By Paul Thomson :: 2:03 PM
Nokia has announced that the popular Lumia 920
The Nokia Lumia 920 availability has been highly anticipated, especially because pricing plans on EE were not attractive to U.K. wireless customers.
The Lumia 920 launched in the United States on AT&T’s network in November 2012, and was Nokia’s first Windows 8 handset in the U.S. market.
It is also rumored that Verizon will offer the Lumia 920 in the near future, but no dates have been released yet.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 9:18 AM
Samsung has announced that it will now no longer plan to release a Windows RT device in the United States because of low demand issues for the scaled-down OS. In an interview aired on CNET at CES, the company said it was canceling its planned release of its ATIV tablet
“When we added those two things up, the investments necessary to educate the consumer on the difference between RT and Windows 8
The issue with Windows RT is that it is a scaled-down version of Windows 8 specifically designed for use on tablet computers. The software is not as fully featured as Windows 8, and many consumers have found the difference between RT and Windows 8 to be confusing, especially as they try to compare options across a range of hardware.
Samsung’s snub of Microsoft couldn’t come at a worse time for the Redmond, WA giant. Unlike previous versions of Windows software releases, Windows 8 has not created a rise in PC sales, and many hardware manufacturers are losing patience with Microsoft.
Samsung has not ruled out an RT device for the U.S. market completely. Abary explained that they will revisit this issue at a later date.
By Gilbert Falso :: 7:57 AM
As the world’s largest social media network looks to combat spam messaging, one of the ideas it is trying out is charging a fee to message users who are not friends of the message sender.
Indeed, many users are reporting seeing a fee to send messages to people – but it isn’t always a set value, and some users are seeing amounts as low as $1. Originally it seemed as if the network was putting a high price on celebrities or people with large followings, but that does not seem to be the case. For some users, the requested dollar amount seems very random. Facebook, it seems, is trying things out with a number of possibilities to see what generates the most positive response, and most likely, revenue for the company.
When Facebook users message someone outside of their Friends list, that message will go into the “Other†section of the Facebook Messages inbox. This is akin to the Spam folder in your Gmail – you never go in there, right? Most Facebook users never look in their “Other†section. The money that Facebook wants to charge you to send a message to a non-friend means that your message will go right into their Messages inbox, and not onto the “Other†section.
Have you seen a change in the options when you send a Facebook message? Feel free to tell us: @TheSocialZoo.
By Paul Thomson :: 6:22 AM
Google has sent its Google Maps Streetview cars equipped with cameras, to areas of the metropolitan New York City region to map out and document the destruction in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy.
The first Google car was reported earlier this month, and covered in the New York Post. Some residents told the Post that they were concerned that documentation of the damage might decrease area property values, and was invasive and insensitive.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office said that city officials have been working with Google in hopes that documenting the extent of the devastation will help with fundraising efforts.
Google is no stranger to documenting the aftermath of natural disasters. Google used its mapping software in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, major flooding in Pakistan and a devastating earthquake in Turkey.
The company runs a philanthropic arm, called Google.org, that is responsible for the Google Crisis Response project which helps ensure critical information about natural disasters and crises is accessible and up-to-date with the use of satellite imagery and new engineering and location-based mapping tools.
By Gilbert Falso 2:28 AM
This week at CES was a big one for electronics giant Sony. Among the televisions, audio offerings and cameras, the company also released its flagship smartphone handset, the Xperia Z.
A large phone – almost halfway to a tablet, really, but very thin, this phone’s claim to fame is the fact that it is both dust and water-resistant. It will even survive a brief dunk underwater.
Under the hood, it’s an Android world, with a quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor powering things, and a 1080p display, with a 13-megapixel built-in camera. Slightly wider than competitor its close competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S3
Sony hasn’t released an availability date yet for the Xperia, but it may come before the Galaxy S4 – which could leave many Android phone fans in a bit of a quandary!