Booq Viper Slider case for the iPad 2 works with docks

While it’s usually a great idea to have protective cases for your iPad, one of the drawbacks to using one is the fact most cases usually make the tablet impossible to use with a dock. This is largely due to the design of the cut outs on the case itself or the fact that the case makes it too bulky to fit into a dock. Well the folks over at Booq have come up with a new iPad 2 case designed just to solve that problem.
Called the Viper Slider, the iPad 2 case has a specially designed bottom quarter that easily slides off (hence the name Slider), leaving the bottom of the iPad 2 compatible with almost any docking station available on the market. In addition to being dock-friendly, the Viper Slider protects your iPad 2 from the usual drops and mishaps with its durable polycarbonate casing and is said to give you a better grip when holding the tablet as well.
With sleek looks to match its functionality, the Booq Viper Slider sure looks like a useful case for the iPad 2. Folks will definitely enjoy the convenience it brings. It is available now for $39.95 from Booq and various retail outlets nationwide.
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Google+ Grows But Remains A Minor Social Network

Google newest social network project, Google+, is still on its beta release but its user base is fast growing. But according to Hitwise, Facebook remains the top social network and Google+ still has a lot of ground to cover.
According to Hitwise, Google+ ranks 42 among social networking sites and took the 638th spot among the web sites in the United States in the week ending July 16. This is a big jump from the week ending July 9 when Google’s social network was ranked 2,404th of all the web sites in the United States.
You need to be invited by a current member of Google+ to be able to join the newest social network. The company designed its content-sharing and privacy features to attract people that are uncomfortable with Facebook’s privacy settings and policies.
Facebook seems unfazed by Google+’s growth. Its own growth is undiminished with more than 750 million members and the average users on the site continue to increase their amount of time on the site. Visits to Google+ is more than 1.8 million in the week ending July 16, which is up 283 percent compared to the previous week.
Most of the comments about Google+ have been positive so far. It is a sign that more people would join the social network once it opens up to the public.
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Google To Add New Functionality To Circles With Latest Acquisition

Google’s relentless march to the top of the social media mountain just got another boost with the announcement that they’ve acquired the start-up called Fridge.
What is Fridge? Well, before Google came up with the idea of making it easier to segment your friends, Fridge had pioneered that functionality. The start-up created a social network that made it easy for you to organize your friends into groups, plan events and share photos. They got so good at it that they grew to a user base of 40,000.
With the acquisition, Google is clearly showing its desire to make Circles one of the cornerstones of Google+ and reports are that the Fridge team will hit the ground running as they work to make Circles better. At present, the “groups” functionality is lacking in Google+ so the expertise Fridge brings to the table will be might handy. Throw in “event planning” functionality and Google+ will be pretty much Facebook on steroids.
The rumors are flying that Google+ goes live to the public on the 31^st July 2011, and whilst that may or may not be the case, it is clear Google wants the platform to be robust enough to live up to the hype. Expect more acquisitions to be announced since Google+ is not quite the juggernaut that Google is looking to build.
Watch the video below to see the really cool benefits of Google+ Circles.
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Judge Rejects Oracles Damage Claims Against Google

A federal judge ruled that Oracle’s report estimating damages of $6.1 billion in its lawsuit against Google is too much. Judge William Alsup gave Oracle a chance to change its estimate before the case goes to trial this fall. Aside from the amount of damage, he sided with Oracle on different sides regarding the case.
Oracle claims that Google’s Android mobile operating system was created via patent infringements of Java programming tools that Oracle acquired when it purchased Sun Microsystems last year. This is just one of the lawsuits that have been filed by tech companies over their share of profits from the emerging market for tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices.
Judge Alsup said that Oracle’s expert, Boston University professor Iain Cockburn, overstretched when he used a broad estimate of Android’s value. The judge said that the expert should have used a portion of Android that have been tied to the Java patents to get the estimate of what Google has to pay regarding the case.
The judge added that Oracle might have made the report with the goal of seeing how much it could get from Google. He rebuked both sides for missteps during the hour-long hearing. Both companies didn’t want to talk about issue at the moment.
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Google+ Regrets Move On Businesses

Two weeks ago. Google asked businesses not to make Google+ profiles because it is still setting up pages for businesses. At present, the search giant wants only real people on its social network. The company came out with what it has done so far and hopes to roll out the feature that would include nonprofits, companies, bands and other organizations into Google+ as soon as possible.
Google promised that it would be available later this year and has already started taking applications from o0rganizations that are interested to beta test the pages for businesses on Google+. The company was swamped with applications that it decided to speed up the process and roll out the feature really soon.
Google asked businesses that are currently in Google+ to switch from a company to a real person or the profile will be deleted. TechCrunch made a profile for a fake person named Techathew Cruncheri and Google deleted it. It also removed the profiles for Ford, Search Engine Land and Sesame Street.
Mashable had a page in Google+ and it transferred it in the name of its CEO Pete Cashmore. He already had a profile but he will ditch that to run the new personal page
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Google Doodle Pays Tribute To Alexander Calder

Google honors American artist Alexander Calder with a doodle that is made entirely in HTML5. Jered Wierzbicki was the software engineer who coded the doodle and said that he was inspired when he saw the artist’s exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.
Calder made art works out of ordinary materials like wire and scraps of sheet metal. HE molded them into forms and let motion and spaces do the rest. The engineer said that this abstractions struck him the most about Calder’s works.
The Alexander Calder doodle is the first one that was done with HTML5 canvas, which is a feature that lets dynamic rendering of two-dimension bitmaps. It simulates the physics on the mobile’s geometry and renders it in real-time 3D with vector graphics.
This is possible with the recent advancements in browser technology. The doodle works with accelerometers and shows the full capabilities of HTML5, which is slowly being unlocked. The dynamic doodle is good but not as addictive as the Gibson and Pac-Man doodles.
The doodle shows the rendering possibilities of HTML5 and this is a big blow to Flash. Google search is one of the most visited sites on the internet and the doodle will expose users to the HTML5 rendering. Apple has always been against Flash and now Google is using its replacement on its site, it looks like the end is near for Adobe’s software.
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Google Acquires Facial Recognition Company

Google recently bought Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition, which is also known as PittPatt. The company develops face recognition technology in video and images. Its founders began the company at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotic Institute in the 1990s and they formed the company in 2004.
Google utilizes computer vision technology in some of its products such as Image Search, Picasa, YouTube, and Goggles. PittPatt said that the search giant will benefit from its technology and research and would bring it to a wider audience.
PittPatt added that it will continue innovating computer vision technology in applications that would range from simple photo organization to complex tasks such as mobile and video applications. Expect more new features to come out from Google that would include face recognition. There are speculations that the search engine will use the face recognition technology on its Google+ social network.
PittPatt technology could be used for facial recognition services, such as tracking faces in videos and sorting photos according to the faces that are found in the photo. It also releases software development kits so that developers could come up with apps that would utilize its technology. But that was before Google bought the company.
The details about the deal were not disclosed to the public and Google was not available for comments about its latest acquisition.
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Google Goes Bezerk: Thousands Of Accounts Deleted From Google+

Google added over 10 million people to its social network in under a month, now it seems they are looking to reverse that growth in less than a week. What on earth is happening?
Reports from several sources, including irate users, are suggesting that Google is deleting accounts en-masse. No-one seems to be clear on what’s causing the mass deletions but early indications are that Google is none too happy with ‘fake names’.
Google apparently wants Google+ accounts to reflect real people, not some dreamed-up, fictionalized version of you. This requirement isn’t entirely unreasonable; after all, Facebook doesn’t like fake names either. But Google and Google+ have one very unique problem, and it takes the form of the millions of Gmail accounts out there that are registered under fake names. Thankfully my Google+ invite came through to my personal (and real) Gmail account, but it could easily have come to one of the countless fake Gmail accounts I own (sorry Google).
This proliferation of fake name Gmail accounts perhaps accounts for the inflated Google+ stats—something that is bound to make Google red in the face.
For now only people that can be considered ‘real’, i.e. well known are having their accounts reinstated. If you found yourself a casualty of Google’s delete button, and happen to be a ‘regular Joe’ or ‘regular Jane’, the word on the digital street is to wait things out. Hopefully after Google sifts out the pretenders, the genuine users can have their accounts reinstated.
Watch the video below to see more on Google+ and the rapid growth it’s enjoyed so far.
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Google+ Joins The Face Recognition Party With Latest Acquisition: Is Privacy Dead?

Google obviously sees great strength and leverage in going for inorganic growth. Gone are the days when Google got in a team and have them work feverishly at creating something—from scratch.
Today it’s all about assembling the latest Google product through a patchwork of acquisitions. Reports are that Google+ has officially thrown its hat in the face recognition ring with the acquisition of Pittsburgh start-up PittPatt. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but what’s obvious is that Google is literally trying to create its own version of Facebook. How can anyone say this isn’t the case?Face recognition technology, groups, pages, event planning—all these elements underpin the way Facebook works. But I digress.
PittPatt began originally as Carnegie Mellon University project and the technology works by allowing for the tracking of faces in videos and photos. These types of technologies are not new, but are the bane of people who think privacy is being sacrificed in the new age of social networking. Indeed, Facebook’s own use offace recognition technology has not gone down too well with many users and privacy advocates.
The question is, why has Google decided to use this technology despite assertions that it wouldn’t? The answer perhaps lies in the fact that Google+ cannot really compete with Facebook unless it first clones it, then bolts on a few features unique to Google+.
Google+ has a few pieces to add yet before it fully clones Facebook, so we can all expect more acquisitions in the near future.
Watch the video below to see more on face recognition technology in the news.
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John’s Phone, For People Who Just Need The Basics

There are people want mobile phones that have all those advanced features most smartphones now have. And then there are also those who just want a mobile phone simply for making calls and nothing else. For the latter group, there’s the John’s Phone that simplifies everything.
John’s Phone is simply a phone to take and make calls. Its just as simple as that. For people who needs simplicity, it is the only mobile phone that they will need. Even the contacts list comes in a book and pen version to make sure that they come in handy, the simple way. The John’s Phone is available at Firebox starting at US$98 for the white version pictured above.
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Cheap But Decent Tablet Becomes Possible with Andy Pad

It is hard to find a cheap tablet with decent specs, but this soon-to-be released Andy Pad looks like it. Its manufacturer has been slowly teasing on Twitter about its 7-inch Andy Pad and Andy Pad Pro. And today, the latest teaser tweet is about its price with the Andy Pad to cost £129 (about $120), while the Andy Pad Pro would be priced at £179 (about $290).
The entry-level Andy Pad features a Cortex A8 1.2 processor, resistive touchscreen with 860 x 480 resolution, 512MB of RAM, Android Gingerbread, front-facing camera, 8GB storage, microUSB, microSD, and Mini HDMI. Meanwhile, the Andy Pad Pro has the same specs, but this time has a rear-facing camera, a “SensaTouch” screen with 1,024 x 600 resolution, 16GB storage, and Bluetooth connectivity.
The release of the Andy Pad would be more than a month from now.
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TIM 3D Camera for Just $60, Requires “Film”

Who says 3D cameras have to cost an arm and a leg? TIM from Holga can shoot 3D and even half-frame images without any use of digital technology, all for just $60!
The plastic-made TIM film camera uses a detachable flash with color filters and requires 35mm film to capture your pictures. It also has double lenses that function like winking eyes, closing one at a time, to achieve the half-frame technique. Leave both lenses open and you get yourself a 3D photo.
The camera also has a multi-exposure button, a “Bulb” option for longer exposures, and a “mouth” that serves as the aperture controller.
Orders are now being accepted over at Photojojo, with a “ships in 24 hours” assurance. You can also go for the “just the camera” option for $50 or “just the flash” for $15, but where is the fun in purchasing them separately?
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AT&T Confirms LG Thrill 4G Release and Cost

Looks like you only need to count the days until you get your very own 3D smartphone.
AT&T has officially announced how its LG Thrill 4G going to be priced. The glasses-free 3D smartphone comes at a “healthy” $99 over at the carrier’s retail outlets when it becomes available “in the coming weeks.” The release comes at the heels of Radio Shack’s supposed August 7 launch date of the same phone, which the store would sell for $80 with a two-year contract.
The LG Thrill 4G features a dual-core 1GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera that can shoot both still and moving images in 3D and HD, and a 4.3-inch WVGA super LCD.
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BlackBerry Company Lays Off 2,000 Employees, Experts See It Coming

Looks like the prophetic obituary about the demise of BlackBerry is about to come true.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has announced that it is laying off about 2,000 employees, including senior managers. This comes after the BlackBerry has been overtaken by both iPhone and Android.
A recent ComScore report declares Google-made Android as the top smartphone platform in the United States, with 38% of all American smartphone users use Android devices as of May 2011. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone outran BlackBerry to become the second most-popular smartphone platform with close to 27% of the total smartphone market in the U.S. Both platforms are expected to rise in the months to come.
Last May, BlackBerry has approximately 25% hold among smartphone users, down from nearly 29% in February. Judging from the experts’ opinion, the downward trend would continue unless RIM does something about it.
“(Both) iOS and Android have thousands of developers writing applications and services for the platform and as such there are thousands of apps available on these platforms to make them very attractive and popular with consumers,” mobile analyst Chetan Sharma said in an interview with New York Daily News. “BlackBerry has been behind in the touch economy and needs to cultivate the developer ecosystem if it intends to fend off Microsoft for the distant #3 spot.”
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E-Book Apps Comply to Apple’s Demands

A lot of shaking happened among e-book sellers as the iOS App Store imposed stricter rules over apps that directly compete with Apple’s very owniBooks , including the imposition of 30 percent tax on every in-app purchases. While some e-reader apps made some changes to deal with Apple’s charges, others opted to bolt out.
Nook Kids, for instance, no longer has a link provided in the app that enables users to purchase books from Barnes & Noble. The Kobo and Borders apps have also been modified to cope with the new rules. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Kindle app has removed its “Kindle Store button” and instead adds support for magazines and newspapers.
Another major shake-up was the removal of Google Books from the iTunes App Store. Google has yet to make a statement about this development, but it is possible that the app would be back with Apple’s compliance.
It has to be pointed out, however, that iPhone and iPad users can still purchase e-book content outside of iBooks through Safari or any browser.
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Viagra and Cialis

Viagra and Cialis are the drugs of choice for men who want to remove the “dys” in erectile dysfunction, but those who have tried it were at risk of a variety of side effects such as headache, flushing, back pains, nasal congestion, impaired vision, and even heart attack. The FDA has recently approved a device that serves as a risk-reduced alternative.
The Viberect, manufactured by US-based “urological solutions” company Reflexonic, not only claims to help men with erectile dysfunction but also patients with spinal cord injuries who never get their penises function. And with the FDA recently approving Viberect, expect this device to become available as a prescription in the United States and other countries.
The Viberect works like a clamp-on vibrator that aims to stimulate specific nerves of the penis to achieve an erection. The rapid stimulation of both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the penis, using high frequencies of up to 11Hz, and ten minutes of your time are all it takes to prepare for a successful sexual intercourse. In layman’s terms, the penis can erect by repetitive manual or vaginal stimulation, but if the penis does not stimulate under normal circumstances, Viberect provides an amped-up way of doing so. You can checkthis NSFW photo to give you an idea how it is used. The company is not clear about any side effects during or after the usage of Viberect.
The price is set at $300 plus shipping, which is the same as four months of Viagra, if used every day
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Sanyo Announces Higher Capacity Eneloop Mobile Chargers

Sanyo is now known for its popular eneloop line of rechargeable batteries and mobile boosters. The company is continuing to improve on its lineup of mobile boosters as more and more portable devices requiring increasing available power are being developed. Sanyo has just recently announced that it has come up with a new line of eneloop mobile boosters armed with higher power capacities.
The new Sanyo eneloop KBC-L54D and KBC-L27D mobile boosters now come with higher capacity lithium ion batteries that can now charge most smartphones like the iPhone as well as the new tablet PC’s like the iPad. It can charge most devices with USB power ports. Its higher capacity allows it to charge devices quickly. The new eneloop KBC-L54D and KBC-L27D mobile boosters is expected to come out in Japan sometime in September. Pricing has not yet been provided.
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HTC Chacha in Philippines Suffers from “Fn + @” Bug

A Philippine-based tech blogger has reported that a fresh batch of HTC Chacha (also known as HTC Status) has one bug that affects its keyboard. Apparently, if you try to hold the Fn button and press the “Y” key, you get the Pound sign (“£”) instead of the “@” character as implied on the keyboard. According to the Abe Olandres of Yugatech, he tried “a couple of HTC Chacha,” which is distributed exclusively by carrier Smart, for a hands-on review and all units had the same problem.
For a phone that brags itself as a “Facebook phone,” using the “@” sign is a huge deal. Facebook users type it to tag their friends in a status update or comment.
After several hours, the blogger posted an update saying the “@” sign can be typed by using the Fn+P combination, but that would leave out the tilde sign (“~”).
Does this bug only affect HTC Chacha units being sold in the Philippines? We will see when the reviews from other countries start pouring in.
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Porsche Unveils Two Pricey Road Bikes

Luxury car maker Porsche is rolling out their new line of “Driver’s Selection” road bikes, in addition to the mountain bike the company previously unveiled. The Porsche Sport (or “S” as it is referred) features an aluminum frame, an 11-gear belt drive, and weighs a bit light at 12 kilograms. Meanwhile, the Porsche Rennsport (RS) weighs much lighter at 9 kilos, mainly due to its carbon frame and forks, and features a 20-gear Shimano derailleur that comes with a traditional chain and clip-in pedals. Both luxury bikes have Magura ceramic disc brakes.
And being Porsche, do not expect it to come cheap. The Porsche Sport, which you see on the picture, costs €3,300 (about $4,750), while the Porsche Rennsport is much costlier at €5,900 (more or less $8,500).
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Tablets, Desktops, Notebooks: Who's Eating Whom?

Eyebrows -- those highly mobile facial features that always get raised when people are astonished -- got a good workout Tuesday atApple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) quarterly earnings call.
Apple COO Tim Cook surprised analysts by stating that some customers are spending their money on iPads instead of new Macs.
There's long been suspicion that the iPad has been eating into sales of laptop and desktop PCs. But this may be the first time Apple's acknowledged that its tablet may also be eating into its own computer line.

Breaking Down the iFigures

Apple sold 9.25 million iPads this last quarter ending June, according to the company's statements during the earnings call.
Mac sales totaled 3.95 million, 14 percent up year over year. The street was expecting 15 percent, according to Barclays Capital, which had pegged its estimate at 22 percent higher.
However, Barclays attributed the dip to a combination of factors.
One was that consumers were holding off buying Macs before Apple introduced Mac OS X Lion, the latest version of the Mac operating system, which was unveiled Wednesday.
Another was that Apple's back-to-school promotions this year were less attractive than before.
This year, Apple's back-to-school promo consisted of a US$100 gift card for Mac App Store purchases, whereas last year it offered an 8 GB iPod on which students could get a rebate of $200.

The Possible Displacement of the Desktop

"To a degree, the iPad is cannibalizing Macs and PCs among certain groups, including kids and retirees who are mainly interested in fun applications, photo albums, and being able to retrieve their email and connect to social networking sites and the Internet via Safari," Laura DiDio, principal at ITIC, told TechNewsWorld.
Seven percent of the more than 500 respondents to the latest ITIC survey opted to buy an iPad instead of a Mac or a PC, DiDio said.
However, 30 percent said they purchased an iPad in addition to a Mac or PC.
"In a sense, that could be construed as a form of cannibalization since, if the iPads didn't exist, consumers and corporations may have opted to purchase another Mac or a PC," DiDio remarked.
About half the respondents to a Yankee Group survey of tablet owners who also owned desktop computers said they use their desktop PCs less now that they have tablets, stated Dmitriy Molchanov, an analyst at the research firm.
When he unveiled the iPad 2 in March, CEO Steve Jobs talked about what he called "the post-PC era," in which mobile devices such as the iPad will predominate. The company's planning to make Mac apps downloadable from the Internet, and it launched its Mac App Store in January for this purpose.
The Mac OS X Lion operating system, which was released Wednesday, is only available as a download from the Mac App Store.
It's possible that move toward the post-PC era is backfiring on Apple to some extent, leading to flagging sales of the Mac.
However, Cook downplayed the significance of the iPad's inroads into Mac sales, pointing out that the Windows PC market had been hit harder by the iPad.
Barclays Capital believes Mac sales will pick up again now that Mac OS X Lion has been released, and some other analysts echo that view.

The Lack of Money Is the Root of Hard Choices

The issue is not so much cannibalization as it is the economy, suggested Will Stofega, a program director at IDC. Tighter times leave people with less funds for discretionary spending, and so they have to make wiser spending decisions.
"There's only so many dollars to go around, and so there's some delay in people purchasing new desktops and Macs," Stofega told TechNewsWorld.
"The iPad's cheaper than a Mac or PC," he added.
"Going into this cycle, it was clear that spendable income hadn't increased and that iPads were likely to cannibalize traffic," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at theEnderle Group. "Yes, iPads are driving higher traffic in Apple stores, but people are choosing an iPad and not picking up a Mac as well."

Laptops and Netbooks Also Struggle

Laptops and netbooks, which were first seen as the main targets of tablets, are also being impacted.
A Yankee Group survey of tablet device owners showed that nearly half of those who also owned netbooks used the netbook less frequently now that they have a tablet, the research firm's Molchanov told TechNewsWorld.
"This shouldn't be surprising," Molchanov said. "Tablets and netbooks have similar use cases."
The iPad is the tablet mainly responsible for the difficulties of the desktop computer, laptop and netbook markets, as the other tablets haven't had anywhere near as strong an impact on buyers.
"Nobody's making the tablets right," Michael Morgan, a senior analyst at ABI Research, told TechNewsWorld.
Although there are "some 100-odd tablets" from other device manufacturers running Android and other operating systems, the iPad still has 80 percent of the tablet market, Morgan pointed out. "That's against 100-to-1 odds," he added.

Hope Springs Eternal

Despite the inroad, there will continue to be some demand for desktop computers, laptops and netbooks.
"There are plenty of people who need a full QWERTY keyboard and the capability to do multitasking that computers, laptops and netbooks offer," IDC's Stofega said.
"A lot of our business applications are geared towards QWERTY keyboards and big screens," Stofega explained.
Tablets are consumption devices, which makes it difficult for purchasers to use them at work, Stofega pointed out.
Further, the falling prices of netbooks, laptops, and desktop computers will ensure they remain in the market, ITIC's DiDio suggested.
"They're not going to be relegated to the high-tech graveyard any time soon, but they do have to make way for the new kid on the block," DiDio said
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