T-Mobile's HTC One S experiencing poor battery performance during WiFi calling, patch inbound

There has been little chatter among early adopters in regards to battery performance issues with the HTC One S, but that isn’t stopping T-Mobile and HTC. The pair is pre-emptively prepping an update for the newly released handset that should address excessive battery drain occurring during WiFi calling. WiFi calling is one of the few unique features T-Mobile has to entice customers considering their carrier options, so addressing any possible drawbacks to the service is high on the totem pole.

Android Phone, T-Mobile's HTC One S experiencing poor battery performance during WiFi calling, patch inbound

Original Xperia Play design had additional QWERTY slider, could have been a Nexus

Rumors of a “PlayStation Phone” eventually panned out in the form of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, but the gaming handset we were left with could have turned out much differently. New information is coming to light from several sources that reveals Google’s desire to launch the phone as an Android 2.3 flagship along with a unique form factor that never came to fruition. A US patent application has surfaced showing an early concept for a phone with two sliders, one a gamepad and the other a full QWERTY keyboard.

Android Phone

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maximum, Original Xperia Play design had additional QWERTY slider, could have been a Nexus

Watch a mini-doc on the amazing Icon Bronco

We've had the good fortune of getting up close and personal with quite a few of Icon 4x4's creations, from their off-road wares like the CJ3B and FJ line to one-off restomod hot rods like their Derelict '52 Chevy. While few people may be able to afford the company's offerings, the creativity and thought that goes into each of their vehicles is something everyone can appreciate. We have a particular affection for Icon and its latest project, the Ford Bronco. We went for a brief drive in the very first example just before it made its debut at SEMA last year and fell in love with every detail of the modernized off-roader.

Autoblog, Watch a mini-doc on the amazing Icon Bronco

T.G.I. Friday's will let diners pay the bill with their smartphones

Heads up diners, the next time you head to your local T.G.I. Friday's you could be paying for your food via your smartphone. The restaurant chain has recently introduced a new mobile payment option called Tabbedout. This basically allows diners to open a tab with the restaurant and pay for their bills directly from their smartphone via an app that Friday's launched earlier this week. Users will be able to register their credit card with T.G.I.

Ubergizmo, T.G.I. Friday's will let diners pay the bill with their smartphones

Brick Brites Blinking LED Plastic Building Brick Review

A couple weeks ago, The Gadgeteer had a news post about Brick Brites, clear plastic LEGO-like building blocks.  They're different from regular LEGO blocks because they have motion-activated blinking lights built-in to add some excitement to your LEGO constructions.  How do you improve upon the LEGO brick.  I had to see what this was all about.  . Brick Brites come in three different colors:  White/Red, White/Green, and White/Blue.  They come in packs of two.

They're exactly the size of two stacked 2×3 LEGO bricks.  I thought this was a bit of an unusual size, but they had to put the batteries somewhere.










The Gadgeteer, Brick Brites Blinking LED Plastic Building Brick Review

Panasonic teams up with NHK on 145-inch 8K Super Hi-Vision plasma TV

We thought the 8K 85-inch Super Hi-Vision LCD we saw during CES was impressive, but Japanese broadcaster NHK is already looking to surpass that by going even bigger. To that end it worked with Panasonic (above: that's Panasonic's Keishi Kubota on the left, Yoshio Ito of NHK on the right) to create this 145-inch prototype plasma, unveiled today as an example of the kind of displays we can expect to see once broadcasts jump to the higher resolution some day. The world's first self-illuminating Super Hi-Vision TV, it features every pixel of its expected 8K resolution - 7,680 x 4,320.










Engadget, Panasonic teams up with NHK on 145-inch 8K Super Hi-Vision plasma TV

Hotmail password bug fixed

Microsoft has been swift to work on a fix for the Hotmail password bug which if left untreated, would have enabled a hacker to reset the password for a Hotmail account, locking out the account's owner in the process while offering the attacker full access to the Inbox. This fix was rushed out because the bug had started to be a genuine threat, and actively exploited online in recent times. In fact, a security news site did report that several hackers actually offered to hack Hotmail accounts for a mere pittance – to the tune of $20 (£12).

Ubergizmo, Hotmail password bug fixed