When is a “Facebook phone” not a Facebook phone? When it’s in China. While this handset may look like an HTC Salsa at first glance, if you look a little closer you’ll notice that the familiar little blue button has been replaced with one for Sina’s Weibo social networking service. Lest you think this is just another KIRF, however, you can rest assured this is indeed the real deal, and a fairly big deal for HTC, considering that Weibo has around 150 million total users, and 50 million active monthly users. As for the phone itself, it’s remained mostly unchanged otherwise, with it packing an 800MHz processor and a 3.4-inch 480 x 320 display, along with Android 2.3.3 with Sense 2.1 on top.

SOURCE via Sina

Sure, 1080p HDTVs aren’t exactly an ultra-luxury these days seeing that almost all monitors sold in PC Fair has 1080p, but a 1920 x 1200-pixel IPS panel on your desk? That’s a privilege often enjoyed by HD film editors, graphic designers, and those of us who know how to beat the technology ordering system at work. Luckily, Dell’s new UltraSharp U2412M isn’t ultra-expensive, delivering over 2.3 million pixels with its 24-inch LED-backlit display. It also features in-plane switching (IPS) with a wide viewing angle, a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, DisplayPort and DVI connectivity, a built-in USB hub, and height adjustability. Oh, and it retails for $399. That price tag may make you reconsider spending an extra MYR 600 per inch for Apple’s new MYR 3,099 Thunderbolt Display, though Dell’s 24-incher notably lacks a built-in webcam, and is somewhat limited in the connectivity department.

SOURCE via Dell

So happy that you’ve upgraded to 4Mbps, only to realize that there’s 100Mbps connection in our neighbour’s country and we’re still paying overpriced 4Mbps for some slow Shitmix? What about Comcast customers with their 105Mbps cable hook ups or those lucky residents of the Kansas cities relishing in Google’s 1Gbps service? Well add Londonites to the list of people that drive you to indulging in one of the seven deadly sins. Virgin Media has finally started testing its DOCSIS2-powered 1.5Gbps network in the heart of merry ol’ England. Right now it’s being enjoyed by a group of test sites around Old Street that also get a 150Mbps upload connection. Virgin claims it’s the fastest broadband in the world, which may be true if you’re not counting lab experiments. The really good news is that it’s based on the same tech already delivering 100Mbps to residents across the country so, if the trial goes well, it should be trivial to deliver these mind numbing speeds to the rest of its customers.

With point and shoot cameras apparently now up against a megapixel wall, manufacturers are focusing on adding quirky new features to keep you hooked on the upgrade cycle. Sony’s new Cyber-shot TX55 includes several such additions, such as ‘amazing’ 3D image capture, ‘extremely low’ noise, and a new digital zoom technology called By Pixel Super Resolution, which promises to double the camera’s 5x optical zoom range while still capturing 16.2-megapixel images at full quality. We’re a bit skeptical about that last one, but if the $350 camera really can deliver on its promise, then we may just have a winner. Read more…

After American expat BirdAbroad made her local stores famous last week, local officials have since been combing through the city’s 300-plus gadget shops on behalf of Apple China, and managed to dig up two more “Apple” stores. It’s not exactly clear if these new offenders are at the same severity as the ones spotted by BirdAbroad, but the authorities have confirmed that none of the five stores are Apple Authorised Resellers, let alone having its permission to use its logo on their store front.

Additionally, two out of the five stores have since been shut down due to unlicensed retail operation. The fate of the remaining three is still unknown — the officials have only concluded that no KIRF products have been found in the stores, though details such as the decor and staff uniform are certainly very similar to those of the real deal. BirdAbroad has since gathered photos of more sketchy Apple stores across the world, so go take a gander. Oh, and for those who have been out of the loop, there’s a hands-on video of one of the Kunming stores after the break.

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For those who rely on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch to purchase and read e-books outside Apple’s own virtual bookstore, the means of acquiring virtual novels and magazines are about to get painful. On Monday Amazon’s Kindle Team reported that it was forced to remove the “Kindle Store” link from within the Kindle app in order to comply with Apple’s new policy changes.

“We wanted to let you know that we’ve updated our Kindle app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch,” the Kindle team said. “The big change is that you can now use the Kindle app to read over 100 Kindle newspapers and magazines including the Economist, as well as share favorite passages from your reading via Facebook and Twitter.”

“In order to comply with recent policy changes by Apple, we’ve also removed the “Kindle Store” link from within the app that opened Safari and took you to the Kindle Store,” the team continued. “You can still shop as you always have – just open Safari and go to www.amazon.com/kindlestore. If you want, you can bookmark that URL. Your Kindle books will be delivered automatically to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, just as before.”

Both Canada-based Kobo and Barnes & Noble have also updated their apps to remove any links to their online bookstores. By doing this, the e-book vendors won’t be required to cough up a 30-percent cut on sales their apps generate. Previously they got around Apple’s monetary demand by adding a link to their websites within the apps. But then in February Apple changed its rules, demanding that vendors sell all content within their apps. Developers have until June 30 to remove in-app links to external storefronts, and to add all revenue-generating content if vendors wish to sell their products within the app. Read more…

CNET calls “scoop” on a report that Google’s Street View cars have collected the locations of “millions” of laptops, smartphones and other Wi-Fi devices around the world.

According to the report, these cars acquired the locations of Wi-Fi access points, but they also recorded the street addresses and unique MAC address of the devices accessing those wireless networks. To make the situation even more invasive, Google made the data public just a few weeks ago.

To back up the report, the French data protection authority, known as the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), claims that its investigation against Google’s Street View tactics back in March also revealed that the company collected MAC addresses of devices connected to access points. Google was forced to pay a fine of 100,00 euros, or around $143,000 USD. Read more…