Powerskin Announce Gaming Case for iDevices

PowerSkin, makers of interesting and innovative shock absorbing and battery boosting smartphone cases have announced their latest addition, the Gaming Case. Not only will it push your battery life up another ten hours with its 2050 mAh battery, the Gaming Case also offers built-in speakers and rumbling vibrations in effort to enhance your portable gaming experience, while keeping your device safe from falls with silicone rubber.

The case is exclusive to the iPhone 3G and newer alongside the 2nd generation iPod Touch and newer. Many iPhone 4S users are already disheartened by the devices lackluster battery life, so many users will be keen to improve their devices usage by ten hours. I’m not sure how many games and applications will take advantage of the Gaming Case’s vibration capabilities, but it surely is a start in the battle against the likes of the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation PSP. One thing that is still missing are physical buttons, one of the huge advantages of the portable consoles.

The PowerSkin Gaming Case can be pre-ordered for $10 discount on the retail price of $99 when it’s released later this month.

LG Optimus Pad Leaked With Mentions Of LTE.

LG’s upcoming LG Slate successor, the LG Optimus Pad tablet, has seen it’s veiled face uncovered and leaked by prying eyes. The most obvious confirmation is that of LTE support, while features such as it’s 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8.9″ 1280 x 768 display, and 8mp/1.3mp (rear/front) cameras still reside in the “rumor” category.

While the Optimus Pad will ship with Android 3.x at launch, we can’t imagine LG delaying Ice Cream Sandwich longer than it has to for testing/stability purposes. Look for pricing/release info as it’s made available.

Say Hello To RIM’s First BlackBerry 10 Slider, The BlackBerry Milan.

Hard specs for the upcoming BBX BlackBerry 10-powered “Milan” (see: left) still aren’t known at this point. But if looks alone are anything to go by, we’d have to at least say RIM’s future still has some faint glimmers of hope. If they can get their software up to par and competitive with the competition, we’ll have some Canadian gear to lust after once again. Please, RIM. Don’t screw this up.

Hump Day Apple News: More Powerful MacBook Airs, Siri Job Openings, And NYC Grand Central Sneak Peek,

The day is almost half over for EST inhabitants and already there are a number of interesting Apple stories to latch onto. While nothing too big in the realm of Apple news, here are three things that have caught our eye so far.

• First and foremost, new rumors signal that Apple will make the next-gen Macbook Airs even more powerful than the current, plenty capable generation. The most notable aspect of the latest Macbook Air rumor is that the next-gen/2012 Macbook Air refresh will allow Macbook Airs to power a total of three displays (2 external + 1 internal) over the current generations 2 (1 external + 1 internal). The increased functionality is in no small part attributable to the likely inclusion of Intel’s 22nm Ivy Bridge hardware being employed. (Cult of Mac)

• Looking for a job and love Apple products, specifically iOS? Siri product manager Dan Keen tweeted about two new software engineering jobs now available at Apple. While nothing concrete is divulged in the job postings (1, 2), some interesting verbiage such as “strong API design is needed to keep communications ideal” and “You will have several clients of your code, so the ability to formulate and support a clear API is needed” seems to signal Apple is looking at opening up Siri’s powers to developers at some point. Though we’d argue Apple opening up Siri has to happen at some point if it’s really to captivate (and control) the world as Apple has boasted. (9to5Mac

• Finally, an image giving an early look at the newly finished Apple Grand Central store in NYC has been making it’s way around the web this morning. As you can see above, it looks pretty cool in the iconic structure, no?

Apple Having Trademark Issues Of Their Own, Doesn’t Own “iPad” Trademark In China.

Similar to RIM’s own ongoing issue with losing the “BBX” trademark to BASIS International Ltd., Apple is apparently experiencing their own licensing snafu. As it currently stands, Apple could be forced to sell the iPad under a new name should Chinese company, Proview Technology, emerge victories in ongoing lawsuits with Apple.

The backstory: Proview sold the “Global iPad” trademark to a British company by the of IP Application Development in 2000 for ~$55,000. In 2006 Apple bought said trademark from IP Application Development. Fast forward to the here and now when Proview begins using the iPad name to which Apple sues.

The current situation: Proview claims that the original sale of the Global iPad trademark from themselves to IP Application Development never included the rights to Chinese trademark ownership, as it didn’t belong to their specific company, but instead a separate Taiwanese unit.

Proview is gold digging asking for $1 billion in damages. If Apple loses their courtroom battle, they’ll either have to pay up or find a new catchy name for the iPad in China.

Android Market Reaches 10 Billion Downloads

Google has announced that over the recent weekend, the Android Market exceeded 10 billion downloads, a milestone reached by the Apple iOS store in January of this year.

The announcement was made by Eric Chu, Google’s Director of Android Developers Ecosystem on the Official Google Blog, who goes on to mention that the market’s download rate is clocking at a billion per month.

To celebrate, a bunch of Android apps each day will be reduced to 10 cents / 10 pence each day for 10 days, starting with Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, SwiftKey X, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity and the excellent indie game Minecraft. This is certainly a celebration to take full advantage of.

RIM Loses Trademark Battle With BASIS International. BBX Officially Renamed “BlackBerry 10″

Too bad RIM didn’t plan well enough ahead when deciding to take the “BBX” name as the label for their next-gen mobile OS, specifically in clearing all trademarks and making sure they actually own the name. The company just announced at BlackBerry DevCon Asia that their upcoming “BBX” operating system is now officially known as “BlackBerry 10″ (likely due to losing a key trademark battle with BASIS International whom owns the “BBX” trademark/name).

You’d think RIM would have secured this well ahead of schedule with as much as the company’s future hedges on this next-gen OS. Oh well.