HTC Corporation announced today that it disagrees with the patent lawsuit Apple recently filed against it. HTC also released the above image of a T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition by HTC. HTC says this was the first 3.5-inch color touch screen smartphone in the United States in 2002.
"HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible," said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. "From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA(i) and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition(ii), our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then."
Martha Stewart has a recipe here for Twitter cupcakes made with chocolate buttercream frosting and toasted coconut. The cupcakes are technically called Nesting Baby-Bluebird Cupcakes by Martha Stewart, but they look like Twitter cupcakes to us.
New Juicy Couture Children's Jewelry Features Cupcakes, Ice Cream Cones
Juicy Couture has launched a collected of children's jewelry that contain
delicious treats. The collection includes ice cream cone earrings, strawberry necklaces and cupcake chain bracelets. The 14K yellow gold plated jewelry items range in price from $18 to $78 and can be purchased here from Neiman Marcus.
Froggy-in-the-Water Cupcakes from Princess Tiana's Cookbook
Here is a recipe for adorable Froggy-in-the-Water Cupcakes from pages 54-55 of kids cookbook, The Princess and the Frog: Tiana's Cookbook. The Princess and the Frog DVD and Blu-ray will be released on March 16th. You can whip a batch of these Froggy cupcakes to eat while you watch the film.
INGREDIENTS:
Blue food coloring
1 cup buttercream frosting
1 dozen baked cupcakes
12 large green gumdrops
2 dozen white chocolate chips
Black decorators' icing
DIRECTIONS:
Stir drops of food coloring into the frosting until you have a shade of watery blue. Frost the cupcakes.
For each cupcake, create a pair of frog eyes by slicing a gumdrop in half. Press a white chocolate-chip tip down into the cut surface of each gumdrop half, centering it near the bottom edge. Squirt a dab of black decorators’ icing onto each chip.
Set the frog eyes on the cupcakes, gently pressing them partway into the frosting to hold them in place.
Apple's iPad Will Have at Least Fifty Competitors This Year
Computerworldreports that chip developer ARM is predicting that at least 50 touch tablet PC devices will be launched this year to compete with the Apple iPad.
The coming swarm of tablets has even prompted ARM, Intel's main rival in the mobile microprocessor business, to rent more space at the Computex electronics trade show in Taipei this year to show off the devices, in addition to e-readers, mini-laptops and other devices that use ARM processing cores.
"The first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by [mobile network] carriers," said Roy Chen, ARM's worldwide mobile computing ODM manager, during a press meeting in Taipei. "You'll see a lot more in the third quarter."
Some of the devices that will be competing with the iPad include the HP Slate, Dell Mini 5 and Joojoo. Obviously, these tablets are just the tip of the iceberg and there will be a huge variety of tablets for consumers to choose from by the third and fourth quarter of this year.
CNET reports that Asus recently unveiled this sleek looking netbook at CeBIT. The specs on the thin ASUS Eee PC 1018P Aluminum Netbook include 1.83GHz processor, 1024x600 pixel 10.1 inch screen, 2GB RAM, 10-hour battery, 250GB hard drive. CNET says the Asus 1018P should be out in May and cost around $500.
Netbooknews.com raves about the new Asus Eee PC in the clip below. Take a look:
The Wall Street Journalreports that Diamond Foods is buying Kettle Foods from Lion Capital LLP. The $600 million deal wil combine Diamond Foods, known for Emerald Nuts and Pop-Secret popcorn, with Kettle Foods, known for its Kettle potato chips.
"By adding Kettle, including its talented team of employees, our snack business will have greater scale, which will help us to drive even greater innovation in the snack market," said Michael J. Mendes, Diamond Foods' chairman and chief executive.
The addition of Kettle Foods, based in Salem, Ore., will more than double the size of Diamond's snack business, enabling cross-promotional opportunities with Diamond's Emerald and Pop Secret brands.
Diamond expects the acquisition to add to earnings in the first year. London-based Lion Capital has owned Kettle since 2006. On a pro forma basis, the addition of Kettle Foods would add more than $250 million in revenue and almost double Diamond's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Reuters reports that Diamond Foods bought Kettle Foods in order to expand its marketshare in the growing potato chip market.
Chile has been hit by a massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake. There have also been dozens of aftershocks since the initial earthquake. The very powerful earthquake is likely to have caused extensive damage. CNN reports that the epicenter of the monster earthquake was located off the coast in Maule, near the city of Concepcion. Concepcion has a population of 200,000.
There is also a tsunami risk from the earthquake and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami alert, for the entire Pacific, including Hawaii.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning, the highest level of a tsunami alert, for the entire Pacific, including Hawaii.
"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours," the National Weather Service said in a statement.
"I urge people in coastal zones to move to higher ground," said President Michelle Bachelet, who declared areas of catastrophe.
The BBC is reporting that people on Easter Island are moving to higher ground.
Rating the Overnight Gourmet Cupcake Delivery Services
Many people are addicted to the cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery or at Crumbs bakery in New York. But what if you live somewhere else and crave gourmet cupcakes? If you don't mind paying around $10 per cupcake once the shipping cost is factored in, you can have them overnighted to you. Abigail Pesta of The Wall Street Journal tested out several of the top overnight gourmet cupcake delivery services. Georgetown Cupcakes in Washington, D.C. and Godiva came out on top. Take a look:
You can read the article, which has overnight gourmet cupcake ratings, here.
If Apple is going to use a laughable name like the iPad for its tablet device, then another company is going to come along and use the iTablet name. Wiredreports a UK company named X2 is going to use the iTablet name for its upcoming tablets. The tablets will come out in April in two touchscreen sizes, 10.2 inches and 10.7 inches. The tablets are powered by Windows 7 and Linux
The iTablet also has items the iPad is missing including HDMI output, three USB ports and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. Other features include Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and a 250GB hard drive. No details on pricing have been given.
Computerworldreports that Sony wants to compete with the Apple iPad. Sony wants to battle for tablet marketshare, but did not provide specifics on any tablets it is currently developing.
"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product," said Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's CFO, who was speaking at a Tokyo news conference held to announce the company's quarterly financial results.
Oneda didn't provide any details of any planned products but did say Sony is eyeing a similar market to the upcoming Apple gadget.
"Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in," said Oneda.
Apple's iPad didn't wow everyone so there is a big opportunity for other manufacturers to compete with the device even they are late to the party. Tablets that offer technology the iPad does not have - like a camera, HDMI out or the ability to read Flash - should be of interest to consumers unhappy with the iPad.
Mini Cupcake Maker Bakes Seven Tiny Cupcakes at a Time
Your crowded kitchen probably doesn't need any more specialty appliances but this mini cupcake maker from Small Planet looks like a lot of fun. The non stick cupcake maker can make mini cupcake treats in five minutes. You can makes up to seven tiny cupcakes at a time. The mini cupcake maker can be purchased from What on Earth and on Amazon.com. Small Planet also makes a mini donut maker.
Smarthouse is reporting that Google is working with HTC on a tablet. Smarthouse calls it an iSlate competitor. iSlate is a rumored but unconfirmed name for Apple's upcoming tablet device. HTC and Google have reportedly been working on a touch tablet for the past 18 months.
HTC, who have been working closely with Google for the past 18 months have several working models of a touch tablet including one model, is based on the new Google Chrome Operating System say sources.
An Android based device which is set to be shown privately to core HTC customers at the CES Show is set to incorporate new Qualcomm processors, touch technology and new software from Adobe.
Google also partnered with HTC for its Nexus One phone that is expected to launch on January 5th.
A tablet with a screen around 10-inches seems to be the size consumers are looking for in 2010. Anticipation has been building for months that Apple will deliver an amazing tablet this year. The rumor is that they will announce the tablet on January 26th. They will have plenty of competition as no gadget manufacturer wants to miss out on a device that might catch on like the iPhone did. Notion Ink, ICD, Microsoft and Archos are a few other companies developing tablets.
BBC Newsreports that One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization has unveiled the design for its upcoming tablet. The thin XO-3 will replace the laptop OLPC launched in 2007.
The concept shows a touchscreen, a camera, induction charger, and a carrying ring on one of its corners.
Its inner workings - including a chip from UK firm ARM - will come from an interim design - the XO 1.75 - set for launch in 2011.
The 1.75 will merge elements of the current machines with technologies - such as a touchscreen - intended to be included in the XO-3.
OLPC recently said that the organisation would just focus on promoting its concepts and educational aims, rather than manufacturing laptops.
OLPC says the XO-3 tablet will cost "well below $100" when it launches in 2012. Engadget says there will be two other XO devices from OLPC before the XO-3 is released.
Macy's Holiday Windows Help Homeless Dogs and Cats Get Adopted
Macy's turns its holiday windows in San Francisco into showcases for abandoned pets with help from the San Francisco SPCA. The San Francsico Chronicle reports that 4,000 kittens and puppies have been adopted right from the store windows over the past 22 years and a record 317 window animals were adopted in 2008. You can see some photographs of the windows here. You can also see the windows in this video from YouTube user robt2156. The little grey kitten is adorable. Take a look:
Computerworld 
The Wall Street Journal 
Computerworld 
