Japanese government continuing to show concern over first-gen iPod nano fire risk

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Japanese government is continuing to show its long-standing concern over reports of first-generation iPod nano's overheating, and eventually catching fire.

The ministry is requesting Apple Japan to explain the cause of overheating, whether similar incidents have been reported domestically and abroad and what prevention and cautionary measures have been taken to counter such incidents, according to Seiji Shimagami, a ministry official who works in consumer product safety.

The order came following an incident in Tokyo that took place on July 13, when sparks flew from a user's device while it was recharging, according to Masahiro Yamazaki, the head of the consumer product safety unit at METI.

According to the report, the Japanese government responsible for overseeing this issue has documented 27 instances of first-generation iPod nano's overheating while charging, identifying those instances as "fire-related." Six of those 27 instances have been documented since a warning in 2008 about the overheating was issued.

"iPods are incredibly well designed and safety is the highest priority for Apple. We are taking METI's letter in regard to the first generation iPod nano very seriously and are working closely with them to answer their concerns," Apple said in a statement.

If you own a first-generation iPod nano, you are encouraged to bring it into your local Apple Store and have it checked for any damage.

Droid 2 owner’s manuals leak

Droid-Life is noting that they have been sent a user guide for the Motorola Droid 2, that is set to be released sometime next month. From reading the user guide, a few important things have been found about the next Droid device.

The first is that the Droid 2 will run on Motorola's MotoBlur skin, which is already found on the Droid X and has been rumored to be coming to the Droid 2. The next thing found in the user guide is the keyboard. There is a multi-touch keyboard that is on-screen, which will come with Swype pre-installed, as well as a physical QWERTY keyboard. Finally, it appears as though Android 2.2 (a.k.a. "Froyo") will come pre-installed on the Motorola Droid 2.

The Droid 2 has been rumored to be coming to Verizon store shelves on August 23rd for $199, but recently, a rumor arose claiming the phone would launch earlier, on August 12th. Earlier today, we reported that Droid 2 cases had arrived at some Best Buy retail stores, hinting that a release is imminent.

You can download the entire user guide from here.

[UPDATE: August 3rd] Evo 4G Froyo starting rollout August 1st?

Engadget got some leaked internal information showing that the Evo 4G will be getting Froyo on August 1st. Things like this have a tendency to make a screeching halt right before launch, but we will keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't.

The internal info shows improvements to the 720p video, ability to use the flash while recording a video, and a few preloaded widgets. This update should seal the hotspot hack. Sprint says it's important that they get that fixed. The phone is still not recording 30 fps on 720p.

UPDATE: The official date has been listed as August 3rd. So, EVO 4G users, check you phone for the Android 2.2 update on August 3rd.

Mossberg still says iPhone 4 is “the best device in its class” after 6 weeks of constant usage

Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal has stood by his original review, stating that the Apple iPhone 4 is "the best device in its class." Mossberg has stated that he used two iPhone 4's over the past six weeks, and found that in areas with "average or strong AT&T coverage," the device generally performed better than the iPhone 3GS. But, in areas with weak or poor reception coverage, the iPhone 4 performed worse than the iPhone 3GS. One iPhone 4 was provided as a review unit and the other was purchased by Mossberg himself.

In his testing and usage, Mossberg found that the iPhone 3GS dropped less calls than the iPhone 4, and showed a 'no service' status less often.

Mossberg also stands by his original statement, where he does not recommend the iPhone 4 to anyone who lives in areas in the U.S. with poor AT&T reception and travel a lot.

Apple’s Magic Trackpad dissected

Following the release of Apple's Magic Trackpad a couple of days ago, iFixit has released their teardown of Apple's new giant trackpad for desktop computers.

iFixit has found a small logic board in the center of the device, carrying the same Broadcom Bluetooth chip used in the Apple Magic Mouse and the same Broadcom touch controller found in the iPhone, iPod touch, and MacBook Air. There is also 256 KB of flash memory. The rest of the area around the logic board is taken up by a white plastic spacer which is designed to protect the logic board from damage if the device is squeezed.

Also revealed in the teardown is how Apple designed the feature where users can press down on the Magic Trackpad and generate a "click".

The Magic Trackpad has a unique way of triggering the mouse button. As you press down on the top surface of the Trackpad, the two rubber feet near its front edge push up on the hinged plate and set screw (shown in orange) attached to the chassis. This squeezes the electronic mouse button switch (shown in red), producing the characteristic "click".

Droid 2 cases spotted at Best Buy

We have seen the whole phone, multiple times. Why doesn't Verizon just go ahead and announce it? Today, according to Droid Life, Best Buy has already started receiving shipments of Droid 2 accessories.

Best Buy will let you purchase it, but it's going to cost you a crazy price of $20.99. Just a word of advice, I wouldn't pick up one of these, you might be disappointed. It takes them a few tries to work out the bugs on the cases. I learned from experience with my Droid 1.  Who knows, this one might be different...

YouTube increases video time limit to 15 minutes

YouTube has announced today that it is extending the video time limit from 10 minutes to 15 minutes for all non-partners on the website.

We want YouTube to be the best place to upload video. Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes. We’ve heard you, and today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve increased the upload limit to 15 minutes.

YouTube has stated that it implemented a video time limit because users could upload TV shows and movies that have copyright material. Now that YouTube has cracked down on copyright material on the website, they feel like it is safe to increase the video time limit.

If you've previously tried to upload a video that was rejected because it was too long, go into “My Videos” and delete it before re-uploading the video again.

Alongside the increased video time limit, YouTube has announced that it is launching a new promotion, "15 minutes of fame." All you have to do is upload a video by August 4th, 2010, tag the video with "yt15minutes" and if it is good enough, YouTube will feature it on the homepage.

Amazon: More e-Books will be sold than paperbacks by the end of 2011

According to Mashable, Amazon has stated that more e-Books will be sold than paperbacks by the end of next year. Shortly after that occurs, e-Books will sell more than hardcovers.

“I predict we will surpass paperback sales sometime in the next nine to 12 months. Sometime after that, we’ll surpass the combination of paperback and hardcover,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told USA Today.

Amazon recently stated that it sells 180 Kindle e-Books for 100 hardcovers.

When e-Books will sell more copies than paperbacks, it will surely mark the end of one era, but the beginning of the next.

Google owns 98.29% of the mobile search market; 90.57% of search market

According to recent data revealed today by Pingdom, Google is leading the mobile search industry with a market share of 98.29%. Yahoo!, the closest to Google in statistics, only carries about 0.81% of the mobile search market, and Bing with barely half of that, with 0.46% of the mobile search market.

Also, Google owns 90.57% of the desktop search market, with Yahoo! again being the closest, with a mere 3.91%. Microsoft's Bing search engine is closer to Yahoo! with 3.74% of the worldwide market share for desktop search.

The graph above was put together by combining global visitor stats from over three million websites.

One thing to say here - Good luck to Yahoo! and Bing!

Motorola reveals Q2 2010 earnings: strong smartphone sales

Motorola has posted their earnings for the second quarter of 2010 today. Motorola's sales in Q2 2010 were at $5.4 billion, and earnings were at $162 million, up $26 million from Q2 of 2009.

Motorola's mobile device division had sales of $1.7 billion, down 6% from Q2 2009. Operating earnings for the division were at $87 million, including a legal settlement of $228 million. Motorola shipped 2.7 million smartphones and 8.3 million handsets in Q2 2010, the company believes its Droid X and other smartphones will lead in sales in the future.

"The Droid X launch has been very well received and is seen as one of the best smartphones in the market today with a 4.3 inch high-resolution display, Adobe flash and an 8 megapixel camera. As we continue to execute on our business strategy, we are in a strong position to continue improving our share in the rapidly growing smartphone market and improving our operating performance," said Sanjay Jha, Motorola co-chief executive officer and CEO of Motorola Mobility. "The Mobile Devices and Home businesses remain focused on developing next-generation products to capitalize on the convergence of mobile experiences and home entertainment.”

100 million Facebook users exposed in a single directory

According to ThinkQ.co.uk, a hacker from Skull Security has compiled a 2.8 GB torrent file that used a web crawler program which took information from Facebook's open access directory, which lists all the users who didn't bother to change their privacy settings to not be included in search engines.

The directory contains over 171 million entries, pertaining to over 100 million Facebook users, about 1/5th of the total user population since Facebook announced that it had hit 500 million users.

The directory includes user names and URL's to user profiles, where data such as addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, etc. can be accessed.

However, absolutely nothing illegal has been performed when creating this directory, as after all, the information is public. As always, make sure you check your privacy settings to make sure no information that you don't want to get out, is getting out onto the Internet.

Racist video gets YouTube banned in Russia

According to Mashable, a court in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia has ordered a Russian ISP (Internet Service Provider) to block access to popular video sharing website YouTube after a video, “Russia for Russians,” was judged to be extremist.

The court’s decision also applies to the Internet Archive and three online libraries, Lib.rus.ec, Thelib.ru and Zhurnal.ru, all of which were found to host writings by Adolf Hitler.

With this ruling, Russian authorities join a long list of governments that have blocked access to YouTube at some point or another, including China, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. YouTube material has also been censored in the U.S. and U.K.

Aleksandr Ermakov is the owner of Rosnet, the ISP affected by today's ruling, has stated:

“All of mankind is using this website. And providers like ours do not violate Russian law. But we are still being forced to close the website so that our users can not log on and watch the videos. This is absurd! According to this logic, we have to demolish all buildings that have swastikas on the walls. Or when two people are discussing a bomb over the phone, we have to take away the phones from all people across Russia.”

Do you think the court has made the right decision?

New Amazon Kindle announced: cheaper, Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G models

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon has announced plans to release a cheaper Kindle e-Book reader sometime next month. According to Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, Amazon is attempting to go "mass market" with this new Kindle, with one simple function, sell e-Books.

The new Kindle sports an increased gray-scale contrast display, a battery that can last up to a month, and a slightly smaller display. The new Kindle will come in two flavors: one is Wi-Fi only for $139 and the other is Wi-Fi + 3G connectivity for $189. The Wi-Fi only model will be the cheapest wireless internet-connected e-Book reader on the market.

"We developed this device for serious readers. At these price points, it may be much broader than that," said Mr. Bezos in an interview. "People will buy them for their kids. People won't share Kindles any more."

Amazon will begin taking pre-orders this Thursday, July 29th, and these new models will begin shipping on August 27th in 140 countries.

Facebook Questions officially launches

According to Mashable, Facebook has begun the roll out of their newest feature, Facebook Questions, allowing users to get answers to their questions from the entire Facebook community.

Facebook Questions is accessible via a "Ask Questions" button on the homepage or via friends' profiles just like posting on a wall.

• Photo questions: For example, if you take a picture of a bird, but don’t know what species it is, you can post the picture on Facebook Questions and get your answer.
• Polling: If you’re simply looking for the answer to Which city is better: Chicago or Dallas?, you can get your answer by creating a poll.
• Tagging: The company seems to be placing a lot of emphasis on tagging questions based on category or topic. The goal seems to be to make Q&A discovery an easier and faster process by making it simple to look up questions on cooking, photography, San Francisco or a variety of other topics.
• Topic exploration: Facebook described this as a roulette-type feature that allows users to browse Facebook’s eventual mountain of Q&A. Under the “Questions about” drop-down menu, there’s a feature called “Everything” that allows users to browse the company’s catalog of questions.
• Following: You can follow specific questions for updates and new answers.
• Updated homepage: Facebook Questions does actually change the homepage, adding a new bar at the top of the page where you can choose to update your status, ask a question, add photos, or post a link.

The feature has been rolled out to a group of beta testers today, and the company says it will “bring this product to all of you as quickly as we can.”

One important thing - the entire thing is public to the entire Facebook community, so think before you post.

Apple looking into iOS 4 + iPhone 3G complaints and issue

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has begun "looking into" issues that are being reported from iPhone 3G users running iOS 4 on their Apple device. Discussion boards across the entire Internet are exploding with complaints and issues with iOS 4 and iPhone 3G users (Apple Discussion), with claims of poor system performance and stability, battery drains, and overheating.

The most common criticism is that the phone is slow after an upgrade. There are also many complaints that the phone drains the battery quickly and becomes excessively hot. Concern about general problems such as slowness and battery life on gadgets isn't unusual, but using iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G seems to make the problems so bad that the phone is nearly unusable for some people.

Some frustrated users have even gone as far as creating parody videos of poor iOS 4 performance on the iPhone 3G (one is below):

There have been reports that these issues are somewhat being correct in iOS 4.1, which is currently in a beta stage.

Apple made it clear that the iPhone 3G would not be able to support some of the new features coming in iOS 4, such as multi-tasking and homescreen wallpapers. It appears as though, even without these features, the iPhone 3G is still being pushed to its limit with iOS 4.

Microsoft offers details on Office for Mac 2011 features

Microsoft has posted a blog entry discussing the upcoming Office for Mac 2011 release scheduled for later this year. Microsoft has also posted a video of developers talking about some of the new features included in Office for Mac 2011.

The team has a short video (above) and here is a quick look at the new feature they discuss:

• Starting off with the new Template Gallery in Office 2011, this feature allows you to quickly and easily pick a template from the built-in designs to the thousands of templates online - giving you a head start to create great looking, professional documents.
• Core features in Outlook for Mac like the Conversation View help you sort emails easily to keep track of what you need to do. Additionally, the new file-based database is faster and provides more stability with Time Machine support.
• Tying all of the new features together is the Office for Mac ribbon, designed as an evolution of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery while also utilizing the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar giving you the best of both worlds. We have put the most commonly used controls at your fingertips making it easier for you to find what you need. You can even minimize the ribbon and the Toolbar for more screen space or for the more advanced users who rely on keyboard shortcuts.

Microsoft has issued several beta's of Office for Mac 2011 so far this year, and are aiming towards a release near the holiday season of this year.

Best Buy offering free InvisibleSHIELD antenna strips to iPhone 4 users

Engadget is reporting that Best Buy is apparently giving free kits of the "invisibleSHIELD 4FIX" from ZAGG that will cover the antenna of the iPhone 4 to "fix" the issue. Any iPhone 4 user interested in receiving the product may receive one. The offer includes installation of the seven strips that cover only the surface of the stainless steel band on the iPhone 4.

Based on a number of tips that we've received, we're getting the impression that the yellow-tagged retailer could be handing out (and installing) completely free side coverings for any iPhone 4 owner that waltzes into a store, presumably as a proactive measure to fend off returns or to upsell consumers on an entire invisibleSHIELD / separate case.

Normally, the invisibleSHIELD 4FIX kit is $9.99. This option is good for users who would like the keep the look of their iPhone 4, without buying a case to alleviate the antenna issue.

LG to launch a few Windows Phone 7 devices this year

According to PC World, LG will be launching its first Windows Phone 7 device by the end of September and will release more by the end of the year, said a company representative.

One of the Windows Phone 7 devices is ready to go when Microsoft's newest mobile OS launches later this year.

"We have a deep relationship with Microsoft so expect to have a couple by the end of this year," said Ken Hong, an LG representative in Seoul.

The company also expects to pour more money into research and development around other mobile phone OSs, including Android and other Linux distributions, he said.

NEW REPORT: White iPhone 4 delays due to light leakage?

Scott Moritz from TheStreet is reporting today that the white Apple iPhone 4 has been delayed to due an issue with backlight leakage around the edges of the device's glass and even through the device's white back panel.

Apparently, the back light from the iPhone display screen is leaking out around the edges of the glass and seeping through the back of the white phone, according to a person familiar with the manufacturing process.

According to the report, the lower opacity of the white back panel compared to the black iPhone 4 is the cause of the issue. Also, due to the fact that the iPhone 4 has a glass backing, it is considerably more difficult to fix light leakage issues by filling in gaps, than it is with a plastic or metal casing.

The report also mentions that the white iPhone 4 is not the only device that has this issue, with customers reporting similar light leakage with the HTC EVO 4G.

Apple recently announced that the white iPhone 4 will be available for purchase later this year.

Android ready to tackle piracy

According to Droid-Life, The Android team is ready to take on one of it's biggest problems, Piracy. Free, Paid apps have been all over the internet since Google launched their Android Marketplace. A new licensing service has been sent out to developers and should roll out to the market soon.

This simple and free service provides a secure mechanism to manage access to all Android Market paid applications targeting Android 1.5 or higher. At run time, with the inclusion of a set of libraries provided by us, your application can query the Android Market licensing server to determine the license status of your users. It returns information on whether your users are authorized to use the app based on stored sales records.

What does this mean? It means that Google will run a test on your apps to make sure you actually paid for the app. What will Google do if your apps are not paid for? They will probably remove the app from your phone, but nobody knows.