Android Tops iOS, RIM with 29% Smartphone Share

Google's Android operating system took 29 percent of U.S. smartphone market share in January, breaking a statistical tie with Apple's iOS and Research In Motion's BlackBerry platforms in growing 2 percentage points from December.
However, Nielsen data also noted that while Android handsets might have a slight edge over the iPhone and BlackBerry-powered gadgets, RIM and Apple lord over other device makers, "since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems."
HTC is third, accounting for 12 percent of Android smartphones purchased, and 7 percent running Microsoft Windows Mobile or Windows Phone 7.
The company, which has been selling the new HTC Shift since January, has a litany of Android sets on tap for 2011 to bolster its lead. These include the HTC Thunderbolt and HTC Merge CDMA world phone.
Motorola was next as a purveyor of Android handsets, as 10 percent of smartphone owners had a Motorola Android device, with only 1 percent still using a Windows-based Motorola phone.
Motorola aims to up its Android market share this quarter with the availability of its Atrix 4g dual-core smartphone on AT&T's network for $199.99. The device plugs into a Motorola Laptop Dock, which consumers may pair with the phone at purchase for $499.
Motorola, which also just launched its Xoom Android 3.0 tablet, is expected to launch its next major Droid smartphone, the Bionic, on Verizon Wireless next quarter.
Samsung, whose Galaxy S devices have sold more than 10 million units since their launch last summer, commanded only 5 percent of Android share, according to Nielsen.
Samsung's last big Android handset offering was the Nexus S, launched on T-Mobile in December. However, the company has the Galaxy S II coming down the pike as media-intensive handsets later this year.
It's important to note that while Android handset makers are busy pumping out stylish new handsets, Apple's iPhone is still the hottest smartphone in the world, shipping more than 100 million units. The company is expected to launch the iPhone 5 this summer.
RIM's BlackBerry device share is lagging, as the company appears focused on its PlayBook tablet more than banging out hot new BlackBerry handsets.
Microsoft Windows Phone 7 is on quite a slower timetable. With handsets launched to AT&T and T-Mobile in 2010, the platform has been slow to catch on. However, Microsoft has landed Nokia as another handset maker on which to put its software, so that platform should ramp by 2012.

Lexar 32GB Class 10 microSDHC Memory Card Review

 Introduction:
At this year's CES, we learned that Lexar was about to release a new high-speed 32GB Class 10 microSDHC memory card for mobile devices. Even though there are other brands of 32GB microSDHC cards on the market for about a year now, most are rated at Class 2 or Class 4 speeds, though Patriot and WinTec both make ones rated at Class 10.

As smartphones have now become commonplace in today’s society, so is carrying around all of your pictures, videos, music, and work documents on them. Even though smartphones come with some user accessible internal memory, most of them are also relying on external memory, in the form of microSDHC cards, to be the main point of storage. Up until last year, the largest microSDHC memory cards were 16GB, but when the 32GB models came out, they were nearly $200 and limited to Class 2 speeds. Thankfully as time went by, prices began to come down and speed ratings started to go up.

The Lexar 32GB microSDHC memory card (model LSDMI32GBSBNAR) is the newest to be released for 2011 and features a Class 10 rating, which the manufacturer claims should be capable of a minimum sustained write speed of 10 MB per second and a read speed up to 20 MB per second. It is listed for $149 on the Lexar site, but looking around we found it for a more reasonable $103 on Amazon. Also included in the retail package is a small USB thumb drive adapter for connecting the memory card right to a PC’s USB port. We like having this added convenience, but the included thumb drive adapter is made out of plastic and feels cheap and very flimsy. A few times when we went to plug it into our PC, the plastic end felt like it could break without too much force. Coming pre-loaded on the Lexar memory card is a program called MediaMove, which you can elect to install on your PC. With it, you can have the program locate all of your media files on your PC and have it transfer them to the phone’s memory card, as well as backing-up media files from your memory card to your PC. It is a nice program to have, especially for a beginner, but we would imagine that most people reading this probably know how to manually transfer files between their PC and phone’s memory card.

The dual core LG Optimus 2X is coming to the U.S. as the T-Mobile G2x?

After video made its way around the internet showing the browser on the dual-core LG Optimus 2X blowing away the browser on the Apple iPhone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S, the LG handset captured the kind of buzz that usually leads to big sales numbers. After an initial launch in Korea, the phone is now about to make its way through Europe en route to making its stateside appearance.

Based on the leaked internal LG document you see below, it would seem that the LG Optimus 2X will be launched in the U.S. by the nation's fourth largest carrier as the T-Mobile G2x. Although no launch date or pricing info was made available, it looks like the handset will be a prize that some T-Mobile reps could win for huge sales of the LG G-Slate tablet.

There probably won't be much difference between the LG Optimus 2X and the T-Mobile G2x. Both should have Tegra 2 dual-processors, 1.3 and 8MP front and rear facing cameras respectively, with HD 1080p video capture. The display will be 4 inches of WVGA resolution with 8GB of internal memory expandable by as much as an additional 32GB thanks to a microSD slot, and all powered by a 1500mAh battery. If there is a difference, it could be that the T-Mobile G2x gets 4G connectivity. After all, the carrier often calls itself the nation's largest 4G network.

source TmoNews

It looks like the LG Optimus 2X will come to the U.S. as the T-Mobile G2x

* Best Buy sales staff to get iPads

It seems cool to be a Best Buy employee these days - not only are you working for a prosperous enterprise, but you may even get to use hot gadgets like the Apple iPad, for example.

According to some info that showed up on Forbes, Best Buy is to deploy iPads to all of its sales staff. To be more precise: a person who is said to have "knowledge of corporate mobile device deployments" claims that one of the major US electronics retailers, which operates about 1100 stores in the country, is to provide all its sales staff with Apple iPads, and by the looks of it, Best Buy fits the deal quite nicely. First, the company has just over 1000 retails stores; secondly, this may come as an extension of its "Connected Store" vision, which involves giving mobile devices, including iPads, to its employees in 27 of its stores; and thirdly, Best Buy is an Apple partner with its distribution of the original iPad from last year. As of now however, Best Buy has neither confirmed, nor denied the rumor. It also isn't clear which version of the product the employees are going to get, but whichever it is, it'll undoubtedly be appreciated.

To all Best Buy sales staff out there - are you excited by the prospect of getting an iPad for you selling lots of goods throughout the year?

FCC gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 the ole' once over

Visiting the FCC the other day was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet, powered by Android 3.0, was designed to challenge fellow Honeycomb flavored Motorola XOOM and the Apple iPod 2. Designated model 7100, the tablet visited the FCC with a radio that supported the 850 and 1900MHz bands. Those are two U.S. frequencies which hints of an imminent launch soon in the U.S.

One thing that might hold back the release of the tablet is last week's announcement of the Apple iPad 2. As we reported yesterday, Samsung's executive VP of mobile, Lee Don-joo, called the Galaxy Tab 10.1 inadequate after seeing how thin the Apple iPad 2 is. Besides the issue about the thickness of the Samsung tablet, the executive also  said that after seeing the Apple iPod 2, the Korean based firm would have to reconsider its pricing of the device. The problem is that with the Apple iPad 2 listed as the same price as the older, original iPad, it puts pricing pressure on all newer tablets even if they have many improvements over older models. 

source: FCC via electronista

Just back from visiting the FCC, here is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

China Mobile's Chairman says that Steve Jobs has interest in LTE flavored Apple iPhone

According to Bloomberg, China Mobile's CEO, Wang Jianzhou, says that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has personally expressed an interest in an LTE flavored iPhone and is "willing to start the development at an early date." The LTE enabled version of the Apple iPhone would run on China Mobile's TD-LTE network. Although commercial use of a 4G network in China won't start until the second half of 2012, Verizon's 4G network has already started to rollout in major cities and thus would be ready for a possible Summer release of an LTE variant of the Apple iPhone. AT&T's LTE pipeline is well behind Big Red's and is supposed to start up in the middle of this year. Could the mobile operator have enough major markets up and running in time to support an Apple iPhone LTE launch this year?

The big question though is, what is considered an early date? Could the crew out in Cupertino already be working on an Apple iPhone 5 that supports LTE? After all, Apple might be considered behind the curve if the next model of its iconic touchscreen handset fails to have support for 4G. Verizon is expected to launch its first LTE handset, the HTC Thunderbolt, any day now while AT&T is now offering the Motorola ATRIX 4G, an Android model that uses AT&T's HSPA+ network to qualify for its 4G designation,

Just last month, we reported that Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead had said that Apple would be producing mobile devices for LTE networks. So now we have two very senior executives talking about a 4G iPhone. The only problem is that the third executive, whose comment would carry the most weight in the matter, has yet to utter a word in public about it.

source: Bloomberg

For every child born in the U.S., 30 Android devices are activated

With 350,000 Android phones and tablets being activated each day, there are now 30 Android units purchased daily for every child born in the U.S.  Just four months ago, there were 200,000 Android devices being activated daily. The popularity of Google's open source OS remains strong and continues to grow.

From the launch of the G1 to the release of the "worlds most powerful smartphone"-the Motorola ATRIX 4G-Android has come from nowhere to reach its current heights. As we reported, according to Nielsen, from November 2010 through this past January, Android held a leading 29% share of the U.S. smartphone market, 2 percentage points ahead of iOS and BlackBerry.

Mystery Motorola device visits FCC, possibly the Motorola DROID X 2

Thee FCC was recently paid a visit by a mystery Motorola machine (ahh...alliteration). The device is called the IHDT56MJ1 which really doesn't give anything away. However, there are some clues. A request for 180 days of confidentiality for photos and manuals would certainly eliminate the handset as being the Motorola Droid Bionic since the latter is due to hit the market well before the 180 days expire.

But there is a pretty big fish out there whose launch could coincide with the end of the 180 days in August (the confidentiality period starts from the filing of the device with the Feds back in February), and that would be the Motorola DROID X 2. Verizon's current flagship model-the DROID X-is beginning to look a little long in the tooth by modern standards, and soon a smartphone with a single-core processor will seem like an antique.

The DROID X 2 is expected to be similar to the AT&T ATRIX 4G with a 4.3 inch qHD display and a Tegra 2 dual-core processor. The device is also similar to Verizon's own Droid Bionic as both will sport an 8MP camera and the same version of the Blur UI. However, the Droid Bionic will be rocking Big Red's LTE network, unlike the 3G only connectivity of the DROID X 2, and the former will offer more RAM and should be compatible with the optional Laptop and Multimedia docks.

source: FCC via  electronista

Is this the mystery device from Motorola

March Madness is free this year on your Apple iPhone or iPad

The calendar reads March which can mean only one thing for sports fans-March Madness! And this year, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament can be viewed for free thanks to streaming video from CBS and Turner Sports. The action will be available for those on the go carrying an Apple iPhone or iPad. Other mobile platforms will not be receiving the feed. The app will be made available on iTunes starting on March 10th, and will work over Wi-Fi or 3G. The tournament kicks off on March 15th.

This will be the first year that the games will be offered for free on the iPhone and iPad. Last year, fans had to download a paid app to view the streaming feed. Perhaps if all goes smoothly, we will see the action streamed to other mobile platforms next year. But for now, Apple iPhone and iPad users will get an oversized slice of March Madness without having to pay an extra penny.

source: AllThingsDigital

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 "inadequate" compared to Apple iPad 2 says manufacturer

No sooner had Steve Jobs taken the wraps off the Apple iPad 2, than Korean manufacturer Samsung realized that it had a problem with its upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Lee Don-joo, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile division, in an interview with the Yonhap News Agency, said about his company's device, "We will have to improve the parts that are inadequate."

Samsung's main concern is about the size of its device. Referring to Apple's sequel to its hugely successful iPad, Lee said, "Apple made it very thin." When the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was revealed at MWC last month, it weighed 21 ounces and was .44 inches thick. The Apple iPad 2, in comparison, is 21.28 ounces in weight but comes in at .35 inches thick.

While no pricing information has been revealed by Samsung, Lee says that the company will need to reconsider what price it will sell the device for. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will come to market powered by Android 3.0. The tablet will have a 1GHz dual-core processor under the hood and offers a 2MP front facing camera and an 8MP rear facing shooter that will capture video at HD 1080p. Unlike Samsung's earlier 7 inch Galaxy Tab, the newer product is designed to compete with the recently launched Motorola XOOM.

source: AppleInsider

$539 will buy you a Wi-Fi only Motorola XOOM at Sam's Club

Even though it apparently won't be launched until April overseas, the Wi-Fi only version of the Motorola XOOM can save users some money. Not only won't you have to pay for the monthly data charge, you can also find the Wi-Fi only version of the XOOM priced at $539 at Sam's Club. At the press conference introducing the product, Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha announced a $599.99 price for the Wi-Fi only version of the Honeycomb flavored tablet.

No U.S. launch date for the variant of Motorola's tablet has been announced, but let's hope that when the sign on the display reads "The tablet you've been waiting for", that doesn't refer to a long wait for the device. And if you're counting, $539 would be $60 less Washington's than the 32GB Apple iPad 2. If it comes down to money, will Sam's price be enough to swing you over to Android?

source: Droid-Life

The Wi-Fi only version of the Motorola XOOM is being offered for $539 by Sam's Club

 

Thrutu for Android simplifies mid-call multitasking

Have you ever needed to send a contact or directions to the person on the other end of a call? Sure you have! But it's never as easy as it should be: fumbling through menus, accidentally hanging up on your mother, etc. The new 'Thrutu' app will greatly simplify that process, by giving you a drawer of convenient shortcuts atop your dial screen.

The shortcuts enable you to easily send a contact, a photo, or your current location, right in the middle of a call. With the photo shortcut, Thrutu even allows you to quickly snap a photo and send it, giving your friend a visual reference for the "craziest thing you've ever seen."

Amid the other, more logical shortcuts, is a feature called 'Prod', that make's the other party's device vibrate on command. It's kind of like Poke on Facebook, but it might be awkward between two non-romantically involved friends.

There are some obvious shortcomings to the app. First of all, CDMA users won't be able to utilize the app, as it depends on data resources. Also, both users must have the app. So you'll have to convince your friends to get it, before you can take advantage of its features. We see great potential for this app between best friends, or even corporate users that are constantly running around town and exchanging contact info (i.e. real estate agents).

source: Android Market via Gizmodo

Google Maps 5.2 ready to be installed on your Android device

Once again, Google has raised the bar with Google Maps, updating the application to version 5.2. With the upgrade you can now tweet all of your Hotpot pals and your friends using Google apps, sending out your review and recommendation of a location., Simply use the Google ratings widget and choose Post review to Twitter. You will be able to preview your tweet and send out your opinion to all of your Google-using pals with Twitter.

Starting Friday, if you need to contact a nearby Google Latitude friend that shows up on the map and want to find out their location, you can "ping" them instead of sending a text or email. Your friend will receive a notification from you, asking them to check in at a specific place. When they do check in, you will receive a notification in return so you will know where to meet your buddy.

Finally, the "Search More Places" option will look for more locations beyond those listed from your original search. In big cities with many places for you and your friends to enjoy yourselves, this option will certainly come in handy.

You can upgrade your Google Maps for free right from the Android Market.

source: GoogleMobileBlog

Instead of sending an email or text message to a friend, ping her to send a notification

Windows 8 user interface details leak, touch will be the name of the game

A few screenshots of Microsoft's Windows 8 work have leaked on a Chinese tech blog.

We know that the interface overlays in their final version are reserved for the RC issue, not these early milestones, that is why the leaked screenshots are not showing the touch-optimized interface. A Russian site, however, is confirming that the interface will be heavily touch-optimized, most probably the interface displayed will depend on the device Windows 8 is running on, as Microsoft clarified at the CES show in January. The Windows 8 tablet overlay, for exampe, is rumored to use the tiled structure of Windows Phone 7.

The installation time will be reduced threefold from the current 25 minutes for Windows 7, to 8 minutes for Windows 8, and making a backup copy of the whole system too. The drivers installation progress is also shown now in the taskbar. The next version of Windows will also allow you to restore it back to the default system settings in two minutes, without taking up much disk space.

You will be able to sign in directly with your Windows Live ID, and your profile avatar will be displayed prominently in the system tray, so we presume Microsoft's cloud services will take place front and center. This is welcome news, since Hotmail is still the most used online email service, SkyDrive offers 25GB of free storage, and we hope Redmond will work out the kinks in the online version of Microsoft Office, to allow easy syncing and collaboration for your documents between your device, and the cloud.

The other great thing is that there will be an app store inside Windows 8, where probably all the software written for Windows will be catalogued (no official account, but way more than a million programs), which will make it easier to search for programs you need, and might spearhead development for this first Windows version that will be capable to run on ARM-based mobile chipsets.

If Redmond manages to pull this off in the right way, it's certain that Microsoft will continue to play a big role in computing, considering how familiar its environment is for billions of users, and its rich legacy software and driver support. Not the mention the potential brought on by the alliance with Nokia, of which Microsoft stands to gain everything in the mobile space, without even having to buy Nokia, brilliant move on Ballmer's side.

Adobe Flash won't be a problem, that's for sure, and you won't have to make do with stripped down versions of desktop software that most mobile apps are. It's just that the interfaces of the new versions of everyone's software for Windows 8 will have to take into account the touchscreen aspect.

Too bad recent reports show that Windows 8 won't be ready until some time into 2012, but it's said that the tablet version has been prioritized to show a demo as early as June, and Microsoft has more than a 1000 engineers working now on porting Windows to ARM-based chipsets to make its tablets available for the holiday shopping season.

Oh, and obviously your profile avatar can be a video clip now. Cool beans.

LG Optimus 2X comes on top of the Motorola ATRIX 4G in benchmarks

We don't know if this is due to the fact that the retail Motorola ATRIX 4G doesn't have its Full HD 1080p video capabilities unlocked yet, but the LG Optimus 2X seems to come on top judging from several benchmark tests, including ours, especially in the graphics department, although both phones run the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chipset.

Moto said that a firmware update will come further down the road that will unlock Full HD 1080p video recording and HDMI playback for the Motorola ATRIX 4G, which our review showed it is not able to do now. Rumors pegged the reason to be power-management issues Motorola had with the Tegra 2 chipset, not only on the ATRIX 4G, but also on the DROID BIONIC, so it is probably ironing it out with NVIDIA. This is the companies' first effort with a dual-core chipset, so we can cut them some slack, but still LG has nailed it from the first try, and it shows in the benchmark results.

In the graphics department the LG Optimus 2X clearly comes on top both in older and newer benchmark tests:

As for productivity and browser performance, the LG Optimus 2X and the Motorola ATRIX 4G have a negligible difference from one another, which is again a bit odd since the ATRIX 4G has double the RAM at 1GB vs the 512MB on the Optimus 2X. It is worth noting, however, that both dual-core phones are roughly three times ahead of the single core chipsets in these browser and general productivity measurements.

Whatever causes Motorola's problems figuring out the performance of the Tegra 2 chipset on it handsets, hopefully the promised firmware update will remedy that. Granted, the ATRIX 4G has a screen with larger 540x960 resolution to fill in with pixels than the 480x800 resolution on the LG Optimus 2X, but it also has twice the RAM, so what gives, Moto?

Sony Ericsson Windows Phone 7 handset is pictured

Now that Sony Ericsson has at last captured the attention of a major U.S. carrier or two with the Xperia PLAY, it is time for the joint venture to turn its attention toward broadening its product line. A recently leaked photo appears to show a Sony Ericsson branded Windows Phone 7 device with a slide out landscape QWERTY keyboard.

We can't rule out a little photoshop magic here because usually when a landscape QWERTY is deployed, the image on the screen changes orientation to match the QWERTY. But let's go out on a limb for a moment and say that the picture is real. Anyone in the market for a Sony Ericsson Windows Phone 7 handset?

source: esatoforum via DailyMobile

Nokia E7 Smartphone Shipping Begins

Nokia E7

The much-awaited high-end smartphone Nokia E7 has finally started shipping, sources said. The Symbian 3 operating system- based smartphone has a full QWERTY keypad and sports 4 inches AMOLED capacitive touch-screen display. 

 

Some of the phone’s key specifications include, 16 GB of on-board flash memory, HDMI connectivity, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and quick intranet access. ,Nokia E7 is equipped with FM Radio, Wi-Fi, integrated GPS and Nokia Ovi Suite.

 

The phone supports easy Internet access and has USB for easy sharing of files, music and pictures. The Nokia E7 also makes it easy to create, edit and share office documents. The users can view PDF files with Adobe Reader in Nokia E7.

 

The other features include face recognition software, a front facing camera for making video calls, GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth 3.0, Standard 3.5 mm AV connector.

 

The phone supports talktime of up to 9 hours (GSM) and up to 430 hours of standby time.

Nokia C6-01 Smartphone Launched In India At Rs. 18,000

 

Nokia C6-01 touch-screen smartphone with Symbian 3 OS has been launched in India. The phone sports sleek and long body and comes in silver grey and black shades. The Nokia C6-01 comes priced at Rs. 18,000 for the Indian market.

 

The smartphone has 3.2 inches capacitive ClearBlack display that offers 360 x 640 pixels resolution. The phone has Internet and connectivity features- Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, USB on-the-go support and Nokia Ovi Maps with free navigation.

 

The other standard features like 8 mega pixels camera, stereo FM player, music player and 40 MB of internal memory expandable up to 32 GB with micro SD card. The Nokia C6-01 is enabled to record 720p video and is capacitated with VGA camera for video chat. The secondary camera in the phone comes with 0.3 mega pixels VGA Camera with 640 x 480 pixels.

 

The phone offers standby time of up to 420 hours 2G and up to 380 hours for 3G and talktime of up to 11 hours 30 minutes for 2G and up to 4 hours 30 minutes 3G.

 

Besides, applications like Ovi Music, Ovi Store can be accessed. Plus Facebook and Twitter come equipped in the phone.

Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace Going 3D In 2012

On Feb. 10, 2012, Jar Jar Binks will annoy us in the third dimension. Yes, the infamous first chapter of the Star Wars saga is going 3D, but who is actually excited about this?

I'm not going to sit here and bash the film, that's been done enough, but I would like to ask why do we need these films in 3D? The prequel trilogy had enough problems with filling up the screen with nonsense and now they're going to add 3D, it just seems like we should let these films be.

Maybe some of you are excited to see the saga in 3D, but I feel it's unnecessary. I also feel that 3D is really unnecessary, yeah for some movies it might work, but do we really need to see the original Star Wars trilogy in 3D? I don' think so.

A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi captured our hearts and imaginations without the use of 3D. I loved these movies because I felt a connection to the characters, the world they lived in and the story. Yeah the early special effects were great and the lightsabers are kick ass, but those things aren't the reason I come back to these films, I come back to them to enjoy the story and the characters.

Bottom line: I'm not really interested in seeing the prequels in 3D and the original trilogy doesn't need it, because their story and characters are already in the third dimension.

Hard Water Is Against the Rocks

SOUTHINGTON — A Southington-based band, Hard Water, has molded itself into one of the most original in the area.
The group recently released its first album, “Against the Rocks,” which features songs with lyrics drawn from the teens’ lives and other sources. “One or two are about girls, one or two are about anti-government,” said James Buckwell, a New Britain High School junior. “They really come out of nowhere,” he said of the lyrics he writes.
The band is made up of James Buckwell, 17, on the bass and vocals; Ian Sherwood, 16, on the guitar; and Julian Sherwood, 14, on the drums and vocals. Each brings his own unique talents and personality into their music, which makes their sound different and distinct.
“Against the Rocks” has 12 tracks, all of which offer something new for the ear to enjoy. It’s mostly alternative rock, but every once in awhile you can hear punk creeping in. The album is strong altogether, because the band is able to mix talent and new ideas with their extensive knowledge of the rock genre, to make something that sounds compelling.

“My influences would be Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Who, The Strokes, Sublime and A Tribe Called Quest,” said Buckwell.
Ian Sherwood then gave his influences, “The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Van Halen.” He also enjoys New Alternative music.
Julian Sherwood, who does amazing drum work on the track “In the Garden,” listens to the same things as James and Ian.
When the band isn’t listening to their favorite music or practicing they’re busy with school or shows. They’ve played at Toad’s Place, The Space and Zen Bar. They’ve also been featured on WCCC 106.9 as the Homegrown Artist of the week, and they made it onto The River 105.9 twice.
Just recently, Hard Water was featured on Fox TV 61’s 10 p .m. news.
They’ve accomplished a lot, but where are they going to go from here?
“I want to do this as long as possible,” said Buckwell.
Julian said, “I want to go to college, but stick with the band as long as possible,” he said, also saying that he would like to study marine biology.
Ian also wants to remain with band, but would like to keep it as a side project. That is unless the band makes it big.
“I want to go to college, but continue with the band,” said Ian.
If you are interested in buying a copy of their album you can do so at cdbaby.com,amazon.com or itunes. If you would like to see them live they will be playing a show at Zen Bar, 317 Farmington Ave., Plainville. March 27.

Sachin rejects honorary doctorate

Bangalore, March 5: It seems the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar has become picky over his accolades. The Indian batting maestro has reportedly turned down the honorary doctorate to be conferred on him by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

Tendulkar supposedly told the concerned authorities that he wasn't inclined to accept the varsity honour as he was still active in professional cricket. He added that he had rejected a similar honour from other universities abroad and respected the decision of the university to confer the title on him.The university is now awaiting an official regret letter from him, which will be forwarded to chancellor of the university - Governor H R Bharadwaj.

As it happens, the University of Mysore had also chosen to honour the cricketer this year, but is yet to intimate him about their plans.

How will India handle Kevin O'Brien?

It's no secret that India's Achilles' heel in the World Cup 2011 so far is their bowling. Though incisive in short bursts, the bowlers are for the most part inconsistent and their final figures reek of a mediocrity unbecoming of title-favourites.

Throw a blistering Kevin O'Brien into the equation and the home team has real problems. After all, this player subjected the English bowlers to such a scornful display of batting on Wednesday, that he could well stir up a similar attitude against the Indian "attack" on Sunday. Slow left-armer, right arm off-break, and four seamers tried their hand at dismantling O'Brien, but he ended up dismantling them. Confident bottom-hand hoicks over midwicket, powerful heaves down the ground and strong cover-drives highlight his armory. So, the Indian bowlers will have to be right on their mark against O'Brien. Also they can't accord him any reprieves through slip-ups in the field, the way the English did. One error and he could make the Indians pay heavily.

The fact that Bangaldesh made 283 against India (albeit in a losing cause) and England stampeded its way to 338 to force a tie against india, exposes the dire condition of India's bowling. In the latter encounter, three Indian bowlers (Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan) leaked 7 runs an over while India's most economical bowler, Harbhajan Singh conceded 58 in his 10 overs. These statistics only drive home the point that India will have to put the screws on their line and length.

Indeed, the home-team will have to bowl out of their skin if they are to contain, let on alone scalp the likes of Kevin O'Brien. One might argue that his performance against England was a flash in the pan and that it will be hard to repeat that sort of showing versus India. But the momentum is clearly with him. Plus, he has acclimatised to the conditions of the Chinnaswamy wicket on which he will take guard against India on Sunday. Watch out India, danger is afoot....

Will India neutralise Irish threat on March 6?

India Vs Ireland
Starting time: 2:30 pm IST
Venue: Bangalore


Bangalore, March 5: Come Sunday afternoon, India will be aware that they can't take the Irish lightly. After all, England is licking its wounds from the mauling they received at the hands of Kevin O'Brien and Co. Now, the giant-killers will be keen to start a winning streak and tear down any opposition that comes in their path and India so happens to be next in line.

With both sides sporting strong batting line-ups, the knock-out punch might well be decided on the intensity of bowling that one is able to work up on the day. India's bowling has been found lacking with the usually accurate Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan largely off their mark in the last game, though the latter did redeem himself with a late burst. But Munaf is guilty of leaking 13 valuable runs at the death, thus allowing England to wrest an improbable tie in last Sunday's encounter. In the end, he along with leg-break Piyush Chawla and right-arm offie Yusuf Pathan all made costly errors in that match, going for 7 runs an over and more. Now is the time to mitigate that indiscipline and put the screws on their line and length.

Perhaps an encouraging sign for India was that Ireland's bowling in their match against England was also all over the place. Seamer Alex Cusakc was the most expensive, going at nearly 10 runs an over, while fellow paceman Boyd Rankin went for over 7. Though medium pacer John Mooney was also costly, he picked up four valuable wickets to put the breaks on the English juggernaut towards the end of the latter's innings.

India has played Ireland just once so far - in mid 2007 - and won that match quite convincingly. But it should be wary of the fact that a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then and tide too could have turned in Ireland's favour. A blistering Kevin O'Brien who stunned England with a match-winning fastest World Cup century on Wednesday, would certainly be thinking so. It's India job to prove him wrong...

SA seek redemption against Eng on March 6

South Africa Vs England
Starting Time: 9:30 am IST
Venue: Chennai
Chennai: March 5: Why would South Africa seek to redeem themselves against England? After all, the side from the Rainbow Nation has already notched up two resounding victories in the World Cup 2011 and appear title favourites.

Well, the fact of the matter is that since May 2007, they have won just one encounter against these opponents and have lost 7 games against them. Indeed, England has claimed victory in a series at home 4-0, a series in South Africa 2-1 and a one-off ODI match in between. But England's last win versus the Proteas came back in Nov 2009. Since then, the South Africans have gone from strength to strength and have struck upon a very balanced side whose efficacy has only been augmented with the inclusion of an X-factor in leg-spinner Imran Tahir. The leg-break announced his arrival in this World Cup with an emphatic 4/41 against the West Indies last week and followed it up with a 3/19 against the Netherlands.

So far, England have manouevered around the threat of the South African bowlers expertly, especially going by the statisticss of their last two series against them. In England's home series of Aug-Sept 2008, Jacques Kallis was the most effective South African bowler, but his 4 wickets from 5 matches at an average of 22.75 was overshadowed by the performance of his English counterparts Andrew Flintoff (10 wickets at 12.90) and Stuart Broad (8 wickets at 18.12). Of course, England may sorely miss the Flintoff edge as he was top the run-scorer in that series as well!

Then in the Nov 2009 series in South Africa, James Anderson (with 8 wickets from 3 matches at 17.25) and Stuart Broad (with 6 wickets at 16.83) trumped South Africa's best bowler Wayne Parnell (5 scalps from 2 matches) who is anyway not even in the South African World Cup 2011 squad. Broad, who had a poor last game against Ireland where he went wicketkless for 73 runs in 9 overs, may be eager to regain his midas touch against the Proteas. After all, he has been England's most consistent bowler against the South Africans.

Other English batsmen that bear good track records against South Africa are Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior, while Strauss, who appears to be in the form of his life in this World Cup (with an average of 93.33), can't be ignored either.

For the Proteas, Hashim Amla and A B de Villiers stand out as the most prosperous batsmen against England. They averaged 51.33 and 48.33 respectively, in South Africa's home series against the opposition and the latter batsman appears to be going great guns, coming off his match-winning 107 not out against the Windies last week and a blazing 134 off 98 balls against the Netherlands, on Thursday.

It will be interesting to see if Proteas pace bowler Dale Steyn, who took 3/24 in that match, will be able to unsettle the English batsmen at all. With a Chepauk pitch favouring the batsmen, this match hinges on the batsmen's showing and the team that exploits conditions better will naturally win.

Rain mars SL vs Aus match

Colombo, March 5: What started as a thick drizzle progressed into a torrential downpour in Colombo, bringing a likely end to the Sri Lanka vs Australia tie at the R Premadasa Stadium. The rain began at the end of the 33rd over of Sri Lanka's innings with the hosts at 146/3 and Kumar Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera at the crease. The ground staff were kept occupied as several puddles formed across the ground with no signs of the rain relenting even an hour after it started.

Earlier in the afternoon, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. The hosts' innings commenced in an unsteady manner. In the second over, Tillkaratne Dilshan edged Tait for a streaky boundary over second slip, but later in the over he was caught at that very position. He was out for 4 and Sri Lanka were 7/1. Captain Kumar Sangakkara struck a four each off Brett Lee and Shane Watson in subsequent overs, but surviving opener Upul Tharanga couldn't keep up his end was out caught at point by Steven Smith of Lee for 6. Sri Lanka were 31/2 in 6.4 overs

Then Jayawardene slapped a boundary off Watson to bring up Sri Lanka's 50 in 9.2 overs. But in the 16th over, the same batsman was run out for 23, courtesy a direct throw from Smith and Sri lanka were tottering at 75/3. Sangakkara ran a single off Watson in the 22nd over, to notch up his 50 and a short while afterward, brought up Lanka's 100.

Thilan Samaraweera and Sangakkara kept the runs coming but in the 33rd over with the score at 146/3, the rain came forcing the players off the field. The captain was not out on 73 off 102 balls and his partner was at an unbeaten 34 of 48 balls.

More update woes for Samsung-made Windows Phone 7 handsets

Despite Microsoft's assurances that it had "fixed" a buggy Windows Phone 7 patch that bricked a "small number" of Samsung phones, some users are still complaining that they can't update their handsets.
Dozens of annoyed Samsung Omnia 7 owners are lighting up Microsoft's "Answers" support site with tales of failed updates and a new error code: 800705B4.
"Did the install and finished with Error Code 800705B4 and no update," wrote one user. "Followed the web help. No help. 2nd fail at update. Anyone have any ideas?"
Windows Phone support staffers suggested that Samsung handset owners try deleting files off their phones to clear out more storage space—or, failing that, remove the batteries from the devices, put them back in, and restart.
But several Samsung users, understandably testy after nearly two weeks of dealing with the glitchy update, were growing impatient.
"Tried it and guessed what? It FAILED," wrote one annoyed user. "Now what?!"
To be fair, it's not clear how many Windows Phone users are still having trouble with the "cursed" patch (as WMPoweruser puts it), which was originally released last Monday. Microsoft later pulled the Samsung version of the patch after getting hit with complains of stalled updates and bricked phones.
A Microsoft rep blogged last week that 9 out of 10 Windows Phone users had no trouble with the update. A few days later, he followed up with news that engineers had "pinpointed and fixed" the problem and had redeployed the patch.
I'm sure I wasn't alone in thinking that would be the end of it ... but apparently not. The good news, at least, is that the 800705B4 error doesn't seem to be resulting in any more bricked handsets.
In any case, a Microsoft rep tweeted on the official Windows Phone support Twitter feed that engineers are—again—"looking into" the latest update problems.
The patch in question is the very first for Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's top-to-bottom revamp of its long-in-the-tooth Windows Mobile platform.
The initial update was only intended to smooth the way for a pair of larger, upcoming updates—ironic, as some tech bloggers have already noted.
Related:
Cursed Samsung Windows Phones still having problems with updated pre-update Update [WMPoweruser]
Samsung Windows Phone 7 update still failing for some users [WinRumors]

South Korean websites come under further attack

SEOUL, South Korea – Unidentified attackers targeted more than two dozen South Korean government and private websites Saturday, a day after two waves of similar attacks, but officials reported no serious damage.
A total of 29 websites were hit Saturday in so-called "denial of service" attacks, in which large numbers of "zombie" computers try to connect to a site at the same time in an attempt to overwhelm the server, the Korea Communications Commission said.
Commission official Lee Sang-kug said the attacks were "so weak that no actual damage was detected so far." Lee said the commission would keep a close watch on the situation in coming days, but that the fallout was likely to remain limited because the government and computer security companies were well prepared.
Saturday's attacks on sites including South Korea's presidential office, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, some financial institutions and U.S. Forces Korea followed two rounds Friday in which damage was also limited.
Lee said that 40 websites were originally targeted Friday, though only 29 came under actual attack. A total of 29 were targeted Saturday, he said.
The National Police Agency said the attacks originated from 30 servers in 18 foreign countries or territories including the United States, Israel, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, India, Brazil and Iran.
"We may find more servers behind this attack as it is only the beginning of the investigation," said Jung Suk-hwa, head of the agency's Cyber Terror Response Center. "Generally, there is someone else who controls all of these servers and we are working to figure out who it is."
In 2009, some government websites in South Korea and the U.S. were paralyzed by a similar type of attack that South Korean officials believed was conducted by North Korea. But U.S. officials have largely ruled out North Korea as the origin, according to cybersecurity experts.
South Korean media have previously reported that North Korea runs an Internet warfare unit aimed at hacking into U.S. and South Korean military networks to gather information and disrupt service.
Park Kun-woo, a spokesman for South Korean computer security company AhnLab, said Friday that China is also pointed to as a source of cyberattacks because a large amount of malware, or malicious software, originates from there.