Mark Zuckerberg revealed during last week’s Facebook’s f8 developer conference, another part of his master plan for the social network. Open Graph will now integrate many of your favorite news and music services, including Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG onto your Facebook page with custom apps, and will also bring video from Vevo, Netflix, Hulu and many more. The media platform’s already up and running, so you can see (and hear) the results of Mark’s labor right now.
Of course, there’s a downside to this news. Netflix has confirmed that its Facebook integration will only be available in Canada and Latin America initially, due to a US law that “creates some confusion over our ability to allow U.S. members to share what they watch.” That doesn’t apply to the music services, however, and you can get an idea how Spotify will work in the video after the break. Even TiVo’s gotten in on the action, announcing new sharing buttons for its iPhone and iPad mobile apps, although there’s no direct DVR integration mentioned yet.
HTC has now launched itself into the clouds, confirming that its latest Android phones will get an extra 3GB of storage with Dropbox. According to Pocket-Lint, the extra space will extend to all HTC devices running Sense 3.5, which at the moment means it’s limited to the forthcoming HTC Rhyme. We probably won’t see the Dropbox deal extend to HTC’s Windows Phones though — Microsoft reckons it has the whole file-syncing thing covered.
There’s some pretty big news coming out of South Korea today, where Samsung has just announced the Galaxy S II LTE handset, along with its even more alluring cousin, the Galaxy S II LTE HD — the first member of the Galaxy S family to rock an HD display. The new device, pictured on the right, boasts a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with 1280 x 720 resolutions, which translates to about 316 pixels per inch. Other than that, its specs are identical to those of the Gingerbread-laced S II LTE, which is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and features 16GB of internal memory, an eight megapixel camera that supports 1080p HD video and the usual collection of WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC capabilities. No word yet on pricing or availability, but the Galaxy S II LTE will be available exclusively on SK Telecom, while the HD variant will be available on all three Korean carriers — SK Telecom, LG U+ and KT.
When last we checked in with Nielsen earlier this month, Google’s mobile OS had a sizable lead, powering just under 42-percent of smartphones sold, while Apple had cornered a more than respectable 28-percent of the market.
In the few short weeks since, Android has seen its share grow to 43-percent. More interestingly, of the over 25,500 surveyed who had purchased a smartphone in the last three months, a whopping 56-percent chose to go with the Google. Apple held a steady 28-percent across the board.
Big G’s gains came at the expense of RIM (only 9-percent of phones sold in the last three months were BlackBerries) and the ambiguous “other” (Symbian, Windows Phone 7, Bada, MeeGo, etc… accounted for 6-percent of sales). More important than choice of platform though, is that smartphone sales in general are climbing — accounting for 58-percent of all handsets sold in August and driving smartphone penetration to 43-percent.
Well, things will surely change beginning next week when Apple unveils their next generation iPhone.
The Ultrabooks are coming, and it looks like ASUS’ first foray into thin and light computing will officially arrive on October 11th in New York. According to a UX series landing page, we need only wait 15 more days before getting our hands the ASUS UX21 and its larger, but still svelte sibling, the UX31, once again. So, are you excited for the arrival of these ultrabooks? One thing for sure, they won’t be launching together with Windows 8.
The green flag just waved on pre-orders for Fanatec’s line of Forza Motorsport accessories, including the CSR Wheel ($250), CSR Elite Pedal Set ($150) and CSR Shifter Set ($60). To refresh your memory: all feature metal construction that gives them a solid, rugged feel. The wheel’s force feedback is powered by a Mabuchi RS550 motor, with two additional actuators simulating motor and ABS vibration. The pedals are fully adjustable; a pressure-sensitive brake pedal can be tuned to mimic any car. Finally, the shifter set features a six-speed H-pattern design and can be mounted on either side of the steering wheel. There’s no word on when these will actually ship, and sadly for you big spenders, the CSR Wheel Elite isn’t yet available.
We have bad news for you, for you might want to rethink that family Christmas holiday, unless your family likes land-speeders and bounty hunting. Bioware has announced the release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It’s right slap-bang before Christmas: December 20th in the North America, and December 22nd in Europe.
I feel a disturbance in the force. As if a million customer support representatives suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. Their Christmas is going to suck because there’s no more turkey, only coffees and mouse clicking.
Each copy comes with a month of free game-time, but if you want to play after that, you’ll need money: it’s $14.99/£8.99/€12.99 per-month. That’s exactly the same pricing structure as World of Warcraft.
Even the bulk costs are identical: a three month subscription comes to $13.99/month (paid as a one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97), while a six month subscription costs $12.99 per month (paid as a one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94).
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