Nokia’s new Lumia 900 smartphone is getting a huge push at AT&T, but the carrier’s marketing budget for the new flagship Windows Phone won’t quite add up to sky-high figure suggested on Monday. Ad Age published an unconfirmed report on Monday stating that AT&T is preparing a massive marketing blitz to promote the new Nokia smartphone BGR called Windows Phone’s best shot yet to gain ground in the mass market. The carrier will spend as much as $150 million promoting the Lumia 900 according to the report, more than it spent to launch the iPhone. Following our coverage of Ad Age’s report, a trusted source confirmed to BGR that this is, in fact, not the case. Our well-placed source states that while AT&T is planning to push Nokia’s new Lumia smartphone aggressively, the $150 million figure is not even close to reality. This makes sense considering the big budget Nokia reportedly has set aside for the Lumia 900, but our source had no information to offer regarding Nokia’s marketing plans. An AT&T spokesperson declined to comment.

AT&T plans to soon begin unlocking iPhones for customers with accounts in good standing who request that their devices be unlocked. Unlocking a handset allows the device to operate on any GSM network rather than just the network for which it was purchased, and AT&T does not currently provide customers customers with unlock codes for Apple’s iPhone. Engadget reported on Friday that the carrier was planning to amend its policy beginning this Sunday, and BGR was able to confirm the news with an AT&T spokesperson. ”Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “The only requirements are that a customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.”

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Google's position as the dominant search engine doesn't come without a price. Smaller search sites have already tapped on the EU Commission's door to register their complaints about how they are ranked, and Microsoft has also let its feelings on the matter be known. Now, we can add the Redmond spin-off, Expedia, to that list of sore losers disgruntled firms. The travel search site claims it has specific details outlining how the search giant has violated European anti-competitive laws. A Google spokesperson issued a statement saying "We haven't seen the complaint yet, but we've been working to explain how our business works, cooperating with the European Commission since this investigation began." The EU Competition Commissioner says a decision will be made after Easter, at which point Mountain View will either be charged, or the investigation will be dropped. If only that were the end of its EU troubles.

Expedia adds to Google's EU antitrust woes, decision expected after Easter originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia CEO Stephen Elop had several tough decisions to make when he came on board and replaced former chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. Of course the biggest shift for Elop’s Nokia came in mid-February last year when the company confirmed that the burning platform had scorched MeeGo, and Nokia planned to dump its Linux-based mobile operating system for Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. Nokia still went on to launch the N9, and it was widely believed that the handset would be the only MeeGo device from Nokia to ever see the light of day. According to a recent report, however, the Finnish vendor may have new MeeGo devices works.

Nokia currently has two entry-level MeeGo smartphones in development according to a recent report from Netbooknews.com. The site claims to have learned of the unannounced handsets “directly from Nokia’s Next Billion Group,” which is focused on bringing affordable smartphones to emerging markets. No other details surrounding the supposed devices were provided.

The move would be a curious one at best. Nokia is committed to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform for high-end and mid-range devices, and BGR revealed exclusive details last year about a secret proprietary operating system Nokia has in development that will address emerging markets. The vendor also acquired cell phone operating system developer Smarterphone AS earlier this year in a move thought to be tied to the development of Nokia’s secret OS.

A Nokia spokesperson declined to comment.

Anxious Apple fans who weren’t quick enough to place a pre-order before Apple sold out of pre-sales iPad inventory may end up getting their hands on the company’s highly anticipated new tablet well before their fellow buyers. Walmart on Thursday announced that while Apple Stores won’t open until 8:00 a.m. local time to hawk what little launch-day inventory they manage to obtain, Walmart stores across the country will begin selling new iPads eight hours earlier at 12:01 a.m. Stock is likely to be extremely limited if history has taught us anything, but heading over to your local Walmart at midnight is definitely better than the alternative. In an email to BGR, Walmart only mentioned having stock of Apple’s Wi-Fi-only iPad models, which start at $499. A Walmart spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Nokia and Microsoft plan to continue their mobile partnership by entering into the tablet race, DigiTimes reported on Monday. According to the publication, Nokia will release a 10-inch Windows 8-powered tablet with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chip in the fourth quarter of 2012. “Nokia is expected to outsource production of the 10-inch tablets to Compal Electronics with the first batch of shipments to top 200,000 units,” noted the site’s sources. A Nokia spokesperson previously denied the Finnish vendor’s intentions to enter the tablet market. “We haven’t announced any plans anywhere in the world at this point regarding a potential tablet strategy,â€� the company representative said.

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It remains to be seen if it's a full-on change of policy, but it looks like Amazon is at least shifting it stance when it comes to where some of the ebooks put out by its Amazon Publishing division are sold. As you may recall, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers recently pulled print editions of Amazon Publishing books from their store shelves because the ebook versions were only sold in the Kindle Store, a stance that B&N said "undermined the industry as a whole." Now, Amazon has confirmed that its latest addition to the Amazon Publishing roster, a series of short biographies edited by James Atlas, will indeed be sold outside of the Amazon ecosystem in both print and ebook form. Whether B&N and other bookstores will actually carry them remains to be seen, of course, but an Amazon spokesperson told The New York Times that its "intention is to distribute these books as broadly as possible." That change was further clarified by PaidContent, which was told by Amazon that "the books will be available to be sold everywhere in all formats."

Amazon Publishing to sell series of ebooks outside the Kindle Store originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A 55-gallon tub of lube is funny. That's just science. But when you post to Facebook about it being a funny thing that exists in the world, there's a chance that your post might get turned into an ad for that specific lifetime supply of hand love enabler, visible to everyone you know. More »

A 55-gallon tub of lube is funny. That's just science. But when you post to Facebook about it being a funny thing that exists in the world, there's a chance that your post might get turned into an ad for that specific lifetime supply of hand love enabler, visible to everyone you know. More »

Apple and Foxconn have each responded to various claims made in ABC’s Nightline segment that took a look inside two Foxconn factories in an effort to shed light on their working conditions. Responding to a comment made by one worker who claimed she carves aluminum shavings from 6,000 iPad cases each day, Apple said this was likely the result of a miscommunication. “In manufacturing parlance this is called deburring. Her line processes 3,000 units per shift, with two shifts per day for a total of 6,000. A single operator at Ms. Zhou’s station would deburr 3,000 iPads in a shift,” Apple told ABC. Read on for more.

ABC noted in its report that the starting wages at Foxconn’s factories are so low that workers don’t even have to pay income taxes. “We have over 75 percent of the employees in the category of earning at least 2,200 RMB ($349/month) basic compensation standar,” a Foxconn spokesperson told ABC. “That means they are earning 13.75 RMB ($2.18) per hour. If they work overtime on the weekend, they will earn 27 RMB ($4.28) per hour. In order to reach 3500 to be taxable, they will have to work 47 OT hours to reach 3,500.â€�

The spokesperson continued, “If the overtime hours are in weekdays, they have to work around 63 hours per month to reach that level of salary to be taxable. Your statement is only true when applying to the entry-level workers while over 75 percent are already over the probation and earning more than 2,200 RMB basic salary.â€�

While nothing startling was uncovered by ABC’s look inside the “iFactory,” a number of concerning reports surrounding facilities maintained by Apple’s supply and manufacturing partners have emerged recently. The Fair Labor Association’s preliminary inspections found “tons of issues” in Foxconn’s factories, one report alleges that Foxconn hid underage workers while ABC filmed in its factories and two workers claiming to have been poisoned by a cleaning agent while working in a plant that assembles iPhone displays on Wednesday pleaded for the public to demand action.

A group of hackers demanded that Symantec pay $50,000 to prevent it from releasing stolen source code for several of the firm’s software titles. Symantec reportedly confirmed that it was cooperating with a sting operation while communicating via email with a group of hackers claiming ties to notorious hacktivist group “Anonymous.” Those ties have not been confirmed. The email conversation was posted to Pastebin on Monday, and a Symantec representative confirmed to CNET that the emails were authentic. Read on for more.

A person identifying him or herself as Yamatough contacted Symantec in January and claimed to be in possession of the company’s proprietary source code for its Norton Antivirus and PCAnywhere software. The hacker provided code samples to prove possession of the code in question, and then demanded a payment of $50,000 to prevent the release of Symantec’s code.

“In January an individual claiming to be part of the ‘Anonymous’ group attempted to extort a payment from Symantec in exchange for not publicly posting stolen Symantec source code they claimed to have in their possession,” a Symantec spokesperson told CNET in a statement. “Symantec conducted an internal investigation into this incident and also contacted law enforcement given the attempted extortion and apparent theft of intellectual property. The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation. Given that the investigation is still ongoing, we are not going to disclose the law enforcement agencies involved and have no additional information to provide.”

Negotiations between Symantec and the hacker reportedly broke down however, culminating with an email on Monday that threatened to release the company’s source code if Symantec didn’t deliver funds within 10 minutes. ”Since no code yet being released and our email communication wasnt also released we give you 10 minutes to decide which way you go,” Yamatough wrote. ”After that two of your codes fly to the moon PCAnywhere and Norton Antivirus totaling 2350MB in size (rar) 10 minutes if no reply from you we consider it a START this time we’ve made mirrors so it will be hard for you to get rid of it.”

The Symatec employee who had been the point of contact with the hacker made an attempt to delay the code’s release, replying with, “We can’t make a decision in ten minutes. We need more time.” Yamatough was apparently unwilling to afford the company more time, however, as a 1.2GB file titled ”Symantec’s pcAnywhere Leaked Source Code” was posted to the Pirate Bay Monday evening. Symantec has not yet confirmed whether or not the code within the file is authentic.

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Sales of Apple’s iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G resumed on Friday after a permanent injunction had gone into effect early Friday morning. ”All iPad and iPhone models will be back on sale through Apple’s online store in Germany shortly” an Apple spokesperson told SlashGear in a statement. “Apple appealed 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.” Apple’s iOS devices with embedded 3G were deemed to being infringing on a Motorola patent this past December. A judge ordered an injunction at that time that went into effect on Friday, forcing Apple to remove the infringing devices from its German website. Motorola filed a separate complaint against Apple’s new iPhone 4S last month.

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Samsung reportedly confirmed on Wednesday that it will not be unveiling the Galaxy S III during the Mobile World Congress trade show next month. The news is partially in line with earlier rumors. Instead, TechRadar reports that the firm has plans to announce the highly anticipated smartphone at a separate press conference later in the first half of 2012. “Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012,” a Samsung spokesperson reportedly said. “The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product. Samsung stays committed to providing the best possible mobile experiences for customers around the world.” BGR exclusively reported last month that Samsung has plans to unveil a new high-end tablet with a high-definition display at Mobile World Congress, and this device is expected to be the highlight of the company’s announcements in Barcelona, Spain next month.

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Apple says it's suspending iPhone 4S sales in mainland China following the violence we reported earlier, in which angry customers threw eggs at the company's flagship store in Beijing. The crowd had queued in freezing temperatures to purchase the newly-arrived 4S, but were subsequently told the store would not be opening for business -- hence their angry response. It seems that many in the mob weren't normal consumers, but were workers put in place by resellers who wanted to buy up devices and sell them on at a profit. There was similar disorder when the iPad 2 went on sale in China, and now an Apple spokesperson has said the risk to its staff is too great, forcing it to halt 4S sales "for the time being."

Apple stops selling iPhone 4S in China to protect its staff originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung announced at the end of December that the highly popular Galaxy S line would not be receiving an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The device, which sold over 10 million units worldwide, doesn’t include enough memory for the update, Samsung claimed. After outraged users flocked to social networks with their complaints, reports out of South Korea claimed that Samsung was reevaluating the Galaxy S and may offer a “value pack” update instead. When Business Insider reached out to Samsung, however, the company reiterated its previous statements, claiming the device doesn’t feature the necessary hardware requirements to support the update. “A full update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the GALAXY Tab (7-inch) and GALAXY S is not practicable due to hardware limitations,” a Samsung spokesperson told the site. While the company would not comment specifically on a value pack update, based on Samsung’s record updating its Android devices, it seems highly unlikely that an update is forthcoming. Interestingly enough, the nearly identical Nexus S received an Ice Cream Sandwich update late last month from Google.

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Microsoft-approved Windows Phone 7 unlocker discontinued (for the moment) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon confirmed recently that it will release a patch for its Kindle Fire Android tablet that will address a number of bugs and user complaints. “In less than two weeks, we’re rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire,â€� Amazon spokesperson Drew Herdener told The New York Times in a recent interview. Herdener explained that Amazon will improve multitouch performance on the device, and will also enable a feature that allows users to edit their usage history on the tablet. Despite mixed reviews, including our own, Amazon’s Kindle Fire has been labeled a potential “blazing success” by Morgan Stanley and a number of analysts expect the firm to ship as many as 5 million units during the fourth quarter.

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