04
Dec
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This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see What Is Your Ideal Tablet Screen Size?

In light of the slew of Asus Transformer Prime (the first tablet to pack NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 CPU) reviews and the pending release of said device, we are curious to know: would you still buy a dual-core tablet? Perhaps you would, but only for a secondary/budget tablet? Or only if it were smaller? Sound off in the poll below, and head down to the comments to share your thoughts.

Now That The First Quad-Core Tablet Has Landed, Would You Still Buy A Dual-Core Tablet?

03
Dec
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Last Updated: December 5th, 2011

Samsung, in partnership with China Telecom, has just announced the SCH-W999, successor to the W899. The W999 is a formidable (read: huge) flip phone, and comes with two of everything – two 3.5" S-AMOLED displays at 480x800, a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor, and 2 SIM slots.

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Besides its powerful processor and dual displays, the W999 offers a 5MP rear shooter, dual-mode connectivity, and penta-band support.

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If you can't tell from the photo above, the W999 is a hefty device, at least in terms of width and height. If you're already thinking about picking one up, you'll have to wait until some time in 2012.

03
Dec
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Amid the turmoil surrounding Carrier IQ, the company's VP of Marketing, Andrew Coward, has come forward in a series of interviews with a few clarifications.

For those not in the loop, the controversy around Carrier IQ is based on developer Trevor Eckhart's findings which indicated that Carrier IQ's software was indeed collecting a vast array of information, and his demonstration showing that said data could be read using a simple command – one that could be executed by any malicious app with access to logcat. This data includes location information, SMS messages, and key taps.

Before we dive into Coward's remarks on the issue of security (and why he says CIQ is not to be blamed for insecure logs), it's important to look at how CIQ actually functions on a device.

03
Dec
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Having harbored a lifelong love of both moonshine and wreaking havoc in souped-up airboats, I was naturally excited when we came across Shine Runner. Finally, I can blaze across backcountry bayous, smuggling only the finest hillbilly necessities. This game is the latest from Vector Unit, makers of Riptide GP, and it is sure to bring out the hillbilly in you.

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First Things First

The concept of this game is quite simple - you are an airboat-riding hillbilly out to smuggle several different backcountry essentials around the bayou. Your goal is to make as much money as you can in a 10-day span by buying and selling the goods at different locations.

03
Dec
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The Motorola lapdock for the original Atrix 4G is being blown out of the AT&T store starting today for $250 off its $300 list price. Yup, just $50 after an instant discount gets you a laptop shell with a 36Wh battery inside.

Plug your Atrix into it, and the dead frame comes alive with a desktop-grade Webtop experience (it's really a custom, though severely cut down, Linux flavor), including desktop Firefox and virtual access to your phone's screen and data while docked.

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Now that the Atrix 2 is out, AT&T is likely seeing a huge drop of demand for the now obsolete OG Atrix, and nobody likes being stuck with a large stock of unsold and highly overpriced accessories of questionable value.

03
Dec
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Apple is famous for crafting beautifully designed products, but it is a little condescending to start giving design advice to its competitors. Nevertheless, this is exactly what Apple has done in a legal brief filed with their earlier request for a ban on Samsung's devices in the United States (a request which was denied by a district judge a few days ago). The legal brief from Apple describes both what their U.S. design patents cover and what the patents do not cover. The latter is especially interesting as they are essentially guidelines on what Samsung can do to avoid being sued in the future.

03
Dec
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The patent wars between Samsung and Apple are stretching everyone pretty thin, lawyers and judges from 10 countries are contending with over 20 cases, manufacturers are having to make last minute adjustments to devices, and most importantly reporters, including yours truly, are having a hard time keeping up with it all.

Bringing the discussion stateside, on Friday a U.S. District Judge in California denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung. Apple had earlier sued Samsung in the U.S. claiming that the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets "slavishly" copied the iPhone and the iPad. However, the Judge disagreed and noted that "it is not clear that an injunction on Samsung's accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed".

03
Dec
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Yesterday, we caught early wind of two class action lawsuits filed against CarrierIQ, HTC, and Samsung in Chicago and St. Louis. You can now add a whole new class action suit to the pile, except this time it also names AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Motorola, and Apple in addition to the aforementioned three companies.

Led by law firms from Delaware and New Jersey - Sianni & Straite LLP, Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow & McElroy LLP, and Keefe Bartels L.L.C. - the lawsuit "asserts that three cell phone providers (T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T) and four manufacturers of cell phones (HTC, Motorola, Apple and Samsung) violated the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act." CarrierIQ is not named in that quote, but it is listed in the press release's title, so don't worry - the whole gang is included.

02
Dec
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Carrier IQ is bad news. We have spent much ink covering and debating the maliciousness of this pre-installed service which hides itself in the background of some Android devices, collects user information, and then sends it back to carriers. However according to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Carrier IQ is just the tip of the iceberg as most smartphones can be hacked remotely "with ease." At a recent speech, Assange stated point blank that anyone with an iPhone, BlackBerry or Gmail account was "screwed." While Assange didn't mention Android by name in his introductory speech, our favorite operating system is indeed referenced in some Wikileaks' reports.

02
Dec
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Last Updated: August 27th, 2012

The Android Market certainly doesn't have a lack of group chat-messaging clients, but it appears that Yahoo is ready to throw its hat into the ring away. Separate from the Messenger app (which has been available on Android for quite some time), Hub uses text messages over a data connection - meaning that you won't incur any text messaging charges from using it. Unfortunately, your friends who don't have the client installed will, and in fact they may not be able to use it at all.

If both you and the person (or people) you are chatting with have the client installed (currently only available for Android 2.1 and up) then your messages will be sent over data.