Apple has removed photography community app 500px from the App Store for allowing access to nude images, despite a hoard of other apps that provide even more NSFW content. But this isn’t just another example of Apple’s hypocrisy – it’s a misstep that could give opportunity to its rivals.

Apple has pulled the 500px photography community app from its App Store because it was possible for people to find “pornography” and possibly even “child pornography” through the app. “The app was removed from the App Store for featuring pornographic images and material, a clear violation of our guidelines,” Apple told The Verge in a statement. “We also received customer complaints about possible child pornography. We’ve asked the developer to put safeguards in place to prevent pornographic images and material in their app.”

500px is calling foul, saying that users had to go in and turn off “safe mode” through their Web dashboard in order to open access to the vile nudity. “Some people are mature enough to see these photos,” 500px Chief Operating Officer Evgeny Tchebotarev told TechCrunch, “but by default it’s safe.” The child porn claims, for what it’s worth, haven’t been mentioned – and I find it hard to believe that this was a real problem with the relatively tame 500px.

The fact that Apple played it safe with potential nudity is not surprising; this wouldn’t be the first time, and won’t be the last. In fact, Tchebotarev told The Verge that another app, ISO500, which uses the 500px API, will also be pulled from the App Store. What makes this all so appalling is that 500px (and, soon, ISO500) was singled out for “pornography,” while a veritable orgy of other apps still available through the App Store allow users to easily access photos in the 500px system, and some that provide far more than the “arty” nudes available through 500px.

Some examples:

• Safari
• Chrome
• Opera Mini
• Mercury Browser
• Dolphin Browser
• Full Screen Private Browsing
• Skyfire Web Browser
• Yahoo! Axis Browser
• Puffin Web Browser
• Atomic Web Browser
• Twitter
• Echofon
• TweetDeck
• TweetBot
• Hootsuite
• TwitBird
• TweetCaster
• I’d Cap That+
• Tumblr
• Flipboard
• 500px Explorer
• PhotoStackr for 500px
• 500px RSS
• 500px galleries
• Google Currents
• Instagram
• Flickr
• FlickStackr
• SnapChat
• Facebook Poke
• Alien Blue
• Reddit Alien
• iReddit
• Reddit Pics HD
• Reddit Pics Pro
• ImgurApp
• 9Gag

I could go on and on, but you get the point: Apple’s App Store is filled with apps that allow access to NSFW content. And not just the tasteful photos you’d find in even the darkest corners of 500px – I’m talking full-on whatever-your-sick-mind-can-imagine kind of stuff. (At least, that’s what a friend told me.) In order to expunge the App Store of all pornography, Apple would have to cut off access to the Internet – something that is never going to happen. And just to be clear: 500px does not allow pornography, as Apple claims. Tchebotarev has explained that straight-up porn is against 500px’s Terms of Service, and is immediately deleted if discovered. (This would also include child pornography, of course.)

All of this could mean that 500px was knocked off the shelf for some other reason – perhaps it was because its age rating was set at 4+ rather than 12+ or 17+ like some of the other apps listed above. Perhaps there was some other, non-nudity problem that we don’t know about, and Apple is just blowing smoke. But I doubt it. Apple has become increasingly inconsistent with developers in applying the rules of the App Store. If your app skims on any lines, it’s a gamble whether or not Apple will bring down the hammer.

Apple’s spotty tending of its walled garden has clear negative consequences. First, for iOS users, it limits the apps available to us. Maybe some of us wanted to download 500px today, and now we can’t for some arbitrary reason. Maybe we want to find hardcore porn – as adults sometimes want to do – but for that, we have to use one of the apps listed above, and I’ve heard from friend that this can be a bit of a runaround, and definitely not a good user experience either way. All of this has been said before, of course. Today’s removal of 500px is just the latest in a long saga of Apple asserting control over its ecosystem. 

What hasn’t been explored enough, however, is the possibility that app developers will take actions like the removal of 500px as a sign that they are not wanted, or that Apple is just too difficult to work with. It could push developers away to other app marketplaces that have fewer rules, like Google Play or the Windows Phone Marketplace, and not nearly as much arrogance. It could, in other words, begin to chip away at one of the things that has made iOS so popular: The superiority of its App Store.

For now, however, the App Store remains king – but Google Play is catching up. And situations like these are what competitors call “opportunities.” How big an opportunity this is for Apple’s rivals remains to be seen. Regardless, at least you iOS users now have a sweet list of apps to pass the time until we find out.

Capcom is bringing Resident Evil: Revelations to PCs and home consoles, with a host of new features and, as you’d expect, an increased price tag over its Nintendo 3DS predecessor.

“When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth.”

That line is uttered by a character in George Romero’s classic 1978 film Dawn of the Dead. It’s a chilling sentiment, particularly when contrast against the anti-consumerist message Romero managed to capture in his film, but for today it seems more apropos to change the quotation to, “When there’s no more room on Nintendo’s handhelds, the dead will walk the more lucrative gaming platforms.” Admittedly, that was a ham-handed segue into word that Resident Evil: Revelations will soon appear on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, but how often do we get to reference Romero?

Anyway, we’ve been hearing rumors for a while now, and today Capcom announced that the Nintendo 3DS-exclusive Resident Evil: Revelations will be making the transition to home consoles and personal computers. Is this an attempt by Capcom to further monetize a successful entry in the Resident Evil franchise following the failure of last year’s Resident Evil 6 to ignite sales charts or impress critics in any meaningful way? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean the company is merely selling the same game you played almost one year ago.

When the new iterations of Resident Evil: Revelations arrive on May 21, they’ll each feature a $50 price tag. This is $10 more than the original retail price found on the 3DS version of the game, but that’s owing to the new features Capcom has created specifically for these redux incarnations of the title. Alongside the expected high-definition aesthetic upgrades, the latest edition of Resident Evil: Revelations will also add “a new enemy, a new harder difficulty, new Raid weapons and new Custom Parts that make your weapons even more formidable,” according to the Capcom Unity blog.

Most importantly for fans of the series though, the new version will also include an exclusive playable character who first made his debut in Resident Evil 2. No, not Chris Redfield or that stupid-huge crocodile in the basement; we’re talking about Hunk, the mute, featureless, yet somehow bizarrely intriguing soldier who has sporadically appeared in the Resident Evil series, most often as bonus content. While you won’t be able to take Hunk through the main singleplayer campaign in Resident Evil: Revelations, he is slated to be available for use in the game’s Raid Mode. 

If you were to look up our original review of Resident Evil: Revelations, you’ll see that we enjoyed it. It wasn’t the best Resident Evil game made to date, but it was easily in the top handful of titles the series has produced. Plus, its portable nature and surprisingly excellent implementation of its platform’s 3D technology were both big positives on a handheld that, at that time, boasted nothing worthwhile outside of first party Nintendo games. We’re sure that the console and PC versions of Resident Evil: Revelations will look gorgeous and feature the same basic, entertaining gameplay, but we’re not sure we can justify that $50 price tag unless Capcom adds more content. Still, fans of the series that were left with a bitter taste following the last console offering, may want to check this out as a palette cleanser for the series, albeit a relatively pricey one. 

Nvidia's GK110 graphics chip

As if there was ever any doubt, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will appear in the next Terminator sequel.

It’s official: Arnold Schwarzenegger will be included in the cast of the next Terminator movie.

“But wait, wasn’t this already established? Didn’t Digital Trends cover this same story two years ago?” the more observent among you may now be wondering. Yes, we did publish a story in 2011 which stated that Schwarzenegger had been confirmed for a role in Terminator 5 - until somebody gives us an official title, that’s what we’re calling this film – but at that time the film was slated to be helmed by Fast & Furious director Justin Lin. In the two years since that article was written, the film has remained in limbo and Lin has dropped off the project. Effectively, the Justin Lin Terminator sequel is an entirely separate movie from the Terminator 5 we’re discussing today.

This version of the film is slated to be written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. We brought you word of the duo’s involvement last week, and offered a handful of reasons why Kalogridis’ involvement at least gives us hope that Terminator 5 might prove a superior film to 2009′s Terminator: Salvation. Schwarzenegger returning to reprise his most famous role is certainly a huge boost for this film’s potential, but as we stated a week ago we never had much doubt that the Governator would return to the dystopian sci-fi franchise that belongs to him as much as it does Terminator creator James Cameron.

Of course, we’re only assuming that Schwarzenegger will appear in Terminator 5 as the time-hopping T-800 cyborg. Devotees of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines might remember a deleted scene from that film in which Schwarzenegger plays an American soldier named William Candy who speaks with a laughably horrible, obviously dubbed Southern accent. We want to think that Schwarzenegger’s presence in Terminator 5 will be undeniably cool and harken back to the actor’s glory days in the late 1980s and early ’90s, but the man is currently pushing 66 years of age. Don’t get us wrong, at 66 Schwarzenegger is still in far better shape than most of us, but it’s doubtful that he’s not as spry as he was two decades ago.

Another, less impressive option is that the film may make use of Schwarzenegger in a more technically laden way, just as he was in 2009′s Terminator Salvation. In that film (spoilers), a Terminator bearing the CGI-imposed face of the Governator fought with Christian Bale’s John Connor, and severely wounds him, thus leading to one of the dumbest medical procedures film has ever seen. With a path laid down by 2010′s Tron: Legacy, the filmmakers could always try to ape the Jeff Bridges route, and use technology and makeup to make Schwarzenegger look (somewhat) like he did in past decades.  

We’re still waiting to hear on who might be directing this movie and so far there have yet to be any plot details released, but just as soon as such information emerges we’ll bring it to you. After the last two Terminator films nearly sunk the franchise in the eyes of many devoted fans,hopefully Terminator 5 might turn things around. Or, at the very least, that it won’t be a solid two hour block of Schwarzenegger mugging at the camera in a pitiful attempt to remind viewers of his former glory – we got enough of that in his Terminator flick.

Realistic photos of what is believed to be HTC’s upcoming M7 handset have appeared online

The smartphone industry is no stranger to leaks, but a recent image of what is believed to be HTC’s upcoming M7 handset may top them all. This image differs from other purported photos floating around the Web in that it shows an actual, physical smartphone – not just a computer generated image or mockup.

The photos came courtesy of Android news website Android Police, who posted photos of the HTC device on Tuesday following another slew of allegedly leaked images. The newly published photo depicts a piece of hardware rather than a render, and showcases the M7’s physical features. From the image, we can surmise the form factor of its body, the layout of its home screen, and the placement of widgets and buttons.

While it seems very likely that we’re looking at is in fact the M7, it’s important to remember that this hasn’t been confirmed. Android Police has a fair track record when it comes to purported leaks, but the website does not specify the photos’ origin beyond “a helpful tipster.”

This alleged tipster also supplied a rear image of the device, showing HTC’s logo sprawled across the middle of the body. This fresh photo offers some different nuances than previous mockups – for instance, the placement of the camera’s flash is hanged and the Beats Audio logo is simpler. The handset’s back plate also resembles that of other HTC devices such as the Droid DNA and Windows Phone 8X.

However, these new HTC leaks did more than provide a preview of the phone’s body. Photos of HTC’s new Sense 5.0 interface were also included with the above photos. The purported HTC home screen features a sleeker and completely customizable user interface. Alongside the alleged screenshot is an image of the software information menu, which serves as validation to prove that the image we’re looking at is indeed Sense 5.0.

The forthcoming M7 is projected to be HTC’s flagship smartphone of 2013 and is rumored to feature a 4.7-inch display and a 1.7GHz quad-core processor among other specs. The company is expected to officially unveil the device at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where we’ll learn if this reported leak is correct.

Gaming laptops can be awesomely powerful. They can also pwn your wallet like a newb. Here’s what gamers must know before emptying their savings account.

While mobile computing has seen a lot of change over the last five years, including the rise of tablets and the introduction of convertibles, there’s one category that has remained steadfast – the gaming laptop. These old-school hulks of processing power don’t give a damn about touchscreens and slim frames. It’s all about speed.

That might make the segment seem simple, yet gaming laptops present their own challenges. Hardware specifications are critical and, as a result, consumers looking to buy a gaming rig need to know more than average. However, as long as you’re able to grasp the basics, learning every detail is not required.

It’s all about the GPU

The importance of the graphics processor in a gaming laptop seems self-evident. Once shopping, however, consumers are sometimes distracted by the plethora of other extras bundled in gaming systems. RAM, network cards, extra hard drives, color LED keyboards – all of this vies for attention but must be ignored until after you judge the GPU.

We can’t hope to summarize the best hardware in this article because new products are often released. Instead, let us point you to the Notebook Check laptop GPU comparison chart. It’s a simple list that gathers benchmark data and uses it to rank graphics hardware. Any system claiming the title of gaming laptop should feature a GPU ranked as Class 1 on this list.

Any extra cash that can be spent on upgrades should first be spent on the GPU. No other part will offer better performance per dollar.  

The processor is (kinda) important

Don’t let the focus on graphics suggest that the CPU does not matter. It does. Sometimes.

The value of the processor depends on the game being played. Some titles barely stress it and could make do with a Core i3. A select few, however, can bring even a Core i7 quad to its knees. Supreme Commander, for example, can still tax today’s hardware a full five years after its release.

Sticking with a Core i5 is not a bad choice if money is an issue. An i5 will not hold back by most games, and leftover cash will usually be better directed towards a GPU upgrade. A Core i7 quad is in every way preferable, however, so grab one if possible.

We don’t generally recommend spending money to get even faster versions of the Core i7 quad. The entry-level Core i7-3610QM is more than adequate. Upgraded versions are quicker but provide poor value. Money is better spent on other components.

Solid-state drives rule the world of storage

The rise of the solid-state drive has increased the importance of storage. It used to be a boring piece of equipment where bigger was always better. Now, with solid-state drives, performance matters.

A solid-state drive will drastically reduce load times for all games. Levels that normally take 20 or 30 seconds to load will instead take 10 seconds or less. Some games will also show less texture pop-in and stuttering as content is loaded more quickly. Gamers that have cash left over after upgrading the GPU and CPU should spend it here.

If one is good, two is better. A pair of SSDs running in RAID 0, a factory option on some high-end gaming laptops, can offer mind-blowing performance. Some games will load almost instantly, and even the slowest games will load in less than 10 seconds. This is a pricey upgrade, however, so only consider this if you’re flush with cash.

An SSD should usually be accompanied by a mechanical drive that can provide mass storage. With that said, not everyone needs the extra gigs and extra storage is always just an external hard drive away. Don’t let capacity fears keep you away from an SSD.

Do the graphics justice with a great display

Image quality is crucial for a gaming laptop. What’s the point of an amazing GPU if the graphics it cranks out are diluted by a terrible display?

Most systems ship with a resolution of 1600 x 900, or 1080p. Though 1080p is more recognizable, a 1600 x 900 display is fine for a 14-inch or 15.6-inch system. Only gamers looking at a large rig need to push for 1080p.

Don’t expect to find IPS panel technology. Though it’s normally an excellent choice, it’s considered undesirable in gaming laptops due to low pixel response times that can interfere with gaming. That doesn’t mean quality is poor, however. On the contrary, gaming laptops tend to score better than average in our display quality benchmark testing.

There’s no easy way to determine the quality of the monitor at a glance. Only testing can tease out the details. We judge the display of every laptop we review on the basis of color gamut, brightness, black levels, and screen uniformity. Though gaming laptops generally score better than average, our testing has shown that there are still significant differences between competitors.

Trust tests, not your eyes. Displays rarely look the same at home as they do under showroom lights. Read reviews, note test results, and let these guide your decision.

Portability is a relative term

Manufacturers in the gaming market will occasionally talk about how one of their smaller systems offers mobile gaming power. Alienware’s M14x uses that exact tagline to promote itself as a truly portable gaming PC.

In truth, however, no gaming system is portable by any normal measurement. A small entry like the M14x can, in certain configurations, match the weight and battery life of a standard 15.6-inch laptop – and that’s about as portable as gaming laptops get. Even 11.6-inch alternatives available from boutiques like Origin are beefier than their display size suggests.

We’re not saying that size is irrelevant. While every gaming laptop is chunky, the largest models are absurdly huge. Alienware’s M18x weighs about 10 pounds, as does Origin’s EON17-SLX and the ASUS G75. Even 15.6-inch models usually weigh between 7 to 9 pounds. Gamers who travel frequently should shy away from these behemoths and stick with a 14-inch model.

Getting your priorities straight

We’ve now touched on all the important points. There’s a lot of information to remember, so here’s a summary of priorities in order of importance.

It’s all about the GPU! – Graphics always, absolutely, without question is priority number one. If you have any extra money for upgrades, spend it first on graphics. The GPU should be the first component compared when looking at two different laptops.

Go Core i5 on a budget, Core i7 if not – Self-explanatory, really. A Core i7 quad is the preferable processor for a gaming laptop, but sticking with a Core i5 is fine if budget matters.

Solid-state drives rock – Look for a gaming laptop that offers inexpensive SSD upgrades. Choose a capacity of at least 256GB if the SSD will be the laptop’s only hard drive. Lower capacities are acceptable if it includes a mechanical drive.

Check the display – Read quality reviews to see how a laptop’s display checks out before buying it. Give preference to low black levels, a wide color gamut, and high brightness. Avoid laptops that only offer 720p resolution.   

Buy the right size! – Bigger isn’t always better. Massive rigs are both thick and heavy, making them terrible for travel. Pay close attention to a system’s weight and thickness before buying. 

That’s the core of what any consumer needs to know. Other factors, like RAM and connectivity, can also be important – but these are less likely to be a concern because gaming laptops are ridiculously well equipped by default. Don’t worry about the details until you’ve found a laptop that fulfills the basics.   

Blizzard All-Stars, a MOBA mod for StarCraft 2, was announced all the way back in 2010. The Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft studio is known for taking its sweet time, though, and this game is no different. The studio says it’s “actively working” on it.

Hard as this may be to believe, there was a time when Blizzard Entertainment used to make games that didn’t have the names Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo in them. It’s been a long time, it’s true. The last game outside those worlds made by the studio was 1997’s The Lost Vikings 2. Blizzard’s trying, though! It’s making its own MOBA called Blizzard All-Stars. It stars characters from Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft but at least it’s its own game.

Whether or not Blizzard is actually making Blizzard All-Stars has been in doubt for some time, though. After announcing the game as a StarCraft 2 mod three years ago, Blizzard has been strangely silent about its official take on Defense of the Ancients. The official website for Blizzard All-Stars just says that the game is “coming soonish.” From a company that takes upwards of five years to release a game after first announcing it, that’s hardly an encouraging statement.

StarCraft 2 production director Chris Sigaty swears that Blizzard All-Stars is still out there, though.

“We’re actively working on it,” Sigaty told Eurogamer on Tuesday, “That I can confirm. A lot of the stuff that’s remaining right now that we need to focus on are the systems necessary to pull off a game with a different business model than StarCraft 2. StarCraft 2 is a box. We intend to do something different with the business model in Blizzard All-Stars, something more closely resembling the other types of games in that genre, the MOBA-style games that are out there today, and being able to sell small amounts of things to players, the things they want.”

MOBA players are an audience that Activision Blizzard is anxious to take advantage of. The MOBA originator Defense of the Ancients started as a Warcraft 3 mod before spawning games like League of Legends, a game that currently has a regular playership of 35 million people. It’s estimated that the core League of Legends game, while free-to-play, generates between $5 and $10 million per day. With competitors like Valve capitalizing on the old Blizzard mode with its own Dota 2, Blizzard’s corporate masters are bound to be livid that they don’t have a comparable revenue stream of their own.

While Blizzard All-Stars is still in the works, it will likely still require a copy of StarCraft 2 to play according to Sigaty.

500px’s app was suddenly pulled from the App Store today with Apple citing (artistic) nudity as the offender.

Some of the million photographers that have taken a keen interest in 500px may be flustered with the app’s sudden disappearance from the iOS App Store this afternoon. Controversial as the reason might be, the app has been pulled against the Toronto startup’s will and Apple is behind the decision.

Nudity, even of the artistic nature, is apparently behind the move. 500px COO Evgency Tchebotarev tells TechCrunch that an update to the app couldn’t be pushed because nude photos were searchable, and thus 500px was pulled from the marketplace altogether. The app was originally launched in October 2011 and approved by Apple, actually had created a mechanism where safe search was on by default and you had to visit the Web app to change this. Apparently, the security measure was found lacking.

Tchebotarev says that the startup was in talks with Apple to update the app so that it would be compliant with Apple’s developer policies. There are a handful of third-party apps that use 500px’s API, such as Flipboard, so the app wanted to try and issue an update to address Apple’s concerns. But no leniencyhere: 500px was suddenly pulled from the App Store with Apple citing the time sensitivity of the issue.

There’s no mistake here that the “nudity” Apple refers to has been corralled into the pornographic category, but artists might take offense to that association. Tchebotarev says the 500px app doesn’t allow pornographic content and there are in fact a few precautionary and preventative measures in place. Of course there’s a difference between porn and artistic nudity, albeit subjective. But should 500px find that the content verges on smut, that content is immediately deleted.

The 500px team has been developing an engine that will be able to recognize nude photos algorithmically. These photos will be tagged accordingly and won’t surface in search. Until such an update is issued, however, it appears 500px is will have to wait for Apple approval. 

A new trademark application reveals a mysterious Microsoft project dubbed “Gunpowder.” It’s a piece of software, has something to do with online gaming, and we know little else about it.

What is Microsoft’s “Gunpowder?” Good question. We’re asking ourselves the same thing.

On January 15, a trademark application was submitted by Microsoft to the United States Patent and Trademark Office for something called “Gunpowder.” This being a mere trademark application, details on what exactly it applies to are scant, but we do know a few things. First, the application lists Gunpowder as a piece of “game software,” so we don’t need concern ourselves that this thing might be a new peripheral or that long-awaited Microsoft-branded handheld gaming device that will probably never exist. Second, we have the following description of Gunpowder’s intended purpose: “entertainment services, namely, providing online video games.”

That’s not much to go on, is it? Initially we’d thought that Gunpowder was simply a new video game or franchise that Microsoft would be introducing in the near future, but the claim that Gunpowder is capable of “providing online video games” sounds very intriguing. This could simply be a reference to a game that features online multiplayer components, but if that’s the case the description seems oddly specific in its wording. The other idea we’ve had is that Gunpowder might be an integral part of the online gaming strategy for Microsoft’s next Xbox, but in truth that concept is mostly rooted in a lack of solid facts and the timing of this trademark’s appearance. Microsoft is putting its console together at this point, so it stands to reason that as new ideas are pitched and accepted by the development team that the corporation backing them would attempt to trademark/patent anything it sees as potentially valuable.

We probably won’t receive an accurate picture of what Gunpowder actually refers to until Microsoft opts to unveil its next swath of big projects. At the latest we’d expect everything to become clear at this year’s E3 conference. In the mean time, we invite you to offer your own theories in the comments below. 

Apple’s iPhone has accounted for more than half of smartphone sales in the United States last quarter, according to a new survey.

Apple is dangerously close to revealing its fourth quarter earnings report for the tail end of 2012, and some companies are coming forward to paint a picture of what iPhone sales have been like during the holiday shopping season.

On Tuesday, Verizon Wireless announced that it activated 6.2 million iPhone units in the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said to CNET. The wireless carrier activated a total of 9.8 million smartphones over the course of Q4 2012, with about 3.6 million of those being Android devices. Verizon didn’t specify exactly how many of these Apple devices were iPhone 5 handsets, but it did say that half of the iOS-enabled phones that were activated over the last quarter were able to tap into its 4G LTE network. This suggests that the other half is comprised of lower priced iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S models.

When it comes to overall smartphone sales for last quarter of 2012, Apple’s iPhone reportedly accounted for a whopping 51.2 percent of mobile phone transactions in the United States. This news comes from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, which released data suggesting that Apple dominated the smartphone front at the close of 2012.

“Apple’s continual improvement is thanks to both the iPhone 5 and older models attracting various customer groups, from repeat Apple buyers, first-time smartphone buyers, and those coming from other smartphone brands,” Mary-Ann Parlato, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech analyst, said in a statement.

The recently released data also implies that a portion of these sales comes from users switching from other platforms. Over the past year, 36 percent of iOS sales in the United States have been from customers already using smartphones, most notably Android.

Google’s mobile operating system came in as a close second to Apple, with Android accounting for 44.8 percent of smartphone sales for Q4 2012. Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, however, only measured in at 2.6 percent despite the launch of its brand new Windows Phone 8 OS.

While Apple has seen a robust year in terms of iPhone sales, especially in the fourth quarter, some analysts have forecast a decline in the company’s earnings and stock value. As the Wall Street Journal reports, a trio of UBS analysts have lowered their estimate for the average selling price of the iPhone due to a lack of interest in certain models.

According to these experts, data has shown that demand for storage has decreased from about 30GB with the previous iPhone 4S to 20GB with the iPhone 5. Fewer customers are choosing to purchase the 64GB editions of the iPhone 5, and demand for older variants in general has risen from 33 percent during the 4S’ lifecycle to 50 percent in the iPhone 5’s thus far. In turn, the analysts have cut their earnings per share estimate for 2013 from $44.68 to $47, and their price target has been slashed to $650 from $700.

It’s clear that the tech community is anxious to see how Apple’s iPhone sold last quarter, and we’ll be interested to see Apple’s fourth quarter earnings tomorrow.

Designer Peter Zigich created a concept of the Mac Pro based on ARM architecture. Although it’s likely just pipe dreams, it’s still fun to ogle over.

In 2012, reports circulated that Apple may ditch the Intel chips in iMacs and MacBooks for ARM-based processors similar to the ones used in iPads and iPhones. Those reports, however, were mere rumors and haven’t been confirmed by Apple. Even so, one designer, Peter Zigich, believes that the company might go through with the switch and that many others will follow suit, which is why he created a concept design of  a Mac Pro with an ARM architecture, instead of Intel.

Zigich believes that because ARM chips are smaller and more power-efficient than Intel chips, Mac Pros of the future could be a lot lighter, smaller, and more energy-efficient compared to the large ones available today. The concept design is peppered with ports, including USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, mic and speaker, and 3 PCI slots. Inside, there’s enough room for four hard disks, six RAM chips, and eight ARM-based CPUs for max processing power. 

The concept, however, isn’t quite a runaway hit with the masses. Some comments on TechCrunch have likened it to “a pasteurizer or some kind of food lab equipment,” a power backup, and an external hard drive housing. So we want to ask you: If you were an Apple designer, how would you design a Mac Pro with an ARM processor? Check out Zigich’s blog for more images. 

(Image credit: Peter Zigich)

Ubisoft’s ZombiU is one of the few truly original titles made for the Nintendo Wii U. The game’s creators are discussing what they’d like to explore in a sequel. First up: Multiplayer.

The Nintendo Wii U racked up more than a few positive reviews for its launch games in November. From ports like Assassin’s Creed 3 and Mass Effect 3, to quality remakes like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge and solid first-party efforts like New Super Mario Bros. U, the Wii U put up a respectable showing when it hit in November. The best and brightest gem in its line up is arguably a Ubisoft original rather than a Nintendo-made game. ZombiU has garnered a strong critical following since its release, and it’s clearly been a commercial success as well since Ubisoft is already hinting at what will be in store for ZombiU 2.

Ubisoft Montpelier producer Guillaume Brunier told Nintendo World Report in a recent interview that multiplayer is a feature missing from the first ZombiU that he’d most like to see in a sequel.

“How to bring cooperative experience and still keep fear and tension is a question we would love to address,” said Brunier, “In our most exciting dreams, we would like to create an online experience where players never quite know where they stand between co-op and player-versus-player. Doubt is a great nest for fear.”

It’s not difficult to imagine what a cooperative mode for ZombiU might be like. Part of what makes the game so frightening in the first place is how vulnerable a player is while looking at the Wii U GamePad’s screen to look through their inventory. If they had to do something more complex on the pad, like performing surgery on another player, a co-op partner could be forced to defend them from a growing zombie mob. This wouldn’t even necessarily need to be an online mode, since Nintendo has already promised that a future system update will let game makers build games for two Wii U gamepads.

Despite the generally positive reviews for Nintendo’s Wii U launch line up, sales have not been spectacular. Some analysts have pegged early Wii U sales at 50-percent lower than those of the Gamecube during the same period after the console came out, and 40 percent lower than those of the Wii. Those figures don’t account for downloadable sales, though, so Ubisoft could be racking up more ZombiU sales than retail analysts know about.

THQ is selling off its remaining assets on Tuesday, including the publishing rights to South Park: The Stick of Truth. South Park’s creators are none too happy about it and are looking to block the sale.

The credit extension from Wells Fargo, the potential buyouts, the Humble Bundle fire sale, the declaration of bankruptcy, the NASDAQ stock exchange delisting… all the financial turbulence video game publisher THQ has experienced over the past two months has been prelude to Tuesday. Tuesday is the day that THQ begins to auction of its holdings, including valuable intellectual property rights to video game franchises like Darksiders, Saints Row, Company of Heroes, Red Faction, and many others. THQ is attempting to sell more than just IP, though, it’s also looking to sell off its lucrative rights to certain licenses, something at least one license holder is none too happy about. THQ is attempting to auction of its license to South Park, which it currently holds while backing the development of Obsidian RPG South Park: The Stick of Truth. South Park Studios, makers of the show, are none too happy about it.

South Park Digital Studios in particular claims that THQ doesn’t have the right to sell off its contract with the company. According to South Park Studio’s filing attempting to block the auction, THQ would first have to pay the nearly $2.3 million it currently owes the studio. Even if it did that though, the contract (or “deal memo” as it were) already states that the studio has to sign off on any transfer of the contract, and that any purchasing publisher would have to honor the terms of the purchased contract in turn, meaning that they would have to fund Obsidian until it finished the game. It’s a moot point anyway, as the contract also states that South Park Studios has the right to buy back the contract before it’s sold to any new party.

THQ’s response is that South Park Studios is, in effect, full of it. For starters, South Park Studios is only allowed to repurchase the contract if THQ breaches its terms, which it has not. Further down that line of reasoning, THQ claims it does not owe the $2.3 million mentioned in South Park Studios’ motioned, though it is evaluating any outstanding debts to the company and plans to pay them accordingly. Finally, THQ says that it fully intends to find a buyer for the contract that will honor it and see the game to completion.

THQ’s auction will carry on throughout the day. We expect to hear much more about THQ selling off licensing and publishing rights to older games. Double Fine, for example, is reportedly attempting to get back the rights to its downloadable games Costume Quest and Stacking.

Whether you’re building your own computer or just looking to replace your existing processor, you’ve got several inexpensive new options from Intel.

Intel announced the launch of several new inexpensive processors using the company’s Ivy Bridge architecture. According to Slashgear, the new products include three Celeron CPUs, four Pentiums, and a new Core i3-3210. All of them are available starting now at a price range of $42 to $117.  

To get technical for a minute, the new Celerons have 2MB of L3 cache, HD integrated graphics, and between 2.3GHz and 2.7GHz. All four Pentiums have 3MB of L3 cache, HD integrated graphics, and range from 2.5GHz to 3.2GHz. Finally, the Core i3-3210 features HD 2500 graphics and 3.2GHz. All of the new models are compatible with Intel’s Socket 1155, so you won’t need to make any motherboard upgrades in order to install one of these low-cost processors. The Celeron and Pentium versions do not have hyper-threading, Intel’s framework that helps in tackling multiple tasks at once, so for the best performance for your buck, it’s worth checking out the Core i3. 

Ivy Bridge first appeared on the scene early last summer and has since been one of the preferred choices for powering up top-shelf computers. Intel didn’t change the architecture of its predecessor, but offers better efficiency by making the entire chip smaller. Last year, Intel was rumored to be pushing for another improvement in efficiency in order to get Ivy Bridge into contention for use in tablets, an area in which power is usually sacrificed in favor of battery life.

Intel is making the whole suite of new chips available immediately, so they should be appearing soon on retailers’ websites. It’s a great option for the do-it-yourself crew working on a budget. Even if Ivy Bridge falls from its top position, the architecture will give you solid performance at a good price. 

Image via Sh4rp_i

Almost a year after Firefox OS was announced, we are finally getting a look at the two devices that will lead the way for Mozilla.

Making good on its promise when HTML 5-based Firefox OS was first announced, Mozilla has revealed the first two smartphones that will run the new mobile operating system. Developed with the help of Telefonica ­and Geekphone, the two devices are called the Keon and Peak.

The devices – set for a February release – aren’t full retail models, but rather meant for developers that are looking for an early start on the platform.

The Keon takes the low level spot in terms of specs. It comes with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor and 4GB of internal storage, no word on included RAM. It will all be faced with a 3.5-inch HVGA display and a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera (no front-facing cam). The Keon will also support microSD cards for expandable storage and staples like Wi-Fi and GPS.

The Peak, on the other hand, will occupy a more luxury space for Firefox OS. A dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor will bring the speed and a higher quality 4.3-inch qHD display has the beauty covered. It’s finished off with an 8-megapixel rear facer and a 2-megapixel cam up front, but unfortunately sticks to the 4GB of storage. The Peak also ships with a higher capacity battery.

“Developer preview phones will help make the mobile web more accessible to more people. Developers are critical to the web and to Mozilla’s mission to make the web accessible to everyone,” the director of development at Mozilla, Stormy Peters, wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

Backing up that statement, Mozilla will host “hack days” on January 26 to give developers the opportunity to “celebrate Firefox OS” by learning the APIs and building as many apps as they can.

It’s been a long road for Mozilla’s Firefox OS, which was originally teased in February 2012 (called Boot 2 Gecko at that time), but has yet to enter the real smartphone race against iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8. One of the hurdles Mozilla needed to cross was finding partners for launch, a position filled by Telefonica, one of the first companies to show support for Firefox OS.

On the bright side, Mozilla is clearly making progress towards the end goal. In December, it released a beta version of the Firefox OS to be used in a desktop simulator and now we have official word on the first devices to run the software.

Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet and its accessories will hit the market on February 9. The Surface RT will also be released in 13 new markets in the next few weeks.

During our three months with Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet, we’ve waited patiently for news of the Pro version’s release. Today, Microsoft announced the Surface Pro tablet will be available on February 9 – a couple of weeks later than previous rumors indicated. Unfortunately, everyone living outside of the U.S. and Canada will have to wait even longer to get their hands on these laptop-tablet hybrids running the full version of Windows 8 Pro. 

Panos Panay, General Manager of Microsoft Surface, made the announcement today in a post on the official Microsoft blog. The Surface Pro tablet will be available in two configurations: one with a storage capacity of 64GB for $899, and another with 128GB for $999. Those prices don’t include the Touch Cover keyboard, an optional accessory that comes with a bonus stylus, which you can get for an extra $120. You can also choose to pony up a bit more cash for a limited edition $130 Touch Cover keyboard with laser-etched designs in red, magenta, and cyan. As Surface Pro works more like a traditional laptop than the Surface RT does, Microsoft also made a Surface Edition of the Wedge Touch Mouse specifically to match the Surface tablet.

Aside from the Surface Pro announcement, Panay also revealed that the Surface RT will be available in 13 additional markets in the coming weeks, bringing the total number of countries to 21. These additional markets are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Finally, if you find the the Surface Pro’s pricing a bit too much, you can buy a 64GB Surface RT tablet without the Touch Cover keyboard for $599 starting February 9, as long as you’re in one of the countries where the RT tablets are currently available. The new markets will follow in the weeks after that. 

Since the Surface Pro tablets run the full version of Windows 8 Pro, they can play any app, even those made for Windows 7. The Surface RT tablets, on the other hand, can only access apps downloaded from the Windows Store. The two tablets have a number of differences, including screen resolution, processors, and battery life. If you’re not sure whether the Surface Pro is worth the premium, check out our comparison piece between the Surface Pro and the Surface RT.