Sony Unleash The KD-84X9005 At IFA 2012

picture courtesy of Engadget 

Sony has just dropped a bombshell, it’s announced a monster TV at the 2012 IFA show. The Sony KD-84X9005 as it likes to be called is a whopping 84-inch LCD panel TV. That may be enough to get us drooling, but there is more… much, much more it sports an ultra-realistic screen with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 (4K) that 4x times greater than HD.  It uses the 4K X-Reality PRO super-resolution high picture quality engine invented by those nice chaps at Sony.

The engine can upscale images including HD broadcasts, blu-ray who would have thought we would need to upscale HD?

How to Bypass Online Censorship

Bill Gates once famously said in a speech at Stanford University in February 2008 that he wasn't worried about online censorship: "I don't see any risk in the world at large that someone will restrict free content flow on the internet," he said. He was wrong.

While the world debates the need for legislation to stop the downloading of illicit copies of commercial digital products, governments are increasingly using censorship as a reason to 'protect' us from what they consider undesirable. In some countries, that protection extends to the suppression of basic human rights and news about atrocities.

Acer Announces 3 New Smartphones

The Taiwanese hardware manufacturer Acer, best known for tablets, laptops and gorgeous looking ultrabooks, is getting ready to take on the lucrative smartphone market with the launch of an Android-powered handset called Liquid Gallant Solo.

Last night Acer announced some surprising news, most significantly, the arrival of the Liquid Gallant Solo, or E350. It already has a user guide, which can be seen here,  Acer Liquid Gallant Solo user Guide.

Microsoft Surface Windows RT ONLY £130 ($200)!

Microsoft’s Surface Windows RT tablet won't just be lighter and slimmer than Apple’s iPad – it'll also be cheaper, with a Astonishingly good price of US$200 that’s just £130, A lot less than almost all smartphones out at the moment.

This…if it is true, at that price (Engadget's inside source) puts the Surface Windows RT in head to head competition with the Amazon Kindle Fire and the much loved Google Nexus 7, with much better specs as well.

Half Life 3

The official Half Life 3 release date and announcement  could be a lot sooner than we thought, if a assured pdf from Gamescom is to be believed 

So it looks like Half Life 3 is to be revealed this week at Gamescom, according to a pdf from the games show's website which lists all the titles that will be announced this coming week.

In the much-anticipated next chapter in the Half Life series has been years in the making, Valve gained praise and huge recognition for The Orange Box  and Half Life 2.

As if adding fuel to the fire ,games magazine Game Informer has established that for the first time in its history it will be going to be published  a day later in order to accomodate a huge announcement being made at Gamescom this week.

 Half Life 3: The rumours

“Concept art has shown that the team could well be going in a new artistic direction along with Gordon Freeman being sent to the north where he will face icy landscapes and alien worlds.

The game has not yet been confirmed by Valve so seeing the title actually on an official list is the first sign that the company has been working on a sequel to Half Life 2.” T3 Mag

HTC OneX Edging Closer To Jelly Bean Update

All you proud owners of the HTC One X will get a pleasant surprise  in the form of what looks to be the last Ice Cream Sandwich build update before the One X is immersed with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

This new software update will bring the One X handsets up to the latest version of Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 as well as adding a smidgen of tweaks to the Sense experience, it includes as a dedicated tab switching button in the browser for serial multitasking surfers and the ability map menu functions to the Recent Apps key.

Budding photographers will also notice improvements to white balance settings and continuous autofocus in the camera app, and stability, memory and Beats Audio improvements should have your One X running as smooth as ever before.

Alas there is no word from HTC with regards to a Jelly Bean update for the HTC One X or HTC One S, but I'll be keeping my keen eyes open for the latest news, as always.

THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

“As part of our on-going commitment to ensure customers are receiving software updates that improve their user experience, we are pleased to announce our next upgrade for the HTC One X will be released on August 10th.

The primary update will include an upgrade to Android version 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), in addition to an improved Sense experience which will: enable the ability to map menu function to the 'recent app' key (improving visual presentation in non ICS apps like Facebook); improve tab management in the browser with a dedicated tab switching button and enhance camera capabilities such as white balance and continuous autofocus. Furthermore, customers can expect enhancements to memory, platform stability and the overall browsing experience. Other improvements include a Single Sign-On for Facebook allowing user access across applications and browsers and upgrades to Beats audio, which reflect our dedication to providing an authentic sound experience.

From a developer perspective, we are expanding SDK support for Media Link and providing a framework for video call applications to achieve improved performance and quality.”

HTC Endeavour C2 leak

HTC Endeavour C2 leak spills the specs on the One X successor

This is not the first rumor I’ve heard about the follow-up to the One X, although I can say it is the most detailed. Stuff Magazines trusty mole at HTC has dropped a load of specs our way, including the One X II’s codename …HTC Endeavour C2, catchy eh?

Next to the inspiring codename, the source details a 1.7GHz quad-core processor at the very heart of the Endeavour C2, it also sports a new and improved battery, a new colour (my bet is red, but we will see) and bundled UrBeats earphones.

We’re told the HTC Endeavour C2 is compatible with the One X’s accessories, suggesting the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree it seems.

Next the software side of things, HTC is adding ClearVoice to improve call quality and the Endeavour C2 will be the company’s first phone to run HTC Watch 2, the newest version of its video-on-demand service.

It looks very likely that the price of this new HTC ONE X will be on sale in the UK network deals offering the phone for around £5 more a month than the One X and the HTC Endeavour C2 expected to launch on or before 1st October.

What do you think?

Is this just the same old?

Was you hoping for something new?

Let us know by writing a comment below.