On last Thursday the Justice Department confirmed that the FBI arrested two alleged members of LulzSec and Anonymous in San Francisco and Phoenix while also securing charges against a third suspect from Ohio. The FBI was also said to be executing search warrants in New Jersey, Minnesota and Montana.

According to reports, 23-year-old Cody “recursion” Kretsinger from Phoenix, Arizona is believed to be a current or former member of LulzSec and has been charged with conspiracy and the unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.

Additionally, 47-year-old Christopher Doyon of Mountain View, California, believed to be part of Anonymous, has been charged with conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, causing intentional damage to a protected computer and aiding and abetting. 26-year-old Joshua Covelli of Fairborn, Ohio also faces the same charges.

Read more…

Recent reports indicate that Intel plans to re-brand its Cedar Trail processors slated for 2012 because demand for Atom-based netbooks, nettops, handheld devices, consumer electronics products and embedded devices have dropped significantly. The reason behind the decline, according to industry sources, is due to the “poor brand image” of Atom CPUs.

According to Intel’s roadmap, Cedar Trail CPUs will be launched in November 2011, and will include the Atom N2800 and N2700 for netbooks, and the Atom D2700 and D2500 for nettops. Industry sources claim that the re-branding will cover Intel’s N/D/Z/E lineups.

But Friday a spokesperson from Intel squashed the reports. “There are no plans to change the Atom brand. We are on track to launch new Atom processors during the fourth quarter, with more new Atom processors during the first half of 2012.”

In addition to the Cedar Trail CPUs, Intel also plans to launch its Medfield CPUs for Android tablets and smartphones in the first half of 2012.

Unveiled at this year’s IFA 2011, Sony’s SRS-BTV25 and RDP-V20iP are compact spherical devices that boast of Sony’s 360° Circle Sound technology that claims to deliver omnidirectional sound through every corner of a room. Sony’s SRS model of the device is capable of streaming audio from all Bluetooth-enabled devices such as smartphones, walkmans and iPod touch devices. The RDP model is an iPhone / iPod docking station speaker that is controlled with an included remote control.

Both models will be capable of delivering 13W of audio power when plugged in with the AC adapter, but the RDP version will also be able to run for up to five hours on the included Ni-MH rechargeable battery pack. Sony’s new devices will also include a 3.5mm audio jack to ensure non-bluetooth and non-apple devices can be enjoyed in omnidirectional sound as well.

Coming in either a black, white, or red color, the RDP-V20iP and SRS-BTV25 measure in at 5.7 x 5.7 x 5.7 inches. Unfortunately, no information on pricing or a release date was given, but we’ll be keeping our eyes out for these cool new speakers.

SOURCE via Gizmag

If Apple is to keep in line with the rumor-mill’s predictions, the company will have to announce the iPhone 4S/5 very soon. Rumors have been thrown all over the place, but the latest would be that Apple is going to hold an event on the 4^th of October, so the safest bet would be an early October announcement and mid/late October launch. This time, there’s yet another person who has something to say about the highly anticipated iPhone, but it comes from the oddest of them all, and that is Al Gore.

According to PC World, Gore made reference to the rumored new Apple smartphones, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, earlier this week. While at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday, the former VP was speaking about environmental issues when he said, “Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month,” before pausing and adding, “That was a plug.”

Several people in attendance claim to have heard the comments, and PC World’s Ian Paul said he was present when he listened to a recording of the event. So, it’s not a case of whether or not he actually said it, but whether or not it’s true, and where he got his information from. Perhaps he’s just saying after receiving the same report about the Apple event in early October.

However, the fact that he sits on Apple’s board should not be overlooked. Certainly, if anyone knew about a new iPhone (or iPhones) coming out next month, it would be a member of Apple’s board of directors, right? Time will tell…

SOURCE via PC World

It seems like every other month, Google is announcing a new product in a market that it hasn’t previously attempted to enter and the company’s definitely not in the habit of doing things by half-measures. The words ‘Google’ and ‘monopoly’ have appeared alongside each other a number of times, whether it’s over book deals or the company’s massive slice of the search market, and it seems Google bigwig Eric Schmidt is under no illusions as to how powerful his company is.

According to Business Insider, the executive chairman of Google came close to admitting that Google was a monopoly while testifying before U.S. senate antitrust committee earlier this week.

“But you do recognize that in the words that are used and antitrust kind of oversight, your market share constitutes monopoly, dominant — special power dominant for a monopoly firm. You recognize you’re in that area?” Schmidt was asked by Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl.

Schmidt replied that yes, he agreed Google was “in that area.” However, earlier comments from Schmidt suggest that Google has learned a lot from rival Microsoft’s mistakes.
Read more…

As previously reported, Apple is slated to reveal something on or around October 4. Current Apple board member and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore recently said that the company’s “new iPhones” (note the plural) will debut in October. Prior to that, rumors and “insider reports” have pointed to a new iPod Touch, a cloud-based iPhone 4S and the much-speculated iPhone 5 to be revealed at any day.

Now actual products are starting to appear on the market. Reports claim that AT&T corporate stores are currently receiving refreshed iPhone cases provided by Speck and OtterBox, one of which clearly reads “iPhone 4S” on the package. So far there have been no reports of potential iPhone 5 cases arriving as well.

According to images of the case offered by Speck, there’s a new, enlarged hole for the camera, reportedly to compensate for the LED flash. Other than that, the case shows no additional changes over the regular iPhone 4 version, and doesn’t even sport any visual ties to the rumored 4S model.

Read more…

The PC-TU200 includes a front I/O panel with USB 3.0 (x 2), eSATA (x 1) and audio (x 2) ports, a built-in handle, one exposed 5.25-inch bay, four internal 3.5-inch drive bays, and one front 140mm fan. The case measures 8.27 (W) x 12.60 (H) x 14.17 (D) inches, weighs 7 pounds and supports the Mini-ITX and Mini-DTX motherboards. The PC-TU200 will be available in black or silver when released.

Despite its small footprint, the case can hold a graphics card up to 11.8″ in length. A standard ATX PS/2 PSU can fit within the case, which can provide passive cooling when the PSU fan is facing the motherboard. The side panels can be removed by just pushing a release lever on the back panel and the corresponding side panel pops off. The four internal 3.5-inch drive bays offer hot swap abilities for up to four storage drives.

The consumer should expect a suggested retail price of $199. Read more on the Lian Li PC-TU200 on the product page.

Bill Gates still holds the top spot with an estimated $59 billion, followed by Warren Buffet with $39 billion and Oracle’s Larry Ellison with $33 billion. Thanks to the stratospheric rise of Facebook stock value, Mark Zuckerbergh is now listed at rank #14 with an estimated wealth of $17.5 billion.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page follow right behind him with $16.7 billion each. Other insanely rich tech executives include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (#13, $19.1 billion), Michael Dell (#18, $15 billion), Steve Ballmer (#19, $13.9 billion), Paul Allen (#23, $13.2 billion) and Steve Jobs (#39, $7 billion).

SOURCE via Forbes