delay

Did Sony CEO leak plans for iPhone 5 camera?

The tech blogosphere is abuzz this morning with news that Sony CEO Howard Stringer may have accidentally leaked word that Sony was supplying the camera sensor for the iPhone 5--and that delivery of that sensor has been delayed due to factory damage in Japan.

During an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Stringer reportedly was talking about how Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami had affected 15 Sony factories. One of those factories happens to be where Sony makes its camera sensors.

9to5Mac's Seth Weintraub was at the event, which the public paid $20 to attend (the event was called Talking Tech with Sony and The Wall Street Journal). He reported the following:

I'm here watching Walt Mossberg talk to Sony's CEO, Sir Howard Stringer. Stringer just said that their camera image sensor facility in Sendai was affected by the tsunami. Getting image sensors to Apple will be delayed. Stinger said something to the effect of: "Our best sensor technology is built in one of the (tsunami) affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones...or iPads. Isn't that something? They buy our best sensors from us?"

… Read more

Report: Next iPhone not coming until October?

Those who were expecting Apple to ship a follow-up to the iPhone 4 this summer may be in for a longer wait than usual.

A new report from Japanese Mac blog Macotakra says Apple is behind its usual schedule of ordering parts that go into the manufacturing process for the device. That change in pace could result in Apple shipping out a phone a few months later than the June time frame for the previous two models, and July for the iPhone 3G.

AppleInsider, which picked up on the report this morning, notes that the later timing would result in the next iPhone missing Apple's fiscal 2011, which concludes on September 24 this year.

Along with the timing news, Macotakra's report, which is based on its sources in China, notes that Apple has still not committed to changing the materials used on the back of the iPhone from glass to metal. Rumors of such a change had first cropped up in March, with a follow-up report a few weeks later by 9to5Mac that said Apple was indeed testing out prototypes of future iPhone designs with metal backs. … Read more

Shocker: Duke Nukem Forever delayed to June

Just when we thought Duke Nukem Forever would finally hit an expected release date, the title has once again been delayed.

According to the game's developer, Gearbox Software, the long-awaited title has been pushed back a month and will now launch on June 10 internationally and on June 14 in North America. It will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Duke Nukem Forever allows players to control the brash character as he saves the world from "pig cops, alien shrink rays, and enormous alien bosses." Like previous Duke Nukem releases, the title will be irreverent in every sense of the word and appeal to adult audiences that are looking for "catchy one-liners that will make your mama blush, and frantic, bone-shaking action sequences that will simultaneously rock your world and your neighbors' walls."

The title has been a long time coming.… Read more

Next Windows Phone 7 update gets small delay

Citing hiccups following the rollout of last month's Windows Phone 7 software update, Microsoft is pushing back the release date of the update that will bring Windows Phone users new features.

"I believe it's important that we learn all we can from the February update," wrote Eric Hautala, Microsoft's general manager of Customer Experience Engineering, in a post on the Windows Phone blog. "So I've decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners. As a result, our plan is … Read more

Nook Color back in stock at bn.com

A few days ago we reported on a rumor that the Nook Color wouldn't be available for two weeks, possibly crimping Valentine's Day sales. Well, while supply at Barnes & Noble's stores remains spotty, with some stores having plenty and others having none, Barnes & Noble has now removed the "ships in two weeks" label from the buy button on its Web site. It's still listed as backordered at BestBuy.com, but it appears that you can now get the Nook Color without delay through BN.com.

Some suggested the delay was due to … Read more

No Nook Colors for two weeks?

Looking to make the Nook Color a Valentine's Day gift? Well, your present might not make it in time.

We noticed a small item on the Good E-reader blog that was hard to believe. Without citing a source, the blog claims Barnes & Noble is doing "major inventory" to see how many Nook Colors are in circulation and that the company has "quietly depleted all stock in their retail locations and either sent them all to the Nook headquarters in New York, or has not had further shipments fulfilled." The post adds: "This goes … Read more

Nokia delays E7 to 'early' 2011

If you were hoping to get your hands on the Nokia E7 this month, you'll need to wait a while longer.

Nokia has delayed the E7 to early 2011. The device was previously expected to be released this month. A Nokia representative told CNET today that the company's decision to delay the smartphone was based in a desire "to ensure the best possible user experience on the Nokia E7."

Nokia did not disclose to CNET when it will specifically release the E7 or what the actual holdup entails.

Reuters first reported the story.

The Nokia E7 … Read more

Firefox 4 release slips to 2011

Mozilla has pushed back the planned Firefox 4 release to 2011, a delay that's no surprise given the difficulties in releasing the first full-featured beta of the open-source browser--but that also gives breathing room for several competitors.

Mozilla had hoped to release Firefox 4 in 2010, but a newly updated Firefox 4 schedule shows the first release candidate arriving in early 2011.

"Development on Firefox 4 has not slowed down, and strong progress is being made daily. However, based on the delays in completing the 'feature complete' Beta 7 milestone against which our add-on developers and third-party software developers can develop, as well as considering the amount of work remaining to prepare Firefox 4 for final release, we have revised our beta and release candidate schedule," said Mike Beltzner, vice president of engineering for Firefox, in a mailing list message yesterday. "The frequent beta releases have been extremely helpful in identifying compatibility issues with existing web content, so we plan on continuing to release beta milestones through the end of December. Our estimate is now that release candidate builds will ship in early 2011, with a final release date close behind."

Six beta versions have arrived in recent weeks, but Firefox 4 beta 7 hasn't appeared, despite more than six weeks of frenzied development. One big issue holding up release has been the integration of Firefox's older Tracemonkey engine for running Web-based JavaScript programs and the new JaegerMonkey engine that draws on Google's V8 engine in Chrome.

Mozilla's arewefastyet.com site shows progress matching Safari and Chrome JavaScript execution speed, but new JavaScript engines can be tough to tune. Several JavaScript bugs are blocking Firefox 4 beta 7. … Read more

DirecTV TiVo DVR delayed to 2011

It's been in the works for years, but DirecTV subscribers hoping to get their hands on a TiVo by the end of the year will have to wait until 2011.

Recently, TiVo changed its DirecTV page to reflect the delayed launch. The site previously said the company would launch the DVR sometime this year. The page now says its "TiVo service is expected to launch to support satellite customers in the future." The DirecTV page discussing the TiVo says the company expects "the new receiver to launch in early 2011."

The new TiVo for DirecTV … Read more