Apple streaming tomorrow’s event on the Internet for the first time in years

Apple announced today that they will be streaming live video of their media event tomorrow over the Internet.

Apple will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.

During Apple's very first keynote's earlier in the century, the company streamed live video feeds of them, but have neglected to since then.

The event begins at 10:00 AM PST.

Netflix streaming coming to new iTV tomorrow?

Bloomberg is reporting today that Apple will be introducing the long-rumored refreshed Apple TV (or is it going to be called "iTV" ?) at tomorrow's media event. However, something that hasn't been rumored before is Netflix streaming compatibility.

Netflix allows customers to pay a monthly subscription fee to gain access to DVD and Blu-ray discs both mailed to their house, or streamed through their computer, TiVo, DVD player, gaming consoles, and other Internet-connected devices. Netflix also currently offers and iPad application and iPhone/iPod touch app for streaming video.

Apple Inc., preparing to announce a new set-top box that delivers TV to consumers, will include movies from Netflix Inc., according to three people with knowledge of the plans.

The streaming service would be available on the revamped version of Apple TV, due to be introduced tomorrow in San Francisco, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Users would pay a subscription fee to Netflix for the service, the people said.

Bloomberg also reiterates the long-rumored price tag of $99 for the new iTV. Finally, but a little off-note, Bloomberg is reporting that Apple will introduce a new version of iTunes with improved functionalities, as well as a new iPod touch with a high-resolution "Retina" display.

Microsoft reveals new Xbox 360 controller

Microsoft today revealed a brand-new Xbox 360 wireless controller with an improved D-Pad on it. The new controller reportedly has improved precision, accuracy, and control for both directional and sweeping movements. The new controller also comes in a special edition, featuring a different button design and charger kit.

Thew new controller features gray A, B, X, Y buttons, and a D-Pad that transforms from a disc to a plus. Microsoft also reveals that they've patented the new design also.

The controller will be available beginning on November 9th for $64.99 in the United States. It'll be coming to Europe in February 2011.

iPhone 4 hardware revision coming by the end of September?

CanalMX is reporting today that an executive from the Mexican carrier Telcel is claiming that Apple is planning on releasing an updated version of its iPhone 4 by the end of September. The hardware revision would most likely be revising the antenna structure of the device, something that has been a popular topic in the tech world since the release of the device in June.

Marco Quatorze, Telcel's Director of Value Added Services, claims that, since Apple's free case program is ending on September 30th, the company will be releasing a hardware revision for the iPhone 4 to fix the antenna issue.

It's unclear how accurate this rumor is, but it seems a bit off with Apple's media event tomorrow and the company has never held another event in the same month.

Apple to extend iTunes song previews to 60 seconds? Not ready to introduce cloud-based services

CNET is reporting that sources have told them that Apple will be bumping up the song preview time, from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. CNET believes the announcement will be made at Apple's media event on Wednesday. The change is most likely due to the fact that many users arguing 30 seconds isn't enough to preview a song.

Apple's iTunes, the largest music retailer, will boost the amount of time users are allowed to sample a song, sources told CNET on Monday.

On Wednesday, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage at the company's annual September media event, he is expected to announce that iTunes users will be allowed at least twice the amount of time to sample a song, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the move.

When asked about this rumor, an Apple spokesperson said the company does not comment on speculation and rumors.

CNET also mentions that, according to their source, Apple's media event will be mainly focused on how the company is improving their iTunes Store and application.

However, the report does mention that Apple is not ready to introduce a streaming service for iTunes as some of the deals with music labels have not been finished yet. The main reason there is slowdown is because the current deals do not allow Apple to hold content on their servers and stream it to multiple devices over the Web. As mentioned a few weeks ago, Apple executives could argue that no new deals are needed for content streaming services, and the existing deals would be satisfactory.

Motorola warns users that early Android 2.2 updates for Droid X won’t allow you to update to official copy

Droid-Life is pointing to a forum post made on the Motorola forums, warning Droid X users not to update to any leaked Android 2.2 updates for their device, or you won't be able to update to the official update when it comes around in "early September."

From the Motorola forum post:

WARNING: Do NOT load the leaked 2.2 upgrade that has been floating around on the Internets. There is currently no upgrade path from that load to the official 2.2 load that will be released by early September. Unless you have some plan to flash your phone back to the current official load, you could be stuck on the leaked version.

Also mentioned in the forum post is that Motorola is working on fixing notification volume issues on the Droid X, the ability to permanently delete text messages, fixing issues with VPN connectivity, and Exchange email issues. Fixes should be available in an upcoming software update(s).

To read the entire forum posts with some notes, head over to Motorola's support forums.

Samsung Galaxy Tab will be heading to Verizon Wireless

According to Boy Genius Report, they have received a screenshot of Verizon Wireless' internal inventory system, clearing showing off an unreleased Samsung tablet device, which would obviously be the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Just yesterday we reported that a leaked Samsung Galaxy Tab carried a sticker labeling it as a CDMA device, which now makes a lot more sense with this leak. Last week, Samsung released a Samsung Galaxy Tab teaser video, showing off several features of the unreleased tablet. Finally, also last week, a Samsung Galaxy Tab was spotted while it was being tested in the wild, in a subway station.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab sports a 7" display and runs on Android 2.2.

App Store now 250,000 apps strong

As noted by Fortune, Apple's App Store passed the 250,000 applications accepted milestone on Friday, just two years and 49 days after it launched.

As of Saturday morning, by this count (which doesn't include apps available only overseas), there were 251,007 applications from 50,304 publishers available for download for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. AppShopper.com, which keeps a similar list, has the total at 253,777 apps, including 24,334 for the iPad.

According to the report, books own 17% of the App Store market, with games at 14% and entertainment at 11%. Data from Royal Pingdom is showing that about 70% of App Store apps are paid, in contrast to the Android Marketplace where 64% of the apps are free.

Xbox LIVE Gold subscription pricing changes announced

Microsoft has announced via their Major Nelson blog that several subscription fee charges will be changing for Xbox LIVE gold memberships. The new prices are in effect on November 1st, 2010 in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Microsoft claims that they are increasing subscription fees because they have added so much new content to Xbox LIVE since it launched in 2002 that they must increase pricing to keep them in the market.

Back in July, it was revealed that Microsoft made over $1 billion in revenue just from Xbox LIVE over the past year.

Here's the chart going over the new prices:

DSi and DSi XL to have price drop in North America on September 12th

Nintendo has announced today that they will be dropping the price of the DSi and DSi XL mobile gaming systems to $149.99 and $169.99, respectively, on September 12th.

The same price drop occurred in the UK and Japan in June, meaning it was only a short amount of time until North America got it also. The DSi had a price drop in Australia back in April of this year.

Possible next-generation iPod nano cases floating around – shows design

9to5Mac and AppleInsider are both sharing some similar images of what appears to be cases for the next-generation iPod nano, expected to be announced at Apple's media event on Wednesday. The images show both cases and screen protectors for the next-gen iPod nano, and first appeared on Asian e-commerce websites.

The leaked cases give the technology world a very good idea of what to expect in the design potion of the next-generation iPod nano. If the cases are truly the design of the next mid-line iPod, the design will be very squared off,  and have similar features to the iPhone 4 casing.

From what we can gather and guess from previous nano models, the circle at the top of the image (to the left) is the headphone jack, and to the right of that is Apple's 30-pin connector port. On the other side of the case, the hole on the left appears to be On/Off or "hold" switch, as found in current iPod's. Finally, to the right of that, we can guess that these are the volume rockers, although we're not certain.

San Diego Apple Store robbed; iPhone’s taken

9to5 Mac is reporting that the San Diego Apple Store has been robbed and 12 display iPhone 4's were taken. They also reported that an Apple Store in Dallas was robbed a few days later.

Surprisingly, it was 4:20 in the morning, and that store was in a mall. I guess that mall didn't have the best security. The robbers smashed through the glass doors in hoodies, and jeans. No word has been given as to whether or not the robbers have been caught yet.

Check out the source link above for more pictures.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) for Droid Incredible Review

We did our overall review on the HTC Droid Incredible a few months ago, and we recently updated the phone to the currently rolling out software update. Android 2.2 or Froyo. We installed the RUU, which is the exact same thing as the official update.

Added Features
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• 3G Mobile Hotspot
• 720p Video Recording. See our sample video here
• Bloat-ware - VZ Navigator, QuickOffice, Amazon MP3, and Flashlight
• Adobe Flash Player 10.1
• More we didn't get to here

3G Mobile Hotspot is a welcomed addition. We first saw Verizon mobile hotspot on the Pre and Pixi Plus. The first Verizon Android device to receive it was the Motorola Droid X. It allows you to connect five devices to a Wi-Fi signal given off from your 3G network. I would not recommend using this as a regular Internet source, but for traveling, this would be a good thing.

720p Video recording is decent. It's not going to replace a regular camcorder, but for some quick video recording of your dog doing something hilarious, it's good. I wasn't expecting this to be excellent. It takes a little while to adjust to different lighting conditions, especially in sunlight.

Bloat-Ware is never a welcomed feature. I am still dumbfounded as to why Verizon includes VZ Navigator in their Android devices. Google Maps Navigation is just as good, and it's free. The flashlight app they added is wonderful. It uses the dual LED flashes on the Camera/Camcorder as the light, and it will provide some bright light in a needed situation.  Amazon MP3 is just a simple MP3 downloader.

Adobe Flash Player 10.1 is pre-loaded in this update, but if you try to search it in the market, you're not going to find it. I don't understand why it isn't available in the Market.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything is extremely quick and snappy. We showed you our benchmark scores in another post, which you can find here.

This update is not without it's bugs though. I have noticed that it takes a little while to load text messages, which is something I've never had problems with. If you are in an app, then you try to go back home, you are occasionally greeted by the white and green HTC page, where Sense is attempting to turn on. This could be caused by the built in Task Manager within Froyo.

Google launching pay-per-view service by the end of 2010, taking a direct shot at Apple

The Financial Times is reporting that Google has been in talks with several major Hollywood movie studios about bringing a pay-per-view style rental service to a Google product by the end of 2010.

It's unknown whether the service would be integrated directly into YouTube or another Google service, such as Google TV. If announced, a pay-per-view service from Google would make the company and Apple even more direct competitors.

The report mentions that negotiations have been ongoing for several months, but several movie studios have become increasingly excited about the possibility of bringing movie rentals to Google services. The report also notes that the service will only be available in the U.S. to begin with, but will expand to other countries later.

Finally, the report mentions that movie rentals will cost $5, compared to the iTunes Store's $3.99 movie rental price.

It seems like we'll have to watch this closely as the story develops to see what happens.

[IMAGE CREDIT]

Leaked Samsung Galaxy Tab carries sticker labeled with ‘CDMA’

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has made yet anther unofficial appearance, this time carrying a sticker on the front that labels the device as a "CDMA" version, hinting at a Verizon Wireless or Sprint-network enabled device.

Israeli website Gadgety first posted pictures of the device with a sticker saying "CDMA" (translation below isn't perfect):

The Galaxy Tab was introduced this morning by a user forum IAndroid (Android Forum Israel), when the device seems to run the Android OS 2.2 with an upgraded user interface slightly. The device seems beside the Motorola Droid X with 4.3-inch screen and can be impressed by the differences between them, yet the device does not seem too big to carry. The upper part of the Galaxy Tab you can see a sticker with the words CDMA, so that this version may no support for GSM, the American market is more relevant than in Israel and the Far East and Europe.

As mentioned in the report, the details were first posted an Israeli forum (iAndroid). Here's what we can grab from a rough translation:

• The device feels good in the hand
• Speedy UI
• Good multi-touch features
• Android 2.2
• Strong, loud speaker
• The GPS is slow at first, but works good
• Flash works perfectly on the device

Samsung released a teaser video for the Galaxy Tab earlier this week.

Foursquare now 3 million users strong

Several sources are reporting today that Foursquare has gained its 3 millionth user sometime this weekend. Foursquare is a popular location-based social network that allows users to "check-in" to their location.

It took the social network a year to reach one million users, three more months to reach two million users, and now a month and a half to reach three million users.

Following the announcement of Facebook Places, many people believed it was the end of Foursquare. However, the day after the announcement of Places, the social network received its largest number of user signups in a day, ever.

iPad shipping times improve to 24 hours

9to5Mac is noting Apple's iPad shipping times have reached 24 hours for the first time since the device launched in early April. Shipping times for the iPad had been slowly improving over the past few weeks, reaching a peak of 7-10 days, then 3-5 days, and up until two days ago, it showed 1-3 business days.

Since the iPad launched in early April, demand for the device was over what Apple predicted, which is why the company has so many difficulties with keeping up with the demand.

In the first 28 days of availability, Apple sold one million iPads. In the first 60 days, Apple sold two million iPads. Finally, Apple sold three million iPads in the first 80 days of availability, exceeding the company's expectations by a high margin.

Benchmark scores for the HTC Droid Incredible running Froyo

Hey all, I just wanted to quickly throw out some benchmark scores for the Droid Incredible running Android 2.2. I ran the two biggest benchmarks in the market, Linpack, and Quadrant.

Writers note: I am not rooted, and these screen-shots were taken from the Android SDK. Oh, and if you look at the time on the top right of the phone, you will see, it's quite late. I should be in bed, but I'm up running through Froyo. Just for you guys =)

Check them out below

Linpack
Quadrant

Top 10 Google Chrome extensions

One of the features that Google initially touted with their Chrome web browser is the ability to choose from thousands of extensions from the Chrome Extension Gallery. But with a thousand different extensions, it's pretty difficult to find the best ones. Here's a list of what we think are the top 10 most useful / cool Google Chrome extensions:

1. RSS Subscription Extension - if you'd like to you Chrome as your default RSS reader, this extension is the one to install. It's elegant, yet extremely simple to use. It also adds a button to the address bar to automatically view an RSS feed (if available on a website).
2. Chromed Bird - simply a Twitter extension that allows you to read other users tweets and compose tweets. The interface looks a bit odd, but it's still a good Twitter-extension for quick access to your tweets.
3. Google Voice - the entire Google Voice service in a small box accessed by a button in your address bar. Extremely useful for quick access to Voice, and works well. Google Voice allow you to make phone calls, and send text messages for free.
4. AdBlock - this one is a must get. As the name implies, it will block all advertisement codes on websites from being downloaded, meaning faster load times and a cleaner webpage.
5. Google Mail Checker - a little button that sits on your toolbar and displays the number of unread messages in your Gmail inbox. Users can also click the button to be brought directly to their Gmail inbox.
6. Turn Off the Lights - when you're watching a video, you can enable this to darken the rest of the webpage and make it seems like you're at the theaters.
7. Google Translate - as the name implies, it translates any foreign language webpage to a language of your choice, with the click of a button.
8. Goo.gl URL shortener - a simple extension that allows you to shorten links using Google's URL shortener with one click.
9. Last.fm free music player - if you're a fan of Last.fm and want to be able to play music directly through an extension (and not go to the site every time), this plugin is simple to use and has most of the features of the actual site.
10. Google Chrome to Phone Extension - allows you to send links and open tabs from Google Chrome to your Android device with the click of a button.

There you have it! The top 10 most useful / cool Google Chrome extensions in our opinion. Do you have any that we missed? Let us know in the comments.

720p Video taken on the HTC Droid Incredible with Froyo

Froyo (Android 2.2) is currently being pushed to users with a HTC Droid Incredible. One is the biggest features being added is the ability to record high definition video.

Check out some sample video below, but be sure to set it to 720p to get the best results.