Gameloft announces N.O.V.A. 3 for iOS and Android.

Gameloft announced the development of N.O.V.A. 3 – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance – the next installment to the highly popular mobile series.

The game will become available later this year for the two leading smartphone platforms – iOS and Android

Google Drive is now official, offers 5GB of free cloud storage to everyone.

After being rumored for the better part of the last year, Google officially just announced its own cloud storage solution – Drive.

Google Drive gives you 5GB of storage the second you sign in to use the service. No questions asked. The interface is based on Google Docs and you can collaborate with other people on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The sharing and collaboration system is enhanced by comments, which you get notified for if they are new.

If you’ve been using Dropbox, you’ll feel very at home with Google Drive. That’s because Google has borrowed an idea or two from the undisputed cloud storage leader, hoping to get to sit in its cozy throne some day. Drive comes with a desktop client for Windows and Mac OS X and in the form of a mobile app for Android. It seems though, iPhone and iPad users will have to wait a bit to get their Drive apps.

Google Drive rumored to offer up to 100GB of storage, Google Docs gets updated to 5GB.

Couple of interesting cloud based storage news from Mountain View. Reuters is reporting that according to its sources, Google Drive service will allow the user to have up to 100GB of storage space. This will of course be a paid extra, with 5GB being made available by default.

Reuters is also saying that the service could be officially launched as soon as Tuesday, that is today. For those who are not aware, Google Drive is said to be Google’s answer to Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Apple’s iCloud service. Users will be able to upload their pictures, videos, documents, etc. all in one place, which will then be synced across different devices.

The other news is regarding Google Docs, which has seen its default storage upgrade from 1GB to 5GB. It will also be available for those who purchased additional storage from Google. So if you upgraded your account to, say, 20GB, your total storage space will now show up as 25GB in Docs, although the extra storage space won’t be shared across other Google services such as Gmail and Picasa.

Windows 8 Release Preview arriving in the first week of June.

The countdown to the Windows 8 launch is slowly ticking (although we are not sure which date it is ticking down to) but while we wait for the final version to go on sale Microsoft is going to keep us busy with another beta version of the desktop OS.

Microsoft announced at the Windows 8 Developer Days conference that the Windows 8 Release Preview (previously known as Release Candidate) will be released in the first week of June. There was no further mention about the exact date or what changes this new version might bring.

If you remember, Microsoft released the Release Candidate for Windows 7 on April 30, 2009, with the RTM arriving later in July and the final version in October. If Microsoft sticks to a similar schedule with Windows 8 then we can expect the RTM by August and the final version in October, as has been rumored.

Dropbox update lets you share anything with direct links.

Dropbox has updated the desktop version of its app, introducing the option to get direct links to any of your files.

Previously, you could only give public link to files put from your Public folder, but now the Dropbox boffins have put an end to this, making the cloud sharing service a whole lot easier to use.

Now you can share a direct link to any videos, photo galleries and documents found in your Dropbox folder by clicking the “Get Link” item on your right click menu. When it gets opened, the link only shares a read-only copy of the file you want and won’t give editing/deleting permissions to anyone.

Intel launches its Ivy Bridge processor.

Today, a little ahead of schedule, Intel is launching its Ivy Bridge family of processors.

Originally, Intel was supposed to launch the new CPU family on April 29, but after the numerous delays, doing it a bit early won’t hurt anyone.

Built around the 22nm manufacturing process, the Ivy Bridge CPUs feature Intel’s 3D tri-gate transistors technology, which boosts power efficiency.

Initially, 13 quad-core processors of the Core i5 and Core i7 variety are hitting the shelves, most of them aimed at desktop computers. Unfortunately for the ultrabook lovers, dual-core and ultra low voltage Ivy Bridge chips will be delayed yet again until some time later in the summer.

The future looks bright for the company, as Intel plans to launch chips with 14nm transistors in 2013, and by 2015 it should even hit the 10nm mark.

Adobe CS6 packages announced, coming on May 7.

Adobe will officially announce all of its latest products part of the Creative Suite 6 today at a dedicated event in San Francisco. Expected to arrive on May 7, the design and video editing products can be had in a variety of suites.

In fact, as we told you earlier, the company is also introducing its new monthly subscription plans, which will allow customers to use the products by paying smaller monthly fees, as opposed to spending a large chunk of cash upfront buying them .

Pricing for the traditional packages remain about the same as with the CS5.5 packages. The ultimate offering is the Master Collection retailing for $2,599. There’s also Design Standard going for $1,299, while Production Premium, which is aimed at video editing professionals gets a $200 price increase and will now cost $1,899 due to the addition of Adobe Prelude and Adobe Speed Grade. And last but not least is the Design and Web Premium package replacing the old Web Premium bundle. Those will now cost $1,899, rather then $1,799.

Skype for Windows Phone.

Microsoft has released the final version of the Skype client for Windows Phone devices. The latest version includes ability to search and add contacts, call landline phones, improved app startup time and general bug fixes.

However, there are still some caveats left. The application cannot run in the background, which means once you exit it you cannot get calls anymore, nor do you get any toast notifications from it. The Skype spokesperson who talked to The Verge said that this is due to the “combination of how Skype works and how the Windows Phone OS works.”

In comparison, other VoIP applications such as Tango work fine even after you close them and Skype itself works perfectly in the background on iOS and Android. This is particularly shocking because Microsoft now owns Skype and it could have very well tuned it to make sure that the app would work perfectly with the OS.

To me this seems like something Microsoft is saving up for Windows 8. With it being certain that current Windows Phone 7.5 owners not getting the Windows 8 update, Microsoft is likely to use features like full integrated Skype support as a carrot for people to upgrade to Windows 8 devices.

You can download the latest version of the Skype app for Windows Phone from here.

Google+ SMS now available in 41 additional countries.

If you haven’t heard of the Google+ SMS service until now, I wouldn’t blame you. The service isn’t particularly popular (neither is Google+, for that matter) and was only available in the US and India until now.

Google has now expanded the list of countries where the service is now functional and it includes the following names: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.

So what exactly do you do with this service? It’s simple. Instead of posting messages on Google+ using the website or their dedicated app, you can post using SMS. The SMS is sent to a particular number and then the message gets posted on your Google+ profile. If people reply to it, you get the replies and notifications on your phone as an SMS.

Crysis 3.

A few days ago, Crytek announced that the third game in the Crysis series will be out in 2013 and now the first teaser trailer has officially been released.

Being true to its name, the teaser shows only a handful of the key elements of the game. For starters, you see that the game is based again in New York City like the previous one, except this time it is within a sealed off portion covered by the Nanodome. If you remember the first Crysis, it was based in a jungle. The second one, on the other hand, was in a city. This one actually has what looks like a jungle within a city so is a hark back to both the previous games.

There are some new weapons in the game, of which one is showed in the teaser, a badass looking laser guided crossbow. And then of course, there is the greatest weapon of all, the Nanosuit, which had quite an important role to play in the previous game and is likely to continue being a key element in this one as well.

Samsung could announce sCloud service on May 3.

According to Korean tech site MK, Samsung might be prepping up its very own cloud service. It's going to be called, and we are not joking, S-Cloud. In its core, it's going to be similar to Apple's iCloud, but will offer much more, according to the report.

For starters, there won't be any limitations on the things you could upload, which means it will work like Dropbox and the upcoming Google Drive. It'll even come with access to movies, popular TV shows and music. Free and paid content will also be available to various Samsung products such as laptops and tablets.

Furthermore, the amount of storage S-Cloud would offer is said to be more than 5GB, with Microsoft handling the server-side of the operations. We'll find if any of this is true on May 3, when Samsung will unveil its latest flagship Android smartphone.

Mozilla.

Mozilla’s CEO Gary Kovacs announced in Sao Paulo yesterday that Brazil is going to be the first country to see the launch of the company’s HTML5-driven Boot To Gecko smartphones.

This was somewhat expected since Mozilla announced its partnership with carrier Telefonica, which has strong presence in Brazil. Kovacs also announced he expects devices to start hitting the shelves there by the end of this year or in early 2013 at the latest.

Nokia PureView 808 shoots.

Most smartphone manufacturers use insanely expensive equipment to shoot the promos of their devices. Nokia, however, didn’t need any of this as it has the PureView 808.

The Finns have recorded the latest promo video of their upcoming flagship cameraphone on the device itself, but probably wouldn’t have guessed that ifwe didn’t tell.

NVIDIA Tegra 3+ with improved performance arriving this year.

NVIDIA announced that it will be releasing an updated version of the Tegra 3, called the Tegra 3+, some time in 2012. It will be feature improved performance and will be available on both tablets and smartphones.

Unfortunately, though, unlike what it said before, this updated version won’t be bringing LTE support to Tegra 3. This has been one of the shortcomings of this chipset because of which hardware manufacturers such as HTC had to turn to Qualcomm for powering their phones in markets with LTE network.

According to the leaked roadmap that we saw before, LTE support on Tegra chipsets is not expected before 2013, that too not before the second half, which is when the Tegra 4 with LTE is expected to arrive.

Samsung announces the mirrorless NX20, NX210 and NX1000, Wi-Fi-enabled digicams.

If you’ve missed it, the Samsung NX series comprises of cameras that use a big-size sensor and mirror-less technology.The new cameras include the NX20, which replaces the NX10, then the NX210, which replaces last year’s NX200, and an entirely new entry level model, the NX1000. All the three new digicams have 20.3MP APS-C sized CMOS sensors, an ISO range up to 12,800, 1080/30p video recording and yes, Wi-Fi connectivity.

The Wi-Fi connectivity allows the cameras some nifty “Smart Camera” capabilities, such as automatically backing-up images when you’re around your home Wi-Fi network, but also control of the camera via a ‘remote viewfinder’ app on your smartphone. And finally, direct uploading to online social and cloud-drive services. You can have your photos emailed or posted on Facebook directly from the camera, for instance… Impressive stuff, especially having in mind that the NX series produces some serious quality pics thanks to the big image sensor and nice optics.

Samsung NX20

The NX20 is the only one of the threesome that actually looks like a mini DSLR. It’s even got an electronic viewfinder so you can frame and shoot just like you would on one. The NX 20 is a lot like its predecessor, the NX1, on the outside. There’s even a full-size flash hotshoe.

The display around the back is a 614k-dot AMOLED 3-incher of the swivel type. Shipping in early May, the NX20 will be selling for $1,100, along with the kit 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

Samsung NX210

The NX210 has a similar 614k-dot, 3-inch AMOLED screen, but there’s no electronic viewfinder this time and the whole body has a different design and a more stylish appearance. The NX210 will ship with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens for about $900 in mid-May.

Samsung NX1000

And finally, the newcomer, the NX1000 is a more of a entry-level mirrorless camera. Let not the description fool you as it’s a really nice piece of kit with even more stylish design as the camera will be available in white, black or even pink. The NX100 is equipped with a 3-inch screen again, but it’s an LCD as opposed to an AMOLED one. The kit lens here will be a 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens but unfortunately, Samsung don’t reveal expected pricing and availability for this one.

Samsung US: the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 will have a dual-core processor.

Well, it was a nice dream but it’s time for a wake up call – a representative from Samsung US contacted us and clarified that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 will have a dual-core processor and not a quad-core asyesterday’s rumor claimed.

Here’s what the company representative told us: “The US version of 10.1 tablet will still have a dual-core CPU and it’s still shipping on May 13th, with pre-orders starting on May 4th.”

You’ll notice they talk about the US version – but a Samsung US representative probably wouldn’t comment on the international version, so don’t take it as a hint that the international version of the Tab 2 10.1 will have a quad-core processor.

Acer Iconia Tab A510 now available in the US.

The pre-order period for the Acer Iconia Tab A510 is now over and the Tegra 3-packing tablet can be bought directly from Acer’s US online store right now. The price is still $450 and you can also get the slatefrom Amazon in Black or Silver (both bear the Olympic logo).

While the Tab A510 comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, its older 7″ and 10.1″ 

Acer Iconia Tab A510 now available in the US.

The pre-order period for the Acer Iconia Tab A510 is now over and the Tegra 3-packing tablet can be bought directly from Acer’s US online store right now. The price is still $450 and you can also get the slatefrom Amazon in Black or Silver (both bear the Olympic logo).

While the Tab A510 comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, its older 7″ and 10.1″ 

PlayBook OS 2.0.1.358 update improves web browser, Android app support.

There’s no longer that much anticipation going on around the BlackBerry Playbook now that the OS2.0 is out and things have been quiet overall. RIM however has now released an update to the tablet that brings the PlayBook OS up to version 2.0.1.358. The update is said to bring about improvements in the web browser, Android app support and optimizations to some of the BlackBerry OS core apps.

Below you will find the detailed list of the updates:

• Browser enhancements to address performance with some websites
• Improvements to support Android apps
• Optimizations to Video Chat, PIM and BlackBerry Bridge applications

Samsung begins manufacturing of 80MB/s-capable microSD cards.

The new 16GB memory cards come with a 20nm 64Gb chip with toggle DDR 2.0 support and an advanced Samsung controller, which enables it to achieve a maximum read speed of up to 80MB/s. That’s a quadruple increase compared to its predecessors, but naturally you’d need an UHS-I compatible device to enjoy it.

Dropbox introduces ‘drag and drop’ functionality for web uploads.

Now that you’ve invited some more friends to Dropbox and received the extra space you so wanted, it’s time to get cracking with uploading some more stuff.

And to make it easier for you to do so, the Dropbox team have enabled the ‘drag & drop’ upload functionality in their web interface, allowing you to stuff your Dropbox in a jiffy.

God of War: Ascension.

Prepare your PlayStations, for the all mighty God of War is coming back. Rumors of this game have been circulating for a while now but we finally have the full trailer courtesy of the PlayStation Facebook page.

The game will be called God of War: Ascension, unlike the God of War IV name that was being floated around till now. Also, unlike what I imagined, this doesn’t seem like a successor to God of War III but more like a prequel, where they show how Kratos came to be known as the Ghost of Sparta.

The series has briefly touched on this matter before in the first game and it seems Ascension is going to elaborate on that. I’m guessing we will have another game later that continues from the point God of War III ended. If you went through the full previous game, you know the game developers left a hint that there will in fact be another game. Perhaps the developers are reserving the God of War: IV name for that one.