Yahoo filed a massive patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook last month, claiming that Facebook’s News Feed, advertising methods, privacy settings and more infringed on its intellectual property. Facebook on Tuesday fired back at Yahoo with a countersuit, accusing the company of infringing upon 10 of its patents. Among its claims, the social networking giant says Yahoo’s Flickr photostream and its recent activity feature infringe a Facebook patent related to generating a personalized feed of stories on a social network. ”While we are asserting patent claims of our own, we do so in response to Yahoo’s short-sighted decision to attack one of its partners and prioritize litigation over innovation,” Facebook general counsel Ted Ullyot said in a statement to Reuters. Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, is in the process of its initial public offering that is expected to raise as much as $10 billion.

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It looks like Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei will be bringing two new pieces of hardware to MWC next week. Via the company’s official Flickr account, images of both a new tablet and smartphone have emerged: the IDEOS X3 and the S7 Slim. The specs for both devices are still unknown, although what we can see from the images is that both will feature a front-facing camera and run the Android operating system. We won’t have to wait more than a few days to find out exactly what these two devices are made of — and if they’ll show up Stateside or not. Hit the jump to see an additional picture of the S7.

[Via Engadget]

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Sorry, Stevie… it looks like your plan to keep Flash off iOS devices just hit another speed bump. We know Apple claims performance issues are the reason Flash is nowhere to be found on iOS devices — and we can’t say we disagree with the company’s assessment, in some cases — but we also know tons of Web video content still uses Adobe’s Flash platform and, well, we want the option to view it on our iPhones, iPads and iPods. There are several options for viewing Flash videos on your iDevice, but most methods involve a jailbreaking. Skyfire is a good non-jailbreak option of course, but it has a tendency to be a bit slow at times. Luckily, a group of developers has a new free method that doesn’t involve a jailbreak — in fact, you don’t even have to install an app. A simple bookmarklet is all you need to stream Flash videos right to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Hit the jump for a quick guide that will bring a plethora of embedded Flash video content to your iOS device of choice.

1. Navigate to http://iosflashvideo.fw.hu/ in Safari on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch
2. Hit the + button (replaced by the box/arrow icon on some iOS builds), select Add Bookmark and tap Save
3. Open your bookmarks and tap Edit
4. Choose the new iOSFlashVideo bookmark
5. Delete everything before “javascript:” and tap Done

Now you’re ready to rock.

Simply navigate to a page with an embedded video from Blip.tv, Flickr, Dailymotion, Break, MegaVideo or Vimeo. As usual, you’ll see an empty white space or instructions to download Flash Player where the video should be. Just open your bookmarks and tap the iOSFlashVideo entry, and a new thumbnail will appear where the empty space used to be. Tap the thumbnail and the video will begin streaming immediately via QuickTime.

For those of you tracking every single detail of Apple’s “we-invented-the-remix” iPhone 4, we have some high resolution shots of the display all ready to go courtesy of Robert Scoble. It is actually pretty mind-blowing that the pixels are so amazingly tiny — we can’t wait to get one in our hands. How about you? There’s a larger shot after the jump.

[Via 9to5Mac]

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One of our favorite set-top boxes, Roku, has just announced that it is launching the Roku Channel Store. The good news for you couch potatoes is that the first 10 channels are free. The open platform for sharing content on TV will allow you to share pictures and video, and listen to Internet radio and podcasts. New channels available to add right now are Pandora, Facebook Photos, Flickr and TWiT (This Week In Tech). Plus, since this is an open platform, developers can jump on the Roku bandwagon to add in getting more channels out.

But here’s the best part: Anthony Wood, CEO and co-founder of Roku, says, “Now content producers and distributors – from single person shops to billion dollar corporations – can deliver their content directly to consumers without having to go exclusively through cable operators, satellite networks or TV affiliates.” Less restriction could mean more of the content you want without paying premiums. When is it available? Existing customers will get a free and automatic upgrade and new Roku customers will get the upgrade as soon as they get their box going. If you own a Roku box and are currently subscribed, let us know what you think of the new channels.

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One of the greatest features of the iPhone 3GS compared to older iPhone models is the camera. Yes, at 3 megapixels it’s still lagging behind the rest of the industry where resolution is concerned and yes, it still doesn’t have a flash (though 90 percent of flashes on mobile phones are just about useless). Despite its shortcomings however, the 3GS’ shooter still manages to capture some wonderfully solid images in good lighting and some way-better-than-average pics in dim lighting. As is often the case, third party app developers have hit the iPhone in full force where the camera is concerned in order to make good hardware even better thanks to creative and functional software. The cream of the crop falls into the paid category in some cases, but if you’re just beginning to explore the optics on your iPhone it’s always best to start out with some free options before you start emptying your wallet. So if you’re a photography fan with an iPhone 3GS (or any model for that matter), hit the jump for a list of 10 essential free iPhone apps that will help make your iPhone-captured photos shine.

Note: All links are iTunes links.

1. Flash for Free: One of three great free photography apps from developer Michael Moon, Flash for Free applies a software flash to images taken by your iPhone. In other words, it lightens/brightens pics with minimal noise or distortion. The are a few paid apps that do a better job but for the low, low price of nada, Flash for Free is a terrific option.
2. HDR for Free: Again from Moon, HDR for Free is a great app that allows you to enhance the contrast between light and dark areas of a photo. The app supports nine preset degrees of HDR.
3. Crop for Free: Moon’s third free photo utility, Crop for Free does exactly what the title implies. It crops photos. For free. While there are a few apps in this list that will crop your shots as well, none are as quick and easy as Crop for Free when all you need is a quick crop.
4. Pixel Perfect: This gem by Code Monkeys at Work is free for a limited time so hit the link now or forever be bound by the constraints of the Lite version. It allows you to apply a variety off effects to your pics including sepia, brightness, saturation and hue, and adjust the intensity of relevant effects.
5. PanoLab: Originate Labs’ lite version of PanoLab Pro allows you to stitch together multiple photos to create a single panoramic image. This version has several limitations and its UI isn’t as intuitive as other options, but for the occasional quick panorama it’s a perfectly usable app.
6. Mill Colour: Our favorite in this list off apps without question, The Mill’s photo editing app is simply awesome. Mill Colour allows you to apply a variety of effects to an image and then fine tune (to a ridiculous degree) the lift, gamma, gain and saturation of the image. You can also choose to forgo the available effects and just fine tune the image to your heart’s desire. The UI is fantastic the quality of the resulting images is second to none. Get it — now.
7. Zipix Lite: The name might lead you to believe there is a full version floating around out there but for the time being, the buck stops here. Neurigen’s Zipix Lite app is a quick and easy photo enhancer that automatically adjusts a variety of variables to optimize a photo. If you’re a beginner and there’s something awry with an image you just snapped, odds are good it can be fixed in about 5 seconds by Zipix Lite with zero effort. The app also supports zooming and cropping.
8. PhotoBox: This app by Christopher Comair is easy to use but don’t let its simplicity fool you. It features 13 awesome filters that result in some terrific photo effects, again with zero effort on your part.
9. Polarize: Also by Christopher Comair, this app allows you to take a new photo or import an existing image, frame it in a Polaroid-like white border and apply a polarizing effect that results in a cool retro look. You can also write a title across the bottom of the frame as your parents used to do with physical Polaroids.
10. Flickit: Great, so you’ve got a bunch of awesome photos on your iPhone thanks to all these great free apps. Now what? Green Volcano Software’s Flickit app allows you to link your Flickr account for easy photo uploads via EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi. You can set default metadata to be applied to all uploads (including applying any number of your current Flickr tags) or adjust the data for each individual photo, control visibility settings and even geotag your photos all in an incredibly sexy UI. It’s so good it really shouldn’t be free.

There you have it folks — 10 awesome free apps that are sure to impress. Hit the comments and let us know what you think once you’ve checked them out and definitely let us know if there are any great free apps out there we missed.

Right on cue, HTC has announced its latest Android device in the Hero. With many of the Hero’s specs being the same as the Magic, the handset does manage to beat out the Magic with its 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, 3.5mm headphone jack (finally!!!), improved battery life and Adobe Flash support. But what makes the Hero really exciting is the fresh new GUI overlay. Much like with TouchFLO 3D for Windows Mobile, the new HTC Sense UI gives Android a much needed injection of style and functionality by allowing users to keep the content that matter to them — such as weather, contacts, photos, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and bookmarks — at their fingertips.

Another feature found within Sense is Scenes, which essentially allows users to switch from “work to weekend mode” (think of it as Modes on Nokia’s Eseries but sexier) and also helps organize emails, texts, photos, Facebook updates, call logs and more per contract entry much like Palm’s webOS. The Hero’s dedicated Search button features Spotlight-like search, meaning finding the contact, email, app, Tweet and more you’re looking for couldn’t be more simple. One last thing — the Hero is coated in Teflon that not only feels soft to the touch and thus easier to grip, but also protects the devices paint job from your greasy hands.

The Hero will be available next month in Europe with Asian availability coming in the later summer months (Orange UK has already announced it will be carrying the Hero in graphite for as low as £0 on contract this July). As for North Americans, well, we’re just going to have to wait for a little while longer. Hit the jump for the complete specs, some pics and a video.

• Android with HTC Sense
• 112mm x 56.2mm x 14.35mm, 135g
• Qualcomm MSM7200A 528MHz processor
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, dual-band 7.2Mbps HSPA/WCDMA
• 512 ROM / 288 RAM
• 3.2″ HVGA capacitive touchscreen
• 5.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• Gravity sensor
• Digital compass
• WiFi 802.11b/g
• GPS
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR + A2DP
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• microSD
• 1350 mAh battery
• 420 minutes talktime / 750 hours standby (WCDMA)

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The Samsung Memoir has been rumored to make its way to the nation’s newest 3G network for a very, very long time. Starting today, however, it’s available in all of T-Mobile’s retail stores, online, and over the phone. Samsung’s high-end optics on handsets are nothing new, but an 8 megapixel sensor certainly trumps anything available in the U.S. market (sold by a carrier). In terms of raw specs, you’re looking at T-Mobile 3G support, touch screen with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface (we’ll get into that in a bit), Xenon flash, HTML web browser, A-GPS and nifty photo functions such as smile and face detection along with geo-tagging capabilities.

The feel of the handset is actually great. It’s a combination of metal, soft-touch-finished paint and plastic which all blend together marvelously. The physical design works extremely well as far as not cramping your style no matter how you’re using the phone — web browsing, taking photos, texting — plus, there’s not too much you can do to hide an 8 megapixel sensor.

TouchWiz is a decent attempt at jazzing up a rather poor, old, and horrible operating system that Samsung has made us deal with. You’re given a list of widgets that can be dropped on the home screen for your enjoyment, but we really found this to be a pain in the ass. The home screen offers basically no functionality besides showing the clock and the weather. Everything else is a just a shortcut to another application. If Samsung had copied a little bit of HTC’s TouchFLO 3D, they would have made this at least a little bit more interesting.

Diving into the handset’s OS, you sort of get a dull feeling. Nothing pops out at you and nothing is really interesting. In a world of smartphone operating system battles, even featurephones nowadays need to start stepping it up. Text-based menus really aren’t going to cut it, you know? Like, at least try a little bit for us, ok? The photo section of the phone is probably the most manicured part of the handset, but even that really isn’t saying much. Sure you can swipe to peruse your photos from last night’s drunken stupor, and yes, you can automagically (credit: Gizmodo) upload your pictures to Flickr and T-Mobile MyAlbum service, but we just don’t see the connection here. You know, between a phone and a camera. Especially with an OS so bad and so 1999, it just doesn’t work in our minds. If you really want a decent cameraphone on T-Mobile, we’d completely recommend picking up the Motorola ZN5 over this bad boy, it at least has a decent phone OS that you can work with. The resistive touch screen tech mixed with a pretty bad excuse for an operating system boiled with an 8 megapixel sensor baked with text menus aren’t exactly our cup of tea.

Then there’s also the price-point. For $249.99 on a 2-year agreement, we’d have trouble not slapping you if you didn’t pick up the BlackBerry Curve 8900 over this. Didn’t you hear? T-Mobile can’t keep them on the shelves. We highly doubt stockrooms won’t be cozying up the Samsung Memoir, though. It’s not horrible, it just isn’t worth the hassle or the price. At least in our photo scrapbook.

Click on over to our T-Mobile Samsung Memoir gallery!

Moving forward with the Open Screen Project, Adobe has recently released a beta version of an image management app for your phone with Photoshop.com Mobile. While it is still in beta and available on a few devices (those which support Flash Lite 3), it has a lot of potential for picture sharing and editing. For now, options are limited and the application essentially performs one key function: Loading pictures onto Photoshop.com for viewing online or on your phone. Unfortunately, there aren’t any photo editing options via your mobile phone for the time being. Quite frankly, that would prove to be difficult anyway if you’re familiar with even the most basic editing options using a computer. Still, a nice benefit to Photoshop.com Mobile is having tons of pictures at your fingertips without worrying about storage space on your phone. Hit the jump for a quick run through the app and service.

When you open the application, the home screen is very clean and simple. You have the option to view photos on your phone, your Photoshop.com library and the albums you’ve created for your pics. There isn’t much else here, but like we said, it’s still in beta and it looks like Adobe is keeping things clean, simple and easy to use – never a bad thing.

Opening up your library or phone photos shows your pictures arranged as thumbnails. From here, your options are pretty limited. While you can’t send pics to an email address or another phone from here, you can upload pictures to your Photoshop.com library where they can be shared with your friends and family. For now, it’s only an album for your phone and doesn’t do much else.

Here we see the options screen. Short of adjusting your settings, getting help (which you likely won’t need) or checking for upgrades, there isn’t much to be done. The interface is minimal and simple, but we do wish there were more options available such as the ability to create albums from the device or being able to send and receive pictures.

When you go into options from any screen and click on settings, this is the screen you get. Not a whole lot here but the option to sign in or out and to auto-upload photos that you take to your Photoshop.com account. So, if you’re trigger happy and take tons of photos, it would be wise to turn auto-upload on (if you don’t mind sharing) so that you don’t have to go back and manually do so later. Turn your camera on, take a snapshot and the picture is automatically uploaded onto your account. You can even configure the website to share your photos instantly with a handful of other sites such as Facebook. In other words, if you have auto-upload turned on you can literally snap a pic and have it show up on your Facebook page in about a minute. Pretty cool! If you have a phone without memory expansion, this will certainly help so you don’t have to store many photos on your phone and eat up memory. There is, however, a 2GB storage limit with a basic Photoshop.com account. We wish it were a little more, but it is certainly plenty for a free account.

Even if you aren’t tech savvy, there is pretty much no way you can screw things up or get confused within this application. We found the Help screen to be of little use to us given the simplicity of the application. The way Adobe set things up is pretty simple and very intuitive; within five minutes of playing with it we were already comfortable using the app to its full potential.

For such a simple application, you might be wondering, what’s the point? Doesn’t Photobucket Mobile and Mobile Flickr already do the same thing? Well, they sort of do but with Photoshop.com Mobile, you can edit, clean, and touch up your pics right on Photoshop.com and as soon as you save your changes, they are effective immediately on both your phone and the Internet. Anyone who knows about sync knows that this is a feat in itself. Photoshop.com Mobile allows you to make edits and take or upload pics via mobile or online and have it automatically synced between device and computer. While it’s convenient to be able to upload pics to your account with your computer or your mobile phone and have access to it at all times using either device, we were expecting a little more. Again, the ability to edit images on your phone will be very difficult once you get down to details, but adjusting lighting, contrast, sharpness, and the ability to crop should be simple enough and we feel that it should have been included on the mobile app. As we mentioned of course, Photoshop.com Mobile is still in its infancy so expect some big things to come down the road a bit. Still, if you use mobile Photobucket or Flickr and you want the ability to have your phone and online account synced at all times, Photoshop.com Mobile is the way to go – the clean and intuitive interface makes sharing and storing your photos very simple and easy.

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