The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently formed a new unit tasked with developing technologies that enable more effective means of monitoring Internet, mobile and VoIP communications, CNET reported. The secretive new unit, reportedly called the Domestic Communications Assistance Center, aims to develop new surveillance technologies that make it easier for law enforcement to spy on suspects as they communicate using modern technology. Joined by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforceme...

Police officers may soon find themselves patrolling the streets in next-generation vehicles that combine Knight Rider with modern technology to create a cruiser that can handle a good amount of police work on its own. Unveiled recently by Motorola Solutions, the 2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV and Detective vehicle combines cutting-edge technology with General Motors’s pedigree to create a product that is as much a partner as it is a car. Included in Motorola’s custom Caprice is a voice-controlled comp...

For all the rumors surrounding Apple’s upcoming HDTV, very few well-sourced reports have emerged regarding the high-definition flat-screen television that has market leaders responding even before any official “iTV” is unveiled. Recent claims suggest Apple has an aluminum HDTV in the works powered by iOS and Siri voice controls, but further details are conflicting. A number of analysts have backed away from the idea of an Apple television recently, but late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’...

BGR called for the death of the “phablet” this past February when we reviewed Samsung’s mammoth Galaxy Note, but the market has spoken loud and clear. End-user sales of Samsung’s first true smartphone-tablet hybrid topped 5 million units within about five months, placing Samsung well on its way to achieving the company’s goal of selling 10 million units in 2012. According to a new report from market research firm ABI, Samsung’s Galaxy Note is just the beginning. (more…...

Google’s Android operating system and Apple’s iOS platform showed big market share gains in the first quarter of 2012 as Symbian and BlackBerry shipments plummeted. Market research firm IDC on Thursday published its global smartphone market share report for the first quarter of this year, and Google’s Android was far and away the biggest winner in terms of year-on-year shipment gains. (more…)

Samsung’s Galaxy S III hasn’t even launched yet and it’s already setting records. News of the high demand among carriers for the upcoming flagship Samsung smartphone emerged last week, and now U.K. carrier Vodafone has confirmed that it has received a record number of end-user preorders for the Galaxy S III ahead of its launch later this month. A Vodafone spokesperson wouldn’t confirm numbers while speaking with The Inquirer, but the company did say preorders of Samsung’s latest ...

Facebook made its initial public offering last Friday and while it didn’t go as smoothly as many had hoped, the offering was still the largest of its kind. Facebook stock began trading at $42 on Friday before closing just above $38, the IPO price set by bankers the night before. The stock has since slid further, touching $30 in pre-market trading on Wednesday morning, and media coverage has turned sour as investors continue to balk. All things considered, however, the $16 billion Facebook raised on Fri...

Microsoft plans to launch its next-generation Xbox video game and home entertainment console ahead of the holidays next year, according to a recent report. The Los Angeles Times on Monday published a developer contract between Acitivision Blizzard and famed Halo developers Bungie. The firms are currently working on a new Massively Multiplayer Online franchise called Destiny, which will be a first-person shooter with a science fiction theme. While the fact that the companies currently have four titles planne...

During an interview with The Telegraph published on Wednesday, Apple’s design boss Jonathan Ive said that his most impressive work at Apple has yet to come. While Apple’s late co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs still takes center stage when the company’s current product line is discussed, Jobs’s knack for surrounding himself with an amazing team was one of the key factors that led to Apple’s success. Among the top executives who had a hand in making Apple what it is...

Hackers associated with well known hacker-activist group “Anonymous Operations” have released a massive cache of data they say was obtained when they hacked a website belonging to the United States Department of Justice. “Today we are releasing 1.7GB of data that used to belong to the United States Bureau of Justice, until now,” Anonymous wrote in a statement on its website. The hackers claim the file contains emails as well as “the entire database dump” from the DOJ web...

The first version was hardly a hit, but Hollywood is already planning a sequel to the Stop Online Piracy Act that it will push in 2013, reports claim. Comments made by Motion Picture Association of America chief executive Chris Dodd suggest that the MPAA will work to get a new anti-piracy billed passed next year, and it plans to take a more cunning approach. ”We’re going to have to be more subtle and consumer-oriented,” Dodd said of the new legislation that the MPAA will push, according t...

Following a report that Apple is currently testing multiple next-generation iPhone prototypes with a taller Retina display, images of a purported front panel from an unreleased iOS device may provide further evidence that Apple is working on a new iPhone with a larger display. MacRumors on Tuesday published two images of what its unnamed source claims to be the front panel from an upcoming refreshed iPod touch. The opening for the display panel is taller than the one on Apple’s current iPod touch, measu...

Less than 2% of mobile carriers’ subscribers “Like” them on Facebook despite the millions of dollars they collectively spend in an effort to promote their services on the world’s most popular social network. Facebook made its initial public offering on Friday and while the company’s stock price dipped below the IPO price of $38 on Monday and continued to slide on Tuesday, Facebook’s offering was the biggest Internet IPO of all time by nearly 10 times. There is no denying th...

Samsung has accused Apple of calling expert witnesses that exhibit “slavish adoration” to the company during an ongoing patent trial between the two consumer electronics giants. As noted by patent expert Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, court documents filed by Samsung in California seek to exclude testimony made by a number of Apple’s expert witnesses on the grounds that they were biased. (more…)