Microsoft Flight to be available this Spring as a free download
Does anyone remember Microsoft Flight Simulator? Yes? Then Microsoft Flight is the sequel to that acclaimed series, and it will be available this Spring as a free download. Epic. Features include new aircraft, an Online Pilot Profile, additional content that adds aircraft, regions and customization options to the game over time, and performance improvements that make it suitable for most PCs. A closed-beta preview application is available here. The game will be available for CES attendees at Microsoft’s final CES appearance on January 10-13th. Via: Microsoft Flight
Finally, Android devices will be sporting some sort of uniform other than their touch sensitive buttons. What this actually means is that the default ‘Holo’ theme that Android 4.0 uses will be required in all devices that have access to the Android Market. This meaning that Touchwiz, Sense UI, and Motoblur will have to curve their appearances to fit the feeling of the UI, and 3rd-party app developers have the option of designing their apps in Holo style or the style of the manufacturers.
This has to be in the list of all time great Android software upgrades for any particular Android device. The Android-powered ASUS Transformer Prime will see a massive boost to its feature set, with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich being added to the system on the 12th of this month, then an unlocked bootloader download will also follow. Interestingly though, ASUS explains that the bootloader was in place to enable Google video rentals, and that users will have voided their warranty and be unable to rent videos from the service if they use the bootloader unlocker — a sure bummer, no doubt. However, the good news outweighs the bad, and users can expect the update to be rolled out soon.
It turns out that the WP7Chevron team was allowed only to sell 10,000 tokens at $9 each to unlock Windows Phone 7 devices for modifications. ChevronWP7 spokesperson Rafael Rivera wrote, “Microsoft isn’t involved in our discussion yet. And they can’t provide us with more unlocks because we haven’t asked yet. If we do request more, we’re sure Microsoft will respond positively – as they have in the past.” So if you weren’t able to get your unlock token, then your only alternative now is a $99 official Microsoft unlock. Not appealing, indeed.
This could all be the work of a fantastic Photoshop render made to build up hype for no particular reason (which is why I pay less mind to news like this), but a Galaxy Note with AT&T branding has purportedly been spotted in a render. As a quick refresher, the Galaxy Note sports a 5.3-inch display with a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution, an 8-megapixel camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats and a 1.4GHz processor. AT&T’s version of the Galaxy Note will also supposedly contain 4G LTE support to top all of that off.
Perhaps as part of a New Year strategy, Sony has made the Sony Tablet S, their 9.4-inch Honeycomb tablet $100 less, making it $400 for a 16GB model and $499 for a 32GB model. So they’re lowering prices to try and make demand — a practice seen with Samsung, Toshiba, and even ASUS tablets. Via: 
It’s no longer Johnny Ive (or Jonathan Ive), but Sir Jonathan Ive. You see, every fan of great consumer device design knows that Mr. Ive has had some of the greatest industrial designs for computing devices the world has ever seen. As such, he has been accepted for knighthood in the United Kingdom, 
It marks a win for Verizon’s customers: their $2 “convenience fee”, (which isn’t entirely convenient if people don’t like it) has been dropped, not only due to customer feedback, but like an angry German Shepherd dog, the FCC has begun growling in a most familiar manner. An FCC official states that, ”on behalf of American consumers, we’re concerned about Verizon’s actions and are looking into the matter.” If the new policy is allowed to go live on January 15th, then customers will have to pay this additional fee to pay their bill over the phone or online. How inconvenient!