The week in gadgets


5 Jul 2010

A look at gadget, game and geek happenings in the week ahead.

Gadget news is tablet-tastic this week as rumours fly that the Apple iPad may not arrive on Irish (and Belgian, Dutch and Austrian) shores until September due to supply issues, while Korean electronics giant LG has confirmed it will be releasing an Android-based tablet device for Q4 of 2010.

LG, which already has a Windows 7 tablet being readied for market, has not said any more about the Android tablet, but if it has similar specs to the Windows version then we could be looking at a 10.1-inch touchscreen, 1GB of RAM, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing webcam, SD card slot for extra storage, and of course Wi-Fi connectivity.

In other interesting news, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) revealed it has been navigating the choppy waters of internet piracy for the past few years by sending out infringement warnings to 1.8 million internet users and 269,609 colleges and universities in the US since October 2008.

And those looking to create their own music rather download it are probably looking forward to the arrival of DJ Hero 2 this autumn, with a soundtrack from Dr Dre, the Chemical Brothers, Metallica and Lady Gaga amongst plenty of others.

New features include social multiplayer game modes and freestyle gameplay giving virtual DJs the ability to crossfade, scratch and sample in more than 70 mashups from famous DJs and producers. A just-released taster video shows Lady Gaga’s Just Dance mixed with Ghosts ‘n Stuff and features Deadmau5.

Last but not least, it appears that the Apple App Store and subsequently some iTunes users have been the victims of hacking from rogue app developers.

TheNextWeb.com reports that one app developer in particular hacked into user accounts on iTunes and used their accounts to download and purchase his app in order to push it to the top of the app charts. The website goes on to report that some iTunes users say figures between US$100-US$1,400 have been spent using their accounts.