iPhone to Become a Payment Terminal with New Tap-to-Pay Feature

Starting with iOS 18.1, Apple will allow developers to enable in-app NFC transactions via the secure element and you can now select a default contactless payment app that launches when pressing double-click side button on your iPhone Before, the only option you had for a double-click on that button was Apple Pay.

The change will allow developers to bring in-app contactless transactions to everything from “in-store payments, car keys, closed-loop transit cards and corporate badges,” student IDs home keys (main door), hotel room key systems (“merchant loyalty and rewards cards”), Wallaby reports. To date, third-party apps have only been able to read tags over NFC.

The dreamy notion of carrying your government ID in Apple Wallet will be supported “in the future,” according to an Apple press release.

Apple says developers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand the UK and US can expect to have access to relevant APIs for building these apps “in an upcoming iOS 18.1 developer beta with additional locations to follow.” But developers who wish to use Apple’s APIs will need “to enter into a commercial agreement with Apple, request the NFC [and SE entitlement] and pay associated fees.”

The move comes after Apple said it would open up iPhone NFC payments to third party providers in the wake of a European Commission antitrust investigation. In September, the European Commission also announced that it had made Apple's commitments into legally binding promises.

MacBook Pro Gets New Ivy Bridge Processors, NVIDIA Graphics

MacBook Pro Gets New Ivy Bridge Processors, NVIDIA Graphics

Apple’s current generation 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros have been updated with the latest Intel Core processors and powerful discrete graphics from NVIDIA, the company announced yesterday.

The announcement came right before Apple unveiled the all-new MacBook Pro with Retina display. The company apparently isn’t willing to let go of the current MacBook Pros, so it’s beefed them up with the latest Intel CPUs, and new graphics solutions from NVIDIA.

According to Apple’s press release issued yesterday, which basically acts as a spec sheet for the newly-announced laptops, “The 13-inch MacBook Pro features the latest Intel Core i5 or Core i7 dual-core processors up to 2.9 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz.”

“The 15-inch MacBook Pro features the latest Intel Core i7 quad-core processors up to 2.7 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M discrete graphics,” Apple said.

Both models can be configured with a 1TB hard drive or solid state drives (SSDs) up to 512GB. The advantage of using a solid state drive is faster reading & writing of data, which means faster loading times (including faster load times), and less battery drainage.

The new MacBook Pro features a high-speed Thunderbolt port and two USB 3.0 ports, as well as 7 hours of wireless battery life. Apple says its Mac notebook batteries use advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology to provide up to 1,000 recharges.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available with a 2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of memory and 500GB hard drive starting at $1,199 (€959). It goes all the way up to $2,199 (€1,760) for a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, and a 750GB hard drive.

Lady Gaga Is Still “Woozy” After Being Hit in the Head in Concert

While performing in New Zealand the other day, Lady Gaga suffered a concussion when a backup dancer accidentally hit her in the head with a giant metal pole. She's now using her Twitter to keep fans in the loop on her condition.

She hit her head pretty badly but she should be up and running in almost no time, Gaga writes.

She also uploaded a photo of herself in bed, taken right after she woke up, sporting a black eye. Ouch.

“Thank you so much for all the thoughtful messages. I feel a bit woozy but a little better everyday. Very happy to be in beautiful Australia,” Gaga says.

“Emerging from hours of sleep. Still remiss if I should go outside, with this clonker I may be of questionable styling,” the singer jokes.

Above is the video of the accident – no joke about it, it seemed pretty severe.

Windows 8 Beta Roadmap Leaked

Windows 8 Beta Roadmap Leaked

Next month, Microsoft should make the beta version of Windows 8 available for public download, following the release of a Developer Preview in September last year.

In this regard, some new details on the Windows 8 Beta roadmap have emerged, suggesting that the build might be ready for preview as soon as January 30.

At the moment, Windows 8 is still in a pre-Beta state, and should remain the same until January 21, WinUnleaked reports.

Starting with January 23, it will enter the Beta Escrow period, and testers will have until January 28 to vote for the Beta final build.

After Windows 8 Beta is signed off, Microsoft is expected to display it during an internal preview.

The news site also notes that the currently targeted build number for Windows 8 Beta is 8200.winmain_win8b1.

Previously, Microsoft confirmed that it was targeting the second half of February as the release timeframe for the beta flavor of Windows 8.

Some suggested that there might be a connection between Windows 8 Beta’s release date and the Mobile World Congress that will kick off in Barcelona in late February.

Since Windows 8 will target tablet PCs, chances are that we’ll see new such devices being showcased at the event.

Microsoft already demoed Windows 8 on a Samsung tablet PC, and it should be only a matter of time before more such devices are being unveiled.

Compared to the Developer Preview, the Beta version of Windows 8 will bring along some new UI changes, along with a resizable on-screen keyboard and access to the Windows 8 Store.

Following the February release in Beta, Windows 8 should hit Gold sometime towards mid-2012. The first tablet PCs running under it are expected to be released in late 2012, and should pack Intel processors inside. Windows 8-based ARM tablets might not arrive on shelves before the end of this year.

Nikon D4 Available for Pre-Order from J&R, Adorama, Ritz Camera & Jessops

Nikon D4 Available for Pre-Order from J&R, Adorama, Ritz Camera & Jessops

Amazon may have reached its pre-order quota for Nikon’s D4, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t still place a reservation for a D4 of your own.

In fact, no less than three retailers in the US and one in the UK have the upcoming full-frame DSLR up for pre-order.

As Nikon Rumors has tipped us, this list includes J&R, Adorama and Ritz Camera, while those living across the Atlantic can get it from Jessops.

In the US pricing for Nikon’s new creation is set at $5,999.95, while in the UK you would have to get £4799.95 out of your pocket to get one.

These are some impressive price tags indeed, but it seems like that full-frame 16.2MP sensor, 1080p 30fps video recording and the new 91,000 pixel RGB 3D Color Matrix Meter III sensor are definitely worth it.

Nokia Lumia 710 to Arrive in the UK on January 6th

Nokia Lumia 710 to Arrive in the UK on January 6th
Nokia has already made available for its users in the UK a Windows Phone device, yet it seems that it will soon expand their options in the area, as a second such handset is set to make an appearance in the country in about a month, namely the Nokia Lumia 710.

Nokia already made the handset available in some markets around the world, but UK users will have to wait a bit longer before being able to get the new device.


Rumor has it that the Nokia Lumia 710 would be on its way to the UK market on January 6th, and that at least one retailer will have it available on that day, SIM free, namely Digital-phone.co.uk.

The retailer claims that the first Nokia Lumia 710 stock will arrive on January 6th next year. Moreover, it lists the device at £269.99 SIM free ($421 or 317 Euros), which makes it £200 cheaper than the Lumia 800.

For the time being, nothing was officially confirmed on the availability and pricing of the Nokia Lumia 710 in the country, and we’ll have to wait for the Finnish vendor to make a formal announcement on the matter to learn how it will all go down in the end.

The Nokia Lumia 710 was made official the same day with Lumia 800, but with a bit lower specs and much lower price tag.

The smartphone arrives on shelves with a 3.7-inch ClearBlack touchscreen and sports a 1.4GHz application processor inside (a single core chip).

Moreover, it comes with a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, as well as with 8GB of internal memory, in addition to sporting the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango platform and support for all the services associated with it.

The handset can deliver HD video recording capabilities, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as support for Nokia’s recently unveiled Drive and Music applications.

Dell, Acer and HP Could Have Some New Ideas Next Year

Dell, Acer and HP Could Have Some New Ideas Next Year
The PC market is getting more varied, and even challenged in some cases, so the companies involved have to get creative, hence what reports say is being done by some companies.

The past year might not have started out that way, but it ended up changing enough of the PC market that it got large-scale companies seriously thinking.

Lenovo is actually the only PC maker that saw a measure of success, and a great one at that, since it got to second place on the PC market.

The same cannot be said about Acer and Dell, who both slid on the ranking, and definitely not about HP, even though it is still in the lead as far as sales go.

After all, not too long ago, HP was seriously considering total retreat from the PC market, before the CEO was sacked for a new one that canceled that move.

Basically, the changes to the PC industry are acute enough that the old business models and ways of marketing aren't cutting it any longer.

HP, Acer and Dell seem to have caught on to this and, based on what Digitimes says, are determined to make sure they fare well in 2012.

To that end, they have begun to invest more in their R&D (research and development) departments.

Thus, they should have all they need to cope with the existence of multiple PC platforms.

On the hardware front, ARM is getting closer and closer to challenging x86 chips from Intel and AMD on the PC front.

The tablet market, a sort of neutral section between PCs and mobile devices, already played the part of mediator, making Microsoft include ARM support in Windows 8.

As for the software side, the Android operating system from Google might just attain an even higher relevance.

There are already laptops and tablets with both Windows and Android after all, so companies really only have to keep following the existing trend and diversify further.

Google's New Advanced Search Page Is Pretty, Broken

Google's New Advanced Search Page Is Pretty, Broken

Google has debuted a new Advanced Search page. The changes are mostly visual, the site definitely looks better, but it suffers from some usability regressions.

The Advanced Search page offers options to narrow and target a search necessary if the regular search page, even with the filters, doesn't help you find what you're looking for.

Most users don't even know it exists, but it serves a purpose for a lot of people. Still, the low traffic figures means that it's not a priority for Google.

It hasn't gotten a major update in a long time and even small changes are far and few between.

But that has been for the best so far, since Advanced Search worked pretty much like users expected. That's no longer the case, the page has gotten a major update.

It finally falls inline with Google's site-wide design being applied to all of its products, as Google Operating System discovered.

However, even though this is Google, a company with thousands of some of the best software engineers on the planet, the page looks like rush job. Considering the Gmail iPhone app Google just released, it seems it's becoming a trend at the company.

The main problem is that all of the drop-down menus are built with JavaScript. They look very nice and they're the same across all platforms, but keyboard shortcuts no longer work.

Users that turn to the Advanced Search page are the type of people that use keyboard shortcuts extensively.

With the new drop-down menus, the only option is to scroll up or down until you find what you're looking for. With big lists such as the country selection, it's clearly not the best or the fastest approach.

Google can and probably will fix this. It's hardly a technical issue that is somehow beyond Google's expertise. The problem is, Google has gotten used to shipping first and fixing later. While this works for big projects like Gmail or Google+, it's just lazy for something simple such as the Advanced Search page.

Conexant vs. VIA vs. Realtek: On Which Casual Audio Driver Is Better

Conexant vs. VIA vs. Realtek: On Which Casual Audio Driver Is Better
Most motherboards being manufactured these days come with embedded audio chips which can reach as high as 7.1-channel configurations needed for HD multimedia. Nevertheless, a question arises: which manufacturer offers the best "stock" audio performance? Is there a real difference between these three major brands?

With Realtek comfortably positioned in the first place at least as far as the number of motherboards equipped with their chipsets is concerned, one would tend to believe that they are also providing the best quality, as well.

I was surprised to notice a detectable difference when I switched to a Conexant-loaded motherboard; the sound in my headphones was brighter and richer, while the same tracks played through the Realtek system were rather dull.

On the other hand, when it came to notebooks, the Realtek sound played through Asus' Sonic Focus Utility was simply amazing, despite the inherent low volume of the speakers. Now, it all comes down to the user experience: when leaving all the third-party software aside (plugins such as DMX, iZotopte and the like), which brand offers the best bang for the buck?

Gentlemen, box!

Jono Bacon Interview About Ubuntu 12.04 Cycle

Jono Bacon Interview About Ubuntu 12.04 Cycle
During the Ubuntu Development Summit for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager, gave an interview to Amber Graner, an Ubuntu contributor involved in the community since February 2009.

Jono spoke about the need of Canonical to recalibrate the community in such a way that more people join in the development process, in greater numbers than before.

According to the  Ubuntu Community Manager, Canonical also needs to focus a lot more on the end-users and needs to become a commercial success, without loosing sight on the Linux enthusiasts, especially because the community has grown a lot in recent times.

Jono also said that Leadership Summit that took place in Orlando, Florida, served its purpose and that a lot of leaders are needed in order to continue the development of different areas of Ubuntu, from Unity to Cloud.

You can watch the entire, 5 minutes and 54 seconds long, interview with Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager, right here on this page, at the top. Enjoy!