Mihăiță Bamburic

Whenever new and exciting products are launched, shortly after the big bang a plethora of accessories surface to match even the most peculiar of requirements. Some are a hit while others are a dreadful miss. But what if nothing on the market tickles your fancy? Well if you happen to have a Nokia Lumia 820 lying around you can create something yourself.

Nokia has released a 3D printing development kit comprised of 3D templates, case specs, recommended materials and a best practices guide to manufacturing customized back cases for the Lumia 820, using (the name of the development kit pretty much gives it away) 3D printers. Pricey is an understatement, but that said the Finnish manufacturer does at least offer a solution for those seeking the ultimate in smartphone customization.

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In mid-December, a developer uncovered an exploit at kernel level which affects a number of popular Exynos-based devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, among others. The creator of SuperSU promptly delivered a temporary fix, but it is not particularly suited for mainstream use as it may break the camera app. An official patch is, therefore, in order.

Since the issue is known to mostly affect Samsung devices the ball is actually in the South Korean manufacturer's court which, judging by a number of US carrier announcements, is taking the necessary steps to eliminate the security threat. Both Sprint and T-Mobile revealed software upgrades, touting security fixes related to the Exynos security exploit for two Samsung-branded smartphones.

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Three days ago, the AV-TEST Institute published its latest results for consumer security product testing, which was conducted on Windows 7 during a two month period, through November and December 2012. From the 25 security solutions analyzed in the roundup, only three products failed to receive the recognized AV-TEST certificate, one of which was Microsoft's own Security Essentials.

The software giant was prompt to respond to the latest test results, by emphasizing that "a rigorous review" is conducted in-house "whenever test results warrant it". Obviously, Microsoft does not shoot itself in the foot, as you may assume, and provides a number of internal test results in order to reassure users that Security Essentials is not as bad as the AV-TEST Institute may suggest. Question is: Why put itself on the spot in the first place?

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The words "free" and "50GB of cloud storage" don't often come together in the same sentence, so when the company announced the mind-boggling offer there was only one question on my mind: "When's it coming to Android?" Well, good things come to those who wait! After an almost five-month hiatus, MediaFire arrived on green droid land.

So what's it like? Well, straight off the bat MediaFire for Android "features" a major flaw -- users cannot sign up for the cloud storage service using the app. That's an inconvenience seeing as, for instance, Box or Dropbox do sport the basic functionality. That said, the app does have some interesting features starting with the camera options.

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In late November, Tami Reller, Windows and Windows Live Division chief marketing officer, revealed that Microsoft was planning to launch the Surface Pro tablet "in January" 2013. However, seeing as the second half of the month is already underway, that doesn't give the tech giant long to get its product out there.

Fortunately prospective purchasers will be pleased to know they won't have long to wait now. Panos Panay, general manager of Microsoft Surface, tweeted yesterday that he was on his "way to the factory to check out Surface Pro", and that the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation will release the Windows 8 Pro tablet "in the coming weeks". Presumably that could mean either a late January or early February launch.

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Usually when users wish to transfer apps with data between Android devices, a fairly cumbersome process is involved. There's an easier way though. Koushik Dutta, the developer behind popular modding tools such as ClockworkMod and ROM Manager, unveiled Carbon, an app that can get the job done by itself after touching a few buttons.

But who actually needs it? While Carbon may present a limited appeal to most Android users, it actually makes sense for those running apps grabbed from third-party sources such as Interweb forums, a common occurrence for modders, beta apps that are unavailable to download from the Play store (a good example is the Dropbox preview build) or for users that simply wish to have the same app data across several devices. Think of game saves and you get the picture.

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What's the go-to app for testing internet data speeds on mobile devices? Undoubtedly Speedtest.net is one of the most obvious answers coming from Android and iOS users, but not from those rocking Windows Phone 8. For some time, Ookla, the company behind the app, has turned a blind eye to Microsoft's smartphone operating system but, starting Monday, Speedtest.net is finally available for those who prefer tiles to icon grids.

As you may expect, the app carries over much of the existing functionality from its Android and iOS siblings but, unlike them, Speedtest.net for Windows Phone 8 is dressed up in a much nicer looking package. The app displays ping (latency in miliseconds) as well as the internet connection download and upload speeds. Per the usual tradition, it continues to display the speedometer with the live indicator in the foreground.

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When Google unveiled the Nexus 4 in late-October, the resemblance to the LG Optimus G was quite obvious. Both smartphones are manufactured by LG and share mostly the same hardware specifications (bar the full-blown 4G LTE chip, different camera module, and extra internal storage found on LG's device). So why can't the Optimus G run software designed for the Google Nexus 4? Well, as of late, it can.

The advantages of "transforming" the LG Optimus G into a Google Nexus 4, in the software department that is, are quite clear. First and foremost, users can install various custom distributions such as AOKP Jelly Bean MR1 Build 1, CyanogenMod 10.1 or even light AOSP-based builds. Second, the LG Optimus G can actually be purchased from different carriers as well as online shops, whereas the Nexus 4 even today is out of stock at Google's Play Store -- which makes the former a suitable alternative to the latter's lack of market availability.

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So you bought a Samsung Galaxy S III (or maybe even received one for Christmas) but find the skinned TouchWiz experience too "crowded"? Fret not, you don't have to go down the custom ROM route and lose useful functionality along the way, as PalaTool makes it easy to cut down on gimmicky features, and even add some of the Android 4.2 flavor into the mix as well.

Before you get all excited by the prospect of chiseling Samsung's TouchWiz skin there are two important prerequisites to consider. First, PalaTool requires Android rooting rights, which straight off the bat involves extra work that may include voiding the warranty if something goes terribly wrong (in most cases that never happens). Secondly, the tool must be installed using a custom recovery such as ClockworkMod or Team Win Recovery Project. That out of the way, let's take a look at what PalaTool can really do.

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Even though the perennial platform has passed its peak and is slowly replaced by more modern standards, Microsoft actively supports Flash in Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 8/RT. The browser can display Flash content, albeit on a limited number of websites. For those people who wish to enable it in non-supported locations, the Windows RT Flash Player Tool comes to the rescue without having to manually edit the whitelist.

Windows RT Flash Player Tool is designed for the Modern UI version of Internet Explorer 10 found in Windows 8 and Windows RT as well as the desktop variant for the tablet operating system. The tool, a BAT file with the necessary commands to automate the process on behalf of the user, goes about its business of enabling Flash support on non-supported websites by modifying the included whitelist that comprises of only Microsoft-approved entries by default.

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If CES 2013 and other major trade shows are of any indication, a plethora of Android devices are launched on a frequent basis, sporting different display configurations. For consumers that may not mean much (aside from which device to get next), but developers have to verify if apps are rendered properly across different resolutions and pixel densities. But buying all available smartphones and tablets is not a financially-sound decision, when a Google Nexus 10 gets the job done by itself.

The Samsung-made tablet sports a large 10.1-inch display featuring a whopping 2560 by 1600 resolution and a 300 ppi density. As a result, according to Adam Powell, working as Android framework engineer at Google, the Nexus 10 can be used by app developers to test user interfaces in "pretty much all environments". The question is: "How?"

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Little over four months ago Samsung revealed that the company's flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S III, had sold more than 20 million units since its introduction in late May, last year. But while that is an impressive feat for any device, more so when it doesn't sport a bitten apple logo on the back, it pales in comparison to the latest Galaxy S III sales numbers announced by the South Korean manufacturer .

In the seven months on the market since the May 29 release, the Galaxy S III smartphone has sold over 40 million units, doubling the previous 20 million figure announced in early September of last year and adding 10 million to its tally since November 2012. According to Samsung, that equates to 190,000 units sold every day, or to put it differently, a little under 132 units per minute, or almost 2.2 Galaxy S IIIs sold every second.

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In late December, French consumer electronics company Archos unveiled the 97 Titanium HD, an Apple iPad 4-like tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but failed to release any pricing information. Nearly three weeks later, at CES 2013, Archos has finally revealed the missing detail.

The French firm places the 97 Titanium HD as "an alternative to the new iPad" but without the intimidating price-tag. The 9.7-inch tablet will run for a more sensible EUR249, $249, or £199, depending on the market, half of what the newest iPad goes for. Archos also released pricing for the remaining Titanium lineup.

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Jailbreaking Windows RT just got easy. Merely days after a complicated method to run unsigned apps on Microsoft's tablet operating system was uncovered, there is now an automated method available, dubbed RT Jailbreak Tool. No more messing around with debuggers and assembers.

Compared to the previous method, the RT Jailbreak Tool, dressed as a BAT file, overly simplifies the process such that even inexperienced users can jailbreak Windows RT devices. The prerequisites for running the automated hack are straightforward -- the user has to boot the tablet, log in and "sit on the desktop for about a minute" before opening the RT Jailbreak Tool.

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Four days ago I reported about "5 CES 2013 pre-show announcements you should know about". As the show leads towards a (long awaited) finale, let's take a look at the five weird pieces of tech unveiled since Sunday.

Some serve as part of the "What were they thinking?" lesson in announcing new products, while others are good examples of tech gone too far. Since quantifying which one's more out of place than the other, the following five products will be listed in a non-particular order. Feel free to name the weirdest of all in the comments below. Be advised, that's no easy task to undertake!

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