Is December 15 Verizon’s New Galaxy Nexus Launch Date?

The Galaxy Nexus, while something we’ve been super excited about, is turning out to be a real pain. Why? Because we can’t seem to figure out when the bleep this thing is supposed to launch. We heard it was supposed to be around today, and then we heard it wasn’t, and then we heard so many different dates it started to get stupid.

Now, however, Droid-life is claiming to have found the needle in this incredibly annoying haystack. Apparently a “dozen” different sources have said that

HP to Clear Off Refurbished TouchPads through Firesale in eBay auction

HP is getting ready to off-load the refurbished TouchPad tablets through eBay auction. According to the information from trusted sources, the firesale eBay auction will start on December 11 at 6p.m. with a sale limited to one tablet per customer. Surprisingly, HP is honoring their employees by giving a preference to buy the tablets before they enter into the public domain. Given a chance, any employee will try to book one for that damn cheap price.

The company is planning to shell-off the refurbished tablets. Refurbished products from HP are clean, fully-functional models from customer returns (often unopened), cancelled orders, overstock and demo returns. This is not product that's been in use over a long period of time or product returns from warranty service work. So, these refurbished products can be a great value for money. Despite the clear intention to discontinue the lineup, HP recently announced a major WebOS update for the slates. Surprisingly, one of the executive claimed the development team is working in long-term projects in order to improve the WebOS. So, customers aren't totally ignored and some justification is done for the buyers so far. The 16GB and 32GB TouchPad's will be priced at $99 and $149respectively. What are you waiting for ??? Hurry up to mark your calenders for availing this final offer.

Facebook Is Hiding Some Of Your Incoming Messages In This Hidden Folder

Facebook is no stranger to controversy, but it usually find itself in hot water thanks to its less than clear privacy policies. In fact, even when their policies are clear people are usually pretty unhappy about what they are being told. Rightly or wrongly, Facebook has something of a reputation for being less than transparent.

Facebook is once again in the dog house amongst some of its users, but for once it is nothing to do with privacy, though it does have everything to do with something the social network is keeping away from its users.

The issue, brought to our attention by Mashable's Zoe Fox, revolves around how Facebook handles some of its Facebook Messages.

If you head on over to Facebook right now, and click on your Facebook Messages link under the "Favorites" section on the left, you will be given a list of, you guessed it, your messages. If you glance back over to that list on the left though, you’ll see a new "Other" option has been presented. Clicking that will show a new list of messages – messages which Facebook has deemed not worthy of your attention.

What these messages tend to be is notes from brands you have Liked, or messages from people who you are not friends with on Facebook. There may be other criteria going on behind the scenes, but we’re just guessing at this point.

While this may keep you free of having to deal with messages you don’t want to see – think of it as a Gmail-like spam filter - it is entirely possible that you are also missing some messages that might be useful to you. Unless you go and check out the "Other" area every once in a while, you may never know.

Based on some guess-work, everyone seems to agree that Facebook introduced this behavior earlier this year, perhaps around May or June, though again we’re only basing that on the dates when Messages began popping up in this new "Other" section.

As is always the case with Facebook, it may be worth hunting around for changes and new features every week or two – you all know how The Zuck likes to change things!

Top features on the Nokia Lumia 800

When you a buy a new smartphone contract, the first thing you usually do with your new device is have a look at the top features available, download and personalise them. What makes smartphones particularly popular is that it is easy for users to make their device suit their own needs, whether it is their email, diary or location settings. The Nokia Lumia 800, the first device produced after the partnership between the Finnish mobile phone maker and Microsoft, is much the same. Here is a guide to the features you should load up first when you buy the device.

The Lumia 800 is the first Windows Phone from Nokia, powered by WP 7.5. With a new interface, different from the N8 and N9 the operating system, Mango, is intuitive and easy to use. With a 1.4 GHz processor and 16MB of memory the device is fast and ideal for multi-tasking.

Microsoft’s Find My Phone, similar to the new location service offered by Apple’s iCloud, is probably the first thing to load up on the Lumia 800. Free to sign up it uses GPS to find the device if it is lost. Users will be able to ring the phone, lock it and erase any data remotely.

Smartphones have made it easier to work on the move. The Lumia is no different thanks to the WP 7.5 feature of integrating and viewing multiple accounts, be it social networking like Facebook and Twitter or email including Nokia Mail, Google and Yahoo. Mango displays each account on a different ‘live tile’ on the front screen, making it much easier to access.

Contacts are joined across apps like Outlook and Facebook. Contacts can be organised into groups, so whether you want to have a group of family, friends or work colleagues a new live tile is set up. Missed calls or messages for each group are flagged up on the tiles. Like Google +, Windows Live or BBM, messages can be sent to the entire group.

The Windows button on the Nokia Lumia launches a series of services, one being voice commands. Voice recognition software is increasing in popularity after the launch of Siri with the iPhone 4S. Although not as well integrated onto the Lumia, the voice commands allow users to use Bing or send a text message.

Battery power is one of the most frequent complaints over smartphones. Using email or browsing the web as well as using location devices can drain the battery much more quickly. Nokia suggests setting the brightness to a lower level and switching off location services if there is no signal or they are not in use. The Lumia 800 also has a battery saver which automatically shuts down apps that drain battery life. Ideal for squeezing out a bit more battery life if it runs low while on the move.

The first Nokia device featuring Windows Phone there will be real interest surrounding Nokia Lumia 800 contractsthis Christmas. The ability to integrate apps as well as making it easier to link contacts across different platforms like social networks and email accounts may well prove to have real appeal. The battery saving option, particularly when Apple has faced a volley of criticism over the battery life of the iPhone 4S could make it an attractive option for smartphone users who do not want to charge phones constantly. The new features make it an attractive device and are one of the main reasons Nokia are hoping the device makes a real splash in the smartphone market.