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    Asus PadFone 2 benchmarked, blows every other Android smartphone out of the water

    Asus’ second generation PadFone has been released in the company’s home region of Taiwan, and tech bloggers have not wasted time to grab their own unit and run it through synthetic benchmarks for all to see. We knew it would be getting high marks in Quadrant, but we were totally not expecting its eventual score. The PadFone 2 managed to get over 7,000 points in Quadrant, which is almost double of what the closest smartphone, the HTC One X+, could deliver. We still don’t have our demo unit of this particular device (and we’re still not even sure that it’ll be offered here) and this kind of video isn’t helping calm our nerves – we want to get our hands on it now more than ever before.

    Source: minipcpro (YouTube)

    HTC and Apple bury the hatchet, enter 10-year licensing deal

    While the world has been watching the epic Samsung Vs. Apple legal drama, HTC and Big Fruit have called an end to legal hostilities by agreeing to drop all the patent claims against each other and instead opting for a long-ish term licensing deal for the disputed patents. The details of the deal remain secret, but both parties seem pleased with the result and hope to be able to “focus more on innovation rather than litigation,” according to Apple. While not as big as the Samsung Vs. Apple, this turn of events brings to the table the possibility of an end to that legal battle as well. It’s great news for the consumer, too, as now tech can go its own way, depending on the whims of individual manufacturers and not courtroom bullying. Read the quick little press release from Apple HERE.

    Facebook tests nested comments feature

    Facebook is gradually rolling out their nested or threaded comments feature, which allows users to reply to individual comments on a post.

    “We are testing a new way to add comments to a post on Facebook. With this test you will be able to reply to another comment as well as the original post. This is just a small test at this stage,” a Facebook spokesperson told Venture Beat.

    The report by Venture Beat came with a screenshot of the update, showing a ‘Reply’ option next to the ‘Like’ button. Sources say that the user to whom you replied will receive a notification.

    The feature allows two layer of replies, which means that one can post another set of replies to an existing reply to a comment.

    Selected users and pages in different countries, including Thailand and the Philippines, already have access to the nested comments feature. No word yet on when it will be officially available to all users.

    Sources: Venture Beat and Kairay Media

    Samsung is asking 1 billion dollar verdict to be dismissed, says one juror was biased

    You didn’t think that Samsung is going to take the 1 billion dollar verdict against them lying down, do you? The Korean company is asking that the 1 billion dollar patent victory against them to be dismissed and retried on the grounds that one person on the jury foreman was potentially biased. Samsung says that the Jury Foreman, Velvin Hogan, did not reveal to the court that he was bankrupted by a lawsuit from a company that Samsung currently now holds stake in. That company is Seagate Technologies who sued Velvin Hogan to bankruptcy back in 1993.

    Samsung also adds that the company that represented Seagate to that trial is currently married to another lawyer in Urquhart & Sullivan, the law firm that represented the Korean company in the patent tiff against Apple. This they say is another potential source of bias.

    Apple naturally isn’t buying Samsung’s arguments, saying that “Samsung’s theory fails on the merits because the decades-old Seagate dispute has nothing to do with this case and would not have supported challenge for cause, and Samsung has not shown that Mr. Hogan’s responses were dishonest and material, as Supreme Court precedent requires.”

    Judge Lucy Koh, the original Judge in the patent trial in which Samsung lost, said she will hear both arguments in December 6.

    Source: The Register

    Nexus 4 and 7 will soon be offered by SMART

    We’ve been wondering when local telcos would pickup the newly released Nexus 4 and the upgraded Nexus 7 for contract, and it seems that the wait will soon be over for the Android faithful (at least for SMART subscribers). SMART will be offering the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 7 soon, according to the company’s official Instagram account. We’re assuming that SMART is talking about the updated, GSM version of the Nexus 7 as there would be no point for the company to offer the WiFi only version here (they make money off of the data plan, not the devices). How soon is soon? We’re betting that the company will be announcing it either this month or early next month – right in time for the holidays.

    Source: SMART (Instagram) via Unbox.ph

    Sony C660X Yuga caught in the wild: 5-inch full HD display, Qualcomm S4 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM

     

    Sony is jumping feet-first into the phablet bandwagon craze if their recently leaked Yuga smartphone is any indication. Yes, the Yuga is a 5-inch smartphone that has a full HD display, which resembles the one that’s present in the recently announced HTC J Butterfly.  As is the custom with most new hi-end devices nowadays, the Yuga will be powered by Qualcomm’s S4 quad-core processor and will have 2GB of RAM. The Yuga has a fairly decent camera too, as it possesses a 12-megapixel sensor. Topping it all off, naturally, is Android 4.1.1. The device won’t have a removable battery, but will have a microSD slot inside it. No idea yet when this’ll come out, but we have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of this thing come January.

    Source: Android Scheiwz

    The future of translation is here – video of real-time English to Mandarin translation, courtesy of Microsoft

    One of the things that always annoys us when we travel overseas is the language barrier. While there are some countries with a large, English speaking population, there’s still several countries around the world where foreigners struggle to communicate with the native population. Countries like China for example. Well, that may be soon the thing of the past, thanks to Microsoft who has posted a video online wherein they demonstrate their language translation prowess by translating real-time spoken English into Mandarin.

    That’s not all. The speaker in the video – Rick Rashid, head of Microsoft Research – says that Microsoft can translate English into Mandarin, and speak it in the user’s own voice. That’s accomplished by feeding their translation machine an hours’ worth of spoken data, and the machine does the rest. It’s pretty cool and freaky. You can check-it out in the video below, and the fun starts at 5:30.

    Source: TNW

    Hands-on: Angry Birds Star Wars

    When Rovio and LucasArts announced Angry Birds Star Wars a couple of weeks ago, our inner Star Wars nerd cringed like there was no tomorrow. While we’re pretty used to George Lucas squeezing every little bit of merchandising from the revered sci-fi franchise, most of the Star Wars faithful wasn’t really counting on Lucas teaming up with the hit mobile game maker. They also weren’t counting on Disney buying the rights to the franchise, so it’s safe to say at this point anything is possible. We braced for the worst, expecting another shoddily coded game made solely for merchandising opportunities. That was our mindset going into playing the new game, and we’re pleasantly surprised that that’s not the case.

    If you haven’t already guessed, Angry Birds Star Wars combines the gameplay and mechanics of Angry Birds with the characters and setting of Star Wars. Our intrepid, slingshot launched fowls are now cute approximations of recognizable characters from the franchise, which include Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Chewbacca. Accordingly, their swine opponents are now clothed in the traditional livery of the Galactic Empire, which includes Pork Vader.

    The game combines the gameplay mechanics from the original game and the successful space expansion, so players can expect to battle the pigs in both terrestrial and space environments. The powers of the birds have also been slightly tweaked to conform to the Star Wars universe – you can now use lightsabers to cut through structures, use the force to push and collapse structures in the direction you want or shoot down pillars and supports using blasters.

    There have been changes in the environment as well. Stormtroopigs aren’t just static targets this time around – they’re completely capable of shooting blasters in predetermined areas that repels the trajectory of the incoming birds. Some structures also redirect blaster fire (while taking damage) which makes for some tricky shots in some stages. Players can also take advantage of blaster-toting pigs by knocking out support structures underneath them and redirecting their blaster shots to their compatriots and the structures they stand on.

    Players can also call in heavy artillery to blast the pigs to kingdom come using the Millennium Falcon. This ability is especially handy when you’ve already reached your limit in terms of patience for a particular stage and just want to get it over with. A single run with the Falcon usually annihilates most enemies and structures, which allows you to clean up a stage quickly with whatever birds you have left. The Falcon is a limited resource though, and is only replenished by achieving hi-scores at the end of each stage.

    Angry Birds Star Wars is pretty good, and should be on the top of most people’s download list. We haven’t gone through the entire game, but from what we’re seeing, it’s worth a download. The game is available in the iTunes store, and through Google Play.

     

    Power Mac Center is first Apple Premium Service Provider in PH

    Power Mac Center was recently hailed as an Apple Premium Service Provider (APSP), being the first and only service center in the country to achieve such status.

    The APSP authorization is given to companies all over the world that meet Apple’s standards in delivering a consistent high level of quality and performance in terms of customer service.

    Technical service director of PMC Service Center Jayme Laguio considers this recognition as the culmination of all their hard work and is a testament to their successful teamwork. “It’s a proud moment for us to be placed in a prestigious category. Before being named as an APSP, PMC had to hurdle all the requirements included in Apple’s stringent checklist for such accreditation,” he stated.

    Included in the stringent criteria for accreditation is having Apple Certified Macintosh Technicians status for PMC’s engineers. The engineers had to prove that they had high technical proficiency by meeting certain criteria set by Apple’s Service Excellence Scoring, including the evaluation of their performance and customer satisfaction (CSAT).

    The PMC main service center at Northeast Square, Greenhills, San Juan reportedly has a 48% share in the Apple repairs market, combining the contribution of all PMC’s Apple Service Providers, thereby making PMC the largest service provider of Apple products throughout the country.

    “To maintain its APSP status, PMC-Northeast Square’s service team is dedicated to ensure that they satisfy its customers all the time with great turn-around time and over-all customer experience,” said PMC Marketing Director Joey Alvarez. He added, “For customers, it’s their seal of guarantee that it is the place where they can get the best advice and repair options for their units, and that Apple products are very well taken care of by certified Apple technicians.”

    Currently, PMC has a total of 14 stores located in SM Megamall, The Annex at SM City North EDSA, TriNoma, SM City Marikina, Power Plant Mall, Festival Supermall, Northeast Square in Greenhills, Greenbelt 3, SM Mall of Asia, SM City Pampanga, SM City Bacoor, The Podium, Harbor Point in Subic and Abreeza Mall in Davao City.

    Google-Powered Free Zone for Globe subscribers now online

    There was a time not long ago when, if one needed information, one would have to scour the dusty pages of an encyclopedia, dig through a card catalog or head to the nearest know-it-all friend who knows an absurd amount of info about everything. These days, it’s a lot more straightforward. Just head over to your search engine of choice, plug in your question, and hey, presto. You’re an instant expert. This is usually the solution to every little problem we find when we are at home, but for the vast majority of people, heading outdoors can ruin this beautiful world of free information. Globe and Google want to bring this power back to us, even when we are untethered from our home connections through the Globe’s Free Zone, powered by Google. In this free internet zone, users have access to Google search, as well as the first page of any of the links that appear as a result of the search, as well as access to their Gmail and Google+ accounts at absolutely no cost. all you need is a globe prepaid account, a capable mobile phone and a pair of thumbs. Users still have the option to move outside the free zone, but will have to pay the requisite charges. Google and Globe hope to give people access to the Internet at all times, for anything they may need (as long as you can find it on the first page.) Know more about this awesome new service by heading to www.libre.ph

    Huawei launches the Ascend P1

    Huawei device yesterday launched three devices that they hope will allow consumers more unique options in today’s crowded smartphone market. The Ascent P1 is a device that brings to the forefront Huawei’s extensive knowledge in mobile network management and a beautiful design aesthetic. The tech giant, more commonly known for their industry-level cellular network hardware and smaller, consumer level network solutions has made its way into the smartphone market with a smartphone that gives unparalleled performance that stands a cut above all the others that flood the market.

     

    The Ascend P1 features a dual-core 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4460 Cortext-A9 processor and measures 7.69mm thin and 64.8 mm long, and sits perfectly in the hand at a mere 110 grams. It comes with a 4.3-inch, 960 x 540 pixel super AMOLED touch screen under Corning Gorilla Glass, an 8-megapixel BSI rear-facing camera and Dolby Mobile 3.0 + 5.1 surround sound technology. The device comes with 1GB of RAM, for fast, smooth performance, and 4GB of storage, expandable to 32 GB through a MicroSD slot. It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and will be available for a retail price of 18,890.

    Petron offers “Passion for Porsche” promo

    Petron, the country’s leading oil company, is offering sports car lovers the opportunity to have their very own collection of Porsche toy cars through the “Petron Passion for Porsche” promo, beginning November 1, 2012.

    For only P1,000-worth of fuel purchase, using a single or accumulated receipts, a Petron customer can avail of a Porsche collectible toy car for only P180.  Four models will be offered initially—a black Porsche Carrera, a red Porsche Cayman, a blue Porsche Panamera, and a silver Porsche Cayenne. To complete your set of 5, the white Porsche GT3 RSR will be available starting December 1, 2012.

    As part of the Petron Collectibles Limited Edition items, the Porsche toy cars are 1:32 scale models of the actual cars, and are made of high-quality die cast metal.  Each car is a carefully detailed collector’s model packaged with a removable base.  Enhancing its sports car feel are additional functions not found in other scale models. The toy cars in the Petron Porsche collection are equipped with a sound chip and LED head and taillights. The cars produce a realistic revving engine sound, as well as horn and car alarm sounds. The car doors can be opened, which triggers the car alarm and flashing head and taillights. The Petron Porsche toy cars also have pull-back action so you could indulge your racing dreams.

    The “Petron Passion for Porsche” promo is offered at all participating Petron service stations nationwide, and can be availed of with qualified purchases of Petron fuels—Blaze, XCS, Xtra Unleaded, Diesel Max and Turbo Diesel. The toy car can only be purchased at the participating Petron station where the customer loaded fuel, or same site redemption only. The promo is valid for cash and credit card transactions, and will run until January 31, 2013.

    Petron is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines. Its refinery produces a full-range of petroleum products to supply nearly 40% of the country’s total fuel requirements. Its high-quality gasoline and diesel fuels have been proven to optimize the performance of many car brands. Petron also has strong partnerships and supports the initiatives of local automotive companies, such as the recently concluded Lakbay Alalay Undas where it partnered with Honda to provide Free Safety Check services.

    As a mark of its strong market acceptance, Petron has been awarded with a Gold Trusted Brand award in the service station category by Readers’ Digest for 12 consecutive years—proof of Petron’s trustworthiness, credibility, quality, value, understanding of customers’ needs, innovativeness, and social responsibility.

    LG outs World’s first 29-inch, 21:9 ultrawide monitor

    Thought your 16:10 display was hot stuff? Think again. LG has just outed the world’s first 29-inch 21:9 ultrawide PC monitor, which puts most of our 16:10 displays to shame. This behemoth uses an IPS panel, offers  a 4-Screen Split feature and 100 percent sRGB color space capability. While there are typically few uses for this kind of display for normal users, graphic artists would definitely appreciate the added work real-estate that this particular device brings, as well as 100 sRGB color space. Gamers will probably find this display to their liking as well, especially those who like to use dual-GPU setups. No word on price yet, and LG has said they will rolling this particular display out in Korea first before hitting the rest of the world later this month.

    Ford Philippines posts best-ever monthly sales

    Ford Philippines today reported that October represented its all-time best monthly performance, with strong demand across all nameplates driving overall retail sales up by 50 percent year-over-year to 1,248 units.

    The Ford Ranger pickup posted a staggering 213 percent jump in sales, finishing at 282 units sold, while the sport utility vehicle (SUV) Ford Everest finished in at 311 units sold. The Ford Escape rose 67 percent to finish at 142 units sold, while the Ford Fiesta recorded a 26 percent rise in sales, finishing at 307 units sold.

    “Customer response to our newly launched One Ford vehicles has been exceptional. Segment leading vehicles like the all-new Ranger, the technology packed all-new Focus, the all-new Explorer with EcoBoost, and the iconic Ford Mustang, are really helping widen the appeal of the Ford brand to so many new-to-Ford customers,” said Randy Krieger, president of Ford Philippines.

    Four new models were launched in October to propel Ford Philippines to record-breaking sales figures, including the all-new Ford Ranger, all-new Explorer with EcoBoost, all-new Focus and the Ford Mustang sports car.

    “Our record performance in October is further evidence that Ford continues to deliver vehicles that our customers want and value—and just as importantly to them—that are affordable,” added Krieger.

    US courts order Apple to pay $368 million for FaceTime patent infringement

    Apple just can’t catch a break—now a US court has ordered Apple to pay $368 million to VirnetX for infringing on four patents related to Apple’s FaceTime technology. VirnetX initially sued for $708 million. These patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,502,135, 7,418,504, 7,921,211, and 7,940,151, which all relate to establishing secure communication links between devices. VirnetX is a technology firm specializing in virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow companies to establish secure links to remote computers.

    Commenting on the win, Kendall Larsen, VirnetX CEO and President, said in a statement: “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of our suit with Apple. This victory further establishes the importance of our patent portfolio.”

    VirnetX isn’t just targeting Apple, although it has another separate claim against Apple at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. VirnetX also has other pending cases against other technology companies such as Cisco, Avaya, and Siemens. VirnetX also had a case against Microsoft, winning a $200 million settlement from them for similar claims. Upon hearing of VirnetX’s victory against Apple, VirnetX stock surged 28 percent from $26.29 a share to $33.61 a share.

    “Apple does not owe money to VirnetX,” Danny Williams, a lawyer with Williams, Morgan & Amerson in Houston who represents Apple, told the jury. “VirnetX is not entitled to money for things they did not invent. The VirnetX technology, if used, is a small part of very large, complex products.”