A few years ago, Sony and Samsung entered into a joint venture to develop S-LCD panels. Today, the two companies have announced that Samsung will be buying Sony’s stake (50%) in the joint venture for 1.08 trillion Korean won, which is roughly US$933 million dollars.

The new agreement allows both the companies to continue cooperative engineering efforts focused on LCD panel technology and for Sony to secure a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, based on market prices without the responsibility and costs of having their own manufacturing facility. The transferring of shares and payment is expected to close by the end of January 2012. Read more »

LG has a special treat in store for CES visitors next year, a massive 55-inch TV that uses an OLED panel, the largest to be used on any TV yet. LG claims that the panel has a contrast ratio of 100,000:1.

Compared to other OLED TVs, the LG TV uses a White OLED or WOLED panel. Unlike AMOLED panels that use RGB subpixels placed next to each other, WOLED panels stack the subpixels one above the other, which results in lower error rate, clearer picture and low color distortion at wider viewing angles. Read more »

There was a time when if something could stand still long enough someone would install Linux on it. The same is true for Android today. And so the latest gadget to get an Android port is the recently announced sports tracker, Motorola’s MOTOACTV.

In its defense the device already runs a highly disguised version of Gingerbread but it still wouldn’t have been easy. Developer Chris Wade, the guy responsible for the useful but woefully misnamed Dingleberry jailbreak for the BlackBerry PlayBook, is the one responsible for achieving this feat. But before he actually installed the new OS, he ripped open the device apart first. Read more »

The iPad 2′s Smart Cover is a pretty recognizable accessory for Apple’s tablet, but earlier this month we saw the Android equivalent crop up in the form of a product simply known as ‘Sleeve’.

Intended for the Eee Pad Transformer Prime and made in house by Asus, the new protective cover has arrived online and is ready and waiting for those planning on picking up the quad-core endowed droid tablet right now. Read more »

Everyone who has read the The Da Vinci Code or has seen the movie knows what a cryptex is – an old-timey way to password protect your documents. Except today’s documents typically come in digital form, say a flash drive, rather than paper so as cool as a cryptex sounds, it’s no good to use today.

Enter the Crypteks USB – you can guess what it does just by its name. It’s not a real product yet, it’s just a concept on Kickstarter. Still, considering it has received $130,000+ in backing (well over the $12,000 goal), it seems a pretty safe bet that it will be a real product soon. Read more »

When I first heard of the recently founded headphone maker Sol Republic, my first thought was if there was any room left on the market for a new supplier of premium headphones. The U.S. market in particular is dominated by Beats Audio – the company with Dr. Dre as its face, followed by several competitors. In a nutshell – it is not the friendliest environment to launch a new product, given the already established competition.

Once I found out more about the newcomer however, its aspirations began to make a lot more sense. Sol Republic (by the way, Sol stands for “soundtrack of life”, not something related to the sun) is founded by Read more »

We don’t often do accessory reviews, but this one is too interesting to miss. You see, one of the problems with touchscreen smartphones is that you cannot use them with gloves, so you have to pick your priorities in the winter – operate your phone or save your fingers from the freezing cold.

Enter the Isotoner SmarTouch gloves – compatible with your touchscreen phone, those will keep your fingers nicely warm in those cold months. Read more »

The Xbox 360 fall update is coming tomorrow and it will bring tons of new stuff. But the first and most important change is the complete interface overhaul. Microsoft has put the Metro UI in charge.

It’s hardly a surprise to see the Metro UI here though – after all, it is Microsoft’s “all-in” both in the desktop and mobile versions of Windows. And I think the dashboard has never been so awesome. Read more »

The MOTOACTV, the illegitimate child of the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth watch and the iPod nano, will soon be hitting British shelves this December. Motorola has announced that the MOTOACTV will be available in Sweatshop stores across the UK starting December 1 and it will be priced at £249.99 ($390).

In case you don’t know what the MOTOACTV is, it is a glorified wrist watch running Android. It works like a personal trainer during your workouts, keeping track of all your sessions, how much you ran, how many calories you burned, etc. using the built-in GPS and accelerometer. Read more »

Amazon has just revealed the launch date for their new Kindle range, which now includes the Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G and the Android-based Kindle Fire. Tuesday, November 15 is the day when you will be able to get your hands on one of Amazon’s shiny new Kindles.

They have also announced that the Kindles will be available in 16,000 locations across the US, from retail stores such as Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Staples, Sam’s Club, RadioShack, Office Depot, etc. And of course, there is the Amazon online store, if you’re too lazy to go out and buy it. Read more »

A rather curious devices has been uncovered by the people at The Verge. The device claims to be a wireless controller for some other device and is shown operating a TV, which is presumably connected to the mystery device.

The Motorola Corvair, as it is called, itself is running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a 6-inch capacitive touchscreen. It communicates with other devices over IR or RF4CE using WI-Fi. There is a 4000mAh battery inside to provide to the juice for all the wireless interfacing and whatever else the device is capable. Read more »

If you’re tired of the iPad charger hogging an extra slot on your wall socket or one of the USB ports on your MacBook, then Twelve South has just the device for you. Called the PlugBug, this neat little accessory snaps on top of any MacBook charger and lets you charge both your iPad and MacBook simultaneously.

Of course, it’s not just limited to the iPad and the standard USB port will allow any device that supports USB charging to be charged from it but the iPad will benefit the most from it due to its hunger for power that can only be satiated with a powerful charger and with 10 watts and 2.1 amps on tap, the PlugBug has all the power it needs to provide the fastest charging experience on the iPad. Read more »

With Gorilla Glass already the synonym for high performance and durability in mobile displays, Corning Incorporated announced the next great thing in display glass technology called Lotus Glass. Despite not having as tough a name as its predecessor, Lotus Glass offers higher performance, while being easier on the environment.

Developed to support the latest generation Read more »

Apple adds a new accessory to its portfolio – the iPhone microUSB adapter. It does just what it says on the box – allows you to use standard microUSB cables and chargers with your iPhone both for syncing(!) and charging.

The unveiling of such a gadget might not seem so surprising at first look, but it actually represents an end of an era where Apple’s closed eco system relied solely on proprietary hardware and peripherals to run and interconnect. Read more »

Only earlier this month Sandisk announced their latest offering for removable mobile storage, an impressive 64GB micro SDXC Ultra series number that was said to offer class 6 performance.

That class 6 rating means we should see minimum write speeds of 6MB/s and theoretically, promising transfer speeds of up to 30MB/s. The news of the card’s existence at all is all well and good, but it comes with a disclaimer of sorts. Read more »