LEAKED: MOTOROLA DROID X2

HotHardWare has obtained specs of the next version of Motorola's Droid X. The previous DROID X was certainly a big hit thanks to its large 480 x 854 pixels, 4.3″ screen, 1 GHz Cortex-A8 processor, 6.15GB internal storage and high-end connectivity features. The DROID X2 will likely follow in this success with subtle improvements across the board.

First of all the 4.3″ multi-touch capacitive screen will remain untouched in terms of size, but it will be boosted to a higher 540 x 960 resolution. The processor will also be upgraded to a dual-core Tegra 1Ghz chip (which is pretty fast as the LG Optimus 2X benchmark showed). However, the same battery will be used so we can only assume that the screen may actually be based on AMOLED technology (or equivalent) which is renowned for its battery saving credentials.

In terms of the OS it is likely to feature Android 2.2 (Froyo), but Motorola will hopefully install Android 2.3 on this as a future upgrade. Connectors will be a microUSB port and microHDMI output, with its 8MP camera capable of shooting 720P HD video, but it’s unclear how much storage will be included with the phone.

The DROID X 2 will be available on Verizon Wireless in the U.S., but we do not know if it will support LTE. No word on either price or when it will launch.

NETFLIX Q4 PROFITS JUMP; SUBSCRIBERS INCREASE

The nation's top video rental service reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $47 million or 87 cents per share, on $596 million in revenue. These figures represent a sharp climb from the same period a year ago.

Income for the quarter, which ended December 31, rose 52 percent and revenue grew 34 percent from the year-ago period.

The big news came in the form of subscriber growth. Netflix reported that the total number of Netflix subscribers is 20 million. For the quarter, the company added 3.08 million subscribers. In October, Netflix predicted it would add 2.7 million subscribers for a total of 19.7 million.
Those 3 million new subscribers mark a 166 percent jump from the 1.1 million the company added in the same period last year. The number of total Netflix subscribers rose by 63 percent from a year earlier.

The fear on Wall Street was that Netflix would begin showing signs that the cost of content would empty its coffers. Either that, or the company would be unable to afford enough films and TV shows to attract new customers. None of that apparently occurred in the fourth quarter.
All the signs indicate that Netflix is more popular than ever.
A consensus of financial analysts expected Netflix to report earnings of 71 cents a share on revenue of $598 million. Netflix's total revenues were slightly below what analysts expected but far exceeded profit expectation.

Investors didn't appear overly confident that Netflix would see a big quarter, or at least one that could continue justifying its lofty stock price. Netflix shares closed trading today at $183.03, down $3.71 or 2 percent. The stock has tripled in price this year.

FACEBOOK USING YOUR LIKES AND CHECK-INS TO CREATE ADS

Facebook just figured out a new way to make money off of your status updates and likes, and it’s a doozy: they’re now using your likes and postings about products and services to display to friends in advertisement form.

Showing up quietly on Wednesday morning without any mention from Facebook, you can see the new ads at worked in the right-hand ad column. If you friends check in at business or like other websites or products, and if Facebook has an advertisement deal with that company, you’ll start seeing their status updates as a “Sponsored Story.”

“Currently, marketers don’t have the ability to know or plan word-of-mouth endorsements as part of their campaigns,” Facebook’s product marketing lead Jim Squires told the Wall Street Journal. “This gives a way for marketers to increase the visibility of stories about their organization… this is word-of-mouth marketing at scale.”

Sound familiar? It should: back in 2007, Facebook tried more or less the same thing with Facebook Beacon, which turned into a huge class-action privacy lawsuit last time around because of the way it allowed marketers to publish off-Facebook purchases directly to users’ walls.

The current system isn’t likely to spark any class-action lawsuits, but it’s still got some privacy concerns associated with it: although Facebook will respect your privacy settings when it comes to sharing your content with strangers, there’s no way to stop Facebook from turning your wall status updates into a billboard to annoy your friend list.

AT&T RELAUNCHES UNLIMITED DATA PLANS

Facing Verizon having the iPhone and the recent announcement Verizon would be offering an unlimited data plan for $30/month, AT&T has quietly been shifting some of their iPhone subscribers back to the unlimited data plan AT&T dropped last summer.

The thinking is that some AT&T subscribers may flee to the Big Red rival to get the unlimited data plan back. The offer seems to be limited to those customers contacting AT&T customer services. Officially, AT&T has only stated they are looking at these on a case-by-case basis.

NEW 'CONNECTIONS' FEATURE LAUNCHED ON TWITTER

Twitter on Wednesday began rolling out a new feature called “Connections.” The feature, which is already common on other social networks, gives users a new way to discover and follow people they might otherwise not have found. The Connections view is visible when browsing another user’s profile page on the twitter.com website. It provides two main views: a brief sampling of mutual followers and a brief sampling of people you both follow. Alternatively, users can view a full list of mutual followers or people in common that they follow by selection the relevant options from drop down menus on a user’s “Following” or “Followers” timelines. Twitter first tested the Connections feature last summer and while the company has yet to announce the new feature today, Connections appears to be rolling out to all users at this time.

RUMOR: FACEBOOK PHONE

BGR has received information from a tipster who apparently was part of a recent focus group for an upcoming device that appears to be a Facebook phone. Here are some features that may be part of the eventual Facebook handset based on questions asked at during the session:

• Location aware coupons: you pick main categories of interest. When you’re near any stores that fall into those categories, coupons are automatically pushed to your phone. Basically, it sounds like “Facebook Deals on steroids,” as our tipster elegantly phrased it.
• An always-on GPS service much like Google Latitude that would run in the background. The service would provide automatic “check-ins” and might share your location with friends.
• No local storage (or very little). Everything is cloud-based, including contacts, media, data, etc.
• Obviously the phone will include a camera, but everything will be uploaded automatically and stored in the cloud.
• A news ticker-style message notification system: all messages funnel into one mass inbox, sortable by type, but initially unfiltered. There will also be a ticker of some kind that reads off message content as it’s delivered, regardless of message type.

The handset itself wasn’t specifically referred to as a “Facebook phone,” though the tipster says they spent over an hour of the session talking about social media in addition to very specific things like “how many photos do you upload to Facebook a day”, and more.

NEW APPLE PEEL TURNS YOUR iPOD TOUCH INTO AN iPHONE, SORT OF

The Apple Peel 520 gives Apple’s iPod touch the ability to connect to a cellular data network. It also allows users to send and receive voice calls and SMS from an iPod touch.

Yoison, the company behind the Apple Peel, is already working on a next-generation Peel that brings several additions to the table. The most apparent change is a redesigned case that makes the iPod touch look like an iPhone 4. Other changes include added support for Apple’s fourth-generation iPod touch (the current Apple Peel 520 supports the third-generation model), and GPRS data support in addition to EDGE. Unfortunately, however, it looks like 3G is still off limits. Yoison has not yet made any announcements with regard to pricing or availability.

GOOGLE ACQUIRES SAYNOW

SayNow, a voice messaging company, has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum reported TechCrunch. SayNow’s platform facilitates voice messaging between individuals or groups, and the company provides access to its services through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Android and iPhone applications. The start-up claims to have over 15 million people currently using SayNow apps and services, which include SayNow Phone, SayNow Broadcast, Big Call and Chit Chat. While details surrounding Google’s intentions for the platform are unclear at this time, the company’s services will ultimately be folded into Google Voice according to SayNow founders Ujjwal Singh and Nikhyl Singhal.

LEAKED: T-MOBILE TAKES ANOTHER $50 OFF SAMSUNG'S GALAXY TABLET

With a slew of new tablets launching within the next few months T-Mobile has dropped the price of the soon to be outdated Samsung Galaxy tab another $50 to $250 according to TmoNews. This new price requires a 2-year commitment with the no contract price staying at $500.

Over 100 new tablets were introduced at CES this year and this is likely a move to help clear the existing stock to make room for new devices like the LG Slate. With the new devices most likely having high specs and most running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the not even six month old Galaxy tab will look outdated and outclassed.

BLACKBERRY OS 6 NOW AVAILABLE FOR VERIZON DEVICES

If you are the owner of a Blackberry Bold 9560 or a Curve 3G on the Verizon network, you can now upgrade to Blackberry OS 6. This update can be obtained either OTA or plugging your Blackberry into your computer and visiting the Blackberry website

FIRECRACKER EXPLODES IN SUPER SLO-MOTION - VIDEO

Watching this firecracker explode in slo-motion is pretty impressive, but then again watching anything explode in slo-motion is impressive.

VERIZON iPHONE DATA PLAN & HOTSPOT PRICING ANNOUNCED; $200 FOR AT&T USERS

When Verizon announced they would be carrying Apple's iPhone, they also stated the purchase price. The last piece of the puzzle has now been put in place with the announcement of data plan costs. As expected Verizon is keeping their existing plan in place for now. The current plan, required for all smartphones, is the $30/month unlimited data plan.

The key words of Verizon's statement are "for now". When a customer purchases an iPhone (or any smartphone) with the associated data plan they will be able to keep that plan during their contract period. Once the contract ends AND the customer purchases a new device, the customer will need to subscribe to a data plan available during that time. With the launch of their LTE 4G phones coming soon, it is highly expected Verizon will move away from the all you can eat for one price model and shift to tiered data plans.

The cost of using the Verizon iPhone as a hotspot for up to 5 devices will be $20/month which gets you 2GB of data allowance. This is on top of the $30/month unlimited data plan. The hotspot plan is optional, while the data plan is not

In addition to the data plan announcement, Verizon also stated that any AT&T customer turning in their i Phone will get $200 for it which can be applied to a Verizon phone.

RIM'S PLAYBOOK BATTERY LIFE TO EQUAL OR EXCEED iPAD'S AND BE SMALLER

A few weeks ago we posted a rumor that RIM's new Playbook tablet was being delayed due to battery life issues. RIM denounced those rumors at the time saying the OS used to prompt that rumor was unfinished and not optimized.

Now, senior business marketing VP Jeff McDowell has promised that the PlayBook will offer "equal or greater" battery endurance to Apple's device, while using a smaller cell size. The smaller size battery should be fairly easily attainable, but matching and potentially exceeding the iPad's time off the grid is aiming fairly high.

The Playbook is expected to launch in March, so they still have some time to make sure they are able to meet McDowell's statement.

GOOGLE CLOUD PRINT ALLOWS PRINTING FROM PHONE

Google recently released Cloud Print, a web feature that allowed you to print documents on your home printer from anywhere. Today, they're going to start rolling out that feature for mobile Gmail, so you can print straight from your smartphone.

Until today, Google Cloud Print was only available for Chrome OS, but now iPhone and Android users can print anything from mobile Gmail on-the-go. So, if you're out and about and want to print out an email (or one of its attachments, like a .doc or .pdf file), you can just head to Gmail's mobile web interface and hit the print button from the top right-hand dropdown. When you gethome, your email will be waiting for you at the printer. To set up Google Cloud Print, just head to Chrome's preferences and go to Under the Hood > Sign in to Google Cloud Print. It should automatically add all printers hooked up to that computer to your Google Cloud Print manager, and you'll be able to print to them from your phone. Note that as of right now, it only works on Windows, and you'll need the latest beta version of Google Chrome to set it up.

WHITE iPHONE MAKES APPEARANCE IN AT&T SYSTEM

Hot on the heels of cameos in various Vodafone Germany and Best Buy systems, the mythical white iPhone 4 is showing up somewhere else. Turns out any AT&T subscriber can now log in to their account and see both 16GB and 32GB versions of the phone listed in the model picker, which could definitely suggest that these guys are getting ready to finally make them available along with everyone else. Then again, we've also heard that the white iPhone 4 never even left some of AT&T's inventory systems in the first place, so this might mean very little -- but for now, we're going with the "where there's smoke, there's fire" angle. Verizon, your turn.

LEAKED: VERIZON DROPS $15 DATA PLAN

Verizon is killing off its $15 150MB data plan for smartphones altogether, instead corralling folks into the $30 unlimited option. Of course, with the proliferation of data-hungry smartphone apps on Android (and soon, the iPhone), 250MB per month of usage is becoming less and less reasonable by the day, so we can't say we're terribly surprised. Meanwhile, the $9.99 25MB feature phone data option is getting a bump up to 75MB with $10 per 75MB overage, a slight drop from the 20 cent / MB overage that those customers deal with currently. Finally, you'll notice that the $30 unlimited plan is now qualified as applying to "feature phones and 3G smartphones," not merely "smartphones" as they were before -- a nod to the fact that Verizon's upcoming LTE handsets won't be eligible for the same pricing.

BARNES & NOBLE NOOK 3G BEING DISCONTINUED

According to Engadget and confirmed by Barnes & Noble, the Nook 3G is being discontinued. Barnes & Noble may be selling millions of Nook products, but it's sounding like the 3G variant hasn't really done its part to help those figures. We've received hard evidence from within B&N that the Nook is being discontinued, with sales to seemingly continue until stock is exhausted. The outfit is encouraging retail partners to not send out any bulk orders for the Nook 3G, as there simply won't be sufficient quantities to fulfill those orders. Of course, we're told that the company never actually received a huge amount of Nook 3G bulk orders to begin with, so maybe WiFi really is everywhere these days. At any rate, grab yourself a Nook 3G post-haste if you've been thinking it over -- once they're gone, they're gone for good.

VERIZON iPHONE COSTS MORE OFF CONTRACT THAN AT&T

Verizon's iPhone is expected to sell over nine million units in 2011, most of which will be at the promotional price of $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB with a two year contract. These are the same prices as AT&T.

However, some of those nine million will be at full retail without any promotional pricing. Those people can expect to pay an additional $50 for the Verizon version, over the the AT&T version. Verizon's full retail price for the 16GB is $649 versus AT&T's $599 and the 32GB will set them back $749 versus $699 at AT&T.

While the CDMA chipset, used in the Verizon iPhone, costs about $30 more, this does not justify the increase in price considering the markup for the iPhone is around 400 percent.

MOZILLA OFFERS DO-NOT-TRACK TOOL

According to CNet, Mozilla, acting on a U.S. Federal Trade Commission proposal, has offered a detailed mechanism by which Firefox and other Web browsers could prevent Web pages from tracking people's online behavior for advertising purposes.
With Mozilla's do-not-track technology, network data packets from the browser would signal to a Web site that a person doesn't wished to be tracked. Then comes the tricky part: getting Web site operators to cooperate.
Alex Fowler, Mozilla's global privacy and public policy leader, said that with the mechanism, the browser would alert a Web site during basic communications that use the Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). He also acknowledged that getting Web sites to cooperate is a crucial difficulty in getting the system to work:

As the first of many steps, we are proposing a feature that allows users to set a browser preference that will broadcast their desire to opt-out of third party, advertising-based tracking by transmitting a Do Not Track HTTP header with every click or page view in Firefox. When the feature is enabled and users turn it on, Web sites will be told by Firefox that a user would like to opt-out of OBA [online behavioral advertising]. We believe the header-based approach has the potential to be better for the Web in the long run because it is a clearer and more universal opt-out mechanism than cookies or blacklists...
The advantages to the header technique are that it is less complex and simple to locate and use, it is more persistent than cookie-based solutions, and it doesn't rely on user's finding and loading lists of ad networks and advertisers to work...
The challenge with adding this to the header is that it requires both browsers and sites to implement it to be fully effective. Mozilla recognizes the chicken and egg problem and we are taking the step of proposing that this feature be considered for upcoming releases of Firefox.

Mozilla doesn't appear to be acting alone. Today, "Google is expected to announced a privacy tool called 'Keep My Opt-Outs' that enables users to permanently opt out of ad -targeting from dozens of companies," The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing an unnamed source.

RUMOR: SONY ERICSSON WORKING ON WINDOWS PHONE 7 DEVICES

Contrary to what beleaguered handset manufacturer Sony Ericsson has stated, they seem to be deeply invested in Windows Phone 7 OS. According to DigiTimes channel checks with Taiwan-based manufacturers reportedly reveal that Sony Ericsson does indeed already have Windows Phone 7 devices “in the pipeline,” despite the fact that executives have been careful with their words in recent history when discussing the platform. DigiTimes’ report does not include any information as far as specific devices, nor does it indicate when we might see new Microsoft-powered phones reach market from Sony Ericsson.