Previously only available at Portland, Google has now started to grow their NFC lovechild to more places. After a great success trial in Portland, the search-giant Internet Company is now expanding its NFC check-in program to four new cities, slapping RFID “Recommended on Google” stickers on windows in Las Vegas; Madison, Wisconsin; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Austin, Texas.

The company wants to be the best in the location-based service market, and NFC is its crane kick. While Foursquare and Facebook users are forced to do silly things like track down the right business in an endless list of nearby results or try and focus their cellphone’s camera on a dimly lit QR code, you could simply be swiping over a sticker, scoring discounts and moving on. Well, at least until Foursquare’s NFC check-in system goes live that is.

Of course, let’s not forget that you must have an NFC-equipped smartphone to use this service, while the rest of the crowd will happily stick to GPS thank you. Now, will Google ever bring these “Recommended on Google” stickers to our home town?

SOURCE via Slashgear

Previously Microsoft has already stood erected that Internet Explorer 9 will not be supported on Windows XP, and now the saga has continued. Microsoft has confirmed that the latest version of its browser won’t run on its last-gen operating system, either in developer preview form or when the final software ships. As a Microsoft rep told Computerworld, the company would rather not have to develop software for a lowest-common denominator. Well, if you’re part of the dwindling group still using Windows Vista, you’ll have to wait until your next upgrade to take IE10 for a spin, or you can happily continue using the ‘still very new’ IE9.

SOURCE via Computer World

It seemed that Apple has quietly released a new version 4.3.2 of iOS into the wild. Quite a hefty update this is, sizing up to 666.2MB size. Must be a work of the devil; probably the agent 002 of Lucifer. Apple says that this update provides fixes for occasional “blank or frozen” FaceTime video and iPad 3G issues get top billing, while the obligatory security updates fill out the rest

Verizon customers that are using the CDMA version iPhone 4 are also getting an update, albeit in the form of iOS 4.2.7. Apple says it only fixes some bug and provides some security updates.

Note: yes, someone seemed to be too bored, and tried to challenge Apple’s new security update in their iOS that might stop people from jailbreaking. Well, we already know the result, since a tethered jailbreak is already in the wild. All the effort of Steve Job’s goblins trying to make it harder to jailbreak, all going down the drain.

SOURCE via Redmondpie

We’ve seen plenty of car manufacturers trying and struggling to push their car faster from zero to hundred, and at the same time having better emissions and safety to meet stricter regulations, and also to improve their mileage. But today we’re not going to look at that. Instead we’re going to look at a more classical visual excitement from cars and stuntmen. Some call it performance driving, others call it sheer precision driving, and that is the very classic vertical loop (aka loop-de-loop or loop-the-loop).

There’s just something special about seeing a car go vertical, then upside-down and back all in one swift motion that makes the crowds go bonkers despite that only lasting less than 10 seconds. Maybe everyone is hoping that the car will instantly dropped down like a turtle when reaching the top. Shell, the international petroleum hunters, is doing the same stunt again over at AutoRAI 2011 in the Netherlands.

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When Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS launched last year, they had a considerable number of partners launching new phones under their OS, but they all look so typically same with their specs and all. All of them run on 1GHz Snapdragon with Adreno 205 GPU and almost identical specifications, with slight difference being the shape only. But now, over at MIX 2011, Microsoft has given a nice bump on the minimum specs for their mobile OS.

Microsoft has now upgraded the requirement to Qualcomm’s second-gen part, the MSM8x55 and the more powerful Adreno 205 GPU. That’s already seen widespread adoption among devices like the HTC Thunderbolt and Xperia Play, but Microsoft isn’t content with just one option and is also throwing in Qualcomm’s MSM7x30, a fine multimedia performer that’s already hit the market inside the T-Mobile G2. The latter part also comes with Adreno 205, making it a constant of future Windows Phone devices, while the option to include a gyroscope has also been provisioned for.

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USB 3.0 has been seen on motherboards for quite a while now, but USB-IF this week announced that the A75 and A70M Fusion chipsets from AMD will be the first certified ‘Superspeed USB’ chipsets. USB 3.0 offers transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, quite an upgrade from the speeds offered by the ten-year-old USB 2.0.

“The integration of SuperSpeed USB into AMD’s Fusion Controller Hubs demonstrates AMD’s commitment to providing the industry’s latest, most innovative connectivity technologies,” said Chris Cloran, AMD Corporate Vice-President and General Manager, Client Group. “AMD Fusion Controller Hubs will provide competitive performance while consuming low power with active USB 3.0 traffic for high definition video and fast connectivity with the latest SuperSpeed USB devices.”

The statement makes AMD the first company to integrate a USB 3.0 controller into its silicon. Well, there isn’t any other company besides AMD and Intel anyway. Rival Intel has yet to take the same step of integrating USB 3.0 into its own chipsets and, according to The Register, doesn’t have plans to do so until 2012, as the company has just pushed out their new high-speed I/O called Thunderbolt.

SOURCE via The Register

It seem like Adobe is yet again not having a good day in office, as another critical flaw has been identified in their Adobe Flash. According to Adobe’s own note, the exposure lies in Flash Player 10.2.153.1 and earlier versions (Adobe Flash Player 10.2.154.25 and earlier for Chrome users) for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, Adobe Flash Player 10.2.156.12 and earlier versions for Android, and the Authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.2) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems. That’s quite an extensive list.

Adobe says that this vulnerability is a serious issue that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in targeted attacks via a Flash (.swf) file embedded in a Microsoft Word (.doc) file delivered as an email attachment, targeting the Windows platform.

Adobe says that it is currently in the process of finalizing a schedule for delivering a fix.

Very early bird rumours I’d call this, but it’s still a good read. Apparently Eldar Murtazin, the forever anti-Nokia guy, claims to have the inside scoop on Nokia’s current Windows Phone device plans while getting an early hands-on with a prototype.

According to him, Nokia currently has two prototypes in their labs, while they have a long roadmap of Windows Phone handsets ready for 2012. The naming scheme is simply following the existing lineup of Nokia, with a prototype that is based on the X7 hardware named as W7, and a W8 prototype based on the current cameraphone N8.

According to Eldar, all of Nokia’s WP prototypes are built upon Qualcomm chipsets per Microsoft’s requirement (and Nokia’s dismay). The W7 model is currently being used in-house for development purposes and will likely be the first to market, according to Eldar, with an 8 megapixel autofocus camera and flash. Murtazin claims that the W7 reminded him of the HTC Mozart without any noticeable customizations to the OS.

Of course, we’re barely going through the 1st quarter of 2011, so this is still not valid at the moment. Who knows what we’ll see in 2012. Maybe a quad-core ARM processor with hyper-threading?

SOURCE via Habrahabr.ru