Apple’s legal team has been dealt another blow in Germany, where a court today shot down the company’s requests for a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N. In a statement issued this morning, the Dusseldorf Regional Court said it found “clear differences” between the 10.1N and Apple’s iPad, affirming a preliminary ruling handed down in December, and a similar decision announced in Munich this month. It’s certainly not the news that Cupertino wanted to wake up to, but we’re also a long way from this drama being over.

SOURCE via Reuters

Ice Cream Sandwich is slowly trickling out to the masses, but we’re still waiting on the major phone vendors to come out with their own tweaks of the latest Android dessert. We’ve known that HTC’s busy plugging away at its Sense-ified version of Android 4.0, but the company’s finally ready to start discussing specifics.

According to the outfit’s UK Facebook page, the update will begin rolling out to the HTC Sensation, Sensation XE, Rezound, Vivid, Amaze 4G, and EVO Design 4G by the end of March, with the Sensation XL following suit. Additionally, owners of the EVO 3D, Incredible S, Desire S and Desire HD still haven’t been forgotten, but their long-awaited upgrades to Ice Cream Sandwich will come sometime “later this year.”

That sure narrows down the timeframe. Hopefully we won’t have to wait until the end of March to officially cast our eyes on the new Sense, as we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll see some ICS love in new devices at Mobile World Congress later this month.

SOURCE via HTC (Facebook)

Details are still fairly light at the moment, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Google could be about to make big push into the hardware business. Citing people briefed on the company’s plans, the WSJ says that Google is now developing a home entertainment system that would stream music wirelessly throughout the home (including to web-connected devices and “Google-made speakers”), and be able to be controlled using a smartphone or tablet — making it sound a whole lot like a Sonos competitor. What’s more, unlike current Android and Google TV devices, this system will reportedly be marketed under Google’s own brand.

SOURCE via Wall Street Journal

Google’s got a pretty massive portfolio of products. The company does everything from phones to operating systems, but there isn’t yet a Google store where you can go to purchase Google goods. The company opened an online phone store when the Nexus One initially launch, but that didn’t last too long. Google announcing the decision to only sell via third-party retail channels in May of 2010 and received its last shipment of Nexus Ones in July of that year. However, late last year the company opened up a pop-up store in London and it seems it might be thinking of a permanent location for Dublin.

The latest rumors have Google opening a physical store in Dublin, Ireland. The reports stem from Google Dublin, the company’s European Headquarters, which recently filed a local planning application for a store in its HQ. The store would be 1,323 square feet, open to the public and would sell Google merchandise. The filing also details plans for a landscaped garden, swimming pool, gym and restaurant for the building, which Google acquired in April of last year. Bloomberg reports that Google yesterday declined to comment on its plans for retail locations except to say that it was an option.

“While we do have the option to open retail space, we are examining all potential uses,” the search giant told Bloomberg in an emailed statement. “No final decision has been taken.”

Late last year, Google opened up mini-stores inside the PC World and Currys on Tottenham Court Road, in London. Dubbed Chrome Zones, the stores focused on the Chrome Notebook line and offered people the opportunity to try out the laptops, previously only available to buy online, in person. Google said at the time that the company thought it important to let people play with the device before buying it.

“We found anecdotally that when people tried the device and played with it, that made a huge difference to their understanding of what the Chromebook is all about.” Google’s Arvind Desikan said at the time. “People will be able to go in and have a play with the devices. We want to see whether people understand what this device is all about and monitor their reaction when they try it out.”

Taking that statement into consideration, it seems likely that Google will open more stores. When the UK’s Chrome Zones opened, Google said it had more pilot stores planned for around the world, but the did not mention if these plans involve any bigger, stand-alone stores. We can understand Google’s reluctance to enter the retail world in a big way — renting a space, remodeling, and hiring staff is definitely costly. So it would certainly make sense to stick to the ‘shop-within-a-shop’ style of retail store, at least for now. Then again, opening one in your own HQ solves that problem too.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is gearing up to launch a cloud storage service similar to Dropbox and Box.net. It will be called Google Drive (or simply Drive), and offer both free and paid space for consumers who want to store files online for retrieving on the go with multiple web-connected mobile devices. Compatible file types will include videos, photos and documents.

Insiders close to Google Drive said that users will have the ability to shoot video from their smartphone and upload the file to their virtual locker through Google’s Drive mobile app. They will then be able to email friends and family a link back to the video, eliminating the need to send a bulky file. What’s unknown at this point is the capacities in which Google will offer, but will likely provide 2 to 5 GB for free to consumers and businesses. Insiders state that Google will charge a fee for those who want to store large amounts of files for a cheaper price than what Dropbox currently requires.

By comparison, Dropbox offers 2 GB of free online storage. However for 50 GB, customers are required to pay $9.99 USD per month. 100 GB of virtual storage costs $19.99 USD per month, and Dropbox even offers larger storage capacities with plans starting at $795 for 5 users. But unlike Google, Dropbox relies on Amazon’s Web Services which maintains a network of computers for storing data online. Amazon leases out this space to the likes of Dropbox, Netflix and even Zynga.

Google already offers online storage for free via Google Music and Google Docs. Consumers can store up to 20,000 songs in their virtual music locker. Songs purchased through Android Market can be shared on Google+ — those uploaded or received for free via Google do not have a sharing option. On Google Docs, users can create documents, store them indefinitely, and either share them via an email link, or email them directly as an actual file.

Additionally, Google customers can shoot photos with their smartphone and upload them to Google+ and Picasa — sharing simply means sending a link to friends and family. Videos can be uploaded and shared using YouTube with options of going public or remaining private. That said, Google Drive may actually combine at least three of the search engine giant’s services on a storage level — or simply provide a standalone virtual locker for consumers who don’t typically use Google+, Google Docs and YouTube.

Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Google Drive is expected to be added to the search engine giant’s Google Apps software that’s sold to businesses. The service, for both consumers and businesses, should launch within the next couple of weeks or months.

We first head rumors that Google was working on a pair of Android-powered HUD glasses back in December. The New York Times started things off with a report that both Apple and Google are working on wearable technology, with the ultimate goal being to shift more smartphones. Following this report, other websites chimed in to fill in the gaps, with 9to5Google claiming the Mountain View Company was working on a pair of HUD glasses. Today, 9to5Google is back with another report. This time, the website is claiming that their source has seen the glasses.

The site’s source says the prototype glasses look similar to Oakley Thumps (pictured) and that they have a front facing camera with flash to gather information and potentially aid augmented reality apps. This camera is said to be ‘extremely small’ and it’s likely will only have a few megapixels. The HUD aspect of the glasses will be restricted to one side and one eye and, despite previous rumors, is not transparent nor does it support dual 3D configurations. As far as specs are concerned, the device is supposedly based on generation-old Android smartphone hardware, so expect 1GHz of processing power, along with 8GB of storage and possibly 256 of RAM. One feature highlighted by 9to5Google as impressive is the navigation system. At the moment, it utilizes a head-tiling scroll and click that is apparently quite intuitive and, once learned, becomes almost indistinguishable to outside users.

After all of that, you’re probably wondering when you can get a pair, right? Well, Google is said to be unsure of the mass market appeal of these specs. For this reason, the company is considering launching them in a similar manner to the Cr-42 Chrome notebooks — that is, a pilot program. Would you purchase a pair of these glasses? How much would you be willing to pay?

The glasses aren’t even nearly finished, but we could hear something from Google soon, so stay tuned!

Security hounds over at zvelo have discovered a vulnerability in Google Wallet that means your precious PIN can be “easily revealed.” Digging through the app’s code and using Google’s open resources to reveal its contents, they uncovered a piratical treasure trove of data: unique user IDs, Google account information, and the PIN stored as a SHA256 hex-encoded string. Since this string is known to carry four digits, it only takes a “trivial” brute-force attack involving a maximum of 10,000 calculations to decode it. To prove their point, the researchers made a Wallet Cracker app — demoed after the break — that does the job quicker than you can say “unexpected overdraft.”

Google has been receptive to these findings, but its attempts at a fix have so far been hampered by the need to coordinate with the banks, since changing the way the PIN is stored could also change which agency is responsible for its security. In the meantime, zvelo advises that there are some measures users can take themselves, aside from putting a protective hand over their pockets: refrain from rooting your phone, enable your lock screen, disable USB debugging, enable Full Disk Encryption and keep your handset up-to-date.

Google has responded by emphasizing that it’s only users of rooted devices who are at risk. In a statement to TNW it said: “We strongly encourage people to not install Google Wallet on rooted devices and to always set up a screen lock as an additional layer of security for their phone.”

Hot on the heels of its OneNote app for the iPhone, Microsoft has gone ahead and given the Android Market a similar nod of acceptance with the release of OneNote Mobile. Like the iOS version, the app is free to try — which allows tire kickers to create up to 500 memos — but after the limit is reached, you’ll need to plunk down $4.99 or be forever stuck in read-only mode. In addition to syncing all notes with SkyDrive, the app allows users to open notebooks from OneNote 2010. Android 2.3 is necessary admission for this one, and naturally, all users must have a Windows Live ID.

SOURCE via All Things D

Now what do we have here? If Google translate serves us well, we believe this to be the upcoming Optimus Vu from LG. This strangely squarish phone seemed to packs a 5-inch touchscreen and a rather unique 4:3 aspect ratio. The telltale capacitive touch buttons reveal this as an Android device, which the Korean manufacturer suggests is more comfortable to hold than traditional portrait-based solutions. It’ll be interesting to see what this means for application compatibility, but for the moment, we’re going to keep digging for more specs. Rumors thus far seem to point to a 1.5GHz Qualcomm APQ8060 SoC, with 1GB RAM, 8GB ROM, NFC, an eight megapixel camera and Android 2.3. More interestingly, the screen shows a “February 21st” date stamp, which may or may not be a hint. Feel free to hit up the source link for that extra peek. Will LG be unveiling this at MWC 2012?

A little gem known as Android 4.0.4 wriggled its way onto the interweb last week, and while it was geared specifically for Sprint’s Nexus S 4G, a similar version has just cropped up for the CDMA / LTE Galaxy Nexus from Verizon. While it’s only available for tenacious users who’ve unlocked their bootloader, it seems that a host of improvements are on deck for the official release. First and foremost, the ROM is said to be noticeably faster, with the speed gains also extending to the web browser and the device’s boot time. The release also packs a new radio file that (at least from user impressions) offers more seamless transitions between the CDMA and LTE networks. All in all, the rest of the changes are rather minor, but if you’d like to join the bleeding edge, you’ll find everything you need in the source link below.

SOURCE via xda-developers