off on November 11th at 11:11 a.m. EST to coincide with the Motorola DROID RAZR launch. The promotion works just how it sounds: if you currently pay for 2GB of data per month, you’ll receive 4GB for the same price. If you subscribe to a 5GB monthly plan, you’ll receive 10GB for the same price. Reportedly, existing customers will be able to add the option to their account by contacting customer service or by logging into their My Verizon account on Verizon’s website. Verizon did not say how long the promotion will last.

VOYAGER 2 SWITCHES TO BACKUP THRUSTERS

NASA has had many successful missions in space, but the Voyager program has to come near the top of the pile. Two identical unmanned probes called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 to study Jupiter and Saturn. But both have continued their flights through space, still functioning after 34 years and regularly communicate back information to Earth.

In those years both probes have been traveling away from Earth. Voyager 2 is now over 9 billion miles away in the heliosheath and will eventually leave our solar system completely. But to do that, and continue operating, NASA has to carry out a switch to a backup set of thrusters that have not been used in flight before.

The switch is necessary in order to save power in the region of 12 watts. In saving that power, Voyager 2 will go from requiring 270 watts to 258 watts. It may not seem like much, but as the power reserves on the probe diminish every little helps, and that saving could mean an extra decade of operation.

The 12 watts of power is currently being used up by a heater keeping the fuel line to primary thrusters warm. Switching to the backup thrusters used for roll motion means that fuel line is no longer required. The one concern being that these thrusters have never been used before in flight, so will they function after all this time?

Reassurance comes from the fact that Voyager 1 made the same switch in 2004 without issue, and had fired its main thrusters more times (353,000) than Voyager 2 (318,000).

NASA issued the command to switch on November 4th, but won’t know if it has been successful until November 14 when it receives communication from the probe as to what happened. Hopefully it will go without a hitch and we’ll still be hearing from Voyager 2 in 2021. [Geek]

BLOCKBUSTER EXPRESS KIOSKS FOLLOW COMPETITION, RAISES PRICES

In a continuation of the worst fad ever, it appears NCR's Blockbuster Express kiosk biz is the the latest to come down with a case of price hike-itis, following competitors Redbox and Netflix. Of course the cause behind this is the studios, who are pushing for higher rates on new release movies or delayed windows. The 3-2-1 pricing structure it has been testing kicks in on "Hot Movies" in the first month they're available, renting for $3 the first night (additional nights are still just $1 each, Blu-ray discs still cost $1 extra the first night), dropping to $2 after a month and then to $1 after 90 days. Expect the squeeze to be continually and evenly applied to your video rental options as long as Hollywood believes it increases sales.

BEST BUY CLOSING IN UK

Best Buy Europe, the joint venture between Best Buy Inc. and Carphone Warehouse, has been shuttered after just 18 months in business. In that short amount of time, it lost £80 million ($127 million), largely due to consumer belt-tightening and increased competition from cheaper online retailers. Up to 1,100 jobs will be lost at the eleven UK stores currently open in Thurrock, Bristol and Wolverhampton, among other locations, bringing to an end the company's ambitious plan to open 200 stores across Europe.

At the same time, the US giant declared it would buy out its European partner's stake in the Best Buy Mobile chain as it continues to pull out of unprofitable foreign operations.

MOZILLA FIREFOX 8 OFFICIALLY RELEASING TOMORROW, GET IT TODAY

Mozilla has November 8th pencilled in as the day the stable version of Firefox 8 will become available to the general public. However, you can download it right now if you so wish with a few clicks of your mouse.

Although Mozilla is nice enough to tell us all when the next update to its browser is arriving, a less well-known fact is that they make that same stable release available a couple of days early via FTP. That way certain people in the know can get it early e.g. anyone who has to support users downloading the new browser and wants to check its stability or security. So, if you can’t wait another day then you need to visit Mozilla’s FTP site and select the right file to download.

While Firefox 7 promised to be noticeably faster while using up to 50% less memory, Firefox 8′s improvements focus on other areas.

Add-on installations get a new compatibility assistant, meaning when the new version of Firefox is installed you have to allow or disallow all the add-ons you use. Once the new browser is installed and loaded you’ll also notice a Twitter search engine built-in, more accessible history details, and an option to only load tabs on selection. That last one should speed up Firefox loading and relates specifically to users who have set Firefox to show their windows and tabs from a previous session.

Firefox users will be prompted to update to Firefox 8 tomorrow, and for most people the best thing to do is just wait for that to happen.

O.CO CLOSES TWO CATEGORIES AND SHUTTERS A BUSINESS

O.co, also known as Overstock.com has shut down three of its product categories, and a fourth is on hold, after some of its experiments over the past couple of years have not penciled out. In July, the Salt Lake City-based company discontinued the year-old Eziba, a boutique site that mimicked flash sales sites like Gilt Groupe, Rue La La and One Kings Lane.

Meanwhile, on its homepage, the company has also been cutting back. After six years, it shut down its auctions category, which was similar to eBay; earlier this year, it shuttered real estate, which allowed people to browse homes for sale and receive discounts on real estate services.

And finally, one of its newest ventures is also on hold. In March, O.co launched a vacations tab, which offered discounted hotel rooms. It is expected to relaunch later next month with a new partner.

AT&T/T-MOBILE DEAL WILL CLOSE LATER THAN EXPECTED

AT&T has pushed back the date it expects to close the books on its planned merger with T-Mobile and spectrum purchase from Qualcomm, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The carrier had originally planned to close both acquisitions by March of 2012, although it now expects the required approvals to take as much as three months longer to gain. The carrier now says the deal should be approved by the end of the first half next year. AT&T recently ran into speed bumps with both deals. In August the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would review both AT&T’s spectrum purchase from Qualcomm and its merger with T-Mobile USA at the same time. Later that month, the U.S. government sued AT&T in an effort to block the T-Mobile acquisition. AT&T has argued that the T-Mobile purchase will provide jobs and improve wireless service for Americans. It also responded to the FCC lawsuit, saying it will “vigorously contest [the] matter in court.”

AT&T 4G LTE COMING TO NEW YORK SOON

Speaking during the Mashable Media Summit on Friday, AT&T’s senior vice president of communications Larry Solomon confirmed that AT&T will activate its 4G LTE network in New York City “very soon.” AT&T’s 4G LTE network is currently live in Atlanta, Chicacgo, Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston and San Antonio, and the carrier plans to activate the network in Athens, Boston, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. on Sunday, November 6th.

AMAZON CHANGES KINDLE FIRE ROADMAP

Amazon’s follow up to the Kindle Fire tablet may feature an 8.9-inch touchscreen display rather than the 10-inch panel we have been expecting. According to a new report from DigiTimes, Amazon has introduced a third tablet into its roadmap and it is now scheduled to launch ahead of the 10-inch model, or even in place of the large-form slate. The site’s sources claim Chunghwa Picture Tubes and LG Display, Amazon’s display suppliers, have already begun to prepare for production of the 8.9-inch panels.

IS YOUR ANDROID DEVICE GOING TO GET ICE CREAM SANDWICH?

Android 4.0 is coming, and now that we know exactly what the Ice Cream Sandwich is made of, only one question remains: exactly which devices will get the green light to upgrade to the newest version of Google's mobile OS? Details are beginning to trickle out from the woodwork, and below the break you can check out our list of lucky devices that have been confirmed to get the official refresh at some point in time.

ASUS

Confirmed:

• Padfone
• Transformer Prime
• Eee Pad Transformer

Rejected:


HTC

Confirmed:

• Rezound
• Vivid

Rejected:

• Nexus One

LG

Confirmed:

• Optimus X2

Rejected:

Meizu

Confirmed:

• Meizu MX, M9

Rejected:

Motorola

Confirmed:

• Droid/Motorola Razr
• Droid Bionic
• Xoom
• Xoom 2, Xoom 2 Media Edition

Rejected:

Sony Ericsson

Confirmed:

• 2011 Xperia smartphone lineup

Rejected:

CONTINENTAL UNITED AIRLINES JUMP ON WI-FI BANDWAGON

United Continental Holdings announced today that it's signed an agreement with Panasonic Avionics Corporation to bring satellite-based WiFi connectivity to more than 300 of its aircraft beginning in mid-2012. Those aircraft will include Airbus 319 and 320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787, and the company says it expects its entire mainline fleet to be covered by 2015. No specific word on any additional content or services that will come with it (or a cost, for that matter), but the company promises that the system will "enable wireless streaming of video content."

LEAK: NOOK TABLET LAUNCHING NOVEMBER 16 FOR $249

Engadget has obtained a number of documents confirming the impending launch of the first bona fide tablet in the Nook line, and lo and behold, the Nook Tablet will end up being a dead-ringer for the Nook Color that already exists. What we're looking at is a 7-inch VividView IPS color touchpanel with a 1024 x 600 screen resolution (that's 169 pixels per inch), a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4 processor, 1GB of RAM, dimensions of 8.1- x 5- x 0.48-inches, 16GB of inbuilt storage, a microSD expansion slot, roughly eight hours of battery life with WiFi switched off (that sinks to four hours with videos playing back), 802.11b/g/n WiFi and support for a smorgasbord of file formats including ePUB, PDF, XLS, DOC, PPT, TXT, DOCM, Flash, JPG, MP3, MP4 and AAC.

Engadget also confirmed that it'll ship for $249 here in the States, $50 more than Amazon's Kindle Fire. So, why does B&N think you'll pony up the extra? For one, the Nook Tablet has twice the RAM and twice the storage compared to its closest rival, while also being lighter and having access to over two million books, magazines and newspapers.

RUMOR: NEXT iPAD COMING IN MARCH, iPAD 3 TO LAUNCH Q3 2012

Apple is preparing to launch a slightly upgraded iPad 2 in March of 2012, DigiTimes reported on Thursday. The new iPad is rumored to be thinner and is said to offer better battery life than the current model. It is unclear what Apple will call the device launching in March, but the company reportedly has plans to launch a “real” iPad 3 during the third quarter of 2012. Samsung, Sharp and LG are said to be working on a new Retina Display for the next-generation iPad, which may also pack a faster A6 processor, but rumors of manufacturing issues have suggested it may take Apple longer than originally planned to introduce a model with that equipment.

A report last month from Ticonderoga Securities suggested that Apple is planning a cheaper iPad model that will debut early next year ahead of an iPad 3, which won’t launch until the second quarter.

MARVEL TO OFFER DIGITAL EDITIONS SAME DAY AS PRINT

According to Gizmodo, the Marvel Comics will be bringing its full line of books (save for some third-party licensed titles) to digital platforms the same day they're released in stores, a move that comes as the company's chief competition, DC, has been aggressively establishing itself in the digital space. The transition is expected to be completed by the end of March.

MAC APP STORE APPLICATIONS MUST BE SANDBOXED BY MARCH 2012

As of March 1st, 2012, Apple will require all apps available in the Mac App Store to be "sandboxed," which Apple says is "a great way to protect systems and users by limiting the resources apps can access and making it more difficult for malicious software to compromise users' systems." The other side of that coin is that by limiting access to said system resources, applications are also more limited in what they can do, which has left some developers facing a tough decision: either comply and get in the App Store, or go it alone. They will be able to request access to some resources, but they'll have to provide a justification for it to Apple as part of the submission process. Apple had actually intended to implement the requirement this month, but it's apparently decided to give devs a bit more time to get used to it.

APPLE'S SIRI SUFFERS OUTAGE

Yesterday, Apple’s new virtual personal assistant Siri is currently suffering from a major outage, the first extended outage since the service launched on October 14th. Requests made to Siri were met with a period of silence followed by ominous responses such as “Sorry, I am having trouble connecting to the network,” or “Uh oh, something’s wrong. Can you try again?” Reports of the outage began hitting the Web early Thursday afternoon and as of 6:30 p.m. EDT, Siri had not yet recovered, although it appears the problem had been fixed by Friday morning. Some claim that a reboot resolves the issue but most still appear to be unable to use the service.

Unique to Apple’s iPhone 4S, Siri is an intelligent digital assistant that answers questions and performs tasks at the user’s request. Believed by some to be a driving force behind the success of the iPhone 4S, Siri allows users to speak conversationally and it performs functions not currently supported by voice control features on competing platforms.

APPLE CONFIRMS iOS 5 BUGS CAUSING BATTERY ISSUES

Apple on Wednesday said it had found a few problems that are leading some iPhone customers to experience less-than-expected battery life with iPhones running its latest software. “A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.” Apple declined to comment beyond the statement.

AMAZON PRIME MEMBERS GET NEW LENDING LIBRARY

Amazon's home page has a new message for Prime members from CEO Jeff Bezos, indicating that their membership plan has a new bonus: free books. The Kindle Owners Lending Library service offers up to one book per month from a selection of thousands of titles, including "over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers" with no due dates. That's in addition to the free two-day shipping and access to TV shows and movies offered through Prime Instant Video as a part of the $79/year package.

GAMESTOP STARTS SELLING ANDROID TABLETS PRE-LOADED WITH 7 GAMES

GameStop recently began carrying several Android Honeycomb tablets pre-loaded with seven free games. It was originally rumored that the game retailer would begin selling its own custom Honeycomb tablet, although it appears that is no longer the case. GameStop currently lists the Acer Iconia, Acer Iconia Tab A500, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola XOOM, ViewSonic VPAD7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in stock with prices starting at $300. The seven free games include Dead Space, Madden NFL, Monster Madness, Sonic CD, Re-Load, Riptide GP and Cordy. GameStop is also bundling a special tablet-friendly own-brand Bluetooth controller with its slates for an additional $39. The devices are currently only available in 200 of GameStop’s stores, although you can also purchase one directly from the company’s website.

RIM'S BBM MUSIC NOW AVAILABLE IN US, CANADA AND AUSTRALIA

Research In Motion announced on Wednesday that its BBM Music service has launched in the United States, Canada and Australia. To begin, users can opt to sign up for a BBM Music Premium membership, which will allow them to access music and share with friends on their BBM contact lists. BBM Music Premium members will be able to select 50 initial songs from a library of millions. Members will then be able to view and play the 50 songs selected by other BBM Music Premium members in their contact list. A premium membership costs $4.99 per month after a free two-month trial. The free version of BBM Music only allows users to listen to 30-second previews of each song. RIM said the application is available for download from the BlackBerry App World.

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASS WIRELESS REFORM BILL; PUTS 5 YEAR FREEZE ON MOBILE TAXES

The United States House of Representatives approved the Wireless Tax Fairness Act on Tuesday, an initiative that prevents new local and state taxes on wireless bills for the next five years. “We need to encourage the development and adoption of wireless broadband, not tax it out of existence,” Representative Zoe Lofgren said. The average tax rate on goods and services in the United States is 7.4% but consumers with wireless contracts pay an average of 16.4% in taxes and fees, WirelessWeek said. “The exorbitant discriminatory taxes on wireless customers are not only unfair, they are counterintuitive, adding another costly impediment to the success of so many American businesses who are struggling in the midst of a prolonged recession,” Representative Trent Franks argued.

Representative Judy Chu from California was the sole Representative who held out on voting in support of the act. “This will deny states the flexibility to respond to economic downturns during the moratorium and therefore undermine the ability of states to pay for essential services,” Chu said.

“On behalf of the 300 million wireless customers in the U.S., CTIA applauds the Wireless Tax Fairness Act’s lead sponsors, Representatives Lofgren and Franks, who worked tirelessly to get the bill approved in the House,” the CTIA said in a statement. “Today’s vote is a crucial step toward providing wireless subscribers with some much needed relief by putting a five-year freeze on new, discriminatory taxes and fees on their monthly bills. In light of the challenging economy, we hope the U.S. Senate moves swiftly to pass the companion bill.”

MOTOROLA OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCES XOOM 2 AND XOOM 2 MEDIA EDITION

Motorola on Thursday announced its new XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition tablets. The XOOM 2 runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb and is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 10.1-inch display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. Motorola said the display, which has a special “splashguard” for added protection, is brighter and more vibrant than the screen used on the original XOOM. Motorola also pre-loaded the XOOM 2 with several enterprise apps in hopes of attracting the corporate market. The XOOM 2 Media Edition also runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb but is thinner, lighter, has a smaller 8.2-inch display. It also lacks the enterprise focus of the XOOM 2. Motorola said the tablets will be available in various retail outlets throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom in November but did not provide any details on a U.S. launch date.

LEAK: MOTOROLA XOOM 2 IMAGE AND PRICING

A leaked advertisement obtained by Engadget suggests the XOOM 2 will be offered for €399.99 (US $550.75) by Carphone Warehouse in Ireland just time for the holiday shopping season. The XOOM 2 is reportedly equipped with a 10.1-inch display, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a camera capable of recording 1080p video and 1GB of RAM. It is also said to be 9-millimeters thick, which is just a hair fatter than the 8.6-millimeter thick Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Motorola has yet to officially announce the XOOM 2, but we wouldn’t be surprised to hear more on it as the holidays get closer.

LEAK: NEW ANDROID MARKET COMING

Version 3.3.11 of the Android Market has leaked out and assuming this version is close to what will be officially distributed, it will be adding a few much-needed features. The first and most-important is that Google is tweaking auto-download settings yet again by giving users the option to make auto-update the default setting, making it easier to auto-update apps on Android. You can also tick a box to "Update over Wi-Fi only" to save precious megabytes on your cellular data plan and probably improve your battery life to boot. When you download a new app for the first time, you can opt to have it automatically add a shortcut to your homescreen.

There are plenty of other nuances to be found, including a new icon, smaller fonts, more visible star ratings, and the voice-button on the default Market search. Rumor has it the update is being pushed out to handsets now, so it hopefully it won't be too long until it arrives on your Android device. Hit the link here for a gallery of images.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES NEW GMAIL LOOK

Hot on the heels of the newly revamped Reader, Google is rolling out a new Gmail. Gmail’s conversation view has been streamlined and now includes photos of each contact. Additionally, it will automatically resize itself to look best depending on your screen size thanks to a new “elastic density feature.” Themes now support HD images and there is a new “smarter navigation” panel on the left hand side of the display that is customizable. Google also added a drop-down search box for more accurate email searches. The software giant says users will begin to see the option to “switch to the new look” in the bottom right-hand of their inbox over the next few days. Check out the video below for more features.

MOTOROLA MOBILITY TO LAYOFF 800

Motorola Mobility will spend $31 million as it lays off 800 employees ahead of its planned acquisition by Google, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Motorola said in a regulatory filing that it would spend $27 million in employee severance and an additional $4 million closing a number of existing facilities. “Motorola Mobility continues to focus on improving its financial performance by taking actions to manage the company’s costs,” company spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson told Bloomberg. Google announced its intentions to purchase Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion on August 15th. Google CEO Larry Page said the acquisition would provide Google with patents that will help the company defend its Android partners in lawsuits with Microsoft, Apple and others.

BEST BUY TO OFFER TOUCHPAD WITH HP COMPUTER PURCHASE

Best Buy announced on Monday that customers who purchase an HP or Compaq laptop, desktop or all-in-one computer can opt to purchase an HP TouchPad tablet for an additional $149. The deal, which gives a small breath of life to a tablet that has already been killed-off by HP, kicks off on November 1st. Interested buyers can also purchase the TouchPad for $599.99, the tablet’s initial launch price, without buying an HP computer. As a quick refresher, the TouchPad offers a 9.7-inch XGA display, 32GB of storage, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and support for 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and NFC.

SONY TO SPLIT TV BUSINESS TO HELP DRIVE PROFITABILITY

Sony announced on Monday that it will split its television business into three different branches in an effort to reverse a course that has the arm headed to its eighth consecutive annual loss. The three new branches include LCD TVs, next generation TVs and outsourced televisions, Reuters said on Monday, and the changes will go into effect on Tuesday, November 1st. “By dividing into three divisions, we will make clearer the misson and responsibilities of these,” a Sony spokesperson said

MICROSOFT LAWYER DEFENDS ANDROID LICENSING ARRANGEMENTS

Speaking with The San Francisco Chronicle recently, the deputy general counsel of Microsoft’s intellectual property group, Horacio Gutiérrez, discussed his company’s decisions to chase down other firms for Android-licensing agreements and the current state of patent wars. Gutiérrez doesn’t think Microsoft should be viewed as a “patent troll” for its recent agreements with Samsung, HTC, ViewSonic and Acer (among others) and its ongoing lawsuit with Foxconn and Barnes & Noble over the Nook. He also does not think the current patent system is broken. “Every time there are these technologies that are really disruptive, there are patent cases,” Guitiérrez explained. “Licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about. Licensing is, in fact, the solution to the patent problem that people are reactive so negatively about.”

Guitiérrez says that Microsoft invented a number of functions used in Android, including the “ability to synchronize the content that you have in your phone with the information in the server of your company or in your computer at home,” and the “efficiency of operating systems” as a whole. “I think the most important part here is that a lot of the innovation that is happening today is really happening in the software space,” Gutiérrez noted. “So the question of whether software should be patentable is, in a sense, the same as asking whether a significant part of the technological innovation happening nowadays should receive patent protection.”

FACEBOOK TESTING 'TRUSTED FRIENDS' PASSWORD UNLOCK FEATURE

Over the coming weeks Facebook will begin testing a 'Trusted Friends' password unlock feature. The feature will allow a user to select between three and five pals that they're confident will help out in dire times. Then, should you lose your password, Facebook can send recovery codes to that gang, and they can hand 'em over to you in order to unlock things. According to Facebook, it's akin to "giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation."

SAMSUNG'S FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS COMING IN 2012

A few days after Nokia showed off its Kinetic Device prototype under the blue lights of Nokia World, Samsung made mention of its own plans to unleash some bendy mobile devices on the world. A spokesperson for the company was scarce on details, but noted that the flexible displays are targeted for 2012. The technology, which was showcased at this year's CES, will initially be incorporated into handsets, with tablets following down the road.

ROYAL SOCIETY OPENS ARCHIVES TO PUBLIC

The venerable Royal Society, the over 350-year-old British scientific organization, has just opened up its archives to the web-dwelling public. That's over 60,000 scientific papers dating back to the first ever peer-reviewed research publication in 1665. Other highlights include Issac Newton's first ever published paper, research from Charles Darwin, and Ben Franklin's famous kite experiment. You can access the archives here.