Notorious industry insider Eldar Murtazin has made yet another forward-looking statement, this time regarding Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and one very special Samsung device. This leaves just one question in our minds: Is this one of his hits, or is it another miss?

According to a tweet (below) from the Moscow-based blogger, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be delivered to the Samsung Galaxy S II. After its regional offices had announced which devices would receive ICS, Samsung confirmed in December that the GS II, the Galaxy Note, and Galaxy Tab models will get Android 4.0 in the first quarter of 2012.

Android 4 aka ics for sgs2 will be officially available from march 1(depends from country/operator). Update over the air or using kies

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) February 10, 2012

Murtazin’s comments are in line with the time-table given by Samsung, but his prediction seems to exclude the Galaxy Tabs and the Note. At the same time, the Galaxy S II is in over 10 million hands so perhaps Mr. Murtazin just decided to lead with the flagship. Or he only has information on the Galaxy S II.

Either way, this gives us something fun to think about.

Even if the Galaxy Tab and Note updates are released a little bit after the Galaxy S II, chances are we can assume that the much-anticipated Galaxy S III will launch with ICS.

Here’s why: The GS III isn’t launching at MWC. If Murtazin is right about a March 1 OTA update, and the GS III launch is undoubtedly post-March 1, it’s pretty safe to assume that ICS will be ready to ship on the GS III along with its predecessor.

It's never easy to leave Japan -- the friendly people, incredible food, cutting-edge tech, clean streets and efficient public transit network mean we never hesitate when given an opportunity to visit this incredible country. But sadly, our latest adventure has come to an end. This year's CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show brought thousands of photography fans to Yokohama, a metropolis just a short train ride away from Tokyo. And while CP+ is still primarily a Japanese trade show, it served as the global launching ground for dozens of top camera models, including the Nikon D800, Olympus E-M5 and Pentax K-01, just to name a few. Bag and tripod manufacturers could be found spattered amongst the Japanese camera giants, but overall this show was more about the latest cameras than gimmicky accessories. There was still plenty of entertainment to be found on the show floor, so scroll through our gallery below for an inside look at life at CP+, or jump past the break for a roundup of our hands-ons and related news stories. Sayonara!

Gallery: CP+ 2012 wrap-up

Continue reading CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show wrap-up

CP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show wrap-up originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You don't see many lenses pop up 'round these parts, but Sony's new 500mm f/4 G SSM optic is impressive enough to warrant some hands-on attention. We spotted the new A-mount telephoto mounted on an Alpha A77 at Sony's booth at CP+ 2012, and queued up for a chance to take some shots. The lens focused surprisingly quickly, especially given its massive 500mm fixed focal length. Moving from subject to subject at varying distances, we were typically able to achieve focus in a fraction of a second. Long lenses have traditionally been tricky on the focus front, but this guy handled it like a champ, with speeds that appeared to rival far shorter primes. The SAL500F40G, as it's to be known, will be hand built to order beginning in March, with a yet-to-be-confirmed (likely sky-high) price tag. Click on past the break to see just how quickly we can hone in on some wild CP+ show floor action.

Gallery: Sony 500mm f/4 G SSM lens hands-on

Continue reading Sony 500mm f/4 G SSM lens hands-on (video)

Sony 500mm f/4 G SSM lens hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today's lucky beggar award goes to Graham Innes in Canada, who wrote in to tell us that he found a PlayStation Vita sitting on his doorstep. It wasn't a total surprise, since he'd ordered one from Amazon.ca, but what's weird is just how soon it arrived -- the early-bird First Edition doesn't launch until February 15th and the general release is a whole week after that. If the injustice burns, console yourself with the thought that Graham probably can't access the store to download any games.

Canadian gets PlayStation Vita early thanks to faith, good works originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This above is the first glimpse of Android 4.0 running on the Nokia N9. Yes, it looks like Ice Cream Sandwich is in being ported to the company's iconic handset by no other than Alexey Roslyakov and team NITDroid -- the folks who previously put Android on the Nokia N900. The project, which is still in its early stages, made significant progress after recently overcoming a framebuffer driver/HAL hurdle, allowing ICS to be displayed on the phone. In addition, a dual-boot solution is in the works letting Meego and Android 4.0 coexist on the device. We certainly can't wait to experience using Ice Cream Sandwich on some of the hottest white hardware around. Can you?

Nokia N9 spotted running Ice Cream Sandwich, dual-boot in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Steve Troughton-Smith (Twitter), Netbooknews  |  Alexey Roslyakov (Twitter), talk.maemo.org  | Email this | Comments

Motorola suffered a setback in Germany this morning, after a Mannheim Regional Court struck down one of the company's several patent lawsuits against Apple. The patent in question, EP1053613, is considered essential to the 3G/UMTS wireless standard and, more specifically, pertains to a "method and system for generating a complex pseudonoise sequence for processing a code division multiple access [CDMA] signal." Motorola Mobility had argued that Apple's products had infringed upon this patent, but Judge Andreas Voss today dismissed these claims, on the basis that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate Cupertino's violation. It's undoubtedly a welcomed victory for Apple, which had been suffering through something of a losing streak against Motorola, but their ongoing tug-of-war is far from over. Neither Motorola nor Apple have commented on the decision, but we'll update this post as soon as we hear more.

German court dismisses Motorola's patent lawsuit against Apple originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here are some recent stories on TechCrunch Gadgets:

Is Google Hard At Work On New Home Entertainment System?

Microsoft Explains Windows On ARM, The Latest Addition To The OS Family

Kodak Shutters Digital Camera Business In Favor Of Licensing, Photo Printing

You Can Buy Me Love, But Please Don’t Buy Me Gadgets

Intel's three-year tussle with the state of New York finally came to an end yesterday, with a settlement of relatively harmless proportion. Under the arrangement, Intel will have to shell out a mere $6.5 million to resolve a 2009 antitrust lawsuit filed by then-attorney general Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo, who has since ascended to the seat of governor, had accused the chipmaker of intimidating PC manufacturers and handing out billion-dollar kickbacks, as part of what he called a "systematic worldwide campaign" to assert its market dominance. The case has since been helmed by Cuomo's successor, current attorney general Eric Schneiderman, but its sails lost a lot of wind when U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark barred the state from seeking triple damages, limiting its claims to a three-year period, rather than the four-to-six that the state had been pursuing. As a result, Intel suffered only the slightest of financial blows.

According to Reuters, the $6.5 million sum represents just five hours worth of profit for the company, which reported a net income of nearly $13 billion last year. Intel was pleased with the news, pointing out that the agreement doesn't require it to admit any wrongdoing. Schneiderman, on the other hand, seemed notably less enthusiastic, with office spokeswoman Jennifer Givner telling reporters that the state's lawyers still think they have a case against Intel, but "in light of the court's decision believe that no purpose is served by pursuing the matter further."

Intel settles antitrust lawsuit with New York attorney general, pays hardly anything originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PaperKarma is one of those ideas that make you realize that the future is nigh.  The concept behind it? See a piece of junk mail that offends you in your mail box — anything from magazines, catalogs, coupon books, fliers, credit card offers, and the root of all evils, the Yellow Pages — take a picture of it and boom, the PaperKarma team will “take care” of it, mafia style.

“ I love Costco, I love Trader Joes, but I don’t want to constantly get their magazines and catalogues,” says PaperKarma CEO Sean Mortazavi on the motivation behind the project.

So what does it do? Well every time a user takes a photo and taps “Unsubscribe,” PaperKarma either uses its “massive” database or Mechanical Turk to figure out who sent the junk mail. Then it either submits an “Unsubscribe” form or sends an email application in order to eliminate the paper spam, gradually cutting down on pollution and annoyance.

Cool right? The company — which is in the same space as Catalogchoice and Unsubscribe – is bootstrapped and completely mobile. Sweet.

It’s future plans according to Mortazavi? Growing into the largest “this thing” of its kind built.

You can download PaperKarma from the iOS store here.

Just as Netflix is nearly ubiquitous on media streaming platforms in the US, BBC's iPlayer is pretty much a default app in the UK so it's no surprise to see it show up on Roku's boxes just as they start shipping across the Atlantic. As detailed in the press release after the break, those shiny new Roku LT and Roku 2 XS hockey pucks are well on their way to punters who've shelled out £50 / £100, respectively, with over 40 available channels. Unfortunately, that announcement doesn't extend to global iPlayer support outside the UK and Republic of Ireland, so we'll have to catch up on Spooks some other way.

Continue reading Roku adds BBC iPlayer channel as it starts shipping in the UK

Roku adds BBC iPlayer channel as it starts shipping in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wolfram Alpha has made some fairly big strides in its few short years of existence, but the so-called computational knowledge engine has now rolled out what founder Stephen Wolfram says is the "the single most important development for Wolfram Alpha since the original website launched in 2009." That development is Wolfram Alpha Pro, a new premium service that will run you $4.99 a month (or $2.99/month for students) and give you access to a wealth of new options for both input and output. On the input end, you can now upload images, audio and other files (over 60 types in all) for automatic analysis and a detailed report -- according to Stephen Wolfram, the ultimate goal being "to do what a top data scientist would do if given the user's data." As for output, you'll now be able to take advantage of a number of richer download options, including the ability to interact with and tailor the reports to your liking. As you might expect, however, that's just scratching the surface -- you can get a detailed look at the new service at the links below, or take it for a spin yourself with a free trial subscription.

Continue reading Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis

Wolfram Alpha Pro now available, $4.99 a month will let you throw almost anything at it for analysis originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've been seeing Bluetooth make more and more inroads into fitness gadgets as of late, and it looks like the Bluetooth Special Interest Group is intent on seeing that trend continue. It announced the formation of a new Sports and Fitness Working Group today, which will be tasked with increasing the interoperability between wearable gadgets and other sensors and so-called "hub" devices like smartphones, TVs and gym equipment. That's a fairly natural fit for Bluetooth now, but it's taken until Bluetooth 4.0 for the standard to really emerge as a viable alternative to lower-power options like ANT+ (now commonly used in heart rate monitors and the like).

Continue reading Bluetooth SIG forms new working group focused on fitness gadgets

Bluetooth SIG forms new working group focused on fitness gadgets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Got a Rogers wireless account? Then you can now take advantage of a new service that, for a change, won't cost you anything extra. While it's not quite a full-on Google Voice alternative, the company's new Rogers One Number service will let you make phones calls, video calls, and send and receive text messages for free from your computer (Windows or Mac), as well as let you maintain a unified inbox and contact list across all of your devices (assuming you use Gmail or Yahoo Mail). You're also able to switch a call from your cellphone to your computer without hanging up, and then turn that voice call into a video call if you choose, but your options are otherwise a bit limited on the mobile end; you can manage your contacts and such, but not use one number for multiple devices, or take advantage of free calling or texting. Rogers' demo video can be found after the break, and you can get a more in-depth look courtesy of MobileSyrup's hands-on at the link below.

[Thanks, Adam]

Continue reading Rogers One Number service offers free computer-based calls and texting, unified inbox

Rogers One Number service offers free computer-based calls and texting, unified inbox originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Amazon Web Services may be launching a new workflow manager called SWF. First spotted by TechCrunch reader Michael Hood, SWF is listed as a service under AWS’ Free Usage Tier. Unfortunately, clicking on SWF takes you to a ’404′ page.

Upon further digging, it looks like SWF stands for ‘Amazon Simple Workflow Service.’ It basically starts, runs, and retains workflow executions, as well as schedules tasks, adds markers, receives signals, and starts timers for those workflow executions. According to the information listed, with the free usage tier, “1,000 Amazon SWF executions can be initiated for free. A total of 10,000 activity tasks, signals, timers and markers and 30,000 workflow-days can also be used for free.”

Amazon’s free usage tier allows users to run a free Amazon EC2 Micro Instance for a year, and use Amazon S3, Amazon Elastic Block Store, Amazon Elastic Load Balancing, and AWS data transfer for free as well. AWS’s free usage tier can be used to run an application in the cloud, including launching new applications, testing existing applications in the cloud, or more. SWF would be included for free in this package.

Obviously, with so little information, it’s hard to determine the exact details of what SWF does or who it will compete with at this point, but it appears to be new. We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment and will update when we hear back.

Update: Amazon has taken all mentions of SWF off of the AWS Free Usage Tier Site; and has yet to comment.

We’ve embedded screenshots below:

We're here at the Tesla Design Studio in Los Angeles, where Elon Musk just unveiled his startup's third vehicle: an SUV it calls the Model X. It's party piece is a pair of double-hinged "Falcon Wing" rear doors which apparently make loading people and things easier, as you reach into the car not over it. According to Musk they'll open in tighter spots than a traditional door, and swivel high enough to fit a standing human. Powered by an AWD variant of the Model S' drivetrain, it'll do 0-60MPH in 4.4 seconds in its most performant guise, a figure that matches the most brawny variant of Tesla's sedan, despite being a much larger vehicle. And because it's devoid of a space-hogging ICE, that front portion is a trunk, Musk lovingly calls the "Frunk." Per GigaOm, the seven-seater will cost in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, with first deliveries of the "Signature Series" arriving in late 2013 before mass production starts in 2014. If that sounds like your kind of beat, those interested can begin reservations on Tesla's website tomorrow at noon.

Gallery: Tesla Model X launch

Gallery: Tesla Model X eyes-on

Tesla unveils Model X SUV, wants to be your all-electric crossover originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The madness of CES 2012 is long over and now that we've seen all of the new HDTVs, it's time to find out when they're actually going on sale, and for how much. HDGuru has just dug up advertised pricing for some of the new models from Sony (BX, EX and HX lines) and Sharp (640, 745, 844, 847 and 945), while US pricing and ship dates for Panasonic's new plasmas have been revealed by Value Electronics. For Samsung, some of the new HDTVs have already showed up for preorders at retailers like Vanns, including the top of the line 75-inch ES8000 priced at $7,999, while a more reasonably sized 46-inch model is $2,699. Sony's prices range from $399 for the KDL-32BX320 to $2299 for the KDL-55HX750, while Sharp's range from LC-46-L540U for $1,099 to the LC-80LE844U for $6,499. Most of the ship dates are still TBA, although Panasonic is planning to unleash the ST50 later this month, followed by the UT50 and GT50, then the top of the line VT50 in May. While we wait for official announcements, you can hit the source links below for more details, and let us know if you've seen any other 2012 model information peeking out early.

2012 HDTV pricing leaks out for Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, your iPad 2 has a camera, but that doesn't mean you should be using it to take pictures. One of the biggest point-and-shoot trends to pick up speed in 2012 is built-in WiFi, letting you capture higher quality stills and videos with your dedicated imaging device and transfer them directly to the web, or to a smartphone or tablet on the same WiFi network. The PowerShot ELPH 530 HS is Canon's latest pocket shooter to employ this feature, and the company had a few samples on hand at CP+ 2012 in Yokohama, Japan to demonstrate how it works.

We took the 530 HS for a cordless spin, connecting the iPad to the camera's Ad-Hoc (point-to-point) network and launching the Canon CameraWindow app. After a few seconds (and quite a few taps on the 10-megapixel cam's 3.2-inch LCD), we had the two devices communicating, with a final click sending the image from the ELPH directly to the iPad's screen. That seconds-long connection delay may be inconsequential when transferring a day's worth of photos, but it's a slight inconvenience if you're only trying to transfer a single image. The camera also includes built-in Twitter and Facebook upload functionality, though, bypassing the Apple middleman entirely. The $349 ELPH 530 HS won't be shipping until April, at which point you may be refreshing your tablet as well. Jump past the break for a quick video demo.

Gallery: Canon PowerShot ELPH 530 HS hands-on

Continue reading Canon PowerShot ELPH 530 HS WiFi iPad transfer hands-on (video)

Canon PowerShot ELPH 530 HS WiFi iPad transfer hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you listen, read, or watch through a Facebook Open Graph app, a few of your friends hear about through the news feed, Ticker, or Timeline. Starting this week, Facebook is allowing advertisers to pay for more exposure of listen, read, or watch stories that mention them by turning the stories into a new form of Sponsored Story social ads.

Open Graph action Sponsored Stories could further Facebook’s goal of turn all ads social, and boost revenue by filling the new inventory from Facebook now permitting Sponsored Stories ads in the news feed.

Facebook tells me that for now this is a small pilot program being tested with just a few advertisers, but it could blossom into the ability for advertisers to sponsor any Open Graph action. Above you’ll see a mockup of what the ads could look like in the news feed.

Previously, advertisers could only turn actions taken by users on their own Pages, apps, and local business Places into Sponsored Stories. This excluded plenty of advertisers whose content was being interacted with through apps owned by others. For example, a record label could Sponsor Likes of their artists’ Pages, but not listens of those artists through Spotify.

Now, a band could sponsor listens of their songs, and TV studios could sponsor watches of their episodes on Hulu or Netflix. Catering to a wider range of advertisers, anyone featured in a news article could pay to expose a link to it to the friends of those who’ve already read it. These action Sponsored Story ads complement Open Graph activity ad targeting that lets advertisers reach users who’ve taken a selected action with traditional ads.

Facebook sees Open Graph applications as the soul of its future ads business. Rather than letting advertisers bombard users with irrelevant pitches based on general biographical data, ads show the actions of friends and are targeted by a user’s own behavior. This creates a win trifecta — more relevant ads for users, better - and conversion rates for advertisers, and more money for Facebook and its future investors.

The culture of hacking continues to bloom in New York, evidenced last weekend by Columbia’s DevFest 2012. DevFest is entirely student run, and had workshops and support from local VC firms and startups. The event culminated with presentations of hacks and awards judged by Fred Wilson (USV), Chris Wiggins (HackNY), Dave Jagoda (Andreeson Horowitz), Ryan Bubinski (Codecademy) and myself (Uncommon Projects). A full list of the winners is below.

DevFest and the entire developer scene has really blossomed since I covered last year’s event. To wit: HackNY hosted its successful Raise Cache event, NYHacker organized Game and Music Hackdays, Foursquare hosted its first and second (global) hackathon, we saw our first Art Hackday, New York Tech Meetup launched Hack of the Month, Etsy continued its awesome Code as Craft lecture series, students launched the Hacker league platform, GroupMe (TC Hackathon 2010) got acquired and Docracy (TC Hackathon 2011) got funded just to name a few developments. All this hacking is a huge win for New York because hacking leads to so much innovation – recently Eric Ries argued that the culture hacking and continuous development may be a new way of doing business and the heart of Facebook’s success.

But back to the kids. There were tons of great hacks – from a student presenting her very first hack, a crowd-srouced mobile marketplace for buying parking spots and the winning task manager by Sid Nair. Here’s a list of them all.

Lerner -Best use of the Twilio API - Zhehao (Howie) Mao
Beer Battle - Best game - Augusto Corvalan, Andrew Funcheon, Trevor Marshall, Moses Nakamura, and Andrew Stenvall
ParkAlly – Best pre-existing app - Sid Shanker, Mason Silber, and Zach Reitano
Situity – Best UI design - Alex Golec, Calvin Hu, Simon McGown, George Valdes, Ming Norman Tsui, and David Zhai
CookNooks – Best first hack - Sophie Chou
FreeSeat – Most technically difficult - Aditya Mukerjee and Zach Newman
ResearchMatch – Best business model - Yifan Li, Ryder Moody, Alex Poon, and Rebecca Sealfon
HelpRoom – Overall 3rd - Dina Lamdany and Elie Toubiana
omnified – Overall 2nd - Yufei Liu
Scheduler – Overall 1st - Sid Nair

Remember the Canon PowerShot D10? The company's first ruggedized underwater cam was a solid snapper, but its bulky submarine-like design made it impractical for most surface-based shoots. The PowerShot D20 offers a drastic improvement over its predecessor in the appearance department, more closely resembling a compact point-and-shoot than a subaqueous vessel. We can't speak to the cam's image quality just yet, but assuming its on-par with the D10, we'd say the latest D model is worth some serious consideration as an upgrade, even for a reduction in footprint alone. The D20 includes a 12.1-megapixel HS (high-sensitivity) CMOS sensor, a bright 3-inch LCD and a 5x 28mm optically stabilized zoom lens. It's waterproof to depths of 10 meters (33 feet), can survive drops from a height of 1.5 meters (5 feet) and can operate in temperatures ranging from 14 degrees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. There's also a top sensitivity of ISO 3200, and a built-in GPS.

We spent a few minutes with the D20 at Canon's booth at CP+ 2012 in Yokohama, Japan, and were quite impressed with the improved design. Naturally, it's a solid-feeling point-and-shoot, with protected components and airtight port covers. Company reps didn't bat an eye when we unintentionally tested the camera's durability with a mild drop. There's a standard-issue PowerShot interface, with a fairly straightforward menu structure, and the camera felt plenty snappy, focusing and firing off an image almost instantaneously. It's noticeably larger than the company's more compact land-limited models, but there's no reason you wouldn't feel just as comfortable using this to shoot your child's first birthday party as you would their first scuba lesson. The $349 PowerShot D20 won't be hitting stores until May, but you can jump past the break for a quick look in the meantime.

Gallery: Canon PowerShot D20 hands-on

Continue reading Canon PowerShot D20 ruggedized point-and-shoot camera hands-on (video)

Canon PowerShot D20 ruggedized point-and-shoot camera hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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