In this exclusive SearchStorage.com video, Senior Editor Andrew Burton speaks with analysts and users about EMC?s Big Data focus.

While users housing content on the troubled Megaupload site were given a two-week reprieve, one of its co-founders is having less luck. Kim Dotcom has lost his appeal for bail, with prosecutors fearing that he would flee from New Zealand and return to his native Germany, possibly making him safe from extradition. According to the BBC, the prosecution alleged that Dotcom -- formerly Kim Schmitz -- had multiple passports and bank accounts, and "a history of fleeing criminal charges." His next court appearance his scheduled for February 22nd.

Megaupload co-founder's bail appeal rejected originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone keeping a close eye on the mobile market knows that Samsung and Super AMOLED, much like peanut butter and jelly, are inextricable bosom buddies. So, this recent tech marriage between the Korean electronics giant and Corning (of Gorilla Glass fame) shouldn't come as much surprise for fans of super saturated screens. Under terms of the agreement, both parties will jointly manufacture Lotus Glass for use in smartphones falling under the Galaxy umbrella, as well as Super OLED TVs. The substrate, heralded for its ability to withstand "higher processing temperatures" without compromising structural stability, will help create a range of less power consumptive, high-resolution devices. Unexciting? Sure, but you didn't think those 720p displays were going to make themselves, now did you? Official PR after the break.

Continue reading Corning and Samsung ink new joint venture, plot Lotus Glass future for OLED devices

Corning and Samsung ink new joint venture, plot Lotus Glass future for OLED devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we've read the specs and we've seen the press shots, but we didn't expect to get up close and personal with Samsung's Galaxy S Advance (GT-I9070) until Mobile World Congress later this month. Fortunately, Filipino tech blog TechPinas was able to get a hands-on with the handset -- complete with photos and video. The Gingerbread-packing phone, which looks like a cross between a Galaxy S II (in front) and a Nexus S (complete with curved glass), features a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1GHz CPU, 768MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a five megapixel AF camera with flash, an HSDPA 14.4Mbps radio and a 1500mAh battery. It's expected to launch the week of February 27th, and according to UK retailer Clove, it's going to cost £295 ($467) plus tax. That's lovely and all, but without the Galaxy S III on the menu let's just hope Samsung's hiding something special up its sleeves for Barcelona. Until then, check out the pictures and video at the source link below.

Update: An additional set of photos of the Galaxy S Advance (in silver) just landed in our tip jar, direct from Vietnam.

Samsung Galaxy S Advance snapped in the wild, pricing in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google has gone to great lengths to clarify its revamped privacy policy, but a regulatory body in the European Union thinks the company is moving a little too fast. Today, European regulators formally requested that Google "pause" its rollout, in order to give the EU more time to investigate its forthcoming changes. "Given the wide range of services you offer, and the popularity of these services, changes in your privacy policy may affect many citizens in most or all of the EU member states," the EU's Data Protection Working Party wrote in a letter to Google CEO Larry Page yesterday. "We wish to check the possible consequences for the protection of the personal data of these citizens in a coordinated way." The body didn't specify how much time it would need to investigate, but it stressed that doing so would help to ensure absolute transparency among European users. "[W]e call for a pause in the interests of ensuring that there can be no misunderstanding about Google's commitments to information rights of their users and EU citizens, until we have completed our analysis," the letter reads.

Viviane Reding, Europe's commissioner on data protection, heralded the move as an important step in asserting EU authority over online privacy and regulations, but Google was somewhat taken aback by the request. "We briefed most of the members of the working party in the weeks leading up to our announcement," said company spokesman Al Verney. "None of them expressed substantial concerns at the time, but of course we're happy to speak with any data protection authority that has questions." It's worth noting that Google isn't legally bound to heed the Working Party's request, though we'd expect the company to seek some sort of compromise with Europe's regulators, as it has in the past.

EU regulators ask Google to 'pause' its privacy changes, need more time to investigate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still wary of dropping $200 on a BlackBerry Playbook? How does "free" sound? That's what RIM is offering to Android developers today, as part of an overt attempt to spur interest in its App World platform. RIM VP of developer relations Alec Saunders announced the offer yesterday via Twitter, reminding devs to submit their apps by February 13th in order to qualify. On the one hand, it seems like a great way to push the PlayBook out on the market. On the other, it's sort of sad. Interested parties can find all the tools they need at the coverage link below.

Develop an Android app, get a free Blackberry PlayBook originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you didn't think mannequins were creepy enough already, maybe this will change your mind. In an attempt to lure shoppers, Japanese department store Takashimiya installed an eerily lifelike interactive robot for its Valentine's window display. The retailer called on robotics guru Hiroshi Ishiguro to provide the humanoid dummy, which can not only wink and yawn as people approach, but also display a range of emotions -- beyond boredom, indifference and oblivious content, we assume. While this was just part of the store's seasonal promotion, it might be a hint at where visual merchandise is going. Whether Ishiguro's model "model" will crossover into more professional roles like her sister, however, is unclear. Want to see that cheeky wink for yourself? Then hit up the video after the break.

Continue reading Hiroshi Ishiguro's android mannequin creeps out Japanese shoppers (video)

Hiroshi Ishiguro's android mannequin creeps out Japanese shoppers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic's released its 2012 quarterly report (its financial year runs from summer to summer) and concedes it's been as bad for them as it was for Sony and Sharp. It's blaming the Japanese Earthquake for damaging its supply chain, a strong yen for keeping prices high, plus having to write-down the costs for its acquisition of Sanyo. The company's promising to restructure (in the face of stern competition from Samsung and LG) to become a "green innovation" business as well as to streamline its operating costs. It's predicting a quarterly loss of $9.2 billion as it takes the hit for this turmoil, and it doesn't look like things will improve with an anticipated further loss of another $2 billion at the end of the (financial) year.

Continue reading Panasonic 2012 Q3: $9 billion loss, Sanyo writedowns, restructuring

Panasonic 2012 Q3: $9 billion loss, Sanyo writedowns, restructuring originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Its legal fortunes may be souring in Germany today, but that hasn't stopped Apple from launching an all-out assault in Australia, where the company has just ramped up its ongoing patent battle against Samsung. As the Australian reports, Cupertino has expanded its complaint to 278 claims, covering 72 patents and a full ten products -- including some smartphones and tablets that have yet to launch in Australia. (Apple's original suit, by comparison, involved only three patents, concerning the Galaxy Tab 10.1.) Apple won an injunction against Samsung's tablet last year, but that was overturned in November. With its subsequent appeal shot down, Apple now appears to be ramping up its forces, though it's unlikely that we'll see a conclusion anytime soon. Samsung's lead lawyer Neil Young said the Korean manufacturer received short notice of its rival's latest suit, which means it won't be able to file a defense until mid-May.

Apple broadens Australian patent lawsuit with 278 claims against Samsung originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As far back as September, security researchers discovered a "critical" bug in many HTC Android handsets that exposed users' WiFi credentials to any hacker who cared to look. The flaw affected recent devices like the Thunderbolt and EVO 4G all the way back to the Desire HD. The researchers promptly notified HTC, but the manufacturer waited a full five months before acknowledging the flaw publicly a few days ago. Sounds shady, perhaps, but HTC sent us a statement clarifying that this is standard policy to protect customers. It says it waited to develop a fix before it alerted the big bad world to the vulnerability. Most newer devices have already received their fix OTA, but owners of some older phones -- we'll update this post when we know exactly which ones -- will need to check the HTC Support site for a manual update next week. Meanwhile, in the manufacturer's defense, the guys at the Open1X group who discovered the bug say that HTC was "very responsive and good to work with." Here's HTC's statement to us:

"HTC takes customer data security very seriously. If there is a known breach of sensitive customer data, our priority is customer notification along with corrective actions. It is our policy, and industry standard procedure, to protect customers, which sometimes necessitates not increasing data security risks by disclosing minor breach issues where no malicious applications are detected. In those cases, premature disclosure of vulnerabilities could spur creation of malicious apps to take advantage of any vulnerability before it is fixed. For this specific WiFi bug issue, we worked closely with Google and the security researchers from the date of notification and throughout this process to ensure that the majority of affected HTC phones had already received the fix prior to the vulnerability being made public."

HTC acknowledges long-running WiFi security flaw, says it deliberately kept it quiet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's another legal brouhaha brewing in Germany, where Motorola today won an injunction against Apple's iCloud. In a decision handed down from the infamous Mannheim Regional Court this morning, Judge Andreas Voss issued a permanent injunction against Cupertino's cloud-based service and any devices that use it, following a complaint that Motorola originally filed in April of last year. The two companies, as you may recall, have been going at each other rather aggressively in Germany, where Motorola scored a similar victory, back in November. At issue in today's ruling is a European Patent that outlines a "multiple pager status synchronization system and method," upon which iCloud, Motorola claims, infringes. The injunction, as FOSS Patents explains, targets Apple's Ireland-based European distribution branch, but it only applies to the German market -- not Europe, as a whole. And while it's technically "permanent," it's still "preliminarily enforceable," which means Apple can (and likely will) appeal. Motorola, meanwhile, can seek to enforce it, if it's willing to post a €100 million bond. Apple had been seeking a bond of €2 billion, but was ultimately denied. For more of the legal nitty gritty, check out the source link below.

Update 1: Citing a statement from Apple, Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency is now reporting that the company has pulled the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and the iPhone 4 from its German online store, along with any 3G/UMTS-enabled iPads. The move appears to come in response not to today's ruling, but to a decision issued in December, when Motorola won an injunction against Apple, on the grounds that its 3G/UMTS technology infringes upon one of Moto's European patents. According to FOSS Patents, Apple presumably lost its appeal to the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court, after Motorola sought to enforce the injunction.

Update 2: Apple has formally responded to each of today's events, confirming its plans to appeal the court's ruling on iCloud, and explaining its reasoning for pulling its products. "Apple believes this old pager patent is invalid and we're appealing the courts decision," the company said in an e-mailed statement to PaidContent. As for the 3G/UMTS case, Apple says it's still lobbying for a reversal, and that the pulled devices are still available at brick-and-mortar retailers within Germany. "While some iPad and iPhone models are not available through Apple's online store in Germany right now, customers should have no problem finding them at one of our retail stores or an authorised reseller," the statement reads. "Apple is appealing this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago."

Motorola wins permanent injunction against Apple's iCloud in German court (update: products pulled) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Life is fraught: social interaction, inflation and fashion all conspire to ruin your day. Even the simple act of firing up your PMP can send you to the floor in tears if you discover your earbuds are in the wrong way, forever ruining the beautiful stereo trickery of The White Album. Fortunately, Japan's Science and Technology Agency has beavered away at this most first-world of problems with its Universal Earphones Project. One earpiece holds a proximity sensor, which if it's pointing at your ear, pumps out the left-channel, if it's facing away from you, it pumps out the right channel (pictured). It's also capable of working out if you've shared your sounds with a friend and will push out a mono mix to both headphones -- so neither of you miss out on the other half. Amazing to think all of the money and manpower that went into a solution to save you having to read the letters "L" and "R" and making a decision for yourself. After the break we've got a video explaining it, just be warned that the narrator is synthesized, it's not a serial killer.

Continue reading Self-aware headphones switch channels depending on which ear they're in (video)

Self-aware headphones switch channels depending on which ear they're in (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EMC builds the systems, Dell rebrands and markets them; the two are battling it out in the SMB marketplace.

Violent storms in San Francisco prove no match for local and online data backup services.

Small Boston-based company provides a "nice fill" for NetApp's software lineup, analyst says.

Analysis: The architect who designed and built EMC's key Symmetrix product line changes sides to join Big Blue.

After five months of searching, the vendor has finally appointed an exec to run Europe.

Intel wants to revolutionize data center and storage area networking with open-source Fibre Channel over Ethernet.

Intel and LSI expanded a four-year-old partnership, broadening the storage product line available to Intel's channel.