BlackBerry, The Company Formerly Known As RIM, To Start Trading Under Its New Name On February 4

BlackBerry, the  Canadian smartphone maker formerly known as RIM — aka Research In Motion — will start trading under its new name on February 4, with its new ticker symbols effective from the start of trading on that day.
BlackBerry said it will trade as BBRY on the Nasdaq, and as BB on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
CEO Thorsten Heins announced the name change at the launch of the company’s new BlackBerry 10 OS platform on Wednesday. “RIM becomes BlackBerry. It is one brand. It is one promise,” he said, adding: “Our shareholders are investing in BlackBerry.”
From February 4th BlackBerry’s shareholders will literally be investing in a company trading as BlackBerry. Although, legally, RIM will still be RIM — at least for a little while longer. The company said that despite doing business as BlackBerry its legal name is not changing until shareholders vote for the official change at the Company’s Annual General Meeting later this year.
Last year’s Annual General Meeting was held on July 10.

Credit : Tech Crunch

Behind The Scenes Of The iPhone 5 Jailbreak

Technically speaking, the iPhone 5 is already jailbroken. You’re just not allowed to have it yet. The reason for this is because one of the bugs that contributes to a functional jailbreak is so good, that the hackers who discovered it would rather hang on to it while looking for another to replace it, instead of releasing it out into the wild where Apple could learn of the exploit, and patch it. Plus, iOS 6.1 is on the horizon, so they definitely don’t want to release the bug before then.
David Wang (@Planetbeing), one of the half a dozen hackers working on the jailbreak for the latest iPhone announced this news on Reddit not too long ago. ”The fact is, I have an untethered iOS 6.0.2 JB running on my iPhone 5 right now,” he wrote.
“This vulnerability is nice because it lets us see what’s going on,” Wang tells me. “We need to be able to look at the code we’re trying to change – get a dump of it. Otherwise, we’re basically working on things in the dark.”
The worst case scenario here is that the hackers have to “burn” their current exploit – this great bug they have – in order to get a jailbreak into the hands of the public. They just don’t want to do that yet. Besides, the fact that there were four bugs discovered on the iPhone 5 at the time of that Reddit post was promising. That leaves hope that they’ll be able to find a few more. And so far, progress on that front looks good.
So will end users ever be able to jailbreak the iPhone 5, then? Yes, Wang says. This year? Well, he sure hopes so. At least before the next iPhone comes out.

The Days Of Yore

Finding exploits isn’t like building an app or website where every day, you would see progress. Instead, bug hunting is like panning for gold. And there might not be any gold to be found.
For those unfamiliar with jailbreaking, or why anyone would want to go to such efforts to have control over their phone, the activity originally became popular because it allowed users to add applications and features Apple didn’t approve. Users could turn their phones into a Wi-Fi hotspot, install custom themes, make the device’s settings and controls more accessible, override Apple’s default restrictions, and more. Some users even unlocked their phones to run on unapproved cellular networks.

In the old days, jailbreakers were more competitive, organizing themselves into “teams” like the iPhone Dev Team and the Chronic team. A few rogue developers even operated independently. Hackers competed against and surprised each other – and jailbreaking users, too – with their releases.
Now the jailbreaking vibe feels different. The individuals involved are generally working together and sharing knowledge when appropriate. The competitiveness has been dialed down. Each person works on their own piece. Everyone commits their piece to the same GitHub repo, and the code from there will then be turned into a user-facing jailbreaking tool.
And it’s not always the same people who work on each device’s jailbreak these days, Wang explains. It’s whoever has the time and energy. “Over time, the teams have broken down a bit,” he says. “The team structure doesn’t really work. It promotes rivalries and you can’t work with who you want. What we have now is better – we work with each other and share knowledge, but it’s kind of compartmentalized. Instead of sharing it with a whole team, we just share with an individual what we think they need to know.”
Call it a kinder and gentler hacking scene, perhaps.
This time around, work on the latest iPhone jailbreak has been delayed a bit, but not only because of the hardened iOS 6 operating system, but because of other demands on jailbreakers’ time. Like their day jobs. Wang has a full-time day job in a different field. Another of the iPhone 5′s hackers, @Pod2G, has been busy working on his own iOS app, for instance.

In Search Of Exploits

There are other things that slow down the process between finding the bugs and releasing the jailbreak tool: for example, finding the differences in the code between the different devices and testing procedures. When the jailbreak is done, it can also be challenging to find someone who’s savvy enough to test it, but who won’t leak it publicly. “It can take a couple of days, or a couple of weeks sometime,” says Wang.
It wasn’t always this hard.
In the past, jailbreakers were able to find bugs in the bootrom, the first significant code that runs on the iPhone, and they were in. They would have full control over that phone for as long as that device existed, no matter what version of iOS was running. But now, devs can’t even access the bootrom.
“The bootrom has been getting smaller and smaller, but we can’t even get a dump of it right now. Even if we get code controlling the entire phone running, like we do, we can’t see the bootrom. And if we can’t dump it, we can’t look for code and mistakes very easily,” Wang says. The reason for this is because today, when the iPhone 5 boots up fully, it now hides the bootrom. This has been the case since “Limera1n” took advantage of an undisclosed bootrom exploit on the iPhone 4 (and earlier devices), which Apple has since fixed.
Did Apple patch the bootrom only because of jailbreaking?
“It sure seems like it, because who else would care about reading the bootrom? You can’t really get a virus on your phone by reading the bootrom,” Wang says.
Today, with no bootrom bug available, hackers now need to find a lot more bugs to have a complete jailbreak solution for users. You need the code injection bug (which puts the code on the operating system), and something that increases the privilege level of that code so it can change things on the operating system on the phone. This bug can sometimes be the same as the code-injection bug.
Then you need a kernel injection bug, which gives you unrestricted access to the operating system and tells the kernel to stop checking for code signatures. And more recently, because of iOS 6, you need something to address kernel ASLR (address space layout randomization), which moves the kernel around in memory.
Apple doesn’t let the jailbreakers see where the kernel is in memory, to prevent exactly what they’re trying to do, says Wang. So you need to find a bug that can get around kernel ASLR, too, and it might be the same bug as the one that increases the privilege level of code or the kernel injection bug.
And then you need to find an untether bug so the jailbreak runs whenever and wherever the iPhone boots up.
Yes, that’s a lot of bugs.

A Very Brief History Of Jailbreaking

But to fully understand how iPhone jailbreaking has gotten more difficult over the years, you have to have a sense of history. You have to understand what’s it’s been like and how that has changed.
When the iPhone 3G came out, a jailbreak tool called PwnageTool emerged. It was based on a bootrom exploit that allowed the iPhone’s hackers to change out the software on the device. Basically, it’s like changing software out on a computer – for example, you have a computer that runs Windows, and you install Linux on it. In terms of jailbreaking an iPhone, this is pretty powerful access.
Later, when the iPhone 3GS came out, the key bug that allowed the developers this level of access was still there. Well, at least until sometime around halfway through the iPhone 3GS’s cycle when Apple decided to shut down manufacturing temporarily to address the problem. After production resumed, there was a new bootrom in place and the bug was gone.
“Certainly their motivation was that there was a bug and they wanted it to be fixed,” says Jay Freeman, who created the jailbreak “app store” known as Cydia – which users install after their phone is jailbroken. ”But exactly why they considered that bug more important to fix than any other bug they’ve not fixed, I don’t really know…We’ve never had a better exploit than that.”
But that didn’t prevent the hackers from looking for other means to break into the iPhone’s code.
Immediately after Apple patched the one bootrom bug, jailbreakers were able to discover other bootrom bugs, but only those that could change the software temporarily. To continue the Windows analogy, this would be like booting up a computer from a CD, USB or floppy disk – you’re not really installing the software from scratch here.
On an iPhone, that means the jailbreaks could temporarily boot the phone up with a new kernel that doesn’t protect the phone’s software, mount the hard drive of the device and change the software on the iPhone to do different things – that is, run all those jailbreak apps that modify how the iPhone behaves.
But the kernel is still protected, because the bootrom was not modified or damaged, which means the next time the phone is booted, the jailbreak is undone. This is what’s called a “tethered” jailbreak, referring to the fact that the phone has to be plugged in to a computer when the jailbreak is performed and then each time the phone is rebooted. By the time the iPhone 4 came out, jailbreakers had to find a bug in a program running on the phone normally that they could use to access a bug in the kernel, which they could then use to modify the kernel. This would allow them to modify other software on the phone.
A famous example of this was the JailbreakMe website, which a jailbreaker known as @comex (aka Nicholas Allegra) discovered. This method used a bug in the web browser that could crash the browser and take control of it, in order to then get arbitrary code running in the kernel.
“Comex was just ludicrous,” Freeman says. “He found so many exploits in all sorts of things.”
(Comex was later hired by Apple, but we’ve heard he wasn’t working on anti-jailbreak measures while there. Wang tells us that users waiting for jailbreaks shouldn’t be significantly worried about Apple hiring from the jailbreaking community, either.)
The big next step was to make this jailbreak “untethered” – a device that can boot up directly to the jailbreak. This requires leaving some kind of code around that will cause the software to trip up upon boot, de-securing the device along the way. In the absence of a bootrom bug, like the one found on the iPhone 3G or 3GS, this was the best way for some time to achieve an untethered jailbreak.

A New iPhone, A New Search

Every time a new iPhone came out, the search for bugs begins anew. As was the case when the iPhone 4 came out.
On a memorable day – 10-10-10 – some members of the jailbreaking community were ready to release a tool called SHAtter, but before they did another hacker known as Geohot came out of nowhere with his Limera1n exploit for the iPhone 4 and iPad. Others, including @Pod2G, @Comex and @i0n1c, then worked to find untethers for that jailbreak.

Limera1n was important because, unlike the JailbreakMe webpage, which takes advantage of easily patchable software running on the phone (the browser), a bootrom exploit lasts for the entire life of that device.
“In order to upgrade the bootrom, you have to throw out your phone and get a new one…so [Apple] can’t ever upgrade Limera1n,” Freeman explains. “Limera1n is stuck on every device that ever shipped that had that bug.” The exception is if Apple goes out of its way to stop production, like it did with the 3GS, to fix the bug.
The cat-and-mouse game between Apple and the jailbreaking community continued when the iPhone 4S came out. The exploit that Limera1n used was gone. That sent the hackers back to looking for what they call “userland” exploits – those bugs in the software (like the browser, as with JailbreakMe), which, when identified and used to develop a jailbreaking tool, are then likely to be patched by Apple in the very next firmware upgrade, e.g. iOS 4, iOS 5, iOS 6 and its minor releases. Hackers refer to this as “burning” the exploit, as it can never be used again after that point, since Apple always patches them.
Corona was the name of the userland exploit that allowed a jailbreak for the iPhone 4S, running iOS 5.0 and 5.01. Then Apple released iOS 5.1 and the bug was gone. So hackers created yet another jailbreaking tool, absinthe, that worked on iOS 5.1 and 5.1.1. Apple released iOS 6 and the bugs were gone again.
“iOS 6 has had significant security improvements. And iOS 6.1 also has even more improvements,” says Wang. “One of the things we’re having trouble with [on the iPhone 5] is the initial injection,” he explains.
Now remember that the iPhone 4 is not affected by all these iOS releases. Because Limera1n uses an unpatched bootrom exploit, it doesn’t matter what version of iOS runs on that device. It can be jailbroken. This, of course, raises the question: If bootrom exploits are that powerful, why don’t the hackers just look for them?
The answer is it’s not that simple.
“Finding bootrom exploits is more difficult only because there is much less software. We talk about this thing called an attack surface,” says Freeman. He likens it to the way a very large army wearing lots of battle armor probably has a break in it somewhere that you can poke a sword through. Meanwhile, a small army would be more likely to be protected fully. The only thing a bootrom does is verifies the other software, and it talks over USB. There’s not a lot of code in there.
Most of the bootrom bugs have been found in the USB setup code. Most of those bugs have been fixed.
However, in the iPhone 5, Apple added a Lightning connector, so there’s now a chance that there is a bug in the new bootrom - if hackers were to find a way to peek in there, which as noted above, they currently can’t.
So for now, it’s about finding non-bootrom bugs. And it’s been tougher to do so lately. There isn’t a good jailbreak for the iPhone 4 or iPod 4, only a tethered one. There’s no publicly available jailbreak for iOS 6 on the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.

Like Dealing With Magicians

It’s hard to always know what’s going on with the current jailbreak. When jailbreak developers and other hackers are teasing their progress on Twitter, they’re sometimes showing off some of those so-called userland bugs in action. Maybe they show Cydia, Freeman’s app store for the jailbreaking community, running on their device. But Freeman clarifies that these teases are often only partial jailbreaks – Cydia is installed, but the apps that let you have all the fun wouldn’t necessarily work. Other times, they’ve used Apple’s own developer tools, which allow Apple’s paying developers to install their own code on the phone. Seeing a device running Cydia, in other words, is not proof that a jailbreak for you, the user, is ready.
Sometimes, however, it is a hint at progress.
“It’s a little bit like dealing with magicians. You might know how somebody’s trick works, but it’s their trick,” says Freeman. “A lot of the hacking community has that same kind of vibe to it. Somebody has managed to figure out how to do something weird.” Instead of hacking your brain, as magicians do, they’ve hacked a phone, he says.
For example, the recent demonstrations by @chpwn and @phoenixdev were totally legitimate, but they did not have kernel patches and so were not “complete” enough to do most of the things that people expect a jailbroken device to do, says Freeman. “They were only half-jailbroken.”
The trick is knowing which jailbreak developers you can trust. While it’s possible there’s still a chance someone will come out of nowhere, like Comex did back in the day, it’s a better bet that future jailbreaks come from those who have been consistently working on jailbreaking Apple’s devices over the years.

If They Jailbreak It, Will Users Come?

But when the iPhone 5 jailbreak arrives, the bigger question may be whether it will again draw a significant number of users, as it had in years past. Freeman says that, based on data over the past two months, he has seen 22,780,029 devices running Cydia, to give you an idea of scale. But of course, this includes more than iPhones – it counts iPads and the iPod touch, as well. Plenty of users still have iPhone 4′s and 4S’s too, it should be noted.


Freeman says that in between the releases of jailbreaking tools, Cydia installs begins trending downwards, but when the next big jailbreak tool is goes out, the number of Cydia installs has always been more than the time before.
“Every time we release jailbreak, we get a massive spike of renewed interest, during which time people furiously are upgrading, jailbreaking, browsing packages, and purchasing products,” Freeman says. “They are seriously active users; that spike is so large that the rate it falls over time swamps the rate of organic user accumulation, so the overall usage of jailbreaking is always going down.”

Is The Time For Jailbreaking Over?

In these quiet periods, though, there’s room for doubt that anyone still wants to jailbreak their phone. After all, Apple has addressed a lot of the things jailbreakers were after: It now has a drop-down notifications window and lets you put a wallpaper on the lock screen, for example. FaceTime on AT&T works over 3G/4G now. The iPhone is coming to T-Mobile, so you won’t need to jailbreak, then use an unlocking tool to make the phone compatible on T-Mobile. You can even buy unlocked phones, and it’s easier to just pay for a Wi-Fi hotspot feature with your carrier than it is to jailbreak and install software to make one work.
And for naughtier users, the app piracy community Hackulous recently shut down, citing lack of user interest. “Our community has become stagnant,” its creators said.
Freeman doesn’t think the lack of a jailbreak for the iPhone 5 is the main reason for the recent disinterest. It’s the type of jailbreaks that have been available lately for the most popular devices.
“We have to look at iOS 6: we don’t have a ‘good’ jailbreak for iOS 6 on the iPhone 4 or iPod 4 (as it is tethered),” he says, “and we have no jailbreak for iOS 6 on any of the newer devices, including last year’s iPhone 4S.”
“We all think that the popularity of jailbreaks is going down because of all the improvements Apple has made, but it seems to be still pretty popular,” Wang notes, however. And the fact that his Reddit post blew up, is also promising.
He admits that those working on the jailbreaks may not communicate with users as often as they did in the past.
“I don’t maybe make as much of an effort as maybe I should, because in a way, it’s always kind of hopeless. There’s always people who don’t read, or choose to misinterpret what you say,” he says. “It’s so difficult to not be misunderstood. Sometimes you don’t even want to bother trying.”
But he does still try.

The iPhone 5 jailbreak, however it comes to be, could breathe new life into the jailbreaking scene and into a community which even grew large enough to have its own convention. And it will also answer the question as to whether all those millions of users are still interested in taking the plunge and jailbreaking their phones, or whether they’ve become comfortable enough with the status quo in these many months without a usable, untethered jailbreak on hand.
Wang, of course, and others like him, never had to take time off from using a jailbroken device. “My iPhone is always jailbroken,” he said.
And maybe one day soon, your iPhone can be jailbroken again, too.

Credit : Tech Crunch

Tech : Texting SMS pioneer Matti Makkonen 20 years on

In a world first, on 3 December 1992, an engineer sent the message "Merry Christmas" from a PC to a mobile device using Vodafone's UK network.

But the origins of the idea date back further to Matti Makkonen. Over a pizza at a telecoms conference in 1984, the former Finnish civil servant put forward the idea of a mobile phone messaging service. This was to become the SMS (short message service) standard.
Dubbed the "father of SMS"- a title he dislikes because of the work others did to develop the technology - Matti Makkonen rarely gives interviews. However, he made an exception for the BBC's tech team with an interview via SMS.

• Tues 15:24
  It’s been estimated 8 trillion text messages were sent last year. 20yrs ago how popular did you think sms would get and what did you think it would be used for?
  
• Tues 15:40
  20yrs ago I didn’t see sms as separate issue – it was just a feature in the revolutionary mobile communications system. Very useful for quick business needs.
  
• Tues 15:45
  You never got any money for it as you didn’t patent the idea. Is that a regret – or are you glad how things worked out?.
  
• Tues 15:58
  I don't think I made a patentable innovation, but was one of the early persons to understand the need and the concept. I’m glad the work was done as part of GSM.
  
• Tues 18:03
  You've been described as the “reluctant father of SMS” and it took a newspaper investigation to identify you. Why were you so quiet about your achievement?
  
• Weds 06:05
  I did not consider sms as personal achievement but as result of joint effort to collect ideas and write the specifications of the services based on them.
  
• Weds 12:22
  Cn u txtspk?
  
• Weds 12:26
  No! My passion is to write correct language (Finnish), using all 160 characters.
  
• Weds 12:28
  What do you think of people who do? Do you hate it?
  
• Weds 12:33
  No, I don’t hate them. Actually sms can also be seen as a way for language to develop. More symbols, less characters.
  
• Weds 14:26
  What do you make of sexting? A lot of high profile figures have come to regret some of their more explicit messages!?!
  
• Weds 15:18
  In my mind private messages of high profile persons should be kept out of public discussion. Privacy belongs to telecommunication as much as to private letters.
  
• Weds 17:08
  Do you suffer from text spam? If so what kind?
  
  
• Weds 17:16
  Not at all. Finnish legislation is quite protective. Marketing messages are allowed only if you really allow them. Spam calls are more often problem.
  
• Weds 18:47
  Do you prefer typing in a keypad or touchscreen? And how fast are you?
  
• Weds 20:11
  I love touchscreen. Slow enough to think and sometimes even edit what I write.
  
• Weds 20:13
  Will sms survive another 20 years – or will Facebook, Skype and other instant messaging chat systems take over?
  
• Weds 20:30
  20 years is long time… I believe that reliable convenient to use text messaging will stay forever. Is not necessary what we call sms. No more pay per message.
  
• Thurs 10:38
  It was 8 years between your idea of SMS and the first text being sent. Were you surprised it took so long?
  
• Thurs 14:26
  No. Actually I felt myself as a customer, who had noticed a need. I was happy to see that the development was going on in a gsm working team. The real launch of the service, as I see it, was when Nokia introduced the first phone that enabled easy writing of messages (Nokia 2010 in 1994).
  
• Thurs 14:41
  Do you have any other big idea for the future!?!
  
• Thurs 15:06
  Not my idea but integration of mobile content display to my eyeglasses would be nice. Maybe someone is working with it?
  
  Credit : BBC
  

Twitter Updates iPhone and Android Apps: Improves Discover Tab, Search & Push Notifications

Twitter just announced the latest updates to its mobile apps for Android and iOS. With these updates, these apps get a number of much-needed new features, including an improved Discover tab, better support for search and support for push notifications for interactions. These new push notifications now let you know whenever somebody retweets you, favorites one of your tweets and when somebody new follows you. Until now, Twitter only sent push notifications for direct messages and mentions.
With this update, Twitter is apparently trying to address some of the criticism it faced when it launched its radically redesigned mobile apps last December. Last year’s redesign deemphasized many core features like direct messages, search and lists in favor of highlighting, among other things, follow recommendations and trending stories in the Discover tab.
Today, Twitter is making some much-needed changes to make the Discover tab more useful. When it first launched, You can now also use this tab to browse an activity stream of “updates that shows which Tweets are favorited or retweeted by the people you follow and which accounts those people follow or add to lists.” This new stream will appear right under the Stories section in the Discover tab.
Twitter also made the search feature in its mobile apps easier to use with this update. The apps now offer “suggestions for different spellings and related terms for your queries. Finding the people you’re looking for is faster, too. In the Connect tab, you can start typing the first or last name or username of the person you’re looking for and the name will autocomplete for people that you follow.”
Quite a few power users moved away from the official Twitter apps after the redesign. It’s unlikely that this update will get them to switch back. Right after the launch of the redesign last December, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler asked Twitter’s Director of Platform Ryan Sarver about the company’s reasoning behind the changes. At the time, Sarver said that Twitter didn’t want to compete on features but wanted to “keep things simple.” Looks like that hasn’t changed with this update.

Tech : Sony to buy out Ericsson's stake in joint venture

We all saw it coming and, sure enough, it's finally happened. After all the rumors and opaque comments, Sony has just bought out Ericsson's share of Sony Ericsson, effectively assuming ownership of the entire venture. Ericsson confirmed the buyout this morning, adding that it will receive a cash consideration of €1.05 billion in exchange for its 50 percent stake. Sony, meanwhile, will now have the chance to integrate smartphones more tightly within its arsenal of tablets, laptops and gaming devices. The agreement also gives Sony an IP cross-licensing agreement and ownership of "five essential patent families" pertaining to wireless tech, though the breadth of this coverage remains unclear. The separation won't be finalized, however, until January 2012, pending regulatory approval. Find more details in the full PR, after the break.

Update: Sony president and CEO Sir Howard Stringer has just addressed the media on the proposed buyout and confirmed that the company will indeed move away from feature phones, as previously stated. This effectively heralds the death of the Walkman line and the dawn of Sony's exclusively Android era, though Stringer's not ruling out the possibility of bringing another OS on board. 

 

Press Release

Ericsson: Sony to acquire Ericsson's share of Sony Ericsson

October 27, 2011, 08:16 (CEST)

Sony Ericsson to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony and integrated into Sony's broad platform of network-connected consumer electronics products
The transaction also provides Sony with a broad IP cross-licensing agreement and ownership of five essential patent families
Ericsson to receive EUR 1.05 billion cash payment
Sony and Ericsson to create wireless connectivity initiative to drive connectivity across multiple platforms
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Sony Corporation ("Sony") today announced that Sony will acquire Ericsson's 50 percent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB ("Sony Ericsson"), making the mobile handset business a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony.

The transaction gives Sony an opportunity to rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices - including tablets, televisions and personal computers - for the benefit of consumers and the growth of its business. The transaction also provides Sony with a broad intellectual property (IP) cross-licensing agreement covering all products and services of Sony as well as ownership of five essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology.

As part of the transaction, Ericsson will receive a cash consideration of EUR 1.05 billion.

During the past ten years the mobile market has shifted focus from simple mobile phones to rich smartphones that include access to internet services and content. The transaction is a logical strategic step that takes into account the nature of this evolution and its impact on the marketplace.

This means that the synergies for Ericsson in having both a world leading technology and telecoms services portfolio and a handset operation are decreasing. Today Ericsson's focus is on the global wireless market as a whole; how wireless connectivity can benefit people, business and society beyond just phones. Consistent with that mission, by setting up a wireless connectivity initiative, Ericsson and Sony will work to drive and develop the market's adoption of connectivity across multiple platforms.

"This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want. With a vibrant smartphone business and by gaining access to important strategic IP, notably a broad cross-license agreement, our four-screen strategy is in place. We can more rapidly and more widely offer consumers smartphones, laptops, tablets and televisions that seamlessly connect with one another and open up new worlds of online entertainment. This includes Sony's own acclaimed network services, like the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network," said Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. Mr Stringer also noted that the acquisition will afford Sony operational efficiencies in engineering, network development and marketing, among other areas. "We can help people enjoy all our content - from movies to music and games - through our many devices, in a way no one else can."

"Ten years ago when we formed the joint venture, thereby combining Sony's consumer products knowledge with Ericsson's telecommunication technology expertise, it was a perfect match to drive the development of feature phones. Today we take an equally logical step as Sony acquires our stake in Sony Ericsson and makes it a part of its broad range of consumer devices. We will now enhance our focus on enabling connectivity for all devices, using our R&D and industry leading patent portfolio to realize a truly connected world" said Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson.

When Sony Ericsson started its operations on October 1, 2001, it combined the unprofitable handset operations from Ericsson and Sony. Following a successful turnaround the company has become a market leader in the development of feature phones by integrating Sony's strong consumer products knowledge and Ericsson's telecommunications technology leadership. The WalkmanTM phone and Cyber-shotTM phone are well known examples.

With the successful introduction of the P1 in 2007, Sony Ericsson early on established itself in the smartphone segment. More recently, the company has successfully made the transition from feature phones to Android-based Xperia(TM) smartphones. By the end of the third quarter of 2011, Sony Ericsson held a market share of 11 percent (by value) in the Android phone market, representing 80 percent of the company's third quarter sales. During its ten years in operation Sony Ericsson has generated approximately EUR 1.5 billion of profit and paid dividends totalling approximately EUR 1.9 billion to its parent companies. Prominent models include "XperiaTM arc" and "XperiaTM mini" which received 2011 EISA Awards, while recent notable additions to the lineup include "XperiaTM PLAY" and "XperiaTM arc S".

The transaction, which has been approved by appropriate decision-making bodies of both companies, is expected to close in January 2012, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Ericsson has accounted for its 50 percent share in Sony Ericsson according to the equity method. Following completion of the transaction, Ericsson will have no outstanding guarantees relating to Sony Ericsson and will no longer account for Sony Ericsson as an investment on balance sheet. The transaction will result in a positive capital gain for Ericsson which will be defined after closing of the transaction.

SEB Enskilda is acting as Ericsson's sole financial advisor in the transaction.

Tech : For Women, Text Messages Mean More Sex

Take it from a lady: Nothing gets a gal's heart racing like longing, hand-written missives, promising sweet nothings and slipped into hands or lockers, bags or under doors. Or, you know, a 160-character text message drunkenly sent at 3 a.m.

Apparently, lovelorn romantics of the digital age no longer sit up all night on the phone, draining the battery on the cordless and then sneaking into Mom's room while she's asleep to fetch the old banana phone to keep chatting, hoping that she won't wake up. (Typical teen experience, right?) Instead, they just text. While this isn't surprising news, a poll conducted by American Media's Shape and Men's Fitness magazines has determined that oft-texted, heavily "poked" (yes, we went there) lasses are more likely to hop in the sack.

While we wouldn't tout a poll published in a consumer magazine as being totally scientific, the New York Post quotes a psychologist who brings up an apt point: "The texting and all the social networking that's happening... creates anticipation." Tidbits of stilted, typo-ridden correspondence may actually heat things up through titillating interaction; an innuendo-laden text or a friend request is much easier (and cheaper/more realistic) than the archaic flowers-at-work-the-next-day. Poring over Facebook photos creates a sense of intimacy (albeit maybe a false one), and text-based conversation is exciting, secretive and brief. ("What does he mean, 'C U L8r'? Do you think he misses me?'") While they may have waited until the next date in days past, 40-percent of women say that receiving flirtatious messages makes them more likely to get freaky sooner.

The Post points out that social networking gets ladies more ready for romance; by friending, messaging and digitally encountering a paramour, a girl (or, we'd venture, a guy, as well) feels more familiar with her suitor. Facebook spying, sexting and awkwardly placed SMS typos? Certainly beats a glass of Merlot and Barry White's Greatest Hits.

Tech : Apple's App Store hits 10 billion downloads

Now that the number of App Store downloads to iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads around the world has handily exceeded the population of Planet Earth, we can hopefully put this story to bed until they hit another factor of ten -- and as unreasonable as 100 billion downloads sounds, we'll bet it actually won't take that long. That's right: just a few days after kicking off its online counter, Apple's officially hit the 10 billion mark, which is a whole lot of software any way you slice it. So, Android Market, you're next?

Tech : T-Mobile intros DriveSmart Plus service to block texting while driving, FamilyWhere to track down your kids

The texting-while-driving epidemic is starting to get a lot of carrier attention, and T-Mobile's taking it to the next level today by throwing its weight behind a new subscription-based upgrade to the DriveSmart app that's been available on the LG Optimus T since launch. DriveSmart Plus runs $4.99 a month for all lines on your account (provided the lines are attached to compatible devices) and upgrades the basic DriveSmart app by automatically detecting when your car's in motion -- no need to enable it by hand -- at which point incoming calls are automatically sent to voicemail and incoming text messages are met with an automatic response that the recipient is currently driving. Naturally, there's an emergency override built-in -- but to make sure young drivers aren't abusing it, DriveSmart offers parents the option of being contacted by text or email when it's overridden and can let them monitor overall phone usage through a web interface. The service is only available on the Optimus T initially, but more hardware support is "coming soon."

On a related note, T-Mobile is also introducing FamilyWhere, matching similar services already offered by Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint by letting parents see where their young'uns are and set up customized alerts by location and time; it's apparently compatible with "nearly any type" of phone on the T-Mobile network, so you shouldn't need to equip the tykes with superphones just to get this action set up. It runs $9.99 a month and covers all the lines on your account.

Location Labs Launches First Carrier-Grade Solution to Help T-Mobile Customers Prevent Texting While Driving

Leader in Mobile Personal Safety and Communication Products Attacks Distracted Driving Epidemic by Launching DriveSmart Plus with automatic driving detections

San Francisco, California – January 19, 2010 – Location Labs, the leading provider of mobile location-as-a-service infrastructure and applications, today announced the launch of its DriveSmart™ Plus application on T-Mobile® devices, the industry's first carrier-grade service to help prevent texting while driving, specifically designed for T-Mobile customers with Android™ smartphones.

DriveSmart Plus is a subscription-based, opt-in service that automatically detects when a handset user is driving and sets the phone into a 'Driving Mode'. Once this service is activated, it disables most texting and calling features to the handset while the car is in motion, ultimately decreasing the possibility of unsafe, distracted driving.

"With our blazing fast network speeds, T-Mobile customers can do more on their phones than ever before while on the go," said Torrie Dorrell, vice president of applications, content and games, T-Mobile USA. "We feel strongly that with this freedom comes the responsibility to use their phones only when it is safe to do so. The T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus application is designed to keep our customers, their loved ones and the road safe."

"We continue to invest heavily in mobile personal safety services, for which we are seeing huge demand from consumers and families," said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Location Labs. "We are thrilled to launch DriveSmart Plus on T-Mobile with our patent-pending drive-detection technology to help address the national crisis of distracted driving."


DriveSmart Plus
The industry's first carrier-branded service to help prevent texting while driving, DriveSmart Plus, automatically detects when a user may be driving and sets the phone into 'Driving Mode', sending incoming calls directly to voicemail and preventing access to text messages, except through applications specified by the customer. Additionally, an auto-response text message is sent to the person who phoned or texted alerting them the recipient is driving and unavailable to receive calls or messages.

In the event of an emergency or if the user is a passenger in a car, DriveSmart Plus allows the user to override 'Driving Mode'. Parents can choose to be notified by text message or e-mail when the override occurs and can view phone usage during the override from the DriveSmart Web interface.

DriveSmart Plus, powered by Location Labs, is available for download onto the LG Optimus T™, with support for more devices coming soon. T-Mobile subscribers can also visit http://www.my.t-mobile.com to learn more about the service.

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Location Labs Launches T-Mobile FamilyWhere™

New Family Safety Service Available to All T-Mobile Customers

San Francisco, Calif. – January 19, 2010 – Location Labs, the leading provider of mobile personal security applications, today announced the launch of T-Mobile FamilyWhere™. Powered by Location Labs, FamilyWhere is a service that allows parents to access location information for their child or other family members from a computer or their own mobile phone.

Leveraging Location Labs' technology, the T-Mobile FamilyWhere service can locate nearly any type of phone using the T-Mobile network, providing peace of mind to parents trying to keep up with their kids regardless of what phone they're using. Parents can also set up scheduled alerts, for example, to provide and update when their child arrives at school or an elderly parent arrives home safely after an appointment. The service is able to locate other phones within a T-Mobile family plan and location information is accessible through a customer's password protected account at http://www.my.t-mobile.com.

"We're excited to launch T-Mobile FamilyWhere, powered by Location Labs" said Torrie Dorrell, vice president of applications, content and games, T-Mobile USA. "As we continue to enhance our customers' lives with faster, richer connections, T-Mobile will take every smart opportunity to provide value-added services that help families stay in touch and stay safe. FamilyWhere is the latest T-Mobile service that gives families peace of mind."

T-Mobile FamilyWhere™, powered by Location Labs:
• Provides parents with a Web and mobile safety net that provides real-time location information and the option to receive location alerts via the Web, text message or e-mail.
• The FamilyWhere mobile application is also available on a wide selection of Android-powered smartphones from T-Mobile for easy access to a child's location information while parents are on-the-go.
• Allows parents to create scheduled alerts to help ensure a loved one is at home by curfew or arrived at school or other predefined location on time.
• Provides parents with a history of locations visited and other customizable alerts with a real-time Family Feed.
• Helps ensures parents are prepared in the event of an emergency; FamilyWhere's emergency profile pages allow parents to store critical information about their children including physical description and photo, allergies, family member contact details, child care or school location and contact details, all within the FamilyWhere environment.

"More than ever, family safety is top of mind for parents," said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Location Labs. "We are proud to launch the T-Mobile FamilyWhere service, bringing peace of mind to the millions of families on the T-Mobile network. We continue to invest heavily in building solutions that improve communication among families and are on an aggressive path to expand our suite of products and services again in the near future."

Availability
Eligible T-Mobile customers can subscribe to FamilyWhere by visiting http://www.my.t-mobile.com or by downloading the T-Mobile FamilyWhere application from Android Market™.

Tech : 4G at CES 2011: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile make big moves

Traditionally, CES isn't a huge mobile event -- the biggest phone news has historically been saved for MWC in February and CTIA in March -- but that changed in a huge way this week. Looks like 2011 is shaping up to be the year of 4G, and both carriers and manufacturers alike wasted no time jumping on the hype bandwagon with a variety of announcements that promise to make the next few months exciting... and really, really fast. AT&T kicked things off early in the show, but it was just the beginning of a relentless torrent of mobile news that lasted for days and ultimately left us with a pile of devices and network upgrades that should take us at least through the middle of the year. Read on for the recap!

AT&T. America's second-largest carrier followed the same CES format that it spearheaded last year, hosting an off-site Developer Summit that marries third-party developer events with network and device news from AT&T itself. The headline item here was the company's decision to rebrand its HSPA+ network as 4G, likely bowing to pressure from the other top-tier US carriers -- all of whom have already begun using the term "4G" to describe their latest networks -- while also emphasizing that LTE still factors prominently into its 2011 plans. Both HSPA+ and LTE phones will be branded 4G from here on out, with a total of 20 or so planned for the year -- HSPA+ in the first half, LTE coming into the mix in the second half around the time that AT&T's first LTE markets go live.

Dell. Looking like a grown-up Streak, the new Streak 7 is T-Mobile's first "4G" tablet thanks to HSPA+ compatibility -- something that the Galaxy Tab lacks. As the name implies, it's a 7-inch model and features Android 2.2 paired with Dell's so-called Stage skin; it's not as exciting as the Honeycomb-based G-Slate from LG, granted, but this one is launching in the next few weeks... and something tells us it's going to be priced pretty aggressively.

HTC. Despite the full name of the event -- International CES -- HTC's announcements here were strictly for the US market and were run entirely by the carriers launching the products; no sign of a tablet or any new European products. The Thunderbolt is the most interesting of the bunch, essentially a reworked EVO 4G for Verizon with an improved SLCD-based display (still 4.3 inches, of course), a kickstand with integrated loudspeaker, and 700MHz LTE support in place of the EVO's WiMAX. Speaking of 4.3-inch devices, AT&T announced the Inspire 4G, which is virtually identical to the Desire HD launched in Europe a few months ago -- they've just swapped out the radio for another one that's capable of operating on AT&T's HSPA+ network.

Moving a little downmarket, the long-rumored EVO Shift 4G finally became official on Sprint, billed as a "little brother" to the original EVO 4G with a small screen, lower-res primary camera, and a sliding landscape QWERTY keyboard. HTC also removed the front-facing cam altogether -- ostensibly in an effort to keep the cost capped as much as possible -- which means you won't be doing much video calling, but you will be paying less than any other WiMAX phone currently available on Sprint. Finally, one announcement that falls outside the wide-reaching 4G umbrella: the Freestyle shores up the very bottom bracket, becoming HTC's first Brew MP-based phone to launch in the US; it's got a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, and an implementation of Sense that's almost convincing enough to make you forget it's not really a smartphone.

LG. LG was one of the few manufacturers to show a European phone at CES this year, the 9.2mm-thick Optimus Black. Though it's not a 4G device, the Black should have implications that extend into LG's 4G line at some point soon thanks to its use of a "NOVA display," LG's terminology for a new type of ultra-bright, power-efficient LCD that offers 700 nits of luminance while holding on to outdoor readability better than an AMOLED can. Turning our attention to the 4G gear, LG showed the Revolution for Verizon's LTE network looking fit to do battle with the HTC Thunderbolt thanks to a 4.3-inch SLCD and an 8 megapixel camera.

The most intriguing LG at the show, though, might actually be a tablet: T-Mobile very briefly teased the G-Slate, an Android Honeycomb-based tablet. Unfortunately, we have no idea when it might arrive or how much it'll cost.

Motorola. Without a doubt, Moto was the breakout star of CES this year thanks to a four-pack of new devices -- all branded 4G -- that left jaws dropped across Vegas and the greater Clark County metropolitan area. The Atrix 4G for AT&T would arguably be the most interesting of those four simply because it's the most stunningly muscular phone ever produced: on top of a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2, it's got 1GB of DDR2 RAM, HSPA+, a whopping 4-inch 960 x 540 display, and an integrated biometric scanner on back that doubles as a power button. Perhaps more amazingly, though, it's compatible with desktop and laptop docks that basically turn the phone into a Linux-based PC that offers a full implementation of Firefox 3.6 along with an Android environment that can run all your mobile apps.

Though not compatible with the docks, Motorola's other high-end Android phone here at CES -- the Droid Bionic for Verizon -- isn't much less amazing. It's got a 4.3-inch 960 x 540 display and the same dual-core processor as the Atrix, but adds LTE compatibility for Big Red's 4G network. For T-Mobile, the Cliq 2 replacing the aging Cliq -- Moto's first Android phone, you might recall -- and offers compatibility with HSPA+ paired with a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 display and a sliding landscape keyboard. It's not high-end by any stretch, but it should slot in nicely below the G2.

Finally, Motorola became the launch partner for Google's tablet-centric Android 3.0 Honeycomb release with its introduction of the Xoom for Verizon, a 10.1-inch tablet with a pair of 1GHz cores provided by NVIDIA. Though it won't have 4G compatibility at its initial first quarter launch, it'll be upgradeable to LTE in the second quarter of the year -- a pretty rare show of hardware upgradeability in the industry.

RIM. Waterloo had just one announcement at CES, though it was a pretty big one: Sprint has partnered up to offer a WiMAX-capable version of the upcoming PlayBook tablet, dubbed -- what else? -- the 4G PlayBook. It becomes RIM's very first cellular PlayBook to be announced by any carrier, though it's got one big limitation: it lacks backwards compatibility with CDMA / EV-DO, instead tethering to your BlackBerry phone or picking up a WiFi connection when WiMAX isn't available. It'll be available at some point this summer, which should put it a bit behind the launch of the WiFi-only version.

Samsung. 4.3 inches not big enough for you? Samsung pushed the envelope at CES with its announcement of the 4.5-inch Infuse 4G for AT&T, an Android phone that makes use of Sammy's upgraded Super AMOLED Plus screen technology for better contrast and outdoor readability than the original Super AMOLED used on the Galaxy S series last year. Though it doesn't go dual-core like Motorola's Atrix 4G, it boosts the well-received Hummingbird processor up to 1.2GHz and features an 8 megapixel camera on back along with a 1.3 megapixel unit in front. Verizon, meanwhile, took delivery of an unnamed LTE model -- the SCH-i520 -- with LTE, a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, 8 megapixel cam, and front-facing 1.3 megapixel shooter for video calls. We're not sure why it doesn't have a name yet, but we'd love to hear your suggestions on what it should be called. The company also contributed a MiFi-like mobile hotspot with both CDMA / EV-DO and LTE compatibility for Verizon; most (if not all) of the company's LTE handsets will support WiFi tethering, but we're sure it'll find a market of its own.

On the Tablet front, Sammy didn't have anything related to Honeycomb here -- but it put out a minor spec bump on Verizon's Galaxy Tab by adding LTE support, a 1.2GHz processor, and a higher-res rear camera (5 megapixel, up from 3). No word on pricing or availability yet, but its existence certainly explains why the original Verizon Tab dropped in price recently.

Sprint. Though it didn't hold its own press conference, Sprint was active at the show on three fronts: the HTC EVO Shift 4G (pictured), the 4G PlayBook from RIM, and Novatel's 3G / 4G MiFi. All told, they weren't blockbuster announcements by any stretch -- but the new MiFi is a nice spec bump that gives users a smaller, sleeker alternative to the year-old Overdrive hotspot; it launches next month.

T-Mobile. Though it announced Motorola's Cliq 2, Dell's Streak 7, and the G-Slate from LG, T-Mobile USA spent much of its CES presence talking up the improvements it's been making to its HSPA+ network -- a network it insists is 4G. Reaching over 200 million people at 21Mbps today, they'll be deploying 42Mbps downlink connectivity across two-thirds of their HSPA+ footprint in 2011, and the technology allows them to ultimately scale up past 600Mbps in the long term -- in other words, it's pretty clear they're trying to emphasis that LTE doesn't need to be in the short-term plans to enjoy extremely high speeds.

Verizon. Big Red's CES presence was all about LTE, announcing four 4G phones plus Moto's Xoom tablet, a high-octane lineup seriously challenged only by AT&T's. That blowout clears up the plate for the company to likely announce the iPhone this week -- and suggests that Verizon customers are going to have an awesome year for smartphone selection.

CES : An Electronics Show That Media Companies Dare Not Miss

A 3-D TV demonstration last month. ESPN 3-D is expected to announce at the Consumer Electronics Show that it will start broadcasting 24 hours a day.

By the time it was ready to announce a three-dimensional channel last year, the network elected to break the news at the association’s Consumer Electronics Show, or C.E.S. This week at C.E.S., it is following up by announcing that ESPN 3-D will start broadcasting 24 hours a day, giving 3-D television buyers more to watch.

ESPN’s embrace of C.E.S. attests to the importance of the show that begins this week for media and technology companies alike. Nowhere is there a better display of the symbiotic relationship between entertainment and electronics.

“You have to know what the screens are today, and what the screens are going to be in the future, and where you do that is C.E.S.,” said Bryan Burns, who is leading ESPN’s 3-D push.

When the trade show officially starts on Thursday, media moguls like Rupert Murdoch and Jeffrey Bewkes will be inspecting new tablets and Internet-connected television sets and meeting with allies and partners like Google and Verizon. They will be discussing new ways to distribute content — always with an eye toward maintaining control over it.

The show’s status as a media summit meeting has risen in the last few years, as has the realization that device makers can help their products stand out by cutting deals with content makers.

“So many of our devices rely on the content that’s coming from Hollywood,” said Karen Chupka, a senior vice president for the electronics association.

And even the simplest deal to, say, display a 3-D football game on a set at Best Buy requires handshakes and contracts.

“It’s still about relationships, and those relationships are forged over dinners in Vegas and at the tables,” said Bernard Gershon, president of the consulting firm GershonMedia and a former Disney executive. “That will ultimately be useful in trying to make next-generation distribution deals.”

A smattering of such deals is usually announced at the show. For instance, Intel will raise the curtain on a new computer chip design that comes with built-in protections for digital movies, and will announce a deal with Warner Brothers to stream higher-quality movies that way.

Global advertisers and marketers will be in attendance, too, to brainstorm how best to employ new technologies — particularly of the mobile sort — in their sales pitches.

Analysts say this year’s show is in some ways an amplification of last year’s trends. There is talk, like last year, about 3-D TV; about connected TVs, also sometimes called “smart TVs,” which pledge to pair the Internet and traditional TV viewing; about cloud computing; and about apps on screens of all sizes. Cisco on Wednesday will unveil new features for set-top boxes that it says will reduce the threat of cord-cutting by cable customers.

More than anything else, there is talk about tablet computers — which bodes well for media companies that want to charge for their content on the touch-screen devices. In a new five-year forecast released on Tuesday, Forrester Research said it expected tablets to grow as fast as MP3 players in the United States, and projected that 82 million Americans would own them by 2015.

Tablet evangelists like Mr. Murdoch, who is releasing an iPad newspaper called The Daily this month, will be eager to see new, cheaper competitors to the iPad. (Most of the meetings with media executives happen in private suites and hotels. In some cases, executives sign nondisclosure agreements to see nascent technologies several years before they are publicly announced.)

Meanwhile, 3-D evangelists will be trying to renew interest in expensive 3-D sets, which first received a lot of media attention this time last year. Sales of the early 3-D TV sets have been sluggish at best, and skeptics abound, but Mr. Burns suggested that the “ramp-up” was just beginning.

“We’ve been hearing people saying, ‘There’s not enough content yet.’ They’re absolutely right. And we’re going to change that,” he said in an interview.

ESPN 3-D, which started last June and was only on the air for live sporting events, will be on the air full time starting on Feb. 14. Along with a few live games each week, the network will rebroadcast archived games. “This, for us, is very much an image of just what happened with H.D.,” he said of the gradual roll-out.

At C.E.S., Mr. Burns will be meeting with set manufacturers, distributors and others to, as he put it, “make sure the entire food chain works in harmony.”

Separately this week, Discovery, Sony and IMAX will give a name, 3NET, to the 24-hour 3-D channel that they are expected to start later this winter.

The Consumer Electronics Association sees Hollywood as a growth area for a show that already draws about 126,000 attendees. In concert with the United Talent Agency, it is making a more concerted effort this year to invite studio executives, directors and producers to the show, offering red carpet treatment and organizing tours of the show floor and even sponsoring a “Hollywood assistants program” to hook people early in their careers.

The electronics and entertainment industries “literally work hand in hand,” Ms. Chupka of the electronics association said.

Some media companies even see fit these days to announce new programming at C.E.S. — the DIY Network will be promoting “Hollywood Hi-Tech,” a reality show about celebrities’ custom-installed home theaters. Some companies, like NBC Universal, have booths on the show floor, while others, like CBS, hold private parties elsewhere.

“I can feel that some of the pre-2008 excess is back,” Mr. Gershon said, pointing to the $50 billion valuation of Facebook that was made public earlier in the week. “The big, slow-growth media companies don’t want to miss the next opportunity in the space.”

Video : HEX ships iPod nano watch band, dares you to destroy it

It's highly improbable that you actually need yet another option when looking for a watch band to house your iPod nano 6G, but if that first-run version you sprung for is already in tatters, HEX has a little something worth considering. The company has just started shipping its HEX Watch Band in the US of A, with $29.95 netting you a soft, flexible band that requires no complicated plug-and-play action whatsoever. Just pop your nano into the face, strap it on your arm, and roll. It's designed to be remarkably rugged (as seen in a torture video just past the break), and the headphone socket is arranged in a way that nicely runs the cable up your arm towards your cranium. The only problem? Choosing which of the nine hues fits your personality best.

HEX iPod nano 6G watch band

Digits conductive pins won't make a fool of you in the cold

Ever tried writing a text message or an urgent work e-mail with gloves on? Chances are what you planned to type and what came out couldn't look more different...if anything came out at all. Digits are a $14 set of four conductive pins that, like the Dots iPhone gloves, were designed to make cold weather touchscreen use easy, and hopefully error free. Unlike Dots and other pre-made touchscreen products, however, Digits allow you to use your own gloves, provided they're knit (unfortunately, they're not leather-friendly). Each pin comes in two parts: one piece sticks through from inside your glove, and the other, which sports silicone caps, attaches from outside, using the same concept as this DIY set. Digits should keep your touchscreen free of scratches and your texts and e-mails free of error, even when it's freezing out. Hopefully now you won't end up firing when you should be filing.

Rides : MINI Connected iPhone App Launched in the US (With Video)

It all started with that simple iPod connector that debuted in 2003 in BMWs and MINIs. The idea of connecting technology from outside the car and allowing it to power the infotainment center in the dash. Fast forward seven years and MINI has finally taken a giant leap with MINI Connected.

In fact leap isn’t even the right word. In reality Connected is a watershed moment in automotive technology for the simple fact that it takes software development out of seven year automotive cycles. And equally important it introduces app like mentality that allows for software development to focus on new features that are built on robust platform. That means MINI can tailor the Connected app and your car’s future functionality for whatever comes next in the world of technology. What’s going to be hot in 2013? We have no idea. But in 2013 MINI can update MINI Connected and have it there ready for you.

Or you can also think of it this way; Connected allows MINI related functionality to be driven by your iPhone and then displayed on MINI’s new gorgeous hi-res display all while being controlled by the center joystick. It takes the phone out of your hand and makes the car the interface for your life.

At the recent press launch of the 2011 MINI range, we had a chance to walk-through MINI Connected with BMW Senior Engineer Robert Passaro (one of the lead engineers of MINI Connected). Robert not only talked us through each feature but gave us some background on the technology and why it was built. The idea (as mentioned above) is all about decoupling the car from the technology.

But we’ll let Robert walk you through the system. Here’s a quick video of Robert and myself going through Connected. (video after the break)

It was interesting to hear from him first hand about the MINI Connected delay for the US market. The official reason is that MINI was waiting to finalize the additional features (listed below) before they brought the option to their largest market. MINI didn’t think Connected was as compelling as it needed to be with just we radio, RSS and Twitter.

For the record here’s the current list of features on the European app (which will be updated when the US version comes out):

• Web radio
• RSS news reader
• Twitter client (with auto populated tweets optional that know location, temp and time)

And now here’s the full list of features that the US app will have (combined with the list above):

• Google local search
• Google send to car
• Dynamic music (creates music based on your driving and what your doing (ie turn signal, acceleration, cornering)
• “Minimizer” (tells you how to optimize the way you drive for better efficiency)
• (original feature) Web radio
• (original feature) RSS news reader
• (original feature) Twitter client (with auto populated tweets optional that know location, temp and time)

Now that we’ve talked about the technology and what we’ll have when the US version of the app and option is released, let’s talk about how well MINI Connected actually works.

Of the three the RSS reader is the one that most cries out for either a larger screen or a different system interface. Because of the space used for the MINI infotainment interface navigating through the text (or even choosing the car to read the text) can be a little cumbersome.

Twitter on the other hand is extraordinarily simple. It allows your to choose between posting your own update or choosing from three canned tweets that contain GPS, speed or temperature data to creating something vaguely compelling (ie I’m motoring on I94 and it’s 54 degrees).

By far the most interesting of the featuring in 1.0 is the web radio. The system (much like iTunes radio option) allows you to choose one of thousands of web radio stations all over the world. Even MINI has a handful of stations from Europe that stream music wirelessly. It’s incredibly compelling and would kill the need for Sirius in my next car.

All the functionality of course relies on your iPhone’s connection to broadband data. But what does this mean for owners without unlimited data plans? We spoke to MINI about this and based on some quick calculations they’ve done, even if you used MINI Connected to stream video five days a week for two hours a day (a pretty long commute) you’d only reach around 1GB. AT&T for example has two plans; one with 250MB and another with 2GB. Clearly the 2GB will be a good idea with MINI Connected. Of course that doesn’t count many iPhone owners who are still grandfathered in with old unlimited plans.

The app currently supports five languages and will be expanding in 2011. And speaking of expanding MINI didn’t give anything away in regards to what platform is next. However if we had to guess (from reading body language) it would likely have to be some form of Android. Of course what form and what flavor of Android it’ll be compatible with is anyone’s guess. After that we’d guess a stripped down version would be available for Blackberry.

But there was one more technology we got to play with at the 2011 MINI press launch; iPod out. Ever since that first iPod/car connection in 2003 automakers have been struggling to create a way to control iPods and now iPhones. To answer this MINI and Apple have worked together to create a standard called iPod out. The technology enables the MINI Connected system to display the familiar iPod navigation menu in the vehicle’s main center speedo display, and control the music playback features in the iPhone, the iPod touch and the latest generation iPod nano, using the vehicle’s controls.

The interface is designed by Apple and because it’s symbiotic, it’s very fast. Better yet, features can be added by Apple courtesy of updates to the iOS. It’s the ultimate way to get your iPhone or iPod playing through your MINI.

MINI Connected is a technology that is good and about to get much better. It’s an automaker ceding control to allow for better technology, more integration and future proofing of the cars we buy. For MINI it’s an easy way to always make sure the customer has the entertainment and functionality they want. For us it’s an easy way to always have the latest technology in our cars. It’s a classic win win and we can’t wait to see it hit the US market-place.

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Elliptic Labs set to save your iPad from smudges with 3D gesture-sensing dock (video)

The dream of kitchen computing still isn't here, with many chefs forced to read from archaic paper-based recipe lists or, worse yet, memorize the things. Maybe all we need is a way to interact with our gadgets without getting them all messy, and maybe Elliptic Labs can get us there. Finally. The company has been teasing us with its 3D gesture interface for years now and it looks set to finally show off an actual product, a motion-sensing iPad dock prototype making its debut at CES in a few weeks. The idea is you perch this sucker in your kitchen and it gives you full control whether you're kneading sourdough or mixing meatballs, keeping your tablet streak-free -- and hygienic. That seems like somewhat limited usefulness to us, but check out the video of an earlier prototype below and see if it doesn't make you want to bake some cookies. And, if it does, feel free to bring us some.

Apple's OS X Downloads Site Shutting Down on January 6th

Mac fans will soon be toasting (as is their wont) the passing of Apple.com's Mac OS X Downloads section. In last night's e-mail to developers, Apple announced that the sluggish Web-based app repository will be shutting down on January 6th, 2011, and will be replaced by the brand new, dedicated Mac App Store app. We're not too choked up. The replacement store will finally introduce a search function to the mix, which should make it much easier to hunt down that required QuickTime update.