IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (Tech Report) 4/2/2012

April Fool's Day Shortbread
The Starting Five

Fudzilla reports AMD corp VP and GM of server products leaves
Electronista: IDC sees Android past Windows by 2016, 1.8b smart devices
C|Net: How the PC industry killed the ultrabook
Fudzilla reports eight Core i3, Pentiums, and Atoms to retire
Google Lat Long Blog: Begin your quest with Google Maps 8-bit NES

Friday night topic: the online privacy apocalypse is upon us
I have to admit, I generally start to roll my eyes and tune out whenever a certain brand of Linux-loving, introverted geek starts lecturing about online privacy issues, the data-sharing policies of big corporations, the evils of Facebook, and so on. I know these things can be a problem, but I've never really seen the worst worries of privacy advocates come to pass.
Until today, that is, when I read this fascinating article about an iPhone app called "Girls around me" that mashes up data from multiple sources and produces a ridiculously creepy result. Read the whole thing to get a sense of what's now possible. Slowly yet suddenly, it seems, ...
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Deal of the week: Sub-$100 SSDs and more
We've got a handful of hardware deals and couple of game sales for you all this week. Let's start with the hardware, because that's where the discounts seem to be the biggest.
OCZ's 90GB Vertex 3 solid-state drive is selling for $99.99 after a mail-in rebate at Newegg right now. A hundred bucks for a drive that quick is a decent bargain, I'd say, especially with free shipping. ...
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Workers on Apple assembly lines to earn more, work less
All that hoopla about working conditions in iPhone and iPad assembly lines seems to have paid off—perhaps literally so, as far as workers are concerned. According to the Associated Press, Foxconn has vowed to pay employees more money and reduce their working hours. The article doesn't detail the pay raises, but it says weekly work time will be slashed to 49 hours, down from an average of 60.
49 hours is the legal maximum in China, the AP ...
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Google Drive rumored to offer 5GB of free storage in April
Google has long been rumored to be working on a Dropbox-like cloud storage solution. Last month, the Wall Street Journal said the so-called Google Drive service was coming soon. Now, TechCrunch has more specifics, claiming the service will launch during the week of April 16. It looks like users will get 5GB of free storage off the bat.
As TechCrunch points out, Dropbox currently offers 2GB of free storage, while Microsoft's SkyDrive service provides a whopping 25GB of capacity at no extra charge. There doesn't appear to be a way for users to increase their SkyDrive storage, ...
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LG kicks off mass production of bendable e-paper display
Flexible displays have been promised for quite some time, and it looks like you'll be able to buy one this spring. LG has begun mass production of a 6" e-paper display crafted from bendable plastic. The screen is expected to be available in e-readers as early as next month.
Engadget has the official press release , which explains that the monochrome display offers a 1024x768 resolution. At less than a ...
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HP Folio 13 ultrabook drops to $798 at Walmart
The ultrabook price war continues. The latest offensive comes from the HP camp, which is now offering its Folio 13 ultrabook for a scant $798 at Walmart. Keep in mind the Folio 13 is a business ultrabook with solid-state storage and a battery rated for nine hours of run time.
Now, interestingly, the model on sale at Walmart isn't quite the same as the base configuration on HP's website . The former packs a 1.4GHz Core i3-2367M processor, while the latter is outfitted with a 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M—and there are no ...
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$169 Kindle Fire said to be in the cards
If you thought Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire was a bargain, you might be pleasantly surprised later this year. Quoting "industry sources," the folks at DigiTimes say Amazon might be planning to offer a 7" device with a price tag of just $169:
One wonders just how much of a profit—or a loss—Amazon would turn on such a cheap device. Last October, IHS worked out that Amazon didn't even break even on the $199 Kindle Fire. The device was said ...
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The death of the Apple tax
The old adage says there are only two certainties in this world: death and taxes. Steve Jobs proved that not even the Reality Distortion Field is strong enough to resist the reaper. However, the company he spawned and subsequently resurrected seems to be doing away with the tax that came to be associated with its products. This so-called "Apple tax" refers to the price premium that used to be attached to each and every new product to roll out of Cupertino. These days, though, Apple's highest-profile offerings tend to be pretty competitive on price.
Take the new iPad, for example. With a Retina display that quadruples the pixel density of its predecessor, many expected the third-gen tablet to cost a little bit more than the iPad 2, but Apple's latest creation ...
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Release roundup: Cases, cases, and more cases—and a cooler update
This week's release roundup is all about cases and cooling. We have announcements from BitFenix, Lian Li, NZXT, Raidmax, and Scythe.

Bullet time appears in Max Payne 3 multiplayer trailer
Without bullet time, Max Payne would be an entirely different game. The slow-motion effect is integral to the cinematic, stylish gunplay that defines the franchise. Fiddling with the speed of time gets tricky for multiplayer, though. Perhaps that's why the first two Max Payne games were entirely single-player affairs. Max Payne 3 promises multiplayer mayhem, though, and a new trailer has been released to show off how it works.
...
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US smartphone adoption climbs to almost 50%
Smartphones are everywhere these days. Indeed, the latest numbers from Nielsen show that just about half (49.7%) of all mobile subscribers in the US are now using smartphones. That figure stood at just 36% in February of last year, and it won't take long to break the 50% mark, if that hasn't happened already. Nielsen also reports that smartphones made up more than two thirds of the mobile devices sold in the last three months.
Smartphones have been essential accessories in tech-savvy circles for years now, so I'm a little surprised the adoption rate isn't higher. Then again, both of my parents are perfectly happy with their ~~dumbphones~~ ...
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Apple TV UI great if you're not using Apple TV
A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a new Apple TV. Which is not an actual TV. But you probably knew that. It is, however, the third generation of Apple's self-proclaimed hobby—a tiny box that attaches to your magic picture box and streams (as of generations two and three) content to its LCD or plasma-based motion portal. As I wrote in my last MacHole, the newest ATV is fairly slick, with 1080p output (finally), iCloud semi-integration, and a lack of bacon-frying operating temperatures. Okay, that last one may or may not be a plus, depending on what bacon-frying appliances you may own.
I dug the new ATV so much that I promptly sold my jailbroken first-gen Apple TV—upgraded with a 250GB drive—on eBay for a bit more than what the new one cost me. If ...
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Monday, April 2, 2012

IT News Head Lines (Tech Report) 4/2/2012

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