samsung

Inside of Google's newest smartphone is a lot of solid, though fairly standard-issue hardware. One item on the outside of the phone raises a few eyebrows, however.

Google's spanking-new smartphone--made by Samsung and available at Best Buy--packs widely used components like a SanDisk 16GB NAND flash module and a baseband processor--used for 3G--from Infineon, according to teardown virtuoso iFixit. (Note that Intel is in the process of acquiring Infineon's wireless business unit so that would technically put Intel inside the phone.)

The Nexus S is cut from the same cloth as the Samsung Galaxy S, boasting many … Read more

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook will soon release auto-photo tagging software

MetroPCS is rolling out 4G networks like gang busters

Google's newest Chrome browser is apparently ready for business use

Google is in trouble in France for findings of anti-competitive practices

A porn company shows off 3D role-play sex simulation using the Microsoft Kinect. I know I promised a video but it looks to have been removed from YouTube. Sorry!

A new plug-in electric tricycle will make you super cool on your urban commute

If you caught my review of the Samsung Messager III, you'll know I characterized it as "one step forward, two steps back." Though it offered an improved design over the original Messager and Messager II, it replaced its immediate predecessor's 2-megapixel with a 1.3-megapixel shooter. So though you got a better design, you got fewer features in return.

No, a difference of less than a megapixel isn't a big deal, but I'm all about the principle of the thing. No matter how small the changes, a feature list shouldn't shrink as a … Read more

Apple and Android continue to duke it out for the top spot on Millennial Media's ad network.

Each of the two competing platforms captured 38 percent of all smartphone ad impressions (how often an ad appears) in the U.S. for November, according to Millennial Media's "November Mobile Mix Report." That number reflects a 1 percentage point gain in ad impressions for both Apple and Android from October's results following Android's 6 percentage point gain and Apple's 9 percentage point drop from September.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion took third place on Millennial … Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Microsoft is expected to show off new tablet computers at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show

Dell is acquiring Compellent Technologies to focus more on cloud storage

Google launches TeachParents.org to help you give the n00bs in your life simple computer tutorials

A new study shows that Americans spend as much time online as they do watching TV

Another study shows that sales of physical disc media will fall by $4.6 billion by the year 2014

The R2-D2 headphones are the perfect gift for the Star Wars geek in your life

About a year ago I picked up a fairly entry-level 52-inch Sony LCD TV, the KDL-52V5100, as a second TV for a playroom. For a year, the set worked fine, then a few days ago a babysitter asked me to please fix it because it wasn't working.

At first, I figured someone had simply set the cable box to the wrong input. But a quick input assessment ruled that out as the possible culprit. I moved onto the next likely source of the problem: the cable box, which I unplugged, then waited for it to cycle through its painfully long rebooting process.

Still, nothing. No picture. Not even a menu. Conclusion: the cable box had crapped out. It had happened before, it would happen again.

I packed the thing up and the next day set off for a Time Warner Cable service center that happened to be about six blocks away from the CNET offices in Manhattan. My old cable box, a Samsung non-DVR model, was promptly chucked in a bin and I was handed a newer model Samsung box that was black instead of silver. I was happy. It matched the TV.

But upon returning home and hooking it up, the same thing happened. Nothing.… Read more

For all the advancements laptops have made, the humble touch pad has been essentially running the same hardware and software for years.

When you get right down to it, laptops only consist of a few key parts as far as user interface is concerned. Keyboard, screen, speakers--and, of course, the touch pad. With multitouch tablets and smartphones changing the interface landscape drastically, it's quickly becoming a multitouch world, and computers are the devices playing catch-up. Synaptics, makers of most multitouch touch pads used today, have a next-generation clickpad in development that hopes to close the gap quickly. Called the … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Twitter releases its top trends of 2010, and I sit down with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone to discuss them

YouTube releases its top video views of 2010

Google finally launches a Latitude app for iPhone

T-Mobile says a 4G tablet is on its way

Google indexes search results by reading level

We try to answer the question, should you buy the Nexus S, take a detailed look at Gingerbread, and the best Android Tablet yet. All that and more on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly for Thursday, December 9th, 2010. Join Justin Eckhouse along side guest host, CNET Associate Editor, Antuan Goodwin.

News Stories

Nexus S first impressions http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20025101-251.html Six things not to love about the Nexus S http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20024930-251.html… Read more