Firefox 4 Release Date is March 22

Mozilla has announced that Firefox 4 will be officially launching on March 22. In a message posted on Google Groups, Damon Sicore, the Sr. Director of Platform Engineering at Mozilla Corporation, announced in a meeting held yesterday that the new version of the browser was ready and will be launching on that date.

Today’s triage session concluded with all systems go for a Firefox 4 launch on March 22nd. We will continue to have triage sessions on a daily basis to watch for major issues; however, at this point, we’ve concluded RC1 will become Firefox 4 final.

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Gmail for iPhone Updated with new Connection Bar

Google has updated Gmail for the iPhone. When loading up Gmail in the Safari browser, it now includes what is called a Connection Bar. The connection bar is an unobtrusive message bar that sits towards the bottom of the screen, resting on the controls. What it does is lets you know the status of your connection to the Gmail server and also provides details of emails that might not have been sent due to connectivity problems.

When information is needed, the connection bar pops up, but quickly gets out of the way when not needed to stay as far out of the way as possible, while being useful when needed. [Read more…]

Nokia Updater for Mac Launched in Beta

Nokia has released the Nokia Updater for Mac that allows Nokia users to get the latest updates for their smartphones. Previously, the software was only available on Windows.

It’s important to note here that the new version for Mac is still a beta version and very much in testing. [Read more…]

HTC Flyer Goes up for Pre-Order in the UK – £600

Clove has announced that it will be launching the HTC Flyer in mid April and that it has the tablet available for pre-order right now. Pricing is confirmed at £600.00 inc VAT in the UK although this is likely to change once official pricing is announced. Clove comment that all pricing for pre-orders are updated once confirmed and once stock is ready to be shipped out.

The specs, which we have seen before, are showing the Flyer to have a 7 inch screen. The screen uses the HTC Scribe Technology allowing you to write on the screen and have the text read. The operating system is a step between Android 2.3 and 3.0 and is version 2.4. It brings some 3.0 Honeycomb features to a slightly smaller display. [Read more…]

NAVI Indoor Navigation Kinect Hack for the Blind

NAVI is another Microsoft Kinect hack that pushes the boundaries of what the popular hands-free gaming controller can achieve.

NAVI, meaning Navigational Aids for the Visually Impaired, is a student project that helps navigate a blind person around a room. Although it looks a bit cumbersome now, we could possibly see something like this in the future when all the components are made even smaller than they are today.

It works by using a Kinect sat on the users head (another reason it needs to be worked on a bit), and when walking around a room, obstacles can be detected and are then fed to a computer which in turn, feeds information to the user by a bluetooth headset. Vocal instructions received could include, “obstacle ahead, stay left”. [Read more…]

iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot Passes GPS Details to iPad

Apple rolled out iOS 4.3 recently and with that came the ability to use the iPhone 4 as a personal wireless hotspot for up to 3 users (generally a paid extra on your contract). What we didn’t know is that when connecting up to the wireless hotspot with a WiFi iPad 1 or 2, the GPS data is shared with the iPad and allows you to pinpoint where you are on a map.

Prior to being able to do this, the regular WiFi iPad could not get GPS information due to the A-GPS module only being included on the 3G model. Having this feature bundled in is quite handy, especially for those wanting to see quickly where they are on an iPad. [Read more…]

Could ASUS Ship a $200 Netbook? Perhaps with the Help of Google!

Although it has never succeeded in getting prices down to $200, we now hear that ASUS are yet again attempting to get the netbook down to the $200 to $250 price point.

ASUS is attempting to drop the price due to competition from the new generation tablets such as the Galaxy Tab, iPad and Motorola Xoom to name a few. Since the launch of the iPad, netbook sales have slowly dropped as people seem to prefer the mobile phone type operating system on a 7 to 10 inch screen for “lazy time browsing”. By pricing a netbook at $200 to $250, it would position the 10 inch netbook at just below the price of regular tablets and in doing this, could help boost sales so that the company hits its 6 million goal this year. [Read more…]

Facebook App for Android Updated

Facebook has updated its Android app and along with the update, a number of new features have been added.

The new version is 1.5.2 and gives users the ability to upload photos on to friends walls. Uploading photos to groups is also now possible with the app. A full list of the features can be found below. [Read more…]

WiFi Only Motorola Xoom Now Official – $599 Launching March 27

Motorola has officially announced a WiFi edition of the Xoom tablet. When launched, it will be made available across a number of leading retailers in the US which includes Amazon.com, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Staples and Walmart.

Price wise, the 32GB WiFi only model will cost $599. As for the launch date, expect to see it on March 27. [Read more…]

Twitter Makes HTTPS “Always-On” An Option

Twitter has made a change to the settings page today that now provides an option to enable HTTPS by default for your Twitter account.

Twitter points out that using HTTPS is important for situations when you might be on an open wireless network. [Read more…]

Survey Hints at Sony NGP Costing $250 and $350 for Non-3G and 3G

Official pricing for the Sony NGP hasn’t been released yet, but what we are hearing today is that the pricing could be $250 and $350 for a WiFi only and 3G version respectively.

We already knew that two versions were being made available thanks to a few details being mentioned. What we didn’t know is the pricing structure and realistically, we still don’t know for sure as the details have been provided by a survey that was done on behalf of a games developer. [Read more…]

Galaxy Tab 8.9 Teaser Video Released

We’ve seen a couple of teaser images before of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. What we now see is a few brief glimpses of the tablet device on a video created. There isn’t too much to see although it looks a little fatter than expected. There is no confirmation of a camera or flash although the image above does show on the top right of the device a small opening and larger opening which could be just that.

The video is below and shows the Tab 8.9 very briefly. The full and official unveiling will be held on March 22. We’ll have all the details and pictures when it gets announced. [Read more…]