How Big Is Too Big? Samsung’s New Galaxy Note Said To Sport 5.5-Inch Screen

I don’t know too many people who would look at the Galaxy Note and its 5.3 inch display and say “y’know, it would be great if this thing was just a little bigger,” and I now I know why. As it turns out, those people live in Korea, work for Samsung, and may have decided just that.

According to their usual unnamed sources, Korea’s MK Business News reports that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 will sport an even larger 5.5-inch display when its unveiled at Germany’s IFA 2012 trade show in August. → Read More

Vevo Brings ‘Call Me Maybe’ (And 50,000 Other Music Videos) To The Mobile Web

If you get a sudden hankering to watch Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” (who hasn’t?), and the only device handy is your iPhone, starting today there’s even less standing between you and instant gratification.

Vevo (the joint venture music video site from Sony Music, Universal Music, and Abu Dhabi Media) already has a strong mobile presence, with apps for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry Playbook. Previously, however if you visited the site on your mobile device, you wouldn’t have been able to watch videos — instead, it directed you to download one of the apps. Now, thanks to the launch of Vevo’s new mobile Web experience, you can watch directly form your mobile browser, no downloads required. (You can also watch a bunch of music videos, including “Call Me Maybe”, via YouTube’s mobile apps and mobile website, but with Vevo you get a music-focused experience and access to a library of 50,000 videos.) → Read More

Report: Apple Developing A Thinner And Cooler 9.7-inch Retina-Equipped iPad For A Q4 Release

There might be a new new iPad soon. Apple is reportedly retooling the new iPad to feature a different battery and LCD backlighting scheme, resulting in a device that’s less hot and with the thickness and weight similar to the iPad 2. This new model will hit sometime before the holiday season and, since we’re already aboard the rumor express, let’s assume it will launch alongside the iPad mini also rumored for the same time. → Read More

Amazon Is Reportedly Working On A Smartphone, But Cracking The Market Won’t Be Easy

Amazon’s Kindle Fire has done a remarkable job carving out its own niche in the tablet space, and it seems a sequel is already barreling down the pipeline for a release in the coming months. That new tablet may not be alone though, as rumblings of yet another Amazon hardware project have started up once again.

After conferring with their sources, Bloombergreported late yesterday evening that Amazon is working on a new smartphone that they hope will go toe-to-toe with the iPhone and Android smartphones. → Read More

Cross-License Their Patent Portfolios, Sell Ads Together

Facebook and Yahoo are calling off their heated patent lawsuit battle, and in fact have just agreed to cross-license their entire patent portfolios to each other without money changing hands, sources directly familiar with the deal tell me. Sources also confirmed that the two web giants are entering into an ad sales partnership that will let Yahoo show Like buttons in its ads, as first reported by Kara Swisher of AllThingsD this morning.

Update 1:15pm PST 7/6: Facebook has just confirmed the patent portfolio cross-license agreement as well as the ad sales and distribution partnership in a press release.

However, Swisher noted the companies would only cross-license “some key patents”, and Facebook might have to pay to license others from Yahoo. The patent deal is actually much larger. It encompasses their entire intellectual property stockpile such that they won’t have to pay be able to use each other’s patents, and won’t be able to sue each other over them either. → Read More

Over iPhone App Launches To Make Adding Beautiful Typography To Pictures Fun And Easy

Photo editing apps are pretty popular, which becomes obvious when you see things like Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram. And there’s a ton of them, so sorting through the various capabilities can be taxing. That’s why it’s great to see apps like Over, which just launched to enable users to quickly and easily add beautiful typography to photos. Because you know, it’s all about doing one thing and doing it really well.

Unlike other photo-editing apps, which let users add filters to make their photos look old-fashioned or fancy or whatever, Over is focused pretty much entirely on adding whatever text they want to photos. The Over app lets you take a photo or pull one from your camera roll, add whatever text you want, then choose from various different fonts and sizes, add tint, and adjust the alignment of the text. When all that is done, you can save the edited photo to your camera roll or share it out to various other social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and (surprise!) even Instagram. → Read More

Remember: See Us In Savannah, Georgia Tonight At 6pm

Here we go: tomorrow we’re heading to the offices of Creative Coast, 15 West York Street for our first ever Savannah meet-up. We’re excited to see what Savannah has to offer. You can RSVP here.

Special thanks to The Creative Coast for hosting the event.

The Creative Coast is a non-profit organization supported by The City of Savannah and SEDA. We exist to nurture the members of our community engaged in creative or innovative endeavors and to cultivate an environment in which they can thrive.

Rails Machine is a full-service web operations and hosting company. We’re a small team of experienced, dedicated, and focused people who have a genuine interest in technology and enjoy working with and giving back to the Ruby on Rails community. We founded Rails Machine in 2006 to create the ultimate hosting environment for Rails applications.

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Don’t Put Down That iPad — 8,000 Mobile Devices Left At Top U.S. Airports

The flight is boarding and you are in a rush. You get on the plane. At 10,000 feet, you reach into your bag. Your laptop is not there.

It happens all the time. In fact, according to a new survey, more than 8,000 devices at seven of the largest airports in the country, including: Chicago O’Hare, Denver International, San Francisco International, Charlotte Douglas, Miami International, Orlando International and Minneapolis/St. Paul. → Read More

Sony’s $380 Million Gaikai Acquisition Shows LA’s Technical Talent

Sony’s announcement this week to buy Gaikai for $380 million shines a light on the startup ecosystem in Los Angeles and the explosive growth that’s taking place. Though the majority of the conversation to date has been about LA’s historical strengths in digital media and commerce, Gaikai represents a new class of companies built around engineering talent solving hard problems.

LA has once again become a hotbed for technical leadership, as indicated by the flurry of investment activity. Entrepreneurs in the LA region attracted $567 million in venture capital in the first quarter of this year, 50% greater than the NY Metro area in the first quarter of the year, according toPriceWaterhouseCooper’s Money Tree report. Between the outstanding technical talent and the passion and vision of great founders, those dollars are being invested into technology-driven companies that break the stereotype of startups in LA.

Facebook Might Be Working On A Job Board, But Don’t Get Too Excited

Stop the presses! Facebook and LinkedIn are going to become archrivals in the recruiting market! At least, that’s the subtext of a new article in the Wall Street Journal which reports that Facebook plans to launch a job posting board later this summer.

It’s a nice scoop if true (the Journal cites “people familiar with the matter”), but reading the story is a strange experience. Basically, it starts out by explaining why the job board isn’t a big deal. Then, having established that it isn’t a big deal, the story talks about what a big deal it is. → Read More

How to Get One Of Dell’s Linux-Based Developer Laptops And Become A Sputnik Beta Cosmonaut

Dell has a skunks works project underway to offer a Linux-based laptop made for developers. Now it is offering a beta program that will allow a small group of developers to get one of the laptops and  join what it calls the Sputnik Beta Cosmonaut program.

Project Sputnik signals Dell’s changing focus to offer open-source technology that it can integrate into its servers, storage and networking offerings and solutions.
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