New Google Chrome Extension Brings Google Translate To Google+ Posts.

Want to follow a few non-native speaking Google+ users but don’t feel like running back and forth between languages on Google Translate or learning another language? You’re in luck. A Google Translate engineer by the name of Matt Suess just announced a new Google+ Chrome extension that aims to bring down language barriers with easy, seamless Google Translate support. As you can see from the image above, once the extension is installed a handy “translate” appears underneath posts that will in turn quickly and easily translate the content at hand.

Start translating between over 50 languages by picking up the Google+: Google Translate extension right over here.

**There’s already a feature built into Chrome that allows you to click on any foreign language and quickly translate to English. However, it’s worth noting this built-in feature is slower because it translates the entire page whereas the new plugin above translates a particular post.

Alleged N94 (iPhone 4S) Front Assembly Leaks Out. Raises More Questions Than Answers.

As we’ve said numerous times before, as the iPhone 5 launch date creeps ever closer, the alleged leaks grow in number. Following last weeks claimed leaking of the iPhone 4S/5 logic board comes a fresh piece of iPhone 4S hardware — the front assembly. Following previous rumors suggesting the 4S will visually be nearly identical to the current iPhone 4, come new images that show nothing out of the ordinary. There is one small change, however, made evident by the dotted circle to the right of the ear piece. Engadget speculates that this is nothing more than an LED indicator for FaceTime.

While this latest leak may answer a question or two, it ends up forming another, much larger one. The listing on this particular piece of hardware reads “EVT 1″ which stands for “Engineering Verification Test”. According to Engadget’s sources, this model was born on March 3rd earlier this year has yet to pass DVT testing (one stop shy of full production). Meanwhile a new N97 device has been mentioned as reaching the hallowed DVT status though manufactured much sooner — June time frame. Nothing else is known about the N97. Does this mean the N94 has been replaced, and as such, won’t ever ever reach the market. Or, is it nothing more than a prototype iPhone that has since been improved upon with newer models?

Let the speculation and leaks continue…

Cyanogenmod Now Booting On A TouchPad Near You.

The $1500 race to be the first to get a working Android port up and running on the HP TouchPad looks to be nearing an end. A new video has surfaced showing Cyanogenmod’s latest 7.x release beaming it’s bright, shiny face from underneath the TouchPad’s slick glass face. According to developer dalingrin of RootzWiki, this particular HP-specific build of CM7 is “extremely alpha” — nothing is formatted right and the touchscreen drivers don’t even work.

The ultimate goal — much to our geeky surprise — is to have a multi-boot webOS/Cyanogenmod/ROM of your choice arrangement which would quite easily make the TouchPad “the” Android tablet to have. Pretty ironic considering Motorola, Samsung, Viewsonic, and a host of other hardware manufacturers have yet to stumble upon the winning formula.

For the latest info on the “TouchDroid” project, keeping following Gadgetsteria as well as this thread over at RootzWiki. Motion picture of the anti-climactic CM7 TouchPad boot after the break…

Verizon Finally Getting It’s Nexus? DROID Prime To Launch In October With Android 4.0, Compete With iPhone 5.

Previous rumors suggesting Verizon Wireless was passing on the Galaxy S II slugfest come early fall appear to be true. “A close source” of BGRs has tipped off the tech outfit that VZW is in fact looking beyond the Galaxy S II for their fall lineup. Most importantly, VZW doesn’t see the Galaxy S II has a legitimate contender to the upcoming iPhone 5 — we agree. As awesome as the Galaxy S II is, it’s many months old and certainly not going to hold the crown much longer, especially with rumored quad-core hardware scheduled to drop later this year.

But even more exciting than mere talk of a potential Galaxy S II follow-up is actual word that VZW will be getting an exclusive run with their first Nexus-branded device, the “Nexus Prime”. (It’s worth noting BGR uses “DROID Prime” signalling this upcoming Android 4.0 device may/may not in fact be a Nexus device.) The cherry on top of course is that this next-gen Samsung device will be the first Android device to ship with the phone/tablet-unifying Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS.

The only thing known at this point is the model number — SCH-i515. Price, release and any other potential features/services are still up in the air. For now, VZW and Samsung are keeping their lips sealed. But keep checking back, we have a feeling that because the cat’s now out of the bag, details will begin flowing shortly…

Comex Opens Up About Apple Internship, Future Jailbreak Plans And JailbreakMe Earnings.

After last week’s announcement by infamous JailbreakMe 2.0/3.0 developer Comex and his upcoming internship at Apple, a lot of questions were raised about the future of Comex and jailbreaking.

In an effort to clear the air, Comes has taken to Reddit to lay the record straight. In short: Comex is done with jailbreaking. For good.

He doesn’t state why, even after his internship is over with Apple, he won’t continue his jailbreak work. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out he likely had to sign some sort of agreement with Apple to forgo all future jailbreak endeavorers once being accepted into the heart of the beast. On that same note, Comex’s internship may be the only Apple partnership in his life. The 19-year old has voiced interest in returning to college and isn’t sure he’d accept a full-time job from Apple when all is said and done.

Finally, in regards to his JailbreakMe 2.0/3.0 work, Comex revealed that he made a solid ~$50,000 — which he’ll use to pay for college. All in all, not bad for a “small time” hacker, eh?

Source: Reddit | Via: Mobiputing

Samsung Announces Cross Device ChatON Messaging App/Service.

Between Google Talk, SMS, Kik, AIM, BBM and countless others, it goes without saying we do not need another messaging service. Currently, RIM’s BBM is far and wide unrivaled in ease of use, utility and reach. That will soon change when Apple releases iOS 5, however, which includes Apple’s new SMS replacement “iMessage”. Just like BBM, iMessage allows iOS devices to seamlessly chat amongst each other. In a similar but slightly different approach, non-proprietary services such as Facebook Chat, AIM, Google Talk and so on are also all platform independent. With all the options available to end users, why is Samsung releasing their own cross-device chat service, ChatON?

In Samsung’s defense, ChatON will not be a Samsung-only affair. Instead, users of Android, BlackBerry and iOS will be able to download chatON and send text, images, and hand-written notes. Users will also be able to chat in groups and share video clips. In that light it’s less a BBM/iMessage killer and more of a GoogleTalk/AIM/Kik killer. Nonetheless, the original argument of not needing another messaging service still stands.

Look for ChatON to begin rolling out in September to 120 countries in over 20 different languages.

Apple Kills Off $0.99 TV Rentals. Partners Focusing On iCloud Offerings?

Apple is killing off $0.99 rentals — at least that’s what the removal of $0.99 rentals from iTunes would seem to elude to. Add to that that any and all support documents relating to iTunes rentals is also missing.

In a slightly perfect world, this would be a sign of Apple experimenting with alternate ways to market and sell TV rentals. Unfortunately, it is likely greed-driven and backwards-thinking movie/TV executives who are to blame for the latest development. TV studios have long maintained that Apple’s “too low” $0.99 price tag “devalues” their content. The only problem: Price/dollar amount does not denote actual “value”. The two are not connected in any shape or form and yet that’s what tv, movie and music studios argue till this day.

Whether the above statement is true or not may never be known. Apple officially responded to requests for comment by AllThingsD simply stating that “customers vastly prefer purchasing TV shows as opposed to renting them”.

iTunes customers have shown they overwhelmingly prefer buying TV shows. iTunes in the Cloud lets customers download and watch their past TV purchases from their iOS devices, Apple TV, Mac or PC allowing them to enjoy their programming whenever and however they choose.”

Most intriguing, however, is Fox’s response that mentions the price/value argument as well as mentioning ongoing discussions about Apple’s upcoming iCloud functionality.

“After carefully considering the results of the rental trial, it became clear that content ownership is a more attractive long-term value proposition both for iTunes customers and for our business. To further enhance the value of ownership, we are working with Apple to make content available within their new cloud-based service.”

Apple TV customers: Thoughts?