LG notches 10M worldwide sales of LTE-enabled smartphones

LG Electronics announced today it has sold more than 10 million LTE-capable smartphones worldwide as the company grapples with dwindling market share.

The milestone comes a little more than six months after the company announced it had surpassed 5 million sales of LTE-enabled phones.

"Aggressive pushing forward with 4G LTE technology allows LG satisfy the needs of consumers and is a huge factor in our growing success in global LTE smartphone sales," LG CEO Jong-seok Park said in statement. "Having established ourselves as a major industry player, we will continue to expand our footprint in the global LTE market with a wider range of differentiated, high quality LTE smartphones."

LG said it hopes to double its LTE smartphone presence in 2013 as LTE smartphone shipment growth is expected to triple. Strategy Analytics said in December that its research indicated global LTE smartphone shipments would hit 275 million this year.

The company attributed its explosive growth in the segment to its expansion last year into markets such as the United States, Japan, Germany, and South Korea. Recent rollouts of the LG Optimus G in more than 50 additional countries also contributed to the milestone.

As impressive as the sales figure is, LG continues to lose ground in the LTE market, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. In the third quarter of 2012, LG's market share fell to 9 percent from 15 percent in the previous quarter. Samsung remained the market leader even though its share fell from 51 percent to 40 percent. Apple brought in 26.7 percent for second place.

The announcement comes on the heels of LG's overhaul of its
Android product line at the Mobile World Congress last month in Barcelona, Spain. LG says it is targeting the spectrum of LTE customers, with its G series for deep-pocketed early adopters, the F series with the mission of "4G LTE for everyone," the lower-end L series, and the Vu
tablets.

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Crave Ep. 111: Man vs. jetpack

Man vs. jetpack, Ep: 111

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A German inventor has built a DIY jetpack, so we hop onboard. Also, we get a first look at "Star Wars" pinball for iOS and
Android, and "Star Trek" fans win a major space battle when they vote to name a Pluto moon "Vulcan." All that and more on this week's episode of Crave.

Crave stories:

- Google Nexus fired into space to see if screams are audible

- Myo gesture-control armband uses muscle power

- Star Wars Pinball coming tomorrow to Android, iOS (video)

- Get a ball's-eye view with camera in football

- Trekkies conquer contest to name Pluto moons

- Inventor gets off the ground with homemade jetpack

- First-person Mario video will blow your mind

- Crave giveaway: Two leather iPad cases from Kavaj

Social networking:

- Stephen on Twitter

- Stephen on Google+

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Google compression algorithm Zopfli may lead to faster Internet

Google has released a new data compression algorithm it hopes will make the Internet faster for everyone.

Dubbed Zopfli, the open-source algorithm will accelerate data transfer speeds and reduce Web page load times by compressing content up to 8 percent smaller than the zlib software library, Google said in a company blog post today. Named after a Swiss bread recipe, the new algorithm is an implementation of the Deflate algorithm, which is used in the ZIP archive format, as well as in gzip file compression.

"The higher data density is achieved by using more exhaustive compression techniques, which make the compression a lot slower, but do not affect the decompression speed," said Lode Vandevenne, a Zurich-based software engineer who implemented Zopfli as part of this 20 percent time activity.

Zopfli is a compression-only library, meaning that existing software can decompress the data. It is also bit-stream compatible with gzip, ZIP, PNG, and HTTP requests, among others.

"The smaller compressed size allows for better space utilization, faster data transmission, and lower web page load latencies," he said, adding that mobile users will benefit from the smaller compression in the form of lower data transfer rates and reduced battery use.

Because the amount of CPU time required for compression is two to three orders of magnitude more than zlib, Google believes Zopfli is best suited for applications where data is compressed once and but delivered many times over -- such as static content for the Web.

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Viddy doubles length of clips, adds video enhancement tools

Viddy's new iOS app interface.

(Credit:
Viddy)

Social video startup video has released a new iOS app with a bevy of new features to help users enhance the videos they produce and stave off Twitter's upstart video-sharing app Vine.

Debuting this evening in Apple's App Store, the new app doubles the size of videos users can upload from 15 seconds to 30 seconds, as well as adding the Vine-like ability to pause recording to splice together segments into a single clip. The app also adds 15 new video filters, licensed music tracks from popular artists that can be added to videos, and stop-motion functionality that adjusts video frame rates.

Viddy, which is sometimes referred to as the Instagram of video, also social discovery tools to help users find and share videos that are important to them. The update adds a section with curated video categories and trending topics. A geo-centric feed spotlights videos from specific regions, while another feed focuses on user interests and preferences.

In another Twitter-like feature, Viddy will add a verified user program for celebrities, public figures, and company brands.

The new video comes in the wake of corporate upheaval at the Venice, Calif.-based startup. The company, which claims 40 million users, revealed earlier this week that it had laid off a dozen employees, or about a third of its work force. The cuts came less than a month after the firing of co-founder and CEO Brett O'Brien, who was rumored to have turned down a buyout offer from Twitter, which ended up buying Vine and launching its app last month.

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Ellison buys Hawaiian airline to go with his Hawaiian island

Oracle's Larry Ellison has bought a Hawaiian airline that flies to his Hawaiian airline.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who last year purchased his own Hawaiian island, bought a small airline that services the island chain.

Island Air announced the acquisition in a press release today that noted there would be no staff or operational changes as a result of its sale to Ellison. Financial terms of the transaction were not revealed.

"We are excited Mr. Ellison has acquired Island Air. He has the vision and resources to literally take Island Air to new heights," Island Air President Les Murashige said in a statement published by the Associated Press. The airline announced last month that it had reached a preliminary sale agreement but did not reveal the buyer until today.

The airline employs 245 people and flies 244 weekly flights between Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, Kauai, Molokai, and Lanai.

Ellison, whose estimated $41 billion net worth makes him the No. 3 richest American, purchased 98 percent of the island of Lanai last June for a rumored $500 million. Ellison told CNBC that he hoped to turn the 141-square-mile island "into a model for sustainable enterprise" that would export organic producer to Asia.

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Facebook pages pop-up exploiting Newtown victims

One of the many Facebook tribute pages created to honor the victims of the Newtown tragedy.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET)

Government officials and family members of victims from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have asked Facebook to delete several offensive posts or tribute pages related to the massacre, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities have said that many of the Facebook pages are being used to berate survivors and victims' families, while others are fraudulently asking for funeral fund donations.

"Certainly there have been many, too many, of these pages that are intimidating or harassing or exploitive," U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the Associated Press.

Facebook has responded saying that it will work to remove the offending posts and pages but that some of the tribute pages help people share their sorrow.

Jodi Seth, a spokesperson for the social network, told the Associated Press that Facebook wants to respond quickly "while also recognizing that people across the country want to express grief for a terrible national tragedy."

In December, an armed man stormed the Connecticut elementary school and killed 26 people, including 20 children. Many of the victims have been memorialized and several of the survivors have been lauded on social networks. According to the Associated Press, more than 100 Facebook pages have been created and dedicated to Victoria Soto, one of the teachers killed in the shooting.

The insulting posts include conspiracy theorists who allege that the shooting was staged and all victims were actors. According to the Associated Press, a Facebook tribute page for survivor Kaitlin Roig -- the teacher who saved her students by barricading them in a bathroom -- has a post that reads, "Congratulations Kaitlin or whatever your name is.. Now you're famous and got to meet the 'President.' You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Lawmakers have asked Facebook to remove the pages that are not authorized by the victims' families and to also make sure new fraudulent pages aren't created. Under Facebook's terms of use, it is prohibited for people to open accounts for anyone but themselves.

"We will continue to be vigilant," Seth told the Associated Press.

CNET contacted Facebook for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.

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New Nokia lineup spans range of budgets, features

The Nokia Lumia 520, in various colors.

(Credit:
Nokia)

Nokia took the wraps off four cell phones today at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain, that run the gamut of entry level handsets to high-end Windows 8 devices.

With the entry-level Nokia 105, the Finish handset maker is thinking small. The durable 105 features a an itty-bitty 1.5-inch screen and a 15 euro price tag. Created for cell phone markets in China, Indonesia, India, and Nigeria, the Nokia 105 focuses on calls, long battery life, and only a few little extras.

There's no camera, no volume rocker, and the only buttons on this handset are on the central, rubbery alphanumeric dialpad. Since the screen requires such little power, the 800mAh battery lasts for more than 12.5 hours on talk time, Nokia says, and will power through 35 days on standby without a charge.

Nokia is targeting the younger crowd with the 301, a candy bar shape cell phone with a central select button and a camera feature that vocally guides users on how fit their face in the self-portrait frame. The handset sports a 2.4-inch QVGA display (320X240 pixel resolution) and a 3.2-megapixel camera (no flash) includes panorama and burst modes, which allows up to five shots in a sequence.

Nokia promises that battery life is long-lasting: a single-SIM 301 gives up to 20 hours of talk time, Nokia says, and up to 39 days of standby time. The 301 will go on sale in the second quarter for 65 euros, or about $85, in white, black, cyan, bright yellow, and magenta.

The Nokia Lumia 520 features a pronounced rounded back helps it fit comfortably into the contours of the palm and snappable covers that are exchangeable in different colors. The 520 sports a 4-inch LCD IPS supersensitivity screen 5-megapixel camera can record 720p HD video.

It sports a 1,430mAh battery, the 8GB mass storage, and support for 64GB in expandable memory. It'll be available in the U.S. through T-Mobile around late spring or early summer.

At the high end of Nokia's new lineup, the Windows 8 Nokia Lumia 720 has a 4.3-inch LCD display with the ClearBlack filter that reduces outdoor glare. Aimed at younger, trendier, social people, the 720 supports wireless charging and has a 6.7-megapixel camera with an f/9 aperture intended to capture low-light conditions (like nightlife) and LED flash.

There's also a 1.3-megapixel camera that supports Skype HD and has a wide-angle lens for fitting more faces into self-portraits. The unibody design features a microSD card slot, allowing storage expansion up to 64GB. Intended for markets in Asia and Europe in spots, the 720 will go on sale in the second quarter for 249 euros at full retail price, or about $338.

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Nokia at MWC 2013: Join us Sunday (live blog)

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's keynote address at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, last year.

(Credit:
Roger Cheng/CNET)

BARCELONA, Spain--Will Nokia unleash another Lumia smartphone?

Nokia kicks off the first official day of Mobile World Congress with its press conference, and you can get all the news right here.

Rather than a high-end superphone, Nokia is expected to unveil a line of more budget-friendly phones in a bid to go after the mass market. That could mean a lower-end Lumia device, as well phones from its Asha line of ultra-low-end phones.

CNET UK's Luke Westaway, photographer Sarah Tew, and I will be bringing you all the details, photos, and commentary from the event. The event kicks off at 11:30 p.m. PT on Sunday, or 8:30 a.m. Monday in local Barcelona time.

You can tune into the live blog here:

Nokia's Mobile World Congress press conference

Nokia, like many cellphone makers, is on the road to recovery, and it's still unclear where the company is headed. Its line of Lumia smartphones has won critical praise, but it doesn't yet have a blockbuster hit like Apple's iPhone or the Galaxy S from Samsung.

Still, the company has made steady progress expanding its distribution. In the U.S., it just got back into the game with Verizon with the Lumia 620, and CEO Stephen Elop has hinted at a potential flagship down the line.

We'll see if Nokia can keep up its momentum with whatever new products it launches tomorrow.

As usual, we'll be using ScribbleLive to bring you live text and photos, blow by blow. We'll start the live blog about 15 minutes before Nokia officially kicks off its event.

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Crave Ep. 110: Prevent a hangover with the worlds first 'sober pill'?

Prevent a hangover with the worlds first 'sober pill'? Ep 110

Subscribe to Crave:

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Cheers! Scientists have created what may be the world's first pill that can make you sober if you've gone a little too far with the booze. Russian meteorite fragments go up for sale on online, as do Milla Jovovich's shorts. And later this year a man will have surgery to attach a bionic hand that can feel touch sensations.

Crave stories:

- Russian meteorite fragments pop up for sale online

- Amazon opens celebrity memorabilia store

- Nanotech 'sober pill' could one day de-drunk you

- This sheet turns your windows into mirrors

- Man to get first bionic hand that can 'feel'

- Sony PS4 event skewered in animated parody

- Crave giveaway! Kanex Sydnee four-port recharging station

Social networking:

- Stephen on Twitter

- Stephen on Google+

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Conan can't resist making an ass of Google Glass

Asstounding?

(Credit:
Conan Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

When it comes to late-night talk shows, I am not sure if Conan O'Brien is bringing up the rear.

He seems, though, to be keen on suggesting that
Google Glass might be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

It's not so much that Google has created these new glasses through which you can have a richer, more informative view of the world. It's that the company has created a sister device, intended to be worn as, well, a back-up.

And so we see Google Glass from the other side of life. It is the side most familiar to dogs and bicycle seats.

You must decide whether you find Conan's revelation -- or, indeed, Conan himself -- funny.

But such humor serves to offer that Google's funny little glasses are having a small impact on the outside world.

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Teen iOS app developers hit download lottery

The iOS app Finish.

(Credit:
Basil Ltd.)

You wouldn't expect two 16-year-olds to spend their summer break working for free. But, that's exactly what Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen did when they created the anti-procrastination iOS app called Finish, which launched January 16.

And, it's paid off. Literally.

As of today, Finish has been downloaded 16,500 times in a little more than a month, according to Orbuch. At 99 cents a pop -- that means more than $16,000 in one month, which isn't bad for two teenagers.

One of the most difficult things for app developers to do is get recognized. So, even though 16,500 may not sound like much, it is for new apps.

According to research firm Canalys, there are more than 1 million apps in Apple's App Store and two-thirds get fewer than 1,000 downloads in their first year. When Finish was selected for recognition in Apple's App Store, it was like Orbuch and Hansen hit the jackpot.

The pair came up with Finish when they were agonizing over finals during their sophomore year at Boulder High School in Boulder, Colo. The idea was to help people deal with procrastination. For months, they worked on interface, design, and development. By last August they had a beta version of the app and it hit Apple's App Store last month.

"Finish was chosen as New and Noteworthy on the front page of the App Store for the first week, and it was pretty incredible," Orbuch told CNET in an e-mail. "Since then, we've had a big banner (that I had a bunch of fun designing) at the top of the Productivity category on the store."

The app lets users set short, mid, and long-term tasks. As the date for the task to be done nears, the app notifies the user. The idea is to not let anything sneak up on procrastinators. And, it's not only for high schoolers, Orbuch said.

"We've seen Finish work for an amazing variety of people. From high school students to lawyers, doctors to real estate agents, writers to entrepreneurs, and tons more," Orbuch said. "Though the app was built by students, it wasn't built to be school-specific. Finish is essentially a framework, it's an app that provides the perfect amount of structure to truly reduce stress and ease procrastination for just about anyone."

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Google debuts event page for Academy Awards ceremony

Google's Academy Awards destination page.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET)

Google is rolling out the red carpet for the Academy Awards with a destination site that promises to help users "get more from the Oscars."

In a partnership with Oscars organizers, the Web giant has created a resource page to keep movie fans engaged and informed in the days leading up to the awards ceremony on Sunday. While Google has created event-specific sites before, such as its election hub last year, this is the first time it has focused on the Oscars.

In honor of its Oscars debut, Google is making sure it gets as many of its own products play supporting roles, including YouTube, Google Play, Knowledge Graph, Maps and even Google+ Hangouts.

In addition to the standard list of nominees for every category, the page includes projections on who the winner will be based on the search popularity of nominees. A YouTube video takes users through a visual rewind of 2012 on the silver screen (see below), while Google Play offers a chance to catch up with some of movies and other related media, including an app offering nominee information and movie trailers.

Need information on how to dress for the red carpet, an Oscars ballot, or real-time mobile information on the awards? Google promises to deliver the best performance in those roles as well.

However, some features didn't seem ready for their close-up. A map purporting to hold information about actor birthplaces and movie filming locations didn't seem to be functioning, while another map of the ceremony location was said to be "coming soon."

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Microsoft moves Outlook.com out of preview

Microsoft announced Tuesday that its Outlook.com browser-based e-mail service has moved out of its preview stage and is now available globally.

First introduced last July, Outlook.com is Microsoft's boldest e-mail move since Google launched Gmail in 2004 and a clear answer to it. As I said in my First Take, the simple interface, Skydrive integration, and promise of mega storage will remind you of Google's product while the People Hub and vaguely Windows 8 look and feel give Outlook.com a distinct identity.

Microsoft designed Outlook.com to replace its Hotmail product, which it acquired in 1997, and the general availability marks the start of that process. The Hotmail name won't disappear entirely, but Outlook.com will become Microsoft's sole free consumer e-mail offering.

In a phone interview last week, Senior Director of Product Management Dharmesh Mehta said existing Hotmail users can switch over at anytime. You'll be able to keep using your "@Hotmail" address and you'll have the option to claim an "@Outlook.com" alias, as well.

Users who don't switch over on their own will be upgraded in waves to the new product automatically starting this week. Mehta said that the process should finish by the summer, though he declined to name an exact date.

Microsoft also announced that in the six months since Outlook.com debut, the service has attracted to 60 million users. And in an effort to attract more, Mehta said that the company is launching its largest marketing ever for an e-mail service.

Outlook.com's minimalist interface is both familiar and unique.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Kent German/CNET)

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Why Google's stores shouldn't look so much like Apple stores

Is this really different enough?

(Credit:
Crave CNET UK)

Some engineers have never dated a real person.

They've tried to, but it's hard for them to appreciate that real people don't necessarily use data to make decisions -- especially when it comes to love.

Perhaps their most embarrassing moments come when they try to mimic what non-engineers do in order to make themselves more attractive.

This mirrors some of the little issues that the Google brand has had over the years in becoming, well, human.

When you've spent you life believing that facts are everything, it's hard to imagine that people might prefer, oh, rounded corners or that ephemeral thing sometimes known as taste.

Google has made progress through some of its advertising. The "Jess Time" ad for Chrome was one of the very best tech ads of the 2012.

Yet when Google has wandered into retail, it has either believed that all you need is online or that an offline store ought to look rather like Apple's.

This is something against which Microsoft also struggles. It was almost comical when one Microsoft employee explained to me that its store looked -- at first glance -- a lot like the Apple store because the company used the same design firm.

This week, rumors surfaced that Google wants to make the next step in coming toward humanity by having its own shopping-mall retail presence.

The evidence so far from its pop-up stores -- as the picture above shows -- is that Google isn't thinking different. Or, at least, different enough.

If it fully intends to come out to the people -- to be itself-- then instead of having nice, clean retail staff in blue T-shirts (what brand does that remind you of?), it should embrace its true heart.

It should have real house-trained nerds, replete with bedhead and bad taste clothing, there for all to see. Yes, you could have nice, normal members of staff there to translate for them.

But the purpose of a retail store isn't merely to sell. It's to create street theater. Apple has its own version. Google must find its own too.

Instead of the now almost cliched clean lines and permanent white, it should make its stores look like excitable, sophisticated college playrooms, where books about dragons and vast Hulk hands are lying about and episodes of "Star Trek" and "Game of Thrones" are playing on huge screens.

More Technically Incorrect

It should expose itself fully as a brand that came out of nerdomania by parading its nerdomanic tendencies for all to see and making it lovable.

You might think this marginally insane. You might think that I am suffering from delusions of brandy.

Yet "The Big Bang Theory" has proved to be one of the most popular TV shows, not because the nerds are hidden away, but because they are in full view, with a beautiful counterpoint in a real person called Penny.

Imagine taking your kids, your lover, or your granny into a Google store and having them actually enjoy learning something about, say, comic books or Hermann von Helmholtz.

Imagine walking in and one of the Google nerds has dressed as The Flash, Batman, or Wonder Woman for the day, yet still finds a way to sell you a fascinating
Nexus 7.

In fact, wouldn't it be an excellent human resources idea, as well as a stimulus to make more uplifting products, if every Google engineer had to spend a certain period working in a Google retail store?

Mountain View should surely mine the more lofty, fantastic elements of its reality in order to create something unique and dramatic.

Otherwise, its stores might simply be accused of being Apple rip-offs.

And you know where that will ultimately end up. Yes, in front of Judge Lucy Koh.

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Russian meteorite: The conspiracy theories

A strange time for a military attack?

(Credit:
CNN; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

A good hearty conspiracy theory can shine a sharp light on two of humanity's most enduring traits.

One, of course, is humanity's boundless imagination. The other is humanity's essential suspicion of humanity.

So while you might be deeply immersed in Bill Nye's explanation of the Russian meteorite, those with darker sensibilities have filled the Web with their fears and hauntings about the phenomenon.

There are few nations with greater awareness of dark sensibilities than Russia. The fact that there seems to be little evidence of meteorite fragments on the ground has encouraged some Russians to offer their own suspicions.

As the Toronto Globe and Mail reports, nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky hasn't been slow to offer something of a Hot War perspective.

"It's not meteors falling. It's a new weapon being tested by the Americans," he was quoted as saying.

We know from our recent experience of North Korea that weapons testing is an imprecise science.

But if you were an American in the mood to test a weapon, would Chelyabinsk, Russia, be your very first choice of place for the experiment?

Perhaps Tallahassee; Area 51; and Bialystok, Poland, were all unavailable due to prior commitments. Or perhaps it wasn't the Americans, but, say, the North Koreans, who mistook Chelyabinsk for, say, Chelsea.

Zhirinovsky's rather emotionally manipulative offering was countered by Russia's Emergency Ministry, which dedicated itself to an extensive rebuttal of his belief (and that of others) that this was some sort of military thing. The rebuttal? "Rubbish."

But that wasn't going to put off the local media, was it? Not only do they have papers to sell, they also have theories to expound to a troubled nation and world.

So, as The Atlantic reports, the local Znak newspaper accepted that this was a meteorite but insisted the explosion was caused by military defense blowing it up.

More Technically Incorrect

Yes, of course it has a source in the military. You thought it didn't?

Though I've watched a few movies in which exciting things happen, I don't find it easy to imagine that some sort of terrestrially created missile-laden aircraft could really explode a meteorite in such a manner.

It is easier to imagine, though, that politicians like Zhirinovsky might take the opportunity to foment a little rage.

Indeed, Alex Jones' infamously well-guarded Infowars site offered that Zhirinovsky insisted that America -- in the person of Secretary of State John Kerry -- had tried to give Russia advance notice of its "attack."

The Drudge Report led me to a piece at Foreign Policy that explained that Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, simply hadn't called Kerry back.

Which all suggests that Russia isn't, after all, living in fear of an attack from the U.S. Especially one over Chelyabinsk.

On balance, I prefer to currently believe Nye. He is the science guy, after all. And science guys know scientific events when they see them.

I hope.

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E-orders for 128GB Surface Pro to ship in 2-3 weeks -- Microsoft

Microsoft provided another update at the end of this week regarding the availability of its sold-out 128GB version of the Surface Pro.

A February 15 Surface Blog post said that those ordering through the Microsoft online store in the U.S. can place an order for the 128GB model and have it ship in two to three weeks.

The new post also provided updated information for those wanting to "reserve" the Intel-based PC/tablet hybrid
Surface Pro devices. Up until now, Microsoft officials have declined comment when asked whether users would be able to pre-order Surface Pros.

Here's the latest Surface Pro availability guidance:

At Best Buy (U.S.): Inventory levels are increasing and many Best Buy stores have Surface Pro units for sale in-store. If the store does not have stock, you can reserve a Surface Pro (64GB and 128GB). Please note that Best Buy is only taking reservations in their stores for Surface Pro based on new inventory they know is coming in next week, so it's possible that reservations could become "sold out."

At Staples (U.S.): Many Staples stores have Surface Pro units for sale in stores. If the store does not have stock, you can place a kiosk order in store to purchase Surface Pro 64GB for delivery.

For Canada: In Best Buy and Future Shop stores you can reserve the 64GB Surface Pro in stores at this time. Staples has availability online while inventory lasts and more inventory has been ordered to ensure store availability in the near future. More details to come on the 128GB Surface Pro availability in Canada.

It seems that Staples is making the 128GB Surface Pros available for order online and that they are not being stocked in Staples brick-and-mortar outlets, as I noted earlier this week.

Microsoft is "work(ing) around the clock to meet that demand with production and get new inventory into retail," the post concluded. Company officials advise customers interested in the Pros to call ahead before venturing to stores this weekend, in spite of guidance earlier in the week that more stores would have stock on hand starting on Saturday, February 16.

It's still unclear why there are not enough Surface Pros on the market. Is it that Microsoft seriously underestimated demand for 128GB Surface Pros -- a happy problem for the Softies? Or have supply-chain problems led to device shortages (a not-so-happy problem)? Microsoft's Surface Pro devices went on sale February 9.

This story originally appeared on ZDNet under the headline "Microsoft: Online orders for 128 GB Surface Pro to ship in two to three weeks."

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Photoshop 1.0 source code now a museum artifact

The Photoshop 1.0 splash screen

(Credit:
Computer History Museum)

The Computer History Museum has made the source code for Photoshop 1.0.1 into an exhibit that lets the public, or at least programmers, appreciate the inner workings of the historic software.

The museum published the software yesterday, following up on its earlier release of the source code underlying Apple's original MacPaint.

Source code is what humans write -- in Photoshop 1.0's case the brothers Thomas and John Knoll. The initial Photoshop is written in written 128,000 lines of code, a combination of the high-level Pascal programming language and low-level assembly-language instructions. When converted to machine code, the program was small enough to fit on a floppy disk.

Photoshop started in the 1980s as a personal project the brothers called Display, but they started trying to commercialize it, according to the museum's exhibit. Their first success was version 0.87, which scanner maker Barneyscan called Barneyscan XP, but Adobe Systems agreed to a deal in 1989 and distributed Photohshop 1.0.1 in 1990.

Photoshop 1.0.1 dates from a time when many computer screens were small and could display only black or white pixels -- not even gray. And of course image processing is very taxing for computer chips. Although today's large, color monitors are very different, Photoshop still pushes computer processors about as hard as they'll go.

The museum also published the Photoshop 1.0 user guide and tutorial documentation.

Of course, new types of museum exhibits mean things change for those perusing the exhibits, too. In this case, it's a 1,400-word license agreement to see the Photoshop source.

Photoshop 1.0 in action

(Credit:
Creative Bits and the Computer History Museum)

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Researchers develop a more accurate car navigation system

Researchers say new navigation system can be installed on any vehicle, including a Volkswagen Touareg.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Driverless cars could get a big boost from a new system that researchers say will increase the accuracy of in-car satellite navigation systems by 90 percent.

Researchers say the system combines conventional GPS signals with data from sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes to determine a vehicle's position within six feet of its location, a dramatic reduction from the current margin of error of 50 feet. The system can be installed inexpensively in any vehicle, say researchers at Spain's Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where the system was developed.

"We have managed to improve the determination of a vehicle's position in critical cases by between 50 and 90 percent, depending on the degree of the signals' degradation and the time that is affecting the degradation on the GPS receiver," David Martín, a researcher at the Systems Intelligence Laboratory, said in a statement describing the project.

The system aims to tackle the greatest challenge faced by conventional GPS systems in urban settings: loss or disruption of satellite signal due to interference created by buildings, trees, and tunnels. The new system uses contextual information and an algorithm that eliminates deviations caused by degradation or loss of signal from satellites.

The researchers have installed a prototype system on an "intelligent
car" with the goal of capturing and interpreting all the information available while driving a car. The team sees applications of the system in driverless car systems currently under development by Google and a handful of automakers.

"Future applications that will benefit from the technology that we are currently working on will include cooperative driving, automatic maneuvers for the safety of pedestrians, autonomous vehicles or cooperative collision warning systems," the team said.

Ultimately, the team hopes to develop a system that harnesses the sensors built in to smartphones, such an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and GPS, as well as taking advantage of communications tools such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM.

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Surface Pro as a gaming rig? It's ready and able

Surface Pro run Valve's Portal 2 at close to max settings.

(Credit:
Valve)

Microsoft's new Intel-powered tablet isn't being advertised as a gaming platform, but maybe it should.

The Surface Pro handles Diablo III and Portal 2 at near-maximum settings, according to a post by Jason Evangelho at Forbes.com.

Gamers "represent an important -- and arguably sizable -- potential demographic for Microsoft. As the company knows from its wildly successful
Xbox platform," he wrote.

At the moment, Microsoft is marketing Surface as a business tool, with no mention of its gaming chops.

The closest it gets is ad copy about Intel's laptop-class Core i5 processor and the ability to run applications like Adobe Photoshop.

That Intel hardware makes it rare bird for a
tablet. With a few exceptions like the Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, tablets today use either Intel's pokey Atom processor or -- relative to Intel's mainstream chips -- slower ARM processors.

Other specs lend the tablet to running games: it packs a fast solid-state drive (often used on gaming rigs) and 1,920x1,080 display.

"The Surface Pro handles Diablo III at 1920x1080 resolution with most specs except shadows maxed out," wrote Evangelho.

Not bad for a tablet.

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Foursquare debuts venue pages to share with non-members

Foursquare launched its shareable mobile venue pages for non-members today, as it continues down the path of becoming less of a social network and more of a recommendation search engine -- a la Yelp.

"Foursquare has tons of helpful information about places, like photos, menu items, and great tips from insiders and local experts," the company wrote in a blog post today. "When you Tweet, post to Facebook, email or text about a place with friends who don't have Foursquare on their phones, they'll be linked to a shiny new page showing all the most important info about it."

The shareable venue pages highlight user tips and photos; they also have essential information like the address and hours of the store, restaurant, park, or other spot. To share a page with friends -- including non-Foursquare members -- users just tap the "share" button while in the social network's mobile app.

Foursquare has been continuing to morph from a check-in social network to a more comprehensive location search engine -- putting it in direct competition with other recommendation and rating services, such as Yelp.

In November, the company launched its 10-point scoring system for local business and in October it launched its new Web site, which is open to nonmembers and has a prominent search box. The company has also been in the process of adding more specific information to its listings, like when a place is open and prices.

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