Apple announced that they will release White iPhone 4 in next Spring.  According to the common practice of Apple, they release important products either in Spring or early summer.  It means that iphone 5 will be released only in next Summer.  If iphone 4 in White will be released in Spring and not in this X’mas, it is apparently that Apple wants to extend the product cycle of the current product.  So, they will not release iphone 5 in next Spring as expected by some fans.

However, this time, may be and only may be, Apple want to stun the world and offer iphone 5 in next Spring and in White color.  So, a White iphone 5!!  Do you want it?  Does it excite you?  White iPhone 5  may erase your bad experience with iPhone 4′s antennagate.   If my guess about iphone 5 is correct, I will be in cloud 9.

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Social networking website Facebook and Internet telephone company Skype are in talks to establish a partnership that is aimed at integrating their communication services, the Wall Street Journal said, citing a person familiar with the situation.

  Under the proposed partnership, Facebook users would be able to sign into Skype through their Facebook Connect accounts, the Journal said.

Once signed in, the users would be able to send text messages, voice chat and video chat with their Facebook friends from within Skype, according to the paper.

  The integrated functions are built into Skype’s 5.0 version, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks, the person told the paper.

  Enabling Skype’s voice and video chat on Facebook would be a “logical progression” to the partnership, the person told the paper.

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Nintendo announced this week that its much-anticipated 3DS handheld will arrive in Japan on February 26, 2011, for around $300, with a U.S. debut to follow in March.

That’s about three months too late for the holiday shopping season and later than some had predicted. But even more notable is the gadget’s potential to actually make 3-D gaming a household staple.

Unlike 3-D games for the PlayStation 3 or those utilizing NVIDIA’s 3-D Vision technology, which adds three-dimensional special effects to PC titles, software for the Nintendo 3DS doesn’t require the use of cumbersome stereoscopic glasses.

Fans also don’t have to pay for expensive hardware upgrades such as a 3-D TV or custom graphics cards. Both are major hurdles that have thus far kept players from hopping on the 3-D bandwagon en masse, and game makers from following in large numbers.

Original 3-D games also should be more readily available, at least in the near future, for the 3DS than those for desktop or living room units.

Popular franchises including “Resident Evil, “Metal Gear Solid” and “Sonic the Hedgehog” are all slated for upcoming 3-D appearances, with publishers such as Activision, Namco and UbiSoft committed to developing for the gadget.

The device is better suited to the briefer, more mobile gaming experiences that define current gaming trends and appears better poised to satisfy both casual and hardcore video game fans than its competitors.

Additional support for 3-D TV shows and films should further buoy the Nintendo 3DS’ popularity as a portable entertainment device. The gadget also offers the benefit of on-demand game updates and downloads via Wi-Fi connection.

More extras, such as the option to use the device as a camera, convert friends’ photos into personalized virtual avatars and wirelessly communicate with other Nintendo 3DS machines, should only add to its usefulness and versatility.

On the downside, the portable console’s graphical enhancements, which resemble pop-up storybook cutouts, aren’t as technically advanced as what you’ll get from set-top systems. But they can be adjusted to suit individual preferences.

A broad selection of supporting titles ranging from “Nintendogs + Cats” to “Kid Icarus” and “Mario Kart” also promises to appeal to all ages more than rival units, which target diehard gaming fans and early adopters.

Everyday expectations also play to the 3DS’ advantage, because players naturally anticipate smaller and/or less complex gaming experiences on handheld devices.

This makes supporting games easier and more affordable to build for the unit, giving designers a leg up on 3-D game development. Instead of forcing manufacturers to push the technical bar to justify pricey living room upgrades, the Nintendo 3DS offers creators a platform to experiment. In this way, it offers simpler, more natural transitions between 2-D and 3-D adventures.

Early feedback from gaming critics is promising. Nintendo’s knack for making new technology engaging and user-friendly is evidenced by the success of systems like the motion-sensing Wii.

If the 3DS proves half as eye-catching and intuitive, and even a fraction of the promised games materialize, rivals should be worried. Rather than be televised, the 3-D revolution may quietly unfold in your pocket instead.

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Despite some skepticism about America’s appetite for purchasing digital virtual goods in games and on the internet, the “virtual goods” market is growing at a healthy clip, according to an industry report issued Tuesday.

The research group Inside Network says the U.S. virtual goods market will hit $2.1 billion in 2011, up from $1.6 billion this year.

The group, which also owns a blog about Facebook, attributes much of the growth in that market to social online games like “FarmVille.”

“One of the biggest trends we see in the technology industry in general right now is the growth of social gaming, and how it already has become nearly a billion-dollar market itself just in the past couple of years, primarily on the Facebook platform,” said Justin Smith, founder of Inside Network.

Inside Network released a summary of its report to CNN in advance of its release on Tuesday but would not make the full text of its report public.

Nick Thomas, an analyst at Forrester Research, said the size of the virtual goods market is difficult to define and that, in general, purchase of online and digital goods is still outside the mainstream.

“There are a few companies doing this very well and executing this very well, so by the time you factor in ‘World of Warcraft’ and one or two others, then you’ve probably got a fair chunk of the market,” he said. “There are not hundreds and hundreds of companies doing this well.”

One problem for the industry, Thomas said, is that only 1 to 2 percent of people who play social games actually purchase goods to keep playing.

Generally, players can opt to buy digital goods and equipment that will help them play a game more successfully, or they could log more hours in the game to earn those bonuses and power-ups. The term virtual goods refers to digital items that are purchased for use online, in games and on mobile phones.

Online news stories could be considered virtual goods in the loosest sense, Thomas said, since some people will pay for an article that does not exist — or at least is not tangible — in the real world.

Inside Network, which based its analysis on dozens of interviews with companies and investors involved in the virutal goods market, says it includes the following areas in its analysis: social games, online free-to-play games, virtual worlds, mobile games, and purchases made through console gaming systems.

Mainstream media companies would be smart to watch the development of the virtual goods market, Thomas said.

“The big media companies are rightly trying to keep on top of emerging trends,” he said. “Whatever’s hot for consumers, they should be on top of and try to understand.”

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Facebook is working with mobile phone maker INQ Mobile Ltd to create two smartphone devices that may have a network tie up with AT&T, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The smartphones would carry the popular social networking website’s services and were set to be unveiled in Europe in the first half of 2011 and the United States in the second half of the year, the report said.

Privately held Facebook said previously that it was not building its own mobile phone. Jaime Schopflin, a spokesman for Facebook, said the company’s current projects included “deeper integrations with some manufacturers.”

AT&T, the No. 2 US mobile provider, is still thinking about whether it should be the network carrier for the Facebook smartphones and has not yet made a deal, Bloomberg said.

None of the companies could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular US business hours.

Facebook declined to comment to Bloomberg on plans for specific phones. The company, however, told the agency that it continues to work with INQ Mobile, which has previously sold phones with Facebook features, along with other companies.

INQ Mobile, which is based in London and is backed by Hong Kong telecom firm Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, declined to comment to Bloomberg.

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Google this week released its Instant Search feature, which displays live search results as soon as you begin typing.  By providing results before a query is complete and removing the need to hit the “enter” key, Google claims users will save two to five seconds per search.

Are we too impatient to wait a matter of seconds for our search results? What’s feeding our new-found need for speed? And why does Google feel the need to answer our questions before we’ve even asked them?

Faster connections

The flow of information around the Web has accelerated rapidly over recent years. The most obvious cause is that our Web connections have become significantly faster over time.

This isn’t merely a result of greater broadband penetration, but also the near-ubiquity of 3G networks. Not only have we become accustomed to fast connections in our homes, but we’ve become conditioned to a similar experience on the go.

The real-time Web

To Web users, however, this trend has been most evident in the “real-time Web” movement. Services like Twitter and Facebook now deliver messages from our friends in seconds.

And while most breaking news stories were previously sourced from mainstream media outlets — taking hours to propagate via blog posts and emailed links — significant news events can now spread through Twitter in a matter of minutes.

Often, stories also enter the news cycle via on-the-ground reports posted to social networks. This significantly accelerates the news-gathering process and the speed at which important information reaches consumers.

In short, these quick status updates between friends have conditioned us to expect immediate access to information — whether that’s breaking news or simply knowing what our friends are up to. Why should we expect anything less from search engines?

Enabling discovery

Social networking services have fostered another change in consumer behavior; one that puts Google at a real disadvantage. As a greater volume of timely, relevant information is delivered to us via status updates from friends, we spend less time searching.

What’s more, many social sites now use our social connections to recommend content to us without the need to seek it out.

This so-called “discovery” trend, of which iTunes Ping is the most recent example, threatens to usurp the search box. If relevant information is delivered to us without extra effort, why type words into a box?

Google Instant Search is tackling the discovery problem, too: With every letter you type, Google serves up suggestions of what you may be looking for. Search for “tech company,” and Google provides suggestions for “tech company news,” “tech company valuation,” and “tech company names.”

What’s more, this feature enables truly personalized discovery by taking into account your search history, location and other factors — Google is essentially emulating social networks by trying to predict what we’re looking for without the need to submit a fully-formed search.

Next up: Google Predictive Search?

Google is unlikely to rest on its laurels now that Instant Search has been released. The only way the company can truly compete with social discovery is by going one step further.

What if instead of guessing your intent while you search, Google could predict your needs before you search? That’s likely the next evolution of Google search, according to statements from Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

“The next step of search is doing this automatically. When I walk down the street, I want my smartphone to be doing searches constantly: ‘Did you know … ?’ ‘Did you know … ?’ ‘Did you know … ?’ ‘Did you know … ?’ ” Schmidt said at the IFA consumer electronics event in Berlin, Germany, this week.

“This notion of autonomous search — to tell me things I didn’t know but am probably interested in — is the next great stage, in my view, of search.”

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THANKS to its superb 9.7-inch screen, pictures somehow look better on the Apple iPad, which is a lightweight alternative to the laptop for photo enthusiasts. Here are some apps that may interest shutterbugs.

Mosaic Photo for iPad (US$0.99)

This app creates a mosaic photo – a montage of tiny rectangular cell images. Go to Create, choose your photo, and the app will do the rest. You can save the new mosaic image in the built-in gallery, but you cannot access the image from the iPad Photo Library. Nonetheless, you can share your mosaic pictures by email or via Twitter and Facebook.

Photo fx Ultra (US$4.99)

If you are fond of filters to do photo editing or add creative effects, then Photo fx Ultra from Tiffen is for you.

Choose from 77 filters containing 934 presets organised in eight groups – Film Lab, Diffusion, Grads/Tints, Image, Lens, Light, Photographic and Special Effects. You can add multiple filters to create different effects. And if you want a particular portion of the image to have an effect, apply filters selectively by painting a mask over the picture. Each filter can be modified to your liking with sliders, controls or presets.

The only drawback of this app is that it does not remember your last editing session.

Photogene (US$1.99)

Probably the most value-for-money photo-editing app for the iPad. Other than the usual crop tool, presets and filter tools, it also allows you to control the exposure, contrast and saturation of pictures. What’s most important is the curve tool, which allows you to make precise image adjustments. A handy red-eye reduction tool is also available, as are fun options like dialogue boxes, frames and text editing. Photogene can even edit RAW files as long as the Apple Camera Connection Kit can import them (the iPad only supports certain types of RAW formats, such as NEF or CR2). The app doesn’t overwrite the original file; it saves a fresh JPEG copy of an edited image. It also remembers your last editing session.

Wireless Camera 2.0 (US$0.99)

No camera on the iPad? Use Wireless Camera 2.0 to connect your iPhone to your iPad via Bluetooth or WiFi. Launch the app on your iPhone first and on your iPad later. The two devices will be paired automatically after a few seconds and you can start snapping away! Note that you need to hit the Save button on the iPad to save the image; there isn’t an auto-save function. You can import photos from the iPhone camera roll via the same connection as well. However, the app doesn’t let you shoot videos. Wireless Camera 2.0 works on iPhones that support iOS 3.1.2 and above. But it will only work via Wifi on the first-generation iPhone.

Photo Wall for iPad (US$1.99)

Having a blast on your vacation? Show off your fun in a photo collage. You can add a background plus up to 24 photos and textboxes in this user-friendly app. Select different colours, font styles and transparency levels on the text; crop the pictures or shake your iPad to shuffle the images on the canvas. When you’re done, upload it to Facebook or email your friends. TREVOR TAN

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Apple is loosening its grip on its app development for its mobile devices, announcing Thursday that it will drop restrictions on what programming tools developers can use to create iOS apps.

The company also dropped a ban on certain in-application ad serving tools that had effectively cut off Google’s AdMob service.

The unexpected move means Apple is standing down in what had become an increasingly heated battle between the company and the developers who have created the more than 250,000 apps that stock Apple’s App Store.

“We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart,” Apple said. “This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.”

Apple’s rule changes are quite technical, and developers raced to pore over the fine print and figure out exactly what they mean.

But the practical upshot is that programmers will be able to use tools from Apple’s rivals — most notably Adobe — to build software for Apple’s iPhones, iPads and iPods.

Adobe’s current Flash development suite includes a tool for converting apps to run on Apple’s platform, but the company said in April that it would stop further development on that tool because of Apple’s restrictions and focus more on Google’s Android operating system.

Adobe on Thursday praised Apple’s change of heart. “We are encouraged to see Apple lifting its restrictions on its licensing terms, giving developers the freedom to choose what tools they use to develop applications for Apple devices,” the company said in a written statement.

A company representative declined to comment on the fate of Adobe’s stalled Packager for iPhone tool.

But Flash programmers were quick to chime in: “We’re back in the game,” one posted in Adobe’s forum right after Apple’s announcement.

Developer Brad Manderscheid expects the new rules to be a big boost for his Milwaukee-based application development company, ActionMouse.

Most of his work is done with Adobe’s Flash, and Apple’s move to block Flash-to-iPhone conversion tools meant some of his planned projects for clients had to be scrapped.

“A lot of work that we had pending went away,” he said. “I was more mad than anybody I know — Adobe built all these tools for us to do all these cool things, we had all these beta programs ready to go, and Apple comes out and says ‘stop.’”

Now, he’ll be able to use Adobe tools to “write once, run anywhere,” and convert his applications to run on iOS as well as platforms like Android.

“I don’t have to be just in one team or another,” he said. “It opens everything up, the way it should be.”

Veteran Apple developer Greg Slepak was so incensed in April by Apple’s new restrictions that he e-mailed his objections to Steve Jobs — who responded. Slepak reprinted the exchange on his blog, where it drew hundreds of replies.

Slepak, who let his iOS Developer Program account expire in the wake of the clampdown, said he’s now considering renewing it. Apple’s policy changes seem to effectively address developers’ concerns, he said.

“This isn’t just about Adobe,” he said. “I don’t much care for Flash apps on the iPhone, but I do care about some of the third-party frameworks that would have been restricted by this. Some entire companies, their livelihood was put into question.”

Apple’s previous policy of banning unapproved development tools had drawn notice from federal regulators, who have reportedly considered launching an antitrust investigation of Apple’s software development rules.

Google  applauded the fact that developers will now be able to use AdMob to sell and serve ads in their iPhone applications.

“This is great news for everyone in the mobile community, as we believe that a competitive environment is the best way to drive innovation and growth in mobile advertising,” the company said in a blog post.

Apple also said it will for the first time publish review guidelines to help developers understand how it vets the applications submitted to its App Store. Developers have frequently griped about Apple’s opaque and occasionally drawn-out review process.

“We hope it will make us more transparent and help our developers create even more successful apps for the App Store,” Apple said of its decision to release the guidelines.

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The below table summarizes comparison between Google Android 2.2 (Froyo) and iPhone iOS 4

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Apple will release iOS 4.2 firmware free of charge to iPad owners in November, adding many new features and improved functionality to the touch screen tablet. The iPad is slated to receive multitasking, folders for grouping apps, and many other features found in iOS 4. The multitasking dock includes brightness controls, music controls, recently used apps and a rotation lock button.

Steve Jobs demoed some of the new features at the Apple media event this week. One of the highlights included wireless printing, which allows apps on the iPad to print from anywhere on a Wi-Fi networked printer. TV show rentals and Game Center will also come to the iPad.

Game Center features multi-player gaming along with social networking features for iOS devices. Other players can be challenged, players will be automatically matched up, scores and games can be shared.

AirPlay is another new iOS 4.2 app coming to the iPad. With AirPlay, video, audio and photos can be streamed over your Wi-Fi network to the iPad from a computer. The AirTunes functionality that may be familiar to iTunes users has been renamed to AirPlay.

Jobs also announced there are now 25,000 iPad apps in the Apple App Store, ready to be downloaded by iPad users worldwide.

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