Electronics, Gadgets | featured news

A U.S. judge rejected Apple's request to ban U.S. sales of some Galaxy smartphones and tablets made by Samsung.

Amazon’s ultra-cheap Kindle Fire has already shipped between 3 and 4 million units and combined with news of excellent Black Friday sales last week, the Fire may already be the number two tablet after the Apple iPad.

Investors purchased roughly 850 calls at the Dec. 11 $19 strike for an average premium of $0.53 each, and snapped up nearly 700 of the Dec. '11 $20 strike calls at an average premium of $0.39 apiece. Call buyers at these strikes may profit at expiration next week in the event that shares in Research in Motion surge 6.7% and 11.4% over the current price of $18.30 to surpass the average breakeven prices of $19.53 and $20.39, respectively.

Japanese fan site Macotakara reports Sony and Hitachi are making four-inch screens for the new phone - and have already shipped early prototypes to Apple's Cupertino HQ - hinting at a release as early as March.

The discovery has added to rumours that the iPad 3 will launch in March and feature a fractionally thicker design and a significantly higher resolution display.

A German patent owner has ordered HTC to halt sales of its devices in Germany, but the mobile phone maker says the claim is "invalid".

After more than a year of missteps by Apple's tablet rivals, at least one viable competitor, Amazon's Kindle Fire, appears to have surfaced for the popular iPad. Amazon.com Inc. on Monday trumpeted the success of its recently launched Kindle Fire tablet, part of a family of Kindle products that include low-priced e-readers. The company said it sold more than four times as many Kindle products on Black Friday last week as the same shopping day in 2010.

Last week we showed you how a developer had hacked Siri to operate his internet-connected thermostat. But that's not cool. Starting your car using Siri, now that's cool. Actually, that's a bit unfair.

Does $199 sound like too much for the BlackBerry Playbook this holiday season? RIM seems to think so, but only for its employees. According to multiple sources, the 16GB 7-inch tablet is now available to RIM employees through a special corporate portal for $99. The 32GB version is $149 and the 64GB model for $199. We have also been told that employees can only order up to eight models.

Some 84 percent of iPhone users said they would pick iPhone also when they replace their cellphone, while 60 percent of those using Android smartphones said they would stick with phones using the same software, says a research firm.