Panasonic may not be new to the world of mobile phones, but it has been rather quiet in the smartphone explosion that has taken place. But fear not, as the people who brought you the cute GD50 and the clamshell GD88 will be back very soon. Speaking at a news conference yesterday, the ‘Taicho’ of Panasonic’s mobile division, Osamu Waki, admitted flatly that the company “misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market,” and that “with the rapid shift to Android, we want to catch up quickly.”

Exact particulars on how it gives the iPhone (and the WinFags since we already have iFags) a good cat fight is still not clear, but Panasonic’s phones will indeed be based on Android, and it seemingly hopes to distinguish them from the overcrowded market by emphasizing their networking capabilities with other Panasonic products. Lumix-services anyone? As for when the first ones will roll out, Panasonic plans to kick off sales in Japan sometime next year, with overseas markets set to follow in 2012.

SOURCE via Reuters

Not sure whether you should jump over to Windows Phone 7? Having too many options to choose from? Well we have great news for all you early adopters, or perhaps ‘potential’ early adopters! According to Trusted Deals, Microsoft and LG are teaming up to offer free applications with LG’s new Optimus 7! This Optimus 7 is LG’s representative in the Windows Phone 7 market, and is probably a good strategy from LG to boost identity for the soon-to-be-crowded Windows Phone 7 market.

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Adobe Air 2.5 is barely out and in the crowd, and Adobe has already release a minor update to this potential platform. The 2.5.1, dubbed “Saltier,” is out and available for one purpose and one purpose only, that is to patch some compatibility issues with the upcoming Gingerbread. Users of the 2.3 version of Android will apparently receive a Force Close when trying to load any Air app. This would only mean that Gingerbread is very near to release, since Adobe is already preparing apps compatible with it. That’s a good thing right?

SOURCE via Adobe

Yes, Brotherhood should be available starting today, but people are already wandering about the next! That’s fast, but this is pretty much the standard cycle of Assassin’s Creed. But don’t worry, as Ubisoft already has an answer for you! Read more…

MeeGo started as a joint project between Intel and Nokia, and now here’s a new active partner, surprisingly coming from Intel’s oldest arch rival, AMD. MeeGo has added AMD to the list of companies actively supporting the development of the platform.

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed off the Google Nexus S during the Web 2.0 summit, which is running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). He also announced that Gingerbread would be out in a few weeks’ time. The Nexus S is very thin, comparable to iPhone 4. There’s an odd concave profile due to it being thinner in the middle than at either end. Might be good to grab for the palm, who knows? There’s a glossy plastic bezel up front housing an AMOLED screen, a pair of discrete volume buttons on the left side, and a black plastic back which Engadget claimed to be “textured similarly to the BlackBerry Bold, though patchier,” which seemed too roughly manufactured to be anything but a prototype. That’s why it’s also plastically black. A very important note is that Gingerbread will have a very special shut down effect, as when Schmidt shows off the Nexus S to Engadget, he turns it off, and the image winked out like an old CRT TV, similar to what the video below shows.

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And Microsoft will be stalking you for the rest of your gaming life. In the latest press release, Microsoft proudly proclaim their one million sold worldwide in the first 10 days of sales for their latest motion sensing gaming device, the Kinect for Xbox 360. Microsoft says it’s on pace to sell a previously projected five million sensors by year’s end. Things will be interesting in December when the holiday shopping spree comes into full force. That’s because Sony’s Move sales number of 3 million worldwide as of last month is of “shipped” units, not “sold” units. Not surprise if more than half of them are still sleeping in the shelves.

The Web 2.0 summit was running, and we had some scoop of Chrome OS from Google that has been in development for a very long time. Everyone was confused when Google polished up their Android for tablets. This means that Android will be making it big in tablet markets, while having a fight with iOS in touchscreen smartphones. That’s why Engadget went to ask Google CEO Eric Schmidt during the Web 2.0 summit, and Schmidt confirmed that Chrome OS will officially be out in the next few months in Intel and ARM-powered netbooks while also adding that the OS was primarily “designed around something with a keyboard.” Of course, that doesn’t mean Chrome OS couldn’t pop up on tablets — he added that because it’s open source anything can happen, but he definitely stressed that Chrome is meant for clamshell devices with keyboards and Android tailored for those with touchscreens. That’s why we’ll be seeing some notebooks loaded with Chrome OS coming in these few months.

SOURCE via Engadget

Sony have taken quite some measures to prevent all you naughty boys out there to go along Jack Sparrow’s way, but it seemed to be effortless. Yes, you may be forced to install firmware version 3.50 along when you install your Medal of Honor, and which may be the cause of the delay for Gran Turismo 5, but now all this seemed to not matter anymore. PS Jailbreak has announced downgrade support for firmware 3.42 and 3.50 “and beyond”. Now, bear in mind that this will not let you play 3.42 or 3.5 games, but let you downgrade your firmware from those versions to an earlier, hackable releases so that you can play your older hacked games.

SOURCE via PS Jailbreak

Season 2010 for Formula One has just officially ended during the last weekend at Abu Dhabi, and what do they do for free time? If your name is Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, then you must be driving for Ferrari in Season 2010 of Formula One, and since Ferrari has a theme park in Abu Dhabi, and you’ve just finished your job in Abu Dhabi, you’ll surely swing by the theme park and get some fun. Read more…