Facebook To Become Streaming Media Hangout Come September 22nd?

For some time rumors have swirled around Facebook either making their own music service or partnering up with someone else. Come September 22nd at the social networking giant’s F8 conference, the truth may finally be set free. But unlike past rumors, the actual announcement may prove quite surprising…

Apple Leaks iPhone 5 Design In Latest Photostream Beta?

What you see above could very well be Apple’s next-gen iPhone 5. The icon is straight from the latest Photostream beta which adds to the credibility. With that said, any con is just…an icon. If this is what the iPhone 5 looks like, we can’t wait to pick one up.

The Digital Cancer Continues: Lodsys Moves On To BlackBerry Developers.

No body’s favorite patent troll, Lodsys, continues to resist mounting pressure from developers and large corporations alike over their lawsuits targeting app developers using in-app purchasing features. Today the company made new strides in filing their first official lawsuit against the BlackBerry platform. The unlucky developer, Yissachar Radcliffe of Rotten Ogre, is being sued over in-app purchasing in his “Lonely Turret” BlackBerry PlayBook game. The real kicker that shows just how desperate Lodsys is, however, comes by the fact that “Lonely Turret” doesn’t even have native in-app purchasing — the lawsuit focus on a simple link to BlackBerry App World where users can purchase the Turret upgrade.

Suing over intellectual property you do nothing with but sit on and sue people who actually innovate/create is bad enough. Interpreting it as broadly as Lodsys now appears to be should be considered illegal.

RIM has yet to officially respond to the claims made against Radcliffe. Though when they do, we hope it’s with plenty of spite directed at Lodsys. With that said, we also hope RIM lends a few of their own lawyers to the cause. Radcliffe has already said that even a few hours worth of consultation with a couple lawyers will wipe out all of his profits from Lonely Turret.

Stay tuned…

HTC Puccini Becomes The AT&T Jetstream. Coming September 4th With LTE!

It’s official: The HTC Puccini will be AT&T’s first official LTE tablet, however, it will carry a different name. Besides LTE, the “Jetstream” as it’s being called will feature a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel rear/VGA front-facing cameras, and Android Honeycomb 3.1. For a limited time after launch, HTC will toss in the Scribe stylus as well.

Data is pretty simple: $35/month for 3 GB of data.

Pricing is said to be “discounted” at $700 with a 2-year contract, though no mention has been made of how much said tablet will cost without any contract. Our guess — a full leg and half an arm. Maybe one day carriers and/or manufacturers will learn the only way to steal the iPad’s thunder is to beat it in price. Until then…

[Update] Denied: U.S. Government Sues To Block AT&T T-Mobile Merger.

Since AT&T announced plans to absorb Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA earlier this year, they have been rather vocal about how easily the U.S. Government and associated committees would accept their buyout/merger of T-Mobile. According to both companies the merger would be better for everyone (actually, it wouldn’t). The only problem: It’s not going well for AT&T/T-Mobile. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Government has officially filed an anti-trust complaint to block the aforementioned merger.

According to case number 11-01560, the U.S. Government is suing to block the merger in its entirety saying:

“AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market”

Let us not forget that should AT&T’s merger plans get rejected, they’ll be required to pay T-Mobile $3 billion in cash, provide T-Mobile with additional spectrum in certain regions of the country, as well as reducing fees for T-Mobile-based calls routed through AT&T’s roaming areas. Overall, the entire package is said to be valued at ~ $7 billion.

We’ve reached out to AT&T and will update you once we hear back…

Update

AT&T has officially responded to the DoJ’s move to block the merger.

We are surprised and disappointed by today’s action, particularly since we have met repeatedly with the Department of Justice and there was no indication from the DOJ that this action was being contemplated.

We plan to ask for an expedited hearing so the enormous benefits of this merger can be fully reviewed. The DOJ has the burden of proving alleged anti-competitive affects and we intend to vigorously contest this matter in court.

At the end of the day, we believe facts will guide any final decision and the facts are clear. This merger will:

• Help solve our nation’s spectrum exhaust situation and improve wireless service for millions.

• Allow AT&T to expand 4G mobile broadband to another 55 million Americans, or 97% of the population.

• Result in billions of additional investment and tens of thousands of jobs, at a time when our nation needs them most.

We remain confident that this merger is in the best interest of consumers and our country, and the facts will prevail in court.

Now, if you will, we’ll pick through AT&T’s claims — after the break…

Woah! Stop Motion Video Within Stop Motion Video: “500 People In 100 Seconds”.

Creating one, well done stop motion video is hard enough. Creating an awesome stop motion video showcasing another stop motion video within itself is damn near impossible. Not to mention, usually when you have “things within things” (think of a picture of a mirror reflecting into another mirror) black holes and the death of the solar system are the most likely outcome. Whether or not this “500 People In 100 Seconds” video will create such an event is unknown. All we know is it’s pretty nifty. Come to think of it, we’re pretty sure their’s some law of science being broken as we speak.

Hop past the break for Eran Amir’s “500 People In 100 Seconds” with music “Malinkovec Valzer” by Maxmaber Orkestar…

HTC Runnymede Specs Outed.

If the current crop of Gingerbread packed Android handsets aren’t doing it for you, come later this fall/holiday season HTC may just deliver. The new mystery device — “Runnymede” — will feature several high-end features such as a larger 480 x 800 4.7″ display and single-core MSM8255 processor running at 1.5 GHz. Other notable bullet points include 768 MB of RAM, 16 GB of user accessible storage, an 8-megapixel camera with 720p video capture support + 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, HTC Sense UI 3.5, DLNA and apparently bundled Beats headphones.

There isn’t any stand out feature that hasn’t already been upstaged by several other Android handsets on the market, however, there are a few gems worth mentioning.

The camera in particular is said to feature a backlit sensor which in laymen’s terms means better quality pictures. The lens is reportedly a wider angle 28mm offering with a f/2.2 focal ratio. (For comparison’s sake, the iPhone 4 uses f/2.8.)

As touched on before, look for the Runnymede to hit the market in time for the holiday season.